fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Rapture of the Deep by Dustin Pickering
By: Beautiful Losers
Tags: Poetry, Poems

His last gesture was to extend his arms out,

a Christ hopeless to the wreck and fall of his body.

He wished to show his last sign of hope,

the deepening thrust of the waters took him undertow.



Some of us wait patiently for death.

The sea will thicken your destined light

and your eyes will shadow the dark hallway of listless sympathies.



A mind carrying on its own deluge

like a lost child, or a favorite son of the shepherd.

The shipyard did not expect a breathless kiss

of the last wing.



He sinks deep, deeper than the wood

where his garden grew.

Small cottage and a simple life,

now forgotten and fearful.

He doesn’t want to remember,

in this light the memories are too sharp.

He cannot whisper; his lucid death

is only a dream.

Only a dream, his lucid death,

and we carry on in the quiet of our lives.

Dustin Pickering is founder of Transcendent Zero Press, a literary publisher responsible for the award-nominated quarterly Harbinger Asylum. He is published in several publications, online and in print. He was staff reviewer at Yellow Chair Review for a year, and hosts two separate readings in Houston, Texas. In his spare time he is a visual artist, a semi-musician, a thinker, and a reader of what he considers the world’s best literature and philosophy. He is an admirer of Leonard Cohen whose recent death brings him sorrow and hope simultaneously because when great men die, others are born in their wake.
The Limits of Health Data Aggregation
By: Katie Mccurdy
Tags: Healthcare, Health Technology, Patient Experience, Data Science, Healthcare Technology

1. Medical records have rampant errors.

An estimated 70 percent of medical records have errors. These may be egregious, like Abby Norman’s record incorrectly stating she has 8 sisters (she has none), or they might be small, like a name misspelling.

My own medical record has a ‘problem’ (diagnosis) that is no longer active, and honestly it’s an embarrassing thing that I’d like to have archived off of my active problem list. Every time I go to the doctor and have an ‘after-visit summary’ printed, it shows this private issue on it. I’ve tried to get it updated a few times, and I haven’t had any luck. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for patients like me to have difficulty fixing medical record mistakes.

Sometimes our medical records misrepresent us because of their inherent limitations, rather than outright errors. I recently worked with a woman who accessed her medical records from a large California hospital system. She gave me a complete list of all of her conditions, medications, allergies, etc; her medication list in particular had over 50 items on it, many of which she did not recognize or was sure she never actually took. Our medical records are good at showing when a medication was prescribed, but bad at indicating whether we took the medication or for what duration of time. In order to put together an accurate picture, we had to groom through her data manually and determine which medications she took, and fix the dates associated with them.

So, while our medical records are important repositories of our history, they’re often filled with medications we never took, diagnoses entered by accident, and conditions we no longer have. Bringing all of this information together is helpful and a good first step, but we also need a process of sifting through it to fix the errors, omissions and inconsistencies; patients should be at the center of this process.
Lunyr Dev Update — November 30, 2017 — Advertising System Deployment Tomorrow
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dapps, Cryptocurrency

Hey folks, this is your weekly update to let you know what we’ve been up to. We are ready for production with our advertising system, so we are deploying it for our private alpha users tomorrow. This is a major milestone and represents the first practical use for our LUN utility tokens. With this complete, the next major development milestone will be a completion of the rewards system, which has been slightly delayed due to limitations in solidity contract size.

On the more mundane side, we fixed a lot of internal issues that caused our site to get out of sync with the blockchain. There are few left, and we are taking steps to mitigate this problem long term.

For any questions or feedback please post on https://www.reddit.com/r/Lunyralpha.

Users interested in joining the Private Alpha can signup here. Invited testers will receive an email with further instructions.

See also:
Use Your Flash Drive as a Super Secure Keychain
Tags: Passwords, Security, Encryption, Privacy, Digital

Use Your Flash Drive as a Super Secure Keychain

Step by step guide on converting your flash drive into a secure store (Keychain) for passwords

Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash

Data breaches happen, and when they do happen they jeopardize millions. The best way to protect yourself from data breaches is limiting the data you share — read our article (below) to know more.

Consider a scenario — you got notified about a data breach from xyz.com, explaining your email, password and last known location have been compromised. To make things worse, you are habituated to use almost identical passwords for all your accounts. Meaning as xyz.com is compromised all other accounts are also compromised.

As anyone would realize at this point, using unique, strong passwords for each account is probably the safest way. But isn’t it hard to remember?

There are many digital keychain softwares (e.g. iCloud Keychain) that can help you, but if you want to push it to the next level and aiming to create your own keychain device — this article is here to help.
Togas, Vodka, And Secrets, Oh My!
By: Edward Anderson
Tags: Frat, LGBTQ, Love, Outed, Dating

Togas, Vodka, And Secrets, Oh My!

A toga party shifted two relationships.

Photo courtesy of Twitter

His name was Ryan. On paper, he was my perfect man. Masculine, football player, blond hair and blue eyes. The only problem with him was that he identified as straight. His parents were religious, they wouldn’t understand! His arguments fell on deaf ears. As much as I wanted him, I had pride.

