fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Keep Moving Forward, Kinda Like Superman
By: Jake Thomas
Tags: Comic Books, Superheroes, Life, Film, College

May 2007

I’m finishing my bachelor’s degree at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. For the last four months, I’ve spent endless hours working on student films and group projects. I’m going on three days with no sleep, but the deadlines are done.

The war is won. It’s finally time to fly home.

On the final night of film school, I walk through the Park La Brea complex where students live. Two-story townhouses and apartment towers line the streets. Beyond them both: the Hollywood hills.

I’m surrounded by a metropolis. Traffic horns. Sparkling lights. Skyscrapers. Compared to my hometown, it’s vast.

Home is the Midwest city of Canton, Ohio, one hour south of Cleveland. My parents’ house sits in a wide suburb cradled beside open farmland. Drive 15 minutes in one direction, you’re downtown. Drive 15 minutes the opposite direction, you’re in cow town. Weird juxtaposition.

I’ll return to Canton for one month. Then, I will fly back to this megapolis and get my first industry job. Los Angeles will become my home for 13 years.

H-O-M-E: four heavy letters. And it’s all about to change—kinda like Superman, my inner geek whispers.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg??? I have the answer.
By: Gérard Mclean
Tags: Chicken, Dog, Blog

Which came first, the chicken or the egg… I HAVE the answer to that eternal question and it is the form of a story. Ready??



About 5 years ago, I flew in and out of CIncinnati for a puppy conference and a friend of mind came to pick me up from the airport on a Sunday morning. Being a good friend back, I treated him to breakfast and we stopped off at a Waffle House. We are sitting at the counter and the waitress came over, asked us what we wanted.



I said “What is good today?”



She says, “We have a chicken and egg special.”



So, I asked, “Which comes first?”



To which she replied, “They come together on the same plate.”



Hmmm.. so, the answer is “They both came together.”



So, when faced with a decision on which to make first, the chicken or the egg, make them both and keep them together on the same plate.
Being Social while Social Distancing
By: Leslie Lozada
Tags: Social, Community, Personal, Social Distance, Social Media

Pretty much my work station right there. Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash

Zoom has been the main site in order to conduct classes, conferences, those lunch dates where you bring your own food. With enough modifications, you are able to get away with using different images to simulate that you are indeed working from an official office. It doesn’t hurt that it works well to use for phones as well. And for other things that you wouldn’t think would be the right medium for it. I had a photo shoot with a photographer for their project on social distancing, which went pretty well. I wanted to take the plunge and be a part of something.

Being more involved in social media, as you do, take time away from doing things I should be doing (a bunch of papers), had brought a few things to light for me. I ended up in a challenge that involves me reciting a passage from the bible word for word. Eventually after several hours reading and reciting over and over again, you too can recite a passage from one of the most read books in the world. One of my Facebook groups are starting up a game night involving a site called Jackbox. I have played it before, giving my proclivity with watching a certain Comic book reviewer on Youtube doing special livestreams with his friends and investing in audience participation.

Not everyone has the capacity for this opportunities and it’s understandable. As an avid writer, I have read from different perspectives on how they are coping. Even with everything that I have done in the past month, I have berated myself into not doing more. To jampack my day with all of this!

Of course this can’t replace meeting with people in person. But, we as humans, to paraphrase what a music professor told the class once, human nature never change. We have a need to be social, to have a community with one another.
Never Forget
By: Julio Vincent Gambuto
Tags: 9 11 Attacks, Poetry

POETRY

Never Forget

A Poem for 9/11 and Every Day After

Photo by Julian Santa Ana on Unsplash

NEVER FORGET the moment the phone rang,

You answered with little to lose,

Never forget the confusion, the “huh?”

The yelling to “Turn on the news!”

Never forget the staring right at it,

That image that made zero sense,

Never forget the shocked disbelief,

How your body was suddenly tense.

Never forget searching the sky,

For floors that used to be standing,

Never forget the fleeing, the running,

The leaping, the falling, the landing.

Never forget the waiting, the waiting,

The deeply insufferable waiting.

Who was inside? And who has returned?

The horrible heart-fucking waiting.

Never forget that your flip phone was useless,

And you walked over bridges on foot,

Never forget the smoke in the air,

The plume, and the ash, and the soot.

Never forget on Sept 11th,

That you and I were both one,

Never forget that on that fall morning,

Under the warmth of that sun,

Divided we weren’t,

We weren’t at odds,

We weren’t right red and left blue.

It was just me,

An American,

And you.

Police weren’t evil,

News wasn’t fake,

The press wasn’t enemy one,

When horror descended,

And our chests were ripped open,

You and I weren’t undone.

We were a country,

We were a people,

We were a hit nation hurt,

But we banded together,

To sweep the debris,

And to search our way through the dirt.

Never forget to honor the fallen,

Taken without a goodbye,

Never forget the who, what, and where,

Even without a real why.

Never forget our friends and our neighbors,

Who left us too soon and too fast,

And never forget that on that fall morning,

That’s now nearly twenty years past,

That we searched, and we looked,

And we warmed, and we cooked,

We carried, we lifted, we paced,

And when it was over,

We gathered together,

And opened our arms and embraced.

