Daily Archives: January 23, 2017

Chasing the Scream | The First and Last Days of the War on …

Posted: January 23, 2017 at 10:18 pm

Johann Haris book is the perfect antidote to the war on drugs, one of the most under-discussed moral injustices of our time. It combines rigorous research and deeply human story-telling. It will prompt an urgently-needed debate

A terrific book.

An absolutely stunning book. It will blow people away.

Superb journalism and thrilling story-telling.

Wonderful I couldnt put it down.

An astounding book.

This book is, forgive the obvious phrase, screamingly addictive. The story it tells, jaw-droppingly horrific, hilarious and incredible, is one everyone should know: that it is all true boggles the mind, fascinates and infuriates in equal measure. Johann Hari, in brilliant prose, exposes one of the greatest and most harmful scandals of the past hundred years.

This book is as intoxicatingly thrilling as crack, without destroying your teeth. It will change the drug debate forever.

Incredibly insightful and provocative.

Check out Johann Haris extraordinary new book Chasing the Scream, one of the best books Ive ever read about the world of drugs

Johann Hari has written a drug policy reform book like no other. Many have studied, or conducted, the science surrounding the manifold ills of drug prohibition. But Hari puts it all into riveting story form, and humanizes it Part Gonzo journalism, part Louis CK standup, part Mark Twain storytelling, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs is beautifully wrought: lively, humorous, and poignant. And, its a compelling case for why the drug war must end, yesterday.

In this energetic and thought-proving book, Hari harnesses the power of the personal narrative to reveal the true causes and consequences of the War on Drugs.

Breath-taking A powerful contribution to an urgent debate

A testament to Haris skill as a writer

Gripping

A riveting book

Superb

This book is an entertainment, a great character study and page-turning storytelling all rolled into one very sophisticated and compelling cry for social justice.

Amazing and bracing and smart. Its really revolutionary.

Scary and terrific

Incredibly powerful

Its incredibly entertaining. Its enormously emotionally affecting It really is an extraordinary book

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Chasing the Scream | The First and Last Days of the War on ...

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Oceania (song) – Wikipedia

Posted: at 10:15 pm

"Oceania" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Bjrk for her sixth studio album Medlla. It was written and produced by Bjrk, with additional writing by Sjn and production by Mark Bell. The song was written by the singer specially for the 2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, after a request by the International Olympic Committee. "Oceania" was released as a promotional single on 13 August 2004, by One Little Indian Records. The song was written at the ocean's point of view, from which the singer believes all life emerged, and details the human's evolution, whilst accompanied by a choir. "Oceania" was generally well received by music critics, who believed it was the best track from Medlla, although some thought it was not the best choice for a promotional release.

The accompanying music video for the song, directed by Lynn Fox, features Bjrk as "Mother Oceania", whilst being jewel-encrusted in dark watery depths, with a colourful sunset and swirling floral creatures above her. A remix of the song, featuring additional lyrics and vocals by Kelis on her point of view of the continents, was featured as a B-side to the "Who Is It" single. A piano version also appeared on the DVD single, and was assisted in its creation by Nico Muhly. The song was premiered during Bjrk's performance on the Summer Olympics ceremony, and was later included on the setlist of the Volta Tour (200708). At the 47th Grammy Awards in 2005, it was nominated in the category of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Cover versions of "Oceania" were done six times, while it was sampled once.

The International Olympic Committee commissioned a song by Bjrk specially for the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. The singer revealed that the committee asked her to do a kind of "Ebony and Ivory" or "We Are the World" type of song, which are "smashing tunes" according to her, but she thought, "'Maybe there's another angle to this'. When I tried to write an Olympic lyric, though, it was full of sports socks and ribbons. I ended up pissing myself laughing". Then, she called Sjn, an Icelandic poet who had previously collaborated with her on songs such as "Bachelorette" from her fourth studio album Homogenic (1997). When she said to him that they would need something "suitably epic" for the Olympics, the poet even took a short course about Greek mythology at Reykjavk University. "Oceania" was the last song recorded for Medlla.[1] Bjrk said about the song: "I am incredibly honoured to have been asked to write a song and sing it at the Olympics. The song is written from the point of view of the ocean that surrounds all the land and watches over the humans to see how they are doing after millions of years of evolution. It sees no borders, different races or religion which has always been at the core of these [games]".[2]

During an interview with British radio station XFM, Bjrk explained its recording process, saying work on "Oceania" was kept being delayed because she wanted to do it especially for the Olympics. During the last day of mixing, she thought she needed "sirenes", like in Greek mythology. She called up an English choir to record these sounds. The singer had done an arrangement for piano on the computer that was impossible for a piano to play, and she got them to sing it. Then, she also called up beatboxer Shlomo, who was recommended to her as "the new bright hope of the hip hop scene". He went to record the next day and Bjrk asked him to do a techno tango beat, which he did. Recalling her work on the song until her last day of mixing, she commented, "That was the most fun part, in the end. Sometimes it's good for you to work with a gun against your head and just go for it, because you can sometimes sit too long with ideas. Sometimes adrenaline is a good thing."[3]

