Here’s how to add a Gliph Chat Channel to your Subreddit:

Step 1. Use the Create Channel Wizard

1. Log into the Gliph Desktop Web App
2. Click the Create Channel option in the Menu
3. Set a Photo,  Banner and short description for your Channel and click Next. Levi made a handy photoshop template to help you get your banner size right.
4. Share the invitation link with a friend so you know everything is good.

Step 2. Add Your Chat Channel to your Subreddit’s Sidebar

1. Visit your Subreddit’s settings. The URL is: http://www.reddit.com/r/[YourSub]/about/edit/
2. Customize this markdown sample code to build out your sidebar:
   ***
   **Community Resources**
   * [Triathlon Chat]([YourChannelInviteLInk]) – Chat with other Triathletes from this Subreddit from your computer or smartphone.
   ***

Example used by /r/ocd

Example used by /r/rickandmorty

Step 3. Submit a new link to your subreddit alerting people to your new chat channel.

We’re here to help! Send an email to support@gli.ph or ‘support’ on Gliph and we’ll help you get going!

Rick and Morty is one of many chat channels on Gliph you can use to meet and connect with other people. Learn more about Gliph Channels here.

6pm PST – March 21st 2015
Tamara (Assistant to Justin Roiland): Today’s Q&A will be with Erica Hayes. One of our awesome storyboard artists on Rick and Morty! Please keep in mind NO season two questions will be answered.

Erica Hayes (Rick and Morty Artist): Hello! Thanks for having me.
Tamara: Fyi, Erica was also the artist who created “The Good Morty”
Erica Hayes: Yeah, that was fun times!

Q: EvanWas8: Do you go by Storyboard Artist Erica, Erica, or Er Bear?
A: Erica Hayes: Er-Bear is pretty cute, but Erica’s fine ^_^

Q: EvanWas8: Do you have a history with drawing comics or have you always done animation work?
A: Erica Hayes: I changed my major from animation to sequential art, so for 3 years, my primary focus was comics.

Q: Dissolve: How many storyboard artists on the team?
A: Erica Hayes: I believe there were six of us. 2 board artists per director.

Q: jay: are you into any comics at the moment?
A: Erica Hayes: I am. I’m halfway through the Walking Dead series, and I’m hugely into Saga. I also have a bunch of volume ones of various comics sitting on my shelves that I’ve yet to read.

Q: EvanWas8: Neat! Can you talk about that transition? [From animation to sequential art]
A: Erica Hayes: The transition mostly had to do with the realization that animators have very little creative control. I wanted to have a bit more power over staging and acting, and choosing shots.

Q: Dissolve: Who is the biggest jerk out of the entire team over at rick and morty?
A: Erica Hayes: No one’s a jerk! I love my Rick and Morty family.

Q: Vince: Approximately how long does it take to create a storyboard for an episode?
A: Erica Hayes: In general, we have our team of 2 board artists and 1 director, and we have about 2 weeks to thumbnail, 2 weeks to clean, and 1 week to revise per episode.

Q: nchopoorian: What was the hardest thing you ever had to draw for the show?
A: Erica Hayes: The hardest thing for me was in s2, which I can’t talk about. lol. Sorry!

Q: Dissolve: When you start a storyboard, what do you have to go off of? Is it like a script with notes?
A: Erica Hayes: Yeah, when we start, we are handed a script as well as any completed designs to go along with it that we will use for reference, and meet with Justin as well as heads of design and our storyboard supervisor. We flip through the whole episode and Justin gives any additional notes he has, and sort of gives us his overall vision.

Q: jazzninja: What was the most difficult episode to complete in season 1?
A: Erica Hayes: Probably either the finale or Rixty Minutes. For both of those, we had all hands on deck.

Q: autumn: how much direction do you get for the storyboard? do they provide just a script with a little stage direction or they or the director specify what’s going on in the environment and what each character is doing, etc?
A: Erica Hayes: We get a lot of freedom unless there is a very specific shot that Justin is envisioning for a specific scene. He normally just goes over the tone and feel of what he wants. We interpret from that and the script.

