fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Fife High School receives national award for fostering inclusion to support students with disabilities
By: Wa Governor S Office
Tags: ESPN, Education, Inclusion, Special Olympics, Disability

Sarah said she worked with Aaron’s teachers to find out what his issues were. Early on, Sarah had him assessed with the special education department.

“No parent ever wants a child to have a disability,” Sarah said. “It was a process. Once Aaron had a diagnosis, we met with the team and got the appropriate services. For the most part, his teachers all the way through both in the general education program and special education program were fabulous.”

That support network aligns with a gentle push for more inclusive school communities.

“It takes leadership to have a teacher in the classroom to do this but the impact on these students is enormous,” Inslee said. “Creating this culture in a school setting will set up our children with healthy support systems and help them with long-term success.”

With his mother, Sarah, on one side, Aaron holds his diploma on the other during his graduation day from West Valley High School in Yakima. (Photo courtesy of Sarah James)

Fostering inclusion is about creating a sense of belonging and increasing student access to high-quality instruction for students with disabilities. Cynthia Hollimon, K-12 budget assistant to the governor, said an important part of inclusion is keeping all students together when possible.

“Research has shown that students with disabilities have better outcomes academically and social-emotionally when they are educated with their peers in the regular classroom to the greatest extent possible,” Hollimon said.

Inslee has made special education a priority during his administration. He has proposed increased funding for both the special education formula provided to schools and the safety net that provides specific accommodation to students. The Legislature increased the formula last session and provided funds for professional development to increase educators’ skills in inclusive instruction.

Washington’s 2020 Teacher of the Year, Amy Campbell, fosters inclusion in her work as a special education teacher at Helen Baller Elementary School in Camas. She focuses on student’s’ strengths instead of deficits and promotes meaningful, inclusive relationships among students with and without disabilities.
When Will This Be Over?
By: Liza Donnelly
Tags: Politics, NRA, Gun Control, Gun Violence, Guns

Too many gun deaths

I don’t have any words to add. But I offer a drawing, one in a line of many such images I have created on gun violence in the United States. I hope we can find a solution and stop the madness.

(in response to the Santa Fe, Texas school gun shooting, May 18, 2018)
Blazing Fast Driver Tests - made easy
By: Tomek Polański
Tags: Flutter, Test

A note of warning: if you are in a Flutter project that won’t take more than 3 months, you won’t need an extensive testing approach, therefore you won’t need the approach that I suggest in this post.

But. . .

If you work in a Flutter project that will take a long time, I would strongly advise investing in testing, and that includes:

Flutter Driver Tests

I’ve mentioned that Flutter Driver Tests have its issues:

Require iOS/Android device

Slower than Widget Tests

Dependency Injection is problematic

Tests depending on the outcomes of the previous tests

Running one test file at a time

Difficult to debug failing tests

Fortunately, I’ve mentioned that those issues can be solved. . .

Unfortunately, it would have taken you a lot of code to do that.

What if, there were a command-line tool that could do the majority of work for you?

Yes, there is — why else would I write this article?!
New Dether App Feature: add any ERC20 token to your wallet
Tags: Blockchain, Releases, Ethereum, Wallet, Updates

Customize your Dether wallet the way you want by adding your chosen ERC20 tokens.

Since the official launch of the new Dether app, a number of pre-selected tokens were present in the Dether wallet, enabling users to fund, send and sell any of these ERC20 tokens.

After listening to the feedback of the Dether community, we’ve understood that having a customized wallet is a must have.

Starting now, you can customize your own Dether wallet by:

Selecting tokens listed in the Dether wallet, or

Adding your own selected ERC20 tokens to your Dether wallet by simply pasting the ERC20 token’s smart contract address in the “Add Token” search bar, then selecting it and adding it to your wallet.

That’s it!

Your Dether Wallet is now a tailor-made Ethereum wallet, where you can add any of your ERC20 tokens within the same wallet.
This Is Just To Say, 2016
By: Stephen Goldmeier
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Politics, Short

I don’t post a lot about current events because (as will surprise no one who knows me) I think it’s all too complex for me to say anything of significance. Also I don’t post as much as I used to about really anything, since work keeps me very busy, and I spend a lot of the energy I would use for writing things like this on my work in improving indigent defense in Ohio.

But I also don’t want my silence mistaken for disinterest or approval. So I’ll just say that recent events (specifically the repeated killing of unarmed young people, predominantly people of color) all make me sad and angry, but not exactly confused or surprised, because what is happening is not new; it’s the cameras that are new. Which makes it all the more sad, but also perversely makes it better, because we can all finally see the monster that’s been hiding in our culture since the beginning.

And no matter how complex it all is, there are parts that are simple: everyone’s story is important, people aren’t as different as we pretend they are, black lives matter, hate is easier but love is more useful and more powerful.

I know I’m not adding anything to the conversation that isn’t already there, in more eloquent words, from more powerful people. But I guess I just wanted to make sure I said it.
BarterDEX Exchange integrated LYS Token
Tags: Fintech, Technology, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Shine the light with Lightyears Token (LYS)

As KOMODO is the world’s first on its atomic swap , They now enable ERC20 token to be traded along others digital asset in the crypto-world .

