fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The Problem with Passing
By: Haley Gowland
Tags: Equality, Identity, Mindfulness, Culture, LGBTQ

This was my first time at a “lesbian bar.” My initial impression of the place? It was magical. Women were everywhere. There was a glorious feeling of “gay until proven straight” in the air.

To be clear, my partner and I were casual. We have always remained close friends with or without physical intimacy being involved. We both valued each other’s honesty and transparency in this.

That communication? That’s all that matters.

Photo by Wynand van Poortvliet on Unsplash

Yet, something happens when someone questions you. Something happens when you are asked to look yourself in the mirror and see someone else. Dressed in skinny jeans, with straightened hair and make-up on, we “passed”. We were obvious targets that night.

But the truth is, we didn’t owe anyone an explanation of our appearance, or our sexuality. Responding to that person’s hostile, passive-aggression was my first mistake.

When I reflect on my second mistake, I feel a pang of guilt. That night, I blatantly asserted we were gay. Sure, we were absolutely LGBTQ, but we were the “B” that so often gets erased from history, perception, and existence.

Photo by Samuele Giglio on Unsplash

How could I so willingly forgo our sexualities? I denied the validity of being bisexual, something I still fight to assert the mere existence of to my friends and family. Yet, I assumed that we could only be taken seriously if we conformed and acted as part of the majority, both by being gay, and labeling ourselves as together to prove it.

Since when has being gay become a majority to which we need to conform?

Since when is there one way to be rightfully gay?

Some folks like to assert a hierarchy in the LGBTQ community. They whisper that one group is more valid, or more oppressed than the other. Absolutely, some people are more targeted, and live downright hard lives. But that doesn’t take away from the validity of a stranger’s unique, and hidden, lived experience. This existence is always valid in spite of a “title,” or “appearance.”

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

That person summed me up on a glance. She decided that I wasn’t gay enough. Well, she had some power and identity issues that she needed to sort out, not me.

The LGBTQ community needs to get away from this toxic boxing and labelling. It’s the very same oppression we have sought to escape. We need to be a golden standard of acceptance, community, and diversity.

Further, even if my partner and I were straight, there is no reason that we needed to express ourselves differently to belong at that bar. Being straight isn’t anymore of a choice than being LGBTQ. Let’s not punish folks who want in on our awesome community and values.

Photo by Chris Briggs on Unsplash

It’s 2020: Pass as straight, or don’t, but live your life truthfully because we can, now more than ever.

No one can tell you how to express yourself. Doing so goes against the very core of everything LGBTQ: we are all different, and that is beautiful.
Authentically Us is a contender for the VR Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018
By: Fovrth Studios
Tags: Virtual Reality, Updates, Transgender, Jesseayala, Sheffield Doc Fest

Authentically Us is a contender for the VR Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018

Series United Kingdom Premiere

Authentically Us: We’re Still Here is announced as Official Selection and a VR Award Nominee at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in Sheffield, United Kingdom. The film is part of the Alternate Realities program, a leading program of immersive, virtual reality, and other ‘alternate’ story forms.
The Man Who Condemned Jesus Christ to Death
By: Kamna Kabir
Tags: Jesus, Christianity, History, Religion, Art

Pilate’s precarious position

Pilate washing his hands by Jan Lievens

Source — Wikimedia

As per John 19:12, Pilate found himself in the precarious position of pronouncing a judgment on a man with whom he cannot find any fault.

Worse, if he refuses to comply with the demands of the crowd, he would be judged as a traitor since anyone who claims to be a King of Jews would betray Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor.

Claiming the title of King by anyone except Tiberius was considered an act of treason by the Roman government. The crowd’s position was clear, either Pilat executes Jesus or he is no friend of Caesar's.

Pilate gives in to the mob and orders that Jesus be crucified.

Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd before announcing, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”

The mob shouts in response, “His blood be on us and our children.”

Later life and death

A remorseful Pilate prepares to kill himself. Engraving by G Wellcome

Source: Wikipedia

Pilate’s later life is sparsely documented. We find almost no evidence of his life after this 10-year rule of Judea.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Pilate’s wife warns her husband not to harm Jesus. For this, she achieved sainthood among Orthodox Christians.

Some church historians believe that a remorseful Pilate committed suicide from the guilt of Jesus’s crucifixion. Others believe that he was executed by Caligula.

However, given his important role in the crucifixion, he is included in the Apostles’ Creed.
I probably won’t get married until my mid 30s and I’m fine with that
By: Aphinya Dechalert
Tags: Relationships, Life Lessons, Love, Marriage, Life

I probably won’t get married until my mid 30s and I’m fine with that

Reflections on love, life, relationships and getting married

Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash

Growing up, marriage was the end goal of every little girl I knew. I always thought it was kind of weird. Or maybe I was just a progressive 10 year old.

Boys, crushes and dreams of Prince Charming was not really my thing but over time, through the gentle subconscious conditioning of everyone around me, I began to believe that I had to get married before I turned 30.

