fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
No Voices Here
By: Elle Rogers
Tags: Humanity, Hope, Poetry, Resilience, Life

There are no voices here

where swings and slides

sit empty under fading rays of sun

and afternoon clouds

darken down to shadow

where nothing but imaginations run.

There are no voices

between the stacks

or up and down

the aisles of treasured tomes

that, once cracked,

transport us far

from scenes

of stagnancy and home.

There are no voices

crescendoing above

the plates of food

that warmed our bones

nor in bustling buildings

until lately stuffed with life.

There are no voices here

to speak of all that’s yet to be —

only the still, small hope

that whispers one day

time will set us free.
Pursuit of Happiness
By: Andy Smith
Tags: Happiness, Jennifer Aaker, Presentation, Storytelling, Ink

Happiness dominates a lot of discussions today. I find it both somewhat refreshing and confounding to think that becoming happy is a worthwhile goal.

But what are the actions and habits that will actually make us happy, as opposed to what we think will make us happy? If we find ourselves wanting to achieve a deep and meaningful goal on our way to happiness, how can our small acts ignite infectious action, and ultimately impact. And how can such effects be fueled by social media?

Jennifer address these and other questions you may have asked in her recent talk at The Ink Conference in association with TED.

Watch Jennifer’s talk for these and other insights:

Deep breathing has a real impact on our attention and on becoming centered.

Deep happiness is based on finding and doing meaningful things.

We can choose the type of happiness we want to experience.

The happiness we choose to experience impacts the choices we make.

Please add your voice and use the space below to share your specific suggestions about bringing about big change through social media.
LOOK: Hot students at Sichuan college put on a ‘Victoria’s Secret Christmas Show’
Tags: Students, China, University, College, Christmas

LOOK: Hot students at Sichuan college put on a ‘Victoria’s Secret Christmas Show’

Students at other Chinese colleges are green with envy

While one Chinese college may have banned Christmas, we know another one that would never miss the chance for a good show.

On Christmas Eve, students at the Sichuan Southwest Vocational College of Civil Aviation participated in a special “Victoria’s Secret Christmas Show,” featuring women with wings, shirtless guys, and artificial snow.

One of the male students who took part in the show said that while it may have been a bit cold outside, it wasn’t anything that they couldn’t take. “We are all in excellent shape, so it wasn’t a challenge,” he said.

After looking over all the photos of the sizzling festive fun, some netizens have turned green with envy, lamenting that they had obviously chosen the wrong university.

The Sichuan Southwest Vocational College of Civil Aviation has made headlines over the years for having China’s most beautiful campus and its most beautiful student body — only accepting aspiring flight attendants if they are also attractive.

And if it’s not the most beautiful, it’s the best publicized anyway. Every few weeks, the school releases photos of its student body handling onboard security threats:

Put down the cup of noodles!

Lifting weights:

And making like a mermaid:

[Images via NetEase]
Square buys $50 million in Bitcoin / Bitmex founders stepping back
By: Gaurav Agrawal
Tags: Coinmonks, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Square buys $50 million in Bitcoin / Bitmex founders stepping back

Chinese government giving away 10 million yuan to 50,000 people in a lottery

What crypto investors think when they watch the news… Source

US Justice department issued a International statement to asking companies to create break door to bypass end-to-end encryption in their products. There is also a “EARN IT” bill in the House and the Senate which undermines encryption and free-speech on the Internet. Call you representative to stop this bill.

In another news, Square Buys $50M in Bitcoin. It’s the second company after MicroStartergy which is using Bitcoin for its reserve.

After recent legal filing in United States, Bitmex founders stepped back from the company.

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Developers

Miscellaneous

Verification of the Deposit Smart Contract in Dafny

ETH2 Bounty Program

Smock — mock Solidity in JavaScript

ENSjs released and signup for ENS Integration Workshop

Out of the Ether: The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the $55 Million Heist that Almost Destroyed It AllOn Tax Risk in Defi

Liquidity Mining rewards are currently wasteful and suboptimal

Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features

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英文商業交際應酬，你不得不知的禮尚往來小技巧！
By: Wuwow Team
Tags: English, Socialization, Work

二、注意事項與小技巧 Precautions & Tips

When you need to socialize for business, knowing how to appropriately entertain your guests at a business lunch/dinner can be quite tricky. It’s very different from your usual wine and dines with friends. If you’re a novice at this, take a look at some of our bits of advice and tips for you!

當你在商場上交際時，知道該如何在用餐或是應酬中適當地招待他人可能會是非常棘手的問題。這與你朋友之間日常的杯酒交歡是天差地遠的。如果你是一位菜鳥，不仿參考一下我們提供的建議跟秘訣吧！

1. Better safe than sorry! 有備無患

Always stray away from taboo topics, even if it’s not the first meeting, just to be on the safe side! These topics may cause unwanted debates, heated discussions, and other possible sticky situations that you might have a hard time getting out of. These taboo topics include (but not limited to): religion, politics, personal information (salary, weight, age, etc.)

