Creating the first of a short series of customer/prospect self-service tools to help with their #2A #firearms journey. Trying to build self-help, decision support and motivational tools https://survey.sabinevalleyarms.com/ltc-self-check

#gunstr #SCSA
This weekend I will RSO my first Tier 2 Steel Challenge Shooting Association match. It is the first Tier 2 match at our local shooting range. I believe over 200 competitors signed up. It should be a good match and I'm looking forward to the experience.

Replacing a busted disposal unit and worn out faucet in the kitchen this afternoon. There needs to be more thought put into the ease and efficiency of repairs on residential plumbing... It's mechanically simple but physically complex to get access. Not sure how you make that easier.

#privacy #surveillance
This is an interesting, if limited, read - a short historic recap. It does not propose any solutions or even look at the problem in a compelling way. The author just assumes that policy (aka government) is where any potential solution lies. That's not the lesson history teaches. History teaches that government "solutions" always break something else.

A solution is much more likely to emerge from efforts by the People to build counter-systems which enable self-custody of data, identity, commerce and communication.

Oh, wait... #Bitcoin, Lightning, #eCash, #nostr. Yeah, that's the ticket...

Yeah. Uh, no.

#Bluesky #whitepaper
I read the Bluesky white paper. Pretty heavy on the corporate paternalism. At one point they even state (paraphrasing) their users are too dumb to manage keys - like the Delta class in Huxley's Brave New World. Really seems like a group of self-anointed do-gooders out to save the "digital town square" and make the poor, dumb users feel "safe" - which is how we got into this mess in the first place.

The paper's tone is that of an analyst-authored corporate white paper; the architecture one designed by any VC-funded, Sillycon Valley BigTech spinoff with millions to spend. Reading it invokes images (for me) of a group of corporate tech wonks trying to clean the turd out of the centralized social media punchbowl without giving up too much control.

They formed a committee, had some meetings, defined the market requirements, bounded the problem, developed the permissable use cases, wrote the business plan, got some money, built a platform. It's "open source," but all the potential #innovation has been architected out. It reads like Twitter v1.5 - a great pitch for VCs, not so much for innovators.

Bluesky feels like a problem/solution set created by people whose vision of "what can be is heavily burdened by what has been" - which is just weird because I'm pretty sure they're all dedicated Harris-Walz supporters. I can almost visualize their early Zoom meetings sitting around talking about how they have to "save Democracy!" and free the world from "hate speech," misinformation and Donald Trump.

Disclaimer: I have never used Bluesky. Opinions based solely on reading their white paper, Wikipedia page and a few blog posts.

#gunstr

"Firearm proficiency is not a one-time achievement; it requires ongoing practice to maintain and improve. The skill sets required to be an effective and responsible shooter—gun handling, marksmanship, situational awareness, and decision-making under pressure—are highly perishable. Much like athletes or musicians, shooters who do not engage in regular practice will see their skills diminish over time."

https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/trained-vs-untrained/

None of the bad things which are happening in America (and elsewhere) today will stop regardless of the U.S. election outcome. The very best result is that some of them will get delayed for 2 to 4 years. If we do get a reprieve, we'd better use it well to advance #Bitcoin, #nostr, #meshtastic and #freedomTech while we can. Because the forces of tyranny never sleep.

I installed #Citrine earlier today. Seems to work fine with #Amethyst, not so much with #Coracle. Can't find a way to add it. I infer from searching that it may be related to security certificate issues.

There is noticeable battery drain though. I estimate that keeping it on in the background is reducing my battery life to 8 hrs or less. I will have to work on that.