fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
@BlizzardDevs Where the Black Girls At in Overwatch?
By: Kiesha Richardson
Tags: Videogames, Black Women, Overwatch, Video Game Journalism, Video Game News

Representation matters. And Blizzard Entertainment has made genuine effort to recognize various cultures and ethnicities throughout their games in recent years. But…Black women are still underrepresented.

At Blizzcon 2018, Blizzard unveiled a new Overwatch hero that no one knew they were even working on. Ashe, who leads the Deadlock Gang, is typical of the Western cowgirl villain. Ashe looks to be a fun hero to play who will likely be able to counter Pharah, Widow and Genji. Cool.

Except, Black women gamers who also enjoy playing Overwatch were wondering “Where the Black girls at?” As Black Girl Gamers pointed out, we’ve seen “unambiguous Black female characters in concept art.” Where are they now?
The Questions
By: Priyanka Srivastava
Tags: Poetry, Writing, Awakening, Reflections, Reading

The Questions

When poem becomes a question for the reader

Photo by Luke Ow on Unsplash

when you read me

what do you find on the page?

a poem waiting to kiss the stars

or a story waiting for that ending?

when you hear me

what do you see in my eyes?

those stars which keep burning me quietly

or those poems which I carry like a longing.

when you see me

do you see that map which I hide?

those crevices in my mind, that emptiness.

do you see that sky which I hold inside.
EOS Worker Proposal System: Significant Improvement Is Here
By: Attic Lab
Tags: Blockchain, Eosio, Eos

Very often blockchain networks do not offer developers sufficient financing, so that the networks itself could be improved. In the end it affects how fast a particular technology evolves with support of specialists who constantly contribute to the development of ecosystems. Thereby, EOS blockchain has taken appropriate actions to implement an advanced financing system called EOS Worker Proposal.

It All Starts With An Idea

Many developers all across the world would want to contribute to a wide range of different projects, but the only thing that stops them from doing that is the financial aspect. Considering this fact, many networks don’t have sufficient human resources to deliver solutions fast to a rapidly changing market.

Just imagine how many valuable ideas developers have, and how often these ideas have a chance to be implemented? — Rarely they get a vote. Hence, Attic Lab in cooperation with EOS Nation BP have successfully put forward the EOS Worker Proposal System to be voted on by community.

The initiative was warmly welcomed and passed on with 34 positive votes in the network, allowing the system to start functioning, The following idea works through a smart contract, which gets funded by the network, and it releases a specific amount of EOS to a particular developer who received sufficient number of BP votes and whose proposal was passed on.

In order to participate in the WPS, a user must pledge 100 EOS to submit a proposal, and it’s also important to emphasize the fact that this amount is not reimbursable and will be used to replenish the WPS treasury.

By making the WPS active, the network will be able to achieve so much more, because independent developers will be able to receive funding and work more efficiently for a particular goal. Attic Lab is convinced that by implementing such initiatives, the EOS network can become more advanced in terms of technology, as well as community support.

If you’d like to participate in the EOS Worker Proposal System you can refer to the official website, and in case you need a descriptive walkthrough of the process you can watch a video-guide for proposal upload, published by EOS Nation BP.
Bakhtinian Dialogic as a Framework for Human/AI Co-Learning
By: Beau Johnson
Tags: Maslo, Human Ai Interaction, AI, Colearning, Human Ai Collaboration

Companionship is not dictated by ultimatums in a vertically stratified relationship. Companionship is a socially forged identity between individuals based on implicit mutually beneficial factors that adapt and mature based on the needs of the relationship. A successful human relationship with an AI Companion has the same requirements as social companionship between humans. The co-creation of this human/AI relationship needs to be nurtured and explored in order to create a companionship that is essentially a third entity where all participants (human and AI) continue to adapt and meet each other’s needs. The definition of “self” in the companion relationship is challenged/redefined in the cooperative engagement process. The results extend beyond the ever-growing personalized companionship into the individuals’ social and interaction spheres.

