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My Way to Cope With Election Anxiety is Morning Sex
By: Erin Taylor
Tags: Politics, Mental Health, Relationships, Sex, Sexuality

My Way to Cope With Election Anxiety is Morning Sex

And lots of it.

Photo by Claudia van Zyl on Unsplash

This morning is a very special morning alright. I fell asleep last night in my partner’s arms peacefully, feeling safe and snug and out of harms way. But this morning, I woke up on the other side of the bed feeling anxious, worried, nervous — almost as if I was running late for a meeting or an appointment.

But I have nowhere to be today.

Since the pandemic, my office has switched to full-time remote meetings and classes, and rarely do I ever feel the sudden weight of having to be somewhere at a certain time. But today, I felt it. Hard.

If you are guessing that it had to do with the election, you would be correct. It took a few minutes to set in, oh crap, today is Election Tuesday. Today will be a long day. Today will take some serious brain work to keep my mind occupied and stress-free. Today will be a tough one.

At this point, I know there is not much I can do and the worry — while normal and universal— is a bit useless now. I’ve voted, my loved ones have voted, and I’ve had really difficult conversations with friends and family explaining why they’d likely regret not voting in this election. I’m proud of the emotional conversations I’ve had about the election leading up to today. Everyone around me has heard me say, It is our duty as citizens of the United States to place our vote, no matter whose name we select on that ballot. The act of voting, it is our right and our privilege. And it’s an honor.

Since I had done all of that, I knew spending my day sitting in front of the television and Twitter would likely do me no good. So, when my partner did his daily routine of waking me up from behind and kissing my back gently while I played hard to get as if I wasn’t anticipating him inside of me, I decided to take him by surprise this morning.

I wasn’t going to play hard to get — no, not on election day — because I knew the only thing that could get me through the day is starting off my morning with sex. And lots of it.

I pulled his boxer briefs off while he kissed me forcefully and I felt how hard he was with my hands. He turned me to the side and entered me and every thought of worry and stress left my brain. We had sex three times this morning. Granted, we had to skip breakfast so he could make it to the office on time, but we managed.

If you haven’t already had sex today, either solo or with someone else, I highly advise it.

Today, more than ever, we should all start our days with a little release. It’s going to be a long one, and the least we can do for our mental health is get a few good orgasms out there. I mean, I’m no professional here, but in my personal experience, morning sex always does the trick to escape the worries of the world, if only for a moment.
A Simple Writing Tip for the Digital Age
By: Melissa Toldy
Tags: Editing, Productivity, Creativity, Writing, Writing Tips

Creators struggle with perspective. Sometimes, you can’t see what you’re making, as you make it.

Writers are no different. We say we’re “too close” to the material. To combat this, we distance ourselves.

Time helps. We leave the manuscript alone for a day or a week or longer. We forget some of the lines, and when we read them again, we see the text with fresh eyes.

Writers use other tactics, too, hoping to see their work in a new way. Here are some recommendations I’ve seen:

Read the text out loud

Print the document

Change the font

Read backwards (last paragraph to first)

The goal is, approach the writing from another angle. I think these common tactics are useful, and I’ve tweaked them, too. For example, I’ve asked friends to read my fiction stories out loud, to me.

Recently, I realized, there’s another easy way to see (and edit) your writing: Use your phone. On a smaller screen, the layout changes, and your sentences truncate at different points.

Maybe this tip is already out there, but I haven’t come across it before, and I think it’s very useful. (Of course, some writers write on their phones. If that’s you, try the reverse: Read your writing on a larger screen.)

I like this editing strategy because it’s simple, and it works. It’s a good way to catch clunky sentences or superfluous words.

Also, if you’re publishing online, you get a sense of how your text will appear on various devices. For comparison, look at the screenshots of my phone and laptop, below.
The Case for Defying Good Advice
By: Christian Cantrell
Tags: Tech, Devices, Design, Future, Technology

The Case for Defying Good Advice

Why you might want to buy early-concept technology — even when you know it’s not ready

The tech media will often recommend that you avoid first- and sometimes even second-generation devices. That’s reasonable advice for most people, but not everyone. And maybe not for you.

To understand why you might want to take a chance on hardware and software that may not be fully baked yet, we have to start by thinking about money a little differently. From an article I wrote at the beginning of the year entitled We Get the Monopolies We Deserve:

We usually think of currency as a form of legal tender that can be exchanged for goods and services. But in a free-market system, money is much more than that. Every dollar we spend is also a vote in favor of the corporate entity providing that good or service and against that entity’s competition. Not only are you receiving a good or a service in exchange for payment, but you are also communicating approval of that company’s culture and rewarding its stakeholders. Money is to a free-market economy what votes are to a democracy. Therefore, spend your money as judiciously as you cast your votes. Just as many people consider voting to be a basic civic responsibility, perhaps consumers have a responsibility beyond just finding the lowest prices or enduring the least amount of product friction.

