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Parents have every right. Opposing school boards is not ‘domestic terrorism’ – The Columbus Dispatch

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Kristine Roegner| Guest columnist

Video: Columbus Dispatch panel discusses critical race theory

On Tuesday, The Dispatch held a live discussion on what Critical Race Theory is, its role in schools and recent moves against similar teachings.

The Columbus Dispatch

As parents and American citizens, we have the First Amendment right to assemble, speak freely and petition our government, including local school boards, on any topic.

More: Here are all the bills impacting the LGBTQ community in Ohio

Whether seeking relief from universal mask mandates, opposing critical race theory indoctrination or addressing other issues affecting our childrens education,parents should feel confident in their constitutional right to speak their opinions.

More: Bill to ban mask mandates in Ohio schools unlikely to pass

Sadly, the National School Boards Association, without approval from any state boards of education, recently petitioned the federal governments law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice and FBI, to abridge these constitutional rights.

The Sept. 29 National School Boards Association letterrelies on selective and biased media reporting rather than actual indictments or convictions to request that federal law enforcement deal with what they claim to be growing threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across this nation."

More: 'Terrorism and hate crimes': School boards say death threats, unruly meetings require FBI

The national association suggests these acts, which they describe as domestic terrorism," provide justification to employ the Patriot Act against parents who are exercising their First Amendment rights.

More: Threats against Worthington school board over critical race theory part of campaign against democracy

The lack of any direct evidence of threats or harassment by parents when addressing school boards is a clear sign that this has nothing to do with domestic terrorism.

Rather, the left is attempting to further divide this country by launching a cultural war and using intimidation to silencethose who do not agree with their liberal agenda.

Within five days of receiving the National School Boards Association letter, the Biden administration's attorney general, Merrick Garland, directed the FBI to work with U.S. attorneys and meet with federal, stateand local leaders to facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff and open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response."

More: 'We did not sic the FBI on parents': Attorney General Merrick Garland defends school memo

It is the foundation and core value of our representative government that parents enjoy their constitutional right to speak before and petition their boards of education to shape their desired school curriculums.

Parents can effect change primarily in two ways: electing school board members who represent their core values and exercising their First Amendment right to freely address their local school boards.

More: Distrust, disinformation, dark money: Who's trying to sway Worthington school board race?

It is disturbing that the attorney general is attempting to assert federal authority over a local school board matter, which has no valid constitutional predication and clearly violates the basic principles of free speech and federalism.

Garlands testimony before the House Judiciary Committee indicated he could not factually support his own directive.

Instead, it was a political action taken to stifle and intimidate parents from exercising their First Amendment rights.

This is not a Democrat or Republican issue.

This is about upholding the constitutional right of each American to freely express themselves, seek hearing before and redress their grievances from governmental authorities.

More: Question about anti-Asian hate at Dublin forum shows how not talking about race leads toracist talk

Fortunately on Oct. 26, the Ohio School Boards Associationtook a strong standby severing ties with the NSBA and will no longer will be a member of the national association. This decision is a direct result of the letter sent to President Joe Biden, which they claim was sent on behalf of state associations and school membersacrossthe nation. The OSBA stated, "this assertion could not be furtherfrom the truth."

More: Ohio School Boards Association cuts ties with national group over Biden 'terrorism' letter

Their reasonings echo my belief as a parent and my position as an elected official that "there is tremendous value in allowing and encouraging the public to have meaningful input intothe decision-making process."

I applaud this decision and believe it speaks to our state's commitment to uphold Ohioans First Amendment rights, and empowers parents to use their voice to advocate for what they believe is best for their child.

We are not domestic terrorists; we are American parents.

Sen. Kristina Roegner represents the 27th district in the Ohio Senate, which encompasses all or part of Stark, Summitand Wayne counties.

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Parents have every right. Opposing school boards is not 'domestic terrorism' - The Columbus Dispatch

Does The Second Amendment Have A Geography Clause? – Reason

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During oral arguments inNYS Rifle & Pistol, there were extended discussions of New York's diverse geography. There are the rural areas of upstate New York, the urban jungle of New York City (neversay "downstate"), and "intermediate areas" like Rensselaer County. These varied communities raise the question of whether the scope of Second Amendment rights can vary from place-to-place.

For example, Justice Thomas asked NY SG Underwood how population density affects the scope of the right to bear arms:

JUSTICE THOMAS: General Underwood, you seem to rely a bit on the density of the population. You say, I think, that states like New York have high-density areas. And implicit in that is that the more rural an area is, the more unnecessary a strict rule is. So, when you are --when you suggest that, how rural does the area have to be before your restrictions shouldn't apply?

Later, Justice Kagan returned to Justice Thomas's question. (We are all better off that the revised format has enabled Justice Thomas to share his wisdom). Kagan explained that it would be intuitive for rights to vary in Wyoming and New York City. But that argument does not "match with our notion of constitutional rights generally." Rights should not vary by place.

JUSTICE KAGAN: I mean, if you think about Justice Thomas's questions about less populated areas, the rural areas of New York versus the cities, I mean, it seems completely intuitive that there should be different gun regimes in New York than in Wyoming or that there should be different gun regimes in New York City than in rural counties upstate.But it's a --it's --it's a hard thing to --to match with our notion of constitutional rights generally.I mean, Mr. Clement makes a big point of this in his brief about how we would never really dream of doing that for the First Amendment or other constitutional rights, allow that level of local flexibility that you're basically saying we should allow in this context. So I guess I just want to hear you say why you think that is. You know, what justification is there for allowing greater flexibility here?

