fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
We Sit Quietly
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Poetry, Poet, Poem, Pain, Love

your anger is

a midnight pier

a lonely dune

no hope in here

a swollen drought

my receded clout

I say softness

you forget my name

the words are droplets

in an empty void

I stay.

sound stops.

we sit quietly these days.
Permission.io empowers individuals to monetize their personal data, take back power and influence from Silicon Valley
Tags: Crypto, Advertising, Permission Marketing, Ecommerce, Cryptocurrency

Permission.io empowers individuals to monetize their personal data, take back power and influence from Silicon Valley Permission.io Follow Aug 28, 2020 · 2 min read

Permission.io, the leading provider of permission advertising for e-commerce, has come out of beta to make the site available to both consumers and online retail partners.

Individuals are now able to earn value from their personal data while also having more control over who sees it and — more importantly — who doesn’t. Permission’s common sense approach enables people to interact with their favorite brands and merchants without subjecting them to intrusive, irrelevant ads that have enabled tech giants to invade all aspects of life.

“Firms including Amazon, Google, Facebook and TikTok have made billions mining personal data and selling it to third-parties,” said Charles Silver, founder of Permission. “These riches have enabled them to exert outsize influence across all areas of society — this is the beginning of the end of that nearly unchecked power, and it cannot come soon enough for billions of people around the world.”

Online shoppers have become increasingly weary of retailers and search giants exploiting their information. Just as private companies created this situation, so too can they solve it.

By incentivizing people with the Permission Coin (ASK®) to engage with brands and retailers through permission advertising and content, advertisers can build trust and earn loyalty while also better targeting their ads to make them more relevant and even entertaining while reducing ad spend and achieving a higher return on investment (ROI).

“ASK’s utility comes in its game-changing use case,” Silver added. “By enabling anyone, anywhere to earn value for their time and data, Permission has decentralized and democratized access to information in the most meaningful way since the advent of social media.”

Permission.io already has more than 350,000 users and has added more than 30,000 in the past week alone, making it one of the fastest growing blockchain projects anywhere. ASK serves as the fuel for this growth, with users able to earn ASK through interactions on ecommerce platforms.

“We have always been committed to seeking blockchain projects with practical application,” Charlies Liu, COO at Collinstar Capital, which earlier this week announced an investment in the project. “Permission’s approach to solving for data ownership within the e-commerce ecosystem is best-in-class.”

ASK Coin transacts on an independent blockchain that is easily scalable and does not have the congestion or fee volatility issues plaguing other distributed ledgers.

To learn more about Permission and ASK, visit Permission.io. Sign up is quick, simple.
How Gentrified is YOUR Neighborhood?
By: The Nib
Tags: Satire, Gentrification, Comics, Hipster

Sign up for Taking Stock of COVID: New comics from The Nib

By The Nib

New comics from Matt Lubchansky, Keith Knight, and Niccolo Pizarro. Plus How Seniors Are Living With COVID-19. Take a look
Here’s What You Need to Know about Symbolism
By: Brian Rowe
Tags: Creativity, Symbolism, Writing, Productivity, Fiction Writing

There’s so much to think about when you’re drafting a short story or a novel.

You’re thinking about making the narrative compelling and surprising, you’re thinking about making your main character interesting, you’re thinking about the quality of your prose, and if your themes are coming across.

You’re thinking about your genre and the expectations that come with that, too.

I guarantee you that throughout the writing of my twenty-one novels over the last ten years, I have spent little to no time thinking about symbolism.

Symbolism is something I was forced to look for in the books I read in high school. As part of AP papers I would have to write about Jane Eyre, and The Scarlett Letter, and A Tale of Two Cities.
Huobi x CoinMarketCal 👀 A Coin To Keep Your Eye On!
By: Huobi Global
Tags: Xmr, Crypto, Cryptocurrency

What is XMR?

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which have transparent blockchains, Monero uses cryptography to shield sending and receiving addresses, as well as transacted amounts. Every Monero transaction, by default, obfuscates sending and receiving addresses as well as transacted amounts. Monero is fungible. This means Monero will always be accepted without the risk of censorship. Monero is not a corporation. It is developed by cryptography and distributed systems experts from all over the world that donate their time or are funded by community donations. This means that Monero can’t be shut down by any one country and is not constrained by any particular legal jurisdiction.

XMR/BTC 1D Feb. 3rd 21:41:35

Analysis

XMR has enjoyed a health bullish trend in January, with bottom-buyers experiencing a 34% gain. as the price broke though a significant monthly level. This monthly level around 0.00748 gave support during a brief test last week, encouraging bulls to push up while creating a bullish cross on the Ichimoku cloud.

A breakthrough could give excellent returns for buyers in the current area, with considerable room to climb to the next resistance around the weekly level at 0.009387 or beyond to the daily/weekly orders around 0.010714.

