fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The Day I Sang With Tiny Tim
By: Michelle Monet
Tags: Short Story, Memoir, This Happened To Me, Music, Books

So, I drove down to the small club in New York. Finding a parking spot was hellll, but finally I squeezed myself in to a space, put the $2 in quarters in the parking meter and found my way to the small downstairs club. I grabbed my Streisand wig out of the wig case in the back seat. I wasn’t about to wear it running through New York!

I got to the gig just in time.

Tiny Tim walked up to me immediately. He had the largest mouth and set of teeth I think I’d ever seen. He was nice enough though.

I noticed something funny. His tie had a big orange yellowish colored stain on it. Hmm was he eating ‘Cheetos’ or a hot dog with mustard before the show?

“‘”OOOO Hi there LOVE..YOu look gorgeeeous! Gotta goooo. I’m on… NOW!!”

He grabbed his small ukelele and ran on to the stage. Pranced might be a better word. haha

CMG Worldwide

While Tiny Tim was on stage doing his thing I was introduced to Tiny Tims wife Vicky. She was watching her husband lovingly who was now prancing wildly around the stage at that time.

She reached out her hand demurely. “I’m Miss Vicky. Tims other half (better half!) she grinned.

Before I could say much to her I heard someone yell,

“OK Michelle. You’ll be on in 5 minutes!”

“5 minutes? SHIT!”

I had no time to say goodbye or hello to Miss Vicky. I ran to the backstage dressing room which was only a dimly lit very small room with a mirror. I threw my wig on my head QUICK.

“OK! I’m readyyy!”

Me in my sturdy Streisand wig. 1996

I heard the final notes of Tiny Tims song…..’Tiiiiptoeee through the tuuuulipppps with meeEEEEeee” and then BAM! The light was on me!

I did my 20 minute set. People, Hello Dolly, The Way We Were, Second Hand Rose and Somewhere… My normal set of songs.

The audience was polite. Nothing out of the ordinary. But when I walked around the audience during the Hello Dolly song, and found an old geezer to sit down on, it seemed to liven up the demure crowd. (I always found one unsuspecting old guy to embarrass and rub his head while singing the lyrics… “Here’s my wrap fellas. Find me an empty lapfellas..Dolly you’ll never go awayy againn…”)
Writing — Evermore
By: John Tuttle
Tags: Homework, Writing, Essay, Poetry, Creativity

I feel I’m always writing

It seems that’s all I do now

Erasing, backspacing, underlining

Sometimes I wonder how

***

Or ask why too many times

In taking notes, writing essays,

Either in clarity or pantomimes

The art of homework never pays

***

And when it does

I’ll write about it too

It will be the town’s buzz,

The news no one knew.
How Self-Made are you, Really?
By: A Singular Story
Tags: Society, Culture, Philosophy, Entrepreneurship, Self

Society isn’t an abstract, we are it, together. Each of us is part of a greater organism, one with which we interact constantly and on which our every action has an impact. Anything we achieve, we never achieve alone; even inventors connect dots either borrowed from or handed to them by other people.

If there is no success without willpower, perseverance, and hard work, those are only some of the ingredients, never the whole recipe. Success is always the result of interconnection. When we create something from scratch, the skills that power our creativity come from somewhere, even when we are self-taught.

Even though I often say I taught myself yoga to explain why I yet have to attend an in-person class, I certainly didn’t manage it on my own. I started by reading a book by a science journalist that mixed research, personal experience, and no-nonsense advice. Afterward, I signed up for an app that made yoga accessible to me despite my reduced financial means; people made that app. If anything, it’d be more accurate to say that journalism, the Seattle public library system, and the internet taught me yoga; all I did was add sweat.

In the same vein, I’ve been rebuilding a life word by word since July 2018 but I was only able to do so thanks to the internet. All I provide is the bricks but those who do me the courtesy of reading and supporting my work are the ones who provide the mortar. Having a journalism background and being stubborn are only two of the many elements that make the formula work. It is people who inspire me to keep going with feedback, suggestions, and encouragement so the least I can do is give credit where credit is due.

Whether you’re a reader, an editor, an engineer, or a creative partner, you are the reason my writing takes on a life of its own the moment I publish it.

So why would I ever thank myself for any of this? Why would I ever be grateful for me without acknowledging my being able to do what I do is dependent on the help innumerable people give me? Why would I ever describe myself as self-made when I owe fellow humans absolutely everything? Lest we forget, there are no writers without readers; while anyone can write, it takes an audience to make us into writers.

What if instead of preaching the “cult of self” we put our heads and hearts together to eradicate individualism and replace it with solidarity so no one gets left behind? And perhaps even use the internet to incubate a new model of togetherness?

