fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
How Close are we to building a Lunar Base?
By: Ishan Bhat
Tags: Lunar Base, NASA, Moon, Space, The Artemis Program

Humans have been traveling in space and making ambitious expeditions for long time now. Some ambitious expeditions include humans going to the moon, sent satellites to orbit, sent robots to Mars, sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to the solar system. Many government and private space agencies have created ambitious goals such as a manned Mars mission, creating new launch systems and building a Lunar base. To save money, Spacex have

The idea of a lunar base is a Circular base with a 3d printed wall which protects Astronauts from solar radiation and other harmful waves. Agencies plan to create fuel storing and fuel creation systems on the moon. This will help rockets to go to other celestial bodies by refueling at the moon. NASA is the most closest space agency to building a colony on the moon. They plan to create and set up a water mining operation on the moon. Water can be split to make hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and Oxygen can both be used as rocket fuel and so, NASA wants to set up water mining operation on the Moon.

The first Artemis mission rocket plan

NASA have already started an ambitious project called “Artemis”, where small bases with inflatable balloon like, pressurised habitats which will be used along with a small non pressurised chamber. The rocket will have two solid fuel boosters and one liquid fuel booster which will drive it into orbit. The last stage will take the base to the moon and the base will set up.

A plan for a Lunar Base

A Lunar Base is a very ambitious project and it is more ambitious that NASA plan to set up the first base by 2024. Space agencies are known to delay their missions though, so NASA might take up to another 5–6 years to send a base to the moon. Either way, humans will be going to the moon and set up a base in a few years.
台灣報紙還有未來嗎？數據與觀察
By: Dennis Tseng
Tags: Taiwan, Newspapers, Data Visualization, Data, Data Journalism

[1]: 商業週刊、爽報、壹週刊、蘋果日報、自由時報、智富月刊、米娜時尚等紙媒都曾委託 ABC 稽核發行量。據 ABC 的稽核報告顯示，自由時報 2007 年到 2017 年之間都曾經請 ABC 稽核，橫跨超過十年，蘋果日報則僅有 2006 年到 2008 年的稽核報告。

[2]: 市場整體的近七天報紙閱讀率為 21.55%，最高者為自由時報的 9.45%，聯合報的 8.13%次之。

[3]: 徐榮華. (2006). 台灣報業經營困境與因應策略.政治大學傳播學院碩士在職專班學位論文, 1–264.

[4]: 原始資料中更生日報、國語日報、台灣時報、人間福報的廣告價格為空值，台灣新生報的閱讀率為空值，都不計入；經濟日報的周間廣告價格為二十萬元、假日廣告價格為十萬元，取其平均十五萬元。另外，資料也包含聯合晚報，因聯合晚報現已停刊，也不計入。

[5]: 陳有全（2004）。未來報紙的發展－台灣報業應用電子紙之研究。國立中山大學高階經營碩士班碩士論文，高雄市。 取自https://hdl.handle.net/11296/2q9q64

[6]: 台大〈工作社會學〉 2005 年修課學生的田野觀察，http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~pclan/documents/report_samples/05_sociology_work/paperdiver.pdf↩︎

[7]: 林麗雲. (2008). 變遷與挑戰: 解禁後的台灣報業. 新聞學研究, (95), 183–212.

[8]: 向志强, & 陈鸥鸥. (2006). 报纸需求弹性与报纸定价研究. 當代傳播, 2006(3), 40–43.

[9]: 蔡卓芳, 鍾珮琦, & 齊湘. (2003). 台灣新聞網站市場範圍與市場競爭初探 — 以《聯合新聞網》,《中時電子報》,《東森新聞報》 三大新聞網站為例分析 (Doctoral dissertation).

[10]: Deleersnyder, B., Geyskens, I., Gielens, K., & Dekimpe, M. G. (2002). How cannibalistic is the Internet channel? A study of the newspaper industry in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 19(4), 337–348.

[11]: Sridhar, S., & Sriram, S. (2015). Is online newspaper advertising cannibalizing print advertising?. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 13(4), 283–318.
Better logs for ExpressJS using Winston and Morgan with Typescript
By: Andrea Vassallo
Tags: GraphQL, Typescript, Development, Expressjs, Nodejs

Let’s start

First of all, we need an ExpressJS application. You can clone this repository.

Start the server

The project was created using a from-scratch basic configuration. Start the server using this command:

cd medium-morgan-winston-example

npm install

npm run dev

Install Winston

Winston is a useful library that is needed to configure and customize the application logs accessing a lot of helpful features.

To use the plain console.log without a third-party library, we need to write a lot of code and reinvent the wheel understanding all the edge cases caught by Winston in these years.

Here there are the main features that we should implement inside our project:

Differentiate log levels: error, warn, info, HTTP, debug

Differentiate colors adding one to each log level

Show or hide different log levels based on the application ENV; e.g., we won’t show all the logs when the application runs in production.

Adding a timestamp to each log line

Save logs inside files

npm install winston

Configure Winston

In the lines below, there is a simple configuration of our logger. Copy and paste them inside your project. You can use this path: src/lib/logger.ts or something similar.