🔥Trade XMR on Huobi

🔥Follow Us On Twitter @HuobiGlobal + @CoinMarketCal

🔥www.huobi.com ; https://coinmarketcal.com/

Disclaimers: Digital assets are innovative trading products, and prices fluctuate greatly. Please rationally judge your trading ability and make decisions prudently. Please note that view and opinions are not of Huobi and are that of traders and analysts from various online communities including Coinmarketcal. As always do your own research and trade at your own caution when buying and selling all digital assets within the Huobi ecosystem.
Now’s the Time to Take Stadia Seriously
By: Austin Harvey
Tags: Google, Future, Technology, Gaming, Features

Now’s the Time to Take Stadia Seriously

Google’s gaming platform is finally recommendable

I was caught off-guard recently when I read an article from The Verge saying that Cyberpunk 2077 performs best on next-generation consoles and Google Stadia. Wait, read that again.

Google Stadia? I mean, sure, I’ve seen ads on YouTube for Stadia obviously. That’s no surprise given Google’s ownership of both, but like many Google products, I figured it would wind up in a digital graveyard within two years.

Instead, it seems that Google’s investment in Stadia is paying off, with many sources agreeing with The Verge’s assessment that Stadia might be the best way to enjoy Cyberpunk 2077.

Okay, I’ll bite. I, like many people, never really gave Stadia a fair shot anyway. So, I decided to try it out with a free one-month trial of Stadia Pro, which I was happy to find out came with a few games to play for free with the subscription.
Born Hated.
By: Maurice Blocker
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Poetry, Racism, Life, Resistance Poetry

photo by Matt Popovich

I was born black, you hated me.

You hated me before I could walk.

You hated me before I could talk.

You hated me before I could read.

You hated me before I could drive.

You hated me before you pulled me over.

You hated me before you asked me to step out of the car.

You hated me before I reached back to turn my car off.

You hated me before I felt the burn.

You hated me before I asked why you shot me.

You’ve always hated me, I just want to know why?
Do You Know Her?
By: Lisa Alletson
Tags: Poetry, Women, Self, Poem, Strong Women

Do You Know Her?

Poem

Image by Cari R. from Pixabay

do you know her?

she holds oceans

between breaths

in a peak

of pale foam

she makes aftercraft

of the undercroft

insides furnished

with sin

she is interrogation

low-leaning

unflinching

from your fleeing outrage

do you know her?

I know her
Follow Coin weekly update — New Exchange — 16th of March 2018 — Follow Coin — Medium
By: Follow Coin
Tags: Blockchain, ICO, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Dear Follow Coin community,

Please whoop it up, because this is the weekly update you have all been waiting for! Get ready for some really exciting news!

New Exchange!

With great pleasure we hereby announce our first exchange listing at Rfinex! https://rfinex.com/ WARNING! You can only send the NEW ERC-223 tokens to this exchange! If you haven’t swapped your old tokens do not send the old FLLW to Rfinex,you will lose your tokens!

Read how to swap your ERC-20 tokens here before you send it to the exchange: https://medium.com/followcoin/follow-coin-goes-erc-223

Rfinex provides transactions in major digital currencies and through the support of the Swiss banking system also digital currency exchange services in all major currencies of the world.

Our listing on Rfinex is a well thought of step towards global recognition of our Followcoin Brand and we are very happy with our listing on this exchange. Go to Rfinex now and deposit your followcoin right away!

1. FLLW deposits: 18:00 Mar 16, 2018 (UTC)

2. FLLW withdraw: 18:00 Mar 16, 2018(UTC)

3. FLLW trading: 13:00 Mar 19, 2018(UTC)

End date token swap: 16th of April

The official token swap will end at the 16th of April. Please make sure to swap your old ERC-20 tokens for the new ERC-223 tokens as soon as possible.

More information regarding this token swap can be found in our older Medium post: https://medium.com/followcoin/follow-coin-goes-erc-223

Giveaway

To celebrate our first exchange listing we are going to do a FLLW giveaway. We will announce these giveaways on Twitter page. So make sure to follow us and keep an eye on our latest tweets!
The 15 Foods You Should Be Eating Every Single Day and Why
By: Alexandra Walker-Jones
Tags: Food, Healthcare, Lifestyle, Health, Nutrition

We’re going to start by ignoring the fact that grapefruit and pomegranates are not even on the list. Mostly, I just really liked the image, but feel free to add those fruits to your list anyway — they’re incredibly healthy, too!

I suppose eating 15 different foods every day (or 17 if you’re counting the photo) sounds like a lot to manage. Truthfully — and especially if you’re not accustomed to eating this way — it is.

The idea with lists such as these isn’t to achieve perfection, nor to even strive for it. Instead, view this article and the science mentioned below as inspiration to incorporate more of these foods into your day-to-day. If you can knock out 5 foods on one day, and a different 5 on the next, then you’re already on your way to success! Please keep in mind that this list is only a suggestion, and ought to be adapted to your needs and personal preferences.

“Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it” -Heather Morgan.

The 15 Foods You Should Be Eating Every Day And Why:

Red/Dark Berries (blueberries, blackberries, acai, goji, cherries, strawberries, raspberries)

In what is currently the largest conclusive analysis of risk factors for death and disease in all of history, 500 researchers in 50 different countries developed the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study. They found the leading cause of both death, disability, and disease within the United States was diet.

