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reallifesultanas · 3 years

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Portrait of Ibrahim I's consorts / I. Ibrahim ágyasainak portréja

I. Ibrahim trónralépésekor örököshiányban szenvedett az Oszmán Birodalom, így igen sürgető volt, hogy mielőbb gyermekeket nemzzen a szultán. Pont emiatt rengeteg ágyast kapott ajándékba, voltak befolyásosabb háttérből érkező ágyasok és voltak egyszerűbbek. Ágyasai közül egyedül Turhan Haticét nem említem ebben a posztban, hiszen róla rendelkezésre áll annyi információ, hogy érdemes legyen különálló portrét készíteni neki. Emellett nem csak az ágyasokról fogok megemlékezni, hanem azoktól a hárem szolgálókról is, akik befolyásra tettek szert Ibrahim uralkodása alatt.

When Ibrahim I ascended the throne, the Ottoman Empire suffered from an inheritance problem, so it was very urgent for the Sultan to produce children as soon as possible. That’s why he received plenty of concubines as a gift. There were concubines from more influential backgrounds, and there were simpler. Of his concubines, I will not mention Turhan Hatice here, because there is so much information about her that she will have a separate portrait. In addition, I will mention not only the concubines but also the harem servants who gained influence during the reign of Ibrahim.

CONSORTS

Saliha Dilaşub (Aşübe) Sultan

The date of her birth is unknown, presumably, all of Ibrahim's concubines were about the same age. In the case of Tuhan Hatice, we know that in 1648 she was in her early twenties, so she may have been born around 1625. This date can be considered realistic for all of Ibrahim’s concubines, including Dilaşub. Her origin is also unknown, some say she was Croatian or Bosnian, but there is no direct evidence to suggest this.

Some historians believe she was Ibrahim’s first concubine and this explains her high salary of 1,300 aspers compared to the others. True that her only child was born in April 1642, several months after Ibrahim's first son, though it is possible that she became Ibrahim's concubine earlier than the mother of the firstborn prince, Turhan, simply she got pregnant later than Turhan. The Haseki rank was certainly given to her only after Turhan (and perhaps even after Muazzez).

Saliha Dilaşub is often described as a simple-hearted woman with restrained nature. Unfortunately, however, we don’t know much about her personality, as we know virtually nothing about her years with Ibrahim; and later we see her only as someone being in events but not being the leader of them. After the death of Sultan Ibrahim I, his son, Mehmed IV ascended the throne, but due to his young age in his place, Kösem Sultan ruled as regent. Due to her conflict with Mehmed's mother, Turhan, Kösem wanted to dethrone the young sultan and put Saliha Dilaşub's son on the throne instead. In the end, however, the rebellion of Kösem was unsuccessful and she was murdered. Saliha Dilaşub was not punished for her passive participation in the events. During Mehmed IV's reign, like Ibrahim's other concubines, she lived in the Old Palace, rarely being able to meet her son.

After 39 years in the Old Palace, in 1687 Mehmed IV was dethroned, and Saliha was able to return as the Valide Sultan once more, for the last time. As a Valide, Saliha established a foundation in Istanbul, and she also did charity, but she did not have time to build much power or start any building project. Her health soon began to deteriorate. She spent her last year in Edirne, lying in bed. Finally, she died on December 4, 1689 (according to others, January 3, 1690). She was buried in the tomb of Suleiman I, and later her son was placed next to her.

Hatice Muazzez Sultan

Hatice Muazzez may have been born around 1625, but neither the exact date nor her origin is known. According to most sources, Hatice Muazzez was Ibrahim’s second Haseki. By August 1642, she surely had the rank of Haseki Sultan, as she was mentioned in the harem registers as the second Haseki. So far, however, Ibrahim has already had two other Hasekis: Turhan Hatice and Saliha Dilaşub. So how can Muazzez be still the second Haseki? Hatice Muazzez’s son, Prince Ahmed, was born in March of the following year. So if Muazzez was indeed the second Haseki, she probably gave birth to another child before Ahmed and was given the Haseki rank after the other baby's birth. In this case, perhaps Turhan was Ibrahim's first Haseki, followed by Muazzez, who was probably giving birth to a girl at the time. It is mathematically possible for Muazzez to give birth to a girl between January and April 1642 and then to Ahmed in March of the following year. Both Gevherhan Sultan and Fatma Sultan were born in 1642, so it is possible that one of them was the daughter of Muazzez. But it could also be that Ibrahim gave Haseki rank to his concubines for no reason at all as we know how troubled his mind was...

We do not know much about the life of Hatice Muazzez during the reign of Ibrahim. With the dethronement and execution of Ibrahim, her life changed forever. Kösem Sultan decided not to send Ibrahim's sons and their mothers to the Old Palace immediately, so Muazzez could live with her son in Topkapi Palace until the assassination of Kösem in 1651. With Kösem's death, Muazzez was separated from her son and she had to move to the Old Palace. She lived practically her whole life in the Old Palace, where she could only meet her son occasionally. Although her son became a sultan in 1691, Muazzez was not able to become a Valide Sultan. In 1687 a huge fire began to spread in the city, which soon reached the Old Palace as well, and although Muazzez and the others had been evacuated, she suffered a heart attack from the shock and died the next day, on 12 September. Muazzez's body was taken to Üsküdar and was buried there. A few months later, Suleiman II distributed Muazzez's jewels among his own concubines, which jewels were taken back from them as soon as Muazzez's son, Ahmed II ascended the throne.

Ayşe, Mahienver and Saçbağlı Sultanas, the forgotten Hasekis

The first mention of Ayşe dates back to January 1645, when she received a separate room. Based on these, she was the fourth Haseki. We don't know if she had any children. Princes Bayezid and Cihanhir were born after January 1645, so if she was given the rank of Haseki because of the birth of a son, perhaps one of these two princes was hers. Beyhan Sultan was also born in 1645, so it cannot be ruled out that she was related to Ayşe. We know nothing about the rest of Ayşe's life.

Mahienver is mentioned in the harem registers on May 2, 1646, by the name of the "Fifth Haseki Mahienver Sultan", so she was Ibrahim's fifth Haseki. We don't know if she had any children. Prince Bayezid was born on May 1, so it is possible that Mahienver was his mother, we cannot be sure though. Ibrahim usually gave the Haseki rank even before the birth of the children and not after. Especially since there is no evidence that Mahienver had children for sure. We know nothing about the rest of Mahienver's life.

Saçbağlı is considered to be the sixth Haseki of Ibrahim, but we do not know when her Haseki-period started and if any children were born to her or not. No information is available about her life, only that Ibrahim once donated the incomes of Egypt to her.

Şivekar Sultan

Şivekar was the seventh Haseki of Ibrahim, who found herself in the harem among rather special circumstances. One of Ibrahim’s peculiar perversions was that he wanted to find the fattest woman in the empire. His call to look for the fattest woman pervaded the entire empire. In the end, Şivekar met Ibrahim's taste, as some said she weighed 150 kg, others said it was an exaggeration. Şivekar was a woman of Armenian descent who was added to the harem between 1646 and 1647 based on the fact that she was the seventh Haseki. Thanks to her flirtation, Ibrahim soon locked her in his heart.

It is not known whether any children were born, but it is certain that she had a rather significant political influence compared to the other Hasekis. For a time, Ibrahim became so embroiled with Şivekar that he received no one but this woman. After such, it is not surprising that Şivekar took advantage of the situation and sought political influence. She also used her influence in charity as he had a foundation. After the dethronement of Ibrahim, she moved to the Old Palace and lived there until her death in 1693. It seems she lived the longest life among Ibrahim's Hasekies.

Telli Hümaşah Sultan

She is considered to be the youngest of Ibrahim's concubines. She entered the harem in 1647, where she immediately caught the attention of Ibrahim. The sultan completely fell for her and gave her incredible fortune; gave her the residence of the Valide Sultan; forced his own sisters to serve Hümaşah; Ibrahimeven married her and gave her a huge palace and additional extreme sums of money as a wedding gift. Many consider Hümaşah to be an evil woman (while others say she was caring), perhaps because Ibrahim's sisters were put into her service. However, it is by no means certain that Hümaşah asked for it or wanted it at all. Most sources agree that Hümaşah was a particularly intelligent woman who was well able to influence Ibrahim.

In September 1648 she gave birth to her only child, Prince Orhan. By this time Ibrahim had been dethroned and executed. It is not known whether Prince Orhan was immediately separated from her or given his age he could stay along Hümaşah. In any case, Prince Orhan died at the age of just six months. The relationship between Hümaşah and the reigning valides (Kösem and Turhan) was certainly not good, for while Ibrahim's other concubines could live in peace in the Old Palace, Hümaşah was soon married off. We don't know anything about her life after.

Daughter of Şeyhülislam Muid Ahmed Efendi

Ibrahim wanted to marry the girl, but her father did not allow it. In response, Ibrahim abducted the girl from a bath. Some say he raped her, others say he didn’t. Either way, he eventually sent the girl back to his father soon after.

SERVANTS

Hubyar Hatun

Hubyar was in Ibrahim's favor for a time, able to get huge sums of money. There are two theories about her origin, some say she was the sister-in-law of the Grand Vizier Ahmed Pasha, others say she was a simple harem servant. In addition to Huyar, a woman named Yahudi Hatun is also often mentioned, who has also gained great power, but we know nothing more about her.

Şekerpare Hatun (Şehsüvar Usta)

Şekerpare was a very influential harem servant, she was the chief treasurer who could easily influence the sultan with her sweet manner. Şekerpare was married, so it is unlikely that there was a sexual relationship between Ibrahim and her. Her husband Kara Musa Pasha was able to rise higher and higher in the ranks thanks to her influence: first he became a Janissary commander, later a vizier and a defterdar. The age of Şekerpare is unknown, but given that she held the rank of chief treasurer, was married, and worked with Kösem Sultan for a long time in the harem, it is likely that she was closer to Kösem in age than to Ibrahim.

The former assumption is also supported by the fact that Şekerpare regularly visited public baths to look for women according to the sultan's taste. On one such occasion, Ibrahim ordered Şekerpare to take one of Murad IV's former concubines to him. However, the concubine rejected this and begged Şekerpare to help her. Şekerpare's agreed and she told Ibrahim that she could not bring the girl to him. However, Ibrahim was adamant, and eventually Şekerpare, according to legend, threatened the sultan with a dagger to stay away from the girl. Ibrahim, of course, replied, throwing her into the dungeon. When Kösem heard what happened, she took Şekerpare's side and she also scolded Ibrahim, thus Şekerpare was able to get out of prison.

As if nothing had happened, Şekerpare continued to be Ibrahim's favorite and sought out for women in public baths and she pursued her own affairs and gained more and more wealth. Over time, Kösem was also disturbed by Şekerpare's influence, and when she provided evidence to the sultan about the woman's corrupt affairs, Şekerpare and her husband were exiled to Egypt in 1648. In addition to Şekerpare and her husband, the exile also affected all those close to them. One such woman, Hamide Hatun successfully escaped the exile. She paid one of her servants to act as she is Hamide while she (the real Hamide) escaped. Şekerpare's life is uncertain after the exile. In 1649 she disappeared from the records forever, which is why we presumed her dead. Although Şekerpare had a türbe made for herself in Istanbul, it was sold when she was exiled.

