@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

Una serie de trabajadores cubanos fueron castigados y hostigados por los funcionarios de sus centros de trabajo por no acudir a los actos del 1ro de Mayo, según trascendió en varias denuncias visibilizadas por el medio independiente Diario de Cuba.

Operarios de los Laboratorios Oriente, perteneciente al grupo de industrias biotecnológicas y farmacéutica BioCubaFarma, fueron víctimas de sanciones y hostigamiento luego de justificar su inasistencia a los eventos organizados por el régimen en Santiago de Cuba.

Una de las trabajadoras, identificada como Gisela Bermúdez, dijo a Diario de Cuba que recibió como sanción un mes sin estimulación salarial, aunque había argumentado que la falta de transporte y de desayuno para sus hijos le impedía moverse hasta el lugar.

Otra persona, Olga Martínez, que labora en la Planta de Sueros y Soluciones Parenterales, recibió una amonestación porque “caminar en medio de un apagón —y a las 2:00AM– los diez kilómetros que median entre la Plaza de la Revolución Antonio Maceo y el reparto Abel Santamaría no es justificación para faltar a una celebración tan importante”, según le respondió el director general de la empresa.

Un hombre nombrado Charles, además, está en riesgo de perder su plaza en la línea de vendas enyesadas, por argüir que “un país con escasez de todo tipo no podía darse el lujo de concentrar al pueblo para que se desmayara del hambre y se congraciara con el Gobierno”.

Las universidades, centros de salud y otras industrias también fueron objeto de serias amenazas y chantajes hacia los trabajadores que eligieron lo ir a los desfiles.

Uno de ellos, Dayan, admitido en la Educación Superior sin aprobar los exámenes de ingreso, le reclamaron no haber ido a las actividades cuando disfruta de “las bondades” del régimen.

“Podías estar en las calles, a merced de conductas antisociales, de la droga y la prostitución”, le gritaron en el aula, dijo en su testimonio.

Los actos por el 1ro de Mayo, celebraciones de reafirmación del régimen, no pueden estar más alejados de la conmemoración del Día del Trabajo, cuando los empleadores usan medios de coacción para obligarlos a asistir a las actividades de apoyo al Gobierno.

La prensa oficialista dio amplia cobertura el 1ro de mayo a las actividades organizadas en las distintas localidades del país por el Día del Trabajo, mientras omitía que para realizar esas acciones, los funcioanarios del régimen habían tenido que recurrir a amenazas y que quizás la mayoría de los trabajadores no fue por voluntad propio sino por la obligatoriedad del asunto.

Muchos cubanos debieron hacer el esfuerzo de madrugar para asistir a desfilar, portar pancartas en favor del Gobierno y sudar bajo el sol abrasador. De regreso, les esperó una jornada de interrupciones en el servicio eléctrico.

@ f977c464:32fcbe00

Güneşin kaybolmasının üçüncü günü, saat öğlen on ikiyi yirmi geçiyordu. Trenin kalkmasına yaklaşık iki saat vardı. Hepimiz perondaydık. Valizlerimiz, kolilerimiz, renk renk ve biçimsiz çantalarımızla yan yana dizilmiş, kısa aralıklarla tepemizdeki devasa saati kontrol ediyorduk.

Ama ne kadar dik bakarsak bakalım zaman bir türlü istediğimiz hızla ilerlemiyordu. Herkes birkaç dakika sürmesi gereken alelade bir doğa olayına sıkışıp kalmış, karanlıktan sürünerek çıkmayı deniyordu.

Bekleme salonuna doğru döndüm. Nefesimden çıkan buharın arkasında, kalın taş duvarları ve camlarıyla morg kadar güvenli ve soğuk duruyordu. Cesetleri o yüzden bunun gibi yerlere taşımaya başlamışlardı. Demek insanların bütün iyiliği başkaları onları gördüğü içindi ki gündüzleri gecelerden daha karanlık olduğunda hemen birbirlerinin gırtlağına çökmüş, böğürlerinde delikler açmış, gözlerini oyup kafataslarını parçalamışlardı.

İstasyonun ışığı titrediğinde karanlığın enseme saplandığını hissettim. Eğer şimdi, böyle kalabalık bir yerde elektrik kesilse başımıza ne gelirdi?

İçerideki askerlerden biri bakışlarımı yakalayınca yeniden saate odaklanmış gibi yaptım. Sadece birkaç dakika geçmişti.

“Tarlalarım gitti. Böyle boyum kadar ayçiçeği doluydu. Ah, hepsi ölüp gidiyor. Afitap’ın çiçekleri de gi-”

“Dayı, Allah’ını seversen sus. Hepimizi yakacaksın şimdi.”

Karanlıkta durduğunda, görünmez olmayı istemeye başlıyordun. Kimse seni görmemeli, nefesini bile duymamalıydı. Kimsenin de ayağının altında dolaşmamalıydın; gelip kazayla sana çarpmamalılar, takılıp sendelememeliydiler. Yoksa aslında hedefi sen olmadığın bir öfke gürlemeye başlar, yaşadığın ilk şoku ve acıyı silerek üstünden geçerdi.

İlk konuşan, yaşlıca bir adam, kafasında kasketi, nasırlı ellerine hohluyordu. Gözleri ve burnu kızarmıştı. Güneşin kaybolması onun için kendi başına bir felaket değildi. Hayatına olan pratik yansımalarından korkuyordu olsa olsa. Bir anının kaybolması, bu yüzden çoktan kaybettiği birinin biraz daha eksilmesi. Hayatta kalmasını gerektiren sebepler azalırken, hayatta kalmasını sağlayacak kaynaklarını da kaybediyordu.

Onu susturan delikanlıysa atkısını bütün kafasına sarmış, sakalı ve yüzünün derinliklerine kaçmış gözleri dışında bedeninin bütün parçalarını gizlemeye çalışıyordu. İşte o, güneşin kaybolmasının tam olarak ne anlama geldiğini anlamamış olsa bile, dehşetini olduğu gibi hissedebilenlerdendi.

Güneşin onlardan alındıktan sonra kime verileceğini sormuyorlardı. En başta onlara verildiğinde de hiçbir soru sormamışlardı zaten.

İki saat ne zaman geçer?

Midemin üstünde, sağ tarafıma doğru keskin bir acı hissettim. Karaciğerim. Gözlerimi yumdum. Yanımda biri metal bir nesneyi yere bıraktı. Bir kafesti. İçerisindeki kartalın ıslak kokusu burnuma ulaşmadan önce bile biliyordum bunu.

“Yeniden mi?” diye sordu bana kartal. Kanatları kanlı. Zamanın her bir parçası tüylerinin üstüne çöreklenmişti. Gagası bir şey, tahminen et parçası geveliyor gibi hareket ediyordu. Eski anılar kolay unutulmazmış. Şu anda kafesinin kalın parmaklıklarının ardında olsa da bunun bir aldatmaca olduğunu bir tek ben biliyordum. Her an kanatlarını iki yana uzatıverebilir, hava bu hareketiyle dalgalanarak kafesi esneterek hepimizi içine alacak kadar genişleyebilir, parmaklıklar önce ayaklarımızın altına serilir gibi gözükebilir ama aslında hepimizin üstünde yükselerek tepemize çökebilirdi.

Aşağıya baktım. Tahtalarla zapt edilmiş, hiçbir yere gidemeyen ama her yere uzanan tren rayları. Atlayıp koşsam… Çantam çok ağırdı. Daha birkaç adım atamadan, kartal, suratını bedenime gömerdi.

“Bu sefer farklı,” diye yanıtladım onu. “Yeniden diyemezsin. Tekrarladığım bir şey değil bu. Hatta bir hata yapıyormuşum gibi tonlayamazsın da. Bu sefer, insanların hak etmediğini biliyorum.”

“O zaman daha vahim. Süzme salaksın demektir.”

“İnsanların hak etmemesi, insanlığın hak etmediği anlamına gelmez ki.”

Az önce göz göze geldiğim genççe ama çökük asker hâlâ bana bakıyordu. Bir kartalla konuştuğumu anlamamıştı şüphesiz. Yanımdakilerden biriyle konuştuğumu sanmış olmalıydı. Ama konuştuğum kişiye bakmıyordum ona göre. Çekingence kafamı eğmiştim. Bir kez daha göz göze geldiğimizde içerideki diğer iki askere bir şeyler söyledi, onlar dönüp beni süzerken dışarı çıktı.

Yanımızdaki, az önce konuşan iki adam da şaşkınlıkla bir bana bir kartala bakıyordu.

“Yalnız bu sefer kalbin de kırılacak, Prometheus,” dedi kartal, bana. “Belki son olur. Biliyorsun, bir sürü soruna neden oluyor bu yaptıkların.”

Beni koruyordu sözde. En çok kanıma dokunan buydu. Kasıklarımın üstüne oturmuş, kanlı suratının ardında gözleri parlarken attığı çığlık kulaklarımda titremeye devam ediyordu. Bu tabloda kimsenin kimseyi düşündüğü yoktu. Kartalın, yanımızdaki adamların, artık arkama kadar gelmiş olması gereken askerin, tren raylarının, geçmeyen saatlerin…

Arkamı döndüğümde, asker sahiden oradaydı. Zaten öyle olması gerekiyordu; görmüştüm bunu, biliyordum. Kehanetler… Bir şeyler söylüyordu ama ağzı oynarken sesi çıkmıyordu. Yavaşlamış, kendisini saatin akışına uydurmuştu. Havada donan tükürüğünden anlaşılıyordu, sinirliydi. Korktuğu için olduğunu biliyordum. Her seferinde korkmuşlardı. Beni unutmuş olmaları işlerini kolaylaştırmıyordu. Sadece yeni bir isim vermelerine neden oluyordu. Bu seferkiyle beni lanetleyecekleri kesinleşmişti.

Olması gerekenle olanların farklı olması ne kadar acınasıydı. Olması gerekenlerin doğasının kötücül olmasıysa bir yerde buna dayanıyordu.

“Salaksın,” dedi kartal bana. Zamanı aşan bir çığlık. Hepimizin önüne geçmişti ama kimseyi durduramıyordu.

Sonsuzluğa kaç tane iki saat sıkıştırabilirsiniz?

Ben bir tane bile sıkıştıramadım.

Çantama uzanıyordum. Asker de sırtındaki tüfeğini indiriyordu. Benim acelem yoktu, onunsa eli ayağı birbirine dolaşıyordu. Oysaki her şey tam olması gerektiği anda olacaktı. Kehanet başkasının parmaklarının ucundaydı.

Güneş, bir tüfeğin patlamasıyla yeryüzüne doğdu.

Rayların üzerine serilmiş göğsümün ortasından, bir çantanın içinden.

Not: Bu öykü ilk olarak 2021 yılında Esrarengiz Hikâyeler'de yayımlanmıştır.

@ 75bf2353:e1bfa895

Keet is a peer to peer chatroom that enables high quality file transfers. It can be used for video chats, but it's peer to peer and you don't need to pay a monthly fee. It uses cryptography, but it has no blockchain or any tokens. You can also connect LND to it to accept bitcoin payments.

I don't like asking for people's email. It's not that I have any ideological reasons for this, it's just that e-mail kinda sucks. Adam back tried to fix it in the 1997. It would have worked, but nobody else cared. As it turns out,. that thing that could fix e-mail became the backbone of the bitcoin time-chain.

I like Substack, but I don't want you to give Substack your e-mail address.

I would prefer if you joined my Public Keet Chatroom. My goal is for it to become a sufficiently decentralized public communications channel. Please run Keet on your computer.

Share this so others may join.

Update Keet now has a broadcast only room. This way, I can broadcast all my new blog posts on this room and my readers can get notified.

https://gasolin.idv.tw/keetlink/#key=yry53k5uwu6n8htnzdi8m77qupswwjh8p8oue8qiup5fotdeqq7ti176kqdjxtr4eyht3f11dakdicx7ipj879nzmhhrdgs7hf3z1am9pc&title=Blogging%20Bitcoin

@ f72e682e:c51af867

The gov complaint corporation owned by Michael Saylor and Blackrock, Microstrategy, wants to spam the blockchain of Bitcoin, storing data of a proprietary software that tries to substitute PGP, a free software invented like 4 decades ago, that has been heavily used until now (for example, Satoshi used it to sign all his msgs). If we didn't have enough with runes and ordinals, Saylor now wants to patrol you and store your personal information and identification in the inmutable blockchain of Bitcoin, and meanwhile saturate it so your tx will cost even more. I call this new invention shitidentity.

There is zero need to store any of that in the blockchain, PGP has been storing that data in private and public servers for decades without a single problem, and it is fully decentralized. Any person or organization can store their own database of known PGP emails or information, and they can edit them at any moment, because this information changes over the years and shouldn't be inmutable. There is even less need to make your id public to the entire world. And even less need to force thousands of nodes to store that shit.

You can watch this shit here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/lwqLXaYoavE?si=UAh8yeBKHFUNfpjk&t=4291

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

O Planetinha

Fumaça verde me entrando pelas narinas e um coro desafinado fazia uma base melódica.

nos confins da galáxia havia um planetinha isolado. Era um planeta feliz.

O homem vestido de mago começava a aparecer por detrás da fumaça verde.

O planetinha recebeu três presentes, mas o seu habitante, o homem, estava num estado de confusão tão grande que ameaçava estragá-los. Os homens já havia escravizado o primeiro presente, a vida; lutavam contra o segundo presente, a morte; e havia alguns que achavam que deviam destruir totalmente o terceiro, o amor, e com isto levar a desordem total ao pobre planetinha perdido, que se chamava Terra.

O coro desafinado entrou antes do "Terra" cantando várias vezes, como se imitasse um eco, "terra-terra-terraaa". Depois de uma pausa dramática, o homem vestido de mago voltou a falar.

Terra, nossa nave mãe.

Neste momento eu me afastei. À frente do palco onde o mago e seu coral faziam apelos à multidão havia vários estandes cobertos com a tradicional armação de quatro pernas e lona branca. Em todos os cantos da praça havia gente, gente dos mais variados tipos. Visitantes curiosos que se aproximavam atraídos pela fumaça verde e as barraquinhas, gente que aproveitava o movimento para vender doces sem pagar imposto, casais que se abraçavam de pé para espantar o frio, os tradicionais corredores que faziam seu cooper, gente cheia de barba e vestida para imitar os hippies dos anos 60 e vender colares estendidos no chão, transeuntes novos e velhos, vestidos como baladeiros ou como ativistas do ônibus grátis, grupos de ciclistas entusiastas.

O mago fazia agora apelos para que nós, os homens, habitantes do isolado planetinha, passássemos a ver o planetinha, nossa nave mãe, como um todo, e adquiríssemos a consciência de que ele estava entrando em maus lençóis. A idéia, reforçada pela logomarca do evento, era que parássemos de olhar só para a nossa vida e pensássemos no planeta.

A logomarca do evento, um desenho estilizado do planeta Terra, nada tinha a ver com seu nome: "Festival Andando de Bem com a Vida", mas havia sido ali colocada estrategicamente pelos organizadores, de quem parecia justamente sair a mensagem dita pelo mago.

Aquela multidão de pessoas que, assim como eu, tinham suas próprias preocupações, não podiam ver o quadro caótico que formavam, cada uma com seus atos isolados, ali naquela praça isolada, naquele planeta isolado. Quando o hippie barbudo, quase um Osho, assustava um casal para tentar vender-lhes um colar, a quantidade de caos que isto acrescentava à cena era gigantesca. Por um segundo, pude ver, como se estivesse de longe e acima, com toda a pretensão que este estado imaginativo carrega, a cena completa do caos.

---

Uma nave-mãe, dessas de ficção científica, habitada por milhões de pessoas, seguia no espaço sem rumo, e sem saber que logo à frente um longo precipício espacial a esperava, para a desgraça completa sua e de seus habitantes.

Acostumados àquela nave tanto quanto outrora estiveram acostumados à sua terra natal, os homens viviam as próprias vidas sem nem se lembrar que estavam vagando pelo espaço. Ninguém sabia quem estava conduzindo a nave, e ninguém se importava.

No final do filme descobre-se que era a soma completa do caos que cada habitante produzia, com seus gestos egoístas e incapazes de levar em conta a totalidade, é que determinava a direção da nave-mãe. O efeito, no entanto, não era imediato, como nunca é. Havia gente de verdade encarregada de conduzir a nave, mas era uma gente bêbada, mau-caráter, que vivia brigando pelo controle da nave e o poder que isto lhes dava. Poder, status, dinheiro!

Essa gente bêbada era atraída até ali pela corrupção das instituições e da moral comum que, no fundo no fundo, era causada pelo egoísmo da população, através de um complexo -- mas que no filme aparece simplificado pela ação individual de um magnata do divertimento público -- processo social.

O homem vestido de mago era mais um agente causador de caos, com sua cena cheia de fumaça e sua roupa estroboscópica, ele achava que estava fazendo o bem ao alertar sua platéia, todos as sextas-feiras, de que havia algo que precisava ser feito, que cada um que estava ali ouvindo era responsável pelo planeta. A sua incapacidade, porém, de explicar o que precisava ser feito só aumentava a angústia geral; a culpa que ele jogava sobre seu público, e que era prontamente aceita e passada em frente, aos familiares e amigos de cada um, atormentava-os diariamente e os impedia de ter uma vida decente no trabalho e em casa. As famílias, estressadas, estavam constantemente brigando e os motivos mais insignificantes eram responsáveis pelas mais horrendas conseqüências.

O mago, que após o show tirava o chapéu entortado e ia tomar cerveja num boteco, era responsável por uma parcela considerável do caos que levava a nave na direção do seu desgraçado fim. No filme, porém, um dos transeuntes que de passagem ouviu um pedaço do discurso do mago despertou em si mesmo uma consiência transformadora e, com poderes sobre-humanos que lhe foram então concedidos por uma ordem iniciática do bem ou não, usando só os seus poderes humanos mesmo, o transeunte -- na primeira versão do filme um homem, na segunda uma mulher -- consegue consertar as instituições e retirar os bêbados da condução da máquina. A questão da moral pública é ignorada para abreviar a trama, já com duas horas e quarenta de duração, mas subentende-se que ela também fora resolvida.

---

No planeta Terra real, que não está indo em direção alguma, preso pela gravidade ao Sol, e onde as pessoas vivem a própria vida porque lhes é impossível viver a dos outros, não têm uma consciência global de nada porque só é possível mesmo ter a consciência delas mesmas, e onde a maioria, de uma maneira ou de outra, está tentando como pode, fazer as coisas direito, o filme é exibido.

Para a maioria dos espectadores, é um filme que evoca reflexões, um filme forte. Por um segundo elas têm o mesmo vislumbre do caos generalizado que eu tive ali naquela praça. Para uma pequena parcela dos espectadores -- entre eles alguns dos que estavam na platéia do mago, o próprio mago, o seguidor do Osho, o casal de duas mulheres e o vendedor de brigadeiros, mas aos quais se somam também críticos de televisão e jornal e gente que fala pelos cotovelos na internet -- o filme é um horror, o filme é uma vulgarização de um problema real e sério, o filme apela para a figura do herói salvador e passa uma mensagem totalmente errada, de que a maioria da população pode continuar vivendo as suas própria vidinhas miseráveis enquanto espera por um herói que vem do Olimpo e os salva da mixórdia que eles mesmos causaram, é um filme que presta um enorme desserviço à causa.

No dia seguinte ao lançamento, num bar meio caro ali perto da praça, numa mesa com oito pessoas, entre elas seis do primeiro grupo e oito do segundo, discute-se se o filme levará ou não o Oscar. Eu estou em casa dormindo e não escuto nada.

@ f977c464:32fcbe00

Kendisini aynada ilk defa gördüğü o gün, diğerleri gibi olduğunu anlamıştı. Oysaki her insan biricik olmalıydı. Sözgelimi sinirlendiğinde bir kaşı diğerinden birkaç milimetre daha az çatılabilirdi veya sevindiğinde dudağı ona has bir açıyla dalgalanabilirdi. Hatta bunların hiçbiri mümkün değilse, en azından, gözlerinin içinde sadece onun sahip olabileceği bir ışık parlayabilirdi. Çok sıradan, öyle sıradan ki kimsenin fark etmediği o milyonlarca minik şeyden herhangi biri. Ne olursa.

Ama yansımasına bakarken bunların hiçbirini bulamadı ve diğer günlerden hiç de farklı başlamamış o gün, işe gitmek için vagonunun gelmesini beklediği alelade bir metro istasyonunda, içinde kaybolduğu illüzyon dağılmaya başladı.

İlk önce derisi döküldü. Tam olarak dökülmedi aslında, daha çok kıvılcımlara dönüşüp bedeninden fırlamış ve bir an sonra sönerek külleşmiş, havada dağılmıştı. Ardında da, kaybolmadan hemen önce, kısa süre için hayal meyal görülebilen, bir ruhun yok oluşuna ağıt yakan rengârenk peri cesetleri bırakmıştı. Beklenenin aksine, havaya toz kokusu yayıldı.

Dehşete düştü elbette. Dehşete düştüler. Panikle üstlerini yırtan 50 işçi. Her şeyin sebebiyse o vagon.

Saçları da döküldü. Her tel, yere varmadan önce, her santimde ikiye ayrıla ayrıla yok oldu.

Bütün yüzeylerin mat olduğu, hiçbir şeyin yansımadığı, suyun siyah aktığı ve kendine ancak kameralarla bakabildiğin bir dünyada, vagonun içine yerleştirilmiş bir aynadan ilk defa kendini görmek.

Gözlerinin akları buharlaşıp havada dağıldı, mercekleri boşalan yeri doldurmak için eriyip yayıldı. Gerçeği görmemek için yaratılmış, bu yüzden görmeye hazır olmayan ve hiç olmayacak gözler.

Her şeyin o anda sona erdiğini sanabilirdi insan. Derin bir karanlık ve ölüm. Görmenin görmek olduğu o anın bitişi.

---

Ben geldiğimde ölmüşlerdi.

Yani bozulmuşlardı demek istiyorum.

Belleklerini yeni taşıyıcılara takmam mümkün olmadı. Fiziksel olarak kusursuz durumdaydılar, olmayanları da tamir edebilirdim ama tüm o hengamede kendilerini baştan programlamış ve girdilerini modifiye etmişlerdi.

Belleklerden birini masanın üzerinden ileriye savurdu. Hınca hınç dolu bir barda oturuyorlardı. O ve arkadaşı.

Sırf şu kendisini insan sanan androidler travma geçirip delirmesin diye neler yapıyoruz, insanın aklı almıyor.

Eliyle arkasını işaret etti.

Polislerin söylediğine göre biri vagonun içerisine ayna yerleştirmiş. Bu zavallılar da kapı açılıp bir anda yansımalarını görünce kafayı kırmışlar.

Arkadaşı bunların ona ne hissettirdiğini sordu. Yani o kadar bozuk, insan olduğunu sanan androidi kendilerini parçalamış olarak yerde görmek onu sarsmamış mıydı?

Hayır, sonuçta belirli bir amaç için yaratılmış şeyler onlar. Kaliteli bir bilgisayarım bozulduğunda üzülürüm çünkü parasını ben vermişimdir. Bunlarsa devletin. Bana ne ki?

Arkadaşı anlayışla kafasını sallayıp suyundan bir yudum aldı. Kravatını biraz gevşetti.

Bira istemediğinden emin misin?

İstemediğini söyledi. Sahi, neden deliriyordu bu androidler?

Basit. Onların yapay zekâlarını kodlarken bir şeyler yazıyorlar. Yazılımcılar. Biliyorsun, ben donanımdayım. Bunlar da kendilerini insan sanıyorlar. Tiplerine bak.

Sesini alçalttı.

Arabalarda kaza testi yapılan mankenlere benziyor hepsi. Ağızları burunları bile yok ama şu geldiğimizden beri sakalını düzeltip duruyor mesela. Hayır, hepsi de diğerleri onun sakalı varmış sanıyor, o manyak bir şey.

Arkadaşı bunun delirmeleriyle bağlantısını çözemediğini söyledi. O da normal sesiyle konuşmaya devam etti.

Anlasana, aynayı falan ayırt edemiyor mercekleri. Lönk diye kendilerini görüyorlar. Böyle, olduğu gibi...

Nedenmiş peki? Ne gerek varmış?

Ne bileyim be abicim! Ahiret soruları gibi.

Birasına bakarak dalıp gitti. Sonra masaya abanarak arkadaşına iyice yaklaştı. Bulanık, bir tünelin ucundaki biri gibi, şekli şemalı belirsiz bir adam.

Ben seni nereden tanıyorum ki ulan? Kimsin sen?

Belleği makineden çıkardılar. İki kişiydiler. Soruşturmadan sorumlu memurlar.

─ Baştan mı başlıyoruz, diye sordu belleği elinde tutan ilk memur.

─ Bir kere daha deneyelim ama bu sefer direkt aynayı sorarak başla, diye cevapladı ikinci memur.

─ Bence de. Yeterince düzgün çalışıyor.

Simülasyon yüklenirken, ayakta, biraz arkada duran ve alnını kaşıyan ikinci memur sormaktan kendisini alamadı:

─ Bu androidleri niye böyle bir olay yerine göndermişler ki? Belli tost olacakları. İsraf. Gidip biz baksak aynayı kırıp delilleri mahvetmek zorunda da kalmazlar.

Diğer memur sandalyesinde hafifçe dönecek oldu, o sırada soruyu bilgisayarın hoparlöründen teknisyen cevapladı.

Hangi işimizde bir yamukluk yok ki be abi.

---

Ama bir son değildi. Üstlerindeki tüm illüzyon dağıldığında ve çıplak, cinsiyetsiz, birbirinin aynı bedenleriyle kaldıklarında sıra dünyaya gelmişti.

Yere düştüler. Elleri -bütün bedeni gibi siyah turmalinden, boğumları çelikten- yere değdiği anda, metronun zemini dağıldı.

Yerdeki karolar öncesinde beyazdı ve çok parlaktı. Tepelerindeki floresan, ışığını olduğu gibi yansıtıyor, tek bir lekenin olmadığı ve tek bir tozun uçmadığı istasyonu aydınlatıyorlardı.

Duvarlara duyurular asılmıştı. Örneğin, yarın akşam kültür merkezinde 20.00’da başlayacak bir tekno blues festivalinin cıvıl cıvıl afişi vardı. Onun yanında daha geniş, sarı puntolu harflerle yazılmış, yatay siyah kesiklerle çerçevesi çizilmiş, bir platformdan düşen çöp adamın bulunduğu “Dikkat! Sarı bandı geçmeyin!” uyarısı. Biraz ilerisinde günlük resmi gazete, onun ilerisinde bir aksiyon filminin ve başka bir romantik komedi filminin afişleri, yapılacakların ve yapılmayacakların söylendiği küçük puntolu çeşitli duyurular... Duvar uzayıp giden bir panoydu. On, on beş metrede bir tekrarlanıyordu.

Tüm istasyonun eni yüz metre kadar. Genişliği on metre civarı.

Önlerinde, açık kapısından o mendebur aynanın gözüktüğü vagon duruyordu. Metro, istasyona sığmayacak kadar uzundu. Bir kılıcın keskinliğiyle uzanıyor ama yer yer vagonların ek yerleriyle bölünüyordu.

Hiçbir vagonda pencere olmadığı için metronun içi, içlerindekiler meçhuldü.

Sonrasında karolar zerrelerine ayrılarak yükseldi. Floresanın ışığında her yeri toza boğdular ve ortalığı gri bir sisin altına gömdüler. Çok kısa bir an. Afişleri dalgalandırmadılar. Dalgalandırmaya vakitleri olmadı. Yerlerinden söküp aldılar en fazla. Işık birkaç kere sönüp yanarak direndi. Son kez söndüğünde bir daha geri gelmedi.

Yine de etraf aydınlıktı. Kırmızı, her yere eşit dağılan soluk bir ışıkla.

Yer tamamen tele dönüşmüştü. Altında çapraz hatlarla desteklenmiş demir bir iskelet. Işık birkaç metreden daha fazla aşağıya uzanamıyordu. Sonsuzluğa giden bir uçurum.

Duvarın yerini aynı teller ve demir iskelet almıştı. Arkasında, birbirine vidalarla tutturulmuş demir plakalardan oluşan, üstünden geçen boruların ek yerlerinden bazen ince buharların çıktığı ve bir süre asılı kaldıktan sonra ağır, yağlı bir havayla sürüklendiği bir koridor.

Diğer tarafta paslanmış, pencerelerindeki camlar kırıldığı için demir plakalarla kapatılmış külüstür bir metro. Kapının karşısındaki aynadan her şey olduğu gibi yansıyordu.

---

Bir konteynırın içini andıran bir evde, gerçi gayet de birbirine eklenmiş konteynırlardan oluşan bir şehirde “andıran” demek doğru olmayacağı için düpedüz bir konteynırın içinde, masaya mum görüntüsü vermek için koyulmuş, yarı katı yağ atıklarından şekillendirilmiş kütleleri yakmayı deniyordu. Kafasında hayvan kıllarından yapılmış grili siyahlı bir peruk. Aynı kıllardan kendisine gür bir bıyık da yapmıştı.

Üstünde mavi çöp poşetlerinden yapılmış, kravatlı, şık bir takım.

Masanın ayakları yerine oradan buradan çıkmış parçalar konulmuştu: bir arabanın şaft mili, üst üste konulmuş ve üstünde yazı okunamayan tenekeler, boş kitaplar, boş gazete balyaları... Hiçbir şeye yazı yazılmıyordu, gerek yoktu da zaten çünkü merkez veri bankası onları fark ettirmeden, merceklerden giren veriyi sentezleyerek insanlar için dolduruyordu. Yani, androidler için. Farklı şekilde isimlendirmek bir fark yaratacaksa.

Onların mercekleri için değil. Bağlantıları çok önceden kopmuştu.

─ Hayatım, sofra hazır, diye bağırdı yatak odasındaki karısına.

Sofrada tabak yerine düz, bardak yerine bükülmüş, çatal ve bıçak yerine sivriltilmiş plakalar.

Karısı salonun kapısında durakladı ve ancak kulaklarına kadar uzanan, kocasınınkine benzeyen, cansız, ölü hayvanların kıllarından ibaret peruğunu eliyle düzeltti. Dudağını, daha doğrusu dudağının olması gereken yeri koyu kırmızı bir yağ tabakasıyla renklendirmeyi denemişti. Biraz da yanaklarına sürmüştü.

─ Nasıl olmuş, diye sordu.

Sesi tek düzeydi ama hafif bir neşe olduğunu hissettiğinize yemin edebilirdiniz.

Üzerinde, çöp poşetlerinin içini yazısız gazete kağıtlarıyla doldurarak yaptığı iki parça giysi.

─ Çok güzelsin, diyerek kravatını düzeltti kocası.

─ Sen de öylesin, sevgilim.

Yaklaşıp kocasını öptü. Kocası da onu. Sonra nazikçe elinden tutarak, sandalyesini geriye çekerek oturmasına yardım etti.

Sofrada yemek niyetine hiçbir şey yoktu. Gerek de yoktu zaten.

Konteynırın kapısı gürültüyle tekmelenip içeri iki memur girene kadar birbirlerine öyküler anlattılar. O gün neler yaptıklarını. İşten erken çıkıp yemyeşil çimenlerde gezdiklerini, uçurtma uçurduklarını, kadının nasıl o elbiseyi bulmak için saatlerce gezip yorulduğunu, kocasının kısa süreliğine işe dönüp nasıl başarılı bir hamleyle yaşanan krizi çözdüğünü ve kadının yanına döndükten sonra, alışveriş merkezinde oturdukları yeni dondurmacının dondurmalarının ne kadar lezzetli olduğunu, boğazlarının ağrımasından korktuklarını...

Akşam film izleyebilirlerdi, televizyonda -boş ve mat bir plaka- güzel bir film oynayacaktı.

İki memur. Çıplak bedenleriyle birbirinin aynı. Ellerindeki silahları onlara doğrultmuşlardı. Mum ışığında, tertemiz bir örtünün serili olduğu masada, bardaklarında şaraplarla oturan ve henüz sofranın ortasındaki hindiye dokunmamış çifti gördüklerinde bocaladılar.

Hiç de androidlere bilinçli olarak zarar verebilecek gibi gözükmüyorlardı.

─ Sessiz kalma hakkına sahipsiniz, diye bağırdı içeri giren ikinci memur. Söylediğiniz her şey...

Cümlesini bitiremedi. Yatak odasındaki, masanın üzerinden gördüğü o şey, onunla aynı hareketleri yapan android, yoksa, bir aynadaki yansıması mıydı?

Bütün illüzyon o anda dağılmaya başladı.

Not: Bu öykü ilk olarak 2020 yılında Esrarengiz Hikâyeler'de yayımlanmıştır.

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

Estados Unidos volvió a colocar sobre la mesa de conversaciones que sostiene con Cuba, la liberación de presos políticos. Este fue uno de los puntos que abordaron ambos países durante el encuentro a mediados del pasado mes, según confirmó este martes el subsecretario de Estado estadounidense para el Hemisferio Occidental, Brian Nichols durante una visita a Miami, Florida.

“Siempre estamos insistiendo en la importancia en el respeto a los derechos humanos, especialmente de los más vulnerables”, dijo Nichols, quien recientemente usó sus redes sociales para calificar de “indignantes” las sentencias de hasta 15 años de prisión para “los cubanos que se manifestaron pacíficamente en Nuevitas en 2022. La continua represión del gobierno cubano contra los cubanos que se esfuerzan por cumplir con sus derechos y necesidades básicas es inconcebible”.

Entre las sentenciadas se encuentra Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, la joven de entonces 21 años que transmitió las protestas a través de Facebook, a quien le imputaron los delitos de “propaganda enemiga de carácter continuado” y “sedición”. 

Nichols también dijo que no tenía por qué dudar de la unidad del liderazgo del régimen cubano. “Creo que en vez de hacer especulaciones después de 60 años de eso es mejor enfocarse en las acciones del gobierno”.

El funcionario contó ante varios medios de prensa en Miami que se ha pedido a la Isla detener el flujo migratorio irregular a través de Nicaragua, mientras que ha insistido en poner fin a las sanciones. Sin embargo, aclaró que en la mesa de negociaciones no está la salida de Cuba de la lista de estados patrocinadores del terrorismo: “no es algo que podamos negociar”.

Nichols explicó que es “un proceso legal de análisis dentro de varios Departamentos de gobierno que finalmente llega al Secretario de Estado para su designación”, según un reporte del periodista Mario J. Pentón para Martí Noticias. 

La inclusión de Cuba en el listado en enero de 2021 fue una de las últimas decisiones que tomó la Administración del republicano Donald Trump (2017-2021) antes de dejar el poder.

Estados Unidos justificó entonces la medida aludiendo a la presencia en la Isla de miembros de la guerrilla colombiana del Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), que viajaron a La Habana para iniciar negociaciones de paz con el Gobierno de Colombia.

Durante la conversación que sostuvo con periodistas en Miami, Brian Nichols también acusó al Gobierno nicaragüense de Daniel Ortega de utilizar la migración como un “arma” contra los países de la región, entre ellos EE UU.

“El Gobierno en Nicaragua, el régimen de Ortega y Murillo, ha aprovechado la migración como un arma en contra de los países de la región, no solamente Estados Unidos, porque hay millones de inmigrantes irregulares en todo el hemisferio y muchos de ellos debido a las acciones del régimen de Nicaragua”.

En los últimos tres años han llegado a la frontera sur más de 700.000 venezolanos, 363.000 nicaragüenses, 342.000 haitianos y más de 600.000 cubanos, publicó Martí Noticias. “Todos favorecidos por políticas que promueven el libre visado implementadas por el régimen de Daniel Ortega tras sus desavenencias con Estados Unidos”.

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Embarking on the journey of operating your own Lightning node on the Bitcoin Layer 2 network is more than just a tech-savvy endeavor; it's a step into a realm of financial autonomy and cutting-edge innovation. By running a node, you become a vital part of a revolutionary movement that's reshaping how we think about money and digital transactions. This role not only offers a unique perspective on blockchain technology but also places you at the heart of a community dedicated to decentralization and network resilience. Beyond the technicalities, it's about embracing a new era of digital finance, where you contribute directly to the network's security, efficiency, and growth, all while gaining personal satisfaction and potentially lucrative rewards.

In essence, running your own Lightning node is a powerful way to engage with the forefront of blockchain technology, assert financial independence, and contribute to a more decentralized and efficient Bitcoin network. It's an adventure that offers both personal and communal benefits, from gaining in-depth tech knowledge to earning a place in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency.

Running your own Lightning node for the Bitcoin Layer 2 network can be an empowering and beneficial endeavor. Here are 10 reasons why you might consider taking on this task:

1. Direct Contribution to Decentralization: Operating a node is a direct action towards decentralizing the Bitcoin network, crucial for its security and resistance to control or censorship by any single entity.

2. Financial Autonomy: Owning a node gives you complete control over your financial transactions on the network, free from reliance on third-party services, which can be subject to fees, restrictions, or outages.

3. Advanced Network Participation: As a node operator, you're not just a passive participant but an active player in shaping the network, influencing its efficiency and scalability through direct involvement.

4. Potential for Higher Revenue: With strategic management and optimal channel funding, your node can become a preferred route for transactions, potentially increasing the routing fees you can earn.

5. Cutting-Edge Technological Engagement: Running a node puts you at the forefront of blockchain and bitcoin technology, offering insights into future developments and innovations.

6. Strengthened Network Security: Each new node adds to the robustness of the Bitcoin network, making it more resilient against attacks and failures, thus contributing to the overall security of the ecosystem.

7. Personalized Fee Structures: You have the flexibility to set your own fee policies, which can balance earning potential with the service you provide to the network.

8. Empowerment Through Knowledge: The process of setting up and managing a node provides deep learning opportunities, empowering you with knowledge that can be applied in various areas of blockchain and fintech.

9. Boosting Transaction Capacity: By running a node, you help to increase the overall capacity of the Lightning Network, enabling more transactions to be processed quickly and at lower costs.

10. Community Leadership and Reputation: As an active node operator, you gain recognition within the Bitcoin community, which can lead to collaborative opportunities and a position of thought leadership in the space.

These reasons demonstrate the impactful and transformative nature of running a Lightning node, appealing to those who are deeply invested in the principles of bitcoin and wish to actively shape its future. Jump aboard, and embrace the journey toward full independence. 🐶🐾🫡🚀🚀🚀

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Chef's notes

Serving these two dishes together will create a delightful centerpiece for your Thanksgiving meal, offering a perfect blend of traditional flavors with a homemade touch.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 - 2 hours
• 🍽️ Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 whole turkey (about 12-14 lbs), thawed and ready to cook
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• Apple and Sage Stuffing
• 1 loaf of crusty bread, cut into cubes
• 2 apples, cored and chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups chicken broth
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the Oven: Set your oven to 325°F (165°C).
2. Prepare the Herb Butter: Mix the softened butter with the chopped thyme, rosemary, and sage. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Prepare the Turkey: Remove any giblets from the turkey and pat it dry. Loosen the skin and spread a generous amount of herb butter under and over the skin.
4. Add Aromatics: Inside the turkey cavity, place the quartered onion, lemon halves, and garlic cloves.
5. Roast: Place the turkey in a roasting pan. Tent with aluminum foil and roast. A general guideline is about 15 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C) at the thickest part of the thigh.
6. Rest and Serve: Let the turkey rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.
7. Next: Apple and Sage Stuffing
8. Dry the Bread: Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and let them dry overnight, or toast them in the oven.
9. Cook the Vegetables: In a large skillet, melt the butter and cook the onion, celery, and garlic until soft.
10. Combine Ingredients: Add the apples, sage, and bread cubes to the skillet. Stir in the chicken broth until the mixture is moist. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Bake: Transfer the stuffing to a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30-40 minutes, until golden brown on top.

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Testing a brand new YakiHonne native client for iOS. Smooth as butter (not penis butter 🤣🍆🧈) with great visual experience and intuitive navigation. Amazing work by the team behind it! * lists * work

Bold text work!

Images could have used nostr.build instead of raw S3 from us-east-1 region.

Very impressive! You can even save the draft and continue later, before posting the long-form note!

🐶🐾🤯🤯🤯🫂💜

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

As the title states, scratch behind my ear and you get it. 🐶🐾🫡

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

El robo de cupones de alimentos en Miami se ha convertido en una alarmante realidad que afecta a numerosas familias.

Este fenómeno, caracterizado por la clonación y el vaciado fraudulento de tarjetas de beneficios alimentarios, ha emergido con fuerza en los últimos meses. La situación deja a muchas personas sin recursos necesarios para su subsistencia.

Los informes de transacciones no autorizadas han disparado las alertas de las autoridades, quienes ahora enfrentan el desafío de abordar esta ola de criminalidad digital.

El dinero asignado por el Estado para la compra de alimentos, puede ser retirado fraudulentamente por ciberdelincuentes, haciendo falsos pagos en diversos comercios y ciudades. Al momento que el beneficiario va a realizar su compra en un mercado descubre que no tiene dinero en su tarjeta.

El Departamento de Niños y Familias ha reconocido la gravedad del asunto y ha activado un plan de emergencia que contempla el reemplazo de los beneficios robados con fondos federales.

Sin embargo, las víctimas reportan una respuesta lenta y en muchos casos ineficaz por parte de las oficinas locales, lo que agrava aún más la situación.

Ante la creciente incidencia de este tipo de fraudes, las autoridades insisten en la importancia de que los titulares de las tarjetas de cupones estén alertas y reporten cualquier actividad sospechosa inmediatamente, ante la policía.

La lucha contra el robo de cupones de alimentos no solo requiere una acción rápida y eficaz por parte de los entes gubernamentales, sino también una conciencia y colaboración activa por parte de la comunidad para prevenir y combatir este delito.

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Test Bounty Note

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

José Luis Tan Estrada, periodista independiente y colaborador de CubaNet, fue puesto en libertad este miércoles 1ro de mayo, luego de pasar varios días recluido en el cuartel general de la Seguridad del Estado, Villa Marista.

CubaNet se comunicó con el periodista y exprofesor universitario, quien ya se encuentra en su casa con su familia y está “solucionando un contratiempo” en estos momentos, según contó.

La información de su liberación fue compartida por la activista Yamilka Lafita, conocida en redes sociales como Lara Crofs. En un post de Facebook, la cubana explicó que Tan fue conducido a Camagüey en un autobús la mañana de este miércoles.

“Acabo de hablar con él, lo regresaron a Camagüey hoy, en una guagua por la mañana. Muchísimas gracias a todos los que se solidarizaron con la causa del hermano y nos apoyaron. Gracias de verdad, el instructor le dijo que ‘sus amiguitos teníamos armada tremenda bulla’ aquí fuera”, escribió Lafita en su publicación.

El Observatorio de Derechos Culturales agregó, además, que el oficial instructor asignado al caso de Tan Estrada es conocido como “el Teniente Yasser”

La detención del periodista independiente cubano, que estuvo detenido en Villa Marista, el Cuartel General de la Seguridad del Estado en La Habana, generó solidaridad en la comunidad.

Tan Estrada, conocido por su colaboración con este medio, ha sido una voz crítica del régimen cubano y un defensor de los derechos humanos en la Isla; unas de las razones por las que la dictadura cubana lo mantuvo encarcelado desde la pasada semana.

Fiel en su compromiso con la sociedad cubana más vulnerable, ha llevado a cabo una labor humanitaria que trasciende su actividad periodística para ayudar a quienes más lo necesitan.

Desde recoger abrigos para las personas necesitadas durante el pasado invierno, hasta llevar pañales e insulina a pacientes desatendidos por el sistema de salud cubano, su dedicación a mejorar las condiciones de vida de los cubanos es evidente. Además, daba clases a un niño enfermo que el sistema de enseñanza camagüeyano marginalizó.

El acoso sistemático a Tan

Antes de su detención el pasado 26 de abril, el periodista había sido citado en varias ocasiones en las últimas semanas por la policía cubana.

Luego de una de las entrevistas en la Tercera Estación de la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR) de Camagüey, contó que fue multado con 3.000 pesos por violar el Decreto Ley 370, empleado por el régimen para acallar a activistas, periodistas y ciudadanos en general.

Una inspectora de Telecomunicaciones le enseñó una carpeta llena de publicaciones en Facebook, X (Twitter), que contenían “likes a memes, comentarios, likes a otras publicaciones, memes compartidos, incluso, algunas del año pasado”, dijo el periosdista.

La carpeta de investigación, llena de “likes a cosas graciosas contra los dirigentes”, fue utilizada como mecanismo de coacción para intimidar al joven reportero que vive el frecuente acoso del régimen.

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Intro

This short tutorial will help you set up your own Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) on your own LND Node that is not using Umbrel. If you are a user of Umbrel, you should use their version of NWC.

Requirements

You need to have a working installation of LND with established channels and connectivity to the internet. NWC in itself is fairly light and will not consume a lot of resources. You will also want to ensure that you have a working installation of Docker, since we will use a docker image to run NWC.

• Working installation of LND (and all of its required components)
• Docker (with Docker compose)

Installation

For the purpose of this tutorial, we will assume that you have your lnd/bitcoind running under user bitcoin with home directory /home/bitcoin. We will also assume that you already have a running installation of Docker (or docker.io).

Prepare and verify

git version - we will need git to get the latest version of NWC. docker version - should execute successfully and show the currently installed version of Docker. docker compose version - same as before, but the version will be different. ss -tupln | grep 10009- should produce the following output: tcp LISTEN 0 4096 0.0.0.0:10009 0.0.0.0: tcp LISTEN 0 4096 [::]:10009 [::]:**

For things to work correctly, your Docker should be version 20.10.0 or later. If you have an older version, consider installing a new one using instructions here: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/

Create folders & download NWC

In the home directory of your LND/bitcoind user, create a new folder, e.g., "nwc" mkdir /home/bitcoin/nwc. Change to that directory cd /home/bitcoin/nwc and clone the NWC repository: git clone https://github.com/getAlby/nostr-wallet-connect.git

Creating the Docker image

In this step, we will create a Docker image that you will use to run NWC.

• Change directory to nostr-wallet-connect: cd nostr-wallet-connect
• Run command to build Docker image: docker build -t nwc:$(date +'%Y%m%d%H%M') -t nwc:latest . (there is a dot at the end)
• The last line of the output (after a few minutes) should look like => => naming to docker.io/library/nwc:latest
• nwc:latest is the name of the Docker image with a tag which you should note for use later.