DEXs will become mainstream in next 2–3 years. Many options available, pls check @BarterDex that uses on chain atomic swaps & beta gui is live now: http://goo.gl/heUZF7 some govs will probably issue their own fiat pegs in near future: problem solved & they double as gateways .

As more Exchange coming out every single day BarterDEX has it way of standing out of the rest . By introducing stress test will ensure its creditably on their atomic swap platform . BarterDex said to be having 5000+ Asset ready for the swap , Introduction video of the Exchange is available through out the community and on it twitter page .

We are hoping there will be more development working together

Lightyears team “ Thanks KOMODO for having us on their Atomic swap platform” .
What do Donald Trump and Christianity have in common?
By: Marcus Cicero
Tags: Christianity, Trump, Global Warming

Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

Let me try to set the tone here from the beginning so you’re not guessing where this is going. A little honesty to kick things off so you don’t feel I’ve led you down a click-bait path of boredom.

First fact, Donald Trump and I don’t agree on much.

Second fact, Christianity and I don’t agree on much either. Love others and treat them as you would like to be treated is about it.

But let me be clear, I care deeply for those in the Church — it’s the institution that I struggle with.

Before you write this post off as negative diatribe, I think it’s worth dipping your curiosity in a little further to see what would make me say such terrible (or obvious) things.

Yes? Let’s go.

Neither has moved with the times.

Donald, if it’s OK to refer to the President as Donald? Donald, Mr President, Sir, still lives in the past. He lives in a land where fossil fuels are a great idea, where oil & gas are powerhouses of success, signs of wealth and beacons of a progressive nation.

He lives surrounded by people who serve, as servants, in an ivory tower of fortune like a Park Lane property in Monopoly with maximum hotels purchased.

He plays golf like it’s still the 1960’s and Mad Men are pitching him on the latest cigarette commercial first thing in the morning.

Where ‘Men’s only’ clubs are a thing.

Women? He thinks it’s ok to ‘ grab them by the ***** ‘. This has never been OK but perhaps in his younger years, ‘the good old days’, this objectification was more commonplace.

It’s never been OK Mr Trump.
Conversations with K.O. McGee. Here at the AAMBC, we were so excited…
By: Aambc Review Community
Tags: Holiday Romance, Book Recommendations, Book Review, Black Women Writers, Black Authors

Here at the AAMBC, we were so excited to sit down with K.O. McGee. Especially with her upcoming release, Hang On The Mistletoe.

The AAMBC: Where do you get your inspiration?

K.O.: I get inspiration from music, movies, and tv shows. I enjoy watching people interact, which helps me to create new ideas.

The AAMBC: When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?

K.O.: At the beginning of 2020. I started with five goals that I wanted to accomplish by the end of the year. I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I felt like it was natural for me to want to write my own novel.

The AAMBC: What did you learn while writing the book?

K.O.: I have learned that everyone will not understand your craft or your processes. You should always trust your instincts and keep and write from the heart. You should write anyway.

The AAMBC: Were any of the characters inspired by real people?

K.O.: No, all of my characters are fictional people. They are a combination of people and personalities that I have had the chance to encounter in my lifetime. My imagination serves as a creative canvas for my books.

The AAMBC: What is your writing process like?

K.O.: My writing process is not structured at all. I don’t utilize an outline or any formal tools. I usually began by using a writing application on my phone to quickly jot down ideas or scenes while away from my computer. I then copy and paste the content into my document and add the details.

The AAMBC: What advice do you have for other aspiring writers?

K.O.: The first advice that I would give is to just start writing. Find a creative space that will allow your thoughts to flow freely. Whether it’s with an outline or just free thoughts, I feel that you should get your ideas out, write now and edit later.

The AAMBC: What are some of your goals as a writer?

K.O.: As, new writer, I set a goal to publish three books by January. I want to continue to perfect my craft. I also want to connect with more writers and build relationships within the writing community.
A Poem By Rebecca Kosick
By: The Awl
Tags: Poetry, Poems, The Poetry Section

by Mark Bibbins, Editor

Into Months

Once in the dark cold and water-table bliss

or blue of the fractioned and visible land

Figure this

for the tiny halves of most lives

where the country and the city and the pantry all converge

For a time the slice had misshapen

the drive

the way it melts in the

tiring sun of the day the stitches

whose low deep voice made a

just entangle of the whole rotting fruit.

Goats and the milk which comes and lies

and numbering and circle sorts.

I can’t receive my petition my

hesitancy because one knows

the path

is a slimy and cheap oak clock

Spanish is the reemergent fine-time and the

tight rope slither and link

The vagrancy or relevancy but

mostly it’s the dream of mothering

I make a perfect and terrible woman

when fire’s in the soaring lifesuit of the pace

and like insert of an eagle is much the way

I met the man named Americo Ferrari which

surprised me sounding so much

the space and the luxe in both parts

Rebecca Kosick writes and translates in Ithaca, NY.

More poems? Yes.

