Answer Guy
JimD

http://www.starshine.org/jimd/index.html

Greybeard Geek.

Public Key

npub1trhp4evegd6sgavspfytt2d6j20s0duxqpxvpkrs8lje67tfdrqs8pe2z6

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs93ms6ukv5xagywkgq5j944xaf98c8k7rqqnxqmpcrleva095k3sgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsr4erlp

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1trhp4evegd6sgavspfytt2d6j20s0duxqpxvpkrs8lje67tfdrqs8pe2z6

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Last Notes

2024-08-06 01:50:39

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Fuck you.
You post a link "inviting" participation in something you're working on, and your response to constructive feedback back is effectively the same as RTFM?
Then my response is, fuck you. Not interested in your user hostile bullshit. Don't bother replying and I won't be interested in any crap you promote either.

2024-08-06 01:47:28

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As always, when postulating anything about what "they" are doing, or plotting, or intending …
… ask "who is «they»."
Who is behind Tether? Would they have been in cahoots with your conspiratorial "they?" Have they (creators and operators of Tether) been subverted? Co-opted? Enlisted?
Conspiracy theories mostly don't work when you analyze the mechanics and the specifics.
How would Tether be of any benefit to the factions within, and behind, governments who are (or may be) seeking to implement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)? How would that work in their favor?

2024-08-02 08:20:37

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Need to provide a lot more information about what people are should expect when you're inviting them to something like this.
Just a login and (demands for | questions about) sharing camera and microphone feeds is rather disconcerting.
Should offer a link to a page describing the project and service.

2024-08-02 08:12:27

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I meant to type "wouldn't be even worse?"
I cannot see a scenario where the U.S. federal government wouldn't use a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) to eventually exert far more insidious control over its users (citizens and others) than they could ever manage to impose on private corporations (especially international institutions).
They'll offer "better security" (backed by military force and the power of the state to collect taxes, tariffs, and fees) and lower volatility (but with 2% "target official inflation" (and the hidden debasement of quantitative "easing" and issuance of T-bills.
It'll be the same scams in most regards — just delivered cryptographically for greater efficiency and (their) convenience.

2024-08-02 08:04:13

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Does Damus support "giftwrapping?" If so, where is it in the UI?

2024-08-02 08:01:17

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And you think U.S. governmentally created (mandated?) CBDC would be even worse? And considerably less transparent?
What's your actual thesis here?

2024-08-02 03:35:32

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Which "they?" How much can "they" do so without court orders?

2024-08-01 16:36:29

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Enable all manner of surveillance and seizure that pesky court orders to private institutions would hamper.

2024-02-16 18:04:26

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これのために得る翻訳は奇妙に聞こえます:「祖母が作った女の子を着ています。」
もっと慣用的な解釈はありますか?

2024-02-16 17:59:17

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The translation I get for this sounds odd: "I'm wearing the girl made by my grandmother."
Is there a more idiomatic interpretation?

2023-12-11 14:09:41

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Barely enough to taste it. Less salty than sweat.

2023-12-04 21:02:08

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I've read that "straining on the pot" is an apt description of the technique that figher pilots are trained in as part of developing their ability to withstand high G-force maneuvers without blacking out.
Laugh all you like. But that shit is serious. Their lives depend on it in some combat scenarios — and lives are lost if they're too dignified to do it regardless of how it looks.

2023-12-04 20:52:43

What would it take for @npub18m7…q955 to support the iPadOS/iOS [Share] feature that's common in various other apps?
For example in Duolingo I can "share" an achievement to 𝕏 or Meta/Facebook like I did here:
https://x.com/answrguy/status/1731771579049320641
Also, what's the best way to share a #NOSTR note or event over the web?
I would love to phase out direct posting to 𝕏 and shift towards posting new content on #NOSTR with links to 𝕏 and other social media. Grow the NOSTR community by guiding my (admittedly not impressive number) of followers towards it.
Basically getting sick of 𝕏's continued decline and was long ago disgusted by Facebook's policies and algorithmic manipulation of my feed.

2023-12-04 11:13:14

These are worth pondering:
1. One mark of a smart person is the ability to learn from people they don’t like.
2. The most powerful productivity tool ever invented is simply the word "no."
3. Rich people have money. Wealthy people have time.
4. Writing is often the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about.
5. 90 percent of success is not getting distracted.
6. Short-term results come from intensity. Long-term results come from consistency.
7. Clear writing gives poor thinking nowhere to hide.
8. The quicker you want something, the easier you are to manipulate.
9. If you want new ideas, read old books.
10. First-principles thinking is a competitive advantage because almost no one does it.
11. Talent and potential mean nothing if you can't consistently do the boring things when you don't feel like doing them.
12. The greatest trap is telling yourself that you’ll do something important tomorrow. Procrastination creates negative momentum.
13. Make your next project something people will ask you about for the rest of your life.
Those are from: https://x.com/1writeofpassage/status/1731300704718123451
I'll add:
* To be successful, learn how to respond to failure.

2023-12-03 21:00:47

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This is technically the case. But there's a key qualitative difference.
The issuance schedule is hard coded into the consensus rules implemented by all compatible software. It's an exponential (binary) decay function referred to colloquially as the "halvening," (I preferred the term "hardening" as it's easier to pronounce and reflects the benefit rather than simply calling out an implementation detail).
Every 216,000 blocks (four years, give are take some variance on a Poisson distribution) the reward gets cut in half. The exponential of the divisor is incremented.
So, sometime next April the block mining reward, the issuance rate, will go from 6.25₿ to 3.125₿ and annualized monetary inflation will drop to less than the U.S. Fed target. It will be much lower than real monetary inflation for any fiat currency.
What's the current annual increase global gold supply, as a percentage of total known reserves?
https://g.co/bard/share/42c4894b48e6

2023-12-03 00:48:36

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As I said, I've got a whole multiverse setting in which I spend much of my daydreaming time. This idea emerges from that as a nugget that small enough, cohesive enough to toss out there for any and all to make their own.
Definitely would prefer for folks to not try to trademark the Ægobots neologism, though. That actually does fit in with a recurring theme in my as-yet unpublished corpus.

