fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
What It Feels Like To Be A Student Again
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Self Improvement, Self, Education, Blog, Personal Growth

My brain is…tired.

I’ve just finished a grueling problem set after hours of trial and error.

Over the course of the next four years, there will be a lot of homework. I’ll be completing two back to back Master’s programs. After several years of self-deliberation, a whole lot of stumbles, mistaken paths, and false starts, I have decided on the kind of career I want to commit to.

Now, it feels like full speed ahead.

I tell myself that at least I won’t be climbing the steep hills or hundreds of steps to attend physical classes on time, at least for most of my semesters. This time around, I also know the mental health pitfalls to watch for-those signs that alert me to my nefarious perfectionist tendencies kicking in.

I whisper a repeated promise that I won’t let my environment make me riddled with anxiety. I won’t become disempowered in the pursuit of a life that is supposed to make me feel more empowered than ever before.

Still, I have to learn how to be a full-time student again.

There’s a lot of work to be done, and I have this feeling that at the end of it I’m going to be a drastically different person than the one who’s starting out.

The change is both welcome and frightening.

For the last few days, I feel like I’ve been on this steep ascent, trying to get into the air. A few parts of this process bring forward uncomfortable feelings about my past professional choices.

For the past 2 years, at least, I’ve been stuck in professional roles that offered financial stability but kept me in a state of mental stagnancy, and since I was forgetting when I wasn’t learning, I feel like I’m recovering from intellectual atrophy.

The brain retains more than it immediately makes available.

Back then, I would be so tired from the work I was doing and the emotional toll of going about my life with the heavy feeling of dissatisfaction that I couldn’t muster up enough energy to see past it, to figure out just how critical it was to get myself back into a learning environment.

Now I have, and though it is undeniably exhausting and a little disconcerting to think of how much is still uncertain, I also feel a sense of calm. I don’t have as much of that nervous energy, which resulted from my inner voice constantly telling me that I was on the wrong career path.

I remind myself that I already know as fact that learning curves can be steep and that it’s alright if I seem to have forgotten the programming skills I did have a few years ago. The brain retains more than it immediately makes available.

Yes, I’m a student again, but this time, it’s a whole different ball game.

I have made the decision of what fields to study and the environment that best suits me. I feel hopeful. My days are starting to have the kind of meaning I’ve been looking for.
​​The Winklevoss twins prepared rally for Zcash
By: Ico, Crypto News
Tags: Stock Exchange, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Zcash, Bitcoin

New York Stock Exchange Gemini created a springboard for anonymous cryptocurrency Zcach — the rally began immediately after the announcement of adding to the listing, for 24 hours the rate increased by 40% and reached $ 350.

Thus, traders showed that they are ready to fully trust the opinion of the owners of the exchange and the first crypto currency billionaires of the twins of the Winklewos who directly advertised Zcach in their message on Twitter. The Gemini exchanger is considered one of the most conservative in the world in compliance with the financial regulation legislation.

Since May 22, three pairs will be traded on Gemini — ZEC / USD, ZEC / BTC and ZEC / ETH, deposits can be placed since May 19. The receipt of approval by the Financial Services Department (NYSDFS) was published by the Winklevoss at 9:30 am, after which the course went up only for an hour.

According to NYSDFS, the Gemini exchanger also applied for approval of the listing for Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. Official information on the beginning of trading in these currencies from the owners of the exchange was not received. Until now, only Bitcoin and Ethereum were traded on Gemini.

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The Hidden Politics of Roma
By: Steven Gambardella
Tags: Movies, Politics, Philosophy, Culture, History

Despite losing out on the Best Picture Academy Award, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma picked up three Oscars: Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language film. For a moment, it came very close to becoming the first non-English film to win the Best Picture category in Academy Awards’ history.

The film’s success is well-deserved. Every moment of the film — from the four-minute opening sequence where the hero of the story mops the floor of dogs poop, to the utterly captivating moment she wades into the churning surf of the ocean — is part of an intricate jewel-like structure of symbolic connections. Critics are united on the point that Roma is at the very least a masterpiece of cinematography, a movie of set pieces perfectly set in place.

Cuarón wrote, produced, directed and shot a very personal film based on his own childhood in Colonia Roma, Mexico City. The love invested in the project shines through the pristine, shimmering screen as it pans and glides through the lives of the two women that raised him.

The domestic drama of Roma principally follows Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez (played by the untrained Yalitza Aparicio), a maid of indigenous Mixtec origin working for a wealthy family. Sofía (Marina de Tavira), her employer and the matriarch of the family, is the secondary focus of the film as she tries to hold the family together and make ends meet.

While most agree that Roma is undoubtedly beautiful and life-affirming, the film has come into criticism from some quarters. Some — like Richard Morgan in the Washington Post — contend that the depiction of Cleo is sanitised to the point that her agency is taken away.

The down-trodden maid, who tells the children she loves them when she puts them to bed but cannot sit with them on the sofa, takes every insult thrown her way with a quiet dignity when she has all the right to be angry.

