fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Getting Back in Rhythm
By: Jason B. Hobbs Lcsw
Tags: Christianity, Faith, Caregiving, Mother And Son, Religion

“The Saviour’s Transfiguration”, an early-15th century icon from the Tretyakov Gallery, attributed to Theophanes the Greek

Around 11am, I was able to leave the hospital to go to church. Since it is the end of Epiphany and careening toward Ash Wednesday and Lent, we were reading a passage about the Transfiguration.

The Transfiguration is one of these mystical events on a mountain top where a voice comes from “the cloud” and says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Naturally, the couple of folks who had journeyed up the mountain with Jesus were amazed and perplexed.

Before the voice comes, Jesus was seen talking with figures on either side that are said to be Moses (representing the law) and Elijah (representing the prophets). This is one of those definitional moments in the gospel story where this person of Jesus is revealed as one who is in line with the “rightness” of the law but also with the call for justice in the prophets.

The Transfiguration event represents a both/and answer to our common either/or thinking.

And perhaps it is me thinking too much about “x” and “y” axes and the up and down of regular and irregular heart rhythms, but as our priest continued I was reminded of how an axis contains both the horizontal and the vertical. Calculating both helps us find where we are.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

For those of us who think of our faith as one that is a call to love and care in the present moment, this is a faith that is very horizontal. That horizontal plane calls us to look around us, to either side. Part of being a follower of Jesus is behaving as he did, helping and healing, feeding and accepting those that are on the margins. This is a faith that is about reaching out.

The vertical axis is straight up and down, a singular focus on relationship to God. Yet the imbalance that can occur here is staring so much heavenward that we become disoriented. We can miss those who are hurting all around us. We can focus so much on “rightness” that we miss “righteousness” and relationship with others.

As you read the story of Jesus, you see the balance of being with people and then retreating to the mountain or across the water to be with God … then back to the people again, back and forth, horizontal and vertical, doing the work of justice and the work of righteousness.

For the three disciples that were up on that mountain with Jesus, all of this was pretty confusing. I suppose for any of us, myself certainly included, locating ourselves in the midst of the foggy trails of life requires a compass and a map, and some connection to God and others. That connection happens in the middle, the place where both horizontal and vertical come together, in rhythm, in our “hearts”.
The Scratch-Off
By: Background Noise Comics
Tags: Pets, Cats, Humor, Cartoon, Comics

Written by

Daily comic by Lisa Burdige and John Hazard about balancing life, love and kids in the gig economy.
Luxury Dog
By: Alexander Nagel
Tags: Short Story, Fiction

He is on the bus to the shuttle that will take him to the airport at 7:30 in the morning. The haze between sleeping and waking elucidates a dream state wrought from the spectral anvils of heavy metal. He pushes his earbuds in deeper, moves his lower back forward, and stretches out his legs to allow his head enough space to lie back. Behind his eyelids, he is blind to the grey early morning misery of urban decay passing slowly by. Now he is free to take comfort in how long the battery of his phone will last while in airplane mode. He indulges in how unencumbered he is by heavy jacket or itchy cap and falls further into a dream. Calmed by the presence of his sneakers, T-shirt, jeans, and lack of luggage, his thoughts coalesce into a fragile decanter of stillness. Minutes dissolve into moments and moments transform into gentle sensations and soon he feels nothing save a satisfaction in the preservation of his battery.

Soon Linda enters his mind. He sees her smile and he wonders what she will look like in twenty years. They’ll live in an unassuming, yet comfortable house out in the desert somewhere. Far enough away that their neighbors won’t be able to hear them at night. Maybe they’ll have a dog. Maybe a cat. Maybe even some kids. She’ll want birds.

Permeating peace comes from the compartmentalizing of all their amenities into their proper place. Besides the necessary bedrooms, of which there will be many, and the kitchen, which will be scrubbed daily, he thinks that they both must have at least some space that they can call their own. She will undoubtedly have her studio. Perhaps it will be in a little Spanish style hacienda out back and not too far from the bougainvillea growing above the patio beside that single rotting saguaro. He would need some place that would be appropriate for his Merciful Fate posters and his drums. Maybe the garage…

Yes… the garage. A garage is a perfect place to have a few chairs with pleasantly worn cushions, a decent sound system, a television, refrigerator, dog bed, and not too many windows to keep out the bright daylight of the desert. It would be an ideal place for their dog.

A dog should always be kept outside the home, so as not to track filth into the house. But the garage was a different matter all together. He could take pride in constructing a place of warmth and safety where he would be able to give it all the attention it deserves. He would take all the time necessary to make sure his dog was properly trained, so they would know what’s right and what’s wrong. Dogs are only burdensome when they act out inappropriately. They only act out when their boundaries are not clearly defined.