You may contact the editor at poems@theawl.com.
Connecting Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to Oracle Autonomous Database
By: Alex Keh
Tags: Odpnet, Ssrs, Oracle, Reporting Services, Adb

Oracle Autonomous Database and SQL Server Reporting Services

As Oracle Autonomous Database (ADB) increases in popularity, I’m getting more customer requests for Microsoft services to integrate with. The latest is Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). I’ve co-published this step by step tutorial to install and configure managed ODP.NET in SSRS to securely connect to ADB.

Besides setup, the tutorial also walks through how to increase the ODP.NET result fetch size to improve SSRS data retrieval performance. When completed, you will have a deployable ADB-enabled SSRS application.

SSRS creates, manages, and deploys business reports. Its database tooling is integrated with Visual Studio.

Similar to SQL Server Integration Services and SQL Server Data Tools to ADB connectivity, ODP.NET is the data access driver between ADB and SSRS.
How to get your PEP Network KYC done
By: Sharik Khan
Tags: Bitcoin, Blockchain, ICO, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency

The primary objective of getting KYC done is to ensure that the deposits/ investments are made in the name of real person and not a fictitious one. The other benefit of KYC checks is that this allows us to accept purchases from just about anyone.

As the team’s commitment to decentralized, open, fair and permission less system, the KYC is being performed using an external security platform. We request you all to upgrade your Crowd Sale account by completing your KYC.

How to complete KYC?

You have to get yourself Whitelisted at https://gopep.network before you start the KYC procedure. If you have already Whitelisted, please follow the steps given below.

Step 1: Set password for your Crowd Sale account

You’ll receive an email with the subject line “PEP Network Crowd Sale account is now LIVE!” in your email inbox that has been registered for Whitelist. Open the email, click on “Set my password” button. A new window will open on your browser to set a password. Type and then retype your password to set the password of your Crowd Sale account

Step 2: Access KYC form

This is the static page of PEP Network’s Crowd Sale account Dashboard. Press “KYC” button on the top menu to begin the KYC process

Step 3: KYC registration page

Fill the form about personal info, address and submit the required documents to finish your KYC registration

Step 4: ID confirmation.

In order to verify your ID card, you have to upload 3 pictures: Two pictures of your ID card, front and back (not mandatory), and one selfie of yourself holding the ID card. Only passport, national ID, and driver’s license are allowed. Upload the pictures by pressing the ‘Browse’ button, and move to the next stage. You also have to input your ID card number for verification.

Step 5: Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy Agreement



Check the ‘Terms and Conditions Agreement’ box to agree and then press ‘SUBMIT TO KYC’ for verification



Step 6: An email Confirmation

You’ll receive an email that says “Your KYC has been accepted for verification” after submitting the KYC form
Eyes bigger than the Earth
Tags: Full Moon, Full Moon In Taurus, Spiritual Growth, Chance Encounters, Awakening

The moon is speechless

When the wolves cry

And I stand breathless

Right where twelve dying doves lie

It isn’t about a dream, child

It isn’t about it

It is about a stream of light

Rolling around to hit

Shovels, dispensaries and faucets

Battling many mysteries in one set

Give me time to heal

Time on my knees to feel

That I

Can cross rivers

And face winds that carry fires

I

Am able and strong

Standing in the fickleness of this crazy dawn

Look, the river is red

And the Moon is high

Fences are all around

And there’s a scarf around my head

Let me lay low

Let me know

Let me find a way to know

Let me howl

Let me mourn

Let me launch a day unknown

The moon is restless

On this dying day

Eyes bigger than the Earth I pray, I pray

For Strength to let me stand a chance.
How to buy Bitcoin with CoinCorner
Tags: Technology, Education, Investing, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

How to buy Bitcoin with CoinCorner CoinCorner Follow Dec 17 · 3 min read

Okay, so, you’ve seen the price of 1 Bitcoin skyrocketing this week (it’s above $23,000 at the time of writing!) and you’re curious about buying.

First things first — have you done any research yet? If the answer is no, please don’t continue until you’ve done thorough research to understand what Bitcoin is and how it works.

The more you know, the better informed your decisions will be in the future.

Once you know all there is to know (or as much as you can 😉), follow the easy instructions below to buy your first Bitcoin with CoinCorner.

How it works

Register for an account. Deposit funds in GBP or EUR. Use your funds to buy Bitcoin.

It’s really that simple. We’ve spent the last 6 years perfecting our Bitcoin services to ensure you can buy, sell, send and receive as easily as possible.

Why use CoinCorner?

A great question 🧐

You can buy Bitcoin in under 10 minutes. We’re trusted by 200,000+ users worldwide. You can start with as little as £10.

Enough said!

What other services are available?

We’ve been very busy launching a number of new services this year 🤩

Auto buy Bitcoin — Known as “Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)”, this is a way to grow your Bitcoin portfolio on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and without manually buying each time. Set up a standing order and away you go. Earn Bitcoin — That’s right! Shop with top brands as you normally would and earn Bitcoin back on your purchases. It’s basically cashback but in Bitcoin. Buy gift cards with Bitcoin — A new service in partnership with Bitrefill, you can spend Bitcoin on gift cards from popular online retailers and mobile refills directly from within your CoinCorner account. Accept Bitcoin as a payment method — A great way to reach new audiences and enhance your business’ customer experience, accepting Bitcoin is easy to do and has extremely low fees.

