What you see on this picture is a first ever made image of the multi-planetary system made by ESO's Very Large Telescope (SPHERE instrument). Those two dots marked with the arrows are the planets rotating around the Sun-like star in Musca constellation (other dots are background stars that also have been captured in the image).
Imagine that for a second.. There's absolutely another, but yet similar world somewhere out there in 310 light years away from us and we, Humans, have an opportunit
What you see on this picture is a first ever made image of the multi-planetary system made by ESO's Very Large Telescope (SPHERE instrument). Those two dots marked with the arrows are the planets rotating around the Sun-like star in Musca constellation (other dots are background stars that also have been captured in the image).
Imagine that for a second.. There's absolutely another, but yet similar world somewhere out there in 310 light years away from us and we, Humans, have an opportunity to have a glimpse on it. This is truly mesmerizing if you think about it. What else we can achieve together in collaboration? What other mysteries and unimaginable worlds can be discovered? What varieties of the life forms and environments we can observe in the vast Universe?
I've been thinking about it recently.. We don't even need to go that far, look at our own solar system, for example. Take Venus, this completely weird world located not that far away from our home and yet so different. One day on it lasts around 243 Earth's days, a temperature of the surface can reach 464 degrees of Celcius and there are the rains.. made of the sulphuric, fucking, acid 🤯 Of course it's deadly for us, Humans, but just imagine that it is our closest neighbour and it's so unhinged. And Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto.. all those moons.. all are so diverse! Incredible cosmos and yet so vicious world we live in, with so much of unnecesary suffering, wars, poverty and famine.. all for the sake of The Cult of Trade.
@PeerTube has released a new major version of their video platform software framablog.org/2023/11/28/peert… - these people are amazing and are making Peertube the best video platform software in the world.
We will try to get new creators to our instance videos.trom.tf from now on, because what we lack is content. Everyone flocks to Youtube because "everyone is there" and youtube allows them to make money off of their videos (a very bad incentive). Even the people who complain about how there is no online privacy anymore, and hate ads and data collection (basically hate these online trades and their side effects), are still in a bondage relationship with these monsters. They are enslaved to them. But they and us, have to find the willpower to ditch the old world and create the new one, be it online or offline.
Be brave people, have the guts, and prioritize Peertube over Youtube! Else we cannot change anything....
Can someone please tell spain and the people living there that it is not normal to stay inside with your winter coat and shoes on and be cold when outside are 10 degrees? In Romania we stay in a tshirt inside when outside there are -10 degrees or less.
INSULATION! That's the difference Spain!
It is amazing to me how Spain, and other tribes too, waste so much energy and people feel uncomfortable too, just because they do not insulate their houses. We have put carpets in the entire house here in Spain, use a gas heater in the day time or go on the terrace if it is sunny since it is much warmer than inside, and have fluffy clothes designed for the winter that we use inside. And still it is COLD and uncomfortable!
It is insane. Inside humidity is being created and thus a lot of mold. We have to clean and paint.... It is a disaster Spain!
Overall a massive waste of energy and a lot of discomfort.
I understand your perspective Tio, but it is crucial to avoid generalisations about an entire country based on your personal experience on the Girona coast. Spain is diverse, with significant climatic variations between regions. In addition, preferences and practices in climate management can differ considerably.
It is true that in some areas, such as the Girona coast, the climate is more temperate compared to colder places such as Romania. This can influence people's heating habits and needs. Rather than assuming that the experience in Girona reflects the reality of the whole country, it would be more accurate to recognise the climatic and cultural diversity of Spain.
Personally I think that sometimes it would be better to let that frustration out by talking face to face with a person, a friend possibly. I say stupid things a lot of times because I need to discharge my frustration but I don't post it on the internet.
For one, this post is not meant to be taken that seriously. It is a simple rant after 10+ years of living in Spain under these conditions and hearing everyone complain about it, from many areas around Spain. So that's what the post is, a simple rant based on my experience.
Second, what made me post about it (and I should have linked to that because I cannot find the post anymore) was a popular reddit post where someone was asking why is it so cold inside the houses in Spain, why aren't them insulated. And I was reading through the comments and seen how many complain about that. I think there were thousands of comments there.
