fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Uncorrupted Stand
By: Pretheesh Presannan
Tags: Spiritual Secrets, Beginning, Anxiety, Fresh Start, Beginners Mind

to take an uncorrupted stand is

to not say —

I can do this

I must do this

I must face this

I should do this

I will do this

and more importantly

to not say I can stand

to take an uncorrupted stand is also

to not say —

I can’t do this

I will mess up

I am not capable

this is not for me

I cannot face it

to take an uncorrupted stand

is perhaps to simply see

what is it in reality when you aren’t

continuously corrupting your intelligence

with neither positive nor negative thoughts

to take an uncorrupted stand is also

to not give in to what you believe about yourself

be it strong or weak;

but to simply see

what is it for real when you aren’t

busy corrupting your experience

to take an uncorrupted stand is also

and perhaps for the first time

to take a break from

slipping into habitual reflexes

in a totally unconscious way;

but to begin to see it

what is driving it

what might come up

what you might see

— ugly or beautiful,

calm or panic —

you aren’t concerned

standing unforced and uncorrupted

to take an uncorrupted stand is

perhaps to see with fresh eyes

for the first time.

Consider reading similar poems:

Thank You ❤

Pretheesh Presannan
Video and Live Streaming Are Taking Over Digital Marketing in 2020
By: Atanas Shorgov
Tags: Better Marketing, Live Streaming, Video, Digital Marketing, 2020

Video

According to a quick Google search, five billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day.

Just for a little perspective.

One million seconds is 11.5 days.

One billion seconds is 31.5 years.

Five billion videos is an insane number and it just shows how enormously popular, and such a huge part of our lives, YouTube and videos have become.

If you’re a digital marketer who’s never thought of using videos as part of your marketing strategies, you may want to reconsider your profession.

It doesn’t mean that videos are the only way of doing things. You can still use all the other channels of traditional communication, but also start making videos!

Videos are also great because you can re-recreate the information presented and put into different formats.

If you look at Gary Vaynerchuk’s promotional activities, he can make a video, and then turn it into an article and a social media post, and a tweet, and an infographic. You can have one video, which you can convert into all these smaller parts and interconnect and link them to each other for increased traffic.

Videos won’t die all of a sudden and a very safe prediction would be that video production will only increase and develop in 2020 and that marketers will be using it a lot for their businesses.
3 Perspective-Changing Quotes from Ram Dass
By: David Silvestro
Tags: Spirituality, Mindfulness, Life, Self Improvement, Life Lessons

Ram Dass in 2017, via RamDass.org

Ram Dass, the spiritual guru known for his profound perspective, died this past Sunday. He leaves behind a legacy full of wisdom that has reached folks far and wide.

A Harvard professor, psychedelic researcher, and a psychologist, Ram Dass found himself on a mission to bring the great philosophies of the East to the Western world. Philosophies of love, mindfulness, and loss of ego.

I’ve come to know of Ram Dass only in the last six months or so, through a Mike Posner interview on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty. Hearing Posner talk about his powerful experience with Ram Dass convinced me to go dive deep into his lectures and writings.

I came across dozens of powerful ideas that could humble the most powerful of people alive. His work is wildly perspective-altering.

I wanted to honour Ram Dass and the life he dedicated to bettering human experience. I’ve selected three of his quotes and ideas that resonate with me the most.

“Wherever you are, be all there.”

I love how profound yet simple this is. No matter what you’re doing — washing dishes, hanging with friends, writing this article — immerse yourself fully. This is the way to truly experience life and emotion.

Ram Dass’ ‘here-and-now-ness’ was so strong and is a focal point of his teachings. The idea of presence is something we’ve heard a million times, but something that’s very hard to master. In his literature, Dass urges us to practice being present through techniques and training, for this is the only way to achieve ‘here and now-ness’.

“When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru.”

Ram Dass was a big believer that we can learn something from anyone that crosses our path.

Everyone possesses a collection of knowledge developed from their unique perspectives and experiences. When we’re open to learning from someone else, we allow ourselves to learn a lesson that only that specific person can teach us. Believing this is the first step to becoming a better listener and accumulating a wealth of wisdom.

The themes of silence and quality listening seem to be constant throughout Dass’ work. He preaches the immense value in silencing your mind to be a better listener. The less you judge the person teaching you, the more you’ll be able to hear what they’re saying.

“When you take off your mask, it’s easier for everyone else to do it. Our culture is so mask-driven. Imagine an office with no mask.”

Being authentic can be very difficult. We live in a world where grand goals and ambitions are praised. Everyone is trying to change the world and have something to show for it. If we have nothing to show, we put on a front. If it’s not what we believe, we put on a mask. This not only hides who we truly are, but it transforms us as well.

