fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
5 Surprising Tips on How to Resume Writing After a Long Break
By: Samuel Osho
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writing, Writers Block, Productivity, Writing Tips

5 Surprising Tips on How to Resume Writing After a Long Break

Get back into your writing groove even if you have not written anything in two years

Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels

For students, the toughest time to read is when you are fresh in school from a long break. It’s hard to concentrate and get the reading done. Digesting two pages of course content is a headache, and pouncing on a chapter is a battle.

Your favourite places are library halls and reading rooms because you are “roaming for a network.” Perhaps, you could call it the calibration of the body and soul to a condition that can confidently assure you of assimilation. The same is true when you plan to resume active writing after a long break.

For writers, taking a protracted break from writing can happen due to several reasons. It could result from a barrage of unforeseen contingencies or a product of sheer laziness. Regardless of the cause of the break, when resumption beckons, it’s usually the hardest part.

Asides the tendency to churn out insipid works, you grapple for the right words to express your thoughts, you suffer from an absence of punchlines, and the drought of inspiration. Some of your readers wonder why your recent works are so bland and shallow. It’s a pathetic state.

What if I can show you how to insert the key in the ignition and jump-start your writing engine? Yes, that’s why I am here. Let’s see five simple tips that will stimulate your resumption after a long break.
Latinx In AI @ NeurIPS 2019 (CFP)
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Science, Technology, Data Science

LatinX in AI @ NeurIPS 2019 (CFP)

The call for paper for the 2nd edition of the Latinx in AI workshop at NeurIPS 2019 Conference is out!

The Official LXAI Research Workshop is co-located with NeurIPS at the Vancouver Convention Center, Vancouver CANADA on Monday, December 9th, 2019.

This is the 2nd edition of the workshop co-located with NeurIPS. In the previous edition, we welcomed over 200 attendees of which 20 delivered oral presentations and 40 poster presentations. The workshop is a one-day event with invited keynote speakers, oral presentations, and poster sessions. The event brings together faculty, graduate students, research scientists, and engineers for an opportunity to connect and exchange ideas. Additionally, the workshop will include a panel discussion to dive deeper into current research trends and a mentoring session to exchange advice on career choices in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Submission Instructions

We strongly encourage students, post-docs and researchers who primarily identify as latinx in all areas of machine learning to submit an abstract describing new, work-in-progress, previously published, or concurrently published research. We welcome abstract submissions in theory, methodology, and applications. While the presenting author need not be the first author of the work, we encourage authors to highlight the contribution of latinx individuals — particularly the presenting author — in the abstract. While the event focuses primarily on researchers who identify as latinx, everyone is invited to attend. Authors are also encouraged to sign up to review for LXAI, with a sign-up option available upon submission.

Submissions will be double-blind peer-reviewed and may be up to two pages including all figures and tables, with an additional page for references submitted as a link to a PDF. The submissions should strictly follow the guidelines provided by the NeurIPS style guide (template available in OverLeaf) to avoid the risk of being rejected without consideration of their merits. Submissions must state the research problem, motivation, and technical contribution. Submissions must be self-contained and include all figures, tables, and references. Authors of accepted abstracts will be asked to present their work in a poster session. A few authors will be selected to give 15–30 minute oral presentations.

Important Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline: September 13th, 2019, 23:59 PM Anywhere on Earth

Program Committee Application Deadline: September 9th, 2019

Author Notification: September 30th, 2019

LXAI Research Workshop: December 9th, 2019

More information here: https://www.latinxinai.org/neurips-2019
Infographic: 7 Signs of Cryptocurrency Scams
By: Atnet, Airdrops, Trading
Tags: Crypto, Businessofcrypto, Airdrops, Bitcoin, Thebusinessofcrypto

The most obvious tell-tale signs you should check every time you’re considering a token sale, bounty or airdrop — yes, an airdrop. The crypto airdrop PR craze is not even half a year old and there are heaps of people left with worthless tokens already.

This infographic was sent to us by the good folks from NOAHcoin team, follow them on Twitter @NOAHCOIN_Proj.

Give us a clap or five! It helps us get our work out there.

Want to know about all verified crypto airdrops?
Charts from Google Sheets using Vizydrop
By: Oleg Seriaga
Tags: Charts, Data Visualization, Spreadsheets, Google Sheets

Google Sheets is very popular for creating spreadsheets. “Create, edit, and collaborate wherever you are“ as they said. Sometimes there is a need to visualize the data from the created spreadsheet. That’s why we implemented the way to do this task right inside Vizydrop. I am going to show how simple it is in this article.

1. Connect Google Account

First of all, connect your Google account to Vizydrop. Follow the following steps:

Start creating a new chart

Select Google Sheets in apps gallery

Proceed with the connection of the account by clicking the “Connect” button

Allow Vizydrop to connect to your spreadsheets in the authorization popup

2. Configure source

That’s a simple one. After connecting your Google account you will see a form of spreadsheet configuration. Select the desired spreadsheet and worksheet you would like to visualize. I am going to use stocks data set. You may find it here.