So I suspect, from my experience, that this is the case overall in Spain. But is nothing that serious. If I were that serious I would have look at studies/statistics to learn more about that.
It is beyond ridiculous to read on well known and popular spanish news websites that it is recommended to buy an electric blanket or use candles to make yourself warm in Spain :)).
Anyway, don't take things too personal or too serious Rafa. This is
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For one, this post is not meant to be taken that seriously. It is a simple rant after 10+ years of living in Spain under these conditions and hearing everyone complain about it, from many areas around Spain. So that's what the post is, a simple rant based on my experience.
Second, what made me post about it (and I should have linked to that because I cannot find the post anymore) was a popular reddit post where someone was asking why is it so cold inside the houses in Spain, why aren't them insulated. And I was reading through the comments and seen how many complain about that. I think there were thousands of comments there.
So I suspect, from my experience, that this is the case overall in Spain. But is nothing that serious. If I were that serious I would have look at studies/statistics to learn more about that.
It is beyond ridiculous to read on well known and popular spanish news websites that it is recommended to buy an electric blanket or use candles to make yourself warm in Spain :)).
Anyway, don't take things too personal or too serious Rafa. This is indeed a stupid situation that is happening in at least many places in Spain and other similar tribes where insulating houses seems to not be that popular.
I don't think we can watch movies anymore.... It is rare that I want to watch a movie, actually almost never. But if there is any movie about some real-scientific event or scientist, and if it is accurate enough, I'd like to give it a try. I added a few of such movies on VN videoneat.com/movies
Anyway, recently this movie Oppenheimer was released - about the Oppenheimer man. The scientist. His role in the understanding of these tiny creatures we call atoms and the quantum physics, but also his involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb.
Well....fucking boring as hell. I'd rather watch a documentary about that. But a movie....so silly....so all over the place. So confusing. So loooooooong. We had to stop it after 30-40 minutes and watch a documentary. A documentary about real things and with real people. Not "acting" people.
Anyway. I understand not all movies are made equal but considering this one was a "wow" popular movie praised by so many....I find it ridiculous overall.
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I don't think we can watch movies anymore.... It is rare that I want to watch a movie, actually almost never. But if there is any movie about some real-scientific event or scientist, and if it is accurate enough, I'd like to give it a try. I added a few of such movies on VN videoneat.com/movies
Anyway, recently this movie Oppenheimer was released - about the Oppenheimer man. The scientist. His role in the understanding of these tiny creatures we call atoms and the quantum physics, but also his involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb.
Well....fucking boring as hell. I'd rather watch a documentary about that. But a movie....so silly....so all over the place. So confusing. So loooooooong. We had to stop it after 30-40 minutes and watch a documentary. A documentary about real things and with real people. Not "acting" people.
Anyway. I understand not all movies are made equal but considering this one was a "wow" popular movie praised by so many....I find it ridiculous overall.
We are watching Planet Earth 3 and that's some really good shit! I will add more documentaries to VN the following weeks videoneat.com/category/documen…
But yeah, I think if people were to understand how awesome reality is, they would not watch movies anymore. The reality is billions of times more complex and mind blowing than any movie.
I haven't seen Oppenheimer but I feel like comparing movies to documentaries is like comparing songs to podcasts - like these things are made for entirely different purposes 🤷 Anyway, I haven't seen any documentary or movie or series since my laptop screen started having pixel problems.
BTW, I had no idea Planet Earth 3 was released, that's like one of the best documentary series ever! 😃
Your example is really exaggerated. Songs and podcasts are an entirely different thing. You are comparing a 3 minutes audio that is meant to make you dance or sing, with an hour long mouth-talking audio?
Movies and documentaries at times overlap like in the case of the above example which tries to "teach" you about that scientist. And overall their format is very similar in many regards. Stories that you follow. In that regards yes, I find movies (most of them) boring and useless. Reality is far more complex and interesting.
