position:advisor

  • Deepfakes have got Congress panicking. This is what it needs to do. - MIT Technology Review
    https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613676/deepfakes-ai-congress-politics-election-facebook-social

    In response, the House of Representatives will hold its first dedicated hearing tomorrow on deepfakes, the class of synthetic media generated by AI. In parallel, Representative Yvette Clarke will introduce a bill on the same subject. A new research report released by a nonprofit this week also highlights a strategy for coping when deepfakes and other doctored media proliferate.

    The deepfake bill
    The draft bill, a product of several months of discussion with computer scientists, disinformation experts, and human rights advocates, will include three provisions. The first would require companies and researchers who create tools that can be used to make deepfakes to automatically add watermarks to forged creations.

    The second would require social-media companies to build better manipulation detection directly into their platforms. Finally, the third provision would create sanctions, like fines or even jail time, to punish offenders for creating malicious deepfakes that harm individuals or threaten national security. In particular, it would attempt to introduce a new mechanism for legal recourse if people’s reputations are damaged by synthetic media.

    “This issue doesn’t just affect politicians,” says Mutale Nkonde, a fellow at the Data & Society Research Institute and an advisor on the bill. “Deepfake videos are much more likely to be deployed against women, minorities, people from the LGBT community, poor people. And those people aren’t going to have the resources to fight back against reputational risks.”

    But the technology has advanced at a rapid pace, and the amount of data required to fake a video has dropped dramatically. Two weeks ago, Samsung demonstrated that it was possible to create an entire video out of a single photo; this week university and industry researchers demoed a new tool that allows users to edit someone’s words by typing what they want the subject to say.

    It’s thus only a matter of time before deepfakes proliferate, says Sam Gregory, the program director of Witness. “Many of the ways that people would consider using deepfakes—to attack journalists, to imply corruption by politicians, to manipulate evidence—are clearly evolutions of existing problems, so we should expect people to try on the latest ways to do those effectively,” he says.

    The report outlines a strategy for how to prepare for such an impending future. Many of the recommendations and much of the supporting evidence also aligns with the proposals that will appear in the House bill.

    The report found that current investments by researchers and tech companies into deepfake generation far outweigh those into deepfake detection. Adobe, for example, has produced many tools to make media alterations easier, including a recent feature for removing objects in videos; it has not, however, provided a foil to them.

    The result is a mismatch between the real-world nature of media manipulation and the tools available to fight it. “If you’re creating a tool for synthesis or forgery that is seamless to the human eye or the human ear, you should be creating tools that are specifically designed to detect that forgery,” says Gregory. The question is how to get toolmakers to redress that imbalance.

    #Deepfake #Fake_news #Synthetic_media #Médias_de_synthèse #Projet_loi

  • #Niger, part 3 : Guns won’t win the war

    After an ambush killed four US special forces and five local soldiers in #Tongo_Tongo, a village in the northern part of the #Tillabéri region close to Niger’s border with Mali, Boubacar Diallo’s phone rang constantly.

    That was back in October 2017. Journalists from around the world were suddenly hunting for information on Aboubacar ‘petit’ Chapori, a lieutenant of #Islamic_State_in_the_Greater_Sahara, or #ISGS – the jihadist group that claimed the attack.

    Diallo, an activist who had been representing Fulani herders in peace negotiations with Tuareg rivals, had met Chapori years earlier. He was surprised by his rapid – and violent – ascent.

    But he was also concerned. While it was good that the brewing crisis in the remote Niger-Mali borderlands was receiving some belated attention, Diallo worried that the narrow focus on the jihadist threat – on presumed ISGS leaders Chapori, Dondou Cheffou, and Adnan Abou Walid Al Sahrawi – risked obscuring the real picture.

    Those concerns only grew later in 2017 when the G5 Sahel joint force was launched – the biggest military initiative to tackle jihadist violence in the region, building on France’s existing Operation Barkhane.

    Diallo argues that the military push by France and others is misconceived and “fanning the flames of conflict”. And he says the refusal to hold talks with powerful Tuareg militants in #Mali such as Iyad Ag Ghaly – leader of al-Qaeda-linked JNIM, or the Group for the support of Islam and Muslims – is bad news for the future of the region.

    Dialogue and development

    Niger Defence Minister Kalla Moutari dismissed criticism over the G5 Sahel joint force, speaking from his office in Niamey, in a street protected by police checkpoints and tyre killer barriers.

    More than $470 million has been pledged by global donors to the project, which was sponsored by France with the idea of coordinating the military efforts of Mauritania, Mali, #Burkina_Faso, Niger, and Chad to fight insurgencies in these countries.

    “It’s an enormous task to make armies collaborate, but we’re already conducting proximity patrols in border areas, out of the spotlight, and this works,” he said.

    According to Moutari, however, development opportunities are also paramount if a solution to the conflict is to be found.

    "Five years from now, the whole situation in the Sahel could explode.”

    He recalled a meeting in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, in early December 2018, during which donors pledged $2.7 billion for programmes in the Sahel. “We won’t win the war with guns, but by triggering dynamics of development in these areas,” the minister said.

    A European security advisor, who preferred not to be identified, was far more pessimistic as he sat in one of the many Lebanese cafés in the Plateau, the central Niamey district where Western diplomats cross paths with humanitarian workers and the city’s upper-class youth.

    The advisor, who had trained soldiers in Mali and Burkina Faso, said that too much emphasis remained on a military solution that he believed could not succeed.

    “In Niger, when new attacks happen at one border, they are suddenly labelled as jihadists and a military operation is launched; then another front opens right after… but we can’t militarise all borders,” the advisor said. If the approach doesn’t change, he warned, “in five years from now, the whole situation in the Sahel could explode.”

    Tensions over land

    In his home in east Niamey, Diallo came to a similar conclusion: labelling all these groups “jihadists” and targeting them militarily will only create further problems.

    To explain why, he related the long history of conflict between Tuaregs and Fulanis over grazing lands in north Tillabéri.

    The origins of the conflict, he said, date back to the 1970s, when Fulani cattle herders from Niger settled in the region of Gao, in Mali, in search of greener pastures. Tensions over access to land and wells escalated with the first Tuareg rebellions that hit both Mali and Niger in the early 1990s and led to an increased supply of weapons to Tuareg groups.

    While peace agreements were struck in both countries, Diallo recalled that 55 Fulani were killed by armed Tuareg men in one incident in Gao in 1997.

    After the massacre, some Fulani herders escaped back to Niger and created the North Tillabéri Self-Defence Militia, sparking a cycle of retaliation. More than 100 people were killed in fighting before reconciliation was finally agreed upon in 2011. The Nigerien Fulani militia dissolved and handed its arms to the Nigerien state.

    “But despite promises, our government abandoned these ex-fighters in the bush with nothing to do,” Diallo said. “In the meantime, a new Tuareg rebellion started in Mali in 2012.”

    The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (known as MUJAO, or MOJWA in English), created by Arab leaders in Mali in 2011, exploited the situation to recruit among Fulanis, who were afraid of violence by Tuareg militias. ISGS split from MUJAO in 2015, pledging obedience to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

    Diallo believes dialogue is the only way out of today’s situation, which is deeply rooted in these old intercommunal rivalries. “I once met those Fulani fighters who are the manpower of MUJAO and now of ISGS, and they didn’t consider themselves as jihadists,” he said. “They just want to have money and weapons to defend themselves.”

    He said the French forces use Tuareg militias, such as GATIA (the Imghad Tuareg Self-Defence Group and Allies) and the MSA (Movement for the Salvation of Azawad), to patrol borderlands between Mali and Niger. Fulani civilians were killed during some of these patrols in Niger in mid-2018, further exacerbating tensions.

    According to a UN report, these militias were excluded from an end of the year operation by French forces in Niger, following government requests.

    ‘An opportunistic terrorism’

    If some kind of reconciliation is the only way out of the conflict in Tillabéri and the neighbouring Nigerien region of Tahoua, Mahamadou Abou Tarka is likely to be at the heart of the Niger government’s efforts.

    The Tuareg general leads the High Authority for the Consolidation of Peace, a government agency launched following the successive Tuareg rebellions, to ensure peace deals are respected.