What Ram Dass is saying is spot on. When we dare to act as our true selves, we inspire others to do the same. Showing the people around us who we really are, no matter how weird or different we may be, will make them feel more comfortable to do the same.
「君の名は。」は秒速5センチメートルへの救いだった〜「君の名は。」考察①〜
By: Kenji Fujimoto
Tags: Movie, Anime, Review

in In Fitness And In Health
CAPRICORNIA
By: Policy Innovation Hub
Tags: Elections, Politics, Government, Policy, Australian Politics

The Central Queensland seat of Capricornia was won by Michelle Landry for the LNP in 2013 and she retained it in 2016 by a tight margin of 0.6 percent. The seat runs inland from Rockhampton and is a mixture of regional city, rural towns, agricultural, mining and pastoral areas. For much of its history, it has been a Labor seat with strong support from the mining towns of Collinsville, Moranbah and Dysart. The smaller agricultural centres such as Clermont and Finch Hatton vote LNP with the vote in urban centres split down the middle.

Information taken from Hansard via They Vote for You

There are nine candidates running in this election. As well as the major parties, the Katter Australia Party (KAP) had a strong presence at the last election with a vote of 7.1 per cent. This year, as well as the KAP, there are candidates from Labour DLP, One Nation, Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party and Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party. The announcement that the UAP will direct preferences to Michelle Landry, as well the KAP and ON has strengthened her position.

Full list of candidates for Capricornia.

The ALP candidate Russell Robertson is a third-generation miner from Moranbah and has come out to strongly support the opening up of the Galilee Basin and Adani. At the last election, the Greens only polled 4.7 per cent of the vote and any flow on from these preferences will be insufficient to see Labor return to what was once a safe Labor seat.
ARK at The North American Bitcoin Conference
By: Travis W
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Conference, Fintech

Recently ARK attended The North American Bitcoin Conference, also known as TNABC and BTC Miami. The turn out was tremendous! There were over 5,000 attendees and a constant flow of speakers and projects over two days.

The entire ARK Crew enjoyed talking with everyone we met and we were very excited at the level of pure enthusiasm surrounding our booth for the entire event. We had the pleasure of meeting many great people and are truly optimistic for the future of this industry, and for the future of ARK.

Our very own Dr. Scott McPherson was a keynote speaker during the conference. During his keynote, he highlighted ARK’s key points and strategies, including SmartBridge, Push-Button Blockchain creation, ARKVM and much more.

Scott also kept it light with subtle humor throughout the keynote, seen here while showing and describing the functionality of the desktop wallet with an account named “Lambo Fund”.

One goal mentioned during the keynote was our need to educate and create awareness among young programmers about the exciting future of blockchain technology. Everyone at ARK feels very strongly about this, and it is this need that is the driving force behind our push for hackathons and our developer bounty programs.

As we progress in 2018, the Ark Crew will be attending many events. We are very excited to build our technology, and we hope it shows as we are equally excited to display it to the masses. Stay tuned to our social media channels for the announcement of future events and any pictures or interviews from previous events as they are released.
Presenting on Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud and Looker at the UK Oracle User Group Analytics Modernisation Forum, 8th October 2019
By: Mark Rittman
Tags: Looker, Oracle Autonomous, Analytics, Oracle Database Cloud, Oracle Database

Presenting on Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud and Looker at the UK Oracle User Group Analytics Modernisation Forum, 8th October 2019 Mark Rittman Follow Sep 9, 2019 · 3 min read

Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud (ADWC) brings elastic-scaling, easy cloud provisioning and Exadata performance improvements to Oracle Data Warehousing customers, making this new Oracle Database Cloud technology an ideal database storage and compute layer to work with the next-generation Looker Data Platform.

Our use of Oracle ADWC on client projects was profiled in an article in Forbes last year and we’ve spoken at events such as Oracle Open World and the UK Oracle User Group on the agility that Oracle ADWC brings to enterprises that had previously only been possible at small tech startups.

“How A Big Business Can Use An Autonomous Database To Move Like A Startup” — Forbes.com

But it’s no use bringing agility to your data warehousing platform if your analytics are still stuck in the old, monolithic era when projects take months or years to complete rather than just a few weeks and your developers are forced to work together by sharing binary repository files in Dropbox with version numbers appended to the file name … a process I know all too well having written the book on it back in 2012.

Looker brings a truly modern and agile software and content development approach to business analytics taking concepts such as the business semantic model, single version of the truth and metadata-driven native SQL generation and updating it for today’s multi-cloud, speed-of-thought analytics tool users.

Familiar … and yet modern, modular and agile : Looker Data Platform

If you’re an Oracle Database or Applications user and you’re interested in how Looker Data Platform can make your analytics truly agile and enable your multi-cloud strategy, I’m speaking on this topic at the UK Oracle User Group Analytics Modernisation Summit in London on Tuesday, 8th October 2019.

Presenting on big data and analytics modernisation at UKOUG Tech’17, Birmingham

In “Democratise your Oracle Data Analytics using Oracle ADWC and Looker Data Platform” I’ll outline the key features of Looker in the context of traditional ways of developing BI content on-top of Oracle database source data and highlight key areas in which Looker leverages Oracle ADWC and Oracle 18c/19c database features.

I’ll also show how Looker can work across multiple cloud providers without lock-in or extensive configuration, and explain how Looker development really does deliver on the promise of agile development and rapid time-to-value.

