#it felt a lot like how exchanging foreign currency is described

[kyofsonder]

Sometimes writing involves haggling with your own stories/poems/other creative works. Maybe it can't fit all 5 things you envisioned, but it can fit 1 of them and give you a bonus 2 you didn't think of in the planning stage for a discounted total of 3 and you'll just have to take that.

[xhaotixaesthetica]

SVT Hip-Hop Unit Reaction to You Falling in Love W/ Them Even Though They’re Aliens

Starlink Intergalactic Navigator 

Author’s Note: Hey anon, thanks so much for requesting! And this is by no means too tame, I think it’s really cute and this was super fun to write! I love fluff and you can always feel free to request it. I really hope you like it. Since it’s only four members, I tried to give you a long one! 

Trigger Warning: none

Genre: fluff 

Word-Count: 5.7K+ 

You are on: Gaia, a dwarf planet 

S.Coups/Seungcheol 

Seungcheol has a decent amount of brain cells and if it wasn’t for the fact that he almost died in the crash, he probably would have been off Earth pretty quickly and never would have even met you.

Unfortunately, when his ship crash-landed, he broke several bones and was in pretty critical condition.

On the night this happened, you happened to be walking your dog when there was a gigantic streak across the sky and a loud crash that shook the earth and made you think the world was ending for a split second. It all sounds very dramatic but it happened pretty quick actually.

For a second, neither you or your dog knew what had happened and you just stared at each other in stunned silence. Finally, you both recovered from the shock and, being the dumbasses you are, raced in the direction of the crash site.

When you got there, your jaw dropped upon seeing a gigantic vessel, obviously a spaceship, resting against a large tree, smoke emitting from the top. There was a deep gouge in the earth from where the ship had slid across the meadow upon collision. Despite how sleek and delicate the ship looked, there weren’t too many dents, but the smoke and various disturbing noises coming from it didn’t really sound so good, so you figured the inside didn’t really look as neat and undamaged.

So stunned from what you were seeing, your brain hadn’t even had time to process what was happening before your dog ran over the side of the ship, barking urgently.

“Hey, D/N, come back here!” you ran after them. “You don’t know what’s over . . . . there . . . oh no.”

The glass, that probably served as a windshield, was cracked, shattered almost completely and in the middle was a giant jagged hole where a man’s body had launched through.

The man was motionless, arms at odd angles and blood leaking rapidly from the cuts littering his body. But the blood...was...blue?

It was a pretty periwinkle color and it stunned for a moment before you remembered that the man was probably severely hurt. But also he was apparently an alien. What if he was dangerous?

Your dog continued barking at you, growling a bit as if to say What are you waiting for? Help him!

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” you hissed frantically to yourself, trying your best to haul the man out of the busted windshield without furthering his injuries.

He was quite heavy, a decent height frame lined with muscle and you yelped as you finally pulled him out and toppled over with the force of his weight leaning on you.

A blue cuff on his left wrist was beeping frantically and, not knowing what else to do, you pressed the blinking red button.

Immediately, several frantic voices flooded through the cuff (or maybe a communication device) and you balked at the sound of the alien language coming out of their mouths.

“Hello?” you tried and immediately the voices stopped.

“Hello? My name is Y/N, and I’ve got your friend. His ship crashed here and he’s hurt really bad. I-I don’t know what to do, do I take him to a doctor?”

There was a rustling noise and the murmuring of voices. You thought you caught the word “English” a few times, but their accent was thick and unlike anything you’d ever heard before, so you could easily be mistaken.

Finally, someone came on the phone, his English perfect and accent identical to yours, “Hi, Y/n. I’m Joshua. The man you have is Seungcheol. Can you describe his injuries for me, please?”

“Uh, he flew out of ship windshield, he has glass embedded in him, probably a few broken bones, losing a lot of blood, some deep cuts and gouges, and he’s unconscious.”

There was a large sound of relieved sighs before Joshua spoke again, “Ok, that’s good, that’s easy. All you have to do is push the yellow button on the communication device you’re speaking on.”

You wasted no time in following his directions and yelped when a blue net enveloped the man, clinging tight to his skin. The glass embedded inside him shot out and blue blood began clotting against the cuts.

“The external damage should heal quite quickly, but the internal damage will take some time. He needs lots of rest and not to be disturbed.”

“I-I can take him back to my house until someone comes and gets him.”

There was silence for a moment before a new voice spoke, accent a lot thicker but words still understandable. “It will be a few months before we can get him. Earth isn’t exactly close to us.”

“That’s fine,” you said with no hesitation.” I’ll take care of him.”

It took three weeks for Seungcheol to wake up. You supposed his internal damage was quite extensive, but considering the face that he never got any medical treatment, you found it quite impressive.

Seungcheol would be very grateful that you agreed to let him stay at your house until his brothers came to fetch him. He found the fact that you even stopped to help him and activated his communication device to be very kind-hearted and he treated you like a god/dess among men.

He would be at your beck and call, doing anything you asked of him in an attempt to repay you for saving his life and giving him a place to stay.

It would take a bit of coaxing for you to finally get him to relax and start treating like an equal instead of his boss or royalty from a foreign land.

He would open up slowly about his role as the caretaker of his twelve younger brothers and the antics they get up to.

Despite the looming threat of his departure, you couldn’t help falling for the kindness in his eyes and his thoughtfulness and selflessness. It was hard not to swoon at the gentle way he touched you and the strength with which he protected you.

Seungcheol was so kind and so grateful to you for saving him that it was incredibly difficult for you to tell if he actually had feelings for you or if he was just being nice.

But when a tall boy showed up on your doorstep, the same Joshua you spoke to months ago, and said they were ready to take Seungcheol back, you couldn’t help the tears from falling.

Joshua left to let you two have a moment in private.

Seungcheol was panicked and flabbergasted.

“Why are you crying?” he said, taking your face in his hands and wiping your tears away with his thumbs. The feeling of his warm hands cupping your face so softly, like you were the most precious thing on your planet or his, made you spill your feelings before you even realized what was happening.

“I’m in love with you, Cheol. I tried to ignore it because I know you have to go back, and I didn’t know if you felt the same, but I don’t want you to leave, I love you so much,” Seungcheol’s eyes were wide, jaw dropped as you collapsed onto his chest, crying into his t-shirt.

He never thought you’d feel the same. He didn’t think you’d want someone like him, someone with blue blood and a different home planet and twelve people who depend on him. But you do. You’re in love with him. And no matter the obstacle, he wasn’t planning on letting your feelings or his go to waste.

“I love you too,” he said, closing his arms around you.

“We’ll figure it out,” he resolved. “I don’t care what we have to do, as long as we stay together.”

Wonwoo 

Wonwoo is not concerned about going back to his home planet.

Like, at all.

He lets his brothers know where he is so that they won’t have to worry, but that’s about it. He knows that they will eventually come to retrieve him, but until then, he figures he might as well enjoy this impromptu vacation away from their stupidity.

He seems to be more concerned with learning about Earth and studying the culture of your town where he landed.

You meet him at the coffee shop you frequent. You’re there to do your normal studying one evening and get in a quick caffeine fix when you see him walk in, arms filled with at least eighteen different library books on the most random topics.

You assume that he’s a college student, too. Maybe he’s studying for his thesis or whatever.

You’re really too preoccupied with the test you’re pretty sure you’re going to fail to care.

You get your drink and sit down at a table, cracking open a book and your notes to get started.

You have even begun to start concentrating when you feel a tap on your shoulder.

You look up to see cute library book boy standing over you, face expressionless, hands cupping various coins and dollar bills.

“Excuse me, how much of this is nine dollars and seventy-two cents?” he asks.

Your brows raise in bewilderment and you glance to the barista who seems to be equally confused, looking at you and shrugging.

But Wonwoo’s expression doesn’t waver, and you realize he’s dead serious. Figuring that he must be a foreigner that hasn’t yet grasped the currency exchange rate, you pick out the necessary currency and hand it to him.

“Thank you. That is what you say here, right?”

“Uh,” you blinked, “yeah.”

The man nodded and walked back to the counter.

You stared for a moment, trying to shake yourself out of the bizarre conversation and focus back onto your schoolwork.

You’re just about to succeed in doing that when you feel another tap on your shoulder.

Beginning to get annoyed now, you turn to see cute library book boy once again, but this time, he has a coffee in his hand and his eyes are focused on some of the homework problems you’d completed in a study session a couple of hours prior.

“Those are wrong,” he deadpans before pulling a seat next to you and correcting them.

 A part of you wanted to curse him out, but when you thought about it, it was actually a nice, helpful thing he was doing, even if he wasn’t really minding his business at all.

Wonwoo turns out to be a pretty good teacher. He seems to know everything about this complicated-ass college math you’re learning and he explains it all to you in a very clear, easy-to-understand way.

You cover twice the material in half the time, and you’re astounded by the time you both are done.

“Thank you so much!” you gush, looking back and forth between him and your much better notes in disbelief.

For the first time since you two have spoken, you see a hint of emotion on his face, his expression sheepish as he looks down into his nearly empty cup of coffee and nods, without saying anything.

“Are you a student too? You’ve taken this class before?”

Wonwoo stares at you for a moment before nodding.

“Yes,” he said, nodding. “I most certainly attend,” he takes a sly peek at the cover of your textbook, “advanced calculus.”

Wonwoo isn’t particularly hard to get used to. He doesn’t really say much, just follows you around and observes, while reading books at an admittedly alarming rate.

He claims that he reads so many strange and arbitrary things because he’s a foreign exchange student from South Korea who’s studying the culture of your country.

You have no reason to not believe him. Some of the things he's curious about or asks about are a bit strange. You’ve caught him giving completely commonplace things like the toilet or refrigerator very odd looks, opening the fridge doors and flushing the toilet as if trying to see what’ll happen or what the machine will do. You’ve seen him read the weirdest books, on the evolution and making of bees and their honey, and satellite dishes, and infrared waves.

He always comes up with good excuses though, and who in their right mind would really come to the conclusion that someone’s an alien, so you have no problem believing him.

Even when you get to know Wonwoo more, he’s still not a talker, but he does talk a little. He tells you of his family and a bit about his home. But he’s very reserves since he doesn’t know how you’ll react to him being an alien, and he can’t risk giving himself away.

He doesn’t want to lose your company, or worse, have you turn him in to the authorities.

But he does an excellent job of listening to what you have to say. He remembers every single thing you tell him, even down the small things like which incredibly minor character you hated in a show you both watched months ago. He always gives you the best advice and a shoulder to cry on and never judges you. He protects you in his own little tsundere way and you find yourself forgetting what it’s like not to have Wonwoo around.

It becomes a rare occurrence to see one of you without the other. You both feed off each other's strengths and energy, becoming a powerful whole when combined.

Being with him in as natural as breathing, so it becomes very easy to notice when he starts pulling away.

Wonwoo knows he only has a couple of weeks left here, that his brothers can’t be too far away. And he knows that he’ll probably never be able to see you again. He knows that he can’t give you a satisfactory explanation. Because if he really was in South Korea, at least you guys would be able to Skype and talk on the phone and visit each other every once in a while, maybe even exchange letters and emails or something.

But there couldn’t be any of that, and he wouldn’t be able to give you any explanation as to why. Just had to abandon you without a backward glance, ignoring the pain in your eyes, and that constricting feeling in his heart that appeared whenever he was away from you for too long.

He couldn’t bear to go through any of that, so he resolved that this way was better. Just gradually stop being around each other until, by the time he left, you wouldn’t even notice he was gone.

But Wonwoo greatly underestimated both your feelings for him and his importance in your daily life.

You couldn’t get coffee without thinking about him, couldn’t eat without thinking about him, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t read, couldn’t study, couldn’t attend lectures.

You missed your other half, you needed an explanation for why he was pulling away from you.

One night, you’d had enough.

Wonwoo rented a small house on the edge of town, kind of near the woods, and you wasted no time in driving there and bursting in with the key he gave you.

You couldn’t find him in the entire house and the entire thing looked very clean....like someone had moved out.

Your heart sank.

“Wonwoo! WONWOO!”

Panic raced through your veins as you took off into the nearby woods, startled birds fleeing their coops at the sound of your shrieks, but you were too preoccupied to care.

He couldn’t have left, not without saying goodbye, not without even mentioning it to you. He wouldn’t do that. Maybe he didn’t have romantic feelings for you like you did for him, but you knew he felt something for you, he couldn’t have gone back to Korea without saying anything.

“Y/N?” Wonwoo said, confused.

You skidded to a halt, taking a few cautious steps back, in befuddled awe at the giant spaceship you were looking at right now.

You’d run right in a clearing where a giant disk of unidentified metal, glowing a bright blue, sat. Twelve other boys were there, looking at you quite surprised and scared but Wonwoo was just confused and astonished.

“What are you doing here? How did you get out here?” he said, coming closer to you.

You just continued staring at the spaceship and stammering. “You, y-you, how....” You looked at him, realization finally dawning on him.

“You’re a—”

“You shouldn't be here,” Wonwoo interrupted, looking away as if he could bear to hear the word alien come out of your mouth. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes downcast, you’d never seen him look so defeated.

“I didn’t tell you goodbye for a reason, Y/N. I didn’t want to have to say goodbye to you or tell you what I am. I didn’t want you to think bad of me or turn me in.”

You frowned, the shock wearing off as you stepped closer to him, taking his hand in yours.

“I don’t think badly of you, Wonwoo. I don’t care what you are, it doesn’t change my feelings for you.”

Now it was Wonwoo’s turn to look shocked and confused. “What feelings, Y/N?” he said cautiously.

Instead of responding, you just stood closer and lightly touched your lips to his. The kiss was gentle, short, barely-even-there, but it still snatched the breath from your chest.

Wonwoo’s eyes were wide, his grin broad. It was the happiest you’d ever seen him.

“If it means I never have to see that again,” drawled an incredibly short, pale boy whose face looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here, “then Wonwoo can stay.”

“You’re the worst brother ever, Woozi,” Wonwoo said with no malice in his tone before kissing you again.

Mingyu 

Mingyu wasn’t quite as lucky as Vernon. He got a concussion in the crash and passed out, but he wasn’t in nearly as bad a shape as Seungcheol, so that’s lucky.

But what Mingyu makes up for in not being injured, he loses in the amount he panics. Mingyu is one of those people that starts freaking out and loses ALL of his damn common sense.