General Underwood's reply focused on the importance of local officials having discretion. After all, local officials know the circumstances of their communities. Justice Sotomayor then interrupted Underwood mid-sentence. Sotomayor contended that Underwood had dodged Kagan's question:

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: I don't think that was Justice Kagan's question.

MS. UNDERWOOD: Oh, I'm sorry.

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: It was on a broader level, I believe. She can correct me if I'm wrong. The issue is no other constitutional right do we condition on permitting different jurisdictions to pass different regulations or --but do we have any other constitutional right whose exercise in history has been as varied as gun possession and use?

(I'm sure someone is keeping track of when female Justices interrupt veteran female advocates, forcing them to say "I'm sorry.")

Justices Thomas, Sotomayor, and Kagan recognize that a constitutional right should not mean different things in different states. I don't think this agreement will affect the bottom line inNYS Rifle & Pistol. But this overlap should affect how the opinions are written.

I am very sympathetic to this premise. I made a similar argument in one of my first law review articles,The Constitutionality of Social Cost. I asked whether the Second Amendment has a "geography clause"--a term I coined in a 2009 blog post. Here is an excerpt from my 2011 article from the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Does the Constitution have a geography clause? This section explores whether the Second Amendment is a national right or a local right that can be limited based on circumstances, such as high crime. Proponents of the geography clause argument fall into two camps. First, Justice Stevens in McDonald contended that the Second Amendment as applied against the States should provide weaker protections than the Second Amendment as applied against the federal government.225 Justice Alito adequately rebutted this erroneous application of Justice Brandeis's laboratories of experimentation thesis and Justice Harlan II's never accepted incorporation jurisprudence.226 The other theory, advanced by Justice Breyer, contends that local municipalities should be able to consider whether an area has a high crime rate when construing the meaning of the Second Amendment.227 Although Justice Alito rejected Justice Stevens's twotrack approach to incorporation, he leaves open the door for localities to devise solutions to social problems that "suit local needs and values" according to certain limitations.228 This section considers the First and Fourth Amendments, which countenance locational rights that can vary based on location, and distinguishes those frameworks from the approach Justice Breyer seeks.

I could not have fathomed that a decade after I wrote this article, the questions I posed about the Second Amendment would still be unresolved.

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Does The Second Amendment Have A Geography Clause? - Reason

State Court Clerks In New Mexico Delay Access To Court Records In Violation Of The First Amendment, But An Adequate Remedy Proves Elusive -…

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On October 8, 2021, after a preliminary injunction hearing heldon September 28, 2021, Judge James O. Browning of the U.S. DistrictCourt for the District of New Mexico issued a 92-page opinion inwhich he found that the New Mexico Administrative Office of theCourts and the First Judicial District Clerk's Office violatedthe First Amendment right of timely public and press access tonewly filed state civil, non-confidential complaints. While afavorable ruling in many respects, the resulting preliminaryinjunction does not, for now, fully remedy the constitutionalviolation.

The lawsuit was brought by Courthouse News Service (CNS), led byits founder and publisher, William Girdner, asserting that FirstAmendment and common law precedent - viewed through the lens oftraditional access - established a right to contemporaneous accessto new civil complaints when filed, before administrativeprocessing, largely derived from the influential case of Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court,478 U.S. 1 (1986) (known as Press-Enterprise II). Theheart of the argument was that the district clerks, who are thecustodian of court records, were unconstitutionally delaying accessto new complaints in a way that departed from the traditionalaccess that existed in the world of paper filings before the adventof electronic filing (or e-filing). Recent statistics showed thatover 30% of newly filed complaints were delayed one or more daysstatewide, and over 67% in the Santa Fe court, before the press andpublic could see them.

Intuitively, one would think that under mandatory e-filing,access delays would decrease, not increase. Indeed, federal courtsusing PACER and many other state courts throughout the countryusing a variety of e-filing systems provide traditional, on-receiptaccess within minutes of an e-filing transaction. Yet, New Mexicoand many other states now delay access until after administrativeprocessing-also called docketing-which can vary in time, but oftenresults in access being delayed until the next day or longer. Thisis not traditional access where, the undisputed evidence showed,new complaints were made available to CNS and other members of thepress within minutes of receipt of paper filings by clerks atin-take counters, and virtually all on the same day of filing.Instead of speeding up access, certain courts and clerks havechosen to slow down access to e-filed complaints throughadministrative processing "requirements," whichdetrimentally affects reporting on newsworthy case filings in aprompt manner. As Mr. Girdner aptly described it, news is likebread - fresh the day it is made, stale the next.

Out of the gate in New Mexico, as tried elsewhere, thedefendants challenged the federal court's jurisdiction to evenhear the constitutional claim based on the abstention doctrine.However, U.S. Supreme Court precedent, including Sprint v. Sprint Communications, Inc. v.Jacobs, 571 U.S. 69 (2013), as well as Tenth Circuitprecedent made clear that abstention did not apply because therewas no concurrent state court proceeding involving CNS seeking thesame relief that would be subject to interference by a federalcourt ruling. Judge Browning ruled that abstention did not applyand, thus, rejected the defensive move.