Is Cleo — modelled on Cuarón’s childhood maid — really a saint or has she been robbed of her voice as a working-class Mixtec by a male director’s nostalgic reverie?

This is an understandable criticism but you only have to watch what is happening in the background to understand that Roma is more than a domestic drama or a parable of saintliness.

Some critics have written that Roma is set against “the backdrop” of civil unrest in Mexico, but the interplay between foreground and background means they are far from mutually exclusive. The background is the very engine of Roma’s potent politics.

Anti-Allegory

Alfonso Cuarón’s signature style is to run two parallel narratives at the same time: one is the human drama, the other is a grand narrative of societal change. Both frequently swap places. This is very tangible in Cuarón’s Children of Men — a sci-fi film set in a dystopian near future.
Human Design - A User Manual For Your Life
By: Bingz Huang
Tags: Personal Growth, Energy, Self Improvement, Human Design, Inspiration

How is Human Design different from other modalities with birth charts?

Other modalities such as Western Astrology, Numerology, and Chinese Ba’zi give you precious insights based on your birth details as well.

As a Human Design specialist, I have given readings to many people who are very familiar with their astrology, numerology, and Ba’zi birth charts. There will be some areas where they receive validation of the same information from other birth charts.

And it’s incredible to see their faces light up with new understanding and appreciation of their gifts and challenges shown in their Human Design charts, which they didn’t receive from their other birth charts!

I believe one of the unique features of Human Design is knowing which energies are consistent within you, and which ones vary depending on who you are with, where you are, and what are the events that are happening.

Do read on to find out more about this in the next section.
Why Blockchain Game Items do NOT need to fill up blocks
By: Mandel Duck
Tags: Counterparty, Game, Tokens, Blockchain, Bitcoin

Recently we have heard a lot of exciting news with regards to the Bitcoin blockchain being used to register game items, this is quite exciting for a few reasons.

Firstly it allows complete ownership of a game item or asset by a player. Secondly it means the player is free to use their blockchain game items in other games and platforms.

I am sure many readers are familiar with the upcoming game Spells of Genesis, a card game in which many of the rare cards are stored on the bitcoin blockchain via the counterparty protocol.

SoG is soon to be released and we can expect in an attempt to attract some of its user base other games will offer the reuse of SoG cards in their games leading to a ripple effect of permissionless open game items.

This is all very exciting however a common misconception I often read is “Blocks are already full!”, “Players won’t pay the mining fee to use game items” etc

Whether you’re big blocks, small blocks or somewhere in between the truth is that use of blockchain game items does not necessarily require a transaction, on or off chain.

“Unlike coins game items are used not spent”

Let me elaborate a little…

Alice has an counterparty enabled bitcoin wallet such as IndieSquare Wallet, on this wallet she stores some bitcoin along with a few Spells of Genesis cards.

When Alice plays Spells of Genesis or any other blockchain game that game just needs to link to the counterparty wallet and verify the game items do exist.

By linking we mean the game grabs the wallet address of the counterparty wallet, reads which game items are contained on that address and grants access accordingly. If the wallet contains a SATOSHICARD, then SoG can allow use of SATOSHICARD in the game.

(The counterparty wallet can also be expected to sign a message with the private key in order for the games to verify the user actually owns the address)

In effect as the user has proved ownership the games can allow the user to utilize the items without them having to been sent whilst also maintaining the security and decentralisation of the bitcoin blockchain.

If your found this article interesting and informative why not leave a tip?BTC Donation Address: 1969uJWJjUPiDL7adjxwVMupGwA5c94X3s

Caveats:

There is the initial transaction for the blockchain game item to be sent to Alice’s wallet.

It is possible for Alice to share her private key with her friends so they can also use her items but this can easily be managed by each game with some simple user/item restriction.

Further reading:

Counterparty

Spells of Genesis

IndieSquare Wallet
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Evolution, Humor, Cartoon, Thursday, Comic

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

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Por que quem não usa a estratégia de SEO está perdendo dinheiro nos negócios
By: Redação Psc
Tags: Marketing Digital, SEO, Tráfego De Qualidade, Estrategia, Investir

in In Fitness And In Health
How to Create Dynamic Backgrounds With the CSS Paint API
By: Ferenc Almasi
Tags: Canvas, Programming, Web Development, Front End Development, CSS

Making the Background Dynamic

Unfortunately, apart from resizing the textarea and getting a glimpse of how the Paint API redraws everything, this is mostly still static. So let’s make things more dynamic by adding custom CSS properties that we can change.

Open your styles.css and add the following lines to it:

You can define custom CSS properties by prefixing them with -- . These can then be used by the var() function. But in our case, we will use it in our paint worklet.

Checking support in CSS

To make sure that the Paint API is supported, we can also check for support in CSS. To do this, we have two options:

Guarding the rules with the @supports rule.

rule. Using a fallback background image.

