mynickwastaken

It’s December 12th of 2012. For some reason, they think this is the day. That guy from the internet, Phillip UFO, as he likes to be called, convinced a considerable large number of people that this specific date is the day we would appear in the sky with our spaceships and take the “chosen ones” home. 

We never have made any contact with this Phillip. With anyone on Earth actually. Your scientists are trying really hard at SETI, but we are still in silence yet. And here I will explain the reason why.

On this day, Phillip gathered a large number of people at the city overlook. Among these people were George and Vanessa. We watched them closely. We like George. He is a very rational man. Despite the fact he likes such a weak-minded girl.  

Vanessa brings George almost against his will to the place. At the moment he saw all those people together with signs of “Take us home”, Alien T-Shirts, and eating junk food he said, “So it’s here, the freak convention?”.

“Come on, George… You need to be more open-minded”.
“Please Vanessa, this is all bullshit!”
“Look, you are always bragging about being a skeptic, don’t you? A skeptic is not someone that questions EVERYTHING? So, have you ever questioned the status quo presented by science and media? Don’t you believe that there is something bigger behind it all?”. 

This is Vanessa just starting her conspiracy theories that make George get sick. She is lucky he likes her so much, otherwise, she would have not a single normal person as a friend. Well, judging by the nearby population, maybe George is the different one here.

Vanessa started with his favorite topic, “The pyramids! There are pyramids everywhere! How the ancient people could create at the same time such advanced technology?”. George doesn’t like Vanessa's conspiracy theories, but he thinks she gets cute when she makes mistakes so simple as this one. 

 “Vanessa, first it’s not an advanced technology. This is the easiest way to build – A large base that gets thinner and thinner… You don’t even need columns to sustain the building.” It’s funny how her face paralyzes while he explains the obvious facts she never thought about. He continues, “The ancient people from all around the world have similar technology, like pyramids, boats, spears, arrows and bows, because these things are simple.”

“Yeah, I know”, she doesn’t, “but what about all mythologies talking about gods from the sky?!”. Now she put her hands on her hips and leans her body pretty confidently. 

“It’s symbolic. The sky is above us all, so the gods of whatever mythology should be in some place like the sky – above us all.” George was starting to lose his patience.

Suddenly, Phillip started to talk on a megaphone. ”Attention please… May I have your attention? Good! The time has come my friends! Look at the sky!”

They all start to look at the sky and each one of them swore they saw something. Some light, some shadow, some figure in the clouds… They were all with stupid faces looking at the sky and cheering each other for seeing whatever.

When Vanessa looked to her side, George was not there anymore. “George! George! Oh my God, George! My friend has been abducted!”. People around got in a mix of excitement and worry. Someone with some sense (surprisingly) advises her to call him to check if he is not actually over there in some place. 

“Hello George? Where are you”
“Hello…nessa, I…fast”
“What? Are you ok? Where are you?”
“...tunnel…friends…need help!...see you…”

And the call went down. Phillip explains that George was abducted. He said when it happens the person is drawn very fast by a light tunnel. He also said the bad reception is due to the alien metal cover of the spaceship and that he is probably seeing them through some monitor on the spaceship because “They are always watching”.  

But this is what really happened – George could not take part in the delirium they were in imagining things in the sky. So he decided to go back to his car and drive back home.

When he was entering a tunnel on the main road, his phone rang, it was Vanessa. He answered the call, because, even being pissed off, Vanessa was still his friend. However, he had a bad cell phone reception inside the tunnel.

“...George? Where…you”
“Hello Vanessa, I’m driving, I need to talk fast.”
“What? …ok? Where…you?”
“I’m in the tunnel right now. Look, your friends are crazy, they need help! See you tomorrow, bye.”

And this is why we are still not sure if we should really appear to the Earth people. Maybe when we had more Georges than Phillips we may consider it. 

# End

This is a flash fiction I wrote some time ago. I intent to post more fiction, maybe a series, here on Stacker News. Something with bitcoin as theme. What do you think?

The reason why - Flash Fiction

bitdevs

How could I implement LN smart contracts for game bets/rewards?

My god! 
Python and Flask!
God bless you!!

I was wondering if someone would know a solution for LN smart contracts that is easy to implement. Or if there is something ready made for whatever case.  Like an API or such.

Look, I see how there is a bunch of poker websites and also many people like to bet in other sports like chess blitz games. Is that any solution to implement in cases like these? I mean, imagine a way two players can play a blitz game, bet some amount and the winner wins the prize (in bitcoins, of course).  