Zafire Hatun

Zafire was a slave of Georgian descent bought by the chief black eunuch, Sümbül Agha, at the slave market. Legend has it that it turned out a few months later that the woman, although sold as a virgin, was certainly raped by the slave traders as she was pregnant. Sümbül Agha decided to raise the child as his own, as he would never have had a child of his own. Zafire had just given birth to her son, Osman, when the palace began to look for wet-nurses as Ibrahim's firstborn son soon born. Sümbül Agha recommended Zafire and so she became Mehmed IV's wet-nurse. However, the mad Ibrahim soon decided that he certainly liked Osman more than his own son, Mehmed, so he began to treat him as his own. This eventually degenerated to the point where the mother of Prince Mehmed and Ibrahim openly confronted.

Others believe Zafire was a servant of Ibrahim at the time of his confinement and Ibrahim impregnated the woman there. Legends have it that when Kösem Sultan heard of this, he instructed Sümbül Agha to throw the woman into the sea. However, the eunuch secretly took the woman to his own house, where she then gave birth to Ibrahim's child. However, this variation is unlikely.

Soon Zafire and her son, accompanied by the chief black eunuch, Sümbül Agha, and many other people, crossed the Mediterranean on a boat. Some say they went to Egypt because they were exiled by the Kösem Sultan; others say there was no exile, they went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Eventually, however, they were unable to arrive at any of the places, as Maltese pirates struck them, killed the chief eunuchs and other men on the ship, and enslaved the women and children. When they learned that Zafire and her son were very precious to the sultan, they took them to Malta, where they raised a priest from the boy. Eventually, the attack on this ship caused the decades-long Ottoman-Venetian war. Not knowing what happened to Zafire after.

Wife of Hezarpare Ahmed Pasha

Ibrahim abducted this woman (according to others, the pasha gave her by his free will) and she became his favorite for some time. Later, she became the governess of the motherless Beyhan Sultan. We don't know more about her.

Used sources: A. D. Alderson - The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty; L. Peirce - The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire; N. Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları; M. Ç. Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları; C. Finkel - Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; G. Piterberg - An Ottoman Tragedy, History and Historiography at Play; F. Suraiya - The Cambridge History of Turkey, The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839; Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire; Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar; F. Davis - The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul; Y. Öztuna - Genç Osman ve IV. Murad; G. Junne - The black eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire; R. Dankoff - An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Çelebi; R. Murphey - ‘The Functioning of the Ottoman Army under Murad IV (1623–1639/1032–1049):Key to Understanding of the Relationship Between Center and Periphery; M. Özgüleş - The women who built the Ottoman Empire: Female Patronage and the Architectural Legacy of Gülnüş Sultan

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ÁGYASOK

Saliha Dilaşub (Aşübe) Sultan

Születési ideje ismeretlen, felthetőleg Ibrahim összes ágyasa nagyjából egy korú volt. Tuhan Hatice esetében tudjuk, hogy 1648-ban húszas évei elején járt, így körülbelül 1625-ben születhetett. Ez az időpont tekinthető reálisnak Ibrahim minden ágyasára, így Dilaşubra is. Származása is kérdéses, egyesek szerint horvát vagy bosnyák volt, ám nincs erre utaló közvetlen bizonyíték.

Néhány történész úgy véli ő volt Ibrahim első ágyasa és ezzel magyarázható a többiekhez képest magas, 1300 asperes fizetése. Bár egyetlen gyermeke, 1642 áprilisában született, több hónappal Ibrahim első fia után, lehetséges, hogy korábban Ibrahim ágyasa lett, mint az első szülött herceg anyja, Turhan, egyszerűen csak később esett teherbe. Haszeki rangot viszont minden bizonnyal csak Turhan (és talán Muazzez) után kapott.

Saliha Dilaşubot gyakran jellemzik egyszerű, meghunyászkodó természetű nőként. Sajnos azonban nem tudunk sokat személyiségéről, hiszen Ibrahim mellett töltött éveiből gyakorlatilag semmit nem tudunk róla; később pedig csak események elszevedőjeként látjuk, nem konkrét karakterként. Ibrahim szultán halála után IV. Mehmed került trónra, helyette pedig Köszem szultána uralkodott régensként. Köszem egyre többször került összeütközésbe Mehmed anyjával, Turhannal, emiatt trónfosztani akarta az ifjú szultánt és helyette Saliha Dilaşub fiát a trónra ültetni. Végül azonban Köszem lázadása nem járt sikerrel és meggyilkolták. Saliha Dilaşubot nem büntették meg az eseményekben való passzív részvétele miatt. IV. Mehmed uralkodása alatt Ibrahim többi ágyasához hasonlóan ő is a Régi Palotában élt, fiával csak ritkán találkozhatott.

39 év senyvedés után a Régi Palotában, 1687-ben IV. Mehmedet trónfosztották, Saliha pedig Valide szultánaként visszatérhetett még egyszer, utoljára. Valideként Saliha alapítványt hozott létre Isztambulban, jótékonykodott is, azonban nem volt ideje nagy hatalmat kiépíteni. Egészsége hamarosan romlani kezdett. Utolsó évét Edirnében töltötte, ágyban fekve, végül 1689 december 4-én (mások szerint 1690 január 3-án) elhunyt. I. Szulejmán türbéjében temették el, később fiát is mellé helyezték.

Hatice Muazzez Sultan

Hatice Muazzez 1625 körül születhetett ám sem a pontos dátum, sem származása nem ismert. Legtöbb forrás szerint Hatice Muazzez volt Ibrahim második Haszekije. 1642 augusztusában már biztosan Haszeki rangot viselt, ekkor említik ugyanis először a hárem jegyzőkönyvek. Eddigre azonban Ibrahimnak már volt két másik Haszekije Turhan Hatice és Saliha Dilaşub. Ez a dátum azért is érdekes, mert Hatice Muazzez fia, Ahmed herceg csak következő év márciusában jött világra. Így amennyiben valóban Muazzez volt a második Haszeki, valószínűleg Ahmed előtt már életet adott egy másik gyermeknek és az ő születése után kapta a rangot. Ezesetben talán Turhan volt az első ágyasa Ibrahimnak, majd őt követte Muazzez, aki valószínűleg lányt szült ekkor. Matematikailag lehetséges, hogy Muazzez 1642 januárjában életet adjon egy kislánynak, majd jövő év márciusában Ahmednek. Gevherhan szultána és Fatma szultána is 1642-ben született, így lehetséges, hogy egyiküknek Muazzez volt az édesanyja. De az is lehet, Ibrahim teljesen random, ok nélkül adta a Haszeki rangot ágyasainak.

Hatice Muazzez életéről Ibrahim uralkodása alatt nem sokat tudunk. Ibrahim trónfosztásával majd kivégzésével élete örökre megváltozott. Köszem szultána úgy döntött, nem küldi el Ibrahim fiat és anyjukat a Régi Palotába, így Muazzez egészen Köszem 1651-es meggyilkolásáig fiával élhetett a Topkapi Palotában. Köszem halálával azonban elválasztották fiától és a Régi Palotába kellett költöznie. Gyakorlatilag egész életét a Régi Palotában élte le, fiával csak alkalomadtán találkozhatott. Bár fiából 1691-ben szultán lett, Muazzez nem érte meg a napot, így sohasem lehetett belőle Valide Sultan. 1687-ben hatalmas tűz kezdett terjedni a városban, ami hamarosan elérte a Régi Palotát is és bár Muazzezt és a többieket is sikerült kimenekíteni, a sokktól szívrohamot kapott és néhány nappal később, szeptember 12-én elhunyt. Muazzez testét Üsküdarba vitték és ott temették el. Ékszereit II. Szulejmán néhány hónappal később saját ágyasai között osztotta szét, melyeket II. Ahmed trónralépése után azonnal visszavett.

Ayşe, Mahienver és Saçbağlı szultánák, avagy az elfeledett Haszekik

Ayşe első említése 1645 januárjából származik, amikoris külön szobát kapott. Ezek alapján ő volt a negyedik Haszeki. Nem tudni, hogy volt e gyermeke és kik voltak azok. Bayezid és Cihanhir hercegek születtek 1645 januárja után, tehát ha egy fiú születése miatt kapott Haszeki rangot, talán közülük volt valakinek az édesanyja. Beyhan szultána is 1645-ben született, így az sem zárható ki, hogy ő állt kapcsolatban Ayşével. Ayşe további életéről nem tudunk semmit.

Mahienvert 1646 május 2-án említik előszöt a hárem jegyzőkönyvek, ötödik Haszeki Mahienver szultána névvel, tehát ő volt Ibrahim ötödik Haszekije. Nem tudni, hogy volt e gyermek vagy sem. Bayezid herceg május 1-én született, így nem kizárt, hogy Mahienver volt az anyja, nem vehetjük biztosra. Különösen úgy, hogy nincs arra utaló bizonyíték, hogy Mahienvernek voltak gyermekei. Mahienver további életéről nem tudunk semmit.

Saçbağlıt tartják Ibrahim hatodik Haszekijének, azt azonban nem tudjuk mikor lett Haszeki és születtek e gyermekei. Életőről semmilyen információ nem áll rendelkezésre, csupán annyi, hogy egyszer Egyiptom bevételét Ibrahim nekiajándékozta.

Şivekar Sultan

Şivekar volt Ibrahim hetedik Haszekije, aki meglehetősen különleges körülmények között került a hárembe. Ibrahim egyik különös perveziója az volt, hogy meg akarta találni a birodalom legkövérebb nőjét és saját asszonyává kívánta tenni. Az egész birodalmat bejárta felhívása, miszerint a legkövérebb nőt keresi. Végül Şivekar felelt meg Ibrahim ízlésének, egyesek szerint 150 kg-ot nyomott, mások szerint ez azért túlzás. Şivekar örmény származású nő volt, aki 1646 és 1647 között kerülhetett a hárembe. Kacérságának köszönhetően Ibrahim hamarosan a szívébe zárta.

Nem tudni, hogy születtek e gyermekei, az azonban bizonyos, hogy a többi haszekihez képest meglehetősen jelentős politikai befolyással bírt. Ibrahim egy ideig annyira belehabarodott Sivekarba, hogy senki mást nem fogadott, csak a nővel töltötte minden idejét. Ezekután nem meglepő, ha Şivekar kihasználta a helyzetet és politikai befolyásra törekedett. Befolyását aszonban jótékony célokra is fordította, ugyanis volt egy alapítványa. Ibrahim trónfosztása után a Régi Palotába költözött és ott élt 1693-es haláláig.

