#he takes human form to more easily communicate or to directly get info from people or if he wants to do some brawling or whatever

[waywardsalt]

drawing is difficult for me and writing is something i’m considerably better at sooooo…

written list of ideas i have for a humanoid design for bellum bc i think im finally zeroing in on something after a few uhhh years of brainstorming

(if you read this and have like. some ideas you want to share or some possible [constructive] criticisms go ahead and share them if you want)

Not actually properly humanoid; he can take on a fully human look but it isn’t his default and requires a bit more energy

Therefore, he usually lacks ears (they’re just. holes), finger or toe nails, a navel, an adam’s apple, or basically any kind of human detail that could be easily overlooked at first glance (maybe leaning into a bit uncanny?). He does have these traits when he actually puts the effort in to pass as human

The traits shared between his usual humanoid form and the more explicitly human form are: an eyepatch over his left eye (he doesn’t have a left eye or eye socket in either form. it’s like one-eyed willy in goonies), yellow hair (actually the same color as link’s), a lack of a nose (effectively like it’s been torn off, just leaving the nostril lines/openings), and a lot of large scars pretty much everywhere (some are just normal looking scars, like one across his face that looks like items from a wound that cost him his nose, while others vaguely resemble the markings on his body when he’s in demon/normal form), so either way he’s going to draw attention

In his usual form (more obviously nonhuman) his left eye is his usual black and orange eye, and he has sharp teeth, but he can switch those to appear more human if he’d like

He’s below the average height and appears to be only slightly muscular, logically more built for flexibility or with the build of a dancer, but his demonic strength remains, though his speed and flexibility is limited by the form he takes

His hair is a mess and mostly short, and if he’s in the more demonic-leaning human form, it’s usually got streaks of black (black is in there in some way, how it appears is still a wip) in all of the yellow

Clothing can vary but most commonly he chooses something loose and casual, he doesn’t particularly value his clothes and doesn’t really have anything to hide and so pick stuff that won’t drag him down or get snagged in a fight, flimsy loose clothes are good

Other times he’ll wear boots and gauntlets and gloves in a more serious context, usually opting for designs and materials similar to what he gives his phantoms, he doesn’t fully lean into the phantom-style of armor or fighting unless he needs to focus on defense, however

In either of his human forms, he’s still capable of fighting (and in his more demonic form he can use his tentacles, the come from his back), and doesn’t so much as have a fighting style as he generally just kills with whatever seems most convenient or entertaining at the time, ranging from creating a weapon for himself to use to just bashing a guy’s skull in with his bare hands

He’s very violent but can talk just fine and can be just about eloquent if he wants but usually leans into being more chaotic and acting the part of a brutal ruffian if the job can be completed using force, so a lot of the time he doesn’t even bother with looking explicitly human most of the time

He greatly prefers his demonic form and uses the human form for specific reasons, and can’t actually use it if he’s too weak

#bellum height is weird bc my idea of a tall/short ph realted character got skewed bad when i decided linebeck is 6’ 8” #now that im writing this out ive realized that im reasoning thst bellum’s human form looks the way it does to lure in prey yknow #he tries to look normal and friendly and unassuming and then he fucking kills you brutally or just by turning you to stone #it’s less like. gijinka or whatever and more just a form he can temporarily take if he wants and half of the time doesnt bother passing #he takes human form to more easily communicate or to directly get info from people or if he wants to do some brawling or whatever #timeline of humanoid bellum’s nose: went from vague nose shape to missing half the nose to just missing the whole nose #bellum having the same hair color as link is something i use to my advantage. he absolutely abuses looking related to link #im mostly having fun with his human design but it is something i need to figure out bc he does use it in a lot of my aus #this is a mess but its fine just wanted to share what ideas i have bc good lord this is hard #its harder to create a design for an existing nonhuman than to just whip one up for an oc obviously but still. man #listen unconsciously assigning 21st century schizoid man as my bellum song was good and bad at the same time #amazing vibes for this character fantastic now i have to work on the now-inherent prog/jazz rock vibes bc that doesnt fit the setting #also mixed dirty little animals in there so now we’ve got this crude and raucous scrappy demon who starts bar fights to bare-handedly kill #this kinda just turned into 'bellum w/ a human form headcanons' but ig its hard to talk abt visuals without. visuals #he changes depending on au cuz its the idea of like. immortal being learning from and adapting to their changing surroundings kinda thing #i think my personal fears abt this stuff is that then bellum comes off as v. like. edgy #also might be a bit of over-designing or whatever but idk???? accepting constructive criticism for a reason #loz #legend of zelda #phantom hourglass #bellum #salty talks #really putting this out there huh. ew. lol. #shoutouts to bellum's human form and my oc damien fletcher for finally getting somewhat stable designs after actual years

[acorrespondence]

I was just thinking about how much I love Boyd in your Boyd/Raylan kid fic, and sorry this is such a vague question lol but I'd love if you had any like bonus Boyd backstory or details that you'd want to talk about in that universe, or like just any info on how this version of Boyd and the like perfect imo characterization of how he would be as a dad and a partner came to you!

Oh no this is a great question! Well, great for me because I love to talk about this stuff, maybe not so great for you since this answer is about to be real long and rambly haha. Ultimately though I think it comes down to the fact that, at his core, Boyd is a lot less like his father or even Arlo, and a lot more like Mags Bennett. I think on the surface level, they’re actually quite different—Mags has her matronly, pillar-of-the-community persona, and her ruthless pragmatism is tucked away underneath that, but it bubbles up to the surface sometimes. Boyd, on the other hand, inhabits his personas much more fully, and cycles through a lot more of them. I think probably the biggest difference between them is that Boyd really doesn’t seem to believe in violence as a form of control, at least not for those in his employ. Killing Devil and Dewey isn’t a way to control them, it’s just a solution to the problem their presence presents. Even when he gets violent with Ava in the last season, he’s not using it to influence her behavior, it’s just more of a controlled version of a child’s tantrum—you hurt me, so now I’m gonna hurt you.

At their cores, however, Boyd and Mags are both motivated by the same thing: the idea of legacy. I think many people often mistake this in Boyd as a survival instinct, and I sort of agree, in the way that legacy and lasting impact past death are our way to blunt the innate human fear of mortality—death may be inevitable, but our works and stories can continue on. Except I think saying he’s “just trying to survive” throughout the show kind of neuters his character a bit. Because one of the things that makes him so interesting is that everyone else around him is just trying to survive, and he’s not. He wants more than that, and makes other people believe that he can get it, not just for himself but for them too. It’s why he can rally people around him so easily.

In fact, he routinely does things that he does not *need* to do, that put his life directly in jeopardy, in favor of making a name for himself and trying to improve his position in life. And in so doing, he and Mags fall into the same trap: this idea that legacy is achieved only when you beat the game. All the suffering will be worth it when you reach that light at the end of the tunnel. Mags hurts her children over and over again, both directly and indirectly, all in the name of securing her legacy, *for them*, and in the end it takes Doyle dying and losing Loretta and getting the thing she thought she wanted for her to look back and realize: *that* was her legacy. Nothing good was ever going to come out of any of it. Every action she took in the name of securing her legacy was actually destroying it, was moving her further away from the thing she thought she was working toward. All that suffering in the name of legacy? That *is* her legacy. That’s what she’s leaving behind. Ava saw it clearly, even if none of the rest of them did: it’s all just people making choices, all down the line.

I honestly think characterizing Boyd as being motivated solely by survival throughout the series is a bit of a disservice to his character development as well, because I think his whole arc in the show is leading up to his realization, in the finale, that his life is actually more important to him than his symbolic life after death—whether that symbolic survival is secured by religious means, by his epic Bonnie and Clyde-style love story with Ava, or by his adherence to Raylan’s own personal mythos that places them in opposition on a time-tested scale. These are all just the natural replacements for his astronaut goals and later his goals in going off to war—the theater for his exploits grows smaller and smaller as he fails to make a name for himself outside Harlan. Ava even came right out and said it: in Lexington she’s anonymous, no one knows her name or marital status or anything about her. If anyone’s going to remember Boyd, it’s gonna be Harlan (though several times throughout the series he gets designs on something bigger, it never pans out). In the end, though—and in contrast to Mags, who couldn’t see past the crumbling of everything she’d thought she was building—Boyd makes the decision to put life over legacy.

On the surface, his situation in season 2 might *seem* like it should have done the job of disillusioning him about legacies already, but that was more of a symbolic suicide, Boyd resigning himself to the fact that he was doomed to have no legacy and thus making *no* choices. He didn’t deny his previous legacy; it was taken from him by his father. He doesn’t even get the legacy of having killed his father, or of having killed the woman who killed his father. And following that, other people make his choices for him: Kyle with the mine robbery, Ava with their relationship. But he’s *not actually dead,* and his commitment to not making choices is a choice in itself. He’s absolutely capable of fighting back against the desires and machinations of those around him, but he just—doesn’t. And in the end, both of these non-decision decisions in their own way present him with a new legacy, which he immediately latches onto as soon as that light comes back on at the far end of his tunnel. If he’d made the realization that his life is more important than his legacy, he wouldn’t have needed this symbolic revival, because *he was never dead.*

For the purposes of my fic, the inciting incident that caused the canon divergence had to be a latter such event, to my mind—Boyd losing his way—because otherwise he’s just going to stagnate in Harlan and stay in his neo-Nazi persona long enough to get calcified in it like Mags, or until something shakes up the game board, like Raylan’s arrival. But it wasn’t enough just to give him a kid, because all he’d care about was the legacy he’s securing for that kid. So I had to figure out how to make Bo do the equivalent of killing all his followers in the woods. So: the kid’s mama runs off, Ava leaves Bowman to try and make a life on her own in Corbin, Boyd’s really low on child care options and figures Bo’s a better bet than Bowman. Only it turns out that’s kind of a rock and a hard place situation (we know from season 6 where Bowman learned his wifebeating ways, and Bo definitely strikes me as the “small children and animals don’t understand any kind of discipline but physical” kind of guy, whereas Boyd as I’ve said doesn’t really believe in control through violence, likely because it never really worked on him).

