When people are riding around on horses in real life or in movies, especially in complex crowded environments, every single time I find myself distracted and wonder, “what is the horse thinking?!”

Like imagine it from their perspective- people are riding them, there is all sorts of commotion everywhere, and they don’t really know what’s going on or what everybody is doing, but they’re pretty chill about it anyway.

I am getting close to giving a more detailed assessment on Israel/Hamas, as it drags on.

And it will probably be Nostr-only since other platforms can’t handle it. It is too polarized. Everyone is tunnel-visioned.

My husband is currently in Cairo dealing with some property work we are doing for our extended family. They are only 250 miles from the problem, and Egypt’s acute currency crisis brings it closer to home if military or refugee shit hits the fan. Most of my extended family is geopolitically or financially close to the Israel/Gaza issue and is Muslim. I am thus both close and far from the issue. And I grew up in the US in a diverse region with Jewish and Muslim peers, but more-so Jewish overall.

Suffice to say, I don’t want civilians on either side to suffer or die. I am pro-humanity first and foremost.

Before I give my eventual analysis, I am happy to see Nostr comments on the issue. What are your thoughts and questions on the topic? What would you like to see addressed from a diverse or as non-biased source as possible?

If “green energy” (including w/ storage as needed) costs more than hydrocarbons and doesn’t win in the marketplace, then maybe it is more environmentally impactful than you think, with energy-intensive and materially-intensive supply chains.

Likewise, if fake meat costs more than real meat, then maybe it too is more environmentally impactful then you think, with energy-intensive and materially-intensive supply chains.

At an airport, getting a burger.

An Impossible burger (which I am not getting) is 20% more expensive than a real burger.

How is that not a scam? Who buys that? Imagine putting plants together and the result is more expensive than beef.

My favorite moment in almost any story is when the chill guy finally loses his shit.

As an old example, like the moment that Hamlet is going to fucking Kamikaze with Claudius.

Lion King was written as a nicer version of Hamlet. That moment when Simba returns to his burnt prideland and sees Scar’s devastation.

Or as a modern but less well-written example, when John Wick has his dog killed.

That moment when it’s like, “…okay, let’s fucking go.”

If it is well acted, it can be terrifying or memorable.

I normally keep my Uber rides under 45 mins. But for a few reasons I ended up just getting a two-hour Uber from an airport the other day.

The driver was nice but was like, “damn lol I hope Uber pays me well for this”. The issue with long rides is that the Uber driver is far away after the ride in a new territory and has to try to earn rides back to their normal location. He asked if he could at least stop for coffee or something and I said of course.

So we go for a while and eventually pull over over at a convenience store and he goes to get some coffee and a snack. I go out and get a coffee too and then I pick up his tab and pay for both of us. Uber ended up calling both of us for a health check because the car was stopped.

Buying him a coffee opened him up a bit so we talked for a while. He asked where I was coming from and I said Egypt, and he said he was from Ghana. While chatting and me explaining why I am coming from Egypt, he made a great point that in many places outside of the US, family is a big deal whereas in the US, it is much diminished. And as a result, it’s very important to build connections with neighbors and coworkers in place of that. Even just tell people “good morning” if you usually see them on the way to work so that people know who you are. He came to the US alone four years ago so that is something he describes having learned and a strategy he is using.

Anyway as we pulled up to my destination I gave him an unusually big tip to compensate any inconvenience or unpaid time he might have getting back. A few mins later my doorbell rang and he had come up to say was super thankful for the big tip. The Uber algorithm had kind of screwed him over and the trip price (and thus his share) was low for the hassle, and he felt screwed over by Uber, but then he saw my tip which instantly fixed it.

I should have checked to see if he had a lightning wallet or tried to convince him to download one if not, because then I could have done one of those social media “okay everybody tip this guy” posts. :/

nostr has been feeling a lot more active these past two weeks…

all we really own is how we use our time.

What are your favorite hardware wallets, among the latest generation of them?

And are there any that you really don’t like?

I guess people don't care about privacy 🤷