This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).
As a reminder, you can nominate Quality Contributions by hitting the report button and selecting the "Actually A Quality Contribution!" option. Additionally, links to all of the roundups can be found in the wiki of /theThread which can be found here. For a list of other great community content, see here.
These are mostly chronologically ordered, but I have in some cases tried to cluster comments by topic so if there is something you are looking for (or trying to avoid), this might be helpful.

Quality Contributions in the Main Motte

@gattsuru:

• "Some legislation made it easier..., but the grander problem is that you now had thousands of people who's job was to find discriminatory actors, who were trained to notice the most subtle hints of it, and in no small part who believed in the mission."

@BahRamYou:

• "I've heard stuff like this before, that Hispanic is a nonsense category. But I actually think it makes sense..."

@johnfabian:

• "Short attempt to explain an upcoming Canadian constitutional snafu"

@2D3D:

• "There are a few extremely interesting nightlife entertainment options that are not commonly experienced by westerners, so I think it is worth sharing the mechanics of Southeast Asian seediness with the fine denizens of themotte."

@urquan:

• "We need transformational leadership, and a positive identity."

@FCfromSSC:

• "I was a Blue for a number of years, and the Blue habits of thought die hard."

Contributions for the week of April 29, 2024

@FCfromSSC:

• "All this has been done to us; tit-for-tat is the correct strategy given the state of play."step. Impose costs anywhere and everywhere."
  
• "I believe that 'We know how to solve all our problems' is a brief, common-language encapsulation of the core thesis of a specific ideological movement, and that this ideological movement is best understood as the central example of the Enlightenment."
  

@NullHypothesis:

• "Factors Playing Into Korea's Gender War"
  
• "It would be interesting to see how people would respond if you asked them would you rather be stuck in a forest with a bear or a black man."
  

@Felagund:

• "South Africa's Election"

@self_made_human:

• "My personal working hypothesis is that therapy acts as a decent substitute for a friend, a non-judgemental and understanding one who has seemingly endless time to listen to your problems, and is forbidden, on the pain of losing the way they make a living, from disclosing your troubles."

@Tenaz:

• "I recently heard of yaslighting, which is where instead of convincing someone their true beliefs are delusional, you affirm their delusional beliefs and convince them they're true."

Contributions for the week of May 6, 2024

@gattsuru:

• "The Death of Trust in Bipartisan Lawmaking"

@cjet79:

• "Government Programs Should Have Legible Budgets"

@SlowBoy:

• "It's been a long time since we've discussed Trump, and there have been a number of developments in the court cases against him, and so I'm here to say that our long mottizan nightmare of peace and tranquility is finally over."

@Ben___Garrison:

• "The time when Trump sabotaged immigration restrictions, and the alt-right cheered"

Contributions for the week of May 13, 2024

@gattsuru:

• "Taylor, also known as CarbonMike, was both a CTRL-Pew 3d printing enthusiast and a New Yorker, a combination that Didn't Go Well."

@OliveTapenade:

• "That is, here we have people immediately concluding that whites and Asians are both in the 'domesticated', Dragon category, but here's a Chinese voice utterly convinced that whites in the wild barbarian Wolf category."

@NelsonRushton:

• "Identity Politics and the Russian Revolution"

@Gaashk:

• "People should be able to be pleased with their children living normal, functional lives!"

@ares:

• "This occurred back in 2005-2006: hunting Somali pirates before hunting Somali pirates was cool."

@Folamh3:

• "If you are demanding that men not interact with you, and the only men reading (or caring about) that demand are men who care about respecting your boundaries - it should come as no surprise when the only men who interact with you are men who don't care about respecting your boundaries."

@faceh:

• "I think the main thing that boomers and even elder Millenials might be missing is that literally EVERYTHING in Zoomer culture is in a constant state of molochian hypercompetition/red queen races thanks to the influence of social media and algorithmic ranking of every aspect of their performance in life."

@Dean:

• "To believe in an international rules-based order, you have to believe that there are actual rules, or else it's an arbitrary vibes-based order."

@Amadan:

• "So, simply saying 'The Palestinians have a clear moral case,' even if you're right, does not solve the current problem."

@flitter:

• "Is private equity delivering the Georgist promise?"

Contributions for the week of May 20, 2024

@Walterodim:

• "It's not possible to distinguish by merits, preference, difference, or interests if the top goal is to provide an inclusive environment to everyone in every place."

@MadMonzer:

• "I think most scissor shootings that do not involve cops (Zimmerman and Rittenhouse) are fighting situations and the scissor is that DRT and SYG are working from completely different moral frameworks."

@NelsonRushton:

• "Censorship and Authoritarianism in the Russian Revolution"

@urquan:

• "Police reform and accountability would be a winning issue in the US if the left would stop making it exclusively a racialized issue and the right would acknowledge that at least some police corruption hits black people worst."

@FCfromSSC:

• "At some point down the line, the escalation for one side or the other will be unsurvivable to the system as a whole, and it will fail. Again, people counting on the system's survival should be made aware of this."
  
• "I don't see any value in the HBD hypothesis. On the other hand, I don't actually see positive value in diversity in and of itself, and I'm not willing to go along with the polite lies our racial "conversation" consistently demands."
  

@Throwaway05:

• "Every physician I know who doesn't have a financial stake in midlevels (and isn't in admin) tells their friends and family to only see doctors whenever possible. That's for a reason."

@coffee_enjoyer:

• "Status in the progressive art scene"

Contributions for the week of May 27, 2024

@jeroboam:

• "It's pretty amazing how today's Antifa members have nearly the exact same ideology as a Harvard professor or WaPo journalist."

@blooblyblobl:

• "The case for space mining is a complete, unsalvageable disaster."

@Rov_Scam:

• "Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait"

@FiveHourMarathon:

• "Naz Reid, Romance, and Regret"

@satirizedoor:

• "Since you can't separate yourself from criminals through law enforcement, you do so by proxy using price."

@blooblyblobl:

• "I think once the Dominion CEO demonstrably perjured himself by claiming that Dominion voting systems don't have modems in them (photographically, demonstrably false) and then again by claiming they weren't connected to the internet (demonstrably false again per the dominion records leaked by Dar Leaf), I decided that voting machines are completely ridiculous and no one should ever assume an election in which a voting machine is involved is fair."

@gorge:

• "But prosecuting high-level officials for technical crimes and gray-area crimes and crimes invented in the last 80 years gives far too much power to the bureaucracy."

So, I got a Hetzner dedicated server a few months ago and so far, I have been running my services on bare metal. Recently, I decided to try and install Proxmox on it to keep everything organized in their separate VMs and more importantly, make backups easier for me.
I learned how to install Proxmox last week and got everything up and running on my tiny home lab without many issues.
Now, the Hetzner server only comes with a single IP address, and the way Proxmox works (based on my understanding), it assigns a new IP address to each VM or LXC. This wasn't an issue when I was tinkering with it on my home lab locally however, I'm unable to replicate the network configuration on the Hetzner Server.
I followed this tutorial on YouTube to configure the network setup. So, following this tutorial should essentially give new local IP addresses (192.168.x.x) to my VMs and LXCs and it would then be routed through my Hetzner server's public IP address on 27.x.x.222 and make it accessible outside the Hetzner network.
Theoretically, if I were to create an Nginx Proxy Manager LXC, it would be provisioned a local IP address in the range of 192.168.x.x:81 but it should still be accessible at 27.x.x.222:81. However, I'm unable to access my VMs or LXCs outside the Hetzner network.
After that didn't work as intended, I followed this guide to see if I could get it to work. Same results.
I know I'm doing something wrong. However, I'm unsure what I'm doing wrong. I've learned self-hosting primarily from following this sub and a few YouTube channels and based on my short experience with self-hosting, I'm pretty out of depth here.
This is my network-interfaces configuration:

#LoopBacks auto lo iface lo inet loopback iface lo inet6 loopback #Physical Interfaces iface enp5s0 inet manual #Non-Proxmox Interfaces source /etc/network/interfaces.d/* #Proxmox Interfaces #Public Interface auto vmbr0 iface vmbr0 inet static address 27.x.x.222/26 gateway 27.x.x.x bridge-ports enp5s0 bridge-stp off bridge-fd 0 up sysctl -p auto vmbr2 iface vmbr2 inet static address 192.168.192.5/18 bridge-ports none bridge-stp off bridge-fd 0 post-up iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s '192.168.192.0/18' -o vmbr0 -j MASQUERADE post-down iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -s '192.168.192.0/18' -o vmbr0 -j MASQUERADE post-up iptables -t raw -I PREROUTING -i fwbr+ -j CT --zone 1 post-down iptables -t raw -D PREROUTING -i fwbr+ -j CT --zone 1 

I would appreciate any help with this. Thank you so much.