I’ll explain every single row later.

Now you have the ability to use the Logger function anywhere inside your application importing it.

Go to the index.ts file where the ExpressJS server is defined and replace all the console.log with the custom Logger methods.
Getting Started with GraphQL
By: Junhong Wang
Tags: Typescript, Expressjs, GraphQL, Heroku

Deploying your app on Heroku

We will use Heroku to deploy our app. Heroku is a cloud platform where developers can deploy their applications. A nice thing about Heroku is that it’s free! There are some limitations for free version though. In particular, they put your server into sleep mode if there’s no access within 30 minutes, and it takes some time to load the website. If you are a student (like me!), there’s a good news. Heroku offers students free hobby dynos for up to 2 years. This means your app will remain active and respond to request 24/7.

Go to Heroku and create an account if you haven’t already. Create a new app and you should see a dashboard like this.

If you click Settings , you can set the environment variables at Config Vars section.

We will put DATABASE_URI as key and value from mLab website. Next, we need to change our server code a bit to make it work with Heroku. By default, Heroku only lets you use port 80, so make sure the server is listening at that port.

Finally, you can login to Heroku from terminal, and push your code to Heroku server as follows.

# login to Heroku

heroku login # push your code to Heroku server

git push heroku master
Building a Middleware-Based Request Router in Node.JS
By: Darren Smith
Tags: JavaScript, Expressjs, Technology, Nodejs, Middleware

Everyone is familiar with the Node.JS Express Framework.

One of the more interesting features of this framework (apart from simplifying the process of handling incoming HTTP/S requests) is its implementation of Middleware for pre-processing any requests prior to them making their way to the final handler / controller.

This feature sparked my interest - and desire to try and build something similar.

So I threw together a quick demo of how you can build your own middleware-based request router.

I’m going to walk through the code here. Or alternatively — you can download the GitHub repo, run it yourself and adapt it to your needs:

Let’s have a look at the file.

I’m going to wrap all functions and variables within a self-invoking function — I’ve found this to be good practice to keep the scope of everything within the function confined so it cannot conflict with variables outside of it.

The first function that I define within our outer function is the “app” function. This is a self-invoking function and closure that can have a request and response object passed in to it from whomever decides to call it. On receipt of these objects, it loops through a stack of middleware functions and listens for invocation of the 3rd input variable (our “next()” function) in order to trigger execution of the next middleware function in the stack. Or if we’ve run out of middleware functions — then the final handler / controller.

I then define some child variables against the primary function/object — namely the stack (app.stack), a placeholder for our handler function, and two additional functions — “app.use” to register new middleware on the stack and “app.handle” to register our final handler function / controller.

Next — I’m going to register a series of middleware functions:

Each middleware function sets a new variable on the request object that is being passed through them.

Next — we register our final handler / controller which, when called, displays the resulting request object within our console.

Finally — we need a function to invoke the app object and trigger the processing of our request through the stack/chain of middleware. I set some seed variables within the request object here and then invoke the app function.

Now let’s look at the result in our console:

As you can see — each variable that is set by a piece of middleware is accessible within the next piece of middleware and from the final handler/controller.

I hope that someone out there finds this as interesting as me and just as useful.
DevPortal, A MERN App
By: Lakshyajit Laxmikant
Tags: Projects, Reactjs, Expressjs, Mern, Nodejs

The MERN Stack

I recently completed the MERN stack course on udemy, and I was overwhelmed with so many new things which I got to learn about my favorite frameworks. The course was completely project based. It consisted of building an app, which allows users to login/signup, create, view,update and delete their profiles, and also create posts and comment on them. The app uses local passport authentication in node.js to log the users in along with some backend validation and error checking. This app also implements sessions which allows users to be logged in until 1 hour (After which they are automatically logged out ). The users need to have a gravatar email (which is nothing but wordpress.com ) and have their profile picture uploaded over there in order to have a profile pic of theirs in this app. For database, mongoDB was used which kept a track of users as well their credentials and posts. The frontend was implemented using React.js and Material Design Bootstrap. It involved using React router and redux to handle the states between various components.

When it comes to learning something new, I always try and implement something new or add on to what I get to learn. In this app, I implemented Material Design in the frontend and some changes in the backend too. The backend changes basically consisted of:

A not-found ( or error 404 ) page, which gets rendered whenever users try to access an invalid link within the app. An email functionality, which sends new users, a welcome email, whenever they sign up. This was implemented using nodemailer.

Once the app was completed, I shared it with my instructor, and was happy to get appreciation from him. This is what he tweeted!

You can view the app, by clicking the following link!

Happy Learning!
Are you on Track to Meet your 2021 Goals?
By: Jennifer Ryan
Tags: Tips, New Years Resolutions, Goals, Self Improvement, Motivation

Can you believe we’re halfway through 2021?

That means it’s time to check in with ourselves and think about how close we are to reaching our goals.

Every year, millions of Americans celebrate the new year by making a resolution. Some focus on health, others relationships, finances, or personal growth.

Whatever resolution you make, the idea is to work on some aspect in your life you want to improve!

Setting and reaching goals in empowering.