Further to this, researchers were able to pin-point, that not eating enough fruit — and more specifically, not eating enough berries — was one of the factors with the greatest success in predicting disease (1).

Why makes berries so special? Well simply put — it’s their colour! Being the category of fruit with the highest levels of antioxidant properties, berries are second only to spices when it comes to packing a nutritional punch. In fact, a study by the American Cancer Society of nearly 100,000 men and women found that those who ate the most berries appeared significantly less likely to die of cardiovascular disease.
True Ventures leads $3M Series Seed in Fragments — A Low Volatility Cryptocurrency
By: Evan Kuo
Tags: Ethereum, Fragments, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency News, Cryptocurrency

San Francisco, CA. — Low volatility cryptocurrency platform Fragments announced today it has raised $3M in its Series Seed funding round led by True Ventures and includes Pantera Capital, Brian Armstrong, and Founder Collective. The Fragments protocol seeks to create “splitting currencies” capable of functioning as both near and long term stores of value.

Founded by Evan Kuo and Brandon Iles, the former CEO of Pythagoras and Google Search engineer, respectively, the two recognized a substantial need for diversification in the market. Currently, major cryptocurrencies are highly correlated, moving up and down together in price, which leaves very few actionable strategies for buy and hold investors.

Consequently, dips in price result in investors feeling locked in for indefinite periods of time, leading to a frustration over not having any control over when they can responsibly withdraw. “I believe this frustration will continue pushing the market to explore new assets, seeking optionality rather than consolidation, until sufficiently diverse assets emerge to ease the frustration of having to constantly time the market,” says Kuo. “One key attribute of Fragments is that they will move in a manner uncorrelated with major coins.”

Fragments was designed with the intent to converge on the characteristics of Nash’s Ideal Money, a theoretical solution to the conflict between short-term and long-term objectives when creating a world reserve currency. Their ultimate mission is to produce a fair and stable money for the world.

To stabilize price, the protocol uses an algorithmic monetary supply policy and dynamic reserve to increase and decrease money supply in response to demand. When the protocol needs to increase supply, it capitalizes a reserve and then splits — proportionally distributing tokens to wallets. When the protocol needs to decrease supply, the reserve automatically purchases tokens and removes them from supply in exchange for bonds, which are first in line to recapitalize the reserve under expansion.

“If we succeed in our mission,” says Kuo, “inflation will no longer be used as a bad word.”

For more information:

email: info@fragments.org

website: www.fragments.org
Important announcement! Changes have been made regarding Taylor’s business model reported in the Whitepaper
Tags: Ico White Paper, Token Sale, Taylor App, Blockchain

Important announcement! Changes have been made regarding Taylor’s business model reported in the Whitepaper

We re-evaluated some aspects of our business model, and decided to make changes to better accommodate the interest of our users, as well as the longevity of our project.

While reflecting on our initial propositions, we have made some changes to our initial plan that will benefit the entire Taylor ecosystem.

These are the changes we’ve made:

Token burning and proof of stake

Taylor will no longer burn 10% of TAY tokens received as subscription payments

We decided to implement a new proof of stake model instead of burning tokens received as payment because we believe it to be a better economics model for the token. It will stimulate users to keep their tokens to receive their exclusive benefits.

Free access to our service for TAY token holders

TAY token holders will have access to our service free of charge as proof of stake.

Holders of at least 1,000 TAY will have access to the Basic subscription plan.

Holders of a minimum of 3,000 TAY will have access to the Premium subscription plan.

New token sale launch time

Taylor’s token sale will begin on February 19th as planned. However, the start time has changed from 12am to 2pm UTC.

Our intent with this change is to provide a better buying experience for most contributors so it will not be necessary to stay awake, or wake up at dawn in order to buy tokens early at the beginning of the sale of tokens.

Information added to the Whitepaper

The following information has been added to the whitepaper:

Better explanation of service subscription plans (Basic and Premium)

Use of raised contributions (capital resources destination)

Complete list of team members and advisors

KYC procedure

Disclaimers

Download the whitepaper.

The Taylor team thanks you for your interest and support.

Follow us and get in touch

Find detailed information about the Taylor service, and our upcoming token sale at https://smarttaylor.io.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or on your favorite social media platform to stay up to date with our latest news and announcements, as well as, our blog here on Medium.

Feel free to post your questions, suggestions, and comments on our Telegram channel. We look forward to hear from you!
Why I want to become a programmer
Tags: Technology, Africa, Senegal, Innovation, Women In Tech

TESTIMONY BY Ndiaté Sene

Ndiaté Sene, is one of the talents in the FAST program and attended the FAST Bootcamp on the 17–19th March 2017 in Dakar, Senegal. She was one of the EPFL Choice Award winners for exceptional performance. We cannot wait to see her women-power reaching out to all other women to believe in themselves in becoming the next rewarded programmer in tech for Africa!

My name is Ndiaté Sene, and I am Edacian.

