fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Why Jameela Jamil Talking About Privilege Is Important
By: Stella Yanakieva
Tags: Feminism, Mental Health, Human Rights, Equality, Social Media

Why should we listen to Jameela Jamil?

Earlier this year, Jameela said in an interview with BBC why she chose to focus on building an acting career. It wasn’t for the fame, at least not directly. She wanted to reach a place where people would listen to her.

“Everything I’ve always done has been with a Trojan horse intention. It’s why I’m in Hollywood now. I’m here to get my work done when it comes to activism.”

We have been conditioned — or perhaps it’s part of our evolutionary set of flaws — to pay attention to the beautiful people in the room, around us, on TV. That’s why they make such good campaigners on behalf of the most powerful people in the world. But too often they have an agenda that only benefits them, as ‘the privileged’, and harms the exploited audience.

Jameela has an agenda bigger than just being a fashion icon or a pretty face on screen. She wants to make the world a more understanding place, especially for those who are different than what’s perceived as ‘normal’, whatever the hell ‘normal’ means nowadays.

I’m not saying that Jameela Jamil is perfect, but neither are you, or any of us for that matter. That’s precisely the point she is trying to make and we need to embrace too — that the chase for perfection must stop before we destroy ourselves and each other.

What’s the one thing that can make all the difference? Acceptance.

But the world – and by the world, I mean the rich billionaires in the background, the ‘creators’ of life as we know it – doesn’t want you to just accept your reality and find happiness in the trivial stuff.

No, the world wants you to suffer.

Those on top of the life hierarchy want to make you believe that you don’t have a choice and your only possible way out of misery is to listen to them.

This is where the loyal servants of the most powerful people in the world come into play: the famous, the elite, the media. Their job — to spread the marketing messages that would lead us into making the consumerist choices that we do unknowingly under the influence of all the propaganda that we see every day, everywhere, and what’s worse – even from those that we love and trust the most. Our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues.

Realising how the world works, in terms of all the manipulation and exploitation out there, could help everyone to be more mindful of their own choices.

Here’s what Jameela Jamil has done so far that deserves your attention.
How Writing Less Led to More
By: Nicholas Coursel-Stoll
Tags: Routine, Writers On Writing, Writing, Productivity, Self Improvement

How Writing Less Led To More

Quality over quantity, always and with no exceptions.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

I remember picking up Stephen King’s On Writing a few years back and reading it like an avid fiend. Back then I was a sophomore in high school and thought it was the Holy Grail of writing and would change everything.

But it wasn’t, and it didn’t.

It’s not that his advice was wrong, it just wasn’t for me (I was still able to find some gems in it, though). But at the time I viewed the world in black and whites, unchanging binaries.

King’s one of the most successful people to ever pick up a pen (love him or hate him, you can’t deny he knows what he’s doing), and I was a spot-faced high schooler writing cringe kind-of novels that’ll never see the light of day. So I took his advice and ran with it.
To My Childhood Narcissist.
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Abuse, Mental Health, Narcissism, Healing, Trauma

To My Childhood Narcissist.

You failed.

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

This is to my childhood narcissist, the person who tried to twist me, warp me, destroy me. This is for the person who tried to teach me that I was inherently bad — because of how I looked, what I liked, how I was born. This is for the person who not only tried to hurt me, but who delighted in causing pain in the people they were supposed to love.

This is for the person who taught passive aggression, gaslighting, and perpetual martyrdom.

This is to my childhood narcissist:

You failed.

You failed in taking away my self-worth. You failed in destroying my spirit, my sense of self. You failed in convincing me that I did not deserve love, success, and happiness. You failed in sinking my soul like a stone.

You failed.

You failed to spread like a poison to everyone around you. One by one, they realized. One by one, they understood the difference between love and abuse. One by one, we all moved on.

You failed.

You failed to reach more children, more lives. You failed to infect them. They are playing, happy. They have dreams and goals.

You failed.

You failed to do permanent damage. The dents you made pop right out. Our souls reinflate like an air pump filling a balloon. We recognize that you were trying to gain at our expense — to keep us around you, worshiping you.

You failed.

You failed to infect our decisions. We pick spouses who care for us, or remain single. We are not empty and seeking approval. We are not crawling back to you, begging for help.

This is to my childhood narcissist:

We will thrive.

We will thrive, we will forget you, and we will make healthy decisions. We will love our children instead of expecting them to praise us endlessly. We will live our lives instead of being self-serving martyrs. We will enjoy our talents instead of pushing them down. We will sleep deeply, love deeply, live deeply.

You are not needed. Your effects fade more and more with every passing day. Your words, forgotten. We once kept tokens from you, thinking they were symbols of love. We discard those things now. We once kept letters from you as proof of abuse, because we felt no one would believe us. We discard those things now. We don’t need someone else to validate our pain, because we validate ourselves.

We don’t need your money, your opinions, your help.

We will thrive — We are thriving. Together, separately, and forever.

We love ourselves. I love myself. I think I’m beautiful, talented, and accomplished. I’m proud of myself. I know what I am worth.

We are all surrounded by love, freedom, and potential.

You failed.
The Art and Science of Tags
By: Elizabeth Tobey
Tags: Audience Development, Community Engagement, Medium, Tags, Writing Tips

Tags are an important part of the Medium experience. Whether publishing an original piece or replying to another writer, tags are a key way to help new readers discover your work.

To unlock the full potential of tags, one must balance both their art and science.