But often we struggle to meet these types of goals. This can lead to disappointment and feelings of failure. But, the progress is what’s important — not just the result!

No matter how behind you may feel on reaching your goals, it’s not too late to start now! And if you’ve already made progress, staying motivated is a sure way to finish strong.

So, we’d like to share a few ideas to help you on your journey!

5 Tips for Reaching your 2021 Goals

Focus on what you have accomplished this year! One of the best ways to stay motivated is to focus on what we have accomplished instead of what we have left to do. Change up your routine! Routines are how a lot of us get through the day, but this can lead to repeating the same bad habits over and over. Switching things up can be a great way to find new opportunities to meet your goals. Take time to recharge! Stress and daily life can sometimes leave us drained. Taking time to recharge — whether that means taking time off work, spending more time with family, or getting outside for some fresh air — is like hitting the reset button. Rather than being time wasted, this is time well spent! Create a plan! Having a plan for how to achieve your goals makes it a lot easier to start taking steps in the right direction. Be understanding! Setting goals is important to our growth. And being able to reach them is great. But sometimes, we just don’t get there. That’s okay! The best way to move forward is to be understanding of your own struggles and forgive yourself for not reaching your goals. That way instead of seeing these instances as a failure, they become an opportunity for learning more about ourselves. And that always leads to growth!

After all, as the author Stephen McCranie says,
Happy New Year Jokes 2020 — HNY 2020 Jokes
Tags: New Year, Happy, New Years Resolutions

The moments of happiness aren’t spent well when there are no New Year Jokes, and Memes happening and shared on these events. A good sense of humour is one of the most significant plus points about your personality, and you should be well prepared with New Year Jokes and Riddles to make these times memorable. If you haven’t been good in your life with such stuff, we shall help you today.

In this article, you are going to get some good ideas about how to crack some good New Year Jokes one-liner which will make people rolling on the floor. So without any further delay, let us move ahead to bring you those great New Year Memes and Jokes.

New Year Jokes in English

The New Year jokes we are going to share with you are also good New Year jokes for seniors. When you need to give someone ideas about funny New Year Resolutions and New Year Wishes, you are going to need these.

What do you tell someone you didn’t see at New Year’s Eve? I haven’t seen you for a year! My New Year’s resolution is to help all my friends gain ten pounds, so I look skinnier. To kick start my New Year: I took an IQ test, and the results were negative. I resolved to read more so I put the subtitles on my TV. It’s officially New Year’s Eve, and you only have a couple of hours to do all the things you will resolve not to do in the New Year. I was going to quit all my bad habits for the New Year, but then I remembered that nobody likes a quitter. My wife still hasn’t told me what my New Year’s resolutions are. I love when they drop the ball in Times Square. It’s a gentle reminder of what I did all year. What happened to the man who shoplifted a calendar on New Year’s Eve? He got 12 months! A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.

So what could be the best New Year Gift than making people laugh at such a momentous occasion?

New Year Jokes and One-Liners

Some people win everything in an instant just because of their classic one-liners. If you want to become good at it as well, here are some fresh and hilarious New Year one-liners for you:
A Retrospective
By: Arteen Arabshahi
Tags: Productivity, New Years Resolutions

As I review the years, the common theme is a push and pull between better care of myself (2016, workouts, meditation, less alcohol; 2017, more water), personal life balance (2017, double-book less; 2019, being outdoors), kindness to others (2016, less judgement), appreciation of the little things (2019, new music), stopping to smell the roses, etc. and a desire to achieve and accomplish more (2017, lead 3 investments, higher conviction). I wonder if I’ll ever find equilibrium here. I worry that I may not, but I’m getting more comfortable accepting that.

I see over the years a desire to give myself space and time to be creative (2017, writing; 2019, writing, live music) in addition to traditionally productive, as well as to be static and enable recovery (2019, solitude). I see the outdoors, music, and poetry as common denominators. I also see a desire to give more to others outside of the daily professional sphere within which I live (2017, volunteering; 2019, creating playlists), as well as to learn more about them (2017, world religions).

These desires are compounding and getting stronger and stronger with each passing year. Each year passes faster than the last and the resolutions feel like they come and go, but I’m starting to take note of the trend lines.

Perhaps this is why I didn’t want to write a 2020 commitments post, I felt more prepared to write something that felt like a ‘lifetime’ commitments post. A series of trends that I realize are becoming my values. An aggregation of small choices that make up the way I choose to live. Long-term choices that I hope to ingrain forever in my lifestyle, rather than short-term challenges against myself.

As a nod to the specifics, I’m proud of myself for taking to action on some of these ideals, for what better reward than having your resolutions become your habits. Some of these things include: more long form content, more frequent short workouts, less alcohol, more water, learning more about world religions, and being outdoors. I have fallen short on a morning routine, meditation, sharing my poetry, cycling, and finding mentorship — none of these things have become habit for me yet. And I fall somewhere in between on professional accomplishments, volunteering, finding community, and releasing judgement.

