fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
How to Create Trusted SSL Certificates for Your Local Development
By: Hicaro Adriano
Tags: Https, Ssl, Security, Cybersecurity, Programming

How to Create Trusted SSL Certificates for Your Local Development

Generate trusted self-signed SSL certificates to enable HTTPS in your local development

Photo designed by Freepik.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you needed to add HTTPS to your app running on localhost or some other local domain such as local.my-app.com?

Web browsers have subtle differences when running HTTP vs. HTTPS pages. For instance, on an HTTPS page, any attempts to load JavaScript from an HTTP URL will be blocked. This means that if you’re developing locally using HTTP, you might add a script tag that works just fine on your development machine, but it breaks when you deploy your app to staging or production, which will be running under HTTPS. Sigh…

Worry not, my friend. To avoid this sort of problem, it’s useful to set up HTTPS on your local environment to be able to mirror your production server more closely. However, it can be quite of a hassle to get it working. None of us want to see certificate warnings all the time. With that being said, how do you get the secure lock locally?

The answer to this question is to generate your own certificate, either self-signed or signed by a local root, and trust it in your operating system’s trust store. From there onwards, use that certificate in your local web server.

In this article, we will go through the process of generating a local root certificate (aka certificate authority). This allows you to generate as many domain name certificates as you want but only trust one certificate — the root one.

One important fact worth noting is that since September 1, 2020, SSL certificates cannot be issued for longer than 13 months (397 days). Therefore, we are sticking with 12 months for the certificates generated in this article.
New York City vs. San Francisco: Part Tres
By: Sarah Cooper
Tags: Humor, Funny, New York City, San Francisco

Three years ago I moved from New York City to San Francisco and learned how very different these two cities are. (This is part 3, check out part 1 here and part 2 here).
The Messy Art of Learning to Think Beyond the Rules
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Culture, Feminism, Personal Development, Self, Blog

There is a statement I think about often. It is accompanied by a knotted ball of anxiety in my chest.

I’m not where I’m supposed to be.

I like to play around with words. See what happens to the semantics when I make a minor change to the syntax. For example, suppose I changed that sentence to read-

I’m not supposed to be where I am.

I’m supposed to be strong enough to finally shut the door on my family’s endless opinions about the state of my soul or the purity of my body or the soundness of my decisions.

I think both are true.

The first, of course, is a very long story. If I’m being honest, it started even before I was born. Maybe I’m supposed to be living in Karachi, Pakistan right now. This would have happened if my mother had chosen to marry for love instead of investing in her secure future (or so she thought).

Maybe I’m supposed to be a good housewife to a Muslim man. He doesn’t even have to be conservative. He could just be your good-old moderate level of misogynistic. He would let me have a job outside the home. He would let me spend a little too much money. He might even let me get out of a few dinners with the more insufferable members of his family.

He would be the gentle patriarch.

You are so blessed, the aunties would coo. Mashallah, mashallah, mashallah.

The where that I’m supposed to be still plays an annoying tug of war with me.

It’s an invisible hand around my heart, trying to squeeze it into some sort of twisted submission, keeping it from blooming into the life I do have. I want the hand to wither away. I wish my heart could become so big (metaphorically, of course) that it would break through the hand.

On to the second question.

I am definitely not supposed to be where I am.

When I lie in my bed, in my home, the one I share outside of the dignified bond of marriage with my very, very non-Muslim partner, I still feel a twinge of the familiar shame.

A few mornings ago, I got worked up when I realized that, after thirty-two years, I still have to convince myself that the prospect of “going to hell” should not in any way factor into my life decisions.

I’m supposed to be strong enough to finally shut the door on my family’s endless opinions about the state of my soul or the purity of my body or the soundness of my decisions.

I’m certainly not supposed to end up with a man who reminds me every day to practice being selfish, who doesn’t think it’s my job to come second to his life.

“Supposed to be” is a loaded phrase.

Many times it’s being pushed onto us by forces we allowed to take the helm of our own lives.

From whenever it was that I started to take inventory of myself, I have been focusing on what I am not. In a way, it makes me see myself as something with a lot of missing parts. I try to find them, but they end up being tightly clenched in the hands of people who want to control me.

What would I be if I wasn’t supposed to be it?

I think I would let myself sink into my favorite chair, pull out the pencil I keep tucked away in my braided hair, and write my own story.
Sticky
By: Kae Smith
Tags: Places, Love, Life, Scuzzbucket

Photo by Dana DeVolk on Unsplash

The tables are sticky, tacky. Not unclean, just well lived-in.

Years of condensation,

dripping glasses, the day’s drip in heated Styrofoam.

Fries in red baskets, parchment wrapped baked goods steaming;

White spots on the nicked wood from heat and humidity taking too long a rest on them.

The tables are sticky, but it a way that’s satisfying, not unsanitary.

You’ve seen them be wiped a thousand times, but

the residue of life has left its mark on them.

Wood expands, the table is a living organism, and

you love it when tourists think the table is dirty, because you know it’s not.

It’s like it’s yours,

that small town, ocean side café.

No one else understands that it’s sticky in the same way that the ski hill bar tables are,

that they’re sticky like a beer after hitting the slopes,

dripping down the sides of the stein, hitting your fingers and the raw wood;

they’re sticky like cinnamon buns with him on a Sunday afternoon.



