{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "My adventures in tech", "description": "", "home_page_url": "https://pls.plaureano.com", "feed_url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/feed.json", "user_comment": "", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "items": [ { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/feminism-hookup-culture-and-increased-promiscuity/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/feminism-hookup-culture-and-increased-promiscuity/", "title": "Feminism, hookup culture, and increased promiscuity", "summary": "The impact of feminism on traditional gender roles and societal expectations is worth exploring. The decrease in popularity of marriage and monogamous relationships and the rise of hookup culture have potential consequences that deserve attention. I have posted a couple of great videos on Facebook…", "content_html": "
The impact of feminism on traditional gender roles and societal expectations is worth exploring. The decrease in popularity of marriage and monogamous relationships and the rise of hookup culture have potential consequences that deserve attention.
\nI have posted a couple of great videos on Facebook on the subject:
\n\n\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/71/photo-1592323837966-34a2846c33f1.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "promiscuity", "feminism", "Youtube", "Health" ], "date_published": "2023-10-02T14:12:19+01:00", "date_modified": "2024-02-22T17:14:14+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/pgpgpg-public-key/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/pgpgpg-public-key/", "title": "PGP/GPG Public Key", "summary": "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- mQINBGPPxUYDEADXMRPbzjLL0cR33r2jyHWB4mJ9NN0J+Ql244BKPV6SjnJC2wmL a4cC4ANP2YpLjoW79PNSrL/2ZZWJGyQMoBmnQiVUWXy4AG7P9ZYv90fl929fKJmh 6/biGXBGdmYV7h74hMKk/1XUc91VifTmfli+HP2qm5GyJQDbG3rE0TCEEcsg6YLW 9VA7m9zd2U6QR4MEgCmrjgP0ycqqcB4xDjo/Q/YU27zFZazjGYuD2J2AFaKbbPIj QI35/L8memYU3xjGGqiGDateUy+cGEi2gyhYfaVz53sDrJAChhRIBDb/ampm4Vgm 4p9p0XzoRfQDIzFYWVvVaNKeSYtFWbRCYrmtzgJgaDaKK0SwfhdqvmBHGYq3ZY8Y DKtK5QDPecoblXfI8S0qQwpfQAor+VGKOueWw9FLHc0shvrcM1hkz71CcJR4Vhfv mpxnjG3NJ7GAz7OTiYCcl653bC/uqjnm3JUbn7UsB6tHzwcTLRCf0qUD72NEhW3E 3t6qiw59vmA1+CcOmA81DjClyF7rY/RlN8AanhNUrbPwNcokVG4t0wjKKchQIzHf eo6KH63HGe9sK1u1KwebH+QoqMGBPOpV7cIdz9qVuroKaLyD0ixU/DG7/Yh9esPP xfmMfetSDZVlTGzHOv2P755fpLhjZm4r6hiy1v4IRaN6ZAze6EccN8Wa5QARAQAB tBNwbGF1cmVhbm9Ad29ydGVuLnB0iQIcBBMDCgAGBQJjz9DDAAoJEP4kipZJwu8H M9sP/2iyL3dMyZmxuMVmK1NZTFDLl9A/xfKu9O/x2y+rK6XgRDwzbpqMgkB3wgoL 1ulYkLj63Lo9STyOhRPwHShzIGA8ehlgMy3w5CZSRXLaXApLGr7cGnVLOuXRMLKC 4VRGrX0xmsu3mhpz0RIcSeL9tGllQlwJuf9AfqG7Vbe3I6TPkldxzg9EpT6qdt0+ mAKULCK1oJ0glNOOF/YDaaUgFkOJ08FRXNSSNT+DXThOK2YRObYo4ofcPljUCpia 8uMskM/nSkIPSTRs6qeMHdy4I3+lpAALT2IsVRkkrwEQ1HwAMdQQk5/EPBQYOPHL 6tK4eJ6kJjTeU0qNCVBG35yn7Bb7nk9972q+SMcY/khhFp/xt7qXkrugwNaV6JYL TMMRrdPk++c9m/zG8NCOOhXc5xU+uCSeXLUJTtxJb/h1AfGc3QQfxLEICAzbgQD3 dcDA1RYuHT4BHjlofjN7xgt/r6qokM3mLuNZ7tPjetEDJKjUKhJH9qutwG0ykURQ xsi3s4Vc0aNKhv7wDibZ/wRWHD5ajfTqugcG5kZFZUXMhZ1QouZK2pr0h0q5+1ri MZIBPr9yuRF0iK/tbaXWyCp4u+F/RPDlAQm2SdEAgfWBmkpd1bcOl3rkbyaAOqyN nn0RGvZo5F7q33tHsM+SUbZ8RItRiny9ITE0xD5VUUptdWgBiQIcBBMDCgAGBQJj z9DpAAoJEP4kipZJwu8HDLoP/3xmDeMRed4SmY5rOF8JRvBeNRjqvrBNOP7dLkE/ TmVboc9q8mklGQ//554Ka0+37n5y0TZuZiqbbUIXmvwv+/KTL7450Fp21eHPyZzS pyHxfXAZT15G4UBxcK6Aeb0etojhHbWdOPIFB2nYjXWqLbvNRt3yc+A99aYBFIUU e5RtcApvq2CVZPXHVJ+/JuQfZvr+BWny7EOcyRFrukNnm19ix6e99SzjyfPKRjXR aP4gW5souKUxIOdrpVJBpgwlExhWOdckzOkpscDdYUERqMkbK/YIcqK9bQCfcXRf GsyiIQ9Xl0fv6I6lsKOckofgvMvbA15l5cpydBC2HTFyN+EEJjNmbGSefrns065s SHKB3fq8UvWdgo/dwoBU+oFv+C7ktUy8I3ILmBCId84ox4UIRVA1Sb+GLVJyCr6T O1JTb+wiZkOQsHLtf4cSbRrLukQQqzq3cidei7+ou7c1icQ9rM1vwiJxi2spyHTF bOaxV9wIq83LmJMNQRby0CPBIUKs1xLzuCFT0fHCxUxXJowYZhZij7B042PcGFvt rYDbb5uqb08wXeFCn7O7ZSRLNWSQUmlzccgxwK7MtHl2psmzdQfairvM1s1asr6W 9ZPLbcW1iyz083YFnRf7kBxvsPsOfYotcX2xRN/nrWMeTwTeKYv6GwNwLvrWQkkl 7CDbiQIcBBMDCgAGBQJjz9EUAAoJEP4kipZJwu8HC0cP/1tTyvGLyNEcvctogHdt r08tmm79AvKfNlgBkZ9wIZlw1WDjRZeZ5U5+ceU1OsllzrEQpICgTeOTK3uikdHv eO8sB+VvxGznQkW2mbclnGdwPzeLBCqEAeR6evOOmT+iZxjW7DW+ln0p7RPMk1Fb oudiK1eIziuKVW+WsdhwjOZv2jV9wmGoEJICJijYfGW7Lee9qpDhwgWeHDT5NJwu A7Zu7SZr86Qj7+vHE218iFckg57p1HUozdxxPf0Q09HKUg1ukndJpI+Q6Lj5Wv5f DgM4yCKbBH/uWYB6tkkXchNiRCze0Td9IZwY3jy/QFq85qpfZkYQ0G80BEj1NhFV…", "content_html": "
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There are several reasons, primarily because of speed, reliability, and curiosity:
\n\n
First, unlike Twitter, most Mastodon instances are operated by individuals, volunteers running the server application on hardware they own (or at a cloud service they hire). While it may sound like a fun proposition to host a Mastodon party, it attracts many people to these open servers. Most users need to realize that no big company is paying the bills and putting in the work to maintain and update the software; they grew up on Facebook and Twitter, so the thought does not even cross their minds. More users mean more computer resources. Every system has its limits, and speed, or lack thereof, is the first thing you notice missing on popular servers.
\nI like the services I use to be fast, something significant company-backed propositions like Twitter and Facebook have no problem delivering. However, speed is not guaranteed in the Mastodon federation realm of servers, so I am hosting my server with the hardware it needs to be performant.
\n\n
Some of these servers may vanish at any moment in time. Some may grow beyond the ability to administrate the Linux platform and keep fresh backups on hand, or the owner may eventually be unable or unwilling to pay for hardware and electricity bills.
\nShould you join my server https://mrnet.pt? Unless you are not bothered to have your account data lost and committed to a DNS domain I own (for as long as I keep paying for it), the answer should be \"no\". I have no idea if I will want to keep this server for a few days or a lifetime. However, if you want to see how Mastodon works, with no pre-conceived expectations on how long you will be able to use this server of mine, just testing the waters... let me know, and I'll send you an invite.
\nSounds like a precarious investment of your time in social media?
\nThe bad news is that the same goes for every other Mastodon server out there! Unlike big-tech-based social media sites, we are talking about volunteers, private individuals footing the bills and their own time. Make of it what you want, but I needed to ensure the fate of my Mastodon account was in my hands.
\nIf you decide to join my Mastodon instance, let me tell you that I may take it down to use the computer for a few hours for something else. See, my hardware, my electricity, no commitment to your needs. If you're okay with \"it will be available to you when it's available to me\" then great, have fun.
\n\n
I am a geek. I like technology. Looking at the Mastodon server side of things is fun for me. Yes, it will be a pain to maintain over time, there will be downtime episodes, and none of that bothers me. But, quite the opposite, it looks like a great hobby for those rainy days.
\nI dislike Ruby on rails with a passion. The masochist in me just decided to do it.
\nMy Mastodon: https://mrnet.pt/web/@pls
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/68/mastodon-logo-3609244900.png", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Mastodon", "Linux" ], "date_published": "2022-11-08T11:37:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-08T12:09:48+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/baby-steps-to-get-in-shape-the-easy-way-to-a-healthier-version-of-you/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/baby-steps-to-get-in-shape-the-easy-way-to-a-healthier-version-of-you/", "title": "Baby steps to get in shape; the easy way to a healthier version of you", "summary": "I am a lazy 52-year-old man. As a teenager, I did a lot of \"casual sports\", from football (or soccer if you are in the US) to Karate. Then, in my early 20's, I stopped exercising. Instead, my love for computers took center stage in…", "content_html": "
\"You need to lose weight!\" my wife repeated herself over the years. \"You snore like a pig, and I miss sleeping with you instead of laying awake by your side.\" Finally, this spring, she had enough of it; we both joined a local gym. I bought a static bike to exercise daily at home and started swimming twice a week.
I started slowly for two weeks. I walked to the gym and back (3 km) twice weekly with 15 minutes of playing around in the pool (300 m). Every other day I did 30 minutes on the static bike while watching youtube videos. According to my Apple Watch, I burn 300 KCAL daily when exercising at home and 450 KCAL on gym days.
When I felt my body could stand it, I increased my daily exercise to 500 KCAL minimum and doubled that occasionally. I currently swim for 30 minutes (around 600 m) with the occasional stretch to 750 m. The static bike workouts now last one hour. Instead of youtube videos, I see full episodes of TV series.
I made no change in my diet, and I am losing weight. I love eating and enjoying my meals. My wife cooks like a goddess, and I am not interested in starving or living on salads. Will it take longer to get to my ideal weight? For sure, but if it is sustainable, that is how I want to go.
Keeping track of my physical activity is essential. So I bought an Apple Watch, which has proven to help keep me on track. I share my data with my wife, brother, and niece. We all have different exercise targets, and we help each other keep our motivation levels high by looking at each other's accomplishments.
One of my favorite excuses not to exercise was that I did not have the time. I had a 9:30 to 18:30 job, and I was exhausted by the end of the day. Fast forward to the present, I now wake up around 7 A.M. and do my daily exercise before work. To my complete surprise, I am not as tired by the end of the day. Go figure.
\nConsistency is key to get the results you crave. Start slow and listen to your body. If you are uncomfortable you are probably doing it wrong.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/67/photo-1596236100223-f3c656de3038.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Health", "Exercise" ], "date_published": "2022-09-13T15:32:08+01:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-13T15:42:08+01:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/gifshell-attack-creates-reverse-shell-using-microsoft-teams-gif-images/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/gifshell-attack-creates-reverse-shell-using-microsoft-teams-gif-images/", "title": "GIFShell attack creates reverse shell using Microsoft Teams GIF images", "summary": "This is cute! https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/gifshell-attack-creates-reverse-shell-using-microsoft-teams-gifs/ ", "content_html": "This is cute!
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/66/photo-1611174895360-53948c735c3a.webp", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Security", "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-09-09T14:58:53+01:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-09T15:01:24+01:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-business-of-lying-and-misinformation-got-busted/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-business-of-lying-and-misinformation-got-busted/", "title": "The business of lying and misinformation got busted!", "summary": "Alex Jones built an empire worth $270 million on lies and conspiracy theories. The Austin jury announced that the false claims by right-wing conspiracy theorists about the deadliest elementary school shooting in American history were a gigantic fraud, creating a living hell for families. The…", "content_html": "The conspiracy theorist that already lost his parent’s libel suit has asked a Texas jury to decide how much money he owes in compensatory damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neal Heslin. One of the parents among 26 people killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The answer: $45.2 million in punitive damages!
\nFree Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in Texas about a week before Jones’s attorneys sought to transfer the Connecticut defamation suit. In addition, Jones’s estate and the company Infowars filed for bankruptcy during the first week of trial.
\nHopefully, this sets a trend that will affect other notorious pathological liars like politicians and television channels that willingly amplify the messages. It’s about time!
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/65/PINOQUIO.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion", "Justice", "Conspiracy theory" ], "date_published": "2022-08-19T18:24:25+01:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-09T14:59:07+01:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-world-at-war-economically-ukrainians-bleeding/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-world-at-war-economically-ukrainians-bleeding/", "title": "The world at war; economically. Ukrainians bleeding. ", "summary": "Yet, while we are all involved, Ukrainian blood is committed. Big difference! None of Putin’s threats that prevent direct military intervention from the rest of the world in Ukraine have a validation date or are in some way specific to that particular country. Putin can…", "content_html": "None of Putin’s threats that prevent direct military intervention from the rest of the world in Ukraine have a validation date or are in some way specific to that particular country. Putin can use the same arguments to invade any other country.
\nPutin believes a country has no reason to exist and should be part of Russia? Check.
\nRussia wants a regime change because imaginary nazis are controlling the country? Double-check. He started with a country with a Jewish president. Reality does not prevent the false narrative.
\nAny non-NATO country is just a potential target using the same arguments. The truth is that this will not end until the world stands up to the Russian army militarily.
\nWe cannot avoid the elephant in the room: If anyone interferes, is Russia willing to engage in a nuclear war? Is Putin ready to ensure the mutual global destruction of humanity?
\n\n
\n
A few days ago, Garry Kasparov was interviewed about recent actions from the Russian leadership. He stated that Putin’s actions were more akin to a Poker player than a chess grandmaster.
\nOn a chess game, every piece is visible; the only element of unpredictability is each player’s strategy. There are no bets. No bluffing. No incomplete information, just a limited set of options.