為了安全起見，就算不是第一次見面，千萬不要談到禁忌的話題！這些話題可能會引起不必要的爭辯、激論或是你可能就此難以擺脫其他棘手的情況。這些禁忌的話題（但不僅限於）包括：宗教，政治，個人資訊（工資，體重，年齡等）。

2. Please and thank you. 常說「請」跟「謝謝」

Manners, people, manners! ‘Please’ and ‘thank you’ go a long way. This should be applied to all kinds of socializing, not just for business!

禮貌啊！禮貌！簡單的「please」和「thank you」總是會讓人家對你的印象加分。這可以用在各種類型的社交場合，不僅在於商業上。

3. Don’t hog the mic! 別霸佔主場！

Include others in your conversation. Positive and effective discussions are always at least two-way. You can try asking the following to get others involved in the discussion:

讓別人加入你的話題圈吧。積極且有效的談話都至少要是雙向的。你可以試試看用以下的方式來詢問，好讓其他人參與討論：

“That’s just my take on the situation, but what do you think?”

這只是我對此情況的見解，但您怎麼看？

“I would love to hear your thoughts on this.”

我很想聽聽看您對這個的想法。

4. Take it easy on the booze. 別喝到爛醉

Understanding your alcohol tolerance is more important than ever when your business social events involve intoxicating substances (namely alcohol). In some cultures, drinking alcoholic beverages is inevitable for successful business socializing, but never bite off more than you can chew. Here are a few ways to refuse [more] booze:

當你的社交活動上有令人陶醉的物質（即酒）時，了解自己的酒量比以往任何時候都來的更重要。在某一些國家，基於在社交上取得成功，喝酒是無法避免的事，但不要不自量力。以下是拒絕喝（過多）酒的幾種方法：

“I think I’m done.” / “I’m pretty wasted/buzzed already.” / “I think that’s enough for me.”

我覺得我不行了。／我已經蠻醉／茫了。／我覺得這樣已經夠了。

“Thanks, but I’m the DD tonight!”

謝謝，但今晚我是指定司機！

5. Who’s picking up the tab? 誰來買單?

If you are the host of the event or the inviter, it’s pretty customary for you to foot the bill. Make sure you make the appropriate arrangements to avoid awkward situations. For example, you can pay for the bill when your guest goes to the toilet, or go to the cashier to pay on your way to the toilet.

如果你方是這次的主持人或是邀請人，那麼由你〔們〕來買單是非常習以為常的事情。務必確保你做出適當的安排，以避免尷尬的情況發生。例如：你可以在你的客人去上廁所時去買單，或者你在前往廁所的路上順便去收銀台付款。
Where I Love You and You Love Me
By: Dheeraj Deekay
Tags: Happiness, Poetry, Love, Longing, Poem

Far from here

Where I hate you and you hate me;

There is a world where we love

Not any other kind but the one where I wish to see you each morning;

To smell you before going to sleep

Where I wish to be there when you;

Dream ghosts and have nightmares

Where I can make your morning coffee

And you can bring me my evening tea;

A world where I exist for you

And you exist for me

Where there is love and only love;

Take me there take me to where you are

Wherever that is;

I don’t belong here

Where there is everything

Everything but you;

And honestly nothing is enough when

You are not around;

Slide in or let me drop by

Hold me in your arms

Let’s welcome each other like

The goodbyes we said last;

Let’s walk back to the day

We saw each other

Make amends, hug little longer

Argue less

And kiss a little extra.

…
Office
By: Randy Rather
Tags: Weird, Short Story, Fiction, Politics, Microfiction

Office

My platform

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

I’d like to announce my candidacy for office. My entire platform will be making TV commercials the same volume as the TV shows. I’ll be standardizing the volume between channels. This will also include streaming services. And if you’re a moviemaker who makes the dialog so quiet that my dog can’t even tell when someone’s talking, and then makes the effects so loud that my roof caves in, I’m coming for you too. Vote Randy Rather, “Make the volume normal again!”
How to configure your computer to be “coding ready”
By: Harry Chen
Tags: Learning To Code, Programming, Productivity, Learning, Coding

How to configure your computer to be “coding ready”

7 steps to make your computer coding ready

This guide applies to all of Macs, Windows and Linux. Even though all the examples are done in Mac, you can easily google the instructions for Windows and Linux.

#1 Make your mouse cursor bigger!

Make the cursor big so you don’t have to keep looking for it. The goal is to put less strain on your eyes.

Big mouse cursor

It seems like a weird advice at first, but it really works for some people!

#2 Eliminate keyboard key delays

You want to make sure “Key Repeat” and “Delay Until Repeat” is as fast as possible.

What this means is that you can move your keyboard cursor around quickly when you are coding – a big improvement to your productivity.

