Month: January 2019

The Emergence of Digital Currency

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The Emergence of Digital Currency

By Jones William & D. S. Mitchell

“Cryptocurrency is a digital or ‘virtual’ currency that uses cryptography for security,”  Wikipedia

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

The first of two milestones in the development of cryptocurrency took place in 2008 and 2009.  The domain name bitcoin.org was registered on August 18th, 2008.  In 2009, a programmer/inventor known only by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto announced he had found a way to build a decentralized digital cash system.  The mysterious “Satoshi Nakamoto” published a paper “Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer Electronic Cash System”.  In his paper Nakamoto described a totally decentralized digital currency, with no server or central authority, thus setting the ball rolling for the emergence of digital currency.

Minimizing Duplication

Digital currencies use extremely complex encrypt sensitive data transfers to secure the units of exchange. In this regard, digital currency developers build complex code systems based on advanced computer engineering and mathematics principles. This approach renders them almost impossible to break, thus minimizing chances of duplication. The adopted protocols for digital currencies also help mask the identities of cryptocurrency users, thus making it difficult to attribute fund flows and transactions to specific people.

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I Resolve To Have a Happy New Year

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Happy New Year!

By Ross Turner

Welcome to 2019!

If it’s anything like 2018, it will be both over before you know it and close sometime in late 2035. But fret not; if the paradoxical currents of time have you feeling disoriented, it’s probably not that days-old mimosa you finally finished. It is much more likely the dizzying flurry of news, tweets, and arguments constantly vying for your attention. The country is changing and more divided than ever before, and every Tom, Dick and Harry is ready to prove it. So, in the spirit of retaining and regaining a little sanity, here are some helpful New Year’s resolution ideas for you and yours, for when 2019 is taking too long or moving too fast.

Less Face Time

I resolve

I resolve to use proper and attractive lighting

I, _______, hereby resolve to spend no longer than four hours per day on Facebook, and to limit my political arguments to two. At a time. Unless people are especially wrong, because are you really going to let that go?

I, _______, henceforth resolve to Instagram no more than one (1) meal per day and to use proper and attractive lighting so that my minced jackfruit soufflé doesn’t resemble spoiled dog food. I will also sharply limit my use of the following Snapchat filters: Big Eyes and Mouth, Big Glasses and Freckles, Crown of Flowers, Crown of Butterflies, Crown of Thorns (alleged), and Cat Ears and Nose. Dog Ears and Nose shall be used exclusively for Good Boys of the canine variety. Face-Swap is always okay.

I, _______, from this point resolve to keep my tweets to under 25 a day, to master Proper use of Capitalization and Speling, to be more consistent and transparent in my lies, to make new Fox and Friends, to learn to President good like Putin, and to finally put Eric up for adoption.

Go Outside!

Frantic bird house painting

Financially induced panic birdhouse painting

I, _______, solemnly resolve to get out in nature at least once a month, and to leave my cellphone at home. Well, maybe in the car. But I should put in my purse just in case. Hold on, I’m getting a call.

I, _______, resolutely resolve to pick up a new hobby this year, among them possibly: anxiety knitting, stress furniture-making, worry yoga, neurotic beekeeping, fret cycling, financially induced panic bird house painting, or CrossFit.

I, _______, resolve to resolve to meet new people, have their backs, help them up when they fall, carry them up wind from tear gas, bring ample water and protective gear, have a clear list of demands, make the elites tremble, fear nothing but fear itself, E pluribus unum.

You Can Do It

I, _______, here and now resolve to eat more healthily. I resolve to have a salad with every pizza, to drink more water than I get from opening my mouth under the shower head, and eat at least one entire stick of celery, for some reason. And, from now on, only unfrosted Pop-Tarts. It’s time to grow up.

I, _______, decidedly resolve to kick a few of my vices. No longer shall I have my pre-glass of wine before wine. No more will I procrastinate on the things I really need to do, starting tomorrow. Never again will I eat half a box of cookies before bed, even though they’re sitting there, right by the bed, right now, just waiting, so delicious.

I, _______, finally resolve to take care of myself, to spend more time around the good people in my life and let them know they’re appreciated, to slow down a bit and enjoy the small things, and of course, to bumble through my resolutions and sometimes fail, knowing I’ll get another chance soon enough.

With this exhaustive list of all possible resolutions in mind, there’s no way this won’t be your best year ever. And if it’s not, that’s okay. 2035 is right around the corner.

Editorial: Teen Suicide Streaming

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EDITORIAL:

Teen Suicide Streaming

By Trevor K. McNeil

Thirteen Reasons

There is often a debate about whether art is imitating life or life is imitating art. Then there are cases when the situation is clear. The thoroughly depressing Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why” is based on the Young Adult novel of the same name. The book, and now the series is a direct response to instances of teenagers, and even younger kids, posting social media videos that either directly detail their plans to commit suicide, or are released just before these  young people tragically take their own lives.

A Playlist on YouTube

So-called “suicide videos” have become so common they almost constitute a genre unto themselves. There are even playlists of them on YouTube. Let’s all just take a minute and reflect on that. Everybody thoroughly disgusted and disturbed? Good, then we’ll continue. While they came as something of a shock at first, suicide videos are really more of a natural side-effect of social media itself. Give people the ability to record and release anything and they will. For better or worse.

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The Value of Vaccinations

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The Value of Vaccinations

By Michael Leonard Douglas & D. S. Mitchell

History

Have you ever heard of the Black Death? Only in text books I’m sure. This was a time before vaccinations. In 1347 The Black Death arrived in Europe. Over the next five years the devastating epidemic would kill 20 million people in Europe alone. Prior to reaching Europe The Plague is believed to have taken the lives of over 200 million people worldwide.  The first recorded “pan epidemic”. It was one of the most devastating periods in human history.

A Scratch Or A Cut

I have wondered what it would have been like to live in a world without vaccines.  I’m sure I would have died at an early age as did most people before the modern era. The first efforts to inoculate a human being against disease was in China as early as 900 BCE. At that time smallpox was rampant in China. It was observed that if a person survived smallpox they would be immune to further outbreaks of the disease.

Chinese Physicians

To protect people from infection, ancient Chinese physicians would cut or scratch the skin of healthy people and then rub powdered smallpox scabs or fluid from pustules into the cut in the skin. Another method was to blow powdered smallpox material up the nose of a healthy person. This exposure to live bacteria and viruses was called inoculation or variolation. This was a precursor to modern vaccination. In 1700 the wife of England’s ambassador to Turkey, Lady Montagu, brought news of this Eastern practice to England.

Smallpox an Ancient Problem

Smallpox was a disfiguring and often fatal infectious disease that plagued humanity for at least 5,000 years.  In 18th century Europe smallpox was widespread and was believed to kill 3 out of every 10 people who contracted it. Of the 30% that died most were young children, making smallpox a death sentence for the most vulnerable. Many survivors were left terribly disfigured from scars from the rupturing skin pustules.

Enter Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner was an English country physician.  Dr. Jenner observed that dairy workers who had been infected with cowpox, were immune to later smallpox outbreaks. This observation led him to inoculate a boy with cowpox. Later, Jenner would infect the same boy with fresh smallpox and when no disease developed Jenner concluded that the boy was protected against smallpox. His work would lead to what would become **”attenuated vaccines”. In 1801 Jenner published his findings in his treatise, “On the Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation” Jenner summarized with the hope that “annihilation of  smallpox, the most dreadful scourge of the human species, must be the result of this practice (vaccination).”

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