    “In north Tillabéri, jihadists hijacked Fulani’s grievances,” Abou Tarka, who reports directly to the president, said in his office in central Niamey. “It’s an opportunistic terrorism, and we need to find proper answers.”

    The Authority – whose main financial contributor is the European Union, followed by France, Switzerland, and Denmark – has launched projects to support some of the communities suffering from violence near the Malian border. “Water points, nurseries, and state services helped us establish a dialogue with local chiefs,” the general explained.

    “Fighters with jihadist groups are ready to give up their arms if incursions by Tuareg militias stop, emergency state measures are retired, and some of their colleagues released from prison.”

    Abou Tarka hailed the return to Niger from Mali of 200 Fulani fighters recruited by ISGS in autumn 2018 as the Authority’s biggest success to date. He said increased patrolling on the Malian side of the border by French forces and the Tuareg militias - Gatia and MSA - had put pressure on the Islamist fighters to return home and defect.

    The general said he doesn’t want to replicate the programme for former Boko Haram fighters from the separate insurgency that has long spread across Niger’s southern border with Nigeria – 230 of them are still in a rehabilitation centre in the Diffa region more than two years after the first defected.

    “In Tillabéri, I want things to be faster, so that ex-fighters reintegrate in the local community,” he said.

    Because these jihadist fighters didn’t attack civilians in Niger – only security forces – it makes the process easier than for ex-Boko Haram, who are often rejected by their own communities, the general said. The Fulani ex-fighters are often sent back to their villages, which are governed by local chiefs in regular contact with the Authority, he added.

    A member of the Nigerien security forces who was not authorised to speak publicly and requested anonymity said that since November 2018 some of these Fulani defectors have been assisting Nigerien security forces with border patrols.

    However, Amadou Moussa, another Fulani activist, dismissed Abou Tarka’s claims that hundreds of fighters had defected. Peace terms put forward by Fulani militants in northern Tillabéri hadn’t even been considered by the government, he said.

    “Fighters with jihadist groups are ready to give up their arms if incursions by Tuareg militias stop, emergency state measures are retired, and some of their colleagues released from prison,” Moussa said. The government, he added, has shown no real will to negotiate.

    Meanwhile, the unrest continues to spread, with the French embassy releasing new warnings for travellers in the border areas near Burkina Faso, where the first movements of Burkinabe refugees and displaced people were registered in March.

    https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/special-report/2019/04/15/niger-part-3-guns-conflict-militancy
    #foulani #ISIS #Etat_islamique #EI #Tuareg #terrorisme #anti-terrorisme #terres #conflit #armes #armement #North_Tillabéri_Self-Defence_Militia #MUJAO #MOJWA #Movement_for_Oneness_and_Jihad_in_West_Africa #Mauritanie #Tchad

    @reka : pour mettre à jour la carte sur l’Etat islamique ?
    https://visionscarto.net/djihadisme-international

  • A Beginners Guide to Federated Learning
    https://hackernoon.com/a-beginners-guide-to-federated-learning-b29e29ba65cf?source=rss----3a814

    We predict growth of Federated Learning, a new framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) model development that is distributed over millions of mobile devices. Federated Learning models are hyper personalized for an user, involve minimum latencies, low infra overheads and are privacy preserved by design. This article is a beginner level primer for Federated Learning.Disclaimer: the author is an investor and advisor in the Federated Learning startup S20.ai. In case you are wondering, S20 stands for “Software 2.0”.The AI market is dominated by tech giants such as #google, Amazon and Microsoft, offering cloud-based AI solutions and APIs. In the traditional AI methods sensitive user data are sent to the servers where models are trained.Recently we are seeing the beginning of a decentralized (...)

    #federated-learning #artificial-intelligence #machine-learning #cloud-computing

  • ’The formation of an educated class must be averted’: How Israel marginalized Arabs from the start - Israel News - Haaretz.com
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-avert-the-formation-of-an-educated-class-israel-marginalized-arabs

    As early as 60 years ago, Israel’s political leadership gave up on the attempt to integrate the country’s Arabs and grant them equal citizenship. A document drawn up for an internal discussion in Mapai, the ruling party and forerunner of Labor, in September 1959, proposed the implementation of policy based on the following approach: “We should continue to exhaust all the possibilities [inherent in] the policy of communal divisiveness that bore fruit in the past and has succeeded in creating a barrier – even if at times artificial – between certain segments of the Arab population.”

    • Documents from Israel’s first decades reveal the leadership’s efforts to divide and alienate the Arab citizenry
      Adam Raz | Mar. 28, 2019 | 10:26 PM

      “There’s no place for illusions that this combination [of tactics] could turn the Arabs into loyal citizens, but over time it will reduce to some extent the open hostility and prevent its active expression.” – From a document containing recommendations for dealing with the Arab minority in Israel, September 1959, Labor Party Archives

      As early as 60 years ago, Israel’s political leadership gave up on the attempt to integrate the country’s Arabs and grant them equal citizenship. A document drawn up for an internal discussion in Mapai, the ruling party and forerunner of Labor, in September 1959, proposed the implementation of policy based on the following approach: “We should continue to exhaust all the possibilities [inherent in] the policy of communal divisiveness that bore fruit in the past and has succeeded in creating a barrier – even if at times artificial – between certain segments of the Arab population.”

      The assessment that the Arab public would never be loyal to the Jewish state remained entrenched in the following decade as well. For example, it underlay a lengthy document written by Shmuel Toledano, the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Arab affairs. In July 1965, the document served as the point of departure for a top-secret discussion between Toledano and the heads of the Shin Bet security service, the Mossad, the Israel Police, the Foreign Ministry and the Education Ministry (representatives of the Arab public weren’t invited).

      According to the document, “We must not demand from the Arab minority loyalty in the full sense of the word, to the point of identifying with the goals of a Jewish state (ingathering of the exiles and other values related to the national and religious way of life of the Jewish people). Such a demand is neither practical nor legitimate.” Instead, “We should strive for the Arabs’ passive acceptance of the state’s existence and for them to become law-abiding citizens.”

      These two documents address diverse issues having to do with the life of Israel’s Arab citizens. They help illuminate the state leadership’s official efforts to prevent the politicization of Arab society as well as its resistance to the emergence of a modern leadership among the country’s Arabs. These discussions were held, it bears noting, at a time when the majority of the Arab community in Israel (the exception being residents of Haifa and Jaffa) lived under a military regime – which was not lifted until 1966 – that included a permanent night curfew and a need for permits for traveling in the country.

      One item on the agenda of the 1965 discussion was the “Arab intelligentsia” in Israel. The document drawn up in that connection stated emphatically, “The formation of a broad educated class must be averted as far as possible.” Reason: An educated class tends to adopt “positions of radical leadership.” Accordingly, the document recommended “gradual solutions.” For example, “The entry of Arab students into institutions of higher learning should not be encouraged, but into professions and industries that hold the promise of appropriate employment.” The document elaborates: natural sciences and medicine – yes; humanities and law – no.

      The core of the Toledano document is its recommendation to block creation of political associations among the Arabs “in order to prevent the establishment of separate political entities on a national basis.” From the state’s point of view, the Arab electorate should manifest itself in the form of support for the Zionist parties. The latter, for their part, should open “their gates” to the Arabs and integrate them into their ranks “gradually and experimentally.”

      The grounds for this approach can be found in the 1959 document. It states that the policy of divisiveness pursued so far regarding the Arab population “has allowed the state, during the period of its existence, to prevent the consolidation of the Arab minority into a united bloc, and in large measure has given the leaders of each community an outlet to deal with their communal affairs instead of with general Arab affairs.”

      A perusal of the documents generates a feeling of sad irony. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the Israeli leadership acted vigorously to prevent the establishment of independent Arab political parties. The aim was to have slates of Arab candidates appended to the Zionist slates via “satellite parties,” and for Arab representatives to be guaranteed places in the parent parties. In other words, independent Arab parties conflicted with the establishment’s interests.