Before configuration: slow

After configuration: fast

#3 Able to manage your workspace easily

Organizing your workspace on your computer is paramount. You might want to be able to split your screen with multiple windows to see things side by side.
Do You Have What it Takes to be an Agora Superstar?
By: Sid Sharma
Tags: API, Agora, Real Time Communication, Community, Developer Relations

Agora strives to empower developers around the world to create innovative apps and projects. From disaster recovery drones to augmented reality collaboration platforms, Agora’s customizable SDKs allow devs to create their own experiences with real-time communications. Whether you’re an ambitious startup founder or an enthusiastic hackathon developer, Agora’s wide array of products allow you to get started easily for free and scale immediately.

After seeing all the helpfulness and hard work the Agora developer community provides to all of its members, the Agora DevRel team wanted to launch an official program for these superstars — showcasing their contributions to the whole Agora developer community.

The Agora Superstars program is an exciting platform to help developers expand their knowledge and personal brand through online and offline Developer Relations-related activities such as meetups, conference talks, and being spotlighted in the Superstar Developer Gallery as well as our monthly newsletters.

How You Can Join:

To become an Agora Superstar, you must complete at least 3 of the following requirements:

1 Tutorial blog post using the Agora SDK

1 Demo app built on the Agora SDK

1 Technical talk about Agora

1 Tutorial video using the Agora SDK

1 Meetup hosted about Agora

10 Stack Overflow questions answered with the Agora.io tag

Perks of the Superstars Program:

As a member of the Superstars program, you get:

Exclusive Agora.io Gear just for Agora Superstars

Cool prizes like tech goodies, travel experiences, gift cards, and much more through our Agora AllStars portal

Contribute to shaping our product roadmap in alpha stages of our new products

Exclusive access to the Agora beta programs

Agora food & drink sponsorship at developer meetups (where your talk is about RTC)

Travel & lodging covered for events or talks superstars gives about RTC

One conference pass of your choice each year (subject to terms)

Agora Superstars of the Month Spotlight on our Developer Gallery and newsletter

Mentorship by the Agora DevRel team to help you become a developer advocate/evangelist

You’ll also have the opportunity for further training by the Agora Developer Relations team on the best RTC coding practice, as well as in-depth training on the Agora SDKs.

Get started!

To be an Agora Superstar, submit your application on the Agora Superstars page. The DevRel team will get in touch to help with your onboarding.

Well… what are you waiting for?

Apply now!
The Benefits of Re-shoring Manufacturing
By: Gena Vazquez
Tags: United States, Production, Technology, Silicon Valley, Manufacturing

For the first time in decades, more manufacturing is returning to U.S. soil. At CES this last week, I spoke with several CEOs who are more than ever willing to explore the domestic manufacturing revival .

What are the benefits of the re-shoring initiative? Let’s take a closer look.

A Stronger Economy

We can all agree that production is the backbone of our economy. In order to thrive in this arena, more products need to export than import. We need to make more than we consume. The mass departure of U.S. manufacturing over the past four decades has weakened our economy significantly. In addition to exports, reclaiming 80% of the supply chain would drive our economy up considerably and qualify corporations to receive generous tax benefits. We can gain more profits by exporting more product than trying to outsource internationally to save money on manufacturing.

More Jobs

Companies like GM, Boeing, Ford, GE and Caterpillar are re-shoring manufacturing significantly. These leaders are equipped and funded to be able to provide the support needed to redevelop the manufacturing skill set of job seekers. When manufacturing left the states, certain skill sets in future generations of workers were taken. Necessary skills in manufacturing are usually accumulated through years of hands on experience. Now with newer tax incentives for U.S. manufacturers, they are motivated to offer vocational education and training to their employees.

Quality Control

Keeping manufacturing close to home is key in maintaining high quality. Advancement in technology has enabled superb products to be manufactured efficiently and accurately. Also, sourcing local materials helps manufacturers to control the quality of the materials used to manufacture.

Punctuality

Manufacturers in recent years have conducted more risk analysis’ in an effort to measure financial exposure of missing quarterly shipments. The numbers of missed shipments are staggering. Using foreign manufacturers always invites this resident risk of a tardy delivery as products can be damaged or lost or even rejected or held up in U.S. Customs.
Remember Remember the Fifth of November
By: Shain E. Thomas
Tags: Traffic, Short Story, Travelling Abroad, 144 Words, A Gross

Short Stories

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

A Gross Tale in 144 Words

His father was dead, to begin with. It was a cold cloudless November night when it happened. On this night, Robert lost his father.

Dawson Daily, having just flown into Edinburgh International from the U.S., picked up a rental car and started driving towards Glasgow. With no experience of driving in the U.K., Daily was on the wrong side of the road. Seeing fireworks, because it wasn’t July, confused him.

With spectacular colours, having quickly vanished, fireworks fleetingly lit up the nights sky. A throat tingling scent lingered.

