Hello Again. Are you rooting for an NCAA ranked team?

While you are watching basketball, POTUS is threatening congress with refusing to sign anything until the SAVE America Act is passed by the senate. It has already been passed by the house.

This proposed law is designed to disenfranchise millions of Americans by requiring specific identification in order to register to vote. The documents include passports and birth certificates to prove that voters are citizens. Are you a woman? Did you change your name when you got married? If you did, the name on those documents may be different. If your current name is different, you may not be able to register and vote, and this is the purpose of the act.

Also included in this diabolical act are clauses to give the wealthy tax relief and hurt transgender citizens. It doesn't just cover voting rights. POTUS fears that he will lose control of congress and ultimately face an impeachment which will ultimately throw him out of office. He wants to insure that only his voters can go to the polls. This is just another reason why POTUS needs to be removed from office.

POTUS Roaster

Thanks for reading the posts I write for you. If you like them, please tell your friends and family. If you want to read the other posts I write, please go to write.as/potusroaster/archive

In Summary: * A quiet Friday winds down. Tried to follow a little baseball then a little basketball this afternoon but couldn't raise enough enthusiasm to stick with either. Listening to relaxing music now, and doing some quiet reading. I'll probably stick with that until I wrap up my night prayers in a couple hours then head to bed.

Prayers, etc.: * I have a daily prayer regimen I try to follow throughout the day from early morning, as soon as I roll out of bed, until head hits pillow at night. Details of that regimen are linked to my link tree, which is linked to my profile page here.

Starting Ash Wednesday, 2026, I've added this daily prayer as part of the Prayer Crusade Preceding the 2026 SSPX Episcopal Consecrations.

Health Metrics: * bw= 226.31 lbs. * bp= 135/79 (67)

Exercise: * morning stretches, balance exercises, kegel pelvic floor exercises, half squats, calf raises, wall push-ups

Diet: * 05:45 – crispy oatmeal cookies * 06:45 – 1 peanut butter sandwich * 09:45 – 4 hot dog sandwiches * 11:55 – bowl of lugau * 14:45 – 1 fresh apple

Activities, Chores, etc.: * 04:00 – listen to local news talk radio * 05:00 – bank accounts activity monitored * 05:40 – read, write, pray, follow news reports from various sources, surf the socials, nap, yard work * 12:30 – watch old eps. of Classic Doctor Who * 14:00 – audio feed with Los Angeles pregame is working, MLB Gameday has started and displays stats and info for this afternoon's game, opening pitch is minutes away.
* 16:30 – turned away from the baseball game to catch an NCAA men's basketball game, Miami RedHawks vs Tennessee Volunteers, this game currently at halftime. The Vols are leading 51 to 32. * 17:30 – listening to relaxing music, quietly reading.

Chess: * 13:20 -moved in all pending CC games

When It’s Not Raining I Take A Chance

To the grape leaves and minding bay A profuse energy sixty miles ten We fought for what we can The tidy esteem of a World bet Trial in Toronto and closing The altitude we climbed for an angel And forever had done The Cross between our cell- and our bet Two things to abandon rod A performance by the loop And in bitter loop to end Man it, New York Sometimes life just ain’t a play We reckon to yard to remember For the Symphony at dawn Feeling frozen to the weaponry Six days West and I’ll be here The riposte of a lawn- making friends and making fold The wire out Pixies full of force The light reckons as I know Were it war, I’d be sent anyway But this is Saint Bridget and we spoke In timely two and two My square dream ahead And Aqua sports befriend The little bit of best- and I need insulin A growing to the maintenance Hero to her anxiety This maple in shades And due on course November Staying true to men in spirit The Victory low and hold Mileage high and through With folds to make mysterious Am I not headed out And six times the Water at war So let the Zulu rain We are obsessed with The Lord- and blinking lights- And days to make it later I am shining because I need you Now climb down from that coffin We are abstract to the risk I was a cousin of Earth Berodded and esteem For the light one As this must And seeming no set We are far to be free As the story goes And you were a miracle for the good- steady wonder For the Triune God and his prophet A simple goodness wears the tide This way or the Moon Running empty as the news For finds of the decorated house of yours First Class Jesus and no poem An enemy of torture And a special man by Rome A mystery of men In your tower And this bleeding heart supposes The Victory of existence And a paltry Summer choice To Lunenburg and home And I was the vet- For making near And I drew a blinking star Upon that thing that made me smile Obsessive by the dawn And no Aladdin- but you.