Q: Kimbo_Jones_: Do you have a lot of freedom when it comes to the spacey backgrounds and aliens on the show?
A: Erica Hayes: It depends on how much design is finished while we are in the boarding process. Sometimes we have to fill in the blanks ourselves, and then the designers work from our boards. It’s a give and take process.

Q: alcapony: How did you become a storyboarded on the show? What was your first gig in the industry? Any tips for aspiring artists?
A: Erica Hayes: I guess you could say my first gig was as a production intern at Nickelodeon while I was a Junior in college. But we weren’t allowed to draw, as we were unpaid. So my first real gig? Rick and Morty! I submitted my portfolio and resume and they gave me a storyboard test. They took a chance on me, and I started off as a revisionist, and worked my way up to board artist.

Q: pukakke: i’m going to provide the dumb questions: which variation of morty is your favourite morty? (ie. cowboy morty, hammer morty, etc. you can’t say the one good morty!)
A: Erica Hayes: Probably evil Morty. Too cool.

Q: EvanWas8: Can you talk about some of your influences in animation?
A: Erica Hayes: My first influence was definitely golden age Disney. That was my childhood. I know for a fact I wouldn’t be here had I not lived through that. Miyazaki was a big one too, a bit later though. Now? It’s kind of everything. I’m a huge fan of things like Adventure Time, the recently ended Avatar series, and TV animation in general. As for film, I recently saw Song of the Sea and it totally blew my mind. Highly recommend.

Q: Sparkifyed: Do you ever get artists’ block? If so, how to you motivate yourself to draw again?
A: Erica Hayes: Yes, I totally get artist’s block. It especially sucks when it’s your job, because you literally have no choice but to push through it. You may be a bit slower than you normally are, but hey, you have to earn that paycheck. In terms of doing your own stuff, it’s easy to put things off when you don’t have a deadline. But if you do that, you could do that forever. I like to watch shows or listen to music that really inspires me to get back into the mindset of wanting to create.

Q: chastityface00: Are you a pen and paper type group or is it all digital
A: Erica Hayes: We are all digital. We all work on Cintiqs, and storyboard artists work on ToonBoom’s Storyboard Pro.

Q: Kimbo_Jones_: Who picked out rick hair color? Lol
A: Erica Hayes: I think Justin? He created the original short himself.

Q: jazzninja: I love “Jerrys Game”, did you have any hand it that? Haha
A: Erica Hayes: I had no hand in Jerry’s Game, unfortunately haha

Q: Sparkifyed: Do you watch Steven Universe? (I know I already asked a question but I need to know omg)
A: Erica Hayes: Stephen Universe is on my list! I finally got around to watching Over the Garden Wall, so that’s next.

Q: jay: whats your favorite studio ghibli movie?
A: Erica Hayes: It’s Spirited Away. I used to watch it over and over with my sisters, so it has a very special place in my heart.

Q: autumn: what was your favorite project for your portfolio?
A: Erica Hayes: That’s tough…I guess the Good Morty is my current favorite thing in there because it’s so crazy. haha

*Justin Roiland (Creator of Rick and Morty): Erica boarded a lot of summer scenes for season two. Can’t get into what they are, but it’s safe to say that the summer character is equal parts Erica, Spencer Grammer, and us writers
Erica Hayes: Oh hey Justin!! Haha. Thanks, Summer’s my fave!!

Q: Vince: I have another question. Is it hard to maintain a consistent drawing style between each frame of the storyboard?
A: Erica Hayes: Not really! All it takes is a little practice during the first couple weeks of any job, and you get used to the style. Some are a little tougher than others to master, but you get the hang of it.

Q: Kimbo_Jones_: Have you guys made any characters yourselves or do the writers run that mostly. Also who is your favorite side character?
A: Erica Hayes: I guess the only time we really get to “create” any character is if we’re filling in background characters or creating gags with new characters, but that’s usually the writers. Yeah, in terms of the design, it depends on if that character has already been designed or not. If not, we just do our thing.

Q: CraiggyEggy: What Neapolitan flavor do you eat first?
A: Erica Hayes: Vanilla, because I like it the least.

