#ledger mullins

[visceral-reject]

holy shit new ref sheets and redesigns

[air-in-words]

Badger Snakes and The "Red-Stained Ledger"

Since my recent announcement identifying as a Badger Snake (don't @ me if I change my primary at some point lol still going back over that one,) I've looked up some characters that have been identified as Badger Snakes, and found two things:

1) There weren't very many in fiction and

2) most go through the same personal journey I had described in my previous post.

By that, I mean, a very similar feeling of self-loathing or feeling as though you have some dirty secret to hide, AKA the Red-Stained Ledger Natasha Romanoff refers to. The two main ones that have been agreed upon I'll be focusing on are Woody from Toy Story and the aforementioned Black Widow, but I'll also be bringing two new characters into the fray, one that's been sorted as such based on the portrayal, and one that I've discovered on my own. They are Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman and Dewey Finn from School of Rock.

It's interesting to find the similar plotlines that certain sortings are given consistently in media, and The Power Behind the Throne AKA Badger Snake seems to pretty much only have the one: They fight for the group that they are loyal to, but they can't seem to help but do so in a way that they aren't proud of, one that they're sure would lead said group to shun them.

I'm sure someone could point out a character I'm not referencing here that doesn't have that plot, but at the very least, this plot dominates the sorting.

Woody in the first movie goes through exactly that issue. He only wants to fight for Andy's toys, and in many ways, all toys he comes across. He makes choices that he believes will benefit everyone, and prides himself on being able to make the "tough choices." But, he ends up having to do so in a "duplicitous" way, when he seeks to manipulate Buzz Lightyear out of his group. This is a horrible, dirty secret to him, and he feels almost as if he could never return to them, never show his face again because of how he chooses to fight. In the end, he reaffirms that his actions come from a good place, a place of love for his group, and finds ways to use his crafty talents that are slightly more constructive and a little less "cloak and dagger."

Natasha Romanoff has given me the namesake for this Badger Snake element: the Red-Stained Ledger. She describes her desire to fight for her country, for her family, but struggles with what she knows she's good at. She believes she's inherently a bad person and is determined to remain a loner due to her "badness," due to the "monster" she is. Good people don't lie or manipulate. Good people... uh... I dunno, bake cakes or something? Work humble jobs? But, her contribution to the world, her ability to be clever and tricky, means that holding her group, her country, her family, the Avengers themselves, only in her heart and not in her hands. But, her true colors are shown in her never-ending dedication to the cause, down to her being willing to give her life so that no one else has to do it. In a way, it's sad, because she died believing she in some way deserved it. But, none of her teammates felt that way about her. She may have been crafty, a master manipulator, and a skillful liar, but she was the farthest thing from bad.

Now, onto the two newer additions. I've seen Selina Kyle sorted as Double Snake, and I would agree that there are many interpretations that could fit the bill. But, if you ask me, the truest interpretation of her is as The Power Behind the Throne, the Robin Hood with no loud cause to shout from the rooftops; only a desire to help the people of Gotham. She uses her skills as a thief to act as a sort of "guardian angel" to the poorest in Gotham, but she has no grand statement to make. She sees people hurting, her group, the underdogs of Gotham, and came to their aid. But she does so quietly, secretly, because she believes in her heart that the way she has done so is not worthy of praise. She's a con and a thief, but, she places people above all else. She, in some interpretations, is one of the main people to open Bruce's eyes to the fact that not all criminals are necessarily bad people. Some of them are just in terrible situations they can't get out of. And yet, she won't afford that benefit of the doubt to herself, believing she is simply a broken toy not worth fixing. Her occasionally lackadaisical attitude towards killing may seem to make Badger primary unlikely, but Badgers are not always loyal to ALL humans. Her group is the poor and downtrodden, and those who act against them are less than human in her eyes.

Now, we come to my personal favorite, my own personal discovery: Dewey Finn from one of my favorite movies, School of Rock.

Dewey is a fabulous example of a Badger Snake, in my personal opinion. His chosen group is Rock with a Capital R and "the band," whichever band that may currently be. He may have some sort of Burnt Snake primary performance/model going on, wanting to play the part of a "rock star" that truly only cares about himself, but his true loyalty is very clear. He is worried about doing his chosen group justice in every way, making sure that Rock is being well-represented and that he's serving his current band the very best he has to offer. Being kicked out of his band at the very beginning is earth-shattering to him, not because he has a Snake primary style devotion to only them, but because they told him he let them down, and implying that he wasn't representing Rock the way he should. His Snake primary performance/model melts away as he bonds to his new band, the kids he teaches. He brings them into his chosen group of Rock and creates a new bonded group with them in particular as they form a band. He actually finds himself liberated by taking a backseat to the children (a very Badger primary thing to enjoy,) allowing Zack to play his song, guiding Freddie away from making bad choices, helping Tamika find her voice, encouraging fellow Snake secondary Summer how to use her shrewdness, and, using a method I believe is best utilized by Badger Snakes, helping Principal Mullins find her chill. Lol.

Badger Snakes, more than any other Snake secondary type, will rely on the "we aren't so different you and I" approach to get what they want. He finds out Mullins also enjoys Rock. This is something they have in common! Let's create a situation where we "naturally" find out we have this thing in common, placing us both in the same group. Although other primaries don't glorify groups as much as Badger primaries do, all people are more likely to listen to or help out someone they feel is like them in some way. So, Dewey puts some Stevie Nicks on the jukebox and gets Mullins on his side.

In a similar fashion to the characters listed above, Dewey believes he is truly a loser and has nothing of any actual value or goodness to provide. But, the children help him see he's wrong, and he finds a way to utilize his talents in a way that truly fulfills him.

In conclusion, although seemingly unrepresented, I think there actually may be quite a few more Badger Snakes hiding in media, and, perhaps, they can be outed by looking for the Red-Stained Ledger plotline. Badger primaries are more likely, in my opinion, to be disturbed by their actions than say a Lion primary, due to where their loyalties truly lie. Although Lions may fight for the right thing, and that right thing may involve people's rights or serving a group, they serve that right thing before any of the people they may steamroll over to achieve it. Badgers, by definition, serve things. And, usually, lying, cheating, or otherwise being crafty is viewed as the worst possible way to serve someone or something. They do care about the things they may hurt or damage through their actions, and how they use their talents does, in fact, matter to them immensely.

So, to my Badger Snakes out there struggling with their own so-called "Red-Stained Ledgers", just remember that Dewey Finn would think you're kick-ass.

EDIT: Sorry, was thinking about it, and had to put an edit. Another way to think of this plotline/character archetype is mentioned in School of Rock as well as in a musical I know very well. I wouldn't use this moniker as the name for this plotline, only because it describes a very specific Snake secondary, one that is playful and light-hearted, and not all Snake secondaries are like this.

Zack's song refers to Dewey as The Magic Man, a person that swoops in and, almost by magic (in actuality, manipulation) brings out the best in the people around them. In the aforementioned musical, this character is called The Music Man.

Harold Hill may very well be another Badger Snake, although one more heavily disguised than Dewey Finn. I won't go too deep into his characterization here, but know he's a conman who claims to be a band instructor, while he has no musical talent himself, planning on taking the money for the uniforms and instruments and running. Instead, almost without realizing it, he encourages and manipulates the people of the town he enters into becoming better versions of what they are now. And, the most tragic part of his character is revealed once another character, one of the children he's conned, points out that there isn't a band, and never has been one. Harold tells him "I always think there's a band, kid."

It's interesting that, in both of these cases, they are associated with music and an almost mystical ability to bring out the best in others. I might do a more in-depth look at Harold Hill at some point, since I've been planning on doing some musical characters for a bit.

If thinking about having a Red-Stained Ledger is too negative for your own self-image, think of yourself as The Music Man. Your friends and the people around you may actually see you as an almost mystical force for good, someone who always seems to know the right thing to say or do to bring out the best in them. :)

[rauthschild]

Quotes On Banking and the Federal Reserve System FRAUD

"The entire taxing and monetary systems are hereby placed under the U.C.C. (Uniform Commercial Code)." -- The Federal Tax Lien Act of 1966

"The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it's profits or so dependant on it's favors, that there will be no opposition from that class." -- Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws."-- Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

"Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States." -- Sen. Barry Goldwater (Rep. AZ)

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce." -- James A. Garfield, President of the United States

"Banks lend by creating credit. (ledger-entry credit, monetized debt) They create the means of payment out of nothing." -- Ralph M. Hawtrey, Secretary of the British Treasury

"To expose a 15 Trillion dollar ripoff of the American people by the stockholders of the 1000 largest corporations over the last 100 years will be a tall order of business." -- Buckminster Fuller

"Every Congressman, every Senator knows precisely what causes inflation...but can't, [won't] support the drastic reforms to stop it [repeal of the Federal Reserve Act] because it could cost him his job." -- Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe

"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." -- Henry Ford

"The regional Federal Reserve banks are not government agencies. ...but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations." -- Lewis vs. United States, 680 F. 2d 1239 9th Circuit 1982

"We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it." -- Congressman Louis T. McFadden in 1932 (Rep. Pa)

"The Federal Reserve banks are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen. There is not a man within the sound of my voice who does not know that this nation is run by the International bankers." -- Congressman Louis T. McFadden (Rep. Pa)

"Some [Most] people think the Federal Reserve Banks are the United States government's institutions. They are not government institutions. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign swindlers." -- Congressional Record 12595-12603 -- Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency (12 years) June 10, 1932

"[Every circulating FRN] represents a one dollar debt to the Federal Reserve system." -- Money Facts, House Banking and Currency Committee

"...the increase in the assets of the Federal Reserve banks from 143 million dollars in 1913 to 45 billion dollars in 1949 went directly to the private stockholders of the [federal reserve] banks." -- Eustace Mullins

"As soon as Mr. Roosevelt took office, the Federal Reserve began to buy government securities at the rate of ten million dollars a week for 10 weeks, and created one hundred million dollars in new [checkbook] currency, which alleviated the critical famine of money and credit, and the factories started hiring people again." -- Eustace Mullins

"By this means government may secretly and unobserved, confiscate the wealth of the people, and not one man in a million will detect the theft." -- British Lord John Maynard Keynes (the father of 'Keynesian Economics' which our nation now endures) in his book "THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE" (1920).