3. Configure the chart

Now the most interesting part of the process. It is a chart configuration. Drag and drop. Provide necessary calculations for dimension. It is all up to you.

You may try our platform at https://vizydrop.com or https://trello.vizydrop.com
Slideshare: Presidential Debate Opinion Notifications
By: Sarah Schmalbach
Tags: Notifications, Journalism, Mobile, Elections, Innovation

View our presentation here.

On Wednesday mornings, the entire mobile lab team joins the Guardian US morning news meeting. At the end we present a few slides about our plans, our experiments or call outs of mobile innovation happening elsewhere in the industry.

We’ve been told that the slides might be interesting to a wider audience, so this week we’ve decided to share them. Click here to view the presentation.

Some background: this week’s presentation recapped the experiment we ran for the first presidential debate on Monday, which involved working with Guardian US Opinion editor David Shariatmadari and columnists Lucia Graves and Richard Wolffe to deliver real-time debate reactions to people via web notifications on Chrome.

In the slides we explain how and why the experiment came together, what it looked like and how it performed. We were also impressed by some of the mobile-first ways that CNN, the Washington Post and AJ+ all covered the debate, so you’ll see a few screenshots of their coverage as well.

We’ll be sharing more of our presentations in the future. We may not post every week, since sometimes we’re traveling and sometimes our observations may be too fleeting. But when we do share we hope you enjoy our posts. Please leave comments if they sparks any thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter at @gdnmobilelab or send us a note at innovationlab@theguardian.com.
The World is Mine to Conquer
By: Ronald Mathew
Tags: Poetry, Poem, Saturday Poetry Prompt

they say when you’re a kid

that the world is yours to conquer

no truer lie could be said

so they say it when you’re younger

not everyone is destined to be

the greatest of the greats

the wisest of the wise

or with a talent that’s innate

but even I a mere uneventful person

do believe the world is mine to conquer

i have my own triumphs

i have my own victories

but to another person it could seem like nothing

seeing a person driving along the trees

he could never know what I’m feeling

he might not even see me, just the breeze

but at the moment in time I felt that

the trees were bowing to me

how the world was now perfectly aligned

at that brief point in time

it was the start of a lifelong journey
Digging Deep
By: Erika Burkhalter
Tags: Short Story, Poetry, Photography, Creativity, Spirituality

“Questions from the Quantum Divide” came to me in fits and starts. It didn’t receive a lot of applause and I’m pretty sure that it’s because it doesn’t make much sense unless you’ve studied a bit of quantum physics and have heard about Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle, which basically says that a particle can either assume the properties of a particle or of a wave, but that it can’t be pinned down unless it is observed. For some bizarre reason, not yet fully understood, the act of observing the particle forces it to become one or the other.

It has always struck me that the concept (so prevalent in a multitude of spiritual paths) of an “observer,” whether it is our own higher self or a sort of “Cosmic Consciousness,” altering our experience seems to mirror the uncertainty of the particle/wave dilemma in quantum physics.

(Short excerpt from the poem)

“This observer of the universe —

would you like to call her

the Goddess,

or God,

or Prakriti and Purusha,

or Laksmi and Vishnu,

or Yahweh,

or Cosmic Consciousness?

Does he observe in

singularity,

or in conjunction with another?

And if there is another,

are they maybe really just two facets of the one —

reflecting an illusion of duality….”
Sadly, most organizations whose passionate people become quiet will confuse that for the…
By: Robert Merrill
Tags: People, Workplace Culture, Work, Workplace

Sadly, most organizations whose passionate people become quiet will confuse that for the troublemakers finally “getting in line”

They’re not in line. They’re prepping to jump ship. (I’ll gladly help them).

You’ll slightly regret you let them slip away, but not look back. After all staff meeting runs so much smoother now without their incessant probing questions about why, exactly, decisions were made and what data was actually collected to prove this and how the customer is going to feel when this impacts them…

There won’t be a big cinematic wind up scene where they come crashing through your door one day triumphantly shouting “hey, punk, remember me?!”

But every person that asks if working for you was good or not will get their truthful warning about you.

And, one-by-one, each customer they talk to that likes their new company a little more than yours will silently move their business away from yours.

You’ll never know any of this is happening because you’ll never meet the recruiting candidates who refuse to interview (because they’ve heard how you stifle critical thinking and creativity) and you’ll never get back the customers you lose (because you only care about their money).

Deafening silence, eh?
We May Be The Ones Hurting Our Children The Most
By: Ashley Walker
Tags: Abuse, Mental Health, Family, Parenting Advice, Parenting

We May Be The Ones Hurting Our Children The Most

We fear outside influences, but maybe we should be fearing ourselves.

Photo by Emir Kaan Okutan from Pexels

Sometimes it seems emotional abuse is overlooked in favor of its more visible counterpart — physical abuse. But the scars emotional abuse leave are just as real and just as damaging.