On the merits, the key holdings were that the press and publichave a constitutionally protected right to timely access to newcivil complaints, and, importantly, the right attaches at the timeof "filing" - that is, when submitted by the e-filer tothe clerk. This ruling is valuable because many clerks argue, asthey did here, that a complaint is not "filed" untilafter administrative processing is completed, which is comprised ofpurely clerical tasks. The Court rightfully rejected this argument.Any other conclusion would mean that state court bureaucraciescould unilaterally, and arbitrarily, define for themselves whenFirst Amendment access rights spring into existence.

After reviewing precedent and analyzing access delay statisticsin the New Mexico state courts, Judge Browning created a "fivebusiness hour" rule; that is, defendants are required to makenew civil complaints available within five business hours offiling. Essentially, this rule allows a time period of acceptabledelay based on what current access data reflects is within thecapability of the clerk's office to achieve using existingprocessing procedures without much additional effort. As a resultof this rule, statistics show that access to over 60% of filings ona given day can be delayed until the next business day. This resultis not aligned with traditional access when complaints were filedin paper form by hand. More importantly, the "five businesshour" rule is not a narrowly tailored means to achieve acompelling or substantial state interest where the interest inadministrative processing undisputedly involves clerical tasks.While clerks cite concerns over sealed or confidential documentsbeing made public with more contemporaneous access, the evidenceshowed that sealed complaints cannot be e-filed, and in any event,this interest can be protected by commonly used safeguards providedby software and e-filer obligations, as evidenced by PACER andother systems, without curtailing the constitutional right ofaccess. Thus, the "five business hour" rule does notreturn what was taken away - traditional access - and fails toremedy the constitutional violation.

Several other important challenges brought by CNS are pendingacross the country, including a federal lawsuit filed in TravisCounty, Texas, where a motion to dismiss based on abstentionremains pending after the case was filed late in 2020. Given therecent New Mexico district court opinion rejecting abstention,coupled with Ninth and Fourth Circuit consensus on the issue, themotion will hopefully suffer a similar fate, allowing the case toproceed to the merits of the constitutional claim. How the meritswill be addressed remains to be seen, but First Amendmentprecedent, the history of traditional access, and a substantialpublic interest fully supports an obligation to providecontemporaneous, on-receipt access without unnecessary andarbitrary clerical delay. The less workable approach of fashioninga time window of acceptable processing delay, in reliance on localclerk practices, effectively dispenses with traditional access,allowing the contours of an important constitutional right to beshaped on an ad hoc, inconsistent basis throughout thecountry - to the public's detriment. Technological advancementsshould be used to improve, not delay, press and public access.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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State Court Clerks In New Mexico Delay Access To Court Records In Violation Of The First Amendment, But An Adequate Remedy Proves Elusive -...

What We Are Missing in the Debate Around NYC City Halls Jefferson Statue? – Hyperallergic

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Recently theNew York Timesand other newsoutletsreported that a seven-foot-tall statue of Thomas Jefferson will soon be removed from the New York City Council chamber. City officials unanimously voted for its removal, citing Jeffersons slaveholding history.

Lost in the conversation is the little-known genesis of the statue.

The sculpture was commissioned by the first Jewish commodore in the United States Navy Uriah Phillips Levy a man who for decades, at his own expense, worked to save Jeffersons dilapidated historic home Monticello from ruin. Levy, who faced anti-Semitism throughout his naval career, greatly admired Jeffersons views on religious freedom. The third president wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, whichserves as the prototype for the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

Levys motivation, to celebrate the religious liberty that allowed him a career of military service, is paramount to the sculptures intended (and lost) meaning. Levy wrote in a letter, For his determined stand on the side of religious liberty, I am preparing to personally commission a statue of Jefferson.

Levys desire to recognize Jeffersons legacy of religious freedom is a vital distinction. It strongly correlates with Levys commitment to American values despite the obstacles he faced because of his religio-cultural heritage, and the reciprocal gains America reaped because of Levys freedom to serve his country. Levy fought in the War of 1812, where he and his crew were taken prisoner by the British and held in captivity for 16 months. He also spearheaded the banning of flogging in the Navy.

But if a statue of Jefferson is up for relocation then should we rethink the location for the countrys largest equestrian monument, which honors Ulysses S. Grant? In view of the US Capitol building, the statue memorializes the man who issued a deplorable decree that expelled all Jews as a class within 24 hours from districts occupied by the Union army in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Grants order, the most anti-Semitic ever issued by the American government, erroneously branded Jews as traitors to the Union, accusing them of black-market profiteering in cotton.

Unquestionably, Grants success as the commanding Union general merits celebration, alongside important presidential acts such as signing into law the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, granting Black men the right to vote.

This commemorative sculpture still stands in its intended location because it has been examined for the context of its creation.

Two proposed locations for Jefferson are the New York Public Library and the New-York Historical Society. Wherever Jefferson is eventually displayed likely a public venue where many more people will see it the sculpture should be accurately contextualized. A plaque near it should explicitly honor Jeffersons critical and too-often forgotten contributions to religious equality while also pointing out his egregious flaws. Levy, too, should be part of that conversation, offering a potent example of an individual who reaped the rewards of Jeffersons commitment to religious liberty and a country that equally benefited worthy of celebration by Jews and non-Jews alike.