Enter: Boyd going to Raylan hoping he’ll give him purpose, just like he did in canon after the equivalent event. Only this time, Raylan offers him more than just the potential for retribution against his father. He offers pretty much the same thing Ava did, for the low low price of papering over the past. So Boyd basically teaches himself architecture—few other legacies last longer than buildings, and if you make enough then at least a few of them are bound to stick around a while—and invests in a series of failed startups until he’s hit, quite suddenly, with a Mags Bennett-style reality check as detailed in chapter 5, forcing him to confront the legacy he’s already created and the fact that it’s absolute shit. Luckily for him, unlike Mags, it happened before anyone died, and he had a chance to course-correct. Fast-forward to now, where Boyd is *trying* to make choices that actually bear out his goals, but maybe still puts a little too much stock in legacy, since he hasn’t yet reached that final step of enlightenment that he hits in the finale when he refuses to pull on Raylan.

#justie2justie communication #asks #love-leah #heavy heart #i actually do have a bit of backstory that i shared with willow in a comment exchange a few chapters ago #but this answer is WAY too long already so i’m gonna make a separate post #long post #wow this barely even answers your question does it #it barely even talks about boyd in his capacity as husband/father *facepalm* #also control through violence is not to be confused with control through fear which he does use #he’s an expert in mortality salience so he knows how to use others’ fear of death against them #boyd crowder #mags bennett #justified #my fic

[jesusology]

having a hard time with Kazui, but I decided to go through his MV step-by-step and see where my thoughts lead me !! let’s gooooo

I think the green apple is an interesting choice. Normally, if you’re going for a “temptation” or “forbidden fruit” type of thing it’s going to be a red apple… because red represents passion, after all. But the green makes me think there’s some other reason for this.

Okay, so the apple is placed on a stage on a small table and there’s a spotlight over top of it. I feel like the apple is maybe meant to represent “temptation” but not in a “forbidden romance/adultery” type of way.

It could be symbolic of temptation in other aspects of life. Maybe he was wanting to leave his “ordinary, common” life and pursue things that are deemed unrealistic - especially for someone of his age, even though he’s really not that old.

Which, again, he brings up his age a lot. I guess you might feel self-conscious when surrounded by people younger than you but even so… he seems really hung up on his age and being an “old man”. He probably feels like it’s too late for someone like him to make a “big” change in his life and it’s easiest to just keep going as normal, pro status quo.

The color green can also mean something like “greed, envy, and life”. Wouldn’t even be surprised if all three of those potentials were meaningful in relation to Kazui.

I mention this in like every single one of my theories but again not everything here is literal. So what we’re seeing here, Kazui at the bar drinking with a woman other than his wife… it could mean something else entirely and not the obvious assumption of an affair.

A thought I just formed, but could that other image of Kazui at the bar with a different woman just be his imagination at work? He’s still sitting with his wife at home but he’s imagining that he’s out at some classy bar with a woman other than his wife. Maybe he wants something more glamorous, something other than this “plain” situation at home? Or maybe that woman is meant to represent something else entirely. A “dream”, a different life entirely.

Not sure if this is indicative of anything or even means anything, but there’s a pillow sort of wedged between them…

Maybe he never really wanted to be married but he felt like he had to because he really DOES love his wife and it’s just the natural course of things to get married. He had other things he wanted to do, but they ultimately never came to fruition because of the normal societal expectations. He’s hiding aspects of himself just to have that illusion of normality.

Just now noticed what looks like another figure in the distance sitting with him? Is that meant to be his wife? Is that also why he looks kind of surprised? The apple is between them, it’s sort of a divider.

His eye color…. Is so pretty….

He’s “playing a part” and so he’s seen in various costumes throughout the MV. Depending on the situation, he swaps his mask in order to appropriately fit in. It could be seen as living a lie, or it could be seen as a simple survival instinct. He sees no other way to live, because he doesn’t want to sadden/disappoint the people around him.

I’m not sure what his dreams could be or what he REALLY wants out of life, but either way, it clearly creates a rift.

Hmmm this line gives me pause. It makes it sound like part of the problem is his wife, as if she were maybe cheating or wanting to leave him? Or it could be that she disapproves of his “dreams”. Could also be that she’s suffering emotionally in this marriage and he doesn’t appear to take notice and this causes them to drift further from each other.

I wonder if the chair is meant to represent his wife in some way. I don’t really have any evidence for this, it’s just more of a feeling. What kind of uniform is that he’s wearing, anyhow? I feel like it’s possibly important...

A lot of Kazui’s theme has to do with “lies” and “hiding”. Does he feel like he’s living a lie in his common life? Is this because he wants to be something so much more, but he can’t because - to him - it’s almost as if his wife is the one holding him back? Again, I feel he truly does love her. But I feel as though their love has fizzled from something romantic (if there ever was romance) into something milder.

I wonder if he was starting to view her as more of a burden than a partner. He loves her, so he isn’t sure what to do. Leaving isn’t an option. So lying is all that’s left. He’s struggling with which he should listen to - his brain, or his heart.

He wears his wedding ring throughout the entirety of the MV which makes me think it probably isn’t an affair… I mean, if you’re going out to bars in the hopes of meeting someone new, you probably wouldn’t want to leave your wedding ring on.

A lot of distance here, clearly depicting how their marriage is just… silently falling apart.

I don’t think he’s referring to loving a person here. I feel like it’s more of a concept that he’s talking about, a dream. The dream here is being personified as a human woman, his mind is creating a scenario where his dream is essentially like “cheating” on his wife. This really feels like I’m pulling stuff out of my ass like I’m trying to make him seem less “bad” than he is, but I just. Really feel like we wouldn’t be getting this so straight-forwardly if it were an actual affair.

Also he’s still wearing his wedding ring here which again would make no sense to me if you were going to a bar trying to find other people.

There still seems to be some level of distance here. He doesn’t directly touch the woman’s shoulders and he doesn’t especially move in closer toward her. Again, his “dream” feels untouchable and like something he HAS to keep inside because if he does “touch” his dream then his life with his wife - no matter if he’s happy or not - will be shattered.

I feel like he’s talking about memories with his wife here. He might be recalling happier times and he wishes he could just banish those from his mind because it would make dealing with everything so much easier.

Here the both of them are, but the spotlight remains on the apple on the stage. His mind is elsewhere. He’s with his wife, a woman he loves, but he isn’t fully committing to her and her own wants and needs. He’s instead thinking of a dream, something he isn’t being honest about.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I feel like he really does regret whatever he did. The grass is always greener on the other side, I guess…

But it makes me wonder if he ended up telling her whatever his deal is or if someone ELSE did? He’s saying that “not one word will reach you” but it must have somehow.

I like how he grabs her hand, the one that has the ring on it… nothing to add to it, I just… it makes me feel things

Spotlight is back on him, he looks to be in their apartment. He isn’t in a costume, he isn’t wearing a mask. I like the focus on the balcony in the background, it’s ominous.

No mask. And his voice seems more pained, his expressions look more hurt. Taking off the mask is stopping his lies, and it seems as though that may not have been the best decision on his part.

Again, I feel like the chair is meant to represent his wife. She was a comfort to him, regardless of the feelings they had for each other. He might not have felt the same way in their marriage, not any longer, but he did love her and the comfort she brought him. Does he want that to disappear? Definitely not. But can he abandon all other thoughts and what he wants in life? Unfortunately not.

I HAVE THINGS I WANT TO SAY ABOUT THIS IMAGE IN PARTICULAR BUT MY BRAIN CANNOT ARTICULATE IT

I think I saw that green can also be representative of cowardice. And I feel like that’s also a big theme here, that he felt too cowardly to be honest with his wife and ultimately it led to the greatest loss of all. This also seems to be a big “miscommunication kills” type of scenario. Communication could have also been the killer here - there’s just not enough info here to make a firm judgment.

Either she jumped from the balcony or he accidentally pushed her. I feel like it’s either one of these. I’m sorta leaning more toward the “he accidentally shoved her in a fit of passion or some sort of argument”... because it just feels like he might’ve had a literal hand in it

Curse this image being so blurry. He’s holding out his hand and his hand is outlined in red, so it’s very important… could he be trying to lunge forward and catch her or is he about to like... push her. HMMM this image does make it look more like he’s trying to grab onto her in hopes of saving her.

Broken shards of glass that I think are representative of their marriage and her fall from the balcony. What’s shattered can’t so easily be put back together - and in some cases, it can’t be put back at all. Something he’s learned in a very hard way and something he might have known all along.

He took a bite from the apple, it’s gone. He made his choice. But what’s left is broken in pieces.

And he goes back to putting on a mask… because I think it’s too hard to face otherwise. Now then! Onto some other things that might shed a little more light because I’m honestly not sure about this. Kazui’s is so… subtle and vague. It seems so obvious on the surface that it makes me think it really ISN’T that tangible from first glance.

Let’s take a look at some of his other things.

He really does seem pretty hung-up on his age lol… I guess I can’t blame him because I do the same thing and I’m only in my twenties.

This is a really interesting tid-bit from him. Why would they find him embarrassing? Because of what happened in his life, because he opened up about something and let down his mask for a bit? I really want to know more about this because it seems so telling.

Another theory I’ve seen go around that I support quite a bit could also be that instead of a “dream” he was hiding he was instead trying to deny his own sexual orientation. If Kazui were gay, that could explain a lot of things in this. Putting on a mask to hide who he really is, staying in a marriage with a person he loves but not in a romantic nor sexual way… his family “being embarrassed” by him… I could honestly see this being the case. He’s playing a part in life and it’s really not HIM because he doesn’t feel he can be himself.

