#literally every article about nft i find is just

[salted-caramel-tea]

ok lets get into the creator league stuff (local essay andy is back)

I mean first and foremost what Is the creator league

its an esports tournament ran by eFuse and presented by Mr Beast. its designed as this kind of interactive league allowing fans to play with and for their favourite creators. their trailers on instagram claim that theres gonna be a full years worth of content, however Mr Beasts recent video claims the event will happen across a 10 month time frame.

so the ting that makes this event 'special' is that the creators are not listed as players in the event but as 'team managers'- which is where the creator pass comes in. Each creator has a 'pass' that allows you as a fan and viewer to join their team and participate in the league events. Each pass costs around $20 and from what ive read I believe you can only sign up to participate on behalf of one player.

obviously for reasons of fairness, not everyone who buys a pass will be able to officially compete- there is a limited number of spaces on each team and the places are won via an open qualifier Fortnite tournament where they will also be competing for a $50 k prize- although im yet to find any comment from creator league or any articles on how this money is split. But don't worry even if you don't qualify youre still entitled to a free box of mr beasts chocolate should you buy a pass before September 9th. yey.

so what's the problem with this.

I mean first of all. creators arent even required to play. they can fully just let their team do all the work in every event which might work for people like Vinnie Hacker I guess. This might be a way to try and 'even the playing field' by not giving creators with gaming backgrounds any advantage, however it makes the marketing of 'playing with your favourite creator' a little meh. also as a viewer, id be more interested in watching an event that my creator was an active participant in than just watching my streamer watch other people play on their behalf.

the other huge thing that everyone is really waiting to hear about in this post is the nft situation. so recently the narrator of the creator league announcement video, brycent, conformed that the passes are nfts to be minted on the blockchain operating system Near Protocol. so obviously people are extremely concerned about this discovered involvement in NFTs and crypto currency.

so I went to investigate the website to see what its looks like when you purchase a creator pass and unsurprisingly there is no mention on nfts anywhere. The passes are sold on mynt.gg , which according to their faqs is a 'first of its kind marketplace looking to evaluate esports through community' just have a look actually

so no mention of the passes actually being nft purchase here's . if we go to the check out as well this is what we see for the descriptors

so . people who are purchasing this have no way of actually knowing they are purchasing an nft. you also need an account to add a pass to your basket and im not willing to make an account so im unaware if at any time during the payment process people are made aware of what they are purchasing. its listed and discussed more like a membership than anything, and in a way it is there are benefits to it, however with no information as to what people are actually buying its extremely sketchy and a literally misleading purchase perhaps a scam even . since the fact that they've just purchased an not isn't listed anywhere on mynt.gg prior to purchase. and after going through a few more articles .

so theyre definitely trying to hide it from you. as mentioned you need an account to purchase anything. and you only get to know what youre purchasing if you go through the TOC, which most people don't read lets be real.

it's worth noting as well creator league is the only collection available on mynt.gg at the minute, it seems like this entire business was started FOR creator league.

after reading through the faqs again I want to correct myself and say that yes you can buy more than one pass, but only for one creator. so this seems to me like a pay to win scheme.

im not going to go super in depth into this bit bc its a topic that has already been discussed in detail but obviously a lot of people are not happy with the inclusion of nfts because of their environmental impact, the secrecy and dedication to hiding this fact that the company is involving crypto in the event itself is a little weird if u ask me. oh yeah theres been reports on twitter too that they have been blocking and deleting replies to their posts that accuse them on using crypto.

so theyre lying to you as the viewer about what they are and what youre purchasing. but it seems like theyre lying to the creators too.

again. crypto and nfts is not mentioned anywhere at all. not in the trailer, not on the website not in any announcements . only discovered when people were paying for passes bc they wanted to support their fave creators.

recently one of the listed creators Connor CDawgVA released a twitter statement conforming that he was completely blindsided by the fact that there was cryptocurrency involved in the event- if u haven't seen his tweet here

so this raises the question were creators told about their involvement with Near, or was it written using jargon that people unfamiliar with crypto would not pick up on.

CEO of TAMU Esports Dylan Liu also weighed in on the creator league misleading their creators as well here's his statements too

this isn't everything Dylan has had to say hes done a lot of discussions with people on blockchains and of the event itself as someone who has known about the event for a while, id recommend checking out his twitter if you have time he goes into depth about how much funding theyre getting from near and way more issues with creator league than I have time to explore rn .

but it really does seem that the Creator League and eFuse have gone out of their way to try and hide the fact that they are using cryptocurrency from everyone possible. This is a marketing scheme to try and trick people into buying into their market- and if you google Near Protocol right now you see that they are declining so they actively need more people to buy into their schemes.

investors are leaving Near right now. Theyre tricking people into buying into their organisation. At least thats my understanding of it im not hugely knowledgeable about crypto.