One of the rules I have for myself is that I will never be someone’s dirty little secret. I am out and proud of who I am. If someone doesn’t like it, that’s their issue, not mine. Still, given my propensity for liking men who are still in the closet, this rule has led to a lot of heartache for me.

Even as we debated the merits of our relationship, we were intimate with one another. I can’t count how many times one of his frat brothers walked in on me giving Ryan head. It became a running joke that his dick was going to fall off from as much head as he was getting from me.

“Come on, please come to the toga party,” Ryan begged me. He was modeling his costume for the evening and it left almost nothing to the imagination. I agreed to come and he threw me down on the bed. Our physical relationship once from one-sided to consummated in just a few minutes.

We didn’t know someone had been watching us.
Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
By: Haytham Ad-Din, The Photographic Muslim
Tags: Christianity, Special Feature, History, Religion, Photography

These photos were taken utilizing both a wide-angle lens and a standard zoom lens on two nonconsecutive days before the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City. Photos of the facade were limited by the extensive scaffolding. The New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists features an unobstructed photo of the Cathedral exterior.

Acknowledgments and gratitude go to The Reverend Father John Vlahos and Deacon Sotiri Michalatos. As Cathedral Dean, Father John approved the production of this feature upon initial email contact. Deacon Sotiri followed up to schedule and facilitate interior photography.

Further gratitude goes to the Greek Redditors who helpfully identified the Nicene Creed, confirmed the memorial aspect of the Transept Altar, and noted differences with churches in Greece.

Interested parties may learn more about the Capital Campaign and donate online.
【每日幣讀】0411–2018：「3,500 萬日本人交易虛擬貨幣」、「Telegram 機器人盜幣嚴重」、「中美大舉投資區塊鏈新創」…更多不可錯過的幣圈新聞
Tags: Bitcoin, Investing, Ethereum, Dailynews, Cryptocurrency

in In Fitness And In Health
Women's Rights Need More Attention
By: Pierre Trudel
Tags: LGBTQ, Americanhaiku, Womens Rights, Transgender, BlackLivesMatter

Are we not all sick and tired of hearing, reading, seeing, and taking a blind eye to the world’s worst pandemic” Women’s Right”?

How many women die every day? Read the statistics we turn a blind eye to, and these are just the ones reported.

When is the world going to stop and realize that we are letting human problems become very secondary to money?

Let 2021 become the year of solving Humanity from itself.
Best Budget Laptops to Buy Under $550
Tags: Computers, Programming, Laptop, Technology, Budget

Here are the top 5 budget laptops (Under $550)

Lenovo IdeaPad 3

1. Number one on our list is the Lenovo IdeaPad 3. It got a Ryzen 5 3500U processor and 8 GB DDR4 ram. Combined with the Radeon Vega 8 Graphics it offers, it can handle some light gaming with ease. The 256GB SSD gives lightning-fast data transfer speeds and enough storage for your needs.

Price — $416

Link — https://amzn.to/2Kym6ec (Amazon)

Avita Clarus

2. Next on the list is the AVITA Clarus 14 inch laptop. It has an i5 processor combined with 8GB of RAM. Avita is a relatively new company and offers some decent performance for the cost. The build quality is not the best on this laptop, but all in all, it is a decent laptop for its price.

Price — $445

Link — https://amzn.to/3rvzKiQ (Amazon)

Asus Vivobook

3. The Asus Vivobook 15-inch laptop is one of my personal favorites. The laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor and Radeon Vega 8 graphics. It can handle some light gaming with ease. The specs on this thing help it offer a buttery smooth performance. The battery can last from 5 -6 hours with a not-so-heavy workload and lowered brightness.

Price — $516

Link — https://amzn.to/3rt1qVK (Amazon)

Acer Aspire 3

4. The Acer Aspire 3 15.6-inch laptop gives you all the performance you need, whether at home, school, or work. With its Intel i5 processor combined with 8 GB of DDr4 ram, most of your applications will run smoothly on this device. The laptop comes with 256GB SSD, which assists with faster boot speed and better data transfer speeds.

Price — $537

Link — https://amzn.to/38xBAY1 (Amazon)

Acer Aspire 5

5. The last laptop on our list is the Acer Aspire 5. It offers an Intel i5 processor with 8 GB of DDR4 ram. This laptop has comes with integrated Intel UHD Graphics. According to the specs, it offers around 8 hours of battery life on light operations.

Price — $549

Link — https://amzn.to/37LxwnU (Amazon)

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Happy shopping.
CPU Maximum Power for $1,000 (non desktop)
Tags: Data Science, Machine Learning

With a E5–2678 v3 you should see minor improvements over an i7 6850K (maybe 20–30% performance better?). Generation differences + clock speed, for parallelized tasks, would make 1 core of i7 6850k approximately equal to 1.4–1.6 core of E5–2678 v3. If you use well parallelized algorithms, it is worth the cost increase and the speed improvement. If you don’t, it will be a waste of money (and might be slower than what you expect).

For the price ($700-$3,000 now), I would recommend one or even two E5–2698 v4 CPUs engineering samples. That would be about $1,400 for 2x 20 cores at 2.2–3.6 GHz (or $700 for 20 cores). You may also try E5–2673 v4 qualification samples, one for about $1,000 (they also have 20 cores). E5–2673 v4 (QS) is one of the most powerful Intel CPU on the market, as they have increased clock rate versus their official releases (under another name), while costing only a fraction of the official release.

