PictureRoom

Vibe Engine (Ai image prompt tool)

I find using LMarena helpful, also Google Gemini is good too:
https://lmarena.ai/

PPQ.ai is also good
https://ppq.ai/

Photography

Holidays photo dump

Spent the past few days during the holidays at the reserve and such. Took my mother to visit it as she doesn't get to see the parts that I like to voyage off into. Also spent a bit of time visiting my sister and new son which was nice.

Photographs taken with my trusty Leica M262. Edited in Lightroom

![](https://m.stacker.news/123918)

![](https://m.stacker.news/123919)

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![](https://m.stacker.news/123921)

![](https://m.stacker.news/123922)

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![](https://m.stacker.news/123924)

![](https://m.stacker.news/123925)
![](https://m.stacker.news/123926)
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I wanted to have an image prompting tool that had options that I would want to use for my own work, so I ended up making this Vibe Engine tool.

I think it works great for what I am needing personally. Many back and forth iterations, but let me know if you find this useful. I come to this from a photographer / designer, so keep that in mind...

https://v0-vibe-engine.vercel.app/
![](https://m.stacker.news/123813)


ideasfromtheedge

On Christmas I received a copy of The Forgotten Way by Matthew Kelly. I started reading and felt something subtle but powerful: not “new information,” but a return to fundamentals. I started to question what kind of growth is actually real? What endures? What becomes larger without becoming corrupt?

That question pulled my attention into three seemingly unrelated directions: James the Greater, sequoia trees, and Bitcoin. 

One sits in the realm of religious tradition, one in biology, and one in technology. And yet they began to converge around the same underlying pattern: durable transformation often starts small, grows slowly, and compounds through networks, especially when the system is open enough to adapt and robust enough to endure.

Enter James the Greater. 

The details of early Christian missions can be debated historically, but the philosophical image is clear: a person carries a message outward with no guarantee of measurable success. Even the idea of “only a few converts” functions as an antidote to modern thinking. We live inside dashboards - metrics, virality, instant scale - so we forget that some of the most consequential changes spread through human-scale transmission: one relationship at a time. In network terms, the message travels through edges, not broadcasts.

Sequoias make the same point without language. 

A sequoia becomes immense through gradual accumulation across time: ring upon ring, season upon season. Its strength is not spectacle but consistency. It is also a symbol of robustness - the capacity to withstand stress without falling apart - and generativity - the ability to contribute to renewal beyond itself. It doesn’t merely survive; it participates in a system that keeps producing life.

Then there is Bitcoin. 

The point is not price or ideology. The point is structural: Bitcoin is an open-source protocol and a decentralized network that continues because many independent participants choose to coordinate around shared rules. That architecture creates a distinctive form of robustness - no single owner, no single point of failure, no single permission gate. Participation is voluntary; verification is public.

This also highlights an “evidence-based” principle that appears across many systems: feedback loops create non-linear growth. Networks often don’t grow like straight lines. More participation can create more utility and more infrastructure, which lowers friction and attracts more participation. 

In some settings, these dynamics produce highly skewed outcomes that resemble power laws, not because of magic, but because compounding dominates.

Placed together, these three images rhyme. James suggests that meaning often spreads relationally, not instantly. Sequoias show that time and consistency can create a form of greatness that cannot be faked. Bitcoin illustrates how openness and distributed participation can produce robustness at scale.

So when I use the word “goodness,” I’m not claiming that everything that grows is good. I mean something narrower and more practical: goodness as a system property - robustness and generativity, grounded in openness. Openness matters because it permits correction, adaptation, and learning. Closed systems can be efficient, but they often become brittle because they lose the ability to evolve.

That is the thread I keep returning to; unexpectedly prompted by a Christmas gift and a few pages of reading: the deepest changes often have a recognizable shape. They begin quietly, grow patiently, compound through networks, and remain alive by staying open enough to adapt.


