#v: alpha persei

[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum ( linus ) 

   It was raining. 

   The entire world was gray, and Aella was confident, this time, it has little to do with the colors that often seep from people’s forms. The sky sat gray, and the water deluging from it formed puddles against dust which churned gray from the color of sky and ground. Even she felt gray, though she noted, perhaps, she always did. 

   She did not know how she got separated in the battle she’d attended with the Black Fang. She had come to give Lloyd foresight with her empathy. But then it had begun to rain, and swords and lances clanged against one another, and there’d been nothing to see, only gray and the taste of iron and cold and rain, eating at her, melting into her. She’d shrunk against fog and fight, wandered to attempt to find those she knew, but every mind hers passed was foreign and strange and filled with only hatred and blood. 

   It was not until she slipped from the field and into the beginning of a forest that she’d even noticed she’d been wounded. 

   A large stripe, cut cleanly across her side, from shoulder to waist, and it waited to sting only at her realization of it. Most of her white garment was half-stained red, but she was somewhat indebted to the endless rain that was already set in attempts to bleach it all away. 

   She had supplies -- Of course she did. After Nova, how could she not? -- to bandage her wound, and set to it with steady hands that felt numb from rainwater. It tasted so dry, somehow. Water running rivers off her face, hair stuck heavy in its pinning, and her tongue still felt swollen with sand.

   A bandage, two, and the consideration she should most likely save the rest, were she to find any other wounded warriors when a noise parting through the trees frightened her. She pulled her dark coat tight around her again, to hide the red and the bandages one could perhaps see through a dress now clinging to her form with wet, and she stood, drew upon whatever bareness of courage she had left. 

   A mind reached out, tentatively, afraid at what she would do if whoever she sensed was... an enemy. 

[astrogeoguy]

Super(bowl) Targets, Moon Renewed, Planet Fun in the Morning Sky, and Venus Dances with Deep Sky Partners!

(Above: This week, Venus’ orbit will take it through the Milky Way, and close to many well-known deep sky objects (yellow and green symbols). The sky is shown on February 4 at 6 am local time.)

Hello, Stargazers! 

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of February 3rd, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca. 

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together! 

Public Astro-Events

Taking advantage of dark moonless evening skies this week, astronomers with the RASC Toronto Centre will gather for dark sky stargazing at Long Sault Conservation Area, northeast of Oshawa on (only) the first clear evening (Monday to Thursday) this week. You don’t need to be a RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details and watch the banner on their homepage or their Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day. 

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday nights they offer free public viewing through their rooftop telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here. 

On Wednesday, February 6 at 7 pm, the Perimeter Institute In Waterloo will present a free lecture and webcast by theoretical physicist and science consultant to Hollywood Clifford V. Johnson presenting the process of turning complex scientific topics into compelling visual narratives. The talk will be “graphic,” but in a family-friendly way. Registration and details are here. 

On Thursday, February 7 at 8 pm, the RASC Hamilton Centre will present me, Chris Vaughan, talking about fun and informative techniques for observing the full moon. The talk is free and open to anyone. It will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion at 79 Hamilton St. North, Waterdown. Details are here. 

On Thursday, February 7, starting at 8 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Galactic Archaeology with Stellar Siblings. Details are here. 

On Friday, February 8 at 7:30 pm, in the Hamilton Spectator Building, 44 Frid Street, Hamilton, the amateur astronomers of Hamilton will present a free public presentation on Planning a Successful Observing Session. Details are here. 

If it’s sunny on Saturday morning, February 9 from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification. 

New for 2019, RASC Toronto Centre is partnering with the Ontario Science Centre to offer free public stargazing on the Teluscape, on a regular basis. The next event is scheduled for Saturday, February 9 from 6 to 8 pm, weather permitting. Details are here. 

On Saturday, February 9, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here.

Super(bowl) Targets

Here are a few suggestions for your evening viewing this week. First, you can trace out the bright stars forming the gigantic football-shaped Winter Hexagon asterism – no binoculars needed! Start by finding the extremely bright star Sirius sitting low in the southern evening sky. From there, look for bluish Rigel sitting 2.5 fist diameters to Sirius’ upper right, then look well above Rigel for warm-tinted Aldebaran, and continue to Aldebaran’s upper left to reach yellowish Capella at the top of the asterism. Now descend on the football’s left side. The bright matched pair of stars Castor and Pollux is three fist diameters to the lower left of Capella. Finally, bright white Procyon is well below those twins – roughly between them and Sirius. 

(Above: The Winter Hexagon asterism is composed of 7 bright stars, starting with the brightest, Sirius. The sky is shown at approximately 8 pm local time in early February.)