We fear someone hurting our child. We fear them being introduced to dangerous habits, ideas, and substances. The thought of another person mistreating them may feel us with indignation and anger.

But do we fear the impact we have on them? Do we fear ideas and behaviors we may introduce to them?

Not so much. We think that as long as we provide a roof over their heads and make sure their basic needs are met, everything’s fine. We have our problems, they have theirs, and the two don’t interact with each other.

Or do they?

Children learn by watching their parents. By mirroring the way they act, and saying and doing the things they see. They look to them for their emotional needs, not just their physical ones.

But this is easy to forget.

Adults struggle too. There are a myriad of things we struggle with, and all too often our kids pay the price for those struggles.

We don’t think twice about snapping at our child to give us some space. But they do. We don’t consider constantly telling our children to clean up their messes and stop being so loud as damaging in the least. But they do.

They come to us for love and kindness, and are constantly pushed away. They’re told their feelings aren’t as important as ours and are confused when we seem so angry.

Sometimes we are angry. And instead of getting help, we take it out on our children. To me, this is scarier than any outside influence there is.
How to Start Enjoying Reading Again
By: Anangsha Alammyan
Tags: Ideas, Advice, Self Improvement, Reading, Books

Are you someone who used to swear by books in your childhood, but as an adult, have been struggling to get back to reading with the same passion as in your youth?

You read, there’s no denying that, but you are unable to replicate that feeling of wide-eyed awe that used to burn bright in your heart when you were a child.

Do you fear that you will never have that feeling of satisfaction of being transported to a different world again, that obsession with which you love an author so much, you need to read everything they have written?

If you found yourself nodding, let me tell you this: you are not alone.

And the best part — this can be changed.

With some conscious effort and minor lifestyle changes, you will be able to get that wild, all-consuming love for books burning in your heart.

I know this because I had been an avid reader back in school. Then, college happened, and I got so busy, I could barely manage to read one book each month. Things got worse when I started working and months passed by when I didn’t read a single book.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying. I was. I just wasn’t able to love a book with all my heart to make me want to leave everything else and keep reading.

Reading felt like a chore and I was doing it not out of love for books, but for the need to keep checking off names on my TBR (to-be-read list).

But then, I made some decisions in 2019 that helped me read 81 books in one year. I did not skim through but read them with the passion that made me forgo sleep and stay up all night to finish a scene.

In this article, I am going to share with you all the tips and hacks I followed to start enjoying reading again. I hope they will resonate with you and help you become a passionate reader.
Fashion Weekly Round-Up: 1/23–1/29
Tags: Fashion, Women, Shopping, Luxury, Women In Tech

Your weekly summary of the latest in fashion, covering a combination of industry news, tips for your daily routine, and the top trends to look out for.

Round-up brought to you by your friends at Arthur, a membership for women that helps them assemble the right wardrobe for their professional lives. Members enjoy perks like 10% back in credit on all purchases, plus free shipping & returns on all orders.
The Sheriff of Ladytown
By: Kara B. Imle
Tags: Humor, Poetry, Poems On Medium, Art, Texas

“High Noon.” Oil on canvas by Felice House. Reproduced with artist’s permission.

She tracked the lawman down the canyons

across the desert and through Indian country

where they knew him by his booming laugh

and his low-dog lying tongue and told her

she’d be doing them all a favor, aho

then doubted the dust of her passing.

She tracked him all the way

from Ladytown to Doucheville

beneath a sun that threw no shadows

her pursuit so hungry, so heedless of the years

even faithful ol’ Red stove up and died

ribcage rattling so the crows heard.

She shucked the saddle off and hid

its worn leather traps under a tuft of sage.

(Nothing to see here, just crow-bait.)

Her prey sauntered into the ‘ville

and slapped through the doors

of Good Old Boy Saloon

fat hips gyrating, pistols in the air

a stupid grin plastered to his mug:

whoooeeee ladies!

He was lookin’ for a fight

or a good time or both

but our horseless hero wasn’t having it.

She slid a pink nail down to her nickel-plated

and tickled it in a room gone suddenly silent:

tap, tap, tap.

Boomer wobbled around on bowlegs

roses in his cheeks and his third gun slung too low.

“Aw blow me,” is the last thing he drawled.

I told you

not to fuck with me, she said

although whether out loud or not

nobody could afterward recall.

Not up for debate: she blew his mind

and then his heart

careful to miss the badge

he still wore on his chest.

Then she sauntered over cool as death

and plucked it off the broke-ass mess

so recently Boomer’s sternum.

“This’ll be mine now.

In the eyes of the law

I’m the sheriff of Ladytown:

high time that it was so.”

Nobody met those flinty eyes

nor dared to ask

in the eyes of what law

nor followed her as she swung

out the saloon doors and up

onto Boomer’s horse.

She rode out the way she came

and, rumor says, back to Ladytown.

