fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Dematerialized
By: Melissa R. Mendelson
Tags: Fiction, A Few Words, Poverty, 2020, Short Story

Dematerialized

A short story

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

“Do you have to burn that one?”

Josh looked at the book in his hand. All the magazines were already burnt. The hard covers barely burned. The paperbacks would keep them warm. He ran his finger along the cover. “Our hearts are not in Atlantis,” he said. “They’re already gone,” and he threw the book into the fire.

“That was my favorite,” Taylor said. She brushed a few tears aside. She picked up a mug and took a sip. Her head jerked back. “This is disgusting,” and she placed the mug down near the fireplace.

“It’s cold chicken noodle soup.” Josh lifted his mug and forced himself to drink the broth. He chewed on a piece of chicken and placed the mug back down on the floor.

“We’re going to get sick,” Taylor said. “Probably have to go to the hospital, and you know what will happen there.”

Josh lifted the mug up to his lips, but he couldn’t take another sip. “No more soup. Not until the power is back, and the heat. At least, the toilet works.”

“I can’t live like this, Josh. I just can’t.”

“That’s why we sent the kids to live with your parents.” Josh pulled Taylor close. “Come closer to the fire, please.”

“And watch our books burn? No, I can’t look at the fire.”

“Then, look at me.” Josh held her stare. “We will get through this.”

“How? There’s no money coming in. We’re nearly out of food. We just have a cabinet filled with cans of soup that we can’t even cook. We couldn’t even feed the dog.” A sob caught in her throat.

“Do the kids know?”

“No. I couldn’t tell them. Maybe, instead of paying both monthly bills on our cell phones, you should just cover yours.”

“Taylor…”

“No, Josh. We need to eat and not make ourselves sick. We have to stay away from the hospital.”

“Okay. It would give us a little extra.”

“I could go for pizza.” Taylor watched Josh laugh. “What?”

“Nothing.” Josh wrapped his arm around her. “I love you.”

“I love you too. This whole thing is a nightmare. So many people are suffering. So many are dead.”

“There’s a silver lining.”

“What?”

“Not that people are suffering or dead. I mean that there is a silver lining because we can’t watch the news.” Josh glanced at the television set behind them. “The news forces you to watch all that suffering and death, and it just destroys you.” Josh watched the last of the book burn. “When did we lose ourselves?”

“A long time ago. Would it be wrong to hope that I fall asleep and not wake up?”

“No.” Josh kissed her cheek. “But we need to survive, and when this is over, we have to make sure that it never happens again.”

“Let’s just get through the night, and then worry about tomorrow.” Kayla rested her head against Josh’s shoulder, and they sat together, watching the fire consume pieces of their lives.
Building Your First Flask App
By: Babatunde Koiki
Tags: Back End Development, Programming, Python, Flask Framework, Web Development

Virtual Environment

A Virtual Environment is an isolated working copy of Python which allows you to work on a specific project without worry of affecting other projects It enables multiple side-by-side installations of Python, one for each project.

You can check the python’s documentation on virtual environment.

Steps in Enabling Virtual Environment

Open a terminal, if you’re using Windows you can open command prompt instead or your IDE’s terminal. Setup the pip package manager. Install the virtualenv package. Create the virtual environment. Activate the virtual environment. Deactivate the virtual environment. Optional: Make the virtual environment your default Python. More: Python virtualenv documentation.

If you’re just installing Python, download and install Python, ensure you install it correctly.

Setting the pip package manager :

If you’re using Windows:

py -m pip --version

## You should get something like the one below.

## pip 9.0.1 from c:\python36\lib\site-packages (Python 3.6.1) ##You can upgrade your pip by writing

py -m pip install --upgrade pip

If you’re using Mac or Linux:

python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade pip python3 -m pip --version

## pip 9.0.1 from $HOME/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages (python 3.6)

Installing Virtualenv

python3 -m pip install --user virtualenv # For Mac and Linux users py -m pip install --user virtualenv # For Windows user

Creating the virtual environment

py -m venv env # For Windows users

python3 -m venv env # For Mac and Linux users

The second argument env is the name of the virtual environment which can be anything. All of this should be done in your working directory.

Activating the virtual environment

source env/bin/activate #For Mac and Linux users

.\env\Scripts\activate #For Windows users.

Note : env used in the command above should be replaced with whatever you named your virtual environment.

To confirm that you’re in the virtual environment

which python # For Windows users

.../env/bin/python where python # For Mac and Linux users

.../env/bin/python.exe

Deactivating your virtual environment

To leave the virtual environment, just type deactivate.

deactivate

Next is to install the necessary libraries

For this project we need to install flask

pip install flask

Image you should get after installing flask.

To confirm that you have flask installed, type in your terminal

python “import flask; print(flask.__version__)” #1.1.2

If you noticed what I did above, I used the python keyword, which opens ther shell for me, but I added some parameters seperated by semi-colon in a string which is what I want to write in the shell, the semi-colon breaks each expression line by line. This is useful if I want to just confirm something in this case if flask is installed.