"These 12 corporations together cover the whole country and monopolize and use for private gain every dollar of the public currency..." -- Mr. Crozier of Cincinnati, before Senate Banking and Currency Committee - 1913

"A great industrial nation is controlled by it's system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world-- no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men." -- President Woodrow Wilson

"We are completely dependant on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system.... It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon." -- Robert H. Hamphill, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank

"The Federal Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities..." -- Lewis vs. United States 9th Circuit 1992

"The Federal Reserve banks, while not part of the government,..." -- United States budget for 1991 and 1992 part 7, page 10

"The Federal Reserve bank buys government bonds without one penny..." -- Congressman Wright Patman, Congressional Record, Sept 30, 1941

"The Federal Reserve system pays the U.S. Treasury 020.60 per thousand notes -- a little over 2 cents each-- without regard to the face value of the note. Federal Reserve Notes, incidentally, are the only type of currency now produced for circulation. They are printed exclusively by the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the $20.60 per thousand price reflects the Bureau's full cost of production. Federal Reserve Notes are printed in 01, 02, 05, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar denominations only; notes of 500, 1000, 5000, and 10,000 denominations were last printed in 1945." -- Donald J. Winn, Assistant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system

"Neither paper currency nor deposits have value as commodities, intrinsically, a 'dollar' bill is just a piece of paper. Deposits are merely book entries." -- Modern Money Mechanics Workbook, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 1975

"This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President [Wilson} signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized....the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill." -- Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. , 1913

"From now on, depressions will be scientifically created." -- Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913

"The financial system has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That Board administers the finance system by authority of a purely profiteering group. The system is Private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money" -- Charles A. Lindbergh Sr., 1923

"The [Federal Reserve Act] as it stands seems to me to open the way to a vast inflation of the currency... I do not like to think that any law can be passed that will make it possible to submerge the gold standard in a flood of irredeemable paper currency." -- Henry Cabot Lodge Sr., 1913

[Note – From 1913 until now inflation of the dollar has been 2950%. A 1913 dollar would now be worth $.034. When I became a wage earner in 1950 I could buy a full breakfast, eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, shortstack, juice, and coffee for $.39. This morning I paid $9.60 for the same, an inflation of 2460%]

"When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money." -- Putting it simply, Boston Federal Reserve Bank

"There is a distinction between a 'debt discharged' and a debt 'paid'. When discharged, the debt still exists though divested of it's charter as a legal obligation during the operation of the discharge, something of the original vitality of the debt continues to exist, which may be transfered, even though the transferee takes it subject to it's disability incident to the discharge." -- Stanek vs. White, 172 Minn.390, 215 N.W. 784

"I have never seen more Senators express discontent with their jobs....I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have been accomplices in doing something terrible and unforgivable to our wonderful country. Deep down in our heart, we know that we have given our children a legacy of bankruptcy. We have defrauded our country to get ourselves elected." -- John Danforth (R-Mo)

"Capital must protect itself in every way...Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages foreclosed as soon as possible. When through a process of law the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law applied by the central power of leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd." -- Taken from the Civil Servants' Year Book, "The Organizer" January 1934.

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President.

"If Congress has the right [it doesn't] to issue paper money [currency], it was given to them to be used by...[the government] and not to be delegated to individuals or corporations." -- President Andrew Jackson, Vetoed Bank Bill of 1836

"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it's issuance." -- James Madison

"Should government refrain from regulation (taxation), the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent and the FRAUD can no longer be concealed." -- British Lord John Maynard Keynes (the father of 'Keynesian Economics' which our nation now endures) in his book "THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE" (1920).

"But if in the pursuit of the means we should unfortunately stumble again on unfunded paper money or any similar species of fraud, we shall assuredly give a fatal stab to our national credit in its infancy. Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them. Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice." -- George Washington in a letter to Jabez Bowen, Rhode Island, Jan. 9, 1787

The economic Crash of '29 and the Great Depression were caused by the money vultures and foreign swindlers of the Federal Reserve withholding currency from circulation and raising interest rates after an inflationary easy money policy in the early 1920s. The Federal Reserve's fear of excessive speculation led it into a far too deflationary policy in the late 1920s, "destroying the village in order to save it."

The U.S. economy was already past the peak of the business cycle when the stock market crashed in October of 1929. The Federal Reserve did "overdo it" -- raising interest rates too much, bringing on the recession that they had hoped to avoid.

This contrived "emergency" by the money vultures and the political manipulations of FDR, et. al. since then has created innumerous abuses, usurpations, and abridgments of Constitutionally delegated Powers and Authority as clearly stated in Senate Report 93-549 (1973):

"A majority of the people of the United States have lived all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, [-1812 years now in 121] freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have in varying degrees been abridged by laws brought into force by statutes of national emergency."

[usnewsrank]

Blockchain and European competition law | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP – JD Supra

Blockchain and European competition law | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP – JD Supra

There are a number of uses for blockchain technology that can raise competition concerns. As a distributed ledger where transactions are recorded in real time and are accessible to everyone within that network, blockchain makes at least some transaction information accessible to network users. The information available may provide information on highly sensitive business transactions […] The post…

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

trade.io Announces Strategic Partnership with Upcoming ICO, TV-TWO

Thursday 22nd of February 2018 Zug, Switzerland – trade.io has inked a strategic partnership with the innovative German technology company, TV-TWO. Under the terms of the agreement, trade.io will provide TV-TWO with marketing support and investor relations support for its upcoming ICO. Additionally, TV-TWO will list its utility token on trade.io’s upcoming exchange.

TV-TWO is an application for Smart TVs with the objective of decentralizing the entire television industry. TV-TWO’s application will allow a personalization of TV content and will reward viewers with cryptocurrencies simply by watching TV. While its advisory board is comprised of fellow ICO entrepreneurs, Blockchain influencers and a former board member of the Ethereum Foundation in David Ben Kay, it’s TV Taskforce includes executives from 20th Century Fox & Warner Bros. The TV-TWO application is programmed to work with LG & Samsung Smart TVs just to name a few.

trade.io’s MD of Research & Business Development, John Patrick Mullin commented:

I’ve personally tried out the TV-TWO application, and was very impressed with the experience. At trade.io we are very selective when choosing which companies to provide our consultancy services to and listing of their respective tokens. We’re excited to be working with TV-TWO.

TV-TWO’s Co-Founder Jan Phillip Hofste remarked:

We’re excited to be working together with trade.io. Their experience in marketing blockchain projects has been clearly demonstrated through their recent successes. They have the marketing expertise and industry relations to strengthen TV-TWO’s winning position. We can’t wait to show our community what we can do together.

About trade.io

trade.io is a next-generation financial institution based on blockchain technology, providing the ultimate in security and transparency. By leveraging decades of experience in the investment banking, trading & FinTech sectors, and combining them with the power and transparency of the distributed ledger, trade.io has created a truly unique product that will revolutionize asset trading and investment banking.

Find out more by visiting https://trade.io

About TV-TWO

TV-TWO is the Blockchain-based Future of Television. TV-TWO eliminates the gatekeeper status of TV networks and prevents tech giants like Google and Facebook from owning the medium in the future. The Open Platform surrounding our utility token enables direct interaction between users, advertisers, and content providers. As TV still is the biggest advertising market ($180bn volume) and favorite pastime, we have an immediate use case for 700M Smart TVs waiting for innovation.

Find out more by visiting https://tv-two.com or joining https://t.me/tvtwocom

Images courtesy of trade.io

The post trade.io Announces Strategic Partnership with Upcoming ICO, TV-TWO appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

from Cryptocracken Tumblr http://ift.tt/2EXkh61 via IFTTT

[coin-news-blog]

Competition Among Ripple, Visa and IBM Heats Up + 16 More Crypto News

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/tech/competition-among-ripple-visa-and-ibm-heats-up-16-more-crypto-news

Competition Among Ripple, Visa and IBM Heats Up + 16 More Crypto News

Crypto Briefs is your daily bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – keeping you up-to-date with under the radar crypto news from around the world.

Adoption news

Ripple, Visa and IBM are driving blockchain innovation in cross-border payments, a new study by digital commerce and fintech analysis firm Juniper Research claims. According to them, Ripple has led the market since 2012; capitalizing on its early mover advantage to grow to over 200 financial institution partners in 2019. "However, Ripple is facing increased competition from Visa B2B Connect and IBM Blockchain World Wire, which have already grown their presence in 60 countries and have high-profile partners in the financial ecosystem," according to the researchers. They also estimate that the total value of B2B cross-border payments immutably stored on blockchain will exceed USD 4.4 trillion by 2024; up from USD 171 billion in 2019.

Vietnam-based TPBank (Tien Phong Commercial Bank) has joined Ripple’s blockchain-based payments network, RippleNet. The announcement says that RippleNet will enable the bank’s customers to transfer money from Japan to a TPBank account in a few minutes, comparing to a few hours it took before to complete these transactions.

Coke One North America, the technology firm that manages the IT operations for the bottlers that work with Coca-Cola, is using SAP‘s blockchain technology to improve the complex production process, Business Insider reported. The pilot program initially started with just two bottlers — Coca-Cola United and C.C. Clark — and is now being scaled across all franchises, according to the report.

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has signed a blockchain cooperation deal with Huawei, per a social media update from the electronics conglomerate. No details of the sort of projects the parties have agreed to work on have yet been released. But the deal was sealed by the bank’s deputy governor Fan Yifei, who visited the company’s Shenzhen HQ in person.

One of South Korea’s biggest publishers, Yes24, has launched a mainnet. According to Newsway, the platform is named Seychain, and was co-developed by Israeli blockchain firm Orbs. The mainnet will make use of the Yes24-issued Sey token, based on the Ethereum ERC-20 protocol, which was released in August 2018. The company plans to use the network for its sales, e-learning, e-book and entertainment operations.

Samsung’s IT services arm Samsung SDS will upgrade its Nexledger blockchain platform per New Daily. The company will team up with Medium, the developer of a platform it says can perform at TPS (transactions per second) speeds of over 100,000 – to make speed improvements to Nexledger. Samsung SDS is hoping to expand its blockchain business operations in the finance, logistics and manufacturing industries, as well as the public sector.

The South Korean government has designated domestic blockchain firm Coinplug as an official military service exemption company. The ruling will allow adult males with appropriate technical skills who have been exempted from mandatory military service to work at Coinplug for around 18 months. Per DDaily, the company says it intends to treat conscripts just as it would full-time employees for the duration of their stay with Coinplug.

The Kadena network, led by JPMorgan blockchain veteran experts, is now live. The announcement says that mainnet Chainweb has been launched on November 4th alongside the Kadena token wallet Chainweaver. This now allows miners to participate in the Kadena public blockchain network and mine for Kadena coin. Additionally, the company has announced a USD 20 million token sale, which is to be held from November 5th to November 22nd.

Blockchain-based encyclopedia Everipedia and privacy browser Brave (BAT) announced a partnership, as the press release says "a co-marketing agreement." Their first collaboration will be a campaign aimed at boosting both brands among their respective communities.

Microsoft has launched a platform that it says will let companies mint their own Ethereum-based tokens. Per Forbes, the solution is named Azure Blockchain Tokens, and will allow developers to use tokens on the public Ethereum blockchain or at “distributed ledgers created by some of Microsoft’s own competitors.” The media outlet also claims that “companies like General Electric are waiting in the rafters to create their own [coins].”

Three major hotels in Venezuela will begin accepting the state-issued, oil-backed Petro token, per the country’s cryptocurrency agency, Sunacrip. The hotels in question are the Hotel Hesperia in Valencia, the Paraguaná Mall in Falcón and the Posada Doña Carmen in the Los Roques resort city. Sunacrip also claimed the state-run university Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Telecomunicaciones e Informática will begin offering cryptocurrency diploma courses.

Regulation news

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) states that stablecoins have “features that are typical of regulated securities,” and may thus need to be policed under securities legislation. Per an official statement, IOSCO states that while stablecoins offer benefits to market participants, consumers, they also pose “consumer protection, market integrity, transparency, conflicts of interest, systemic and financial crime”-related risks.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is hiring a Retail Payments manager to oversee its traditional payments section, but also to research digital currencies. According to the job description, the person would be based in Washington, D.C., manage the Fed’s Retail Payments Section, and also look into the ways to integrate digital currencies, stablecoins and distributed ledger technologies.