Though no man ever laid eyes on her again

to confirm or deny this rumor,

if you ride out on a hot day

through shadowless lands of high noon

you’ll hear the laughter of the sheriff of Ladytown.
How Reliable Are You?
By: Joe Chop
Tags: Fire Department, Reliability, Analytics, Programming

In the fire service, reliability may be the most challenging, but also most valuable and insightful metric to collect. Reliability can be defined as “the probability that the required number of competently prepared staff and properly equipped apparatus will be available when a fire or emergency call is received (1)”. To simplify, when can say — when a call occurs in Station 11’s jurisdiction, how often does the home engine, Engine 11, respond to the call?

As the number of incidents increases, a station becomes less reliable as more of the stations’ apparatus are committed to these calls. Tracking reliability, and the corresponding performance metrics, including response time, across multiple facets, such as hour of the day, and call type leads to deeper insights and questions such as:

When a station is committed, how is our response time impacted?

When, and at what hours, should we place additional resources including personnel or apparatus?

Where should the next station be built?

In NFORS, we can not only track reliability, completely customizable to your departments organization, but we can also quantify the impact it has on our performance with real historic data.

Lets get started!

For today’s exercise, we are going to calculate station reliability, however the same principals and guidance can be applied to build similar tables for apparatus level reliability.

Incident Count and Response Time By First Due
This Room is Not His Room
By: Till Kaeslin
Tags: Memories, Queer, Poetry, LGBTQ, Self

This Room is Not His Room

A queer person, writing from the room I came out in.

Photo by Ana-Maria Nichita on Unsplash

His room was a place for late-night tears,

for pacing back and forth with worry,

for screaming into his pillow,

for wishing and wanting

for things to change.

His room is the same room I sit in today,

and yet it can’t be.

Because this room is just a room —

not a place for late-night tears,

for screaming into my pillow,

for wishing and wanting

for things to change.

This room is four walls, a floor, and a ceiling.

It is for sleeping, drinking coffee, and writing.

It is for calling friends, watching TV, and reading articles.

This room is for living.

“Am I gay?” — those three words no longer bounce around and echo,

no longer make me cry, scream, wish, and want,

no longer have a hold on me,

no longer have a place in this room.

I count three windows, four walls, two closets, and one door.

Same as before, nothing’s changed.

But somehow everything’s changed.

This room is not his room.

And yet he is still me and I will always be,

crying and screaming and wishing and wanting.

Only now I do so as a queer person,

over an article that didn’t get curated.
Going from screen to VR: trading resolution for immersion
By: Jose Antunes
Tags: Oculus Rift S, Aviation, Flight Simulation, Virtual Reality, X Plane 11

Should I get a TrackIR or VR? The question, made by someone, recently, at the Orbx forums, does not have a “one size fits all” answer. But let me say that once I tried Virtual Reality in a flight sim, there is no way I will use a monitor again.

Is Virtual Reality good for flight simulation? I would say a clear YES, but I believe other people will have different opinions (read the forums at Orbx for the whole discussion), and to a certain extent they may be right. If you do not have a powerful computer, you better stay with a flat screen with TrackIR or any similar solution available. Also, if you like to take lots of notes, read maps and do all the other things associated with planned flights, you might prefer to not use a VR headset.

On the other hand, if you fly mostly GA aircraft, and use the simulation to have the sensation of flying over a real landscape, nothing beats the experience of VR. That applies to the available flight simulations today, from Prepar3D, to X-Plane 11 or DCS, to mention the most popular and those I use regularly. The implementation of VR in Prepar3D is not the best, I must admit, and that has kept me from using it, despite the amount of money I’ve invested in Orbx sceneries. X-Plane 11’s VR is better, but you really need a powerful computer to run it. DCS is even better, but everybody is expecting that the implementation of Vulkan — both in XP and DCS — makes the simulations run faster than with OpenGL. But don’t expect miracles.

Track IR, DelanClip and others

In fact, no computer available today can run these simulations at 100fps in VR, as some seem to claim. And it will probably be a long time before any man made machine grants us that vision. Anyways, unless you’re one of those persons who are too sensitive to low frame rates, 30fps will make your experience in X-Plane 11 quite smooth. If you’ve the machine to run it, that is. But let’s get back to the question of VR.

There is, in fact, no simple answer in when it comes to choose between TrackIR or VR. If you get motion sickness, then VR is not for you. Add this to the other reasons mentioned earlier, and you might have the answer you need: TrackIR is the way to go. Believe me, TrackIR is great, I’ve used it for years, until my older son, Miguel, stole mine, to use in Elite Dangerous. I then acquired another system, DelanClip, which works similarly, and there are others, like Track Hat Clip, offering the same kind of experience. They are great… until you try a Virtual Reality headset.

So, that’s how I got into VR. From screen to TrackIR and DelanClip and finally Oculus Rift. Since I tried the Rift, there are days when I wish I would go back to the clear, detailed image I’ve on the screen, a 32 inch 2560x1440 monitor. It’s much better, so much better, that I understand if you want to keep using it. But believe me, the immersion provided by VR is mind boggling. And as I do not get motion sickness, I can fly for hours without any problem.
Crowd Computer
By: Crowd Machine
Tags: Crowd Machine, Blockchain, FAQ, Crowd Computer

Crowd Computer

Crowd Machine FAQ

What is the Crowd Computer?