Use all your tags

Every story has at least five phrases that are excellent descriptors of the writing within. Don’t squander this opportunity to get your work in front of as many people as possible. Remember that people are on Medium because they want to read what people are writing, and people follow tags in order to discover new voices and stories within topics that matter to them. Your work is wanted. Put it on display so it can be enjoyed.

Diversify your audience

Tags are great for describing the essence of your story in a single word or phrase, but stories are rarely about a single thing. If I pen a story about moving across the country to start a new job in a car with my husband, two cats, a dog, and a tarantula, I wouldn’t only tag the piece with “moving”. I’d also use the tags “pets”, “marriage”, “career change”, and “travel tips”.

All of these tags describe key elements of my story and attract very different audiences, surfacing my story to a larger group of unique people who will enjoy what I’ve written and giving more people more opportunity to recommend and respond to the piece as well as follow me for future stories.

Stay on topic

Keep your tags relevant to what you’ve written. Readers trust that the stories they dive into are categorized truthfully: Don’t betray that trust. It might be tempting to use a popular tag in hopes of getting your story in front of an active audience, but if that tag doesn’t accurately describe your story, you might be doing yourself a disservice in the long run for a short-term gain in readership.

More is not always better

When typing a phrase to use as a tag, a suggestion list is populated below with tags that are currently being used on the platform. Next to the tag word or phase is the number of stories currently published using that tag.

Writing within a tag that has a lot of stories is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, popular tags that house many stories generally have a large readership. On the other, many more stories are published each day in that tag — and all those stories are vying for the same attention within a defined set of readers with a finite amount of time.

This doesn’t mean you should avoid popular tags, however, you might want to combine that tag with another similar but tangential phrase that helps surface your story to the group of people most likely to read and enjoy your work and help you stand out in a busy tag.
Huobi Prime + Node 6 Blockchain Phone Giveaway!
By: Huobi Global
Tags: Blockchain, Dapps, Contests

Huobi Prime will launch Whole Network on Sept 11th!

To celebrate, Huobi is giving away a Node 6 Acute Angle blockchain phone.

Read below to find out how you can win one by completing just a couple simple steps!

The Acute Angle blockchain phone has many benefits to the cryptocurrency blockchain user. One key benefit is the ability to use Dapps on the phone. Therefore, Huobi has a contest to allow you to tell us which Dapps are your favourite that are available on the phone to use.

Here are 13 of the most popular Dapps on the Acute Angle blockchain phone:

Prospectors Game Mix Hyper Dragons Endless Game EOS Dynasty EOS Knights Bingo Bet Trust Dice Bet Dice Livepeer Sense Chat Hyper Snakes Ox Universe Nagemon

How do I enter to win the phone?

Comment your answer about your favourite Dapp + why?

on this tweet:

https://twitter.com/HuobiGlobal/status/1171022128855957507

Must pick Dapps that are listed above

2. Follow @HuobiGlobal on Twitter

3. Retweet the contest w/ the following text:

Enter to win a Free Node 6 Plus Blockchain Phone here

How will the winner be picked?

Winner will be picked based on the answer + number of likes. Winning answer must do all the steps above or will be disqualified to win the giveaway.

When will the winner be annouced?

Depending on the number of comments the winner will be picked on or before Sept 12th.
Asynchronous programming with Kotlin and Coroutines — Lesson 3: Continuation
By: Filip Babic
Tags: Android, Computer Science, Coroutine, Kotlin, Asynchronous

This series has been all about asynchronous programming and coroutines. And to fully understand the whys and hows of these topics, we need to elaborate several computer science concepts that make up the foundation of both.

So far, we learned what routines are, how they represent the lifecycle and family-tree-like relations between called functions. We’ve also talked about suspension points in code, and how code can have both positive and negative execution flows, or happy paths and exceptions, respectively.

Then again it’s an important thing to understand how code is being executed at all, where the state of current execution flow lives, and how the main program knows where to proceed after some routine is finished.
Lift-Off ✈️
Tags: Business, Vaccines, Transportation, Covid 19, Airlines

2020 has been a turbulent year for nearly everyone, but some were hit harder than others, and there is no better example of this than the airline industry.

With the ETF “JETS” which consists of airlines, getting beat down 63% from its peak, and even before this in 2019, two major airplanes crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia killing 346 people. The aircraft causing that crash, the Boeing 737 max, has been rescinded for nearly two years, however, this week The Federal Aviation Administration approved a return to service for the 737 MAX, with FAA Administrator Steven Dickson explaining that he is, and I quote “100% confident in the safety of the aircraft”.

On a larger scope the airline industry did have some good or “not so bad” news, with no publicly traded U.S airline falling into bankruptcy as a result of the pandemic. Coupled with the fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is slowly rolling out, many investors are optimistic that the airline industry will have a smoother flight in 2021. But is this enough to build a bullish case?

Well like all things in investing, there are two sides of the coin, with many experts explaining that the pandemics effects have scarred the balance sheets of these airlines deeply, and that it could take until 2024 or later for a complete recovery.

I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
War Victims
By: Ana-Maria Schweitzer
Tags: Human Nature, Poetry, War, Identity, Self

War Victims

A Poem

Photo by British Library on Unsplash

I press the button, lights turn on,

you press the trigger, eyes go off.

mirror yourself into my stare

are we the same, do we differ?

are we just ordinary men, pinpoints in time,

ragdolls with nerves?

are we the victims of the words,

dropped in our ears like melted gunpoints?