Never forget on Sept 11th,

That you and I were both one,

Never forget that on that fall morning,

Under the warmth of that sun,

United we stood,

Together we joined,

We were so much more than red-blue.

You held me up,

My fellow American,

And I held you.

____

Read more from Julio Vincent Gambuto. Follow for his weekly column and visit www.juliovincent.com.
The Essence of Being a Poet
Tags: Of Poetry And People, Poetry, Writing, Poets On Medium, Poetry On Medium

I can’t unlearn a thousand ways of

turning my life and self into poetry.

I can’t feel less for myself, for you,

for the little boy selling balloons on busy roads,

for my mother’s multiplying wrinkles and strangers

with the saddest faces behind their brightest smiles.

I can’t stop glorifying heartbreak and misery,

even though I’ve suffered many of them with the same

lover but an ever-changing love, mostly failing to keep

the butterflies alive.

I can’t sit back and see the world go up in flames

without letting my words spread revolution like wildfire,

if not on the streets, at least in the hearts and homes of

those a spark away from ignition.

I can not, I don’t want to feel less and

betray the very essence of being a poet,

for If I’m not a poet,

I’m a half-dead body of lost hope and unfathomable beliefs

and If what runs in my veins isn’t poetry, it is blasphemy.
#1: Banking, 1400 — Today
By: Kelly Mcquade-W.
Tags: Banking, Education, Podcast, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Featuring Joshua Goldbard, General Partner at Crypto Lotus.

Listen Now

Show Notes

“Banking has basically been the same since the 1400s, until now.”

We cover definitions of cryptocurrency and the blockchain. Josh helps explain from a banking perspective what makes this so different than traditional banking. Enjoy our deep dives into security and postal carrier metaphors and discussion on ICOs and alt coins like Ripple and Tezos.

Reach this weeks guest:

Transcript

Coming soon.
What Do You Love/Hate About Summer? The Epilogue.
By: Lucy King
Tags: Summer, Writing, Creativity, Storytelling, Writing Prompts

What Do You Love/Hate About Summer? The Epilogue.

I dared to ask and got more than 20 brilliant responses!

Photo by Dan Dumitriu on Unsplash

Summertime is the time for sharing stories!

Technically I am a child of winter. Born in July, I come from a Land Down Under. Nowadays, I live north of the equator where the seasons are reversed. Instead of shivering in woolies on my birthday, I am blessed by warmth and sunshine.

Of course summer means different things to different people. That’s why I asked a few of my favorite Medium writers to share what they love (or hate) about Summer.

Thank you to Alan Asnen, Jesse Wilson, Dennett, Ann Litts, Mark Starlin, Elle Beau, Vivian Ennis, Louise Foerster, Noma Dek, Bebe Nicholson, Jon Scott, Bridget Webber, Bonnie Barton, Selma, P.G. Barnett, Elle Rogers, Hawkeye Pete Egan B., ⭐ Ryan Justin, Brianna Bennett ✨, Imperfectly Edie, Craig Weldon, Carol Lennox and Agnes Louis for creating such wonderful and diverse stories.

I’d also like to thank kurt gasbarra, Shaan Sood, Siva Raj, Ian James Grant, Jagrit Singh, Ida Adams, Celine Lai and Gregory Alan for generously sharing their thoughts on Summer in the comments of the prompt article.

Without further ado, enjoy the stories!

Lucy

(If your response to the prompt is not listed, please tag me in the comments.)

What Do You Love/Hate About Summer?

The original prompt by Lucy King

Responses to the prompt:

Thank you for reading!
We need to understand what spam is and not on Medium.
By: Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Tags: Self Improvement, Freelancing, Leadership, Writing, Business

We need to understand what spam is and not on Medium.

Please join the discussion in this story.
Review Corner: The Care Manifesto
By: Symone Thomas
Tags: Socialism, Sociology, Communism, Book Review, Manifesto

Review Corner: “The Care Manifesto”

A look at The Care Collective’s “politics of interdependence”

Photo Courtesy of Author

A quick read at only 100 pages, The Care Manifesto recognizes the areas where care is lacking in both Western society and the current global landscape. It explores this deficit at various scales: from the family unit and communities, to state and even global levels. Scarcity due to neoliberal policies creates a paranoid and selfish mindset in individuals, making it harder to imagine caring for anyone beyond your own family or “people like us,” which in turn stokes racism and xenophobia.

Caring professions and care itself has long been delegated to a low level of value and respect in our society, often associated with or assigned to women, particularly BIPOC, making it more difficult to do some of the most essential work of a society.

The Care Manifesto asserts that bringing the concept of care into a respected position for all and by all, in the form of “promiscuous” care, will reinforce itself by providing security at the family or kin level, leading to more capacity for care and engagement at the community level and beyond, with resources and emphasis provided by the state itself. It uses examples of cooperatives and grassroots organizing, notably the massive community care efforts in Greece after their financial collapse post forced neoliberal makeover. It also draws largely from the template of indigenous kinship — which recognizes and respects a personal relationship with all living things including our environment.