Telli Hümaşah Sultan

Úgy tartják ő volt Ibrahim ágyasai közt a legfiatalabbnak. 1647-ben került a hárembe, ahol azonnal felkeltette Ibrahim figyelmét. A szultán teljesen belehabarodott az ágyasba és hihetetlen vagyont ruházott rá, neki adta a Valide szultána lakrészét, saját édestestvéreit kényszerítette, hogy szolgálják Telli Hümaşaht; sőt feleségül is vette, nászajándékba pedig egy hatalmas palotát és további extrém pénzösszegeket kapott. Sokan számító, gonosz nőnek tartják Hümaşaht, talán azért, amiért szolgálatába állították Ibrahim nővéreit. Azonban egyáltalán nem biztos, hogy Hümaşah kérte vagy egyáltalán akarta ezt. Abban a legtöbb forrás egyet ért, hogy Hümaşah különösen intelligens nő volt, aki jól tudta befolyásolni Ibrahimot.

1648 szeptemberében adott életet egyetlen gyermekének, Orhan hercegnek. Ekkorra Ibrahimot már megfosztották trónjától és kivégezték. Nem tudni, hogy Orhan herceget azonnal elválasztották tőle vagy korára való tekintettel vele maradhatott. Mindenesetre Orhan herceg alig hat hónapos korában elhunyt. Hümaşah és a regnáló validék (Köszem és Turhan) között bizonyára nem volt felhőtlen a viszony, hiszen míg Ibrahim többi ágyasa békében élhetett a Régi Palotában, Hümaşaht hamarosan kiházasították. Életéről innen nem tudunk semmit.

Şeyhülislam Muid Ahmed Efendi lánya

Ibrahim feleségül akarta venni a lányt, azonban az apja ezt nem engedélyezte. Ibrahim válaszul elraboltatta a lányt egy nyilávnos fürdőből. Egyesek szerint megbecstelenítette, mások szerint nem. Akárhogy is, végül visszaküldte apjához a lányt.

SZOLGÁLÓK

Hubyar Hatun

Hubyar egy ideig Ibrahim kegyeiben volt, hatalmas összegeket tudott zsebre tenni. Származására két teória van, egyesek szerint a nagyvezír Ahmed Pasa sógornője volt, mások szerint egyszerű háremszolgáló. Huyar mellett gyakran említenek egy Yahudi Hatun nevű nőt is, aki szintén nagy hatalomra tett szert, ám nem tudunk róla mást.

Şekerpare Hatun (Şehsüvar Usta)

Şekerpare egy igen befolyásos hárem szolgáló volt, ő volt a főkincstárnok, aki negédes modorával könnyűszerrel tudta befolyásolni a szultánt. Şekerpare férjnél volt, így nem valószínű, hogy Ibrahim és közte szexuális kapcsolat állt volna fenn. Férje Kara Musa Pasa a nő befolyásának köszönhetően tudott egyre magasabbra emelkedni a ranglétrán: először janicsár parancsnok lett, később vezír és defterdár. Şekerpare kora nem ismert, ám tekintettel arra, hogy főkincstárnoki rangot viselt, férjnél volt és Köszem szultánával jóideje együtt dolgoztak a háremben, valószínű, hogy korban inkább állt közel Köszemhez, mint Ibrahimhoz.

Az előbbi feltételezést támasztja alá az is, hogy Şekerpare rendszeresen járta a nyilvános fürdőket, hogy ott a szultán ízlésének megfelelő nőket keressen. Egy ilyen alkalommal Ibrahim megparancsolta Şekerparének, hogy IV. Murad egyik korábbi ágyasát vigye el hozzá. Az ágyas azonban ezt elutasította és könyörgött Şekerparének, hogy segítsen neki. Şekerpare szíve megesett a nőn és közölte Ibrahimmal, hogy nem viheti elé a lányt. Ibrahim azonban hajthatatlan volt, végül aztán Şekerpare a legendák szerint egy késsel fenyegette meg a szultánt. Erre természetesen Ibrahim is válaszolt, tölöcbe vetette a nőt. Amikor a történtek Köszem fülébe jutottak, Şekerpare pártját fogta és ő is megszidta Ibrahimot, Şekerpare pedig kijöhetett a börtönből.

Mintha mi sem történt volna, Şekerpare a továbbiakban is Ibrahim kegyeltje volt és nőket keresett neki a nyilvános fürdőkben, folytatta saját ügyeit és egyre nagyobb vagyonre tett szert. Idővel Köszemet is zavarni kezdte Şekerpare befolyása, majd mikor bizonyítékokat juttatott el a szultánhoz a nő korrupt ügyeiről, Şekerparét férjével együtt Egyiptomba száműzték 1648-ban. A száműzetés Şekerpare és férje mellett összes hozájuk közeli személyt is érintette. Egyik ilyen nő, Hamide Hatun volt, aki sikerrel úszta meg a száműzetést. Egyik szolgálóját fizette le, hogy adja ki magát Hamidének, míg ő megszökik. Şekerpare élete száműzetése után bizonytalan. 1649-ben örökre eltűnik a nyilvántartásokból, emiatt azt feltételezik, hogy elhunyt. Şekerpare bár készíttetett magának egy türbét Isztambulban, ezt száműzetésekor eladták.

Zafire Hatun

Zafire egy grúz származású rabszolga volt, akit a fő fekete eunuch, Szümbül Aga v��sárolt meg a rabszolga piacon. A legendák szerint néhány hónappal később derült ki, hogy a nő bár szűzként került eladásra, minden bizonnyal megbecstelenítették a rabszolgakereskedők. Szümbül Aga úgy döntött, a gyermeket sajátjaként fogja felnevelni, hiszen neki magától sosem lehetett volna gyermeke. Zafire épphogy életet adott fiának, Oszmánnak, a palotába elkezdtek szoptatósdajkát keresni, hiszen Ibrahim elsőszülött fia hamarosan világrajött. Szümbül Aga beajánlotta a nőt és így ő lett IV. Mehmed szoptatósdajkája. Az őrült Ibrahim szultán azonban hamarosan úgy döntött, hogy neki bizony Oszmán jobban tetszik, mint a saját fia, Mehmed, ezért őt kezdte el sajátjaként kezelni. Ez végül odáig fajult, hogy Ibrahim és Mehmed herceg édesanyja nyíltan konfrontálódott.

Mások úgy tartják, Zafire Ibrahim szolgálója volt elzárása idején és Ibrahim ott ejtette teherbe a nőt. Mikor Köszem szultána ezt megtudta, Szümbül Agára bízta, hogy a nőt vessea tengerbe. Az eunuch azonban titokban saját házába vitette a nőt, ahol aztán életet adott Ibrahim gyermekének. Ez a variáció azonban nem valószínű.

Hamarosan Zafire és fia a fő fekete eunuch, Szümbül Aga és sok más ember kíséretében egy hajón szelte a Földközi-tengert. Egyesek szerint Egyiptomba tartottak, hiszen Köszem szultána száműzte őket; mások szerint szó sem volt száműzetésről, zarándokútra igyekeztek Mekkába és Medinába. Végül azonban egyik helyre sem érkezhettek meg, ugyanis máltai kalózok lecsaptak rájuk, a fő eunuchok és a hajón található többi férfit meggyilkolták, a nőket és gyermekeket rabszolgasorba taszították. Mikor megtudták, hogy Zafire és fia igen becsesek a szultán számára őket Máltára vitték, ahol papot neveltek a fiúból. Végül ezen hajó megtámadása okozta az évtizedeken át tartó oszmán-velencei háborút. Nem tudni, hogy Zafirével mi történt.

Hezarpare Ahmed Pasa felesége

Ibrahim elrabolta a nőt (mások szerint a pasa adta neki) és egy ideig kegyeltjeként viselkedett vele. Később az elanyátlanodott Beyhan szultána nevelőnőjévé vált. Többet nem tudunk róla.

Felhasznált források: A. D. Alderson - The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty; L. Peirce - The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire; N. Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları; M. Ç. Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları; C. Finkel - Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; G. Piterberg - An Ottoman Tragedy, History and Historiography at Play; F. Suraiya - The Cambridge History of Turkey, The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839; Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire; Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar; F. Davis - The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul; Y. Öztuna - Genç Osman ve IV. Murad; G. Junne - The black eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire; R. Dankoff - An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Çelebi; R. Murphey - ‘The Functioning of the Ottoman Army under Murad IV (1623–1639/1032–1049):Key to Understanding of the Relationship Between Center and Periphery; M. Özgüleş - The women who built the Ottoman Empire: Female Patronage and the Architectural Legacy of Gülnüş Sultan

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lifetimecontracts-blog · 4 years

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4 Essential Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin has actually been known by several to be the most well-known decentralized cryptocurrency. However, besides bitcoin there exists other altcoins that provide a fantastic value also. Are you interested in finding out about various other cryptocurrencies? Well, bitcoin is not the only one. Here are others.

1. Litecoin (LTC).

Data reveal that as of July 2018, Litecoin had per token worth of $87.56. The coin was developed by previous Google designer as well as MIT grad named Charlie Lee. Much like bitcoin, Litecoin is not regulated by any type of main authority. It makes use of" scrypt" as proof of work. Different from bitcoin, Litecoin has obtained a quicker obstruct generation price. This implies that it uses a faster purchase verification.

The coin is based upon an open source international repayment network. The coin is typically accepted by sellers with the number growing each day. In July 2018, it had a market cap of $5.03 billion.

2. Ethereum (ETH).

It was launched in the year 2015. ETH is a decentralized software program system. It makes it possible for Distributed Applications and Smart Contracts to be constructed as well as run without downtime, scams, control or 3rd party disturbance. lifetime contracts There exists a part called ether which acts like a vehicle within the ethereum platform. Designers looking for to develop as well as run applications within ethereum and also financiers aiming to purchases various other electronic money are the most interested events in ether.

Worth per token of ethereum as of July 2018 was $474.66 and also a market cap of $ 47.84. Ethereum is the 2nd most important cryptocurrency from bitcoin.

3. Zcash (ZEC).

Much like various other altcoins, Zcash is an open-source and also decentralized cryptocurrency. It was launched in the year 2016. This cryptocurrency is recognized to offer personal privacy as well as careful openness of deals. It's a special function various from other altcoins, isn't it?

ZEC claims to supply added safety and security where all the transactions are taped and published on a blockchain. However, finer details including the sender as well as recipient, as well as the quantity are maintained private. Stats reveal that since July 2018, Zcash had per token worth of $206.23. It had a market cap of $904.85 in the exact same month.

4. Dashboard.

It was originally referred to as darkcoin. Dash is a much more secretive version of bitcoin. The working of Dash makes purchases virtually untraceable. This due to the fact that it supplies anonymity given that it deals with a decentralized mastercode network.

Dashboard was released in January 2014. Ever since it has experienced a rise in fan following in spite of the brief period of time. The cryptocurrency was developed by Evan Duffield. It can be mined utilizing a GPU or a CPU. Researches indicate that in July 2018, Dash had a market cap of $2.19 billion as well as worth per token of $266.58.

Other top cryptocurrencies include Surge (XRP), Monero (XMR), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), NEO (NEO), Cardano (ADA) and EOS (EOS).

Bottom line.

To conclude, it would certainly be appropriate to say that bitcoin has distinguished itself as a trailblazer. The world has experienced a wave of cryptocurrencies that are improved a decentralized peer-to-peer network. For that reason bitcoin has actually ended up being the de facto requirement for cryptocurrencies.

