Tour of the Singapore Zoo in Pictures
My wife and I planned to visit the Kruger National Park in South Africa later this year (2020). The Kruger National Park is one of the very few wildlife parks where you will be able to see the big five in its natural habitat. The big five consists of the elephant, leopard, rhinoceros, African buffalo and of course, the lion. But unfortunately COVID-19 happened and we were forced to postpone our visit for now.
For now I am reliving our memories of our visit to the Singapore Zoo, which is a really impressive zoo. It will take you the better part of a day to see much of the zoo.
Here are a few of my pics of some of the animals that we came across. It was pouring with rain for much of our visit. Some of the pictures show the rain streaking across the lens. All photos have been taken by me and are owned by me.
The animals in the zoo are not kept in cages, but roam outside in safe open spaces. If you want to observe these spectacular animals without visiting the plains of Africa or the subtropical jungles of Asia, then the Singapore Zoo is a must-visit for you.
Black Howler Monkey
**And now for the Big Cats!**
Thank you for taking the tour with me! I hope that you enjoyed the tour of the Singapore Zoo through the pictures. There's a lot more to see than the animals in these pictures.
All pictures were taken by me with a Canon EOS M6 mirrorless camera, kitted with a Canon EF-M18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens. All photos are as taken and have not been changed in anyway, except for cropping here and there.
I will be posting a lot more of my travel photographs; so please look out for them.
Goats in Trees - Morocco
Whilst travelling from Marrakech to Essaouira on a recent visit to Morocco, we came across this fascinating display of goats in trees. Yes, you read correctly…goats in trees! Apparently goats climb the Argan tree (Argania Spinosa) which is endemic to south western parts of Morocco. The goats love to eat the fruit of the argan tree and in order to get to the argan fruit, they obviously need to climb into the tree. And that is how they end up in the tree. Since the Argan tree does not bear fruit all year round, some of the goats are placed in the trees as a tourist attraction during the off-season.
Just as an aside, the fruit of the Argan tree is harvested for the nuts which contains seed that is rich in oil. The goats facilitate this process by eating the fruit and pooping out the nuts, which are not digested by the goats system. The poop is gathered and the nuts are extracted and cracked open to reveal the seed. This is obviously not the only way that the nuts are harvested. It is a labour intensive process to extract the oil from the seed. The oil is used in cosmetic products and for culinary purposes and is quite expensive. The tour guides stop on route at the various places where they do the extraction and make products. There is no such thing as cheap argan oil. If it’s cheap, it's probably diluted or mixed with something else.
We found the tree climbing goats fascinating and cute. I hope that you enjoy the pics.
Thanks for reading.
All photographs in this post have been taken by me.
A Photographic Reflection of Chefchaouen, The Blue City in Morocco
One of my more interesting and memorable visits was to Morocco and in particular to Chefchaouen, which is called The Blue City. Chefchaouen is located in the Rio Mountains and is best known for its blue-washed wall buildings in the old town. It has a similar feel to it as the Bo-Kaap in Cape Town, South Africa. The steep cobbled alleyways presents one with all kinds of intriguing shops. You will find many handcraft workshops here from brass, to leather, to weaving, to painting, etc. A lovely quaint place with a peaceful ambience. A must visit if you into exploring different cultures. The pictures contained in this posting were taken by me and reflects the mood of Chefchaouen.
Photographs do not do justice to the Blue City. It is a lovely place that needs to be on your bucket list as a cultural tour.
I will in due course post a few more pictures of other sites of Morocco, including the fascinating goats in the trees, which attracts many many visitors.
Enjoy the photographs and let me know what you think!
Congratulations Liverpool FC!
It has taken 3 decades for Liverpool FC to regain the English Premier League title, and they deservedly earned it! They have played consistently well over the past seasons and had to fend off Pep's formidable Manchester City to gain the coveted EPL trophy! Well Done!
**CONGRATULATIONS LIVERPOOL!**
Starting A Fire in a Closed Combustion Fireplace
It’s winter now in the Southern Hemisphere and people are now resorting to using their fireplaces again to generate heat in their homes.
If you are a first time woodburning fireplace owner or if you are a bit rusty when it comes to starting a fire, then this article is for you.
Firstly, what is a closed combustion fireplace, you may ask? Well, it is distinguished by the fact that they are fully enclosed fireplaces that have fire-resistant glass doors or windows that contain the fire within the stove or fireplace. A closed combustion fireplace burns efficiently and cleanly, retaining as much as 85% of the heat. Whereas open fireplaces have a heat retention rate of about 30%. In effect it only burns about one-third of the fuel to provide the same heat output as an open fire while giving off hardly any smoke, soot or gas.