In early evening during early February, the constellation of Perseus (the Hero) is positioned nearly overhead in the northern sky. A very large open star cluster designated Melotte 20 surrounds Perseus’ brightest star Mirfak (Alpha Persei). The cluster is also known as the Alpha Persei Moving Group and the Perseus OB3 Association. It consists of about 100 young, massive, hot B- and A-class stars spanning 3 degrees (6 full moon diameters) of the sky. Melotte 20 can be seen with unaided eyes, and improves in binoculars and widefield telescopes. It is approximately 600 light years from the sun and is moving as a group. The star Mirfak, which is an elderly yellow supergiant that has evolved out of its blue phase and it is now fusing helium into carbon and oxygen in its core, is moving with them. 

(Above: The stars surrounding the bright star Mirfak in Perseus, which is nearly overhead on February evenings, are a cluster of siblings - born from the same cloud and now moving together through the galaxy.)

The constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer) occupies a position high in the eastern sky during evening. The Milky Way passes directly through Auriga, so that part of the sky is rich in open star clusters that are visible with unaided eyes from dark sky locations. And binoculars and telescopes will readily show them in moderately light-polluted skies. The bright clusters named Messier 38, Messier 36, and Messier 37 form a downward curving chain that starts a fist’s diameter to the right of the constellation’s brightest star, Capella. 

(Above: The Milky Way passes directly through Auriga, populating this area of sky with many star clusters. Several of the brightest ones are indicated with yellow symbols. The sky is shown for 8 pm local time.)

The Moon and Planets

The moon will reach its new moon phase, hidden from view and close to the sun, on Monday afternoon, so we’ll benefit from nice dark skies for most of this week. Sharp-eyed observers might spot the delicate crescent of the young moon low in the west-southwestern sky for a few minutes after sunset on Tuesday. For the rest of the week, the moon will wax fuller and climb higher, lingering longer in the evening sky. 

From Tuesday to Sunday, the moon will traverse the dim constellation of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), and also skip back and forth between Pisces (the Fishes) and Cetus (the Whale) (Their shared border is crooked!) In the western evening sky on Sunday, February 10, the waxing crescent moon will pass a slim palm’s width to the lower left (south) of Mars and Uranus. Reddish Mars will be visible to the unaided eye, but much more distant Uranus, which will be sitting 1.6 finger widths to Mars’ upper left, will require binoculars or a telescope. 

(Above: In early evening on Sunday, February 10, the waxing crescent moon will land a palm’s width from Mars and Uranus. Bright Mars can be used to locate dim Uranus even when the moon isn’t nearby.)

Mars remains an obvious target this week. After dusk, the Red Planet will appear as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light halfway up the southwestern sky. It will set at about 11:30 pm local time. Mars is slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it. 

As I just mentioned, you can use Mars to help you find blue-green Uranus nowadays. The distant ice giant planet is also situated about 1.25 finger widths above, and slightly to the left of the modestly bright star Torcular (or Omega Piscium). This week, Uranus will already be at its highest point, over the southern horizon (the best position for seeing it clearly) after dusk, then set at around 11:30 pm local time. Dim, blue Neptune is setting too soon after sunset to be worth looking for. 

Mercury has joined the evening sky this week. It will become easier and easier to see after sunset on each consecutive evening. Look just above the west-southwestern horizon. 

(Above: The western sky, shown here after sunset at 5:55 pm local time on Wednesday, will feature a very young crescent moon and Mercury, which will just be starting a nice evening appearance during February.)

The real planet fun is in the morning sky for the next weeks. Bright Jupiter will rise in the southeastern sky first; at about 4 am local time. Even brighter Venus will join the parade about 45 minutes later, although it is rapidly dropping sunward – and away from Jupiter. Both planets will remain visible while the morning sky brightens. Dimmer, yellowish Saturn will rise at about 6 am local time, forming a nearly straight line along the ecliptic with Venus and Jupiter. 

(Above: The bright planets Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn will nicely define the plane of our solar system in the pre-dawn Eastern sky this week, as shown here at 6:35 am local time.)

In the southeastern pre-dawn sky from February 3 to February 11, Venus’ orbit will take it through the Milky Way and close to some well-known deep sky objects, setting up nice pairings in binoculars or telescopes at low magnification. On Sunday morning, the planet will pass 2 finger widths below the open star cluster designated Messier 23. On Monday, Venus will pass 2 fingers widths above of the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) and the Messier 21 open cluster. On Friday and Saturday morning, Venus will pass 3.5 finger widths below the bright Sagittarius Star Cloud (Messier 24). And on Sunday morning, it will land 2 finger widths to the lower right of the Messier 25 cluster. 

