Alumnus here. I was a student back in the days of this wonderful scam.
It it fitting that this scam has re-emerged in the sunset era of our UConn email, to serve as a final ode to those accounts.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
The Bitcoin Magazine INSCRIBES its own Front & Back cover onto the BRC-20 Chain using Novel Recursive Inscription
The Bitcoin Magazine INSCRIBES its own Front & Back cover onto the BRC-20 Chain using Novel Recursive Inscription
The oldest, most established Bitcoin newsletter
Note: I made a previous post regarding this exact same thing on r/brc20, check out the original here
Aug 31st, 2023,
The Bitcoin Magazine, one of the most established & oldest crypto newsletters dedicated to Bitcoin, inscribed its own Front & Back cover as an NFT on the BRC-20 Blockchain. While the means to use Ordinal Inscriptions to add NFTs onto the Bitcoin Blockchain is nothing new among developers & traders alike, what makes this whole event newsworthy is the fact that it was the first ever use of recursive ordinal inscription by a mainstream, well-established crypto organization.
What is Recursive Ordinal Inscription?
A novel new technique for inscribing content onto the Bitcoin network that promises lower mining fees and network congestion. Due to its novelty, a plethora of unique recursive inscription methods could exist all over the BRC-20 space, and many more could come as Ordinals make a return to the forefront of Blockchain news.
What could the future hold for Bitcoin & the BRC-20? Only time will tell...
What could this mean for Bitcoin & the BRC-20 Standard?
As recent as May 2023, Ordinals took the NFT marketplace by storm, going so far as to congest the entire Bitcoin Blockchain, raising mining fees to deflationary levels way ahead of Bitcoin's own programmed deflation (i.e. halvings, 21 million hard cap, etc.). With as many as 72,328 inscriptions on a single day, Sunday, April 2nd, and a marketcap of $4.3 million USD (a 128% increase at the time), it's no wonder the mining fees jumped so high to incentivize miners' continued work in the system.
Unfortunately, hyped died down shortly after due to the very same mining fees that signaled its historic rise to prominence. Now this can change, thanks to recursive inscription and newfound innovation in the BRC-20 Network. With plenty of fresh, disruptive ideas, techniques and projects (i.e. STX, a smart contract protocol network built for DeFi on BRC-20, HSAC, Bitcoin's first ever attention token, UniSat, an open source Chrome browser extension for Bitcoin Ordinals & BRC-20 coins functioning similar to Metamask) there is much potential in the Bitcoin Ordinals community.
Like any disruptive industry, only time will tell if she takes off or stays grounded... but in Blockchain, a community built on disrupting old financial systems, methods of business and security, it's adapt or die, a dog-eat-cat world if you will. It will be wise for all those involved and not-involved to keep an eye on the latest developments in this growing space.
Read more here: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-magazine-print-cover-recursive-ordinal-inscription
Shot in the Dark [13]
SHOT IN THE DARK [13]
Thank you u/spacepaladin15 for creating such a wonderful universe.
Chapter 13: Welcome to the future old man.
Memory transcript: Varek, un-retired General of Venlil Space Corps.
Date: [Standardized human time] October 22nd , 2136
Seeing my granddaughter safe and getting taken care of, reassured me that getting out of retirement was a good move.
I could see that what she went through changed her, having a first glance i think for the better.
From the report I had and the way she acted I think she grew her claws at last.
Or at least a bit.
But now I had to deal with the 3 predators who were constantly nagging me with their demands.
Apparently they were done with their toy and demanded I meet them to finish my side of the deal.
The things you do for your family…
--------
The shuttle flight was short, though the fact we were meeting in some remote location in the middle of nowhere, and the instructions they gave me how to fly and get there undetected, reminded me of a few memories from my old work.
They might be predators but they are not as stupid in their tactics as the Arxur, that’s for sure.
“Ahh General! I’m glad you could make it so fast. How’s your granddaughter?” the black pelted predator asked.
“Good Paw to you too Agent Tom, and She is doing fine, I was quite surprised when I saw how well your ‘broken toy’ as you called it took care of her.” I signed a gesture of appreciation.“Say, what do you plan to do with him after this?”
“Do to our … history together, we agreed to not step on each other’s heels so to speak…” he adjusted his strange piece of neck fabric.
Now that I look at him he have a bruise around it… interesting.
So he is a fair game now, I could do with him on my side.
Whatever he had on them would be immensely useful considering they just dropped their tails behind their legs and went the other way*… figuratively of course.*
“I see. Anyway, I did what you asked me with the security, just don’t remove anyone useful out of the equation”
“Don’t worry, we know what we are doing, we have quite a long history of expertise on this” The predator smiled.
