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1. Which song was The Monkees first number one hit? Answer: 'Last Train To Clarksville' 'Last Train To Clarksville' was a last minute composition of Boyce and Hart when it was noticed The Monkees were a few songs short of a full (debut) album. So, it was ...

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In a nutshell Software is the main engine of revenue and growth for most companies. It is also done at a scale that makes it impossible to micromanage everything top-down. Thus, being just a code monkey won't cut it. Professional developers are expected to contribute to the company's overall success: provide a competitive advantage, fuel sustainable growth, ensure adaptability to changing market conditions. In this article, I'll take a deeper look at what makes companies successful and what skills you need as a developer to help achieve this success. The evolution of software development (too critical to neglect, too complex to micromanage) As Marc Andreessen famously said in 2011, software is eating the world. Modern companies depend on software as never before. Even if they don't sell it directly as a product, software is still fundamental to driving their operations and growth. It's critical for their customers, employees, suppliers, and partners. It's the engine that runs the business - and the network that connects it with other businesses. It's the cornerstone of the company's success. At the same time, the software got bigger. Much bigger. And the software development process got incomparably more complex: Huge teams. The whole portfolio of products. A vast network of interconnected APIs. Complex distributed architectures. Tens or even hundreds of external vendors. Constant progress at a crazy pace. Cutthroat competition and continuously changing user tastes. No manager, analyst, or architect is able to micromanage it all. The responsibility has to be distributed. And this completely changes the game for us . developers Raising the bar for software developers (the new definition of a "code monkey") A " " isn't a new term. Developers who just churn out code without looking at a broader context were frowned upon from the early days of programming. However, for a long time, this "broader context" just meant more conceptual work like code design or architecture. But it doesn't cut it anymore. code monkey Nowadays, I'd define a code monkey differently: . A code monkey is a developer who contributes only to building software, not to the holistic company's success Yes, this is why we, developers, are hired. To generate business value. To make companies grow and thrive. And this requires . a different mindset and a different, broader set of skills But, first of all, you need to understand what makes companies successful - and where fit into this puzzle. you The 4 key elements of the company's success (and how you can influence them as a dev) The recipe for a company's success, while insanely hard to achieve, is, at its core, very simple. First of all, a company needs to have a competitive advantage. It needs to be better than the competition (or at least differentiate itself enough) in one or more of these aspects: have a better product, be more innovative technologically, build new products faster, or be cheaper. Then, when the company becomes successful, it naturally starts to grow. Rapid growth is hard to manage and - if the company is not skillful at it - can destroy its competitive advantage. Next, to be truly successful, a company needs to sustain its competitive advantage over time. It needs to cut enough corners to win now - but not as many as to die the "death of a thousand cuts" later. Finally, the world never stands still. To not lose its edge, a company needs to continuously evolve to adapt to the ever-changing user tastes, competition, and market. Let's now take a look at these four ingredients in more detail. Competitive advantage: Product Building a better product is the most obvious competitive advantage. If users like and buy your product more than the other ones - you win. But what convinces them to do so? It all boils down to two things: addressing users' needs and providing a great user experience. So, how can you, as a developer, influence these two areas? Improve your communication skills to collaborate effectively across functions with designers, product managers, business stakeholders, and users. Especially learning how to talk to non-programmers (explain technical concepts simply, abstain from jargon, be patient with less tech-savvy people, etc.). Learn the principles of experimentally discovering what users want: Agile, empiricism, iterative development, Lean Startup, and product discovery. Get good at working in short iterations, building small MVPs (Minimal Viable Products), and rapid prototyping to help product managers validate ideas faster. Understand how to rapidly test ideas without coding (fake door, Wizard of Oz, concierge, and similar techniques). Learn the fundamentals of the product metrics and get a good overview of various analytics approaches (page views tracking, event tracking, backend API requests tracking, heatmaps, etc.) and the analytics tooling ecosystem (Google Analytics, Pendo, Segment, HotJar, and so on). Don't push to always solve everything by writing new code. Get comfortable with solving problems through 3rd party integrations and no-code solutions. Learn the basics of usability and user experience (UX). Competitive advantage: Technology Developing more advanced technology is another competitive edge. This is a bit different from just creating a better product. Of course, you still need to solve real user problems, but your winning strategy is not making the product more fine-tuned and polished but making it capable of things no one else is capable of. Imagine invoicing software. Making re-typing the content of paper invoices into the system by hand smoother, faster, and done in fewer steps is one thing, but being able to import them automatically, without typing anything, through advanced text recognition and extraction would be at a completely different level, even if the interface is not that polished. It doesn't have to happen at such a dramatic scale, though. Even small technical advancements can provide a competitive edge: make processes faster for the user, reduce their costs, and make the product more capable. But how can a regular developer help their company gain a technological advantage? Get a good overview of the existing ecosystem, both open source and commercial: languages, frameworks, libraries, cloud and SaaS platforms, APIs, tooling, and so on. Often, the advanced capability you need is already out there, available as a 3rd party library or service - you just need to know it exists and understand how it can be used. Stay up to date with the newest trends and technological advancements (especially the upcoming, not yet widely adopted ones) to be able to notice and exploit opportunities to gain a technical advantage. Learn about your company's business domain, its product, and its competition so you can propose the most innovative technical solutions to the business problem at hand. Stay up to date with what's happening also outside your company's domain. Track what other popular apps are doing - what's the current state of the art in the broader industry - and "steal" and adapt the best ideas to your company's needs. Experiment with new stuff regularly (just enough to get a good grasp of what it is about and be able to quickly learn more about it when needed). Get good at researching, quickly learning new tech when needed, and doing small prototypes and proofs-of-concept. Competitive advantage: Process The next way of gaining a competitive advantage is through better processes. In other words, the ability to build stuff faster than the competition without sacrificing quality. In the short term, it will give your company the first-to-market advantage. In the long term, it will allow you to experiment more rapidly, which will also impact the first two advantages: better product and technical innovation. An important part of a good process is also the ability to continuously refine the process itself to stay ahead of the competition in the long run. Processes - especially related to efficient delivery - are something developers have a lot of influence over. Become a fast, efficient coder. Learn . Get good at debugging. Use tools that speed you up: auto-formatters, code generators, code intelligence, hot reloading, etc. Understand how to organize the codebase to navigate around faster. your IDE in-depth Learn how application architecture impacts not only scalability and performance but also efficient teamwork, code navigation, and debugging. Build a robust toolbox of techniques to minimize the number of bugs (and to fix them more efficiently): unit