A powerful peer-to-peer computational network that leverages global device capacity to power the execution of blockchain and decentralized Apps where owners are paid for allowing their devices to be a part of the App execution network.

What is a Super Node?

Agoric nodes (aka super nodes) generate blueprints that utilize benchmarking provided by activity compute nodes (ACNs) to form pathways from source app Patterns and map to optimal compute resources.

Can my hardware be a node on the network?

Yes, if it is a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, or server.

When will the Crowd Machine be available?

Crowd App Studio and the Crowd Virtual Machine are available to use now. The Crowd Computer will be available in Q4 2018.

What are the benefits of the Crowd Computer?

Compared to the public clouds, Crowd Machine is infinitely scalable (limited only by the number of connected computing devices on the internet), and is not cost prohibitive.

Is the client-side Crowd Computer software proprietary or open source?

Crowd App Studio and the Crowd Computer are proprietary. The Crowd Virtual Machine will be made available as open source in 2018.

How does the network determine consensus?

Strong Federation consensus is deterministic, where each block is expected to be produced by a single party. Therefore, reorganizations cannot happen, unlike in Bitcoin or Ethereum, where they are an ordinary fact of life. In a Strong Federation, blocksigners need only to obtain consensus amongst themselves before extending history; since they are a small, well-defined set, the network heartbeat can be significantly faster than in Proof-of-Work, where settlement is probabilistic over time.

How is Crowd Machine different from Maid Safe?

Maid Safe is a data protection technology whereas Crowd Machine is a decentralized app development and execution technology.
What I learned designing Barbie dolls
By: Monica Chen
Tags: Design, Product Design, Career, UX, Innovation

What I learned designing Barbie dolls

Barbie inspires children that they can become anyone they wish. It did for me too.

I had the opportunity to work for Barbie after graduating — truly a dream job! I was lucky to be a part of the Barbie legacy and work on fashion dolls, the Barbie Malibu House, and the Barbie Convertible.

This experience continues to influence me as a user experience designer. Here’s three things I learnt from designing Barbie Dolls.

Entrance to the Barbie studio

1. Prototyping Matters

As people working in digital, we’re used to moving quickly and changing things at low cost. When working in three-dimensions, the process is longer, less flexible, and necessarily more linear. It relies heavily on early planning and prototyping before launching into the market, because of the time and cost of product manufacturing and logistics.

At Barbie, designers would move between moodboards, sketching, 3D modelling, and physical prototyping to see if our ideas worked. A team made of a product designer, product engineer, packaging designer, and costing engineer would have conversations around low and high fidelity prototypes. This created an iterative process to explore opportunities, and identify problems to research further. We needed to prevent as many issues as possible before the product was released to children.

Each prototyping method has its own benefits and would be used throughout the design process.

Paper mock-ups

It’s a quick, simple, and inexpensive way of testing an early concept. We would use paper prototypes to check a design generally worked, for instance: do different Barbie Doll body types fit into this design?

Foamcore prototype

Foamcore is a lightweight yet rigid sheet material. We would use this to focus on basic structure or functionality, especially for large-scale products. They were often made roughly in the early stages and evolve over time.

Foamcore prototype of Barbie Malibu Mall

Digital 3D models

Creating 3D models from final drawings allowed us to view every angle and see the smallest details. This was the last chance to refine the design before building expensive physical models.

Physical 3D models

Handmade or 3D printed physical models based on the digital models would be the final visual check before investing in the injection mould tools for production.

Mould Tooling model

This type of model is produced by the same materials and injection mould tooling to be used in manufacturing, in order to check for critical issues on the materials and mould tools before production.

Pre-Production models

These are fully functional and aesthetically complete with packaging, produced by the production line in a small batch to assess how to manufacture and distribute in bulk. This is the last chance for refinement before mass production.
Natural Born Suicidal
By: Aaron Debee
Tags: Culture, Mental Health, Psychology, Depression, Self

My new depression and anxiety medications arrived in the mail today. I opened them an hour or two before the city’s “Be the Light” Walk, an event intended to “prevent suicide and reduce stigma.” I can’t help but feeling that it shouldn’t be this hard.

The left upper corner of my lip feels like it is curling into a sneer or a snarl. It’s the latest in a history of facial tics related to my mental state. I’m not sure if they are even visible. It’s always hard to know what people can and cannot see from the outside.

Less than a week ago, I was sitting in the psychiatrist’s office, a goal I’d accomplished only after a litany of referrals and intake interviews. Hopelessness turned to anger, turned to frustration, turned back into hopelessness, as I struggled to even explain my struggle to a professional who is trained to hear struggles like mine.

“Our minds are not built to fathom the effects of completely relentless pain a priori.”

My failures to connect with other people in a meaningful manner accumulate, build and erupt into desperate behaviors that cause further disconnection and sap the wills of those close to me to remain that way. Time allows the beast to chew free of its rusty cage, and the disheartened villagers scatter.