“Good, don’t make me regret choosing you over the federation” I pushed back.
“It is a pleasure doing business with you General Varek, I hope we can continue our cooperation in the future as well… it’s going to be profitable for both of our parties, just remember to avoid the capitol today, things might get a little heated and we do not want it to be traced back to us don’t we?”
“That’s fine, I already pulled everyone useful to me off the capitol, and I do not care, nothing is free and some sacrifices have to be made for a better… future, let’s call it that.”
“Good, that will be all from us” the predator bowed a little. “if you don’t mind me asking General, why does your family look slightly different than the rest of your kind?”
Rest of my kind, blehhh this predator.
“I do mind and its none of your predator business” i responded annoyed “call it a genetic mutation, it’s a touchy subject so I prefer you drop it”
“Of course, I did not want to intrude. That will be all from us” he bowed and started to head back to his shuttle.
Good it was getting cold out here, my old bones are not as resilient as they used to be and falling ill wouldn’t be beneficial to us now.
//////////////
Memory transcript: Mathew Puzro, homeless Veteran.
Date: October 22nd , 2136
This is getting annoying pretty fast.
You can’t buy tickets, because no one wants to sell them to you, or rather closes the booth the moment they notice you.
One tried to call the exterminators on my ass but unfortunately everyone was preoccupied with something and no one answered or came.
Heh, hehehe, I wonder why…
It’s hard to call a place which had its servers wiped to mine their version of bitcoin for a moment.
A man has to have a way to get his passive income somehow. If I can’t have a lawsuit ill have the next best thing.
Unfortunately even if I tried to buy them online it turned out to be a bust.
Entering my credentials just returned an error then told me my age was a problem and I shouldn’t be alive.
No shit, but screw you.
I guess the boys in black haven’t come around to fix that yet… or they just don’t want to.
Lazy pricks.
What’s worse, I tried to just stowaway but the moment the train conductor saw me on the platform, he just didn’t stop.
Im starting to see a pattern I really don’t like here…
“OH Fuck you too!” I screamed giving him the middle finger.
“Fine! Ill walk there! At least I don’t get TIRED after 10 seconds of walking like you dumb goats!”
----
Guess what?
I AM MOSES.
I can divide and disperse any social gathering or just push them off with my magic field I apparently possess*.*
I couldn’t even buy their version of bread. Or anything for that matter, even the mask they gave me didn’t do shit.
Its nothing new to me. People always looked at me funny but this is next level.
My little walk gave me enough time to look through the stuff I downloaded from the ‘racist paw patrol’ and learn few things.
First, those bastards cheered when they dropped first bombs on earth. And they fight dirty… to drop bombs on civilian shelters as your main strategy … its just … and I thought we were cruel…
I will have you know WE ARE the only ones allowed to do that to OUR planet and you will not one up ME on that!
But jokes aside… if this is the alien life we all dreamed or feared was out there… I want none of it. The thought of getting to this planet just for it to be a dead rock looked like a long gone dream right about now.
If those are the aliens government hid from us back when I was a ‘human’, then I want NONE of them… it could be so much better if the universe was just … dead…
The pure hate flowing through me right now was probably the only thing keeping me from slowing down and being careful. After I dropped from the sail and hit the deck on my way to the oceans abyss, not to mention the bastards who ganged up on me when they ‘rescued one of their kind from me’, I was slowly breaking down.
Whatever I managed to fix after a rough landing was currently deteriorating faster and faster…
But this is still nothing compared to what the rest of humans have to deal on this shitty planet:
All of them just hate us, drum roll please…. For our eye placement.
And don’t even start with their ‘federation’ …
If this isn’t just blatant racism then I don’t know what is.
And probably the reason everyone was avoiding me like plague.
Don’t get me wrong I know I look a bit more intimidating now, thanks to ‘my energy dense diet’ I had while on the way here.
But still, even the Venlil wanted us dead when they discovered us in the 60s.
And they wanted it even more now.
Bastards
It took me exactly 15 minutes to go through their version of the internet to learn that, thanks to the tablet I got.
And they don’t even hide that behind a smoke screen of political mumbo jumbo.
Freedom of speech is important … but to wish more of us were dead or wish harm to human kids is just distasteful.
Fuck, one of them almost torched one because he defended one of them from bullies in school!
I swear its just a matter of time before somebody snaps and goes 40k on their furry ass…
Speaking of furry aliens, there are a ton of them… and the weird gators that were shown to me, were the bad guys of this whole situation… well that was until they saved Earth from the Federation.
This… this is getting more confusing by the second and I only had connection to the outside for 20 minutes.