This provides a useful angle against the conservative (or sometimes liberal) argument in favor of bootstrap theory and the “welfare state creating dependency.” The Care Collective asserts that the nature of humanity and all life is INTERDEPENDENT, and that dependency and autonomy are in fact two sides of the same coin, referencing studies and assertions from disabled communities.

The pandemic is a particularly effective time to alert others to the uncaring nature of capitalism and to our interconnectedness. The sooner that we can recognize and embrace our inherent dependence on one another, the sooner we can use it to our advantage to create a society that prioritizes flourishing, stability, and as a result, autonomy.
[Weekly Report] November 12
By: Lightning Bitcoin, Lbtc
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Lbtc Weekly

[Weekly Report] November 12

Mobile wallet | LBTC awards | BTCsos partnership | BenPool

Milestones

MyLBTC Android wallet

LBTC mobile wallet MyLBTC was officially released on November 1st! Download it on LBTC official website lbtc.io

MyLBTC supports transaction transfer, delegate registration, delegate voting, and information bar.

Note: At present, MyLBTC supports only Android version 7.0 and above, and does not support Meizu mobile phone.

Download MyLBTC

Wallet for iOS and the new PC client will be rolled out soon!

Tech progress

LBTC team has been busy with:

writing updated white paper , that will include technical documentation;

, that will include technical documentation; developing the function of token creation for full nodes;

The development of the Token function has been completed 80%. The underlying database of the Token function and the basic development of the business logic have been completed. Development of command protocol was started this week.

Announcement

LBTC on exchanges and wallets

EXX, ZB, SWFT exchanges

COBO, Bying, and Hyperpay wallets have opened LBTC deposit/withdrawl services. As for Coinegg, AEX, and KKEX these platforms are in process of updating the connection, Digifinex is expected to open LBTC replenishment on Tuesday.

LBTC Reward List is here!

The 4th award of the LBTC Lightning Plan has been announced!

Please check the list of community members. If there are any omissions, please leave us a message in the LBTC official forum.

The 5th phase of the LBTC Lightning Plan has started and the LBTC community members are welcome to participate. You can contribute into community management, content writing, platform promotion!

link

Community

LBTC and Speed ​​Assistance Finance reached strategic cooperation

LBTC has signed a strategic cooperation with BTCsos and has been listed as the official partner of the Finance and Economics Accelerator, while its media cooperation brought new members to our community! LBTC and BTCsos agreed to conduct close cooperation in community building, user services, and resource aggregation!
Poetry
By: Alice Floris
Tags: Inspiration, Poetry, Blue Insights, Micropoetry, Feelings

Thank you for reading! A piece about poetry, as I believe that the right words can heal and enlighten the soul.

Poetry expresses the feelings that others cannot describe and gives enough space between the lines for the readers to reflect.

It gives back oxygen to feelings and thoughts that have not received attention, or that are hidden behind a barrier of shame.

If you liked this, please take a look at my previous work:
10 Amazing Facts About Artificial Intelligence
By: Ahmad Mukhtar
Tags: Inventions Of Science, Science And Technology, Technology, AI

10 Amazing Facts About Artificial Intelligence

Once humans have created it, its evolution will continue on its own and humans will not be able to cope with it due to their slow biological evolution

Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence is all the rage these days. Artificial intelligence can be summed up in the simplest terms, enabling computer software or machines to analyze information and adapt it to the situation. To make the best decision.

Apparently, artificial intelligence has many benefits, but scientists are also afraid of it. Leading researcher Professor Stephen Hawking, speaking in an interview with the BBC about artificial intelligence, said that he believed that the development of complete artificial intelligence would destroy the human race.

“Once humans have created it, its evolution will continue on its own and humans will not be able to cope with it due to their slow biological evolution’’

Below I will tell you some facts about artificial intelligence, by knowing which you can better understand it.
Amy Tong: “It’s now my time to give back”
By: Code For America
Tags: Civictech, Government, California, Cfasummit

Amy Tong, the Chief Information Officer of the State of California, immigrated to America with her family in 1986. They brought only eight suitcases with them, and relied on public services to get acclimated to their new home. And because of those services that allowed Amy and her family to build a life in California, she chose to become a public servant.

“Public service is too important to simply give up because there are challenges ahead of you.”

Amy was the deputy director of the Office of Systems Integration in 2014 when the State of California began to experiment with user-centered, agile development. It became clear that her leadership was needed to manage these changes, and Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to the role of CIO. Amy is a prime example of what we can and should be doing when it comes to hiring tech leadership in government: not always bringing in “saviors” from the private sector, but elevating dedicated public servants and giving them the tools they need to succeed.

“Changing a government this big is not easy. We have to assess on a daily basis on what are the small wins that we can build on and what are the big potholes that we want to make sure we don’t step into.”