It’s sticky in a familiar way, catching on the sleeve of your sweater

as you wipe stray muffin crumbs on your way out as if

it’s asking you not to leave.
Why I Refuse to Wear Makeup at Another Social Event
By: Desiree Peralta
Tags: Self Improvement, Lifestyle, Love, Life, Feminism

Why I Refuse to Wear Makeup at Another Social Event

I have much more to offer

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

The other day a friend had a birthday party, with all the Corona situation and wearing masks, I didn’t feel the need to wear makeup. If you have tried it before, you will realize that it really is more of a hindrance than a good thing. Your mask gets dirty and in the end, nobody sees it.

When I came down the stairs, my mother said: “you look very pretty, but you need to put on makeup, you are going to a party.”

Why should I wear makeup if I look good?

My mother is not the only one who thinks like this. Around the world, there is a concept that if you go to a social event, women should wear makeup. If they don’t, it is a sign of carelessness and lack of femininity.

And don’t get me wrong, I love to use makeup and see the art of other women. I consider that It is something artistic. There are women who can do wonderful things to faces.

However, I feel like the makeup is being misused. I think that using it should be a sign of change, of showing the world your creative side, of being able to express yourself through it, and not just “because you have to for a social event.”

It is surprising how even on this date if the artists present themselves to the public without using makeup, it is a sign of strength and self-esteem when it should be the other way around.

An example of this was Alicia Keys, who stopped using makeup because of a photo session she had to do after training. She said she “felt powerful” showing the world her natural beauty.

Alicia Key, photo by her Instagram Profile

All women should feel this way. Makeup should be a way to express our creativity, not to hide our insecurities and our imperfections.

All our marks are what make us unique and special. Every pimple, scar, and dark circles are what makes us strong, because they are signs of struggle, that we are alive, and that being imperfect we can change the world.
Adding a border to a widget in Flutter
Tags: Flutter, Widget

This is a repost of an answer I wrote on Stack Overflow.

There are a couple ways to add a border to a Flutter widget. The most basic way is to wrap your widget in a DecoratedBox . However, the Container widget also has a DecoratedBox built in. In the following examples I will use Container for the convenience of adding margin and padding.

Here is the general setup.

Widget myWidget() {

return Container(

margin: const EdgeInsets.all(30.0),

padding: const EdgeInsets.all(10.0),

decoration: myBoxDecoration(), // <--- BoxDecoration here

child: Text(

"text",

style: TextStyle(fontSize: 30.0),

),

);

}

where the BoxDecoration is

BoxDecoration myBoxDecoration() {

return BoxDecoration(

border: Border.all(),

);

}

Border width

These have a border width of 1 , 3 , and 10 respectively.

BoxDecoration myBoxDecoration() {

return BoxDecoration(

border: Border.all(

width: 1, // <--- border width here

),

);

}

Border color

These have a border color of

Colors.red

Colors.blue

Colors.green

Code

BoxDecoration myBoxDecoration() {

return BoxDecoration(

border: Border.all(

color: Colors.red, // <--- border color

width: 5.0,

),

);

}

Border side

These have a border side of

left (3.0), top (3.0)

bottom (13.0)

left (blue[100], 15.0), top (blue[300], 10.0), right (blue[500], 5.0), bottom (blue[800], 3.0)

Code

BoxDecoration myBoxDecoration() {

return BoxDecoration(

border: Border(

left: BorderSide( // <--- left side

color: Colors.black,

width: 3.0,

),

top: BorderSide( // <--- top side

color: Colors.black,

width: 3.0,

),

),

);

}

Border radius

The radius affects the roundness of the corners.

These have border radii of 5 , 10 , and 30 respectively.

BoxDecoration myBoxDecoration() {

return BoxDecoration(

border: Border.all(

width: 3.0

),

borderRadius: BorderRadius.all(

Radius.circular(5.0) // <--- border radius here

),

);

}

Going on
Grief & Basketball
By: Emma Jane Laplante
Tags: Sports, Love, Spirituality, Social Justice, Education

Grief & Basketball

And other delicately balanced things.

Photo by Rémi Boyer on Unsplash

An incomplete list of things

the kids I teach have experienced:

grief,

violence,

neglect,

disability and disease,

hunger and homelessness,

discrimination.

An incomplete list of things

the kids I teach believe in:

ghosts,

angels,

fate,

their future contract with the Warriors,

the aliens at Area 51,

true love.

(A small reminder that

you don’t have to be unacquainted with “the real world”

to believe it to be enchanted.)
Summer
Tags: Creative Writing, Poetry, Summer, Prose Poem

Lazy days suspend future visions and under a warm blanket, is laid to rest. Long walks are called for, legs bearing the weight of summer bodies, their eyes wrinkled, their limbs bronzed with a touch of golden hue. A bird’s song is finally heard, the benches now heavy, the water turned to wine for chapped lips whose kisses are deep and wanting.
How Many French Fries Do You Have to Eat to Finish the Tour de France?
By: Arnoud Buzing
Tags: Wolfram Alpha, Sports, Computational Thinking, Data Science, Tour De France

How Many French Fries Do You Have to Eat to Finish the Tour de France?