He ran around in circles screaming for fifteen whole minutes, scaring away all the small animals nearby.

Eventually, as he got a good look at the foreign planet around him, his hysteria mounted even higher and his idiot brain told him to run until he came to civilization.

That’s exactly what he did. Arms up and screaming like a Spongebob character, Mingyu ran all the way to your house.

When you opened the door, the last thing you expected was to see a six-foot-tall screaming man with lilac skin like a fucking alien Sim. Mingyu had completely forgotten that he had purple skin and was stranded on a planet full of humans who had never even discovered that aliens existed yet.

You shrieked, which made Mingyu scream even louder.

For a moment you just stood there shrieking at each other, waking your confused and angry neighbors up in the process.

Thankfully, your bran eventually realized the potential consequences of someone coming out to get their mail and seeing this purple man in your doorway and you pulled him in by his shirt-collar, slamming the door behind him, and immediately crossing to the window to look out and make sure that no one had seen.

No one appeared for a moment, but eventually, heads started to pop out of windows and front doors flew open as your neighbors looked for the source of the disturbance.

No one seemed to have seen the strange purple man on your doorstep.

The man who was still screaming.

It took six slaps for you to finally get Mingyu under control and he pouted intensely as he rubbed the red and slightly swollen left side of his face.

It didn’t take much for Mingyu to explain the situation and, after the fright he’d given you on your doorstep, it was easy for you to accept the circumstances as he contacted his brothers who told him that they would be there as soon as possible to pick him up.

Unlike Vernon, Mingyu actually made himself useful when staying at your house. He cooks and cleans and takes care of most of your housework while you’re at work or school. You may have to teach him how to work some of the things, like the microwave or the oven, but once you show him a couple of times, he’s got it. He makes use of the internet and learns the most common recipes for your culture and area and he’ll make sure to have hot meals ready for you when you leave and when you come home. He’ll also pack you a lunch and some pretty tasty snacks.

Mingyu is incredibly easy to talk to and you and he will spend hours of the night in conversation with each other. He listens to every single word you say and he loves how gentle and patient you are about explaining the way things work on earth.

He loves how hard-working and passionate you are and anything that annoys/saddens you, he will instantly hate.

You two don’t have an instant connection, it’s something that’s almost even more special, that slow melding of souls as you two get to know each other until eventually, you both know each other’s deepest darkest secrets.

Mingyu is the only one of the fours who will sit down and have a mature conversation with you when he sees that both of you are catching feelings for each other. He’s perceptive enough to see that you don’t give a fuck about him being an alien and that you’re falling for him just as hard as he is for you, so he doesn’t hesitate to talk to you about it.

"We need to talk,” Mingyu says by way of greeting the moment you get home from school/work.

Your brow furrows as you set your bag down.

Mingyu’s sitting at the dining table and your heart skips a beat when you see that in the seat across from him, a hot meal is already fixed and waiting for you.

“What’s wrong?” you ask as you sit down in front of him, too anxious to pick up the fork and dig in yet.

Mingyu twiddles his thumbs for a while before sighing, leveling you with a serious look that’s rare for him.

“I’m falling in love with you,” he says simply.

You stare at him for a few seconds before slowly nodding.

“Me too. I know you’ll have to leave soon, but I can’t help it. I love you a lot.”

Mingyu smiles, slyly sliding his large hand across the table, entwining his fingers with yours.

“I don’t have to leave. They can fix my ship so I can go back if I need to, but I don’t have to.”

“Then stay,” you breathe, looking into his eyes pleadingly, “Or I’ll stay with you. I don’t care what planet we stay on, as long as we stay with each other.”

Mingyu nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

Vernon/Hansol 

Considering what just happened, Vernon isn’t nearly as worried about the situation as he should be.

His ship isn’t particularly banged up, its fixable with the technology his alien race has. The only issue is Vernon isn’t very tech-savvy, to say the least, so he has no hope of fixing it by himself. If he wants to make it back to his homeworld, he has to call one of his twelve brothers to come to get him.

But Vernon is pretty curious and fascinated by Earth and he also doesn’t want to get scolded by Joshua and Woozi, so he really isn’t in a hurry to call for help.

You’re in a nearby forest, trying to take some notes and pictures of local animals for your Biology class. Your earbuds are in and you’re focused intensely on your task so you don’t even notice the crash.

When you come upon Vernon, you’re pretty surprised to see him standing next to a gigantic glowing blue disk, made out of no metal you’ve ever seen before in your life. You figure it has to be a pretty strong metal to have left digs in the soil that deep but not really be damaged.

But the more surprising thing is Vernon standing there with an anxious but elated smile on his face, using a finger to stroke the snake that was wrapped around his neck.

Your eyes widened at the sight.

You didn’t really want to alarm cute mystery boy but that snake was one of the animals your teacher had told you about. It was extremely venomous and known for being very aggressive.

You didn’t understand why it was actually letting the boy touch him, even seeming to almost enjoy being pet, but you didn’t want the boy to die in case the snake suddenly decided to change its mind.

“Excuse me,” you piped up. “Uh, I don’t want to scare you or anything but that snake around your neck? Its venom is really lethal.”

The boy's eyes widened and for a second, you thought he was going to freak out.

“Really?” he said, looking at the snake before glancing back at you, his face breaking out into a broad grin. “Cool!”

It’s at that moment you’re convinced that he’s crazy.

Vernon refuses to take the snake off of his neck, and he also refuses to stop following you as you traipse around the forest looking for things to study and take pictures of for your assignment.

He absolutely would not stop talking, pointing at perfectly normal things and asking the most absurd questions while he bounced in place like a toddler.

“What’s that?”

“Why does it have so many colors?”

“How does it have babies if it can’t move?”

You’re highly annoyed at first, you’ve told him to shove off multiple times, but that seems to be the point in time at which he goes deaf.

But eventually, you start noticing that his questions are quite helpful to your assignment. You’re noticing things that you normally wouldn’t, and his questions are helpful like they would be if a friend was quizzing you from your notes for an upcoming test.

It’s only when you’re through with the assignment and heading out of the forest when you stop dead in your tracks, finally processing what you saw Vernon standing next to a couple hours ago.

“You’re an alien!”

He looks at you like you’re stupid.

“Uh. Yeah? You think I just normally going around asking about a planet’s common flora? I’m not an idiot, Y/N.”

You were under the impression that he was exactly that but you kept your mouth shut.

His behavior made a lot more sense, but you sighed as you came to a realization.

“You’re coming home with me, aren’t you?”

“Yup, pretty much.”

It takes a lot of adjustment to get used to Vernon being in your house. He has a device on his wrist, which you previously thought was a watch, that he actually uses to revert back and forth between his human disguise and his real form.

His real form is exactly the same, just a different skin color.

“People are a lot more interesting on your planet. Pretty browns and pinks. We’re just blue, green, and purple. Booooringgg.”

You just stared at him blank and wide-eyed, not sure whether tell him that those colors weren’t boring at all for skin colors or to just let your brain focus on the fact that you were looking at a blue boy right now.

His skin was a very pretty teal with lovely faded magenta hues in various parts of his skin. It was beautiful but extremely hard to get used to.

Vernon asked questions about every. Single. Thing.

He wanted to know what everything was, where it came for, how you got it, what it did, what would happen to it when you didn’t want it anymore, how to break things, how to put them back together and so much more.

And while this made him look very strange the first few weeks, his incessant need to know everything about everything meant that he acquired so much knowledge after a certain period of time that you’d think he was human.

His grasp on your language had been rudimentary when he arrived but now he was speaking like a native.

You found it hard not to have fun with Vernon.

He did things just because he felt like it, there normally wasn’t any rhyme, reason, or logic.

“Because it’ll be fun, that’s why! Come on, I don’t want to do it without you!”

Vernon was pretty extraverted. He was charming and funny and made a lot of friends very quickly, but no matter how many people he met, he always wanted to stick close to you.

After three months, Vernon was telling you about his brothers one night when you asked why they hadn’t tried to contact him.

A look of absolute horror dawned on his face.

“You forgot to tell them what happened, didn’t you?”

“SEUNGCHEOL’S GONNA KILL ME!”

The minute Vernon used his wrist-thingy to get into contact with one of his brothers, he got a scolding the likes of which you’d never heard.

There were twelve voices yelling at him at once in a language that you couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Even with the language barrier, you could tell that this was a scolding you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of, and you wanted to feel bad for Hansol, but really how could he forget to contact his brothers, who’d probably thought he was dead all this time.

Plus, his expression, wide-eyed, jaw-dropped, terrified, and hands shaking was too hilarious not to laugh at.

The moment you let out the sound, everyone stopped scolding him.

“You’re with a human?” one of them said, in English now.

Vernon, eager to get off the topic of his idiotic mistake, practically shoved the communication device in your face, yelling, “Yes! Yes, this is the person that found me, this is Y/N! Say hi, Y/n!”

“Hi,” you said, frantically trying to fend off Vernon’s flailing arm, “now get off me, you idiot!”

“I’m so sorry you’ve had to put up with him for so long,” the same boy said.

“Hey!” Vernon said indignantly and you laughed.

“Yeah, it’s been a challenge, but I enjoy his company for the most part, actually. Sorry about you probably thinking he was dead for three months, I honestly thought he at least had the brain cells to let you know he was alright.”

“People make mistakes!” Vernon tried to defend himself, clamming up when all twelve voices started screaming at him again.

You talked for a little while longer, readily agreeing when his oldest brother asked if you could keep him for a few more months until they could come and fix his ship.

“They don’t need to keep me, I’m a grown man!” Vernon yelled. “I go wherever I want!”

“Yeah, I’m fine keeping him,” you said, smoothly ignoring Hansol cursing in the background. “Have a safe trip.”

Nothing much would change between you and Vernon as you both waited for his brothers to come to pick him up, he'd still be the same curious, loud, funny annoying boy that he always was.

But if you’re very observant then you’ll notice that he’s a lot clingier, spending nearly every waking moment with you before they get here. He has no idea if you’ll want to hang out with him anymore after his hip gets fixed, has no idea if he’ll even be allowed to stay.

He wants to savor his time left with you while he can.

Meanwhile, you’re not far behind. You’re trying to grind your romantic feelings to a slow halt, but, if anything, the looming threat of Vernon’s departure only makes you fall for him more. You’re so busy spending time with him and trying to take note of his each and every physical and personality feature that you don't even notice that it’s only making you fall more and more in love with him.

One night, after Seungcheol just contacted Vernon to let him know they were a day away, you both sat on the sofa, trying to watch The Witcher that seems like it would be right up Vernon’s alley, it’s a good show, you guys should try it. There was a heavy silence settled over you both, very uncommon for when you were with Vernon.

Vernon’s eyes looked uncharacteristically wistful and you were trying your best not to cry. You had no idea if you’d ever see him again. This wasn’t his home planet, he had every right to want to leave.

You didn’t want him to go without revealing your feelings, but what if he wasn’t into it and it ruined what could very well be your last night together?

“Vernon, I have something to tell you before you go.”

Vernon flinched at the phrase and he nodded, not taking his eyes off the tv as he said, “What's on your mind, Y/n?”

“I’m in love with you.”

Vernon’s head snaps toward you and he gapes silently at the revelation. You don’t notice, too busy twiddling your fingers and looking away, too scared to see the rejection on his face.

“What?”

You sighed heavily. “Damnit Hansol, I’m in love with you, okay? I can’t let you go without telling you that! When I’m with you, I feel like a little kid again! I can laugh and be myself with you and I can tell you everything that’s on my mind and when you smile at me, I feel like I’m gonna — like I’m gonna explode! I can’t —”

The rest of your rambling is cut off by Vernon crashing his lips onto yours. He’s inexperienced and the kiss is a little sloppy, but it’s comfortable and passionate, no awkwardness or boredom between you too as his arms close around you and your hand comes up to caress his cheek.

You really hoped he returned your feelings because there’s no way you’d get over that kiss if he left tomorrow and didn’t give a damn about you.

“I love you too,” Vernon rushed out, eyes twinkling as he looked at you and held you closer.

“I love you so much, Y/N. When they come tomorrow, I’m not leaving. They can fix my ship and I’ll go back home every once in a while, but I'm staying home with you.” 

Gaia, a dwarf planet 

Starlink Intergalactic Navigator 

[cinnamon-sorceress]

[TokenClub Live] ForTube Lei Yu & Chu Kang: The continuing future of Blockchain and Open Finance _ Binance Block 101