Here’s to a new decade and another iteration around the ☀️ :)

****************************************************************

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Why Do Bisexuals Love Frogs?
By: Elizabeth Martyn
Tags: Meme, Bisexual, Frog, Bi, Nonbinary

According to the internet, frogs are bisexual or nonbinary culture. But why?

Much like many queer people — in particular bisexual, transgender, and/or nonbinary individuals — frogs find themselves occupying a liminal space, moving between territories and identities that are often, wrongly, conceived of as mutually exclusive. Frogs represent an embodied juxtaposition of land and water, equally at home in both spheres, and moving freely between them. Frogs reject the false binary imposed by the dominant culture — male or female; water or land — instead claiming a uniquely amphibious nature.

More generally, frogs occupy a unique position in modern meme culture. Well known figures such as Pepe, Dat Boi, and Kermit provide fodder for countless memes and remixes. Of course, other animals are equally dominant in meme culture — for instance, the lolcats and doges of days past — but cats and dogs are common and well-loved pets, at least in most Western cultures. Frogs are much rarer in everyday life, and the broader culture regards them with at best ambivalence.

Frogs and toads are sometimes said to be slimy, grotesque, carrying warts and disease. Yet frogs are also uniquely delicate, profoundly sensitive to pollution and other ecological disturbances. Frogs serve as an early warning of environmental catastrophe, a canary in the watershed. Fragility and ugliness wrapped up in one little package — few things cut so effectively across gendered stereotypes, or convey such a universal relatability.

Frogs, of course, are known for their metamorphosis. Though butterflies provide a more accessible and aesthetic metaphor for the process of gender transition, frogs add yet another layer: as made famous in the film Jurassic Park, they are fluid in their sex and gender. Alex Jones’ famous rant about “turning the frogs gay” is based, however tenuously, in actual science: in their hormonal sensitivity, bathed in humanity’s pollution, frogs become physically androgynous and ambiguous.

Frogs have long served as symbols of the LGBT community, dating back at least as far as Lobel’s Frog and Toad are Friends in 1970. The word amphibian itself comes from Greek amphibia, “having two modes of existence; of doubtful nature.” What could better symbolize the ambiguous or dual existence of queer people? Is it any surprise, then, that those with an ambiguous relationship to sex and gender — whether their own, or of those they love — should find in frogs an avatar of the self?
Gender Neutral: Aunt/Uncle
By: Clio Corvid
Tags: Kinship Terms, LGBTQ, Linguistics, Gender Neutral, Nonbinary

If we look at other historic pairings, like actor/actress, widow/widower, and man/woman, it is often the case that one (usually the female form; “widower” is a notable exception) is an affixed form of the other. In those cases, there’s an argument to be made for using the non-affixed form for the gender neutral… although there’s also an argument made against doing that. That’s for another article.

That’s not the case for most relation terms, though. “Husband” is etymologically gender neutral (literally, “house dweller”), but “wife” is unrelated, being the Old English word for “woman” (“wif-man”, female person). “Brother”, “sister”, “father”, and “mother” can each be traced all the way back to Proto-Indo-Euroean (PIE) as distinct words.

“Aunt” and “uncle”, despite the superficial similarity, are likewise unrelated etymologically. More confusingly, they come to us from Latin, which distinguished four relations: Mom’s brother (avunculus), mom’s sister (matertera), dad’s brother (patruus), and dad’s sister (amita). “Avunculus” became “uncle” and “amita” “aunt” over time.

“Niece” and “nephew”, for their part, are related, ultimately deriving from Latin “nepos”, meaning “nephew” or “grandson” and also giving us “nepotism”. “Neptis” was the feminine form. Meaning, if we wanted to take the model of using the default as the generic, given that masculine was the default in Latin, we could use some form of “nepos” if we wanted to. This is particularly defensible since “nepotism” is gender neutral, even if it references family in general and not just nieces and nephews.

Given the inertia of “nibling”, though, I’m fine with continuing to use that.
Giving up “guys” (and embracing y’all).
By: Sarah Cordivano
Tags: Gender, Inclusion, Communication, Language, Nonbinary

I’ve tried many times over the past 5 years to consciously remove the collective noun “guys” from my vocabulary. Why? Because it is a needlessly gendered way to refer to a general group of people. We and our audience deserve better than that.

Photo by Michael Henry on Unsplash.

I grew up near Philadelphia where “guys”, or more specifically “you guys” or even “youse guys” is commonplace. The word guys was such a staple in my every day language that I found it very unnatural to actively remove it. But yet, I still wanted to phase it out.

But Why?

Because language is powerful enough to evolve. We are working hard to build inclusive spaces at work, at home, in the community — to create spaces where people feel welcome to be themselves. So why would we address a group of people in a gendered way if we don’t need to? I’ve seen this topic hotly debated and it can sometimes trigger intense backlash of claims of “language policing.” But the argument for me is simple: I respect my friends and colleagues and when I address them, I want to do it in a way where people feel represented and comfortable. That means dropping “guys” once and for all.

Now what?

Well, I needed to find something to replace “guys”. But what? I used “folks” for a while, but it felt unnatural when addressing a group directly. I also tried a simple approach by using only “you” to imply a group. But this also did not feel right.