Until then, self-congratulation will remain the preserve of enormous egos whose greed continues to blind us to the truth: No one ever succeeds alone.
Tonight’s comic thought being creative was fun.
Tags: Humor, Deadlines, Writing, Comics, Creativity

But, unfortunately, deadlines are the only way anything gets done.

https://www.dieselsweeties.com/ics/925/
ARLECHINO se intoarce la origini!
Tags: Humor, Journalism, Trap, Arlechino, Music

in In Fitness And In Health
Feel The Fear But Write It Anyway
By: Jessica A
Tags: Writing Life, Writing, Living With Purpose, Creativity, Writing Tips

That thing you’re most afraid of, that thing you seek to hide or minimise, is probably what you were meant to do.

How do I know? I’ve been hiding for most of my life, and not always in a metaphorical way.

As a child, I’d disappear under the table or behind my sister when new people came to the house, and even as late as my twenties, I once spent an entire party concealed behind a bush at the bottom of the garden. No joke.

Later, my hiding became more nuanced: saying no to invitations, refusing a solo with my choir, stopping writing because I wasn’t “good enough”.

The surprising turning point came when—buoyed by wine—I spontaneously booked a week-long poetry-writing course. It was as awful as it was transformative. I developed insomnia, and when asked to read my work aloud I shook like a greyhound on a frosty morning. And yet, I felt more alive than I had in years and I improved exponentially.
Facebook’s Internal Tension on the War with Apple
By: M.G. Siegler
Tags: Apple, Tech, Facebook, Mobile, Busines

Craig Silverman and Ryan Mac reporting for BuzzFeed News on internal tension at Facebook about the current war of words (war of marketing?) between that company and Apple:

“Why can’t we make opt-in so compelling that people agree to do so,” one worker said. “I can think of a dozen ideas that might make people join. Why couldn’t FB create its own version of Prime for example, that gives you discounts on purchases?”

I find it interesting that there has been very little discussion about what Facebook could do to combat this beyond trying to make it so that Apple cannot do this. And that’s insane because regardless of what you think they should do, Apple can and is going to do this.

That doesn’t speak well to Facebook, obviously — that they think their only defense is to try to stop Apple from doing something they’re going to do. This question at least asks the question on the other side: is there anything Facebook could do if and when Apple does this?

In response to the discussion on his post, Levy said the campaign was “not about our business model.” “That’s Apple’s marketing working and convincing you to scapegoat us so they can decide how the internet should work — even beyond their devices,” he wrote. “I’m an optimist who works in technology because I think tech can be a lever for democratizing access and giving opportunity. Including for businesses. And if you think this is going to stop with personalized ads . . . well, then I disagree.”

Facebook’s employees, obviously, are not dumb. This is an answer that suggests management thinks that they are dumb. Again, Facebook really needs a better strategy here. The question is really how long it takes them to realize that…
What Can a Scorpion Parable Teach us About Hate?
By: Geraint Clarke
Tags: Society, Leadership, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Media

What Can a Scorpion Parable Teach us About Hate?

Observing vindictive behaviour

Photo by Danny Howe on Unsplash

There’s a famous parable called The Scorpion and the Frog. I’m sure we’ve all heard it, but I’ll very quickly summarize it to illustrate my point.

To cross the river a scorpion, unable to swim, asks a frog for help, but the frog is hesitant. He assumes the scorpion will kill him as soon as his back is turned, so the scorpion responds “Why would I kill you, if I did, we’ll both die?” Very sound reasoning indeed — so the frog agrees to help. Nobody is that stupid, surely? However, around halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog and they both die.

The story’s meaning is that vicious people can’t resist hurting others, even when it won’t benefit them. Something I’ve pondered for a long time whilst observing behaviour on social media.

Often, people go out of their way to inflict pain, cause uncertainty or build remorse towards others. They’re vicious with no benefit, no evidence and no personal vendetta to serve. They’re just vindictive.

When they need something, they’ll act like your best friend, but as soon as your back is turned, they’ll sting you in cold blood… Like the scorpion, it’s in their nature.
Video Marketing for Beginners
By: Tassia Agatowski
Tags: Marketing, Digital Marketing, Business, Video, Entrepreneurship

Type of Video

What do you want to achieve?

You need to know the purpose of your video and why you’re creating it before you start. This will help you determine what type of video to produce and what your messaging will be.

Here are some types of video to get your creativity flowing:

Tutorial

Demonstrating how your product works for those who might not know or showing them some other uses of the product.

Advertising

Broadcasting the benefits and features of your product with your product as the main focus of the video.

Vlog

A more informal, usually roughly scripted video of one (or a few) people speaking directly to the camera.

It’s also a good idea to interject your static video with some stock footage or text to break it up a bit more.

Presentation

Particularly good if you run regular events and have speakers making presentations — why not record them? That way, you have a lot of footage ready for you to repurpose beyond the event.

Behind-the-scenes

Give your audience a sneak peek of how you create your product, who your employees are, where you’re based, and how you work together. Humour always helps with these sorts of videos — they help remind your audience that you’re not just a brand, you’re people.