Although the context is admittedly different, the concept translates well to tech: think of spending money as a mechanism for positively reinforcing the type of innovation you want to see more of and withholding purchases as a way of discouraging product directions you oppose.

Let’s blow this topic out to the scale of a new car. Teslas are revolutionary in that they have disrupted the entire auto industry, single-handedly creating seemingly insatiable demand for modern, high-performance electric vehicles. Teslas are fast, sleek, and certainly among the most technologically advanced vehicles on the road.

But, as is often the case with complex new technology, Teslas have historically had their fair share of issues (some of which have largely been addressed, and some of which still affect new vehicles today). For instance, Model 3s were known for having some of the worst paint in the auto industry, often had uneven panel gaps, and were frequently delivered to customers with egregious scratches or dents. Additionally, Teslas are costly and time-consuming to repair, and hence are disproportionately expensive to insure.
Respect Don’t Fear All God’s Creatures
By: Yohanan Gregorius
Tags: Connection, Personal Growth, Nature, Collective Intelligence, Haiku

Sign up for Reflective Vibes

By Know Thyself, Heal Thyself

Reflection, reflection and more reflection. Each Sunday* we'll be sending out an inspirational quote followed by a short commentary, either in written form, video or link. Enjoy! Take a look
Official Release: Brewers Announce 11 International Free Agent Signings
By: The Brewer Nation
Tags: Carlos Rodriguez, Sports, Brewers, Larry Ernesto, MLB

Larry Ernesto (left, #22) and Carlos Rodriguez were given large signing bonuses

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced the signings of 11 players under the international signing period, which began on Sunday, July 2. The announcement was made by Vice President and Assistant General Manager Matt Arnold. The signings include the following:

“Sunday was a great day for our new players and their families,” said Arnold. “Our international scouts have worked tirelessly to spend time with these individuals, getting to know them both on and off the field. Some of these players have overcome great odds to become professional baseball players, and they should be very proud of what they have accomplished. They have a long road ahead of them to reach the Major Leagues, and we are all excited to work closely with them to continue their development. We are proud to welcome them into our organization.”
uncertainty
By: Sean Zhai
Tags: Spirituality, Philosophy, Photography, Computational Thinking, Haiku

Haiku is a form of poetry usually inspired by nature, which embraces simplicity. We invite all poetry lovers to have a go at composing Haiku. Be warned. You could become addicted.

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Odd Lots: Curious Objects Up At Auction
By: Rebecca Rego Barry
Tags: Auction, James Joyce, Odd Lots, Art, Stephen Colbert

Odd Lots: Curious Objects Up At Auction

Creepy folk art, Stephen Colbert’s desk, and a James Joyce LP

Lot 1: Skeleton Sculpture

Courtesy of Case Antiques Auctions

It looks like something straight out of Beetlejuice — a mixed media and clay sculpture roughly the size of a hardcover book that depicts a skeleton in a suit emerging from, or half-sitting in, his coffin — and valued for auction at $400–500, it might be dismissed as a novelty of little notice. But digging just a little deeper turns up its fascinating origin. This spooky piece of folk art was crafted by Mississippi blues musician, gravedigger, and self-taught artist, James “Son” Thomas (1926–1993). Known in some circles for his figures of heads, skulls, and coffins, Thomas’s art has been displayed in various museums, though he remained overlooked in his lifetime. The New York Times took note of his work in 2015, calling it “wonderful and unappreciated,” and comparing him to Walker Evans.

This piece had been in the collection of the Arts Center of Cannon County, Tennessee, but they have curiously decided to ditch it, so Case Antiques Auctions & Appraisals in Knoxville will offer it for sale on August 5.

Lot 2: Celebrity Elbows Rubbed Here

This might look like a pedestrian pedestal table from Crate & Barrel — and yes, it really is from Crate & Barrel — but this “piece of television history” served as Stephen Colbert’s prime interview location during seasons 6–8 (2010–2012) on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” On August 17, it heads to auction in Boston.

Courtesy of RR Auctions

Over four hundred guests sat opposite Colbert at this table, including Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elon Musk, Charlize Theron, Steve Martin, and Tom Hanks. For $5,000+, the winning bidder of this item will also receive a four-page list of those whose elbows graced the tabletop, signed on the final page in blue ink, “It’s all true! Stephen Colbert.”

Lot 3: Vintage Audiobook

Courtesy of Stair Galleries

In August 1929, his eyesight failing, Irish novelist James Joyce made a recording of “Anna Livia Plurabelle,” a section of his work-in-progress, Finnegans Wake. At the time, spoken-word recordings — vintage audiobooks, if you will — were creative one-offs, still in the early stages of development and aimed primarily at blind listeners. The famous publisher and bookseller Sylvia Beach encouraged Joyce to do it, and the resulting two-sided album documents eight and half minutes of the author’s melodious brogue for posterity (hear it here).

