fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Advent of Code F# 2016 — Day 21. Day 21: Scrambled Letters and Hash
By: Yan Cui
Tags: Fsharp, Adventofcode, Programming

ps. look out for all my other solutions for Advent of Code challenges here.

Day 21

See details of the challenge here.

Today’s input looks like this:

swap position 2 with position 7

swap letter f with letter a

swap letter c with letter a

rotate based on position of letter g

rotate based on position of letter f

rotate based on position of letter b

swap position 3 with position 6

swap letter e with letter c

swap letter f with letter h …

First, let’s model the different instructions we’ll need to process with union types.

Then, we can use the same Regex active pattern we used in Day 10 to help us parse the input file into the Instruction type.

Now let’s add a few functions to do the actual scrambling:

Most of these are straight forward, but there is one thing I’d like to touch on as it might not be obvious — the first line of the reverse function : let n = n % input.Length.

Suppose the length of the input array is 4 (eg. [| ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’ |]) then shifting left or right by 5 spaces is the same as shifting by 1.

To solve part 1 we just need to apply the instructions we parsed earlier on our input.

let part1 = “abcdefgh”.ToCharArray() |> apply instructions

Part 2

You scrambled the password correctly, but you discover that you can’t actually

modify the password file on the system. You’ll need to un-scramble one of the

existing passwords by reversing the scrambling process. What is the un-scrambled version of the scrambled password fbgdceah?

On first thought, it seemed we could reverse the scrambling process by finding the inverse of each of the steps and apply the input in reverse order. For example, the inverse of Reverse, SwapPos and SwapLetter instructions are themselves; the inverse of Rotate(Left, 3) is Rotate(Right, 3) and vice versa; the inverse of Move(1, 3) is Move(3, 1).

But… how do we find the inverse of RotateBasedOn? We will need to know the exact no. of spaces to shift left, there’s no easy way to do it based on the character and the right-shifted result alone. You could, however, go at it from a different angle and try out all possible inputs that would have given us the output that we have — by shifting Left by 1 to input.Length no. of spaces.

That said, given the length of the password we need to unscramble, there are only 40320 permutations of the letters abcdefgh. A brute force approach is feasible and possibly easier in this case, and that’s the approach I decided to go with. For that, I need a function to return all permutations of the letters abcdefgh.

I found a nice implementation of such function on fssnip courtesy of Rick Minerich and to solve part 2 we just need to find the permutation that gives us the scrambled password “fbgdceah”.

(ps. if you’re interested in how the first approach would look, I decided to implement it as well just for fun)

Links
Episode 5: A beer, please!
By: Collin Müller
Tags: Distributed Ledgers, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Bitcoin

Episode 5: A beer, please!

Storing transactions in a distributed ledger

Our friends at The Blockchain Bar just introduced their own bar tokens. But how will they manage them?

Carol: “I don’t want to handle my tokens all the time for each drink. I’m used to paying when I leave the bar.”

Oscar has an idea: “Easy! Everyone remembers how many drinks they had. At the end, they give away the right amount of tokens.”

Bob is sceptical: “And what if someone ‘forgets’ a beer or two?”

Again, Alice has the solution: “We all keep a list of all drink orders. If you want a beer, you shout ‘one beer’ and everybody takes a note.”

When someone leaves the bar, our friends just have to count the number of beers since the last visit and collect the respective amount of tokens.

The best thing: You cannot game the system by “forgetting” drinks, because many others have the correct list and would find out.

Bitcoin works very similar: If someone wants to send money, they just inform other computers in the network about whom to send what amount, and the computers all record the transaction. These records are called “distributed ledger”.

But what happens if there is an error? How do they notice? Find out in the following episodes …

Or maybe you first want to learn some more about distributed ledgers on TheBlockchainBar.com.
Farm to Table
By: S. Snow
Tags: Poetry, Haiku, Work, Politics, Food

Haiku is a form of poetry usually inspired by nature, which embraces simplicity. We invite all poetry lovers to have a go at composing Haiku. Be warned. You could become addicted.

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¿Qué es el marketing digital?
By: Diez Agencia
Tags: Marketing Elemental, Marketing Digital

in In Fitness And In Health
20190206
Tags: Diary

in In Fitness And In Health
Final Countdown
By: Mike Johnson
Tags: Poetry, Poem, Death, Countdown, Life

I would walk until the end of time

If one simple promise could be made.

When the clock runs out,

In its final chime,

Echoes of my life shall resound.

My form will fail.

My mind will melt.

It is only my life

Which could be felt.

But if I walk to the edge

And find that time has lied

I don’t know what I could do.

Time does not slow

And surely it will not wait.

Should I stay or go?
信義房屋：5月後買房潮歇緩，台灣的買房和租屋市場又如何？
By: Tony Zeng
Tags: 生活, House, 買房, 租屋, 房屋

in In Fitness And In Health
Broken Egg
By: Jenny Justice
Tags: Poetry, Haiku, Life Lessons, Food, Grocery Shopping

Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. She has been recognized as a Top Writer on Medium in Poetry, Parenting, Reading, Education, Books, Racism, Feminism and Climate Change, so far.
Why The Crypto World Is Smiling At Goldman Sachs’ New CEO Appointment
By: Ric Ruben
Tags: Crypto, CEO, Goldman Sachs, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Following the retirement of Lloyd C. Blankfein and the appointment of new CEO David Solomon at the financial giant Goldman Sachs, a run in the crypto markets may be the next big step.