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starcitizenprivateer · 5 years

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Star Citizen Monthly Report: January 2019

The first Persistent Universe monthly report of the year details all the work done by the Star Citizen team throughout December and January. While the devs and studio teams took a break for the holidays, the early winter months saw a ton of tasks completed, progress made, and new ideas seeded.

Star Citizen Monthly Report: December 2018 - January 2019

The AI Team put effort into stability and optimization for the recent alpha releases and patches.

AI gunships gained new tactical options, including the introduction of a new behavior that allows them to circle enemies and use their turrets to attack from a constant distance. Designers can easily modify this behavior to change things like the optimal attack range and when to disengage the target. The ‘fly-by’ and ‘breakaway’ tactics were also amended to make better use of the predicted hit position and allow ships to better evaluate the environment to determine the optimal direction for evasion.

An ongoing focus for the team is converting all new movement logics to utilize the new Intelligent Flight Control System in preparation for its upcoming release.

For human combat, the team worked to improve the behaviors released in Alpha 3.4, making sure basic structures were in place to enable AI to decide which cover location to use, when to shoot, and when to relocate. The cover selection has been expanded to order the query based on the amount of protection it gives when multiple targets are taken into account. They also implemented an improved way to debug behaviors and can now visualize the debug tree on multiple characters at the same time as well as use the Subsumption debug draw in a server/client environment.

Time was spent on the perception system, which was expanded to handle damage stimuli; AI characters now have proper awareness of damage, so they know the exact location of the source and will behave accordingly, tracking if a specific enemy they lost sight of is the source of damage and updating the knowledge they have about them.

Progress was made on the Usable Builder, which allows the team to easily visualize usables, edit their properties, and test the different use channels. For the mission system, they exposed several new functionalities to the designers, such as a variety of task nodes, new variable types, and new core functionalities. A ‘group’ variable was introduced that can automatically be filled up when spawning AI characters to let designers track the dynamic elements they’re interested in.

Currently, the AI Team is implementing global callbacks to help the designers track environmental events specific to the data they’re interested in without the need to explicitly create variables for each entity.

Animation

The PU Animation Team spent the pre-holiday period finalizing mission givers, including Constantine Hurston and Tecia Pacheco, and are currently working on ship dealers to give players a salesman-like experience when buying vehicles in-game. They’re also continuing to actualize the emotes shot at CitizenCon.

Audio

The team worked hard to improve the ship audio experience in-line with the new flight model, which included implementing improvements to thrusters, powerplants, and the overall sound mix. They’re also integrating greater levels of complexity via new components, including ship vibration and environmental feedback variants, that deliver greater feedback from turbulence, impact, and atmospheric flight.

Physicalized props and physical objects received audio support recently to ensure they have appropriate impact, role, slide, and topple sound effects. A recent addition to this is the team’s work on implied contents for carriable items, such as crates.

The Foley system is continually being iterated on, with the team improving the footstep and cloth systems in relation to various contexts, e.g. material/surface types and pressurized/unpressurized environments. The sounds will all vary for the upcoming female player character, too.

Working closely with the PU music composer, Pedro Camacho, the team has been laying the groundwork for various upcoming locations, including ArcCorp and Area 18. This includes creative conversations with the Narrative, Art, and the wider Audio Team to establish appropriate sound pallets, instrumentation, styles, and motifs.

The Audio Code Team drove significant progress on the new CIG Audio System, which will hugely improve the audio implementation pipelines and consolidate functionality into a single tool with much wider scope and flexibility.

In other news, the Audio Department is hiring! They are looking to fill two sound design and one dialog specialist positions. This is in line with the team’s planned expansion and all talented audio professionals are encouraged to apply.

Backend Services

Backend Services completed a large portion of the foundation work for the new diffusion backend architecture. This includes the continued break-up of the general instance manager into smaller scalable services. The dedicated game server needs to communicate properly with the new services, so hooks and proper calls have been set up between them.

Support was also given to the Alpha 3.4 release and subsequent smaller releases to ensure communication on the backend was as efficient as possible.

Plans were laid out in January for the new diffusion network and work was done to ensure the services scripting language continues to function efficiently. Finally for Backend Services, a handful of alterations were made to the various new services and existing databases for increased efficiency.

Character Art

Character Art brought the Shipjacker Armor to players along with the holiday-themed Shipjacker skull helmet. They also set out to unify all armors and undersuits for female playable characters and finalized the concept for mission-giver Tecia ‘Twitch’ Pacheco.

After a nice holiday break, the team started on tasks for the upcoming DNA feature. For this, the team needed to convert, mark-up, and unify all head assets to work with the male and female protos, including the unification of all Data Forge assets.

DNA is a major feature that affects the entire facial setup and pipeline for characters in Star Citizen. This significant feature touches a lot of teams, and through a lot of dedicated collaborative work, is progressing very well. The teams are currently updating mesh formats to support the data sets required, wrapping up and fixing any bugs relating to GPU skinning, and updating all the attachments in the game with the mark-up required for DNA compatibility. The system has begun to roll out in the PU on NPC characters and is already yielding performance wins. Lots of cooperation and iteration between all DNA teams has resulted in a fun and intuitive interface that allows the player to easily create their own face for their player character. The DNA feature is on track to meet its scheduled release.

Finally, The team is also concepting new mission givers and outfits to bring more life to the Persistent Universe.

Community

The Community Team held two holiday-themed competitions: One invited Citizens to create greetings cards to express their love and gratitude and wish each other happy holidays. The other put the festive helmet and cargo to good use by asking everyone to show how they celebrate the holidays in the ‘verse.

The new Star Citizen Fankit was released that offers a wealth of free assets along with a style guide to help content creators use them at their best. Looking for wallpapers, manufacturer logos, music, and more? Download the kit and check out the FAQ answering all the questions about what a content creator can and can’t do with official Star Citizen assets.

In January, the team celebrated Australia Day with a screenshot contest that had everyone showing off their best flight formations in the Gladius Valiant (which was made available to all backers for the occasion). They also kicked off another contest highlighting Tumbril’s rough and rugged Cyclone series that challenged content creators to take their filmmaking skills off-road.

A few of the Community Team members spent a weekend exploring PAX South and attended the annual Bar Citizen event on the River Walk. Selfies were taken, stories shared, and friendships made.

Have you checked out your hangar lately? The ‘One Empire Anniversary Coin’ was distributed to all backers who pledged before to the $200 million milestone.

Lastly, the Daymar Rally took place on January 27th, with three different divisions (Rover, Buggy, and Bike) battling it out for glory and rewards. Everyone involved should feel very proud of themselves, as seeing the filthiest race in the ‘verse come together was an incredible experience for everyone. Well done!

Design

The Economy Features Team focused on adding new weapons to the various shops around the ‘verse. Once complete, shop inventories were set up for all the new locations and various bugs were squashed. Tweaks to missions and the overall economy were also made to move the game closer to the end economic goals of the team.

In January, testing began on a new formula that dynamically alters certain commodity parameters within the wider economy. A new approach is also being taken towards vehicle components to help create interesting choices for players when in shops – even if they have enough money to buy anything they want.

Polish was added to various NPCs throughout the ‘verse, with the aim to make them as realistic and believable as possible.

The design was complete for a new nav marker ruleset that makes how and when players see destination markers more intuitive. Rulesets were also created to add functionality to the Quantum Travel and Service Beacon systems to give players more options when traveling in a party and choosing a location for service beacon transport respectively.

DevOps

DevOps broke their previous record of the number of internal builds published to the PTU and live service.

“One of the most satisfying things for the team is seeing the results of our work. The Alpha 3.4 publish was one of those times we really felt proud.”

2018 was the first year that scaling automation was used on the live service, which allows the servers to keep up with demand when needed but cut back as necessary. The new system exceeded all expectations and led to one of the smoothest holiday seasons ever.

Build Operations was hard at work developing new systems to support a major pipeline upgrade to the overall game development process and continues to build new systems and improve on old ones.

Engineering

The Engine Team supported the Alpha 3.4 release and subsequent patches with general assistance, profiling, optimization, and bug fixes. For compute skinning, they made tangent reconstruction optimizations for character faces, data optimizations and compression to lower bandwidth requirements, separated static and dynamic GPU data, and moved bone-remapping to the GPU (to save CPU memory and provide more flexibility).

Work began on HDR color grading and output on supported displays, while splat map support for planet terrain was added, as was an improved film grain with unified dithering. The development of planetary ground fog began along with significant improvements to temporal sample anti-aliasing (TSAA).

The physics engineers enabled joint limits on driven ragdolls and fixed instability caused by a threshold in the solver. They also made the first steps in exposing the spatial grid structure for walking and exploring and added physics support for planetary oceans.

Improvements were made to crash handling, including various thread-safety improvements to enable more robust handling of obscure crashes, and the addition of extra information into minidumps to allow for better debugging of fibres.

Environment Art

Winter saw work begin on the Environment Art Team’s next big target: microTech and its landing zone, New Babbage. In preparation, designs were trialled for the ‘Hi-Tech’ common elements, which include habs, garages, and hangars in an all-new architectural style. These new sets will help the team build New Babbage and ensure the visual style feels fresh and different.

Recent improvements to the organics shaders and pipeline will improve the look of geology and planets. This update has been a long time in the making and the team is looking forward to giving all planet assets a visual upgrade.

The team is currently moving from whitebox towards release for both the planet ArcCorp and its main landing zone, Area 18. Some necessary changes have been made to Area 18’s original layout, mainly for performance reasons but also to improve the general layout and city ‘feel’.

“The task of creating a planet-wide city that players can circumnavigate which also blends well into the major landing zone remains a constant challenge, but one that’s bearing impressive fruit. Progress has been good on improvements to the believability and read of ArcCorp as a city, with the space taking a huge visual step forward from when it was last seen.”

Gameplay Feature

Like many others, the Gameplay Feature Team put in a concentrated effort to fix as many bugs as possible for the Alpha 3.4 release. Specifically, they overcame issues with FoIP & VoIP, Comms, and the Group System. They also supported the US Vehicle Feature Team with their UI-needs for item sub-targeting and the ongoing turret improvements.

The team kicked off 2019 supporting patches for Alpha 3.4.0 before moving straight into feature work for 3.5, including the UI for DNA face customization, continued improvements to Comms video streaming, and a refactor of shop population.

Graphics

The Graphics Team’s focus has been on performance and memory saving:

The performance gains mainly came from improvements to shadow culling and optimization to video comms, especially on lower-spec machines (though there are some quality issues still to address).

The largest memory saving came from fixing a particularly nasty bug in the mesh streaming code which could result in all levels-of-detail loading for a mesh rather than just the ones needed. Other savings came from increasing the sharing textures used by various effects and improvements to the logic in which textures should be streamed in (interestingly, the game can now run with as little as 400mb of textures!).

On top of this, the team resurrected the water volume tech and made it compatible with the zone system so it can be used on planets, space stations, and ships.

Level Design

Level Design finished the current iteration of Lorville’s Central Business District (CBD) and added it to the city. They are now looking into the trainlines that connect it to Teasa spaceport.

However, the majority of the team is currently focussing on ArcCorp and Area18, with the hangar, shop, vendor, spaceport, and overall layout now finalized. They also gave the planet and its moons a necessary design setup, began an investigation into quantum traveling AI, and introduced a variety of new narcotics during the prototyping of a new mission from ‘Twitch’ Pacheco.