A year after Hong Kong launched a pioneering scheme allowing fund managers to invest in cryptocurrency assets, barely any players have been approved, highlighting the difficulties the industry faces in its bid to become mainstream, Reuters reported, adding that they were able to identify only one fund.

Exchanges news

Huobi Global’s American customers will be forced to leave the platform, with the company advising account holders to use the services of its American partner HUBS. The company explained its reasoning in a post, stating it had made the decision “in line with the laws and regulations of the United States with respect to cryptoassets.”

Legal news

The trial of an American lawyer, Mark Scott, who was accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars from a cryptocurrency scheme to offshore accounts, started this Monday. According to the Register, the FBI accused Scott of acting as a money launderer for OneCoin, which has taken in an estimated USD 5 billion worldwide, and which was allegedly a multi-level marketing pyramid scheme, taking money from investors under false promises of future enrichment, and moving money offshore. The hearings are expected to take two-three weeks, the article claims, and are the first for the three executives charged for their alleged roles in this case.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered the creators of ATM Coin to pay USD 4.25 million to settle the case after they’ve been charged with fraud connected to a binary options scam involving ATM Coin, says the press release. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered an order of default finding that Blake Harrison Kantor and Nathan Mullins, and four companies – Blue Bit Banc, Blue Bit Analytics Ltd., Mercury Cove Inc. and G. Thomas Client Services – "had committed fraud and misappropriated client funds."

Source: cryptonews.com

[visceral-reject]

crzy and crzier

I’ll post the excerpt in the comments late I’m tired

[seemabtechno]

Newspapers from South Carolina: Here is a largest and most comprehensive directory of  free online Newspapers, Magazines, News websites, online television and radio channels from South Carolina having access to the current news on local and international affairs.

·               Aiken Standard

·               Beaufort Gazette

·               Berkeley Independent

·               Bluffton Today

·               Carolina Gateway

·               Charleston City Paper

·               Charleston Regional Business

·               Chronicle Independent

·               CisternYard (College of Charleston)

·               Citizen News

·               Clinton Chronicle

·               Coastal Observer

·               Collegian (Bob Jones University)

·               Columbia City Paper

·               Columbia Star

·               Community Times Dispatch

·               Daily Gamecock

·               Daniel Island News

·               Dillon Herald

·               Edgefield Advertiser

·               Enquirer Herald

·               Fort Mill Times

·               Free Times

·               Gaffney Ledger

·               Gamecock (University of South Carolina)

·               George Street Observer

·               Georgetown Times

·               Goose Creek Gazette

·               Greenville News

·               Greenwood Today

·               Greer Citizen

·               GSA Business

·               GSA Business Journal

·               Hampton County Guardian

·               Hartsville Messenger

·               Hartsville News Journal

·               Herald

·               Herald Independent

·               Herald Journal

·               Hometown News

·               Horry Independent

·               Independent Mail

·               Index Journal

·               Island Eye News

·               Island News

·               Island Packet

·               Jasper County Sun

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[englishmansdcc]

I recently read the first 3 volumes of Stephen Franck’s SILVER, and today it was announced that the 4th (and final) volume titled THE SEARCH FOR DRACULA’S LOST TREASURE is now on Kickstarter. SILVER is a “globe trotting graphic novel series” that Franck has been working on for the past four years, and the new volume will wrap up the series.

For those not familiar with the series (like myself until I read it), it’s about a a vampire hunter (Rosalyn) who just happens to be a descendant of Professor Abraham Van Helsing, with the story taking place 30 years after Van Helsing visited Dracula’s castle with Rosalyn teaming up with some con-men to rob rich vampires in Europe.

More information as well as art is below courtesy of their press release.

The Russ Manning Award-nominated SILVER Graphic Novel Series Concludes

The Fourth and Final Volume of Stephan Franck’s Graphic Novel Caper About

The Search for Dracula’s Lost Treasure is Now on Kickstarter

Stephan Franck has worked on some of the most beloved animated films of all time, including The Iron Giant, How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me —and his passion for storytelling extends from the silver screen to comic books and graphic novels. Over the course of the last four years, Franck has been writing, illustrating and self publishing SILVER, a globe-trotting graphic novel series that mashes up the world of Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula with action, adventure, humor, pulp storytelling and modern sensibilities. Told over the course of 4 volumes (and a stand alone novella), Franck has created an unforgettable cast and a compelling caper that picks up 30 years after Professor Abraham Van Helsing visited Dracula’s castle. Now Van Helsing’s descendant, the mysterious vampire hunter Rosalyn, is teaming up with a ragtag group of con men for a high stakes heist to rob Europe’s richest vampires. Will they succeed, and live off their take from this one last job? All will be revealed in the fourth and final volume of SILVER, which Franck and his company Dark Planet Comics are funding via a Kickstarter campaign.

In SILVER, a group of criminals discover the late Jonathan Harker’s secret ledger, which discloses the existence of an exotic treasure of silver hidden in Dracula’s castle. Finnigan, the group’s leader, knows a retirement plan when he sees it, so he’s willing to do whatever it takes to pull off the biggest heist of the last ten centuries—even if that means allying himself with the mysterious, sword-wielding vampire hunter Sledge, aka Rosalind Van Helsing.

  This year, Dark Planet Comics released a Free Comic Book Day Edition of the first issue of SILVER. “My hope is that fans who love old-fashioned storytelling that’s chock full of action and adventure, mystery and humor, discover SILVER in time to be a part of the epic finale.” The series has already attracted the notice of comic book creators including Tim Sale, Bill Sienkiewicz and Jim Lee, and has been widely praised with coverage from an array of outlets including NPR, THE NERDIST, HORROR NEWS NETWORK, NEWSARAMA and COMICON.

Fans who back the new Kickstarter can get digital editions, all four trade paperbacks individually, a signed slipcase featuring all four trade paperbacks, the acclaimed novella ROSALYND, an audiobook of ROSALYND and limited edition prints by or done in collaboration with three incredible artists: Marvel comics and Kickstarter sensation Takeshi Miyazawa (Ms.Marvel, Spiderman, Code Monkey Saves World), animator and bandes dessinées artist Rodolphe Guenoden (Kung Fu Panda, Ma Reverence), and superstar illustrator Mel Milton.

  When he’s not writing and drawing comics, Franck is an Executive Producer and the Head of Story for the PLAYMOBIL Movie for Lionsgate. Previously, he worked as a supervising animator on the cult classic film THE IRON GIANT and as a key story contributor to DESPICABLE ME. Franck also co-created the award-winning animated TV Series CORNEIL & BERNIE (Nicktoons, Hub Network), and received an Annie Award nomination for Best Director in a TV Program, for the special SMURFS: THE LEGEND OF SMURFY HOLLOW.

If funded through Kickstarter, pledges will be delivered to backers this fall. The SILVER Volume 4 Kickstarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darkplanetcomics/345093214?ref=492299&token=9308655b) is live as of May 22nd and runs for 30 days.

For updates, follow Dark Planet Comics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This is what people are saying about Stephan Franck’s SILVER:

“Writer/artist Stephan Franck is firing on all cylinders…. Stylish black-and-white art, and a smart, charmingly roguish point-of-view-character draw you in.” —  NPR

“With SILVER, Stephan Franck shows how much excitement can be packed into a fast-moving, thrill-filled story… a really, really fun ride.”—Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween)

“Stunning.”—NEWSARAMA

“SILVER is so big, bold, and juicy! I absolutely love this book!” — Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin)

“Spun out of Bram Stoker’s literary classic Dracula, SILVER retains the original novel intact at its core, while extending its world in every possible direction.” — HORROR NEWS NETWORK

“Great book!”—Jim Lee (Batman)

“A beautifully drawn and masterfully told noir/heist story with a teasing side of the supernatural that constantly kept me surprised”—Takeshi Miyazawa (Ms. Marvel)

“Franck knows his customers, what they expect, and he gives it to them in spades.”—AIN’T IT COOL NEWS

“SILVER has all of the elements you crave and with a story that you’ll simply devour.”—David Gallaher (High Moon)

“May be the ultimate gothic noir comic saga.”—COMICON

“Impressive. A Mignola-esque reshuffling of history with a fanciful legerdemain that keeps the story light on its toes.—Samuel Sattin (Legend)

“You’ve seen adaptations and re-imaginings of author Bram Stoker’s seminal work Dracula, but never quite like this. Writer and artist Stephan Franck has taken the Dracula mythos and the foundation that Stoker built to create a unique yarn of horror and heist in his story Silver. The conceit sees an Ocean’s 11-esque caper that has con men and women eyeing the ultimate score: treasure from Dracula’s castle.”—FREAK SUGAR

“There may not be a better original vampire comic book in America than SILVER.”—COMIC BOOK BIN

ABOUT SILVER: VOLUME 1 (2014):

1931, New York City. Meet Finnigan, ethically challenged master-thief, and his partners in crime Mullins and Brantley, as they rob the mysterious Harker foundation. What was supposed to be their last job turns into a narrow escape from the FBI, and Finn loses the team’s retirement money. However, Finn discovers a mysterious ancient silver bar, and the late Jonathan Harker’s secret ledger, which discloses the existence of a fabulous treasure made of silver, hidden away in Dracula’s castle. Finn assembles a crew of talented but broken misfits to pull off the heist of the last ten centuries. On top of Mullins and Brantley, the team includes Rosalynd “Sledge” Van Helsing, who continues the family tradition, but has fallen on hard times, Hamilton Morley, a washed out burlesque actor/con man, Maitre Moineaux, an old forger who may not live long enough to see the job through, and Tao, a ten year old boy with the gift of second sight.

ABOUT SILVER: VOLUME 2 (2015):

The team boards the Orient Express, which is filled with Vampires travelling to Dracula’s castle. Romantic tension builds between Finn and Sledge, but she may have an ulterior motive for being on the team. We also learn more about Finn’s broken past, as it quickly becomes clear that Tao needs a role-model in Finn…something that Finn is not equipped to provide. Nonetheless, the team succeeds in pulling off the first steps of the plan in spite of Hamilton having a panic attack at the worst possible time. The team reaches the castle, and we find a powerful, but broken Drac, who never got over the loss of Mina Harker. For years, Drac has been in a funk–caught between his morbid obsession for the Heart Of The Dragon (the missing silver bar stolen by Harker) and his feelings for Mina, which are still haunting him. To pacify his subjects and prove he’s moved on, Drac has agreed to take a bride. Lillian Duvalier, a cruel and ambitious vampire princess is scheming to become the one, adding even more intrigue and volatility to the situation. As volume 2 ends, Finn and crew have managed to infiltrate the court, passing themselves as vampires, and successfully baited Dracula with a chance to regain the coveted Heart Of The Dragon.

ABOUT SILVER: VOLUME 3 (2017)

Silver Vol 3: The con is now in full swing and James Finnigan’s uniquely talented band of grifters is deep undercover. But talent comes at a price. Secrets and agendas emerge, and characters are pushed past their breaking points. While Finnigan struggles to keep his team on track, thrilling action, suspense, and drama ensues in the most intense and gothic volume yet.

ABOUT SILVER: VOLUME 4 (2018)

Everything ends.

