#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."

[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

[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

·               Johnsonian (Winthrop University)

·               Journal

·               Journal

·               Kershaw News Era

·               Lake Wylie Pilot

·               Lancaster News

·               Laurens County Advertiser

·               Lexington County Chronicle

·               Loris Scene

·               Low Country Today

·               Marion County News Journal

·               Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise

·               Marlboro Herald Advocate

·               Morning News

·               Moultrie News

·               Myrtle Beach Herald

·               New York Times South Carolina

·               Newberry Observer

·               News

·               News & Post

·               News & Reporter

·               News Journal

·               News-Chronicle

·               News-Era

·               North Augusta Star

·               North Myrtle Beach Online

·               North Myrtle Beach Times

·               Pacer Times

·               Pageland Progressive-Journal

·               Palmetto Daily News

·               Patriot (Francis Marion University)

·               People-Sentinel

·               Pickens County Courier

·               Pickens Sentinel

·               Post and Courier

·               Powdersville Post

·               Progressive Journal

·               Saluda Standard Sentinel

·               SC Black News

·               SC Now

·               Shopper

·               Skyliner

·               South Carolina Press Association

·               South Carolina Star

·               Summerville Journal Scene

·               Sumter Item

·               Sun News

·               The Advertizer Herald

·               The Berkeley Independent

·               The Boot

·               The Charleston City Paper

·               The Charleston Daily

·               The Cheraw Chronicle

·               The Collegian

·               The Columbia Star

·               The Daniel Island News

·               The Digitel

·               The Dillon Herald

·               The Easley Progress

·               The Express

·               The Gazette

·               The Herald

·               The Item

·               The Jet Stream

·               The Journal

·               The Journal

·               The Lancaster News

· ��             The News

·               The Paladin

·               The People Sentinel

·               The Star

·               The State

·               The Sun News

·               The Tiger

·               The Times and Democrat

·               The Union Daily Times

·               The Voice of Blythewood and Fairfield County

·               Tiger (Clemson University)

·               Times and Democrat

·               Tribune Times

·               Union County News

·               Union Daily Times

·               Upstate Shopper

·               Upstate Today

·               Walterboro Live

·               Weekly Observer

·               Westminster News

[visceral-reject]

crzy and crzier

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

[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.

https://ift.tt/2u6qoAo

[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.”  

[visceral-reject]

fun little oc/story stuff

made perfume profiles for Street Spirit and its characters (saw this idea on TikTok and stole it from Carnalhaus, should def check her out, I'm obsessing over American Tradition rn)

A/N

"Far Away-Remaster" and "Daddy's Girl EDP" are what I dream about in a cologne.

" Sweet Spot" would most definitely feed the gourmand girlies

My personal LEAST favorite is " all wound up" bc I'm the original Alex Schwep hater

ANYWAYS CHECK OUT CARNALHAUS BC I LOVE HER STUFF SM

[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 ^^