fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
They Only Have To Exist
By: Ann Litts
Tags: Family, Love, Grandmother, Life Lessons, Joy

Photo by Kyle Nieber on Unsplash

October 2017:

There is a relationship which has taught me more about Love than any other I have ever experienced. I have been blessed to be Nana to three of the most beautiful, talented, amazing, Magical Creatures in The Universe. I just got home after spending a weekend with them and I wanted to share some conversations we have had to illustrate how things go when you enter into this realm.

Conversation with the 6-year-old:

Shrieking in tears: I accidentally spilled my pink lemonade on my taco!!!!!

My reply: It’s ok, I’ll eat this one, we’ll make you a new one sweetie.

Resolution: Tears stop, shoulders eventually stop shuddering, makes a new taco. Smiles.

Moral of the story: I will eat soggy pink lemonade soaked tacos every day. Twice a day — to make this kid happy.

Conversation with the 4-year-old:

My favorite question to ask her: Hey Angel — why does Nana have purple hair?

Her reply: Nana has purple hair because I told her to. Because purple is my favorite.

Moral of the story: Purple hair not only makes you a kick-ass Nana but if you let your middle granddaughter pick the color, she feels valued right down to her soul.

Conversation with the 2-year-old:

Bedtime ritual for afternoon nap: Per Mommy — sing her a song.

She requests: “Ducks”.

I don’t know “Ducks”. I counter with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”

She screams: “ NO!!!!”

I give “This Little Light of Mine” a try

She screams: “NO!!” louder…

I attempt to explain about the “Ducks” thing…

She repeats: “DUCKS!!!”

I start singing “You are my sunshine”

She nods…. WHEW…

Moral of the story: I have her sisters teach me “Ducks” at dinner with Mommy supervising. One can never have too many nursery rhyme songs in one’s repertoire. Badass rocker chick that I am…

Interacting with my grandkids is a whole new level of relationship. They drive the truck. Completely. I am at their mercy. From the moment they appeared in My Life, I was totally smitten with them. My only defense was to pour out Love, as much and as often as I can.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you…

Ain’t that the truth.

Namaste.

Addendum: I wrote this about two years ago. I wanted to recycle it as I just got back from another amazing visit with The Magical Creatures and I simply can’t express how blessed I feel to share their world.

Being their grandmother is hand’s down the very best thing that has ever happened to me.
How Friend Store unifies Blockchain projects
By: Hogne Titlestad, Co-Ceo, Founder, Friend Software
Tags: Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Digital Marketing, Cryptocurrency

Today, there’s not really a marketplace where users can “install” easy to use front-ends to Blockchain technology. Or add Blockchain resources like storage or computing services. And I say “install”, because this is how it appears to users when they connect their user account to products in the Store. Here, we allow developers to build, deploy and package Friend Apps that are then distributed in the Friend Network. The barrier for users is profoundly decreased this way, and the availability of the various technologies are symmetrically increased. The apps become as easily available as any Android or iOS app or Chrome extension.

When the apps are connected to a Friend account, they are accessible to the user on all of his or her devices — smartphones, tablets or desktops. They are installed on the user’s cloud computer, which is agnostic to which ever system they are using on their local computer or device.

Do you need more storage space?

Many users have experienced that their smartphone or tablet ran out of space. Too many family photos or games quickly occupy valuable bytes on their memory card. Friend changes this by keeping the data in their virtual Cloud Computer — a machine that is entirely online. Here, they can increase their storage capacity by using different providers like IPFS, Fluence or Storj, to name a few. Fluence, by chance, is already partnered with the Friend project to bring their storage technology into the hands of FriendUP users.

Fiat or Tokens? Make it easy for everyone

As some of our partners have realized, we make it easier for Blockchain projects to distribute access to their technology — both for users and developers. At the same time, we add a new opportunity for developers to access funding through Friend Network Token(FRND) transactions — which we hope will increase the validity of digital currency by providing a measurable and comprehensible utility. Exchange of funds for service. Rent out a percentage of your own computer resources. Get involved in the economy!

One of the unique aspects of the Friend Store is that it also allows users to pay for products and services using fiat. For this purpose, Friend Network AS has set up operations in Norway to handle everything from Dollars, Euros to invoice. This lowers the barrier for users who are new to tokens, and it allows the Blockchain community to grow and become more accessible to a wider audience. Finally, it is a vessel for companies all over the world to get involved in and interact with decentralized technology and user owned infrastructure.

Links:
Let’s Talk About Apocalypse Horny
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: NYC, Sex, Humor, Covid Diaries, Sexuality

Let’s Talk About Apocalypse Horny

I know I’m not the only one

Photo by Ferdinand studio on Unsplash

We’ve all heard about depression, anxiety, and the emotional exhaustion that has come with Covid-19 and civil unrest. These are all understandable reactions to the collapse of life as we knew it.

…But what we talk about apocalypse horny?

What about the people who, for some reason, see the stories of protest on the news and immediately want to bang on top of a burning cop car?

