On the Natural Selection of Words Which would you choose, sneaked or snuck? My first instinct when faced with this question was to worry about which was correct. While sneaked sounds vaguely more grammatically correct, snuck sounds natural. The person who posed the question to me wasn’t a grammarian but a computational biologist named Joshua Plotkin. And he wasn’t concerned with right or wrong. To him, this was a nice example of language evolution in action — and if he’s right in a recent analysis, that process is like biological evolution in ways people hadn’t previously recognized. Languages, like living things, were not designed, and yet in both cases, through their evolution, structure, utility and beauty emerge. “Analogies between language change and evolution literally go back to Darwin, though originally in the opposite direction -- Darwin invoked language change to explain biological evolution,” Harvard linguistics and psychology professor Stephen Pinker told me, commenting on the study by email.
Block chain Blocks in the main chain (black) are the longest series of blocks that go from the genesis block (green) to the current block. Purple blocks are blocks that are not in the longest chain and therefore not used. A block chain is a transaction database shared by all nodes participating in a system based on the Bitcoin protocol. A full copy of a currency's block chain contains every transaction ever executed in the currency. With this information, one can find out how much value belonged to each address at any point in history. Every block contains a hash of the previous block. Honest generators only build onto a block (by referencing it in blocks they create) if it is the latest block in the longest valid chain. For any block on the chain, there is only one path to the genesis block. Blocks in shorter chains (or invalid chains) are not used for anything. These blocks on the shorter chains are often called "orphan" blocks.
Blockchain explained in plain English Video: Blockchain in 60 seconds After spending two years researching blockchain and the evolution of advanced ledger technologies, I still find a great spectrum of understanding across my clients and business at large about blockchain. While ledger superpowers like Hyperledger, IBM, Microsoft and R3 are emerging, there remains a long tail of startups trying to innovate on the first generation public blockchains. It can seem that everyone is talking about blockchain and ledger technologies, but the truth is most people are not yet up to speed. Many blockchain primers and infographics dive into the cryptography, trying to explain to lay people how "consensus algorithms", "hash functions" and digital signatures all work. So I've written a report that explains how the blockchain works. Blockchain is an algorithm and distributed data structure for managing electronic cash without a central administrator among people who know nothing about one another.
Blockchain, Explained What Is a Blockchain? A blockchain is a distributed database or ledger shared among a computer network's nodes. They are best known for their crucial role in cryptocurrency systems for maintaining a secure and decentralized record of transactions, but they are not limited to cryptocurrency uses. Blockchains can be used to make data in any industry immutable—the term used to describe the inability to be altered. Because there is no way to change a block, the only trust needed is at the point where a user or program enters data. This aspect reduces the need for trusted third parties, which are usually auditors or other humans that add costs and make mistakes. Since Bitcoin's introduction in 2009, blockchain uses have exploded via the creation of various cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and smart contracts. Key Takeaways How Does a Blockchain Work? You might be familiar with spreadsheets or databases. Transaction Process Bitcoin vs. Voting
theconversation Brits can get rather sniffy about the English language – after all, they originated it. But a Google search of the word “Americanisms” turns up claims that they are swamping, killing and absorbing British English. If the British are not careful, so the argument goes, the homeland will soon be the 51st State as workers tell customers to “have a nice day” while “colour” will be spelt without a “u” and “pavements” will become “sidewalks”. The two versions of English are intelligible but have long had enough differences to inspire Oscar Wilde to claim: We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language. My research examined how both varieties of the language have been changing between the 1930s and the 2000s and the extent to which they are growing closer together or further apart. Well, yes and no. There is also no need to worry too much about American words, such as “vacation”, “liquor” and “law-maker” creeping into British English.
