fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Viking Swap: Caring for the Community
By: Fisk Karlsson
Tags: Charity, Cryptocurrency, Altcoins, Defi, Donations

Sæl Warriors!

Here in our Viking community, we want to ensure that there is a feel-good factor around the campfire. This is to pay homage to the honorable culture with which the original Norse Vikings conducted their business. With that in mind, we have committed to regular charitable donations and are pleased to say that we have given $20,000 to charities in our first week of trading.

25.02.2021:

01.03.2021:

Check out their amazing work here: https://www.givecrypto.org/

Currently, we are in a position where it is complicated for us to give more than $10,000 in a single donation unless we can begin to give via BSC. If any of our supportive community know of charities that will take donations via BSC then please get in touch, either on our Telegram community or by Tweeting us @VikingSwap.

If this is something that interests you, please take a look at our Google Form: https://forms.gle/XpvtLkCEtipXwCLn8

One of the reasons we are looking to make charitable donations is to find more meaningful ways to employ the dev-fund. Right now, we are using a percentage of dev-funds for buyback and burnoff. This will be continuing as we move forward, but the impact has been lessening as our liquidity grows, so we are working on introducing further, more impactful deflationary methods for our tokens in the near future.

Our Dwarves’ goal with Viking Swap is to create the safest, most sustainable model for our token and to ensure that all HODLers will see significant returns on their armies in the long run. To this end, we continue to be receptive to community feedback and are always open to unique opportunities that may be available.

Stay alert for more updates and glory!

Join us here: https://www.vikingswap.finance/

Telegram: https://t.me/VikingSwap
Scientific list of best names
By: Eduard But
Tags: Geography, Game Development, Donations

Since geotastic had it’s 50.000th user registration a few days back, I’d like explore some previously unexplored territory… detailed donation data!

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Since the release of geotastic (and some additional donations I received for montagsmaler-online) there have been 1.735 transactions towards keeping my service free for everyone and independent of any additional revenue streams like annoying ads. It’s still kinda strange how thinks worked out. I just jumped in head first without really planning anything of this. No idea if it will keep on working out, but it seems fine for now. But alas, you’re not here for that! You’re here for a list of names, the best names!

Disclaimer: Most of my supporters are from Germany, so the list will be heavily biased towards German names.

First names by maximum single donation amounts!

Let’s first check out which names have the tendency to be the most generous!

50 EUR: Stefan, Daniela, David, Manfred, Philipp, Tony, Lars, Susanne, Jens 40 EUR: Kelly, Michael 35 EUR: Martin 30 EUR: Kai, Johannes, Patrick, Jens 25 EUR: Fritz, Markus, Viktoria, Kathrin, Joshua, Klaus, Jack, Florian, Andreas 20 EUR: Jan, Melanie, Steven, Tom, Miriam, Hendrik, Angelina, Janna, Susanne, Samuel, Jonas, Moritz, Jonathan, Benjamin, Stephan, Anne, Ewa, Katharina, John, Isabel, Aoife, Gunnar, Maria, Erwin, Eleonora, Sophia, Marketa, Dimitri, Holger, Viktor, Bennet, Dominik, Tim, Christian

First names by total donation amounts!
We all live under the same sky
Tags: Coronavirus, Covid 19, Chinese, Volunteering, Donations

Covid-19 Diary: We all live under the same sky

New Jersey — April 15

Author: Xin Luo

In the past, when I heard stories like “someone just dropped the money and left”, I thought how ridiculous that was, and never believed them. well, it happened to me today.

A total stranger I didn’t know, contacted me in WeChat (the Chinese equivalent of Whatsapp) this morning. Without saying much, he transferred me 5,000 yuan! (US$700)

To be honest, I was really taken aback at the time.

Come to think of it, I have encountered quite a few such things recently.

62 people from Chengdu, China, pooled money together, bought 6382 medical and KN95 masks, put them in three large boxes and two parcels, sent them to me, and the freight cost nearly 10,000 yuan. (US$1400)

I asked for their names, and the answer was “friends from Chengdu”.

There are also 2,000 masks sent by two brothers from the city of Changsha in the HuNan province of China.

The person who transferred 5000 yuan this morning was from Anhui province.

They are all strangers I never knew before. They reached out to me after reading my diary on MoshangUS (A WeChat publication)

I feel so honored to cross path with these folks.

My local town government sent someone to pick up a batch of masks today. He expressed great gratitude to the contribution from Chinese people. They will distribute the masks to the departments in need.

I was not very satisfied with the note I made earlier. The folks of the Chinese Association asked their children to design a new one for the friends from Chengdu and the young brothers from Changsha. They could be used for the donations later too.

I also received a request from a French netizen for help today. She is a resident of the French town of Arles, where the epidemic is serious and the hospital urgently needs supplies such as masks.

Arles was once where Van Gogh lived, and many of his works were completed there. folks, If you have a channel, I hope you can donate some materials such as masks to the hospital there. The name of the hospital is Hospital Jean Imbert.