testing, error handling, application monitoring, and logging. Understand technical debt and how to strike the right balance between cutting too many corners and over-engineering. Become good at making the right compromises between delivering business value and maintaining necessary non-functional features (reliability, performance, security, scalability, maintainability, and quality). Understand modern delivery processes: CI/CD, Git branching strategies, feature flag-based development, and so on. Learn at least the basics of the most popular software development processes (Scrum, Kanban). Get accustomed to process improvement techniques (retrospectives, project post-mortems, root-cause analysis, etc.). Be open to experimenting and trying new processes and techniques. Be proactive in proposing and championing improvement ideas. But also know how to balance implementing improvements with generating business value. Competitive advantage: Operations The last type of competitive advantage is more efficient operations. Depending on your company's profile, you may have different teams involved in acquiring, onboarding, and supporting users: sales, call center, customer success, customer support, implementation, operations, invoicing, and so on. Making these teams faster, cheaper, and more user-friendly is another way to win over the competition. How can you help with this as a developer? Learn how your various "operations" teams work: what they do day-to-day, what metrics they use to measure their success, what makes them efficient and what slows them down, and how they interact with customers. Get a good overview of the tools to rapidly build internal tools faster: automatic admin panel generators, CMS frameworks, UI component libraries, and so on. Understand the trade-offs of buying vs. building vs. integrating internal tools (admin panels, invoicing systems, CRM platforms, inventory management, order tracking systems, etc.). Know how to most efficiently keep your customer-facing teams updated about the status and expected completion time of your work (for example, bug fixes) so they can easily obtain and pass this information to customers. Understand personal data privacy and security issues: how to make your "operations" teams more efficient by providing them tools like user-impersonation or giving them access to user data for tech support purposes without compromising user privacy. Growth To become successful, companies need to constantly grow their revenue. It almost always means also growing the team. This, in turn, means more recruitment effort (including onboarding and mentoring), a bigger codebase, more complicated architecture, and increased complexity of organizational structure. It also makes communication, teamwork, and management more challenging - usually to the point where top-down micro-management doesn't cut it anymore. This sounds like a management problem. But even as a "regular" developer, you can help much more than you think. Learn how to modularize the so multiple teams can collaborate without collisions. Familiarize yourself with domain-driven design, micro-services, micro-frontends, API design principles, git repository topologies, and similar. Understand how to evolve the architecture over time to accommodate the growing size of the platform and the growing number of teams without over-engineering it early on. codebase and architecture Learn how to make code easy to read, understand, debug, navigate, and modify for other people. Understand the concept of cognitive load. Get a good grasp of clean code principles. Understand what makes the whole engineering organization go faster (design systems, component libraries, coding conventions, UI guidelines, and so on). Understand compromises between what to standardize and what can be different per team. Learn how to communicate well (clearly, understandably, concisely, and on-point), both verbally and in writing. Learn how to effectively brainstorm, make decisions together, and navigate disagreement or conflict. Understand how to effectively sync and collaborate with the other teams. Find opportunities to help with recruitment, if not by directly participating in the interviews, then by reviewing CVs, preparing and evaluating coding and system design challenges, and promoting your company (through blogging, social media, conferences, or by directly recommending your colleagues). Make onboarding easier. Understand and use industry-wide standards to lower the entry point for new hires. Know how to document and explain architecture and logic. Be responsive, non-condescending, and open to answering all questions. Help with mentoring. Understand what tasks to assign to someone new or more junior and how frequently to sync with them to not overwhelm them but also not leave them hanging. Be supportive and patient. Take ownership of various projects, initiatives, and modules to reduce the burden on management - so they don't have to micro-manage everything. Sustainability Companies are long-living entities. Gaining a competitive advantage and achieving initial success is only the start of the game. A company needs to sustain its success over decades. But when a company is under constant pressure, fighting off new challengers and chasing ever-changing market conditions, it's often necessary to cut corners, which may put the company at risk further down the road. To thrive over a long time, a company needs to strike a fine balance between aggressive and sustainable. How can you help maintain this balance? Get a good understanding of the concept of technical debt and the ways of managing it. Develop a keen eye for both under and over-engineering. Learn the patterns and principles of code maintainability and evolving complex legacy codebases over time. Be aware of the short- and long-term trade-offs between the development speed and the concerns like reliability, performance, scalability, security, privacy, usability, or maintainability. Understand short- and long-term implications of various architectural decisions (monolith vs. microservices, native vs. hybrid mobile, REST vs. GraphQL, single-page app vs. server-side rendering, mono repo vs. multiple reports, and so on). Know how to evaluate new technologies not only by the "cool" factor but also by the learning curve, maintenance cost, ease of recruitment, vendor lock-in, long-term support, and similar. Be aware of the build vs. buy vs. use open source trade-offs. Understand how technology choices impact business and UX capabilities and how they broaden or narrow down what the company will be able to solve for its users. Don't just passively follow business requests. Participate in setting technical vision and direction and provide guidance and counsel to the rest of the organization. Learn how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid burnout. Adaptability Sustainability alone is not enough to stay successful for a long time. Companies also have to continuously adapt (or even reinvent themselves). A company has to adapt to the macro-scale events (changing market conditions, changing customer tastes, new technologies, economic situations, fashion, and social trends) and to the micro-scale events (finishing and starting projects, people leaving and joining, reorganizing teams or departments, adopting new methodologies and processes). It may, again, seem like something out of the scope of a software developer. But with the right attitude, you can help much more than you think. Understand the core principles of empiricism, experimentation, and Agile. Be able to quickly pivot and adapt to new trends, tech, and methodologies. Become an eager learner. Know how to learn fast, how to research, and how to efficiently find information. Understand how to architect systems to make it easy to gradually migrate parts of them to new tech in the future. Learn how to effectively carry out such migrations. Most people dislike and avoid change. Make yourself open to it and comfortable with it. Train yourself to thrive in such an environment. Become good at adapting to new projects, teams, and roles. Learn how to quickly build rapport with new people. Be open to new points of view and for updating yours in the face of sound evidence. Bottom line One purpose of a developer is to make the product and company successful. That's why we're hired. That's why we exist. And modern software is so complex that this process can't be micromanaged. We must proactively contribute to the company's success. . Become the experts on the topic If you understand the holistic view - what makes companies successful, how the software fits into this puzzle, and how you can influence it as a developer - you'll be invaluable. (And it also opens the door to a future leadership career.) Plus, it's much more satisfying to understand the whole picture than to just blindly follow what you're told. Also published . here