-This may be the 67th__ conversation of #block 101#- Another preview: Coco_�m__Huang Lingbo: How does capital capture unicorns in industries such as for example DeFi? �n_ On July 28, 2020, Binance Yingge talked with Lei Yu, co-founder of The Force Process & ForTube; and Chu Kang, co-CEO of ForTube & BN Capital, founder of BN Capital. Lei Yu and Chu Kang shared this content of blockchain talent training and DeFi monitor related content material in the live life broadcast, and distributed to the viewers the see of the central bank's issuance of DCEP. Lei Yu and Chu Kang mentioned that liquid mining will be the new wealth program code. Lei Yu and Chu Kang believe that blockchain has begun to get attention in domestic university education. Blockchain isn't just a technology, but more is highly recommended to integrate economic theory and education in the economic climate with blockchain. At the same time, the growth of the industry must focus on the, highly integrate creation, education and analysis, subdivide research instructions to put into action an interdisciplinary teaching model, and combine concept with practical tasks to market blockchain talent training. Regarding the recent very hot DeFi track, Lei Yu stated that DeFi is a classic case of paradigm change. DeFi is based on cryptocurrency to subvert the traditional financial design and successfully improve transaction performance. In addition, Chu Kang believes that it is still too early to state that DeFi will replace centralized finance, but the advantage of DeFi is based on the relatively fair and equitable use of time and funds. Over time, DeFi and centralized finance will mutually advertise typical prosperity and development, and obtain prosperity. Block 101: Lei Yu & Chu Kang "The monetary theory itself, blockchain technology is inseparable, so it's a good idea to inspire learners to use blockchain technology for financial innovation to cultivate this type of talent echelon." "Actually, in the 2017 crypto asset bull marketplace, many people are usually actually eager for the financial qualities of the blockchain, but the real implementation of the blockchain requires constant technological updating and iteration and repeated practice, especially for the entire blockchain industry inside 2019. Since this type of strategy to rise to the united states, a lot more universities have begun to pay attention to and vigorously promote it." "I think that the early launch of the main bank's digital currency is definitely good and no harm. The team that is working on the Chinese version of the stable currency on Ethereum or Binance Chain can in fact consider how to collaborate following the central bank's digital foreign currency is released. The near future will definitely It will expand between your central bank's electronic currency and Libra." "Now I've used Huabei's non-repayment record meeting to collect credit. I think this is not directly linked to the issuance of DCEP. Last year, Director Mu Changchun said that DCEP is really a replacement for M0 money. For DCEP, It is equivalent to encouraging everyone to take the cash at hand or portion of the bank deposit to exchange for DCEP in the future." "DeFi completely breaks the barriers in between different CeFi platforms and makes the flow of funds in the chain smoother, and we know that now even CeFi systems have invested part of the funds in DeFi to get profit optimization." "China is quite pragmatic and makes use of blockchain to empower the real economy. I think it is spring when a hundred plants bloom. In accordance with your personal characteristics, it is possible to lay out your preferred blockchain projects. I believe I'll look back in two or three years. There will be great gains." MC Yingge inside this issue Guests Lei Yu & Chu Kang A total of 14121 words Estimated reading time: 36 minutes 1 Binance Yingge: Nowadays, our first guest of "Block 101"-Lei Yu, may be the CEO of The Pressure Protocol and the co-founder of For Tube. The second is Chu Kang, the co-CEO of For Tube and the founder of Benrui Capital. Hello two bosses. Lei Yu (left) Ying Ge (best) Chu Kang (bottom part) Chu Kang: Hi everyone, I'm Chu Kang. Binance Brother Ying: Hi, boss Chu Kang. Hello, boss Lei Yu. Lei Yu: Hi there everyone. Binance Brother Ying: Let's say hello there to everyone initial, Lei Yu shows up first. Lei Yu: Many thanks. I am happy to become a live broadcast of Binance's "Block 101" today. I am the co-founder of The Drive Process and ForTube. Binance Brother Ying: Let's talk about Boss Chu Kang. Chu Kang: Hi there, everyone. I'm Chu Kang. I am the founder of Benrui Funds. We have sent many excellent co-workers to Binance. We are furthermore the co-CEO of For Tube, which was officially introduced today. 2 Binance Brother Ying: Applaud. Both guests have completed the intro first, let me first arrived at a hot spot questioning session. I'd like to ask both big men. Let's start discussing entering the. When did the two sign up for the blockchain sector, and from which channel do they 1st hear about Bitcoin? Boss Lei Yu, come first. Lei Yu: The very first time I arrived to contact with Bitcoin was relatively early. I studied for a master's degree at Tsinghua from 2009 to 2012. In 2011, I graduated from 2nd to third in graduate college. I loved to go over the walls and go to Twitter at the time. Some content material and progress in computer technology. In those days, there was several big men in China. I recall there were keso and others like Li Xiaolai. At that time, they shared various technical items on Twitter. What amazed me the most was that Li Xiaolai kept discussing how good Bitcoin is. I thought to myself the facts? Just started to read some information regarding Bitcoin. After reading it, I felt that Bitcoin was in line with Hayek's liberal economic philosophy, and that private individuals could issue currency, that was actually cool. In those days, there were hardly any domestic individuals who understood this point, and I furthermore understood that I thought this thing had been very fashionable, and it would have been digging Bitcoin for a time period. Because of the technical complex, I didn't purchase it in the market. I simply dig using the pc and didn't dig very much. After graduation, We was busy and didn't pay attention, so I let it go. In 2016, I arrived to contact with Bitcoin once again and discovered that this issue had been 10,000 RMB. I understand that it'll only cost several yuan in 11 years. When I saw, I almost broke my thigh at the time. This is one way much prosperity I skipped. Later on, starting in 2016, he systematically started to research Bitcoin and blockchain, technology, products, and ecology, etc., and came into connection with representative tasks such as for example Ethereum. Binance Brother Ying: What about the coins it is possible to dig, can't you find it? Lei Yu: I dug on the computer in the laboratory at the time. After graduation, the personal computer was gone. In those days, I dug such as a sport each day, and no one cares. Binance Brother Ying: Next Mr. Chu Kang. Chu Kang: Actually, I started to get in touch with Bitcoin in 2014, but I remember the bull market that year quite clearly. The boost from RMB 800 to RMB 4,000 or RMB 5,000 was also very crazy. At that time there is Bitcoin China, etc. And so forth these sites. In fact, there was no particularly systematic information to comprehend Bitcoin in those days. There are not many blockchain press and self-media, therefore in those days, just from Baidu Blog post Bar, Weibo, and some forums. Learn in a few small offline actions. I was even now studying Internet financing at China UnionPay, therefore the complex and financial features of Bitcoin actually aroused my strong attention. I remember that what was particularly interesting at that time has been that I had been with my good friends at the time. I took my pocket money to buy BTC. I furthermore bought BTC every day. He didn't purchase it himself. Afterwards in the huge bull marketplace in 2017, he delivered me a note. I skip the scene you told us about Bitcoin before. In 2016, I did so in-depth research on the representative blockchain tasks of Bitcoin and Ethereum from the technology product ecology and so forth, including its decentralized attributes, which completely subverted some of my previous knowledge and understanding of Web products, especially ours What I've learned about Internet platform strategy is completely different from that of system strategy, because I have experienced system strategy in the web boom of 2014, 2015, and 2016. It was also in 2014 that I acquired the initial Bitcoin deal in my life. Binance Ying: Next, I wish to ask. At present, our major universites and colleges have started to offer courses on blockchain technologies and programs. Blockchain customers and investors may also be developing right into a young team. Two bosses Have you got any opinions and suggestions about the country's advanced schooling when it comes to talent trained in the blockchain market? It is possible to chat separately. Chief Lei arrive first. Lei Yu: There is a phenomenon now. If you seek out blockchain technologies on station B, you can find some blockchain programs from universities in China, like the Computer Division of Peking University. This demonstrates, in terms of domestic advanced schooling training, blockchain has already been becoming deployed and receiving corresponding attention. But because I'm currently working on the blockchain project, I have observed a problem. In fact, this blockchain also includes cryptocurrency, that is inseparable from financial innovation. Today some overseas tasks, such as for example DeFi, may be mentioned later on. If overseas, these areas are actually revolutionary and R&D. It could be described as modifying with each moving day, new things turn out every day. Aspects such as financial theory and financial thinking are all in the field of cryptocurrency, combined with blockchain technologies to get innovative procedures. What will it reflect? It displays that in addition to technology, overseas blockchain practitioners already have a deep financial theory. Blockchain is not just a technologies. It really is some sort of advancement in creation relations. We contact it a paradigm shift, which involves many major monetary improvements, both technically and theoretically. Therefore, if only the blockchain technology is emphasized, there may be too little research and innovation in neuro-scientific theory within China. I have a suggestion. This is a good thing for universites and colleges to develop courses such as for example blockchain technology, but I would recommend that more should consider combining education such as financial theory and economic climate with blockchain technologies. Everyone should see the development pattern of foreign DeFi and so forth. It is far less simple compared to the current hot projects, and it will definitely be a very important trend and improvement later on. The financial theory itself, blockchain technology is inseparable, so it is necessary to inspire students to use blockchain technology to handle financial innovation such a thinking, to cultivate this type of talent echelon. Binance Brother Ying: Okay, then Mr. Kang is here. Chu Kang: In fact, in the big bull market of encrypted assets in 2017, lots of people are actually looking forward to the financial qualities of blockchain, but the real implementation of blockchain requires continuous update and iteration of technologies and repeated practice, specifically in the blockchain industry in 2019. Since rising to the nationwide core strategy, a lot more colleges and universities have started to pay attention and vigorously promote it. I just talked about Tsinghua University. Tsinghua University has already been at the forefront in the areas of internet and computer. Everybody knows that a lot of of the well-known domestic tasks have got Tsinghua backgrounds. Tsinghua includes a systematic education of specialized talents. But I think that the development of commercial blockchain technologies demands universities to get greatly in scientific research money, including concentrated study on technology. They should also concentrate on the industry and integrate creation, education and study right into a high degree. Simultaneously, I think there's an interdisciplinary training model. Why can you state that? Because numerous majors in universites and colleges have become subdivided, especially the research direction. If the industrial blockchain will probably land and create, it isn't enough to rely on the so-called encryption algorithms, so-called encryption, timestamps, and distributed ledgers that people usually discuss. Blockchain technology should form an interdisciplinary subject matter with artificial intelligence, big data, G, etc., and at the same time use market-oriented solutions to inspire learners and talents, and present them some practical tasks for exploration in community, such as authorities affairs such as traceability. When training them, it could be truly integrated with their actual tasks, and I'll sense that the complete country will make greater improvement in the cultivation of blockchain talents. Binance Yingge: We saw that Mr. Kang proved helpful for a core organization like UnionPay for a long time. What possibility did you get from the original financial market to the field of encrypted possessions to start out a business? Chu Kang: I used to truly have a one job and career. To state single is usually to be even more devoted to the work. After graduating, I have been employed in the China UnionPay system for more than a decade, and I have time to really understand the blockchain business in a comprehensive and systematic manner. After the big market situation in 2014, I was responsible for the construction of the payment talent training system at UnionPay, so I integrated the data of blockchain into a talent training system. There were no teaching components and no Any articles to make reference to. We searched the marketplace for many publications on blockchain, developed it into an electronic course, and wear it the official website of the Financial Coaching Center. Because of this, many practitioners from banks and finance institutions go through me systematically and seriously. Such a set of teaching components compiled at that time. Because throughout writing the program, I was really systematic and learned to comprehend the blockchain. Furthermore, I committed to some good projects in 2017 and 2016, so in 2018, I made a lot of dedication to depart I became a member of China UnionPay and devoted myself to becoming a Fund. Recently, I was furthermore the co-CEO of For Tube simultaneously. Why did I prefer to get the co-CEO of For Tube? First, I have a background in the economic industry. I have some useful and profound understanding of debt, technology and finance, like the securities marketplace. If blockchain technologies really must be practically applied, I think the mix of blockchain and financing itself is really a direction I'm thinking about, and blockchain + financing itself is DeFi. Of course, in 2020, we will have the true DeFi funding rise, from 1 billion US dollars to 6 billion US bucks. I always think that it will reach 15 billion US dollars by the end of the entire year. I believe some related tasks will be at least 3 to 5 5 times larger. This is exactly what I think I can see at the end of this year. The DeFi platform For Tube is a financial service platform developed by The Force Agreement, and the entire For Tube team has known it really early. From starting to end, I think the entire For Tube group is a very practical group in Asia and also the planet. For Tube items may also be very revolutionary, not only with mortgage agreements, but also for issuing bonds. It is precisely because I've self-confidence in the product, including the entire group, that I have talked about with the building blocks on the basis of capital, and lastly became a member of For Tube, wishing to become the top DeFi task in Asia , This is a extremely original idea in my own heart. Binance Brother Ying: After discussing this, I still desire to ask Boss Lei, when did you begin your business here, and what was your original intention of starting your organization? Was it really optimistic about the blockchain sector at that time? Lei Yu: I resigned from the market position of a multinational medical device company where I actually worked at the earliest in 2015. After leaving my work, I went to work as an entrepreneurial group in the Internet medical industry in China. Later on, in more than half per year, this entrepreneurial group was Tencent invested in WeDoctor Team acquired. Later, in 2016, I visited another startup business in the field of Internet rehabilitation and medical care. Then this startup firm was bought out by an A-share pharmaceutical company. After the takeover, we transformed right into a rehabilitation hospital Investment and construction function. In complete, there have been three entrepreneurial experiences before the Force Agreement. Although these were not their very own bosses, they were all close to the management plus some of the core of the company, so that they knew what sort of survival condition startups are usually. For instance, where will be the shortcomings or advantages of an entrepreneurial team, which includes how to begin a company, and what pitfalls you have to pay attention to in the entrepreneurial process, these have grown to be the foundation for me and several business school classmates to create the Force Contract. . The key reason why I started my business was not at all hard in the beginning, that is, I hope to realize a value in my own life through entrepreneurship. It sounds like I am a little more idealistic sometimes, not to mention I am hoping to be able to gain monetary freedom incidentally. It's just that when i re-exposed to the blockchain in 2016, I was still doing preparations for the reason that hospital, so I had some free time to review the blockchain. Once We was fascinated with the research, We felt that this industry definitely has good potential later on and has the power to subvert the original financial system. Even I thought at that time that it may affect the entire human society in the future. From all areas of politics and economy, blockchain will penetrate and play its role. Later, in 2017 and 2018, there have been plenty of thunderstorms in domestic Internet financing. In fact, two or three people in our team directly invested in Internet financing, or had worked well in it. Everybody knows that Internet finance actually has serious and deep pits in it. of. But after everyone came into contact with blockchain, they found that this thing can fundamentally alter most of the flaws of Internet finance. We thought from the perspective of financing at that time that investors and debtors can achieve lending procedures in a fair, open and transparent investing environment. Therefore, we hope to use the blockchain to contribute a little to the forwards development and reform of the economic climate, and we jointly produced the task of The Push Agreement, that is the original purpose of entrepreneurship. For future years of blockchain, I'm firmly bullish. 3 Binance Brother Ying: You mentioned The Push Agreement at the moment. The brand of Force Contract can be very popular. I wanted to understand about it last year. I would like to ask you what sort of company the Force Contract is? Can you reveal about your company's team history, main company, including corporate eyesight and so forth. Lei Yu: The title of the force of our Force Agreement originates from "Superstar Wars", which is The Pressure. At that time, the name was selected for the international market. It is relatively simple for everyone to contact, and it is more international. Once you expose it to foreigners , It'll know this concept. Later I found out that it didn't appear to be the case, but the title had recently been used, and that was it. We have been now predicated on Ethereum. Later on, we have plans to dock the public chain systems of popular blockchains such as Binance Chain. We develop encrypted open up financial protocols based on these open public chains. The current The Force Process comprises a couple of DeFi technology parts and a tokenized process. Our current technical element of DeFi is that we see that along the way of Dapp development on Ethereum, your smart contract can't be upgraded once it is deployed, and the data structure is relatively solidified. Simultaneously, the quickness of conversation on your chain, everyone understands that gas expenses are high today, and the conversation speed is slow. Last year, an individual experience was not good, the necessary financial infrastructure is lacking, and security problems are also emerging. So we came up with a couple of technical components, a couple of expansion components and financial components, three types of DeFi components, the three forms of components are collectively called the initial force, this is the articles of the DeFi component, you can observe for information Official website and white paper. On the basis of DeFi technology, we developed a tokenized protocol. Tokenized protocols consist of debt funding, cryptocurrency current financing, and decentralized stablecoins, etc. We have integrated these tokenized protocols right into a one-stop lending, investment, and financing assistance called ForTube. Platform, it is a positioning of ForTube. Our ForTube provides personal and corporate customers with expense financing in direction of encrypted electronic asset lending, along with transactions between bond token users. That is an introduction to our ForTube and The Pressure Agreement products. Talking about the team, we has been originally founded by me, my partner Allen, and some business school classmates from Chaoge. Allen has a background inside traditional financial expense. He's got successfully invested in several Internet boat loan companies and provides a solid judgment on the advancement of the. Brother Chao has an engineering background. After graduating, he worked as a cloud computing architect and important account manager at ZTE Team. , So he is more experienced in product procedure, and at the same time has stronger business capabilities. Later, our team gradually joined technical talents. Before 94, the CTO of the world-renowned swap Yunbi.com also joined our team. His technical strength is very strong. Nowadays Gangguan Xuan Kang Shao furthermore joined up with, and our strength is constantly increasing. Simultaneously, the structure of overseas communities and the recruitment of groups are also underway. We now have corresponding full-time or part-time workers in Singapore, Europe, and the Americas that are working about our FOR token and ForTube systems. We now have slowly become an international team. Lastly, the vision is similar to this. We have been committed to providing an inclusive, innovative and protected programmable encrypted economic service to users all over the world. Through the solutions provided by ForTube, we are able to really do inclusive financing. Blockchain can perform this. . Throughout the procedure for realizing our vision, we still prioritize items, do item and technology research and development first, rather than do air tasks. We are in charge of our customers and token holders. We pursue excellence in item and technology growth. We realize that we are actually The product continues to be extremely inadequate, and the technology still has several areas worthy of improvement, but the team will continue to work hard to offer you better services. This is a value orientation. Binance Brother Ying: Many thanks, Mr. Lei. There's one more question. I'd like to inquire two guests. Mr. Lei has been interviewed by way of a reporter from China Periods. Once, he explained that the new version of Libra will continue for US$8,000 and the DCEP test is in full swing. Talking on the event to analyze the modifications Libra has brought to the planet, the two will talk to the buddies about the distinction and contest between Libra and DCEP, which is more powerful. Lei Yu: Once the China Occasions interviewed me before, it just happened that Facebook released the next edition of Libra's white papers. The design of the second edition was different from the first edition. In the initial edition of the whitened document, Facebook pursued Libra as Super-sovereign currencies are usually independent of the lawful currencies of varied countries and also have their own exchange prices to operate. Consequently, we later discovered that it was beaten by Europe and in addition beaten by america, and it became a sovereign foreign currency system. In the next edition of the look, the U.S. dollar was anchored to launch the U.S. dollar Libra. This style is the same as the popular USDT or USDC stablecoins available. However, the next edition of the Libra whitened paper leaves a mouth area for the super-sovereign currency. He stated Problem a super-sovereign currency that can be exchanged with a variety of mainstream currencies for trade with the swap rate of weaker countries. Libra should be a US dollar version at the beginning. From this viewpoint, Libra assists the US dollar to continue the so-known as US dollar hegemony in the field of digital currency. It has turned into a defender or a vassal of the US dollar system. I understand that Zuckerberg and his team have a liberal ideal, but the resistance of conventional forces is too strong. Libra was created like this. NEO Going back to the main bank digital currency, the central bank's digital foreign currency competitors aren't so-called cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. They are actually Libra, because the user foundation behind Facebook reaches minimum one billion, with this type of large numbers of users. If Libra turns into global After being widely adopted, people utilize the Libra system to ostensibly anchor the legal currency of varied countries. If you need to use rmb abroad, if you want rmb to enter the market, you must go to dock with Libra. To put it nicely, the marketplace is kept in the hands, and rmb should be negotiated with others as well as begged by you. Opening Libra's RMB foreign currency depends upon its face. For RMB internationalization, this sort of result will be unwilling to see.