I looked it up on the net, the Chinese city Zhouzhuang is the sister city of Arles. If there is a donation from Zhouzhuang, wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Our Chinese Association originally was planning to buy dinner for our local EMT (Emergency Rescue Team). When they were ordering food at the Red Bowl, the owner of the restaurant said she would sponsor it. EMT sent someone to pick up the dinner, and gave lots of thanks.

A young man living alone in the town asked on Facebook:

He received more than 70 replies in a few hours, all of which were from folks who want to send him meals.

In the face of disaster, how valuable kindness is!

Like the guy from Anhui who transferred me 5,000 yuan said: “We all live under the same sky.”

Supporting each other and fighting together is what all of us should do now.
5 Things To Know About India’s Most Trusted Crowdfunding Platform
Tags: Fundraising, Crowdfunding, Charity, Trust, Donations

5 Things To Know About India’s Most Trusted Crowdfunding Platform Donatekart Jul 6·2 min read

Crowdfunding has made giving extremely easy. Today, people from around the globe can donate to causes that are close to their hearts in just a few clicks. It’s the perfect way to bring people together for a greater cause, and that’s what Donatekart is all about.



Started in 2016, Donatekart broke the crowdfunding and donations mold in India. It was started with a vision to bring people together, and encourage more and more people to donate. The past few years have been an amazing, fruitful journey with plenty of lessons along the way.

And we’re forever grateful for our growing Donatekart community.



So, why not get to know us a little better?



Here are 5 things you need to know about us:



1. We’re different:

We’re the only crowdfunding platform in India that lets donors directly donate towards products needed by the NGOs that are then delivered to them by us directly. There are no monetary transactions with the NGOs, which makes us the most transparent crowdfunding platform in India.



2. We have a variety of causes:

Whether you want to support animals, daily wagers, coal miners, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, or children among others, you can pick from a variety of causes to donate to on Donatekart.



3. 80G tax exemption:

Giving is another way of saving on Donatekart. Your donations are eligible for a tax dedication on the total amount and can be claimed easily.



4. Regular updates:

Your experience before, during, and after making a donation is extremely important to us. Hence, you will receive regular updates from the campaign you’ve donated to with information about the delivery, distribution, and usage of the products. You won’t have to worry about where your hard-earned money is going!



5. We’re learning and growing:

To date, we’ve received 100+ crore worth of donations, partnering with 1000+ NGOs across the country, with over 5 lakh donors from across the world. And we’re committed to continuing this work. Ever since the beginning of the pandemic we have helped raise funds for oxygen cylinders, concentrators, medical essentials & equipment, grocery kits, and other necessities.

You can support any cause that’s close to your heart here.
SanSeSan x Hai Di Lao Hotpot Charity Distribution
By: Savour
Tags: Food Donations, Savoursg, Society, Donations, Singapore

In the month of June 2021, Savour! was fortunate to be able to share the joy of savouring Hai Di Lao Hotpot during P2HA with our partnering charity organisations, Good Karma Singapore and Healthy Green Living. In collaboration with SanSeSan, Savour! managed to redistribute a total of 710 boxes of close to expiry hotpots to our beneficiaries with the aim to help reduce food wastage whenever possible.

By now, you probably know what Savour! does but if not, here it is.

Savour! is a tech startup started in 2019 by a group of local undergraduates who are passionate about saving the environment and helping those in need. It is in our tagline, we believe that Savour! digitalises procurement to save you more while saving the earth and empowering those in need.

39 cartons of Self heating Hai Di Lao Hotpots were distributed from SanSeSan, one of our partnering merchants for our Community Groupbuy effort, to our beneficiaries from Good Karma Singapore and Healthy Green Living, two of our non-profit organisation B2B customers.

Distribution of HaiDiLao Hotpots to the charity organisations

The person in charge of Good Karma Singapore and Healthy Green Living expressed their gratitude to the kind sponsorship of SanSeSan and Savour! for providing this opportunity to bless the less privileged.

Savour! would once again like to thank our merchant, SanSeSan, for supplying the products as well as our two partnered charity organisations, Good Karma Singapore and Healthy Green Living for procuring these products for their beneficiaries. We want to express our appreciation to them for supporting this initiative and fulfilling our beliefs in saving the earth and empowering those in need.

Watch Charity Video

We highly encourage other charity organisations and food suppliers with excess food resources to come forth and support us for such future initiatives and spread the joy of having good food with the people around us.

Savour! sincerely hope to make Singapore a place with lesser food waste with this initiative and provide our charity organisations with the opportunity to also make a difference in the lives of many.

You can keep a lookout on our social media pages for stories and posts on our promotional clearance of such food products in the near future and we hope to be able to let this known to more people in need. Spread the word around the people you know and in the meantime, stay safe!

