Hi Zapread community, my name is Erik Laan and I am from Delft, the Netherlands. I am an independent Space Industry Consultant working for the international Space Industry. I am interested in all things Space. I believe the future of humanity is destined to expand into the Solar System and the Cosmos. Professionally, I am a Technical specialist in optical science instrument satellite payloads with system engineering experience in the field of space robotics and microgravity & in-situ exploration payloads. My technical specialities are Space Systems Engineering, i.e., the Science/User/Mission-requirements to System requirements to testing/analysis definition flowdown, and Scientific data analysis. I am deeply intimate with what is going on in the Global Space Industry. All the intelligence I gather is fed into my future Space missions intelligence database: the Eye On Orbit Space Missions Manifest.
I really enjoy speaking to all audiences that are keen to learn more about Space and all its dimensions. I have a portfolio of presentations and workshops containing gaming elements, LEGO and Virtual Reality (VR).
In the picture above, you can see me together with my satellite dish. I am participating in the Blockstream Satellite project and receive from the geostationairy Telstar 11N satellite, the broadcasted new blocks of the Bitcoin ledger in my node without terrestrial networks.
I am really excited about the current explosion of the Lightning Network adoption. This is really a breakthrough for further global Bitcoin adoption towards full Unit of Account acceptance somewhere the next decade. I have been running a Lightning Network crowdfunding campaign to help me visit a school without budget, to teach them about Space, Stars & Blockchain. I started this in the midst of the #LNTrustChain craziness and was both surprised and very excited that I did get good traction! See my concluding tweet below:
One of my Crowdfunding campaign supporters, Pan Tomuu, guided me to the zapread platform. I have been posting Space stuff since yesterday and really believe this platform could shake up the Social Media business. It really cuts out a whole bunch of unnecessary layers between content creators, the platform and the readers. At the same time, there is truly a win/win for all the stakeholders. In other words, this platform is simply brilliant. Next step is to get this under much broader attention. In any case, thanks to @zelgada for building this gem!
Thanks for the kind words @Spacerik
I'm having a lot of fun with this project. It still has a long ways to go but I think it's improving fast. I'm a one-person team with a day job, and a family with 3 kids.! There's only so much I can do. That's why it's open source.
Thanks for joining up. Please let me know if you have ideas on how to improve the website.
I'm a strong believer in Bitcoin and Lightning Network, and so I've created Zapread also to bring more people "into the fold". I think that many people who post here may be earning their first Bitcoin on this platform. And then they go down the rabbit hole! They set up a wallet, start using LN, and the network grows.
Welcome!
Thanks for the warm welcome. Impressive feat, family and 3 kids. I have 2 running around here and at the same time run my space company so I know a bit of your challenges! What the platform needs is more users. Given the current attention that the #LNTrustChain is getting (on twitter), that should not be such a big problem for Zapread now! But the @zapread twitter is not so active yet. Why not spend a night full time interacting from the Zapread twitter account with all the discussions going on? For example, invite all the #LMTrustChain torch holders to come over and tell their story on Zapread? Ask them to write a piece on: How they got involved in the crypto field? What they think of Lightning Network? How they see the future? And what they think about Zapread?
Yes, I'm just starting out with the twitter and reddit side of the house. I have been holding back since I know there are still plenty of bugs on the website (not to turn people off). But I think it's time to start getting the word out :)
Oh yes. Timing to do it now is great I think.
And things work well on the site I have to say (Windows 10, Google Chrome).
Just a very small point that confused me: on the top left side it says Social Economy. I would vote to remove those words up there. It just goes to zapread.com and clicking on the logo next to it does the same.
And when writing a post, sometimes you would like to address it to more than 1 group.
Starting to type in this box, preferably one would like to get the list of options that can be chosen. I had to go back to the 'groups' listing to find one that could fit my post.
Just my two cents.
Good luck and when I see a zapread post on twitter, I will certainly RT!