Yeah I knew my examples were kinda exaggerated but I couldn't think of a better one, the point is that movies and documentaries are made with a different purpose in mind, even tho they're kinda similar in a lot of ways and sometimes overlap. I also don't like most movies but I don't mind watching a few good ones from time to time 🤷
Oh wait, are people still eating 3 meals a day? I've only eaten 2 meals a day for the past....idk....2 decades? :D - and everyone I know probably.... I think 3 meals a day is too much. In fact there is a positive outcome to eating less. You age slower ;).
Anyway, yeah people are being poorer it seems. Prices are rising. Thank God for the mighty Economy and the fantasy money we worship :)
Do you really eat only 2 meals a day or was it a joke? I used to do this when I had a fucked up sleep cycle but had to stop because of the fatigue.
I actually gained a lot of weight during recent months so I'm trying to cut down on my food intake and do some exercises, but I'd rather eat 3 smaller meals a day than only eat 2 of those - I think that's the healthier way of eating less 🙃
Yeah we only eat 2 meals a day. And those meals are hardly big meals. In the morning a sandwich kinda, then later on in the day usually a small steak or fried chicken and some potatoes. Add some salad to these two and something small and sweet after. And that's all :). I used to eat 3 meals a day when I was a kid. But not now. I find it too much. It is good to eat less anyway :).
Man then you'd be shocked to see how much stuff I can slam down my throat, haha 😆 Maybe it has something to do with my metabolism but I feel very tired and fatigued when I don't eat on time, so I'd rather reduce the size of a meal than skip one altogether - if I'm skipping a meal then that means I'd have to eat bigger meals to account for the missed one so that I have enough energy for the day, and that's probably worse from a health perspective (spikes in blood sugar levels and all that).
In this video Adam Conover argues that people cannot leave Twitter because everyone is there and Mastodon is hard to use. He thinks that the best is to transform Twitter into a nationalized, gov-owned public good platform.
Well...
He may be right that people are not going to leave Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and the like since "everyone is there". Which, let's be honest, is an indirect way of saying that humans are mindless sheep who will go to the popular party regardless if they are fucked in the ass all day. So let's not brush this aside. Humans are mindless idiots, at least most of them. And busy for that matter. That should scare the shit out of us and to make us try to find a solution for that, not a solution for Twitter and the like.
Second, Mastodon is not the fucking "fediverse". The fediverse is a big network made up of many different platforms. It is like calling the mail, GMAIL. As if it is only Gmail. Also, if Mastodon is hard to use, and for that m
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Video:
In this video Adam Conover argues that people cannot leave Twitter because everyone is there and Mastodon is hard to use. He thinks that the best is to transform Twitter into a nationalized, gov-owned public good platform.
Well...
He may be right that people are not going to leave Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and the like since "everyone is there". Which, let's be honest, is an indirect way of saying that humans are mindless sheep who will go to the popular party regardless if they are fucked in the ass all day. So let's not brush this aside. Humans are mindless idiots, at least most of them. And busy for that matter. That should scare the shit out of us and to make us try to find a solution for that, not a solution for Twitter and the like.
Second, Mastodon is not the fucking "fediverse". The fediverse is a big network made up of many different platforms. It is like calling the mail, GMAIL. As if it is only Gmail. Also, if Mastodon is hard to use, and for that matter other platforms like Friendica and so forth, then humans must be true idiots because it takes you a minute to understand how these work. They are as "complicated" as Twitter, Facebook and the like. The people who think that using Linux or a federated platform is "hard", are those that need any little excuse to not change their habits. When people start to use new platforms like Zoom, TikTok and the like, they put up with whatever new interfaces they have to navigate, just to use them because "these apps are trendy and everyone uses them".
Lastly, a gov owned social network is not like a gov owned educational network like PBS....PBS produces specific content that it controls. A social network is made up of the content that people produce....if the gov would control that, it would be censored like hell. Terrible idea!
The solution is decentralization. Else you have a giant company or gov that decides what we are allowed to post. Therefore, small instances of locally-moderated groups of people, that create a giant network. Welcome to the Fediverse.
Now let's continue to educate people about it rather than dreaming about the gov taking over a multi-billion dollar ad-based company and making it usable and free for all of us.