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What We Are Missing in the Debate Around NYC City Halls Jefferson Statue? - Hyperallergic

Quantum technologies are now part of the military’s future roadmap – ZDNet

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Image: Getty Images

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) previously projected that Australia's emerging quantum technology sector would generate over AU$4 billion in annual revenue and support 16,000 jobs by 2040.

This sector is set to become so significant that Australia's chief scientist Dr Cathy Foley recently told the audience of the virtual Collaborate Innovation 2021 event that it's one industry the country needs to prioritise to remain globally competitive.

The CIO's guide to Quantum computing

Quantum computers offer great promise for cryptography and optimization problems, and companies are racing to make them practical for business use. ZDNet explores what quantum computers will and wont be able to do, and the challenges that remain.

Read More

"This is an area that will have a massive impact," she said.

In wanting to take advantage of this burgeoning sector, Australia's Department of Defence has been taking steps to explore ways it can leverage quantum technology, not only for warfare but other areas too.

"Quantum technology is being and will be used in areas such as natural resources, civil engineering, pharmacology, early detection of diseases and medical research, logistics, and finance. Ultimately, quantum technology will pervade every aspect of our lives," a Department of Defence spokesperson told ZDNet.

Defence in fact is already starting to see the early benefits of quantum technology deployment, pointing out that it is using the cryogenic sapphire oscillator, dubbed the Sapphire Clock, which was developed by Australian researchers, to improve the operation of the Jindalee over-the-horizon radar network.

"The Sapphire Clock offers a thousand-fold improvement in timing precision, helping Australian Defence agencies identify threats to the nation," the spokesperson said.

Defence also believes quantum technology could be the alternative solution to GPS as it is not always reliable in complex terrain or where satellite reception is challenging, such as underwater, or in mountainous or dense urban settings. Defence currently uses GPS technology for a variety of defence activities, including precision-guided weapons, cryptography, timestamp intelligence, and synchronising distributed computer systems.

"This will be achieved through the development, miniaturisation, and maturation of quantum clocks, accelerometers, magnetometers, and gravimeters. These will then be fused with classical technologies to provide the best of both worlds for optimal timing and navigation solutions," Defence said.

Other ways Defence intends to explore and exploit the opportunity that quantum technology has been outlined in the Army Quantum Technology Roadmap [PDF]. It highlights that some potential applications of quantum technology could include sensing and imaging, communications and cryptography, and computing and simulation.

Quantum technologies could help military planners, but they might also throw out some unexpected consequences.

"This combination of disruptive potential, ambiguity and complexity presents both strategic risks and opportunities to Land Forces. As a result, Army finds itself in an accelerating global competition to understand, co-develop and exploit quantum technologies for land operations," the report notes.

"Quantum sensing technology provides new levels of sensitivity for sensing things like magnetic fields, acceleration and gravitational fields, which can lead to new capabilities," the Defence spokesperson said.

"Quantum communications technology has the potential to provide the ultimate in secure communications. Quantum computing has the potential to solve problems that cannot be solved by current classical computers."

To further explore quantum technology, the Australian Army ran its inaugural Quantum Technology Challenge last year, which saw teams of Australia's quantum scientists and engineers compete to show how quantum technologies could be conceptually delivered. The specific challenges that were set involved making the ground "transparent" through quantum imaging, resupplying troops while on the battlefield using autonomous ground vehicles, and securing communications through quantum encryption.

The department also recently made a call out for solutions to be presented at next year's Quantum Technology Challenge, tentatively scheduled for August 2022.

Defence said for next year, it wants to test if quantum sensors can detect, locate, and identify electromagnetic emitters with greater precision, range, and bandwidth; see whether quantum computers can identify and classify features in signals and images more precisely and efficiently; and examine if post-quantum cryptography can be practically employed to secure communications from the threat of quantum computers.

The department added that Australia could run the risk of being left behind if quantum technology developed in the country is not supported.

"Australia has world-leading expertise in many areas of quantum technology. These need to continue to be supported and developed in order to avoid Australia being left behind," the spokesperson said.

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Quantum technologies are now part of the military's future roadmap - ZDNet

Loopring (LRC) Is Poised To Take Out Its Current All-time High Should the Projects Rumored Partnership With GameStops (GME) NFT Platform Materialize -…

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Loopring, an Ethereum-based protocol that offers cutting-edge cryptography for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications, has been garnering increased attention from investors over the past few hours amid persistent rumors of its integration with GameStops (GME) NFT platform.

As a refresher, Loopring is essentially a Layer 2 Ethereum blockchain that utilizes a new type of cryptography, dubbed the zkRollup (zero-knowledge rollups). Instead of settling transactions on the main Ethereum blockchain, zkRollup allows key calculations to be performed elsewhere without requiring confirmation from the Ethereum network. This process allows the establishment of decentralized exchanges without the associated high fees and slow transaction processing speed. A zero-knowledge proof makes a claim regarding the accuracy of a particular data set without actually sharing that data. For instance, it may allow age verification for certain sites without actually revealing the age of the user. zkRollups bundle hundreds of transactions into a single one, thereby boosting the scale and efficiency of the network. These bundled transactions are then settled on the blockchain using zero-knowledge proofs to ensure the accuracy of those off-chain transactions.

GameStop, AMC Short Sellers Recover Losses At $20 Million/day But Is It Enough?