\nPoker is as much a game about human physique as it is a game of cards. When you open bets with a high stake, you command respect, you test every player’s willingness to fight. You may win the hand outright, regardless of what cards you hold, just by playing on the opponent’s fears.
\nPutin has declared himself willing to go “All in”. Any nation willing to take him on knows of the stark consequences of meeting the challenge. Mind you; he did not go all in; he said he would be willing to — big difference. Nevertheless, he raised the stakes beyond the limits of every other nation’s world leader’s stomach. Except Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian people and its brave president were the only ones who were not allowed to choose if they wanted to participate in this destruction game.
\n\n
\n
Putin knows this. Hitler knew this.
\nGood men tend to forget it every time! Sociopaths count on it.
\nThe sacrifice of the Ukrainian people, while we all get the spine to face the inevitable, that we will have to face this evil man, and potentially the destruction of everything we love, is disgusting. But we will have to face it! The question is, will we do it sooner or later? Before or after, the brave Ukrainians die at the hand of evil?
\nI do not want to die. I loved everything about my life before the dark clouds of war appeared on the horizon. I would love to see this existential threat to humanity go away by the power of economic sanctions. But, unfortunately, I don’t believe it will go away. I think Putin is just beginning, that after Ukraine, he will set its sights on the next target, using the same book of threats, and will keep going until its challenge is met with brute force.
\nBullies don’t change their actions by being punished with detention. Instead, they stop when they get hit in the nose, hard. This particular bully has nuclear weapons. The only thing that can save us is the concept that someone will be able to prevent him from killing everyone among Russians. In a conventional war, the Russians will be defeated. The real danger comes afterward.
\nIf Hitler had the option to destroy the world at the moment of suicide, would he have done it? I believe he would. Instead of blowing his brains out, he would have killed everyone. He would see no point in letting the human race go on. I believe the same applies to Putin.
\nOur only hope rests with the Russian army taking that option away from this maniac at the last moment. This does not look good anyway we look at it.
\nYes, I am worried. I want to be wrong. But I see no good reason to drag this terrible game for much longer and sacrifice nations to this sociopath. I hope the world leaders realize this a bit faster than those who faced Hitler one century ago. There is nothing to be won by letting the beast kill a few million people; in the end, we will have to face him.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/64/skulls.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "War" ], "date_published": "2022-03-02T15:09:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-19T18:24:41+01:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/war-is-coming-there-is-no-escape/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/war-is-coming-there-is-no-escape/", "title": "War is coming. There is no escape.", "summary": "Unfortunately, there is a sociopath with nuclear weapons in the Kremlin. The world is in chaos. No one was remotely prepared for the savage aggression unleashed by Putin on Europe. However, everyone slowly realizes that Ukraine is just the beginning. Sanctions are as useless to stop…", "content_html": "
The world is in chaos. No one was remotely prepared for the savage aggression unleashed by Putin on Europe. However, everyone slowly realizes that Ukraine is just the beginning. Sanctions are as useless to stop the Russian sociopath as hopes and prayers.
\nGermany’s Chancellor Scholz announces his country will start spending more than 2% of GDP on defense. Every European country must follow suit, and I am not sure we have the time for a slow build-up of military forces. Putin will not give us the time.
\nThe close ties between Russia and China should be a cause for concern. While China seems to be exercising some restraint on the public stage, I am not confident we won’t see a Pearl Harbor moment from them.
\nRussia has weakened the USA in recent years. The Republican party is in shambles. Donald Trump is a weak-minded conman, a Putin puppet, still keeps around 35% of Americans living in a propaganda-generated parallel world bought and paid by Russia. Where do you think loans to Trump have come from for decades now?
\nTo this day, I hear these fools spread nonsensical fears about their southern borders. They are afraid some south American, non-English fellow attempting to escape poverty, come clean some bathrooms and steal “their jobs”. What television networks, like FOX News, are doing is borderline criminal and the most significant propaganda operation ever seen. And it is working. I am still expecting some idiot, probably Tucker Carlston, to call the Russians invading Ukraine tourists. They did it for the capital attack; I would not be surprised to see it applied to invading Russian forces.
\nTrump did its best to sabotage and dismantle NATO. It failed. Trump also attempted to get the US out of commercial agreements, even out of the World Health Organization — in the middle of a pandemic! A lot of people died in America needlessly on account of the epic mismanagement of the pandemic by a completely ill-prepared fool. The amount of damage he was able to achieve is remarkable. Make no mistake; the US credibility on the world stage was greatly affected, all in preparation for what Putin was planning to unleash on the world.
\nRussian money was also funneled to fund extreme left and right-wing parties in Europe. The same happened in Brazil. So it is no coincidence the bootlicking of Bolsonaro on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine. Putin did his homework. For years…
\nUkraine was just the beginning. A sociopath with a large conventional army and nuclear weapons in the Kremlin has been preparing for this moment for years.
\nAre we ready for him? No. We are not. Just like we were not prepared for Hitler in the 1930s. We are all shocked, humming strong words on social networks and changing profile images to support Ukraine. I have news for you: Putin does not care the least about your Twitter posts and Facebook profile pictures. He cares even less about your positions of strength and memes.
\nOne aspect of Putin’s rhetoric that caught everyone off-guard was the threat to use nuclear weapons. Mind you; he is perfectly capable of doing it. Moreover, I believe he will do it in the face of defeat in a conventional war. Like I think Hitler would have if he had the option at the time.
\nThe only way this ends well, meaning without global destruction, is if Russian generals at some point take him out. The problem is, Putin knows it. So I don’t think Putin will ever surrender, and this will not end well.
\nI am sorry if I sound pessimistic. This is the most dangerous moment in our collective lives. I honestly feel Putin is evil personified and that we are about to get back to the stone age.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/63/explosions.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "War" ], "date_published": "2022-02-27T13:01:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-27T13:05:57+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/after-ukraines-annihilation-putins-next-target-will-be-moldava/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/after-ukraines-annihilation-putins-next-target-will-be-moldava/", "title": "After Ukraine's annihilation, Putin's next target will be Moldova.", "summary": "Moldova's constitutional neutrality makes it an easy target... Just like what we have seen with Ukraine, the entire world will stand by while Russians make their moves. Moldova is not a member of NATO. Putin will continue to test everyone's limits and expand its territory.", "content_html": "
Just like Nazi Germany when they invaded Polony in September 1939, the actions and inactions of the rest of the world will dictate the next steps in Putin’s ambitions. In Russia’s declaration of war, Putin’s stark warning to those tempted to intervene: “consequences will be unlike anything you experienced”.
\nThe expected avalanche of sound-bites already started:
\n\nBureaucrats and peacetime business leaders do not realize how ineffective strong words and sanctions are against the brutality of a warmongering personality like Putin. Sanctions are always a compromise between the harm they cause to third parties and the countries imposing them. Putin’s response to canceling one of the gas pipes was that they would increase prices on whatever flows thru the other. European countries are as worried about the economic impact of the sanctions they threatened to impose as the Russians.
\nThere is no way Ukraine forces can fight the invaders. The Russians will crush them. If Putin gets a grip on Ukraine, it’s a matter of time before he rolls his eyes to other Baltic states. But, unfortunately, the world is underestimating his ambitions.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/61/ukraine.png", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "War" ], "date_published": "2022-02-24T10:02:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-24T12:01:51+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/medium-experience-it-works-and-its-great/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/medium-experience-it-works-and-its-great/", "title": "Medium experience; it works, and it's great!", "summary": "Yet, I’m not too fond of social networks, and I am not a creator I joined medium in May 2021 as a reader. I wrote a single article that no one read, had zero followers, and was very happy with just reading what others wrote. I…", "content_html": "
I joined medium in May 2021 as a reader. I wrote a single article that no one read, had zero followers, and was very happy with just reading what others wrote. I was not looking for a side hustle, not attempting to make money from the platform, just using the clean interface to read interesting articles.
\nMid-December 2021 I decided I also wanted to write. I was bored and lonely from being isolated in a raged pandemic world, and sharing some ideas looked like something I would enjoy doing. So I took a week’s vacation from work and wrote around 30 article drafts. I would later finish each article and publish them daily using Medium publications.
\nTo get a headstart on how the platform worked, I read a zillion or so articles from Kristina God, started to apply to publications one by one and submitted my pieces. Unfortunately, I still had one single subscriber, so I would probably be kicked out of the partner program by the year’s end… or so I thought.
\nI could honestly not have cared less about the partner program. First, I would build my article portfolio, and followers would surely come. Then, having a natural curiosity about who these people were interested in what I wrote, I would follow them back. I said such a couple of times, and around 200 people started following me. I assume most of them because they were interested in getting my easy “follow back”, not because they were interested in what I wrote.
\nI interacted a lot with other writers, clapping like a maniac, commenting, being the most likable version of myself in my attempt to join this community. But, of course, everyone likes friendly people, so I must assume another significant part of my following came from my attitude toward others. So this was not as a cold-blooded strategy as it may seem; I am a friendly, cordial human being. My first rule in life is trying not to be an asshole at all times. I don’t always succeed, but I try.
\nOver time I started to ignore every author who wrote about their earnings. I don’t feel the subject is out of bounds or anything in that line; I was just not interested. I even grew tired of people thanking me for following them on their articles about their first 100 followers; good for you, glad I could help; it just grows old really fast to read the same thing over and over.
\nI even found out about Feedium (publication). I applied as a writer, saying I was unsure I wanted to write for it or block it. The reply from the publisher was, “Maybe you can do both”.
\nI laughed out loud.
\nI cannot resist that kind of humor and attitude in life. Therefore, I am submitting this article to Feedium, and if they accept it, that is how it will be distributed on the platform.
\nThe truth is, I still follow Kristina God to this day and like some of her pieces. She was very helpful on my Medium journey; her comments were always friendly and kind when she bothered to reply to any of mine. I am in debt to her for everything she taught me.
\nI have seen many other writers hostile to people who write about Medium. I get it. Some said no one cares (or gives a F*) about those articles. That is clearly not the case — quite the opposite. One of the best ways to achieve success on the platform is writing about that process, making money, and beating the algorithm.
\nThe same applies to Youtube and podcasting worlds. There are loads of very successful people who create content on succeeding. Many do that and keep rehashing the same content over time, exclusively. So it is rather evident that being a content creator appeals to many people, and there is a market hungry for content. As Feedium would say, someone, must feed the monster.
\nIn my first 19 days as an active writer, things slowly picked up. Sub-hundred daily views. I published daily and got 225 followers by the end of the month and earned $9,67.
\nIf I had to pick my favorites among what I wrote (the ones I enjoyed writing the most):
\n\n
My first “full month” earned me $26.81 and an additional 113 followers. Daily views raised to the hundreds.
\nMy favorite articles turned out not to be the popular or more lucrative ones:
\n\n
I wrote five articles, this one included. Final earnings of $81.47!
\nThe elephant in the room:
\n\n\n
I am not a content creator. I earn a living with my day job. I write when I have something to say, and I often do not have things to say. Therefore, I am not interested in feeding any algorithm, and I will write when I feel like it.
\nI keep my own platform: plaureano.com (and you should do the same)
\nDon’t get me wrong; I love the platform. Writers should get paid by their readers. I will keep my paid subscription and will keep posting. The whole concept that it is profitable for me to even participate in occasional writing is fascinating.
\nCongrats Medium; you have one more paying subscriber and happy writer.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/60/coverarticleonmedium.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion", "Making Money Online" ], "date_published": "2022-02-19T16:22:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-03T11:46:34+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/reacher-amazon-prime-season-1-the-real-deal/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/reacher-amazon-prime-season-1-the-real-deal/", "title": ""Reacher" (Amazon Prime) season 1 - The real deal.", "summary": "Season 1 of the new television series is based on the “Killing Floor” by Lee Child. The eight-episode first season is based on “Killing Floor”; the first of the Jack Reacher novels. With 25 published books in the series and more to come, there is plenty…", "content_html": "The eight-episode first season is based on “Killing Floor”; the first of the Jack Reacher novels. With 25 published books in the series and more to come, there is plenty of source material for the television show for many years to come.
\nAmerican actor Alan Ritchson is the believable version of Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise previously starred in two movie adaptations of the novels. However, unlike Tom Cruise, Alan Ritchson has the physical characteristics of the fictional character. He is as close to the books Jack Reacher as it gets. He is built like a tank, reserved when he speaks, and brutally frontal occasionally.
\nTop-notch acting and a well-written script that does not have to rush to tell the story is a dream adaptation to both the book’s fans and first-time viewers — highly recommended!
\n\nReferences:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reacher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reacher_(book_series)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reacher_(TV_series)
Scammers claim to offer a technical support service to their victims. Instead, they use social engineering and confidence tricks to persuade their victim about fictitious problems on their computer. It can be pretty much anything, ranging from malware infections to claims that the user is using illegal or unlicensed software, or even a very “meta” revelation that some hacker is using their computer.
\nInitial contact with the victims may be started with a phone call they initiate, or they may be passively waiting to answer one made by the victims. To get the victim to call them, they use common tricks like fake pop-ups resembling error messages or fake helplines advertised on websites owned by the scammers.
\nPayments to the scammers are usually through ways that are hard to trace. For example, they get the victim to buy gift cards or even send them money in cash thru the mail (usually to “mules” they hire to collect it locally; asking victims to send money to India would look rather suspicious).
\nTechnical support scams are not new; they have occurred as early as 2008, and the vast majority of the scammers can be traced back to locations in India. Millennials and Generation Z have the highest exposure, but senior citizens are more likely to give money away to scammers.
\nResponses to technical support scams include lawsuits against companies responsible for running fraudulent call centers (mostly in India) and… scambaiting.
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Scambaiting is a form of internet vigilantism. Technically prepared users pose as victims to waste time and resources of scammers, gather valuable information for authorities, and publicly expose scammers.
\nThey document scammers’ methods and sometimes go all the way and hack their systems. Scambaiters’ motivations range from a sense of civic duty to personal amusement. Fantastic Youtube channels can educate you and keep you entertained for hours. Two of my personal favorites:
\n\nScambaiting is an Internet Sport; it is not a new thing. It has been used against advance-fee fraud for many years. See https://www.419eater.com/ for a lot of fun with (mostly) Nigerian scammers.
\nPopular methods of entertaining scammers go from asking them to fill out lengthy questionnaires, convincing them into taking long trips, even getting them to send their “fake” victim money. In addition, baiters publicly humiliate scammers by filming their interactions or persuading them to produce humiliating images that will later be used as trophies.
\nThis may all look like a lot of fun. Seriously, it is. However, I need to remind you that these people are real criminals. Do not engage with them. Chances are you may be ill-prepared to do it and place yourselves in real danger. Just don’t do it. Stay safe.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/58/scammers.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-29T14:53:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-29T14:53:22+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/about-contact-privacy/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/about-contact-privacy/", "title": "About us / Contact / Privacy", "summary": "This blog is owned by me (Paulo Laureano Santos). You can e-mail me at pls@plaureano.com (PGP/GPG public key) I do not know who you are, I keep no personal data, there is no mailing list. I use Google Analytics to keep track of how many…", "content_html": "This blog is owned by me (Paulo Laureano Santos).
