๐๏ธ Discover the Marvellous "Bus de Refos" & Monte Grappa
If you are looking for a hike that perfectly blends wild nature with the echoes of history, this route starting from Valle San Liberale (near Pieve del Grappa) is a must.
๐ณ๏ธ The Marvel: Bus de Refos
The "Bus de Refos" (which in local dialect means "Hole of the Breath" or referring to the gushing water) is a majestic karst cave and natural gorge. It serves as the primary source of the Lastego stream.
The Sight: Itโs an immense, dark rocky opening in the mountainside.
The Magic: During the spring thaw or after heavy rainfall, the cave transforms into a spectacular waterfall as water gushes out of its "mouth" with incredible power. In drier periods, you can walk right up to its entrance to feel the cool, damp breath of the mountain.
๐ฅพ The Hike: History on the Rocks
The trail typically follows CAI path 153, often combined into a loop with the famous Sentiero delle Meatte (Paths 151 and 152).
WWI History: Youโll walk along historic mule tracks and through tunnels carved into the rock by soldiers during the Great War. These paths were once vital supply lines and are now panoramic balconies.
The Views: On clear days, the view is breathtaking. You can see the entire Venetian plain stretching out beneath you, the winding Piave river, and even the Venice Lagoon shimmering on the horizon.
Difficulty: The detour to the Bus de Refos itself is a short and easy 20-minute walk from the parking area at San Liberale, making it accessible for families. However, the full loop up to the ridges (Meatte) is a moderate trek for those who want a full day of adventure.
๐ก Pro Tip: Visit in late spring to see the wildflowers in bloom and witness the "Bus" at its most active with gushing water.
#Hiking #Italy #MonteGrappa #Nature #BusDeRefos #Veneto #Outdoors #GreatWarHistory
More details here ๐๐ป
Wikiloc | Trails of the World
San Liberale e San Vitale - Sacello di San Liberale - Bus de Refos
San Liberale e San Vitale - Sacello di San Liberale - Bus de Refos Hiking trail in San Liberale e San Vitale, Veneto (Italia). Download its GPS tra...



The Flaws of the Spoken Word
Lossy Data Compression:
1. Speakers filter complex thoughts through an increasingly shrinking vocabulary. Listeners then โdecompressโ that signal through their own biases and recent experiences. The message received is almost always a corrupted version of the one sent.
2. Verbal Inflation (Verbosity): Many use more words than necessary, generating noise and ambiguity. Worse, they repeat the same concept in different ways, creating contradictions and wasting the time of those who already understood. Itโs not just inefficiency; itโs a lack of respect for othersโ intelligence and time.
3. Lack of Persistence: Conversations are ephemeral. A verbal agreement can be easily forgotten, misrepresented, or disputed, leading to the dreaded โbut I thought you said...โ
The Alternatives: Formal Languages for High Fidelity
If oral communication is a blunt instrument, formal languages are the scalpel. They are designed for precision and high fidelity.
1. Written Language
Asynchronous, allowing for meticulous thought construction and revision. It creates a permanent, verifiable record, demanding clarity from the author and reducing ambiguity for the reader.
2. Mathematics
E = mc^2 is an immutable truth, understood without ambiguity in every language. There is no margin for interpretation.
3. Programming Languages
So precise they can be executed by a machine. They impose absolute logical consistency.
This JavaScript is an unequivocal contract.
if (user.isLoggedIn) {
grantAccess()
}
Context Matters
Of course, oral communication has its place. Immediacy is powerful for brainstorming or building personal rapport, where the โemotional bandwidthโโtone and body languageโis an asset, not a defect.
But for critical informationโproject requirements, strategic decisions, technical specs, agreements, and promisesโwe must be more rigorous.
Relying on a chat for a vital task is like using a hammer to drive a screw. It might work, but the result is crude, unreliable, and unprofessional.
Final Thought
I think we all need to learn to communicate with the precision of a programmer, the clarity of a mathematician, and the persistence of a writer.
