fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
This is just a Season
By: Estrella Ramirez
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Seasons, Gratitude, Reflections, Poetry

I wrote this while sitting on the back patio yesterday, when the breeze was light and the sunshine bright. My daughters have been a little down realizing that it’s unlikely they’ll return to their school and friends this year.

But yesterday, playing in the backyard, getting some much needed fresh air, and feeling the sunshine on their faces was just what the doctor ordered.

They laughed and chased the dog and did cartwheels and jumped roped. It was delightful to watch, but even more inspiring to hear.

Let this message inspire you, warm your heart, and bring forward front and center that this is just one season of our lives.
Philippines Temporarily Closes ‘Cesspool’ Tourist Island of Boracay
By: Suhana Khiani
Tags: Philippines, Travel, Boracay, Global Affairs

Beach on the Boracay island that was greatly impacted by the environmental issues caused by individuals near the area. Picture Credit: Philippine Star

The Philippines has announced a six-month closure of the popular beach vacation destination over environmental damage. The closure, which will begin on April 26, 2018, was recently announced and called for a cabinet meeting. The closure is specifically targeted at the thousands of visitors on the island that leave environmental footprints, which explains why it would be a “total closure” for tourists. Officials were made aware of the situation of the island in February when Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte stated his concerns about its state.

Groups of individuals that rely on tourism to earn a profit would not be as affected as they originally would be because “Calamity funds will be activated to provide financial relief to those affected by the sudden shut down.”, Stated Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

The island had become one of the best white-sand beaches, and was a perfect getaway for individuals wanting to spend days in the calm, blue sea. However, with an influx of tourists, unregulated development, and pipes carrying raw effluence directly to sea, the island has struggled to maintain its pure beauty.

On one hand, Tourism Undersecretary Ricky Alegre believes the government undertaken action to be in the right direction.

“And we wish to upgrade the services. We must swallow the bitter pill, and see this solution as one step backward and two steps forward. We want to continue to promote the Philippines as a beautiful destination — and want to add that our destinations are environmentally compliant.”

On the other hand, an unnamed member of the anti-closure Boracay United criticizes the extended and costly closure.

“Closing the island to tourism would severely devastate the lives of over 19,000 workers that will lose everything, while crippling not only Boracay’s micro, small and medium enterprises, but the entire country’s tourism and reputation across the globe for a very long time.”

Sources:

BBC, CNN, The Guardian
How My Peter Pan Syndrome Landed Me In Prison For 10 Years
By: Russel Omar-Shareef
Tags: Criminal Justice Reform, Prison Reform, War On Drugs

The Simpsons started my whole obsession with art. My sisters and I used to watch The Tracey Ullman Show together. One time, when I was nine, my sister drew the entire Simpsons family, including their cat and dog. She was a very good artist when we were younger, so I took her drawing and traced it, in an attempt to get the same attention from our foster parents that she did. But I was ultimately unsuccessful. Instead of celebrating it like they did with her, they just said, oh that’s nice, and pushed aside.

I eventually decided, around age 15, that I didn’t want to be in a foster home anymore, so I ran away. I moved to different parts of the city—North Philly, South Philly, West Philly, the Northeast, Germantown — all considered dangerous crime-infested neighborhoods. When I say crime-infested, I mean, drug dealing, drug using, prostitution, robberies, murder, cops killing innocent people, cops planting drugs on people, police brutality, stuff like that.

There was no disciplinarian to tell me to go to school — so I stopped. I was like a black Peter Pan with no real comprehension of reality. I was just in my own world. But one day that all changed. I was riding my bike when someone’s dog started chasing me and I got hit by a car. The hospital told me there was nothing wrong with me even though I had a broken ankle. There was a warrant out for my arrest because I was skipping school. I went to the youth study center and from there I went to a place called Sleighton Farms. I was 15 when I arrived and 17 when I left.

Some years later, when I was 20, I was arrested again… this time for drug charges — possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine. I had fallen into the wrong crowd. Drug dealers were my role models, so I did whatever they asked me to do. I got three to nine months because I was a first time offender. A number of arrests followed for the same charge. Each time I got arrested, my jail time got longer and longer.

As you can see, recidivism was a big problem of mine. I was locked up every time for the same thing: crack cocaine. Why’d I get caught like this? Because I had no education and no parental guidance. I thought that selling crack was the only way to make a living.

I fell into the downward spiral because of my lack of understanding of the consequences and the nature of that whole lifestyle — that Peter Pan syndrome again. Never never land turned out to be a maximum security penitentiary.
The 1st TrustNote Fans receiving $TFans Reward!
By: Sunny Liu
Tags: Announcements, Token, Rewards, Blockchain Technology, Bitcoin Wallet

Dear Community, we are so excited to announce TrustNote community wallet gets its formal name — TrustNote Fusion Wallet! It is a name come from the community, decided by the community, and will serve for the community!