Lighting

The Lighting Team focused on finishing the CBD and supported the addition of mission-giver Klim to Levski for the Alpha 3.4.0 release. They also looked at the small and medium-sized common elements for the player hangars and created different lighting variations for the Rest Stop, Lorville, and upcoming Area 18 styles.

They’re currently fleshing out the development tools by creating an asset zoo for all current ‘utilitarian-style’ lighting fixtures in use throughout the PU to help them quickly and efficiently add lighting to new locations.

Narrative

The Narrative Team returned from the holidays to tackle the Alpha 3.5 update, including developing ideas for the branding of street and food stalls in Area 18 and outlining the NPC archetypes needed to populate the city and mission content.

The team is also excited to welcome a new producer to the group; not only will he help keep the team organized, he’ll act as the point of contact for the other teams to make requests through.

Player Relations

Player Relations busily wrapped up the Alpha 3.4 publishes along with all of the work created over the holiday period. They teamed up with the Evocati for several builds to make sure everything was properly tested and completed several rounds of PTU publishing and testing. Progress was also made on an internal quality-of-life feedback report that comes straight from backers’ experiences.

“As always, we can’t thank our volunteers enough for the effort they put into helping us build this game (especially our wonderful Avocados!).”

Planning has already begun for the upcoming Alpha 3.5 release – particularly the testing of the new flight model.

Props

From the small dressing items on Constantine’s desk to the giant Hurston statue, Props mainly spent December finishing up Lorville’s CBD. New mission props were created that focused on the illegal drug trade and surface relay kit. Finally, for December, ideas were floated for cockpit flair and work began on ship sub-items.

In January, some of the team moved onto looking at the ship items themselves, initially taking stock of where they’re up to and looking at how they can integrate sub-items into interiors. The majority of the team have now shifted onto the new Area 18 landing zone and are looking into white-boxing props and supplying basic block outs so other teams can start to build and dress the level.

QA tackled some of the more difficult-to-reproduce issues in the run-up to the Alpha 3.4 release. Dedicated feature testers for both AI and the Gameplay Feature Teams continued to test their respective areas (combat AI, ship AI, non-combat AI, and transit system) via sanity and smoke tests along with standard testing and regression.

QA now provide dedicated support to the Locations Team to ensure that current and new locations are set up and working as expected by Art and Design. A few notable requests involved testing fixes for server deadlock and various changes to the physics of jumping and going down stairs. Changes to the Entity IDs in Track View were tested in the editor to make sure they were seamless and bug-free. A new restricted area for ground vehicles was also added to Lorville, which was thoroughly tested by both the German and UK teams.

Further investigation was made into the issue of Ship AI idling during mercenary and Emergency Communication Network (ECN) missions to ascertain whether it was AI or network related. The team could only reproduce it during ship AI missions in the live environment and encountered something close to it during a 20-player playtest. The one consistent factor was that it only seemed to occur when performance took a dip. So, it was deemed not an AI issue and will be further investigated by the Network Team.

On the publishing side, QA tested the Alpha 3.4 builds before they reached the Evocati and Live service. In January, they worked through the 3.4.# fixes. Recently, attention turned to preparing for Alpha 3.5.

The holiday period saw four new testers join the extended QA family, too.

Ships

The UK Ship Team continued developments of the Origin 890 Jump, with further greybox work done on the atrium, master suite, guest suites, and engineering deck. They also refined the exterior hull styling to try and move a few areas closer to the original concept and make the overall ship less ‘cartoon-looking’.

Everyone’s favorite pathfinder, the Anvil Carrack, has progressed since it was last seen. It’s currently in greybox, with the team tackling the feedback generated from the discussions on RTV, particularly the controversial landing gear changes and bridge layout.

Finally, the team made steady progress with the updates to the Aegis Vanguard in preparation for the Harbinger and Sentinel, with focus primarily on interior adjustments along with some quality-of-life fixes for those aboard. Greybox is progressing nicely, so the team will be moving onto the exterior and tackling feedback points to ensure the base Warden model is properly prepared to accommodate the variants.

Ship Art

Ship Art is currently hard at work to bring the new 300i series to life. They’re in the process of getting the damage and customization pass complete, finishing up detail work on various parts, and finalizing the materials.

Alongside the 300i, they’re chugging away on the Defender; the first in-game asset from the mysterious Banu alien race. Extra care was taken to ensure the Defender represents the overall Banu design aesthetic and can be built on in the future. The exterior is currently going through the greybox modeling process and is nearly complete. Afterwards, it moves to interior greybox modeling.

System Design

The System Design Team investigated how to improve the FPS AI experience and social AI was introduced to the Lorville CBD. Gunships piloted by AI now circle their targets and orient themselves to maximize their firepower, while fighter AI was updated to take full advantage of the new flight model.

Tech Art

Tech Art made steps to finalize the implementation and pipeline of the new facial customization tech, which was previewed at CitizenCon 2018. They switched the system’s source data format from the CDF-based system (which was used during R&D) to the newer component-based loadout currently used throughout the game. This system allows players’ customized faces to be stored persistently in the database and the corresponding data packets to transfer efficiently over the network and be applied to the correct avatar at runtime. Likewise, it allows all key NPCs (every shopkeeper, security guard, civilian, and eventually mission giver) to have a unique face built internally by the designers. While R&D on the DNA system was done using male faces, the face pool for female characters is being populated and is planned to come online at the same time.

Tech Art also supported the Weapons Team with animation debugging, weapon rigging, in-engine setup, and debugging multiple render and resource compiler issues. They added a new system for weapons in Maya to allow animators to quickly attach different attachments, making it easier for them to author specific animations. They also updated the underlying metasystem in the weapon rigs to enable animators to export weapons without double transforms on the root or magazine controls.

Turbulent

Turbulent supported the release of the 2018 holiday promotion, featuring a new giftable pledge called ‘For Your Friends’. This new pledge allows a customizable message to be sent along with the gift, making it ideal for friends and family. The holiday promotion also featured screenshot and greeting card contests.

The team supported the availability of the Alpha 3.4 flyable ships on the website, including the Anvil Hawk, Origin 600i Touring, MISC Freelancer series, and the MISC Reliant Kore.

The Cloud Imperium Games corporate website was released in December. Its slick new look is a much better representation of the company’s values and mission and properly communicates the vision behind Star Citizen. The ‘Join Us’ section has details of each location and over 100 job postings across 9 different categories, so see if there’s something to suit you at your nearest studio! Updates are continually being made to the latest news and job postings sections.

Long overdue, the website navigation was improved with a new and improved platform bar and footer. Additional efforts went into creating the bar as a component to make future updates to the site easier. The Starmap is now accessible via the Apps menu to make it easier to find too!

There were major updates to the Squadron 42 Roadmap, which is now tied into the internal project management tool, Jira. A new chapter design was introduced, showing the development progress as phases and chapters, while descriptions for each expose the details of what it actually takes to build the game.

Turbulent supported the release of the Gladius Valiant Free-Fly promotion in celebration of Australia Day. A screenshot contest was available with prizes to be won.

A customizable preference feature was added to the Group, Lobby, and Voice services to allow custom properties to be set for each user with each respective entity. The Voice service can start a call within a channel, inviting all those allowed to join. The new mobiGlas service will allow single endpoints that will appropriately gather the information from the Group, Lobby, and Voice service with a single call. Options can be passed that will select the type of information returned.

The error catching software, Sentry, has also been added to each service to allow previously-uncaught errors to be tracked and reported to the appropriate Sentry project.

During December and January, UI supported the Environment Team with in-fiction advertisements and branding for ArcCorp. They implemented new features on the tech-side to enable the designers to create ‘user variables’, which are used internally but can still persist on the entity the UI is bound to. For example, a designer may want to capture game-data values and store them internally within the UI to gain reference to previous values when the data changes. This functionality fulfills certain presentational needs that contribute to improving the user-experience. Another interesting implication is that, because they are sent across the network, they open up the potential for players to see each other’s UI state (what app they’re currently on, which particular item in a list they’ve highlighted, etc.).

The team also implemented a new node allowing the ability to set up switch logic on a variable (as well as a widget) to dynamically load images on the fly. Together, these features enable the designers to build out a fully-functioning in-world weapon UI screen with an ammo counter, charge levels, and fire mode states.

Vehicle Features

To help ensure that Alpha 3.4 was released in December, the team spent a lot of time supporting the release (and subsequent patches) by fixing bugs, including turret, vehicle, and crash problems. The team also completed modifications to the vehicle targeting system so that external items, such as ship engines, can be specifically targeted.

Improvements to ship combat systems continued via automated gimbals, HUD changes to support Ping & Scanning, and the vehicle ‘XML to DataForge’ migration began. Wrapping up January, a vehicle gimbal aim-assist feature is on its way to completion.

Vehicle Content

The Vehicle Content Team’s 2018 wrapped up with the launch of the Anvil Hawk and improvements to the Reliant Kore, which entailed a rework of the cargo section, ramp, and landing gear. A number of vehicle bugs were also fixed for the 3.4 release. Additionally, the team worked on the three Reliant variants for Alpha 3.5, while the designers have been working with the ship artists in Austin on the Origin 300 series rework.

VFX

For much of December, the VFX Team focused heavily on polish and optimization for the Alpha 3.4 release. In particular, significant effort was put into making sure Hurston and Lorville’s environmental effects were optimized while remaining as high-quality as possible.

In early January, they re-evaluated their sprint planning practices and implemented some simple production-led changes to improve overall workflow. Following on from that, they began R&D work on the Tachyon cannon; a weapon type with faster-than-light projectiles.

They began implementing thruster damage effects in keeping with the new flight model planned for Alpha 3.5 and began R&D on how to use particle effects to help make Area 18’s volumetrics more visually interesting. They also worked on effects for the new Kahix rocket launcher – a handheld anti-vehicle rocket launcher with a unique tech style.

New tools were created within Houdini to help design various assets. This includes a new, more accurate way to generate signed distance fields (SDF) on the surface of the gas cloud. These SDFs are used as an arbitrary surface that enable the ability to spawn and manipulate effects with, such as lightning crawling along the surface.

Weapons

The Weapon Art Team worked on the Multi-Tool rework, Kastak Arms Ravager-212, and the level two and three upgrades for the Hurston Dynamics Laser Repeaters. They also made minor adjustments to the iron sights on a handful of weapons to improve the sight picture and to make them more user-friendly when no optics are attached.

Conclusion

WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…

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#star citizen #squadron 42

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flora-petal · 3 years

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Article Forge Review - How To Easily Become A Better Article Marketer

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denae-sommerfield21qk8 · 3 years

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Article Forge Reviews - Boost Your Company By Promoting It Through Articles.

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Article promo can be effective if you find out how to market your campaign properly prior to you start. This article consists of countless recommendations to aid you in creating an efficient article advertising and marketing strategy. It's feasible that you'll need to do some exploring.