About CoinCorner

Some of the CoinCorner team Go Karting in 2020

Founded in 2014, we’re a popular UK-based Bitcoin exchange that supports customers in more than 45 countries worldwide.

Our mission is to make Bitcoin easy with simple services and lots of education.

We’re very active in the Bitcoin industry, especially on Twitter:

CoinCorner

Danny — CEO and Co-Founder

Molly — Marketing

Joanne — Marketing

Zakk — Tech

Matt — Tech

Jeremy — Tech

Ryan — Tech

Ethan — Tech

Dave — Finance

Alex — Business

Ben — Business

If you have any questions, let the team know on Twitter and we’ll do our best to help!
AMAZING! Immigrant speaks two languages and doesn’t know how to express love in either!
By: Arijana Ramic
Tags: Love, Immigrants, Satire, Humor, One Liners

The Foreigner Blog explores the comedic side of being an immigrant, children of immigrants, and diaspora. Our experiences are often clouded in dark and painful realities, but here we find the light and the levity. Welcome!

Follow
How I Grew My Instagram Account Organically
By: Edgaras Katinas
Tags: Social Media Strategy, Instagram, Influencer Marketing, Digital Marketing, Social Media

How I Grew My Instagram Account Organically

8 powerful tips to grow your page the right way

Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

Instagram has grown to be more than just a platform to share your photos. It’s a powerful marketing platform for businesses, bloggers, influencers, and even your cat. With over one billion active accounts per month, the opportunities are vast.

However, even though Instagram has grown exponentially, it has never been harder to grow on the platform.

It may be even harder to grow now that Instagram is testing hidden overall likes. The first reports have indicated that the engagement rates have dropped.

In fact, I’m one of the accounts that no longer see the total number of likes. I’m still assessing the impact on my account, but so far, yes, the engagement rate on my posts has dropped.

Instagrammers will need to adapt to these changes. I’m still standing behind efforts to grow my audience organically. It will unquestionably remain the most sustainable way to scale up. Thus, I’m sharing with you eight tips that I learnt along the way. I know that they will have an impact on the growth of your account as well.
Making progress
By: Otis Corrêa
Tags: Christianity, Philosophy, Progress, Life, Games

I’m starting to believe that there’s no such thing as moving backwards in our walk with Jesus. There’s slow speed times and moments we got stuck in, but never a backwards. I’m learning how to deal with this idea. It seems that I’m not moving forward, and we tend to think that what’s not moving forward is going backwards. But that’s not true.

I’m coming to believe that the walk with Jesus would be like a 3D videogame race — something like Subway Surfers or the new Sonic — you can’t go back. Once you’ve started the journey, you can’t go back to where you were. And even if the place you’re at looks the same as in the past, or if you feel like you’re not going anywere, I’m starting to believe that you are still making progress.

Carl Lentz says that if you wanna see the progress, you can’t rush the process.. You need to go through the challenges and difficulties of life itself. Between getting to know Jesus and going to heavenm there’s this thing called life. If you feel stuck or slow in the walk with Jesus, it’s just a part of the process that leads to progress. Somethings seems to be meant to us. Sometimes we need to go through stuff so we can learn, so we improve, so we can mature.

Jesus said people will know that God is working within us as long as we’re mature as his disciples — as long as we keep learning. Disciples are learners. They’re not graduates, they’re no pros, they are in a learning process, and as long as we can mature through life, it doesn’t matter what it looks like— you’re making progress.

It’s like in the subway surfers game. As you keep running you’ll see some of the same things — the same trains, the same tracks, the same fases repeated like in a cycle. But the deal is that as longer you run in the game, you get better to pass through the scenarios and challenges. Your view of the situations gets clearer and better, even if sometimes you make the same stupid mistake as before, you’re still moving forward.

That’s what life looks like — a series of cycles and challenges and situations we might or not sucess — but as long as in the process, we are making progress.
Taylor is not a company of a single app. We are actually a lot more than that!
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Crypto Trading

The Taylor Trading Assistant app and the Taylor Crypto Academy are our first efforts to achieve our goal to bring cryptocurrency trading to the masses. But we want to do more, and the nature of our company allows us that. We will look into other possibilities and study their feasibility for the future. Our goal is to add extra value to the Taylor subscription plans, as well as to the TAY token itself. It’s important to note that these are ideas and not promises. Our intention with this article is to be transparent, and let out community know some potential ideas related to our service/company that we would like to consider once our initial milestones are achieved.

We would like to investigate in the future the possible implementation of features such as trailing stops and high-frequency trading (HTF) and the creation of services such as exchange-to-exchange arbitrage, ICO reviews and recommendation, and maybe a lab/incubator for entrepreneurs who may want to create solutions that are aligned with our mission. And much more.