Until then, you can find out more about our data analytics, data engineering and data strategy services for Oracle, Looker, Snowflake and Google Cloud Platform customers on our company website, or contact me at mark.rittman@rittmananalytics.com to find out more now.
XYO and Cyber Antigens: A Partnership for Food Safety and Other Critical Applications
By: Jenn Perez
Tags: Smart Cities, Blockchain, IoT, Food Safety, Bitcoin

Cyber Antigens is a technology powerhouse. The company focuses on technology R&D for secure computing and cybersecurity, microsensor networks and signal processing, and critical applications including nuclear energy, autonomous vehicles, and the Internet-of-Things (IoT) for smart cities.

XYO Network concentrates on delivering truly trusted location data using blockchain technology — tech that can reliably serve as the backbone for many of these applications.

So, we’re announcing a business and engineering joint partnership with Cyber Antigens, specifically for critical applications. One example? Technology adoption for food supply and food safety in the U.S.

With supply chain operations, Cyber Antigens has developed a business case and system architecture that was crafted using domain experts in the specialty food industry. This includes business, regulatory, standards and science.

Why focus on food supply? The food supply chain is mostly operated using a paper system that starts with farmers and follows all the way through processing, packaging, distribution, and retailing.

But even more importantly, when food-borne illness breaks out, the existing paper system is very costly, time consuming, inaccurate and incomplete. This outdated system is not very good at tracking down instances of contamination, mishandling and tampering during the production process, including the processing, transportation, storage and recalling stages.

As partners, XYO and Cyber Antigens will collaborate on smart city initiatives, including critical food supply chain applications.

We are thrilled to work together on the engineering details that will fill the market’s needs, so we can share our vision and positively transform certain industries.

.
27 SEPTEMBER 07:00 GMT — UBCOIN MARKET ANDROID APP RELEASE!
By: Ubcoin. Cryptocurrency Reimagined
Tags: Android, Bitcoin, Ubcoin Product, Ethereum

🎉 We also announce the 5 000 UBC RANDOM BONUS during the first 24 hours after the Android app release.

💎 Three randomly-chosen people who downloaded Ubcoin Market Android app, created an account and placed an item for sale there during 24 hours after the release — will receive BONUS of 5 000 UBC on their Ubcoin Market app account!

🔥 How to participate:

1 — Wait for the Ubcoin Market Android app release (27 September 07:00 GMT)

2 — Download Ubcoin Market Android app, create an account and put something for sale there — do it all till 28 September 07:00 GMT

3 — Wait for the announcement of winners (three random persons)!

❤️ More info about Ubcoin Market app: https://ubcoin.io/en
Today, everyday.
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Comics, Covid 19, Cartoon, Illustration

First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.

Follow
We’re Close When We Feel Broken
By: Stephenie Zamora
Tags: Happiness, PTSD, Self Improvement, Grief

We’re deep in the throes of becoming who we’re here to be when we feel the most stuck and frustrated and stalled out. When we feel like we’re making the least progress, or like we’re just slipping backwards time and time again.⁣⁣⁣⁣

We are closest to the divine when we’re our most broken and beaten down. Millimeters from truth and source and purpose. When we feel the most lost and hopeless, we are so incredibly close to the insight and inspiration we need to pick ourselves back up.⁣⁣

⁣⁣But I won’t deny that these are the hardest and most frustrating times. The most challenging and exhausting. I won’t pretend I haven’t been here, many times, ready to give up entirely.⁣⁣⁣⁣

“I sometimes wonder if the point of things getting this shitty is to actually test the depth of conviction in what’s important,” my good friend wrote to me late one night. And while my response to that is “absolutely,” I think that’s only half the conversation.⁣⁣⁣⁣

It’s also about us being turned upside down and inside out so that all which no longer fits or resonates or serves us can fall away. The people, stories, ways of being, obligations, attachments… it’s about making space for what’s to come, as well as breaking us down to our core so we can connect with what’s true. So we can start the real work of becoming who we’re here to be in this life. Serving in the way only we can serve.⁣⁣⁣⁣

“So be encouraged. The agony you are experiencing is normal. The loneliness you feel is to be expected. The sleepless nights when you share up at the ceiling and think, ‘what have I gotten myself into?’ are part of the process.” Andy Stanley⁣⁣
My Heroines are Trans Women
By: A Singular Story
Tags: Culture, Women, Feminism, Equality, Transgender

My Heroines are Trans Women

Some women have to fight daily for the right to be themselves

Photo by Ted Eytan on Flickr

My boss is standing by my desk wringing her hands again.

“Um, Kitty? Stella* is, um… would you mind?” she says.

“Not at all. Where is she?” I ask.

Hers is a wordless reply, a finger pointing toward the ladies. Before I’ve gotten up, she’s already scuttled off back to her office.

Stella is one of our sound engineers and she is a trans woman. While the world’s largest public media broadcaster for which we work is indeed a forward thinking organization, some of us still have difficulty dealing with the reality of transgender staff.

As a result, many ignore Stella and look through her. Others like my boss seem embarrassed by her presence, and some male colleagues subject her to regular harassment and verbal abuse.

And they are vicious.

This is why Stella is in tears in the bathroom again and I cannot for the life of me understand why my boss couldn’t find it in herself to comfort her. My boss is a woman, I’m a woman, Stella is a woman and yet female solidarity has failed her once more.