In the artsy enclave of Hudson, New York, on August 5, Stair Galleries will offer one of the original LPs for an estimated $200–300. It’s perfect timing too, because we all have record players again.
By Its Own Hand
By: Danna Reich Colman
Tags: Pandemic, George Floyd, Poetry, BlackLivesMatter, Donald Trump

Writer and copyeditor. “What doesn’t kill us gives us something new to write about” ~ J. Wright

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A Mirror
By: Dr. Niranjan Seshadri
Tags: Meditation, Spiritual, Poetry, Mind, Thoughts

A Mirror

What it can teach us

Photo by Michael Baird on Unsplash

A mirror doesn’t choose

It has nothing to lose

Not one to hoard reflections

Or suggest corrections
Ogni giorno di dubbio
By: Gianmichele Villano
Tags: Italian, Poetry, Poesia, In Italiano, Medium Italia

in Both Sides of the Table
Restraint
By: Michael Morgenstern
Tags: Films

Filmmaker, artist, and technologist in San Francisco with films screened in over 70 film festivals and developer of Search is Back, an advanced Facebook search engine. I’ll create a film for you — send an email to michael@everythingiseverything.com

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How to Swap your SWH for SWHT tokens if you are not seeing them in Morpheus v0.0.582
By: Morpheus Wallet
Tags: Morpheus v0.0.582, Blockchain

Morpheus v0.0.582 is now available and includes the new Switcheo NEP5 Token SWHT. For those of you who hold the old SWH tokens, you will need to manually swap your SWH tokens for the new SWHT tokens.

You can read more about the upgrade from SWH to SWHT in a post from Jack Yeu at Switcheo: https://medium.com/switcheo/swh-swth-token-swap-39342759c18

If you have downloaded Morpheus v0.0.582 you can do the following steps to swap your SWT tokens for freshly minted SWHT tokens.
UX Case Study: Small Appeal
By: Mohammed Abraz
Tags: Case Study, Design, UI, UX, UI Design

Objective

Create a website and strengthen the social proof of the work the NGO has done. Create awareness of the initiatives the NGO has undertaken and improve the flow of funds through donations and CSR engagements.

Overview

As a new NGO, SmallAppeal mainly focuses on educational initiatives and food security. SmallAppeal lacked an online presence where it could display and share the work they had engaged in. This became a pain point when a nationwide lockdown was imposed in March to halt the spread of Covid19 and funds started to dry.

Earlier the NGO representatives would schedule meetings with companies for CSR Funds and use presentations as means of showing proof of work. Another pain point was that individual donors were wary of donating funds as the organization lacked a website. In a world connected by the internet, an online presence is a sense of proof.

My Role

I worked on this project as a lead designer and developer.

The Challenges
Caught In The Flood
By: Aura Wilming
Tags: Haiku Hub, Poetry, Floods, Haiku This, Haiku

Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.

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Tiny Existence
By: Dreamer S Way
Tags: Existentialism, Poetry, Free Verse, Hope, Poem

We live in an eternal universe.

Stardust and Light particles floating all throughout.

Our presence is humbly petite.

One does not know when life’s direction will change.

Drowning into thick darkness like ink.

Dragged into a deep abyss by disappointment,

Trapped into a grave by illness,

Trampled to pieces by frustration.

You are…..

Hated.

Jeered.

Mocked.

Ridiculed.

Patronized.

Abandoned.

But we preserved hope in our hearts.

Kept a heart that would not surrender.

Giving up was never a choice.

We still initiate.

Make teeny efforts in the midst of despair.

And this feeling of not willing to give up.

It becomes the specks of starlight in the dark.

We are all small specks of starlight.
#GrowMyFollowing 7-Day Free Course
By: Christina M. Ward
Tags: Followers, Email, Challenge, Writing, Marketing

After taking a look at my Medium stats over the past few months, my stagnating email address landing page, and the plateau of followership I’ve seemed to reach across platforms; I decided it is time to do something about this.

Writers, entrepreneurs, and artists (etc.) lament about the slow readership and online engagement for the last few months of the year. It may seem a bad time for me to launch a new idea — but I say there’s no time like right now.

Let me ask you a few things:

Are you happy with the readership you are experiencing on your platforms? (Yeah, me neither.)

Would you like to grow your followers on more than one platform, newsletter, or email list? (Heck yeah! Sign me up! Wait, this is my course.)

Are you willing to set aside a little time over the next 7 days to work your business to increase followership and drive engagement?

Good. Me too. So why don’t we tackle those things together?

Here’s how to participate in #GrowMyFollowership:

Start here to follow along and participate (it’s totally free, no gimmicks) Free 7-Day Course for You: #GrowMyFollowership

Check your inbox each day for the next 7 days. (Each day I will link the course content in the Course Timeline list below.)

Read the easy-to-follow instructions, tips, and information on various topics along the course timeline:

#GrowMyFollowership Course Timeline

Each day of the #GrowMyFollowers 7-Day Course will have:

A Mailchimp Email which introduces the topic for the day & links out to either a Substack or a Medium story, expands the topic in helpful detail, offering tips, solutions, and strategies you can use right away.

which introduces the topic for the day & links out to either a Substack or a Medium story, expands the topic in helpful detail, offering you can use right away. Each day will have freebies & helpful resources!