Creating docker-compose.yml and necessary data directories

• Let's create a directory that will hold your non-volatile data (DB): mkdir data
• Indocker-compose.ymlfile, there are fields that you want to replace (<> comments) and port “4321” that you want to make sure is open (check with ss -tupln | grep 4321which should return nothing).
• Create docker-compose.ymlfile with the following content, and make sure to update fields that have <> comment:

version: "3.8" services: nwc: image: nwc:latest volumes: - ./data:/data - ~/.lnd:/lnd:ro ports: - "4321:8080" extra_hosts: - "localhost:host-gateway" environment: NOSTR_PRIVKEY: <use "openssl rand -hex 32" to generate a fresh key and place it inside ""> LN_BACKEND_TYPE: "LND" LND_ADDRESS: localhost:10009 LND_CERT_FILE: "/lnd/tls.cert" LND_MACAROON_FILE: "/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon" DATABASE_URI: "/data/nostr-wallet-connect.db" COOKIE_SECRET: <use "openssl rand -hex 32" to generate fresh secret and place it inside ""> PORT: 8080 restart: always stop_grace_period: 1m

Starting and testing

Now that you have everything ready, it is time to start the container and test.

• While you are in the nwcdirectory (important), execute the following command and check the log output, docker compose up
• You should see container logs while it is starting, and it should not exit if everything went well.
• At this point, you should be able to go to http://<ip of the host where nwc is running>:4321 and get to the interface of NWC
• To stop the test run of NWC, simply press Ctrl-C , and it will shut the container down.
• To start NWC permanently, you should execute docker compose up -d , “-d” tells Docker to detach from the session.
• To check currently running NWC logs, execute docker compose logs to run it in tail mode add -f to the end.
• To stop the container, execute docker compose down

That's all, just follow the instructions in the web interface to get started.

Updating

As with any software, you should expect fixes and updates that you would need to perform periodically. You could automate this, but it falls outside of the scope of this tutorial. Since we already have all of the necessary configuration in place, the update execution is fairly simple.

• Change directory to the clone of the git repository, cd /home/bitcoin/nwc/nostr-wallet-connect
• Run command to build Docker image: docker build -t nwc:$(date +'%Y%m%d%H%M') -t nwc:latest . (there is a dot at the end)
• Change directory back one level cd ..
• Restart (stop and start) the docker compose config docker compose down && docker compose up -d
• Done! Optionally you may want to check the logs: docker compose logs

@ 82341f88:fbfbe6a2

There’s a lot of conversation around the #TwitterFiles. Here’s my take, and thoughts on how to fix the issues identified.

I’ll start with the principles I’ve come to believe…based on everything I’ve learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead:

1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control.
2. Only the original author may remove content they produce.
3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.

The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. I no longer had hope of achieving any of it as a public company with no defense mechanisms (lack of dual-class shares being a key one). I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company.

The biggest mistake I made was continuing to invest in building tools for us to manage the public conversation, versus building tools for the people using Twitter to easily manage it for themselves. This burdened the company with too much power, and opened us to significant outside pressure (such as advertising budgets). I generally think companies have become far too powerful, and that became completely clear to me with our suspension of Trump’s account. As I’ve said before, we did the right thing for the public company business at the time, but the wrong thing for the internet and society. Much more about this here: https://twitter.com/jack/status/1349510769268850690

I continue to believe there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time. Of course mistakes were made. But if we had focused more on tools for the people using the service rather than tools for us, and moved much faster towards absolute transparency, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation of needing a fresh reset (which I am supportive of). Again, I own all of this and our actions, and all I can do is work to make it right.

Back to the principles. Of course governments want to shape and control the public conversation, and will use every method at their disposal to do so, including the media. And the power a corporation wields to do the same is only growing. It’s critical that the people have tools to resist this, and that those tools are ultimately owned by the people. Allowing a government or a few corporations to own the public conversation is a path towards centralized control.

I’m a strong believer that any content produced by someone for the internet should be permanent until the original author chooses to delete it. It should be always available and addressable. Content takedowns and suspensions should not be possible. Doing so complicates important context, learning, and enforcement of illegal activity. There are significant issues with this stance of course, but starting with this principle will allow for far better solutions than we have today. The internet is trending towards a world were storage is “free” and infinite, which places all the actual value on how to discover and see content.

Which brings me to the last principle: moderation. I don’t believe a centralized system can do content moderation globally. It can only be done through ranking and relevance algorithms, the more localized the better. But instead of a company or government building and controlling these solely, people should be able to build and choose from algorithms that best match their criteria, or not have to use any at all. A “follow” action should always deliver every bit of content from the corresponding account, and the algorithms should be able to comb through everything else through a relevance lens that an individual determines. There’s a default “G-rated” algorithm, and then there’s everything else one can imagine.

The only way I know of to truly live up to these 3 principles is a free and open protocol for social media, that is not owned by a single company or group of companies, and is resilient to corporate and government influence. The problem today is that we have companies who own both the protocol and discovery of content. Which ultimately puts one person in charge of what’s available and seen, or not. This is by definition a single point of failure, no matter how great the person, and over time will fracture the public conversation, and may lead to more control by governments and corporations around the world.

I believe many companies can build a phenomenal business off an open protocol. For proof, look at both the web and email. The biggest problem with these models however is that the discovery mechanisms are far too proprietary and fixed instead of open or extendable. Companies can build many profitable services that complement rather than lock down how we access this massive collection of conversation. There is no need to own or host it themselves.

Many of you won’t trust this solution just because it’s me stating it. I get it, but that’s exactly the point. Trusting any one individual with this comes with compromises, not to mention being way too heavy a burden for the individual. It has to be something akin to what bitcoin has shown to be possible. If you want proof of this, get out of the US and European bubble of the bitcoin price fluctuations and learn how real people are using it for censorship resistance in Africa and Central/South America.

I do still wish for Twitter, and every company, to become uncomfortably transparent in all their actions, and I wish I forced more of that years ago. I do believe absolute transparency builds trust. As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks-style, with many more eyes and interpretations to consider. And along with that, commitments of transparency for present and future actions. I’m hopeful all of this will happen. There’s nothing to hide…only a lot to learn from. The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn’t solve anything. If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.

As far as the free and open social media protocol goes, there are many competing projects: @bluesky is one with the AT Protocol, nostr another, Mastodon yet another, Matrix yet another…and there will be many more. One will have a chance at becoming a standard like HTTP or SMTP. This isn’t about a “decentralized Twitter.” This is a focused and urgent push for a foundational core technology standard to make social media a native part of the internet. I believe this is critical both to Twitter’s future, and the public conversation’s ability to truly serve the people, which helps hold governments and corporations accountable. And hopefully makes it all a lot more fun and informative again.

💸🛠️🌐 To accelerate open internet and protocol work, I’m going to open a new category of #startsmall grants: “open internet development.” It will start with a focus of giving cash and equity grants to engineering teams working on social media and private communication protocols, bitcoin, and a web-only mobile OS. I’ll make some grants next week, starting with $1mm/yr to Signal. Please let me know other great candidates for this money.

@ f72e682e:c51af867

This is the first time in human history that money is mostly in the hands of individuals and not gov/corporations/elite/funds.

@ 66df6056:f3203c64

สร้าง Nostr Bot ด้วย Python

อะแฮ่ม ขอชี้แจงไว้ก่อนว่า ผมเขียนเพื่อให้ตัวเองอ่านเพื่อวันไหนจะกลับมาทำต่อจะได้พอจำได้ว่าตัวเองทำอะไรลงไปบ้าง เพราะงั้นบางส่วนในบทความนี้อาจจะไม่ละเอียด หากลองทำตามแล้วติดตรงไหนอยากสอบถาม ติดต่อมาได้ที่ Nostr Address: kritta@rightshift.to หรือลองค้นเพิ่มเติมใน link ท้ายบทความนะครับ

อย่างที่หลาย ๆ คนน่าจะทราบกันดีอยู่แล้วว่า Nostr เป็น open protocol ที่ใคร ๆ ก็สามารถเข้ามามีส่วนร่วมในการพัฒนาได้ ทำให้มีโปรเจคต่าง ๆ เกิดขึ้นมากมาย โดยบทความในชุดนี้ผมจะหยิบโปรเจคต่าง ๆ ที่น่าสนใจมามาลองเล่น และนำมาเล่าสู่กันฟัง หวังว่าผู้ที่หลงเข้ามาอ่านจะได้ประโยชน์จากสิ่งนี้นะครับ ;)

โดยในวันนี้โปรเจคที่ผมหยิบมาคือ NDK (Nostr development kit) ผมหาไม่เจอว่าใครเป็นคนเริ่มโปรเจค แต่คนที่ดูแล repo นี้หลัก ๆ คือคุณ yukibtc เริ่มต้นเหมือนจะเริ่มจาก RUST แต่ตอนนี้เหมือนจะแตกไป swift, java, python เอาจริง ๆ ผมไม่รู้หรอกว่าใครเป็นคนทำภาษาไหนเพราะ contributors เขาเยอะมาก แต่ก็นั่นแหละ ขอบคุณที่สร้างอะไรสนุก ๆ แบบนี้ออกมาให้ได้เล่นนะครับ

โดยอย่างแรกที่เราต้องเริ่มคือการสั่ง pip install ตัว nostr sdk เพื่อใช่งาน สำหรับคนที่ไม่มี python ในเครื่องก็ไปลง python ก่อนด้วยนะ หรือจะใช้ online ผ่าน google colab ลองเล่นดูก่อนก็ได้ pip install pip install nostr-sdk จากนั้นเราก็จะสามารถใช้งาน Nostr_sdk ได้แล้ว!!! โดยการที่เราจะเข้ามาใช้งาน Nostr ได้นั้นเราจำเป็นต้องมี keys เพื่อเข้าสู่ระบบเสียก่อนงั้นเรามาเริ่มจากการสร้าง keys กันก่อน

``` from nostr_sdk import Keys

เพียงคำสั่งนี้คำสั่งเดียวก็ได้ keys แล้วงั้นเหรอ!!

keys = Keys.generate()

แยก keys ออกเป็น secret key (sk) และ public key (pk)

sk = keys.secret_key() pk = keys.public_key()

ไหน ๆ ขอดู keys หน่อยสิ้

print(f"public key: {pk.to_bech32()}") print(f"Secret key: {sk.to_bech32()}")

output:

public key: npub1wkxaxzmmamc6h8n6ev7yq3y5qmqnyxmu0xmrllcepxup9tktuzrsu646r0

Secret key: nsec160gefyqkderqlnr545ps4d5th6pex3ducqgcev69z0rstqakkv9scvat97

``` note ถ้าสร้าง keys เสร็จแล้วเอาไปเก็บไว้ในพวก dot env จะปลอดภัยและสะดวกในการใช้ต่อมากกว่า

แล้วหลังจากได้ keys มาแล้วเราจำเป็นต้องกำหนด signer, client และ relay ที่เราจะใช้ในการรับ event ของเรา

```

กำหนด keys ที่เราพึ่งสร้างให้เป็นตัว sign event

signer = NostrSigner.keys(keys)

นำเข้า key ที่มีอยู่แล้ว

app_keys = Keys.parse("nsec......")

signer = NostrSigner.keys(app_keys)

หรือใช้ NIP46 signer

uri = NostrConnectUri.parse("bunker://.. or nostrconnect://..")

nip46 = Nip46Signer(uri, app_keys, timedelta(seconds=60), None)

signer = NostrSigner.nip46(nip46)

กำหนด client ให้ใช้ signer ตัวนี้ (feel like log in)

client = Client(signer)

เพิ่ม relays ที่จะเก็บ event

client.add_relays(["wss://relay.damus.io", "wss://siamstr.com", "wss://siamstr.com","wss://relay.notoshi.win"]) client.connect()

ตั้งชื่อให้ account เราสักหน่อยเพื่อเช็คด้วยว่า เราเชื่อมต่อ relay ต่าง ๆ ผ่านมั้ย

client.set_metadata(Metadata().set_name("Testing หลาม ๆ"))

``` หลังจากกำหนดทุกอย่างเรียบร้อยแล้ว เรามาลองสร้างโพสต์แรกกันเลยดีกว่า

```

tag เพื่อเอาไว้เติมส่วนต่าง ๆ นอกจาก เนื้อหาของโน๊ต เช่นการ mention การใส่ hashtag

p = mention

t = hashtag

tag = Tag.parse(["p", "66df60562d939ada8612436489945a4ecf1d62346b3d9478dea8a338f3203c64"])

ใส่เนื้อหาที่เราค้องการโพสต์

builder = EventBuilder.text_note("สวัสดีชาวทุ่ง ", [tag]) ส่ง event ไปให้ relay โลดดดด client.send_event_builder(builder) ``` แล้วนอกจากโพสต์ตระกูล kind:1 แล้วเรายังโพสต์ kind อื่น ๆ ได้ด้วย

```

ส่งจ้อความส่วนตัว

receiver_pk = PublicKey.from_bech32("npubคนรับ") event = EventBuilder.encrypted_direct_msg(keys, receiver_pk, "ข้อความ", None).to_event(keys) print(event.as_json())

templateเปล่า

kind = Kind(เลข kind) content = "..." tags = [] builder = EventBuilder(kind, content, tags)

POW

event = builder.to_pow_event(keys, 20) print(f"POW event: {event.as_json()}")

``` ส่วนตัวผมมองว่าส่วนนี้แหละคือส่วนที่สนุกที่สุดของวันนี้ เพราะเป็นจุดที่เราสามารถนำมันออกไปต่อยอดได้มากที่สุด เช่นการเชื่อมต่อกับ service อื่น ๆ เช่น mempool.space เพื่อส่งค่าฟี bitcoin ให้เราผ่านแชท, ทำเกมง่าย ๆ เล่นกับเพื่อน ๆ หน้า timeline อย่าง cowdle หรือ หวย อย่างที่เห็นกันไปในช่วงก่อนหน้านี้ หรือใช้ทำงานกรรมกรแทนเรา เช่นการแจก badges ที่ทาง rightshift ได้ทำไปก่อนหน้า, bot relay notoshi, zapbot และอีกต่าง ๆ มากมาย

filter

ตัว filter เป็นคำสั่งที่ช่วยเรากรอง event ที่จะขอจาก relay ใช้เพื่อรับเฉพาะ event ที่เราต้องการเท่านั้น

```

f = (Filter() .pubkey(keys.public_key()) .kinds([Kind(0), Kind.from_enum(KindEnum.TEXT_NOTE())]) .custom_tag(SingleLetterTag.lowercase(Alphabet.J), ["test"]) ) print(f.as_json())

output: {"kinds":[0,1],"#j":["test"],"#p":["758dd30b7beef1ab9e7acb3c40449406c1321b7c79b63fff1909b812aecbe087"]}

f = f.kind(Kind(4)).custom_tag(SingleLetterTag.lowercase(Alphabet.J), ["append-new"]) print(f.as_json()) {"kinds":[0,1,4],"#j":["test","append-new"],"#p":["758dd30b7beef1ab9e7acb3c40449406c1321b7c79b63fff1909b812aecbe087"]}

ตัวอย่างเช่นรับเฉพาะ event ของคนที่ใช้ notoshi relay

filter =Filter().kind(Kind(10002)).custom_tag(SingleLetterTag.lowercase(Alphabet.R), ["wss://relay.notoshi.win"]) events = client.get_events_of([filter], timedelta(seconds=30))

``` สองฟังก์ชันนี้เป็นตัวสำคัญในการทำบอทในส่วนต่อไปจะเป็นตัวเสริมต่าง ๆ ที่เพิ่มลูกเล่นให้บอทได้

Metadata

metadata มีไว้แก้ไขข้อมูลต่าง ๆ ในโปรไฟล์ของเรา

``` metadata = Metadata().set_name("username")\ .set_display_name("My Username")\ .set_about("Description")\ .set_picture("https://example.com/avatar.png")\ .set_banner("https://example.com/banner.png")\ .set_nip05("username@example.com")\ .set_lud16("username@example.com")

name = ชื้อผู้ใช่

display_name = ชื่อที่จะแสดงให้คนอื่นเห็น (ถ้าช่องนี้ว่างมักจะโชว์ชื่อที่ใว่ในช่อง name)

about = bio

picture = รูปโปรไฟล์

banner = รูปปก

nip05 = Nostr addr

lud16 = Lightning addr

```

NWC

NWC หรือ Nostr wallet connection มีไว้ใช้ในการเชื่อมต่อกับกระเป๋า ln ของเราเพื่อคุมกระเป๋าของเราผ่าน Nostr

```

นำ NWC uri มาวาง

uri = NostrWalletConnectUri.parse("nostr+walletconnect://..")

สร้าง client ในรูปแบบที่เพิ่มการ zap

keys = Keys.generate() signer = NostrSigner.keys(keys) zapper = NostrZapper.nwc(uri) client = ClientBuilder().signer(signer).zapper(zapper).build()

client.add_relay("wss://relay.damus.io") client.connect()

pk = PublicKey.from_bech32(" npub คนรับ") client.zap(ZapEntity.public_key(pk), 1000, None)

```

Bot template

```

from nostr_sdk import Client, NostrSigner, Keys, Event, UnsignedEvent, Filter, \ HandleNotification, Timestamp, nip04_decrypt, UnwrappedGift, init_logger, LogLevel, Kind, KindEnum import time

init_logger(LogLevel.DEBUG)

sk = SecretKey.from_bech32("nsec1ufnus6pju578ste3v90xd5m2decpuzpql2295m3sknqcjzyys9ls0qlc85")

keys = Keys(sk)

OR

keys = Keys.parse("nsec1ufnus6pju578ste3v90xd5m2decpuzpql2295m3sknqcjzyys9ls0qlc85")

sk = keys.secret_key() pk = keys.public_key() print(f"Bot public key: {pk.to_bech32()}")

signer = NostrSigner.keys(keys) client = Client(signer)

client.add_relay("wss://relay.damus.io") client.add_relay("wss://nostr.mom") client.add_relay("wss://nostr.oxtr.dev") client.connect()

now = Timestamp.now()

nip04_filter = Filter().pubkey(pk).kind(Kind.from_enum(KindEnum.ENCRYPTED_DIRECT_MESSAGE())).since(now) nip59_filter = Filter().pubkey(pk).kind(Kind.from_enum(KindEnum.GIFT_WRAP())).since( Timestamp.from_secs(now.as_secs() - 60 * 60 * 24 * 7)) # NIP59 have a tweaked timestamp (in the past) client.subscribe([nip04_filter, nip59_filter], None)

class NotificationHandler(HandleNotification): def handle(self, relay_url, subscription_id, event: Event): print(f"Received new event from {relay_url}: {event.as_json()}") if event.kind().match_enum(KindEnum.ENCRYPTED_DIRECT_MESSAGE()): print("Decrypting NIP04 event") try: msg = nip04_decrypt(sk, event.author(), event.content()) print(f"Received new msg: {msg}") client.send_direct_msg(event.author(), f"Echo: {msg}", event.id()) except Exception as e: print(f"Error during content NIP04 decryption: {e}") elif event.kind().match_enum(KindEnum.GIFT_WRAP()): print("Decrypting NIP59 event") try: # Extract rumor unwrapped_gift = UnwrappedGift.from_gift_wrap(keys, event) sender = unwrapped_gift.sender() rumor: UnsignedEvent = unwrapped_gift.rumor()

            # Check timestamp of rumor
            if rumor.created_at().as_secs() >= now.as_secs():
                if rumor.kind().match_enum(KindEnum.SEALED_DIRECT()):
                    msg = rumor.content()
                    print(f"Received new msg [sealed]: {msg}")
                    client.send_sealed_msg(sender, f"Echo: {msg}", None)
                else:
                    print(f"{rumor.as_json()}")
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error during content NIP59 decryption: {e}")

def handle_msg(self, relay_url, msg):
    None

abortable = client.handle_notifications(NotificationHandler())

Optionally, to abort handle notifications look, call abortable.abort()

while True: time.sleep(5.0) # abortable.abort() ```

ผมหวังว่าบทความนี้จะมีประโยชน์กับคนอ่าน และคาดหวังที่จะได้เห็น service ต่าง ๆ ที่สร้างสรรค์เกิดขึ้นหลังจากนี้ Link เพิ่มเติมที่สำหรับศึกษาต่อ

• https://github.com/rust-nostr/nostr/tree/master
• https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips

@ 2a2e6618:aaa28525

• It is almost April!
• How about this external image ?
• Do something to your hair.
• Have you ever eaten a spoon full of peanut butter ?
• Have you ever eaten a spoon full of ketchup ?
• Do you like spiders ?
• How about this external image ?

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

Dos resoluciones emitidas por el Banco Central de Cuba (BCC) y publicadas este lunes en la Gaceta Oficial modifican significativamente la presencia bancaria extranjera en la isla, con la partida de una prestigiosa entidad bancaria española y el desembarco de otra rusa.

La primera decisión implica la cancelación de la licencia del Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA), que había operado en Cuba desde el año 2000. Según la Resolución 34/2024, esta medida responde a la solicitud del propio banco, que decidió cerrar su oficina en La Habana.

Paralelamente, la Resolución 40/2024 introduce a un nuevo jugador en el mercado financiero cubano, BCA NOVIKOMBANK S.A., una entidad bancaria con base en Rusia. Esta institución ha recibido autorización para abrir una oficina de representación en La Habana.

Según reporta Periódico Cubano, NOVIKOMBANK se dedica a gestionar, promover o coordinar negocios en moneda libremente convertible, particularmente en lo que se refiere a acuerdos de corresponsalía entre su casa matriz y las instituciones financieras en Cuba.

Este detalle subraya el papel del banco como un facilitador de transacciones internacionales y no como un operador de servicios bancarios directos en la isla.

Además, NOVIKOMBANK se especializa en servicios financieros para el sector industrial y tecnológico, particularmente en áreas relacionadas con la defensa y la alta tecnología, reflejando su papel en la economía nacional rusa.

La operación de NOVIKOMBANK en Cuba estará limitada a funciones representativas, sin involucrarse en operaciones bancarias directas, conforme a las regulaciones del BCC. Sus operaciones en el mercado cubano podrían interpretarse como un reflejo de la creciente influencia de Rusia en el país y la región.

Este ajuste en la política financiera cubana preguntas sobre el futuro de las relaciones financieras entre Cuba y el resto del mundo. La revocación de la licencia de BBVA y la concesión de una nueva licencia a una entidad rusa demuestra una dependencia todavía mayor del régimen de La Habana de su aliado de Moscú.

El proceso de inscripción de NOVIKOMBANK en el Registro de Instituciones Financieras y de Entidades No Financieras del Banco Central debe completarse en un plazo de quince días hábiles desde la vigencia de la resolución.

La capacidad del régimen cubano para atraer a instituciones financieras internacionales, mientras mantiene un control estricto sobre las operaciones que estas pueden realizar dentro del país, sigue representando un obstáculo para el sector bancario mundial.

Lo anterior, unido a las sanciones que gravitan sobre los actores internacionales que contravengan las disposiciones legales del embargo estadounidense sobre Cuba –país que está incluido en la Lista de países patrocinadores del terrorismo- sigue representando un obstáculo para las finanzas de un régimen cada vez más aislado y dependiente del poder oligárquico de Rusia.

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Let's hear some of your latest Bitcoin trades, feel free to include links to your shops or sites you sold it from or the pic of the sold item.

If you missed our last thread, here are some of the items stackers recently spent their sats on the ~AGORA territory.



@ fcdec8c6:e0ae5b48

• It is almost April!
• How about this external image ?
• Do something to your hair.
• Have you ever eaten a spoon full of peanut butter ?
• Have you ever eaten a spoon full of ketchup ?
• Do you like spiders ?
• How about this external image ?

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

La abrupta subida experimentada por el dólar y el euro en el mercado informal de divisas en Cuba en las últimas 24 horas presagia una mayor inestabilidad en el panorama económico de la Isla, mientras continúa devaluando la moneda nacional y precarizando la economía familiar de los cubanos.

Un nuevo salto de cinco puntos sitúa a la divisa estadounidense en una cotización preocupante de 380 pesos cubanos (CUP). Si la víspera el dólar fluctuaba en las preferencias de compra expresadas por los cubanos en torno a los 375 CUP, este miércoles se consolida en un valor que pone los pelos de punta.

Algo similar sucedió con la divisa europea. Si la víspera se cotizaba en el mercado informal a 385 CUP, este miércoles Primer de Mayo se sitúa en los 390 pesos cubanos. El MLC se queda quieto en base, contemplando la jugada.

Malas noticias en su día para los trabajadores cubanos, que ven cómo se precariza su economía familiar, se esfuman los ahorros y se agranda el agujero en sus bolsillos, mientras el gobierno de la “continuidad” de Miguel Díaz-Canel sigue sin conseguir poner freno a la inflación y emprender las necesarias reformas que corrijan los desequilibrios económicos y saquen a millones de cubanos de la franja de pobreza extrema en la que viven.

Tasa de cambio hoy 01/05/2024 - 6:24am en Cuba:

Tasa de cambio del dolar USD a CUP según elTOQUE: 380 CUP

Tasa de cambio del euro EUR a CUP según elTOQUE: 390 CUP

Tasa de cambio del MLC a CUP según elTOQUE: 295 CUP

Tasa de cambio alternativa de otras plataformas:

Tasa de cambio del Dolar (USD): Compra 376 CUP, Venta 377 CUP

Tasa de cambio del Euro (EUR): Compra 386 CUP, Venta 385 CUP

Tasa de cambio del MLC: Compra 293 CUP, Venta 293 CUP

Con las tasas de cambio actualizadas para el peso cubano (CUP), los costos de cada billete de dólar estadounidense (USD) y de euro (EUR) son los siguientes:

Dólar (USD) a CUP:

$1 USD = 380 CUP

$5 USD = 1900 CUP

$10 USD = 3800 CUP

$20 USD = 7600 CUP

$50 USD = 19000 CUP

$100 USD = 38000 CUP

Euro (EUR) a CUP:

€1 EUR = 390 CUP

€5 EUR = 1950 CUP

€10 EUR = 3900 CUP

€20 EUR = 7800 CUP

€50 EUR = 19500 CUP

€100 EUR = 39000 CUP

Estos valores reflejan la cantidad de pesos cubanos que corresponde a cada uno de los billetes de dólar y euro en circulación, facilitando las transacciones y conversiones monetarias en Cuba. Son valores referenciales y pueden variar en el mercado informal, según la dinámica de oferta y demanda.

Esta situación es una muestra de cómo avanza la devaluación del peso cubano, en una crisis inflacionaria acentuada por su bajo uso para transacciones cotidianas, como la compra de gasolina o de productos de primera necesidad.

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

Reporteros sin Fronteras (RSF) está “en alerta por la detención arbitraria del periodista José Luis Tan Estrada”, informó en la red social X la cuenta en español de la organización no gubernamental.

RSF denunció que el reportero independiente, colaborador de CubaNet, lleva 96 horas de prisión en Villa Marista, el cuartel de la Seguridad del Estado, “en condiciones de incomunicación y sin acceso a la justicia”.

“José Luis Tan Estrada lleva meses sufriendo amenazas y acosos, habiendo sido detenido en otras ocasiones. Es urgente que las autoridades cubanas garanticen su derecho a la defensa, esclarezcan el caso y liberen al periodista”, exigió la organización no gubernamental.

Este lunes, se presentó un recurso de habeas corpus ante el Tribunal Provincial de La Habana a nombre de Tan Estrada. El Centro de Asesoría Legal Cubalex, al dar a conocer esta información, destacó que la persona que recibió la solicitud en el Tribunal se negó a identificarse formalmente.

También este lunes, una persona preocupada por la situación del periodista independiente se acercó a Villa Marista para solicitar los detalles necesarios para formalizar un contrato con algún abogado defensor. Sin embargo, fue recibida por un militar que se identificó como el oficial de guardia, quien le comunicó que no podía proporcionar ningún tipo de información a menos que fuera un familiar directo de Tan Estrada.

A pesar de explicar que la familia del reportero residía en Camagüey, el oficial mantuvo su negativa. Cubalex denunció esta acción como una violación al principio de legalidad, ya que la legislación no especifica que únicamente los familiares pueden solicitar información sobre un detenido.

También este lunes casi una veintena de periodistas, activistas y artistas cubanos lanzaron una petición en la plataforma change.org dirigida a la comunidad global y a colegas, en la cual exigen la liberación “inmediata” del reportero.

“Nos dirigimos a ustedes con urgencia para que nos apoyen en nuestra exigencia a las autoridades cubanas de liberación inmediata e incondicional del periodista independiente cubano José Luis Tan Estrada, quien se encuentra detenido arbitrariamente”, indica la petición firmada por periodistas y activistas residentes en Cuba, México, Estados Unidos, Costa Rica, Argentina y España.

De acuerdo con la información disponible, el régimen no ha formulado cargos concretos contra Tan Estrada, por lo que su detención es vista como parte de una estrategia de acoso y persecución política.

Tan Estrada ha sido una voz crítica del régimen cubano y un defensor de los derechos humanos en la Isla, razones por las cuales las autoridades lo mantienen privado de libertad.

Este mes, ya Tan Estrada había sido citado en varias ocasiones por las autoridades policiales. Después de una de las entrevistas en la Tercera Estación de la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR) de Camagüey, informó que fue multado con 3.000 pesos por violar el Decreto-Ley 370, una herramienta utilizada por el régimen para reprimir a activistas, periodistas y ciudadanos en general.

@ 20986fb8:cdac21b3

Improving the Availability and Reliability of the Relay Network

Wendy Ding

YakiHonne is committed to creating a censorship-resistant decentralized media. A sufficiently decentralized and immutable storage layer is key to achieving this goal. The relay network based on the Nostr protocol provides an excellent censorship-resistant storage solution. Relay serves as an intermediary in message storage and broadcasting, allowing users to self-host relays and to choose which relays to broadcast information freely. If a relay refuses service or shuts down, other relays can continue propagating the information(fiatjaf.2019). This mechanism turns shadow banning into a "whack-a-mole" game, making it nearly impossible to completely block users through a specific data source, thereby providing a space for free speech for many controversial topics and creators.

Despite providing a simple and effective architecture for social media censorship resistence, existing relay networks face two major challenges to scale and sustain. First, the relay network lacks incentives, without which the stability and availability of the relay network will suffer. The censorship-resistant network relies on numerous distributed and available relays and wider usage of relay to ensure free flow of information（Rabble,2024). Second, although the core function of a relay is to store and distribute information in a decentralized manner, they cannot guarantee the immutability of information. Therefore, relay nodes are able to manipulate or delete information.

In this article, we will focus on how to solve these two issues by introducing economic incentives and attestation mechanism, thereby enhancing the availability and reliability of the relay network, ensuring that it provides solid support for decentralized media.

Nostr Protocol is Decentralized

The design of Nostr involves the separation of user accounts, relays, and clients from each other, free from any entity's control and censorship. Users can host relays, and content can be stored and retrieved across multiple relays. Even if certain relays refuse service or shut down, other relays can still store and propagate information. This differs from Fediverse applications such as Mastodon and Bluesky, and is certainly different from "Web3" social media protocols like Farcaster.

• In Mastodon, user accounts are tied to servers controlled by administrators, thus instance owners can ban users and have the authority to block other instances, implementing censorship (Rozenshtein,2023).
• Although Bluesky promotes itself as an open and decentralized network, it is misleading（Fiatjaf:Bluesky, 2023): Bluesky directly controls the atproto protocol, which allows Bluesky to change the protocol at any time; Bluesky's identity system relies on a central server to maintain and authenticate global IDs, allowing Bluesky to control and potentially ban any user; even if users can host their own content, all content must be distributed through Bluesky's central server. Moreover, Bluesky's design does not encourage or support effective interoperability with other clients. This means if users are dissatisfied with Bluesky, their options are very limited.
• Farcaster relies on large Hubs to store all user data, and these Hubs will grow increasingly larger. These Hubs' power to censor and disseminate data cannot be underestimated. As the network expands, storage demands and costs surge dramatically. It is estimated that if Farcaster's daily active users grow by 5% per week, the cost of running a Hub will reach $3,500 per year by 2024, and will soar to $6.9 million per year by 2027 (Varun,2022). The high operating costs mean that only a few companies can manage Hubs, leading to a decrease in the number of Hubs and an increased risk of network centralization. Additionally, Hub operators may collude to lower the priority of certain content or to censor it (Varun,2022). In contrast, Nostr encourages a mix of large Hubs and smaller relays built for specific purposes,as shown in Figure 1. These small relays can be established by large publishers, small organizations, or hackers, maintaining the network’s decentralization and openness (Hodlbod:Outbox,2024).

*Figure 1. Farcaster Hub vs Nostr Relay

This is indeed the case. Gareth Tyson et al., using a dataset from July 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, comprising 17.8 million posts, 1.5 million pubkeys, and 712 relays, analyzed the decentralization of Nostr and found that the distribution of posts and users on relays and relay hosting exhibited a high degree of decentralization. This demonstrates that the technical architecture of the Nostr protocol is superior to that of all existing decentralized media protocols.

• Posts and users are not highly concentrated on individual relays but are widely distributed, As shown in Figure 2. 93% of posts can be found across multiple relays, with 178 relays, or 25% of all relays, hosting more than 5% of the posts each. According to user count statistics, even if the top 50 relays were shut down, 90% of the content would still be accessible. Similarly, based on post count statistics, shutting down the top 30 relays would still maintain accessibility to over 90% of the content. Even removing the top 50 relays would still leave 71% of the content accessible, as shown in Figure 3.1.

*Figure 2. The percentage of relays, posts, and users in the top 15 regions and ASes, ranked by the number of relays. Source: Gareth Tyson et al. (2024), "Exploring the Nostr Ecosystem: A Study of Decentralization and Resilience," arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.05709.

• The decentralization of relay hosting across regions and autonomous systems(AS). Relays are distributed across 50 countries and 151 autonomous systems(ASes), as shown in Figure 4. Surprisingly, no single country or autonomous system hosts over 25% of relays. Over 80% of posts remain available after removing the top 10 ASes, as shown in Figure 3.2. Taking Mastodon as an example, post availability drops to less than 10% after removing the top 10 ASes hosting instances (Raman et al., 2019). This is mainly due to the more even distribution of relays across different ASes, making them more resilient to failures in individual AS.

*Figure 3.1 Top X Relays Removed; Figure 3.2 Top X ASes Removed. Source: See Figure 2.

*Figure 4. The distribution of Relay numbers across different countries. Data from Nostr.Watch

Analysis of Relay Availability

Relay is the soul of the Nostr protocol's decentralization. To build a truly usable censorship-resistant relay network, two conditions must be met: relay nodes must be sufficiently distributed and available to ensure the free storage and dissemination of information; even small-scale relay nodes should be widely discovered and utilized.

As of April 23. 2024, there are only 639 relays online globally, a two-thirds reduction from the same period last year, predominantly distributed in North America and Europe, which together host 80% of these relays. Additionally, due to differences in network conditions, the performance of relays varies significantly across regions. For instance, tests in Singapore have shown notable differences in response times among relays in Asia, North America, and Europe, as shown in Figure 5.Moreover, a pronounced head effect is evident , with the top relay hosting 73% of the posts. Although these posts are available across multiple relays, Nostr remains highly decentralized (fiatjaf:Nostr,2024). However, this concentration of usage does not favor the wide discovery and use of smaller relay nodes or the visibility of users, reducing the incentive to build small relay nodes, especially in an ecosystem lacking incentives.

*Figure.5 Relay availability testing. Data from Nostr Watch.

• The reduction in the number of relays and their instability are primarily due to the lack of effective economic incentives (Shinobi:Nostr Scale,2023). Within the Nostr ecosystem, because clients often lack stable income or financial support, it becomes difficult to provide effective incentives for relays. Most relays rely on personal interest or restrictive paid models to maintain operations. These paid models limit specific users' write or even read access, contradicting the initial anti-censorship intent and weakening economic interactions between clients and relays. Currently, 95% of relays struggle to cover operational costs, and 20% have experienced significant downtime due to lack of financial support (Gareth Tyson et al., 2024).
• The discovery and follow mechanisms of relays cause those with higher usage to be more easily discovered by users. These relays are often operated by well-known clients or developers, thereby attracting more users. Ensuring that more small relays are widely discovered and used is a key factor in maintaining the censorship resistance and activity of the relay network. The Nostr ecosystem is working to improve the discovery and follow mechanisms of relays through the Gossip Model, Outbox model, and Blastr. The challenge or key aspect of these models is optimizing the discoverability and coverage among relay users without over-replicating and redundantly retrieving posts, ensuring broad content dissemination (Hodlbod:Outbox,2024). However, achieving this goal requires better collaboration and consensus among Nostr developers. Currently, due to the lack of sufficient incentives, Nostr developers focus more on their own client design ideas, neglecting efficiency and compatibility with various existing user types, and even causing confusion in the development of other clients.

Potential Incentive Measures for Relays

The key to resolving the availability issues of the relay network lies in clearly identifying who will continuously pay for its operational costs. Only when the relay network can be profitable or at least cover its operational costs can it maintain long-term scalability and prosperity. The primary cost of operating a relay comes from server storage expenses. To ensure content availability, content is simultaneously published and repeatedly retrieved across multiple relays(Shinobi:Relay,2023), which further increases traffic consumption and operational costs. However, this is crucial for decentralization and ensuring data reliability. Currently, the main sources of income for relays are donations and paid posts, but 95% of relays struggle to sustain their operational costs through publishing donations. Therefore, this section will primarily explore potential solutions to cover the operational costs of relays.

1. Client Pays for Storage Costs

Clients are encouraged to create paid products or cover relay’s storage costs through their financial budgets. This approach helps in exploring the diversity of monetizing decentralized media and facilitates the formation of economic consensus between relay and its clients, thereby establishing incentive mechanisms for relay, as illustrated in Figure 6.

*Figure 6. Incentive mechanisms between clients and the relays

In a previous article, we discussed two pillars of decentralized media of YakiHonne: decentralized publishing and decentralized review. The former guarantees that content will never be lost; the latter creates a new cost-incentive model to ensure that when content and moderation become permissionless, the platform can still maintain truthfulness and cost-effectiveness. Currently, YakiHonne supports various forms of decentralized publishing, including articles, flash news, curations, videos, and uncensored notes. Content review through uncensored notes further promotes YakiHonne's monetization and decentralization. In YakiHonne, publishing flash news requires a minimum payment of 800 sats, with some revenue used to incentivize relay operations and support uncensored notes. For long-form content, payment of relay's storage fees can be made through subscriptions, advertisements, or even the client's financial budget, as shown in Figure 7.

**Figure 7. Incentive mechanisms between YakiHonne and the relays

2. Direct Income for Relays

In Nostr, the development of relays focuses more on performance optimization rather than the development of new features. Relays could potentially enhance revenue by offering specific relay functions and storing various types of events. Earning income through specific functions requires widespread adoption by clients and relays, otherwise, it may lead to the risk of centralization or implementation failure (Hodlbod: relay Function,2023 ). Earning income by storing different types of events could be a viable option. While maintaining openness to various content, relays can use keyword filters during data retrieval to display specific topics, thus promoting a subscription-based payment model. Additionally, relays and clients can form revenue-sharing agreements on subscription fees, which not only helps increase income but also promotes economic consensus between the two parties.

Attesting content on relays

The redundancy in content storage ensures high availability of content but does not fully guarantee its immutability. In practice, it is possible for relays to tamper with contents or delete information by influencing certain relay nodes. To address this issue, we need to introduce a complementary attestation mechanism to enhance the reliability of the current relay systems.

There are various methods to implement this proof. As the most decentralized social media base-layer protocol, Nostr is well recognized within the Bitcoin community. However, to really use the Bitcoin network to validate information in technical sense has not been disccussed yet. If content hosted on the Nostr network should ever be attested, it should happen on the Bitcoin network.

To attest and validate large amount of content on the Nostr relay network, it's not economically viable to attest every post / every NIP-23 article on the Bitcoin network. Data should be compressed and organized efficiently before being attested. The merkle tree is an efficient and secure data verification mechanism. The accuracy of the data can be verified using only the merkle root and the related hash paths, as shown in Figure 8. Therefore, a final attestation over a large amount of content can be one merkle root submission to the Bitcoin network. Once submitted, all content represented under this merkle root becomes immutable.

**Figure 8. Hashed content on Merkle Tree

When it is necessary to verify whether the content stored on a relay has been unaltered, the content is first retrieved from the relay and its hash value recalculated. Then, using this hash value and other related intermediate hash values, verification proceeds up the Merkle tree until reaching the Merkle root recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. Finally, by comparing this computed Merkle root with the root hash recorded on the blockchain, the integrity and authenticity of the content are confirmed. The process is depicted in Figure 9.

**Figure 9. Attesting content on relays

Repeating this process will eventually make sure all attested content is genuine. As a result, relays will provide content availability and redundancy, while the Bitcoin network validate Nostr content in batches.

Conclusion

The relay network is one of the core infrastructures that YakiHonne uses to build decentralized media. Through data analysis of Nostr's decentralization features, it has been found that Nostr's technical architecture has made it the most decentralized media protocol currently available. However, due to the lack of effective economic incentives, the relay network faces challenges in availability. This article explores several potential economic incentive models for relays. Despite many uncertainties and challenges, the importance of sustained incentives in combating censorship networks is clear. Additionally, considering the current lack of immutability in the relay network, we propose an attestation mechanism to enhance the reliability of the relay system. Improving relays reliability and availability will help promote the scalability and prosperity of the entire relay ecosystem, providing solid support for building decentralized media.

@ 3c984938:2ec11289

This is a part of my sporadic work on the Legend Series. I had a hard time finding good images. The images Ai often gave out made the islanders that look like Indians with the feather crowns, so that was interesting. The ending of this one is kinda funny.

The island was inhabited long ago by the ancient people (called Taotaomona). They were much larger than a regular person today. They also had magic, albeit little. The men were blessed with size and strength, while the women were gifted with wisdom and just a touch of magic in their hair.

One day, in the Hagatna bay. A group of fishermen noticed it their bay had grew. It was beyond confusing, to say the least. Another group of fishermen noticed that their bay, pago, also grew on the opposite side of the island.

"If this continues, our island will be cut into two pieces," cried the islanders. A wise leader came up with an idea to protect the island. The fishermen would watch their own bays from their own bays.

^^Huge fish, but you can also see the Taotaomona are also big.

The next morning, a fisherman spotted a massive fish in Pago Bay. The giant fish swam in and started to nibble the shoreline. The fisherman ducks behind boulders to observe and passes the message to his clan leader.

The leaders came together and came a conclusion that they must kill the fish. They sent runners to Hagatna Bay to ask for help to save their island home. Soon, Pago Bay was surrounded by canoes and men. All of them diligently watching to prevent their land from being eaten away, both in and out of the reef. Regardless of how hard they searched or waited, the fish didn't show. After awhile they give up and returned home.

^^Fish nibbling under the island from down under.

The news spread throughout the island about their imminent doom from clan to clan. They felt powerless to do anything.

The women of the island wore long, flowing locks and were proud to wash their hair in the river spring. The juices of lemons were used to enhance the magic. The peels were thrown into the spring after they were finished.

The maidens threw away the lemon peels into Hagatna Spring, but now they were popping up in Pago Bay. Which can only mean the peels were passing through the island, how did that happen? It could only mean the fish was nibbling under the island. A maiden cried out, discovering this new information, "We're surely doomed." Another maiden came forward and said, "Maybe we can outsmart the fish." The fish will be lured into swimming to Hagatna spring and set up a trap. The women came together to gather to trim their precious hair and wove it into a net. The net grew large enough to spread out in every direction of the bay. Each maiden held onto the edges and spread out to sing, waiting for the fish by the spring.

^^This is not an accurate representation, as the ancient people did not wear clothes. And they cut their hair to make the net.

Their song carried under the island, and the soothing sound carried underwater to the giant fishes lair. Little by little, it slowly swam closer to listen to the maiden's song. They sang and sang until they came up with new songs. The massive fish swam closer and emerges from the water. The maiden jumped into the spring surrounding it with their net to capture it. Their net didn't give way no matter how much the fish struggled. It was a success.

One maiden immediately ran to Hagatna to tell the others they had captured the giant fish and that the island was saved.

Everyone rushed to the spring to see the freshly caught fish and were overjoyed. The maidens were celebrated for saving the island when men's strength did not. Everyone ate the fish! Happy time!

Historical Context:

Here you can see the distance of how far the lemon peels traveled under the island. And the shape of the bay. Legends are always fun to explore of how something came to be.

---

Hello Dear Reader! I hope you enjoy my content? I am curious to hear your thoughts. Do you like what you see?

I'll be grateful for your feedback. Please feel free to leave a comment. Thank you

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

La campaña de bancarización forzada ha fracasado estrepitosamente en Cuba, pues según reconoce la propia prensa oficialista, actualmente “hay menos efectivo que hace 8 meses” y no funciona el pago por QR y demás canales electrónicos a los que se obligó a los establecimientos comerciales.

Sendas resoluciones del 2023 como la 111 del Banco Central de Cuba y la 93 del Ministerio de Comercio (Mincin) no han logrado canalizar el comercio hacia el ámbito digital y cada vez los bancos tienen menos efectivo y el dinero circulante en manos de la población es suficiente para sufragar los gastos crecientes de una economía con inflación galopante.

De acuerdo con una publicación en el portal de la emisora oficialista Radio Sancti Spíritus, las sucursales del Banco Popular de Ahorro (BPA) en esa central provincia computan que solo un 4% de todas las operaciones de comercio electrónico que se ejecutan respaldadas por cuentas de BPA son mediante código QR.

En ese sentido, el texto afirma que “en la mayoría de los establecimientos privados y estatales el QR es una foto que es como decir de mentirita, como en los juegos de niños, tal como evidencian controles de la Dirección Estatal de Comercio”.

Resulta que como se decretó la obligatoriedad de habilitar dichos pagos, ya un 80% de los establecimientos anuncian que se puede pagar por QR, pero ponen trabas al consumidor, ya que prefieren el efectivo.

“Lo viven quienes escuchan los alegatos, que si no hay conexión o se demora, que si el dueño o el administrador no está o porque la foto es para que los inspectores la vean”, explica Radio Sancti Spíritus.

El asunto es que los que venden productos o prestan un servicio están obligados a tener cuentas bancarias fiscales a donde cae el dinero de los pagos por QR que posteriormente no pueden retirar en efectivo dada la poca disponibilidad de dinero en los bancos. Ello hace que potencien el pago en efectivo.

Los bancos, ya colapsados, enfrentan ahora una escasez de efectivo peor que hace ocho meses, cuando se intensificaron las medidas para promover las transacciones electrónicas. Los ciudadanos, por su parte, se encuentran con frecuencia buscando retirar dinero en efectivo de cajeros automáticos o directamente en las sucursales, luchando contra una combinación de inadecuada cultura financiera, limitaciones tecnológicas y una visible resistencia por parte de los comercios tanto privados como estatales.