About ROSALYND:

Rosalynd is a one-shot 244-page hardcover novella which dives deeper into the Silver Universe, and explores the mysterious past of one of Silver’s most beloved characters: Rosalynd “Sledge” Van Helsing as a child. Secrets about her family will be revealed, as well as young Rosalynd’s first-person account of the events that put her on the road to becoming the acerbic vampire-hunter from Silver that we know and love. This earnestly moving story is great whether you are already fan of Silver, or new to Rosalynd as a character.

ABOUT STEPHAN FRANCK:

Stephan Franck was a supervising animator on the cult classic THE IRON GIANT, a key story contributor to DESPICABLE ME. He co-created the award-winning animated TV Series CORNEIL & BERNIE (Nicktoons, Hub Network), and received an Annie Award nomination for Best Director in a TV Program, for the special SMURFS: THE LEGEND OF SMURFY HOLLOW, the first ever hand-drawn version of the beloved characters done at a feature-animation quality level. Stephan has worked for all the major feature animation studios as a supervising animator, story artist, writer and director, and has closely collaborated with talents as diverse as George Lucas and Adam Sandler. In addition to being attached to several features in development, Franck is currently Head of Story for the PLAYMOBIL movie for Lionsgate and lives in Los Angeles.

In 2013, Stephan reconnected with his lifelong passion for comics by creating the graphic novel series SILVER. Three years later, with two collected editions out, and a third one on the way, SILVER has connected with a very diverse and devoted fan-base, garnered glowing reviews from blogs big and small, nabbed a nomination for the prestigious Russ Manning Award at SDCC 2014, a 2015 Geekie Awards nomination for Best Graphic Novel, landed on ComiXology Submit’s ESSENTIAL READS list.

Fourth & final volume of Stephan Franck’s SILVER now available on Kickstarter I recently read the first 3 volumes of Stephen Franck's SILVER, and today it was announced that the 4th (and final) volume titled 

[awesomeblockchain]

The second most valuable cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, Ethereum, is under regulatory scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is considering whether it should be classified as a commodity or a security.

An SEC decision to classify Ethereum's Ether cryptocurrency as a security could have far-reaching consequences for other digital monies originally crowdfunded through initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies have come under increased regulatory scrutiny by states and the U.S. government seeking to protect investors purchasing the digital currencies on open exchanges.

Internationally, bitcoin has also been more tightly regulated for its drain on infrastructure resources, mainly its use of electricity to run vast data centers.

The SEC, however, is exploring whether it has the ultimate purview over Ether or whether the cryptocurrency would fall under the authority of another agency as a commodity, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Ether is currrently considered a commodity but there's "flexibility" for the SEC to choose either direction going forward, according to Zach Fallon, a former senior council with the SEC who is now a securities law attorney and consultant as well as senior legal advisor for Dispatch Labs, a start-up developing an enterprise-class blockchain protocol for dApps.

Before leaving the SEC in April, Fallon worked with the SEC's director of corporate finance and spent his last year with the agency focused on distributed ledger technology (blockchain) and small business regulatory policies.

The Ethereum Foundation's blockchain network was bootstrapped through an Ether presale in August 2014. And, therein lies the rub, separating Ether from cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which has been determined to be a commodity because there was no pre-launch ICO, according to Fallon.

By pre-selling Ether, Ethereum could be viewed by the SEC as a common enterprise that had influence over its value, similar to how a public company's actions are key to its stock's value.

The SEC's determination will likely hinge on precedence set by a Supreme Court decision that has become known as "the Howey test." Unlike bitcoin, which is treated as an asset by the IRS, and is virtually unregulated, ICOs are by definition securities because they pass the Howey test; the test determines whether a financial transaction qualifies as an investment contract and thus is a security.

In the famous court case, the W.J. Howey Co. owned Florida citrus groves, the fruits from which would typically be considered a commodity when sold on an exchange. However, the Howey Co. also leased about half of its groves in order to finance future grove developments. Howey's own fruit groves, therefore, were found to be tied to its leased groves, which qualified as an "investment contract" instrument - or a security.

"With bitcoin, there was no offer of investment opportunity in way that would trigger the Howey test," Fallon said. "The efforts to create bitcoin came solely [from] the miners themselves in securing the network. And, in that regard [bitcoin] wouldn't pass the Howey test."

Like many other cryptocurrencies, such as Ripple, Ether digital currency acts as a "fuel" for the Ethereum blockchain network, which is an open-source distributed ledger technology over which businesses can transact business without a central authority. Because the Ethereum network is based on open-source protocols, it's relatively easy for new distributed applications to be created for it.

Ether acts as an incentive to ensure developers write quality applications because those who write useable code are rewarded in Ether.

The Ethereum Wallet where Ether can be purchased, is a gateway to decentralized applications on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to hold and secure Ether and other crypto-assets built on Ethereum, as well as write, deploy and use smart contracts, according to the Ethereum Foundation.

Last year, for example, the MIT Media Lab and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center tested a proof-of-concept that shared information about patient medications through a blockchain ledger called MedRec. MedRec was based on the Ethereum platform for smart contracts - serving basiclly as a business automation tool.

The Howey test has been articulated in slightly different ways by different courts, but the test generally determines whether an arrangement constitutes (1) an investment, (2) in a common enterprise, (3) with a reasonable expectation of profits, and (4) to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.

"If all four of those elements are true, then the arrangement is an investment contract [or a] security," said John Jennings, a partner with the lawfirm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP., which covers banking and financial services, blockchain and digital currency.

There are a plethora of legal and factual issues "that could be teased out," including what is an "investment," what is a "common enterprise" and who are the "others" whose managerial or entrepreneurial efforts will impact token value and how impactful those efforts are, according to Jennings.

The determining question for Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies established through ICOs may be whether those purchasing the digital coins had a reasonable expectation of profits, Jennings explained in an email. That raises the question of whether the potential increase in the value of Ethereum was to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of "others," he said.

"That prong of the Howey test has generally been applied to refer to the managers of the entity issuing the alleged investment contract," Jennings said. "Therefore, questions lie in whether the potential appreciation in value of Ethereum should be viewed as being derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of the Ethereum foundation."

"As Ether is used today, it could potentially not be viewed as a security," Fallon said, "because it exists on a decentralized network independent of those who created it."

Context, however, matters. The basis on which Ether was launched is not the context of today in that there was a smaller community of players with the possibility that part of that community included Ether developers, Fallon said.

The ultimate conclusion in an investment contract analysis can often depend on whether the purchasers at that time were motivated by the desire to buy Ether or speculate on its future value.

For example, if you were to buy a condominium to reside in, that condominium would not be considered a security because it was bought with the intent to use it.

"So the question is..., what were the facts surrounding the [initial] purchasers of Ether and what were the expectations set," Fallon said. "If they were purchasing it to speculate on the potential value increase of Ether in the future, then you potentially have a problem from a securities law standpoint."

The Howey test is famously flexible, both Fallon and Jennings agreed, and as a result it can be applied in innovative contexts, which could allow Ether to be seen as a commodity.

However, the flexibility also means that the test can allow reasonable people to arrive at differing conclusions, "which can be maddening (even for lawyers, who are accustomed to living with uncertainty)," Fallon said.

"We will have to see if the SEC or a court addresses the issue with respect to Ethereum and, if so, we will learn at least one authority's view," Jennings concluded.

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[flauntpage]

30 Years Later, Mullin and Ewing Face Off Again in the Garden

They held a revival Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, and a basketball game broke out.

Truly, the latter took a while. St. John's and Georgetown, a pair of storied programs, are in the midst of rebuilds guided by the defining player at each school.

For St. John's, it is Brooklyn's own Chris Mullin, who once elevated Louis Carnesecca's program back in the mid-1980s by staying home. For Georgetown, it's Patrick Ewing, who defined the shape and scope of John Thompson Jr.'s Hoyas at the same time. Their battles all those years ago would etch the Big East Conference into the permanent memory of basketball fans.

Ewing and Mullin have gone on to do many other things, as often happens when three decades pass in anyone's life, each with a Hall of Fame playing career, professional honors, and gold medals as members of USA Basketball Dream Team in 1992. The two, once rivals, are friends now, and yet, rivals again.

“Me and him get along,” Mullin said at his postgame presser, following Georgetown's 69-66 win. “Long relationship. I have respect for him and [this is] just a surreal and unique circumstance with 30 years later... 100 percent, never in my wildest dream would I ever think I'd be here in 2018 coaching St. John's against Patrick Ewing coaching Georgetown.”

The state of both programs is, well, under construction. There is no signature star for St. John's under Mullin, in his third season as head coach, nor for Ewing, still in his first. The St. John's jersey you were likeliest to see in the crowd was Mullin's 20, while a fan under the far basket brought a sign reading “Mullin Square Garden."

The return of Ewing to a place where he won three Big East Tournaments (his collegiate reign only interrupted in 1983 by Mullin and St. John's), then played at a Hall of Fame level for 15 years with the Knicks, brought cheers from the crowd as he strode through the tunnel and onto the Garden floor before the end of warmups.

His pathway to the visiting bench was replete with fist bumps, hugs and handshakes, an accumulation of friends here to celebrate his long effort to land a head coaching job, complete at last. Mullin did much the same thing, before the two iconic figures met at midcourt, handshake melting into hug, Ewing kidding the typically-casual Mullin about wearing a tie.

“He told me he wore it in my honor. That was his sweater,” Ewing said later, referring to the time Thompson Jr. wore an ugly sweater in honor of Carnesecca, even sartorial choices elevating into storylines within this rivalry.

"Never in my wildest dream would I ever think I'd be here in 2018 coaching St. John's against Patrick Ewing coaching Georgetown.”

The game itself did not rise to the level the two programs reached at their Ewing-Mullin heights, but this is not a reasonable standard—even for the St. John's of Carnesecca and the Georgetown of Thompson, Jr., 1985 was but a single year. Each of their ledgers included plenty of 17-12s here and 12-14s there—Thompson didn't post a winning record with the Hoyas until Year 3 of his tenure, and Carnesecca reached only one Sweet 16 in the seven years after Mullin graduated.

The yellowed box scores between these two programs include plenty of defensive standoffs, and Tuesday night fits snugly in that category, both sides struggling to lift their shooting accuracy above the meager 30 percent mark.

And yet, the closeness, if not the crispness of the game sucked everyone in. The crowd rose to its feet near the under-four timeout, in the midst of a St. John's run centered around the shot blocking of Tariq Owens, who finished with eight swats while looking like an ultra-thin piece of Walter Berry sliced off by Sam Cohen, the lox sherpa of Zabar's.

The teams elevated their play, too. Georgetown center Jessie Govan, enjoying a homecoming of his own, with 40 friends and family making the trip on the LIRR from Manhasset, completed a three-point play at one end. Shamorie Ponds, the Felipe Lopez of this St. John's team, countered with a strong drive and layup finish, then deflected the ensuing inbounds pass.

And it was Govan who sank a long three in the final minute to assure the Hoyas a win, something he understood mattered to Ewing, even if he didn't celebrate when it was over.

“He looked relieved,” Govan said, chatting quietly in the tunnel leading from The Garden court to the locker rooms. “He looked real relieved. That must've been a real stressful game to coach. Glad we were on the right side of that.”