Orion’s Spectacular Sword

If you missed last week’s guide to viewing the spectacular sword of Orion (the Hunter), I posted it with some photos here.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

[arxt1]

An eccentric wave in the circumstellar disc of the Be/X-ray binary X Persei. (arXiv:1906.11587v3 [astro-ph.SR] UPDATED)

We present spectroscopic observations of the Be/X-ray binary X Per obtained during the period December 2017 - January 2020 (MJD~58095 - MJD~58865). In December 2017 the $H\alpha$, $H\beta$, and HeI 6678 emission lines were symmetric with violet-to-red peak ratio $V/R \approx 1$. During the first part of the period (December 2017 - August 2018) the V/R-ratio decreased to 0.5 and the asymmetry developed simultaneously in all three lines. In September 2018, a third component with velocity $\approx 250$~km~s$^{-1}$ appeared on the red side of the HeI line profile. Later this component emerged in $H\beta$, accompanied by the appearance of a red shoulder in $H\alpha$. Assuming that it is due to an eccentric wave in the circumstellar disc, we find that the eccentric wave appeared first in the innermost part of the disc, it spreads out with outflowing velocity $v_{wave} \approx 1.1 \pm 0.2 $~km~s$^{-1}$, and the eccentricity of the eccentric wave is $e_{wave} \approx 0.29 \pm 0.07$. A detailed understanding of the origin of such eccentricities would have applications to a wide range of systems from planetary rings to AGNs.

from astro-ph.HE updates on arXiv.org https://ift.tt/2FCtTlQ

[noisyunknownturtle]

Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic

Ethereum-based social network Sapien has unveiled updates to its platform, as well as a partnership with the initial exchange offering project, Matic Network. 

“After several months of development, we’re launching the next release of our platform, called Alpha Persei,” Sapien Network co-founder and CEOAnkit Bhatia told Cointelegraph in an interview.

“This is a revamped platform across the board,” he said, highlighting new aspects such as Portis wallet integration and rewards engine reconstruction. Sapien also secured placement on KyberWidget, allowing trading between Sapien (SPN) tokens and Ether (ETH), according to a statement.

Sapien partnered with Matic Network for future developments 

Sapien also announced a collaboration with Coinbase-backed Matic Network, a blockchain scalability platform that garnered over $5 million in capital during its April 2019 initial exchange offering.

“We want to use their technology to build a scalable decentralized Web 3 social network, and their technology will help us do that,” Bhatia said of Matic, adding:  

“We’re using Matic sidechains — they’re a plasma-based proof-of-stake (PoS) chain — to basically power our charging and internal promotions on the platform. So, it will be used instead of the mainnet to send transactions, to send tips, to promote high quality posts and comments.”

“It will be the infrastructure that we want to build on that’s far more scalable than the mainnet,” he added referring to the platform’s current Ethereum-based network. 

Sapien positions itself as a blockchain-based social media alternative

Sapien’s social media platform is comparable to a blockchain-based version of Reddit — with several added features, functionalities and capabilities, Bhatia explained. The platform is focused on user’s privacy, while involving aspects of incentivization. Bhatia added:

“In one sense, we’re a Web 3 social network. In another sense, we’re trying to sort of correct some of the wrongs of prior social networks by building a tokenized blockchain-based social network that’s far more transparent than the mainstream competitors.”

If big players such as Facebook continue to leak private data, people may begin to question the implications of their current social media usage. This in turn could increase the market share of blockchain-based alternatives.

window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({ appId: '1922752334671725', xfbml: true, version: 'v2.9' }); FB.AppEvents.logPageView(); }; (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; js.defer = true; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) }(window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1922752334671725'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link

The post Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic appeared first on For Crypto.

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[cryptowavesxyz]

Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic

Ethereum-based social network Sapien has unveiled updates to its platform, as well as a partnership with the initial exchange offering project, Matic Network. 

“After several months of development, we’re launching the next release of our platform, called Alpha Persei,” Sapien Network co-founder and CEOAnkit Bhatia told Cointelegraph in an interview.

“This is a revamped platform across the board,” he said, highlighting new aspects such as Portis wallet integration and rewards engine reconstruction. Sapien also secured placement on KyberWidget, allowing trading between Sapien (SPN) tokens and Ether (ETH), according to a statement.

Sapien partnered with Matic Network for future developments 

Sapien also announced a collaboration with Coinbase-backed Matic Network, a blockchain scalability platform that garnered over $5 million in capital during its April 2019 initial exchange offering.

“We want to use their technology to build a scalable decentralized Web 3 social network, and their technology will help us do that,” Bhatia said of Matic, adding:  

“We’re using Matic sidechains — they’re a plasma-based proof-of-stake (PoS) chain — to basically power our charging and internal promotions on the platform. So, it will be used instead of the mainnet to send transactions, to send tips, to promote high quality posts and comments.”

“It will be the infrastructure that we want to build on that’s far more scalable than the mainnet,” he added referring to the platform’s current Ethereum-based network. 

Sapien positions itself as a blockchain-based social media alternative

Sapien’s social media platform is comparable to a blockchain-based version of Reddit — with several added features, functionalities and capabilities, Bhatia explained. The platform is focused on user’s privacy, while involving aspects of incentivization. Bhatia added:

“In one sense, we’re a Web 3 social network. In another sense, we’re trying to sort of correct some of the wrongs of prior social networks by building a tokenized blockchain-based social network that’s far more transparent than the mainstream competitors.”