Now we’ve confirmed that we have flask and it’s dependencies installed.
A Call to Action: Helping others to learn about Scrum Guide 2020
By: Paddy Corry
Tags: Work, Software Development, Remote Working, Leadership, Technology

Call To Action

At Serious Scrum, we believe people join this community for a reason: to learn together about how to use the framework and to help others do so too. It is certainly the main reason I am here!

There are many great posts out there from people at Guide Level certification. These help us all to read about the changes. This is very helpful of course, and Serious Scrum editors and writers are already contributing to this discussion.

However, In this post, I would like to echo a call to action from our friends in The Liberators, as I believe it captures a responsibility of serious Scrum professionals:

“This new Scrum Guide presents us — as a community — with a lovely challenge to find novel and creative ways to spread the message to those who wouldn’t go look for it on their own” Source: Christiaan Verwijs, “What 4 Key Changes To The Scrum Guide Tell Us About Scrum”

This call to action is an echo of something new in the guide itself and something that a Scrum Master is now accountable for.

Compare the wording from 2017:

“The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.” Source: Scrum Guide 2017

With the new accountability

“The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization.” Source: Scrum Guide 2020

It is not enough for Scrum professionals to just learn about these changes ourselves.

If we are really serious, then we will need ways to help each other to learn about these changes and why they matter.

We need to help teams and organisations understand what is new, and discuss what it all means in context.
The Man In Red
By: Matthew Donnellon
Tags: Life Lessons, Short Story, Family, Love, Life

Christmas is coming.

The yuletide brings about the discussion of a certain jocular fellow that I was a bit obsessed with as a child.

Although it’s hard not to be, when you’re a young child, the notion the person sneaks into my house and leaves gifts meant he was a pretty cool guy.

I watched all the movies, and each year, I would wait as long as I could hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

However, my small child like mind started putting two and two together sooner than I wished. Some things weren’t adding up.

First, and this is really something I should have noticed sooner, but I didn’t have a fireplace. I heard suspect arguments, but nothing convincing. I was left imagining the embodiment of the Christmas spirit outside my front door with a set of lock picks like a common cat burglar.

Next, was the note. I, and my brother and sister, would leave a note with the cookies we put out.

The next morning I’d find a short thank you. But, as I got older I realized that my mom and Santa Claus had the same hand writing.

My juvenile requests to have the samples examined at Quantico went ignored, but I was building my case.

Finally, one Christmas I was opening a toy, allegedly from Saint Nick, but I asked why Santa’s toys also came in packaging like the toys from the store. Surely if he was making them he didn’t need the extra plastic and cardboard.

I didn’t get the answers I wanted.

The jig was up.

The next year I was onto them. I was informed that I was a small cog in the vast conspiracy committed against children every year.

I was disappointed that my last hopes for magic to exist were gone. But now that I was in on it, I got to help keep the charade alive for my brother and sister. I was a willing co-conspirator with my parents, and a double agent among my siblings,

And I got to keep a small bit of Christmas magic alive a little longer.
A Garden of Love
By: Jessica Lovejoy
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Relationships, Nature, Love, Poetry

one by one

they fell

quickly,

frenzied

flickering

teardrops

of joy

for the sad

cries

fell differently,

slowly

in black

and white,

as if time

was standing

still

but the pain

went on

for miles

but the

happy teardrops

fell

faster

than

she could

count

they sprouted

in the soil

beneath,

and life

appeared

flourishing reds

oranges, pinks, and blues

a garden of love

was born

because of you.

© Jessica Lovejoy 2019. All Rights Reserved.
Rants, Raves, and Fun Facts from the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
By: Richard Lebeau
Tags: Hollywood, Culture, Television, Emmys, Diversity

Television legend Betty White receives the respect she deserves from Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin (Copyright ATAS)

On Monday, September 17th, the Television Academy announced their picks for the best television (and streaming) has to offer in a ceremony airing on NBC. Here, I recap the winners and review the show.

Reflections on the Winners
Open AIs Revolutionary New NLP Model GPT-3
By: Prashant Chamarty
Tags: Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Process, Gpt 3

We have recently heard that GPT-3, a Natural Language Processing(NLP) models have been made available by Open AI and is touted to be an invention bigger than blockchain. The extent of this transformation is such that this deep learning model can help things shown as sci-fi to become accessible to be implemented by college students.

Technically speaking GPT-3 is a highly adaptable algorithm that generates models but let’s not get bogged down by semantics.GPT-3 has been defined as:

task-agnostic Natural Language Processing Model that requires manual tuning.

So it can do specific tasks like text generation and qualitative queries with minimal user adjustment. Historically models have been either task agnostic or have required minimal tuning, but GPT-3 has both the properties and hence is quick to train and easy to tune.NLP is a branch of AI that deals with and enables the interaction between computers and humans using the natural language. The NLP model achieves this by reading, deciphering, understanding, and making sense of human words in the given context.