      Today, in contrast to the establishment’s position at the time, the Arab parties are independent entities, while the Zionist parties have hardly any Arab representatives. But this is an illusory reversal: Substantively, little has changed. Whereas the goal of integrating Arabs into the Zionist parties in the country’s first decades was intended to depoliticize the Arab community, their displacement from the big parties today only preserves the separation between the peoples and distances the Arab community from the centers of decision-making. If at the outset the Arabs were a fig leaf, today they have become a scapegoat.

      In opposition 70 years

      Even today, separation remains the underlying rationale of the near-absence of Arab MKs in the center-left parties. Not only does the current situation reflect the will of the parties’ leaders (which include parties that don’t even have a primary), at times they seem to be competing among themselves over who is most hostile to “the Arabs.” The Labor Party, for example, has shown in recent years that it has no interest in true activity by Arabs within it, and its slate of Knesset candidates doesn’t guarantee a realistic slot for an Arab representative. Similarly, among the first 40 places on the Kahol Lavan ticket, there is only one Druze woman, in 25th place.

      The Mapai document states that “stable rule in the country is inconceivable with most of the Arab minority in the opposition.” That evaluation has been refuted. The Arab public has been in the opposition for 70 years, lacking any real strength, even though this is not what most Arab citizens want. A survey commissioned by Haaretz before the 2015 election campaign found that 60 percent of the Arab community would like to join the government, and only half the respondents made this conditional on its being a left-wing government.

      The Arabs would like to play a concrete role in the decision- and policy-making processes. Electorally, this poses a threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule. At the same time, it’s clear that his opponents are toeing the same line, explaining to the public that “the Arabs” are beyond the pale, and even factoring them into an equation of “neither Kahane nor Balad” – referring an unwillingness to contemplate either a coalition or even a blocking majorith with either the far-right Otzmat Yisrael party or the nationalist Arab party Balad.

      In this sense, keeping the peoples apart no longer necessitates segregation that’s maintained by ordinances and regulations. The military government may have been abolished, but its spirit still rules, on the right, in the center, on the left – everywhere.

  • Biometric #geopresence with Tarik Tali of Taliware
    https://hackernoon.com/biometric-geopresence-with-tarik-tali-of-taliware-5b5fe19343a8?source=rs

    Episode 33 of the Hacker Noon Podcast: An interview with Tarik Tali, the CEO and founder of Taliware.Listen to the interview on iTunes, or Google Podcast, or watch on YouTube.https://medium.com/media/4a4c1213ad4513fd92a7e11270a6f5c6/hrefIn this episode Trent Lapinski and Tarik Tali meetup at #startup Grind and talk about his new biometric geopresence app now available on the App Store, and the implications of this emerging technology. Disclosure: Trent is an advisor on this project.“We do #geolocation, geopresence verification, we tether the phone to the owner, and the location where they are.”“What we did, our system actually has a calendar, and it tracks every day separately and stores it in the cloud. All your checkins, if you go to Starbucks and purchase coffee, you checkin, and you use (...)

    #startup-grind #hacker-noon-podcast

  • Un autre hiver... un de plus...
    Winter conditions add to migrant hardship in northern Greece

    Freezing weather is exacerbating difficult conditions for migrants in overcrowded refugee camps in northern Greece. Last week the cold spell led to a protest by dozens of migrants at a camp near Thessaloniki. Greek officials have blamed the number of people flooding into the camp from the islands and across the Turkish border. But could the situation have been prevented?

    Harsh winter conditions hit northern Greece a few days into the new year, bringing sub-zero temperatures, strong winds, snow and ice. In the Diavata refugee camp near the port city of Thessaloniki, several hundred people are struggling with basic survival. Yet every week, despite the weather conditions, more continue to arrive.

    “They don’t think about this kind of thing, they just want to move on,” said one man at Diavata after another Afghan family arrived in the snow. “They just think that in the next stage from Turkey, when they go to Greece, everything will be fine.”

    Camp protests

    When they reach Diavata, the migrants find the reality is different. The camp is full to capacity, with around 800 registered asylum seekers. On top of these, there are between 500 and 650 people living at the site without having been registered by migration authorities.

    “Most of them have built their own makeshift shelters and tents, which are not providing them with the protection needed,” says Mike Bonke, the Greece country director of the Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB), an NGO providing support services to Diavata. “They have no (safe) heating, washing and sanitation and cooking facilities.”

    Last week, the difficult conditions prompted around 40 migrants to hold a protest outside the camp, burning tires and blockading the road. A truck driver tried to get through the barricade resulting in a fight which left one man in hospital.

    The driver lost his patience and started swearing at the migrants, who threw rocks and broke his windscreen, reports said. The driver and four migrants were charged with causing grievous bodily harm, according to the Greek daily, Katherimini.

    Conditions create health concerns

    Diavata is just one of a number of migrant facilities in northern Greece to have been affected by the cold snap. An NGO contacted by InfoMigrants said that Orestiada, near the Evros river to the east, was covered in snow. Migrants in the critically overcrowded camps on the islands too are contending with snow, frozen water pipes and icy roads.

    According to the ASB, the refugee reception camps lack resources to cope with the current conditions. “Healthcare services at all (refugee reception) sites are not adequate,” Bonke says.

    Agis Terzidis, an advisor to the Greek Minister of Health and Vice-President of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) which coordinates healthcare provision to migrants and refugees, admits that the cold weather, in addition to the poor conditions and overcrowding in the camps, is exacerbating migrants’ health problems. “We have people living in conditions that are not acceptable for anyone,” he says.

    National health system must step up

    In response to the worsening situation, there are plans to boost EU-funded medical teams operating in camps throughout the country, including the islands, Agis Terzidis says. But he told InfoMigrants that from now on, more pressure would be put on the Greek national health system and local hospitals to tackle the problem, rather than medical staff in the camps themselves.

    Terzidis also insisted that fixing the situation in the camps was “not in the mandate” of the CDC, as it was chiefly a result of greater numbers of people arriving and consequent overcrowding.

    Instead, the CDC’s main priority remains vaccinating migrants to prevent outbreaks of hepatitis, measles and other infectious diseases. It also focuses on treating those suffering from chronic diseases, some of whom will likely succumb to the harsh winter conditions.

    Too many people

    With more bleak weather predicted, a vegetable garden is being planned in the Diavata camp, giving the residents something to look forward to. That will have to be abandoned if more people start to arrive when the weather improves.

    The camps continue to be under pressure from the large and unpredictable numbers of arrivals. Currently there are around 20 arrivals per week at Diavata, but that could quickly escalate to hundreds. So far, Greek authorities do not seem to have taken steps to limit how many end up at the camps seeking protection.

    I think we can all agree that this situation should have been solved by registering these refugees in the Greek Migration system and providing them with dignified and safe shelters.
    _ Mike Bonke, Greece country director, Arbeiter Samariter Bund

    As both government and army staff and their NGO colleagues in the camps remain powerless to solve the problem of overcrowding, their main task will be to protect migrants from harm and exposure as the winter enters its coldest months.

    http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/14401/winter-conditions-add-to-migrant-hardship-in-northern-greece
    #Grèce #asile #migrations #réfugiés #camps_de_réfugiés #neige #froid #Salonique #Softex #Diavata #résistance #protestation

  • AGSIW | Saudi Arabia Sings a Nationalist Tune
    https://agsiw.org/saudi-arabia-sings-a-nationalist-tune

    With a majority youth population, Saudi Arabia has turned to new forms of communication to reach its population. One of the most influential leaders of this campaign is Turki Al Sheikh, a childhood friend of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Al Sheikh is a larger-than-life figure in the crown prince’s close inner circle. He is an advisor to the Royal Court and had been the head of the General Sports Authority until he was recently appointed the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority.