What about the people who bought vibrators and lingerie and OnlyFans subs instead of stocking up on canned goods, frozen meat, and toilet paper?

Why can’t I stop staring at butts like I’m Tina Belcher?

Can we talk about the fact that I normally wrinkle my nose at hook-ups, but the second an 8 p.m. curfew was implemented in New York, it was all I wanted to do?

Can we talk about the slobbery illegal raves taking place in the East River where American boys dressed like they’re in the 90s grind against thin European girls who roll their own cigarettes until the cops bust them for not social distancing?

Can we talk about the fact that I can’t stop wondering about the stripper who gave me a lap dance right before lockdown?

Can we talk about the fact that for some reason, every man is shirtless except for their masks…abs glistening in the sun?

Can we talk about apocalypse horny? I used to only date older men, but now anyone over 22 looks delicious. Come sit in Momma’s lap, and let me spank you for being naughty.

Can we talk about apocalypse horny? I am on a dominatrix subreddit for inspiration.

Can we talk about apocalypse horny? I now have all the worst traits of a fuckboy. See your therapist about anything that’s not sex, please. I’m not interested.

Apocalypse horny is defined by me as being angry at men for existing while clothed.

Apocalypse horny is defined by me as being afraid the world will end before I can have sex with everyone in McCarren Park.

Apocalypse horny…is wanting to die mid-orgasm.

Is that too much to ask?
Six Things Every Mental Health Product Should Consider
By: Xin Koepsell
Tags: Mental Health, Product Design, Design, UX, Virtual Reality

Six Things Every Mental Health Product Should Consider

Insights from a product designer and a licensed therapist

Photo by Catherine Heath on Unsplash

Mental health impacts every aspect of our lives, from how we see ourselves to how we interact with others and the world.

Even though I’ve changed career paths from a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) to a product designer, one goal has never changed for me: improving the quality of people’s lives.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 50% of all Americans are diagnosed with some sort of mental health illness at some point in their life. The most prevalent mental disorder, anxiety, impacts 40 million adults in the US.

What can we do as designers?

As the new year started, I reflected upon my experience as a product designer and mental health therapist and wrote down six things every mental health product should consider.
Why tribalism is making a comeback in our age of technology
By: Lucien Lecarme
Tags: Blockchain, Leadership, Spirituality, Cryptocurrency, Decentralization

How Tribalism made its entry in our modern tech society

This is my thesis. Our society became highly individualized. People lost trust in their leaders and the system. Also, the big dogma’s that gave direction to peoples lives like Christianity or Capitalism seem to slip out of our hands. We are left with ourselves in a diffuse world with no moral leadership, in a rapidly polarizing world.

As humans we need safety, and we need to belong. Modern society fails to deliver those very human needs

Our search for a tribe is nothing but a core need to feel safe, to feel heard, and to embrace clear values that bring direction to our lives. That bring purpose and some sense of meaning. That make us come alive out of our consumer slumber.

The internet and social media came in our lives to make connection seemingly easy. Over borders. We can now search and find our tribe quickly and connect to peer on the other side of the globe.

We do so when we feel attracted to the colours of the new nation flag of that tribe. These colours are made out of values that re-enter those values in our lives. Something to live for, to strive for, To put our life energy and money in creating a better world. This direction has been long lost.

The first real tribes and communities arose from the need to heal the planet, to take care of our earth since this is our most imminent problem that needs solving. Eco-communities have been popping up like mushrooms in places where they can grow and flourish. Their value is very clear; To take care of the earth, to live in unity with what created us.

Tribalism awakens to embrace what we are really here for, the core what lives inside of all of us and what makes us truly human. Something worth living and dying for.

This is why people love to watch Game of Thrones, The Last Emperor and The Witcher. It emerges from our deep need to belong to a tribe and fight for something we believe in.
Маркетинговая воронка и Воронка продаж. Как работают и чем отличаются?
By: Airat Galiullin
Tags: Digital Marketing, Futureinapps

in Eudaimonia and Co
This Sporting Life
By: Robert Bush
Tags: Short Story, Humor, Sports, Satire, Comedy

This Sporting Life

It’s all change for sporting Britain

Photo by Rob Pumphrey on Unsplash

In a letter to the London Times recently it was suggested that from now on we should swat flies with a tennis racket in order to give them a sporting chance. This, apparently, is the British way.

Obviously this sense of fairness and sportsmanship is a great thing and should be carried much further, and so the various sporting bodies have now brought in a whole raft of new measures.

From now on any football team playing against England will be allowed to play two goalkeepers and they will be granted an extra ten minutes at the end should they find themselves a goal down.

Any tennis player coming up against a British player at Wimbledon will be given a one set start, and all tie breaks will start with the British player two nil down.

In future all British swimmers will have one hand tied behind their back, and if the inevitable going-round-in-circles should disturb the other swimmers they will be disqualified.

In motor racing, British drivers will only be allowed to drive a Prius, and in motor cycle racing British riders will be allowed nothing more powerful than a Lambretta 150.

Athletics will be completely different now as British runners will have lead weights tied to their ankles, and for the high jump all British competitors will have the bar one foot higher than the competition; for the long jump they will be blindfolded.

In horse racing any British horse will be ridden with the jockey facing backwards.

In the world of cricket there will be major changes as all English players will now have to bowl and bat left-handed, and in netball one of the nets will be twice the size of the other, and the opposition will always play that way.

In golf English players will be docked one shot if they reach the green in regulation, and they must also putt using their driver.

So that’s it, the world of sport adjusted for the swatting-flies-with-a-tennis-racket era.

You know it makes sense.
ZUBI & International Blockchain Olympiad(IBCOL) — A push towards blockchain adoption in India
By: Aniket Jain
Tags: Partnerships, Blockchain, Zubi, Ibcol

Zubi is excited to join forces with IBCOL in order to enable the community to apply cryptography and blockchain solutions to real-world problems across the Indian subcontinent. By leveraging IBCOL’s resources and Zubi’s community we aim to achieve a decentralized future.

Zubi, in partnership with IBCOL, has started the National Chapter in India (IN-BCOL). The IN-BCOL will be responsible for nominating the top projects as representatives of their jurisdiction for the Final Round of the International Blockchain Olympiad in Hong Kong.

The two parties involved aim to educate and encourage people to build a sustainable blockchain talent ecosystem. The two main missions still lie in promoting awareness on blockchain technology and its applications and enhancing employability by equipping participants with the necessary skills.

The objective of this partnership is to:

Provide a world-class competition that highlights the challenges of applying blockchain and distributed ledger technologies to real-world applications.

Promote a disciplined, multidisciplinary approach to building enterprise blockchain and distributed ledger applications, from technical, business, and legal perspectives

Provide for the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and sharing of experience among students, advisors, and overall between academia, industry, and government.

Encourages students from around the world to learn and know more about blockchain technology.

IBCOL is helping Zubi by taking a step towards empowering people and the community.

ABOUT IBCOL

The International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL) 2020 is the 3rd edition of the annual event: since 2018, IBCOL has been hosted by the College of Business of the City University of Hong Kong, supported by the Hong Kong Blockchain Society. Reflecting the cultures of the hosts, IBCOL combines the academically rigorous technical design in blockchain and cryptography with practical domain knowledge from government and industry partners.

About Zubi

Zubi is a platform for emerging technologies that provide opportunities from learning to building a career. It bestows one with personalised opportunities in the space. Zubi started with building a blockchain ecosystem and is working on mass adoption of the technology.
6th ANNUAL NAPOMO 30/30/30 :: DAY 26 :: Aaron Goldsman on Tommy Pico
By: The Operating System
Tags: Inspiration, Poetry, Community, Writing, here

I first fell in love with the long poem reading, of all things, Charlotte Smith’s Beachy Head, which I devoured in a second-hand paperback edition way back when. An early Romantic poem of place, it takes its reader on a breakneck tour through the rocky promontory on the Dover coast from which the poem takes its name. Flying cinematically over the landscape at one moment, diving deep into fossil-filled layers of sedimentary rock the next, this profoundly strange work captures a key part of the long poem’s magic. Capable of managing wandering breadth and intense depth at once, the long poem, at its best, is a gorgeous sandbox of panoramic views and minute details, all strung together along the vibrating thread of the poem’s line of thought.

From Smith, I ran (inevitably) into Whitman, and from there, the long poem factory of High Modernism. Eliot and Pound never thrilled me, except perhaps for the spiked pathos of the addled genius pacing his sunbaked Pisan cage. Williams’s Paterson was more hospitable, and even more so, Stein’s bottomless toy boxes and the hermetic mysteries of H.D.’s revisionist mythologies. My crush on the long poem took on a renewed intensity when I fell, hard, for the New York School: peering with Ashbery into Parmigianino’s convex mirror; kaleidoscoping down Second Avenue with O’Hara; and playing table tennis with Joe Brainard over a net dividing the general and the particular, the ball bouncing to the rhythm of his anaphoric remembrances. Most of all, I was — and am — entranced by James Schuyler’s long poems. I’ve spent many a blissful hour at Jimmy’s knee, savoring the mix of just-right description, avuncular admonition, and tender bitchiness that push his wending lines along.

I think Jimmy would have liked my latest long poem love, IRL by Tommy “Teebs” Pico. Published just last year, Pico’s book-length shudder — of pain, of pleasure, disgust, and desire — picks up on some of the best aspects of his predecessors’ work, and carries a manic charge all its own. As his title suggests, Pico is particularly interested in the confusing, often wavering line between “real life” and the Internet, our IRL selves and the social media proxies that sometimes seem to be elbowing their flesh-and-blood counterparts into the wings. If this sounds too much like a New York Times think piece, fear not. Pico isn’t here to lecture you, neither wagging a finger at text-happy millennials nor heralding the mediated world of the virtual as a utopia to come. Pico is just trying to survive, and maybe, get us all off in the process.

I imagine Schuyler — no stranger to thwarted passion, and who (thank goodness for us) never met a flower he didn’t like — nodding sagely over Pico’s lines:
Beer Me! — Top Beer Drinking Influencers for the 4th of July [Infographic]
Tags: Digital Influencers, Influencer, Fourth Of July, Digital Marketing, Influencer Marketing

For information about Julius or our blog, please contact Chelsea Bennington.

July 4th is coming up, and the ultimate way to celebrate America is spending time with friends and family, watching fireworks, grilling out, and of course, drinking beer. We have hundreds of influencers on our platform who are tagged with beer as an interest. Some scope out local breweries, others cook with it, and several just enjoy drinking it and sharing the love with their followers.

Looking for the perfect influencer who loves beer for your next campaign, or just curious to see some stats? See below for an exclusive peak into the top 50’s audience demos, engagement, brands they worked with, and more.

Want more data? Book a demo today.
Little Baby Man
By: Taylor Foreman
Tags: Humor, Divorce, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story

A man pulls up to a suburban home in a loud, red car. He steps out, leather boots and a leather jacket.

Photo by @blakesox

A man in Sketchers, a short-sleeve button down, and a coffee in hand, is standing in the doorway. “Oh, God!” he says. “Uh, Oh!”

“Hey Gabe,” the man in leather says.

“You come up in here with a motor like that and you expect my wife not to fuck you? You know what you’re doing, Chuck!”

“Hey, man, I’m just visiting my kid,” says Chuck.

“Yeah, well, you came over here in that FINE ass classic Mustang with the intake thing coming out the hood… You know she’s going to fuck you!”

“I didn’t… I mean, I just like the car,” Chuck says. “I didn’t come over here to have Dianna fuck me. You two are married now, I’m sure-”

“Oh, yeah! Like that stopped us when you two were married!” says Gabe.

“Wait, what? She cheated on me?”

“Oh, fuck, don’t start this shit with me right now, Chuck! Goddammit! You sexy-ass! Now that you’re single you’re sexy again, is that it? Well, you stay away!”

“You know what? I have a kid. We have a kid together. So I’m not going to stay away. And she’s not going to fuck me! So, why don’t you just-” Chuck says as he walks toward the door.

“Uhhhhh,” Gabe says, spilling his coffee. “Don’t come close! Don’t come close!” he says, falling to his hand as he scrambles backward. “Don’t come close to me! I’m milquetoast!”

“Milquetoast? You gotta have more confidence in yourself, man,” Chuck says.

“Ohh, no, I’m a little baby man…”

“A little baby man?” Chuck chortles. “C’mon, dude. You’re making me feel awful.” Gabe has himself pressed against the closed door. Chuck is standing feet away. “You won! You got her, you know? I didn’t want a divorce. So, you must be pretty great!”

“Nooo,” Gabe moans. “I just have money. And I got it by being a little weasel bitch.”

“Jesus Christ,” Chuck says, face in hand, laughing a little. “Well, I’m just gonna take John, and we’re going to go to the park, and I won’t be around, OK?”

“Oh, take him to the park so you can fill his head with how I’m a little weasel bitch, huh? And how you want to fuck his mother, is that it?”

“No! Oh my God…” Chuck says. John opens the door and makes Gabe fall into the house. He steps around him, not entirely shocked by what he is seeing. “C’mon John, let’s go.” He extends his hand for John’s, which he takes.

“Alright!” Gabe says from the floor. “Good to see ya, Chuck! Take care!”
A Letter I Wrote to a Finnish Woman I Love
By: Mahmudul Islam
Tags: Love Letters, Life, Travel, Relationships, Finland

“Where were you yesterday? I was looking for you,” she told me.



It was after the Christmas break at work in 2017. It was snowy and dark outside — the typical Finnish winter.

“Why were you looking for me? Did you miss me?” I asked her.

“I missed your smile,” she replied with her typical smile.

Her smile is enticing. I can never forget it.

How I Met Her

I met this charming Finnish woman in Finland. She was my colleague in a restaurant I worked at. She loves music and dancing, is of French descent, and lived in London when she was young.

She has whitish hair (the first distinct thing I noticed about her when I first met her in a country full of blonde women).

What I love the most about her is she can articulate romantic thoughts clearly in English (which is something I find irresistibly attractive in any woman).

She has the kind of sense of humour (which enables a person to weave elements of cultural quirks into the conversation) I quickly fall for.

We shared a bond that is inexplicable in words. I enjoyed talking to her so much.

We talked about Finland.

We talked about life.

We talked about music.

The synchronization of words we exchanged was flawless.

Like her smile, I can never forget the heart-to-heart conversations I had with her.

The Letter
Blockchains in Space with SpaceChain’s Alex Albano
By: Clayming Space
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Space Exploration, Space, Blockchain Technology

In this two-part episode we talk to Alex Albano, COO of SpaceChain.

Alessandra has been advising blockchain projects since 2017. She joined SpaceChain after having been COO of DEX, a decentralised data exchange, and having been part of the founding team at Ocean Protocol, a decentralised data sharing protocol, in charge its ecosystem growth and operations.

Oxford Said Business School and INSEAD executive programs alumna, Alessandra specialises in sustainable growth strategies and operational excellence. She brings with her a wealth of experience in managing high-value contracts and large-scale teams in different sectors and at global level.

As one of the early innovators in tokenization, she is an established thought leader in ecosystem growth, she’s a published author and the founder of AcchaLabs.ai, a company that advises traditional companies on incorporating tokenization in their business model through incremental innovation.

Boasting more than a decade of experience in leading operations and marketing between Europe, India and Asia, Alessandra is in charge of SpaceChain’s global operations and strategy and leads its ecosystem growth.

Keen to champion more diversity in the space and blockchain sectors, Alessandra is an advocate for women in leadership roles in STEM, a mentor, and a speaker.
Fourth Wave Welcomes New Contributors
By: Patsy Fergusson
Tags: Feminism, Writing, Politics, Relationships, Self

And I’ve been writing my tuchus off, with most of my stories focused on our political and social situation in the U.S. There are too many to curate a favorite quote from each one (or to wait any longer to send out a newsletter!) so dip in where you like to find one of your own.

Starting with the most recent first:

The Five Best Things I Read on Medium This Week

Sharing the love

Cliff Notes on the 1619 Project

The curriculum which provoked a backlash in the Senate

Someone Stole the President

Finding some humor in that one tender tweet

The Morning After

A stream of consciousness on my emotions after the debate

Who You Follow Now Matters More: Nipples!

Comments of interest to Medium writers about the latest tweaks

Forcing Women to Bear Children Against Their Will

About Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and Roe v. Wade

Trump Can’t Pull Off a Coup

Because nobody likes him

Sacred Masculine II

A second attempt to list the masculine traits we love; in pagan publication Queen’s Children

Open Letter to Colin Kaepernick

Asking him to ask others to vote; in Morgan Babbs’ blog Contrasts

The Parable of the Orange Ogre

A fun foray into fairy tale

Cuties is a Feminist Movie

Critics are clueless

Eve Delivered Us From Ignorance

I never understood why original woman got a bad rap

Mother Earth is Trying to Kill Us

And why wouldn’t she? We are murderous guests

U.S. Police Should Not Carry Guns

They kill too many people

Everybody Isn’t Going to College

A few problems with our educational system

All this productivity has led me to think about writing: what I want from it, and what it means to me. And though I’d love to make the big bucks and get wide acclaim on Medium, I’m also well-served and well-satisfied by nurturing a small group of sincere people who are trying to understand our crazy world.

When I started Fourth Wave a year and a half ago, my friend Evelyn Jean Pine and I brainstormed a “tagline” for the publication and came up with “Jamming the Frequency,” which represented my hope at the time: to interrupt destructive systems in society.

But after all the anxiety and upset I’ve swallowed during this presidency, this month I moved toward a gentler motto: *changing the world for the better, one story at a time.

Here’s hoping we readers and writers and new world creators can realize that dream.

Yours truly,

Patsy Fergusson

Editor

Fourth Wave
100 Words On….. Waves
By: Logan Daley
Tags: Data Security, Information Technology, Waves, 100 Words Project, Cybersecurity

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Like ocean waves, cybersecurity threats are unrelenting. Calm seas produce complacency and stormy seas propagate vigilance. How do we handle tsunamis? Recent events like Petya and WannaCry are examples of just such events. While there were warnings, many were caught unprepared and despite the rude awakening, the next waves caught even more off guard. Similar threats exploited similar vulnerabilities. Prevention cannot be our only strategy; we must be able to react and respond to incidents when they occur and recover when the waters have receded. This planning may be your only life raft.
Crochet Affirmation №20
By: Leslie Stahlhut
Tags: Creativity, Crochet, DIY, Life Lessons, Makers

A crochet binder strap for a marching band music binder

“It is the element of decorative utility that craft embodies that makes it both enduring and endearing … crafting is, ultimately, about the power to transform ourselves and the world around us.” — crochetbug

As aesthetics go, utility is often underrated — sometimes even scorned. It is one of the most overlooked and under appreciated aesthetics of modern life.

But utility, unlike beauty, is much less transitory, and crochet has — at the core of it’s crafting DNA — a decidedly utilitarian flare.

That is why, despite the haters, crochet endures.
DIM Notice:
Tags: Dim, Dimcoin, Hybse, Nem, Bitcoin

DIM Notice:

To maximize marketing exposure, based on research, the DIM Team has decided to change the weekly updates to Monday instead of Friday.

This change will take effect this weekend, which means the weekly update is now scheduled for Monday 26th of March.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support!

DIM Team
Bitcoin Technical Analysis
By: Ledgerfund Technical Analysis
Tags: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Hidden bearish divergence is seen on a 1 hour chart of bitcoin with price making lower highs and RSI making higher highs. This can be an indication of continued downtrend unless BTC is able to break the price level of 8250–8300$.

We, at Ledgerfund run one of the biggest Crypto Hedge Funds in the world and give returns in bitcoins. To know more about how you can invest your bitcoins in this fund, refer to our website: https://ledgerfund.io
”Pay It Forward” Recap | Transact 18 | Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
By: Priority Payment Systems
Tags: Payments, Pay It Forward, Eta, Payment Processing, Las Vegas

TRANSACT 18 was held on April 17–19th at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The conference had over 200 exhibitors, 120 speakers and close to four thousand attendees. This was a successful launching ground for the 2018 “Pay It Forward Campaign” which highlights Priority’s core value of connections emphasizing “Where Partners + Platforms Connect to Propel Payments Further.”

The Priority exhibit featured a photo booth for attendees where all photographs automatically fed to a live video wall to illustrate the action and connection that represents the “ripple effect” of Paying It Forward. At the end of the conference the video wall (image above) displayed the network of relationships forged while there.

Along with the photo booth, Priority shared new product technologies and their overall suite of payment services — all while networking with existing and establishing new partnerships.

Did you have your photo taken?

Thank you for joining us in Paying it Forward! To download your photo booth images, please click here.

Want the 2018 Priority Overview?

To download the 2018 “Pay It Forward” brochure, please click here.
The Great Purge
By: Andrei Tapalaga
Tags: Politics, WIB History, Purge, History, Russia

Andrei Vyshinsky Accusing the United Opposition

Soviet Politician Andrei Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky

Based on the statement created by Stalin upon Kirov’s death and what it can signify, in 1936 Soviet jurist and politician Andrei Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky has accused leaders of the United Opposition for wanting to eliminate the Stalin and other influential governmental bodies that are on his side. The United Opposition was a political group formed in 1926 which went against Stalin and his regime, the group has never approved of Stalin’s ruling within the Soviet Union because they always wanted more. These were the people that saw the unfair side of the communist-style which Stalin presented.

The sentence to death of Grigori Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev for being the chief defendants of opposition or so-called ‘Trotskyite Kamenevite Zinovievite Leftist Counter-Revolutionary Bloc’ was the start of the Great Purge in which over 1 million people from the Soviet Union followed to be murdered. In this trial, 14 other members of the ‘Trotskyite Kamenevite Zinovievite Leftist Counter-Revolutionary Bloc’ took part and have been deemed of the same sentence as the chief defendants. These two men were actually allies of Stalin in 1917.

Grigory Zinoviev

Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev also known as Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky was a Bolshevik revolutionary that has been fighting against Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union since 1927. He has made great research at the University of Bern into Vladimir Lenin and Leninism. It has been said by contemporary historians that from his research in his academic years he has seen compliance towards socialism as well as communism brought by Lenin but he has never liked how Stalin was applying this style to the Soviet Union.

Soviet Politician Lev Kamenev

The second chief defendant was Lev Borisovich Kamenev, a very influential and prominent Soviet politician that was even a member of the first Politburo in 1917. A good friend of Vladimir Lenin and also known personally by Joseph Stalin which was also a member of the first Politburo. The political influence which he has acquired in time made Stalin scared of possible outcomes that the United Opposition could do to turn the Soviet population against Stalin. As you can see so far, everything is going smoothly for Stalin and if you still did not understand why these influential people were being killed is because Stalin was afraid of their power and the possibility of ending his ruling of the Soviet Union.
WTF?! Study Shows PC Gamers and Dota 2 Players Swear the Most
Tags: Swearing, Videogames, Culture, Technology, Gaming

By breaking down the comments from 40,000 gamers, researchers discovered who has the the foulest mouths, which games keep it clean, and the most popular cuss-word of all.

By Eric Griffith

How do you figure out which gamers are the most trash-mouthed a**holes of all? Ask the folks at OnlineGambling.com. The site usually helps people find the best online gambling sites and sports books, but it took a gamble on a scheme to figure out where all the cursing is happening in today’s video games. (Because, obviously, there’s a s**t-ton of it. Also, “hell” and “damn” don’t count; it’s not 1965.)

To do so, OnlineGambling went deep into gaming subreddits, 14 discussions in all, logging occurrences of English-language curse words across the most recent 100 posts, and came to some foul-mouthed conclusions.

Most important are the words themselves. You can see in the chart at top which word got used the most, followed by several variations on the f-word, with some tamer terminology such as “ass” and “crap” thrown in for good measure. Only one use of “arse” and “wank” apiece indicates not a lot of UK-English speakers are hitting the subreddits.

Perhaps more interesting is how many swears there were by gaming platform. Parents might want to know just what kind of company kids are keeping, depending on their preferred gaming method. It should shock no one that PC gamers are the foulest-mouthed—it’s so easy to type your cussin’!

You’d think the wholesome Nintendo Switch games would indicate its users are clean-living and thus cleanest in the vocabulary. Wrong: Microsoft Xbox users averaged the fewest swears.
Basis Data Akademik: Fungsi Bisnis, Otorisasi, Kalender Akademik
By: M. Ramadhan
Tags: Basis Data Akademik, Fungsi Bisnis, Otorisasi, Erd, Desain

Manajemen Akademik

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Arthur Ashe
Solving the problem of distributing personalized employee training — at scale.
By: Ashley Kooter
Tags: Training, Elearning, Education, Learning, Personalized Learning

The way people interact, work and learn has shifted rapidly, and the need for a personalized learning experience has almost become expected. However, while a tailored learning experience is relatively simple to deliver to an individual, how do you provide the same experience to thousands of distributed teams across the world, in role-specific packages and multiple languages, while maintaining the same quality standards and effectiveness?

To address this challenge we’ve developed a unique piece of functionality called Smart Assignments — our solution to distributing personalized learning at scale. Smart Assignments use tags to identify user groups or business units within the structure of your organization. A user simply selects the tag(s) that best describes their job-role, and the relevant content will be automatically assigned to them This ensures that the correct content is distributed and assigned to the right user groups across an organization.

What makes our Smart Assignments even smarter is that using the same logic, the platform will also automatically assign the right content to new employees who fit the assignment criteria. This allows L&D managers to minimize management overhead and accelerate onboarding.

Smart Assignments give us an exciting glimpse into the future of learning by being able to design and deliver a personalized learning experience to all your learners — no matter where they are.

Learn more about Smart Assignments here and watch the video below.
Ethereum to dethrone Bitcoin? Not so fast…
By: Emre Sokullu
Tags: Ethereum, Trends, Analysis, Bitcoin, Litecoin

New York Times published an opinion article yesterday that suggests ethereum may take over bitcoin as the gold standard of cryptocurrencies. I disagree. And the proof is in the technical details.

Ethereum is a currency that’s vulnerable to hacks. Any cryptocurrency is, but with ethereum, it is more so. In fact, ethereum was hacked once in its less than three years long history. $80MM worth of ethers were stolen, and the Ethereum Foundation decided to change the source code so that the thieves would not be able to use the money. The idea was, this way, the heist would be contained. But, to some, this was no different than governments seizing individuals’ properties, hence against the decentralized spirit of blockchains. As a result, the ethereum-classic hard-fork was born.

I don’t believe ethereum-classic has any merits, and in my opinion, Ethereum Foundation gave the right decision by avoiding hackers to use the ethers they had stolen, but it is a testament to ethereum’s pitfalls as a super capable cryptocurrency and a more flexible platform.

On the other hand, in bitcoin’s almost decade-long history, such an instance has never occurred. Because simply, it is safer by design. The fact that it doesn’t have a Turing-complete virtual machine makes it less prone to such attacks.

All in all, ethereum and bitcoin serve very different motivations. Ethereum is the best currency for crowd sale or ICO type of use-cases. However, bitcoin is and will remain for the foreseeable future the number one liquidity medium, the default cryptocurrency value-store, and a good money exchange platform. Its increasing block generation times though poses a problem, and make litecoin, with its ~ 2 minutes wait-time, a plausible alternative for the years to come.
3 Things Your Campaign Should Implement Before Labor Day
Tags: Public Affairs, Campaign, Digital Communication, Gotv, Elections

147 days until Election Day. Are you ready?

Campaigns are working to mitigate COVID-19’s impact on voter contact in the coming months. And digital will prove key in building coalitions and fundraising.

With Memorial Day behind us, it’s time to think ahead to the unofficial start of election season at the end of summer. Use digital to tackle these three pre-election tasks this summer.

1. Plan for Vote-By-Mail changes.

An all Vote-By-Mail election demands a more proactive voter contact strategy.

We use Impact to target custom voter audiences. Impact assists in developing a segmentation strategy to reach audiences at the right frequency. It then delivers key messages through an omnichannel media buying approach.

For Vote-By-Mail, we recommend segmenting out the individuals in your audience who historically vote early, so that you can deliver higher frequency earlier in the campaign when they are more likely to cast their vote. And, include a second segment with those who will likely have to vote by mail for the first time. This segment will allow you to provide more educational and GOTV messaging, as well as multiple variations of your campaign ads.

As voting begins, keep your audience sets updated with who has voted. Update your digital campaigns to stop delivering messages to that audience. Instead, target the remaining audience who still has to vote.

2. Continue to engage donors.

Campaigns are backing away from requesting small- and medium-sized donations. The impression is that smaller donors aren’t able to give during the pandemic. But we’re seeing the opposite.

People are still willing to give to causes they believe in. It’s a matter of delivering the right message to the right audience and being mindful of the global context of your ask

Even during a global crisis, Portal finds supporters through audience modeling and media buys. Voters may not be able to give a large amount now but you can make it easy for them to engage with your campaign in other ways. Ask them to share your message on social media or share their story with your campaign. Put in the work to build your donor list now, so you can engage them in the future.

3. Conduct more research.

The conversations surrounding your issue have likely changed in the wake of COVID-19. Social listening provides valuable opportunities to tailor your message and remain relevant.