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How To Market Articles Properly Using These Simple Tips

The "no adhere to" attribute for your web link is a beneficial function to employ. Web spiders are alerted not to adhere to a web link if a customer posts spam on your website. This will certainly protect against spammy websites from connecting to you, potentially harming your SEO capacity along with your online reputation as a trustworthy as well as valuable source.

If a customer understands that the item you offer works for somebody else, it can aid them make a decision whether to purchase from you. Consist of a section with real customer testimonials to guarantee that you fulfill this need.

To advertise your firm, you should begin a blog site. Blogging is a terrific means to communicate with your site's visitors, as well as adding a blog page is frequently totally free. It's very easy to start a blog site, and also it'll assist you bring in extra targeted visitors.

Publishing the same variations of the exact same article in multiple indexes is not a good idea. There are various article indexes to select from when seeking your article promo method. Marketing experts must resist the impulse to resubmit a single article to every of the hundreds of indexes that exist. Internet search engine will certainly discount your links and also lower your ranking if you do this.

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These "professionals" make their cash by educating others regarding article entry. This isn't to claim that they're making money off of article advertising and marketing programs.

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— Vasanth (@Vasanth79072575) January 17, 2021

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andreacaskey · 3 years

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As SEO changes, so do the tools that serve practitioners

Search engine optimization remains the stalwart mainstay of digital marketing, with search driving around 50% of website traffic on average, according to an analysis of SimilarWeb data by Growth Badger. The average top blog, the company found, “gets 66.47% of its traffic from search, of which 99.77% is organic and only 0.23% is paid.”

But the practice of SEO has become more complex and it involves more considerations than SEOs enjoyed in the “ten blue links” era. Today, SEO includes everything from content marketing and distribution to user experience, and even the core job of gathering and interpreting search intelligence has become more challenging as the search engines continually change their display of results and port them over to other media like voice assistants.

This doesn’t mean that the well-established SEO best practices should be cast aside, however. Keyword research, page-level analysis, backlink tracking and acquisition, and rank tracking are still of critical importance, even as the environment continues to change.

Learn more about the evolution of SEO platforms by downloading our MarTech Intelligence Report!

The new face of search results

One important factor SEOs now face is having what was once organic space on the search engine results pages (SERPs) taken over by engines’ monetization efforts — in the form of larger more dynamic ad placements — and also by so-called “zero-click searches,” where the user doesn’t need to click to another page to get their question answered, because the answer is displayed right on the SERP.

What impact this is having isn’t entirely clear. A SparkToro analysis of SimilarWeb data from January to December of 2020 found that nearly two-thirds (64.82%) of searches on Google now end without a click on a result. “Zero-click searches …. have been on a steady rise for years, and I don’t expect that to reverse or plateau anytime soon,” said Rand Fishkin, founder of SparkToro, his look at the same phenomenon 2019.

Google disputes this study as misleading, however, saying so-called zero-click searches often represent people reformulating their search queries, connecting with businesses directly from results or navigating directly to apps in addition to seeking quick facts that can be delivered directly on SERPs.

“While we do show website links for many queries today when they are the most helpful response,” Google said in a blog post, “we also want to build new features that organize information in more helpful ways than just a list of links. And we’ve seen that as we’ve introduced more of these features over the last two decades, the traffic we’re driving to the web has also grown — showing that this is helpful for both consumers and businesses.”

In any case, data on these special displays (even if not exact) can be helpful to marketers seeking visibility on the SERPs, including within these features.

For example, the analysis showed that searcher behavior varies based on the device being used to search. The researchers found that, in aggregate, searches resulting in a click are much more likely to occur on desktop devices (50.75% organic CTR, 2.78% paid CTR), while zero- click are much higher on mobile devices (77.22%).

A Perficient Digital analysis of AuthorityLabs data on nearly 2M searches provides even more granular data. On queries with ads — and ads are likely to be served on the great majority of commercial queries — the ads attract about 28% of the clicks, “stealing” from no-click searches. Perficient concurred that searchers on desktop were more likely to click-through.

Google employs more than 1200 unique features (up from 810 in the last such count) — such as the Knowledge Graph, Direct Answers and FAQs — on its search engine results pages, seoClarity estimates, with each tailored to a certain type of search or search intent. They’re not all displayed at once, of course, and some are actually quite rare. Overall, out of those 1200 features, only 200 are found on more than 0.2% of keywords, according to seoClarity research.

Needless to say, features like these affect the way users respond to search results and influence what they click on — or if they click at all. Because different types of searches generate different layouts and types of displays, Nielsen Norman eye-tracking studies find that users need a moment to process the SERP before making a decision.

“Because search-results pages are now so inconsistent from query to query, users are often forced to assess the page before digging in and making a selection,” according to the report described in Search Engine Land. (Perficient Digital data finds this inconsistency to be a much bigger factor on mobile, noting that desktop results aren’t nearly as volatile.) This results in what the user experience company called a “pinball pattern” in eye movement.

The special, visually-rich displays are viewed by 74% of searchers, Nielsen Norman Group found. And they seem to be having a significant impact on click activity.

Back in 2006, the first search result (defined in this study as the first item appearing on the page, which means it could be an ad) attracted 51% of clicks. In their most recent look, only 28% of clicks go to the first result under the search box, the UX researchers found.

Nielsen Norman Group researchers also noted what they call a “love at first sight” behavior pattern on SERPs, where 20% (up from 17% in 2006) of searches result in people focusing on a single result on a page, presumably finding it sufficient to answer their question. The UX researchers said one reason was that, “people trust that the search engine’s pick for the best answer will be pretty close to the true best answer. It’s become a common belief that search engines are good at finding the best answer to a query and presenting it at the top of SERPs.”

The researchers didn’t segment their analysis to look at different types of searches, though. Perficient Digital has found that whether the query contains a brand name or not seems to have a significant impact. The agency found that the click-through-rate for the first result on branded queries averages 69%, whereas for non-branded queries the first result only achieves a 18% click-through rate.

This suggests that there’s more opportunity for marketers to attract clicks even if they aren’t in the very top spot, but, between more aggressive monetization of results and special features, there’s just not as much room for organic listings. Consequently, there’s an increasing need for enterprise SEO tools that help marketers identify where their pages are showing up (especially in these special features) and identify opportunities for optimization.

We explore these developments and more in our MarTech Intelligence Report on Enterprise SEO Platforms, updated for 2021. Download now!

The post As SEO changes, so do the tools that serve practitioners appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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instalikesworld · 3 years

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What is Blockchain?

Blockchain seems complicated, and it definitely can be, but its core concept is really quite simple. A blockchain is a type of database. To be able to understand blockchain, it helps to first understand what a database actually is.

A database is a collection of information that is stored electronically on a computer system. Information, or data, in databases is typically structured in table format to allow for easier searching and filtering for specific information. What is the difference between someone using a spreadsheet to store information rather than a database? Show more Crypto Info

Spreadsheets are designed for one person, or a small group of people, to store and access limited amounts of information. In contrast, a database is designed to house significantly larger amounts of information that can be accessed, filtered, and manipulated quickly and easily by any number of users at once. Large databases achieve this by housing data on servers that are made of powerful computers. These servers can sometimes be built using hundreds or thousands of computers in order to have the computational power and storage capacity necessary for many users to access the database simultaneously. While a spreadsheet or database may be accessible to any number of people, it is often owned by a business and managed by an appointed individual that has complete control over how it works and the data within it. So how does a blockchain differ from a database? Storage Structure One key difference between a typical database and a blockchain is the way the data is structured. A blockchain collects information together in groups, also known as blocks, that hold sets of information. Blocks have certain storage capacities and, when filled, are chained onto the previously filled block, forming a chain of data known as the “blockchain.” All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled. A database structures its data into tables whereas a blockchain, like its name implies, structures its data into chunks (blocks) that are chained together. This makes it so that all blockchains are databases but not all databases are blockchains. This system also inherently makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. When a block is filled it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline. Each block in the chain is given an exact timestamp when it is added to the chain. Transaction Process 📷 Attributes of Cryptocurrency 📷 Decentralization For the purpose of understanding blockchain, it is instructive to view it in the context of how it has been implemented by Bitcoin. Like a database, Bitcoin needs a collection of computers to store its blockchain. For Bitcoin, this blockchain is just a specific type of database that stores every Bitcoin transaction ever made. In Bitcoin’s case, and unlike most databases, these computers are not all under one roof, and each computer or group of computers is operated by a unique individual or group of individuals. Imagine that a company owns a server comprised of 10,000 computers with a database holding all of its client's account information. This company has a warehouse containing all of these computers under one roof and has full control of each of these computers and all the information contained within them. Similarly, Bitcoin consists of thousands of computers, but each computer or group of computers that hold its blockchain is in a different geographic location and they are all operated by separate individuals or groups of people. These computers that makeup Bitcoin’s network are called nodes. In this model, Bitcoin’s blockchain is used in a decentralized way. However, private, centralized blockchains, where the computers that make up its network are owned and operated by a single entity, do exist.

In a blockchain, each node has a full record of the data that has been stored on the blockchain since its inception. For Bitcoin, the data is the entire history of all Bitcoin transactions. If one node has an error in its data it can use the thousands of other nodes as a reference point to correct itself. This way, no one node within the network can alter information held within it. Because of this, the history of transactions in each block that make up Bitcoin’s blockchain is irreversible. If one user tampers with Bitcoin’s record of transactions, all other nodes would cross-reference each other and easily pinpoint the node with the incorrect information. This system helps to establish an exact and transparent order of events. For Bitcoin, this information is a list of transactions, but it also is possible for a blockchain to hold a variety of information like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company’s product inventory. In order to change how that system works, or the information stored within it, a majority of the decentralized network’s computing power would need to agree on said changes. This ensures that whatever changes do occur are in the best interests of the majority. Transparency Because of the decentralized nature of Bitcoin’s blockchain, all transactions can be transparently viewed by either having a personal node or by using blockchain explorers that allow anyone to see transactions occurring live. Each node has its own copy of the chain that gets updated as fresh blocks are confirmed and added. This means that if you wanted to, you could track Bitcoin wherever it goes. For example, exchanges have been hacked in the past where those who held Bitcoin on the exchange lost everything. While the hacker may be entirely anonymous, the Bitcoins that they extracted are easily traceable. If the Bitcoins that were stolen in some of these hacks were to be moved or spent somewhere, it would be known. Is Blockchain Secure? Blockchain technology accounts for the issues of security and trust in several ways. First, new blocks are always stored linearly and chronologically. That is, they are always added to the “end” of the blockchain. If you take a look at Bitcoin’s blockchain, you’ll see that each block has a position on the chain, called a “height.” As of November 2020, the block’s height had reached 656,197 blocks so far. After a block has been added to the end of the blockchain, it is very difficult to go back and alter the contents of the block unless the majority reached a consensus to do so. That’s because each block contains its own hash, along with the hash of the block before it, as well as the previously mentioned time stamp. Hash codes are created by a math function that turns digital information into a string of numbers and letters. If that information is edited in any way, the hash code changes as well. Here’s why that’s important to security. Let’s say a hacker wants to alter the blockchain and steal Bitcoin from everyone else. If they were to alter their own single copy, it would no longer align with everyone else's copy. When everyone else cross-references their copies against each other, they would see this one copy stand out and that hacker's version of the chain would be cast away as illegitimate. Succeeding with such a hack would require that the hacker simultaneously control and alter 51% of the copies of the blockchain so that their new copy becomes the majority copy and thus, the agreed-upon chain. Such an attack would also require an immense amount of money and resources as they would need to redo all of the blocks because they would now have different timestamps and hash codes.