Easy instructions on how to do the daily tasks that will help you grow!

Lastly, you’ll have to do the work. I can’t promise you results if you drop the ball here. Put in a little extra work and see your numbers improve!

So let’s GO, let’s GROW! Share this story with your friends so they can join us in support or grow their own subscribers.
Our Top 10 of 2020
By: Giorgio Delle Grottaglie
Tags: Engineering Culture, Travel Technology, Data Science, Technology, Software Engineering

Our Top 10 of 2020

The ten most viewed stories on Expedia Group Technology

As the year ends we’d like to take the opportunity to share the most popular stories we’ve published this year, as chosen by you our readers. We would like to thank you for collectively spending 10,000 hours reading our blog this year.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Curious to know which Tech topics mattered most in 2020?

We’ve listed the ten stories with the highest views from around one hundred stories that we published this year. The content topics are wide ranging which reflects the diversity of interests among our readers. If you’re not already doing so, please join the tech community who are following our blog to receive more from us in 2021 (use the ‘Follow’ button). If you would like to know how we produce content, you can read about it here.

10. Getting Started with Elastic Search

by Arjun Rajpal , January 2020

9. How to Import Public Certificates into Java’s Truststore from a Browser

by Avinash Reddy Penugonda, July 2020

8. Introducing GraphQL Kotlin Client

by Dariusz Kuc, June 2020

7. Creating Monitoring Dashboards

by Nikos Katirtzis, September 2020

6. All about ISTIO-PROXY 5xx Issues

by Vinod Canumalla, June 2020

5. File Upload with GraphQL, Apollo Server, Hapi 18+, and React

by Rohit Pandey, January 2020

4. Deep dive into Apache Spark Window Functions

by Neeraj Bhadani, June 2020

3. Working with JSON in Apache Spark

by Neeraj Bhadani, May 2020

2. Using Bash for DevOps

by Dan Collins, January 2020

Are These Six Software Anti-patterns Killing Your Delivery?

by John James, October 2020
What connects Givenchy, Absolut Vodka, and a women’s co-operative in Turkey?
By: Sustainability, Ebru Ilhan
Tags: Partnerships

Photo by Etienne Boulanger on Unsplash

This piece was originally published on May 29, 2020 on LinkedIn.

Crises are always tests — tests of leadership; tests of resilience; tests of preparedness. But most of all they are tests of our ability to adapt — our agility.

As the economic engines restart round the world, companies are both managing the physical return to the workplace and planning for a new tomorrow. And the agile muscles that have enabled companies to innovate through the peak of the pandemic will be what ensures they succeed in that uncertain future.

Delta Airlines in the US is using empty passenger jets to deliver medical supplies within the country.

Givenchy and Christian Dior have both used their fragrance production know-how to make hand sanitisers. Absolut vodka has also adapted its distilling process to increase the alcohol content to 70% ABV to make alcohol rubs.

Spanish clothing brand, Zara, is sourcing fabrics to make protective clothing for frontline medical staff.

In Turkey, Arçelik, a Koç Holding subsidiary, has adapted its consumer durable manufacturing to make mechanical ventilators.

Greene King, the UK pub operator, faced with wholesale closure of all its outlets, now has an online ordering and delivery service: you can’t go to the pub, but perhaps the pub can come to you.

Everywhere people are launching little acts of defiance and courage. In Turkey, women’s co-operatives have stepped in to rescue the artichoke harvest that would otherwise have rotted in the fields. Personal trainers and teachers are offering online classes; amateur choirs are connecting on video platforms to perform together across geographies; community networks shop and deliver to vulnerable neighbours.

Competitive tensions, trade wars, and nationalistic divides have been swept aside (somewhat) as we come together to meet a much greater common threat.

We should all applaud these early efforts to meet new challenges; to pool resources and expertise for the common good; to see business and government come together to help defeat this health catastrophe. Now we must apply these lessons to the recovery phase: to remain agile during the next business cycle, adapting to a new operating environment and keeping the focus on a big goal.
Token Report Product Update, 2018 Week 1
By: Gary Macdougall
Tags: ICO, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

Happy New Year!

In my last post, I outlined our road map for the next 45 days. As I mentioned, I’ll be doing periodic updates on our progress and on new features we’re releasing in our products at Token Report.

We’re well on our way to releasing our Token Liquidity Signal, tracking listings, delistings and volume momentum on cryptocurrency exchanges, and delivering alerts to our users. Kyle Gibson wrote a quick progress update, earlier this week, showing an internal test of the feature.

We’ll have it integrated by Jan. 15 for beta users of Token Clarity, our Telegram-based message bot for alerts and searches related to cryptocurrency tokens. (The bot is in free beta right now; you can sign up at www.tokenreport.com/sign-up.)

As we started 2018 at Token Report, I was reminded about how truly globalized ICOs are by reading a fascinating post by my colleague, Seline Jung, who wrote 2017: The Year ICOs Re-Drew the World VC Map, highlighting that ICOs are truly global in nature.