Again these are only ideas that we believe to be cohesive with our business model. As new possibilities for the Taylor service/app and company as a whole become feasible, we will start planning their implementation and begin announcing their time frame. For now, this is what our community can expect from us in the upcoming months:

The Taylor app

For many, the Taylor app will signify the first step into cryptocurrency waters, something quite intimidating taking into consideration its novelty, challenging technical aspects, and user-unfriendliness. Our goal is to simplify and streamline the entire process so that anyone can participate in what we consider to be the future of finance. The frequent use of our smart trading assistant will provide insights regarding the basic principles of cryptocurrency trading.

The Taylor Crypto Academy

We don’t want our subscribers to rely solely on us in order to be able to navigate the cryptocurrency field. The trading assistant app is a tool to assist in this navigation. The Taylor Crypto Academy, on the other hand, will allow our users to become the captain of their own crypto ships.

Currently, we are putting together a comprehensive curriculum curated and taught by household names in the cryptocurrency industry. Lectures will cover the most basic principles of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, technical analysis, all the way to advanced trading strategies. For more in-depth information regarding the curriculum of the courses and its accessibility check out our Taylor Academy announcement article.

We are, at the moment, at the tip of the iceberg, there is a lot more explore as we dive into the possibility waters. The Taylor smart trading assistant app, combined with the courses from the Taylor Crypto Academy, will empower new players in the cryptocurrency game to become well informed and independent cryptocurrency traders.

But this is just the beginning, stay tuned for more!
Rituals
By: Matthew J. Koehler
Tags: Moments, Verse, Ritual, Poem, Habits

formless smoke drifts up. tendrils

wafting around my face. nostrils burn,

acrid.

the cold concrete balcony leeches

remnant heat from already cold feet.

crisp air smells of winter,

instead of the sewage treatment plant

a few miles down the road.

the distant freeway

a constant subdued rush in the still night air –

my artificial waves upon the shore.

a shout from 3rd Street.

someone’s making love in the apartment next door,

I don’t even like cigarettes

but need the ritual.
The Clock Strikes
By: Agnes Louis
Tags: Compassion, Warm Hearts, Writing Prompts, Christmas, Kindness

The Clock Strikes

and the Christmas present goes to…

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

It’s about 30 minutes to Christmas here in Indonesia where I’m currently perched in front of my laptop. I have just perused all the stories submitted for the little challenge I had posted last month and I have to say, it’s so difficult to choose!

So many inspiring stories! So many good deeds I am looking forward to replicate! To choose just one story to be a winner has been quite a task.

But choose I must (sorry, just can’t help it) and so, as promised, before the Christmas Eve ends, I am announcing the winner of the Figure of Kindness prompt.

And the Christmas present goes to… *drum roll* :

Congratulations, Bebe! First of all, “I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God sending a love letter to the world” quote from Mother Theresa is definitely the right quote to end and start the year (I’ve jotted it down). Secondly, what an inspiring group of people in your story! Hopefully your story will inspire more people to volunteer and do more good 😊

My dearest Bebe, please e-mail me at agneslouis3108@gmail.com so we can arrange the 50USD prize to be donated to the charity of your choice. Merry Christmas and thank you for making it warm and beautiful with your good deed!

It has been a tough decision to make. I have gotten so many inspiring heart-warming stories of kindness for the prompt I just can’t not share it with you lovely people so, let’s end and begin our year with more kindness, wonderful souls! Stories to inspire you:

Small Things With Great Love by Elle Rogers The Stranger by Pablo Pereyra The Black People in My Life by Quasimodo Who says immigrants are bad? by Steve Klubertanz Why you Need to Gather Your Dead Around you by Kitty Hannah Eden The Conversation Over A Cup Of Chai by Priyanka Srivastava An Act Of Kindness by Sarah E Sturgis Sisters by Natalie Fagan Juan the Optimist by Subria

A couple of stories from me: Give It To Those Who Need It and A Pair of Eyes and Hands. Last but not least, I would like to share a little reminder through Passerby that we are all in the end, that figure of kindness.

Thank you so so much for all your participation in this little prompt. It has been so wonderful and meaningful to Warm Hearts and I.

I wish you all a jolly Merry Christmas and I shall talk to you again very very soon. Have a great one, everyone! Cheers! 🥂
How I kickstarted my first user research project
By: Huiling Zhou
Tags: UX Design, UX Research, UX

Illustration from Drawkit

I’m not sure how many designers out there who would find it difficult to start some kind of user research in the companies they work at due to various complex reasons — be it a lack of experience piloting one, lack of time and resources, or there just hasn’t been a culture of doing it yet since there are instances where the company can function fine without a robust user research process. I’d like to share how I started mine.

My background

To keep my story short: I was a graphic designer for a few years before I landed my first product design job based on my stronger UI and visual design skills. To add on, perhaps also some of that analysing and information architectural skills that I picked up designing for annual reports. I had little formal training in UX design except from reading lots of articles, doing mock projects myself and attending online UX courses / workshops. I was lucky.