I stare and wonder: who’s to blame

for victims at the gun’s both ends?
IoT Chain attending INWE Blockchain Event
By: Iot Chain
Tags: English, Announcements, Blockchain, Inwe Lounge, Iot Chain

Dear community,

On April 14, 2018, the ITC team will be attending a blockchain technology event hosted by INWE Crypto in Shanghai. They will deliver a speech titled “P2P network structure, management, and attack”. There will also be Q&A session and panel discussions among developers.
Metric system chrome extension
By: Kim T
Tags: JavaScript, Chrome Extension, Web Development, Metric System

Most of the world has already adopted standards such as the metric system, which make our lives easier and require less thinking. However there are still parts of the world which have not, and still a large amount of content is posted online with Imperial measurements.

One of the ways we can prevent people having to learn the old ways is to automatically convert the old imperial measurements into metric units. This is a perfect use-case for a Chrome Extension which can run in the browser on every page!

First step I took was to find a library for converting Imperial to Metric units (as I didn’t fancy working out those conversions myself!). I found the JS Quantities library which seemed to have the calculations I needed.

Next was to create a new Chrome Extension manifest.json containing the script:

{

"name": "Metric Chrome Extension",

"version": "0.1",

"description": "Automatically convert all imperial measurements to metric!",

"content_scripts": [

{

"matches": ["*://*/*"],

"css": ["content.css"],

"js": ["quantities.js", "content.js"],

"run_at": "document_end"

} ],

"permissions": [

"activeTab"

],

"manifest_version": 2

}

In our content.css file, we can style any matches we find with an underline:

.metric {

cursor: pointer;

text-decoration: underline;

}

For the functionality first we want find all Imperial measurement units on the page using a RegEx:

var content = document.body.innerHTML;

var regex = /(?:0|[1-9]\d*)\s*(in(ch(es)?)?|acre(s)?|ft|foot|feet|mi(le(s)?)?|lb|pound(s)?|yd|yard(s)?)/g;

var matches = content.match(regex);

Last step is to loop through each match and replace it with a Metric conversion:

matches.forEach(function(match) {

var qty = new Qty(match);

var ext = '';

if (qty.kind() === 'length') {

ext = 'm';

} else if (qty.kind() === 'mass') {

ext = 'kg';

}

var converted = qty.to(ext).toString();

content = content.replace(match, `<span class="metric" title="${match}">${converted}</span>`);

});

document.body.innerHTML = content;

The last step is to replace the content on the page so the user can see the updated units.

Imperial units page on Wikipedia using the extension

You can view the final extension here:

https://github.com/kmturley/metric-chrome-extension
Night’s Uncanny Silence Rages
By: Holly Jahangiri
Tags: Race, Justice, Diversity, Poetry, Peace

Poetry | Double Acrostic

Photo by Hybrid on Unsplash

night’s uncanny silence rages even

over sirens’ wailing; no

joke: it’s Justice, dead or fast asleep,

unseeing, oblivious — give her a nudge.

stray paper bits and bullet casings — a

ticket here, a taser there, civics for a cynic.

it’s deafening, deadening, that silence.

can you hear it running, breathing, throbbing like a tomb

electrified with bitter ghosts, an ideal

nation’s spectral hopes, mewling thoughts, a sea

of grieving mothers’ tears, atomic

prayers, despair. To be Black —

estranged from MLK’s prophetic dream — cruel,

asking people to wait ten lifetimes. i

can’t bear this leitmotiv -

eternal sirens’ drowning dying justice -

saying, “it will be okay” (it won’t)

mothers casting pearls

at swine will never be “okay.”

that’s just too high a price

to pay. unjust. and yet, the dream itself burns on —

eternal roar, that fire in the soul that cries,

righteous, above the silence: “no justice, no peace.”
What I Cook In My Kitchen
By: Dylan Kelly
Tags: Kitchen, Poetry, Everyday Life, Food, Materialism

What I cook in my kitchen

depends on what’s there.

What comes out, in the end,

is what I can prepare.

If there is bread, cheese, and ham,

and butter and a skillet,

I make a sandwich and I kill it.

If there are veggies, meat, and broth,

and a wide slow-cooker bowl,

I make a stew and it fills the hole.

What I cook in my kitchen

depends on supply and demand.

What comes out, in the end,

is what I have on hand.
Pluralsight LIVE 2018: The ultimate recap
Tags: Pluralsight, Salt Lake City, Technology, Technology Trends, Startup

Pluralsight LIVE 2018: The ultimate recap

Your guide to all things LIVE 2018

Pluralsight LIVE was as epic as we dreamed it would be this year. More than 2,500 technologists came together for three days of inspiring keynotes, exciting announcements and thought-provoking sessions, and left feeling energized to create the future.

If you want more LIVE 2018 coverage, this is your go-to resource. Learn more about the defining moments of this incredible gathering of change-makers by diving into the recaps and posts below.

DAY ONE: Pluralsight LIVE kicks off!

DAY TWO: Role IQ, breakouts + LIVE party

DAY THREE: Changing the world: Pluralsight One news & empowering words from Malala

Time, skills and service: Pluralsight One’s commitment to volunteering in action

15 powerful quotes from tech & education’s brightest minds
Do you want a gift?
Tags: Portfolio, Storytelling, Christmas, Animation

Once we asked our painters a very important, to our opinion, question. It was the following:”What gifts would you like to get for the New Year, but not money”?

Mercantile painters after getting to know they were not going to get the money, became indifferent and answered:”We don’t care. Attention, that what matters, not a present”

So, during the week they got the following things from us:- Udmurdskaja ASSR automobile roads atlas;

— King Henry the Forth underwear patters;

— Ski poles for little children;- Instructions how to pick elks’ horns during fall and winter;- Reference book “86 last names ending in “chuja”;

— “Another world” magazine file of 1983 in Chinese;

— Deep fryer trivet of unknown brand;

— Unknown locksmith’s love letters collection;

— Photo of 1965 year graduates of Kyzyl-Orda secondary school number 8;

— Photo of Arcady Ukupnik in A3 format;

Thus, we decided to give something really necessary, not cottge houses, cars or yachts.

But ungrateful guys (strange though it might seem) got crazy from our gifts, locked themselves in their room and draw such an instructive video card.

We got very much ashamed. And decided that every person really wishes and needs some special presents prior to the New Year and Christmas.

That is why we give you a possibility to write your name in the falling box and give a hint to your friends and relatives that gifts should be useful (reference).

video on youtube

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to everyone!

3D cartoon about a joyous story of gypsies life and the laws of being.We decised to show you, how the three-dimensional cartoons are made from the begining to the end.

If you like the project “Gypsy” and want to collaborate with us, send your ideas to investor@simpals.md

tigan.md
Medicalchain airdrop for Eidoo users to vote MTN on Binance
By: Amelia Tomasicchio
Tags: ICO, Blockchain, Ethereum, Airdrop, Token

BNB airdrop for Eidoo users provided by Medicalchain

Medicalchain will provide Eidoo users an airdrop of 0.15 Binance (BNB) coins to all MedToken (MTN) and Eidoo (EDO) holders.

You only need 0.1 to vote and the rest is to cover the gas cost.

To receive the airdrop, you only need to have 10 MTN or 1 EDO stored in your Eidoo wallet.

The amount of BNB tokens doesn’t depend on the amount of MTN or EDO tokens you have, but it is fixed at 0.15 BNB per EDO/MTN holder.

Instructions for Voting Medicalchain on Binance

Step 1: Have an Eidoo wallet which has at least 10 MTN or 1 EDO in it.

If you only have MTN on an exchange you will need to withdraw at least 10 MTN into your Eidoo wallet.

Step 2: Wait for an airdrop of 0.15 BNB (Binance Coin) into your Eidoo wallet.

Note: This airdrop will happen periodically. This means that if the Medicalchain team finds out that there are new users with EDO or MTN tokens stored in his/her Eidoo wallet after 12 hours from the first airdrop, they will give the airdrop to them too.

Step 3: Once you have received your 0.15 BNB, open your Binance account and go to the deposit page and select to deposit Binance Coin.

Step 5: Transfer 0.1 BNB to the deposit address on Binance using a gas limit of at least 55000 (you can set it through the advanced option in the transfer page).

Step 6: Wait for your deposit to arrive, you should get an email like the one below once it has arrived:

Step 7: Go to https://www.binance.com/vote.html while you are logged in to your Binance account and vote for Medicalchain:

Download the Eidoo app on your Android or iOS device now!
How Nature Says It
By: Daphne Fecheyr
Tags: Communication, Startup, Biomimicry

You hear me?

When communication gets difficult

Hello you!

Glad to see others being interested in how we can ask nature for advice on how we can communicate better. Everyone has experienced bad communication one way or another “Why didn’t you listen” or “I told you yesterday!” or “Oh no no, I meant….”. It can lead to misunderstandings, frustrations, and mistakes. But there is a lot we can do about it. And we are surrounded by the master of communication: nature!

I hear you thinking “organisms and plants don’t even have language…”

Yes, that might be right. That’s because they don’t need it to survive, they found many other intricate ways to communicate.

Maybe we should stop talking so much too?

Talking doesn’t always makes sense.

Biomimicry

I’m getting my PhD in Biomimicry — learning from nature for innovation and sustainability — and in this blog series I will share what I learn from asking nature what to do in situations where communication is hard.

Luckily I’m not the first one to ask this question; the purpose of my research is to create summaries of readings (see below) and create principles about how we can practically implement nature’s communication principles into our own business ventures.

I’m specifically interested in communication for business ventures as I’m currently experiencing the start-up live and found how remarkably difficult communication is in fast-paced, changing, and chaotic environments. That’s not to say that the created principles won’t apply on your personal live — well, let me know if I was able to save your marriage.

I’ll be writing about books (this list will be further developed according to what I learn and read)

The starfish and the spider: the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations → This book is actually very relevant to what’s happening with the terrorist attacks. Maybe our governments shouldn’t be so much spider-like.

Strategy of the Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World → This book is about how you can survive under attack of a shark.

I’ll also write about natural strategies and how we can learn from them. I’ll be using the groundwork of many others (thanks!), some examples for the curious amongst us:

Work by Dr. Tamsin Woolley-Barker who looked at what superorganisms teach us about collaboration.

AskNature, a great database of organisms organized by their function.

Biomimicry for Creative Innovation: Business inspired by nature.

Future content

Time for me to get to action and work on my first actual blog post. In the meantime, please let me know if you have specific issues with communication, or if you have good resources for me to cover in one of my blog posts, or if you want to collaborate (something we should do better too).

Take care, enjoy Thanksgiving time.
Muddied tracks and convoluted paths
By: Eliza Waters
Tags: Poem On, Poetry, Sonnet, Sonnetry, Poem

My thoughts on my poem

please interpret my poems how you want them but, these are just the thoughts in my head when I wrote it.

My thoughts on this are rather short, I’ve simply noticed in my life and through snippets of others that finding peace within yourself and in your life is one of the rarest things that almost everyone strives for in one way or another. Sometimes people don’t even notice that’s what they’re looking for. Some people do seem to come about it with ease but, that again is a rarity which is why I posed the final two questions at the end of the poem.

The rest of the poem describes some of the difficulties when searching for peace. To me, the greatest is the worries that plague many people daily. Questions of whether you’ve done the right thing or not. Being upset about tragedies in the news. So on and so forth. Sometimes these worries are self-inflicted and perhaps even unnecessary but they cause pain.

The third section is on the perspective of someone who has given up on the search and lies that they will return to it even though it is now far gone. I think everyone can come back on the path and find their version of peace over time and patience. This section simply provides a perspective on other people’s lives.
You Don’t Design Customers, You Understand Them
By: Ag Analytics
Tags: Product Development, Customer Experience, Interview, Innovation, Startup

You Don’t Design Customers, You Understand Them

And because we think we already do, our businesses fail

Photo by Nikolai Kim on Unsplash

42% of startups die because they seek to tackle problems that are interesting rather than those that serve an existing market need. The shocking statistics aren’t limited to startups: 72% of product launches fail to meet their revenue target.

Is incompetence the explanation for this phenomenon? No.

There are lots of examples of businesses that have fundamentally good conditions for becoming successful: businesses with great technology, great data, a great team, great expertise, great advisors, etc. These sound like bulletproof conditions for success — nothing can go wrong, right?

One of the main reasons these sorts of businesses fail is flawed innovation and entrepreneurial processes. They are too caught up in what they believe the customers want rather than what the customers actually need. In other words, their way of thinking is too product-centric rather than customer-centric. Instead of testing for the question “What does the customer want and need?” and conducting research based on desirability, many startups and corporations test feasibility: “Can we develop it?”

Established corporations are often optimized for execution and implementation and neglect the search for customer-centric value propositions. Work teams are asked by executives to make business plans, which are then funded if the plan seems attractive. Even though the plan looks attractive, it is likely to fail if there is no market need. Georg Tacke, co-CEO of Simon-Kucher, and Madhavan Ramanujam, partner at Simon-Kucher’s Silicon Valley office, both advocate that marketing and monetizing concerns should be brought much further forward in the research and development process to substantially increase the chance of success.
Archeologist to lecture on Cherry Hill’s past
Tags: Looking Below The Surface, Native Americans, Churches, Farmers, Houses

Evidence of the past is all around us, from old place names, street names, churches, houses and cemeteries. But what lies beneath? Archaeology gives us stories to tell about Native Americans who lived in this area for thousands of years as well as the lives of farmers and others who lived here before suburban development.

Dr. Ilene Grossman-Bailey, a Cherry Hill native and Cherry Hill High School West 1975 graduate, professional archeologist and president of the Archeologist Society of New Jersey, will present an overview on Cherry Hill archaeology and archaeological sites titled, “Cherry Hill: Looking Below the Surface,” on Tuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cherry Hill Public Library lower level conference center, 1100 Kings Highway North, Cherry Hill.

There is no cost to attend.

For information, contact the Cherry Hill Historical Commission: 856–488–7886 or CHHC@CHTownship.com
Bisexual Women Are Not Yours to Fetishize
By: Gillian Sisley
Tags: Feminism, Equality, Music, Women, Sexuality

Bisexual Women Are Not Yours to Fetishize

Another day, another straight, white Pop Star objectifying and insulting people all over the world. Liam Payne, former One Direction member, has some explaining to do.

(Album cover credit to Capitol Records via AP)

Twitter is blowing up again.

But no, they’re not mad at Billie Eilish for thinking Lady Gaga’s meat dress that she wore to the Grammys was gross (Billie is a vegan, by the way), or that she doesn’t know who Van Halen is.

Twitter is mad this time for an actual, valid reason.

Liam Payne, former One Direction member, just dropped his debut solo album — and it’s been an embarrassing flop. One, for lack of musical artistry. And two, because Liam’s gone and put his misogynistic foot in this mouth again.

On this album is a song called “Both Ways”, which includes the lyrics below.
An Introvert’s Guide to Starting Conversations
By: Lady Jade
Tags: Networking, Language, Self, Relationships, Life

Conversation Starters

Now you’re probably thinking, “Well, okay, I see the three points above, but I still don’t know how to actually start the conversation”. No fear! I’ve created a short list of things you can say if you insist on having a backup. The reason I’ve kept the list short is one, every situation is different. Some things work fantastically in one case, while at the same time, they could be detrimental to another. And two, you’ve freaking got this. You have feelings and motivations, and creativity to contribute! If you’re reading this now, you’ve definitely had conversations in the past. You can do this! Humans have evolved to have advanced communication. As a result, we can now collaborate effectively.

But just in case: here are some universal conversation starters that aren’t incredibly personal and aren’t incredibly awkward. Fair warning: as these are rather generic, they aren’t the most interesting. The general idea of generic conversation starters is to start the conversation and then encourage you to branch off to something more unique afterwards.

“How was your weekend?”

2. “I really like your shirt. Where did you get it?”

3. “I see you’re drinking the new coffee blend. Do you think it’s worth trying?”

4. “Did you hear about the game last night? I can’t believe the Giants lost!”

5. “Do you need help carrying your bags upstairs?”

6. “Do you want to join Joey and I upstairs for a cup of coffee?”

7. “I heard you’re interested in surfing, that’s super cool! Where do you surf?”

8. “Did you hear about the big snowstorm? It’s supposed to be really bad! Do you think we’ll have work tomorrow?”

9. “How was your day? Anything exciting happen?”

Okay, so I know the fake situations seem a bit silly, but showing examples in a generic context shows you how friendly conversation is normal and not something that needs to be awkward. Some people are just unfriendly, and that’s how it goes — don’t expect every conversation to be sunshine and butterflies.

Returning back to the examples I gave above, notice how most of them were questions that could lead to something more. Whether that be an answer that’s more than “yes” or “no” or leading to an action, like helping a co-worker, your conversation is less likely to fall flat. Don’t be afraid to use more than one conversation starter and, of course — read the room. Not all conversations will belong. If it comes to a natural stop, don’t force more words. Try again later when you have something more to talk about.
Gaining 100 followers…
By: Adam Vrána
Tags: Dreams, Inspiration, Thinking, Work

… usually takes 100 days of content creating. At least if you’re an absolute 0 like me.

Earning 100 $ takes selling a 1 $ product to 100 people.

Getting 100 positive reviews on your product takes bringing value or pleasure to 100 people.

And in order to clarify what brings value or pleasure to those 100 people, you’ve gotta get out there and ask at least 100 of them.

Where’s the point?

Well, if you’re searching for brighter future (which is what most of us do) you’ve gotta realize the harsch truth hidden behind numbers.

Because numbers are like a mirror. They project a certain shape of reality without beautifying.

If you learn to accept that instead of avoiding that you get much closer to the brighter future.

But it’s only the first step.

Or maybe I should say one of the many first steps…
Vibrational Frequency
By: Lynne Nardizzi
Tags: Sacred Feminine, Poetry, Consciousness, Poem, Spirituality

the vibration

is the frequency

the frequency

is the vibration

sound becomes color

color is sound

all is movement

energy

from the darkness

comes light

color emerges

like a ray

from the sun

eyes

of the soul

sound

moves through us

color

penetrates

add in movement

and we dance

flow

in rhythm

with the cosmos

the sound

of the cosmos

I’m in outer space

which is really inner space

out of our comfort zone

into the twilight zone

uni-verse

one verse

one song

the body

our body

is an instrument

for healing

and transformation

we become artists

unto ourselves

using color

and sound

to create love

to make love

to love

love

the highest frequency
India’s Ted Bundy — The Story of Cyanide Mohan
By: The Maverick Files
Tags: India, Serial Killers, True Crime, Crime, Mystery

The Plan’s Execution and Method of Killing

Once Mohan and his to-be-bride were at the overnight lodge, he would ensure that they’d have sexual intercourse.

Mohan was wicked smart — he’d even plan the timing of the marriage such that the women were ovulating. And then the intercourse right before the marriage. Another big taboo in India is premarital pregnancy. So that would then be a natural excuse for him to convince the women to take an emergency contraceptive.

The women being from economically and educationally backward status would mean that they were easily convinced/duped by Mohan’s “wisdom.”

So after the night, he’d ask them to take a contraceptive to avoid any risk of pregnancy.

That is where the murder method came in — Cyanide.

He would give them cyanide coated tablets in the name of contraceptives. He’d ensure that they left all their jewelry in the lodge, and went to the toilet specifically to take the pill. His way of convincing them to take it in the toilet was that they’d have the urge to pee as an after-effect of the pill.

The women fell for it, every time. They’d pop the pill in the bathroom and die instantly thanks to the cyanide coating. Mohan in the meantime would gather the jewelry and calmly make his way back to his hometown and plan his next crime.

The fact that these women were all from economically backward families meant the investigations weren’t ever thorough enough and most deaths were attributed to suicide following a pre-marital betrayal, and shame.
Heaven’s Gate
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Feminism, Freedom, Poetry, Women, Poem

his third eye

a pious rug burn

glaring severity

dour dignity

searing into her

she is born colors outside the line

words to amend the hallowed script

scribbles annotated on the side

she wonders why

it makes her laugh

the notion of her fate

that he could help her

arrive at heaven’s gate.
8月の詩
Tags: 日本語, Japan, Poetry, 日本, Japanese

in Both Sides of the Table
Pros And Cons Of Seeking Investors For My Startup At Pop Pop’s Funeral
By: Tim Daly
Tags: Humor, Satire, Energy Drink, Funerals, Startup

Pro: He always loved my homemade energy drinks made with all-natural ingredients.

We had a shared passion for energy drinks. So it only makes sense for me to share our story with potential investors in mourning. I know some might think it’s a bit crass to promote my startup during Grandpa’s wake, but you can rest assured it’s what he would’ve wanted. After all, I got my stubborn entrepreneurial spirit from him. Despite doctor’s orders, he was my dedicated sample taster until the very end.

Con: My parents made me swear I wouldn’t mention it.

Did I mention it’s called R.I.P. Energy? It’s innovative, original, and the world’s only energy drink that honors my deceased grandfather. It’s a shame but I suppose concepts like “Unique Selling Proposition” and “Cornering the Beverage In Memoriam Market” don’t mean a thing to Mom and Dad.

I think this one is less of a “Con” and more of an “I don’t have time to explain basic marketing principles to my parents.” I’m busy. I have an investor’s tribute to plan.

Pro: He was a caring, supportive (and my only) investor.

Pop Pop graciously left me his car, which I immediately traded in for a few hundred bucks. It served as some decent startup capital, but we’re going to need a lot more to launch this thing to the moon from my parent’s basement. If Grandpa was still here, I’m sure he would’ve encouraged me to seize every funding opportunity, even if it was during my eulogy.

Con: Dad threatened to kick me out.

Honestly, I’m calling his bluff. Anyone who sees my pitch deck is going to be begging for a piece of the pie. Even my dad, who claims the energy drink market is “too saturated to break into.” His business acumen pales in comparison to his ability to hold grudges. I bet he’s still upset with me for sneaking in some samples to the hospital for Pop Pop.

Pro: R.I.P. Energy was Grandpa’s last drink.

The doctors said they found him right after he passed, clenching an empty can. Apparently, he had a hidden stash under his hospital bed. Pretty touching, right? Talk about company commitment.

My elevator vigil pitch is basically writing itself.

Con: There’s a (very small) chance R.I.P. Energy killed my grandfather.

“Or at least, sped up the inevitable,” according to some cardiologist that’s hell-bent on tarnishing my brand. I’ll tell you what was “inevitable”: Pop Pop’s unwavering support from the beginning to his end.

It just wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t celebrate his death with the birth of my startup.
Summer (Festivals) in Brussels
By: Fsi Student Programs
Tags: Fsi Students, Travel, Tecfsi, Stanford, Brussels

About the author: Mireille Vargas ’21 is an FSI The Europe Center Intern at the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Brussels, Belgium. She is currently an Earth Systems major at Stanford University.

It’s Saturday afternoon and I am walking to Parc du Cinquantenaire, a popular park that I tend to frequently visit in the past six weeks I have been here in Brussels. I had just come back from visiting a cultural festival at Bois de la Cambre, another park situated on the edge of the Sonian Forest, a 4,421 hectare forest at the edge of the city. As I enter the gates, I notice a flyer advertising Brussels’ Game Festival. Intrigued I take a detour and cut straight to the center of the park where the Belgium flag stands swaying in the slight breeze. As I get closer I come across various white tents where gaming tournaments are taking place and where families are walking out with bags of board games. Next to the tents are food trucks and booths where more games are set up. At one point, I see a Quidditch game happening on the grass. Upon reflection I realize that having my Saturday afternoon consist of attending a summer festival and later to stumble across another sums up a large portion of my time in Brussels.

A Quidditch game in Parc du Cinquantenaire

I will admit that I first thought Brussels to be a quite city with little happening, but with time passing by (and spending a bit too much time on Facebook searching up events in Brussels) my perception has changed. Summer in Brussels is filled with festivals. Film festivals, cultural festivals, gaming festivals, music festivals-you name it and there’s probably a festival in Brussels for it. The first festival I went to was as early as the beginning of my second week in which my roommate, another Stanford student, and I went to Parc du Cinquantenaire and relaxed on lounge chairs as we watched the thought-provoking movie, “Snowpiercer.”

The two museums in Parc du Cinquantenaire

A particular favorite was the Brussels Summer Festival, a five-day music festival bringing artists from all over Europe to the center of Brussels. I’m not one for going to concerts, but getting to see artists I listen to for a fairly low price in a location only twenty minutes away from me walking was too good to pass up. I enjoyed singing along to MØ, rocking out to Rudimental, and belting out Spanish songs to Alvaro Soler. Although still feeling energized from the concert did not help in going to sleep at a reasonable time for me to feel rested the next day at work, but it was fun to later exchange stories with one fellow coworker who had also gone with her kids. When not stumbling into festivals, I spend my days walking around the various food markets on the weekends or joining in on the free outdoor fitness classes. No matter what, my weekends and most weekdays are filled with an event to go to. After six weeks of being here, I can say that Brussels has something to do every day.
Tonight’s c🎃mic is Gourd to Death
Tags: Humor, Pumpkin, Storytelling, Halloween, Comics

If you purge your soul onto paper and are doing it for the love of writing. Then this publication is for you. We love gritty, raw, emotional, thought-provoking, rebellious, sexual, spiritual, nature-related writings and comic strips.

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Genesis
Tags: New World Order, Poetry, Music, Renaissance, Lyrics

Lyrics

If you just stare into the water yeah I guess you’ll never drown

And if you’re scared to die a martyr then I guess just back out now

But when the tide rolls into town I bet you’ll wish you learned to swim

And when their bullets strike you down I bet you’ll wish you learned to live

I feed the wild fire and dance with vampires

To stay awake

You built an empire inside some barbed wire

And died a slave

Take a glance between the blinds see through windows of your mind

Take a chance and roll the dice if you’re not here to just survive

And if the window breaks will you escape or hide inside your head

And if the dice you played don’t land your way would you dare to roll again

I feed the wild fire and dance with vampires

To stay awake

You built an empire inside some barbed wire

And died a slave

Pull back the Veil to no avail

Too big to fail This world’s a business

You’re so different like a Muslim a Jew and Christian

Inside the system divide and conquer

They can turn a great man to a monster

Guard the borders like the lines exist

I guess a New World Order wasn’t just a myth

Got something to say? better plead the fifth

Before we play know the game was rigged

Fuck the fame i wanna live for something real

Maybe one day you’ll hear this and break the wheel my sun

If the stars align and the time ever comes

When they kill me off before the job is done

Here’s the blueprint go make some music

And go tell the world that the world is one

I feed the wild fire and dance with vampires

To stay awake

You built an empire inside some barbed wire

And died a slave
[withR]좀더 하는 ggplot2 — Fitted Lines from Multiple Existing Models(여러 모델 선 추가하기, 회귀식)
By: Neo Jeong
Tags: Data Visualization, Data Science, R

#library(ggplot2)

#library(gcookbook)

#library(plyr)

이런 형태의 자료가 있다고 한다면, 이 위에 회귀선을 추가할 수 있다.

하지만 이번 방법은 전체에 대한 회귀선이 아니라 성별 별로 회귀선을 추가 할수 있다.

우선은 model을 만들자.

#R cookbook Graphics책 참조

make_model <- function(data) {

lm(heightIn ~ ageYear, data)

}

회귀모델로 heightln~ageYear을 설정해 두었다.

library(gcookbook) # 예제 자료

library(plyr) #데이터다루는 라이브러리

models <- dlply(heightweight, “sex”, .fun = make_model)

dlply를 사용하면 행렬을 분류하지 않고, 바로 열별 연산이가능하고, .fun자리에 있는 함수연산이 가능하다.

models

#R cookbook Graphics책 참조

#예측값 데이터 생성함수

predictvals <- function(model, xvar, yvar, xrange=NULL, samples=100, …) {

if (is.null(xrange)) {

if (any(class(model) %in% c(“lm”, “glm”)))

xrange <- range(model$model[[xvar]])

else if (any(class(model) %in% “loess”))

xrange <- range(model$x)

}

newdata <- data.frame(x = seq(xrange[1], xrange[2], length.out = samples))

names(newdata) <- xvar

newdata[[yvar]] <- predict(model, newdata = newdata, …)

newdata

}

predvals <- ldply(models, .fun=predictvals, xvar=”ageYear”, yvar=”heightIn”)

ldply도 dply같은 함수로 성별따로 연산된 자료를 하나의 데이터 프레임으로 생성한다.

ggplot(heightweight, aes(x=ageYear, y=heightIn, colour=sex)) +

geom_point() + geom_line(data=predvals)

데이터 다루기가 복잡하고 어렵게 느껴진다면, 직접 다루지 않아도 ggplot이 알아서 처리해준다.

이번엔 다른 방법으로 위에 그래프를 표현해보자.

ggplot(heightweight, aes(x=ageYear, y=heightIn, colour=sex)) +

geom_point() + stat_smooth(method=lm)

간닥하게 stat_smooth(method=lm)을 추가해주는 것으로 그래프를 생성가능하다.

ggplot은 geom_***과 stat_***들을 어떻게 잘 조합하는지에 따라 여러가지 다양한 표현이 가능하다.

ggplot(heightweight, aes(x=ageYear, y=heightIn, colour=sex)) +

geom_point() + stat_smooth(method=lm)+facet_grid(.~sex)

facet_grid(.~sex)를 추가했더니, 성별로 따로따로 분리된 그래프가 생성됬다.

여러가지를 사용하면서 응용해 보기 바란다.
Hong Kong Trip with my Mother from Japan
By: Mai はな
Tags: Asia, Japan, Travel, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Trip with my Mother from Japan

Travel Blog

I am planning to go to Hong Kong with my mother. Yesterday I asked her how much money she was going to take. She said that she is not going to bring much cash this time and that she is going to use her cards. I asked her about the money in advance just to make sure because we had a little crisis when we went to Vietnam last year.

My mother and I travelled to Vietnam last autumn. It was only a four-day trip to Hanoi. It was when we were about to leave home for the airport in the morning, my mum asked me whether she should have brought her favourite wallet with her. It was a snake-patterned long rectangle wallet. She also couldn’t choose which handbag to bring.

It was the last minutes before leaving for the bus station where we get on a bus to get to the airport. She still couldn’t decide whether to take her handbag and the purse. She asked me, “Do you think I should bring a bigger handbag if I want to bring this wallet? Because my wallet is too thick to put in this smaller bag.”

I was a little annoyed by the fact that she hadn’t asked me about her bag a day before. I said, “But, why do you need that big wallet?” As soon as I asked this question, it reminded me of the time when she had come to visit me in Hong Kong with my father when I was living there. My mum had brought about 50,000 yen, which is equivalent to US$5,000, for a 4 days trip.

We are not a rich family. For me, it’s ridiculous to bring that much cash for a short trip. However, I think for the generation of my parents, visiting a foreign country is one of the most luxurious events in their life. Also, my mother was born in 1950, my father in 1947 and they have experienced the strongest economic era in Japan when they were in their 30’s. So, they know how to spend money.

I was sure that we wouldn’t be able to spend US$5,000 for 4 days in Vietnam. I convinced her not to bring that much cash so that she wouldn’t need that thick wallet. She changed her wallet and she took a smaller handbag.

Maybe because my mother also remembers that morning when we discussed her money and wallet, she said that she is not going to bring lots of cash this time. Furthermore, Hong Kong is a cashless place. I am wondering even whether I should exchange any money at the Hong Kong airport. Anyway, it seems that we can depart smoothly tomorrow morning, hopefully.