I would spend more time thinking about it but a sudden ‘flying projectile warning’ snapped me back to reality.
It was a brick, one of the Venlil brave enough threw it at me, screaming some racist bullshit I was just ignoring until I caught it midair.
To call it a throw would be an insult to my ancestors evolution.
“You call this a throw? THIS is a THROW!” I slinged that brick with the speed of a professional baseball pitcher above its head.
The ‘whooshing’ sound it made flying between its ears made it drop to the floor before scurrying away.
“Throw one more thing and ill show you what it feels like to be jam!”
I never saw one of them run that fast, and mind you, all of them were running away from me for the whole time I was outside.
Just because there was a giant effort on censorship for any of our media and humanity’s behavior, that doesn’t mean I’ll limit myself in anything for their sake.
Fuck you that’s what’s up!
Well going further, everything I told or did in front of the fluffy princess was probably extremely prohibited.
What are you going to do? Deport me?
Good luck with that!
My own people don’t want to do anything with me.
Besides as far as I’m aware my house was leveled alongside the rest of Rome so I have nothing to my name…
Well it’s not like it was even mine, they stripped that away from me too
…
No living family or friends.
No place to stay or call home.
No money.
And im breaking down.
Both in spirit and body.
…
I … I guess that’s it… I finally did it.
I have hit the literal bottom after everything… from a war hero and a pioneer of space exploration to a disposed broken shell of a man…
And I can’t even buy myself alcohol to drown my sorrows away because it’s the space version of 50s America and I’m considered ‘an unwelcomed race here’ .
The locals didn't help with shaking that assumption so I hit the dirt path leading to the space port to avoid more of them, since running away didn’t work when they ran the same way I needed to go, they just threw slurs my way and by this point i had enough.
You push your luck any further and ill show what a real hate crime looks like you ‘sapient’ walking carpet…
///////////
Memory transcript: Vemi, Operator of the Orbital Early Warning Alarm System (OEWA), Venlil Space Corps.
Date: [Standardized human time] October 22nd , 2136.
Today was the first paw I slept in a real bed since I stepped on board that cursed shuttle.
And it felt amazing…
Before I remembered why I was even able to get here in one peace…
“I see you are finally awake sister” my brother Veki greeted me from his seat.
“Oh hello brother…” I stretched.
“What’s with the foul mood?” he whistled “aren’t you glad you are finally safe?”
“it’s just… i-“
“Oh for the love of stars! I thought they joked when they said you were obsessed with that predator!”
What?!
”I-I am not!” I protested, suddenly feeling hotter for some reason.
“oh really? You know I can see your heart beat on that machine right?” he whistled in laughter again.
I glanced to the heart meter and quickly took it off my claw.
“IT’S NOT LIKE THAT! Besides how can I not think about him when our guards treated him like an Arxur! And how do you know about him?!”
“Grandpa told me enough, I’ll take that you are feeling better!” he said with a distanced look of amusement.
“its not funny, have you seen what they did to him?!”
“Oh don’t worry he is fine as far as im aware, even free b-“
“He is?!” I cut him off “Take me to him! NOW!” I started to untangle myself out of the various medical equipment attached to me.
“How about a breakfast first? If you want to find him AND avoid the press which are swarming all over the hospital building you’ll need all the energy you can get”
Normal food would be nice and I do miss sprunk…
“fine, but why press?” I asked confused as we walked “why now?”
“Come on, not a fan of being In the spotlight anymore? I thought you liked that in the past”
Ok stop the halfhearted tone, I had enough satire while traveling with Mat.
I just gave him the look.
“Fine fine… ill stop. You seem different sister…”
“That tend to happened when you are hunted for food on your own planet and the only safety you get is a predator”
“The predator you so desperately are trying to get to now?” He said grabbing a salad himself “Also what’s with the big scar? I thought the doctors finished treating you.”
“What? You don’t like that I look tougher than you now?” i moved into the offensive.
We always were like that, as far as I can remember. Always competing for attention, praises and just trying to be the better one.
Some would call it predatory, but our family encouraged it, though after hitting puberty I just didn’t care about all of this since being a rich beautiful girl of an influential family gave me enough attention.
Be it good or bad.
That was the moment he became the star berry in my parents' eyes.
“Considering your behavior, as one of the head exterminators I’d say you caught the predator disease.” He looked at me narrowing his eyes. “You know maybe I should recommend a screening for you, that predator could have infected you with something”
I almost choked on my salad
“Phahahaha, oh you thought I was serious? Haha!” He laughed “Come on I’d never do it to my own sister hahaha”
“*Cough cough!* that’s not FUNNY! I’ve heard what you exterminators did there after that lawsuit!”
