fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Neblio Is Now Working With Ladder (August 8 2018)
Tags: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Marketing

In search of a solution that would quickly and efficiently help us take Neblio’s marketing to the next level we found Ladder.

Ladder is a big data marketing agency and platform. They work with hundreds of companies to improve their marketing performance.

The Ladder Planner platform is a drag-and-drop marketing plan builder with over 1000 proven growth tactics!

These tactics have been tested with Millions of dollars in marketing spend, taking the guesswork out of marketing.

One of the biggest advantages we see in Ladder is their transparency, and focus on measurable results which is a great fit with Neblio’s core values.

Ladder will help us become more of a “test-driven” organization with our approach to growth, launching / analyzing / iterating on monthly launch plans that improve our marketing KPIs.

Starting this month (August) the Ladder team will work closely with us to launch new marketing campaigns, optimize them and add more campaigns as we move forward. This means more creatives, content, and campaigns to drive our target audience.

Our marketing campaign will now increase by well over 100% in terms of volume and is expected to dramatically increase in ROI as well!

Working with Ladder will allow us achieve our marketing goals faster, and to spend more time on forming strategic partnerships.

Yuval
I. Commentary of the Week
Tags: Moac, Bitcoin, Moac News, Blockchain, Crptocurrency

Ⅱ.Policy Trends

1.International

(1) America: The SEC and CFTC are urged to publish clear cryptocurrency regulations

July 23: The American Chamber of Commerce has urged the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC to release clear cryptocurrency regulations. The Chamber hopes the SEC will continue to research ICOs to determine whether they will be able to become an effective fundraising method while simultaneously protecting investors and obeying the law. It also hopes that the CFTC will research how cryptocurrencies will operate in the futures and commodities market.

(2) America: Former chairman of the CFTC: Only regulation will make Bitcoin’s bullish price settle.

July 24: Gary Gensler, former chairman of the CFTC, stated in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he grows more interested in research concerning Bitcoin and blockchain technology every day. He is also aware of the potential risks despite his positive outlook on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Gensler believes that the SEC and CFTC can work together to supervise and search for potential blockchain-related fraud. This phase extremely important, because blockchain reduces costs and risks to a great scale and enjoys the stability that public interest provides.

(3) America: A poll among the SEC reveals that most members will approve ETF.

July 24: Results from a poll already conducted this summer by the SEC relating to Bitcoin’s ETF are mostly positive. Supporters of the proposal to change the ruling believe that Bitcoin’s ETF makes the cryptocurrency market safer for investors and makes it an exchange worthier of trust. And if Bitcoin’s ETF obtains approval, then the blockchain company Cboe and SolidX will also be permitted to issue regulated Bitcoin ETFs.
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Sunday, Illustration, Drawing, Humor, Art

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

Follow
3 Simple Steps to a Harmonious Household
By: Rachel Wayne
Tags: Organization, House, Relationships, Lifestyle, Home

Thankfully, we’ve escaped the days when women were confined to housekeeping duties while men got to endure boring meetings in cold rooms. Let’s face it, no one really wins there. Still, everyone deserves the chance for a fulfilling career, which means that the household often becomes a neglected home, waiting patiently while everyone else works to pay for its costs.

If houses were sentient, they’d likely feel a little forgotten, longing for the days when someone was there to enjoy and take care of them. Instead, the residents hustle all day. Even the kids are busy with school and extracurriculars. At best, the house might enjoy the presence a sleeping cat who coats it in shed hair, or a plucky betta who fights with his reflection.

Homemaking seems to be a lost art, and that’s not feminism’s fault. Most of us, all genders, are simply too busy to spend time decorating, cooking, cleaning, and so on. When we need to relax, we simply shove the laundry to the side of the couch and ponder the impending apocalypse.

I’m sure I sound like an angry boomer right now, but last year, I gained a new perspective on what homemaking entails and why it matters.

That’s because I started working from home.

I quickly became frustrated with the perpetual chaos, born of my hectic schedule and my husband’s backbreaking job. Neither of us had the time or energy to devote to homemaking.

Still, the house and its many needs were a point of contention. My husband didn’t quite see the need to wipe down the backsplash or dust the blinds, and I couldn’t seem to understand that cleaning doesn’t need to happen at midnight. I wanted a clean, comfortable home, even though I never made time to relax in it anyway.

For sure, my priorities were out of alignment.

When my husband and I moved to Orlando, we had to leave our spacious home for a tiny apartment that cost twice as much in rent. We downsized a lot but quickly discovered that even the basic living essentials had to fight for space. With little space, the mess compounded. At times, our floor resembled an obstacle course.

I had to make a change. And so we spent a couple of days cleaning and rearranging. It looked so nice when we were done that I pledged to never let it became chaotic again. Along the way, we made some decisions that ultimately worked out for the better.

Here’s what we did.
LEADERBOARD IMAGE STAYS
Tags: Questions, Games, Crowdini, Steemit, Steem

RESULTS AND THE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Yesterday’s Question: Would you rather never use social media sites or apps again or never watch another movie or TV show?