First/Previous
“How’d you think that was going to go?” asked a voice from the other side of the door.
I lay on the bunk and stared at the ceiling; my head throbbed. The place where I’d been grazed stung whenever I touched my fingers to it. A bullet had—by whoever’s grace—scraped my scalp and traced a line from the far corner of my right eyebrow. It'd only been three days and it still caused pain. No doctors came and I was certain there would be infection—if not plain infection, then it could always be the worser: skitterbugs. I ached still. I had never fully recovered, not like how I should have.
The day of anger, as I’d begun to think of it in my mind, had caused no great ruckus beyond a few dead men. Two were Bosses, but who knew if they’d announce that as casually as they’d surely announce my execution. Perhaps they’d string me up alongside thieves. A good thief and a bad. What a riot; I deserved no thieves, of course.
What was I? Some great hero? Some idiot was more likely. I wanted misery to befall those that perpetrated it themselves and there I was, more miserable. Perhaps the wrath in my heart came from some mutation; the demon Mephisto resurrected me (so said the demon) and I’d begun to accept it. It was the reason for my poor state, surely, and the more I thought on it, the more I believed it was true; it felt true right down to my bones. The truth hurt or it was age and I rose from the cot I lay on; I’d been detained in a room beside the one I’d visited Andrew many months prior. They’d starved me, rattled the door to try and frighten me, and they’d wasted water on my head to keep me from good sleep.
I did not respond to the voice from the other side of the door and the object rattled in its frame and the voice came again, this time angrier, “Really? How did you think that was going to go? Crazy bastard! Thought you’d put the hurt on the Bosses? Thought you’d kill us at our worst? First, it’s that explosion. You have something to do with that? No! First, it was Harold’s daughter running off!” The voice on the other side of the door grew with mirth as it did with anger. “I’d seen you around town a bit. Thought the Bosses always liked you. Huh. Boss Harold mentioned you at his parties and said how you were a smart fella’, a good fella’, and there you killed him. Stone cold.” The man which spoke was a jailor that tortured me in those dreamlike days I spent locked in their prison, and he seemed personally affronted. “So first it’s the explosions; steam or dust rose out of cracks in the ground you know—some thought hell was rising up, but the Bosses put those thoughts to bed. God, what’s it with the likes of you? The explosions and now I’ve lost an eye and its because of the skitterbugs. You probably brought that on!” The voice muttered and then the door shook in its frame again, seemingly from a hard kick. I wished I could see the face of the man throwing his tantrum. “Can’t wait to see you hang.”
“So, I’ll hang?” I asked the door. There was a long silence, and I was uncertain if I’d pitched my voice enough for the man on the other side to hear me. I opened my mouth to ask, “So-
“You’ll hang.” The man on other side seemed to knock his knuckles against the surface of the door. “Or you’ll die here.”
“What’s Maron said?”
“Don’t you worry about him.”
“What’s he said?”
“Said you’d probably appreciate the punishment that we’d put on you. Said you’re a sick man. Said you like speaking with devils and people like you only find pleasure in such things.”
“So, I won’t hang?”
“Oh, you’ll hang, sir. You’ll hang if I need to do it myself with no one else. If not that, I’ll be sure to put you under one way or another. Accidents happen.” He chuckled. “Maybe you’d enjoy it, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever enjoyment you find in your tortures won’t compare to what ideas I have.”
A long silence followed, and I watched dust motes dance in the air; the place was stagnant and even a breath caused a shift in their glide. I closed my eyes and tried to remember a better time. I thought of Suzanne. I thought of Gemma. What a time to be alive. I thought of the movies, the books, the musical cartridges that sung of yesteryears. How unlucky I’d been, of course. Something had changed in me though and it was totally refreshing. Perhaps it was in realizing the evils of my brothers was that of a man and not some otherworldly force, or perhaps it was a push that came from years of terrible inconsistencies. All that living in the past and so it was. It didn’t matter—the past. I’d been so busy with it that I’d been in a constant state of unliving. I’d known that always, of course—something new had come.
“You dozing off in there?” asked the jailor.
“Nah.”
“Good. Stay awake or I’ll be forced to stay you awake.”
I’d been reborn with a rage, justified or otherwise, and it was felt all over. It was a wild compulsion. All that time and it had been me that was brought back.
The wound on my head throbbed and I prodded it with a finger and brought the finger away and examined the digit; it was dried well enough, and I did not smell infection nor were there any of the accompanying symptoms of a fever or hallucination. I was me, through and through. For now.
The door banged. I didn’t bother an answer and the door banged again.
“Who’s there?” I asked, surprising myself with the sarcasm.
“Why’d you do it?” asked the jailor.
“You wanna’ ask me about it now?”
“Tell me.” The voice on the other side of the door was serious entirely.
“Bah!” “Bah to you! Why’d you do it?”
“Is there a reason to explain myself? If you knew better the things I knew, would it get you to unlock that door and let me walk free? Would it change your mind even?”
The jailor caught a laugh before responding. “Can’t say it would.”
“So, what’s it that you want? You won’t understand me, and I don’t think I’ve got the energies of persuasion to try.”
“Try.”
“You like the Bosses?”
“They’re okay. Keep me in work anyway. Keep people safe.” I slumped forward onto my knees where I sat and placed my elbows on my knees and watched the crack at the base of the door on the other side of the prison cell. “What’s it matter if they keep you in work? Think they care about you anymore than what you represent?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you keep riffraff down and they like you for it. I wonder if they know you. You ever get invited to the feasts they hold at the hall? You ever worry about your water rations? You ever wonder why it is that so few of the women or men invited to the hall return? Children too, now that I think of it. They’d call those captured criminals, I know. Those brothers—the sheriff is to blame too—they’re bastards. You know they are.”
“Is that so? What’s that make me? A bastard too?”
“By proxy maybe.” I dryly chuckled. “What’s it matter? What do you want outta’ me anyhow? Some gratification? Some confession—you’ve gotten that already, ain’tcha? Maybe a repentance? Why don’t you call one of those Bosses on down from their throne and have them here on the other side of the door so I can apologize? Or call Lady and I’ll get her to channel some message to the afterlife and I’ll plead for forgiveness. That what you want? Now I’m a bad man and I know it, but it ain’t for the reasons you believe. What you want is belief that there’s a man under the skin of the monster you’ve projected? No, I won’t shoo away your boogeyman for you. It can’t be done, not from me.”
“You talk big for someone in your predicament. I like how you talk so holier. Like you’re talking down on me. I just wanted to know what made you want to go on a mad-killing spree the way you did.”
“Mm.” I cupped my hands together; as it was, my left knee shot off with pain and I tried to massage it to little comfort and stretched it out straight from my body. “When violence keeps you bound, violence is necessary to free yourself. That’s all I’ll say about it. If you hang me, then hang me. Spill my guts out for the birds and put a sack over my head so you won’t be sick by my face.”
“You’re a mouthy pig.”
I listened to the jailor’s footfalls disappear down the hall and finally it was totally quiet and all I could hear was the throb on my head. Lucky or unlucky? No, it wasn’t luck. I’d been marked. I was the payment, and I knew the price. The demon had my soul. Whatever protection it afforded me, I intended on using.
The image of that room continued over in my mind, with the peasantry (that’s what I saw them as then) knelt in front of the Bosses and the wall men, with the intense blood-smell, with the surprise on Maron’s face. Billy’s face. There was still a part of me, however small, that wanted to plead with him to change his ways. That wasn’t the part that welled up in me then though. The piece of me that wanted to see him die was what took over. It hadn’t been Maron that fired his gun; he’d still been fighting with his holster. I’d only taken a step in through the door and a spray of gunfire from one of the wall men’s rifles exploded and I was sure I was dead because I fell, and my vision went white. They should’ve put me down then.
I didn’t come too fully until I had a few goons on me, hauling me upright roughly under my arms. Maron didn’t say anything at first and those wall men took over; they shouted that I was alive still and I felt a hot gun barrel against my cheek.
“Stop!” shouted Maron. The Boss Sheriff stepped forward with his stilted gait and looked me over thoroughly. The gun barrel fell from my cheek, but they held me still; it wasn’t like I planned on fighting. “You got uglier,” said Boss Maron, “Really ugly.” His left eye, afflicted by the skitterbug infestation, had gone dead white with only the faintest trace of an iris; it dribbled pus.
I held his stare to the point that my eyes watered—whether from anger or sorrow or both—and my muscles tightened like an animal threatening to pounce. It was a ridiculous display.
“Lock him up,” said Boss Maron.
So, I was locked up and those uncounted days I was mildly tortured: sleep deprivation, pummeling, and sometimes they spit on me. It could have been worse. I’d seen worse.
The cell was numbingly quiet, and I continued to massage my knee, continued in thinking about how investing so much thought with the past twisted any future of mine into a dismal satire.
I could not tell how long it had been without sunlight and the jailor returned (he was bulbous and fattened and old but very strong—it could be sensed in how he carried himself) pushed through the door this time with a tray of diced potatoes, steamed but cold, and a metal cup of water. He sat them on the floor, stared at the tray there with his one good left eye, and it was like I could read his mind as he looked at the food there. He could destroy it; he jerked from the tray without saying a word to me then disappeared behind the door he closed. The jailor remained there outside.
Pride swelled in me momentarily before I pushed whatever silliness that was and devoured the food and drank the clear water. If it was poison, so be it. If it was poison, then all the problems of the world would disperse.
Again, the jailor pushed in through the door and bent to remove the tray and I was struck by the immediate thought of strangling him. So, I tried and threw myself at the man.
My hands felt the scruff around his throat, and I pressed hard with my fingers on his Adams apple. He’d lurched forward to lift the tray and he immediately came up with force, throwing me off him; my nails raked his cheek as I scrambled for purchase. He took the metal tray in both of his hands and thwapped me across the head—it rang, and I was stunned while he lifted back his right hand in a swing. In the dizziness, I momentarily caught a glimpse of the holster on his left hip and reached out dumbly for the revolver there. A meaty smack could be heard, and I didn’t even feel it when his fist met my face the second time. My head rocked and I fought to look upright, and his hand came again, and I put up my own hand in return; it was pushed away, and he continued at me, muttering epithets he found useful.
Once he was heaving and spitting, he left me on the cot and directly before slamming the door, he mentioned something about violence and how if I liked violence so much that he’d show it to me.
I nursed myself to sitting right-up and though adrenaline kept the pain away, I felt my face bruising already. There was no way for me to inspect the welts his hands had left, but I could guess their places by touch and how they thrummed with my heart.
Two days passed, if I counted them by the visits from the jailor and then Maron made his appearance to me, and I was surprised to see him with a leather eye patch over his left eye; he seemed ill on his feet and the jailor, though the man was there, did not move to stop Maron from entering the room and relieving me of my prison. He and the jailor roped my hands together in front of my pelvis and I didn’t fight.
Boss Maron stank of infection and yellow oozed from beneath his eye patch and he kept his cowboy hat pulled snugly over both his ears and did not speak so jovially—there were no crude jokes at my expense. A warmth radiated off him. The Boss carried my shotgun with him but made no remark on it. He marched me from the prison, and I met daylight, and it burned my eyes while I stared up into the reddish sky. Dust scattered from the nearest portion of wall and caught on the wind till it was carried and disappeared overhead, and I briefly thought how nice it must be to fly.
Golgotha stirred as ever, and people spoke loudly and candidly as I passed them by. Words came my way from passing faces like, “You kissed the devil’s ass!” or, “You sure are a monster, look at you!” and Maron pushed me on with the gun at my back, and I wavered on my legs like I was without any control.
“Is it true?” asked Boss Maron, “Did you kiss the devil’s ass?” He tilted the shotgun casually on his shoulder and kept me ahead of himself. He was taking me to hang—and making a big deal out of it too. “I know how you like to speak to them. The demons. I know how you conspire with them. I told them all how you do. Now they know I was right.”
What a rotten town it was, and it smelled like it. The atrophied muscles and diseased infections of those fine folks emanated in the air, flies buzzed around my head, bloated and doubtlessly happy from whatever corpse they’d sprung from.
“Say somethin’,” said Maron.
“What do you want?” I asked, watching my footfalls, ignoring the screeches of those on the sidelines; he marched me through the runways, past the onlookers which saw me with faces of twisted hatred. The tension was palpable—I could feel the venom off the eyes of those that watched. Blood red eyes which judged carelessly.
“I want you to say it,” said Maron; I felt the nudge of the shotgun at my back again and I stumbled forward, caught myself, carried on, “I want you to admit it to me. You’re like a mutant, ain’tcha? No better than any other monster. I knew it all them years. I seen it.” We took an alley and cretins followed behind; wall men flanked Maron and on either side of the narrow stretch there were faces made even with the wall, pressed there like they were afraid to be involved.
“Whatever you say, brother.”
“Don’t,” hissed Maron, “Don’t even.”
“What?” I spat the word, “Afraid they’ll treat you differently if they all know how close we are?” I felt the gun barrel press against my back, and I yelped out the words, “Hey! He’s my brother! My baby brother!” The barrel jabbed me in the spine, and I spilled forward, catching myself on one of those nearby faces. It was an old woman. She shoved me from her, and I flailed across the ground after trying to catch myself with my bound hands. Dirt met my face and exploded around me. I laughed, blinking through the dust. I spit too. He couldn’t kill me. Whatever black magic there was in me—bequeathed by Mephisto—refused me death. Maron lifted me with the help of his wall men, pinching the coat around my throat with his fist. He shoved me on, and we continued.
“You smell that?” I asked Maron.
“Stop talkin’. You might not be a man, but you’ll die like one,” he said. The wall men around muttered, and we took the way to the front square; already there were looky-loos gathered, throngs of them not at all bashful to see the day’s line-up—it was just me. The platform was emptier and that was good (Frank, Paul, and Matt looked naked without their eldest brother). Those Bosses which remained looked drunk as they did for any other execution. It was a good day for it. Warm. The stink of the crowd was worse and as those gathered parted for my entourage, the warmth of them cloistered us like the blood of a wound.
Even through the vile aroma, the smell of rotted poultry rose like nothing else. “You don’t smell it then?”
The roar, a cacophony of the damned souls stolen, shook the ground and the air changed. A dragon—Leviathan.
Along the wall which old skeletal corpses hung against dried blood stains from hook-chains, men and women scattered the length of the parapets with their weapons. Gunfire came and one of those atop the wall shouted, “Artillery! Dragon! Big guns!”
There was fire in the sky and the creature circled overhead and its wings beat the wind like mad; those organic ropes that hung from its body took on horrid shapes with its movement in the high noon sunlight.
Screams filled the air as the square erupted into panic. I dove into the sickly crowd; among the loudness, the horses which were lined by the big door fought against their ties and bolted across the square. Arms and heads disappeared beneath those dashing hooves, and it was not long before people were trampling people and in a quick glance I saw the Boss platform came down in splinters as the horses rushes it. Blood slickened the feet of many as they rushed to the buildings adjacent the square—what a small protection that’d be against Leviathan. A wall man went stumbling over the wall’s ledge and his body met the ground beneath the hanging corpses and he didn’t get up.
In the wild fray, Maron fired the shotgun into the air, and I briefly thought of where the pellets might fall.
Finally, artillery fire came and put a hole in the creature. It wavered in the air, its head lurched downward like it might pierce the ground and it pulled its long neck back and blew flames across the buildings. The heat was immaculate. Rotted chicken filled my lungs.
“There’s more!” shouted a wall man above, “Running across the field.”
The crowd grew more enamored with escape; there’s no good way to say it—blood frothed around our heels as I was shoved through the avenues of elbows, rocking heads, plunging knees. I pushed on, shielding myself with my bound hands as well as I could. I kept my head as high, and felt scratches reach my throat—doubtlessly those which could not continue—nails and fists came from every direction. In the ephemeral madness, I too screamed and it did not stop until I spilled into an alleyway along the wall nearest the execution chains. I ran and tripped from the crowd, slid, and bit my tongue so thoroughly that my teeth clicked together though the tissue; my breath was knocked from me. My pants were wet from the viscera. Others too had found the opening and barreled past me. I went to my feet and panted thought the pain, through the twinge in my left knee. I took the walls for support and still, those which rushed past nearly knocked me from my feet.
Some poor child—a lean, bony-faced boy—fell in the rush and before I had a moment to reach out, he was gone. Whether he lived or not, I did not stop to know. The crunch of bones as more people spilled into the narrow stretch indicated the worst.
First/Previous
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👋 Welcome to the /ukpolitics General Election Campaign Megathread. The mad lad Rishi Sunak has called a general election, and now we're bracing ourselves for 6 weeks of bacon sandwiches, newspapers begging you to support their candidates, and a downpour of manifesto pledges.
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• 5th - 16th June - Party manifestos expected to be published (based on Institute for Government analysis of past election periods).
• 7th June - Deadline for candidate nominations.
• 18th June - Deadline for new voter registration (to be able to vote in this election).
• 19th June - Deadline for new postal vote applications (for this election).
• 26th June - Deadline for new proxy vote applications and voter authority certificates (for this election).
• 4th July - Polling day. Emergency proxy votes deadline at 5pm. Polls will open at 7am and close at 10pm.

