Saturday 27th April, 2024 - Space, Blogging, & Bitcoin (Issue #161)
Linux on the ISS, exploring the dream modern blogging platform, Bitcoin economics & privacy, the Bitcoin halving, investigating the strange world of the moon landings
Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
Another season 2 instalment…
What a week it’s been. I wasn’t sure I’d actually make it, but I’m here, still able to stand, still online, still putting together the newsletter. Another great collection of even greater podcasts this week.
I’ve been completely blocked on development work because I ran out of build minutes. This month was exacerbated by deploy times for my static site generator mysteriously doubling. Thousands of files are showing up as new on each build, even though I’m just adding a few posts. I’ll hopefully get to the bottom of the problem once build minutes reset in a few days.
I’ve still been blogging and posting notes and links, but publishing them has been stuck. I’ve actually been really getting into the swing of things as far as blogging is concerned, writing 8 posts, though I’ve only been able to publish 5 of them before running out of build minutes:
Raoul Pal on the baby boomer savings complex https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/04/20/raoul-pal-on-the-baby-boomer-savings-complex
Cory Doctorow on the origins of capitalism https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/04/21/cory-doctorow-on-the-origins-of-capitalism
The blogging virtuous circle https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/04/21/the-blogging-virtuous-circle
Investigating long Netlify deploy times https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/04/22/investigating-long-netlify-deploy-times
It can take a long time https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/04/22/it-can-take-a-long-time
Check back in a few days for the rest. Also checkout the links and notes pages:
https://markjgsmith.com/links
https://markjgsmith.com/notes
I’ll keep the intro short this week before I run out of energy and fall over. Need to conserve energy.
Here are the podcasts:
Podcasts
Linux is Bigger in Texas #Ep559 (Linux Unplugged Podcast) - There’s a bunch of good Linux based content in this episode including the move to rollout Linux in some German government offices, and also a really neat segment about Linux and tech in general on the International Space Station (ISS). https://linuxunplugged.com/559
Matt Haughey on a Phantasy Blogging Setup Ep#612 (Shop Talk Show Podcast) - Matt was deeply involved in the early days of Metafilter, perhaps built the first blog commenting system. In this episode they explore his ideas outlined in his blog post about an imaginary blogging platform that would take the best of current systems but improve on the writing experience, aiming to integrate more seamlessly with social media platforms. Lots of great ideas on how to modernise blogging. https://shoptalkshow.com/612
The Economics of Bitcoin with Lynn Alden, Preston Pysh, Allen Farrington, Max Hillebrand (What Bitcoin Did Podcast) - Live panel from the Cheatcode conference in Bedford. Loads of great Bitcoin fundamentals, including a framing of the current monetary system by Max that highlights how bad things have become. https://www.whatbitcoindid.com/podcast/the-economics-of-bitcoin
The Business of Football and Bitcoin #Ep179 (We Study Billionaires - Bitcoin Fundamentals Podcast) - Rare interview of Peter McCormack where he goes deep into his football project that he mentions often on his podcast. It’s a fascinating episode that opens a window on how to meld Bitcoin into your business ventures, but also how complicated managing a football club can become. The big takeaway for me was how many different time horizons you have to be running and meticulously planning in parallel in order to be a top performer and achieve a massive vision of bringing a team from the small leagues all the way to the premiership. Some really great insight into how to execute a multi-decade plan. https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/the-business-of-football-and-bitcoin-peter-mccormack
Bitcoin Halving (Crypto Voices Podcast) - Great general Bitcoin discussion focussed on the Bitcoin Halving, with really great data and graphs, which is his speciality. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9kOGRlY2YzYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ODliZGVmN2UtM2Y1MC00ZjhmLTk3MzEtNzBiMDFhZDI1YTM1?sa=X&ved=0CAQQ8qgGahcKEwjg8tPt--CFAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLw
Navalny, Russia and Bitcoin with Anna Chekovich CD127 (Citadel Dispatch Podcast) - Interesting interview with a Russian activist, covering real world examples of how Bitcoin can help regular people in difficult situations. This might be some of the best software user feedback I’ve ever heard. Definitely a must listen for any Bitcoin developers, but you’ll no doubt find it interesting whatever software you develop. Filled in many gaps I had around Bitcoin privacy. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9zZXJ2ZS5wb2Rob21lLmZtL3Jzcy9jOTBlNjA5YS1kZjFlLTU5NmEtYmQ1ZS01N2JjYzhhYWQ2Y2M/episode/MzI2Zjc0NjQtNjZmMy00YmFlLTlmNDctMTU1NzNmMTg2ZmU1?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjg8tPt--CFAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQSw
Bart Sibrel Ep#2141 (Jo Rogan Podcast) - A frank discussion about the moon landings and whether they happened or not. Bart has explored this very tricky part of culture for many decades, having made several documentaries. There was a load of very interesting information. I wouldn’t say I’m convinced, but I have an open mind to it. It’s such a fundamental pilar to our modern world, I hadn’t appreciated that, I’m not sure I’d ever be able to fully accept they were fake. That’s super weird to think about because there’s a lot of very sketchy stuff that appears to have happened. Also bizarrely synchronous with some events in my life this week. The truth is big things can and are faked. I see examples of it here all the time. For some people it’s a way of life. They are as good at faking things as you are at programming computers. It’s a really strange world and we are all starting to discover some of the parts that have until now been in the shadows. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9qb2Vyb2dhbmV4cC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw/episode/NTBiODc1MzgtMDJiNS0xMWVmLTk3OGEtNzNmNTRkODBmZDUw?sa=X&ved=0CAQQkfYCahgKEwjg8tPt--CFAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQ9wE
That’s all from me…
Best reguards,
Mark
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Have a great weekend and a fantastic next week!