I remember playing in the backyard as a child of no more than five or six years old and being aware of this feeling of certainty that I was “not supposed to be here.” It wasn’t that the location was wrong, that my station in life was incorrect, or even that my exterior identity didn’t match who I felt I was inside. It was an overwhelming and persistent belief that my very existence in this world or on this plane was erroneous.
Overview on Mining power-consumption: is Green Energy a viable solution?
By: Mattia Franzoni
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Altcoins, Ethereum

In one of the first articles published by NovaMining, one of the main issue about mining was shown. The article was written on October 17th, 2017, when Bitcoin mining network power-consumption amounted about 21.4TWh.

In these seven months, the consumption of electricity is more than tripled with an amount of about 66TWh.

To be clear, it corresponds at the same annual electricity consumption of Chile which is at 44th position for worldwide electrical production.

But, where’s this energy coming from?

Considering that most of the hashpower comes from Chinese Mining Farm, powered by coal-fired electricity, the ecological footprint is crazy, with impressive amounts of CO2 released into the atmosphere.

It is clear to most that such waste of energy is not sustainable, even considering that a single Bitcoin transaction consumes approximately 800KWh while about 100,000 Visa transactions consume about 170KWh.

The panorama shows us the unplanned side effect, of which the main proponent is the man with his voracity.

What makes mining extremely expensive is the amount of Hashpower available, variable that increases the algorithm difficulty and, consequently, the electrical energy consumed by the machines to solve it.

This situation has cut off the individual from the market, which was born to the wealth redistribution towards the individuals.

Today, Bitcoin mining is a super-competitive environment, sometimes incorrect, where there is no more space for people who have a fundamental need to create wealth and to be able to use it in their own community.

As usual, the first solution would be simple, that is by changing the competitive paradigm and unscrupulous profit to a permanent and sustainable collaboration approach for the wealth sharing.

In these terms, NovaMining is committed to the forefront of making this paradigm shift possible within this new gold rush, trying to create a more transparent and correct environment for the individual who approaches this market.

Secondly, the energy that NovaMining will use for its Cloud-Mining operations will mainly come from renewable resources: Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, Hydroelectric Turbines, Geothermal, Pyrolysis, Gasification of wet waste.

CONCLUSION

These resources will be used according to the availability of the geographical location to try to meet the burdensome energy needs of a Mining Farm, in combination with R&D program we plan to cover most of this need in a manner respectful of the environment.

All of the energy used that won’t come from these sources will become part of the company’s sustainability program, all of CO2 produced will be offset by the purchase of land at risk of desertification, in which 70% of the surface it will be planted with trees, allowing us to absorb that CO2 produced and free oxygen in the atmosphere.

CREDITS

This article was originally written in Italian by Mattia Franzoni & Davide Damiano and translated in English by Stefania Stimolo for NovaMining.
The Problem with Monty Hall
By: Cindy Shore Smith
Tags: Humor, Math, Teachers, Schools, Kids

An excited Raggedy Ann and Andy win a pool table, a cowboy gets “zonked” with a camel and a lady in an Eiffel Tower hat squeals, “I love you! I love you!” as she accepts a check for $2,500 — all in the first five minutes. At the center of all this fun? To quote announcer Jay Stewart, it’s “America’s top trader, TV’s big dealer — Monty Hall!”

Maybe you remember Monty from the 70s era game show “Let’s Make a Deal.” What you may not know is that The Monty Hall Problem is a fascinating math puzzle.

There are three doors but only one holds a fabulous prize.

You pick your door. Then you’re shown what is behind one of the OTHER doors and it’s a dud. Monty then asks you if you want to stick with the door you chose or swap for the other unopened one.

The real problem — for the contestant and the mathematician — is whether to keep your original pick or switch. I won’t give away the answer, but you can find a good explanation here if you’re interested.

I wonder what this person really wins?

A few years ago I shared this puzzle with my advanced 6th grade math students and it was over most of their heads. What I wasn’t prepared for was the question: “Mrs. Smith, who is this Monty Hall?”

The next day I had a 1972 clip ready. There was Monty in all his cheesy game-show glory, laughing with a giddy housewife as she made big decisions in a dolphin costume. She won “a beautiful Broyhill living room set!”

There was a “modern” sectional sofa, matching tables and a stereo, the gleaming cabinet adorned with a flower arrangement. It was demonstrated by the lovely Carol Merrill as Jay described the wonders of “up to 120 watts of music power!”

Home entertainment center!

I was disappointed that the kids didn’t grasp the puzzle but felt redeemed by sharing a bit of my past with these very bright children. Their horizons had been expanded, thanks to my professional guidance.

Pleased with myself, I prepared to move on with the day’s lesson when I saw a hand in the air. “Mrs. Smith, what was that wooden box?” the youngster asked.

“The stereo?” I answered, “That was for playing music. Everybody had one in their living room when I was growing up.” An awkward pause later, the puzzled child said, “Oh. It looked like a coffin.”