Robert McFadden and his son were travelling home to Edinburgh. Dazzled by the fireworks, Robert Jr gazed skyward. “Look at the fireworks,” said Jr.
Il lancio di GAIA
By: Sabrina Masiero
Tags: Gaia, Esa

in Both Sides of the Table
Reset WordPress Admin Password Tutorial
Tags: Reset, Password, Tutorial, WordPress, Guide

Typically this occurs when someone has forgotten their password, they don’t have access to their email for a standard password reset, or their WordPress isn’t sending emails correctly. In this article, we will guide you through a few quick and easy steps on how to reset the WordPress admin password for all the different types of scenarios you can encounter.

Access To Email: Reset WordPress Admin Password

Firstly, to reset the WordPress password is via the standard login page. This assumes you have access to your email.

Browse to your WordPress login page, typically this is located at /wp-admin, such as domain.com/wp-admin. Then click on the “Lost your password?” link at the bottom. On the next screen, enter your username or email address of your WordPress administrator account. Click on “Get New Password” and you will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Reset WordPress Admin Password Via phpMyAdmin: When You Do Not Have Access To Email

Secondly, as an alternative to using the WordPress Toolkit tool in your cPanel to reset the WordPress password. You can reset the password for the desired user by changing it directly in the application’s database. So, to do this, go to your cPanel and click on the phpMyAdmin icon in the Databases section. Next, locate your WordPress database from the list on the left. However, If you’re not sure which one it is, you can check the wp-config.php file in the root folder of your WordPress installation for the line below:

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘user_wp743’);

SQL Usage

Next, click on the SQL link in the top menu to reset the WordPress admin password. On the new page that opens. you need to enter the following MySQL query inside the text field in the page:

UPDATE `wp_users` SET `user_pass` = MD5(‘NEWPASSWORD’) WHERE `wp_users`.`user_login` = “admin_username”;

As a result, in the above query replace wp_ with the actual table prefix for your WordPress, NEWPASSWORD with the desired password and admin_username with the actual WordPress username. Once you do that click on the Go button in the bottom right part of the screen to execute the query.

Finally, you can now login with your new password. In conclusion, If you want to change your WordPress admin username too. You can follow the instructions in our tutorial on how to change your WordPress username.
Create React App With Linaria
By: Manato Kuroda
Tags: JavaScript, Css In Js, Programming, React, Software Development

Create React App With Linaria

Introduce Linaria to CRA, zero runtime CSS in JavaScript

CSS in JavaScript has been getting popular these days in front end development.

styled-components is one of the most famous libraries in CSS in JS, and it brought a great DX for a lot of developers, such as name collisions and vendor prefixing out of the box. But there are some issues with performance because of its parser.

When it gets rendered, styled-components:

Parses the components

Generates the CSS

Injects the CSS into the style tag in the HTML file

The whole process could make React render slower in some cases.

In fact, most apps will not even notice the performance issue unless there are a ton of components made up of styled-components.

But, if your app is getting larger and changing rapidly in UI, it should be considered.
My Best Online Dating Horror Stories
By: Niki Marinis
Tags: Humor, Online Dating, Dating, Relationships, Life

My Best Online Dating Horror Stories

The most popular of my Cupid Tinder Match series

Katie Dutch — used with permission

You’ve laughed, you’ve cried, you’ve thrown things at the wall in solidarity with me over the myriad heinous online dating horror stories from my indentured servitude wading through the Bog of Eternal Stench that is OKCupid and Tinder.

I’m finally off the market! And it’s my two year anniversary of writing on Medium. To celebrate, I’ve rounded up the top ten most popular Cupid Tinder Match stories for your reading pleasure.

Please enjoy getting frustrated, bewildered, shocked, and angry with me all over again!

1. Mr. Impatient

2. Are You Ready For Some Football?

3. The Comedian

4. Is That Code?

5. French Guy in LA

6. Bakersfield

7. They’re Not ALL Terrible Stories

8. Definitely a Professional

9. Indirect Pass

10. Cause of Death: Boredom
Best DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup
By: Michael Henderson
Tags: Electric Guitar Pickups, And Effects, Dimarzio, Amps

Best DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup

Buy Link: CLICK HERE

DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup Product Description:

DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup. This pickup is designed for maximum impact and power. The sound is tight, aggressive and loud. The design incorporates DiMarzio’s patented dual-resonance coil configuration that senses more harmonic overtones than ordinary humbuckers. Guitars, Amps, and Effects DiMarzio. Guitars, Amps, and Effects, Electric Guitars, Electric Guitar Pickups. Price: 114.99 USD. Sale Price: 79.99 USD.

The DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup is certainly that and will be a great buy. For this price, the DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup is highly recommended and is a popular choice with lots of people.

Buy it Now

Buy DiMarzio DP158/DP159 Evolution Humbucker Pickup is a post from: Musical Instruments
We heard you, TMEA!
By: Hermes Camacho
Tags: Edtech, Education, Music

The Exhibition Floor at TMEA 2016

The Picardy team had another fantastic time at the Texas Music Educators Association convention down in San Antonio last weekend and received some valuable feedback and responses to our Picardy webapp. As musicians, we all know the importance of honing our ability to play our instrument. As teachers, we also know how vital a strong grounding in musicianship — which includes music theory, ear-training, and sight-singing — can mean for their students. That’s what we’re trying to provide at Picardy: a way for teachers to help their students take that step up to the next level. Here are some of the highlights from this year’s conference.

