fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
JP Morgan CIO: Blockchain Will Replace Existing Technology
Tags: News, Bank, Peer To Peer, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

JP Morgan CIO Lori Beer said at a press conference in Buenos Aires that blockchain will “replace existing technology” in a few years, according to Argentinian website Cripto247 August 23.

“We will see a greater and wider use of blockchain […] In a few years blockchain will replace the existing technology, today it only coexists with the current one,” Beer said.

Beer explained to Cripto247 that JP Morgan uses blockchain technology to “simplify the payment process and to store customers’ information related to KYC (Know Your Customer) policy.” She added that blockchain technology helps to prevent money laundering. Beer further explained the use of blockchain technology by the bank:

“We are currently following many paths. We invented a blockchain with an open code based on Ethereum. Actual blockchain technology has not yet resolved issues with privacy and scalability that we needed. We are connected to Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. The application of this technology in business is more important to us than the technology itself. We are looking not only for cost reduction, but also for opportunities to develop new products.”

Beer was also asked about JP Morgan’s position on buying cryptocurrencies. She explained that the bank only supports what is regulated and has specialists who are “evaluating what is happening” with virtual currencies. When asked about the institutional position regarding Initial Coin Offerings(ICOs), Beer preferred not to respond.

Earlier in August, Cointelegraph reported that JP Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon was optimistic about blockchain. “[JPMorgan] is testing [blockchain] and will use it for a whole lot of things,” he said.

In May, JP Morgan Chase filed a patent for a blockchain powered peer-to-peer payments network that could be used for intra- and inter-bank settlements. The patent application proposes using a distributed ledger to process payments in real-time, without having to rely on a trusted third party to hold the true “golden copy” of the audit trail.

Source: cointelegraph.com

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发布DelegateCall.com：首个在Loom Network上运行的DApp链
By: Loom Network Chinese
Tags: Programming, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain, Technology

in Both Sides of the Table
The Murder Artist
By: Benjamin Davis
Tags: Horror, Short Story, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel

I love my job.

Someone managed to change something. They shouldn’t have been able to. But, that is the company’s problem. Someone needs to die, again.

Killing someone is not an easy thing. Killing them again is even harder. Killing them the same way as before.

That is art.

Her name is Mary Harris. Nineteen years old. Strangled.

19:23 — My hands are already around her neck. Not too soft. With passion, as before.

19:24 — she is dead.

On the dot.

Man, I’m good.

I stand up and look around. The room hadn’t been wrecked. That is always an annoyance. Simple strangulation. I look down at her. Turning blue.

Sorry, darling.

I lied. I would feel sorry for her, really. Her savior is in jail. Her killer is still unknown. But, I don’t. I feel hungry. I’m a professional. Only professionals know when they are hungry.

I study the room. I study the body.

One of her eye-lids is shut. I bend down and open it wide, just like in the picture. Sadness and terror, it says. I smile.
Beyond Python and R for Data Science — Part 2
By: Jun Wu
Tags: Software Development, Programming, Machine Learning, Data Science, Software Engineering

Rust

The buzz of this year in the general programming community has been the language Rust, a fairly new language with its first stable version released in 2015. It’s no surprise because, as noted in its Wikipedia entry, the language is a statically typed, compiled, multi-paradigm system programming language focused on safety, especially safe concurrency. It is also syntactically similar to C++ and is designed to provide better memory safety and high performance. In a sense, it seems to be born out of the family of ML languages such as Haskell.

The elegant design of the language, combining the power of C/C++, the safety of Python, and the expressiveness of ML languages such as Haskell, increases programming productivity. This is especially seen in large development teams.

Rust can be viewed as a second or a third programming language in the data science stack to learn. Learning it will require both experience and knowledge about many deeper system programming issues such as memory, concurrency, and data integrity.

Some argue that Rust is faster than C. For those who are new to it, there’s a thread on Reddit that is a great starting point to investigate just how fast Rust is.

Rust also compiles to LLVM, which contributes to its speed. Here’s a blog post about how Rust goes beyond LLVM.

To start with learning Rust, you’d want to get the book “The Rust Programming Language” by Steve Klabnik.

For deeper dives into Rust once you start learning it, here are two reasons that developers use Rust:

Memory safety and management

Rust does not use a garbage collector (time savings). Instead, it doesn’t allow null pointers, dangling pointers, or data races in safe code. The compiler will complain. However, Rust does not guarantee no memory leaks. It has the concept of borrowing, which means that you can borrow a reference to any value. This is similar to the smart pointer in C++. It favors a deterministic way of managing resources.

Here are some resources for Rust memory management:

Concurrency

Concurrency is the reason most developers choose Rust. Rust has the concept of ownership to offer access and control to system resources. According to a piece about fearless concurrency on the Rust Blog, it has the concept of channel transfer of messages, lock-on data and not the code, strict enforcement on thread safety to provide concurrency with safety in mind. It also goes a step further with the sharing of stack frames that offer robustness without compromising safety.

Here are some resources for Rust concurrency:
Manual Labor: The Holy Grail for Creativity
Tags: Work, Startup, Creativity, Future, Technology

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

CREATIVITY

Manual Labor: The Holy Grail for Creativity

The potential ideas that manual work offers is endless.

“Where do you see yourself in fifty years?”

That question is a hyperbole of the prevalent platitude that is almost all the time asked in a job interview. Generally, the interviewer asks you where you see yourself in five or ten years. But have you ever been asked where you see yourself in fifty years?

It might be a difficult question to answer. You may not even be present after fifty years. To predict where you would be, fifty years into the future, you will first have to understand how the world will be fifty years from now.

So many science fiction movies, novels, and mind-numbing daily programs have provided us with a stereotypical, technologically sophisticated vision for the future. That vision of the future involves robots and a technologically advanced society.

But by looking at the way the past centuries have progressed into the 21st century it wouldn’t be audacious by me to state that the world will have more robots fifty years from now.

When I envision the future, I see two types of robots. The robots that don’t breathe and the robots that do.
A little bit of Odin
By: Roxana Ștefan
Tags: Prompt, Myths, Freewriting, Dead Poets Live, Poetry

I’ve brought to life

so many warriors from lost worlds.

Valkyries have been my mystic angels

choosing the ones who may live,

fighting for love and glory.

My ravens and my wolves

have always been my magic wonders,

with poetry and swords as their main powers.

One night, I’ve lost one little battle

quivering inside a black hole

however, my love, I’ve built a celestial empire.

I’ve lost myself inside Yggdrasil

to find myself immortal,

unlocker of all mysteries.

Response to Prompt: The Myth of You.
How They Did It | Amanda Armstrong From Nonprofit to Tech Startup to Entrepreneurship
By: Dana C
Tags: Toronto, Startup, Podcast, How They Did It, Nonprofit

Amanda’s career coaching business is based in Toronto and it serves to help clients find their “purpose driven careers”. Before transitioning her service from a side hustle to a full time business, she accumulated 10+ years of experience working in the nonprofit world in places like Kenya, Guyana, South America and the Carribbean. In our conversation, Amanda explained WHY social enterprises are an effective way to make an impact and HOW she plans to reach more in the future.

This is a summary that accompanies the original interview published on Work In Progress Podcast. Here we highlight the main takeaway and some useful resources. Listen to the full interview here.
The importance of visual meaning in user interface design
By: Anthony Stonehouse
Tags: Interface Design, Design, Visual Design, Semiotics, Product Design

According to Norman’s three levels of cognitive processing, the first judgement we make on something is visceral, based on how it looks, sounds or smells. It’s something we inherited from our primal ancestors. Nature has always used colour and scent to signal meaning. Once we make this gut-feel judgement, we decide how (and if) to interact.

So the first judgement a user makes on an interface is based on its aesthetic properties. The aesthetics render meaning for the user before they interact with it. Does it look like it will be easy to use? Does it look premium, or cheap? Will they want to use it?

Understanding how to create visual meaning is fundamental to controlling how users interact with an interface. An interface will fail (regardless of how visually pleasing it is to the designer) if the resulting meaning differs from the intent.
Can Delhi’s Wetlands Rejuvenate Its Ground Water?
Tags: Delhi, Wetlands, Groundwater, Water, Water Crisis

Ecosystems that are flooded by water (either permanently or seasonally) are called wetlands. Oxygen-free processes prevail here, giving birth to aquatic plants adapted to the hydraulic cycle.

Wetlands support immense biodiversity and birds come from hundreds of kilometres to visit wetlands. Wetlands store and replenish ground water and hence are extremely important for urban spaces like Delhi.

Delhi and NCR have several major wetlands, but these are under serious threat. Wetlands found in Najafgarh, Wazirabad, Dhanauri and Basai have over the years helped with flood relief, prevention of siltation of reservoirs, water purification and enhancement of ground water recharge. Wetlands work as natural biofilters and purify water by removing and or degrading a range of pollutants from waters.

Wetlands can also be artificially designed to treat wastewater. Such artificial wetlands are called constructed wetlands or treatment wetlands. The constructed wetlands remove and biodegrade many pollutants found in wastewater. For example, organic matter, organic pollutants, suspended solids, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous), all types of pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and helminths) and emergent pollutants like detergents, antibiotics and pharmaceuticals are removed and or biodegraded by constructed wetlands.

These bodies in Delhi are under extreme threat from urbanization and the associated land use changes that have been identified as primary drivers behind wetland loss and degradation. Deforestation, land conversion and developmental activities have resulted in reduced flow, habitat loss and loss of biodiversity along the Yamuna river and its floodplains. Nestled within these floodplains is Dhanauri wetlands in Greater Noida. It is a Sarus crane hotspot and attracts a wide range of bird enthusiasts and ecologists for the mesmerising experience it offers. Dhanauri too, is critically under threat.

It is thus clear that wetlands act as extremely important water bodies and natural phenomena that protect, rejuvenate and purify everything around them. Delhi is currently facing a water crisis and the river Yamuna is degrading to irreversible levels everyday. We must protect these wetlands from all harm, and make use of them to recharge ground water and treat waste water naturally.
Shannen Doherty Has Stage 4 Cancer
By: Edward Anderson
Tags: Actors, Pop Culture, Celebrity, Medical, Cancer

Shannen Doherty Has Stage 4 Cancer

The beloved 90210 star shares her diagnosis

Photo credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Brenda Walsh is facing her biggest challenge yet. Shannen Doherty told Good Morning America that she has Stage IV cancer. This comes three years after the actress said she was given a clean bill of health.

While this may be a major surprise to some, cancer patients often suffer recurrences — this is not Doherty’s first. Each time, she has been open about her battle and the fear that she felt.

This time is no different.

Uh-Oh 90210

Doherty says the diagnosis came before she began shooting the 90210 reboot last summer. She acknowledged that having been told about her illness made doing the show a bit harder than normal. During filming, she only shared the news with co-star Brian Austin Green.

Green, she said helped her feel better about everything. “I had moments of great anxiety, Prior to shooting, he would always call me and say, ‘Whatever happens, I’ve got your back.’” It must have been nice to have a coworker comfort her during that difficult time.

Making things even harder was the fact that she initially had no intention of doing the show. She only agreed to appear on the reboot after her friend, Luke Perry died last March. Doherty told GMA, “It’s so weird for me to be diagnosed and someone so seemingly healthy to go first. It was really shocking. The least I could do to honor him was to do that show.”

Family First

As she fights the recurrence, Doherty says that family is on her mind. She talked about how her Mom is standing by her side, helping her through this battle: “I’m pretty scared. My mom is a ridiculously strong, courageous human being.” Again it has to be a comfort for her.

Then there is her husband. She says that he is just like her mom, “So is my husband, but I worry about him.” Doherty has been married to Kurt Iswarienko since 2011. They seem to be a happy couple, and are working together to beat her illness.

Doherty admits that she wasn’t going to come forward. She decided to because “it’s going to come out.” Without her saying it, one can hazard a guess that a tabloid was about to violate her privacy, and she just “got ahead of the story.”

We wish Shannen the best during her cancer battle.
How the Use of Personal Digital Assistants Will Affect SEO In 2017
By: Juan Duque
Tags: SEO, Marketing, SEM, Digital Marketing

Siri used to be in its own category, and then was joined by Cortana for Microsoft, and Alexa for Amazon. Even Google went to using a personal digital assistant (PDA) of sorts when it added the “OK Google” functionality to its search engine app. But how does that affect SEO?

It affects SEO because it changes how people search for locations and information they want. For instance, at a computer, a potential customer might type in “grocery store Tomah wi”. But when talking into their phone, the words will take a more complete sentence and question form, as in “Where is a grocery store in Tomah, Wi?”

The question makes the keywords searched for more of a phrase and that distinction needs to incorporated into your SEO strategy. Google and other search engines currently use a semantic search, one that analyzes the user’s intent of their use of keywords, and provide the best results accordingly.

Plus, search engine users have figured out that longer, more specific queries that eliminate more general responses. These can be a series of general words but is more likely a complete sentence, especially when spoken into the microphone for the PDA to listen and interpret.

Auto-correct is an issue, but even that is getting better. Operating systems are being developed that “learn” a user’s speech pattern, popular words and phrases and other mechanisms to make better suggestions and corrections to typed and spoken words. As that improves, PDAs will be more effective and have even more impact on search engine optimization and marketing strategies to maximize their potential.

As more people use those features, search will evolve with more diversification and increased complexity to fine-tune that help. Conversational inquiries will become more advanced with different ways to recognize key components to the question and tailor results accordingly.

You have probably already begun to incorporate key phrases into your SEO strategy. Keep going and watch the results to see where to make changes as this trend gains hold in 2017.
Me and My Heart Murmur
By: Stephanie Georgopulos
Tags: Body

A memory: I am twenty-four and newly unemployed and — this is an important one — I am alive. Very, very alive. For the first time in my life, the days are thick with opportunity and they’re finally my own; they belong to me. All I had to do was figure out what to do with them.

On a Monday I visit Beth Israel Hospital and undergo psychiatric evaluation. I want to enroll in an adult ADD study. I don’t need uppers, but the right amount sets me straight, helps me focus. Now that I’m making my own money, I need to focus. More than that, I will receive other things I need — physical exams and pills and even some cash. Things that are in short supply when you lose your job.

After determining that I have ADD, a doctor prescribes me a small dose of Vyvanse and we schedule an appointment for the following week. “We’ll raise your dosage a tiny bit each week. If you ever feel uncomfortable, let us know and we’ll readjust it accordingly.” I am not allowed to know how many milligrams my prescription is, but I find it works well. My appetite is in tact, my teeth do not grind. The meds even me out in barely noticeable ways, like reading glasses for the mind.

But then I return for my next appointment. The dose goes up. I go up. My first day on new pills, I drink an espresso and subsequently melt down in a SoHo office where I’m freelancing. I’m in front of a computer screen when my vision starts to sparkle, explode. It’s like I’m staring at the sun. My heart is a manic drummer. I walk over to a window and pretend I’m outside. I stay inside, though, because I’m afraid I’ll die in the elevator on the way down. It’s panic turned all the way up. I call Beth Israel and my doctor asks me questions: what time did you take your pill? And what time did you ingest caffeine? She tells me to drink some water, that it’ll be over soon. Then she advises me to go easy on the coffee. I begin drinking decaf the next day. A week later, I’ve stopped drinking it entirely.
50 things I believe about data
By: Panagiotis Tzamtzis
Tags: Data Science, Big Data Analytics, Data Analysis, Data Engineering, Data

A new trend is rising in the analytics and web marketing community! Lists of 50 things you believe about your industry. My inspiration was the following great lists of “50 things I believe…” from Tim Wilson and Cory Underwood:

(Bonus: It’s also worth checking out this article from Jan Exner, which breaks down Tim Wilson’s list into more detail.)

The list below was created based on my experience working in digital analytics projects since 2008 and from numerous conversations I had while organizing the Digital analytics meetup, Thessaloniki since 2017.

The list

In no particular order:
The Not-So-Gentle Arts
Tags: History, Art, Feminism

Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610 | Rembrandt, Susanna and the Elders, 1647

In reviewing Susanna, it is crucial to review the status of the female model of the seventeenth century. Stigma was attached to any woman willing to submit herself to the prying scrutiny of an artist.

Even if she was representing a biblical, allegorical, or mythological feminine entity or female protagonist, she was still wilfully subjecting herself to the intense physical observation of the male gaze. If posing in clothes involved high risks to a woman’s reputation, one can only imagine what posing nude would do.

Susanna, as most female female biblical characters are described, was a “virtuous Jewish woman” whose story was used to teach that salvation comes to those who put their trust in God. However, Artemisia used the story to stress instead the dark and depraved nature of men, removing divine intervention, and developing political poles of attention. In the center, we have the defendant, Susanna horrified, disgusted, surprised, and above all, angry at the presence of the Elders — whose gaze projects dismissal and prejudice. Artemisia employs complex political pictorial vocabulary through the symbolic use of an art technique known as chiaroscuro, the juxtaposition of light and shade to create dramatic effect.

Rembrandt, who was also a follower of Caravaggio, painted the scene decades after Gentileschi.

His Susanna is cow-eyed and docile in terror. Her gaze is held by the one witnessing her molestation. She is looking at us.

In contrast, Gentileschi’s Susanna is frightened and repulsed by the menacing Elders. Her gaze does not seek out to another, or tilt up to God, but focuses on an object we cannot see — a weapon or escape of her own device.

Her Susanna would become Judith.

Through the absence of allegory and the allusion to Artemisia’s own rape trial, Artemesia’s representation undermines the traditional masculine identity of Divinity, unmasking the masculine identities as occupiers, not dispensers of Justice.

It is this unique viewpoint, a female gaze in the midst of male contemporaries, that gives Gentileschi’s work its full significance. By exploring notions of sexual politics and justice, Artemisia’s work proves its ongoing relevance, reaching far beyond the realm of the Baroque, with a stark reminder of the power of gender across the ages.
How to Query Multiple APIs With the Combine Framework
By: İbrahim Oktay
Tags: Programming, iOS, Mobile, Swift, Combine

Introduction

Combine is a new framework developed by Apple that was introduced at WWDC 2019. It is a declarative Swift API for handling asynchronous operations. In other words, it is Apple’s way of doing functional reactive programming. Combine is built on top of the publish-subscribe pattern. If you are familiar with the pattern or any other FRP framework like RxSwift, ReactiveSwift, etc., it will be easier for you to understand.

I am not going to introduce publishers, subscribers, or subjects. If you do not know anything about them, you should read about them first. I am going to jump to code directly. However, I have provided some Combine resources at the end of this article.

According to Apple Developer, Combine “provides a declarative Swift API for processing values over time.”

You can find the sample project below:
Throw Out Redux, Use Redux Toolkit
By: Adebola Adeniran
Tags: Typescript, JavaScript, React, Programming, Redux

Out with the old, in with the new

A while back, when I started picking up Redux for the first time, I couldn’t believe how much code I needed to write to get anything to work. Frankly speaking, it scared me. And even though writing all the setup code from memory can make you feel pretty darn smart, after some time, it gets boring and you want to work with something that’s more intuitive and straightforward.

Redux can also be difficult for beginners to pick up and it certainly was difficult for me, well, until I discovered Redux Toolkit. It’s still surprising to me that it’s not as widely talked about as it should be and people seem to be stuck on old Redux.

If you’re looking to get started learning Redux or want a more intuitive way to write redux, RTK is the way to go.

In this article, I’ll show you how to set up RTK with TypeScript and React.
The New Meat Market
By: Oliver Zatch
Tags: Food, Meat, Science, Sustainability, Climate Change

Cultured meat and climate change

A US company called Eat Just has recently been approved to sell “chicken bites” in Singapore. I’m no expert but simply put, it works by taking a cell from a chicken. The cell is placed in such an environment that it “believes” it's still a part of the chicken. The cell then multiplies until there is a slab of meat.

There is some skepticism around meat from a lab. In this article from The Guardian, Naima Brown got a chance to test lab chicken. Although it tasted like a chicken nugget Naima said:

“…for me, lab-grown meat doesn’t sit right.”

And that could be a big hurdle for many, giving up meat from a living animal for meat grown in a lab. To be honest, it doesn't sound very appealing. Meat, grown by people in white coats, latex gloves, and safety goggles in contrast to grazing animals.

However, livestock accounts for 14.5% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. So limiting this sector's emissions is important. Considering 50 billion chickens are slaughtered every year, it's not hard to believe that industrial livestock is a big player in emissions and that we humans want meat and are not willing to give it up, it seems.

Cultured meat could be an alternative, being more efficient when it comes to land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The energy use could, however, be higher, so the cleanliness of “clean meat” could depend on the cleanliness of the energy used.

Nevertheless, in order for cultured meat to actually work, people need to be willing to eat it. Up until now, theories around consumers' willingness to eat cultured meat have been hypothetical. Now with the approval in Singapore, there is a chance for researchers to study consumers to figure out if there is any potential for it and how to make it more appealing. No consumer, no change in the food sector.

One hindrance for consumers could be that it's hard to replicate different kinds of cuts like chicken wings or steaks due to the different muscle cells, bone, and so on that complicates it. So for now, lab-grown nuggets are what we get.
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Perfectly Depicted The Dating Ins And Outs
By: Colin Daniels
Tags: Entertainment, Diversity, Movies

I love a good romantic comedy film, especially ones where I can watch them and say “SAME HERE, GIRL!” to. That’s exactly how I felt when watching Kevin Kwan’s film-adaptation of his book ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ come to life.

The film is about Rachel Chu,who is happy to join her boyfriend, Nick, to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore. She’s surprised to learn that Nick’s family is wealthy and he’s considered one of the country’s most eligible bachelors. Now in the spotlight, Rachel must contend with jealous socialites, crazy relatives and Nick’s disapproving mother.

This story completely followed the accuracy many of us face when dating. The first theme that I related to in the film was the role tradition played in Nick’s family. I always find it challending when you’re visiting the person your dating’s family for the first time. Rachel struggles with various traditions Nick has in his life from respecting his mother and grandmother’s opinion to making dumblings together as a family.

Watching Rachel try to “go with the flow” reminded me of how many of us feel awkward at Thanksgiving and other holidays when the other’s family is partaking in activities that are so foreign to you. Many times, you’re just sitting there making awkward small talk.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

The second theme that stuck out was the theme of acceptence and being “enough” when dating. Nick’s mom didn’t think Rachel was “enough” for Nick because she didn’t come from the same background. When dating, it’s often our biggest fear if our partner’s family will like us or if we’ll be viewed as enough for them.

Throughout the film, you see Rachel struggling to fit in with Nick’s friends and family. Nick’s mom even tells Rachel to her face that she will never be enough for Nick along with hiring a P.I. to look more into Rachel’s background.

Rachel finally faces Nick’s mom in the end by telling her she’s not ashamed of her background and how she’s proud of it. When it comes to dating, there is a time where we have to tell ourselves we are enough no matter what anyone says. We can’t let relatives or outsiders say we will never be suit for the person we’re dating.

What ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ proves in the film and book is that what people say doesn’t matter. As long as you and the person you’re with love and respect each other, everything else falls into place. It also gives you a lesson in dealing with in-laws. If you don’t speak up, you will get walked over so let people know you will not go quietly into the night and demand respect.
Play Learning Mix 2: Feel Automation
Tags: AI, Self Driving Cars, Automation, Work

Enabling you to be fully alive in the 21st Century. 3 weekly discoveries for feeling global signals, that can touch your heart, impact your work and/or life!

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From Office Worker to Author, Musician, and Artist in Less Than Two Years
By: Max Frenzel
Tags: Life Lessons, Productivity, Creativity, Writing, Art

The last year and a half have been a time of big changes for me.

I started into 2018 working full-time as an AI researcher at a startup, focusing on the practical applications of AI to business related problems in domains such as finance and law.

Writing, music, and art were things I enjoyed almost exclusively in a passive capacity. Consuming rather than producing. While I was slightly dabbling in some of these areas, I had no plans or ambitions to take them beyond minor hobbies.

However, through a series of seemingly random coincidences I am now more or less pursuing a combination of these three things as my career(s).

All of this unfolded through the immense power and momentum that accumulates when you share your work liberally with the world. The magic that unfolds when you do this conspires to make all these unlikely and random events happen at an astonishing rate. And once you get the process started, it’s only accelerating from there.

Fully in the spirit of this, I want to use this article to share with you some of my process and story, and what it has lead to. I want to give you a detailed account of the unpredictable but wonderful path on which sharing your process and your work can take you.

This path and all its benefits are often highly unforeseeable and convoluted, with many chance encounters and discoveries nudging you along. It is certainly not a linear path. Individual steps don’t just add up, but often multiply and exponentiate each other, and even initial failures or perceived setbacks can come back as great chances later on.
Tonight’s comic thinks you look dead inside.
Tags: Friendship, Goth, Comics, Nihilism, Life

Aren’t we all, though?

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/ics/851/
Spark: Web Server Logs Analysis with Scala
By: Achraf El Gdaouni
Tags: Dataframes, Scala, Spark, Big Data, Weblog

Result :

Counting 404 Response Codes :

found 251 404 Urls Listing 404 Status Code Records :

+---------------------------------------+

|path |

+---------------------------------------+

|/css/bootstrap.min.css.map |

|/robots.txt |

|/djs/vendor/bootstrap-datetimepicker.js|

|/favicon.ico |

+---------------------------------------+ Listing The Top Twenty 404 Response Code Paths :

+---------------------------------------+-----+

|path |count|

+---------------------------------------+-----+

|/css/bootstrap.min.css.map |1 |

|/djs/vendor/bootstrap-datetimepicker.js|7 |

|/favicon.ico |19 |

|/robots.txt |224 |

+---------------------------------------+-----+ +--------------------+--------------------+-------------+

| path| collect_list(host)|count(status)|

+--------------------+--------------------+-------------+

|/css/bootstrap.mi...| [10.130.2.1]| 1|

|/djs/vendor/boots...|[10.131.0.1, 10.1...| 7|

| /favicon.ico|[10.128.2.1, 10.1...| 19|

| /robots.txt|[10.131.0.1, 10.1...| 224|

+--------------------+--------------------+-------------+ +--------------------+--------------------+-------------+

| path| collect_set(host)|count(status)|

+--------------------+--------------------+-------------+

|/css/bootstrap.mi...| [10.130.2.1]| 1|

|/djs/vendor/boots...|[10.130.2.1, 10.1...| 7|

| /favicon.ico|[10.130.2.1, 10.1...| 19|

| /robots.txt|[10.130.2.1, 10.1...| 224|

+--------------------+--------------------+-------------+ Listing the Top Twenty-five 404 Response Code Hosts :

+----------+-----+

|host |count|

+----------+-----+

|10.128.2.1|67 |

|10.131.0.1|61 |

|10.130.2.1|52 |

|10.129.2.1|41 |

|10.131.2.1|30 |

+----------+-----+ Listing 404 Errors per Day :

+---+----+-----+

|day|year|count|

+---+----+-----+

|312|2017| 8|

|313|2017| 10|

|314|2017| 6|

|315|2017| 12|

|316|2017| 6|

|317|2017| 10|

|318|2017| 18|

|319|2017| 8|

|320|2017| 10|

|321|2017| 5|

+---+----+-----+

only showing top 10 rows

Summary :

In this lab we learned how to load data and parse it with regexp_extract function, then we cleaned the data with the help of na package, we then convert the date column to a valid timestamp using a UDF and finally we explored the data and made some analysis on it.

Appendix :
Impacting The World
Tags: Belonging, Learning, Movies, Collaboration

Ever since I was little I’ve wanted to leave a mark on this Earth. I thought about ways to go about it and around age 11, I came to a conclusion I wanted to become an illustrator/ writer. It was the perfect way to combine my artistic gifts and creative storytelling. Over time my dreams and aspirations grew and I know wang to own my own corporation similar to Marvel.

I want to create this company to entertain children all around the world. Growing up entertainment in the way of tv shows, videogames, and toys were a huge part of my childhood. I was inspired by the marvel movies, Japanese animations, and McDonald's toys I used to get in kids' meals. I fondly remember the fun times I had growing up back then and even going into adulthood how those old franchises made me feel. I want to give the next generation of kids that sense of nostalgia and community that I had when I was younger.

Another big reason I wanted to create my own franchise/ business is to create generational wealth. If I can create something on the scale of Marvel or Disney, hundreds to thousands of jobs will be created. I can help give jobs to the locals to where ever city I'm in and with multiple locations across the country could help those who want to showcase their talents.

I have committed my life to this goal I have researched the degree and connections required to get to where I want to be. I’ve planned and visualized what my future will hold and I'm slowly willing it into existence. I value my childhood experiences and how they shaped me and I want to play a similar role for others.

At the end of the day, I want to make history and leave behind a legacy, not just for my family but for other people across the globe. I want my stories, characters, and art to outlive me, similar to Stan Lee. Stan Lee created Spiderman in 1962 and to this day Spiderman is still one of the most popular fictional characters ever created even after Lee’s death in 2018.
Therapy
By: Danna Reich Colman
Tags: Life Lessons, Therapy, Nonfiction, Comedy

I used to lie awake at night and think about him. Everyday, all day, I’d wonder what he was doing. I’d think about what his female patients looked like. I’d imagine what his wife looked like and wonder how much time they spent together and if they still liked each other or had fallen out of love. One day, I passed him on the street, and I followed him and found out where he lived. After that I’d try to time it just right so that I’d see him when he was driving to work. I had already read lots of books on psychoanalysis and recognized that I was in a state of transference. It’s just another form of love, really, but the books explained how it wasn’t really love and that I was transferring all my feelings from the important people in my early life onto him. Actually, it’s one of the ways patients and therapists can gain insight that leads to psychological change, so it’s supposed to be a good thing.

Once on his birthday, I bought him a plant. I’d lie on the couch and watch the plant while I was free associating. You know, saying everything that comes to mind without censoring any thoughts. You just bounce from one thought to the next. Most of the time it doesn’t make any sense. So while I was talking and watching the plant, I realized that the plant was wilting. I wondered when he had watered it last because for sure it was dying. I should have known then, that if he couldn’t even care for a stupid plant, he wasn’t going to be of much value to me. But I ignored it because, as I said, I really loved him. And then I began to realize he was beginning to love me back. He would tell me I was attractive and intelligent and interesting. He said he would look forward to our sessions. He even gave me a list of his favorite L.A. restaurants. It was obvious he was experiencing counter-transference because he laughed at my jokes and smiled and even cried during all my sad stories.

One day he called me at home to tell me about this incredible dining experience that was taking place the next weekend. The chef from a famous restaurant in England, Michael’s Waterside Inn, was coming to Montecito to its sister restaurant, and he suggested I go. He was planning to take his son, and he invited me to join them. I can’t remember ever being this excited! I borrowed a dress from a friend that was so perfect — so English. I even wore a hat! It was pouring that night. Not a good day to travel. We had a seven-thirty reservation, and he hadn’t arrived. I had a glass of Sancerre but didn’t touch the hors d’oeuvres because I was so afraid he might show up while I was chewing, and I kept glancing down at my mirror to make sure my lipstick was just perfect. After about twenty minutes or so, I knew he wasn’t coming. I couldn’t eat my dinner, and that night I couldn’t sleep. It was before cell phones, and so all I could do was think about it all until my session the next day. When he greeted me at the door, he didn’t say anything about the night before. And when I sat down and told him how inconsiderate I thought he was, all he said was “You’d have to be crazy to go out in that kind of weather.”
RCN September 2020 Recap
Tags: Lending, Fintech, Ethereum, Blockchain, Finance

CeFi Loans’ Borrow Amount Update

During September Ripio increased the requested amount of its CeFi Loans by more than a tenfold, going from 8,000 ARS to more than 100,000 ARS on average. In a context of high Gas prices caused by increased demand for transactions on the Ethereum network, this change allowed both Ripio and its creditors to reduce the weight of transaction costs in the borrowing and lending operations, increasing efficiency and profitability.

Here are the new loan terms:

Requested Amount : + 100,000 ARS.

: + 100,000 ARS. APR (in ARS) : 70%.

: 70%. Duration: 30 Days.

Here’s one of the latest loans requested by Ripio!

You can find new CeFi Loans to fund here!

New USDC/RCN Liquidity Pool on Uniswap

Last month a new Liquidity Pool was created on Uniswap for the USDC/RCN pair. Together with the existing ETH/RCN Liquidity Pool, they will enable RCN exchanges with other tokens with reduced slipages for both the RCN Credit Marketplace and Uniswap’s users, with the second pair being especially useful for making exchanges between USDC and RCN without intermediary coins.

You can check the new Uniswap USDC/RCN Liquidity Pool on real-time here!

The new pool increases RCN’s liquidity on Uniswap.

In addition, the USDC/RCN Liquidity Pool will be fundamental in the implementation of the new USDC Engine and Burning Mechanism for the RCN protocol, which will be implemented during Q4.

RCN Credit Marketplace v0.2.4

September also saw the release of the Credit Marketplace v0.2.4, which introduced new tools and components, more refined user dialogs and several fixes with the aim of improving the platform’s user experience.

The additional tools include a logout button that enables users to disconnect their wallets from the platform, and a new set of “filter” and “sort” controls for the Lend, Activity and My Loans sections, which allow users to organize the available loans to find the one they are looking for faster. User dialogs’ improvements comprise aesthetic and functional changes, including a “More Details” section that offers information about estimated transaction costs, exchange rates between relevant currencies and more.

The new dialogs allow users to estimate a transaction’s cost before submitting it.

Finally, the RCN protocol’s former version — a.k.a. “Basalt” — was partially deprecated to optimize the amount of requests made to the RCN API and the Credit Marketplace’s loading times.
Another First Date
By: Third Act
Tags: Dating, Relationships, Commitment, Tolerance, Online Dating

Groundhogs Day For Online Daters

Image: Denny Müller on Unsplash

Last night was another first date. The lady in question has a job where Tuesday and Wednesday are her Saturday and Sunday, so it was a Tuesday night date.

I am tall, she is tall. Check.

She has a job. Check.

She is good enough looking. Check.

This could go be ok. I’ve been here before though.

I live in a remote area, so my dates are usually 20–70 miles away from me. This is often a barrier to sustaining the relationship.

I don’t have much tolerance for drama, and the ladies I date are clear they do not as well. If you don’t have tolerance for drama, you probably are not going to stick with a relationship and make it work. That’s a bold statement, so let me unpack it.

Yesterday, before the date, I went for a walk. During the walk, this thought popped into my head: “It is so good not to have the drama of a relationship in my life. If I take a risk, or do something that is important to me, I don’t have to worry if someone will freak out, or if I will be dealing with pouting, and tension for weeks and months afterward”.

Few of us want to live with an alcoholic, a bat shit crazy nutcase, or a partner who is sleeping around. That is a level of drama I think we can all agree we are better off without. However, after decades, the small dramas accumulate as well.

Is your partner judging everything you do? Does your partner pout rather than constructively communicate and reach good quality compromise / agreements with you? Does your partner only want to eat and do the things they want to do? Is your partner controlling, in many implicit and explicit ways? Does your partner see the world differently than you, or even just have a few annoying habits?

There is a spectrum of drama. Many of us in the online dating pool have escaped long term relationships. Some because they could not cope with big and serious drams. Others because they could not cope with the accumulated small dramas that occurred over many years or decades.

Like many first dates, the physical attraction was good enough, the conversation was good enough, the hug was great. However, there is that little voice inside my head telling me that on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th dates, the little dramas will emerge. My date is a basically solid person. No huge red flags at this time, but what will I find out in subsequent dates. Will I find out that she does not want to travel to the same places as I, that her most important priority is a man who takes no risks and will always give her confidence they will look after her, or that our political perspectives are completely incompatible.

When those little dramas do emerge, without the bond of children to keep us together, I will be back where I started. Another first date.
Sea Level Rise: Wetlands and Annapolis
By: Emily Zhao
Tags: Environment, Film, Wetlands, Climate News, Movies

An international youth-led environmental news organization covering the work of the growing youth climate movement and more widely known environmental movement.

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Flavored Kesari
By: Unnamalai Babu
Tags: Recipe, Food

Kesari is a regular indian sweet. There is an unexpected guest at home, immediate no time sweet is kesari. This is my kids favorite sweet as well. We make it quite often for the evening snack.

Today there was very less ghee, so I thought what would we do and here is what we made three flavored kesari. It turned out to be fantastic and nothing left out :)

Each one choose their own favorite flavor. The recipe for you:

Rava — 1 1/2 cups dry roast till light brown

Sugar — 1 1/2 cups

Ghee — 3 tbsp

Oil — 3/4 cup

Vanilla essence — 1/4 tbsp

Pineapple essence — 1/4 tbsp

Rose essence — 1/4 tbsp

Red food color a pinch

Yellow food color a pinch

Green food color a pinch

Heat 1/4 cup of oil with 1 tbsp of Ghee in a pan. Add 1/2 cup of rava and fry

In another pan heat 1 cup of water add a pinch of red color and rose essence. When it starts to boil, add this to the rava that you are frying.

Stir without any lumps. add 1/2 cup of sugar. Cook till the sugar dissolves and the sweet gets rounded leaving the edges. grease a plate with ghee, transfer the sweet to this and cut it to your desired shape.

Repeat the procedure with yellow color and pineapple essence for the pineapple kesari. Use green and vanilla for the vanilla kesari.

Just a light variation for earh flavor, but then they taste different. Variety of sweets with just a little difference.

Surprise your loved ones with all the colors :)
Transformational Generation
By: Mark Karake
Tags: Startup Lessons, Culture, Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Africa

Transformational Generation

Pursuing mindset shift in Africa

Investors in Silicon Savanna will continue to struggle to find meaningful investment opportunities for some time to come.

Switching from an entrepreneurship-for-survival to an entrepreneurship-for-scale mindset takes time. How much time? That depends on the contributing conditions that go into changing minds. The thing is, people are loath to change their beliefs and will fight you tooth and nail to hang onto what is familiar even as they profess to desperately desire change.

The surest phenomenon one can count on for broad based mindset shift is generational change. Anything else produces shifty, unreliable, one-off results. The good news is over the next 10–20 years Africa will experience an unprecedented generational shift which provides the necessary conditions for an entirely new way of thinking to emerge on the continent.

But,

How can those of us who care ensure that this demographic transition is impregnated with the right thinking? How do we ensure the currently prevailing mindset does not seep into the emerging generation undermining it’s potential? Just because a new generation is coming on stage does not by itself guarantee a new mindset shall automagically accompany it.

At impactafrica.network we are taking nothing for granted and are working feverishly to ensure emerging entrepreneurs we work with along with the those in our venerated support network are constantly and continuously exposed to themes on transformational thinking.

Beyond assisting local founders and their teams build great companies our highest aspiration is through this work to catalyse an ecosystem culture characterised by high performance, high integrity, and high collaboration.

Out of the work we are doing we intend to develop a network of transformational leaders who will go on to manifest the change we have desired and deserved for so long in Africa.

Change a people, change the world!