By the time I hit my twenties and still haven’t had a boyfriend, I began to panic. I did the math — 3 years in a relationship, then a year of engagement with an end of year wedding — that’s at least 4–5 years. If I wanted to get married before I hit the old maid’s age, I’ll need to find Mr Right before I turned a certain age (with a bit of a buffer zone of 1–2 years).

I stayed with the first guy that asked me out for 3 years — 2 months shy of being 4 years. We were just waiting for me to finish my University degree and do all of the typical things like getting a job, moving out and all that stuff before getting married. It was on everyone’s mind. His mom was even starting to have dreams about the wedding.

But at 22 years old, I knew I didn’t want it — not with him — so I broke it off. My mother had a mental breakdown.
The Winter Solstice and the Amaryllis
By: Jane Trombley
Tags: Personal Development, Redemption, Solstice, Gardening, Life Lessons

On the other hand, the home garden hobbyist can tease out both the mystery and the beauty of nature’s timeless cycle of nature of growth, decay, dormancy, and renewal, armed only with patience and a sunny south-facing window.

This amaryllis back from its cool and dark hibernation, and I waited with growing impatience for the magic to happen. It’s a beautiful specimen with large cream blossoms delicately edged in burgundy. Its sister plant responded almost immediately. I feared this one, despite the promising green nub, might not take to my ministrations. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

And then, today, on the day offering the least sunlight in 365 rotations around our life-source, evidence of new life made manifest. A coincidence? Maybe. A miracle? Perhaps only if you feel every day is a miracle.

But it’s definitely a sign from the Universe. It’s gonna be okay.

© 2020 Jane Trombley All rights reserved
Election Results
Tags: Rstats, 2016 Election, Code

Election Results

What just happened? I made a chart.

This morning I woke up at 4:30 am and laid in bed for half an hour, wanting to find out about the election results and also dreading it.

Thank you Facebook feed for providing some moral support before I had to face an office full of Trump supporters. I suppose Trump did give a subdued and respectable victory speech. Maybe there’s hope?

After I came into the office, I closed my door and made a chart.
Latest Airdrops July 14, 2018
Tags: Mining, Cryptocurrency, Airdrop, Blockchain, Bitcoin

Know about the latest airdrops in the Crypto-Markets and earn free Cryptourrency without investing any money.

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Ebony and Onyx Roots: Why AntiTrans is Always AntiBlack
By: Michon Neal
Tags: Nonbinary, BlackLivesMatter, Transgender, History, LGBTQ

Ebony and Onyx Roots: Why AntiTrans is Always AntiBlack

by Mx. Rhizome

Part of the issue is that Blackness is gendered in ways folx are still not ful ly capable of seeing let alone unpacking.

They keep trying to make binarist rules that inevitably exclude some of us from acknowledgement care and protection.

But what happened to us hundreds of years ago - The Maafa - happened to *all* our ancestors.

So critical awareness of how Blackness and gender interact will *have* to include and protect us ALL. Fuck white trans originated ideas that easily construct trans over here and cis over there.

They are more aligned with white cis folx than they are prepared to admit. White histories, white domination, white cultures, white privilege and racism unite them even though the vast majority of white trans folx struggle to not see it or deal with it.

Their denial has created flawed theory a that cannot possibly take in the scope of who Black folx are or of what happened to us.

Going trans theory excludes some of us from acknowledgement of who is at risk in a racist and transphobic world. This allows some of us to be exposed to harrassment, rape, beatings, suicide or murder without anyone realizing that what happened to us was about gender oppression heaped on top of racism.

The available language is still not enough to provide an umbrella for all us descendants of middle passage African ancestors who were collectively misgendered.

There is still insufficient understanding of how race and gender combine to make this world unsafe for most of us.

Binarist language that includes some Black folx and excludes other Black folx will never be enough.

Try harder. Think broader. Go deeper.
[Tutorial] How to participate in the Halving Countdown — Predict To Win!
By: Huobi Global
Tags: Halving, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

The Huobi halving countdown — predict to win was launched on the 14th of April 2020, with a pool reward of $100,000 USDT. Participate today and share in the rewards. Check out the details below:

1.You need to sign up on www.huobi.com

Sign up on the web version top-right corner

2. Next, you need to deposit a minimum of 10 USDT‌.

click on balances on the web version, you’ll find a drop-down menu (exchange account)

Click on deposit to get USDT

To participate in the event and share in the reward pool of 100,000 USDT, Visit the Huobi Halving Countdown Campaign. Also, you can also participate through Huobi app.

Mobile interface (click on option predict To win )

You share in a daily reward pool, only when you buy at least 10 USDT of the Digital asset listed on the event page including BTC, BCH, BSV, ETC, DASH and ZEC.

Excluding the daily reward, there will be a weekly reward pool.

The month prize pool will be the final reward pool.

3. To win you have to buy a digital asset listed on the event page, with a prediction of what you think will increase the most during the day and if you’re right, you’ll share the reward pool.

If you want to learn more details about an asset and what halving is, please click on the detail button on the asset box.