“We (band, orchestra, and choir directors) really want our students to improve their theory skills.” Teachers overwhelmingly understand the importance of a solid foundation of music theory skills, even well beyond the basic fundamentals. It just makes rehearsals and other musical collaborations more productive and meaningful.

“We (band, orchestra, and choir directors) really don’t have that much extra time, either in class or outside of class, to cover what the students need.” There’s the ideal situation and then there’s reality. Teachers want theory incorporated, but they’re already pulling 10+ work days, so where on earth are they going to find the time to plan, teach, and grade all the theory work? They want it to be meaningful and not just something that the students “sort of do”, but really something with which to engage.

“Hey, all this content looks great…but it’s a bit overboard for my middle schoolers and elementary aged kids.” We’ll be working on building out content that’s better suited for elementary students and a smaller subset better suited for the needs of most middle school kids. Sometimes there is such thing as too much of a good thing!

“Do they have to sign up with a Facebook or Google account?” Very soon, the answer to this will be, “nope.” We wanted to take advantage of the security and ease of use of both facebook and google authentication, but we’ll soon be rolling out a unique username and password option for those that want it to be customized to just Picardy. We’ll continue to encourage everyone to use Facebook and Google, but we’re happy to meet the needs of those who don’t use Google or Facebook.

“We really like that Picardy is accessible from most devices, include smartphones and tablets.” We wanted to make using Picardy as easily accessible as possible for everybody, which is why we really focused on making the interface useable on multiple screen sizes and device types. Most students especially have a smartphone with them almost all of the time and far more often than their laptop (if they have one).

We’re looking forward to our next show in New York in late April and to many TMEAs to come!
My Sweaters
Tags: This Happened To Me, Doing Nothing, Self Worth, Appreciation, Self Sacrifice

Inspiration / Feeling like doing nothing

My Sweaters

Giving time away

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

I used to give away my time as one might donate old sweaters. A willing contribution with emotional threads.

The thing was, I didn’t keep any sweaters for myself. Sweaters arrived and were donated, while I froze.

Sweaters were donated daily to a husband and a father — both eager to accept my charity but neither grateful. When I left them both, I kept a few sweaters for myself — ones that would have gone to them before my leaving.

Many sweaters were contributed to the husband’s family. Taken gladly, never replaced, trashed when I left. Trashed, rather than returned.

My stepmother took many sweaters. My sisters and friends, a few. Now they and those sweaters are gone.

My sweaters, over the years, were heavily donated to employers, most of whom did not deserve to stay warm, and certainly not while I shivered. Donation might not be the proper word. They paid for the sweaters but a fraction of what they were worth. Does that not count as a handout?

I donated piles of sweaters to a daughter and two grandchildren. Seeing them warm and comfortable made me happy, even while goosebumps lined my arms. Still, those sweaters were given with joy. Now, the recipients are far away and gather their warmth from others. Their distance is a chill the warmest sweater cannot relieve.

I have many more sweaters these days.

Photo by Sarah Boudreau on Unsplash

But, my current and bountiful inventory of sweaters is not mine alone. These sweaters are shared with a husband, giving warmth to us equally. Some days I am cold and sometimes, he is chilled. We wear the sweaters as we need them, adding and subtracting from the stockpile, never taking all, always leaving some.

Photo by Kristina Litvjak on Unsplash

Many, many times over my almost 66 years of life, I wanted to wrap myself in a warm sweater and nap or read or watch a movie or do nothing. But, I didn’t, I couldn’t. My sweaters were gone — given away. Not one left. Nothing to wrap around me on a day of doing nothing.

So, doing nothing was impossible. I had to keep moving and doing something, anything to stay warm. Frantic energy to keep from freezing.

Not until recently, in these later years of life, do I have enough sweaters for my comfort. A few are still passed to employers but not for free, not for less than their worth, but for the value I place on them. And, I am sure to retain what I need, what I deserve.

As I come upon my 66th birthday, I often bundle myself in a fluffy, warm sweater, and my sweater and I do what we want to do. Like taking a nap as we did this morning. Or sitting on the porch as we did at noon. Or writing as we are doing now.

Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash

I no longer shiver and shake while others are warm.

I no longer scurry about to heat my blood.

It took many years, but now I appreciate the value of my sweaters and of myself.

© Dennett 2020
What's blockchain & how it works?
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency Mining, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Enlighten people with blockchain values - We provide blockchain solutions for helping SMBs to automate business, make growth & enjoy freedom, by education, adoption & development of blockchain technology.

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The fire
By: Chris Carter
Tags: Poetry, Poems On Medium, Poetry On Medium, Fire, Poem

It burns as bright as the sun

The warmth of which can singe

If you get too close.