So how do we start a fire in a closed combustion fireplace?
There is a science and a technique to starting a fire properly in a fireplace.
Cover the bottom of the firebox with crumpled balls of paper or place 2 pieces of fire-lighters in the firebox.
Stack sufficient dry kindling (small pieces of wood) on top of the crumpled balls of paper or over the firelighters.
Stack the kindle in a crisscross fashion on top of the paper or as a teepee over the fire-lighters.
Place a few pieces of crumpled paper on top of the stack of kindle or one piece of fire-lighter on top of the kindling.
Ensure that your primary and secondary airflow is fully open.
First light the the crumpled paper or fire-lighter on top of the kindle. This will establish an airflow or draft up the chimney.
Light the fire-lighters or balls of crumpled paper in your fireplace; leave the door slightly ajar (20mm). Allow the kindling to burn for about 5 minutes.
After the fire has established itself, add a few pieces of wood/logs on top of the kindling and then close door.
Once you have attained a comfortable room temperature, regulate the air supply into your firebox so as to increase the burn time of the wood. Ensure that the wood always burn with a flame to prevent the glass from blackening.
Do not burn a fire with your door open for an extended period of time, as it may cause damage to your fireplace.
The primary air supply should only be opened during the starting of the fire.
Closing both primary and secondary air supplies at any given time, will deprive the fireplace of oxygen and extinguish the flames. Invariably it will cause the glass of the fireplace to blacken.
That’s it! You should be able to fire up your fireplace consistently without getting smoke in your eyes and clothes!
Enjoy!
How to Stake Tezos using Atomic Wallet & Select A Baker
This is a guide to staking **Tezos** (**XTZ**) using the **Atomic Wallet**. The information and images are used with the permission of **Atomic Wallet**. https://atomicwallet.io/join?kid=13T44Z
Staking can be a daunting task for first time stakers of XTZ, especially when confronted with a list of **bakers** to choose from and in whom you have to place your trust to earn you rewards. See what “**baking**” is below. I’ve provided a link to MyTezosBaker in Step 6 to assist you with deciding which baker meets your needs. If you follow the steps that are set out in this guide, you should have little trouble, if any at all, in staking your XTZ in the Atomic Wallet.
**What is the Atomic Wallet?**
Atomic Wallet is a non-custodial decentralized wallet. It means that you own your backup phrase and private keys, thus, you fully control your funds. Atomic Wallet has no access to your wallet and your sensitive information. Your 12-words backup and private keys are stored locally on your device and strongly encrypted. Moreover, your funds are not located in the wallet itself. They are safely stored on the blockchain. Atomic Wallet connects directly to the blockchain nodes and shows the information about your balances, transaction history and everything you see in the wallet. It also allows you to perform transactions on the blockchain. Atomic Wallet also provides you with exchange and buying crypto services with the help of their partners. https://atomicwallet.io/join?kid=13T44Z
You can get the Atomic Wallet here. Do yourself a favour and try it out now. It is user-friendly, packed with features and has a pleasant interface. https://atomicwallet.io/join?kid=13T44Z
**What is Staking**
Every cryptocurrency transaction should be verified – that’s how blockchain works. Validation guarantees that the transaction is proceeding without any false data. To get transactions validated, they should be approved and added to a block by miners in Proof-of-Work blockchains, like Bitcoin, or get approved by validators in Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is a consensus algorithm, where you can stake your coins and receive rewards for transaction validation or receive dividends for holding funds. With the increase of mining difficulty, Staking has become more and more attractive for cryptocurrency investors. With Atomic, every crypto holder can receive regular rewards in a truly decentralized way. Atomic Wallet states that they do not collect any fees – and that you get a profit directly from validators.
**What is Tezos (XTZ)**
Tezos is a cryptocurrency built on the proof-of-stake algorithm. It allows making a profit for the baking of new blocks, which is quite like minting with the proof-of-stake protocol. Cryptocurrency staking means that you can earn passive income through owning a stake in the issuance of a coin. Staking differs from baking in what your reward is given for.
When your stake a coin you get rewarded simply for storing it for a certain period of time. In this case, the larger stake you have, the larger your passive income will be. When you receive a reward for baking, like with Tezos, you receive it for the baking of new blocks.