Are You a Code Monkey or a Real Professional Developer?

The JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is an excellent platform for monkey-patching. Monkey patching is a technique used to dynamically update the behavior of a piece of code at run-time. A monkey patch (also spelled monkey-patch, MonkeyPatch) is a way to extend or modify the runtime code of dynamic languages ( Smalltalk, JavaScript, Objective-C, Ruby, Perl, Python, Groovy, etc.) without altering the original source code. e.g. -- Wikipedia I want to demo several approaches for monkey-patching in in this post. Java As an example, I'll use a sample for-loop. Imagine we have a class and a method. We want to call the method multiple times without doing it explicitly. The Decorator Design Pattern While the Decorator Design Pattern is not monkey-patching, it's an excellent introduction to it anyway. Decorator is a pattern described in the foundational book, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. structural The decorator pattern is a design pattern that allows behavior to be added to an individual object, dynamically, without affecting the behavior of other objects from the same class. -- Decorator pattern Our use case is a interface with a dedicated console implementation: Logger We can implement it in Java like this: public interface Logger {
    void log(String message);
}

public class ConsoleLogger implements Logger {
    @Override
    public void log(String message) {
        System.out.println(message);
    }
} Here's a simple, configurable decorator implementation: public class RepeatingDecorator implements Logger {        //1

    private final Logger logger;                           //2
    private final int times;                               //3

    public RepeatingDecorator(Logger logger, int times) {
        this.logger = logger;
        this.times = times;
    }

    @Override
    public void log(String message) {
        for (int i = 0; i < times; i++) {                  //4
            logger.log(message);
        }
    }
} implement the interface Must Underlying logger Loop configuration Call the method as many times as necessary Using the decorator is straightforward: var logger = new ConsoleLogger();
var threeTimesLogger = new RepeatingDecorator(logger, 3);
threeTimesLogger.log("Hello world!"); The Java Proxy The Java Proxy is a generic decorator that allows attaching dynamic behavior: Proxy provides static methods for creating objects that act like instances of interfaces but allow for customized method invocation. -- Proxy Javadoc The uses Java Proxies . It's the case of the annotation. If you annotate a method, Spring creates a Java Proxy around the encasing class at runtime. When you call it, Spring calls the proxy instead. Depending on the configuration, it opens the transaction or joins an existing one, then calls the actual method, and finally commits (or rollbacks). Spring Framework a lot @Transactional The API is simple: We can write the following handler: public class RepeatingInvocationHandler implements InvocationHandler {

    private final Logger logger;                                       //1
    private final int times;                                           //2

    public RepeatingInvocationHandler(Logger logger, int times) {
        this.logger = logger;
        this.times = times;
    }