\nYou can e-mail me at pls@plaureano.com (PGP/GPG public key)
\nI do not know who you are, I keep no personal data, there is no mailing list. I use Google Analytics to keep track of how many visitors I have on the web site and where they come from. That is it. The site uses no cookies other than the ones used by Google Analytics.
", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Privacy policy", "Contacts", "About us" ], "date_published": "2022-01-28T21:39:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T12:37:06+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/angry-about-joe-rogans-views-and-spotify/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/angry-about-joe-rogans-views-and-spotify/", "title": "Angry about Joe Rogan’s views and Spotify?", "summary": "Just an average Joe, thinking aloud; it can be a train wreck. But, he does not pretend otherwise. Joe Rogan is a podcaster. A very successful one. He signed a deal with Spotify, worth around $100 million, making him exclusive on the platform and a…", "content_html": "Joe Rogan is a podcaster. A very successful one. He signed a deal with Spotify, worth around $100 million, making him exclusive on the platform and a massive reference in the podcast business.
\n“The Joe Rogan Experience” started in 2010; The podcast has guests who discuss every conceivable topic, from martial arts to politics. Joe Rogan is a curious, easy-going host; he does not pretend to be an expert on anything outside martial arts and comedy and is not afraid to dwindle into whatever his guests have to offer. This includes science, conspiracy theories, politics, and morals.
\nJoe Rogan’s opinions are heartfelt and honest. While he may stray into the crazy territory and have misguided views on many subjects, you see the genuine individual struggling to figure things out. So, many times that struggle to find facts by simply googling or looking at a random video on youtube and forming opinions in real-time is a big part of the show’s success.
\nIt is not a science convention. It was never presented as such to the listeners. Instead, it’s your “average Joe” talking to guests about random subjects. Sometimes the guests are fantastic and help the host reach illumination; other times, they are not quite that awesome and drag Joe into cuckoo’s land. That matches what it says in the tin: it’s “Joe Rogan” personal experience exploring many subjects.
\nUnfortunately, as the show is tremendously popular, sometimes there are harmful consequences to Joe’s beliefs. Stepping on science and public health matters may lead listeners to make poor choices and eventually die. However, I honestly don’t feel it is fair to blame Joe Rogan. He is just being himself; he never pretends to be a perfect human being or educated; he is just sharing his own experience. These are not TED talks. He is not a medical doctor; he is not an educator. Instead, he shares his own options concerning his health and why he believes they are the right ones for him. He is not offering advice. That is not what his show is about.
\nPeople that mimic Joe Rogan options and beliefs may end up regretting it? Sure. In the same way, on many other issues, they may actually improve their lives. There are a lot of topics where the show is educational because Joe’s own journey of discovery ends in a good place. The better the guest, the higher the chance it will happen, and he has had some amazing guests over the years.
\nI am sad and troubled over Joe’s views on Covid vaccines. It is deplorable that his journey led him there. However, I don’t make up my mind based on his experience; neither should you or anyone else. You should listen to Medical Doctors on medical matters, not radio or podcast show hosts, no matter how smart or convincing they and their guest sound.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/56/spotify.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-28T11:47:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-28T11:47:05+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/a-raspberry-pi-along-with-advice-changes-lives/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/a-raspberry-pi-along-with-advice-changes-lives/", "title": "A Raspberry Pi along with advice, changes lives!", "summary": "Computers are game-changers for talented creative individuals. Recognizing talent, nurturing it, and seeing it grow, is a big part of my job as IT director in a big Portuguese retail company. Very few activities are more gratifying than changing people’s lives for the better, helping…", "content_html": "
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Recognizing talent, nurturing it, and seeing it grow, is a big part of my job as IT director in a big Portuguese retail company. Very few activities are more gratifying than changing people’s lives for the better, helping them reach their full potential, being a better version of what they would otherwise be. So I decided a long time ago I would use the same skill set to help others, outside working hours, people I meet in my personal life.
\nMy father showed me a Sinclair ZX-81 computer early in my teens. He explained the Basic computer language, described how the machine worked and offered me quality time by his side. He blew my teenager mind. It was a life-changing experience. Soon enough, I was learning English, writing my first computer game (“tic-tac-toe”), and thrilled with the whole experience.
\nFast forward a few decades, I find myself offering (the right kids and, on rare occasions, older “kids at heart”) Raspberry Pi’s and old hardware someone is throwing away. I find the best books and magazines to best fit the particular individual I have in mind. For some is a guide to building a games console or arcade machine; for others, a python or C language book on making games. The hardware is just one piece of the puzzle: directions to the Pandora’s knowledge box is the other.
\nFinding individuals with the eagerness to learn and explore is critical. However, the whole process takes time. I recall spending entire summer vacations showing arcade games to my nephews (and friends) and explaining the basic concepts behind making a computer game. I talked about the game authors, their stories, the difficulties they faced. Then, suddenly, they were more into the story behind the game rather than the game itself.
\nSome started to get curious about the technical stuff among the crowd. “how do you tell the machine to do what you want?”, “do you speak English to the computer?” and “what do you mean with machines being dumb?”.
\nI make a deal with them:
\nDepending on the age group, I choose different languages and tools. For example, I have used Blitmax (a basic like dialect), and C language (my favorite teaching language), which requires students to be like Spider-man; great power comes with great responsibility.
\nAs far as manuals and books, I usually pick a well-written, simple book or article that will backbone our workshops. Then, they can refer to the text they are familiar with when they need to recall doing something. Some of my favorites resources are from https://store.rpipress.cc/
\nIn particular the “Learn to code with C” — https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/learn-code-c — that has just the right mix of simplicity and depth.
\nAlthough I took groups of students on rare occasions, I prefer to do it one on one. I also like to bring parents and their sons as students in a closed group. Unfortunately, this means I can only do it for a very small number of individuals. So I made some videos you can follow with kids and accomplish the same quality time with them.
\nSome examples (source code and complete games) created in these summer workshops can be found in here: https://plaureano.itch.io/ (they are all FREE to download and can be used as inspiration for your own adventures teaching or learning).
\nWho knows; you may be that teacher they will never forget and change their lives… or a true inspiration, like my father was to me, changing my life forever.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/55/sobrinhario3.jpg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-23T14:00:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-23T14:07:25+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/e-books-vs-paper-prices-how-idiotic-can-publishers-get/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/e-books-vs-paper-prices-how-idiotic-can-publishers-get/", "title": "E-books vs paper prices; how idiotic can publishers get?", "summary": "Answer: There is no limit to pathetic business practices… The price of e-books should be the same as their paper counterparts, minus the cost of printing paper and distributing it to you. There is a very slight overhead related to the infrastructure required to digitally…", "content_html": "
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The price of e-books should be the same as their paper counterparts, minus the cost of printing paper and distributing it to you. There is a very slight overhead related to the infrastructure required to digitally store and deliver files. Still, there is no way it costs anywhere near the same as producing and printing paper and moving the results worldwide. As a result, publishers, authors, and sellers should get the same profit margins.
\nPeriod. There is nothing else to figure out.
\nIn the real world, weird things happen regarding e-book prices. For example, e-book prices are usually about the same as a paperback but less than a hardcover. This is, in every single case, unjustifiable. The lunacy is turned to eleven when you find e-books much more expensive than their paper counterparts. Example used in article illustration: https://amzn.to/3GVpHLs
\nOn occasion, I am sure you can buy e-books for less than bookstore prices. If you have the patience to look around and follow the various sporadic deals. I have been buying e-book bundles on https://www.humblebundle.com/books for ridiculous prices. If one of the books in the bundle interests me, buying a pack of dozens of books is cheaper than getting that single book for its usual cover price.
\nIt does not make up for the mess the book industry is in.
\nE-books are convenient. Storing books electronically and accessing them from any device is a life savior, especially for reference material and technical resources. Try cutting and pasting examples from a paper version. My vacation and business travel bags got a whole lot lighter when I stopped carrying around books.
\nI sometimes enjoy turning to dead tree versions printed on paper and ink when reading longer formats. I may be weird. I know. Yet, according to Pew Research Center research on book consumption and book formats, traditional print remains the most popular reading format for adults and children. So, I am not alone. In fact, I am with the majority.
\nThere is a market for both electronic and paper books. Consumers want to be treated with respect, not being ripped off by an industry lost and confused amid the changes and evolution technology brought along. Get a grip. We have been dealing with these changes for a few decades now. Time to settle down and start acting respectfully towards consumers.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/54/ebook_prices1.png", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion", "Book" ], "date_published": "2022-01-23T13:57:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-23T13:57:13+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/legal-classic-game-emulation/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/legal-classic-game-emulation/", "title": "Legal Classic Game Emulation", "summary": "The Gaming Industry needs to wake up and smell the millions. The open-source game emulation market is vast, incredible quality, and the most prominent players use it on all major platforms. However, the end-users have difficulty legally buying ROMs and old IPs. As a result,…", "content_html": "
The open-source game emulation market is vast, incredible quality, and the most prominent players use it on all major platforms. However, the end-users have difficulty legally buying ROMs and old IPs. As a result, it’s a multi-billion market waiting to come of age.
\nOne of the reasons people might be looking for an emulated ROM game is because the company that released it no longer exists, making it challenging to find the title. Also, a common argument on the Internet is that it is perfectly legal to extract a ROM from a cartridge you own, but downloading it from the Internet is a crime.
\nMany game enthusiasts and collectors argue that emulation is vital to preserving the history of games so that the younger generations of tomorrow can play and experience them. While the previous point is helpful, I think the role of emulators in preserving the history of video games is what sets them apart from piracy.
\nThe limited right granted by the Copyright Law to make backup copies of computer programs surely applies to games. The people who make emulators help publishers make older games playable again on modern hardware. Game publishers need to sell their back-catalogs. People will buy them instead of falling into piracy.
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Nintendo is very active in the fight against outright piracy but generally targets companies that sell or distribute game copy devices. Pursuing this avenue pushes users to download the copyrighted archives from the Internet. Placing their potential customers in legal limbo is pathetic.
\nThere is an evident demand for these ROMs. Devices like the ($60) Retrode allow anyone to mine a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis game via USB and claim the legality of downloading them as a key selling point. The last thing Nintendo should be doing is go after the devices that enable users with the original product in their hands to make a copy of it.
\nIt makes no sense at all. So instead, Nintendo should sell the hardware that validates that people have the original cartridges or disks and make this as easy as possible. And if you don’t have the source material, sell you a copy.
\nThis company has removed classic game ROM sites from the Internet, suing their owners into oblivion. In addition, it frequently goes after fan-made games using Nintendo properties. So, gosh, get a grip, treat your fanbase with respect, and learn to take a compliment.
\nAdding insult to injury, Nintendo currently “rents” access to a tiny portion of its classic games library using, in many cases, subpar emulation. Since the 1990s, Nintendo’s tough stance on emulation practices has earned a reputation for being anti-piracy and tough on those who want to play video games that are no longer available at relatively low prices.
\nAccording to Nintendo’s official website, video game ROMs and emulation also pose “the biggest threat to the intellectual property rights of game developers today” and “could cause significant damage” to tens of thousands of jobs. The introduction of emulators designed to play illegally copied Nintendo software is the biggest threat to the intellectual property rights of game developers.
\nNintendo has the wrong stance on the argument. They are, in fact, the biggest threat to their own intellectual property rights themselves. It is mind-boggling that companies choose to fight their customers and fan-base instead of meeting their needs.
\nNintendo does not sell its old consoles. So legal emulation, with people buying the original IP from the owners, is the obvious and only way to go.
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Sega has published some of its most significant games time and time again. The problem is that they are republishing the same ones every time, leaving a lot of amazing games locked in storage for no apparent reason. Repackaging, remastering, and enhancing old software is not always the way to go. I would bet that most people would be thrilled with replaying their classics untouched. Just sell the ROMs. There are millions to be won.
\nMicrosoft, and Phil Spencer, in particular, have publicly spoken about the importance of game emulation and preserving history. They have always done a fantastic job with retro-compatibility on consoles and PC gaming.
\nSony never quite got it. As a result, each console has zero compatibility with past offerings. However, they make some effort to port some titles from their back catalog from time to time. The end result is that there are wonderful emulators for all their older consoles, up to the PS3, and no way for users to buy the software for them. Yet, anyone with access to the Internet can google their way to a pirated version. This masochist behavior from game publishers makes absolutely no sense.
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Cloanto, the holders of Commodore 64 and Amiga ROMs, and the AmigaOS, sell their IP, along with emulators. A lot of software publishers have placed old products for download. As a result, there are vast collections of Public Domain software to download, new games for sale (yes, years after the hardware manufacturer filed for bankruptcy). It’s heaven. This is the way to go. Give consumers what they want at fair prices, and people will buy them.
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There is no legal precedent for copying and downloading ROMs for games you own; although an argument can be made for proper use, it has not been sufficiently tested in courts.
\nLegally, it’s hard to protect sites that revolve around unlimited downloads of copyrighted games when there is no way to establish that people own a copy of what they are downloading.
\nNone of these will be problems if copyright holders listen to their potential customers. But, unfortunately, a market is crying blood for the products they are storing in the attic, apparently uninterested in consumers.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/53/legacycomp.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Windows", "Opinion", "Mac", "Linux", "Game" ], "date_published": "2022-01-20T11:28:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T11:28:24+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/passive-income-renting-your-network-unused-bandwidth/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/passive-income-renting-your-network-unused-bandwidth/", "title": "Passive income renting your network unused bandwidth", "summary": "Looking deeper into the business behind it; who uses it and why. Shout out to Nuno Bispo that wrote a story on how to install EarnApp on a Raspberry Pi: https://medium.com/geekculture/how-to-make-money-with-your-unused-bandwidth-and-a-raspberry-pi-892e8a6d9fd0 The “how to earn money” and “passive income” is all on his story. Check…", "content_html": "Shout out to Nuno Bispo that wrote a story on how to install EarnApp on a Raspberry Pi: https://medium.com/geekculture/how-to-make-money-with-your-unused-bandwidth-and-a-raspberry-pi-892e8a6d9fd0
\nThe “how to earn money” and “passive income” is all on his story. Check it out and leave him a round of applause if you like it. I just have one note, regarding the option to use another OS, rather than Raspbien, you do not have to since it is also supported and runs just fine.
\nAlso the author is testing the app, to see if he gets anywhere near the advertised $75 estimated monthly return. I doubt it, so does he. Follow him to check the results.
\nIt’s what search engines do while they are indexing a page. Also the strategy companies that sell price comparison tools use to keep their information updated.
\nTrouble is that web site owners may block their access; hence the need for them to have IPs addresses from home users available to use, distributing their accesses and becoming virtually undetected.
\nThere are protocols to regulate Bot usage when scrapping sites. Web site owners may completely disallow their activity or restrict it to certain pages. Well, using these proxy servers, that becomes way harder to detect and enforce.
\nBright Data is a leading home rotating proxy service provider offering one of the world’s largest and fastest IP networks with real peers.