I had the pleasure to participate in the Bootcamp from March 17th to 19th 2017.

The bootcamp allowed me to gain knowledge in Human Centered Design, design thinking, UX, software development, but it also helped me to better understand my theoretical learning and greatly strengthen my teamwork spirit. The bootcamp was for me a way to go beyond the gathering of ideas, the understanding of the need and the path of the user.

During the bootcamp, I was part of NETICOA DATABASES team. The problem in fact was that NETICOA has several applications of services that use the same data. Example: a platform for managing civilian states in Senegal and an e-commerce platform. You know that both need data of the different regions (Dakar, Thiès, …). So if one day the government decided to make Sokone (my city) a new region, NETICOA would be obliged to modify the two databases. And this is a lot of work that the company wants to avoid. We proposed to them as a medicine (solution) the creation of a referential for this kind of data. This referential will be implemented in a central server and will update the different databases of the applications via the web services, all at once!

My biggest dream is to become an internationally renowned programmer who will achieve the biggest technological innovation of 2020.

Visit our website for more information about our current cohort Software Leadership in Senegal: www.edacy.com and see how you as a student or enterprise can be part of this digital transformation.

Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Medium, & Youtube!
Thoughts In Synchronized Words
By: Suntonu Bhadra
Tags: Philosophy, Humanity, Self, Life, Thoughts

Helping out

You are helping out 100 people with the hope of changing their lives altogether. 100 out of 100 will not be happy; perhaps one will. But that one person will remember your effort and might help 100 more people and make a positive impact. The cycle will go on.

Expectations

Expectation sometimes is a killer. Expecting too much is pressure; expecting so little is a nerve breaking, confidence shattering pain. The right combination of it helps to grow a person.

Contrast presence

Without the darkness, we can’t feel the importance of light if it is infinitely abundant. The same goes for sorrow and happiness. The constant presence of joy without suffering can make us complacent and reluctant. It might turn us into arrogant beings too.

Heartfelt love

Sometimes, people need a touch of love to turn around from their bitter-life phases. So much hatred is going around the world, and we can see the impact on our surroundings too. Changes begin from small steps and later becomes more significant with snowball impact.

Time to say

There is always a time to say ‘sorry’ or ‘thank you’ to others. Sometimes, we say, it is too late, it’s not. I wish I could say the same thing about ‘I love you,’ but love changes with time and feelings.

Spreading & adapting

One of the main journeys of life is to spread- from the dust of deserts to the snow of polar zones, moving beyond. Maybe, to other planets and the edges of the universe. Life forms change with time and adapt to the new surrounding. The same is valid for humanity, I guess!

Greatness

To attain greatness in something, you have to invest time. It becomes easier to learn in time, more comfortable incorporating changes and adhering to more incredible things in your practice. You can’t be a good writer if you don’t write at all. Practice, learning, and contributing positive aspects to the things we aspire to attain greatness can transform us to perform good (if not great) at things.

Our chamber of secrets

The mind is mysterious, contains a chamber of secrets. Some of the sections are unutilized for a lifetime. So, taking care of our minds can lead us to solve unheard puzzles on the horizon. But, too much exploration can lead to losing your consciousness inside one of the chambers.

Uncontrollable

We can’t control all the variables around us that shape us. We can only act what’s within our horizon. Sometimes, you can break the horizon and control more variables than usual. But there will always be certain aspects that we can’t mold into our likings. We have to acknowledge that and move on; life is a flow, not a problem-solving equation. Live it, and let it flow.

Continuation & barriers
Finding the Balance Between Evaporation and Rainwater Harvesting for Reforestation.
By: Octavio Gonzalez-Lugo
Tags: Data Science, Sustainability

Photo by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash

An ancient form to harvest water is by making a body of water or pond. Once the pond is dug, and the pond surface is saturated with water the water level starts to rise. And after some time a huge amount of water can be saved. Nonetheless, a common pitfall of the system is the loss due to absorption through the ground and evaporation. However, modern approaches use geomembranes or some other waterproofing techniques to prevent absorption loss. The following exemplifies a method to determine the size of an insulated water pond fed by a small rainwater harvesting system that provides water to a small reforestation operation.

The reforestation operation consists of a small tool shed with a rainwater harvesting system with a surface area of 16 square meters and about twenty small pine trees planted in plastic bags. After a few months when the trees are big enough the trees are planted in the surrounding area. Once the trees are in its final location the trees are irrigated for a few weeks to ensure its survival. The daily demand for such operation is about 50 liters per day or 1500 litters per month.

The data

The data consists of about ten years of climatological records, although the data is outdated, it represents the best approximation available. To analyze the available data three different scenarios will be defined. The max scenario consists of the maximum data value of a given day, the min scenario consists of the minimum value of a given day, and the mean scenario consists of the mean value of a given day.

Daily rainwater data ranges from zero to eighty millimeters of waters per day, and the rain season has a duration of about one-third of the year. Whereas evaporation data appears to be more consistent throughout the year. Ranging from zero to ten millimeters of evaporation, however the mean evaporation values plateau in two millimeters approximately. Both evaporation and precipitation data display a flat line on zero on the min scenario, thus the min scenario will not be discussed any further.
affair
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Poetry, Sexuality, Poem, Sex, Love

affair

A poem.

Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash

She insisted

the pressures of marriage caused her cancer

her man-child

ill-equipped to empty the dryer.

“I can only get off

if your girlfriend is on the phone

as we do it. I don’t make the rules.”

She knows too much about

hotels and checking in

free breakfasts and checking out

It’s fine.

Nobody is going to break up —

It can be summarized

as a business trip

as an essential expense.

“I cannot get off unless I know

there’s no way in hell you’re going to

want to marry me. I don’t want to

fight over who takes out the garbage or

going to the store or this or that.”

He gets to claim he’s going to climb mount

everest and don’t ask too many questions.

Lined with skepticism. that’s not

this game.

Plans are fine

Plans burn down.

Why did anyone ever think

one person for life would ever work?

What nonsense is this

almost inhumane.

“you expected something

impossible? that’s not

my fault. why are you

mad at me

for your insane expectations

of what im supposed to be? huh?”

Monogamy is too many people for me

I think they made the rule

to have the excitement of breaking it

like only drinking after 5

like no parties when the parents are

Away

They made the rule

so we could have

naughty boys and dirty girls.

so we could be punished, held

punished again.
The Tutellus Blockchain Demo Day will force to vote projects in a public and decentralized service with NEM
By: Miguel Caballero
Tags: Startups, Token, Nem, Blockchain

The Tutellus Blockchain Demo Day will force to vote projects in a public and decentralized service with NEM Miguel Caballero Follow Mar 11, 2019 · 2 min read

Tutellus will celebrate the first Blockchain Demo Day in Google Campus (Madrid) on april 10th, 2019

If you follow Tutellus you will notice we tend to become the first ones trying several things. After being prospecting all kind of accelerators & incubators worldwide, we can affirm Tutellus becomes the first Program with a Demo Day where the voting process of the selected projects is done over a public blockchain.

Forget the times where the winners where selected though dark methods; we use the NEM blockchain, and anyone who participates in the Demo Day will have their own token (XEM) to be able to vote the selected projects.

Why do we get complicated with this voting method?

There are several reasons that guide us to this initiative:

We want people feel and experiment blockchain services; to cross from theory to practicum, from bits to bricks.

We want that attendees and projects be the real protagonists. We should let people to “play” with the technology and services. Voting process is public and each vote counts the same.

We want people enjoy and have a good time, getting new addicts to the blockchain ecosystem; they need to realize this is simple and useful.

And what the h*ll… we want to become the first ones in the world to do it! :)

How the voting process will be?

We will contact with all attendees to download the NEM nanowallet before april 10th. We will send 1 XEM to each assistant, to be able to vote. We will publish the adresses to vote the same day, during the event. Attendees will need to install the nanowallet in their mobiles. They will vote through it.

The event is here. We hope next april 10th be the first day of a new voting era in the startup ecosystem. Let’s see you there!
The Ball Pit
By: Aaron Quist
Tags: Heraclitus, Linguistics, Play, Poetry, Reality

Photo by Greyson Joralemon on Unsplash

The aeon

with its eye

on the ball —

focused, and yet

playing —

begins to juggle.

The balls

freeze

in the air,

allowing me

the time to

study

each one.

The aeon’s smile

reflects

in their gloss,

forming

tiny spherical

grins, orbs

of cheshired

elocution.

The mouths

begin to speak.

The words

rotate the balls,

making their form

flutter and fluctuate

into impossible

contortions.

This brief

magic sings

before

a silence

and the balls

fall.

The ball pit

echoes,

an endless bell.

The aeon laughs —

swimming, slithering

towards me

through the pit

like a dancing

serpent.

Smiling, it looks

into my eyes,

focused, yet

playful,

and begins to

speak.

My eyes

flutter and fluctuate

into those same

impossible

contortions,

formed

by words and melodies

too astounding

to simply

see or hear.

I laugh.

I cry.

I play.

I glitch.

I blink

and it’s all

gone…

nothing

but a faint

giggle

left chiming

in my ear,

my pupil…

this velvet,

death rattling,

tinnitus.
I Mother No One
By: Tre L. Loadholt
Tags: Mothers, Mothers Day, A Cornered Gurl, Letters, Love

I Mother No One

For Mothers Lost, Mothers Yet Still Mothering, and Mothers Who Mother Others

It is Mother’s Day and I am outside walking the dog, listening to the sounds of the closest highway, hearing them, there is nothing that I can say that I have not already said about this day. But, I will say what I can. Mothers, you have a gift. You were given the knowledge to raise and keep up with little versions of you. How tiresome that must be on a daily basis. How incredible the strength must be to last for days on end. Knowing that you would be someone that someone else would look up to is a pressure and a weight that I cannot even bear.

Mothers, I appreciate you.