So, how does a Loopring exchange work in real-life? Well, users first send their funds to a smart contract managed by the Loopring protocol. From there, user-identifying information is moved off-chain, and the associated trades are batched together and matched for efficiency gains. Each batch of transactions is then added to the Ethereum blockchain using zero-knowledge proofs that allow for a complete reconstruction of those off-chain transactions. Loopring claims that it can process over 2,000 trades per second by using this method. Looprings native cryptocurrency, the LRC, is used by decentralized exchange operators to provide the mandatory lock-up capital. The locked-up LRC can be confiscated in case the operator violates certain terms and conditions. Users who stake LRC win the right to 70 percent of the exchange fees, while 10 percent of these fees paid in the form of LRC are burnt, thereby ensuring an overall deflationary environment. The total supply of LRC is capped at 1.395 million tokens.

This brings us to the crux of the matter. Source code from Looprings GitHub profile suggests that the protocols developers are preparing to integrate with GameStops much-hyped NFT platform. As noted by GMEdd, the code makes certain interesting references:

The amended code in the branch NFT-DEV, under the GitHub commit titled NFT feature, makes reference to gameStopMeta and an IPFS URL.

Bear in mind that the IPFS is a distributed system for storing and accessing files and data and was used by GameStop during its first iteration of an NFT platform reveal.

Weve continued to note that, in the approaching era of cloud-based gaming, GameStop needs to think out of the box to strike gold, as its brick-and-mortar stores are already facing extinction. In the prevailing paradigm, the companys recent push into the arena of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) is a solid initiative,, and Looprings alleged involvement is only adding more confidence. To wit, GameStop has activated a dedicated website for NFTs that references players, creators, and collectors, thereby indicating an incoming ecosystem to cater to the gaming community. As NFTs are now being used to develop and monetize video games, GameStops interest in this field is logical.

While it still remains to be seen whether the much-vaunted partnership between Loopring and GameStop materializes, investors are already jumping on the bandwagon. To wit, the LRC has now recorded gains of over 50 percent in just the past 24 hours, with the coin currently trading around the $1.07 price level.

GameStop & AMC Short Sellers Recover Close To $1 Billion In Two Weeks

Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/loopring/

Nonetheless, Looprings current price is still far below the all-time high of $2.59 recorded back in January 2018.

Given the budding interest around Loopring, we would not be surprised if the coin were to take out its current all-time high should the partnership with GameStop materialize.

Do you think a partnership between GameStop and Loopring is just around the corner? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Loopring (LRC) Is Poised To Take Out Its Current All-time High Should the Projects Rumored Partnership With GameStops (GME) NFT Platform Materialize -...

13 Years Ago Today, The Bitcoin White Paper Was Released – Bitcoin Magazine

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The research paper detailing the engineering and design requirements to enable the first distributed, uncensorable, electronic digital cash system to come to life was released 13 years ago. The Bitcoin white paper publicized the long-sought resolution to the double-spending problem of all previous attempts to build digital cash.

However, contrary to popular belief, the invention of Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto wasnt precisely an unprecedented construction. The quest for digital cash had started many years before the Bitcoin white paper was published, and Bitcoin is more accurately seen as the culmination of decades of research and development. Satoshi brilliantly applied some tweaks and puzzled it all together to devise the Bitcoin network and its consensus protocol.

Bitcoin marvelously joins together digital signatures, proof of work, public-key cryptography, hash functions, timestamps, block rewards, transaction fees, mining difficulty adjustment, Merkle Trees, and the concept of a peer-to-peer network run by independent nodes. This unique construction allowed the double-spending problem to be solved and the soundest form of money ever created to emerge.

Each of these pieces was built upon previous knowledge. The white paper cited eight of such prior developments, hinting at how the pseudonymous inventor arrived at the requirements for creating Bitcoin.

The first reference is b-money, where Wei Dai explores how cooperation could be possible without governments and trusted entities.

A community is defined by the cooperation of its participants, and efficient cooperation requires a medium of exchange (money) and a way to enforce contracts, Dai wrote. Traditionally these services have been provided by the government or government sponsored institutions and only to legal entities. In this article I describe a protocol by which these services can be provided to and by untraceable entities.

The papers three subsequent references are all about timestamping, which is central to the functioning of the Bitcoin network and its ordered history of blocks and essential to help solve the double-spending problem. Moreover, timestamping proves the existence of data at a specific time.

The second reference is Design of a secure timestamping service with minimal trust requirements by H. Massias, X.S. Avila, and J.-J. Quisquater. Again, a paper that explores how to reduce trust requirements in systems.

We define digital timestamp as a digital certificate intended to assure the existence of a generic digital document at a certain time, the authors wrote. There are two families of timestamping techniques: those that work with a trusted third party and those that are based on the concept of distributed trust. Techniques based on a trusted party rely on the impartiality of the entity that is in charge of issuing the timestamps. Techniques based on the distributed trust consist on making documents dated and signed by a large set of people in order to convince the verifiers that we could not have corrupted all of them.

How to timestamp a digital document is the papers third reference, in which S. Haber and W.S. Stornetta propose a technique to make it infeasible for a document to be back-dated or forward-dated. Bitcoin leverages the idea of linking hashed data to make it not practical to tamper with the records without leaving telltale signs.