Due to the size of Bitcoin’s network and how fast it is growing, the cost to pull off such a feat would probably be insurmountable. Not only would this be extremely expensive, but it would also likely be fruitless. Doing such a thing would not go unnoticed, as network members would see such drastic alterations to the blockchain. The network members would then fork off to a new version of the chain that has not been affected. This would cause the attacked version of Bitcoin to plummet in value, making the attack ultimately pointless as the bad actor has control of a worthless asset. The same would occur if the bad actor were to attack the new fork of Bitcoin. It is built this way so that taking part in the network is far more economically incentivized than attacking it. Bitcoin vs. Blockchain The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited. Blockchain technology was first outlined in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W. Scott two researchers who wanted to implement a system where document timestamps could not be tampered with. But it wasn’t until almost two decades later, with the launch of Bitcoin in January 2009, that blockchain had its first real-world application. The Bitcoin protocol is built on a blockchain. In a research paper introducing the digital currency, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, referred to it as “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.” The key thing to understand here is that Bitcoin merely uses blockchain as a means to transparently record a ledger of payments, but blockchain can, in theory, be used to immutably record any number of data points. As discussed above, this could be in the form of transactions, votes in an election, product inventories, state identifications, deeds to homes, and much more. Currently, there is a vast variety of blockchain-based projects looking to implement blockchain in ways to help society other than just recording transactions. One good example is that of blockchain being used as a way to vote in democratic elections. The nature of blockchain’s immutability means that fraudulent voting would become far more difficult to occur. For example, a voting system could work such that each citizen of a country would be issued a single cryptocurrency or token. Each candidate would then be given a specific wallet address, and the voters would send their token or crypto to whichever candidate's address they wish to vote for. The transparent and traceable nature of blockchain would eliminate the need for human vote counting as well as the ability of bad actors to tamper with physical ballots. Blockchain vs. Banks Banks and decentralized blockchains are vastly different. To see how a bank differs from blockchain, let’s compare the banking system to Bitcoin’s implementation of blockchain. How is Blockchain Used? As we now know, blocks on Bitcoin’s blockchain store data about monetary transactions. But it turns out that blockchain is actually a reliable way of storing data about other types of transactions, as well. Some companies that have already incorporated blockchain include Walmart, Pfizer, AIG, Siemens, Unilever, and a host of others. For example, IBM has created its Food Trust blockchain1 to trace the journey that food products take to get to its locations. Why do this? The food industry has seen countless outbreaks of e Coli, salmonella, listeria, as well as hazardous materials being accidentally introduced to foods. In the past, it has taken weeks to find the source of these outbreaks or the cause of sickness from what people are eating. Using blockchain gives brands the ability to track a food product’s route from its origin, through each stop it makes, and finally its delivery. If a food is found to be contaminated then it can be traced all the way back through each stop to its origin. Not only that, but these companies can also now see everything else it may have come in contact with, allowing the identification of the problem to occur far sooner, potentially

saving lives. This is one example of blockchains in practice, but there are many other forms of blockchain implementation. Banking no industry stands to benefit from integrating blockchain into its business operations more than banking. Financial institutions only operate during business hours, five days a week. That means if you try to deposit a check on Friday at 6 p.m., you will likely have to wait until Monday morning to see that money hit your account. Even if you do make your deposit during business hours, the transaction can still take one to three days to verify due to the sheer volume of transactions that banks need to settle. Blockchain, on the other hand, never sleeps. By integrating blockchain into banks, consumers can see their transactions processed in as little as 10 minutes,2 basically the time it takes to add a block to the blockchain, regardless of holidays or the time of day or week. With blockchain, banks also have the opportunity to exchange funds between institutions more quickly and securely. In the stock trading business, for example, the settlement and clearing process can take up to three days (or longer, if trading internationally), meaning that the money and shares are frozen for that period of time. Given the size of the sums involved, even the few days that the money is in transit can carry significant costs and risks for banks. European bank Santander and its research partners put the potential savings at $15 billion to $20 billion a year.3 Capgemini, a French consultancy, estimates that consumers could save up to $16 billion in banking and insurance fees each year4 through blockchain-based applications. forms the bedrock for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The U.S. dollar is controlled by the Federal Reserve. Under this central authority system, a user’s data and currency are technically at the whim of their bank or government. If a user’s bank is hacked, the client’s private information is at risk. If the client’s bank collapses or they live in a country with an unstable government, the value of their currency may be at risk. In 2008, some of the banks that ran out of money were bailed out partially using taxpayer money. These are the worries out of which Bitcoin was first conceived and developed. By spreading its operations across a network of computers, blockchain allows Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to operate without the need for a central authority. This not only reduces risk but also eliminates many of the processing and transaction fees. It can also give those in countries with unstable currencies or financial infrastructures a more stable currency with more applications and a wider network of individuals and institutions they can do business with, both domestically and internationally. Using cryptocurrency wallets for savings accounts or as a means of payment is especially profound for those who have no state identification. Some countries may be war-torn or have governments that lack any real infrastructure to provide identification. Citizens of such countries may not have access to savings or brokerage accounts and therefore, no way to safely store wealth. care providers can leverage blockchain to securely store their patients’ medical records. When a medical record is generated and signed, it can be written into the blockchain, which provides patients with the proof and confidence that the record cannot be changed. These personal health records could be encoded and stored on the blockchain with a private key, so that they are only accessible by certain individuals, thereby ensuring privacy. Records of you have ever spent time in your local Recorder’s Office, you will know that the process of recording property rights is both burdensome and inefficient. Today, a physical deed must be delivered to a government employee at the local recording office, where it is manually entered into the county’s central database and public index. In the case of a property dispute, claims to the property must be reconciled with the public index. This process is not just costly and

time-consuming—it is also riddled with human error, where each inaccuracy makes tracking property ownership less efficient. Blockchain has the potential to eliminate the need for scanning documents and tracking down physical files in a local recording office. If property ownership is stored and verified on the blockchain, owners can trust that their deed is accurate and permanently recorded. In war-torn countries or areas that have little to no government or financial infrastructure, and certainly no “Recorder’s Office,” it can be nearly impossible to prove ownership of a property. If a group of people living in such an area is able to leverage blockchain, transparent and clear timelines of property ownership could be established. Smart is a computer code that can be built into the blockchain to facilitate, verify, or negotiate a contract agreement. Smart contracts operate under a set of conditions that users agree to. When those conditions are met, the terms of the agreement are automatically carried out. Say, for example, a potential tenant would like to lease an apartment using a smart contract. The landlord agrees to give the tenant the door code to the apartment as soon as the tenant pays the security deposit. Both the tenant and the landlord would send their respective portions of the deal to the smart contract, which would hold onto and automatically exchange the door code for the security deposit on the date the lease begins. If the landlord doesn’t supply the door code by the lease date, the smart contract refunds the security deposit. This would eliminate the fees and processes typically associated with the use of a notary, third-party mediator, or the origins of materials that they have purchased. This would allow companies to verify the authenticity of their products, along with such common labels as “Organic,” “Local,” and “Fair Trade.” facilitate a modern voting system. Voting with blockchain carries the potential to eliminate election fraud and boost voter turnout, as was tested in the November 2018 midterm elections in West blockchain in this way would make votes nearly impossible to tamper with. The blockchain protocol would also maintain transparency in the electoral process, reducing the personnel needed to conduct an election and providing officials with nearly instant results. This would eliminate the need for recounts or any real concern that fraud might threaten the election. Advantages and Disadvantages of Blockchain For all of its complexity, blockchain’s potential as a decentralized form of record-keeping is almost without limit. From greater user privacy and heightened security to lower processing fees and fewer errors, blockchain technology may very well see applications beyond those outlined above. But there are also some disadvantages. Pros Improved accuracy by removing human involvement in verification Cost reductions by eliminating third-party verification Decentralization makes it harder to tamper with Transactions are secure, private, and efficient Transparent technology Provides a banking alternative and way to secure personal information for citizens of countries with unstable or underdeveloped governments Cons Significant technology cost associated with mining bitcoin Low transactions per second History of use in illicit activities Regulation Here are the selling points of blockchain for businesses on the market today in more detail. Advantages of Blockchain Accuracy of the network are approved by a network of thousands of computers. This removes almost all human involvement in the verification process, resulting in less human error and an accurate record of information. Even if a computer on the network were to make a computational mistake, the error would only be made to one copy of the blockchain. In order for that error to spread to the rest of the blockchain, it would need to be made by at least 51% of the network’s computers—a near impossibility for a large and growing network the size of Bitcoin’s. Cost ReductionsTypically, consumers pay a bank to verify a transaction, a

notary to sign a document, or a minister to perform a marriage. Blockchain eliminates the need for third-party verification and, with it, their associated costs. Business owners incur a small fee whenever they accept payments using credit cards, for example, because banks and payment processing companies have to process those transactions. Bitcoin, on the other hand, does not have a central authority and has limited transaction fees. DecentralizationBlockchain does not store any of its information in a central location. Instead, the blockchain is copied and spread across a network of computers. Whenever a new block is added to the blockchain, every computer on the network updates its blockchain to reflect the change. By spreading that information across a network, rather than storing it in one central database, blockchain becomes more difficult to tamper with. If a copy of the blockchain fell into the hands of a hacker, only a single copy of the information, rather than the entire network, would be compromised. Efficient TransactionsTransactions placed through a central authority can take up to a few days to settle. If you attempt to deposit a check on Friday evening, for example, you may not actually see funds in your account until Monday morning. Whereas financial institutions operate during business hours, five days a week, blockchain is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Transactions can be completed in as little as ten minutes and can be considered secure after just a few hours. This is particularly useful trades, which usually take much longer because of time-zone issues and the fact that all parties must confirm payment processing. Private TransactionsMany blockchain networks operate as public databases, meaning that anyone with an internet connection can view a list of the network’s transaction history. Although users can access details about transactions, they cannot access identifying information about the users making those transactions. It is a common misperception that blockchain networks like bitcoin are anonymous, when in fact they are only confidential. That is, when a user makes public transactions, their unique code called a public key, is recorded on the blockchain, rather than their personal information. If a person has made a Bitcoin purchase on an exchange that requires identification then the person’s identity is still linked to their blockchain address, but a transaction, even when tied to a person’s name, does not reveal any personal information. Secure TransactionsOnce a transaction is recorded, its authenticity must be verified by the blockchain network. Thousands of computers on the blockchain rush to confirm that the details of the purchase are correct. After a computer has validated the transaction, it is added to the blockchain block. Each block on the blockchain contains its own unique hash, along with the unique hash of the block before it. When the information on a block is edited in any way, that block’s hashcode changes—however, the hash code on the block after it would not. This discrepancy makes it extremely difficult for information on the blockchain to be changed without notice. TransparencyMost blockchains are entirely open-source software. This means that anyone and everyone can view its code. This gives auditors the ability to review cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for security. This also means that there is no real authority on who controls Bitcoin’s code or how it is edited. Because of this, anyone can suggest changes or upgrades to the system. If a majority of the network users agree that the new version of the code with the upgrade is sound and worthwhile then Bitcoin can be updated. Banking the UnbankedPerhaps the most profound facet of blockchain and Bitcoin is the ability for anyone, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or cultural background, to use it. According to the world bank there are nearly 2 billion adults that do not have bank accounts or any means of storing their money or wealth.5 Nearly all of these individuals live in developing