Interview

A one-to-one with someone relevant to your product or brand. Get your audience more engaged by asking them to submit questions for additional content for your video.

Webinar

Often a slide presentation on a specific topic, a webinar is something that your audience will have to pre-register for so they can watch it live, and you can also share the slides and recordings with them afterward.

Reviews and testimonials

As I’ve said before, feedback is gold dust.

And video feedback is gold dust with teeny tiny diamonds sprinkled in it.

Have your customers send in short videos of them singing your praises and put them into a longer video — showing exactly what you can do and why your customers love you.

Animation

I love animated videos — they really stand out in a sea of ‘human’ faces and real-life videos.

However, they need to be done well to stand out, otherwise, they’ll just look… well…crap.

This is something you need to invest in to get it done properly — if you do it yourself, it’ll show.

Livestream

Another video that’s great for events, companies, or even another format for interviews or tutorials and Q&A sessions.

Livestreams are great for getting your audience engaged with your content — they feed into the idea of FOMO (fear of missing out), and they generate a buzz around your content.
In Which I Stutter, Hesitate, And Backtrack
By: Mike Essig
Tags: Poetry, Audience, Writing, Creativity, Medium

So, although I am signed up for the Medium Partner Plan, I’ve decided not to participate, for now.

My motive is completely selfish. I want my humble words to be seen by as many people as possible, not just by a purchased audience. Even if they don’t like it, I still want to attempt to converse with all. If poetry isn’t for everyone, then who is it for?

I’m not so noble that I can’t be bought. Far from it. If any poet on Medium can come forward and tell me that he or she has made more than $200 a month on just poetry, I’ll reconsider.

I don’t believe that will happen. As much as I like applause (and money), I can’t imagine that much clapping for something most people don’t enjoy.

So for now, I’ll cast my words upon the waters and stick with voluntary PayPal contributions (see below). Readers have been generous. Perhaps they will continue to be. That’s good enough for me.

Mike
For publishers, the Facebook Freefall continues
By: Paul Dughi
Tags: Digital, Marketing, Engagement, Facebook, Social

Since January, the average amount of engagement brands and publishers are getting with Facebook posts has fallen 20% since the first of the year, according to Buzzsumo. After analyzing 880 million FB posts, Buzzsumo reports that image and link posts had the largest drop off.

Videos now get twice the level of engagement of other posts.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen this trend. Reach for brands and publishers has been on the decline for quite some time. A study by Social flow last year showed a 42% drop off.

“Back in the fourth quarter and through January, media companies were doing phenomenally well,” said Social Flow CEO Jim Anderson in 2016. “Then Facebook made a change to the algorithm.” In May, the publishers in the analysis produced around 550,000 posts — up from 470,000 in April — but overall reach from January to May was off 42% per post. “This is evidence, in part, of Facebook’s algorithmic change,” said Anderson.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always like to watch video on my phone — especially if I’m doing a quick look while waiting in line. Jordan Teicher Contently poses the question that if this video trend continues, will it force publishers to do video whetehr they want to or not? After all, they are using FB to get people to engage… the more engagement, the more your content is seen. If video is the way to get engagement, it only makes sense to do more of it.

Worth thinking about.
Stop Asking Me to Lower My Rates
By: James Williams
Tags: Work, Freelancing, Programming, Startup, Engineering

Stop Asking Me to Lower My Rates

5 reasons why lowering your rates doesn’t help you

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash.

Hourly rates are a horrible way to extract value. It’s just plain silly.

You buy software services to deliver value to your company. If you use automation software, your goal is to make operations more efficient or faster. API integration is a means to connect your business to another in order to exchange data. Somehow, this makes you money, increases business engagement, or grows your customer base.

How much are your customers worth to you? And if you are planning a software development initiative, ask yourself what the value is in dollars.

If you don’t know the value of what you are doing, a lower rate won’t help you. You’re just wasting money at a slower pace.

The simple truth is a proper partner will help you understand the value, and they will commit. Paying someone to do exactly what you want them to do is a low-value proposition because it commoditizes the efforts. You want the team you are working with to have skin in the game and deliver based on business value.

If you want to maximize the value when working with a software development partner, ditch hourly rates — end of story.

Here are the top five reasons why.
The Bad-Asses Of The Scientific Revolution
By: Allison J. Van Tilborgh
Tags: Religion, History, Society, Science, Philosophy

A Brief Summary

The Bad-Asses Of The Scientific Revolution

Bacon, Descartes, and Locke’s Philosophies Rocked Europe

At the tail end of the Baroque period in Europe, scientists and philosophers developed new ideas which challenged the conventional religious teachings of their time.

As Fiero points out (112), “The Scientific Revolution was not entirely sudden, nor were its foundations exclusively European.” In fact, the Scientific Revolution stretches amongst many generations, and deals not only in the academia of Science, but also shaped, and continues to shape, government policy.