Therefore, at this time, whether it is the central bank digital foreign currency or other domestic stable foreign currency teams, it must not be taken gently. Libra is really a relatively huge mountain while watching internationalization of RMB. There could be a comparatively large marketplace for RMB, however now that Facebook hasn't entered China, the forex market is not available to Facebook, also it does not matter abroad. Because of this situation, the near future still needs to look at Libra's face. So I think the first release of the central bank's digital currency is definitely good no harm, and when there are other Chinese version of stable foreign currency tasks in the united kingdom, such as our stable currency on the chain, as the central bank's digital foreign currency is not on the Ethereum chain, etc., I haven't heard about it. To create a team like the Chinese version of the steady currency about Ethereum or about the Binance Chain, you can actually consider how exactly to collaborate after the main bank's digital currency is launched to market the internationalization of rmb in different marketplaces, and the internationalization of rmb will be promoted everywhere. Occupying various marketplaces, that is my personal viewpoint, the potential future will definitely be the central bank electronic foreign currency and Libra. Chu Kang: Actually, Mr. Lei has already spoken in great details, but I believe there is absolutely no such matter as a contest and who is more powerful. You can find more differences in the organizational structure, distribution system, and technical routes. What requirements special interest? The DCEP issued by the People's Lender of China is actually RMB electronic and is lawful currency. Libra itself is in fact issued by business organizations, and at exactly the same time anchors a lot of legal currency digital currency, it generally does not have a certain degree of legal compensation itself, this is actually the most fundamental difference in credit endorsement. Due to such a difference in itself, it is destined that the entire development path, including the background duties of the period it carries, is totally different. I very much buy into the possibility that Mr. Lei simply pointed out. The issuance of DCEP will form an exterior RMB electronic foreign currency zone, which will form an internal circular optimistic incentive mechanism for the economy, and can resist the interference of several external plans to keep independence and endogenousness. It is extremely beneficial to the internationalization of RMB. Actually, RMB accelerates the procedure of internationalization in the form of digital RMB. Somewhat, in fact, we may be able to see this type of process of rmb internationalization in a relatively short time of time. Just like the colleagues of the entire Central Bank Digital Currency Analysis Institute, they're right now in Meituan, Are you currently hungry, Die Didu offers carried out the internal tests of the national legal digital currency, that is doing perfectly. The ordinary people are getting nearer and closer to the digital currency. The spread, use, and media of digital currency itself are inseparable from Internet application products. We simply discussed Ele. Meituan, and Didi. It really is an app with an extremely large user experience. How about To realize the internationalization of RMB? We also have many, several app applications overseas. Of course, it is a pity that people are viewing instability because of the uncertainty of the entire global political economic climate. Some countries are now going to suppress a few of our country's Internet products. This may be a far more obvious trouble before us. I really believe that with the improvement of China's national strength, rmb's worldwide voice may also increase. The bigger, including DCEP to help its internationalization is merely nearby.

4 Binance Brother Ying: Okay, many thanks two bosses. Somebody asked, is Huabei's credit score investigation a prelude to the issuance of DCEP? Will any guest desire to answer? Lei Yu: Let me share briefly. Given that Huabei will not repay, your record will be called for credit. I don't think this is directly linked to the issuance of DCEP. Last year, Director Mu Changchun stated that DCEP will replace M0 and replace cash. For DCEP, , Which is equivalent to encouraging everyone to get the cash at hand or area of the bank deposit to switch for DCEP in the future. Of training course, this is actually a cash-level behavior. Huabei is at the credit degree, which is equal to not repaying with a debit card. There is currently no direct relationship between the two. Binance Yingge: Will Mr. Kang have anything to include? Chu Kang: Actually, there is currently no exclusive relationship between your two. Huabei is still an work of credit lending. Huabei is really a financial item provided by the centralized organization Ant Financial. It is mainly predicated on your normal usage of Alipay. The situation comes to a thorough credit assessment. Then give a certain amount of credit score, and you may benefit from the financial services out of this institution as a centralized economic service. However the credit it offers you or the money it gives you belong to the existing legal foreign currency, and you will point out it to the lender cards by withdrawing. If we have been issuing DCEP throughout the country, the entire application situation becomes quite rich, and you can consume in various places in e-commerce. Simultaneously, if the main body of Ant Financial Huabei can be part of DCEP. For huge pilot units, it's possible that what Huabei borrowed is the statutory DCEP, but between the two, it might be a mapping on the use scenario, in fact it is not particularly linked to the growth and advertising of DCEP. 5 Binance Ying: Let's get down to company. Next, let's discuss the recent sizzling DeFi topics. Everyone thinks DeFi is the future and is very optimistic. It doesn't appear to be an especially easy task to displace centralized finance institutions in the short term. What do the two bosses think may be the benefit of DeFi? What are the dangers of DeFi, you two can talk about. Lei Yu: I simply mentioned a expression called paradigm change. In human history, every major paradigm shift provides about a change in society and sector. We know DeFi, and looking at it now is an example of a paradigm change. To begin with, the generation of blockchain and encrypted electronic currency is really a main technological or paradigm innovation. The initial DeFi application based on the blockchain has subverted numerous traditional financial versions. Now the typical application situation of DeFi is decentralized exchanges, decentralized transactions, Binance, Huobi, etc. are CeFi, following a order book transaction design, DeFi jumped out of this type of gameplay, it changed to AMM One way, automated market makers. In the AMM design, the counterparty of the deal is a smart agreement, and the marketplace price is usually solved by an algorithm. The algorithm and the offer and demand connection determine the marketplace price of a token collectively, that is a subversion of the traditional order book model. Then comes the improvement of deal efficiency. Provided that I have a pool of money there, as long as the swimming pool of money is deep good enough, I could get estimates to trade tokens anytime, and the amount of independence of transactions will increase accordingly. Today uniswap isn't shown. Any threshold, so long as this is a intelligent contract, it is possible to go to DEX. The initial exchange for most projects isn't as laborious as discussing an IEO before, and also some trade cards will withdraw money and card funds. Now it is called IUO. They are new adjustments to the industry after the entire paradigm shift. Let's take another example in the field of lending. The latest innovative task in the field of lending is called yearn. Through its own ytoken, it could implement smart agreements and invest in the investment targets with the highest return on user asset search. Following the release of yearn, you can view the impact of the current period. The allocation ratio of resources to the underlying Compound and AAVE's fund swimming pool. In traditional CeFi, which exchange or platform where user funds are put, it is difficult to flexibly invest in the subject of various other platforms. I have never heard about which company puts funds in its solutions and instantly finds the most ideal interest rate for you. Investment, it is impossible. DeFi totally breaks the barriers between different CeFi platforms and can make the stream of money on the chain smoother, and we realize that also CeFi platforms and companies today invest part of their money in DeFi to get optimization of revenue. Let us give an example, such as Binance, Binance can find BNB wealth management or BUSD prosperity management services inside DeFi. It is difficult for Binance to put its BNB or BUSD on some other CeFi platforms. What if that system runs aside? But also for DeFi, the intelligent contract is here. Following the audit, everyone understands that it is safe. Centralized exchanges such as this are furthermore willing to put assets previously for financial administration. DeFi and CeFi will integrate with each other in the future. From the perspective of user needs, users desire to be in a position to configure funds more efficiently across platforms. Therefore, the openness and mix of DeFi will normally attract users to participate. As long as users understand the truth, they will give priority to selection DeFi. DEX such as for example Uniswap, which does not require permission to establish investing pairs on the foreign currency, is well-liked by various tasks. You can view the inherent benefits and characteristics of DeFi, and there is absolutely no question that it will continue steadily to gain even more room for advancement. And the marketplace share will definitely continue to increase, also it may even make the idea of cryptocurrency really from the circle. Moving away from the field of cryptocurrency to obtain more from traditional funds, the large amount of money in the traditional field may also be in the future. May enter the DeFi industry. But DeFi, you can't just talk about its benefits, it will be has dangers. DeFi is composable. In the event a particular DeFi process or DeFi application has security problems, it'll affect not only itself, but also other protocols combined with it. Everyone provides complications together. This degree of harm, From top to bottom, from underneath to the very best, and the even more you go directly to the bottom part, the higher the scope of harm caused by problems with the underlying protocol, the greater losing, and the wider the scope. For DeFi, everyone is in a stage where it has only begun to build up. The developer's first priority must be security. Simultaneously, they must focus on the code, including the security of the code, including the security of the business logic. When you match others, the complexity of the mixture should be controllable.

The even more DeFi protocols combined jointly, the greater the likelihood of security vulnerabilities, since it is impossible to ensure that other DeFi protocols value security just as much as you do. Everyone offers high technology and low technology. The more vulnerabilities, the higher the potential reduction. . Along with paying attention to the security of your code, you must also pay attention to the complexity of the composition and keep it inside a safe variety. This is one aspect that I think DeFi needs to be strengthened now.

[bentonpena]

Five Years In, DeFi Now Defines Ethereum

Five Years In, DeFi Now Defines Ethereum https://bit.ly/33jl0u2

DeFi Dad is a DeFi super user sharing his money experiments and tutorials on Twitter and YouTube. He is an organizing member of the Ethereal Summit and Sessions, host of The Ethereal Podcast and a weekly contributor to The Defiant and Bankless.

Ethereum has always been difficult to explain. Even the founders of Ethereum have sometimes struggled to communicate the project’s transformative potential in layperson’s terms. Metaphors such as “world computer” and “gas” tried to translate Ethereum to the world, but looking back it’s clear how little we understood about the platform’s true capabilities. 

By 2017, big promises were being made that Ethereum would “bank the unbanked.” But that promise seemed to go largely unfulfilled in the wake of the initial coin offering (ICO) craze. Nevertheless, the oft-repeated slogan represented the first attempt to describe Ethereum’s potential to transform personal finance. 

While the ICO mania showed Ethereum’s potential as a distributive technology that could emulate, improve upon and democratize the initial stock offering, what was missing then was a simple personal financial use case that could be demonstrated to a friend, such as a mobile app. In those early days, there were many white papers, promises and signs of progress by a few teams (some of which have led to the top DeFi projects such as ChainLink, Kyber, and Set), but most of the benefits had yet to be delivered.

Meanwhile, there were lots of inspiring speakers from the Ethereum community who drew us into believing Ethereum would change the world. It just required a patient newcomer willing to wade through new ideas, intricate foreign concepts and a firehose of new information daily. Nothing was a simple elevator pitch.