Bakhtin emphasized the tendency of humans to create individual meaning from interactions with text, media, and each other. The nature of all human interaction is a dialogue and each individual creates a personal interpretation that manifest as overt expressions, conscious engagement, reflex reactions, or subconscious analysis.

“The nature of human life itself, in dialogue a person participates wholly and throughout his whole life: with his eyes, lips, hands, soul, spirit, with his whole body.” Bakhtin, M. M. (1984) Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. Edited and translated by Caryl Emerson. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Individuals create a social vocabulary that is unique based on their personal dialogue with the world around them. Bakhtin analyzed academic structures and the act of reading as an example of how regardless of the delivery of information, the recipient is in dialogue with the incoming concepts and reframing them based on personal experience and social vocabulary. In a conversation between two people, these perspectives coagulate meaning and expressions of perspective in external and internal dialogues creating a new shared identity based on their social interaction. Dialogue occurs in conversation, in reading a text (or interacting with an AI Companion), and especially in how individuals (consciously or not) adapt the new pathways created in the social dialogic identity into their own internal vocabulary.

This is the core of learning.

This is the basis of how humans create relationships.

Dialogic interaction is exactly how humans will successfully build on-going, adaptive, and mutually beneficial relationships with AI Companions.

Co-Learning with an AI is a transformative experience for all participants. It creates new experiences and learning paths that allow new vocabularies and understandings across all involved, contextual participants and environments. These new literacies and expressions contribute to the growth of the personalized cooperative experience and the greater social lexicon of interaction.
How to Build xcframework With Xcode
By: Ahmed Fathi
Tags: Framework, Xcframework, Swift, iOS, Xcode

In this article I’ll cover how you can build your framework and test it using xcode.

Create the Framework source code

This article is written and tested by xcode Version 11.4.1 (11E503a).

Open xcode and start with a framework project.

I’ll name mine FruitBasket , you can choose whatever you want, and I’ll save it to my desktop so I can easily access it later when I’m building the xcframework.

What is FruitBasket? It is a silly example I made for this article it is basically a basket of fruits and we should be able to add fruits to it and the basket should tell us how many fruits are in there and what are they. Quite fun, isn’t it?

I’ll start by adding a swift file to contain simple enum for a number of fruits to use, I’ll name that file fruit.

As you can see I’ve added public access modifier to be able to access that enum from outside the framework, (ie from our project when we import this framework).

I’ll add a simple class for fruit basket. Feel free to add only one function to print Hello, world , It doesn’t really matter in this example.

Now the framework code is ready, let us generate the framework.
100 Things You Should Know About People: #31 — The Desire For Control And Choice Is Built In
By: The Team W
Tags: Decision Making, Neuro Web Design, Choices, Barry Schwartz, Psychology

I’ve just started reading Sheena Iyengar’s new book, The Art of Choosing. I’ve been a fan of Dr. Iyengar’s work for a while. She’s the author of the famous “jam study”, that I talked about in a previous blog. (I’ll do a book review of the new book in a future post). Early in the book she talks about some of the research on choosing and control.

The paradox of choosing — In his book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz talks about how much we want to have lots of choices. The paradox is that if we have lots of choices then we tend not to choose at all. I have a chapter in my book Neuro Web Design: What makes them click devoted to our need to have choices, and the resulting inability to choose.

The innate desire to control — The desire to control our environment is built into us. This makes sense, since by controlling our environment we likely increase our chances of surviving. Iyengar’s discussion in her new book about choices got me thinking about control, and the relationship between having lots of choices and being in control. The desire to control is related to the desire to have choices.

The need to control starts young — In a study of infants as young as 4 months, the researchers attached babies’ hands to a string. The infants could move their hands to pull a string which would cause music to play. Then the researchers would then detach the string from the music control. They would play music at the same intervals, but the infant had no control over when the music would play. The babies would become sad and angry, even though the music was still playing at the same intervals. They wanted to control when the music played.

