Блоги: заметки с тегом care

Improving MoneroDice

Robert — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 01:54:37 +0500

MoneroDice is a dice and blackjack game site that accepts Monero. It’s simple and private; there are no accounts or KYC procedures.

Since May 2024, I’ve been helping improve the site’s player experience.

Bugs

I started by testing the site and looking for bugs. I did find a couple, but nothing critical or worth bringing up in this post.

Language

Much of my work centered around making the site’s wording as clear as mightly.

I transformed titles into sentence case and rewrote phrases to simplify punctuation. I removed phrases like PLAY NOW — previously used in page titles — since they gave off a cheap and scammy vibe. I made a range of corrections to the FAQ.

“Select your odds & win multiplier” became “Choose your win multiplier & odds”. The word chance was ubiquitously replaced with odds.

Verbs are the mightiest words. Thus the Feedback page’s full title “Feedback request” became “Leave feedback”.

Multiplier symbols * and x were all transformed into the traditional (and beautiful) ×.

I also helped write a promotional text for Cryptwerk, and made a banner for it:

Ease of use and player experience

But it’s not all about words. The user interface’s functionality matters too.

Since 🚀 and 🗽 emojis were used to show the game mode in the Recent games table, I added them to the mode selection itself:

I flipped the order of Feedback comments to show the latest ones up-top; feedback is not a blogpost discussion.

A good user interface forbids pointless actions. Thus, I froze a bunch of buttons in various circumstances:

the nav-menu button for the current page,
“Copy address” and “Open in wallet” buttons when a payback address is not provided,
Blackjack’s “Show related transactions” button when there are no transactions to show,
Blackjack’s + button when a player does not have enough bankroll to raise the bet,
the button for the current background.

I also made sure the email address in the footer became clickable.

The other smol (but helpful) improvements, both to interface and typography, are too many to list here.

Blackjack

To lessen cognitive burden, I stopped listing buttons’ functions on their hint pop-ups. In this case, the words “Double down” no longer appear:

When disabling the computer’s voice, it no longer reacts by saying “voice disabled”.

MCEP suggestion

I also suggested MoneroDice sign the Monero Circular Economy Pledge — it was already matching the criteria. MoneroDice is now one of the Pledge’s signatories.

Result

More people than ever are playing MoneroDice, and they are sharing their delight on Reddit, Cryptwerk, and on the site’s own Feedback page.

Here’s the client’s review:

I’m actually quite happy from the work you have done for MoneroDice so far. I’ve made many improvements with your suggestions and advice.

Communication is kept professional.

I like that you are proactive looking for things which could be improved.

monerodice.pro

Blinov Hyperlegible

Robert — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 00:21:09 +0500

Robert:

Atkinson Hyperlegible is my default typeface for Latin-alphabet undertakings, including the Nice tramway map and some client work as well.

It does have an issue thô: the slashed zero actually makes text less legible in some cases. So I got rid of it in my modification:

↓ Download .otf

Eugenics

Robert — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 10:35:41 +0500

Robert:

Eugenics simply means finding ways to have the best offspring.

It is fine (moreover, great and natural!) as a man’s or a woman’s individual choice. But it is absolutely deplorable as government central planning for reproduction.

That said, incest should be banned.

A good use for ATM card slots

Robert — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 12:14:42 +0500

Robert:

ATM card slots are a bad design. But they can be put to good use.

“Found a card? Slide it into any of our ATMs. We’ll take care of it.”

(Then notify the customer about where the card was returned so he is more likely to unriddle how he lost it.)

Fault and responsibility

Robert — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 22:28:06 +0500

Robert:

Fault and responsibility are two different things.

The railway company is at fault for the train being late, but I am the only one responsible for making it to the meeting on time.

Conscription

Robert — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 01:50:29 +0500

Robert:

Conscription is slavery, and therefore must be abolished.

If men won’t fight for their homeland, let them bear the aftermath.

Loving one’s enemies

Robert — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 17:34:13 +0500

Robert:

Loving one’s enemies does not mean tolerating their actions.

It means wishing them to overcome wrongdoïng rather than wanting them to burn in hell.

I love my enemies.

Conscientious socialism

Robert — Sun, 28 May 2023 18:48:21 +0500

Robert:

Socialism fails because of the tragedy of the commons — a kind of prisoner’s dilemma. The impossibility of foretelling others’ behavior leads to fellows putting short-term selfly benefits ahead of overall long-term gains.