Somehow, I seem to be one of the very few people Stella can talk to even though I’m a lowly assistant. She is at least 15 years my senior, an accomplished sound engineering professional, and a recording artist. We struck up an immediate rapport the day I arrived. Becuse I greet and smile at every human who walks past my desk, which encompasses the whole department.

Many people pay me no heed because they’re running to and from the studios, but Stella always says hi, even when she’s in a hurry. And when she’s not, we have a chat.

She is the first trans woman I meet and she graciously shares her story with me, teaching me about gender dysphoria and body dysmorphic disorder.

More than that, she schools me in courage as she weathers daily humiliation while keeping her head up. Despite the frequent tears, she is unapologetically herself, a professional woman who demands to be treated as such.

With the same respect and courtesy she extends to everyone.

Unlike many of my colleagues, I do exactly that.

Why wouldn’t I?
California Boys
Tags: Blue Insights, Poetry, Survivor, Poetry On Medium

Photo by Jens Mahnke from Pexels

California Boys

A Poem

I.

He dragged his fingers down my skin,

telling me in all his chaos

I would want to give him all of my control.

I didn’t believe the lies from the lips of men, even then

as the sun shone down on us

and he tucked me away behind the hedges

as if the woman sunbathing in the backyard

even cared there was someone whispering sweet-nothings

I didn’t believe but I feigned to accept

into my starving heart

for free.

II.

It was April, only months before I forgot what a classroom looked like,

and I don’t know how whole months can be swallowed by the abyss

not of oblivion, but of pain

anniversaries that last through reframing of the constellations

as he grabbed my wrist and told me that he “knew a guy.”

I was almost lost on those streets —

full of sweet-nothings for anyone hungrier than I was for love.

I remember the smell of booze and street food

cigarettes and getting hair dye that wasn’t mine on my skin

and wandering at 4 a.m.,

walking among houses I knew no one would ever want me seen in

landing on the beach at 7 in the morning

the sunrise hitting me

as if nothing had ever left me with bruises before.

III.

He told me he went off to find himself

and I wonder if he became one of the hundreds more missing

than he had been before he went.

I remember leaving for our drives in his birthday convertible

and her hand on my back as she pushed me and said,

“He’s the son of a lawyer”

as if that was all that mattered.

But what a disappointment it must have been to her

that he went off into the ferns and forests to make his own fortune

leaving me behind with holes in the pockets and knees

and so I, too, whispered sweet-nothings to her

telling her while I was trying not to cry,

“It’s okay, Mother. I’ll miss him too but at least I’ll never (get to) leave.”
Warning: What You’re Also Getting With a Bitcoin Investment
By: Chris Douthit
Tags: Blockchain, Investing, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Investment, Bitcoin

For those who can remember back to the 90s, when the internet first started there was also no shortage of scams, fake professional looking e-commerce sites were popping up all over the place ready to take your credit card payment only never to deliver the product. If you were lucky, that would be the end of it. Otherwise, the less fortunate would have to chase down additional charges placed by the scammer once they had your credit card details.

This gave birth to a whole new industry of business, companies like Verisign were created to ensure sites asking for your credit card details were in fact who they said they were by creating digital certificates that employed encryption to online shoppers. Eventually, most fraudsters were stomped out. The same thing is happening in the blockchain space right now and with it, a whole new industry is taking shape to change blockchain for the better.

By the way, Verisign’s market value exploded from $100 million in 1998 to almost $27 billion in 2000. That’s a 26,900% increase in just two years. The same thing is happening in crypto right now if you know what names to get into.

There is no doubt bitcoin still has issues, which is why we continue to see such wild volatility. Bitcoin wants to move higher, but it keeps getting pulled back down by the fraudsters that want to cheat the system. Things are changing quickly, and for the better, it won’t be long before those scammers get stomped out, and when it happens, bitcoin will be left with little to hold it down.

Wrap Up

Bitcoin is a highly volatile investment that can move on investors without warning, but over the long term, the issues it faces are going to be addressed and solved, just like with every other technology this world has ever seen.

I don’t see bitcoin going away any time soon, it continues to get more integration with societies, more companies accepting bitcoin payments, and more users and more transactions as we move forward.

As it sits today, bitcoin is not without its risks, and as it slowly moves pasts its flaws, it inches its way closer to perfection. One day it will get there, the question is will you own it and ride it up or will you buy it and use it once it gets there?

What’s Next

Be a part of the future of blockchain by owning the cryptocurrency products that are solving real problems to better humanity. I have started a cryptocurrency community where we uncover the projects that are building a better future for tomorrow and how we can profit from them when they do. One such example can be found by clicking here. If you like the way we work, there are a lot more where that came from. I hope to see you inside.
SUPER-AUTHOR ASHLEY ANTOINETTE COLEMAN CREATES WORLDS OF BLACK EXCELLENCE
By: James R. Sanders
Tags: Urban Literature, Black Writers, Ashley Antoinette Coleman, Baldwinbites, Street Literature

Promotional Image of Ashley Antoinette Coleman

Truly, if Black beauty could be imagined as its own world — its creator free from apprehensions and personal insecurities, that world would be authored by Ashley Antoinette Coleman.