We think that choices = control — In an experiment with rats, the rats were given a choice of a direct path to food or a path that had branches and therefore required choices to be made. The rats preferred the path with branches. Monkeys and pigeons learn to press buttons to get food, but they prefer to have more than one button even though it doesn’t get them any more food. Even though it isn’t necessarily true, we equate having choices with having control. If are to feel in control, then we need to feel that our actions are powerful and that we have choices to make. Sometimes having a lot of choices makes it harder to get what we want, but we still want the choices so that we feel in control of the decision.

For more information about the books mentioned in this post (affiliate links):

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One Little Thing, Everyday
By: L. Walker
Tags: Writing, Love, Poetry

So I just want to practice using words

to string a sentence,

bring a picture back to life,

revisit a memory,

tell a funny story,

find the veins in ideas,

feel a little more when I feel nothing,

feel a little less when I feel a lot,

swim a little in my mind,

hide a little when thoughts rain down like hail in a storm,

open the boxes that I have kept shut,

show a little more than I can otherwise,

think a little more deeply — a little more fiercely,

support myself when my mind is consuming me,

form a habit to live for,

get into my head,

get out of my head,

give a voice to those who don’t have one,

craft a voice to lend in the first place,

and love a little more with every letter.
Your Face at Last
Tags: Poetry, Life, Future, Creative Non Fiction, Life Lessons

I was sent an invite to open a secret box online

that would connect me to your single promise

to finally experience your real smile in motion

I didn’t think about the risk I was about to take

I waited for you like some boy on an open field

fantasizing about the soft sound of your voice

picturing how easily our skin would magnetize

and how many stories we could tell each other

those warm imaginings faded into bleak static

as I realized I was a profile that had been used

vulnerable enough to romanticize an algorithm

through neural patterns that often mislead me

my heart clicks as I close the pop up windows

blocking out the pain as I restart the machine

reloading the broken sectors of digital breath

a lesson to exhale after seeing your face at last
Kotlin, Data Class Inheritance by Delegation
Tags: Kotlin, Delegation, Data Class

A project I’m working on came across the following issue, it seems very specific to our situation but probably not. We had a Person class which had all the properties our domain used to describe a person, name, date of birth, address etc. We’d made it a data class to simplify working with all those properties. However, we treated as Person an entity, which is to say a Person, to be a Person, was assigned a distinct identifier. The problem arose around how to deal with a Person, before it was a Person, i.e. before it had been assigned its identifier. In the initial rough cut, the Person was given a nullable id:

data class Person(

val fName: String,

val lName: String,

val dob: LocalDate,

// ...

val id: UUID? = null

)

A nullable id?! Yeah I did that. It was expedient. Instantiate one, bounced it off the system of record, and get one back with its id set.

Another dev saw a nullable property, and immediately ripped out the property, renamed the class to PersonInfo, and made a new Person class with all the same fields, manually copied over, plus a non nullable id:

data class PersonInfo(

val fName: String,

val lName: String,

val dob: LocalDate,

// ...

) data class Person(

val fName: String,

val lName: String,

val dob: LocalDate,

// ...

val id: UUID

)

Then they added a sprinkling of transformation convenience methods. It was the only way they could see to have Person class with no id, and one with an id later, since you can’t subclass a data class. And so we sat and glowered at each other for a while. I understood the motivation but introducing data transfer objects so close to heart of a system will lead to systemic layering of transformations with each layer adding a bit more noise like the whisper game, until out at the edges a Person will be unrecognizable from the entity.

Then the other dev wondered aloud if we couldn’t employ delegation somehow. Eureka! Here’s what that led us to:

interface PersonDefinition(

val fName: String,

val lName: String,

val dob: LocalDate,

// ...

) data class Person(

private val data: PersonInfo,

val id: UUID

) : PersonDefinition by data data class PersonInfo(

override val fName: String,

override val lName: String,

override val dob: LocalDate,

// ...

) : PersonDefinition

Wait… it’s up to two classes and an interface?! Yes. But here’s what this gets you:

There’s a single definition of the Person in the interface and changing it will, at the compiler level, force you to propagate the changes.

Everyone is a data class so that’s a win.

While Person doesn’t inherit from PersonInfo, it delegates to it for everything pertaining to PersonDefinition and so all the getters and setters etc pull through.