\nThey “rent” bandwidth from residential users (at a lower price) and then resell proxy access to web scrappers for as high as $15 per Gb. There are lower rates for companies that buy higher monthly data. Source: https://brightdata.com/proxy-types/residential-proxies
\nThe value paid to residential users, per Gb, varies from country to country. For example, in Portugal, every Gb is worth $0.5. If you are interested in getting passive income from your network access: https://earnapp.com/ (Available from Mac, Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi)
\nTheir rotating residential proxies are real devices; therefore, they are not detected when used correctly (by the site being scrapped).
\nProxyland is another option for web scraping and data routing with residential proxies. Oxylabs allows you to control and manage your data or proxy usage from the control panel, so you never run out of traffic and keep scraping the Internet.
\nFor decades Blizzard was the darling company of gamers. As a result, properties like Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and Hearthstone have been incredibly successful. After the merge with Activision, the portfolio included Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Spyro, Guitar Hero, and Crash Bandicoot.
\nRevelations of toxic and downright evil behavior within Activision Blizzard brought the company to a barrage of lawsuits in recent months. Along with the legal woes, stock prices plummeted, and Microsoft took advantage to acquire the ill-fated company.
\nToday, the companies jointly announced a cash deal in which tech giant Microsoft is buying the controversial gaming company for about $95 a share (a 69 billion dollar deal). It is Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date, and once the sale closes, the company will become the third-largest company in the world by revenue.
\nThe acquisition will significantly strengthen Microsoft’s Game Pass portfolio. That is great news for PC and Xbox players, but not for Sony.
\nMicrosoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has made it clear that Bobby Kotick will remain as CEO of Activision Blizzard for the time being. However, employees will begin reporting to Spencer after the deal closes.
Nadella added that Microsoft would support its publisher as it promotes its culture shift, even before the deal closes. The tech giant said mobile games are an essential part of the deal because Microsoft isn’t a particularly competitive player, unlike Activision, which owns games like Candy Crush.
Satya Nadella, President and CEO of Microsoft; Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard; Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer; and Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft, will host a webcast to investors and the media on January 18, 2022 at 6:00 AM PT and 9:00 AM ET on the deal. This presentation contains certain forward-looking statements according to the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the proposed transaction and business combination between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, including statements about the merits of the transaction, the expected timing of the transaction, as well as the products and markets of each company.
Michio Kaku is a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York, a proponent of string theory, and a well-known science popularizer with several television appearances and successful books. Soon we will have the James Webb telescope in its orbit, fully deployed, and we will, for the first time, be able to observe thousands of planets. Hence, professor Michio Kaku thinks the chances that we will be able to make contact with alien civilizations are very high.
\nWe all heard all kinds of theories about aliens — all kinds of possibilities, from them being very good to very bad, from friendly first contact to the destruction of the human race.
\nScience fiction often depicts humans successfully fending off alien invasions. Still, scientists are more convinced that an alien civilization with enough power to reach Earth could destroy human civilization with minimal effort. When it comes to having the technology to play any role in space, we are a very primitive race; we can barely get out of our backyard.
\nDouglas Vakoch, METI’s most prominent proponent, believes that if we don’t tell anyone we’re here, we risk missing out on new technologies that could help humanity or protect us from other, less friendly aliens. On the other hand, Stephen Hawking thought contact with an alien civilization might be a risky proposition.
\nI am siding with the pessimistic view. The whole concept of primitive civilization meeting a more advanced one never ended working well for the one with less technology and power.
\nI know there is a possibility aliens may be friendly vegans eager to give us technology and the secrets to happiness. But, somehow, I am more inclined to imagine them as predators eating us for breakfast or interested in earth resources and seeing us a pesky plague.
\nEither way, I would be delighted if we found them first. Study them. We correctly evaluate risks and then say, “hello, we come in peace” or not interfere in any way, shape, or form with them. However, I find it more likely that humans will exploit them (or the resources of their world) and act like obnoxious space conquerors. Like the “we are decent, respectful and caring” as resulted that well on Earth as far as our relationship with other species…
\nBut aren’t UFOs real? Are they already among us? Of course, UFOs are real. We see flying objects, fail to identify them, and call them unidentified. Does that mean they have come from outer space? I HOPE NOT since I am not a proponent of the “good aliens” theory.
\nEven contact with alien viruses and bacteria is potentially disastrous to humans. So are you insane suggesting it’s a good idea to meet advanced alien civilizations? I think humans are cute, so are a lot of animals, and that did not prevent us from killing them as a recreational sport. Or for food. Or because they are in our way to getting something we want. We may not exactly look like a cute bipedal life-form that inspires a lot of sympathy. We probably look a lot like fire-ants or a gourmet exotic delicacy to alien eyes.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/50/alien.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-20T11:21:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T11:21:55+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-pandemic-is-ending-according-to-experts/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-pandemic-is-ending-according-to-experts/", "title": "The Pandemic Is Ending — According To Experts", "summary": "Get a grip on reality; start planning your life and be extra-careful now! Most experts believe SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic. As the disease moves from Pandemic to endemic, the health impacts will be less severe, and we as a society will be better able to…", "content_html": "Most experts believe SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic. As the disease moves from Pandemic to endemic, the health impacts will be less severe, and we as a society will be better able to manage the risks associated with COVID-19. However, this switch does not mean we will eliminate COVID-19 (the disease) but learn to live with it (the virus SARS-CoV-2 and its various mutations), reduce transmission, and reduce severe consequences for infected people.
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If the history of pandemics serves us right, eventually, epidemiologists will agree that we have reached the endemic stage. But exactly what this phase looks like, how many deaths it causes, and the risk of infection from it depends mainly on how serious the virus variants, including Omicron, turn out to be and how effective the measures we take against the disease are. It has happened before, and it will happen again.
\nThere is no doubt that the coronavirus will eventually get to us when almost everyone is vaccinated or infected, or both. However, right now, we are still going through a messy and potentially unstable transition. Nevertheless, judging by the sudden drop in new infections in South Africa and the United Kingdom, right after the raging spread of Omicron, I would say there is a pretty good chance we are reaching the final leg of the Pandemic.
\nOur post-pandemic future will largely depend on how the virus evolves over the next few years. As our ability to avoid the worst-case scenarios for COVID-19 improves, the virus will never truly disappear. While this virus and our immunity determine the likely future of endemic COVID, the ultimate burden of the cases and deaths we endure lies with us.
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We heard about the possibility of “herd immunity”. But, unfortunately, it was presented more like an oasis in the desert and a goal than a hypothesis. Like herd immunity, endemicity is technical jargon that refers to the threshold where science supposedly says we can stop worrying about COVID-19.
\nCOVID-19 is not yet endemic because many people are still not immune from vaccination or infection worldwide. The likelihood that every single person will at some point get the virus is more than apparent. Unless you live in a bubble, in isolation from other human beings, you will get it. Hence, the non-vaccinated will get natural immunity by contracting the disease, at a much higher risk of dying in the process. The problem will nevertheless solve itself.
\nRegardless of your vaccine position, this is an excellent time to get your shots if you have not taken them already. Do you want to be that family member that dies from COVID-19 in the last moment days of a pandemic? Please grow up. The vast majority of the population has already “tested” the vaccine, so you can put your doubts to rest. Don’t die of stubbornness; with the help of the virus, humanity is finally defeating.
\n\n
Countries will not enter the endemic phase simultaneously. Several factors, including vaccination levels and how spread-out communities are. Although Omicron looks like it’s establishing itself as the dominant variant everywhere, this is happening at different rates that greatly vary from country to country.
\nHospitalizations everywhere have their limits. The transition to the endemic state of the epidemic is not something we want to rush, even if it means life will get back to normal. Some of us will need help and medical care; it is up to us to ensure we don’t take that precious scarce ventilator, hospital bed, or treatment if we can wait our turn to take more significant risks.
\nPatterns are likely to be significantly different in some countries. Countries that opted, or were faced with the fact, that Omicron will go thru their population unchecked by restrictions are betting that disease levels will be compatible with their healthcare capacity. They better get it right. It’s a significant bet.
\nSome countries opting for a zero-virus spread policy will sooner or later change their policies either voluntarily or under changing circumstances outside their control — the option to either attempt to manage the spread of the disease or not manage it at all. Regardless, it will happen.
\nThe decline in infection numbers is slower on the right side of graphic curves than the rise in cases on the left. It takes a couple of weeks for the rampant number of infections to fall.
\n\n
No doubt the virus will still pose a potentially serious threat to the elderly and medically vulnerable, but the degree of suffering could be much less, closer to what we experienced in the worst pre-COVID flu seasons. So, yes, it will kill some of us, just like the flu and other endemic diseases.
\nMedical care availability and better treatments should contribute to a much better prognosis in the future. However, like flu season, people are likely to take extra precautions whenever COVID-19 cases increase. The most significant difference is that the governments will no longer actively control the spread of the virus and instead focus on treating higher-risk patients.
\nOver time, we may see the virus become less pathogenic, like the four coronaviruses that cause the common cold, which is nothing more than a seasonal nuisance. It may also disappear, like smallpox and polio. We do not know which.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/49/covidcounter.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-20T11:20:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T11:20:19+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/pocket-macs-are-coming/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/pocket-macs-are-coming/", "title": "Pocket Macs are coming!", "summary": "Merging mobile offerings with macOS. Others will follow. When the iPhone reached the market (announced in January and released in October 2007), it changed everything. Right there and then, every other phone offering on the market looked primitive, pathetic, like a relic from a past…", "content_html": "When the iPhone reached the market (announced in January and released in October 2007), it changed everything. Right there and then, every other phone offering on the market looked primitive, pathetic, like a relic from a past no one would miss.
\nThe touchscreen-based device, with no keyboard, looked like it was taken out of a science fiction show. Competitors laughed aloud at the high price point and all the radical changes, wishing Apple good luck selling that “toy” to the masses.
\nGoogle was not laughing and very much paying attention. They had been working on a feature phone for a couple of years (they had bought a startup in 2003 that was working on what would later become Android). Nothing so futuristic, without physical keyboards and touchscreen-based, but they were quick to adopt this fresh approach, and the rest is history.
\n\n
Beefier CPUs and giant touch screens require a lot of power. Moreover, these newcomers needed daily charging in a world where “feature phones” had weeks of battery life. In addition, the implicit promise to have the “real web” replace the iPod and be a lot more like computers than phones was ambitious.
\nApple took Mac OS X, stripped it down to its bare bones, and created iOS. Even basic features like the Mac Finder, cut and paste, window management, and multitasking had to go. Google took an Open Source Linux kernel, ripped Java from Sun microsystems, and built their lightweight offering on top.
\nAs processing power increased over new processor generations, both iOS and Android started getting closer to their older siblings (macOS and Linux). Recently we reached a conversion point. Today’s phones and tablets have similar computing power to their computer counterparts. Regardless of Apple naming conventions for their silicon, the M1 appears in iPads and Mac computers, and the latest AXX chips are roughly equivalent in capabilities.
\n\n
Maintaining different OS variants (watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS, iOS, macOS) was a choice made long ago when different CPUs required a lot of compromises. While that is still the case for the Watch, it is not for phones, tablets, and TV appliance boxes.
\nThe technology merge will take its time, but it will happen. You will have iPads and phones running the complete set of MacOS applications, very likely announced as full-blown Macs you carry in your pocket. Just connect them to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and you are ready to go.
\nApple can have different interface libraries for the iOS/ipadOS small screen apps; they can bundle them with their big-screen focused Mac counterparts. They are already in macOS; if you have not noticed, that is a big part of why you can run phone/tablet apps on M1 Macs without emulation.
\nThere is a lot of work involved in bringing multitouch support to the Mac. That is the main factor that is holding back the merge. If you run a phone app on a Mac, that should be obvious.
\nBoth universes will significantly benefit from merging. We will get a decent Finder on both phones and tablets, much more robust application support, and the incredible power to turn small devices into full-blown setups.
\n\n
Remember WindowsCE and the various “Linux on phones” projects (besides Android)? Finally, they will be getting another shot at the golden pie.
\nNow that ARM CPUs on PC’s have been validated by the Apple switch to its own Silicon, Microsoft must change gears and get into overdrive with Windows on ARM. Linux vendors have a shot at it, but the Open Source world is complicated; talent and resources are scattered everywhere, and I never know what makes them tick.
\nThe next few years will be exciting times for the industry. So get that popcorn and enjoy the races.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/48/appleovni.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "iOS", "Opinion", "Mac" ], "date_published": "2022-01-20T11:18:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T11:18:16+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/best-country-for-remote-workers/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/best-country-for-remote-workers/", "title": "Best Country For Remote Workers", "summary": "According to many, Portugal takes the cake in 2022; That is where I live. Portugal has (mostly) free health care, low cost of living, excellent weather, low crime rates, excellent infrastructures (from roads/highways to Airports and Internet access). In addition, you will never be more…", "content_html": "\n
Portugal has (mostly) free health care, low cost of living, excellent weather, low crime rates, excellent infrastructures (from roads/highways to Airports and Internet access). In addition, you will never be more than two hours away from a beautiful beach, and there are many English-speaking people among the Portuguese. The food is unbelievable. It’s a fantastic place to live!
\nForeign citizens, who can support themselves, can live and work in Portugal. Moreover, it is a SCHENGEN member country, meaning you can travel freely around Europe.
\nThere are Visa requirements for some countries worldwide; please conduct due diligence before even thinking about coming in. However, it is not that hard to enter Portugal legally. Visas are valid for two years and are renewable. In addition, depending on your particular situation, you may be eligible for tax-free status under the non-habitual resident (NHR) scheme.
\nSome additional notes:
\nIs it for you? Only you can get to the answer. When it comes to a world ravaged by a Pandemic, there aren’t many countries with these vaccination rates and (mostly) free healthcare. Sure is the place for me, but we may have different needs, priorities, and tastes.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/47/beach.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-20T11:15:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T11:16:12+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/getting-older-wiser-better-happier/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/getting-older-wiser-better-happier/", "title": "Getting older. Wiser. Better. Happier.", "summary": "The contract is set in stone by nature. So work at the small clauses! You will die. You don’t know how many years you have. But, if you are lucky, you learn sooner rather than later (or ever) to take advantage of your understanding of…", "content_html": "The contract is set in stone by nature. So work at the small clauses!
\nYou will die. You don’t know how many years you have. But, if you are lucky, you learn sooner rather than later (or ever) to take advantage of your understanding of the rules.
\nI have seen too many people dying too young. They did not perceive the game of living first two rules: you have a limited number of days left, and you do not know how many. Oblivious to those rules, they rushed to that expiration date filled with dreams and goals that would never fit in their lifespans.
\nMost of the anguish I feel in these cases is related to the different life choices they would have made if they only knew how little time they had left.
\nLearning not to be a jerk and understanding that life is the journey and not the destination, that you should enjoy it, are impossible messages for young people that envision they have all the time in the world in front of them. Sadly, those “early” years are all they get for some people. So assume you are one of those unlucky few and speed up that process of learning to live.