Comment: “I like seeing the leaderboard image in the email, even if it’s a little behind. The few times I’ve seen my name on there have made my day!” by sarahgillette who answered “Never use social media sites or apps”.

See the results and comments here: https://steemit.com/crowdini/@crowdini/question-2018-09-06

=======

NOTE: Comments are published immediately but votes are not posted until the post is 30 minutes old. If you don’t see your vote after 30 minutes, wait a minute, refresh the page and check again.

Make sure you check to see that your vote was counted. You can tell if your vote counted by seeing the circle with the up arrow to the left of the post earnings is green. You can also go to https://steemd.com/@crowdini (replace crowdini with your steemit username) and look at the right column for your vote.

You can always manually upvote at any time.

If your vote was not counted, fill out this form and we will figure out why ASAP.

=======

YESTERDAY’S RESULT

Yesterday’s Question: Would you rather never use social media sites or apps again or never watch another movie or TV show?

Majority Answer: Never use social media sites or apps

TODAY’S QUESTION

Should these two people be able to get married?
The Game “Would You Rather” Was Real for My Daughter
By: Jacqueline Dooley
Tags: Cancer, Health, Grief, Family, Parenting

A few years ago, my younger daughter loved a game called “Would You Rather.”

For those unfamiliar with this game, it’s pretty simple. You basically think of two equally awful things and try to choose the one with the best outcome. I’m not sure what the object of the game is. I guess it’s kind of a personality gauge — a way to open up conversation, or just have some morbid fun.

Here are two examples:

Would you rather lose your legs in a horrible accident or lose the ability to speak forever?

Would you rather jump off a bridge one hundred feet above water, or jump out of a second-story window onto the soft grass?

“Would You Rather” is a game of poor odds. Both choices are bad choices. It’s fun to play because the scenarios are typically outside the norm. You consider these worst-case-scenarios from a place of safety, trying to imagine the best of two terrible outcomes based on limited knowledge of what it would actually be like to, say, lose both legs versus the ability to speak.

But for my family, “Would You Rather” was a real game that we started playing immediately after my older daughter’s cancer diagnosis in 2012 and persisted until she died, nearly five years later, in March of 2017.
The Best CRM Isn’t a Program
By: Ryan M. Danks
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Relationships, Business, Sales, Marketing

The missing link of CRM

Going back to CRM's purpose — to manage your relationships with your customers — how was that done before you bought the expensive software?

People. You had employees build those relationships through positive interactions that encouraged follow-up calls or visits, and a relationship was made, not between the company and the customer, but between an employee and a customer.

Today, that process might be mostly digital — through mediums like social media or conference calling — but is no less effective.

An employee builds a relationship with a customer and takes care of them.

Easy, right? It is that simple, but as companies grow, they make two decisions that ruin their warm relationships and turn them into cold corporate entities.

1. They create a sales team

As a company grows, they eventually set up a sales team that manages an established customer relationship.

That might not sound like a bad thing, but here’s what it looks like to the client:

Meet a likable employee and form a business relationship

Look forward to more interactions with that employee

Get contacted by a random member of a sales team, often from a call center, who’s now going to handle the customer relationship.

That initial employee? “Oh, he’s our sales guy. He gets the contract, and we take it from there.”

If that company were a webpage, the client would be clicking away.

Bait and switches like that never work. Customers want to interact with the employee they built the relationship with. It’s like their favorite barista or sushi chef. Another will not do.

2. They purchase CRM software

CRM software isn’t inherently evil. As we’ve discussed, this software provides a lot of valuable tools for managing your relationships.

In practice, however, CRM software is implemented as a set of reminders that ping employees when it’s time to make an interaction. The big problem here is that the interaction is on the company’s terms, not the client’s.

The customer decides when it’s time to have an interaction.

How do you know when the customer is ready? Even better, how can you get the customer to want an interaction when they are not prepared for one? Not by cold calling every six months because your CRM software told you to.

It’s the human connection that you maintain between a single employee and a client. They get to know one another and maybe even form a cordial friendship.

CRM should never tell a manager what’s going on with a customer. When they want to know, the manager should ask the employee who made the initial contact and maintains the relationship.
Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework to present program for Sukkot at Sept. 4 meeting
Tags: Tradition, Religion, Program, Judaism, Sukkot

Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework to present program for Sukkot at Sept. 4 meeting Admin Follow Aug 26, 2014 · 1 min read

On Thursday, Sept. 4, the Delaware Valley chapter of the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework will present a program in preparation for the holiday of Sukkot at its first meeting of the season at Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill at 7 p.m.

According to Jewish tradition, on each night of Sukkot, a different set of mystical guests, called Ushpizin, are invited to rejoice with us in the Sukkah. We will explore this concept and decide whom we would like to invite, especially considering Jewish women.