    @Override
    public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method method, Object[] args) throws Exception {
        if (method.getName().equals("log") && args.length ## 1 && args[0] instanceof String) { //3
            for (int i = 0; i < times; i++) {
                method.invoke(logger, args[0]);                        //4
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
} Underlying logger Loop configuration Check every requirement is upheld Call the initial method on the underlying logger Here's how to create the proxy: var logger = new ConsoleLogger();
var proxy = (Logger) Proxy.newProxyInstance(           //1-2
        Main.class.getClassLoader(),
        new Class[]{Logger.class},                     //3
        new RepeatingInvocationHandler(logger, 3));    //4
proxy.log("Hello world!"); Create the object Proxy We must cast to as the API was created before generics, and it returns an Logger Object An array of interfaces the object needs to conform to Pass our handler Instrumentation Instrumentation is the capability of the JVM to transform bytecode before it loads it via a . Two Java agent flavors are available: Java agent Static, with the agent passed on the command line when you launch the application Dynamic allows connecting to a running JVM and attaching an agent on it via the . Note that it represents a huge security issue and has been drastically limited in the latest JDK. Attach API The 's surface is limited: Instrumentation API As seen above, the API exposes the user to low-level bytecode manipulation via byte arrays. It would be unwieldy to do it directly. Hence, real-life projects rely on bytecode manipulation libraries. has been the traditional library for this, but it seems that has superseded it. Note that Byte Buddy uses ASM but provides a higher-level abstraction. ASM Byte Buddy The Byte Buddy API is outside the scope of this blog post, so let's dive directly into the code: public class Repeater {

  public static void premain(String arguments, Instrumentation instrumentation) {      //1
    var withRepeatAnnotation = isAnnotatedWith(named("ch.frankel.blog.instrumentation.Repeat")); //2
    new AgentBuilder.Default()                                                         //3
      .type(declaresMethod(withRepeatAnnotation))                                      //4
      .transform((builder, typeDescription, classLoader, module, domain) -> builder    //5
        .method(withRepeatAnnotation)                                                  //6
        .intercept(                                                                    //7
           SuperMethodCall.INSTANCE                                                    //8
            .andThen(SuperMethodCall.INSTANCE)
            .andThen(SuperMethodCall.INSTANCE))
      ).installOn(instrumentation);                                                    //3
  }
} Required signature; it's similar to the method, with the added argument main Instrumentation Match that is annotated with the annotation. The DSL reads fluently even if you don't know it (I don't). @Repeat Byte Buddy provides a builder to create the Java agent Match all types that declare a method with the annotation @Repeat Transform the class accordingly Transform methods annotated with @Repeat Replace the original implementation with the following Call the original implementation three times The next step is to create the Java agent package. A Java agent is a regular JAR with specific manifest attributes. Let's configure Maven to build the agent: <plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>                                      
    <configuration>
        <descriptorRefs>
            <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>                        
        </descriptorRefs>
        <archive>
            <manifestEntries>
                <Premain-Class>ch.frankel.blog.instrumentation.Repeater</Premain-Class> 
            </manifestEntries>
        </archive>
    </configuration>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <goals>
                <goal>single</goal>
            </goals>
            <phase>package</phase>                                                      
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin> Create a JAR containing all dependencies () Testing is more involved, as we need two different codebases, one for the agent and one for the regular code with the annotation. Let's create the agent first: mvn install We can then run the app with the agent: java -javaagent:/Users/nico/.m2/repository/ch/frankel/blog/agent/1.0-SNAPSHOT/agent-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar \ #1
     -cp ./target/classes                                                                                                    #2
     ch.frankel.blog.instrumentation.Main                                                                                    #3 Run java with the agent created in the previous step. The JVM will run the method of the class configured in the agent premain Configure the classpath Set the main class Aspect-Oriented Programming The idea behind AOP is to apply some code across different unrelated object hierarchies - cross-cutting concerns. It's a valuable technique in languages that don't allow , or code you can graft on third-party objects/classes. Fun fact: I learned about AOP before . AOP relies on two main concepts: an aspect is the transformation applied to code, while a point cut matches where the aspect applies. traits Proxy In Java, AOP's historical implementation is the excellent library. AspectJ provides two approaches, known as : build-time weaving, which transforms the compiled bytecode, and runtime weaving, which relies on the above instrumentation. Either way, AspectJ uses a specific format for aspects and pointcuts. Before Java 5, the format looked like Java but not quite; for example, it used the keyword. With Java 5, one can use annotations in regular Java code to achieve the same goal. AspectJ weaving aspect We need an AspectJ dependency: <dependency>
    <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
    <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
    <version>1.9.19</version>
</dependency> As Byte Buddy, AspectJ also uses ASM underneath. Here's the code: @Aspect                                                                              //1
public class RepeatingAspect {

    @Pointcut("@annotation(repeat) && call(* *(..))")                                //2
    public void callAt(Repeat repeat) {}                                             //3

    @Around("callAt(repeat)")                                                        //4
    public Object around(ProceedingJoinPoint pjp, Repeat repeat) throws Throwable {  //5
        for (int i = 0; i < repeat.times(); i++) {                                   //6
            pjp.proceed();                                                           //7
        }
        return null;
    }
} Mark this class as an aspect Define the pointcut; every call to a method annotated with @Repeat Bind the annotation to the the name used in the annotation above @Repeat repeat Define the aspect applied to the call site; it's an , meaning that we need to call the original method explicitly @Around The signature uses a , which references the original method, as well as the annotation ProceedingJoinPoint @Repeat Loop over as many times as configured Call the original method At this point, we need to weave the aspect. Let's do it at build-time. For this, we can add the AspectJ build plugin: <plugin>
    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
    <artifactId>aspectj-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <goals>
                <goal>compile</goal>                  
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin> Bind execution of the plugin to the phase compile To see the demo in effect: mvnd compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass=ch.frankel.blog.aop.Main Java compiler plugin Last, it's possible to change the generated bytecode via a Java compiler plugin, introduced in Java 6 as JSR 269. From a bird's eye view, plugins involve hooking into the Java compiler to manipulate the AST in three phases: parse the source code into multiple ASTs, analyze further into , and potentially generate source code. Element The documentation could be less sparse. I found the following Awesome Java Annotation Processing. Here's a simplified class diagram to get you started: I'm too lazy to implement the same as above with such a low-level API. As the expression goes, this is left as an exercise to the reader. If you are interested, I believe the is a good starting point. DocLint source code Conclusion I described several approaches to monkey-patching in Java in this post: the class, instrumentation via a Java Agent, AOP via AspectJ, and compiler plugins. To choose one over the other, consider the following criteria: build-time vs. runtime, complexity, native vs. third-party, and security concerns. Proxy javac To go further: Guide to Java Instrumentation Creating a Java Compiler Plugin Awesome Java Annotation Processing Maven AspectJ plugin Originally published at on September 17th, 2023 A Java Geek