When I saw Joe Lubin speak at Ethereal SF 2017, there was an inspiring message to take home. A lot of detail flew over my head at the time, but if you listened carefully it was impossible to not buy the idea that Ethereum could change the world for the better.

It’s worth noting that in 2017, ConsenSys and other early adopters and builders were also educating institutional players and enterprise software companies on how they could benefit from many blockchain use cases on Ethereum. Partnerships with Microsoft, IBM and Hyperledger helped cement Ethereum’s credibility in the enterprise blockchain race.

Fast forward to July 2018, when I started full-time work in Ethereum. We were all recovering from the hangover of 2017, thinking the bull run might return sooner before watching markets unravel and get even bloodier. We were emerging from an era without a coherent elevator pitch to be easily understood, including language that sounded like it had come from a “Big Bang Theory” script.

I recognized that Ethereum had to find any small group of fanatical users. For better or worse, I began drawing on my experience in SaaS, which taught me that startups need loyal users who find so much utility in an application that, if it were taken away, they wouldn’t have an alternative.

DeFi days

By spring 2019, I am working full time on the Ethereal Summit, a series of events celebrating the founders and builders of the decentralized web on Ethereum. It was around then that Ethereum’s narrative began to change. I heard about Compound, where you can lend and borrow – similar to MakerDAO, but with better loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. 

I was astonished – $50 MILLION in an app built on Ethereum! It was exhilarating to learn a second finance application had been built, launched and had been running on Ethereum for more than six months. 

All this activity came to be known as decentralized finance, or DeFi. The term was coined in 2018 by members of the 0x team, but the industry was just getting going. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I began researching every project we were hosting at Ethereal – PoolTogether, Kyber Argent and Zerion. And I did something even more radical: I began testing and using the damn products! 

I needed to see my investment make money to realize the power of these DeFi applications. I started lending dai on Compound for over 10% APY and it just clicked. I’m lending dai and others borrow that money, but there’s no bank to collect the middleman fees. So, in turn, I earn better lending interest and borrowers pay smaller fees, and without know your customer (KYC) or anyone’s permission.

What stood in the way of DeFi mass adoption was better storytelling and more visual demonstration of how DeFi can work for anyone

It had long been a talking point in crypto the user experience (UX) had to improve for Ethereum to see adoption, but I found those same people espousing such criticisms often had zero experience with DeFi applications. It seemed like a lie that had stuck around long enough to become a truth, even though I was finding some DeFi UX better than my experience with legacy banking. 

For me, what stood in the way of DeFi mass adoption was better storytelling and more visual demonstration of how DeFi can work for anyone. EthHub.io and Cami Russo’s The Defiant were already doing lots of legwork in this space but there was clearly more to build upon.

In late 2019, the DeFi community was still small compared to today, only a few thousand or possibly even a few hundred users, but it felt like we were on a bustling rocket ship of excitement. We rallied around this term DeFi, the simplest term to describe any peer-to-peer finance app built on Ethereum, requiring a Web 3 wallet like MetaMask, that doesn’t need KYC and has no single point of failure. If ETH is money, DeFi is your bank. 

What started as a concept is now an economy of interlinked applications with more than $4 billion in value invested. But it’s more than just money. DeFi has changed the way people think about Ethereum itself and given rise to new narratives and memes.

A meme is born

Shortly after this spark was really gaining momentum in the fall 2019, DeFi users naturally found a second totem to rally around. That was the concept of Total Value Locked (TLV), coined by the team at DeFi Pulse. 

TVL refers to the sum of all value deposited into a DeFi app’s smart contracts, whether that’s measured in U.S. dollars (USD) or in ETH. TVL reflected a new, un-gameable metric for adoption. It was a way to compare how much trust DeFi users put into an application. It has its flaws, but those flaws are no worse than reducing Bitcoin to its price. 

DeFi also helped solidify the “ETH is money” meme. As co-host of the Bankless Podcast David Hoffman said, ETH is a triple-point asset, because it acts as a store-of-value, a capital asset, and a consumable asset. “ETH is Money” is an intentional pivot from “ETH is gas,” and updates the world on how ETH is actually used on Ethereum.  

Plain and simple: ETH is money. It always has been money and to label it otherwise was a product marketing mistake in the early days of Ethereum.

Yield farming is the latest viral meme in Ethereum. DeFi is a larger all-encompassing category of p2p, self-custody, KYC-less, finance apps built on Ethereum, but yield farming describes a popular incentives program where you often provide liquidity to a DeFi application in exchange for a combination of rewards. 

As Dan Elitzer of IDEO CoLab Ventures put it, yield farming is like aquaponics because it creates a symbiotic relationship between DeFi protocols, meaning DeFi participants can earn three or more forms of yield such as interest, market-making fees and pooled rewards such as a governance token like BAL or COMP. Because of the most composable incentive designs in DeFi, yield farming (aka “liquidity mining”) is like passive income on steroids, with programs delivering anywhere from 10-200% daily APY on average. 

Universal appeal

Five years ago, you could argue Ethereum was attempting to do too much. Even two to three years ago, that was still a valid hypothesis, with stagnant adoption.

Today, the bold experiment of Ethereum is working. Alongside the $4 billion in assets deposited into DeFi, we’ve seen a 227% year-on-year increase in ETH locked in DeFi, and a 20X increase in tokenized BTC on Ethereum (equivalent to ~$220 million) since January 1. 

What was a drawback – doing “too much” – is now a strength and a reason why Ethereum’s daily transaction volume and daily network fees have eclipsed Bitcoin’s. Although Ethereum is less than half Bitcoin’s age, it has accomplished more in the last five years, building the most advanced permissionless p2p finance system in the world while Bitcoin has continued to champion the narrower digital gold meme.

It’s getting easier every day to point to DeFi apps that clearly demonstrate value and utility you cannot find elsewhere. If you’ve managed to ignore these developments, now is as good a time as ever to catch yourself up. The story of DeFi and Ethereum is just getting started.

Disclosure

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Trading via CoinDesk https://bit.ly/35KxIA1 August 1, 2020 at 09:06AM

[giancarlonicoli]

Please see the comments. Here and on the source page.

Authored by Steve H. Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke.Reporting of the historic Singapore Summit between President Donald J. Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has been fascinating. The lead story in Pyongyang has been on the Supreme Leader’s Singapore walk around, and his desire to learn about economic development from the Singapore Strategy. In the western press, however, Pyongyang’s lead story is nowhere to be found.Kim Jong-un is clearly onto something. As anyone watching telecasts from Singapore during the past few days could observe, Singapore appears to be very prosperous. And it is. Measured by per capita income, Singaporeans are some of the richest people in the world. The economy is capitalist, and capitalist on steroids. That’s why Singapore has shot up from the depths of the Third World, at its founding, to the upper reaches of the First World, today.Singapore gained its independence in 1965, when it was, in effect, thrown out of Malaysia. At that time, Singapore was backward and poor — a barren speck on the map in a dangerous part of the world. If that wasn’t enough, it was experiencing race riots, which came close to igniting a civil war. Singapore’s per-capita income in 1965, adjusted for inflation, was roughly equivalent to that of poor countries like Albania, Angola, Armenia, Guyana, Kosovo, and Mongolia, today.But, at its founding, Singapore had a leader, Lee Kuan Yew. He had clear ideas about how to modernize the country — a strategy which I have dubbed the “Singapore Strategy.” This strategy contained the following elements:The first element was stable money. Singapore started with a currency board system — a simple, transparent, rule-driven monetary regime. Currency boards operate on autopilot, with automatic adjustments keeping the system in balance. Accordingly, currency boards deliver discipline to the spheres of money, banking, and fiscal affairs. For Singapore, the currency board provided stable prices and free convertibility of the Singaporean dollar, which was fully backed by foreign reserves and gold, at a fixed exchange rate. This established confidence and attracted foreign investment.The second element was that Lee Kuan Yew ruled out passing the begging bowl. Singapore refused to accept foreign aid of any kind. This is a far cry from many developing countries, where, when you pick up the paper, all you see are politicians and bureaucrats trying to secure foreign aid from someone, be it an NGO, a foreign government, or an international financial institution, like the World Bank. By contrast, signs reading “no foreign aid” were hung figuratively outside every government office in Singapore.The third element was that Singapore strived to have first-world, competitive private enterprises. This was accomplished via light taxation and light regulation, coupled with completely open and free trade — in short, policies that enabled Singapore to become one of the Asian Tigers.The fourth element in the Singapore Strategy was an emphasis on personal security, public order, and the protection of private property.The fifth, and final, element in the Singapore Strategy was a “small,” transparent government — a minimalist government that avoided complexity and “red tape”.To execute the strategy with precision, Singapore appoints only first-class civil servants and pays them first-class wages. Today, for example, the Singaporean Finance Minister’s annual salary is 1.3 million dollars (USD). In exchange for these high salaries, the Singapore Strategy demands that the government runs a tight ship, with no waste or corruption. By embracing Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore Strategy of stable money, no foreign aid, first-world competition, law and order, and a government that is free of waste and corruption, Singapore has transformed itself from a poor, barren speck to a global financial center.It should come as no surprise that Singapore today is one of the freest, most flexible, and prosperous economies in the world. Kim Jong-un clearly has his eye on a winning strategy. Maybe the Supreme Leader is a bit more clever than most western observers give him credit for.This piece was originally published on Forbes.com

Comments

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                        peddling-fiction

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 14:35  

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Socialists take note. Chuckle.

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                        LadyAtZero

           peddling-fiction

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:41  

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I visited Singapore about a year ago.

It absolutely hums.

Busses are full of commuters at 6:30 am.

Streets are clean.

Restaurants operating and full.

Nice, warm evenings to walk around in and we felt really safe.

A very nice place to visit.

In reply to Socialists take note… by peddling-fiction

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                        Bay Area Guy

           LadyAtZero

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 20:40  

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I've been to Singapore probably 2 or 3 times a year for the past six years. I love the food there, particularly in the hawker centers.  My wife has relatives there, so we are able to see quite a bit of everyday life, as opposed to staying on the tourist circuit.

A lot of what Lee Kwan Yew accomplished is slowly being dismantled by the current Prime Minister, who happens to be LKY's son.  Little Lee embarked on a growth at all costs platform and brought in quite a large number of foreign workers, displacing Singaporeans in the process (sound familiar?) and courted mainland China money to such an extent that a great many PRC's (as the locals now call mainland Chinese) came to the country.  The locals hate them and they hate the, mostly, Indian laborers that were brought in on major projects.

I first went to Sing in 2010 and I was greatly impressed by how happy the people were, in general.  As the years have passed, I am seeing fewer and fewer people with smiles on their faces and I'm seeing little cracks in the LKY legacy.  People are cutting lines.  The maintenance on the MRT system has gotten pretty bad, with frequent breakdowns on the older lines.  And where you would never hear any complaints from the old time locals, now the complaints are more than just whispers.

Don't get me wrong.  I still love going to Singapore.  But I'm afraid it is going to turn into just another one of the cleaner dirty shirts of the world.  It's fast getting far too crowded for its own good and that is going to be Little Lee's legacy.

In reply to I visited Singapore about a… by LadyAtZero

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                        RafterManFMJ

           Bay Area Guy

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 21:13  

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Been there a 3 times since 2010 and yeah - the big change is people want OUT - Australia is a big draw and many people I talked to were slaving to earn their way into leaving S'pore

Too many im'grants driving down wages and people with options are exercising them

Spent the last week with a S'porean expatriate and she has no plans to go back voluntarily. It's a pressure cooker where the citizens have been sold the fuck out by the devil government - sound familiar?

In reply to I've been to Singapore… by Bay Area Guy

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                        BarkingCat

           RafterManFMJ

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 00:26  

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Sounds sad.

To take something so good and drive it into the ground is inexcusable.

In reply to Been there a 3 times since… by RafterManFMJ

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                        giovanni_f

           BarkingCat

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 00:50  

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singapore is a idiosyncratic mix of capitalist, socialist, authoritarian, monarchical elements, none of them necessarily bad. It is always nonsense to compare city states with large national states. In a city state it is absolutely obvious if a ruling clan/figure/oligarchy with dual citizenships messes things up. That's why they usually behave. Now compare this to the Ukraine or US.

I found that expats are usually not a good source of infomation as they mostly live in a parallel universe with little or only superficial knowledge of how local people live.

In reply to Sounds sad. To take… by BarkingCat

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                        thisandthat

           BarkingCat

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:06  

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There's "meritocracy" for you: soon it turns into nepotism, cronyism, greediness, kleptocracy and despotism and debt indenture. Nothing new or surprising, but there's a sucker born every minute...

In reply to Sounds sad. To take… by BarkingCat

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                        Lost in translation

           BarkingCat

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:39  

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US did the same with CA, precisely as you describe it.

In reply to Sounds sad. To take… by BarkingCat

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                        Lost in translation

           RafterManFMJ

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:33  

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I’m unclear as to why so many foreigners believe that “my gold is safely stored in Singapore,” when the US military maintains a base there, and warships of the US Navy are a regular sight.

http://east-usa.com/us-military-bases-in-singapore.html

In reply to Been there a 3 times since… by RafterManFMJ

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                        lakecity55

           RafterManFMJ

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 04:46  

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So, Singapore let (((Them))) in?

In reply to Been there a 3 times since… by RafterManFMJ

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                        Lost in translation

           Bay Area Guy

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:19  

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How can you handle that flight?  LAX/HKG just kicks my ass.

In reply to I've been to Singapore… by Bay Area Guy

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                        OZZIDOWNUNDER

           LadyAtZero

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 06:00  

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- -and hideously expensive! Like A$12 can of beer.

In reply to I visited Singapore about a… by LadyAtZero

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                        Walking Turtle

           peddling-fiction

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 20:59  

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US Dems take note.  Weep while another Deplorable One chuckles right along with peddling-fiction.  Even Huey Long agrees, all the way from his grave, ffs!  Now grow a pair, spit on your hands and take up with some HONEST work, y'bumz!

{Teehee!}  Tol' y'so.  Y'Demz all pelted Yours Truly with tinfoil in return.  Ergo Trump and no turning back.  And that is all.  0{;-)o[

In reply to Socialists take note… by peddling-fiction

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                        quesnay

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 14:38  

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It's difficult to imagine North Korea going from extreme totalitarian regime that controls every aspect of it's citizen's lives and restricts, controls and monitors all communication to the extreme, moving to "light taxation and light regulation, coupled with completely open and free trade". You can't even own a computer without permission from the state, so how exactly are citizens going to transform themselves into modern free-market entrepreneurs with those kinds of road-blocks?