![](https://m.stacker.news/123667)


The Forgotten Pattern

Good morning

From the other day with my girlfriend. One of my go to spots to relax. 

![](https://m.stacker.news/123125)

Buy one Get one - Photo Zine

lightning

Lightning Network hits record capacity

0xbitcoiner

Idk what the deal is with some people saying that lightning doesn't work. Seems to work just fine...

We found this on Sunday's walk

Found some lions mane the other day. Cooked it up, mighty tasty 

Santa Clause's raindeer's food of choice for flight :)

view from the train window

muneomi

I have a few copies of my latest photo zine that I made with a buddy of mine in Brooklyn. We pair each of our photos with a similar theme. Very fun project. Edition of 77 copies in total 

Each is hand signed and numbered by myself. 

Buy one get one for 15k sats.

Free USA shipping only (international is just too expensive, but you can cover it if you'd like). 

Gift one to a friend. Inspiration is the best gift. 

I suppose you could zap this post, or you can send sats with a memo to: colincz@getalby.com


![](https://m.stacker.news/122547)

![](https://m.stacker.news/122548)

![](https://m.stacker.news/122550)

![](https://m.stacker.news/122551)

I have a few copies of my latest photo zine that I made with a buddy of mine in Brooklyn. We pair each of our photos with a similar theme. Very fun project. Edition of 77 copies in total 

Each is hand signed and numbered by myself. 

Buy one get one for 15k sats.

Free USA shipping only (international is just too expensive, but you can cover it if you'd like). 

Gift one to a friend. Inspiration is the best gift. 

I suppose you could zap this post, or you can send sats with a memo to: colincz@getalby.com

@pappasbland you'd might be interested heh

![](https://m.stacker.news/122547)

![](https://m.stacker.news/122548)

![](https://m.stacker.news/122550)

![](https://m.stacker.news/122551)

Buy One Get One - Photo Zine

Geometry in winter

pappasbland

mostly_harmless

A little goes a long way

Totally agree. Much love for the feedback

Thanks for taking the time to read my writing 

I went to spend the afternoon by the river. It was a beautiful day - around 66°, sun out. Shirt off, feet in the water, grass between my toes. Soaking up warmth in what’s supposed to be winter. I’ll take it.

I was sitting alone up on the hill when a girl walked by. She said “Merry Christmas.” A little later she came back and asked if she could sit with me. I said of course, always down to take on a chat with people.

She was in her mid-20s, recovering from meth and coke apparently. About a month clean. Staying at a recovery house in town that I didn’t even know existed. From what she shared, she was doing okay, but it was clear she really needed someone to listen. Someone who wasn’t judging or rushing her.

![](https://m.stacker.news/122065)

As we talked, I could feel how helpful it was for her just to be heard. I offered some gentle insight where it felt right - nothing heavy, just things she might not have been exposed to before. From what she told me, she’d been around a lot of rough people who didn’t really care about her. 

Eventually, someone from the recovery house pulled her aside. She wasn’t in the area she was supposed to be in, and it cut the conversation short. I didn't care for that tbh, but I don't make the rules. It did make me think how a simple conversation like that can be far more healing than we often realize.

About twenty minutes later, she called out to me from across the field and asked if I’d come sit with her again in another spot. We kept talking. I listened more. She shared more. She even told me it was one of the best moments she’d had in a long time - maybe the highlight of her month. That meant a lot. Listening to people has always been something I enjoined. 

I’m rooting for her. She has a lot of potential. I shared a few simple things that have helped me - getting sunlight on your skin, being mindful of the light you’re exposed to, especially harsh LEDs at night and how they mess with your circadian rhythm. She said no one had ever explained that to her before. It clicked. She told me how the light in her room actually hurts her eyes at night.

Small things, you know? But sometimes small things matter a lot.

I guess the point of all this is simple: if you can be of help, just do it. People are hurting more than we realize. Sometimes all they really need is to be seen, heard, and treated with a little respect - even if it’s just for a moment.