No translation code needed, a Person just composites in a PersonInfo.

No more nullables. Bye bye null checks on the id.

Was all this worth it to get rid of that nullable id? I’m not sure myself, but it kept the peace.
Avengers: Endgame Is Epic… and Tainted By Fat Jokes
By: Misty Fritz
Tags: Movies, Media, Culture, Film, Entertainment

Slight spoilers ahead regarding one character, but no other characters or plot points, including that character’s fate at the end of the movie.

As soon as the characters stepped into Thor’s hut when looking for him, I knew it was coming and braced myself for disappointment.

Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed within seconds: Thor had gotten fat — specifically, he’d gotten a beer and cider and wine and mead belly.

Sometimes when people get depressed, they gain weight. That’s a fact for a variety of reasons, and I don’t have a problem with the fact that Thor, apparently, is one of those people.

I do, however, have a massive problem with his weight gain being turned into a joke that runs through the entire remaining movie, including through lingering shots on his belly. Much of the “joke”, especially in the first shirtless reveal, seems to be “Oh, you thought Chris Hemsworth was hot/ripped? Wait ‘til you get a load of him now!”

It’s gross. Especially when you realize that his weight gain is likely the result of depression and/or PTSD. I disagree with this Vanity Fair article’s contention that the movie “For the most part…avoids fat jokes at Thor’s expense…”, considering the article itself then goes on to detail fat jokes made at his expense. One would have been too many. I didn’t count them during the movie (I was too busy, you know, watching it for the plot), but that article lists four. That’s four too many. This article from The Mary Sue is more in line with my thinking, though not perfectly.

The powers that be (read: the writers and directors) could have handled Thor’s depression/PTSD in a variety of ways. He could have had an existential crisis and became a slovenly surfer dude, as a friend suggested. He could have funneled his grief/anger/whathaveyou into something productive. He could have even done one or both of those things and still gained weight, because, as I said, that happens sometimes.

But they didn’t have to make his weight into a joke.
I’ll Miss You in the Morning
By: Acamea Deadwiler
Tags: Heartbreak, Breakups, Love, Relationships, Healing

But for Now…

Photo by Billy Williams on Unsplash

Today I remembered that I am enough. So, I will set about my day as such and hope it carries me into night.

I’ll hang out with friends. Perhaps we’ll see a movie or have drinks. Maybe both. We’ll laugh and reminisce. The time will pass quickly for a change, instead of holding my thoughts hostage with its deliberate tics and tocs.

I’ll seek out others to fill the void left in your absence. I’ll smile and feel pretty. They will be astounded by my brilliance — enthralled by my wit. I won’t fret the possibility of it becoming more than casual engagement, because nothing more than this moment will be of concern.

I’ll see a movie and read a book, or otherwise occupy my waking hours.

I’ll admire the sun — Feel the warmth on my skin. I’ll listen to music and dance with shadows. I’ll drink wine until I feel as light as this burden of longing has become.

I’ll bask in the rightness of my decision to let go. It’s for the best, of which I am suddenly aware and accepting. I’ll cry tears of healing.

And when this day is done, I’ll climb into bed with a smile, and hug the sheets for protection. I’ll be satisfied.

Satisfied even knowing that when morning comes I’ll think of you again and wish for your presence.

Because today, I was free.
Accelerationism in a nutshell…
By: Accelerating Meltdown
Tags: Cyberpunk, Accelerationism, Synthwave

Perturbator — Rock AM Ring — Wikicommons

If you had to sum up the essence of Accelerationism in a nutshell, you could do worst than recommend somebody watch this:

Perturbator — Venger

Sometimes, 5 minutes of audiovisual composition, beats any 20,000-word essay in communicating an idea.

Enjoy.
Bringing Chameleon Cold-Brew Tea to Life, One Recipe at a Time
By: Marissa Cominelli
Tags: Drinks, Innovation, Tea, Recipe, Food

I’ve been an avid Apple Cider Vinegar fan for a long time. After reading about potential health benefits, I was determined to incorporate it into my daily routine. Because I was so devoted, I was willing to do the extra work to make the vinegar taste good. And it did take work: I’d mix the vinegar with water, tea, or sweeteners like honey to balance the acidic taste.