Under Amy’s leadership, California has made enormous technological progress in Health and Human Services, cannabis regulation, the DMV, and more. It hasn’t been easy — it’s required coaching, resilience, late nights, and the occasional ice cream run. But by staying positive, committed, and engaged, we will continue to move forward on making government work in the digital age.

To hear Amy’s story in full, watch the video below.
Enamor In Sadness
By: Swati Suman
Tags: Poetry, Haiku, Life, Contemporary Haiku, Life Lessons

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Anticipating The Movie Onward And Processing Grief
By: Priya Sridhar
Tags: Animation, Disney, Grief, Pixar, Film

I dreamed about my dad when he died in 2001. The first time, I woke up thinking he was alive and being sad when I realized he wasn’t. I cried in my dream the second time, knowing he wasn’t real. If there was a third time, I couldn’t tell you. I would have used a spell to talk to him for one last time.

Animated films about grief are quite interesting. Some films tell us there is no magic solution, and go into the grieving process quite thoroughly. Inside Out did great with that premise. Others gloss over it for the sake of the story, like when dealing with the king and queen’s deaths with frozen. The Lion King was remarkable for showing how grief follows you over the years and doesn’t fade unless you confront it head-on and make peace with your pain.

Onward, a Pixar movie premiering on March 6, is more of the latter. We can at least hope for a film that shows the process of grief, and how we live with it. Pixar knows how to tackle sadness and everything else that comes with those terrible feelings.

The film is about two elf brothers who go on a quest to reunite with their father for 24 hours. It’s not a permanent revival. So far they only have his legs. The brothers want the rest of him, to have a proper goodbye. It’s also a world where magic is dying, and they have to find it again to get that perfect moment. Tom Holland plays the lead, Ian Lightfoot. I originally wrote this draft assuming it was Tom Hiddleston, but no it’s the other Tom. Even so, they’re all still Marvel stars.

Sadness is not going to dominate the premise, however; we are also going to see suburban fantasy with magical creatures in human jobs. There are manticores, centaurs, and pixies filling typical roles. They serve as officers of the law or riding bikes. We won’t be seeing a story where the creatures have to hide behind a masquerade. They coexist in a semi-functioning society.

The movie may be good. It certainly hits close to home since I know I won’t ever see my dad again in that sense. What’s more, it strikes to avoid the dreaded sequel or merchandise trap that seemed to plague Cars and Toy Story. We love the merch, but we also want Disney to earn our love. They did that with Inside Out, after all.

The big question becomes the following: will Onward usher in a new era of Pixar? Can they erase past scandals or mistakes? Will we see a comeback?

I hope so. Pixar is also coming out with a movie called Soul, about an aspiring musician that gets caught in a divine mixup. It’s been a while since I’ve expressed interest in a film and I want Onward to be the film that makes me fall in love with Pixar again. Maybe this will be the one, that will make me think of my dad, and what I would say to him.
Sunday catch up: Elections, billionaires, bombs and social media
By: The Upday Team
Tags: Jeremy Corbyn, Politics, Current Affairs, News

Catch up with today’s most interesting stories.

The two candidates couldn’t be more different.

Here’s some need to know stories you might’ve missed this weekend:

Who will be France’s next president? Voters across the Channel go to the polls today to choose between centrist Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former banker, and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen, 48.

The two candidates offer starkly different visions for the future. BBC News have the latest:

Facebook is getting very pro-Jeremy Corbyn. The BuzzFeed News UK politics team have built a ‘social news barometer’, which shows stories supporting the Labour leader or attacking prime minister Theresa May go mega viral on the social platform.

Which is surprising, given the sweeping Conservative victories at the local and mayoral elections last week:

There’s now more billionaires in Britain than ever before, according to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

The annual roundup of the country’s wealthiest individuals and families features steel moguls, oil barons and Russian oligarchs. Business Insider UK unlock the top 25 moneymakers:

If you had a late one Saturday, it can be difficult to catch the Sunday morning political shows, but don’t worry; the curation team over at Twitter Moments have saved all the juicy bits for you.

Topics include Labour’s pledge for “no tax increases to 95% of workers”, last week’s local elections and Jeremy Hunt’s admission more needs to be done on mental health:

Follow us on Twitter at updayUK!

An estimated 50,000 people are being evacuated in the German city of Hannover today so that five World War Two bombs discovered on a building site can be safely defused.

It’s one of the biggest bomb disposal operations ever carried out in the country. Euronews explain here:

We’ll have the latest on these stories — and more — in Top News, join us in the app soon!

Follow upday UK on Twitter and Facebook.
The Journey to Compassion
By: Jk Mansi
Tags: Poetry, Questioning, Philosophy, Otherdoors, Spiritual Growth

To go from

why did this happen to me

to

this happened to me

to

this happened

to

why did this happen

this has been my

road to healing

this has been my

path of evolution

this has been my

journey to compassion.

©JkMansi Juhi Kalra 2018. All rights reserved.
52 things I learned in 2020
By: Tom Whitwell
Tags: Journalism, Innovation, Energy, Design Thinking

This year I edited another book, worked on fascinating projects at Fluxx, and learned many learnings.