Socialism also often leads to idleness: a fellow is not incentivised to work hard when he will reap the same benefits regardless.

But families are socialist by definition, yet remain unfazed by the issues above. That’s because socialism can work in a fellowship that is not merely voluntary, but also fully conscientious. Quite hard to achieve outside of family.

Ethical science

Robert — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 13:41:47 +0500

Robert:

Science without conscience is a crime against nature. Ethics are fundamental.

Medicine must be mindful & not dogmatic, free to be exercised with the patient’s interest and informed consent. The doctor-patient relationship is not the government’s business. Any emergency treatment must consider the patient’s preferences, including the one for mRNA-free blood.

Pharma companies must not be able to lobby governments, nor take over the medical profession and medical research. Patents should disappear.

Products with shedding risk must be recalled and banned.

New substances should be foredeemed harmful until proven safe.

Clones and chimeras must not be made. Artificial consciousness must never have human rights.

Censorship of science must be vehemently called out — it kills by not allowing honest debates. Science is never settled.

Taxpayer money should not subsidise the ethically questionable, including birth-control pills.

Experiments should not be done for the sake of experiments.

Environmentalism has been hijacked

Robert — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 18:38:47 +0500

Robert:

Eliminating waste and pollution is a noble cause. But environmentalism today has been almost completely taken over by climate alarmists. They are quite the hypocrites — yelling about rising sea levels while buying beachfront property.

Quoting Carl Sagan, we live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

Global warming

I’m not worried about rising temperatures. The extent of Arctic sea ice is the highest in decades. Antarctica just had its coldest winter with more ice than ever. Natural disasters are less frequent, and deaths related to them have fallen from 500 thousand a year in the 1920s to 14 thousand a year now. The weakness of the latest solar cycle might actually lead to global cooling.

About half of today’s land-surface temperature measurements are fraudulent: they are taken next to airport runways with hot jet engines and tarmac. TV channels are manipulating viewers by spicing up temperature colors: I’d expect that Birmingham black to visualise 45 °C, not just 33!

But if Earth is actually warming, it’s a good thing: 10 times fewer people die from heat than from cold. Sweat is a blessing: it excretes toxins, increases blood flow, and opens up the skin. I want extra summer!

Chemtrails, sun-blocking, and similar geoëngineering must be banned constitutionally.

Carbon dioxide versus actual pollution

There is no historical relationship between atmospheric CO₂ and temperatures on Earth. Atmospheric Carbon dioxide is in fact at a 300-million-year record-low because of natural fluctuations in the Sun’s energy output. Today it makes up just 0.042% of Earth’s total atmosphere.

Earth was way more biodiverse when it had ten times today’s CO₂. An atmosphere richer in Carbon leads to plants producing more Oxygen, and forests and grasslands spreading to places previously too cold to support them. It would also mean more food for everyone and a subsequent drop in poverty. Greenhouse growers buy CO₂ generators to double plant growth.

Cow farts cannot be worse for the environment than factories spewing chemical waste all day. Besides, the world-round cattle population has fallen by at least 100 million over the last 30 years, and this did not stop greenhouse gas emissions from going up.

Carbon is the foundation of organic chemistry and a building block of life. Something we emit when breathing cannot be bad for the environment. Restrictions and taxes on CO₂ emissions must be banned constitutionally.

The real problem is actual air pollution, which kills 7 million people every year. Particles less than 0.1 micrometres in diameter — especially from diesel fuels — cause premature births, asthma, cancers, and mysterious illnesses. Boogers of a color other than white are a sign of dirty air.

Fireworks frighten birds and animals, while contaminating air and earth. Banning them, along with limiting car use in cities, will largely solve noise pollution.

Clean spring water should be easy to access straight from the tap. It’s scary how a tiny minority of people using Teflon pans for the last 30 years made rainwater no longer drinkable.

Free markets and the role of government

It is sensible to minimise waste, pollution, and plastics. But rarely should something be done at all costs: absolutist approaches almost always lead to disasters. Good transitions are Tarzan-like: not letting go of the old before the new can replace it. Every policy decision must go thru a cost-benefit analysis.

Clearly-defined property rights can help reduce pollution: a property owner has a natural incentive to take good care of his land. A neighbor’s cigarette smoke reaching my house should be considered a property violation.

Most environmental calamities have been caused by governments and corporations. That’s why BP coined the term “climate footprint” in 2005 to try to pass its responsibility onto the individual. Big Energy uses another trick too: taking bribes to consider corporations users of 100% “clean energy”, thus turning regular people into users of “dirty energy”. The artificial legislative construct of limited liability lets companies destroy the environment for a fixed price — it must be abolished!