The above details are to help you get the knowledge about how the competition is open to every set of crypto users, with easy steps to participate with no complication a newbie can also engage and win from the prize reward. to read further instructions please visit: https://huobiglobal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000541026 it has also given a set of specific details and instructions regarding the event.

Participate in the event, Best of luck on your prediction.

Risk Reminder:

1. Trading in digital assets comes with high risks due to huge price fluctuations. Users should be fully aware of risks associated with digital asset trading and make prudent trading decisions.

2. Huobi Global’s announcements and information do not constitute investment advice, and Huobi will not bear responsibility or provide compensation for direct or indirect losses arising from trading decisions whilst relying on this information.
Introducing the Roots Network Members Program
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Bounty, Bitcoin Green, Airdrop, Roots Network

As the Roots Network continues to expand, we are always looking for new ways to increase community engagement, reward content creators, and bring new users to the BitGreen community. The Roots Network bounty program was first introduced in September 2018, and the first 6 months led to the development of a flexible bounty system focused on rewarding the creativity and marketing efforts of our community members.

The Roots Network began as an open form, customizable bounty program. Our community has created tons of awesome content since the program’s inception, including articles, videos, merchandise distribution, and even a BitGreen sponsored campaign to plant trees in Pennsylvania. As increasingly more bounties came in, we released a formal bounty submission process, and more direction with suggested bounties. We are happy to report that the BitGreen community has more than doubled in size since the Roots Network launch. To date, there have been over 250 Roots Network bounties processed. As the program continues to expand, we have been looking for ways to further reward our community members and bounty contributors. We are very excited to introduce the Roots Network Members Program.

What is Roots Network Members?

As a member, you gain access to additional bounties and opportunities support BitGreen. You will receive the Roots Members role on Discord, which will give you access to private airdrop and chat channels. Roots Members get frequent airdrops, as well as special bounties which are not available to the public. You will find that now, only basic bounties are available to the public. In order to become a Roots Network Member, you will need to complete a Roots Registration Bounty. After you complete your first successful Roots Registration bounty, you will become a Roots Member. Roots Network Members have access to more bounty options. In order to submit a custom bounty, you will first need to complete a Roots Registration Bounty and become a member.

What are Top Contributors?

In addition to the new Roots Members role, you will also see a new Top Contributors role. Top Contributors are Roots Network content creators who have created consistent high quality content for the BitGreen community. Currently, Top Contributors are hand-picked by the BitGreen team. In the future, we plan to implement a community-based system for selecting and funding Top Contributors. Shout out to Crypto Moonie, Zaisan_BITG_RU#8498, Arantuil#8555, cointalkie#3314 who are the Top Contributors from the first 6 months of Roots Network!
A Letter To My Inner Child
Tags: Life, Healing, Spirituality, Personal Development, Shadow Work

You are beautiful and precious. You are perfect just the way you are. You deserve to be loved and cherished for exactly who you are. You are a kind and compassionate soul. You are loved and you are safe.

I don’t ever want you to feel alone. Beautiful soul, please stand up for yourself. You should know that you don’t deserve to be bullied by your peers. You shouldn’t feel less because of those negative experiences.

Some people will never see the light that shines inside of you and that’s okay. You don’t need their validation or approval for anything. You only need validation from yourself.
The Uncertain Scene
By: J.D. Harms
Tags: Madness, Fear, Image, Poetry

The Uncertain Scene

A Poem

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

You can’t be sure

someone hasn’t set all the symptoms

of arrangements up

These people have been at the corner table

long enough to become a fixture

a future obsession

for someone with an eye

to anchoring chaos

Asleep on tangled questions

phrases of a memory that try

to escape the phenomenological intent

bound to books and ink

An awareness that settles like gravity

eventually pushed to the remnants

of the purple drink

And violence untethered

applauding an accidental madness

reaching for another nail
Breathless
By: Edie Tuck
Tags: Poetry, Fantasy, Haiku, Passion, Lust

Here you’ll find the bits and pieces that don’t really fit anywhere else. A place for everything and anything!

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The Power of Mindfulness
Tags: Ashley Nelson, Mindfulness, Gtb Talks, Inseus

The Power of Mindfulness

Ashley Nelson | Founder and Chief Mindfulness Officer, Inseus

GTB welcomed Ashley Nelson of Inseus for an evidence-based exploration of how mindfulness can unlock creativity, human connection and productivity as well as develop authentic, resilient, collaborative people.

Ashley discussed what mindfulness is, the science behind the idea, specific habits we should practice, and tips for how we can work with intention and purpose.
Colendi宣布ConsenSys Token Foundry成为其技术顾问伙伴
Tags: Consensys, Colendi, Fintech, Blockchain, Ethereum

in In Fitness And In Health
The criminalisation of Islam in the British media
By: Virtual Mosque
Tags: Islam, Criminalisation, British

Professor Paul Baker of Lancaster University carried out a unique research entitled, ‘The Representation of Islam and Muslims in the UK Press 1998–2009’. Along with three other academics, Professor Baker embarked on a rigorous study that involved the analysis of more than 200,000 articles, equating to over 147million words of journalism. The use of “corpus linguistic methods” in creating an “acceptable bias” was amongst other objectives of their endeavour.