2023-12-03 00:43:08

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I cross-posted this to a suReddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SciFiConcepts/s/Z8ZcHygwTw
So there's some additional discussion going on there.
It should go without saying that I would be delighted for folks to write stories based on this idea. Acknowledgement would be nice (and ethical ). But I don't want any money for any derivative works.
Ideas are cheap. Stories are much harder to create and refine.

2023-12-02 20:55:32

Story idea: Ægobots
Have you ever wanted a personal robot or servant?
What if you could actually sort of be your own robot? What if there was some sort of implant or even just a discipline or technique by which you could turn the part of you that you consider to be YOU, your ego, inward to sleep, play games, watch movies, chat, do your doom scrolling, engage in virtual sex with other ægobots, whatever … all while a sort of AI or "mini me" was blissfully directing your body and other parts of your brain, alter egos, doing various boring, mind numbing or mindless tasks for you.
In other words, what if you could direct your body to essentially be your own personal servant?
Now the story plot: what if that device, implant, mechanism … what if that were compromised, backdoored, and after untold millions of folks had adopted this for their benefit, they could be subverted, co-opted into being a meatspace army while the owners of all those bodies were off in a dream space, unaware that any of this was going on … a sort of Inception/Matrix zombie horde?
What if?

2023-12-02 20:44:37

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On the one hand I love the zen gist of this. But the framing is misogynistic sexist bullshit.
Still, that part is not worth fighting over. So I gonna just point it out, walk a way, and chill.

2023-11-13 20:14:42

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https://x.com/electrumwallet/status/1724006226785140935

2023-11-13 20:14:03

⚠️ WARNING: A fraudulent Electrum app is being distributed on the Apple @AppStore. ⚠️

2023-11-13 08:30:43

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Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, and about 4000 developers of Linux, GNU, BSD, and other free (as in «libre» AND «gratis») like a word…
Your arrogance of ignorance about free software, free protocol stacks, and freedom in general reeks.

2023-11-12 00:58:03

Someone asked #NOSTR should be funded. I responded in thread, but want to also post this on its own:
How is the Internet funded?
NOSTR should not be a project, nor a product, nor a service.
It should be a suite of protocols (implemented over the Internet's TCP/IP protocol suite) which establishes interoperability among clients, servers, and peers — between clads of users and sources of content or providers of services.
In other words, it should be like the web, but using public/private keyed identities over an explicitly censorship resistant and privacy preserving event/relay model.

2023-11-12 00:56:20

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How is the Internet funded?
NOSTR should not be a project, nor a product, nor a service.
It should be a suite of protocols (implemented over the Internet's TCP/IP protocol suite) which establishes interoperability among clients, servers, and peers — between clads of users and sources of content or providers of services.
In other words, it should be like the web, but using public/private keyed identities over an explicitly censorship resistant and privacy preserving event/relay model.

2023-11-08 01:51:19

Custodia Bank announced ₿ custody solution for institutional customers:
https://custodiabank.com/f/custody-whitepaper/t/

2023-11-07 08:16:14

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Wisdom is understanding how fools might benefit an opportunity to grow. Diligence is providing those opportunities — thus separating the merely ignorant from the willfully ignorant.

2023-11-07 08:12:11

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Some folks are suggesting that overstock of UV LED light strips may have led to a flood of these on some markets (especially in Hong Kong and throughout Asia) where they're being sold, possibly without proper warning ⚠️ labels, very cheaply.

2023-11-07 08:09:21

Bored Apes dazzled into blind sheep?
https://www.dlnews.com/articles/web3/yuga-labs-investigating-eye-injuries-at-hong-kong-apefest/
#FuckingNuts!

2023-10-28 16:45:37

Metaphors and metaphysics of identity:
https://x.com/richdecibels/status/1718260144813875668

2023-10-27 16:30:17

TIL: polysemy: characteristic referring to lexicographically equivalent terms with multiple (poly-) semantic interpretations (-semy). https://image.nostr.build/c5327d6f0522eb257cb533100ce2637a553641119a24dd359c66fa2a3c741d18.jpg

2023-10-09 09:43:21

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Some nice architectural design:
(https://www.energieforum-berlin.de/ — just half a block from the other pictures, heading back to the Moxy)
The later images are from a courtyard we got to through a side exit from the larger interior plaza. Basically a scenic path back towards our hotel. https://image.nostr.build/32f8ac6e78cbf2198eae469159de4fd26aabe465f8b1d7228f0f1112cd1ca02c.jpg https://image.nostr.build/bad7c064b8fd4f7fbff90bbd2bd2a81fc36c9d6c94be821b1495428efc3b7c0d.jpg https://image.nostr.build/56375d006dd748374ccb40479c878855fe5e7870bcf9ec80f9e91e6d2f7425a4.jpg https://image.nostr.build/875b1034c4c48f68d2e005ee72825100a2226c0001107fd743da6ee3e2e25e84.jpg https://image.nostr.build/d1d57e205513da1b5d9be73e922177df9fad4a55c5531d86e4494ccc2e5d64e5.jpg https://image.nostr.build/fc81be8f12514da15b5b5996f5fe3c87057e7cd3b52d82db06a8012b831a7487.jpg https://image.nostr.build/29a38ef3ef4d4ae0f520a04ceced5762ee4088bbfdaf563a9fb1bf2c558da973.jpg

