I am a UK-based self-employed Art Technician, who travels around my local region to different galleries and museums to install art exhibitions.

Sometimes I handle famous and expensive artworks or priceless artifacts, but most of the time it's probably artworks you've not heard of. This includes 2D work like paintings, 3D work like sculptures, video projections, screens, sound systems, computers, and room-filling installations. Sometimes we work directly with living artists to help produce their work.

Happy to talk about technical stuff i.e. how artworks are transported, packed, fixed to the wall, what sort of fittings are used, how an exhibition is spaced out, hung, arranged etc; or to talk about working in galleries, or any questions from artists about how to prepare works for exhibition etc

I'm also a practicing artist, and historically both a filmmaker and gallery curator - so happy to answer things relating to that sort of thing too.

Because it's a pretty niche job I may have to keep some details vague for privacy etc.

I'm doing a public talk fairly soon on "what I do", and I need to know what sort of things people are potentially interested in, so I can focus more on those in the talk - so any relevant questions would be really helpful to me, thank you.

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This is something that has been so well hidden from doomscrollers that when the switch finally flips, they will plead ignorance. Which is accurate, but aren't these the same people who "do their own research"?

The US-Israel war on Iran is expensive. It’s expensive in terms of human lives, first of all. It’s expensive too, in pure currency – about $12bn a week for the US. And it’s expensive in how it’s causing the tectonic structures that underpin our global economy to shift. De-dollarization, the name given to the process countries undertake in unwinding their reliance on the dollar, promises to reorder the world, reducing American power globally. Its impact will be felt domestically in what we pay to borrow and whether we can afford to borrow at all.

Iran’s near-total blockade of the strait of Hormuz has had a dramatic impact on the prices of oil and natural gas, which puts major inflationary pressure on the economy of every country in the world. Practically, inflation makes people and businesses poorer, a process that reinforces itself if it’s not stopped (which is partly why central banks exist).

But not all boats are blockaded. In March, about 100 vessels passed through the strait, roughly the number that passed through the waterway each day before the Americans and Israelis started the war. According to the Guardian, the Iranian government is requiring some ships to pay a toll of roughly $2m. But it’s the currency in which the toll has been collected – Chinese yuan – which may suggest a concrete challenge to American power in the world.

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I think I have seen an image of this before. Never knew the backstory.

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Archived version

The National Maritime Council (NMC) has strongly condemned a series of “aggressive and dangerous” actions by Chinese maritime forces against Philippine vessels, personnel, and local fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea throughout March.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the President-led council cited multiple incidents involving the China Coast Guard, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N), and Chinese maritime militia.

“These unlawful acts endanger lives, violate international law, and undermine regional peace and stability,” it said.

...

“These incidents occurred in areas where the Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction,” the council added.

According to the NMC, Philippine operations in these areas were lawful and consistent with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and the 2016 arbitral award.

In contrast, China’s actions ran counter to international law and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

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Among the most serious incidents was one on March 7, when a Chinese naval vessel reportedly directed its fire-control radar at the Philippine Navy’s BRP Miguel Malvar near Escoda Shoal (Sabina Shoal) —an act the council described as a “threat of force.”

On March 17, Filipino fishermen operating near Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) were allegedly harassed by Chinese vessels through dangerous maneuvers, sirens, and the deployment of rigid-hulled inflatable boats.

...

“The country also reiterates its call on China to withdraw and direct its vessels and maritime assets to cease and desist from illegal, provocative, and dangerous actions against Philippine vessels, and to stop activities that violate Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction; and to comply with its obligations under international law,” it added.

...

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Exactly what it sounds like. This is an organised place to find other plant nerds who want to trade seeds, cuttings, and live plants.

I'm posting this again because I know that there are many growers out there looking for certain species or trying to find a home for their extra seeds or seedlings. Don't be shy!

Please read the sidebar before posting.

/c/plantswap@mander.xyz

!plantswap@mander.xyz

https://mander.xyz/c/plantswap

I added ACCURATE DINOSAURS into the JURASSIC PARK Franchise!

How Accurate Was The Jurassic Park T Rex? (COMPARISON SHOWCASE)

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/46002/20230915/scientifically-accurate-t-rex-what-ultimate-predator-look.htm

I succeeded in using Haveno (Called RetoSwap when used on the mainnet). It was quite confusing so I will document the TLDR here and give a guide about the use on Linux.

First confusion

• Haveno is the software used, it comes with a testnet for trying it and the software releases are basically useless apart from trying it out.
• RetoSwap is the haveno app but connecting to the monero mainnet, allowing to actually buy monero. But the RetoSwap app is called Haveno when installed!

Installation

I installed the .flatpak application from the latest Github release. You need to setup flatpak and flathub before.

There are many ways to install it, for ease of sandboxing and graphical configuration I recommend the .flatpak file.

TODO: Verify the download! There is a .sig file but I didnt find their key yet

You can install the .flatpak file from a graphical app store by opening it with that, or via flatpak install appname.flatpak from the terminal.

Once installed, it will appear in your app menu.

Wallet

Opening the app, it creates a trading wallet for you. This will receive the monero you buy and you can pay from it directly, or transfer to a personal wallet first. But the wallet is not protected with a password yet!

Backup

It is important to back up the wallet first, then encrypt that backup, for example using an AES encrypted .zip archive, or the tomb utility, or gpg/sequoia or many other ways.

That backup is apparently important, though I was able to load the wallet in feather wallet just using its seee and creation time.

Password

Now create a wallet password. You will need to enter it every time you open the app, and to unlock the wallet when using it in another sofware like Feather or Monerujo.

Credentials

Store the following in a password manager like KeepassXC:

• seed
• creation time in ISO format, like 2026-01-30
• password

These are essential, especially the creation date which can be easily forgotten. Otherwise you will not be able to retrieve your trading wallet and lose any amount stored on there.

Payment

Now you can configure any payment method you like, if it is supported. As far as I understood, these are all methods where you actively pay a person, like Bank transfer, Paypal, Wise etc. I do not know if you need to configure one if you just want to pay, as the XMR seller should mark a payment as sold, while the exchange has no insight.

Buying XMR

Important: to buy XMR, you need XMR! So if you start with zero, try to get XMR from a friend, or use another exchange like Bisq (not sure if possible) or the many centralized ones.

Haveno requires to spend monero intermittently, the most amount is used as deposit, while a small amount is the transaction fee.

Depending on the lowest available offer, you need more or less XMR to start. You can pay the XMR from your trading wallet or an external one, and then use the bought XMR to fund bigger payments.

Buying XMR is pretty straightforward, while I haven't understood the signing and trust system yet. You may preferrably buy from long existing sellers with a checkmark next to the account.

Initiating a payment, you can select the amount of XMR. You can use this to buy just as much as your existing deposit allows. Be sure to check the price per XMR, some people might try and rip you off!

After having started a payment, expect to wait over an hour for the payment to be confirmed on many monero nodes (afaik). This improves safety by storing that info further in the blockchain. From this point on (afaik) you cannot cancel a payment, or otherwise weird things may happen.

You may open the trader chat to contact the seller and discuss if you need to enter a specific payment reference for example.

Once the seller receives your payment, your XMR will quickly arrive in your trading wallet.

Using the XMR

I dont know the issues with using that wallet to pay directly. Sending the XMR to your personal wallet involves a small transaction fee though.

You can directly import the wallet in Feather, Monerujo or other wallet apps, where you can use it to send and receive XMR. Make sure to store the credentials and store the password manager backup file in multiple places!