What do you think? Is verbosity the silent killer of productivity in your workplace? Leave a comment below.
#FutureOfWork
My "Digital Fortress" has reached full maturity. What started as a hardware recovery experiment on a 2017 Acer laptop is now a mission control for digital sovereignty. ๐
But the real lesson of this journey isn't about hardware. Itโs about the power of Open Source.
Everything Iโve built exists thanks to open, transparent, and verifiable code. Itโs the result of thousands of people sharing their knowledge for the benefit of everyone.
This is the polar opposite of the Big Tech model. While corporations design systems to decide what we see or do, Open Source gives us the tools to become the sole owners of our digital lives.
As a famous cypherpunk saying goes: "If you want to change the world, don't protest. Write code!"
Here are the pillars of the Fortress, built on transparency:
โ
Operating System (Debian 12): I stripped away the GUI (GNOME) and went Headless. By removing telemetry and commercial bloat, I reclaimed 1.5GB of RAM and dropped CPU load from 21% to 0.0%. The laptop is now a pure server: cool (39ยฐC), silent, and efficient.
โ
Sovereign Banking (Bitcoin Core & LND): My node has crossed 70% synchronization. Iโm currently validating 2024 blocks, mathematically verifying every transaction via Tor. โ๏ธโ๐ฅ
โ
Privacy Layer (AdGuard & Vaultwarden): I manage my own DNS and passwords in a closed circuit. Thanks to Open Source, my home is tracker-proof, and my keys no longer live on Silicon Valley serversโthey reside in an encrypted database on my own 2TB drive.
โ
Control Tower (RTL via Docker): I manage Lightning liquidity with a professional dashboard (Ride The Lightning), accessed securely through a Tailscale tunnel. Zero exposed ports, zero compromises.
The Role of AI in this Ecosystem ๐ค๐ค
During this process, Iโve had a valuable ally: my AI (Google Gemini-CLI) in "Driver" mode. Irony at its best: I used a Big Tech LLM to help me dismantle my dependence on Big Tech. ๐
Digital sovereignty canโt be bought in a corporate store. It is built by studying, learning, and choosing software that respects the user. Preferably Open Source.
2026 begins with a certainty: the keys to my world are finally, and exclusively, in my hands. ๐๏ธ๐ก๏ธ
#Bitcoin #Sovereignty #OpenSource #Debian #SelfHosted #Nostr #Cypherpunk
Here is the progress report on my stealth stack:
๐ Identity & Encryption (PGP): Iโve taken control of my PGP Key Pair. Strategic advantage? Google Drive is now just "dumb storage." Sensitive docs are encrypted locally before upload. Privacy now depends on math, not corporate promises.
๐ป Privacy Layer & Stealth Stack: Consolidated a local ecosystem to kill tracking and secure metadata:
AdGuard Home: Network-wide DNS filtering. dnsleaktest.com confirms my house now communicates exclusively with 2 encrypted/secure DNS servers. My ISP is officially blind.
Vaultwarden: Sovereign management of passwords and WebAuthn Passkeys.
Syncthing: P2P cloud syncing all my devices without central servers.
โ๏ธโ๐ฅ Financial Sovereignty: With a new 2TB SSD installed, Iโm finally in the game. Currently at 15% of the Bitcoin blockchain sync. Once finished, Iโll fire up the Lightning node and look into setting up a WatchTower.
๐ค The AI Mentor: Ironically, I made heavy use of Google Geminiโa centralized and "noisy" LLM ๐
. However, thanks to deep learning, I was able to quickly source info on what I was putting "under the hood." I used AI as a driver to validate my hypotheses on the robustness and invisibility of the solutions I was deploying. ๐ค
The lesson from these holidays? Stop being a passive user and start being an owner. The road to 100% is long, but the view is beautiful.
Goal for 2026: Dive even deeper. ๐ช๐ซ
#DigitalSovereignty #PGP #SelfHosting #Privacy #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #Linux #Nostr #Pleb #StackingKnowledge