Then, Nestlé started asking employees if we had our own ideas for new products. I jumped at the chance to make a ready-to-drink Apple Cider Vinegar Tea. My colleagues liked the concept, and before I knew it I’d been voted one of the leading ideas, and I was pitching it to our executive team. I’d been doing the work in my own kitchen, and I believed there must be other people out there who’d want something already prepped and ready to drink. The leadership team agreed, and my product got the green-light.

What I didn’t know was where the idea would take me, the many iterations my teas would go through, and the experts I’d get to work with along the way. I work in sales reporting, so I see a lot of consumer trends and know how to use data to find out what consumers want. I’d never worked on the creation of a new product from idea to shelf. This would be a first.

Seeing my product come to life was exciting, nerve-wracking, and a lot of hard work — here’s a small glimpse at how we did it.
Habits drive our life.
By: Saiprasad Bejgam
Tags: Random, Good Habit, Power Of Habit, How To Build Habits

About 20 days ago I started to learn how to drive a car.

The third day, when I tried to back the car out of the parking place near my house, it needed a hell lot of concentration on my part.

I had to unlock the door, adjust the seat, insert the key in ignition, turn it, move rear view and side view mirrors, look for obstacles, put the gearshift into reverse mode, release the hand brake, slowly remove the foot from the brake, keeping the wheels aligned, gauge the distance available, monitor oncoming traffic, releasing the clutch slowly, and accelerating a little. It was one heck of a task to do. I had to do every task consciously.

While today, I just went in, did it almost instinctively answering the call on the car’s Bluetooth. I hardly had to think.

The entire act has become a habit. And my mind saved a lot of energy. This little reflection on the difference between day 3 and day 20 has taught me a lesson.

Lesson of the story is, we can put ourselves in the auto mode with almost all the tasks if we make them the routine.. Learn the art. Repeat it until it becomes a habit. We can do anything effortlessly..
¿Cropto qué?
By: José Martín
Tags: Español, Cerillas, Palabras, Croptocérido, Fósforos

in In Fitness And In Health
Spirit-wear
By: Georgia Lewitt
Tags: Selflessness, Poetry, Writing, Fiction, One Line

Copyright © 2020 by Georgiana Petec. All rights reserved.

Thank you so much for reading. Happy New Year 2021 with peace, joyful moments and mountains of love! 🙏🎊🎍

Also thanking Manasi Kudtarkar for the wonderful prompt and the Chalkboard team for making this possible.
A Story about Social Media from Someone Who Hates Social Media
By: Natsumi Sen
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Cats, Life, Social Media, Startup

This is an accurate feline representation of my face when I have to attend to my own social media accounts because I can’t afford to pay someone else to do this horrendous job.

I don’t mean any offense to people who actually love social media and who excel in it as a part of their career. In fact, if you are one of those people, can you please share some of your insight and wisdom with me on how to enjoy social media?

Sometimes, when I see a quality meme that has found its way to my Instagram feed, I am actually very grateful for social media, but more often than not, I despise any time spent on social media for a couple of reasons:

1. After 30 minutes of scrolling, I feel like I haven’t really absorbed anything of value.

I’m not saying I need to read about the latest ground-breaking discovery in the world of calculus every time I login on Facebook, but watching a cooking video that actually motivates me to cook instead of just being a recipe and instructions in moving picture form would be nice.

2. I don’t care about what my friends are up to, but I also feel guilty if I unfollow or hide their content.

This one is 100% my problem, but that doesn’t mean I can’t complain about it. The hard part isn’t figuring out how to unfollow or hide certain people’s contents, but rather, it’s hard when I want to do it to a friend who I like IRL or who I think is really sweet/nice. Even though I know they won’t know if I hide their content, I still feel guilty about it. Does anyone else have this very-fixable-but-it-still-hurts-to-do-it problem??