**How do I get Tezos**
You may get XTZ within the Atomic Wallet through exchanging from another cryptocurrency to XTZ. You may also buy it on one of the following exchanges:
OKEx https://www.okex.com/join/1930081
Binance https://www.binance.com/en/register?ref=11337000
Hotbit https://www.hotbit.io/register?ref=93216
Kucoin https://www.kucoin.com/ucenter/signup?rcode=22eRQ
**What are the Steps for Staking Tezos with Atomic Wallet**
Staking Tezos (XTZ) with Atomic Wallet is very simple. First, you need to download and install the app. (Don’t forget to use promo code **13T44Z**) Then, follow these steps: https://atomicwallet.io/join?kid=13T44Z
**Step 1.** Open Atomic Wallet.
**Step 2.** Get XTZ. You can exchange it from another cryptocurrency within the wallet or purchase from an exchange of your choice. See links above.
**Step 3.** Click on Tezos from the coin list.
**Step 4.** Click on **Stake**.
**Step 5.** You will see the staking interface: notification that you can only stake the whole balance to one validator (baker, in Tezos network), your available balance for staking, and rewards. Click **Stake** to proceed.
**Step 6.** You will see the list of bakers with applicable characteristics: reward %, current staking amount, an available amount for staking. **Choose a baker** according to them, or visit **MyTezosBaker**, which is a useful and interactive website that provides a comprehensive list of bakers with all the salient data that you require to decide on your baker. https://mytezosbaker.com/
**Step 7.** Enter the password and click on **Confirm**.
**Step 8.** **That’s it!** Your XTZ is now staked. You just need to wait — the delegated reward will be processed in approx. 2 months after the 22 cycles are done.
**When do I get Paid for Baking?**
The delegated reward will be processed in approx. 2 months after the 22 cycles are done. This is how the cycles work:
Cycle 1: You delegate XTZ to a baker.
Cycle 8: Tezos blockchain assigns your delegation rights to your baker.
Cycle 15: Your rewards for cycle 8 start getting collected.
Cycle 22: You get the rewards for 8-15 cycles to the address you were delegating from the baker.
1 cycle equals to 4,096 blocks. When 1 block is formed in 60 seconds, 1 cycle is formed in about 68 hours. So, you start getting the rewards after the 22 cycles are completed, which is approx. 2 months. Subsequent payments are made every 7 cycles, approx. 20 days.
**What is Tezos (XTZ) Baking**
In order to bake new blocks, you must have at least one roll, which is 10,000 Tezos (XTZ). If you do not have such amount in possession, you can delegate your share to a baker. The baker will be randomly selected from several bakers by protocol. The more rolls the baker has – the better are their odds for baking a new block. This is the principle of proof-of-stake consensus.
The baker receives a reward of 16 XTZ for a baked block. Tezos blocks are baked every 60 seconds. Besides bakers, endorsers, who validate new blocks, also take part in the process. This avoids double baking and double endorsing. There are 32 endorsers for every new block, and they get a reward of 2 XTZ for endorsement.
In order to bake a Tezos block, you need to delegate your Tezos share to a baker. Your and the baker’s stakes will be added together. However, delegating your share does not delegate the coins themselves and thus the baker cannot spend them. Therefore, you do not have to worry about your coins when you delegate your XTZ. This way, you can delegate your Tezos to bakers, let them use it for baking, while you receive a passive income for doing so.
**In conclusion**
If you haven’t used Atomic Wallet yet, do yourself a favor and download the Atomic Wallet using the links embedded herein, for which you will be rewarded with 15 AWC currently worth $0.256 each. If you use these links, I will also receive 5 AWC. If you download the app directly, please use the promo code 13T44Z. In which case you and I will receive an extra 5 AWC. You will be amazed at its simplicity, the broad selection of cryptocurrencies catered for and, lest I forget, the great support service that they provide. https://atomicwallet.io/join?kid=13T44Z
You will be delighted to note that Atomic Wallet currently offers staking for the following crypto assets: COSMOS, ONTOLOGY, KOMODO, TRON, NEO, VECHAIN and ALGORAND.
Atomic Wallet states that they will soon be offering staking for the following assets: CARDANO, AWC, ICON and BAND.
You have to admit that this is an impressive list of in-wallet staking assets, which will provide you with exceptional convenience.
Thank you for reading.