I use (not for kaggling) 2x E5–2690 v2 (2x 10 cores) and an i7–3930K (6 cores), and the performance difference is massive there when running (near-perfectly) parallelized tasks (up to 3x difference, like segregated xgboost training). However, my E5–2690 v2 is slower than a i7 6850K.

What you should think about both CPUs you compare:

Singlethreaded performance for programs which cannot run multithreaded (like KNNs in scikit-learn)

Linearity of multithreading performance for programs (do you hit diminishing returns?)

Is heavily parallelized threading working properly on the programs you may want to use? (xgboost sometimes has issues on multi-CPU setups)

Do you work with large enough data to not have parallelism spawning overhead issues? (for instance, on small data sets for xgboost, one single core can be 10x faster than a 20 thread xgboost)

Here is an example of multithreading performance in xgboost for a customized Bosch data set (1M rows, 500 features, pre-cached in memory), and notice the non-linearity (and going over the amount of physical cores for threading helps):

Note: if you intend to create virtual machines and allocate the most cores you can for your virtual environment, you may hit licensing issues with 16 cores (8 cores + hyperthreading).

If you want to test if it is worth switching to more threads instead of higher clock rate (by spending a bit of money), you can test some benchmarks on AWS in a C4 instance. It uses E5–2666 v3 CPUs (12 cores, 2.6–3.3 GHz), you would then just have to limit the threads used to 12 or 24. If you do not own a i7–6850K, you can look for E5–1650v3 servers and multiply the CPU benchmark results by 1.06–1.10 to approximately get the result of an i7–6850K. What will be optimal is the value you can see in adding more threads and the single threading performance, and only you can define it (is a 2X shorter learning speed worth spending 2X more? etc.).

If you intend just to have a powerful workstation, a E5–2673 v4 is literally overkill but for kaggling / machine learning it may be useful (but not for neural networks which requires GPU to speed up significantly). Even a i7 6850K is great already.
5 Reasons DevOps Loves Linux
By: Tj Blogumas
Tags: Software Development, Automation, Linux, Bash Script, DevOps

5 Reasons DevOps Loves Linux

Automation made simple on Linux is the story of a match made in heaven

The first thing DevOps Engineers will probably share with you about their job is that they must know how to get around on the Linux command line. However, most DevOps Engineers will probably also admit they do not consider themselves Linux Engineers. So why is that? Why do those who dabble in automation tend to use Linux by default but don’t think of themselves as hardcore Linux kernel geeky engineers?

Here are the top 5 reasons DevOps and Linux are the perfect match:
All Said & Done
By: Yaman Nimer
Tags: Love, Poem, Life, Breakups, Poetry

There’s nothing I can tell you anymore..

actually, there’s too much.

ever since we left and I

lost the ground beneath my feet,

it feels like I’m in free fall but I’m motionless,

falling in place and just waiting for it to hit me,

and you know how it comes.

But at least I spilled to you everything,

in letters, and poems,

and just under my lips when I’m alone

in the shower or the early morning drives to work..

At least you knew me like no one else will.
“Enough?”
By: Martie Sirois
Tags: LGBTQ, Nonbinary, Newsletter, Writers On Medium, Transgender

“Enough?”

Spill the T: July/Aug. 2020

(Best viewed in browser)

As I read through July’s stories on GftT an obvious theme emerged, the way it seems to every time I sit down to write these letters. This month it comes down to one word, one idea: enough. As in, am I enough? This theme hit home especially hard for me because recently, I’ve really been struggling with feeling not “good enough.” Like a “not good enough” Mom. Not doing enough for my kids, or teaching them — two of whom will be leaving home soon — about life out there in the real world. Not working hard enough myself, or using my time as wisely as I should. Not writing enough. Not doing enough to pull my load around the house. Not being a kind enough partner for my husband. And so on.

Hearing echoes of similar “am I enough?” sentiments across several stories in Gender from the Trenches throughout July (and now into August), I was reminded of how fragile the human condition can be — regardless of gender identity. Regardless of sexual orientation, race, religious beliefs, political stance, and everything else. Even for those who are fiercely strong. Even for those who have no trouble going against the grain of stereotypical gender roles. We all still have an innate desire to be “good enough,” whatever that means to each of us on a personal level.

Imposter syndrome is real, and it can be a beast.

I had to take a dose of my own advice and remind myself that I am enough.

I’ve always believed that most of us are doing the best we can with what we have at any given moment in time. I need to assume positive intent for myself like I do for everyone else. I need to start practicing the same level of grace with myself that I extend to everyone else. And, I suspect you do too.

Take a moment to just breathe and let these words wash over you:
dry Monku — Religions
By: Dry Monkey Philosophy
Tags: Poem, Religion, God, Haiku, Poetry

This is a collection of haiku-ish poetry as told by a Dry Monkey. They are loosely structured 5–7–5 — 3 lined stanzas. Each telling a story of its own, while collectively narrating a progressively realized ideal — Hope you enjoy!
Cry In the Dark, a Political Campaign Memoir
By: Stephen Hoffman
Tags: Enthusiasm, Campaign, Politics, Youth Movement, Otherdoors

Cry in the Dark #487a.