Q: chastity00: What is your spirit animal?
A: Erica Hayes: Elephant. Definitely.

Q: autumn: what do you work on outside of rick & morty to practice …not drawing Morties or try out new techniques? or… is drawing for 8 hours a day enough, haha
A: Erica Hayes: Yeah, 8 hours a day is plenty. But sometimes I feel like making my own fan art and then I’ll draw some more. Usually, at the end of a work week, I’m arted out. haha

Q: Kimbo_Jones_: You guys allowed to drink on the job mad men style? What’s your favorite beer or drink?
A: Erica Hayes: Depends on the occasion!

Q: Luis: What shows do you watch other than Rick and Morty?
A: Erica Hayes: Right now? Hannibal, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Downton Abbey, Adventure Time, Sleepy Hollow. Orange Is the New Black when they add a new season. I have a huge list of to-watch, such as Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Spartacus, Breaking Bad.

Q: CraiggyEggy: If there was one show you could have taken off the air, which would it be?
A: Erica Hayes: My mouth is zipped on that one.

Q: zip: What is yoi favorite type of scenes to storyboard?
A: Erica Hayes: Favorite type of scenes to board are the more serious or acting-heavy ones. I like when things get real.

Q: jonjohnsonson: dude, are the guys at adultswim on acid, or magic mushrooms? i bet the latter considering you’re in atl
A: Erica Hayes: We’re actually in Burbank, CA! We don’t work out of any Adult Swim building. We’re located at Starburns Industries.

Q: Daniel_B: Do you guys get to bump shoulders with animators from other studios? Ever gotten wind of how another series was going to end ahead of time?
A: Erica Hayes: The animation community is a fairly small one, so everyone is always bumping shoulders, and we’re also always being shuffled around. For instance, in the past couple months, I got to work on a new animated pilot for Comedy Central, as well as a couple weeks on Bojack Horseman season 2. Productions rarely last forever, so everyone eventually works everywhere.

Q: Dissolve: Were you offended when morty throws your carefully constructed “the good morty” on the ground”?
A: Erica Hayes: I made it after the season 1 was finished, but yes, after the fact, I was newly offended. haha

Q: Nem: What tools do you guys use, and I wanna know, do most of you work on OS X or Windows machines?
A: Erica Hayes: All of the artists work directly on Wacom Cintiqs. We are Windows folk. *I’m sorry, that was an error. We are Mac folk.

Q: lemurs eat xanax: I really love the color choices used for the environments and characters in Rick and Morty. It is a team effort to make color decisions or is that left up to a single person?
A: Erica Hayes: Color choices are left up to our color team, Justin, and head of design

Q: jay: what kinda music specifically gets you pumped while you work?
A: Erica Hayes: When I’m working I usually cycle through two of my pandora stations. One is solely instrumental, piano, and soundtrack. The other is just a collection of different genres. However, I have to listen to instrumental with no vocal when I thumbail. It requires a lot of thinking, and voices distract me.

Q: Luis: What’s your favorite episode so far.
A: Erica Hayes: My favorite episode is in season 2.

Q: zip: thanks for answering. Now a second question if that’s cool. Which character do you like to board in the serious scenes?
A: Erica Hayes: My favorite characters to board are in this order: Summer, Rick, Morty.

Q: EvanWas8: Please tell me the season 3 property brothers ep is coming
A: Erica Hayes: I know absolutely nothing about season 3 lol.

Q: Kimbo_Jones_: You ever do any voice acting like background small parts?
A: Erica Hayes: I’ve yet to do any voice acting! Would love to.

Q: CraiggyEggy: What’s your favorite cereal?
A: Erica Hayes: Fav cereal is Apple Jacks or Frosted Flakes

Q: Daniel_B: Are you guys using toon boom for animating and storyboarding?
A: Erica Hayes: Yep!

Q: EvanWas8: Do you see yourself show running in the future? Going back to comics? Other?
A: Erica Hayes: I do want to show run in the future! Creating my own show is a definite goal of mine. I’d also love to create a comic. I kind of want to do it all.

