fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
What I Can’t Accept Within Myself
By: Tima Loku
Tags: Healing, Happiness, Fulfillment, Spirituality, Relationships

Photo by Briona Baker on Unsplash

My sister texted me yesterday, quite randomly, asking “Are you happy?” I didn’t have to think for long and the answer came easily to me “Yes”.

However, admitting that I am indeed happy made me feel awkward. How can one claim to another person they are happy? Am I going to fall into depths of despair the moment I admit it out loud? Is the universe going to send me another obstacle on my way as punishment?

I have gone against all popular formulas for happiness and how can I claim to be happy? I haven’t figured out my one grand purpose. I haven’t made kids. I haven’t bought cars or a house. So am I even allowed to exist as a happy person in society?



Also, I haven’t built a business and filled my moments with productive activities. I don’t wake up at 4 am and I don’t have a routine. But I am happy. Can you explain this anomaly?

Am I not allowed personal happiness because the world is going through hell? Does empathy mean I should perpetually be sad for other people and the status of the world?

I am happy and afraid to admit it fully. Afraid to show it outwardly.

The thing is, I am not cheerful around people. Instead, I become serious and I wall in my emotions. When I was at university, I worked with a professor of psychology who studied first impressions and interpersonal communication. She told me “I can’t read you at all”.

I do know that I don’t express enthusiasm and joy as easily as other people. The last emotion I would show is excitement. While all the other students cheered and acted like puppies for every announcement in the lab, I remained stoic. I liked myself for this — I thought I’m more realistic, mature, enlightened, etc.

For the longest time, I didn’t identify as a happy person. I wasn’t a happy child either and I can identify with the sentiments expressed in Edgar Alan Poe’s poem “Alone”:



From childhood’s hour I have not been

As others were — I have not seen

As others saw — I could not bring

My passions from a common spring —

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow — I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone —

And all I lov’d — I lov’d alone — …

But now I can laugh and have fun near my partner with who I feel safe. And my comfortability is extending to other people as well.

How did I make an initial association between the expression of positive emotion and danger? That it is not safe to be happy in front of people? The answer is in my particular flavor of childhood trauma which I will write about later.

When I feel so joyous now, it is a miraculous moment for me. I do erupt into dancing for no reason and I laugh out loud, finally. I feel content when I am relaxed and sitting with my people. I wake up and look at the person and the pet I love. I feel so grateful and blessed.

Something has fundamentally changed.



I am happy because I have done what I can within my means, and I live within my values. And I am happy because I did not care for another person’s formula for my happiness.
[Foresting Platform: Get to know first] #5
Tags: Rewards, Platform, Blockchain, Media, iOS

Dear friends!

Let’s continue our series of revealing Foresting secrets.

The previous article was about PTON in Bitberry wallet. That makes sending and receiving PTONs so much easy and fast. So, you can get PTONs from your friends in seconds.

But there is another way of getting PTON — FORESTING platform.

Today we are going to tease you with some screenshots from our 3rd Closed beta test 😊 On 4rd of March we started testing rewarding social media platform FORESTING. About 100 people with different background, age, and interests from 25 countries are participating in testing. Testing will continue until the end of March. The main purpose is to fix bugs and to test overall user experience before Open beta Launch, which will be just right next month 😉

Here are some screenshots:

“by @Leigh MacArthur

@Jay, Marketing Team at Foresting

You might be curious about the difference between LIKE and BEAT. So, lets me explain it briefly,

LIKE is a secondary indicator for content evaluation, allowing unlimited activities. ​

But…

​BEAT is a voting tool for content value promotion. 30 BEATs are provided to start, and one BEAT is generated automatically every 2 hours. In addition, BEAT is apportioned between the user and content creator.

To tease you even more here are some screenshots of Korean Illustrator @Lazy.drawing, who also participates in Closed beta test.
Martin Dolan Battles Tough Conditions to Capture Jurassic Coast
By: Jessi Gowan
Tags: Behind The Scenes, Cameras, Landscape, Photography, England

Dorset’s Jurassic Coast offers a spectacular opportunity to step back in time and see what the landscape might have looked like millions of years ago. This prehistoric location is a draw for photographers from around the world — and Martin Dolan, who lives in nearby Verwood, is fortunate to have easy access to the inspiring views.

Martin has been exploring the English coast for the past three years, shooting landscapes up and down the ancient coastline. During one of his visits, he noticed that as the tide receded from the shore, it exposed a beautiful stretch of Dolomite bedrock — a scene he eagerly sought to capture on camera.

“It’s a location that requires a bit of effort to access and, as a result, is off the beaten track,” he says. “At this time of year, the sun still sets over the land and it was important for me to capture the color and light being reflected off the wet bedrock. This would accentuate the textures of the rock and the shape of the ledges.”

But it wasn’t just the out-of-the-way spot that made getting the right shot challenging for Martin — the weather conditions along the rocky coast made the photoshoot especially difficult.