Accessing the parameters in the paint worklet

To read these parameters inside pattern.js , you need to add a new method to the class that defines the paint worklet:

To access these properties inside the paint method, you can use properties.get :

For the color, we need to convert it into a string. Everything else will need to be converted into a number. This is because properties.get returns a CSSUnparsedValue .

The return value of properties.get.

To make things a little bit more readable, I’ve created two new functions that handle the parsing for us:

All we need to do now is replace everything in the for loop with the corresponding prop values:

Now go back to your browser and try to change things around.
The Enchanted
By: Gail Walter
Tags: Enchantment, Love, Life, Self, Poetry

when we are alone

we let it go

all this make-believe

we toss off clothes

in all directions

all the constriction

and pretense and

then we gambol

freely the enchantress

the enchanted notably

no one else in the room

not this time

but we have done this too

in rooms thick with the slick

sleeves of opaque people

neatly filed for processing

and of course they pretend

not to see

and we pretend not to be

the ones frolicking

out there

so flagrantly

and yet we know the thrall

I am alone more alone

than alone could ever be

and you invisible or maybe

a single curl of come hither

smoke the enchantress

conjures something

and I?

I lose my head

and story rains down on me

beginnings surprise endings

deluge in a desert where

I am gulping like the earth

then I the enchanted

whisk the silk-tasseled

trailing end of the tale

and run through it

weft and warp

among everything standing

I can see

round and round

forward back

a forgetful tangle

of thread and now everything

is in the thrall

such a glorious pursuit

but we cannot forget

but we do —

who it is the enchantress

and who it is this enchanted

— for if we do everything spins

faster and faster

and faster until

we spin right off

the whirring world

filled with terror

and only then do we

remember who it is

that weaves the spell

who falls at the feet

enchanted and then

it is time for

the great slow cloud

for the silence to descend

where nothing is

nor ever shall be

until we start it up again

all over

© Gail Walter 2020
Red Robot, what’s the most evil thing you’ve ever done?
Tags: Robot, Humor, Evil, Comics

More from rstevens Follow

I make cartoons and t-shirts at www.dieselsweeties.com & @rstevens. Send me coffee beans.
Boost your designs with these 6 (free) Figma Illustration resources
By: Orane Lefevre
Tags: UI Design, Illustration, Sketch, Figma, UX

Illustrations and organic shapes are all the rage in current UI designs. They can give life to a page and help convey your brand identity.

As a newbie UI designer eager to jump on this trend, I rummaged through Figma resources to find quick and easy ways to add some spice to my wireframes. Here are my favourites. I categorised them in two groups: shapes & blobs and proper illustrations.

Shapes & blobs

1. The most versatile: Paaatterns

Let me tell you: I LOVE this resource. It contains several patterns of interesting shapes, both organic and geometric. They are available in SVG, allowing you to customise each design to your needs.

Available for: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD and Adobe Illustrator

example of the “Russ” paaattern

2. The cutest: Scribbbles

This pack used to be free but now costs $4 but it is really worthwile. It contains 100+ vectorized scribbles to add life to your designs

Available for: Sketch (but can be opened in Figma) and Adobe Illustrator

Overview of some Scribbbles

3. The easiest: “Blobs” plugin for Figma

This nifty Figma plugin allows you to generate random blobs using 2 parameters: complexity and contrast. Simply right click > plugins > blobs to get started.

A few blobs created with “Blobs” plugin

Actual Illustrations

1. Simple and effective: Peach Illustration system

A beautiful illustration kit containing backgrounds, characters and diverse elements to create your own scenes. The file contains SVGs, allowing you to customize the components according to your needs

Example of a full scene using Peach

2. The most customizable: Humaaans

A very similar illustration kit. Here, each part of the designs are made as Figma components, allowing you to create the characters that you need (choose the head, top, bottom etc…). Includes wheelchair, hijab and very diverse character options.

Available for: Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, flat assets

Examples of character customization

3. The one-stop-shop : Blush Figma plugin

This plugins compiles many free illustration resources in one place. Simply right-click>plugins and select blush to access the library. You get the images as PNG for free, but SVGs require a premium access.

Conclusion

There are plenty of free and amazing resources to illustrate your designs. And those are just a few of them. Which ones do you use? Please let me know and let’s share our best design resources together!
Elm and Myo playing together
By: Yan Cui
Tags: Elm, Reactive Programming, Myo, Programming

I haven’t been able to stop playing around with my Myo armband since I got my hands on it this week. In truth it’s ruined a few of my plans for the weekend, but boy it’s been fun trying to get the Myo working with various apps and games.

Elm has also piqued my interest lately, so what better way to play with the Myo than to build a game in Elm that is best played using gestures? And along comes Thunder Cow, a light-hearted game where you use the fist and fingersSpread postures to start and stop a moving arrow. The goal is to time your release so that the arrow stops in the red zone.

To play using the Myo armband you also need to add this Lua script into your Myo Script Manager. After you’ve added the script, head over here to give it a go.