*Please note that the above information is correct at the time of writing.*
**Disclaimer**: **None of what is stated above should be construed as financial advice. Please do your own due diligence and research before investing!**
Atomic Wallet Website - Click here https://atomicwallet.io/join?kid=13T44Z
Inconsistencies with flagging posted articles as non-original or as copied
Moderating posts on social media sites, such as Publish0x, Uptrennd, read.cash, etc cannot be an easy task. However, what I've come across recently with some moderators flagging articles as being non-original content, is that the rules do not appear to be consistently applied.
Where two different authors use the same reference material, for example, a cryptocurrency's Whitepaper, to write a post. The situation arises where one of the posts is marked as non-original and the other is not, albeit that both posts have used parts of the same Whitepaper. It therefor occurs that the secondary material i.e. the other author's article, is somehow used to moderate the post Instead of the original source material, namely the Whitepaper. I hope that this doesn't sound too confusing.
The other situation arises also where the one post is marked as a copy of the other post, simply because they have material in them which is sourced from a common reference document. So in Uptrennd's environment, the one post is then flagged as copy of the other and gets down-voted, whilst the other remains upvoted simply on the basis that it was posted earlier. This is obviously embarrassing and vexing for the author who has been down-voted and flagged as copying the other author.
I guess that it isn't easy for a moderator, who may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of posts that they have to moderate, to adjudicate these matters. But a little bit more diligence in checking common sources will go along way to avoiding the discomfort occasioned to authors, especially where both authors list common source documents in their list of reference material.
Nonetheless, thank you to the moderators who carry out a sometimes thankless task of moderating articles posted on social media sites such as this one.
Thank you for reading this.
DAPSCOIN – The Best Attempt Yet at a Privacy Coin? PART 2
This is part two of the **DAPSCoin** post**.**
In the first part we looked at an overview of DAPS, the features of the DAPS blockchain and what makes it different from other blockchains.
**RECAP**
DAPS is a privacy blockchain with a focus on security, scalability and total privacy. The goal of DAPS protocol is to create a fully anonymous staking coin and payment system with a trustless governance structure, based upon the latest technologies derived from both Monero and PIVX. This is a first in crypto-currencies. DAPS chain verification and consensus models are based upon PoS nodes (staking and Masternodes) and PoA miners.
In this post we will look at the DAPS Token specifications and DAPSCOIN Rewards.
**DAPS TOKEN SPECIFICATIONS**
ERC-20 Token
Supply: 60,000,000,000 DAPS
Distributed: via AIRDROP
**DAPS COIN SPECIFICATIONS**
Initial supply: 60,000,000,000 DAPS
Supply cap: 60,000,000,000 [initial]+10,000,000,000 [emission] DAPS Consensus: Proof-Of- Audit, Proof-Of-Stake v3, Masternodes (See-saw rewards)
Privacy techniques: Secp256k1-based Ring Signature, RingCT, and range proof Bulletproof
Block time: 1 minute
Block Reward: See below
Confirms required to spend: 4 blocks
Stake maturation: 100 blocks
Approximate emissions: ~551 million DAPS per year until 10 billion DAPS emitted
**THE FEE STRUCTURE AND BLOCK REWARDS**
1050 DAPS Coin emissions per PoS block
50 DAPS to the development fund
900 to be split between the staking node that minted the block and a Masternode
60/40 *see-saw* system means 540/360 split as above
100 DAPS are reserved for the PoA miner that audits the block.
There is a 50 DAPS per block fee ("Founder's fee") allocated to the DAPS Development fund, used to further develop and sustain the project long-term.
The “See-Saw Balance Reward System” is a method by which the network balances out the percentage of the reward paid out to the staking nodes and master nodes. If there are 1000 MN and 1000 staking nodes, the system sees that as equal and keeps the 60/40 See-Saw system in favor of Masternodes. This is to incentivize them, because they have “invested” the 1 million DAPS by collateralizing their Masternode.
If the node numbers shift drastically in the direction of more Masternodes, the network rebalances the equation to be 40/60, this time favoring the staking nodes. This will ensure the long-term health of the network by balancing the Masternode vs staking rewards preventing runaway Masternode growth.
**WHAT ARE DAPS MASTERNODES?**
DAPS Masternodes are in essence servers running 24/7 on a decentralized network. These Masternodes are incentivized through the abovementioned reward system. Masternodes are collateralized by 1,000,000 DAPS and must run 24/7 with no more than 1-hour loss of uptime during a 24-hour cycle.
Given the cost of DAPS at the time of writing, it appears to be one of the more accessible and beneficial Masternodes. DAPSCoin holds great promise as a privacy coin. Set aside some time to study the Whitepaper and you may be convinced of the merits of the DAPSCOIN.