GPT-3 has been trained using half a trillion words (Common Crawl Dataset) and based on that has generated 175 Billion parameter model. Parameters are different rules that are set in different conditions by learning how language works. The complexity of the problem GPT-3 is trying to solve is demonstrated by the fact that the model consumed $12 Million worth of compute to generate this 175B parameter model.
Triple Single Review: Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey, Take That
By: Christoph Büscher
Tags: Music, Lana Del Rey, Culture, Pop Culture, Katy Perry

Initial reaction: Oh no, this is “Uncondituuunally” part II.

After her successful third album Prism and the not-quite-so-successful stand-alone single “Rise”, Katy Perry is back with the lead single of her upcoming fourth studio album. “Chained To The Rhythm” is a midtempo dancehall song co-written by none other than Sia, omnipresent purveyor of cringeworthy metaphors. Her characteristic songwriting does shine through on the track, but fortunately it’s not as overloaded with metaphors as other Sia creations.

Indeed, “Chained To The Rhythm” is amazing in that it makes current and important statements about complacency and delusion. The verses in particular are catchy as hell, just as we expect Katy’s music to be. Brilliant, surprisingly subversive lines include the pointed question “are you lonely up there in Utopia?”

Sadly, there are three problems with “Chained To The Rhythm”. Firstly, the chorus isn’t quite on the same level as the verses. Secondly, Skip Marley’s bridge doesn’t add anything to the track. Thirdly, Katy Perry (and, presumably, Sia) desperately need somebody to tell them which syllables to stress in words.

It’s simple: if a word doesn’t fit the rhythm of a song, use another one. The english language has more than enough words. But, like she already did on “Unconditonally”, Katy rather puts stress on the wrong syllables. Now, it’s fine if it happens once in a song, but on “Chained To The Rhythm” it happens way too often. “No-THING”, “hap-PI-ly”, “dis-tor-TION”, and “bet-TER” are only a few examples that make it hard to like this song.

All in all, “Chained To The Rhythm” is a good effort ruined by wrongly stressed syllables. That being said, the eerily cheery retro-futuristic music video, set in the ficticious amusement park “Oblivia”, is absolutely fantastic.
Some Stories About Moms
By: Victoria Ponte
Tags: Relationships, Gratitude, Mothers Day, This Happened To Me, Mothers

Randy Rooibaatjie for Unsplash

For Mother’s Day

For those of us who are lucky enough to still have our moms around, our relationship with our mother speaks volumes about our character, in my opinion. When I make a new acquaintance, I like to inquire about this. The answer often sheds light on not just our character, but our lifestyle, as well.

I once dated a man very briefly who didn’t want to continue to see me in part because his parents were gone, and I am still involved in my parent’s lives. Another area where our lifestyles didn’t match was that I have grown children, and he had none. Maybe he just didn’t like me, but he did have a point with regard to our lifestyles being very different.

I meet many men in my age group who still have one or both parents. I am 56 and am one of a rare few who still have both of my parents.

Just last week I came in contact with three stories about men my age and their mothers. Rich was 64 and his 91-year-old mother lives with him and his family. His Dad had died 50 years ago from MS. Rich is thrilled that he gets to sit down to dinner with his mother six nights a week.

Andrew’s mother is 82 and just had her hip replaced. She still works as an executive assistant to a high school principal. She survived the loss of her high school sweetheart when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack at age 44, 40 years ago. She also lost two sisters and a brother to cancer. She still has one sister. All six of her children have lived past the 50-year mark.

Jeff told me he still has his mother at age 55. I wondered if she lives alone at 89. He told me she has a lot of people around on “staff”.

I’m taking my mother to a destination spa this week for Mother’s Day. I want to celebrate the fact that she is still with us and relatively well after being diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer at age 83. She did 20 rounds of chemo, lost her hair and a lot of weight, had major surgery, and is now in remission at 84.

Someday my children will tell the story about how their mom survived a serious stroke while she was pregnant, gave birth while she was still hemiplegic and raised them with a disability.

If you have your mom, don’t forget to celebrate all she has survived.
The Encasing that is Addiction
By: Lexus Ndiwe
Tags: Mental Health, Addiction, Advice, Growth, Self Reflection

The Encasing that is Addiction

What is your poison?

Photo Credit: cottonbro for Pexels.

We all know that addiction is addictive, hence the word. Despite this knowledge, I am sure that no one who eventually becomes an addict, set out to be one in the first place.

Having an addictive personality myself, I set boundaries and try to recognise if I am becoming too consumed with the subject of my interest. Whether it be chocolate or people, setting limits is essential to combating thoughts spiralling out of control.

Despite all of this, it can still be a struggle. Occasionally this frenzy of a feeling can slip through the cracks into reality.
How to install Python in Windows?
By: Positive Stud
Tags: Python3, Python, Python Programming, Idle, Installation

Stepwise procedure for downloading & installing Python

Step 1: Open the link to visit the official site of Python to download with the link below.

