by Jimmy Song –medium.com –– The hype around blockchain is massive. To hear the blockchain hype train tell it, blockchain will now:

Solve income inequality Make all data secure forever

Make everything much more efficient and trustless

Save dying babies

What the heck is a blockchain, anyway?

And can it really do all these things? Can blockchain bring something amazing to industries as diverse as health care, finance, supply chain management and music rights? And doesn’t being for Bitcoin mean that you’re pro-blockchain? How can you be for Bitcoin but say anything bad about the technology behind it? In this article, I seek to answer a lot of these questions by looking at what a blockchain is and more importantly, what it’s not. What is a blockchain? To examine some of these claims, we have to define what a blockchain is and herein lies a lot of the confusion. Many companies use the word “blockchain” to mean some sort of magical device by which all their data will never be wrong. Such a device, of course, does not exist, at least when the real world is involved. So what is a blockchain? Technically speaking, a blockchain is a linked list of blocks and a block is a group of ordered transactions. If you didn’t understand the last sentence, you can think of a blockchain as a subset of a database, with a few additional properties.

The main thing distinguishing a blockchain from a normal database is that there are specific rules about how to put data into the database. That is, it cannot conflict with some other data that’s already in the database (consistent), it’s append-only (immutable), and the data itself is locked to an owner (ownable), it’s replicable and available. Finally, everyone agrees on what the state of the things in the database are (canonical) without a central party (decentralized). It is this last point that really is the holy grail of blockchain. Decentralization is very attractive because it implies there is no single point of failure. That is, no single authority will be able to take away your asset or change “history” to suit their needs. This immutable audit trail where you don’t have to trust anyone is the benefit that everyone that’s playing with this technology is looking for. This benefit, however, come at a great cost.

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by timesnownews.com — The new year is just a few days away, but curiosity about what’s in store for us in 2019 has already started building up. If you had a good 2018, you’ll want the same in 2019, and if this year did not present too many good things to you, then you’ll definitely expect 2019 to be better. Whatever the aim, who wouldn’t want a glimpse into. If you wish to know more about your 2019, check out your astrology predictions here on the basis of your zodiac signs:

Aries: People born in this zodiac will see an increase in desire and energy to do greater things. Come March, you will be obsessed about reaching greater heights. This may lead to greater success, but if you take the wrong steps, it can also create havoc. This is the year you should take advice from elders/teachers and parents. Your father is your source of strength and his ideas should guide. The first half of the year will be focused on the home front, addressing many challenges. For those who are planning to buy real estate or vehicles, you may do it in the first half of the year. The first half will also see people focusing energy on learning – be at work or personal life. The second half will help you take bold decisions and can place you in brute illusion. It will impact ones’ mind and the challenge will be to take the right decisions. People born in this zodiac will see sudden growth or losses and based on their actions, the results will follow. All is not gloomy as Jupiter will help you protect your losses significantly. Your obsession about buying a home, new cars etc will just increase and even if you own these things, you will still yearn for better. By the last quarter of the year, you may even indulge in gambling to achieve faster gains. Seek guidance from your father and elders, though you prefer to seek knowledge from the divine.

Taurus: Romance has taken over your life, and you will fall madly in love. Your partner will have a hard time keeping up with your emotions. In the first half of the year, those who are single will seek companionship. Those who are married will focus on building their bond with their spouse. The second half of the year will be exciting and can even witness sudden marriages. For some, it may even be unconventional marriages. The year will also keep you emotionally charged up and it is good to divert your attention to your partner. The decision is in your hands to take some wise decisions. Be calm and relaxed and meditate. Try to keep a lookout on your health-related matters, especially related to eyes. Old ailments may resurface, though most of them may not be life-threatening. You will see a lot of sudden occurrences in your family and those in a family business will see a lot of events that can propel great success. People in the entertainment business like music, arts will see good growth in their career.

Gemini: The first half of the year looks good and those who are single will try to get married or plan to start a relationship. It is best to lie low on the relationship front as your partner will fail to understand your intentions. You will be too emotional this year and with your natural airy mindset, you will come out as a romantic with no aim or sincerity in love and relationship. On the work front, beware of your colleagues. This is the year in which you will see a lot of smearing on you. But people who follow the right path will eventually come out unscathed. People in the field of communication, sales, and marketing, travel and tourism will do good or find a lot of interesting challenges thrown at them and those who do well will see very good results. Take care of your health as old ailments may resurface and you will find it hard to manage and keep them under control. Try not to make risky investments as chances of failure is high. Meditate and focus on your goals and thoughts and channel your energy into positive ideas.