Previous 52 things lists: 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

I’m co-hosting an event on 14th December, and you’re welcome to join me: Fluxx Talks: How successful leaders are looking forward, not back

Tom Whitwell is Managing Consultant at Fluxx, a company that uses experiments to understand customers, helping clients to build better products. We work with The Economist, Mars, Bupa, Condé Nast, National Grid, BEIS, Severn Trent Water and others. You can get in touch with Tom at: tom.whitwell@fluxx.uk.com
Fake It ’Til Your Tests Pass
By: Tsamara Esperanti E.
Tags: Mocking, Stub, Testing

Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash

The classes, objects and functions in our code have various dependencies to make them work. For example, our frontend code needs to fetch data from the API. However, during testing, we shouldn’t make actual calls to the API. Other than that, it would be hard to spot bugs if we test all components of our code altogether. We need to break down our tests into smaller systems. This leads to the topic of test isolation where we will be using test doubles.

Based on this Google Testing on The Toilet article, an analogy for test doubles is a stuntman who replaces an actor in a movie. Similarly, test double stands for a real object in a test. The test doubles that I’m going to discuss in this article are stubs and mocks.

Stubs

We use stubs when we want to call data. But instead of using a real database or creating real HTTP requests, we can stub it instead. Stubs are used when we need our object to return a specific behavior so our code will be in a certain state. Stubs use no logic and only return the predefined data.

In Flutter, we can use the Mockito package to help us stub and mock data. Here’s an example of stubbing HTTP request in Flutter from our mobile app code:

On the first test ‘Test program progress with image’, it is expected that a camera icon will be displayed on the UI if the image exists. On the second test, a camera icon shouldn’t be displayed if the value of camera key is null. To know if the image exists or not, we must obtain the data first, but instead of fetching actual data from the API, we stubbed the HTTP request to return a specific value.

Mocking

Mocks are used to test interaction between objects. We use mocks to verify whether a certain object is called. It is useful when it’s hard to detect state changes and there is no return value. Below are some example codes from our mobile app repository.

First, let there be a BLoC class called GoodsDonationBloc:

Then, we have another BLoC class called ChangeBottomNavigationBarBloc:

Curious about how to mock this? Here’s the test:

Our GoodsDonationBloc depends on the ChangeBottomNavigationBarBloc because when our user successfully donates something, GoodsDonationBloc will notify ChangeBottomNavigationBloc that a donation has occurred. To test this, we stub the HTTP request first which returns a 204 status code which means that the request succeeded. If the request succeeds, we have to yield the SendingGoodsDonationSuccess() state, where leads to the DonationOccur event in our ChangeBottomNavigationBarBloc. To check if the event occurred or not, we mock it using the help of the verify() function (see line 18).
Why to Nexo #2: Consolidating Debt + Easing Taxes
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Hodl, Nexo, Crypto Investment, Crypto Lending

Following from our previous article, we’re here again with a double-dose of Why to Nexo. In this edition, we explore the incredibly exciting topics of consolidating your debt and minimizing your taxes with the Instant Crypto Credit Lines™. Because who isn’t moved by discussions of taxes and debt?

Jokes aside, this topic is really worth your while if you’re keen on saving.

Shrink Your Taxes

No, we don’t mean sending your taxes (or accountant) to therapy.

The Instant Crypto Credit Lines™ are much more tax-efficient compared to selling your crypto and pocketing the profits. This is because the profit of selling digital assets is taxable — it is, essentially, income. In contrast, cashing in on your crypto by using it as collateral for a credit line does not qualify as income, because you accrue interest on a loan, rather than make a profit.

This approach is not unique to crypto. It has been tried and tested over the years and is integral to the billionaire’s approach: borrowing against your wеаlth to make more investments and cover costs, while decreasing your taxes. So in true “fake it till you make it” spirit, try aiming high and borrowing against your crypto rather than selling it.

Decrease Your Long-Term Debt

If you have debt that’s slowly amassing interest while you work it off, naturally, you want to repay it as soon as possible and pay less in the long-run. You can do just that with the Instant Crypto Credit Lines™.

It sounds simple, and it really is. The interest rate on loans is, on average, in the ballpark of 10% and may sometimes be as high as 36% for individuals with weaker credit scores.

In contrast, Nexo offers an APR starting from just 5.9% and never exceeding 11.9%. Our rates are based on the amount of NEXO Tokens each client holds in their account, which allows us to eliminate credit scores as a criterion for APR rates (#CreditScoreNoMore!). It, therefore, makes much more sense to extinguish any traditional, high-interest loans using the Instant Crypto Credit Lines™ as, over time, you will pay less interest.

Even better, with Nexo, you don’t need to commit to monthly repayments or deadlines and are free to repay your credit at any time at no cost other than the accrued interest. In the meantime, should your crypto rise in value, its higher price can cover or even exceed your accrued interest, thus helping repay your credit and bringing you extra profit.
Medford Police: Voorhees man charged with burglary at Bortons Road home
Tags: Arrest, Burglary, Crime, Headlines

The following information was provided by the Medford Township Police Department.