Step 2: After you visit the website, Click on Download Python with the latest version as shown in the image below.

Step 3: Open the loaded file. You will see the Setup dialog box as shown in the image below.

Step 4: Customize installation first before installing python to choose the location where you want to download and choose the features.

Step 5: Tick the Checkboxes of features that are to be installed.

Step 6: After checking features, go back to install Python as shown in the image below

Step 7: Here, tick the Add Python 3.8 to PATH.

Step 8: Then, click on “Install Now”.

Step 9: You will see your computer asking for permission to download. Here, Allow your computer to download python by clicking Yes.

Then, the installation will start.

Step 10: After installation is completed click on the close button.

Step 11: Open Terminal.

Step 12: Check if Python has been downloaded or not by writing Python.
Questions and Answers
Tags: Relationships, Hurt, Writing, Poetry, Life

Your outburst deafens and distorts

What I am used to.

I perceive my tongue, tied to your anger — disowning

My effort to speak. I domesticate

the questions I want to ask, so their answers

Won’t elude me.

My soul is drained numb, the fortress refusing to crumble.

A battle is waged between the answers I seek,

and the ones I get.

‘It takes a lifetime to die’* — a lifetime to do

What falls short at last.

~*Charles Bukowski
An Undesirable Consequence of Handling All Exceptions in Python
By: Imran Ali
Tags: Python Programming, Error Handling, Exception Handling, Clean Code

Let’s begin with the example

This program tries to guess the user input. If the user input matches the random number generated from the randrange function, the program tells the user that he won and quits otherwise it keeps looping. Here’s the code

with no exception handling…

If you run this in your terminal and keep entering a few number inputs (< 10) you might win.

We can also terminate the running program by using CTRL-C as we do any other program

Ok, everything’s good so far.

Now lets try entering an invalid input this time and see what happens

We got a ValueError when we tried to enter a non-integer as the input. Ok, no problem lets try to handle that in the code

after adding broad exception handling…

There we have it our first exception handling attempt where we try to catch all exceptions blindly by not specifying any exception class. Lets see what happens

We don’t see the ValueError anymore with non-integer input so thats good but look what happens when we try to terminate the program like we did previously using CTRL-C. We can’t seem to??

By not specifying any exception class we seem to be catching all exceptions including KeyboardInterrupt exception. This is an undesirable consequence of not specifying an exception class. Let’s fix this

after specifying proper exception class…

then trying again

We seem to be catching the non-integer input and can still terminate the program using CTRL-C. We are all set now!

Conclusion

You should almost always specify an exception type in an except statement. Overly-broad exception handlers like the one demonstrated in this article will catch all exceptions that you don’t intend to catch
The JEF is Launching the New Swiss Chapter
By: Liran Zitser
Tags: Jewish, Switzerland, Israel, Business, Economics

The JEF is Launching the New Swiss Chapter

The Swiss Chapter is led by Anita Mihailovich, an International Law Attorney, Founder of Mihailovich & Partners, and Manager of the Swiss Israel Chamber of Commerce

The comparison between Israel and Switzerland is a common phenomenon in the Israeli economic discourse. Many times the argument is made that Switzerland is seen as an ideal model for a free and prosperous economy, and Prime Minister Netanyahu himself noted on several occasions that he aspires to resemble the Swiss when it comes to opening markets to competition and lowering taxes.

Therefore, with the opening of this new chapter, led by Attorney Anita Mihailovich, the Jewish Economic Forum aims at serving as a gateway for Swiss investors and corporates who look to establish or expand their operations in Israel as well as in Europe. And of course, Israeli investors interested in expanding in Switzerland. The growing partnership between Israel and Switzerland is on the way to prosperity. Israel is an important trade partner for Switzerland in the East. About 18,000 Swiss citizens live in this country and form one of the largest communities of Swiss abroad. For Switzerland, Israel represents a key commercial partner and export market in the Middle East. Since 1993, there exists a free trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Israel.

The needs for cooperation — whether economic, innovative or environmental — are driving the two countries together. Switzerland in its ongoing quest to develop its economy and assume greater influence in global affairs, and Israel in its effort to find new overseas markets to boost its economy.

Therefore, it is inevitable that the focus of the Jewish Economic Forum should open itself to the Swiss as well, given the crucial business potential. As stated by JEF’s Chairman, Mr. Jonathan Pacifici:

“The Jewish Economic Forum finds it a great asset to promote cooperation in the private sectore between the countries, and we are excited to be part of the opportunities in the developing relationship”

Mrs. Mihailovich added:
Be Punctual
By: Charlene Marron
Tags: Tritriplicata, Humor, Punctuation, Writing, Poetry

Piano Pedals " What do they do and how to use them

The sounds available to you when you play are not limited to what you do with your hands. Piano pedals (the levers at…
Charting Bitcoin’s First Decade | Mapping out Bitcoin’s Infrastructure | ‘Nothing Is Decentralized’
By: Crypto Daily Writer
Tags: Crypto, Bitcoin, Newsletter, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