He awakens suddenly to the squealing of hydraulic breaks. Without so much as a jacket, he is left waiting beneath a balmy overcast sky for a shuttle that is already late.
The Woman That Was Kicked Out Of Paradise
Tags: Female Sexuality, History, Religion, Feminism, Women

In the ninth or tenth century, a collection of legends titled The Alphabet of Ben Sira, spin an elaborate story in which Lilith is Adam’s first wife

When the first man, Adam, saw that he was alone, God made for him a woman like himself, from the earth.God called her name Lilith, and brought her to Adam. They immediately began to quarrel. Adam said: “You lie beneath me.” And Lilith said: “You lie beneath me! We are both equal, for both of us are from the earth.” And they would not listen to one another.

As soon as Lilith saw this, she uttered the Divine name and flew up into the air and fled. Adam began to pray before his Creator, saying: “Master of the universe, the woman that you gave me has fled.” God sent three angels and said to them: “Go bring back Lilith. If she wants to come, she shall come, and if she does not want to come, do not bring her against her will.

The three angels went and found her in the sea at the place where the Egyptians were destined to drown. There they grabbed her and said to her: “If you will go with us,well and good, but if not, we will drown you in the sea.”

Lilith said to them:”My friends, I know God only created me to weaken infants when they are eight days old. From the day a child is born until the eighth day, I have dominion over the child, and from the eighth day onward I have no dominion over him if he is a boy, but if a girl, I rule over her twelve days.”

They said: “We won’t let you go until you accept upon yourself that each day one hundred of your children will die.” And she accepted it. That is why one hundred demons die every day. They would not leave her alone until she swore to them:”In any place that I see you or your names in an amulet, I will have no dominion over that child.” They left her. And she is Lilith, who weakens the children of men….

- Alphabet of Ben Sira 23a-b
For the hand that was never there
By: Franco Amati
Tags: Poetry, Abandonment, Prose, Love, Scuzzbucket

Photo by Flora Westbrook from Pexels

I imagined eyes that never saw me

A face resembling mine without a form

Reaching for the hand that was never there

Felt like shedding clothes that were never worn

I wish your voice meant something to me

I wish my heart felt something more

But when I cry your name in the night

I can’t remember what I’m longing for
Am I A MORON?
By: Sabana Grande
Tags: Short Story, Work, Life, This Happened To Me, Parenting

Brace yourself, Sabana. Deep breaths.

Many of you may not know this but there is one thing in life that I suck at more than anyone else you have ever met. My IQ suddenly drops to 0. I turn into a proverbial dufus when asked to give compliments under pressure.

By pressure, I don’t mean someone is holding a knife to me asking to give them compliments. I mean any time I know that saying something nice is expected of me.

The Fuckups

At first, I noticed this when I was just a child. A girl would expect me to say she was pretty. I would say something like, “the threads on your scarf are nice.”

“You have beautiful eyes, especially the left one.”

It was a never-ending stream of stupidity. I could definitely say plenty of witty things, funny things, anything else really. I could quote a random fact from physics. Would that pacify you or do you need a compliment?

How about I swap you: I’ll give you a treat if you let me off the hook? *offers cookie*

*sigh*

There’s no moral to this tale. I was just reminiscing of a particularly stupid instance I had while working as a receptionist, from which you will learn nothing.

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

The Receptionist

I was working for a big hotel. I had a blue suit. I was a lanky fuck, still am. Also, everyone else had black suits which kinda made me stand out. Anyway, we had a little call center thing going on beside our reception, across a narrow ‘alley’ in the lobby.

They were our support staff. If we were hungover, we transferred people on the phone over to them. Their official position at the hotel was ‘God’s angels’. It didn’t show up on their payslips that they received x amount for doing ‘God’s work’ but that’s what they did. Let’s not argue here. Were you working there or was I?

So one of them got pregnant. Relax, I had nothing to do with it. I’m not going to go into the planning of her pregnancy or anything else. We were expected to give compliments to her when she was about to leave for maternity leave.

She was cute, in her 20s with short hair.
How to Entertain Your Kid at Home With ARLOOPA’s Augmented Reality
By: Nar Poghos
Tags: Children, Entertainment, Augmented Reality, Pandemic, Kids

Entertaining your kids at home has never been so relevant. With school going remote around the world and playgrounds being closed in the face of the pandemic, you are faced with a challenge of keeping your kids happy and busy at home.

The internet is no longer enough. YouTube is great, but it’s just not interesting enough to keep a child of the Z Gen entertained.

Augmented Reality App to Entertain Kids

If you’ve already tried everything from YouTube videos to mobile games, and are looking for a more exciting way to entertain your child at home with your smartphone, you should try augmented reality.

Augmented reality is the perfect new way to teach, entertain, and surprise kids. It allows you to smoothly combine fantasy and reality together using your phone or tablet.

Are you looking for an AR app that will allow you to work some true magic? Consider using ARLOOPA. ARLOOPA is a free kid-friendly AR app with the potential to keep your child really curious and entertained.

It is a versatile AR app that has a 3D models gallery inside with various cool categories, such as Spacecraft, Animals, Cars, Military, Science and Technology, etc.
Recovering the Word “God”
By: Patrick Paul Garlinger
Tags: Self, God, History, Spirituality, Religion

For many years, even after many spiritual experiences, I found myself resisting the word “God.” Eckhart Tolle famously argued in The Power of Now that the word was misused and had too much baggage to be meaningful.