We’re keeping track of where each project is based, and we have now integrated that geo tagging so users of Token Clarity can see it.

It’s truly amazing to see just how global things are when you can now search in Token Clarity for a token or keyword, then see immediately their GEO Tag. For example, I searched for “exchange” and got results from Spain, Canada and Finland.

Drilling down into a project we also GEO tag, so if you know the ticker or click on the symbol of the ICO in Clarity, it will also show it’s locale using the GEO flag emoji. Simple, but very effective.

Pretty cool to quickly see that a project is from Belgium and that you can gain access to vital data right from our Bot.

Conclusion

As you can see a simple feature like this can really help you understand more about a project and it’s geography without really having to dig into their white paper or head to their Web site. Simple but effective. That’s really what we’re always trying to do — provide you with the best possible insight you can get, quickly and effectively.

Once we release our liquidity signal, we have two more trading signals to add: a Sale Momentum Signal and a Forum Signal. We’re making progress faster than expected on tracking activity in cryptocurrency forums, so that feature will probably be released earlier than its planned Feb. 15 release date. Sale Momentum is proving more challenging: We are indexing our Ethereum node to make our queries more efficient.

I’ll have more to say about that shortly in my next post so stay tuned!

One last thing, I’d love to hear about some of your ideas or needs as it pertains to ICO investing and what information you’d like to be getting. Find me in our forum on Telegram, where my handle is @BostonAccent.
Take A Step Back Before You Buy A Franchise
By: Joel Libava
Tags: Franchise, Entrepreneurship, Franchising, Growth

Buying a franchise is a big deal. It can be a sizable investment. It will definitely be life-changing.

(Not as “life-changing” as going overseas as a member of the U.S. military to protect us, but life-changing nevertheless)

That’s why it’s crucial to take a step back at some point during the franchise researching and purchasing process. Catch your breath. Reflect on what you may be about to do.

The Research Phase

The research phase of the franchise purchasing process is what separates the men from the boys, and the women from the girls. It’s super-important to take the time needed to do thorough research. This is when emotion needs to move out of the picture. Its when fact-gathering needs to take its place. Unfortunately, a lot of people who are contemplating franchise ownership rush through their research. Please don’t.

5 Research Questions To Ask Franchisees

Here are 5 really good questions to ask existing franchisees as part of your research…

1. What do you like best about being a franchise owner, and what don’t you like?

2. How challenging is it to find good, reliable employees?

3. From 1–10, 10 being great, and 1 being not-too-great, how would you rate your relationship with the franchisor?

4. From 1–10, how do you rate the marketing, advertising, and promotional programs offered by your franchisor?

5. If you had to do it all over again, would you still buy this franchise?

Start calling some franchisees up and ask those questions!

Purchasing The Franchise

It’s one thing to do franchise research, it’s quite another to move into buying-mode.

Buying mode means that you’ll be investing your money. Money you could lose.

Ignore some of the things you hear about franchise ownership being less risky than independent business ownership. Statements describing franchising as being “low-risk” compared to other ventures just aren’t true. But, there are few things you can do to lower your financial risk.

Do great research.

Work with a franchise industry insider.

Take a step back when you start getting close to decision time.

Hit Pause. Step Back.

It’s so important to do.

“It’s when you hit the pause button…when you step back and take a little breather, that good things can happen. Things like possibly getting a better perspective about what you may be about to do from people who will give you honest feedback.”

That was from an article I wrote for The U.S. Small Business Administration.

You should really read the whole article. It’s about taking a step back, and getting help from people you know before you take the plunge.

Read the franchise article here

(The Franchise King®, Joel Libava, is a top franchise expert, the author of Become A Franchise Owner! (Wiley Publishing), and owns and operates Franchise Business University, where you can increase your franchise IQ with the online franchise courses offered there.)
What’s the UK Black Tech Pipeline?
Tags: Venture Capital, Diversity

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

When it comes to making venture capital funding more accessible and diverse, the question of pipeline always comes up. And if we take the black ethnic group as an example, one could ask: what’s the number of black-led tech startups you’d expect to get seed funding in the UK annually?

Since less than 1% of incorporated businesses raise a seed round, my napkin maths suggests that we’d expect around 10 black-led startups to get seed funding per year. However, an aspirational number could be as high 30, assuming perfect alignment with demographics.

My numbers are likely wrong and I’d love for someone to share any data or a methodologies that can help pinpoint a range that’s more representative of what’s possible.

My assumptions below are very broad and don’t account for several nuances but I wanted to put something out that could get a discussion going and hopefully people who are better at this than I am can also have a go.

Let me know what you think!
Now I’ve Seen Everything: Republican and Democratic Rivals Appear Together in Joint Ad
By: Russ Josephs
Tags: Democrats, Culture, Politics, Society, Elections

In something of a watershed moment in present day politics, Chris Peterson, a law professor and Democrat, and Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, have created a joint ad that promotes civility and unity, rather than division and hate.