A Guide to Monkey-Patching in Java

Today I’m going to tell you about the Ryder Ripps Bored Ape Yacht Club… Remember, in the , I promised I would write a separate piece about it? previous story about the Bored Ape Yacht Club Well, here it is! The timing seemed perfect since the trial happened last week. So let’s dive in. Origin Story From the previous issue, you already know the high-level story of the Bored Apes Yacht Club - but what the hell is Ryder Ripps Bored Ape Yacht Club (RR BAYC)? You may be wondering. Here is how it all started. In May 2022, conceptual artist Ryder Ripps took a picture of the Bored Ape that owned and used as his profile picture on Twitter and minted it as a new NFT on Foundation. He then linked his wallet to his Twitter account and used that as his new profile picture. Twitter, in its turn, showed a hexagon around the image, which proved that it’s an NFT that the account holder (Ryder) owns. j1mmy.eth NFT I could not find the exact public dialogue between j1mmy.eth and Ryder, but I recall that  j1mmy.eth was not happy at all. The conversation between them and the Twitter crowd provoked thoughts and brought up important topics such as NFTs, IP rights, ownership, provenance, etc. And within this context, below is the tweet that started it all There were many people tweeting and asking to get their RR BAYC based on their chosen Bored Ape image. Ryder Ripps himself was minting the RR BAYC apes one by one on Foundation, and soon it became a trending collection on the platform. If I am not mistaken, at one point, Yuga Labs had sent a DMCA letter requesting the Foundation to take the collection down. It was taken down for a day, but after an investigation was brought back up. Everyone who was purchasing RR BAYC had to agree to the terms below. A copycat? Many simplified the matter and, due to the same imagery used (later even the media while covering the topic), simply labeled the RR BAYC collection a copycat. As you can see from the terms, Ryder meant to for educational purposes, as protest and satirical commentary. re-conceptualize the BAYC imagery And everyone was informed that it was a new mint and not an NFT from the original Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. It is hard to deny, though, that the collection did what Ryder intended it to do. Educational You cannot copy an NFT. It would be safe to say that there were many people in the space who had the wrong perception of what an NFT actually was. Many really thought they were buying, holding, and trading the image (jpeg). This is exactly why some had that ignorant “right-click save” counter-argument. What they didn’t realize was that when they bought the NFT, they bought the token, not the image. And although RR BAYC NFT was pointing to the same image of the respective BAYC ape, it was a completely new NFT under a different smart contract. Protest Please note that the accusations about Yuga Labs being a Nazi brand had not yet gained traction, but they were already around. Ryder had launched at the beginning of 2022, and different Twitter Spaces were debating the matter. https://gordongoner.com/ So to many at this point, minting a RR BAYC was a form of protest. Appropriation Art RR BAYC may be looked at as appropriation art too. What is appropriation art? Appropriation in art and art history refers to the practice of artists using pre-existing objects or images in their art with little transformation of the original. Appropriation art raises questions of originality, authenticity, and authorship. Below is just one example More examples are mentioned in this tweet. https://twitter.com/SirRonHale/status/1687072588692889601?s=20&embedable=true And yes, you may argue that in the RR BAYC case, it’s pointing to the same BAYC original image… but remember - the NFT is not about the image but provenance, right? Anyway, let’s see what happened next Seems that at some point, the demand became so high that Ryder could no longer mint them manually. So he teamed up with Pauly (Jeremy Cahen) and a few others to launch a website where people could buy/mint them. I already told you in the previous story that the Youtuber called BORED APE NAZI CLUB at the time the 2022 was taking place. Philion published his video NFT NYC The video blew up, and I think everyone in the NFT space watched it(+ some more since it got 2M views so far). The video mentioned the RR BAYC collection and brought the attention of more people to it. So the demand kept growing… Yuga’s move At first, the most powerful NFT company that gave birth to BAYC: Yuga Labs, ignored the matter, probably hoping that it would never gain traction and be forgotten with time. But not only the video kept gaining views, but also the crypto and mass media picked up the topic, so with each day, more and more people were coming across the accusations and the RR BAYC collection as a result. So they reached a point where ignoring it further was no longer an option. That’s when Gordon Gomer published labeling the accusations “bullshit” but addressing them nevertheless. A letter from the Founders Trying to recall those times, I don’t remember the Bored Ape community being as loyal and united, supporting the brand as Ryder Ripps and Pauly’s supporters were. The latter was way more loud, bold, and passionate compared to the Bored Ape holders. I personally think that if it was the other way around, things would die out and eventually be forgotten, and this story would simply stop here… But no… we’re still halfway there. Yuga Labs sued Ryder Ripps, Pauly (Jeremy Cahen), and DOES 1-10 in June 2022. Before, they were saying that accusations were “bullshit” and the accusers were just trolls. Now a 4 billion company was suing them. And yes, I get it - all these accusations certainly had a very negative impact on the brand's reputation… but wait - it looks like it is not a defamation case at all! If you are as ignorant in legal matters as I am, you may be wondering - who the hell is DOES 1-10? Looked into court files, and here is who else Yuga Labs is suing besides Ryder and Jeremy: Don’t wanna bore you with too many legal details, but below are just a few segments of what Yuga Labs’ complaints consist of to give you a better context, so you can follow the story along. In response to the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s popularity, Defendant Ryder Ripps, a self-proclaimed “conceptual artist,” recently began trolling Yuga Labs and scamming consumers into purchasing RR/BAYC NFTs by misusing Yuga Labs’ trademarks. He seeks to devalue the Bored Ape NFTs by flooding the NFT market with his own copycat NFT collection using the original Bored Ape Yacht Club images and calling his NFTs “RR/BAYC” NFTs. Brazenly, he promotes and sells these RR/BAYC NFTs using the very same trademarks that Yuga Labs uses to promote and sell authentic Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. He also markets these copycat NFTs as falsely equivalent to an authentic Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. He then goes on to use Yuga Labs’ marks to promote his coming “Ape Market” NFT marketplace, which requires a person to purchase one of his infringing NFTs to join the Ape Market. This is no mere monkey business. It is a deliberate effort to harm Yuga Labs at the expense of consumers by sowing confusion about whether these RR/BAYC NFTs are in some way sponsored, affiliated, or connected to Yuga Labs’ official Bored Ape Yacht Club, in violation of the Lanham Act and related state law. Yuga Labs brings this action against Ripps and others involved in perpetrating his scam to dispel the confusion he has caused in the marketplace, to protect the goodwill in authentic Bored Ape NFTs and the Bored Ape Yacht Club, to protect members of the NFT community from being deceived into thinking they are purchasing a highly coveted Bored Ape NFT, and to protect the general public from deceptive commercialization or use of RR/BAYC NFTs that would lead consumers to believe those NFTs are official Bored Ape NFTs. Ripps claims his actions are “satire,” yet he conveniently rakes in millions in ill-gotten profit from sales of the RR/BAYC NFTs using Yuga Labs’ marks to make those sales. Copying is not satire, it is theft. And lying to consumers is not conceptual art, it is deception. Ripps, Cahen, and Does 1-5’s website (https://rrbayc.com) claims that minting exact replicas of Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape NFTs and reselling them at a profit is “satire.” In reality, this is part of a longstanding harassment campaign against Yuga Labs and an attempt to devalue the price of authentic Bored Ape NFTs. At the same time, Ripps, Cahen, and Does 1-5 stand to make millions of dollars by tricking consumers into buying these fake Bored Ape NFTs. Indeed, on information and belief, Ripps has made well over $5 million through this scheme of pumping and dumping fake NFTs. There is also a part specifically for all those who have bought RR BAYC too… Defendants Does 6-10 have joined Ripps, Cahen, and Does 1-5 in acting to devalue authentic Bored Ape NFTs through their participation in social media in promoting the RR/BAYC NFTs while knowing them to be fake. Their specific actions will be alleged when and if their identities are ascertained. Will leave in case you’d like to dive into it deeper. the link to all public documents here There are tons of documents and evidence in there. In January 2023, Yuga filed a complaint against Thomas Lehman, focusing on his role in coding and developing the RR BAYC contract and the rrbayc.com site. In February, they reached a settlement (source: ). Coindesk I guess we won’t know what they had agreed on though. In April 2023, Yuga Labs won summary judgment. But the court decided that any damages would be calculated and determined during the trial. The trial And here we are, just a week after the trial. The trial was open to the public, and Pauly encouraged their supporters to show up in a tweet mentioning it a few times on Twitter Spaces too. https://twitter.com/Pauly0x/status/1684566734181920768?s=20&embedable=true There was a bit of citizen journalism going on, so many were following the developments in real-time, reading the tweets, and watching videos from the breaks. Here are both parties arriving at the court: When I started researching this story, I reached out to the Twitter audience to get more information and details. As a result, I personally spoke to 10+ people who were at the trial to find out more details and write this part. All of them were there to support Ryder and Jeremy. They all discovered RR BAYC at different times (from the 1st day, after following Pauly through Pepe, after watching the video, etc.), but all were united by their beliefs. People had traveled from Washington, Miami, and Arizona to be there in person and show their support. Here are just a few of them below, explaining why they decided to be there. This guy flew from Miami. And he also brought his framed RR BAYC with him to the trial. People I spoke to thought everyone from the Yuga Labs side was paid to be there - i.e., mostly from their legal team, hired experts, etc. and no one from the public came to support them. I reached out to Yuga Labs and did not get a response, so unfortunately, there will be no way of presenting their side of the story here. Most of the people I spoke with were on the same page when they were sharing their impressions and observations. I tried to summarize them below: Ryder Ripps did not get a chance to speak. He was asked 1 question only. Being the “hero of the story,” it felt strange to me… When I asked Ryder’s mother: Helene Verin, who was there too, why she thinks that was, she responded: It's obvious; Ryder was so articulate in his deposition, they didn't want him to explain his protest. Jeremy, though, was questioned for 30-40 minutes, and he was very calm and confident. Greg Solano (one of Yuga Lab's co-founders) admitted that the theme of their brand is “scatological” in nature and that Bored Ape Yacht Club is a luxury brand. Quoting one of the supporters below (a sentiment/impression I got from several in different phrasing) I was shocked that Nicole Munoiz (x CEO of Yuga Labs) didn’t even know her own company’s terms . The way certain YUGA witnessed lied on the stand and then we’re quickly reminded of their lies via their deposition was insane. I can’t believe it. It was embarrassing. They really shamed themselves that day. Yuga Labs brought around 13 boxes of printed evidence There were some laughs and giggles during Yuga Labs’ testimony Yuga Labs have spent tons of money (around $600k?) to hire experts to prove that people were confused and bought RR BAYC thinking they were buying BAYC The story is not over yet, and it’s hard to predict what would the decision about the damages be. I believe that the law will find its way. I believe that things will be reconciled. Reconciled because the main business of Yuga Labs is illegitimate. They promise you “IP” — intellectual property if you own one of these NFTs and there is no boundaries of how that intellectual property can be used. I think that’s the most fascinating thing in all of this. Yuga’s examples of IP are poop videos and penises on a bathroom wall. Everybody else, whom Yuga Labs celebrates is using their IP to make marijuana products, kids toys, clothing, pillows, socks, anything you could think of… So in what world is there a guideline? The spectrum of how you can use your IP is wide. If you want to utilize your IP to make criticisms of the company, why can’t you? (a witness from Ryder’s side at trial) _ @hWonderofWorld The rabbit hole with this story seems too deep, and this story just scratched the surface. Meanwhile, it feels like we are living at times when memes are used as “serious” evidence in court, and people keep meme-ing anyway. That was all for this week's Rebels! Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and qualified in legal matters, so all I have in this story is what I managed to research and comprehend: feel free to correct if needed. I also have not owned and don’t own RR/BAYC at the moment. Also published . here