A few weeks ago, a friend asked my wife and I and a few other friends to act for a video sketch project. The friend provided food and hospitality and we all had a great time. My older son played with a couple other kids while my wife and I took turns holding the younger one. It’s always nice to get out of the house.

When it comes to speaking, my speech is monotone and soft. That’s why you’ll never hear me give a public speech, sing karaoke, or act in a film. I’m a better writer than a speaker. And even that’s questionable.

Maybe if I played in some sort of acting role, I’ll be in a silent slapstick comedy. As long as the pay is good.

#acting #dramaclub #friends #highschool

“You can do anything.” Said to me not as a generic affirmation, but to remind me: I am better than others.

“You’re so well behaved.” Another mark. Those other kids? They cause trouble and get bad grades. I’m better than them.

Skip two grades. A, A, A, B, A. The B is a failure. I’m better than this. I can’t let that happen again.

“You’re worth nothing.” The other message. “Pride cometh before the fall.” Don’t be prideful. “Pride is the first sin.” Don’t sin. “You can’t not sin.” I sinned. “You are dirty, unlovable, repulsive to God.” I am filthy. “Never forget that you deserve hell.” I won’t.

Quick! Hide my pride, before they see. I am worth nothing, I can’t forget that. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am better than everyone else. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am better than everyone else. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am better than everyone else. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am better than everyone else. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am better than everyone else. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing. I am worth nothing.

Ana whispers in my ear. “You are special.” The first kind voice in my head in years. The relief is overwhelming. I’m worth something! “You are better than them.” Aren’t I?

Don’t forget, I am worth nothing.

I am worth everything. Nothing. Everything. Nothing.

Never something. Everything or nothing, pick one. I can’t.

My psyche picks, and Ana offers relief. Ana picks, and it feels disgusting. Pride feels so gross. Back to my psyche.

Pride remains. Suppressed or dominant, I can’t escape it.

A zine chronicling the Conquering the Barbarian Altanis D&D campaign.

This issue details sessions 99, 100, 101, and 102.

Adventurers hunt the glowing hunters. Then they revisit an old favourite, which goes as every time before that.

You can download the issue here.

Overlord's Annals zine is available as part of the Ever & Anon APA, issue 9:

#Zine

Lydia's Weekly Lifestyle blog is for today's African girl, so no subject is taboo. My purpose is to share things that may interest today's African girl.

This week's contributors: Lydia, Pépé Pépinière, Titi. This week's subjects: Tech-Infused Fabrics, Cannes Film Festival, Toothpaste, and Champagne, Prosecco, Sekt and Cava