Thus ended my attempt at teaching history. I’d better just stick to math.
5 Productivity Habits of Truly Avid Readers
By: Alice White
Tags: Productivity, Self Improvement, Reading, Habits, Books

5 Productivity Habits of Truly Avid Readers

“So many books, so little time.”― Frank Zappa

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

Books are truly magical objects. They can take you on a journey to any place in the world without you having to leave the house. They can teach you crucial life lessons while you’re sitting on your sofa. Books can be a teleport; they can be a time machine. Books let us live hundreds of different lives and learn from thousands of situations that could’ve never happen to us.

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”

― Charles W. Eliot

But to get the most out of a book, you have to treat it a certain way. Books are unlike any other kind of media. No video, song, or movie requires the amount of time, commitment, and focus to consume. You have to give your full attention to a book to get something out of it. No valuable lessons can be taken and carved into your memory from skimming the pages or reading reviews online. Books simply can’t be hacked.

Because books are a little harder to digest than other media types, some people might think avid readers have some superpower. That you have to be born with a reading gene to read a hundred books a year.

Anyone who knows how to read and enjoys this activity can become a prolific reader. When you read every day, you start to develop some habits and rituals that improve your reading quality and productivity. All it takes is a set of habits that can help you read more productively.
How sports funding boosts player performance
Tags: Sports, Blockchain, Vc Funding, Cryptocurrency Investment, Funding

In this manner it is imperative that players don’t need feel overwhelmed by a lack of sports funding. After all, stress has been shown to dramatically hinder player performance; so much so that one Natural Green Secrets article revealed that 75–90% of all doctor’s visits are related to conditions caused by stress. It doesn’t even bear mentioning how many missed training sessions that adds up to!

In these instances, sports clubs can safeguard their players and help boost their performances by equipping them with access to new types of sports funding. In today’s tumultuous socio-economic climate, clubs find it harder and harder to depend upon conventional methods of support which can lead to uncertainty, stress and impaired player performance. As one Psychology Today editorial explains;

“Negative external or internal psychological factors can lead to mental blocks, causing breaks in focus and preparation, poor performance and, at times, injuries to the athlete. They can produce physical disruptions such as muscles tightening, shaking and increased perspiration. If not dealt with, these factors may not only affect the athlete but the team as a whole”.

Don’t worry, there is a solution. New blockchain decentralization platforms such as Globatalent have started to emerge as a golden opportunity for players and clubs to receive the financial support they need from their fans. These innovative blockchain decentralization platforms enable sports teams to attain funding from the sale of future revenue rights to fans across the globe. Globatalent keep this process alive by enabling individual sports fans to unite, support their favourite teams and benefit from their success without the unwelcome influence of an intermediary entity.

Having access to this unique type of sports funding support enables players to solely focus upon improving their performance without having to worry about where the next cheque is coming from. Fans support players and, in return, players reward their fans with better performances when it matters the most. What could be better? If you would like to play your part in supporting your favourite teams then please feel free to investigate the Globatalent system online today.
統戰：一個正在臺灣進行的狀態，還是被汙名化的名詞？
Tags: Taiwan, Politics, Hong Kong, China

in Both Sides of the Table
Three Halflings in a Trench Coat
By: Hogan Torah
Tags: Humor, Gaming, Tabletop Gaming, Character Development, Dungeons And Dragons

D&D

Three Halflings in a Trench Coat

If I can’t be Dungeon Master I’m doing this.

Image luvekat all rights reserved

I hand the Dungeon Master my character sheet.

It goes one of two ways.

If they’ve been looking at developments in homebrew D&D 5e on Reddit in the last two years, they smile and nod.

If they haven’t, their brow furrows before they ask, “What the hell is three halflings in a trench coat?”

Image Reddit PD

There’s many ways to play this character but I prefer playing him hilariously.

The bottom one is unlawful good unless he’s drinking. He’s a violent drunk and has an enchanted flask.

The top one is neutral evil and hooked on potion but doesn’t tell anyone until he starts going into withdrawals when the party gets a day away from town. The halfling has to shoot up every 4 hours or he’s useless.

The middle one is true neutral. Except his only motivation is to have sex with baby dragons.

You don’t want know Steve’s deal. You’ll find out soon enough when he gets here.

What do you expect? I have 4 charisma.

You have one of the best storytellers of the the early 21st century sitting in front of you.

This is what happens when you don’t let me be dungeon master.
I resolve not to resolve because I don’t want to tell myself “you suck.”
By: Sherry Mcguinn
Tags: Humor, Life Lessons, Truth, New Year Resolution, Self Improvement

I resolve not to resolve because I don’t want to tell myself “you suck.”

Source: Flickr.Com

Perhaps that’s harsh, but the reality is, I’m thinking I might actually achieve some stuff if I don’t bleat it, first. Now, in the back of my head, are all the things that I would resolve to do if I was in that mindset. You know, like losing weight, getting sober, or sober-ish, decluttering my home, winning an Indie Spirit Award, that type of thing.