At the following meeting, on Oct. 2, we will construct a soft sculpture figure to symbolize the invitee. New members and non-members are welcome. For further information, call (856) 489–1749.
Why It’s Easier to Succeed With Learning Than You Might Think Chapter Initiation : Any Kid Can Code
By: Laxman Singh
Tags: Kids Programming, Python, Python For Beginners, Kids

'''

Importing two libraries:

1. turtle is our own friend

2. random - introducing new library which will help to

select the random values to have different color

at each square

'''

import turtle

import random





# picked 5 colors, you can select more but make it sure it exists

# another data type list is introduced. Here color is list

color = ["red", "green", "black", "blue", "yellow"]



#defining shape of turtle

jumper = turtle.Pen()

jumper.shape("turtle")



def squareShape(side):

'''

Name: Square shape

use: you pass the length in side and it will create a square of that shape

'''

times=0

while times < 4:

jumper.forward(side)

jumper.left(90)

times = times + 1



for j in range(50):

# hiding the turtle, if you want to see comment this line

jumper.hideturtle()

# setting the speed to 0 which is fastest and slowest is 10

jumper.speed(0)



# picking up the random color name from the above defined list color

jumper.color(random.choice(color))



# fill color inside the square created

jumper.begin_fill()



# Calling function to create square of length provided

squareShape(random.randint(15,100))



# end fill color in the figure created

jumper.end_fill()

# you can replace the above code with if condition to understand it better

# if j != 0:

# #calling the function to

# squareShape(5+((j*10)*2))

# else:

# squareShape(5)



# up will not make any line when jumper moves

# below steps to change the location so that next square starts from new position

jumper.up()

jumper.goto(random.randint(-200, 200), random.randint(-200, 200))

jumper.down()
Dynamic Meta Tags with next.js, React and Contentful
By: Alex Raul
Tags: Web Development, React, Nextjs, SEO, Reactjs

Dynamic Meta Tags with next.js, React and Contentful

Dynamic Meta Tags that actually work with Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin

Originally posted on rackner.com

When looking for a new stack for our corporate website, we had a few priorities.

A Headless CMS for easy addition of Blog Posts, Press Releases, etc.

Easy to develop and add new features

Server-side rendering for SEO

Dynamic Meta Tags that actually work (and not just for the google crawler).

After a few experiments with Angular Universal (though we’re fans of Angular 2 it was quite frankly overkill for a mostly static website), we settled on React with next.js for server side rendering, and Contentful for our Headless CMS.

The dynamic meta tags are implemented like this. Each page in next.js is a React component which wraps the Head component from next:

import Head from 'next/head';

Then we have some bindings for the meta tags like so:

render(){

const post = this.props.post;

return

<div className="blogpost-component">

<Head>

<title>{post.fields.title}</title>

<meta property="og:description"

content={post.fields.shortDescription}/>

...

And so on.

The Contentful magic happens using the getInitialProps lifecycle hook, which grabs the item id from the URL (i.e. /blog/id):

static async getInitialProps({query}){

// Set up contentful SDK

...

// Fetch contentful stuff for that specific blog post

const response = await contentfulClient.getEntries({'sys.id':query.id}); return {

studyId:query.id,

post: response.items[0]

}

}

When the webserver renders a blog post, the async/await grabs the post from Contentful and attaches it to this.props. The render function then uses the initial value to set the meta tags in the Head block.

The beauty of this system is that the sky is the limit when it comes to extensibility. For instance, we incorporated the Marked library to parse markdown from Contentful into what you see on this blog post.

Contentful even allows you to link pieces of content to other pieces — in this case we can link a post with an author, and the Contentful SDK automatically grabs the associated items and media urls.

We’re very happy with the stack so far and I would definitely suggest trying it out for any similar use cases. It hits the sweet spot between something like the lightweight Gatsby library and a fully monolithic framework.

One thing’s for sure — I will never use wordpress again.
How Kellyanne Conway’s daughter brought down the Trump administration
By: The Big Smoke
Tags: Kellyanne Conway, Tiktok App, Covid 19, Watergate, Donald Trump

Today, we were visited by the shambling ghost of awkward historic parallel, as Donald Trump left the hospital and appeared on a balcony, removing his mask and wobbling back inside. MSNBC called the tableau his “Mussolini moment”, and CNN labelled it “something out of North Korea”.

While it’s worth mentioning that he removed his mask while in possession of the virus, the general vibe is that he’s fine. To that end, Donald Trump took to Twitter to proclaim that we shouldn’t be afraid of COVID and/or let it control our lives. So, all is well?

Well, no. Claudia, the teenage daughter of Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, has poured the gasoline of doubt all over proceedings, logging into TikTok to call bullshit.

“He is so ridiculous. Apparently, he is doing badly lol and they are doing what they can to stabilise him…guys lmao he’s not doing better,” she wrote, suggesting the lengths doctors went to in order to release him from the hospital.

Reviewing the footage through the prism of her jest, and it’s easy to giver her the benefit of the doubt.

https://twitter.com/WeAreAllOther/status/1313267249667551234

Claudia, however, didn’t stop there. Two days earlier, she took to the platform to discuss her mother’s positive COVID test. Writing, “she also lied to me today and said her test was negative when it literally wasn’t and I spent all day around her.”

https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/1312214949658152960

Now, it may be easy to dismiss her, but despite her chosen platform and her age, she’s something that we’ve been longing for, a source of information within the walls of the White House. It may be difficult to confirm, but at least it exists outside the Trump narrative.

