That time when Sports Illustrated decided to dabble into wearable tech after watching one to many episodes of Get Smart
today is wild. prelude to global chaos - news company, airports, ports and ships, banks and government offices all over the world are impacted.
đź’Ż. Question everything. Be insanely curious. I grew up in a schooling system that used punished us for asking questions, having opinions. All those running around the field and washing toilets for asking questions lol!
“Obedience” is the core fundamental of religion and autocratic government masked as culture because it’s easier to build followers blindly. It's easy to scare people into obedience by punishing them.
Obedience is the downfall of companies when employees rather be told what to do, or stuck in a process, than to think out of the box.
Obedience is the downfall of startup ecosystems globally when entrepreneurs are subjected to (corrupted) funders demands.
Obedience is the downfall of society when they start believing everything influencers say as the gospel truth.
Fortunately my nephews are raised to have thoughts and opinions. And teaching them has been way harder than teaching university students or training employees despite their young age because they question everything, with many ideas to be explored, and I absolutely love it! And you don't need to drill obedience into them. They are respectful and kind.
I am however struggling to explain why fusion energy does not work yet for Ironman’s arc reactor lol. But we got all the elements of Captain America's magnetic shield right. And rebuilding a Spidermen hand web mechanical thingy. And they are teaching me abt Starwars because I don't know what that lego ship is abt! We've got a smart car and a drone to build next with arduino!
If you need some hope back in society, and away from all the gloom and doom, teach kids, raise curious kids. As Picasso once said - “it took me 4 years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”. And at another time he said - “every children is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up”.
Curiosity withers over time from societal suppression. And without curiosity, everything is gloomy. Neuroplasticity becomes pointless. People stop questioning because they don't know what to question. Ignorance becomes bliss.
Yes.
On Mining - needs to be simple enough for anyone to use, maybe as simple as arduinos that my 12 yrs old nephews in a 3rd world country are comfortable with. Maybe with nano tech mining chips, easy-to-integrate circuit boards, and simple coding, anyone can participate.
With more users, there will be more innovations around it globally, and new markets to explore. For example, entrepreneurs can put together a mining box, and collaborate with home developers to ensure every new house build comes with a bitcoin mining system in various countries. Maybe innovate clean energy converters to be integrated with home-based mining systems or sold as accessories. Innovations are plenty. The risk though is that large groups of miners may dominate, restricting smaller miners.
On custodial mints - I've been critical of the token economy but respect those who believe in its potential. They need to prove its worth with real use cases in society and low risk .
On global currency - Bitcoin has the potential to become a global currency, but only if people actually use it. I doubt tribal chants are as effective.
On various use cases to expand user adoption globally :
1. Foreign workers globally : Remittance is an issue, but these days, the bigger struggle is often limited access to KYC’ed digital wallets within the country they are working in.
2. More Bitcoin integrator to online commerce, to foster competition which will boost innovation.
3. Encourage micropayments via Bitcoin. Nostr zap that Will created can be used by various gamers on iOS as a Bitcoin micropayment.
4. Maybe explore widespread adoption in Vietnam and Mexico or other main US import countries - which would strategically encourage its acceptance in U.S. imports for small business owners.
5. Someday when I am in a more comfortable position, I want to focus on small manufacturers globally to overcome hegemony trade - small business banking globally is a pain.
The possibility of exploring various use cases for global adoption and making a business out of bitcoin is endless.
Why people don’t see this beats the hell out of me. We need less focus on glorifying influencers and more effort put into meaningful work in this space
The real world
It doesn't matter which president likes Bitcoin. We don't need their permission nor be distracted by their dramas. What we do need are practical use cases and widespread adoption. We must explore every avenue for using Bitcoin as money, as currency - and adamantly and obsessively and passionately strive for that goal. Ultimately, democracy reflects what the people want. When too many people use Bitcoin, they cant stop it anymore. When people lead, leaders will follow
I’ve developed a deep appreciation towards Basquiat’s works, Maybe because his art resonates with words or maybe it’s just the depth of the meaning and his emotions open bare. His pieces are raw and intense.
I love his collaboration pieces with Andy Warhol, I think he thought of Andy as a father figure he never had. I wonder what it must have been like to live in NY in the 80s, to have had such profound expressionism, surrealism at the corner of your street, hip hop on a rise, metal rock and punk.
Basquiat also dated Madonna. I love the artistic depth of “Like a Prayer”. That and her openness to a mixed race relation when it was looked down upon at that time (and still is today in many places). She released the video a year after Basquiat’s death.
It’s easy to see why Basquit’s art stood out. He started with graffiti - and the power of graffiti - when I was a kid, we grew up in a gang area and the walls were covered with band names and powerful lyrics, and that’s when I first learnt about Metallica, GnR, 2Pac, Nirvana and more. It was a rebellious act against a suppressive government. The power of art - it transcends across borders so strongly that even some 3rd world country's poor neighborhoods felt it.
And I think that’s what Basquit’s art did to many - it affected them so profoundly especially in the Western world, where he fought for the rights of Black people through his artistic expressions. His graffiti made magazine covers and his canvas pieces were shown in galleries worldwide, making him one of the youngest and most impactful surrealist artists.
A few years back, one of his artworks sold for over a hundred million dollars. I only wish Basquiat had lived long enough to see how impactful his pieces remain, even 30 years later. Sadly, he died too young, at 27, in 1988.
Being narrow-minded has been the downfall of communities. Easier to blame everyone else for one's own shortcoming than to be progressive and adapt change.
There’s something about people with magnitude and direction, with that triboelectric effect
“what will people say?”