    Très intéressant aussi sur le site,

    Let Me Entertain You: Saudi Arabia’s New Enthusiasm for Fun Social outings with mixed genders, open cinemas, and performing arts represent a dramatic reversal from the past when Saudis pursued their amusements in private or abroad. What explains the government’s new enthusiasm for fun?
    https://agsiw.org/let-me-entertain-you-saudi-arabias-new-enthusiasm-for-fun

    #arabie_saoudite

  • How can a name undermine your product ?
    https://hackernoon.com/naming-cost-ea19abbc2648?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

    Getting attached to the name of something you’ve been working on is understandable. But that attachment can cloud your judgment.We’re building a #startup that offers weight loss coaching focused on small changes. Since our customers team up with a coach, we initially called our product Tandem. The name worked, we acquired a reasonable domain (jointandem.com), and we were happy with it. But before we launched, we realized that there may be trademark issues (e.g. Tandem Diabetes is a $2B publicly traded company), so we resolved to rename the product.It sucked. We knew what we wanted from a name — easy to say, easy to spell, an ok domain name — but every idea we came up with seemed weak. We asked our friends and advisors for their thoughts on some of the alternative names we came up with, and the (...)

    #naming #marketing #startup-name #validation

  • Egypt backs out of verbal agreement on 4-7 year timeframe to fill Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir | MadaMasr

    https://madamasr.com/en/2018/09/27/feature/politics/egypt-backs-out-of-verbal-agreement-on-4-7-year-timeframe-to-fill-ethiopia

    The irrigation ministers of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan met on Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to be briefed on the latest recommendations on the timeframe to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s reservoir, a contentious issue that has long driven a wedge between the parties amid fears of the impact on downstream water supply.

    A 15-member scientific study group, comprised of five scientists and researchers from each country, presented its findings on Tuesday to Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity Seleshi Bekele, along with his Egyptian and Sudanese counterparts, Mohamed Abdel Aty and Khadr Mohamed Qasmallah.

    No specific conclusions emerged officially from the meeting, the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation announced through the state-owned MENA news agency on Wednesday. The statement affirmed that all parties are committed to continuing talks, without providing further details.

    Yet an Ethiopian diplomatic source, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, says that there was an initial verbal agreement between the parties, which Cairo has since backed away from.

    “The ministers reviewed what the team has been doing during the past three months and consulted on a way forward,” Teferra Beyene, advisor to Ethiopia’s Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, tells Mada Masr.

    While the study group’s findings have not been officially disclosed, the Ethiopian source tells Mada Masr that the team recommended the 74 billion cubic meter dam reservoir be filled over four to seven years, depending on the amount of rainfall and intensity of the Nile’s water flow.

    Following the presentation of the report, the source described Ethiopia and Sudan’s ministers as immediately accepting the recommendations, and expressing a readiness to begin work on a joint declaration to bind the parties to these terms.

    While the Egyptian delegation verbally accepted the report’s findings at first, it later said it would need more time to consider, the source explains. “The Egyptian delegation changed their minds and refused to sign the agreement. Instead, they want first to consult at headquarters and come to a decision.”

    The four-to-seven-year window falls outside the timeframe Cairo has pushed for to fill the dam. An Egyptian diplomat told Mada Masr at the close of August that Cairo’s concerns have centered around the pace at which the dam’s reservoirs would be filled, and that this issue was the subject of “tough and elaborate talks.”

  • L’article d’une DJ israélienne à propos des annulations récentes. Quelques points à noter :
    1) elle n’est pas surprise de l’annulation de Lana del Rey
    2) elle est surprise en revanche de l’annulation de DJs, car ce milieu n’était pas touché par la politique et BDS, et elle se demande si ce n’est pas le début de quelque chose...
    3) elle cite Gaza, la loi sur l’Etat Nation, les arrestations d’activistes à l’aéroport, mais aussi la proximité entre Trump et Netanyahu, qui influence surtout les artistes américains
    4) on apprend que tout le monde sait qu’il y a des artistes, et non des moindres, qui même s’ils ne le disent pas ouvertement, ne viendront jamais en israel : Beyoncé, The Knife, Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, Deerhunter, Sonic Youth, Lil Yachty, Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Vince Staples, Moodymann, Kyle Hall, the Martinez Brothers, Ben UFO, DJ Ricardo Villalobos, Matthew Herbert, Andrew Weatherall... C’est ce qu’on appelle le boycott silencieux...
    5) il y a aussi le cas de ceux qui ne viennent que si les concerts sont organisés par des Palestiniens : Acid Arab et Nicolas Jaar
    6) même si cela me semble faux, le fait d’accuser certains artistes de boycotter parce que c’est à la mode est un aveu que BDS a le vent en poupe dans le milieu de la musique

    The Day the Music Died : Will BDS Bring Tel Aviv’s Club Scene to a Standstill ?
    Idit Frenkel, Haaretz, le 7 septembre 2018
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-day-the-music-died-will-bds-halt-tel-aviv-s-club-scen

    Lana Del Rey should have known better. And if not Del Rey herself, then at least her managers, PR people and agents.

    As the highest-profile artist who was scheduled to appear at the Meteor Festival over the weekend in the north, it was clear she’d be the one caught in the crossfire , the one boycott groups would try to convince to ditch an appearance in Israel. That’s the same crossfire with diplomatic, moral and economic implications that confronted Lorde, Lauryn Hill and Tyler, the Creator: musicians who announced performances in Israel and changed their minds because of political pressure.

    Del Rey, however, isn’t the story. Her cancellation , which included some mental gymnastics as far as her positions were concerned, could have been expected. Unfortunately, we’ve been there many times and in many different circumstances.

    Tsunami of cancellations

    The ones who caught us unprepared by drafting an agenda for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict turned out to be DJs like Shanti Celeste, Volvox, DJ Seinfeld, Python and Leon Vynehall, who also dropped out of Meteor. Why was this unexpected? Because Israel’s nightlife and clubbing scene – especially in Tel Aviv – had been an oasis regarding cultural boycotts, an extraterritorial hedonistic space with no room for politics.

    The current tsunami of cancellations, while it might sound trivial if you’re untutored in trance music, could reflect a trend with effects far beyond the Meteor Festival. In the optimistic scenario, this is a one-off event that has cast the spotlight on lesser-known musicians as well. In the pessimistic scenario, this is the end of an era in which the clubbing scene has been an exception.

    Adding credence to the change-in-direction theory are the cancellations by DJs who have spun in Tel Aviv in recent years; Volvox, Shanti Celeste and Leon Vynehall have all had their passports stamped at Ben-Gurion Airport. And those times the situation wasn’t very different: Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister, the occupation was decades long and there were sporadic exchanges of fire between the sides.

    Moreover, two of the DJs spearheading the struggle on the nightlife scene regarding Mideast politics – the Black Madonna and Anthony Naples – have been here, enjoyed themselves, been honored and promised to return, until they discovered there’s such a thing as the occupation.

    Americans and Brits cancel more

    So what has changed since 2015? First, there has been a change on the Gaza border, with civilians getting shot. These incidents have multiplied in the past three months and don’t exactly photograph well.

    Second, news reports about the nation-state law and the discrimination that comes with it have done their bit. Third, the arrests and detentions of left-wing activists entering Israel haven’t remained in a vacuum.

    Fourth, and most importantly, is Donald Trump’s presidency and his unconditional embrace of Netanyahu, including, of course, the controversial opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. As in the case of Natalie Portman’s refusal to accept a prize from the state, the closeness between the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government – under the sponsorship of evangelical Christians – has made Israel a country non grata in the liberal community, of which Hollywood is one pole and nightlife the other.

    It’s no coincidence that the DJs canceling are either Americans or Brits on the left; that is, Democrats or Jeremy Corbyn supporters in Labour – people who see cooperation with Israel as collaboration with Trump and Britain’s Conservative government.

    Different from them is Honey Dijon, the black trans DJ from Chicago who in response to the protest against her appearance at the Meteor Festival tweeted: “All of you people criticizing me about playing in Israel, when you come to America and stand up for the murder of black trans women and the prison industrial complex of black men then we can debate. I play for people not governments.” Not many people tried to argue with her. Say what you will, contrarianism is always effective.

    The case of DJ Jackmaster

    Beyond the issue of values, at the image level, alleged collaboration can be a career killer, just as declaring a boycott is the last word in chic for your image nowadays. That’s exactly what has happened with Scotland’s DJ Jackmaster, who has gone viral with his eventual refusal to perform at Tel Aviv’s Block club. He posted a picture of the Palestinian flag with a caption saying you have to exploit a platform in order to stand up for those who need it. The flood of responses included talk about boycotting all Tel Aviv, not just the Block.