Social listening also helps to uncover opportunities for engagement. We use Scout to track conversations and identify your strongest advocates. This allows for connection with influencers and engagement in conversations surrounding your campaign.

This time is critical, as we prepare to pioneer through an unparalleled election season. Utilizing digital tools helps make strategic, informed decisions like never before. Read more about adding digital to your public affairs efforts here.

Have more questions? You know where to find us.
La idea más poderosa en Ciencia de Datos
By: Cassie Kozyrkov
Tags: Analytics, Ciencia Y Datos, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Data Science

Head of Decision Intelligence, Google. Hello (multilingual) world! This account is for translated versions of my English language articles. twitter.com/quaesita

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Tools for New and Returning Seminarians
By: Christópher Abreu Rosario
Tags: Presbyterian, Christianity, Seminary

Photo by Derek Maul (www.derekmaul.blog)

This first year of seminary has been a beautiful hot mess. I just returned to campus from a summer with San Francisco Night Ministry, a nighttime streetside ministry offering care and worship opportunities for folks. I learned a lot and grew in ways that I didn’t realize were possible, but more on that in another post. It’s the start of a new year at Columbia Theological Seminary, and one thing that I remember from when I first started out last year is that I could not find a suitable list of computer, web-based, or other resources for the new seminarian.

So, I compiled a list of all the apps and tools I used this past year and offer them here for any new (or returning) seminarian. The list will be updated as time progresses, so be sure to check back from time to time, and if you have any suggestions, please do so in the comments!
No More Empty Pomp and Circumstance
By: Flannery Wilson
Tags: Art, Literature, Academia, Philosophy, Psychology

I came across an article by an education blogger the other day.

In that article, she argues that intelligent people need academic jargon more than ever now that Trump is in charge.

I disagree.

Surely one can criticize “power structures” without resorting to pretentious terminology.

More importantly: what is the point of writing an incisive critique of anything if it is meant only for an ever shrinking group of academics who are already on your side anyway?

Doesn’t that negate the purpose of writing a critique in the first place?

If I had something truly original to say, I should be courageous enough to say it in front of the people who need to hear it most, not to my extended peer group.

The blogger mentions a recent occurrence in which this young professor wrote a controversial Tweet.

She is horrified that conservatives went after the poor professor and bullied her. The point is supposed to be that this professor was silenced by the big bad conservatives and racist white supremacists.

Let’s consider this for moment. Suppose I tweet something like:

Why are liberal Americans so afraid to admit that they can be just as annoying and dogmatic in their beliefs as conservatives?

Then imagine that when I am criticized for writing such a controversial tweet, I reply:

I was merely talking to my conservative friends. I was talking to a bubble. I didn’t understand that Twitter was for everybody. If I’d known that anyone can look at Twitter, I wouldn’t have Tweeted in the first place.

If you think that no one would make this argument, think again.

According to the education blogger, we are supposed to accept this type of response because…well…why question it?

She was bullied after all. Pity the poor woman. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into with all of these new fangled social media platforms and confusing digital spaces.

Come on. Lose the pomp and circumstance, stop playing the victim, and embrace your opinions. Make an original point and allow your words to stand naked in front of your readership.

It’s better to be understood and criticized than to be incomprehensible and praised.
Unit Test mi? Integration Test mi?
By: Suat Köse
Tags: DevOps, Continuous Delivery, Integration Testing, Continuous Integration, Unittest

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Timon of Athens: Act IV, Scene 1
By: Cory Howell
Tags: William Shakespeare, Timon Of Athens, Poetry

I recently participated in a staged reading of Timon of Athens, a play with which I had been quite unfamiliar. It’s an odd piece of work, really, but there are some gems in it, particularly this speech from Act IV…

TIMON

Let me look back upon thee. O thou wall,

That girdlest in those wolves, dive in the earth,

And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent!

Obedience fail in children! slaves and fools,

Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench,

And minister in their steads! to general filths

Convert o’ the instant, green virginity,

Do ‘t in your parents’ eyes! bankrupts, hold fast;

Rather than render back, out with your knives,

And cut your trusters’ throats! bound servants, steal!

Large-handed robbers your grave masters are,

And pill by law. Maid, to thy master’s bed;

Thy mistress is o’ the brothel! Son of sixteen,

pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire,

With it beat out his brains! Piety, and fear,

Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,

Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood,

Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,

Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,

Decline to your confounding contraries,

And let confusion live! Plagues, incident to men,

Your potent and infectious fevers heap

On Athens, ripe for stroke! Thou cold sciatica,

Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt

As lamely as their manners. Lust and liberty

Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth,

That ‘gainst the stream of virtue they may strive,

And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains,

Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their crop

Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath,

at their society, as their friendship, may

merely poison! Nothing I’ll bear from thee,

But nakedness, thou detestable town!

Take thou that too, with multiplying bans!

Timon will to the woods; where he shall find

The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.

The gods confound — hear me, you good gods all —

The Athenians both within and out that wall!

And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow

To the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen.