The CBN's official reason for its recent cryptocurrency restriction is that cryptocurrencies are anonymous and used for money laundering, terrorism financing, and tax evasion. Let’s dig into what the facts say.

A THREAD #Nigeria #Bitcoin

1/21

We’ll break up the allegation into two. First up, “cryptocurrency is used for money laundering.”
Cryptocurrencies have been used for illicit activities but so too have official currencies. So the CBN's argument must be that cryptocurrencies make the situation worse.

2/21

But as things stand, significantly more illicit activities are conducted with regular money than with cryptocurrencies. According to the UN, between $800 billion and $2 trillion is laundered globally every year, mostly in cash.

3/21

Meanwhile, the entire global value of cryptocurrencies is currently $1.4 trillion. Chainanalysis, the leading crypto-analysis company helping governments track criminals, estimated that 1.1% of all cryptocurrency transactions are illicit.

4/21

So, if the government is trying to clamp down on money laundering and terrorism financing, they are better off spending their energy on their naira accounts.

5/21

Musicians and their constant battle with substance abuse: A [thread] of studies & findings on the subject 👇

45% of UK musicians reported issues with alcohol. "Entertainers experienced performance-related incentives to drink before, during and/or after a show; including anxiety, matching their intoxication level to the audience’s, and ‘reward-drinking’"

(Forsyth, et. al. 2016)

One study of 226 musicians in New York State found that substance use was “markedly elevated compared to general population samples”

(Miller & Quigley, 2011, p. 401)

One study of 168 significant and famous jazz musicians found that their mean age at death was only 57.2 years.

(Patalano, 2000)

One study of the autobiographies of rock musicians reported that 62% contained a description of the artist’s personal addiction story. (Oksanen, 2013)

Also, the confessional recovery memoir is now an established and popular genre. (Oksanen, 2013; Forsyth, Lennox & Emslie, 2016)

Remote isn’t just about the future of work

It’s a bridge to a higher quality of life

Rather than a job – and an office – being the anchor of our social lives, it’s about democratising access to opportunity

[ a thread ] 🌍🏠💻

Remote work should lead to individuals having more choice

Not just spending time with people selected by HR teams, where your deepest common bond is a shared reliance on the economic success of that employer – where if that changes relationships end

Offices have been great for certain demographics – but disqualified/discriminated against almost most others

- single parents
- caring for family members
- health conditions and impairments

The offices makes staying in office work incredibly difficult if not impossible

‘What about young people in shares apartments’

Absolutely.

But is this an issue with remote or the implication of expensive cities and needing to live close enough to commute daily?

‘There are mental health implications’

Absolutely.

But is this a natural issue with remote work, or an implication of COVID-enforced lockdown WFH where we can’t see family, friends, go to coffee shops or travel?

1/ Unit economic for founders thread.

Despite being a founder and a student of the subject, I missed out on a key point growing up.

Length of relationship with your customers, order frequency, product usage and utility matter.

They didn't teach me this in business school.

2/ Structured right, products used daily vs weekly vs monthly vs yearly lead to different profitability and scalability paths.

Quiz. Which business would you pick?

a) Enterprise software - US$ 250k one time license
b) Enterprise software - US$ 30k/month recurring subscription

3/ Sound's obvious? Which one did you pick?

Twice in my life I picked A. They were both great businesses, but they didn't compare to B. Especially in the long run.

Looking back, with hindsight, I know I should have picked B.

Why?

4/ Bringing in customers is hard.

When those customers leave after a few orders, your investment in that relationship is written off.

But it is not just about the relationship or investment. It is also about scale.

What are the easiest ways to scale a business?

5/ Think about it?

a) Get more customers - acquire
b) Get existing customers to order again - retain
c) Increase order size - up sell
d) Increase order frequency - cross sell / new use case
e) Get existing customers to get you new customers - referral

(b) to (e) are free.

1/

Thread:

#DishaRavi, one of the founders of "Fridays for future India" has been arrested promptly by Delhi Police.
Let's look at why this was the best move to make.

Also let's see who she is and what her connection is to Greta.

2/

At first glance, you can find that Fridays for Future is an organization founded by Greta Thunberg with branches who conduct school strikes all across the world. Like so.
India, as you can see, is No. 3. And this is the map within India. South seems to dominate. AND

3/

They have global "protests" in almost all countries.
Coming to Disha Ravi, she's an "activist" from "Fridays for Future India" and was featured in Vogue when she joined, providing an educated guess that she may be leading the movement in India. Now...

4/

Let's see what this "climate activist" has done. This is a snippet from Fridays for Future India. As we can see, they have planted weeds all across India. The second SS is a snippet of their "actions" as found on their int'l website. India seems to be one of the highest.

5/

Doesn't end here. This is a snippet from Fridays for future India's instagram page. Take a look at the dates. No need to explain this.
Arresting this woman was the BEST thing that our Police have done till now. They seem to instigate people against GoI, running an agenda.

A short thread on one aspect of trolling on here, from my recent experience. I’ve got a fair number of followers. I tweet about controversial topics - and yet I don’t get trolled that much. A bit, but not thatmuch. There are times, though, that I *do* get trolled a lot. 1/n

The pattern is pretty clear, and has been played out a few times over the last few days. I get into a conversation about a topic that could be considered race-related. Empire. Immigration. Something like that. And that conversation includes a highish profile BAME person. 2/n

More often than not, a BAME woman. In those cases, it takes very little time for the trolls to come steaming in. Most of them seemingly rational, taking issue with some technical point, but quickly descending into something much worse. 3/n

When I look at the profiles of the trolls, they’re often relatively innocuous. Not saying ‘Hey, I’m a racist troll, a white supremacist’ at all. Not likely to be caught by any kind of anti-troll measures. Instead, they look relatively normal. 4/n

But what happens is very much about racism, and often misogyny. Attacks that are - or appear to be - not that dramatic on their own. Not rape threats or death threats, or ‘go home’ or things like that, but designed to undermine, to disturb, to annoy - but with an undercurrent 5/n

I've been working my pitch to better explain how I think we can better understand/eliminate sexual harassment and assault in our force. Buckle up for a thread; also usual disclaimers that I'm not a psychologist, therapist, sociologist, doctor, or lawyer. (+usual TWs) 1/

I suppose what I’m asking for is your feedback, your thoughts, and your criticisms- particularly if you specialize in one of these areas- but try and take it easy on me… understanding my expertise lies in decades of military leadership and not the social sciences. 2/

I believe that fundamental to our understanding is the idea that Sexual Harassment and Assault lie along a "Objectification Spectrum;" (taken from John Rector: recommend). One end of the spectrum is the ideal state of enlightenment, inclusivity, empathy, trust, & equality. 3/

On the other end lies a fundamental lack of empathy, lack of respect for ones existence, dismissive of social and physical autonomy, failure to respect consent, and ultimately, complete dehumanization; all which set conditions for sexual violence to occur 4/

Constantly tugging at us along this spectrum are psychosocial factors driven by our upbringings, societal constructs & influences, psychological makeup, experiences, peer groups, and overall worldview. In this case the most important are toxic masculinity, misogyny, & sexism. 5/

I have worked all day on the Holiday Inn Cluster timeline

The first case was reported late on Feb 7
This was the Authorised Officer who tested negative after a shift on Feb 4, returned to work on the 7th, developed symptoms and tested positive

A cohort of her colleagues were then required to test and quarantine

The next case to emerge was a guest at the hotel who left HQ on Dec 7 after completing their 14 days

They were tested as a result of the AO testing positive

That result came back on the 9th

On the 9th it was also determined that the viral genome sequence for the AO case was identical to a family of 3 who had been at the Holiday Inn

All had B.1.1.7 VOC

That family was transferred to a hot hotel on Feb 4

Feb 3 and 4 are now believed to be the exposure dates relevant to the beginning of the cluster

The father in the family of 3 was admitted to ICU on the 9th

As of Feb 14 there are 16 cases linked back to the Holiday Inn but there is a sub cluster linked to a Private Dining event in Coburg on Feb 6 for 5 of those cases

The intersection point is a hotel quarantine worker and it is a little confusing as the TLs overlap

1) Anyone injecting people with EXPERIMENTAL mRNA 'gene-therapy', FRAUDULENTLY labelled ‘vaccines’, WITHOUT informing them they're taking part in an EXPERIMENT with potentially very serious health risks, including death, IS BREAKING THE LAW. Nuremberg Code https://t.co/OY1Q3L3DwA

I don't often promote myself on here, but I should. I have done some things that I am proud of. So here is a thread of episodes from @OurTurnPodcast that I contributed a segment and/or co-hosted. #RPG #podcast

Here is one of my very first contributions, a segment about one of my favorite RPGs of all time: 13th Age. @13thAge I still love it, and I have hacked the system to run other genres (ex. Star Wars: The Old Republic). Give it a try

One the one-year anniversary of @OurTurnPodcast, I did a segment about Session Zero for RPGs. I love being a part of Session Zero in any #RPG, both as a GM and

A THREAD about the history of the UK press & journalism, focusing on how the 'radical press' transformed Britain.

I believe we're experiencing something similar now, with outlets like @BylineTimes, @DoubleDownNews & many others challenging the dominant free-market narrative.

A bit of context.

The Guttenberg print press, invented in 1440, changed everything.

Ordinary people now had access to information, ideas & narratives from all sorts of perspectives, thus breaking the stranglehold on the elite's domination.

Gradually at first, there was a profound shift from oral/visual culture toward print culture – kickstart age of reason, & it was transformative, giving birth to the Renaissance & the Enlightenment, & in the17th century gave rise to early #journalism.

People gained access to local, regional, national & international self-expression.

Very early journalism focused on self-improvement, law, medicine, events & entertainment.

In 1550, only 15% of adult population can read; by 1650, nearly 50% of the adult population read.

Early on, more men than women are literate, more upper class than lower, and it takes takes until 1850 for 75% of the British population to read & write.

And this gives rise to the birth of Journalism as we recognise it today.