2023-10-09 09:31:27

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I love how the rivers and waterways in Berlin are part way of the local infrastructure.
It was something I noticed on my one previous trip. https://image.nostr.build/2b6067717578cac701e66f2e3ff645bc6e23dfdb15c47d1263b253b15aaf71d9.jpg https://image.nostr.build/fcaabd35a273a0cdf8aab93f7301d9016fde2db05a31a89a38e76899e1cf09c7.jpg

2023-10-09 09:29:27

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More pictures from inside that park. https://image.nostr.build/73a488be17465684b141acad734b11c81e4fa5d9f30cb2c90b0ec92a144b2c6b.jpg https://image.nostr.build/1aeeeb72baf5aea5a45ea032fcfc6f667aca0220103522dc4df9633994848473.jpg https://image.nostr.build/4564dc8ae880db04656c477bb5fbc67bb4afaba3295fa99d0c05389bfff12b96.jpg https://image.nostr.build/3fe303c27eaf0e56803ac2e03082d5b4fc35f57a75e92e5ec7482b6281074064.jpg

2023-10-09 09:24:37

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A memorial of the Berlin Wall, with re-creations of much of the graffiti from the Soviet era.
Some pillars on the other side, near this end of a spacious park, discuss the project and some of the artist reactions to the restoration and re-creation efforts. https://image.nostr.build/897a9f405edbec834c49ecae704085700cac907b163732fd1596a6602d6db232.jpg https://image.nostr.build/519fb30359dc80b284662b5cddeae2e3ef8bffb0fa91cb51cfe05789ce69ce1b.jpg https://image.nostr.build/a1ba8a12363f0a4a2b27e8bdc316b08cd73ee00a5b298de9a0b9850b1ca01bc7.jpg

2023-10-09 09:20:15

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Also in the train station. Not as prudish as the U.S.
Interior is classier and has none of the skeezy aroma of American smut shacks. https://image.nostr.build/6a2fb7e67f9ba43cc28607942fc55f2e42a7aa8f80135863a0fd0759a623e464.jpg https://image.nostr.build/1cc1f4fc352b215a7f570011f02fdd77cb585b9d4665b76ba7f6fa0008420c81.jpg

2023-10-09 09:16:59

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The aforementioned blank books, with a tote from another souvenir shop in the same station.
The tote has a for the other housemate. It shows the local (German) crosswalk signals walk and don’t walk on opposite sides.
We predict that she will load it up with stuff to take one, then leave it in her car forever.
Lost count of the cups, dishwater and utensils which have share that fate. https://image.nostr.build/34032e3eb473889defec88f4b229fd7e699453994e892928390120e01243f147.jpg

2023-10-09 09:09:57

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Techie section: Python, machine learning, neural networks, Bitcoin/blockchain, etc.
Also spotted a copy of the gamer period White Dwarf, Deutsch edition, on the next shelf down, along with something for “retro gamers.”
Heather bought a couple weeks very pretty blank books for souvenirs. She plans to give one to one of our housemates when we get home. https://image.nostr.build/5e7ff00ebb9cda22aa51e7843b1759d3abe4b3cae5dc5eb81460e4ad2e0b6085.jpg

2023-10-09 09:03:50

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A bookstore in the train station. Seems quaint these days.
Not one, but two magazines dedicated to the topic of chess.
Quaint quantity overload. https://image.nostr.build/3b7d48b837ea6dff99863cb2cd5ca369d0b30eba81c68646821727e914b971ba.jpg

2023-10-09 09:01:33

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My breakfast: Brie and cranberry sauce, and I think some cream cheese, on a braided bread roll, and milchkaffe?
Heather had a much meatier and more substantial sandwich.
Germans don’t skimp on the sandwich fillings. https://image.nostr.build/54cc6f9a4ff9b56e430bd62a80d75ac69ed2f8c14d45a65e87266f8412b06bc2.jpg

2023-10-09 08:58:14

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This is inside the Moxy lounge (there’s a hotel for which it serves as the lobby, but the vibe is as a lounge).
The trash can’s space shuttle motif is echoed in other decorations. https://image.nostr.build/cfaae70489e3bea75a800c0780d419f9ed21b3f2470f9e2ef70b879eca676d97.jpg

2023-10-09 08:54:29

After #btcplusplus Heather and I extended our hotel stay by two days.
Slept in and acted like cave bears all day Sunday.
Today we walked over to the Ostbahnhof train station (a whole block away), had breakfast at one of several bakeries inside, did a little souvenir shopping, and wandered over at a nearby park and Berlin Wall memorial.
Here are some photos: https://image.nostr.build/48e425fa977e5e334e8bf73844c5588cb77099287434956c9c8498855eb2f098.jpg

2023-10-09 06:41:42

Breakfast at the train station, Ostbahnhof, Berlin: https://image.nostr.build/5d3051176b8a55f32f06e8ccbfc85d828652a48cc526b6d9603cec1e86211dbd.jpg

2023-09-20 23:43:09

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Looks like content on #NOSTR is improving significantly as well.
The looming threat of a paywall blocking all free access to 𝕏 (Twitter) makes that more significant.
I saw a poll on that topic. 96% of 38,800+ 𝕏 users indicate that they are completely unwilling to,pay even 5¢/month (60¢/year) for access. 2% would pay a nickel per month, and 1% voted for each of 50¢ or "even more than $2."
I'm in that first category.
It's not the money. I would even consider paying a nickel/month in ṩatṩ or DOGE. It's both the principle and the practical matter of refusing to entrust such an egregiously dishonest actor with my billing info.
So, I'm glad that NOSTR is gradually gaining traction.
Gradually is important for now, because I want to see a strong suite of cultural norms to evolve before there's any major influx of users.
Folks will need time to explore and internalize how NOSTR is different (self sovereign identity, truly decentralized notes/events propagation) and develop customs and tooling to optimize behavior within this environment.