We can disagree without hating each other — Spencer Cox Our common values transcend our political differences and the strength of our nation rests on our ability to see that — Chris Peterson

Not only has this never been done before, it’s almost unheard of to see it happen NOW, amidst the most polarizing and divisive political climate this country has ever witnessed. On one hand I think it’s absolutely phenomenal, and I wish we saw more of it. On the other, I wonder how many people will rightfully criticize it for ignoring all the reasons there’s such a big divide in the first place.

After all, while it’s one thing to disagree on general policy issues and macro beliefs such as religion, it’s another thing entirely when these beliefs have real-life consequences. Things like COVID, health care, a fair minimum wage, climate change, etc., have live-or-die ramifications for million of Americans. And I mean ALL Americans, even those who are not disproportionately affected because of their gender, sexual orientation or the color of their skin.

So while I personally applaud this move, and wish to see more like it, it’s meaningless without a deeper analysis of the underlying reasons for the divide in the first place. Not only that, but it needs to go beyond mere analysis and work towards actually solving some of these issues.

And the only way that will ever happen is if we do it together.
Best IDE’s for 2021 Web Development Beginners and Pros
By: Henry Gruett
Tags: Visual Studio, Coding, Programming, Ide, Web Development

Best IDE’s for 2021 Web Development Beginners and Pros

A Guide to Choosing the Best IDE for You

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

There are tons of great web IDE’s out there to choose from. It can sometimes be overwhelming to choose one. We’re going to look through each IDE and choose the best one for you.

Screenshot of Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is developed by Microsoft. It’s a very robust and well-rounded IDE for beginners and pros. Despite being developed by Microsoft, VS Code is available on all the major operating systems.

Visual Studio Code supports all the big programming languages like HTML, JavaScript, Python, C, PHP, and C++. It should be noted that Visual Studio Code is built on Electron which is known for being slower. However, I have not had any problems with Visual Studio Code and it remains my go-to for projects.

Screenshot of Brackets

Brackets is one of the new kids on the block. It is still being developed and isn’t as robust as some other options. It, however, has some unique and distinguishing features for web development. Its live preview mode is second to none and the IDE is very clean and simple. Brackets is also very beginner-friendly.

However, because it's not as polished as others yet, it can sometimes be hard to use. I often find I’ll run into bugs and the amount of available plug-ins is very limited compared to others like Visual Studio Code. While I’m not “daily driving” brackets yet, I’m keeping my eye on it and ready to switch over once it is more polished.

Screenshot of Atom

Atom is developed by GitHub… which is owned by Microsoft. So I guess Microsoft makes both, competing for your $0. Atom is also a great IDE. It, unfortunately, does have some fatal flaws though.

Like Visual Studio Code, Atom is built on Electron. While Visual Studio Code is very fast, I’ve personally experienced huge speed issues with Atom. But that might be just me.

Screenshot of Sublime Text 3

Sublime Text 3 is the latest version of sublime text. Sublime has gained respect from many programmers through its time. Sublime supports all the operating systems and all the languages. Sublime is known for being blazing fast and is a good solid choice for many people.

However, Sublime technically costs $80. But it has a free “evaluation.” How long does it take for you to evaluate the software? That’s up to you. Their website states:

Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use. There is currently no enforced time limit for the evaluation.

So… it's free until you feel guilty about it I guess.

Conclusion

While there’s many other popular IDE’s, I believe these are the best for specifically web development. At the end of the day, they all work really well and will get the job done. Choosing an IDE is more preference-based then it is feature-based. They all support plug-ins which means no feature is going to be specific to only one IDE. Hopefully, this guide helped you choose one though.
Polystyrene cups: way off base
By: Rachel Ledon
Tags: Environment, Drinks, Plastic Pollution, Baseball, Clean Water

Polystyrene cups: way off base

Something you should think about as you enjoy your ice cold drink at the stadium.

Courtesy Marc Falardeau, Creative Commons 2.0

It’s baseball season and MLB fans are flocking to the stadium to cheer on their favorite team. If you’re one of them, along with your peanuts and Cracker Jacks, you’ll probably wash down your salty snack with a lemonade or soda. The sugar content in those drinks is as absurdly high as the price, but you don’t think about it, because these are ballgame essentials.

But there is something you should think about as you enjoy your ice cold drink at the stadium: the convenient cup you’re holding it in.

It’s likely that your beverage comes in a plastic or foam cup. When you finish your drink, you’ll find the nearest trash can and toss it. But that’s not the end of this cup’s life cycle.

One of the most commonly-used plastics is polystyrene, better known as styrofoam, though that’s a brand name. It’s in cups, straws, containers and other single-use products.

According to an EPA blog post, the amount of polystyrene that Americans use would circle Earth 426 times every year. What’s more, polystyrene is not biodegradable, meaning it does not break down over time. Instead, polystyrene breaks up into smaller and smaller “microplastic” pieces. These microplastics eventually make their way into our rivers, lakes and oceans, which then endanger wildlife and human health.

