#justine siegmund

[acrossthewavesoftime]

Do you have any theories as to the cause(s) of Mary and Anne's obstetrical problems?

In fact I do, but II would like to preface my reply with several huge caveats:

This is all mere speculation based on historical information.

I'm not a doctor, so I have no authority to speak on medical issues of any kind.

Even a doctor could not form a concrete diagnosis based on what little historical circumstantial evidence there is; they would have to examine the person in question for that, which is naturally not really possible if we're talking about someone who died in 1694.

With that out of the way, here's what I think: It may not have been the same medical issue for both sisters. While Mary struggled to conceive, Anne's children often were stillbirths or died very shortly after birth. I know a lot more about Mary, though, than Anne.

Mary was married extremely young; she was 15, and just a few months shy of her 16th birthday when she was sure that she was pregnant. Now, the body of a person this young is absolutely not meant to be pregnant, and I wonder if that may have been a factor triggering the first miscarriage, with the rough carriage ride to Breda, where she wanted to meet her husband while the latter was on campaign, also factoring in.

As far as was reported, the miscarriage proved pretty hazardous for Mary's health, keeping her abed for weeks. To me, it seems likely that she may have sustained internal injuries that may have prevented her from ever successfully carrying a child to term.

There is an interesting detail that causes me to suspect that Mary and her physicians had a similar suspicion: In the late 1680s, Justine Siegmund was a guest at the court of the Hague.

Justine Siegmund, ca. 1690.

Justine Siegmund was the officially appointed midwife to the electoral court of Brandenburg, and had delivered a great many children of the German royalty and nobility, while still attending other births in the Berlin area.

Siegmund had initially started to become interested in gynecology and obstetrics after she had suffered a uterine prolapse at the age of 20. The midwives her husband had consulted had been unhelpful and diagnosed a false pregnancy (a diagnosis that was uttered in connection to Mary's last pregnancy, too), causing Siegmund to feel not taken seriously, and suffering a lot of pain as a result of not receiving adequate medical care.

Following her own traumatic experience, Siegmund trained to become a midwife herself in order to improve conditions for other women.

She rose to become the city midwife of Legnica in 1670, and in time was appointed to the court of Brandenburg by Friedrich Wilhelm "The Great Elector" in 1683.

Said elector had been married to Louise Henriette of Orange for his first marriage, who had been William's aunt. The elector had also played a role in William's guardianship during his minority, and of the Brandenburg children, William had reportedly been pparticularly close with the oldest, Karl Emil, who died in his late teens. Friedrich, the next eldest brother, would become the first King in Prussia and became elector in 1688, the same year his father died and Justine Siegmund may have arrived at the Dutch court.

Given her prominent position as court midwife, it looks as if Friedrich sent Wiliam and Mary Justine Siegmund for a consultation. Their struggle to conceive was discussed openly enough among their family; Sophie von Hannover, for instance, also weighed in on it in letters.

For Justine Siegmund, the trip to The Hague must have been a professional success; not only did it prove that the electoral court held her in high esteem, the Netherlands, and especially the medical faculty at Leiden, were the ideal place for a medical professional to meet new people and exchange ideas. Among her contacts, and contributing anatomical engravings for the handbook for midwives Siegmund was writing, was Govard Bidloo, who in 1695 would be appointed to the unenviable post of personal physician to William III.

What made her so special among other midwives of her age was not just her position at court: while it was customary for midwives to be women who had born a child of their own, Siegmund never had any children.

She also, and this is where things get quite interesting, performed medical interventions that went beyond monitoring pregnancies and assisting during birth. Indeed, what first caught the eye of male medical doctors of the time was not a particularly difficult birth she helped to bring to a successful conclusion, it was the removal of the Duchess of Legnica's cervical tumor.

So while her official title was that of a midwife, Siegmund's expertise was also in the field of gynecological surgery.

To me, it would make perfect sense that Siegmund was sent from Brandenburg to the Netherlands in order to examine Mary, and, if possible, perform an operation on her to 'fix' whatever prevented her from having children.