Being a budding Product / UX / UI designer that came from that kind of background, I was used to drafting and justifying my bigger design decisions with business rationale, concept and logic. There were many times where I wavered and hesitated because I had no idea if it would work as I intended, or if this solution was needed. I had to do some form of research.

Illustration from Drawkit

1. Ask, get a mentor, talk to people who have experience

I had thought that it’d be a long and difficult process of coming up with a research plan, recruiting users and interviewing them all by myself suddenly in my work. I had the impression that it’d be difficult to talk to a customer and given my lack of experience I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it right.

To gain more confidence and having a more concrete plan of doing this, I signed up for a mentoring initiative to pair up with a senior designer so I can get answers to all my questions about doing user research.

The mindset that it is difficult and painful has to change.

I wanted to find out how companies incorporate doing user research in their workflow. I was shocked to find out that in companies where doing user research is something so ingrained in their workflow, some of them only take a week to execute a research plan and it just seems so natural that this is part of the design process.

Once I reframed my thinking that doing user interviews should be a part of my work as a Product Designer, starting it became more methodical and a problem to solve.

How do you know if you need this feature if you didn’t ask your users? A scenario: After you designed a big feature, you talked to the team and realised this is going to be taking a lot of effort to build. Should the team spend 2 months building it, and then after release realised that it’s actually creating more problems for your product than what you expected?

Another talk with a designer brought me to believe that there will be more benefits to taking the effort to validate and find out. I wouldn’t know what would happen unless I try.
How to Build a Timer Using Swift and SwiftUI
By: Maegan Wilson
Tags: Swift, Swiftui, Programming, iOS, Mobile

Step 3: Design the UI

Now, let’s actually design the UI. It’s going to have the timer in the middle, then buttons to start/pause the timer and to reset the timer back to zero.

The first thing we need to do is add a VStack in the body . To do this, you can right-click on the Text("Hello, World!") and choose Embed in VStack. Your code should now look like the gist below:

Show the timer values

Then, we need to put the variables in. We are going to change the Hello, World! to \(hours):\(minutes):\(seconds) . If you open the Canvas and resume it, then you should see 0:0:0 in the device.

You might be wondering why I used \() around the variable name. The slash and parentheses are needed to tell the compiler that there is code inside the parentheses. Therefore, the program will display the contents of the variable and not the variable’s name.

Add buttons

Now, let’s add the buttons and make them do something!

First, we are going to add a new state variable that signifies if the timer has started or been paused. Right after the declaration of seconds , add @State var timerIsPaused: Bool = true .

Then, after Text() , we need to add an if statement that is going to show a view when the timer is paused and when it's going. The gist below shows what the view should look like with that if statement:

Now, we are going to change Text to Buttons and use SF Symbol for start, pause, and reset.
Crooked Lenses
By: Afiyah The Poet
Tags: Poetry, Reflections, Poem, 365 Days Of Poetry, Perception

Crooked lenses

cover my eyes

they show me

the deficiency

of my being

Less than perfect

interactions

tell me I’ve done

something wrong

My words

thoughts

action

vibe

I shrink in fear

for what I might’ve done

Tension rising

I contract in shame

Life is about my deficiency

I’m giving up

these worn-out lenses

Time to live

from a place of freedom.

(365 Days of Poetry — Day 105)
Little Pink Flowers
By: Megan Nicole Morgan
Tags: Poetry, Poem, Haiku, Nature, Flowers

Flicker and Flight is a Poetry Publication that has married the art of Photography. This publication focuses on supporting Nature, Love/Unity, Spirituality, and Growth, through the beauty of Word-Play and Images.

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Cigarettes
By: Rajat Santhosh
Tags: Cigarettes, Smoking, Social, Poetry, Peace Of Mind

Photo by Jeroen Bosch on Unsplash

I suck you in

You burn outside

Then you burn inside

In my black lungs

Then why do I need you?

I don’t need you

At times I want you

To clear my head

To calm my veins

You’re not cool

I thought you were

You kill people

After people kill you

You take revenge

In the face of slow death

We kill you in minutes

You kill us in years

Why do I want you?

Why do I want to live

A slow boring life

When I can clear my head

And die in peace
Planned Obsolescence
Tags: Poetry, Technology, Poem, Technology Trends, Waste

Photo by Gunnar Sigurðarson on Unsplash

Planned Obsolescence

Our Silent Servant Whose Death is Planned

I was born to serve my master,

The one who paid my fee.

I’ll diligently do his thankless bidding,

Open paths of information

And worlds afar off.

I’ll preserve his memories,

Secure his thoughts and dreams,

Keep his secrets,

And connect him to others,

As he commands me do.

Ironically, I will hold his gaze,

More than any spouse, child, or loved one.

Yet he will not love me,

Nor will he feel myself looking back.

For I am but an object.

Daily I will die,

And my master will save me.

Plugging my persisting umbilical cord

To the wall where power comes

From some distant place.

I live again,

So that I may continue my work

Until the day when I become

Old and obsolete.

Then will I be relegated to the trash heap,

A graveyard for me

And my electronic brethren.