If big players such as Facebook continue to leak private data, people may begin to question the implications of their current social media usage. This in turn could increase the market share of blockchain-based alternatives.

window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({ appId: '1922752334671725', xfbml: true, version: 'v2.9' }); FB.AppEvents.logPageView(); }; (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; js.defer = true; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) }(window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1922752334671725'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link

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[coinfirst]

Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic

Ethereum-based social network Sapien has unveiled updates to its platform, as well as a partnership with the initial exchange offering project, Matic Network. 

“After several months of development, we’re launching the next release of our platform, called Alpha Persei,” Sapien Network co-founder and CEOAnkit Bhatia told Cointelegraph in an interview.

“This is a revamped platform across the board,” he said, highlighting new aspects such as Portis wallet integration and rewards engine reconstruction. Sapien also secured placement on KyberWidget, allowing trading between Sapien (SPN) tokens and Ether (ETH), according to a statement.

Sapien partnered with Matic Network for future developments 

Sapien also announced a collaboration with Coinbase-backed Matic Network, a blockchain scalability platform that garnered over $5 million in capital during its April 2019 initial exchange offering.

“We want to use their technology to build a scalable decentralized Web 3 social network, and their technology will help us do that,” Bhatia said of Matic, adding:  

“We’re using Matic sidechains — they’re a plasma-based proof-of-stake (PoS) chain — to basically power our charging and internal promotions on the platform. So, it will be used instead of the mainnet to send transactions, to send tips, to promote high quality posts and comments.”

“It will be the infrastructure that we want to build on that’s far more scalable than the mainnet,” he added referring to the platform’s current Ethereum-based network. 

Sapien positions itself as a blockchain-based social media alternative

Sapien’s social media platform is comparable to a blockchain-based version of Reddit — with several added features, functionalities and capabilities, Bhatia explained. The platform is focused on user’s privacy, while involving aspects of incentivization. Bhatia added:

“In one sense, we’re a Web 3 social network. In another sense, we’re trying to sort of correct some of the wrongs of prior social networks by building a tokenized blockchain-based social network that’s far more transparent than the mainstream competitors.”

If big players such as Facebook continue to leak private data, people may begin to question the implications of their current social media usage. This in turn could increase the market share of blockchain-based alternatives.

window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({ appId: '1922752334671725', xfbml: true, version: 'v2.9' }); FB.AppEvents.logPageView(); }; (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; js.defer = true; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) }(window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1922752334671725'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link

The post Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic appeared first on Coin First.

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[coinretreat]

Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic

Ethereum-based social network Sapien has unveiled updates to its platform, as well as a partnership with the initial exchange offering project, Matic Network. 

“After several months of development, we’re launching the next release of our platform, called Alpha Persei,” Sapien Network co-founder and CEOAnkit Bhatia told Cointelegraph in an interview.

“This is a revamped platform across the board,” he said, highlighting new aspects such as Portis wallet integration and rewards engine reconstruction. Sapien also secured placement on KyberWidget, allowing trading between Sapien (SPN) tokens and Ether (ETH), according to a statement.

Sapien partnered with Matic Network for future developments 

Sapien also announced a collaboration with Coinbase-backed Matic Network, a blockchain scalability platform that garnered over $5 million in capital during its April 2019 initial exchange offering.

“We want to use their technology to build a scalable decentralized Web 3 social network, and their technology will help us do that,” Bhatia said of Matic, adding:  

“We’re using Matic sidechains — they’re a plasma-based proof-of-stake (PoS) chain — to basically power our charging and internal promotions on the platform. So, it will be used instead of the mainnet to send transactions, to send tips, to promote high quality posts and comments.”

“It will be the infrastructure that we want to build on that’s far more scalable than the mainnet,” he added referring to the platform’s current Ethereum-based network. 

Sapien positions itself as a blockchain-based social media alternative

Sapien’s social media platform is comparable to a blockchain-based version of Reddit — with several added features, functionalities and capabilities, Bhatia explained. The platform is focused on user’s privacy, while involving aspects of incentivization. Bhatia added:

“In one sense, we’re a Web 3 social network. In another sense, we’re trying to sort of correct some of the wrongs of prior social networks by building a tokenized blockchain-based social network that’s far more transparent than the mainstream competitors.”

If big players such as Facebook continue to leak private data, people may begin to question the implications of their current social media usage. This in turn could increase the market share of blockchain-based alternatives.

window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({ appId: '1922752334671725', xfbml: true, version: 'v2.9' }); FB.AppEvents.logPageView(); }; (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; js.defer = true; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) }(window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1922752334671725'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link

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[angryconnoisseurface]

Blockchain-Based Social Network Overhauls Platform, Partners With Matic

Ethereum-based social network Sapien has unveiled updates to its platform, as well as a partnership with the initial exchange offering project, Matic Network. 