There were some interesting conclusions that were drawn from the research:

For every positive article there were 21 negative articles.

Words such as “extremist”, “radical”, “terrorist”, “fundamentalist” and “cleric” have become synonymous to Muslims in the media.

You can read the full article here
Do not fear musibah (pt 2)
By: The Niqabi Coder Mum
Tags: Islam, Quran, Al Baqara

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

“And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, Who, when disaster strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return’.” [Al Baqara: 155–156]

These ayaat contain a gift for the sabiroon. In Quran when Allah tells “Say” it means it is a command for Rasulullah SAW himself. So here Allah is telling Rasulullah SAW to give glad tidings to the sabiroon. And Rasulullah SAW is going to congratulate us personally on the day of Qiyamah if we are the patient ones.

But look at the language of Allah! Allah congratulates those who made sabr. We make sabr when something unpleasant happens. Like a disaster or a calamity struck, or something didn’t go according to the plan. We do not have to make sabr or be patient when the going is good.

Now imagine to yourself that one of us is in a situation where he/she needs to make sabr. We do not go and congratulate them. We congratulate someone when it’s a happy occasion, when things went according to plan. When things work out then you congratulate each other.

So when things do not go according to plan, or we are struck with a calamity, remember that even if it is not what we planned for ourselves, it is what Allah has planned for us. May be Allah has put us in the whole ordeal just to make us achieve one goal, i.e. we may learn sabr.

And who are these people about whom Allah says “congratulate”? We will cover that in the next part Insha Allah.

سبحانك اللهم و بحمدك نشهد ان لااله الّا انت نستغفرك و نتوب اليك
Pay Anywhere with Mobile Wallets. Today, we’re introducing Instant…
By: Jason To
Tags: Banking Technology, Mobile Wallets, Fintech

Today, we’re introducing Instant Provisioning (also known as Mobile Wallet). This feature gives cardholders the ability to safely and conveniently link their debit card to their mobile wallet without manually inputting their card details, giving cardholders the ability to connect their Synapse powered debit cards to their mobile devices in one click.

According to eMarketer, the number of mobile payment users is increasing in the US. Users grew from 58.7 million in 2018 to 64.0 million in 2019 and is projected to grow to 69.4 million by 2020. More and more consumers are looking for the ease and speed of using a mobile wallet, and now with Synapse’s Instant Provisioning, your card program can support their aspirations.

Instant Provisioning gives customers the ability to connect to Google Pay, Apple Pay, or Samsung Pay wallet and agree to the terms of service linking directly to their Synapse powered debit card to their mobile wallet.

Like to learn more? Visit our blog.
CAPSULE REVIEWS: The 2019 Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Short
Tags: Oscar Nominees, Animation, Movies, Life Lessons, Short Film

(Image: Animation World Network)

“LATE AFTERNOON”

5 STARS

It was tight at the top, but this kindly kneaded dough of traditional animation is a hair better over the shiny and showy CGI cousin behind it. Late Afternoon is a sweeping little nugget of feels from the people at Cartoon Saloon and the Irish Film Board. Mothers and daughters, get your tissues ready. This one is going to delight.

The short opens on an older woman voiced by award-winning Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan (The Others). We learn her name is Emily. She is sitting in her living room lit by the morning sun. The actions of her nearby caretaker Kate (animator and artist Niamh Moyles) give us the clue that the older woman suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease. Where her biscuit breaks off to sink into a cup of tea or when the pages of a book are flipped, Emily and a stream of imagery dive into colorful voids that develop before our eyes.

BEST LESSON: MEMORIES ARE ECHOES, WAVES, AND MERE CUPFULS OF A LIFETIME — The wondrous flows guiding the storytelling of Late Afternoon sheds let on the precious loves of the elderly. Their faculties may be slowed or degrading, but resonating moments still flourish. Memories may behave like reverberating echoes, disappearing waves, or single servings, but they ping back, wash over, and accumulate. More importantly, the right ones last.

The power of these revisited memories in Late Afternoon piece together the different stages of Emily’s life and the important people that made it beautiful. The ebbs and flows are wrapped by touching and perfect music from Colm Mac Con Iomaire. Written and directed by Louise Bagnall, a designer on late year’s Oscar-nominated animated feature The Breadwinner, this passionate retelling creates a captivating visual parade. The other nominees might be fanciful or bolder, but the beauty of this gem stands above the rest.
The Walk
By: Kiki Wellington
Tags: It Happened To Me, Religion, Walk Of Shame, Sexuality, This Happened To Me

The Walk

Maybe I looked like someone in need of confession

Photo by Chad Greiter on Unsplash

“Do you want to come inside and worship with us?” you asked as I walked by.

I had seen you before, plenty of times. I’d get a friendly nod, a smile, a good morning as I went to the store for this and that. But never this…never an actual invitation.

That day was different, as if you knew exactly what I’d been up to the night before. Was it the way I walked? My slightly disheveled demeanor that revealed an absence of sleep and an abundance of scotch? Perhaps the story of sinful satisfaction was just written all over my face and you easily translated the tale of tawdry togetherness?