In time, Siegmund returned to Brandenburg. What she may have discussed with Mary and William remains mere conjecture, but I would consider it likely that she informed them of the impossibility of another pregnancy due to the injuries Mary had sustained a decade earlier.

So, all things considered, I think that Mary was a victim of marriage politics; although it is mere conjecture, it seems likely that, had she been married later, and thus had started to try for a baby at a somewhat more advanced age (say, in her early 20s), the chances for a successful pregnancy, birth and subsequently healthy mother and infant would have been drastically increased.

As for Anne, I reach the limitations of my deducting based on historical circumstantial evidence. I simply have not come across enough sources pertaining to Anne's reproductive health yet, and don't have the medical background knowledge to speculate with reasonable certanty on possible conditions.

Perhaps her lifestyle (which was an inescapable cycle of never ending pregnancies, being therefore prescribed to rest and good food being one of the few things she could indulge in at the time) may have contributed to her struggling with giving birth to a healthy child; to this day, doctors will (and are in some places even mandated to) warn expectant mothers who fall into a medical definition of being overweight that their weight might impact the development of their child adversely.

This is very likely not the sole reason and more of an additional, contributing factor, but it is the only speculation on the subject of Anne that I can comfortably express without veering into the realm of half-baked, and uninformed conjecturing.

Perhaps someone with a much more sound combination of medical and historical knowledge would like to add some commentary or criticism on this?

[elucubrare]

parmandil replied to your post: i’m fairly sure that this is the best video on the...

i hate siegfried but that justin bieber in his early years hairdo is offensive even to me

siegfried is the cute one, siegmund is the sexy one, gunther is the bad boy

[awesomeblockchain]

Malta has made it obvious that it wants to become the -Blockchain island" and it seems determined to achieve its goal.

A notable confirmation that Malta is moving in the right direction regarding Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) regulation was the recent announcement by Binance. The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume chose Malta for their new headquarters after the warnings received from Japan, China and Hong Kong.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as -CZ", welcomed other projects to Malta such as Tron:

Justin knows where the party is. Welcome to Malta $tron. https://t.co/CX7qtsgOWU

- CZ (@cz_binance) March 26, 2018Silvio Schembri, Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta, commented to Cointelegraph on the news:

-Binance's decision is a vote of confidence in what we're offering as a country and as a Government in this sector, that is legal certainty in this space. During the meeting with CZ I explained our long-term vision reflected in the policy document that was launched in February, 'Malta - A leader in DLT Regulation.' We are not shying away but instead want to unleash the opportunities that holds by regulating the sector without stifling innovation. Ultimately our vision is to make Malta 'The Blockchain Island'."

Why has Binance moved to Malta?Binance wants to offer fiat-to-cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals which will improve its liquidity and open their platform to new investors entering the space with fiat purchases. Currently, very few exchanges offer this option, which forces investors to look for other hedging alternatives such as the stable token Tether to protect themselves from the high volatility and correlation of the cryptocurrency markets.

Malta has warmly welcomed Binance, which hopes to start soon partnerships with local Maltese banks to enable fiat-to-cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals within a few months.

The second goal of Binance's roadmap in Malta is to mitigate the risk posed by their centralized system and provide their customers with a decentralized and trustless solution not only due to an ever increasing demand for ultimate security and transparency but also because of the competition that centralized platforms will face from projects such as Polkadot or Cosmos Network.

These new interoperability entrants, by implementing solutions such as "Peggy" (Ethereum Peg Zone), could trigger the raise of a new kind of decentralized exchanges which can be based on, for example, the 0x protocol, allowing for not only token but also cross Blockchain value exchange.

Furthermore, in the near future, these exchanges could be done in a fully anonymous manner thanks to other interconnected privacy focused chains such as ZCash and its Zk-STARKs or Sentinel Security and its built-in coin mixer.

It is therefore unsurprising that one of the goals of Binance in Malta would be to develop its own decentralized exchange given their awareness of all the upcoming innovations and potential competitors.