Whether Ewing and Mullin can return their programs to the sustained excellence of Thompson and Carnesecca, let alone reach their own peaks, no one knows. But on a night when Carnesecca sat, arms folded, behind the Red Storm bench, while alums both anonymous and Bill Wennington-famous watched and cheered, everyone and everything seemed to be in its rightful place, right down to the slow walk Ewing made to the tunnel after the win, giving fist bumps to fans along the way with his huge hands, one wrapped around a bottle of water.

“It's going full circle, now you're having both of us coaching against each other,” Ewing said. “So I think it's what dreams are made of. You have two guys who grew up, I'm from Jamaica, he's from Brooklyn. And we both played, played a sport that we love, battled each other, became friends. Won two gold medals together, and now we're battling each other again.”

30 Years Later, Mullin and Ewing Face Off Again in the Garden published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[tortuga-aak]

IBM, Amazon & Microsoft are offering their blockchain technology as a service

BII

What is Blockchain Technology as a Service?

Don & Alex Tapscott, authors of the Blockchain Revolution 2016, define the blockchain technology as an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions, but virtually everything of value.

The blockchain is a ledger, or list, of all of a cryptocurrency’s transactions, and is the technology underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As for blockchain technology itself, it has numerous applications, from banking to the Internet of Things.

In the next few years, BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, expects companies to flesh out their blockchain IoT solutions. But a few companies have already released their blockchain technology as a service.

IBM Blockchain Technology

IBM Blockchain empowers businesses to digitize transaction workflow through a highly secured, shared, and replicated ledger. It is a public cloud service that customers can use to construct secure blockchain networks.

IBM Blockchain has joined The Hyperledger Project to evolve and improve upon earlier forms of the blockchain. IBM Blockchain Platform states itself as the only fully integrated enterprise-ready blockchain platform designed to accelerate the development, governance, and operation of multi-institution business networks.

IBM claims their blockchain product is built in a highly auditable way to track all of the activity that happens within a network, which would give administrators an audit trail in the event something did go awry.

Microsoft Azure Blockchain Technology

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) by Microsoft Azure claims to provide a rapid, low-cost, low-risk, and fail-fast platform for organizations to collaborate together by experimenting with new business processes – backed by a cloud platform with the largest compliance portfolio in the industry.

As an open, flexible, and scalable platform, Microsoft Azure claims to support a rapidly growing number of distributed ledger technologies that address specific business and technical requirements for security, performance, and operational processes.

They additionally claim that their intelligent services, such as Cortana Intelligence, are able to provide unique data management and analysis capabilities unlike any other platform offering. 

Recently, Microsoft became a member of IC3, The Initiative for CryptoCurrencies & Contracts. With this membership, Microsoft expects to advance blockchain enterprise readiness and collaborate with the IC3 team in cryptography, game theory, distributed systems, programming languages, and system security.

BII

Amazon AWS Blockchain Technology

Amazon is literally everywhere. This tech giant has its deep claws in almost every global economic interface, ranging from real estate to food to pharmacies and even to blockchain technology.

Back in 2016, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing business operated by e-commerce giant Amazon, partnered with investment firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) to offer a blockchain (as a service) experimentation environment for enterprises. 

The two sides forged the partnership with the expectation of providing such a service so the blockchain providers in DCG’s portfolio can work in a secure environment with clients that include financial institutions, insurance companies, and enterprise technology companies.

According to Scott Mullins, AWS’s head of worldwide financial services business development, AWS is working with financial institutions and blockchain providers to spur innovation and facilitate frictionless experimentation.

R3 Corda Blockchain Technology

Recognizing that the power of distributed ledger technology lies in its network effect, R3 worked with the industry to build the largest collaborative group (approximately 100 financial institutions) of its kind in financial markets – the collaboration that then churned out the Corda platform.

R3 Corda is a specialized distributed ledger platform for the financial industry that provides APIs and codes for companies to build up blockchain-like applications, and is aimed at creating more efficiency in existing global financial markets.

With Corda, participants can transact without the need for central authorities, creating a world of frictionless commerce.

Corda represents the biggest shared effort among banks, insurers, fund managers, and other players to work on using blockchain technology in the financial markets.

As reported by CoinDesk, Japanese financial giant Mizuho Group intends to use Corda to "digitize documents like letters of credit and bill of lading invoices," a process it believes can reduce fraud, increase transparency, and enhance the shift away from paper records.

Recently, R3 released version 1.0 of Corda, the product of two years of work, code contributions from over half the consortium's 100 members, and more than $100 million in capital raised. 

In May of 2017, major financial institutions hedging their bets on the distributed ledger technology announced to fund the global banking consortium R3 with a whopping $107 million for global technological development and to bring Corda Enterprise to global institutions.

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) Market Trends 

As of February 2017, “blockchain” was the second most-searched term on Gartner.com, having increased in volume by 400% in the last 12 months. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of Gartner client inquiries grew by more than 600%, proving that the interest in this rapidly developing market is increasingly exponentially.

The Blockchain market is set to grow at a CAGR of 61.5% by 2021, with transparency and immutability as the driving factors behind the exponential growth of the blockchain market.

Tech giants have jumped on the bandwagon and are providing BaaS through their built-in platforms and collaborations.

BaaS is set to grow further and become the latest revolution in the fintech industry worldwide, which is why BaaS should be on your radar if you are looking to compete in this universal movement of crypto tech and the mass adoption of blockchain technology as a service. 

More to Learn

Blockchain technology has taken the world by storm, and is still invading major service areas of the world economies. BI Intelligence has delved further into this virtual revolution and has put together two detailed reports on the blockchain: The Blockchain in the IoT Report and The Blockchain in Banking Report. 

To get these reports, plus immediate access to more than 250 other expertly researched reports, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now

You can also purchase and download the full reports from our research store: 

                            >> Blockchain in the IoT

                            >> Blockchain in Banking

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[melindamullins]

Johnny Mullins wrote this song about what it was like having to plead your case for credit at the General Store, especially during The Great Depression.  Most old-time stores had ledgers next to the cash register with customer names and how much they owed.  If you didn’t have money for food and supplies, but promised to pay your debt when you were able, you would look at the clerk and ask if you could “Let It Ride.”  

[tyvanjayauthor]