“No, thank you,” I said with a smile.

There was no shame in my game…or my walk.

More from Kiki Wellington:
Pundi X, Coin Central 의 ‘2018년을 구성하는 데 도움을 줄 파트너십’ 이야기에 소개되다
By: Yale Kim
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Partnerships

Pundi X is a leading developer of blockchain-powered devices, including the world’s first point-of-sale solution, the XPOS, which enables merchants and consumers to do transactions on the blockchain in physical stores.

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SwipeCrypto welcomes Kyber CTO Yaron Velner to our Advisors Panel!
Tags: Decentralization, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Blockchain, Digital Marketing

Yaron Velner is currently the co-founder and CTO of Kyber Network (https://kyber.network/). Yaron holds a PhD in computer science from Tel Aviv University. His research is focused on game theory incentives in blockchain protocols and formal verification of smart contracts. He has found several bugs in the Ethereum bug bounty program.

Yaron is also an experienced software developer with over 10 years as a senior software engineer and a technical leader at EZchip semi-conductors. He was a member in the data structure and algorithm team, which developed novel data structures for IP routing.

Given Yaron’s credential in the crypto community, the SwipeCrypto team is really excited Yaron is willing to lend us his technical expertise to our project. Yaron will advise our team on the integration our mobile lockscreen advertising platform with the blockchain. Fantastic addition to our team!!

Find out more from our whitepaper at www.swipecrypto.com, join slack at http://bit.ly/joinslack_swipecrypto , or telegram https://t.me/swipecrypto to get latest update!
The Big E3 Episode
By: Mitchell F Wolfe
Tags: E3 2019, Super Jump Podcast, Gaming, Videogames, Podcast

The Big E3 Episode

Our huge wrap-up of this year’s show

Jeff Onan joins us to talk about the big show. We go over EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Square-Enix, and Nintendo’s showings before going into our individual experiences on the showfloor playing demos and meeting folks. It’s a magical time that only comes once per year, so we sincerely hope you’ll join us on this week’s Super Jump Podcast!

Check out Jeff’s work documenting Sea of Thieves at https://medium.com/golden-sands-blogpost.

If you only want to hear this episode without dealing with a pesky podcatcher, that can be done here:

If you’re like me, however, and you LOVE pesky podcatchers, you’re in luck! The Super Jump Podcast is now available on iTunes and any podcatcher that picks up iTunes podcasts. Just search for “Super Jump” or follow this link to our iTunes feed. If you use another kind of podcatcher and we aren’t yet on its directory, you can still use it to listen to us. All you have to do is manually enter in the following URL:

Our theme and transition music is by Jamatar, who can be found here at his Bandcamp page.

Finally, if you’d like to write in to an episode of the Super Jump Podcast, you can do so at podcast@superjumpmagazine.com. You may be read on the show!

In our third season, we’ve been exploring a wide variety of gaming topics on the Super Jump Podcast, with the fun, enthusiasm, and positivity that we apply to the magazine itself. We really hope you enjoy the show as we continue into our third season — please take the opportunity to rate us on iTunes too, as it will really give us a boost.

Thanks for listening, and stay super!
Backpacking the Best of the Sierra Nevada
By: Tim Axall
Tags: Hiking, Sierra Nevada, Backpacking, John Muir Trail, Kings Canyon

Years back I formed the opinion while on a thru hike of the John Muir Trail that the Sequoia/Kings Canyon area is perhaps the best section of the Sierra Nevada range. Of course an opinion like this is largely personal but the SEKI area seems to be blessed with all the requisite ingredients for alpine adventure: rugged, undulating granite, grand vistas, the range’s largest concentration of high peaks, bountiful lakes and streams, and best of all relative solitude for those willing to tuck into the lesser traveled corners of the park.

With that as inspiration I spent the winter studying my reference books and maps to come up with a route that would afford an extended trip, preferably a loop as to not cover the same ground twice, and hopefully with a logistically easy resupply point. By spring I had a half baked trip plan and secured a permit for my girlfriend “Mo” and I.

I read snow accumulation reports all spring and watched CalFire maps all summer. Luckily once August came around the high passes were mostly clear, the water crossings fordable, and there were no major, uncontrolled fires burning in the southern Sierra. The trips start however would coincide with the hottest heat wave of the summer which increased the likelihood of two always present summertime hiking challenges: The mosquitos would not yet have been deterred by overnight freezing, and there would be an increased likelihood of thundershowers. In the end both would present themselves, but would be nothing more than minor inconveniences.

Our trip began at Roads End in Kings Canyon where the oppressive 92°F afternoon temperature and the incessant face flies on the Bubb’s Creek trail were an instant reminder that backpacking isn’t always wildflowers and stunning views. We were happy to turn off at Sphinx Creek where the steep trail up the canyon wall provided an escape from the bugs and a steady breeze helped quell the heat. We limped into camp under the light of our headlamps, wolfed down our dinner and crashed for the night; punch drunk from the evening’s exertion.