The Elm source code for the game is available here. There is no native support for sound in Elm, so I had to resort to using Elm’s JS interop capabilities to invoke Javascript functions to play the mp3 files.
Changing The Landscape of Cryptocurrency Investments: Review of the HB10 Subscription
By: Draft On Tech
Tags: Technology, Finance, Blockchain, Investing, Cryptocurrency

On 1 June 2018 , Huobi Pro opened subscription to the HB10 Program which closely follows the Huobi 10 Index tracker. The launch was quickly subscribed, raking up investments of over $10m in the first few hours alone, and it was subscribed completely in around 3 days, making it a huge success!

The HB10 Subscription Section on Huobi

To invest in HB10, users of Huobi could by into the subscription using either USDT, BTC, ETH or HT. Huobi had designed a separate section in their website for the subscription and using your balance on Huobi, you could easily subscribe to the launch from anywhere in the world.

Now that the subscription is closed, it will be available for trading in the next few days. Being the first professionally managed Cryptocurrency based ETF’s, HB10’s launch is expected to be attractive to both large institutional players who have been waiting in the sidelines, as well as retail investors who want to invest a portion of their money in cryptocurrencies but do not have the time to invest in each project separately.

A Product for the Future

ETF’s like this is what smart investors have been waiting for! Now you can easily buy a portion in the top rated cryptocurrencies by just investing in the HB10 asset. Moreover, you can trust Huobi’s impeccable security , experience and knowledge in the blockchain technology.

The launch marks a new era in Cryptocurrency investing: Progressing from trading coins individually to trading funds backed by a diversified selection of coins.

I expect HB10 to become one of the top, if not the top crypto based assets in the coming months, and several exchanges will start their own assets. Of course, Huobi’s lead and vision gives them a headstart over other similar products that will be launched in the future.

Investor can now invest in a global digital ETF fund from the comfort of his home, instead of rushing through complicated processes that are required for regular stock ETFs. Not only does HB10 make cryptocurrency more appealing to traditional investors, it does this by making investing a breeze. Based on the success of the HB10, traditional fund managers will now be keen on recommending crypto related assets to their clients. We may even see small and mid cap crypto ETF’s coming up in the next few years, and if these are managed well by experts, they have the potential to outperform traditional stock ETF’s in a big way!

Once again, it shows the vision behind Huobi’s approach to be the first on the scene, pretty much the same way how Huobi were one of the first large exchanges to arrive on the scene in 2013! Huobi truly leads the way in cryptocurrency investing.
The Handbook to GPG and Git
By: Oliver Spryn
Tags: Software Development, Git, Gpg, Programming, Cryptography

Benefits of GPG Signing

Before diving into the “how,” I’d first like to address the “why.” Entrepreneurs, big businesses, and all those in-between may not see a reason to incorporate GPG keys into their development flow. But if it isn’t worth using, why does Git bother to include native support for it? I’d like to make a few arguments in favor of adding this practice to everyday development.

Security

Aren’t usernames and passwords enough to keep users’ work adequately secured? Or SSH keys? The short answer is no and no. For better or worse, both mechanisms work to grant or deny access to the Git repository. Once access is granted, the engineer must go through additional steps to provide their identity before making any commits:

Familiar Git configuration parameters

Once I’m granted access with either my password or SSH key, it’s game over. Imagine a scenario where a fellow engineer named Alice and I are working on a project. If I found out that my change broke in production and cost the company thousands of dollars, I could pull down the develop branch, claim her identity, rewrite history, and say it was Alice’s commit instead of mine. A simple run of the git log would tell me all I need to know about her identity. Of course, had I done something like this, the branch’s HEAD would diverge across the multiple Git instances, but it still proves a point. Not all hackers need brilliance to cause trouble. Had Alice signed her commits, I couldn’t impersonate her identity without the Git provider flagging my attempt as unverified and untrusted.

Confidence

Encryption and digital signatures are all about inspiring confidence. All of the major players in the Git world reward those who go the extra mile to provide their identity with GPG. GitLab, GitHub, and Bitbucket all show a badge next to each commit whose author has signed it with GPG. GitHub goes further to indicate when a verified author signs their tags and releases. Talk about a friendly pat on the back!

GitLab verified commits, GitHub verified commits and tags, respectively

Simplicity

For engineers, cryptography is often synonymous with pain. Did your key expire? Time to generate a new one and put it in all of the right places. Did you forget to use your key here? Well, you’ve just opened up a big hole. Etcetera, etcetera. In my opinion, Git makes it so easy to use that I find no reason not to. I tell Git what GPG key to use, ask it to sign each commit for me, and proceed using Git like I always have. Business as usual couldn’t be any easier.
ICO Review — 5 reasons why Blockshipping should be revolution the Global Container Shipping Industry
Tags: Ico Review, Freight Shipping, Blockchain, Container Shipping, Cryptocurrency

1. An industry ripe for disruption

In the 1950s, the American Malcom Purcell McLean issued the revolutionary idea to carry virtually all types of packaged goods in standard size metal intermodal cargo containers. These containers can be stacked in large vessels and transported on trucks, barges or rails. This idea, initially considered as original, was adopted all over the world and finally became the preferred method of handling goods during the 1960s and 1970s.