There I will die for the last time.
欸！我該買還是要賣了？ - 狂人 5 日線戰法
By: Dave Yeh
Tags: Bitcoin

in In Fitness And In Health
How to Make Your Marriage Last 82 Years
By: Jordan Gross
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Relationships, Life, Inspiration

How to Make Your Marriage Last 82 Years

And how my grandparents made it over 60.

Photo by One zone Studio on Unsplash

“Today would have been your grandpa’s and my 70th wedding anniversary.” My grandmother stared up at the light fixture on her ceiling. She’s not a spiritual woman, but it was like she could feel his presence. My grandfather passed in 2014, but grandma thinks about him every single day.

She smiled and returned her glance to her iPad so she could continue speaking to me. We do a daily call or FaceTime. We chose FaceTime today because it was extra special.

After a few minutes chatting, Grandma dropped her iPad and clicked the wrong button. I tried to call her back, but no answer. She sent me a text that was essentially gibberish, and being that it was after 8:30pm, I assumed she was going to bed. Welcome to 21st century pandemic communication with folks over 90.

When I realized we wouldn’t be continuing our chat, I reflected on the extraordinary achievement of being together for almost 70 years. That’s almost a single human’s life expectancy, and they would’ve made it there as a couple. I couldn’t help but feel great pride to have been directly related to a relationship with such longevity. Still on my computer, I researched the longest marriages, and I stumbled upon an article on blacknews.com about a couple that just celebrated 82 years together.

D.W. Williams is 103-years old. Willie is 100. The couple, based in Charlotte, North Carolina was interviewed about their momentous day. During their interview, they shared their secrets to such a long, successful, and sustainable marriage. I couldn’t help but listen to their candid responses and think of my grandparents as well.
The Grim Viewing
By: Kyle O'Reilly
Tags: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Science Fiction, SciFi, Mars

Photo by Jaymantri from Pexels

“You’re actually going to watch it? The demise of billions?” the woman asked as she walked into the cold, metallic room and gestured at a glowing monitor.

On the screen, planet Earth sat motionless, aside from the blanket of clouds that slowly rolled over the surface. The word “Live” appeared in the corner, next to a timer that counted down the seconds and milliseconds. A gray-haired man sat watching, sipping a hot drink and paying no attention to her entrance.

“It’s sickening, and I can’t believe they’re airing it on our network,” she added.

With his gaze fixated on the screen, the man replied, “I hadn’t planned on watching, but it’s too surreal — too repulsive — to ignore.”

He finally turned to the woman, revealing the dewey sadness in his eyes. She felt comforted knowing that she wasn’t alone in her feelings, even though they weren’t shared by the majority in their base.

The man turned back to the monitor and rested his head on the palm of his hand. “So this is the impact that will destroy Earth, our home planet. I know that neither you nor I have ever lived there, but I still feel… bonded to it.”

The woman nodded in agreement, now staring at the monitor as well.

“Afterall, this is why we came to Mars — to hedge our bets against Earth’s eventual doom. So that our species could survive!”

“Sure,” she replied, “but I can’t imagine that the first Martian crew — back in 2026 — had the slightest inkling that…” Her words trailed off, finding the rest of her thought unspeakable.

“That Mars would destroy Earth.” the man finished for her, unblinking.

They sat in silence for a moment. On screen a fiery streak appeared in the upper right corner, slowly extending toward the blue planet.

“No, they wouldn’t have,” he continued. “But man took Earth for granted and was destined to destroy it one way or another. At least mankind is safe here on Mars. We shall survive.”

On the screen, the streak made contact and a red wave spread over the Earth’s surface.
MITH 2020 Q1 Recap|秘銀2020 Q1回顧｜미스릴 2020년 1분기 성과보고
Tags: Blockchain, Mith, Mithril, Recaps, Cryptocurrency

Since the beginning of 2020, the MITH team focused on developing partners within the dating and gaming space. By March, MITH launched 3 partnerships, completed token burn twice, held an AMA with Binance, and got listed on one exchange. Currently, there are more than 90 million users in the MITH ecosystem, including Paktor, M17 Entertainment, SWAG.live, Machi X, , Goodnight, Burton, and more. Let’s take a look at our recap:

MITH Ecosystem Token Burn

As we are building the ecosystem, MITH has burned 1,717,171 MITH on February 6th, 2020 and 2,121,217 MITH on March 19th, 2020.

MITH x Lottery2win Beta

MITH keeps focusing on the social dating and gaming industries in 2020. After a series of development and testing, we are excited to announce our partnership with Lottery2win!

Lottery2win is a blockchain gaming platform where users can easily play a lottery game using MITH.

MITH x Paktor

MITH is excited to announce our first online dating partnership with the leading online dating app Paktor! Now you can use MITH as a form of payment for membership and unlocking features on Paktor.

Paktor was founded in July 2013 with the mission of connecting people in Asia through technology-enabled platforms. With one of the largest user bases in the region of over 20 million, Paktor has facilitated 5 billion profile reviews to date.

MITH x Goodnight App

MITH hodlers can now make new friends through Goodnight’s unique voice chat experience.