One of my first completed short stories

16 FRENZY By Tyvan Jay ​“Quiet tonight.” Muttered Sergeant Mullins, running his fingers through his dark hair. “Yeah, let’s hope it stays that way.” Replied Officer Jon Lott. “How’d you manage to pull night watch tonight?” Mullins asked. “Drew the short end of the shit stick, I guess.” Lott replied ruefully. “Your wife and kid gonna be ok at home without you?” “Yeah, they’ll be fine. It’ll be hard, being my little girl’s first Christmas and all.” “Well, look, Christmas Eve duty usually isn’t terrible. Just sit down, drink this shit coffee and watch whatever garbage is on the TV. Everyone is home tonight. Most we’ll deal with are dumb-ass last minute shoppers and a few drunks. Feels longer than it really is.” “You pulled this duty before?” “Yeah, though I usually volunteer for it.” “Why would you do that?” “Well, my wife left me ten years ago and my kid hates me, so…” “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be. I’m thankful for the overtime.” ​Mullins turned the page in his magazine. “Goddamn celebrity ass wipes. Always bitching about their petty bullshit.” ​Lott didn’t reply but instead leaned his chair back with a sigh and put his boots up on the desk. “We the only two here?” “Nah, Kilian is manning the desk in the drunk tank and Halloran set himself up in holding. And Brandt is our on-call EMT.” “Oh, good, so I don’t have to listen to you all night.” Mullins smirked and scratched his stubbly cheek with his middle finger so Lott could see it plainly. “Oh, whose on dispatch tonight?” Lott asked. “Oh, uh… The new girl. What was her name? Mallory? Melanie?...” “Do you mean Lorraine?” Mullins gave him a sideways glance. “No… That can’t be her name.” “Pretty sure it is.” Mullins screwed up his face, trying to remember. “No, I don’t think so.” “Yeah, I’m sure that’s her name.” Mullins shrugged after a pause and said, “whatever, man.” ​The door burst open then and two officers walked in carrying a limp young woman between them. Lott looked up and rose from his desk to greet them. “Whaddya got, gentlemen?” The younger officer, whose name plate read “Goff” replied first. “DUI. Pulled her over doing eighty into oncoming traffic on Main.” “Jesus.” Lott replied, staring at her. Her feet were dragging on the ground and she was cuffed from behind. They tried to stand her up but her legs seemed unwilling to support her meager frame. “What did she blow?” “Nothin’” the other officer said. “Looks like narcotics. Not sure what. Have to do some blood work to figure it out.” “Well, I’ll ask Brant to get some blood. Meanwhile, let’s throw her in the tank.” Lott said. Goff nodded and the two walked her down the hall, her toes scraping the tile. ​Lott grabbed the radio on his shoulder, “Hey, Lorraine, can you tell Kilian that I’ve got two officers on their way down to him with a DUI? And can you get Brandt to do a full narcotic blood workup?” A young woman’s voice came over the other end, “Copy that. And for the last time, my name is Mary.” Lott winced. Mullins throaty laugh from came across the room. ​Brandt picked up his kit from the end of the couch where he was napping in the squad room. He yawned and stretched and scratched his ass as he walked down the stairs. He waved lazily at Lott who was sitting at his desk, and Mullins who was pouring himself another cup of coffee. He walked down the hall and showed his badge to the camera on the ceiling. The door buzzed and he greeted Halloran on the other end of the door, sitting behind a large desk built into the wall. Halloran waved back haphazardly. He looked like he was falling asleep watching whatever was on the TV screen mounted in the corner. ​Brandt turned the corner away from the line of empty holding cells and whistled at Kilian from behind the barred steel door. Kilian looked up from his own desk and pushed a button. There was the sound of a steel lock disengaging and Brandt pushed open the heavy door and walked in, closing it behind him. “Howdy, Kilian.” Brandt said. “What’s up, Gabe?” Kilian replied. “She’s in room four. I’ll let you in.” Brandt muttered his thanks and they both walked to the small booking room. They both greeted Goff and his partner, Dorian, who stood in front of Processing Room Four. “What’s she on?” Brandt asked. Goff shrugged and let out a breath, “No idea, man.” “Alright, well, keep an eye out. I’d hate to get strangled by a junky on Christmas Eve.” Dorian chuckled slightly. ​The booking rooms were a concrete cell with heavy steel doors with no windows next to a one way mirror. The cells only had a low concrete bench running the length of the back wall and a small concrete table coming out of the left side of the room. ​Kilian took out a set of keys from the clip where they hung on his belt and unlocked the door, opening it wide. Goff and Brandt both stepped inside and Kilian locked it behind them with a loud click. ​Sleeping on the bench was a young girl dressed in black skinny jeans with ripped knees and a black and red checkered flannel shirt. Her purple and black low top shoes were untied and her long brown hair was covering her face. ​“Miss?” Brandt called to her. She gave no reply and he approached her cautiously, eyeing Goff who stayed near the back of the room. He moved the hair out of her face and lifted her eyelids. Her pupils were dilated so much that he could barely make out her brown irises. He took his penlight and shined it into each of her eyes. She gave no response. He felt for a pulse then and was relieved to find that it was strong. “That’s something,” he said, “shame for a pretty young girl to overdose.” ​He sat her up as well as he could, leaning her against the wall, and opened his kit. He put on a pair of gloves and took the rubber strap from the kit and tied a tourniquet around her right arm. He readied a serum vial and needle and looked up to inspect her arms. “No track marks as far as I can see,” he said to Goff. He felt around for a vein. When he found a good one he grabbed the needle. She stirred ever so slightly. ​He jumped. “Jesus!” He shouted. Goff looked up, suddenly alert. Her wide eyes were staring right back at him. Her expression was blank and she gazed right into him without blinking for several seconds. Brandt swallowed. “Miss? Do you know where you are?” She gave no reply but kept staring at him. His spine prickled uncomfortably. Her unblinking eyes were dilated to the point that they almost looked completely black. It deeply unsettled him. ​He had seen this behavior before about a year ago. His mind flashed to unwanted memories and he had to blink hard to blank them from his mind. “I’m going to take some blood, Miss, ok? Just keep still and I’ll be out of here in a moment.” She said nothing. In fact, her entire body was completely devoid of any reaction at all. Even when he inserted the needle, she stood as still as a wax statue, breathing shallowly, as if resting. ​He undid the tourniquet and placed a Band-Aid over the site. He rose as steadily as he could and looked up at the camera once more. He gulped and felt sweat bead at his hairline. All he wanted at that moment was to leave that room. ​He closed his kit and looked over to Goff. Goff nodded at him and rapped on the window. ​It was several tense moments before the door was unlocked and swung open again. Brandt hurried out and Goff followed him. “Officer?” Brandt asked. “Yeah?” Goff replied. “How was she when you found her?” “Well, she seemed really scared, to be honest.” “How so?” “Well, just general agitation. She was driving down Main Street doing eighty into oncoming traffic. Seemed like she was running away from something.” “Did she say what?” He gulped. “No… No, she just kept screaming ‘get him away from me, keep him away, I can’t escape’, and then she passed out. We cuffed her and tossed her right into the squad car after that.” Brandt rubbed his naked chin for a few moments. “That’s odd. From the behavior she exhibited in the cell it looked like a street drug I came across about a year ago.” “What are you saying? You know what this is?” “No. No, I don’t, this is completely new to me. The drug a year ago just caused dissociative behavior, inane ramblings and in the worst cases, some hallucinations, but the users weren’t usually violent. Of course, that one user in ten can have different brain chemistry and exhibit aberrant or even violent behaviors.” “So, could she turn violent?” “I don’t think so. Her trippin’ out like she did when you caught her is new.” “Well, could she be that one user in ten?” “Well, anything’s possible. PCP users can tear themselves apart without feeling any pain, and you can even have a really nasty trip on marijuana, but that’s ridiculously rare.” Goff, Dorian and Kilian all looked at him, imploring him to get to the point. He sighed, “look, guys, I have no idea what this is and we won’t be able to get lab results until after Christmas. My advice: when she comes down, if she seems lucid, release her on Own Recognizance and proceed from there.” That response seemed to satisfy Kilian who nodded and walked away. Goff and Dorian looked at each other and decided their job was done so they, too, shrugged at each other and walked back upstairs. ​Brandt pulled the vial out of his pocket and walked over to Kilian. “Hey, what’s her name?” He asked, jerking his head over to the cell. Kilian opened the ledger he had on his desk and looked at the name. “Clara Bates.” He chuckled to himself, “Bates, huh? That’s ironic.” ​“Bates,” Brandt repeated, writing the name on the vial. “Alrighty, thanks. You can move her now, I guess.” He turned to walk up the stairs. “Hold on a minute, Brandt.” Brandt turned back to him, mid step. “Hang on a sec while I make the transfer. Protocol and all that.” Brandt scoffed slightly, “Right, yeah.” ​Kilian got up from his desk and walked over to the door, looking down at his keys. In twelve practiced paces he looked up at the door. ​He froze. ​Clara Bates was standing in front of the one way mirror, perfectly still, gazing into emptiness, unblinking, expressionless. It was Kilian’s turn to swallow hard. He looked over to Brandt, who looked rather nervous. Kilian unlocked the door and propped it open against his back. “Miss, we’re gonna transfer you to holding, now.” She didn’t give any indication that she had heard him. She only continued to stare at her own reflection with her empty eyes. “Miss?” Kilian said again. She never stirred. She just stood unwaveringly still. He reached out and grabbed her arm and gently pulled. It was like trying to move a statue. ​He pulled a little harder and she slid across the floor about an inch before her rubber soled shoes impeded any movement. He sighed and rubbed his balding head. ​He was tired and didn’t want to deal with this shit. Eventually he threw his hand up, shrugged and closed and locked the door. “What’s wrong, aren’t you going to move her?” Brandt asked. “Eh, fuck it. She won’t budge and we’ve got three more rooms we can use if more crazies come in.” Kilian said as he sat at his chair. Brandt shrugged, “Well, ok then. I’m gonna go back up and continue my nap. Call if you need me.” He then turned and walked away. “Hey Brandt, one last thing, just out of curiosity.” Brandt turned and looked at him, suddenly very tired. “Yeah?” “What was that drug called? The one you came across a year ago?” “Clarity.” “Oh. Is it still out there?” “Doubt it. Police traced it back to the distributer and closed down the entire operation. Haven’t seen any other cases of it since.” “Oh, well that’s good to know.” “Yeah. Unfortunately they never caught the manufacturer. Distributer never gave him up and he died in prison six months later.” “How do you know all this?” Brandt smiled. “A year ago I was a narcotics detective.” “Oh. What made you change professions?” Brandt looked down, his face dark, looking fifty years older. “After seeing what drugs can do to a person… I just felt like I could help more people this way.” Brandt turned and walked out the door. “Goodnight, Kilian.” ​Kilian had gone back to his book when he heard a muffled voice. He looked up and didn’t see anyone. He shrugged and went back to his book again. ​But the voice hadn’t stopped. ​He looked around at the room and finally at the bank of monitors. ​Clara Bates was muttering to herself, loud enough to get to his ears from the cell. ​He sighed and heaved himself up from his chair and walked over to the cell. ​Clara kept looking straight ahead, muttering to herself. ​When he got closer he could hear her clearly. “White turns red, white turns red, white turns red, whiteturnsredwhiteturnsredwhiteturnsred…” ​He swallowed once more and pounded on the window. “Hey! Shut up, will ya?” ​She didn’t stop muttering to herself. In fact, she had no reaction at all. Kilian suddenly felt very uneasy. He looked down at the speaker below the window and switched it off, cutting her off in mid-sentence. He shivered and went back to his desk and his book. ​“It’s SOOOOOO hot in heeerrree!!” The blonde moaned loudly. Lott was staring at the woman that had just been brought in. She was wearing yoga pants, Ugg boots and a zipped up North Face parka. She looked like she had just come from a college party. “Another DUI?” Lott asked the square faced officer who was trying to keep her in control. “Yeah, picked her up walking away from the University. She was stumbling about and -“ he was cut off by a loud fit of giggling from the blonde. “- she was stumbling about so I pulled over and questioned her. She was visibly impaired so I made the arrest.” Lott sighed, “Alright put her in the drunk tank, I’ll let Kilian know you’re coming.” The officer nodded and looked to his partner. “Alright, man, come on.” The three of them lead the blonde to the room down the hall. ​Lott turned to see Mullins craning his neck to watch the blonde stumble down the hallway. “Dude, really?” He said, disgusted. “What?” Mullins said, “I’m not blind. Besides, if she’s in college, she’s legal!” He beamed at him. Lott rolled his eyes and sighed. He rubbed his face in his hands and went back to his desk. ​ ​“George! Troy!” Kilian said, greeting the two officers coming down the stairs with a stumbling, giggling blonde in tow behind them. He couldn’t help but notice how shapely she was. She was maybe six feet tall and rail thin. “Kilian!” George said. “How’d you get roped into baby-sitting the drunks?” Kilian laughed, “Shit luck, I guess.” “Come on, can we book her already? Our watch ends