2023-09-20 23:30:59

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It means I can comfortably use the app without fussing with reading glasses that are unnecessary for just about 99% of the read of what I do on iPad, phone, and laptop.
Yes. It's very useful.

2023-09-20 23:19:58

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I have now found the font size slider in Settings ☞ Appearance

2023-09-20 23:06:36

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I was already on the Testflight™ version of Damus™

2023-09-14 23:44:06

I really want a NOSTR client for which I can adjust the default font size.
The text in the main feeds interface of #Damus (on iPad) is legible, but I have to strain a little. Just enough to be annoying. Not enough to reach for reading glasses.
The text in the notes entry and reply panels is fine, just about ideal.
So which other clients should I look at?

2023-09-02 07:26:29

I've been feeling, and saying, this for many years:
https://x.com/theholisticpsyc/status/1697784302036238731?s=61&t=YqvuG7PQIEbz8A2KmvCNFw

2023-08-31 03:58:11

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Yeah. It's just "text" (emoji).

2023-08-29 15:58:35

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Also it's polite to do so quickly (within less than a day of receiving the torch and next hop address) and to publicly post a link showing the transaction in any publicly accessible explorer (such as http://explorer.blockstream.com/liquid/).

2023-08-29 15:46:07

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So far as NOSTR is concerned, a zap is just an event type … representing a chain of events entirely outside of NOSTR.
This is, more or less, just like saying that Bitcoin payments (including those made over the Lightning⚡️Network) are just packets being routed over the Internet.
Technically correct from one perspective, and when constraining the scope pf consideration to accommodate that "just") but actually obscuring rather than explaining salient aspects of the broader picture.
Yes. NOSTR is independent of ₿ and LN. Zaps are just an optional feature and application of NOSTR protocols and some clients.

2023-08-23 03:03:10

@npub102c…ostr:@npub102c…zyfp

2023-08-23 03:02:06

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Does it have to start with "imagine" in all lowercase?
I've never gotten this 'bot to work for me.

2023-08-16 23:03:57

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Any economic system is based on the concept of «ownership» … possession of, and control over resources.
Any system of government must define what ownership or authority means for purposes of its governance (laws) and must also engage in law enforcement.
Force (up to and including the actual, not merely metaphoric, barrel of a gun) is at the literal root of the concept of law enforcement.
ANY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IS ULTIMATELY MAINTAINED BY FORCE.
Thus, it is disingenuous to argue that this characteristic somehow makes any attempt at socialism inherently any less just than any other.
It is also the case that every significant political movement in modern history which has claimed to be "socialist" has either been a pretext by authoritarians (fascists, demagogues, tyrants) or been co-opted by such factions.
So we must take any claims of socialist revolution with all due skepticism.
Meanwhile it's equally true that every effort towards democratic and legitimately populist reform has been decried as a headlong leap down the icy slopes of "socialism" or "communism" (usually promulgated by people who are ignorant of any nuances in their terminology — often willfully so).
Posts such as the one to which I'm responding here generally do far more to forestall any social, economic, and political progress than benefit they claim to be striving towards.
The "taxation is theft" mantra exclusively serves the status quo — especially plutocrats and oligarchs.

2023-08-15 05:17:31

I'm planning on going to Bitcoin++ in Berlin, NixOS edition:
https://discourse.nixos.org/t/bitcoin-nix-edition-berlin-germany-oct-6-7/31135
This will include the option to switch into a configuration with the full Fort Nix nix-bitcoin suite (derivation) running in a NixOS native (systems-nspawn) container, and other services running in Podman, Docker, or LXC containers or virtual machines.
May also include Sphinx hosting and NOSTR relay containers.
Oh, and Wireguard, and the mobile SSH client, mosh, and the fwknop utility, among other small features (

2023-08-13 01:28:42

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In case anyone os curious here are the apps I'm actively using for my 日本語の学ぶ (studying of Japanese):
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id939540371 Language Drops
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id570060128 Duolingo
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id290664053 renzo, Inc.'s 辞書 (dictionary)
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id1048445761 Kanji Teacher by Christian Rusche
I've one at least one session (five minutes each) of Drops, every single day for 217 days!
I don't thing I have practiced or studied anything that consistently before.
I usually two or three. Sometimes I do one or two while waiting for an appointment or a table to become available in a restaurant. I do extras before going to sleep or before getting up in the morning.
I've also managed to do Duolingo sessions every day for 214 days.
After a couple days of Drops I decided to make another go at Duolingo which I'd tried a couple years back. The five or ten minutes of overhead from Drops alone was too easy to manage, and I figure that different voices, fonts and colors, and content would help me learn the language not just one app's contents.
A typical Duolingo session takes me 10 minutes. But I also have studied the syllabic written form (仮名 — kana). I do those sessions in about five minutes each and I did two of those per day — one for 平仮名の — hiragana, and another for 片仮名 — katana. I wanted to keep relatively in sync for the katakana and hiragana because I've found that learning them separately just muddles them later.
The Duolingo kana sessions are separated into one per row of the goju on 五十音 (50 sounds). I guess I was takin taking about five sessions on each row before advancing to the next. It's a freeform grid of topics, with color highlighting for what you've started and which you've become proficient at. I'm almost completely done with those, and I'm no longer consistently doing those every day.
Those kana modules that remain are just for when I'm in the mood or have a whim. They're most just some of the advanced nuances of kana, like the use of the small っ(vs the regular つ — "tsu") which has the effected transliterated as a doubled consonant sound, like the distinct pause between the k's in "bookkeeper") and the use of little ゃ, ゅ andょfor certain exceptions to the syllabary — like しゃ ("sha") vs. しや ("shi ya") and so on. I was aware of those from previous attempts to learn the language, and they mostly follow some simply patterns. No urgent need to go through the drills on those.
So as I phased past the daily kana study, I've phased in the use of the Kanji Teacher.