While outgoing chief Lloyd cannot be called a crypto critic, he has shown a certain disinterest. Despite saying that it would be “arrogant” of anyone to think that cryptocurrencies will fail, he also mentioned in the video that he would never say that cryptos are useless simply “because it is not comfortable with him or due to the fact that it is unfamiliar.”

To say that Lloyd’s opinion has affected the company’s approach on dealing with cryptocurrencies may not be entirely correct, but when he leaves the Goldman Sachs desk on 30th September, the company can finally come under the reins of a crypto lover and maybe have a significant impact on the markets.

A Beneficial Influence

David M. Solomon, incoming CEO, has shown over time that he is proactive and ever ready to deal with cryptocurrencies. In his current position as President, Solomon had told Bloomberg in June that,

“We (Goldman Sachs) are clearing some futures around bitcoin, talking about doing some other activities there, but it’s going very cautiously. We’re listening to our clients and trying to help our clients as they’re exploring those things too.”

When he assumes office on 1st October, Mr. Solomon would have the chance to enjoy a more steady Goldman Sachs ship than what the outgoing chief Blankfein did. Experts believe he would have the passion and drive to bring the company, a top leading global investment corporation to the crypto markets.

How this could affect bitcoin and crypto prices is a question that only time would answer, but right now only one thing is sure, the odds of Goldman Sachs bringing institutional money to the markets has been slashed.

Looking further into the future, other multinational corporations such as Blackrock who have declared interests in the crypto and blockchain space could become big players with Goldman Sachs leading the pack. According to a recent report, Blackrock has set up a team of researchers to investigate how the company can benefit from the fast-growing crypto market. These are positive signs that there are happy times ahead for everyone, and the crypto space is only getting bigger.
I Will Always Treasure Her Smile
By: John Diamond
Tags: Poetry, Smile, Loss, Literally Literary, Illness

I Will Always Treasure Her Smile

To a dangerously ill

young Chinese woman.

I said “Li Bai”

— and you smiled.

You said “Mozart”

— and smiled again.

Through your smile

I saw your Soul.

That’s my best memory of Bangkok.

Thank you.

I will treasure your smile for my life.

This, translated, I gave to her.

And, through her pain,

she smiled and smiled.

“Hsieh-hsieh.”
Only A While
By: Ravyne Hawke
Tags: Poetry, Home, Prompt, Spirituality, Tanka

Haiku is a form of poetry usually inspired by nature, which embraces simplicity. We invite all poetry lovers to have a go at composing Haiku. Be warned. You could become addicted.

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Quiz: Frosty The Snowman Or My Uncle Steve?
By: Adam Dietz
Tags: Humor, Comedy, Satire, Christmas, Holidays

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By Slackjaw

Yapjaw is Medium's #1 newsletter for all things humor, and we're sorry to say you'll only receive it a few times a month. Take a look
22 Life Lessons I Would Teach Myself If I Were 18 Again
By: Roxana Anton
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Self, Advice, Life

22 Life Lessons I Would Teach Myself If I Were 18 Again

#3 — Don’t believe the weird, unrealistic images that your mind creates about reality.
Enjoying Every Ounce of Blessing My Way
By: Gurpreet Dhariwal
Tags: Loving Myself, Blessings, Weeds And Wildflowers, Blessing Of God, Count Your Blessings

The Story of 23rd December

I finished off reading Shattered Dreams by Penny-Fields Schneider and sharing a glimpse of the short review I have written on it.

Picture by Author

What a wonderful story and what an extremely tragic end.

Jack gained the trust of his parents by moving from Spain back to Australia and as time passed on he got a new job. His interest in Art never died and Sofia helped him in finding the best Art Gallery to pursue his passion for art alongside a full-time job.

They were blessed with a sweet kid who they named “Scotty” but Scotty had to go. He passed away when the fire broke out in the house and Jack forgot the presence of his son in his cabin. Sofia wasn’t home and on her return misery struck her like a long-lost friend.

Sofie is gone at the end and Jack has started his search for her.

I am waiting for the third part like anything. I wish I have had it in my Kindle right away.
Top of the muffin to you!
By: Judy Bruce
Tags: UX Design, Experience, Content Strategy, Content Design, UX

Top of the muffin to you!

How a Seinfeld bakery serves as a cautionary tale for experience design

In the late nineties, an insight came to light: people only wanted muffin tops.

Elaine tells Mr. Lippmann, “It’s where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does its own thing.”

So a business set out to meet this need — and million-dollar idea — by popping the tops off of the muffins to sell.

“Pop the top, toss the stump.” Elaine explains.

They did it this way, because that’s how they were used to making the muffins: same recipes, same muffin pans, and same processes.

As a result, the business accumulated a massive amount of stumps that nobody wanted, even for free.

“Keep your damn stumps!” says Rebecca De Mornay from the homeless shelter.

