fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
In defence of Bird of the Year
By: Sophie Fern
Tags: Birds, New Zealand

Every year I hear grumbling on social media about Bird of the Year, and apologies from those running the accounts for spamming everyone’s feed with over-the-top bird enthusiasm. But, I reckon that the Bird of the Year is so incredibly important, and this is why:

For context, I’m currently studying non-human charisma (the it-factor of nature) and whether, in New Zealand, we put more money, time and effort into conserving the critters and plants that we find charismatic over the ones that we don’t. When I tell professional conservationists what I’m looking at they say something along the lines of “duh, of course we do.” But doing a research project allows you the time and space to unpick a problem and look at it from many angles. And this is what I’m doing.

My first job was to define the problem. What do we find to be charismatic about nature? What are the things that make up that attractive it-factor? I read an awful lot of research papers, and my favourite category is the importance that a particular critter or plant has to people. In fact, the importance to the community is one of the factors that DOC use in prioritising conservation effort. But the definition of public here is that we don’t have specialist knowledge about a subject. Some of our birds are so endangered and their populations are at such low levels or on offshore islands that the public isn’t likely to bump into them and learn about them in-person. So, everything that we know about them will come from the media or social media.

And this is where Bird of the Year comes in, with all its enthusiasm and all its noise. The whole point of the campaign is to make the community aware the huge variety of birds in Aotearoa, in the hope that there will then be support for their conservation. Who, before the amazing campaign the ConSERT team at Canterbury University ran two years ago, knew anything about the kakī or black stilt? Who could, without looking it up, could say how many species of kiwi we have? Was the last time you heard about the kakaruia, the Chatham Island black robin, when you were reading the “Old Blue” book to your kids?

The hope is that Bird of the Year will move these birds onto or up the public radar, and they will therefore become newsworthy. We will hopefully then be able to read how the kakī breeding season is going in the newspapers, and get excited for a chance to see a real life tūturuatu (shore plover) or tawaki (Fiordland crested penguin) on our summer break. The hope is that these birds become part of the public’s consciousness so, should anything threaten their populations, we will care and not allow it to happen.

Bird of the Year is two weeks a year, but if it’s too much, do, please, mute us. I admit that we’re noisy. The birds can be too! But, also, go and find out about Kaikōura tītī or mōhua or mātātā, how their population is looking and how you can help to make sure that we conserve all of the birds for generations to come.
Turning Your Customer Persona into Customer Needs That Fuel Your Marketing
By: Ginger Zumaeta
Tags: Evergreen, Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy, Template

By now, you’ve heard of or read of the importance of building a customer persona. It’ an essential tool in your strategic marketing toolset. A customer personas is the north start to help you stay on course to deliver extraordinary customer value. If you haven’t built yours yet, here’s a free template to help you do that.

But building a customer persona is different than applying it to help you get more customers. The next thing you want to do after you’ve created your persona is . . .

Extract from your customer persona the two to three core customer needs that your customer is really looking to meet. (tweet this)

Here’s what you need to know. Those real customer needs are the hardest ones to measure. That’s because they are psychological needs — like assurance, simplicity, empowerment, pragmatism, etc. Things like agility, clarity, and momentum. Or even things like community, connection, and access. We’ve got a whole list of customer needs if you need a prompt.

The reason you need to identify these core customer needs is that they will plug into your core brand story. Customer needs should be at the heart of virtually every communication you have with your customers, whether it’s in the form of a proposal, an email, your website copy, etc. Why? Because customers actively seek solutions to their needs — their real customer needs. But if your messaging isn’t conveying what they’re listening for, they’ll never know that your product or service is THE solution they’re looking for.

Let’s take an example, straight from one of our new clients, GoatScore. When we first started working with them, I was confounded. First, GoatScore is a service in the DFS space (daily fantasy sports) that analyzes players’ historical play to find opportunities to improve their skill level . . . are you following me? I had no idea what they did. However, as we worked with them building out their strategy we uncovered an essential story:

Daily fantasy sports is electrifying — when you win. But it’s also hard (requiring significant skill and time) — and losing gets old fast. GOAT analyzes and rates your play and matches you with players at your skill level — so you can win, have more fun and get better over time.

The needs we realized that customers were looking to satisfy were simplicity, guidance and context. And, after some inexpensive message testing that we did on Facebook, it shouldn’t be a surprise the simplicity messaging won hands down. It was the answer that was sitting there in front of us all along. Playing, and more importantly winning fantasy sports, is complicated! Simplifying the process for players is something they have already been looking for on their own. When we started advertising with messages that promised to simplify the process, they were a hit and we saw it in clickthroughs and conversions.

So, here’s your assignment. Once you’ve completed your personas, ask yourself, what are their core customer needs, and how will you craft your marketing to satisfy those needs?
This week in #Scala (Dec 21, 2020)
By: Petr Zapletal
Tags: Akka, Scala, Functional Programming, Thisweekinscala, Scala 3

This week in #Scala (Dec 21, 2020)

Welcome to the new edition of #ThisWeekInScala!

This blog aims to keep you up to date with the latest news from the world of Scala and Reactive programming.

It has been a week since the previous #ThisWeekInScala so let’s catch up on the latest Scala & Reactive happenings…

New Content

Releases

sbt 1.4.5 released

Scalatra 2.7.1 released

Figlet4s v0.2.0 released

New wire-signals is out

scalajs-react 1.7.7 available

In case you are looking for new challenges, pay attention, because Disney Streaming Services is hiring!
A Midnight Lightbulb: How Sleepless Nights With the Baby Transformed Me for Good
By: Deborah Mcnamara
Tags: Life Lessons, Personal Growth, Motherhood, Love, Parenting

A Midnight Lightbulb

“The wires in my brain aren’t functioning properly,” I remember telling my partner. I’d been so exhausted. At times I’d worried that I was “losing it.” And yet somehow, being tired allowed for an opening of my perspective. Even though I’d been worried about the effects, the period of tiredness had helped me to distill one of the most important things in life: that love could shine through, no matter what. It wasn’t easy to arrive at that understanding.

Sleeplessness was a recurring theme during those early years. Rest was scant and those nights awake often brought me closest to my limits. Daytime was

one thing. I pared things down and kept life as simple as possible. It was easier to focus on practicing loving the simple joys of each day, letting love shine through a sleepy fog. But what about in the dead of night? How could I love even when I was at my limit of what felt possible? Could love shine through even when I was exhausted in the middle of the night?

One of my mantras had become “practice bell equals baby crying.” The idea of such a “practice bell” was spawned by reading Buddhist meditation teacher Lama Surya Das’s book Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be. In his book, Das suggests choosing a recurring sound throughout your days and designating it a “practice bell” in order to cultivate moments of greater mindfulness. This seemed like a perfectly valuable exercise during the daytime, but when 3 am was tolling? That was a different story. Being awake with a crying baby at 3 am generally ushered me into a bad mood, and the notion of “practice bells” seemed ridiculous. I just wanted to sleep. And yet my baby’s sweet confusion at my bad mood could still break my heart. I’d leave the room after helping him to sleep, realizing that his middle of the night cry was indeed a “practice bell” mirror for where I choose to shut down. His crying showed me that my reserves of compassionate loving had had enough and were morphing into an edgy restlessness.

One night, a middle of the night lightbulb went on. I’d been reflecting on the “practice bell” that being awake in the middle of the night with a crying baby offered. I’d wanted to practice a loving response when the practice bell of baby crying sounded. But I couldn’t seem to muster myself together. I’d just

wanted a break. The inner lightbulb however helped me to see that the only break I actually needed was from the parts of myself that resisted staying with

any given moment that was arising, particularly when those moments were profoundly challenging. The “break” needed was actually from the parts of myself not yet integrated and fully accepted — like the part that wanted to toss myself out the window when I can’t go to sleep and am at my wit's end. This part of myself was completely devoid of patience. It is the part of me that gets easily fed up or the part of me that reaches a boundary or personal limit and can’t feel a way out.
Risk Your Comfort in a World of True Crime and Real Life Crime Fiction
By: Don Simkovich
Tags: True Crime, Police, Fiction, About, Drugs

Most true crime stories we’ll dig into are contemporary reports of cartels and criminals dealing cocaine and other illicit drugs. They’ll come from our research and interviews from Lon Casler Bixby and me, Don Simkovich, MA, as we continue writing our detective and crime thriller novels in the Detective Tom Stone crime stories.

photo via Unsplash.com

Detective Tom Stone is a real-life family guy, a dad to teen girls. He befriends a boy in a foster-care group home when we’re introduced to him in the first novel Tom Stone: A Nitty Gritty Christmas.

In the first few stories we see Tom Stone and his partner Jake Sharpe on the tail of Anthony Angelino, the wanna-be drug lord who goes from transporting cocaine in vending machines to opening a marijuana dispensary and crossing the mob in Tom Stone: Sweltering Summer Nights and Tom Stone: Day of the Dead.

The mob moves in and by the fourth novel, Tom Stone: One Shot, One Kill an ugly crime wave swarms Los Angeles as a drug cartel battles for prominence when a sniper takes revenge on the city’s wealthy who are financing the flow of drugs.

Thriller novel cover Tom Stone: Day of the Dead, photo by Lon Casler Bixby

We’re now on our 5th novel — which is currently unnamed, but we’ve become fascinated by the power and ingenuity of the drug cartels transporting illicit drugs from South America and Asia.

Check back for new stories at least once weekly. You’ll be amazed at what criminals will do to make a buck, but you’ll also be glad there are good people risking their lives to stop them.
Jammu University
By: Pip India
Tags: Jammu University, Kashmir University, Lingayas University, Education

AP Teachers Training Institute’s Nursery teachers training course trains teachers who aims to be successful preschool teachers and facilitate learning of young minds. All methodologies of teaching young kids required for social, cognitive and physical development of children are included in the Nursery Teachers Training Course. This course will enable teachers to learn our various methodologies, child psychology, cognitive development in kids, instructional strategies and also classroom management. This NTT Course is of international standard and teaches candidates all modern methodologies and techniques of teaching in a class. All our candidates will be assisted by a tutor through mail, chat and phone.

The Nursery Teachers Training course by APTTI is divided into 3 levels.

The certificate course in Nursery teachers training is divided into 8 modules. Important elements of student handling from approaches to importance of play and methodologies are included in the course curriculum.

In the diploma in Nursery Teachers Training course, the teachers would be taught various methods of students handling, ways of planning a lesson and a curriculum and also demonstration of how to create a lesson will also be given.

Post graduate diploma in Nursery Teachers Training is a most advanced course which enables facilitators in a best way possible. The project planning and lesson planning, which is included in the PG Diploma course gives teachers extra confidence in student handling.

Pacific Institute of Education the one of the best institute in Delhi which is offered a chance to Complete his Graduation and post Graduation without disturbing your professional life for more details please contact us Follow the Link Below :-
Patience — The key ingredient of success!
By: Aishwarya Kallimani
Tags: Life Lessons, Success, Patience

You might not believe in the truth of the below image now. But, at the end of this article you might become a staunch believer of this fact!

All of you here, on Medium, must have read humongous amounts of articles that narrate about the key factors that play a role in one’s success. Well, I have read them all too. But, they did not help much. They just turned monotonous and unappealing to me over a period of time. Basically, creating zero impact on me and sometimes I even experienced lack of motivation to read them:P

I think articles could create an impact when narrated using a real life incident(making you believe “IT CAN HAPPEN”), not simply words of deep philosophy. So yeah, such articles could help, but the best ones are the ones that come from the author called “Experience”. Experience teaches you things in an unforgettable way!

My recent experience at work has been around “Patience”, as you might have guessed it already :) FYI : I am a pretty impatient person. I get annoyed easily, if things don’t work my way. Thus, staying mad at someone/thing or the other for the rest of the day :(

Somehow, there came a day when I decided to chill :D That day I had quite some work to be done at office, but before that, I had to get some issues fixed with my machine. In such a situation, I knew I was going to miss one of my meetings. The “older me” would have freaked out and messed up the whole day. But, “NO”, that day asked for a change. I spent almost half of my morning fixing the issue (with loads of patience, of course!). And, Hurrah! came out of it successfully. Felt peaceful at heart too ..

This must not be a big deal for most of you. But, if we look at this from a different perspective, patience is helpful in others scenarios as well. For Eg. The quality of patience keeps you calm and prevents you from taking hasty decisions. No hasty decisions, meaning you wouldn’t take up decisions like giving up in the beginning itself. If you do not give up in the initial phase and still have patience with the task at hand, there is a chance that you might try working out the problem in a different way, which might or rather usually helps. In other words, you become “Resilient”. A resilient person is one who experiences defeat but still manages to get up and get going.(I believe you can do this, only if you have patience!).

When you have patience and resilience by your side, that automatically means you have imbibed the qualities of hard work and sincerity. Simple isn’t it :D

Thus, this is just a realization that struck me so hard that, I felt like sharing it with the guys on “Medium”.Also, this is my first article here, I am new to Medium :). It feels good to write :)

P.S : I am yet to incorporate the quality of patience in my life completely. Any tips would be encouraged :)
The Tree Of Life
By: Mark Farrar
Tags: Short Story, Evolution, Fiction, Racism, Flash Fiction

The Tree of Life began, as all trees do, with a single seed.

Years passed before anybody even realized it was a tree because it resembled the weeds surrounding it.

Over time, it grew not only taller but broader too. Then, one magical year, the first leaf sprouted on otherwise bare branches.

That leaf was green, and over the following years, it was joined by many others — all green too.

But were they? Wasn’t that leaf at the top a slightly different shade?

While the plants nearby withered and died, the tree continued growing — more girth, greater height, and with an ever-increasing variety of hues.

The greens were still present, but they were accompanied by browns and reds and yellows and oranges, and so much more.

Whole generations of people came and went. Some argued that the leaves were red, while others claimed they were yellow. They fought over who was right, not realizing that they were too close to it.

They were all correct — because this Tree of Life was so vast now that you needed to stand a long way away to appreciate its full spectrum of rainbow colours.
The People Behind the Astronauts
By: Jake Cutter
Tags: NASA, Space, Astronauts, Engineering, Spacex

We have all seen the videos of astronauts floating in space or walking on the moon. But behind the daring adventures in space, there are thousands of people working around the clock to make sure the mission is a success. Mission control, engineers, training staff of all aspects, and the thousands of manufacturers that create rockets like the BFR and SpaceX’s newest rocket Starship.

Mission control is responsible for the constant safety of the astronauts. They make standard operating procedures for events that could be unexpected such as a fire on the space station or trouble with the rocket on its way or on its descent. It's split into two different sections: flight control and ground team (NASA). The two teams build procedures for common occurrences and mission-specific guidelines (NASA). Along with mission control in TX, the Russian’s have a mission control room in Korolev, just outside Moscow (NASA). Most importantly, nasa.gov says, “Mission Control is the visible part, but it’s less than 1 percent of the support team. We’re just the tip of the iceberg.”

The engineers and manufacturers, not only at NASA but across the world apply their technical knowledge to be able to make the miracle missions come to fruition. They make parts for the rockets that are so specific and flush that they won’t spark during a launch sequence. They built the mars rover and moon lander and machined the astronaut's ability to walk on the moon. Without their help, it just wouldn’t get done.

“We’re developing cutting-edge technologies in alternative propulsion and supersonic flight to transform the future of aviation, right here on Earth.” — NASA

SpaceX Starship is looking to carry cargo and people eventually to multi-planetary missions (SpaceX). Starship has 37 raptor engines and 6 landing legs. I will leave a link below for a raptor engine test. The amount of testing, prototyping, and rebuilding just to get qualified to fly cargo was strenuous. This was done thanks to the craftsmanship of the machiners and the engineering design department.

References:
Saiku 3.1.1 EE is released
By: Meteorite Bi
Tags: Mongodb, Mondrian, Business Intelligence

So its been a while, and a lot of hard work, changing of minds and late nights, but Saiku 3.1.1 EE has been released.

This release has the usual tweaks and changes from our CE product, including fixes to the PDF export, performance improvements, enhanced webdav support, parameter population from the URL and more but it also has two large improvements over our last EE release.

Firstly we have much improved MongoDB support. More logic is pushed down to MongoDB to improve performance whilst still retaining the caching properties that make Mondrian lightning quick over repeated queries.

Mapping Mongo fields to table columns is carried out through our web interface and once you save the schema to Saiku you can then use it to connect to your data source.

Secondly, we have shipped a beta release of our Saiku Schema Designer, the only Mondrian 4 specific schema designer on the market. This is a first release and it is missing a few bits and pieces, but its very functional and allows users to quickly and easily create Mondrian 4 schema without knowing how to write code. We understand that the switch from Mondrian 3 to Mondrian 4 can be a bit of a headache as so much has changed, but we want to make life as easy as possible, so the Saiku Schema Designer allows you to create your schema without touching a text editor. Whats more is once you have designed your schema you can then export it to an XML file so you can manually inspect it or edit it further. This feature is beta so if you hit bugs please file a report.

Documentation is available at http://wiki.meteorite.bi and we shall be rolling out some tutorial videos over the next few days so stay tuned.

Lastly what is great about combining these two new features is finally you can use Saiku end to end without using a text editor(unless you really want to). Mongo users can now create their mapping data source and a Mondrian schema all from within the user interface, which is a great step forward for the Saiku platform. We will be doing further releases over the next few months to improve our Mongo and Schema support still further and introduce our new Dashboard designer. But in the mean time, go grab a copy of Saiku 3.1.1 EE from the portal and take it for a spin!
Response to Coincheck Hack
Tags: Announcements, Cryptocurrency, Nem, Blockchain Technology, Blockchain

Time Machine Series

Jason Lee, Australasia’s Director of Partnerships and Strategic Alliances at the NEM.io Foundation, told Kyodo News in a phone interview that on Saturday (27th Jan 2018), just hours after the hacking attack, the Coincheck team was in contact with the NEM team.

Roughly 58 billion yen ($532 million) in NEM was stolen from Coincheck on Friday, marking the largest ever loss of cryptocurrency to hackers.

Within 24 to 48 hours, the NEM team had developed a solution by tagging the stolen cryptocurrency as tainted funds, making them easy to verify if withdrawn from or deposited to regulated trading platforms. That, Lee said from Hong Kong, “would allow us to potentially identify the hackers.” However he conceded that “at this moment we don’t know where they are.”

We’re hoping that the hackers will eventually return the money.” “We have done what we could from the NEM foundation’s side…so the only way we can track whether the hackers have done anything…is (to monitor) their next move.”

He said that if the missing funds are transacted through a licensed cryptocurrency exchange then they will be able to have more information on the tokens itself. However, he added that “there could be other avenues for them to cash out” and that if the missing funds are not transacted through an exchange, “the identity will be difficult to check.”

So far, Japanese authorities have been dealing directly with Coincheck in the investigations, Lee said. If asked for assistance, his foundation “would do its level best in ensuring that this investigation is dealt with full integrity and transparency.”

Lee said the sole purpose of the foundation is to introduce, educate and promote the use of the NEM blockchain technology platform, which it did not itself create, on an international scale to all industries and institutions.

He urged cryptocurrency exchanges to install NEM’s built-in security feature, a “multi signature verification” that requires more than one person to acknowledge the movement of funds.

In Coincheck’s case, “they did not implement the multi signature verification,” he said. He emphasized that the incident has nothing to do with the NEM blockchain, which remains “one of the most secure and simple blockchain systems to use.”

Originally published on: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/01/27d03eee6750-nem-experts-tagged-missing-cryptocurrency-to-help-track-culprit.html
#siLab: Gravity Group
Tags: Silab, Gravitational Physics, Philippines, Physics

The Gravity Group is led by Dr. Ian Vega, an Associate Professor at NIP. Gravity primarily explores problems in relativistic astrophysics, where Einstein’s famous theory of general relativity is used to investigate celestial objects like black holes — bodies which have so strong a gravitational force, they can lasso the fastest things in the universe.

Recently, Gravity’s latest publication explored how different models of an expanding universe can be explained in a modified version of Einstein’s theory.

Their other projects focused on ways of extracting energy from black holes, how sun-like bodies orbit objects a million times heavier, and gravitational waves (GWs) — ripples in spacetime caused by violent events such as the merger of massive stars.
A poem about family
By: Mariam Tariq
Tags: Poetry, Family, Love, Sad, Home

They say home is where the heart is,

but I leave a little piece of my heart

in every place I go;

in the places I’ve lived in,

in the places I’ve known,

in the places whose people I’ve loved.
not your apocalypse cosplay
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Poetry, Society, Poem, New York, Covid Diaries

not your apocalypse cosplay

a poem about New York City.

Photo by Till Kraus on Unsplash

making 200k a year

NYU grad

from instagramming their meals to

googling molotov cocktails

you’re chanting eat the rich

you think it’s sexy

but change is

not your apocalypse cosplay

not your costume, not a fad

not something you can take off

when your office reopens

change is not

not your apocalypse cosplay

did you ever see

someone poor become poorer?

someone who thought they had no choices

suddenly have less?

you know boredom, but do you know

fear?

you say eat the rich

from your mac

with alexa

where have you been?

not your costume, not a fad

not something you can take off

when your office reopens

poverty is not

not your apocalypse cosplay

you stood on top of a

burning cop car

arms outstretched like Jesus

confident you wouldn’t be beaten

or even arrested

you want to be the hero

but where is the soundtrack?

where is the editing?

why isn’t everyone beautiful in this movie?

not your costume, not a fad

not something you can take off

when your office reopens

rebellion is not

not your apocalypse cosplay

you’ve been in front of your laptop

for months

online shopping

still privileged!

still privileged.

now, you think it’s romantic to

smash, destroy, set ablaze

but we are from here

we live here, when you go to your

second home

we live here! Don’t you understand?!

I was born over there

I was almost adopted over there

I was in foster care over there

no vacation home in Florida

relatives are in section 8 right over there

my cousin has a store in Forest Hills, Queens

my grandfather was born here, died here

he’s buried in Westbury

another is a nurse on Long Island

we are not your Escape from New York cosplay!

not your costume, not a fad

not something you can take off

when your office reopens

New York City is not

not your apocalypse cosplay.
PR: come usarle bene tra la Fase 2 e la Fase 3 dell’emergenza COVID-19
By: Marco Ferrario
Tags: Pr, Pr Agency, Punti Di Vista, Covid 19, Covid 19 Crisis

Director @ Mirandola Comunicazione. 13 years of work in PR for digital innovation culture at the service of the end customer. In any case: “Ave Maria e avanti!”

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Whatever Your Gender Identity, This is a Universal Message
By: Darren Stehle
Tags: Social Justice, Gender Identity, Forgiveness, Racism, LGBTQ

Whatever Your Gender Identity, This is a Universal Message

Seeking Forgiveness of Ourselves

Through my own self-exploration into who I am as a gay man, and my participation in the Gay Men of Wisdom Program, I realize how I bring various unique gifts to the world; gifts I want to share with you though my my posts and the Living OUT Podcast.

This week I speak on the subject of forgiveness, how shame affects us (and specifically what gay male shame is), and how there’s an intersection between forgiveness and the balancing of masculine and feminine energies that we all express.

I start the conversation with the post, From Sissy Boys to Straight-Acting Gay Men, and from there I go deeper in, Forgiveness and Acceptance of Internalized Homophobia — LOP039.

In order to understand the formation of my identity, I need to tell my history. My parents unwittingly taught me a happy balance between the masculine and feminine energies and so-called gender roles of the time. How My Parents Influenced My Gay Male Identity — LOP040 is a personal monologue, one that I will have to ask them to listen to. I hope they understand what I have said expresses my gratitude for their support in my formative years.
[ANN] REMIIT IEO Coming Soon
By: Team Remiit
Tags: Ann, Exchange, Ieo, Blockchain, Remiit

There has been a major change in the fundraising method of the project. After weeks of discussion with the team, we have decided to move to an IEO.

What is an IEO?

Initial Exchange Offering, means a project gets listed on an exchange directly without going through an ICO.

The key element to an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) is to partner with an exchange (or multiple exchanges) to function as the distributor of tokens.

Project developers mint the tokens and conduct the sales directly through the exchange, which will then sell the tokens to individual contributors for the corresponding pair.

Amendments

1. ICO ➡ IEO

2. 6 Billion ➡ 15 Billion (Total Token Supply)

3. 1 ETH = 35000 REMI ➡ 1 KRW = 1 REMI (Token Price)

4. 42850 ETH ➡ $5.3M (Hardcap)

Due to the decrease in hardcap, the distribution has changed however the percentage for community contribution has not changed. Therefore we will pro-rata the number of tokens according to a 1:2.5 ratio. (e.g if originally 500 REMI, you will receive 1250 REMI)

Additionally, as we have converted our strategy to an IEO, the airdrop and bounty tokens will be locked for 3 months from the date of IEO launch.

We believe that this change is the best for our supporters and REMIIT in the current market. We will try our best to bring success.
Modernizing Werewolves in ‘The Howling’ Franchise
By: Manor Vellum
Tags: Horror, Werewolf, Franchise, Film, Watch Movies

The Howling was released in 1981, the same year that saw two other classic werewolf films hit the theaters: An American Werewolf in London and Wolfen. Yet, it was The Howling, despite being only a moderate financial success, that warranted a long series of sequels, ultimately making for eight total films including the 2011 remake. The franchise makes loose attempts to tie its universe together. The first and second films, for instance, are tangentially related while the fourth film most resembles the novels by Gary Brandner from which the series is based. For the most part, though, the franchise is only connected through its continued desire to modernize and sympathize with werewolves.

This is a series prominently defined by the stereotypical ideal of a werewolf at its center rather than any specific hero, villain, or theme. There is very little consistency from one film to the next, which may be part of why it is so seldom revisited by critics today. Yet, it is precisely this loosely defined central premise that allowed various filmmakers to take the concept in a number of surprising and wholly unrelated directions over the decades.
Use the Documentation — Not StackOverflow
By: Brett Fazio
Tags: Software Development, Learning, Startup, Software Engineering, Programming

Why Use Documentation Instead?

When I first got into iOS development, I used the BigNerdRanch iOS development books — they were the ones that looked the best at my local bookstore. One of the key things they hammered home was Shift+Command+0 — this keystroke brings up the documentation when using Xcode.

They didn’t suggest instantly giving up and Googling; the authors wanted me to use the documentation. This was great advice.

While forums online usually read like a quick fix, documentation reads like a textbook or a manual. I think a textbook is an apt comparison here because we use textbooks in school to deepen our understanding of an unfamiliar topic, and I think we should use documentation the same way.

If, for example, you were writing a Make file to compile your C++ app and one of the lines in your Make file kept resulting in an error, you could probably Google the error and find a line of Make code to fix your problem.
Why I Trust Medium as a Digital Publishing Platform
By: Casey Botticello
Tags: Creativity, Technology, Medium, Writing, Design

Medium is in the middle of several large platform changes that will fundamentally alter the standards for digital publishing platforms.

And yet, I find myself scrutinizing the minute changes to the site’s user interface.

As someone who already spends a lot of time thinking and writing about Medium, I feel like I should be focused on big picture concepts.

And most of the time I am.

But the very fact that I notice and care about UI changes, as an observer with no training in graphic design, has me questioning my belief that Medium’s strength comes from its underlying value proposition:

Medium provides a free blogging platform, accessible to virtually everyone in the world, which allows them to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences, without needing the technical expertise or the time commitment typically associated with blogging.

Yes, the sleek and uncluttered design was a major bonus, but I always believed that this was of secondary importance.

And I still believe this to be true…

However, I don’t find myself preoccupied with Medium’s current platform changes (of which there are many, some of which I’ve had the privilege of testing early).

I find myself thinking about a series of small graphic design changes that I’m sure few users consciously stop to think about or have even noticed.

Small changes that I’m beginning to believe may have more of an impact on my choice to write on Medium, despite my original thoughts and having explored virtually every other digital publishing platform.
Modular narratives in ‘Westworld’
By: Daniel Holliday
Tags: HBO, Movies, Storytelling, Television, Westworld

Modular narratives in ‘Westworld’

OCTOBER 18TH, 2016 — POST 288

Will contains spoilers for S01E01-S01E03 of HBO’s Westworld. But decidedly no speculation.

There was always going to be room for metaphor in Westworld. When the premise centres on a life-sized Wild West doll house, there is intrinsic metaphorical in drawing out comparisons to Westworld’s functioning and the functioning of our world. We have creators for one: a stable of human scientists, researchers, and engineers with as diverse desires and motivations as those who sat on Mount Olympus. The theme park itself is a sandbox in which to test morality, identity, and humanity. And whilst the technological background noise of Westworld is eras ahead of our current technological moment, we can’t help but he handed lessons — or at the very least food for thought — on the ways in which technology ought to feature in our lives today. And this is what I expected heading in to Westworld. What I didn’t expect was to be taught about how to construct narratives.

Episode 3 of Westworld — called ‘The Stray’ — gives us the biggest indication yet of the mechanics of storytelling used inside the theme park. Up to now, we’ve heard in passing that the hosts are essentially “on rails” moving between story beats according to if/then statements. If Teddy is able to get to Dolores as she drops the can, then they will spend the afternoon in the wilderness rekindling their romance. If Dolores arrives home without Teddy, she will be attacked by bandits ransacking her homestead and murdering her parents. Viewed through the lens of the complex machine that Westworld is — but a machine nonetheless — it makes intuitive sense that narratives inside the park ought to be executed like segments of code. And like code, it’s editable — but not without carried consequences.
#5: Concept
Tags: The J Guide, Journal

Tomiwa and I have designed a sample brochure. We might change it later when we start the comic but we’re going ahead to do test prints.

Next step is to find paper. I’m thinking of making an effect for the type (not sure yet) and also considering perforation.

Random: I just learnt about Facebook’s Analog Research Lab and I can’t help but imagine what life would be like if I had this kind of space and support.
Olymp Capital and Ø Crypto Union are glad to announce a strategic partnership in banking services and asset management.
By: Ø Crypto Union
Tags: O Crypto Union, Partnerships, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Olymp Capital

This agreement will enable Ø Crypto Union members and its community including ARK Ecosystem, Tezos, and Komodo users, to access professional asset management solutions by the first European investment and management firm dedicated to Blockchain and digital assets leads by a team of high-level profiles and a unique network.

Besides, it will also include several asset management mandates that will assist protocols to create and manage their portfolio strategy and allow them to develop their ecosystem.

This partnership will allow Olymp Capital’s customers to access ØPay and ØLift two main services of Ø Crypto Union. ØPay is a unique modern use case for a traditional financial instrument known as “Credit Lombard”. It links the finest of both worlds: keep the value of your digital assets in fiat money without selling it thanks to a crypto-backed credit.

On the other hand, ØLift combines tailor-made services including asset management, tax optimization and much more. The in-house team of renowned legal & financial engineers, coupled with the Ø Crypto Union community, delivers tremendous value to its members.

Both parties study the opportunity to partner up and join forces in founding a highly valuable first European financial establishment. The full details of the partnership will be disposed and announced publicly in the upcoming weeks.

About Ø Crypto Union

The mission of Ø Crypto Union is to create a one-stop-shop entity dedicated to the use and management of cryptocurrencies. The Crypto Union was created by and for crypto- owners, offering a solution tailored to the specific needs of such assets.

They aim to become the world’s first decentralized bank by leveraging the infinite possibilities created by the blockchain technology.

https://ocryptounion.io

About Olymp Capital

Olymp Capital is the first asset management firm in Europe to focus on the blockchain and crypto asset classes. The firm is headquartered in Luxembourg and is comprised of experts in traditional finance and the blockchain ecosystem.

For more information, visit the website at www.olymp.capital

Contact

Christophe de Courson, CEO, Olymp Capital

Tel: +33 9 77 19 62 42 — email: contact@olymp.capital

Romain Cabirol, CMO, Ø Crypto Union

Telegram: @rcabirol — email: contact@ocryptounion.io
North Korea conducts most powerful nuclear test yet
Tags: Meditation, North Korea, Personal Development

This initiative of the Academy of Inner Science (under the leadership of Thomas Hübl) decontextualizes current events for contemplative practice. Editors are @joanabp @haefliger @bmadach @rollow @ThomasHuebl_en http://www.innerscience.info/en

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Build Your First iOS Widget — Part 3
By: Ale Patrón
Tags: iOS, Xcode, Swift, Software Engineering, Programming

Custom Emoji Widget

Before adding our custom emoji widget, let’s make some changes to better organize our code. First, let’s add a reusable placeholder view in EmojibookWidgetView.swift by adding a View struct , like so:

Now, go ahead and rename the Emojibook_Widget.swift file to RandomEmojiWidget.swift . We will also rename the structs inside this file to refer to a RandomEmojiWidget , like so:

We can finally work on our custom emoji widget. First, add a new Swift file called CustomEmojiWidget.swift making sure it is part of the Emojibook Widget Extension target. Similar to the TimelineProvider we defined in our RandomEmojiWidget , we will need to define an IntentTimelineProvider for our CustomEmojiWidget . An IntentTimelineProvider provides the widget entries for a user-configurable widget, based on a given Intent ; in our case, this is the SelectEmojiIntent .

We previously used a static widget configuration, since the random emoji widget does not have any configurable properties. For the custom emoji widget, we will use an intent widget configuration, since the widget will be configured based on the SelectEmojiIntent . In the end, our CustomEmojiWidget will look like this:

Note that the timeline method now includes a configuration parameter, which refers to the intent containing user-customized values (i.e. SelectEmojiIntent ). We also created a helper function, lookupEmojiDetails , that allows us to find the corresponding emoji for the configuration, based on the id.

If you run your app now and try to add a CustomEmojiWidget , you won’t be able to do so. This is because we need to tell the system that our app now supports two types of widgets, the RandomEmojiWidget and the CustomEmojiWidget . To achieve this, we will need to create a WidgetBundle .

WidgetBundle definition.

Create a new file called EmojiWidgetBundle.swift , and add the code below:

As you might remember, the @main annotation defines the entry point to our widget. We previously used RandomEmojiWidget as our entry point, but since our new entry point will be the widget bundle we just defined, we should now remove this annotation from RandomEmojiWidget.swift . After doing so, we will be ready to test our new widget.

Let’s go ahead and run our app. When you try to add an Emojibook widget, you will now have the option add a custom emoji widget. Once you add it, you can edit the widget to show the emoji that you want!

Custom emoji widget.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this article and found it useful. You can find the completed app on GitHub.

To learn more about WidgetKit, make sure to check out Apple’s awesome resources:
Woman gets run over after angrily chucking rock at SUV’s windshield
Tags: China

Woman gets run over after angrily chucking rock at SUV’s windshield

Why you don’t fight with someone who is driving a motor vehicle — even if you are in the right

Yesterday, one woman learned why the person behind the wheel of a motor vehicle is always right.

Surveillance footage from a street in Jiangsu’s Lianyungang city shows a pair of women arguing with the driver of an SUV on the side of a road. As the two women walk away, the vehicle pulls up and blocks their path, nudging one of the women.

That woman responds by swiftly picking up a stone from the side of the street and chucking it at the SUV’s windshield, causing the driver to accelerate forward and crush the woman.

In heart-pounding video from the scene, passersby are then seen rushing over as quickly as they can and attempting to lift the vehicle to free the woman.

Eventually, they were successful in doing so and the woman was rushed to the hospital. Thanks to her timely rescue, she is not in life-threatening condition.
Masterclass 2: How Do You Value A Startup?
By: Fintech Victoria
Tags: Startup, Venture Capital, Fintech Victoria, Fintech, Valuation

Masterclass 2: How Do You Value A Startup?

For our second Masterclass we’re talking business valuations with with experts from EY’s valuations team.

“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing” — Oscar Wilde

Understanding and optimising value are integral parts of managing a start-up business, where capital is typically in scarce supply.

This session will provide an overview of common valuation methodologies and why price and value are often different.

Speakers

The speakers have extensive experience in business valuation and will discuss valuation in a start-up context.

Justin Steinert and Jannaya James are Associate Directors in the Valuation and Business Modelling team at EY. Justin and Jannaya specialise in the valuation of issued capital, businesses and intellectual property, utilising a range of methodologies including capitalisation of earnings and discounted cash flow.

They have prepared several valuations across a wide range of industries and for a range of purposes, including; transactions, tax, strategy and financial reporting.

Topics To Be Covered

Why price and value are different

Valuation shortcuts and understanding different valuation outcomes

Optimising value (to you) in a capital-raising context

Don’t miss this event — it’s already filling fast. RSVP by clicking the link below:
DEAD GOOD
By: Bev J Williams, Beverley Jordan
Tags: Short Film, Film, Charlie Chaplin, Portfolio, Super8

© Blank Canvas Productions Ltd

Short film — shot on Super 8mm

Finalist in the 2013 United States Super 8mm Film Festival

WINNER of the Winner of 2014 Honorable Mention Award

‘Dead Good’ is a short film about a ‘living statue’ street performer. The film highlights contemporary issues about populism, the worship of celebrity and cultural value when perceived against a backdrop of creative heritage. ‘Dead Good’ is a dark allegory with a thought provoking message.

Filmed throughout in Kodak Super 8mm film — the colours and quality of this film are amazing.

Our lead character, ‘Living Statue’ has an uncanny resemblance to Charlie Chaplin. A poignant coincidence!

Without the comfort of multiple takes on digital filming each scene was carefully rehearsed to ensure continuity and a clear semiotic message throughout.

It was an honour and pleasure for me to have worked with and directed such a talented group of people, particularly director of photography and editor Tracy G Williams.

Starring Antony Arnold & Dean Buckfield

© Blank Canvas Productions Ltd

‘Living Statue’ Antony Arnold has been making a living standing in public spaces for well over twenty-five years. His fascination with robotic movement led him to the discovery that Charles Chaplin was the original human robot, and that same discovery inspired his most recent incarnation . Anthony’s role in ‘Dead Good’ was brought about by writer Jack Griggs-Smith. Jack witnessed an attempted ‘upstaging’ by an imitator, and subsequently a movie script was born. It was an obvious decision to cast Antony as the very ‘living statue’ that had inspired the whole project.

© Blank Canvas Productions Ltd

‘Il Diavolo’ Dean Buckfield has been an actor for only 8 years and has worked tirelessly at learning the tricks of the trade. This is Dean’s second film project. His first being an experiment film ‘Ten and a Half Hours Later’ which was created by Beverley Jordan & originally developed as an

experimental theatre project. Dean is also a poet & also specialises in Fine Art Photograph: Dean Buckfield

Directed & Produced by Beverley Jordan

Filmed & Edited by Tracy G Williams — a professional musician and film maker for 30 years. Decided to call it a day about 4 years ago but still works with still and moving film for pleasure. Check out some of his work on YouTube