2023-08-13 00:30:23

I'm studying Japanese (日本語) on my own. So far I've managed to over 215 days going through at least one lesson in each of two iPad apps: Duolingo™ and Kahootz!'s Language Drops™.
At some point, chasing around some rabbit 🐇 rabbit hole, I came across 日本の歌百選 — Japanese Hundred Songs Collection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon_no_Uta_Hyakusen
Without commenting on their specific collection of songs, it occurs to me that this concept could be tremendously useful to foreign students of any language. Nursery/kindergarten level songs to learn and help remember various connected collections of terms and phrases.
One song for parts of the body (hand, arm, finger, chest/torso, head, …). Another for familial relationships (mom, dad, brother, sister, cousin, …). Others for days of the week, months of the years, and other temporal terminology (today, yesterday, tomorrow, now, morning, evening, etc).
100 songs, topics, composed and recorded for each language — entwined with culturally appropriate themes, in multiple voices (male, female, child, chorus) and licensed for free use.
Then apps could incorporate these into their lessons, and karaoke (からオケ) packs for each could be available.
Songs are amazing mnemonic devices, if they're of competent composition. Most attempts to explicitly write songs for pedagogic purposes are cringeworthy. But just raises the bar. Fund contests for every language and category, and select by popularity.
Who's in? How has spare funds to donate?

2023-08-13 00:05:17

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BTW: is there a really good NOSTR to web gateway available?
I'm asking because I feel like I should start my migration off of this platform, and I'd prefer to just post to NOSTR, and post links to here.
Redirect the few responses that my tweets (not 𝕏eets, not ever) garner to a canonically better conversation.
https://twitter.com/answrguy/status/1690510543382269952?s=61&t=YqvuG7PQIEbz8A2KmvCNFw

2023-08-13 00:03:20

Wise words:
… "you never (only) choose a language, you choose an entire ecosystem."
I've make this points a few times in response to language 🔥 wars on forums such as Quora.
[Also a touching low key tribute to the memory of vim's creator].
"Why Python Is Amazing" https://bit.ly/3qkPABv
https://twitter.com/answrguy/status/1690513408796631043?s=61&t=YqvuG7PQIEbz8A2KmvCNFw

2023-08-12 21:21:22

Maybe we should start a new hacking community called the Rreiverrs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers
What's with all those Rs?
☞ Reproducibility
☞ Robustness
☞ Resilience
☞ Recovery
Break it to make it … BETTERRRR!

2023-08-11 04:23:04

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Probably the closest would be a the Hawala network. However, it's based entirely on trusted parties and reputation. It's generally extra-judicial (not recognized, nor enforced by law enforcement). Probably illegal, or effectively so, in many places and at many points in history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala

2023-07-22 20:11:32

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There's a lot to unpack in the Google translation for that post.
The whole text is translated as: "One of the foods I want to have at all times"
… even with my child's level of Japanese, I can tell that this is an incomplete translation.
肉まん is "pork buns"
常備したい … I guess this translates roughly to "always ready"
食べ物 is "food"
and:
のひとつ … roughly "one of"
So I guess you mean that you're always ready for pork buns (much as I might say for pizza (ピザ).
But notice how the Google translation left out the key concept?

2023-07-21 17:20:20

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That's not the appropriate framing for any discussion about development of an open and free protocol suite (such as NOSTR).
The appropriate framing is that existing and prospective users want services and content AND ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT.
The features should be driven by user demand and desires — not be the those of "content providers."
The major problems with commercial social media platforms emerge from the choice to cater to "providers" (most advertisers and marketers — pushing "content" on the one hand, and ingesting user data for monetization on the other).
It ultimately degenerates into the "enshittification" that's described by the Doctorow doctrine:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/

2023-07-21 17:10:15

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Sphinx chat (https://buy.sphinx.chat/) still works and handle paid content very smoothly and flexibly.
You can pay (₿ over Lightning⚡️) and folks can pay subscriptions which are paid directly to your Sphinx account (peer-to-peer).
Seriously. It's so far ahead of NOSTR in this regard that it's not even worthy of comparison.
DM me and I'll set you up with a Lite node.
https://buy.sphinx.chat/
It costs a one-time fee of 3000 ṩats (less than $1 USD at today's rates).
My Sphinx ID:
022bb41d512e5d265b0073ac78428d522a4637f6c94d7bda8a6840d00ac3965814:02736e7dad83d7205826649fc17db672ce08f8e87a2b47c7785ccbf79f24e91db0:1099657510913

2023-07-18 19:01:13

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Any messaging system secured by public key identification and encryption could be used as a banking and commerce platform.
But NOSTR is unique in that it also eschews centralization.