La crisis se agrava cuando los bancos no logran dispensar a tiempo el dinero que legalmente pertenece a las personas, ya sea por trabajo, ahorro o remesas. Recientemente en el propio territorio espirituano se tomó la medida de no poner más dinero en los cajeros automáticos. Ahora los bancos limitaron la extracción de dinero a solo 5.000 pesos cubanos (CUP) que debe hacerse por la ventanilla de caja en horario bancario y para lo cual el titular de la tarjeta magnética debe llevar su carnet de identidad.

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

La Fiscalía General lo solicitó y Tribunal Provincial de Camagüey se lo concedió, de manera tal que la justicia que se imparte bajo el régimen totalitario cubano decidió condenar con hasta 15 años de cárcel a manifestantes que salieron a las calles de Nuevitas en agosto de 2022.

Así lo confirmó este domingo el Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (OCDH), divulgando a través de sus redes sociales las condenas impuestas a 13 manifestantes que permanecían encarcelados por participar en unas multitudinarias y pacíficas protestas, en la que cientos de nueviteros tomaron las calles a ritmo de la conga y gritos de “libertad” y “¡pongan la corriente, pinga!”.

OCDH condena las inhumanas sanciones de hasta 15 años de cárcel contra ciudadanos que participaron en protestas populares en Nuevitas (Cuba)

Madrid, 27 de abril de 2024. El Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (OCDH) condena en los términos más enérgicos las sanciones… pic.twitter.com/cGYTSz6PyI

— Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (@observacuba) April 27, 2024

“Estas brutales condenas, la mayoría entre 10 y 15 años (138 años en total), forman parte de la represión que sufren los cubanos que se manifiestan críticamente por la situación actual del país”, apuntó el OCDH en su comunicado.

Manifestando su condena a esta nueva evidencia de la represión y la injusticia en Cuba, el Observatorio consideró que las sentencias son sintomáticas de “un odio al pueblo cubano que no tiene compasión con nadie y que no escucha ni siquiera el gran número de peticiones en favor de los presos políticos y de conciencia, incluidas las de la Iglesia Católica”.

De las 14 personas que se sentaron en el banquillo, 11 fueron encontradas culpables del delito de “sedición”, por el cual cumplirán penas superiores a los 10 años de privación de libertad. Una sola de las acusadas quedó absuelta en el juicio, por falta de pruebas.

La joven Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, más conocida en las redes sociales como “La Chamaca”, resultó “sancionada por el delito intencional y consumado de propaganda enemiga de carácter continuado (10 años de cárcel) y como autora de un delito intencional y consumado de sedición (12 años de cárcel), para una sanción conjunta de 15 años de privación de libertad”.

Rodríguez Prado fue la autora de un video que circuló en redes sociales, en el que quedó registrado el violento forcejeo protagonizado por agentes de la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR) contra tres niñas, durante las protestas.

La joven fue una de las presentadas en el programa Razones de Cuba, presentado por el vocero del régimen cubano, Humberto López. Rodríguez Prado, junto a Lázaro García Ríos, Jimmy Jhonson Agosto y Yennys Artola del Sol, fueron grabados en el infame formato de videos de autoinculpación que tanto complace a los represores de la Seguridad del Estado.

En ellos, los manifestantes dieron supuesto testimonio de las instrucciones recibidas para “incitar a la violencia, manipular grupos de personas y articular situaciones de desestabilización interna”. A pesar de haber figurado en el citado programa como uno de los detenidos por las protestas de Nuevitas, García Ríos no aparece ahora entre los enjuiciados por estos hechos.

Jhonson Agosto y Artola del Sol sí están entre los sentenciados. Al primero se le sanciona “por el delito intencional y consumado de sedición (10 años de cárcel) y por el delito de sabotaje (7 años de cárcel), para una sanción conjunta de 13 años de privación de libertad”.

Por su parte, Artola del Sol se libró del cargo de “sedición” y resultó “sancionada por el delito intencional y consumado de propaganda enemiga de carácter continuado a 8 años de privación de libertad”. Durante el programa de López, la joven “confesó” que La Chamaca le había propuesto “escribir un cartel en la fábrica de fideos... lo mío era filmar el cartel”.

Entre los “sediciosos”, el Tribunal Provincial de Camagüey condenó a José Armando Torrente Muñoz (14 años de privación de libertad), Ediolvis Marín Mora (13), Lisdan Cabrera Batista (11), Daiver Leyva Vélez (10), Keiler Velázquez Medina (10), Menkel De Jesús Menéndez Vargas (10), Frank Alberto Carrión Suárez (10), Lázaro Alejandro Pérez Agosto (10) y Frai Pascual Claro Valladares (10).

Este último, al conocer la sentencia este sábado, intentó quitarse la vida en la prisión “Cerámica”, donde se encuentra recluido, en la provincia Camagüey

El manifestante Wilker Álvarez Ramírez resultó “sancionado por el delito intencional y consumado de encubrimiento a 4 años de privación de libertad”, mientras que Yanelis Valladares Jaime fue absuelta por insuficiencia de pruebas “como autora del delito de sedición”.

Las protestas en Nuevitas tuvieron lugar en agosto de 2022, cuando el país estaba bajo una dura etapa de apagones de hasta 18 horas, similar a la vivida en tiempos recientes. En aquel momento la policía cubana intervino en las protestas por dos noches consecutivas, pero en la segunda ocasión la represión policial se transmitió en directo por las redes sociales.

Poco a poco se fueron conociendo los nombres de algunos manifestantes encarcelados, aunque el régimen nunca precisó la cantidad de personas que detuvo en unas manifestaciones pacíficas en las que cientos de cubanos protestaron contra la precariedad, la miseria, la represión y los apagones en Cuba.

@ 9ecbb0e7:06ab7c09

El programa Hacemos Cuba, conducido por el vocero del régimen castrista Humberto López y emitido en horario estelar por la televisión oficialista, amenazó el pasado jueves a los cubanos con la pena de muerte si participan en manifestaciones masivas que vayan en contra del Partido Comunista (PCC), que por decreto se autotitula como “fuerza superior” de la sociedad y el Estado.

Según la conversación de Humberto López con el coronel Hugo Morales Karell, del Ministerio del Interior (Minint), y Otto Molina Rodríguez, presidente de la Sala de lo Penal del Tribunal Supremo Popular, el actual Código Penal contempla 30 años de cárcel, cadena perpetua y hasta la pena de muerte como respuesta a quienes realicen manifestaciones masivas que busquen “subvertir el orden”.

En ese sentido, la amenaza estuvo dirigida a los que se le imputen delitos graves como sedición y otros cargos severos como el “terrorismo”. Por ejemplo, Morales Karell acusó de “terroristas” a los cubanos residen en Estados Unidos y, según el criterio de las autoridades represoras, “fomentan la violencia”. Asimismo, se señaló a aquellos que usan las redes sociales para “incitar a la agitación pública”.

Estas declaraciones surgen a solo semanas de que se cumpla el tercer aniversario de las históricas protestas del 11 de julio de 2021, que culminaron con más de mil presos políticos en las cárceles de la dictadura.

Sin embargo, a pesar de las consecuencias de desafiar públicamente al régimen y las continuas advertencias, las manifestaciones en Cuba han continuado aumentando en la medida que empeoran las condiciones económicas de los ciudadanos.

Según el exescolta del servicio secreto del régimen cubano, la amenaza de la pena de muerte no está dirigida específicamente a los influencers o disidentes que se encuentran fuera de Cuba, aunque sí se menciona a este grupo. La amenaza está dirigida principalmente a infundir miedo en los ciudadanos dentro de Cuba.

Calvo sugiere que la dictadura cubana está utilizando esta táctica de amenaza extrema para disuadir a la población general de participar en cualquier tipo de protesta o disidencia, trasladando el miedo a las fronteras internas del país.

Esto se considera un intento de mantener el control y la estabilidad del régimen al evitar que las manifestaciones y el descontento se propaguen, particularmente entre aquellos que pueden estar considerando unirse a movimientos de protesta o expresar su descontento de forma pública.

@ d830ee7b:4e61cd62

มีใครเกิดท่านได้เห็นอะไรแบบนี้บ้างไหมครับ?

คุณเคยสัมผัสกับการสื่อสารแบบเรียบง่ายที่แทบไม่ต้องพึ่งเทคโนโลยีเลยบ้างไหม?

เช่น การขีดเขียนลงบนต้นยูคาลิปตัสหรือตามผนังสังกะสี กิจกรรมเหล่านี้เผยให้เห็นถึงความปรารถนาอันแท้จริงของมนุษย์ที่จะทิ้งร่องรอยบางอย่างไว้ในโลกใบนี้ ผมเคยเป็นหนึ่งในคนที่หลงใหลในการใช้เครื่องมือง่ายๆ เช่น ปากกาเมจิกสำหรับเขียนบนประตูห้องน้ำตามปั๊มน้ำมันเพื่อฝากเรื่องราวเอาไว้ ไม่นานมานี้ผมตระหนักได้ว่าการกระทำเหล่านี้คือรูปแบบของการสื่อสารสาธารณะ หรือที่เรียกว่า "Social media communication" ในยุคปัจจุบัน

ความปรารถนาในการสร้างแพลตฟอร์มสื่อสารของตัวเองนี้ไม่ใช่เรื่องใหม่ มันเป็นสัญชาตญาณที่ฝังรากลึกในมนุษย์มาตั้งแต่สมัยการขีดเขียนผนังถ้ำ แสดงให้เห็นว่ามนุษย์เรามีความต้องการแบ่งปันความคิดและข้อมูลมาอย่างต่อเนื่อง

กิจกรรมเหล่านี้ไม่ได้เป็นเพียงการทิ้งข้อความเอาไว้ให้คนอื่นพบเห็นเท่านั้น แต่ยังสะท้อนถึงการกระทำส่วนบุคคลที่มาจากการตัดสินใจเอง ไม่ผ่านการวางแผนจากศูนย์กลาง มันเป็นการแสดงความคิดสร้างสรรค์และการแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูลที่เป็นอิสระ ซึ่งสอดคล้องกับแนวคิดของกระบวนการตลาดที่ให้อิสระแก่บุคคลในการแสดงออกและปรับตัวตามเป้าหมายส่วนตัว

การขีดเขียนลงบนต้นไม้และผนังถ้ำในอดีต จึงไม่ต่างอะไรจากการโพสต์ข้อความหรืออัปเดตสถานะบนโซเชียลมีเดียในยุคนี้ ทั้งหมดล้วนเป็นการสื่อสารที่มีชีวิตชีวาและมีพลัง ผ่านยุคสมัยและเทคโนโลยีที่เปลี่ยนแปลงไปจนกลายเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของวัฒนธรรมการสื่อสารที่ไม่เคยหายไปจากหัวใจของเรา

มนุษย์เรามีความต้องการที่จะถ่ายทอดความคิดและฝากความรู้สึกไว้ให้กับโลกนับตั้งแต่อดีต ไม่ว่าจะเป็นการขีดเขียนลงบนต้นไม้หรือการฝากข้อความไว้ใต้หลังคาสังกะสี ความปรารถนาเหล่านี้ได้ก้าวไปสู่รูปแบบดิจิทัลที่มีประสิทธิภาพและขอบเขตที่กว้างขึ้น ทำให้เราสามารถสื่อสารข้ามพรมแดนไปทั่วทุกมุมโลกได้อย่างไม่มีขีดจำกัด นวัตกรรมและการปรับตัวนี้คือลายเซ็นที่ชัดเจนของการก้าวหน้าในประวัติศาสตร์มนุษยชาติ ซึ่งทั้งหมดนี้เกิดจากการตัดสินใจและการกระทำของบุคคลแต่ละคนที่ต้องการจะทิ้งรอยทรงจำไว้ในโลก

การทิ้งข้อความในที่สาธารณะนั้น.. เกิดจากเหตุผลหลากหลายซึ่งซับซ้อนและลึกซึ้งกว่าแค่การสื่อสารแบบตัวต่อตัว บางครั้งมันอาจเกี่ยวข้องกับความต้องการที่จะเผยแพร่ความคิดหรือข้อความไปยังกลุ่มคนที่กว้างขึ้น หรืออาจเป็นการสร้างความสัมพันธ์กับคนรุ่นต่อไป ในทางหนึ่ง.. มันอาจเป็นเพียงการฝากความทรงจำส่วนตัวเท่านั้น (เราจะวางเรื่องความมือบอน ศีลธรรม และการรักษาความสะอาดไว้ก่อนนะครับ)

แต่สิ่งที่สำคัญที่สุดคือความปรารถนาในการเชื่อมต่อกับชุมชนหรือการสร้างความเป็นเอกภาพ มนุษย์เราเป็นสัตว์สังคมที่ต้องการจะแบ่งปันและประสานงานกับผู้อื่นในชุมชน เราไม่เพียงแต่สื่อสารเพื่อแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูล แต่ยังสร้างปฏิสัมพันธ์ทางสังคมที่หลากหลายและยั่งยืนผ่านการขีดเขียนหรือการส่งข้อความสาธารณะ

นอกจากนี้.. การกระทำเหล่านี้ยังเป็นการสะท้อนถึงความปรารถนาที่จะถูกจดจำหรือความเป็นอมตะของเรา เป็นการยืนยันว่าการกระทำของเราจะยังคงตราตรึงอยู่ในความทรงจำของผู้คนนานหลังจากที่เราจากไป และเป็นการแสดงออกถึงตัวตนและการมีส่วนร่วมในประวัติศาสตร์ ด้วยการสลักชื่อและวันที่บนต้นไม้ เราทิ้งร่องรอยแห่งการมีอยู่ที่ไม่เพียงแต่ตัวเราเท่านั้นที่ระลึกถึง แต่สำหรับทุกคนที่เดินผ่านไปมาในยุคสมัยนั้นและต่อไป

เมื่อโลกก้าวเข้าสู่ยุคดิจิทัลและโซเชียลมีเดีย.. มันเป็นเสมือนการระเบิดของความปรารถนาที่เรามีมาตั้งแต่อดีตในรูปแบบใหม่ๆ แพลตฟอร์มออนไลน์ทำให้เราสามารถเผยแพร่เรื่องราวและประสบการณ์ของตัวเองไปยังผู้ชมที่กว้างขึ้นได้อย่างไม่รู้จบ ด้วยการเข้าถึงและการกระจายข่าวสารที่รวดเร็วและง่ายดายยิ่งขึ้น การแชร์ข้อมูลในทันทีและการเชื่อมต่อกับผู้คนทั่วโลกได้อย่างไม่มีพรมแดน ทำให้โซเชียลมีเดียกลายเป็นอีกหนึ่งมิติของการสื่อสารที่ไม่เพียงแต่เฟื่องฟู แต่ยังก่อให้เกิดชุมชนออนไลน์ที่มีอิทธิพลอย่างมากต่อวิถีชีวิตและวัฒนธรรมในสังคมสมัยใหม่

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ความต่าง

แต่เมื่อพิจารณาถึงการสื่อสารแบบสาธารณะในอดีตและปัจจุบัน มีความแตกต่างกันอย่างมาก การขีดเขียนบนต้นไม้ในอดีตนับเป็นการสื่อสารแบบกระจายศูนย์อย่างแท้จริง ทุกคนสามารถเพิ่มข้อความของตัวเองได้อย่างอิสระ ส่วนแพลตฟอร์มออนไลน์ในปัจจุบันนั้นถูกรวบรวมและควบคุมอย่างเข้มงวด ด้วยกฎเกณฑ์และอัลกอริทึมที่กำหนดว่าข้อความใดจะถูกเผยแพร่หรือถูกซ่อนไว้จากสายตาของผู้ใช้จำนวนมาก

พื้นที่ดิจิทัลมีอำนาจในการควบคุมเนื้อหาที่จะถูกแชร์และเผยแพร่ สามารถลบหรือบล็อกเนื้อหาที่ไม่เป็นไปตามนโยบายหรือกฎหมาย ซึ่งแน่นอนว่าต้นยูคาลิปตัสและสถานที่สาธารณะในอดีตไม่สามารถทำได้ ความเป็นส่วนตัวและอิสรภาพในการแสดงออกถูกตั้งคำถามในโลกโซเชียลมีเดีย ซึ่งมีการกำหนดกฎเกณฑ์และมารยาททางสังคมใหม่ๆ ที่จำกัดการปฏิบัติตามนโยบายการใช้งานและการแสดงออก

การขีดเขียนตามธรรมชาติไม่ได้มีการระบุตัวตนอย่างชัดเจน แต่ในโลกออนไลน์ ข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลและตัวตนสามารถถูกติดตามและบันทึกไว้อย่างละเอียด ความเป็นส่วนตัวในโลกดิจิทัลจึงเป็นเรื่องที่น้อยลงอย่างชัดเจน แม้แพลตฟอร์มเหล่านี้จะพยายามให้เครื่องมือในการควบคุมความเป็นส่วนตัวก็ตาม

การสื่อสารสาธารณะในอดีตมักเปิดเผยและทำให้เกิดวัฒนธรรมแห่งการแบ่งปันอย่างออแกนิค ทว่าเมื่อเข้าสู่ยุคดิจิทัลและโซเชียลมีเดีย การเชื่อมต่อกันกลายเป็นเรื่องรวดเร็วและขยายขอบเขตไปทั่วโลก แต่ก็อาจนำไปสู่ปัญหาของ echo chambers และการแพร่กระจายข้อมูลที่ผิดเพี้ยนได้

การสื่อสารในโลกปัจจุบันถูกควบคุมด้วยกฎเกณฑ์และอัลกอริทึมอย่างชัดเจน นำไปสู่การสร้างเครือข่ายสังคมที่ซับซ้อนมากขึ้น ซึ่งเสรีภาพในการแสดงออกก็ต้องอยู่ภายใต้กรอบที่แพลตฟอร์มกำหนดไว้ ผู้ใช้งานจำเป็นต้องหาจุดสมดุลระหว่างการปกป้องความเป็นส่วนตัวและการใช้เสรีภาพทางดิจิทัลอย่างมีความรับผิดชอบ

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ความเปลี่ยนแปลง

มาติดตามกันดูว่าการสื่อสารทางสังคมสาธารณะได้เปลี่ยนแปลงไปอย่างไรตั้งแต่อดีตจนถึงปัจจุบัน

ในยุคกลาง, การใช้กระดาษและการเขียนจดหมายเริ่มเป็นที่นิยม แม้จะมีการสื่อสารตรงไปยังบุคคลที่ต้องการ แต่ก็ยังคงมีโอกาสในการเปิดเผยและส่งต่อข้อมูลได้ นอกจากนี้กระดาษยังถูกใช้เป็นป้ายประกาศข่าวสาร แต่บางครั้งก็ถูกควบคุมเนื้อหาโดยเจ้าของพื้นที่ หนังสือพิมพ์และนิตยสารในภายหลังได้นำการกระจายข่าวสารและความคิดเห็นไปสู่ผู้อ่านจำนวนมาก การเผยแพร่ข้อมูลถูกควบคุมอย่างเข้มงวดโดยบรรณาธิการและสำนักพิมพ์

เมื่อเข้าสู่ยุคของวิทยุและโทรทัศน์ การสื่อสารมวลชนได้ถูกปฏิวัติ ข้อมูลและความบันเทิงสามารถส่งถึงมือผู้ชมและผู้ฟังได้อย่างรวดเร็ว แต่ยังคงอยู่ภายใต้การควบคุมของรัฐและผู้ผลิตเนื้อหา

เมื่อโลกของเราถูกแนะนำให้รู้จักกับเครือข่ายอินเทอร์เน็ตในทศวรรษที่ 90 เราได้พบกับการปฏิวัติวิธีการสื่อสารผ่านห้องสนทนาและฟอรั่มออนไลน์ ที่นี่คือที่แห่งการแลกเปลี่ยนความคิดเห็นและข้อมูลโดยไม่มีข้อจำกัด โดยมีการดูแลจากผู้ดำเนินระบบและนักพัฒนาซอฟต์แวร์ที่คอยอำนวยความสะดวกเพื่อให้แพลตฟอร์มเหล่านี้ทำงานได้อย่างราบรื่น

ในที่สุด อิสรภาพในการสื่อสารและการแสดงออกของมนุษย์ก็เริ่มถูกจำกัดมากขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ผ่านทางกาลเวลา จนกระทั่งมันดูเหมือนจะสูญเสียไปในยุคปัจจุบัน ทำให้เราต้องพิจารณาและตั้งคำถามถึงค่านิยมและผลกระทบที่เกิดจากการควบคุมเหล่านี้ต่อสังคมในอนาคต

เมื่อโลกเราก้าวเข้าสู่ยุคอินเทอร์เน็ตในทศวรรษที่ 90 เราได้พบกับปรากฏการณ์ใหม่ในการสื่อสาร เริ่มจากห้องสนทนาออนไลน์และฟอรั่ม ซึ่งในยุคนั้น IRC (Internet Relay Chat) นับเป็นการเริ่มต้นการพูดคุยออนไลน์อย่างอิสระที่สุด ผู้ที่ได้สัมผัสก็คงต้องมีอายุไม่น้อยเลยทีเดียว..

การปรากฏตัวของฟอรั่มออนไลน์เช่น Usenet และ Bulletin Board System (BBS) ได้เปิดโอกาสให้ผู้คนจากทั่วทุกหนแห่งรวมตัวกันและแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูลในหัวข้อที่หลากหลาย ซึ่งต่อมาได้นำไปสู่การเกิดขึ้นของบล็อก อย่างเช่น Blogger ที่ให้โอกาสทุกคนเผยแพร่ความคิดและเรื่องราวของตนได้อย่างอิสระ บล็อกและวิกิพีเดียได้นำเสนอเสรีภาพที่ไม่เคยมีมาก่อนในการเผยแพร่และแก้ไขเนื้อหาที่สามารถช่วยเหลือสาธารณะได้ มันเป็นการเปิดโอกาสใหม่ที่ทุกคนจะสามารถเป็นทั้งผู้ให้และผู้รับข้อมูล

MSN Messenger ที่เปิดตัวในปี 1999 และเป็นหนึ่งในบริการแชทเรียลไทม์แรกๆ ที่ได้รับความนิยมสูงสุดในยุคแรกของอินเทอร์เน็ต ด้วยความสามารถในการสื่อสารทันที การส่งไฟล์ และฟีเจอร์การสนทนาด้วยเสียงและวิดีโอ

ในช่วงต่อมา.. เว็บบอร์ดได้เข้ามาช่วยทำให้การสนทนาบนฟอรั่มเป็นเรื่องง่ายขึ้น และได้มีการจัดการเนื้อหาที่ดียิ่งขึ้น จากนั้นก็เป็นการปรากฏตัวของ Frienster, MySpace และ Hi5 ในต้นยุค 2000 ซึ่งเป็นสื่อสังคมออนไลน์แรกๆ ที่เปลี่ยนแปลงวิธีการติดต่อสื่อสารและการแบ่งปันเนื้อหาของเราไปอย่างสิ้นเชิง

ในปี 2004, Facebook ได้ถือกำเนิดขึ้น และได้เริ่มต้นจากการเป็นเครือข่ายสังคมของนักศึกษามหาวิทยาลัยก่อนที่จะเปิดตัวให้สาธารณชนเข้าถึงในปี 2006 ในปีเดียวกันนั้น Twitter ก็เกิดขึ้น ให้โอกาสผู้คน "ทวีต" ข้อความสั้นๆ และแบ่งปันข้อมูลกันอย่างรวดเร็ว (ตามด้วย Instagram, Snapchat, LINE, WeChat และ TikTok ฯลฯ ที่ปรากฏตัวต่อมา) แพลตฟอร์มเหล่านี้ได้มีบทบาทในการเปลี่ยนแปลงวิธีที่เราสร้างชุมชนและเครือข่ายสังคม และไม่เพียงแค่นั้น มันยังได้ช่วยให้การบำรุงรักษาความสัมพันธ์ทางสังคมเกิดขึ้นได้ง่ายขึ้นด้วย ชุมชนเหล่านี้ได้เติบโตขึ้นอย่างอิสระโดยไม่มีการกำหนดจากรัฐ (โดยเฉพาะบนแพลตฟอร์มที่ไม่ถูกควบคุมเช่น Nostr ซึ่งอาจจะไม่ได้ถูกกล่าวถึงในบทความนี้)

การเข้าสู่ยุคโซเชียลมีเดีย โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง Facebook ได้กำหนดบทบาทหลักในการก่อร่างสร้างเครือข่ายสังคมใหม่ ซึ่งนอกจากจะทำให้การแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูลเป็นไปอย่างสะดวกสบายแล้ว ยังมาพร้อมกับการควบคุมอย่างเข้มงวดเกี่ยวกับเนื้อหาและข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลที่มีผลกระทบอย่างมากต่อสิทธิส่วนบุคคลและเสรีภาพในการแสดงออก

การก้าวข้ามจากการสื่อสารตามธรรมชาติและกระดาษป้ายประกาศไปสู่วิวัฒนาการทางเทคโนโลยี ทำให้เราเข้าสู่โลกใหม่ที่การควบคุมข้อมูลและการสื่อสารถูกบริหารจัดการโดยผู้มีอำนาจทางเทคโนโลยี เกือบทุกการสื่อสารในปัจจุบันถูกจำกัดและดำเนินการผ่านแพลตฟอร์มกลางที่มีกฎระเบียบและนโยบายการใช้งานที่ชัดเจน

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ความกังวล

ในตลาดที่ผู้บริโภคมีตัวเลือกมากขึ้น บริษัทต่างๆ จำเป็นต้องปรับปรุงบริการและสินค้าของตนเพื่อตอบสนองต่อความคาดหวังของลูกค้าที่เปลี่ยนไป นี่คือการเปลี่ยนแปลงวิถีชีวิตและวัฒนธรรมของเราในแบบที่ไม่เคยเห็นมาก่อน (ก่อนจะมาถึงยุคที่แพลตฟอร์มที่ได้รับความนิยมสูงกำลังพยายามจะสนตะพายและจูงจมูกลูกค้าในยุคปัจจุบัน)

การพัฒนาของการสื่อสารดิจิทัลไม่เพียงแต่สะท้อนถึงการเปลี่ยนแปลงของเศรษฐกิจและสังคมเท่านั้น แต่ยังเปลี่ยนแปลงวิธีที่เรามองและรับรู้โลกรอบตัวเรา มันสร้างความคาดหวังใหม่ๆ และขยายโอกาสให้เรามีส่วนร่วมกับชุมชนของเรามากขึ้น

อย่างไรก็ตาม.. อำนาจของแพลตฟอร์มใหญ่ๆ กำลังมีผลกระทบที่ลึกซึ้งต่อสังคมสมัยใหม่ สร้างความกังวลที่ไม่คาดคิดต่อผู้ใช้และประชากรโลก เหล่าแพลตฟอร์มใหญ่เหล่านี้สามารถควบคุมกระแสข้อมูลที่ผู้ใช้จะเห็นได้ ทำให้เกิดการกรองข้อมูลหรือนำเสนอข้อมูลที่มีอคติ ประเด็นนี้มีผลให้เกิดการบิดเบือนความจริงและข้อมูลที่ถูกนำเสนอ

เรายังเห็นการสร้าง 'Echo chamber' และ 'Filter Bubbles' โดยปรับเนื้อหาให้ตรงกับความชอบและพฤติกรรมของผู้ใช้ ซึ่งส่งผลให้ผู้คนมองเห็นเฉพาะข้อมูลที่พวกเขาพร้อมจะเห็นด้วยเท่านั้น นำไปสู่ความคิดที่ไม่หลากหลายและการแบ่งแยกความคิด มีการเสพติดแพลตฟอร์มอันเกิดจากอัลกอริทึมที่ออกแบบมาให้ผู้ใช้ใช้เวลาอยู่บนแพลตฟอร์มมากที่สุด ซึ่งอาจนำไปสู่พฤติกรรมเสพติดที่เป็นอันตรายต่อสุขภาพจิตและร่างกาย

การละเมิดความเป็นส่วนตัวจากการเก็บรวมข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลโดยไม่มีขอบเขตที่ชัดเจน ส่งผลให้เกิดการละเมิดสิทธิส่วนบุคคลและการใช้ข้อมูลในทางที่ไม่เหมาะสม

นอกจากนี้ บริษัทใหญ่ๆ สามารถกลายเป็นผู้ผูกขาดการเข้าถึงและการกระจายข้อมูล จำกัดการแข่งขันและการเกิดขึ้นของนวัตกรรม และยังไปมีอิทธิพลต่อกระบวนการทางการเมืองและสังคม พวกเขาสามารถกำหนดมาตรฐานว่าอะไรจะเป็นสิ่งที่ยอมรับได้ในสังคม

ที่ยิ่งแย่ไปกว่านั้นคือการส่งเสริมการแพร่กระจายของเนื้อหาที่เป็นพิษ (Toxic Content Promotion) ที่มักเป็นเหตุผลเบื้องหลังการสร้างการมีส่วนร่วมและการตอบสนองจากผู้ใช้มากขึ้น นับเป็นการกระทำที่ขาดความรับผิดชอบต่อผู้คนและสังคมอย่างร้ายแรง

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ในยุคที่ก้อนหินและผนังถ้ำเคยทำหน้าที่เป็นหน้ากระดาษของข้อความลึกลับและความคิดถึง วันเวลาได้พาเราเดินทางมายังการสื่อสารที่แทบไม่ต้องใช้มือสัมผัสหรือขีดเขียน จักรวาลดิจิตอลที่สามารถพิมพ์ความคิดออกมาได้เร็วกว่าที่ใจจะรู้สึก

แต่ในความก้าวหน้านั้น เงามืดของเทคโนโลยีก็คอยปกคลุมไม่ให้เรามองเห็นแสงสว่าง มือของผู้ทรงอำนาจได้แผ่กว้างถึงขนาดที่แทบจะประกาศว่า "I embody communication" (ฉันนี่แหละคือพ่อแห่งการสื่อสาร) พร้อมกับควบคุมข้อมูลที่เราเข้าถึงได้และเสียงที่เราจะได้ยิน นำมาซึ่งเสียงสะท้อนเพี้ยนๆ ที่ดังก้องไปตามกำแพงของอาณาจักรข้อมูลที่พวกเขาได้ตั้งไว้

เรากำลังยืนอยู่ ณ ทางแยกที่ต้องตัดสินใจว่าจะยอมให้กระแสแห่งการควบคุมนี้พัดพาเราไปตามทางได้อย่างง่ายดายหรือจะยืนหยัดเพื่อคุณค่าแห่งการสื่อสารที่เป็นรากฐานของมนุษยชาติ

การที่ข้อมูลสามารถเปลี่ยนสภาพเป็นของขวัญหรืออาวุธได้นั้น เราจำเป็นจะต้องใช้สติปัญญาและความรับผิดชอบในการพิจารณา การสื่อสารแบบเปิดที่ครั้งหนึ่งเคยเป็นเพียงการเขียนลงบนต้นไม้หรือฝากข้อความลับไว้ใต้หลังคา ตอนนี้มันได้ถูกแปลงโฉมให้กลายเป็นการสลักข้อความลงบนหน้าประวัติศาสตร์ดิจิทัลที่สามารถถูกลบหายได้ด้วยแค่คลิกเดียว

ในการเดินทางข้ามเวลานี้.. ขอให้เรายึดมั่นในการค้นหาความสมดุลระหว่างการเปิดรับและการป้องกัน, ระหว่างเสรีภาพและความรับผิดชอบ ให้เราจำเอาไว้ว่าเราทุกคนคือผู้กำหนดอนาคตของข้อมูลที่เราเลือกที่จะส่งผ่านและปลูกฝัง เพราะท้ายที่สุดสิ่งที่เราเลือกที่จะแบ่งปันในโลกออนไลน์นี้จะกลายเป็นเส้นใยที่ถักทอเรื่องราวและอนาคตของมนุษยชาติต่อไป

@ d830ee7b:4e61cd62

Has anyone seen anything like this?

Have you ever experienced simple communication that is almost completely technology-free?

Such as scribbling on eucalyptus trees or along galvanized walls. These activities reveal man's genuine desire to leave some mark on the planet. I used to be one of those people who was fascinated by using simple tools like a magic pen to write on bathroom doors at gas stations to leave stories. It was not long ago that these actions are a form of public communication, also known as "social media communication."

This desire to create its own communication platform is not new. It's an instinct that has been deeply rooted in humans since the time of cave wall painting, showing that we humans have a constant need to share ideas and information.

These activities are not just about leaving messages for others to see. But it also reflects personal actions that come from making decisions themselves. It is an expression of creativity and an independent exchange of information, which is in line with the concept of a market process that gives individuals the freedom to express themselves and adapt to their personal goals.

Scribbling on trees and cave walls in the past is no different from posting messages or status updates on social media in this day and age. Through the changing times and technology, it has become a part of the communication culture that never disappears from our hearts.

We humans have always wanted to convey our thoughts and feelings to the world. Whether it's scribbling on a tree or leaving a message under a galvanized roof. These desires have moved towards a more efficient and broader digital format. This allows us to communicate across borders to every corner of the world without limits. This innovation and adaptation is a clear signature of progress in human history, all due to the decisions and actions of individuals who want to leave their mark on the world.

Leaving a message in a public place is... It stems from a variety of reasons that are more complex and deeper than just face-to-face communication. Sometimes it can be related to the need to spread ideas or messages to a wider group of people, or it can be building relationships with the next generation. In a way, It may only be a personal memory (we'll put the morality and cleanliness aside first).

But the most important thing is the desire to connect with the community or to create unity. We humans are social creatures who want to share and coordinate with others in the community. We not only communicate to exchange information, but also create diverse and lasting social interactions through scribbling or public messaging.

In addition.. These actions also reflect our desire to be remembered or immortality. It confirms that our actions will remain etched in people's memories long after we leave and are an expression of identity and contribution to history. With the name and date engraved on the tree. We leave a mark of existence not only on ourselves to remember, but for all passers-by in those days and beyond.

As the world moves into the digital age and social media... It's like an explosion of longing that we've had in the past in new ways. Online platforms allow us to spread our own stories and experiences to a wider audience endlessly. With faster and easier access to and distribution of news. Instant data sharing and connecting with people around the world without borders This makes social media another dimension of communication that not only flourishes but also forms online communities that have a great influence on the lifestyle and culture of modern society.

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Difference

But considering past and present public communication. There is a big difference. Scribbling on trees in the past is truly decentralized communication. Everyone can add their own text freely. Today's online platforms are tightly compiled and regulated, with rules and algorithms determining which messages are published or hidden from the eyes of many users.

The digital space has the power to control the content that is shared and published. It can remove or block content that does not comply with policies or laws, which of course eucalyptus trees and public places in the past could not. Privacy and freedom of expression are questioned in the social media world, where new social rules and etiquette have been put in place that limit compliance with use and expression policies.

Scribbles are not clearly identified. But in the online world. Personal information and identities can be tracked and recorded in detail. Privacy in the digital world is clearly less. Despite these platforms' attempts to provide tools to control privacy.

Public communication in the past has often been overt and has given rise to a culture of organic sharing. Yet, with the entry into the digital age and social media. Connections are fast and expanding globally, but they can also lead to echo chambers and the spread of distorted information.

Communication in today's world is clearly governed by rules and algorithms. This has led to the creation of more complex social networks, where freedom of expression must also be within the framework set by the platform. Users need to find a balance between protecting their privacy and exercising their digital freedom responsibly.

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Changes

Let's follow how public social communication has changed from the past to the present.

In the Middle Ages, the use of paper and letter writing became popular. Even with direct communication to the desired person, there is still an opportunity to disclose and pass on information. In addition, the paper was used as a banner announcing the news. But sometimes the content is controlled by the host of the space. Newspapers and later magazines brought the distribution of news and opinions to a large readership. The publication of information is strictly controlled by editors and publishers.

Entering the era of radio and television. Mass communication has been revolutionized. Information and entertainment can be quickly delivered to viewers and listeners, but remain under the control of the state and content producers.

When our world was introduced to the Internet in the 90s, we encountered a revolution in the way we communicate through chat rooms and online forums. It's a place to exchange ideas and information without restrictions, supervised by operators and developers to keep these platforms running smoothly.

At last Since then, human freedom of communication and expression has become increasingly restricted through time, until it seems to have been lost in modern times. It requires us to consider and question the values and impact of these controls on society in the future.

As the world entered the Internet era in the 90s, we encountered a new phenomenon in communication. In that era, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was the most free way to start online discussions. Those who have experienced it must be quite young.

The presence of online forums such as Usenet and the Bulletin Board System (BBS) has provided opportunities for people from all over to gather and exchange information on a wide range of topics. This later led to the emergence of blogs such as Bloggers that allow everyone to freely publish their ideas and stories. Blogs and Wikipedia offer unprecedented freedom to publish and edit content that can help the public. It opens up new opportunities where everyone can be both a giver and a receiver of information.

MSN Messenger was launched in 1999 and was one of the first and most popular real-time chat services in the early days of the Internet. With the ability to communicate instantly. File delivery and audio and video conversation features

In the later period. Forums have stepped in to make forum discussions easier and content is better managed. Then came the emergence of Frienster, MySpace, and Hi5 in the early 2000s, which were the first social media to completely change the way we communicate and share content.

In 2004, Facebook was born, and it started as a social network for university students before launching it to the public in 2006 . Short messages and quick sharing of information (followed by Instagram, Snapchat, LINE, WeChat and TikTok, etc., appearing later). These platforms have played a role in changing the way we build communities and social networks, and not only that, they have also made it easier to maintain social relationships. These communities have grown independently without state prescription (especially on unregulated platforms such as Nostr, which may not be covered in this article).

Entering the social media era, Facebook in particular has defined its primary role in shaping the creation of new social networks. This will not only make the exchange of information convenient. It also comes with strict controls on content and personal information that have a significant impact on privacy rights and freedom of expression.

Transcending from natural communication and placard paper to technological evolution It brings us into a new world where data and communication control is managed by technological oligarchs. Almost all communication today is restricted and is carried out through a central platform with clear rules and usage policies.

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Concerns

In a market where consumers have more options. Companies need to improve their services and products to meet changing customer expectations. This is changing our way of life and culture in a way that has never been seen before (before the era when highly popular platforms were trying to poke and nose their customers in the modern era).

The development of digital communication not only reflects changes in the economy and society. But it also changes the way we see and perceive the world around us. It creates new expectations and expands opportunities for us to engage more with our community.

However.. The power of major platforms It is having a profound impact on modern society. It creates unexpected concerns for users and the world's population. These big platforms can control the flow of data that users can see. This causes data filtering or presents biased information. This has resulted in misrepresentation and information being presented.

We've also seen the creation of 'Echo chambers' and 'Filter Bubbles', adapting content to user preferences and behaviors, resulting in people only seeing information they're ready to agree with. It leads to non-diversity of ideas and division of ideas. There is an addiction to platforms caused by algorithms designed to allow users to spend the most time on the platform. This can lead to addictive behaviors that are detrimental to mental and physical health.

Privacy breach from the collection of personal information without clear boundaries. This results in violations of privacy rights and misuse of information.

In addition, major companies can become monopolies of access and distribution of information, limit competition and the emergence of innovation, and influence political and social processes. They can set standards for what will be socially acceptable.

Even worse, it promotes the spread of toxic content. Toxic content promotions are often the reason behind generating more engagement and responses from users. It is a gross act of irresponsibility towards people and society.

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In an era when rocks and cave walls once served as pages of mystical and nostalgic messages. The days have brought us to communication that requires almost no hand touch or scribble. A digital universe that can print ideas faster than the mind feels.

But in that progress, the shadows of technology keep us from seeing the light. The Almighty's hand has spread so wide that it almost proclaims, "I am the father of communication," while controlling the information we have access to and the voices we hear. This brings a distorted echo that echoes along the walls of the information realm they have set.

We are standing at a crossroads where we must decide whether to allow this tide of control to easily carry us down the path or to stand up for the values of communication that are fundamental to humanity.

The information can be transformed into gifts or weapons. We need to exercise wisdom and responsibility in deliberations. Open communication that was once just written down in a tree or left a secret message under a canopy. Now it has been transformed into an engraving on a digital history page that can be erased with just one click.

In this time journey... Let us hold fast to finding a balance between exposure and protection, between freedom and responsibility. Let us remember that we are all shapers of the future of the information we choose to transmit and cultivate. Because ultimately, what we choose to share in this online world will become the next weaving of humanity's story and future.

@ 76c71aae:3e29cafa

Why are there 5.5 million people with Bluesky accounts and about 800k to 1.3M on Nostr?

Some of it boils down to social dynamics and chance. It's akin to how immigrants often cluster in the same neighborhoods. Most people are simply following their communities, and their primary decision is driven by where their community is heading.

Why did the communities choose Bluesky over Nostr, Mastodon, Farcaster, or the several dozen centralized and decentralized alternatives?

That’s a more pertinent question. Firstly, very few people actually make these decisions, and most simply follow them. Secondly, the choices aren't primarily based on the technology or the features of the apps or protocols.

Bluesky had certain advantages and disadvantages. It received a fair amount of press as a Twitter spinoff. However, it was late to launch, only preceded by Threads, which had Meta’s platforms for promotion.

In terms of initial marketing, I’d say Bluesky and Nostr were about equal, both often pitched as a ‘Jack Dorsey thing’, which wasn’t true in either case. The press loves stories about people and drama over networks and systems. Social media is vast and complex, and its technology even more so, which is why it’s often presented through personalized narratives about the creators.

Under the hood, Bluesky’s atproto and Nostr are very similar technologically. Both were inspired by Secure Scuttlebutt. Bluesky has adopted a cathedral model of open source, akin to how Android is open source but controlled by Google. Meanwhile, Nostr developed under the bazaar model of open source, created by a community rather than a company.

This company model gives Bluesky some advantages; for instance, they could launch with an invite list, a classic tactic to make something feel more desirable. Even then, most Bluesky users haven’t posted a single thing, and when they had a million registered users, they had fewer than 1500 Daily Active Users (DAU) see bluesky stats.

Bluesky is a lot easier to try than Nostr. The ways keys and content signing work in Bluesky and Nostr are overwhelmingly similar, except that Nostr doesn’t tell you where to store your keys and in Bluesky, you put them on your PDS server, which Bluesky provided free by default for all new users.

This means for Nostr, you have to figure out what to do with your nsec and npub, then how to get a nip-05 for a Nostr name which makes sense. If you want to log in with a username and password, you need to find and set up a nip-46 service. Not all apps support that, so you’re copying and pasting around an nsec. If you want to use a web app, you need to go find and choose one of several browser extensions and set that up. This is easy and natural for folks with experience in crypto but really foreign for everyone else.

Maybe a million people have figured out how to get started on Nostr; it’s definitely possible. And some apps like Primal and Nos have integrated name services as part of the signup, which makes it cleaner.

Once you’re on Nostr, people often discuss zaps, a functionality that may not work as expected. You’ve got to learn how to set up a wallet, what lightning and Bitcoin are. Some get really into it, we’ve seen folks get into Bitcoin through Nostr, but for many, it’s a confusing hurdle.

Bluesky provides a neat way to get into a single default app and gives you a username. Sure, you can change it—I self-host my DID at rabble.nz—but apparently less than 1% of Bluesky users do that, just like most Nostr users have chosen to use a cloud service for their nip-05 Nostr name.

Why else has Bluesky grown bigger than Nostr? It's their approach to positioning the protocol. They’ve set up default moderation controls and a trust and safety team. Initially, they didn’t have these, and when users demanded action and the company refused, growth stalled and usage dropped last July. The Bluesky team didn’t post for about a month, and there was a real question about whether Bluesky would survive.

The user community wanted pretty heavy-handed moderation. The Bluesky team was committed to building a decentralized protocol that didn’t do that. The compromise was that Bluesky would be slow about opening up open federation over atproto until the Bluesky apps, protocol, and company-hosted services could have a trust and safety team and a moderation bot. Their moderation bot is fancier than @reportinator, but it’s the same idea, but with a bigger team of humans reviewing reports. And if you’re using the Bluesky-provided PDS, there’s no way to block or unfollow their default moderation bot. We don’t make everybody on Nostr follow nostr:npub14h23jzlyvumks4rvrz6ktk36dxfyru8qdf679k7q8uvxv0gm0vnsyqe2sh .

That compromise worked for the community and company, and the user base started growing again. The negative press about Bluesky's content ceased and those upset by the policies left, some migrating to Nostr. Bluesky was able to position itself as the socially responsible social media protocol that was easy to use. Jack deleted his Bluesky account, signaling to the world and press what we already knew: he is much more interested in Nostr’s approach to bottom-up development by community and support for lightning payments.

During this period, Nostr's growth really stalled. There are a few reasons for this. We'd saturated the community of folks who both love Bitcoin and dislike Elon enough to leave Twitter. Additionally, our new user experience pushed people to view a global feed dominated by a single topic of conversation.

Nostr has positioned itself strongly as a protocol for those who are freedom-loving, anti-censorship Bitcoin enthusiasts. The easiest Nostr client for new users, Primal, markets itself as a Bitcoin wallet first, and only secondarily as a social media app. People view Nostr as a Web3 project. We’ve had individuals visit the Nos.social website and decline involvement, saying they dislike Web3 because they perceive it as a planet-harming scam (let's not argue the carbon emissions of mining here). We never mention Web3 or any cryptocurrency elements on the Nos website, yet all decentralization has been associated with dubious schemes.

As Nostr’s growth has stalled, the ecosystem has matured and flourished. Nostr boasts technology and apps that other platforms envy. I often hear Bluesky and Fediverse developers express admiration for the cool things Nostr is doing with technology and apps, but since their communities don’t use it, they don’t either.

Just look at the articles my posts last week about Nostr vs. ActivityPub kicked off: Extending ActivityPub and Nomadic Identity is Coming to ActivityPub

I suspect what’s holding back Nostr is twofold. First, how we talk about Nostr. We discuss it in political and ideological terms—we're against censorship, for free speech, value-for-value, etc.—but not about the types of content and people on Nostr, how to find your friends, or the interesting stuff you followed elsewhere. Nor do we talk about how you can use all these cool apps with the same identity and content. It's a hard concept to grasp, and I find myself constantly having to explain it.

The biggest issue people see with Nostr is its perceived association with Bitcoin enthusiasts plus those who’ve been deplatformed elsewhere, often for contentious reasons. I’m not saying the deplatforming was justified, but the perception among those unfamiliar with arbitrary bans and sanctions on platforms is that those who've been deplatformed had it coming—that they were all conspiracy theorists, bigots, or harassers. Some were, some were not, but it's perceived that way by many.

The way we talk about Nostr and onboard new users doesn’t help. The goal of the creator and journalism projects we just launched was to both diversify the content on Nostr for new users and to demonstrate to those creators and journalists that micropayments and paid content on Nostr are viable alternatives/additions to how they publish on social media elsewhere. It is value-for-value without the label, because our theory is that people want the functionality but aren't so keen on the cultural ideology.

