Something I've been working on...

 The last couple of posts have been more about what other people have been doing - attending the documentary screening at Tribeca, using me to advertise for MicroCon 2027... But today I want to show you all something I've been working on myself.

The picture below shows one side of our new paper currency - the currency name is the New Llama, and it's symbol is the Ł (a capital L with a line through it - which is actually the 16th letter of the Polish alphabet). The currency is printed on high rag content (75%) paper, which is similar composition to what macronational currencies are often printed on. The bill design was generated with the help of Google Gemini AI, mainly because without it I wouldn't have been able to get the engraving without going insane, broke, or both. For the most part I'm not a fan of using generative AI for things that I can do for myself (or teach myself to do), but I made an exception for this, and it turned out very well.

Hot off the printer, new paper currency!

The other side is also cool, but I'll make that a separate post. Gotta keep making content for the content-machine!

Another cool thing that happened recently

 So, per my last post, while I've been silent here I haven't been completely off the planet. Recently, as part of the advertising campaign for MicroCon 2027, they posted an Instagram reel of a brief interview I did at MicroCon 2025 in Montreal. You can watch that reel here. And yes, per my comment that I posted below the reel, I already have a presentation ready to go for San Diego, even though it's still about 14 months away at this point...

A random picture from MicroCon 2025 for the algorithm
(Presenting a Slabovian friendship medal to Phil Pillin of Pibocip)

Where did I go? (Nowhere, I'm still here!)

 Yeah, it's been a hot minute since I updated here. Stuff's been happening. And is still happening. And hopefully will keep happening. I'll make several posts out of it to spread the news.

For today, the micronations documentary did air at the Tribeca Film Festival! Unfortunately, I was unable to attend (affairs of state and all that 😊) but several micronational rulers did attend, including Grand Duke Travis McHenry of Westarctica, Queen Carolyn of Ladonia, and President and First Lady Kevin and Adrianne Baugh of Molossia, as well as Dr. Robert Motum, who authored the micronations article that appeared in the Globe & Mail newspaper last year.

Here's the trailer for the documentary:

More to come soon!

Coming to the Tribeca film festival!

 Joe Kowalski, a film maker, has been making a documentary about micronations for the last several years, including attending MicroCon events. He recently announced that his film will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival (June 3-14, 2026). Information and tickets can be purchased here.

I haven't seen it, so I don't know if I am actually in it or not, but several friends of Slabovia are prominently featured in the documentary, including Queen Carolyn Shelby of Ladonia, Grand Duke Travis McHenry of Westarctica, Prince Phil Pillin of Pibocip, King Ernest Emmanuel of Amethonia, and President Kevin Baugh of Molossia. What's more, several of those people will be at the film's premiere on June 5th, including President Kevin (and First Lady Adrianne) of Molossia, Queen Carolyn of Ladonia, and Grand Duke Travis of Westarctica, to participate in a Q&A.

Joe Kowalski is in this photo.
Somewhere.

Micronations aren't "real" nations, and that's a good thing!

 A frequent criticism of micronations is that we're "just playing" because we're "not real nations". Well, that's actually a good thing, in my opinion.

In order to explain why, I'm going to start with a quote from Belle of the Ranch (YouTube), who often states, "Nations don't have friends, they have interests." In other words, nations are always looking for a competitive advantage, and that drives who they ally with. Micronations, on the other hand, are not competing with each other (for the most part they don't have shared economies, they aren't claiming the same land, and they aren't competing for other resources, except maybe citizens), and therefore self-interest does not drive which other micronations they maintain relations with.

Thus, a micronation is free to choose its "friends" using any criteria it likes, including shared interests, shared beliefs, or even just shared experiences (such as MicroCon!). It's because of this that I've formed a number of good friendships through the micronational community - since I am not wondering what another micronational ruler is trying to gain from me, I don't have to second-guess every word and gesture in a conversation.

Of course, that's also why Slabovia doesn't bother signing "recognition treaties" with other micronations - there's no need for them in our view. Your micronation exists (in our eyes) from the moment you declare it, and it will continue to exist until it explicitly doesn't - i.e. you state (for whatever reason) that you're wrapping it up or subsuming it in another micronation or whatever. Arguably, your micronation continues to exist even after you've departed this world, as long as there's someone around to remember it.

A centrepiece of micronational flags
MicroCon 2019

Statement on the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

 For the record, I'm not a huge fan of GenAI systems such as ChatGPT, Claude, and the like. I'm not a total Luddite, I recognize that these systems have their place, and I even use them occasionally. However, I do not, and will not, allow such systems to speak for me. I don't let them write my social media posts, although I sometimes use one as a "sounding board" to get some ideas, and I only use their art sparingly when there's no other alternative - I think I've used exactly ONE AI-generated image on this blog, and I called that out in the post at the time.

I don't see this changing in the future, either. Yes, sometimes it's hard to come up with ideas for social media posts, but the various issues associated with GenAI systems (such as the environmental costs, the copywrite issues, and the cognitive effects that are exhibited by heavy users of such systems) make them a tool that I'm only willing to use sparingly, and with extreme care.

In short, this blog remains 100% written by a real human being, and that's not something that's liable to change any time soon.

Picture for the algorithm

Whoops! I was supposed to have a post ready...

 Oh look, someone forgot to have a post queued up again!

In my (rather weak) defense, I'm in the middle of another cybersecurity competition, keeping my skills (skillz?) tuned up for the defense of the cyber realm.

But that got me thinking earlier this week that Slabovia has more of a military presence than we really claim to. If you believe our outward statements, we mainly just have a Navey (sic) and a Maroon Corps. But we also have SCENTDROP (our cybersecurity force), drones, a trained and capable space force in BARFleet, and a nascent Space Maroon capability.  We're currently seeing in various world conflicts that drones are rapidly changing the face of combat, the US military has created a "Space Force" to prosecute war in that domain, and a couple of years ago Canada created a separate Cyber Command within their military structure (led by Major General Dave, who I've known since he was Officer Cadet Dave).

What I'm driving at, I think, is that micronations can't compete with macronations in the traditional military space - the cost of a single destroyer would collectively bankrupt pretty much all of the micronations, much less being able to pay to fuel and arm it. But where we can maybe "compete", or at least be near-peers, is in the emerging military sectors of cyber, drone, and space. 

The ship's crest of the USS Don Quixote,
the flag ship of BARFleet