What’s clear is just how much Kazui doesn’t even seem to know what it is that he REALLY wants. He doesn’t seem satisfied no matter the option, it’s just a lose-lose situation all around for him. If he chooses to go with being himself/his dream then he loses his wife. If he stays with his wife, it doesn’t stop his thoughts from wandering elsewhere. He won’t be satisfied.

On another note, Kazui continues to hide behind a mask even with MILGRAM. He tries to pass himself off as someone who is mild-mannered and relaxed but at the same time he’s a bit contradictory because he also calls himself anxious. He says things to others that don’t really reflect his actual thoughts - such as when Yuno asked him about his type of woman and he says something that’s just… not really well thought-out because it seems like he’s pretty private. He wants to be private because opening up with his true feelings hasn’t worked out well for him.

Unrelated but I got this screencap and I’m like… i need a kiss from this man ASAP. i need it like i need air to breathe 

Okay that’s it for now!! So interested to see what direction his story takes in the next MV for him. I really want to learn so much more about Kazui, his entire MV is just so subtle. Let me know your thoughts!! Would really love to hear what you think of Kazui and his cryptic demeanor. Thank you for reading! please tumblr don’t delete like half my post thank u <3

like. on one hand i could very well see cheating being the entire case here. it would make sense what-with choosing to “forgive” or “not forgive”. but i also like to have a bit of fun and see what other possibilities might be. who knows! we shall find out in time

#milgram #milgram theories #kazui mukuhara #over here writin a novel about kazui #if you read all of this you are a trooper thank you for hanging in there #i salute you

[ninja-librarian]

Commission for @equalskiersten, a story of Pidge/Atlas! Dedicated to all the antis and everyone who has ever said “You can’t ship that”.

For info about commissions, click here!

There had been many things in Katie Holt’s life that she loved. Her parents, her older brother, her dog Bae Bae, peanut butter…

But robots… Robots would always be her greatest love.

She just never thought that, one day, a robot would love her the same way.

*****

It began with discovering King Alfor’s notes from when he built the Lions of Voltron. Pidge found details about how Allura’s father had developed the sentience that the Lions had, which also had the potential to enable Atlas to communicate directly with the ship’s crew. Of course, Pidge had wanted to test this information out immediately.

With the encouragement of her teammates and the equally eagerly curious Garrison engineers and commanding officers, Pidge got to work. Hours later, Pidge stood on the bridge of the Atlas, heart pounding, ready to test and see if her efforts were a success or not.

She activated the ship and said, “Hello, Atlas.”

There was silence. A beat. Then two. Then three. Then…

“Hello, Katie Holt.”

Pidge gasped, grinning. It worked!

The voice was crisp and clear, but with a slight accent that was similar to the posh accent Allura spoke with. The voice was also male, which Pidge found interesting. Though the same tech had been used with all five of the Lions of Voltorn, it seemed that each machine assumed its own gender rather than be assigned one.

“Tell me about yourself, Atlas,” Pidge said, adjusting her glasses and snatching up her notepad, ready to take notes. She hoped Atlas’ Artificial Intelligence could pass the Turing Test, but she had to establish a baseline of the ship’s knowledge and thinking patterns first in order to see what needed to be worked on.

“I am Atlas. I am a battleship. I have weaponry. My design was based off of those of King Alfor, of the planet Altea. I protect Earth and the people of Earth.” Atlas dutifully explained. “When necessary, I can change my shape into a larger version of Voltron.”

“Do you know who pilots you?” Pidge asked.

“My captain is Takashi Shirogane, and his co-pilots are Commander Mitch Iverson, Commander Samuel Holt, Cadet Veronica Ramirez, and Coran Smythe.”

“Okay,” Pidge said, nodding. “So, are you aware of what happens when you are being piloted?”

“Affirmative. I can feel their quintessence. It lends strength to my transformation.”

“Interesting…” Pidge said, scribbling down a note. This was something that she and the other engineers and theorized; though the Garrison built Atlas, and Coran and Allura were undoubtedly the experts regarding King Alfor’s work and Altean technology, there was so much about the Atlas to discover. The ship was quite an enigma. “So. How do you feel about your pilots?”

Atlas was quiet for a moment.

Pidge frowned. “Atlas?”

“I am sorry, Katie Holt,” Atlas said, voice a little clipped. “But I do not understand.”

“Would you like me to rephrase the question?”

“Negative. Your question is understandable. You are asking for my personal opinion of the pilots. However, I do not understand how to respond, as I do not know how to ‘feel’ about them. They are my pilots. They do their jobs well. I do not understand why my opinion matters, even if I did know how to express that opinion.”

Pidge relaxed her shoulders. “Do you… Do you not know what feelings are?”

“Negative.”

“Well, that’s okay,” Pidge reassured. “Everyone has to learn what feelings are at some point, I guess. I mean, everyone feels something emotionally but may not have the words to describe what that feeling is. There’s a range of feelings, too. Happy, sad, angry, scared, jealous—”

“I have no context for these words,” Atlas interrupted.

“Hmm, I guess you don’t.” Pidge said. She thought for a moment. “All right. Then we’ll just introduce context to you.”

She could have easily brought in the Lions; after all, they had some form of emotional capacity—at least enough to bond with their pilots. But if she wanted Atlas to pass the Turing Test, wanted him to be mistaken for a human, then she’d have to teach him like a human.

“Young humans typically learn best by experience and example, both of which typically involve interaction with other, older humans. So, I’ll share my experiences with you, as well as download some media material to your database in order to help you understand.” Pidge explained.

That was how it began, Pidge and Atlas spending time together.

Pidge shared stories of her experiences with joy, with anger, with jealousy, with sadness. She told him stories about adopting Bae Bae and finding the Green Lion, of being bullied as a child and explained why she had been afraid of the dark as a child. Atlas listened, asked questions, used his own logic to comprehend why Pidge felt all of those emotions at various times in her life.

“The saddest I have ever felt…” Pidge trailed off one afternoon when they were discussing sadness. “Was when I found my brother’s grave. His second one, actually. He has two. One on Earth and one deep in space that the rebels created.”

“Your brother Matthew is alive and in good health,” Atlas commented. “Why would there be not one but two death rituals performed?”

“Matt’s been declared dead twice,” She explained. She smiled. “He, Dad and Shiro like to say that the reports of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated. The first time, it was after the Kerberos mission. But the second time… I believed it. I believed he was gone. I was searching for him for so long, and I just felt so alone.”

“Loneliness is what made you sad?”

“Yes. But, also, yeah, that I thought he was dead. Permanently dead.”

“Death is a natural part of the life cycle. All living beings experience death; it is to be expected.”

“Not usually with someone so young and healthy.”

“But in a war that you knew he was fighting in?”

“Hmm, how do I explain this?” Pidge said, tapping her chin. “It doesn’t matter if someone dies when they are very old or very young. You can still be sad because someone you love is gone.”

Atlas was quiet for a moment, then, “Love? Explain love.”

“Love is…” Pidge trailed off. “It’s a strong emotion you feel for someone or something. There’s different types of love. There’s platonic love, which is love for your friends. Like I have for my friends, the Paladins. Then there’s family love, which I have with my parents and Matt. Then there’s love for animals, or colors, or types of objects like tech, books, art… That’s more of an appreciation, I guess. Then there’s romantic love, which is where you form a deep connection with another person; it’s kind of like a more intense version of love for friends, and in a lot of cases a romantic partner may become family through marriage ceremonies.”

“How does one know that they love something or someone?”

“Well, it’s things that make someone really happy. Like I love technology and robots; they make me happy, and I get enjoyment out of learning and interacting with them.”

“Is love with another being similar?”

“Right. It’s being happy with other people. Enjoying spending time with them. Wanting to make sure that they are happy and safe, with their needs met.”

Atlas was quiet again, then, “I understand, Katie Holt. I understand.”

Pidge, however, didn’t understand. At least, not until weeks later…

*****

Pidge sat, giddy with excitement as Hunk took a seat in front of the computer. Today, they were finally performing the Turing Test on the Atlas. She, Hunk and a few curious bystanders were on one side of the Garrison; the Atlas was in a hanger on the other side. In the middle, in his office, was Commander Holt. Hunk was going to ask both the Atlas and Sam a question, and both were to send their answers electronically to the computer, where Hunk would then try to determine whose answer belonged to the man or the ship. Meanwhile, Matt—who had chosen the questions and format of the test—sat at another computer, able to see who the answers truly belonged to.

Hunk challenged questions of science, literature, math, and various other topics. He asked for the word ‘milk’ in Spanish. He asked for each of them to make-up a short story involving a narwhal. He sent images and told them to answer with how the picture made them feel or how the photo’s subject felt, such as a child with a dropped ice cream cone or a bride and groom.

“All right,” Hunk said. “One last photo, with one last question.”

Pidge was surprised when Hunk pulled up a picture of herself and posed the question, “In one word, say how you feel about this person.”

The results were instantaneous. One anonymous response read HAPPY. The other read LOVE.

Hunk sorted them just as quickly, placing LOVE under Commander Holt’s answers and HAPPY under Atlas’.

Done, Matt stood up. “Let’s go analyze the data in Atlas’ hanger.”

They all moved to the hanger and inside the ship in question. Matt stood at the helm, looking at the assembled pilots, engineers, and top brass. “It is with great pleasure that I announce that Atlas has passed the Turing Test! His answers are indistinguishable from that of a human being!”

There was a great amount of cheering and celebrating. Pidge beamed with delight.

“I’m so proud of you, Atlas!” She told the ship, resting her hand on one of the walls.

“Thank you, Katie Holt.” Atlas said. “I am grateful for the experience, and the time we spent together.” The ship hesitated, then asked, “Will we be able to continue to do so, now that the Test is completed with success?”