This is all solvable. We can: - Make it easier to set up a nip-05 for new users. - Ensure that nip-05 also functions as an nsec bunker for easy login, if users desire. - Add Webfinger files so your nip-05 name functions as a Fediverse name (it’s pretty easy to do; we're experimenting with it on nos.social). - Show users a variety of content types when they join. - Help users find communities, perhaps encouraging groups/channels the way Farcaster does. - Make it easy to find and choose moderation settings, offering more middleware services like Reportinator but with different content labeling ideas. - Change our marketing to attract these new users, focusing on what they can see and who they can connect with, less on Bitcoin, technology, or evading censorship. - Develop apps that offer new functionalities, drawing people in instead of being mere clones with or without certain features.

It always takes a long time for people to figure out what the native mediums are on a technology platform. Initially people would make a phone call to listen to a concert, the first radio stations had people just reading the newspaper, and the first tv broadcasts were either a camera pointed at radio announcers or a single camera shot of a play. People always do the same things, we're the same humans that evolved a couple hundred thousand years ago, same brains, same bodies. What's changed is the way we do things with technology, so what fundamental human thing can we do new and different now that we've got these social protocols and tech?

Addressing the app design and technology will help, but actual growth will come when people discover us, join, find connections, and genuinely want to invite others to join them. Nostr users are incredibly welcoming to new users. However, we also have a subset of users who engage in sexist, racist, and homophobic harassment. This harassment drives people away from Nostr and deters them from recommending it to others. If we don't provide better tools for users to protect themselves from this harassment, they'll leave and find social spaces where they feel safe. Some might abandon public social media altogether, or just switch to Bluesky, which promises to eventually open up their network and has just announced support for uploading images, coming soon.

We're way ahead of the other protocols in some areas and way behind in others. We've got enough momentum and users to figure this out, but we're not there yet.

@ bcbb3e40:a494e501

|| |:-:| |SCHMITT, Carl, Los fundamentos históricos-espirituales del parlamentarismo en su situación actual, Tecnos, 2008|

La crítica schmittiana al parlamentarismo liberal debe ser enmarcado en el contexto de crisis del liberalismo en el periodo de entreguerras, en plena crisis del Estado liberal, el cuestionamiento del sistema parlamentario, el autoritarismo, la democracia liberal etc. La obra fue publicada originalmente en 1923, tras las consecuencias del Tratado de Versalles y la caída de la monarquía y el II Reich y en plena República de Weimar, con todas sus desastrosas consecuencias de inestabilidad política y crisis económica. A todo ello deberíamos añadir el escaso arraigo que la tradición liberal tenía en la Alemania de Carl Schmitt, donde las corrientes autoritarias y anti-liberales eran las predominantes.

Dentro de las críticas desarrolladas contra la democracia parlamentaria, podemos reconocer dos vías diferenciadas en el pensamiento de Schmitt:

• Por un lado la crítica al parlamentarismo como forma de gobierno. En este sentido incide en el excesivo dominio de los gobiernos por parte del parlamento, lo que supondría una inestabilidad que haría imposible gobernar. El parlamentarismo aparece en este contexto en contradicción con la división de poderes e irreconciliable con las necesidades del Estado administrativo. La República de Weimar le sirve como ejemplo para estas conclusiones. Además no existe una solución posible de continuidad si se da una relación inversa y es el gobierno el que predomina a través del partido político sobre el parlamento, porque en ese caso no deberíamos hablar de un régimen parlamentario, sino gubernamental. En el segundo caso tendríamos un ejemplo muy cercano en la actualidad, con la quiebra del orden jurídico y legal y la inutilidad de los parlamentos en la toma de decisiones. La alternativa que propone Schmitt es una «dictadura presidencialista».

• Por otro lado tenemos la crítica al liberalismo como forma de gobierno. Es una crítica al parlamento como institución, como forma de gobierno, así como a la democracia parlamentaria en su integridad como sistema, una crítica a la democracia representativa.

En este sentido Schmitt advierte que no hay que confundir democracia y elección, dado que no es lo mismo representación que elección. La democracia como tal solamente tendría sentido cuando su objeto de interés revistiera caracteres homogéneos, y fuese posible reducirlo a un único centro de interés, como ocurría con las naciones burguesas en el siglo XIX, donde las democracias de sufragio censitario representaban los intereses del grupo social dominante. En el caso de la democracia de masas, donde los intereses que se pretenden representar se caracterizan por su heterogeneidad, de tal modo que cualquier forma de pluralismo es incompatible con el liberalismo. En este sentido Schmitt establece una clara diferenciación entre la representación de intereses (de partido, económicos etc) y la representación a través de la cual el pueblo se identifica con sus líderes por aclamación o asentimiento. Y es el segundo tipo de representación el único válido para nuestro autor, porque no existe tal voluntad del pueblo ni el poder puede delegarse. El líder político es el que tiene la cualidad para manifestar esa voluntad e identificarla. Para Schmitt no existe ningún tipo de antítesis irreconciliable entre dictadura y democracia, de modo que el liberalismo y la democracia tampoco son sinónimos y cualquier doctrina política antiliberal, como el fascismo o el comunismo, que se encontraban en pleno auge en su época, no tenían porque ser antidemocráticas.

La idea bajo la que nació el parlamentarismo era la de lograr acuerdos generales y representar intereses heterogéneos, pero lo cierto es que las democracias liberales han venido mostrando que al final sirven de escenario y medio para la imposición de unos intereses sobre otros, y en ningún caso obedecen al producto de una discusión racional. Más bien se han terminado por imponer las decisiones impuestas fuera de éste porque no existe ningún parlamento legislador ni una democracia parlamentaria, es una forma vacía y sin sentido.

Otra de las críticas que plantea Carl Schmitt se da en el ámbito de la democracia procedimental y plantea si la ley es realmente aquello que el legislador quiere o lo que quiere la mayoría parlamentaria. De modo que al final la democracia parlamentaria encubre la dictadura de la mayoría que no deja de serlo aunque haya elecciones cada cierto tiempo.

Parlamentarismo y democracia han ido desarrollándose desde mediados del siglo XIX sin que estuviera muy clara la diferenciación entre ambos conceptos, hasta el punto que cuando terminó de triunfar también comenzaron a manifestarse los antagonismos entre ambos conceptos. Las contradicciones afloran en la misma función que pretendidamente cumple el parlamento, como lugares de discusión y acuerdo, y en este caso por el hecho de que, como apuntábamos con anterioridad, deberían primar los argumentos racionales para convencer por encima del egoísmo y ataduras de los partidos políticos y los intereses que manifiesten los diferentes grupos de poder. Es precisamente este fundamento del parlamentarismo el que se encuentra en crisis y el que se haya reducido a una formalidad vacía. Schmitt apunta que ya no son los representantes de los partidos políticos los que discuten sino que son grupos de poder social y económico, podríamos hablar de lobbies que negocian sobre la base de compromisos y coaliciones. Los parlamentos ya no sirven para convencer al contrario, y su función política y técnica ha desaparecido para dar paso a la manipulación de la masa y la obtención de una mayoría para lograr imponer el criterio propio.

En cuanto a la democracia se basa fundamentalmente en la búsqueda de lo homogéneo, de los «grandes consensos», de las mayorías, de unificar voluntades y con la eliminación de lo heterogéneo, que en la democracia moderna de inspiración liberal se basa en el principio de lo racional. Respecto a la tan cacareada igualdad, la democracia contempla la desigualdad y la exclusión como una estrategia de dominación, y Schmitt nos remite a innumerables ejemplos del Imperio británico, como paradigma del colonialismo moderno, en el que los habitantes de las colonias son sometidos a la ley del Estado democrático de la metrópoli cuando se encuentran fuera del mismo y en abierta contradicción con lo que éste propone. Lo que viene a demostrar que la democracia, como ocurría con aquella clásica, solamente es posible cuando se trata de iguales. La democracia liberal igualitaria, basada en proclamas universalistas, en gentes de diferente origen y procedencia, bajo un principio de heterogeneidad es la que según el jurista alemán se había impuesto en su época.

Este modelo de democracia, engendrada por la revolución francesa y madurada a lo largo del siglo XIX, ha evolucionado hacia formas universales, que han desplazado su implantación a un territorio específico, de gentes con una cosmovisión única, y unos orígenes particulares, a un modelo universal, abstracto y heterogéneo, dando lugar a una igualación absoluta que vacía todo el sentido del concepto y con ello pierde todo su significado. Por eso afirma Schmitt que la libertad de todos los hombres no es democracia sino liberalismo, así como tampoco es una forma de Estado sino una concepción del mundo de corte individualista y humanitario. Es precisamente en la fusión de esos principios, liberalismo y democracia, en los que se fundamenta la moderna sociedad de masas.

Ambos conceptos se encuentran en crisis, y el liberalismo desnaturaleza a la democracia en la medida que la voluntad del pueblo no es democrática sino liberal, y entre la propia acción del gobernante y la voluntad de los gobernados media el parlamento, que aparece como un obstáculo anticuado, inservible e incapaz de desarrollar su función. Y en la medida que la democracia no es patrimonio del liberalismo, puede manifestarse dentro del ámbito antiliberal (fascismo o bolchevismo) o incluso bajo formas políticas extrañas a la tradición liberal, como puedan ser la dictadura o diferentes formas de cesarismo. De este modo Schmitt también pone en duda aquellos procedimientos considerados democráticos, como son las votaciones (el famoso lema «un hombre, un voto») en la que participan millones de personas aisladas y la representación indirecta que representan los partidos y el sistema parlamentario, que al fin y al cabo son formas propiamente liberales que se han confundido con aquellas democráticas. Schmitt hace alusión a formas de democracia directa como la acclamatio.

La llamada democracia liberal comienza a configurarse a raíz de la revolución de 1789, porque la democracia como tal no tiene un contenido político específico, sino que es un sistema organizativo. La democracia puede ser socialista, conservadora, autoritaria etc y en el caso del liberalismo supone cimentar el sentido de la misma en principios económicos que se encuentran radicados en el derecho privado. Al mismo tiempo tenemos uno de sus fundamentos más característicos, la voluntad general, que tiene un sentido abstracto y que encarna un principio de verdad cuando ésta, al manifestarse, jamás es unánime. Hay un sistema de representaciones e identificaciones entre gobernantes y gobernados dentro de un plano jurídico, político o psicológico, pero nunca económico. Para Carl Schmitt la minoría puede ser más representativa de la voluntad del pueblo que una mayoría que puede ser sometida a engaños y mentiras a través de la acción de la propaganda. Con lo cual la defensa de la democracia no entraña un criterio cuantitativo, de número, sino cualitativo, en el que se puede combatir los efectos de la propaganda a través de la educación y el conocimiento.

En lo que se refiere al parlamentarismo, en sus orígenes nació como una forma de lucha entre los representantes del pueblo y la monarquía. Como decíamos al inicio, al formular una de las tesis del libro, el parlamentarismo constituye un obstáculo en el funcionamiento del gobierno, al intervenir continuamente en los nombramientos de cargos o tomas de decisión. El parlamentarismo, como el liberalismo, también es ajeno a la democracia en la medida que el pueblo no puede revocar a aquellos que son supuestos representantes de sus intereses en el parlamento, mientras que la parte gubernamental sí puede hacerlo sin problema alguno. Por otro lado, en muchas ocasiones el parlamento sirve de marco para las discusiones sobre intereses ajenos a aquellos representados, intereses de naturaleza económica que conciernen a grupos privados, por ejemplo. Esta es una consecuencia general de la aplicación de los principios liberales, de los que emanan las libertades que se asocian a la democracia liberal. Es por ese motivo que estas libertades son de naturaleza individual, propia de sujetos privados, como también ocurre con la idea pública de la política y la libertad de prensa.

En lo relativo a la clásica separación de poderes, la división y equilibrio de las distintas partes que forman el Estado cuenta con el lastre que supone el parlamento, que acapara el poder legislativo. Schmitt defiende la supresión de la división de poderes liberal, y en especial la división entre el poder legislativo y ejecutivo en lo que es un producto del racionalismo absoluto y la idea de equilibrio de poder de la Ilustración. De hecho, el gran problema que señala el autor alemán es que la misma Ilustración privilegió el poder legislativo frente al ejecutivo, reduciendo el primero a un principio o mecanismo de discusión en virtud de un racionalismo relativista sin poder abordar los temas importantes desde posiciones absolutas. En estos principios es donde radica el problema que plantea Carl Schmitt, en la cimentación de un sistema global en el que el derecho se impone frente al Estado a través de un equilibrio o pluralismo de poderes en el que la discusión y la publicidad se convierten en fundamento de justicia y verdad.

El problema es que a día de hoy los parlamentos ya no son ni tan siquiera lugares de discusión, son los representantes del capital los que deciden a puerta cerrada el destino de millones de personas, de modo que la discusión pública termina por convertirse en un simulacro vacío e insustancial.

Más allá de las críticas al parlamentarismo y el liberalismo en su formulación democrática, Carl Schmitt también analiza la dictadura dentro del pensamiento marxista. La revolución de 1848 aparece dentro de su esquema como una fecha clave en la pugna entre las fuerzas políticas racionalistas de carácter dictatorial, representadas por el liberalismo de raíz jacobina representado por la Francia de Napoleón III la representada por el socialismo radical marxista amparada en las concepciones hegelianas de la historia. Y es que el marxismo también impone una visión racionalista y científica de la realidad, sobre la que pretende actuar a través del materialismo histórico. Cree conocer a la perfección los mecanismos de la vida social, económica y política y cómo dominarla en un propósito absolutamente determinista y de exactitud matemática. Pero en realidad, apunta Schmitt, solamente se puede entender al marxismo en el desarrollo dialéctico de la humanidad, que deja cierto margen de actuación al acontecer histórico en las creaciones concretas que produce al margen de todas sus pretensiones científicas del devenir. Y es que es en Hegel donde reside la base del concepto de dictadura racional marxista.

La figura del dictador consigue compenetrar e integrar la complejidad de relaciones antitéticas, contradicciones y antagonismos generados por el proceder de la dialéctica hegeliana. Y frente a la discusión permanente y la inexistencia de un principio ético para distinguir el bien del mal la dictadura aparecería como una solución dialéctica adecuada a la conciencia de cada época. Y a pesar de que en Hegel hay un rechazo a la dominación por la fuerza, en un mundo abandonado a su suerte, sin referentes absolutos, predomina la máxima abstracta de lo que debe ser.

Dentro del terreno del irracionalismo tenemos aquellas doctrinas políticas de la acción directa, y en concreto Schmitt hace alusión a Georges Sorel, quien habiendo tomado como referencia a los teóricos anarquistas y la lucha sindical y sus instrumentos como la huelga revolucionaria, comprende no solamente un rechazo absoluto respecto al racionalismo, sino también hacia las derivaciones de la democracia liberal amparada en la división de poderes y el parlamentarismo. La función del mito tenía un carácter místico y casi metahistórico, a partir del cual un pueblo entiende que le ha llegado el momento de construir un ciclo histórico nuevo. Y obviamente en la participación en este Destino nada tiene que ver la burguesía ni sus concepciones racionalistas del poder. Porque como señala Schmitt la democracia liberal es en realidad una plutocracia demagógica, y frente a ésta el proletariado industrial sería el sujeto histórico que encarnaría el mito a través de la huelga general y el uso de la violencia. Las masas proletarias aparecen como las creadoras de una nueva moral superior al pacifismo y humanitarismo burgués.

No obstante, la lucha contra el constitucionalismo parlamentario y el racionalismo liberal encuentra referentes intelectuales y políticos anteriores, en pleno siglo XIX, a través de las figuras de Pierre Joseph Proudhon y Donoso Cortés desde posturas aparentemente antagónicas como son el anarcosindicalismo radical y el tradicionalismo católico contrarrevolucionario. También estos autores, como en el caso de Sorel, apuestan por la acción directa y la violencia contra aquello que Donoso Cortés denominó «la clase discutidora», y frente al derecho apuestan por la dictadura. Del mismo modo también encontramos una dimensión escatológica esencial, y un mismo espíritu combativo y de apelación al heroísmo. Es la reivindicación de la acción, de la violencia frente al acto de parlamentar, de discutir o de apostar por las componendas tan propias de los regímenes liberales.

Y la crítica al parlamentarismo se extendería, como es lógico, al propio racionalismo, que es la matriz de la que surgen todos los mecanismos políticos e institucionales que nutren la democracia liberal. El racionalismo es enemigo de la vida, de la tensión espiritual, de la acción y falsea la realidad de la existencia, la enmascara bajo los discursos de los intelectuales. Y es dentro de estas corrientes, a priori tan divergentes, donde Schmitt encuentra los principios e ideas necesarias para vertebrar un discurso antiliberal y antiparlamentario, en oposición a lo que el liberalismo entiende por democracia, y frente al marxismo, que para Carl Schmitt sigue viviendo dentro de un marco conceptual y político-filosófico de formas heredadas de la Ilustración, y en consecuencia del mismo modelo racionalista.

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Artículo original: «Los fundamentos histórico-espirituales del parlamentarismo en su situación actual», de Carl Schmitt, Hipérbola Janus, 30/Nov/2020

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|| |:-:| |EVOLA, Julius, Metapolítica, Tradición y Modernidad: Antología de artículos evolianos, Hipérbola Janus, 2020|

Hace unos meses creímos que era interesante trabajar en la edición de parte de los textos que Julius Evola, el autor y protagonista de la presente obra, tenía desperdigados en revistas especializadas a lo largo de varias décadas, y en concreto durante los años 50-70, que es el periodo en el que se mantiene más activo como articulista en publicaciones como Il Conciliatore, La Stampa o Roma entre otros muchos. Conocemos al autor por sus obras clásicas, especialmente aquellas de carácter metapolítico tales como Revuelta contra el mundo moderno o Los hombres y las ruinas, o bien otras que inciden en aspectos más metafísicos como El misterio del Grial o La metafísica del sexo, publicados en el caso de los dos últimos por José Olañeta, que lleva varias décadas abordando contenidos tradicionales con la edición y publicación de importantes obras relacionadas con la Tradición Perenne. Sin embargo la obra evoliana se ha visto escasamente respaldada salvo las dos obras mencionadas y alguna más como, por ejemplo, Metafísica de la guerra.

En ese sentido, y al margen de las obras clásicas del barón romano, consideramos que existía todavía un cierto vacío bibliográfico que era necesario cubrir de alguna manera, especialmente en la medida que deben de pulular en diferentes medios centenares de artículos de su autoría que todavía no han visto la luz en lengua castellana. Y no estamos hablando precisamente de un autor menor dentro del contexto de la Tradición Primordial o Perenne, sino de uno de sus exponentes más cualificados y también, por qué no decirlo, de los más polémicos, tanto por su trayectoria vital y los contextos con los que se relacionó en el periodo de entreguerras, como la contundencia de sus ideas y la extensa obra que nos ha legado, y que ha menudo permanece incomprendida por la mayor parte del público lector.

En cualquier caso, debemos apuntar que en la presente publicación hemos tratado de incluir, a través de una ardua y consensuada tarea de selección, aquellos textos que podrían ser más interesantes, y que en ciertos puntos podrían sorprender a los lectores más avezados de la obra del autor italiano. La necesidad de presentar a un Julius Evola que se expresa en relación a problemáticas cotidianas y nuevos contextos a partir de los años 50, podría marcar un contraste interesante respecto a las complejas exposiciones doctrinales que nos reflejan sus obras clásicas.

Estructura de la obra

La obra consta de tres bloques donde hemos clasificado, no sin dificultad, tres grandes áreas de pensamiento, apareciendo en cada apartado los artículos en una relación de sucesión cronológica:

De la política a la metapolítica

El primer apartado lo hemos titulado «de la política a la metapolítica». En él se abordan los diferentes aspectos de la teoría metapolítica en el contexto de la Italia de las décadas centrales del siglo XX. Hay una línea argumental que recorre buena parte de los artículos y que señala la necesidad de reconstruir una «Derecha», que no debe entenderse sino en términos tradicionales, una Derecha antiliberal y previa al triunfo del liberalismo burgués con la Revolución Francesa. En este sentido se postula una «revolución de lo alto», destinada a preservar los principios básicos de la doctrina metapolítica ya enunciados en sus obras clásicas, con la figura del Estado como un valor espiritual superior, no sometido a las concepciones materialistas o burocrático-utilitaristas propias del orden liberal. Consecuentemente hay también una reclamación de las prerrogativas clásicas del Estado tradicional en lo que se refiere al ejercicio de la autoridad y la concepción orgánica de susodicho Estado.

La reconstrucción de un «frente de Derecha», entendido, como decíamos, en términos tradicionales y antimodernos, es una idea que mantiene una vigencia absoluta a lo largo del primer bloque. Es una necesidad que Evola percibe como vital para evitar el avance del comunismo y la izquierda subsidiaria que le sirve de pantalla en los regímenes liberales de la Europa occidental. El comunismo soviético y el capitalismo global, representado por Estados Unidos, son considerados como amenazas análogas en el avance de las fuerzas de la subversión y la antitradición, y en el caso del «americanismo», es un fenómeno que Evola denuncia con especial recurrencia, y sobre el cual aporta multitud de ejemplos.

La monarquía también es objeto de las reflexiones de Evola, y aparece como eje fundamental de toda doctrina verdadera de Derecha, y en este sentido la respuesta que da a las posibilidades monárquicas es, ciertamente, sombría y poco halagadora. Obviamente, también concurren aspectos de la democracia de masas y formas avanzadas de subversión que, desde la perspectiva del autor italiano, son decisivas para impedir la reconstrucción de un verdadero frente tradicional que pueda resistir frente a la aceleración de los tiempos que plantea la modernidad.

Otros aspectos clásicos de su doctrina, como la teoría de la regresión de las castas, también aparecen sintetizados en un par de artículos, donde incluso se exacerba la involución postulada hasta la caída en una quinta casta, con unas consecuencias a nivel de deshumanización y perversión que marcan una «revolución antropológica» en un sentido inverso.

Quizás pueda sorprender que la figura del autor contrarrevolucionario español, Donoso Cortés, aparezca con frecuencia como referencia de primer orden en las críticas que Evola expone en relación al liberalismo y, de hecho, es una figura que, incluso en mayor medida que Joseph de Maistre o Metternich, pertenecientes a la misma corriente ideológica que Cortés, tiene en alta estima.

Tradición y espiritualidad

Un segundo bloque está presidido bajo el epíteto «Tradición y espiritualidad», donde reunimos una serie de artículos que abordan la Tradición en un sentido doctrinal, apelando a elementos propios de los mitos que alimentan los ciclos metahistóricos de la morfología de las civilizaciones como es «El mito del Grial», donde se reivindican sus fuentes perennes muy anteriores a la leyenda cristiana y a las «deformaciones» de Wagner en sus óperas. Esta misma idea destinada a desentrañar la pureza de los símbolos la tenemos en la forma de abordar la idea de romanidad y del pasado imperial desde una perspectiva no académica y antihumanista, exaltando aquellas cualidades aristocráticas y solares del imperium.

La Tradición, el tradicionalismo y los tradicionalistas, también es sometida a un análisis en otros textos, en lo que sirve como un marco de crítica al panorama italiano en ese sentido. La idea de la Tradición vinculada a la acción, al sentido de la existencia del Kshatriya, se refleja a través del concepto de trascendencia inmanente, de la necesidad de actuar sobre la inmanencia del mundo guiado por los principios de lo alto, de carácter puramente espiritual, o la reivindicación de un ecumene tradicional.

Sin embargo, y fruto de los contrastes que ya anunciábamos al principio de este prólogo, debemos destacar un artículo de gran belleza que describe la vida contemplativa de los cartujos en la antigua Cartuja de Hain, cerca de Düsseldorf, y que lleva el título de «Meditaciones en la Cartuja», y donde encontramos retazos del discurso gibelino característico de Evola. El espíritu del kshatriya y los cauces normales de expresión de la civilización tradicional en su estado normal, donde la función espiritual y política alcanzan su plenitud en el ejercicio de sus prerrogativas. Por otro lado el ascetismo, como esa vía espiritual característica de los tiempos descendentes, en la que se recurre al elemento individual en la búsqueda de la realización espiritual también atiende a la temática de algunos de los artículos publicados en este apartado, y es una de las expresiones del ideal gibelino de vida, y que tiene su máxima expresión, en la vía del guerrero.

En este mismo apartado, en una segunda parte del mismo, se agrupan aquellos artículos que forman parte de las formas desviadas y pseudoespirituales, incluyendo algunas pinceladas sobre la situación de la propia Iglesia católica inmersa en pleno Concilio Vaticano II. Vienen a ser ideas que sintetizan perfectamente los peligros anunciados por Julius Evola en Máscara y rostro del espiritualismo moderno. Al margen del efecto pernicioso que tienen ciertas corrientes pseudoespirituales modernas, que despiertan aquellas partes más inconscientes del Ser, y condenan a la horizontalidad y a la pura terrenalidad al hombre moderno, tenemos las acciones corrosivas del contexto histórico del momento, y en especial el influjo de la civilización americana, materialista, mundanizada y fundamentalmente atea.

Sociedad, Arte y Cultura

Por último tendríamos un tercer bloque bajo el título «Sociedad, Arte y Cultura», donde se abordan temas relacionados con las visiones evolianas de muchas de las transformaciones sociales de posguerra, entre las que destaca incluso un artículo anterior a esa época dedicado al fenómeno del feminismo o la emancipación femenina, advirtiendo los peligros de desnaturalización que se ocultan tras la igualación absoluta de hombres y mujeres, que redundan en formas caóticas e impersonales. Como siempre, hallamos una reivindicación de la forma, de la jerarquía, la diferencia y, en consecuencia, la personalidad.

La juventud y el fenómeno de la contestación, tan propio de la llamada Contracultura de los años 60 suscita un gran interés por parte de Julius Evola, quien no duda en juzgar severamente la banalidad de muchos de estos movimientos, su hipocresía, o su carácter destructivo. En este sentido, el artículo dedicado a «la raza del hombre fugaz», tan característico de nuestros días, es un perfecto complemento a las pretendidas veleidades revolucionarias de los movimientos estudiantiles de la época, como una expresión de la falta de compromiso, de centralidad y del carácter disoluto e insustancial que éstos representan.

Esta sociedad desarraigada, ajena a todo principio superior y sumida en el optimismo antropológico tan propio de los regímenes liberales modernos, condicionados por la cultura y civilización americana, que se haya consagrada al bienestar material y que considera la existencia de un progreso en tales términos, reducido a aspectos biológicos y animales de la existencia. El hombre que vive en lo inmediato, en el terreno de las sensaciones físicas, un subproducto de la civilización soviético-americana es objeto de una crítica contundente a lo largo de una serie de artículos publicados en la revista Roma.

Muchos otros aspectos, como aquellos relacionados con el comunismo, el psicoanálisis y otras formas de degradación de lo humano son expuestas en sucesivos artículos que contribuyen a la idea de la descomposición y fragmentación interna del hombre moderno, el hundimiento en estados subconscientes. En el análisis de otros aspectos de la cultura moderna destacan la crítica a la fetichización del «hombre culto e inteligente», mediatizado por una cultura académica y humanística, o el papel de los intelectuales, especialmente en los movimientos de Izquierda, y que se podrían encuadrar en lo que Evola concibe como una «superstición burguesa de la cultura». En este contexto Julius Evola también pone de relieve el concepto de Frithjof Schuon de la denominada «estupidez inteligente» como parte de una mera apariencia, como una carcasa vacía adornada con una retórica elocuente, pero carente de sustancia de un conocimiento profundo y real. La denominada «crítica», que también forma parte sustancial de este entramado propio de la cultura moderna, se ha erigido en los creadores de opinión, en los jueces de una ortodoxia cultural que regula los gustos y opiniones del gran público, sometido a la tiranía de su mal gusto e inanidad.

Conclusión

Para terminar, y como colofón ideal al compendio de artículos que hemos referenciado de manera extremadamente sintética, con breves pinceladas, tenemos dos entrevistas realizadas a Julius Evola en los últimos años de vida, y que representan un complemento ideal para poner punto final a la obra. La primera de ellas, publicada por Il Conciliatore, ofrece al lector un interesante repaso a través de 7 preguntas a aspectos esenciales de la obra de Julius Evola y a sus posicionamientos en algunos aspectos del periodo en que fue realizada la entrevista, a comienzos de los años 70, en torno al tema de la Contracultura, la sexualidad o el panorama cultural y tradicional de la Italia del momento.

En la segunda entrevista, realizada a finales de 1972, y en fechas próximas a su muerte, encontramos aspectos mucho más polémicos, como los que hacen referencia a ciertas filiaciones falsamente atribuidas y a prejuicios dentro de la sociedad italiana en torno a la figura y a la obra de Julius Evola.

El Julius Evola que se expresa a través de una amplísima y variada gama de artículos, donde se abordan temas políticos, filosóficos, culturales e incluso de aspectos cotidianos, busca soluciones a los problemas que el mundo moderno va generando, sin dejarse vencer por la decadencia de la sociedad y la moral burguesas, haciendo un diagnóstico severo de los males que afligen a un mundo en plena descomposición. Las soluciones del Maestro italiano son severas y contundentes, a través de un lenguaje directo y sin perderse en abstracciones ni divagaciones. La esencia de un pensamiento combativo mantenido sobre las posiciones, sin ceder un ápice al ritmo de los tiempos, a las componendas o a las comodidades de lo material y con la referencia permanente de unos principios de lo alto, emanados directamente de una concepción tradicional de la vida. Y a pesar de que la esencia de la lucha se encuentre en un plano metafísico, y que las causas de la decadencia y degeneración material se encuentren en ese descenso de nivel, nuestro autor no duda en tomar los aspectos más banales y cotidianos como objeto de sus reflexiones críticas.

Al mismo tiempo, y sin rehuir la polémica, la estigmatización y el ostracismo del que fue objeto, tenemos a un Evola que se erige como un referente fundamental en los tiempos más aciagos del Kali-Yuga, y lo hace desde la reivindicación de la radicalidad de los principios, en su sentido más etimológico, de ir a la raíz de los mismos, abandonando la vacuidad de las antinomias y enfrentamientos artificiosos generados por las contradicciones modernas, superando los límites y la absurdidad de los problemas planteados por la sociedad burguesa para terminar de emprender acciones decisivas capaces de subvertir el orden de las cosas. Y todo ello desde la disciplina interior, desde una clara idea de jerarquía e inmutabilidad, «manteniéndose en pie en un mundo en ruinas».

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Artículo original: «Metapolítica, Tradición y Modernidad: Antología de artículos evolianos» de Julius Evola, Hipérbola Janus, 10/Dic/2020

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Giselle y Lorena Selcis, sobrinas del primer ministro cubano, llegaron a Estados Unidos buscando asilo en 2022 y diciembre de 2023, respectivamente. En el caso de Lorena, gracias al parole humanitario, un programa que la administración de Joe Biden puso en vigor y no precisamente con el objetivo de dar refugio a familiares de represores comunistas.

Según una extensa investigación publicada por el periodista Mario J. Pentón, los familiares del también coronel de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), y quien fuera por 15 años ministro del Turismo, se dan una vida de alto lujo en EEUU, presuntamente con el dinero de los negocios de su madre en Holguín.

Giselle y Lorena son hijas de Tamara Marrero Cruz, la hermana “emprendendora” del primer ministro. La mujer tiene un negocio de Spa en la nororiental ciudad que está dedicado al turismo, aprovechando las conexiones de su hermano con el grupo Gaviota, la hotelera de Gaesa, el conglomerado empresarial en manos de los militares cubanos y que mueve alrededor del 70% del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) de Cuba.

Marrero fue designado primer ministro en diciembre de 2019 por Raúl Castro, y se le considera una figura central en la gestión de los ministerios de Cuba, incluyendo la represión a las protestas de 2021, que resultaron en más de 1.000 detenciones. No obstante, el referido reportaje aclara que a las sobrinas de Marrero Cruz no se les conoce participación en actos represivos ni en defensa del régimen castrista.

De acuerdo con el investigador Luis Domínguez, creador del proyecto Represores Cubanos, la actividad principal de Giselle y Lorena siempre ha sido pasear de “hotel en hotel con su madre y lo publican en sus redes sociales sin el menor sonrojo. Mientras el pueblo cubano no puede ni en sueños visitar un hotel o comer decentemente, esta gente no solo te restriega en la cara su riqueza, sino que además emigran y EEUU les permite la entrada”.

Las hermanas Selcis Marrero se han establecido en Cape Coral, en el sur de Florida, donde también reside José José Bruzón Montero, pareja de Giselle, quien es propietario de dos negocios en menos de dos años: una barbería y una compañía que diseño cristales de baño.

La política del gobierno de EEUU hacia los represores del régimen castrista ha sido aplicar sanciones a funcionarios cubanos por corrupción y violaciones de derechos humanos. Estas sanciones también afectan a sus familiares directos, quienes no son elegibles para ingresar al país norteño bajo procesos legales como parole humanitario o asilo.

Sin embargo, en el caso de las sobrinas de Manuel Marrero no se ha ejercido ningún tipo de restricción a su entrada y posterior regularización migratoria. No obstante, la madre de las jóvenes sigue utilizando sus redes sociales para promover sus negocios en Holguín y su apoyo al régimen cubano.

@ fbe736db:187bb0d5

This is a slightly abridged version of an article published in Bitcoin magazine in October 2021.

June 4th 2021, Bitcoin Conference, Miami. Max Keiser strides onto the stage, clad in a white suit, in triumphant fashion.

“YEAH! YEAH! WE’RE NOT DONE! WE’RE NOT DONE! FUCK ELON! FUCK ELON!”

This clip attracted plenty of online criticism, perhaps most from those already looking for something to criticise, but also from some bitcoiners. But what was the impact? And how badly can bitcoiners hurt Bitcoin?

Max Keiser

More on Max Keiser later.

Bitcoin’s most underrated facet is its fully distributed (frequently also described as decentralised) nature, both in terms of the miners and node operators. But this concept of decentralisation also extends to Bitcoiners themselves. There are certainly cohorts. The core developers, the miners. The podcasters, educators, & media personalities. The exchanges, traders, & the on-chain analysts. The venture capitalists. The plebs. However, because of the “opt in” nature of Bitcoin, attempts to typecast bitcoiners typically fail.

How can bitcoiners harm bitcoin? It's best considered when turned around. If you were a secret agent and could send someone to undermine bitcoin — who would you send, and what would they do?

Let’s consider a couple of recent candidates. The author Nassim Nicholas Taleb covered many topics in his books, (such as Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, Antifragile, and Skin in the game), that resonate with Bitcoin principles. He was for many years loosely a Bitcoin advocate, and wrote the original foreword to the Bitcoin Standard.

As is well known, Taleb fairly abruptly announced he had sold all his Bitcoin in Feb 2021, and doubled down by writing a “black paper” denouncing the true value of Bitcoin as zero. This would certainly appear harmful to Bitcoin. However, the concepts expressed in his paper do not suggest a wealth of new insight suddenly having been gained from being some kind of Bitcoin insider. His arguments need to stand on their own merits (or lack of) either way. I’d argue that Taleb has simply joined the ranks of existing Bitcoin detractors, of which there are already plenty.

Many of Taleb’s ideas within his books still resonate. He was once famously asked his view on Microsoft as a stock, and remarked that since he was neither long nor short on the stock, he wasn’t qualified to give his opinion on it. Skin in the game.

The irony is that he has written a “black paper” denouncing the value of bitcoin as zero, and yet now appears to be neither long nor short on… bitcoin. No discernible skin in the game there, then.

Let’s consider another — Elon Musk. What better way to belittle Bitcoin than to endlessly plug Dogecoin and label it in with “Crypto”, essentially calling into question the notion of Bitcoin’s digital scarcity. The reason being, if Doge is a comparable investment to Bitcoin, why not Baby Doge? And so on. Secondly, he has very publicly questioned Bitcoin’s environmental impact.

Many involved with Bitcoin will have found Musk’s actions pretty frustrating; at best it could be described as learning in public, and he’s not done yet. But again, actions speak louder than words. In 2021 in terms of just his actions, Elon Musk has personally bought and still owns a chunk of Bitcoin, as do Tesla and SpaceX. I suspect we haven’t heard the end of this story just yet.

Re the idea of bitcoiners criticising Bitcoin, I think there is an interesting contrast here to a recent BBC documentary that Michael Palin presented on North Korea. When he asked his guide why North Korean citizens never criticise their leaders, she replied that the leaders represent the nation, of which they are all an intrinsic part — “Criticising our leaders is like criticising ourselves, too”.

This was to a small extent a compelling expression of unity, but scratch beneath the surface and it’s a pretty torrid state of affairs. There is no opportunity for debate or error correction, and indeed North Korean citizens have little choice but to belong to the nation, not having free borders.

Bitcoin is the total opposite. It in itself presents no barriers to entry — or exit. It is perhaps the embodiment of free speech and error correction. Taking Elon Musk’s environmental comments as an example, in recent months there has been considerable pushback against this narrative from others. As Lyn Alden remarked earlier this year — Bitcoin’s energy use may not be an actual problem, but general perception of its energy use is. This is now error correcting.

How would we even define a bitcoiner? Perhaps it is as simple as someone who owns bitcoin. At any point in time you either own bitcoin or you don’t.

Some might draw a common strand to the North Korea anecdote. That is — it’s not particularly easy for a bitcoiner to criticise Bitcoin. I think this is what inevitably leads to accusations of cult-like behaviour, but these are levied without proper understanding.

Why? Any bitcoiner can criticise Bitcoin, but the only way to meaningfully criticise and remain true to yourself is to remove your skin in the game, and no longer hold bitcoin. If you no longer own it, then perhaps you are by definition, no longer a bitcoiner.

Bitcoiners could certainly harm Bitcoin in aggregate. I would recommend reading “The Blocksize wars” by Jonathan Bier, for anyone looking to understand the events of 2015–17 around proposed changes to Bitcoin’s protocol. That seems a long way away today, though, and is perhaps yet another example of Bitcoin’s antifragility.

Bitcoin in its operation could be seen as a one way valve. It has the capacity to take on board improvements from benevolent actors, but ignores those who seek to harm it. See Taleb; antifragility.

Having considered all that, back to Max Keiser. Of course, he may have his own reasons for wanting to make a lasting impression. As for the impact:

• It had absolutely no impact on Bitcoin. Max Keiser knows he — or indeed anyone — could enter onto that stage however they like and it won’t make a scrap of difference to Bitcoin’s future.
• Perhaps the genius of Max Keiser is that he appreciates that the moment an observer fully clocks point one, they are a step closer to understanding Bitcoin themselves.

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

NOTE: this is just a quick technical guide. sorry for the lack of details

Install NodeJS

Download it from the official website https://nodejs.org/en/download

Or use nvm https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm?tab=readme-ov-file#install--update-script

bash wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash nvm install 20

Clone example config.yml

bash wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hzrd149/blossom-server/master/config.example.yml -O config.yml

Modify config.yml

```bash nano config.yml

or if your that type of person

vim config.yml ```

Run blossom-server

```bash npx blossom-server-ts

or install it locally and run using npm

npm install blossom-server-ts ./node_modules/.bin/blossom-server-ts ```

Now you can open http://localhost:3000 and see your blossom server

And if you set the dashboard.enabled option in the config.yml you can open http://localhost:3000/admin to see the admin dashboard

@ 502ab02a:a2860397

หลายๆครั้งที่เรากินเฮฟวีครีมหรือที่บ้านเราเรียกวิปครีม ไม่หมดแถมใกล้จะหมดอายุแล้วด้วย เราสามารถนำมาเรียนรู้กระบวนการผลิตสิ่งที่เรียกว่า ผลิตภัณฑ์จากนม หรือ Dairy Product ได้ครับ แถมเรายังได้ของไว้ใช้ทำอาหารอีกด้วย นั่นคือ การทำครีมให้เป็นเนย แล้วเอาเนยไปทำกี อีกที งว่ออออออ

ผมจะเล่าสิ่งที่ผมทำเล่นๆเป็นงานอดิเรกให้อ่านกันครับ

ส่วนตัวแล้วผมค่อนข้างหลงไหลใน ไขมันเนย และสนุกในการเรียนรู้มันมานานพอสมควร รวมถึงได้คลุกคลีกับอุตสาหกรรมนม มาตั้งแต่ราวๆปี 2001 ที่น่าสนใจคือ สัดส่วนสารอาหารของไขมันเนย ดีงามตั้งแต่เรื่อง กรดไขมันสายสั้น สัดส่วนที่ลงตัวระหว่างโอเมก้า3:6 รวมถึงมีกลิ่นหอมละมุน

กระบวนการทำเนยนั้น เขาก็จะนำนมมาแยกส่วนที่เป็นครีมออกมา เพื่อปั่นแยกไขมันเนยกับเวย์ ในขั้นตอนการแยกครีมนั้น เราจะได้ **ครีม(นมกับไขมันเนย) และ นมพร่องมันเนย (นมที่มีไขมันเนยต่ำ แน่สิมันไปอยู่ในครีมไง) **

ซึ่งนมพร่องมันเนยนี่ละครับ เป็นกระบวนการเดียวกับที่เขานำไปขายเป็นนมไขมันต่ำ หรือ ไม่ก็เอาไปทำนมผง(สกิมมิลค์) . . . แต่ทำความเข้าใจก่อนนะครับว่า บางโรงงานก็ไม่ได้เอาเศษพวกนี้มาทำของขายเรานะ โรงงานนมผงบางที่ก็เป้นการตั้งไลน์ทำขึ้นมาโดยเฉพาะแล้วได้ by product เป็นครีมแทน

คือมันไม่เหมือนกันระหว่าง ตั้งใจทำครีมออกมาขายแล้วได้หางนมมาทำนมผงนมไขมันต่ำ VS ตั้งใจทำนมผงนมไขมันต่ำมาขายแล้วได้เศษเหลือเป็นครีม

มันเป็นแค่กระบวนการที่คล้ายกันคือ มีการแยกครีมกับนม แต่การตั้งเครื่องไม่เหมือนกัน เขาจะตั้งเอาสิ่งที่ต้องการผลิตเป็นหลัก ที่เหลือมันจึงเป็นแค่ by product

โอเคทีนี้กลับมาเรื่องของเราครับ

**

กระบวนการทำเนยคือ

** การเอาครีมมาปั่นในถังปั่น จนมันเกิดการแยกระหว่างไขมันกับเวย์ เรียกว่าการ churning ตั้งแต่โบราณก็ใช้การปั่น แต่วิธีปั่นมันต่างไปเท่านั้นครับ จากปั่นมือ มาเป็นปั่นเครื่อง รสชาติของเนยก็ขึ้นอยู่กับวิธีทำต่างๆ ตั้งแต่โบราณคือนมดิบ, นมที่มีการ culture หรือ ใส่จุลินทรีย์ไปหมักก่อนจะนำมาปั่น เพื่อกลิ่นและรส ปัจจุบันก็อาจมีการพาสเจอร์ไรส์เพราะบางประเทศบังคับว่าต้องพาสเจอร์ไรส์

วันนี้เรามาดูแบบง่ายๆตามที่บอกไว้ข้างบน เราแค่เอาวิปครีม ใส่โถปั่นแล้วก็ให้มันปั่นไปเรื่อยๆ แค่นี้ก็ได้เนยแล้วครับ สำหรับคนที่ทำขนมน่าจะเคยเจอเหตุการณ์ตีวิปนานเกินไปจนจับก้อนแข็ง ถ้าคุณตีต่อไปอีกนั่นละครับ ไอ้เจ้าครีมแข็งนั้นจะกลายเป็นเนยในที่สุด เอาจริงๆการเหวี่ยงก็ได้นะครับ หลายคนเอาใส่ขวดแล้วเขย่า ใครอยากลองก็ลองได้นะ เมื่อยมือเชียว 5555 พอเราได้ก้อนเนยสดๆแล้ว เราก็เอามาใส่ลงในน้ำเย็นจัด ความเย็นจัดจะทำให้เนยสดๆนี้แข็งตัว แล้วเราก็จะปั้นก้อนปั้นรูปทรงให้เก็บง่ายๆได้ ที่นิยมก็ทรงหมูยอ เพราะตัดใช้ง่ายดีครับ

**เรามาดูคลิปที่ผมเคยทำกันครับ จะเห็นภาพว่า ครีมกลายเป็นเนย มันยังไง ** https://youtu.be/bzo7V9n2cxc?si=PsaldIxgKqpiBXgb

ทีนี้เราก็ได้เนยเอาไว้ใช้เองสบายๆละ ใครที่มีนมดิบอยู่แล้วกลัวกินไม่ทัน ก็มีวิธีเพิ่มนิดนึงครับคือ ใส่โถทรงสูงหน่อย เอานมดิบแช่ตู้เย็นราวๆ 18ชั่วโมงขึ้นไป จนมันเริ่มแยกชั้นกัน ความเย็นจะทำให้ไขมันจับตัว มองแล้วคล้ายหัวกะทิ หางกะทิ แล้วเราก็เลือกตักส่วนข้นๆส้วนจับก้อน เอามาใช้แทนครีม วิธีสังเกตุก็ดูความใสของนมเอาครับ ส่วนไขมันจะข้นๆหน่อย พอเริ่มไขมันน้อยก็จะใสครับ ส่วนที่เหลือที่ใสหน่อย นั่นละครับ นมไขมันต่ำ 55555 เอาไปชงกาแฟหรือดื่มได้ต่อไม่มีปัญหาอะไร

**

ทีนี้ กี (ghee) คืออะไร

** กี คือ เนยใส เป็นที่นิยมในอินเดียมากๆ เขาเอามาใช้เป็นน้ำมันในการทำอาหาร ชงเครื่องดื่ม ได้สารพัดอย่างตามที่น้ำมันจะทำได้ จุดเกิดควันสูง ทำให้เกิดการไหม้ ได้ยากกว่าเนยหลายเท่า

วิธีทำกี ก็ง่ายมากๆ แค่เอาเนยมาตั้งเตาด้วยไฟอ่อนๆ อ่อนมากๆนะครับ เพราะถ้าแรงไปนิดเดียว เนยจะไหม้ทันที เราก็กวนเนยไปเรื่อยๆ ความร้อนอ่อนๆที่ต้มเนยนี้มันคือกระบวนการทำให้น้ำระเหยออกไป จนเริ่มเห็นน้ำมันใสๆ เริ่มเห็นการแยกชั้นอีกครั้งนึง ซึ่งไอ้ที่แยกมานี่ละครับ เราเรียกว่า เนื้อนม หรือ solid milk เท่ากับว่าเราแยกองค์ประกอบของเนยออกไปได้ดังนี้ 1.น้ำระเหยไปในอากาศ 2.เนื้อนมแข็งๆคาอยู่ในหม้อ 3.ไขมันเนยใสๆ คาอยู่ในหม้อ

สิ่งที่เราเอามาใช้ก็คือ ไขมันเนย กรอกใส่ขวดหรือกระปุกก็ตามสะดวกใช้ครับ แช่ตู้เย็นเอาไว้ก็ได้ หรือถ้าใช้บ่อย อยู่นอกตู้เย็นก็ได้พักใหญ่ๆเลย เพราะมันไม่มีอะไรให้เสีย เพียงแค่มันจะซับกลิ่นสภาพแวดล้อมได้เก่งหน่อย

ส่วนเนื้อนมเอาไปคลุกน้ำตาลอร่อยครับ 555555

เรามาดูคลิปการทำกี กันครับ ตัวนี้ผมใช้เนยที่ขายทั่วไปพราะตอนนั้นผมทำการทดลอง ให้คนคีโตเห็นว่า อย่าไปอะไรกับเนยมาก ทุกตัวมีเนื้อนมหมดและเนื้อนมเป็นคาร์บ ที่สำคัญเนยที่คีโตนิยมใช้เหลือเนื้อนมมากกว่าเนยที่ราคาถูกกว่าอีก เพราะเนื้อนมคือตัวที่ทำให้เนยมีความละมุนลิ้น ส่วนไขมันเนยคือตัวที่ส่งกลิ่นหอมๆ ลองไปดูคลิปกันครับ

https://youtu.be/HFvvIjhZ6h0?si=KkqoZFN3Mx1lTTul

ทีนี้ของแถม ที่บอกว่าต้มกี ต้องระวังไหม้ จำได้ใช่ไหมครับ ในสายเบเกอรี่ เรามีสิ่งที่เรียกว่า บราวบัทเตอร์ (brown butter) คือการเล่นเสี่ยงอย่างนึงคือ ต้มกี ให้เกินจุดพอดี แต่ไม่เกินไปจนไหม้ เราจะได้เนยใสสีน้ำตาลอ่อน มีกลิ่นหอมคาราเมล ตัวนี้นิยมใช้ทำขนมเพิ่มกลิ่นหอมกว่าการใช้เนยปกติหลายเท่า แถมเป็นกลิ่นหอมหวาน ที่ทำให้ขนมไฮโซขึ้นมาก เอาไปชงกาแฟก็หอมครับผมทำบ่อย

siamstr #pirateketo

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Prompt: Progress ===============

What's making progress and how does it work?