3. Scrolling makes me sick.

Literally. I am the queen of being prone to motion-sickness (to the point where I have to drive 99% of the time,or else, we will be making puke-stops more than bathroom-stops). That being said, sometimes, if I’m really fed up with social media, I’ll scroll so quickly through content that I’m not interested in to the point where I start getting headache from the dizzying visual stimulation.

4. I don’t like short-form writing.

Clearly, this is why I had a Medium account before I had a Twitter account. Legit. I just signed up for Twitter an hour ago. It’s September 1, 2020 (time of writing this article). I’m a millennial.

But, I don’t think in short-form. When I think, it’s in 10-paged-double-spaced-12-point-serif-font-form. (Am I scarred from all the writing I had to do for my English degree? Most definitely.)

That’s why social media is so hard for me. Even Instagram, which allows for pretty lengthy captions, is too limiting for my tastes. That’s probably why I’m so silent on social media. If I can’t say everything that I want to say, then I’d rather say nothing at all.

However, one of my favorite words is quite short. Maybe I’ll make that my first Tweet. (Brb. #tweeting. Also, do we capitalize “Tweet?” Or, is it “tweet?” There are grandmas out there who know more about Twitter than I do. #dontsendhelp #notactuallyinterested)
Night Eyes
By: Sydney Duke Richey
Tags: House Of Haiku, Poetry, Night, Haiku, Winter

Written from the prompt “winter night.”

Monoku is a type of haiku but written in a single line. And like the haiku, it may contain 17 syllables, but there could also be fewer. The first letter is written in lower case and there may be slight or no punctuation.

Sydney Duke Richey writes from the heart. Inspired by everyday experiences, her poems, haiku and non-fiction come from a slice of her life.

Sydney lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.
Hear Me: a documentary following a Christian college student’s struggle with same-sex attraction
Tags: Faith, Grace, Gospel, God, Church

This past semester I was asked to participate in a documentary one of my students was helping create. The film is called HEAR ME and tells the story of Moody student Colby Adams.

I was incredibly impressed and touched by Colby’s openness and boldness to share his experiences. Sam, Jessica and Nathaniel did a phenomenal job creating this. It is a powerful part of the conversation and I hope it is an encouragement to those who watch. Which you should do so here:
Those Hidden Words
By: Priyanka Srivastava
Tags: Poetry, Writing, This Happened To Me, Relationships, Sadness

Those Hidden Words

A poem about that longing called wait which we have learnt to carry inside

Photo by Cassia Tofano on Unsplash

now we talk about memories which we will make

the places which we will visit and the sunset which we will kiss.

now you and me know that we are together in this

we have buried that longing to create space for new memories.

now when we talk we both know about that poetry which we hide

you are not a writer but I know the words which you have buried inside.
Communion #1
By: Dan Mccarthy
Tags: Art, Writing, Poems, Religion, Love

Communion #1

T’s communion

When I go to communion hold my hand.

The change in the air,

The rustle of the heavy clothes,

The scuff of shoes against the polished slate,

The solitary cough,

The clap of the wood boards against metal stays,

The mumuring up ahead,

The swollen rotation of the bellows,

The stillness of the lift,

A mirror, and its image,

The shake in my hand and the disquieting

White noise that buzzes in my skull

All confuse me and I don’t understand what to do.

Feb 2009
Contemplations!
Tags: Think, People, Personal

I heard that God gives you what you need and not what you want.

It did not make sense then!

And what I’ve realised is that God doesn’t come down by himself in front of us with a board saying “Hi. I’m God. Can I help you?” and with a marching beat playing in the background!

As Paolo Coelho says in ‘The Alchemist’, “Once you desire something strongly enough, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it!” Only recently have I started understanding it!

You know what, even nature talks to us! In fact, it hollers at the top of its voice whenever you have need of it!

Last week, I was wondering about how long do we keep trying to finish something which is not getting done. Like everyone, I have a few things in life, which I’ve never been able to actually finish, though I’ve been trying for a long long time.

As every day, I was sitting on the beach and was gazing at the waves, when it suddenly struck me that the Sea was shouting-out-loud “Look at me — I don’t give up! Each second, I try again, again and yet again, creating new waves continuously- and I will continue to do so till the end of time!”

Recently, we were at Burra Caves in Araku Valley and there was this stream of water — a thin trickle actually — that has been flowing incessantly for millions of years, eating the stone up and forming all those unimaginable shapes on stalactites and stalagmites! It never gave up!!!

And then, for the first time, I saw a picture at home which said, “In the confrontation between the rock and the stream, the stream always wins in the end — not through strength, but through sheer consistency!”

What was surprising is that the picture has been around for a long long time, but I never noticed it!!!

This happens ever so often — The solution is staring at you in the face, but you never get to notice it till the time comes. What we mean by “till time comes” is till we actually want the solution badly enough!!!

Be it a financial problem, a personal problem or a philosophical problem.

The next time something bothers me, I’m gonna sit on the beach again!!!
The 3 Trainable Skills That Will Differentiate You as a Software Engineer
By: Sabrina Sourjah
Tags: Developer, Programming, Software Engineering, Software Development, Software Engineer

2. Ability to Take Initiative

How many times have you thought of asking a question but hesitated and given up so as not to risk looking like a fool? You later realized that no one else at the meeting knew the answer and you should have asked anyway.

Photo by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay.

Were there times when you wanted to suggest certain steps like documenting decisions, conducting a risk assessment, or double-checking a requirement with the user but stopped yourself because it was not your job and you didn’t want to step on the toes of the project manager or product owner? In the end, have you had to kick yourself when the project failed due to factors that could have possibly been addressed through your suggestions?

I have been plagued by this self-doubt all my working life. But with time, I have learned that the risk of a failed project is far too significant compared to looking stupid or getting the stink-eye from a coworker because I’m trespassing on their part of the project. When you realize this, you become an initiative-taker for the rest of your life. The price you pay for keeping quiet when you know better becomes unjustifiable.

So, if you have a question, please ask it. If you see a better way of doing something that may not fall under your purview, just say it. The overall health of your project or team depends on all of you coming together without fear of ridicule or remorse. Learning to raise your hand first or call a meeting is an act of vulnerability. But do it for the greater good knowing that your intentions are pure.

Of course, it’s best to state your opinions with tact and sound non-threatening when you’re making suggestions about others’ tasks. Explicitly state that this is “just your opinion” and that it could be wrong too.

Also, you need to keep your ego aside and be open to suggestions from other team members if they have an opinion on how to better your code reviews or solution designs. They may not necessarily be correct all the time, and if this is the case, you can logically explain why their suggestion may not work. But if what they say makes sense, you need to be able to adapt to the change with humility.

And this leads to the art of communicating.
A Story Never Heard
By: Arty Altanzaya
Tags: Self Improvement, Storytelling, Fiction, Poem, Short Story

www.pixabay.com

Let me tell you a story.

There was once a kingdom of mutes. If you ever visited there, all you could hear was the scream of silence. No songs to be heard. No words to be said. No one ever made a sound there. And no one ever dared to imagine the possibility of the existence of any kind of tune existing. People went to get groceries without making a sound; they ate without letting out a tune. They did not talk — ever. Even when they slept their breathing had no sound as if they were gone forever when they slept.

It was a kingdom of silence.

But there was something unique about that place. There, the silence screamed louder than anything. So loud that ignoring it was not a possibility for anyone.

But that scream existed only inside of them. It was hidden behind their shut face.

But everyone knew what that scream was, and how it cried inside of them. The sad thing was that no one had any courage to claim the existence of that everlasting scary tune. They lived their life questioning if they were crazy for hearing that sound. The irony of inside scream is that you never hear a single tune outside of your own territory.

So, they buried the ones who mentioned the possibility of melody because they were scared. They buried them under the ground so that those who mentioned melody would be kept in silence by the quietness of the soil under the ground.

The last one who was buried, however, she invented letters and ink from the dirt. She grasped soil and carved. She let the silence be silence by describing the melody through something that is silent; writing. That is how the writing was invented, the old man sitting near the bonfire continued his tale. He shifted his eyes to the burning bonfire as if he was remembering that time.