It lifts upward in blazing

Fierce color

Against a black sky.

As night settles in,

Music pulsates in

The recesses,

While the fire will

Not be assuaged.

It is to be seen in its orange,

Gold and red crimson,

And heard in its crackle

And snap… like fireworks

Popping in the summer night.

If attention is what

It seeks, all eyes

Stare mesmerized at the

Heat and the glow.

No one dares look away,

As embers rise like fireflies

Into the sky.
Crypto Airdrops Oct 22
By: Atnet, Airdrops, Trading
Tags: Cbdc, Airdrops Alert, Bybit, Airdrop, Latoken

Crypto Airdrops Oct 22

Two new token drops ✌️

Via ATNET Airdrops.

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Also read:
§48 Good sex is never ‘Spick and Span’: Sexuality’s Martial Face
Tags: Koestler, Feminism, Sexes, Camille Paglia, Rape

In 1991, Camille Paglia claimed that feminist academics are incapable of understanding sex:

‘There are sexual differences that are based in biology. Academic feminism is lost in a fog of social constructionism. …Emboldened by dumb French language theory, academic feminists repeat the same hollow slogans over and over to each other. Their view of sex is naïve and prudish. Leaving sex to the feminists is like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist’s. The sexes are at war.’ (Paglia 1992, 50; my emphasis)

As the essay’s original title reveals — “Rape: A Bigger Danger Than Feminists Know” (Paglia 1991) — Paglia aims to sophisticate intellectuals’ conception of the complexity between the sexes, by pointing to the problem of rape.

Compare this with Arthur Koestler’s claim: ‘Without an element of initial rape there is no delight’* (Scammell 2009).

Scammel — Koestler’s biographer — is quick to provide a qualification: ’”Rape” was an overstatement, but it shows Koestler’s awareness of the dangers of his behaviour, and there is no doubt that he subscribed to the belief that a little force added spice to sex.’ (ibid). What Koestler speaks of is the seduction of his future (second) wife, Mamaine — ultimately a consensual act but with looming danger of transgressing the boundary of volition. This ’element of …rape’ does not constitute a transgression, but retains a suggestion. Maybe it can be thought of as an act, a simulation, that offers the thought of the danger possible in the vulnerable situation of submission. As such, rape seems to offer a key in the war and peace of the sexes. For sex to be an authentic interface between them an element of battle must be included. Moreover, this inclusion takes the form –by means of simulation — as a sexual act, whereby the male and female actors act out the eternal battle that is never enacted: rape.

This Janus face of the danger/delight nexus seems to speak to a view of consensual relations that is often scorned. In Jerry Hall’s terms: lady in the parlour, saint in the kitchen, whore in the bedroom. Alternatively:

“Who has ever heard of good sex being described as ‘spick-and-span’?”**

/Fred Weibull

* AK to Mamaine Paget, “Tuesday night,” May 1944; Mamaine Paget’s diary, January–May 1944

**I am grateful to my ‘C.H.’ for this elegant formulation, poignantly deflating the petit bourgeois take at the sad, managerial, grey and static reality, jousting at the real thing, which sadly and probably is a fixture in most bedrooms of our neighbours… And maybe even yours?

References

Paglia, Camille. 1991. “Rape: A Bigger Danger Than Feminists Know.” New York Newsday, January 27. https://www.newsday.com/.

Paglia, Camille. 1992. “Rape and Modern Sex War.” In Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays, 49–54. New York: Vintage Books.

Scammell, Michael. 2009. “Commissar or Yogi?” In Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic. Random House.
Midterm Proposal: A Samhain Altar
By: Lauren Busser
Tags: Midterm Proposal, Samhain, P5js, Tarot Cards, Creative Coding

How It Will Look:

I’ve assembled a series of altars in a Pinterest board to draw inspiration from. I’m a little nervous about adding perspective, so I am going to try doing a top view alter, looking down on a black background with some sort of witchy correspondence.

The center will have a simple three-card layout that will ultimately read the past, present, and future. I will utilize a tarot API to create an interactive spread. Where users can pull random cards.

Other things on the altar might include crystals like red jasper, and things like pumpkins and apples. I would like to include a cauldron and possibly program some smoke to rise and swirl out of it. Candles may also be a prominent feature as well as a glass of mulled wine.

Samhain is all about honoring the dead, and with that in mind, I want to use multimedia aspects to pay tribute to pop culture witches and figures that have come before. I think this may work best as a ghost-like overlay but could also be an inserted video. I would also like to have some music playing that will set the mood.

If I go in another direction and want to add an education element I would like to create the text that appears when a mouse is pressed to give the reader some information about the correspondences on the altar.

As an added challenge, I can use a sprite sheet of a cat sleeping on the altar. I can also use sprites for candle flames.