Her pen is a masterful weapon of retribution she uses to get justice for misappropriated stories — our stories.

Coleman crafts narratives that are not only relatable, but as it turns out… popular.

But popularity isn’t new for the urban lit or street lit genre — a literary space Coleman was thrust in with her husband (also a bestselling author), JaQuavis Coleman. While her literary works extend beyond the genre, it was this movement of words, that first introduced to audiences, her literary prowess. Like Iceberg Slim, Donald Goines, and Sista Souljah, Coleman uses her own experiences to create entire worlds. But it was one such experience that launched her career.

She’s 34 now, but even when she was a child growing up in Flint, Michigan as an avid reader, she used books to visit several worlds long before she had aspirations to be a writer.
Latest picks: In case you missed them:
By: Tds Editors
Tags: Editors Pick, Towards Data Science, Data Science, The Daily Pick, Machine Learning

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Bill Barr Makes A Discovery
By: Liza Donnelly
Tags: Barr, Election 2020, Democracy, Politics, Trump

Yesterday, Attorney General William Barr publicly announced that the Justice Department found no evidence of fraud that would swing the 2020 Presidential election. This follows a comment by Trump just days before that he believed the Justice Department and the FBI might have been involved in corrupting the election. Barr has repeatedly done Trump’s bidding and sided with him over and over again, if not lying on his behalf.

What a nightmare, but it’s almost over.

The above drawing is based on the actual door of the Justice Department. It’s huge. This breaking news was something I knew needed to be drawn about, and my mind went through various ideas before landing on this. Barr hiding behind the female symbol of justice, Trump chasing Barr, Barr stamping down Trump….but decided this might get the message across.

Below, you can watch me create the above drawing on my daily live draw on Happs TV. If you like what I do, consider becoming a sponsor and join my wonderful group of supporters on HappsTV. It’s a startup that suuports viewer support. Happs.tv/@liza
Duality of Love
By: Salitha Nirmana Meththasinghe
Tags: Poetry, Philosophy, Poetry On Medium, Love, Haiku

Love, like fire

If contained, pure bliss!

Yet unleashed, absolute agony!
Diabetic Cyborg Life 12/29: My Story of Caring Pt.2
By: Adam, Diabetic Cyborg
Tags: Optimism, Liberal Democracy, Human Rights, American History, Hope

The love of life and others is the main message and finding a moral, just way of living is of the utmost importance … Part 2:

Constant posting of Buddhist principles and ideas drew a love of the human instincts and morals of a secular way of love and morays. It seems that is why I so easily turned those enlightened ideas to Islam and Muslim principles. The righteous, good ways of living in the options of good Muslims are not different from those of all good people in general.

Contrary to Islamophobes and hate filled people say and lie to all about, peace, love and humanity is the same among all good Muslims, Buddhist, Christians or even non-believers. Good is good, the honest are the honorable.

Those are truly some of the ideas this experiment in democracy in North America was built on. Those enlightened ideas lead to the revolutions in the British Colonies, America, and France. The liberal principles were shaped and changed slightly over the centuries, but the origins of the ideas are still there.

Believe, follow and live those enlightened ideas now, and we can still have the liberal democracy we were founded upon. Yes, they were white, slave owning rich spoiled men. But they saw that progress could lead to the nation that we can share and reside harmoniously in.
Hiveterminal: New Development Team to Meet Challenges Ahead!
By: Domen Ursic
Tags: Hvn, Hiveterminal, Small Business

Kalmia has become synonymous with great customer experience, exquisite software ingredients, great usability, cutting-edge design, and a top-notch tech stack and support services. Working on cutting edge products such as Doctrina, an e-learning platform that enables medical staff to continuously educate themselves on the latest topics, and Iskratel X10 (Iskratel is a leading European provider of communications solutions for the digital transformation of the telecommunications, transport, public safety, and energy industries). Kalmia and Iskratel worked together to develop a multi-platform unified communications VoIP client which is tightly coupled with an existing Iskratel UC solution. Their team has a lot of experience in blockchain development and is also building their own product Authtrail (www.authtrail.com) aimed at providing data integrity as a service at a high scale. We are already discussing how Hiveterminal can benefit out of it to become even better for our users.

We have been working closely with their team of blockchain and software developers, led by Dr. Klemen Peternel and Leon Pajntar. We are happy that the handover went smoothly and without any complications.

Together we have reviewed our business roadmap and set tech development priorities, which include manual onboarding for EU companies and different datasets for credit score calculations. Their team is already working on making it a reality!

We will share Hiveterminal‘s business and tech-development roadmap with the community soon, but our path is clear: develop functionalities so we can provide fast and low-cost liquidity to EU-based companies as quickly as possible!
Traditional December Celebrations Around the World
By: Øivind H. Solheim
Tags: Writing Prompts, Cultural Prompt, Christmas, Blue Insights, Happiness

December is the month when the day in our part of the world is at its darkest.