2023-06-25 11:17:34

@npub102c…zyfp Imagine a couple in a cafe where he's drinking from a mug decorated with fine images of an assortment of pairs of stylized women's naked breasts while her mug depicts googely eyes with each pair fixed on a different bosom.

2023-06-25 11:15:40

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Clearly I don't get it.

2023-06-25 11:12:36

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I have to admit that Starbucks' Via instant have been okay when I've had to resort to instant coffee. https://nostr.build/i/6014887d35a2222f1637cb814445d66a8cdd9acba4b9c05ecfef0351ad65cd20.jpg

2023-06-25 11:09:15

@npub102c…zyfp
Imagine "A couple in a cafe. He's drinking from a mug decorated with a assortment of pairs of stylized women's naked breasts while her mug depicts googely eyes, each pair fixed on different bosoms."

2023-06-24 10:35:37

I've officially had it with Gemini™
Here are comments I've just posted to the AppStore on their app for iPadOS (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gemini-buy-bitcoin-crypto/id1408914447):
I've used this app for years.
Years ago I complained about the lack of support for ActiveTrader (™ or ® ?) features. There have been no enhancements towards this. It's still no possible to manage simple limit orders via this app.
Worse … the app's stability has degenerated to the point where I'm giving up on it completely. It's been crashing, silently, on startup for at least two months.
No error message (yeah! That's what "silent" means; just being explicit here).
I've upgraded it from the app store, and upgraded iPadOS, and deleted and re-installed it.
This is actually the worst quality I've seen in any app on iPad, ever. It used to work, now it just plain doesn't. It doesn't even load far enough to generate a support request, nor any diagnostic details to forward to any support.
Additionally, Gemini still has not made its Earn customers whole after the capital mismanagement (possible malfeasance) of its finance partners.
I was savvy enough to have moved my funds before that fiasco; but I have multiple friends — referred to Gemini by me — who are still looking at tens of thousands of dollars locked up in that ongoing litigation. While that's orthogonal to the app stability and quality issues — it suggests that this company is not trustworthy.
This is the ONLY 1 star review I've ever posted to the AppStore.
[The following is my earlier review commentary, circa 2021?]:
I cannot give this app a decent rating until it supports limit orders. As it is, it can't even show me the limit orders I have established via the web UI! Also, separately from the app, will we get support for Liquid and L-USDt (Tether on Liquid).

2023-06-20 05:24:29

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⸘Do you know of the interrobang‽
Look closely at that punctuation. It’s a hybrid of ? and !

2023-06-20 05:16:49

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While the inverted question mark is only officially used in Spanish I happen to think it’s kind of cool. So sometimes, especially when I’m being sarcastic, I use it and/or the ¡inverted bang sign! even for English.

2023-06-20 00:00:07

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This is a naïve position, utterly lacking nuance.
What constitutes coercion? Is it truly voluntary if that alternative is starvation or privation?
Does "everything" include respecting the property rights, the possession of objects by others? What if I don't volunteer to honor your rights?
Statements of principle lacking rhetorical rigor are platitudes and propaganda. They serve no objectively practical purpose.
Formulating rigorously phrased statements entails effort and requires expertise. It's far to easy to dismiss the value of those elements in any constitution any any laws or regulations derived under such authority.

2023-06-19 23:20:31

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I would take this data with a few coarse grains of salt.
They seem to be counting accumulations per address. Are they factoring out for those wallets and exchanges or services which properly avoid address reuse (as recommended by experts)?
Because a whale using such wallets and services is practically indistinguishable from fish or shrimp. Dollar cost averaging to new addresses for each purchase should look just like schools of shrimp from a chain analysis perspective.
You can say more about cases where you see patterns of reuse. Any address which has been reused is probably generated by software and services which don't implement proper address derivation.
But any address seen only receiving ₿ in a single transaction might be a single wallet or it may be a small part of holdings — one among dozens or hundreds of addresses in a single wallet.
Treat these graphs, and opinions published based on conclusions drawn from such data, with all due skepticism.

2023-06-18 06:12:32

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凄?

2023-06-16 19:14:36

¿Noise?
¡That's a funny way to spell CONTENT! #note1gv2…tcqf

2023-06-16 19:12:29

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Meanwhile the hard problem here seems to be related to English orthography?
Pretty sure Phil (RIP) correctly spelled the word "two" in his original rendering of this quote.
Many wits, and undoubtedly some twits have extended this to argue that there are TWO hard problems in CS: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors!
(IYKYK)
https://www.karlton.org/
https://m.wikidata.org/wiki/Q99194342

2023-06-12 07:08:04

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Maybe a separate option for "nuke mute" which mutes a user, including all threads with which that user interacts (responds, reposts, likes, zaps) EXCEPT the notes and reposts of those you're directly following.
You should still be able to pull up the muted/nuked threads by selecting a note response posted by someone you follow, with just a warning confirmation about seeing blocked/muted/nuked content.
If we go that route, be sure the warning displays the supposed name (and any client-local alias) of the offensive party.

2023-06-10 04:01:37

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I didn't interpret as "because they no longer care about their surroundings."
To me it seemed to be a depiction of the most likely dystopian future that 99.9% of the populace in the so-called "developed" world face — so little opportunity and such wealth disparity that practically everyone (regardless of race) lives in relative squalor (at the "trailer trash" level).
That this was the their "middle class" experience.
In that framing it's not that they ignore the real world in favor of the virtual reality. It's that they resort to the virtual reality as the only recourse for what meager opportunities it offers.
They need to log in to be able to do anything.
(Which, of course, raises questions unanswered by the film — and out of scope for its storyline. I can imagine that most employment opportunities are "online" and many manual labor jobs amount to a logged in worker remotely controlling various robots via the VR interfaces. The human becomes a set of relative cheap/efficient eyes and ears for contributing to a relatively better safety record for the robots; low pay but also extremely low requirements for employment).