I have a headache lets just wrap this up

this is super sketchy . as of right now CDawgVA is the only creator to have withdrawn from the event, but I hope a lot of creators follow suit. its unknown to us the details of their contracts but from what we know of the event they have done everything to hide the genuine content of creator pass purchases from the viewers- making a lot of people rightfully angry that the event is trying to pull the wool over fans eyes. hiding tweets and refusing to acknowledge their involvement in crypto programmes to the point where its unclear if people like Mr Beast and any of the participating creators are aware of it is super suspicious activity. Especially with how vague their promotions have been on the event, very little information has been available on their instagram and I think it was yesterday that we actually got some kind of timeline of the event. its supposed to start like next week and so many people are still so unsure of what is actually happening in the event or what prizes theyre actually getting if they participate. there has been no redeeming quality in the way that this event has been conceived and executed and I really do hope to see that the event is cancelled or that creators start to speak out against the way that the event is being run and support the fans who feel cheated and blindsided by the organisers . I will say I do not believe any of the creators willingly involved themselves in a cryptocurrency scheme, it's all just too sketchy . and no I did not proofread this nor can I be bothered to .

#creator league #sapnap

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

i fucking hate rich people but i hate those who are into nft more than the normal ones 

“i’m investing in crypto” yes well im gonna invest you with a car 

#literally every article about nft i find is just #''this big rich person who owns idk videogames or smth asked his audience if they wanted them #the audience said no but the big rich person said im gonna do it anyway #lol'' #fuck you i hope you get stuck using internet explorer #i hope you get attacked by an ugly monkey #i hope you go to JAIL fuck you #gio rambles #i dont even remember if i can use invest instead of run over in english its funny in italian i promise

[cryptnus-blog]

Unlocking a $200 Billion Dollar Collectibles Market on the Blockchain

New Post has been published on https://cryptnus.com/2018/11/unlocking-a-200-billion-dollar-collectibles-market-on-the-blockchain/

Unlocking a $200 Billion Dollar Collectibles Market on the Blockchain

Verified Collection projectVF

Verified Collection, a tech startup based in Los Angeles, CA is building a connected world where consumers have True Digital Ownership of the physical and digital goods they collect. In my last article, I wrote about why games were poised to change blockchain forever but today, we are looking at a startup focused on unlocking a $200 billion dollar collectibles market using elements of blockchain technology without the barriers found in blockchain companies today.

The promise for blockchain and gaming to drive everyday consumers into this nascent market has caused startup entrepreneurs like Dil-Dominé J. Leonares, Founder and CEO of Verified Collection to think about creative workarounds solving the harsh reality of blockchain’s non-user friendly sign-up process. He sat down with me to explain how they plan to drive mass-consumer adoption without having the need to worry about complicated account creation workflows that hinder current blockchains.

But how does Verified Collection (VC) drive consumer adoption through blockchain technology?

Leonares insisted that Blockchain is here to stay but as with any major operating system, there are updates along the way that help you improve functionality and usability of the platform. Although, blockchain in its current form provides a proven trustless system that can exchange data between two individuals the problem lies in the microtransactions. We saw it with CryptoKitties on the Ethereum blockchain and when you get so many transactions trying to get a consensus approved on this global ledger you start to realize the limitation in blockchain technology.

“We can utilize elements of blockchain that are great while improving upon the user experience whether its on-boarding an individual or actually using this technology on a day to day basis. With the current system in place, it’s as if we’re trying to shove a square peg in a round hole when it comes to consumer applications. Instead of starting with technology, we should focus on the idea and find technology that fits it”, Leonares explained.

It’s no wonder that luminaries such as Nolan K. Bushnell, Creator of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s have decided to advise on the Verified Collection project

“I’ve always been a passionate advocate of the future, determined to find things that will be powerful and important in years to come. There are many projects taking hold in the decentralized technology space and I’ve chosen to advise Dil-Dominé and the team whom I believe will have a large impact on the future”, Bushnell told me.

Using Quantum DHT technology, similar to what BitTorrent uses, VC claim that they can create a global consensus but sign off on the transactions locally creating a decentralized peer-to-peer network while building out light and robust distributed applications. This removes the whole energy pollution caused by mining and it solves the concern over transactions per seconds while keeping the positive traits about blockchain.