One week ago, we initiated a vote on Twitter to get everyone’s feedback on the naming of the community wallet. We are so happy to see new proposals were raised by community members. We would like to thank you all for participating in the vote, especially a big thank you to @BlocklessMonstr who proposed the name of ‘Fusion Wallet’, which received a majority of votes (17 out of 34) from the community!

Fusion Wallet, it is such a creative name and totally represents the mission of our community supported wallet, it will fuse and melt all the development by our community and bring us a powerful and flexible wallet.

TrustNote is a reward-based community and we value all the contributions made by the community. This time, we will do more than ever before, rather than the $TTT rewards, we will also send $TFans token to @BlocklessMonstr, as the recognition to his contribution!

Please join me to congratulate @BlocklessMonstr, he just earned a 5,000 $TTT and 5,000 $TFans reward for his smart idea on the Fusion Wallet!

About TFans token

TFans is TRC-20 token issued on the TrustNote network (mainnet) by TrustNote foundation. Having TFans means people have a chance to get more income revenue from TrustNote foundation’s mining revenue, also will have the opportunity to be elected in the community management role. We hope everyone can feel what we do is to develop for our community and to create real value for everyone.

@BlocklessMonstr, congratulations again and thank everyone for your participation!

To know more about the TFans token , please read The Introduction Of TFans and TrustNote Software Developers Incentive Program from our blog.
When a Box of Chocolates is Like Life
By: Kyrie Gray
Tags: Humor, Satire, Comics, Chocolate, Food

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Sacred Androgyny & the Bible
By: Jonathan Poletti
Tags: Religon, LGBTQ, Christianity, Feminism, Sex

The Gospel of Thomas is rarely read by traditional Christians, and for good reason? Here is a Jesus, as Janet S. Everhart notes, who “constructs, deconstructs, and reconstructs gender with the result that the gospel supports multiple possibilities, without arriving at a fixed notion of gender.”

I consider it, at least in part, a set of advanced teachings that Paul, likely, has in front of him, and is trying to break down for his readers.

In saying 22, for example, Jesus is asked when he’ll return.

“When you make the two one and make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below, and that you might make the male and the female be one and the same, so that the male might not be male nor the female be female . . .”

Let’s think about that.

When you make the two one . . .

The ‘one flesh’ concept of Genesis 2:24, as Paul notes in Ephesians 5:31, does not in fact concern human marriage, but “a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

The marriage of Jesus and humans. The marriage of heaven and earth.

The two become one when we accept Jesus as husband, when we become ‘one’ with him . . . which is accomplished through the difficult step of loving fellow humans (John 13:34).

All of them. Male and female. And everything in between. Let’s continue with the Gospel of Thomas:

you might make the male and the female be one and the same

Humans, male and female, are to become ‘one and the same’.

Note 1 Corinthians 12:12: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

Paul is just elaborating, explicating, Jesus’ mysterious language. The teaching is: become ‘one’ with each other. By this, we become ‘one’ with Christ.

so that the male might not be male nor the female be female . . .”

This is the marriage Jesus and the Bride. He is the ‘male’, she is the ‘female’. In their interweaving, neither become male or female.

They become ‘married’.

Note the dispute over Mary Magdalen in the Gospel of Thomas, saying 114, which is typically read very incorrently.

“Look, I will gather her in so I may make her male, so she may also be a living spirit resembling you males: for any woman who makes herself male will enter the Realm of Heaven.”

Jesus is not diminishing Mary or saying that maleness is the key. He is adding a ‘male’ spiritual energy to the human female — bringing her into an androgynous perfection.

He does the same with the disciples !— adding in femaleness to the maleness they have. The prompt for he human is to be both.

They’d enter, together, a dynamic, multivalent—I am tempted to say Tantric—engagement with the divine.
Joana Hasty, Technical Architect, on how working at Dropbox is a breath of fresh air and what HHM means to her
Tags: Hispanic Heritage Month, Diversity, Veterans, Dropbox, Military

Joana Hasty, Technical Architect, on how working at Dropbox is a breath of fresh air and what HHM means to her Dropbox Follow Oct 15, 2018 · 5 min read

Joana Hasty

For Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM), from September 15 to October 15, we are highlighting the contributions made by members of the Latinx community in creative fields all over the world, with the theme: “Celebrating Latinx Creative Energy.” Our employee resource group Latinx@ will host activities in our offices that will shine a light on the creative expressions of Latinx and Hispanic figures, celebrate the diversity within the community, and inspire everyone to release their creative energy. In honor of HHM, we’ll be featuring Dropboxers and sharing their stories and what the month means to them.

Q: What is your name, what office do you work out of, and how long have you been at Dropbox?

A: My name is Joana Briceño Hasty, and I work out of the Austin office. I’m a newbie to Dropbox, going on a whopping five months now(May 2018).

Q: What is your current role at Dropbox?

A: I am a Technical Architect on the Customer Success team. I work with our enterprise customers as they deploy Dropbox at scale, by providing technical guidance, best practices, and support.

Q: Anything that you have done/accomplished at Dropbox that you’re proud of? When did you do this? What was the impact?