As I walk the hills of my apartment complex, I envision the days that my mother and I had our outs. But, we survived and are surviving. I am grateful for the chance to say that we moved through a tumultuous time and we are rising to the top. It is 2019, and I have entered my 39th year, and I still mother no one in the actual defining terms of a mother — one who gives birth to someone. But, I did mother. I do Mother. I am mothering younger versions of me, my cousins, and others and I get to see what this life could have been, but only part-time. And that is best for me. The older I get, the more I know this to be true.

Part-time mothering of others is significantly different from Full-time mothering of your own.

Fake Balloons|Photo Credit: Tremaine L. Loadholt

On this day, I wish you peace, love, light, a home-cooked meal that does not come from your hands and toil in the kitchen, and the overwhelmingly powerful gift of appreciation. You deserve it. If you are mothering the way you should — you deserve it. If your children can say positively that you are their mother and they say it proudly — you deserve it. If you have given your all, including everything left after it — you deserve it. If you messed up, lost track, received help, and are on your way to the betterment of both you and your children — you deserve it.

I wish I could make each and every one of you smile, offer a hug, a kind word on more than just one day of this year, but here are a few…

For those of you yet still mothering, those who mother others, those who are growing from the pain of not being mothered, and all others who fall in the category of mothering and the mothered…

We are sending you a heartfelt Happy Mother’s Day.
A Goat Showed Me the True Meaning of Being Open-Hearted
By: Jeff Chu
Tags: Live, Animals, Self, Love, Rethink

Science, it turns out, can explain that. “We consider small, caring animals with some of the same emotions and behaviors that we might care for our children,” Alan Beck, director of the Center of Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University, told me.

The pygmy goat, with its big head and wide eyes, displays physicalities we associate with cuteness called kinderschema. These traits have been reinforced by domestication. “You end up with these animals that maintain juvenile behaviors and juvenile morphology. The dog is basically a puppy wolf,” Beck says. “We enjoy the experience of nurturing. And animals respond by staying with you, by coming next to you, by wanting to be petted.” The chemical mechanism that keeps both us and them coming back for more is the same: oxytocin, the reward hormone associated with bonding.

One of our little rituals was a game of chase. I’d freeze and August would face off against me, and then I’d suddenly step toward her, and she’d take off, bounding onto the wheel well of the trailer and then around the back. Then, we’d do it all over again. Another ritual was a game of peekaboo. I’d chase her in one direction around the trailer, and then double back, and she’d either chase me around one corner or peek around another to see if I’d reappeared. When nobody else was on the farm, we could do these things over and over, until she got bored and wandered into the trailer to munch hay.

Christian Nawroth, an animal behavior researcher and goat specialist at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology in Germany, explained that she was just being a kid: “She was juvenile. So she displayed a lot of play behavior.” Three years ago, Nawroth and colleagues at Queen Mary University of London published a paper about what’s known as the looking-back paradigm, which August seemed to display when we played. Consider how you might tempt a dog with a toy. “You put it away, you’ve got this doggie gaze: Please, can I get it? You get the strong impression they want to communicate with you,” Nawroth says. The study showed goats do this, too. “Dogs have been hyped as being so special. Other domesticated animals who live close to humans, you think they act like dogs. No, they act like goats. It’s just that they do things that you know dogs do.”

I wondered if scientific explanations for these phenomena might dull the magic of my interactions with August. They didn’t. Science can’t fully explain what animals do to our spirits and souls.
Story Cancelled: “I’m NOT Where I Should Be…” (drop it)
By: Nick Haubner
Tags: Mindset, Storytelling, Mindfulness

“First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word. — don Miguel”

It’s a common tale.

One that everyone has told themselves at least a half-dozen times…

It goes a little like this:

You wake up one morning, drag over to your laptop, flip it open, and you hop into your Facebook newsfeed.

You breeze past the first few photos, more news about how “so-n-so bombed so-n-so” and Trump said something else he’ll later regret if he makes it past the primaries…

Then you see it.

A story (might even be a photo) of someone you once knew, or still know… They’re obviously doing something AWESOME… yet again.

Vacationing in Bali, on the front page of Forbes magazine, living “the dream.” Then the dialogue begins…

“I’m not where I should be. I should be further along in life. What am I doing? Why am I not succeeding how I meant to be?”

It happens. It’s okay.

…And it’s how you face this conversation that means the difference between a few days of “feeling down-n-out” or feeling a greater sense of inspiration & pride for what you have accomplished.

Here’s how we roll:

Link To Mentioned: 5 Basic Video Editing Tips

So, let that story fade into the background of your past and remember this:

YOU ARE GREAT.

You’ve accomplished much in your life, and you’ll continue to do so. Because that’s what achievers do.

So what if you’re “not where you want to be right now.” Go do it.
Dr. Keerthi R
By: Keerthi R
Tags: Profile, Air Pollution, Writer, Modeling, Collaboration

Dr. Keerthi R

Key interest areas: Pollution control, Modeling, Technology

Kerala, India

What do you do?