Does anyone actually keep these resolutions? If so, how do you do it? Do you write them down? Tell everyone you know so that they can hold you accountable? Write whole Medium stories about them? Please share so that the rest of us losers can catch up.

One thing I will resolve: To get the Medium dance party going because I think we all need to shake a little somethin.’
Terrace Martin Releases Short Film “Velvet Portrait”
Tags: Fader, Press Release, Velvet Portraits, Terrace Martin, Music

Terrace Martin Releases Short Film “Velvet Portrait”

​Los Angeles, CA — Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 — Multi-instrumentalist, Terrace Martin captures disorienting heartache in his short film, “Velvet Portrait,” as premiered exclusively by The FADER. Seen as the antithesis to Get Out, cinematic vignettes perfectly capture a man’s pain after his love has gone awry. As he roams the streets haunted by old memories and photographs, Martin’s evocative tracks follow the troubled lover as he struggles to carve out a new path under the night sky.

Terrace told FADER, “I’ve always looked at music as being the soundtrack to life. Music makes you love — it’s so healing, yet it also has the power to shift you to a dark side as well…”

Watch Terrace Martin’s ‘Velvet Portrait’ here.​

Link: http://www.thefader.com/2017/03/21/terrace-martin-velvet-portrait-film
Gatherers of Words
Tags: Feeling The Blank, Writing, Words, Writing Prompt Response, Scrittura

fighting for the crumbs

as my brain battles for those tidbits,

forgotten or filed for tomorrow,

always thinking I’ll remember

but I don’t.

All okay, cause what I forgot

will flow to someone else,

will be their aha, their remembered

when I didn’t.

Forgetting is releasing

what was mine to someone else

who is ready when I wasn’t.

Cause the words are not mine

or yours but ours, there for the grabbing

or the releasing.

Words don’t linger

or dawdle, speedily

moving from me to you in the moment of

a forgotten idea or phrase or rhyme.

What I lost, you found,

use it well,

for if not, it will

return to me or

someone else.
Why your gift cards fail all the way?
By: Mike Sedzielewski
Tags: Promotion, Digital Marketing, Gift Cards, Startup

Estimated sales of digital gift cards reached $15 billion in 2017. For 9 years in a row, they have been one of the most requested gifts, continuously reducing the number of mismatched choices found in this secondary market.

The huge numbers of gift cards in the market prove not only their marketing power but also show how common a tool they have become in marketers’ hands. To stand out from this crowd you need something more than just a nice piece of plastic. With our new white paper, we want to show you how to combine the marketing power of gift cards with a modern e-commerce environment. This approach demonstrates an affordable and easy to maintain marketing infrastructure which allows you to make the most of each gift card bought.
3 Things ‘Dancing Guy’ Taught Celebrity Megachurches
By: Dave Boice
Tags: Church Planting, Megachurch, Christianity, Viral Video, Church Leadership

1. Plant Shills in the Congregation

During a visit to the largest megachurch in the United States — boasting 50,000 congregants and 10 million TV viewers each week — I was thrilled to be escorted near the front to see it’s Smiley Preacher.

Talking with those seated around me, it was apparent everyone was from out-of-state, most married, and based on the amount of Dockers khakis and Macy’s floral blouses —baby boomer majority.

Q: So, if you have visiting baby boomers at a worship rock concert, how do you create a memorable visual for your viewing audience?

A: Plant ‘Dancing Guys’ throughout the congregation to stoke the flame.

On stage, 50+ choir members swayed back-and-forth, clapping or waving their hands to set the pace and rhythm. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but something that seemed out-of-place was the various congregants littered throughout the sanctuary near the front and side aisles. They looked like models, starkly different than the congregation’s typical demographic — early 20’s, A-lister fashion sense, with clothing choices that looked to be stolen from the Black Eyed Peas.

When the worship music got going, the young/cool models took the lead to bust a move in the audience — jumping up-and-down like Tigger on a trampoline, full of energy, waving hands in the air like they just don’t care. It helped influence several people around me to open up and publicly express their inner spirit. Even for my cool demeanor, I was so pumped that when the collection buckets came around, I tithed the biggest amount I had ever done in my life.

Looking back at the experience and given the demographics — my memory started tugging at me that something seemed off. If this was the Dancing Guy video — the band were the leaders, the models were the first followers, and the congregation was the piling concertgoers.

If proven, is it right for a church to plant shills in the congregation to fast-track momentum of its congregation? If so, would that be considered deceptive?
Does Islam Hate America?
By: Virtual Mosque
Tags: Islam, America, Hate

In his interview with CNN Mr Trump tells the audience that ‘Islam hates them’. When asked is it the religion of Islam that teaches hatred, he did not answer.

So what is the truth? Does Islam hate America? Is Donald Trump right? Let us see what the Holy Quran has to say on the subject.

If you are not able to watch the video above due to bandwidth or restrictions etc then please enjoy the podcast of the speech below;