in an hour and my wife is waiting.” Troy said. “Oh, alright.” George said. “Put her in Three.” Kilian said, grabbing the small laptop from his desk and getting up and walking over to room three. George and Troy hauled her into the room and sat her down. She kept giggling to herself and she plopped down hard onto the stone bench. The sensation of the stone through her thin pants seemed to thrill her and she sighed, moaned and stretched out on the stone, squirming on it. Kilian closed the door, locked it, and walked over to the mirror, flipping the speaker unit on. He pushed the little button and spoke into it. “Let’s start with a name, did she have any ID on her?” Troy flipped open his notebook, “yeah, her name is Ylva Sinclair. School ID, driver’s license are both in her name.” Kilian typed the name into the laptop. “Alright, no priors, have her address listed. Ooh, New York, huh?” He chuckled. “Dammit, Miss! Miss, don’t do that.” Came George’s voice from the speaker. Ylva had taken off her parka, revealing a pink tank top which she was currently trying to strip off while George was trying to stop her. She had already kicked off her Uggs, revealing bare feet. Kilian definitely noticed her erect nipples through the tank top and quickly tried to look somewhere else, but ultimately failing. “Goddamit, Troy, will you help me, here?!” Troy was trying to help but they couldn’t get her arms away from her shirt. She started screaming then, a shrill, inhuman scream. It made the hairs on the back of Kilian’s neck prick up and he shivered suddenly. Ylva stood up and immediately fell on top of Troy, her tank top all but hanging off her wrist that George now had. “Fuck! Kilian, get in here!!” Kilian snapped out of his thoughts and rushed into the room, propping the door open. Kilian grabbed her naked waist and hauled her off of Troy. She squirmed and his hands slipped over her small, bare breasts and he let go out of reflex, sending her into the mirror which reverberated from the impact. She ran through the open door, throwing her tank top off as she went. She began to take off her pants, showing them her pale behind. They ran after her and tackled her bodily onto the floor. With Kilian’s help they were able to get her arms behind her back where Troy cuffed her. They hauled her to her feet and back to the room whilst she flailed and screamed. That scream… That same shrill, animal like shriek left a ringing in Kilian’s ears. They threw her into the room and shut the door. She threw herself into it, denting the steel. She grabbed the door handle and pulled on it hard. It took all three of them to hold it closed. Troy put his boot against the concrete jam, straining with all his strength. Finally the door latched and it automatically locked. There was the high pitched scream of metal coming loose, but after that, she stopped. Just as suddenly as she had begun. “Holy fuck, man!” Troy gasped. “Bitch was strong.” George said, catching his breath. “Did she just rip off the handle from that end?” Kilian asked. Troy got up and looked into the room from the mirror. “Holy shit! Yeah, she did…” “Don’t worry, that door’ll hold. These locks are designed to hold no matter what an inmate does to them.” “What about the mirror? Can’t she break the glass with that handle?” “No, no, it’s laminated plastic. She could shatter it but it’ll hold.” “You know what, fuck it. We’ll print her in the morning when she comes off of whatever the fuck it is that she’s on.” George said. Kilian and Troy panted and nodded in agreement. “Shit, man, you’re bleeding.” Kilian said, looking at Troy. He had just noticed the blood on his neck. Troy looked confused and put his hand up to the wound. “Aw, shit…” He whispered. “She must have scratched me when she fell on top of me.” “Here, let’s get that dressed. Then we’ll bounce out of here. Thanks, Kilian, catch you later.” Kilian walked back to his desk after waving them off. He plopped down heavily into his chair and huffed. Desk duty had made him soft. He felt like taking a quick nap but picked up his book and opened it to his place. “Fuckin’ crazy.” He whispered to himself. He looked down at the monitors and saw that Ylva had managed to squirm out of her pants and was now walking around her cell, naked. He found it pleasingly distracting and looked for quite a long time before switching off the screen. That’s when he noticed Clara in her cell next door. She was huddled in the corner furthest from Ylva’s cell, rocking back and forth. “Fuckin’ crazy ass night.” He said again before returning to his book. “How’s things?” Lott read on his phone. It was a text message from his wife. “Crazy. Had 2 DUI. Patrolman got scratched.” “Yikes! U R ok?” “Ya, Im fine.” “Good, I’m glad. We miss U.” “I miss U 2. How’s Kenzie?” An image then appeared on his phone of a chubby six-month-old baby dressed in a red and black holiday dress with a headband and a big toothless grin with the caption, “She’s good. She misses her daddy. Put her 2 bed just now.” “She hasn’t been any trouble?” “No, Kat is here with me tonight.” “Oh, that’s good, tell her thank you from me.” “I will. We’re just sitting here having sister time. About to pour some wine and watch some movies.” “Suddenly I’m glad to be here…” “Jerk.” “Love U.” “Love U 2.” “See U in 4 more hours.” He put his phone face down on his desk and stretched his arms out behind him with a big yawn. He rubbed his neck and groaned at the knot he found near his shoulder. He vigorously rubbed it and missed his wife’s hands the most at that point. It was then that the front door of the station opened once more and a gawky teen walked in wearing a puffy black coat with red and black uniform under it. The uniform hung off his sharp, underdeveloped shoulders and he wore a red hat that was much too big for his head. He was carrying three big warming bags on his shoulder and a handful of plastic bags in the other hand. He walked up to the desk as Lott greeted him with a quizzical look. “Hi,” the teen squeaked, “I’ve got a delivery here for a ‘Wayne Mullins’?” He read from a notebook. Mullins jumped up and ran to the desk shouting, “Yup, that’s me,” as he did. Lott’s quizzical look intensified. Mullins chuckled at him as he fished out several bills from his wallet and put them on the counter as the teen took three pizza boxes out of each bag and stacked them on the desk, and then from the plastic sacks he was carrying, took out three six packs of Pepsi and a box of donuts and placed them on the counter next to the pizza. His greasy hands scooped up the bills. He counted them and made change and reached his hand out to Mullins, saying, “Twenty-eight-fifty is your change.” “Eh, keep it, Sport. Working Christmas Eve is rough.” His bright eyes beamed, “Wow, thank you, officer!” “Hey, you’re welcome, kid, stay out of trouble and drive safe.” “Oh, I will, sir. Merry Christmas!” The youth practically skipped out of the station as Mullins, giggling with anticipation, opened the boxes and fished out a large pizza slice adorned with pepperoni and sausage. Lott leaned on the counter, looking at him. “Wha?” Mullins said, his mouth full. “I’m hungry.” “Hungry enough for nine pizzas, three six packs of Pepsi and a box of donuts?” Mullins gave him a big smile, full of pizza. “Merry Christmas, boys.” Lott smiled himself and pounced on the nearest box, fishing out two slices for himself and sighed contentedly as the first hot bite slid down his throat, scorching it on the way down. He snapped a Pepsi away from one of the packs, opened it, and poured it down his throat without bothering to taste it. “Hey, Lott.” Mullins gulped between bites. “Pass that around, don’t get greedy.” Lott nodded, his own mouth just as full. He grabbed three of the untouched boxes and one of the intact six packs and carted them away. He went upstairs into the squad room where Brandt was laying on the couch, playing a game on his phone. “Hey, Merry Christmas from Sergeant Mullins.” Lott said as he placed a box and two cans on the table. Brandt looked up, his eyes widening at the prize and then jumped up from the couch, “Oh, that beautiful man. I take back everything I said about him.” He dug through the box and munched loudly. Lott repeated the process with Halloran who praised Mullins and ate nearly half the box in one sitting before he buzzed the door to let him into Kilian’s area. Lott found Kilian half snoozing with his book held limply in his hands. Lott walked over to the desk and dropped the last box and the remnant of the six pack on the table. It didn’t make a very loud sound, but the motion made Kilian jump. He looked wide eyed at Lott as he fought the keep his large frame in the chair. “Jesus, man.” He chuckled at Lott. “What’s this?” “Christmas present from Mullins.” “Trying to bribe us into his good graces with food, huh?” “Something like that.” Kilian opened the box and smiled widely, “Well, it just might work. You know, if my wife bribed me with food, I might not have left her for a younger woman.” He joked. Or, at least Lott hoped he was joking. “How are our DUIs?” Lott asked. Kilian looked down at the monitors. “Well, Number Four, Miss Clara Bates, is still pacing her cell and Number Three, Mademoiselle Ylva Sinclair, is sleeping.” He said, mockingly. Lott walked over to the mirrors and looked in. Clara was indeed pacing, her eyes ever staring, not focusing on anything. “Brandt ever find out what she was on?” “Mighta been a street drug called ‘Clarity’ or some shit like that, he says, but he’s not sure. Apparently she isn’t acting like a typical junky whose hopped up on that crap.” Lott screwed up his face. “Clarity?” “Yeah, I think so.” He rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I think I heard about that when I was still in the Academy. Didn’t they take out the guy who was putting it on the streets?” “Just the distributor. Apparently the supplier might still be out there.” “Wait, how does Brandt know this?” “Apparently he was Narcotics when this thing was in circulation.” Lott’s faced opened in a silent “Ah.” He went over to Ylva’s cell and peered in. “Jesus, why is she naked?” “She did that to herself. I’ve seen some of the kids on Ecstasy do that. I don’t know whether she overheated or was in one of the sex moods that Ex puts them in or something.” “Well, the poor girl is shivering now.” Kilian put the unfinished slice down and walked over to where Lott was standing. Ylva was indeed curled up into a ball, shaking. “Looks like she’s coming down. I’ll get her a blanket and some water. Dammit, I don’t have the staff to babysit junkies.” “Want me to send Brandt down?” “Yeah, would you? She’s the one who scratched Troy. I’d rather not take her on alone.” “Yeah, you betcha.” Lott left up the stairs. Kilian walked over to his desk, picked up the unfinished slice and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing noisily. As an afterthought he grabbed a napkin out of his desk drawer and put two slices on it. He filled a cup with water from the cooler, grabbed both of them and walked over to Clara’s cell. He put the cup between his teeth and used the newly freed hand to fish for his keys and unlock the cell. The door opened inward and he propped it open and placed the pizza and the cup of water down on the concrete table. “Merry Christmas.” He halfheartedly muttered. “Don’t let it out.” She said. Kilian jumped. “Don’t let what out?” “Deceit.” She responded quietly. Kilian scoffed. “Ok, sure.” “Don’t be lured into the trap.” “Yeah, right, no traps here.” He exited and under his breath he muttered, “except maybe getting stuck in here listening to your crazy ass…” “The wolf sleeps, waiting for the sheep. The sheep thinks it is safe, but unknowingly walks to its own slaughter.” “No sheep here, Miss.” She looked right at him and said slowly, “No. Only pigs.” “Ya know, I was gonna give ya a donut…” Brandt walked in to see Kilian lock Clara’s cell, muttering to himself. “Whatcha need, Kilian?” He asked, trying not to let the exhaustion sound in his voice. “I was just gonna give Nudie here a blanket and some water. Think she might be coming down form it. All shivers and such.” Brandt looked in to Ylva’s cell to see that she was indeed shivering. “Yeah, looks like it. What do you need me to do?” “Just watch my back. She’s already attacked one officer.” “Sure, ok.” “Just lemme get a blanket from the closet first.” “Alright, I’ll be here.” Kilian walked to a small supply closet off the main room while Brandt wandered over to cell number four. Clara was standing in her ramrod straight pose with her eyes staring straight ahead. Brandt clicked on the speaker. “Hi, how are ya?” No response. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He hated these cases. Kilian returned shortly with two blankets. They were thin, scratchy, general surplus squares of wool that either kept you hot when they were on, or freezing when they were off. “Here, give that one to her.” Kilian said to Brandt, jerking his head over to Clara. Brandt waited until Kilian unlocked the door and then he walked in, unfolded the blanket with a light show of static and draped it over Clara’s shoulders, who gave no indication whatsoever that she felt it. He walked out and followed Kilian over to number three where Ylva’s naked frame was still shivering on the concrete slab. Kilian unlocked the door. “Alright, stay here and be ready to help me if she freaks out again.” “Gotcha.” Brandt nodded as Kilian entered, leaving the door propped open behind him. Clara said something that came through the speaker but Brandt couldn’t quite make it out. Kilian unfolded the blanket and threw it over Ylva. She was so tall that it barely covered her entirely. “The sheep walks into the trap.” Brandt heard Clara say. He walked over to her. “What was that?” Clara looked right into his eyes and said, slowly, “The wolf… Strikes.” An instant later there was a massive bang coming from cell three. Brandt ran over to see Ylva holding Kilian with his arm locked behind him up against the mirror. She had broken her handcuffs and smashed Kilian’s head against the mirror and a spider web fracture blossomed instantly, obscuring Brandt’s view. Kilian was shouting incoherently as Ylva twisted up and out. There was a loud pop and Kilian wailed. Ylva wailed just as loudly as she threw his large frame across the small cell. She threw him with enough force that he lifted up, hit the back wall with a hollow crack and fell to the floor gasping. Brandt could only watch in stunned horror as Ylva let out a deep, rumbling, almost ursine bellow and pounced on top of him. She began pummeling him with her fists and Kilian let out little grunts as they smashed into him. She was not a big person but every blow made Kilian contort and cry out in pain. She hit him in the chest and his ribs cracked and he let out a pained gasp. Brandt snapped into action and ran into the cell, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her off of him. Ylva rounded on him, bellowing and ripping into him with her nails. Brandt cried out and dropped her. Ylva sent one fist across his head and sent him spinning against the wall. Brandt slid down the wall, dazed. His vision was spinning and he felt sick to his stomach. Ylva looked from Brandt to Kilian, her eyes wide and bloodshot. Her teeth were bared and she was breathing quickly, shallowly. Brandt put his arms up to shield his face while Kilian lay motionless on the floor. Sensing the easier kill, Ylva walked over to Kilian’s prostrate body and resumed her hammering blows on his chest and skull. Kilian tried to bring his one good arm up to protect himself but Ylva grabbed him by the wrist and elbow and overextended it with a loud, wet pop and Kilian shrieked in pain. She grabbed him by the hair with both hands and began slamming his skull into the concrete. Brandt tried to stand up but he was still dazed. He could only watch as Ylva smashed Kilian’s skull into a wet mess against the floor until she was only holding a bloody mass of scalp. The cell was covered in blood. Spray had reached the ceiling and walls and brain matter coated the floor. Ylva turned to Brandt who managed to stand if he leaned against the wall. She gave out a very low, nearly inaudible rumble deep in her chest. Her blonde hair was caked red and her pale body was slick with gore from her face to her knees. She eyed him and crouched as if ready to pounce the moment he moved. She had him, he had realized. If he moved ever so slightly in either direction, she would have him and he would end up a bloody mess like Kilian. He thought about his radio, but couldn’t reach for it without triggering Ylva’s predatory response. He looked around for a possible escape route. The small eight-by-eight barred cells were open. He supposed he could get to one of them fast enough before Ylva ripped him to shreds. The door would lock when it closed, like the doors of the holding cells. It was a chance. He had to take it. He risked a look down and ever so slowly used his foot to disengage the door stop. The loud clack of the stop hitting the door made Ylva bellow and she charged. Brandt leapt to his right and sailed out of the cell. Ylva hit the wall with her shoulder with a pop and a bellow. Brandt scrambled to his feet and grabbed the door as it was closing and pulled it hard. Ylva’s arm shot out and stopped it. She tried to pull it open again, but Brandt managed to keep it shut with Ylva’s arm the only thing keeping it open. He pulled and pulled and pulled and she clawed at him, scoring hits with her nails against his exposed arm. She ripped out small chunks of his arm but Brandt kept pulling on the door. Ylva’s arm was beginning to split and bleed around the bicep but she kept the door from closing. Brandt looked from the open cell, to the door he was trying so hard to keep open and to the cell again. He put his foot forward and ran as fast as he could towards the cell, reaching it in about half a second. He grabbed the door and slammed it shut behind him. Ylva’s nails raked across his chin and he fell back into the cell and readied himself for the fight of his life. But the door had shut and Ylva reached for him, her shoulder going through the bars. She wailed and bellowed and tried to fit herself between the bars in order to reach him. She went silent suddenly and looked towards the end of the hallway. The room was silent as a tomb when Clara whispered, “Another sheep wanders into the trap.” “What?” Brandt gasped. “Sheep?” Ylva padded silently in her bare feet over to the corner of the hallway and crouched down, waiting for something. That’s when Brandt realized. “Oh shit!” The entrance door to the holding area opened and there was the sound of clanking keys and boots on concrete. “HALLORAN!! HALLORAN, NO!!” Brandt yelled. But he was too late. Halloran came around the corner. “Hey Kilian, what’s the ruckus – “ Ylva slammed into him, throwing him against the wall and followed up with a crushing blow to the back of his skull with one of the handcuffs dangling from her wrist. He twitched slightly but fell limp. Ylva didn’t stop there, however. She knelt over him and grabbed his chin with one hand and the back of his skull with the other and wrenched his head up. Halloran’s neck snapped like a dry branch. She rose and eyed Brandt then, her eyes blood red and her teeth bared. She sniffed the air and followed the scent to the desk where the pizza box was open. She sniffed in deep inhales before she jumped up on the desk and began shoveling the warm pizza into her mouth. Brandt remembered his radio then and scrambled for it. “Lott!” He wheezed. “Lott! Mullins! Anyone there?” “Yeah, Gabe, we hear you. What’s up?” “Oh, Jesus… Jesus… It’s Ylva… It’s Ylva…” “Wait, what’s going on? Whose Ylva?” “The blonde in cell three! She’s killed Kilian and Halloran. I’ve locked myself in a cell and Cla – the girl in cell four is safe in hers… Jesus, man… Whatever she’s on has given her ridiculous strength.” “Whoa, wait, hang on, she killed Halloran and Kilian? How?” “With her bare fuckin’ hands, man!” “Hey, sit tight, we’re coming down there.” “NO! Don’t come down here, she’ll rip you apart!” “Copy that. Hang tight, Gabe, we’ll be right there.” “Negative! Do not come down here. Call lock down, call for backup. Get SWAT in here.” There was silence for a moment. “You sure, man? That’s an awful lot of firepower for just one person.” “Yeah, well, it’s gonna take something like that…” “Look, just hang tight, we’re coming down.” The line went dead. “The wolf uses its kill to lure in more prey.” Clara said through the small speaker. “I sure hope not…” Brandt replied. “Alright, let’s go on down and see what’s up.” Mullins said. “Yeah, but let’s do it right. Gabe doesn’t spook easily.” Lott replied. “Look, we’re dealing with one junky in a drug induced rage. I’m sure Kilian and Halloran are fine and Gabe’s just freaking out cuz he doesn’t know how to handle it.” “Wayne…” “What?” “Gabe was Narcotics a year ago. That means he’s got a level head.” Mullins eyes him then for a moment, weighing his words. “Alright, then. We take it slow and careful.” “That’s all I ask.” Mullins and Lott drew their side arms and walked down the hallway towards the door into the holding area. They opened it and pressed through. Halloran wasn’t at his station. Mullins went over to the bank of security cameras and looked at each one. “Jesus, Lott, look.” He pointed at one of the monitors that was used for badge check. In the corner, almost off screen, was Halloran, lying face down. “Yeah, I see it.” Lott said. Mullins buzzed the door and Lott pulled it off its lock. Mullins stood in front and nodded to Lott, his pistol outstretched in front of him. Lott opened the door and Mullins took three steps in. There was a gunshot and Lott was sprayed in brain matter as a round ripped through Mullin’s skull. He fell dead and Lott raised his own pistol, searching for a target. And then he saw her. She was drenched in wet blood from the top of her head to her knees, Halloran’s pistol in her hand. She had broken her handcuffs. “Holy Mother of God…” Lott whispered. She fired. He ducked as the round whipped past his ear and he fired back. He hit her in the shoulder, but it didn’t stop her. His second and third shots grazed her but it only fueled her rage. She bellowed and charged him. A round hit his vest and he was thrown to his back. She discarded her empty pistol and roared after him. He frantically fired twice more, missing both shots. She was at the door, nearly on top of him. He scrambled backwards to get away from her and gave the door a kick. It hit Mullins’ foot. He cursed and pulled Mullins’ corpse away from the door and kicked it again. It closed in time for her to careen into it with such force that it dented. Lott collapsed and took several breaths. He felt around his chest where the round had impacted and found the hole. His vest had stopped the round but his chest was sore where it had hit. He became aware of his radio. ”Lott! Lott, what happened?!” Came Gabe’s voice. “She shot Mullins… He’s dead…” “Fuck, man… What about you, are you ok?” “Took a round in the chest but I’m ok.” “Well, what now?” “I don’t know… I gotta call this in. Hang tight, man.” Lott staggered to his feet and walked back down the hallway. Lott managed to make it to his desk and collapse into his chair. He was shaking. He needed to breathe and try to calm down. The adrenaline was making him sick. He took several deep breaths and drained the remnants of Pepsi still in his can. When that was empty he stumbled over to the water cooler and filled several cups of water. “Gabe.” Lott said into his radio. “Yeah?” “Tell me about that drug you found a year ago. Back when you were Narcotics.” “Well, several college kids were going to the hospital. They had major paranoia, schizophrenic hallucinations, manic dementia, shit like that. It was only college kids so we set up a sting and took down the dealer. Dealer gave up the distributor and we got him with over a hundred pounds of raw Clarity. Lab guys analyzed it and it appeared to be a chemical compound that directly affected the brain. You could shoot it or ingest it and within minutes you were high. But you didn’t just get high. Apparently Mercury was the catalyst and because the compound directly affected the brain, all of it went right to your noggin. Instant Mercury poisoning. And in those amounts over a small amount of time, it fried your brain and eventually you were just a vegetable. We never caught the chemist.” “Is this what we’re dealing with here?” “I don’t think so… All the other cases we saw just turned people into slobbering messes, not raging nutcases. This is new to me.” “God… Is that what made you switch careers?” “Well, that was a part of it. I’d been Narcotics for five years and I’d seen lots of despicable shit, but the one event that got to me… Look, it was bad; about as fucked up as it could get. An entire family killed by the father who was strung out on meth. But they weren’t just killed… Look, the shit I saw in that house has haunted me for years.” “I get it, man.” “No, you don’t.” “Yeah… Yeah, you’re right, I don’t. Look, sit tight, for a minute.” “For what?” “I haven’t forgotten about you. I’m gonna get some more firepower. I’m coming back.” “Alright, man. Be safe.” “Yeah, you too.” Lott managed to keep himself from shaking to pieces as he rose from his desk and walked back down the hallway. He stood over Mullins and sighed. He bent down and closed his eyes with two fingers and put a hand on the side of his head. “I’m so sorry, Mullins.” He grabbed Mullins’ keys from his belt and walked to the locked cabinet in the little secure anteroom just off the reception area. He used Mullins’ keys to unlock the cabinet and he took a shotgun off the rack and loaded it. He donned riot armor and checked his shotgun. He knelt on one knee and took breath. Lott walked to the locked door, hoping it would open even though it had been dented. He used Halloran’s paperweight to keep the buzzer held down and he opened the door, raising his shotgun. The hallway was empty as he crept slowly inside. “Gabe, where is she?” He whispered into the radio “Jesus man, she’s waiting at the corner. She knows you’re coming; that’s how she got Halloran.” “Copy that. Stay low.” ​He kept the shotgun pointed at the corner and ever so slowly he stepped further down the hallway. ​He caught a glint of something crouching near the corner. He breathed and took one big sidestep, finger on the trigger. ​Red eyes and a bellow. ​He fired. ​She lunged to the right and he fired again. ​She jumped to the left, bellowing. ​He fired once more and missed. She charged. He took a breath and waited for her to close the distance. He fired. Point blank. So close it was impossible to miss. Ylva was thrown to the ground, her entrails spilling. She rose. Lott stared in horror and amazement. Her guts were splashing to the floor and yet she was still coming. He aimed once more. The second shot removed her head from her shoulders. The shot echoed as Ylva fell to the ground, motionless. Lott sighed in relief, dropping the shotgun. He nearly fell to the ground himself but stayed upright. He went to Ylva’s cell and tried not to gag. He grabbed Kilian’s keys. A glint of light caught his eye. It was a little glass vial that had fallen out of Ylva’s coat in the struggle. He reached down and picked it up. He put it in his pocket without looking at it and unlocked the cell where Brandt was hiding. They embraced. “Holy shit, man.” “Yeah, no shit.” “Grab Clara, let’s get out of here.” “Yeah, sure.” Lott unlocked Clara’s cell and picked her up. “The huntsman slays the wolf.” She said. “You’re goddamn right, I did.” All three of them walked out into the main reception area and slumped into chairs. Brandt descended upon the last intact pizza box and ravenously ate. Clara gingerly picked up a slice and nibbled on it. Lott leaned back and put his feet on his desk. When he did, there was a soft clinking on the tile. The little glass vial had fallen to the floor and Lott picked it up. He turned it over in his hands and saw the label with one word scribbled on it. Frenzy. “Hey, Gabe, look at this.” Lott said, tossing it to him. He caught it and looked at it. “Shit, where’d you find this?” “In her cell…” Gabe’s eyes widened. “Hey, wait a minute. When we tracked down that drug, it came in little glass vials just like these.” Lott sat up, his feet hitting the floor. “You mean…” “Yeah…” He looked Lott in the face, with a stoic expression on his face. “Looks like our chemist is back.” “With a new street drug.” “Yeah…” “And the knights knew their foe; and that their journey had just begun.” Clara said, taking a bite of pizza. THE END

[visceral-reject]

Posting this on main bc I can and who’s going to stop me

If you’re feeling froggy, I have made a BlueSky and will start posting a lot more art and sketches there if you’d like to support my work ^^