As one member of the Twitterati suggested, “Claudia Conway could break the watergate scandal but Woodward and Bernstein couldn’t figure out TikTok.”
프로그래머스. 나누어 떨어지는 숫자배열(Lv.1, 12910)
Tags: 프로그래머스, 알고리즘, Algorithms, Programming

in Both Sides of the Table
This Classic Film Series Will Get You Ready For Halloween
By: Colin Daniels
Tags: Entertainment, Halloween, Movies

I’ve never been one to go all out for Halloween costumes, but I do love watching the old, scary movies. If you’re in the Miami area, CMX Cinemas will be showing some classic films that will get you in the spooky spirit.

CMX Cinemas is featuring numerous classic favorites every Wednesday evenings at CMX Cinemas Brickell City Centre and CineBistro City Place Doral until December 12. You can catch cult-favorites like “Young Frankenstein” and “Beetlejuice.”

What’s amazing is after the Halloween classics, this series gets you ready for the holiday season. I love Christmas so I’m really looking forward to “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

Tickets for the Cineclassics Series will be $10 per film at both City Place Doral location and Brickell City Centre location. You don’t want to miss this!
Submission Guidelines
By: Stephen M. Tomic
Tags: Guidelines, The Junction, Publication, Writing, Submission Guidelines

The Junction is a literary crossroads devoted to stories, culture, and ideas. Our interests are legion.

That’s the tag line, at least. Since our founding in November 2016, we have become a home and destination for top notch fiction and poetry. We also publish humor pieces, memoir, and the occasional essay.

Things we do not publish are listicles, tech writing, or clickbait.

If you are interested in becoming a new contributor, please fill out this form. Response time may vary but we try to respond within a week. Please be patient!
The Anchor and the Wave
By: Pamela J. Nikodem
Tags: Blue Insights, Self, Survivor, Safety, Poetry

The Anchor and the Wave

A poem of staying strong in the struggle.

Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

Life, floating on waves rippling outward in large circles, encompassing the narrow breath, slipping out of my lungs as I pop up for air.

The waves come in from all angles, and I see the boat coming straight toward me, the wake behind rushing out between plunges for air.

Down, down, down I go, to miss the impact of the stern…

— tumbling down into the depths, I swirl around and see an anchor drop.

Up my form pops into the foamy waters, still rippling from the cutting waves.

I look, engaged in the quest to see, as I float up and down, with the engaged

— watery trough left behind the boat.

Photo by Sereja Ris on Unsplash

The anchor, solid in its grip, holds the boat steady. No more waves for now.

I swim closer to the boat, and bob up and down until the captain sees me.

Throwing out a life preserver, he hustles to my side, and lifts me up to safety.

We sit, myself wrapped in warmth,

trembling with a warm cup of coffee cupped in my chilled hands

— the Captain, encouraging me to drink, and to stay warm, embraces me.

The anchor, holding steady the boat, as it lifts and settles,

— each ripple giving it a small boost to movement.

I revel in the safety, where moments before I felt the fear of death looming.

The waves sought to divide me, and the anchor, holding steady, saved me.

~Just a thought by Pamela
Financial Stress
By: Ilexa Yardley
Tags: Stress, Venture Capital, Perception, Finance, Mind

Drives (and, therefore, controls) the human race.

Financial stress drives, and, therefore, controls, the human race. It looks like this:

Human race. Financial stress.

Where financial stress is defined as the circular (relative) relationship between more and less:

More and less.

Where fear of not having enough (too much, too little) is a contingent of human stress (financial and-or otherwise):

Too much. Too little.

Where more and less are derivatives of zero and one:

Zero and one. One and two.

And zero, and one, are derivatives of, one, and two (circumference and diameter):

Circumference and diameter.

Where the whole thing is controlled, and, therefore, accounted for, by pi.

Pi.

Proving ‘pi’ is the correct definition (descriptor) for ‘mind.’

Mind.

Where we make all of our ‘decisions.’ About more. And, less.

Decision (noun, verb).

Explaining the ‘fear’ around ‘more,’ and-or, ‘less.’ The basis for human stress. And, therefore, then, financial stress.

Fear (noun, verb).

Where, all of us know, underneath it all, there is no absolute ‘need’ for ‘stress.’ Financial. Or, otherwise.

Need (noun, verb).

Explaining why, half-the-time, we don’t care at all about stress. Finances. Etc.

Half-time.

Conservation of the circle is the core dynamic (explanation for stress) (and finance) in Nature.
Desire To Revisit The Awe With People I Love
By: Brenda Mahler
Tags: Coronavirus, Faces Of Covid, Covid 19, Reflections, Poetry

Desire To Revisit The Awe With People I Love

A poem that places a face on Coronavirus #1

Image provided by subject, Ame

Click here to read the poem in its entirety.