He just rolled his ears and huffed.
“I don’t do the dirty work, and you really believe… never mind, you’d know the truth if you didn’t distance yourself from the family, it is your fault for believing the propaganda”
“What propaganda??! And oh I’m sorry for not being the perfect offspring like you are”
“if they didn’t tell you, then you won’t hear it from me. Besides you are not going after that ape”
“And why is that?” I hissed annoyed. “I will do what I want!”
“Yeah, and look where that got you, if you would just listen to dad you’d be sitting pretty like me. Maybe ask grandpa, you were always his favorite, still that only got you an apartment and a shitty job in the military and now you are chasing aft- *ping*”
“I am doing what?!” I slammed my paws on the table.
A sudden notification completely changed his posture and didn’t even notice my pissed of gaze.
“Never mind” he whistled amused again.
Stars I swear I’m THIS close to shoving a can of sprunk down his throat-
“Ill give you a shuttle to let you meet your ‘human’ “
All of my anger suddenly evaporated and was replaced with confusion.
“huh? What, why?”
“I guess I didn’t know enough” he whistled “still I didn’t take you for one of those predator lovers” he whispered looking smug as all hell.
“I AM- I am not” I whispered not to cause any more attention to myself “He saved my life, how can you not even think about repaying someone at least a little bit after something like that”
“yes yes, he was useful, but that’s it! I mean he is a predator… besides I think he did something more out there for you than just save you.” he tried to keep it a whisper but whistling laughter just completely took over him.
I SWEAR IM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU!
I tried to grab his dumb head over the table but he swiftly dodged my attempt at revenge.
he looked at the pad after getting enough distance away from me.
“But I guess he can be useful, so maybe you should say ‘sorry’ to him, for the family’s sake of course”
At this point I didn’t know if I should be mad, choke the life out of him for his nasty comments or just be confused.
“Why the change of heart?” I narrowed my eyes. “New orders from the top?”
“you could say that, so whenever you get to it, there will be a shuttle to get you to him”
“Spehi-wait, how do you know where he is?!”
“I’m a head exterminator? And he is a predator in a small town full of oh so frightened people, he is sticking out like a giant amongst a herd*,* come on I thought you were more clever than that.” He finished with a smug expression all across his maw.
“So you are not coming with me?”
“OH STARS NO! I have enough babysitting at home and I can clearly see what happens when you don’t give enough attention to growing pups, I don’t want my kids to turn out like you hehe! OH SPEH!, BYE!”
He ran out of the room before my can of sprunk hit the doors he slipped through.
Jerk… but thanks…
////////////////////
Memory transcript: Mathew Puzro, homeless Veteran.
Date: October 22nd , 2136
What a surprise, this time instead of screams and threats I got a gun placed to my head.
“I said get out of here predator!” Threatened me one of the space port guards.
“And I said I had business here, a guy named Vim, rings any bells?” I showed him my pad.
He took a look at it with one eye before grumbling something through the radio, not letting his gun of me.
Ok time for some manipulation and strings pulling.
“Look it an UN business alright? And I also have a gun, if you keep that thing aimed at me I might do the same to you” I pointed to the oversized revolver on my hip.
“trust me, you do not want to find out what the Big Iron over here does to someone’s insides” I smiled.
“is that a threat predator?!”
“No it’s a technical fact, now get me your higher up’s or get me my guy before I make it a hands on experience, choose”
“Pad 12, make it quick before I call for backup”
I swear on my dead biological mother, any more of this and ill make the nazi space lizards look innocent and pure in their intentions compare to what I would do given the opportunity.
After few deep breaths to put the murderous intent a little further so it wouldn’t show on my face, I finally found my pilot.
Who was the only alien there to not shiver or run at my sight.
What a breath of fresh air.
“Hey there Ah’m Vim, Ah’ve heard yew need sump'm frum me.” He spoke in the most twisted Ventong I ever heard.
Holy shit this is new hehehe.
“What a surprise, you didn’t run, name’s Mat and yes I’m here on behalf of… your employers I guess.”
“Yer not thuh scariest thang out there lemme tell yew muh feller! But Ah thank Ah know who yer speakin' off Ah got thuh notificashun a while ago, Ah though yew'd git here sooner”
“Oh man you have no idea…” I laughed before getting serious again.“and it is a challenge to board a train here when the train just doesn’t stop at the sight of you” I smiled with a slight twitch in my eye.
“An' yew speak our language? Ah'm sorry tuh hear that, muh folks kin be indifferent even when yer specie finds itself in such a situashun. That’s thuh reason Ah changed muh employment! An' they even give me booze! Here want a swaller?”