Government agencies should be required to assess critical habitats affected by their projects and always choose the most environmentally-friendly option.

The EU plans to exempt private planes from jetfuel tax despite them emitting the most pollution per person. Government employees except for the president and a few key ones should be obliged to fly only commercial; this will also reduce corruption.

The EU is also now forcing manufacturers to use USB-C as their devices’ charging port. I doubt that this will help the environment in any way: some upgraders will now have to throw away existing chargers and buy new ones. This law is also an infringement on freedom that will raise production costs and stifle technological progress.

Today’s financial system is a wasteful scam of pointless public companies, stocks, derivatives, and banks. It requires constant economic growth (which is impossible) and prints endless money to make prices go up forever. ESG ratings are not about corporate responsibility, but about woke greed. Taxes, inflation, and patents disincentivise innovation.

GDP shows not the true wealth of a nation, but its reliance on the external economy; absolute self-sufficiency has a GDP of zero. Two quarters of negative GDP growth does not imply recession.

It’s time to switch to hard, disinflationary currencies like Monero: their appreciating value incentivises buying only high-quality, long-lasting, and useful items. The world will become a cleaner and healthier place once the economy of single-use crap declines.

Electric energy

Renewable energy is a nonsensical term. The sun may always be around, but solar panels and windmills need materials to be built. Moreover, solar and wind farms take up lots of land and destroy its landscape. The German Green Party invades forests to replace trees with windmills — clown world at its finest.

Rapidly changing energy production methods is wasteful in itself, as it requires manufacturing thousands of solar panels and windmills. Manufacturing one EV battery requires digging up 226,000 kilograms of the earth’s crust for metal-processing.

Nuclear power is the most energy-dense fuel of all, is quite cheap, and saves lives by avoiding pollution that would have come from burning coal. Infinite nuclear energy means infinite fertiliser, food, productivity, and opportunity for an even larger population.

The cruel Klaus Schwab and his Young Global Leaders of course desire the opposite — energy scarcity — to amass more control and win the spiritual war. Energy independence is a national security priority; European nuclear power plants should be restarted as soon as it is safely possible to do so.

The chance of a nuclear-plant accident happening in peaceful times is yoctoscopic: today’s plants are built unlike Chernobyl. Should we strive to abolish hazards completely, we should start by dismantling all nuclear weapons.

Hydro and geothermal are also good energy sources. Solar energy makes sense at the level of individual buildings — but installing panels should never be mandatory! Using rainwater as greywater in individual buildings makes sense too.

Mainstream soyentists call petrol “dinosaur sauce”. But I find the abiotic origin theory to make more sense: it says that petroleum is formed by magmatic Carbon reäcting with Hydrogen beneath the earth’s crust. If this is correct, the peak-oil narrative will be defenestrated and fuel prices will fall. Using petroleum for energy is fine if done without excessive pollution, fracking is okay if local communities support it.

Biofuel is made of viable crops. Its low energy density is never worth the rise in food prices.

The city of Augsburg is switching off façade lighting on historic buildings and evaluating the shutdown of some traffic lights, while France is turning off street lights completely and limiting illuminated advertising at night. I support these initiatives: they will save taxpayer money and improve citizens’ eyesight & circadian rhythms. I would even take them a step further by banning fluorescent lighting in government buildings and public spaces.

It is sensible not to condition air in the summer and not to heat homes too much in the winter: large temperature differences between the indoors and outdoors are bad for health. But such restrictions should never be forced upon people (looking at you, Spain).

Plastic

Plastic is a petroleum-derived industrial material that was never intended for day-to-day use and only became widespread because of corrupt scientists. Bisphenols, PBDEs, phthalates, microplastics, and other forever-chemicals are messing with our hormones and making us sick.

We are meant to lightly live next to nature, and not in a densely-populated industrial wasteland. Avoiding “soakproof paper”, polyëster clothing, synthetic tyres, wood glues, chemical-laden fabric softeners, and all other plastics is much smarter than buying an EV “to save the planet”. I own only 20 things made with plastic — 20 too many.

The same governments that couldn’t stop screaming about the environment led an epidemic response that created loads of waste in masks, gloves, bags, tests, and vaccine vials. To this I say: governments must be banned from using plastic in non-critical situations. Fake grass should be banned completely.