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                        css1971

           quesnay

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:55  

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A single generation.

In reply to It's difficult to imagine… by quesnay

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                        peddling-fiction

           css1971

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:52  

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The public caning will find common ground.

Law and order.

Maybe some westerners need a good caning as well.

Chuckle.

In reply to A single generation. by css1971

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                        TahoeBilly2012

           peddling-fiction

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 18:01  

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Asians adapt fast, look at China.

In reply to The caning will find common… by peddling-fiction

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                        peddling-fiction

           TahoeBilly2012

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 19:19  

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We adapted some folks.

In reply to Asians adapt fast, look at… by TahoeBilly2012

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                        MrButtoMcFarty

           css1971

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 02:44  

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And then nine more back to mediocrity.

In reply to A single generation. by css1971

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                        Scipio Africanuz

           quesnay

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 16:51  

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You underestimate Kim Jong Un, he'll get it done! Trump can help him, and perhaps, long after they're both gone, candles and incense will be lit for their souls....

In reply to It's difficult to imagine… by quesnay

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                        vato poco

           Scipio Africanuz

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 19:02  

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wait, where are all the liberal pussies complaining about Singapore's stifling conformity and how all that neatness and law & order and them parks and businesses prospering and kicking ass and low taxes makes it a cultural and artistic backwater?

whyyyy, Singapore will never become a world-class city like san francisco THAT way!

In reply to You underestimate Kim Jong… by Scipio Africanuz

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                        spieslikeus

           vato poco

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 21:38  

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The real question is are the bathrooms gender neutral?

In reply to wait, where are all the… by vato poco

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                        hxc

           quesnay

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:53  

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Pinochet saved Chile from the exact same fate, got it done quick with a few helicopters.

In reply to It's difficult to imagine… by quesnay

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                        roddy6667

           quesnay

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 22:27  

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A lot of Americans would consider Singapore extreme. Vandalism of public or private property is punished by flogging. This is a severe beating administered by a wooden stick that removes skin and flesh from your back. Chewing gum and a lot of other common Western practices are illegal. Chewing gum is seized at customs. Crime is almost non-existent because it is punished by extreme measures, even for small offenses. This does not meet most Westerners definition of "small and light government." Libertarians would freak out.

In reply to It's difficult to imagine… by quesnay

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                        vaporland

           roddy6667

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 00:16  

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flogging taggers? sign me up for that.

In reply to A lot of Americans would… by roddy6667

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                        Lost in translation

           roddy6667

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:22  

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Singapore is often touted as “how to make multiculturalism, work.”

Curiously absent from any discussion, however, is the amount of State force that is required to keep such a society, running.

In reply to A lot of Americans would… by roddy6667

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                        lakecity55

           roddy6667

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 04:50  

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Bath House Barry would enjoy the caning part.

In reply to A lot of Americans would… by roddy6667

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                        SergeA.Storms

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 14:41  

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Yep.  And to add, considered one of the safest cities in the world.  How are they doing with diversity and importing MENA refugees?

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                        besnook

           SergeA.Storms

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:08  

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there is a big difference between asian diversity (singapore is very diverse including religious diversity) and western diversity among a bunch of barbarians.

In reply to Yep.  And to add, considered… by SergeA.Storms

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                        rf80412

           besnook

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:50  

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Singapore keeps its diversity in check by rejecting identity politics, to the point of equating it with sedition.  There are no laws or internal policies that favor one group over another, though it's predictable that many people think this is itself unfair.

The West suffers because it's elevated identity politics to a moral imperative, which invites people to strive to regulate every aspect of life according to some racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, etc. scheme.

In reply to there is a big difference… by besnook

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                        Lost in translation

           besnook

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:35  

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Not sharing an open border with Latin America surely helps.

In reply to there is a big difference… by besnook

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                        nickt1y

           SergeA.Storms

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:03  

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Diworsity above all else. After all that's what really counts

In reply to Yep.  And to add, considered… by SergeA.Storms

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                        SergeA.Storms

           nickt1y

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:11  

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Someone can read /s.  Sometimes I think I need to /s tag everything for the literalists here.

In reply to After all that what really… by nickt1y

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                        mo mule

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 14:52  

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Well if NK can get the US to buy all their nukes, they would have the monies to start a new world order.....LOL

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                        ToSoft4Truth

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:04  

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NK will always be an American dog exploiting their citizens for our cheap products of amusement - like X-mas decorations.

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                        Pernicious Gol…

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:30  

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Kim went to school in Switzerland. He's seen cities outside Korea and China.

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                        ALANBEEKMAN

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 15:34  

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Some Singapore laws would give SanFran libtards

nightmares. No spitting on sidewalks, no gum chewing,

no graffiti (that one will get you caned), no public

urination and horror of horrors, no homosexual relations.

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                        morongobill

           ALANBEEKMAN

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:13  

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Caning is the answer to a lot of societal problems.

In reply to Some Singapore laws would… by ALANBEEKMAN

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           morongobill

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 01:24  

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Yep.

In reply to Caning is the answer to a… by morongobill

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                        Ethelred the Unready

           ALANBEEKMAN

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:37  

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You left out pooping on the sidewalk - "Pooparoni, the San Francisco treat"  - aka Sidewalk Surprise.   Also San Franciscans love to smash car windows, enabling them to access any valuables within.   The resulting shower of tempered glass on the pavement gives the city an almost fairyland-like look.  Especially around sunset.

In reply to Some Singapore laws would… by ALANBEEKMAN

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                        PacOps

           ALANBEEKMAN

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 19:46  

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We (expats) used to joke that if you liked Nazi Germany you would love Singapore.

That was back in the late 60's.

Had an apartment in S'pore early 70's. Just a great place to live and play. I imagine still is.

In reply to Some Singapore laws would… by ALANBEEKMAN

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                        RafterManFMJ

           ALANBEEKMAN

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 21:16  

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Wait - can I not shit on the sidewalk in Singapore? As an Indian H1b it is my cultural heritage

In reply to Some Singapore laws would… by ALANBEEKMAN

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                        BarkingCat

           RafterManFMJ

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 00:48  

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You can still shit in the bathroom sink and wash your face in the private porcelain bowl.

In reply to Wait - can I not shit on the… by RafterManFMJ

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                        radbug

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 17:30  

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Deng Xiaoping noted that as well and we all know what happened next in China.

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                        Chief Joesph

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 18:03  

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America would do well to follow Singapore's lead.  I have been there 7 times to know how well off they are, compared to the U.S.,.  It's really like the difference between day and night.  But, the U.S. has always dragged ass at adopting anything, just like health care.  Its been 106 years since Teddy Roosevelt had introduced Universal Health care to America, and America still don't have it yet. Singapore does!    Or like 100 years after the civil war to institute civil rights, or takes 30 years to get legislation for an 8 hour work day, or 129 years before women got the right to vote. For America to adopt a model government and economy, like what Singapore has, would take them at least 200 years, if ever.

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                        vato poco

           Chief Joesph

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 19:04  

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well, ya gotta understand Singapore is blessed by not having to work around a bunch of indians on welfare - 29 year old grandparents, etc - sitting around their reservations and whining about what happened 2 centuries ago - before getting shit-faced hammered by noon

In reply to America would do well to… by Chief Joesph

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                        RafterManFMJ

           Chief Joesph

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 21:19  

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Spent three weeks there in Jan 2017 ... Know what? In three weeks I saw cop cars exactly twice, and saw another cop patrol at the airport - 2 cops and a dog that I presume was sniffing for narcotics or a real boss chili oil.

Asked some locals - where are all the cops?

Basically they sit in their station until called, or until you stop by for a complaint

Imagine that

In reply to America would do well to… by Chief Joesph

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                        roddy6667

           RafterManFMJ

                 Tue, 07/10/2018 - 22:37  

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China is the same way. You usually only see cops at the large intersections directing traffic at the rush hours. They don't walk beats. They don't patrol neighborhoods. They don't carry guns. They don't even drive fast. If you call them, they will come out from the station, and most things cops do in America are not even police issues in China. There are twice as many cops per capita in America as in China.

The first thing I notice when I visit America is the overwhelming presence of police.  American have gotten used to the police running their country.

In reply to Spent three weeks there in… by RafterManFMJ

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                        BarkingCat

           roddy6667

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 00:55  

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One of my cousins came for a visit about 20 years ago. He said the US looked like a police state to him.

The other thing was all the wooden telephone poles.

He said that it's like a 19th century throwback.

In reply to China is the same way. You… by roddy6667

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                        MrButtoMcFarty

           BarkingCat

                 Wed, 07/11/2018 - 02:48  

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From?

[strayyank]

Deeper Still (NZ)

My barrel riding may best be described as timid, but I’ll go a step further and call it abismal.  And I may occasionally ride what are considered by some to be large waves, but I am not, by any means, a big wave surfer.  Yet there I was, at 5:00 AM driving south through New Zealand’s remote Catlins region to do exactly that; ride large, barreling waves.  

I was journeying with my friend Isaac, an accomplished surfer who has traveled Indonesia extensively, spending the equivalent of 3 full years exploring remote surf spots across the Indonesian archipelago.  He is comfortable surfing large, heavy waves, even though he lacks 95 percent of the vision in his left eye.  He is a Dunedin local.  He knows all the players and the surrounding waters well and has been my gateway to the Dunedin surf scene.  Going on this mission to the Catlins was in some ways an initiation, as much as it was an opportunity to score waves.  Though not explicitly said; if I could hold my own in large, heavy surf, it would open the door to further exploration and new waves.  

Ahead of us was a 6 meter swell, arriving uninterrupted from the body of water so consistently tempestuous, it’s referred to as the Roaring 40’s.  A raw South Westerly wind, blowing straight from Antarctica at 70 km/h, would hopefully groom 19 feet of moving water into emerald green, spitting cylinders, while seriously affecting the circulation of our extremities.  

The night before, Isaac asked if I wanted to borrow a step-up, a board slightly larger than a shortboard built for large waves.  Even though I wanted to, the chances of me snapping it and leaving me out $1000 was unreasonably high.  So I politely declined, instead prepping my 6’1” rounded pin, a board that’s still larger than my usual, but one that I rarely surf.  I put on a new coat of wax, attached a thicker gauge leash my brother gave me and tied the rail saver extra close so it wouldn’t knife through the foam in a wipe out.  I analyzed the wide points and imagined where I’d position my feet for optimum speed and turning ability.  I studied the concaves and rails, and imagined water flowing through and off them.  Without much experience on this board I had to mentally prepare myself for the challenges of the coming day.  At around 10 PM, I went to sleep.  

I woke up at 4:30 AM, made a full plunger of coffee and headed out the door to pick up Isaac.  The driving was challenging.  Dark, narrow lanes with rain and bad wipers meant I had no way of gauging how fast I was going or where I was on the road.   I relied on Isaac’s stories, my coffee, and the slow trickle of adrenaline starting to form in my system to keep me awake at the wheel.  At some point, Isaac turned to me and said,

“How much interaction have you had with sea life?”

‘Sea life’ was a fairly vague term in this context I thought.  ‘Sea life’ could be anything from a barnacle to a blue whale.  

“Because we’re likely to have a few encounters.”

I knew what he was referring to.  Sea lions.  They are abundant in the south, huge in size and quick to show you who’s “alpha” in their waters.  Sea lions will bark at you, nudge you and in extreme cases bump you off your board.  All of that may sound benign but when you consider the animal weighs half a ton, is twice the size of you and has teeth, they become a little intimidating.  I told Isaac about the seals we have back in Maine.  I described playful encounters in the sea with curious, beady-eyed mammals.  Isaac laughed.  In the back of my mind I was relieved he didn’t mention an even greater apex predator with a much deadlier history.  Great White’s are also numerous in the South.  Dunedin has a well known history of shark attacks.  In fact before moving here I was warned by a surfer in Christchurch who joked that I was, “Entering the food chain.”  As you head south from Dunedin towards Bluff, their numbers increase.  Only two weeks prior a French tourist had her holiday cut short when she was attacked close to our destination.  Her assailer was a Seven Gill, which was lucky; as far as I know she still has her leg.  I asked Isaac what to do when approached by a Sea Lion.  “Just stay calm.  Don’t look them in the eye.”

After nearly two hours of driving, the pavement turned to dirt and meandered through a gulley towards the coast.  We reached a grassy overlook where we caught our first glimpse of the ocean. It was a moody, turbulent scene and a sliver of white light shone where grey sky met grey sea.  Huge plumes of white spray erupted from shadows that stood and stretched like ghoulish yawns before violently collapsing.  Waves, backwash, ripples, undertow and channels etched various patterns in the surface.  A common surfer phrase would summarize simply; “There was a lot of water moving out there.”  

There was one other car there.  A teen from Dunedin, intent on “going pro”, who drove down the night before and slept in his car.  Isaac exchanged greetings.  The language kiwi surfers speak with each other is laden with turns of phrase so well worn they verge on cliche.  One hears the same “banter” in car parks all around New Zealand.  Same words, same rhythm, slight variation in accent.  It’s assimilation.  It’s identity.  It’s almost coded.  Best not to break the flow with an american accent.  

We watched a large black figure crawl out of the water and slowly shimmy up the sand.  “I’m glad he’s getting out now,” Isaac said of the sea lion.

Another car showed up and it was time to act.  We battled the early morning cold and changed into our wetsuits; 5 millimeters thick with hoods and boots.  The wind was strong as expected and the board felt a little foreign under my arm, but I was glad to have the extra paddle power of a bigger board.  

We entered easily from a well defined channel, but once outside the break I realized the intensity of the wave.  Walls of water marched in from the horizon, and as they moved over the sandbar stood tall, their faces elongating.  The lip would feather, but where most waves would then break, this lip would stretch upwards even further, drawing water up from the troth to create a perfectly vertical 10 foot face.  The lip would then project outwards, easily clearing the troth by another 10 feet creating a wide open tube.  Perfectly cylindrical.  Perfectly emerald.  Very intense.  There would be no turns that day, barrels were the currency of the session.