I am speechless, the first ‘sane’ alien I meet is an alcoholic who probably has more loose screws inside his head than me.
And that’s saying something!
“Considering the situation, I’d need a whole barrel, with pleasure”
With that I took a swing.
“whooooweeee! I needed that! What is that? I need more of it!”
“A swear on muh daddys name they lied tuh me! They said humans kin’t drank strong alcohol! Yew wuz supposed tuh water it down tuh piss!”
“oh please, the only acceptable way to water down your drink where I was from was to drink a shot of 56% vodka after a shot of 96% spirit!”
“Then why ever tale Ah heard frum muh bartender frien's is uh humans who want their drinks watered down?!”
“There are just a few nations who have the guts for it, the rest of them call it chronic alcoholism but I’d say that’s because they’re jealous” I shrugged.
“Magnificent!” he gasped.
“Now now Vim, business before pleasure, I need you to get me to my ship and somehow tow it back here to the small dock your town has. I presume this is your machine” I pointed to the space ship behind him.
“Yes she ain't really ‘mine’ but it’s thuh best Ah could ass fer, considerang whut happened tuh muh last ship”
“And what happened to your last ship if I may ask?”
“it got Eaten!” he gestured a ‘closing jaw’ with his paws.
“Huh, by what ?” I tilted my head in confusion.
“yew wouldn’t reckon me even if'n Ah showed yew a picture, it wuz a Snow Leviathan! Thuh biggest Ah’ve ever seen… well thuh only Ah’ve ever seen but Ah lived tuh tell thuh tale! An' nobody believes me” he crossed his hands annoyed.
Hmmmmm.
“When and where did that happened? im curious…”
“'bout a few dozen paws back” he looked around before hushing his tone “an' me wuz flyin' on thuh dark side uh thuh planet but that’s all Ah kin tell yew, Ah swore an oath uh secrecy!”
There is no fucking way…
The time is lining up, there was some strange things back there, and no ship to be found…
Huh … I bet it would be much more fun to be stuck with this one rather than what I got.
“Why yew ask?”
“I was just curious what could eat a whole shuttle, but I do believe you, there are scarier things out there than me” I stroked the hair on my chin thinking about that giant slug.
“huh.. Ah guess, so where is that ship uh yores an' how much duz it weigh?”
I pulled out my pad with the location
“Here and it shouldn’t weigh more than 2 tonnes, it’s just a bunch of aluminum scrap”
///////////////
Memory transcript: Vemi, (OEWA) operator, Venlil Space Corps.
Date: [Standardized human time] October 22nd , 2136.
“Why is it taking so long for us to lift off? And WHY are you here?” I huffed slightly annoyed.
“Oh believe me I wouldn’t want to be here if I didn’t have to, but considering the last time my little sister entered a shuttle alone she got herself stuck on the other side of the planet with a human version of an ‘uber predator’ from ‘The Exterminators’ show!” Veki complained.
“Why are you calling him that?! Have you even seen him before?!”
“No, but I know enough to tell you that he is not what he seems and you know it!”
“Oh shut up Veki, why are you so stingy this paw? Did Mavi made you sleep on the couch finally?”
He wanted to say something but I could see him only smirking to himself before looking to his datapad.
“…pred lover…” he mumbled under his breath.
“What was that you mutt?!”
“Nothing, I was saying Tarva was a predator lover, I mean look, she is all over them”
He showed me a live feed of some event that was taking place in the other part of the capitol.
“You know, if your ‘human’ would land before them, he would probably be next to Tarva here” He pointed to the dark skinned predator who was their ambassador.
“How does that make you feel?” he teased me.
That thought did sting me a little for some reason. I did feel attached to him, and it hurt me a lot after I saw how he took the news of … well who we really were. It was my fault. But I was going to make it up to him in any way I could.
This was the reason I jumped into the shuttle the first chance I got after getting out of bed.
“Look its starting” He shoved himself next to me the pad in his paws.
“Can’t we watch it on the way there?” I turned to the pilot. “what’s taking us so long, I thought we were ready to lift off?”
“Unfortunately Miss, humans locked the sky around here and we are in the no fly zone. It’s their memorial ceremony and we are grounded until they finish.”
I understood that the ceremony was important, what happened was a tragedy, but I never understood why humans were so paranoid.
You are on Venlil Prime, not some backwater Plan-
An explosion shook the screen and after few seconds we could feel it too.
Veki was glued to the screen. Some cameras were still rolling, showing what was happening around the building.
Dozens of humans and venlil were running out of the building, screaming in panic, some in anger.
“Holy speh… I guess you should be glad he landed after them...” He spat still glued to the screen.