April 19, 2016.

On the Democratic Party presidential campaign trail. (Logged and duly-noted in my dream journal.)

“Paige and Meredith. Your thighs are soft and supple, your bosoms rosy. And you, Mallory, with the marshmallow skin. And Megan and Chloé and Madison and Skye. From Boulder and Portland and Ogden and Champaign-Urbana.

You volunteer for Bernie Sanders and debate whether to deface your snow-white bodies with fashionable tattoos.

Do I count for nothing? An aged Hillary supporter with delusions of martyrdom by snowfall and rose petals, a political youth avalanche that buries my mouth and nose under idealism and college-age female flesh. I scent victory!

Yet at the same time I suffocate in the rarefied air of dreams. Where is the beef, Bernie? Show me your tool kit for breaking up the banks. Are you a carpenter or a chiseler?

Is the motor that drives your “political revolution” more than just a turntable spinning platters at 45 rpm in a Fifties’ jukebox, in a sweet shop where coeds jitterbug after school to the groovy sounds of the latest beach-bonfire singalong?

Political showman and youth-revolution impresario, generator of campaign contributions and fake crowd electricity, stop teasing me with your cashmere-sweater chorus line!

I have work to do.

I must write, I must write another letter to The New York Times. The planet’s ecosystem is failing, crumbling about our heads like an avalanche, like an avalanche of college-age female flesh.

God save me from the coming electoral storm.”

I weary of such pathetic cries in the dark. Board of Elections, deliver us a nominee!

(Written on the eve of the 2016 New York State primary election.)
Diamond Girl.
By: Amanda Dalmas
Tags: Sex, Whore, Poem, The Rebel Poets Society, Sex Work

A poetic short story.

Photo by Manny Moreno on Unsplash

The Lord Lucifer was her savior.

She was a Queen of the Night.

The sheets of strangers are her bed for that night.

She walks along the beach

picking up sailors like seashells.

Some are tall and handsome,

some are fat and rich.

But they all pay big money to the illustrious whore.

For just one night of pleasure…you can pay now, as little as $200 — an hour.

She never refuses you,

unless you can’t pay of course.

Then you meet Roy, who will make sure you pay.

But it’s all worth it,

the thrills and the threats.

She’ll swing that tongue into the deepest cracks of your desires.

Her mouth will suck all of those woes out of your soul.

From the comfort of her breast,

to the raging cunt below,

she’ll have you satisfied in like five.

And you will be begging for more.

But your time is up and now you pay and send her on her way.

With a tip of your hat,

you spin around and start walking away gleefully.

All is well in the world and money well spent.

She swings off of your arm and heads to the next bloke.

You don’t care, and she doesn’t blush.

It was a fluid exchange.

And one left to be done, when it is done.

Not to hold on or obsess over.

Neither thinks of the other afterwards, but each walked away satisfied with the experience.

The end.
The Four Life Stages — Köln, Germany, June 2018
By: Liam Heitmann-Ryce
Tags: Travel, Humor, Life, Germany, Photography

Gay writer who will always talk to strangers // Australian, 24 // Keith Haring & classical music // bit.ly/liamhr-portfolio

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When a Kinky Sexual Game Goes the Wrong Way
By: Emma London
Tags: Sex, Sexuality, BDSM, Kink, Fetish

When a Kinky Sexual Game Goes the Wrong Way

A lesson on always follow the safety rules

Image by Dieter Robbins from Pixabay

Sometimes, even being aware of all the risks involved in a practice and being experienced in it, you relax. By doing that, you put yourself at risk, and things go wrong. That’s what happened to me and my partner, Mr P.

I’m fairly new to BDSM. I’ve been experimenting with sex scenes and kinks, and it has been wonderful. Not only for the sexual pleasure I get — more pleasurable orgasms and a raw intensity I never felt before — but also as a way to connect to my body and myself, as a woman.

Since I’ve embraced my true sexual self, I’m happier and fulfilled.

It was when I started dating Mr P. that I discovered I’m a kinkster. Since then, we’ve been exploring my kinks, allying them to his own. My sexual life went through a revolution.

I’ve been sharing here some of my BDSM experiences, like the first time I dominate my lover, the time we had electrosex, or when we tried rope bondage.

I’ve also shared several times my predilection for impact play. A session of spanking it’s always welcome. For me, it’s a powerful stress reliever and a fucking hot sexual dynamic.

But none of those sex scenes ever went wrong, Mr P. and I never hurt each other, we never crossed a boundary or made a mistake playing with the above. But we once made a serious mistake: one during temperature play.

We both love wax play, and we do it occasionally. We would do it more if it wasn’t for the mess.

During the wax play, we got so aroused that he set my hair on fire.
[Weekly report] August 13th
By: Lightning Bitcoin, Lbtc
Tags: Bitcoin, Lbtc Weekly, Blockchain, Fintech

[Weekly report] August 13th

Listing |Network upgrade | New Video | Reading list

Lightning Bitcoin network upgrade completed

On August 9th, the Lightning Bitcoin team completed an upgrade of main network code. The upgrade applies multi-signature technology for adding wallet lock-up function to node mining, ensuring asset security in all aspects. According to the established rules, lock-up of 5,000 LBTCs will be one of the necessary requirements for joining mining nodes.