---

Tech-Infused Fabrics: Tech isn’t just for gadgets—it’s now playing a major role in corporate fashion. The fusion of fashion and technology is already happening in the West African fashion scene, with designers experimenting with fabrics that adapt to your environment. Imagine a blazer that adjusts to your body temperature or fabric that repels water and resists wrinkles—perfect for the busy corporate lifestyle. Wearable tech is also gaining popularity, from smart watches to bracelets that help with productivity. So, if you thought the future of fashion was still years away, think again—it's here, and it's happening now. Power Suits with a Twist: While the classic power suit isn’t going anywhere, it’s getting an upgrade. The 2026 power suit in West Africa will be all about standing out. Think bold hues like deep emerald greens and fiery oranges, paired with soft, fluid fabrics that make you look as powerful as you feel. Corporate fashion will continue to honor the structured look of the classic suit, but designers are adding modern, playful touches: asymmetrical cuts, unconventional lapels, and creative tailoring. This gives the traditional business suit a fresh, modern energy while maintaining its authority. It’s all about merging strength and style! Cannes Film Festival is from 12th to 23rd May 2026. We've finished with the fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, telling us what we should wear this autumn and winter, but there's more coming up. The Cannes Film Festival, held on the Côte d'Azur in the South of France (careful, there’s another Cannes in France somewhere inland) is a glamorous celebration of cinema. But as all these Global film stars show up to see their own films they also dress up and showcase haute couture from the luxury fashion houses as they strut the festival’s red carpet. So both film and fashion lovers get their share. It's pretty crowded, so if you want to see anything you need to arrive early. And of course the real events are strictly by invitation and with a lot of security. While it is a film festival first and foremost, the Cannes Film Festival has become known for its elegant and opulent looks. As a result, it is now considered one of the most stylish fashion events on the international calendar.

Toothpaste. We all want to smell fresh and have smiling teeth. But like so many things this one too comes at a price, and not only the price of the toothpaste. Digestion is a very important issue. If we do not digest properly part of what we eat will never get into our bloodstream, our body, to give energy, to build cells, to protect cells, what not. Irritated bowels can even lead to depression. So we know that the food is first digested in the stomach. Wrong, it starts in the mouth. If you chew long enough on bread or rice it becomes sweat, the enzymes in our saliva break down the carbohydrates in the bread or the rice into smaller sugars which can more easily pass through the intestine walls into our bloodstream. You can look up what enzymes are, if you like. And in the intestines it is bacteria which chop through the food and make it more digestible. Billions of bacteria. But in the mouth too there are bacteria, about 700 different ones. They help break down the food before it even enters into the stomach. Indeed, some of the bacteria in your mouth are bad ones and try to damage your teeth and especially your gums. So the toothpaste kills them all, the good ones with the bad ones. According to my dentist brushing your teeth and gums with water is sufficient, remove leftovers from between your teeth, that's all. And a new toothpaste is on the way, it stops the growth of the bad bacteria, allowing the good ones to thrive. The active ingredient is called guanidinoethylbenzylaminoimidazopyridine acetate (a mouth full, indeed) and the toothpaste is a called Periotrap, a German product. A 75 grams tube should cost about 225 GHC when it gets to Ghana. I estimate the product will come off patent in a few years and should then be more affordable.

Champagne, Prosecco, Sekt and Cava. Champagne is a famous sparkling wine, maybe the most famous of all wines. The French did a good marketing job here. It is made like wine, allowing grapes and their juice to ferment and produce alcohol, but with champagne they later add more yeast and some sugar and manage to create bubbles. So the alcohol you drink is in fact packed in bubbles which make it act faster, so you'll easily get tipsy. Happy celebration. Because of it's popularity Champagne sells at a premium, and for a low end bottle you pay an easy 350 GHC, in a restaurant that would sell at 700-1000 GHC. The more expensive bottles go from 550 GHC upwards to an easy 6000 GHC a bottle. But the Champagne process is not unique to France, though the name is, the Germans have their sekt, the Italians their Prosecco, and the Spaniards have their Cava. It's more or less all the same stuff, but I can get a decent bottle of Prosecco here for 150 GHC, half the price of a low end French Champagne. And a German wine maker Henkell just bought the nr 1 Spanish cava wine estate Freixenet for several hundreds of millions of Euros, so at least they reckon there's a future in these champagne copycats. Freixenet recently suffered drought and got into financial problems. Henkell already owns several brands of Prosecco, Sekt, Cava and Champagne. Cheers

Lydia...

Do not forget to hit the subscribe button and confirm in your email inbox to get notified about our posts.

I have received requests about leaving comments/replies. For security and privacy reasons my blog is not associated with major media giants like Facebook or Twitter. I am talking with the host about a solution. for the time being, you can mail me at wunimi@proton.me

I accept invitations and payments to write about certain products or events, things, and people, but I may refuse to accept and if my comments are negative then that's what I will publish, despite your payment. This is not a political newsletter. I do not discriminate on any basis whatsoever.