A set came through and a surfer 20 meters away took one.  He waited for the wave to come to him, then, as he was drawn up the face he took two or three deep strokes into the belly of the wave and started to plane.  He stayed mid face, never allowing himself to be pulled up into the lip.  As soon as the face became vertical, he threw his board hard beneath him, caught it with his feet and used his rails to gain traction while the lip towered above him.  In the next instant, the lip pitched over his head, fully enclosing him in a hollow tunnel of water.  I’ve seen this technique times before in serious waves by expert level surfers.  How they appear so relaxed and effortless on the deepest, steepest, most powerful part of a wave of consequence eludes me.

I turned back towards the horizon to find an appropriate warm up wave.  A mid size wave appeared and I started paddling long before it reached me.  The wave passed beneath me and marched onwards undisturbed until it finally broke some 30 meters in.  I paddled back.  Another mid size wave appeared.  It looked promising so I dug hard into the water, stroking for shore.  Once again the wave passed beneath me.  I paddled back to Isaac who was laughing.  

“Are you trying NOT to catch a wave?” He teased.  

I was a little embarrassed but had to laugh.  I didn’t realize how apparent my nerves were but he called me on it; choosing weaker, smaller waves.  I realized his comment was meant to help.  A gentle nudge to be smarter, patient, more selective.

Before long another set appeared and it was my turn to go.  An overhead left swung towards me and morphed into a teepee with a tall center and gradual sloping shoulders.  

“GO BEN! GO!!” Isaac yelled.  

I turned and scratched hard.  My eyes bugged and cheeks ballooned from quick, intense breaths.  I tried to stay mid face and as soon as I felt my tail lift and the board plane I sprung, but truly stumbled, to my feet.  I felt unsure for a moment as I became weightless over my board and dropped down the face, but as my weight compressed into the rails and fins at the troth I knew I had it.  I looked over my shoulder to see the lip heaving down the line in front me.  I dug into my heals and tried to hook under the canopy but my board felt stuck.  A combination of poor foot placement and a board longer and wider than usual.  In desperation I performed something akin to a back flop to avoid demolition from the lip.  It was ugly, and I hoped no one saw it, but it was functional and I emerged safely behind the wave.  

The waves were getting bigger.  The swell was forecast to build throughout the day and each new set brought a glimpse of what was to come.  Surfers would scramble when one appeared and paddle hard to position themselves amongst the shifting towers of water.  I found myself paddling mostly to avoid waves.  A sure sign I was out of my comfort zone.  

The biggest set I had seen yet appeared on the horizon and my heart started beating.  I had been sitting the longest so it was my turn to go.  But just then, I noticed a large dark figure slipping through the water behind two guys to our left.  I indicated with my head so that everyone would see.  

“Oh boy, here he comes,” Isaac said.   The surfers to our left shared a quick word of warning then brought their legs out of the water and lay flat on their boards.  Between them swam a giant sea lion.  The surfers were five feet apart and the sea lion brushed both their boards as he swam between them.  It lifted its giant head out of the water and spat out air, testing them.    

“Holy shit,”  I stammered.  

“Just try not to look at it,” advised Isaac.  

I pulled my feet up on my deck but looked forward to see the set on the horizon was now bearing down on us.  In front of us loomed wall after wall of towering grey water, the ones in back easily reaching two and a half times overhead.  Everyone started scratching for the horizon.  My blood pressure was high.  I had a thousand pound agitated sea lion swimming beneath me and a set of three 15 foot waves standing very, very tall, feathering twenty meters in front of me.  

I scraped vertically over the first one, kept sprinting and dove mid face on the second one as it pitched over me.  I surfaced and saw the mother of the set, upwards of 18 feet and already starting to pitch.  As heroic as we all want to be when staring down an 18 foot wave, everyone has a threshold at which point board ditching seems far more sensible than a duck dive.  However, Isaac was somewhere behind me, and somewhere below me lurked the sea lion, so there was no choice, I had to duck dive.  I steered towards a section of the shoulder that would break after the peak.  If I got there soon enough I could get under it.  I got as much speed as possible, drove the nose into the water, kicked my tail down with it, and right as the wave bore down on me brought my body under water towards the deck.  Silence.  It was eerily calm.  Seconds passed and I could feel the current of the wave pulling me upwards inside it but I stayed deep, letting the wave move over me.  It is entirely possible that in that moment, the sea lion curiously surveyed the four wetsuit clad humans under water, our eyes closed and vulnerable.  I felt a shudder.  The water physically shook as the lip made impact with the sea.  I slowly rose upwards and surfaced, unscathed.  I looked behind me. There was Isaac, a slight smirk on his face acknowledging the weight of the situation, grateful I held on to my board.  

The session resumed and I wish I could recall a perfect ride.  One that resembled those of pros’ in the movies.  One in which I chose the largest wave of the set, paddled deeper than anyone else and back-doored a hair raising vertical peak.  That the lip projected over my head with guillotine sharpness yet I stood tall, even dared to tilt my neck back and blow a kiss to the roof of the barrel.  But in reality, I struggled.  I struggled with nerves, I struggled with fear and I struggled with equipment.  But I stayed out.  I watched others get deep tubes, took notes on their positioning and kept promising I’d do the same with every set.  And while the waves I caught weren’t stand outs, each one pushed my comfort level.  Edging me closer and closer to getting that big deep barrel, that elusive, canonizing experience every surfer seeks.  

At the end of my session I felt relieved, not satisfied.  Relieved I didn’t suffer a brutal wipeout, nearly drown or get nibbled by “Sea life.”  Unsatisfied knowing my actual skill level far outweighed my performance.  But such is surfing; in a sport of ever changing variables and conditions, consistency is nearly impossible to achieve.  One day you are convinced you are one wave away from landing that blow-tail reverse, and the next, you earnestly struggle getting to your feet.   It’s a frustrating truth of our sport, and its’ fickle nature keeps us coming back.  To uncover the next secret that will unlock a greater understanding of wave riding and flow.  Something that will transform wiggles and gesticulations into one ever flowing powerful expression.  It is a dance, an art form and a mystery that only the best truly feel and very few can describe.  Yet we persist, to uncover those mysteries, challenge our comfort zones and climb from each plateau, despite frustrations and the potential futility of our pursuit.  There is joy in the simplest form of wave riding, drawing lines on the face of a wave, and there will no doubt be joy deep within the belly of a giant, emerald green barrel.  

[stephaniefchase]

Bajan Newscap 4/19/2017

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is your daily news cap for Wednesday 19th 2017. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Mid-Week Nation Newspaper (MWN).

JONES MUST GO –President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Pedro Shepherd is warning of a “catastrophic collapse” of the Barbadian education system unless there are sweeping administrative changes, starting at the top. In a blistering attack on the record of the Ronald Jones led-Ministry of Education, during his address at the BUT annual conference at Almond Bay Caterers Tuesday morning, Shepherd stated that Jones’ tenure had resulted in a runaway situation, evidenced by the disciplinary woes and tumultuous relationship between teachers and the ministry. Unfazed by the presence of Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Senator Harry Husbands at the head table, Shepherd made it clear that the ministry under its current stewardship and advisory body was not up to the task. This is not the first time that Shepherd has called for the back of Jones, himself a former BUT president, who has clashed repeatedly with the union – as well as the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union – on a number of issues, including violence in schools; safety and health; school closure and policy relating to water outages and stench; terms leave; study leave; and payment for the marking of school-based assessment projects. During a bitter standoff last year, made worse by the ministry’s decision to dock the pay of 80 per cent of teachers who had attended union meetings during school hours, the union leader had also called on the minister to go. However, this time he has gone further by also calling for the back of senior officials in the ministry, likely including Husbands and Chief Education Officer Karen Best, who, like Jones, are former BUT presidents. Shepherd was also scathing in his criticism of the manner in which the ministry chooses candidates to sit on the various school boards, arguing that those chosen had little qualification for the post other than being political stooges. He contended that the same measuring stick was often applied when it came to the appointment of principals and senior teachers. “Some of our problems may be traced to the handpicking of senior teachers, heads of departments, deputy principals and principals of our schools in the recent past. There must be certain horses for certain courses and it is probably because of the aforementioned that our schools have seen an upsurge in deviant behaviour to the point where this country’s education system is destined for a catastrophic collapse. “The practice of a Minister of Education nominating some political persons to chair and serve on school boards needs to be revisited. We have found that some of those members have not a clue what their role is on these boards,” he added. The trade unionist said in addition to the corroding policy framework of the education system, a significant percentage of the physical infrastructure suffered from neglect, creating an unhealthy environment for teachers and students alike. He revealed that the BUT was called in to assess environmental related concerns in 11 schools just last year alone. The BUT president also called for the dissolution of the individual school boards, and the formation of just four to govern the 22 schools across Barbados. (BT)

URGENT MEETING – The entire private sector of Barbados is being called out with a “sense of urgency” to address this country’s burgeoning economic problems. Barbados needs to adopt a renewed effort to “keep our economy on track”, says Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) chief executive officer Anne Reid, and that is why the BPSA is calling the meeting. It is scheduled to take place on Friday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre at 4 p.m. BPSA is the umbrella body for private sector associations in the island. Reid told the MIDWEEK NATION yesterday that with its leadership having expressed its views on the importance of urgent action, now was the time for the wider membership to make their position clear. (MWN)

FURTHER DOWNGRADES WON’T BOTHER SINCKLER - Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler says he would not be losing much sleep over the fact that the sale of the state-owned Barbados National Terminal Company Limited (BNTCL) to regional petroleum products giant Sol, will not be finalized in time to be factored into the calculations of international credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, who are expected to published their next quarterly report in June. “I am not running my ministry with one eye on any rating agency, we are doing what we are doing in the best interest of the country,” Sinckler said yesterday at the Carlton cricket grounds, where he hosted kite flying competition for his St Michael North West constituency. “The rating agencies would do what they have to do – their actions do have an impact on us but we have to do what is in the best interest of Barbados. The people who do the assessments would have to judge by what action we take,” he added. Just last month, Moody’s downgraded Government bond and issuer ratings to Caa3, placing Barbados on the same level as Greece, the Ukraine and Venezuela, and all but stating that the home-grown austerity programme had failed. It came six days after Standard & Poor’s had reduced the country to ‘CCC+/C’ on account of its limited financing alternatives and low international reserves. Notwithstanding, the minister urged Barbadians not to despair as he argued that the sale of the BNTCL was by no means Government’s only plan to return the foreign reserves back on solid footing. “There are inflows other than through the sale of the BNTCL. Those were some key ones and quite frankly critical, but there are many other projects, some of which have come in. We would not have listed them or reiterated them as we did those three because those three are significant. “There are others that flow into the country all the time, we just have to make sure that we manage the demand until such time that the bigger ones come in and to ensure that we defend our currency. We believe we have enough of those and there is no case for any devaluation, so we feel reasonably comfortable in that regard, but that does not mean that everything is settled, “ he stressed. (BT)

TAX STAIN ON BARBADOS STICKS, SAYS INNISS – Minister of International Business Donville Inniss is cautioning that Barbados will not soon escape the stain brought upon it for being declared a tax haven. “The tax haven label is not something that has gone away, slowed down or will go away in any foreseeable future,” Inniss told Barbados TODAY. This sentiment came on the heels of the recent move by the American state of Illinois to blacklist Barbados as a tax haven, following the introduction of a new bill by the state’s house of representatives. Bill HB3419, which also names a number of other regional and international countries, forbids businesses operating in jurisdictions considered “foreign tax havens” from submitting a bid or entering into a contract with the state of Illinois. The new measure also restricts “expatriate corporations” in the countries named from doing business with the state. Inniss, who said he was not aware of any such corporations in Barbados or that this country did international business directly with the state of Illinois, suggested that there was no merit to the move to blacklist Barbados as a tax haven. The minister said the decision in October last year by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to upgrade Barbados to a “largely compliant” jurisdiction in relation to tax matters and exchange of information was an indication that the country was not a tax haven. At the same time he acknowledged that the island still had a lot of work to do in relation to tax matters and exchange of information as the goal post continues to shift. Inniss said he was satisfied that Barbados continued to engage its international partners on the matter instead of just sitting back and “taking what people give us”. (BT)

‘NO GAINS’ WITH HISTORIC STATUS – A local heritage expert says Bridgetown’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site seems to have had the opposite effect than had been hoped. Peter Stevens, president of the Barbados National Trust, noted that before inscription in 2011, there were a number of restoration projects of key historic buildings. But in its wake, he said there had only been two restorations, while the island has lost four buildings in addition to a 19th century one being totally defaced. “It kinda feels like everything has stopped,” he said. “We got inscribed and then what happened? Someone said, ‘Well, we have had an economic problem’ and yes, that was factored in, but it wasn’t like we had bucketloads of money before and we managed to do stuff and we didn’t need world heritage.” (MWN)

FEW TEARS FOR DUMPED DLP CANDIDATES – A leading political scientist is describing the replacement of three St Michael constituency candidates for the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) as no surprise, while the constituents felt the changes made little difference to how they would vote. The DLP hierarchy last week dropped City candidate Patrick Todd for Henderson Williams, St Michael East’s Kenny Best for Nicholas Alleyne and Patrick Tannis in St Michael South East for Rodney Grant. Former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr George Belle said there was reason enough to replace the three. Belle charged that Best had “failed as a politician and he didn’t perform” in the 2013 general election, while Todd “is already on his decline” and is not respected by his own party. However, it is the dumping of Tannis, who lost to Santia Bradshaw of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) by ten votes in the last election, which Belle saw as most interesting, stating that the DLP was banking on Grant’s association with former Member of Parliament Hamilton Lashley to bring home the seat. Meanwhile, some voters in The City were happy to see the back of Todd, while others expressed little interest as they declared allegiance to sitting parliamentary representative Colonel Jeffrey Bostic of the BLP. “It [Todd’s removal] sound reasonable and good. He ain’t nuh good and he don’t help de people,” said Percy Roach, who has been living in the Emmerton/Chapman Lane area of the City for 69 years, although Jason Hurley disagreed. “For years he did doing good,” Hurley said. For Elston DaCosta Bowen, who has been living in the City for the past 58 years, Williams’ selection makes no difference to how he plans to vote. “Colonel Bostic is my candidate. Whether they chose this DLP candidate or what, I voting for Jeffrey Bostic,” Bowen told Barbados TODAY. Over in St Michael East, which is represented by the BLP’s Trevor Prescod, no tears were shed for Best. “No problem with the change . . . but Best should not have started. I favour Alleyne as the next candidate 120 per cent.” said Anthony from the Ivy. “Kenny Best should never come ‘bout here. He don’t speak to nobody.” Over on 4th Avenue, Skeetes Road, the Ivy, Trevor Devonish became the unofficial spokesman for more than half a dozen men under a tamarind tree slamming dominoes or simply standing around. “This is Prescod territory. Prescod takes care of everybody. Dey could bring King Kong, Prescod is our man,” Devonish declared. Across at 13 Stratford Hill, Pinelands, Annette Jackman initially found it difficult to choose between Grant and Bradshaw, noting that both were good people who helped the community. (BT)

