Swanky

"I fear for the world the internet is creating. Before the advent of web, if you wanted to sustain a belief in far-fetched ideas, you had to go out into the desert, or live on a compound in the mountains, or move from one badly furnished room to another in a series of safe houses. Physical reality - the discomfort and difficulty of abandoning one's normal life - put a natural break on the formation of cults, separatist colonies, underground groups, apocalyptic churches, and extreme political parties. But now, without leaving home, from the comfort of your easy chair, you can divorce yourself from the consensus on what constitutes "truth". Each person can live in a private thought bubble, reading only those websites that reinforce his or her desired beliefs, joining only those online groups that give sustenance when the believer's courage flags." x Life In Code : A Personal History Of Technology by Ellen Ullman

Will be making the commitment to a Linux system for my daily driver very soon. Already using a Linux based phone for my daily driver. Microsoft can pound salt forever and I've dabbled enough to know I'm competent enough to endure the learning process. What distributions do all of you like / prefer and why? 🤔 #AskNostr

In my past life I was very much into DJing. I became infatuated with learning how vinyl DJs could beatmatch tempos, scratch records, etc. I bought decks (two Technics 1200's, an analogue Vestax (A Japanese company no longer in business) PMC III Pro Mixer, and a handful of break records. Scratching was / is a relaxing art form to me, almost trance like, as I imagine most people feel when playing a musical instrument they are interested in. I had upgraded that setup over the span of a year or two... A (then) new age mixer, analogue in control, but made my Native Instruments and integrated with their (then) popular software Traktor Skratch Pro. Bought some speakers for gigs, always practicing and learning new techniques. Somewhere along the way, I allowed life to sway me away from my newfound hobby, I was in an unhealthy relationship, and being young and relatively naive I just assumed, "Oh it's time to grow up, I could use this money for X" so I sold it all. Piece by piece, nearly all at a sizeable loss. I regretted that decision for most of my adult life. Not because I believed I would be a superstar traveling and performing at festivals, but just because it was a fantastic creative outlet for me. Healthy. Exciting. Always new music to become a fan of, artists, etc. I know as a relatively newer bitcoiner to the space, I always hear and see stories of people mentioning how bitcoin in some form or fashion 'saved' their life, inspired them to learn something, etc. While I live on a bitcoin standard, I haven't been around long enough, nor make enough to see such life altering changes, perhaps one day, but I do know that it has allowed me to be given a small platform of what feels like stability in a world that seems to be much less as days go on. Last year I told myself it was not only okay to spend a little here and there for myself, I bought a new deck and the same mixer in nearly mint condition, and having just a simple analogue setup to occasionally just play and have fun is definitely a habit I'm happy to have back. For me it's never been about becoming a millionaire, or buying some luxurious property, etc., but just to live. To be without a lot of worry on my plate, and in turn use my own solid foundation to be a better one for others where possible. Each day is an opportunity to tamp more earth under my feet, so strengthen myself, so that I can support others as well as I can myself. One of my favorite quotes is from Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, in which he writes, "The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there." Creativity is a byproduct to having your time back. I would always be willing to trade a lot back to retain that.

Making a concerted effort this weekend to use my own noStrudel instance self-hosted on my server to interact on Nostr. It's not that I dislike my Primal app on a wireless device, but I do want to learn the ins and outs of a self-hosted instance, and the older I get, the more I feel comfortable working on a larger device, when it comes to rattling off some thoughts anyway.

A little reminder. For you. As well as myself.

Completely exhausted today from a bad sleep during the night. However, not letting my foot off the gas regardless as I'm not willing to go back to a zombie-fied job watching people drag the life out of you while they struggle to escape the all-emcompassing quicksand they've sunk in for years. Sunshine give me some strength. 🫣☀️

I will never accept that Crocs are adequate footwear for any occasion. ✋️

I have to believe there is a small market I can build on for my woodworking projects. In perusing some online markets I was in utter disbelief that people buy hand knitted hats FOR THEIR CHICKENS. Now I understand all too well how prized the whole egg pricing situation has been in recent years but really? Fucking hats for chickens?! Nothing surprises me anymore. 😑

Backside. 21/~ #Art #WoodWorking

Wood n' stuff. 21 Million. #WoodWorking #Art #LaserEngraving

New cutting board I worked on last night. I like how the pattern turned out for the most part. #Art #WoodWorking #LaserEngraving

Wood project from last night - simple Maple cutting board with some engraving - any and all feedback welcome. #Create #Woodworking

Laser Engraving projects today in the shop. Should have a load of U.S. / Canadian Maple wood cutting boards here tomorrow to engrave and sell soon. Very excited at the project and possibly selling some for Satoshis too! 🙌 #WoodWorking #FarmLife

Figured out my settings for acacia wood today... Such a relief. The wood is beautiful, but I couldn't get clean transfers to be satisfied with my engraving attempts. Speed is every bit as important as power. #woodstr #create #laserengraving

Old glass bottles from the 1950's that have miraculously survived to current day times from my Great Grandfathers Dairy business. I still remember into the early 2000's where we were still operating the Dairy Farm until government forced us to shut down. Small farms can't make money anymore. If they are still out there they are most likely buried in debt, and creating negative cash flows annually. I think this was most certainly the spear of what moved me into desiring a creative role, and looking into alternative paths for making my living, if an honest three generations of farmers, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and equipment and men worked to the bone couldn't do anything aside from painfully hemmorage their energy - there has to be a way.

With the shit weather hanging around the farm, I'm working on laser engraved wood pieces. When I iron out some settings and get things finished and looking good (i.e. stained, protected, framed, etc.) I'll more than likely be looking to sell most items. On the agenda for now are wooden bookmarks, and some serving trays. 🤘

I stand corrected on the Presidential pardon - still sitting at a 50% overall score in my book for pandering memecoins to citizens, but I guess we'll see where things head from here. ✋️

Don't give a shit about the inauguration other than seeing this "promise" be broken to the bitcoiners he pandered to... maybe I'll be mistaken, but I have a strong feeling the next four years will be a tidal wave of disappointment for conservative party supporters. Anywho. Back to reality and the small things that matter. 🤷

Proud of myself for staying removed enough from "news" that I barely know what's up with the Trump meme-coin debacle, but I am giddy that the soon to be sitting President will rug pull people left and right... I really hoped these sorts of things wouldn't happen, but my deep rooted skepticism couldn't let my hunch go. Onward. 🤘