“After several months of development, we’re launching the next release of our platform, called Alpha Persei,” Sapien Network co-founder and CEOAnkit Bhatia told Cointelegraph in an interview.

“This is a revamped platform across the board,” he said, highlighting new aspects such as Portis wallet integration and rewards engine reconstruction. Sapien also secured placement on KyberWidget, allowing trading between Sapien (SPN) tokens and Ether (ETH), according to a statement.

Sapien partnered with Matic Network for future developments 

Sapien also announced a collaboration with Coinbase-backed Matic Network, a blockchain scalability platform that garnered over $5 million in capital during its April 2019 initial exchange offering.

“We want to use their technology to build a scalable decentralized Web 3 social network, and their technology will help us do that,” Bhatia said of Matic, adding:  

“We’re using Matic sidechains — they’re a plasma-based proof-of-stake (PoS) chain — to basically power our charging and internal promotions on the platform. So, it will be used instead of the mainnet to send transactions, to send tips, to promote high quality posts and comments.”

“It will be the infrastructure that we want to build on that’s far more scalable than the mainnet,” he added referring to the platform’s current Ethereum-based network. 

Sapien positions itself as a blockchain-based social media alternative

Sapien’s social media platform is comparable to a blockchain-based version of Reddit — with several added features, functionalities and capabilities, Bhatia explained. The platform is focused on user’s privacy, while involving aspects of incentivization. Bhatia added:

“In one sense, we’re a Web 3 social network. In another sense, we’re trying to sort of correct some of the wrongs of prior social networks by building a tokenized blockchain-based social network that’s far more transparent than the mainstream competitors.”

If big players such as Facebook continue to leak private data, people may begin to question the implications of their current social media usage. This in turn could increase the market share of blockchain-based alternatives.

window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({ appId: '1922752334671725', xfbml: true, version: 'v2.9' }); FB.AppEvents.logPageView(); }; (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; js.defer = true; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) }(window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1922752334671725'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link

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[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum ( lloyd ) submitted this

HAPPY SLIGHTLY LATE BIRTHDAY

Work had them traveling north, and a stop in Bulgar for supplies had given them a little chance to relax before heading back to Bern.

That was when she had found it, and he had seen that rare, soft look on her face as she admired it, before she pulled away to continue to follow in his wake. They had more than enough funds for what they needed, and Lloyd had extra of his own; there would be no harm in doubling back to find the instrument that had caught her eye while he sent her off with Linus elsewhere. It would be harder to keep her from finding it as they journeyed back, but some careful repacking would conceal it for the time being.

Once they had returned to the Black Fang’s hold in the freezing mountains of Bern, Lloyd was quick to slip into Aella’s quarters and leave the lyre on her desk, sneaking back out before she came in.

   It was rare that Aella reflected on good memories. 

   After all, there appeared to be so little of them. Her mentor and her had had a strained relationship at most generous. She had had no friends in her childhood, and even if she had – that world, and that life, and those people were all gone, now, anyway. 

   But if there were any good memories to be had… a lyre held most of them. 

   She’d seemed entranced when she saw it the first time, out in a marketplace, laying in the cold air. She wondered if the cold climate would injure the strings. Imagined how often she’d have to retune it. Hesitated, fingers poised as though to touch it – and then seemed to shake herself from her trance, follow Lloyd again. 

   She hadn’t noticed him watching her, and though she found it mildly odd, she did not concern herself too heavily when he had directed her to follow Linus for a moment. 

   Many weeks later, when he emerged from her room, suddenly, she did not think it odd, either. After all, he spent time there. He must have left something he needed. She wished him fortune with his tasks for the day, ducked into her quarters, moved to hang something on the wall – paused immediately at an unfamiliar brown lump on her desk. 

   The lyre. 

   Her fingers were ablaze with the itch to touch it, even though she forced herself to finish her first task before moving to pick it up. ( Perhaps, unbeknownst to her, they’d been itching to touch it since she’d first seen it. ) 

   She sat down at her desk, laid it on her lap, moved to tune. 

   And, in the comfort of her room, where no one could see… smiled. 

   She would thank Lloyd later. She would bring him tea out on the training fields, and offer him warmth and her gratitude. 

   But… for now? 

   For now… she played.

[empathicstars]

if i killed someone for you

what: an unedited drabble of Aella dying to save Linus, who’s been turned into a morph when: an AU in my Fire Emblem verse, sometime after Linus is turned into a morph why: I had it as a vivid dream and of course I had to torture Kristopher despite my lack of FE knowledge  for: @herousanimarum

   She sees the pain on Lloyd’s face, and it is nearly unbearable. Perhaps she senses it more keenly than she would sense another’s pain, due to having linked her mind with his prior ( there appears to be an unrelenting joining between the two of them, now, due solely to recalling each other’s memories in their heads ), but perhaps it is the severity of his agony that keeps calling her attention to him. They are on their way to find where Linus has been taken, where he’s stationed along with many of the other morphs. They are there to fight as many as they can, but Aella knows that as far as Lloyd is concerned, they are primarily going for Linus.