This situation forced the business to spend extra money and time on resources to clean up all the stumps.

Newman, “The Cleaner,” fixes the stump situation with cartons of milk.

In the words of Newman, “If I’m curt, then I apologize.”

But this is what happens if you don’t start with a strategy — and a content strategy when designing experiences.

Let me explain what I mean with this handy glossary.

In this tale, muffin tops represent the content that people need, pans are the structure, recipes are the guidelines, processes are the governance, and Newman and milk are the cleaners — the resources that fix the problem, which is what content design so often does in a broken system.

Let’s do it right from the beginning. So we can not only optimize impact for the people we design for and the businesses we create opportunities for, but also make the best muffin tops on the planet!

The best muffin tops on the planet!

Learn more about content design and the value it brings by reading The World of Content Design According to Me.
The Pittsburgh Shooting Was an Attack on a Minority, not a Sign of ‘Anti-Religiosity’
By: Aclu National
Tags: Religion, Speak Freely, Religious Freedom, Pittsburgh, Shooting

The Pittsburgh Shooting Was an Attack on a Minority, not a Sign of ‘Anti-Religiosity’

The Trump administration sought to reframe the anti-Semitic tragedy in Pittsburgh to bolster the administration’s policy goals.

By Aleksandr Sverdlik, Legal Fellow, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief

OCTOBER 31, 2018 | 12:45 PM

This past weekend’s mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh was unspeakable, but unfortunately not unimaginable. Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States by some counts increased by 57 percent last year, the largest surge in nearly four decades of tracking. The FBI’s most recent reports show that the number of overall hate crimes increased for a second straight year — the first time that has happened in a decade. During this period, hate crimes targeting Muslims doubled.

Yet, when asked for comment, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway sought to reframe the anti-Semitic tragedy to bolster the administration’s policy goals, claiming that the attack, along with one in a South Carolina church three years earlier, could be attributed to a broader pattern of “anti-religiosity in this country.”

Let’s be clear: This was not an attack on religiosity writ large. This was an attack on a specific religious minority. Innocent individuals were gunned down not merely because they were people of faith. In Pittsburgh, they were gunned down because they were Jewish; in Charleston, because they were black.

By now, it comes as no surprise that the Trump administration’s view of religious liberty is a narrow one. After all, blocking travel by individuals from Muslim-majority countries isn’t religious freedom — it’s religious intolerance. Allowing businesses to use their religious beliefs to deny their employees birth control coverage isn’t religious liberty — it’s discrimination. Preferencing the religious beliefs of hospitals and other health care providers over the health and well-being of patients, including LGBT individuals, women, and people of color, isn’t religious liberty — it too is discrimination. The list goes on and on.

Hatred across faiths poses a threat to our democracy and our ideals, as does an administration that fuels xenophobia and animosity. But we cannot lose sight of the core American values of religious pluralism, equality, and inclusion.

As we grieve the lives so cruelly cut short in Pittsburgh, we need to reject the administration’s attempts to undermine true religious freedom. We also need to hold it accountable when it tries to use religion as a license to discriminate and harm others.
A Day by the Sea
By: Mark Seery
Tags: Sea, Poetry, Photography, Monterey, Life

With an open mind, endless sights to see.

What did I see,

walking by the sea?

Sail boats,

earth’s natural energy,

filling majestic sails,

gliding across,

deep blue waters,

adventures begin.

Buoys,

holding their place,

rain or shine,

well-placed markers,

red and geen,

navigation linchpins.

Kayakers,

paddling with ease,

making their way,

anywhere they please,

freedom seized,

faces with grins.

Gulls,

everywhere to be seen,

some by themselves,

others meeting on roofs of tin,

observing life from the ground,

or gliding frictionlessly,

above all of earth’s sins.

Otters,

cracking mussels and clams,

lying on their backs posing,

the ocean’s leading hams,

eat and dive,

snacking on urchins.

Seals,

bellowing under the pier,

bellowing on the rocks not near,

soaking up afternoon sun,

all looking well-fed,

most with double chins.

Jellyfish,

spineless and carefree,

a little like me,

poetic in their natural habitat,

out of water flat and lifeless,

aquatic has-beens.

Seaweed,

beach and sea,

the ocean’s vegetable,

a delightful snack,

or an entire meal;

nutrient-dense within.

Fisher-men,

a women too,

tying knots,

casting lines,

sitting in meditation,

waiting for dinner.

People,

disembarking a boat,

back from a tour,

to spot animals,

not close to the shore,

looking like they need a shot of gin.

Statue,

remembering the workers,

that made this bay great,

hauling in the catch of the sea,

thin muscular and lean,

leather for skin.

Candy,

buckets full,

sea taffy of course,

English toffee,

ice cream and chocolate turtles,

sweet to have after fish ’n chips.

Guitar,

strummed by a man,

singing for supper,

his music today,

not much in demand,

even though his song anything but sin.

Homeless,

men sit by the merchant stalls,

telling tales of how they are old and ugly,

not better for divorce,

needing a beer,

alcoholism their thing.

Sourdough,

lunch bread and bowls,

this is “The Bay”,

clam chowder within,

tasty as any food can be,

but not sure it would keep me thin.