I met when I was teaching at EHS. She is a school counselor. She volunteered to participate in a project to put a face on COVID. Her thoughts are shared in a poem.
Two Sides
Tags: Humanity, Equality, Gender Equality, Racial Equity, Poetry

It’s heads I win and tails you lose.

How can I win if it kills you?

How can one face survive the other,

One coin, one mint, sister and brother?

Yet can two faces ever see

Their opposite, that you are me?

Or can we only sense the whole,

Each facing out to play our role?
Advanced Python Made Easy — Part 3
By: Naina Chaturvedi
Tags: Programming, Software Development, Machine Learning, Data Science, Web Development

This is the part 3 of Advanced Python Made Easy. You can refer to the first two parts here —

Let’s dive in !

1. Defaultdict

Well, defaultdict belongs to collections module and is a high performance container data type which is used to overcome the issues of KeyError in python. It is a subclass of dict and returns a dict type object. It adds one writable instance variable and one method.

Syntax : defaultdict(default_factory)

where default_factory is the function which returns the default value of the dictionary.

Implementation —

from collections import defaultdict



default_dict_var = defaultdict(list)



for i in range(10):

default_dict_var[i].append(i)



print(default_dict_var)

Output —

defaultdict(<class 'list'>, {0: [0], 1: [1], 2: [2], 3: [3], 4: [4], 5: [5], 6: [6], 7: [7], 8: [8], 9: [9]})

2. ChainMap

A data structure provided by Python that allows you to treat multiple dictionaries into one to create a single, update-able view. It helps you to search values through multiple dictionaries and is used in performance critical applications. It incorporates dict (unless specified) mappings by reference.

import collections a = {'a': 1, 'c': 2}

b = {'b': 3, 'c': 5, 'd':9} maps = collections.ChainMap(a, b) print('Keys = {}'.format(list(maps.keys())))

print('Values = {}'.format(list(maps.values())))

print() print('Items : ')

for key, value in maps.items():

print('{} = {}'.format(key, value))

print() print('"d" in maps: {}'.format(('d' in maps)))

3. Function Annotations

Python 3.0 included function annotation which can be of great help when implementing type checking since python language supports dynamic typing. They collect information about the type pf parameters used and the return type of the function. They can be used with single parameters, function arguments, nested functions, decorators etc.

Implementation —

def cal(x:int, y: float, z: int) -> float: print(x * y + z)cal(5,6.5,7)

Output —

39.5

4. Decorator

Decorators are a very powerful and useful tool in Python since it allows programmers to modify/control the behavior of function or class. Decorators are usually called before the definition of a function you want to decorate.

def test_decorator(func):

def function_wrapper(x):

res = func(x)

print(res)

return function_wrapper @test_decorator

def sqr(n):

return n ** 2

sqr(54) def sqr(n):return n ** 2sqr(54) def sqrt(t):

return t**(1/2)

sqrt(49)

Output of sqr —

2916

Output of sqrt —

7.0

Thanks for Reading. Keep coding :)

Want to read programmers humor?

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The Best Leaders Give Their Time To Others
By: Randy Wolken
Tags: Life Lessons, Leadership, Self Improvement, Self-awareness, Life

There is only one resource that is genuinely used up — our time. As a person, it is our most precious resource we can give.

Time is the same for every one of us. We only get 24 hours each day. How we use it defines who we are and what we can do with our lives.

My favorite people and leaders I have learned the most from gave me their time. When I was with them, I was the only one that seemed to matter. They are not preoccupied with the next moment. They are not on their phone. They genuinely listen to me. I count most at that moment. They want to know how I am. They ask how they can help me and offer sage advice when I need it.

Great leaders know how to be quiet and listen.

When I am in their presence, I feel more than appreciated. I feel cherished. I leave their company knowing that I am cared deeply about and that I matter to them. I can vividly recall these experiences with my friends, family, colleagues, and co-workers. Can you remember these experiences in your life?
Equinox Love
By: Shalini C
Tags: Literary Impulse, Relationships, Marriage, Love, Poetry

Equinox Love

A poem about the intangibility of a long-term relationship

Photo by Dexter Fernandes on Unsplash

This invisible dance we do

as slow, poised whirling dervishes

riding between spells of life and death

chancing upon an equinox love

Our days and nights colliding

in forgotten, forgiven dreams

Spinning love, spilling grace

from the luminous shadows

of passing worlds in a belly

This scraping pearls of revellings

within drying pools of self

Whirling, pausing, whirling

expunging grief and glee

liberating our enslaved souls and bodies

that meet on totem wedding rings.
Education… Why?
By: Faizan Anwar
Tags: Knowledge, Learning, Society, Growth, Education

Education is an important aspect of everybody’s life, especially in the 21st Century. It is the only way through which a person can escape the state of ignorance to a state of nobility and virtuousness.

But what does education means?

Cramming, passing exams, attaining a degree is not called education; they are just the qualifications that prove that one is educated. The real meaning of education, which some people perceive, is Knowledge. Without knowledge, education is just an empty box of chocolate which is emulated from the outside but is only a charlatan hollow box. Education, ideally, is meant to nurture the student with wisdom that would build up his or her character in such a way that it would not only have a significant contribution in making the world a better place but also to enlighten and inspire the less privileged class with these important notions.