Day 2 took us up and over Avalanche Pass (10.0K’) and gave us the first far off views of the areas we’d be traveling through, including our first glimpse of Deadman Canyon. After a midday swim and a brief chat with the resident ranger at Roaring River we started up Deadman. This area isn’t heavily traveled, the trail is quite overgrown, and it was here that we had our first bear encounter. I apparently walked right by momma bear and Mo tried to tell me but fear had taken the volume from of her voice and I couldn’t hear her whispers behind me until about her tenth attempt, after which I turned to see momma with two cubs in tow, scurrying far up the canyon side. That evening was spent eating, dodging mosquitos and playing Open-faced Chinese Poker in the tent before 7:30pm came sending us to bed.
About me — Dale Thomas. Game developer, robotics researcher…
By: Dale Thomas
Tags: About Me, Introduction, Life, Personal, Autobiography

About me — Dale Thomas

Okay, me me me, here we go!

I am a middle-aged British man living in Nara, Japan with my wife and two wonderful Border Collies.

Luca, Ralph, and some weird British guy

I have been a programming nerd since I was 10 years old when I got a second-hand Spectrum 48K computer and a basket of pirated games for my birthday. I taught myself to program because of my passion for games and computer graphics.

Ugh! Who put that there?

In high school, I wanted to become a fantasy illustrator, but that didn’t work out so I went to university and got a degree in Cybernetics (robotics). After that, I got a Master’s degree in Evolutionary Algorithms (using evolution to solve engineering problems). I spent several years in Zurich as an Artificial life researcher, a few years at Osaka University as a robotics researcher, and then eventually wound up in game development in Kyoto.

I’ve worked on a fair number of games, but my most notable achievement was making the background waves and music visualisers for Sony’s Playstation3.

The soothing waves of the Playstation 3

I am still working in games as a freelance programmer, but I also became an apprentice Japanese armourer. Yeah, I know, a bit of a shift.

Working with my hands is a nice change from herding bits and bytes.

I love writing science fiction. In particular, I write about Lovecraftian monsters and plausible outlandish aliens. I have given presentations at conferences and hosted workshops on designing plausible aliens for science-fiction. I also write a lot about writing fiction.

I caught a mouse! Oh sorry, it’s a baby Ralph.

I don’t go in for social media that much, but I am pretty popular on Quora, where I have amassed a good number of followers who lap up my rants on topics such as atheism, evolution, science-fiction, computer programming, artificial intelligence, and Japan, among other things. You can check out my drivel here.

Yeah, we’re a pretty unique couple

I joined Medium because it is a place to take my best answers on Quora and flesh them out into articles I can really be proud of. So far, I am concentrating on the process of writing science fiction and fantasy, but I will probably branch out soon.

Embarrassing pose for a wedding photo

Anyway, I hope you’ll check out my writing, and I look forward to making some nice friends on this site, as I have on Quora.

Cheers mateys!
Gun’s Guide To Liberals Podcast 2: Facebook, Echo Chambers, and the Path to Activism
By: Bj Campbell
Tags: Guns, Gun Control, Podcast, Media Criticism, Politics

A second excerpt of the discussion between GGTL, Open Source Defense, and NAAGA on Thursday evening of SHOT Show 2020.

Topics in this one include:
Why American Retirement is Bullsh*t
By: Trevor Huffman
Tags: Startup Lessons, Investing, Business, Self, Retirement

My accountant died this weekend.

I didn’t even know she was sick.

I found out she had colon cancer and three days after she got the prognosis, bam, she was gone. She was a smoker, gregarious, and to be completely fair, she was funny as f*ck in an accountant sort of way. She’d always leave me odd messages come spring, “Trevor, your taxes are due in one day. Where are you? I’m waiting for you to get your 1099 in. I hope you are living your life better than me in this cold, lifeless, cubicle!” she’d joke.

“Trevor, are you in Africa riding an elephant, where are you?” she would rasp through the phone. “Trevor, I’m not working an all-nighter for you. Please send me your dividend statements immediately.”

Now she’s dead.

I think about her and I wonder: was she happy with her life? Was her passion math? Was she waiting to retire before she went to the Galapagos Islands? What hadn’t she gotten to do that she had always wanted to? Did she ever want to stop smoking?

I don’t know if those were her questions, but I wonder if she was trying to get to that place of American retirement so she could find her own answers.
Validate Your APIs With OpenAPI Schema Validator
By: Dennis O'Keeffe
Tags: Nodejs, API, Json, Yaml

In the previous post, I went on a small spike to explore generating TypeScript types from valid JSON schemas. Now, I want to look a little deeper at OpenAPI Schema validation.

This example will build a little more on top of the previous post, however, it is not required reading.

Getting Started

In a Yarn or NPM project directory, install the following:

We are also going to add in a few of the pieces I wrote for the Book schema in the previous post, so create book.json and add the following:

The above is actually a little different to what I had in the previous blog posts, so make sure you do copy it across.

We are going to import this in and using it for our values for a component.

Creating the Open Specification

I am awaiting the release of the OpenAPI 3.1 spec as it is the culmination of a huge effort to align the latest JSON Schema draft and the OpenAPI specification, but for now, we will run with 3.0.3.