I'm trying to switch from masterless salt to using saltmasters. Since pillar data is rendered on the minions in masterless, everything works fine, but when I try using saltmaster, I get errors such as:
salt.exceptions.SaltRenderError: Jinja variable 'salt.utils.templates.AliasedLoader object' has no attribute 'secrets_manager'; line 10
Specified ext_pillar interface aws_secrets_manager is unavailable
Specified ext_pillar interface secrets_master is unavailable
I've tried using the custom module here, using

ext_pillar: - aws_secrets_manager: - { name: example, arn: 'arn:aws:secretsmanager01234567:secret:apikey', region: 'us-east-1' } 

but it didn't work. I've tried using the module we have currently working by placing it in

 /srv/salt/_modules /srv/ext/_pillar 

and then done everything from running refresh_pillar to saltutil.sync_all, but still can't get it to work. The pillar I'm trying to put a secret in looks like this:

datadog: config: api_key: {{ salt['secrets_manager'].get('datadog').get('api_key') }} 

And here's the secrets_manager module that works in standalone salt

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*- # pylint: disable=broad-except """ Execution module to pull secrets from aws secrets manager Example use in salt files with jinja: create new file: file.managed: - name: /root/my_secret_file - contents: {{ salt["secrets_manager.get"]("my_secret") }} ... If secrets are stored as JSON serializable string, this module will return the secret as dictionary object. Otherwise, it will return the secret value as a string. """ import json import logging log = logging.getLogger(__name__) try: RUN_ERROR = False from boto3 import client as boto3Client, session as boto3Session except ImportError: log.info("Unable to run secrets_manager module on this machine") RUN_ERROR = True __virtualname__ = "secrets_manager" def __virtual__(): if RUN_ERROR: return (False, "boto3 is not available") return __virtualname__ def _assume_role(arn, proxy_role=None, **kwargs): """ Assume into a role and return needed security credentials Args: arn (str): Target role arn to assume into proxy_role (str): Optional role arn to assume before assuming into target role Addional Keyword Args: Any additional kwargs will be passed on to the boto3.client("sts") call Returns: aws credentials object """ if proxy_role: proxy_creds = _assume_role(proxy_role) return _assume_role( arn, aws_access_key_id=proxy_creds["AccessKeyId"], aws_secret_access_key=proxy_creds["SecretAccessKey"], aws_session_token=proxy_creds["SessionToken"], ) client = boto3Client( "sts", **kwargs, ) credentials = client.assume_role( RoleArn=arn, RoleSessionName="salt-sm", DurationSeconds=900 )["Credentials"] return credentials def get(secret_name, region=None, assume_role=None, proxy_role=None): """ Pull secret from aws secrets manager Args: secret_name (str): The name and/or arn of the secret to fetch region (str): Region where secret is located. This defaults to instance's current location and will fail to us-west-2 otherwise. assume_role (str): Specify a role arn to assume prior to fetching secret proxy_role (str): Specify an intermediary role arn to assume prior to assuming role specified in `assume_role` Returns: Secrets manager secret value. If secrets are stored as JSON serializable string, this module will return the secret as dictionary object. Otherwise, it will return the secret value as a string. """ if assume_role: credentials = _assume_role(assume_role, proxy_role) session = boto3Session.Session( aws_access_key_id=credentials["AccessKeyId"], aws_secret_access_key=credentials["SecretAccessKey"], aws_session_token=credentials["SessionToken"], ) else: session = boto3Session.Session() region_name = session.region_name if not region else region if region_name is None: region_name = "us-west-2" # always fail to us-west-2 # Create a Secrets Manager client client = session.client(service_name="secretsmanager", region_name=region_name) try: get_secret_value_response = client.get_secret_value(SecretId=secret_name) try: sec_dict = json.loads(get_secret_value_response.get("SecretString")) except json.JSONDecodeError: logging.debug("Secret value not a valid json object, returning string") return get_secret_value_response.get("SecretString") return sec_dict except Exception as e: # creating a broad exception here to ensure salt run is not interrupted # and to give salt the opportunity to fix itself logging.error(f"Unable to retrive secret: {secret_name}. ERROR: {e}") return 

What am I doing wrong/missing here?

Mercy is a sample chapter for TWOW published in 2013. It's very old, with GRRM having written it at least as early as 2001. Mercy was supposed to reintroduce an adult Arya in "A Dance With Dragons" after an off-screen leap forward of five or six years following the end of ASOS.
Mercy as Arya's first chapter post-time jump was crucial in carrying this transition. Her entire future story hinged on it. GRRM needed to establish in a single chapter who Arya was. I'll examine Mercy as it was originally written and intended to be read.

Not Knowing Who She Was, Or Where

Mercy's central theme of identity is established in the first line:

She woke with a gasp, not knowing who she was, or where.