I now disagree.

Like any word that has long been bogged down with cultural and historical baggage, there comes a moment to reclaim it, to vindicate it, to brandish it proudly.

It turns out, I love the word “God.”

For years I’ve used phrases like “The Divine” or the “Light” or Spirit or Source. I still love those phrases too.

As a gay man, I am partial to the “Divine” because of the slight double entendre the word affords, conveying both a higher power and the kind of carefree expression of emotion and creativity that gay men, unfettered by masculine stricture, can embody.

The word “God” still carries a lot of power. For better or worse.

Sure, the phrase can invoke the stereotypical image of a white dude, draped in a toga, with a lightning bolt of judgment at the ready, but who really imagines God this way any more? All the more reason to rescue the word from the dustbin of antiquated thinking.

Yes, the word has been pressed in the service of power and authoritarianism, justifying heinous deeds by those who claim to speak for a higher authority. Yet another reason to take it back.

My own pain around the word goes back to an episode as a schoolkid, when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade, living in Utah. The kids wouldn’t play with me on the playground, and I complained to the teacher. She asked a small group of 3 or 4 of them why, and one of them whispered, “He’s Catholic.” I remember so vividly her staring at me, and then turning to them, “It’s not his fault.” Shame washed over me. If kids couldn’t play with each other because of what God said, I wanted nothing to do with “God.” From then on, I rejected “God” and organized religion.

Decades later, I would have my first energy healing, in which my third eye opened, as light poured in, and the only thought I had for the next few minutes was “God exists.” Not, the “Light” or the “Divine” — the word that came to me was “God.”

For me, being a “child of God” is a phrase that opens my heart, as it reminds me of how deeply and unconditionally I am loved, just by virtue of being alive.

The word God affords me a sense of being held, or being able to have a conversation, where the Universe or the Light can sometimes feel so vast and ethereal. And I do feel that God holds me.

At this point on my path, I need that sense of a personified connection when so much of my spiritual work has been energetic and disembodied.

Whatever pain that the word “God” invokes in me, I’ve faced it and am left with a deep reverence for the word.

Perhaps it’s time that we unwrap the word from the bondage of history and reclaim it for ourselves.
CINDX partners with Sum&Substance for KYC/AML-compliant ID checks
By: Sum Substance
Tags: Aml, Kyc, Bitcoin, Blockchain

CINDX is an platform that allows managers handle cryptocurrencies funds easily.

The company claims its blockchain technology will help investors copy deals or trades of successful asset managers without sending funds to them. Investors choose several investment products from marketplace and invest in them without actual sending money to any third parties.

Sum&Substance’s KYC and onboarding solution will make a tokensale transparent, satisfy regulators and make the process of KYC checks delightful for the users. The solution will automatically verify user’s government-issued ID documents, match faces on a document and on a selfie, and check the address, helping users to become a contributor in seconds.



The company helps projects to meet financial regulatory compliance including KYC and AML and onboard users fast. For that purpose company leverages huge legal experience in blockchain (since 2015 KYC projects for more than 150 ICOs were conducted), infrastructure and processes which is GDPR compliant, also it meets requirements of US and local Asian data security and protection laws, and provide the fastest performance in the market with a large number of different checks for huge flow of users (2–3 minutes on verification).

Sum&Substance is one of the current market leaders in the online verification and KYC/AML industry in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia, was founded in 2015 by an international group of specialists in machine learning, business process automation, and compliance.

All applications are sent through encrypted channels to a Tier 3 data center, ensuring a very high level of protection. The company develops solutions for remote verification of documents and users, such as automatic recognition of the pictures which have been modified with the help of image editors. Their technology helps online services (such as Cryptopay, ICObench, KICKICO, Mail.ru Group, Gett, Blue Whale, ABYSS, Edenchain, The Token Fund) all over the world comply with legal and regulatory requirements, increase conversions, prevent fraud, and increase client trust.

Go to http://sumsub.com for more info
Lamenting Couture 2009
By: D. Yvette Wohn
Tags: Fashion, Couture 2009, Spring, John Galliano

Has the economy soured the creative minds of fashion designers, or are we seeing a huge evolution of couture in which the purpose of couture is becoming something we can wear in our everyday lives? If you can wear something on the street and not be stared at, it should be couture. It was definitely not “haute” couture.

One of the biggest disappointments that I had with the spring couture runways was that I couldn’t distinguish them from the ready-to-wear lines. Obviously Zaha Hadid inspired a lot of the trends- a lot of geometry and pleated layers going on (not surprising considering the Chanel Mobile Art installation). There was also an obsession with floral appliques- either humungous, like Valentino, or small and annoying like Saab, 20s-inspired numbers: think of pleats that look like the Chrysler Bldg, and Edwardian puffy sleeves.

Chanel was a disaster, basically recycling things from the past few years. Excluding the elaborate black and white head pieces (I wouldn’t quite call them hats or tiaras), I wouldn’t have been surprised if it were a ready-to-wear collection. Change the collection name to ready-wear and I would give it five stars.