It's no secret that Elon Musk has absolutely tanked Twitter, so why haven't we all left? Despite the site becoming an apocalyptic hellscape, there's a surpri...
Our TROMjaro trade-free apps library now displays an excerpt for all of the apps in the library for the APPS main page:
This has been requested for years now and we finally did it. It is indeed super useful to know what these apps are about from the main page, without having to open them.
This is not a real human, it is an "AI Model". Meaning, a computer generated image/persona. And this "model" has over 120.000 follows on Instagram. The creators of "it" are making thousands of euros a month from advertising products via the "model". Basically generating new images with the same creature, but wearing different brands and so forth. (source)
Many people are aware of this, and yet still "follow" these "AI models". Probably humans are already used to live in a fake online world where even the humans are so filtered you can rarely depict any reality from their online lives.
This insanity can be easily understood and predicted if we understand this trade-based society where everyone is forced and incentivized to trade. Every piece of technology will be used for trade purposes. In the process a lot of waste and idiots are being created. Unfortunately.
It is all about trading this for that. This gives rise to consumption, to privacy invasive devices, to pollution and slavery, to what many call as capitalism. But the word "capitalism" gives too much credit to this primitive society where the main practice is that of trade. This is why we avoid to use that term in our TROM materials. It is deceptive and loaded with preconceptions.
!Friendica Support Out of curiosity is there a way in Friendica to ONLY allow the friends to comment on your posts? I know that basically anyone can regardless, but to never be visible to you almost like anyone who is not your friend, is IGNORED. I think that could be a great way to deal with the trolls and for big accounts to better manage their mental health.
Sounds like Tio's idea is that everybody can see it but only followers comment. That's a nice idea. Reshares (links) will be used to comment on them without your intarction.
@Tio ... That would be nice, to prevent certain people from commenting on my (public) post. Sometimes persons can really destroy a post when they are too penetrant. I had also asked this question and was told that ActivityPub does not allow this, currently. My hope is, that AP could possibly be improved one day. So I can control who comments or even "close the discussion" if it gets too much.
I didn't realise it worked that way, good to know. If I post for followers only and a follower reshares that, does the scope change to their followers or will it remain mine?
Just thinking, if I don't want non-followers to comment, why would I want to post publicly?
Just thinking, if I don't want non-followers to comment, why would I want to post publicly?
Because you may simply want others to see your posts but not want to see their responses to it. Like I can make a Wordpress blogpost and do not allow anyone to comment. At times this is useful, especially when you may get invaded by trolls.
From now on, and for the next few weeks, I will work on adding a lot more apps to our TROMjaro APPS library tromjaro.com/apps/ - lots of cool apps :). But takes some time because for most of them I am designing an icon that will be part of the Zafiro icon theme pack (so that we contribute to this open source icon pack - we already made hundreds of apps so far), but I also need to test more these apps, make screenshot for them and all that.
It is more work than you may think.
Consider a donation if you can, to support all of the work we are doing for TROM - tromsite.com/donate/
This is a photo I took tonight (unedited, straight out of the Pixel 4A):
I have made a lot more such photos for the past few days and learned how to make longer timelapses. I will make an article about it all soonish :).
I so love it. To reveal the universe. To do it yourself. There, where you are staying :). I love the night sky simply because there is no sky anymore, it suddenly is the outside world. A world we cannot ever experience more than being touched by a few photos reaching our eyes and devices. Beautiful and hard to believe this is all real. At times I feel like I am going crazy....
Most people live their day to day lives having no clue that these things are real...
John Oliver discusses the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.Connect with Last Week Tonight online... Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel fo...
This November Facebook is rolling out a subscription model for EU. Their options: pay 10 Euros a month and you will not see ads on Facebook, or as they say it:
People can refuse to pay a subscription and continue to use Facebook for FREE while seeing ads.
Let's quickly unpack this shitshow.
For the past 10.000 years humans have used a practice to move stuff around the globe: trade. You take care of my sheep, I give you cheese. In time it evolved into specialized work, the notion of debt (trade for it later) and the invention of "currency". A worthless resource that humans imagine to have value. Such as gold, shells, coins, etc..