On March 21 at 7:08 p.m., Medford Township police officers responded to a residence on Bortons Road for the report of a burglary. The investigation revealed that sometime between Dec. 28, 2015 and March 21, 2016, the residence was entered by smashing a second floor window. Once inside, the actor targeted the master bedroom and stole jewelry, valued at $9,000.

On April 1, a 51-year-old man from Voorhees was charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief. His bail was set at $75,000 full. At that time, he was incarcerated in Pennsylvania pending extradition to New Jersey. On May 20 Geoffrey Petit was arrested at the Camden County Jail and remains incarcerated at that facility.
Hope
By: Ivette Cruz
Tags: Poetry, Haiku, Spirituality, Spiritual Secrets, Positive Thinking

I am a warrior of life, striving to be a better person every day. Finding my voice on writing.

Follow
Thursday
By: Space Age Bonobo
Tags: Self Improvement, Poetry, Art, Politics, Health

Some days are so fucked

I pray for Aliens to come abduct

me

Some days I want to descend

slide down an aqueduct

& self-destruct

But most days are not like that

most days go rat-a-tat-tat

like Jazz

So keep up the chin

sing a hymn

for the weekend

to begin

Thursday
keyTango welcomes Alexander Morris as CTO
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Defi, Technology, Blockchain Technology

After working in the automation and digital marketing sectors for years, Alex found his passion in decentralised and distributed systems. He co-founded and lead technology at the Blockchain Institute Chicago, and produces content and systems aimed at increasing privacy and autonomy for individuals online.

Alex also serves as a Director in XYZ Technologies, which produces fully user tested MVPs and Prototypes for tech startups and intrapreneurs alike. Alex works with team members who have deep UX, blockchain, React, and React Native capabilities, as well as strong server engineering and deployment support. They take those prototypes and turn them into results. Alex excels in the role as a developer and creative thinker with a keen business acumen.

Alex has a technical background with a business oriented mind. He has been active in the blockchain tech community over the past few years and is passionate about keyTango's mission of providing users the easiest way to get started with DeFi.

Alex will join the rest team members of keyTango, who are crypto veterans, MIT and Ycombinator alumni. He will take lead on the technical development of our MVP.

Warm welcome to the team, Alex!

keyTango provides the easiest way to get started with DeFi. Our Web3 application made for those who are struggling with complex UI/UX that looks straight out of the bloomberg terminal, which acts as a frictionless gateway to popular DeFi products and services ready to be unraveled within a couple of clicks. Unlike YFI which takes some familiarity with deep DeFi as granted, we offer easy to grasp and navigate UI/UX, that empowers you with tailored content and suggestions based on your level of experience and your blockchain history.

Sign up for our beta: www.keytango.io

Telegram: https://t.me/keytango

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TangoKey

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSPmZ4BBT_QAA7w0NjKBIQ/
알고랜드, 모리스 헐리히 브라운대 교수 영입
By: Algorand Kr
Tags: Algorand Korea, Algorand, Education, Korean

Algorand Inc. built the world’s first open source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol for the next generation of financial products. This blockchain, the Algorand protocol, is the brainchild of Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali.

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Never Underestimate Women
By: Bhavna Narula
Tags: Women, Women Empowerment, Poetry, Society, Society Politics

Never Underestimate Women

An acoustic poem

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

I- I may look like the one who won’t put up a fight,

A- And that might flare up your winning expectations overnight.

M- My guess is you have started planning an after-winning party as well,

N- Not saying this to disappoint you, but consider this and let it ring a bell.

O- On one hand I have always been quiet, yet intruders fear my sight,

T- Think about this and see if you can spot their invisible plight.

G- Girls who are quiet are more dangerous than they appear,

I- In fact, they have mastered the skill of hypocrisy without any fear.

V- Venomous fangs won’t come out until absolutely necessary,

I- Instilling an illusion that they are buried somewhere good and merry.

N- Not that I am trying to boast myself or scare the shit out of you,

G- Gee, I never could do that ever out of the blue.

U- Up until now, I hadn’t realized my superwoman powers,

P- Propelled to take an entire town as if washed down by nature’s shower.
The Marine (2006) review
By: Simon Prior
Tags: Action, Thriller, M, Drama, 2006

From the Tony Scott school of direction — where the camera barely stays still for a second — comes The Marine, a WWE Films production. John Cena stars as John Triton (I wonder how long it took them to think up that name?), a former Marine who was busted out of the army and must now acclimatise to normal life.

That might make for a decent drama piece, but it wouldn’t be a very interesting action film. Plus, with all due respect to John Cena, I can’t see him doing a serious drama film at any point. Then again, if Mr Schwarzenegger can do it, I guess anything is possible.

So, because this is an action flick, it doesn’t take very long for him to be on the trail of a group of diamond thieves who have kidnapped his wife.

Robert Patrick is the A-Lister bad guy, playing a diamond thief with a mean streak. And, it seems, a whimsical streak. When he’s not mercilessly killing people he’s cracking witty comments that raise at best a mild chuckle. His gang of villains fare little better, playing up against the established cliches but are ultimately nothing more than bad guys for Triton to kill.