Union Square Ventures most recent post on blockchain infrastructure incited a flurry of debates on Twitter regarding whether or not infrastructure is being built on Bitcoin. So our team at The Block decided to take a look and attempt to map out Bitcoin’s infrastructure.
How to Create and Customize react-content-loader
By: Sara Fotros
Tags: React, Front End Development, Programming, Components, Reactjs

First I start with a preset content loader in an app. To get started, we first need to install the package (npm):

npm i react-content-loader — save

or

yarn add react-content-loader

Then we import the content from react-content-loader:

import ContentLoader, { Instagram } from 'react-content-loader'; class Bookings extends React.Component { return requests ? (

<div>

//

//

</div> ):(

<>

<h3>Loading ...</h3> <Instagram /> </> )}

It will look like this:

Here are some of the preset examples you can use by importing them. You can see the shape here:

import { Facebook } from 'react-content-loader'



const MyFacebookLoader = () => <Facebook /> ------------------------------------- import { Instagram } from 'react-content-loader'



const MyInstagramLoader = () => <Instagram /> ------------------------------------- import { Code } from 'react-content-loader'



const MyCodeLoader = () => <Code /> -------------------------------------- import { List } from 'react-content-loader'



const MyListLoader = () => <List /> --------------------------------------- import { BulletList } from 'react-content-loader'



const MyBulletListLoader = () => <BulletList />

If you want to create your own loader based on your container style, you can easily use this online tool: Creator of React Content Loader. You just need to draw using the canvas or code using the live editing.

Creating a content loader is very easy using this SVG generator. You can simply design your loader based on the page and edit the size, background, and foreground. Also, you can add the radius to the border, add or remove shapes such as rectangle and circle, and select the speed of the animations.

It then simply generates the code for you, ready to copy and add as a component to import and use:

import React from "react"

import ContentLoader from "react-content-loader" const MyLoader = (props) => (

<ContentLoader

speed={10}

width={404}

height={75}

viewBox="0 0 404 75"

backgroundColor="#1766ab"

foregroundColor="#b9d2e4"

{...props}

>

<rect x="118" y="91" rx="0" ry="0" width="1" height="0" />

<rect x="4" y="-21" rx="0" ry="0" width="336" height="110" />

<circle cx="68" cy="199" r="28" />

<rect x="121" y="183" rx="0" ry="0" width="237" height="19" />

<rect x="123" y="216" rx="0" ry="0" width="235" height="18" />

<rect x="271" y="170" rx="0" ry="0" width="1" height="21" />

<rect x="219" y="35" rx="0" ry="0" width="4" height="32" />

</ContentLoader>

) export default MyLoader

You can use it on the page you want to show the content loader:

{image ? <img onClick={()=> setOpen(true)} className={classes.image} src={image} alt={title} /> : <MyLoader/>}

Pretty simple, right? Once you learn how to replace the content with card loading (also known as skeleton UI), you can set up an adaptable library of classes for replacing loader content and create the loader screens really quickly.

Thanks for reading!
Redefining “Successful” Writing
By: Michael Woronko
Tags: Life Lessons, Success, Entrepreneurship, Writing, Writing Tips

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit” — Richard Bach

Re-Orientation

I found myself, not too long ago, discouraged by the content that had been materializing from the tips of my fingers, realizing that I had, to some effect, sold out. I had been writing click-bait articles that carried little semblance of meaning to anyone, as well as completely uninteresting legal summaries. If I wanted to, I could have immersed myself more to the point that these would provide a very modest income but, demoralized by what I was actually writing, I arrived at a long creative hiatus which prompted a redefinition of this wonderful art that I consider a centerpiece in my life. Money had previously motivated me above all else and, once that became the reality, everything became contaminated.

Upon rekindling the practice of writing, at which point I realized and truly came to know the real reasons behind my passion, financial gain meant nothing. I had been liberated, no longer needing to write in a manner by which I had been concerned about the potential for exposure or bored by the dry content I had merely been condensing and regurgitating. Rather than being a slave to the keyboard and to a task, I had become the champion of a passion.

This article, situated in the manner that it is situated and presented in the way it is, may seem a tad hypocritical; that the notion of success has been weaved into writing is questionable in the first place, though I approach this as the new reality given the far reaching potential of social media. Some of us want to reach broader horizons, share information, etc. All in all, we must worry about writing first, and only once we’re writing in the way that want to, should we worry about success and the nuances that surround it. If we treat writing the way we treat breathing, eating, and sleeping, then success inevitably awaits us sans any desperate we may employ towards attaining it.
How to Find the Best Publications for Your Writing on Medium
By: Brian Rowe
Tags: Success, Entrepreneurship, Medium, Publication, Writing

You should really think about submitting more of your work to publications.

As I talked about recently, getting your work featured in other publications can bring your work new readers, more views, additional chances of diversifying, and ways to bring new success to older stories.

I think it’s super fun every day on Medium to not only think about what I’m going to write next but also what publications I plan to submit my work to!