Cancer: You will fall in love easily and may even get married, but try to have a balanced view of your relationship. For those who want to study further, this is a good time to consider upgrading your skills. Your enemies will try to come and take you with all guns blazing and you will surely knock them out with ease. So, do not worry on those fronts, but your downfall will be when you tend to speculate or enter risky investments or matters pertaining to legal. You have a high chance of failure and should be very careful before signing any document. Your health issues may be masked, and you should pay attention to your health. It is good to be proactive and manage your health and keep yourself fit but just do not overdo it. Your love life will be exciting. The second half will push you towards a more speculative mindset and that is where you need your partner’s support to tide over the phase. Overall, 2019 should be a decent year and you will slowly start planning for your future.

Leo: You may fall in love hopelessly and those who are single, have high chances of getting a partner by the end of the year. Spend time with your partner and those in marriage, this year will be great on the home front. You will see your family and your spouse are fully supportive of you. Your children will be a source of joy and you will see they are doing well this year. For those who want to take a risk – be in work, business or any investments – trust your instinct and work sincerely towards the goal and you will get very good results. However, those who want to take shortcut, you will learn good life lessons as Saturn will ensure and control your illusionary approach. Losses are expected in financial investments in the last quarter of the year, but it will not be too big a loss to put you off balance. Overall a positive year for you.

Virgo: This year is a golden year and you should take full advantage of it. You will feel bold and strong to take tough decisions. It is a good time to take risks to move forward. Your family and home front will be good, and you will find a lot of support. The year will also be good for your siblings who will look up to you for direction. Give them enough support so that they can also progress equally well. If you want to buy a new home or a vehicle, the second half of the year will be better. For those who are in trade or business or even work, you will see a sudden jump in your career, especially in the second half of the year. You will have good health and wealth will be flowing from all directions. Your wife may also earn good money. Those in the legal profession, accounting or finance industry will do even better.

Libra: This year will be interesting, and it will give mixed results for people of this zodiac. The year will be interesting on many fronts. For those who are spiritually guided, 2019 will be enriching as you will experience enriching spiritual experiences and journey. Those who are not spiritually inclined will find solace from taking advice from elders, especially from father. You will tend to break the order, which is not in your nature, and hence, there will be conflict. You would like to focus on family and work but will be able to focus on only one aspect, and it will be frustrating because you will see success in both areas. Those who are in debt will try to reduce it and those who are doing well will increase their bank balances significantly. This year you will take short trips.

Scorpio: The first half of the year will be towards understanding your true strength and knowing yourself. Be careful with extravagant expenditures, as it may put you in severe financial strain. Try not to take legal matters in your hand. It is better to avoid any investments and partnerships that involve risky legal matters. The second half will see strong growth or sudden explosion of gains. You should focus on your family during the first half of the year. You need to give attention to your family wealth and ensure it is not squandered away. You will be spending a lot of your time and resources to build burnt bridges and in many ways, you will find the true meaning of love and relationship by the end of the year. Foreign travel is on the cards for those seeking higher learning or better career growth. You will make more money overseas this year. In many cases, you may even move overseas. Workwise, you will face some minor hurdles, but you will be on top of most of the work and may even see a sudden grown in your career during the second half of the year.

Sagittarius: Your spouse will be moody and can create problems. But if you communicate well and win his/her confidence, you will see the best support from your spouse. Likewise, with your business partner. People born in this sign will be under the influence of Sade sati (Saturn impacting its full 7/12 years). This is generally seen as an inconvenient time and people are generally worried and concerned with many getting conned by many quake naysayers. However, ignore and work towards growth and you can see good results. However, if you chose to lie low, it is also good if you don’t indulge or trouble your spouse and business partners. You better stay grounded if you lack diplomacy skills. Those who plan to get married may find a suitable partner and the marriage will last long.

Capricorn: Those who have gone the extra mile in career will see success in all aspects. Your finances will improve significantly. You will overcome your detractors and you will be able to face your adversaries strongly. You will see a lot of support from your siblings and they will be helpful when you need them. You will also see good luck in your family business and overall a good time. The second half of the year will help you get closer to your spouse and may even take you for a long vacation. Even if you are hit with legal matters, you will surely come out of it successfully. By the end of the first half, things will become more prominent and it is good to take professional advice before entering in any legal matters. Overall a good year that will keep you happy and content with no major challenges.

Aquarius: You will see romance and love flowing through you and the beauty is you will be able to express the same feeling to your partner. This is also the time to impress your superiors with your passion, intelligence, and ability and it will be noticed by people of the opposite sex as well. You will have the chance to travel overseas for higher learning or work and your relationship with your spouse and father will get better. Your financial situation will be good, and you will enjoy a lot of success and growth. Aquarians in creative fields will flourish. Creative skills will enhance your dimensions and will open new doors. Health problems may get the better of you during the first quarter. You will be blessed with the fortune of children if you are married or those who are single will find a partner. This is the time you will also develop an interest in speculative trading and investments. Try to avoid risky gambling.

Pisces: You will grow professionally and will become wiser, but you will need to work more on the home front to gain support from your family members. The year will give a good result on your career and will see some concrete results. You will also see success in spiritual growth and will find yourself more inclined to higher learning. Your father will be a constant source of guidance. Your health may be a cause of concern and it is good to keep active. It is better to delay purchasing a new house or vehicle at least until the second half of the year. Overall a very good year from a career point of view.