    Yaron Trax is the owner of the Block; his club is considered not only the largest and most influential venue in town but also an international brand. Trax didn’t remain silent; on his personal Facebook account he mentioned how a few weeks before Jackmaster’s post his agent was still trying to secure the gig for him at the Block.

    “Not my finest hour, but calling for a boycott of my club at a time when an artist is trying to play there felt to me like crossing a line,” Trax says. “Only after the fact, and especially when I saw how his post was attracting dozens of hurtful, belligerent and racist responses – and generating a violent discourse that I oppose – did I realize how significant it was.”

    Trax talks about the hatred that has welled up in support of Jackmaster’s Israel boycott – just between us, not the sharpest tool in the shed and someone who has recently been accused of sexual harassment. As Trax puts it, “The next day it was important to me to admonish myself, first off, and then all those who chose to respond the way they responded.”

    In a further well-reasoned post, Trax wrote, “I have always thought that people who take a risk and use the platform that is given to them to transmit a message they believe in, especially one that isn’t popular, deserve admiration and not intimidation or silencing.” Unsurprisingly, the reactions to this message were mostly positive.

    Notwithstanding the boycotters who have acceded to the demands of Roger Waters and Brian Eno – the most prominent musicians linked to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement – there are plenty of superstar musicians like Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and the Rolling Stones who have come to Israel as part of their concert tours, even though they suffered the same pressures. The performers most vocal about their decision to appear in Israel have been Radiohead and Nick Cave.

    At a press conference on the eve of his concert, Cave expressed his opinion on the demand to boycott Israel: “It suddenly became very important to make a stand, to me, against those people who are trying to shut down musicians, to bully musicians, to censor musicians and to silence musicians.”

    Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke took the message one step further and tweeted: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government. We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America.” As Yorke put it, music, art and academia are “about crossing borders, not building them.”

    There’s a lot of truth in Yorke’s declaration, but whether or not musicians like it, appearances in Israel tend to acquire a political dimension; any statement becomes a potential international incident. Thus, for example, after Radiohead’s statement, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan saluted the band, and after Cave’s press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted “Bravo Nick Cave!”

    The trend continues when we step down a league from the A-listers, like Beyoncé, who doesn’t intend to perform in Israel despite her annual declaration that she’ll come “next year.” There’s the second level, the cream of international alternative rock and pop – refusals to appear in Israel by bands “of good conscience” like the Knife, Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire and Deerhunter.

    The most prominent voice from this territory is that of former Sonic Youth guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore. Yes, he appeared with his band in Tel Aviv 23 years ago, but since then he has become an avid supporter of BDS, so much so that he says it’s not okay to eat hummus because it’s a product of the occupation.

    ’Apartheid state’

    At the next level of refusers are the major – and minor – hip-hop stars. In addition to Lil Yachty and Tyler, who canceled appearances, other heroes of the genre like Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper and Vince Staples have refused from the outset to accept invitations to Israel. It’s quite possible that the connection between BDS and Black Lives Matter is influential. As early as 2016, Black Lives Matter published a statement supporting BDS and declaring Israel an “apartheid state.”

    Which brings us to electronic music and the cultural phenomenon that goes with it – the club culture. In numerical terms, club culture is smaller, but the information that flows from it on the ground or online flows much faster.

    Moreover, not only is club culture more sensitive to changes and far more alert to ideas and technological advances, its history is marked by struggles by oppressed groups. It can be said that African-Americans, Hispanics and gay people were the first to adopt the “night” way of life, back in the days of New York’s clubs and underground parties in the ‘70s. Accordingly, these groups have been the ones to nurture this lifestyle into today’s popular culture. Hence also the association with movements like BDS.

    Boiler Room Palestine

    Indeed, the current trend points to a step-up in the discourse; in the past year the top alternative culture magazines – of which the electronic music magazines play a key role – have published articles surveying musical and cultural happenings in Palestinian society.

    The online music magazine Resident Advisor has had two such stories, the first about a workshop for artists with the participation of the Block 9 production team, musicians Brian Eno and Róisín Murphy (formerly of Moloko) and American DJ the Black Madonna. The workshop, which included tours, discussion groups and joint musical work, was held at the Walled Off Hotel in Ramallah, also known as Banksy’s hotel because of the street artist’s involvement in its planning in the shadow of the separation barrier.

    The second article surveyed the Palestinian electronic scene and its leading players – promoters, DJs and producers who are operating despite the restrictive military regime. In addition, the writer accompanied the production of Boiler Room Palestine in Ramallah in June. (The wider Boiler Room franchise has been the world’s most popular pop party for the past five years.)

    Another example includes the style magazine Dazed, which wrote about the cultural boycott movement immediately after the cancellation of Lorde’s concert, and just last month New York Magazine’s culture supplement Vulture set forth its philosophy on the boycott (also in the context of Lana Del Rey). It predicted that the awakening we’re seeing today is only in its infancy.

    This partial list isn’t a clear declaration about “taking a stance” – after all, progressive media outlets in culture laud Israeli artists (for example Red Axes, Moscoman and Guy Gerber) or local venues, like the Block club. But if you add to these the scores of Facebook battles or Twitter discussions (like the one Del Rey found herself in), you’ll get noise. And noise generates questions, which generate more noise and raise consciousness. And from there to change on the ground is a modest distance.

    ’These are people who slept on my sofa’

    Refusals of invitations or cancellations of concerts in Israel by artists didn’t begin with BDS or the increasing volume of the past two years. After all, a visit to Israel all too often requires an intrusive security check. It’s hard to complain about a DJ who isn’t keen to have his underwear probed.

    Also, there’s a stratum of artists who’ve appeared in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Haifa and have decided to stop coming – unless there’s a Palestinian production. Two examples are the French band Acid Arab (Parisians Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvalho) and the American producer – and darling of the hipster community – Nicolas Jaar . Jaar appeared in Tel Aviv a bit under a decade ago, just before he became a star, while Acid Arab not only performed in Tel Aviv but was also involved in projects with Israeli musicians – so plenty of people called the duo hypocrites.

    “I have no problem with strong opinions, but in the case of Acid Arab it annoyed me at the personal level – these are people who slept on my sofa, recorded with local musicians, and the day they put up their post announcing they wouldn’t play in Tel Aviv, they also asked me to send them some music,” says Maor Anava, aka DJ Hectik.

    “I have no problem with people changing their minds on the go; it’s clear to me that a visit to the separation fence can do it, but what bothered me is that it’s entirely a PR and image move, apparently at the advice of their agent,” he adds.

    “We’ve reached a situation in which a boycott of Israel is the trendiest thing and situates you in the right place in the scene – as a supporter of the Palestinian freedom fighters against the terrible Zionist occupier, something that can get you to another three big festivals. If you performed in Tel Aviv, apparently they’d do without you.”

    Thus at the end of last year, Acid Arab and Nicolas Jaar appeared in Haifa and Ramallah at parties produced by Jazar Crew, the only electronic collective in Israel that isn’t afraid to mix in politics.. So it surprised no one when Jazar received laudatory – and justified – coverage not only in Bar Peleg’s Haaretz piece but also in Resident Advisor.

    Is the party over?

    So are we seeing the onset of the electronic boycott of Tel Aviv, one of the world’s clubbing capitals? Well, the city is still a flourishing center of parties and club events every week. “ As of today it hasn’t yet happened that we’ve directly encountered an attempt by the cultural boycott to influence artists who are slated to appear at the club,” Trax says.

    “But we’re definitely seeing a change in the surrounding behavior. Nasty responses that people are leaving for a DJ who announced an upcoming gig with us have led to fewer famous DJs announcing appearances at the Block – even those who always promote themselves.”

    He notes a slowdown in the past two years. “A number of DJs who used to appear with us – Moodymann, Kyle Hall, the Martinez Brothers – have announced they won’t be returning, ” Trax says, referring to three American acts. “But there isn’t any set reason why. If the cultural boycott has an influence here I wouldn’t be surprised, because the Detroit junta is very political. And this also applies to UFO,” a successful British DJ and a high-profile voice in the European underground arena.