You can tell that the budget took a hit, because after the first couple of action sequences the second half of the film takes place almost entirely in the swamp. Allow me a moment to contain my excitement… There we go.

And everything blows up. Police cars, gas stations, more cars. Warehouses. Bars. Trucks. Robert Patrick. Almost everything except the swamp explodes, and often for no other reason than it looks cool.

And when will that camera stay still? It swoops around everybody in a dizzying whirl, only taking time to stop long enough to get a glimpse of Kelly Carlson’s cleavage.

From a script level there are several issues, but they don’t spoil the fun that can be had throughout. If you think too much about the plot, especially in this sort of low grade action film, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. With that said, there are a couple of narrative threads thrown in there that are either not developed, not explained or just ended abruptly. What happened to the guy Cena threw through a window? Nobody knows. Or cares.

In terms of the direction there’s one genuinely good shot, where diamonds are showered in blood, but that’s it. Some flashy camera movement doesn’t stop The Marine from being a mostly dull affair. It’s a shame too, because the opening 15 minutes or so are almost acceptable, and the big explosions are impressive but almost seem to be placed to wake the audience up between the lulls in action.

Where it fails the most significantly is in making John Cena indestructible, as no matter who or what is thrown at him he comes out the other side virtually unscathed. In fact you could argue that the same thing happened in his pro wrestling career. Snark snark.
How to Keep Writing When You’re Worried, Upset, Angry, Depressed, or Frustrated
By: August Birch
Tags: Self Improvement, Art, Writing, Creativity, Writing Tips

Life gets in the way, but the show must go on

How to Keep Writing Even When You’re Emotional

That book won’t write itself. Writing is such an emotional task, it’s closely-coupled with our emotions. Writing is much easier when we’re motivated, up-beat, and happy. We’re human, though. So, how we keep writing during our darker days? We all have them. They effect our behavior.

Everything about writing is an emotional response.

Not only do we craft stories to engage the reader’s emotions, but we contend with our own bundled emotions, both about the work we write and about the external world around our writing.

Maybe our friend or partner doesn’t understand the time necessary behind the keyboard. Perhaps you have a death in the family? Lose your job? Cat runs away? Your printer is out of toner and you need a few manuscript pages on your way out the door?

We’re writers. We’re human. It’s a volatile combination.
The 12 Cocktails of Christmas
By: Melissa Rayworth
Tags: Holidays, Drinks, Drink Recipes, Cocktails, Christmas

The taxi had dropped us off a good hundred yards from our actual destination, but we couldn’t blame the driver. The place we were seeking wasn’t exactly easy to find.

So we walked along a massive Bangkok thoroughfare called Asok Montri as cars whizzed by us. We walked past the old Siam Society, where Ted’s father had been a life member since the late 1950s, and we kept going until we stopped just short of the water-taxi canal that runs along Petchaburi Road— one of the last big canals remaining in a city once full of them.

Turning down a tiny side street, we scanned our surroundings in search of an unmarked door that led to a tiny, hidden bar called Q&A.

At that moment, the place — appropriately — held more questions for us than answers. But it would soon become a catalyst for the learning experience that has us sharing these recipes with you today.

That night, we stepped up to a heavy, unmarked wooden door and — really hoping we’d guessed right — we pushed it open. Inside, we found a Southeast Asian version of some impossibly stylish place where Don Draper might go after work for one perfect drink (or, let’s be honest, several).

We made our way through the empty foyer and stepped deeper into the narrow space. The walls were encased in a caramel-colored hardwood polished to a crystalline sheen, and they curved inward as they met the room’s low ceiling. It was as if we’d suddenly boarded a perfectly chic, midcentury-modern train car bound for somewhere spectacular.

Evil Man Blues, Bangkok, 2017. Photo ©Ted Anthony, 2017.

We slipped into two leather seats at the bar and began talking with the bartender. At Q&A, There’s always plenty of time to talk with the bartender— in fact, that’s part of the point. Flanked by rows of flavored syrups and homemade bitters and creatively infused liquors, these bartenders don’t have any interest in cranking out basic cocktails.

They’ve dreamed up a menu of drinks that are complex and remarkable, yet somehow not pretentious. But their real talent is creating something just for you. They want to know what base liquors you like and what kinds of tastes — what foods, what flowers — speak to your heart and mind.

Over the course of three-plus years visiting this bar and others — Vesper, Evil Man Blues, the now-defunct but truly wonderful, railroad-themed Track 17, Iron Fairies and its sister (brother?) bar Iron Balls, and the curiously named, Edwardian pharmacy-inspired Sugar Ray You’ve Just Been Poisoned — we became students of craft cocktails.
A Silly Little Rhyme
By: Don Stouder
Tags: Sharethelove, Poetry, LGBTQ, Love, Poetry On Medium

A Silly Little Rhyme

Still, the best looking guy in the room

Cahuilla Elders, by Tim Gilbert

This is a poem for my

husband Tim, whose large and

vulnerable eyes hide behind a

funny and wise book cover,

forward written by the frightened

child who dwells inside turning pages

when no one is looking.