This line holds dual meaning; Arya doesn't know who or where she is, but nor does the reader. Remember, Arya would have last been seen on-page leaving Westeros near the end of ASOS. Subsequent lines answer the opening question (but also don't) creating the tension that will underpin the rest of the chapter:

The smell of blood was heavy in her nostrils… or was that her nightmare, lingering? She had dreamed of wolves again, of running through some dark pine forest with a great pack at her hells, hard on the scent of prey.
Half-light filled the room, grey and gloomy. Shivering, she sat up in bed and ran a hand across her scalp. Stubble bristled against her palm. I need to shave before Izembaro sees. Mercy, I’m Mercy, and tonight I’ll be raped and murdered. Her true name was Mercedene, but Mercy was all anyone ever called her…

This girl doesn't know who she is, has strange dreams of wolves, but despite this still has a true name. Which might not be her true name. And her head is shaved and she's nonchalant about her upcoming rape and murder. It's a gripping opening with a trace of GRRM's past as a television writer.
The steady drip drip of information hinting at Mercy's real identity is very like Reek's first chapter and similarly readers would have had their own realisation at different points; the opening warg wolf dream, the mention of Braavos (Arya's destination in ASOS) etc.
Arya has had to take different names at various points (Arry, Weasel, Nan etc) but here the dissociation from Stark is most acute. As in the opening line, there's a meta dimension to the entire chapter in that Arya's new identity as Mercy is reflecting the new identity Arya has to the reader as a grown 16-17 year old apprentice assassin rather than the young orphan girl they last knew. Likewise, the slow reveal of Mercy is a device to steadily reintroduce nu-Arya.
The play is yet another layer in that Arya has internalised Mercy who is portraying a Westerosi character, perhaps Shae or more ironically Sansa. Mercy herself is not a million miles away from Arya Stark; strong-willed, not taking sh*t from anyone, able to socialise with all sorts of people. The gossiping and giggling is unlike Arya though, and maybe this persona is in some way relief from the hardships she suffered. Overall Arya seems a much more deliberate, confident young woman than the insecure child of ASOS.
The killing of Raff the Sweetling and Arya's name appearing in text answer the questioned posed to both Arya herself and the reader by the opening line; Mercy is still Arya Stark underneath, and despite how much she's changed since ASOS the reader is reassured that she's still Arya.

If there is anything you want, anything at all…

What strikes the reader immediately is how sex is front and centre in this chapter. It's not set dressing or a mere device to kill Raff the Sweetling but in every single scene is emphasised and re-emphasised. Over the top even. Mercy is easily the single most sexually charged chapter in all of ASOIAF.
It's as if GRRM has dumped a bucket of ice water on the reader's head and is shouting "ARYA IS NO LONGER A CHILD. THIS IS AN ADULT WITH AN ADULT'S SEXUALITY" over and over again. It's intense shock therapy, full Manchurian Candidate to force the reader to forget whatever image they had of her in their head built from three preceding books.
It's significant that GRRM chose to establish Arya like this for her story going forward. It does look like aging her up five-six years was to introduce this sexual/romantic angle.

Valar morghulis

Interestingly there's no direct mention of the Faceless Men at all bar Arya reciting their saying at the end. No Faceless Men, no House of Black and White, no Kindly Man, no Many-Faced God, no iron coin. It seems GRRM was willing to let the institution wait for later and instead focused on how Arya had changed personally over five-six years. That GRRM didn't think the Faceless Men were worth mentioning in Arya's post-time skip intro would suggest her ultimate fate is not with them.

"The Imp weren't the only dwarf in the world"

The leading character in this chapter after Raff the Sweetling and Arya/Mercy herself is... Tyrion. Never named, sure, but definitely there by proxy. Arya is playing the role of Tyrion's victim in a play, then she trades words with Bobono the dwarf who plays Tyrion, she hears him recite lines attributed to Tyrion, and later the Lannister guardsmen reinforce the link by arguing whether the dwarf playing Tyrion really could be him.
Bobono is himself a sort of caricature of Tyrion: habitual drinker, lecherous, wannabe witty. There's an echo of Tyrion and Illyrio in Bobono and Izembaro. There's even a curious similarity in the description of their respective manhoods(!), costume and genuine:

What a hideous thing, Mercy thought as she knelt before the dwarf to fix him... The dyer had done a poor job with the leather, though; the thing was a mottled pink and white, with a bulbous head the color of a plum. -Mercy, TWOW ...
Even his manhood was ugly, thick and veined, with a bulbous purple head. This is not right, this is not fair, how have I sinned that the gods would do this to me, how? -Sansa III, ASOS

Arya and Tyrion barely interact in ASOIAF. It's a struggle to even find a moment where Arya thinks of him in passing. One rare instance is from Arya's last chapter before Mercy in ASOS:

"I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head."

In the leaked 1993/1994 outline there is this:

Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.

Which does recall this line:

“We were meant to be together, Mercy,” Bobono insisted. “Look, we’re just the same height.” -Mercy, TWOW

Maybe Tyrion's presence in this chapter is just to show the scope of the Imp's notoriety and how eager Cersei is to find him. But that could have been accomplished with other PoV characters, and Mercy seems very deliberately constructed.

Braavos

Mercy was supposed to be the introduction to the city of Braavos and the lengthy luscious descriptions of not-Venice serve that purpose effectively.

"I would like to see a dragon"

Several references to dragons appear in this chapter:

“It shall go ill for any man who fails me,” he promised, a threat he borrowed from the speech Prince Garin gives on the eve of battle in Wroth of the Dragonlords, Phario Forel’s first play. -Mercy, TWOW ...
“The first Black Pearl was black as a pot of ink,” said Daena. “She was a pirate queen, fathered by a Sealord’s son on a princess from the Summer Isles. A dragon king from Westeros took her for his lover.”
“I would like to see a dragon,” Mercy said wistfully. “Why does the envoy have a chicken on his chest?” -Mercy, TWOW

Arya chapters have touched upon dragons before, notably when she examines the dragon skeletons under the Red Keep.

Closing thoughts

Mercy is a compelling chapter. It's one of the most dramatic and intricate written for ASOIAF. The author had to (in one chapter) reintroduce an existing character who was very changed, had spent years off page and was also in an entirely new location. Big asks but I think he succeeded. There's a narrative economy here missing from AFFC/ADWD. It would have felt right at home as a follow-up from ASOS.
Even after scrapping the time jump GRRM really wanted to include this work and understandably so, first in AFFC before eventually pushing it to TWOW. But stripped of its original context Mercy has serious problems.
Firstly, the identity conceit falls flat when you know who the character is and there's no time skip. Arya's been in Braavos for two books now and the whole construction of the chapter in that sense is pointless. The lengthy descriptions of Braavos feel a bit pointless too, although maybe needed returning to a location 15 IRL years after the last book.
Secondly, the presented five or six years worth of personal change don't mesh with Arya's previous chapters in Braavos. It's an abrupt and unearned transformation. The sexual content feels totally disjointed for the character's age and throws suspension of disbelief out the window. It seems like poor judgement on the author's part to plough ahead regardless and have an 11-year-old femme fatale seducing and killing a man, or being touched non-consensually. It's just strange and uncomfortable.
All that said Mercy is an intriguing glimpse of an alt universe where GRRM's writing stayed on track, he somehow got the time jump to work, and the books were wrapped up before the tv series even premiered.

A few weeks ago, I saw Halide’s developer comment “Stay tuned for our next app” on a Reddit post discussing Apple’s upcoming Final Cut Camera app. In the post, a user mentioned that he wants video apps that support auto-ISO with locked shutter speed (I’ll refer to this as Tv Mode below).
As a Halide user who has been searching for a video app that supports Tv Mode — since I often shoot handheld in changing lighting conditions — I was excited and thought their new app would finally offer this feature.
Yesterday, I saw a news article on MacRumors about Halide’s team launching their new video app “Kino”. I purchased it instantly, only to be disappointed to find that it’s not the app I was looking for.
I’m feeling let down because the developer’s vague suggestion made me believe they were going to implement Tv Mode without explicitly answering the questions:
https://www.reddit.com/iphone/comments/1cmdu14/comment/l30a3j2/ https://www.reddit.com/apple/comments/1d3ipz7/comment/l68csxm/
So, no, there is no Tv Mode, and you don’t even get custom white balance in this “Pro” app. I know the iOS camera API doesn’t provide Tv Mode, but Kino’s “AutoMotion” setting suggests they’ve created a custom exposure logic.
I hope they can clarify their features or provide a product roadmap like Photomator did, or this experience will leave a bad taste in my mouth.
(I’m not a native English speaker, so please excuse any awkward phrasing.)
Anyway, I also made a list of pros and cons of the video apps I’ve purchased below, I was a Filmic Pro fan years ago, but not anymore, so it’s not on the list:
​
iOS Stock Camera
Pros:

• Better image stabilization than API that third-party apps used
• Action mode
• Ultra-smooth zooming with lens switching during recording
• Lock AWB on recording
• Easy to use

Cons:

• No auto-ISO with shutter locked (only basic Ev adjustment)
• 4K60 ProRes Log recording requires external storage via USB-C
• ProRes 422 "HQ" only, no LT or Proxy flavors

​
Blackmaigic Camera
Pros:

• Completely free of charge
• Great UI for intermediate/advanced users
• Record 4K60 ProRes Log internally or externally
• Lens switching or digital-zoom during recording
• Lock AWB on recording

Cons:

• No auto-ISO with shutter locked

​
Protake
Pros:

• Wireless monitoring on other device (with multicam support)
• Excellent UI/UX for both beginner and pro users
• Supports auto-ISO with shutter locked

Cons:

• Subscription ($19.99/year)
• Can't switch lens during recording in Pro mode (digital-zoom only)
• Doesn't support USB-C external recording (however you can save to Files instead of Photos Library)

​
Pro Camera by Moment
Pros:

• One-time purchase ($8.99) with Family Sharing
• Record 4K60 ProRes Log internally
• Photography features
• Beginner-friendly UI

Cons:

• No auto-ISO with shutter locked
• Doesn't support USB-C external recording (and only saves to Photos Library)

​
Kino
Pros:

• One-time purchase ($9.99) with Family Sharing (for now)
• Beautiful, filmic LUT presets
• Record 4K60 ProRes Log internally or externally
• Lock AWB on recording
• Lock Auto-exposure on recording

Cons:

• No auto-ISO with shutter locked
• You got advanced features like waveform but no custom WB (I really don't understand this)
• UI is clean, but not a good UX for intermediate/advanced users
• Jittery UI, crash occasionally

​
ProCamera
Pros:

• One-time purchase ($9.99) with Family Sharing
• Supports auto-ISO with shutter locked ("SI" Mode)
• Photography features

Cons:

• 4K60 ProRes Log recording requires external storage (USB-C)
• Complex UI, overwhelmed options

​
Final Cut Camera (by Apple, coming soon)
Pros:

• It will be free
• to be tested...