GRANT: VISION BASED ON NEEDS – Forget traditional politics and the traditional politician. Rodney Grant doesn’t believe in one, and doesn’t want to be the other. The Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) newest candidate for St Michael South East plans to move away from the political status quo, and chart his own path of representation for the thousands of poor people living in his constituency. He was one of three new candidates chosen by the Democratic Labour Party last week, all from St Michael constituencies, to contest the next general election. (MWN)

WILLIAMS PLANS TO BUILD UP THE CITY – New democratic labour Party candidate for The City, Henderson Williams, said he had been working in the constituency long before being named a candidate. Speaking earlier this week, Williams, a businessman and director of the City Development Foundation, said there was no excuse for not helping others, whether or not one’s party was in power. “I think this is a golden opportunity to assist The City. Over the past few years, people of The City have indicated a certain level of dissatisfaction and we are going to fix that. “However, saying things like you can’t do anything because your Government is not in power is a cop-out to me and holds no water in my assessment. We are working with the slogan One City Working Together, where uptown and downtown is one city and we will work to push the entire city forward,” he said. (MWN)

TEACHERS WANT TWO PRO DAYS – Teachers want two days, instead of the traditional Teachers’ Professional Day, to talk about all the problems facing them, as well as a national discussion on education. This was the call from president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), Pedro Shepherd, as he addressed the union’s 43rd annual general meeting at Almond Bay, Hastings, Christ Church, yesterday. “In the last five to six years there has been no effort to engage the stakeholders in education on any topic. What has been happening is that the Ministry of Education will send you a letter, as they did with the Teachers’ Service Commission, and ask you whether you support one or not. Or they will send you the draft of the Use Of Technology Policy In Schools and ask you to comment. “This is totally unacceptable, and the BUT is once again calling for a national dialogue on education in Barbados,” he said. (MWN)

TRAFFIC JAM – The already mentally taxing experience of driving tests is becoming nothing short of a nightmare for learner drivers and their driving instructors. For months now, testing officers have been crying out for changes at the Licensing Authority in order to ease the pressure on students, but to no avail. The driving instructors maintain that a shortage of testing officers was leading to long lines, lengthy waits and postponements, placing added pressure on already nervous learner drivers. When Barbados TODAY visited the Licensing Authority in The Pine, St Michael shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, a large number of vehicles had already queued up on the compound, with instructors gathered outside, while impatient learners either were asleep in the vehicles or sat snacking. Some had even left, clearly convinced that they would complete their assignments and be back in plenty of time. Veteran driving instructor Erskine Cumberbatch vented his frustrations, as he pleaded with the authorities to be considerate of the learners, and to do whatever was possible to ease the stress on the students. Cumberbatch explained that having just three testing officers operating daily was not working out, with back ups within the system causing a trickle down effect. In a brief comment to Barbados TODAY Tuesday evening, Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley said he was aware of the ongoing problems and was working to have the vacant positions filled. He asked driving instructors and testing officers to be patient in the interim. “We are aware of it because some testing officers have left. We are actually waiting for the posts to be filled. We have made the request and the situation is being handled. I won’t be able to say when they will be filled but I will check on it,” Lashley said. (BT)

TEEN STRUCK BY CAR OUTSIDE SERVICE STATION – A teenager was struck by a car this morning as he sat on the wall outside the Sol Banyan Service Station. Police are investigating the accident which occurred along Bay Street, St Michael around 6:05 a.m. Police said 31-year-old Jermaine Williams, of Durant’s Village, Holders Hill, St James lost control of his vehicle and struck an embankment, before hitting 19-year-old Christopher Tossaunt. Tossaunt, a resident of Chelsea, St Michael was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance. (MWN)

POLICE INVESTIGATE SHOOTING AT DURANT'S VILLAGE, ST JAMES – Police are investigating a shooting incident at 4th Avenue, Durant’s Village, St James that resulted in minor damage to a small shop today. According to lawmen, around 12.45 p.m., two men opened fire on Pierre’s Variety, which is attached to a dwelling house occupied by 29-year-old Pierre Sandiford. The men then fled the scene. The shop assistant and some of the occupants of the house were at home but no one was injured. Police are asking anyone with information relating to the incident to contact the Holetown police station at 417-1700 or 419- 1701, police emergency 211, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477 or the nearest police station. (BT)

THIEF ATTEMPTS SUICIDE IN COURT – A burglar attempted to strangle himself in court yesterday using a shoe lace, but was quickly pounced upon by officers. Repeat offender Shamar Renaldo Welch, alias “Sammy”, who was also the subject of a recent wanted man bulletin, had protested against being sent to prison when he appeared on two theft charges. He said he wanted to kill himself. Police apprehended him last Saturday at Yearwood Land, Black Rock, St Michael, and Welch appeared yesterday in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty to two theft charges. From the time the handcuffed 28-year-old, of Rockhampton Road, Grazettes, St Michael, entered the courtroom, he complained about his arrest, even interrupting the court with his loud griping. (MWN)

I WAS STRESSED – A habitual thief will spend the remainder of 2017 in prison after he was sentenced to 12 months at HMP Dodds Tuesday afternoon for stealing four energy drinks. Andrew Melvin Franklyn of Edgecumbe Tenantry, St Philip who has been on remand for the past three months, admitted to Magistrate Kristie Cuffy Sargeant that he stole the drinks worth $28 belonging to DHB Holdings on January 26. In presenting the facts, police prosecutor Sergeant Martin Rock revealed that Franklyn entered the Sol Service Station on Bay Street, St Michael and was seen by employees removing the items and placing it in a haversack. He then walked out of the establishment. The matter was reported to the manager who followed Franklyn via motor vehicle along the said road. He was able to stop the man and made a request for the items to be returned. However, Rock told the magistrate that Franklyn handed over one of the drinks which he placed on the passenger seat of the vehicle and then made his escape. The theft was reported to the police and Franklyn who has 16 previous convictions, was later arrested following investigations. Addressing the magistrate Tuesday, Franklyn apologized for his actions. He went on to explain that at the time of the offence he was going through some stressful times as he had just gotten out of a relationship. “I was stressed and when the woman left me, I just wanted to be drunk,” Franklyn explained, saying that he stole only two of the drinks from the service station. “I only took two Monsters from the gas station and I left home with two. The officer charged me for all four of the drinks because all were cold. The cold ones mixed with the hot ones,” he told the magistrate. “I am at the mercy of the court. I am asking for leniency and to take my three months on remand into consideration. Don’t use my antecedents against me because I have already paid my debt to society on those,” he added. However, the magistrate did not believe a word of what Franklyn said. “You are trying to give the impression that this is a one-off situation and that is not the case,” she said. She then addressed the lead investigating officer in the case and congratulated him on a job well done after requesting his presence in court. “The Court wants to congratulate you on a job well done . . . . You exercised common sense under the circumstances,” she to the officer as she sentenced Franklyn to time in prison. (BT)

JAIL FOR DRUG OFFENDER – A 55-year-old man Tuesday began serving a six-month sentence which includes drug counselling and rehabilitation at HMP Dodds. Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant handed down the ruling on Anderson Carlos Leroy Brathwaite, of Glebe Land, St George this afternoon after he pleaded guilty to possession of an apparatus for the use of the illicit drug, cocaine. Police prosecutor Sergeant Martin Rock told the court that lawmen were on patrol on April 16 in an area of Bank Hall, St Michael when they spotted Brathwaite. He allegedly began to fidget with his pants pocket on seeing the police. They stopped and requested a search to which Brathwaite consented but not before removing an object from his pocket and dropping it on the ground. It was a glass bottle with a hole, containing residue suspected to be that of the illegal drug. Asked to account for it at the time, Brathwaite who is known to the law courts made no reply. However, in the dock of the No.2 Magistrates’ Court Tuesday, he said: “I been struggling now for a little while . . . . I was at Verdun [House] . . . I made an attempt and I would like to know if you will help me with Verdun?” Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant pointed out to Brathwaite that he had already been given such an opportunity and threw it away. “You had that before . . . but you have to help yourself. It’s OK to ask for the help and get the help but you have to play your part. If you are not willing to help yourself, then it is not going to work,” Cuffy-Sargeant said as she imposed sentence.  (BT)

12 MONTHS FOR STEALING DRINKS – He was charged with stealing four Monster energy drinks, but habitual thief Andrew Melvin Franklyn tried to convince the court that he took only two but was charged because “all were cold”.  “The cold ones mix with the hot ones,” the 40-year-old told the District “A” Magistrates’ Court before he was sentenced to 12 months in jail. Franklyn, of Edgecumbe, St Philip, had pleaded guilty on a previous occasion to stealing the drinks from DHB Holdings on January 26. The court heard that Franklyn went to the Sol gas station on Bay Street, St Michael, and was seen putting the drinks in his haversack before leaving. (MWN)

TATTOO ARTIST AVOIDS PRISON – A 24-year-old tattoo artist Tuesday avoided a six month stint at HMP Dodds after paying a forthwith $500 fine for breaking a court-imposed bond. Lamal Vallance Whitney of 3rd Avenue Licorish Village, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael admitted to possession of $38 worth of cannabis when he appeared before Magistrate Krisite Cuffy-Sargeant in the No.2 District ‘A’ Criminal Court. His guilty plea to the April 16 offence meant that he breached an 18-month bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour imposed on him by another court back in January. According to the facts read by prosecutor Sergeant Martin Rock, Whitney was at home on the mentioned date when police executed a search warrant at the residence. He was found lying on a bed with a transparent plastic bag containing 18 small Ziploc bags with the illicit drug, which weighed 7.4 grammes. He admitted knowledge and ownership when asked to account. “I apologize for my actions,” Whitney who has 23 prior convictions for drugs and theft told the court Tuesday. It was at that time the police prosecutor informed the magistrate that Whitney had breached his bond. After he was asked which option he would excise  – the fine or prison – the money was paid to the court. However, he now has one month to find another $1,500 for the latest drug offence. Whitney returns to court on May 19 to show proof of payment. If he fails to pay the amount, he will spend six months in prison. However, his legal trouble does not end there as he is also charged with assaulting Lance Whitney on March 28. He denied that charge which will also come up for hearing on the May date. (BT)

SPINNERS TAKE PRIDE TO VICTORY – Jomel Warrican completed a five-wicket haul as two left arm spinners shared eight wickets to lead Barbados Pride to a narrow 26-run win over the Jamaica Scorpions on a final day of pulsating action at Kensington Oval yesterday. It was a fitting end to the regional first class season at Kensington as the Scorpions, set 341 to win, fell for 314, 45 minutes after lunch on the final day of the Digicel Regional Four Day tenth round contest. Warrican took five for 87 from 26.1 overs while Sulieman Benn bagged three for 90 from 24 overs. Fabian Allen put on a stunning display of hitting to smash 60 off 46 balls but Warrican and Benn admirably withstood the pressure to seal the victory that assured Barbados a second place finish behind champions Guyana Jaguars. (MWN)

Gayle reaches 10,000 T20 runs - West Indies Twenty20 superstar Chris Gayle became the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Twenty20s, when he belted a typically bellicose half-century to fire Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 21-run win over Dwayne Smith’s Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League Tuesday. The veteran left-hander, who has not played for West Indies in 12 months, hit a sparkling 38-ball 77 – his first half-century in 17 T20 innings – as RCB, sent in at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, raced to 213 for two off their 20 overs. In reply, Lions made a good fist of it but were restricted to 192 for seven off their 20 overs, with Smith failing at the top of the order with one. New Zealander Brendon McCullum pummelled 72 from 44 deliveries but lacked support in the top order. The headlines, however, were all about the sensational Gayle who with 32, six and 22 in his three previous innings in the tournament, entered the game just three shy of the 10 000 run mark. And he achieved the mark in the fourth over of the innings and in his 290th T20 game when he edged seamer Basil Thampi to third man. The 37-year-old then unleashed his full powers, blasting five fours and seven sixes as he raced to his 61st T20 half-century off just 23 balls, launching left-arm spinner Shivil Kaushik for his fifth six to raise the landmark. Gayle featured in an up-tempo 122-run stand for the first wicket with captain Virat Kohli who punched 64 from 50 deliveries. The Jamaican eventually perished in the 13th over when he was lbw to a leg-stump yorker from Thampi. Gayle now has 10 074 runs, well ahead of McCullum who is second on the run-getters list with 7 596, with Australian Brad Hodge third on 7 338 and West Indies power-hitting Kieron Pollard fourth with 7 087. (BT)

SURF BOOST – The inaugural Barbados Surf Pro has proven to be a boon for the South Coast after almost 200 international surfers and their entourages descended on the island last week. The World Surf League Qualifying Series 3 000 event, which took place from April 11 to 16 at Drill Hall Beach, drew surfers from as far away as Japan, as well as from surfing powerhouses United States, Hawaii, Australia and Brazil. Competitors from 20 countries were on the island for the event. Louis Venezia, who along with Chris Clarke of Surf Promotions Barbados promoted the event, told the MIDWEEK NATION there was a major knock-on effect on tourism from the international surfing event. (MWN)

A HARD BOW TO ROE – New head coach Adrian Thorne is neither downright disappointed nor despondent with Barbados’ display at the Flow CARIFTA Games which ended Monday night. Thorne said he always set high standards but it was unfortunate there were sub-par performances from some on Barbados’ 28-member team, notwithstanding the tough conditions in Curacao. Barbados gained just 12 medals – four gold, four silver and four bronze– their lowest medal haul in the last four years after gaining 16 medals in 2014 and 2015 and 20 last year, including six gold, six silver and eight bronze. “The guys for the last five days were in a battle. We had some illnesses in the camp but they did fairly well with what we had. It was one of those years that we didn’t have it,” Thorne said. (MWN)

That’s all for today folks. There are 256 days left in the year Shalom! #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #bajannewscaps #newscapsbystephaniefchase