Now the questions is — What is a good education?

A good education is an education which allows the person to dodge the dogmatic society; an education which endows the person with the ability to distinguish between the truth and falsehood. Educations is not meant to train people to struggle their whole life but to direct people to think deliberately about the priorities of life.

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”― Henry David Thoreau. The assertion made by Thoreau is that people are leading the life of desperation because they are diligently working on those things which are not important. The reason being is conformity to society. And this is the situation where education plays the vital role of a guide by creating doubt in the mind and force to deliberate about life. People work all their life to gain materialistic desires, but in this struggle, they tend to forget or might ignore, the real virtues that are the characteristic of a human. Most people realize this important when they reach their deathbeds, and die with the feeling of sorry and remorse while wishing for another life.

Life is very important, but to make use of this gift one needs tool and knowledge of its application. What are those? Education and World. Education is the tool and World to practice its application to acquire the virtues of life. Human is not defined by the amount of possession that he or she possessed in this world, but is defined by the character that he or she fosters in him or her self. Where does this “character” come from? Education. Getting out of the state of ignorance is very important to discover the undiscovered mysteries of the mot; her nature, of the spirits, of the world.

“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.”

John W. Gardner
Week 7: Neno Mitaani. “Word on the Street” is this weeks…
By: Jacob Turko
Tags: Borlaug Ruan Intern, Stereotypes, Learning, Worldsbestinternship

“Word on the Street” is this weeks Swailli word(s) as it was filled with misconceptions. There are certain stereotypes that are passed down from generation to generation in which it becomes integrated as fact into their livelihoods. The more time I spend in Kenya, I learn not only the prejudices set for Kenya but how they have arisen as well.

The first way they have risen is through the media. We were engaged in a dinner conversation with a family that asked us how Kenya was different than hat we imagined it to be. The first couple of weeks, I was scared of sounding ignorant or offending someone. I always stated that “oh it was kinda what I imagined” in which I often received surprised looks. I decided, though, that's it's probably better that I was honest. So I embarrassingly said that I didn't expect Kenya to be so modern. They nodded and stated that the media in America doesn’t include any of the modern parts of Kenya or even Africa. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how true it was. On any of the cultural channels such as History Channel or National Geographic always focus on the tribes or the savannas rather than the business people and the skyscrapers. Even in children's books, it shows tribe children who represent Africa. The news barely covers Africa at all. In fact, growing up, I’ve never seen Kenya, and non-the-less Africa, in the news at all. The media has such a power to influence the way we think and what we focus on in the world. I hope that it starts focusing on different layers of different countries someday.

Another stereotypical difference here is that younger generations are shown a great deal of respect. In America, younger generations are often looked down upon and stereotyped as being brash, irresponsible and unknowledgeable. Here, though, everyone treats us like adults. For example, we were at a dinner party in which we met so high up officials from Scottland who asked our opinions on big topics like artificial meat production, future of Agriculture and other such topics. They carefully listened to our responses and gave their view on it INSTEAD of just scoffing at us or putting us down for thinking a certain way. It was the best feeling in the world. I don't think adults realize how much young adults value other people valuing their opinions and thoughts. It feels like we actually have a place in the world like we actually matter. There’s this stigma in America that we are to look up and only listen to those who either older or have a career in which they’ve worked for a long time. Here, we have a voice that isn’t ignored or put down no matter if the person is 60 or has been working in their field or 40 years. They even celebrated National Youth Day on Friday in which all the younger workers at ILRI were acknowledged as well.
Python — The Cool Parts: List Comprehension
By: Seann Branchfield
Tags: Development, Software Development, List Comprehension, Python, Arrays

One of the cool parts of Python is the ability to make a new list from writing logic around an existing list. Consider a list/array that has the numbers from 1–6.

listA = [1,2,3,4,5,6]

In Place of Map

Suppose you wanted to have a new list containing each number squared. In most languages this would require using a map method or something similar. You expect to see something like this:

let listWithElementsSquared = listA.map((x) => {return x**2})

With Python however, this can be done inside a new list:

You write a for loop inside the new list, looping over each element. Then prior to the for loop, you describe what you want done to each element.

In Place of Filter

List comprehensions can also be used to filter out items in a list:

All this requires is a conditional after the for loop.

In Conjunction with Map

You can also use Map with a lambda function inside a list comprehension. Map, takes the lambda function as an argument, and then the list you are mapping the elements from as the second argument.

More Uses

List comprehension is a concise way of manipulating a list. The syntax is also available for dictionaries and sets which can be very useful.
Dark Mode in digital product design
By: Dawid Tomczyk
Tags: User Interface, Dark Mode, Material Design, Design Guideline, Product Design

The fundamental components of dark theme mode

Colour and Contrast:

Google material design guideline recommends to keep contrast ratio at least 15.8:1 between text and the background. For this particular reason we need to avoid using saturated colours as they do not pass the accessibility standards. Desaturated colours are more readable/visible on the dark theme background because the higher contrast ration. In addition to that also reduces the eye strain because eliminates the visual vibration.