Yuga Labs Sues Ryder Ripps, Jeremy Cahen, and DOES 1-10: This is Not Monkey Business

The cover image was created using the Stable Diffusion feature on Hackernoon. …Oops! A, B, C, D... N, F, T, S It doesn't follow the usual pattern. But that's precisely why this tale exists - to help you understand the intriguing world of NFTs. NFTs became a buzzword in 2021 with massive sales skyrocketing to millions of dollars for one piece! Here's a rundown of the events preceding this present time. 2012: The first mention of NFTs is published by a whitepaper to describe a concept called "coloured coins". 2014: Kevin McCoy creates the first NFT, "Quantum." 2015: The first blockchain-based game, "Spells of Genesis" is launched. 2016: One of the first popular NFT collections, Rare Pepes is released. 2017: CryptoKitties is launched, becoming the first major NFT project. 2021: NFTs become mainstream reaching $25 billion in sales. 2021: The most expensive NFT is sold for $69.3 million. 2023: Jack Dorsey's NFT tweet initially sold for $2.9 million in 2021 is being auctioned at $280. The hype around NFTs has died down, and there are many reasons why this happened so quickly. It could be due to the fact that this technology is still in its early stages, so it will take time to harness its benefits and mitigate its disadvantages successfully. NFTs are not bad. It aims to infuse so many benefits, some of which are still unscratched like proof of ownership, interoperability, security and transparency into a digital asset. Contrary to popular belief, they are not just limited to Bored Apes JPEGs or a get-rich-quick scheme- there's much more. In this tale, you will unravel: What NFTs are How NFTs work What NFTs are used for with literal mind-blowing use-cases Challenges faced with owning or purchasing an NFT Future possible innovations with NFTs What are NFTs? Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a new form of technology that represents digital assets recorded on the blockchain to establish ownership. Every activity including sales and purchase of an NFT is facilitated by the blockchain using cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and many others as methods of exchange to facilitate payment. The fees required to buy or sell an NFT are determined by the type of blockchain network the NFT is hosted on. For instance, Ethereum-based NFTs will cost more because of high demand and gas fees. Every NFT is unique and distinct from others in the same collection-no two NFTs are the same. They may have a pattern of design to make items in the collection recognizable by community members, but that doesn't blur their uniqueness. The uniqueness of NFTs helps to differentiate the original from the fake. It's easy to take a screenshot of an original NFT however, when traced to the blockchain, the counterfeit will be spotted. Two significant things make NFTs peculiar: : Each NFT contains distinct data, such as title, description, name of its creator, and provenance data, which shows who has owned the NFT in the past. Metadata : One major thing that differentiates NFTS, especially in a collection are algorithms. Algorithms are programmable instructions used to determine distinct features of NFTs. Algorithm Some of the features determined could include attributes, appearance and rarity. It is assumed that the rarer an NFT is, the more valuable it is likely to be. Popular NFT collection Bored Apes Yacht Club, used random algorithms to mint 10,000 unique NFTs. How do NFTs work? NFTs are like batons in a relay race. Every time the baton is passed, it is recorded to prove the authenticity of ownership. In the digital world, they can be likened to digital certificates. A creator makes the NFTs and puts them out for sale in a like Opensea marketplace Someone who loves the purchases it using the valid the NFT is hosted on. item currency There is a transfer of ownership with historical data to prove that the NFT has passed through the hands of the creator to the buyer. The now has the NFT in their personal collection and will decide what to use it for. For instance, it could be used: new owner As a store of value or investment To access specific benefits depending on what the NFT offers. For online displays like social media profile pictures. The decides to sell the item and the circle continues. new owner Differentiating NFTs from cryptocurrencies NFTs and cryptocurrencies are important aspects of Web3 that can be mistaken. The table below illustrates the differences between both of them. NFTS Cryptocurrencies Assets NFTs are digital assets Cryptocurrencies are digital assets Fungible Singular and unique, no two NFTs are the same 1 BTC =1 BTC Use Proof of ownership Means of exchange Swapping Can’t be swapped Can be swapped for another cryptocurrency Exploring NFT use-cases NFTs can be used for: Digital Art and Collectibles Previously, digital artists had no way to prove ownership of their work especially when shared online. Too many duplicates of one work spread out without credit or monetary value driven to the owner. In 2017, Cath Simard, a photographer after a picture she took went viral on social media. She decided to authenticate the image by uploading it on the Ethereum blockchain as an NFT and since then, she has been monetizing her work as NFTs. encountered the same challenge Like Cath, many artists have taken the same path to authenticate and monetize their work through selling NFTs and the royalties attached to secondary sales. Gaming and virtual assets In the world of gaming, NFTs are now used to earn rewards and facilitate trading- players can own and sell their assets across gaming platforms. For virtual assets, Decentraland is a typical example of a virtual world that uses NFTs to incorporate interaction and collaboration amongst users on the platform. The use of NFTs in gaming and virtual assets hasn't been fully actualized. More innovations are setting in. Music tokenization With NFTs, artists can tokenize their music rights, earn royalties from it and even transfer the rights by selling the NFTs to fans. This gives artists full ownership of their masterpieces rather than receiving a part of their payment from streaming platforms. Also, some music artists have recently used NFTs to provide exclusive offers to their fans, thereby forming a stronger community. Real-World Assets Real estate investors can provide liquidity by tokenizing physical assets on the blockchain, putting them up for sale and enabling people to buy fractions of the asset. This can also be viewed as a marketing strategy employed by realtors to target a wider audience online. Challenges associated with NFTs From the surface level, many take NFTs to majorly be all about scams. Now that we've seen use cases, let's discuss the challenges. : It's important you do your research (DYOR) before buying an NFT so you don't sell at a loss. Volatile : Fake NFTs are created to duplicate original versions. Due diligence must be carried out to spot doppelganger stores. Counterfeit : Most times NFTs don't come cheap and this makes it difficult for everyone to get involved in the market. High transaction fees : There is no regulatory framework to protect the rights of buyers and sellers in the marketplace. For instance, someone could create an NFT that looks exactly like that of another without copyright permission from the creator. Zero regulation brand : Hackers have made away with funds from NFT wallets without getting caught. More security checks have to be put in place. Fraud risks Future Outlook and Innovations This is just the beginning of what's to come in the world of NFTs. To minimize NFT scams, there is a possibility that proper regulations will be put in place. NFTs will experience more diverse use cases, such as confidential NFTs that provide users with full control over their data and compensate them for its use. It has not yet been fully realized, but this use case has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about data ownership and privacy. There will likely be a new system introduced to facilitate interoperability of NFTS - NFTs will easily be transferred from one network to another. This would open up larger possibilities for developers to incorporate NFTs into dApps and embed them into DeFI, AI, AR and VR.

NFTs: Beyond Monkey Jpegs and Flipping

As an engineering team lead, I often find myself juggling tasks and struggling to manage my time efficiently. Like many others in my position, I'm constantly seeking advice and strategies to improve my management skills and create a more effective and productive team environment. Recently, during one of my quests for knowledge, I stumbled upon an article titled "Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?" on the Harvard Business Review's website. This classic piece, penned by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass, tackles a common predicament: managers burdened with issues that should be handled by their subordinates. Known as 'monkeys,' these tasks often end up overloading managers, leaving their teams underutilized. Reading this insightful article has shed light on how I can mentor and empower my team members, helping them take ownership of their 'monkeys.' Let me share with you the essence of this article and how it's transforming my approach to team leadership. The central idea of the article is about mentoring and empowering subordinates and their teams to make decisions and enabling them to achieve their goals. Managers are encouraged to set aside time to discuss the "monkeys" that their teams need to raise. At the end of each discussion, the Manager must ensure that the issue remains with its rightful owner – the subordinate or reporting team. The article lays out a few rules for managing these "monkeys": Monkeys should be fed or shot. If the issue needs the Manager’s attention, the Manager must make time to discuss it with his/her subordinates. Monkeys should be fed by appointment only. Don’t encourage all-day “grazing,” or you will have no time to do your own work. Monkeys should be fed face-to-face or by phone. Avoid email; it just encourages the monkeys to keep jumping back onto your desk! Every feeding session should end with an agreed action plan and a scheduled next feeding time. Subordinates and teams should know clearly what they are expected to accomplish before the next review. Keep the monkey population your team needs your help with as low as possible. Set some guidelines for the degree of initiative you expect of your teams and empower them. In the realm of software development, where continuous learning is part of the job, the concept of 'monkey management' becomes even more critical. Let's consider a scenario where a software engineer struggles to implement a new feature because they are unfamiliar with a specific technology or framework. Rather than taking the initiative to understand and learn it, they pass the problem, or the 'monkey,' to their manager, expecting them to provide a detailed solution. This 'monkey' is not ideal for the manager to take on. It's part of the engineer's role to continuously learn and adapt to new technologies and frameworks. By accepting this 'monkey,' the manager might inadvertently encourage dependency and stifle the engineer's growth. On the other hand, there are 'monkeys' that managers should not only accept but actively seek out. Suppose the team is working on a critical feature but finds themselves blocked due to a resource bottleneck. They need access to specific infrastructure or resources, access that requires the intervention of upper management or another department. In such cases, the manager should step in to negotiate with the relevant parties or escalate the issue to upper management. This 'monkey' is ideally suited for the manager to handle as it involves cross-departmental negotiation and decision-making, aspects that are beyond the team's control. The essence of 'monkey management' is about understanding who should own which 'monkey.' By ensuring that 'monkeys' remain with those who are best equipped to handle them, whether it's an individual contributor or a manager, we promote efficient use of time and resources. Moreover, it fosters a culture of ownership and personal growth within the team, which is invaluable in the dynamic field of software development. Effective management of "monkeys" can lead to a more empowered team, where subordinates take responsibility for issues and managers have more time to focus on their own tasks. However, the article acknowledges that this approach may not solve all problems, but it encourages managers to consider how they manage, and this, in turn, can help the company better achieve its goals.

How to Tame the 'Monkeys' Overrunning Your Management Time!