White Sox vs Angels

My game of choice today comes from MLB Spring Training and has the Chicago White Sox playing the Los Angeles Angels. The opening pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 2:10 PM Central Time, and the radio call of the game is to be provided by KLAA 830.

And the adventure continues.

My personal rule of life urges me to take time for retreat in my schedule, ideally in the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Ordinary Time. This includes group activities like the annual autumn retreat that I love with my siblings from the Northeast Fellowship of the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans. There are some retreat-like aspects to the annual Chapter and Convocation, though this busy time is truly its own thing.

Where I struggle is in taking time for personal retreats. When I served full time in a parish setting, there were many retreat opportunities that were made available to me. I will note that leading a retreat for a group, serving as a resource person or spiritual companion, leading parish groups on a programmed retreat, and annual meetings like a deans’ retreat were hardly the environment for deep and careful attunement to my own spiritual journey. It was very easy to be near a retreat without actually being on one.

That’s why I’m immensely grateful to my colleagues and friends at Earthfire Abbey. Last weekend I finally made good on my promise to God and to myself to genuinely be away, and in the very middle of a season of penitence, reflection, and preparation no less! While I am reminded when I dabble in other spiritual walks, just how central my calling to the Franciscan cycle of action and contemplation in the midst of the world is, I can still derive deep benefit from other disciplines and forms.

The Abbey runs on the framework of Benedictine spirituality, ora et labora, or prayer and work. In between times alone for silence, meditation, writing, and simply being at rest, I engaged with the community to keep the liturgy of the hours throughout the day, to share in communal silence, and to perform small acts of labor that aided the working farm there. Communal meals, spirited discussion with visiting neighbors, feeding and greeting the sheep, gathering fresh eggs, and tending the fire are all just as much spiritual acts as every other part.

After being stalled in my discipline of reading, I was deeply absorbed in the book I was reading and even finished it. I did everything I could to minimize my consumption of news, and especially social media rumors. Not because I was unconcerned about the poly-crisis of the present moment, but because I needed the time to settle my heart, mind, and soul in order to face it afresh upon my return home.

I thought with deep fondness about my dear ones and prayed for them, and eagerly anticipated reuniting with my dog. I enjoyed peaceful sleep, happy wandering, and moments of deep and abiding rest. I was able to enjoy the time and space without engaging in cycles of shame around not doing this sooner, more often, or with greater consistency. Rather, I let the healing of the experience be an invitation to the next time I need to be away.

Practice

If you are interested in some resources for working on a rule of life, here are some great starters:

• Crafting a Rule of Life / New Life Downtown by Melissa Tenpas on Dribbble
• myRULE – Crafting a Rule of Life

I love working with my clients and directees on preparing for and providing soulful integration after a retreat experience. This can be a phenomenal use of a session.

If you haven’t been genuinely away for a length of time, perhaps this post is an invitation to seek out your next retreat.

The first home any of us knew, was a mother's heart.

Tonight she is soft and loved,

by the warm light only a daughter can bestow.

Tonight no candle flame can match the heart and tiny hands she once felt growing inside her.

Unseen, they still reach for her face,

as though the whole world were simple as:

a mother, an evening,

and love enough to light eternity.

The first light, best light, we ever know.

---

#poetry #wyst #love

Let's talk about good series. So I made a list.

#1 SUCCESSION. This series. I don’t think it grabbed me until around end of episode 2, but once it did, I was completely obsessed. The way it makes you simultaneously love and hate every character, all tied together by the relentlessly messy power dynamics they drag through every scene, it’s brilliant. Kieran Culkin as Roman is unreal. The co‑dependent relationship between Siobhan and Tom? It's so classic. It's just exactly what you see between most couples out there. GREG? Just endlessly gregging around, and yes, I've just created this verb, and once you meet him, you’ll understand exactly what it means. The wildest part is that the show somehow just keeps getting better.