December is the month of winter solstice. The winter solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs in December each year, but the dates vary from 20 to 23 December. This is the time when the sun “turns”, and the days ahead will slowly lengthen.

It’s the time when we stay indoors for the most part.

What does December stand for?

For many, December is synonymous with Christmas.

As children, we remember this part of the year as Christmas decorations, school holidays, snow, lots of snow. And gifts, and time with siblings and parents, the TV classics and the special Christmas mood.

It is the time of year when people send nice Christmas greetings to each other, there is a real Christmas mood and there must be candles of all kinds that are lit everywhere. And of course Christmas music.

Christmas means a lot of different things, but most of all it means free time to gather both oneself and the family. Christmas is a time where you slow down, retreat a little and take care of family, friends and yourself. We enjoy traditional food, have time off from work and time for what really matters in life.

December is a month with many lights — and it is a time that almost everyone has a special relationship with.

— What does December mean to you?

Here is the writing challenge from Blue Insights for December 2020:

What December Means to Me
Racism, 2019
By: Jenny Justice
Tags: America, Politics, Poetry, Racism, Education

Stop.

It’s imperative.

Saying you are not a racist

And being upset for being called a racist

Because you vote for racist politicians

And cheer on racist policy decisions

Is an example of white privilege

That blows minds and breaks bones

In the level of harm it creates

There is no distinction

No cause

For voting or supporting racism, homophobia, sexism, bullying

On the national, state, local, global, wide scale

And believing in the ideals and theories and justifications

Aka, in having racist tendencies

You cannot

In personal life

Separate

Your individual

Actions

Ideas

Beliefs

From what you support

Endorse

Are okay with

Allow

Cheer for

Vote for

Politically

You cannot smile and say you are positive

And that you value all people

When the one person you valued to lead us all

Is propped up by an agenda of genocidal dreams and fascist schemes

Harm will come

Harm will continue to come

Harm will never cease

You say you are upset

because we are calling your

racist behaviors and language racist

But you cannot notice

The connection between

That dude you love and cheer for

The fascist wannabe dictator

And his cuts to food stamps,

His concentration camps

His rhetoric of send them back

His consistent method of race-based attack

This nation is being set up

A cold stark fascists amusement park

Pointy white cones that used to be worn only after dark

Now the hoods are off and calling all the shots

Somehow you expect us to say well, not everyone who likes this guy is a racist

When that is all this guy is and does with this power and position? Be and do racist things.

Nah, bro.

Nah.

The mirror is calling you,

Take a look

Yes, that MAGA hat makes you look racist.

Take it off, look around, — connect the dots.

Change. Change. Change. Change. Change.

You think Anne Frank ways lying? You think Jesus was a joke? Nah bro, Nah.

You’re on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of woke.

Just because they won’t come for your first doesn’t mean they won’t come for you eventually.

What you allow to be done to the “least” will be how you are valued in the end.

Stop fueling the fire. Stop fanning the flames. Stop letting Fascism and Xenophobia happen in your name.
When a river is a person, would the world be different?
By: Desiree Driesenaar
Tags: Rivers, Life, Law, Short, Nature

When a river is a person, would the world be different? From Ecuador to India to New Zealand, nature gets her day in court. The laws in these countries have been changed to include nature beings.

In New Zealand, a law has been adopted that gives the Whanganui River, flowing across the North Island, the rights of personhood. That means the river can act as a person in a court of law. She has legal standing.

One step at a time, some countries are starting to understand Deep Ecology. We, humans, are part of nature. Respectful equals. And our human laws will reflect that in time.

© Désirée Driesenaar
Where Do You Want to Fuck?
By: Guy New York
Tags: Short Story, Erotica, Fiction, Sex, Sex In Public

She didn’t want to fuck in Central Park. Too pedestrian she said, no pun intended.

She also didn’t want to fuck on top of the Empire State Building, in The Statue of Liberty, on The Staten Island Ferry, The F train, the NY Public Library reading room, under the whale in the Natural History Museum, on the roof of the MET, in the bathroom of the Boom Boom Room, on the balcony at the Campbell Apartment, or even under the arch in Washington Square Park.

I pushed myself to go more personal.

The secret room at Fanelli’s? No way. Freeman’s Alley? Who hasn’t? The restrooms in Tompkins Square Park? As if.

When I suggested breaking into Schillers which had been closed for a year, she smiled but shook her head, and when I asked if maybe we should just fuck in the middle of Park Avenue, she laughed as she considered it.

But later that evening, as we walked out of Raul’s and along Prince Street, she paused by the old cathedral with a whisper and a tug. We snuck through the gate, kissed against the old stone wall, and then slipped down among the tombstones and the tall grass.

Right here, she whispered. Fuck me right here.
So, what is #DeOS?
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Quantum Computing, 21e800, Cryptocurrency

This is the basis of #DeOS, the “decentralized quantum computer” that Desantis’ has been working on. If there’s anything significant about yesterday’s block hash, it’s that he’s clearly made some sort of breakthrough with his project. Again, I can’t fully wrap my mind around what he’s trying to accomplish, but I’ll write out my thoughts and maybe together we can deduce what’s really going on here. If you couldn’t have guessed, when you go to the project’s website, it’s just a simulated 3d visualization. So as per usual, we have to do our best to decipher Desantis’ and others in his circle’s cryptic tweets. (Side note: Have any of you ever read House of Leaves? The similarities are striking. If you’ve been enjoying working through this mystery, I highly suggest that book!)