Currently, the partnering exchanges will suspend the replenishment service and will reopen the replenishment after 1–2 days. Please refer to the exchange announcements or transaction pages for specific information.

Tech progress

1. Windows version of the full-node wallet has entered the final testing phase.

Pushing hard to expand our user base:) Please spread the news!

2. For Token issue within Lightning Bitcoin Network, the user needs to determine the Token function requirements and the technical solution investigation.

Announcement

Listing of LBTC on the Exrates.me exchange

LBTC has been listed on the Exrates.me exchange, LBTC/BTC, LBTC/ETH, LBTC/USD trading pairs have been available so far.

Exrates.me is an American international exchange designed to charge the lowest fees and provide maximum security. Check the link: https://exrates.me/dashboard
Why Christians Should Stop Saying “Amen”
By: Alex Rowe
Tags: Spirituality, Faith, Christianity, Religion, Theology

Let me draw an analogy. Imagine you are attending a friend’s wedding. You take your place in the pew, and seated next to you is a man who has flown from far away especially for the occasion. He speaks no English and has never been to the country before, but due to long acquaintance with the groom has come to join the celebration.

The ceremony proceeds until that final moment where the priest says loudly and gladly, “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” and turning to the groom exclaims, “You may now kiss the bride.” The building fills with happy sighs, with cheering and rounds of applause. The newly-married couple then exit, with the bridal party, and everyone else then follows.

What did the man from far away see? He has watched the ceremony, heard and observed the exchanging of vows and rings. Then the priest uttering his final few words, the couple kissing, and all leaving. The man grasps the overall significance of the occasion — he’s at a wedding, he knows that much, and has been to weddings in his own country — but because he speaks no English, has never been to England before, and has not seen an English wedding ceremony until now, he cannot understand each particular moment or appreciate every peculiar detail.

It seems fair to say, in this hypothetical scenario, that the man from far away could not have known just how important was that kiss the bride and groom shared; how it symbolised the sealing of the marriage vows, marking the crescendo of the whole ceremony. To him, reasoning from observation, the kiss was simply the last thing you ‘did’ before the ceremony came to an end and everybody left.

The man’s ignorance of the kiss’s significance is like our ignorance of the significance of amen. Many of us understand amen only to mean “the prayer is over,” as though it were a word we append to our prayers like a kind of liturgical punctuation. But as the kiss does not function to mark the end of the ceremony, neither does amen function to mark the end of our prayers. The word amen occurs at the end, as does the kiss, but this is not what amen means.
¿Auto de seguridad? No. ¡Déjenlos correr!
Tags: F1, Seguridad, Silverstone, Español

in In Fitness And In Health
İran’ın Nükleer Babasına Yapay Zeka Tabanlı Suikast
By: Hacı Lale
Tags: Meme, Yzt Gazete, Nükleer, Yapay Zeka, Iran

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MOAC Proposes a Solution for a Token-Free Blockchain
Tags: Blockchain, Moac, Cryptocurrency, Token, Moac Technology

Are Token-free Blockchains About to Hit a Dead End?

MOAC’s microchain technology has solved this conundrum! MOAC microchains have already proved during the beta test phase that MOAC is currently the only blockchain that supports both blockchains that use tokens and those that don’t. Projects give users, products, and enterprises access with only a small maintenance fee.

MOAC microchains refers to chains with special functions that are deployed off of the MOAC platform main net. These microchains can’t exist independently, they must operate through the infrastructure provided by the main net, and they can freely access all the users on the main chain.

It’s this unique design that allows MOAC microchains to provide the perfect solution for token-less blockchains.

MOAC microchains feature the following advantages, completely solving the problem that token-free blockchains face. Namely, that they cannot simultaneously provide low-cost, decentralized, secure and highly-efficient services.
B E Y O N D
By: Fyodor Klubnikin
Tags: Space, Fiction, Absurd

“You know, I was thinking of wearing something more summery, but then I remembered that the office is kept so cold, so I decided on this long skirt. It’s still nice and flowy though!” said Mariella. It was early in the day, so she felt free to chat with her coworkers. The boss wasn’t in yet.

“L I F E I S I L L U S I O N,” intoned the all-knowing Andromeda eye that had recently phased into the corner of the sales department.

“Yeah it’s so weird that the building is always so cold! I have to wear a hoodie inside! It’s ludicrous!” replied Geoff. “I like the skirt though. Does it have pockets?”

“Ugh no, but that’s the dream, isn’t it?” said Mariella.

The Andromeda eye turned obsidian black, and the room rang with the screams of millions of intergalactic beings as their once-flourishing advanced civilization was engulfed by a swelling star lightyears away.

“I just don’t get it. Sometimes I don’t want to carry all my things in a handbag. Who decided women don’t deserve pockets?” Mariella said.

“If it was up to me, everyone would be considered worthy of pockets,” said Samantha, walking up with a cup of steaming black coffee.

“That smells great,” said Mariella. “Is it from that new place that just opened? Just a couple blocks away?”