It could be a progress bar showing time remaining in a movie or it could calculate the progress made reading a book. Anything you want.

---

Flex your design muscles and join in. Most of all, keep this exercise loose and keep it stress-free. The FUC is about growing our design skills, together, as a community. We can't wait to see what you create!

Happy designing, Stackers!

---

Share Your Results When you finish the challenge, post your work on this thread! If you also share it on nostr, be sure to use the hashtag #FUCdesiger and tag Design_r@iris.to or @Design__r on X! We'll keep an eye out and repost good examples on a regular basis.

---

Curious to know WTF is a FUC? Read the ⚡️Flash Ui Challenges welcoming post.

Looking for more FUCs? Check the archive here!

@ fa984bd7:58018f52

I like climbing, coding and bitcoin. (in that order)

@ 1931b5e4:168a0489

"One's True Will can be considered as the Resultant of all the vectors that comprise one's nature. Even if one doesn't realise it, the True Will will, on average, dominate one's actions and one's responses to external stimuli. Once one has become intimately familiar with all the vectors, and therefore with their Resultant, one may begin to strengthen the Resultant by consciously adjusting the alignment of the vectors.” Ordo Templi Orientis

This suggests that our True Will, the core essence of who we are, is a culmination of various elements within us. Understanding these components allows us to align ourselves with our true purpose and exert conscious influence over our actions and responses. It's a philosophy that emphasises self-awareness and intentional living.

Transcendent True Will is like a special state of being where you feel both innocent and incredibly powerful at the same time. It's a bit like feeling wonder and awe, and from this state, you can create amazing things.

When we tap into this state, we can use what you call "perceptive magik" to shape our lives in a way that works best for us. It's like becoming the main force in our own story, with the goal of aligning our reality with our deepest desires and intentions.

In this state, anything is possible. It's like being in touch with a kind of energy that's both incredibly powerful and incredibly still. And it's from this place that we can create our own reality, expanding and deepening it as we go along.

Think of Transcendent True Will as this special power within you that allows you to shape your life in amazing ways. It's tapping into your true, most authentic self, where all possibilities are open to you.

Here are some tips on how to fully embracing the concept of transcendent true will and its profound implications for personal empowerment and reality creation:

• Embrace the Paradox: Recognise and embrace the paradoxical nature of transcendent true will, which encompasses both fundamental innocence and ultimate omnipotence. Embracing this paradox allows you to navigate the complexities of existence with grace and authenticity.

• Harness the Power of Perception: Understand that wielding perceptive magik involves harnessing the power of perception to shape your reality. By shifting your perspective and perception, you can tap into the infinite possibilities that arise from your transcendent true will.

• Live from Purposeful Innocence: Cultivate a state of purposeful innocence in which you approach life with a sense of wonder and curiosity, while simultaneously aligning your actions with the dynamic causal presence of your true will. This allows you to engage with life from a place of pure intentionality and creativity.

• Embody the Indescribable Presence: Surrender to the indescribable presence of transcendent true will within you. Allow yourself to fully embody this state of magik being, experiencing the vital causal energy of dynamic life and the incredible power it holds. By doing so, you can tap into the limitless potential of your true magik state of being.

• Manifest Endless Realities: Understand that true will makes everything possible and that you have the ability to manifest endless realities guided by your transcendent true will. As you evolve and grow in alignment with your true will, you contribute to the creation of a fabric and network of realities that seamlessly knit together into one cohesive whole.

By continuing to explore and embody these principles, you can deepen your understanding of transcendent true will and unlock the full potential of your magik state of being.

@ 1f9e547c:8af216ed

Opinion about the city of Seattle

testfornostrtags

nostrTest

Join the conversation!\n\nJust Testing ...

@ 7b351277:001ba418

Opinion about the city of Seattle

ascma iboinoin inin

myCloneOfTripadvisor#askNostr#nostrOpinion

Join the conversation!\n\nJust Testing ...

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

While I was in Mediera with all the other awesome people at the first SEC cohort there where a lot of discussions around data storage on nostr and if it could be made censorship-resistent

I remember lots of discussions about torrents, hypercore, nostr relays, and of course IPFS

There were a few things I learned from all these conversations:

1. All the existing solutions have one thing in common. A universal ID of some kind for files
2. HTTP is still good. we don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water
3. nostr could fix this... somehow

Some of the existing solutions work well for large files, and all of them are decentralization in some way. However none of them seem capable of serving up cat pictures for social media clients. they all have something missing...

An Identity system

An identity system would allow files to be "owned" by users. and once files have owners servers could start grouping files into a single thing instead of a 1000+ loose files

This can also greatly simplify the question of "what is spam" for a server hosting (or seeding) these files. since it could simply have a whitelist of owners (and maybe their friends)

What is blossom?

Blossom is a set of HTTP endpoints that allow nostr users to store and retrieve binary data on public servers using the sha256 hash as a universal id

What are Blobs?

blobs are chunks of binary data. they are similar to files but with one key difference, they don't have names

Instead blobs have a sha256 hash (like b1674191a88ec5cdd733e4240a81803105dc412d6c6708d53ab94fc248f4f553) as an ID

These IDs are universal since they can be computed from the file itself using the sha256 hashing algorithm ( you can get a files sha256 hash on linux using: sha256sum bitcoin.pdf )

How do the servers work?

Blossom servers expose four endpoints to let clients and users upload and manage blobs

• GET /<sha256> (optional file .ext)
• PUT /upload
• Authentication: Signed nostr event
• Returns a blob descriptor
• GET /list/<pubkey>
• Returns an array of blob descriptors
• Authentication (optional): Signed nostr event
• DELETE /<sha256>
• Authentication: Signed nostr event

What is Blossom Drive?

Blossom Drive is a nostr app built on top of blossom servers and allows users to create and manage folders of blobs

What are Drives

Drives are just nostr events (kind 30563) that store a map of blobs and what filename they should have along with some extra metadata

An example drive event would be json { "pubkey": "266815e0c9210dfa324c6cba3573b14bee49da4209a9456f9484e5106cd408a5", "created_at": 1710773987, "content": "", "kind": 30563, "tags": [ [ "name", "Emojis" ], [ "description", "nostr emojis" ], [ "d", "emojis" ], [ "r", "https://cdn.hzrd149.com/" ], [ "x", "303f018e613f29e3e43264529903b7c8c84debbd475f89368cb293ec23938981", "/noStrudel.png", "15161", "image/png" ], [ "x", "a0e2b39975c8da1702374b3eed6f4c6c7333e6ae0008dadafe93bd34bfb2ca78", "/satellite.png", "6853", "image/png" ], [ "x", "e8f3fae0f4a43a88eae235a8b79794d72e8f14b0e103a0fed1e073d8fb53d51f", "/amethyst.png", "20487", "image/png" ], [ "x", "70bd5836807b916d79e9c4e67e8b07e3e3b53f4acbb95c7521b11039a3c975c6", "/nos.png", "36521", "image/png" ], [ "x", "0fc304630279e0c5ab2da9c2769e3a3178c47b8609b447a30916244e89abbc52", "/primal.png", "29343", "image/png" ], [ "x", "9a03824a73d4af192d893329bbc04cd3798542ee87af15051aaf9376b74b25d4", "/coracle.png", "18300", "image/png" ], [ "x", "accdc0cdc048f4719bb5e1da4ff4c6ffc1a4dbb7cf3afbd19b86940c01111568", "/iris.png", "24070", "image/png" ], [ "x", "2e740f2514d6188e350d95cf4756bbf455d2f95e6a09bc64e94f5031bc4bba8f", "/damus.png", "32758", "image/png" ], [ "x", "2e019f08da0c75fb9c40d81947e511c8f0554763bffb6d23a7b9b8c9e8c84abb", "/old emojis/astral.png", "29365", "image/png" ], [ "x", "d97f842f2511ce0491fe0de208c6135b762f494a48da59926ce15acfdb6ac17e", "/other/rabbit.png", "19803", "image/png" ], [ "x", "72cb99b689b4cfe1a9fb6937f779f3f9c65094bf0e6ac72a8f8261efa96653f5", "/blossom.png", "4393", "image/png" ] ] }

There is a lot going on but the main thing is the list of "x" tags and the path that describes the folder and filename the blob should live at

If your interested, the full event definition is at github.com/hzrd149/blossom-drive

Getting started

Like every good nostr client it takes a small instruction manual in order to use it properly. so here are the steps for getting started

1. Open the app

Open https://blossom.hzrd149.com

2. Login using extension

You can also login using any of the following methods using the input - NIP-46 with your https://nsec.app or https://flare.pub account - a NIP-46 connection string - an ncryptsec password protected private key - a nsec unprotected private key (please don't) - bunker:// URI from nsecbunker

3. Add a blossom server

Right now https://cdn.satellite.earth is the only public server that is compatible with blossom drive. If you want to host your own I've written a basic implementation in TypeScript github.com/hzrd149/blossom-server

4. Start uploading your files

NOTE: All files upload to blossom drive are public by default. DO NOT upload private files

5. Manage files

Encrypted drives

There is also the option to encrypt drives using NIP-49 password encryption. although its not tested at all so don't trust it, verify

Whats next?

I don't know, but Im excited to see what everyone else on nostr builds with this. I'm only one developer at the end of the day and I can't think of everything

also all the images in this article are stored in one of my blossom drives here

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqrhvvpzqfngzhsvjggdlgeycm96x4emzjlwf8dyyzdfg4hefp89zpkdgz99qq8xzun5d93kcefdd9kkzem9wvr46jka

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Content

• Conclusion

• FAQ

• You May Also Like

• External Links

Tokens that can't be exchanged for other currencies are called NFTs. Nonfungible is a term often used in economics to describe characteristics like rarity and irreplaceability. Nonfungibility in the crypto world means that one asset cannot be used to purchase another.

Tokens are used as a unit of account because they serve as certificates of validity that are recorded on the distributed ledger (blockchain), allowing anybody to verify the ownership of digital assets. Therefore, NFTs are a special sort of digital money that may take the form of anything creatively digital, including but not limited to paintings, films, songs, in-game collectibles, and other digital works of art.

convert digital art into NFT Ever since the price of NFTs skyrocketed at the beginning of 2021, investors all over the globe have been buying and selling these tokens. However, the challenges of converting original works of art into NFTs and marketing them remain. Could you describe how challenging it is? Does creating an NFT require the use of codes?

The procedure, in brief, is straightforward. Read on for a synopsis of the main steps and their explanations.

What is cryptographic art?

For this reason, it should come as no surprise that crypto art in the form of NFTs has lately seen a meteoric rise in popularity, given that the most prevalent use of NFTs is in the arts. Many artists, who could previously only dream of earning tens of millions of dollars from their digital paintings, have been drawn to the industry as a result of the revolutionary blockchain technology that now makes this possible.

Auctions of highly publicized NFTs associated with digital art have garnered a lot of interest due to their sensational nature. Sales of the most valuable items made news because of their high dollar amounts. "Merge," by the anonymous digital artist Pak, sold at auction in 2022 for $91.8 million, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold.

Another high-priced auction in 2021 was the sale of artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple,'s Everydays: the First 5000 Days NFT collection for $69.3 million.

Famous artists produce one-of-a-kind works of crypto art, which are then auctioned off on various markets, including NFT platforms and more conventional auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's. However, undiscovered creative newcomers still do the vast bulk of crypto-space artwork.

Some NFT collections, such as the original CryptoPunks or the most talked-about collection lately, Bored Ape Yacht Club, are instances of generative art. The majority of this kind of artwork is made with the aid of AI algorithms. The graphics in these sets are made up of a small number of basic parts that are pieced together in a variety of ways to form the final product.

How do you turn your art into an NFT?

The answer to the question of whether or not you should adapt your work into an NFT is a resounding "sure, why not try?" Making an NFT does not need any complicated, expensive, or technological steps. All you need is some imagination and access to a computer.

It is important to note once again that NFTs have the capacity to convert not only photos but also music, video, GIFs, and other digital goods. So, the first step is to figure out what kind of artistic practice best matches your personality and skills. Depending on the results, you'll learn what abilities are necessary to make legitimate NFTs.

For instance, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Paint, CorelDraw, and similar programs are all necessities for every graphic designer. The more advanced technique of three-dimensional (3-D) modeling is another option. If you go with 3D animation, you'll have to use programs like Blender or Cinema 4D to create models and animations that can be exported as NFTs.

After that, you need to consider the final form your artwork (or group of artworks) will take and come up with a fresh concept for it.

Is coding necessary for NFTs?

Making an NFT from digital art is a breeze if you don't know how to code. It is termed "minting" when they are created. It's the act of making a copy of the token public on the blockchain. The process of creating NFTs is called "mining," and it's quite similar to the production and distribution of physical coins.

After this process, the piece of digital art is protected from tampering and is difficult to alter in any way. With its newfound status as a non-fungible token, this digital good may be purchased, sold, and digitally monitored in the event of a subsequent sale or recall.

Minting NFTs into digital works of art is an innovative and equitable method for artists to commercialize their work. Most NFT markets allow artists to pre-program a royalty clause at the time of minting, allowing them to earn a passive income from their works' secondary sales. Artists stand to gain financially if their work is in high demand, gains notoriety, and appreciates in value.

If you already have relevant skills and are determined to get into the NFT development industry, you may, however, try your hand at writing your own NFT. Before diving headfirst into NFT programming, it's important to keep in mind that the Ethereum network is still the only place where NFTs may be created.

Solidity, a programming language developed for creating smart contracts that operate on the Ethereum blockchain, is widely used for NFT development. JavaScript and HTML/CSS are two others. In addition, most musicians and artists save their NFTs in the InterPlanetary File System.

Choosing the NFT marketplace to make and sell your NFTs

Selecting an appropriate NFT platform is crucial throughout the minting process. The transaction fee, or the cost associated with minting a new NFT, is meant to compensate the platform for the time and resources spent processing and validating user transactions. Other considerations include the file formats accepted, the compatibility of user crypto wallets, the ease of access to the platform, and the price to mint an NFT.

There are a wide variety of NFT markets available online in the crypto industry, and their individual methods of operation might be rather distinct from one another. What's most important for artists is to understand if the platform is curated or self-service focused, so they can choose the one that's best for them in terms of fit, traffic, and ease of use.

Non-curated, self-service NFT platforms are open to any and all musicians without charge. All that is required to mint an NFT is a cryptocurrency wallet registration and the transaction cost. OpenSea and Rarible are two of the most well-known examples of scalable, self-service NFT markets.

For this reason, curated NFT services are pickier about which musicians they promote. You'll need to fill out an application outlining your background in the arts and the NFT collection in order to begin selling your work on these sites.

The time it takes for the experts to make a choice is another obvious drawback of curated NFT markets. However, because of these rigorous selection procedures, only the best digital artworks are shown on such platforms, giving customers greater faith in the artists who work with these venues. You may be familiar with curated marketplaces like SuperRare and Nifty Gateway.

Setting up a cryptocurrency wallet

To use NFT platforms, sign transactions, and monitor your balance, you'll need a bitcoin wallet.

Make sure the wallet supports the coin of the NFT platform you wish to use before you set it up. Due to the fact that most NFT exchanges are built on top of Ethereum, Ether, Ethereum's native coin, is widely accepted. So, you'll want to make sure you have some Ether (ETH) in your cryptocurrency wallet.

Numerous cryptocurrency wallets boast millions of active users. Many of them offer a wide range of features, and some even come with dedicated mobile apps and browser add-ons for quick interaction with blockchain networks.

What level of security you need will determine which bitcoin wallet is best for you. Three major categories of cryptocurrency wallets exist: custodial, noncustodial, and hardware. Custodial wallets, also known as hosted wallets, are managed by a third party on behalf of the user, much like how banks manage checking and savings accounts.

It's the easiest to set up and has the best user interface. By eliminating the need for a trusted third party to store user cryptocurrency, a "noncustodial" wallet improves privacy and security. Hardware wallets, often known as "cold wallets," are storage devices that users may use to store their cryptocurrency offline, where it will remain safe even if the user's computer is compromised.

How to sell digital art as NFTs

Your NFT minting will most likely culminate in an NFT sale. When minting a new NFT, most services give you the choice of setting its selling price or distribution mechanism.

At the moment, the two most common methods for selling NFTs are a fixed-price sale or an auction. Many people choose a fixed-price sale since it's the most straightforward transaction kind. You just need to choose the price at which you want to sell your newly created NFT in order to do so. Also, keep in mind that some sites may want you to choose a royalty rate, which will determine how much of the proceeds you will earn from any future sales of your artwork.

Another option for recouping some of your investment in your NFT is to host an online auction where interested parties may peruse your work and place bids. Some auctions may be conducted solely online, while others may culminate in a traditional live event. Two basic varieties exist.

An English auction is the first kind, and it's the one where the highest bidder ultimately wins. A timed auction is a subset of English auctions in which a non-fungible token (NFT) is up for bid for a set amount of time, after which the bidder with the highest total amount wins. The other kind of sale is called a Dutch auction, and it works like this: the price of your NFT gradually decreases until it is purchased.

Which method of selling NFT you choose is entirely up to you. Both establishing a fixed price and selling at auction have inherent drawbacks, such as the potential for misunderstanding the true worth of one's artwork.

Conclusion

You have now finished developing your NFT. With NFT, the creator not only benefits monetarily from the first sale of their work but also from subsequent sales of NFT tokens for as long as those tokens remain in circulation. It is not difficult to turn anything remarkable into NFT and sell it if you have the ability to do it. The setup is quite simple. This may be done by anyone, too. All you need is access to a reliable NFT marketplace.

FAQ

Is it possible to make something that just uses NFTs and then sell it? Tokens that can't be exchanged for other tokens are called "non-fungible tokens," and they're a special kind of crypto asset. In the NFT market, users may upload digital material and sell it to other users. The generation of NFTs is supported by a number of blockchains, with Ethereum being the most widely used.

Approximately how much does it cost to convert artwork into NFT? Making NFT might set you back anything from $0.05 to $150. NFT creation costs may include but are not limited to blockchain fees, gas fees, marketplace account fees, listing fees, and so on. The most costly blockchain is Ethereum, while the least expensive is Solana.

Can I use NFT to sell digital artwork I created myself? Yes. A non-volatile token (NFT) may be used to hold any kind of digital content. There are several online markets, and more are adding support for video, gaming assets, and music every day. Even traditionally tangible goods, like limited-edition Nike sneakers and other collectibles, are increasingly being digitized as NFTs.

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 271f516a:33235cdd

Esse texto é para que mais pessoas possam debater sobre os atuais efeitos da inflação que anda acometer a toda Portugal e dar ao meu ver uma explicação breve baseada na escola austríaca de economia(EAE), informando desde já que não sou economista mas um entusíasta no assunto e acho que todos sem exceção deveriam aprender o que o governo faz com nosso dinheiro.

Bom primeiramente e para ficar mais didático antes vou definir o que é inflação de maneira simples e aceita na EAE, inflação é o aumento da base monetária de maneira simplória há alguns fatores que podem impactar essa definição mas por hora vou mantê-la assim. Como resultado dessa inflação, ocorre o aumento generalizado de preços (doravante chamado pela mídia de inflação, o que por definição está errado, o aumento de preços é só o efeito não a causa), porém há ressalvas e para evitar discussão desnecessária, o aumento pontual em um produto ou uma cadeia de produtos nem sempre é resultado da inflação monetária, pode ser causada por desastres naturais, vide exemplo o aumento do valor do azeite que acumula o efeito da inflação monetária e causas naturais. E isso pode causar um aumento em toda a cadeia que depende desse produto.

Bom dito isso vamos ao que gostaria de dizer, vi alguns posts aqui que criticam o aumento de preços, bom isso nada mais é que o resultado de todo o subsídio gerado pela pandemia e da época dos juros negativos(não irei me aprofundar aqui ). Bom como todos sabem durante a pandemia houve diversos subsídios por parte do governo para que a população ficasse em casa, não irei entrar no mérito se foi ou não eficaz, para nosso caso pouco importa, o que importa é que não existe almoço grátis e todo o aumento da base monetária durante esse período criou a famosa "recessão" como podemos ver em alguns paises.

Bom mais porque o aumento da base monetária cria inflação e porque os preços dos produtos aumentam se temos mais tecnologias para produzir mais há um valor mais baixo?

Bom para explicar irei dar dois exemplos, ambos os exemplos se passaram em um mundo fícticio onde há oferta inicial de moedas é de 21 moedas que podem ser fracionadas e serão chamadas btc. No primeiro exemplo mostrarei como seria um mundo de moeda forte e onde a EAE é usada como princípio fundamental nas economias governamentais. O segundo exemplo irá utilizar um modelo parecido com o que temos atualmente e visa mostrar o poder degradatório causado por princípios keynesianos.

1 - O mundo austríaco

Nesse mundo, onde só existe 21 moedas para todo o mundo, o valor de toda a riqueza já gerada por esse mundo é dividido pelo total de btcs existentes, ou seja, 21. Conforme o tempo passe e a tecnologia evolua, a riqueza gerada aumentará mas o estoque monetário permanecerá sempre o mesmo. Dessa maneira, o valor de cada unidade monetária será maior ao longo do tempo, ou seja, se no passado uma familía pobre conseguiu poupar e guardar moedas para deixar de heranças para os filhos esse valor poupado ao longo de 21 anos (a vide de exemplo para a maioridade), durante esses 21 anos essas moedas "ganharam valor" só por estarem guardadas e ainda aumentaram o valor de todas as moedas restantes que estavam a correr na economia, elevando "artificialmente o valor de todas as moedas usadas que não estavam sendo poupadas".

Com isso obtemos o que é chamado de baixa preferência temporal, onde as pessoas preferem poupar e aumentar o valor da própria riqueza. Assim sendo toda a politica e banca deve ser austeiramente responsável, dessa forma o populismo oferecido pelo governo e por seus representantes deve obedecer a toda riqueza "obtida" através de impostos para sua população, sem ter como imprimir o governo deverá cumprir todas as obrigações financeiras e ser responsável fiscalmente falando.

Como efeito cascata a banca que atualmente utilizam das reservas minimas obrigatóras (ou reservas frácionarias**), deverá ser igualmente responsável pois não haverá como o governo socorre-las caso aconteça uma corrida bancária ou devido a problemas de liquidez(vide o que acontece hoje, com os bancos grandes demais para quebrar!). Assim sendo a vida das pessoas seria muito mais simples, pois não teríamos que nos preocupar com aumentos irresponsáveis da base monetária devido a ingestão de politícos e banqueiros irresponsáveis. O tal do consumismo exacerbado hoje seria reduzido ou até mesmo extinto, populismo e dividas infinitas de governos irresponsáveis acabariam bem como as guerras seriam muito menores, pois sem ter como imprimir, o governo teria que guerrear somente com o que rouba(através do chamado imposto) de sua população.

** reservas frácionarias é o valor minimo que um banco deve manter em caixa para evitar problema de liquidez, normalmente o restante o banco oferece como empréstimo as demais pessoas/empresas via empréstimos e/ou investimos, simploriamente falando, aumentando artificialmente e temporiariamente a base monetária, causando assim também uma certa inflação porém o tempo de vida dessa inflação segue o tempo de maturidade dessas aplicações.

2 - O fantástico mundo de keynes

Segue um modelo similar ao anterior, porém com uma única diferença, os governos podem imprimir mais moedas. Bom dito isso, conforme o tempo passe e a tecnologia evolua, a riqueza gerada aumentará e seu dinheiro irá comprar mais conforme o exemplo anterior correto? Não necessariamente, pois aqui há dois sub-cenários:

2.1 O mundo estacionário

O governo aumenta a base monetária no mesmo nível que a produção aumenta, ou seja, se antes 1 moeda era gasta para produzir um carro, porém 2 anos mais tarde é somente necessário 0.5 btcs para produzir um carro o governo irá aumentar a base monetária em 50%, assim o carro que era para custar 0.5 btc por unidade, continua a valer 1 btc por unidade. Assim não haverá nem inflação nem deflação, mas uma certa estagnação dos preços.

2.2 O mundo real

Nesse cenário, que é o que representa mais o mundo real, o governo ao invés de aumentar em 50%, aumenta em 75%, dessa forma o carro que antes custava 1 btc para ser produzido, custará 1.25 btc para ser produzido, porém essa desvalorização será repassada a todos os poupadores, que assim como no cenário anterior, quem poupava é quem mais sofre, pois tem o poder do seu dinheiro reduzido ao béu prazer do governante.

2.3 Voltando ao texto

Normalmente esse aumento da base monetária ocorre por alguns motivos, primeiro é o populismo, nenhum governo promete reduzir os gastos e os subsidios gerados, normalmente é sempre o oposto "aumentar a reformar, número de trabalhadores estatais, aumento dos ordenados" e por ai vai....

Bom, mais ai vem a pergunta, o governo poderia fazer isso sem imprimir, sim poderia, e porque não o faz?

Porque você teria que dar mais dinheiro ao governo, você aceitaria pagar 50%, 75% ou mesmo 80% a mais de IVA/IRS para isso? bom creio que não, então é por isso que o governo imprime, para se financiar as custas do valor gerado pela sua horaxvida no trabalho. Mas além disso há outro problema que intensifica ainda mais as coisas, as chamadas reservas fracionárias que foram citadas anteriormente, agora com um governo irresponsável, tendem a se tornar irresponsáveis também....

Mas porquê?

Bom, porquê o dinheiro impresso precisa de vazão e esse dinheiro vai para as mãos de projetos que o governo patrocina, e esses projetos colocam o dinheiro em algum lugar, é ai onde entra os bancos, com esse dinheiro todo entrando a banca vê uma oportunidade de fazer mais rendas através das reservas frácionarias, porém, diferentemente do outro caso elas tem subsídio para serem irresponsáveis, pois conforme essas empresas colocam mais e mais dinheiro nos bancos maiores esses bancos se tornam e maior se torna o estrago que tal banco pode causar em cenários de iliquidez, e como governo nenhum iria deixar uma bomba dessas estourar na sua mão quando está a governar, eles imprimem dinheiro para "manter a liquidez", dessa forma aumentando a oferta monetária e causando ainda mais aumento generalizado nos preços dos bens.

E assim cada dia que se passa as pessoas se tornam mais pobres, precisam trabalhar mais e ter acesso a produtos de menor qualidade(reduflação, vocês conseguem notar isso muito bem em itens industrializados, que agora aumentam a quantidade de produtos de baixo teor nutricional e aumentam a quantidade de produtos mais fáceis de produzir mas com menor teor nutricional), para bancar irresponsabilidade de pessoas que não irão sofrer desses males, e não só isso, a riqueza sua foi subtraída no tempo dos seus pais, e a do seu filho/neto está sendo usada agora para bancar essa festança de irresponsabilidade diante dos seus olhos com você sendo o responsável por pagar tudo, dito isso, quem sair por último apaga a luz.

Referências:

O que o governo fez com nosso dinheiro, Murray N. Rothbard, https://rothbardbrasil.com/o-que-o-governo-fez-com-o-nosso-dinheiro-2/

O Padrão Bitcoin, Saifedean Ammous, https://www.amazon.com/Padr%C3%A3o-Bitcoin-alternativa-descentralizada-Portuguese/dp/9949745721

Hidden Secrets of Money (basta ativar as legendas em português), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE88E9ICdipidHkTehs1VbFzgwrq1jkUJ

Reservar minímas: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/educational/explainers/tell-me/html/minimum_reserve_req.pt.html

@ e771af0b:8e8ed66f

Have you ever seen a relay and out of curiosity visited the https canonical of a relay by swapping out the wss with https? I sure have, and I believe others have too. When I ran https://nostr.sandwich.farm in late 2022/2023, I had thousands of hits to my relay's https canonical. Since then, I've dreamed of improving the look and feel of these generic default landing pages.

With the release of myrelay.page v0.2, relays can now host their own customizable micro-client at their https canonical.

Transform your relay's landing page from this:

or this:

to something like this:

I say "something like this" because each page is customizable at runtime via the page itself.

In a nutshell

myrelay.page is a self-configuring, Client-Side Rendered (CSR) micro-client specifically built to be hosted at relay canonicals, customizable at runtime via NIP-78. Check out a live example.

Features:

1. Dark or light theme
2. Join relay
3. Relay operator profile and feed
4. Zap relay operator
5. See people you follow who are on the relay
6. Customizable by the relay operator
7. Enable/disable blocks
8. Sort blocks
9. Add HTML blocks
10. Add image blocks
11. Add markdown blocks
12. Add feed blocks, with two layouts (grid/list) and customizable filters.

You can find a full list of features complete and todo here

Why I created myrelay.page

For several different reasons.

Firstly, the default, bland relay pages always seemed like a missed opportunity. I jotted down an idea to build a relay micro-client in early January 2023, but never had the time to start it.

Next, I've been ramping up the refactor of nostr.watch and first need to catch up on client-side technologies and validate a few of my ideas. To do this, I have been conducting short research & development projects to prepare and validate ideas before integrating them into an app I intend to support long-term. One of those R&D projects is myrelay.page.

Additionally, I wanted to explore NIP-78 a bit more, a NIP that came into fruition after a conversation I had with @fiatjaf on February 23rd, 2023. It stemmed from the desire to store application-specific data for app customization. I have seen clients use NIP-78, but from what I've seen, their implementations are limited and do not demonstrate the full potential of NIP-78. There's more on NIP-78 towards the end of this article

The convergence of these needs and ideas, in addition to having an itch I needed to scratch, resulted in the creation of myrelay.page.

*Could be wrong, please let me know in the comments if you have examples of nostr clients that utilize NIP-78 for propagating customizations to other visitors.

Editor Flow

Now I'm going to give you a brief example of the Editor Flow on myrelay.page. There's a lot that isn't covered here, but I want to be as brief as possible.

Note: myrelay.page is alpha, there are bugs, quality of life issues and things are far from perfect.

Login

Presently, myrelay.page only supports NIP-07 authentication, but other authentication methods will be implemented at a later date.

In order to customize your page, you need to have a valid NIP-11 document that provides a valid hex pubkey value that is the same as the key you use to login.

Click "Edit"

Add a block

For brevity, I'm going to add a markdown block

Configure the block

Add a title to the block and a sentence with markdown syntax.

Publish the configuration

Click publish and confirm the event, once it's been published to relays the page will refresh.

Note: Again it's alpha, so the page doesn't refresh after a few seconds, the publish probably failed. Press publish until it refreshes. Error handling here will improve with time.

Confirm state persistence

After reload, you should see your block persisted. Anyone who visits your page will see your newly configured page. Big caveat: Given the blessing of relays who store your configuration note, if your configuration cannot be found or you cannot connect to your relays, visitors will only see your relay's NIP-11.

Interested?

myrelay.page is alpha and only has two releases, so if you want to be an early adopter, you'll need the skillset and patience of an early adopter. That said, as long as you have some basic development and sysadmin skills as well as understand your reverse-proxy of choice, it's a quick, easy and low-risk side project that can be completed in about 20 minutes.

1. Build

yarn build or npm run build or pnpm run build (note: I had issues with pnpm and cannot guarantee they are resolved!)

2. Deploy

Move the contents of build folder to your relay server (or another server that you can reverse-proxy to from your relay)

3. Update your reverse-proxy configuration

You'll need to split your relay traffic from the http traffic, this ranges from easy to difficult, depending on your server of choice. - caddy: By far the easiest, see an example configuration for strfry here (easily adapted by those with experience to other relay software) - nginx: A little more stubborn, here's the most recent nginx config I got to work. You'll need to serve the static site from an internal port (8080 in the aforementioned nginx conf) - haproxy: Should be easier than nginx or maybe even caddy, haven't tried yet. - no reverse-proxy: shrugs

If any of that's over your head, I'll be providing detailed guides for various deployment shapes within the next few weeks.

Exploring NIP-78

One of the special things about NIP-78 is that it is application specific, meaning, you don't need to conform to any existing NIP to make magic happen. Granted there are limits to this, as interoperability reigns supreme on nostr. However, there are many use cases where interoperability is not particularly desirable nor beneficial. It doesn't change the care needed to craft events, but it does enable a bunch of unique opportunities.

1. A nostr client that is fully configurable and customized by the user.
2. A nostr powered CMS that can be edited entirely on the client-side.
3. Any use case where an application has special functionality or complex data structures that present no benefit in the context of interoperability (since they are "Application Specific").

Final thoughts

I was surprised at how quickly I was able to get myrelay.page customizable and loading within an acceptable timeframe; NIP-11, the operator's NIP-65 and the myrelay.page NIP-78 events all need to be fetched before the page is hydrated! While there is much to do around optimization, progressive page-loading, and general functionality, I'm very happy with the outcome of this short side project.

I'll be shifting my focus over to another micro-app to validate a few concepts, and then on to the next nostr.watch. Rebuilding nostr.watch has been a high-priority item since shortly after Jack lit a flame under nostr in late 2022, but due to personal circumstances in 2023, I was unable to tackle it. Thanks to @opensats I am able to realize my ideas and explore ideas that have been keeping me up at night for a year or more.

Also, if you're a relay developer and are curious about making it easier for developers to deploy myrelay.page, get in touch.

Next article will likely be about the micro-app I briefly mentioned and nostr.watch. Until then, be well.

@ 1f9e547c:8af216ed

Opinion about Bitcoin Wallet (android)

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

Join the conversation!

@ 1bc70a01:24f6a411

Chef's notes

This recipe was created by Alton Brown and was originally featured on Food Network. I usually double the ingredients for a family of 4. You can fridge the batter over night for a smoother consistency but it's not totally necessary. I really like this recipe because it doesn't use any fancy ingredients. Great sweet or savory! My kids like to top with jam, honey, strawberries and bananas. I'm more of an eggs and bacon type of guy. You can stuff literally any breakfast ingredient into these things. If you want less crispy edges (kids sometimes don't like crispy edges) - coat the pan with butter more often.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 20 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Butter for coating the pan

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl using a wisk until the flower particles are mostly broken up
2. Heat the pan and coat it with butter.
3. Pour a ladle-full of batter into the pan and tilt the pan around until totally covered with batter.
4. Wait until the crepe starts forming some small bubbles, then flip.
5. Cook for an additional 20-30 seconds

@ 8ea48526:e6720a43

Recently there has been discussion on the socials about supporting open source developers, specifically those who work on Bitcoin and Nostr. There is a small-ish camp of people who think that Bitcoin should remain as is…it’s perfect, don’t mess with a good thing. Many others think – correctly, in my opinion – that Bitcoin needs to be maintained and even enhanced. As long as the changes make Bitcoin better money, we should evaluate, go slow, and keep things simple.

Who will maintain Bitcoin and other open source projects? Will devs do it out of the goodness of their heart? Builders gotta eat; food ain’t free. A handful of institutions, both non-profit and businesses, provide grants and long term support to developers. This is great and I hope that continues. However, there is more that we can do. There is more that you can do.

Zappy 21st

I propose we make the 21st day of every month the (un)official ”Zap a Builder Day”. It’s simple. On day 21 in the current month, find a developer and zap them sats.

Created in the spirit of #v4v and the #grownostr social experiment, I’d love to see people make this part of their monthly routine. It’s common for certain days of the month to have meaning. The 1st day marks the start of a new month. The 5th day is a common day when mortgage payments are due. In the United States, on the 15th day of April taxes are due. So now there is the 21st day, the day you send some value to devs.

Who are you gonna zap?

Any open source developer. Start simple; don't overthink this. If you're using a Nostr client that you love, go find one of the contributors and zap them. If you use Bitcoin or Lightning regularly, find a Bitcoin or Lightning dev. There are many other great freedom tech tools, like wallets, sovereign computing apps, and privacy tools that have developers behind them. Zap a developer. (I say developer, but I really mean "contributor". Remember the designers, product, support, and project people who also contribute.)

I'm intentionally not giving names of developers here because I don't want to favor one over the other. Every open source developer is important to different people based on the tools they use. So go zap the people in your realm.

I'm only publishing this on Nostr, but I'm happy if the idea spreads beyond that. Nostr is the perfect place because you can so easily find a core dev and zap them. No need to track down their website hoping to find a wallet address or request a Lightning invoice.

Join the Zaps

While everyone is excited about block 840000, halvings come and halvings go. But the 21st is always here for you. Every month, reliably, quietly doing its thing. Just like those open source devs you rely on so much. They’re here every month, reliably, quietly doing their thing. Let’s show them some love.

This April 21st find a dev and zap them. If you’d like, add a message telling them how awesome their work is and tag it with #Zappy21st. Let’s flood the feeds with #Zappy21st messages and surface great open source developers to others. Next month on the 21st, we’ll do it again.

🤘

@ 599f67f7:21fb3ea9

¿Eres un comerciante que busca comenzar a aceptar Bitcoin en tu negocio? ¿O eres un Bitcoiner apasionado que quiere incorporar empresas locales? ¿O tal vez no te importa Bitcoin y sólo quieres utilizar un procesador de pagos rápido y económico o montar una tienda web sencilla? Si la respuesta a cualquiera de estas preguntas es afirmativa, entonces esta guía es para ti. Puedes montar una tienda en el BTCPay Server alojado por Bitcoin Txoko y empezar a vender tus bienes y servicios por Bitcoin en menos de diez minutos, de forma gratuita.

¿Qué necesito?

Si tienes un teléfono móvil o un ordenador con acceso a Internet y una cuenta de correo electrónico, ¡estás listo!

Crear una cuenta

Crear una cuenta BTCPay Server en Bitcoin Txoko es gratis. Navega a btcpay.bitcointxoko.com para registrar una cuenta. Revisa tu bandeja de entrada para recibir un correo electrónico de bitcointxoko@gmail.com que contiene el enlace de confirmación.

Crear tu primera tienda

Al hacer clic en el enlace de confirmación accederá a la página de creación de la tienda. Asigna un nombre a tu tienda y elige la moneda predeterminada y una fuente de precios preferida. Por ejemplo, puedes elegir EUR y Kraken, que es la fuente de precios recomendada. BTCPay Server convertirá el precio de tus bienes o servicios de EUR a Bitcoin utilizando la fuente de precios en el momento de la compra.

Configurar una billetera

Para comenzar a aceptar pagos, primero debes vincular una billetera a tu tienda. A menos que esperes transacciones frecuentes de grandes cantidades (más de 500 EUR), te recomendamos configurar una billetera Lightning y omitir la billetera Bitcoin (en cadena) por ahora. Siempre puedes configurarla más tarde si la necesitas.

💡 Lightning es la red de liquidación de pagos ideal para aceptar pagos de Bitcoin porque ofrece liquidación instantánea y tarifas bajas en comparación con las transacciones en cadena.

La forma más sencilla de conectar una billetera Lightning es usar LNDhub porque no necesita correr tu propio nodo Lightning. Si aún no tienes una billetera LNDhub, no temas, Bitcoin Txoko ofrece billeteras LNDhub gratuitas y tardas menos de cinco minutos en configurarlas. Consulta nostr:naddr1qqxnzd3exuerqdfkxccnyv3cqgs9n8m87l0hd9xxqwndqcmwzh4uvyxmwlw0637kuhg98pkcy8ana2grqsqqqa28nkyu7t sobre cómo obtener tu propia billetera LNDhub y regresa cuando estés listo.

💡 Si ya dispones de una billtera, te recomendamos que crees una billetera independiente para este caso en lugar de utilizar tu billetera principal. Esto es más fácil de contabilizar y más seguro. Simplemente haz clic en + Agregar nueva billetera en la barra de herramientas, dale un nombre a la billetera y créalo.

Con tu billetera LNDhub lista, - ve a tu cuenta BTCPay, busca Wallets en la barra lateral y selecciona Lightning. - Elige Use custom node. - Copia la URL admin de LNDhub y pégala en la configuración de conexión. - Prueba la conexión de tu billetera. - Si todo salió bien, deberías recibir el mensaje Connection to the Lightning node successful, but no public address has been configured. Puedes ignorar la parte acerca de que no se ha configurado ninguna dirección pública; esto solo se aplica si estás corriendo tu propio nodo. - Haz clic en Save una vez que hayas probado con éxito la conexión de la billetera. - Después de hacer clic en Save, desactiva Enable LNURL en la sección LNURL. No olvides hacer clic en Save nuevamente después de realizar cambios. - (Opcional) En este punto, también recomendamos marcar la casilla junto a Display Lightning payment amounts in Satoshis, ya que es más fácil de leer. Un satoshi es la unidad divisible más pequeña de Bitcoin; hay 100 millones de satoshis en un Bitcoin.

💡 El proceso de configuración es similar si utilizas tu propio nodo Lightning. Solo asegúrase de proporcionar la cadena de conexión correcta para la implementación de tu nodo. Si estás ejecutando tu propia instancia de BTCPay Server, viene con un nodo por defecto, por lo que puedes saltarse muchos de estos pasos.

Crear un Punto de Venta (Point of Sale)

Si has llegado a este paso, date una palmadita en la espalda porque la parte aburrida ya terminó. ¡Ahora puedes crear tu Punto de Venta (Point of Sale, PoS) y comenzar a aceptar tu primer pago de Bitcoin a través de BTCPay!

Para crear tu Punto de Venta, - Ve a Plugins > Point of Sale. - Dale un nombre a tu Punto de Venta y dale a Create.

Cubriremos un par de cosas simples que puede hacer con tu aplicación PoS. Dado que BTCPay tiene muchas funciones, en esta guía solo cubriremos los conceptos básicos para ayudarte a comenzar.

💡 Recuerda que puedes crear múltiples Puntos de Venta dentro de BTCPay Server, cada uno para su uso.

Keypad (Teclado)

Para una demostración sencilla, primero repasaremos el PoS con estilo de teclado.

• Asigna un nombre a tu PoS y un título para mostrar.
• Elige Keypad en Choose Point of Sale Style.
• Presiona Save en la esquina superior derecha y luego View para comprobarlo.

Los pagos se recibirán en la billetera LNDhub que configuraste anteriormente. Experimenta generando facturas y las opciones Discount y Tip. Si tienes un teléfono que lo admite (es decir, no un iPhone), también puedes permitir que tus clientes paguen con tarjetas NFC como BoltCard (consulta nostr:naddr1qqxnzd3e8qcr2wfn8qcrgwf4qgs9n8m87l0hd9xxqwndqcmwzh4uvyxmwlw0637kuhg98pkcy8ana2grqsqqqa28qjzxr4). Genial, ¿no?

💡 Puedes guardar el Keypad PoS como una aplicación web progresiva (PWA) en tu teléfono para acceder fácilmente. En la mayoría de los navegadores móviles, esta opción se llama "Instalar aplicación" o "Agregar a la pantalla de inicio".

Lista de productos con cesta (Product list with cart)

También es posible crear una app de Punto de Venta con productos específicos, cada uno con su propio precio. Puedes utilizar esta función para configurar una caja sencilla, un sistema de autopago para el cliente o una tienda web.

• Para crear una nueva aplicación de Punto de Venta, simplemente regresa a la barra lateral y selecciona Point of Sale nuevamente.
• Esta vez, en Choose Point of Sale Style, elige Product list with cart. La opción "con cesta" permite al cliente comprar varios artículos a la vez.
• Crea tus propios productos o ve directamente a Save y View para ver los productos de muestra.

Conclusión

En esta guía cubrimos los pasos básicos para comenzar a aceptar Bitcoin en tu negocio usando BTCPay Server. nostr:nprofile1qqs22d4tralncqfnh2kmmarjkxk8449hwnk5xtqe3y5yry6hy7ytegqpzemhxue69uhk2er9dchxummnw3ezumrpdejz7qg7waehxw309ahx7um5wgkhqatz9emk2mrvdaexgetj9ehx2ap0qy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uazjdva es un proyecto de código abierto que está en constante evolución. Hay muchas más características y funcionalidades dentro de BTCPay Server que puedes explorar y usar, como la integración de Shopify, el crowdfunding, las divisiones de pagos automáticas y conversión a fiat o altcoins. También puedes personalizar tu tienda a tu gusto con temas, apariencia de pago personalizada, administración de usuarios, notificaciones por correo electrónico y mucho más. Si deseas aprovechar al máximo BTCPay Server, te recomendamos que consideres configurar tu propia instancia de BTCPay Server. Consulta su documentación y videos para obtener más información.

Si aún tienes preguntas y dudas, ¡háznoslo saber! Nos encantaría ayudar a responder cualquier pregunta relacionada.

Bitcoin Txoko es una comunidad abierta. Todos nuestros servicios se financian mediante donaciones y tiempo voluntario. Si esta guía te ha resultado útil, considera unirte a nuestras quedadas o hacer una zap para ayudar a mantener nuestros servidores en funcionamiento. ¡Gracias de antemano!

