fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Three Weird Walking Habits I Took Up During the Pandemic
By: Manoush Zomorodi
Tags: Exercise, Walking, Dogs, Habits, Pandemic

Three Weird Walking Habits I Took Up During the Pandemic

And how they helped me stay connected to family members

It’s been a year of trying to stay connected with faraway friends and family… and not strangling the loved ones you see all. day. long. Over the past year, taking hours-long walks (usually between 10–20k steps, 5–6 days a week) has regulated my mood, given me time to listen to all the things I need to for my day job, and kept my children’s bodies from morphing into wet noodles. But I’ve noticed that I’ve picked up some unusual habits while doing all this walking. I hope they continue well after we come out of hibernation.

Texting roadkill with my brother

My brother and I regularly text each other photos of roadkill that we come across while on long jaunts. Petrified frog pancakes, deer rib cages picked semi-clean, rats that look like half-flattened toothpaste tubes. They’re all fodder for showing my brother that I love him and I’m thinking of him. And that I know he shares my sense that if we don’t laugh at this horror-filled world and/or turn it into ironic art, we’re doomed. Although, I just couldn’t bring myself to photograph the dead possum — and her parcel of eight dead babies attached to her back — at the top of the hill where I like to take walks. That would have been taking our macabre yet affectionate practice one text too far.

Photo by David Larivière on Unsplash

Walking in sync with my daughter

There’s no destination when I walk with my kids. The goal is just to get as far away from screens as possible. Recently, the 10-year-old and I have been trying to walk in sync, for as long as possible. It’s not easy because, as she points out, her legs are shorter. I think she thinks we invented this pastime; I don’t have the heart to tell her that synchronized walking is a competitive practice in Japan and, back in the ’60s the Monkees managed to sing and walk simultaneously. I think that’s beyond us, but our tandem walking seems to promote mother-daughter harmony. The neuroscience backs up the benefits of our little practice too: When two people behave in a synchronized way, their brain activities are at the same time coupled, demonstrating the interbrain synchronization.” Cool!

Photo by Anthony Fomin on Unsplash

Giving dogs human names

Apparently my son and I are not so special with this one. I hear that many people enjoy dog-spotting while pounding the pavement, whisperering to their companion, “That sheepdog is Leslie.” Or, “See the bloodhound? Gustav.” Sometimes this practice leads to actually adopting a dog. Friends who are getting a labradoodle (like everyone else in Brooklyn) have named it Phil. Our puppy is due to arrive next month. Her name is Lottie.

Please share your weird walking habits! I’d love to add to this list in 2021.
God of Destruction (Part Two)
By: Yaman Nimer
Tags: Love, Home, Poem, Life, Poetry

He was asked “do you ever return home?”

he said he had torn his home down and

left it scattered in little pieces

along the shores of his remorselessness.

How else would he become invincible, he said.

but

the man that is an empty shell

will always cave in.
Une réalité qu’on ne peut plus ignorer : la diversité à l’ordre du jour
By: Ivana Markovic
Tags: Diversité, Cultura Corporativa, Inclusion

I’m passionate about talent management and culture. My objective is to make Osedea the best workplace for our team.

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On a beach at Byron Bay
By: Zarina Dara
Tags: Short Story, Fiction, Life, Haiku, Poetry

“My cogs have ground down,

my chains worn out; eight years

in gaol, can’t take

anymore — but I

ain’t gone soft, don’t you mistake — ”

fists raised, milky eyes

now flare and blaze, two

bright blue embers glow fierce,

fight rises in his

chest — then just as quick,

dissipates — he falls, doughy,

to the ground, muted

sobs bubble and burst,

head down, cowed and mumbling, “Soft,

nothin’ but a lump.”
How To Fix Facebook: More Nuts
By: R.J. Kushner
Tags: Short Story, Satire, Humor, Comedy, Tech

The site has certainly had no shortage of scandals this past year, with the “Slappy Bilbo” incident and all the raccoon selfies. Could an infusion of nuts help to plug the dam and prevent another “Lionel Coin Bank” episode from occurring?

Naturally, I needed to confront the experts with my “nut” proposal. I started with Microsoft Inventor and beige sweater Bill Gates.

“Hi, you’ve reached Bill Gates,” he told me in an interview on the subject. “Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.”

His endorsement left me swooning. But to make certain my theory was as solid as a mixed nut is salty, I needed to continue to climb this ladder of sources; prominent Medium blogger Mitch Albom was the next rung.

“I didn’t order any pizza…,” Mitch told me via intercom from his fourth-floor apartment. “But, golly, what the heck. Come on up and let’s talk about the five people you meet in heaven.” (I declined and considered the matter settled.)

Later that night, as I squatted under the rhododendrons in front of Mark Zuckerberg’s beach house, I began to wonder why I was so driven to find a solution to the “Facebook Problem.” Was it because of my father, Skipper Snipes, who, at the age of 37, invented putting coats on the backs of chairs?

His father before him had also been an innovator, and is credited as the first person to pull a “Down low! Too slow!” in the Polish village of Kokoszkowy (after which he was immediately beaten by the village elders and trampled by horses).

The pressure to live up to their legacy was spawning a fresh gas bubble in me when I spotted Mark McGrath pull up to the beach house and realized I’d once again mixed up my Marks.