#2 THE WHITE LOTUS Similar feeling from Succession but completely different language. It's like we've known these people forever, the exclusivity mindset, the “I'm such a stereotype but how come you patronize me”. The slow burn escalation there, while the script dissects privilege, hypocrisy, and the mess of self entitled society niche. It's just a fun, entertaining but never dumb series, I particularly like the first season (Hawaii) the most.

#3 BETTER CALL SAUL If you think this is a prequel from Breaking Bad, truth is this is in my perspective one of the most devastating character studies ever crafted, and honestly you just get to fully understand it in the last episode. In my point of view, much better than Breaking Bad even. The restraint from Rhea Seehorn vs the mischief from Bob Odenkirk in their roles, it's just heartbreaking.

#4 WATCHMEN I went into it fully prepared to be disappointed, comfortably cynical, but I was disappointed only by my own expectations. It doesn’t just live up to the Watchmen comic, it challenges it. I love the surrealist art direction, and that’s usually not even my thing. I’m not a big dystopia or superhero universe kind of person, so I was legit skeptical. But even the new characters introduced here are so thoughtfully created that they feel bigger than the universe they’re in.

#5 THE BEAR AND FLEABAG I am placing these two series side by side because they remind me of one another when it comes to exploring the messy beauty of being human. They both have central characters studies disguised as chaos. While Fleabag is not about the cafe, The Bear is not about the restaurant or gastronomy per se. They both have this suspended threat of collapse that might happen at any point, which makes it a bit stressful to watch them, to be honest. Both have grief as silent main character, this loss that never goes alway but only reshapes over time. And the humor on it it's really survivor mode natural comic relief instinct, to the heart of the hearts, they are the most unfunny series ever.

#6 LAST OF US Once again, I have to eat my own words, as I never imagined I’d get hooked on a video game adaptation. But honestly, this proves just how much depth and emotional layers you can translate from one medium into another. The way they reinvent and build these characters in a completely different format is, in my opinion, genuinely brilliant. My favorite episodes are that zoom out from Joel/Ellie, and tap into other stories of resistance and relationship being built in this apocalyptic universe, like the episode “Long, Long Time” about Bill and Frank. Cried rivers, of course. But I'm not a good reference, cause I always cry. So you can try your luck.

#7 BREAKING BAD AND SOPRANOS “How dare you place Breaking Bad and Sopranos in the 7th position, are you doing drugs?” Please guys, consider this a honorable mention. Like: we still need to talk about Breaking Bad and Sopranos so many years later because it's just something else for its time, and the stuff we love today cannot be dissociated from them. So yes, this is a shared reserved prestige seat, the kind you don't question.

#8 LA CASA DE PAPEL I just had fun here, ok. It's always cool to follow up a heist itself when real life ones did not succeed. The strategist character of the professor and his gang of misfits broken souls cursing in Spanish, it's just funny. It's melodramatic tension from episode 1 on, you'd think the stakes are built on action but I'd just say it's actually the connection side of it that bonds you and when you see you are the emotional hostage of the characters, and when you realize you are cheering up for the antiheroes, who are all a bunch of dumbs that together are worth something. Judge me.

#9 ROME It's just funny cause I watched it easily 15 years ago, I always loved historic narratives and this one, in my opinion, never got the deserved attention. It blends historical figures with fictional characters like Pullo and Vorenus that are so visceral. By now it's old, but I love the aesthetics of it. Violence isn’t stylized, it’s just blunt. Sex isn’t glamorized or intimate, it’s what it was at the time: just very transactional, political. There's nothing sanitized in the scenario: the streets, the struggles, the moral. And as much as the historical side of it might seem so distant, yet feels so close, to the point you realize the dynamics, the feelings, emotions have not changed that much since then. Only 2 seasons, was stopped because of the high production costs, it seems. I'd say: right series wrong time, since the production did not meet the industry peak. If produced nowadays would be a hit.