Find Out with Help from Wolfram|Alpha

Photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash

I like the Tour de France. No, actually: I love the Tour de France. Growing up in the Netherlands, each year for three weeks this would be the main event on the Dutch television. We only had two channels at that time so, yes, there wasn’t much else on. But still. The “NOS”, the Dutch public television organization, would broadcast it daily for the last hour or two before the stage finish.

The Tour de France is a multi-day bicycle race which ends in Paris on the Champs-Elysee, a very big street in the center of the city. It typically starts in different places each year and sometimes even starts in nearby countries. The most challenging and popular stages are typically in the mountainous regions of the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Photo by Ian on Unsplash

The length of the Tour de France varies each year but is typically over 2,000 miles. Or, according to Wolfram|Alpha, over 3,219 kilometers. Or 0.29 the length of the Moon’s equator. Or 0.82 the distance from New York to Los Angeles.

Biking such a long distance requires energy. A lot of energy. I was curious about how much and compare the energy to an amount of known food that I like. I like to eat a lot of things but one of my favorite staple foods is potatoes. Boiled, mashed, or in the form of french fries, it is all good. So, since we are talking about France, let’s use french fries. And yes, I should note here that french fries were most likely invented in Belgium and are also commonly known as pommes frites.

Photo by Gilly on Unsplash

The amount of calories (1 “dietary calory” is the same as 1 kcal) burned by a cyclist in the Tour de France varies by stage, but it is usually estimated to be between 5,000 calories on an easy day to 7,000 calories on a hard day. According to Wolfram|Alpha, biking for one hour at 25 miles per hour burns about 2,000 calories.

So let take an “average day” of 6,000 calories. This year’s Tour de France lasts 23 days, but two of them are rest days, so 21 biking days. This gives us a whopping 126,000 calories.

Now let’s get the calories in a serving of french fries. There are a lot of different types of french fries, so I will use “restaurant-style” fries:

(image by author)

Dividing the total 126,000 calories by the calories for a single serving size gives us the number of servings, about 256. That’s quite a lot! Here is a picture showing 256 servings of french fries in a grid of 16x16:

(image by author based on photo by Gilly on Unsplash)

The actual diet of a Tour de France competitor is likely to be a lot more varied and healthier, but it shows the massive quantities of calories that are needed to finish in Paris. And now I’m hungry. 🙂
The Kash ICO is Live
By: Kash Tech
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, ICO, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency

KASH ICO IS NOW LIVE

Here’s a quick rundown of our ICO:

Kash is introducing the Kash Vault, an innovative, secure, wearable hardware wallet. The wallet comes with an optional, wearable wristband and neckband for convenience and security. You no longer have to throw your hardware wallet in the top drawer of your desk!

We see great benefits to using a token generating event to raise capital for our hardware wallet, not only for the project, but to build our community, create a solid base, and reward those who help reach our goals. When you participate in the ICO, you automatically become a Kash member. The Kash membership bonus is 20% of your ICO contribution every month for one year!

We go into further detail in our White Paper. Its available in 10 different languages! Just visit our website to read it in your native language.

Our ICO is broken down into three Waves. Each Wave has a different bonus structure. Right now, you can enjoy a 100% bonus on your contribution!
I Caught Daddy Kissing Santa Claus
By: James Finn
Tags: LGBTQ, Love, Parenting, Equality, Creative Non Fiction

I slip out from between hot sheets, of two minds. One mind forces my lips down for a peck at my partner Jason’s nose. Even in the early morning, he smells like happiness. I want to fall back in bed again,wrap my arms around him, and slip in and out of sleep.

My other mind pumps my heart full of energy and sets my toes to dancing across the icy floor of our Montreal apartment. “It’s Christmas!” I sing to myself as I pull on fuzzy red slippers.

He wasn’t weirded out by the fact that he had two dads who were in love, he was happy he got to be part of a real family.

I open up radiator valves against an arctic blast and gather up eggnog cups and saucers from the night before. I chuckle, remembering Brent’s Christmas Eve wheedling. “No,” I had to insist, “You may NOT mix whiskey with yours. Fourteen-year-olds might be mature, but NOT mature enough for 14-year-old scotch.”

“He’s right, bud,” Jason said, backing me up, “But come here. You can have a sip of mine to see what it tastes like… But just ONE sip.”

I laughed when Brent managed to turn a sip into a real drink; I belly laughed when his face turned red and he made spitting noises. “Oh, my god! Tabernak! Why the fu … I mean frick, would you ruin perfectly good eggnog like that?”

“Mission accomplished,” I mouthed to Jason.

To Brent, I said, “OK, Champ, let’s not stay up too late tonight, huh? Santa’s gonna need time to deliver presents, and I know you’re gonna want to open ’em at the crack of dawn.”

He rolled his eyes like only a middle schooler can. “Santa! Right. Look, I’m way too mature to get up at 5 o’clock on Christmas morning like some little kid, OK? I’m sleepin’ in like always.”

I smiled and went to check on the defrosting turkey. I whistled, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” as I puttered around the kitchen and listened to my little family bantering in the dining room.

Brent was still joking about the spiked eggnog. “I’m gonna get you for that!” he mock-threatened.

“Oh, yeah, Flea?” teased Jason. “You and whose mechanized infantry?”