When I moved to Germany, I tried something new. I started using “y’all”. Even though I had always associated that word with a southern accent, it suddenly had a new purpose for me. Somehow, in Germany it did not feel as much like a regional word, but instead a tool to bring inclusion to language.

I’d encourage y’all to try it out and see how it sounds.
Win an iOS or Android code for the great Tropico game Tropico — Video Peel News, Instructions, Exemplary procedures, reviews and cultu on day 20 of our Advent calendar competition
Tags: Advent Calendar, Target Straight, Calendar, Advertising Gift, Advent

Win an iOS or Android code for the great Tropico game Tropico — Video Peel News, Instructions, Exemplary procedures, reviews and cultu on day 20 of our Advent calendar competition Karaconroy Aug 12·2 min read

We now come to the target straight, day 20 of our advertising gift for the Advent calendar 2019. If you have not taken care of in the last 19 days, you will find a brief summary here: The Advent calendar gives you, our dear readers, the possibility of codes for some of the Best games to get that have come out in the last 12 months.

Today we have 5 iOS codes and 5 Android codes that we can win for the massive strategy game Tropico. The game looks you as a dictator on a tropical island and gives you control over everything, from the position of the buildings to politics behind your rule.

When we discussed the game, we said, “Tropico is a complex and very detailed mobile port that works on almost all levels.” Sounds pretty good, right? You can read the entire review by clicking here. If you prefer, look at the video we have embedded down, and you get a good idea why it goes in the game.

Well, that’s out of the way, it’s time for you to find out how to win a code. It’s really pretty simple — all you have to do is introduce some details to one of the following forms. Make sure you use the right one for the platform on which you want to play — one for Android and one for iOS

A raffle with a rafflecopter a raffle with a rafflecopter it is for today, but take a look over again to win a fantastic game in our raffle with the 2019 Advent Calendar.
The Christian Calendar: Acknowledge & Observe
By: James Coe
Tags: Worship, Lent, Christian Calendar, Cbu, Advent

Photo by Annika Gordon on Unsplash

About a decade ago, I began to explore the idea of fasting for Lent. I knew people were abstaining from things like Facebook and Dr. Pepper, but I didn’t really understand why. Is a social media fast really an appropriate way to identify with Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and temptation? Maybe it is for some, but I wanted a more traditional experience. I decided to give up meat for the entirety of the season. As we approached Easter that year, I was surprised by the anticipation that it built in me for remembering the death and celebrating the resurrection of Christ. Fasting for Lent made me more appreciate Easter Sunday — and not just because of the steak dinner I had waiting! Somehow, it made Easter more real for me that year than it had previously been. And even though I don’t fast every year, that first experience has perpetually elevated the significance of the Easter season to me.

A few years later, the Baptist Church I was working for began to do a “Passion Week Experience” each year, which was a version of the stations of the cross (another concept I was unfamiliar with), where we’d set up a multi-sensory experience that the church could walk through at their own pace and see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the experience of Jesus leading up to the cross on Good Friday. I loved it so much that I wanted to recreate it at the next church I served in. And since it was all still very new to me, I spent a lot of time researching those stations to create an experience that would be authentic and really focus our people on Jesus. It made such an impact on our congregation that we continued to do it every year. My second-born son actually made a decision to follow Christ while going through the Passion Experience. He was sitting in the garden scene, reading about Jesus agonizing over what He was about to experience, and began to weep! He said, “I can’t believe that Jesus knew what he was about to go through for me and did it anyway!” In that moment, Jesus’ sacrifice for him became very real, and he began his journey of faith.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

For the last few years, I have been observing the Advent season in both the Church and with my family. As a church, we have had advent moments each Sunday, inviting one of our church families to read Scripture and a prayer and light the Advent candles. I’ve found that there are a lot of options for how we approach it, but as I lean into it each year, my hope is that we can observe the advent season in a way that builds meaningful anticipation of Christ’s birth. Our family has made the effort to intentionally focus on advent by reading scripture together each night. Last Christmas, during one of our family Advent readings, my youngest son insisted we stop and talk about him wanting to follow Jesus and be baptized. What greater testimony can there be? I will be baptizing him in the next couple of weeks.
What will you recite for the king in this season of hope?
By: Shanda Cooper
Tags: Hope, Advent, Faith, Meditation

What will you recite for the king in this season of hope? Will it be a cry of despair? joy? gratefulness? frustration? uncertainty? desperation?

The Psalmist writes our “heart is stirring with a noble song; let me recite what I have fashioned for the king; my tongue shall be the pen of a skilled writer.” (Psalm. 45:1)

You may not feel like a skilled writer. Your tongue may not always drip with the “oil of gladness” that has so graciously been anointed on you by the Father. However, now is the season for hope. Now, is the season to “hear, consider and listen closely,” forgetting the noise of the world. Hear that Our Father takes pleasure in all your beauty and your cries (Psalm 45:11–12). Consider your sure refuge. Listen and wait in silence for the One who oils your squeaky heart with gladness. Honor and welcome Him today by preparing your heart with loving kindness. May the noble song stirring in your heart flow from your lips in perfect harmony to the One who placed it deep within you.