“Yeah but they charge extra for milk. Highway robbery.”

“T H E R E I S N O S O U L O N L Y M A T T E R,” droned the Andromeda eye with a voice that sounded like a dying feral synthesizer howling at the bottom of a deep well.

“Oh well I’ll stick to the sludge they give us here,” said Geoff. “As far as I’m concerned, as long as it keeps me awake, it’s good.”

“I hear that,” replied Mariella. “Oh wait, Samantha, is that dress from the new collection at Ann Taylor? It’s fabulous.”

“You like it?” asked Samantha with a smile, patting her professional-looking white dress. “I was at the mall looking for a new swimsuit for my son to take to his swimming camp in two weeks when it caught my eye. I thought to myself, ‘Sammy girl, you’ve earned this. Treat yourself.’ It was fun being just a little naughty and selfish.”

“Hey, after what you pulled off with that client in Santa Cruz, I think you deserve a little reward,” said Mariella.

“Anyway, I’ve got an inbox that I’m sure is filling as we speak. Time to dive in,” said Samantha. The coworkers split and went to their respective desks.

“N O W H I T E A F T E R L A B O R D A Y,” boomed the eye.
LockTrip becomes the Official Travel Partner of Firo!
By: Locktrip.Com, Loc Token, Official Blog
Tags: Travel, Crypto, Booking, Flight, Hotel

Today we are excited to announce a major partnership with Firo (formerly known as Zcoin) — a leading project when it comes to offering cutting-edge privacy features and allowing users to stay fully anonymous on-chain.

LockTrip.com becomes the official Travel Partner of Firo

As part of the partnership, FIRO holders will soon be able to spend their coins on the LockTrip travel marketplace, accessing more than 2 million hotels and properties at up to 60% discount

The Firo team will make their travel bookings through the LockTrip.com marketplace

Community members of the Firo project will be offered a special discount code on their first booking, allowing them to capture even more savings

LockTrip will setup a dedicated landing page to inform FIRO holders on how to use their coins to unlock massive discounts compared to traditional booking sites

The partnership will further be expanded by additional collaborations in the future.

Reuben Yap, Co-Founder & Project Steward of Firo says:

“We’re thrilled about this partnership as it adds another excellent option to allow people to spend Firo for accommodation and travel almost everywhere worldwide especially as travel restrictions ease up.”

With this partnership, we are expanding the user base of LockTrip.com and helping FIRO holders to bypass unnecessary travel expenses.

Nikola Alexandrov, CEO of LockTrip says:

“We are excited to welcome Firo to our growing family and strengthening our mission of making hefty travel commissions a thing of the past.”

About Firo

Firo is the new brand name of Zcoin. The digital currency has a strong focus on developing new privacy features and has been the gold standard of trustless, on-chain privacy since 2016.

Firo have just released their next generation privacy protocol Lelantus, which introduces a burn-and-redeem model that allows users to burn (or destroy) coins of arbitrary amounts — even partial ones — and redeem brand new coins that do not appear to have previous transaction histories associated with them.

We welcome the Firo project and its team to our ecosystem and are excited to integrate FIRO as a payment method into our marketplace.

The integration is scheduled for completion by December 16.

Join our Telegram Community 👇🏼

LockTrip is a blockchain-based travel marketplace that allows users to save up to 60% on their bookings by cutting out middlemen. Every booking burns LOC proportionally to its booking value, continuously reducing its total supply.
Love
Tags: Love, Erotica, Sex, Poem, The Rebel Poets Society

Love

An Erotic Poem

Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels

Tell me, what do you hunger for?

What do you crave?

hands cradling my thighs and you,

at the bed of my warmth,

my skin on fire

for you.

But all I want is this moment

in which I run my fingers through your hair

brush your cheekbones with magnetic tenderness

and pull you back up towards me.

This heat, this fever, this enduring fire

is where our smiles meet and our laughter kindles candlelight.

Of course I imagine you,

as your strong and steady hands have me

as your weight and movement become mine

but the fires aching to be stoked the most

live in holding you

in kissing you

in giving your wholeness the loving safety

for your wounds to suffuse with light.
The Fear to Start
By: Kevin Farran
Tags: Poetry Writing, Fearless, Self Improvement, Poetry On Medium, Confidence

You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step .— Martin Luther King

Photo by Alexis Antoine on Unsplash

I gazed across the city, waiting for the sun to rise,

Anticipation leapt within me, pulsing with fretful sighs.

When would the skyline burst in dawn’s rapturous hue?

I lingered alone, sheltering my commitments from judgement’s view.

For the morning was not about time, it was a kind of ‘walking away,’

I cast my eyes askance, knowing obligation filled my day.

Could I but change, vanquish the thought that led me to hesitate,

Then surely my heart would thunder forth, unfettered, eager to create.

But stillness consumes me and shrivels my intent with fear.

Could I risk to sully all the treasures I hold so dear?

What are these trinkets I guard in pompous, false pretense

They laugh back at me, derogatory, they’re my ego’s own defense.

The distant morning church bell chimes, startling birds to flutter and dart

So too my excuses swell, prying once good intentions to drift apart.

I would I could launch through the skies, bird-like, with each twist and turn

But I am marooned, before the sunrise, where my thoughts boil and churn.