The song was written at the ocean's point of view, detailing the human's evolution.[4] According to Jason Killingsworth from Paste magazine, it calls listeners' attention to "Mother Oceania" from which the singer believes all life emerged, whilst she sings: "You have done well for yourselves / Since you left my wet embrace / And crawled ashore []". The song anchors the midsection of Medlla, "jubilantly punctuated with bubbling synth and propelled by the rolling, spitfire cadence of Rahzel's beatbox", according to the reviewer.[5] The last line from the song, "Your sweat is salty/ And I am why/ Your sweat is salty/ And I am why", is about how "we were all little jellyfish or whatever before we made it on to land", according to the singer.[1] Elthan Brown from New York magazine considered these lyrics as "frank sensuality".[6] "Oceania" also features The London Choir.[7]Entertainment Weekly's writer Chris Willman commented that "the computer-enhanced choir behind Bjrk [suggests] a cosmic harem of pleased dolphins. Here she imagines herself as the sea itself, proud of all the belegged creatures she's spit out onto land over the last hundred million years. It's the nearest evolutionists have come to having their own gospel tune".[8]

A remix version of "Oceania" featuring additional lyrics and vocals by American singer Kelis was recorded. She explained they were set to perform on Fashion Rocks concert in London the previous year, and their dressing rooms were right next to each other. Bjrk had an album by Canadian singer Peaches that was skipping, then Kelis gave her the copy of the album she had. They started talking and eventually hung out and exchanged numbers after the show, and later Bjrk contacted Kelis to work together, which she agreed. Then, Kelis recorded her vocals at Electric Lady Studios in New York City,[9] and wrote her own words in the song, from the point of view of the continents.[10] Originally not intended to be commercially released, the remix leaked after being played on BBC Radio 1's The Breezeblock, but was then included on the "Who Is It" single as a B-side. According to The Guardian, "it's a brilliant fusing together of two distinct voices, Kelis handling the breathy first verse, as layers of her chopped-up vocals form the rhythm track, while Bjrk at first comes across as restrained, allowing Kelis' ad-libs to soar before unleashing a song-stopping, wordless roar that heralds the song's dramatic final coda".[11]

A piano version also appeared on the DVD single, which was assisted in its creation by Nico Muhly. During an interview he stated, "When Bjrk asked me to play piano on Oceania, she sent me the music, and it was as complicated and layered as any piece of classical music I've played. I spent a few days figuring out how to make her vision of 'dueling lounge-lizard pianists' physically possible, and in the session, we ran through those quickly. Then, she experimented with different ways to space the progression of chords that runs through the piece - I suggested big, Brahmsy blocks - as well as the ending, for which we tried diaphanous, Debussy-like arpeggios".[12] Bjrk decided to stick with the album's vocal concept and use electronically tweaked choral voices. Before some last-minute polishing by Mark Bell, this version of "Oceania" was the last track to be worked for Medlla.[13]

"Oceania" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Jennifer Vineyard from MTV News called the song "one of those polarizing songs, with its Ethel Merman-like synchronized vocal sweeps that do suggest the aquatic, in a 1950s sort of way".[14]Entertainment Weekly's Chris Willman labeled the track as a "strikingly beautiful" song.[8] Alex Ross, reporter writing for The New Yorker stated that with "Oceania", Bjrk "confirmed her status as the ultimate musical cosmopolitan", acquainted with Karlheinz Stockhausen and the Wu-Tang Clan.[13] Matthew Gasteier from Prefix magazine called the track "the best song on the album", whilst complimenting "its swooping chorus [which] recalls the migration of birds or the time-elapsed drifting of icebergs, a swirl of beauty and power crashing down onto and then rising above the mix. It culminates in the near screech that leads into the sexy-spooky coda".[15] According to Andy Battaglia from The A.V. Club, in a positive review, "the electronic flourish strays from her organic vocal focus, but Bjrk summons the same kind of tingle with choral language" in the song, "which finds The London Choir reacting to what sounds like a thrilling slow-motion circus act".[7]

"Oceania" was "spoilt by some overenthusiastic vocal whoopings", according to David Hooper from BBC Music.[16]The Guardian's writer David Peschek said that when the singer sings in the song, "choral swoops [explodes] like fireworks behind her".[17]AllMusic's Heather Phares noted that the song, along with Medlla's lead single "Who Is It", "have an alien quality that is all the stranger considering that nearly all of their source material is human (except for the odd keyboard or two)".[18] Dominique Leone of Pitchfork thought "Oceania" was hardly the most obvious choice for a promotional single release, despite its "bizarre, swooping soprano lines and cyclical chord progression outlined by a chorus of Wyatt vocal samples".[19] Jeremy D. Larson from Time magazine provided a mixed review to the song, stating that it was the best Olympic theme song, but during the Olympics performance, "when she sang 'Every pearl is a lynx is a girl' we think you could hear the world collectively sigh, 'Where's Celine Dion?'".[4] In 2005, the song was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 47th Grammy Awards but lost out to Norah Jones' "Sunrise".[20]

The accompanying music video for "Oceania" was directed by Lynn Fox, and was premiered on August 13, 2004 through Bjrk's official site.[21] According to Lynn Fox, Bjrk gave the team the initial sketch of the track in January 2004. Whilst they were doing scribbles for it, they had several phone conversations with the singer and emailed her images to keep her up to date with the progress of the work. For "Oceania", initial animations took six weeks, then had couple of days preparing for the shoot in Iceland and a few more days after to put all the shots together.[22] Bjrk's make-up took eight hours to be done and included a hand-collage of tiny crystal gems on her face. Post-production team The Mill was then hired to emphasise the glints that beam from them. Initially, a Flame spark was used to select and highlight glints automatically but the results proved "too random". For a more "organic" look, The Mill's Paul Marangos spent two days in Flame inputting glints by hand, using live action glints as reference. The Mill's Adam Scott further enhanced the video with an initial live action grade and final DCP. The video was finished just a day before the opening ceremony, leaving a small amount to get the video distributed to TV stations. BEAM.TV distributed the video instantly via its network of international post-production partners.[23]