Q: chastityface00: Did you ever slip something in that made it all the way into the show and you were like “oh my god, I can’t believe they used that”?
A: Erica Hayes: I sort of got to design a character because the design didn’t exist yet, and they used my design all the way through. Can’t talk about it further than though. But no real easter eggs yet, i guess…too much of a wimp haha

Q: EvanWas8: Are you originally from LA/Burbank? If not, how was your move there?
A: Erica Hayes: I’m originally from Chicago. I went to school in Savannah, GA. And then moved out here after graduating!

Q: Rob (Gliph Admin): Erica, do you have any advice for people who are considering a career in animation? How was your experience at Savannah College of Art and Design?
A: Erica Hayes: My advice would be to try for an internship while still in school, even if it’s unpaid or running for coffee. You’ll make priceless connections who will remember you when the time comes for a real job. Also, even if you have to move out to LA and sleep on someone’s couch (like I did the first couple months), don’t give up!! Apply and send emails every day.

Q: EvanWas8: Long shot–do you know the band Triathalon? Most of them went to SCAD
A: Erica Hayes: Sounds familiar, but I can’t say I know much about them

Q: Mellybeans: Probably a stupid question that you guys are sick of answering/rejecting by now, but is there a bloody release date yet or are we still just, waiting on ‘Summer’.
A: Erica Hayes: Sorry, I know as much as you do in that regard!

Q: autumn: if you messed up and didn’t intern during school, do you have any advice! how did you decide where to apply or ..find openings?
A: Erica Hayes: Well, step number one is to be where the jobs are. When I first moved here, I was working at Starbucks to get by, until I got a lead. I was looking at sites like simplyhired and monster for the jobs I was seeking. I was also looking up company websites, and emailing them directly with my portfolio/resume. I got a part time freelance boarding gig for some advertising companies until Rick and Morty came along. I actually found out about the opening from a friend who got an email sent to UCLA grads about it. She already had a job, so she passed the info along to me. Then I applied!

Q: alcapony: How many places did you apply to before you landed one? Did you get a temp job to earn money until you got a storyboarding job? Thanks for answering! I’m in a sitch like this.
A: Erica Hayes: I applied everywhere I saw a job. I moved out here in November of 2012 and didn’t get Rick and Morty until about April of 2013.

Q: dier25: My friend just got accepted to CalArts character animation program. Any advice for her in her studies, etc?
A: Erica Hayes: I’d probably give her the same advice: Try to get an internship! CalArts is a great school with the most connections a school can get, though. If she works hard and impresses her teachers, those professors probably know everyone in the industry. If that fails, move out here and just keep bugging and emailing people until someone gives her a chance.

Q: EvanWas8: What’s the most unexpected thing you learned about storyboarding, the animation process, television, etc. (intentionally broad)?
A: Erica Hayes: Hmm. For storyboarding, it’s probably that you never stop learning (at least I haven’t). There are so many choices to make, and there’s a lot of right answers. There’s also a lot of wrong answers. You learn from other board artists, you learn from TV, directors, books, everything. And sometimes you’ll just have a lightbulb moment. As for the process, I suppose just how dependent every single department is on each other. We’re an assembly line, and it constantly moving. If one part of the line messes up, it can mess up the whole thing. As I said earlier, we’re very give and take, give and take.

Q: Daniel_B: Did employers expect you to bring in a portfolio or was a website based one sufficient?
A: Erica Hayes: Website based ones are sufficient these days, at least in TV. Hard copy portfolios are slowly going away.

Q: EvanWas8: Are you on twitter, fb, tumblr, deviantart, other social medias?
A: Erica Hayes: My tumblr is ehayes87.tumblr.com

Erica Hayes: But It’s been about an hour and a half, so I think I’m going to head out now guys. Thanks for having me!!

Rob: Thank you, Erica for the awesome Q&A! Thanks for everyone with the fun questions and keeping this busy space respectful and good for all. Yes, Erica, anything you want to shout out while folks are focused?
Erica Hayes: Season 2’s gonna be great, WUBBA LUBBA DUB DUB!! PEACE OOT!!

Rob: Thanks again. Folks, if you are trying Gliph for the first time and have any feedback on the chat or what you’d like to see please send me an email rob@gli.ph

Join the Rick and Morty Channel now to get notified and participate on Saturday!