Sun,

drenched me from head to toe,

a full day it has been,

time to go,

relaxed and restored,

today be a win.
The most controversial way to create a STABLE TOKEN
By: Cp Processor Team
Tags: Bitcoin, Erc20, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Eth

BURN VALUE

How does money get value? Given that the notion of money is related exclusively to people and human-centered system, human psychology and belief play a major role in this. That is why there are two quite simple options in circulation, GUARANTEE and CONSENSUS.

So a Guarantee (or a collateral that has its own guarantee) can make money and give him a value out of nothing. Implicitly one value goes to another, and so the object that guarantees transfer his value to the subject-money. Burn value theory, in fact, guarantees that a certain “object value” is spent on creating another “subject value”, but in an explicit manner. This literally means that the value is never lost as the Energy, and that the change of the “aggregate state” shifts from one form to another and allows the creation of the value of new money from the old.

Burn one value and mint another in the same proportion is the basis of the Burn value theory that can serve to create new forms of money or crypto coins.

A possible symbolism that is clearer to the crypt community would look like this:

The PoW network has operating costs for mains, which are expressed in fixed costs (hardware price) and variable costs (electricity price) The cost price of the newly minted crypto coins is therefore equal to the fixed + variable cost of miners. The value of the newly created crypto coin should therefore be greater or equal to the cost price, otherwise the costs would be higher than the revenue and the mining would be extinguished. So we arrive to the knowledge, where the basic value of the new created crypto coin arises? It comes from the burned value of electricity (consumed and invested)+ hardware price.

Dear readers, hope you enjoyed this article. Follow CP_Processor for more exciting stories :)

Join us, support this idea and project and be an active participant in creating your own future. Together, we can change the world!

In Blockchain We Trust!
The Only New Year’s Resolution Worth Making
By: Kathleen Smith
Tags: Self Improvement, Relationships, New Year, Friendship, New Year Resolution

The Only New Year’s Resolution Worth Making

A therapist’s advice on how to strengthen a relationship

Photo: Maskot/Getty Images

Worrying about relationships is a common topic of conversation with my therapy clients at the end of any year, as people take stock of what’s working in their lives and what isn’t — but this year, those conversations feel especially urgent. Friend networks are crumbling without the cement of regular gatherings and adventures. Long Zoom calls with family have turned into terse check-ins about the weather and Covid stats. Spouses, now stuck inside together for months on end, are finding they retreat to opposite ends of the house at the end of a stressful day.

But how do you even begin to tackle that goal when you’re still stuck at home with all the same pandemic stressors? When the thought of having a phone conversation or sending a long email feels exhausting?

Often, we fail at reconnecting with important friends and family because our goals are too ambitious. People focus on getting the entire family on a video call or getting a large friend group together for an outing. When you spend all your energy herding people, you might find that you have little energy left to connect authentically. You also might find that group conversations are largely superficial and unsatisfying.

This is why I encourage my therapy clients to think small: What are a few weaker one-on-one relationships with family or friends that you’d like to strengthen?

Signs of a weak one-on-one relationship include:

Requiring gossip to carry a conversation

Struggling to talk honestly about your challenges, and beliefs

Worrying about being boring or annoying each other

People in a strong, one-to-one relationship, on the other hand:

Don’t need to rely on superficial chatter to carry a conversation

Don’t need a third person to lighten the tension

Share their passions, struggles, and opinions openly

Maybe most importantly, people in solid relationships don’t feel responsible for entertaining each other. The quickest way to strengthen a relationship, then, is to stop putting pressure on yourself to be an interesting human. When both people feel like they might be boring the other person, conversations tend to become shorter and more superficial. Your simple job is to show up and be honest about your life — to connect, not amuse.

So consider starting 2021 with this resolution: You’ll be honest about what excites you with the people you love. You’ll share your goals and your challenges, and then make space for others to do the same. This is how relationships stay open, honest, and equal, and how they weather another unpredictable year.
Weekly Stock Spotlight
By: Ibillionaire Capital
Tags: Investing, Netflix, Finance, Money

Historical performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections may not reflect actual future performance. All securities involve risk and may result in loss. Not endorsed by, affiliated with, sponsored by, or fully reflective of the “billionaires” or their companies. The information contained on and used by our site and in our apps includes the names, brief biographical information, and references the companies of certain persons whom iBillionaire has identified from publicly available information as high net worth and financially sophisticated personal investors, most of whom are public figures. iBillionaire does not communicate with and is not supported or endorsed by or affiliated or associated with any of these individuals or their companies. To the extent these individuals use their names or the names of their companies as trademarks, such trademarks belong to their respective holders, and iBillionaire’s use of the same does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. Information about the investments of the listed billionaires is limited to that which is publicly available in regulatory filings and may not provide a complete picture of each of their personal investment strategies. Daily and annual performance rates for the billionaires are calculated based on this limited information and will not accurately reflect each billionaire’s personal investment return. In addition, certain information is gleaned from filings made by companies substantially owned or controlled by one of the billionaires, which we have attributed to the billionaire personally.
Weekly Pentina Prompt: Dialogue Only
By: J.A. Taylor
Tags: Writing Prompts, 50 Word Stories, Dialogue, Pubprompt, Prompt

Weekly Pentina Prompt: Dialogue Only

Write a 50-word story using only dialogue

Photo by Dima Pechurin on Unsplash

New to fiction? Consider this your chance to participate in a short dialogue-only challenge.