Giggles and a crashing noise startled me. “Hey, don’t break the house, guys!” I hollered, laughing to myself as I went over a mental Christmas checklist.
Moving Distance
By: J.D. Harms
Tags: Relationships, Image, Perspective, Moments, Poetry

Moving Distance

A Poem

Photo by mwangi gatheca on Unsplash

Because the direction doesn’t

matter

while you’re still trying to

identify the distance

Crushed in your thumb &

/forefinger

a world life & what was an

inheritance

I want to leap laughing

from the roof

into the details of some

worry

you could have left with me
lost afternoon
By: Vince Ferraro
Tags: Poetry, Poem, Dog, Haiku, Haiku Hub

post-punk father of two hybrid boys & husband to an amazingly patient wife. sometimes writes about life and parenting at dadnoir.com & twitter.com/dreamanxiety

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Stocks are Hitting Fresh Highs, What’s the Catch?
By: Rig Saini
Tags: Investing, Stock Market, Goldman Sachs, Business Finance, Finance

The S&P 500 has seen 7.5% gains in January—the highest since 1987. Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, DAX, and CAC are up 7.6%, 11%, 3.3% and 4.1% respectively. Goldman Sachs has called it the “most extreme start to a year ever.” With enormous gains in stocks and high economic growth the back it up, the markets currently seem to be in good shape.

The S&P 500 has risen by 7.45% between December 29th and January 26th. Image Coutesy of Google Finance

On the other hand, there are a number of Bearish investors. Merrill Lynch, one of the largest, believe that there is a sharp decline coming, and the market will correct itself. According to the Times, ‘Bank of America Merrill Lynch told institutional clients yesterday to brace for a “technical pullback.’ ” They expect the S&P 500 to fall by just over 5% in the coming months. Over the past few days, VIX INDEXCBOE: BVZ, also known as the “volatility index” or “fear index”, has risen sharply, with 14.53% increase in just 6 days. (A higher VIX corresponds to a more volatile and fearful market)

The “fear index” has increased significantly over the past couple of days. Image Courtesy of Google Finance

There are currently several arguments for both a bear market and a bull market — only time will tell who is right.
One Christian’s Dilemma
By: John O'Neill
Tags: Poetry, Spirituality, Life, Love, Self

One Christian’s Dilemma

Donald Trump

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

My religion instructs me to “love your neighbor as yourself.” It also makes clear that every person in the world is my neighbor. The logical extension of these teachings is also made clear, I must love my enemies, those who would do harm to myself and my family and friends. These truths are echoed in all other major religions, fittingly so, since all flow from the same Source. They strike a chord within me that further attests to their rightness.

In the abstract, all this makes sense. But then these admonitions are confronted with actual people:

Who evoke the basest of instincts in others

Encourage violence

Honor none of the prohibitions of a civilized society

Have no discernible moral center

Appeal to fear and prejudices

Harm children

Have little regard for the poor

Believe that might and money make right

Love these people?

Love Donald Trump?

Is this a step too far

The point beyond which

I can willingly proceed?

So much of me wants to protest

That this is more than

Even a person of faith

Can reasonably be expected to do

But the Source of Being is unrelenting

She demands all of me

Whole and entire

Nothing withheld

Still I would argue…

Me: I cannot love him

I’m not capable of such forgiveness and compassion

He is evil personified

She: Of course you cannot on your own

Have you learned nothing?

You contain some of the same seeds of darkness that gave rise to Donald Trump

Let go, allow Me to work this small miracle of love in you

Me: Forgive me for my lack of faith, trust, and love

Your will be done
Here’s What You Should Know if You and Your Partner’s Zodiac Signs Aren’t Compatible
By: Kathrine Meraki
Tags: Relationships, Love, Romance, Dating, Astrology

Here’s What You Should Know if You and Your Partner’s Zodiac Signs Aren’t Compatible

You can make it work if you already know the signs

Photo by Djim Loic on Unsplash

“We’re not compatible,” she huffed, plonking herself down on the purple couch across from me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, placing my work phone down on the coffee table.

“I just found out he’s a Libra. It’s not going to work out because I’m a Scorpio. Water and air don’t mix.” She said, letting out a sigh.

I explained to my old client these differences don't necessarily mean a relationship is doomed.

Reframing astrological compatibility

I’ve been with my partner for almost 3 years now. Astrologically, we’re pretty opposite.

I’m a Libra sun, she’s an Aries sun.

She’s a Cancer moon, I’m a Capricorn moon.

Her Mercury is in Pisces, mine is in Virgo.

These are all superficial things, of course, you need to take into account both natal charts and the aspects they made to one another and also individually.

Compatibility shouldn’t be the deciding factor in whether a relationship will work. Your ability to understand and accept each other is.

Don’t freak out if your signs aren’t a ‘match’

Instead, take the time to learn about these things in your partner’s chart:

Their communication style (mercury) The way they express love and what they value (venus) How they express their emotions (moon) How they take action and channel their energy (mars)

And then compare your signs to theirs. See how you both express these energies differently (or similarly.)

For example, my partner communicates and thinks very differently from me. Her Mercury in Pisces is very dreamy, artistic, and free-flowing. My Mercury in Virgo however, factual, detail-oriented, logical.

When you understand your partner's Astrological traits, you don’t try to push them into being something that you want or think they should be. You simply accept “this is how they express their feelings, yes, it’s different to me and that’s okay.”

Compatibility shouldn’t be the deciding factor in whether a relationship will work. Your ability to understand and accept each other is.
Taking a Dip at Crystal Lake
By: Corey Corcoran
Tags: Travel, Comics, Summer, New England, Sketchbook

Observed moments by the pond in Newton, Massachusetts…
Announcing Blocktown Capital
By: James Todaro
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Ethereum, Bitcoin

How are we different?

We have been in this space for a while. First introduced to Bitcoin in 2012, and buying in heavily in 2014 and 2015, we have traded during both the exuberant bull markets in crypto as well as the devastating bear markets.

Since 2014, we have talked about crypto investment strategies nearly every day. Here is Joseph giving the best man speech at my wedding in October 2015, when Bitcoin cost $237.73.

“…suggested investing in a digital currency called ‘Bitcoin.’ Being the smart man that he is, he took my advice.”

Kidding aside, we continued to buy crypto despite the persistent price slump.

In April 2016, my brother-in-law, Ryan Cody, and I created the “T&C Alt 20 Index,” a carefully selected market basket of approximately 20 altcoins. This index was one of the first longterm altcoin indices in the space. Shown below is an article published in Cointelegraph back in Feb 2017, highlighting the T&C 20 Index. This was back when the market cap of all altcoins was hovering around only $3 billion (presently at $170 billion). The full Cointelegraph article can be found here.

Cointelegraph article highlighting our T&C 20 Altcoin Index

Throughout this time, I was still in medical school at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and then later in residency in a competitive surgical specialty. Joseph was in medical school, and John was a trader for Citigroup on Wall Street. Because of our high level positions and aspirations in our respective careers, only our closest acquaintances knew of our obsession with cryptocurrency. That is, until recently.

Joseph withdrew from medical school in early 2017. John is transitioning from his position on Wall Street as a trader for Citigroup. I left residency just three months before graduation. Even after a bear market, our investment strategy has been very financially rewarding. With cumulative gains in total capital over 10,000% after some aggressive well-timed positions, we are comfortable making these professional sacrifices and are excited to pursue blockchain full-time.
Totle Swap Now Supports Lunch Money (LMY)
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Decentralized Exchange, Cryptocurrency, Fintech

Totle Swap Now Supports Lunch Money (LMY)

You can now swap ETH or any popular ERC-20 directly for LMY on Totle Swap

Our latest addition to Totle Swap is Lunch Money (LMY)!

Lunch Money (LMY) is an ERC-20 token designed to reward users for reviewing restaurants. To earn LMY, visit a restaurant, take a picture of your receipt, write a review, and LMY will be sent to your wallet address. Once you have LMY, it can be spent at ivendPay machines or traded on the open market. In the near future, LMY users will also be able to spend their holdings with BlockCard.

To purchase LMY on Totle Swap, simply connect a wallet, select the token you want to swap and LMY, and automatically get the best pricing available on the decentralized exchange market.

Get Started

Easily acquire LMY with ETH or any popular ERC-20 token: Totle Swap

Build LMY swaps and payments into your dApp: Totle Dev Portal

Totle is a decentralized liquidity aggregator that automatically acquires users the best pricing available for ETH and ERC-20 swaps.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, or Medium for the most up-to-date news on Totle.
Tending Fires
By: J.D. Harms
Tags: Relationships, Camping, Image, Poem, Poetry

Tending Fires

A Poem

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

You blew and blew and blue (now)

into the next firepit

coals lashing airdrops

and the house of kindling

only ruins now

Stoking nonsense

you said

then padded away to get lost

and tell me about it

through messages left on leaves

Are you cold?

Are you weary and starved?

I hear the next

site over

has a raging blaze
Weekly Centina Prompt: Dancing
By: J.A. Taylor
Tags: Prompt, Writing Prompts, Dancing, Pubprompt, 100wordstory

Weekly Centina Prompt: Dancing

Write a 100-word story that involves dancing

“Dance, I said!” announced the sunglassed, golden-chain-wearing keyboard player from the Salt-N-Pepa song, Push It. That line always made me uncomfortable because I’m a terrible dancer.

I know I’m not the only one.

Years ago, I was attempting to bust a move at a party. Next to me, a friend of mine accidentally threw his wife into a table while trying to spin her right ‘round (like a record, baby).

Dancing isn’t for the weak-kneed. But this week, your story must involve dancing. Your characters don’t necessarily have to twirl around or break to the beat, but somehow, a dance has to be an integral part of the story.

If you are a terrible dancer like me, you try to avoid the dance floor at all costs, so I know what you’re thinking: I’m so creative, I’ll use a name for a dance in a story. No! Neil Armstrong doing a literal ‘moonwalk’ or your protagonist ordering ‘the salsa’ on her burrito won’t cut it this week. This Centina has to involve real dancing!

So what are you waiting for? As David Bowie said, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues!” And after you’ve finished the jig, let your fingers catch the fever and type out that 100-word story.
Independence Mounting
By: Harper Thorpe
Tags: Humor, Poetry, Birthday, Milk Carton Haikus, Marriage

Independence Mounting

With each birthday she’s not counting

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash

Fourth of July

Was born this fine day

My firecracker

Met in fifth grade

Been married a while

Fell for her smile

Advanced was me

Noticed she’s bumpy

Advanced was she

Said no bedding

’til after wedding

Married at twelve

I wanted four

Discussion of kids

She wanted two

Compromise key

So I’m thinking three

Through after two

She threatened worse

Kept bucks in her purse

Shopping’s her curse

Marriage lasted

Though not forecasted

Almost fifty

Not issue free

More doctors to see

No warranty

Presents — oops none

Birthday’s are still fun

Right, Honey-bun?

©2019 HHThorpe. All rights reserved.
my day of death
By: Darryl Willis
Tags: Poetry, Scrittura, Death, Poetry On Medium

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash

my day of death

is closer than

my day of birth

and so i find

i must reflect

meditate and

contemplate

what this means

and how do i

proceed into

the lighted dark

that inevitably

waits for me
Experiments With Liberal Radicalism
By: Vivek Singh
Tags: Blockchain, Economics, Open Source, Politics, Tech

Experiments With Liberal Radicalism

A crowdfund matching mechanism for public goods, like open source

A recent paper entitled Liberal Radicalism proposes a mechanism to fund public goods in a new and unique fashion. Written by Vitalik Buterin, Zoë Hitzig, and Glen Weyl, the paper introduces a mechanism called Capital-constrained Liberal Radicalism (‘CLR’) which I’ll explain in greater detail below.

A summary of the paper (and the CLR mechanism) from the paper is as follows.

We propose a design for philanthropic or publicly-funded seeding to allow (near) optimal provision of a decentralized, self-organizing ecosystem of public goods. Individuals make public goods contributions to projects of value to them. The amount received by the project is (proportional to) the square of the sum of the square roots of contributions received.

Soon, we’ll dive into ‘the square of the sum of the square roots’, which is the crux of Liberal Radicalism. It’s worth taking time to explain. Before that, we’ll start with the two basic components of the mechanism: crowdfunding and matching donations.

Crowdfunding: Individuals crowdfund donations towards public goods (for example: open source software). Matching donations: These individual contributions are ‘matched’ or ‘topped-off’ by a government, grants program, or private philanthropist

Crowdfunding, with a matching function. That’s it. The philosophical undertones here come from Kantian ethics — specifically, the categorical imperative.

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, it should become a universal law.

By making an individual donation, you contribute to a public good. This funding is guaranteed to be met by matching funding, widening the reach of your donation. What you do becomes “law.”

By donating with one to one matching, you increase the power of any single donation in direct proportion to the size of the donation, making people more likely to feel like their money is having an impact. This is the premise of “Donate $1, [Company X] will match $1” programs.

To read the full story visit: https://gitcoin.co/blog/experiments-with-liberal-radicalism/
Crossed Over
By: Agnes Louis
Tags: Writing Prompts, Mothers And Daughters, Death, Grief, Life

“I’m sorry, Sir. We’ve done everything we could. We’ve done our best. Your wife has passed away.”

The world crumbled and crushed.

Tears, sobs, everywhere.

My legs gave out and I sank on the floor, tears ran like rivers down my face, my mouth opened with no sound coming out.

Seconds, minutes ticked by.

I looked up, willed my legs to stand and walked in a daze to my grandma.

We were both heaving.

“Why, why do you leave your old Ma here?” she repeated like a broken casette record. “Why? You should have waited. You should have waited. Why?”

She lost a child before. And I was terrified.

“Grandma, she’s still here. She lives. She lives in us. She is a part of us, your 3 grandchildren. She is here with you, through us. It will be okay again, Grandma. It will be okay again. She lives in us,” I heard my own fragmented voice, my own heart breaking into pieces.

Then I saw my dad.

Photo by Tobi Law on Unsplash

My Superwoman lost a battle and my Superman fell.

Tears and snot, disjointed, incomprehensible words.

I stood and hugged him.

“Please, please, Doctor. Give me… *uncontrollable sobs* one more… chance. Please, please, please help my wife.”

Barely audible in my own ears.

A broken man with a broken sentence.

I broke too.

I heaved and sobbed into his shirt, fear tugging on my chest. “Please, Dad. Please. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here. Please. It’s okay.”
Technical Roadmap for TAU
Tags: Mobile Mining, Proof Of Transaction, Taucoin, Bitcoin

Through research and feature trade-off, I would like to provide a roadmap to TAU community on technologies.

The primary challenges for full mobile coins are three:

Date availability and integrity: a consensus on big number of unstable permission-less mobile devices; Communication censorship: no stable and uncensored IP address for phones to keep long connection; Speed and scale.

We need to solve three barriers in our road map one by one .

Go mobile: soon after proof of transaction main-net turned on in May 25th, we will refine the mobile mining to make it stable and less buggy until September of 2019.

Resist IP address control: by end of 2019, we will rebuild core on IPFS, the inter planet file system. On IPFS, you do not need IP address or URI system to get data. Content is locatable through hash of the content.

Speed up: by end of 2020, Tau will enable each individual to create new mobile blockchains, this will extend TAU into a tree of blockchain to have high TPS.
Finding hope and the will to go on!
By: Bala Priya C
Tags: Determination, Struggle, Life, Non Technical, Hope

Finding hope and the will to go on!

Hey, hope! will you always be transient?

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

As the day dawns, the darkness of the night slowly disappears; The sun goes up the horizon, and the world looks forward to yet another day. The tiring day, bustling with life goes on, and then comes dusk and hours later, the world again falls into silence embracing the darkness of the night.

Caught in this infinite loop, here I am, waiting to see my ray of hope, slowly but steadily making its way to me, only to disappear when I need it most.

This is me, yet another being, struggling hard to improve, putting in the best of my efforts, mustering up enough courage to see my efforts go in vain, and hoping for things to get better.

Ah! That subtle thing called Hope! Enveloped in self-doubt and anxiety, constantly confronted by the fear of being left behind, I tread on the path that lies in front.

Where do I find Hope? Well, I discern it in the words of encouragement at the most needed moments, in my firm determination to continue, undeterred by misfortunes and challenges; this subtle thing also reveals itself in all its glory when I decide to face the impending failure.

However, all of this is transient; like a beam of light that shines bright for a remarkably short time, and suddenly goes out, for me to plunge into despair and feel the darkness like never before! The lingering uncertainty, dark clouds of despondence; does it not look like an ephemeral struggle, clearly overpowering the transient hope?

Photo by Chris Buckwald on Unsplash

But, what’s the solution? Is there a way out? The world goes on; so should I and so should all of us. These days may not be the best of days, perhaps, they may even be the worst of days, marking the lowest points in our life.

Should we not live to tell the tale of our struggles and failures, so that one day, we stand proud of how we’ve etched our life’s graph, rising up from the lowest points without plummeting further down?

There’s always light at the end of the tunnel, they say; So why not keep walking through the tunnel, not minding the dangers and the darkness, most importantly, for as long as it takes, for one day we shall find the light! You may choose to dawdle, walk, run, or sprint, only remember to keep going. Never ever give up!

Always remember, “In the end, everything will be okay; If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end!”

As always, Bye! Until next time ✨
Android Store: Library Search Made Easy
By: Amit Shekhar
Tags: Android Development, Android, Open Source, AndroidDev, Android App Development

Mindorks Android Store

We developers live in a world where the developers are creating so many useful libraries, projects, and tools and open-sourcing them.

These useful libraries, projects, and tools save too much of our time. We can just plug in and use it in our applications with the confidence as the open source project goes under a huge development and bug fixes.

I too love open-source and have created many libraries for Android with love and also received the same from the whole community. That’s why I tell, the developer’s community is just amazing. Thanks to all of you for making it amazing.

While working on so many projects, we realized that there should be an easy way to search for the libraries, projects, and tools for Android.

The Android libraries, projects, and tools should be easily accessible to everyone. We should get as quickly as possible for what we are looking for.

For this, we are introducing Mindorks Android Store.

What is Mindorks Android Store?

A platform where you can do the following:

Browse through the important Android libraries, projects, and tools.

You can compare these Android libraries, projects, and tools before using.

You can easily search through the entire store.

You can also search for any specific category you are looking for.

Now, you can visit the Mindorks Android Store, play with it and tell us what can we do more to make it more easy for you.

Happy Searching 🙂
The Incredible Dr. Lee
By: Whye Waite
Tags: Happiness, Cancer, Surgery, Life, Hope

His name is Dr. Lee. He’s not an imposing figure — actually, quite the opposite, if I may say so. He’s slender, has short hair, and would not stand out in a crowd. Handsome in a way, I guess. I would consider his booming baritone voice to be his defining feature, yet, Dr. Lee is my hero.

Dr. Lee saved my life.

My diagnosis came by chance. A routine life insurance blood screening showed glowing results in every single category — except one — something called PSA. I had no idea what PSA stood for and was quite proud of the number thirteen. It turns out; thirteen is not a good number. Anything over three is dire.

Let me start from the beginning.
I Climbed A Tree Today
By: John O'Neill
Tags: Childhood, Nature, Memories, Poem, Poetry

The little boy in me applauded my attempt

Though undoubtedly as surprised by the endeavor

As was the adult, I, who performed the feat

It was two of my grandsons who inspired the effort

They set the example by climbing trees on their property

And asking if their father did likewise when he was young

My memory, not for the first time, failed me as to that recollection

But prompted memories of my special tree,

The pear tree in our back yard

Decades ago when I was once their age,

How formidable the task seemed back then

And what a proud sense of accomplishment

But best of all, the sensation of being above the ground

Master of all that I could survey

Free to let my imagination transport me to uncharted worlds

Back to the present

There was a tree that drew me to it

My practical, logical self that has dominated most of my life

Said that would be foolish

You are too old for such nonsense

So I began to climb

At first fearful of falling

Then I stopped thinking

And was that young boy again

Exhilarated and daring

Went even further upwards

Then it was time to finally come down off the high

It was much harder to climb down

As the adult me reasserted itself

My grandsons, of course, informed my wife of the escapade

Reprovingly she told the boys

“I’m sure,” looking sternly at me, “that Papa won’t attempt that again”

My wife went back into the house

I climbed another tree

Just for old times sake

Knowing it probably would be my last for all time

Unless the little boy inside of me takes control again

At some opportune time

Maybe not climbing a tree

But something similar that silences my mind

Allowing me to simply be

And my spirit to fly and

My heart to open

To find myself in love with the world

Dare I risk that attempt
A Thief in the Night: The Christian Apocalyptic Thriller That Spawned an Industry
By: Dustin T. Cox
Tags: Movies, Christianity, Spirituality, Culture, Film

A Thief in the Night: The Christian Apocalyptic Thriller That Spawned an Industry

The B-movie origins of rapture entertainment

Image: Mark IV Pictures

Despite wide acceptance in certain Christian sects, rapture doctrine is a late development in Christian theology. A fringe teaching at best throughout most of church history, the rapture thesis only gained traction in mainstream denominations in the 1830s, following the evangelistic ministry of Anglo-Irish theologian John Nelson Darby.