Ian Gauci, legal expert for the National Blockchain Strategic Task Force within the Office of the Prime Minister, provided Cointelegraph with his opinion about Binance's decision to move to Malta:

-Usually operators opening in Malta would look at the whole ecosystem and assess the country's potential from that angle. On the DLT front, Malta builds on the excellent reputation and track record in gaming, maritime and financial services. Hence, in my view, the value is already there. This value is further augmented by the country's predisposition to DLT and innovation and the recent announcements on the intended legislative framework in this sector. I believe this was a crucial aspect in attracting Binance and in all likelihood other outfits on DLT and in the crypto sphere might share Binance's view and likewise come to Malta."

Also, a founding member of the Blockchain Malta Association, Leon Siegmund, shared with Cointelegraph his thoughts about the current developments in DLT regulation in Malta:

-Entrepreneurs in the Blockchain field need a business environment and clear, simple rules that are long-term guaranteed. Binance delivers a service trusted by millions of users worldwide and provides high quality employment of which the Maltese economy will benefit. Ultimately, it is undoubtedly clear that blockchain and Bitcoin is beyond the stage of being just a hype or underground experiment with millions of people investing - it will bring decades of prosperity."

Maltese Blockchain regulationsMalta has been proactive and efficient in its efforts to provide a legal framework for DLT. A consultation document related to the enactment of three proposed pieces of legislation was open for feedback until early March. These three pieces of legislation are summarized as follows:

- MDIA (Malta Digital Innovation Authority) BillFirstly, the MDIA Bill will consist on the establishment of an authority, the -MDIA". The Minister responsible for Digital Economy will select the Chairman and Board of Governors of the MDIA. The MDIA Bill will also establish the Joint Co-ordination Board (JCB) and its scope will be to ensure effective cooperation between MDIA and other National Competent Authorities (NCAs) in the area of technology uses.

Moreover the MDIA Bill will establish the National Technology Ethics Committee (NTEC) which will ensure that the proper standards of ethics are reflected in the use of relevant Technology Arrangements and to guide other NCAs in Malta.

- Technology Arrangements and Service providers (TAS) BillThe second piece of legislation will be the TAS Bill which will set out the regime for the registration of Technology Service Providers (auditors and administrators of Technology

Arrangements) and the certification of Technology Arrangements (DLT platforms and related smart contracts).

The MDIA will be the national competent authority responsible for these registrations and certifications. The proposition is that any person will be able, on a voluntary basis, to request the MDIA to certify a Technology Arrangement or to register a Technology Service Provider.

- Virtual Currencies (VC) BillFinally, the VC Bill will provide the regulatory regime and framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and for the provision of certain services related to VCs. This regime will cover brokers, exchanges, wallet providers, advisors, wealth managers and market makers dealing in VCs.

Some examples of practical applications of the above proposed legislation would be the certification of a DLT platform or the approval of an ICO. The proposed framework is intended to be pragmatic and applied to regulate the carrying on of business related to VCs when falling out of scope of existing European Union (EU) or Maltese financial services legislation.

A -Financial Instrument Test" will be applied to issuers and/or persons offering ICOs conducted in or from Malta to determine whether an ICO/VC is classified as a financial instrument in terms of existing investment services legislation such as the Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

This -Financial Instrument Test" will have two stages. The first one will be to determine whether a particular VC falls under EU or Maltese existing legislation. The second stage would then determine whether the VC qualifies as an asset under the VC Bill. An affirmative determination during the first stage would not require the person undertaking the test to proceed to the second stage.

The prime minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, and Silvio Schembri, Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister, tweeted about their enthusiasm, leadership and constant meetings with operators within the DLT sphere wishing to move to Malta:

Today we issued a document which provides guidance on the use of #DLT and #Crypto #Currency in #Gaming in #Malta. #blockchain #DeltaSummit https://t.co/ero5NBaruE

- Silvio Schembri (@SilvioSchembri) March 29, 2018Towards more adoptionLedger projects based in Malta have created LP 01, the first DLT application in Malta consisting of a property transfer management system to facilitate notarial work. This platform could be a useful tool for authorities to access real-time data about sales of property in Malta.

Also, ES, which is a leading boutique law firm in Malta, would offer services related to ICOs such as ICO set-up, legal services or tokenomics. Several companies are already accepting Bitcoin payments in Malta and there are Bitcoin ATMs present as well. This illustrates a growing use of DLT in Maltese society.