A: In the short time I’ve been here, I’m proud to have been able to play a small role in Hack Week 2018 with some of my peers. Initially, I wanted to be a fly on the wall to see what Hack Week was all about. It turned out that I was able to sit in on and conduct customer interviews on how this feature would benefit their teams. Suggested Smart Sync was impactful enough to garner three Hack Week awards from different Dropbox offices.

Q: Have you had transformational or inspirational moments at Dropbox?

A: Coming to Dropbox, I’ve had both transformational and inspirational moments. I moved to Texas from sunny Southern California for Dropbox. It was a big change not only for me but for my family, who followed this summer. Additionally, through the spirit of Dropbox, I have found the inspiration to have an open mindset and be receptive to new ideas and ways of thinking outside of the box.

Q: Why did you decide to join Dropbox? What did you do before?

A: I decided to join Dropbox because I wanted and needed a change in work environment. For the past 11 years, I worked in the government sector supporting the United States Marine Corps . I loved my job because it was very expeditious, and it combined office work, travel, and sometimes getting dirty. After so many years, it was time for a change to keep up with the way the rest of the world works together.
Latest picks: In case you missed them:
By: Tds Editors
Tags: Machine Learning, The Daily Pick, Editors Pick, Data Science, Towards Data Science

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Datawrapper Lab
By: Justin Lyle
Tags: Labs, Data Visualization

This chart visualizes the relevancy of three different social platforms over a span from 2004 to 2020. The chart itself is focused on the platforms of Instagram, Twitter, and Vine. This chart is saying that Instagram had exceeded Twitter in popularity in 2014 while Vine reached its peak as a platform around the same time. Now, this means that Instagram is the most popular platform among the three shown. In addition, Instagram’s popularity is on the rise, twitter is making an overall decline, and Vine is completely dead.

Individuals prefer a 160/200 instead of a 25.6/32 because they believe they are getting a better score. However, it is all about proportions and the score gets its importance relative to the total of points altogether.

This is a comparison between rookie quarterback Josh Rosen and veteran quarterback Drew Brees. According to the chart, it is seen that Drew Brees has higher stats in everything that is desirable for a quarter back while Rosen only beats Brees in the negative statistics. Looking at the chart as a whole, it shows that it is an overall advantage to have Drew Brees as a quarterback as opposed to Josh Rosen.
Not only iPhones are sold on Ubcoin Market — it abounds in electronic gift cards, vouchers, top-up cards, etc.
By: Ubcoin. Cryptocurrency Reimagined
Tags: Android, Ubcoin Product

💎 The marketplace online platform gives you an excellent opportunity to buy and sell both physical and intangible objects for cryptocurrency.

🚀 Please note: although they are listed mostly in Gift section of Ubcoin marketplace, we recommend sellers to list them in Digital assets (files) category.

✅ This section has a special additional escrow service for trading files:

- seller uploads a file to the marketplace,

- the moderator checks it and put the label “verified”. Potential buyers do not see the file itself, but see that the file is checked.

- When a buyer starts to buy the file, Ubcoin escrow service freezes his payment, then sends him the file and after buyer confirms that file is OK — seller receives the payment.

Safe for both parties!

Try Ubcoin Market app now:

🔥 Download Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubcoin

💥 Download Ubcoin Market iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/ubcoin-market-cryptocurrency/id1410295111?mt=8
How To Survive A Plane Crash
By: Reuben Salsa
Tags: Flight, History, Life Lessons, Salsa, Tragedy

So my story became less about the plane crash and more about the tale of survival. One man struggling to come to terms with grief. How to deal with survivor’s guilt? How many years therapy and what kind of toil does that take on a person?

George eventually settled down. Drifting from one job to another. Marrying and having a daughter. Yet, he never spoke of the event that had dramatically changed the course of his life.

Furthermore, he moved to Reno, a few short blocks away from the site of the crash. This was no random choice. George would later speak of how moving to Reno felt like being closer to his father.

It was a reminder of life before the accident. A memory of the last great time he had spent with his dad. A man still struggling to come to terms with the crash.

George Lamson Jr. Image AP

It wasn’t until 2014, when the CNN documentary “Sole Survivor,” aired that George reflected on that tragic day. A man haunted by the past forever asking himself ‘why?’. Why George? Why did he survive the crash and nobody else? Was it fate? Was it really random?

George set up a Facebook group in 2010 to reach out to other survivors. The unhurt victims of crashes that derailed lives. He found solace in knowing he wasn’t alone. That there were others out there, all touched by the hand of death and luck. He found there was no reason or logic to the stories.

It was what it was. One person, Ky Dickens reached out. She was a documentary filmmaker who wanted to learn more about survivors. She would be the person responsible for making ‘Sole Survivor’.

“When George told me that, I thought immediately this is a person that has not dealt with this yet,” she said in a telephone interview. “He is still very bound to the site. At first, he told me the decision to live in Reno was just kind of random. But about 2 ½ years into the project, he finally told me that being in Reno reminds him of his dad and brings him closer to his dad. It was the last great time he had in his life before everything changed.” Source — USA Today.