Currently, more than 27 million containers exist worldwide and move from one destination to another on trucks, container cars, container ships, or waiting somewhere in a port, container yard or container. a railway station.

In terms of numbers, the container shipping industry accounts for about 60% of the world’s maritime trade and its total value is estimated at $ 12 trillion for 2017.

However, this industry is troubled by a major problem: about 20% of the containers (5 million) are uncontrolled ie nobody knows their precise locations, if they are currently in transit or waiting for collection some or if they are in transit, nobody knows their destinations. In addition, no one knows in real time if they are empty or loaded, which means that no one knows if a truck or a train is wasting time and energy carrying an empty “metal box” instead of carry real goods.

In addition to this problem, the shipping industry is currently facing several other major problems:

Rental and/or sale of containers requires a large and complex paper flow

IT systems and processes are outdated resulting in delays and errors

Considerable waste in “air shipping” by not using potentially empty containers

The collection of costs incurred is slow and often wrong

Real-time tracking is actually not real-time

Customer service for shippers is poor and below market standards

In addition, this industry has been troubled for years by challenges such as overcapacity, low rates, safety and increased environmental regulations.

Although the shipping industry is considered a very conservative environment, it is now ready for disruption bringing new inspirations, new technologies and new effective solutions.

In this context, Blockshipping (which is an integral part of this industry) has decided to launch its GSCP platform using blockchain technologies to solve some of the most important problems in the Global Container Shipping Industry.
Let Yourself Microdose on Hope
By: Jessica Wildfire
Tags: Self Improvement, Humor, Success, Life, Hope

Even the cynical chick tells everyone to look on the bright side now. Wow, that’s disturbing. And yet, it’s how bad things have gotten around here. Your dreams, you achieved them.

But then they curdled. Ewww.

You know what’s up. Welcome to the third round of severe budget cuts at a mid tier university, or a Fortune 500 Company. Wherever you wanted to wind up. Hey, cheers. At least you have an excuse to drink more. Don’t mind if I do. That’s what she said.

No, really. That’s what she said. Drink more. The cynical chick. Followed by what I said. On it. So what she said, times two, I guess.

Hope always sprouts up in the worst situations. Not exactly hope that your company — or university — will survive.

Just hope that there’s a future of some kind…

One that doesn’t involve waking up at 6 am to ask some jerk face if he wants extra foam on his latte.

Hope. It creates an alternate reality. One that might never happen. Maybe that’s why some of us think it’s evil. But it’s not. Hope is the medicine you need. And just like every medicine, you can overdose.
How to Merge Adapters Sequentially in Android
By: Siva Ganesh Kantamani
Tags: AndroidDev, Android, Mobile, Recyclerview, Programming

Working with MergeAdapter

Let’s take a basic use case. We need to show a header layout, then a list of topics, and a footer showing either loading or error. We have three different adapters, one for each type — HeaderAdapter , TopicAdapter , and FooterAdapter .

We want to merge these three adapters using the merge-adapter constructor and set the result MergeAdapter instance to recyclerview . The first here is to merge three adapters as shown:

val headerAdapter : HeaderAdapter = …

val topicAdapter : TopicAdapter = …

val footerAdapter : FooterAdapter = … val mergeAdapter = MergeAdapter( headerAdapter , topicAdapter ,

footerAdapter )

The views in the recyclerview will render according to the order of adapters in the MergeAdapter constructor. After that, as usual, we need to invoke setAdapter and pass the mergeAdapter` instance, as shown below:

recyclerView.adapter = mergeAdapter

In this way, we achieve separation of concerns:
왜 도커 이미지에서만 커밋해쉬가 오류났을까?
By: Seon Pyo Kim
Tags: Codechain, Docker, Container

in In Fitness And In Health
Our Hearts of Gold
By: Anastasia Summersault
Tags: Poetry, Emotions, Heartbreak, Love, Life

I wonder if I will ever stop wondering

How things could be

How differently they could’ve turned out

But that’s life, I guess — don’t we always wonder?

Don’t we always wish we could know the right way out?

Sometimes I feel so weightless, so benign

So lost like last week’s mail

And the hardest thing in the world is being bold

But that’s fine, I guess — aren’t we all cowards deep inside?

Deep in our souls, in our hearts of gold?

On other days yet, things make more sense

The puzzle fits together

I get to sleep at night and laugh, with peace long overdue

And rightly so, I guess — sometimes we need some faith, that’s all

Sometimes the right way out is through.
What’s Your Favorite Season?
By: Caitlin Kunkel
Tags: Humor, Sketch, Love, Comedy, Dark Humor

What’s Your Favorite Season?

A brief comedy sketch.

Which one is your true love?