Like in the song, in the music video Bjrk is depicted as "Mother Oceania". The video opens with the surface of a body of water appearing yellowish and bright. Camera pans down to darker, deeper waters. Bjrk appears out of the dark background, singing and covered with sparkling jewels. As the second verse begins, images of sea anemones, representing the continents (her children) are thrown from Bjrk's hands.[24] During the third verse they swim around and away from their mother, carried by the currents, which move in time with the song. In the bridge section, new sea flowers, with brilliant colors, emerge from the background, in contrast to the muted and darker colors of previous scenes. As the fifth verse continues, the camera pans back up to the much lighter surface, not seen since the beginning of the video. All sorts of marine life are swimming about the surface. Shortly after the sixth verse begins, Bjork is shown in deep, dark water. Several seconds later, the lighter surface of the water is shown without her. When she begins to sing "Your sweat is salty", a somewhat rapid alternation of images ensues: the light surface is shown for one second, followed by Bjrk singing in the deep water; these scenes alternate until she stops singing during the coda. Bjrk's vocal repetition ceases at the same time the visual alternation stops. The surface scene recedes, and Bjrk in the deep water comes to the fore, slowing. At the end of the video, she stands and smiles.[24]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, where Bjrk premiered the song, she wore a very large dress which unfolded during her performance of "Oceania" to eventually occupy the entire stadium, and showed a map of the world in sign of union.[4] Additionally, Bjrk wore "bluish-purple glittery eye shadow across her lids. Her dark hair dangled in tiny twists that framed her pixieish, freckled face".[25] Immediately after the performance at the Olympics opening ceremony, the song was downloaded more than 11,000 times on the iTunes Store.[26] Jake Coyle from Today commented that her dress was "reminiscent in its uniqueness to the infamous swan dress she wore to the Oscars in 2001".[27] According to Jeremy D. Larson from Time, if it weren't for the fireworks at the end of the song, he was legitimately unsure if people in the audience would have cheered.[4] Dominique Leone of Pitchfork was surprised by the committee's choice of bringing Bjrk to perform at the ceremony, and stated: "They could have had anyone-- say, a reassuring Celine Dion or a physically ideal Beyonc-- but they chose a prickly, decidedly uncomfortable Icelandic woman. On aesthetic grounds, I can't argue with their choice, but I continue to wonder about Bjrk's significance".[19] "Oceania" was also performed during the Volta Tour (200708).[28]

Credits adapted from Medlla liner notes.[34]

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Oceania (song) - Wikipedia

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Singularity Art Show Tonight In San Francisco!

Posted: at 10:11 pm

Art and Science may not always be the best of friends, but when they do get together they throw one hell of a party. The Undivided Mind art show opens tonight, Friday November 19th, in San Francisco with free admission, wine, and conversation with those interested in the Singularity, Transhumanism and technology. The show will feature oil paintings created from digital images originally designed by the mysterious and provocative Imaginary Foundation. I had a chance to talk with Micah Daigle, the "Director of Meta-Pattern Affairs" for The Undivided Mind. He promises a great evening of art and science to those who make the journey to the Fifty24SF gallery space tonight. If you can't make it, more's the pity, but the work will be on display this week (Nov 20 to Nov 28) everyday in the afternoon. As you can see in the photos below, The Undivided Mind promises to be a unique experience. Why are there chalkboard equations covering the walls? Guess I'll have to go and find out.

Those who make it to The Undivided Mind should find it full of futurists and aficionados of the Singularity. Expected attendees include Jason Silva, Michael Annissimov,and Michael Vassar. While there won't be any planned presentations or speeches, Daigle told me there would be a hunt for the Higgs boson. The person who finds the 'God particle' will win a free painting from the show. (Someone should warn the guys at CERN).

Despite the wacky particle hijinks, tonight's discussion should be a fairly pertinent one. The Imaginary Foundation has made it its mission to enable human progress through the use of art (and clothing) and The Undivided Mind is aimed at exploring how art and science could combine to guide us through the disruptive technological changes on the horizon. In other words, the art show should be enlightening as well as fun. Sounds like my cup of tea. Those who attend should feel free to post some comments on the event below.

[image credits: Imaginary Foundation] [sources: Micah Daigle, Imaginary Foundation]

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Singularity Art Show Tonight In San Francisco!

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CNBC Explores Bitcoin | Bitcoin Magazine

Posted: at 9:49 pm

CNBC.com has released their digital documentary The Bitcoin Uprising this morning. The documentary follows cnbc.com reporter Mary Thompson into the world of bitcoin, from home-based mining operations to the deep web. Thompson and one of her producers, Karina Frayter, decided to create this piece after realizing that a 1-minute hit (or story) on the currency was too difficult to do. The documentary will only be available online, as that is the most appropriate place for it, considering the bitcoin community is completely immersed in the digital world, Thompson explains.

Thompsons journey through the bitcoin sphere started from a place of pure curiosity. However, she quickly recognized that this new technology had many strong voices backing it, and strong voices criticizing it. Bitcoin Uprising presents a well-balanced view, as compared to many other one-sided pro or anti-bitcoin pieces, by considering both the potential for and the problems with the technology. We wanted to see what was behind both sides of this, Mary explains, and try to get a clearer way of seeing if there was a future for the digital currency. Kudos to Thompson and her team for presenting both sides of the (bit)coin.

The process itself to produce the show was exhausting compared to Thompsons usual 1-minute long pieces. However, Thompson found solace in the bitcoin community, who she describes as passionate about what they are doing, very, very straightforward, and willing to help [her] understand a very complicated topic.

The documentary itself starts by showing the sheer excitement amongst bitcoin enthusiasts. It moves through the lifestyle of a hard-core bitcoin early adopter and advocate a computer whiz kid and shows how he lives his life using bitcoin. It then explores home-based mining; the debate between old-school investors like Warren Buffet vs. new tech investors like Marc Andreessen (who is shown saying the historical track record of old white men, who dont understand technology, crapping on new technology is, I think, 100%); the dark side of bitcoin through drug and hitman-services on the deep web, where most merchants prefer bitcoin; and more. It also highlights the incredible rise of the currency, from a growth perspective, comparing bitcoin to Facebook stock.

Thompson worked with her producer to choose who she would be interviewing and highlighting through the documentary, noting that her producer had done a couple of stories that involved the hacking community, so she was able to connect [Thompson] with bitcoin users who were able to talk about what they were doing.

The Bitcoin community knows very well that the key issue to adoption is the currencys ease of use. Currently, the largest challenges prohibiting immediate mass adoption of Bitcoin are understanding the currency and its protocol, and then easily using it in day-to-day life. Its ironic that most people have no idea how their fiat currency operates, but continue to use it everyday. However, discussing Bitcoin brings these questions about money to the forefront. Thompson also explains that many people dont understand why bitcoin would be used over something like the U.S. dollar.

Behind the ease of use of regular credit and debit cards lies a massively complex system of regulation, fees, and intermediaries that add significant hidden costs to the overall transactions in our banked society. Compliance costs, credit card fees, interest, merchant fees, account fees, exchange fees, and government levies/taxes are only some examples. On one hand, Bitcoin can avoid nearly all those fees; on the other hand, it lacks the sheer manpower and infrastructure that makes our modern financial system tick.

Thompson sees this lack of infrastructure as Bitcoins greatest barrier to massive adoption. Storing bitcoin is already problematic for those of us who are banked, Thompson explains. Consider the worlds underbanked, who dont get to put their paper wallet in a safety deposit box.

Andreas Antonopoulos, the biggest supporter of bitcoins power to transform the underdeveloped world, agrees with Thompson on this. Somewhere in the not-so-distant future, Antonopoulos speculates that someone will crack the code and prime Bitcoin for mass adoption, making bitcoin easier for everyone to use (and that individual or company quite wealthy): every entrepreneur in this space should look carefully at user interface and user security and figure out where they can carve out the next open-source solution to [these problems].

Despite the difficulties Thompson sees in acquiring and storing the currency, she holds $10 USD worth, but only to go through the process of understanding how it is acquired. In the name of journalistic integrity, she is staying as neutral as possible. At the current time, CNBC does not have any plans to create any more Bitcoin documentaries, but Thompson sees this as a rapidly developing story, and notes that there were incredible changes to the technology even while she was filming, including the IRS decision to tax the currency like property.

Overall, The Bitcoin Uprising is enjoyable to watch and is accessible enough for public consumption and sharing. Mary Thompson did an excellent job of staying objective in her journalistic pursuits, noting that, whether she loves the digital currency or not, she must remain neutral if she will continue to report on it quite refreshing from polarized views that suggest Bitcoin is either the answer to, or cause of, an impending financial apocalypse.

Catch Bitcoin Uprisingand be sure to share your thoughts by commenting below or tweeting to us @BitcoinMagazine.

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Bitcoin Exchange, Sell Bitcoins, Buy Bitcoins, Exchange …

Posted: at 9:49 pm

News By This Year United Kingdom FinTech Will Soar Higher!

The Brexit may have established some vagueness and the question that lingers is how does the United Kingdom keep up upon its lead? And this year the UK FinTech was anticipated to go mainstream. The uncertainty is massively slowing down the funding in which is leading upon slowing down each and every single innovation at the very same time. This particular menace that the London might possibly be overtaken by the non-United Kingdom FinTech hubs is getting right on the way.And as according to by the confirmation of Katia Lang in which is the Co-Founder of the Disrupts Media and the FintNews.com in which is the technology funding is officially slowing down. And right into the Q3, the European start-ups has suffered a colossal decline in the funding, and raising for over the summation of 2.1 billion right from the venture capital funds together with the 464 deals. The drop of a third in which is from the Q2, and the percentage of 39 in which is lower as being compared with the very same period from the year of 2015 as based on the charts in which was explained by Dow Jones of the VentureSource.By this period, the research group of the PitchBook has recorded a percentage of 38 right on the year-on-year decline in the venture capital investment in the European start-ups and a 31% drop in the deals that has been completed right in the third quarter of the year 2016. Katia Lang mentioned that the investors opinion regarding these particular situations has been divided, and some investors have pointed it out into the European Union referendum last June to elucidate the certain drop-off. On the other hand, some of the investors insisted that the Brexit is not the one to blame right for the funding drop; and just thinking it over that the major downturn is a part of a broad global correction in an inflated market.And on Katia Langs perception, the overall slowdown right in the funding was based onto a further careful investing. It unswervingly affects the research and development. And she also pointed it out that since the innovation is not a single event but a continuous progress and even a very minimal changes right in the funding and supplying R&D may possibly lead right into fluctuations and disruptions.All of the innovations of the last five years from now should be taken into the market. This pertains with the challenger banks, the money transfer companies, the insurance challengers and also the investment challengers. And all of these and furthermore are prepared to be delivered right into the United Kingdom B2B and B2C market and this year were the years to do it! Taking by the side of Veronika Bondareva which is the CTO at the Disrupts Media and FintNews.com she says that we the citizens all knew that it is hard t get the consumers to embrace and adopt the innovations and it is getting much harder each and every time. She also adds up that where the millennials are glad to use the new payment technologies which pertain with the smart cards, banking apps and also the wearables and the rest of the consumers are still hard to get anyway.The competence of the old marketing tools such as the advertising, the promotions and also the digital marketing has marked its way down. And it is way hard enough right for the innovators to make a push to make it rise above the din of information right from the competing sources. The price for the customers acquirement and also the maintenance will only get elevated, and the process is more complex than it ever was. Veronika Bondareva claims that the executives must rethink the means that they could be able to bring the innovations complex and also to the market to be able to make them a massive medium at the very exact and the same time.And with the FinTech that is being a future figure of all of the financial services, the worth that is brought right into the sector by making the FinTech mainstream is accurately billions of Pounds per month, and the media a significant collaborator here. Katia Lang emphasized that the FinTech sector probably needs a media institution that fully understands it and also understands how to be able to re-engineer the old commercial figures and also to assure that the propagation of the technologies in an ever increasing radius of influence.Then Veronika Bondareva noted that our digital news agency in which s the FintNews.com embodies the journalistic quality content together with the technological efficiencies; plus we can be able enough upon delivering news from our FinTech clients directly right into an ever growing media network, and it is a quite classic win-win-win technology a triumphant story.And one thing is certain, that one day in this year, the UK FinTech will take a massive lead right into the digital world.

Despite the fact that there are numerous proposals that are presently engaging right at the state level in the United States of America, the state of Illinois has commenced right on accepting the statements and suggestions right from the public together with their regards to its published guidance that intended upon at establishing the regulatory in which was dealing with the digital currencies as it currently subsists right under the states Transmitters of Money Act or the TOMA. The statements and the suggestions will be accepted until the 18th of January this year of 2017; as based on the press release right for the comments by the states Department of Financial and Professional Regulation or the DFPR.As the Department had anticipated that the Digital Currency Regulatory Guidance right on the decentralized digital currencies which is pertaining into the Bitcoin, DogeCoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and the ZCash was declared by the Secretary Bryan A Schneider as he noted that the Department had made a plan upon studying the digital currencies as the technology progresses, on the other hand, at this period, the digital currencies similarly to the Bitcoin had given their low transaction quantity and also somewhat alcove in usage, clearly at this momentum, it is the finest reveal as a speculative investment or probably even a freshest variant of an asset but not as money.With the focal point of the money transmissions and also the activities revolving around the decentralized digital currencies and also to those that are not established or released by a specific individual or entity and have no administrator at all, and plus having no central repository also.The regulation also search out to be able to determine whether or not an Illinois money transmitter license is necessary for an entity to be capable enough upon engaging right in the transmission of the decentralized digital currencies as this circles right on the query of whether a decentralized digital currency is being measured as money in which was identified right in TOMA. And right from the section five of the TOMA, the money is identified as a means of an exchange that is quite certified and embraced by a domestic of the foreign government as a part of its currency and that has been customarily utilized and honored as a medium of exchange right in the entire country of issuance. On the other hand, notwithstanding the classification, the regulatory noted that the decentralized digital currencies are a depiction of the value that can fully function as a means of an exchange but they are not absolutely considered as money right for the purposes of the TOMA due to the fact that they have not been authorized or adopted by a domestic or even a foreign government as a part of their currency.These days, as a novel payment technologies and capabilities developing right in the popularity and it is essential that we the citizens endow with a concise regulatory framework that fully showcase the businesses serving right in this particular space of crucial clarity. And aside right from the Californias AB 1326 bill in which fully had an excellent tailored classification of the virtual currency businesses, New York has its digital currency-specific state of regulation in which was the BitLicense. And as based with the Coin Centre, New Jerseys and North Californias bills are showing its full potential while on the other hand, Connecticuts is much more disconcerting.