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

The effects of climate change have never been more pronounced than before. Do your part to reduce carbon footprint and food waste by heading down to Savour! to procure your next food item. Visit our website to shop now at https://www.savourapp.co/

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Written by Jessie

Jessie is the Marketing Director at Savour!
TOP 3 Charity Applications for Giving Back
By: Jignesh Thanki
Tags: Mobile App Development, Charity App, Charity, Donations

In today’s world charity is one of the kindest acts demonstrated by individuals in order to give back to society. There are many mobile apps and web apps which have been created solely for charity purposes. Revolutionary custom mobile app development technology and usage of smartphones these days have made it easier to reach to right donors more effectively with instant access.

Charity Mobile application can increase donation for individuals and organisations. It can make donating simple, fast and effortless. Online donation via mobile app can enable NGOs, NPOs and individuals to support a cause by allowing people to contribute instantly.Take a look, Top 3 amazing charity applications which allow charity to be made easier.

TOP 3 Charity Applications to Look For

1) One today

One today is an interesting app that allows users to browse through projects of their own choice. People pay $1 or more depending upon their generosity as a donation. The best part about this app is that it is validated by Google and IRS i.e. your entire donation goes directly to charity. Also, you will receive a year-end tax receipt for all the donations made.

2) Budge

Budge is a fun based charity app that engages with three different aspects:

- Challenge

- Play

- Donate

This allows users to challenge friends or family like don’t smoke for a day or walk a mile which they play for fun and donate to a cause. It is user-friendly and allows children under the age of 18 years to use the app under parental consent. Once you have donated to charity, Budge charges a 5% amount from your donation as a few for using the application.

Read more: https://bit.ly/2Wso53A
Do Entrepreneurs Need Higher Education?
By: Michael Asante Adusei
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Higher Education, Education, Gofundme, Donations

A lot of billionaires are school dropouts is a very common statement from people who argue that you do not need higher education to be a successful entrepreneur. Are they the rule or the exception?

I used to think that entrepreneurs did not need higher education. In fact, the plan was to start my technology startup, put in the work and eventually make my impact in the market and live the good life in the end. Let me give you a bit about my background. I am 25 years and a tech entrepreneur living in Ghana. I have a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana. I started my entrepreneurial pursuit in my third year in school but it wasn’t until my fourth year I got into the technology space. For me, pursuing a master’s program would be an afterthought after I had made some very significant impact. I believed that it was better learning from my experience rather than going through the school system again.

So what changed? Why am I an advocate for higher education? It all started two years after I had left school. My startup had gone through different stages and I still wasn’t making the impact I envisioned going into it. It was a tough blow for me but I kept pursuing until finally my cofounders and I got our platform together (https://minafisi.com) and we got into market. Now, it was time to really put in the hard work.

Aside putting in the work on the ground, I was also putting in applications for seed funding. What struck me most of the times was how most of the CEOs of these African venture firms were highly educated. They were young people and it was obvious their education had played a big part in them getting to where they were. They knew people who knew people so they could trust them with loads of money to invest in startups. That is what higher education gives you. A lot of people do not realize the kind of people higher education can get you to meet. The connections that would be integral in your career path as an entrepreneur are hidden in these institutions.

I am not very interested in the certificates even though that obviously will get you noticed in a pile, the main catch is the network. Especially if you are from Africa where things you may need are not easily accessible, you need school. It’s so integral. And make sure it’s just not any school but a school that promises value and can actually give it. Businessmen can succeed any day but entrepreneurs need people to succeed. This is just my opinion.

I am also looking to go back to school. If this resonates with you, please donate to my GoFundMe campaign. I will really appreciate your support :) Click here to check out my campaign. Cheers
How To Help 100 Women In Your Community, With 2 Hours and $200
By: Melanie Deziel
Tags: Womens Health, Charity, Volunteering, Menstruation, Donations

Process & Tips For Building 100 Kits

Since I had spent some time building kits at the event, and then assembled these 100, I learned a few time-saving tricks that may help you, too.

Set Up Bags: First, I’d open up all the paper bags and set them up in rows so they are opened and easier to fill. The quickest way to get them open, I found, is to spread open the top of the bag, reach in with a closed hand, and then open your hand as you pull it out of the bag.

Lining up all of the bags in one giant grid of 100 might seem efficient, but it makes it hard to reach the center bags from the outside edge, so I found that lining them up in a few grids made it easier. I went with groups of 40, 40 and 20.

Liners in Rows: If you ordered what I did, the 240-pack of liners actually consists of packs of 12 that are aligned neatly. I opened these as carefully as possible so that the liners stayed mostly stacked, so I could easily grab a neatly aligned stack and flip through them (like pages in a book or a deck of cards) to count out 7. I dropped the handful of seven into each bag, trying to make sure they laid down relatively flat on the bottom of the bag.

Chocolate By The Handful: For the Hershey kisses, I just walked around the open bags with the whole bag of kisses. Reach in for a handful and just flip four of them out into the bags, one-by-one with your thumb (like how you might count out coins). They usually seemed to settled in whatever empty space was left on the bottom of the bag anyway, keeping things neat.