    Not all DJs who have chosen not to come to Israel have taken their stance amid the strengthening of the BDS movement. Some of the top people in the dance industry – including star Chilean-German DJ Ricardo Villalobos and British DJs and producers like Matthew Herbert and Andrew Weatherall – have for years been refusing to spin in Israel. They’ve made clear that this is their way of opposing Israel’s activities in the territories.

    Another great DJ, Tunisian-born Loco Dice who lives in Germany, is also considered a vocal opponent of Israel. But in December he played at the Block, and Trax doesn’t recall any signs that his guest was hostile to the country. This shows that a change of awareness works both ways.

    There’s a similar story: the decision by DJ Tama Sumo of the Berghain club in Berlin to play in Israel after a long boycott. She and her partner DJ Lakuti, a pillar of the industry, donated the proceeds of her Tel Aviv set to an organization for human rights in the territories.

    “As of now I don’t feel that the names who have decided to stop coming will change anything regarding the Block, because our lineup of VIPs isn’t based on them,” Trax says. “But if the more commercial cream of the clubs – DJs like Dixon, Ame and Damian Lazarus, or the big names in techno like Nina Kraviz, Ben Klock, Jeff Mills or Adam Beyer – change their minds, that will be a real blow to us, and not just us.”

    Amotz Tokatly, who’s responsible for bringing DJs to Tel Aviv’s Beit Maariv club, isn’t feeling much of a change. “The cancellations or refusals by DJs and artists based on a political platform didn’t begin just this year. I’ve been encountering this for many years now. There are even specific countries where we know the prevailing mood is political and tending toward the boycott movement. For example England. The rhetoric there is a priori much stronger,” Tokatly says.

    “But take Ben UFO, who has played in Tel Aviv in the past. When we got back to him about another spinning gig he said explicitly, ‘It simply isn’t worth it for me from a public relations perspective, and it could hurt me later on.’ DJs like him make their own calculations.”

    Tokatly doesn’t believe in a “Meteor effect” that will send the visiting DJ economy to the brink of an abyss. “I’m giving it a few weeks to calm down, and in the worst case we won’t be seeing here the level of minor league DJs who have canceled due to the circumstances,” he says.

    “In any case, they’re names who would have come here – if at all – once a year. Regarding artists who have a long-term and stable relationship with the local scene, we haven’t seen any change in approach yet.”

    Unlike Trax and Tokatly, Doron “Charly” Mastey of the techno duo TV.OUT and content director at Tel Aviv’s Alphabet Club says the recent goings-on haven’t affected him too much; his club is unusual in that doesn’t base itself on names from abroad.

    “I don’t remember any case of a refusal or cancellation because of political leanings,” he says. “But with everything that’s happening now regarding Meteor, and if that affects the scene down the road and the airlift to Tel Aviv stops, I’m not at all sure that’s a bad thing.”

    Mastey has in mind the gap between the size of the audience and the number of events, parties and festivals happening in Israel right now. “The audience is tired, and indifferent,” he says.. “And if this kick in the pants – of cancellations – is what’s going to dismantle the scene in its current format, then it will simply rebuild itself. I hope in a way that’s healthier for everyone.”

    In any case, if the rest of the world has realized that it’s impossible to separate politics from anything, and definitely not from club culture, which started out as a political and social movement, then the best thing we can do is try to hold the discussion in an inclusive a way as possible. An Israeli DJ working in Berlin who requested anonymity thinks that these ideas should be taken one step further.

    “Nowadays, for artists who want to go to Israel, two proposals are on the table,” he says. “Support the boycott or support the occupation. These two things are depicted even if they aren’t accurate, and between the two options there are a thousand more levels.”

    He believes there is scope for taking action. “The local scene must know how to fill the vacuum and craft alternatives to the boycott’s demands,” he says. “For example, by showing artists other ways to take a stand, whether by cooperating with Palestinians or suggesting that they donate the proceeds of their Tel Aviv appearances to a human rights group.”

    The voices calling for a cultural boycott of Israel, whether in sports, concerts or the subfield of electronic music, aren’t going to disappear. If anything, they’re only going to grow louder.

    Moreover, if we take into account the complexity of the conflict, maybe we should seek to communicate these insights in a way that drops the imagery of absolutes like left-right, bad-good, Zionist-anti-Semitic. The club culture exists to connect extremes, not separate people. Our demand to continue a vibrant electronic scene is just as legitimate as that of the boycott supporters’ attempts to create awareness.

    Even if we don’t agree with the idea of the boycott, it’s still possible to accept the realization that there are people who think differently – who want to perform for the other side as much as they want to perform for us. This doesn’t make them an existential danger.

    Moreover, as the Israeli DJ working in Berlin says, the Israeli scene needs an arsenal of proposals for constructive activism; it must provide alternatives to the BDS call to boycott – and not automatically flex an insulted patriotic muscle. This might not be the easiest thing to do, but hey, this is Israel. It’s not going to be easy.

    #Palestine #BDS #Boycott_culturel

  • The Authenticity of #ico Ratings
    https://hackernoon.com/the-authenticity-of-ico-ratings-35b9db28e39e?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3-

    The ICO-market is growing rapidly. So, too, is the number of resources that provide information about it. Many of these crypto-media offer users the option of tracking ICO ratings. In addition, they post ratings, not only for the ICO projects, but also for #blockchain conferences, advisors in the field, listings, and other media resources.So just who it is that compiles all these ratings?Perhaps more importantly, should we believe them?Let’s contemplate the question.Can you trust ratings?Various ICO rating platforms offer investors a review of the ICO before investing in its resources. Some have established a solid reputation along with a certain ‘prestige.’ Therefore crypto-investors are prone to believe them unconditionally. They then proceed to make choices based not only on ratings but (...)

    #ico-ratings-real #icorating #ico-ratings-authenticity

  • #blockchain Architecture Analysis: Private vs Public vs Consortium
    https://hackernoon.com/blockchain-architecture-analysis-private-vs-public-vs-consortium-65eb061

    There are tons of questions about the merits of a private vs public blockchain, as well as confusion of what a consortium blockchain is. For those looking to start their own blockchain project, understanding the benefits, the cons, and the strategic value of each and how it’ll fit into your overall plan is imperative.If you’re looking to get started on blockchain, check out my previous post.With blockchain so new, having strategy in place and fully understanding the structure and feasibility of different solutions will make or break your project. Companies and entrepreneurs are already recognizing why getting in early is so advantageous, you get to create the industry standards, meaning you have to get it right. You want the best possible team, advisors, consultants, those who understand (...)

    #pubic-blockchain #blockchain-architecture #consortium-blockchain #private-blockchain

  • How Free Are You As A Freelancer ? With Michel Bauwens
    https://ouishareradio.com/how-free-are-you-as-a-freelancer-with-michel-bauwens
    https://i0.wp.com/ouishareradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Michel-Bauwens-1.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1

    Michel Bauwens different aspects of being a freelancer

    How Free You As A Freelancer? with Michel Bauwens we talk about the future of work and the autonomous

    worker. Michel who is founder at the P2P Foundation as well as advisor at SMart gives insight into being an

    freelancer. We further discuss the issues of whether or not people are as free as they believe they are when becoming

    a freelancer. However, it discusses the politics of freelancing. With anything there’s a good side and downside but

    Michel helps us to understand the aspects of working as a freelancer. The issues are dealing with being seen as a

    capitalist and not having to the ability to be as free as you want in the freelance industry.

    The seemingly bad side about it is that people are seemingly a slave to the industry and highly underpaid for their

    work. Also, the issue is global and only a small minority lives better as a freelancer then most people who become a

    freelancer. We also talk about the different areas of freelancing and how the way people are paid across many

    platforms like, journalism and how income is generated as a freelancer. Furthermore, trying to find social protection

    as a freelance worker is discussed.

    Freelancer in the field have to create themselves networks and build peer to peer systems to become more

    successful. Freelancers are struggling at what they do in many aspects, especially with subordination. As a freelancer

    you’re your own entrepreneur. The focus of this discussion is to teach people how to enable themselves to do better

    in the freelancer field and know when it is right for them and when to get out when it doesn’t work for them. Being

    an autonomous worker can provide people the opportunity to be their own boss but as attractive as it may seem, it

    can have negative affects. In addition, these negative affects are if you don’t know how to apply yourself in the

    market.