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by AP– SARAH EL DEEB — BEIRUT – Hundreds of Lebanese protested against deteriorating economic conditions Sunday, with some briefly scuffling with army troops, as public anger mounts against politicians deadlocked over forming a new government since May. The army appealed for calm in a statement, urging protesters to remain peaceful. The protesters marched to the government […]

by Dana Halawi BEIRUT  (Xinhua) — Pierre Ashkar, Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon, said that the country’s hotels will witness full occupancy this festive season. “Occupancy in Beirut’s hotels will surpass 90 percent while those in the mountains will be fully reserved this festive season,” he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. Ashkar said […]

Nissan’s ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn has been re-arrested in Japan. Prosecutors claim Ghosn — who was initially detained last month for alleged financial misconduct — used Nissan funds to cover investment losses of 1.85 billion yen. The new arrest comes a day after a Tokyo court rejected a request from prosecutors to extend his detention. […]

by memri.org — An article in the Lebanese Al-Nahar daily, known for its opposition to Hizbullah, claims that Israel’s main objective in exposing Hizbullah’s tunnels at this time is to broaden the mission and authorities of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and transform it into a force serving Israel. The article quotes […]

The widest wealth gap since records began in the ‘60s has fueled the growth of U.S. neighborhoods where households earn $200,000 and above — the top tier of the Census Bureau’s community survey. Together with calculations by Webster Pacific, Bloomberg has identified the fastest-growing 100 of these wealthiest communities. Some of the findings: 1- No. […]

  Lebanon’s army announced on Monday a state of high alert after Lebanese soldiers were involved in an altercation with Israelis soldiers, preventing them from unrolling a barbed wire fence in the south of Lebanon, Lebanese media reported. A video distributed of the incident showed Lebanese and Israeli soldiers holding rifles and standing a couple […]

The runner-up was Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green. The second runner-up was Miss Venezuela Isabella Rodríguez. Gray was officially crowned the Miss Universe title by last year’s winner, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, at the end of Sunday’s broadcast. The top-5 also included Miss Vietnam Tran Tieu Vy and Miss Puerto Rico Kiara Ortega. Gray was chosen over […]

 By NPR — npr.org — In one of the first scenes in Capernaum, the camera flies above the slums of Beirut. There is no sight of the Mediterranean Sea or the glamour of the so-called Paris of the Middle East. This is another side of the Lebanese capital. “You’re seeing dilapidated buildings, children running around playing with pieces of metals and just whatever they could find on the street, not actual toys,” film critic Nana Asfour said.

The Jury Prize winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival tells the story of Zain, a streetwise 12-year-old, who flees his abusive parents and later sues them for the “crime” of giving him life. It opens in the U.S. this week, days after earning a Golden Globe nomination and a place on many critics’ best-of lists (including NPR’s). Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki said the dystopian images in her film are a reflection of Beirut as it is today. It’s also captured in the film’s title. “Capernaum in French is used usually in French literature to signify chaos, to signify hell, disorder,” she said. In recent years, Lebanon has taken in more than a million refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Syria. Labaki said the sight of hundreds of children begging on the streets has become the new normal. She still remembers the night that she decided she had to do something. “I was one day coming back from a party at 1 o’clock in the morning, and I see a mother with her child begging,” she said. “He was almost, like, 2, and he was dozing off and he couldn’t sleep,” she said. “And we were not giving him the right to sleep. And it struck me: Everything that this kid is going to know for the next two, three years is this half-a-meter sidewalk. It’s his only playground.” Article continues after this message from our sponsor Labaki was pregnant at the time. “How come we got to that point?” she said. “How do we allow for such injustice to happen to the most fragile human beings in our society?” In an attempt to find answers, Labaki began working on the film as a reporting project with her husband and collaborator, the film composer and musician Khaled Mouzanar. After it became evident that nobody would initially finance the story, the couple mortgaged their home and set out to bring the story to screen. “We spent four years with all these people in the poorest and darkest places of Beirut, where all these people end up after going on the streets of rich neighborhoods where they are beggars,” Mouzanar said. “They go back to these places where they live, and it is close to hell.” Labaki said she always knew she wanted to tell the story from a child’s point of view. So she interviewed hundreds of kids living on the streets. “I used to make it a point at the end of the conversation to ask them: Are you happy to be alive?” she said. “And most of the times the answer was no. They just see themselves as insects, as parasites — some of them used those words. ‘I’m just an insect. I’m just a parasite. I don’t exist. I’m invisible.’ So I wanted to translate this anger.” Capernaum shows the hunger, suffering and abuse that drove Zain into a courtroom. “And by suing his parents he’s also suing a system, a whole society that is not allowing him to have his basic rights,” Labaki said.