countries where the economy is in its infancy and entirely dependent on cash. These people often earn little money that is paid in physical cash. They then need to store this physical cash in hidden locations in their homes or places of living leaving them subject to robbery or unnecessary violence. Keys to a bitcoin wallet can be stored on a piece of paper, a cheap cell phone, or even memorized if necessary. For most people, it is likely that these options are more easily hidden than a small pile of cash under a mattress. Blockchains of the future are also looking for solutions to not only be a unit of account for wealth storage, but also to store medical records, property rights, and a variety of other legal contracts. Disadvantages of Blockchain While there are significant upsides to the blockchain, there are also significant challenges to its adoption. The roadblocks to the application of blockchain technology today are not just technical. The real challenges are political and regulatory, for the most part, to say nothing of the thousands of hours (read: money) of custom software design and back-end programming required to integrate blockchain to current business networks. Here are some of the challenges standing in the way of widespread blockchain adoption. Technology CostAlthough blockchain can save users money on transaction fees, the technology is far from free. The “proof of work” system that bitcoin uses to validate transactions, for example, consumes vast amounts of computational power. In the real world, the power from the millions of computers on the bitcoin network is close to Assuming electricity costs of $0.03~$0.05 per kilowatt-hour, mining costs exclusive of hardware expenses are about $5,000~$7,000 per coin.10 Despite the costs of mining bitcoin, users continue to drive up their electricity bills in order to validate transactions on the blockchain. That’s because when miners add a block to the bitcoin blockchain, they are rewarded with enough bitcoin to make their time and energy worthwhile. When it comes to blockchains that do not use cryptocurrency, however, miners will need to be paid or otherwise incentivized to validate transactions. Some solutions to these issues are beginning to arise. For example, bitcoin mining farms have been set up to use solar power, excess natural gas from fracking sites, or power from wind farms. Speed InefficiencyBitcoin is a perfect case study for the possible inefficiencies of blockchain. Bitcoin’s “proof of work” system takes about ten minutes to add a new block to the blockchain. At that rate, it’s hat the blockchain network can only manage about seven transactions per second (TPS). Although other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum perform better than bitcoin, they are still limited by blockchain. Legacy brand Visa, for context, can process 24,000 TPS. Solutions to this issue have been in development for years. There are currently blockchains that are boasting over 30,000 transactions per second. Illegal ActivityWhile confidentiality on the blockchain network protects users from hacks and preserves privacy, it also allows for illegal trading and activity on the blockchain network. The most cited example of blockchain being used for illicit transactions is probably the an online “dark web” drug marketplace operating from February 2011 until October 2013 when it was shut down by the FBI.6

The website allowed users to browse the website without being tracked using the Tor browser and make illegal purchases in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Current U.S. regulations require financial service providers to obtain information about their customers when they open an account, verify the identity of each customer, and confirm that customers do not appear on any list of known or suspected terrorist organizations. This system can be seen as both a pro and a con. It gives anyone access to financial accounts but also allows criminals to more easily transact. Many have argued that the good uses of crypto, like banking the unbanked world, outweigh the bad uses of cryptocurrency, especially when most illegal activity is still accomplished through untraceable cash. RegulationMany in the crypto space have expressed concerns about government regulation over cryptocurrencies. While it is getting increasingly difficult and near impossible to end something like Bitcoin as its decentralized network grows, governments could theoretically make it illegal to own cryptocurrencies or participate in their networks. Over time this concern has grown smaller as large companies like PayPal begin to allow the ownership and use of cryptocurrencies on its platform. What's Next for Blockchain? First proposed as a research project in 1991,7 blockchain is comfortably settling into its late twenties. Like most millennials its age, blockchain has seen its fair share of public scrutiny over the last two decades, with businesses around the world speculating about what the technology is capable of and where it’s headed in the years to come. With many practical applications for the technology already being implemented and explored, blockchain is finally making a name for itself at age twenty-seven, in no small part because of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. As a buzzword on the tongue of every investor in the nation, blockchain stands to make business and government operations more accurate, efficient, secure, and cheap with fewer middlemen. As we prepare to head into the third decade of blockchain, it’s no longer a question of "if" legacy companies will catch on to the technology—it's a question of "when."

ARTICLE SOURCES

maximalists favor bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies and are unapologetically in favor of a bitcoin monopoly in the future. Ether is the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network. All of the programs linked with the Ethereum network require computing power; Ether is the token that is used to pay for this power. Block Height indicates the overall length of a blockchain. Sharding is a database partitioning technique that may help blockchain networks build scalability, reduce latency, and handle more transaction volume Show more Crypto Info

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dipulb3 · 3 years

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'There's never been a time like this': Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/theres-never-been-a-time-like-this-wall-street-is-piling-into-trading-cards-as-prices-soar/

'There's never been a time like this': Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar

In early February, a Michael Jordan rookie basketball card in pristine condition sold for a record $738,000 at an auction run by Goldin’s company. The kicker? The exact same item went for nearly $215,000 just weeks before.

“There’s never been a time like this in the history of the business,” Goldin told Appradab Business. “I would bet that for every person who wanted a Michael Jordan rookie card in 2019, there’s 100 [now].”

The shock sale is part of a much bigger trend in sports collectibles that’s grabbed the attention of sophisticated investors as well as small traders, transforming card collecting from a fusty hobby into a major investment market. But the timing and scale of the price surge has also sparked worries that it may be fueled by the same speculative forces that recently sent bitcoin and meme stocks like GameStop through the roof.

“This is now part of our culture,” Goldin said. “I wouldn’t go anywhere near the word bubble.”

The pandemic push

The trading card renaissance has its roots in the pandemic. Stuck at home without live sports games, people began raiding their attics and basements and digging up old cards. They also sat down to watch “The Last Dance,” the documentary series about Jordan, the legendary former NBA star, that aired on ESPN.

Suddenly, trading cards were everywhere, boosted by celebrity endorsers ranging from actor Mark Wahlberg, whose kids launched a collecting business, to DJ Steve Aoki and Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk. Videos of fans opening packs of cards on YouTube and TikTok started racking up tens of thousands of views.

“This is a market that’s growing in demand, but doesn’t have more supply,” Vaynerchuk, a longtime advocate of card investing, wrote on his website last March. “That’s a recipe for opportunity.”

Prices for top-quality cards featuring all-time greats jumped dramatically. Those featuring newer talent rose, too, as enthusiasts tried to scout the next big stars.

“Instead of betting on a game, people look at this, and they can bet on a career,” Goldin said.

The spike in prices has caught the attention of a wider class of investment professionals, flush with cash following unprecedented stimulus measures from governments and central banks. Rock-bottom interest rates have also made it harder to find lucrative investments, bolstering interest in creative alternatives.

“Funds are being created. They’re getting investors involved and pooling five, 10, 15 million dollars,” said Jesse Craig, director of business development at PWCC Marketplace, a top seller of premium cards.

Josh Luber, the co-founder of sneaker resale startup StockX, left the company last year to form Six Forks Kids Club, an alternative asset management company focused on cards. The moment, he said, was simply too big to pass up.

“It’s hard to find someone [in] my generation whose first business wasn’t buying baseball cards when they were 10,” Luber, who is 42, told Appradab Business. “We’re all of the age where we have a little bit more money, but we’re also in positions of decision-making for investment funds.”

The arrival of institutional money has quickly transformed the market. Goldin said for the first time in his career, he’s fielding calls from hedge funds interested in gaining exposure.

Takeover interest has also emerged, given the limited number of prominent companies in the sector. Last month, angel investor Nat Turner and Steve Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund titan and owner of the New York Mets, announced they were buying authentication service Collectors Universe in a $853 million deal, after sweetening a bid first made in November.

Not just Wall Street

It’s not just big money getting into the game as the sector gets a financial makeover.

Fractional trading has also reshaped the trading card business, allowing everyday buyers to purchase a small stake in a LeBron James or Patrick Mahomes card that would have otherwise been too costly, in the same way people can now buy a piece of expensive stocks like Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN).

“We realized the potential fractional ownership could have to break down a massive barrier to entry,” said Ezra Levine, the CEO of Collectable, which buys sports cards and converts them into tradable assets registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Collectable distributes individual shares of cards on its platform through initial public offerings. The shares can then be bought and sold as if they were stock in Microsoft (MSFT) or AMC Entertainment (AMC).

The firm has completed roughly 40 IPOs since last fall, and boasts of impressive returns. A 1986 Jordan card that went public at $10 per share in October is now trading at $60 per share, while stock in an autographed James card from 2003 has jumped 50% since late December.

Not everyone is going this route. Other hobbyists are gathering on social media as they rip open new packs of cards, hoping they’ll contain younger talent that can later be sold for a huge profit on eBay. Some are making even bigger bets.

“I spent $9,000 on this,” one TikTok user said in a post this week, holding up a James rookie card. “Call me crazy, but I think this is going to hit 20K. Let’s go.”

Is it a bubble?

After Craig brokered the sale of a rare Mickey Mantle card to entrepreneur and actor Rob Gough in January for $5.2 million — labeled the biggest sale for any trading card in history — questions about a price bubble seemed valid.

Those in the business say there could be a pullback in prices for some extremely hot items, like the Jordan rookies, but they don’t think valuations are spinning out of control.

“I think trading cards are one of the most undervalued asset classes out there,” Luber said.

He added that while the 1986 Jordan card appreciated faster than he might have expected, he doesn’t think the value is out of line with where demand is headed.

Everyone in the industry thinks it’s “a $1 million card,” Luber said. “But we all thought it was a year away instead of a month away.”

Scott Keeney, who set up a fund to invest in trading cards and companies like Collectable with venture capitalists Courtney and Carter Reum, is similarly bullish. He thinks that one to two years from now, the prices that Jordan and Mantle cards are commanding will be far higher than they are now.

“We look at all these other people coming in as more validation,” Keeney said. He declined to share how much his fund had raised, beyond stating it was at least seven figures.

There are risks, of course. As with investing in rare art or wine, the potential for fraud looms. The Washington Post has reported that the FBI is looking into cards that were allegedly altered to improve their condition before they were authenticated by Collectors Universe and auctioned on platforms like PWCC.

The industry has also seen a crash in prices before, after overzealous producers flooded the market in the 1980s and 1990s. As collectors discovered just how many were in the system, cards from the era plunged in value.

Goldin acknowledges that prices will inevitably fluctuate. But he believes supply will remain in check, particularly on the upper end of the market.

“The difference between cards and stock [is] nobody loves a stock,” he said. “Some people who buy these cards, to get them to sell it is like getting them to take off an arm.”

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