Several of the Bitcoin users have compared the digital currency into a settlement networks in particularly the Visa. On the other hand, the one essential technical feature in which separates the Bitcoin right from the rest is the security.Right in early the November of this year, the Tesco Bank hover the entire user transactions right after the summation of 20,000 clients that have reportedly lost an estimated summation of $700 right from their account. And the research which is published right in the academic journal IEEE Security & Privacy in which was led by Mohammed Ali of the Newcastle University exposed that an attack entitled with the Distributed Guessing Attack that could have been possibly used upon infringing of the Tesco Bank accounts. For all of the intents and purposes, the Distributed Guessing Attack has been distinguished as a means in which totally allocates the hackers and the criminals to be able to gain an accessibility right into the Visa credit card numbers and its security code with the duration period of just 6 seconds by the means of the procedure of eradication.The author of the research Mohammed Ali has acknowledged the procedure of eradication within the credit card networks in which pertains with the Visa has ever made it feasible as they do allow an unlimited number of guesses for each and every single card data field. And he said that the boundless guesses upon merged together with the variants right in the payment data fields will eventually dreadfully quite fast and simple for the attackers to be able to generate all of the card information on one field at a particular time. And he adds up that each and every single generated card field can be utilized right in a succession upon generating right into the very next field and so on and so forth. And at the moment that the hits have reached into wide spread right into the websites, then the affirmative response with each and every single question will be received in as fast as two seconds, similarly to any other online payment. And the very first six numbers of any single credit card can fully give out essential information right into the hackers of which was the identity of the credit card network or provider, the bank information and also the card variety; with these particular three pieces of the information, the hackers can be able to use the DGA technique to spend the funds of the card owner. Right here and there Visa, condemn regarding Mohammed Alis research and study. And have not deny the possibility of running the DGA attacks right in their line of credit cards as they have stated through a statement that, the research does not fully take right into the account the multiple layers of fraud prevention that do really exist right within the payment system and each and every single of which must be accomplished to be capable of making a transaction possible in the very real world. The financial service providers and the credit card operators such as the Visa cleared up around the summation of $7 trillion in transactions per year and performing over the summation of 100 billion of transactions for their users. Bearing in mind that the sheer size of the Visa network in which it is pertaining right into unfolding that the hackers can just simply use the means such as the process of elimination to be able enough upon the blindly guess card number and also the security codes right into performing out any single transactions. The Visa and the Tesco Bank hacking attack barely illustrated the significance of the security and also establishing the very needs right for the trustless financial networks and financial systems.

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Bitcoin Introduction to Bitcoin Payment System

Posted: at 9:49 pm

Bitcoin is the world's first decentralized digital currency and online payment system, which allows users to conduct transactions without the need of any third party intermediary (banks for example).

Bitcoin, which is the name given to one unit of the virtual currency, can be divided further into subunits (similar to cents and pennies), the smallest of which is referred to as a satoshi (one hundred millionth of a bitcoin). The bitcoin protocol and reference software (free and open-source), which works on any computer or smart phone, was developed from the one that had been introduced in 2008 by pseudonymous inventor known as Satoshi Nakamoto.

The currency is secured by cryptography thereby making it impossible to duplicate. To begin using bitcoin, a user can sign-up for a free account with any of the bitcoin wallet providers (Blockchain.info and Coinbase are the popular ones). Once signed up, a unique 34-character address (a combination of letters and numbers) is assigned to the user. Alternatively, for better security, a user can download an appropriate wallet and store the bitcoins offline (so called cold storage).

All transactions between the bitcoin users are verified by network nodes and recorded in open shared ledger referred to as the block chain. A record of each transaction is shown in the log of the user as well. Thus, a transaction commences only if there is spendable balance in the wallet. The bitcoin payment system uses a seed or a private key to prevent thieves from stealing the coins from the wallets and to prevent loss or duplication of the coins in the block chain.

The process of confirming the transactions (usually begins in 10 minutes) or record-keeping service is called mining. The computers involved in such a process are called the network nodes. There is a cap of 21 million bitcoins that would be ever created (through reward for the mining process). The rate of creation halves every four years until the cap is reached.

There are four ways of acquiring bitcoins:

Advantages over other forms of payment systems:

Disadvantages:

Here are some picks from the list of the Forex brokers working with Bitcoin:

You may also want to consider a possibility of getting almost passive income through margin lending investment.

To open a Bitcoin wallet, please visit Coinbase or Bitcoin.it.

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Bitcoin Introduction to Bitcoin Payment System

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An interview with Zoltan Istvan, leader of the Transhumanist …

Posted: at 9:41 pm

ExtremeTech has never been particularly interested inpolitics. That being said, as the focus of politics and politicians inexorably shifts towards technology, we might just jump in the water for a dip.

Many might imagine that concerns of a more socio-political nature like who is able to accrue what particular powers or possessions, and from whom would persist independently of technological influence. Others, like the Transhumanist Party founderZoltan Istvan, might offer that socio-political issues already are, at heart, technological issues. Now seizing the day, and a rapidly expanding number of like-minded transhumanists, Istvanhas announced that he will be a contender in the 2016 US presidential race.

If you havent heard of transhumanism, or youre not quite sure what it means, I suggest you read our introductory story about transhumanism before diving into the rest of this story. In short, though, transhumanism (sometimes referred to as H+) is about improving or transforming the human condition through technology. Brain implants, genetic engineering, bionic limbs, indefinite life extension these are all examples of the topics (and elective surgeries) that a transhumanist would be interested in.

In his recentbook The Tranhumanist WagerIstvan outlines three laws:

If energetically adopted, these deceptively simple maxims ultimately compel the individual to pursue a technologically enhanced and extended life. Zoltan and other supporters of transhumanism have come to see the choice to accept or reject these principles as something far more fundamental than the choice between liberal or conservative principles. In other words, it is a more compact predictor, a simpler explanation of your worldview, motivations, and actions than any current party provides.