Tampons in Bunches: Breaking to open a new box of tampons every few kits messes with momentum. After a few different attempts, I found it easiest to dump a few 36-packs out on the floor, and then put them in piles of 9 (see left). That way, I could easily grab the bundle of 9 and lay them down at the bottom of an open kit bag, on top of the liners and chocolate.

Fold & Staple: If you’ve put everything in neatly, the items should lie fairly flat at the bottom of the paper bag. You can fold the top (open) edge of the brown paper bag down to the lower fold line, crease the top of the bag, and then fold the top (creased) edge down again toward the bottom to create a neat little package. that’s easy to staple shut so nothing falls out.

Package Them Up: Assuming you ordered from Amazon like I did, you should be able to package most of the finished kits in the cardboard boxes everything was delivered in. I was able to fit 40 kits in each of the two large shipment boxes I received, and then put the remaining 20 kits and all the leftover products in a third box I already had from something else.
Donation to the family of “ Mr. Naing Oo Wai”, our Spring Hero
Tags: Donate, Family Donation, Spring Revolution, Naing Oo Wai, Donations

Donation to the family of “ Mr. Naing Oo Wai”, our Spring Hero

On June 6, we started an event to donate or support to the family, who had lost the 17 years old boy, our spring hero, in Spring Revolution in Myanmar, as “the rememberance of three months passing”

Aye Mya Naing funraised as very first MMK 5,000

(wave id 1947512256)

Ko Ye ( Aung Naing Min on FB) added MMK 10,000 associated with

Paing Paing ( Paing Paing Min Thaw on FB added MMK 5,000)

( wave id 2731316558 and another id 2216322549)

Ma Ma Mya ( May Mya Yar on FB)

MMK 5,000

M Thuya, MMK 5,000

Totally MMK 30,000 to the family on 10.00 A.M where 13 ward, Hlaing Townships, Yangon.

( Fully Address is for family privacy and if you need, contact me)

The Fatherless Boy, standed with Cousin Brother, Zaw Min Oo and only mother,

Mr, Zaw Min Oo accepted MMK 30,000 on this morning.

The mother of the family accepted our request to take a photo, but we will never upload them as just like that.

For More info, call

09 950 590 275
Community Project Spotlight #2
Tags: Philanthropy, Ethereum, Blockchain, Blockchain4good, Donations

ETHOS

Emergency Transitional Housing Offering Services (ETHOS) is designing funding solutions for the homelessness crisis in Olympia, Washington State. ETHOS has been championed by ‘Art Is Solidarity’ which is a local non-profit combining blockchain technology and art mediums to find solutions and funding opportunities for pressing social issues. At the heart of this project is the city’s first initiative: to combat homelessness. From ETHOS’s project description:

“In 2018, the City of Olympia sanctioned a tent city adjacent to the transit center downtown dubbed the “Mitigation Site” for those struggling on the streets to have somewhere to rest and seek shelter. In late 2020, two-and-a-half winters and many tents later, a next step in creating a path to housing for downtowners was conceived when the City of Olympia contracted a local design and build firm to create 60 ‘micro-houses’ to replace tents and offer more security and safety for those trying to get on their feet.“

Following the successful construction and installation of these micro-houses, Art Is Solidarity will use additional funds raised to improve upon the amenities inside the Mitigation Site in a unique way. They are engaging the help of local artists to beautify the micro-houses into works of art and mint the art pieces into NFTs to be auctioned off digitally. Proceeds of these auctions will go towards outfitting the house with furniture, heaters and more!

Art Is Solidarity also intends to educate the shelter’s inhabitants and local artists about the vast opportunities that NFTs and cryptocurrencies can offer for alternative forms of income, and provide them with the tools to get involved. Check out their project on Giveth.io and donate to help the build and beautification of micro-housing, and the educational opportunities being created for the homeless in Olympia.
Funds Collection for Edhi Foundation
By: M Umair
Tags: Needy People, Needy, Edhi Foundation, Charity, Donations

As we already know, “Sharing is Caring”. It is also taught in Islam that giving Sadaqa is the best deed one can do.

Sadaqa averts calamity and increases sustenance and blessings in one’s life. Allah says in the Qur’an, “Who is it that would loan Allah a goodly loan so He may multiply it for him many times over? And it is Allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him, you will be returned,” (Qur’an, 2: 245).

Sometimes we do charity voluntarily. But sometimes, we support some institutions or NGOs that are working for the welfare of humanity. To make sure that our donations are reaching the needy person. One such NGO is the Edhi foundation.

Edhi Foundation is one of the largest welfare associations in the world. It is the only foundation in the world that owns an air ambulance. Edhi foundation runs entirely with the help of volunteers. There are around six thousand volunteers, comprising zonal heads, workers at several Edhi Homes, clerks at Edhi Centers, workers at maternity homes, and ambulance drivers.