@ 3c984938:2ec11289

Hello (N)osytrs!

Yes! I'm calling you an (N)oystr!

Why is that? Because you shine, and I'm not just saying that to get more SATs. Ordinary Oysters and mussels can produce these beauties! Nothing seriously unique about them, however, with a little time and love each oyster is capable of creating something truly beautiful. I like believing so, at least, given the fact that you're even reading this article; makes you an (N)oystr! This isn't published this on X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Discord, Telegram, or Instagram, which makes you the rare breed! A pearl indeed! I do have access to those platforms, but why create content on a terrible platform knowing I too could be shut down! Unfortunately, many people still use these platforms. This forces individuals to give up their privacy every day. Meta is leading the charge by forcing users to provide a photo ID for verification in order to use their crappy, obsolete site. If that was not bad enough, imagine if you're having a type of disagreement or opinion. Then, Bigtech can easily deplatform you. Umm. So no open debate? Just instantly shut-off users. Whatever, happened to right to a fair trial? Nope, just burning you at the stake as if you're a witch or warlock!

How heinous are the perpetrators and financiers of this? Well, that's opening another can of worms for you.

Imagine your voice being taken away, like the little mermaid. Ariel was lucky to have a prince, but the majority of us? The likelihood that I would be carried away by the current of the sea during a sunset with a prince on a sailboat is zero. And I live on an island, so I'm just missing the prince, sailboat(though I know where I could go to steal one), and red hair. Oh my gosh, now I feel sad.

I do not have the prince, Bob is better! I do not have mermaid fins, or a shell bra. Use coconut shells, it offers more support! But, I still have my voice and a killer sunset to die for!

All of that is possible thanks to the work of developers. These knights fight for Freedom Tech by utilizing FOSS, which help provides us with a vibrant ecosystem. Unfortunately, I recently learned that they are not all funded. Knights must eat, drink, and have a work space. This space is where they spend most of their sweat equity on an app or software that may and may not pan out. That brilliance is susceptible to fading, as these individuals are not seen but rather stay behind closed doors. What's worse, if these developers lose faith in their project and decide to join forces with Meta! 😖 Does WhatsApp ring a bell?

Without them, I probably wouldn't be able to create this long form article. Let's cheer them on like cheerleaders.. 👉Unfortunately, there's no cheerleader emoji so you'll just have to settle for a dancing lady, n guy. 💃🕺

Semisol said it beautifully, npub12262qa4uhw7u8gdwlgmntqtv7aye8vdcmvszkqwgs0zchel6mz7s6cgrkj

If we want freedom tech to succeed, the tools that make it possible need to be funded: relays like https://nostr.land, media hosts like https://nostr.build, clients like https://damus.io, etc.

With that thought, Onigirl is pleased to announce the launch of a new series. With a sole focus on free market devs/projects.

Knights of Nostr!

I'll happily brief you about their exciting project and how it benefits humanity! Let's Support these Magnificent projects, devs, relays, and builders! Our first runner up!

Oppa Fishcake :Lord of Media Hosting

npub137c5pd8gmhhe0njtsgwjgunc5xjr2vmzvglkgqs5sjeh972gqqxqjak37w

Oppa Fishcake with his noble steed!

Think of this as an introduction to learn and further your experience on Nostr! New developments and applications are constantly happening on Nostr. It's enough to make one's head spin. I may also cover FOSS projects(outside of Nostr) as they need some love as well! Plus, you can think of it as another tool to add to your decentralized life. I will not be doing how-to-Nostr guides. I personally feel there are plenty of great guides already available! Which I'm happy to add to curation collection via easily searchable on Yakihonne.

For email updates you can subscribe to my [[https://paragraph.xyz/@onigirl]]

If you like it, send me some 🧡💛💚 hearts💜💗💖 otherwise zap dat⚡⚡🍑🍑peach⚡⚡🍑 ~If not me, then at least to our dearest knight!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time and support (N)oystr! Shine bright like a diamond! Share if you care! FOSS power!

Follow on your favorite Nostr Client for the best viewing experience!

[!NOTE]

I'm using Obsidian + Nostr Writer Plugin; a new way to publish Markdown directly to Nostr. I was a little nervous using this because I was used doing them in RStudio; R Markdown.
Since this is my first article, I sent it to my account as a draft to test it. It's pretty neat.

@ 9fec72d5:f77f85b1

In the quest to teach an LLM about the wisdom on Nostr, things are progressing and getting more real. I wanted to spend more time on filtering notes better, i.e. choosing the "meaningful" ones. Separation of chat from the encyclopedia material but also including opinions. Individual opinions matter a lot. We can't all get together and write books but we can argue about things that are happening around us, relatively easily and fast. And those matter too. In the future LLMs could start learning real time. I think they will become more relevant at that point.

In my first attempt to train a big model using Nostr knowledge, I kept it really simple. I just used a web of trust scoring that I developed earlier. Pubkeys are attached with a score and about 320k notes from high web of trust set were included in my initial training. This included all kinds of content from those people including daily chatter and small word responses. Also "GM". The result of that work is here: https://huggingface.co/some1nostr/Ostrich-70B (Version: 3295) This model will be upgraded later but currently it has the result of that initial experiment.

This still thought a lot of things to the model. Link: nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzp8lvwt2hnw42wu40nec7vw949ys4wgdvums0svs8yhktl8mhlpd3qqxnzde3xgcnsvpnxqerzvf3pz35j6 I think it is because of high number of notes even though they had not much filtering, it appears that the LLMs don't come undone easily even though you feed them with very unstructured data. Or they keep their integrity when you push chatter to them. But if you overfit them they lose abilities, for sure. Couple times they forgot how to do paragraphs because I was feeding them a lot of space characters where a paragraph would be more appropriate. I try to keep it simple. I should switch to JSONs at some point. Right now the training material is in TXT files.

Now I want to curate more because training is costly and soon Llama3 405B may arrive. Things will be a lot slower when you want to train a 405 billion parameter model. I want to carefully curate, to cut costs of training. So the curation currently is comprised of a few steps.

1. Storing kind 0's

This will be used in step 3. An LLM won't understand public key strings (npub1..........). It will see a number of characters that doesn't make sense. In the future this may be different. Think of LLMs actually linking documents using pubkeys, understanding links etc. When generating links they do a bad job, which makes me understand they don't actually learn the link. For links to work, the exact string has to be memorized. But LLMs are probabilistic. It may generate nostr.com as well as nostr.co or nostr.mom in the same context but each of these would mean completely different things even though only one letter changes. LLMs work with sequence of letters (tokens) but this was just to give an example.

2. Filtering based on simple algo

In this step I apply some simple and quick algo's.

Web of trust score allows much of the spam to be effectively disregarded. Nostr is super open. To everyone and every bot. So there has to be some kind of filtering in everything we do.

Small content is removed (I am interested in 100+ characters).

Notes with too many tags are removed (10+).

Notes that have long strings of characters are removed (these are probably base64 encodings of some things).

Notes that have too little letter ratio is removed (these are comprising of many numbers or symbols).

The result of this step is most of notes are gone and I end up with 1.6 million notes to go along with in the next steps.

3. Editing notes to make more sense for LLM

LLMs does not understand the links. They don't follow links. So 'http://...' have to be converted to things like '[link]'.

nostr:naddr1..... are converted to [pubkey].

nostr:note1...... are converted to [note].

etc.

I am sure this is not the best way to do it. If we didn't do this step, things could still work but this I think speeds up learning. Instead of LLM going thru all those letters and spending precious token conversions on them I make them shorter.

4. Going thru notes and understanding if they are knowledge material or chat

This is the most time consuming step. Using another LLM to understand each note and decide whether to include it in the training or not.

This is what I used in the system message:

You are a machine that filters tweets. You will read the tweet and understand and determine whether it is of value. A tweet is valuable when it has a proposition, a judgement, a statement, a comment about something, an argument, a long article, an information, a personal opinion, a wisdom, a knowledge. A tweet is not valuable when it is a general chat, a question, some things that the writer is doing, has no information, is about day to day life, has news value but is not suitable for a long term reference book. Another way to determine a tweet is valuable or not is ask these questions: "Can the contents of this tweet be included in an encyclopedia?". "Can the contents of this tweet be included in a reference book?". "Can the contents of this tweet be used as an argument?". If the answer to any of those questions is yes, than the tweet is valuable. A longer tweet is usually more valuable. In the first line you will get a web of trust score (wot) as part of the input. This shows how trustable the writer of the tweet is. You can use this data to help judge. In the second line and the following lines you will get the tweet. If the tweet has [link] and it talks about the link, it has not much value. If you don't understand what the tweet is about, it has no value.

Then I gave a few shots as examples. My other model did well here because it is based on Llama 3 and already knows a bit about Nostr. https://huggingface.co/some1nostr/Emu-70B-Llama3 This model spends about 1.5 seconds per note.

I also used Llama3 8B to speed up things in the low web of trust areas. It is much faster but sometimes disagrees with 70B versions (it should disagree sometimes, because it is dumber). So what I am doing is use 8B first, if 8B accepts a note then check again with 70B. I have to make sure things are of value with 70B. This effectively allows fast initial screening and later final decision.

5. Elimination of bots, LLMs and news

I realized there are lots of bots already. Lots of news submitters. People copying LLM outputs to their notes. Additional filtering needed here. Later I may do an LLM to detect whether a note is written by an LLM. I am mostly interested in notes generated by humans.

Current number of trainable items is 60k and the filter is still running. I am expecting the number to be around 80k.

6. Dividing the notes to pieces to apply different learning rates

This is to basically give more weight to high web of trust sources. High wot could use 5e-5 learning rate and cosine scheduler. Then low wot ones could do 1e-5 and linear decay. This just pushes the narrative towards more accepted notes on Nostr. If a person has a huge following it is more accepted by Nostr. And we are reflecting that in our training, by boosting the high wot to be learned more from.

Conclusion

It looks like it will take several days to train on the resulting notes. In my setup it takes 1.5 hour to train on 1MB of data. Which is probably very slow because I am using fsdp_qlora. There is also a new technique fsdp_qdora: https://www.answer.ai/posts/2024-04-26-fsdp-qdora-llama3.html I will try that next time. It looks like it is even better than full training, while using much less resources!

@ 218ad6cd:4c654231

bitcoin

@ 1931b5e4:168a0489

When I was young I dreamed of being able to get onto paper what I was picturing in my head. I wished and wished for a tool that could turn my words into "art". It's not that I ever wanted to be recognised as an artist, I just wanted to be able to fully express what I could see, and words never seemed to do that fully. Now, I am able to do it! I type my words into Mid Journey and my world that was once seemingly trapped inside my head is brought to life!

@ 218ad6cd:4c654231

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

@ fec1f0c9:25ee63f5

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20
• 🍳 Cook time: 10-14 days
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 gallon of filtered water

Directions

1. Prepare the sweet tea: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove the pot from heat and add the tea bags and sugar, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let the tea steep for about 10-15 minutes, then remove the tea bags.

@ fec1f0c9:25ee63f5

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20
• 🍳 Cook time: 10-14 days
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 gallon of filtered water

Directions

1. Prepare the sweet tea: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove the pot from heat and add the tea bags and sugar, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let the tea steep for about 10-15 minutes, then remove the tea bags.

@ fec1f0c9:25ee63f5

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20
• 🍳 Cook time: 10-14 days
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 8 bags of black or green tea
• 1 gallon of filtered water

Directions

1. Prepare the sweet tea: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove the pot from heat and add the tea bags and sugar, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let the tea steep for about 10-15 minutes, then remove the tea bags.
2. Cool Down the Tea: Add the remaining 4 cups of filtered water to the pot to cool down the tea mixture. You want the tea to be at room temperature before proceeding.
3. Transfer to Fermentation Jar: Pour the sweet tea into your clean fermentation jar. Add Starter Tea and SCOBY: Gently pour the starter tea into the jar, ensuring it's mixed well with the sweet tea. Carefully place the SCOBY on top of the tea. It may sink or float, both are okay.
4. 1. Cover and Ferment: Cover the jar with a cloth or paper towel, securing it with a rubber band. This allows airflow while keeping out contaminants. Place the jar in a warm, dark area, ideally between 75-85°F (24-29°C), and let it ferment undisturbed for 7-14 days. The longer you ferment, the more tart and less sweet your kombucha will become.
5. Tasting for Readiness: After 7 days, begin tasting your kombucha using a straw or non-metal spoon. It should be slightly tangy but still slightly sweet. If it's too sweet, let it ferment longer; if it's too sour, ferment for less time next batch.
6. Bottling: Once the kombucha reaches your desired taste, carefully remove the SCOBY and set it aside in a clean container with some of the kombucha (this will be your starter for the next batch). Use a funnel to pour the kombucha into clean bottles, leaving about an inch of headspace at the top. If desired, now is the time to add flavorings (see below). Tightly seal the bottles.
7. Second Fermentation (Optional): If you prefer fizzy kombucha, let the sealed bottles sit at room temperature for 1-3 days for a second fermentation. This will build up carbonation. Keep an eye on the pressure, as over-fermentation can cause bottles to explode.
8. Refrigerate and Enjoy: Once the second fermentation is complete (if you did it), move the bottles to the refrigerator to chill. Your kombucha is now ready to drink!
9. Flavoring (Optional): Add your preferred flavorings while bottling, before the second fermentation. Check my account for specific flavor recipes (the possibilities are endless).

@ 7076f659:ca493321

1. Activa MQTT (Module config > MQTT) con los valores por defecto (confirma que el root topic name es: msh/EU_868 )

2. En la misma sección MQTT también activa "Proxy to client" (App Android) o "MQTT Cliente Proxy" (App iOS) esto es necesario para compartir el internet de tu dispositivo con el nodo de meshtastic. Otra opción es conectar el nodo a internet mediante una conexión Wi-Fi/Ethernet (Paso 3).

3. Crea un Canal Secundario con el nombre Spain, sin PSK y activa uplink y downlink en ese mismo canal o escanea el código QR de este mensaje si tú dispositivo es de frecuencia 868 Mhz.

4. Si no quieres compartir internet a tu nodo meshtastic desde un teléfono móvil, deberás conectar tu nodo a una conexión Wi-Fi., para ello Activa Wi-Fi / Ethernet (Radio Config > Network) con los datos de tu wifi para que mediante esa conexión el nodo de meshtastic pueda salir a internet o comparte internet desde la App de tu teléfono (paso 1).

5. Desde la versión de firmware 2.2.24.e6a2c06 Alpha tienes que deshabilitar la opción "Ignore MQTT" que se encuentra en Config Radio > LoRa

Más información en la guía oficial que indica cómo realizar estos pasos en diferentes dispositivos (Android, IOS, Webclient, CLI) https://meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/module/mqtt/#connect-to-the-default-public-server

Código QR para que lo leas desde tu App Meshtastic, esto realizará la creación de los Canales de manera automática. De todas maneras, si los configuras con este código QR, revisa todos los pasos anteriores.

@ 75bf2353:e1bfa895

Example Point Of Sale

This should go without saying, but this stuff is not actually for sale.

Coffee $0.01

Click Here To Pay For Coffee

Tea $0.02

Click Here To Pay For Tea

Made with - Habla.news

• PlebPay

The only thing the business owner needs is a Strike username.

The payments can be instantly converted to fiat if the business owner prefers. I obviously think this is a bad idea, but that's none of my business.

nostr:naddr1qqr4q3mnxpe9s7gzyp6m7g6nrt5lnrrzn9d6quv3ujyw44r4jafhr43a0h75d00ph75f2qcyqqqgtwcgzhehs

Notes:

• PlebPay created Paywalls.
• Each item on the menu can have it's own price.
• Price is denominated in fiat.

All payments in this example go to Sam Samskie, the PlebPay dev

@ 75bf2353:e1bfa895

Listen to the Audio version here.

I've never felt comfortable calling myself an anarchist. I never sought out to be one. Before bitcoin, I was into the punk scene. I know nothing about music or how to play an instrument, but I liked hanging out with punks who wore mohawks, slept on couches, and traveled by train like hobos. Some of them were accountants. Some were homeless heroin addicts nodding off in the afternoon.

They were anarchists. I somewhat sympathize with this worldview. It's like Walden with a modern touch. I don't think I could live that way though. I don't find this type of anarchy all that appealing. It's too Mad Max for me and I own too many damn computers to live in a van.

Sometimes, I'll catch something on the news that makes me pause and ponder the most important philosophical question of modernity, "What the fuck?"

Then I remember some of the crypto anarchy literature and think:

• We can communicate with each other.
• We can create contracts.
• We can conduct commerce on the Internet.
• We can do all of this on nostr.

That's kind of a big deal.

"Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability for individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other in a totally anonymous manner. Two persons may exchange messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts without ever knowing the True Name, or legal identity, of the other. Interactions over networks will be untraceable, via extensive re-routing of encrypted packets and tamper-proof boxes which implement cryptographic protocols with nearly perfect assurance against any tampering. Reputations will be of central importance, far more important in dealings than even the credit ratings of today. These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and reputation."

--Tim May, the Cryptoanarchist Manifesto

The Nostr Marketplace Is Crypto Anarchy

Anyone with a smart phone and the ability to write down 12 words can create a pseudonymously owned business.

• You don't need to build a website.
• Don't need a business licence.
• Don't need to worry about Congress force sell your stocks because they don't like your national origin.
• Don't need a business checking account.
• Don't need a 21st century blue check ID.

It's early as an infant taking his first steps, but we are on the verge of changing the world. A few days ago, I bought a belt from LeatherMint. I never would have found this website if it weren't for nostr. I haven't checked my PO Box yet, but it's on the way. I have no idea what LeatherMint's legal name is. I don't know Leathermint's gender, race, nor ethnicity. Hell if I know what LeatherMint's preferred pronouns are, yet I can still conduct business with this person, ghost, robot, or whatever. It doesn't matter because LeatherMint's identity is not required to do business. LeatherMint's quality of work speaks for itself. Reputation is greater than identity.

"I am fascinated by Tim May's crypto-anarchy. Unlike the communities traditionally associated with the word "anarchy", in a crypto-anarchy the government is not temporarily destroyed but permanently forbidden and permanently unnecessary. It's a community where the threat of violence is impotent because violence is impossible, and violence is impossible because its participants cannot be linked to their true names or physical locations."

wei-dai, b-money

Nostr is not far off this vision. It's not totally anonymous yet, but it allows us to achieve free speech for ourselves despite living under regimes with totalitarianism tendencies. As the debt and speech banning grows we can exit the mainstream platforms. Wave goodbye to Facebook Marketplace. Say hello to the nostr marketplace, where our money is not subject to debasement. We call it freedom tech.

₿logging ₿itcoin

837015

debtclock

🧡 Support this blog by using the Value 4 Value model.

Follow Me on Nostr

⚡Zap Me

🍐Join my Keet Room

📻 Stream sats

❓Send a Boostagram

🛒Shop The Elliptic Curve Economy

As Seen On TOR http://4l2l6ts6mjiybalowepplgfc3df4hahz3vwavi6vnhsidhchmffiw6yd.onion/nostr-is-crypto-anarchy/

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

It looks like @siggy47's going to win, but just in case the Clippers pull off the win, we need picks for next round.

Denver vs Minnesota starts tomorrow. If either of you want to make a pick in this series, get it in before tip-off.

@ 0403c86a:66d3a378

🌟 BIG GAME VINI STRIKES AGAIN! 🌟

When the stakes were high and Real Madrid needed a hero, Vinicius Jr answered the call against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final clash. 💪

Despite Los Blancos not firing on all cylinders, Vini was simply unstoppable. His blistering pace and direct runs tormented the Bayern backline all night long. 🔥

In the first half, the Brazilian magician scored a beauty. With clever movement, he left Kim Min-Jae in his wake before calmly slotting past the legendary Manuel Neuer. 🎯

And when Madrid were awarded a penalty in the second half, Vinicius grabbed the ball with ice in his veins. He sent Neuer the wrong way, burying it in the opposite corner. 💥

Two goals from the young sensation, securing a 2-2 draw and putting Madrid in the driving seat ahead of the return leg at the Bernabeu. 🏟️

Take a bow, Vini! This kid was born for the big nights. ⭐️

👽 HARRY KANE FROM ANOTHER PLANET! 🛸

On the other side of the pitch, the unstoppable force that is Harry Kane was in full flow against Real Madrid. 💥

The hottest striker on the planet right now, no one has banged in more Champions League goals than the Englishman this season. He was absolutely electric! 🔋

Kane set the tone early with an audacious 50-yard lob attempt that narrowly missed Lunin's goal. A clear statement - he was ravenous for goals and hungry to reach his first ever Champions League final. 🍽️

This was uncharted territory for Kane, playing in his first Champions League semi after injury cruelly robbed him of Spurs' 2019 run.

But the big-game striker showed no nerves, calmly slotting home a penalty to punish Madrid's defense that had no answer for his movement and quality all night long.

With the Golden Boot potentially in his sights, Kane will be desperate to go all the way and etch his name into Champions League immortality this season. 🏆

An alien performance from an alien striker! 👽

🚨 JADON SANCHO IS BACK, BABY! 🔥

After a turbulent few years, the Jadon Sancho of old emerged against PSG in a dazzling Champions League semi-final display for Borussia Dortmund! 🛸

The English winger was simply unplayable, tormenting poor Nuno Mendes all night long. Sancho completed a ridiculous 13 successful dribbles - the most ever by an Englishman in the competition's history! 🤯

That dribbling masterclass also matched Lionel Messi's incredible record in a Champions League semi from way back in 2008 against Man United. Stratospheric numbers! ☄️

But it wasn't just his offensive brilliance that caught the eye. Sancho put in a defensive shift too, keeping PSG's marauding full-backs firmly in his pocket. 🔒

With the ball, he was a creator supreme - crafting three gilt-edged chances that were somehow squandered by grateful teammates. An assist felt inevitable!

This was THAT Jadon Sancho performance fans have been craving. The one that could book his ticket to the Euros with England this summer if he keeps this form! 🦁🦁🦁

Arise, the return of the king! Sancho is BACK. 👑

@ 4f9e11e2:9ab6c0cc

Opinion about the city of Seattle

Markdown Test

This is a bold text.

This is an italic text.

1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Subitem A
4. Subitem B

Here's a link to Nostr.

Here's an image:

Inline code can be indicated using backticks.

python def greet(): print("Hello, world!")

This is a blockquote.

Horizontal Rule

---

Header 1 | Header 2 -------- | -------- Cell 1 | Cell 2*

myCloneOfTripadvisor #askNostr #nostrOpinion

Join the conversation!\n\nJust Testing ...

@ 3f68dede:779bb81d

If there were intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe, they'd share certain truths in common with us. The truths of mathematics would be the same, because they're true by definition. Ditto for the truths of physics; the mass of a carbon atom would be the same on their planet. But I think we'd share other truths with aliens besides the truths of math and physics, and that it would be worthwhile to think about what these might be.

For example, I think we'd share the principle that a controlled experiment testing some hypothesis entitles us to have proportionally increased belief in it. It seems fairly likely, too, that it would be true for aliens that one can get better at something by practicing. We'd probably share Occam's razor. There doesn't seem anything specifically human about any of these ideas.

We can only guess, of course. We can't say for sure what forms intelligent life might take. Nor is it my goal here to explore that question, interesting though it is. The point of the idea of alien truth is not that it gives us a way to speculate about what forms intelligent life might take, but that it gives us a threshold, or more precisely a target, for truth. If you're trying to find the most general truths short of those of math or physics, then presumably they'll be those we'd share in common with other forms of intelligent life.

Alien truth will work best as a heuristic if we err on the side of generosity. If an idea might plausibly be relevant to aliens, that's enough. Justice, for example. I wouldn't want to bet that all intelligent beings would understand the concept of justice, but I wouldn't want to bet against it either.

The idea of alien truth is related to Erdos's idea of God's book. He used to describe a particularly good proof as being in God's book, the implication being (a) that a sufficiently good proof was more discovered than invented, and (b) that its goodness would be universally recognized. If there's such a thing as alien truth, then there's more in God's book than math.

What should we call the search for alien truth? The obvious choice is "philosophy." Whatever else philosophy includes, it should probably include this. I'm fairly sure Aristotle would have thought so. One could even make the case that the search for alien truth is, if not an accurate description of philosophy, a good definition for it. I.e. that it's what people who call themselves philosophers should be doing, whether or not they currently are. But I'm not wedded to that; doing it is what matters, not what we call it.

We may one day have something like alien life among us in the form of AIs. And that may in turn allow us to be precise about what truths an intelligent being would have to share with us. We might find, for example, that it's impossible to create something we'd consider intelligent that doesn't use Occam's razor. We might one day even be able to prove that. But though this sort of research would be very interesting, it's not necessary for our purposes, or even the same field; the goal of philosophy, if we're going to call it that, would be to see what ideas we come up with using alien truth as a target, not to say precisely where the threshold of it is. Those two questions might one day converge, but they'll converge from quite different directions, and till they do, it would be too constraining to restrict ourselves to thinking only about things we're certain would be alien truths. Especially since this will probably be one of those areas where the best guesses turn out to be surprisingly close to optimal. (Let's see if that one does.)

Whatever we call it, the attempt to discover alien truths would be a worthwhile undertaking. And curiously enough, that is itself probably an alien truth.

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

I don't know if you all are similar, but I don't have particularly fixed views towards NBA franchises. I like certain types of basketball and over the course of the season I come to appreciate certain teams more than others.

A lot of my attitude changes are subconscious and go unnoticed for long periods of time. During this first round, I was somewhat surprised to catch myself rooting for the Clippers over the Mavs and it's not because I just love the Clippers.

Coming into this season, I thought the Celtics had the best constructed roster in recent memory and I'm a big fan of their role guys. That said, I always find myself rooting for the other team. Something about Tatum and Brown is just really off-putting to me.

Do you ever find yourself rooting for or against teams that you didn't realize you had any particular feelings for?

@ 1931b5e4:168a0489

I have just read Million Sat Madness is a Keynesian Beauty Contest ...

I am new here...I can see now that there is a game to be played and actually I am more than happy to take part. I think though that the best way for me to play it is to post content that I am passionate about and also zap content that I truly find interesting!

The question I suppose I should ask is... will I change my view on this as time passes?

I know this isn't much of a post however I felt the need to put it out there and if I keep commenting on Stacker Saloon they may get sick of seeing my name pop up 😂

@ f72e682e:c51af867

What you are about to see and read may appear unbelievable for some of you. But this is the state of affairs in Spain, a country often labeled as a communist nation in South-Europe.

A few years ago, an elderly man was fast asleep in his house at 2:30 am when a criminal, with 45 previous records of violence and not native to Spain, broke into the dwelling with the intent to rob. The old man woke up, and as a result, the criminal attempted to attack him. Fortunately, the elderly gentleman had a hunting weapon and was able to use it against the assailant, ultimately killing the criminal and saving his life.

What would have been a joyous ending in a civilized country has turned into a living nightmare for the old man in Spain. Here, it is literally against the law to defend yourself or your property with a weapon that holds more power than the one wielded by the criminal. This means if a criminal attacks you with a stick, you can only defend yourself with a stick and not something more formidable like a knife or gun, even if you're an elderly man up against a young, strong attacker. As a result, the old man now faces a 7-year prison sentence and a fine of 235,000€ (which he will never be able to pay).

If you find this unjust, prepare yourself for an even worse law: Spain is well-known in Europe for allowing people to occupy houses that do not belong to them without the permission of the rightful owner. It gets even crazier - if the new occupant does not pay the electricity and gas bills, you are still obligated to foot those expenses. After more than two years of tribunal proceedings (if you're lucky), there is a chance the court might return your house back to you, but by that point, the illegal occupant will have already moved on and taken over another dwelling. If you try to evict these squatters by force, you'll end up in jail. Thousands of elderly people are forced to live with relatives in Spain due to this issue, unable to reclaim their homes from the criminals.

I understand it's hard to believe but trust me; it's true.

Now, why does this happen? The answer is simple: Spain has a ratio of approximately 30% of its people living in poverty and unable to afford even the lowest rental prices for homes. Of course, they live in poverty because Spain is a full-blown socialist country moving rapidly towards communism, with an estimated real unemployment rate of around 30% and a significant reliance on tax revenue from working citizens. Additionally, they receive extra funding from the European Union, mostly Germany and other northern countries.

In order to prevent millions of people from being homeless, their solution is to allow poverty-stricken individuals to effectively steal homes from successful citizens in the past or those who are too old and vulnerable to defend themselves.

These are the consequences of both socialism and fiat money, as well as widespread ignorance and cowardice from taxpayers who unknowingly support these policies. People in more affluent countries in Europe should be aware that the only reason Spain has not yet collapsed into a full-blown Venezuela or Argentina is because your taxes are helping to keep it afloat. You're inadvertently funding our communism, and as the situation worsens, your countries will face similar challenges. Keep in mind that we are all connected - if Spain falls into complete chaos, it won't be long before the rest of Europe follows suit.

Now the video:

https://m.primal.net/HvAx.mp4

Elderly Man: I'm not going to leave my house, and I will defend it. I don't know how I'll defend it, but I'm not going to run away from it. I'd rather die in my house than flee and leave it in the hands of some criminals. Judge: That's why I tell you, the purpose was that you were protecting your house, and then directly to you yourself, but what worried you is that you wouldn't leave your house. Elderly Man: I'm not leaving my house. Judge: That's it. The main defense was your home. Elderly Man: Exactly. Judge: Well, that's what I told you. Elderly Man: It's because (the house) is what humans manage to achieve after a long life of struggle, sacrifice, effort, and passions. Having a place where you feel protected because it's yours. And according to the constitution, because it's inviolable

@ 005bc4de:ef11e1a2

A quick illustration of what I saw (because my camera skills failed).

Preparation

Back in 2017, my mother was able to view the total eclipse. At that time, she passed along a few tidbits to me: - it's worth seeing "in totality" at least once during your lifetime - it's nice to see it "with others," meaning in a place like a park or town square, to enjoy the event semi-socially

So, back in 2017, my wife and I kind of decided, "Next time, we're doing it."

The next time was April 8, 2024 and we decided to do it. A few months ago was time to finalize an answer to the question, "We said we'd do it. Are we really gonna do this or not?" I'm stubborn enough to, "Stick to the plan," which is another lesson my mother taught me from years of backpacking (she's hiked the entire Appalachian Trail). "We're going to do it," I resolved.

I took off days from work. My wife booked an AirBnB in a locale within "striking distance" to the centerline. The idea was to set up a base camp close, yet not too close to get mixed into the fervor of eclipse-goers and prices running up. I researched a location to view the eclipse that I thought might work, maybe, I dunno, never done this and we had a plan forming.

Source: https://nso.edu/for-public/eclipse-map-2024/

Not sure why exactly, but Poplar Bluff, Missouri caught my eye. Particularly, a lake north of town caught my eye because the centerline bisected the lake. That seemed like a nice place to set up.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/23yToNDNJVBtona1DZj9eGDs1kbhKJE4oYHi1fpQnKLQC6RTih8FEmD1hgdXyVCTaQAip.png The track. https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/23viA7oCGeJMztCTGmq36EcG4e4T1UGhdn33HZiQKBLgEub6RjwZ1buYzuCXGjzthJBa9.png Poplar Bluff, MO area.

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https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/Enyxje7KdtogLdkbtUNbH3jZwBaEBSTVMsxQkH7WRR654b6uSMQ5LR25Qnrn3Uwj6tg.png The lake. https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EoAc7EB7qU6xMNfUk7WM8XfpsQPszPpPart4XBhdnX9KoJSxPxoYLuagDajuqjPQaFn.png Lake detail.

---

Google streetview showed a nice park on the lake (with potties...a crucial detail after hours of travel).

So, that was the target: Eagle Point Recreation Area at https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eagle+Point+Recreation+Area/@36.937443,-90.2828519,16z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x87d7c03e7df29cfb:0x654cf13d3ec653ec!8m2!3d36.9373229!4d-90.278732!16s%2Fg%2F1tgzbwxf?authuser=0&entry=ttu

The plan was forming.

Base camp

We went to our "base camp" on Saturday. With check in at 3pm, we had most of the day to toodle around. We went for a somewhat long bicycle ride...beautiful but I got a bit pooped out. A good wood-fired pizza at the end helped out a lot.

My wife is pretty good at finding nice places to stay. For about the "price of a hotel room," we stayed here:

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EowEi8Bgxa7yrtehgKA9xpVcf9toftnc7wGr36hqdWygbF3Y2S6cBTyjwB1bATnkxZu.jpg

Took a little hike along the creek.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/Eopr4ZPYTEuUb8ycfaE6nxpp9Yruo7HxUEBSENWUReHAGVX4SzbFtHttka8poDFaQik.jpg

Had an evening campfire.

---

Sunday was gorgeous and we had all day to just laze around. We took a hike and took it easy. A hot dog (or anything) cooked over a campfire always, always tastes better.

April 8, 2024

When the alarm went off in the morning, it was "go time" as I shot out here. It was raining, that's bad.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EqHyWGbS5iZoXbdR5jucXbiF4YEg2mj8D2uEsDSZEKPhLnGFJThED7gGE6bGKGoXd2i.jpg Rain

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EqfGKP3K3449njNe199Ajg7s47hgHk4Gf7rSZX6wbjVnFbdHevVRzUKfmRMZidRS8EV.jpg Traffic

---

The rain subsided (as forecasted), the sun came out, and travel was good. Until...44 miles away...we had to take a potty stop. A gas station in the middle of Missouri farmland was the only option. We stopped, then noticed the continual line of traffic flowing along the two lane road. It was non-stop. Evidently, many others needed a potty break too...that poor gas station restroom had a revolving door. Strangely, the women's restroom had only a 1-person wait. The men's restroom had about a 5-person wait. Is this reverse-of-nature another side effect of a total eclipse?

Back outside, watching the traffic flow along that road, we worried for the first time. We worried that we might have come this far only to get stymied this close to our destination.

We'd kind of expected the whole thing to be a bit of an adventure, and it was beginning to be that. Fortunately, back on the road, I think most of the crowd was actually going to Poplar Bluff. We were not...we were going to the lake north of town. The GPS routed us off the two-lane onto an even narrower two-lane. No one else came our way. It did seem like we were the only fools going the wrong direction. We were even routed onto a literal gravel road! "Are you sure we're going the right direction?" was asked.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EptZyGbxa8LTHwzNB84VbdhuYVheV7TGTFAw7GpMfEGkz2c4Bktu6yrjxqmAWMShR5C.jpg

Is this right?

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/Ep5kme3pdF14cWMhPa1LrQ18JDfHnjmCACfQgFqWVTCQez2xiy1NCt5Dk4JYKVXdH1d.jpg

Got there!

---

The GPS routing was in fact correct, and we did in fact make it. Next question, "Will there be a place to park?" It was 30 minutes before the eclipse was to start. The place was full...cars/trucks/campers, people walking around, sitting, picnicking. They were obviously earlier and readier. We drove through the parking lots...full, full, full. We literally got the last space, which wasn't exactly an official parking space, just an open slot at the end of the parking spaces. I don't care, "I'm parking."

Getting parked was an almost instant stress relief. I had a, "Whew, we made it," moment. 28 minutes to spare.

In all this, I learned that "chasing" a total eclipse can be compared/contrasted with going to a big sports or concert event.

Similarities - You must get yourself to the location and there is traffic! - There is excitement (and urgency) in the air that can be felt. This especially in the last-minutes potty stop.

Differences - You don't need to get to a specific location, like a stadium. Going to a stadium means everyone funnels down into a narrow, narrow area. With the eclipse, at least it's a swath (the path of totality) rather than a point. That's helpful. - Once in the path, you can really watch it anywhere, just stop, look up. That's helpful. - There is no stopping the timing. If you're late, you missed it. Even with a big game or concert, there's a chance something like the power goes out, or lightning delay, or whatever that stalls its start. With an eclipse, there are no delays. You either get there or you don't. That's not helpful.

Pictures

My goal was to enjoy the moment, to enjoy the eclipse. Totality would last four minutes so I'd determined to not frantically and frustratingly futz with cameras and miss out. Plus, I had no intention of trying to get "professional" pics, that's for the pros.

And yet, if you don't have pictures, it didn't happen, right? My camera plan was lame, but it was to (1) use my phone, (2) use my old phone which is no longer active as a phone but might still work as a camera and I wouldn't care if it got fried, and (3) use my old old digital camera from before when phones even had decent digital cameras. That digital camera also had a small zoom lens, so maybe it'd get some better shots with it.

My picture plan didn't turn out too well.

Somewhere I'd heard or read that you could put the paper/plastic eclipse glasses over your phone camera's lens and take pics that way. The glasses worked great over eyes, seemed okay over the camera, but every pic I took came out like an orange blob. What should have been an orange crescent shape (orange sun with black moon in front), was just a blurry burnt egg yolk.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/23tkfSuuYQacGkM33dVnowWmckYfgUZGbUMAEMMBhtYT6i2ct39XSpWMbzh5sGU3quUc9.png Illustration of what I saw through eclipse glasses. https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EoiVir3QjemNnFddyngd2xRNfGps7eGNDyz2Lr7rt6xX8viAfNxvtbNyHL2e4r9dbBe.jpg What I got as a pic.

---

My intention was to take a photo like this every 10 or 15 minutes, then put them together in my own animated gif to show the change. I took the photos, and despite how they looked through my glasses, they all came out almost exactly the same...orange blob. That was a fail.

I went ahead and made the gif, above, and I guess it does in fact show some change. The "After" pic was immediately, instantly after the sun began to reappear, hence it kind of came out as expected. (I didn't take anymore such photos after that though.) As a note, it did surprise me that as soon as the first of the sun's rays reappeared, you were immediately blinded, looked away, and put your eclipse glasses back on. Just a few rays were all that were needed to light everything back up. Looking through the glasses, there was only a thin, thin sliver of a crescent sun showing, yet it was blinding without eclipse glasses. The difference between a partial and total eclipse is, well, day and night difference.

One thing that did come out okay was my other gif. I wanted to try to show the change in lighting. So, about every 10 or 15 minutes, I snapped a pic of the hillside in our area. Again, I wasn't trying to compete with pros on such time lapse photography, just wanted to do my own thing for the fun of it.

The transition from bright to kind of auburn coloring to evening-dark during totality, then back, came out pretty well. It may not look dramatic, but in the middle of a bright sunny day, that's not the usual.

Regarding the old phone camera, the dang thing wouldn't save. I thought it'd have some memory to save a jpg file, but it wasn't cooperating. Maybe it does work, but I wasn't going to troubleshoot it during the eclipse. (Umm, lack of preparation is evidenced here. Shoulda tested prior. Oops.)

Regarding the old old digital camera, I really don't know what happened. It's a long story, but a couple of things are at play here. (1) It works great, but you can't see hardly anything of what type of photo you're taking. The LCD screen is broken so badly that all that is visible is about the rightmost 10% of the screen. This was due to having the camera in my pocket in Wisconsin one winter at near-zero temps for too long. It froze, it busted the screen. So, now, you must quickly pan the camera to get a general idea of what you're pointing at, pray, snap a pic, then pray something comes out. You can't really check it until you plug it into a computer. And (2) the thing didn't seem to want to even power on at the time of the eclipse. Normally, it powers on, the zoom lens pops out, and it's picture time. It just didn't cooperate. After the old phone fail, I was absolutely not going to waste time with an old old digital camera. I put it away for the duration. (Of course, it worked just fine two days later when I took a look at it. That's what they do.)

During totality

I've heard that a total eclipse is a multi-sensory experience. I now agree.

The visual is obvious.

Regarding the sound, first of all, people cheered when the sun went dark and totality started. (They also cheered when the sun re-emerged.) After the initial cheer at the beginning, they quieted. Someone nearby shot fireworks (we heard them but didn't see them). As far as animals, I didn't notice (I don't hear very well), but my wife did say that birds went silent. Thinking back, I do recall the mockingbirds had been singing out loudly when the sun was out. And, it did seem very peaceful during totality. There were dogs around, but none barked. I asked a couple of dog-people afterwards how their pup reacted, one said "slept the whole time" and the other said the boy dog was focused on a nearby girl dog. Nature does what it does.

Regarding sensation, it got chilly. Before, I'd say it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit. We were hot in the sun. I'll bet the temp dropped into the 60s, maybe only to the low 70s, during totality and I got a slight chill. This was probably because I'd been hot just a few minutes earlier. Thinking back, it was very similar to the time of sunset on a hot day. The difference being that we never go from hottest-part-of-the-day to sunset-cool within a 10 minute span, except during a total eclipse.

Back to the visual, the instant the moons totally obscures the sun you can take off your eclipse glasses. The corona immediately lights up in a ring around the black moon. It's strange to look at the "sun" with the naked eye (of course, you're not looking at the sun, you're looking at the unlit moon and the sun's corona behind it).

Maybe the most disappointing thing for me was that my "totality" picture failed. I guess the corona, though you could look at it no problem with naked eyes, was still too bright for my phone camera or my phone didn't know what to do with it. My resulting image had a bluish sky (the sky was actually black) and a filled-in "solid" sun/moon. The image was nothing like what I saw.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/23tbExZ2RkrWrQkQUXX37xH34AwPtiBmgBaTwzqaemc7pMwQtSG6py6mE624FcqzhkuMr.png Quick sketch of what I saw.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EpEFusbnyXJTW8xo375hUMAxSprzn3p1PveUmg27UPP8oP3kqfixmn5k5T5VrJGe7JT.jpg How the pic came out.

---

Though disappointing photo-wise, totality was terrific. We've all seen photos and videos of total eclipses, but looking at it, "Right up there in the sky," with one's own eyes is just different.

One thing did pan out great...at the last minute before leaving home, on a whim, I grabbed my binoculars. I wasn't sure if they'd be handy in an eclipse, but I packed them along. They were great during totality. The sun/moon/corona was about "full moon-size" to the naked eye during totality. At the bottom of the moon an orange "ember" was visible to the naked eye. (I drew a spot on my illustration above.) But viewed through the binoculars, it was huge and the detail was amazing. All around the ring that was the moon were tons of orange embers. That "small" one (probably far, far bigger than the earth) was just the largest of many. I don't have a photo, but I have a memory.

Totality looked like sunset or sunrise.

What was different, though, was that it was 360 degrees. We're used to sunrise in the east or sunset in the west looking like the pics above, but I can say I've literally never seen it 360 degrees though until April 8, 2024. It makes sense though...we were in the middle of a dark spot, there was light all around the outside, like light just over the horizon after the sun drops in the evening. So, it's a 360 degree sunset/sunrise. This caught me unexpected a bit (again, lack of prep here), else I would've tried a panoramic pic. Oh well, again, I had four minutes and I wanted to enjoy the time.

And oh, visible...the stars come out!

---

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/EpQusF11rMJVJu8ffXWKLPPKmGy5DXwC52kGxWJaYyL3b2U39ZVsMpYKgoXFY5pjJKi.jpg During totality (the O-shape did not come out on my camera) with Venus visible in trees. https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/Ep5jrn2t25u8qpSFosxbMvf6KMUZ2c2cwbs18LDVwC8VvxM4kipbXj9f65J5omREB6Y.jpg A star near the top left during totality.

---

Back

After the eclipse, people started trickling away. We packed up, went for a short walk, and wound up staying all the way until the moon had passed. It was beautiful there and we would have loved to linger, but we had a pretty good drive ahead of us again.

Although getting there was rather easy (except for the panicky potty stop), we hit traffic I believe three times on the return.

Traffic ahead and bugs on the windshield.

The worse was on another two-lane road in Missouri. I first got a bit nervous about it when I saw a local was parked at the end of his driveway, sitting in the back of his pickup truck, livestreaming all the eclipse tourists going down his road. I believe Google Maps was routing everyone along this nameless backroad as a "shortcut," which it may be on paper. However, I don't think Maps accounts for eclipses. The left turn onto the main highway got log jammed as people waited for a break to turn left. It took quite a while to go about two miles.

That night we got back to the little cabin and slept great.

The next day, Tuesday, was an even longer drive back home. When we finally got home, about midnight Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, we were tired. I had to get ready for work in a few hours. But, when I shut off the vehicle, my wife and I looked at each other and I said, "We did it." She agreed.

The whole endeavor was a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of effort. Since being home, reactions from others have been interesting. One woman asked all about it and was almost kicking herself for not going. "I'll be 84 years old when the next one comes!" she said. A co-worker asked me about it and I said it was great, but a listening-in secretary seemed unimpressed. I mentioned how clear and detailed it was looking at it with binoculars and she said, "But you're not supposed to look at it!" I answered simply, "You can look at it during totality, even with naked eyes or binoculars." I saw a little light bulb flicker in her head...she just didn't get it. She was thinking partial eclipse and she's right...don't look at it with your eyes or certainly not with binoculars! But a total eclipse is different. I still don't think she got it, but a tiny flicker, like that ember on the bottom of the corona ring, flickered in her brain.

The most common question I got was, "Was it worth it?" Yes, it was. After getting home from work on Wednesday, I asked my wife, "Ready to go for the next eclipse?" She answered, "Yes! Let's go!"

I spoke to some young people during the week who were asking about our trip. I mentioned that if there's a lesson in all this, the lesson is:

• Set a goal
• Make a plan
• Work the plan
• It doesn't always yield success, but you have a good chance

We're on the clock.

Source for image above was a quick Google search

Written by nostr:npub1qpdufhjpel94srm3ett2azgf49m9dp3n5nm2j0rt0l2mlmc3ux3qza082j

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Cowboys and cowgirls, it's time to shine! Spotlight your preferred product or service in the ~AGORA.

Tell us why you love it so much.

@ f72e682e:c51af867

Spanish € shitcoin series:

The Spanish gov do not want the slaves to know how much they are paying in taxes. Currently, in Spain most of the direct taxes are deducted from the salary, that the company you are working on has to silently pay for you to the gov. This is a trick made by the gov so common people don't have a glue what they are paying. In addition to this, many other taxes are hidden, like 21% VAT, oil taxes (up to 70% of the price), and many others. In the end, spaniards are paying near 75% of what they earn in taxes, but the gov doesn't want the people to know it.

Recently, the head of the empresarial association in Spain suggested that the companies should pay the entire salary to the workers, and then the gov can directly take it from the workers themselves. But then the communist gov wanted the head of this man, just for suggesting such a "blasphemy" to the socialist status quo in Spain.

The video is in Spanish but I believe you can turn on subtitles in English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tLZJwLJ5FY

@ 8947a945:9bfcf626

I heard about AI for the first time around the end of 2022 through online media. Back then, I thought it would be difficult for ordinary users to access it; only large organizations with influence could possibly gain access rights.

Until ChatGPT came along, offering free access before introducing paid packages. I immediately jumped in to try it out. I was amazed by its capabilities. If anyone remembers around the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, influencers, YouTubers, and content creators in the tech and self-development spheres were all talking about it—it became a viral trend.

