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Bonds of Time - P001: The belly of an iron serpent

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I wake up, hearing the sound of rain against a window, my head is pounding harder than that night when Decimus got married and we drank till dawn. This bed I'm lying on is so soft, what fabric is this? Not even Syrian silk feels this smooth, I must still be dreaming. No, not dreaming, I must have hit my head pretty hard. And what's this smell?

Where in Hades am I?

I can hear a melodious voice seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere, γ€Œζœ‰ζ₯½η”Ίγ€ζœ‰ζ₯½η”Ίγ§γ™γ€. What did she say?

Before I can react, an invisible force throws me to the left, followed by a serpentine hiss that chills my blood.

I look around and gasp. I'm trapped in the belly of an iron beast!

Standing quickly, the memories flood back.

Just a few hours ago, I had awakened in my villa on the Aventine to Syrus, the morning light came filtering through the compluvium as it had for thirty seven years. My clients packed the atrium like flowers turning towards the sun, the people, as always depended on me.

The daily inquiries were interrupted by Lucius Antonius who arrived with news that changed everything; after a long time waiting, Trajan wished to discuss my aqueduct proposal. I would spend twelve million sesterces to extend Aqua Claudia, the water rights alone would repay the investment tenfold.

By evening I was walking home through the velabrum, having secured my fortune and having my legacy carved in stone, and water. But that’s when I saw it.

The metal demon with blazing eyes, and a roar like Tartarus itself. No oxen, horses, nor slaves were moving it, and yet its speed was just impossible. The impact lifted me up in the air, and then… darkness followed by that white void and the mysterious figure with perfect Ciceronian Latin telling me not to disappoint him, and that I better be entertaining.

Now I stumble in this iron serpent's belly, trying to steady myself as it hisses and shudders around me. The sensation of movement is undeniable.

By the gods... am I traveling inside this beast?

Replies (38)

Do you have any concrete examples of what type of tech you have in mind that shares human values?
This is crushing all of the parsers, except those that are purely Asciidoc. πŸ˜‚ Need to work on them, some more. Just look at the raw Asciidoc source.
This is the #bookstr macro I want to use for publishing all of the Great Works, so anyone interested should scream at me, now. (Or don't, and scream at me, later, as I am always around. πŸ˜‚) I've been working on it, for months, by attempting to publish different `30040` structures and see how I would best-address the individual parts. Also, I've been reading a lot of citation pattern documentation. That's how I came to the conclusion to make one generic book macro, rather than something #Bible specific. #christian #catholic #biblestr
The #bookstr πŸ“– macro is hierarchical. If you find a section or verse event, in the wild, you can just drop the section tags, to find the whole chapter, or the section and chapter tags, to find the whole book. This means you can always backtrack to the entire publication, from just one quoted line or paragraph. We are going to be having these tags in all of our publications, so you will be able to "Bible-search" and "Bible-cite" any of our books! I love books. Name checks out. 😎
Some things: 1. *You have to scroll-right on mobile.* Unlike Jumble and Alexandria, Wikistr is an unapologetic desktop-focused app, and that's why it's cool. If you have a wide screen, you can open up lots of panels, and make some wider, and it turns into the document version of a Bloomberg terminal. Credit for this design goes to @fiatjaf. 2. The different Wikistr themes have different looks, help text, and *different relays*, for the document search and the social interactions. #Quranstr uses Nostrabia, for instance, whilst #Biblestr focuses on Christpill. The basic #Wikistr has been left secular. I am looking for a Jewish relay, but haven't yet found one, so #Torahstr uses generic ones. 3. All have light and *dark themes*. The light themes are so much prettier, but I know you will all use the dark ones. 4. All themes take *your personal relay list* into account, and share a few document relays, so you can just pick the theme you like and use that. 5. *We printed the Bible first because Gutenberg did* and he's the inspiration for our Nostr printing press. We will proceed to print all other open-license books we can find, including the Torah, Quran, classical authors, English literature, etc. They will all be searchable, with this mechanism. 6. This wikistr *can find and render kinds 300023, 30041, 30817, 30818, 30040*, and the comments are kind 1111 and you can vote at the top of the panels, using the up/down arrow buttons. Only kinds 30817/818 are in the left-most panel feed, to keep it uncluttered and true to the origins. The hyperlinks mentioned are: The original Wikistr, that I forked: https://wikistr.com/ Wikistr Imwald 🌲 https://wikistr.imwald.eu/ https://torahstr.imwald.eu/ https://quranstr.imwald.eu/ https://biblestr.imwald.eu/ GM
It's worth noting that Psalm 42 is prayed by the priest and altar servers at the beginning of every Catholic Mass celebrated according to the old form (1962 and previous).
Is this on a public repo yet? I'd love to take a peek at the code.
This is actually an expanded version of a previous post. There's still plenty of room for more expansion. Can add a bit, every year.
↩ replying to atyh
He came to my desk with a quivering lip,the lesson was done. β€œHave you a new sheet for me, dear teacher? I’ve spoiled this one.” I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one all unspotted. And into his tired heart I cried, β€œDo better now, my child.” I went/came to the throne with a trembling heart; the day was done. β€œHave you a new day for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.” He took my day, all soiled and blotted and gave me a new one all unspotted. And into my tired heart he cried, β€œDo better now, my child.”
Fed minutes from the December meeting reinforced market expectations for additional rate cuts next year, while U.S. equities traded nearly unchanged and overall market sentiment remained calm on Dec. 30, 2025. The release did not prompt large moves, with investors appearing to have already priced in prospective easing. The minutes supported bets on lower policy rates in the coming year, confirming the Fed discussion on the timing of adjustments. Market calm following the note suggests limited surprise in the details and a steady reaction across equities and bond markets. #Fed #USStocks #InterestRates #FiatNews
Here is the draft for publication, formatted to match the rhythm and the rigour: --- **In the year twenty, twenty-five...** We have arrived at a perfect performative contradiction. **1. The Unit Error (Precision)** The interface demands 21 β‚Ώ (the GDP of a small island) when it means 21 sats. It decorates itself with the aesthetic of cryptographic precision while failing basic arithmetic. **2. The Phantom Choice (Agency)** The text invites you to "Choose a wallet." The code explicitly prohibits it. It offers a door in English while bricking it up in CSS. **3. The Failure of Observability (Truth)** The screenshot tool sanitised the record, hiding the forbidden cursor. I had to step outside the digital loop and use a physical lens to prove the system was gaslighting me. Trustless systems that cannot be trusted to report their own state.