Low tonal value colours produced by picking colour tool by Google

. Avoid using high value/saturated colours when designing for dark theme mode.

Dark doesn’t always mean pure black

Google Material design recommends to use dark grey colour (#121212) as the primary background colour instead of pure black (#000000). Dark grey reduces the eye strain by lowering the amount of contrast between the surface and components. In addition to that shadows are more visible on the dark grey background because the wider range of colour, depth and elevation.

The recommended dark theme base colour by Google Material design

“On” colours for text emphasis

“On” colours appear on top of surfaces and components. “On” colours are essentially applied to text, however it might be also applied to iconography and strokes. Different opacity levels are used accordingly for text emphasis (high, medium, disabled).

3 opacity levels by Google Material Design

Image above explains that there are 3 different opacity levels of white text placed on the top of dark background.

Google material design recommends to use the following opacity levels depending on emphasis level:

High-emphasis text: opacity of 87%

Medium-emphasis text and hint text : opacity 60%

Disabled text: opacity 38%

Dark theme and brand colours

Material design allows to use brand colours at full saturation in order the retain the brand identity, although we should limit the usage of branded elements to one or two (logo or branded button for instance)

1. Dark theme primary color (desaturated) 2. Original Brand colour (fully saturated)

The Material Design color system — Very useful tool that would help you create a custom colour theme that reflects your brand or style

Shadows and elevation — it’s not just about the colour

Elevation is the relative distance between two surfaces. In standard/light mode we use shadows to express the level of elevation. The higher surface gets, the wider of a shadow it casts. In dark theme mode — components follow the same principles — additionally elevation level is also expressed by adjusting the colour of surface: higher elevation the lighter colour of surface/component.

A dark theme elevated surface is constructed by placing a white semi-transparent overlay over a component surface.

1. Surface 2. semi-transparent overlay

Elevation and drop shadow values by Google in their UI Kit (Sticker Sheet).

Notable examples of dark theme mode UI

Youtube — dark theme mode
My Top Three Medical Posts
By: Kim Mckinney
Tags: Health, Relationships, Perspective, Writing, Medicine

My Top Three Medical Posts

Read during the week of June 14, 2020

Photo by Zhen Hu on Unsplash

I am an admitted health junkie. I am drawn to medical and health-related content and devour it regularly.

It comes in handy. I am that friend to whom everyone tells their health issues. Strangers tell me, too. I can be standing in line at the drug store and get in a major discussion with someone about their sleep problems or their hemorrhoids.

I spend a lot of time internally wondering, “Why me?” but I think I just remind people of the best friend character from a rom-com. I am non-threatening and approachable. People need to talk to someone, why not me?

But I’m also a creative problem-solver type and will try to help, so maybe they just sense it. I’m a Google queen (I expect them to send me a crown any day).

I also have all kinds of crazy health info in my brain that comes to the surface as necessary. In five minutes, we come up with a list of all sorts of things they need to tell or ask their doctor, so they can diagnose them quicker and more accurately. I may even find some home remedies they can try in the interim.

I usually throw in some insurance or benefits information. That’s my real expertise. I’ll make them pull their insurance card out and show them how to hook up with a real health professional (nurse line, telemedicine, or another provider). While I can act like a doctor (or a lawyer — whatever you need), we all know that I’m most assuredly not!

But enough about me. I’m keeping you from the good stuff. Here are three writers I enjoy so much, and I am excited about highlighting their pieces.
Are you a good friend of yours?
By: Tuti Eran
Tags: Friendship, Self-awareness, Self Love

I wonder if you thought about this before.

Photo credit: @cristina_gottardi, Unsplash

I believe, there are two types of people in this world; problem solvers and problem creators. Don’t get offended if you are in the second group, the world would be a boring place without you, we need all the colors.

If you are in the first group though, you will always have friends coming over for advice or a solution. Helping a friend is a wonderful feeling. Especially if you can hear a ‘thank you’ after a couple of days.

It has always been the case for me, and I feel fortunate to be a part of the solution. When my friends are happy and successful, I am happy and proud of them, simple.

Problem solvers are raised in a way to figure things out and find a way on their own.

I am the only child in my family. Unlike the common idea of ‘only child is the spoiled child’, my parents never solved my problems for me. They gave ideas, shared their insights or wisdom with me but never solved it for me. So I am used to tackling issues by myself. I try to do the same with my friends.

Photo credit: Krista Mangulsone, Unsplash

Somehow, in time this made me a good friend. Lately, I started to hear many compliments on this. The idea is not bragging about it. It just stroke me that I am a terrible friend of myself!

This does not mean that you cannot stand to be alone and you don’t like spending time with yourself.

‘’But it means that every action in your life has not an equal but a negative reaction in your mind. ‘’

It means that you give yourself a hard time. You keep discouraging yourself. You blame always yourself for a mistake and so on.