2023-06-09 04:35:21

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But the treatment seems more like a fantasy romp than an exploration of the technology’s implications.

2023-06-09 04:32:44

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We call those techno-fantasies
Trappings, settings, and tropes of sci-fi, but lacking plausible technological basis.
Star Trek and Star Wars are also squarely in that genre.
Frank Herbert’s Dune is more sci-fi, but verges on magical tropes.

2023-06-08 17:32:17

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Binance and Coinbase are two of the largest cryptocurrency "exchanges" (shitcoin casinos).
Prime Trust is a cryptocurrency custodian which (allegedly) holds ₿ and other funds on behalf of various institutions (exchanges, etc) for the customers of the exchanges, etc. They hold IOUs for the places that hold IOUs for retail customers.
Because they all seem to be "investing" (or speculating with) customer funds (and, legitimately, due to the inherent difficulties of holding large amounts of cash on demand) — these are all subject to similar concerns as banks with regards to the risks of "bank runs" (where more customers demand withdrawal than they have as liquidity reserves).
Basically, more fractional reserve and hypothetication bullshit.

2023-06-07 11:37:15

https://newatlas.com/energy/ga-drilling-deep-geothermal/

2023-06-07 03:52:27

120% discount only valid on those two nether days. So be sure to set your alarm! #note1gr3…f5nd

2023-06-04 23:26:26

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Start with Blockstream #Green app. Perhaps half in a single sig. wallet (that's normal compared to other wallets). The rest can go into a multi-shield wallet (multi-factor authentication).
When she's comfortable with that, buy Jade hardware wallet. Create a new wallet there (single sig) and consider sweeping all funds out of the mobile/desktop Green to the Jade, and then using the Jade's support for BIP85 to derive new keys (seed mnemonics) to re-initialize the mobile wallet(s).
This allows one to consolidate multiple wallets on one top level seed (backed up on a suitable metal mnemonic storage device. (The BIP85 derived seeds can be re-derived for any future recovery).
[Tip: you can also derive additional secrets via BIP85 — for instance to generate #NOSTR nsec/npub identities].

2023-06-03 22:27:57

https://nitter.net/pic/orig/media%2FFxsC3bDXwAA5sc1.jpg
From @ FellowHominid @ Twitter
https://twitter.com/fellowhominid/status/1664927708214640645?s=61

2023-06-02 07:41:23

Interesting how this is framed as an inevitable consequence of increasing longevity and vague "economic factors" rather than acknowledging that it's largely due to plutocratic rent seeking enabled by crony capitalism.
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/population-aging-france-pension-reforms-retirement/

2023-06-02 00:44:16

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It can only do channel updates while the wallet/client is available to authorize them. It's not for routing nor any of that. It's a solution purely to the LN payment self-custody issue.
To go into it in any greater depth we'd have to delve in the source code. I think it's in a branch of the core lightning sources.

2023-06-01 22:42:20

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As Greenlight becomes available, it will challenge that assumption.
The local/mobile wallet accessing a Greenlight LN node will pre-signed transactions for channel closure and other operations.
The online node will never have the keys, just the pre-signed transaction for cooperative close and to challenge any hostile unilateral closure.

2023-06-01 02:38:28

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I'd like to see much better coverage of the mechanism by the Fed. indirectly regulates issuance via the prime rate (and other policies? actions?) and how banks issue "money" (but don't actually print "currency."
I'd like to read a lot more details of the different monetary supplies (M1, vs. M2, etc). Frankly, the Wikipedia article is an expository mess.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply
I'd like to see some analysis of how the banking system, as a whole, seems to depend on recursion (credit issued to most parties, for most purposes, is deposited into accounts which are the used as reserves to issue more credit) and also on how alternative uses for such funds (foreign investment and purchases, and shifts into Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies) poses risk to the financial system by breaking out of that depository recursion.
I'd like to see a lot more on the velocity of money, and the potential for low friction, high velocity transactions, with robust settlement finality, might pose to the traditional central banking policies and regulatory mechanisms.
Does Bitcoin "threaten" central banks and other traditional finance institutions by providing this escape from depository captivity and these higher velocity transaction handling options? If so, how does that work in practice and what are the possible means to mitigate those risks or transform banking and finance such that these are features rather than risks?
In all of that, whose oxen 🐂 are gored? Who can benefit and how?

2023-06-01 01:54:56

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I wonder what ever happened to Striga (from Estonia) and their project to support Greenlight: https://www.greenlight.striga.com/login
(That demo seems to be for testnet, and I don't have any wallet configured for testnet ₿).

2023-06-01 01:40:27

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They did notify, long in advance. I tried sweeping my funds (~1Mṩ) to a new Muun wallet. I did have to leave some behind (~8Kṩ = ~$6 USD ) due to liquidity channel constraints or fees or something. Then, 9 days ago, I sent most of what was left (5022ṩ).
Now I do seem to have ~3500ṩ (95¢) stuck there.
I used BlueWallet as my only LN wallet for years. I don't begrudge them these sats. I still have some funds in my on chain wallet there, and I still use it as "watch only" for some other (hardware) wallets.
I use Blockstream Green for most mobile purposes. There recently added support for more types of watch-only wallets means I can shift my watchers from BlueWallet to Green.
But, what I've been holding out for, for years, is Green support for Greenlight (LN self custody for mobile/desktop wallets). That's supposed to be available any time now.