Darby posited that in the end times, living Christians would literally rise into the clouds en masse to meet Jesus at his second coming. Poor congregations in civil war America proved especially receptive to Darby’s teaching of a ‘pretribulation’ rescue for Christ’s believers.

Rapture eschatology got an additional boost from the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. Scofield’s notes appear alongside biblical text and thus make for an easily accessible commentary that, in many cases, is more compelling than the scripture it explains.

That is especially true of Scofield’s analyses of prophetic passages. Those analyses ultimately served to cement Scofield’s views of dispensationalism — and, therefore, the rapture — in the minds of thousands of clergymen and parishioners alike. Once more, congregations in the United States welcomed rapture doctrine as a hopeful promise for a better tomorrow.

A third iteration of rapture fervor came in the form of popular entertainment. In 1970, Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth, which cast then-current events — such as the ever-intensifying cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union — in the light of biblical prophecy. The book was a huge success; it sold more copies than any other work of non-fiction that decade. Lindsey’s argument is structured largely by Scofield’s commentary, and rapture doctrine figures prominently in the book’s speculations on end times.

While Lindsay marketed The Late Great Planet Earth as a serious work of prophetic interpretation, Bantam Books released it for inclusion in the science fiction sections of popular bookstore chains. Rapture teaching thus became the subject of popular entertainment despite the authorial intentions of its most prominent explicator.
Adapt On To Perfect Strategies In Internet Marketing
By: Narender Rawat
Tags: Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing

It’s always a prudent decision to nab the right skilled person for a specific job and when you hire Internet Marketing.

If you reshuffle time and go back down memory lane, you would not be able to connect yourself with the term “Hire Internet Marketing Consultant”. But over the years things have changed, new marketing concepts, strategies and theories have emerged. Today it is regarded as the gateway to greater customer networking and better business growth. At our times a huge share is being spent on Global Internet Marketing. Right from fortune brands 500 to small enterprises, Internet Marketing is on a high pedestal with internet being one of the biggest tools for business networking.

Did you think Internet Marketing was not your cup of tea? Or you may also have wondered about the right skills needed for online marketing or might be you have been perplexed with the world going awry about the concept but now you can just relax and realize your business dreams. You may be wondering how? So here we give you some tips.

Consultant from India you take the first step in realizing your dream. The other steps glide you into the internet marketing world with ease. You may evaluate your decision by thinking why an Internet Marketing Consultant from India would give you a higher edge from your competitors? Below mentioned are some of the advantages which would greet you when you hire Internet Marketing Consultant.

Experience-India is most sought after haven for skilled professional talents. Internet technology has aspired youth to take on to the most promising careers; online marketing is one such stream. Experienced Internet Marketing Consultants are in abundance without compromising on quality. With experience comes a better understanding of technology. Experimentation is reduced due to experience. Skills get sharper with experience.

Convenient hiring process-India being one of the most perfect haven for outsourcing job, hiring is quite a simplistic process. You can hire Internet Marketing Consultant from reputed agencies and offshore companies. They offer you the best of resource. You are saved from the searching hurdles.

Reduced cost– It surely gives you more reasons to back your decision on hiring internet consultant from India. You can rejoice on quality and price which is in practical sense quite an uncommon blend but that’s the wonder of hiring consultants from India.

Knowledge of few basic skills is essential for an Internet Marketing Consultant.

Planning

Conversion augmentation

Search engine optimization

Market research

PR skills

Social media.

So, now if you are more than convinced about the hiring benefits than you are ready to comprehend your business dreams and reach the pinnacle in online marketing.
Who Do You Want To Be?
Tags: Quotes, Words, Power, Life, Inspiration

Words are powerful. Think about the words that you attach to the words ‘I am,’ do they serve to empower or disempower you?

Do you like the way that the words define you?

Do you feel strong and confident when you are saying these words? Or do you feel scared and uncertain?

Do you feel differently when you speak your words vs. having them run around in your head?

I was led to believe that words “don’t matter” until I experienced a series of events that were happening around me. I started noticing and really listening to the effect that words have and started realizing that they do matter, whether we are aware of it or not. The words you speak are important because you are the one who hears what you are saying the most! Be sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up and encourage you.

I love Henry Ford’s quote:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t –you’re right.” — Henry Ford

Thanks to this blog for sharing your insight. I loved seeing this reminder again:

“The words `I am…’ are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to.

The thing you’re claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.”

-A. K. Kitselman

What do you attach after the words ‘I am?’

This post originally appeared on Health and Vitality.