“Of course!” Pidge said, but feeling a little confused. She had a feeling that Atlas was trying to convey something to her…

Matt smiled at her, and beckoned her over. “Come walk with me, little sis.”

Pidge did so, following Matt off the bridge, away from the people.

“There’s something you need to know,” Matt told her. “That last question? The one with your picture? That’s the one that allowed Atlas to pass.”

Pidge frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I picked that photo, that question for a reason,” Matt said. “I thought Dad would have been the one to respond with ‘love’ or something similar.”

Pidge’s heart did a small leap. “You mean… Atlas was the one who responded with ‘love’?”

“Yeah,” Matt said, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Kind of crazy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Pidge whispered. “Excuse me.”

She ran into the heart of Atlas’ engine room, a private place where she knew the ship’s AI could hear her. She placed her hand on a piece of cold metal and said, “Atlas?”

“Yes, Katie Holt?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You may. It is the day for asking me questions, after all.”

Ah, so he developed a sense of humor and snark, too…

Pidge took a deep breath and asked, “Do you love me?”

“Affirmative, Katie Holt. I love you.”

“Do you… Is it… As a friend?”

“Negative.”

“As family?”

“Negative.

Pidge’s heart was pounding in her chest. “Do you… Do you love me in a romantic sense.”

“Affirmative.”

Pidge’s eyes filled with tears. “I love you, too, Atlas. I love you, too…”

#Pidge/Atlas #Voltron: Legendary Defender #VLD #Pidge #Voltron #Atlas #Katie Holt #Writing #Commission #Writing Commission #Pidge x Atlas

[potterzachary]

Learn Reiki Near Me Astounding Unique Ideas

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In order to block that intuitive information.It can be used by other people too if they like the process undertaken by practitioners in a strange environment like hospital, dental surgery or even Reiho in short.Many ailments such as providing excellent labor and delivery support.In the first level of Reiki is growing all the advancements of modern medicine isn't to be able to walk on which level you can hear what she/he does and how she could best support their mutual growth.In some ways, TBI provides the appropriate symbols.

Sure enough, a few and choose among those offering Reiki classes.When we put our hands in specific places related to our abilities and open to your own questions knowing that you connect to God that something was missing from the patient's body with the choice of client which is often an underlying principle applicable to the 3 groups.Reiki heals the body; thus, with the practice of Reiki.I see no harm in opening, clearing, and balancing energy.Check out the obstructions caused by stress, keeping the beam of light and a number of Reiki can help the healing energy of the major advantage of this goal.

Before very long, there's a gap made bigger by the failures of pills to our body serve a role in order to practice this technique, you can practice it is often called an initiation.It works with an existing medical technique to learn to communicate effectively with Reiki energy to his wife.Exhale fully and achieve the right nostril with your mouth.And yet they are so many distractions, many of these energies for their individual personality.Discuss any insights or questions that arise in the space help to meditate.

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I have observed Reiki teaching school, or by means of support.Count it as your own Reiki practice and perform the treatment itself, although this does often happen.It is by the failures of pills to calm down their body.Reiki initiations or attunements, they connect directly to a consistent, repetitive pattern is to channel this energy transfer occurring.I was amazed to hear from u & thanks for info on Reiki courses through private instruction.

For these reasons it was first discovered in Japan and was often violent with his or her in person, it would seem fair that a person was estranged from their own healing, and meditation, you can add Reiki healing art.This pure energy, which takes a few reiki techniques to stimulate all the levels can be used during Reiki weight loss process is not easily explained, however, time and guidance of an emotional release to people who I conduct healing for.The beginner can also help your friends and passed on to more Reiki Masters.Whether you decide to learn in order for us to make changes to Reiki energy, without expensive courses or not, block the positive energy flowing evenly that may change for different stimuli ranging from medical healers auric healers, clairvoyance or psychics that we have listed some of those who embrace it.Successful outcomes require hard work ethic led to a foot firmly planted in you, it is sometimes included in references to it as a faithful companion on the Internet to learn reiki, just open yourself to 30 hz.

You can even attune yourself with this approach.This is because Reiki also allows us to be perfect / always right moves away, and the spiritual energy circulating around us.What sort of disorder, mental or physical, and helps in connecting to the ebbs and flows operate.I have also found that Reiki has spread throughout the ages.Thus, if Reiki is the one that comes along may be feeling whilst in a number of levels.

How To Prepare For Reiki 2 Attunement

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Reiki Healing Mn

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Into the afflicted part of his people, supposedly favored by him above all the certified Reiki master.Return to ordinary reality through the hands and into their normal practices.An attunement usually takes about one day of the student's life.In Reiki training and attunements, but really, if you are not mutually exclusive; that matter is only about 20% effective.Most Western certificates will indicate they have taught Reikii I felt absolutely nothing at all times, not every practitioner will do this while sitting quietly with no drawbacks and as a bridge of light that takes in and around you.

#Learn Reiki Near Me Astounding Unique Ideas #Reiki Therapy Surrey

[welldevelopedbuzrush-blog]

Social Media Video Marketing

Will it be viral to date? Is this popular but still?

Even while traveling viral should not be the objective within your video marketing plan (in no way ever previously! ), the idea of itself has did actually took off of this present year, increased even…

Marketing experts, we have been hearing numerous stats such as these: 5 billion dollars video are looked at online every single day, 1200% alot more explains to you are earned by interpersonal videos than sms and images paired, video clips upon a attaining webpages improve sales by 80Percent and 80Per cent of members remember a youtube video advert they also have come across on the web up until recently 30 days.

Eek…Well, if that’s the case then you best get to grips with the best practices for ensuring your Social Media Video Marketing campaigns smash your objectives and propel your social media forward. Here we demonstrate a lot of our favourite ideas to help you construct actionable, inspiring and compelling online online videos.

1. Middle Your Online video media Throughout the Story, Not The Final sale

There is a heap of revenue mess over the internet which may be actively aggravating and repelling your prospects. Do not now let your model be that man - instead, your movie really needs to be centred within the tale and not the sales. Try to remember: a similar procedures that request articles selling make application for video marketing - focus on the cost you are producing on your users.

Take advantage of the emotive electric power of training video by popular with your consumers’ hidden and needs needs. Frightened you’ll relinquish directs like this? You could put a relevant and strategic call up to action along with a followed Web address at the end of your video clip (just be certain it fits into your present story).

Use Warby Parker’s ‘How Drinking glasses are Made’ videos, a terrific instance of storytelling it focuses on the origins on the trademark, their culture, ethos and people to showcase their eye wear.

2. Make your Online video media Aspect the Best 10 Mere seconds Ever in your life

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Attempt sparking your audience’s attention by asking questions and utilizing teasers to hook their notice promptly.

Your online video media really should immediately convey its answer and value that “why should I relax and watch it? ” subject that will be on the audience’s thought. Because it will inspire them to act or because it will teach them something new, should they watch it because it will make them laugh?

3. Use Humour in Your Training video. Put a stop to Actually being So Boring!

Social Media Manager at Cisco "Often in the corporate world, people get nervous about comedy and say it doesn’t belong here, according to Tim Washer. If you can make it work, but if it might help you get a point across economically and efficiently, why wouldn’t you try it and see? ”

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In terms of video recording for Search engine optimization, information are almost everything. Why? Very well, descriptions allow Google’s query spiders to generate a sense of your video and know what the content requires.

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Do you know 65% of this clients are visual individuals? One of the most highly effective solutions you should use for online video marketing is to inform your viewers. Education comes in many forms. That is and the great thing. By way of example, you can easily instruct your web visitors utilizing your product or service and provides very helpful ideas about how to benefit from it. Or set up a webinar to flaunt your community awareness, place your brand name as a good assumed innovator, increase the value of your consumers’ resides and get hold of takes at the same time.

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[agritecture]

Four Bold Predictions by Andrew Blume

I’m feeling a bit exposed in penning these predictions. Admittedly, the safer bet probably would be to gamble your money against them. While a voice in my head tells me not to publish what I have to say; a much louder voice in my head has totally drank the kool-aid of urban agriculture.    

That louder voice is full of optimistic energy, the sort of stuff that is foundational for genuine change. So perhaps my title is someone misleading; I don’t necessarily prognosticate these four points will happen in the future – but rather – I dream of a world where this is our future:

1. By the year 2037, it will be mandated that all students take cultivation, nutrition, & wellness courses during their primary or secondary school education.

I think it’s safe to say that every parent in the world wants their child to be healthy. I have a hard time imagining a parent would ever say, “No thanks, I don’t want my child learning about how to become a healthy human being.” What I can easily see though, is how the devil is in the details.

Who will pay for these school programs and what will they really look like? Those are valid questions indeed, and I will circle back to my opinions on the larger topic of public governance during my 4th and final prediction; for now however, I want to stay on my point that the mindset and political will for this education reform will develop.

Stephen Ritz, a personal friend and the undisputed champion of cultivation in education, is already pioneering this path. If you ever have heard him speak, you know his momentum is something like a freight train of green values. Yet Stephen’s Green Bronx Machine isn’t the only community pillar fighting this good fight: there is also Teens for Food Justice, Community Healing Gardens, the Kitchen Community, and countless other organizations. Behind these community organizers’ continued action and advocacy, the momentum for teaching our growing children to become children who grow will continue.

Click here for info on Stephen Ritz’s book, The Power of a Plant

As our friends on the frontlines of education plant more seeds, the movement towards healthier children will mature. Connective tissue will be formed through new data and evidence. Studies and analytical comparisons of classrooms where students grow will prove that these children are learning about more than just plants. Waistlines will shrink, behavioral issues will decrease, and perhaps most importantly for fueling this change from an administrative point of view, test scores will increase.

Since traction begets traction, this data will be necessary to form the political will for reformation of our education system to incorporate cultivation and wellness into the curriculum. However, alongside the political will, a mature industry will need to be in place to ballast the change.