Another aspect that was touched upon was the fact that there are currently no SEC or CFTC regulations for running a KYC/AML test.

“Verified Collection is a social marketplace and platform that operates by selling digital collectible goods. Just like how Epic Games uses V-Bucks to allow consumers to buy in-game skins and avatars, we allow consumers to acquire our in-platform Vyce token to purchase our digital collectibles. Vyce will never be placed on an exchange, therefore, there will never be any speculation or volatility of the in-platform token used to purchase these digital collectibles”.

Leonares further added that people will still be required to sign-up for accounts on their platform just like you would need to create an Epic Games account before you could play Fortnite.

“Who knows in the future when regulations become more concrete we might consider it but until then we will operate just like any digital platform does with in-game currency. We are also exploring partnerships with stable coins pegged to the US dollar as well”, he said.

Dil-Domine’ explained that curating collections is an innate human behavior and he is in the know on this, having been a collector for a major part of his life, from matchbox cars, action figures, POGs, quarters, stamps then moving into vinyl toys like KidRobot, Disney’s Vinylmation and most recently Funko Pops.

“Aside from that, I am also an avid gamer as well and what inspired me was watching Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One since how you can go from one world to the next. I think we all would picture how the avatars we buy in maybe Fortnite could be utilized to trade for another skin in a game like Destiny. We might not be there today but in the future, that is definitely a possibility”.

Leonares spent tonnes of money on buying into what he describes as a centralized ecosystem where there is no true digital ownership over the physical and digital goods that he collected. He insists that this is where Verified Collection comes in when you buy the first edition of a comic book and you don’t want to open it to read it. VC lets you unlock a digital copy of the comic book to read and take with you where you want to go. Who knows, maybe in the process it unlocks a skin or avatar in your favorite video game because you have the digital collectible in your collection? Imagine celebrities or known-figures creating digital collectibles and possibly being able to unlock their favorite playlist or cartoon character in video games.

“One of my collections was buying every single special edition XBOX 360 that was released and one time while traveling around the world, I had moved to the People’s Republic of China for a year. When I brought back all my XBOX 360s to the United States the guys at customs were perplexed with how many I had…” Dil-Dominé J Leonares, Founder and CEO of Verified Collection stated

But what exactly does Leonares mean by True Digital Ownership?

Digital collectibles also are known as non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the blockchain community are unique and all have a smart contract assigned to them which can house data.

“This is what excites me about our offering at Verified Collection is that even though our focus initially is solely on digital collectibles, we can now provide our 3-step TAG™ (Trusted And Guaranteed) quantum fingerprint to authenticate both physical and digital assets on what we call the Nexus”, Leonares explained.

Leonares provided the example of DeBeer’s utilizing their TAG™ to track diamonds from the mine to consumer purchase and then after that as a title-tracking system showing it moves from one person to another. This can be beneficial to the nonprofit world which can use their digital collectibles platform to drive engagement with the ever-elusive millennial market and provide new ways to drive giving while rewarding the consumer for their participation; ie Tom Shoes.

The elusive VYCE token logoVerified Collection

Another example is how brands can extend their IP into this space while building out a deeper relationship utilizing digital collectibles as a way for them to engage with the consumer where for the first time a brand could tell when the first engagement took place and when the consumer decided to transaction afterward with the digital collectible to unlock bonus content or interactive experiences.

So imagine a beverage brand like Coca-Cola releasing limited-edition digital collectibles that are seasonal and with each collectible you unlock by watching an advertisement; your name is amended to that smart contract. So if you were to walk into a convenience store you could possibly trade that collectibles or multiples of that collectibles for a digital coupon for a 2-liter bottle of Coke or if you goto a Coke-sponsored event you can trade your collectibles for a “Share your bottle with… (insert your name)” because of your name attached to the title of that digital collectible.

That’s the beauty of digital collectibles and it shows how it can be unlocked in a different way more than just having an augmented reality object you view in your phone but also be used as a certificate of authenticity that helps keep physical assets values high.

At the end of the day, what do you want people to take away from this about Verified Collection?

“I believe at the end of the day, blockchain has driven and inspired individuals like me to think outside of the box showing the possibilities to tokenize the world”.

The idea of creating a decentralized ecosystem some that are autonomous like Aragon and some like Verified Collection that helps provide this authentication and ability to truly decide what you want to do with the physical/digital goods you collect.

“That’s the beauty of the blockchain is it showed us what a trustless ecosystem could look like and now we just have to make that ecosystem more user-friendly”.