Or maybe it could be not exactly a bet but a reward of a tournament. Some countries  (like Brazil) still have some restrictions for bets. So the turn around is charge the ticket, then pay a final reward to the #1 in a poker/chess tournament, for instance. 

Any ideas? 

I would love to code this... 

gaming

Hey guys, just sharing a good chess trap I learned some time ago. 

Everybody may know the Fried Liver Attack. It’s one of the first tactics every book mentions in the begging:

> 
> 
> 1. e4 e5
> 2. Nf3 Nc6
> 3. Bc4 Nf6
> 4. Ng5 Bc5
> 5. Nxf7

You certainly, know how to defend against it. You can simply keep the queen diagonal opened or play h6 to keep the knight away of g5. Even better, leave quickly with your king side bishop, then you can castle before the attack. 

But here is a more interesting way of playing against the Fried Liver. 

> 1. e4 e5
> 
> 
> 2. Nf3 Nc6 
> 
> 3. Bc4 Nf6 
> 
> 4. Ng5 Nxe4 
> 

From here White have two options: 

1. take the knight on the center 
2. or goes on with the attack. 

We are good with both. 

## Option 1: If white takes the center knight

Then we play d5 forking the knight and the bishop. In the end we would be pretty much equal but with more control over the center.

## Option 2: If white goes on with the attack

Then we play:

> 1. e4 e5
> 
> 
> 2. Nf3 Nc6 
> 
> 3. Bc4 Nf6 
> 
> 4. Ng5 Nxe4 
> 
> 5. Nxf7 Qh4 
> 
> 6. g3 Nxg3 
> 
> 7. fxg3 Qxc4 
> 

Nice, hum? 

Now, test it some games. You would be surprise how people fall for it in bullet and even some blitz games. 

Cheers,

*Almir Paulo*

Chess trap against Fried Liver Attack

@2b1c7219e6's bio

Thanks! I was really curious about Nostr. 
Do not try it yet. Your guide certainly will be useful!

opensource

Open Source PoS Display in Bash Script

Well, SlackJeff is using it himself in his grocerie store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I4_pj7XsD0

The video is in Portuguese, but you can see the script running.

The link to SlackJeff youtube channel is broken. Here again: https://www.youtube.com/@SlackJeff

Below is a simple Bash Script code that runs a Point of Sale display. It was originally written in Portuguese by a Brazilian developer by the name [SlackJeff](https://www.youtube.com/@slacknoise). I translated it into English for your use  :)

https://github.com/slackjeff/pdvShell/blob/main/mercearia-eng.sh

You're welcome!

Requirements:
- Sqlite3
- Bash

Dev Diaries - A bot for crypto traders #0 

Hum... Obrigado por avisar. Vou consertar isso!

Hello everybody!

This is my first post here at Stacker News. I am Brazilian and a professional translator and proofreader. I also like music, chess, programming… I was wondering what I should share here. Of course, if I want to stack. Maybe I should share news (it’s on the name, haha) and certainly about bitcoin. I notice it’s kind of the standard. I am an enthusiast of bitcoin too, I even accept it as a payment method to my translation/proofreading services. But I would like to do something different, more pleasurable for me and, then, more sustainable as a habit. 

I decided I will code something. Just for fun and because I want to practice some of my skills. Specifically:

- Bash Script (or maybe JavaScript)
- Software localization
- Spanish
- and Mandarim (just starting this one)

## What we gonna do?

I will code a bot to get data about the rates of bitcoin and altcoins. The bot will get the data and paste to a csv file for you to keep track over it. Also, it will send you an email every time a currency reach an specific price you set. Very useful for traders. 

I know it is probably a bunch of that stuff over there. Just let’s have some fun… 

## The languages?

I want to translate this bot into Spanish, Portuguese and, hopefully, Mandarim. 

## Sources

I intent to use only open source code and royalty free content. If you produce this kind of content and think it could be useful to my project, please hit the comments down below. I will be happy to use your content.

Stay tuned on my posts for more.

[Contact me](https://almirpaulo.com/) if you need my translations/proofreadings services. 

Cheers,

*Almir Paulo*

Occupation: translator, proofreader and transcriber ([hire me](https://lichess.org/@/Almirovsky))
Hobbies: chess ([challenge me](https://lichess.org/@/Almirovsky)), TTRPG and music
Spirituality: occultism
Political inclination: liberal (English way, individualist and less State)
Other interests: languages, programming and philosophy