Techniques Used:
How to Discover & Apply Your Unique Perspective to Your Writing
By: Jasmine Rosen
Tags: Blog, Surveymonkey, Writing Process, Blog Writing

4. Connect your “basic” topics to your unique perspectives

With your topics [List A] next to those unexpected analogous experiences [List B], ask yourself, “How is [Item from list A] like [Item from List B]?” Any ideas coming to mind? Jot down the combinations that sound interesting to you.

Ta-dah! Those are your starting seeds to a non-basic blog post. Now, go plant them and write that blog post that everyone will want to read! If you still need more encouragement, I found this article “Don’t feel like an expert, share anyway” by Sara Wachter-Boettcher extremely compelling. Please feel free to comment below any other resources you find helpful!
Ocean Waves
By: Harley King
Tags: Poetry, Love, Oceans, God, Spirituality

The Torchbearer is a light in the darkness that guides us to a better understanding of our purpose in the world.

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Steve Bannon and gaming cheats
By: A.C. Flory
Tags: My Soap Box, Gaming, Games For Big Kids, Adviser, Hong Kong

It’s not often two of my passions combine, but this Washington Post article links the 45th US President’s chief advisor, Steve Bannon, with a company called IGE:

In a nutshell, IGE was the brains and money behind what we gamers call ‘gold farmers’. Think virtual sweatshops in which players from poor countries earn a tiny wage for accumulating desirable ‘goods’ from online games. These valuables are then sold to lazy gamers for real money so that they can have all the goodies…without having to work for it themselves.

Most gamers hate gold farmers, and so do the developers of the games they play. It’s a despicable practice that most games do not allow. In fact, most games ban players caught farming for gold, or trying to sell these items back to players. And guess who worked for IGE during this time? Yup, Steve Bannon. And no, there is no way he could not have known what was going on. Making money off gold farmers and players was IGE’s only business model.

These days, bots have put most flesh and blood gold farmers out of work, but the practice is still despicable.

My thanks to Candy Korman for alerting me to this mindblowing article.

cheers

Meeks
Diabetic Cyborg Life 11/04: Historic A-typical POTUS
By: Adam, Diabetic Cyborg
Tags: Biden Harris, American History, Optimism, Trump, Election 2020

No, THIS IS NOT NORMAL! No matter what the man in charge says while he is the president might insist. Not all political actors, presidents, congressperson, senator or what have you was, or is, corrupt or corrupted.

This is just another bit of the propaganda of Russian president-maker Vladimir Putin’s lies. This campaign of Trump and Putin is all part of the world-wide attack on democracy. Leave it to your friendly trained historian and political science wonk, me, to point out this bunch of lies.

Over time American politics were flooded with money and corruption by actions like Citizens United. That one action allows multinational corporations, MNCs, to act as an individual person and support and hide the money they give to political action committees or action campaigns, or PACs. Those PACs use the money from MNCs to literally buy the politicians and control all they do.

This set-up of Citizens United has been and was pre-existed in other ways before its implementation on January 21, 2010. Yes, there is much that I simplify and leave out here, but that is the broad strokes for my purposes now. This is the dangerous time when democracies can fully fail and become dictatorships.

These words are not hyperbolic, and you chose to vote for democracy in Biden/Harris or to end this 244 year experiment in democracy called The United States of America.
Quit Focusing On The Outcome — A Simple Way To Get More Of What You Want.
By: Tim Denning
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Life Lessons, Self Improvement, Life, Startup

Part One: Hustle/work hard.

At the start, you don’t need any motivation towards an outcome you want in your life. Momentum happens because the sheer shine of your new idea does all of that for you.

When I first started blogging, the first fifty articles were the easiest to write. I had no expectations, audience or critics to tell me I was a moron. I’d sometimes write for eight hours at a time and it was easy to punch out 3000–4000 words with my eyes closed.

I preached the idea that you have to work hard because that’s what I was doing and thought “Well if I have to do so much work then everyone else should too.”

I still believe in working hard, but it’s not my only criteria anymore to enjoy life. Things have evolved and hard work alone is not enough.
Binance Revisione Mensile: 15° Mese
Tags: Binance, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Italy

Binance Exchange provides cryptocurrency trading for fintech and blockchain enthusiasts globally, with multilingual support over a variety of services.

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The key lessons from “Where Good Ideas Come From” by Steven Johnson
Tags: Productivity, Psychology

Lesson 1: Evolution and innovation usually happen in the realm of the adjacent possible.

Four billion years ago, carbon atoms mulled around the primordial soup. But as life began, those atoms did not spontaneously arrange themselves into complex life forms like sunflowers or squirrels.

First, they had to form simpler structures like molecules, polymers, proteins, cells, primitive organisms and so forth. Each step along the way opened up possibilities for new combinations, expanding the realm of what was possible, until finally a carbon atom could reside in a sunflower.

Similarly, eBay could not be created in the 1950s. First, someone had to invent computers, then a way to connect those computers, then a World Wide Web for people to browse and then a platform which supported online payments.

Both evolution and innovation tend to happen within the bounds of the adjacent possible, in other words the realm of possibilities available at any given moment.