To test ChatGPT's abilities, I tried asking the following question:

Medical knowledge

I delved deep into medical journals and asked where the sentence came from and who wrote it. Some journals, especially older ones, couldn't provide the answer directly but suggested similar references for me to explore further.

I inquired about the steps in performing CPR, a specialized skill of mine. ChatGPT provided a comprehensive response, succinctly emphasizing the crucial steps.

I sought opinions on management strategies, tweaking certain aspects in my hospital... (Currently, besides being a physician attending to patients, I also lead three major units.) The suggestions were intriguing; some I implemented into actual practice, resulting in tangible outcomes in the hospital. We managed to significantly reduce patient mortality rates of “pulmonary embolism” (or PE) , which was quite satisfying.

Once, a director asked for my input regarding terminology for patients who passed away before reaching the hospital. There were two terms: "out of hospital cardiac arrest" (OHCA) and "dead on arrival" (DOA). They wanted to streamline it to reduce data confusion for statistical analysis. At the time, I vaguely recalled that "DOA" had been phased out for a while, with "OHCA" being the preferred term globally within emergency medical systems. I excused myself to the restroom for a moment and used ChatGPT to clarify. It provided a clear explanation that while "DOA" might add confusion, "OHCA" was a standardized term used worldwide in emergency medical systems. I returned to suggest using only "OHCA," leading to a summary and progress in our work. The hospital subsequently removed "DOA" from its documentation system.

Once, I posed an extreme question to test ChatGPT's nerves. I let it present its capabilities directly to the hospital management, regarding how to effectively integrate it into our hospital for competitive advantage against private hospitals of similar caliber. Its responses were highly intriguing, such as setting up AI customer care to answer basic health inquiries without patients having to visit, automated text notifications for appointments replacing manual reminders, or even advanced programming to embed ChatGPT into our information system for statistical analysis, enhancing our main infrastructure.

Some of my peculiar questions those google doesn’t fit

Why do countries in the Asian region use bidets for cleaning after using the toilet, while Western countries use toilet paper, even reaching the point of decomposing toilets . Is it really better? Are there long-term consequences, especially regarding odor?

There's interesting information suggesting that people are becoming more aware that using bidets at home is cleaner and causes fewer long-term issues. I'm waiting to see how this trend evolves.

Before the Federal Reserve of the United States gained such overwhelming power that it could control global financial affairs, which is the topic of my article on the Thai bitcoiners community named Rightshift, "What's happening in the world... Why was Bitcoin created?" (in the future I will publish English version of it stay tune for update)

Helping with my article writing

The long-form content article on Minimalism that I wrote is a critique of the consumerist system that numbs people into excessive consumption, leaving them living solely to pay off debt. It's the angriest piece I've ever written. What happened was, I wrote the final paragraph trying to find a breaking point to conclude the article but couldn't. Then, I turned to chatGPT for help. I asked it to assist me in writing this article, with this kind of content, to help condense the final paragraph to wrap up the article nicely. I rearranged its suggestions to finish the work much faster.

The article "Minimalism," I'll publish an English version soon. It's an article of mine that I believe is highly beneficial to those who read it and can't be written elsewhere because the modern capitalist are not going to be happy with what I wrote.

Assisting doing business with Japanese anime fans

At the beginning of March 2024, I decided to start my small online business using generative AI to create anime-style cartoon images to market to Japanese anime fans. I'm currently learning Japanese, but I'm still at a basic level and can't communicate fluently, so I rely on chatGPT to translate for me. Then, I study the phrases it translates to understand their sentence structure.

This is an example of AI using a large language model (LLM) for interactive conversation with users. Until now, I've completely shifted the way I work. Usually, when I search for information, I'd turn to Google. But now, I use chatGPT along with Perplexity AI as the main tools for information retrieval. It's much faster and more precise.

Next, there's another type of AI that I use.

Image generative AI

Or AI generates images from our prompts. After I experimented with chatGPT in early 2022, within a few weeks, I got to know Midjourney as the next step. It was the first image-generating AI I played with.When I tried it out, it was still free at the beginning. However, due to its rapid popularity worldwide, it probably caused the servers to work excessively, to the point where the developers had to restrict free trial usage and introduce monthly subscription packages instead. At that time, I wasn't quite impressed, didn't understand it much, but through perseverance, I got acquainted with Stable Diffusion.

Stable Diffusion (SD) served as my mentor, honing my skills until I became proficient in using AI image generation to this day.

The advantage of SD is that you can download and install it on your machine for free. It primarily utilizes your device's resources for image generation processing. The quality and speed of image generation depend on the VRAM of your graphics card. With my 6-year-old laptop and GTX1060 4GB graphics card, each image generation takes 3-5 minutes, which is considered long compared to higher-spec machines. I joined the SD Facebook group and relied on asking questions, learning from others' experiences, and watching tutorial videos shared by group members. But now, many friends have transformed and started offering AI image generation courses, which is another commendable professional growth path.

During that time, I spent over 10 hours a day practicing, more than playing games. I must say it was torturous for my laptop, and eventually, my graphics card started having issues. Whenever I opened multiple tabs or some websites with high-resolution images, the screen would flicker, blue screen and restart.

As time passed, newer versions of image generation models in SD became significantly higher in resolution. In just 2 months, my laptop couldn't handle image generation anymore.

Hit the Generate button, blue screen , laptop restarts, and the loop continues.

During that time, there were developers wrote code on GitHub to install SD on Google Colab. After some trial and error, I finally managed to use it on Google Colab. The workflow became much easier. Previously, it took 3-5 minutes to generate one image. Now, with the initial resolution of 512 x 512, it takes about 10-15 images in the same time frame, allowing me to practice more and learn new techniques.

However, eventually, Google blocked the use of SD on Google Colab. To continue using it, one had to upgrade to Google Colab Pro. During that time, I began writing on platforms like Rightshift and Yakihonne. I distanced myself from image generation for a while.

Until one day, something on nostr introduced me to Pixai for anime-style image generation, which I enjoy. It has similar features and tools to SD. When I got my hands on it, I immediately knew how to use it. I also delved into the world of photo editing programs like Photopea and video editing with CapCut.

It turned out that from studying chatGPT, I got to know Midjourney, followed by Stable Diffusion, then Pixai, and branched out into other related programs like Photopea and CapCut.

---

Oh, ok bro! So, you've encountered LLM and image generative AI, huh? So … what makes them so special to you?

I see a wide range of reactions, both positive and negative, towards the works produced using AI. After reading various discussions and exchanges, I can summarize the points as follows:

Positive Reactions: There's a much greater variety of artwork being produced, opening up opportunities for people without a background in art, writing, or storytelling to create and share their work with a wider audience. This lowers the "barrier to entry."

Negative Reactions: Mostly, it's the artists who've invested considerable time and effort in their craft—be it writing or painting—putting in intense concentration, utilizing mindfulness, pouring their hearts and souls, and providing substantial proof of work to create something truly unique to their style.

Some people view AI-generated works as lacking detail, careness, or vitality. They go as far as labeling them as "trash" or "rubbish." When well-known artists express their strong feelings, it sparks intense debates, with both supporters and detractors expressing their opinions fervently. However, when you break it down, it all boils down to the positive and negative reactions I've summarized here.

It's like deciding how much gasoline to pour on a perfectly ripe BBQ fire to turn the field into flames. It's up to each individual to decide how far they want to fan the flames of discussion, whether it's agreeing or disagreeing.

So, what do I think about all this?

Embarking on the AI Artist Journey in Anime-style Illustrations: I've never been particularly good at art; my drawing skills are abysmal. Even kindergarten kids like my 7 years old boy can draw better than me. During my final year of high school, when I needed to boost my grades to get into university, art was the subject that consistently dragged my GPA down. I think my art teachers could see right through me, so they let me pass just to avoid having to retake the exam. Meanwhile, my friends who were born for the arts could talk to the art teachers in the same language.

While my mind brims with ideas, I've struggled to materialize them. However, AI image generation has been an incredibly helpful tool in bringing my ideas to life. Sometimes, it exceeds my expectations by far.

Of course, the images generated by AI aren't perfect from the get-go. They require refinement, detail tweaking, and sometimes, the assistance of photo editing software. This is where I've experienced a steep learning curve. It started off slow, but with practice, the time spent has decreased significantly, to the point where it's become almost second nature (muscle memory).

Venturing into Writing: I took the leap into writing my first story on Rightshift after studying the history of global finance, delving into the deep-seated roots of problems embedded within the world's financial system. When I reached a certain point in my studies, I wanted to share these stories with others through my writing style. But there were moments when I didn't know where to find information or how to organize it cohesively. I turned to chatGPT and perplexity AI for help. Eventually, I took the suggestions from my personal assistant on the screen and incorporated them to align with my own style.

I See Many People Are Overly Fearful: "AI will take people's jobs." "Many jobs will be lost when AI becomes more prevalent."

However, I don't agree with the wave of fear that's sweeping through discussions.

What if I told you: "AI isn't here to take jobs away from people; it's here to take jobs away from those who don't know how to use AI."

The truth is, AI's accessibility means it opens up opportunities for people to learn, grow, and use it freely. While there may be some limitations in certain complex tasks but for the average user, it's more than sufficient.

Take my experience with chatGPT, for instance. I used its suggestions to reduce the mortality rate of hospitalized patients or to shorten the last paragraph of a Minimalism article. I didn't do anything extraordinary; I simply asked and asked, then adjusted the suggestions to fit my style and created the output. I didn't blindly copy-paste everything AI suggested. If I had done that, it would have been pure garbage, as some artists said.

Even in image generation, within the Facebook group I joined for learning, prominent AI artists share profound ideas about generating images. I can't recall their exact words, but one of them said something like:

The images generated aren't considered fine artworks yet. Because it's just something simple that anyone can generate by typing in a prompt. But uniqueness after using image editing softwares.

And that's exactly it, because the principle of generating images is that we have to choose a model that fits the style of work we want. Some models are trained to create realistic images of people, while others are trained to create cartoon images in anime style. The process of training these models involves feeding them with a large dataset of hundreds or thousands of images as input for the AI to learn from. So when entering prompts, it produces ones that resemble the original ones it was trained on.

I'm lucky to come across this message, which made me realize that simply inputting a prompt and generating an image doesn't make me an AI artist. It becomes a compelling point for me to delve into using image editing programs.

Generating images initially doesn't take long. You just hit generate, leave the computer, take a shower, and come back to see. But when it comes to editing and refining the details of the work, that's where the real time is spent, "the whole night."

As I've honed my skills using this tool, the process of writing articles has become much shorter. I generate my own illustrations and then edit them. It doesn't take long to finish. Back in the day, I had to search Google for illustrations, and often encountered problems like "not finding a suitable image" or "finding an image I like but it's copyrighted."

Writing articles doesn't take long, but finding illustrations takes longer.

Can you see the picture where AI is a co-pilot sometimes when I create contents?

That's exactly it, I agree with this statement:

“AI isn't taking away jobs from humans; it's taking away jobs from those who don't know how to use AI.”

When I consider the capabilities of AI, it reminds me of situations where people have to adapt, and eventually there will be three groups of people:

The first group are those who study, try, and understand it well.

The second group are those who study, try, and understand it to some extent, but may not be as proficient as those in the first group.

The last group are those who refuse to learn or understand it.

It's analogous to the various perspectives on Bitcoin. I've written about it in an article titled "Learn bitcoin before you have to; Study Bitcoin before necessity constrains or kills you" (English version also coming soon).

---

What I want to share with Everyone Reading Until the End

As of the day I'm writing this article, it's April 27, 2024. New technologies are emerging so rapidly that it's challenging to keep up. I firmly believe that there must be some tools that each of us can harness, tools that awaken certain potentials within us, even if we ourselves may not be fully aware of these capabilities. If we diligently practice and refine ourselves, these tools can accelerate our potential, unlock certain barriers, and tasks that once took a long time to complete may now be accomplished in just a few minutes or even seconds.

However, it's important to acknowledge that we cannot keep up with everything. Attempting to do so can lead to exhaustion and disrupt life balance, causing us to lose relationships unnecessarily. Ultimately, I'd like to share the words of wisdom from the headmaster of the international school where my son studies:

"You should know something about everything, but you must know everything about something." Until next time , Take care

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Let's hear some of your latest Bitcoin trades, feel free to include links to your shops or sites you sold it from or the pic of the sold item.

If you missed our last thread, here are some of the items stackers recently spent their sats on the ~AGORA territory.



@ 8947a945:9bfcf626

ผมได้ยินเรื่องราวของ AI ครั้งแรกประมาณช่วงปลายปี 2565 ผ่านสื่อออนไลน์ ช่วงนั้นผมคิดว่ามันคงยากที่ผู้ใช้งานทั่วๆไปจะเข้าถึงได้ ต้องเป็นองค์กรขนาดใหญ่ที่มีอิทธิพลเท่านั้นมั้งที่จะเข้าถึงสิทธิการใช้งาน

จนกระทั่ง chatGPT เปิดให้ใช้งานฟรีก่อนจะมีแพคเกจจ่ายค่าบริการ ผมกระโดดเข้าไปลองเล่นทันที ผมทึ่งกับความสามารถของมันมากๆครับ ถ้าใครจำได้ในช่วงปลายปี 2565 และต้นปี 2566 บรรดา influenzer , youtuber และ content creator สายเทคและสายพัฒนาตัวเองต่างออกมาพูดถึงกันจะเป็นกระแสเป็นไวรัล

ในการทดสอบความสามารถของ chatGPT ผมทดลองถามคำถามตามนี้ครับ

ความรู้ทางการแพทย์

ผมถามเชิงลึกเลยว่า ข้อมูลประโยคนี้ อยู่ในวารสารฉบับไหน ใครเป็นคนเขียน มันก็อุส่าตอบได้ แต่วารสารบางฉบับเก่ามาก มันก็ตอบไม่ได้ แต่ก็แนะนำแหล่งอ้างอิงที่พอจะใกล้เคียงกันให้ผมไปหาข้อมูลต่อได้

ผมถามขั้นตอนในการปั๊มหัวใจกู้ฟื้นคืนชีพ (CPR) ซึ่งเป็นทักษะสาขาเฉพาะทางของผม มันก็ตอบได้ทั้งหมด แถมขมวดใจความสำคัญที่กระชับให้ด้วย

ผมขอความเห็นในการทำงานเชิงบริหาร ในการปรับกลยุทธบางอย่างในรพ.ของผม … (ปัจจุบันนอกจากผมจะเป็นแพทย์ออกตรวจคนไข้แล้วผมยังเป็นหัวหน้า 3 หน่วยงานที่ใหญ่มากๆด้วยครับ) มันก็เสนอมาได้น่าสนใจ บางอย่างผมเอามา implement หน้างานจริง จนเป็นผลงานในรพ.ขณะนี้ เป็นผลงานที่ลดอัตราการเสียชีวิตของคนไข้ที่นอนรพ.ได้อย่างน่าพอใจ ครั้งหนึ่งผู้บริหารขอความเห็นผมเกี่ยวกับคำจำกัดความของผู้ป่วยที่เสียชีวิตก่อนมาถึงรพ. มันมีคำสองคำคือ out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) แปลว่าหัวใจหยุดเต้นก่อนมารพ. และ dead on arrival (DOA) แปลว่าเสียชีวิตก่อนมาถึงรพ. ผู้บริหารต้องการให้ใช้คำคำเดียวเพื่อลดความสับสนของคนเก็บข้อมูลในการวิเคราะห์เชิงสถิติ ณ เวลานั้นผมจำได้แค่ว่า คำว่า DOA มันเลิกใช้ไปได้ระยะหนึ่งแล้ว เขาใช้คำว่า OHCA อย่างเดียว แต่ผมไม่มีแหล่งอ้างอิง ผมบอกผู้บริหารว่าผมขอตัวไปห้องน้ำซักครู่นะครับ แล้วใช้ chatGPT ถาม มันตอบได้อย่างชัดเจนว่า คำว่า DOA มีแต่จะเพิ่มความสับสนให้คนหน้างาน ส่วนคำว่า OHCA เป็นคำจำกัดความมาตรฐานที่ใช้กันในระบบการแพทย์ฉุกเฉินทั่วโลก ผมจึงกลับมาเสนอผู้บริหาร ทำให้ได้ข้อสรุปและงานเดินหน้าต่อไปได้ ทางรพ.ได้ลบคำว่า DOA ออกไปจากสารบบเอกสารคุณภาพของรพ.ตั้งแต่นั้น

ครั้งนึงผมถามคำถามแบบสุดขั้วเพื่อกวนประสาทมันสุดๆครับ ผมให้ chatGPT นำเสนอความสามารถตัวเองให้กับผู้บริหารรพ.ฟัง ว่าจะดึงตัวแก (หมายถึง chatGPT) มาทำงานในรพ.อย่างไรให้เกิดประสิทธิภาพ เพิ่มศักยภาพการแข่งขันให้เหนือคู่แข่งรพ.เอกชนระดับเดียวกัน มันก็ตอบออกมาได้อย่างน่าสนใจมากๆ เช่น set up AI customer care ตอบคำถามสุขภาพเบื้องต้นโดยไม่เข้ามารพ. , การส่งข้อความแจ้งเตือนคนไข้อัตโนมัติก่อนถึงวันนัดทดแทนการใช้คนทำ หรือขั้น advanced ในการเขียนโปรแกรมฝัง chatGPT เข้าไปกับระบบข้อมูลสารสนเทศในการวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลเชิงสถิติเข้าไปในระบบหลัก (infrastructure) ของรพ.

เรื่องแปลกๆที่ผมคิดได้แต่ search google แล้วไม่เจอคำตอบที่หน้าพอใจ

ทำไมประเทศแถบเอเชียถึงใช้สายชำระในการล้างก้นหลังเข้าห้องน้ำ ในขณะที่ประเทศฝั่งตะวันตกใช้กระดาษเช็ด ไปจนถึง decomposing toilet (ไม่รู้มีคำแผลภาษาไทยมั้ยนะครับ เป็นโถส้วมของชาวตะวันตกที่เขาใส่ผงจุลินทรีย์เอาไว้ย่อยสลายสิ่งขับถ่ายของมนุษย์) ว่ามันดีจริงป่าว ผลกระทบระยะยาวมีมั้ย เรื่องกลิ่นล่ะ มีข้อมูลที่น่าสนใจครับว่าผู้คนเริ่มตระหนักแล้วว่า ใช้สายฉีดชำระแบบบ้านเรา สะอาดกว่า ระยะยาวมีปัญหาน้อยกว่า ผมรอดูการเปลี่ยนแปลงเรื่องนี้อยู่ครับ

ลำดับเหตุการณ์สำคัญก่อนที่ธนาคารกลางสหรัฐอเมริกา (FED) จะมีอำนาจในมืออย่างล้นเหลือจนสามารถกุมอำนาจทางการเงินโลกได้เบ็ดเสร็จ ที่เป็นที่มาที่ไปของบทความบนเวบ Rightshift ของผม “เกิดอะไรขึ้นในโลก... ทำไมบิตคอยน์ถึงได้ถือกำเนิดขึ้น” ครับ

เอามาช่วยในงานเขียนของผม

บทความ long form content เรื่อง Minimalism ที่ผมเขียนไว้ เป็นการวิพากษ์วิจารณ์ระบบทุนนิยมอย่างที่ล้างสมองผู้คนให้บริโภคเกินตัวจนเป็นหนี้ ทำให้ใช้ชีวิตอยู่เพียงแค่ใช้หนี้ให้หมด (I was living to pay a debt) เป็นบทความที่ดุเดือดที่สุดที่ผมเคยเขียนไว้ สิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นก็คือผมเขียนย่อหน้าสุดท้ายเพื่อหาจุดร่อนลงเพื่อจบบทความไม่ได้ (ending paragraph) ผมก็ถาม chatGPT แหละครับ ว่าช่วยหน่อยผมเขียนบทความนี้ เนื้อหาแบบนี้ ช่วยคิดย่อหน้าสุดท้ายเพื่อร่อนลงจอดปิดบทความสวยๆให้หน่อย แล้วผมก็เอาข้อเสนอของมันมาเรียบเรียงใหม่ ทำให้งานจบได้ไวขึ้นมากๆครับ

ถ้าใครยังไม่เคยอ่านบทความ “Minimalism” ผมจะแปะ link บทความนี้เอาไวให้ด้านล่างนะครับ เป็นบทความนึงของผมที่เชื่อว่ามีประโยชน์มากๆแก่คนที่ได้อ่าน และไม่มีทางเขียนได้ที่อื่น เพราะมีโอกาสปลิว นายทุนคงเกลียดขี้หน้าผม

เอามาช่วยทำ content ขายคนญี่ปุ่น

ต้นเดือนมีนาคม 2567 นี้ ผมตัดสินใจเริ่มธุรกิจออนไลน์เล็กๆของผม โดยการใช้ generative AI ในการสร้างภาพการ์ตูนอนิเมะทำการตลาดออนไลน์กับชาวญี่ปุ่นที่ชื่นชอบตัวละครสาวๆในอนิเมะ ผมกำลังเรียนภาษาญี่ปุ่นอยู่ แต่ก็ยังขั้นต้น ไม่สามารถสื่อสารได้คล่อง ก็ใช้ chatGPT ช่วยแปลมันดื้อๆเลยครับ แล้วก็เอาสำนวนที่มันแปลมาศึกษารูปแบบประโยคภาษาบ้านเขาไปด้วย

อันนี้คือตัวอย่างของ AI ที่ใช้ large language model (LLM) ถามโต้ตอบกับผู้ใช้ จนทุกวันนี้ตัวผมเองเปลี่ยนทิศทางการทำงานของผมแบบสิ้นเชิงครับ (Paradigm shift) ปกติเวลาผมหาข้อมูล ผมจะ search google แต่ตอนนี้เวลาหาข้อมูล ผมจะใช้ chatGPT ร่วมกับ perplexity AI เป็นตัวหลักในการหาข้อมูลแทน มันไวกว่ามากและตรงประเด็นกว่า

ต่อไปคือ AI อีกแบบนึงที่ผมใช้ครับ

Image generative AI

หรือ AI สร้างรูปภาพจากคำสั่ง (prompt) ของเราครับ หลังจากผมทดลอง chatGPT ในต้นปี 2566 ได้ไม่กี่สัปดาห์ ผมก็รู้จัก Midjourney เป็นตัวต่อไปครับ เป็น AI เจนภาพตัวแรกที่ผมทดลองเล่น แน่นอนครับว่าช่วงแรกที่ผมทดลองมันยังฟรี แต่ด้วยความนิยมที่แพร่ไปทั่วทุกมุมโลกอย่างรวดเร็ว มันคงไปทำให้เซิฟเวอร์ทำงานหนักมากถึงมากที่สุด จนผู้พัฒนาเขาต้องจำกัดสิทธิ์การทดลองใช้งานฟรี และปล่อยแพคเกจเก็บค่าบริการรายเดือนแทน ตอนนั้นผมยังทดลองไม่หนำใจ ยังไม่เข้าใจมันมาก แต่จากความพยายาม ผมก็มารู้จักกับ Stable diffusion ครับ

ต่อไปนี้ผมจะเรียกทับศัพท์คำว่าเจนภาพไปเลยนะครับ "เจน"ย่อมาจาก generation

Stable diffusion (SD) ถือเป็นครูใหญ่ ให้ผมได้ฝึุกฝีมือจนผมทำให้ผมใช้ AI เจนภาพเป็นมาจนถึงทุกวันนี้

ข้อดีของ SD คือสามารถโหลดลงเครื่องมาติดตั้งได้ฟรี ไม่ต้องเสียตังค์ ใช้ทรัพยากรในเครื่องเป็นหลักในการประมวลผลในการเจนภาพ ส่วนจะได้ภาพความละเอียดสูงแค่ไหน หรือทำงานได้เร็วแค่ไหน อยู่ที่ VRAM ของการ์ดจอครับ ด้วยความที่เครื่องคอมผมอายุ 6 ปีแล้ว การ์ดจอ GTX1060 ram 4 GB การเจนภาพแต่ละภาพใช้เวลา 3 - 5 นาที ซึ่งถือว่านานเมื่อเทียบกับเครื่องที่สเปคสูงกว่านี้ครับ ผมเอาตัวเองไปอยู่ในกลุ่มเฟสบุคของ SD แล้วอาศัยการถามแหลก เรียนรู้ผ่านประสบการณ์คนอื่น ดูคลิปของเพื่อนๆในกลุ่มที่เขาทำสอน แต่ปัจจุบันนี้เพื่อนหลายๆท่านก็ผันตัวไปเปิดคอร์สสอนการเจนภาพด้วย AI เรียบร้อยแล้วครับ เป็นการเติบโตทางอาชีพที่น่าชื่นชมมากอีกทางนึง

ช่วงเวลานั้นผมใช้เวลาฝึกวันละ 10+ ชม. ติดยิ่งกว่าเล่นเกมอีก ต้องบอกว่าเป็นการทรมานโน้ตบุคผมจนทุกวันนี้การ์ดจอมีปัญหาเลย เวลาเปิดเวบหลายๆแถบหรือบางเวบที่มีรายละเอียดภาพสูงๆ จะเด้งจอฟ้า restart เครื่องทุกครั้งครับ

เมื่อเวลาผ่านไป ตัวโมเดลที่ใช้เจนภาพเวอร์ชั่นใหม่ๆใน SD มันมีความละเอียดที่สูงมากขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ในระยะเวลาแค่ 2 เดือน โน๊ตบุคผมก็ไม่สามารถรองรับการเจนภาพได้อีกต่อไป

กดเจนภาพปุ๊ป จอฟ้าปั๊ป restart วนไป

ในจังหวะนั้นเองมีผู้พัฒนาเขียน code ลงบน github ให้ติดตั้ง SD ลงบน google collaboration (google colab สั้นๆ) ผมก็หาลู่ทางในการขึ้นไปใช้งานบน google colab ได้ในที่สุดครับ การทำงานง่ายขึ้นมาก จากเดิมการเจนภาพหนึ่งภาพใช้เวลา 3 - 5 นาที ตอนนี้ 3 - 5 นาที ใช้เวลาเจนภาพที่ความละเอียดเริ่มต้น 512 x 512 ได้ประมาณ 10 - 15 ภาพ ทำให้ผมได้ฝึกการเจนภาพ แล้วได้เรียนเทคนิคใหม่ๆระหว่างทางเพิ่มเติมขึ้นไปอีก

แต่สุดท้ายทาง google ก็ทำการ block การใช้ SD บน google colab ถ้าใครจะใช้ต่อ จำเป็นต้องเสียตังค์ upgrade เป็น google colab pro ถึงจะใช้ได้ ในช่วงเวลานั้นเองผมก็ได้มาเริ่มการเขียนบนความกับทาง rightshift และ Yakihonne พอดี ผมก็เลยห่างๆการเจนภาพไปเลย

จนกระทั่งเวลาผ่านไปหนึ่งปี ต้นปี 2567 นี้เองอะไรซักอย่างบนทุ่งม่วงก็พาผมมารู้จักกับ pixai ในการเจนภาพสไตล์อนิเมะที่ผมชอบ มันมีลูกเล่นและมีเครื่องมือเหมือนของ SD ทุกอย่าง เมื่อผมจับมันปุ๊ปผมใช้เป็นทันที เมื่อเจนภาพไปนานๆ ผมก็ได้เปิดโลกกับโปรแกรมตัดต่อภาพ photopea ไปๆมาๆได้ฝึกใช้ capcut ทำคลิปวีดีโอ

มันกลายเป็นว่าจากการเข้ามาศึกษา chatGPT ทำให้ผมรู้จัก Midjourney ต่อด้วย Stable diffusion ต่อด้วย Pixai แตกแขนงโปรแกรมอื่นๆที่เกี่ยวข้องได้แก่ photopea , capcut

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เอ่อะพี่ครับ ผมรู้แล้วว่าพี่ไปเจอ LLM และ image generative AI มา แล้วมันมีอะไรพิเศษเหรอพี่

ผมเห็นปฏิกิริยาทั้งเชิงบวกตื่นเต้น และเชิงลบวิพากษ์วิจารณ์หรือถึงขั้นแบน ผลงานที่ใช้ AI ทำออกมา มันทำให้ผมแปลกใจอยู่ไม่น้อยว่าทำไมมันเป็นเช่นนั้น หลังจากที่ผมไปไล่อ่านดูความเห็นที่มีการแลกเปลี่ยนกันไปแลกเปลี่ยนกันมา ผมพอจะสรุปประเด็นได้ตามนี้ครับ

ปฏิกิริยาเชิงบวก จะได้มีผลงานออกมารูปแบบหลากหลายมากขึ้น เปิดโอกาสให้คนที่ไม่มีพื้นฐานในการทำงานศิลปะหรือการเขียนบทความ การแต่งนิยาย ได้มีโอกาสได้เข้ามาทำผลงานให้กับคนทั้งโลกได้เห็นมากขึ้น ทำให้ “barrier to entry” ลดลง

ปฏิกิริยาเชิงลบ ส่วนมากแล้วจะเป็นศิลปินเจ้าของผลงาน เช่นงานเขียน หรือจิตรกรที่ใช้เวลาทุ่มเทสร้างสรรค์ผลงานอะไรซักอย่างที่มีความปราณีตสูง ใช้สมาธิ ทุ่มเทแรงกายแรงใจ ใส่ proof of work ลงไปมาก เพื่อให้ได้ผลงานที่สมบูรณ์แบบที่สุดตามสไตล์เจ้าของผลงาน

ผู้คนเหล่านี้มองว่าผลงานจาก AI ไร้ความละเอียด ไร้การใส่ใจ ไร้ชีวิตชีวา บางคนให้ความเห็นรุนแรงถึงขั้นว่าเป็นผลงานขยะ (trash or rubbish) สำหรับศิลปินที่มีผู้ติดตามมากพอสมควรเมื่อแสดงความเห็นด้วยความรู้สึกที่รุนแรงก็เป็นการเรียกทัวร์มาลงทั้งเห็นด้วยและไม่เห็นด้วยซัดกันดุเดือด แต่เมื่อถอดใจความแล้ว มันก็เถียงกันอยู่ไม่พ้นข้อสรุปปฏิกิริยาเชิงบวกและเชิงลบที่ผมสรุปมาให้นี่แหละครับ

อยู่ที่ว่าใครจะใส่ไฟสาดน้ำมันปิ้งย่างสุกเกรียมไหม้เป็นถ่านไฟลามทุ่งสู่ไฟป่าวอดวายเดือดร้อนพนักงานดับเพลิงไปได้ถึงไหน เท่านั้นเอง

แล้วผมมองยังไงกับเหตุการณ์นี้

เริ่มเส้นทางการเป็นศิลปิน AI สไตล์งานภาพอนิเมะ พื้นเพผมตกวิชาศิลปะมาตลอด ผมวาดรูปได้ห่วยแตกมาก เด็กอนุบาลวาดรูปยังสวยกว่าผม สมัยม.ปลายช่วงที่ผมต้องทำเกรดเพื่อสอบเข้ามหาวิทยาลัย วิชาศิลปะเป็นตัวฉุดเกรดเฉลี่ยลงตลอด อาจารย์สอนศิลปะคงดูออกแหละครับ เลยให้ผ่านๆไปจะได้ไม่ต้องมาสอบซ่อม ในขณะที่เพื่อนผมที่เขาเกิดมาเพื่องานอาร์ตโดยเฉพาะนี่คุยกับอาจารย์ได้เป็นภาษาเดียวกัน

ในขณะที่หัวผมมีไอเดียอยู่เต็มไปหมด แต่ไม่สามารถดึงมันออกมาสู่โลกภายนอกได้ แต่เมื่อใช้ AI เจนภาพเป็น มันเป็นเครื่องมือที่ดีมาก ในการดึงสิ่งที่อยู่ในหัวผมออกมาเป็นภาพ ต้องบอกว่าบางครั้งเกินความคาดหวังของผมไปเยอะ

แต่แน่นอนว่ารูปภาพที่ AI เจนออกมา มันไม่ได้สมบูรณ์แบบตั้งแต่วินาทีแรก มันต้องมีการเก็บงาน เก็บรายละเอียด ใช้โปรแกรมตกแต่งภาพมาช่วยอยู่ดี อันนี้แหละครับที่ผมเกิด learning curve ใหม่ๆ ช่วยแรกช้ามาก แต่พอทำบ่อยๆ ระยะเวลาที่ใช้ก็สั้นลงๆ จนกลายเป็นมือขยับทำเองโดยที่ไม่รู้ตัว (muscle memory)

เริ่มเส้นทางการเป็นนักเขียน ผมตัดสินใจกระโดดมาเป็นนักเขียนเล่าเรื่องครั้งแรกบนเวบ rightshift หลังจากศึกษาเรืองประวัติศาสตร์การเงินโลก เมล็ดพันธุ์ปัญหาเบื้องลึกที่ฝังรากอยู่เป็นเหมือนเนื้อร้ายเบื้องหลังระบบการเงินของมวลมนุษยชาติ และการที่บิตคอยน์ถือกำเนิดขึ้นเพื่อเป็นทางรอดจากระบบการเงินที่ถูกควบคุม พอศึกษามาถึงจุดนึง ผมอยากถ่ายทอดเรื่องพวกนี้ออกมาให้ใครซักคนอ่าน ผ่านสไตล์การเขียนเล่าเรื่องแบบตัวผมครับ แต่ก็มีบางช่วงเหมือนกัน ไม่รู้จะไปหาข้อมูลที่ไหน หรือจะเรียบเรียงยังไงให้ไม่สะเปะสะปะ ผมก็เข้าไปถาม chatGPT กับ perplexity มันดื้อๆเลย ผมก็เอาข้อเสนอแนะจากผู้ช่วยส่วนตัวที่หน้าจอมาเรียบเรียง ใส่ความเป็นตัวของตัวเองลงไป

ผมเห็นคนหลายคนกลัวมากเกินไป “AI จะมาแย่งงานคน” “คนจะตกงานอีกมากเมื่อ AI เข้ามาเต็มรูปแบบมากกว่านี้” แต่ผมกลับไม่เห็นด้วยกับกระแสที่ปั่นให้คนกลัวกันขนาดนั้นครับ

เพื่อนๆคิดอย่างไรครับ ถ้าผมบอกว่า

“AI มันไม่ได้มาแย่งงานคนหรอก แต่มันจะมาแย่งงานคนที่ใช้ AI ไม่เป็น”

เป็นความจริงทีเดียว AI ที่เปิดให้คนทั่วไปเข้าถึงได้ขนาดนี้ มันหมายถึงการเปิดโอกาสให้ผู้คนเข้ามาศึกษา มาเรียนรู้ มาใช้งานมันได้อย่างอิสระ อาจจะมีข้อจำกัดเล็กๆน้อยๆในลูกเล่นบางอย่างที่ซับซ้อนขึ้น แต่สำหรับผู้ใช้งานทั่วๆไป มันเพียงพอ

จำตัวอย่างที่ผมเอาข้อมูลจาก chatGPT มาใช้งานจริงลดอัตราการชีวิตของคนไข้ที่นอนรพ. หรือ ย่อหน้าสุดท้ายของบทความ Minimalism ได้ไหมครับ ผมไม่ได้ทำอะไรพิเศษ ผมแค่ถามๆๆๆ แล้วก็ถามมันไปเรื่อยๆ แล้วก็เอาข้อเสนอที่ฟังดูเข้าท่ามาปรับให้เข้ากับตัวผมเองและสร้างผลงานออกมา ผมไม่ได้เอาสิ่งที่ AI เสนอมา copy-paste ทั้งหมด ถ้าทำอย่างนั้น มันก็คือผลงานขยะของแท้ตามที่ศิลปินท่านนั้นโพสไว้ครับ

หรือแม้แต่การเจนภาพก็ตาม ในกลุ่มเฟสบุคที่ผมเข้าไปศึกษา ก็มีแนวคิดจากศิลปิน AI รุ่นใหญ่ที่เจนภาพเก่งๆมาพูดให้ข้อคิดที่ดีมากๆ ผมจำประโยคเป๊ะๆไม่ได้ แต่พี่ท่านนี้บอกว่า

“รูปที่เจนออกมา ยังไม่ถือว่าเป็นผลงานนะ เพราะมันเป็นสิ่งง่ายๆที่ใครพิมพ์ prompt ลงไปก็ได้แล้ว แต่มันจะวัดความต่างของผลงานที่การใช้โปรแกรมตกแต่งภาพในการแก้ไขให้มีความเป็นเอกลักษณ์”

ซึ่งมันก็เป็นอย่างนั้นจริงๆครับ เพราะหลักการในการเจนรูป คือเราต้องเลือกโมเดลให้ตรงกับสไตล์งานที่เราต้องการ โมเดลบางตัวถูกเทรนขึ้นมาเพื่อทำรูปคนจริงๆ โมเดลบางตัวถูกเทรนขึ้นมาเพื่อทำรูปการ์ตูนสไตล์อนิเมะ หลักการตอนเขาจะเทรนโมเดลก็คือเอารูปตัวอย่างหลายร้อยหลายพันรูปมายัดใส่เป็นชุดข้อมูลขนาดใหญ่ให้ AI เรียนรู้ เวลาเจนรูปออกมาทื่อๆมันก็จะได้รูปที่มีความคล้ายรูปต้นแบบที่เอามาให้มันเรียนรู้นั่นแหละครับ

ผมโชคดีที่เห็นข้อความของพี่ท่านนี้ ผมเลยรู้ตัวว่าถ้าแค่ใส่ prompt แล้วเจนรูปออกมา อย่าเรียกตัวเองว่าศิลปิน AI (AI artist) เลย มันเลยเป็นจุดบังคับที่ผมต้องเข้าสู่การใช่โปรแกรมตกแต่งรูป

การเจนรูปเริ่มต้นน่ะมันไม่นาน กดเจนเปิดคอมทิ้งไว้ไปอาบน้ำ กลับมาดูได้ แต่เวลาแก้งานเก็บรายละเอียดงานนั่นแหละ "ทั้งคืน"

เมื่อผมฝึกทักษะใช้เครื่องนี้พวกนี้ได้ระดับนึง ขั้นตอนในการเขียนบทความผมมันสั้นลงมาก ผมเจนภาพประกอบเอาเอง แล้วมาตกแต่งเอา ใช้เวลาไม่นานก็เสร็จ สมัยก่อนต้องเข้า google ไปค้นหาหารูปประกอบ และก็จะเจอปัญหาว่า “ไม่เจอรูปที่ถูกใจ” หรือ “เจอรูปถูกใจแต่ติดลิขสิทธิ์”

เขียนบทความอ่ะมันไม่นาน แต่เวลาหารูปประกอบน่ะ มันนานกว่า

พอจะเห็นภาพที่มี AI เป็น co-pilot ส่วนของผมเวลาทำคอนเท้นท์บ้างแล้วใช่มั้ยครับ

นั่นแหละครับผมถึงเห็นด้วยกับประโยคนี้

“AI มันไม่ได้มาแย่งงานคนหรอก แต่มันจะมาแย่งงานคนที่ใช้ AI ไม่เป็น”

เมื่อผมมาพิจารณาดูความสามารถของ AI มันทำให้ผมนึกถึงเหตุการณ์ที่ผู้คนต้องปรับตัวเข้ามาเรียนรู้ หยิบมันมาใช้งาน แล้วสุดท้ายมันก็จะมีคนสามกลุ่ม

กลุ่มแรกคือเข้าไปศึกษาไปลองไปใช้จนเข้าใจเป็นอย่างดี

กลุ่มที่สองคือเข้าไปศึกษาไปลองไปใช้จนเข้าใจบ้าง แต่อาจจะไม่ได้ใช้งานเก่งจนคล่องมือเหมือนคนกลุ่มแรก

กลุ่มสุดท้ายคือกลุ่มคนที่ปฏิเสธที่จะเรียนรู้หรือทำความเข้าใจ

มันก็เป็นเรื่องเปรียบเทียบคู่ขนานไปกับเรื่องราวของบิตคอยน์ได้มีหลายแง่มุมครับ ผมเคยเขียนเอาไว้แล้วในบทความเรื่อง “Learn bitcoin before you have to , ศึกษาบิตคอยน์ซะก่อนที่ความจำเป็นจะบีบรัดหรือฆ่าคุณ“ (ผมจะทิ้ง link เอาไว้ให้ด้านล่างนะครับ เผื่อใครยังไม่เคยอ่าน)

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ข้อคิดที่อยากแบ่งปันกับทุกท่านที่อ่านมาจนจบ

ปัจจุบันวันที่ผมเขียนบทความนี้คือวันที่ 27/4/2567 มีเทคโนโลยีใหม่ๆ เกิดขึ้นมากจนยากที่จะตามทัน ผมเชื่อสุดๆเลยว่ามันจะต้องมีเครื่องมือซักอันนึงที่เข้าทางพวกเราแต่ละคน มันจะต้องมีซักเครื่องมือนึงที่ปลุกศักยภาพบางอย่างในตัวออกมาโดยที่ตัวเราเองอาจจะไม่ได้ตระหนักถึงความสามารถเหล่านั้นในตัวก็ได้ หากหมั่นฝึกฝนพลิกแพลงดีๆ มันจะเป็นตัวช่วยเร่งปฏิกิริยา ช่วยปลดล็อคอะไรบางอย่าง งานที่เคยใช้เวลานานกว่าจะทำสำเร็จ อาจจะเสร็จได้ไม่ระยะเวลาไม่กี่นาทีหรือไม่กี่วินาที

แต่ก็ต้องยอมรับครับว่าคนเราไม่สามารถที่จะติดตามทุกสิ่งทุกอย่างได้หมด มันจะทำให้เหนื่อยมากจนเกินไป จนเสียสมดุลชีวิต สูญเสียความสัมพันธ์ไปซะเปล่าๆ สุดท้ายครับ ผมอยากจะเอาคำพูดของคุณครูใหญ่โรงเรียนนานาชาติที่ลูกชายผมเรียนอยู่มาบอกกันครับ

" คุณควรจะรู้บ้างในทุกๆเรื่อง แต่คุณจะต้องรู้ทุกอย่างในเรื่องบางเรื่อง "

" You should know something about everything and You MUST know everything about something "

แล้วพบกันในบทความหน้า สวัสดีครับ

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บทความเรื่อง เกิดอะไรขึ้นในโลก... ทำไมบิตคอยน์ถึงได้ถือกำเนิดขึ้น : linkนี้ครับ บทความเรื่อง Minimalism : linkนี้ครับ บทความเรื่อง Learn bitcoin before you have to : linkนี้ครับ บทความอื่นๆที่ผมเขียนไว้ เอา npub ผมไป search ใน yakihonne ได้ครับ

ผลงาน AI ที่ผมสร้าง

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This post is the tenth in our Stoic Philosophy book club series on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Participants expressing interest are tagged at the end of the post, let us know if you're new and would like to join and be tagged!

Prior posts for context:

• Book 9
• Book 8
• Book 7
• Book 6
• Book 5
• Book 4
• Book 3: In Carnuntum
• Book 2: On the River Gran, Among the Quadi
• Book 1: Debts and Lessons
• Geneisis Post

Book 10

Summary and Highlights

Book 10 was a rather easy and delightful read for me. I appreciated a mix of longer, deep meditations along with shorter quips belying the history of the time and Marcus' personal circumstances. Here are my highlights.

Marcus leads off #1 with a poetic and moving entry addressed to his own soul, expressing the longing for spiritual perfection, bhakti, devotion, mixed with a degree of self criticism. I'll quote it here in its entirety:

To my soul:     Are you ever going to achieve goodness? Ever going to be simple, whole and naked -- as plain to see as the body that contains you? Know what an affectionate and loving disposition would feel like? Ever be fulfilled, ever stop desiring -- lusting and longing for people and things to enjoy? Or for more time to enjoy them? Or for some other place or country -- "a more temperate clime"? Or for people easier to get along with? And instead be satisfied with what you have, and accept the present -- all of it. And convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods, that things are good and always will be, whatever they decide and have in store for the preservation of that perfect entity -- good and just and beautiful, creating all things, connecting and embracing them, and gathering in their separated fragments to create more like them.     Will you ever take you stand as a fellow citizen with gods and human beings, blaming no one, deserving no one's censure?

I like this one because it's human and relatable. I find myself often trying to convince myself that if circumstances were just a little bit tweaked, all would be well with the world. He also expresses an impatience with himself, that he has not integrated the qualities he associates with "the Good". Reminds me of a meditation teacher who said that the soul of Buddha had spent countless lifetimes serving others, building within itself the quality of compassion to the point where it was ready to perform his task. This road is possibly longer than we expect and we can't always put the foot on the gas to make ourselves develop or change any faster.

1. "Focus on what nature demands, as if you were governed by that alone. Then do that, and accept it, unless your nature as a living being would be degraded by it. Then focus on what that nature demands, and accept that too -- unless your nature as a rational being would be degraded by it."

This one seems to be to subtly encourage the embrace of the "shadow" quality as Jung puts it. Marcus says to inspect our own judgments about good and bad, right and wrong (degradation) and names that also as Nature. He also highlights a recursive, onion-like relationship in nature -- living beings to rational beings.

1. Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it's unendurable ... then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well. Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so. In your interest, or in your nature.

Anyway you cut it, STFU. We could all be doing a lot less complaining, I know I can. However, I'm also struck with the extreme implication of this since I've been watching Netflix shows recently about drug trafficking in Columbia and Mexico. Witnessing depictions of some of the heinous, torturous treatment of people by the cartels has me considering my own limits of "endurance" under torture. There is a scene in Narcos where a torturer is being tortured himself and he tells his captors that the way to resist capitulation under torture is to convince yourself that whatever information you are protecting is incredibly valuable. Perhaps there is a weird parallel here -- the ultimate value being your Soul, integrity or Nature.

I'm struck again with the Narcos in #6 where Marcus includes this statement:

That's a trait shared by all natures, but the nature of the world is defined by a second characteristic as well: no outside force can compel it to cause itself harm.

Drama being drama, imagining the compulsions the drug cartels use to manipulate people is challenging. Forcing new members to commit murder by threat of death, or using the lives of family members as leverage, it's hard to imagine the "Good" way to act in these situations, much less how I, myself, would actually respond. In some situations, living with integrity requires a god-like quality of fearlessness and faith in the laws of Nature.

I liked that #8 was titled "Epithets for yourself" which insinuates Marcus is writing his own tombstone. He goes on to say, "If you maintain your claim to these epithets -- without caring if others apply them to you or not -- you'll become a new person, living a new life." Obviously this has a Resurrection theme, which I find artistic in writing, as well as in message.