One of his sayings I stumbled across mention how the two most important inventions to humankind were:

1. Money

2. Language

While Bitcoin obviously tackles the former, the latter is just as important to decentralize. When the internet first arose, everyone presumed that it would be a bastion of freedom for all of us. They didn’t hypothesize what ended up happening to the internet, it ended up centralized, hence up for censorship. You can tell through reading DeSantis’ blog posts how important language is to him. It seems like he was already working on a decentralized communication* protocol, and later pieced together that Bitcoin was needed as the underlying network to actualize this idea. (I also can’t find this tweet! I’ll look for it. There’s just so damn many to sort through.) From what I gather & as indicated here, this system is currently being put into place, or very well may already be completed.

There’s still so much to figure out here. I can’t fully wrap my mind around the implications this system would have, but it doesn’t feel (to me) that there are nefarious intentions at play. I hate to not really wrap this up with any clear cut theory, but if I were to do so A. it’d be critiqued heavily, and B. it’d take some fun out of this whole mystery.

What is clear is that this enigma is enamoring the whole community, and whether or not this project comes to fruition, it’s a genius endeavor enabling us all to dive deeper down the rabbit hole of our imaginations.
Implementing motion
By: Jonas Naimark
Tags: Android, Motion, Transitions, UX, Material Design

When I claimed that motion design doesn’t have to be hard I figured it would raise some eyebrows. Sneaking the word “design” into the title was my way of sidestepping the elephant in the room: implementing motion sure is hard. After all, what good are slick designs if they can’t feasibly be implemented?

Material Design was inspired by the metaphor of “smart paper” — a collection of surfaces that can adapt to guide users through an experience. We’ve delivered on part of that metaphor with an elevation system that accurately renders light and shadows. But coordinating those surfaces with motion (in a smart and elegant way) has been a tougher challenge. That’s why the Material team is excited to share a new project that makes it easy to implement motion.

The Material motion system

We’ve just published new design guidelines and developer documentation (including code for Android and Flutter) for the most important type of motion apps need: UI transitions.

A strong motion foundation starts with well implemented transitions — a fundamental aspect of usability. There are four transition patterns that handle the animation between components and fullscreen views: Container transform, Shared axis, Fade through, and Fade.

Here are examples of the types of transitions you’ll be able to implement:
Partnership: Vite Labs and Troy Trade
By: Khun Sir
Tags: Blockchain, Announcements, Exchange, Cryptocurrency, Vite

We are proud to announce a strategic partnership with Troy Trade, the global prime broker specialized in crypto trading and asset management. Vite now is the eleventh member of the “Global Ecological Community Program” launched by TROY, which is designed to break the trading barriers of crypto assets and build a frictionless, integrated crypto asset trading ecosystem. Troy will also join the Snapshot Block Producer of Vite network as well.

TROY, derived from Troy Network, will work closely with Vite in devoting R&D resources towards the development of Troy Network. Specifically, Troy will adopt Vite’s innovative scalability solution that offers high frequency and low latency transaction processing network, low cost and security features. Also, Troy Network will integrate with ViteX’s high-performant technology in the transaction layer, upon which Troy Network will build a fast and secure decentralized exchange protocol. Simultaneously, TROY could provide Vite with practical application scenarios, like trading marketplace and settlement network. In Troy Network, the whole system architecture consists of four layers, including the public chain protocol layer, the off-chain trading layer, the settlement network layer and the application layer.

“Troy and Vite can join hands in researching areas of decentralized trading. Vite looks forward to working together as the two projects have similar views on how the industry of trading will move forward.” Commented Richard Yan, COO of Vite.

About TROY

Troy Trade is a global prime broker specialized in crypto asset trading and asset management. Troy provides crypto brokerage services for institutional clients and professional traders with revolutionary products, including spot & margin trading, derivatives, data, custody, lending and staking in one account.

About Vite

Vite is a feeless, high-performance public chain and the first of its kind to implement a DAG-based smart contract capabilities. The original asynchronous architecture, hierarchical consensus and snapshot chain technology make Vite an industry-leader in terms of performance and commercial-level application support. To date, Vite has a steady record of deploying practical applications on its platform, with products including a decentralized exchange, a public financing dApp for the City of Syracuse, multiple on-chain games, and micropayment platforms.
APIS x Walton Blockchain Institute Partnership
By: Apis Team
Tags: Blockchain, Notice, Cryptocurrency, Kor, Finance

APISplatform

Official publication for APIS, the world-first masternode…
Sneak Peak of Fovrth’s Gaza Parkour Film
By: Fovrth Studios
Tags: Palestine, Student Series, Vídeo Storytelling, Parkour, Gaza

Sneak Peak of Fovrth’s Gaza Parkour Film

Inside the Gaza Strip with Palestine’s Parkour Team + Fovrth Studios

Gaza Parkour + Free Running (Photo via GazaPK Facebook)

RAFAH, GAZA STRIP — The Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory that borders both Israel and Egypt, is one of the most isolated and confined places in the world. The Israeli sea, air and land blockade as well as the Egyptian border closure restrict the flow of both people and goods in and out of Gaza. Despite growing up through wars, poverty, and overpopulation, the youth of Gaza are the first generation to connect with the outside world through technology and internet.