Better ways to build things

Environmentally-friendly objects are frugally designed with universality in mind, and thus cost little both to buy and to maintain. They don’t need constant cleaning & lubrication, and instead resist erosion, self-heal, & generally become better with age. They are easy to repair, often without special tools. They honor their material by avoiding dyes and embracing natural forms. Stapleless staplers are a brilliant item designed to avoid depleting resources.

I avoid buying whenever I can, and instead build, borrow, or rent. If buying is inevitable, used items are worth taking a look at: preowned classics are better than unproven novelties; old does not mean obsolete. I use everything that I own, even every corner of every sheet of paper!

Appropriate technology is smol-scale and not organisation-dependent. Mechanical devices such as counterweights, pedals, magnets, and simple machines are more reliable than electricity-consuming alternatives.

Speaking of electronics — buried components, omnipresent glue, and proprietary screws are a disgrace. Devices with interchangeable parts allow upgrading without replacing, either via hot-swap modularity or custom improvements such as retrofitting. Refinement culture has a certain charm to it. I like the concept of scavenger electronics: building tech with spare parts lying around. Openly available schematics allow more people to repair instead of discarding and replacing.

The best packaging is as little packaging as possible. It is beautiful, reusable, and easy to open.

Localising production will reduce transport-related pollution, reliance on the failing global supply chains, as well as the impact of foreign crises. Countries should strive to have vast resources (including sovereign fishing waters), zero debt, and no need for imports. Exports are okay, but they should not be the economy’s backbone.

Recycling is a last resort, a sort of defeat in fact. Most unused things can be kept and turned into something else: old computer chips make for nifty fridge magnets. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

Dying in nature should not harm it. Compostable (not simply biodegradable) items are great as long as they do not self-destruct while in use.

Natural conservationism

The term conservative derives from the word conserve. Real conservatives protect the environment.

Good knowledge of biology and ecology is a superpower. Nature should be left alone when it does not threaten our infrastructure.

As such, natural extinctions and wildfires exist to rejuvenate Earth. Stopping them from happening only creates imbalances.

Banning hunting endangered species makes each kill more profitable, bringing the animal even closer to extinction. If the ban is strictly enforced, people will find similar species to poach, creating more endangered species in the process.

Putting plants in solo pots makes them lonely, because they lose the possibility to exchange substances thru their roots.

Food

Eating an animal means killing that animal. But being vegan and vegetarian is still deadlier than being carnivore: birds are shot to protect crops, insects are pesticided to produce oat, moles and frogs are killed by plowing fields, habitats are destroyed by flattening rainforests to plant avocados, and thousands of other animals are massacred to operate soybean farms. It’s easy to cause collateral damage when one does not witness the impact that his decisions make. PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — ~~kill~~ euthanise animals when running out of place to keep them.

Being vegan and vegetarian is wasteful, too. A single glass of almond “milk” takes 61 litres of water to produce. Monocrop farming takes up lots of land and destroys its Nitrogen-rich topsoil. Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, and Imperial China all plowed their way to demise.

Cows, on the other hand, are upcyclers who turn greens inedible by humans into our most bioavailable and nutritious food, while their poop regenerates the soil. They, along with other ruminants, have the organs to eliminate heavy metals, carcinogens, pesticides, glyphosates, and other poisons they’re exposed to. Pigs are recyclers who turn what we don’t eat into something we do. Humans can digest almost all animal parts; the few outliers can be used as quality material.

Yes, animals don’t want to be eaten: they defend themselves by kicking, biting, or running away. But they know we will eat them anyway: their breeding habits and evolutionary development “priced in” many of them being hunted by us.

Humans are not meant to digest large quantities of plants: phytochemicals inflame us when we try to. Plants also often contain pesticide and glyphosate residues. Veganism leads to infertility, disgusting skin, and weakness in joints. The best way to receive plant nutrients is thru other animals breaking them up for us.

Animal	Stomach pH
Herbivore	4...6
Omnivore	3...4
Carnivore	~2
Human	1.5...2

Humans are not meant to eat insects, either: we cannot digest chitin, a polysaccharide that they contain.

Something that we have been eating forever cannot be the cause of new diseases. Hong Kongers eat the most meat per person and have the longest average lifespan. Indians eat the least meat per person, yet 20% have diabetes and 25% die of heart disease. Satiety, the precaution against overconsumption, is felt only when eating proper foods.