OpenAPI can be written in YAML or JSON, so, for now, we will keep things as JSON.

Basically I just copied across the example they gave for using components and transformed it from YAML to JSON. Then I made some adjustments to check for a path /books where the GET request expects back an array of type Books.

Setting Up The Validator

Add the following to index.js :

The most confusing part here may be where I am adjusting the Open API Schema to use the definitions from book.json . I am doing this is keep in line with what I was doing with combining the other JSON files. I am thinking in my own work that I may follow the precedent of splitting up component definitions and combining when required.

Running The Validator

Run node index.js . If nothing happens, then perfect!

If you want to test the validity is doing what it needs, adjust a value in openapi.json and see what happens.

I changed "description": "A list of books", into "descriptions": "A list of books", . Running the file again will give us the following logged out:

Success! Now we have a way to validate our OpenAPI schema.

Resources and Further Reading

Image credit: Markos Mant

Originally posted on my blog.
Pirate $ARRR je na Delta Direct!
Tags: Ecommerce, International, Pirate, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Pirate Chain (ARRR) is an independent blockchain using the mining algorithm Equihash, dPoW. Pirate Chain (ARRR) is by general admission the most anonymous cryptocurrency with privacy by default. The Tor network is supported.

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That Difficulty You Are Experiencing . . .
By: David Breeden
Tags: Depression, Zen, Unitarian Universalist, Holidays, Humanism

Photo by Issy Bailey on Unsplash

There’s a story about the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki, who was one of the earliest Zen teachers in the United States, just after the Second World War.

One day he began his lesson of the day with these words: “The difficulty that you are experiencing now . . . “ And he paused for effect. The American students in the room assumed he was about to tell them a great secret: how to solve a nagging difficulty. They assumed his next words would be “. . . will go away if you practice Zen.”

“The difficulty that you are experiencing now . . . “ the Zen master completed his sentence: “this difficulty will be with you for the rest of your life.”

And that’s why Shunryu Suzuki is still one of the greatest Zen teachers for Americans: He didn’t over-promise Buddhism as some sort of miracle cure-all. Buddhism is hard work. As is any program for changing our minds and our habits.

When I do marriage counseling, I make a point of saying: “Think of the one thing that you find most annoying about this person you are about to marry . . . . Now, you may think that the annoyance will go away. But . . . chances are, that with time it will only grow more annoying.”

By pointing that out, I’m not attempting to be discouraging. I’m attempting to help people be realistic. As was Shunryu Suzuki: “The difficulty that you are experiencing now . . . This difficulty will be with you for the rest of your life.”

That’s the bad news.

And the hope in that? The hope lies in our realization that rather than walking around a difficulty, we’ve got to walk through a difficulty.

Suzuki also said, “enjoy your problems.”

He also said, “Each of you is perfect the way you are . . . and you can use a little improvement.”

FirstUnitarian.org

Huumanist.org

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How to participate in ORCA TGE Round II?
Tags: Token, ICO, Blockchain, Guides And Tutorials, Cryptocurrency

How to participate in ORCA TGE Round II?

Step by step guide

Here you can find a step by step guide on how to participate in the second round of ORCA TGE.

STEP 1: Access your ORCA Cabinet

You will receive an email from @orcaalliance.eu containing an individual link to ORCA CABINET. Click on it to log in.

If you’ve received the cabinet link before, you can access it directly right now. Visit https://sale.orcaalliance.eu

STEP 2: Login to your cabinet

To access your cabinet create a password and login to your account.
Cross-Cutting Capabilities of Creative and Computational Thinking
Tags: Oecd, Learning, Computational Thinking, Creative Thinking, Education

Podcast Episode 4: CCCs with Yigal Rosen, Kristin Stoeffler, and Laurel Ozersky

In this episode, guests Yigal Rosen, Kristin Stoeffler, and Laurel Ozersky talk about the cross-cutting capabilities (CCCs) of creative and computational thinking. CCCs are part of ACT’s Holistic Framework for college and career readiness.

[If the player doesn’t load, listen or read a transcript of the show at: https://actnext.org/research-and-projects/navigator-podcast-ep-4-ccc/]

Yigal and the Learning Solutions team of ACTNext are leading some of the research and development in support of ACT’s transition to a learning company.

Kristin is a creative thinking specialist. She’s working on the 2021 PISA assessment of creative thinking and she’s also developing ways to foster students’ creative thinking skills for EDU2050. She is also an artist.

Laurel is a former math and science teacher. Her work on EDU2050 is about how to develop computational thinking for students. As she’ll describe, computational thinking is not just for computer programmers, but can be used in historical research for example or solving societal problems like food waste.

In 2021, ACT’s creative thinking assessment, the first of its kind will be a part of the international test called PISA. Students from about 70 countries will take PISA which assesses 15 year old students in mathematics, science, and reading and a fourth, innovative domain that changes with each testing cycle. The ACT-developed creative thinking assessment will be the fourth element in the 2021 testing cycle.