Among the bombed-out remains of Yasser Arafat International Airport, Abdullah, Ahmad, and a team of Gaza Parkour Free Runners are practicing flips and vaults, running across the edges of 40 foot walls — their silhouettes pirouetting against the skyline, high off the ground. For them, sport is their outlet — a release, an expression, and a response to the wars and isolation in the form of Parkour.

Film Sneak Peak by Fovrth Fellow Violet Wang

The group is led by Abdullah, a student who aspires to become an English translator. “We have lots of invitations to compete internationally. A lot of people support us,” Abdullah reflects, proudly as he speaks of his team. “But we cannot (compete) because of the border.”

“With the sports, we also feel freedom,” described Ahmad, another founder of the team. “It makes us like bird. Yes, we fly!” For Ahmad, his dream is simple: to get out of Gaza for one day and to be treated as an athlete, not a terrorist.

Fovrth Reporter Anna Therese Day with Gaza Parkour team captains, Ahmad (left) and Abdullah (right)

In 2015, reporter Anna Therese Day and the Fovrth Team began following Gaza’s Free Runners and their struggle against the complicated politics that dictate their dreams.

Since the Fovrth filming began, Ahmad has escaped Gaza to Europe, where he continues on an international parkour team in Sweden. Abdallah, the team’s captain, remains in Gaza under the restrictions of the blockade.

The upcoming film follows this friendship of these two young men, struggling against circumstances they cannot control inside and outside Gaza. The film shows just a glimpse of the defining challenge of this generation’s Gazan youth: coming of age within the besieged Gaza Strip.
Astronaut Capital Quarterly Report Q3 2020
By: Lennard Neo
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, ICO, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency

From the CEO

It’s been a year for the history books.

Firstly, I wish to extend my best wishes to our supporters and token holders in these uncertain times. 2020 has been a crazy year, and we hope that you and your loved ones are safe.

Let’s get to it… Despite macro-level uncertainty, liquidity has not been shy in participating in more speculative investments for the past quarter, and cryptocurrency has certainly not been excluded from this.

While there has been a flurry of activity in specific segments of the crypto ecosystem, others have not experienced the same attention. Correlations appear to be changing very often.

It would be remiss of me not to highlight the buzz we have seen in decentralized finance. Astronaut Capital has been a major beneficiary of this, particularly with our direct position in Synthetix (SNX). Such an investment has not only done well for our holdings but also was a major driver of the interest and rally we have seen across the board since mid-2020. Hats off to Kain and team.

Last quarter, we mentioned that our focus would lean more into the DeFi space. Whilst we have avoided yield-farming due to the highly speculative nature of it, we have been very active in primary investment exposure. Having been an early investor in the likes of Swingby, Powertrade and Polkastarter, we are pleased with the results thus far. We are confident in continued market momentum for these aspiring projects.

The investment committee continues to hunt for opportunities that will bring short/medium term liquidity as well as a focus on ecosystem value. Our expectation is to announce some of this exposure soon.

We have continued to mildly consolidate the portfolio into more liquid coins. BTC trading from our side has been lite due to the uncertainty in direction. As we become more confident in medium-term trends, our leverage exposure will increase.

As for what is next, our eyes are on still on growth opportunities around DeFi and DEXs. More specifically, we are also looking at other exposure in the Polkadot ecosystem and may act on this should a suitable opportunity arise.

Our views on NFT are reserved for the time being, and we shall watch from the sidelines until we figure out if it is in-fact a real/viable market.

Lastly, we still have some illiquid positions from SAFTs that we are awaiting to come online. We shall keep the token holders updated when this does occur.

Astronaut Capital is extremely pleased to announce a dividend this quarter, in which the specifics can be found in the latter of this document.

Once again, thank you very much for your continued support. We wish you a safe and prosperous remainder of 2020.

Many thanks,

Matthew Dibb

CEO of Astronaut Capital
When you say, “I love you,” what do you mean?
By: Doc Jay
Tags: I Miss You, Death, Love, Gun Violence, Death And Dying

When you say, “I love you,” what do you mean?

When I say it, I’m deathly afraid that tomorrow, you could be a memory.

Photo by Nicolas Nieves-Quiroz on Unsplash

When you say, “I love you,” what do you mean? Does it signify a long-term romantic commitment? Do you blurt it out in the whirlwind of infatuation? Do you say it to your family who you’ve known your entire life?

When I say I love you, it means you are important to me. It means you’ve supported me through tough times, and though nothing is temporary about our relationship, I’m deathly afraid that you could be just a memory tomorrow.

Most people don’t know this about me, but I have been affected by deaths due to gun violence.

The fall is a rough time of year for me. The voices of the lost ones echo through the forests of fallen leaves on their birthdays and days of their killings.