“There was a fierce wind, and although the tide was falling, it was high enough for the crashing waves to cause an enormous amount of sea spray,” he says. “Repeated attempts at shooting this composition were had, and each time, I had to retreat back 10 meters or so to wipe the camera and filters down with a cloth.”
Racist comments on local media
By: Keith Parkins
Tags: Local Media, Surrey Live, Racism, The Lincolnite, Black Lives Matter

Racist comments on local media

Black Lives Matter has the racist troll farms on steroids. Seeing young black and white march on the streets together is fanning their hatred.

Black Lives Matter

Racists wallow in their social media cesspits, reinforce and normalise their racist views then spew it out across social media platforms.

An example of this was a few months ago when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited a detention centre for migrants, the abuse she received in person when she visited was a mere glimpse behind the curtain of what was happening in closed facebook groups, where pictures were being posted calling for her to be raped. Closed facebook groups for past and serving Border Force officials, federal agents, government employees.

In Clear Bright Future Paul Mason touches upon these closed facebook groups where fascists and racists fester.

Black Lives Matter and the racist troll farms are now on steroids. Seeing young black and white march on the streets is fanning their hatred.

Black Members of Parliament have received a torrent of abuse. Dawn Butter has thanked her staff for filtering it out and having to read it.

What is shocking, is what is appearing in local media comments, and I am not suggesting it is the local media, it is the racists commenting on the local media reports of Black Lives Matter protests.

Surrey Live had to issue a warning following its coverage of a Black Lives Matter protest in Guildford. Not that the warning has been heeded. But it is as nothing, the rabid racist comments on The Lincolnite coverage of Black Lives Matter protests in Lincoln. And just when think cannot get any worse it did when a student had the audacity to speak out about the racism he has suffered.

Local media has to do more to root out this racism. Every single racist comment logged, reported to police and facebook, then those posting the racist comments blocked.

And why does it matter?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells of landlords in the Bronx who set fire to buildings with families inside in order that they could collect on the insurance, then blame the local community for burning down the buildings.
HelloGold Foundation Update #12–12th June 2018
By: Quentin Bignon
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Financial Inclusion, Bitcoin

Business

News from the Marketing desk

May has been a very good month for HelloGold. The launch of a new marketing campaign, A Better Future, led HelloGold into the month of Ramadan on a solid uptrend of gold buys. various promotions were launched driving sales to all time highs, both in weekly and daily numbers!

The Best Price campaign kicked off on 24th May. Fees were reduced, meaning HelloGold currently offers the best price for buying gold in Malaysia. And since there’s no use being the best if nobody knows about it, HelloGold made sure to be featured on imoney.my, a well trusted and widely read site in Malaysia for everything related to money & investment.

HelloGold offering the best price to buy gold in Malaysia

If that wasn’t enough, HelloGold was also featured on two other websites with very wide readership within the target market, Siakapkeli (Malay focused) and Leesharing (Chinese focused). We didn’t have to wait for long to see the positive results of those combined efforts…

New All Time High records — daily with 266 grams, and weekly with 700 grams were reached!! Previous ATH were 136 grams and 400 grams respectively so the bounce is significant and is a great encouragement for the team to continue on efforts to increase market reach and consolidate higher sales.

Events and talks

On May the 7th, HelloGold’s CEO Robin Lee was invited by the IFN Asia Forum to speak as part of a panel focusing on “Preparing for the Future: Financial Technology in Asia”. The panel got the audience engaged and the conversation around fintech, financial inclusion and HelloGold’s contribution to those sectors continued off-stage with key players of the industry.

Robin was also invited to speak at last week’s Innovfest Unbound 2018 in Singapore on the topic of “A new wave of fintech”. It really is great to see how HelloGold’s work and Robin’s expertise in the industry are being recognised, and having him being invited by recognised events to share his take on the future of fintech and financial inclusion. It shows the recognition and credibility that Hellogold is getting out there.

HelloGold App development

The HelloGold team has now released a new version of the Promotion Engine that incentivizes customers to sign up to HelloGold and also save in gold. The Product team has also implemented many minor tweaks that improve upon the customer’s experience of using the app.

There are many exciting product features in the Product Roadmap being developed by Product, incorporating the feedback Customer Service are gathering and the strategic plans of the Marketing team. These will significantly contribute enhanced user experience for HelloGold’s ever increasing customers.

Some of these enhancement includes UI/UX redesigns to improve customer experience and a referral system that incentivizes customer to share the App with their family and friends.
Terminally Ill Children Receive Hope From Inmates
Tags: Government, Rehabilitation, Incarceration

The women of the Tapestry Therapeutic Community, located in the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, donned their distinctive teal t-shirts with a decal of a pink butterfly in flight, held colorful hand-made paper crafts and waited anxiously in front of a blank television screen.

Tapestry and ORW staff, along with volunteers from the Harmony Project in Columbus, Ohio, waited just as anxiously alongside them, hoping that all of the modern-day technology would work just right so an amazing event could take place…and it did.

By way of a Skype phone call, the women in the program sang children’s songs, waved their hand-made butterflies, and used playful puppets to interact with the children a half a world away. The children, whom are all ill and depend on the Sunflower House and their amazing staff for their care, smile, clap and giggle in delight until it is their turn to sing to the Tapestry family.