Group Project

Our group project was to collect funds for Edhi Foundation. We designed posters and also contacted people individually for funds. It was not an easy task because people were reluctant to donate. Some just passed compliments about our project, and some just said Thank You. Some people donated at first and even helped us in contacting others.

It was a great learning experience for our whole group. We did learn how to deal with failure and how to convince people to do something. Following are some of the screenshots of donations by individuals.
Rs. 1 Crore - the 'Meaning' and the 'Means’!
By: Rahul Rajput
Tags: Crowfunding, Donation, Entertainment, Kbc, Raisingmoney

There are two types of people in India -

1) Who have tried getting into KBC (Kon Banega Crorepati) by calling in audience question atleast once

2) Those who have never tried

I must confess, I belong to the 1st type! What type do you belong to?

Whenever I hear "Chaliye shuru kerte hai aap ke sath, Kon banega Crorepati!" (Let’s start the Game of KBC with you!) in Amitji’s voice, I feel so nostalgic. We have grown up watching KBC, getting hooked to our TV sets, competing with family members to guess which is the right answer, patting our own back when we get the answer right!

KBC introduced us to this number - '1 Crore'. And gave rise to the ever running joke, 'Want to win 1 Crore? Do you even know how many Zeros are there in 1 Crore?' There was a time I didn't knew that too, I know now - 7 Zeros. (Trying to stop my Corporate mind from thinking Game winnings are taxed at 30% Tax Bracket). Whatever that may be, 1 Crore is a big number!!

When I was kid, I also remember thinking that if everyone just gave me 1 Rs and I collect 1 Rs from 1 Crore people, I will have 1 Crore Rs!! This is simple, correct yet such a CRAZY sounding maths! That's the power of large base or Multiplier.

Recently we all might have seen this becoming reality with 'Crowdfunding' and 'Donation', albeit for a 'Cause'! From raising funds for someone's health treatment to sending someone deserving to their higher studies - platforms like ketto.org, milaap.org have made this possible! Any help provided small or big at the need of the hour is immensely valuable. It is such a humane thing to help those in needs with whatever is possible for you!

That is why I love technology! Your campaign can reach so many people, people can instantly send money and contribute to the cause (Thanks to UPI pay and no hassle of Bank Accounts/Beneficiary approval), You can see live how much money is raised , how many days the campaign will be live and so on.

A quote which is best suited for the times we are currently in :

"

CROWDFUNDING ISN'T ABOUT

COLLECTING MONEY. IT'S

ABOUT MAKING SOMETHING

HAPPEN WITH A CROWD OF

PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN

SOMETHING.

NORMAL PEOPLE, NOT RICH

PEOPLE WITH A LOT OF

POWER, JUST PEOPLE LIKE

YOU AND ME.

-JOZEFIEN DAELEMANS

"

Take care! Be safe!
Trans-Exclusionary Feminism ISN’T Feminism.
By: That Eclectic
Tags: Surgery, Gender Equality, Fundraising, Trans Women, Donations

We all deserve to live safely and comfortably in our own bodies.

by Cher Petersen

Navigating Women’s Month

Jaded, disillusioned and terrified. That’s the only way I can describe what I felt this past Women’s month. The memory of Uyinene and countless others, lost to the scourge of gender-based violence, and my countless drug-induced episodes of psychosis have shown me the level of disregard for women inflicted onto the world by not only men but also those of us who claim to be women.

Some of those very same women, who have very little to say when others are left for dead in the nearest clearing, fending for their lives after being sexually assaulted. The very same women, who defend perpetrators of gender-based violence. The very same women who run to the hills of anti-scientific rhetoric to spew hateful vitriol at trans-women looking for a safe space. It is those women, like formerly noted author J.K Rowling, who have left the rest of us (or at least those of us with a little bit of empathy, consideration and some common decency) hopeless, defeated but yearning for something to fight for.

Transphobia in South Africa

As a trans-woman, my aforementioned psychosis has been eerily mirrored in real life. Every circumstance is a cacophony of silent stares, mouthed whispers outing me without my consent, furtive glances of othering and disgusted snickers of horror at the idea of what lurks between my legs. I haven’t found myself in many women’s spaces where I’ve been wholly welcomed, and I guess that’s why so many of us keep to ourselves or stay isolated. Then again, there’s also the high risk of violence, so for sure can’t trust men either. So what then?

Do we just remain hopeful in the face of exclusion by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or do we stand by the ideal of equality while knowing full well that the same women besides you may be the one’s secretly invalidating your existence?

Alas, there is hope to be found. In these dark and tumultuous times, I’ve found online spaces to be warm and welcoming, much like this very platform. The definition of what it means to be a woman is open for interpretation and the myriad of experiences is a place of solace, for many of us scared by our traumas.