Dialogue is critical to story. If no one talks, the narrative naturally devolves into telling, and the reader falls asleep. Dialogue puts us in the conversation, thrusting us into the emotion of the characters.

“Are you certain, Jim?”

“I couldn’t be more certain of anything in life.”

“Anything?”

“Excluding death and taxes, of course.”

Even though dialogue works best with subtext, your prompt this week doesn’t give you that opportunity. For this Pentina prompt, you must write 50 words that are ONLY dialogue.

If you are new to writing dialogue, here are a few tips:

All text and punctuation go inside the quotation marks.

Each time the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph.

You can include names in the dialogue, but put it at a place that feels natural. Don’t just drop names to identify the speakers. Instead, add a unique persona to each character by using slang or peculiar phrases.

For this challenge, I suggest you have only two people speaking (because one person speaking isn’t dialogue, it’s monologue). And since each of these 50 words must be only dialogue, no tags or subtext is allowed. You can’t use “he said” or “she said” or show any actions outside of what is being said. This means using more than two characters would likely confuse the reader. You can, however, get creative and show actions within the dialogue:

“What did you just write on that damned notepad?”

“Sit back down! Or did you already forget you’re the one who stormed into my office, red-faced and huffing, demanding I take notes?”

What would a Pentina composed of only dialogue look like? I’m not sure, but it means you better make your characters’ voices distinct:

“Distinct? How?”

“You compose in unique, easily recognizable voices.”

“Voices?”

“The tenor, the tone. Smooth words flowing like clear water over river rock.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“That’s very unrefined of you.”

“My poppa worked at a refinery.”

“I can see this is not going to work.”

Now go have fun with this dialogue-only challenge. We can’t wait to read your conversations!
A Provably Fair Contest
By: Steve Sofocleous
Tags: Contests, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

No purchase is required to participate in the contest.

Beaxy, a U.S. based exchange, and Dragonchain, a U.S. based blockchain company, have collaborated to establish crypto’s first Provably Fair Contest.

The Dragonchain platform features on-chain proof of fairness, enabling the contest’s results and processes to be audited, publicly reviewed, and confirmed. The system combines future hashes of a predefined block height on all current Dragonchain Interchains (i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, and Binance Chain) providing provable randomness to the selection. It is not possible to know the hash of a block height for a single blockchain, much less all four combined prior to the block being created, thus making it impossible to profitably cheat the system.

Participants will be eligible to enter the contest starting on June 6th. One winner will be announced every Wednesday until the contest’s final drawing on July 8th, 2020.

With 97,434 DRGN tokens up for grabs, the Provably Fair Contest will payout nearly $10,000 worth of rewards. To enter the contest, simply register an account on Beaxy. You can earn an additional entry credit by holding at least 1,000 DRGN in your Beaxy account for the duration of the contest.

With a focus on the 4th of July, this contest offers a grand prize that is thematic of America’s inception. The thirteen original colonies claimed their independence from England on July 4th, 1776. This year’s celebration marks 89,119 days from the declaration. Therefore, on the Wednesday following the 4th of July, 2020, one lucky winner will receive 89,119 DRGN tokens!

Full payment schedule:

June 6th— The contest begins and participants can gain eligibility.

June 17th— One winner will receive 1,425 DRGN.

June 24th— One winner will receive 2,744 DRGN.

July 1st— One winner will receive 4,146 DRGN.

July 8th— One winner will receive the grand prize of 89,119 DRGN!

*There is no purchase necessary to participate in the contest. One entry credit will be given to anyone who registers an account with Beaxy during the contest. An additional entry credit is applied to accounts holding at least 1,000 DRGN for the duration of the contest.

Participation eligibility:

Participants must be 18 years or older and compliant with local laws and regulations.

Participants must have registered an account with Beaxy during the contest to gain eligibility. An additional entry credit is given to accounts that hold at least 1,000 DRGN on Beaxy throughout the duration of the contest. DRGN tokens can be purchased on Beaxy here.

Participants must not reside in a country listed on the US Dept of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control Consolidated Sanctions List. https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/consolidated.aspx

Dragonchain and Beaxy Exchange employees and contractors, as well as immediate family, are not eligible to participate.

For additional information on privacy, disputes, limitations of liability, general conditions and releases see the Dragonchain Terms of Service at https://dragonchain.com/terms/
B21 Invest
Tags: Cryptocurrency News, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have captured the attention of investors worldwide, not only because of the ingenious technology that lies underneath and the ability to challenge the status quo of many industries including banks but also because of the massive returns these have offered over a period of time. In 2019 itself, an investment of $1000 in Bitcoin would have risen to $1910 by the end of the year, an absolute ROI of 91%. Because of this, crypto assets have been termed “the best performing asset class of 2019”.

Our journey for B21 began with a simple yet challenging mindset-

‘To bring digital asset investing mainstream so everyone can participate in potential returns without worrying about the complicated technology associated with digital and crypto assets.’