George attended the premiere of the film screened in 2014. It was a moment that finally lifted the burden of guilt that had plagued his life. People gave him a warm, standing ovation as he took to the stage to say a few words.

George recalled that “One person in the audience said to me, ‘We never thought badly of you. You were a light to us in a very dark time.’ Another person spoke and said, ‘You are like family to us.’ I was in tears and so were many others.”

Back in the present and George continues to reach out to other survivors, offering a friendly shoulder to all who need to talk. Perhaps that was always the destiny that fate had in store for George. Perhaps that, after-all, was the reason he lived, that he survived to help others in need.
Ask yourself, why are you here?
By: Clark Sell
Tags: Midwest, That Conference, Community, Software Development, Conference

I haven’t really written much about That Conference. Looking back not documenting our journey seems like a mistake. For someone whose mission is fostering a better community, to not share our story, our journey seems at odds with our mission. Honestly, that is really super duper batshit selfish. This is just one of my efforts to course-correct.

I could have helped so many more people, so many more communities. I still can; this is one of my efforts to course-correct.

Unapologetically, I started all of this to foster a change in our community. I wanted to create a building block of our industry, not just a conference. The “conference” is just a reunion of the people, a celebration of our collective hard work, all while creating exposure to the ones around us. On the other hand, community is all about the people. It’s about serving one another, helping, creating, supporting those people with similar interests. That’s what drives me, us. Every religion, profession, hobby, sport, so on has a community, and most have some sort of “conference”.

I started That Conference to give people not just a voice, but a different voice. No corporate motive, no sales pitch, just legit passion for helping one another. I started That Conference to give kids a safe place to witness their parents being a hero. I started That Conference to create a place where adults could learn from kids. I started That Conference to create a place where we could give innocent bystanders some exposure to all of the great things we create day in and day out. I started That Conference to set the example of what we could do, what we really should do.

I started That Conference to give kids a safe place to witness their parents being a hero.

When I set out on this mission, countless people told me not to waste my time. I’ll never forget that a very large media company told me “The midwest market is a lost cause.” People have tried multiple times and failed. Potential sponsors told me I was crazy to include families. “Kids at a professional conference? Is this some kind of joke?” Nope, they just didn’t see the bigger picture. Thankfully, countless people did believe in me. And here we are.
[ANN] MEDX listed on a global exchange “CPDAX”
Tags: Bitcoin

Starting this Tuesday August 14, you can trade MEDX at CPDAX.

Hello, this is MediBloc team

We’re excited to announce that MEDX will be listed on CPDAX, one of the leading global cryptocurrency exchanges headquartered in Korea.

Starting next Tuesday, August 14, you can trade MEDX at CPDAX. The trading pair is MEDX/KRW and there will also be AIRDROP events for trading MEDX.

CPDAX(Coinplug Digital Asset Exchange) is a new digital asset exchange created with Coinplug team’s expertise in crypto industry.

Coinplug is world’s 2nd, Korea’s 1st blockchain patent holder company. Also, Coinplug team was the first in Asia to develop a private blockchain named Fidoledger. It is founded by the finest engineers from both Silicon Valley and Korea and has Vitalik Buterin (Co-Founder of Ethereum) as a technical advisor. The team is known for their technical expertise in all blockchain-related areas including platform and application.

We expect to reach a wider group of people in the global crypto scene through listing on CPDAX, which has reliable technology and management team. Thank you for your support and come celebrate with us by trading MEDX on CPDAX!

Click the link below to create your account at CPDAX:

*CPDAX Exchange: https://www.cpdax.com/main

※ For further assistance, please leave your questions through MediBloc’s Official Telegram Channel or email us at info@medibloc.org

Keep supporting MediBloc!

<MediBloc Team>
I Don’t Believe in God, But I Do Believe in Prayer
By: Joscelyn Kate
Tags: Faith, Self, Religion, Spirituality, Christianity

There were lots of new children. We were in the basement of the church. I was given a shiny new, soft-cover copy of the New Testament.

We hung our coats and sat at long rectangle tables. The ceilings, walls, and floor were stark white. Small rectangle windows at the very top of the walls streamed in bright light. Two women instructed the class, handing out the weekly prayer we were to remember and a drawing of some religious figure we were to familiarize ourselves with.

The first figure we were given was Jesus. The page looked like a photocopy out of a coloring book.

We watched a cartoon movie about Jesus (and in hindsight, I recognize that all or most of the characters were white). After the movie, we talked about Jesus and learned a new song, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, still one of my favorites — even as I reject faith. Then we colored in the picture.

We were given a section of our bible to read before next week and instructed to memorize the prayer that was handed out.

I enjoyed the Bible stories and the movies. The teachers were very kind and had a strong conviction.

But I didn’t believe it. I wondered if other people did or if everyone felt the way I did and maybe this “believing” was just something we did? Maybe we all just keep our doubt and skepticism quiet, I guess.