\nI know everyone is teaching everyone else; it is not about you, the individual. I beg to differ. It is also about you, your life, how you want to live it. How you fit with everyone else around you, the impression you leave behind, how you treated others; it all comes down to you being a better or worse human being. And you should feel the need to be the better version of yourself and love what you see in the mirror.
\nDon’t be the pathetic character that is endlessly trying to get back in time. Instead of attempting to correct whatever happened, endlessly focusing on changing irrelevant failures, focus on just being better next time you meet similar challenges and move on. Savor life and forget perfection; your goal is to improve each experience.
\n\n\n“If you are pining for youth I think it produces a stereotypical old man because you only live in memory, you live in a place that doesn’t exist. Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.” ∼ David Bowie
\n
The concept of being the wealthiest person in the cemetery, someone people remembered as a winner at some long-forgotten game, is your goal? Really? Let me break this as gently as I can: you will be dead. You will not exist. There will be as much of you after you are gone as before you existed at all.
\nBefore jumping in with the religious concepts, please know that I already assume I may be wrong. I love the idea of being wrong. You may be right. We can all end up in some cloud looking down at our legacy and loved ones. Not feeling any pain, separation anxiety, and not being terribly bored by the concept of “living forever” in a non-corporeal form after a few years. If these ideas give you comfort, please keep them. I would love to enjoy the benefits of faith, but I am personally unable to do it.
\nHaving the burden to live without faith, my bad, I have no option but to face these few years among you as all there is. So I have to take advantage of what I believe I have.
\n\n
You will lose a lot of things over time. So I will skip all the obvious stuff everyone figures out in their early teens about growing older. Instead, I will focus on the great things you should enjoy losing and winning, and that will make you much better and happier.
\n\n\n“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.” ∼ Ann Landers
\n
How others view us is way overrated. While you will love yourself for being a decent human, which is why you should act like it, you must not live your life with a third-person perspective. Try hard not to be the jerk. Treat others with respect and kindness. When the dust settles, and all is said and done, you are the one that must face yourself in the mirror.
\n\n
Weird things happen as you get older. Of course, they do not happen every time, but I have seen them happen over and over again.
\nSuppose you were one of the unlucky teenagers that felt invisible to your sex interests. Your predicament is very likely to improve with age. If you are a man, keep yourself clean and moderately well employed, and you can turn out to be the sexiest mid-age person around. As your self-confidence grows and values change as everyone matures, you may be the last tree branch they grab while falling from their college beauty thrones.
\nBy that time, you learn that attractiveness, while relevant, is probably not all you are looking for. I hope it is not for your sake; because you will end up with just a pleasant-looking trophy spouse. So how do you endure the hard times and life hurdles together? Do you have mutual respect and willingness to sacrifice?
\nSee, as we grow older, we value different things in people. Sometimes we love a tiny bit of time in our journeys. But, relations may not last forever. Sadly, seasons change, and going in separate ways may be the best for both. But, it does not diminish in any way what beautiful moments you had together.
\n\n\n“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.” — Robert Quillen
\n
I have been happily married for two and a half decades. I enjoy every day with my wife. I try to be there for her. She is my lover and best friend. I try not to act like an asshole and fail miserably sometimes, but the commitment to getting better has been there from the first moment. She has her struggles. We are both inclined to make the best of our time together.
\n\n\n“Marriage: Love is the reason. Lifelong friendship is the gift. Kindness is the cause. Til’ death do us part is the length.” — Fawn Weaver
\n
Some people are misguided lone wolves. Some make their way in life, living alone. Society has taught us that we are social beings, but while I wholeheartedly recommend looking around for a soulmate, it does not have to be that way.
\n\n\n“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” — Henry Ford
\n
I have also seen people living alone in marriages — just two people partnering in life in parallel paths. It’s easier to share bills, security, and knowing you have life partners that will be there for you. There is certainly a lot of love (there is more to it than having sex and wearing a ring), respect, and friendship in those relations, but things are not always what they appear to be.
\n\n
Remember how summer vacations looked like they lasted a lifetime in your youth? Unfortunately, I have some bad news; they will sprint by when you get older.
\nTime as a resource becomes precious with age. So you learn to nurture and cherish every second — the people you love become more important. Forgiveness and tolerance prevail over resentment and anger.
\nBucket lists matter. Just do those things you spent half your life postponing. Choose carefully what truly matters to you and go for it. The sooner you turn them into sweet memories, the better. You may find yourself wanting to turn things that you always imagined, like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, into recurring events. Do it while you have the time.
\nYou can and do time travel to the future at an ever-accelerating pace. The sooner you realize this will happen, the more you will take from the journey.
\n\n
\n
Having a good DNS server saves you a lot of grief (regarding phishing and malware) and advertisements consumption. However, while I am a big fan of having total control over your setup and using pi-hole, dealing with hardware and keeping the software updated is undoubtedly not for everyone.
\nTwo excellent services with very little overhead pop to my mind and are easy to use. NextDNS and OpenDNS.
\n\n
Built-in protection for malicious phishing and malware domains is very likely to work when your common sense fails.
\nAdblocker cleans up your web browsing and adware apps on your mobile devices.
\nParental controls blocks porn, piracy sites, mature content in search engines results and social media sites.
\nAll this with a beautiful dashboard where you can monitor all accesses and configure your household/company rules.
\nPrices range from FREE to €1.99 a month (€19.90 a year if paid annually) for individuals and families. Business and education customers have a €19.90 a month fee (€199 a year if paid annually).
\n\n\n
Protection for malicious phishing and malware domains is from the owners of PhishTank.org (check it out, seriously, it is a terrific resource) is something everyone should have.
\nThe FREE service block of adult content is also available; the dashboard is exclusive to the “Home VIP package” (€19,95 paid annually). There is also an “Umbrella PROsumer package” for €20 per user (annually) designed to protect devices on the go, with 1 to 5 users and three devices per user.
\nEnterprise licenses are available, but prices take an obscure form of magic to determine. Being a Cisco company, you probably know what to expect. However, if you are into Cisco products and many in the IT crowd love them, there is the option.
\n\n\n
If these two were my only options, I would go with NextDNS for individuals, households, and enterprises. No hesitation or doubt in my mind.
\nIf the skillset required is available, I would go with pi-hole installations in domestic and enterprise environments. The pi-hole setup allows you to ensure privacy over your internal DNS queries; you can use either or both of these services as forwarding servers and add your very own magic lists and DNS overriding on top.
\nRemember you can run pi-hole on big and robust boxes! You can read more about it here.
\nIt is my firm belief that every enterprise should deploy DNS-level protection and control on their networks. Spending a fortune on training employees to deal with phishing is wise; not blocking access to know phishing sites (as they pop up) as close to real-time as possible is dumb.
\nIt cost €199 a year (or whatever Cisco charges if you want them to provide the service).
\nSo, what is the price tag if things go south really quickly with a phishing attack?
\nWill you have a job the day after?
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/45/hacker.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Web", "Opinion", "Electronic Mail" ], "date_published": "2022-01-13T10:59:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T10:59:52+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/democracy-brilliant-quotes-that-make-you-bleed/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/democracy-brilliant-quotes-that-make-you-bleed/", "title": "Democracy: Brilliant Quotes That Make You Bleed", "summary": "Before you die; take a moment to think about your sacrifice. “Despite popular rhetoric, democracy is not synonymous with freedom. Taking something without permission is theft, but not when the majority goes along with it and calls it taxation. Matters that should be of no…", "content_html": "\n\n“Despite popular rhetoric, democracy is not synonymous with freedom. Taking something without permission is theft, but not when the majority goes along with it and calls it taxation. Matters that should be of no interest to any other person (e.g., what a person chooses to do with his or her body) become matters of public policy when the majority says so.”- Brian Drake(?)
\n
I do not know who Brian Drake is. Please let me know if you have a link that correlates with this quote. Nevertheless, the confusion between freedom and democracy is prevalent in society, so I started here.
\n\n
\n\n“Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner. Liberty is a well armed sheep protesting the vote.” — James Bovard
\n
I know you will hate me if I am the first one to plant the thought in your mind. Please redirect all the frustration and anger toward the original author. There is a link to biographies in the name after each quote.
\nThe concept of democracy, when applied to a small group, sounds egregious. But, I am not even going to plant in your head the seeds of unbearable pain and doubt when you consider tribal societies where gang rapes and female genital mutilation are practiced. Some of those are, in fact, democracies that elect their leaders by simple majority rules.
\n\n
\n\n“Democracy (n.): Government of the sheep, by the shepherds, for the wolves.”–”Lucifer’s Lexicon: The Portable L.A. Rollins”by L. A. Rollins, Chip Smith, et al.
\n
Correctly identifying the sheep, shepherds and wolves, is the challenge, dear reader. Citizens are the sheep, politicians are the shepherds, and donors are the big dire wolves. But, judging from the pathetic IQ level of most politicians, always-on display of stupidity, we better start reading into the excellent manipulation job done by their puppet-masters.
\nThis is the same on both sides of the political spectrum. While we have our personal biases to deal with, once you realize you are being manipulated just as much as everyone else, you will be at least a bit less gullible.
\nNot that it is your power actually to do something about it. Just vote. It is pretty much all you can do. Choose the more innocuous of the candidates. Get yourself rid of the illusion of power and play along. If you don’t vote at all, there is an excellent probability the worse candidates win. You are going to take the pill, either the blue or the red one, at least participate in choosing the color. Good boy!
\n\n
\n\n“Democracy is no solution — it’s just 51% bossing the other 49% around. For God’s sake, Hitler was democratically elected! Democracy is just mob rule dressed up in a coat and tie.” - Doug Casey
\n
\n
\n\n“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” — Winston Churchill
\n
Talking about pills, placing the wrong people in government will kill you. But, regardless of how disillusioned you may be, it can get worse. A lot worse. So take the exercise seriously.
\n\n
\n\n“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter” — Unknown.
\n
Wrongfully attributed to Winston Churchill (Attribution debunked in Langworth’s Churchill by Himself.[28] First known appearance is in a 1992 usenet post).
\nI found this is to be funny as hell. What can I say? I have a twisted sense of humor. I find the concept that a majority of individuals is blessed with wisdom amusing.
\n\n
\n\n“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven. Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
\nDemocracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.” – H.L Mencken
\n
Sometimes our puppet-masters momentarily lose control over the monkeys. In those moments, it does look like the animals are running the circus.
\n\n
\n\n“We talk about democracy as if it’s a safeguard for individual rights… Instead, it’s become our way of intruding on rights, allegedly in the name of that most collectivist of concepts: The Common Good.”–Jonathan David Morris
\n
This one hits me right where it hurts the most. It is a check-mate on individual freedom — the root of everything I despise as a libertarian.
\nCome cry in the corner; I have cookies.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/44/vote.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-13T10:44:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T10:52:03+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/luck-surviving-in-a-pandemic-ravaged-world/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/luck-surviving-in-a-pandemic-ravaged-world/", "title": "Luck Surviving In a Pandemic-Ravaged World.", "summary": "Establishing a new normal. The old one is not coming back anytime soon. Shoutout to Umair haque! He wrote an excellent article on Medium that you can read here: https://eand.co/good-luck-learning-to-live-with-the-pandemic-youre-going-to-need-it-c733b56f1393 While I appreciate his article on the current state of affairs in the pandemic-ravaged world,…", "content_html": "\n
Shoutout to Umair haque! He wrote an excellent article on Medium that you can read here: https://eand.co/good-luck-learning-to-live-with-the-pandemic-youre-going-to-need-it-c733b56f1393
\nWhile I appreciate his article on the current state of affairs in the pandemic-ravaged world, obviously, I very much disliked the message; it’s hard to “like” our current predicament.
\nWe have to find our “new normal”. It may be very different from life before the pandemic; nevertheless, we must reach the proper risk management and actions that meet our needs to live with the problem.
\nDoes that mean vaccines every six months? Are masks not getting out of fashion any time soon? Is social distancing unavoidable? Something even more life-altering must be part of our daily life is on the cards?
\nRegardless of the details, we must find our new normality in a way that meets our needs as social beings. Having a pandemic of depression and suicide is certainly not a solution to dying from a coronavirus. Instead, we have to find a new alternative economy that sustains people. If we do not, people will end up dying from a myriad of problems in our attempt to deal with one cause of death.
\nWhile I wholeheartedly agree with most of the message, there is a time limit for our resistance to abnormal behavior. Extraordinary measures can only last so long before they become ordinary. So yes, we have to live with the virus, which will probably mean we have to accept dying from it. I am not saying people should be reckless. I am saying we have some tough tradeoffs to make.
\nI live in a country (Portugal) with over 90% of the population vaccinated. In addition, people wear masks in indoor spaces. So while we are less worried about the omicron, we keep our eyes open to the possibility of other variants being a bigger problem. In the meantime, we are enjoying seeing each other. We value those moments while we can. We do not know when they will become impossible again.
\nI am 52 years old. My parents are in their 70s — some of my uncles are in their 80s. They want and need to be with their loved ones. They are willing to risk their lives to do so. I have to manage and balance the risk. We all do.
\n\n
Pi-hole ability to block ads “just works”. Browsing the web on any device on your local network becomes faster, and advertisements disappear from web pages. Furthermore, it bypasses the ability of most web pages to detect adblockers, meaning you will stop seeing the annoying requests to disable the blocker.
\nDepending on which lists of URL’s you want to block, you may also use them to prevent links to malware servers, porn, etc. For example, you can look at some of the lists I use and guess what some are blocking besides advertisements.
\nThere are plenty of great lists for use with pi-hole, google around, and you will find them.
\nOnce using pi-hole you will get a pretty good idea of what devices exist on your network and what they are doing. You will probably be surprised with some side-effects, like “adware” games suddenly not showing annoying videos. Appliances (like “smart” TV’s) were calling multiple domains owned by vendors and others I could not even identify.
\nI honestly believe this is useful to any household and dramatically improves the Internet experience. Besides, it makes up for an incredible learning journey for anyone who accepts the challenge, especially if they have no previous Linux experience. You are going to love it.
\n\n
You can install pi-hole on a humble Raspberry Pi home server. However, if you don’t have one already, or it is your first time setting a home server, I recommend a Raspberry pi 400 (the personal computer kit package) that should cost you around $140.
\nThe Raspberry pi 400 computer kit comes with a lovely manual to guide you through your first contact with the operating system (RaspbienOS). Really! A computer with a user manual allows human beings to learn all the basic operations required to maintain and use the device. I know, it’s something taken out of last century’s home computers. In the best possible way!
\nAs an alternative, if you have an old computer lying around, you can also repurpose it as a home Linux Server. Running Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora/CentOS will do just fine for a pi-hole server. Of course, you will need to learn about Linux and replace the Raspberry pi manual with some equally lovely book:
\n“Linux for Beginners: An Introduction to the Linux Operating System and Command Line” by Jason Cannon
\nIt is not the same experience you get with the Raspberry Pi manual, but it will teach you everything you need to know. The author makes no assumptions about prior experience with Linux, which is good, and is easy to follow.