Leonares said that their goal is to build a world where the consumer has True Digital Ownership of the physical and digital goods they collect; “we want to bridge the gap between the physical world and the digital one making it as seamless and secure as possible. If we can start by showing value in such a focused market as collectibles then we can bring those learnings into other industries as well like high-end consumer goods”, he concluded.

[diyaquaponicssystems]

2 Days at a commercial aquaponics farm

Course in aquaponics on Bioaqua farm

I wanted to learn more about aquaponics on a commercial scale, so I went to the beautiful Summerset just outside Wales, a rolling landscape with hedgerows and meadows.

Along a small road has Bioaqua Farm with Antonio spearheaded set up their business with the cultivation of trout, they have four large swimming pools buried in the ground with two associated greenhouse. Two new greenhouse was about to be put up when I was there and there were even a couple of hives helped with pollination. I was the only “foreigner”, where although there were some who lived both in Brazil, South Africa and Greenland! Delightful mix of people of all ages but different amount of experience. The course was an intensive introductory course in two days alternating theory with practice.

DAY 1

Salad Aquaponics Began with the theory and history of aquaponics. The aquaponics is not at all new but already used thousands of years ago by various different peoples. We also went through different systems, pros and cons. Antonio claimed that Zipgrow Towers was equivalent to the NFT which I do not entirely agree with. The downside of NFT / zipgrow was under him that it acted as a major element, which heated the water, creating temperature fluctuations. It may well be that in certain situations with clean NFT, but it feels weird to Bright Agrotech not have pointed this out at all. Their system is much larger than Bioaqua farms.

After completing the theory that offered some interesting discussions, we went out and inspected greenhouses. They were solidly built with a wood frame and UV-protected plastic that covered too. They also had a good ventilation possibilities in hand, the plastic that you could cover for open depending on weather.

  The ebb and flow / DWC / Aero

The water is fed out to the plant beds content spirit hydrograins using a distributor controlled by a timer. When the water in the planting beds reached a certain height started a siphon that began to empty down to a line of DWC beds. A special type of Styrofoam had holes drilled in with nätkrukor which mainly lettuce grew, but other major crops.

aeroponics propagation

The abundance of these ran down into a sump which also acted as a large propagation system using sprinklers. To get the first root growth were planted cubes first in this aeroponics system for later transfer to a “nursing board” where the holes for nätkrukorna set more tightly. Finally, as they were moved over to the disk where the holes were further apart so that all the plants would get plenty of light.

clever tricks

Bioaqua farm had devised some clever ideas which nätkrukorna did not go all the way down the hole without sticking up a little bit. The reason for this was that when the plants get bigger and heavier so they weigh down the Styrofoam so much so that the water reaches the crowns which makes them rot. This was enough, however, a problem that was quite specific to their solution as they were very large and heavy plants in their DWC.

Another smart idea was to plant the seedlings in a zig zag pattern so that the water circulated better around the roots. They had also thoroughly with oxygenation with a large oxygen rock every meter in the summer and a little less in winter ( read the article on oxygen and plants ).

greenhouse Inside

Something I have not thought of, but which was very logical was that the roots became host to microorganisms in DWC system, similar to that seen in the plant bed onto Leca balls. This meant that Bioaqua farm let the plants remain until they could replace them just because the microbes would continue to work. Had they removed all the plants at once, this had probably led to problems with the mineralization.

Pisces After the tour of the greenhouses, it was time to say hello to the fishermen. They were outside in the round and buried in the bottom conical tanks in a pattern number five in a dice where the sump was in the middle. They were well protected during both net and a tent. If I remember correctly, they held a total of 100,000 liters of water in the marshes. In each tank so swam a large amount of char in different plant stages which made it very easy to “reap” on various occasions. The variety was exclusively rainbow trout as this was both tasty, durable and quickly grew. They had tested other types of trout, but these grew half as fast resulting in significantly lower returns. The only thing that was different was the texture of the meat as Antonio. They were also GMO free which was unusual in the industry.

fish feed

Bioaqua farm use only “organic” food, which means that the corn used is GMO-free. This is mixed with catches which vessels have raised. According to Antonio’s what the fish eat determines how it will taste. The trout is a predator and it is the fact that makes it taste just fish. The price of the GMO-free feed and the “organic” feed skilled not a lot in price, but when you go through a pallet of the day in large plantations begins suddenly felt. What was one of the reasons that GM feed is used more often in large plantations. If the water is not filtered properly so the fish have a slimy taste.

controls

In Britain controlled all fish farms regularly and tests taken by the water. Bioaqua farm has very good values compared to traditional fish farms, probably due to the effective filtering with aquaponics, and that they do not fill their tanks.

Clean water

To fish would taste as good as possible, it was important to filter the water properly. Therefore had Bioaqua farm set up filters between the plant bed and DWC system. Because the holes were so small they were filled quickly back and Antonio emptied them several times a day.

Filter

Time to build After lunch it was time to get practical. We would put up our own aquaponicssystem (without fish). An IBC 1000 liter acted as the fish tank. These are cheap and easy to get started, but needs to be covered over when the resin is UV-resistant and temperature would shift too much if you let it stand in the sun.

It would then build a “radial flow” filter so that solid substances would sink to the bottom. The water here would lose a plant bed filled with hydrograins and a siphon would drain the water into a DWC system. A pump with T-cross was supposed to fill in both the IBC and the NFT system on the other side. Much to do, lets go!

Radial flow filters

We were divided into two groups where one group built a radial-flow filter, while the other began to cobble together a plant bed. To build the filter was very simple, and it is difficult enough to find the right material, rather than putting it together. What was important was that the filter tank corresponding to approximately 1/4 of the large tank volume.

plant bed

Finding a plant bed of the right size is very difficult, so instead they built Bioaqua their farm with the help of wooden planks that were painted on the outside and the inside covered with plastic, very smooth. Antonio used exclusively Torx screw, and when it was time to drill holes through the plastic began his first anticlockwise not the plastic would stick in the hole saw.

Building the plant bed

It was about what we he with on a day which was not a little.

DAY 2

We banged us again in the classroom and now we went into more rules about fish and how to get hold of their first fry. The rules for the UK probably differ somewhat from Sweden which meant that this part did not give as much. It was very interesting to listen to the section on water dynamics and how to build fish tanks that performed better than others. Around and tapered at the bottom seems to be the way to go.

After the theory we were treated to lunch with fish from own cultivation. Very juicy and tasty, but it apparently took 20min to peel. Take it times 10 fish then you have some work to do. For the most part so smoked the fish and made a pâté of it was very tasty. The question came up about how the fish were raised and killed.

Fishing net

For single fish, a large landing net, but then there were different types of networks that mattered. The fewer the fish that were in the tank, the smarter they became, and the more easily escaped the all fishing effort. Finally covered the entire bottom of a net which drew up the final bottom.

An important point that Antonio took up was to use gloves when the fish’s body temperature is much lower than ours. The large difference in temperature burn otherwise the fish skin and create unnecessary suffering.

Once up, he took a firm hold of the tail and with a finger in his mouth, he broke the fast neck of the fish. The whole thing took no more than three seconds without any suffering.

More construction

Template

Now it was time to complete the system. New beds were built, but this time they were filled with water instead. Styrofoamskivor (polystyrene) normally used for floor became a “floating raft” Once the holes were drilled. To avoid having to measure out the holes each time had Bioaqua farm made a smart template with screws that formed a perfect impression when pressed together with another disc.

The second group began working with a siphon that turned out to be a real headache, but eventually began to suck water. Personally, I am not eager to build when there are many parameters to fiddle with the width of the pipe, the amount of holes in the ground and how much water is entering the bed.

The bed was filled with three sacks hydrograins, oxygen stones placed in DWC system and NFT troughs that were completed since the previous placed so that it had to tilt the DWC. All that remained now was to get some power to the pump and then everything started to circulate. A little leaks here and there, but to have put the system on two afternoons, we can be quite satisfied. Speaking of leaks as Antonio had tried everything and wanted to be absolutely sure it is not leaking so he recommended something called PU-40 is a super silicone. No idea if you can get the equivalent in Sweden but it might be worth checking out.

Summary A rewarding course in beautiful surroundings. For Bioaqua farm as the fish was the main income which is different from what I have seen and are used to. This meant that the farm was better attended than the greenhouse where some defects appeared on the plants, probably when the pH was too high in my opinion. Being aquaponicsbonde however, is a right reserved plot and sometimes lonely job where the greatest social contact occurs at the farmer’s market. Pushing for the product you have is better is also a challenge, but the only way to go if you want to get paid for what you do.

The post 2 Days at a commercial aquaponics farm appeared first on Build Your Own Aquaponics System - DIY Indoors Or Outdoors.

from Build Your Own Aquaponics System – DIY Indoors Or Outdoors http://www.diyaquaponicssystems.org/introduction-to-aquaculture/2-days-commercial-aquaponics-farm/

#Build Your Own Aquaponics System – DIY Indoors Or Outdoors