No, it is but one step, I unfurl my pen and beg the dawn… allow me to create

I thunder forward expectant, newborn, never again to hesitate.
Goodnight Irene — Huddie Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly
By: Pito Salas
Tags: blues, Life

Chorus:

Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight



Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene



I’ll see you in my dreams

Last Saturday night I got married



Me and my wife settled down



Now me and my wife are parted



Gonna take another stroll downtown

Sometimes I live in the country



Sometimes I live in the town



Sometimes I get a great notion



To jump in the river and drown

Well I asked your mother for you



She told me you was too young



I wish to the Lord I’d never seen your face



Or heard your lying tongue

Stop your rambling, stop your gambling



Stop staying out late at night



Go home to your wife and your family



Stay home by the fireside bright

I love Irene God knows I do



Love her to the day I die



If Irene turns her back on me



I’ll take morphine and die

(If you know why I posted this then you know why I posted this :-)

Technorati Tags: blues
Why Studying the History of Philosophy Matters
By: Shane J. Ralston
Tags: Philosophy, History, Relativism, Skepticism, Culture

Why Studying the History of Philosophy Matters

Six reasons given by a Jesuit Priest.

Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

If history class bored you to tears, then the prospect of studying the history of Philosophy could seem utterly sleep-inducing. If it’s tough to relate to John C. Calhoun (1782–1850 A.D.), imagine trying to sympathetically appreciate the life, times, and notions of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.).

Moreover, the ideas of past philosophers might strike us as absolutely offensive, at least by our contemporary moral standards. (By the way, both Calhoun and Aristotle defended the institution of slavery.)

If you can transcend the boredom and wokeness, where might you start an intensive study of philosophical history? At the beginning: the dawn of Philosophy in Ancient Greece. Before undertaking the project, though, it might be questioned why such an inquiry is worthwhile in the first place.
All you need to know about Pointers-Part-2
By: Vaidhyanathan S M
Tags: Memory Management, C, Pointers

This article is the second part of the article series on Pointers. In the last article we discussed about the basic of pointers and introduced the applications of pointers. If you have not read the first part, it can be found here. In this article we are going to see the applications of pointers in depth.

I would like to re-iterate from the previous article that we have two major applications:

1. Call by Reference 2. Dynamic Memory Allocation

Let us first see about Call by Reference. Another term that is often seen with this is Call by Value. Consider the below example of swapping two numbers.

From the above code it can be inferred that, the changes in the formal arguments are not reflected back to the actual arguments. That is, the swap performed by the swap() function is local to itself and doesn’t show the change on the actual values of num1 and num2 (in the main). This happens because of Call by Value.

Now, if we actually want the changes to be reflected back to the actual arguments, then we need to go for Call by Reference. In Call by Reference, we pass the address of the variables to the function. See the Illustration shown below:

Here, we pass the addresses of the variables to the swap() function, in order to store the addresses, the variables (parameters) of the function swap have to be pointers. Because, we know that pointer is a variable that can store address of another variable. Now, in this case, since the addresses are passed as arguments to the function, the values at those addresses get swapped. Hence, now the changes in the formal arguments are reflected back to the actual arguments.

Next, we explore about the so-called Double Pointers.
Foresting Signs a Partnership Agreement with DeCentre
Tags: Blockchain, Partnerships, Cryptocurrency News, Social Networking, Company

Foresting CEO Daniel Eom (left) with DeCentre’s CEO Hong-Sean

Foresting, a blockchain-based, compensation-based SNS service platform company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on marketing and a comprehensive cooperation with DeCentre (CEO Hong-Sean).

Through the agreement, the two companies will share technical know-how and will work closely with various blockchain related businesses starting with blockchain-based compensation SNS service.

Foresting is a blockchain-based rewinding SNS that breaks the value distribution system of the existing social media platforms and provides a more fair value distribution system for users who provide content through blockchain technology and contribute to the platform in various forms.

Foresting will utilize blockchain technology in the future, such as blockchain-based rewarding SNS platform, “Foresting Bank” for digital bank service. The company will gradually expand the service area with the “Foresting Lab” to realize the change.

“We will do our best to support the Foresting project and create synergies with the blockchain linkage business through our cryptographic marketing strategy, pre-sales, ICO and global public relations. We will cooperate as a comprehensive adviser, including blockchain marketing and investment support, based on our experience in the market for cryptocurrency,” said Hong Young Sean.

“The Foresting network will bring about changes in the value of labor in the existing society, and this will be accomplished through the blockchain-based compensated SNS proposed by Foresting Network and innovative financial services supporting it. This is the core value of the Foresting network. “

Meanwhile, Foresting plans to launch a pre-sale and crowd sales schedule in the middle of the year, and plans to show the Foresting platform to the blockchain SNS market through the collaboration with D & C.
Stop Being Hard on Yourself: 12 Tips for Learning Life Lessons
By: Larry Kim
Tags: Work, Work Life Balance, Life Lessons, Business, Mindfulness

Whether you’re just launching a startup, or in the process of growing your company, you’re going to make mistakes, and it’s going to take a toll on you.

We are usually much harder on ourselves than others. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy.

You’re going to experience failure from time to time. It’s inevitable. But how will it affect you?