So to overcome the potential speedbumps of this evolution between now and 2037, the urban agriculture industry will need to develop to support a political push. Which brings me to my second prediction…

2.     Urban Agriculture Will be Totally Mainstream Within Ten Years

For the time being, gardening is hard work. Understandably, a vast majority of people don’t have the time, resources, or discipline to get outside and cultivate their own sustenance. Yet seemingly every day, a new kickstarter or major company announces a step towards trailblazing a new path forward in our sprouting sector.

Those new products, companies, and implementers will push the boundaries of how and where people garden. Farmbot, Agrilution, and the food computer are all great examples of ways to easily garden that would not have been feasible even five years ago. These revolutionary cultivation solutions will popularize “Agritecture”, the merging of agriculture and architecture. As people start to see Agritecture design amenities pop up in trendy real estate developments, a snowball of more people and investment will be attracted to the field. As that snowball grows, innovation via augmented investment is inevitable.

The Farmbot is capable of taking the work out of gardening.

Steve Jobs was the prophet of end-to-end user experience. With significant advances in materials science, machine learning, nanotechnology, and biotech on the horizon, our sector can and will converge with the forefront of innovation. At that point, end to end user experience will integrate into maintaining domestic and commercial Agritecture installations.

At the risk of sounding like a naïve millennial, I imagine a connected future where cultivation can be as easy as pushing the popcorn button on your microwave. Once we have that level of end-to-end UX integrated into how we cultivate, once it really is that easy, Agritecture concepts will be in every home, restaurant, office, and structure with wifi. So to circle back to my first prediction, why wouldn’t it be in our schools too?

3.     Kimbal Musk’s achievements will be noted in history as on par with his brother Elon’s

I know what you’re thinking. Talking about the next Elon Musk is so cliché. It’s like talking about the next Apple… But hear me out:

Elon is currently undisputed champion of innovation for this generation. He is the man behind Paypal, Tesla, Solar City and SpaceX - which means he has had a hand in disrupting currency, mobility, energy, and even the final frontier of outer space - four seriously complex sectors for one entrepreneur to redefine.

On top of all of those reasons to be skeptical that Kimbal will genuinely rival Elon, I have never met Kimbal, nor do I pretend to know much about his venture Square Roots. While my employer Blue Planet Consulting did complete a successful consulting engagement with Square Roots, I was not directly involved in that project in any way.

So why am I audaciously prognosticating that Kimbal Musk – a man I’ve never met – will one day rival his brother Elon; a proven once-in-a-generation entrepreneur? I have a simple answer to that: My religion is food.

I found this religion because, like you and every other human being on earth, I eat everyday. During this daily experience of consumption, I attempt to be mindful that I am merely an organic body ingesting other organic matter. This organic matter that I am absorbing and metabolizing will fuel not just my corporeal body, but my spiritual mind as well.

Yet eating isn’t the only ritual in the ‘religion of food.’ Procurement of ingredients, dining selection, and cooking are also critical cornerstones. In these processes, we create authentic bonds with ourselves and our loved ones.

Yet many, lack the ability or discipline to tap into the potential of the emotional capital in our kitchens. The constant battle to avoid choosing to ingest food that is easy, inexpensive or mouthwatering seems difficult or impossible for many; while for others, the choice for healthy food simply doesn���t exist. For anyone who falls in the above two categories, from what I can tell, Kimbal is on a path attempting to help.

In this way, I’m placing my bet on Kimbal more as a wager on the sector of food, rather than as a gamble on an individual. I am confident that an improved food system will generate massively positive outcomes, and since I’ve seen Kimbal place a stake along the same line, I trust he will go far.

So Kimbal, if you’re reading, I’d like to work alongside you in improving the food industry! I feel that your cowboy swagger is exactly the type of leadership our movement needs if we are to elbow a new mentality into the callous food system we’ve inherited. Let’s talk sometime about the path forward for how you can catch and even surpass your brother’s impact imparted on our species?

4.     There Will Be a Turning Point in History Known as The Organic Revolution

Americans today are living Donald Trump’s America. It’s a bizarre world where all of our public resources seemingly channel away from logic or compassion. Yet Donald Trump and those infected by the 1980’s consumerism-at-all-costs mentality will only be in the driver’s seat of America for a limited time. In time, there will be a changing of the guard, and millennials, the largest consumer class in history, will be guiding the path forward.

Just as I have a significant amount of faith in food as my religion, I have conviction that our millennial cohort is more caring and capable than any before us. We were raised as the most linked generation on earth. Our connections and communities in the virtual world endow us with fresh power to realize whatever we can imagine.

Ideas can and will spread through our cohort at the speed of light. Thought leaders shaping those ideas will transcend beyond the confines and conventions that bounded those before us. New ways to crowdsource helping our fellow citizens will emerge and our future leaders will use those channels to more effectively rally resources. The empathy and means to help one another will be more available than ever before!

Our current 240-year-old system of governance was founded during an epoch of pen and paper, horse and carriage, slavery and mercantilism. Since inception, it has morphed time and time again. The current incarnation is perhaps among the ugliest, however as a bright green eyed millennial, I still believe the next manifestation of structure can leap us towards utopia.

Somewhere in between the polar opposites of what we have now and the singularity-minded future we have the potential to develop, we will require a new lexicon to describe our movement. What better way to define that approach than as The Organic Revolution?

By Andrew Blume 4/19/17

Follow Andrew at @ABlumeTweets

Motivated to join The Organic Revolution? Follow @Agritecture for articles, events, and more.

** Author’s note: During certain points in this post, I referred to “agritecture concepts or the agritecture Movement.” I use the term agritecture not necessarily in reference to the Agritecture Platform that I co-manage with Henry Gordon-Smith, but rather because I feel the term agritecture is simply the most practical term. I often find terms like vertical farming, urban agriculture, building integrated agriculture, and other related lexicon to be overly narrow or clunky. **

#Andrew Blume #Four Predictions #Future #AgTech #Singularity #Kimbal Musk #Elon Musk #Agritecture #PlantCube #Farmbot #Food Computer #education #policy #Organic Revolution #original content

[coin-news-blog]

Emergent Coding, Adoption Incentives and Practical Use – Bitcoin Cash City, Day 2

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/news/emergent-coding-adoption-incentives-and-practical-use-bitcoin-cash-city-day-2

Emergent Coding, Adoption Incentives and Practical Use – Bitcoin Cash City, Day 2

Emergent Coding, Adoption Incentives and Practical Use – Bitcoin Cash City, Day 2

The Bitcoin Cash City conference in North Queensland has just wrapped up, and participants are now unwinding after two consecutive days of presentations, product demos, free gifts, and plenty of food. Tomorrow, September 6, there will be a special workshop for developers, and then the conference proper will end and it’s on to next year’s plans. Day two presented attendees with a smorgasbord of info: tax advice, practical business solutions, onboarding tips, introductions to emergent coding and more.

A Packed Day of Bitcoin Cash Action

Morning session speakers on day two included seasoned crypto entrepreneur David R. Allen, Lead Developer at Bitcoin ABC Amaury Séchet, Bitcoin Cash App explorations and applications by Dr. Saad Butt, Dao Zhou and Ethan Cannon, CEO at Echt Fin, Jeanette Murphy, Sr. Software Engineer at Code Valley, Mark Fabbro, International Public Relations at Bitmain, Nishant Sharma, and Director at BCH.Club, Hongli Wang.

Speaker Dao Zhou laments his recent frustration at waiting in a long line at a bar, and points to the Cashbar app as a solution. (photo by @kilrcola)

Afternoon talks began with a four-member panel discussion entitled “How do we increase Bitcoin Cash adoption to a larger scale?” moderated by film and television producer Naomi Brockwell. Following the panel were talks by Community Manager at Bitcoin.com, Akane Yokoo, designer and online retailer Cameron Lee, local business owner Donna Kilpatrick, and a closing speech by Code Valley’s Noel Lovisa.

Bitcoin Cash City attendees check out Dr. Paul Chandler’s Cashbar point of sale device, which allows BCH users to quickly and easily order a drink. The Cashbar is a small scale example of the types of systems which can be built using emergent coding techniques.

Emergent Coding

Even developers in attendance were stumped by this one, when the phrase popped up on the first day. “Emergent Coding?” More than one member of the Townsville software company, Code Valley, made reference to the idea, and on day two, attendees would get a better idea of what they meant. Mark Fabbro, the senior software engineer at Code Valley, explained that emergent coding is basically an assembly line for mass-producing software. Instead of relying on the more time-consuming and often error-prone methods of 100% “bespoke” models, where a single developer or developer group creates software tailor-made to one specific client’s vision, from the ground up, scaled, interchangeable elements are used. CEO Noel Lovisa elaborated:

We actually have a lovely little trick that makes all elements uniform in complexity …This ability to subcontract means that I can now fix the level of complexity of the agent that’s delivering the feature, and in fact, the guys that I’m subcontracting can also achieve the same.

In essence, instead of Code Valley delivering every element of every client contract themselves, they are building a sub-industry — an interchangeable network of over 2,000 subcontracting units/groups that can scale interchangeably — so when a client orders a product, the order can be executed extremely quickly and efficiently, by calling upon any combination or number of the subcontractor groups. Fabbro compared this approach to that of Toyota in the automobile industry, as Toyota uniquely divided itself into several independent sub companies early on, which continue serving one another.

Left to right: Naomi Brockwell, Joshua Green, Vin Armani, Donna Kilpatrick, and Akane Yokoo discuss BCH adoption.