A Short History of the World, by H. G. Wells, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . MONKEYS, APES AND SUB-MEN MONKEYS, APES AND SUB-MEN Naturalists divide the class Mammalia into a number of orders. At the head of these is the order Primates, which includes the lemurs, the monkeys, apes and man. Their classification was based originally upon anatomical resemblances and took no account of any mental qualities. Now the past history of the Primates is one very difficult to decipher in the geological record. They are for the most part animals which live in forests like the lemurs and monkeys or in bare rocky places like the baboons. They are rarely drowned and covered up by sediment, nor are most of them very numerous species, and so they do not figure so largely among the fossils as the ancestors of the horses, camels and so forth do. But we know that quite early in the Cainozoic period, that is to say some forty million years ago or so, primitive monkeys and lemuroid creatures had appeared, poorer in brain and not so specialized as their later successors. The great world summer of the middle Cainozoic period drew at last to an end. It was to follow those other two great summers in the history of life, the summer of the Coal Swamps and the vast summer of the Age of Reptiles. Once more the earth spun towards an ice age. The world chilled, grew milder for a time and chilled again. In the warm past hippopotami had wallowed through a lush sub-tropical vegetation, and a tremendous tiger with fangs like sabres, the sabre-toothed tiger, had hunted its prey where now the journalists of Fleet Street go to and fro. Now came a bleaker age and still bleaker ages. A great weeding and extinction of species occurred. A woolly rhinoceros, adapted to a cold climate, and the mammoth, a big woolly cousin of the elephants, the Arctic musk ox and the reindeer passed across the scene. Then century by century the Arctic ice cap, the wintry death of the great Ice Age, crept southward. In England it came almost down to the Thames, in America it reached Ohio. There would be warmer spells of a few thousand years and relapses towards a bitterer cold. Geologists talk of these wintry phases as the First, Second, Third and Fourth Glacial Ages, and of the interludes as Interglacial periods. We live to-day in a world that is still impoverished and scarred by that terrible winter. The First Glacial Age was coming on 600,000 years ago; the Fourth Glacial Age reached its bitterest some fifty thousand years ago. And it was amidst the snows of this long universal winter that the first man-like beings lived upon our planet. FLINT IMPLEMENTS FOUND IN PILTDOWN REGION Nat. Hist. Mus. It is not until we come to sands that are almost a quarter of a million years old that we find any other particle of a sub- human being. But there are plenty of implements, and they are steadily improving in quality as we read on through the record. They are no longer clumsy Eoliths; they are now shapely instruments made with considerable skill. And they are much bigger than the similar implements afterwards made by true man. Then, in a sandpit at Heidelberg, appears a single quasi-human jaw-bone, a clumsy jaw-bone, absolutely chinless, far heavier than a true human jaw-bone and narrower, so that it is improbable the creature’s tongue could have moved about for articulate speech. On the strength of this jaw-bone, scientific men suppose this creature to have been a heavy, almost human monster, possibly with huge limbs and hands, possibly with a thick felt of hair, and they call it the Heidelberg Man. A THEORETICAL RESTORATION OF THE PITHECANTHROPUS ERECTUS BY PROF. RUTOT This jaw-bone is, I think, one of the most tormenting objects in the world to our human curiosity. To see it is like looking through a defective glass into the past and catching just one blurred and tantalizing glimpse of this Thing, shambling through the bleak wilderness, clambering to avoid the sabre- toothed tiger, watching the woolly rhinoceros in the woods. Then before we can scrutinize the monster, he vanishes. Yet the soil is littered abundantly with the indestructible implements he chipped out for his uses. THE HEIDELBERG MAN The Heidelberg Man, as modelled under the supervision of Prof. Rutot Still more fascinatingly enigmatical are the remains of a creature found at Piltdown in Sussex in a deposit that may indicate an age between a hundred and a hundred and fifty thousand years ago, though some authorities would put these particular remains back in time to before the Heidelberg jaw- bone. Here there are the remains of a thick sub-human skull much larger than any existing ape’s, and a chimpanzee-like jaw-bone which may or may not belong to it, and, in addition, a bat-shaped piece of elephant bone evidently carefully manufactured, through which a hole had apparently been bored. There is also the thigh-bone of a deer with cuts upon it like a tally. That is all. THE PILTDOWN SKULL, AS RECONSTRUCTED FROM ORIGINAL FRAGMENT Nat. Hist. Mus. What sort of beast was this creature which sat and bored holes in bones? Scientific men have named him Eoanthropus, the Dawn Man. He stands apart from his kindred; a very different being either from the Heidelberg creature or from any living ape. No other vestige like him is known. But the gravels and deposits of from one hundred thousand years onward are increasingly rich in implements of flint and similar stone. And these implements are no longer rude “Eoliths.” The archæologists are presently able to distinguish scrapers, borers, knives, darts, throwing stones and hand axes .... We are drawing very near to man. In our next section we shall have to describe the strangest of all these precursors of humanity, the Neanderthalers, the men who were almost, but not quite, true men. But it may be well perhaps to state quite clearly here that no scientific man supposes either of these creatures, the Heidelberg Man or Eoanthropus, to be direct ancestors of the men of to-day. These are, at the closest, related forms. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. H. G. Wells (2011). A Short History of the World. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11870/11870-h/11870-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