What just happened??? Why was there an explosion?!
Looking down at the pad, it was chaos. Some predators were throwing things at a group of armed humans before one of them wrestled a rifle out of his grip and fired a burst of bullets towards a group of people heading to a car.
Wasn’t that Tarva?!
I watched in silence as everything was unfolding, wounded and dead humans, stampeding Venlil, just pure chaos.
“Look at that, this is how we get more support for the exterminator’s guild, I mean look at them” he pointed to the screen “they are feral, do you really want to go after that predator of yours?”
This did put some doubt in me. I just watched a massacre play out on the screen and by the looks of it, it was humans who were the perpetrators. I understand they were angry, they were in sorrow and pain after losing countless people, their historic heritage and whole cities. But to try and let your anger out on us?
Why?
“Im afraid we won’t be going anywhere, they locked the sky over the capitol completely” Said the pilot.
“I guess your ‘innocent predator’ will have to roam the streets for a little bit longer. Do me a favor and ask that primitive what he thinks of that” he pointed to the screen “even he won’t miss this, it’s all over the news and I think he knows what a tv screen is” Veki said as he got out of the shuttle.
I mean he has a point, just why did he have to dress it up so vile.
I just stared at him with hateful intent.
“it’s what he is! I know you thought of that too, only a primitive would cross space in the manner he did”
All my vigor evaporated with the thought, he was spot on with his comments annoying as they were.
It only caused my ears to drop more and my tail to wrap around my legs.
////////////////
Memory transcript: Mathew Puzro, drunk Veteran.
Date: October 22nd , 2136
I want one of those shuttles.
Vim was zooming across the landscape with surprising skill.
It was good to be in the air again, this time flying on a powered craft not just crashing one.
That last crash kind of messed up my flight score, but I doubt anybody would care, after all I did managed to survive!
Be it for some time…
“So Mat wuz it? Ah kin see yer enjoyin' thuh flight haha!”
“it is nice to finally be back to flying and not crashing heh…ughhh” I grimaced with the worsen state I was finding myself the longer it was left unfixed.
“yer a pilot too? An' whut happened tuh yew, yew look rough”
“yeah you could say I was, and I had a rough run in with a few exterminators”
“lazy little dipshits, they sit on their tail all purty an' when Ah tell 'em there is a real predator out ‘ere they laugh at me! Laugh Ah tell yew!” he let go of the stick gesticulating furiously.
Heh… don’t worry my dude I kind of commissioned their little operation out of order for the moment.
--------
Considering we spend 3 days walking to be anywhere close to Tails Tip, it was nice to get to my ship just in few hours.
“this here is yer ship?” Vim asked confused “Ah didn’t 'spect it tuh be… well a boat”
“I mean it was a space ship once, but considering the circumstances it had to be made into this” I said getting out as soon as we landed.
“an' whut in thuh stars name wuz yew doin' all thuh way out here?”
Ahh shit …
“Ehhhh… I was conducting a… Weather experiment! Yess. You know us humans like to conduct those… a lot*”* I smiled getting the harness around the bow of my sorry looking vessel.
“an' whut did yew find out, out here huh?”
“Well I learned enough to know you do not want to swim In that water, and its not because of weather”
“yer not wrong there muh predator frien'” he took a big sip out of his flask looking quite unnerved.
That terrible memory caused me to have a very uncomfortable shudder spread across my skin.
I’m not getting in that water again without my pool floaties any time soon…
But that weren’t the only uncomfortable thought on my mind right now.
I could feel myself losing more and more strength, constantly relying on my body’s muscles instead of the stronger mechanical augmentation I was full of.
And it was worrying.
I could fully function on those without a problem but I had to shut down it manually and now it was just happening on its own without a warning.
I am slowly shutting down and I cant do anything about it… its just a matter of time before the lights go out and I’m gone…
A wave of memories spread through my mind.
What was my legacy?
What good have I left in this world… well universe I guess…
Was dragging an ungrateful moody fluffy alien the only thing I managed to do in this ‘great frontier’ I so much wanted to explore?
And what was it all for? This moment?!
Im dragging a chain across a wreck of my ‘odyssey’, getting all winded out like it’s the hardest thing ive done in my life.
What about my crew? What about Kaia? What will be of their pointless sacrifice? I wanted to continue it for her sake but now-
“Hey there, yew good? Yew look real winded Ah know yew predators kin be strong but that chain is heavy” Vim broke me out of my little breakdown.
I haven’t even noticed it but I was on my knees with a chain on my shoulder breathing heavily as if I just ran a marathon.
Funny thing about mental breakdowns, that they like to hit you when you least want it to.
“i- em… *sigh* yeah im good…” i took a deep breath. “Guess you could say I’m just getting older…”
“yew an' me both feller”
Age… funny concept for me considering everything. I spend a life time closed in a metal cage with one motivation keeping me afloat: Get here.
Now im ‘here’ and I don’t want to do anything with it.
Or with anything at this point…
“You know what? Maybe a little brake is in order, pass me that bottle”
----
Vim was surprisingly talkative for a Venlil that just met me.
Especially after we went through few bottles.
“an' me tell yew, that’s when muh frien' found me in muh little escape pod. It wuz hella cold in there haha!”
“Not a fan of the cold eh?” I finished another shot. “And you say you make this?”
“Yes! Muh old feller’s secret recipe! Ah kin hook yew up with sum uh that stuff later if'n yew want”
“that would be greatly appreciated” I pored us another round.
“anyways me ol' lady wad'n real happy 'bout thuh fac' Ah lost muh spaceship but yer frien's offered me a job in flyin' 'em aroun' thuh same place Ah almost froze solid but this here tahm with better equipment, pay an' workin' conditions so Ah gladly done took it”
So they were looking for me… holy shit they wanted to get to me first… maybe I own the venlil an apology… you know what? No. Fuck the eye placement police.
“I see… good for you, but be careful with them, I had the unfortunate pleasure to work with them a little too close.”
“How about we finish towing my boat and finish our little talk later… though I doubt they will let me in to any bar.”
Whoa it is a strange feeling to get up and see your body react with a lag… I really am a CIWS targeting computer in a meat mech… still don’t get it how they did it to me… or the past me… god the impostor syndrome is back.
-------On the flight back I learned quite a few things.
Apparently the guy who was humanity’s ambassador is the same person whose crew beat me to get here.
BY A FEW MONTHS! God I still cant get that out of my head…what an insult to my struggle…
Also that Elias Meier-the Secretary General of the UN was probably the only person besides my last employers who knew of my real existence. It would be useful to get in touch with him considering everything that was happening.
What Vim has told me about him was a ‘real kind feller’ to Venlil and the other federation species even though they wanted to wipe us… humans out of the galaxy.
“There is sum memorial thangy goin' on right now but Ah don’t have thuh connecshun out here so ill watch it later”
“I might check it out later too, though I have a lot of catching up to do about the whole situation…”
Not to mention the last 90 years or so…
“Anyways where do yew want that ship uh yores placed down?”
“here will be fine, thanks Vim” I gestured to the small outreach of land few kilometers from the town.
why here? Wouldn’t yew want it closet tuh thuh town?”
“No… lets just say your folks here aren’t the biggest fans of me and I like my peace”
“ah, Ah git it… afore yew go, here it might be not muh Pa’s recipe but yer kind knows sump'm 'bout hard liquor too”
He handed me a crate full of unopened bottles.
Shit that’s Rum! Maybe this universe isn’t as cruel as I thought…
“Thanks a lot Vim, I’ll see you around”
With that he disconnected the harness and flew off, leaving me on my sorry excuse of a ship.
Well considering I at least have a roof over my head, this is an improvement. I might as well see what he was talking about.
The moment I connected to the internet I could see in fact, that the universe was as cruel as always…
”They JFK’ed the last person that could actually help me… Is this what they meant by ‘plans’ for the guy?!”
Its just getting better and better…
I turned my attention to the crate next to me.
“No rest for the wicked Meier… cheers… I just might be there to explain you a thing or two in few weeks…”
Humanity First huh?
Interesting…
I guess I jinxed it ...
-----------------------
Well i told you it would be sooner.
Vemi finally decided to 'Venup' and try to make it up to Mat, but i guess their buisness will have to be moved a little later do to some unfortunate events...
See you next time.
How Bitcoin miners can survive a hostile market — and the 2024 halving
Only seven months remain before the next Bitcoin BTC tickers down $27,141 halving in April 2024. It happens approximately every four years and is a deflationary process that cuts the production of new coins by 50%.
Bitcoin's halving is a high-profile event for crypto investors, and has historically led to an increase in Bitcoin's price. However, its impact on the mining industry is a more complex issue. It reduces block rewards, one of the primary revenue streams for miners. The 2024 halving will reduce it from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. That’s why miners must adapt their strategies to compensate for the reduced rewards resulting from the halving.
Let’s explore the strategies and alternative income sources that may help Bitcoin miners amid hostile market conditions.
Changing mindsets
Bitcoin mining involves a competitive process where miners vie for block rewards. This competition is driven by Bitcoin's block time, which averages around 10 minutes per block on the protocol level. Whether the network's computing power is relatively low at 1 kH/s or surges to a massive 200 million TH/s, the same block rewards must be distributed among miners.