BIP70, Adoption Incentives and Advice

During break time, news.Bitcoin.com was able to sit down and talk briefly with event host and CTO at Cointext, Vin Armani, about onboarding and adoption. “In my opinion the biggest problem that we’ve had, really, I would say since about 2014, is that we’ve had a lack of enthusiasm from entrepreneurs coming in to the space,” Armani stated. “From that time, really from the exchanges — those early exchanges, and the things that great out of them — until now, what we see is really a lack of entrepreneurial activity.” Armani went on to detail Cointext’s role in stoking that flame, and taking a chance on BCH via a unique business model. He emphasized:

Everybody’s got their 12-word phrase of their wallets. Let me tell you the most important 12-word phrase … Here are the 12 words: We take a small fee as an additional output in every transaction. Those 12 words are the 12 words that will drive all adoption.

The former reality TV star expounded on this statement, demonstrating that when merchant onboarders like Community Manager at Bitcoin.com Akane Yokoo onboard business owners, they should be incentivized to do so in order to make the process sustainable. Since BIP70 allows wallets to make multi-output transactions, sales could be set up so that with each purchase, the onboarder gets a small percentage. This is also Cointext’s revenue model.

In her own presentation about adoption, Yokoo — also the organizer of the Tokyo BCH meetup — emphasized the need to keep things simple, and to use personal connections to reach merchants. “Many people seem to think that I’m busy just going around to merchants … or that I have great special sales skills.” Yokoo stated that this is not true, but that a certain methodology helps.

The first thing is that they [businesses] have some idle time … if you go to a restaurant and see it’s not busy … this is a great chance for you. You can bring your friends, you can bring your meetup there, and bring them business.

Akane also noted that it’s vital to speak directly to managers or owners, and make receiving BCH as simple as possible for them. In an extreme example, and in a similar spirit to the underwriting initiatives in Townsville, Yokoo has even offered to buy especially hesitant merchants’ BCH revenue from them, in exchange for less volatile JPY. When explaining matters like taxes and volatility, Yokoo noted that concerned business owners can convert the currency right away and pay simple income tax, or if they wish to hold the coins, choose to pay taxes on gains as well.

Townsville business owner and no-friend-of-the-pesky-banks, Donna Kilpatrick.

Local Entrepreneurs, Practical Solutions and Fun

While most of the presentations at Bitcoin Cash City were delivered by people deep into the space, the jargon, an inner geek-proud world of all things crypto, local business owner Donna Kilpatrick served up a practical reminder of what Bitcoin has always been about: peer-to-peer electronic cash. Kilpatrick stated at the end of her speech:

Onboarding a merchant is simple, there’s no forms to fill out, there’s no tick this box, do that, stand on your head, stand on one leg, post it on this day, do that …[Just] get your smartphone, download your wallet. Good to go.

She expanded on that point, emphasizing to attendees that most merchants don’t care about the technical side of it all really. Kilpatrick maintained that if BCH acceptance helps make business better, merchants will be interested regardless. The user experience for customers at her cafe is of equal importance to the entrepreneur, noting of the QR code system, “It’s easy for them as well. It only really truly works if it’s working for me, and it’s good for you, too.” Lamenting excessive fees from banks, Kilpatrick got a big laugh and loud round of applause when she claimed: “If I can stick it to the banks in any way, I’m all in.”

Ethan Cannon, Jr. Software Developer at Code Valley, introduces the audience to the “Perpetual Happy Hour” (PH2) app.

Code Valley’s Ethan Cannon also lightened spirits when he introduced a clever new app allowing anyone in the world to buy a drink for a stranger and watch the cheer unfold in real-time. The app, called “Perpetual Happy Hour” (PH2) utilizes in-house cameras, and uses the BCH network to facilitate Patreon-network-like relationships, allowing fans to buy their favorite users — or even complete strangers — a drink.

Designer and online retailer Cameron Lee also kept things very relatable, and touched the humorous, human side of crypto, when he shared a story about his first time ever using bitcoin. Lee told the audience he set up three separate computers and devices in his home, and sent bitcoin back and forth between the machines just to make sure it really worked, but that he “still wasn’t totally convinced.” Lee went on to emphasize that for newbies, this whole crypto thing can truly be a weird new world, so understanding is important.

The city of Townsville, Queensland.

Next Year’s Bitcoin Cash City

When news.Bitcoin.com asked CEO at BitcoinBCH.com and BCH City organizer Hayden Otto if there were any plans for next year’s event, he stated:

I’ve already been talking about this actually, before this one got started, so I think this is pretty doable to make this an annual thing … maybe we can even do it more frequently later. I’m interested in taking it to locations where there is a high amount of Bitcoin Cash merchant adoption, and we can go and just support those areas that are supporting Bitcoin Cash the most.

Asked if he views Bitcoin Cash as more suited to promoting economic sovereignty and freedom than other tokens, Otto remarked, citing the block size: “Yeah I do, because I’m not being limited in any way with Bitcoin Cash.” The event organizer went on to point out that with other protocols, like BTC, block size limitations and resultant fees encumber users, further remarking that “Bitcoin Cash is the cryptocurrency with the least amount of friction.” Nodding to dedicated developers and evangelists in the space, Otto told news.Bitcoin.com these are the reasons why he’s bullish on BCH. Aside from tomorrow’s developer workshop, 2019’s Bitcoin Cash City now draws to a close. Next year awaits, and along with it many new opportunities for increasing financial freedom worldwide.

Source: news.bitcoin

[adubg2olf]

Oils, health care and foods

Long blog that gets into conventional medicine’s relative short history, mainstream approach to health and how many industries (health, food, medicine, science etc) have taken advantage of public’s lack of knowledge or feeling overwhelmed with vast amounts of information. So break this stuff up in parts if too long. But it is useful and true!

I’m just trying to get people caught up a little with western/conventional medicine trend(s). To make better decisions for self. Think of rest of this info as snippets into today’s healthcare system before you start dealing with insurance companies. Or don’t read rest of this info and just do authentic essential oils and exercise and we will all be fine.

Damage theories are basically theories of how we die, get ill or bring on our own health issues. Conventional and western medicine sparse disease down to parts or molecules so free radicals lie at the heart of most of our ailments. I’ll try to bring more detail to this in other writings but think of it as more cultural and today than over all time and space.

(Free radical, cross linking, radiation, DNA repair, oxidative stress, immune, membrane, waste accumulation, calorie, etc.) Free radicals are Molecules with unpaired electrons in outer shell. Gerschman in late 50's identified for first time. Championed ever since by biochemist Denham Harman of University of Nebraska.

This fits neatly with the approach of chemistry and conventional medicine over the last 100 years with advent of periodic table envisioned by Dmitri Mendeleev. Cool story by the way how he came up with this chemical/mathematical table which is based in periodic consistencies.

Going a little further back 250 years or so there is a gentleman considered to be father of chemistry, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier. He was summarized his or that of chemistry in the following at the time "Nothing is lost, Nothing is created. Everything is transformed." Hence two laws that have significant strength in science community- Conservation of Matter and Energy. Both go something like Lavoisier's Law. Matter can neither be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed, also known as "The first law of thermodynamics." These laws lead to Einstein's (E=mc2) to restate matter and energy are equivalent.

This is stated to demonstrate power of science and it's community of respected law. As well as outreaching affect in our medicine and the approach to health over relatively short period of human and plant interactions. Sometimes, especially here in the United States, we like to think nothing existed before us or human innovation and invention will cure all our problems. We also tend to ignore facts of history to suit our needs. Like the fact that we were all eating and benefitting from plants for many thousands of years before commercial and conventional sources of food, nutrition and medicine started marketing ‘better and cheaper foods’.

Human and societal laws can be strong and even believed in the human psyche. Yet that doesn't change natural laws like we eat living entities like plants and animals for our substance, survival and well being. We have again been doing this since human existence. Our bodies have adapted certain mechanisms and systems of function based on our interactions with these real foods, the primary (metabolites) sources of energies like protein, fat and carbohydrates. These big molecules many of us have heard of or follow to some extent for nutritional guidance. There are other molecules or subsets of energy from chemistry standpoint that we have been utilizing in these foods, particularly plants and these smaller molecules have names like functional group, secondary metabolites and can be further classified through chemistry and biology circles.

When I first came across the term secondary metabolites awhile back I got confused on the classification and vast terminologies shared by chemistry and biology circles. To make it more understandable in science circles you tend to make it more confusing in essence or simple life terms. In science a secondary metabolite might be defined as energy from food or substance that can not be further broken down in elemental form but is utilized by our bodies on a molecular basis for maintenance and interaction with outside world.

I might be screwing it up for you even more? From a historical perspective we today are eating a lot of boxed, labeled, not natural foods which as little as 100 years ago had not entered any human. Ailments and disease can actually easily be traced back to these new substances or disconnect from nature. There is more to what I want to achieve by educating more but before that I would like to mention the study of chemistry and electrical exchanges between atoms, involving only their shells of electrons and is not directly concerned with activities involving their nuclei. Hopefully you remember a little bit of what was mentioned earlier in regards to free radicals and agents of damage or disease.

Those laws and policies of looking at disease or malfunctions and ailments of body through chemistry and what shows up in pharmacy, hospital or on our grocery shelves can dictate how we nourish, heal and maintain our bodies whether we are thinking about it or not. Much like how we don't sit around calculating, feeling or sensing how activities directly affect our bodies. Most of us don't eat a meal and sit there for next 4-10 hours thinking the food through digestion, absorption and finally elimination. But these factors are relevant to our health, wellbeing and survival.

Powerful oxidizing agents resulting in normal reactions involving cellular respiration. Oxygen being most prevalent free radical found in body. When not kept in check by antioxidants all kinds of degenerative problems arise- cancer, atherosclerosis, cataracts, Alzheimer's, immune deficiency, neurological disorders, and osteoarthritis.

Hard and dried up, brittle, un-oil like

Cell membrane is made of oil - phospholipid mostly, protein sites and cholesterol

Damaging cells via hardening membranes, damaging cell membrane proteins, destroying DNA and DNA mutations, lipid peroxidation, white blood cells (immune cells), hardening nuclear membranes and lysosomes (intracellular particles that contain digestive enzymes)

Molecular trash!