Heavenly Father, thank you for placing a new song in our hearts through the coming of your Son, Our Savior Jesus Christ. We give thanks in knowing that the songs we sing to you, in silence or aloud, are always pleasing and skillful in Your eyes. May You stir within our hearts a song of gratitude as we place our hope in You. Amen.
Advent Day 5: Listen and Act
By: Jason Angelette
Tags: Relationships, Catholic, Christianity, Marriage, Advent

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 7: 21, 24–27

“Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.’”

Your marriage is much like the house in the Gospel today. If you want your marriage to stand the test of time and thrive, you must do the will of the Father and act on the plan that He has for us and for marriage. The goal of marriage is to help get one another to heaven. Your marriage is not about living out your own idea of marriage or your own will, but rather walking in the Father’s will. The key to a strong foundation in marriage is to listen and act on God’s plan for marriage.

Ponder Together:

During Advent, our call to do His will and act on His Word is part of preparing for the coming of Jesus. It is not enough to believe in Him and call Him Lord, we must also do His will and act on his word. This is the recipe for a strong foundation, a healthy marriage, and entry into the Kingdom of heaven.

Pray Together:

O Lord our God, strengthen our faith so that we may grow to trust your plan for our marriage. Help us to take the steps to build our foundation on the true Rock. Help us to not only listen to Your Word, but to act on it. May we never justify our sins, compromise on the truth, or hesitate to follow You. Help us to live out the truth of who we are and what You have called us to. Amen.

Plan Together:

The person of faith will not live a life free of storms. Just because we believe in Jesus does not make trials and hardships go away. Storms are going to come whether we like it or not. The question is: when the storms come, will you be left standing solidly on a rock or in ruin? While God does not excuse us from storms, he does empower us to live God’s will in our marriages.

Where are you struggling with living out God’s will in your lives? Is there a sin that you have called okay? Is there a particular Church teaching on marriage and family life that you find too difficult to understand or to live out? Is there a fear or lack of trust in God that is preventing you from turning to God and trusting Him with everything? Where do you find it hard to listen and act?

Once you can identify what it is, go to Jesus and ask Him for the grace, knowledge, wisdom, courage, and strength to do what He has called you to do. In this way, you can become all that He has called you to be as His child and as a spouse.
Apple’s TV series “See” is better than “Game of Thrones”
By: Sajal Ghimire
Tags: Tech, Report, Series, Streaming, Game of Thrones

Forget everything you’ve heard about the movie with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman”). This refers to “See” (the realm of the blind), a so-called Apple Original, ie, a film production, which has been commissioned and financed by the iPhone manufacturer for its new streaming service.

“See” is available exclusively via the Apple TV Plus, which was launched on 1st November, and is available for free as a trial subscription.

It is a mix of “Game of Thrones,” “Mad Max,” and “The Lord of the Rings.” An elaborate production that plays (at least in the beginning) only in the wilds of North America.

We’re talking about the Champions League here. A single episode should have cost around $ 15 million. Because it is one of the few own productions, with which Apple enters the streaming business, the eyes of many critics were directed to it. And some judged everything else as flattering, which incidentally I can not understand after the first episodes.

But enough of the counsels, we come to the six points why the new series is worth your time.

Careful, spoilers!

The plot of “See” is only touched on in the post — who wants to enjoy the series completely unencumbered by advance information should stop reading at this point.
The Flash season 6: The truncated season will end in cliffhanger (final promotion)
By: محمد عدي
Tags: Netflix, Flash Fiction, Movies, Articles, Series

The showrunner of The Flash teases a cliffhanger at the end of season 6 which was interrupted by COVID-19. Promo of the final.

Like many series this year, season 6 of The Flash had to be cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production stopped before the shooting of the last three episodes.

The second part of season 6 is divided into three acts, like a film. Showrunner Eric Wallace told TVGuide, "Act one was from episode 610 to 613, act two was from 614 to 619, and then from episode 620 to 622 was act three. We filmed until the end of Act Two of our film when production was stopped. "

This came down well: "So basically it was a good thing, considering what was going on, because at the end of Act Two, as in any film, there is usually a big cliffhanger and it is usually really epic. Fortunately, it looks like we can finish post-production on time. "

He then confirms that episode 19 is made so that there is a cliffhanger and that it is "made to have a break at that time. "

This last episode will be broadcast next week. As we see in the promo, Barry is still trying to find a solution to save Iris but Eva's husband tells him that the Mirrorverse erases the memory to the point where people become unrecognizable. If it's hard to trust him, he seems to be right since Iris is starting to change.
Movies and series — Top 2018. My top movies and series I watched…
By: Jordi Escudé Gòdia
Tags: 2018, Top, Movies, Series, Lan

The Kominsky method (9/10)

A stunning discovery. A dark humour series about elderly life, with some intense and real drama about death.

Call me by your name (9/10)

Surprisingly good. Beautiful movie about a love story, very well narrated, detailed. The acting is fantastic, the details on everything.. Makes another good candidate for the Best movie.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (9/10)

Fantastic performances. Great and shocking story. First film I’ve watched for the Oscars 2018, and it will be really hard to beat.