2023-06-01 00:07:14

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This would be a perfect use-case for BOLT12 (https://bolt12.org/)

2023-06-01 00:03:02

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[referring to the parent message: 油揚げ https://nostr.build/i/dee19e0b4ec9593b92158ed22cc7e2af3480ef1b847df7c5c0ff9d93dea37541.jpg

2023-06-01 00:00:24

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It's called "usage."(?)

2023-05-31 00:42:03

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I'm primarily focused on learning how to read Japanese. Being able to understand the spoken language is secondary for me. I live in the Silicon Valley and don't have any close friends or relatives who speak it, nor any who are seriously interested in learning it. My wife overhears bits and pieces as I'm doing my exercises.
I am somewhat of an introvert, and most of my interactions with those who speak my native language (American English) has been in written form (mostly online) for decades.
I have been to Japan three times, two weeks each, over the course a year and a half, back around year 2000; I learned a few dozen common phrases and how to read a tiny fraction of the most common public signage back then. But, of course, such superficial learning fades without reinforcement.
During those business trips (teaching professional Linux systems administration and operations, right down to the level of patching and building custom kennels) I did experience firsthand how hospitable the Japanese people are towards 外人 (foreigners).
Tokyo might be the safest city in the world for drunken foreigners to find their way back from 飲み会 (social drinking) to their hotels. During the first trip I stayed in Ebisu. Second time it was near Shinjuku, and for the last trip it was a tiny room in Akihabara. It was a progression towards less touristy and more modestly priced accommodations on each trip.
Every trip I made one dinner out to this nice Indian restaurant near the top of the Yebisu Garden Tower; also spent at least one afternoon every weekend at a little kissaten which was dedicated to clientele seeking opportunities to practice their English.
This year I decided to try for slow, steady consistency as much for the experience with modern tablet teaching apps and for the mental break from programming and other technical materials, as anything.
I'm hoping to retire within a couple years here, with sufficient health and affluence to be able to take my wife on long trips to places like Japan.

2023-05-30 23:07:25

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I was fully aware that I see slang and colloquialisms in such casual online forums. I'm also aware of how my use of automated (mostly Google™) translation here might mangle some of what I say. Nonetheless it's worth exposing myself to these while being mindful of those caveats.
私はこのようなカジュアルなオンラインフォーラムでスラングや口語を見ることを十分に認識していました。また、ここでの自動（主にGoogle™）翻訳の使用が、私が言うことの一部をどのように台無しにするかについても認識しています。それにもかかわらず、これらの警告に留意しながら、これらに自分自身をさらす価値があります。

2023-05-30 22:51:41

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Yeah. It does no better with that.
(I'm only about six months into studying Japanese using Duolingo, Kahootz! Language Drops, and the Kanji Tutor app on my iPad. I only spent about 20 - 30 minutes per day on it, plus a bit of right click ☞ translate here in NOSTR and over on Twitter on selected tweets and notes).
うん。それはそれで良くありません。
(私はDuolingo、Kahootzを使って日本語を勉強して約6ヶ月しか経っていません!言語ドロップ、そして私のiPadの漢字チューターアプリ。私はそれに1日あたり約20〜30分しか費やしておらず、さらに少し右クリック☞ここNOSTRで翻訳し、選択したツイートやメモをTwitterで翻訳しました)。

2023-05-30 22:46:05

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Translation fails on this one.
"Kojira Nyan Oha Nyaa" — Damus/iPad translation just spits out the syllables.
I'm curious what it will do with this: こじらさんにゃんおはにゃあ

2023-05-30 22:40:11

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Yeah. I know. I'm looking for a decent HOWT0 guide on how to set up for incoming zaps.
I've been sorta holding out for Greenlight support.
Greenlight is a new approach to supporting Lighting in a manner that allows self-custody. Think of it as an online proxy between an online Core Lightning / Bitcoin node and mobile or desktop/laptop wallets (such as Green™)
Green☜☞Light(ning) … get it?
The custodial challenge of Lightning⚡️has always been that a Lightning node has to have trustworthy access to a Bitcoin full node (or, at least a pruned node), and to a "watchtower" service (just another dæmon or process in the case of CLN).
These online services are necessary to establish liquidity channels (links to other nodes in the Lightning Network) and to respond to channel closure events (especially to watch for hostile unilateral closure using outdated settlement pre-images). So they can't be reliably hosted on phones, laptops, nor even in most homes.
The usual approach has been to trust Lightning wallets with your funds. That's reasonable for small balances (especially zaps and tipping, and even for most online retail). My old balance on BlueWallet sometimes got as high as two grand (USD) even though I never put more than couple hundred in (this was during a great NgU — Number-go-Up cycle).
Blockstream's approach is to ensure that we're never in custody of customer funds. That's why Green hasn't had LN support in the past.
With Greenlight you can think of the relationship between your Greenlight service provider and your locally hosted wallet (Green, but also any other wallet that adds support for the protocol) as being analogous to the way in which your desktop system interacts with your hardware wallet. Keys to the funds are stored in the local wallet while the Greenlight service holds pre-signed transactions for channel closure and acts as proxy to Core Lightning for spending and channel/liquidity management operations (initiated and authorized locally).
(I don't yet know if Greenlight will also support a BOLT12 Offers service as well. If so it would be authorized to issue LN invoices (BOLT11) to accept incoming payments for specific goods and services; BOLT12 is a work in progress in any event. I have heard that there are no plans to enable routing services through Greenlight nodes — for that you'd still need to host your own full nodes. I do know that anyone should be able to host their own Greenlight services. So a skilled systems operator could provide LN/Greenlight self-hosting for their own families, communities, or as a subscription service).