It is for these reasons that Zoltan has founded the Transhumanist Party and is now taking this first major step to grow it. At this point in the game, the next major step getting access to all the state ballots could prove challenging. With these ideas in mind, we present an interview with (possibly) the next US president: Zoltan Istvan.

Zoltan Istvan

Why did you decide to run for the US presidency?

Zoltan Istvan The most important goal of the Transhumanist Party and my 2016 presidential campaign is to spread awareness of transhumanism and to address the issue that society will be greatly changed by radical science and technology in the next 5-15 years. Most people are unaware how significant these changes could be. For example, we might all be getting brain implants soon, or using driverless cars, or having personal drones follow us around and do our shopping for us. Things like anonymity in the social media age, gender roles, exoskeleton suits for unfit people, ectogenesis, and the promise of immersive virtual reality could significantly change the way society views itself. Transhumanism seeks to address these issues with forward-thinking ideas, safeguards, and policies. It aims to be a bridge to a scientific and tech-dominated future, regardless what the species may eventually become.

While the Transhumanist Party has almost no chance of winning this election, its goal is to get on as many state ballots as possible, so people will see its promise and recognize what it stands for. By doing so, well let citizens know an exciting political movement is afoot that focuses on using technology and science to enhance the human species. And maybe sometime in the future, many people will want to join it. Furthermore, Im hopeful other political parties will take notice of transhumanism and incorporate its ideas into their own philosophies.

On a final note, its my hope that others will start to run for various political offices, both locally and nationally, under the Transhumanist Party banner. This way we can show the country that future politics should be far more science and technology inspired. This would be a great step for the direction of the America.

Next page: On transhumanism and religion

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Animal euthanasia – Wikipedia

Posted: at 8:14 am

This article is about mercy killing of animals. For compassionate death in humans, see Euthanasia.

Animal euthanasia (euthanasia from Greek: ; "good death") is the act of putting an animal to death or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditions or diseases,[1] lack of resources to continue supporting the animal, or laboratory test procedures. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress. Euthanasia is distinct from animal slaughter and pest control although in some cases the procedure is the same.

In domesticated animals, this process is commonly referred to by euphemisms such as "put down", "put to sleep", or "put out of his/her/its misery".

The methods of anesthesia can be divided into pharmacological and physical methods. Acceptable pharmacological methods include injected drugs and gases that first depress the central nervous system and then cardiovascular activity. Acceptable physical methods must first cause rapid loss of consciousness by disrupting the central nervous system. The most common methods are discussed here, but there are other acceptable methods used in different situations.[2]

Unconsciousness, respiratory then cardiac arrest follow rapidly, usually within 30seconds.[3] Observers generally describe the method as leading to a quick and peaceful death.

For companion animals euthanized in animal shelters, 14 states in the US now prescribe intravenous injection as the required method. These laws date to 1990, when Georgia's "Humane Euthanasia Act" became the first state law to mandate this method. Before that, gas chambers and other means were commonly employed. The Georgia law was resisted by the Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture, Tommy Irvin, who was charged with enforcing the act. In March 2007, he was sued by former State Representative Chesley V. Morton, who wrote the law, and subsequently ordered by the Court to enforce all provisions of the Act.[4]

Some veterinarians perform a two-stage process: an initial injection that simply renders the pet unconscious and a second shot that causes death.[citation needed] This allows the owner the chance to say goodbye to a live pet without their emotions stressing the pet. It also greatly mitigates any tendency toward spasm and other involuntary movement which tends to increase the emotional upset that the pet's owner experiences.

For large animals, the volumes of barbiturates required are considered by some to be impractical, although this is standard practice in the United States.[5] For horses and cattle, other drugs may be available. Some specially formulated combination products are available, such as Somulose (Secobarbital/Cinchocaine) and Tributame (Embutramide/Chloroquine/Lidocaine), which cause deep unconsciousness and cardiac arrest independently with a lower volume of injection, thus making the process faster, safer, and more effective.

Occasionally, a horse injected with these mixtures may display apparent seizure activity before death. This may be due to premature cardiac arrest. However, if normal precautions (e.g., sedation with detomidine) are taken, this is rarely a problem.[6] Anecdotal reports that long-term use of phenylbutazone increases the risk of this reaction are unverified.

After the animal has expired, it is not uncommon for the body to have posthumous body jerks, or for the animal to have a sudden bladder outburst.

Gas anesthetics such as isoflurane and sevoflurane can be used for euthanasia of very small animals. The animals are placed in sealed chambers where high levels of anesthetic gas are introduced. Death may also be caused using carbon dioxide once unconsciousness has been achieved by inhaled anaesthetic.[7] Carbon dioxide is often used on its own for euthanasia of wild animals.[8] There are mixed opinions on whether it causes distress when used on its own, with human experiments lending support to the evidence that it can cause distress and equivocal results in non-humans.[9] In 2013, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued new guidelines for carbon dioxide induction, stating that a flow rate of 10% to 30% volume/min is optimal for the humane euthanization of small rodents.[10]

Carbon monoxide is often used, but some states in the US have banned its use in animal shelters: although carbon monoxide poisoning is not particularly painful, the conditions in the gas chamber are often not humane.[11]Nitrogen has been shown to be effective, although some young animals are rather resistant[12] and it currently is not widely used.