You do not have to build houses for others in return for some clothes and food, you will get a currency in return for your work. In time humans started to lose track of what is really happening in this society of trade and then believed that they work for the currency itself. Like you work for money. Despite the fact that not a single human works for money, they work for what money gets them (food, comfort, access, power, etc..).
Therefore, from economists to regular workers, journalists or historians, everyone got tricked and confused by the ways the trade practice mutated over the past thousands of years.
Nowadays it is even more confusing because one can trade their attention (watch ads) in return for accessing some digital content. Or agree to let their data being mined in return for other services. Therefore a currency is often not needed, but the practice of trade is the same as it was 10.000 years ago.
So today humans somehow think that if something does not cost money (or other currencies) that something is FREE. This is almost like saying that someone is not dead unless it has a death certificate.
If we were to understand this simple fact of life, we could cut through a lot of the crap that is raining down in today's society. We could easily ask the question: What Am I Trading? Like: what do I have to give in return for using Facebook?
And the answer is simple: you need to give them your attention (watch ads), your data, and your currency to either pay to reach your followers and so forth, or pay for a monthly ads-free experiencing.
As you can see in no scenario Facebook is free. NONE.
This is what TROM is trying so hard to make visible: the invisible part of our society. The fact that TRADE is at the core of how this society works, and how this force of trade is making us all complete jerks, charlatans, and abusers. We need to understand what the problem is, in order to come up with any solution.
Video and Music, two pieces of media almost entirely owned by a few giant companies. And they only allow you to enjoy them if you trade your attention primarily (watch ads), or data, or currency. That in a world where the digitization of media allows us to copy and share them infinitely at almost no cost in terms of resources.
That being said, you can still access these via trade-free interfaces.
For desktop use:
FreeTube https://freetubeapp.io - to access Youtube without ads, data collection or limitations. Nuclear Player https://nuclear.js.org/ - to listen to any song that's out there. Again no ads, no data collection, no bullshit.
We went out again with the telescope and we saw Saturn, Jupiter, and parts of the Milky Way. Here are some photos - astonishing that they are made with a phone (Pixel 4A 4G).
Me and Sasha:
Edited a little bit the colors, light, and details. But not that much, a few minutes editing.
An "arm" of the Milky Way:
Improved a bit the colors and contrast. Not by much.
Our TROM telescope (no editing):
And the coolest of them all, Georgi with a head-lamp :)
No editing, straight out of the phone, believe it or not.
Am impressed. So fucking cool: great experience to enjoy the night sky with our own eyes and a telescope, and low effort great photos :).
The Pixel 4A 4G is a phone that you can buy for about 100-200 Euros second hand, and it is an amazing device to take photos of the night sky. Most of the time you point and shoot and do no other edits. Like here’s a photo directly from the phone: Very challenging with the Moon in the center stage, and yet it did great.
Another one from the terrace: But when the light is weird it cannot do a great job: I mean it is a very good photo but here it is after I manually edited the RAW one from the phone: You can eve see a bit of the Milky Way there.
Another sample. This one it did very well: But then I went a bit insane and edited (perhaps too much) the RAW file (because yes the Pixel also shoots in RAW): The amount of stars is INSANE! But I feel like I made it too artificial…
Next one is a sample of a photo with yellow light pollution: That I tried to fix using the RAW version again: I know I made it a bit too blueish…but I think it is better than the original one. In that photo you can even see the Andromeda Galaxy: That’s WOAH! Amazing!
Tonight we went out to take some photos before the Moon would ruin it. Here are some of the photos we took. My favorite of the night:
This is straight out of the phone. Zero editing. I LOVE it. So much that it is now the Wallpaper for my phone. Quite funny…the wallpaper that the phone took :D.
The rest of the photos are a bit edited by me but not so much: Here are the original ones directly from the oven phone: I think it is mindblowing to be able to do these photos only with my phone. And this is only the beginning! I have a telescope and a mount for the phone, so I will try to point it at say Andromeda or some nebulas or the core of the Milky Way and photograph through the phone. The main issue is that I have to make my telescope track these objects else they will move too fast even for the “smartness” of this camera. I cannot wait! Fuck yah!