Channels are a new jam on Gliph.  They allow communities near and far to connect, meet other people and collaborate.

Rick and Morty is a special interest channel from a fun community we’re happy to have on Gliph. More general groups, like Fitness and Nutrition allow posting of links to items people are selling in Gliph Marketplace.

Erica has been working on the Cartoon Network hit, R&M for two seasons now. She is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design. Prior to work on Rick and Morty, she worked on Nickelodeon’s “The Penguins of Madagascar.”  We’re excited to have her come by for a visit!

Reputation ratings allow you to build up credibility for your account on Gliph. You can use them to help you make a decision as to whether you trust someone before completing a transaction with them.

You must complete a transaction using a listing in Gliph Marketplace to be able to assign reputation.

This means if a Bitcoin payment is involved, you must have a Coinbase or Blockchain.info wallet attached and use Deal Flow to make the payment.

If you already completed a transaction in Gliph Marketplace, you should already have received  an email allowing you to rate the other person or people you’ve interacted with. Transactions completed outside Gliph Marketplace will not offer a chance to set Reputation.

Gliph Profiles continue to become more useful, showing off information about another user’s Marketplace listings, Groups and Channels in common, whether they have a Bitcoin Wallet attached and now the reputation. This information is in addition to the personal data they’ve chosen to share publicly or privately with you.

This is a screen capture of the current live view of Cory’s Gliph Profile.

We’re excited to see Gliph identity coming into its own with so much useful information!

We’ll be monitoring Gliph reputation to prevent abuse and we plan to increase the depth of information available over time. If you haven’t, get a move on with listing something for sale in Gliph Marketplace to begin establishing your reputation today!

Check out Alex’s available Gliph Marketplace items here.

Alex sells physical Dogecoin and Bitcoin coins he makes by hand. After learning a little about his process we realized what a great story Alex has about why he uses Cryptocurrency and the view of crypto and tech in Romania. Below you’ll find a written interview with Alex along with photos of his process in creating physical Dogecoin.

Please tell us a little about yourself
I am an 17 year old guy, who’s passion is technology and sports. I am from Bucharest, the capital of Romania , a city that I hate and love at the same time.

My parents started 15 years ago in a jewelry factory. Today my father works on film props like swords, engraving and jewelry. [Ed note: Bucharest is a fairly common film location]

How did you get into bitcoin / cryptocurrency? What is your favorite part about bitcoin
My first encounter with cryptocurrency was one year ago, when a friend of mine, (a Reddit user like myself), found that “Dogecoin” thing that was at that time almost a joke. I didnt believe it until I downloaded the wallet. I love cryptocurrencys because it’s anonymous, it’s fast and easy. Everybody can use it!

And the Dogecoin community, its amazing, great people looking for fun! To the moon! Unfortunately, I created a sub on reddit for Romanian users of DOGE but it was a fail: nobody is using it.

What is the overall view towards crypto / identity and technology in greater Romania?
Romania is far from being a modern country: it is the poorest country in the European Union. After the revolution in 1989, Romania made one step forward, and 2 backward. Why? First of all, the education system is poorly founded.

Our politicians are stealing millions and going to jail and everybody is getting brainwashed at the TV by shows that promote all kinds of negative behavior. The Romanian church is contributing to Romania’s downfall, first, by naming even electronic ID cards “the devils eye”. They are building an 400,000,000 Euro cathedral in Bucharest. My school has a few 2005 computers, while hospitals are failing sick people who are going without meds.

What led you to making your dogecoin mold / creating physical Dogecoins?
After I found about it, I kept collecting free Doge from faucets, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted more, so I figured a way to take advantage of the community needs, and my resources. That’s how my physical coin was born. I was skeptical at first, but the community loved my coins and I made my Dogecoins that I spent supporting the community, like buying Steam games with it, donating and tipping.

Making a Physical Coin
We asked Alex to take us through the creation of a physical Dogecoin, and he supplied the following photo overview.