The two authors are cited once again in the fourth reference, Improving the efficiency and reliability of digital timestamping, in which they explore a way to achieve exponential increase in the publicity obtained for each timestamping event, while reducing the storage and the computation required. Merkle Trees are also central to how Bitcoin stores transactional data in blocks and allow for quick payment and block verification by validating nodes.

From the latest reference to Haber and Stornetta, Satoshi Nakamoto leveraged Secure names for bit-strings to combine hash functions with Merkle Trees, allowing for easier integrity verification.

Adam Backs Hashcash - a denial of service counter-measure is cited by Satoshi and was leveraged to implement Bitcoins proof-of-work (PoW) systemthe core of the Bitcoin consensus model and responsible for allowing BTC to be mined in a decentralized and free-market fashion. PoW also allows for the lack of human coordination for recording transactions and the lack of trust for achieving consensus. Simply put, without PoW, there would be no Bitcoin.

Protocols for public key cryptosystems by R.C. Merkle explores schemes for public key distribution and protocols for digital signatures, which it says is an ideal method of broadcasting authenticated messages from a central source which must be confirmed by many separate recipients.

Digital signatures enable Bitcoin users to prove ownership of a transaction output and spend it in a pseudonymous way while allowing peers to verify the validity of such claims quickly. Bitcoin currently uses ECDSA and enables users not to reveal their identities (private keys) when interacting with the protocol. The next major upgrade to Bitcoin will add Schnorr signatures, further improving the capabilities of Bitcoin in that regard.

Last but not least, An introduction to probability theory and its applications by William Feller was cited by Satoshi. The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin leveraged the mathematics book to calculate the probability that an attacker can successfully compete with the honest chaina central issue in the double-spend problem.

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13 Years Ago Today, The Bitcoin White Paper Was Released - Bitcoin Magazine

Polygon Reveals About its Future Collaboration With LBank During AMA – bitcoinist.com

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Recently, LBank Exchange held an AMA session with the Polygon team, discussing Polygons achievements, collaborations, NFT and Gaming markets, Nightfall solution, future plans and so on. Heres the summary of this AMA.

Ethereum is the blockchain development platform of choice, but it has limitations such as low throughput, poor UX, and no sovereignty. As a protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, Polygon breaks through these limitations by aggregating scalable solutions on Ethereum and supporting a multi-chain Ethereum ecosystem.

Polygon Outperforms Ethereum In-terms Of Active Users

As a layer 2 solutions aggregator built on top of Ethereum, Polygon has made some great achievements since its birth, its POS chain has over 2000 DApps live and processes over 7 million transactions daily. In fact, Polygon now has more daily active users than Ethereum.

MATIC, the token for the polygon network, is already live on trading platforms like LBank Exchange, and currently the trading volume of it is over 1 billion across exchanges. Polygon team is aiming for making more people hold MATIC tokens, and its hoping to see MATICs trading volume on LBank Exchange continue to grow as well.

Expanding the Polygon ecosystem

With the power to bring thousands of new users into blockchain, NFT and Gaming markets are strategic sectors that Polygon continues to focus on. There are already some of the largest gaming projects live on Polygon, such as Decentral Games, Sandbox, Somnium Space, Vulcan Verse, etc. As for NFT projects, there are OpenSea, Lazy.com, Autograph, etc.

The team will be bringing many more such games and NFT projects onto Polygon so that its community can enjoy more artwork and fun. In addition, Polygon allows for massive scalability, and compared to Ethereum, minting costs on Polygon are 100,000 times cheaper on average.

Polygon also has products designed for enterprise customers who need privacy and scalability, such as Nightfall, a one-of-a-kind, privacy-focused Rollup that combines Optimistic Rollups with Zero-Knowledge (ZK) cryptography commonly used in ZK Rollups. It creates a scalable and private hybrid of the two popular technologies.

Polygon Nightfall has the power to bring many large enterprises into blockchain, the team believes that it will lead to a large number of transactions on Polygon and further add new projects and users to the Polygon ecosystem.

Big Plans Ahead

The Polygon team has already got some big plans ahead. On the technical side, Polygon is investing heavily into ZK and ZK Rollup technology, for example, the team has already spent $250 million on acquiring Hermez, which is a decentralized, open-source ZK Rollup optimised for secure, low-cost and usable token transfers on the wings of Ethereum.

Polygon has also acquired another 4 teams to build more ZK Rollup chains, to achieve the goal of building highly scalable EVM enabled ZK Rollup technology. In addition, Polygon has updates coming for its POS chain and details on EIP 1559 implementation.

On the business side, Polygon has many exciting updates as well, with lots of big DApps and integrations planned. Significantly, Arjun, Polygons Head of Growth, points out that LBank is enhancing its global branding. He also assures that the love of the community makes the team achieve its goals, so it will continue to collaborate with LBank Exchange to bring more Polygon projects and tokens to the community. Polygon team will keep posting on its official social media accounts such as Twitter to reveal more details about future plans and latest updates.

About LBank

LBank is an ever-growing crypto trading platform which offers safe trading for the users worldwide. The team aspires to build the professional integration services for crypto-assets being a convenient trading platform. It has become popular with over 6.4 million users around the world.

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Polygon Reveals About its Future Collaboration With LBank During AMA - bitcoinist.com

Quicktake: what is the metaverse and why does it matter? – The National

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The metaverse, a digital space that allows users to communicate and move virtually in their three-dimensional avatars or digital representations, is being seen as the future of business and human interaction.