Elie Saab was also disappointing- mainly because I was a huge fan (this collection is making me think twice). Scrimping on fabric, the flowing lines of long dresses were replaced with pieces that seemed cut off in mid-thought. Huge bows, appliques, and feathery metallic piping (I don’t know what the exact term is) made dresses look like tacky Christmas trees- only they were pastel in colour. Some fashion critics said that the collection was “minimalist” but obviously minimalism is an extremely subjective term because I found the pleating, the appliques, the sparkles all loaded onto delicate fabric just too much. Yes, the silhouettes were simple, but it was like having a mini burger piled eight inches high with condiments.

Bows, bows, and more bows (too many bows) were “in” at Valentino. There were a lot of shapeless two-piece suits (probably for the 50+ clientele) and then some tight-fitting suits with huge floral appliques, which stuck out like enormous warts. Again, a lot of unflattering pleating and terrible eye makeup choice for the models, who looked liked they were sleepwalking. A number of red dresses, however, were quite well done, though perhaps on the more minimal side of couture, thankfully preserving some classy element of the signature Valentino reds.

Fortunately, John Galliano was able to preserve the more fun side of couture by exaggerating and amplifying the elements that other designers used for his Christian Dior couture line. You can always count on John to provide the eye candy. Wish he would collaborate with Tim Burton; they would make a great pair.
Tempted to Text Your Ex During the Pandemic?
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Satire, Humor, Dating, Relationships, Covid Diaries

Tempted to Text Your Ex During the Pandemic?

Short answer: no

This is better. Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

No. He wasn’t great at dealing with normal, regular, daily life problems. Why would he suddenly be better now? Wouldn’t he just be…worse?

No. He already reached out to me, even though he’s supposedly in a happy relationship, which just makes me loathe him even more. Cringe.

Not really. Every time he was upset, he would pretend I was the one who was upset, and he would do these weird self-soothing things, like get a gun to “keep me safe,” when I felt more afraid with the gun, and in the end, he was the only one who felt better. I don’t feel like navigating that weird psychological shit again.

No. He has sleep apnea. I don’t want to have to worry about him getting Covid-19 AND dying in his sleep.

Fuck no. I just enrolled in school.

Hard pass…The last time he texted me, he told me all about his feelings and then sent a photo of his shlong.

Maybe. He has a car and can drive. That would be nice to get a lot of things from the store at once.

No…according to his social media, he is NOT social distancing at all. I might hit up his best friend though?

Nah. I finally got the ph balance in my kitty just right. It’s like taking care of a pool. Finally, everything is coming up the right color.

Absolutely not. Then I’d have to hear about all the things he would have achieved if it weren’t for the pandemic. And he would have been rich if it weren’t for that meddlin’ Covid!

Nnnnnnnnno I couldn’t do that to my sex toys. They’d feel so betrayed. They’ve never let me down. I can’t be selfish like that. I mean, I’ve had more fun in lockdown than I ever have in a relationship thanks to these bad boys. Turn my back on them, after they held me down? I know better.

Nah, not when I can find hot 23-year-olds on TikTok and leave thirsty ass comments. Hey, some of them might be in Brooklyn. I gotta shoot my shot.

No, but that’s okay. He still reads most of my work, so I guess he’s a fan now. Maybe I’ll see him at a reading when those are happening again.

Absolutely not. He’s terrible at setting boundaries with his folks. They’d be over all the time with their grandkids and pretending like the pandemic isn’t even happening.

Hell no! Look at all these hotties on Tinder. I’ve never seen that muscle before. What the hell does that do?!

Nope. I don’t. And damn, does it feel good.

Hell, I might plan a solo trip to Greece for 2021.
Pengembangan Software dalam Perspektif Quality Assurance (QA)
Tags: Teamwork, Software Development, Software Testing, Testing, Quality Assurance

we are sharing our knowledge and process of project

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When pride is virtue, who says it is a vice?
By: Krishna Jena
Tags: Life Lessons, Philosophy, Self Improvement, Knowledge, Inspiration

Vishnu Sharma was teaching the foolish sons of a particular King by telling stories. These stories although simple contained extraordinary knowledge of life and virtues. One such tale is that of Pigeon-King, Chitragriba. Chitragriba and his flock, while flying in the sky, saw some grains in the forest, and fell into the net when they greedily descended to eat. However, they flew away with the net together to the Mouse-King, who was the friend of Chitragriba. Finding his friend in trouble, he went to cut the trap of Chitragriba first, to which Chitragriba denied, and said he need not have to worry about him. He should cut the trap of his subjects first and then come to him. What he meant by this was, he also was a pigeon like all others, but he was their King, their leader. And those who are proud of being a king should also take the responsibility of the safety and well-being of their subjects. This is the true pride of a king or a leader which he should have. Perhaps this pride makes a man think high above petty selfishness and make him kind and generous, and propel him to do great things for others and society.