Offering Support:

Having recently begun crowdfunding for my gender-confirmation surgery, the online support has been overwhelming. The warmth and generosity displayed by virtual strangers have empowered me to be more open, and welcome the love and support we need so dearly. Thus far I’ve raised a good 22% of my goal of R200 000, to undergo a procedure I have longed for since the conception of my self-awareness as a little one. If you would love to share my story, have a look at my BackABuddy page, which says so much more than I can even begin to express here.
Please Don’t Forget About The Bayou
By: Lee Martin
Tags: Weather, Fundraising, Climate Change, Louisiana, Donations

Please Don’t Forget About The Bayou

Maybe it is my fault.

When someone asks me where I’m from, I use New Orleans as a waypoint and direct them 1 ½ hours south. It is a poor explanation that does not do a good job of truly describing where I’m from. But what happens when a Hurricane is headed for Louisiana? We talk about the point of impact on the coast. Finally, we give a name and position to one of these southern communities. Cocodrie, Houma, Lafitte, Grand Isle, Golden Meadow, Galliano, Port Fourchon, and my hometown of Chauvin.

Louisiana is more than just New Orleans.

So, let’s try again. Where are we from? We’re from Cocodrie, steps (not miles) from the Gulf of Mexico at the southern tip of Terrebonne parish in southeastern Louisiana. A small community that hosts sportsmen and houses fishermen and their families. Where a kid can inherit a level of seafood snobbery unrivaled anywhere in the world. We’re from Chauvin, 20 minutes up the road or up the bayou on Highway 56. Home. Where Mom & Dad live, alongside their family, on the same street. Where cajun culture is born and legends are buried in the St. Joseph cemetery. And we’re from Houma, 20 minutes further up. We called it “Town” growing up. A bustling metropolis of over 30k people with Walmarts on both sides of town.

Maybe those names sound familiar? That’s because it is the exact route Hurricane Ida followed one week ago. And, I guess she liked what she saw, because she stuck around for hours, sending 150+mph winds into our communities, devastating homes and businesses in her wake, and terrifying my family members who could not evacuate. (They are okay.)

Now, I’m not here to share photos of destruction. Feel free to Google those. Instead, I’d like to talk about how we can help the people affected, right now. My sister Melissa Martin (of Mosquito Supper Club) has teamed up with local legend and advocate (and my one-time improv teacher) Jonathan Foret (of Helio Foundation) to create a fund that puts money right into the hands of families that need it most. Please donate if you can at www.bayoufund.org. We have also created some easily shareable social graphics for stories and timelines which you can download here: bit.ly/bayoufund

Our community is strong but there is one thing that scares them more than hurricanes: the news cycle. Please don’t forget about the bayou.
Tractors to Trucks
By: Falguni Bhat
Tags: Farmers, Food, Coronavirus, Supply Chain, Covid 19

Let’s eat our hearts out. Let our farmers feel our love.

The extended lockdown saw consumers like us struggling to secure basic vegetable and fruit supplies. As soon as the Lockdown was announced the hysterical hoarding led to limited access to fresh produce. But after the main markets were shut due to positive cases it was a nightmare like never before.

It’s Day 30 of the lockdown. For little over a week we have been getting all our vegetables & fruits directly from the farmers of Nashik.

Farmers know how to cultivate their crops but have no idea how to market their produce. Since forever they have depended on the middlemen at the local mandis to sell their wares. The pandemic with its requirements of social distancing created an opportunity like never before. The final push came when the main markets in Navi Mumbai were shut down. Our farmers finally became entrepreneurs.

Residential complexes like ours were getting very limited supplies at exorbitant prices. We the urban bred population have never dealt with farmers directly. We’ve depended completely on the local vegetable markets. Necessity is the mother of invention. As our markets shut shop we looked directly towards the farmers in nearby Nashik.

They responded and how! We order and they provide. Fresh produce at reasonable rates. Everyday the trucks come from the farms of Nashik directly to our doorstep. As we get comfortable with this supply chain our horizons are widening further to farmers in Devgad for our supply of Alphonsos.

The lockdown has made this farm-to-home a new normal. I doubt this genie will go back into the bottle once this is over. Maybe ordering fresh produce from farmers will remain as common as ordering food from Zomato.
A glance of potatoes in human history
By: Foodnote The World
Tags: Farmers, Famine, Potato, Food History

Over the centuries, peasants were planting potatoes to eat even they were considered as unfit food, even for animals. During the era, the artists mostly painted for the rich, but Jean Francois Millet, instead, whole-heartedly dedicated his skills and talents to the poverty, especially farmers and their humble potatoes.

Move to Irland in the 17th centuries, Irish were mostly poor peasants and Catholics accounted for 80 percent of population, on the other hand, the rest of 20 percent were Protestantism landlords from England who owned most of the lands, since Irland was merged with England in 1801.

In 1845, a long-existing potato disease, late blight broke out and resulted in a severe potato crop failure, which is recorded the Great Famine in human history. Without adequate potato yields, the peasants was chased off from the landlords and they hardly gain incomes to buy any food. Hence, they had to buy more cheap potatoes to feed themselves.