Last month, Chipotle Mexican Grill offered free burritos to customers who visited the restaurant virtually on Roblox an online gaming platform.

Each day from October 28 to 31, the first 30,000 Roblox users who visited the virtual Chipotle restaurant in a Halloween-themed costume received a code for a free burrito.

As a digital innovator, we are always experimenting on new platforms to meet our guests where they are, said Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer at Chipotle.

Roblox's popularity has boomed over the past year and we know our fans will be excited to celebrate the next evolution of burrito in the metaverse, Mr Brandt said.

A man tries VR goggles during the Cop26 conference in Glasgow. Getty

Here is a look at the history of the metaverse and its potential opportunities.

The term was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, which covered subjects such as computer science, politics, cryptography and philosophy.

Hailed as a successor to the internet, the metaverse is a set of immersive spaces shared by users, where they can interact, innovate and engage other people who are not in the same physical space. They do it by creating 3D avatars.

Based on augmented reality principles, it merges physical and virtual existences in a shared online space.

A journalist poses for a 360-degree image during a demonstration to create a 3D avatar at the Jump Studio in the SK Telecom headquarters in Seoul. Bloomberg

It is a mix of work and play.

With the metaverse, users can create their digital representation and use it while attending virtual family gatherings or office meetings. They can also attend the virtual streaming of a music concert where their 3D avatar will appear among the audience. Their digital representation can shop online, lend their belongings to colleagues or friends, try new products, such as clothes and shoes, at virtual shops and pay for them using digital currencies.

But we are still in the initial stages of the development of the metaverse. Industry experts say it might take 10 to 15 years to fully realise metaverse products and it will work well when all stakeholders create a compatible digital ecosystem.

Social networking site Meta, formerly Facebook, plans to spend $10 billion this year on Reality Labs its metaverse division despite the platform facing controversies that have led to calls for tighter regulation.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg fencing in the metaverse with an Olympic gold medal fencer during a live-streamed conference to announce the rebranding of Facebook as Meta. Reuters

Industry analysts say despite the recent hype, the metaverse is Facebooks most potent and underappreciated innovation opportunity.

About every decade we believe companies need to reinvent themselves to address large new markets and satisfy investors for the long term, the US venture capital company Loup Ventures said in a note to clients.

For a company the size of Facebook, with an expected $150 billion in revenue next year, maintaining growth requires a massive, greenfield opportunity we believe the metaverse is a sufficiently large opportunity for a company the size of Facebook to chase.

Technology giant Microsoft aims to allow avatars to share PowerPoint presentations and Excel files in Teams an app that offers workspace chat, videoconferencing and file storage next year.

Software maker Unity is developing a concept called digital twins a virtual copy of the real world. Graphics chip maker Nvidia is developing a technology called Omniverse that will link 3D virtual worlds in the metaverse.

Tencent Holdings, the world's largest gaming company by revenue, is reportedly developing an advanced gaming studio to focus on the metaverse.

A software engineer explores a detailed 3D map of the universe with the virtual reality software VIRUP, developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. AP

In September, the Chinese company filed to register nearly 100 metaverse-related trademarks. They include QQ Metaverse, QQ Music Metaverse and Kings Metaverse, similar to the names of the companys messaging app, music-streaming service and mobile game Honour of Kings.

In March, Gucci released branded virtual trainers, allowing users to wear them on social media only.

UK start-up Auroboros has launched what it calls a biomimicry digital collection, which allows users to buy looks to wear on Snapchat. Buyers submit an image of themselves, on to which high-quality sci-fi fantasy digital wear is added. This image can then be uploaded to Snapchat through a filter.

While building the metaverse, companies need to minimise the amount of data that is used and build a parallel digital world that gives users control over their data.

Employees create a 3D avatar in the Jump Studio at the SK Telecom headquarters in Seoul. Bloomberg

Industry experts say developers need to make sure these technologies are designed inclusively and in a way that is accessible.

It is essential to keep people safe online and give them tools to act or get help if they see something they are not comfortable with, Facebook said.

Updated: November 5th 2021, 4:00 AM

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Quicktake: what is the metaverse and why does it matter? - The National

How Blockchain In Healthcare Could Save The Healthcare Industry Up To $100-$150 Billion Per Year – PRNewswire

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PALM BEACH, FLa., Nov. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary - Traditional blockchain technology has historically been associated with cryptocurrency. It came to mainstream attention back in December 2017 when the price of Bitcoin soaredfrom $900 to $20,000. Here's the catch though: blockchain is not only applicable to cryptocurrency. In fact, blockchain, as a secure public ledger, is exactly what the healthcare industry needs. Blockchain in healthcareis ALL about removing the middleman. It's about increasing the security of various transactional activities in the healthcare space, while eliminating bureaucracy and manual inefficiencies, improving quality of care and democratizing patient data. Blockchain is a decentralized list of digital records linked together by cryptography. Each record is known as a 'block'. Every block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block ie a mathematical algorithm, a timestamp, and data of that transaction. Blockchain technology was developed to be a secure open ledger to record digital transactions, managed by a peer-to-peer network. According to an articlein Digital Authority Partners, HIPAA reportedthat in 2018, there was at least one data breach of healthcare records every day. Between 2009 and 2018, more than 59% of the US population has had their healthcare records compromised from data breaches. In the age of data-insecurity, health organizations should look at utilizing blockchain technology. There's a lot more to it than simply transactional activities' - blockchain is about securely sharing data previously deemed impossible to extract.Active Companies in the markets today include Healthcare Triangle Inc. (NASDAQ: HCTI), Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD), Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI), UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH).