When we met you were so confident

and I thought you knew

you were beautiful and fair

your bright eyes and hair

and I guess you don’t know

that like us all you’re special

but must be told and re-told

until it takes hold

so I’ll be here to tell you,

and hold you when it gets hard,

and maybe grow a little myself

and if you push me away,

don’t be surprised if I stay

because it’s what I’m supposed to do,

and it’s probably what you want too

so I write this for the man

who truly saved my life,

in every way that ever mattered.

This is a poem for my husband Tim,

who is usually

the best looking guy

in the room.
Ceramic’s blog has a new home!
By: Danny Zuckerman
Tags: Ethereum, Ipfs, Web3, Identity, Decentralization

Join us at blog.ceramic.network for news, product updates, stories and tutorials from the Ceramic core team and ecosystem.

As Ceramic’s ecosystem has grown, so has our content library. To make it more accessible and discoverable we are migrating to a new Ceramic Blog.

In addition to product announcements, the blog will host short tutorials, stories about the design and implementation of the Ceramic protocol, recorded community and core devs calls, and much more. It will be home to all you need to see and hear to keep up to date with the Ceramic ecosystem.

You can also sign up for our mailing list to get updates by email, join the conversation in our discord community, or follow us on twitter.
We’ve Discovered an Untapped Local Authority Gold Mine
By: Luke Piper
Tags: Local Authority, Public Service, Data, Website, Local Government

The gold rush missed this one

An overlooked problem

We think we’ve uncovered a big stumbling block when it comes to local authorities delivering excellent public services.

Our research tells us local authorities aren’t using their website data as effectively as they could be.

Our research

We’ve been busy collecting data from local authorities across Wales measuring how well they are using their website data.

The results so far indicate that most of the local authorities use the “out of the box” default settings for Google Analytics.

This surprised us.

It’s the 21st century and local authorities have become living, breathing digital entities. The digital services they provide are increasingly being transformed from paper to binary and as a result websites are not a thing that local authorities use —in many ways local authorities are websites.

So why are they neglecting their website data?

Whether its reporting your bin collection online or registering to pay council tax, a websites importance in the delivery of end to end digital services cannot be understated.

As more services become digitised local authority websites are becoming bigger and more complex often generating vast amounts of data.

If harnessed correctly, website analytics can help an organisation to:

Understand user behaviour

Establish user acquisition

Track advertising/marketing campaigns

Optimise user experience

Recognise behaviour flow

Our research suggests, in the current state, Welsh local authorities are delivering web services based on assumptions about what the user needs rather than acting on the evidence.

In other words, blindly.

Commitment to the cause

Many local authorities have had an analytics tool sifting through their website data for years.

They may have forgotten about it under all the pressures they face.

We’re here to remind them that they’re sitting on top of an untapped gold mine of information.

How we can help

We’ve worked with central government, local government, private and third sector organisations on basic to very complex website analytics projects.

We recognise the need in local government to get better with data and it’s our mission to help them do this.

So we’ve decided to hold a Google Analytics for the Public Sector Workshop in Cardiff on the 15th of November.

It’s aimed at helping public sector servants who work in digital, marketing or service delivery get better at setting up and extrapolating insight from their organisations website data.

We hope to see you there.
La Cucaracha
By: Background Noise Comics
Tags: Humor, Comics, Cartoon, Anger, Bugs

Written by

Daily comic by Lisa Burdige and John Hazard about balancing life, love and kids in the gig economy.
Why I Am Staying On Medium
By: Mark Starlin
Tags: Friendship, Community, Writing, Creativity, Reading

It seems every six months or so, a group of writers get outraged or disillusioned and leave Medium. Usually, after venting for a few weeks, they post a Why I Am Leaving Medium story.

So I thought I would write a Why I Am Staying On Medium story to balance things out a little.

I am not going to criticize anyone’s reasons for leaving. Everyone is an individual with individual needs and opinions. They have to decide what is best for them, and I respect that. I wish them well.
About Zane Dickens: Welcome to my Medium Page!
By: Zane Dickens
Tags: Writing, Creativity, Fiction, Short Story, Psychology

About Me —Zane Dickens

A storyteller in paint, pixels, and prose.

I’m a mid-thirties writer and artist, a user experience designer at a health NGO by day, and a wannabe polymath by night.

I tend to meander and explore things.

Building up skills in things I find interesting.

And so, I’ve worked professionally as a documentary filmmaker, TV true-crime series editor, promo ad director, online entrepreneur, front-end developer, copywriter, and many flavours of designer.

I remembered that I’m an artist at heart.

I started painting again during our very strict lockdown in South Africa.

I had previously stopped just after high school.

As a silver lining to being cooped up, I now had a bit of extra time on my hands. It’s been a great way to unplug and be creative in an analogue way. This is my favourite post about this journey:

I’ve started a new painting for my three-year-old daughter. She has requested a unicorn, a castle, and rainbows. 🦄 🌈 🏰