    #Freelance #GIG_economy #Travail

  • Top 10 Questions Your #ico Community Will Ask
    https://hackernoon.com/top-10-questions-your-ico-community-will-ask-3a8ffe7f978e?source=rss----

    and you should be prepared to answer.Community Needs Answers To Invest With ConfidenceThe ICO community or let’s say the whole #blockchain space has grown smarter these days. Had it been the year 2016 or time before it you could have secured millions by coming up with a great idea and writing an attractive as well as easy to understand white paper for same.In 2017 aside from the idea and the whitepaper, success greatly depended on the number and names of industry veterans you could get onboard as advisors or team members (face value capitalisation I call it).However, this is the year 2018. A time when the community has turned smarter, developed better understanding of blockchain and are ready with questions which you need to answer if you want to have your project to have a shot at raising (...)

    #ico-faq #community-engagement #ico-community-questions

  • Bill Shihara, the founder and CEO of Bittrex, has joined Unikrn’s BOA
    https://hackernoon.com/bill-shihara-the-founder-and-ceo-of-bittrex-has-joined-unikrns-boa-64c01

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    #blockchain-technology #entrepreneurship #esport #ethereum #bitcoin

  • Top #growth Hacking #agency (s) in the USA and Worldwide — 2018
    https://hackernoon.com/top-10-growth-hacking-agency-in-the-usa-and-worldwide-bdaa6fc7b30f?sourc

    The biggest reason of choosing a growth hacking agency over a digital #marketing agency is that you get talent from digital marketing, product development, core technology, user experience designers, user interface designer and project managers.If you are tired of working with typical digital marketing companies, then here is the list of growth hacking agencies that will help you find your way to business success.The list below is compiled based on the following factors:Core TeamExperienceClientsCostServicesCase StudiesHere is the list of top 10 Growth Hacking Agencies:VoxturrVoxturr comprises growth team and advisors that have more than 100 years of combined experience in growth strategy building, digital marketing, digital product development, user experience designing and core (...)

    #growth-hacking #digital-marketing

  • I am a College Student and I Built My Own Robo Advisor
    https://hackernoon.com/i-am-a-college-student-and-i-built-my-own-robo-advisor-3f31b39dab50?sour

    I’m Rao, and I’m an intern at Alpaca working on building an open-source robo advisor. I don’t have much experience in the space, and I had to find a lot of answers. While there’s a wealth of material available on the web, very little is organized. This post is the combination of various threads and forums that I read through looking for answers.“Yes, you an do it too!”What is a Robo Advisor anyway?!Robo advisors are automated advising services that require little to no user interaction. They specialize in maintaining portfolios based on the investors chosen risk level. Btw, they were launched at the start of the financial crisis in 2008.The actual logic for a robo advisor is straightforward.“Allocation” — Given a risk level, portions of capital are allocated to different positions.“Distance” — Over (...)

    #internships #tech #investing #tech-internship #robo-advisor

  • How to become an #ico Advisor
    https://hackernoon.com/how-to-become-an-ico-advisor-b936e5e8a70?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

    Have you ever wondered why there are thousands articles about how to do an ICO, how to invest in ICO and everything else related to ICO, but not a single one about how to become an ICO advisor?The answer is more obvious and harsh that you would imagine.Early ICO advisors do not want that new experts would come to this industry. They want to keep “ICO advisor” club as small as possible, so that they will get ICO gigs more easily and could negotiate better payout for themselves.I’m an ICO advisor myself and have been successfully advising ICOs for almost a year already, but unlike my infamous colleagues I have decided to break the chains and help other to join this industry.It’s pretty clear that in any industry competition is not very welcomed, but I have never seen the reception to be as (...)

    #become-ico-advisor #become-an-ico-advisor #blockchain #ico-advisor

  • The Untold Story of Japan’s Secret Spy Agency
    https://theintercept.com/2018/05/19/japan-dfs-surveillance-agency

    Every week in Tokyo’s Ichigaya district, about two miles east of the bright neon lights and swarming crowds in the heart of Shibuya, a driver quietly parks a black sedan-style car outside a gray office building. Before setting off on a short 10-minute drive south, he picks up a passenger who is carrying an important package : top-secret intelligence reports, destined for the desks of the prime minister’s closest advisors. Known only as “C1,” the office building is located inside a (...)

    #écoutes #web #surveillance

  • Le Trio Joubran, Akram Abdulfattah, Roisin Murphy, The Black Madonna et d’autres, avec Brian Eno et Mashrou Leila par « Skype », se sont associés pour sortir un album enregistré au Walled Off Hotel en février 2018, l’hôtel acheté et décoré par Banksy en Palestine :

    Block 9 Creative Retreat Palestine
    https://soundcloud.com/user-512771969/sets/block9-creative-retreat

    1. #Brian_Eno avec #Le_Trio_Joubran - ’Stones’
    2. #Mashrou_Leila avec #Roisin_Murphy - ’Salam’
    3. FRED avec EBS - ’Wisam Jam’
    4. #Akram_Abdulfattah - ’Cave’
    5. #The_Black_Madonna and Wassim Qassis - ’Jerusalem Is A Mountain’
    6. Block9 Music Dept avec Akram et EBS - ’Maqam Hijaz In Dub’
    7. Sigsaly - ’Bread And Concrete’

    Un article en anglais sur le sujet, avec des photos :

    The Walled Off Hotel : A creative retreat in Palestine
    Tom Faber, Resident Advisor, le 11 avril 2018
    https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3215

    #Musique #Musique_et_politique #Palestine

  • ††† Mỹ Lai : 16. März 1968 - DaybyDay ISSN 1860-2967
    http://daybyday.press/article6193.html

    C’était au Vietnam il y a cinquante ans. Rien n’a changé sauf l’endroit précis du massacre. Les impérialistes sont toujours les mêmes. Ils ont de nouveaux camarades dans leur chambre de la maison d’aliénés qu’est ce monde. Les peuples continuent à se battre. Ils n’ont pas le choix.

    Massaker von Mỹ Lai"Ich fühle noch heute den Horror in mir"

    Die hier über diesen Link veröffentliche Fassung dieses Textes ist nicht identisch mit dem ausgestrahlten O-Ton, der in der Nacht ab 1:12 Uhr als HINTERGRUND ausgestrahlt wurde. Dort war ausdrücklich davon die Rede, dass die US-Amerikaner in der Armee nicht zu „Nazis“ hätten werden wollen - und es doch geworden sind.

    In dem auf der oben zitierten URL zur Verfügung gestellten Download sind diese Passagen ebenfalls nicht mehr zu hören:

    Es stellt sich heraus, dass der Beitrag einen Tag zuvor in einer anderen Fassung unter dem Titel: Vor 50 Jahren: Das Massaker von My Lai ausgestrahlt worden war.

    Darin wird dann auch ausdrücklich das Wort „Pinkville“ genannt

    #histoire #Vietnam #USA #guerre #théâtre #George_Tabori

  • Extrait de The Threat to Reason, Dan Hind, 2007, à propos des « perception managers » de la CIA, chargés de trouver les thèmes qui séduisent tel ou tel groupe de l’opinion (« hot buttons »), et la promotion de thèmes irrationnels mais testés selon les méthodes du marketing :

    […] Robert Party explained how the US government ignored US law and used the CIA’s expertise in psychological warfare to secure domestic support for a terrorist campaign against the leftist government in Nicaragua in the early 1980s. This wasn’t a matter of countering foreign disinformation and providing information to assist rational decision-mahing. This was about pressing buttons: ‘The documentation is... clear that the idea was to find our “hot buttons” and to see what – how they could rum, twist, spin certain infonnation to appeal to various special groups. They’d reached the point, and this was really being directed by the CIA, of breaking down the American people into subgroups.’ Themes were developed to appeal to particular subgroups. Journalists were likely to be concerned about the freedom of the press, so they were targeted with stories about Sandinista harassment of La Prensa, a Nicaraguan newspaper opposed to the government; Jewish Americans were told that the Sandinistas were anti-Semitic. Eventually, the CIA’s ‘perceptaon managers’ came up with something that played on popular xenophobia and worked particularly well in states on the border with Mexico:

    [They’d] found out that most of the themes about the communist menace in Central America left people cold. They didn’t really take it that seriously - it just didn’t hit the hot buttons right. But they found that one hot button that really… they could really use was this idea of the Hispanic immigrants flooding into the United States. So they developed what they called the ‘feet people’ argument, which was that unless we stopped the communists in Nicaragua and San Salvador, 10 per cent – they came up with that figure somewhere – 10 per cent of all the people in Central America and Mexico will flood the United States.