Cons:

• Multicam monitoring requires Final Cut Pro for iPad subscription
• to be tested...

​

By Jacob Crosse
This past weekend, the “People’s Conference for Palestine” was held in Detroit, Michigan over three days, from May 24 through May 26. Organizers for the event stated that over 3,500 people attended.
The steering committee for the conference included 15 organizations, among which were the Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice In Palestine, the ANSWER Coalition (associated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation), Arab Resource and Organizing Society (AROC), Writers Against the War on Gaza, and Healthcare Workers for Palestine.
Despite the peaceful character of the event, police were a constant presence on the streets and outside the convention center. Several Palestinian speakers slated to appear at the event were delayed or were not able to attend in person, due to fascistic restrictions imposed on their travel by the US/NATO governments.
The stated goal of the conference, according to a program signed by the Steering Committee, was to provide “a space to assess, strategize and prepare for what is required for us in the next phase of the struggle.” However, the political perspective that dominated did not present a viable way forward.
Several panels did feature harrowing testimony of the situation in Gaza. In a recorded video message, Hind Khoudary, a journalist in Gaza who has been displaced since November 2023 said, “We are not only fearing air strikes, we are fearing famine.” She documented the catastrophic situation produced by Israel’s bombardment and the difficulties confronting journalists, who have themselves been targeted by airstrikes.
In a session titled, “Cutting Ties with Zionism in the Workplace,” former Google worker Ariel Koren discussed her experience trying to fight back against the implementation of Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon and the Israel Defense Forces that provides the military a suite of computer and artificial intelligence tools used to facilitate the oppression and extermination of the Palestinian people.
Koren explained that as part of the contract, Google is required to build “whatever cloud tools and AI tools the Israeli government and military ask for without asking any questions themselves. Google has no right to regulate or oversee or even know anything about how these get used on the ground and which government and military agencies are the beneficiaries of these tools.” Among the tools provided to the IDF are “facial detection, automatic image categorization, object tracking, and even sentiment analysis.”
Taghreed Ahmed, a member of the Palestinian Transport Union, explained that “Israel controls the conditions of workers” and that “over 9,000” workers were taken prisoner by Israel following October 7. While in Israeli custody, many workers were tortured and “over 80” are still missing.
Despite the IDF offensive on Gaza, Ahmed said that after workers were released they asked to return to the city to be with their families.
Before October 7, Ahmed said that over 32,000 workers in Gaza were granted permits to work in Israel, but not a single permit has been granted in over seven months. In order to survive, Ahmed said many working class families have resorted to selling their possessions, including furniture.

A political orientation to the Democratic Party

Despite the objective and empirical testimony provided by many of the panelists and speakers, the basic political perspective that emerged was thoroughly bankrupt: that of pressuring the Democratic Party.
The opening plenary event set the framework for the conference that followed. References to the crimes of the Israeli regime were combined with a great deal of chanting and slogans.
To the extent that anything was said about the background of the genocide, it was only in relation to the history of the Palestinian struggle. But even here, there was no examination of the essential experiences of this history, including the role of the bourgeois nationalist states in the Middle East in facilitating the repression of the Palestinians by Israel and imperialism.
In her keynote speech, Yara Shoufani of the Palestinian Youth Movement spoke of “historic revolutions” from “the Great Arab Revolution of 1936” … to “the popular revolution launched in the camps of Lebanon and Jordan”… to “the first and second intifadas.” Another speaker suggested that the “resistance” would last another “100 years” before victory.
To be blunt, the people in Gaza do not have another 100 years. The genocide in Gaza has already led to the deaths of over 36,000 people officially, a significant under-count, while hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.
Neither in the introduction nor in any of the panels and plenary sessions was there a single reference to the broader war of which the genocide is a part. In particular, no speakers addressed the escalating US-NATO war against Russia over Ukraine, backed by the Democratic Party, which threatens to develop into a nuclear exchange.
Israel’s genocide, supported by the US and NATO imperialist powers, cannot be defeated by the resistance of the Palestinian people alone, no matter how self-sacrificing. It is necessary to mobilize the international working class, which has the social and economic power to oppose imperialism.
The political perspective presented at the conference, however, worked against this. On Saturday, the conference organizers welcomed a “guest appearance” by Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
In his last social media post before he was assassinated by the US-backed Israel Defense Forces last December, Prof. Refaat Alareer, tweeted, “The Democratic Party and Biden are responsible for the Gaza genocide perpetrated by Israel.” Why a member of the party responsible for not only backing Israel for decades, but murdering Alareer and tens of thousands of other Palestinians, would be welcomed into the conference was never explained.
In her brief comments, Tlaib attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “war criminal.” She refused to apply the same label to Netanyahu’s patron and top weapons supplier, President Joe Biden. Instead she appealed to the president she helped elect in 2020, imploring him: “I hope you hear us loud and clear.”
Tlaib did not attempt to provide an explanation as to why the Biden administration and her “colleagues” in the Democratic Party have not only refused to listen to over eight months of sustained peaceful protests, but instead have overseen the police repression of the protests.
Tlaib said it was “shameful” that her “colleagues” voted to send “$14 billion to the apartheid regime,” while “seniors” in her district ask her, “When are we going to get an increase in Social Security?”
While Tlaib and a few other Democrats voted against providing military funding to Israel, she said nothing about her “yes” vote in the same $95 billion package to send over $61 billion to the fascistic Ukrainian government in order to continue the proxy war against Russia.
The deliberate omission of Ukraine on the part of Tlaib and the conference organizers was not a mistake. By presenting the genocide in Gaza, which is one front in the US/NATO global re-division of the world that includes Ukraine and the conflict with Iran and China, as an isolated episode, the organizers and participants could present different factions of the capitalist ruling class, and their adjuncts in the trade union bureaucracy, as “allies” to the Palestinian people, and to the “revolution.”

PSL backs “Uncommitted” trap

Joining Tlaib at the conference was her sister, Layla Elabed, who, alongside Party for Socialism and Liberation co-founder and ANSWER National Coordinator Brian Becker, led the penultimate plenary on Sunday, titled “Uncommitted Votes and the Fracturing of the Two Party System.”
As the WSWS has previously explained, the purpose of the Uncommitted campaign is to promote the illusion that the Democratic Party and Biden can be “pressured” from below via symbolic votes or empty ceasefire resolutions. Organizers for the Uncommitted campaign, including Elabed, who told the New York Times in February that she “has not ruled out” voting for Biden in November, have been clear that the purpose of “uncommitted” is not to “Abandon Biden” or the Democratic Party, but to “push” him to adopt their position.
Despite tens of thousands of people voting “uncommitted,” the Biden administration, with the support of both the Democrats and Republicans, continues to send weapons to Israel which are being used to ethnically cleanse Rafah. This did not prevent Elabed from presenting the campaign as a success. Speaking next to Becker, she said it sent “a clear message to Biden and the Democratic Party.”
Elabed said, “This is our way of telling Joe Biden he is being held accountable. That he needs to do, in order to save...if he really believed in saving his re-election, if he really believed in fighting fascism, if he believed in fighting for democracy, then he should be pro-Palestinian. He should be demanding a ceasefire now.”
Elabed cautioned against breaking with the Democratic Party, “before November we have a number of primaries happening, state house elections and congressional and senate seats. We need to protect our ceasefire candidates, if anything you come out and you vote and you send people like Rashida and [Missouri Rep.] Cori Bush and our pro-peace anti-war folks back to Capitol Hill and back in our state house.”
Lending support to Elabed and the Democratic Party’s electoral campaigns, Becker replied, “I want to shout out the Listen to Michigan campaign, and the Uncommitted campaign because given the available options, which are so limited in this tortured form of democracy, these women the other organizers have used the electoral arena to register something that Biden couldn’t ignore, which is the majority of the base of the Democratic Party in particular says ‘no’ to his policy in Palestine.”
Working in tandem with the Democrats to divert energy towards protest stunts, and away from building an independent movement in the working class, Becker later revealed that the same forces behind the Palestine Conference will be organizing a June 8 demonstration at the White House.

The promotion of the UAW apparatus

Several panels at the Palestine Conference featured the words “labor” and “Zionism” without ever critically examining the role of the US-based trade unions in supporting US imperialism and Israel’s genocide. There was no discussion on current UAW president Shawn Fain’s endorsement of “Genocide Joe.”
The conference featured various “reform” union factions, including Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), and several current and retired union bureaucrats, including UAW Local 4811 president Rafael Jaime and former president and bargain chair of UAW Local 909 in Detroit, Frank Hammer.
UAW Local 4811 comprises 48,000 graduate student workers and researchers in the University of California. Pressure from the rank-and-file compelled the UAW to initiate a strike, but the apparatus has sought to limit it to a handful of campuses, employing the “stand-up strike” tactic used to shut down the auto strike last year. It has also done nothing to inform autoworkers and other members of the union outside California about this highly significant political strike against the genocide in Gaza
Speaking in a panel, “The Role of Labor Unions in Palestinian Struggle,” Jaime tried to take credit for “organizing” the union in order to put it into a position to strike.
The chasm between workers’ desire to fight and the union bureaucrats’ reticence was present throughout Jaime’s comments. After joining what would become Local 4811 in 2016, Jaime admitted that even by 2018 “most workers didn’t even realize they had a union. And so, what we were able to win in 2018 was very limited.” Turning to the current struggle, Jaime said,

I think that the media will focus mostly on the strike and make it seem like all you have to do is press a button and it happens. And I just want it to be, very emphasized, that the work that’s taken to organize, to be able to actually respond to the moment with this kind of action, it’s been years of tireless work.