Animal-based is based. Meat was the driving force behind mankind’s brain development. Key nutrients such as vitamin B12 are not found in non-animal products. Our genome, cheekbone, and teeth were designed for meat, and not sweet soft foods; we ate only animal products for 2.5 million years before agriculture came about 15,000 years ago. Modern fruits, vegetables, and grains were created by people crossbreeding them:

Image by Kevin Stock

The agricultural revolution led to nutritional deficiencies, followed by a rise in epidemics and dental disease. Even worse, it concentrated control over the food supply in the hands of a few. This statist non-producing elite then prohibited the lower classes from hunting and made them dependent on wheat & rice, turning them into docile slaves. Greek royals died 5 to 7 centimetres taller than peasants.

People in decentralised hunting-gathering tribes were happier, freër, better-looking, and healthier than those in states. Gyms exist today only because we abandoned their lifestyle.

I am noticing a similar “revolution” today: governments and corporations are creating supply shortages to influence what we eat. Northern Ireland aims to reduce its population of sheep and cattle by one million for “climate targets”. Governments of the Netherlands, US, and UK are paying farmers to shut their businesses down. Canada and the Netherlands want to mandate reduced fertiliser usage — something that recently led to Sri Lanka’s collapse. The Chinese government warns about the US military weaponising and dispatching “super-insects” to cause deliberate famines in rival countries. The mainstream media is talking about bird flu, which happens to be detected by the infamously erroneous PCR tests. Oxford University and Imperial College London promote phasing out eating beef and lamb because cLiMaTe cHaNgE.

Eating synthetic meat is far worse than eating vegetables. Fake meat is a subversion of reality, a lie. It is unnatural in the original sense of the word: against nature’s intent (for us to eat actual meat). And, of course, its ingredients are no good either: Beyond Burgers contain the machine lubricant canola oil. Lab-grown “milk” is anti-natural at its finest. Genetic engineering can cause unexpected mutations in an organism, which can elevate food toxicity. Do not let the bugmen fool you: no lab will ever produce anything as healthy as a cow can.

Countries should follow France’s lead and ban calling vegetarian products sausages and steaks, going even further to establish legal definitions of the terms food, water, and milk. Restaurant menus with ingredient lists should be required to mention all ingredients. The rights to grow, raise, process, barter, trade, sell, and choose food without government interference should be enshrined in the constitution. Food security is national security.

Regenerative farming is the way to go: it means animals not having constant access to the entire pasture, and instead grazing in a managed way — having adaptive access to smoller paddocks. It leads to healthier animals, more microbial diversity, fewer parasites, increased rainfall absorption, and a better wildlife habitat.

True prepping is more than stockpiling: it means owning an untaxable and unseizable ranch homestead with many animals and a nearby water source.

There is nothing wrong with fast food if it is quality food. It takes less than fifteen minutes to cook a delicious steak.

“Climate change” is no crisis. Tyranny and propaganda is.

No return date

Robert — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 20:52:01 +0500

Robert:

Almost every flight booking interface has failed at letting me not choose a return date:

If I didn’t choose a return date, there is none. Making me click “I’m going on a one-way trip” is absurd.

Loyalty

Robert — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 14:12:20 +0500

Robert:

Being loyal does not mean being a wishy-washy kiss-ass.

Being loyal means choosing not to plan a coup behind my back, and instead telling me about what I’m doing wrong.

My Telegram posts on 2020’s week 26

Robert — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 13:10:29 +0500

Robert:

Week 25 ←→ Week 28

Live-commenting WWDC 2020 on Monday, June 22

The icons are jelly and that’s annoying:

Oh, there’s a portal in the fountain at Apple Park.

The Mac is moving to Apple-made processors for top performance. This is good news.

iOS & iPadOS apps run on the Mac without any changes needed. Catalyst was a short-term thing.

Instead of credits at the end there’s an assurance that Apple took care so nobody would get infected. Sign of the times:

Tuesday, June 23

These tiles have a nice look:

Wednesday, June 24

Wow:

Also, inconsistent use of articles.

Friday, June 26

The empty-space-to-the-right issue has been solved. My project illustrations now take up almost the entire screen width. Looks stunning:

Self-presenting

Robert — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 01:08:48 +0500

Robert:

Overhead lights bring attention to themselves by turning on while the flight attendant mentions them.

Great design!

Autosave while printing

Robert — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 20:56:01 +0500

Robert:

I have a document open as I’m printing it.

Then, I catch a typo in a part which hasn’t been printed yet.

Why can’t I fix the typo and have the printer print out the correct version?