In addition to PISA, Yigal’s Learning Solutions team is developing its own course work, called EDU2050.

Follow Yigal and Kristin on Twitter.

Read a transcript of the show at: https://actnext.org/research-and-projects/navigator-podcast-ep-4-ccc/
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Humor, Comics, Illustration, Tuesday

First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.

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Serenity project has a new website
By: Serenity Financial
Tags: Forex Trading, Escrow, Forex Brokers, Ethereum Blockchain, Forex

We are excited to announce that we have launched a new website for Serenity project. The website address remains unchanged. The new website is currently available in six languages: English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Indonesian and Vietnamese.

The website displays the detailed roadmap for Escrow and Serenity Exchange development, the information on where to purchase and spend SRNT tokens, how Serenity project functions and the current list of the project partners. Please don’t forget to join our Telegram channel to stay up-to-date with the latest news about our project.

Serenity CBDO Alexander Stanovoy:

“We have developed the new Serenity website to better inform our community members and financial industry about the development of our project. We also wanted to share the progress of our exchange project with our visitors. We introduce a new important section to inform where our tokens are accepted for payment. Among these parts you can see all the brokers, the industry leaders who signed up to be the members of Serenity platform. All that information is delivered in a simple and clear way.”

Visit the new website.
What happens when you search for “republican” in Unsplash? I wanted to find an image to illustrate an article to come, so I naturally used the native Unsplash function on Medium and searched for…
By: Nicolas Carteron
Tags: Conspiracy Theories, Algorithms, Q Anon, Politics, GOP

What happens when you search for “republican” in Unsplash? I wanted to find an image to illustrate an article to come, so I naturally used the native Unsplash function on Medium and searched for “republican.” The results were interesting, to say the least:

Three out of the nine pictures suggested on the first page (and out of 31 in total, so 10% of the lot) display a single letter: Q.

While there are only 2 official QAnon believers in Congress, both GOP members, of course, it seems that the algorithms have already internalised the two movements' merger.
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Humor, Wednesday, Comics, Cartoon, Illustration

First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.

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Hash Card ICO review | Converts cryptocurrencies to traditional currency in real-time
By: Md Faruk Alam
Tags: Ico Analysis, Hash Card Ico, Currency, Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin

Hash Card Summary

Ease of use and superior functionality makes the Hash Card a must-have card for anyone who regularly spends money in foreign currency. It is not just for Ether or Bitcoin holders.

Hash Card is the card that really does work in the everyday world. Many previous attempts have been made to create a bitcoin card that offers a decentralized bank, instant conversions and reliable exchange rates. Until Hash Card, this has not been achieved despite millions of dollars being poured into the concept.

Key features
How Not to Get Frustrated with the Little Things
By: Chris Schatz Ed.D
Tags: Self, Life Lessons, Personal Development, Life, Self Improvement

Yesterday I came home from work and began a 10-day vacation. I was in good spirits (obviously) anticipating the events my family and I have planned and looking forward to quality time spent together.

Soon after getting home though, I walked down the hallway and noticed one of our bathroom towel racks laying on the floor…

I walked in and noticed screws ripped out of the drywall and the broken towel rack laying beneath it.

Normally this sort of thing would drive me nuts. It’s one more thing my kids have destroyed that I’ll have to repair. Any parent reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about — it’s an endless barrage of clean-up and fix-it tasks that tests your sanity. It’s like waves crashing into the rocks of a shoreline. Monotonous. Endless. Punishing. It wears you down slowly over time. The sheer creativity that kids find ways to destroy something baffles me.

But, for some reason, it didn’t bother me…I just shrugged it off.

I thought “Huh, that’s weird I’m not bothered by this. Why is that?”

Yet another fix-it project that is NOT the source of my frustration

Obviously, yes it was because I was in the infancy of a 10-day vacation, but I realized it was something more than that.

I was making the choice not to get upset. I was choosing to just shrug it off.

After all, I had the time to repair it (I had 10 days!) and getting upset about it wasn’t going to magically fix the towel rack by itself. Sure, maybe one of my kids carelessly yanked on the towel and pulled the rack down with it (my 4-year old), but so what? It would probably take 5 minutes to fix, was it really a big deal?

My mindset shaped my reality

How I chose to react to this situation determined how that situation went. It shaped my reality at that moment.

Then I thought, “What if I dealt with every situation like I was embarking on a 10-day vacation?”

“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.” ― Steve Maraboli

What if I chose not to get upset with things I can’t control? How would this shift in perspective change my reality, and thus my quality of life? How would things improve?

A shift in mindset would alter my stress level and my happiness for sure, but it would also impact much more. this energy would ripple outwards to others in my circle of influence — my family, friends, and co-workers, impacting them too.

“Happiness has to do with your mindset, not with outside circumstance.”

― Steve Maraboli

Things to ask yourself

How do my thoughts and actions impact my life, and others around me?

How could a shift in perspective change things for me (and others)?

How could dealing with something with a different mindset, however annoying that situation may be, change circumstances for the better?

What if we all dealt with situations like we were embarking on a 10-day vacation?