You know I’ve seen many photos of the night sky that are 100 times better than mine. And for one they do not excite me nearly as much, simply because the ones you make are personal. You made them. So you are really enjoying them!
But second, this is about going out, seeing the night sky with your own eyes! Talk to each other, observe, be amazed. Learn more about what objects are out there….what other worlds. That’s the fun part! So I really love that there is almost no effort in taking these photos with the Pixel. I am using the Pixel Camera in Night Mode. Once it detects that it is still enough, it goes into Atrophotography mode and you simply press the shutter button. It takes usually 4 minutes to do these photos.
It’s been a while since I updated the photo gallery on my website, but now I will more often!
You know I tried to edit the above photos, their RAW files, quite a bit tonight but I feel like I should not spend too much time on that. Because it may take the fun away. In any case, if anyone is interested I am using Raw Therapee and Darktable for editing. Both trade-free.
I also took Sasha’s Sony a6600 camera to see how it compares with the phone. For sure it can take a lot better photos since the sensor is a lot bigger. But it is not that comfortable to take it with you and set it all up. I kinda fucked most of the photos I took but this one is good: Unedited. I tried to tweak the RAW file but the above one is already good. We can even see Andromeda with a bit of color :). I will try to do more photos with that camera too, but am telling you nothing compares with the comfort of the phone for this. However the sony camera may take such better photos if I eventually will get used to using it, that I may put up with the discomfort of it.
Next I will try some longer timelapses. The Pixel already creates some that are just 1 second long but I will find a way around it. Till then, here are some that I made:
Rokosun
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •Rafa Peris
in reply to Tio • •I understand your perspective Tio, but it is crucial to avoid generalisations about an entire country based on your personal experience on the Girona coast. Spain is diverse, with significant climatic variations between regions. In addition, preferences and practices in climate management can differ considerably.
It is true that in some areas, such as the Girona coast, the climate is more temperate compared to colder places such as Romania. This can influence people's heating habits and needs. Rather than assuming that the experience in Girona reflects the reality of the whole country, it would be more accurate to recognise the climatic and cultural diversity of Spain.
Personally I think that sometimes it would be better to let that frustration out by talking face to face with a person, a friend possibly. I say stupid things a lot of times because I need to discharge my frustration but I don't post it on the internet.
Tio
in reply to Rafa Peris • •For one, this post is not meant to be taken that seriously. It is a simple rant after 10+ years of living in Spain under these conditions and hearing everyone complain about it, from many areas around Spain. So that's what the post is, a simple rant based on my experience.
Second, what made me post about it (and I should have linked to that because I cannot find the post anymore) was a popular reddit post where someone was asking why is it so cold inside the houses in Spain, why aren't them insulated. And I was reading through the comments and seen how many complain about that. I think there were thousands of comments there.
So I suspect, from my experience, that this is the case overall in Spain. But is nothing that serious. If I were that serious I would have look at studies/statistics to learn more about that.
It is beyond ridiculous to read on well known and popular spanish news websites that it is recommended to buy an electric blanket or use candles to make yourself warm in Spain :)).
Anyway, don't take things too personal or too serious Rafa. This is
... show moreFor one, this post is not meant to be taken that seriously. It is a simple rant after 10+ years of living in Spain under these conditions and hearing everyone complain about it, from many areas around Spain. So that's what the post is, a simple rant based on my experience.
Second, what made me post about it (and I should have linked to that because I cannot find the post anymore) was a popular reddit post where someone was asking why is it so cold inside the houses in Spain, why aren't them insulated. And I was reading through the comments and seen how many complain about that. I think there were thousands of comments there.
So I suspect, from my experience, that this is the case overall in Spain. But is nothing that serious. If I were that serious I would have look at studies/statistics to learn more about that.
It is beyond ridiculous to read on well known and popular spanish news websites that it is recommended to buy an electric blanket or use candles to make yourself warm in Spain :)).
Anyway, don't take things too personal or too serious Rafa. This is indeed a stupid situation that is happening in at least many places in Spain and other similar tribes where insulating houses seems to not be that popular.
Tio
in reply to Rafa Peris • •