After hustling for two years setting up the legal and regulatory framework, acquiring licenses and developing the cool tech that is the heart of our product, we are now proud to bring you B21 Invest — a mobile application where any user can create and manage a multi-asset portfolio at their fingertips.

“No Complexities involved, Simple interface to create and manage your digital assets portfolio!”

With the B21 app, you can easily invest using your payment cards, Domestic and International wire transfers and ACH.

B21 offers full custodianship of your digital assets, you are not exposed to CFD like our competitors, we buy and hold your actual assets. You can withdraw your cash value to your bank account at any time.

We are currently offering B21 Invest live in 65 countries including the US and we support 5 languages with more coming soon!

You can download ‘B21 Invest’ now in Google Play and App Store.

Stay Safe. Stay Healthy. Wash Hands.

Happy Investing!

Team B21

B21 and Digital Software Solutions
Healthy AND Tasty Pancakes?
By: Mitra Hooshmand
Tags: Fruits, Oats, Breakfast, Healthy Recipes, Recipe

Fact: Breakfast is perhaps the most important meal of the day (future ScientiFIT articles will provide evidence in support of this claim)

Need ideas for healthy breakfast options? Try this recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of steel-cut oats

1 scoop of protein powder (your choice of flavor)

Egg whites from 2 large eggs

1–2 tablespoons of skim milk

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

Procedure:
Once Upon a Dream
By: Esther Spurrill-Jones
Tags: Flash Fiction, Magic, LGBTQ, Fairy Tale, Fiction

“white castle with fireworks” by Park Troopers on Unsplash

I know you.

For as long as she could remember, Aurora had known Mariah. Aurora was ten years of age before she learned that no one else knew Mariah. Her parents, the king and queen, smiled indulgently, and the servants played along. “Imaginary friend” was what they said. But Mariah didn’t feel imaginary to Aurora.

I walked with you once upon a dream.

Every night in her dreams, Aurora saw Mariah. No one was more real to Aurora than was Mariah. When Aurora held her hand, Mariah’s smile said that she felt the same. Every day, Aurora looked forward to bedtime, to when sleep would take her across the distance and spaces between them, like a portal to another world.

I know you.

On her sixteenth birthday, Aurora was cursed. She fell into a dreamless sleep, a sleep where Mariah could not reach her, a sleep from which her parents could not wake her. The king and queen tried everything, calling in specialists in medicine, magic, and alchemy. Nothing helped.

That look in your eyes is such a familiar gleam.

Then one day, a young woman appeared at the castle walls. Clad in leather armour, atop a giant warhorse, she introduced herself with but one name: Mariah. Immediately, the gates were opened, and the king and queen came down to escort her to Aurora’s side.

I know it’s true that visions are seldom all they seem.

Falling to her knees beside the bed, Mariah lifted Aurora’s limp hand and pressed it to her trembling lips. And, for the first time in what seemed an age, Aurora’s eyes opened.

But, if I know you, I know what you’ll do.

For Aurora, it was like waking into a dream. A dream that now would never end. Mariah had opened the door and no one and nothing would ever separate them again. “You’re here.”

You’ll love me at once the way you did once upon a dream.

*

This piece is part of the flash fiction challenge of the LGBTQ Fiction Project, hosted on Crossin(G)enres. This week’s theme is “Fairy Tales.”
The Git Way for a Node.js App to Get a Solidity Contract Balance
By: Jordi Bassagañas
Tags: Tutorial, Dapps, Solidity, Programming, Ethereum

The Git Way for a Node.js App to Get a Solidity Contract Balance Jordi Bassagañas Follow Nov 7 · 2 min read

Here we go one more time with another brief how-to guide on Ethereum smart contracts with Solidity.

In the previous post entitled The Git Way for a Smart Contract to Receive Ether we looked at how to write a contract that would receive ether, and today we’re just querying its balance through a Node.js app.

Once again, let’s do it step by step the Git way!

Please sit back and make yourself comfortable, go take a cup of tea on this occasion and browse the commit log at programarivm/solidity-contract-balance.

Here’s the commit log for you to do the exact same thing I did, step by step:

And this is the code of app.js showing how to interact with our contract — remember, an ether receiver — and get its balance through a Node.js app:

The code is quite self-explanatory, isn’t it?

Well, as you can see also for learning purposes the greeting() function of the contract is called too, just because we want to get displayed a friendly message making sure everything works as expected.

Possibly a thing worth mentioning this time, is that the built version of the Solidity contract has been copied and pasted into solidity-contract-balance/contracts/EtherReceiver.json .

The contract’s ABI in JSON format is required in order to interact with the contract.

The Contract Application Binary Interface (ABI) is the standard way to interact with contracts in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Finally, a web3 object needs to be created as well in order to communicate with an Ethereum node through Infura.

With those two objects ready to be interacted with, getting the balance should be a piece of cake.

So, how easy it is? Are you enjoying the Git way of learning by doing? Did you come across any issues? Let me know in the comments!