I’m at a point where I have some kind of publication I can submit almost everything I write. But this didn’t happen overnight. When I first started submitting my work to places, I didn’t really know where to get started, and I wasn’t sure if anyone would ever accept my writing!

So how do you start the search process? What should you look for?
My Top 5 Reasons to Write as a Programmer
By: Simon Holdorf
Tags: Programming, Startup, Productivity, Writing, Writing Tips

5. Money

Your writing can generate a substantial amount of (side) income. I’ve managed to generate several thousand dollars each month writing on Medium about programming and tech:

But writing for money is an art in itself, in my opinion. It needs a special focus. The focus on making money. If you want to maximize your ROI, you need to align everything you write towards that goal. Things like reputation or education are just side effects — not the main purpose.

When writing for money, you need to make sure that your articles are constantly read by a lot of people. And I mean lots and lots of them. At least on Medium, you need high exposure of your articles but also interesting content because the time each person spends reading your articles is an important factor for the algorithm that determines your payouts. Medium publications are a great way to increase the reach of your articles, so you should try to get accepted as an author for at least one major publication!

Another option to get paid as a writer is applying for paid writer programs offered by internet businesses. Those are going to pay you a fixed amount, often between $100-$500 for one article. Here’s a list of such programs and what you can earn:

Focusing on money and ROI is not so important if you choose a paid writer program. Your focus should rather be on meeting the criteria of the program in question.
Wash All My Sins Away
By: Chris Coppenbarger
Tags: Christianity

The second verse of the old hymn “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood” goes like this:

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away:

Wash all my sins away,

Wash all my sins away;

And there may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away.

As we sang this song in church this morning, it got me to thinking about how we are not unlike the dying thieves on the crosses with Jesus. We like to think we are good, but we are just as much sinners as they were while the only one who have never committed a sin hung between them. All sin is worthy of punishment by death regardless of what it is. And yet, Jesus blood washes that sin away.

I like to think that things I’ve done are gone as I push them away and yet, they often come back and haunt me. If there’s one constant struggle, it’s that I’m not good enough and that my sins are still there, even though they aren’t. It’s that navel-gazing complex that rears it’s ugly head.

Romans 10:9–10 [9] because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (ESV)

I know this to be true and yet, there is that functional atheism or even just as bad, moral therapeutic deism which is just as bad, sometimes worst. We must be aware that we are sinners, but if we believe in what God has told us in Scripture, we are also saved by His grace. We are no longer slaves to sin. In our fleshly state, we often forget that and continue to beat ourselves up over past sins and sometimes current sins. God’s grace is sufficient that we do not have to do that. They are washed away. I need this reminder daily. We all need this reminder daily. Don’t let your sins define you. As new creations, our identity is in Christ.
What’s in a name?
By: Lori Mccray
Tags: Queens Children, Nature, Love, Poetry, Sacred Feminine

It seems to me, a type of dis-ease, the way we classify and categorize, give genus and species, learn Latin. We mount our gorgeous butterflies on poster board and speculate on the dead. Leave the butterflies feeding in the field. Enjoy their beauty, protect their freedom. The joy of nature is not in naming but in Loving.

A tiny flower appears on a rotting log. I may love it profoundly, and never know its name. The advancement of science is marvelous, but not at the expense of losing our deep reverence and respect for all sentient beings. We must learn to think with the heart, to see our world through the eyes of Love, and to honor our connection with All That Is. Our lives depend on it.

LBM 7/17/2020
Affirmations Are the New New Year’s Resolutions That Can Really Transform Your Life
By: Karolin Wanner
Tags: Life Lessons, Spirituality, Goals, Self, Self Improvement

How to Use Affirmations Efficiently?

How you talk to you yourself influences your brain, your body, and your mindset. Every time you say something, you have a big impact on yourself.

So you get to choose if you want to be your biggest fan and cheer yourself on to help you gain confidence and to achieve your goals. Or do you want to sabotage yourself with negative self-talk?

For affirmations to work, get out of your fixed mindset, and adopt a growth mindset. You can achieve remarkable results with efforts, help from others, and the right strategies and plans in place.

Create your own affirmations for whatever you want to change or achieve this year.

Your formula for effective affirmations:

Present — Formulate your affirmations in the present tense. Research has shown neural activity in the brain is highest using present-tense affirmations.

— Formulate your affirmations in the present tense. Research has shown neural activity in the brain is highest using present-tense affirmations. First Person — Begin your affirmations with ‘I’ to identify with your statements.

— Begin your affirmations with ‘I’ to identify with your statements. Positive — Phrase your affirmations positively and avoid negative words.

— Phrase your affirmations positively and avoid negative words. Emotional — Infuse your affirmations with feelings.

Write your affirmations down on paper with a pen. I know we live in the tech age, but studies found electronic journaling to be less effective. So let’s do it the old-school way. Writing by hand is like meditation and will help you internalize your affirmations and bring them into reality.