Obviously, I have since learned that people truly do have faith and that my atheism and skepticism are personal, but still totally normal. It was difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that I didn’t believe in God because I wanted to. I loved the idea of church, prayer, events, and rights of passage.

I loved how much my friends and family relied on God and Jesus. It looked — looks — comforting and I wish I could feel that way too sometimes.

And while I do not rely on God or religion, I do rely on the power of prayer. I may not have come away from my time in Christianity with a figure to watch over me, but I did come away with a new tool that helps me grow—a tool that helps me become a better person.

And, after all, isn’t that what Christianity is all about anyway?
Tutorial Installasi Arduino
By: Lusiana Diyan Ningrum
Tags: Computer Science, Technology, Arduino, Arduino Ide, Software Development

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Setting Up GPIO Interrupts in nRF52xx
By: Sanskar Biswal
Tags: Nrf52, Interrupt, Electronics, Microcontrollers, Tutorial

Fig.1 nRF52832 Dev Kit

Prerequisites

This is tutorial is not intended to be a guide for learning C language or about the Nordic SDK platform. It’s primary target is to provide developers a concise guide about integrating peripheral modules and features into active applications.

If you are a beginner, I would recommend you look into an nRF52 Project Setup guide like this one.

Another easy way to get started with coding, without bothering with all basic stuff like files and driver inclusion, check out this Code Generation Tool

nrf52 Code Generator: https://vicara.co/nrf52-code-generator

GPIOTE

GPIOTE is a method to execute a section of code or steps when there is a specific input at the GPIO pin. This is different from the normal inputs as interrupts stop the current executing code, to execute an interrupt process before resuming regular execution.

Fig.2 Interrupt Functioning

Implementing SPI in nRF52832

In the following section, I will provide a guide as it has been tested in the nRF52832 Dev Kit. However, the same structure will remain common across all nRF52 devices.

Including correct Headers

Fig.3 Project Explorer in SES

Include the SPI Driver files. This file should be titled, nrf_drv_gpiote.c It is at SDK/integration/nrfx/legacy folder.

Update sdk_config.h File

GPIOTE_ENABLED has to be set to set to 1.

GPIOTE_CONFIG_NUM_OF_LOW_POWER_EVENTS has to be set to the number of pins which have are configured as low accuracy

In main.c File

Header File

#include "nrf_drv_gpiote.h"

Callback Function

static void in_pin_handler(nrf_drv_gpiote_pin_t pin, nrf_gpiote_polarity_t action)

{

//Callback function when the interrupt is triggered

}

Note: There can be one common callback function for all pins or a separate callback function for each pin.

Init Function

static void gpiote_init()

{

//VCE: This block is a one time configuration

ret_code_t err_code;

if(!nrf_drv_gpiote_is_init())

{

err_code = nrf_drv_gpiote_init();

APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

}



//VCE: The below block needs to be called for each pin

nrf_drv_gpiote_in_config_t in_config_1;

in_config_1.pull = NRF_GPIO_PIN_PULLUP; //User defined

in_config_1.sense = GPIOTE_CONFIG_POLARITY_Toggle; //User defined

in_config_1.hi_accuracy = true; //User defined

in_config_1.is_watcher = false; //Don't change this

in_config_1.skip_gpio_setup = false; //Don't change this



//VCE: Configuring

err_code = nrf_drv_gpiote_in_init(13, &in_config_1, in_pin_handler);

APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);



nrf_drv_gpiote_in_event_enable(13, true);

}

Note: Do not change is_watcher and skip_gpio_setup in nrf_drv_gpiote_in_config_t . The rest of the parameters are user defined.

Add gpiote_init() to main()

gpiote_init();

Conclusion

With the above steps anyone can easily get started with incorporating GPIOTE.

NOTE

There is another easier method to initialize and auto-generate code for nRF52. This tool, will handle all library additions and code generations for a variety of peripherals like SPI, I2C, UART etc.
How PR (Public Relations) Agengies help their customers more effective with Bublity
Tags: Digital Marketing, Brand Strategy, Growth Hacking, Public Relations, Social Media

This post has prepared to show Bublity’s benefits for PR Agents, and their customers. (Brands, Products, Organisations, Communities … )

Bublity is also useful for all edition types : Explore
Things I Don’t Want to Put in My Vagina
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Humor, Satire, Sexuality, Sex, Vagina

Things I Don’t Want to Put in My Vagina

That have been advertised to me

Photo by Deon Black on Unsplash

A dissolving capsule filled with glitter to make sex “fun.” If I need that to make sex fun, something has already gone horribly wrong.

A tea I boil and put near my vagina to change its aroma. I don’t even really know how I’m supposed to get boiling hot tea close enough to my pussy to change its smell without, you know, burning her.

Rocks. I don’t care if you call them “crystals.” They’re rocks. And they’re not going in there. I can absorb their healing properties with my fingers just fine, thanks.

Glue for my labia to seal her up. Nobody who has ever had a labia thought of this. Leave the cave open so she can air out.

A “dissolving” agent meant to trim my pussy lips so I look like a “virgin.” Let me tell you something, it looked like that when I was a virgin, so your “roast beef” theory of anatomy is all wrong.

Let’s not forget the “tightening cream” and “vaginal tightening repair bar.” I’m trying to get comfortable so sex is fun, so I don’t want anything that works like a lip plumper in there.

Sacks of blood so I can “seem like” a virgin when they pop. Y’all are just crazy. I know that fake blood is going to give me a yeast infection that will last a full month.

Any homemade remedy for UTIs. Do not send me a YouTube link explaining why it’s better than antibiotics. Nope! Stop right now.

Flavored condoms. For the same reason as the fake blood.

Anything that claims to “detox” my vagina. She’s self-cleaning, thank you very much.

Potions I’m supposed to soak in to make my vagina “taste better.”

Your dick, probably.
Joy Of Africa
By: Omar Talib
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Thesceneandheard, Poetry, Africa, Joy

Sing for me your ancient tune

From bark of tree to desert dune

Set my mind and eyes ablaze

Walk me through primeval days

What distant force, what heartfelt hand

Combine to make your promised land

Africa hot, Africa cool

From mighty desert to ocean pool

Roughened roads to glistening glades,

Stark black rock to covered caves

Magnificent mountain, cobalt creeks

Brittle bedrock, snow capped peaks

Leopard pounds the drum in your heart

Lion steals his strength from craft

Cheetah channels all her might

Spurt of speed and out of sight

Share your wonder with my heart

Thundering falls, kingfishers dart

Shed your rainbow and etch my eye

My soul, my spirit is on a high.
Inaugural Battlerite Pro League coming to Twitch this April
By: Jason Maestas
Tags: Events, Esports

Twitch is partnering with Nexon and Stunlock Studios to bring you the inaugural season of Battlerite Pro League, Battlerite’s official competitive circuit. Battlerite Pro League, Season 1 will feature a showdown of the best-of-the-best in Europe, North America, South America, and Korea with sign-ups beginning today and the competition starting on April 12th.

In Battlerite Pro League, teams will compete for a piece of the $80,000 prize pool, including more than $25,000 in the LAN finale prize pool. Twitch is the exclusive live streaming partner for the league with the first three seasons being broadcast on twitch.tv/battlerite, while Nexon is handling production and distribution for the league in Korea.

How to join the qualifiers

Battlerite Pro League open qualifiers for each region begin next week. The regions will consist of 8 teams each duking it out over the course of 5 weeks to see which teams get to stay for the next season, which teams will be relegated and which 2 teams will make it to the LAN finale to represent their region.

There will be 4 qualifiers for each region with 2 teams qualifying each day to make up the 8 representatives of each region.

Teams of three Battlerite players can sign up for the qualifiers before April 11 at: https://smash.gg/tournament/battlerite-pro-league
Right-wing extremism is on the rise. Will our policy makers finally listen?
By: Saira Bhatti
Tags: Right Wing Terrorism, White Supremacy, Islamophobia, Extremism

I was sadly not surprised to hear about the recent shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. However, it especially broke me knowing that it was at a place of worship where people were coming to remember their Lord. It was devastating to learn how elderly Holocaust survivors, who escaped some of the worst horrors in history to find safety in the U.S., were brutally murdered for their faith at home.

As a Muslim American, I empathize with the fear my fellow Jewish Americans are feeling right now. As religious minorities, the past couple of decades have become increasingly dangerous for us. We know that it isn’t a safe world, but that doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to it.

As Muslims in America and all over the world, we know this pattern all too well.

In fact, we must realize that terrorism is not of one faith or color. In addition to Pittsburgh, the recent shooting of two black shoppers at a Kroger in Kentucky and the mailing of pipe bombs to current and former politicians were all committed by white men. But extremism and terrorism are not used as words to describe these acts. Yet, we all feel terrorized and scared. And the statistics prove it.

According to researchers at the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, a 2017 study “shows a ‘sharp increase’ in the share of attacks by right-wing extremists, from 6% in the 2000s to 35% in the 2010s.”

We cannot tolerate this violence. We never should have. These mass shootings in schools, movie theaters and places of worship must end. It is high time we call out these attacks for what they are. Extremism is extremism no matter who or what it comes from. Will our policy makers finally listen? Because too many lives have already been lost.
What is the Buddhist idea of the “Middle Way”?
By: Eiji Suhara Phd
Tags: Emptiness, Middle Way, Buddhism, Wisdom, Meditation

Another Interpretation of the Middle Way — Emptiness

However, the Buddhist doctrine of the middle way has at least one other significant meaning. It is said that the Buddha realized the middle way when he took gruel offered by a village girl. What he realized was that even if you follow extreme hedonism or asceticism, you have the same attachment to different ideals. When the Buddha realized this fact, he naturally detached from the two poles and obtained wisdom.

The Buddha’s insightful attitude I mentioned above is the way to interpret the middle way in the context of the idea of “emptiness” emphasized by Nāgārjuna, who is regarded as the “founder” of the Middle Way (Mādhyamaka) School. Nāgārjuna demonstrated the “insubstantiality” of things and thus insisted that every “thing” is actually emptiness. In other words, for him, every “thing” is just a name, arbitrarily labeled by the whims of language.

For example, he argues that there is no such thing as “time.” He shows that the temporalities of “past,” “present,” and “future” are just semantic meanings unrelated to their specific referents and can be defined only in the context of others.

In other words, when we “understand” the meaning of “past,” it is some time already passed before the present. Future is some time that will come after the present, and so on. Yet, by their own definition, they can’t exist “at the same time.” Therefore, Nāgārjuna concludes that these three different tenses of temporality don’t actually exist.

Does it sound like sophistry? Maybe this type of argument works for abstract ideas. What is “love”? We can’t refer to any substantial object called “love,” can we? We can understand “love” only through metaphors — love is something sweet like chocolate, warm like a mother, and so on.

But how about this “desk” in front of me? It certainly exists, since I see and touch “it,” doesn’t it? Functionally speaking, yes, it appears like it exists. You can remove the desk as a single object separated from space, move it, and use it.

However, does this mean that the desk exists while being separated from everything else in my sight? I experience “many things” in a single picture. The legs and drawers of the desk — are these distinct existences?

When I look at a forest, is a single “tree” a separate existence? Is that “cedar” different from the “pine” tree? Trunks, stems, branches, leaves, flowers — are these trees?

Photo of Daishōin Temple taken by author

Also, why do we have to call it a “desk”? Without a chair, notebook, and pencils, do we still have to call it a desk? Without learning the words, isn’t it just a uniquely shaped piece of wood? Why do I have to call it “wood”?

What about “petrified wood”? Is it wood or rock? I don’t know the answers to these questions. At least now I am more skeptical about saying that these things, which are labeled with specific names, “exist.”
Daily Bit #152: No Country for ETH Bots
By: Daily Bit
Tags: Crypto, Fintech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Word On The Street

No Country for ETH Bots

If you’ve spent any time on Twitter in recent months, Ethereum spam bots need no introduction. The bots tail popular accounts like the plague, promoting ETH giveaways to those who click URLs **that definitely aren’t phishing websites** and offer up a fraction of their own holdings as ante.

They’re not hard to spot… but the bots are still a pain in the buns. Although they’re less enjoyable than long walks on the beach, long scrolls down a thought provoking tweet thread are worth every second — especially in an industry with such a steep learning curve.

And they’re only getting smarter. The AI that powers bots are picking up on dialogue and meta text from surrounding users, hopping in on the conversation before reminding users that the’re giving away *ETH giveaway plug* to celebrate *groundbreaking news plug*.

Duo Security: Don’t @ Me

Although we’ve seen drug rings at work on the big screen (s/o Netflix & Narcos), their sophistication pales in comparison to Twitter’s crypto bot network. Duo Security released a technical report on the methods behind the madness of the scam accounts, and we have to admit — even Pablo Escobar would give the network a h/t.

The research

Data collected from May to July 2018

88 million public Twitter accounts

Over 500 million tweets analyzed

20 unique account characteristics reviewed

The takeaways

The ETH bot army consists of 15,000+ accounts

Tweets are fired off in rapid succession to dupe users

Bots operate in a 3-tiered hierarchy of (1) publishing bots, (2) “hub” accounts, and (3) hype bots

Fun fact: Less than 5% of Twitter accounts are spam related.
Blacksmith Patch Knife
By: Larry Nowicki
Tags: Blacksmithing, Work, Steel, Awareness, Simple

A work in progress

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

One of the daily knives used during the frontier days was the patch knife. It was a small knife that was used for many things but mostly cutting patches when seating the roundball in a black powder gun. These days we use them for many small jobs. Cutting string. Opening boxes anything you would use a small knife for. I have even dressed, skinned, and butchered deer along with other small game. I take one fishing with me.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

The blacksmiths back in the day would have used what steels they had available. I like to make them from 5160.

Spring steel is good to forge.

I get most from coil springs on cars and trucks.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

I’ll start with a spring.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

Cut 1 coil from it.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

I then straighten the spring.

The spring is then tapered to a point.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

The blade is formed by drawing the length.

The width is then drawn. This one will not be too wide.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

I cut enough steel off of the end to leave enough to forge the handle.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

The back of the blade is then drawn out and tapered to a point. It gets a natural taper from the tip of the blade to bolster. I heated it again and twisted it to give a bit of grippiness to the handle.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

A flattened or turned tip form the finger guard to the handle. When bent back upon itself and shaped the handle is formed. When spiraled it is sometimes called a rat tail.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

After a rough grind if needed the blade is then normalized 3 times. This relieves the stresses caused by forging. This blade is on its third normalizing cycle.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

The next step in the process is the heat-treat. This step is not emphasized but is critical to the finished blade. A great steel, not heat-treated right will not make a great knife. A good steel treated right will make a great knife.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

We know our steels and how to treat them. The steel is brought to a critical temperature and quenched in water or oil to harden it. The type of steel determines which. Some are even air-cooled.