The true yardstick to measure the greatness of a man is his kindness and generosity towards others and society at large. It is only through unselfish service to mankind, a man can truly help himself. To do so, he has to come out from the narrow parallel roads of self-interest and selfishness that make a man fall into the sewage of ordinariness. In order to do and be extraordinary, a man must rise up from the deep slumber of selfishness and fill the world with the brilliance of his inherent potential, for which he must have pride and belief in himself. True pride always accompanies belief. If it is not so, it becomes sheer arrogance and ego.

A man must be proud of himself; he must believe in himself first in order to do that. But an arrogant man is a man with fake pride without any belief in himself or his abilities. Being so he becomes a hypocrite and runs away when he is needed the most. It must be remembered that pride must not take the form of arrogance or ego, which is hollow pride.

True pride can make a man strong. It does not need a title or even a position in society to develop in a man. And this can only be done when a man does not think of himself as an ordinary individual, but be proud of his divine origin, and belief in his ability to do whatever he wish to do. Great things are reposed upon them who believe that they are born to do great things and whose heart is ever filled with pride and honor for their own generosity, benevolence, and kindness.
Bitcoin price forecasting with deep learning algorithms
By: Igor Bobriakov
Tags: Machine Learning, Neural Networks, Deep Learning, Blockchain, Bitcoin

Disclaimer: All the information in this article including the algorithm was provided and published for educational purpose only, not a solicitation for investment nor investment advice. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. This means it is not governed by any central bank or some other authority. This cryptocurrency was created in 2009 but it became extremely popular in 2017.

Some experts call bitcoin “the currency of the future” or even lead it as an example of the social revolution. The bitcoin price has increased several times during the 2017 year. At the same time, it is very volatile. Many economic entities are interested in tools for predicting the bitcoin prices. It is especially important for existing or potential investors and for government structures. The last needs to be ready to significant price movements to prepare a consistent economic policy. So, the demand for Bitcoin price prediction mechanism is high.

This notebook demonstrates the prediction of the bitcoin price by the neural network model. We are using 2-layers long short term memory (LSTM) as well as Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) architecture of the Recurrent neural network (RNN). You can read more about these types of NN here:

The dataset we are using is available here: Bitcoin Historical Data

The first thing we do is importing all the necessary python libraries.

Now we load the dataset in the memory and test it on the presence of the null values:

Out[2]:

False

We can see that there are not null values in the dataset. Now we want to preview the head of the dataset to know the structure of the data:

Out[3]:

We want to transform the data to get the average price grouped by the day and to see usual datetime format (not a timestamp as above).

Out[4]:

Out[5]:

We need to split our dataset because we want to train and test the model only on some chunk of the data. So, in the next cell, we are counting the necessary parameters for splitting (number of days between some dates). We want to train our model on the data from January 1, 2016, until August 21, 2017, and to test the model on the data from August 21, 2017, until October 20, 2017.

654

61

6

Now we are splitting our data into the train and test set:

599 61

Exploratory Data Analysis

We want to estimate some parameters of our data because this can be useful in the further model designing. The first important thing when forecasting time series is to check if the data is stationary. This means that our data is influenced by such factors as trend or seasonality.

In the next cell, we concatenate train and test data to make analysis and transformations simultaneously.

In the next couple of cells, we perform a seasonal decomposition of the data to estimate its trend and seasonality. You can see the actual price movements on the plot below (“observed”) as well as the trend and seasonality in our data.
Are You Settling For Your Partner?
By: Carrie Wynn
Tags: Life Lessons, Self, Love, Dating, Relationships

Lately, I have been thinking about exactly what it means to settle for someone in a relationship.

Does it mean that you are happy but a part of you is yearning for something else? Does it mean that you need to do more self-discovery to figure out exactly what you want?

Or does it mean that you know deep in your bones that you are meant to be with someone else and that you could do better?

Currently, I am in the first relationship of my life where I do not feel like I am settling. My partner and I are aligned in our drive, what we want in life, and in the bedroom department. It truly feels like I have the whole package.

Before him, I felt like something was missing in my previous relationships or I had to give something up to “make things work.” It wasn’t particularly that I could find someone “better” it was simply that my exes and I didn’t quite line-up.

Based on my experiences, here is what I think it means if you are “settling” for your partner.
Spiritual Journey
By: Kevin Doberstein
Tags: Poetry, Sacred, Spirituality, Spiritual Secrets, Awakening

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The Sad Truth About Narcissism and Mirroring
By: Amanda Robins
Tags: Motherhood, Trauma, Parenting, Narcissism, Self

The Sad Truth About Narcissism and Mirroring

Mirroring is essential for early development, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

The original Narcissus was a handsome youth who fell in love with his own reflection and died of starvation. Echo, the nymph who loved him, could only parrot his words and also pined away without ever being acknowledged by the man she loved.

This famous Greek myth serves as a reminder of the dangers of trying to relate to a narcissist. They are too busy looking into the mirror to notice us.