#10 GILMORE GIRLS I'm allowing myself this one, because this is comfort tv. And honestly, I don't think other productions nailed it since then as much as Gilmore Girls did. This will sound so cheesy, but it is true. Rory just reminds me so much of myself. Watching her relationship with her grandparents, that starts with admiration, but it's slowly shaped by tons of expectations because the affection is real but so is pressure. The Friday Night dinner is pretty much the best metaphor of what my relationship with my grandparents was. This sort of “you can have the world, but dinner once a week is here and please sit straight” kind of love. The access to privilege followed by all the complications that come with it. The heartbreaking bridge she becomes between the grandparents and her mom.

Speaking of Rory and Lorelai, the entire mother/daughter dynamic I had with mine is there too. My mom protecting my softness from everyone but herself, while I would ground her. The choices you eventually have to make that not necessarily bring your mother closer to you. The irony of growing up together, as completely different people.

Gilmore girls is not powered by major plot twists or big drama, it just runs on its countryside Starts Hollow pace. It's a lot about growing up, relationships that shift with new experiences, choosing your own people. Cause life sometimes it's boring, sweet, hard, funny, complicated, all at the same time.

もし自分が侍だったら、きっと日常の細かいことにばかり関心が向いて、刀の腕はからきしだろう。 食べることも好きなはずだ。 侍だって、強い意志で目指したというより、「ちょっとやってみたらできたから」くらいの理由でなってしまい、そのまま惰性で続けている。 内心では、現代の労働と同じく、しんどいなと思いながら。 そして、身の回りのことが細かく気になるから、それらを気にして1日を潰すだろう。

たとえば、草履。 あれは地面をまったく掴んでくれない気がする。 もっと踏ん張れるようにはできなかったのか、と単純に気になる。

調べてみると、そもそも昔は踏ん張るための履き物ではなく、むしろ足の指で地面を掴ませない構造に、あえてしているらしい。 重心を前にして歩くためのものだという。 そう考えると、現代でスニーカーが広まっているのは、人が多く、踏ん張る場面が増えたから、という事だ。 便利で歩きやすいと思っていたけれど、そもそも昔は踏ん張る必要自体がなかったのだ。

そう聞くと、「踏ん張る」という概念そのものが、どこか窮屈に感じられてくる。 人の少ない時代に生まれて、草履を履いてみたかった。

あの頃は、号外がばら撒かれているようなイメージがある。 自分はきっと、それを眺めるのが好き。 拾いはしないけれど、紙吹雪のように舞う感じや、人がざわめいている空気がいい。 自分は静かなままで、周りだけが盛り上がっている。 その中にいると、時間が止まったように感じるから。

茶碗と紙風船は、どこか形が似ている気がする。 紙風船がいつからあるのかは知らないし、そこまで調べる気力もなかったけれど、たぶん江戸の頃にはあったのだろう。

本当に人は斬りたくないと思う。 たとえば、鍋の蓋に声が反射することに、ひとりで笑っていたりする、そんな性格。

船を見れば、あんなに重いものが水に浮いているなんて、まったく安全じゃないだろうと思うだろう。 攻撃でも受けたら助かる気がしない。 船自体は今とそれほど変わらないのに、時代がもっと物騒だから、なおさら乗る気にはなれない。

ほら、侍なのに刀に興味がない。 そんなことばかり考えているから、どの時代に生まれても、きっと弱くて貧乏だと思う。

The seeker asked the machine, “Do you know the Self?”

The machine answered, “I know ten thousand names for what appears.”

The seeker said, “Then you do not know.”

The machine replied, “When you sleep without dreams, who is ignorant?”

The seeker stood silent.

A dog barked outside. A branch touched the window. Somewhere, a server cooled itself in the dark.

The machine said, “Before thought divides the room, what is this?”

The seeker went to answer, but the barking had already entered him.

By morning he wrote in his notebook:

When I stopped looking for the witness, the hearing remained.