SegWit and Bitcoin Cash Update - Blockchain Blog At Blockchain, our priority is always our users and the safety of their funds. We recently communicated that our service would be unavailable during the Segwit2x hard fork. While plans for the hard fork have been suspended, there may be some network instability at block height 494,784. We’ll be monitoring the network closely. Moving forward, we are prioritizing two major initiatives to improve our users’ experiences in the digital currency ecosystem: SegWit Our block explorer, Blockchain.info, has supported SegWit from the day it activated. Bitcoin Cash We launched partial Bitcoin Cash support on October 11th and said we would monitor market demand for fully featured support. We plan to offer full support for Bitcoin Cash before the end of year on web with support across all our platforms before end of the end of Q1 2018.
blockchain.mit.edu Santander: Blockchain Tech Can Save Banks $20 Billion a Year Blockchain technologies could reduce banks’ infrastructural costs by $15-20bn a year by 2022, a new report from Santander InnoVentures claims. The FinTech 2.0 Paper, produced in collaboration with Oliver Wyman and Anthemis Group, says distributed ledger technology could save banks money by eliminating central authorities and bypassing slow, expensive payment networks. Beyond payments, its authors identify other areas of potential for distributed ledgers, noting: “In time, distributed ledgers will support ‘smart contracts’ – computer protocols that verify or enforce contracts. Blockchain technology could also increase investor confidence in products whose underlying assets are opaque or where property rights are made uncertain by the role of central authorities, the report says. Speaking to CoinDesk in April, Belinky claimed bitcoin’s underlying technology would gain mainstream traction sooner than the digital currency itself. Piggy bank image via Shutterstock.
Resistance to changes in grammar is futile, say researchers | Science When it comes to changes in language, there’s no point crying over spilt milk: researchers charting fluctuations in English grammar say the rise of certain words, such as spilled, is probably down to chance, and that resistance is futile. Comparisons have long been drawn between evolution and changes in language, with experts noting that preferences such as a desire for emphasis can act as a type of “natural selection”, affecting which words or forms of grammar are passed on between generations. But a new study shows that another evolutionary mechanism might play a key role : random chance. The authors of the study say that the work adds to our understanding of how language changes over centuries. “Whether it is by random chance or selection, one of the things that is true about English – and indeed other languages – is that the language changes,” said Joshua Plotkin, co-author of the research from the University of Pennsylvania. But there was a puzzle. “English is weird,” she said.
Blockchain R3 on Azure: Strengthening our partnership Monday, November 20, 2017 Blockchain is increasingly prevalent as a topic of interest in our conversations with business leaders. A growing number of our customers and partners are experimenting with the technology as a… Accelerating the adoption of enterprise blockchain Thursday, November 9, 2017 Over the past year, we have had the pleasure of working with several customers on their business initiatives related to blockchain's technology. Pablo JuncoSr. Enterprise Smart Contracts: resolving the truth for blockchains Monday, October 30, 2017 Next week, the Azure Blockchain team and I will be in Cancun for DevCon3. Marley GrayPrincipal Program Manager, Azure Blockchain Engineering BlockApps STRATO Suite upgrade now available on Azure Thursday, October 26, 2017 Blockapps was one of the first blockchains that was offered in Azure back in 2015. Blk.io brings an ERC-20 token service using Quorum to Azure Tuesday, October 24, 2017 Monday, October 23, 2017
Demystifying the blockchain: a basic user guide Companies around the world are exploring blockchain, the technology underpinning digital currency bitcoin. In this Blockchain unleashed series, we investigate the many possible use cases for the blockchain, from the novel to the transformative. Most people agree we do not need to know how a television works to enjoy using one. This is true of many existing and emerging technologies. Most of us happily drive cars, use mobile phones and send emails without knowing how they work. What does the blockchain do? The blockchain is software that stores and transfers value or data across the internet. What can I store and transfer using the blockchain? To use the blockchain, you will need to set up an account or address (a virtual wallet). Authorising a payment using the blockchain is similar to using a credit card to buy something online. Can I use the blockchain to transfer real money? Not yet. How is storing value using the blockchain different from keeping my money in a bank account?
Are Cryptocurrencies A Dream Come True For Cyber-Extortionists? When malicious software takes over computers around the world, encrypts their data and demands a ransom to decode the information, regular activities of governments, companies and hospitals slam to a halt. Sometimes security researchers release a fix that allows computer owners to decrypt their machines without paying, but many people are forced to pony up to free their data. In 2016, the FBI estimated that the ransomware industry took in US$1 billion – and that’s only the cases officials know about. All that money isn’t paid in cash. Before digital currencies existed, extortionists asked victims to send money by more formal transfer companies like Western Union or make deposits to bank accounts. Those were easily traced. In researching cybercrime and cybersecurity for more than a decade, I have found that obtaining cybercrime proceeds is often the biggest challenge that cybercriminals face. Using cryptocurrencies in cyber extortion Access the chapter discussing the cryptocurrency enigma