The mold and the Tin

This is the latex mold is built around a specific set of designs. Molten tin poured into the center of the top mold which has channels out to each design. The Dogecoin occupies a spot on the right, amongst shapes used for jewelry designs.

 After the tin has cooled, the foundation of the coin has been laid.

Polishing

The coin has rough edges after being removed from the mold.

The edges are polished smooth with this rotating.

Here is the smoothed out, but unpolished tin coin.

This tumbler polishes the coin.

Here’s the polished coin, ready for plating!

This is the galvanic bath where coins get plating.

This blue bath is for plating with Copper.

We want to thank Alex for taking the time to share his maker process and for his personal contributions to the growing cryptocurrency community. We’re also glad to have his custom work available in Gliph Marketplace.

]]> https://blog.gli.ph/2015/03/05/seller-spotlight-physical-dogecoin-making-by-alex/feed/ 0 https://blog.gli.ph/2015/02/25/introducing-discussion-groups/ https://blog.gli.ph/2015/02/25/introducing-discussion-groups/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2015 19:35:32 +0000 https://blog.gli.ph/?p=1401 Today we’ve added the ability to browse and join discussion groups on Gliph!

On the web app you can now “Browse Groups,” and we’ve added the ability to view Groups the mobile web and Android from the menu.

After seeing how fun it can be to get started on Gliph and make new friends, we’ve decided to start featuring a selection of them. Some of the first groups we’re featuring are the ones that grew out of the Gliph Community. For example Bitcoin Discussion and Cat Appreciation.

One of the groups we’re excited about is Rick and Morty fans. Rick and Morty airs during Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network and online. The show chose the Gliph group as their official home for for real-time chat for fans.

We’re still exploring what can be done to make public groups great destinations on Gliph.

Here is a complete list of public groups available now, we’ll add more over time. If you have a group you’d like featured on the Groups page, please send a message to Support!

Featured Communities
Bitcoiners
Rick and Morty Fans
New Gliph Users Group
Cat Appreciation

Crypto and Tech
Bitcoin Gaming
Dogecoin
Apple Watch

Gaming
Classic Gaming
DOTA 2

Entertainment
Comics
Game of Thrones

General Interest
Burning Man
History, Power and Currency
Sports Talk
Electronic Dance Music

International
Japanese Gliph Users
Russian Gliph Users

Gliph Verified Identities allow the Gliph staff to specifically call out notable people using Gliph to certify their authenticity.

The first verified identity is Justin Roiland, co-creator of Rick and Morty on Adult Swim.

We are happy to review requests for identity validation, particularly if you’re participating in Gliph by joining groups or Gliph Marketplace.

With the holiday near, we thought it might be helpful to provide tools for communicating the potential of Bitcoin with your friends and family.

The following tips are meant to help an experienced Bitcoin person have a more thoughtful discussion with loved ones about the technology. While these tips are focused on Thanksgiving, they may also be useful to people around the globe at any holiday gathering.

0. Don’t Let Bitcoin Gobble up the Holiday
While this guide is meant to help you introduce Bitcoin around Thanksgiving, remember that this holiday is an unusual opportunity to share in the lives of your close and extended family.

1. Downplay Your Enthusiasm and Expertise for Bitcoin
No matter what the idea is, people need time to adjust to new information. Even if your family knows you to be a Bitcoin enthusiast, and you read /r/bitcoin every day, downplaying your expertise (and belief Bitcoin’s importance) will allow everyone to join in the feeling of wonder over the course of discussion.

2. Listen First
The topic of Bitcoin commonly receives a bi-polar response. Some praise Bitcoin and others are starkly concerned. More common than either of these reactions is confusion. The word “Bitcoin” is known to many, but most people know almost nothing about it.

When someone asks for your opinion on Bitcoin, begin by asking how they feel about it. If you take some time to understand what they know, including misperceptions, it will allow you to respond in a way that gives you the best opportunity to be understood.

3. Avoid the Details
Given how quickly discussions can change, focus on Bitcoin’s high-level points first. (For example, see the Why section of the Bitcoin wiki) If you lead off with Side Chains, Smart Contracts or the recent pivoting of the Bitcoin Foundation you’re going to hear “pass the cranberry sauce” before you can share important basics.

