Tyb
https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1715113/Prince-Andrew-The-Musical-backlash-dispute-disgusting
Oct 30, 2018
Initiative Q: Scam, pyramid scheme, or next PayPal?
In the last few days the social networks have been pushing something called Initiative Q, “launched by ex-PayPal guys to create a new payment system instead of credit cards that were designed in the 1950s.”
Q wants to “integrate the best technological improvements that have been made in the payment industry over the last few decades to create a flexible, easy-to-use and inexpensive payment network.” The Q payment system will use its own currency, the Q.
To get people to start using the system once it’s ready, they are allocating Qs for free to people that sign up now. The amount drops as more people join.
Why should you want to bother? The Q team say:
“There’s nothing to lose but if this payment system becomes a world leading payment method your Qs can be worth a lot. If you missed getting bitcoin seven years ago, you wouldn’t want to miss this.”
You can join Initiative Q only by invitation, but there are plenty of invitations around. Once you are in the system, the person who invited you must confirm you, and then you’ll have five invitations to give. I accepted an invitation received by a Facebook friend, and after confirmation I sent my own invitations.
The front page of the Q website gives an “estimated future value of next spot,” which is currently more than $50,000 for those who invite and confirm other five persons, and assuming parity between Q and USD, which is a design goal. The estimated future value when I joined was higher, so hurry up if you want to jump on board.
Some comments on the social network quickly dismiss Q as a scam, perhaps because the first venture of Q founder Saar Wilf, eventually bought by PayPal, was called “ Fraud Sciences.” My own first impression was that Q is some kind of multi-level pyramid scheme. This must be a common first impression, because it’s answered in the Q FAQ:
“Pyramid schemes collect money from new members and distribute it to earlier members. In contrast, joining initiative Q is completely free. So, clearly, there is no money to hand up the ‘pyramid’ to earlier members.”
The same FAQ makes it clear that Initiative Q has nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. In fact, privacy and decentralization, two key drivers of the cryptocurrency movement, are dismissed by the Q team as useless or worse.
“Initiative Q is designed to succeed as a mainstream payment network, which means fully complying with all laws and regulations… Initiative Q’s main goal is to achieve global adoption, and Initiative Q therefore prioritizes ease of use, stability, security, efficiency, and legality, over abstract goals like decentralization. This is a real world solution for real world problems.”
In case the attitude of the Q team toward cryptocurrencies isn’t clear, they say that one of the reasons you should join the Q network is:
“You will help reduce the enormous waste and pollution caused by Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, currently consuming as much energy as 6,000,000 households!”
The hordes of cryptocurrency enthusiasts might be tempted to retaliate by dismissing Initiative Q as a joke or a scam. But perhaps there’s more to Q than meets the eye.
FT Alphaville, a daily news and commentary service for financial market professionals operated by The Financial Times, notes that Initiative Q’s economic and monetary models were developed by Lawrence White, a well-known economics professor at George Mason University who favors the idea of free banking. Perhaps it’s the involvement of White that has pushed Q above critical mass:
“Alphaville has been contacted by a handful of people in the past 72 hours — all of them young(ish) men — about the project, and the Twittersphere is abuzz with Q chat.”
While the FT article is essentially negative, it quotes an email received by Wilf:
“Clumping [Q] with the cryptocurrency nonsense completely misses the point — we’re doing something way more interesting. It’s a way for the world to come together and solve economical problems that impact every person on the planet, which until now were unsolvable due to financial structures created centuries ago.”
According to DigitalSpy:
“[The] ultimate question on many people’s lips is: is Initiative Q real or fake? Short answer — we have absolutely no idea.”
The only detailed analysis of Q is available so far comes from David Gerard, the author of “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” (2017), who first covered Initiative Q in June. His conclusion:
“It’s not impossible they’ll get something up … but pure ideas are near-worthless. The hard part is always execution.”
https://medium.com/chainrift-research/initiative-q-scam-pyramid-scheme-or-next-paypal-54c5de5da50c
Who is John Quincy St. Clair? - Hyperspace Researcher and UFO Inventor
https://youtu.be/n6cY9_n9jT0
emory tate
@tateterrific
Chess is somewhat underrated. A cerebral exercise, for certain,yet the war strategy aspect is often overlooked. War is everywhere. Believe
8:26 AM · Dec 12, 2011
https://twitter.com/tateterrific/status/146219412544958464
International Master Emory Tate
Photo by Daaim Shabazz
Two years ago today on October 17th 2015, Emory Andrew Tate, Jr. passed away after being felled by a heart attack at a chess tournament. The world immediately went into mourning and the stories started to flow about his chess adventures. On March 11th, 2017, a biography detailing the life of this most loyal acolyte of Caissa was released to the public. It was titled, Triple Exclam: The Life and Games of Emory Tate, Chess Warrior. No expense was spared to produce a work befitting of the heart and soul he gave to chess. The book was well-received and in six months the initial 500 hardback, full-color copies were sold to admirers far and wide.
After the release of the book, many offered additional stories of his life and we will add a few here in his honor. We will also add some games that he played on the ICC. One of the most poignant messages was left by “Erob” on November 10th 2015 only weeks after Emory’s death.
https://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2017/10/17/the-legacy-of-emory-tate-continues/
@cher
SOMETHING IS COMING
6:45 PM · May 17, 2019·Tweetbot for iΟS
https://mobile.twitter.com/cher/status/1129518393378451456
@cher
ANON
12:18 PM · May 18, 2019·Tweetbot for iΟS
https://mobile.twitter.com/cher/status/1129783288015577090