Some of the chemical additives that make polystyrene flexible pose serious risks to the human body. These chemicals disrupt and harm our endocrine systems, which control hormones and affect human development, metabolism and even behavior. These endocrine disruptors can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, hormonal imbalances and other developmental disorders.

Maybe the worst aspect of polystyrenes is that they may take hundreds of years to decompose. Since polystyrene has only been around since the 1960s, this is only a best estimate based on observations in labs. Others predict that these microplastics will never disappear. Ninety percent of floating trash in our oceans is composed of polystyrene and other non-biodegradable plastics. This has created “plastic islands” — the largest one, located in the Pacific Ocean, is roughly twice the size of Texas. Other plastic particles will pollute rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

It’s eye-opening to think that the cup you drank from at your very first baseball game is still around today, living in some landfill or contaminating our oceans. It’s even more mind-boggling that the cup you come across this season will outlive you, your kids and your grandkids.

Until we begin taking plastics seriously, by pushing for bans on polystyrenes and other plastic products, this is our reality and our legacy.
Tableau學習首部曲 | 第一次接觸Tableau就上手，簡單好用的資料視覺化工具
By: Alex Chang
Tags: Tableau Training, Tableau, Data Science, Data Analysis, 資料視覺化

Product Trials

Download a free 14 day Tableau trial and see what our award winning business intelligence and analytics software can do…
Anal Sex Isn’t For Everybody, And It’s Perfectly Okay
By: Octavia Morrison
Tags: Relationships, Self, Sex, Sexuality, Communication

A commenter on one of my articles wrote to me that as I put my opinion out there it stops being my business. I respectfully disagree, as my opinion is still my business whether it’s public or not.

Screenshot by author

The truth is, my opinion, my preference and my sexuality are worded in my articles are publicly accessible but it doesn’t mean that I am asking to be judged. All it means that this is an outlet for me to express myself and in the meantime I might inform, help, inspire others.

I am expressing my own opinion, in some cases backed up with research, but just as I am not here to judge, I am not here to be judged.

And this is where I think that Shannon has it right.

The freedom of expression and the fact that anything and the opposite of it can be found in our society should liberate us. But instead, this freedom is perused and our opinions might venture into a judgmental tone, where the one who disagrees becomes the enemy.

I believe (or I want to believe desperately) that the writers and readers online fully understand the concept of consent and personal choices. Yet it is easy to cross the boundaries with the digital versions of our opinions. Writing about something and advocating for or against it can cross lines that we wouldn’t in a real life setup. And the digital version of our lives is such a significant part of our entire daily reality that it is too easy to feel our thoughts invalidated or our opinions violated through it.

We live in the intersect of the two universes — virtual and real — and they blur into each other, they shape us and define us equally. While no physical harm comes from virtual, the feelings it evokes are just as real as if it happened in a real life setup. Our brains can’t tell the difference between virtual or real hurt, rejection, excitement or happiness — it is a feeling only, regardless of the source of it.

We need to be more inclusive in expressing our opinions, we need to refrain from generalising, we need to avoid parroting clichés that are harmfully labelling or pressuring others.
Expand/collapse views in Flutter
By: Maitri Varia
Tags: Flutter App Development, Mobile App Development, Flutter, Flutter Widget

Hello, sometimes in app development, we may have a requirement to hide/show views. To expand/collapse views in Flutter we can use the Expansion tile widget. It is quite easy and interesting.

So, now what is Expansion Tile? - A single line list tile with a trailing button that expands or collapses the tile to reveal or hide the children. Let’s start the coding part.

First of all, create a new Flutter project and delete everything. Your main.dart will look like this:

import 'dart:ui';

import 'package:flutter/material.dart'; void main() {

runApp(MyApp());

} class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {

// This widget is the root of your application.

@override

Widget build(BuildContext context) {

return MaterialApp(

title: 'Flutter Demo',

debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,

theme: ThemeData(

primarySwatch: Colors.blue,

accentColor: Colors.black,

visualDensity: VisualDensity.adaptivePlatformDensity,

),

home: ExpansionTileDemo(),

);

}

}

Create a stateful widget named- ExpasionTileDemo.

Add the below code within your build method of ExpansionTileDemo class.

@override

Widget build(BuildContext context) {

return Scaffold(

appBar: AppBar(

title: Text('ExpansionTile'),

),

body: Column(

children: [

Image.asset(

'assets/coffee.jpg',

height: 150,

),

Divider(

height: 1,

color: Colors.grey,

),

ExpansionTile(

backgroundColor: Colors.yellow[50],

title: Text(

'Coffee',

style: TextStyle(

color: Colors.black,

fontSize: 20,

),

textAlign: TextAlign.center,

),

children: [

Padding(

padding: const EdgeInsets.all(8.0),

child: Text(

'Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, the seeds of berries from certain Coffee species.',

style: TextStyle(fontSize: 15),

maxLines: 3,

softWrap: true,

textAlign: TextAlign.start,

),

),

],

),

],

),

);

}

I have created ExpansionTileDemo class and within the build method return scaffold.