Great leaps beyond the adjacent possible are rare and doomed to be short-term failures. The environment is simply not ready for them yet. Had YouTube been launched in the 1990s, it would have flopped, since neither the fast internet connections nor the software required to view videos was available then.

The predominance of multiples in innovation highlights how the adjacent possible is constrained by existing parts and knowledge. A multiple occurs when several people independently make the same discovery almost simultaneously.

Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele isolated oxygen in 1772-1774, unaware of the other’s advancement. But they did share the same starting point, because their search for oxygen could not begin until the gaseous nature of air was first understood. Thus it was inevitable some scientists would reach their discoveries at around the same time.
Questions to ask before choosing a sales CRM and how Pipedrive compares [VIDEO]
By: Weronika Nużyńska
Tags: Sales, Pipedrive, CRM

This post has been written by Paul Minors, a Certified Pipedrive Partner at pickSaaS, and originally published here.

If you’re still deciding which sales CRM you’re going to use in your business, here are some questions to consider to make sure you choose the right CRM. In this video, I discuss how to evaluate different CRM’s and how Pipedrive stacks up against in each area (this video was made in partnership with Pipedrive):
✍🏼 การตลาดล้วนๆ
Tags: Sales, Honesty, Marketing, Software

If “Home” means “Company”. We are building a home that will last for at least a hundred year.

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Data Science is all about making the right choices
By: Rahul Agarwal
Tags: Work, Towards Data Science, Journalism, Machine Learning, Data Science

Data Science is all about making the right choices

And if you don’t make them then your competitor would

Sometime back I was having a discussion with a senior colleague.

His words: “Data Science and Big Data is just a fad and a research problem. What businesses want is an actionable product, something that generates value. And how does data science generate value? It is dying and it is just a fad.”

This, of course, made me a little sad as to how little people understand the domain and how they inherently have biases as to what comprises data science.

This post is about understanding the importance of Data Science.
Almost Maybe
By: Gina Clingan
Tags: Closure, Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Moving On, Relationships

Photo by Aditya Vikram Singh on Unsplash

Your eyes,

all-consuming

like quicksand

or whiskey.

Honeymoons of fidelity

orbiting around black holes of uncertainty,

desperate to control

just how much light gets in.

I could never control

how much of you got in.

I always believed in deadbolts,

but you demanded chain link

and now

all of my beliefs

have become unhinged.

I never

should’ve

let you in,

but this place

wouldn’t be home

without you.

Now,

it never will be again.

I am left

with a bouquet of Almost Maybes,

leaving flowers on the doorstep

of everything

that might have been.

© Gina Clingan 2020
Hearth
By: Owen Banner
Tags: Haiku, Poetry, Love, Christmas, Haiku This

This is a Haiku in response to Haiku Hub’s Prompt: Fire

Owen Banner spent his childhood baptized in the red dirt of Mandeville, Jamaica and his adolescence in the neon morass of Manila in the Philippines. He’s lived in or traveled to countries all over the planet, nourished by their people and cultures. These diverse voices plant the seeds of his stories, which twist genre and seek new perspectives. Discover more at owenbanner.com
Mama Hope Magic: From Little Things, Big Things Grow
By: Mama Hope
Tags: Maternal Health, Uganda, Sustainability, Healthcare, Community Led Development

Written by Mukisa Bernard Nadhomi, Coordinator of Budondo Intercultural Center Programs in Budondo, Uganda

Mukisa (lower right corner) in Russian language courses, during his first year in the Soviet Union

I came back from studying in Russia knowing I was going to be a teacher. I knew I was going to be a teacher and die a teacher. But things changed when I came back to Uganda and my wife told me stories about the different people in our community — especially those who had died.

An old man had swollen legs. He was advised to go to a referral hospital where he was told to pay some money so that he could have a blood transfusion. His daughter advised him not to give the money — that they should go home, there are health workers that can look after him at a far cheaper price. When he went back home they put in an IV that was just water. When one bottle was over, the man died.

A mother had given birth in the village with the help of a village helper — we call them traditional birth attendants. The woman gave birth alright. This was a younger couple. The traditional birth attendant asked for money, but the boy did not have enough, so he gave her what he had and promised to bring the balance. The birth attendant said no, leave your wife here, go home and bring the balance. So the boy went off to bring the balance. And the attendant left the new mother alone in the house. She went, we don’t know where. When she came back, the woman had bled to death. The young husband came to find his wife dead.

Then there was the story of a nine month pregnant woman who had malaria. She was taken to a local drug practitioner. The practitioner didn’t know what to do, but he thought he could help, and it would earn him money. But in the end, by the time he thought of referring the mother to a hospital, it was too late. Before a doctor reached her, she died.

My wife told me one more story. This one I’ve never told. There was a younger girl who wanted to abort her baby. She was advised to boil coca cola, put in a nail to make toxins that would end the pregnancy, and to drink it. After some hours, I think seven or eight, the girl died.