During stressful times, we can find ourselves falling into traps, such as negative self-talking — those damaging things we say to ourselves that get in the way of our own success.

“There’s no way this will work.” “It’s impossible.” “I totally suck at this.”

Stop being so hard on yourself!

You need to recognize when you’re being hard on yourself so you can kill negative thinking.

How?

Are you comparing yourself to others? Are you hiding or repressing your anger? Are you trying to do everything alone without a support system?

Stop!

Below is an infographic with 12 simple and inspiring ideas from Anna Vital for how to stop being hard on yourself.

Her 12 powerful tips:

Your mistakes are part of your learning. Learn to be resilient in the face of failure. Don’t compare yourself to others because you aren’t them. You’re you, so accept yourself for who you are, faults and all. There is no right way to do anything. Don’t limit your thinking to a right or wrong way — there’s no right way to do the wrong thing, and no wrong way to do something right! Stand up for what you believe, even if it’s unpopular. Make everyone understand your big, crazy ideas. Learn from people who criticize you. Don’t let criticism get you down; let it inspire you to work you ass off! Accept your weaknesses as your “features”. You aren’t good at everything you do, but nobody else is, either! Look at your past as an adventurous biography. Your past isn’t your identity and doesn’t dictate your entrepreneurial destiny. Don’t underestimate your talent until you apply it 100 times. Are you applying your natural talents? Every single problem you have is not unique. Put your problems in perspective and solve them faster. Intelligence is relative, self-esteem is not. Stay positive, take care of yourself, forget about being perfect, and always keep improving yourself. Express your anger in a creative way. Feel you anger, express it, and learn from it. Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed. Having people you can trust and rely on will make you happier and feel better about yourself.

Check it out:

Now start living it.

Originally posted on Inc.com

About The Author

Larry Kim is the CEO of Mobile Monkey and founder of WordStream. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
3 Reasons Why People Fail CompTIA Exams
By: Tyler Harris
Tags: Tech, Comptia, Comptia Certifications, Technology, Education

Take a CompTIA exam, they said. It will be fun, they said.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

Studying the Wrong Material

You do no need to spend thousands of dollars or spend months in a formal class to pass CompTIA exams.

Between the end of April 2019 and the first week of December in 2019 I studied for and passed the A+, Network+, and Security+ while also working on a master’s degree. The only two sources relevant to pass are CompTIA’s Certmaster Practice (have to pay) and ProfessorMesser.com’s free study videos. That is all I used and have had plenty of students pass using only those two sources.

Please do not waste your time and money on secondary sources that are not straight from CompTIA that charge you an arm and a leg for the privilege of learning their interpretation of what is on the exam. CompTIA does not care what they say, so you should not either. The point is to pass the certification not to read a novel about technology. You can do that on your own time.

CompTIA does a very good job replicating the style of questions asked on the real exam with their own material and practice exams. Secondary sources created by other people will never be able to get as close to the real exam as CompTIA. Half of the battle is studying the way CompTIA phrases the questions because it is truly confusing if you do not know exactly what they are asking.
Popular JavaScript libraries you should know
By: Injurious Answer
Tags: Js Libraries, Programming, Web Development, JavaScript, Libraries

Photo by Nathan da Silva on Unsplash

Let’s talk about some of the popular JavaScript libraries used frequently.

Video.js

Video.js is a web video player built from the ground up for an HTML5 world. It supports HTML5 video and modern streaming formats, as well as YouTube, Vimeo, and even Flash (through plugins, more on that later). It supports video playback on desktop and mobile devices. The project started in mid-2010, and now has hundreds of contributors and used on over 450,000 websites.

Chart.js

Chart.js is an open-source JavaScript library on GitHub that allows you to draw different types of charts by using the HTML5 canvas element. Since it uses canvas, you have to include a polyfill to support older browsers.

Anime.js

Anime.js is a very lightweight JavaScript animation engine, 14kb minified, and only 6kb gzipped. It supports all modern browsers and can practically animate anything from CSS properties to arbitrary JavaScript values.

Reveal.js

reveal.js is an open source HTML presentation framework. It’s a tool that enables anyone with a web browser to create fully-featured and beautiful presentations for free. Presentations made with reveal.js are built on open web technologies. That means anything you can do on the web, you can do in your presentation. The framework comes with a broad range of features including nested slides, Markdown support, Auto-Animate, PDF export, speaker notes, LaTeX support and syntax highlighted code.

Three.js

Three.js allows the creation of graphical processing unit (GPU)-accelerated 3D animations using the JavaScript language as part of a website without relying on proprietary browser plugins. This is possible due to the advent of WebGL.

Fabric.js

Fabric.js is a JavaScript HTML5 canvas library. It is a fully open-source with many contributions over the years. Fabrice JS provides some simple components that don’t require a framework.

Parsley

Parsley is a JavaScript form validation library. It helps you provide your users feedback on their form submission before sending it to your server. It saves you bandwidth, server load and it saves time for your user. JavaScript form validation is not necessary, and if used, it does not replace a strong backend server validation. That’s why Parsley is here: to let you define your general form validation, implement it on the backend side, and simply port it frontend-side, with maximum respect to user experience best practices.

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