Mirrors are important in thinking about narcissism because they symbolise the basic deficit of the narcissist. Narcissists just don’t have a healthy relationship to themselves to provide them with grounding and stability. They rely on feedback from the environment for their self-image. So the reflection tells them that they exist and helps define them. Without it, they don’t know who they are.

Narcissists generally won’t have received adequate mirroring in childhood, and so have trouble providing it to others. The cycle perpetuates itself with intergenerational trauma.

MIRRORING

Mirroring is an important early experience that allows us to feel seen and understood. As infants, we don’t understand ourselves or the world, we just “are”.

Our attachment relationships teach us about our unfolding experiences of life, providing containment, soothing, attunement, and later on, language. If our caregivers aren’t available to mirror us, it has serious implications for our emotional health. In early development we find ourselves through others, learning about our experiences and our self through bonding relationships. We rely on our parents to help us learn and grow.

Parents who are “good-enough” will attune to us, providing acceptance and understanding so that we can organise our experiences, and learn to self-soothe. If we are left too often to manage our own states by neglectful parents, toxic stress levels will change our brain chemistry and we might grow up seeing the world as fundamentally hostile.

EYE CONTACT & MIRRORING
We’re Going Less-Cash, Not Cashless
Tags: Fintech, Payments, Technology, Finance, Money

For many of us, paying with a debit or credit card is no big deal. Coffee? Swipe it. Supermarket? Swipe it. Bus? Whatever you want, all you have to do is swipe it! Paying with cards is easy, safe and it allows us to move around the city without those bulky wallets full of cash in our back pockets. But how close are we really from a ‘cashless society’?

In some developed countries, especially Scandinavian ones, the idea of leaving cash behind has been gaining traction rapidly. Sweden is a perfect example of how civil society and businesses are moving towards a cashless reality.

Last year, a nationwide research conducted by Sweden’s Central Bank Riksbank showed that almost all transactions made by Swedes in 2018 have been processed digitally, either by swiping their debit/credit cards, using contactless technology (NFC), or relying on mobile applications, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Swish. Oh, haven’t you heard of that one?

Back in 2012, Sweden’s top six countries came together to introduce Swish — a mobile payment app that enables instant digital transfers peer to peer and peer to business. While the app has established itself as a convenient payment method, it only works locally.

According to the same study, only 13 percent of Swedes reported using paper money in recent purchases, down from a 40 percent registered in 2010.

In line with this findings, the research also highlights a sharp reduction in cash withdrawals from ATMs. Nearly 20 percent of responders said they never withdraw cash in the past twelve months, while 42 percent said they visit ATMs less often than once a month.
Stuck between YOLO and Saving
By: Nosh Komen
Tags: Humor, Self, Decision Making, Money, Life

Whenever I want to save money, I get swayed away by these seductive thoughts; Life is short, furthermore, you only live once, what are these savings for? What if you die tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Come on, spend the money properly.

My thoughts always get bucked up by sophisticated quotes that I have been reading since I was 13, below, are some of them.

"You only live once, for a very short time. So make every second divine." ~ Mitch Lucker "Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today." ~ James Dean “Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.” ~ Pope Paul VI

I am easily convinced by these thoughts and quotes.

Being in the twenties is confusing and expensive, adding YOLO to it becomes more confusing and more costly. I find myself spending a lot of dollars on Friday nights and other YOLO’ish activities.

I must admit, this philosophy is fun, but it makes me lose the other philosophy.

After spending all the money, I ask myself about the future — after retirement. Where will I get the money to spend?

I then go ahead and save, for the future. After a few months, the YOLO hits my head again, and I eat up all the savings. I then begin saving again.

I am in a vicious circle of YOLO and Saving. This is why I am stuck.
7 Tips To Make The Most Out Of Your Product Management Internship
By: Parv Sondhi
Tags: Product Manager, Berkeleyischool, Product Management, Internships, Product

With all of us moving virtual, our regular workdays have taken a substantial hit. Folks are looking to the strength of their workplace connections made before the quarantine to help navigate collaboration and working together in this new world. Coming cold into a new work environment can be daunting, especially as part of an internship. And as if that wasn’t enough, if you are interning as a product manager, the next 12 weeks can look scary.

As a product manager, where one of the most significant characteristics of the role is working with other cross-functional teams, not being able to meet your co-workers physically could cause anxiety about your internship.

But don’t worry. The fact that you have chosen a product management internship means you already know that being adaptable is a big part of the role. Below are some tips that can prepare you for the next few months and help you get the most out of your product management internship.
How to Make Meaningful Christmas Memories
By: Debbie Walker
Tags: Life Lessons, Menopause, Christmas, Family, Self

How to Make Meaningful Christmas Memories

It’s easy to do.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

2020 is a year to remember! There has been a lot of pain and tears and not much cheer. Joy is in short supply and people are cranky.

However, it is in our power to choose how to end this year with a bit of happiness.

Marilyn Flower penned her Monday prompt about heartbeats and holidays, and I wrote an article about helping kids this Christmas.

Also, Margie Pearl speaks of the guardian angels among us.

In addition to the craziness surrounding us, K Bennett tickles our funny bones with 2 posts about menopausing moms having an added layer of anxiety and heat.

