fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Opportunity in Transition and Curiosity in the Unexpected
Tags: Civic Media, Civic Engagement, Civictech, Civic Design

Opportunity in Transition and Curiosity in the Unexpected EL_News Follow Sep 10 · 2 min read

Since the Engagement Lab’s founding in 2010, we have sought to explore the intersection of digital culture and civic life, designing tools, processes and resources for civic institutions to effectively engage publics in the pursuit of a more equitable future. In 2016, we launched the Civic Media Art and Practice graduate program, which brought civic media into the classroom, incorporating principles of participatory design and research that influenced the program’s shift into the current Media Design MA program. Throughout each of these transitions, the core mission of the Engagement Lab has remained: to uplift and center marginalized voices in conversations about civic life.

Each of these transitions has also brought new participants into our organization, whether that be faculty fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, or increasingly diverse publics. It is with this spirit in mind that we welcome Vinicius Navarro as our new Interim Director. Dr. Navarro is an Assistant Professor of Visual Media Arts at Emerson College and a media scholar whose interests span documentary, experimental media and digital culture. He will be taking over leadership at the Lab for the 2020–21 school year while Eric Gordon will be contributing to civic media efforts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a visiting professor of Comparative Media Studies. We hope this transition will only deepen the partnership between these two institutions and further the collaborative exploration of civic media and design.

Collaborative storytelling and co-creation are at the heart of everything we do, both inside the classroom and in our communities, and merging these spaces through pedagogy will continue to be a primary focus of the Lab as we expand our Partnered Studios efforts. By expanding our partnered studios, we hope to strengthen and grow our faculty network at Emerson College, while also providing new avenues for students to engage with the work of the Lab. Through faculty leadership and community partnerships, students can apply the knowledge and skills they have while reaching outside of their comfort zone to imagine new applications and new solutions.

Innovation, creativity and collaboration are key to reimagining civic life and understanding the role digital culture and media will continue to have in shaping participation. As we settle into new and somewhat unexpected routines this academic year, we are choosing to find the opportunity in transition and the curiosity in the unexpected, welcoming new voices into our conversation of civic media.
Stoic Meditations From Bed
By: What Is Stoicism
Tags: Life Lessons, Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius

Ah there it is, my alarm clock alerting me to the beginning of another day. The same shrill tone and urgent rhythm normally precedes fire damage which I find symbolic some days.

But not today.

Not this day that has just begun at 6:00 AM. I’m ready to explode out of bed, strap my Stoic helmet round my brain and let life’s thought bullets deflect off me. I’m ready to Amor my Fati and Memento my Mori.

One thing though. It’s cold outside. And warm in bed. I’ve encountered the day’s first obstacle and this is will require some thought. But it’s all good, I remember reading Marcus Aurelius’s Stoic meditation about this exact conundrum from 2000 years ago.

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

That doesn’t seem conclusive enough, does he want me to answer? Maybe this is what I was created for. Manufacturing advances over the last two millennia have changed the game for blanket huddlers, after all.

Marcus might’ve had a different opinion on the work of a human being if he’d known the joy of being a human wrapped warmly in a duvet on a memory foam mattress like a big, toasty cinnamon bun. I’m just here doing no-one any harm, and by proxy that definitely means I’m making the world a better place. Yes, this requires some thought.

After some thought I realise I can work through the five Stoic techniques from here anyway, is that not a triumph of efficiency?

So here goes…

Negative visualisation

What if I get out of bed, attempt to make a harmless cup of coffee, and get scalded by sipping too early, incapacitated by dropping the ceramic cup on my bare foot, or worse, get mentally demoralised if there’s no coffee left? I can prevent all that by staying in bed. Good, next.

Self denial

I’m denying myself basically everything in life by lying here, what could be more Stoic than that? This is easy.

Fatalism

I’m ready to forget about that alarm that went off fifteen minutes ago, it’s in the past now, it can’t hurt me anymore. Yeah, that’s fatalism.

Dichotomy of control

I can’t immediately control how cold it is on the other side of this duvet but I can control my reaction, which is to remain safely cocooned in this soft bag of feathers.

Meditation/Review

Well, the sun hasn’t even come up and I have Stoic’d the life out of this day already, I’m taking that as good progress!

But I’ve forgotten one other Stoic principle which now threatens my horizontality. One of the most prevalent ones. D’oh. Seneca even described it as the motto of the Stoic school — “living according to Nature.”

After eight hours asleep, Nature is now calling; screaming actually. I get up and make my way to the bathroom. Now I’m ready to start the day. Ah, it’s 6:30 AM, that’s a little better than yesterday at least.
Predicting the future with Bayesian statistics
By: Tds Editors
Tags: The Daily Pick

Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.

Check your inbox

Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription.
Practice makes perfect: cyber security training at the FT
By: Ft Product
Tags: Security, Crisis, Cyber, Cybersecurity, Ft

by Rosie Crocker

Every business is aware of the damage that data breaches can cause, especially ahead of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect next month. In March, Electric Airwaves came to the FT to help our teams think through potential cyber crisis scenarios.

The workshop placed people in cross-functional teams with colleagues from across the business. Each group received the same fictional crisis scenario and acted as a crisis management team for the FT.

The scenario was updated frequently throughout the morning and, after each team had agreed on what they were going to do, the team from Electric Airwaves facilitated a discussion how their decisions might be interpreted externally.

As the crisis evolved, teams were able to see how decisions they made earlier would be perceived later in the crisis and would impact the FT’s reputation.

The purpose of the workshop was to help staff:

Understand how damaging a data breach could be to the FT Practice responding to a security incident in real-time

It was an enjoyable day and, as well as learning specific techniques for managing a crisis situation, attendees grew their confidence with respect to handling a data breach. As Electric Airwaves taught the teams, “Confidence comes from learning; learning comes from practice. A crisis is no time to start practicing.”
Upon Icy Mountaintops
By: Lark Morrigan
Tags: Depression, Poetry, Self, Isolation, Mental Health

Self-isolation

still remains insufficient.

Unmoving, I numb

myself until there’s nothing

to shield me from the chaos.

I sit farther off,

but pain sits closer to me,

and I yearn to gaze

upon icy mountaintops

where not a soul can seek me.

Solitude my friend

does not respond to my cries

like she used to do,

so I must venture within

and embrace my nothingness.
A Halloween He Never Wanted to Remember
By: Bill Dubay Jr.
Tags: Short Story, Suspense, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Halloween

Walt yelled ahead to his little brother over the menacing sounds of the big kids who had taken chase, “I told you I didn’t want to go!”

Feeling like he was now too big for trick or treating and not wanting to deal with it, Walt had tried to hide from Henry earlier that night but his kid brother finally found him underneath the porch. After an eternity of begging, Walt had finally relented. “Fine. But I’m not gonna wear that sheet again like last year.”

For some reason, he kept having visions of himself tripping on the sheet and falling headlong into the path of an approaching car. Now that they were being chased, he thanked himself for going costumeless.

“You don’t have to,” Henry had said. “You’ll make the best ghost ever just like that.”

Ha ha, Walt had thought. He didn’t get the kid’s sense of humor.

Walt now wished neither of them had gone out tonight. He was starting to panic. The teenagers weren’t letting up, their taunts got nastier and the sounds of their footsteps sounded like a herd of buffalos against the damp suburban street.

At least they were getting close to home now, close to safety.

His brother stumbled. Walt had to do something. He turned, ready to face down the menacing teens to give Henry a chance. He raised his hands, knowing he was going to get pummeled as he watched the group stampede forward.

“Come on!” he yelled. None of the five bigger kids seemed to hear him. One of them was about to trample him. His body froze and he closed his eyes, ready to be slammed to the concrete. But the sounds passed him by. He looked back. Huh? It was like they went right through him.

Walt watched from behind as the kids scattered as soon as their mom opened the door. A surprised wail came from her as she took Henry into her arms. “How dare you go out by yourself!” she yelled between sobs. “How could you do that to me after what happened to your brother!”

Walt suddenly felt ten times heavier. Now he remembered. Those visions — he hadn’t even been running from menacing teens when he had tripped on the sheet last year, hit his head on the asphalt, and gotten plowed over by that car.

“Bye Walt,” his kid brother Henry called. “I hope you’re still allowed to come back next year. If you can, I’ll go with you every year, even after if I’m too big.”

Their mom’s grief-filled croons rose as Henry spoke and she pulled him inside. Walt raised his hand and waved as he felt his mind starting to drift back into whatever void he now called home.
Reductionism as a Thinking Strategy
By: John Von Neumann Ii
Tags: Self Improvement, Education, Productivity, Inspiration, Science

Reductionism as a Thinking Strategy

Ontological, methodological, and theory reductionism

I am currently reading a book:

And the first chapter made me think of how I can apply the 3 main types of reductionism to improve my thinking:

Ontological reductionism: a belief that the whole of reality consists of a minimal number of parts. Methodological reductionism: the scientific attempt to provide explanation in terms of ever smaller entities. Theory reductionism: the suggestion that a newer theory does not replace or absorb an older one, but reduces it to more basic terms. Theory reduction itself is divisible into three parts: translation, derivation and explanation.[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductionism

Ontological Reductionism

What I essentially can do with this one, is by what the book calls “clear the cutter” i.e. removing unnecessary parts while still achieving a particular goal.

A simple example is that planes don’t have to flap their wings to fly, unlike birds. So by removing the component “flapping” we are achieving the same goal “flying” with a lower quantity of parts.

An important requirement for ontological reductionism seems to be having a top-down approach i.e. a goal, which, one its own, already “clears the cutter”.

Methodological Reductionism

This one is best explained by a quote I read in that book:

“If you can’t solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it.” — George Pólya

…And then slowly work your way toward the actual problem you couldn’t solve in the first place.

Theory Reductionism

I n terms of thinking, this one is mostly synonymous to chunking. When chunking different things, you also indirectly can apply ontological reductionism i.e. you have less parts that you have to move and connect like a jigsaw puzzle.
Everything Doesn’t Happen for a Reason
By: Scott Stockdale
Tags: Mindfulness, Spirituality, Self, Philosophy, Mental Health

Everything Doesn’t Happen for a Reason

Please stop saying it does.

Photo by Ursula Gamez on Unsplash

It’s my pet peeve.

I’ll see a post on Instagram where someone links two separate events. They then determine the good wouldn’t have happened without the bad. Everything happens for a reason and all that.

I think this is total BS.

Let me be clear; I was one of these people. I used to connect the dots. I celebrated wins, failing to acknowledge the countless graces working in my favour. I thought all things must happen for a reason.

And then Steven Bartlett got me thinking.

He mentioned in one of his podcasts that if things really do happen for a reason, why do millions of children in Africa starve? And why are thousands of innocent people murdered every single year? If you believe in the ‘reason narrative’ for the convenient stories, what about the inconvenient ones — the ones where it doesn’t make sense?

This isn’t a pretty reality. As Anthony De Mello once said:

“Do you know one sign that you’ve woken up? It’s when you are asking yourself, ‘Am I crazy, or are all of them crazy?’ It really is. Because we are crazy. The world is crazy. Certifiable lunatics… We’re living on crazy ideas about love, about relationships, about happiness, about joy, about everything…” — Awareness by Anthony De Mello

I think the dots we connect are for our own sanity. To give us a sense of belonging. To make us believe someone — a higher power, the Universe, whatever — has our lives perfectly mapped out. To make us feel special.

And let’s not forget, we are special. The maths say so. The chances of being human are roughly 1 in 1⁰²⁶⁸⁵⁰⁰⁰. But we’re not that special. Things haven’t happened to you or me because it was destiny or because we deserved it or because the world owes us.

“No one owes you sh*t.” — Gary Vee

Some may call this pessimism. Far from it. I see this as an enormous opportunity. An opportunity to push for the things we want rather than settle for the things we’re given.

Sure, some things will go well. You’ll prepare for a test and absolutely nail it. Other times, your car will break down on the way to the exam.

It doesn’t have to make sense. It may seem unfair. You may want to punch someone in the face, and that’s okay too. Just remember it’s no one’s fault. Life just happens.

And everything doesn’t happen for a reason. Everything happens because it happens. No one owes us a thing, not even the universe.
The Best Ways To Learn Chess For Free
By: Benya Clark
Tags: Learning, Board Games, Chess, Games, Culture

When it comes to learning how to play chess, we’re truly living in a golden age. Thanks to the internet, it’s the easiest time in history to learn the royal game without paying a dime. With online play, you don’t even need to buy a board.

The amount and quality of free chess resources on the internet is absolutely astounding. There are so many choices available that the hardest part is sorting through them. That’s why I wanted to create this short guide to some of the best resources for brand new players.

Step 1: Learning the Rules

There are a thousand websites that describe the basic rules of chess, but my favorite is Lichess.org because it teaches you the rules using interactive chessboards. Instead of only reading how the pieces move, you actually get the chance to move them around.

You can access the basic lessons here. Once you’ve mastered those, you can start playing chess right away, or move onto more advanced lessons here.

Step 2: Playing Chess

The best way to learn chess is to start playing as soon as you know the rules. Some new players feel too intimidated to start playing chess right away, and instead go straight to more studying. Don’t try this! Studying chess without playing is a waste of time, because you won’t actually get better without practicing what you read.

There are a ton of free websites to play chess on. Chess.com is the most popular, and it runs on a freemium model. It’s completely free to play, but they have optional paid lessons, puzzles, and analysis.

Lichess.org is the second most popular site. It’s completely, 100% free and open source, but it does accept donations.

You don’t have to choose between the sites. Most players have an account on each. You can also play on both sites without even creating an account, but by signing in you’ll be able to track your progress and get paired with opponents who match your skill level.

Step 3: Expanding Your Knowledge

After playing for a few days, you’ll likely be ready to learn even more about chess. The amount of free chess material on the internet is nearly endless, and you’ll easily be able to continue progressing for at least a year without every having to pay for study materials.

One of the best way to improve is by doing chess puzzles, also known as tactics. You can find unlimited free puzzles on lichess.org, and a few free puzzles each day on chess.com. Another popular website for puzzles is Chess Tempo, which has paid and free accounts.

To start learning chess strategy, you can find many free courses on Chessable. There are also great YouTube channels covering chess strategy. The most frequently recommended is GM John Bartholomew’s. Another fantastic channel is Hanging Pawns, which has many in-depth videos on strategy and openings.
How To Have Fantastic First Dates
By: Kirstie Taylor
Tags: Life Lessons, Relationships, Life, Love, Dating

I’ve come to the conclusion that people fit into two categories. Either:

First dates excite them, or… First dates intimidate them.

Most people are in the latter.

Maybe it’s because you’re meeting someone off a dating app and perhaps you’re unsure of how the date will go. Or maybe it’s because you’ve had a lot of crappy dates up until now.

If that’s the case, then we need to talk. You see, first dates don’t have to suck. I know this is a bit of a wild idea, but they can actually be enjoyable.

The key is re-shaping the way you think and handle first dates.

If you want to ensure that you never have a crappy first date again, then here are some ways to prepare for a fantastic first date:
When Love Tore Me Apart
By: Darshak Rana
Tags: Weekly Prompts, Spirituality, Poetry, Poetry Sunday, Love

I dreamt last night a terrible dream

The worst nightmare that made me scream

What I saw in there

horrifies me to my core

It shatters the soul

As I’ve lost control

Alone was the Love

In a deep dark place

Weeping and sobbing

Wanting to complain

To raise its concerns.

But hesitantly, it asks,

“Will you help me, please?”

Confused I was

But I shook my head

And there it goes,

“I am love

I don’t want to live.

For my companions estranged me.

They were five of them

But now none of them remain

Purity was the first

Then Mercy felt accursed

Respect went third

So, Gratitude escaped without uttering a word

Ever since then, faith remained unheard

They left me alone

In this dark cell of flesh and bone

We had a pact of Eternal Bond

But the vices spelled us with their magic wand

They lured them all

But I stood tall

But surviving alone

I sometimes groan

For I’ve lost my sheen

As my glow is barely seen

All I have is just a name

Without my meaning, I feel ashamed

But here I stay, in suffering and pain.

Waiting to be freed and shine again.”

Speechless, I was in my dream

But ashamed I am now

For I’ve misused love

In the name of love

I’ve fought wars

To reach the stars

To fulfill my desires

I dropped my virtues

With the heat of greed

I burned my pure love seed.
Blind Hogs And Acorns
By: Jane Woodman
Tags: Poetry, Luck, Free Verse, Love Poems, Love

Photo by Dogancan Ozturan on Unsplash

Once upon a bar,

I fell face-first into you.

Clumsy, mindless, running blind,

Nothing could stop the sudden hunger.

Lucky you, lucky me…we were both starving.

Hand of God or blind-hog luck… Who knows?

Fumbling together out of that morass,

Years passed before we stood,

Clear-eyed as we could be,

Looking far into morning,

No longer blind or dumb,

We both see the force,

The life of love.
Tuning in to Intelligence in the Universe
By: Paul Mulliner
Tags: Mindfulness, Meditation, Spirituality, Life, Personal Development

Despite this extraordinary reality, human beings are thought by many people to have emerged from random mutations of material stuff and the Universe is regarded as being mostly empty and lifeless.

The current mainstream popular western cosmology sees a dead, mechanistic Universe in which life emerges as a consequence of random processes, the human brain generates consciousness and each one of us is entirely separate from each other.

In this worldview, when we die, our separate, skin-enclosed personal self, generated somehow by our brain, ends abruptly.

If we regularly take a focus of attention inward, however, into the inner core of ourselves, we can intuitively realize that our consciousness isn’t separate from that of other people, but exists in all space everywhere, within and around us and throughout the Universe.

We can’t think our way to this realization though, because it’s not a concept.

As we tune in to the intelligent cosmic space, we can dissolve the sense of separation inherent in our everyday awareness.
Legal Opinion on Pluton
Tags: Plutons, Payments, Announcements, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

For over a year now, we have been a client of Bird & Bird, an international law firm with over 28 offices worldwide that specialises in e-business and technology enterprises.They have a strong background in economic matters, FinTech, and emerging tech.

Bird & Bird has approved this public-facing statement regarding the PLU token and its status.

In summary, PLU are loyalty points similar to cashback points from your grocery store, or air-miles when you travel. In this sense, they qualify as utility tokens in every category.

Pluton are defined by three major characteristics:

They are a form of non-monetary reward token similar to frequent flier miles.

They were issued in connection with the pre-sale.

Pluton transfers and conversions are free, and Plutus does not directly profit from their utilisation.

In the Plutus pre-sale terms and conditions, a Pluton (“PLU”) is defined as a loyalty token and pre-sold product to be used within the Plutus ecosystem. Therefore, and based on the official definition, PLU are essentially app tokens.

It’s important to note that Pluton can ONLY be treated as value on the basis that they may:

In due course may become treated as a medium of exchange like Bitcoin, notwithstanding its lack of any asset backing. This is highly unlikely, as they are intended for a specific purpose tied to Plutus. They were not issued for the purpose of being used at third parties, and only have intended use-cases within the Plutus project.

And/or may be acquired as a speculative investment on the basis that (once traded) they may rise in price. There is no price guarantee and we expressly discourage this type of 3rd party usage.

However, PLU are ERC20 tokens issued on the fully decentralised Ethereum network. Due to the decentralized and distributed structure of blockchain technology, any and all 3rd party uses are entirely at the users’ discretion and outside of the purview of Plutus. This means that 3rd party applications cannot be limited or restricted through any technical means on our side whatsoever, or likely by anyone else for that matter.

Any other 3rd party methods of obtaining or trading PLU are not officially condoned by us, and we cannot take any responsibility or provide support for these case. These are entirely at the user’s discretion.

What is important to note here is that:
Humans of Walrus: Mel Stern
Tags: Creativity, Advertising Agencies, Advertising, Media, Humans Of Walrus

Mel Stern is the newest addition to Walrus and the agency’s Media Communications Director. Mel heads up our new media department, which recently launched to provide media planning and buying for clients. As part of Mel’s initiation at Walrus, we asked him to share a bunch of revealing information about himself. Enjoy getting to know Mel and follow him on Twitter at @mlvnstrn.

Walrus (W): Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.

Mel Stern (MS): I love classic jazz, I thoroughly enjoy doing nothing on Friday nights, and prefer reading on paper vs. digital screens. I own one mug that says, “Don’t trust atoms. They make up everything” and another that simply says “meh.” Essentially, I’ve been 55 since I was 24.

W: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

MS: I wanted to be a cartoon voiceover artist. My younger brother was/is a great drawer and I was/am not, so that was my way to engage on a deeper level with cartoons. Also, Mel Blanc (did lots of Looney Tunes voices, e.g. Bugs Bunny) was one of the few “famous” Mel’s growing up, which only added fuel to the fire.

W: What’s the most memorable or favorite project of your career?

MS: The first account I ever worked on was the Jordan Brand and we had a TV spot called “Cinderella” that was scheduled to air during March Madness. The gist of the spot was that there are no “Cinderellas” because every team works so hard to get to where they are. As it turned out, a “Cinderella” team made it fairly far in the tournament that year and our ad played in one of their games. Nothing too advanced or innovative was going on here, just good timing, good placement, and a little luck, but it made for a powerful spot and was the first time I saw the impact of creative and media aligning perfectly.

W: What’s the best part (so far) about working at Walrus?

MS: I could talk about the smart, funny people I get to work with or the passion they display for the great work being done, but if I’m honest, the best part of the job is the office’s proximity to the farmer’s market in Union Square. Grass-fed beef? Turkey sausage? Delicious, fresh produce? I can’t get on the subway without buying an heirloom.

W: What’s your proudest accomplishment?

MS: This year, I removed the old battery from my car and installed a new one. Bought a ratchet set and everything. I posted it on Snapchat before the Memories feature though, so it basically never happened.

W: If you didn’t work in advertising, what would you do?

MS: Probably move to an island somewhere and open up a sandwich shop. #retirementplans
A Guide to Automating Your Stock Analysis With Python
By: Cameron Shadmehry
Tags: Automation, Data Science, Analysis, Python, Stock Market

Collecting Historical Stock Data

Obtaining historical data on the stocks that we want to observe is a two-step process. First, we must narrow down a list of stocks. Then, we have to make individual calls to the Yfinance API in order to import data about each company.

Choosing the Stocks We Want to Target

The library get-all-tickers allows us to compile a list of the stocks that fit the criteria we set. Currently, the library supports filtering stocks by their region, sector, market cap, and exchange. For this example I am looking at companies that have a market cap between $150,000 and $10,000,000 (in millions). You will notice that I also included a line of code to print the number of tickers we are using. This is very important. You will need to be sure that you are not targeting more than 2,000 tickers, because the Yfinance API has a 2,000 API calls per hour limit.

Obtain a list of stocks to analyze.

I would recommend using this library because it allows for our list of observable stocks to be dynamic. If it better suits your analysis though, I provided an alternative line of code that allows you to type in the stocks you would like to have the program analyze.

Obtaining and Saving Historical Data

Utilizing the Yfinance API, we will be able to access and save the historical stock data for every element (stock) in our “tickers” list. This library gives us access to the data Yahoo Finance provides for free to the public. If you’re looking for other information about a stock (not historical data), check out their API.

The code below will cycle through our list of stocks obtained in the section above. For each stock it will make a call to Yahoo Finance to obtain its historical data. If it fails it will retry up to five times for each stock or until it has made 1,800 API calls. When it successfully retrieves the data from Yahoo Finance, it will save it as an individual CSV file in the folder called “Stocks.” In order to analyze each stock, we must first save their data to a central folder. In my example I am calling this folder “Stocks.” Lastly, every time the code runs it will remove and recreate the folder “Stocks” to ensure that it is not considering data from the previous day in its analysis.
How to actually write good code
By: Mark Jordan
Tags: Software Development, Software Engineering, Object Oriented, Programming, Functional Programming

I’ve been writing code professionally for almost a decade now, and yet when people ask how to write code properly I don’t really have a good idea. This job is weird.

A worrying amount of the time, I find myself relying on instinct or “experience” to try and figure out which solution to a given problem is going to cause maintenance problems and pain down the line. Really, it’s nothing more than an accumulated set of biases based on the problems of previous projects, and trying to distill it into actual advice is annoyingly tricky.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to get away from high-level principles (“SRP”, “KISS”, “easy to delete”, etc). Even though they’re good ideas, coming up with actual techniques for writing good code seems harder.

I’ve dumped out some of the results of this thinking below: hopefully it’s useful in some way or another.

Constraints

First, do no harm:

“Just don’t write bad code.” Sounds easy enough, right?

I think there might be something useful there, though. One thing I’ve consistently found to be true when dealing with libraries, frameworks, programming and design is that constraints are universally more useful than abilities. To put it another way: telling me what I can’t do is much more useful than telling me what I can do. Programming is an insane world of magic and wonder: literally anything is possible. Especially when writing Ruby.

(This, by the way, is one of the reasons I’ve never gotten along with DDD as a design tool. While DDD has plenty of great ideas, it’s way too permissive.)

Putting constraints on the programmer is possibly the most important design task: either the right way to go should be the only possible one, or it should be so blindingly obvious that doing anything different would be strange.

The first task is to pick a language that imposes type constraints on the code: typescript is great, something like C# or Go is usefully boring, and I keep telling myself I’ll learn Haskell or Rust one of these days.

Me to myself after another jenga-like inheritance hierarchy or crazy nested function-producing-function function.

Beyond language choice, language constraints are almost always going to be some self-imposed artificial limitation. Sticking to these constraints when writing code (such as creating immutable objects or avoiding inheritance) can produce a simpler solution by limiting sources of complexity.

Whichever constraints you choose to take, being appropriately consistent with them will generally lead to simpler, easier-to-understand code. There’s not much worse than code which has been boy-scouted a dozen different ways by well-meaning code cleaners when they aren’t pulling in the same direction.

In the rest of this article I’ll explore some constraints that I’ve found useful when coding.
Why Education Is Important
By: Michael Reynoso
Tags: Platform, Education, People, World, Education Reform

Why Education Is Important

The importance of education and why we need them in our daily lives

We’ve all took courses and appeared at schools during our childhood, adolescent and young adulthood years.

Some people of took education seriously and aligned themselves with careers that matched their skills. There are some who got dropped out of school and never finished their degrees.

Education is not just something to read and write about. We have to make use of it for our own advantage and utilize the knowledge given to us for our growth. Also, we can lead our own life without depending on others.

It is not about making people literate. It’s about educating ourselves and applying them wherever we go. This is where literacy comes in.

Literacy as we know it, is the ability to read and write. Whereas education is finding out the reason behind everything and using the reading-writing skills to improve our lives.

As a result, both literacy and education helps the world to grow economically and cherish with prosperity.

To live a prosperous life, education is very important for every individual. Lets discuss what is education and the importance of education.

What is Education?

Education is about studying different kinds of subjects to gain knowledge and understanding. After we gain knowledge and understanding, we try to apply them in our daily lives.

Education is not about gaining book knowledge. It is about using what we’ve learned and putting it into practice. Education is not about attending schools and colleges daily, but gathering knowledge and relating it to our lives.

Even a robot can read and write, but using the knowledge wisely is what makes human different. Education is not only for utilizing ourselves, but it can also be used to improve other peoples’ lives.

Importance of Education

In order for us to gain respect from society, we should be educated. If we are able to lead a happy and prosperous life, we need to study and obtain a great job to be successful in life.

By being educated, helps in earning money and fulfilling the basic needs of our life. Also, education will help to gain reputation by being in a great position. Education can also help us grow in careers and fulfill our dreams, if we are fully invested in our craft.

Education allows us to gain knowledge so we can stand out as equal with all walks of life, whether if its rich or famous people. Education is also a platform for us to prove ourselves by defeating all barriers.

Summary

Even though we took endless courses and stopped, there are still more to learn. How are we supposed to create a life for ourselves if we don’t put in effort to learn anything?

We are our only setbacks. We choose to either live or die. If you want to live, I suggest you continue learning.

Education matters!
‘Making Money’ is Not a Financial Goal
By: Ryan Fulton
Tags: Money, Wealth, Finance, Investing, Personal Finance

‘Making Money’ is Not a Financial Goal

Create goals you can achieve

Photo by fauxels from Pexels

Is making money a goal? Think about it.

How much money? For what? When do you reach the goal? What happens after?

“Making money” is not a goal because it’s open-ended and too broad.

Money is the tool you use to reach your goals.

Making money can be an objective, but if that’s all we feel like we’re working towards, that’s not very exciting. Why are you making money? We all have our aspirations, but we need goals and action plans to get there.

There are three things a financial goal needs to be:
Start Here: Zero to JavaScript — Value Types
By: Jack Yeh
Tags: JavaScript, Hello World, Easy, Beginner

Bite size Javascript Lesson you can finish in 3 minutes!

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Context: You need to learn JavaScript in Less than 3 Weeks for a job interview

We have all been there. I did Python and Java in college, and during the second job interview of my life, my then-boss asked me:

Can you do any frontend programming? Do you know any Javascript?

I answered honestly that I don’t know any JavaScript.

Ok, read this book and come learn on the job

Before I know it, I have been doing JavaScript for 12 years!

In today’s lesson, I will teach you about Value Types.
Your Guide to Writing (Almost) Everything
By: Ross Mccammon
Tags: Creativity, Writing, Productivity

Readers love to read about writing. Stories like “How to Write 10,000 Words a Week” and “Power Up Your Language to Revolutionize Your Freelance Life” consistently attract thousands of readers to Forge, Medium’s in-house self-improvement publication, and have prompted us to develop a key pillar of Forge’s mission: that one of the most important ways you can improve yourself is by getting better at expressing yourself.

No project is more emblematic of this goal than “How to Write Anything,” a collection of stories on how to write — the principles and mechanics of the process — but also about how to write now, when every single one of us writes (and reads) constantly. As we said in the introduction to this collection: “You tweet. You email. You Slack. You text. Multiple times a day, you look at a blank screen and you fill it with words — your own words written in your own style for an audience you hope to persuade, amuse, inform.”

Because there’s no screen more ripe for self-expression than a blank Medium screen, one of the stories in “How to Write Anything” offers Medium-specific guidance from Darius Foroux, one of Medium’s most popular writers.

Here’s Foroux’s advice about writing for a Medium audience in “How to Write an Article Millions of People Will Read”:

Pick a single reader Take that reader on a specific journey Choose one or two authors you love, and practice writing like them Have a trademark Embrace feedback

While the four other stories in this collection primarily address more specific types of writing, we think they’re really about certain principles you can apply to all of your work.

Drew Magary’s story about how to Tweet is about being focused on the reader even when you’re writing about yourself.

Kara Cutruzzula’s story on how to write a follow-up email is really about the art of persuasion.

Julia Pugachevsky’s story on creating a great dating profile is really about how to tell the story of your life. Or maybe a story of your life. It’s about crafting any kind of personal narrative.

Chuck Thompson’s story about writing digital obituaries is about the importance of specificity and detail in your work — evocative nuances that readers will feel in their hearts, not just their minds.

This collection is about how to write anything, no matter who you are or in what format your writing appears, but we think it’s especially useful for the format you’re employing right now: the medium of Medium.
Season Cycle Sonnet
By: Jane Woodman
Tags: Sonnet, Poetry, Hope, Seasons, Spring

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

These frozen days in later Winter’s grip,

When Earth and Sky alike are holding breath

Until the ice and snow begin to melt,

Are still as sleep and colder yet than Death.

But if we look more closely, we can see

The tiny footprints of a baby rabbit;

More careful listening reveals the bright

Voice of small birds resuming their Spring habits.

The Sun’s light is more fierce in snow’s reflection

Than even in Midsummer we will see,

As if to chase the haggard gloom of Winter

Into its place and set Spring’s birthing free.

Then watch as Earth that long had looked forsaken

By Life is once again warmed and awakened!
Empower Local Elected Officials With Data
Tags: Data, Urban Planning, Elections, Big Data

A good elected official personifies their district. They know the stories of the place and can use them to effectively care for and improve their community. Traditionally this means the elected official spends significant time absorbing the preferences of their constituents through one-on-one conversations.

While this will always be a crucial political tactic, we live in a time when those qualitative efforts can be augmented with quantitative data. Clearly at the federal level campaigns have embraced data as a political tool, but shouldn’t data be more a tool for governing than getting elected?

Wouldn’t it be better to empower elected officials at the local level with the tools they need to truly represent their constituents?

The Challenge

The problem is, the way most demographic data is collected and compiled doesn’t line up with local jurisdictional boundaries. A census tract or block group, for example, doesn’t adhere to a city council district or a school district, so it can be challenging, even impossible, for elected officials in these districts to parse out the data to better understand their constituents.

Fortunately, with a little data science there are ways around this problem. Using weighted block point apportionment (which roughly translates to “grabbing data from one area and applying it to another”), you can force underlying demographics into any shape you can come up with, like neighborhoods, project boundaries, or city council districts.

As a company, we are focused on providing simple answers to complex questions.

We want to put data in the hands of people who can actually use it.

So the question “Can you give me data about my constituents?” is a perfect request for us to take on. We can (and have!) built a platform that can provide data specific to every city council district in the country.

Our Solution

Let’s build an example for our home town of Kansas City, where an elected official’s question might be…

Who lives in my district?

Knowing who lives in your district is always important. A quick snapshot of the data can help you understand your constituents better and can help you make decisions moving forward. For example, in Kansas City, MO, there is an incredibly high millennial population in district 4. This data might change the way an elected official prioritizes their agenda or how they engage with their constituents.
How To Be a Great Programming Mentor
By: Steven Kang
Tags: Programming, Software Development, Mentorship, Learning

So, What’s the Mentor’s Job?

Here’s my best shot at a succinct description,

A mentor’s job is not to teach material and inform. It’s simply to show new developers how to learn, encourage good habits, and act as a supportive peer.

Showing new developers how to learn

This is something that requires a strong sense of empathy which, of course, programmers are not typically known for having. That being said, all you need to do is remember what it was like to struggle with every new concept that was thrown at you. To new devs, things don’t just make sense. Learning a programming language is like… well, learning a new language. Rules that you know by heart and consider obvious are completely foreign to a newcomer.

Unfortunately, you can’t learn for them. Until some technology is invented that can transfer knowledge from one to another, you’ll have to figure out how they learn. Many programming concepts are objectively hard to grasp. At the end of the day, it’s up to the learner to figure them out. Explanations can be thrown left and right, but what you should be searching for is that thing that makes it click.

Encouraging good habits

Sounds a little bit cliché, I know. Even so, I can’t count the number of times that I’ve said and been told, “Just forget about documentation.” It’s funny to mock habits like documentation and good variable/method names when you’ve gained enough experience to know when it’s wrong. To a new dev, though, a phrase like, “Documentation is stupid,” is not understood as a joke. It’s understood as a lesson.

Mentorship is an opportunity to get these good habits right from the get-go. Even if you don’t personally follow a lot of them (though you should), it’s important to help learners develop these habits early. Here are a few good habits that I wish were pushed on me when I was first learning to code:

Document your code (meaningfully)

Spend more time planning/thinking and less time coding

Be consistent in how you write code. Don’t have a variable named badApple and another named good_apple

and another named If you have a question, formulate a precise question. Rather than saying “It doesn’t work,” ask “Why is my method changing the original array rather than creating a copy?” Oftentimes, problems can be solved just by asking the right questions.

Acting as a supportive peer

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

This tip comes from my frustrated, alienated, past self. A select few of the mentors I’ve had saw themselves as such. At the end of the day, the tech community is made up of an incredible number of supportive peers. You should try to become one of them.

A mentor-mentee relationship is not one with a power dynamic. You are peers. Although you may know exponentially more than the person you’re mentoring, no developer should ever be done learning. Being a student alongside your student is paramount to ensuring that they understand it’s OK to make mistakes. We all make mistakes. The sooner that attitude is adopted, the better.
How to recover your Facebook social share count
By: Hugo Monteiro
Tags: Social Media, Analytics, Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing, Social Sharing

Due to recent updates Facebook’s API, millions of websites lost their Facebook actions’ values. For some, this was a business breaker. Popular services like SharedCount and ShareTally are shutting down.

In fact, if you Google “Share Count” you’ll find a graveyard of websites that no longer work properly.

What happened to share count services?

Well, it’s kind of a trend. Back in October 2015, Twitter decided to shut down its shares count API. After Gnip’s acquisition, it made sense to them to explore monetization opportunities.

Recently, Facebook made a similar move and imposed greater limitations on their API access. That said, it became quite impossible to retrieve likes, comments, and shares at scale. And by scale, I mean doing so for thousands of websites per hour.

There was another backlash, though. Overnight, several social share plugins also lost their ability to count Facebook interactions.

Why does this matter?

Content creators, small bloggers or enterprises, rely on social proof to streamline their content. It’s an old classic for Social Marketing. If your numbers are high, your content is probably popular and interesting to your audience.

With this change, we’ve seen websites losing 70%-80% of their social interactions. This was happening particularly when using affected plugins and third-party APIs.

How do I get my URL shares count back, then?

Ah, the good news (I hope you were expecting this).

We’ve just (re)launched our shares count service: SharesCount.

SharesCount will help you get the shares count from a specific URL, over and over again. It’s not an API service but it does the job for individual URLs.