According toHealthcare Weekly, "40% of healthcare executives see blockchain technology as one of the top 5 priorities in the industry. Furthermore, the adoption of the blockchain in healthcare could save the healthcare industry up to $100-$150 billion per year by 2025in data breach-related costs, IT costs, operations costs, support function costs, and personnel costs, and through a reduction in frauds and counterfeit products. Blockchain technology can prove to be just as effective a solution as AI. It can help improve the drug supply chain and make the clinical trials process more efficient.One of the main issues in pharma is preventing counterfeit medicines from getting to market."

Healthcare Triangle Inc. (NASDAQ: HCTI) BREAKING NEWS: Healthcare Triangle Releases Methodology for Blockchain Transformation for Pharma Supply Chain - Healthcare Triangle Inc. ("HCTI" or the "Company") a leading provider of cloud and data transformation solutions, is pleased to announce the release of Blockedge Glu, which provides a framework and methodology for a blockchain transformation of pharma supply chain eco system in partnership with blockedge.io a leading blockchain transformation provider.

Creating end-to-end visibility in supply chain management and maintaining prescription drug traceability and integrity hold utmost importance in the pharmaceutical industry, which is currently accelerated by the compliance requirements DSCSA from FDA.

"FDA's requirements alone are not the driving factor behind accelerating the blockchain transformation of pharma supply chain", says Chairman and CEO of Healthcare Triangle, Suresh Venkatachari. Per BIS Research, Pharma companies currently lose $200 billion a year to counterfeit drugs. The health issues caused by such drugs are alarming to an extent WHO (World Health Organization) has also gotten involved in solving this problem using Blockchain.

"Blockchain is the best track & trace solution available for us today, giving complete end-to-end supply chain visibility, thus can make a significant difference, if adopted right." Venkatachari continued, "Blockedge Glu is designed to make this adoption right by addressing major challenges involved by providing a framework which reduces the complexities of integrating existing large and complex IT systems with one or more blockchain networks while also providing a transformation methodology that servers as a playbook for IT and business leaders to implement, what's becoming to be, the multi-year transformation program." CONTINUEDRead this full release for Healthcare Triangle at: https://www.healthcaretriangle.com/investors/

Other recent developments in the markets include:

Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD), a healthcare provider that serves over 400 employers and millions of members, recently announced that it will be at HLTH Boston 2021 to engage in discussions about how companies can improve care, clinical outcomes, and lower costs.

"At Accolade, we believe that long-term relationships matter, that every person should have care as unique as they are, and that healthcare should focus on people, not fees," saidRajeev Singh, CEO and Chairman, Accolade. "We partner with forward-looking health benefits leaders to invent the future of healthcare that their people deserve and in turn transform the employee experience. We recently introduced Personalized Healthcare, a new category that enables a nationally scalable model of value-based care to meet the quadruple aim, as the next step in this journey with employers and health plans."

Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), the global leader in whole-person virtual care, recently reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021.

"Our strong performance in the third quarter reflects our continued success in leading the transformation of healthcare delivery and expanding access for all," said Jason Gorevic, chief executive officer at Teladoc Health. "By leveraging our unique combination of data, analytics, technology and dedicated healthcare professionals, we are driving growth across our business. The third quarter was notable in expanding relationships with a number of leading national health plans with the successful launch of our Primary360 offering which reimagines the primary care model and delivers increased access and engagement to members."

"As we look ahead to the rest of 2021 and into 2022, we are confident in our ability to innovate, anticipate and solve for the evolving whole-person health needs of consumers and healthcare professionals globally," Gorevic added.

Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI)Cigna Health Plan recently announced it is significantly expanding access to covered virtual care services for millions of customers. The expansion demonstrates the increased pace of innovation that is an early result of the acquisitionof MDLIVE by Evernorth, Cigna's health services business.

The integrated services will include digital-first primary, dermatology, behavioral and urgent care. Additionally, MDLIVE physicians will join Cigna's group of collaborative care providers, giving them access to patients' health information for a more connected, coordinated experience.

"With MDLIVE now part of Evernorth, we've fast-tracked our ability to offer a broader suite of differentiated, future-state care solutions that make the patient experience easier and more convenient," saidEric Palmer, president, Evernorth. "Today's announcement represents a significant step forward for millions of health plan customers who will gain on-demand access to a wider range of highly-specialized, in-network health care professionals."

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH)The Minnesota Department of Human Services, which is partnering with managed care health plans to improve the health and wellness of individuals, recently selected UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Minnesota to administer its Medicaid program, effective January 1, 2022.

"We are honored to have received a contract from the state of Minnesota, which will allow us to serve more people in our home state, many of whom are our friends and neighbors," said Victor Fields, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Minnesota. "We look forward to improving the health and wellness of Minnesotans in the communities where we live and work, as part of our mission to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone."

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein.FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security.FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult =a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated twenty six hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Healthcare TriangleInc. by a non-affiliated third party. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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How Blockchain In Healthcare Could Save The Healthcare Industry Up To $100-$150 Billion Per Year - PRNewswire


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