Another step in the process is also critical. After hardening the steel must be drawn back to the desired hardness. It is easy to make it hard but it must be drawn to get it right. Too hard and it can break. Too soft and it will not keep an edge. These chef knives have been edge quenched. You can see the temper lines. They are going into the oven to cook for an hour at the right temperature. Twice.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

The blacksmith knife has the handle forged at the same time as the blade so it can be finished quickly. They make for a handy knife.

Courtesy of Larry Nowicki

You can get one for yourself forged by me, Larry Nowicki. Also known as The Gypsy Bladesmith. Find me on hiddenforge.net.
Everything That Could Go Wrong When A Girl (ME) Asks A Guy To Coffee.
By: Meghana Indurti
Tags: Comedy, Dating, Satire

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A Change in Modus Operandi
By: Somsubhra Banerjee
Tags: Letters From Li, Literary Impulse, Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non Fiction

A newsletter, sort of…

A Change in Modus Operandi

We are ready to evolve, change, and surprise

Painting by Evert Thielen

First, happy festive season to the wonderful writing community of Medium. We hope you all are well, staying safe and taking care. As you all know, Literary Impulse has been around here for nine months and has received immense love and support from so many readers and writers, many of whom scribbled some wonderful stories for us, and we’re really honored to have them by our side.

We have always been a weekly publication, publishing three pieces (Fiction/Poetry/Creative non-fiction) from our backlog every Friday. With changing times, and observing in and around Medium, we felt we needed to re-shuffle this part of ours, a bit.

So, starting tomorrow, the 28th of December, we will publish one piece every day, from our accumulated treasure trove. We feel this move will reduce the waiting time for each writer, whilst also not being too intrusive in a way that the pieces would get clouded by one another.

They say, a publication thrives because of the wonderful readers and writers it has access to. We thank our writers, as well, for this change, since they have been providing important feedback.

As the tumultuous year rolls by, and we enter a new one, full of positivity and probably a better one overall, I would take this opportunity to welcome new writers into our publication, and also request our regular contributors to send in their gorgeousness and keep surprising us! There are lots of new things in store from us, in 2021, for the reader and writers.

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” — Haruki Murakami

Also, the writer of the month for December is David Rudder. Congrats David! Please navigate to the below link/WOTM header on our home screen page and read his gorgeous piece, if you haven’t already:

Below, you’ll find our submission guidelines:

If you want to write for us, navigate to the above link, but in case you don’t, you may drop a comment to this post, and we’ll add you.

Once again, wishing you all a happy festive season. Enjoy a lot with your family and friends, and happy scribbling!

Best regards,

Somsubhra Banerjee

Executive Head, Literary Impulse

Medium Editors/Readers: Priyanka, Editorial Literary Impulse, Elisabeth, Bradley, Sneha
Decentralized Labor and the Future of Work
By: Andrew J. Chapin
Tags: Decentralization, Blockchain, Bhq Contributors, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Digitally decentralized labor, in simple terms, is when large tasks are broken into independent tasks — it’s the assembly line for the thought economy. With advances in smart contract technology, it may just be the future of work. Much like the far-reaching application of the assembly line in optimizing manufacturing processes, decentralized labor can be applied in a number of ways.

Google has relied on decentralized labor for more than a decade, and you’ve (probably, unwittingly) participated. When Google worked to digitize the archives of the New York Times and many books in the early-oughts, they ran into a major problem: their Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software was only 80% accurate and required some babysitting. For each page the company scanned, they were constantly tweaking the software to teach it to recognize new words, fonts, and variants.

In time, the company started working with reCAPTCHA to streamline their word recognition process. By asking individual internet users to identify a string of words before accessing their site, Google killed two birds with one stone: (a) they helped fight fraudulent traffic, and (b) they got real, live humans to train their software. You helped Google identify that smudged or ill-scanned word to help bolster their machine learning. Today, Google continues this practice with images to train its driverless car software.

The human contribution of this short and simple task unlocked tremendous value for Google and the website owner — and smart contracts enable the individual to get in on the action as well.

The Digital Assembly Line & Smart Contracts as a Manager

When problems can be factored into fungible work units, the organization can distribute those tasks to individuals and create a digital assembly line.

Given the correct framework, like HUMAN Protocol, smart contracts play middle-manager: offering an exchange where jobs can be bid on and accepted in a fair way, ensuring the successful completion of a task, evaluating and confirming quality, and managing compensation (which is especially important when managing micro-payments).

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

The first HUMAN Protocol application is hCaptcha, a CAPTCHA-like offering which performs similar bot-fighting and image-identifying functions, but also compensates the website host itself for their role in filling the top of the funnel. The company also plans an exchange where an individual can log in and perform these tasks.

Smart contract-based management represents not only a significant improvement over Amazon Mechanical Turk but also, perhaps, the future of work itself.