   There is little to no way to save him. They don’t have the necessary information. They all know that. Lloyd does not live under any illusion that anything can be different. The hopelessness in his form nearly crushes her.

   ( After all, humans were made and meant to have hope. What would a human be without it? )

   He’s staring emptily at a campfire they’ve made on their way to battle one night, and something about his gaze is what sets her mind on it. She pulls a book from her satchel and begins to write. It is not an unusual sight, her bent over a book, writing utensil moving, and she is grateful that no one questions her.

   She’s unsure what she would have said, anyway.

   She puts a leather bookmark in where she’d written, closes it carefully and returns it to her bag.

   She knows what she ought to do.

   From that moment on, her fate is more or less sealed, despite the fact that they have not even seen Linus yet. Aella has often been seen as relenting and obedient, and that she is, but in the rare times her mind is set, it is ironclad. Nothing and no one can sway the assuredness in her soul. It is not a difficult potion to swallow, the idea that her death is just around the corner. Somehow, it is relaxing. Somehow, it is freeing. Lloyd’s depression serves only to strengthen her.

   Soon, he will be better.

   Soon, it will all be the way it should be.

   She’s armed and has trained long and hard, so when Aella insists on following Lloyd into battle, he has to relent. Perhaps it is the fog of sadness that makes him not question it more severely. Perhaps he truly trusts her bravery, her strength. Perhaps he now counts her among the Black Fang, and would find it hypocritical to doubt her when she pledged her allegiance to him and his fight. Either way, the pair of them make their way through rooms and ruins, caves beige and dripping from upwards with water. She senses in many of these people, these other assailants, what she’d sensed in Sonia, what she’d desperately whispered to to Lloyd in the doorway of a small room in Bern. It was too little too late, it seemed, to save Linus.

   But she would, now. She would, now.

   They find him as they believe he will be -- skin yellowed, eyes the same, hair dark. She feels the pain in Lloyd, feels him tighten his grip on his weapon. She breathes, steps forward, between them.

   “Do you trust me?”

   He’s confused, but it’s not as visible on his face as it may be on another one. Aella has only asked that question a few other times -- when she is about to do something that extends into her powers. He answers then as he’d answered always.

   “Yes.”

   “Then stay here and do not move. All will be well.”

   There’s something like dissent in his body, but he’s already pledged to her that he’d trust her. Now he must follow through. She steps forward towards Linus, armed and ready, and holds her own dagger tightly in her hands.

   Of course, she’s not planning on using it. She does not need to. The point is for him to hit her.

   And hit her he does -- much to the dissent and call of Lloyd. Metal collides with skin, slides deep within her with ease that only comes from tremendous strength. Momentum pins her against a cave wall, his taller form slumping, pure anger, pure energy above her. The hand closest to Lloyd curls against rock, tightens into a fist as if that will suppress the pain of being torn open. Mouth gapes as if to scream, but nothing comes from her lips.

   Her other hand shakes as it raises, goes to press against his face, line his eyebrows with two fingers, press two others against his cheek. She does not close her eyes, but she no longer sees.

   Her world is champagne colored, now, within the meld, as though her brain had been dipped into such, and she wades -- wades away from the pain of her own corporeal form, unmoving, and into his mind. It is a mess, unkempt at the edges, pages torn, clothes rugged with seams ripped at, but she gives him a backdrop to help find himself, formulate enough for communication. He will not understand the shifting messages of the mind as easily as some others may -- and there is no cruelness of that thought, just stark reality. She pictures the world in which they are in now. Cave walls, her with her dagger still in its hilt. When he appears across from her, paled as he should be and orange-haired, he stares down at his hands as though he is looking for his weapon. As though this reality is made weaker without the inclusion of him stabbing her through.

   ( It’s, of course, on one of his hundreds of belts, at his side. She is nothing if not detail-focused. )

   He’s confused, for the briefest of seconds, and she cannot help the automatic telepathy of answering, before he can fully get the hang of an imagined form crouched within his own mind next to her. How is she doing this, what happened to him, what is she doing, why, why, oh God, why is she doing this. I’m not worth this, she hears, and though he may feel the emotional horror those words elicits, he’ll never allow her to respond.

   “You’re an idiot,” he says, as he would if they were both across from each other. Ah, yes, this idea of a backdrop to center himself was much more helpful. He could play at an illusion that their thoughts were separate, even while hearing her contemplation on the fact that they were not.

   “I never claimed otherwise,” she says, while I know beats in response. Something about this is near-dizzying, near-impossible, slipping beneath the weight of a hold over his mind, finding him intact and dragging him free of it, shifting her to it. She’s weak with it. She has to find her strength.

   Lloyd.