In #10, a historical fragment comes through, "Spiders are proud of catching files, men of catching hards, fish in a net, boars, bears, Sarmations ... Criminal psychology." LOL. I had to look up the Sarmations to get that they were a group of Iranian nomads allied with the Germanic tribes and invading Roman territory during the time of Marcus. He expresses his frustration with the harassment along with a despising joke.

11a. He has stripped away his body and -- realizing that at some point soon he will have to abandon mankind and leave all this behind -- has dedicated himself to serving justice in all he does, and nature in all that happens. What people say or think about him, or how they treat him, isn't something he worries about. Only these two questions: Is what he's doing now the right thing to be doing? Does he accept and welcome what he's been assigned? He has stripped away all other occupations, all other tasks. He wants only to travel a straight path -- to God, by way of law.

This is a concise passage, so spot on, it could be describing Jesus. It has a very Christian ring to it -- the "straight and narrow path", and the Old Testament's focus on the law. Beautifully put.

12a. To follow the logos in all things is to be relaxed and energetic, joyful and serious at once.

Integrated polarities -- capable of both expressions, yet dominated by neither.

1. To stop talking about what the good man is like, and just become one.

Talk is cheap. Be the change you want to see in the world (and yourself).

1. Each of us needs what nature gives us, when nature gives it.

Remember this, especially when going through a rough patch. If you really surrender to Nature / God etc, then the rough patch and the lessons that come from it are actually what you need most. Be grateful for it/them and make the best use of the opportunity.

1. Possibilities: i.) To keep on living (you should be used to it by now) ii.) To end it (it was your choice, after all) iii.) To die (having met your obligations) Those are the only options. Reason for optimism.

An intriguing place to find optimism.

My favorite entry is #25:

    When a slave runs away from his master, we call him a fugitive slave. But the law of nature is a master too, and to break it is to become a fugitive.     To feel grief, anger or fear is to try to escape from something decreed by the ruler of all things, now or in the past or in the future. And that ruler is law, which governs what happens to each of us. To feel grief or anger or fear is to become a fugitive -- a fugitive from justice.

I really like the symbolism here. Depicting the quality of slavery in a spiritual context both gives it a deeper meaning, and also servers to break up preconceptions we might have based on our historical class systems. It also normalizes the quality of surrender, and reminds us that our individual place in the hierarchies of Nature is not without subordination.

Related is #28:

People who feel hurt and resentment: picture them as the pig at sacrifice, kicking and squealing all the way. Like the man alone in his bed, silently weeping over the chains that bind us. That everything has to submit. But only rationals beings can do so voluntarily.

Here we have Amor Fati -- to love one's fate, a classical Stoic principle. Again, too, with the slavery / chains theme. Freedom here, and free will, is the choice to accept our circumstance, our fate.

The conclusion to #33 carries a faith and trust in the structure of Nature using the allegory of a city and its citizens,

And keep in mind that nothing can harm one of nature's citizens except what harms the city he belongs to. And nothing harms that city except what harms its law. And there is no so-called misfortune that can do that. So long as the law is safe, so i the city -- and the citizen.

This reminds me of the power of the Hebrew Law through the history of the Jewish people. Throughout the diaspora, the law and its traditions kept the religion and cultural identity intact.

Finally, #36 caught me feeling rather guilty.

It doesn't matter how good a life you've led. There'll still be people standing around the bed who will welcome the sad event... How many traits to you have that would make a lot of people glad to be rid of you?... And yet, don't leave angry with them... It was nature that bound you to them -- that tied the knot.

It's pretty crazy to imagine the death scene of somebody with whom I've had many difficulties. To realize those feeling of anger, resentment, aversion would be recognized in that moment as a selfish wish to have them gone so that my life would be easier. Perhaps death is such a tragic event because of these latent, semi-conscious realities in relationship, perhaps dealing with these feelings is part of what grief is? Either way, better to confront them now, and consciously, so as not to build up all that emotional debt for later, and to make the best out of the remaining time we have to explore the purpose Nature has intended for those connections.

Thanks for reading.

Participants

Thank you everyone who has been reading Meditations, and participated in the discussions. Feel free let me know if you don't want to be on the tag list anymore :)

@siggy47 @cryotosensei @carlosfandango @Bitman @gd @sudocarlos @BitByBit21 @bc52210b20 @Atreus @byzantine @davidw @Roll @grayruby @Taft @Oialt

Please signal interest in the comments if you'd like to be tagged.

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Prompt: Pagination ===============

Dealing with lots of information isn't easy. When there are hundreds of pages or components, things can get messy if there's no clear hierarchy. Or you coukd end with and infinite scroll!

Design a pagination look and flow to make it simple.

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Flex your design muscles and join in. Most of all, keep this exercise loose and keep it stress-free. The FUC is about growing our design skills, together, as a community. We can't wait to see what you create!

Happy designing, Stackers!

---

Share Your Results When you finish the challenge, post your work on this thread! If you also share it on nostr, be sure to use the hashtag #FUCdesiger and tag Design_r@iris.to or @Design__r on X! We'll keep an eye out and repost good examples on a regular basis.

---

Curious to know WTF is a FUC? Read the ⚡️Flash Ui Challenges welcoming post.

Looking for more FUCs? Check the archive here!

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

Bitcoin mining has often been critiqued for its environmental impact and energy consumption. However, a deeper dive reveals a nuanced story where innovative strategies are turning mining into a viable and sustainable part of the future energy economy. The key to this transformation? Harnessing stranded energy resources and user-contributed processing power to enhance network security and efficiency.

Utilizing Stranded Energy: A Win-Win Situation

Stranded energy refers to energy produced from sources that are geographically isolated or temporally inconsistent, making it difficult or economically unfeasible to transport this energy to places where it can be used. Examples of stranded energy include overproduced wind power on windy nights or flared natural gas at oil production sites unable to connect to the natural gas grid.

Bitcoin mining offers a revolutionary solution by using this otherwise wasted energy. By setting up mining operations near sources of stranded energy, miners can convert excess energy into economic value without the extensive carbon footprint associated with long-range energy transmission. This synergy not only makes mining operations more sustainable but also encourages the development and funding of renewable energy projects.

The Role of User-Provided Processing Power

When individuals contribute their computing resources to the Bitcoin network, they help decentralize the network. This decentralization is vital—it prevents any single entity from monopolizing the network, thereby enhancing security. This is described technically as increasing the network’s 'hash rate,' which essentially strengthens the network’s resilience against attacks.

• Security enhancement: A higher hash rate means that an attacker would need a prohibitively expensive amount of computing power to compromise the network.
• Democratic participation: By allowing anyone with a computer to contribute to the network's processing power, Bitcoin remains open and accessible, upholding its foundational principles.

Efficiency and Profitability in Mining Operations

The profitability of Bitcoin mining hinges largely on two factors: the cost of electricity and the efficiency of mining hardware. Regions with lower energy costs naturally attract more miners, but the efficiency of the operation also plays a crucial role. Advanced mining hardware that can compute more hashes per joule of energy consumed dictates the competitive edge.

• Operational efficiency: Utilizing cutting-edge technology that maximizes hash power while minimizing energy consumption is crucial. Efficient operations use less power for the same or higher output, directly influencing the bottom line.
• Adaptability: Miners must rapidly adapt to changes in network difficulty and Bitcoin price fluctuations to stay profitable.

Case in Closing

Far from being a static or regressive industry, Bitcoin mining exemplifies innovative adaptation to our rapidly changing energy landscape. By tapping into stranded energy sources, miners can transform waste into wealth, affirming Bitcoin mining's role in a sustainable energy future. Additionally, by encouraging broad, P2P participation, the network remains secure and robust against threats. On the front of profitability, efficiency remains key. The miners who will thrive are those who not only manage costs effectively but also innovate continuously to keep up with technological and economic shifts. Bitcoin mining is not just surviving; it's poised for a natural, profitable future.

P.S

Dear Parker Lewis,

I wanted to extend my gratitude for introducing the concept of Utilizing Stranded Energy during your online talk I look forward to continuing to follow your work and learning more about this fascinating intersection of energy and Bitcoin.

Thank You

@ e97aaffa:2ebd765d

António Costa pode ser criticado numa infinidade de situações, mas temos que admitir que ele é muito bom em insinuar, não dizer a verdade mas também não mente. O Costa conseguia transmitir uma mensagem vaga propositadamente, levando os portugueses a acreditar em algo que depois não vai corresponder à verdade.

Eu detestava isso no Costa, mas tenho que admitir que ele era um génio a fazer isto. Este tipo de política de insinuação, na maioria das vezes é subtil. É tão subtil, que português comum não consegue compreender, apenas os mais atentos ou com mais conhecimentos conseguem diferenciar.

Ontem Montenegro fez o mesmo, durante a campanha eleitoral prometeu uma coisa, mas depois de eleito fez outra.

“Afinal, choque de IRS de Montenegro é seis vezes inferior ao de Costa: Pedro Nuno acusa Governo de “embuste”

Redução de IRS deverá rondar apenas os 200 milhões de euros. Os 1,5 mil milhões de euros anunciados por Luis Montenegro já abrangem a redução de IRS em vigor, aprovada pela anterior maioria socialista.” – Expresso

Montenegro utilizou uma artimanha para cumprir a promessa, para calcular os 1,5 mil milhões de euros, não utilizou a tabela de IRS em vigor mas utilizou a tabela de 2023, porque se o cálculo fosse feito com a tabela de 2024 a redução seria apenas 200 milhões. O problema, é que não faz qualquer sentido fazer a comparação com a tabela de 2023.

A convicção que eu tenho, Montenegro não queria baixar o IRS, foi apenas uma promessa eleitoral para ludibriar os portugueses. A redução dos 200 milhões apenas está lá, para não ser acusado de mentir, na prática ele baixou os impostos.

O problema é que os portugueses (pelo menos os que votaram na AD) acreditaram que iria fazer um “choque” fiscal, uma grande redução de impostos, mas afinal foi uma redução marginal, quase inócua.

Não só Montenegro, mas como a maioria dos políticos da atualidade estão a seguir a “escola do Costa”. Depois não se admirem que os partidos de protesto estejam a crescer, os portugueses estão cansados de mentiras, querem políticos íntegros, honestos, algo que escasseia na atualidade.

Jornal Expresso

“O Expresso publicou em manchete na sua última edição o seguinte título: “Montenegro duplica descida de IRS até ao verão”. A notícia começou a ser desenvolvida a partir das declarações do primeiro-ministro proferidas na abertura da discussão do programa do Governo. Luis Montenegro disse aos portugueses que ia fazer de imediato uma redução de IRS que teria um impacto de 1500 milhões de euros. Com base nesta afirmação, o Expresso fez perguntas ao gabinete do Ministro das Finanças e contactou várias fontes. Ninguém desmentiu o que tinha sido dito no Parlamento, ninguém corrigiu a informação.

Mais: o Expresso esteve atento a cada palavra do primeiro-ministro no debate. Primeiro disse isto: “Aprovaremos na próxima semana uma proposta de lei que altera o artigo 68º do Código do IRS, introduzindo uma descida das taxas sobre os rendimentos até ao oitavo escalão, que vai perfazer uma diminuição global de cerca de 1500 milhões de euros nos impostos do trabalho dos portugueses face ao ano passado, especialmente sentida na classe média”.” – Expresso

O jornal Expresso fez uma notícia, baseada nas palavras do 1º Ministro, hoje o seu diretor faz um pedido de desculpas aos seus leitores, por ter transmitido uma noticias falsa.

“Afinal o Expresso errou. Pior. O Expresso publicou uma notícia falsa. Pelo facto pedimos desculpa aos nossos leitores. A publicação desta notícia seguiu as regras e procedimentos que exigimos antes da publicação de uma notícia. Não contávamos era com o facto de o primeiro ministro ter, no Parlamento, ludibriado os portugueses.

A redução de IRS que Luis Montenegro anunciou com pompa e circunstância, a redução de impostos que andou na campanha eleitoral a defender, é afinal falsa. São apenas pequenos ajustes sobre a redução já anunciada por António Costa no Orçamento para este ano. Os 1500 milhões de euros são apenas €170 milhões, porque 1330 milhões de euros foram já implementados pelo anterior governo.

Luis Montenegro apresentou uma redução de impostos que não passa de um embuste.

A verdadeira redução de imposto é contrária à ideia que o primeiro ministro vendeu no Parlamento. É contrária à ideia do que andou durante toda a campanha eleitoral a anunciar. Só tenho uma palavra para descrever tudo isto. Fraude.

Contudo, no final do dia, quem errou foi o Expresso. Por ter sido ingénuo a acreditar nas palavras do primeiro-ministro de Portugal. Mais uma vez, peço desculpa aos nossos leitores. Não voltará a acontecer.” – Expresso

Neste caso, tiro o meu chapéu ao diretor do Expresso, pela sua coragem e por repor a verdade. Estou curioso sobre o que o Balsemão vai fazer.

Mas Sr. diretor, não é primeira vez que o Expresso divulga FakeNews, algumas delas foram bem recentes e algumas ditas por si, no podcast Money Money Money. Espero que tenha a mesma coragem, aguardo aqui sentado numa poltrona, o seu esclarecimento, a reposta da verdade e o pedido de desculpas.

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Prompt: Profile Selection ===============

Create a Ui element to represent the selection of a user profile between many. It could be inside a Bitcoin wallet, managing multiple nostr pubkeys or a stacker account on @sn!

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Flex your design muscles and join in. Most of all, keep this exercise loose and keep it stress-free. The FUC is about growing our design skills, together, as a community. We can't wait to see what you create!

Happy designing, Stackers!

---

Share Your Results When you finish the challenge, post your work on this thread! If you also share it on nostr, be sure to use the hashtag #FUCdesiger and tag Design_r@iris.to or @Design__r on X! We'll keep an eye out and repost good examples on a regular basis.

---

Curious to know WTF is a FUC? Read the ⚡️Flash Ui Challenges welcoming post.

Looking for more FUCs? Check the archive here!

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Content

• Conclusion

• FAQ

• You May Also Like

• External Links

When it comes to distributed apps that run on Ethereum, the MetaMask wallet is the gold standard for DApps. However, can Bitcoin (BTC), the biggest cryptocurrency, be stored in MetaMask?

Bitcoin is a crucial asset for many crypto investors. Bitcoin is not just a valuable asset for investors but a viable payment option as well. MetaMask and other wallets have made it considerably less of a hassle to make purchases using blockchain technology. Using this Ethereum wallet, millions of people now have access to the cryptocurrency market. While Ether has gained traction as a payment option, Bitcoin remains the most popular choice.

You shouldn't put your money into Bitcoin if you're looking to acquire a non-fungible token (NFT) or participate in decentralized finance (DeFi). However, there might be instances in which you'd prefer to utilize Bitcoin for these tasks. Here, you'll find information about using MetaMask as a Bitcoin wallet.

MetaMask crypto wallet

The Ethereum wallet MetaMask may be used on mobile devices or as a browser add-on. To rephrase, MetaMask is a secure wallet for Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts, allowing users to safely interact with these technologies inside their favorite websites and apps. This March of 2022 saw MetaMask, one of the most widely used cryptocurrency wallets, reach 30 million users. This is in part because of the popularity of decentralized financial systems (DeFi) and tokens that cannot be exchanged for other currencies (NFTs).

Is MetaMask only for Ethereum?

Only ERC-20 tokens, or tokens built on the Ethereum network, may be used with MetaMask. To utilize tokens that aren't ERC-20s, you'll need to convert them to ERC-20s first. You might save these tokens in your MetaMask.

Zcash is a cryptocurrency designed for private financial dealings like these. The Ethereum network is not the foundation for this cryptocurrency, hence it is not an ERC-20 token. To utilize Zcash, however, you must first encase the tokens.

MetaMask hardware wallet

When beginning their crypto education, many individuals have questions about how to best secure their cryptocurrency holdings. Due to its critical nature, a reliable wallet is required. Because of their offline cryptocurrency storage capabilities, hardware wallets are highly recommended. To what extent, however, does MetaMask function as a hardware wallet?

A hardware wallet is not what MetaMask is. This is a digital wallet that runs on a computer. These wallets, which can also be accessed online, go by the name "hot wallets." You can still connect a hardware wallet to MetaMask.This makes it possible to utilize MetaMask with the most popular hardware wallet, the Ledger.

If you have a Ledger hardware wallet and want to use it with MetaMask, you may do so by opening the ETH app and tapping the "Connect Hardware Wallet" button. Then, a window will appear asking you to choose a device and hit the "Connect" button.

When used with the MetaMask extension, the Ledger turns the computer into a gateway rather than a wallet. Your Ledger private keys are never sent to MetaMask, and the latter never has access to them.

Does MetaMask support Bitcoin?

When it comes to Bitcoin, MetaMask works, but not in the same manner that an exchange wallet does. The biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is not directly supported by MetaMask since it is not an ERC-20 token. You may, however, use MetaMask to indirectly acquire Bitcoin.

In other words, avoid sending Bitcoin to your MetaMask directly. If you do this, MetaMask will not be able to receive the token, which might have unintended implications. Worse yet, you can lose every bit of Bitcoin you've ever transferred all at once!

How do I send bitcoin to MetaMask?

As you now know, sending bitcoin straight to MetaMask is not feasible. However, this does not imply that transferring Bitcoin to your MetaMask wallet is a hopeless endeavor. BTC operates on its own blockchain network. Only Bitcoin addresses may make transactions on this Bitcoin blockchain. All blockchains, not only Bitcoin and Ethereum, have this characteristic.

Only tokens associated with Ethereum may be sent between users on the Ethereum network. The use of the Ethereum network to send Bitcoin is analogous to the euro's use in monetary transactions in the United States. Although you can't directly exchange euros for dollars in the US, there are ways to do it. These euros may be converted into dollars at the current exchange rate, giving you access to a convenient and widely accepted form of international payment.

But if you'd rather not convert your bitcoin to Ethereum, there are alternative options to consider. To do this, you'll need to first keep your Bitcoin secure on the Bitcoin blockchain and then transfer it to the Ethereum blockchain in the form of a new token that represents the Bitcoin in storage. This is also known as Bitcoin as an ERC-20 token or wrapped BTC (wBTC).

How to wrap Bitcoin

Bitcoin wrapping options are varied. Take Binance as an example. You may buy, sell, and exchange both Bitcoin and wBTC on Binance since they are treated as separate tokens. You may access Binance's trading interface by selecting "Classic" from the Trade menu. Both Bitcoin tokens are available here as a trading pair. In this section, you'll be able to choose the quantity of WBTC you want to acquire before hitting the "Buy WBTC" button.

And what happens if your wBTC doesn't show up in your MetaMask? After following the instructions below to add the wBTC coin, you will be able to make the necessary adjustments.

MetaMask wallet address

Finding and using your MetaMask wallet address to spend your wBTC is crucial. The primary MetaMask interface may be accessed by launching the app and signing in. Your account's unique code serves as your mailing address and can be found under your account name. You may send and receive crypto using this address.

You may give out this code, but keep the others secret at all costs. Your account information and backup recovery data are there to keep your belongings safe. Your crypto assets are at risk if other people get your private keys and misuse them.

MetaMask alternatives

Although MetaMask is widely used, there are other software wallets available. Several wallets are only compatible with one particular blockchain due to the vast number of blockchains. Cardano's Yoroi wallet and Solana's Phantom wallet are two good examples.

The ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain are compatible with a variety of digital currency wallets. MetaMask's flexibility in deployment across online and mobile platforms is among its many strengths. Here is where MetaMask really stands apart from the others.

As an alternative to MetaMask, the Trust Wallet is a highly regarded smartphone app that functions as a software wallet. Besides Mist Wallet and MyEtherWallet, two more web-based wallets are widely used as alternatives to MetaMask for storing and exchanging ERC-20 tokens.

Although MetaMask is by far the most well-known all-purpose software wallet, having a few other wallets at your disposal is always a good idea. Maintaining a number of separate wallets is one method of reducing vulnerability. When you store your cryptocurrency holdings across numerous wallets, you reduce the risk of losing everything if any one wallet is compromised.

Conclusion

Bitcoin is a crucial asset for many crypto investors. Bitcoin is not just a valuable asset for investors but a viable payment option as well. MetaMask and other wallets have made it considerably less of a hassle to make purchases using blockchain technology. Using this Ethereum wallet, millions of people now have access to the cryptocurrency market. Ether (ETH) is a widely used cryptocurrency; however, most investors choose to purchase Bitcoin instead.

FAQ

Does a MetaMask wallet support Bitcoin storage? MetaMask only works with tokens based on Ethereum; hence, the largest cryptocurrency in the world, Bitcoin, is not supported.

What's the procedure for adding Bitcoin to MetaMask? The primary MetaMask account page is where you may add tokens. If you go to the assets page, you'll find a button labeled "Add Token" at the bottom of the page. Once you've selected "Add Token," a search bar will appear below it. Put it in quotes around the search bar, like you would any other term.

Where should I put my bitcoins? In cases where you don't want to trade your cryptocurrency, a hardware wallet may be the safest alternative since it allows you to store your cryptocurrency wallet offline, as a "cold wallet." While it is not connected to the internet, your wallet is safe from hackers and viruses.

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

What have you designed this week?

Be proud of you and leave a comment below to let the SN ~Design community know what you're designing on this week. It doesn't matter if it's a sketch or a high resolution screen, nor how much progress you've made.

Just share what you're up to, and let the community know if you want any feedback or help. If you missed last week's thread, here are the updates stackers shared from all their latest work projects.

@ 59c14163:9e2db157

He decidido estar un poco más activa y presente en el mundo (virtual).

Algunos de mis conocidos pensarán que eso ya lo hago porque nunca dejo de publicar contenido en todas mis redes sociales pero hay ciertos lugares por los que casi no transito y cosas que aún no he explorado; este es uno de esos espacios, por ejemplo. Y aún muchísima gente que no sabe quién soy, qué hago o por qué escribo esto. Bueno, así comienzo a presentarme y a invadir más terrenos.

Digamos que pasé por una -miles de- crisis en la que no sabía qué hacer y de repente me di cuenta de que siempre he tenido demasiados planes en mente pero nunca termino de arrancar con esas ideas. Simplemente pienso en algo y ya; no lo comparto, no lo digo en voz alta, ni siquiera me atrevo a dar un paso para ver si fracaso e intento con otra cosa o me va bien, y creo que eso me termina frustrando más, porque tengo mucho para ofrecer pero no muestro nada de lo que tengo.

Hace unos días anoté en un papel un montón de cosas que quiero hacer en la vida pero no es la primera vez que las anoto, y es terrible saber que he hecho eso por años. Imagina estar anotando una y otra vez las mismas cosas, o agregando otras nuevas y solo dejarlo ahí guardado, no hacer nada para llevar eso del papel a la realidad. Sí me aplaudo el punto de haber sido consistente con mis sueños y no abandonar esos deseos que tuve desde niña pero mi yo adulta le está fallando a esa otra versión de mí que tenía mayores expectativas.

¿Entonces qué pasó? No sé si toqué fondo o un día me caí de la cama y ya pero me cansé de estar a la espera de “algo” y no actuar. Simplemente quiero hacer más, quiero decir más. Y no crean que es que tengo planeado montar una empresa de aquí a mañana porque los sueños también pueden ser “pequeños” y modestos, solo voy a trabajar más en mí.

Vi que quiero aprender más cosas, tener la oportunidad de investigar, de crear, de producir pero hacerlo porque quiero y no porque “tengo que” o porque lo necesito, o porque me lo pidieron. Realmente está en mis intereses seguir formándome, seguir ganando experiencia y vivirlo con gusto, seguir desbloqueando habilidades y compartirlas. Aceptar más ofertas aún cuando me aterre y me dé mucha ansiedad, atreverme a hacer otras cosas, a conocer y tener nuevas oportunidades, a estar en distintas comunidades.

Lo que quiero es tomarme la libertad para hacer más cosas que me gusten, que me aporten y que también me puedan generar ingresos y compartir todo ese proceso. Escribir mucho más sobre todo lo que está en mi cabeza, lo que sé y lo que me preocupa, lo que he vivido. Narrar para seguir mejorando y ejercitando mi escritura, mi creatividad y mi interacción en las redes.

Creo que finalmente el regaño de mi hermana y la insistencia de muchos amigos tuvo un impacto en mí y por eso quiero retomar la escritura como un ejercicio de liberación y crecimiento, así fue durante años para mí pero la abandoné, así como postergué proyectos en los que quiero “probar suerte”.

Me verán más seguido porque estaré creando, compartiendo ideas y sanando algunos temas, les iré contando todo lo que pasa por mi mente y lo que hago realidad. Tengo muchísimo más por decir, incluso sobre este texto, pero iré poco a poco. No digo que no tengo miedo o que ya tengo mi vida resuelta porque es todo lo contrario, apenas estoy tomando la iniciativa para organizar mis ideas y empezar a trazar este camino.

Si me están leyendo se los agradezco mucho, para mí es muy valioso saber que tengo compañía y que ustedes están aquí para mí, así sea leyendo a escondidas.

Les doy la bienvenida a esta ¿“nueva etapa en mi vida?”. Umm, no sé, creo que eso tengo que definirlo pronto pero bueno, las puertas están abiertas por si quieren acompañarme en este proceso.

Gracias. Si llegaste hasta aquí espero que tomes agua y recibe un beso en la frente de mi parte.

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Por si me quieres mandar unos saticos como muestra de cariño te dejo algunas opciones:

redsnow8001@getalby.com royaldeer59@walletofsatoshi.com

También me encuentro fuera de Nostr, si me buscas por estos o por otros lados estoy como arantxalopezc.

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

Bitcoin's security and decentralization stand as pillars upon which its entire ecosystem is built. At the heart of this structure lies Bitcoin mining, a process that not only validates transactions but also fortifies the network against malicious attacks. Let's delve into the intricate dance between mining, security, and decentralization that sustains the world's most renowned cryptocurrency.

Unraveling Bitcoin Mining

Mining, in the context of Bitcoin, involves a network of validators, known as miners, dedicating computational power to solve complex mathematical puzzles. These puzzles serve as a gatekeeper, ensuring that only legitimate transactions find their way onto the blockchain. As miners successfully solve these puzzles and add blocks to the chain, they are rewarded with newly minted bitcoins and transaction fees. This intricate process accomplishes several crucial tasks:

1. Transaction Validation and Network Security

Mining acts as a shield, safeguarding the integrity of Bitcoin transactions. By aggregating transactions into blocks and cryptographically linking them to the existing blockchain, miners make it virtually impossible for fraudulent activities to occur without detection. Any attempt to alter a transaction would necessitate re-mining affected blocks, a task so computationally intensive that it serves as a formidable deterrent against foul play.

2. Decentralization

At the core of Bitcoin's ethos lies decentralization, and mining is the mechanism that brings this vision to fruition. By distributing the responsibility of transaction validation across a global network of independent miners, Bitcoin ensures that power remains diffused. This decentralized structure mitigates the risk of a single entity gaining undue influence over the network, preserving its resilience and trustworthiness.

3. Consensus Mechanism

Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism relies on mining to maintain order and security within the network. Through PoW, miners engage in a competitive race to validate transactions and append blocks to the blockchain. This competition not only ensures the network's robustness but also makes it economically infeasible for malicious actors to orchestrate a 51% attack—a scenario where a single entity controls the majority of the network's computational power.

4. Network Resilience

By incentivizing miners with rewards, Bitcoin fosters a community of nodes committed to upholding network security. This incentive structure not only attracts participants but also ensures a continuous supply of computational power dedicated to maintaining the network's integrity. As a result, Bitcoin remains resilient against external threats, capable of withstanding adversarial attempts to disrupt its operations.

The Ongoing Evolution of Mining

The importance of mining for Bitcoin's security and decentralization cannot be overstated. Continuous discussions and improvements within the community underscore the commitment to enhancing mining efficiency, reducing environmental impact, and bolstering network resilience. These efforts, evident in open forums and developer contributions, lay the groundwork for Bitcoin's continued success and longevity in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.

In closing, mining stands as a cornerstone of Bitcoin's architecture, underpinning its security, decentralization, and trustworthiness. As Bitcoin continues to redefine the financial landscape, mining remains steadfast in its role as the guardian of the network's integrity, ensuring that the promise of decentralized, censorship-resistant digital currency endures.

Sources

[0]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [1]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [2]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [3]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [4]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [5]: Chaincode Labs Glossary [6]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [7]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [8]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [9]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request

A Deeper Look At The Future Ahead

Emerging technologies and innovations continue to shape the field of Bitcoin mining, potentially impacting its future in various ways. Some of the notable developments include:

Advancements in Mining Hardware: Continuous improvements in the efficiency and processing power of ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miners enhance the competitiveness and profitability of mining operations. Innovations that reduce power consumption while increasing hash rates can significantly impact the sustainability and environmental footprint of Bitcoin mining.

Renewable Energy Sources: There's a growing trend towards utilizing renewable energy sources for Bitcoin mining operations. Solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy can provide more sustainable and cost-effective power solutions. This shift not only addresses environmental concerns but also aligns with the broader goals of enhancing the long-term sustainability of the mining industry.

Decentralized Mining Pools: Innovations in pool structures and protocols aim to further decentralize mining efforts. By distributing control and decision-making among pool participants, these technologies can mitigate the risks associated with centralized pools dominating the hash rate distribution. This could lead to a more equitable and resilient mining ecosystem.

Improved Cooling Technologies: Efficient cooling solutions are critical for maintaining optimal operation of mining hardware. Advances in cooling technologies, such as immersion cooling systems, promise to significantly reduce the energy consumption associated with mining. These innovations can lead to lower operational costs and extend the lifespan of mining equipment.

Blockchain Interoperability and Layer 2 Solutions: While not directly related to mining technology, advancements in blockchain interoperability and the development of Layer 2 solutions (such as the Lightning Network) can indirectly affect Bitcoin mining by altering transaction patterns, fees, and the overall scalability of the network.

Smart Contracts and Mining Protocols: The integration of smart contracts into mining operations could automate certain aspects of the mining process, including payouts, pool governance, and compliance with regulatory requirements. This could streamline operations and introduce new levels of transparency and trustworthiness.

These innovations represent just a fraction of the ongoing research and development within the Bitcoin mining sector. As the ecosystem evolves, it's likely that we'll see further advancements that address current challenges related to energy consumption, efficiency, decentralization, and environmental impact. The active engagement of the community, as seen in discussions on platforms like GitHub ([0], [1], [5]), will continue to play a crucial role in guiding these developments and shaping the future landscape of Bitcoin mining.

Sources

[0]: GitHub Issue 2345 [1]: GitHub Issue 22866 [2]: GitHub Issue 22866 [3]: GitHub Pull Request 18844 [4]: GitHub Issue 23669 [5]: GitHub Issue 23669 [6]: GitHub Issue 20178 [7]: GitHub Pull Request 19937 [8]: GitHub Pull Request 19937 [9]: GitHub Pull Request 19937

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

What do you like about nostr? I bet it's not the fact that half of the conversations on nostr are about nostr. Seriously, nostr seems to only discuss nostr. nostr nostr nostr Are you ready for a change?

I would like to present to you, nostrminusnostr. It's a 90s pizza party vibe, and best of all, I've filter out all of the notes about nostr...and bitcoin. I just don't see people getting on a platform that only discusses itself.

Anyway, I've also only included larger notes. Despite the pizza party colors, I made the notes to sound like tablets. I want to try to focus on weighty notes, so there's also a minimum word count and when I add zaps, there will be a minimum sat amount. My goal is to create a client that focuses on weighty creation and doesn't involve trivial tips.

Repo Demo

@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about STRIKE: BTC & GLOBAL MONEY (iphone)

negative experience with the service by jack malicious . it is kyc enabled, and failed attempts to verify completely lock your account. i advise not to try verification with sats in the account. besides that, it is possible to use the lightning address and transfer sats to users.

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about Binance: Buy Bitcoin & Crypto (android)

The platform is efficient. P2P exchange of bitcoin with fiat or cbdc is possible on the app. one can also deposit and withdraw without having to verify KYC but there is a limit of course. trading p2p is only available for KYC'd users. .

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Any Bitcoin offers or promotions you bought recently?

We’re constantly looking for some special deals! Share with your fellow stackers any latest steal, recent offering, snazzy discounts, packed bundles...

Help us all score some incredible bargains!

@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about Bitnob (iphone)

Bitnob is a fiat / bitcoin on ramp off ramp . and using it as a Kenyan has many cons than pros. starting from the transfer fees just for lightning , to the conversion rates for fiat to btc. the on ramping and off ramping on their platform is very seamless. but the deductions are really not worth it. unless, you want to adopt bitcoin profiteering . i feel as if the company behind the Bitno is intentionallu robbing unsuspecting users.

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@ d34e832d:383f78d0

The Bitcoin network stands as a testament to the power of open-source software, embodying principles of decentralization, transparency, and collaboration. At the heart of this groundbreaking ecosystem lies Bitcoin Core, an open-source project that forms the foundation of the entire network. But what exactly is the role of open-source software in the development and maintenance of Bitcoin? Let's delve into this essential relationship and explore its profound implications for the future of digital finance.

Fostering Innovation and Security

The open-source nature of Bitcoin Core cultivates an environment conducive to innovation and security. By making its source code freely accessible, Bitcoin invites scrutiny from a global community of developers and security experts. This collective oversight serves as a potent mechanism for identifying and rectifying vulnerabilities promptly, bolstering the robustness and resilience of the network against potential threats.

Embracing Collaboration and Inclusivity

One of the hallmarks of open-source projects is their collaborative ethos, which aligns seamlessly with Bitcoin's decentralized philosophy. Developers from diverse backgrounds and locations can contribute to Bitcoin's development, irrespective of their affiliations or credentials. This meritocratic approach ensures that ideas and contributions are evaluated based on their merits rather than the status of their origin, fostering an inclusive and dynamic ecosystem of innovation.

Enabling Auxiliary Tools and Applications

Beyond Bitcoin Core, the open-source model extends to a myriad of auxiliary tools and applications that augment the functionality of the Bitcoin network. Wallet software, blockchain explorers, and privacy-enhancing technologies are just a few examples of the diverse ecosystem of projects that benefit from the collaborative nature of open-source development. Projects like Tor, which enhance privacy and security on the internet, underscore the interconnectedness of various open-source initiatives in advancing the overarching goal of a more private, secure, and open digital landscape.

Ensuring Transparency and Sustainability

Transparency is a cornerstone of open-source software, and Bitcoin is no exception. Discussions and debates surrounding Bitcoin's development take place openly on platforms like GitHub, enabling stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue and decision-making processes. This transparent approach not only enhances the accountability of developers but also fosters a sense of community ownership and stewardship over the network's evolution.

In conclusion, open-source software plays a pivotal role in the development, maintenance, and evolution of the Bitcoin network. It embodies the core principles of decentralization, transparency, and collaboration, driving innovation, security, and inclusivity within the digital finance ecosystem. As Bitcoin continues to redefine the future of money, the collaborative spirit of open-source development will remain instrumental in shaping its trajectory towards a more decentralized and equitable financial system.

Sources

[0]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [1]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [2]: Onboarding to Bitcoin Core [3]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [4]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [5]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [6]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [7]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue

A Look At The Ecosystem

Exploring the Rich Tapestry of Open-Source Tools in the Bitcoin Ecosystem

The Bitcoin ecosystem thrives on collaboration and innovation, powered by a vibrant array of open-source tools and applications. These projects, developed and maintained by a global community of contributors, play a vital role in enhancing the functionality, security, and usability of Bitcoin. Let's delve into some examples that illustrate the diverse landscape of open-source innovation within the Bitcoin space.

Wallet Software

Open-source wallet applications form the cornerstone of Bitcoin's user experience, offering secure and feature-rich solutions for managing digital assets. These wallets, often equipped with advanced features like multisig transactions and hardware wallet integration, benefit from continuous improvement driven by community contributions. By leveraging the collective expertise of developers worldwide, open-source wallets ensure that users have access to robust and trustworthy tools for safeguarding their Bitcoin holdings.

Blockchain Explorers

Blockchain explorers serve as windows into the Bitcoin network, providing users with valuable insights into transaction details, block information, and network statistics. These tools are essential for transparency, enabling users to verify the integrity of transactions and monitor network activity in real-time. The open-source nature of blockchain explorers fosters trust and accountability, as the community collaborates to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data presented.

Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

Projects focused on enhancing privacy for Bitcoin users thrive within the open-source ecosystem, offering innovative solutions to protect sensitive financial information. Technologies like mixers and CoinJoin implementations benefit from transparency and verifiability, as their code is open for scrutiny by anyone. By embracing open-source principles, privacy-enhancing projects empower users to take control of their financial privacy while contributing to the broader goal of advancing privacy standards within the Bitcoin network.

Development Tools

A plethora of development tools bolster the resilience and security of Bitcoin software, aiding developers in identifying and mitigating potential vulnerabilities. Static analysis tools, dynamic analysis tools, and fuzzing tools are among the essential resources utilized by Bitcoin developers to ensure the robustness of their code. These tools, often open-source themselves, benefit from community feedback and contributions, driving continuous improvement in software quality and security.

Node and Mining Software

In addition to Bitcoin Core, various open-source projects focus on running full nodes, mining software, and network monitoring tools. These projects play a crucial role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, enabling individuals to participate in consensus and transaction validation. By embracing open-source principles, node and mining software projects leverage the collective expertise of the community to enhance network security and reliability.

To close, the Bitcoin ecosystem owes much of its resilience and innovation to the collaborative spirit of open-source development. By fostering transparency, inclusivity, and continuous improvement, open-source tools empower users to engage with Bitcoin securely and confidently. As the ecosystem continues to evolve, the principles of open-source software will remain fundamental to its success and longevity.

Sources

[0]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [1]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [2]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [3]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [4]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue [5]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Pull Request [6]: Bitcoin Core GitHub Issue

@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about ZBD: Bitcoin, Games, Rewards (iphone)

zbd is a centralised platfom. they have power over users wallets and can deactivate them even with balances, hence making your account pretty much useless. in the times that we are heading , this is definetely not the way. since zbd is A Play to Earn platform, such kind of activity is robbing from users who invested their time to stack sats. just to be kicked out . it's a 0 out of 10 for zbd

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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@ 6389be64:ef439d32

2024-05-02 at 11:00

Tags: #networking

Immuno-suppressant

Fungi have developed, among other chemical keys, the ability to modify plant physiology at the macro scale. Fungi dose plants with immuno-suppressants to stifle immune responses. The same happens with organ transplant patients. This is the only way the fungi can link with plant tissues.

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References

[[Sheldrake-Entangled Life]]

Core Notes

Location

662 ^ref-38313

@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about BlueWallet - Bitcoin wallet (iphone)

i had a negative experience with Blue Wallet when i tried to use lightning network . BW rely on external services to function. When these services experience downtime or disruptions, it affects the wallet's functionality.

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@ 6389be64:ef439d32

2024-05-02 at 10:47

Tags: #networking

The Fungal Link (Animals, Plants)

Many species of fungi manufacture both plant and animal hormones. An innate knowledge of what these hormones do, what species they effect, and how to build them with a high degree of efficacy points to a more ancient knowledge than we give credit for. It's as if the fungal kingdom was a primitive outgrowth before the Tree of Life even began to branch.

---

References

[[Sheldrake-Entangled Life]]

Core Notes

[[Fungal Marriages]]

Location

655

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

In the ever-evolving landscape of Bitcoin, the role of Bitcoin nodes in validating and propagating transactions on the blockchain remains paramount. But what exactly do Bitcoin nodes do, and why are they crucial for the integrity of the network? Let's explore this intricate ecosystem and uncover the fundamental principles behind Bitcoin nodes and blockchain validation.

Understanding Bitcoin Nodes

Bitcoin nodes serve as the backbone of the P2P network, each playing a vital role in verifying and propagating transactions across the blockchain. But why are nodes essential, and what functions do they perform?

The Importance of Full Nodes

Running a Bitcoin node is akin to exercising your right to defend liberty. While not everyone may choose to run a node, its significance lies in the collective power it bestows upon the network. Just as a well-armed populace can deter tyranny, widespread node deployment serves as a bulwark against centralized control and censorship.

Ensuring Transaction Validity

At its core, the role of Bitcoin nodes is to ensure the validity of transactions and maintain the integrity of the blockchain. By following a set of predefined rules, nodes verify the legitimacy of transactions and safeguard the network against fraudulent activity. This commitment to transparency and accountability is essential for preserving the trust and credibility of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Propagating Transactions on the Blockchain

Bitcoin nodes play a pivotal role in the propagation of transactions across the blockchain, ensuring that every transaction is accurately recorded and verified. But what mechanisms enable nodes to fulfill this critical function?

Real-Time Consensus Maintenance

Beyond transaction validation, Bitcoin nodes contribute to real-time consensus maintenance, ensuring that all participants adhere to the same set of rules and protocols. This consensus mechanism is essential for upholding the decentralized nature of the network and safeguarding against malicious attacks or disruptions.

Resilience and Recovery

In addition to real-time consensus maintenance, Bitcoin nodes exhibit resilience and recovery capabilities, enabling the network to withstand unforeseen challenges or catastrophic events. By maintaining a distributed network of nodes, Bitcoin ensures that no single point of failure can compromise the integrity or security of the blockchain.

The Future of Bitcoin Nodes

As we look ahead, the question arises: Will the task of securing and protecting Bitcoin nodes become easier or more challenging in the years to come? The answer to this question holds profound implications for the future of P2P, consensus and security in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Upholding P2P Decentralization

The ongoing evolution of Bitcoin nodes underscores the perpetual struggle to uphold decentralization and safeguard against centralization trends. While challenges may arise, the commitment to running full nodes remains paramount for preserving the integrity and sovereignty of the Bitcoin network.

Embracing Innovation

As technology continues to advance, the Bitcoin community must embrace innovation and adaptation to address emerging threats and challenges. By fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement, Bitcoin nodes can evolve to meet the evolving needs of the network and its users.

In conclusion, Bitcoin nodes serve as the cornerstone of the decentralized network, ensuring the integrity, security, and resilience of the blockchain. As the Bitcoin landscape continues to evolve, the role of Bitcoin nodes will remain indispensable in safeguarding the principles of decentralization, transparency, and sovereignty.

"Running a Bitcoin node isn't just about preserving the integrity of the network—it's about defending the principles of liberty and decentralization for generations to come."

So, let us continue to support and advocate for the widespread deployment of Bitcoin nodes, for they are the guardians of our digital sovereignty and the embodiment of our collective commitment to freedom and innovation.

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

The Bitcoin Lightning Network has emerged as a beacon of innovation, promising to revolutionize the world of Bitcoin transactions. But what exactly are Lightning channels, and how do they propel Bitcoin into the realm of instant transactions and unparalleled scalability? Let's delve into the intricacies of this groundbreaking technology.

Understanding Lightning Channels

At its core, the Lightning Network operates as a layer 2 solution atop the Bitcoin blockchain. It leverages Bitcoin's infrastructure to facilitate fast, cheap, and secure off-chain transactions. By creating payment channels between users, Lightning channels enable seamless peer-to-peer transactions, away from the constraints of the main Bitcoin blockchain.

The Power of Off-Chain Transactions

Unlike traditional on-chain transactions, which incur delays and high fees, Lightning channels offer a streamlined alternative. Users can conduct multiple transactions within a channel, recording them in a ledger maintained by the Lightning network. These transactions remain off-chain until the channel is closed, at which point they are consolidated into a single transaction posted to the Bitcoin blockchain.

How Lightning Channels Work

Channel Creation and Transactions

The process begins with the creation of a payment channel, where two users deposit an agreed-upon amount of Bitcoin. Once the channel is established, users can transact freely with each other at minimal cost. All transactions within the channel are recorded in a ledger, ensuring accurate balance tracking.

Channel Closure and Settlement

At any time, either party can choose to close the channel, finalizing the transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. This consolidation process ensures that both parties receive their rightful balances, with all transactions reflected in a single on-chain transaction.

Routing Transactions on Lightning Network

One of the Lightning Network's most ingenious features is its ability to route transactions seamlessly between users. By establishing interconnected pathways between nodes, Lightning enables payments to flow through multiple channels, akin to data routing on the internet. This routing mechanism allows for efficient and frictionless transactions across the network.

Benefits of Lightning Channels

Instant Payments

True to its name, the Lightning Network delivers lightning-fast payment transactions. With no block confirmations to wait for, payments are processed as swiftly as your internet connection allows.

Scalability

While the Bitcoin blockchain faces limitations in transaction throughput, Lightning channels offer unparalleled scalability. With the potential to handle millions of transactions per second, Lightning dwarfs legacy payment systems like Visa.

Low Cost and Privacy

By transacting off-chain, Lightning channels boast minimal fees and reduced energy consumption compared to on-chain transactions. Additionally, Lightning offers users a high degree of privacy, with individual transactions shielded from public view.

The Future of Lightning Network

As more users join the Lightning Network, its potential for widespread adoption grows exponentially. While usability obstacles remain, ongoing innovations are poised to enhance the user experience and erode barriers to entry. Ultimately, the success of the Lightning Network hinges on Bitcoin's mass adoption and the continued evolution of Bitcoin technology.

In conclusion, Bitcoin Lightning channels represent a transformative leap forward in the world of Bitcoin transactions. With their ability to enable instant, scalable, and cost-effective payments, Lightning channels pave the way for a future where Bitcoin reigns supreme as a global medium of exchange.

@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about Blixt Wallet (android)

i have used Blixt on the TestFlight version. Opening channels is pretty easy, but the issue with inbound and out bound liquidity did quite puzzle me. it seemed like a wallet for the core Bitcoiner and not a simple user who still knows just the basic. i think there is alot to be done on Blixt user interface. and also lightning transfers. for example, the issue of stuck sats in wallets that can't move is confusing to a new user.

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about Wallet of Satoshi (iphone)

Gotta love this wallet just by the name. one of the very first wallets that i have used. i learned about it through Play to Earn games by THUNDR . and let me tell you miner, it is very convenient to use. i like the randomized address names . how did they come up with that idea? lol a small negative for me though is that they added onchain fees from 0.5% to 1% .

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about Blink (Bitcoin Beach Wallet) (iphone)

i love to use Blink wallet for their trial account. The wallet involves setting up an account with your infor , such as email, but you can use the wallet on trial mode and have your LUD16 address. it works seemlesly . the only negative is incase you lose your phone and cannt recover the trial account. . Blink also has some insignificant fees for certain payments. overrall the wallet if good. the interface is pretty easy to navigate . one of our team members also did localization for the app . it is important that we all contribute and drive the force that is adoption of btc

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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@ d78dcc29:aa242350

Opinion about ZEUS Wallet (iphone)

i like the zeus wallet inteface. a member of our team did swahili translations for the app. the support with the team is amazing. personally intend on setting up a node with Zeus. as a popular wallet, Zeus has a community of users and developers who can offer support especially on nostr since not many users shall ask the FAQs

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

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