It is good to work for the better, it is good to try harder. It is amazing to shoot for the stars. But I realized that I am living with an ambitious trainer on my head. And sometimes it is exhausting…This was my epiphany moment. You know that enlightenment feeling showers your soul and it just clicks! I hope you do because this is the moment that makes you change things in your life for the better. The moment you realize things can be improved.

I wonder how many of you can say honestly that you are a good friend of yours as you are with others? This is very very important.

We are living in our minds mostly. We need to have a good relationship with ourselves. We need to feel comfortable in our own skin. We often think we do.

To know yourself better, you shouldn’t look at yourself too closely. Step back for a while and study what you see in yourself.

If you can be the support that you are looking for, if you can be the shoulder to cry on, you will eventually become stronger, content with your life, and ultimately happy.

Genuinely, ask yourself the question. And start being a good friend to yourself for a change. You deserve it for god’s sake!
도쿄에서 일어난 일들은 도쿄에서 끝나지 않을 것입니다
By: Jongwook Kim
Tags: Blockchain, Bulletpointreview, Ecf, Ethereum

in Both Sides of the Table
How To Combine And Use Multiple NextJS Plugins
By: Malcolm Laing
Tags: JavaScript, Programming, Frontend Development, Nextjs, Webpack

How To Combine And Use Multiple NextJS Plugins

Using next-compose-plugins

Photo by Lisa H on Unsplash

One of the great features of NextJS is how customizable it is. Vercel offers a number of official plugins that you can use to add further functionality to your applications. However, new users are often confused about how to use more than one plugin with their application.

Let’s assume that we are creating a new NextJS application, and we would like to use the following plugins: next-images, and next-react-svg. Combining multiple NextJS plugins with the official API is hard to understand, and hard to reason about.

Instead, let’s use next-compose-plugins, a plugin that gives us an alternative API for enabling and configuring plugins.

To start, let’s install the dependencies that we will need

yarn add next-compose-plugins next-images next-react-svg

Next, let’s create a new file in our project’s root called next.config.js .

touch next.config.js

Now, you can copy and paste the following gist, and your configuration is done.

Notice how we pass all of our plugins as an array with next-compose-plugins . Another thing to pay attention to is the configuration objects we passed to our next-react-svg and next-images plugins.
Getting Started with TensorFlow the Easy Way (Part 3)
By: Mohammad Shahebaz
Tags: Programming, Machine Learning, Python, TensorFlow, Linear Regression

This is part 3 — “ Implementing a Regression Example in Tensorflow” in a series of articles on how to get started with TensorFlow.

Linear regression is usually always the first algorithm we learn. It seems to be the benchmark for getting into data science! And while other, more effective algorithms have taken precedence, linear regression continues to hold it’s ground.

One of the primary reasons linear models are widely adopted is because they fit easily and are not computationally heavy.

In this article (part 3), we are going to implement a Linear Regression algorithm in using graphs, variables, and placeholders, which we have covered in the last two posts. Let us have a quick recap:

TensorFlow works on computational graphs which are a set of nodes These nodes collectively form the operational flow for the graph Each node is an operation with some inputs that supplies an output after execution Variables are used to store weights and bias of the trained model while Placeholders are used to store the data samples

If any of the above sounds new and unfamiliar, I encourage you to read the previous articles in this series:

Part 1: Tensorflow Installation and Setup, Syntax, and Graphs

Part 2: Variables and Placeholders in Tensorflow
You Don’t Really Choose A Career, You Grow Into One
By: Natasha Srivastava
Tags: Life Lessons, Startup, Personal Development, Self Improvement, Life

I wonder how many people are pursuing a career of their choice. If that choice has been a constant or constantly subject to change. I wonder because my career has been like a wicked game of snakes and ladders. But the games you play are the ones you eventually stand to win. Right?

On one hand, I have known people who have been chanting what they want to be since the time they could speak and then there are the mere mortals. Who do a lot of things decently and constantly ponder over the possibility of doing something else every now and then. Mere mortals, like me.

At the age of eight, I read Harry Potter and wanted to be J.K. Rowling. At ten, I found out about Kalpana Chawla and decided to be an astronaut. By the time I turned 13, flipping through the pages of my mother’s copy of Cosmopolitan, I had my Eureka moment–I was going to be a fashion designer.

That day, the sapling pushed itself out of the ground and spent a decade sprouting but also ‘losing’, one leaf after another. And so I ask, do we choose a career or do we grow into one with every little choice that we make?

Do we choose a career or grow into one?

Three years ago, I was a fashion student who wanted to live and breathe fashion, start my own label. I kid you not, I didn’t even know of the term UX Design. But last year, I redefined customer experience for a renowned luxury fashion empire. And, fast forward to today, I am a product designer and a mentor to aspiring UX enthusiasts. I haven’t changed the world or anything (yet) but I’ve done things I didn’t even know I would or could do…

And in that process, I learnt valuable lessons that help me make calculated and well-informed career choices now. It was the most natural self-discovery there could’ve been. It takes a lot of effort to be good at something but it takes even more effort to recognise what you can be good at. So just follow the light. Simply walk towards it, one very careful step at a time.