Deadpool 2 (9/10)

Better than the first one. Have to watch it a second time to get all the jokes and hidden eggs.

Star Trek: Discovery S1 (9/10)

Surprisingly good for even with a lack of budget. Very charismatic Captain, and the series has a couple of amazing episodes that left me astonished. Really enjoyable if you like Star Trek universe

American Vandal S2 (9/10)

Improving the first one. Better story and good plot. Still amazed of the performance of all the cast.

Master of None S1 (9/10)

Fantastic. Really good stories and performances. Realistic and funny.

Future Man S1 (9/10)

An amazing discovery to finish the year. If you like time travel, nerd references to the 80s and 90s, you will enjoy this.
Movies and Series — August 2019. Movies and series I’ve watched during…
By: Jordi Escudé Gòdia
Tags: Movies, 2019, Series, Lan, August

Midsommar (10/10)

Could be the best movie in 2019. Bizarre, unsettling and very disturbing.

The Boys S01 (10/10)

After seeing the trailer I thought it would be a cheap comedy with bad actors, but resulted in a fantastic dark drama with an amazing cast in a world where superheroes are employed by corporations. Recommended after all the Disney flood of superhero movies and series. Soundtrack also top.

The highwayman (4/10)

Bonnie and Clyde story from the cops side. At least they keep it real about how the age of the main characters affect them.

Men in Black International (4/10)

Nothing stands out. I think I will start using the term EW-EF, for Easy to Watch, Easy to Forget for this kind of movies.

Bottom Of The 9th (3/10)

Another cliché. You know what is going to happen, down to the sentences.

Another Life (3/10)

I guess this happens when you use all the money in building the ship interiors and some outer space FX. Then you have to use a low budget for the cast, writers and rest of the alien props. Shame. Could’ve been good.

Godzilla, King of monsters (2/10)

2 hours of nonsense.
Orderly Chaos
By: Omar Imam
Tags: Orderly Chaos, Fiction, Series, Dream, Omar Imam

The Protagonist

I woke up to a man in a green uniform looking straight at me, pain searing through the back of my head where it had hit the pavement. “You have too much to drink or something? You need a hospital?” I looked up at the man like a sad puppy, and reached my hand out. He obliged and helped me up to my feet.

I felt the back of my head, there was a lump, but no sign of any blood anywhere. Had I imagined everything? The sun was shining bright, so apparently I had slept outside for the entire night.

I suddenly remembered about the events of last night. I looked around, there was no red liquid anywhere. I remembered about the blonde girl. “Did you see anyone…?” I looked over at the dumpster. The garbage truck driver had seen me before emptying the dumpster out. “There’s a dead body in there!” I exclaimed. He looked bewildered and stared at me wide-eyed. I scrambled and climbed up the side of the dumpster, I braced myself for what I was about to see. “Hey, I think you might have a head injury, you probably shouldn’t be doing that right now!” Ignored him and peered into the dumpster.

Nothing. Well, there was trash, but other than that, nothing. “WHAT THE F%^~?! There was a body in here last night!” The man had climbed up next to me by this point. “Is this some kind of hidden camera show?” I shook my head. “Alright well, you’ve wasted enough of my time. Since you’re clearly ok, can you please get out of my way so I can continue? Some of us have schedules to stick to.” I’ve been called crazy enough times in my life to have it happen again. “Yes, sir. Sorry it was just a practical joke!” He looked at me like I was the biggest asshole he had ever seen before he jumped down off of the dumpster. Clearly, he was not amused. Without another word, he climbed back into his truck. I took this opportunity to start walking back to my home.

Do I need to get back on anti-psychotics? I was really worried that I was losing it. As I walked up the steps to my house something caught my eye. I saw a car pulling out and leaving. The driver looked like… The man from last night. The Maniac Man. He glared at me, flicked me off and peeled off. “What the hell is going on?” There was an envelope taped to my door. I grabbed it and pulled out the letter that was inside as I walked in.

— — — — —

This story came to me one day while I took a nap. The dream barely made sense to me while it was happening, but everything I saw and felt is described above. I began writing it out in 2020, on Facebook, as status updates. Then I realized that I should probably do the story some justice and put it out there for whoever might possibly see it to see, and not confine it to my Facebook friends list. It’s a series, and I can vividly imagine the characters and the setting in my head. I’ve decided to start publishing the parts of the story I have so far on here. I don’t know if anyone will read it, but at least I can say I put it out there. Hope never dies.

Here is Chapter 3

Here is Chapter 5

©2021, Omar Imam. All rights reserved.
Orderly Chaos
By: Omar Imam
Tags: Fiction, Series, Dreams, Orderly Chaos

Nobody

"Do you think she’ll do it when the time comes?”

“Of course she will. She will live up to her name.”

“…and if she doesn’t?”

“She will.”

“WHEN THE MOMENT COMES, DO YOU THINK SHE WILL PULL THE F$%^ING TRIGGER?”

“Greed…om? For money? Of course she will. She will live up to her name. It is written,” calmly she placed the cup of tea on the table before standing up. She walked toward the door “Oh, and by the way,” she said dryly “I don’t care what your name is, if you ever raise your voice at me again, I’ll show you what real wrath is.”