   Her memories are as clear for him as though projected behind her on the wall, as though part of his own history, own memory. Waking up to see him above her, blurried. Cold fingertips finding one another. Her smudging blood from the crease of his face. The two of them leaned against each other, books open in their laps, fast asleep. His smiling behind a mug of tea she’d made him. The two of them standing near each other, protectively, sides overlapping. Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd.

   This was all for him. To save Linus.

   So many responses swirl through him -- to poke fun at them, an ache for something similar, an anger for her doing this to him, a surprise that she could even care this much. He stares at her, unspeaking.

   She’s pushing the hold over him, the hold that turns bones to concrete, blood to ice. That makes nothing matter anymore.

   “Stop it.” He sounds annoyed.

   Part of her wishes to do as ordered. To release herself this pain and sink into nothing. But she is too far back to stop.

   She thinks of his melancholy, his emptiness, his heartbreak these past few days. How listless and numb he has appeared. How broken he has been.

   She compares it with him by his brother’s side. Begrudging smiles as Linus knocks into him. Tsks that sound more friendly than chastising. A sharp laugh.

   Linus watches it all, simmers with horror at the knowledge of what she’s doing it. “Stop it! Goddammit, fuck, I told you to stop!”

   “He needs you.” A flicker back to him at their campsite, days ago. Head hanging. Haloed in gloom.

   “He needs you!” A flicker now, forward, to the memory of his voice ringing out in terror as she’d been run through with his weapon, but it is almost immediately overridden with overwhelming self-loathing, written on every wall.

   Children’s disapproving faces, saying she is not good enough.

   Her mentor, saying she will never be enough like her mother.

   Her, in the ashes of the Nova, knowing she will never be strong enough.

   “He will forget me,” she says, to drown out him listening to her pain, to drown out his shock at how overcoming her feelings truly run, how deep her shame lives. “You are his brother. The two of you have an unbreakable, unchangeable bond. One I will never fully understand. He needs you.”

   Linus is furious, and she feels it as though lava seeps up from the floor, as though the anger and his mess of thoughts are there to flood her, distract her totally from the careful work of taking the morph mind from his. He tries to move for his sword, but she is faster -- she pulls out her dagger and closes steps between them, presses the blade of her weapon to his throat.

   He stares at her, a mixture of total confusion and shock.

   “I am sorry,” she says, gentle as though it is true. “Here, I have the advantage.”

   He doesn’t quite like that. Of course he would not. He trained long to be physically strong, long as she spent to be mentally strong. He thrashes, but inside the world of the mind, he does not move.

   Outside, however, he is beginning to be freed from the hold of the morph, beginning to be given feeling back -- arms, legs, hands, all his own, and he pulls his weapon from her, stabs it forward again, once, twice, three times, desperately, over and over, four, five, stabbing her as though that will stop it, stabbing her as though it will save her, stabbing her without real meaning to his actions.

   “Linus, stop! No!” Not her voice, outside of them.

   As though he’ll feel something, as though it’ll be okay, as though he can save the girl his brother loves by doing this, he can’t be all, he’s not enough, Lloyd would never forgive him, never, not ever, stabbing over, and over --

   “LINUS!” Ringing against the walls.

   But it does not matter. It is done. The mind is slid into her, and she retreats before she can hear any further of his thoughts, steal any more of him.

   “My book,” she says to him, stepping backwards, sinking into cavern. “I wrote to him. See that he gets it.”

   And then he is gone -- or rather, she is. She slips from his mind and slumps against the cave, gasping at the darkness, the brightness, the feel of a mind holding over her that is not her own, beginning to release her as they feel her fade away, feel her die. Shadows shift before her -- one retreating, one growing closer -- as she begins to slide towards the ground.

   Knees weak. All body weak. Lips pouring blood as freely as one may cry.

   It hurt. It hurt so much. She felt cold and alone and small.

   She closed her eyes.

   It would be good. This death. She was saving someone. More than one person. She was doing her duty.

   It was more penance than for which she could have hoped.

[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum ( lloyd ) gets a hand-holding starter! 

   She can taste it in the air. 

   More or less acidic -- bile with a bite. Too warm, but not yet hot enough to sear. Still distant. 

   The colors were different. Inky blacks, reds to his soft greens. She reaches out, automatic -- her fingertips sought and gentle against the back of his hand. 

   “I -- n-- need--” Even in all the pain of hers he has experienced thus far, her voice shatters, breaks more obvious than it has before, to him. “-- t-- to speak with you.” 

[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum​, “Linus, calm yourself. The most popular and common costumings of this rather ritualistic and pagan holiday center around negative figures. One is /supposed/ to dress as that which they are not usually.”

Linus would have snapped at Aella, but he was tripped up a bit by the way she spoke. It was so weirdly like his brother, he could only stare for a moment.