\n\n
You have complete documentation regarding installation and operation on https://docs.pi-hole.net/
\nThe project homepage is located on https://pi-hole.net/
\n\n
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts
\nhttp://sysctl.org/cameleon/hosts
\nhttps://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_tracking.txt
\nhttps://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_ad.txt
\nhttps://gitlab.com/quidsup/notrack-blocklists/raw/master/notrack-blocklist.txt
\nhttps://gitlab.com/quidsup/notrack-blocklists/raw/master/notrack-malware.txt
\nhttps://zerodot1.gitlab.io/CoinBlockerLists/list.txt
\nhttps://zerodot1.gitlab.io/CoinBlockerLists/list_browser.txt
\nhttps://zerodot1.gitlab.io/CoinBlockerLists/list_optional.txt
\nhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/crazy-max/WindowsSpyBlocker/master/data/hosts/spy.txt
\nhttps://smokingwheels.github.io/Pi-hole/allhosts
\n\n\nhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/anudeepND/blacklist/master/adservers.txt
\nhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/FadeMind/hosts.extras/master/UncheckyAds/hosts
\nhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/bigdargon/hostsVN/master/hosts
\nhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdlingyu/ad-wars/master/hosts
\nhttps://phishing.army/download/phishing_army_blocklist_extended.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/phishing-nl.txt
\nhttps://v.firebog.net/hosts/Prigent-Phishing.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/malware-nl.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/ransomware-nl.txt
\nhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/ShadowWhisperer/BlockLists/master/Lists/Malware
\nhttps://curben.gitlab.io/malware-filter/urlhaus-filter-domains.txt
\nhttps://trainax.github.io/PiHoleLists/lists/Misc.txt
\nhttps://trainax.github.io/PiHoleLists/lists/Scam.txt
\nhttps://trainax.github.io/PiHoleLists/lists/Phishing.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/fraud-nl.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/drugs-nl.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/crypto-nl.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/ads-nl.txt
\nhttps://blocklistproject.github.io/Lists/alt-version/abuse-nl.txt
\n\n
\n
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/42/pihole1.png", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Web", "Open Source", "Linux", "Book" ], "date_published": "2022-01-11T13:10:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-14T10:53:36+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-great-american-disaster/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-great-american-disaster/", "title": "The great American disaster", "summary": "A nation on the brink of fascism embracing a cult of personality. When I first heard George W. Bush saying “evolution and creationism” were just two theories a few years back, I should have guessed by then things would not go well if a country…", "content_html": "
\n
When I first heard George W. Bush saying “evolution and creationism” were just two theories a few years back, I should have guessed by then things would not go well if a country placed science and religious fantasies on the table as equally valid propositions.
\nI thought it was some American eccentricity, with a president with the IQ and culture level of a bad twelve-year-old student, not wanting to listen to adults in the room. Although the president of the United States must have advisors, they failed to coach him on that occasion; it sounded funny.
\nFast forward a few years, Americans decided to elect an orange ape-like creature, and populism went into overdrive. Soon enough, there were “good people on both sides” when comparing right-wing extremists to people opposing those views. Are you kidding me? This is not distinguishing right from wrong, moral from immoral behavior. Even the twelve-year-old must have a grasp on what is the difference between right and wrong.
\nThe Covid Pandemic hit while the country looked like it was going into cuckoo’s land, unable even to have a conversation on any given subject. People could not agree on what reality and facts were anymore.
\nWe got a parade of clowns preaching snake-oil treatments, the denial of the obvious consequences that followed some stupid actions (like people self-medicating and dying in the process). If it were not a real tragedy, it would likely be funny.
\nA poorly planned attempted cue is being discussed for a year now. I fear the second try maybe a charm. A third of the country seems to not even care about democracy, precisely the same part of the country that touts the defense of democratic values as the reason for promoting the whole mess.
\nFascism thrives under these conditions. I live in a country ruled by a fascist dictator for 40 years until 1974 (Portugal). It all starts with people accepting a cult of personality, dividing themselves into two groups, and not listening to each other. You are creating a perfect storm — the land of the free, the last remaining super-power, maybe on the verge of destroying itself.
\nI hope you get your act together as a nation and wish you all the best. But, unfortunately, it does not look good, seen from an ocean away.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/41/cult.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-10T10:22:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-10T15:17:36+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/streaming-companies-pushing-consumers-away/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/streaming-companies-pushing-consumers-away/", "title": "Streaming Companies Pushing Consumers Away", "summary": "They can become irrelevant, which is even worse than piracy. I just finished watching “Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 (episode 7)”. It is probably the most “startrekish” 45 minutes created in this new generation of Star Trek, including movies and all TV shows. I loved…", "content_html": "I just finished watching “Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 (episode 7)”. It is probably the most “startrekish” 45 minutes created in this new generation of Star Trek, including movies and all TV shows. I loved it. Great job! Sadly there is no way to watch it legally in Portugal.
\nWe used to legally see “Star Trek: Discovery” episodes on Netflix. But, unfortunately, this is no longer the case. So now the Portuguese need to either use a VPN to appear as consumers in another country, where they can (“sort of legally”) subscribe to some streaming service unavailable in Portugal, or they can Torrent their way out of their current predicament.
\nIn this century, when companies alienate anyone, all they are doing is either losing money or creating an inconvenience to consumers. If anyone wants to see any TV show, they will find it on piracy sites. Having a legal and convenient option is way more attractive to many individuals like me. If you take away the convenience or the lawful means, most individuals will fall back to piracy.
\nWhile I understand companies desire to have their distribution platforms and cut off any middlemen, it is critically vital that your road to that end does not alienate consumers. Right now, you are doing it wrong.
\nIt is as evident to you as it is to me that there is no way every production company will get to have its distribution channel. The bigger ones will survive; others will vanish into history. Consumers will not pay for them all.
\nThe business model may look great on paper, but it is flawed. People will find a way to keep subscribing and unsubscribing to services, rush binge some shows, and move on. In the end, most “streaming” services will just be selling everything much cheaper than they would otherwise be able to do selling seasons and even single episodes on iTunes.
\nAt first glance, I know the “all you can eat buffet” approach may look good to consumers. But that is if you are the exception, not surrounded by competitors doing the same. Consumers will want to subscribe to a single show for a fraction of the price of the whole service. Or for a couple of days.
\nYou can ignore them, making it less convenient to do so, but in the end, consumers will find a way to do what they want. Make it too inconvenient, and people will steal your content, or even worst, ignore your product. I don’t know if you realize that being ignored and irrelevant to consumers is way worse than having a portion of the market not paying for your products.
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The empirical application of moldy bread on wounds started long before the concept of bacterial infection was even understood. There are many historical references to ancient civilizations’ healers using antibiotics.
\nThey did not know about the existence of bacteria, only that after throwing whatever they had handy on wounds, some things anecdotally worked better than others… I am guessing this kitchen-sink approach to medicine killed more people than they saved, but sometimes it worked, and when it did, healers would try the same technique more often.
\nThe first direct documentation on molds to treat infections was by John Parkinson in the 16th century. However, it took four centuries until Alexander Fleming discovered modern-day penicillin (1928).
\nEasy access to antibiotics changed the world. All of a sudden, a lot fewer people died of common infections. Can you imagine a world where every open wound was death threatening? That was pretty much what we had before penicillin. Having a healer applying random stuff on your body that could either save you or be the source of the infection was the only option besides waiting and doing nothing.
\nAntibiotics were massively overused, and some bacteria have evolved resistance to them. Some bacteria, mainly in hospital settings, have resistance to all known antibiotics. That means modern medicine gets medieval once again. We resort to amputation of localized infected limbs or simply wait for a miracle recovery with nothing much we can do besides observing the patients.
\nAntimicrobial resistance is a widespread threat that is no longer a prediction for the future; it is happening right now.
\nUnless we put some serious effort into developing new antibiotics, we are heading into a very different world than the one we currently live in. But, unfortunately, there are no guarantees of success even if we apply resources to the problem.
\nWant to look at the faces of frustrated doctors and dying patients? There is this excellent documentary by PBS — “When Antibiotics Don’t Work”.
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Most antibiotics we currently use are either natural products or derivatives. Scientists are continuously screening nature in a quest for the next batch of antibiotics or products that suppress/reduce antibiotic resistance and antibiotic tolerance in bacteria. Stopping bacterial virulence factors (that allow bacteria to circumvent our body’s defenses) is another possible avenue.
\nWe are losing that race against acquired bacteria-resistant to our currently available solutions. But, unfortunately, we keep reducing the landscape of solutions yet undiscovered by science with our actions that lead to degradation and extinction of natural ecosystems.
\nMonoclonal antibody treatments became well known to many during the Covid pandemic. The generic concept is that we create antibody’s in a different host (like mice) and export them in a cocktail prepared for human consumption. Unfortunately, creating Monoclonal antibody cocktails is not cheap and hard to produce in large quantities since you have to farm the original hosts. Still, it’s a possible avenue that science is exploring.
\nAnother approach to treating antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria is Phage therapy. We are using viruses to infect particular bacteria and kill them. Possible disadvantages of this approach are that we may be opening Pandora’s box; Bacteriophages may have undesired virulence factors or toxic genes in their genomes. In addition, there is a risk of adverse immune responses from our human bodies to treatment. Nevertheless, the use of bacteriophages against pathogens that no longer respond to conventional antibiotics is seen as an attractive last resort despite all the regulatory hurdles and risks since we are running out of options.
\nRNA-based treatment (gene silencing therapy) synthesizes complementary single-stranded antisense RNA (that will insert itself) to the mRNA encoding essential bacterial genes proteins. The aim is to suppress the bacteria genes responsible for antibiotic resistance. It is demoting the super-bugs to lesser versions of themselves.
\nThere is hope in science. But the odds are stacked against us. The economic incentives will undoubtedly play a big part in the outcome, research and development are not cheap, and investments are risky.
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It is written by Timothy Zahn; it is some of the best Star Wars stories ever told, and you knew nothing about it. Well, now we have a movie! A good one!
\nSuppose you have read the books (my favorite spinoffs from the original trilogy). In that case, you know the source material is top-notch. Which, let me tell you, has never been one of Star Wars’ strong points. Most Star Wars scripts range from “average” to “who wrote these lines?”.
\nThe action picks up five years after “the return of the Jedi”!
\nIt is the first book of the Thrawn trilogy (published in May 1991 by Bantam Spectra).
\nHeir to the Empire is also available in audiobook format and comic book miniseries. In addition, a special 20th Anniversary Edition was published by Del Rey.
\nThe books are excellent, and these animation movies are your second best option. Go for it!
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/38/jedi.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Youtube", "Book" ], "date_published": "2022-01-07T10:12:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-07T10:12:53+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/you-need-a-data-backup-plan/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/you-need-a-data-backup-plan/", "title": "You Need a Data Backup Plan!", "summary": "It is not even a debate. Not having them will destroy your soul. I have seen it happen time and time again. Companies going back in time decades, some closing shop, I.T. departments F.U.B.A.R. and peoples lives destroyed. The non-corporate world equivalent is people losing…", "content_html": "It is not even a debate. Not having them will destroy your soul.
\nI have seen it happen time and time again. Companies going back in time decades, some closing shop, I.T. departments F.U.B.A.R. and peoples lives destroyed. The non-corporate world equivalent is people losing their digital archives of irreplaceable digital memories forever; photographs, videos, etc. Gone. Forever.
\nOn good days your focus could not be further away from thinking about losing data. Things are happening. The world is evolving, your systems are working, and the world is your oyster.
\nOn bad days disks fail, data becomes corrupted, you are under attack by some evil hacker organization. Having a well-thought-out backup plan makes your bad days a nuisance, one undesirable change of plan. But, bad as it is, it will not be a catastrophic failure with dire consequences.
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Having a system that replicates data against hardware damage of some of the drives is excellent. You can switch to alternative media in failure scenarios and keep your system operational while replacing faulty hardware. It deals with the integrity and failures of your physical layer (hardware).
\nWhile under attack or dealing with nasty a bug that slowly (but surely) corrupts your data, it is useless. Automation will ensure that the original and the replicated data are corrupted equally. So you will end up with two perfect clones of the problem and no way to get back to a previous version.
\nReplication systems are NOT a backup solution. Instead, they address and deal with a specific use case; hardware failure. You need one immutable, point-in-time backup of critical data that you can revert to.
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Cloud platforms and Virtual Machines have point-in-time backups called Snapshots. They store the differences between data in two points in time, and you can easily navigate to a previous version of your system.
\nYou can usually automate snapshot creation in ways that fit the ever-changing needs of any particular system. Usually, scheduling is tightly related to the speed at which data changes by design, sometimes tied to logical business cycles. Opening and closing the daily activity in a store, catalog updates, price changes, etc.
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There is no safety whatsoever in having incremental backups if they can be destroyed along with the system they are designed to restore. I have seen ransomware attacks that ended up with backup files held hostage along with everything else. An entire building was destroyed by a fire. These things do happen.
\nYou must keep replicas of the incremental backups, updated regularly on a remote location, preferably offline. This way, you know for sure that it is untouched and ready to be used if the need arises.
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I cannot recount how many times I have witnessed puzzled looks on people’s faces when they find out their backups are useless. They simply cannot restore them. When they find out about their predicament, people’s expressions soon turn pale and give way to shock and horror.
\nYou must test the restore procedures (regularly) to ensure they are (and remain) viable and know how long it will take to recover from disaster. That’s where your confidence should come from. Knowing the outcome. Not from the illusion of supposedly having done everything right, only to find out that, in fact, you didn’t.
\nDo the work. You will get the benefits someday, at the same juncture where most people are hit by drama.
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Effective backup plans vary drastically depending on the systems and data they protect. There is no silver bullet solution to fit all systems and problems.
\nThey must answer the following questions:
\nTimelines:
\nPeople:
\nUse and protection:
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Over the years, I have seen too much pain and sorrow over essentially poorly designed or nonexistent backup plans. Don’t be that person that fails. Be better than that.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/37/hd.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-06T15:57:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T15:57:06+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/when-health-authorities-lie-about-a-dangerous-virus/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/when-health-authorities-lie-about-a-dangerous-virus/", "title": "When Health Authorities Lie About A Dangerous Virus", "summary": "How the Portuguese overcame a lousy start fighting the Pandemic In the early day of the Pandemic, the Portuguese authorities made a conscious choice of lying to people. PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) was scarce, namely N95 masks. The need to ensure that medical staff got…", "content_html": "\n
In the early day of the Pandemic, the Portuguese authorities made a conscious choice of lying to people. PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) was scarce, namely N95 masks. The need to ensure that medical staff got whatever was available led them through the slippery slope of making up a story that would convince people not to adequately protect themselves.
\nGovernment officials started building an outlandish narrative that masks were dangerous. People would not know how to properly place them over their mouth and nose, and we all would be better off not using them.
\nSoon, it became apparent to everyone (and their pets) this was an idiotic approach. The narrative then switched to something along the lines of “please leave the available stock of N95 and the blue cotton surgical masks to medical professionals”. Instead, use homemade masks; you can make one at home using whatever materials you got on hand.
\nFinally, when stocks of propper masks got replenished, a few months into the Pandemic, we got our first glimpse of helpful information from authorities. People were at this point required to cover their mouths (and noses) with whatever they managed to buy. For the first time, communication was made cristal clear; homemade masks were close to useless but better than nothing. Cotton blue surgical masks were much better; N95 covers were the best.
\nThis ever-evolving message, from its outlandish beginnings to the factually correct statements, in the end, is a tragedy. Having government officials lying and sugarcoating facts has become the norm, sadly. Having health authorities acting along these lines is lethal. There is no possible excuse for these people’s actions. Regardless of their intention, they are literally killing their citizens.
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To this day, I see people wearing generic homemade masks and generic cloth ones. I wonder how many of these missed the memo that they are close to useless. That is the problem with health authorities not communicating with clear messages based on science and making up stories to serve their circumstances. People actually missed health authorities’ last version of advice on masks.
\nNo one likes wearing masks. People wear them out of a need for protection or regulations imposed on them. Since they are wearing them, it makes no sense to use the worst possible option available to them. Surgical masks are cheaper than most cloth-based ones. I truly believe this group does not have precious information on protection levels provided by different covers against an airborne virus.
\nPeople wearing a mask without covering their noses are beyond pathetic. They convince me that some of us are not that far away from some extinct branch of apes lacking basic survival instincts. It has been one year and a half: You could potty train the stupidest of dogs faster than this.
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The Portuguese government gave control over the vaccination efforts to a career military. Vice-Almirante Gouveia e Melo — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrique_Gouveia_e_Melo — without hiccups and idiotic misinformation messages, made vaccines available to every Portuguese citizen.
\nHe was verbally attacked by anti-vax movements. So, yes, we also have a small and very loud percentage of idiots. But folklore aside, he got over 90% of the country vaccinated. A truly heroic effort and a terrific job that could not be more different from what we got from health authorities.
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Thankfully we did not have political parties casting doubt over vaccines and false treatments; Just Facebook profiting from spreading incorrect information and dividing people, like the rest of the world. It’s their business model, what they do. It’s pure evil. Whatever gets people engaged with the platform is fine for Facebook…
\nAlthough delivering the initial official misinformation from authorities, the broadcast media at least did not add any political twist to the nonsense. So we had, in that regard, better luck than our American and Brazilian counterparts.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/36/vicealm.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-06T15:53:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T15:53:54+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/people-dont-share-enough-gaming-experiences-on-their-cvs/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/people-dont-share-enough-gaming-experiences-on-their-cvs/", "title": "People Don’t Share Enough Gaming Experiences On Their CVs.", "summary": "How multiplayer (e-)sports reveal natural leadership skills and team players. Creating and maintaining a team to play online multiplayer games is challenging. First, you need to gather people who have what it takes to be team players, then you will have to navigate them through…", "content_html": "\n
Creating and maintaining a team to play online multiplayer games is challenging. First, you need to gather people who have what it takes to be team players, then you will have to navigate them through the good and bad times.
\nIt’s all fun and laughter while winning games in the early days when your worst problem is getting some out-of-control egos in check, but things will change with time. It takes authentic leadership to guide everyone through losing streaks and hurting egos.
\nKeeping individuals together without the help of factors external to the game, like paying everyone a salary at the end of each month, just for the sheer delight of being better as team players than playing with random strangers, is an impressive achievement.
\nSome of the best leaders I had the pleasure of meeting in my professional life have a history of being team leaders in games. This is no coincidence.
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People come in with their heads filled with dreams of greatness. It’s no wonder since we have spent most of their youth passing them deceitful messages like anyone can do everything. The truth is achieving excellence takes a lot of hard work, and some people were born with better skills than others. Not everyone can fit in the team, not everyone has what it takes to be a leader, and even the best of us need help from time to time.
\nMutual help goes a long way towards getting the best out of each team member. But, unfortunately, only real team players can contribute in the worst of times; most people soon find themselves in the trap of believing their teammates are dragging them down. Surely, it is not their fault; they are not the ones failing. Mama always said they were terrific; who are these people to tell him otherwise? They will drop out of the team at the first bump on the road.
\nWho do you want by your side in either a gaming or professional scenario? The team players or self-centered individuals? It’s a rhetorical question; we all know the answer.
\nIdentifying team players over short conversations and correctly confirming them over time is skill gamers develop naturally. Another critical skill is finding where they fit in the team. Are they leaders? Are they shot-callers? Or are they much more comfortable and efficient at specific tasks and enjoy the benefits of having good leadership?
\nAll these are tremendously beneficial for them in their professional life. As a result, I find myself digging deeper into candidates’ gaming history. What games they played, their perspective on the teams they participated in. Who leads whom. What were they good at. How long did that group stay together?
\nWhat sometimes appears in their hobbies information turns out to be crucial at better defining their personality. For example, I always value team (e-)sports.
\nThe classic CVs give me a particular set of information; when talking to candidates, I am always focused on personal traits, on evaluating how they fit into a team environment.
\n\n
Even before having my own company, as an employee at “Esoterica”, we spent many hours playing games like Netrek (1988) and later “Quake”. I was just having fun and relaxing after business hours. I had no awareness of how playing games was creating bonds among everyone. How it was helping us be better as a team.
\nIt is no joke. As I became aware of the importance of these team-building activities, I promoted playing games at the office for many years as the owner and manager of my own company. As a result, the office was opened on weekends, and employees were free to invite their friends to come over and play.
\nThis was in the late 90s when RTS games were all the hype. First, “Red Alert” (1995) and “Starcraft” (1996) were the most played. Then, a few years later, “counter-strike” (1999) became one of the favorites.
\nI have seen future team leaders emerge from these sessions. I have seen people extending a hand to players that were having a hard time playing at the same level. I had seen people winning gracefully and being a good sport when they lost. I cannot understate how valuable this information was over the years. How much faster I got to know the people I worked with.
\nIt is not much of a secret that the best team players in our games sessions were precisely the same in our working teams. The players who helped others improve their game helped others when real-world work problems appeared.
\nYou will probably want to hear about those fantastic achievements in World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and other multiplayer games or sports in your job interviews. You will learn a lot about a person just by listening to its own recollection of what it means to belong to a team.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/35/gamer.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-06T15:50:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T15:50:36+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/cobra-kai-netflix-season-4-is-great/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/cobra-kai-netflix-season-4-is-great/", "title": "Cobra Kai (Netflix) season 4 is great!", "summary": "Cobra Kai (Netflix) is as addictive as it gets! I love it. The fourth season on Netflix is an excellent bridge to an epic fifth season. You will love the story development and will be hungry for more. Cobra Kai is a follow-up series to…", "content_html": "
\n
The fourth season on Netflix is an excellent bridge to an epic fifth season. You will love the story development and will be hungry for more.
\nCobra Kai is a follow-up series to the Karate kid films. There is a considerable shift in perspective; you will learn more about two-dimensional characters that gain a third dimension in the series format.
\nIn addition, some of the villains become heroes, while previously picture-perfect heroes become human. Finally, a new set of troubled teenage cast members is brought in. However, it maintains the whole spirit of the original movies intact.
\nThe Karate Kid sequel show started on YouTube Red (seasons 1 and 2) and later continued on Netflix (seasons 3 and 4). It was already renewed for a fifth season that already wrapped up filming. So we should get it sometime in 2022.
\n\n
Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang Karate attempt to beat Cobra Kai at the All Valley Tournament. Old rivals must find some common ground and work together. Easier said than done; a roller coaster of emotions lasts all season.
\nNot spoiling anything, and solely based on what you already know from season 3, this is the road to the tournament and the climax, just like in the first and third movies, is the competition matches. However, the series is not set on closing threads, unlike the movies. It will open quite a few, in fact, for a season 5.
\nI really liked it. Great acting. Teenagers-oriented scriptwriting gets this 52-year-old glued to the screen, binging the entire series in one day.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/34/karate.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion", "NETFLIX" ], "date_published": "2022-01-06T15:48:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T15:48:33+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/internal-business-meetings-101/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/internal-business-meetings-101/", "title": "Internal Business Meetings 101", "summary": "Introspectiveness, listening, and ensuring the best ideas win! To get the most out of Internal business meetings, you need to know yourself, have the discipline to listen and calmly deliver your ideas, correctly evaluate what added value you bring to the table and stay on…", "content_html": "To get the most out of Internal business meetings, you need to know yourself, have the discipline to listen and calmly deliver your ideas, correctly evaluate what added value you bring to the table and stay on track with the meeting objectives. Sounds obvious? Probably. Try evaluating participants performance, including yours, in your next meeting; you may be surprised. I know I was…
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You likely have some excellent skills, have studied hard, and have plenty of experience in your area of expertise, and your presence at the table is fully merited and justified. But please, indulge me, read the following two links, and take a good long hard look in the mirror.
\nThe “dunning-kruger effect” also affects intelligent and competent people, especially when they wondering on the edges of their area of expertise and obviously when they go beyond it.
\nInsecurity, uncertainty and doubt, and different manifestations of the imposter syndrome are visible all the time in the most brilliant people I have ever met.
\nKnowing yourself is perhaps the most underestimated skill most people seem to lack. It is somewhat easier to go through life without a mirror. When organizations ask employees to evaluate themselves and the people they work with, it is evident that some people have a hard time looking at the mirror and describing what they see. It seems easier to focus on what they did or did not accomplish when evaluating others instead of their personality traits. Everyone feels a lot more comfortable discussing results and metrics.
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Realy listening to others, thinking about what is being said, the choice of words, and the message they are attempting to convey. It’s a tricky skill to master when you are young and inexperienced. However, acquiring it usually becomes easier with experience.
\nDon’t be eager for the spotlight. Pay attention. Take (mental) notes, see if their message is getting through to others. If you don’t understand something, don’t be afraid to ask questions; getting the message across is precisely what they want to achieve and the reason they are talking in the first place.
\nIf you know yourself, you have nothing to fear about being the idiot in the room. On the contrary, your confidence (being humble) to wear that particular hat will be appreciated by everyone present.
\nTry not to interrupt whoever is speaking and wait your turn. Do not feel the pressure to add something to what others have already said. If you have something to say that adds value to what has already been said, great, go ahead and say it. If you don’t, compliment your colleagues on the fantastic job they just did and the ideas they have brought to the table.
\nLess experienced people will attempt to make the most of their seconds in the spotlight. They are eager to show how brilliant they are and get the recognition they are craving.
\nOn occasion, it’s up to you to talk. Take a deep breath, don’t rush; take the time to breathe between sentences. As you deliver information, you will be thankful for not being interrupted. The occasional question that helps clarify some obscure issue in your explanation will help you get the message through.
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I have owned a company for over two decades. Every person I hired is better than me at something, has the potential to be, or has know-how that I do not have and consider valuable. The same applies to my current job.
\nI want to listen carefully to these magnificently talented and knowledgeable individuals. So I have to pay attention to every single word they have to say. I am learning new information, forming an informed opinion, and contributing to solving whatever problem is on the table. The meta objective is always the same: the best ideas must prevail.
\nThe worst thing that happens in meetings I attend (thankfully, rarely) is that people go on ego trips, holding on to their ideas, unable to embrace contributions from others. Fortunately, I am (mostly) surrounded by humble, hard-working geniuses with a sense of humor. As a result, most of my occasions are memorable.
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Dig Dug (by Nanco, 1981) is one of my favorite arcade games ever. I own a copy of it on every conceivable platform and have played it consistently for three decades.
\nTo say video games had a positive influence on my life is the understatement of the century. Thanks to these classic masterpieces, I got an interest in computer science. I wanted to understand the magic behind all that fun I was having.
\nIn my late teenage years, I wrote a Commodore Amiga game (Total War), followed by a few “BBS door games” (multiplayer games you played while connected to a Bulletin Board Service). Writing those games got me my first “real job” as a SysOp at the biggest BBS in Portugal, “Visus BBS”.
\nA few years down the line, I wrote a full-blown commercial game, “SudoKu Live”, distributed in-store shelves all over North America and Canada by Games Mill Publishing.
\nWriting games, even half-baked ones, written in 24-hour marathons, is something I have been doing all my life.
\nBack to Dig Dug…
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You control Taizo Hori, the smurf look-a-like blue hero character, dressed in white and armed with a pump capable of inflating enemies until they burst like balloons. Only you, the mighty hero, can dig through the dirt, and when your clear it from below rocks, they will fall and kill whatever is in their way.
\nYou have two enemies: Pookas, red round creatures with large yellow goggles, and Fygars, the horizontal fire-breathing green dragons. While they cannot dig, they can slowly transverse the dirt in ghost form.
\nYou need to kill every enemy to finish each level, either by dropping rocks on top of them or inflating them until they explode. The last one standing among these pesky creatures will always try to escape to the top left corner of the screen instead of facing you; the coward is worth some points, have that in mind if you want to extract every possible score from each level.
\nThere is a big bonus for killing multiple enemies with rocks and inflating and bursting them in the lower ground. Bursting green dragons horizontally while avoiding the fire they expel is also worth double points.
\nThe number of enemies and their speed increase every time you finish a level. It’s originally an Arcade game; the aim was to get some coins out of you. As far as my teenager wallet was concerned, it was very successful.
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It is a one-hit-wonder in game design by Masahisa Ikegami with some help from Shigeru Yokoyama (the creator of Galaga and many more classics from the era). Programing credits go to Shouichi Fukatani and Toshio Sakai. The excellent music and game character moving sounds were composed by Yuriko Keino.
\nThe game was incredibly successful; back in the 80s, it was the second-highest-grossing arcade game in Japan, and it is still sold today on every modern game platform on the market.
\nA masterpiece you must check out. Play it now, and thank me later!
\nYou can find games I wrote in itch.io — from my own version of the arcade game “Frogger”, remakes of of Game & Watch titles like “Fire!” and “Octopus”, to “Total War” (Amiga) and a cut-down version of “Sudoku live” without the multiplayer components (there are no servers anymore). There are more in https://plaureano.itch.io/ if you are curious.
\nNo, I did not write a Dig Dug version of my own. It is perfect as it is. I don’t want to mess with perfection. Others have tried and failed over the years.
\nThere are Windows, MacOS and Linux versions for most of the games. Have fun!
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/32/digdug.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Windows", "Opinion", "Mac", "Linux", "Game" ], "date_published": "2022-01-06T15:42:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T15:42:08+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/dont-look-up-netflix-left-a-sour-taste-in-my-mouth/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/dont-look-up-netflix-left-a-sour-taste-in-my-mouth/", "title": "“Don’t Look Up” (Netflix) Left a Sour Taste in My Mouth…", "summary": "The sarcastic view of America felt too close to reality. Ten years ago, if the movie existed, I would tell you I disliked American society’s dystopian view. It would feel unrealistic, an exaggeration that went way too far, and it could never get this crazy.", "content_html": "Ten years ago, if the movie existed, I would tell you I disliked American society’s dystopian view. It would feel unrealistic, an exaggeration that went way too far, and it could never get this crazy. My issue with the movie is that it’s pretty realistic, punctual exaggeration notwithstanding, which bothers me; a lot.
\nI understand why so many top-tier actors accepted to participate in this one. But, unfortunately, I can instantly hear in my mind the voices from the right-wing arguing that it is left-wing propaganda. It is meant to pass a political message and be entertaining while at it, but I think it fails on both fronts.
\nI honestly believe the craziness would vanish instantly if American society faced a common enemy of such biblical proportions. History shows us that. Even with some of the most idiotic politicians ever, and fractured society, they will rise to meet the challenge when the need arises. This movie casts some doubt in my idealistic views; that is why it bothers me so much.
\nSince I am talking so much about a movie, let me “review” the film itself: high production values, great acting, average screenplay, dark humor I find disturbing and not funny.
\nI am a European. I do not live in America. So I can only hope the divisiveness is inaccurate or not so prevalent. But, from an ocean away, it does not look good. At all.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/31/meteor.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2022-01-06T15:39:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T15:39:02+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/if-the-pandemic-becomes-endemic-we-must-adapt/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/if-the-pandemic-becomes-endemic-we-must-adapt/", "title": "If The Pandemic Becomes Endemic, We Must Adapt", "summary": "We are social beings; we need to touch each other and socialize. I am a huge fan of Jessica Wildfire writings. She lives in a southern state in the US and frequently writes (a lot) about her views on the Pandemic. While realistic and a pleasure…", "content_html": "I am a huge fan of Jessica Wildfire writings. She lives in a southern state in the US and frequently writes (a lot) about her views on the Pandemic. While realistic and a pleasure to read, I find her circumstances disturbing.
\nI am Portuguese, and I live in Portugal. We have a full vaccination rate of over 90% of the population. https://timetoherd.com/
\nThere is no lack of testing facilities or self-tests. The government provides up to six free tests to everyone monthly. In addition, personal protection equipment, like masks, is readily available everywhere.
\nWhile we are looking at record numbers infection rates, the highest since the pandemic started, the vast majority of the population does not need hospital treatment to get through it. So we are monitoring the problem, focusing on the number of people in Hospitals and ICU beds, not so much on the infection rates. Most infected people are either asymptomatic or have very mild diseases.
\nWe are facing a high probability of Covid turning into an endemic problem. As a result, we will have to learn to live with it, probably for the rest of our lives. In all likelihood, like with the common flu, we will all be infected by the virus at some point.
\nI am starting to get my everyday pre-pandemic social life back on track. However, I am not exactly a party animal, being 52 years old, married with no kids. I like to have family or a couple of friends at the house weekly and on special occasions.
\nI am planning the new year party and had three small(er than usual) Christmas meals with family.
\nFinally, and getting to the point, we are social beings. We need other people. We need to feel them, touch each other, read facial expressions, hear voices coming out of their mouths and not computer (or cellphone) speakers. If our bodies are as equipped to deal with the virus as possible, if everyone is fully vaccinated and tested before each gathering, I believe we should do it.
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“There is no point in arguing and showing facts, and nothing will convince them at this point.” — I am not saying you are wrong. It’s your opinion, and you are entitled to have one. But, while I have a different perspective, I hope you are right. For your sake, since you are the one that will have to live with the consequences or, worst, die from them.
\nSee what happened there? It’s all about them — their perspective. You just casually stated you have your own perspective on the subject, did not in any way imply it was the correct one, or even state what it was.
\nIf someone is not interested in your views, keep them to yourself. No matter how right you think you are, or how good you feel about spreading your formula for a better outcome. How do I say this politely and gently? Shut up! Be quiet. You have done all you can at this point.
\nSometimes. Mainly depending on how empathic you were, people will take the bait and show some curiosity on that different perspective of yours. While that sounds like a good thing if you are eager to share your views, educate others, and put them in line. In reality, most people obnoxiously fail miserably as they step in round two in the conversation. And lose every single point they had previously scored in the first round.
\nIf you clearly state your views on the subject, you will see them back away further and further into their shells. So, I say that I had my doubts, just like them, indeed, and ended up following the opposite track. I am sure they can figure it out; I don’t want to preach. I genuinely hope they change their views because (I believe) they are hazardous to them, but I don’t want to push them in any direction. I wish them all the best and will be on my way.
\nNo one likes losing an argument — no one likes being wrong. So why do you believe placing anyone in such a position is the best way to change their mind? Plant the right seeds and let them take them home. Be kind and loving. Learn to live with the fact that there is no way back from crazy land for some people.
\nYou did your best… there is no point in harming the Lemmings’ feelings, and you can’t save them all.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/28/lemmings2.gif", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2021-12-29T12:14:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2021-12-29T12:14:49+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/bad-things-happen-to-good-people-good-things-happen-to-bad-people/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/bad-things-happen-to-good-people-good-things-happen-to-bad-people/", "title": "Bad Things Happen to Good People; Good Things Happen to Bad People", "summary": "Just-world hypothesis; we want to believe life is fair and that our morals determine outcomes. I know I won’t break your heart on this one and that we have seen it happen. “Gaby is such an amazing individual; how could it happen to her; she…", "content_html": "Just-world hypothesis; we want to believe life is fair and that our morals determine outcomes.
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I know I won’t break your heart on this one and that we have seen it happen.
\n“Gaby is such an amazing individual; how could it happen to her; she must have bad karma.”
\nAccording to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
\nThe concept of “Karma” was adopted outside Hinduism and Buddhism and into popular culture. We need to justify somehow something awful happening to good people that did not deserve it. The unfairness drives people to grab on to something. Whatever. Can I borrow something from your religion for a second now? I need it, thank you so much.
\nIn Christianity, God has a plan. But, we don’t exactly know what it is or “Why” such a seemingly terrible plan exists at all, but the point is that we should accept it. That is what it is. God works in mysterious ways.
\nLiving in a world where a pandemic kills people left and right, I cannot understand how these concepts comfort people that lose their loved ones. I am glad they somehow do, but I cannot figure out why.
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Risk assessment and management are crucial to having something that remotely looks like our previous social life. Before the dark days, before the pandemic engulfed us.
\nI had three Christmas parties this year. My parents divorced in my early teens, and I married 20 (something) years ago. I hope my wife skips this one, or I may be in trouble (albeit I will probably get out of it unscathed; risk assessment and management already). So Christmas eve lunch is with my mother, dinner with the wife side of the family, and on Christmas day, it’s the father side for lunch.
\nIn each get-together, everyone was fully vaccinated/boosted and tested. The arrangement was that if anyone, including kids, had any symptoms of Covid, or a cold, we would cancel the event.
\nOn Christmas day lunch, I felt the risk was higher, there were a couple of really young nephews present, so my wife and I wore a mask the whole time. Not pleasant, but none of us is interested in lowering our guard.
\nI am throwing a karaoke party for New Year's Eve, inviting three other couples, and planning to have a ton of fun. Safely. Using infrared heaters (those heat people, not the air around them) on an outdoor space (an open garage) is a good option.
\nYou can read about the Karaoke setup (using Ultrastar Deluxe with all my favorite music) here.
\nThe whole point is that we are social beings. We need to socialize. We have to deal with the pandemic and learn how to have our psychological needs met safely.
\nIf you are fully vaccinated, it is not so much a matter of life and death at this point. It is more a matter of managing the risk of either being sick from Covid or clinical depression. I have not gotten Covid yet. I want to avoid having it as much as possible. However, I believe it will become endemic, and the likelihood of avoiding it will be similar to preventing the common flu.
\nI am not a doctor; my evaluation of our circumstances may be tragically wrong, so please talk to your MD about the subject.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/26/ultra2.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2021-12-28T10:21:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2021-12-28T10:21:22+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-need-to-karaoke-and-safely-have-fun-with-friends/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/the-need-to-karaoke-and-safely-have-fun-with-friends/", "title": "The Need to Karaoke, And Safely Have Fun With Friends", "summary": "Create your own karaoke setup with every single song you love! Music games are my favorite when it comes to hosting a party. “Singstar”, “Guitar Hero”, and “Rock Band” ruled my new year’s parties in the last few years. So you are ready to rock…", "content_html": "
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Music games are my favorite when it comes to hosting a party. “Singstar”, “Guitar Hero”, and “Rock Band” ruled my new year’s parties in the last few years. So you are ready to rock if you have a games console with some (or all) of these party crackers. It was fun in the past few years and still makes a great party today.
\nThe music stores for these games are long gone. They closed a few years ago. So you are stuck with the music selection you find in the original games CDs and what you bought and downloaded at the time.
\nThe latest “Guitar hero” and Rock band” releases add to the singing karaoke experience by providing oddly rewarding playing plastic instruments. Drums are by a long shot the most impressive and realistic to play; the guitars and bass, while a lot of fun, are as unrealistic as you can get. Unfortunately, you will have a hard time finding any of these instruments for sale these days.
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If you do not have a game console or have a poor selection of tracks, there is a do-it-yourself approach with Ultrastar on a (Windows, Mac, or Linux) computer. It is free and open source, and it is called “Ultrastar Deluxe”: https://usdx.eu/
\nThere is no official store; it comes with no licensed music. So you have to either prepare each track yourself or download it from the Internet.
\nThe first approach is a lot of hard work but immensely rewarding since you end up with every music track you love and want to sing. Each track needs:
\nAll the hard work goes into the first item on the list. You can buy or rip from music CDs, get videos from your favorite supplier, and the image should be easy to acquire. There are excellent guides on the Internet like https://littlecapecod.blogspot.com/2018/06/creating-ultrastar-deluxe-song-part-i.html
\nBuilding your library for “Ultrastar Deluxe” is extremely rewarding. It’s the IKEA effect in action. You get a higher emotional connection to things you build yourself, and you end up with a karaoke machine with your all favorite songs and artists.
\nDownloading music has the instant gratification factor, but you only get the music tracks that you can find. The legality of this approach may seem questionable, but if you own that music and the video (both are likely for sale at iTunes for every track), it sure is legal to use the music tracks you previously bought. A good starting point would probably be the https://ultrastar-es.org/en website.
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Everyone should be vaccinated/boosted and tested to attend. In addition, you should avoid indoor spaces with poor air circulation. Outdoor areas are preferable for these activities. Outdoor heaters are a great option on cold days; people have the freedom to dance and can sing their hearts out in relative safety.
\nHave fun. Be careful. Properly evaluate risk and keep your sanity.
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To understand how unbelievably shockingly high this number is, you must compare it to other developed countries.
\nEastern European countries have close to 200 (for 100.000 inhabitants). Most Western European countries are below the 100 mark. For example, Norway has 49 people incarcerated by 100.000 inhabitants.
\nEven outside Europe, most 1st world countries have shockingly low numbers compared to America. As an example, Japan has 35 people by 100.000.
\nThe top 25 countries ordered by incarceration rates by 100.000 inhabitants:
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How can the country with the best education system globally and the wealthiest of all nations (GDP) fail so badly?
\nGDP rank: https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-gdp
\nEducation rank: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country
\nThe US is nowhere near having a top crime rate (56th highest) when compared to other nations: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rate-by-country
\nI cannot feather how this is justifiable; it looks insane to my European eyes. Are you putting individuals in jail for what should be minor fines or community service? You do know that is a sure way to turn them into real criminals, right?
\nYou are doing it wrong, and you know it! Get your act together.
\n", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/24/love-from-jail.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2021-12-26T16:53:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2021-12-26T16:53:25+00:00" }, { "id": "https://pls.plaureano.com/christmas-with-an-heroin-addict/", "url": "https://pls.plaureano.com/christmas-with-an-heroin-addict/", "title": "Christmas With An Heroin Addict", "summary": "I had one of my best Christmas listening to him... Nikki Sixx is an incredibly talented songwriter, author, and photographer. From its songwriting credits, you probably heard at least a couple of Mötley Crüe songs. I grew up listening to them; however, my favorite songs…", "content_html": "
Nikki Sixx is an incredibly talented songwriter, author, and photographer. From its songwriting credits, you probably heard at least a couple of Mötley Crüe songs. I grew up listening to them; however, my favorite songs are the ones he wrote for the SIXX:A.M. band.
\nSIXX:A.M. was formed in 2007 by Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba, and James Michael. Their first album is the soundtrack to Nikki’s bestselling book “The Heroin Diaries”.
\nThe book is Nikki Sixx’s diary, detailing a year in the life of a shattered rock star. It starts at Christmas, with him waking up with a needle in his arm. It’s an epic page-turner.
\nI read it in one sitting. That’s how good it is.
\nEven better is the audiobook version, narrated by Nikii Sixx himself. His voice adds to the book. Hearing him reading the exact text you find in the book brings a whole new level of emotion.
\nDo yourself a favor and listen (or read it). The book is available from all popular book stores and the audiobook from all major suppliers.
\nReferences:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Sixx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixx%3AA.M.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heroin_Diaries:_A_Year_in_the_Life_of_a_Shattered_Rock_Star
The “how to get rich” on some “platform” (Youtube, podcast, Medium) articles sure seem pretty lucrative.
\nLooking at the sheer number of people pumping out the content on the subject, we can safely assume that apparently, people that “made it” are incredibly generous about spreading the success formula.
\nNot one of these content creators seems remotely worried about increasing the competition. Something that would indeed happen if everyone made it to the top. They want to help you, dear stranger, take a piece of the pie they are eating.
\nIt looks like a gold rush where every miner is willing to show where to dig to everyone else. Does something sound weird about the concept?
\nTake a step back, just for a few seconds. Then, think about what happens to these individual content creators’ income if everyone repeats their exact success formula.
\nI sincerely believe that some people are genuinely altruistic. The sheer amount of helpful advice they give away is spectacular. But, unfortunately, it is a bit harder for me to distinguish the ones that are being confessional about their journeys from others that are simply suffering from a lack of new ideas.
\nThis is not an accusation. On the contrary, I am very thankful to see people willing to help me and others as we start our journeys. But I must admit I find it odd and tiresome to see the same content in a thousand articles about the medium algorithms. Should we, the platform users, repeat ourselves this often?
\nWouldn’t it be more productive to create a single non-monetized article in everyone’s profile to the best reference (and original) articles on a particular nuance on how to make it big?
\nSomething like, here is the best article on “how regularly should you publish” by “this person”. Then, we would be rewarding the best among us, not incentivizing plagiarism, not polluting our feeds with the same article rewritten ad nauseam stating the same thing with a slightly different combination of words.
\nWhen one of us, Medium users, comes out with an excellent piece on a subject, we should give him credit. Likewise, we should aspire to be credited to our original work one day. The best way to help our readers achieve the success they crave is by setting and showing a good example. Certainly not by plagiarizing our heroes by creating infinite echoes of their original message.
\nIt’s Christmas. Merry Christmas. Let’s share the love, not others content and ideas as our own.
", "image": "https://pls.plaureano.com/media/posts/22/diggers.jpeg", "author": { "name": "Paulo Laureano" }, "tags": [ "Opinion" ], "date_published": "2021-12-25T12:54:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2021-12-26T13:00:48+00:00" } ] }