To achieve significant results with affirmations, engage with them every day. If you want to see a change in your life, make this commitment.

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. — Mohammad Ali

You can read or/and recite your affirmations every morning or evening, whatever suits you best. Focus on only a few affirmations first. You can add more when you get the hang of it. Start small to keep your commitment.
Binance Flash Update
Tags: Bitcoin, News, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Binance

(4/23 — 4/29)

24-Hour Volume Rankings by Exchange on Coinmarketcap

Binance remained the №1 cryptocurrency exchange by 24-Hour Trading Volume: https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/volume/24-hour/

Product

Web

New Feature: Users may now convert their small balances (dust) to BNB.

Mobile website

New Feature: View Order History on Mobile Web.

Listed

Binance Lists Golem (GNT)（2018/4/27）

GNT/BTC and GNT/ETH trading pairs are now available on Binance for trading.

Max Supply: 1,000,000,000 GNT

Circulating Supply: 834,262,000 GNT

About GNT: https://info.binance.com/currencies/golem

Global Cooperation

Binance in Bermuda

Binance has officially entered into cooperation with the Bermuda government establish a Global Compliance Centre.

Live video of our announcement in Bermuda.

http://bernews.com/2018/04/live-video-premier-david-burt-press-conference-2/

Binance in Uganda

Binance held a meeting with the President of Uganda to discuss blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Binance will support Uganda’s economic transformation and youth employment through blockchain, embracing the 4th industrial revolution. We will do this by creating thousands of jobs and bringing investments to Uganda.

Video of CZ, the CEO of Binance meeting with President of Uganda Mr. Yoweri Museveni

https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/989224318465785857

Binance in Togo

Binance CEO in Togo had the rare privilege of a photo with Mr. President of Togolese Republic Faure Gnassingbé (Center). In order of left to right, Athena Yu(Co-Founder of Made in Africa Initiative), Helen Hai (Binance Foundation), He Yi (Co-founder of Binance), CZ（CEO of Binance), Ben (Binance Labs).
Why Would You Want to Live Forever?
By: Jocelyn Soriano
Tags: Books, Fantasy, Christianity, Book Review, Fiction

A rare book with very real questions we often fail to ask. What if we are given the chance to live for thousands of years in this life? Would it be a gift? Or would it be a curse?

Amaranth gives us a scenario where immortality may indeed be possible. At the same time, it also explores the many consequences the world may face in the event someone suddenly offers it to us.

In the story, several characters were shown to have been offered the opportunity. We see their motivations, good and bad, and we learn where each eventually leads to. We find many who would give everything they possess just to have it. On the other hand, we find a woman who remains defiant in accepting what many consider to be a great blessing.

Marie doesn’t seem to have anything to lose when she was forcibly given an elixir that revived her youth, but we realize her deeper reasons as we learn more about what she believes deep within. Indeed, this is a book that is not afraid to depict characters who exercise their faith.

This does not mean that the characters never struggle with temptation. As far as the flow of the story goes, that’s the challenge the main protagonists, Marie and Peter need to go through. Will their faith remain as it was before it was challenged that deeply?

This book is very refreshing for me as it isn’t afraid to tackle the big questions novels like these often shy away from. It also shows characters whose faith is very much an important part of their lives. We are reminded that there are still people who are like them, authentic people with real struggles, but who nevertheless see something more than what this world could possibly offer us.

“It’s not that. It’s — it’s not natural. I’ve lived my life. There’s a part of me looking forward to being re-united with my husband and my son. I don’t want to live on earth for thousands of years. Really, I don’t. I want to go home to heaven where I can’t sin anymore, where I can be fully united with God, and I think he cares much more about the beauty of my soul than the beauty of my body.”

— Marie Long, Amaranth

“And he said: ‘Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.’” — Genesis 3:22, DRA

Buy today on Amazon

Buy today on Amazon
Are All White People White Supremacists?
By: Rebecca Stevens A.
Tags: White Supremacy, Racism, George Floyd, BlackLivesMatter, Anti Racism

For many years, I was fine with my white friends, colleagues, and acquaintances simply inferring or even telling me they were non-racist.

That was enough proof for me, I didn’t need anything else, I believed them. But today, that is no longer enough.

I am increasingly taken aback by the number of people who endorse racist and even white supremacist views and ideology.

I realize that some people are in fact closet racist and white supremacists, hiding their real views on racism from the world. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Desert Gin
By: Jef Harmatz
Tags: Recipe, Cocktails, Hiking, Comics, Jef Harmatz

My Grandma’s Smoked Salmon Recipe

Passing down an old family tradition, in a comic-strip cooking lesson
How to Create Animations With UIKit and Core Animations
By: Artur Rymarz
Tags: Programming, iOS, Animation, Xcode, Swift

How to Create Animations With UIKit and Core Animations

Different ways to animate your app to bring it to life

Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash

We, developers, have a lot of options when it comes to animations nowadays. There are plenty of libraries that can be used to easily integrate an animation prepared by a designer into our applications.