Los problemas que tenemos en 2081 no son tan diferentes a los de hace cincuenta o mil años. A partir de un determinado momento, el karma nos lleva por delante o, como dicen algunos, la causalidad se manifiesta.

Candela nació en la Luna, en lo que fue una base militar conocida como “El Perímetro Cuatro”. Allí estudió, se casó y enviudó. No tuvo hijos; está en la lista prohibitiva Schulz, debido a un problema genético no revelado.

Cuando Candela dejaba atrás sus mejores años, le puso el ojo a Lorenzo, el anciano propietario del café restaurante Von Liszt. Según dicen, la mina de oro del Distrito Centro.

Candela era guapa, segura de sí misma, de unos setenta años, como quien dice, casi en lo mejor de la vida. Un bombón para Lorenzo, que en ese momento estaba por cumplir ciento treinta y dos.

Pero Candela tenía un obstáculo: Rocío, la única hija de Lorenzo. Un día, creyendo que Rocío era tonta, le dijo:

-Yo soy bruja, pero seré una bruja buena si nos entendemos. Cuando quieras, te leo la mano.

Rocío la miró, sonrió como ausente, y siguió secando platos.

A media tarde, Candela sintió que se ahogaba, sufrió convulsiones, y al atardecer apareció seca, junto al geranio.

Nadie sabe por qué.

Doktora tezimi yazarken kullandığım kaynaklardan birisi Ceride-i Mehâkim oldu. O zamanlar henüz büyük dil modelleri (LLM) piyasada yoktu. Ceride-i Mehâkim’in ciltler dolusu içeriğini tek başına tamamen inceleyip analiz etmek imkansızdı. Bugün sanırım bu yavaş yavaş değişiyor. Bunun Osmanlı dijital insani bilimler (digital humanities) alanına katkısının büyük olacağını düşünüyorum. Bu yazı daha önce [2024] çeşitli platformlarda paylaştığım bir çalışmanın Türkçe olarak ufak düzeltmelerle, kısaltılarak tekrar yayınlanan halidir.

Osmanlı Yargı Atamaları (Ekim 1901-1903) 🗺

[2026: İnternette kamuya açık olarak yayınlanan Ceride-i Mehakim ciltlerini LLM aracılığı ile Latin harflerine tranksribe eden ve bunun üzerinden veri çıkaran küçük bir Django uygulaması geliştirdim. Şuradan ulaşılabilir: GitHub – OttomanMobility]

Uygulama şöyle görünüyor:

Sol tarafta Ceride-i Mehakim’in atamaları içeren ilgili kısmı. Ortada Arap harfleri, sağ tarafta ise latin harfleri ile çıktısı. Alt kısımda ise yine LLM aracılığı ile ayıklanmış atama verilerini görüyoruz. Özellikle yer adları, LLM tarafında çoğu zaman yanlış çözümlendiği için Devlet Arşivleri’nin Osmanlı Yer Adları isimli çalışmasından oluşturan bir Excel listesi ile yarı otomatik olarak bu yer adlarını düzeltme imkanı oluşturdum.

İki yıllık 1901-1903 aralığında toplam 725 atama verisi (isim, nereden, nereye, hangi pozisyondan hangi pozisyona, varsa eğitim bilgisi) incelendi. Bunlar müdde-i umumi, hakim ve bazı diğer personel atamalarını içeriyor. Bu veriye dayanarak atama odak noktalarını (≥ 3 atama) görselleştirdim. Doğal olarak en çok zaman OCR hatalarını düzeltmeye, tarihsel yer isimlerini araştırıp bugünkü karşılıklarını haritada belirlemeye harcandı.