— — — — —

This story came to me one day while I took a nap. The dream barely made sense to me while it was happening, but everything I saw and felt is described above. I began writing it out in 2020, on Facebook, as status updates. Then I realized that I should probably do the story some justice and put it out there for whoever might possibly see it to see, and not confine it to my Facebook friends list. It’s a series, and I can vividly imagine the characters and the setting in my head. I’ve decided to start publishing the parts of the story I have so far on here. I don’t know if anyone will read it, but at least I can say I put it out there. Hope never dies.

Here is Chapter 7

Here is Chapter 9

©2021, Omar Imam. All rights reserved.
Orderly Chaos
By: Omar Imam
Tags: Fiction, Series, Dreams, Orderly Chaos

Hope

I threw the lid off of the dumpster. I was fine, but my uniform was definitely not. I was covered in what looked to be spoiled milk and some unidentifiable… trash juice. I nearly vomited upon awakening. I peered over where the subject had fallen the night before. She laid there, asleep, but breathing. “Sorry, I can’t help you, but I’ve gotta go. You’ll be alright!” I knew she couldn’t hear me so started walking. It was a 5 mile trip back to my house… and so I ran back to my home, looking like The Royal Princess of The Land of Dumpsters. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was some type of yellow congealed liquid all over the bottom of my uniform, presumably egg yolk. The weather was warm, but not too warm, thankfully. I still smelled like a pile of refuse, though.

I got home and threw my clothes into the washer, and took a cleansing shower. I spent the day meditating and getting mentally prepared to pretend to be the manager of a high-end lounge for rather douchey men and equally douchey women. Hopefully I wouldn’t encounter the store manager today, either. I got lucky last time. Hopefully the burly man won’t make another attempt today, those stab wounds should keep him at bay for at least a few days.

—

The subject never showed up to work that night. I got worried. I spent about 3 hours at the restaurant, dodging the store manager who had heard about someone named “Hope” who was there the night before that said it was fine to give a table “whatever they want” while she was getting settled in. Around 11pm, I got tired of playing Cat and Mouse, and decided to go home. The subject must have called in sick due to the head injury. I hoped she was ok.

— — — — —

This story came to me one day while I took a nap. The dream barely made sense to me while it was happening, but everything I saw and felt is described above. I began writing it out in 2020, on Facebook, as status updates. Then I realized that I should probably do the story some justice and put it out there for whoever might possibly see it to see, and not confine it to my Facebook friends list. It’s a series, and I can vividly imagine the characters and the setting in my head. I’ve decided to start publishing the parts of the story I have so far on here. I don’t know if anyone will read it, but at least I can say I put it out there. Hope never dies.

Here is Chapter 8

Here is Chapter 10

©2021, Omar Imam. All rights reserved.
Orderly Chaos
By: Omar Imam
Tags: Fiction, Series, Dreams, Orderly Chaos

Hope

6:30am

I woke up lying on the floor of my kitchen. with a butcher knife in the back of my neck. I’ve died many times but this has to be in the top ten of the most uncomfortable. I reached up and pulled it out. “What the hell? Why would someone…?” then, it dawned on me. They must be trying to get rid of me. Somehow, they recognized what I am and they’re trying to kill me. Well, too bad you can’t kill an immortal being unless they want to die.

I don’t feel pain like a normal person, but I do feel pressure, and let me tell you… “whoever they got to try to assassinate me did a damn good job of killing me. Well, you know what I mean”. The knife was jammed into me like “The Sword in the Stone”. Who ever it was must have some serious anger issues. As my wounds self-healed, I looked over at the clock. 6:32am to be exact. Glancing out the window, the sun was poking its heads through the clouds at the horizon, right on schedule.

I ran upstairs, took a quick shower and grabbed my things. I stopped for a second as I walked out of my room and gazed at my pillow. The words “Hope Never Dies” seemed to shine at me. I thought about my mom pushing me on a swing on my 6th birthday. That was the day she surprised me with the pillow that she sewed herself. Her smile, her laugh, her hugs (the best hugs in the universe). A tear began to form in my right eye, and then in the left. I miss her so much.

My alarm for 7am started blaring. “Whoaaaaa livin on a prayer!” Bon Jovi played loudly. I snapped back to reality and shut it off. I ran downstairs, outside and to my car.

I wanted to stop somewhere for chocolate chip waffles (my comfort food), but decided against it. There was no time for anything else, I needed to go see the boss.

— — — — —

This story came to me one day while I took a nap. The dream barely made sense to me while it was happening, but everything I saw and felt is described above. I began writing it out in 2020, on Facebook, as status updates. Then I realized that I should probably do the story some justice and put it out there for whoever might possibly see it to see, and not confine it to my Facebook friends list. It’s a series, and I can vividly imagine the characters and the setting in my head. I’ve decided to start publishing the parts of the story I have so far on here. I don’t know if anyone will read it, but at least I can say I put it out there. Hope never dies.

Here is Chapter 11.

©2021, Omar Imam. All rights reserved.