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The Mediocrely Dark Tree Near Kent, OR
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Tags: T13, Oregon, USA

This shot really made me mad — Photomatix has been letting me down lately as I’ll edit the photo how I want it, and when the process comes in, the shot is very dark. I’ve tried to compensate by brightening the photo before I process it, but I’m just not as happy with the program lately — another sign I spend too much time trying to perfect it. So it is…
Donuts cumple 50 años. Conoce su historia
By: Isabel Herrera
Tags: Donuts, Reportajes

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Ethlus.io — Ripple 500 (XRP) Finished Winner: nyncer.
By: Ethlus Winning Machine
Tags: Binance, Blockchain, Altcoins, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum

First off all — Congratulations from Ethlus team

https://ethlus.io/auctions/97/ — Finished auction

Ripple (XRP) Finished

Winner: nyncer

0 ETH 0.58000 ETH

23.91%

Value: 500 XRP (~149.55$)

Goal: 0.58 ETH (~148.57$)

Collected: 0.13868 / 23.91% ETH (~35.52$)

Details

ID: 97

CURRENCY: Ripple (XRP)

Value: 500 XRP

Participants: 6

End date: 2018.09.04

Auction type: Normal (?)

Winner choose mode: Bid dependent (?)

A Normal draw is held anyway when the specified period is over.

What are the draw types?

Safety draw

Normal draw

At the moment we offer 2 draw types:

A Safety draw is absolutely secure. When you choose this type of draw, you set a draw period and should pay us a certain commission fee for the draw amount. However, if the draw is unsuccessful (i.e. the required amount is not collected during the specified period) you get back your cryptocurrency except the commission fee. Other participants also get back all the ETH spent on the draw.

A Normal draw is held anyway when the specified period is over.
Reason Number One
By: Guy New York
Tags: Erotica, Open Marriage, New York City, Fiction, Short Story

Reason Number One

Or meditations on mindful and reckless sex

I took three deep breaths and noticed my mindstate: bits of desire mixed in with aversion and some slight hint of doubt. I focused on my breath, found a sense of ease, and expanded it through my body. I knocked back my shot of whiskey before I walked across the bar to the pool table and dropped the best pickup line in the history of the world.

Later, as we sat drinking at the bar I came back to my breath over and over again. I listened and spoke from the heart, and she said yes when I finally invited her home. Before we walked out she clarified that she was up for anything but penetration sex, and I noticed desire float across my mind like a circling gull.

When I poured us drinks back at my apartment, I realized I was feeling anxious about my alcohol consumption. I noticed it and handed her a drink anyway. We kissed on the couch and she reminded me again of her rule. When I slid a hand inside her jeans and pushed two fingers into her I was less mindful of my thoughts. She was soft and wet and I noticed memories of someone familiar arise and drift by as I kissed her while listening for the directions that came from each whisper and sigh.

We were both cautious as we undressed each other and I never forgot her boundaries as much as I fetishized them. When I finally felt her naked skin against mine I came back to my breath and found it faster, shorter, and harder to follow. I slid a knee between her thighs and she wrapped fingers around me as we kissed slowly and I couldn’t focus on anything more than the delightful taste of her lips and tongue.

When I got up to refill our drinks I noticed my mind wanted to talk her out of her rule and I tried to let it go. She was touching herself on my couch when I returned and I put the drinks down and watched. One hand had fingers inside her while she circled her clit with the other. I took myself in hand as I stood between her thighs and we looked into each others eyes as our hands moved faster.

“Come on me,” she said as her own climax built towards release. I felt a burst of fear arise when she spoke, and I tried to breathe through it and let it happen without worry. I focused on her eyes and chin. I focused on a nipple, pierced by one silver ring, and I watched her fingers do what only they could until I nearly lost my balance. When she started to cry out and shake violently on the couch I leaned in closer and kissed her. My hand moved faster as I balanced myself on her shoulder until finally I came as well. She kept trembling as she watched me and I didn’t notice a single breath.

I lay down next to her as our shivers subsided and she wrapped her sticky body around mine. We kissed again and I noticed the desire didn’t go with my release.

“How come the rule?” I finally asked her.

“Lots of reasons,” she answered. “Do you still want to fuck me? Do you want to be inside me now, even after you’ve just come?”

“More than anything,” I told her.

“That’s reason number one,” she said.
What a Stray Cat Taught Me About Resiliency
By: Rebecca Murauskas
Tags: Pets, Relationships, Love, Family, Life

The last thing I was looking for while living in cramped corporate housing with rented furniture was another pet.

I got home one evening, and my husband said, “I found a cat. I think it’s living in the bushes.”

A few days later, I walked downstairs and spotted a tortoiseshell fur ball sunning on the sidewalk. As soon as the stairwell door closed, it popped up and ran toward me.

It wasn’t a kitten, but undoubtedly young. As it looped around my legs, I saw she was a girl.

Her coloring was fascinating. While her body is a traditional tortie smattering of black and golden browns, her face includes classic brindle tiger stripes.

The most noticeable feature was her weight. She was gauntly thin with a long stick-like tail. She was emaciated but beautiful.

As I sat petting her, I saw that someone had left her food. Under a bush lay a slice of meatloaf, ketchup topping still intact, and a scoop of macaroni and cheese.

This is silly, I thought. I have cat food upstairs.