MONKEYS, APES AND SUB-MEN

Moby-Dick; or The Whale, by Herman Melville is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here: [ ]. Chapter 72:The Monkey-Rope LINK TO TABLE OF LINK CHAPTER 72. The Monkey-Rope. In the tumultuous business of cutting-in and attending to a whale, there is much running backwards and forwards among the crew. Now hands are wanted here, and then again hands are wanted there. There is no staying in any one place; for at one and the same time everything has to be done everywhere. It is much the same with him who endeavors the description of the scene. We must now retrace our way a little. It was mentioned that upon first breaking ground in the whale’s back, the blubber-hook was inserted into the original hole there cut by the spades of the mates. But how did so clumsy and weighty a mass as that same hook get fixed in that hole? It was inserted there by my particular friend Queequeg, whose duty it was, as harpooneer, to descend upon the monster’s back for the special purpose referred to. But in very many cases, circumstances require that the harpooneer shall remain on the whale till the whole flensing or stripping operation is concluded. The whale, be it observed, lies almost entirely submerged, excepting the immediate parts operated upon. So down there, some ten feet below the level of the deck, the poor harpooneer flounders about, half on the whale and half in the water, as the vast mass revolves like a tread-mill beneath him. On the occasion in question, Queequeg figured in the Highland costume—a shirt and socks—in which to my eyes, at least, he appeared to uncommon advantage; and no one had a better chance to observe him, as will presently be seen. Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s back. You have seen Italian organ-boys holding a dancing-ape by a long cord. Just so, from the ship’s steep side, did I hold Queequeg down there in the sea, by what is technically called in the fishery a monkey-rope, attached to a strong strip of canvas belted round his waist. It was a humorously perilous business for both of us. For, before we proceed further, it must be said that the monkey-rope was fast at both ends; fast to Queequeg’s broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather one. So that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; and should poor Queequeg sink to rise no more, then both usage and honor demanded, that instead of cutting the cord, it should drag me down in his wake. So, then, an elongated Siamese ligature united us. Queequeg was my own inseparable twin brother; nor could I any way get rid of the dangerous liabilities which the hempen bond entailed. So strongly and metaphysically did I conceive of my situation then, that while earnestly watching his motions, I seemed distinctly to perceive that my own individuality was now merged in a joint stock company of two; that my free will had received a mortal wound; and that another’s mistake or misfortune might plunge innocent me into unmerited disaster and death. Therefore, I saw that here was a sort of interregnum in Providence; for its even-handed equity never could have so gross an injustice. And yet still further pondering—while I jerked him now and then from between the whale and ship, which would threaten to jam him—still further pondering, I say, I saw that this situation of mine was the precise situation of every mortal that breathes; only, in most cases, he, one way or other, has this Siamese connexion with a plurality of other mortals. If your banker breaks, you snap; if your apothecary by mistake sends you poison in your pills, you die. True, you may say that, by exceeding caution, you may possibly escape these and the multitudinous other evil chances of life. But handle Queequeg’s monkey-rope heedfully as I would, sometimes he jerked it so, that I came very near sliding overboard. Nor could I possibly forget that, do what I would, I only had the management of one end of it.* *The monkey-rope is found in all whalers; but it was only in the Pequod that the monkey and his holder were ever tied together. This improvement upon the original usage was introduced by no less a man than Stubb, in order to afford the imperilled harpooneer the strongest possible guarantee for the faithfulness and vigilance of his monkey-rope holder. I have hinted that I would often jerk poor Queequeg from between the whale and the ship—where he would occasionally fall, from the incessant rolling and swaying of both. But this was not the only jamming jeopardy he was exposed to. Unappalled by the massacre made upon them during the night, the sharks now freshly and more keenly allured by the before pent blood which began to flow from the carcass—the rabid creatures swarmed round it like bees in a beehive. And right in among those sharks was Queequeg; who often pushed them aside with his floundering feet. A thing altogether incredible were it not that attracted by such prey as a dead whale, the otherwise miscellaneously carnivorous shark will seldom touch a man. Nevertheless, it may well be believed that since they have such a ravenous finger in the pie, it is deemed but wise to look sharp to them. Accordingly, besides the monkey-rope, with which I now and then jerked the poor fellow from too close a vicinity to the maw of what seemed a peculiarly ferocious shark—he was provided with still another protection. Suspended over the side in one of the stages, Tashtego and Daggoo continually flourished over his head a couple of keen whale-spades, wherewith they slaughtered as many sharks as they could reach. This procedure of theirs, to be sure, was very disinterested and benevolent of them. They meant Queequeg’s best happiness, I admit; but in their hasty zeal to befriend him, and from the circumstance that both he and the sharks were at times half hidden by the blood-muddled water, those indiscreet spades of theirs would come nearer amputating a leg than a tail. But poor Queequeg, I suppose, straining and gasping there with that great iron hook—poor Queequeg, I suppose, only prayed to his Yojo, and gave up his life into the hands of his gods. Well, well, my dear comrade and twin-brother, thought I, as I drew in and then slacked off the rope to every swell of the sea—what matters it, after all? Are you not the precious image of each and all of us men in this whaling world? That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends; and what between sharks and spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad. But courage! there is good cheer in store for you, Queequeg. For now, as with blue lips and blood-shot eyes the exhausted savage at last climbs up the chains and stands all dripping and involuntarily trembling over the side; the steward advances, and with a benevolent, consolatory glance hands him—what? Some hot Cognac? No! hands him, ye gods! hands him a cup of tepid ginger and water! “Ginger? Do I smell ginger?” suspiciously asked Stubb, coming near. “Yes, this must be ginger,” peering into the as yet untasted cup. Then standing as if incredulous for a while, he calmly walked towards the astonished steward slowly saying, “Ginger? ginger? and will you have the goodness to tell me, Mr. Dough-Boy, where lies the virtue of ginger? Ginger! is ginger the sort of fuel you use, Dough-boy, to kindle a fire in this shivering cannibal? Ginger!—what the devil is ginger? Sea-coal? firewood?—lucifer matches?—tinder?—gunpowder?—what the devil is ginger, I say, that you offer this cup to our poor Queequeg here.” “There is some sneaking Temperance Society movement about this business,” he suddenly added, now approaching Starbuck, who had just come from forward. “Will you look at that kannakin, sir: smell of it, if you please.” Then watching the mate’s countenance, he added, “The steward, Mr. Starbuck, had the face to offer that calomel and jalap to Queequeg, there, this instant off the whale. Is the steward an apothecary, sir? and may I ask whether this is the sort of bitters by which he blows back the life into a half-drowned man?” “I trust not,” said Starbuck, “it is poor stuff enough.” “Aye, aye, steward,” cried Stubb, “we’ll teach you to drug a harpooneer; none of your apothecary’s medicine here; you want to poison us, do ye? You have got out insurances on our lives and want to murder us all, and pocket the proceeds, do ye?” “It was not me,” cried Dough-Boy, “it was Aunt Charity that brought the ginger on board; and bade me never give the harpooneers any spirits, but only this ginger-jub—so she called it.” “Ginger-jub! you gingerly rascal! take that! and run along with ye to the lockers, and get something better. I hope I do no wrong, Mr. Starbuck. It is the captain’s orders—grog for the harpooneer on a whale.” “Enough,” replied Starbuck, “only don’t hit him again, but—” “Oh, I never hurt when I hit, except when I hit a whale or something of that sort; and this fellow’s a weazel. What were you about saying, sir?” “Only this: go down with him, and get what thou wantest thyself.” When Stubb reappeared, he came with a dark flask in one hand, and a sort of tea-caddy in the other. The first contained strong spirits, and was handed to Queequeg; the second was Aunt Charity’s gift, and that was freely given to the waves. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022 from Melville, Herman, 2001. Moby-Dick: or The Whale. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm#link2HCH0072 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Moby-Dick; or The Whale: Chapter 72 -The Monkey-Rope

Last June, a large parcel of Sand was purchased by the exclusive NFT team within the popular metaverse The Sandbox, generating greater buyer interest in all parcels around this virtual property. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) As Josh Ong announced on his official account on June 8, the euphoria around the lot acquired by BAYC was followed by pressure to buy lots around the official property of the exclusive club in the popular blockchain game, by part of some apes and other fanatics who were quick to become the new neighbors of these particular NFTs. Twitter Already on May 29, the official account of Bored Ape Yacht Club on , indicated what was to come in the next sale of SAND carried out by The Sandbox platform, which together with the FOMO and the interest in the popular metaverse by the followers of both platforms, triggered a success in the auction of plots executed a few days later by the metaverse. Twitter Interest in the Sandbox platform by the 'apes' was quite high, to the point that Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of the metaverse dedicated a about the euphoria of 'colonization' that haunted the virtual world of BAYC in the blockchain gaming platform, with the entry of new SAND owners related to the exclusive NFT club. tweet But what is Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)? On April 23, 2021, the Discord channel announced the pre-sale to the public of BAYC, which generated little interest at that time. Bored Ape Yacht Club consisted of apes minted under unique and scarce Blockchain technology (10 thousand NFTs), ingredients that served for its popularity once the NFTs were revealed on April 30 on the Twitter and Discord social media. Like wildfire, these minted apes began to be palatable by art collectors within the blockchain ecosystem, generating a fairly lucrative secondary market on the OpenSea Marketplace by then. To this day, belonging to this selective NFT club is for many a distinction of class and exclusivity of a select group of members that have, among others, NBA stars such as Tyrese Haliburton, LaMelo Ball and Josh Hart. In addition to other renowned figures such as Rohan Gharegozlou (CEO Dapper Labs), Mark Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk (VeeFriends), Daryl Morey (Philadelphia 76ers), etc. Since the launch of the BAYC project, the apes minted in the form of NFTs have been sold for around 42, 55 and up to 58 Ethereum, after an asking price last April of just 0.08 ETH. With more than 4,161 holders, BAYC has become a fledgling world of exclusive NFT collectors with a market capitalization valued at just over $100 million, being a successful success in such a short time to market. The Sandbox is one of the Blockchain-powered virtual worlds available on the market today. This metaverse consists of lands, and voxels fill each of those lands. In this metaverse, LAND is a virtual property that players, users, or investors can purchase to build experiences on and monetize, filling them with games and assets. Currently, this platform occupies the fifth position in terms of sales volume in the last seven days, according to CoinMarketCap with a little more than a million dollars. With this positive sentiment about The Sandbox and BAYC, the takeoff of the virtual planet of the apes was a matter of minutes within the popular metaverse, proving once again that these Blockchain-based worlds and the NFT community have a lot of future ahead of them.

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MONKEE

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