The local press is also discussing DLT issues frequently as can be seen in some recent articles from Times of Malta, Lovin Malta or Malta Independent.

The frictions among regulations, privacy protection and innovation continue. However, while some countries choose not to dialogue or embrace these breakthrough DLT innovations by updating and improving their existing legislation, other countries such as Malta have the courage and initiative to be pioneer leaders. Malta, with the proposed legislation and Binance's announcement to move its headquarters there, is quickly positioning itself firmly to truly become the -Blockchain island".

https://ift.tt/2II2ON7

[kingmindint]

Malta Determined To Become the ‘Blockchain Island’: Regulations, Adoption, Binance Headquarters

Malta Determined To Become the ‘Blockchain Island’: Regulations, Adoption, Binance Headquarters

Maltese pioneer legal framework for DLT aims to regulate the sector without stifling innovation and attracts Binance and other major players

Malta has made it obvious that it wants to become the “Blockchain island” and it seems determined to achieve its goal.

A notable confirmation that Malta is moving in the right direction regarding Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) regulation was the recent announcement by Binance. The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume chose Malta for their new headquarters after the warnings received from Japan, China and Hong Kong.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as “CZ���, welcomed other projects to Malta such as Tron:

Justin knows where the party is. Welcome to Malta $tron. https://t.co/CX7qtsgOWU

— CZ (@cz_binance) March 26, 2018

Silvio Schembri, Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy & Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta, commented to Cointelegraph on the news:

“Binance’s decision is a vote of confidence in what we’re offering as a country and as a Government in this sector, that is legal certainty in this space. During the meeting with CZ I explained our long-term vision reflected in the policy document that was launched in February, ‘Malta – A leader in DLT Regulation.’ We are not shying away but instead want to unleash the opportunities that holds by regulating the sector without stifling innovation. Ultimately our vision is to make Malta ‘The Blockchain Island’.”

Why has Binance moved to Malta?

Binance wants to offer fiat-to-cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals which will improve its liquidity and open their platform to new investors entering the space with fiat purchases. Currently, very few exchanges offer this option, which forces investors to look for other hedging alternatives such as the stable token Tether to protect themselves from the high volatility and correlation of the cryptocurrency markets.

Malta has warmly welcomed Binance, which hopes to start soon partnerships with local Maltese banks to enable fiat-to-cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals within a few months.

The second goal of Binance’s roadmap in Malta is to mitigate the risk posed by their centralized system and provide their customers with a decentralized and trustless solution not only due to an ever increasing demand for ultimate security and transparency but also because of the competition that centralized platforms will face from projects such as Polkadot or Cosmos Network.

These new interoperability entrants, by implementing solutions such as “Peggy” (Ethereum Peg Zone), could trigger the raise of a new kind of decentralized exchanges which can be based on, for example, the 0x protocol, allowing for not only token but also cross Blockchain value exchange.

Furthermore, in the near future, these exchanges could be done in a fully anonymous manner thanks to other interconnected privacy focused chains such as ZCash and its Zk-STARKs or Sentinel Security and its built-in coin mixer.

It is therefore unsurprising that one of the goals of Binance in Malta would be to develop its own decentralized exchange given their awareness of all the upcoming innovations and potential competitors.

Ian Gauci, legal expert for the National Blockchain Strategic Task Force within the Office of the Prime Minister, provided Cointelegraph with his opinion about Binance’s decision to move to Malta:

“Usually operators opening in Malta would look at the whole ecosystem and assess the country’s potential from that angle. On the DLT front, Malta builds on the excellent reputation and track record in gaming, maritime and financial services. Hence, in my view, the value is already there. This value is further augmented by the country’s predisposition to DLT and innovation and the recent announcements on the intended legislative framework in this sector. I believe this was a crucial aspect in attracting Binance and in all likelihood other outfits on DLT and in the crypto sphere might share Binance’s view and likewise come to Malta.”  