It’s time for our fun, funny, and heartwarming articles…

The Heartbeat of the Holidays Happens in the Kitchen — Marilyn Flower

5 Holiday Hacks to Help Kids Enjoy Christmas — Debbie Walker

Guardian Angels: How Their Spirit Lives On — Margie Pearl

Menopausal Maintenance and How to Take Stock of Your Life at the Mid-Point — K Bennett

A Story About Menopausal Mayhem and Flashin’ — K Bennett

That’s about it, kiddos! See you on Thursday!

*A New STOMP! Podcast will be out on Dec 10th. The guest is yours truly, Me! Our one and only Marvelous Marilyn interviews me about everything.*

Our purpose is to encourage, inspire, and empower you to live a life of meaning and purpose. Whatever that is to you.

Leave any comments, suggestions, or just send us virtual words of love and support (We sure need it!) at middlepause51@gmail.com, follow us on https://twitter.com/MiddlePause; https://www.pinterest; STOMP!

Remember, To engage is to empower!

Also, if you are in a crisis of managing work, family, parenting, caregiving, disability, racism, or menopause; check out how I created an oasis of peace in my life.

Until next time…

Peace & Blessings!

Your Superheroes!

From Debbie, Margie, Marilyn, and Meg
Best Crypto Lending Platform in 2020 | Top 5 Bitcoin Lending Platforms
By: Sten Ivan
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Crypto Lending Platform, Bitcoin, Crypto Lending, Bitcoin News

Best Crypto Lending Platform in 2020 | Top 5 Bitcoin Lending Platforms

Get the best lending interest rates for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

We can all agree that 2020 has been a challenging year so far. Back in March earlier this year, the cryptocurrency and legacy markets went downhill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Things have been picking up with bitcoin reaching $12,000 in August, a significant jump from the $3,600 price plunge. Economies around the world are still scrambling but slowly bouncing back with government interventions. However, the fear of the pandemic’s second wave creates volatility in the global markets.

In times like these, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin still stand out as valuable financial assets despite the tumultuous year. It is a non-inflationary digital currency that’s not governed by individuals or corporations but a protocol. As rumors about legacy markets reaching negative interest rates, it’s time for Bitcoin investors to keep preserving their assets and increase productivity by lending their assets and earn interest in the process.

Crypto lending is a type of trade where you lend out your cryptocurrency and earn interest from it. The trade is facilitated by crypto lending platforms that accept deposits of different cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, or Stable Coins with some interest in return. The Bitcoin lending interest rates vary but often very competitive, with some offering up to 12% on Annual Percentage Yield (APY). These platforms also often loan the assets with collateral, usually with crypto and thus called crypto-backed loans.

If you’re thinking about growing your crypto assets through crypto lending, here are five crypto lending platforms that worth considering.
#Imagine
Tags: Ideologicalpoem, Lit Up, Poetry, Imagination

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

If you could take a moment,

And try to imagine,

An ideal world,

For you to live in,

I wonder what,

You would come up with.

Would it be,

A world run

By equality and justice,

Without any discrimination,

Where all men were equal?

Would the tenets of justice,

Reign supreme?

Such that all got,

Exactly what they deserve?

Would it be,

A world of love and peace,

Where war was unheard of?

Where all men cared for,

And thought of each other.

Would it be one,

Without any poverty?

Where no man,

Lacked anything?

No homelessness,

No poverty line.

And if it was up to you,

What would you do,

To make it come true?

n.w.g
Hifz “Ibn Kathir” 1.2
By: Azizi Khalid
Tags: Islam, Quran

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote about Hifz. It has been a very busy month for us. We’ve been trying to iron out a slew of bugs that just creeped into our app. But Alhamdulillah, the app is pretty stable.

What’s new?

Here’s what we have been working on so far:

Guided Memorisation

Double tap to start Guided Memorisation

One of the many requests that we receive is a guide on how to memorise. With Guided Memorisation, we will highlight only one aya and grey out everything else. Double tap to start Guided Memorisation. You read that one aya and repeat until you have memorised it. Then you double tap to move to the next aya. You’ll then read and memorise the second aya. Once you have memorised that, double tap again. This time you’ll be asked to repeat aya 1 and 2. Then you double tap to move to the third aya. Before you realise it, you’ll be done with your Daily Lesson.

iPad Support

Another request is to support the iPad so that you get to read the Quran on a bigger screen — about the size of the regular printed Quran.

Progress Sync

Now that we support the iPad, you may want to start memorising in the morning with it. But during the day, it might be easier to revise on your iPhone, since you always have it with you in your pocket. Well now you can. Your progress will be synced in the background so that you are always up-to-date with your memorisation plan.