Dear Jaime,

3 years ago your voice was silenced. I sent you and your brother to school to safely learn. I rushed you out the door that morning never expecting what would happen next. A school shooting!!! You were 14 and only a freshman in High School.

(1,11)

(2,11) Your brother Jesse survived…you did not.

You are on my mind every second of every minute of every day. I constantly relive your last seconds in my mind. Did you suffer? I will never know, but I fear that you did. Did I do enough to protect you?

(3,11) The answer is… No!!! I did not… and for that I will carry guilt for the rest of my life. My voice was not fighting the evil of gun violence before it was my daughter and for that I am sorry.

Today you should be a senior in school. We should be celebrating love.

(4,11) We should be looking at your senior pictures with you, watching you excitedly apply to colleges and helping you decide where to go. We should be excitedly looking forward to prom and I should be thinking about the advice I want to give you at graduation.

(5,11) While I am so happy to see all of your friends have these experiences, it breaks my soul to know that you are not part of that. Mom, Jesse and I won’t be able to watch you experience this with them. Every time I see posts with senior photos and college acceptances,

I met her, a couple of Feb 14s earlier, on the way back home. It was post-9pm, the compartment was empty, save one girl.

She was dressed up—dress, heels, lipstick—the whole deal. She quickly wiped her tears when I walked in, switching to looking out, resolutely.

THREAD.

I tried doing nothing for a few stations, but then, restless about all the grief that came off her, took the bench opposite hers, finally.

“All okay?” I asked.

She hesitated. Blinked.

“Valentine’s Day,” she replied, sadly.

“Date didn’t work out?”

“He dumped me!”

2.

I winced. An asshole with no respect for symbology!

She rubbed her nose, looking both sad and angry.

Tired from a day of work, I groped for words. What could I say that would help?

"Maybe if—," I began, but she cut me:
"How many times will this same thing happen to me?"

3.

"Every time I like someone, they turn out to be assholes. I was so happy I wasn't single on Valentines' Day. FINALLY. But this is WORSE! I dressed up so much. And went all this way from home... And he, and he..."

Turns out, I realised, one doesn't need to say much.

4.

All sad people on Valentines' need, is a listening ear.

Till, five stations of ranting later, they ask, "So YOU tell me, WHY should I believe in love?"

Interrogated thus, in a local train corner, I felt... cornered. Why should one believe in love, I wondered?

5.

1/9

While debt-to-GDP ratios already have a limited but very misunderstood use, it seems economists are finding bright new ways of misunderstanding them. Now we say that when nominal interest rates are lower than nominal growth rates, the

2/9

downward pressure on the debt-to-GDP ratio makes rising government debt and larger government deficits more sustainable and more easily justified.

This is totally confused. When the nominal interest rate is lower than the nominal GDP growth rate, it only means that net...

3/9

borrowers are getting a disproportionate share of growth relative to net lenders. This in and of itself changes the comparability of the debt-to-GDP ratio, so the fact that the ratio may decline tells us nothing about its sustainability which, I'm glad to say, isn't...

4/9

a mistake Olivier Blanchard makes in this article.

At least three things matter. First, whether or not rising debt is sustainable depends almost wholly on underlying conditions in the real economy, and only trivially on the arithmetical relationship between...

5/9

the interest rate and the growth rate. Second, this approach simply assumes away financial distress costs, in which case debt capacity is infinite anyway and the interest rate becomes irrelevant. And third, it assumes that the nominal debt level matters independently...

Apologies for tweeting about European Land so much yesterday, but this article was a significant moment for us. For more than 3.5 years we have suffered enormously and this has mostly gone under the radar in the

2/ The Times article is the first recognition of the Reubens involvement in the cladding scandal. From the time we discovered we had ACM, European Land has refused to contribute a single penny towards the remediation. Even after their own intrusive survey showed that the missing

3/ fire breaks and flammable insulation they installed were AGAINST regulations, they still refused to contribute to fix their mistakes.

4/ To make things worse, their aggressive behaviour meant they issued S20 notices against leaseholders and started billing us for millions from as early as 2018 (two years before any remediation works had even started). They then instructed their lawyers to take actions against

5/ against leaseholders and started proceedings against us if payments of £40,000-60,000 were not made within months. The stress and misery this caused us we will never forget or forgive.

“Fanatical Remainers and the FBPE cult”: a thread

The populist right seems to be intensifying its efforts to portray supporters of EU membership as some sort of lunatic fringe. (Never-knowingly-impartial @afneil and billionaires’ stooge @darrengrimes_ are among (1/20-ish)

the worst offenders.) “Fanatical Remainers,” they sneer at every opportunity. “FBPE cultists! Extremists! Ideologues!”

So what is a cult? What are the hallmarks of extremism? The Oxford Dictionary defines a cult as “a system of religious veneration and devotion /2

directed towards a particular figure or object”; “a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members”; or, in its weakest sense, “a misplaced or excessive admiration /3

for a particular thing”.

According to Janja Lalich PhD, a sociologist who specialises in cults and extremist groups, a cult is “a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system /4

that has the answers to all of life’s questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader’s rules”.

“Cults tend to be founded by charismatic leaders … great manipulators. They know how to read people. They come along and offer a message /5