Morfternight #37: I am back!
Lisbon scooter riders, WordCamps past and futures, and Bitcoin maximalism.
Ride - More Photos
👋 Hello Friend, and welcome to Morfternight.
I am back in beautiful Vienna after being on the road for two weeks.
While I was in Portugal, driving on a beautiful Sunday between Porto and Lisbon, something incredible happened: we passed 300 morfternighters!
And we did it with style, reaching a whopping 311 as of this issue.
I can’t thank you all enough for your trust and for letting me reach your inboxes every Wednesday (or, hmm, maybe Thursday morning this once as it’s already past midnight… ;)
🌍 WordCamps Around Europe
I was telling you last week about WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto. It kept all its promises! It’s incredible how much it has grown since October 2013 in Leiden. And how much ground we have covered too:
As the last arrow indicates, the next WordCamp Europe, the 9th in-person event of the series, will occur in Athens in 2023.
Marcel Bootsman, a fellow WCEU organizer alumnus, noted how, after Athens, it would make sense to head north:
At this point, though, my dream would be this:
🪩 The Power of Leaving
As I met old friends and made new ones, I couldn’t help but think about how different it felt to attend the event without participating in the organization.
My involvement in WordCamp Europe started almost randomly in 2013 and evolved over the years.
Today, none of the original team members is involved anymore, and as several of us attended in Porto, it was almost fun to see us roaming around looking for something to do.
It feels good, too, as it shows that the event has grown to exist independently from its creators, which is the best guarantee it will persist.
🫧 Breaking Intellectual Bubbles
Here’s an episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast. I enjoy it in general, and I appreciate his points of view and those of some of his guests. I appreciate even more, though, Fridman’s ability to have intellectually exciting conversations with guests he disagrees with, debating opinions while respecting the individuals.
If you want to get a sense of what it means to be a Bitcoin maximalist and if you are ready to listen to other people’s opinions even when you disagree with them, I strongly recommend this episode.