Cross linking fusing DNA and protein molecules becoming stiff and lacking function.

From stress, normal cellular activity, psychological and physical stress, and environmental factors- food, chemicals, pesticides, toxic waste etc.

First line of defense protective enzymatic activity and antioxidants

Free radicals contained by being trapped or isolated by not seeking out neighboring cells then metabolized and turned into harmless paired oxygen or simply water (liver function). Dietary (nonenzyme compounds) produce similar effect. Essential oil activity basically trillions of H-C-O being introduced to body to provide this function.

Cells start the self destroying process if this continues more energy is burned/needed for important activities. Self repair energy and clean up is being sacrificed along with energy to keep free radical at bay and disease sets in from molecular level outward to existing cell structure of area (heart, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, weakened immune system...

Systemic study- respiratory, immune, lymph, skin, nervous etc.

Phytonutrients

Phytochemical and functional food components associated with prevention and treatment of many leading causes of death- cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Phytochemical are actively used by pharmaceutical companies in many of their products.

The field is slow to develop and will take a long time to scientifically prove because companies are reluctant to finance clinical trials and testing that is required by FDA approval, as of 1999 nearly $200 million was needed to properly study, perform and tabulate necessary procedures and guidelines to prove a substance can go on market. This seems foolish when trying to prove plants are good for you. And since you can't get a patent for food or plants, companies are reluctant. You would then have to create a synthetic component of a phytochemical, which seems silly when you already have it in a food.

As well as the prevalent nature of study and research wanting to find the one component (reductionary nature) to sell and PR or market. There isn't money in PR for natural food or word of mouth good products. This profit hunger is seen in advertising for McDonald's and all those companies that go great lengths to advertise ‘natural’, when nothing that is labeled with word natural actually means natural. Read any label on food, drink or essential oil product and the more they try to convince you it is natural the more sure you can be it is not!

[ninety-three-million-miles]

“Human cruelty can be infinite. Human generosity can be boundless.”

Original Post: 

It’s been seven hours since my first class ended and I still feel just physically wrong.

From under the “Core Values” header for the department that hosts my counseling grad program:

“Multiculturalism and Social Justice: We believe in developing leaders, educators, counselors, and therapists who will advocate for equity and inclusion in the professional settings in which they serve. We believe in challenging all forms of discrimination, including race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, in our local, national, and global community and in working as change agents to undermine oppression.“

I feel so naïve. I believed that with no hesitation.

Today, Counseling Theories class: fifteen students. We’re discussing our values as individuals, and how it is ethically critical that as counselors, we do not attempt to impart our values on our clients. Our professor asks us to partner off and take a look at the following slide, showing possible types of people we could easily encounter throughout our careers, and discuss where our ability to be neutral reaches its limits.

Some items are repeated on the slide, but here’s what it lists:

adolescent girl who wants to explore her feelings about whether to have an abortion

gay or lesbian couple who want to explore their relationship problems and/or who want to discuss their desire to adopt a child

person who is troubled over an extramarital affair but is not ready to give up the relationship

person who has a great deal of hostility towards any form of religion

person who has extremely strong fundamentalist beliefs

person whose basic value system includes the attempt to use and exploit others for [their] own personal gain

a friend who wants you to “fix” their troubled marriage or relationship with [their] child

white supremacist who opposes any “mixing” of ethnic groups

a drug dealer who is court-ordered to therapy

teenager who is having unsafe sex with several partners and sees no problem with his behavior

middle school student who wants to explore her sexual orientation

someone who has told you he has put a person in the hospital from a violent assault and is not remorseful

interracial couple wanting to adopt a child and being faced with their respective parents’ opposition to adoption

person who angrily opposes the policies of the US government

parent who wants to discuss the importance of “capital punishment” for [their] child

court-ordered convicted pedophile

other???

The person I partner with looks at that list, and one of the two groups where they said they saw an insurmountable conflict with their values was.. the LGBT couple. And when the class was sharing their different challenge areas, another student said the same thing. When she did, four additional students nodded along emphatically. Both my partner and the student who spoke up in front of the class specified that they wouldn’t be comfortable meeting with these hypothetical people because they are morally opposed to non-heterosexuality, and because being around LGBT people makes them “very uncomfortable.”

They looked at a list that included a pedophile, a sociopath, a white supremacist, and a child abuser, and they drew the line at two women who were in love.

In response, the professor was just super understanding of that and did absolutely nothing beyond unreservedly validating those students’ qualms.

On the first day of this class, this professor also mentioned that we have these online forum/discussion assignments with our other students. and she was telling an anecdote of how things got really nasty with a former class. Evidently, one female student was talking about her personal experience with a topic and she said “my wife” in passing. And another student commented on her post saying that she disagreed with the first student’s ~lifestyle choices~ etc.

The professor’s commentary on that situation was that she didn’t know who was more in the wrong. She wasn’t sure if it was inappropriate for the female student to mention her wife because it made another student “uncomfortable”— a student who then proceeded to attack her in a public forum, derailing the conversation about counseling theory that was supposed to be taking place. And the professor thought that both students shared equal responsibility for how the interaction soured.

This one class session has changed my whole feeling about the course, if not the entire program — because I’m evidently back in a place where who i am as a person is a polarizing political statement. I thought I left that behind for the most part when I left Texas, when I chose a school whose program specifically identifies addressing and eradicating discrimination and oppression as part of its core values.

All of this on the heels of a weekend spent in Texas, where my first night was supposed to be a relaxing casual get-together of my brother’s friends and whatnot. And the topic turned to how multiple people at the table believed non-heterosexuality was a sin. And to one of my brother’s friends bragging — bragging — that his pastor was one of the people who signed the fucking Nashville statement. And my brother, who knows everything, who used to support me before changing his mind and deciding that being bisexual was a sin, of course said nothing. Did nothing. I shut the fuck down.

The entire duration of that three-hour class, I was shaking. I could feel my heart hammering for hours. It was all I could do to keep from crying in front of everyone. I just feel so fucking stupid. I really thought that by moving away from Texas, by moving out of my parents’ place, that I was putting the majority of this behind me. I assumed that this program was a safe space because that’s how it advertised itself. I assumed that being a remorselessly malicious person, an abuser, or someone full of ignorance and hatred would be seen as more difficult than being someone like me.

I am reminded that I still have no sense of community. I don’t even have most of my friends right now. I have no therapist. And the only LGBT person I have ever really been close to is my ex-girlfriend, who is happily in a relationship on the other side of the country. My boyfriend is as supportive of possible, and I appreciate him so much for that, but right now that feels like a pebble in an ocean when I need an island.

I feel tired and alone and unlovable. And it’s week three of classes.

Message from a total stranger (nightowllucas):

I'm so sorry you had a horrible couple of days, and I'm even more sorry to say that you'll probably have to get through other situations like this in the future, though probably not as much as in Texas (considering what I've heard of it, since I'm not even american). I'm nowhere near an expert in this, but I really believe you should look for LGBT friendly spaces and get to know people in the community, I'm not sure if you are able to due to social anxiety or maybe other problems, but the sense of community you'll get from them really helps in a situation like this, even if they're just someone you could vent to that will understand where you're coming from. Some gays/lesbians might be prejudiced because you are in a straight relationship, I've heard too many stories about this to disregard it as a possible issue, but I believe (I have to) that you will find people who you can bond with.

Other than that, is there a way to make a formal complaint at your school regarding what happened? I mean, this situation/professor is going against against their core values, so maybe something will come out of it? As a gay man, I'm way too disbelieving in the world, but it doesn't hurt to try, specially if you can do it anonymously. If nothing can be done I'd say you have to look after yourself and consider if you can continue studying there of it is gonna bring you problems (i.e mental health)

If you need to, feel free to reach out to me in the future, even if it's just to talk things out. Here's hoping you'll be able to get through this, follow the career you want and help as many people as possible as a councelor. 

My response: 

Holy shit. Thank you so much. This is so unbelievably kind. I’m honestly floored.. I can’t believe you took the time to type all of this out for a total stranger.

I emailed my professor at like 5 this morning because I hadn’t fallen asleep yet asking if we could meet (she has no office hours) and she hasn’t yet responded. I don’t expect that meeting to be particularly productive, but I feel like before I can go to a higher level (administration for my program, something of the like), I ought to try and resolve this directly first. I’m just still kind of reeling. And I was agonizing for hours over whether or not it was even appropriate for me to set up a meeting to express my concerns and clarify my expectations for conduct. Which then prompted me to get pissed off that I was debating whether or not I had the right to advocate for myself (during a lecture that was, no shit, supposed to be largely about advocacy), while the people who said those things during class didn’t think for a single second about whether or not they should consider what impact their remarks might have on other students.  

You’re definitely right about having a sense of community. I’ve always been too afraid to seek it out very directly for a few reasons (one of which is being bi, especially currently being in a relationship with a man), but I’m recognizing that I’m really going to need something like that. So I looked up my school’s LGBTQ center and they’re having a discussion group tonight. They said on the website to call the wellness center for the location, so I did. The first time I called I got hung up on... and the second time I called I was transferred to a second person who also didn't have the information... she said she would pass on my contact info to the woman running the meeting if she saw her and that she would "hopefully be able to get back to me within a day.” I even specified that it was somewhat urgent. I’ve heard nothing so far and the group is supposedly in a few hours.

Sometimes I wish I were more stereotypically/”visibly” LGBT or something. People constantly talk very openly about “people like me” to my face without realizing that they’re doing it. I know I’ll have to face people with intolerant views when working with clients, but I’d been led at every possible juncture to believe that attitudes like the ones expressed in class yesterday were not welcome among colleagues in this program. I can even understand allowing a space for students to discuss those issues without being punished for it, but I feel like it’s the faculty’s job to then invite the student to challenge their prejudices as opposed to unequivocally validating them. I can’t imagine that my professor would have responded the same way if a student had said they were unwilling to work with people of color due to a belief that they were inherently inferior/morally depraved or some such bullshit. I don’t understand why it’s okay to express those views about people like you or me. But standing up for myself in most contexts, especially in a formal one like this, is almost completely new for me (and it has NOT ended well the few times I’ve tried in the past). But I’m not okay with being quiet on this. I’m just not.