4. Dispel Falsehoods, but Own Up to Bitcoin’s Faults
Many people believe that Bitcoin is only good for purchasing illegal items and serving as plunder of hackers. The media loves to report on the Silk Road, so this may be a loved one’s only exposure to the currency. The best thing you can do is to agree with what is true. For example, few would argue that illegal activity was not important to the establishment of market value for Bitcoin.

By showing a reasonable regard for the reality of Bitcoin’s (sometimes) dark past, you are in a more authoritative position to discuss the technology’s future.

One way to handle this subject is to remind your conversant partner that the Internet itself has provided the tools for revolution against autocracies, but it is also still used to steal the personal and financial information of millions.

5. Put Bitcoin in a Global Context
In some western countries, financial tools like credit cards are commonplace. Most people in the United States do not worry about the price of milk changing drastically week to week. However, not everyone is aware that the Argentine peso has suffered from hyperinflation, replacement and devaluation repeatedly over the past few decades.

It also may be useful to remind someone that many adults around the world do not have bank accounts (50%). Smartphone adoption is growing quickly. Half of all people around the globe are expected to be using them by 2019. In many parts of the world, payments using Bitcoin or its technology offer the potential of allowing people to leapfrog traditional banking the way mobile phones have landlines.

People who can not rely on their government to create a stable banking system anytime soon may be able to rely on Bitcoin in the meantime.

6. Acknowledge that Bitcoin is not a Sure Thing
By acknowledging that Bitcoin is not guaranteed to “work” you leave open the potential for learning. Not everything humans set out to do succeeds at first. Just ask Franz Reichelt.

By leaving open the possibility Bitcoin itself may not work, it may allow new people to more thoughtfully consider why it just might.

Resources to Share
We recommend you share the following resources with newcomers to Bitcoin:

1. Current Price – Preev.com. People are most often astonished by Bitcoin’s “high” value and sometimes-volatile price swings. Looking up the current price is an easy and fun thing for someone new to the technology.

2. Current News – Coindesk.com. Easy to consume and regularly updated with Bitcoin-specific news, Coindesk is quickly becoming the “TechCrunch of Bitcoin.” No matter your feelings about the site, it is a good place to start for a beginner interested in the currency.

3. “How do I get some?” – Coinbase.com is another common question once people have learned enough to want to play around with the technology. We believe Coinbase offers the best possible first experience for creating, filling and maintaining a Bitcoin wallet today.

Conclusion
In closing, the entire Gliph team would like to share our thanks for all of the support provided by the Bitcoin community in 2014. Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Submitted by CB, this is a “rare snow leopard sighting,” or more commonly her cat that likes to dive for grass snakes in the ivy.  Awesome!

Submitted by Mary K Fons. Portrait taken during shooting of her quilting show, Quilty, an epic quilting show you can catch on PBS in the United States.  Beyond quilts, Mary is also a fan of Bitcoin and Gliph. :) Photo by Matt Gonzales, Chicago

Submitted by RR, we actually don’t know the name of this gentlemen in the cowboy boots, but we like his stature and suspect he’ll have many a wild catches as he grows up.

Submitted by CM, this is a photo of Dexter. What can we say, we <3 cats at Gliph. CM invites you to connect with him on Gliph to talk about cats or other matters.

Submitted by LG, this little hero is named Tedy. 

Many thanks to everyone who sent something in! Some of these photos may make it into our product pages in screenshots and elsewhere.

Can’t get enough Gliph user photos? Check out results from our previous photo contest. Keep your eyes peeled for our next photo contest!

A photo of Godfrey, a winner from the 2013 Gliph photo Contest

For this year’s contest, we plan to feature winning photos in the launch of a new Gliph product planned for June. Our team loves pets, and thus favors pet photos. However two out of the five winners from our last contest were not pet photos, so please don’t hesitate to submit something!

How to submit your photo: Send the photo to the Support Gliph with the message “photo contest,” or send it via email to support@gli.ph.

Terms and conditions: You keep rights to the photo and grant Gliph the right to use the photo on Gliph’s website and blog.