“Saints, you two really are made from the same cloth,” he muttered under his breath, arms folding across his chest as he regarded her. “Why’s it all about being a bad guy, though? I’m not…like that. I don’t wanna be like that, even if it’s some fake bullshit for one night.”

It didn’t make any sense to him, and even if it was all a game, some part of him simply didn’t want to tease crossing that line of wrong. He already toed that line close enough some days…

   The clattering of people excited for this holiday is rather too loud to be ignored, Aella’s long decided -- her book lays closed, her chin rests against the fist of some fingers as she watches them excitedly chatter about what they are going to be. It is rather a surprise when she and Linus are afforded moments outside of the bubble of activity to speak, and even more of a surprise when his voice is tempered gentle towards her. 

   “I believe the original intent was to scare spirits away or, ah... something.” Her history in this matter leaves much to be desired, she is aware. “Regardless, I am told people often appreciate playing negative roles in the realm of fantasy. Perhaps it gives them a feeling of power they wish they had in their regular one.” 

   ( You two are made from the same cloth... A serious breath, a momentary glance down. ) 

   “I have never celebrated this. I cannot tell you. You do not have to dress as anything -- nor as anything you deem bad, if you do not wish.” 

[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum ( lloyd ) played my game!

   “Nothing. It is of no consequence.” Fingers itch automatic to a book that appears to be nowhere nearby -- fall restlessly behind her form as eyes dart downwards. 

[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum ( linus ) gets a surprise! 

   She sits, staring at a spot just atop of her knees -- everything feels too cold, too small, too distant in this world. 

[empathicstars]

you are more than tragedy. 

 surprise aella and lloyd aesthetic board for @herousanimarum !

[empathicstars]

@herousanimarum​, “come on then! hit me!”

The provocation gave him pause, something unsettled running through him like a dog trying to shake off an itch it can’t scratch. He only let it show through a momentary halt in their lesson, a slow blink of hazel eyes as he regarded her.

She was clearly trying very hard to pick all this up, but it…simply didn’t suit her much. She was not a fighter, nor did she have the urge to cause anyone any harm. Even if it was to defend herself, Lloyd suspected she might not truly have what it takes to hurt or kill someone else to save her own life.

But…that wasn’t why he had agreed to help her brush up on her defensive skills. Killing wasn’t something she ever needed to do, and frankly, it wasn’t something he cared to see her do. Death was not something easy to deal out, even for someone like himself. Not showing mercy to his targets was a job, was a requirement, it was not something he felt in his soul – whatever was left of that, at this point. Even for the scum they culled from the land like a plague of rats, it was still a life stolen, still blood on their hands and staining their souls.

It wasn’t for someone like her.

She was old books and flowing language, dark eyes and a quiet voice. Hands that were far more at home sifting through pages of text rather than clutching a weapon, a mind made for learning how to connect with the man who speaks differently from herself instead of the most efficient way to kill him.

This was not her.

She was the lamb before the wolf, and she was asking for the wolf to give her fangs.

“…Very well. If you know what you are asking of me, I will not deny you. I will strike at you with the intent to cause harm. Show me that you are learning. Defend yourself. If that means causing harm to me, I don’t want to see you hesitate, Aella.”

He flipped the dagger in his grip, turning the edge in towards his own body. Lloyd had every intention of attacking like he meant to kill, but that didn’t mean he had any thoughts of actually drawing blood. Striking with the spine of the weapon would do very little aside from giving her an idea of where she would have taken an injury. This was a spar, and the only time he willingly drew blood was against his father and brother in a match such as this.

Lloyd gave her enough time to gather herself before he came at her with a feint to the left, only to twist at the last second to her right and press the spine of his dagger harmlessly but firmly between her ribs.

   Aella could do this. 

   She had to do this. 

   Her entire life could not be hidden within the shadows of protectors. She could not spend her existence watching other people shed blood for her. Her tears could not surmount that gap. 

   If she were to live, she would have to earn that life. Earn that right. 

   What did she have to earn her life thus far? Whispered words in foreign languages? Anyone could learn to speak as she did -- they merely did not see the use in such a skillset, a talent. She could teach anyone to be her. 

   ( Be empty, but pour endlessly. Speak hundreds of tongues, but never have anything to say. Simple. ) 

   She watched a town perish beneath her grasp, and she was supposed to die with them. If she could not learn the strength to avenge them... did she deserve the life that they had fought for and lost? ( Did she deserve it regardless? ) 

   Lloyd said he would come at her, and she prepared herself with what he had taught her -- a stance that should have been fine. He came towards her left, and her dagger blade glinted that way, but then he moved, so quickly. A foot slipped backwards, her dagger went to hit the hilt of his as he pressed it against her. She was there, but not faster than him. She was there, but too late, still. 

   Momentum continued and her other foot stumbled backwards until she was on the ground, but still holding her dagger up. Eyes still narrowed, face still serious. 

   “You should have hit me genuinely,” came her voice -- monotone despite what she meant. You should have stabbed me. You should have killed me.