The most popular (probably) is Lottie, which is available for both iOS and Android. It’s also possible to use Lottie for many multi-platform solutions like Flutter or React Native which makes it super convenient.

There is also Rive, a great web-based tool for animations that has a plugin for Flutter as well as an iOS framework (it hasn’t been updated in a while but should still work as far as I know).

Those tools are great but most developers are not designers and do not know or do not want to play with graphics outside of the code.

We have also libraries like Hero or Spring that can help you make simple transitions and animations without using any external tools for designers.

However, it is pretty often that we have to implement something completely custom and can’t use an already-created framework. Or, maybe you are like me and do not like to add too many dependencies to your projects and rather want to implement such things yourself.
Gibraltar of the Pacific
By: Gena Vazquez
Tags: California, Spanish, Travel, Oceans, History

Shortly after the beheading of King Henry VIII’s wife, Queen Katherine Howard, in England, King Charles V, Holy Roman Emporer/King of Spain, ordered the Spanish explorers to continue their voyages.

Iberian Explorer, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, set sail from the Mexican port of Navidad to continue his voyages and explore the west coast of North America. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to explore the Pacific coast specifically in hopes of discovering rich cities and the aquatic passage. He was also instructed to meet with Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Francisco was believed to be traveling up from Mexico, across the western plains and the Rocky Mountains and on to the Pacific.

On June 27, 1542, Cabrillo set out from Navidad with three ships: his flagship San Salvador, and two smaller ships. For more than four months, Cabrillo and his party sailed up the California coast visiting the southern shores and channel islands. The sailors encountered many delays due to rough waters and fog. In November of 1542, they entered Estero Bay, located between Morro Bay and Cayucos. High winds and unsettled seas kept the ships far away from the beautiful shores. Cabrillo was enchanted by the large rock protruding from the ocean. “Morro” is translated as either “domed rock” or “turban”. Charting the area, finding the Morro Rock, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to discover Morro Bay.

Morro Rock Beach

By the 1570s, King Philip II was reigning over Spain. Pedro Unamuno was a Spanish explorer who was a very savvy sailor and soldier. He voyaged from Spain to the southeast Asian seas. While in the Philippines, he crewed up with local men to work on his galleon. On July 12th, 1587 he began a trans-pacific voyage from Macau, China to America. Unamuno reached the beaches of Morro Bay on October 18th, 1587. He brought the first Filipinos to California. Pedro Unamuno also brought Mediterranean plants to the area and planted them in the name of King Philip II.

Today the ‘Gibraltar of the Pacific’ attracts visitors from all over the globe. Morro Rock is actually an ancient volcanic mound that sits at the end of Morro Rock Beach and the last in a chain of long-extinct volcanoes. The beautiful beaches of Morro Bay are teeming with healthy sea life, exotic birds, and aquatic plant life. Locals and visitors can enjoy surfing, fishing, kayaking, sailing, and horseback riding on the beach. On most evenings as the sun sets you can hear the seals come into the bay. The harbor is quiet, the town is quaint and the residents are friendly.
MegaX inks blockchain partnership with ARAW to push decentralised payments
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ecommerce, Cryptocurrency

MegaX announces today that we have partnered with ARAW to take the decentralised e-commerce sector even further. This is yet another major push that will extend on MegaX’s capabilities and influence in this sector.

ARAW provides end-to-end solutions for e-commerce marketplaces, touch & pay cryptocurrency cards, online crypto payments and unified reward systems on the Ethereum blockchain.

The strategic partnership will ensure that MegaX can ride on the technology advancements and tools that ARAW is building, as well as have MGX used as a payment/utility token on the ARAW platform, which includes banking integration, mobile wallet, crypto exchange integration, and touch-and-go card.

ARAW benefits from the extensive international brand network that MegaX, iFashion Group and its partners have forged, pushing immediate first adopters onto the ARAW platform(s). The ARAW token will also be accepted as a form of payment on the MegaXstore.

MegaX will airdrop a number of MGX tokens to the ARAW community, and both organisations will also swap a limited number of tokens between them to be equally incentivised for the future.

Decentralised, Daily Payments for Every Consumer

The goal of ARAW is to be a part of everyone’s day-to-day online & in-store shopping. This is important for the crypto eco-system as ARAW aims to abstract people away from the technicalities of the blockchain as they go about their daily routine.

By partnering ARAW in this endeavour, MegaX can play an important role in its vendor base, enlarging the ARAW network greatly, and allow greater transaction volume for the MGX token in process.

MegaX in it’s role as a unifying decentralised partner with the merchant network supply

As announced earlier, MegaX will continue to enlarge the community of decentralised marketplaces, payments solutions and more (coming up!), bringing mass adoption to fruition for blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

More Product Development and Release

MegaX fills a much-needed void in the quest for mass adoption, with its retail network and technological-maturity to adopt. MegaXstore is the first successful use-case and we have more news to be released regarding MegaX’s product offering this month. You can soon spend MGX on more interesting concepts.