Cervical dislocation, or displacement (breaking or fracturing) of the neck, is an older yet less common method of killing small animals such as mice. Performed properly it is intended to cause as painless death as possible and has no cost or equipment involved. The handler must know the proper method of executing the movement which will cause the cervical displacement and without proper training and method education there is a risk of not causing death and can cause severe pain and suffering. It is unknown how long an animal remains conscious, or the level of suffering it goes through after a correct snapping of the neck, which is why it has become less common and often substituted with inhalants.

When intravenous injection is not possible, euthanasia drugs such as pentobarbital can be injected directly into a heart chamber or body cavity.

While intraperitoneal injection is fully acceptable (although it may take up to 15 minutes to take effect in dogs and cats[7]), an intracardiac (IC) injection may only be performed on an unconscious or deeply sedated animal. Performing IC injections on a fully conscious animal in places with humane laws for animal handling is often a criminal offense.[13]

This can be an appropriate means of euthanasia for large animals (e.g., horses, cattle, deer) if performed properly. This may be performed by means of:

The reasons for euthanasia of pets and other animals include:

Small animal euthanasia is typically performed in a veterinary clinic or hospital or in an animal shelter and is usually carried out by a veterinarian or a veterinary technician working under the veterinarian's supervision. Often animal shelter workers are trained to perform euthanasia as well. Some veterinarians will perform euthanasia at the pet owner's homethis is virtually mandatory in the case of large animal euthanasia. In the case of large animals which have sustained injuries, this will also occur at the site of the accident, for example, on a racecourse.

Some animal rights organizations support animal euthanasia in certain circumstances and practice euthanasia at shelters that they operate.[16]

Many pet owners choose to have their pets cremated or buried after the pet is euthanized,[17] and there are pet funeral homes that specialize in animal burial or cremation.[18] Otherwise, the animal facility will often freeze the body and subsequently send it to the local landfill.[19]

In some instances, animals euthanized at shelters or animal control agencies have been sent to meat rendering facilities[20][21][22] to be processed for use in cosmetics, fertilizer, gelatin, poultry feed, pharmaceuticals and pet food.[23] It was proposed that the presence of pentobarbital in dog food may have caused dogs to become less responsive to the drug when being euthanized.[24] However, a 2002 FDA study found no dog or cat DNA in the foods they tested, so it was theorized that the drug found in dog food came from euthanized cattle and horses. Furthermore, the level of the drug found in pet food was safe.[25]

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TMS – Welcome to TMS

Posted: at 8:05 am

TMS is a Terminal Management System being used at our marine terminals - ITS Long Beach CA, and Husky Tacoma WA. TMS provides a direct access to your choice of terminal's data such as;

Click Sign Up link located at the top right corner of this screen, and follow the instruction. Sign-up is free and takes just a few minites to complete. To complete sign-up, you will need one recent (approximately within the last 90 days) B/L or Booking number for each shipping line you want to have access. This is necessary for us to verify that you have legitimate business with those shipping lines. Once you have successfully completed sign-up, you will receive the confirmation email that informs your TMS User Name for log-in.

No, you don't. Your TMS User Name will allow you to log in all terminals you select during sign-up process. After log-in, you can update your profile later at anytime to add or remove terminal access by clicking My Account link located at the top right corner. My Account page will also allow you to add more shipping lines to access as you need.

[ ITS Long Beach ] International Transportation Service, Inc. 1281 Pier G Way, Long Beach, CA 90802-6353

[ Husky Tacoma ] Husky Terminal & Stevedoring, Inc. 1101 Port of Tacoma Road Terminal Four, Tacoma, WA 98421-3701

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Alternative Medicine | Duke University Press

Posted: at 8:02 am

In a style both precise and emotional, playful and earnest, Campo delivers a most extraordinary message: that in writing, in seeing, in remembering, and in being, we embody, simultaneously, the ache as well as the cure. Briana Shemroske, Booklist

Ive rarely heard someone describe his or her doctor as accessible. Rafael Campos poetry has always been unapologetically so, but his formal decorum (from dcor: beauty, grace) makes for poems that are both objects of deep contemplation and acts of open-hearted expression. In a word, art. Steven Cramer, The Arnold T. Gold Foundation blog

"These poems are thoughtful, grounded, elegant and free of B.S. If only more doctors, preachers and writers were willing to do this in the midst of teaching and healing: to listen, and to speak the truth even when that means admitting the truth is not fully to be had, at least not yet." Seminary Ridge Review

Dr. Rafael Campo's poems are precise and incisive. You measure their beats as if listening through a stethoscope. You feel the scalpel cut through to your soul--eschewing anesthesia because you want to be awake and alert for Campo's kind of surgical intervention. He slices through the facade of your life to pull back layers of skin and mores to the core mystery of the purpose of your body. Tom Lombardo, Canadian Medical Association Journal

Rafael Campos Alternative Medicine is indeed what this doctor orders. And it is alternative: to the tunnel vision, where-did-the-day-go, mind numbing way I, and I daresay many of us, frequently pass time. Take a swig or a nibble, hold the poets hand, meet a new universe. Audrey Shafer, Journal of Medical Humanities

Alternative Medicine is a stunning and valuable tribute to humanitarian love as the one necessary constant in a chaotic world where suffering is all too real. These wise and humane poems are therapeutic and generous. As such, they are essential reading for anyone who feels not only compassion for those who suffer but also believes it is our duty to live a life in the service of humanity. Sonja James, The Journal (Martinsburg, WV)

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Alternative Medicine | Duke University Press

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