    In the ran-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, themes were developed for particular audiences in a manner strikingly reminiscent of the perception management campaign that secured public support for Reagan’s policies in Central America. Human rights abuses, Saddam Hussein’s alleged assassination attempt on the President’s father, links between Iraq and al Qaeda, fundamentalist fears that ‘Babylon’ stalked the ‘Holy Land’, all found their way into the mix. The emphasis increasingly fell on weapons of mass destruction, ‘the one issue everyone could agree on’. In a formula hardly conducive to rational decision-making by the American public, the then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice insisted that they couldn’t delay invasion until they had proof that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons: ‘We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud’. President Bush repeated the message: ‘we cannot wait for the final proof – the smoking gun – that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud’. The promotion of market-tested irrationality at the highest levels of the US administration calls to mind H. L. Mencken’s cynical comment that ‘the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’

    (Scanné d’après le post de Louis Allday sur Twitter.)

  • As an automated Forex trader who is not a programmer and uses Metatrader 4 Expert Advisors (EAs) I`d like to share my experience with creating strategy codes and how we can make our live easier during real time execution of the trades. The article is designed to help those who seek ways to have a better working EA which is easy for monitoring, backtesting and optimizing. Here are my tips:

    Making all Calculations Once per bar

    The rule applies to all inputs including all entry and exit conditions of the trades. For example, if a given Expert Advisor requires RSI indicator to go above 30 for a short position to be initiated I`d prefer the code to check for this condition to be met after the last bar is completed and if I trade on daily candles the entries will be when the new day begins. So the Expert Advisor checks only once per bar and doesn’t constantly make calculations on every tick.

    Another example would be if the trading logic includes exiting every trade on a trailing stop. Regardless of its concept, the Metatrader 4 Expert should be programmed so that the stop is moved once per bar – usually when the new bar begins.

    How does this concept help us? Well, there are 3 main advantages. 1) We are avoiding possible errors by lessening the calculations the code is making to just one per bar and 2) the Expert Advisor is much more reliable for backtesting because since in MT4 Tester the ticks are made by the platform itself and they are not real. Thus we eliminate a possible disappearance between backtesting and real time results. By observing only closed bars in the code any real time results can be duplicated on backtest. And 3) advantage is the fact that the EA could be backtested in Tester using control points and open options which saves us a lot of computing time.

    Setting up a Timeframe for Every Input

    For each parameter set it is a good practice to have an additional input which will govern the timeframe at which the set will operate. For example if we have a filter and 2 other indicators which are the main strategy, then for each inputs set (filter and the 2 indicators) an input called “timeframe” is created. If all EA`s parameters operate on a same timeframe then we create only one “timeframe” input.

    This tool helps us to avoid any errors of attaching the EA on a wrong time framed chart. So if we have a strategy which operates on H1 and we have an input “timeframe”=60, then it doesn’t matter if we attach the Metatrader Expert Advisor to M5 or D1 and the code will work accordingly.

    When an Input is OFF

    Instead of adding an ON/OFF input which will govern if a certain calculation is switched on or off for every indicator, it is much more convenient just to make the code so that if the particular inputs are 0, then it means that this option is not included in the trading. For example if we have set 0 for a trading stop inputs then it is obvious that we are not using this feature.

    This option makes setting up the EA much more intuitive and reduces the number of inputs we have to deal with.

    Max Bars Look Back

    If the EA uses an indicator for its signals and this indicator is very heavy in a sense that it requires a lot of calculations then I use the tool called “Max Bars“ . It sets up how many bars backwards the indicators will display its dots, lines or whatever it does on the chart. It saves your Metatrader 4 form freezing and stop running properly.

    Personally I don`t use more than 500 for Max Bars and usually it is my default setting which means if you trade on H1, then you will be able to see 20+ days back which is pretty much enough.

    Symmetrical Buy and Sell

    It is tempting to create inputs for both side – long and short which will govern how the EA enters its buys and sells in a separate manner. However besides the curvefitting factor which is another big topic it creates a lot of trouble when you are optimizing the system. It triples your variations and this you will need 3 times more to do all the optimizations needed. This is the reason I use only one inputs for both sides.

    Summary

    I have presented to you 5 practical tips for a creation of a Metatrader Expert Advisor. They are based on personal experience and have helped me making my automated trading more convenient and easier. I hope they will be at your help as well.

    Source - http://professionaltradingsystems.com/blog/tips-when-programming-metatrader-expert-advisor

  • Human rights advisor to President Kh.Battulga defends proposal to reinstate death penalty | The UB Post
    http://theubpost.mn/2017/12/10/human-rights-advisor-to-president-kh-battulga-defends-proposal-to-reinstat

    G.Uyanga, former Member of Parliament and Civil Society and Human Rights advisor to President Kh.Battulga, sat down with Unuudur to defend Kh.Battulga’s proposal to reinstate capital punishment.

    The President’s wish to reinstate the death penalty has been the subject of much debate and division in Mongolia. As an advisor to the President, what is your stance on the death penalty?

    People expressing their opinions on a controversial topic and taking sides is one thing. For us, finding a solution is what’s important. The President has proposed his solution.

    First of all, President Kh.Battulga has made it clear that at no point during his term as President will he pardon any individuals convicted of heinous crimes against children. There are many convicted criminals who ask for pardons from the President. From 2014 until November 2017, the President’s Office received more than 400 requests for pardons, 22 of which were granted. Starting from now, those who have committed horrible crimes will not be considered for pardons. This is one solution.

    Second, the President has proposed to reinstate the death penalty. In order to reinstate capital punishment, Parliament needs to legislate it. Whether it does or not is up to Parliament.

    Pour cette « conseillère sur les droits humains »,
    – la #peine_de_mort n’est de toutes façons pas abolie légalement,
    – elle n’est que suspendue sur décision – inconstitutionnelle, d’après elle – du précédent président
    – le fait que la #Mongolie ait adhéré au Deuxième protocole facultatif se rapportant au Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques, visant à abolir la peine de mort de l’ONU n’est pas vraiment gênant
    – les sondages sont pour le recours à la peine de mort, voire massivement pour chez les juristes
    – la principale – et unique motivation – est la punition de crimes sexuels sur des enfants

    In 2016 alone, more than 298 children aged two to seven had become victims of sexual abuse. We do not know how many similar cases go unreported. This is a horrific statistic for Mongolians. The most recent decision by the President was based on research and designed to reverse what the previous President enacted based on emotion. It would be irrational to conclude that President Kh.Battulga’s decision was driven by emotion or overreaction. The reality of the situation demands this type of action.

    NB : la population de la Mongolie est de 3 millions d’habitants en 2016. Le chiffre comparable pour la France semble être autour de 5500 par an, soit, pour une population 20 fois plus nombreuse, un taux comparable. Et il est, bien sûr, difficile de comparer les sous-déclarations dans les deux pays…

    données (assez anciennes)
    rapport ONED 2004
    http://www.protection-enfance.org/Agressions.php

    Universalis, données 2000
    https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/pedophilie/5-donnees-statistiques-du-phenomene-en-france

  • Saudi Arabia ‘doesn’t care’ about the Palestinians as long as it can make a deal with Israel against Iran, says former Netanyahu advisor
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/25/saudi-arabia-doesnt-care-palestinians-long-can-make-deal-israel

    Saudi Arabia is so eager to establish diplomatic relations with Israel that it is prepared to sign off on almost any type of Israeli-Palestinian peace deal no matter how unfavourable to the Palestinians, according to Benjamin Netanyahu’s former security advisor.

    #arabie_saoudite #Palestine #Israel