“I told you guys, you’ll get your dolls back when I get my thirty dollars,” Mark said, before realizing who it was and sicking his security goons on me.

As the bulky goons chased me around the mulberry bush, I pleaded with Mark to hear me out.

“The nuts, Mark!,” I shrieked. “The nuts can fix Facebook! The nuts, Mark!”

Mark crossed his pale, hairless arms and thought for a moment before holding up his hand to halt his goons.

“Sugar Ray says….nuts?” he said.

“Yes, Mark,” I said, my eyes welling with tears. “Sugar Ray says…nuts.”

Mark made another signal to his goons, and they began walking back to the Toyota they’d arrived in.

“Shut the door, baby,” Mark said, looking back at me. “Don’t say a word.”

With that, they gathered into the car and drove toward the ocean.

Clearly, more nuts had gotten me out of one bind; who’s to say they can’t get Facebook out of another?

An earlier version of this essay appeared in FBI Case File 01112–0527.
Why Are We Meanest to Our Mothers
By: Lindsay Brown
Tags: Love, Life Lessons, Motherhood, Family, Emotions

Why Are We Meanest to Our Mothers

Sometimes it’s not easy being the one who loves you most

Photo by Georgina Vigliecca on Unsplash

“I hate you!” My daughter screamed at me for the tenth time that week.

This is why I’m obsessed with the dog. The dog wouldn’t dream of saying such blasphemy. The dog is my pal, my confidante. The dog licks the tears from my face as I cry after my daughter tells me she hates me.

Actually, I don’t cry. Not anymore. Sophie telling me she hates me has become too commonplace. My daughter will say to me she hates me because I say her room isn’t clean enough. She hates me when I tell her she must put the tablet down and make some outside friends because she’s been spending too much time cooped up in that dark room of hers. Sophie hates me, sometimes, for merely breathing too loudly around her.

At first, I was devastated. How can she say these hurtful things to me, her mother? She’s supposed to have respect for me. She is supposed to love me unconditionally because I brought her into this world and so help me God, and I can take her out. Or, at least that’s how the age-old adage goes.

The thing is, I remember doing the same thing to my mom.

She was my emotional punching bag. The one I would specifically seek out in those tumultuous teenage years to spew my baggage all over in some tear infused self-pitying rage fest demonstrated strictly for my mother.

Why do we rage on our mothers?

Of course, all of this previous sentiment only applies if we are lucky enough to have good mothers. Good fathers. Some are not so lucky, and the “hate” they feel for the people who raised them is more genuine — more practical.

It’s the kind of loathing that isn’t abrupt and reckless, but rather methodical. Something that has grown systematically over years of neglect and abuse.

I am fortunate enough not to know that sort of hate. Although we’ve had our missteps, my parents have always been dependable caregivers. They’ve constantly had my best interests at heart. They love me, unconditionally.

Especially Mom. While my father has always been the sort of man who would rather be at work than at home, it was Mom who made the sacrifices that so many parents do.

Since the time I was old enough to start choosing my path, it has always been Mom who stood silently by while allowing me to make my mistakes — then picked me up, saving me, after I fell.

She taught me the hard lessons, or as it so often happened, allowed me to walk the plank and teach myself. Either way, she’s always been there for me.

In return, time after time, I told her I hated her.

I hated the way she was so mistrusting of my friends when I was a teenager. I hated her negative attitude. I hated the fact that she was never on my side.

I’d scream these things to her as we argued in her kitchen while she made me my lunch of garden veggies and a sandwich made on freshly baked bread.

Yeah, I was pretty much the jerkiest of teenage jerks.
Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell and David Oyewolo Cast In Murder Mystery
By: Noah Keate
Tags: Culture, Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, David Oyewolo, Film

The film will be directed by Tom George, who has previously helmed the award-winning BBC mockumentary This Country and overseen Proms coverage. Mark Chappell, who has written for Cold Feet and My Life in Film, has written the screenplay. Damian Jones, best known for working on The Iron Lady, a biopic of Margaret Thatcher, will produce the picture.

The plot of the as-yet untitled murder mystery will follow a Hollywood director in 1950s London looking to adapt their popular West End play into a film. As members of the production are killed off, Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell), a world-weary inspector, and Constable Stalker (Ronan), an overzealous rookie, are bought together in London’s theatreland to solve the case.

A production date for this murder mystery has not yet been announced, but Ronan can next be seen alongside Bill Murray and Timothee Chalet in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, set for release in 2021. Meanwhile, Oyelowo will star alongside George Clooney and Felicity Jones in the sci-fi drama The Midnight Sky, which will be on Netflix from 23 December.

All the announced cast have previously performed in period dramas previously. Rockwell played choreographer Bob Fosse in the biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon, while Ronan last featured in the 19th century romantic drama Ammonite. Oyelowo has also starred in a number of historical movies including Selma and A United Kingdom.

Given the financial success of the murder mystery film genre with movies like Murder on the Orient Express and Knives Out, fans are likely to support to this exciting new entry to the genre. With a stellar cast such as this, the film is likely to draw more attention as more details develop.

Words by Noah Keate
“Smashing Meeting”
By: Background Noise Comics
Tags: Comics, Gig Economy, Humor, Work Life Balance, Writing Life

Work from home means when something goes wrong, the only person you can complain to is yourself!
“9 AM”
By: Luke Esterkyn
Tags: Stroke 9, Lyrics

“9 AM”

Lyrics to “9 AM” by Stroke 9

Listen free here.

Your fears,

your scars,

I like you the way that you are

All your dark places and multiple faces,

I like you the way that you are

So never go,

I like all the things that you know

So many traces and beautiful spaces

you’re often just too scared to show

Let’s go, let’s go

9AM

born again,

wide awake,

sleeping in

We watch the sun

set and then

I gravitate to your light again

2AM

Settled in

We’ve fallen into something so let’s try another day of it

and I’m gonna lay everything on the line

Your downs

and outs,

I love when you scream and you shout

All your emotions are drops in the oceans

I like everything you’re about

So never change

don’t clean-up and don’t rearrange

Nothing is perfect and that’s how we work it

no matter how often it rains

Let’s go, let’s go
I’ve still got pajamas on the mind.
Tags: Comics, Sleep, Humor

More from rstevens Follow

I make cartoons and t-shirts at www.dieselsweeties.com & @rstevens. Send me coffee beans.
Don’t Speak
By: Sandy Knight
Tags: Relationships, Poetry Under Cover, Touch Prompt, Love And Sex, Poetry

When words

are not enough

don’t speak, instead

tie your tongue

into a knot,

lasso my heart

with just your finger tip

soft beneath my chin,

draw me tenderly

to your lips

and show me

something

I can believe
Medium, I love you. Medium, I hate you.
By: Pito Salas
Tags: Medium, User Experience, Complaint

As my avid followers (irony) know, I am now blogging again on Medium. It’s quite wonderful and pretty. But in its simplicity comes more than a little confusion. Yes, clean lines are wonderful, but (as they say) Don’t Make Me Think. I’ve looked in help. I’ve looked on the web. I’ve looked and looked.

And yet, I shouldn’t have had to look at all.

How O how do I get an article that I post to appear in my “publication”? I figured it out but it was quite well hidden. Look for the drop down menu icon at the end/right of your article. Click on it and you will see an “Add to Publication…” button. How O how do I really use my “publication” as a blog? How O how do I create a bulleted or numbered list that has two or more levels?

… more to come
Demons
By: Edie Tuck
Tags: Fear, Demons, Monsters, Poetry, Darkness

I hear you

Hiding in the dark

In the corners of the room

You and your little friends

Just waiting for me to sleep

So you can pounce

So you can laugh

I know you’re there

I can feel you

Sometimes I see you

I think you know it

I think you want me to

But I’m not afraid

Like you want me to be

You’re not welcome here

Now go and let me sleep

Tomorrow you’ll be gone

And I’ll be the one laughing

And hiding in the corner

In the dark
¿Por qué Danilo Medina ganará en el 2020?
By: Jose Rosado
Tags: Spanish, Politica

in In Fitness And In Health
“White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities”
By: Jess Brooks
Tags: Native Americans, Racism, American History

“Despite the preponderance of archaeological evidence that these mound complexes were the work of sophisticated Native American civilizations, this rich history was obscured by the Myth of the Mound Builders, a narrative that arose ostensibly to explain the existence of the mounds. Examining both the history of Cahokia and the historic myths that were created to explain it reveals the troubling role that early archaeologists played in diminishing, or even eradicating, the achievements of pre-Columbian civilizations on the North American continent, just as the U.S. government was expanding westward by taking control of Native American lands.

Today it’s difficult to grasp the size and complexity of Cahokia, composed of about 190 mounds in platform, ridge-top, and circular shapes aligned to a planned city grid oriented five degrees east of north. This alignment, according to Tim Pauketat, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, is tied to the summer solstice sunrise and the southern maximum moonrise, orientating Cahokia to the movement of both the sun and the moon. Neighborhood houses, causeways, plazas, and mounds were intentionally aligned to this city grid. Imagine yourself walking out from Cahokia’s downtown; on your journey you would encounter neighborhoods of rectangular, semi-subterranean houses, central hearth fires, storage pits, and smaller community plazas interspersed with ritual and public buildings. We know Cahokia’s population was diverse, with people moving to this city from across the midcontinent, likely speaking different dialects and bringing with them some of their old ways of life…

Early archaeologists working to answer the question of who built the mounds attributed them to the Toltecs, Vikings, Welshmen, Hindus, and many others. It seemed that any group — other than the American Indian — could serve as the likely architects of the great earthworks. The impact of this narrative led to some of early America’s most rigorous archaeology, as the quest to determine where these mounds came from became salacious conversation pieces for America’s middle and upper classes. The Ohio earthworks, such as Newark Earthworks, a National Historic Landmark located just outside Newark, OH, for example, were thought by John Fitch (builder of America’s first steam-powered boat in 1785) to be military-style fortifications. This contributed to the notion that, prior to the Native American, highly skilled warriors of unknown origin had populated the North American continent.”
I Monitored the Polls in Pennsylvania and Left Feeling Empty
By: Sean Myers
Tags: Volunteering, Politics, Voting, Election 2020

For 14 hours, I stood in a church parking lot. Thankfully, it was sunny with temperatures in the high 40s for most of the day. If it had rained or snowed, it would have a really rough and depressing day.

By mid-afternoon, I was bored enough to look back on the nightmare. I’d somehow managed to have one in the hour or two of nervous sleep I’d gotten the night before. In it, a line of pickup trucks, filled with armed Trump supporters looking for trouble, came roaring up the road towards me.

At least something had happened, I thought.

Like most other polling places, there was no voter intimidation at my precinct. When polls opened, people got in a line that took 45 minutes to wind through. Once that line dissipated, no line replaced it. My poll observer training manual said that there would be a “period of high turnout” during lunchtime. There wasn’t. The manual also warned of “high turnout” from 5pm until polls closed at 8pm.

There wasn’t.

Party headquarters sent out a group text at 7:30pm, reminding poll observers to tell voters that, if they’re in line when polls closed at 8pm, they had a right to cast a ballot. I read the text, looked left and then right at the empty parking lot before me, and chuckled.

It’s not that I did nothing during those 14 hours: It’s that I only helped about a dozen people cast their ballots — less than one per hour.

Of those, I only felt as if I could legitimately say that I “saved” one vote: A student had gotten a mail-in ballot but then lost it. He came to the polling place, but suspected that he wouldn’t be allowed to vote. I walked him through the process of casting a provisional ballot. On his way out, he told me that it had worked. He took a Joe Biden pin from the Democratic Party’s table in the parking lot.

So it wasn’t that I did nothing, like in 2016. It’s that I did so little, for having a law degree. Lawyers for the Trump campaign were challenging hundreds of thousands of ballots and, judging from the complaints they were filing, were spending far fewer than 14 hours at it.
Compare the Triplets
By: Erica N
Tags: JavaScript, Algorithms, Programming, Code, Hackerrank

For today’s algorithm let’s meet Alice and Bob:

Both Alice and Bob create a programming problem. The reviewer rates the challenges and gives them points in three categories: clarity, originality and difficulty. In all, they will receive three points. For this algorithm, the compareTriplets function will take in two arrays. One for Bob and one for Alice. Each array will contain three numbers (their points).

The task is to find their comparison points by comparing:

a[0] with b[0] a[1] with b[1] a[2] with b[2]

On Alice’s array, if a[i] is larger than b[i] on Bob’s array, then Alice gets a point.

On Alice’s array, if a[i] is less than b[i] on Bob’s array, then Bob gets a point.

On Alice’s array, if a[i] is equal than b[i] on Bob’s array then neither gets a point.

The function will return an array of two numbers. The first number in the array is Alice’s total points and the second number is Bob’s total points.

Here is the complete code:
Road to Self
By: Asil Rashid
Tags: Marriage, Love, Loveself, Poetry, Self Care

Someday, a man will marry you,

Not because he loves you,

But because he loves the trappings of you.

This, however, is a good thing

Because it will set you firmly

On the road back to your self.
Live Broadcast: October Community Meeting
By: Virtual Mosque
Tags: Live, Community, Broadcast

On the first Sunday of every month we open up the doors of our Mosque in Wembley for our ‘Community Meeting’.

This is, as always, a gathering which is open to all people, Muslim or not, and is a chance for people to come along and join in with our efforts to show the true message of Islam, or just to meet new and interesting people and have a free hot meal.

Today Dr Zahid Aziz will be the main speaker and his topic of choice is ‘The innocence of the Prophets’. This will be followed up with a short speech by Faizan Ahmad who is one of the many younger followers in our Jamaat.

We will be live broadcasting the whole event, as usual, and you can watch and even join in with the question and answer section if you wish, by typing your question in the ‘chat box’.

Our programme starts at 3pm BST (British Summer Time). To watch and interact with us all you need to do is click on the link below.

Click here to watch our LIVE BROADCAST
Filament
By: Jessica Lee Mcmillan
Tags: Authenticity, Nature, Self, Contentment, Poetry

Air stings of emptying cloud

a gust of drops in myriad keys,

crystal energy flecks window

melting in opaque night.

I warm like flexing shield,

like stellar waters

drinking traces of heat,

a filament tapping pane

in equilibrium of self,

my fireside soul within.

I have wrung the weight

to do anything else

but collect little fire and

dream in patter and spark.
A SEA OF FACES
By: Rachel Syme
Tags: Big Stories Matter, Selfies, Social Media

In late 2010, two years after I’d uprooted my life and moved from suburban Indianapolis to Memphis, Tennessee, to live with and then marry the girl from that long-distance thing, I experienced a severe depressive breakdown. I couldn’t seem to accomplish anything, no matter how I tried. Up to that point, I had thrived on the energy that writing and music gave me, but I just couldn’t do it any more.

But — maybe by instinct, maybe by desperation — I kept taking selfies on my iPhone. Depression selfies definitely weren’t a thing then, but that seems to be what I was doing — documenting myself to remind myself that I was still there. One day, in late 2010, I stepped into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, decided I looked great, smiled as big as I could, and snapped a picture. The above was the result. I don’t know why I thought that was a smile, why I thought that a sweat-stained plain white tee was a great look, why I didn’t notice that my eyes were swollen from constant almost-crying, or that my eyes were almost completely vacant. Also my haircut was stupid, but my haircuts were always stupid until pretty recently. I do know why I thought I looked great, though: I wasn’t asleep or doubled over in the shower trying to convince myself to stop wanting to die. That ugly selfie was both a declaration of victory in that day’s battle and a rallying cry for the months to come. I could at least stand up. When my brain was screaming for me to kill myself, I could choose to do nothing.

I lost a job to that depression. My marriage spoiled into an abusive dynamic. (Which is a total chicken/egg discussion. I don’t remember which came first. I suspect depression did, largely because I was in such a vulnerable position for manipulation — I wanted to die every second I was awake; why would I not also believe that I was unloveable, unworthy of eating, deserving of being hit?)

New Year’s Eve, 2011, my wife insisted that she bring a friend over and didn’t allow me to invite anyone. It was the guy whose house she had been spending several nights a week at. By midnight, she had fallen asleep on his shoulder, after putting a pillow between us. I don’t know how I worked up the nerve to document that with a selfie:

On showing that picture to my therapist, he rightly insisted I move out. Which I did, but not until she told me to. About a week later.

It was weirdly magic. The difference happened almost immediately. This is from May 2012:

It wasn’t a sudden, complete change, but very rapidly (and really, I’ve only noticed while collecting these selfies), the light came back to my eyes, I re-learned how to smile (if only slightly).
Let’s Pause for Poetry
By: Marilyn Flower
Tags: Love, Humor, Self, Fall, Poetry

Let’s Pause for Poetry

Some recent favorites…

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Since I’m going to a poetry reading tonight on Zoom with the Alameda Island Poets, it’s the perfect day to share some of my recent creations…Enjoy!

It Must be the Heart-Shaped Face

Who loves barn owls? And what a photo!

Ever do that love-hate dance with the image in the mirror?

Another great image with a bittersweet story…

How to order and eat the Park Street Bridge.

We need water, we are water, let’s honor water!
Prompt #2 — Touch
Tags: Touch Prompt, Poetry, Poetry Under Cover, Writing Prompts

It’s what’s for dinner.

Prompt #2 — Touch

September 5, 2017

I gotta say… This has been an amazing response to the prompt. And I’m lovin every single second of it! Thank you ALL for your amazing words, your enthusiasm, and your incredible talents. I am awed. Truly awed.

[Heath, here, popping in to second that! It was incredibly hard to choose and we were left feeling a bit guilty about the 2 spots considering several absolute stand outs here. Be very proud of your work!]

We gotta do this again… And SOON!!
I’m an Agnostic Atheist Who Sends Her Daughter to a Christian School
By: Shannon Ashley
Tags: Spirituality, Parenting, Culture, Religion, Life

My spirituality (or lack of it) is hardly the most important thing about me. That’s not “who I am.” If I have to pick sides then sure, I’m an agnostic atheist but to be fair, I’m also kinda “new agey.” A little bit hippy or crunchy granola.

I guess I’m not one to toe any one party line and that works for me. I enjoy thinking for myself and want to raise a daughter who can think for herself too.

But if growing up in such a strict Christian environment led me to suffer for years before I finally began thinking for myself without guilt, I’d like to see my daughter get there without all the same pain.

Which means I am compelled to give her plenty of freedom to choose her path. I realized that’s how I felt when she began to pray whenever she hears a siren. She doesn’t care about praying over meals or anything else, but when she thinks she hears a siren outside, she’ll stop and say the same little thing:

“Dear Jesus, I think I heard a siren. Please help everyone to not be hurt. Amen.”

When she first started to do that, I thought about my options. I really didn’t want to say anything to make her feel bad about caring that somebody else might be hurt. So, I didn’t stop her, and it’s become a habit of hers.

I aim to be honest with my child. Some people believe in Jesus, some people don’t. Some folks think of him like Santa; just a character in a story. This works for us and I know that some of the healthiest, most well-adjusted people around are those who weren’t forced to go to church or roll their eyes at Christianity.

Because I know all about that internal eye roll. And I know how much it sucks to experience spiritual abuse. If my daughter can learn to be kind to others but still be able to think for herself without falling into any rigid line, I’ll be one happy mama. Despite my personal knee jerk repulsion to Christianity.

That repulsion almost came out the other day when my daughter asked for her own bible. And then I had to laugh. She was so serious about wanting this book that she can’t even read, and I was pretty sure that the most important thing in her mind is that the cover is pretty.

“Yes, you can have a bible,” I said. And then I ordered one from Amazon. It’s supposed to arrive later today so we’ll see about her response, but I went ahead and got a pink cover with Precious Moments illustrations because hey, that’s at least adorable. Plus, I read reviews about that version, and one Christian father freaked out about the translation that’s supposed to be easier for kids to understand.

Image from Amazon

Can you imagine being horrified over the phrase, “sexual relations?” Honestly, that review cinched it for me. Some translations say “Adam lay with his wife Eve.” The King James Version (KJV) says “Adam knew his wife Eve.” Some more recent versions now say, “Adam made love to his wife Eve,” but personally? I’d rather be honest about sex.

Parents can use the word “sexual” in front of their kids without panic.
Back to School with Planet, Week 3 | 3, 2, 1, Liftoff!
By: Mike Safyan
Tags: Kids, Rockets, Satellite Technology, Space, Education

This is the third installment of our Back to School with Planet series, a weekly update for K-8 students interested in learning more about the science we do with Earth and Space. Learn more about this series here.

You can find this entry in Spanish here. / Puedes encontrar este texto en español aquí.

At Planet, we design, build and operate our satellites, but we don’t have our own rockets, so we work with launch providers all around the world to get our satellites into space. We get really excited on launch day at Planet; here’s a video of our record breaking launch of 88 Dove satellites on an Indian PSLV rocket in 2017. We also have an important tradition of making pancakes for every launch (you can read more about our legendary launch pancakes here).

The author engaging in the all-important, pre-launch pancake ritual.

We’ve launched over 25 times on lots of different rockets, ranging from the small (but mighty) Rocket Lab Electron, which is about as tall as a four story building and launches from New Zealand, to a SpaceX Falcon 9, which is about as tall as the Statue of Liberty and launches from the U.S. with boosters that fly back to Earth to be used again. Each rocket is built with slightly different technologies, but the fundamentals are mostly the same. Here’s a handy video from National Geographic on “Rockets 101:”

You can also check out XKCD’s hilarious Up Goer Five diagram, a play on NASA’s venerable Saturn V rocket.

Activities

All of which brings us to this week’s assignment! Basic rocket science isn’t as hard as it sounds. With some everyday household materials you too can build a simple rocket in your backyard.

Check out these instructions for making a water-based bottle rocket.

Click here to find another bottle rocket design that uses baking soda and vinegar instead.

And for the really advanced rocket designers out there, you can check out the rocket simulator computer game called Kerbal Space Program. It lets you get incredibly detailed with your rocket designs without needing to leave your bedroom.

During your rocket journey, share photos and stories of your creation on social media with #backtoschoolwithplanet so other kids can see your rocket designs.

If you have a great story about the experience, please send it to backtoschool@planet.com and it may appear in a future blog post.

Happy launching!

Further Inspiration

Reading (Grades 4–8): See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

Reading (Grades K — 3): The Ultimate Book of Space by Anne-Sophie Baumann

Movie to watch (Rated PG): October Sky (1999)

Where on Planet Earth?

I have all the necessary infrastructure for launching satellites into low Earth orbit, polar orbit, and geostationary transfer orbit. In February, 2017, my PSLV-C37 launch took 88 Doves on a journey to image the earth. Who am I?
How to walk
Tags: 100 Naked Words, Poetry

courtesy of http://www.5minutesformom.com/

Unless you live in a parallel universe or a world of your own, all living creatures have to learn how to walk.

When a baby is born, it will take him several months before he attempts to undertake this massive project that walking is.

As easy as it now is to us, do consider that it represents a great achievement for an infant given the amount of courage it takes, the consistency of application, the flexibility and ability to adjust that it requires. It’s attempting something for the very first time with all the mixed emotions that come with it, whether the fear of the unknown and fear of failure or the excitement of an adventure and the blood rush of risk taking.

There is a very important prerequisite a toddler must meet before he can walk.

Before he takes his historical first step and inflicts sentiment of fierce joy to his genitors, a toddler must first learn how to stand.

It shook me today when this common knowledge became uncommon. When I saw things under a different light. Nature itself teaches us that we cannot achieve anything unless we are able to stand. To take a forward step, you need to first hold your ground.

This is why so many projects fail. This is why so many dreams are given up on. That’s because people are thrilled to walk but have got no spine to stand.

You must be able to stand against opposition, contrary ideas, discouragement, harsh market conditions and sometimes even your own reality, before you make any progress.

He who can stand, can walk but he who is eager to walk without the structure of a spine, and muscles to balance will surely and suddenly fail.

Before you attempt your next step, ask yourself this question : can I stand?
Mystical Nightly Meeting
By: Anthi Psomiadou
Tags: Love, Spirituality, Sacred Feminine, Philosophy, Essay

It’s one of those nights that I consciously form your figure in front of me.

You arrive, you unlock my mind’s door by answering tonight’s riddle, and I feel a huge magnet moving my femininity towards your masculine body.

I capture our souls’ unification, as their harps play an ode to Oneness. The countless experiences of their eternal coexistence elevate the value of the bodies.

Myths, gods, symbols and codes synthesize a familiar mystical atmosphere.

Prometheus tries to decide whether he may or may not regret giving the fire to my species, as he watches that my heart is burning, my body is overheated, my mind is in flames, my eyes sparkle.

Eros tells him there’s nothing here to regret. Because the way I use fire is my choice. And then he adds: “She is OK. She just uses me as a means for elevation”.

Dionysus declares agreement, as he drinks a glass of wine and says something about fertility.

Everyone stands still, when Diotima’s voice sounds, as she shares her wisdom about Love.

When she’s done, everyone is gone, and I try to figure out in which stage of love’s evolutionary route I am.

I form your figure clearly again and I talk to you.

Is our interconnection one of the great means I use to go beyond the beauty of your earthly individuality, to appreciate Beauty itself, to reach the source of that Beauty, and then to experience Divine Love?

I think so.

Where am I standing on this path of the conscious movement towards the Calling-source?

I sense the answer, but Morpheus comes and takes me in his arms, right before I put it in words.

The last thing I remember seeing is a copy of Plato’s “Symposium” on my bedside table.

I’ll try to express the answer within my dreaming now…
Grave
By: Vaghawan Ojha
Tags: Death, Living, Life, Aging, Poetry

You walk sideways

Where the leftover shadows of the passerby

Still mingles like a mid-day song that you kept humming,

Passing the shade of pale trees,

You recall the hum of a bee,

Walking with you,

“Long ago, your father said,

When the bee stops to hum in your ear,

You die”

Every alternate road,

You would to take,

Would lead you to the same place,

Grave,

The face of faith,

Slowly transforming itself into death,

All the ocean gather

And wave you with their currents,

Soothing voices of yellow leaves,

Stir your body in the air,

If you would have to leave everything like this,

You would enjoy this short walk

To the Grave,

Now, I know how it’s like

To fly with death,

Next to the small flowers,

I sit,

And become the grave;
Walk like a child
By: John Walter
Tags: Life, Purpose, Children, Freedom, Self

Inner child

Discover the freedom you have always had.

I was standing in a car park, drinking my morning cup of coffee when cars started arriving, and children and parents began to spill out all around me. Next to my van was the entrance to a pathway leading to a school.

I stood and watched as the chaotic parade began. I became fascinated by the walking styles displayed. Later I tried them out for myself in a secluded corner of the local park.

Watch some children. Copy their walk and experience the freedom they inhabit.

Children walking

Each child walked past me, expressing their whole being through their walk.

Child walking #1

First up was a child around nine years old — almost running — looking like they had an invisible thread attached to their belly button, drawing them forward. The arms and legs seemed to be flapping wildly like a rag doll. The solar plexus was leading, the rest of the body and mind drawn along by its power.

Child walking #2

The eyes led this child. From side to side searching the path for anything of interest. Stamping on a leaf, kicking aside a branch. Arms uninvolved, automatically adjusting their position for balance.

Child walking #3

Across the entrance to the path were painted parallel lines. The legs were leading. In each pace, there was a determination to stretch the stride the full width of the tracks. For ten paces, nothing else mattered but achieving that goal. Then, task completed, they trotted off on a new mission.

Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

Walk like a child

How we walk affects our whole being. I spent 20 minutes trying out each style and a few others. As I walked a new way, my entire mood changed.

I was aware that I could let go and feel my being respond.

Some walks felt like conscious acts led by the mind. Others seemed focused on the heart. Overall it felt like a different chakra center was in charge of each.

A child is responding to its environment in every moment. There is a play between mind, body, spirit, and emotions. They are not following long engrained patterns. There is little awareness of how they look to others.

For a few minutes, I felt the freedom of my inner child. Allowing that freedom to come through for a few minutes energized me and carried me through the day.

Maybe on a day when you feel weighed down by all your worldly concerns you could change your walk. Who knows what else might change as a result.
The Fieldwork of Life
By: Zach J. Payne
Tags: Poetry, Love, Life, Adventure, Ninjabyob

after Richelle Mead

Love is arithmetic, the precepts say,

a simple function, one and one is two;

elide the messiness, the magic sway

and you will know the righteous way, and true —

the precepts say, old men with gilded words

that echo clear through centuries of thought

who foster unity within their herds

with simple thoughts. And everything love’s not —

love is irrational, in complex planes

with chemicals. Your laboratory heart

can play at mathematics, blunting pain

with fuzzy logic. Elsewise, you can start:

abandon textbooks, peel the rubber gloves

away and lose yourself to honest love.
13/08/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere
Tags: Bitcoin, Hedge Funds, Taxes, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

by BlockEx

1. Hedge Funds Not Sure How To Pay Taxes For Crypto Profits

A growing number of hedge funds is investing billions of dollars in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. However, given the lack of regulatory clarity, they are not sure of what process to follow, in regards to paying taxes on the profits generated from cryptocurrency investments. Despite the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) announcement, in July, that it would focus on a system for crypto investors to pay taxes, there is still uncertainty. What many hope is that some tax firms will take upon themselves the responsibility of giving regulatory clarity to hedge funds. An example is New York-based law firm Seward & Kissel. Some would prefer CFTC’s definition of virtual currencies being commodities to be adopted in the mainstream.

2. Does Turkish Lira’s Decline Prove Cryptocurrency’s Potential?

Between September 2017 and now, the Turkish Lira fell from $0.3 USD to $0.15. This means a 50% decline. Despite Bitcoin’s decrease being more severe, it’s still easier to withdraw it, compared to the local currency. In fact, following a move by the president, is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses and individual to exchange the Turkish currency for foreign ones. This devalues the currency even more. On the other side, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are easier to exchange as well as decentralised, meaning they are free of initiatives launched by governments. This would benefit the market for consensus currencies and decentralized financial networks. JP Morgan Analyst Kerry Craig stated that the situation is due, not only to economic factors, but also political ones.

3. Lambonomics: The Cryptocurrency Price Index

A new website introduced the Lambo Index, the crypto equivalent to the Big Mac Index. “If a Big Mac costs $5 in America, but the equivalent of $20 in South America, then the exchange rate between the two currencies should be 1:4”. The same principle is followed by the Lambo Index. The website shows how much it costs to buy a $ 200,000-worth Lamborghini Huracan using various cryptocurrencies. The difference between them reveals what the exchange rate should be along with assessing if their valuation is correct. For now, only Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum are quoted. Receiving data regarding the different prices set by countries would help increase the accuracy of this system.

This news roundup was brought to you by BlockEx.
What would a supermarket just for guys look like?
By: Eitan Gersh Kaplawi
Tags: Online Shopping, Supermarkets, Ecommerce

We do most of our grocery shopping online, but this still applies. Why is the site showing me 10 different colors of soap? I buy the same one each time (don’t ask me what it’s called, it’s the one my wife puts on the list…).

The paradox of choice (watch the great TED talk below if you haven’t yet), states plainly that too much choice isn’t good for us, so why isn’t there a shopping establishment (off or online) that offers me only one choice?!

How many types of bread do I need to see before I pull a bun of the shelf? How many types of cereal do I need?

I want a shop that knows me and displays to me only the items I buy, don’t try to have me move to a different product, that’s a slippery slope, simply show me only the brand of coffee I drink, all the rest is noise!

I couldn’t care less about how many types of yogurt you keep in stock, I care about you making it thoughtless (effortless) for me to find it.

Save me time, save me grief and I’ll be loyal!
Arreglo: z-index de youtube y flash encima de todo
By: Federico Bozo
Tags: Soluciones, HTML

in In Fitness And In Health
“You Need To Pick A Side”
By: Dhyana Stanley
Tags: Martin Luther King, Politics, Unity, Peacebuilding, Peace

My friend became frustrated as he asked me questions about my political views trying to figure out what side I am on and in exasperation he said, “You have to pick a side. You can’t continue to not stand for anything.” And I responded that I stand for the values within the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

We’re so conditioned to think in terms of ‘this or that’ that we often feel uncomfortable with or confused by those who don’t fit into our neat little boxes.

Martin Luther King, Jr was one of those people who didn’t fit into any particular political box. He certainly didn’t come up with his vision for humanity by listening to either the Democrats or Republicans — both sides initially opposed civil rights.

So much of the media goads us into an ‘us vs them’ ‘right vs left’ perspective and uninvestigated it seems to make perfect sense. After all, those people on the other side have such different values than we do — right? It then makes sense to see them as our adversary. To explore any other perspective doesn’t often even cross our minds.

Divisiveness feels empowering. Anger feels like it will eventually get us where we want — and feel we need — to go. Although this ‘us vs them’ approach never really works we hold out hope that next time, surely next time, it will.

This ‘common enemy perspective’ at a certain level makes us feel good not only because we feel we are right but also because we feel those people over there are wrong. It feels enlivening to gather with others who agree with us and who are against those who don’t.

It’s so easy to go with the status quo and become addicted to those voices pitting us against each other and it’s often not so easy to see our way out. Not the way out to the opposite point of view but the way out of all polarizing views. The way out to a completely different kind of view which is not against anyone.

Rather than a ‘common enemy perspective’ it’s possible to see from a ‘common humanity perspective’, which is the view Martin Luther King Jr. held for humanity. He wasn’t against any one— he was against those systems that were unaligned with our common values. His fight for civil rights was not only for black people but for those white people that were caught up in the indignities of systemic racism.

MLK reminded us that we’re at our best when we stand in a circle aligned with our common values rather than on opposite sides pointing fingers. It was the power of his unifying vision for humanity that cut the engine to legal systemic racism and it will be the power of this same vision that will ‘turn our ship ‘round right.’

MLK said, “There is no human circumstance more tragic than the persisting existence of a harmful condition for which a remedy is readily available” — and we are one of those remedies that is readily available.

We, united, are what we are waiting for.

There is really no other way. We just simply can’t move forward divided.

Unified in our common values we are that readily available remedy.
This Passenger Plane Took Off in 1989 But is Yet to Land
Tags: Accident, Travel, Aircraft, History, Mystery

This Passenger Plane Took Off in 1989 But is Yet to Land

The Sad & Mysterious Story of Flight PK-404.

Gilgit Airport Pakistan | Photo Credits: Apricot Tours

On a sunny August day, in the mountains of Gilgit Baltistan (Pakistan), passengers of Flight PK-404 get ready to board the plane. As it is the end of summer, breezy winds are blowing through the valleys. Several passengers are going back home after enjoying a scenic trip of Northern Pakistan, a few are planning to meet their loved ones, and some are going on a work-related trip. All of them, however, are excited to begin this journey from the mountains of Gilgit to the national capital, Islamabad. The crew begins preparing for the flight, and at 7:35 am the 54 passengers on the plane take off into the air. Within just nine minutes of takeoff, the plane vanishes in the sky and is never to be found again.

Gilgit to Islamabad Flight PIA | Photo Credits: Voice of GB

This is the mysterious story of the Fokker-F27, a Pakistan International Airlines plane that took off from Gilgit Airport on August 25, 1989, and disappeared shortly after takeoff. This tragic and perplexing event is a mystery that none have been able to solve — thus causing many families to be propelled into a state of limbo.

The failure of the Pakistani Government to discover what happened to the plane despite their relentless efforts have deprived many of the closure they needed. “It’s a tragedy that we cannot forget about,” said Arif Hussain, who lost his uncle, aunt, wife, and two children in the incident. Just like Arif Hussain, many lost their loved ones, and many were left wondering what happened to the flight.