Three women, DONNA, KIMBER and MICHELLE are in a coffee shop together in front of a fireplace enjoying beverages. Pace starts off dreamy and slow.

DONNA: (deep, contented sigh) I just love winter.

KIMBER: Me too.

MICHELLE: It makes it so cozy to stay inside.

DONNA: Look at the fire.

MICHELLE: Read on my Kindle.

KIMBER: I love winter so much.

DONNA: You know what else I love, though?

MICHELLE: What, Donna?

DONNA: Spring.

Small sighs of content and happiness from Kimber and Michelle.

KIMBER: Spring is really a wonderful season.

MICHELLE: Spring makes me feel like I could do anything and not get caught.

DONNA: I could run off into the forest and survive on berries for months during spring.

KIMBER: In spring you could take uppers all day long and people would think they were antihistamines.

MICHELLE: In the spring you could bury a guinea pig and buy a replacement on your lunch break with hardly any trouble at all.

They all nod serenely and murmur, “yes, that’s true,” “much easier to dig” “very pleasant season.” They take sips of their beverages. Kimber puts her down with a start. Pace picks up a little here.

KIMBER: But gals — what about summer?

MICHELLE: Summer means being able to keep large power tools on a motorboat no one in your family knows you own.

DONNA: In the summer I can slip out of the house under the sound of the AC units and perform secret rituals on the country club golf course.

KIMBER: Summer means never having to say you’re sorry for putting foxglove in a martini and then being really good at acting surprised by the lab results.

Ladies all murmur, “so true,” “love summer,” “beautiful season,” “mmm foxglove” “good times.” They keep drinking until Donna puts her cup down and takes a deep breath as if she’s about to reveal a secret.

DONNA: You know what truly gets my blood pumping though, lady pack?

MICHELLE: What, Donna?

DONNA: My deep, passionate love for fall.

The mood shifts. This one is serious.

KIMBER: Just how much do you “love fall,”Donna? Enough to send bombs through the federal mail system?

DONNA: If I could find a good hideout in advance. How ‘bout you, Michelle? How much do you love fall?

MICHELLE: Oh, I would do anything to show fall how much I love it. Anything.

DONNA: Would you throw your son Miles out the car window for a pumpkin latte?

MICHELLE: Without question.

DONNA: Would you euthanize your spaniels for fall, Kimber?

KIMBER: I would consider it an honor.

MICHELLE: (deceptively innocent delivery) Would you kill your husband to be with fall?

Long pause from Kimber.

KIMBER: If fall asked me to, and promised to take care of me emotionally and financially for the rest of my life and provide constant companionship, then yes, I believe I would. I would kill my husband to be with fall.

MICHELLE: Me two.

DONNA: Me three.

They hold hands. Joyful laughing from all three that trails off after uncomfortable period.

KIMBER: So, what should our next book club pick be?

BLACKOUT.
Secret
By: Anna Wughanga Olila
Tags: Poetry, Pain, South Africa, Trauma, Anger

Secret

A poem for Uyinene. For us. To mourn. To expose our pain and speak our truth. To set down the weight.

Picture by Sweeney Queen

Have you ever had a secret?

One you keep stored in the nooks and crannies of your body

Like brown dirt under your fingernails

Like the tiny hair that lives on your upper thighs

Like a chipped tooth right at the front of your mouth
Is Chris Tucker the Only Black Officer I will get to see on TV?
By: Tooth Truth Roopa Vikesh
Tags: Religion, Ethnicity, Racism, Casteism, Police

Is Chris Tucker the Only Black Officer I will get to see on TV?

Wondering aloud about Jacob Blake from India

Playing the same old black record. Photo by author.

Ever since I got a color TV all I can see is color. Rodney King, Ahmed Arbury, George Floyd, now Jacob Blake. Prime time news in India.*

If a black officer decides a black man needs to be shot, it is a different story. If the shooting officer is white, it is a completely different story.

How many black police officers does America have? Is the percentage of black officers the same as the percentage of black citizens?

Please enroll enough black policemen to increase the percentage of black policemen up, to match the percentage of black citizens.

Otherwise the percentage of citizens will go down, to match the percentage of black officers.

More black policewomen as well.

This article is about how our country handled a problem, by first admitting the problem.

If this article on Race Gap in America’s Police Departments in the New York Times 2014, updated 2015, is still true, then you had it, my black international siblings!!!

This FACT TANK Pew Research article has 10 points of research, about what White and Black officers think. Usually Black officers support black victims — not always — but 58% do.

The police is an alluring government job with benefits. Why not enroll?

Who’s President wouldn’t matter, if every white police officer had a black mate.
I Don’t Have a Phone Number for My Daughter’s Dad
By: Shannon Ashley
Tags: Relationships, Family, Self, Life Lessons, Parenting

We argued a lot for the first couple of years after she was born. Mostly, I was mad that he just wanted to come around whenever it suited him, which wasn’t much and wasn’t too helpful either. He got mad any time I tried to set boundaries, and I was terrible at enforcing those (however well-intentioned) guidelines.

Eventually, though, I realized that boundaries were necessary, and perhaps easier than I’d thought. I quit expecting him to do much of anything, and quit engaging with him much at all. I limited our communications to me informing him about our daughter or sending him photos of her, and I quit treating him as if we needed him in our lives.

If a disagreement came up and he tried to escalate it into an argument, or if he tried to bring his new girlfriend or later, wife, into the conversation to pressure me, I wouldn’t engage beyond letting him know he’d crossed a boundary we’d already discussed.

To my surprise and relief, I saw almost immediate results. My life became virtually drama-free as our contact diminished and the fights stopped. Sure, there was still the rare occasion where I had to speak up for our daughter, like if there’d been an issue she needed help with at his house on one of her visits, or when I found out her stepsisters were wearing her shoes that I’d bought, etc.

But putting certain boundaries in place along with lowering my expectations did wonders for my peace of mind. Best of all, it freed me up to make my decisions based solely upon what’s best for our daughter instead of caving in to pressure or fear from him.

Unlike many exes with kids, we don’t have a legal court order regarding visitation or finances. It used to make me angry, because it felt like my daughter was being cheated of certain things she rightfully deserves.

And for a long time, the only reason we didn’t have a court order was that he’d threatened to “completely cut off” if I ever filed the paperwork. He was always worried about being forced to pay “too much child support,” since our daughter was his fourth child.

He moved on to have a fifth baby and two stepchildren, and even though there’s only the one baby who lives with them full-time, I understand he’s not enthusiastic about another court order for child support after his first divorce.

While he worried about paying too much money, my big fear was that our daughter would miss out on having a dad, and that it would be my fault. As a new mom, I was terrified of doing this thing on my own or driving him away. So, I reluctantly agreed to handle everything without the courts.

It’s not a perfect system, by any means. But sharing children rarely is. Yet as time has passed, I’ve come to realize that I appreciate the pros of this system much more than the cons.

Every time somebody assumes my daughter’s dad must be involved, and any time someone else makes a statement about how much children need their fathers, I feel grateful not to have taken the court-ordered path.
Weekend Woes
By: Elaine Hamilton
Tags: Writing Prompts, Pomprompt, Pom, Lockdown, Weekend

Weekend Woes

A poem inspired by POMprompt #15 — What Day is It???

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Saturday used to be a day of rest

now it seems my wits are put to the test.

A day to shop, a day to play,

but what’s the point of it being Saturday?

Monday, Tuesday it’s all the same.

The days really don’t require a name.

Lockdowns, shocking as it may seem,

weekends are no longer a dream.
Pre-Launch: Complete your KYC to Win a Ledger Nano S
By: Sumit Gupta
Tags: Exchange, India, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Today, starting 00:00 AM, we’re opening up CoinDCX to everyone to upload their KYC details. Everyone who completes the KYC process, gets a chance to win a Ledger Nano S. Here is how:

All the participants gets virtual ₹1,00,000 and 0.2 BTC in their account for 3 days. Virtual money will be credited in your CoinDCX account at 12:00 PM, 4th April and will be debited from it on 12:00 PM, 7th April.

The one who makes the most profit during this time with virtual money, wins a Ledger Nano S. Trade fee will be set at just 0.10% for both buy & sell orders.

Please note that Deposits and Withdrawals actions are deactivated (for both INR or Crypto) during the competition period.

Below are the steps to get your account KYC approved on CoinDCX:

To register on CoinDCX, visit https://coindcx.com/ and click on SIGNUP button on top right section of the website or click on CREATE ACCOUNT. Fill up the form with all the required information, and don’t forget to enter your referral code if someone referred you. Verify your mobile number via OTP verification and Email address by clicking on the link sent to your email. Now, you will be able to sign in to CoinDCX. You will see a window like this:

5. Upload your KYC details by clicking on “VERIFY MY PROFILE NOW” button on bottom left. Alternatively, go to profile section to complete your KYC details.

6. If your KYC documents (PAN Card, Aadhar Card) are valid, you will get an email from CoinDCX regarding your KYC verification status.

If your account doesn’t get approved within 24 hours of uploading your documents, or you face any other issues while going through this process, raise a support ticket at https://coindcx.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new and our team will get back to you.

PS: Invite your Friends to CoinDCX with your unique referral link and you will get 50% of their trading fee in real-time. Yes, even during the pre-launch phase! Referral bonus will also be added to your Final INR+BTC Balance and the higher earner will win a Brand New Ledger Nano S.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS NOW! Visit: https://coindcx.com/referral

Happy Trading!
My Boyfriend Grabbed My Belly Fat… and I’ve Never Felt More Empowered
By: Katie O'Malley
Tags: Body Acceptance, Relationships, Empowerment, Fat Acceptance, Self Love

Now, still in high school but many years into recovery, I live in a very different body from the one shaped by rigorous training and a broken, restrictive relationship with food. While my active abuse of my food and body has subsided, I have continued to struggle in accepting and loving my new and larger body.

Of course, struggles such as these were not easy to vocalize to my first boyfriend despite his incredibly accepting and thoughtful reactions. One night, as we were laying on the couch and watching another stand up comedy special, I happened to be experiencing a particularly disturbing bout of insecurity and hyper-awareness of my recent weight gain. “Babe, I’m having a hard time right now,” I confessed. As he eagerly listened, I poured out the load of negative self-talk that inevitably comes with poor body image days such as this.

What he did next was possibly the most authentically compassionate and loving response I have ever received. Wrapping his arms around me, he ran his hand over my belly and took up in it the rolls of my stomach: fat, skin, and all. “Are you kidding?! This body? This body is yours. This belly is a part of you, and every part of you deserves to be loved.” And it wasn’t merely the words themselves. Nor was it the genuine curiosity in his voice as if he truly could not fathom what about my body was in any way unacceptable.

“Are you kidding?! This body? This body is yours. This belly is a part of you, and every part of you deserves to be loved.”

It was the way my stomach fell through his fingertips like sand while he gazed as if it were gold. It was the way his hands fully embraced the most vulnerable and criticized part of my body like it was a gift from God himself. I could feel the full force of a desire to be one with a part of myself that I had long despised.

And it became the single most significant moment in my journey towards body love, and for one particular reason: There was no fear.

He did not pull a curtain before the part of my body that I had mustered the courage to bring onto the stage of conversation. Instead, he shone a spotlight. He was not scared to highlight the rolls on my stomach because he saw no reason to do so. After all, isn’t the only reason we deny fat’s existence because we deem it something unworthy to exist? This action of acknowledging the space I take up helped (along with plenty of other therapeutic work) me to make that space mine. I own this body. This is my space. I am proud to take it up. Without fear, I am free to fill this space with love.

When we can grab the fat, feel it in our hands, acknowledge it, and love it — not despite itself, but because of itself — fat becomes powerful.
A Darker Song
By: Zach J. Payne
Tags: Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Love, Life

after Cassandra Clare

Call love a violent act or, else, a lie.

We whisper tenderly, elicit lust,

an oxytocin dream that makes us fly

until we’re falling eating sand and dust

and bloody teeth. We sacrifice ourselves

like lambs for Abraham. We bring the knife

and bronzen bowl, no gore or ghastly smells,

we die so beautifully, husband and wife,

us fathers, daughters, sons. Love is a curse

we write upon ourselves. I walk away

it’s better that than waiting for the hearse.

I own myself, my body, and the way

I stand: two shoulders square against the world

that only spun. Until you made it twirl.
The Bathroom Bogeyman
By: Sally Albright
Tags: Transgender, LGBTQ

When I was a child in the 70’s I once asked my mother what ERA meant. She told me if “The Feminists” got it passed, boys and girls would have to use the same bathroom. That was the long and the short of it for her.

And for me as well- after all, she raised me. At such a young age, the specter of unisex bathrooms was the most horrible thing my sheltered mind could conceive of. At that moment, I declared myself “NOT A feminist,” a label I clung to much farther into adulthood than I care to admit.

But eventually I grew up, and I got over my fear of sharing a bathroom. Decades of working in Democratic politics, with our gender-neutral bathrooms and questionable housing accommodations, make that flavor of priggishness unworkable. And everyone else can get over it too.

My point is, people have been using this bathroom bogeyman for 40 years, to stigmatize people and rebuff efforts to enforce equal protection. To you, the bathroom issue might seem strange and feel uncomfortable, but think of how it would feel if you had no bathroom options. What if you had to choose between freaking people out or getting arrested every single time you had to go?

Also, and this just occurred to me: I have a habit of, ahem, being asked to leave the occasional drinking establishment because I refuse to wait in the ridiculous ladies room line and instead try to use the men’s room. Does this mean I’m going to be arrested now??

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/opinion/transgender-bathroom-hysteria-contd.html?partner=IFTTT&_r=1

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-transgender-children-bathrooms-20160221-story.html
Wilde Observations #19
By: Ed Newman
Tags: Poetry, Ideas, Art, Oscar Wilde, Inspiration

A tossed salad of art, poetry and ideas.

“The Knight Who Called It A Day” — Painting by the author.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

— Oscar Wilde

From somewhere in the wilderness

Unleashed, unloosed,

a sledge hammer slaughter, unlawful

massacre of the daughters of justice;

hauling the slant-handled tools of malice,

verbal basting, thrashing the ignited glories wasting.

Slag busting, cattle rustling, between dreary echoes

and muted rainbows, decrying test-pattern indulgences

and platinum penitentiaries.

Sterile violence floods the altar

with opiated parasites in a ceremonial carnival

of discordant distractions.

Muffled bells chime in the secret chambers

where dead dreamers dance with unseeing eyes

midst palatial splendors.

Outside I remain, in the wilderness still,

renewing myself daily with my small portions of ecstasy.