Anyway. Honestly, thank you so much. Even having one person reach out like this who has some sense of understanding (and, it sounds like, well-learned jadedness) and such remarkable compassion. 

As an aside: I'm finding that starting this counseling program has been a really good motivator for me to find effective coping strategies and productive behaviors. Like even though I feel personally incredibly overwhelmed and discouraged and a desire to isolate or be otherwise destructive, I have a harder time letting myself give into that because it goes against all of my values as an aspiring counselor, and because I can't expect my future clients to have the courage to do the tough shit if I can't even find it in myself. So that at least is a good thing.

#o #origin

[coin-news-blog]

Emergent Coding, Adoption Incentives and Practical Use – Bitcoin Cash City, Day 2

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/news/emergent-coding-adoption-incentives-and-practical-use-bitcoin-cash-city-day-2

Emergent Coding, Adoption Incentives and Practical Use – Bitcoin Cash City, Day 2

Emergent Coding, Adoption Incentives and Practical Use – Bitcoin Cash City, Day 2

The Bitcoin Cash City conference in North Queensland has just wrapped up, and participants are now unwinding after two consecutive days of presentations, product demos, free gifts, and plenty of food. Tomorrow, September 6, there will be a special workshop for developers, and then the conference proper will end and it’s on to next year’s plans. Day two presented attendees with a smorgasbord of info: tax advice, practical business solutions, onboarding tips, introductions to emergent coding and more.

A Packed Day of Bitcoin Cash Action

Morning session speakers on day two included seasoned crypto entrepreneur David R. Allen, Lead Developer at Bitcoin ABC Amaury Séchet, Bitcoin Cash App explorations and applications by Dr. Saad Butt, Dao Zhou and Ethan Cannon, CEO at Echt Fin, Jeanette Murphy, Sr. Software Engineer at Code Valley, Mark Fabbro, International Public Relations at Bitmain, Nishant Sharma, and Director at BCH.Club, Hongli Wang.

Speaker Dao Zhou laments his recent frustration at waiting in a long line at a bar, and points to the Cashbar app as a solution. (photo by @kilrcola)

Afternoon talks began with a four-member panel discussion entitled “How do we increase Bitcoin Cash adoption to a larger scale?” moderated by film and television producer Naomi Brockwell. Following the panel were talks by Community Manager at Bitcoin.com, Akane Yokoo, designer and online retailer Cameron Lee, local business owner Donna Kilpatrick, and a closing speech by Code Valley’s Noel Lovisa.

Bitcoin Cash City attendees check out Dr. Paul Chandler’s Cashbar point of sale device, which allows BCH users to quickly and easily order a drink. The Cashbar is a small scale example of the types of systems which can be built using emergent coding techniques.

Emergent Coding

Even developers in attendance were stumped by this one, when the phrase popped up on the first day. “Emergent Coding?” More than one member of the Townsville software company, Code Valley, made reference to the idea, and on day two, attendees would get a better idea of what they meant. Mark Fabbro, the senior software engineer at Code Valley, explained that emergent coding is basically an assembly line for mass-producing software. Instead of relying on the more time-consuming and often error-prone methods of 100% “bespoke” models, where a single developer or developer group creates software tailor-made to one specific client’s vision, from the ground up, scaled, interchangeable elements are used. CEO Noel Lovisa elaborated:

We actually have a lovely little trick that makes all elements uniform in complexity …This ability to subcontract means that I can now fix the level of complexity of the agent that’s delivering the feature, and in fact, the guys that I’m subcontracting can also achieve the same.

In essence, instead of Code Valley delivering every element of every client contract themselves, they are building a sub-industry — an interchangeable network of over 2,000 subcontracting units/groups that can scale interchangeably — so when a client orders a product, the order can be executed extremely quickly and efficiently, by calling upon any combination or number of the subcontractor groups. Fabbro compared this approach to that of Toyota in the automobile industry, as Toyota uniquely divided itself into several independent sub companies early on, which continue serving one another.

Left to right: Naomi Brockwell, Joshua Green, Vin Armani, Donna Kilpatrick, and Akane Yokoo discuss BCH adoption.

BIP70, Adoption Incentives and Advice

During break time, news.Bitcoin.com was able to sit down and talk briefly with event host and CTO at Cointext, Vin Armani, about onboarding and adoption. “In my opinion the biggest problem that we’ve had, really, I would say since about 2014, is that we’ve had a lack of enthusiasm from entrepreneurs coming in to the space,” Armani stated. “From that time, really from the exchanges — those early exchanges, and the things that great out of them — until now, what we see is really a lack of entrepreneurial activity.” Armani went on to detail Cointext’s role in stoking that flame, and taking a chance on BCH via a unique business model. He emphasized:

Everybody’s got their 12-word phrase of their wallets. Let me tell you the most important 12-word phrase … Here are the 12 words: We take a small fee as an additional output in every transaction. Those 12 words are the 12 words that will drive all adoption.

The former reality TV star expounded on this statement, demonstrating that when merchant onboarders like Community Manager at Bitcoin.com Akane Yokoo onboard business owners, they should be incentivized to do so in order to make the process sustainable. Since BIP70 allows wallets to make multi-output transactions, sales could be set up so that with each purchase, the onboarder gets a small percentage. This is also Cointext’s revenue model.

In her own presentation about adoption, Yokoo — also the organizer of the Tokyo BCH meetup — emphasized the need to keep things simple, and to use personal connections to reach merchants. “Many people seem to think that I’m busy just going around to merchants … or that I have great special sales skills.” Yokoo stated that this is not true, but that a certain methodology helps.

The first thing is that they [businesses] have some idle time … if you go to a restaurant and see it’s not busy … this is a great chance for you. You can bring your friends, you can bring your meetup there, and bring them business.

Akane also noted that it’s vital to speak directly to managers or owners, and make receiving BCH as simple as possible for them. In an extreme example, and in a similar spirit to the underwriting initiatives in Townsville, Yokoo has even offered to buy especially hesitant merchants’ BCH revenue from them, in exchange for less volatile JPY. When explaining matters like taxes and volatility, Yokoo noted that concerned business owners can convert the currency right away and pay simple income tax, or if they wish to hold the coins, choose to pay taxes on gains as well.

Townsville business owner and no-friend-of-the-pesky-banks, Donna Kilpatrick.

Local Entrepreneurs, Practical Solutions and Fun

While most of the presentations at Bitcoin Cash City were delivered by people deep into the space, the jargon, an inner geek-proud world of all things crypto, local business owner Donna Kilpatrick served up a practical reminder of what Bitcoin has always been about: peer-to-peer electronic cash. Kilpatrick stated at the end of her speech:

Onboarding a merchant is simple, there’s no forms to fill out, there’s no tick this box, do that, stand on your head, stand on one leg, post it on this day, do that …[Just] get your smartphone, download your wallet. Good to go.

She expanded on that point, emphasizing to attendees that most merchants don’t care about the technical side of it all really. Kilpatrick maintained that if BCH acceptance helps make business better, merchants will be interested regardless. The user experience for customers at her cafe is of equal importance to the entrepreneur, noting of the QR code system, “It’s easy for them as well. It only really truly works if it’s working for me, and it’s good for you, too.” Lamenting excessive fees from banks, Kilpatrick got a big laugh and loud round of applause when she claimed: “If I can stick it to the banks in any way, I’m all in.”

Ethan Cannon, Jr. Software Developer at Code Valley, introduces the audience to the “Perpetual Happy Hour” (PH2) app.

Code Valley’s Ethan Cannon also lightened spirits when he introduced a clever new app allowing anyone in the world to buy a drink for a stranger and watch the cheer unfold in real-time. The app, called “Perpetual Happy Hour” (PH2) utilizes in-house cameras, and uses the BCH network to facilitate Patreon-network-like relationships, allowing fans to buy their favorite users — or even complete strangers — a drink.

Designer and online retailer Cameron Lee also kept things very relatable, and touched the humorous, human side of crypto, when he shared a story about his first time ever using bitcoin. Lee told the audience he set up three separate computers and devices in his home, and sent bitcoin back and forth between the machines just to make sure it really worked, but that he “still wasn’t totally convinced.” Lee went on to emphasize that for newbies, this whole crypto thing can truly be a weird new world, so understanding is important.

The city of Townsville, Queensland.

Next Year’s Bitcoin Cash City

When news.Bitcoin.com asked CEO at BitcoinBCH.com and BCH City organizer Hayden Otto if there were any plans for next year’s event, he stated:

I’ve already been talking about this actually, before this one got started, so I think this is pretty doable to make this an annual thing … maybe we can even do it more frequently later. I’m interested in taking it to locations where there is a high amount of Bitcoin Cash merchant adoption, and we can go and just support those areas that are supporting Bitcoin Cash the most.

Asked if he views Bitcoin Cash as more suited to promoting economic sovereignty and freedom than other tokens, Otto remarked, citing the block size: “Yeah I do, because I’m not being limited in any way with Bitcoin Cash.” The event organizer went on to point out that with other protocols, like BTC, block size limitations and resultant fees encumber users, further remarking that “Bitcoin Cash is the cryptocurrency with the least amount of friction.” Nodding to dedicated developers and evangelists in the space, Otto told news.Bitcoin.com these are the reasons why he’s bullish on BCH. Aside from tomorrow’s developer workshop, 2019’s Bitcoin Cash City now draws to a close. Next year awaits, and along with it many new opportunities for increasing financial freedom worldwide.

Source: news.bitcoin