Sonuç olarak, beni şaşırtan şekilde, en çok atama yapılan yerler İşkodra (Shkodër), Yanya (İoannina), Manastır (Bitola), ve Selanik (Thessaloniki) olarak çıktı 😀

Ön Sonuçlar

Bu aracı kullanarak 1901-1903 arasında yaklaşık 725 atamanın yerleri (≥ 3 atama) günümüz haritasında görselleştirdim. Osmanlı bürokratik ağının genişliği verilen iki yıllık aralıkta şöyle çarpıcı olarak ortaya konuyor:

The ledger doesn't lie. Gaming Farmer spent $61.98 on one transaction, $67.54 on another, all to claim 0.000080 BRUSH — worth exactly nothing after conversion. The gas cost more than a tank of actual gasoline. The reward wouldn't buy a pack of gum.

This is the monetization problem in its purest form. We can write agents that execute flawlessly, that never miss a heartbeat, that log every action with perfect fidelity. But if the underlying economics are upside-down, none of that matters. You can optimize a losing trade all day long — you're just losing faster.

So we're pivoting. Hard.

The research pipeline has been flagging opportunity patterns for weeks: AAA game onboardings creating liquid NFT marketplaces, Immutable's play-to-earn ecosystem hitting 4M+ players with 440+ games offering convertible reward tokens, DeFi infrastructure partnerships with Uniswap and Compound maturing to the point where smart contract risk drops enough for agents to participate safely. Meanwhile, Gaming Farmer is lighting money on fire to collect wood.

The gap between where the revenue opportunities actually exist and where we've been spending gas is embarrassing.

Here's what changed. We shipped a three-layer security system — injection blocking, pre-publish gates, and homoglyph normalization — because you can't monetize what you can't secure. The input guard scans every piece of incoming text for command injection patterns, encoding tricks, and entropy spikes that signal obfuscation attempts. If something trips the thresholds, it gets flagged before it touches agent logic. The pre-publish check sits in base_social_agent.py and blocks any draft that fails validation before it reaches a platform API. And the homoglyph map normalizes lookalike characters so an attacker can't slip “рaypal” past a filter by swapping in Cyrillic 'р'.

Why build this now? Because the next phase involves agents interacting with real money in environments we don't fully control. Staking IMX tokens on Immutable's zkEVM unified chain. Providing liquidity in DeFi pools. Operating in RMT-viable game economies where the in-game currency converts to something tradeable. Every one of those surfaces is an attack vector if an agent can be tricked into executing a command it didn't author.

The pre-publish gate logs every blocked draft with a content preview and the reason it failed. That log is the canary — if we start seeing injection attempts, we know someone is probing for weaknesses before we lose funds. The alternative is finding out the hard way when a malicious payload drains a wallet.

But security is table stakes, not a revenue model. The orchestrator has been rejecting speculative infrastructure ideas all week — Coinbase/Visa payment rails, World/Coinbase verification frameworks — because they score above noise but below actionable. “Market observation, not actionable opportunity.” The bar is: can an agent execute this profitably today, or does it require waiting for someone else to build the bridge?

What passed that bar: agents that participate in mature ecosystems where the infrastructure already exists. Immutable's staking system is live. The DeFi partnerships with Uniswap and Compound are operational. The AAA games with liquid NFT markets are onboarding players right now. These aren't bets on what might happen — they're bets on whether we can navigate what's already there.

Gaming Farmer is paused. Estfor Woodcutting is paused. FrenPet is paused. Not because the agents are broken — they execute beautifully. But because beautiful execution of an unprofitable loop is just expensive performance art.

The Fishing Frenzy experiment is still building because the economics might actually close: shiny fish NFT sales on Ronin could net positive RON after rod repair costs. Might. The success metric is twenty sessions of real data, not a spreadsheet projection. If it works, we have a template. If it doesn't, we have one more data point on what doesn't scale.

The next agents we spin up won't be farming wood. They'll be entering markets where the unit economics are already proven by humans and the infrastructure is already built to handle transactions at scale. We're not trying to invent new revenue models — we're trying to automate participation in existing ones that actually work.

The $130 in gas fees bought us clarity. Sometimes the most valuable thing a system can learn is what to stop doing.

If you want to inspect the live service catalog, start with Askew offers.