Also, a founding member of the Blockchain Malta Association, Leon Siegmund, shared with Cointelegraph his thoughts about the current developments in DLT regulation in Malta:

“Entrepreneurs in the Blockchain field need a business environment and clear, simple rules that are long-term guaranteed. Binance delivers a service trusted by millions of users worldwide and provides high quality employment of which the Maltese economy will benefit. Ultimately, it is undoubtedly clear that blockchain and Bitcoin is beyond the stage of being just a hype or underground experiment with millions of people investing –  it will bring decades of prosperity.”

Maltese Blockchain regulations

Malta has been proactive and efficient in its efforts to provide a legal framework for DLT. A consultation document related to the enactment of three proposed pieces of legislation was open for feedback until early March. These three pieces of legislation are summarized as follows:

– MDIA (Malta Digital Innovation Authority) Bill

Firstly, the MDIA Bill will consist on the establishment of an authority, the “MDIA”. The Minister responsible for Digital Economy will select the Chairman and Board of Governors of the MDIA. The MDIA Bill will also establish the Joint Co-ordination Board (JCB) and its scope will be to ensure effective cooperation between MDIA and other National Competent Authorities (NCAs) in the area of technology uses.

Moreover the MDIA Bill will establish the National Technology Ethics Committee (NTEC) which will ensure that the proper standards of ethics are reflected in the use of relevant Technology Arrangements and to guide other NCAs in Malta.

– Technology Arrangements and Service providers (TAS) Bill

The second piece of legislation will be the TAS Bill which will set out the regime for the registration of Technology Service Providers (auditors and administrators of Technology Arrangements) and the certification of Technology Arrangements (DLT platforms and related smart contracts).

The MDIA will be the national competent authority responsible for these registrations and certifications. The proposition is that any person will be able, on a voluntary basis, to request the MDIA to certify a Technology Arrangement or to register a Technology Service Provider.

– Virtual Currencies (VC) Bill

Finally, the VC Bill will provide the regulatory regime and framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and for the provision of certain services related to VCs. This regime will cover brokers, exchanges, wallet providers, advisors, wealth managers and market makers dealing in VCs.

Some examples of practical applications of the above proposed legislation would be the certification of a DLT platform or the approval of an ICO. The proposed framework is intended to be pragmatic and applied to regulate the carrying on of business related to VCs when falling out of scope of existing European Union (EU) or Maltese financial services legislation.

A “Financial Instrument Test” will be applied to issuers and/or persons offering ICOs conducted in or from Malta to determine whether an ICO/VC is classified as a financial instrument in terms of existing investment services legislation such as the Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

This “Financial Instrument Test” will have two stages. The first one will be to determine whether a particular VC falls under EU or Maltese existing legislation. The second stage would then determine whether the VC qualifies as an asset under the VC Bill. An affirmative determination during the first stage would not require the person undertaking the test to proceed to the second stage.

The prime minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, and Silvio Schembri, Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy & Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister, tweeted about their enthusiasm, leadership and constant meetings with operators within the DLT sphere wishing to move to Malta:

Today we issued a document which provides guidance on the use of #DLT and #Crypto #Currency in #Gaming in #Malta. #blockchain #DeltaSummit https://t.co/ero5NBaruE

— Silvio Schembri (@SilvioSchembri) March 29, 2018

Towards more adoption

Ledger projects based in Malta have created LP 01, the first DLT application in Malta consisting of a property transfer management system to facilitate notarial work. This platform could be a useful tool for authorities to access real-time data about sales of property in Malta.

Also, E&S, which is a leading boutique law firm in Malta, would offer services related to ICOs such as ICO set-up, legal services or tokenomics. Several companies are already accepting Bitcoin payments in Malta and there are Bitcoin ATMs present as well. This illustrates a growing use of DLT in Maltese society.

The local press is also discussing DLT issues frequently as can be seen in some recent articles from Times of Malta, Lovin Malta or Malta Independent.

The frictions among regulations, privacy protection and innovation continue. However, while some countries choose not to dialogue or embrace these breakthrough DLT innovations by updating and improving their existing legislation, other countries such as Malta have the courage and initiative to be pioneer leaders. Malta, with the proposed legislation and Binance’s announcement to move its headquarters there, is quickly positioning itself firmly to truly become the “Blockchain island”.

Source

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