I have added a column and within that added Image.asset and ExpansionTile widget.

Useful properties:-

initiallyExpanded: specify whether the expansion tile will be expanded or collapsed. Default is false i.e. collapsed.

title: To give a title to your tile. This is the required attribute.

subtitle: Add additional information below the title.

expandedAlignment: To specify the alignment of the children.

trailing: Display widget after the title. By default, the rotating icon will be displayed.

leading: Display widget before the title.

children: Widget(s) to display when tile expanded.

onExpansionChanged: Define a function to perform changes when a tile expands or collapses.

backgroundColor: Display background color behind the sublist when expanded.

So, we are done with the coding part, and let’s run the application to see the output.

By default, keyboard_arrow_down will be displayed as a trailing icon. But we can change the leading and trailing icon as per our requirement.

yay!! It is done.

Thank you for reading a blog, if you find it worthy don’t forget to clap 😛
Choosing Between Two Businesses: What Works For Grace & Vine Founder Madison Wetherill
By: Tara Mcmullin
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Business Strategy, Podcast, Business

The Nitty-Gritty:

Why Madison Wetherill found herself the owner of two small businesses — and how she knew something had to change about the way she was managing them

How Madison came to think of herself as a “busy person” and why that impacted the way she structured her time

What she noticed about the way she was spending her time and how it related to the results she was creating

The way she restructured her priorities and found a new — more productive — set of responsibilities that help her drive revenue

I just got home from talking with the new manager of my climbing gym.

Wait: don’t fast forward… this isn’t yet another story about how fitness is like business.

I was there to talk to him about a job.

As in, a job that I am considering taking…

Of course, I don’t need this job. It would simply be a way for me to continue learning and sharing my passion for climbing.

They’ll pay me; but it literally isn’t about the money.

Because, as you can imagine, the numbers don’t add up.

This month, we’re talking about running our businesses by the numbers, looking at the way we spend our time, make decisions, and plan.

I’ve already been working at my climbing gym — just an hour per week teaching beginners how to boulder. I haven’t been paid this little per hour since 2004.

Taking on some additional responsibility and exploring a new skill set won’t get me any big pay raise. Actually, it won’t get me any pay raise.

My priorities are clear. My life & business come first. This job — no matter how much I might enjoy it — comes second. If I take it, I’m confident I’ll do great and show serious commitment. I’ll be an asset to the gym. And I’ll learn some new things along the way.

Unfortunately, our priorities aren’t always that cut and dry.

It can be tough to know whether the thing you’re spending time on is paying the dividends you need it to — whether those are financial or otherwise.

Madison Wetherill — a food blogger and the founder of Grace & Vine, a web design studio — found this to be the case late last year when she realized that her food blog was taking up most of her time but her web design studio was producing serious financial results.

It was time to make a decision and get her priorities straight.

Madison and I chat about how she ended up with 2 businesses in the first place, how she knew something needed to change, and how her workdays have changed now that she’s reprioritized her businesses. We also discuss how she’s becoming aware of her identity as a busy person — and the challenges that creates.

Have you made an important decision in your business because you got real with the numbers? Have you discovered a new opportunity right under your nose when you examined your traffic, profit margin, or conversion rate? We want to hear about it!

Share your story on Instagram and tag me, @tara_mcmullin and use the hashtag #explorewhatworks.

Now, let’s find out what works for Madison Wetherill!
The Most Notorious Book Thief of America
By: Mythili The Dreamer
Tags: Culture, World, True Crime, History, Education

History

The Most Notorious Book Thief of America

James Richard Shinn used to masquerade as a professor and steal rare books from public libraries.

Image Credits : BEVBOOKBLOG

Whenever we talk about books and book thieves in general, we just cannot avoid thinking about the fabulous book, The Book Thief written by the Australian author Markus Zusak.

The Book Thief tells us the story of Liesel, a little German girl who steals books, makes friends with a Jew and is deeply impacted by the devastation caused by Hitler. Liesal is a book lover and she displays this fanatical devotion to read and gobble every bit of knowledge lying around her. Every book she steals reflects her life and the aspirations she has in a war-torn Germany.

Our book thief was also a book lover. But besides loving books, he was also a master book thief. And his targets were public libraries in America where he would masquerade as a ‘jolly’, well-educated professor and ultimately pillage rare books to the tune of half a million dollars or more.

His name is James Richard Shinn and he was the most notorious book thief of America.

In 1982, when police seized his storage unit in Bethlehem, Pa., there were over 400 stolen books from Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and other colleges, valued at thousands of dollars. He was subsequently sentenced to two 10-year prison terms.

As a Philadelphia detective says about him later.
월드아이티쇼(WIS 2019)주목받은 중소기업 -유프리즘
Tags: 유프리즘, News N Evens, WebRTC, 화상회의, 유프리즘아이오

in Both Sides of the Table