DAPSCoin has risen by 23% within the past 24 hours at the time of writing this. It is currently trading at $0.000123.
Thank you for reading.
**PLEASE DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE AND RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!**
DAPS Website: https://officialdapscoin.com/
DAPSCOIN Whitepaper: https://officialdapscoin.com/whitepaper.pdf
**DAPSCOIN is available on:**
HOTBIT https://www.hotbit.io/register?ref=93216
BITMART https://www.bitmart.com/en?r=7CNpyG
Digifinex https://www.digifinex.xyz/en-ww/from/OJcbbh
SWFT https://swap.swftcoin.com/swft-v3/InviteSignup.html?referrer=1451303
STEX https://app.stex.com/?ref=53085925
Txbit https://txbit.io/?r=dd2c
DAPSCOIN - The Best Attempt Yet at a Privacy Coin? PART 1
This is the first in a series on the DAPSCoin taken from the DAPS Whitepaper, with minimal alteration, simply because I could not state it any better.
“Privacy is a right, not a privilege!”
**WHAT IS DAPS?**
**DAPS** is a privacy blockchain with a focus on security, scalability and total privacy. The goal of **DAPS** protocol is to create a fully anonymous staking coin and payment system with a trustless governance structure, based upon the latest technologies derived from both Monero and PIVX. This is a first in crypto-currencies. DAPS chain verification and consensus models are based upon PoS nodes (staking and Masternodes) and PoA miners.
DAPS was the first coin to successfully implement a Staking and Masternode hybrid (PoW - PoS - PoA) full privacy chain that fully incorporates RingCT and Bulletproofs.
**DAPS OVERVIEW**
DAPS is a hybrid PoW-PoS-PoA (Proof-of-Audit) blockchain system that focuses on the privacy of the users. DAPS offers the following unique features:
A privacy-focused blockchain system that ensures every user transaction in the network is kept private. It means that even though all user transactions are fully published to the blockchain, no third-parties (except the sender and the receiver of the transaction) can reveal the detailed information within the transaction. Specifically, the following information is kept private in DAPS system:
Transaction sender: the sender of the transaction is totally obfuscated
Transaction receiver: besides one time-generated public keys as the receiver in the transaction, no third-party can reveal the identity of the transaction receiver and the relationships between the receiver public key and the identity of the receiver.
Transaction amount is encoded so that no third-party can reveal the transaction amount within the transaction.
A hybrid blockchain system that is composed of different block types in the same blockchain:
500 initial blocks are PoW blocks which are mined by the DAPS foundation to provide the initial supply, which is stated in the DAPS whitepaper.
From the 501st block, DAPS blockchain becomes a hybrid of PoS and PoA blocks. PoS blocks are continuously minted by staking nodes to verify transactions from users of the DAPS blockchain. A PoS block is created every minute.
PoA blocks have a 1-hour block-time. The PoA blocks are mined by external actors in order to audit that the system has been functioning correctly to the specified rules. A PoA block must re-audit at least 59 PoS blocks for its correctness. For this work, PoA block miners are also rewarded to continue auditing the system.
**WHAT MAKES DAPS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PRIVACY COINS?**
According to DAPS, the Proof-Of-Audit idea and DAPS Protocol implementation is called the HARPOCRATES Protocol and will set out to be a new industry standard.
Utilizing the following key technologies:
Ring CT
Bulletproofs
Stealth Addresses
Stealth Transactions
Proof of Audit
DAPS achieve complete obfuscation of all users and transactions. This mix of features, featuring Proof-of-Audit- which they refer to as "The Harpocrates Protocol" - creates a completely trustless anonymous blockchain network.
This concludes the first in a series on the **DAPSCoin** taken from the *DAPS Whitepaper, with minimal alteration.*
Look out for the next post in this series.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
**PLEASE DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE AND RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!**
DAPS Website: https://officialdapscoin.com/
DAPSCOIN Whitepaper: https://officialdapscoin.com/whitepaper.pdf
DAPSCOIN is available on:
HOTBIT https://www.hotbit.io/register?ref=93216
BITMART https://www.bitmart.com/en?r=7CNpyG
DIGIFINEX https://www.digifinex.com/en-ww
SWFT https://swap.swftcoin.com/swft-v3/InviteSignup.html?referrer=1451303
STEX https://app.stex.com/?ref=53085925
Txtbit https://txbit.io/?r=dd2c
To read this on Publish0x, click here. https://www.publish0x.com/?a=WZdPBAzaKg
@thaabit