I am a Chemical Engineer with a never-ending appetite for research. I have completed my doctoral degree in Air Quality Modeling. A combined model was used to find the air pollution sources in Kerala, India. I am interested in collaborative works in the field of pollution control which could help in the realization of a sustainable environment. Apart from that, I am also interested in wastewater and solid waste management.

How are you creating an impact in your niche?

I have been working on models that help to find out the air polluting sources in any area, provided their source profiles are known. When the sources are known, the emissions from such sources could be cut down to improve the air quality in that region. I am also experienced in handling courses for undergraduate students in Chemical Engineering.

Where can one find your work?
Curriculum App Release Notes #004
By: Louise Swift
Tags: App Development, Apps, Coding, Programming, Learning

Don’t worry, these summaries are only sent to active users and can be EASILY turned off in your account settings (I’m not a monster).

Topics Can Be Grouped Now

Depending on how you use Curriculum to store and manage your learning resources, you might find topic groups useful.

For me, I was including a ‘group’ at the beginning of most of my topic names. For example, “Mathematics: Algebra” and “Mathematics: Calculus”.

This meant that Curriculum’s recommendation engine was recommending me algebra resources in my calculus topic, and vice versa. Not the end of the world — until it starts also getting mixed up with topics named “French Language” and “Programming Language: Ruby”.
The State of Cloud Functions (mid 19)
By: James Hegedus
Tags: Google Cloud Run, Firebase Cloud Functions, Google Cloud Platform, Google Cloud Functions, Cloud Functions

The State of Cloud Functions (mid 19)

💬 Google Next 19 in a Nutshell

Amid the fanfare of the Google Cloud Run release were significant releases in the Cloud Functions space. This overview will get you up to speed with the latest features.

Image from Google Cloud Platform

📈 Scaling Behaviour (Max Instances)

Specify the maximum number of concurrent instances for a particular Cloud Function. This allows you to throttle the number of requests you can serve to avoid depleting or overloading a downstream service’s resources.

📚 Scaling Behaviour Documentation

Image from Google Cloud Platform

🆔 Per Function IAM Identities

By default, all Cloud Functions share the same role derived from the same AppEngine Service Account. To accommodate the least-privilege access practice, you can now assign a named service account with the correct roles to EACH function!

📚 Per Function Identity Documentation
What happens when…
By: Kamga Tchassa
Tags: Change, Relationships, Life, Life Lessons

What happens when you lose a friend, find a soul mate (then lose her), make peace with old demons (then find them again!?), realize that you may be a bipolar, ADHD ridden, high functioning sociopath with a knack for unfunny sarcasm and an incredible skill for playing with children?

Let me tell you what happens.

Nothing. Life goes on.

There.
The Ignite Crowdsale Roundup
By: Damon Barnard
Tags: Blockchain, ICO, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

The Ignite crowdsale concluding on February 28 2018 put an end to 8 months of fund-raising on behalf of the Ignite project. A lot can happen in 8 months, especially in “the world of crypto” and, during this time, the Ignite team proved always ready and willing to adapt and evolve the project’s tokenomics in line with the ever-changing industry backdrop against which its fund-raising efforts were focused.

Accordingly, a project that started with a token cap of 100,000,000 IGNT and a USD-pegged token price of $1 to 1 IGNT, ended up with an initial token cap of just 8,000,000 IGNT, a secondary offering reserve of 52,000,000+ IGNT, an ETH-pegged token price of 0.00667 ETH per IGNT, and an exchangeable twin in the IGNX token, pegged 100:1 to IGNT.

Ignite commenced its presale 3 days’ late on 18 December 2017, due to CryptoKitties having run rampant through the Ethereum network and slowed everything down to a snail’s pace (true story!)! The presale ran until 25 December 2017. Ignite commenced its main crowdsale on 15 January 2018, running continuously to 28 February 2018.

The Numbers

Presale/crowdsale total raise: 3,530 ETH

Ignite INDEX opening balance: 2,118 ETH

Individual token holders: 2,237

IGNT tokens sold during presale/crowdsale phases: 558,866 IGNT

Total IGNT distributed/reserved: 7,038,820 IGNT

Total IGNT reserved for user/staff/partner/marketing incentives etc.: 2,000,000 IGNT (these tokens are not distributed and, in the case of staff and partners, are subject to a 24-month lockup period)

Total IGNT allocated subject to varying lockup periods and anti-dumping mechanisms: 3,023,888 IGNT

Total circulating supply of IGNT as at today’s date: 2,014,932 IGNT

IGNT secondary offering reserves: 52,961,180 IGNT

THANK YOU!

On behalf of the entire Ignite Team, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the Ignite project, and who continue to do so by supporting us as we build out the Ignite RATINGS platform and ecosystem. We are very, very excited about building something that we believe to be truly game-changing together with our community.

Join the Ignite HIVE group chat on Telegram.
Building a Decentralized Chat Client Using IPFS
Tags: JavaScript, Blockchain, Ethereum, Development, Updates

This is the latest in a series of updates on the upcoming version of the Dether app. In this post, find out what it takes to build a decentralized in-app chat using IPFS.

What is Dether?