Related: An ETF will bring a revolution for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
This competitive environment encourages miners to prioritize energy efficiency and the use of cost-effective hardware. With each halving event, where block rewards are cut by 50%, this trend towards efficiency gains momentum. As the cost of producing a single BTC is set to approximately double shortly after the next halving, miners will need to explore ways to optimize their profitability and focus on these three critical factors.
Bitcoin miners’ survival rests on these three whales
The first and most important “whale” is the cost of electricity. Even a modest fluctuation of 1 cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) can lead to a substantial $3,800 variance in the production cost of BTC, according to JPMorgan. To bolster their post-halving profitability, miners are exploring sophisticated contracts and contemplating relocation to countries or regions where electricity prices are lower. They even consider power generation from stranded gas options. I believe that it's crucial for miners to secure electricity rates at or below 5 cents/kWh to maintain profitability beyond April 2024.
Got a email with a link to this message on Google translate.
I regret to inform you about some sad news for you. Approximately a month or two ago I have succeeded to gain a total access to all your devices utilized for browsing internet. Moving forward, I have started observing your internet activities on continuous basis.
Go ahead and take a look at the sequence of events provided below for your reference: Initially I bought an exclusive access from hackers to a long list of email accounts (in today's world, that is really a common thing, which can arranged via internet). Evidently, it wasn't hard for me to proceed with logging in your email account.
Within the same week, I moved on with installing a Trojan virus in Operating Systems for all devices that you use to login to email. Frankly speaking, it wasn't a challenging task for me at all (since you were kind enough to click some of the links in your inbox emails before). Yeah, geniuses are among us.
Because of this Trojan I am able to gain access to entire set of controllers in devices (e.g., your video camera, keyboard, microphone and others). As result, I effortlessly downloaded all data, as well as photos, web browsing history and other types of data to my servers. Moreover, I have access to all social networks accounts that you regularly use, including emails, including chat history, messengers, contacts list etc. My unique virus is incessantly refreshing its signatures (due to control by a driver), and hence remains undetected by any type of antiviruses.
Hence, I guess by now you can already see the reason why I always remained undetected until this very letter...
During the process of compilation of all the materials associated with you, I also noticed that you are a huge supporter and regular user of websites hosting nasty adult content. Turns out to be, you really love visiting porn websites, as well as watching exciting videos and enduring unforgettable pleasures. As a matter of fact, I was not able to withstand the temptation, but to record certain nasty solo action with you in main role, and later produced a few videos exposing your masturbation and cumming scenes.
If until now you don't believe me, all I need is one-two mouse clicks to make all those videos with everyone you know, including your friends, colleagues, relatives and others. Moreover, I am able to upload all that video content online for everyone to see. I sincerely think, you certainly would not wish such incidents to take place, in view of the lustful things demonstrated in your commonly watched videos, (you absolutely know what I mean by that) it will cause a huge adversity for you.
There is still a solution to this matter, and here is what you need to do: You make a transaction of $700 USD to my account (an equivalent in bitcoins, which recorded depending on the exchange rate at the date of funds transfer), hence upon receiving the transfer, I will immediately get rid of all those lustful videos without delay. After that we can make it look like there was nothing happening beforehand. Additionally, I can confirm that all the Trojan software is going to be disabled and erased from all devices that you use. You have nothing to worry about, because I keep my word at all times.
That is indeed a beneficial bargain that comes with a relatively reduced price, taking into consideration that your profile and traffic were under close monitoring during a long time frame. If you are still unclear regarding how to buy and perform transactions with bitcoins - everything is available online.
My bitcoin wallet for your further reference: 1Q3THF2i28uR8QEfFkkUdEkZxfrWbyRsaG
All you have is 48 hours and the countdown begins once this email is opened (in other words 2 days).
Things that may be concerning you: 1). That funds transfer won't be delivered to me. Breathe out, I can track down everything right away, so once funds transfer is finished, I will know for sure, since I interminably track down all activities done by you (my Trojan virus controls all processes remotely, just as TeamViewer). 2). That your videos will be distributed, even though you have completed money transfer to my wallet. Trust me, it is worthless for me to still bother you after money transfer is successful. Moreover, if that was ever part of my plan, I would do make it happen way earlier!
We are going to approach and deal with it in a clear manner!
In conclusion, I'd like to recommend one more thing... after this you need to make certain you don't get involved in similar kind of unpleasant events anymore! My recommendation - ensure all your passwords are replaced with new ones on a regular basis.
I live in uk and use £. So the $ is throwing me off. Also I only use Reddit for my porn lol.
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