This sentence has killed more dreams than anything else in the world
perhaps there might be a way to eliminate identity and maintain fluidity in the strength of transactions, making it self evident to expand common use cases
Everyone here has that one thing that hits us and true, that it keeps us going, keeps pushing for change - for wanting a better life for ourselves and for everyone else. We may not do it the same way, but our goal remains the same ♥️
Anthony Bourdain's return after 10 years felt like an emotional journey as he had a deep connection to the indigenous people and culture of Borneo. The Ibans were head hunters (not the kind that calls you for an available job but the kind that chops off your head).
There is also a movie by Jessica Alba on the Ibans of Sarawak, called The Sleeping Dictionary. Its a fictional fantasy and romance in the 50's , but based on actual cultural practices of Ibans during the British occupation.
In this video, Anthony Bourdain seemed like he was tracing back his steps to all the places he has been to, and the people he has met. Maybe it was his way of saying goodbye
Sometimes when you start over with a Tabula Rasa mindframe, and imagine based on the present and future, the build becomes different. It gets easier to achieve your Occum’s Razor
Separate state and money
"In the meantime the economy will benefit from a much-needed period of stability. Business investment was depressed during the period when there was uncertainty over whether the UK would leave the EU or not. It suffered another hit during the pandemic, and a third after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A chaotic period in which the UK had three prime ministers and five chancellors in a single parliament is now over"
Interesting read on the labour party's win and Rishi Sunak out. Also was catching up with a friend in the UK on how her mortgage interest rates has doubled the amount, many are selling their homes as they can't afford it, and although inflation marker is low, the daily goods are 2x the amount. And then the surge in electricity bill. She has been fortunate to afford it but the financial challenges faced by the people in Britain during this period is rather immense.
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René Magritte is perhaps one of my favorite surrealist artists. I first encountered his work, "The Son of Man," that was re-enacted in the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" (Pierce Brosnan / Rene Russo).
As I explored his work further, I love how he thinks differently and gets people questioning everything. It's rare to find people who expand your perspectives so profoundly.
Many of his paintings manipulate space and perspective: an apple too big for its box, a train emerging from a wall. He was also interested in the boundary between rationality and irrationality, such as a house closed up at night against a bright blue daytime sky.
Magritte's work has touches of Dadaism (the avant-garde movement preceding surrealism) and some explorations of cubism (Picasso).
He loved poetry and Edgar Allan Poe and often explored the limitations of the meaning of words and their visual representation. In his famous piece "The Treachery of Images" he wrote "This is not a pipe" below a picture of a pipe, to show that it is just an image, not the object itself.
In real life, Magritte was happily married to his wife for 45 years. In his paintings though, he conveyed a sense of conflict in romance, for example in "The Lovers II," two people are passionately kissing but their faces are covered with cloth. Interpretations of this piece often vary - blinded by love, forbidden passion. This painting lingered in my mind for days, which made me look into Magritte's work further
Something Rene did not follow suit of the Surrelism culture is their need for psycho-analysing everything as he wanted to paint abstractly to provoke questions rather than provide answers.
But many wondered if his distance from any type of Freudian psycho-analysing theories had to do with his troubled childhood, with his mother's suicide by drowning, her body found with her dress covering her face—a motif that appears in some of his works.
Ironically, Magritte didn't enjoy the act of painting but loved the process of imagination and idea creation. He also wasn't fond of museums or art galleries. He also disliked the surrealist culture of drinking and partying, and preferred a secluded life with his wife and occasionally meeting other surrealists like DalĂ.
Magritte was comfortable being different and not conforming to the definitions set by society or his peers, and I love that about him and just about anyone who has this courage.
Magritte was poor and relatively unknown for most of his life. To pay the bills, he took up advertising and had traits of advertisement images in his painting. Only in his later years did he gain recognition and hit fame. Andy Warhol is said to have followed in his footsteps, adapting elements from advertising into his art.
Some of my favorite works by René Magritte include:
The Son of Man (French: Le Fils de l'homme) – 1964
The Lovers II – 1928
Evening Dress – 1954
The Mystery of the Ordinary – 1938
The Kiss – 1951
Clear Ideas - 1958
The Blank Signature - 1965
Reading abt Dior and Armani bringing in workers from China and paying them $2-3 per hour and they sleep in the factory as they continuously work. Normally you hear these problems by fast fashion instead of luxury brands.
A Dior bag at cost price is $57 and sold for $2800. An Armani bag at cost price is $99 and sold for $1900.
Typically cost to retail is about 4x as you have shipment, tax, transportation, warehouse, agent fees, distributor fees, discount allowance, marketing allocation etc. so the estimated retail price is about $57 x 4 - and a net profit is ~ 6% to 10%. Anything more than that retail price buffs up net - which is why luxury brand attracts investors.
Online sales removes distribution cost but the cost ends up almost the same considering online marketing expense in discovering users, shipment to consumers and returns (which can be very expensive if international as its 2x logistics cost). Ideally if can be sold online and without marketing, that would be the cheapest alternatives but this requires reputation of brands, owners etc for it to materialize.
Fashion is an interesting business, but of late the industry lacks passion, progressiveness and tact.
It can, and one way to make it happen is to enable the ease of converting bitcoin into multiple currencies. When this is achieved, countries can trade with each other directly, without needing USD, BRICS or any politically influenced currency - and eventually achieve self-sovereignty.
There are several existing options for quick currency exchanges via stable coins, tokens like cashu and side chains, wallets, possibly web 5 and even Nostr, but all in development and requires more use cases, real-world usages and risk assessments.
In the long run, when everyone has Bitcoin as part of their balance sheet, we would no longer need to depend on the currency exchanges, but for now, it will be the starting point for business transactions to happen.
De-dolarisation and the rise of BRICS are real concerns and should not be naively dismissed. With a deepening global adoption, Bitcoin could be a robust peacekeeper in preventing the possibility of currency wars/wars.
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