Goodnight is the first-ever voice-chatting dating app in Taiwan with over 3 million users across Taiwan and approximately 40 thousand chats were made each day.

Binance Indonesian AMA

We joined the AMA session with Binance Indonesian on Feb. 19 since MITH has the fastest growing use cases of cryptocurrencies in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Macau.

MITH Listed on FTX OTC

We are thrilled to announce that MITH is listed on FTX OTC. Trading has started!

FTX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange built by traders, for traders. FTX has over 70 contract trading pairs including 6 index contracts.

Follow us on Twitter , Medium and Telegram! If you like what we are doing, please show us your support by sharing this news with the greater community.
What is DIANA project?
By: Diana, The World'S First Blockchain Moon Registry
Tags: Blockchain, Registry, Crytocurrency, Moon, Lunar

DIANA, World’s First Moon Registry Public Blockchain.

The Diana project is birthed to decentralize ownership through group participation of citizens and an issue of the Cosmic Crypto Currency to actualize the citizens’ revolution of the extra-terrestrial resources.

Diana Project is a way for us to gain back control and ownership of what is ours and not be side-lined.

▷ Objective

- Use of Blockchain for Lunar Cadastral Map

- Basis for ownership by cadastral map of participants (register acquisitive prescription)

- Issue of DIANA cryptocurrency as proof of registration

Homepage : http://diana.io/

Telegram : https://t.me/diana_en
The Senate and the Coup
By: Shayna Englin
Tags: Protest, Biden, America, Trump, Politics

The Senate and the Coup

Where we’re at, and what to do for the next few weeks

First things first: yes, what we’re watching unfold from the Trump White House is an attempted coup. The basic definition of a coup is “an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power,” and a President who refuses to leave or participate in the basics of transition after losing an election is in fact an illegal and unconstitutional seizure of power.

It’s a coup attempt even if some of the people perpetrating it tell reporters off the record that it’s all just so much posturing.

It’s a coup attempt even if it turns out mostly to have been for the purpose of bilking yet more money from people who believe what they read on unhinged Twitter feeds and in conspiracy-friendly Facebook groups.

This coup attempt is extremely unlikely to be successful. What’s a stronger word for “extremely”?

Joe Biden will almost certainly be inaugurated on January 20, 2021.

Despite the ominous loyalty purges happening at the Pentagon, ongoing and disruptive violation of long-held norms (like the State Department refusing to facilitate communication from global leaders for the President-elect), the barrage of nuisance litigation the Trump campaign is throwing at the courts (see: complaint in Michigan centered on the use of a PA system to make announcements that was “distracting” to a Republican ballot reviewer), and the active participation of all but a handful of senior Republicans, we will have a new President in just over two months.

Even though it won’t succeed, this attempted coup by Trump and his cronies is already incredibly damaging and will have potentially catastrophic long term consequences for the health of our democracy and our national security. In a precarious moment, the Trump cabal will hand over not just the chaos of the past four years, but additional chaos of confusion rendered by not participating in a peaceful transition of information.

But you know all of that, so what should we patriotic Americans (who don’t live or vote in Georgia) do right now? Here’s what I’m up to:
SERO Trading Competition, 20000 SERO to Give Away!
Tags: Cryptocurrency Investment, Blockchain, Bitbns, Contests, Cryptocurrency

SERO Trading Competition, 20000 SERO to Give Away! Bitbns Follow Jun 15 · 2 min read

So you read the post and landed up here. Good job! Now participate in the SERO trading competition and make the effort worth it. Everyone could win, so there’s nothing stopping you from grabbing your reward.

But hold your horses. Here’s what you should know about the competition before you begin:

With $2000 or 2000 USDT worth of SERO tokens to be won, everyone could be a winner because this reward will be shared among all participating SERO traders as per the volume they trade during the contest.

Contest Details:

Total Reward: 20000 SERO Token ( $2000 = 2000 USDT)

Start Date: 17/06/2020, 12:00:00 IST Hours

End Date: 19/06/2020, 12:00:00 IST Hours

Unlock Volume: 1 SERO will be unlocked on trading $20 worth of SERO

How it Works:

Unlock Mechanism:

There’s $2000 worth of SERO waiting to be unlocked. Each time SERO gets traded(including buys & sells) on Bitbns, SERO worth double the fees collected from the trade will be unlocked. This would continue till the total unlocked token volume reaches 20000 SERO Token.

For example: If you trade for 20 USDT worth of SERO, which would cost you 0.050 USDT as fees (20*0.0025 = 0.050), 0.1 USDT worth of SERO will be unlocked.

How much you will Earn:

Let’s say the total trading volume is worth 4,00,000 and suppose then 20000 SERO has been unlocked. So your share of SERO would be:

( Your volume traded during the contest in USDT / Total Volume traded during the contest ) * unlocked tokens

For example, you traded 200 USDT worth of SERO during the contest. You would earn:

(200 / 400000)*20000= 10 SERO ($1=1USDT)

You pay 0.50 USDT fee for 100 USDT trade. But you get double of what you pay in fees and profit as well, when you trade smartly.