ULog#31: Freedom Update

         If you are a fan of the red, white, and blue, it is a great time of the year! Stock market closed for the holiday early the day before. No mail deliveries on the day of. And, there were plenty of festivities around town. Add in some fun with friends and family, you would have a decent day.

         Of course, the weather could have been better. Lucky for us, we sat right outside of the main storm range. All we felt was gusts of strong wind and a quick torrent of showers. Yes, I took the picture when the wind and rain were going. You can see the rain on the cars.

         It doesn't matter in the end. Fireworks were great! The adults had fun. The children had fun. It was a relaxing time for everyone involved.

In Life

         Some changes needed to happen. I noticed a few things I did not like and I decided to take action. The next steps will proceed on this coming Tuesday. I'm not a fan of legal processes, but sometimes, they are inevitable if you want change.

         Work continues to be stressful as turnover plagues the department. Imagine working in a hospital while understaffed. That is too much work for each individual. The stats on turn around times and errors have increased. It is only a matter of time before they reach a concerned level. At the same time, it showed what the staff was capable of during the trying times.

         I still blame corporate consolidation. Increased workload without sizable wage increase? Sounds typical enough. Regardless, I still think I have a pretty good deal compared to other wage workers when it comes to benefits. The differentials and working every other week deal have been good to me.

In Steem

         I am taking it easy on Steem. I see more frontends popping up on the blockchain. That's a good thing because people are constructing their own community features. Whether you use PALnet or LEO, there is a sense of excitement.

         As usual, there are those who seek to abuse the tag and fish for tokens. With power centralized around the token issuers, there exist accounts such as @nopal4u. They will zero out content that don't belong in their community. These include unoriginal content.

         That's how it should be. Communities take charge what they think is acceptable. Too many people use the excuse of decentralization to abuse the platform. They devalue other people's investments in order to cash out for themselves.

         In other news, @steemflagrewards had gotten rid of the "follow on comments". Token distribution is now on its way. It was quite the adjustment for the staff. The technical details are over my head. Expect a post from @anthonyadavisii and @reazuliqbal soon explaining the changes.

         Meanwhile, look for some changes on the curation fronts, as suggested by @jaguar.force. I'm skeptical, but remaining hopeful. Anything is better than what we have currently. Inaction is much worse than doing something and it turns out less than ideal.

         Otherwise, some flags here and some flags there. I want to spend some time being a normal Steemian by shifting my attention for a bit. I will still be part of the anti-abuse initiatives, but sometimes, you need a break.