Dether is a peer-to-peer, crypto-to-cash marketplace where users can buy and sell crypto (like ether, DAI, MRK, REP, and others) for and with over thirty different currencies in 140 countries. Crypto buyers can geolocate Dether sellers around them on the Dether map, and then contact them to set up trading conditions and a trading location. Buyers receive their crypto using a QR code while sellers are given cash directly. All transactions are visible on the “history” tab of the Dether app. Users can also view businesses around them accepting crypto as payment.

Dether is available for iOS, Android, and as a PWA.

Dark blue icons indicate crypto sellers, while turquoise icons represent businesses accepting crypto.

Why have an in-app chat?

Because Dether is a peer-to-peer cash-to-crypto marketplace, having a way to chat with potential Dether buyers and sellers is a fundamental part to the inner workings of the Dether app. Buyers need to be able to contact potential sellers, and sellers needs a way to reach out to buyers to agree on trading conditions and their commission fees.

In the current version of Dether, we’ve been using Telegram as a chat solution — users have had to input their Telegram username that was then listed in their seller profile on the Dether map (potential buyers also had to use Telegram to connect with these sellers). Although Telegram is widely used in the crypto space, many users delete their account or edit their username. As a result, a seller may be listed on the Dether map but impossible to reach him.

Through traveling and research, we also learned that Telegram is not widely used in some countries, like in Haiti or parts of Latin America, so it was important that we created a way to contact users without having to leave the app or download another.

Because users’ privacy matters, we wanted to be sure to implement an alternative to a central server to host or route messages, like those used by Facebook and WhatsApp. Creating a chat system is no easy feat. Here’s how we’re doing it:
Boxed Secrets
By: Tl Cooper
Tags: Poetry, Secrets, Love, Memories

Inside our minds

Inside our hearts

Inside our bodies

We wrap up little boxes

We tie little bows around the boxes

We store the boxes safely

The little boxes conceal the secrets

We hide from the world

We hide from those we love

We hide from those who love us

We hide from ourselves

Those boxes stack on top of one another

Wedge into the empty spaces

Get smashed against one another

Banged, crushed, cracked

The concealed secrets leak

Into our memories

Into life’s moments

Into our actions

The boxes topple over

The secrets get knocked around

Jostled, bruised, battered

Pushing against who we are

Pulling on who we want to be

Pressing down who we were

Boxes concealing secrets

Create the people we are

Hide the truth of us

Allow us to survive

Boxes concealing secrets

Implode

Our true selves escape

Our inner strength shines

Our flaws are revealed

Boxes of secrets

Hold us hostage

Set us free

Always struggle to remain

Boxes filled with secrets

Ready to give the world

The present concealed within

The truth of who we are

Hidden in

Boxes of secrets

Originally published in the poetry collection, Memory in Silhouette: Poems.
Stop Blaming Us For the Coronavirus Surge
By: Mindy Morgan Avitia
Tags: Coronavirus, Thanksgiving, Politics, Covid 19, Family

Stop Blaming Us For the Coronavirus Surge

On the confusion of gathering this Thanksgiving

Photo by Kyle Head on Unsplash

Thanksgiving is Thursday, and governors around the country are politely urging people to cancel all gatherings outside of our immediate households. Implying that it is, in fact, our indoor gathering of four that is contributing greatly to the surge in cases across the country.

The governor of Minnesota has taken it so far as to ban private indoor and outdoor gatherings during the holiday. Which, for us normal folks on the ground seems a bit drastic when science has said over and over again that small outdoor gatherings are among the safest ways to gather during the pandemic. But in his executive order, weddings, religious congregations, and youth activities are allowed to continue, with up to 250 people capacity…indoors.

Oh okay.

It’s frustrating when we see this trend playing out over and over again. A failure in government response means that the responsibility and weight of the crisis falls on individuals. It falls on our decisions and on our relationships. It’s exhausting and infuriating.

We see trends like this happen with climate change, we know that the majority of contributors to fossil fuels and pollution are large corporations who have little accountability when it comes to ruining the environment, but what are the campaigns that we have? Stop using plastic straws, stop using single-use plastic. Yes, that’s all important and helpful to the cause, but it won’t reverse or even slow the effects if the largest contributors to the problem aren’t held accountable for it.

The same is happening now with the coronavirus pandemic. Officials are keeping bars, restaurants, churches, and event venues open because as many say, to paraphrase, “civil liberties cannot be taken away in place of fear.”

As someone who works in communications, let me translate that into the truth of that statement:

“We don’t want to or don’t have the resources to keep you at home like you probably should be. So we’ll continue to have the economy running, not giving you any resources, and blame you when you have a socially-distanced holiday party that follows the rules of science.”

Sincerely, your elected politician.

The United States of America has spoken what many of us know to be true: making money is more important than our lives. Our livelihoods are up to us, in the face of a crisis we have no control over. Many of us have to go to work at restaurants and event venues because there are no other options for us. So we’ll go to work, exposing ourselves in large crowds, and then severely harm our mental health when we can no longer feel safe inviting five friends over for a backyard BBQ.