She was hungry and quite friendly, rubbing her face on any part of my body within reach. That was all it took. I started feeding and spending time with her before and after work.

She purred when she ate and intermittently took breaks between bites for chin scratches. I wasn’t sure if she was starving for food or love.

We already had a two-year-old brother and sister kitty combo, and I wasn’t looking to add to the brood. This sweet girl had other plans in mind.

Fittingly, I named her Molasses.
An Anniversary Wish to My Wife
By: Dan Mccarthy
Tags: Serendipity, Remembering, Love, Desire, Water

The woods ran up to the edge of the pond and every Spring the snow melt would reveal old trees that had crashed to the ground in the Winter freeze. We would pick our way around the sodden husks, pull rotten rotten branches loose and talk about which trunks would dry out firm and hard in the summer heat. Those were the ones we would use to make a raft.

I was fascinated by rafts. When I read Huck Finn, I studied the drypoint etchings to divine how the logs had been lashed together so firmly that it held together as it spun down the Mississippi. I saved the pictures of aboriginal rafts in National Geographic. I practiced slip knots and bowlines on old rope in our barn, hanging from the end of the mismatched strand to see if the knots could hold my weight.

We wanted to make a raft so we could go out to the little island in the middle of Robin’s Pond. We were afraid to walk out to it in the winter. The grown-ups told us stories about people who had fallen through the ice and died.

In the summer, we would pull logs to the edge of the pond and lash them together. Sometimes the raft was too heavy to move. Other times, the logs came apart as we dragged the raft down the shore. One time we got the raft in the water and it sank like a dead weight.

As so often happens to our childish dreams, my romance with rafts drifted into the land of metaphor. The raft became an image for life, the platform that we make our stand on against the roiling waves, the beating sun, the dark, dark ocean night. Life is being alone on the raft, bobbing up and down, drawing strength from what we witness.

These metaphors that worm their way into our lives are insidious and intransigent. They become a way of thinking that is too familiar and too little questioned.

When I reached the middle of my life, I’d been riding on that raft all alone with an ignorant certitude that there was no space for anyone else.

I never thought back to those images that had fascinated me. The image of Huck and Jim. The image of the brown-skinned men standing tall over their women and children. The image of two little children floating under the watchful eyes of Winkin, Blinkin and Nod.

Then Tami came into my life and nudged my hip bone with hers. “Move over,” she said. She sat down and looked up at the sky. “I’m riding with you.”

One imagination can make enough space to contain itself, can hold together a little raft that gets tossed along with the flotsam of Life’s big storm.

Two imaginations can make a world.

Ever since she put her shoulder to mine, settled herself by my side, I’ve watched that raft magically expand to calm the waters, to lengthen the horizon, to bring the world closer, to smooth out the dark clouds, to soften the sun.

We’re still sitting in the same place, but everything around us has changed.

Thanks for coming to sit on my raft with me, baby.

Happy Anniversary.
How to Stay Happy When the News is so Hateful
By: Danika Bloom
Tags: Ideas, This Happened To Me, Culture, Media, Advice

Dave, my husband, works for the federal government in a litigation management role. His day starts by reading the news. And although he doesn’t need to read about politics and events outside of our country, being informed is part of his nature. Sharing what he reads with me used to be part of his morning routine, too.

But as much as I love having a spouse who’s well-read and cares about what’s going on in the world, his media diet was killing my spirit and joie-de-vivre. It was Trump’s election that forced me to impose a media ban on what Dave is allowed to share with me.

Given how many people suffer from the overwhelm of consuming a daily diet based on upsetting news, I thought my media diet menu might be helpful to others who are trying to feel a little happier in this crazy-ass world.

What news is okay to share?

On the surface, it’s pretty easy to figure this out: stop consuming news that upsets you.

But this is a blunt tool since avoiding all the news that’s upsetting means also missing the news that you actually have some power to influence—if only a tiny bit—like the one or two or ten starfish on a beach you can throw back and save.

My approach to a healthy media diet
The Lie of the Tortured Artist
By: Taylor Foreman
Tags: Artist, Love, Life, Fear, Philosophy

The Lie of the Tortured Artist

Do you Believe you Must Suffer to be Good?

Photo by Radu Florin on Unsplash

You’re your own problem.

The people who make the biggest impact in their own lives and the lives of the people they love are the ones who stubbornly believe that the world is good, no matter who tries to convince them otherwise.

And we all know, there is a lot of people trying to convince us otherwise.

Do you let fear, outrage, and despair weigh on your day?

I can’t help myself. I check the news in an almost sadistic cycle of making sure I feel properly bad.

Do you justify your behavior as just being “informed?”

The world is on fire, or flooding, or violent, or bigoted. What, am I just going to bury my head in the sand?

Do you romanticize your own past suffering?

If all that suffering doesn’t make me a good artist, then what was it all for?

Instead of justifying our right to feel bad, let’s justify to ourselves our right to feel good. Here’s how:
客製化禮物推薦！IPhone情侶手機殼，超適合當做生日禮物的！
By: Tony Zeng
Tags: 感情, 手機殼, iPhone, 情侶, 禮物

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基礎知識-稅與手續費
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