Consequentially, the higher the cost of potatoes had been rising, the fewer alternatives those peasants could have afforded.
Isha MahaShivRatri 2020 — Society
By: Devil S Advocate
Tags: Farmers, Youth, Isha, Sadhguru, Mahashivratri

Adiyogi Shiva as a Youth Icon

More than 70% of the crowd of the lakhs of people who attended the event is from Tamilnadu, which some people unfortunately understand as a land of atheists.

From where I was, I could see that the crowd was just increasing as the event started and I thought it had peaked, around 7:30 PM or 8:00 PM. Boy, was I wrong?

The seats were very full in all the bays when I went around the venue at 10 PM in the night.

There were tens of bays constructed to regulate the seating and that itself appeared a humungous task. The Isha Foundation Volunteers and residents who took it up have done a phenomenal job. The surprising fact was that equal amount of people were all around as well. Even with so much floating crowd, all the bays were fully occupied by people.

And … still, thousands of people will trying to get into the grounds with lines stretching for several hundred metres outside the main venue.

I was particularly surprised and preserved this moment when many youth took selfies and photos with the Adiyogi placed in a Radham (chariot) near the entrance of the venue. I observed for a few minutes and it just went on with hundreds of youth taking photos one by one.

Sadhguru has truly made Adiyogi Shiva as a youth icon. It has been a very revealing experience to see so many youth looking up to Adiyogi. These youth may not care about Shiva as a religious symbol, but as a spiritual icon, He has definitely captured their imagination.

It just goes onto prove that this land and its very soil have been steeped deep in Devotion or Bhakti, evident from the increasing thronging at these celebrations every year.
Wheat markets visualized — a year of ups and downs
By: Karl Bjelland
Tags: Farmers, Agriculture, Farming, Agtech, Commodities

Visual insights help make grain marketing information understandable at a glance.

Part of the product development process is continual testing and iterating on ideas that could potentially lead to becoming a part of the Farmstack offering. Speaking specifically to Farmstack Daily (our daily marketing newsletter) product development can range from testing new signals to determine if something actually influences markets (and if so to what degree), to calculating metrics and analyzing resulting market meta data.

Within Farmstack Daily (as well in other posts) we look at how days of consecutive market movement upwards can be integrated into a grain marketing strategy as a reasonable sell trigger. Expanding on this point further we were discussing ways of visualization simply to see up and down days in a given week, month, quarter, year, or multi-year period. The result was visualizing market movement on a simple weekly calendar.

In the below visualizations you can see the last year of market up and down days. Blue represents a day the market increased, orange the market decreased. The shade of the color indicates a more significant the gain or loss. You can see the last year of movement on a calendar by week for HRW, HRS, and SRW below:

While this may look cool, you may be wondering if there’s actual any practical value to extract from this kind of grain marketing visualization — and there definitely is. Markets can follow cyclical and seasonal patterns, especially commodities. Calendar charts like this are very useful to quickly identify these trends or exceptions to the trends over spans of time. This year is a good example where the normally-expected harvest downwards trend did not happen (in fact the opposite).

So what’s next? Can users expect to see this integrated into the Farmstack product? Possibly … in the immediate short term we’ll continue our work experimenting with calendar views to see what makes sense within our current and future expansion. There’s a strong case for more visual insights and visual story telling across our products, anything we can do to make grain marketing more understandable at a glance and ease the sell decision makes sense to test and iterate.

If you like calendar visualizations, want to see more like this, or have other grain marketing visual ideas we’d welcome the opportunity to hear from you. Subscribe to Farmstack today and see how we’re delivering essential grain marketing information that could help increase your bushel price and give you confidence in your decision making when you’re ready to sell your crop.
choose a side
By: Maruti Naik
Tags: Farmers, Farmers Protest, India, Resistance, Protest

Photo by Rupinder Singh on Unsplash

their formation a 3–2–2

laws triple

made by a duo

for you know who

in haste created

in deceit passed

instantly hailed

instructions once broadcast

his keyboard on payroll

went clackety clack

the sultan of 50 words

now just a hack

the bearded piper

then played a beat

that baab of balance

called it a treat

silently watching

the teeming mass

working ways to pay for

that expensive gas

a state

uncaring, unhearing

unfeeling, unheeding

the duo

unhinged, unrelenting

a tornado swirling

all reason sucked out

a sucker punch

in every round of every bout

thats how its been

these 7 years

imaginary enemies

orchestrated fears

when all else fails

out come the tears

seasons braved

heat, rain and that biting cold

600 gone and counting

no bells for them tolled

his kurta and turban

a bloodied set

painted by batons

with desire to wet

yet they stand

their heads so proud

unflinching, unafraid

resolute, unbowed

the sky has witnessed

the earth has seen

many a tyrant

like peacocks preen

their bluff when called

they flee the scene

the lines in sand drawn

the sides have been chosen

their batons seeking blood

our stout hearts of rosen

— — — — — — — — — -gather the resistance — — — — — — — — — —

P.S. the line “desire to wet” is something i read in Shelley’s poem “The Mask Of Anarchy”. (http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/PShelley/anarchy.html)

This line stayed with me for some reason; sprung up when i saw the photo of the farmer all beaten up. That was the starting point of this poem.
Interval Training on a Stationary Bike at Home
By: Anthony Karabon
Tags: Fitness Tips, Fitness

If you have recently made a New Year’s Resolution in 2020 to improve your fitness — congratulations!