These two families, separated by prison fences, geographic boundaries, and circumstances beyond their control, gather to communicate with each other in the universal language of music. The women proudly and animatedly sing “This Little Light of Mine” and “You Are My Sunshine,” many with tears in their eyes, all with smiles on their faces. The compassion, love, laughter, and joy exchanged between the Tapestry Sisters and the Sunflower Children are both therapeutic and priceless.

Who could have imagined that such a beautiful sight would be found in the most unlikely of places; places that are so notoriously characterized by negativity and despair.

Through Skype, smiles and song, incarcerated women and chronically or terminally ill children are giving each other the greatest gift of all: Hope.

Visit the ODRC online.

Stay connected with the ODRC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The MetaCert Protocol Technical Paper: Decentralized Technical Governance
By: Paul Walsh
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Ethereum, Bitcoin

The MetaCert Protocol Technical Paper: Decentralized Technical Governance

This section covers governance for the Protocol.

Download a PDF version of the Technical Paper

Contents

Clicking on each heading will take you that section’s medium post.

1. Index

2. Introduction

3. System Architecture

4. Processes Overview

5. Process Mechanism

6. Decentralized Technical Governance

Decentralized Technical Governance

The Protocol needs to be governed in a way that there are no central points of failure or control and various stakeholders can have representation in the Protocol development and direction.

The Protocol will undergo periodic hard forks to upgrade core functionality and to add or update Protocol operations.

Not all software updates are consensus breaking and therefore don’t require a hard fork. Upgrades that do need a hard fork, however, are harder to deploy and require (a) community agreement over Protocol changes, and (b) software updates across all deployed Nodes.

The Nodes that don’t upgrade will be disconnected from the main network and end up on a forked network. If the community has a disagreement over protocol changes, this usually leads to a fork into separate networks. Currently, the Protocol does not have an algorithmic metric for community consensus and Protocol changes but we will work towards establishing one through discussion with the whole community before they are activated.

The Protocol will introduce an algorithmic metric for community consensus based on the economic distribution of the Token. Token owners can sign messages from their respective owner addresses to participate in a voting mechanism. Different proposed Protocol changes can have different thresholds for activation.

Contents

Clicking on each heading will take you that section’s medium post.

1. Index

2. Introduction

3. System Architecture

4. Processes Overview

5. Process Mechanism

6. Decentralized Technical Governance
5 Small Things Millennials Need To Know About Money
By: Tony Yeung
Tags: Life Lessons, Business, Investing, Money, Finance

1. People Are Happy To Spend Your Money

You can order an expensive drink and show your friend you can order it. You think spending your money on the birthday parties, bridal showers, brunch dates, etc are the necessary way to expand your social network.

In fact, there is a secret. People are so happy to spend your money for you. You may get invited from someone, yet you feel bad to turn down the invites. You end up spending money for their parties, brunches, meetings, etc.

However, they might not truly your friends. They seem great and nice to you when you show up, but when you need help, they may ignore you.

On the other hand, it may be your best friend or college roommate’s special day that really wants to you come along once in a lifetime, but it can be awkward. For example, attending a wedding can be expensive. You might end up spending a lot of money. This may lead to a serious conversation about money.

So, be careful about the money who you spend on.
Modern Life Lament
By: Roy Reichle
Tags: Rhyming, Modernity, Light Verse, Pom, Poetry

Some days

the deals you make fall through

and cost more than you spent.

Worse, the time is lost forever

in the yesterday where it went.
The first place
By: Rob Cullen
Tags: Love Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Ps I Love You, Relationships, Intricately Intimate

foto©robcullen1976

The first place

to Fiona

It was the first place

we lived and loved

that fourth floor

white walled flat

in an old Brighton town house.

It was a war zone

of cold rooms and drafts,

stuffed newspapers,

rolled up and folded

into the cracks,

filling gaps to block

the bitter freezing blast

from the windows sash

when winds blew in

over the rage whipped,

roiling white winter sea.

From our bed,

on early mornings,

we’d watch a tower crane,

overhang the Kemptown road,

with a Christmas tree

sitting on its jib.

These were mornings

of bright clear skies,

after the waves

of a roaring

gale had receded,

the gas fire’s flames

flickered low,

a mix of yellow and blue,

you played that scratched

Baden Powell record,

and the strains

of the Samba Triste

filled those wooden

floored rooms above Belvedere road.

In the day we walked the sea front,

watching crashing waves

stir the shingle,

while fishermen hauled the boats

up through the pounding

shore, below the kids rides

our love was fiery then.

foto©robcullen2019

©robcullen02072020
To Capture the Mood of the Street in Photos, Match its Rhythm
By: Gaurav Anand
Tags: Chance Encounters, Art, Travel Writing, Street Photography, Film Photography

To Capture the Mood of the Street in Photos, Match its Rhythm

Capturing Old Delhi’s personality on film was about feeling for the pulse of the street and matching its pace

Photo by the author in Classic Photo Art

The sun was hot on the asphalt on the late summer day in August last year. I was in the back of an auto rickshaw crossing Delhi Gate from New Delhi to the walled city of Old Delhi.

Anticipation was hot in my hands, in which I held an old film camera. My idea was to photograph the streets of Old Delhi, an area settled as a walled city in the mid-1600’s.

I wasn’t there to photograph the monuments, which are well known and well documented. I wanted to capture the mood of Old Delhi’s streets before it is altered irrevocably by the passage of years, and more centuries. I hoped to preserve glimpses of the old city’s essential character, circa 2019, in my photographic prints.

I disembarked from the auto rickshaw opposite the Red Fort, and began walking the streets. The rest of the day was spent on my feet or, occasionally, riding rickshaws.

I was attracted to Old Delhi because I know it as a complex, richly textured and visually compelling place. Its narrow, overflowing streets challenge one’s notions of beauty and ugliness. The city shows its age and its streets are a throwback from another era, with small generational businesses and shops lining lanes that are still busy with hand-pulled carts, rickshaws and pedestrians. I lack the vocabulary or the verbal dexterity to say more about those streets, but I hope my photos will.

Working slowly, savouring the rich street life of the old city, I used my camera to take only 39 photos during the course of the day. Conventional wisdom about street photography says that the photographer must move quickly, take lots of photos and capture the decisive moment. This would have been out of place and out of character in the old city with its sedate pace. Without slowing down to appreciate the pace and immerse myself in its rhythm, I would not have managed to capture the mood of those streets.

I eventually printed sixteen of those 39 film negatives in my darkroom. Copies of all 16 prints are produced here.

Photo by the author in Classic Photo Art

This was the first photo that I took. While the confusion of the overhead wiring is obvious, I was attracted to the living quarters visible on the upper floor, above the shop — with their arched doorways and the low iron iron railing with its decorative detail. Once I printed the photo I noticed other details — like the Bengali language on the banner in the left part of the image, over 750 miles away from its home state of West Bengal.
How to Make Wood Stain with Rusty Nails
By: Chuck J Douros
Tags: Recycling, Upcycling, Wood Stain, Ehow, Web Content

Wood stain adds beauty, character and essential protection to bare wood surfaces. Make your own stain with ordinary cider vinegar and rusty nails. Take a look around the garage and in the backyard for discarded, rusty metal and iron parts to add to this environmentally friendly wood stain formula.

Cover stained wood with urethane or varnish to preserve the finish.

Place the rusty nails, metal or iron parts into a clean glass jar or other non-reactive container.

Pour 1 pt. of cider vinegar into the jar, completely covering the rusty nails and metal.

Twist the jar lid into place to cover it tightly.

Store the jar at room temperature. Leave the contents undisturbed for one week.

Tumble and stir the nails and metal in the jar when the week is up. The contents will begin to appear rust-colored and murky. Rust particulates will begin to separate from the nails and metal.

Uncover the jar and leave it at room temperature for 15 days to allow for evaporation and stain development.

Inspect the contents for evidence of a dark amber color after 15 days. Stretch a thin layer of cheesecloth across another clean container and secure it with a rubber band or clothespins.

Pour the liquid contents of the jar through the cloth. This separates sediment, particulates and rust fragments from the new wood stain. Discard the cheesecloth when finished.

Transfer the stain back into the glass jar and replace the lid. Cover tightly until you are ready to use it.

Editor’s Note: Photo, courtesy of Creative Commons
Are STO’s the new ICO?
By: Shane Moser
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Token Sale, ICO, Bitcoin

In an age where initial coin offerings are no longer a viable means for securing capital, many companies are now adopting more financially traditional ways of getting capital through the door to fund the development of potential products and ideas.

Security Token Offerings (STO’s) are the more responsible cousin of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering), in that they are really backed by discernible means such as company assets, profits, or revenue. By utilizing this method companies can allow potential investors to purchase tokens which then can be sold, traded, or held. By providing such credibility the STO model has gained popularity among companies looking to attract investors in a more trustworthy manner.

On the investor side of things, the approachability factor of an STO is much higher than that of an ICO, which will likely translate into a more stable flow of investor money into the crypto space as a whole.

According to Polymath any STO’s that are launched on their network will see companies guided through the often confusing and highly complex process of becoming completely KYC and AML compliant.

As the push towards more transparency via regulation continues in the crypto space, this could be a good thing overall. More trust and less risk mean more investors can enter the crypto space as companies become more compliant, translating into more growth as a whole.

STO’s then may be promising for potential growth, but come with a cost, that cost being decentralization. Being fully compliant with regulations means playing by a different set of rules, rules that are not defined by the companies themselves, but by those of the regulatory bodies which define said rules and preside over the execution of them. By effectively bypassing decentralization STO’s suddenly seem to be more appropriately home in the centralized financial world more so than that of the crypto space.

Whether you are a supporter of decentralization or not, STO’s offer yet another methodology in the continuing evolution and understanding of the crypto space.
Healing from Sexual Assault When Your Loved Ones Don’t Believe You
By: Estrella Ramirez
Tags: Self, Healing, Relationships, Women, Survivor

We had been intimate prior to getting married. I loved him with all my heart, and physical intercourse was just one more expression of this love. However, there was one intimate act I could not bring myself to engage in. Contrary to his belief, once we were married, this aversion didn’t simply disappear. It wasn’t because I didn’t love him. It was the result of trauma from a sexual assault, directly connected to this act.

On one hand, I hadn’t been fully honest with him. He didn’t understand why I said no time and time again. On the other hand, did I ever really need to explain myself? Wasn’t simply saying no enough to validate my wishes? I chose the former and explained to him what had happened to make me this way.

It wasn’t because I didn’t love him. It was the result of trauma from a sexual assault directly connected to this act.

I don’t know what I was expecting. At a minimum, I thought he would be understanding, but never in a million years could I have foreseen the response that escaped him:

What kind of a slut allows that to happen?

His response confirmed all my worst nightmares.

Not that this marriage was headed for disaster, and not that this was a huge red flag (a sign of things to come). No, my worst nightmare was what I had thought about myself since the assault happened.

That somehow, it was my fault.

From that day forward, throughout the entirety of our marriage, I wore that label. The slut who invited a sexual assault. Every time he would ask me to engage, and I would say no, I wouldn’t say it once or twice. I’d have to say it several times before he’d become enraged and unleash a wrath of verbal abuse to guilt me into doing what he asked or terrorize me into it.
Listen to MozPod, the Free SEO Podcast from Moz
Tags: Podcast, Digital Marketing

Author: Brian Childs / Source: Moz

We’re marketers. We know from firsthand experience that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to get done. And that’s even more true once you commit to leveling up and learning new skills.

The learning curve for developing digital marketing skills can be steep, and staying informed as things evolve and change (thanks, Google) can feel like a full-time job. Our Moz Training has classes to help accelerate the learning process, but as startup folks ourselves, we understand the importance of multitasking.

Learn SEO on the go

We’re thrilled to introduce MozPod, an SEO podcast focused on sharing lessons from digital marketing experts. Episodes are led by instructors from Moz Academy and we discuss a wide variety of digital marketing concepts, from common terminology to recent changes and best practices.

Where can I listen in?

Upcoming episodes

Our first series covers conversion rate optimization, PageRank,…

Click here to read more
Three Different Things: March 31, 2020
By: Sean O'Brien
Tags: Economics, Business, Data Visualization

Three Different Things: March 31, 2020

Fever Maps, Who’s Growing During the Coronavirus Crisis?, and What the Left and the Right Get Wrong About the Crisis

Kinsa’s Fever Map

The company, Kinsa Health, which produces internet-connected thermometers, first created a national map of fever levels on March 22 and was able to spot the trend within a day. Since then, data from the health departments of New York State and Washington State have buttressed the finding, making it clear that social distancing is saving lives.

Take a look at the fever map — it shows atypical fever levels in the US by county. Pretty impressive application — and a reason why health-related IoT will be a winner from this.

2. Who’s Growing During the Coronavirus Crisis? Pizza Chains

(Domino’s) has rejected third-party delivery providers in favor of a fortressing strategy. The brand clusters markets to reduce delivery radiuses and delivery times, improve the wage rate equation for drivers and franchisees, and bolster carryout business and service times.

Will this end up the right strategy? I think about how Uber improved the taxi experience with free water and snacks. A third-party provider could be the catalyst to improve the delivery experience.

3. What both the left and the right get wrong about the coronavirus economic crisis

It’s on the fiscal policy side where I think we are at risk of running in the wrong direction, because the real economic measures that we’re adopting are completely unprecedented. To think about what we need as a kind of wartime mobilization seems to me to miss the point completely. This is a much more peculiar task than that. The job is maintaining the economy on life support during a period of an artificially induced coma while we address the public health challenge.

So maybe the message shouldn’t be so much “go back to work,” but “here’s how we’ll help you to work during this crisis.”
In The Tides
By: Vaghawan Ojha
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Fiction, Love, Poetry, Life

While you flew upon the eternal sky,

I walked upon the shade of your wings,

Following your journey,

Oblivion of the eternal sea that you had left,

Delving in the unconquerable silence,

Swallowed by the colors of ocean,

And guided by the sail-less tides of your nostalgia,

I found solitary upon your shade,

Where I wrote the poems of soliloquy with drops of ocean,

Just to be perished by the another wave,

In front of the profound angst of your tides,

I stood and thought of you,

And drown with the intensity of your love,

In the hope that I would divulge

With the morrow’s sun shine;
Martti Malmi Offline Meeting
By: Iot Chain
Tags: Announcements, Itc, Bitcoin, IoT

Dear Community,

On June 27th, IoT Chain CEO Zhuopeng Xie attended a meeting on invitation titled “Martti Malmi Offline Meeting: Blockchain Technology and Industry Application Seminar Series One”. More than 100 blockchain CEOs were in attendance, including those from well-known projects such as NEO, NAS, QTUM, Loopring, BTM, and Kcash.

ITC CEO Zhuopeng Xie

During the seminar, the ITC team discussed application scenarios for ITC together with Martti Malmi and other blockchain companies from around the globe.

Martti Malmi and ITC CEO Zhuopeng Xie

ITC CEO Zhuopeng Xie-second form the left

About Martti Malmi

Martti Malmi was a core Bitcoin developer and founder of a popular Bitcoin forum. In the spring of 2009, he contributed code to the original Bitcoin project and was largely responsible for its initial operation. From 2009 to 2011, he managed Bitcoin.org and the Bitcointalk.org forum through servers in Helsinki, Finland.
Want to Make Progress on Your Dreams This Year?
By: Sarah Kathleen Peck
Tags: Coach, Accountability, Accountability Group, David Allen, Accountability Coach

I’m gathering a group of people together this year for ten months to help you stay accountable to your big dream — that thing you want to do.

The purpose of the program is to help you stay accountable to your goals for the coming year, and to do so around other smart, committed people looking to do the same.

What do you want most in 2020?

Whether you want to play more piano, you want to write regular blog posts, you’re trying to stick to a new exercise routine, or you want to add more community back in your life — whatever your goal is, this group is here to have your back.

It’s a blend of an online course (aka videos + love notes + rifs on habit change from me), plus you’ll be organized into small groups that meet once per month to check-in and talk to each other about your goals and the progress. (I even have a spreadsheet for everyone to keep track of your goal over the coming year…).

If this is your year to do THE THING that you’ve been meaning to do, and you need a group to dig into it with, then I’m glad you’re here.

It’s not too late to get started on your dreams.

Over the next 10 months, I’m going to lead an accountability group to get focused on your goal, make steady progress on it, and be with a group of folks also making headway on their 2020 thing.

It’s a mastermind for people who don’t want fancy masterminding — it’s ten months, partly self-guided, with the ability to meet in small groups and have regular accountability and goal tracking.

Let’s get to work — let’s make 2020 the year we make real progress on our dreams. Check out all the details about the group program, and how to join, here.
Sunrise
By: Rachael Ann Sand
Tags: Photographer, Self, Nature, Nature Photography, Minnesota

ONE PHOTO | ONE WORD

Sunrise

Day three snapshot

Welcoming September in Minnesota with a sunrise over Lake Superior.

In celebration of my first week as a contributor to the Snapshots publication I’m sharing photos from my daily walks. Take a look at my inspiration, the One Photo/One Word compilation by Dennett.
GBP Card Withdrawals Are Here!
Tags: Company, Personal Finance, Payments, Crypto, Bitcoin

CoinCorner introduces GBP card withdrawals

Great news! You can now withdraw GBP free of charge directly to your card.

Yes, you read that right — CoinCorner customers can now withdraw up to £1000 per day, easily and securely to a card in their name.

Up until this point, our UK customers wishing to withdraw pound sterling have had to do so via international bank transfers in euros, which we know is a bit (okay, a lot) of bother but with our new withdrawal service, you can withdraw your money straight to your card.

CoinCorner CEO, Danny Scott, said, “We’re very excited to offer free GBP withdrawals to our customers at a time when transacting in GBP for cryptocurrency is proving problematic while financial institutions refuse to make the move to adopt cryptocurrency trading.

This new solution will hugely improve customer experience, making withdrawing funds easier and cost-effective. It builds on other industry-leading innovations that we have introduced over the last four years, continuing towards our goal of making Bitcoin easy.”

Try it yourself today!

Originally published on August 30, 2018.
What is phishing and how to avoid it
By: Ramon Oliveira
Tags: Phishing

What is phishing

Phishing is a cybercrime through which people are manipulated to share sensitive information, passwords, credit card or bank account numbers, or personal details. Cybercriminals obtain these data through messages, e-mails or fake websites that request individuals to fill out forms with personal information.

How to recognize phishing

Phishing messages look legitimate and seem to be sent from well-known platforms like PayPal, and other companies, or government and financial institutions.

However, they are fake messages that ask for a personal information update or confirmation giving a sense of urgency as a result of some kind of problem. They then redirect you to a fake website where you are manipulated to insert sensitive information, which can result in identity, and even funds or cryptocurrency thefts.

How to stay safe

Although phishing threats can not be removed, they can be detected. In addition, there are some security measures that can help you avoid falling into phishing scams:
Aug 15th BTC futures trading TA summary
Tags: Trading Analysis, Bitcoin, Trading

Aug 15th BTC futures trading TA summary

This is a short summary for our fund managers’ technical analysis on Aug 15th.

See the details in the link below:

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/BTCUSD/JALMQQH5-The-Kill-Point-for-Bitcoin/

If you want more information, join us in discord:

(https://discord.gg/V9k6uVj)

Please read carefully the below statements:

EIFUND is not responsible or legally liable whatsoever for any losses that may occur to you by participating in any EIFUND deal.

Any signals given are the pure personal opinion of the managers and do not constitute any financial advice.

You have done your own research before investing and are responsible for your own investment.

There is no guarantee that the signals will bring profit.

Cryptocurrency Margin trading is risky and you may lose everything.

This is not investment advice, legal advice, business advice, financial advice, or advice of any kind.

This is not an investment service, legal service, financial service, or service of any kind.

