More Fan Mail

hi this is charles hoskinson broadcasting live from warm sunny colorado always warm always sunny sometimes colorado so today i have something special we receive fan mail all the time and every now and then i get some really cool fan mail and i read it off and so i figured i'd take the time because they took the time to write me to read off the letter that i received so this letter comes from bryant austin and he's based in carmel california and he says dear charles i was fortunate to discover your work last year through lex friedman's interview with ben gortzel someone i admire as much as yourself now as i later watched your ama videos i was moved by how you made it clear you are not motivated by the day-to-day price of ada i love how you keep your vision and your truth at the center not allowing them to be eclipsed by a scarcity state of mind since discovering cardano i've been accumulating staking ada and i'm committed all the way i'm committed because i see so many important elements coming together the vision and mission itself the long-term scientifically disciplined approach and most of all your values these values bring us closer to being in a state of presence they also govern the way i work in my own field of photography i'm mostly known for making life-size portraits of whales the process to make these photographs is fairly simple but elusive to my peers all it takes is a willingness to emotionally decouple from the short-term financial thinking and all the bad decisions that come with it there really isn't much to it well let's see i sit motion i float motionless and alone on a snorkel and the whales observing them from a distance i give the whales all the time and space they need to explore their curiosity of me if any when they are curious a whale will swim to within five feet and to meet my eyes and allow the portrait session to begin these close-up moments have lasted anywhere from ten seconds to six hours moments such as these occur less than one percent of the time well at sea for up to three months these one percent moments are so precious that it's worth the expense and uncertainty in doing so something very special is captured for humanity and for future generations i invested 12 years of my life working full-time to realize 14 life-size whale portraits they range in sizes from four by six feet all the way to eight by 36 feet these portraits have toured all over the world including countries that hunt whales during that time i've met with whalers and witnessed their responses to the portraits and to my stories it was a deeply encouraging experience despite these accomplishments and having several galleries show my work year round i've never been able to find a way to financially sustain this creative practice as a result i've made a decision to pause my work with whales and pursue a new direction with trees well brian i'd highly encourage you to spend some time with vassell he's one of our community members and he loves trees more than i think anyone else in the world anyway back to the letter i believe cardano will become the global financial operating system that you envision and more i also believe cardano is my path back to the whales as a small expression of my gratitude for your work and to celebrate cardano becoming fully decentralized i've i've enclosed the last copy of my book entitled beautiful whale it is exceptionally heartening now to be part of this larger community you've created a community who understands these values and sees the big picture to solve important global scale problems i'm so grateful to you your team and the cardinal community sincerely bryant austin and here is the book and it really is an incredible book i think they call these coffee table books but there are some remarkable pictures here and he had to spend 12 years taking pictures of these amazing creatures and just think that all that goes into it you see a whale and one time out of 100 the whale will actually come up to you and even after that happens you might not actually get a good shot so i it's an extraordinary testimony to a person's patience and perseverance but because of that each and every one of us gets to share in that collective beauty that he created for all of us so as i said i love fan mail it's always exciting to see who's in the community and it takes all kinds and being born in hawaii i have some incredible memories of the humpback whales they come and have their kids nearby maui and other places so anytime i see anything involving whales it always gets me excited so that's it nothing special just a fan mail and thank you so much for sharing your tale with us and from time to time i read the letters that i get until next time you all have a wonderful day and see you around