Near the end of his presentation, Jaime listed the various circumstances through which the union was prepared to call off the strike: “If the university doesn’t resolve its [Unfair Labor Practices], if it doesn’t guarantee the right to peacefully protest, allow protesters to speak up for justice in Palestine, then more campuses are going to go out on strike.”
Throughout his entire presentation Jaime never once mentioned that UAW President Shawn Fain endorsed Biden and stood by as UAW members protesting the genocide were dragged out of the convention where this nomination was announced.

The way forward

The perspective advanced at the “People’s Conference for Palestine,” in which ANSWER and the PSL play a dominant role, is a dead-end. It is not through appeals to the political establishment and the trade union apparatus that the fight against the genocide must be developed, but through a political struggle in the working class.
For nearly eight months, millions of people around the world have taken to the streets, campuses and government centers to demand an end to the genocide. Despite the overwhelmingly peaceful character of the protests, thousands have been arrested and assaulted by police.
Young people and workers opposed to the genocide, outraged by the daily atrocities, sickened by the support for Israel’s actions by the Biden administration and the imperialist powers, confront serious political questions that require serious and revolutionary answers.
The perspective of “pressuring” governments and corporations to adopt more humanitarian policies has proven to be less than useless. At the same time, the trade union apparatus, integrated into the state, is working to suppress the class struggle and subordinate workers to the ruling class policy of global war.
As WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North explained in a lecture in March on the suicide of Aaron Bushnell, the basic and urgent task is to mobilize “the only social force which actually has in its power, in its objective role in the whole process of capitalist production, in its position in the forces of production, its potential economic strength, its global character, the ability to bring capitalism to its knees, to destroy the very foundations of militarism.”
The political program upon which the struggles of the working class must develop is the program of socialist revolution.

This is an overhaul / update of a previous guide that I made about a year ago.
There are three main methods to play GMS: ExitLag (fastest and most expensive), Mudfish (still fast but very cheap) and ProtonVPN (very slow but free).
ExitLag gives you about 155-165ms ping, which is the best you can get from SG. The downside is that it is expensive. The setup is extremely simple: install it and turn it on. It should work automatically without any hassle. I'd recommend it for people who don't care about the price and just want the best user experience, but I wouldn't use it myself.
Mudfish gives about 160-170ms (with 2 servers), or 175-185ms (with 1 server). It has a very low cost; 5 SGD of credits (with Profixier) can last you over 5 months if you play 8 hrs every single day. This is the most recommended method and is the main focus of the guide.
ProtonVPN is now much less viable as manual server selection was removed. You can still spam random servers until you get a US server, but it is time consuming and not recommended. The ping is also much worse (>300ms) and unstable.

Mudfish Pricing

There are two "Data Plans" available in Mudfish: 4,990 KRW (~4.88 SGD) for 36.9 GB of data (Pay Per Traffic) OR 990 KRW (0.97 SGD) per month (Subscription).
Payment procedure: Select payment in KRW, choose PaymentWall. Click "Buy" and select PayNow. KRW is converted to SGD at market rate with 3% fee (negligible at this price).
Note: If the PayNow option doesn't show up, try visiting https://mudfish.net/admin/credits/buy on your phone. You can also pay using your Google Play balance (great use for Google Opinion Rewards!) through the Mudfish play store app.

Basic setup

Open Mudfish → Setup → Program. Use the following settings: TCP, TCP, 1400, 0, On, On, Off, On. Save and return. Important: "NAT Open Mode" should be turned off.
Protip: Go to Setup → Nodes and whitelist only JP, SG and US nodes to greatly speed up calculation of Round Trip Time (aka RTT, a fancy name for ping).
Go to Item → Equip Item. Select Maple Story → North America. You can use the following screen to select nodes ("score" means ping).

Selecting Nodes

Before actually turning on Mudfish, you should select node(s). Click the gearbox icon to enter the node configuration screen.

Basic Mode

Click the magnifying glass icon to enter the ping calculation page. Select North America as the target. For basic mode, US West (Oregon / Seattle) is typically the fastest. Note that the "best server" changes occasionally, and it will usually give you ~180ms ping.

Advanced Mode

For advanced mode, the typical routes are JP Asia (Tokyo) → US West (Oregon / Seattle) and SG Asia → US West (Oregon / Seattle). Performance of specific nodes vary greatly and change frequently. The ping is around 165-170ms. I suggest sticking to basic mode for simplicity (and lower data consumption).

Minimising data usage

The Mudfish desktop client uses ~100MB per hour of gameplay due to an unresolved issue with CDNs. To reduce data usage, we can use Proxifier, a proxy client that can assign specific processes to specific servers through the SOCKS5 protocol. The data usage is reduced significantly to about 15-20MB per hour.

How to set up Proxifier

1. Download and install Proxifier v4. Although Proxifier is not free, it has a 31-day free trial (which is probably resettable but I haven't tried it) and you can sail the high seas. Note that v3 won't work, so just get v4.
   
2. Find the public ip of the mudfish node(s) by visiting the mudfish status page and clicking the node name(s).
   
3. In Proxifier, click the Proxy Servers icon and click Add to add the node. Relevant youtube video
   
4. When prompted for the server information: Address is the node's public ip. Port is 18081. Protocol is SOCKS5. Username and password is the same as your mudfish account. Click ok to add the node.
   
5. If you are using 2 nodes, you can configure it by clicking Create. Drag-and-drop the servers from the top box to the bottom box. Make sure the nodes are chained in the correct order (first node above the second node). It should look like this. You can click Check to verify that the proxy is working. Click ok to save the changes.
   
6. Click the Proxification Rules icon, and click add to add a new rule. In Applications, write maplestory.exe;nexon_client.exe and select your proxy. Screenshot1, Screenshot2.
   
7. IMPORTANT! Set the Advanced settings and Name Resolution settings.
   

Extras

Reduce data usage even more by blocking certain hosts under nexon_client.exe and maplestory.exe. It works for me, but do this at your own risk.
Note: After setting up Proxifier properly, you don't need to turn it off when downloading game files. It won't waste your traffic credits as the process that downloads the game files is nexon_runtime.exe. nexon_client.exe should be connected via the proxy at all times.

Original Post by GrassFedBitcoin https://x.com/GrassFedBitcoin/status/1796311998466003418
Wow just figured out Bitmain's latest fuckery in real time.
I'll give you the back story...
Once upon a time Bitmain was grinding merkle roots instead of nonces aka "covert ASICBOOST".
This gave them an advantage over other miners who didn't know this was possible. One company went out of business - KNC - citing "the Chinese having some secret advantage we don't know about" - which turned out to be true precisely for this reason.
It's one of the reasons ASIC manufacture is so centralized today and this is correctly identified by many as being one of the most vulnerable aspects of the entire bitcoin ecosystem. The ASICBOOST issue came to a head when Bitmain used their influence to block the activation of SEGWIT (essential for Lightning) because it would break their ability to do it - at least covertly. Well, they would still be able to use asicboost, but just in an obvious way that would mean everyone else could do it too.
They had patented it so as to try and prevent this because that's the kind of people we're dealing with here but I digress... When asicboost was independently discovered by u/nullc aka Greg Maxwell.
Bitmain lied and said they weren't in fact using it. This was after years of bullshitting about segwit, with Bitmain pretending to be in favour of "alternative scaling solutions" or even doing segwit as a hard fork instead which would allow them to continue what they were doing.....
Absolutely nobody believed them thanks to GMax having reverse engineered one of their ASICs and demonstrating what they had built and tried to keep to themselves. This was a watershed moment in the fork wars where everyone suddenly understood why Bitmain had been making nonsensical arguments against segwit forever.
Wanting big/small blocks wasn't a related discussion. Segwit fixed TX malleability and was a no-brainer upgrade and in the end was combined with a block size increase anyway as a compromise. So we proceeded with segwit anyway, at which point Bitmain switched to overt asicboost which is actually even more powerful, it just requires grinding version bits instead of merkle roots but it's obvious if a miner is doing this.
Now everybody does it so essentially the net effect of it being possible is zero, except your node asking you wtf miners are doing signalling for upgrades your node knows nothing about (upgrade coordination is what version bits are actually supposed to be used for). Oh well, relatively little harm done. If you're happy to ignore the obvious dishonesty and effort to undermine what's arguably Bitcoin's most important ever upgrade.
Fun extra tidbit: Antbleed - an intentional backdoor with which Bitmain could remotely shutdown any Antminer in the world. They said it was for shutting down stolen ASICs but immediately patched it once it was discovered.
Anyway, this company now accounts for 25-30% of all blocks found, if you naively observe the blockchain. That's not enough to spook anyone, but unfortunately many smaller pools are in fact just fronts for Bitmain which we know for three reasons:

1. The smaller pools are clearly using blocks constructed by, or for the benefit of, Antpool.
   
2. They share the same custodian of their newly mined coins (Cobo).
   
3. They have a lending program to bail out smaller pools who get in over their head due to FPPS.
   

And the trend is sadly in the wrong direction, given Braiins recently abandoning its old payout model and becoming just a simple proxy for Bitmain as result of switching to FPPS. [Massive shoutout to
@mononautical
and
@0xB10C
for helping uncover how centralized pools have become.] Summary - Bitmain is not just Antpool, it probably accounts for >50% of block templates and manufactures >90% of the mining hardware in the world.
So where am I going with all this?
Amazingly, it's about empty blocks. What does that have to do with anything? Well, famously OCEAN has found 3 empty blocks in its short existence, causing many to wrongly make allegations of some sort of issue with the pool itself. This spurred on endless debate about why pools make empty templates in the first place and the actual reason so many of them get solved.
In short, pools send empty templates then immediately follow up with full templates. So quickly, that the interim period accounts for a tiny minority of the empty blocks that get found on the network, and none of ours.
In all three cases with OCEAN, the miner solved the empty block longer after already having a full template to work on - - leaving the pool in a position to either throw away a perfectly good (but empty) block or to broadcast it to the network and get miners >90% of the reward of a full block.
Obviously the latter makes sense and does zero harm to the network while still adding to the overall PoW necessary for any attacker. So why would an empty block happen a few seconds after the pool had already sent an updated job for a full block? Because Antminers suck.
*What we didn't realize was that they intentionally sucked.\*
You can send an updated job to an Antminer and watch it continue to work on an old job for over 60 seconds in edge cases. This was something we assumed was due to design of the ASIC itself, and thus just poor engineering on the part of Bitmain. But it turns out we were wrong, it's due to Antminer firmware.
We know this because they just released a fix for it. So Bitmain watched, while people kept mining empty blocks, everyone would wrongly attribute it to pools, while explainers on popular websites like mempool(.)space would offer wrong explanations about it happening due to pools being slow to send proper templates and seemingly no one would understand even the motivation for sending empty templates, let alone the reason they get worked on for so long.
But the fix being something that gets released right after OCEAN starts explaining what's really going on here is beyond reasonable doubt. They had a fix for it, and have been using that fix for their own mining. Now they can't get away with it because increasingly people are realizing that Whatsminers and ASICs from other manufacturers aren't finding anything like the amount of empty blocks because they switch jobs far more quickly.
An Antminer has a far greater likelihood of finding an empty block because it spends longer working on old jobs. We've been out here yelling that the issue is with the ASIC *NOT* the pool.
The fact that Bitmain intentionally crippled the firmware on the Antminers they would sell to the world, while keeping more functional units for their own mining is typical of everything Bitmain.
Sure it can be incompetence and coincidental timing on the fix, but I sincerely doubt it. The conversation around empty blocks reached the point where people were beginning to realize something was broken with Antminers and then they just happen to release a fix for it right after people finally start catching wind of what's really going on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So imagine this - You sell shovels to gold miners, and as we all know, the people who make money during a gold rush are the people who sell the shovels. But in this case the shovel seller is digging for gold himself too. And he has intentionally sold crappy shovels to all of his customers so as give himself an advantage.
Empty blocks kept happening, people kept blaming pools. OCEAN got attacked over it. We explained the real reason they happen so much, and Bitmain releases a fix right after. Insane. This goes further than empty blocks. It's not just empty templates that take forever to work their way out of an Antminer, it's *all templates* and pools are constantly updating work as new transactions show up.
A super lucrative transaction shows up in your mempool? All other pools are sending an updated job to hundreds of thousands of Antminers who will ignore it for a while, while Antpool has their miners working on it more quickly. It's not hard to see the motivation for all this, especially going forward as TX fees become more and more important. Again, insane.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to watch
@wk057
and I figure this all out in real time, watch the video below which was just intended to be a discussion on why empty blocks happen. I'll post it shortly so tweeter doesn't kill this post like it always does with external links. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BkyhdxnDrM

• The internet is disappearing, a new study has suggested, as web pages and online content is lost. The web is often thought of as a place where content lasts forever. But vast swathes of its are being lost as pages are deleted or moved, according to new research. Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/internet-disappearing-study-says-161829908.html
• Sara - who wants to remain anonymous - was wrongly accused after being flagged by a facial-recognition system called Facewatch. She says after her bag was searched she was led out of the shop, and told she was banned from all stores using the technology. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-69055945
• Hackers are utilizing code from a Python clone of Microsoft's venerable Minesweeper game to hide malicious scripts in attacks on European and US financial organizations. Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-phish-finance-orgs-using-trojanized-minesweeper-clone/
• ​Security researchers have released a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for a maximum-severity vulnerability in Fortinet's security information and event management (SIEM) solution, which was patched in February. Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/exploit-released-for-maximum-severity-fortinet-rce-bug-patch-now/
• Criminals are selling guides on social media on how to carry out sextortion, BBC News has learned. The guides show people how to pose as young women online, trick a victim into sending sexually explicit material and then blackmail them. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp00y03q93mo
• Hackers are taking advantage of the Windows launch of Arc browser to trick victims into downloading malware. Arc is a relatively new internet browser, first launched for macOS in the summer of 2023 - and initial feedback from both media and the users was positive enough to prompt the release of a Windows version too. Source: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/hackers-hijack-arc-browser-windows-launch-with-malvertising-campaign
• Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a critical security flaw in an artificial intelligence (AI)-as-a-service provider Replicate that could have allowed threat actors to gain access to proprietary AI models and sensitive information. Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/05/experts-find-flaw-in-replicate-ai.html
• The founder of the spyware app pcTattletale said his company is “out of business and completely done” following a data breach over the weekend. Source: https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/pctattletale-spyware-shutters-data-breach/
• The Department of Home Affairs said it is aware of a cyber incident impacting Ticketmaster customers in response to claims it is part of a data leak expected to impact millions of customers globally. Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-29/ticketmaster-hack-allegedlyshinyhunter-customers-data-leaked/103908614?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link
• Google won’t comment on a potentially massive leak of its search algorithm documentation. Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/28/24166177/google-search-ranking-algorithm-leak-documents-link-seo
• Google needs to pump the brakes when it comes to tracking sensitive information shared with DMV sites, a new lawsuit suggests. Filing a proposed class-action suit in California, Katherine Wilson has accused Google of using Google Analytics and DoubleClick trackers on the California DMV site to unlawfully obtain information about her personal disability without her consent. Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/google-accused-of-secretly-tracking-drivers-with-disabilities/
• YouTube has intensified its crackdown on ad blocking in a move that could impact millions of users worldwide. Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/youtube-down-not-working-ad-blocker-b2552387.html
• A Chinese national has been arrested for his role in operating a residential proxy service that was used to defraud billions of dollars from the U.S. government and fund his lavish lifestyle, which included buying luxury cars and property around the world, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday. Source: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/29/botnet-chinese-national-arrest-justice-department/73899904007/
• A cyberattack targeted Christie’s, a leading London-based auction house, at the beginning of May. A hacker group called Ransomhub, which claimed responsibility for this attack, is now threatening to release sensitive information about around half a million of Christie’s clients. Source: https://securityboulevard.com/2024/05/christies-auction-house-hacked-sensitive-data-from-500000-customers-stolen/
• Operation “ Endgame ”: Federal Criminal Police Office and international partners achieve the biggest blow to date against global cybercrime. The current measures were primarily aimed at the groups behind the six malware families IcedID, SystemBC, Bumblebee, Smokeloader, Pikabot and Trickbot , which were linked to at least 15 ransomware groups as so-called "droppers". Source: https://www-bka-de.translate.goog/DE/DasBKA/OrganisationAufbau/Fachabteilungen/Cybercrime/Endgame/Endgame.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
• Although some people might worry about the National Security Agency itself spying on their phones, the NSA has some sage advice for iPhone and android users concerned about zero-click exploits and the like: turn it off and on again once per week. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinde2024/05/30/nsa-warns-iphone--android-users-to-turn-it-off-and-on-again/?sh=5051ae10443c

Original Post by GrassFedBitcoin https://x.com/GrassFedBitcoin/status/1796311998466003418
Wow just figured out Bitmain's latest fuckery in real time.
I'll give you the back story...
Once upon a time Bitmain was grinding merkle roots instead of nonces aka "covert ASICBOOST".
This gave them an advantage over other miners who didn't know this was possible. One company went out of business - KNC - citing "the Chinese having some secret advantage we don't know about" - which turned out to be true precisely for this reason.
It's one of the reasons ASIC manufacture is so centralized today and this is correctly identified by many as being one of the most vulnerable aspects of the entire bitcoin ecosystem. The ASICBOOST issue came to a head when Bitmain used their influence to block the activation of SEGWIT (essential for Lightning) because it would break their ability to do it - at least covertly. Well, they would still be able to use asicboost, but just in an obvious way that would mean everyone else could do it too.
They had patented it so as to try and prevent this because that's the kind of people we're dealing with here but I digress... When asicboost was independently discovered by u/nullc aka Greg Maxwell.
Bitmain lied and said they weren't in fact using it. This was after years of bullshitting about segwit, with Bitmain pretending to be in favour of "alternative scaling solutions" or even doing segwit as a hard fork instead which would allow them to continue what they were doing.....
Absolutely nobody believed them thanks to GMax having reverse engineered one of their ASICs and demonstrating what they had built and tried to keep to themselves. This was a watershed moment in the fork wars where everyone suddenly understood why Bitmain had been making nonsensical arguments against segwit forever.
Wanting big/small blocks wasn't a related discussion. Segwit fixed TX malleability and was a no-brainer upgrade and in the end was combined with a block size increase anyway as a compromise. So we proceeded with segwit anyway, at which point Bitmain switched to overt asicboost which is actually even more powerful, it just requires grinding version bits instead of merkle roots but it's obvious if a miner is doing this.
Now everybody does it so essentially the net effect of it being possible is zero, except your node asking you wtf miners are doing signalling for upgrades your node knows nothing about (upgrade coordination is what version bits are actually supposed to be used for). Oh well, relatively little harm done. If you're happy to ignore the obvious dishonesty and effort to undermine what's arguably Bitcoin's most important ever upgrade.
Fun extra tidbit: Antbleed - an intentional backdoor with which Bitmain could remotely shutdown any Antminer in the world. They said it was for shutting down stolen ASICs but immediately patched it once it was discovered.
Anyway, this company now accounts for 25-30% of all blocks found, if you naively observe the blockchain. That's not enough to spook anyone, but unfortunately many smaller pools are in fact just fronts for Bitmain which we know for three reasons:

1. The smaller pools are clearly using blocks constructed by, or for the benefit of, Antpool.
   
2. They share the same custodian of their newly mined coins (Cobo).
   
3. They have a lending program to bail out smaller pools who get in over their head due to FPPS.
   

And the trend is sadly in the wrong direction, given Braiins recently abandoning its old payout model and becoming just a simple proxy for Bitmain as result of switching to FPPS. [Massive shoutout to
@mononautical
and
@0xB10C
for helping uncover how centralized pools have become.] Summary - Bitmain is not just Antpool, it probably accounts for >50% of block templates and manufactures >90% of the mining hardware in the world.
So where am I going with all this?
Amazingly, it's about empty blocks. What does that have to do with anything? Well, famously OCEAN has found 3 empty blocks in its short existence, causing many to wrongly make allegations of some sort of issue with the pool itself. This spurred on endless debate about why pools make empty templates in the first place and the actual reason so many of them get solved.
In short, pools send empty templates then immediately follow up with full templates. So quickly, that the interim period accounts for a tiny minority of the empty blocks that get found on the network, and none of ours.
In all three cases with OCEAN, the miner solved the empty block longer after already having a full template to work on - - leaving the pool in a position to either throw away a perfectly good (but empty) block or to broadcast it to the network and get miners >90% of the reward of a full block.
Obviously the latter makes sense and does zero harm to the network while still adding to the overall PoW necessary for any attacker. So why would an empty block happen a few seconds after the pool had already sent an updated job for a full block? Because Antminers suck.
*What we didn't realize was that they intentionally sucked.\*
You can send an updated job to an Antminer and watch it continue to work on an old job for over 60 seconds in edge cases. This was something we assumed was due to design of the ASIC itself, and thus just poor engineering on the part of Bitmain. But it turns out we were wrong, it's due to Antminer firmware.
We know this because they just released a fix for it. So Bitmain watched, while people kept mining empty blocks, everyone would wrongly attribute it to pools, while explainers on popular websites like mempool(.)space would offer wrong explanations about it happening due to pools being slow to send proper templates and seemingly no one would understand even the motivation for sending empty templates, let alone the reason they get worked on for so long.
But the fix being something that gets released right after OCEAN starts explaining what's really going on here is beyond reasonable doubt. They had a fix for it, and have been using that fix for their own mining. Now they can't get away with it because increasingly people are realizing that Whatsminers and ASICs from other manufacturers aren't finding anything like the amount of empty blocks because they switch jobs far more quickly.
An Antminer has a far greater likelihood of finding an empty block because it spends longer working on old jobs. We've been out here yelling that the issue is with the ASIC *NOT* the pool.
The fact that Bitmain intentionally crippled the firmware on the Antminers they would sell to the world, while keeping more functional units for their own mining is typical of everything Bitmain.
Sure it can be incompetence and coincidental timing on the fix, but I sincerely doubt it. The conversation around empty blocks reached the point where people were beginning to realize something was broken with Antminers and then they just happen to release a fix for it right after people finally start catching wind of what's really going on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So imagine this - You sell shovels to gold miners, and as we all know, the people who make money during a gold rush are the people who sell the shovels. But in this case the shovel seller is digging for gold himself too. And he has intentionally sold crappy shovels to all of his customers so as give himself an advantage.
Empty blocks kept happening, people kept blaming pools. OCEAN got attacked over it. We explained the real reason they happen so much, and Bitmain releases a fix right after. Insane. This goes further than empty blocks. It's not just empty templates that take forever to work their way out of an Antminer, it's *all templates* and pools are constantly updating work as new transactions show up.
A super lucrative transaction shows up in your mempool? All other pools are sending an updated job to hundreds of thousands of Antminers who will ignore it for a while, while Antpool has their miners working on it more quickly. It's not hard to see the motivation for all this, especially going forward as TX fees become more and more important. Again, insane.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to watch
@wk057
and I figure this all out in real time, watch the video below which was just intended to be a discussion on why empty blocks happen. I'll post it shortly so tweeter doesn't kill this post like it always does with external links. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BkyhdxnDrM

Hi all,
I'm using RunCloud to (semi) manage my servers. A few months ago, they released a 'containerized' server stack, which I'm currently playing around with. The stack comes by default with services like nginx, mariadb, redis and some PHP versions. The greatest benefit from this, is that I can manage those services through the RunCloud dashboard, e.g. creating database etc.
Now here comes the problem: currently RunCloud does not support custom services to be easily installed through their dashboard. So that means that when I want to run, for example, Directus as a Docker container, I'd have to manually deploy the container on my server. This isn't a big deal, but instead of using the database & redis services Directus provides, I want to connect the Directus container to the services from my RunCloud container, so that they can be managed through the RunCloud dashboard.
So far about the context of the situation, here are the more technical details:
I've created this gist with the stack.yaml that the RunCloud container uses, and the wip-directus.yaml that I wrote (which is not fully working yet): https://gist.github.com/ricktibbe/a0d8bed1f94d56745a69c678b5a4c7cf
So far, I've managed to connect to the mariadb service by adding 'host:host-gateway' to the extra_hosts parameter in the wip-directus.yaml file. I haven't tested the redis connection yet, but my guess is that it'll fail, as the redis service is running on the runcloud_internal network, and not the host network (which is only used by mariadb).
The problem here, is that I cannot modify the stack.yaml file, as this is managed by RunCloud. Otherwise, my plan was to create a shared bridge network and connect all services with it. Also, I cannot use the runcloud_internal network in the Directus container, as its driver is overlay and it is not attachable.
Also, this is not only necessary for connecting Directus to the redis service, but also for the proxy_pass that RunCloud's nginx service needs to make to the Directus service.
By all means, I'm not a Docker expert. I've figured out all of the above mostly by trial and error and reading the docs & stackoverflow, so I'm really curious if there's any workaround to connect to the RunCloud services (and back). I've already submitted a feature request to RunCloud to either add a shared bridge network, or make the runcloud_internal network attachable.
Edit: I've managed to connect RunCloud's nginx with the Directus service by creating a new network and adding it to both services manually using the Docker cli. The only problem here, is that I'll have to add the network to each service manually everytime, which is not viable.

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

I built an AI bot to summarize, analyze sentiment, and notify the latest Reddit stock moves in real time. Here were some of the top plays from Reddit, as picked and summarized by AI!
The reason intel is undervalued AF now

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed. (lower potential for explosive growth, recent Intel offerings have impressive performance)
• $INTC is a buy now because they are about to make a comeback in the AI market with their gaudi3 chip.
• Pat Gelsinger, an engineer and former chief architect in intel, is now CEO starting from 2021
• Cheap options for calls in 2 years, currently a P/E is great
• Current position is $14k in stocks and $600 in september 40 and 50 calls, considering loading more of those 2 years cheap options.

The next play: Bullish on HPE earnings

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Positive outlook on HPE based on their performance in server)
• HPE is undervalued in the server market
• Potential for HPE to participate in AI rally
• Positive marketing messaging around AI
• Cheap shares and calls
• Holding 200 $20c for 6/7 and 200 $20c for 9/20 position

Still Upside to ASTS

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (enthusiasm and optimism for ASTS, anticipation for a squeeze)
• ASTS (AST SpaceMobile) has seen a 150% run-up in stock price
• Commercial contracts with Verizon and AT&T suggest strong growth potential
• Potential for more deals with Mobile Network Operators in other countries
• Analyst price targets from Deutsche Bank and B. Riley
• Possibility of government funding from FirstNet
• Some short sellers may be underwater, potential for a short squeeze
• Not purely a meme stock like other WSB favorites

FSLY - Undervalued and Underhyped Cloud BEAST

• Reddit sentiment: Positive (Growth potential and positive outlook on management)
• Fastly (FSLY) stock dropped after last quarter’s earnings report
• Company reported positive operating cash flow, 14% YoY revenue growth
• Fastly provides CDN, WAF, and compute services
• Earnings beat expectations, yet stock price decreased
• Fastly valued like it's going out of business despite assets
• Fastly positioned for growth in CDN usage
• Stock is valued at a discount, potential for gains
• The poster owns July and September call options on FSLY

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake weeks after losing proxy battle

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (criticized for producing mediocre content)
• Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Disney
• Trian Partners lost a proxy battle at Disney in early April
• Peltz had taken issue with Disney governance, focusing on streaming strategy and CEO succession plan
• Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at roughly $120 a share, making about $1 billion on the position
• Disney's stock is currently trading for about $100 per share

UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup

• Reddit sentiment: Mixed (Opportunity for positive change with new CEO, Negative opinion of UiPath software)
• UiPath shares dropped more than 30% after announcing CEO Rob Enslin's resignation
• Co-founder Daniel Dines will take over as CEO
• Enslin joined UiPath from Google Cloud and could not bring success to the company
• UiPath's stock has struggled under Enslin's sole leadership
• Company's revenue grew in the first quarter, beating estimates, but full-year revenue guidance was lowered
• The stock is down almost 76% from its May 2021 IPO
• Dines founded UiPath in 2005 with Marius Tirca, focusing on automation software

And if you're interested in getting these (free) updates in via Discord or sent to your inbox, you can sign up for my free AI stock alerts bot!

In today's digital age, businesses face increasing challenges when it comes to online security, privacy, and efficiency. As organizations strive to protect sensitive data, streamline operations, and maintain a competitive edge, the role of proxies has become more crucial than ever. For Kenneth Haskin, city manager of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, leveraging proxies can offer significant benefits in managing public services, enhancing data security, and optimizing resource utilization.

The Role of Proxies in Public Service Management

As a city manager, Kenneth Haskin understands the importance of efficient public service management. Proxies can play a pivotal role in this domain by enabling secure access to government websites, facilitating communication between departments, and safeguarding sensitive information from unauthorized access. By implementing proxies, municipalities like Cape Girardeau can enhance operational efficiency, ensure data privacy, and streamline administrative processes.

Enhancing Data Security and Privacy

In today's interconnected world, data security is a top priority for businesses and government entities alike. Proxies offer an additional layer of protection by masking users' IP addresses, encrypting web traffic, and filtering malicious content. For Kenneth Haskin and the city of Cape Girardeau, leveraging proxies can help safeguard sensitive citizen data, prevent cyber threats, and mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to government networks.

Optimizing Resource Utilization and Performance

Efficient resource utilization is essential for maximizing productivity and minimizing costs. Proxies can help businesses and government agencies optimize network performance, reduce bandwidth usage, and enhance the overall user experience. By caching frequently accessed web content, managing internet traffic, and enforcing access controls, proxies enable organizations to make the most of their existing infrastructure and resources.

Implementing a Comprehensive Proxy Strategy

To reap the full benefits of proxies, businesses and government entities need to implement a comprehensive proxy strategy tailored to their specific needs and objectives. This strategy should encompass selecting the right type of proxies, configuring them to meet security and performance requirements, and regularly monitoring and optimizing their performance. By working with experienced professionals like Kenneth Haskin, organizations can develop and implement an effective proxy strategy that aligns with their goals and priorities.

Conclusion

As businesses and government agencies navigate the complexities of the digital landscape, proxies emerge as indispensable tools for enhancing security, privacy, and efficiency. For Kenneth Haskin and the city of Cape Girardeau, leveraging proxies can unlock new opportunities for optimizing public service management, enhancing data security, and maximizing resource utilization. By understanding the role of proxies and implementing a comprehensive strategy, organizations can stay ahead of the curve and thrive in today's dynamic environment.