And we’ve got one more thing…

Email Sign up

The number one request we’ve received is to enable people without Facebook to sign up. So with 1.2, you can now sign up to Hifz using your email. What are you waiting for? Start memorising now!
From “MD” to “MKT”: digital marketing as a kick-start for career change
By: Joan Amato
Tags: Career Change, Women In Tech, Digital Marketing, Content Creation, Technology

“Sports medical doctor with nutrition specialization”. That’s how I present myself professionally. Since 18 years old, when I got into med school, the impression is that my name has an extension. “Joan.med”. I love what I do, but sometimes it’s more of the same. Maybe that’s why I have more than one specialty. And they are the reason I’m connected to the digital world today.

The quantity of misinformation about sports medicine and nutrition is wide. It’s so easy to find millions of opinions (so called “broscience”) but very hard to find a cool evidence-based post, in a way most people can understand, not only the professionals. Specially written in Portuguese (I’m from Brazil).

So, in 2013, the blog Nutroesporte was born to translate scientific information to the general public. My husband (an IT deserter) helped and made all the domain, hosting, server stuff while I was responsible for content. I was improving the blog (many “for Dummies” books were read) and, with my many limitations, I did quite well. Nutroesporte had 72 visitors in 2013 and they were more than 10 thousand in 2016.

Still, in my pisces parallel universe, where I thought I should be a reference at that time, people got in and got out the blog, they didn’t stick to it despite the amazing content. I tried another channels, I tried another template, but I kept hitting a wall. What was I doing wrong?
KELVPN: where to find log files (Linux, Win, macOS)
By: Cellframe Platform
Tags: Crypto, Beta Testing, Blockchain, Beta, VPN

All of the beta-testers should read this instruction.

In case or any application failures or bugs beta tester should send his log files to the beta-tester Telegram group.

A bug report message should contain a screenshot, your log files and a text description of your problem. Example of a beta-tester bug report:

Windows 10 Enterprise

File name: KelvinVPNGui.log

File name: KelvinVPNService.log

File path: C:/Users/username/KelvinVPN

You can access the folder with Windows File Explorer (press win+E).

Linux (Debian Buster)

File name: KelvinVPNGui.log

File name: KelvinVPNService.log

File path: /opt/kelvinvpn/log

You can access the folder with standard application — Files: click Activities in the left corner of the screen, and click Files:

Click Home, and go to opt folder => kelvinvpn => log:

Also, you can access this catalog with Terminal:

MacOS Catalina 10.15.3

File name: KelvinVPNGui.log

File name: KelvinVPNService.log

File path: /tmp (hidden folder)

It is assumed that you have root rights. How to access the folder:

Open new Finder window (cmd + N) Click Go in the menu Click Go to Folder OR you can press shift + cmd + g

5. Type /tmp and press Enter

There you have it — folder with KELVPN logs inside:

Also, you can access the folder with Terminal:

cd/opt/kelvinvpn/log
Pandemic Parenting is Like Watching a Flower Bloom in the Wrong Season
By: Joe Wilson
Tags: Change, Toddlers, Fatherhood, Parenting, Pandemic

Pandemic Parenting is Like Watching a Flower Bloom in the Wrong Season

Some flowers bloom on their own time.

Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash

My daughter is 2 ½ years old and says hi to everyone.

If she sees a stranger, she immediately says, “hiyo,” toddler talk for hello. It’s adorable and horrifying at the same time.

Three years ago, when we were preparing for her birth, we had a million worries like any new parent has, but none of them involved a global pandemic.

But at least we got some time to prepare. My hat goes off to any new parents that had a child for the first time during this nightmare.

Parenting in quarantine

After locking ourselves away for months in quarantine and being scared of human interaction (even with our family) we started to loosen up a little bit for the sake of our sanity and overall mental health.

It was during this time that our fearless little wonder’s personality started to emerge.

Maybe it’s all of the music we listen to, or the songs we write on her drum set and keyboard, or the way she belts out her favorite song from Frozen, but now she is expressing her little self, and the musician in me couldn’t be prouder.

She’s stringing big words together.

She calls everyone her friend.

She’s saying things on purpose to make me laugh.

She’s turning into a little girl.

Some flowers bloom on their own time

She’s blooming at the wrong time, like a flower trying to blossom in a snow storm. It’s beautiful to see, just not right now.

Please wait a few months, when the world can nurture you as it should.

But like how you decided to arrive in this world a few weeks early, you have your own plans.

As a relatively new dad of a little girl learning how to express herself in a pandemic and running up to strangers saying hello, each day is terrifying.

My wife and I are trying to be very cautious here to not stifle her expression, but we need to keep her safe as her parents.

Making friends

After we had to take her out of daycare back in March, we decided not to put her back in just yet, which means she is not really interacting with anyone her age, and it worries us a bit as far as her social development is concerned.

We assured ourselves that this situation is temporary (we hope at least), and she will be returning to daycare someday soon. So our only goals right now as her parents are to keep her safe, alive, and do the best we can with everything else.

Luckily, our little wonder has a cousin who lives nearby and she visits him a few days a week to get her social fix.

Whenever we venture to the outside world where she can enjoy the sun and fresh air she needs to blossom, we try to do so in an open and accepting way.

After all, she is only 2 ½, and we don’t want her to be scared of the world just yet. There’s still plenty of time for that.