Just as Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism had governed European people for hundreds of years prior, the Scientific Revolution introduces a “new form” of “religion” to dictate the actions of policymakers to come. This religion, what they claim to be secularism.

In secularism, men now saw their ability to shape their futures. They didn’t have to die of sickness, so long as created the right medicines. Quarrels didn’t have to escalate if they created the right policies (absent of moral/religious code, if need be). The character of men did not have to be tainted, so long as they were put ample surroundings.

Individualism skyrocketed and additional members of society now had a say. In this way, the themes of the Protestant Reformation continued to escalate.

In the arts, more women artists were successfully painting. In music, more secular ‘pleasurable’ music was being produced. Power in Europe was shifting westward with countries such as England, France and the Netherlands gaining influence over their religiously rooted Italian counterparts.

Likewise, new voices of reason arose in Western Europe. Most notable were Francis Bacon (1561–1626), René Descartes (1596–1650) and John Locke (1632–1704). Their writings addressed key questions on the nature of God, how truthful information is to be gathered, and the role of traditional practices relating to religion in their new society. The fundamental writings of these three men have continued to shape not only science but politics to this day.
5 Reasons Why You May Be Struggling to Stay Asleep at Night
By: Jaleel
Tags: Health, Personal Development, Self, Lifestyle, Science

One of my most favorite things to do is to get a good night of uninterrupted sleep. Recently, however, I’ve been restless and waking up several times before the morning.

In fact, I’m not alone. In 2008, the Journal of Psychiatric Research reported that 35.5 percent of Americans experienced sleep disturbances at least three nights a week. Today, the pandemic has exacerbated those numbers.

It’s no secret that sleep is critical in our overall health and success in life. Research shows that poor sleep has immediate negative effects on our hormones, exercise performance, and brain function.

However, it’s not as simple as the number of hours we spend sleeping. While it’s a good place to start, the quality of our sleep is just as, if not more, important.

A study published in Sleep Medicine looked at 1.1 million individual’s sleep patterns over a six-year course. They found that sleeping five hours a night could be better than sleeping eight if it’s quality sleep.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, quality sleep is characterized as:

Falling asleep in 30 minutes or less

Waking up no more than once per night

Drifting back to sleep within 20 minutes if you do wake up

If you ever find yourself struggling with any of this, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your sleep patterns. While some cases are caused by underlying conditions that require medical attention, it can also often be treated with simple lifestyle changes.

Here are five common reasons why you’re not sleeping through the night, and what you can do about them. Hopefully, by the end, you’ll realize that sleeping your way to success is the best course of action there is.
Deep Dive into React’s JSX
By: Tuhin Das
Tags: React, Programming, JavaScript, Development, Jsx

JSX is javascript syntax extension which is used to create react elements.

React and JSX both are independent. You can create a react application without using JSX and similarly, you can use JSX even in non-react applications. Though it is recommended to use JSX while developing a react application :

JSX is a syntactic sugar that helps in keeping your code more readable and clean.

React more efficiently reports errors and warnings within JSX.

Well, the above two points simply mean that JSX is a wrapper that helps us avoid writing a lot of code, and if you don’t use it you have to write all that complex code leads to less readability and more difficulty in debugging.

In the above two code snippets, a react component is created first using JSX and then using a non-JSX method and you can clearly see the difference.
How to Achieve Your Writing Goals
By: Ellie Daforge
Tags: Work, Writing, Goals, Creativity, Writing Tips

Don’t take rejection harshly.

One of the hardest things for new writers to understand is that rejection is just part of the game. It’s not personal at all.

Your work might be rejected because it’s not a good fit for the publication, the publication recently published a piece on the same topic, or your writing isn’t strong enough yet.

Learn to see rejection as an opportunity to improve, or to look for a place where your writing is a better fit.

The book Feeling Good by David D. Burns discusses how our thoughts have a significant impact on our feelings. If we have “all-or-nothing” thinking, such as “If I can’t get into this publication, I’m a terrible writer,” then we get easily discouraged. We forget that there are hundreds of other publications that will accept our work.
How to Walk Away From Problems You Can’t Fix
By: Sarah Lyall-Neal
Tags: Mental Health, Christianity, Serenity Prayer, Health, Decision Making

We’ve all heard the serenity prayer.

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can, and

wisdom to know the difference. -Reinhold Niebuhr

Unfortunately, many of us put ourselves through agony before taking our problems to God and asking him for help.

Today, I want to look at the last part of the prayer.

and wisdom to know the difference

Recently, a situation occurred within my family of origin and it seemed like everyone involved had a different idea for how to handle it. Having some professional insight into the legalities of the situation, I threw my hat in the ring and was surprised to find that no one seemed to care.

One evening after a particularly stressful phone call, I started processing (ranting about) the situation to my poor unassuming husband who had just lain down on the couch for a nap. He listened as a rambled for ten minutes before calmly telling me there were only three available options for moving forward.

He then pitched the options to me one at a time. I stood like a batter at the ready and knocked each option back to him with an emotionally-based reason why each suggestion couldn’t work.

The tell-tale signs you are in a no-win situation

I would love to say that my husband’s suggestions weren’t valid, but he was spot on with his analysis.

Most situations can be solved by taking one of two actions or walking away.

In my case, neither of the three options left me with a warm fuzzy feeling.

No matter which course of action I decided upon there would be consequences.

Letting go

I was at a crossroads. I could decide to keep spinning my wheels or I could admit that the situation was beyond my control and hand it over to God.

As human beings, we have a natural inclination to try to maintain control. This need for control can lead to pathological consequences.

Eating disorders provide a clear and concise example of pathological control, eating disorders often stem from a person’s feeling out of balance. Maybe their relationship is suffering or they have lost their job, they can’t control those things, but they can control their calories.

I was trying to maintain control of the situation by ruminating on the possible outcomes. In my mind, I thought if I mulled the situation over long enough the perfect solution would present itself. My husband helped me to take a step back and realize that I was in a no-win situation.

Let God

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28:

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

How is that for a promise? We don’t have to carry our burdens alone. We can hand them over to our savior and his will will be done.

Next time you find yourself in a situation similar to the one I have described, look at your options, is this a situation you can change or influence? If the answer isn’t clear, take time to pray and ask God for wisdom to know which course of action to take.
How to Implement Custom Font with UIFontPickerController in iOS 13
By: Amol Rai
Tags: Programming, Software Engineering, Software Development, Mobile App Development, iOS App Development

If you want to learn ARKit 3 from beginner to expert level then click here to get the course and also you will get 97% discount.

If you are passionate about learning mobile development for iOS and looking to take your iOS development skills to the next level, Core Data with CloudKit framework should be at the top of your list. Click here to get the course and also you will get 97% discount.

Learn SwiftUI from Scratch click here to get the course because in this course we are going to build many apps using SwiftUI such as Facebook clone, News app, Notes app and much more.
The Thief
By: Matthew Leo
Tags: Poetry, Writing, Life, Creativity, Poetry On Medium

The Thief

A Poetic Experiment with Imagery and Rhyme

Two eyes ponder about the town;

Two lips show a wicked frown.

An aroma reaches his nose from the east.

’Tis the smell of gold,” he says. “How sweet”.

He searched for his knife, not yet unbound,

And two more bodies sailed to the ground.

After taking their sight with silence and stealth,

He stopped for a moment, eyeing his wealth.

He then approached the door of the nearest home,

Made of logs and thicket and a roof-thatched dome.

With the smell of blood, and a throat of unquenched thirst,

He opened the door, not expecting the worst.

There a man stood, the look of ancient pride.

He stood in the doorway, an axe by his side.

The thief stepped back for a hasty retreat,

Then stopped in mid-stride, not accepting defeat.

The battle was heroic, and seemed very fierce.

The thief smote the man down, his eyes filled with tears.

He looked over him carefully, not leaving him for dead,

Walked over quietly, and neatly removed his head.

© 2020 Matthew Leo

If you enjoyed this poem, please click on the clappy hands at the bottom as many times as you feel it deserves. Please feel free to tweet, share on Facebook, Pinterest, or to whoever you think might enjoy it as well. Take care and Be well.

Your wordsmith,

Matt
For Tomorrow
Tags: Words, Writing, Future, Haiku, Poetry

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

Follow
Room of Our Own
By: Natalie Brown
Tags: Interview, Parenting, Writing, Home, Creativity

I discipline myself to write while the children are at school. There’s a cozy chair I keep by my bedroom window (it used to be my nursing chair when I had newborns), and I use it as a clean, distraction-free setting.

It was a different story when my four children were little — nap time was writing time, or when my spouse was home. However, the birth of child number four coincided with my oldest son’s diagnosis of an autism-spectrum disorder. There was too much going on in life, and I decided to step away and enjoy my youngest child and help my oldest without pressuring myself to write. I often had little projects — like writing book reviews, keeping a family journal/blog — to keep my hand in until the youngest one went to kindergarten.

Always, regardless of whether the kids are home or not, the biggest obstacle isn’t the availability of time, it’s disciplining myself to take advantage of opportunities to write — to make it a priority — and to make it a daily practice, even if it’s brief. It’s better to sit down to write for 30 minutes every day instead of waiting for the magical 2-hour block to come along. Your mind spends more time thinking about the project that way, leading to new ideas.

It’s also been necessary to give up on plans to keep a picture-perfect house. The priorities are: kids’ needs, spouse’s needs, the book. House cleaning comes somewhere after “taking a shower.” Concrete goals also help: it’s better to say “I’m going to write 1500 words every day” than “I’m going to write a whole book sometime.”

Since I started writing seriously again, I’ve found that I miss spending time with other parents during the day, participating in playdates and lunches out with friends. I’ve come to realize that I need to make more of an effort to socialize on weekends with other adults besides my husband.

I’ve essentially hired myself to work a half-time job during the day, and I feel the pressure when I am called to do something else with my time (yesterday, for example, writing time was cancelled for children’s dental appointments, followed by a round of parent-teacher conferences). It really feels like I have to take a day off work for those kind of events, and it’s surprisingly frustrating.

I’ll admit it’s difficult to keep this up in summer when the kids are out of school. I just want to enjoy my time with them without feeling frustrated that they are stopping me from writing. Writing shouldn’t lead to resentment towards the rest of my family. They are a means to their own end, not an obstacle preventing me from my own “real” life. But having space to create also makes me a happier parent, so it’s about finding balance, I suppose.

— Brooke Shirts
It feels so amazing when we are highlighted in peer writer’s stories!
By: Aimée Gramblin
Tags: Ideas, Reading, Writing, Life, Creativity

It feels so amazing when we are highlighted in peer writer’s stories! Today, I woke up to being highlighted by one of my favorite Medium writers, Elan Cassandra. While I follow some of the writers she highlights, I don’t know the majority of them. I’ll be reading through all the stories today.

I’ve found this type of feature story is a much better way of finding writers to follow than by following the platform algorithm.

Consider writing your own piece/s like this. Word of mouth is still a wonderful tool to utilize.

For some amazing stories from writers to read now, check out Elan’s story below.
Reconstruct Photorealistic Scenes from Tourists’ Public Photos on the Internet!
By: Louis, What S Ai
Tags: Image Processing, Image Synthesis, Photography, Computer Vision, Deep Learning

How have they achieved that?

This is done with a two-stage model’s architecture.

Image from https://research.cs.cornell.edu/crowdplenoptic/templates/comparison_i2i.html

At first, they use their new DeepMPI representation. They start by reprojecting every image to the reference viewpoint and averaging all these reprojected images at each depth plane, thus creating a mean RGB plane sweep volume (PSV), which is a set of views warped with disparities in a given range. Since this mean RGB PSV cannot accurately model a scene content that is obstructed in a reference view, they introduced this second phase of their network.

This second part optimizes the latent features in their DeepMPI representation using an encoder and a rendering network. It is able to capture and re-render time-varying appearance.

The encoder’s role is to produce an “appearance vector” from an exemplar image and an auxiliary deep buffer, containing semantic and depth information of the scene. The deep buffer allows the encoder to learn complex appearance by aligning the illumination information in the exemplar image using the scene intrinsic properties encoded in the DeepMPI representation. Without this alignment, the results would be as inconsistent as the previous work we’ve seen. This aligned deep buffer is the main reason for the realistic shadows and lighting in the rendered scenes.

Image from https://research.cs.cornell.edu/crowdplenoptic/templates/comparison_i2i.html

Then, the rendering network, represented by G in this model’s architecture takes both the DeepMPI projected to a specific target viewpoint and its appearance vector, produced from the encoder, and predicts the corresponding RGB color layers.

Taken from AdaIN’s results https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.06868

This rendering network is a variant of a U-Net architecture with an encoder-decoder architecture called AdaIN, used for style transfer applications. This model produces a natural scene appearance while stabilizing the training.

Preserving the color and style of the exemplar images.

I linked the AdaIN’s architecture paper at the end of this article for more information.
Global map of access to cities published by Nature.
By: Camellia Williams
Tags: Big Data, Sustainable Development, Maps, Design, Data Visualization

“We’ve made huge technological advancements since 2008,” said David González, Vizzuality’s founder and Chief Technology Officer. “We have more information than ever before from satellites, and crowdsourcing via projects like OpenStreetMap has allowed us to tap into our ‘collective intelligence’. Cloud computing and big data allow us to process all this data in greater resolution and put it at the fingertips of anyone who wants to use.”

Mapping accessibility data allows us to understand a number of factors associated with human wellbeing and development, such as the likelihood that people will seek medical care when they are ill, or what level of education they are likely to attain. It can also help us predict food security and inform decisions that contribute to the worldwide effort to eliminate malaria.

For example, the University of Oxford uses access to cities as a variable in its estimates of the impact of malaria on national economies, mortality and morbidity. This information, together with maps of the spatial distribution of malaria, is relied upon by the World Health Organisation and other institutions to identify areas where bed nets and antimalarial drugs need to be distributed.

“Design too has had an important role in the evolution of data visualisations since the original accessibility map was created,” said Sergio Estella, Vizzuality’s founder and Chief Design Officer. “Infographics are now interactive and users can customise what they see. Design helps people do this by making information more digestible and prioritising the data that will draw users in. Cartography is more accessible than ever before and you no longer need to be GIS specialist or software engineer to access tools that help you visualise data in engaging ways.”

Developments in design and technology have helped us put unmapped places on the map. Roads that were ‘missing’ from the 2008 map are now included, which means the people who use them are also accounted for. Advances in satellite technology and data processing means we can spot roads as they appear, and monitor deforestation, in almost real-time.

With each improvement we make to the collection, analysis and visualisation of data, we open up new opportunities to use our resources more efficiently. This map of global access to cities could help us ensure economic development balances the environmental costs it often occurs, and help direct us to a future that is equitable for all.

Explore the map for yourself here.
Using GCP AI Platform Notebooks as Reproducible Data Science Environments
By: Edward Krueger
Tags: Python, Editors Pick, Jupyter Notebook, Data Science, Software Development

In this article, we will cover how to set up a cloud computing instance to run Python with or without Jupyter Notebook. Then we show how to connect that instance to Github for a smooth cloud workflow.

We utilize cloud computing instances to get flexible Python and Jupyter environments while maintaining the reproducibility of enterprise data science platforms.

These AI platform notebooks come configured with many data science and analytics packages, including NumPy, Pandas, Scikit-learn and TensorFlow. Typically, we would discourage the use of bloated virtual machines. However, package bloat on our analytics machine isn’t as much of a problem because we only save the result (model, data, report) for later use. Needing only this result and the few packages needed to run our model allows us to disregard the numerous packages on the VM.

For example, in this Medium article, we push an NLP mode to the cloud without having to worry about dependencies.

Note that AI platform notebooks have all of the client packages for GCP services installed and are already authenticated to allow easy access to anything within the same GCP project. Additionally, this platform gives us not just access to Jupyter Notebooks, but also a Python console and a CLI where we can run BASH commands.

Getting a GCP account

Google’s AI Platform Notebooks offer a JupyterLab and Python environment for data scientists and machine learning developers to experiment, develop, and deploy models into production. Users can create instances running JupyterLab that come pre-installed with common packages.

Before we can set up an AI Platform Notebook, we will have to set up an account and billing, don’t worry new users get $300 in free credits!

Visit GCP AI Platform and click ‘go to console.’

Be sure to click ‘Enable API’ below to access notebooks.

Enable API

Once we have billing set up, we can start a project.

Starting up your first GCP AI Platform Notebook Instance

Now we need to select the hardware we want our virtual machine to run on. Be sure to set up the cheapest machine possible if you are testing this out!

Once we have the API enabled, the popup selections will change to those seen below, click ‘Go to instances page’ to get started.

Click GO TO INSTANCES PAGE

The instances page might have you select ‘Enable API’ another time, be sure to do so. Then click on the ‘New Instance’ button and select ‘Python 2 and 3.’
Magic Mirror on the Wall,
By: Vincent Le
Tags: AWS, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Summer Internships, Identity Management

Oh blessed be this day, this faithful day, that we can all join in arms to celebrate the coming and passing of the day we adore, and dread, most: Presentations. Brothers, sisters, and all of those who care to lend an ear, please do so, as in this moment of solidarity we stand in utter awe.

In all seriousness, this blog post will not be like most others. There will not be progress report. There will not be a part five. There will not be a continuation.

But that does not mean this is the end! This blog post merely marks the end of one journey and the start of another. Our time here in security was short, but the knowledge we gained was vast, and we hope to share our heartfelt story with anyone who chooses to read this post.

So valued reader, from the four of us at Team Snow White: Aaron Murray, Hana Ra, Jeremy Ho, and Vincent Le, we graciously thank you for sticking around for this wild ride. Many tears were shed, much blood was lost, but we persevered through it all. We hope you enjoy our final installment of Team Snow White’s blogs, see you around.
Rainwater
By: Anisa Nasir
Tags: Short Story, Writing, Short Fiction, Creativity, Creative Writing

Rainwater

A short fiction piece about a writer’s journey to truth and revelation.

Photo by Filip Zrnzević on Unsplash

It was a morning she’d remember for the rest of her life. As the kettle whistled in her kitchen, the prose bleeding through the pages scattered across her writing desk, she longed for another story to feed her her fascinations. She gazed out of the cottage window, watching silently as the rain doused the wooden porch, wondering why she sought out such a place.

She wanted a moment of silence, a moment to explore all of the unuttered truth that settled beneath her skin. Sipping her tea lightly, running her fingers along the chipped rim of the ceramic mug, she began to write once more. It had been a long time she felt the kind of raw impulse to tell a story long forgotten, by everyone but herself.

The words fell from her lips with ease, finding their way to the page, and she knew she finally had the chance she had been looking for. She had a chance to stop running, to stop wondering whether she did the right thing by leaving, so that she may give into a story that would uproot everything she’s ever known.

She stopped for a moment, the sudden clang of the open window shutter startling her, as the curtains blustered about. She inched closer, trying to shut it, but it would not close. The rain drenched her as she struggled, until she finally let it go. She let the rain in, as her hair stuck to her head wet, as her eyelashes caught raindrops, and therein, she let herself feel for the first time in a long time.

She managed to quench a lifelong thirst, to see the world anew, and to write of the things that mattered the most. She began again, feeling the rain on her skin, not worrying about the wet pages that spread ink like wildfire.

It was now that she understood the true nature of her words and the downpour of all that was to come.
Follow Your Spidey Sense: Use Intuition as a Creative Compass
By: Corey Mccomb
Tags: Life Lessons, Writing, Self, Creativity, Writing Tips

In the early 1960’s, a comic book writer named Stan Lee was asked to create a new series of superheroes for a small publisher called Timely Comics. Stan was inspired by the writings of Sir Conan Arthur Doyle and Jules Verne and wanted to break the mold of the standard American superhero. Within his first five years, Lee created The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, X-Men, and Iron Man. Timely Comics soon became Marvel, and the small comic publisher grew into a billion-dollar media behemoth. One of Stan’s most beloved characters, however, almost never saw the light of day.

It was still the early days of Marvel and Stan was sitting at his kitchen table trying to think up a new super-hero. He saw a fly crawling up the wall and thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was a hero who could crawl up walls? “Fly-Man?” he mumbled to himself. No, that wouldn’t work. “Insect-Man?” Stan went down the list of possible creatures until landing on the one you already know.

“That’s it,” he said. “I’ll call him Spider-Man.”

Stan wanted Spider-Man to be different. First, he wanted him to be a teenager. He wanted a teenage hero dealing with teenage problems. Stan was born in 1921 to Romanian immigrants during the Great Depression and knew what it felt like to be poor and out-of-place. He wanted Spider-Man to be the relatable hero that young readers with the same issues could look up to.

So, Stan wrote Spider-Man a backstory, gave him some superpowers, and ran to tell his publisher. Here’s what the publisher had to say:

“Stan, that is the worst idea I have ever heard. First of all, people hate spiders, so you can’t call a hero Spider-Man. You want him to be a teenager? Teenagers can only be sidekicks. You want him to have personal problems? Stan, don’t you know what a superhero is? They don’t have personal problems.”

Stan had no choice but to listen and agree, but he couldn’t get Spider-Man out of his head. This all happened while Marvel was putting out a comic called, Amazing Fantasy, which was a weekly collection of random stories by various creators. The series never took off, and when Stan heard it was slated for cancellation, he saw it as an opportunity. Stan wanted to get Spider-Man out of his head and into the world. Begrudgingly, his publisher agreed to give Spider-Man a few pages in the final issue.
What to do When You Can’t Decide What to Write
By: Cheney Meaghan
Tags: Advice, Inspiration, Writing, Creativity, Writing Tips

Lately, I’ve been having a problem every day of deciding what to write.

Not because I have writer’s block, but because I feel like I have too many ideas and can’t decide which one to work on.

This is just with Medium, not counting how hard it is for me to decide which fiction project to work on when I make the time for it, which is part of the reason why I never finish anything.

Le sigh.

Luckily, I have found a few ways to figure out what to write on those WTF? days, because otherwise, I might be totally stuck!

Write what’s inspiring you the most right now.

The most obvious thing to do is to write what you are feeling inspired by at the moment.

Parenting, education, relationships, sex, money, Trump — we all have deep thoughts about something right now, so that could be the exact thing you need to get out of your system and share with the world.

This sort of writing, when you are most inspired, is often also the best, because it comes right from the heart.

Inspired writing leads to authentic writing, and nothing is better than that.

Write something random from your idea list.

If not in your Medium drafts folder, you should have a list somewhere of post ideas for times when you are feeling stuck.

I have about twenty post ideas handy for me right now, and that list is dwindling because I’ve been using them up lately faster than I have been writing new ones down.

Having a list of 20 to 40 post ideas to look at is going to make you see that you do actually have something to write about.

You have lots of somethings to write about, you just need to pick one.

When at a loss, pick at random.

Scroll around, close your eyes, and stick your finger (gently) on the screen. Write whatever’s under it. See what happens.

Ask someone else what you should write.

This is often my last resort when I can decide what to write, but it’s also the most fun way that I get an idea I’m inspired to write about.

I’ll either ask a friend to pick from a number of ideas for me, or I will throw out the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ question and just ask them:

What do you think I should write about today?

Those are the days I get the best ideas, like when I wrote about getting struck by lightning or when I did my first big post that was a collection of quotes from writers.

You never know what a friend will bust out with when you ask them what to write, and their ideas could be gems, so don’t count them out for help even if they aren’t writers, too.

When in doubt, write about writing.

If you really can’t figure out what to write about, write about that.

Being unable to come up with an idea is no excuse, to me, not to write something.

You can write about how you don’t know what to write about.

You can write about how that makes you feel, and how hard you’re going to work to never feel that way again.

So, get your list of post ideas ready, and have a friend on standby to shoot out some whacky ideas when you need them.

Because eventually, you’ll definitely need them.