You are responsible for your own decisions.
“Jesus Was A Liberal”
Tags: Religion, Christianity

by Paul Craft

Stanford’s Dean for Religious Life, the Reverend Scotty McLennan, has a new book out titled Jesus Was a Liberal. He also recently held a campus talk on the same subject. In both cases he argued the following:

Jesus championed a progressive social vision of the future, rationality, tolerance and freedom from religious authority. In modern terms, Jesus was a liberal. Today, the press frequently talks about a culture war between the religious right and the secular left. In the middle — forgotten or maligned — are liberal Christians. They represent at least 20% of Americans, and perhaps as many as 50%.

Rev. McLennan’s goal, no doubt, is to counter the popular notion that American conservatives are the true followers of Jesus. But in this process, McLennan resorts to the same silly tactics as his conservative rivals.

To project modern political values — a fluid set of principles and policies specific, typically, to a historical context — onto Jesus, an Israelite from over 2000 years ago, is to trivialize his legacy at best and demean it at worst.
“No, I don’t work here.”
By: Pranav Jani
Tags: Class, South Asian American, Race, Microaggressions

Race and place in the U.S. can instantly make you “the help.”

I mean, it’s not like there was a clear-cut racial divide that day. Sure, there were many POC workers— like the Latinx person who had just helped me with some of my heavy items — and lots of white customers.

But there were many of white workers too. A white person in my place, wearing jeans and perceived to be a man, might have been mistaken for a worker, too.

So does race have nothing to do with, as some of my Facebook friends said when I posted it?

This is where understanding race and racism are crucial.

This isn’t just about misrecognition, which could happen to anyone. Or a simple mistake, which anyone can make.

This is about my recognition of a racial pattern familiar to me, my family members, my friends, and many others.

White people who don’t realize this actually have to have the humility to sit back, listen, and learn. This is part of your anti-racist practice.

Look around and narratives of such racial misrecognition are everywhere.

Last week, Maya Rudolph of SNL interpreted one of Kamala Harris’ smiles while Mike Pence talked as saying: “I’d like to hear the Vice-President’s response and while he speaks, I’m going to smile at him like I was at a TJ Maxx and a white lady asked me if I work here.”

This joke would fall flat if no one experienced it. Instead, people of color everywhere roared with laughter and recognition.

Regardless of the intention of the white customer, the pattern was the same as usual. Due to the dynamics of race and class in this country, people of color — Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Arab — are often regarded as being lower down in the hierarchy of class and social status than they actually are.

And with that comes certain negative ways of being perceived and treated.
Between Earth and Wing
By: Rev Dr Sparky
Tags: Earth, Poetry, Wisdom

Between Earth and Wing

reluctant poetry

They bless you in the air, a shimmering spirit,

soaring flame.

They sense but do not see your nest of life,

your earthen power,

wisdom fixed not in the mind but deep

within the blood.

And you, eternal, more than glimpsed, be mother,

root, and sea.

I celebrate the cycles of your seasons

and your satellites

I fill my pockets with your secret lore

that bears for us

the rhymes and incantations life employs

for binding mindless death.

Perhaps you’ll take me up one day. But not before

I barefoot meet your soul’s heartbeat, and know

the feel of bark and silk, the breath of trees,

your magic in the dark.
Introducing the Pinterest Developers Platform
By: Pinterest Engineering
Tags: Platform, Developer, Pinterest, API

Josh Inkenbrandt | Pinterest product manager, Developer Platform

Every day, millions of people use Pinterest to save creative ideas for recipes, articles, places to travel, products and more. Today we’re announcing the beta version of the Pinterest Developers Platform, a suite of APIs for developers to build apps and integrations that bring Pins to life.

On Pinterest, people have saved over 50 billion Pins. As a developer, you’ll have the chance to build something that makes those Pins a reality, like apps for ordering ingredients from a recipe Pin or booking trips based on travel Pins.

When Pinners sign in to your app with Pinterest, you can:

Build a personalized, curated experience based on their boards and Pins

Let people easily create multiple Pins or boards to get more of your content distributed across Pinterest

We’d love to hear your app ideas — take a look at our technical overview and apply for beta access. We’re looking forward to working with developers (only in the U.S. to start).

Josh Inkenbrandt is a product manager on the Developer Platform team.
The Darkness of Virus
By: Kristie Darling
Tags: Breath, Perception, Virus, Prompt, Death

Photo by Candice Seplow on Unsplash

Toxic air has replaced comfort

freaking shifted politics

beakers of dirty water spill

an uncontrollable

wet mist.

Fear embeds living earth

worms shrivel mica stops

reflecting organic dirt

lifting the dust of lost humanity

manifest not in our lungs

but in trust

like silken bandages

wrapped for protection

warming yesterday’s intentions.

Sacred moments charge

a screaming reality

on iPads through windows

plastic curtains

insurance that your love letters

remain faintly erotic poetry

stashed in ribboned boxes

like dust under the bed

where we live

where we protect

our desire to touch

and be touched.

I cradle quiet terror

uncomfortable perceptions of spirit

where gaseous gods have me

in their sites vulnerably

sucking invisible smoke

stoked without flame.

Life’s breathing reflex distilled

of its vibrant purpose

leaves heartbeats afire

inhaling faint embers

that singe tonight’s lovemaking

combust tomorrow’s sunrise

extinguish laughing children

and silence our own mothers.