Yes, it’s February, and a lot of us are already struggling to stick with our workout goals. Maybe you’ve hit a speed bump here and there too. Or maybe you’ve been going strong since January 1st and are ready for a new challenge.

Either way, here you are. You’ve heard about interval training as a great method for improving your health, so you want to know what it is and how to get started using your stationary cycle.

Here’s what you need to know.

Why is Interval Training Good for You?

Interval training on an exercise bike offers a ton of health and fitness benefits compared to training at a steady, even pace of lower intensity. Here are some of those benefits:

– Burns more calories

– Increases aerobic capacity

– More fat burned in less time

– keeps workouts interesting

– doesn’t require fancy equipment

What is Interval Training?

Interval training is a simple concept: you alternate short bursts of moderate or intense exercise with longer bursts of exercise at an easier pace. You can stop completely and rest if you absolutely need it, but the goal is to do the workout non-stop. If you find yourself struggling to keep pedaling during the “easy” intervals, then you might be pushing too hard.

These beginner workouts use low levels of speed and resistance. But you can pedal slower or use only the easiest resistance level (Level 1) if these are too hard. And of course, you can increase the speed and resistance once these workout settings become too easy for you.

The idea is to pick speeds and resistance levels that challenge you while still allowing you to complete your workouts without stopping.

Interval Training Example Workouts

Okay, are you ready to get started?

Here are three beginner interval training workouts you can do at home on your stationary bike. Start with the Easy 20-minute workout before jumping into the more challenging ones. After you’ve completed all of these workouts without stopping, you can then slightly increase the intensity for an additional challenge. But allow yourself to ease into it for the first month.

Level: Easy (20 minutes total)

Start with the easiest resistance level that your stationary cycle allows, typically “Level 1” out of 20 levels.

Warmup: pedal at 50 rpm for 5 minutes

Interval 1: pedal at 80 rpm for 30 seconds

Interval 2: pedal at 60 rpm for 2 minutes

Repeat intervals (5 times total)

Cool down: pedal at 50 rpm for 2–3 minutes

Level: Medium (25 minutes total)

Warmup: pedal at 50 rpm on Level 1 for 5 minutes

Interval 1: pedal at 60–70 rpm on Level 3 for 1 minute

Interval 2: pedal at 60–70 rpm on Level 1 for 2 minutes

Repeat intervals 5 times total

Cool down: pedal at 50 rpm on Level 1 for 5 minutes

Level: Difficult (30 minutes total)

Warmup: pedal at 50–60 rpm on Level 1 for 5 minutes

Interval 1: pedal at 90–100 rpm on Level 2 for 1 minute

Interval 2: pedal at 60–70 rpm on Level 1 for 3 minutes

Repeat intervals 5 times total

Cool down: pedal at 50 rpm on Level 1 for 5 minutes
Why does one’s body shake while doing Plank ?
By: Jameel Ahmed
Tags: Fitness Tips, Exercise At Home, Fitness, Plank, Planking

Image of a person doing Elbow Plank

Shaking of body while doing plank is very normal, especially when you begin to push past your comfort zone while trying to hold the plank as long as you can. There is nothing to be worried about it.

The main reason why this happens is fatigue. Plank is an isometric exercise causing the contraction of most major muscle groups, especially your core. Such Isometric exercises can cause a lot of fatigue, not just to your muscles, but also to your nervous system which results in shaking of your core while trying to hold a plank.Thus, shaking is essentially a sign of muscular and nervous system fatigue.

What to do about the shaking ? Well… when the body starts to shake, it is advised to hold the plank for just few seconds more and then take a break because at this stage, it will be next to impossible to hold the neutral core position required for an effective plank as your back and knees will start to bend, your hips will start to rise and you will start to lose your balance.

You can work your way to reduce the shaking and prolong the duration of the plank gradually, by doing it regularly and consistently working on to improve the strength, endurance, and coordination of your nervous system and muscular system.

To conclude, don’t become discouraged if you shake while planking. It is a sign that you are pushing yourself to the limits, which is presenting an opportunity towards progress. So, be smart about it and use plan for growth in your strength, endurance, and coordination of your core muscles.

Last but not the least…. we know that the benefits of Plank are numerous. But to achieve those, doing it properly is also very important. Check out a video below to know how you can do it the correct way & which are some beneficial variations of the plank exercise: