wow, that's big news. Tories or Labour ? what happens to the football club ?
Both RFK Jr. and JD Vance criticized Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate. One was substantive, focusing on policy weaknesses and integrity without personal attacks. The other criticized her as a mother.
Historically, both democrats and republicans have respected women who raise children, regardless of biological connection. Yet now, this name calling is causing those who were fence sitters to split up and get into a shouting match.
And eventually everyone forgets what really matters
It would be an absolute disaster if the presidential selection of the greatest country in the world, is centered around massive bitching rather than addressing real issues like war, debts, healthcare, your children’s education, your job, their future jobs, bitcoin, FDIs, etc.
It would be sad if you vote solely to oppose the other party, and in doing so, hoping that your choice will improve your life.
If your leader spends more time bitching about the opponent than working to improve your own community, then likely that's how the next 4 years will be - what you sow, is what you reap. Politicians often use emotional triggers to distract from solving real problems. This is the same around the world.
As much as you want your preferred candidate to win, remember that you come first. The people always come first. So ask all of them the hard questions, don’t let them distract you.
I’ve read JD Vance’s book, he is a pretty smart guy. Ask him the smart questions. If he claims he wants to improve education, ask him how. What are his detailed plans for turning around the Midwest? Aid alone isn’t enough. How does he plan to boost imports and exports?
Ask Kamala how she plans to improve market reforms in Rust Belt cities and reduce wealth disparities. What are her strategies for reducing polarization? Will she bring Snowden back, end the CIA, end the wars? How does she plan to address the poverty gap, illegal drug usage in suburbs? Her senator Rho Khanna has a book on the importance of manufacturing in the US - what are her thoughts on it ? How influential is DNC in her decision-making - let her openly say it out. She had a term to warm up
Ask Trump why he hasn't invited Snowden back and why the CIA/Deep State still exists. What assurances are there that things will be different this time? What are his plans for market and social reforms? How will he tackle corruption at the borders (building walls doesn't solve the real problem), reduce wealth disparity in the South, Midwest, and suburbs, and address polarization? How will he ensure the judiciary remains independent and just? Get the specifics.
Ask RFK how he plans to improve healthcare and make it equitable. What are his social and market reforms plans. Will he follow his uncle's approach of fostering global friendships (with russia, china, middle east) and all else to end wars? Will he bring Snowden back ? What's his thoughts on intelligence spying? What’s his vision for advancing technology and innovation, similar to China's maker movement? How does he plan to address the CIA?
Where’s Nicole ? What’s her contribution and focus? She has to step up the game.
You can ask all of them what their thoughts are on bitcoin. But you don’t need their permission. You need a mass adoption of people globally and eventually the country leaders will follow the people . Yes, investors will share the fancy slides and tell you differently. They have their arse to cover, not yours.
At the end of the day, make sure your president is good enough to be called your president because he fights for you to have a better life. Not because he won the bitching competition.
We only have ourselves to be responsible for our actions.
Ask them hard questions and hold them accountable - all of them. You deserve the best of the best.
The irony of seeking permission for a permissionless tech. It seems like there are 2 angles to this - your store of value possibly increases if you sell your soul in return, or you could reach out to as many people globally and increase bitcoin as its usage of money. The former is the shorter path, the path frequently taken, the path many are comfortable with. I’m presuming Trump will say “vote for me and in return i will impose favorable laws, buy bitcoin as global reserve asset or a strategic US Treasury asset, next digital gold, boost institutional investments etc” There is no guarantee that he will do any of it, but by the time you find out it will be too late. That's how politicians win every time. It is what it is.
“We all use the exact same internet. Once it’s broken for one, it’s broken for all”
I hope someday Snowden returns to the US as a hero that he is
Infrastructure loan, sustainable development, millennial development, ESG, WEF...
holy crap. Don't forget the compressors too.
i used to dabble in high freq, not electrical, but it is not complex. I do not have safety gears nor have I figured out where the main grounding port is - so instead of taking the risk of open circuit the pathway, the easier and safer way is to use a clamp meter. You get to narrow down block by block and take down the culprit. These days there are also smart gadgets for plug points and equipment where you can just plug in straight and see if its faulty.
I love many postliberal concepts, but I struggle with trusting the gov’t to enhance societal well-being without overreach.
Protecting and flourishing local industries is a necessity, as excessive capitalism can over-globalize markets, destroy cities like it did rust belt and widen wealth gaps like in the 80s and 90s. But government favoritism is also a big problem.
I love the libertarian “leave me alone” concept too, but I also love the community-based approach on postliberalism. I grew up in such a multicultural community and it was beautiful.
I think current policies often rely on emotional triggers.
For example, immigration/border debates ignore the corruption and money trail that happens behind it.
Despite healthcare focus, costs in the US remain too high due to over-privatization - I did dental cleaning last week for just 50 cents in my country.
So much of AA debates in university but the importance of the quality of education and ever-increasing cost is left out.
Governments these days find the easy way out, getting people to blame each other instead of doing their jobs.
Postliberalism is an interesting approach that adopts both centrist right market reforms and centrist left social reforms while embracing community strength, and it might be the enhancement needed for many countries.
it was due to an old air conditioner that was already repaired many times and likely had current leakage, and too low a horse power to cover the area. i had it replace, got one with an inverter that disconnects once the set temperature is achieved. I also tinted the windows to cool down the place faster (its fairly easy to do this DIY and cost 1/10 the price of outsourcing it). This brought down the bill to 2/3 of what it used to be and i hope hit my ROI within 7 months. i also noticed that there is very small current that still flows when the equipment is connected to the plug point even if its not turned on, so i made it a habit to switch off all the circuit when not in use.
It's interesting to understand what your electricity bill tells you.
Your bill is based on the tariff rate applied to the amount of energy you consume. Tariffs rate could be 50 cents per kWh or tiered.
If we start from the source, homes are supplied with AC (alternating current) at 110V or 220V, depending on the country. If you have solar panels, these generate DC (direct current), which is inverted into AC. AC systems have impedance, which includes resistance and reactance (conductance, inductance).
Each appliances in your home that needs electricity has resistance. Those with lower resistance like air conditioners will draw more current. Incandescent bulbs draw more current than LEDs.
Current (I) is calculated using Ohm’s Law V=IR (or I = V/R). For accuracy Z will represent impedance and the lengthy calculation has cos theta but for simplicity we remain with V=IR
Once you have voltage and current, you can then calculate power, P=VI which gives you in watts (1 horsepower is about 745 watt). To convert watts to kilowatts, divide by 1000.
Energy is how much power you consume over a certain time frame (kWh). This is what your electricity bill is based on, Energy = power x time.
You can then calculate your damage for the month by multiplying energy to the tariff allocated.
Other stuff that might be interesting is that your home circuit is typically parallel circuits, which allows each appliance to receive the same voltage. Circuit breakers protect the system if the current is too high.
I recently had a high spike in the bill so I tried testing the power points if there was a surge, and went to test most of the equipment. And eventually used a clamp meter to test the main panels one by one and found the culprit.
I know this is probably your middle school learning, i taught my nephews this just last year. But it is interesting nevertheless
Maddie is probably preparing a health and diet plan on how to be a prime minister at the age of 56 for 20 years, and again at the age of 92, and at the age of 99, still ranting away.
Graffiti artists want their work to be seen by as many as possible, and yet the artist stays as anonymous as possible - on Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonym for Bristol’s legendary street artist, famous for his stunts of shredding his masterpiece ‘Girl with Balloon’ at Sotheby's after the gavel went down.
Eventually this piece was named Love in the Bin and became his most expensive art. He also silently (illegally) placed many art pieces in famous galleries worldwide without being caught.
His work often includes stenciled graffiti, installations, and prints. His art addresses issues like war, consumerism, and inequality, and is seen globally. Despite his anonymity, Banksy remains one of the most influential contemporary artists.
Banksy rose to fame in the 90’s when the country's social inequality was on the rise (similar to the US during the collapse of rust belt cities).
In the UK, the right wing party is known as the Conservative Party (Tories), focusing on free-market policies and traditional values. The Labour Party is left-wing - focusing on social justice and public ownership. There are many political ideologies but these 2 are the most prominent ones. At present, Keir Starmer from the labour party is the Prime Minister replacing Rishi Sunak from the conservative party .
From 1945 to 1979, the UK was mainly governed by the left-wing Labour Party. Churchill was conservative but had a short reign. This period was peak nationalization of the big industries - steel and other manufacturing, the creation of a free public health system NHS, and expansion of the welfare state.
But from the 60s the budget was exploding and the UK started facing high inflation, unemployment, and industrial unrest (unions on strike), with a decline in traditional industries due to global competition and struggles with budget and public spending.
That’s when right-wing, conservative party Margaret Thatcher came on board in 1979. She was big on neoliberal reforms : deregulation, privatization, globalisation, trade union restrictions, and tax cuts.
"Neoliberalism" means differently in the US and Europe. Typically neoliberalism supports free markets, deregulation, and less government spending, and is often tied to the right-wing. In the US however it is center-right economically and center-left socially.
The term liberals also mean different things in the US and the UK. In the US, liberals are left-wing with a focus on social equality. In Europe, liberalism is tied to center-right focusing on individual freedoms and free markets.
But similar to the US, the major capitalism and right wing movement in the 80’s and 90s led to high unemployment and social unrest. In the mid-1980s, the economy began to recover but it started benefiting the South East (London, Oxford, Milton Keynes) and created high wealth disparity for the poorer northern areas.
Till today, the northern UK are not a fan of Thatcher, but the Southern UK are indifferent.
This is the opposite of the US as the states impacted by right wing policies became a fan of it, and the states benefiting from capitalism are taking on a socialist approach.
Margaret Thatcher left in 1990, but by then there was rising unemployment, particularly in places like Bristol, which became worse because of job outsourcing and globalization, leading to social discontent. And people like Banksy were not afraid to express it. He started his work through graffiti.
Graffiti emerged as part of the broader street art movement particularly from New York City and became popular globally as a way of creating political awareness, especially in areas experiencing economic decline and social unrest.
I love the artistic part but I’m also wary of the importance of private properties and signboards remaining intact. These days, places are allocated for people to express their wall arts but back then, they had to sneak in and risk getting caught.
As graffiti created more awareness in people, naturally it became outlawed in many places.
There was a time in NY where spray cans were prohibited from being sold to minors. The UK went on to arrest many graffiti artists and dissent expressions.
Till today, Banksy remains free and never charged, as he is nym. Nobody really knows who he is, or if he is one person or a group of people.
But many of Banksy’s wall art are seen globally, in recent times in war-torn areas. At first it seems sweet and pretty but when you take a closer and longer look, man it hits hard.
I really love how these groups of artists, especially Banksy, were not afraid to show the public what was obviously a problem with oppression, in an artistic way.
Would be nice if Banksy was part of Bitcoin and Nostr. Till then, here’s a nice documentary on Banksy’s work.
When I first started exploring Nostr, i thought relays were some fancy electromagnetic switches.
The word "national security" is often the best excuse to silent dissent.
As I was going through my notes , I came across these lines I wrote down from this talk. These were most memorable for me.
1. There’s no freedom, only friction
2. Instead of inflating the currency which is an invisible tax making all your money less and less valuable, you have deflationary currency where as time goes on, it continues to increase in value
3. If there is a sense of a true global consciousness, it is this (AI) right now as it is getting everyone’s frustrations into the system; it’s getting all their emotions. It’s getting everything they create, all the light stuff, all the dark stuff, negative positive, and it’s seeing everything. But there is only one person who can see all those things and that’s the CEO of the company.
4. And because they are getting more and more trust, you are actually asking them questions on what to do and they are directing you and by default your bias would be to follow it.
It would be nice to have custom block AI models that bridges individual ownership of data while maintaining privacy without owning it. Gov’ts are already rushing to impose control mechanisms and laws, and it will infiltrate AI related enterprises as it did the media.
It is becoming evident why open-source AI is a need, not a want.
Isn't it ironic - that back then, de-industrialization and globalization were driven by right-wing calls in the 80s and 90s which led to major manufacturing shutdowns and societal inequity; and now, the states most traumatised by it are the biggest supporters of the right wing, while those became rich from it are the biggest supporters of the left wing. Isn't it also ironic that despite so much hatred for China, it seems like a large population in the US want a president just like Xi.
Democracy is an interesting topic. But many are not ready to deep dive into it.
nostr:note120p3wz3mqhd3lurxywcejpwq8y0nn80g0ggjdg96qscfl50gjwlqmgccvl
It’s one thing inviting politicians over to Nostr as an open chat platform where everyone is welcome. It’s another thing altogether for the largest permissionless tech conference seeking permission.
IDK IF IM SUPPOSED TO SIMP FOR TRUMP OR SIMP FOR BUKELE PLEASE HELP!!! https://v.nostr.build/Zt1G4yumIvSsijZb.mp4
Bukele is a nice guy, smart guy, but also a dictator, a benevolent dictator. There are many dictators in the world, mostly crappy and rarely benevolent kind, but dictators nevertheless. And just like Lee Kuan Yew and Xi, who are considered some of the greatest leaders, Bukele can turn the country around to be among the best countries in the world. But...
But it comes with a price - a lot of suppression - which is why the pro-democracy human rights folks have been against him. The suppression was immense in Singapore but never obvious as it was sheltered by the US in return for its trade facility.
If US wants to take on the route of China and be ok with suppression under a benevolent dictator, then it might work.
Isn't it ironic though, that back then, de-industrialization and globalization were driven by right-wing calls in the 80s and 90s, leading to major manufacturing shutdowns and societal inequity; and now, the states most impacted by it are the biggest supporters of the right wing, while those that benefited from it are the biggest supporters of the left wing.
The best thing we can do is get as many people to adopt permissionless tech so that democracy is truly based on what people want - And you no longer have to simp to presidents and get their permissions to use permissionless tech.