Kristie Darling
Invasion of the Dust Bunnies
By: Patsy Starke
Tags: Humor, Poetry On Medium, LGBTQ, Poetry, Resistance Poetry

healthmedicinetalk.com

EEEEeeeek!

They were there,

Lurking.

We all knew it.

In the air,

under there,

behind everywhere.

furniture,

small corners,

along the borders.

In our computers,

maybe hacking,

we were too.

One day gone,

there the next.

Multiplying,

faster than Rabbits.

Took a Pledge,

to EnDust bunnies,

but, they were Swifter,

than any mop.

dust_bunnies_by_spparkie-dad99ka

Secret weapon,

our Shop Vacs,

with hepa-filter,

and a reaching hose.

Killed those Bunnies,

but, more will come.

Those who are neat,

will never retreat,

from the little aliens,

who arrive on the breeze,

with only one mission,

to make us sneeze.

Resist the Dust Bunnies!!!

Patsy, 2017
Trump’s Philosophy In One Book
By: Bashar Salame
Tags: Positive Thinking, Philosophy, Election 2020, Elections, Politics

Before he was an author, Norman Vincent Peale was a pastor. For nearly fifty years, Peale led congregants at Marble Collegiate Church in the New York borough of Manhattan. On Sundays, one couple would make the drive from Queens to worship at the altar of Peale; that couple was Mary and Fred Trump, mother and father to future President Donald Trump.

Marble Collegiate can best be described as the Trump family church. Donald married his first wife Ivana at the church, both of his sisters were married there, and funeral services for his parents took place at the main sanctuary of Collegiate Church as well.

Despite having passed in 1993, Peale left a lasting impression on the future president. Back in 2016, then candidate Trump referred to Peale as “his pastor”, stating he can “still remember his sermons… You could listen to him all day long. And when you left the church, you were disappointed it was over. He was the greatest guy.”

If Peale was the Trump family’s spiritual leader, then his book, The Power of Positive Thinking would become their mantra. Written in 1952, The Power of Positive Thinking describes itself as “A Practical Guide to Mastering the Problems of Everyday Living”. Peale sites ten rules for overcoming inadequacy, the first three being; picture yourself succeeding, think a positive thought to drown out a negative thought, and minimize obstacles.

In summary, positivity of all else.

While this may be a harmless approach for running a business, provided you have an endless supply of credit of course, the power of positive thinking doesn’t lend well when leading a country. A president’s job after all is to process bad news, threats, natural and man made disasters, and handle them accordingly.

Positive thinking will not prevent a hurricane or wild fire, forestall an attack, or keep Americans safe; it certainly will not preserve, protect, and defend The Constitution of The United States.

So much of what The President says begins to make sense, oddly enough, when you view him as a Norman Vincent Peale disciple.
Seeing Red: The Adelaide in Us
By: Dani Bethea
Tags: Science Fiction, Film, Movies, Horror, Movie Review

“How you could have taken me with you,” Red wistfully states to the Adelaide that has taken over her life. All that you have, all that you are, all that you’ve become — you took from me. Careful planning and preparation have lead to this day and this very moment where she faces the villain of her heroic tale. See the fruits of your destruction Adelaide and the fruits of my labor. You inspired me to rebel with others maligned and disposed of. We are tethered no longer. “It’s our time now. Our time up there” she says resolutely. With a snip of her scissors, two human-shaped cut-outs are rent in two.

The core of Jordan Peele’s second cinematic debut entitled Us is one of duality and the darkness and grey areas of our reflection. Enlisting the talents of Lupita Nyong’o to convey this message was indeed an incredibly high endeavor, but her choices to play two characters in two varying states of trauma was a subtle and adept choice. There was a precariousness in the convergence and divergence of movement, voice, and appearance for Red and Adelaide. There has never been an undertaking like this for a Black actress where they are allowed to embody the hero and the villain simultaneously. In the 150+ years of film history, Black Women’s roles in horror have varied from subservient to disposable or abject monstrosity. There are rare heroic examples such as Sanaa Lathan in Aliens vs Predator (2004), Naomi Harris in 28 Days Later (2002), or N’Bushe Wright in Blade (1998). *Note that all of these films are packed together in the late 90s to early 2000s.* Thus, the trifecta of Lupita Nyongo as the lead actor with the main narrative focus, the role of antagonist/protagonist, and audience surrogate are wholly revolutionary and sadly anomalous. The special features of the DVD/Blu-ray release show the intensive mental and physical preparation required for a role of this caliber. Lupita crafted Adelaide and especially Red from the inside-out.

There is an acknowledgment of imposter syndrome in the very foundation of the Us premise. Red is Adelaide and Adelaide is Red. The accomplishments and failures of one could not be attained without the other. The constant battle of wills between the two oftentimes comes to a stalemate because they are constantly testing the other, baiting the other, or waiting for the other to ‘throw in the towel’. The ideation of doppelgängers originally entailed the ghost or paranormal that haunted the individual with bad luck; the word itself translates into ‘double-goer’ or ‘double walker’ and entwines with other variants of folklore with the concept of an evil twin.