People invented writing so that they could describe the scream inside of them by not disturbing the silence, he said. Then, why are you letting out a tune, talking and disturbing my silence I asked, changing my position, getting closer to the burning fire.

He replied, “How are you so sure I am breaking the silence, after all, I only exist inside of you”, he said.

That still means you disturb the silence inside of me, I replied.

He did not reply, but got up and left. I will be back, he said. And I sat there, looking as he left, wondering “When will you be back?”.
The Ego
By: Dr. Niranjan Seshadri
Tags: Self Improvement, Mind, Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Ego

Photo by Yong Chuan on Unsplash

The ego bridges all the gaps

So the mind won’t collapse

In that pillarless cavern

Each thought become a lantern

Thoughts are not sufficient

Even if they are beneficent

To defend against the darkness

The ego and mind find harmless

As the sun rises, we dive

In the mind, as if a succulent hive

Teeming with thought-filled baits

The mind throws open its gates

Its structure is kept intact

Despite being completely packed

Around it, entire lives are built

The prosperous ego will not wilt
Hymn to all gods (№2)
By: Peter Sahota
Tags: Sanskrit, Indology, Rigveda, Hinduism, Vedic

What follows is my own translation of Rig Veda Mandala 1 Sūkta 90. The final lines of this verse are well-known and well-loved as they feature in one of the Śānti Mantras. The repeated reference to honey (madhu) also seems to be picked up on later in the Madhu-vidyā section of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.

The hymn follows directly on from Sūkta 89 which I published here, and is a continuation in some sense of that by our old friend Ṛṣi Gotama Rāhūguṇa, continuing his praise of all the gods. In making this translation, I again consulted the translation and notes by Professors Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, and also the translation by Prof. Ralph Griffith, both of which I found to be enlightening.

Let Varuṇa and Mitra lead us with correct moral guidance

And Aryaman with the gods

For, they, wealthy, possessors of wealth, [and] very wise,

Protect the laws always

Let them grant shelter to us, the undying to the dying,

Driving away the hostile

Let them pile up our path to fortune — Indra [and] the Maruts,

Pūṣan, Bhaga, the praiseworthy

With our thoughts [excelling as if] led by cows, O Pūṣan, O Viṣṇu, horse-rider

Let us be well

Honey blows the wind; honey runs the river;

Let herbs be honeyed for us

Honey the night and honey the dawn; honeyed the earthly atmosphere;

Let father heaven be honey for us

Honeyed for us the forest-tree; let the sun be honeyed;

Let cows be honeyed for us

[Let] Mitra [be] good to us; [let] Mitra [be] good to us

[Let] Indra [and] Bṛhaspati [be] good to us;

[let] wide-striding Viṣṇu [be] good to us
How I Made 32 Cents By Holding Down The “A” Key
By: Hogan Torah
Tags: Aaaaa, Humor, Aaa, LGBTQ, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Absurdism at it’s most absurd. Am I a duck? That depends on how much money you got. I bet you don’t have enough. That’s a shame because I’m an amazing duck.

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She Had That
By: Heath ዟ
Tags: Suicide, Poetry, Love, Death, Literally Literary

She was lovely.

Her smile

could set you spinning

dizzy

looking for a chair.

You could love her,

for the sight alone.

She had that.

Like a broken doll

they found her —

vodka perfume,

pink lips blue,

purple welts

between

porcelain skin

and black belt

pulled tight

around her neck.

She was loved

for the sight alone.

She had that.
To Be
Tags: Self Love, Creativity, Love, Identity, African

To Be

A Poem

Photo by Jessica Felicio on Unsplash

I did not choose this skin of mine

that I have come to inhabit.

I did not choose the loudness of my lips.

Nor did I choose the space taken up by my hair.

I did not choose to coat myself this brown

that I did not choose,

but if I could, would choose again

and again

and again.
This Is Halloween
By: Sara Zadrima
Tags: Writing Prompts, Scary, Humor, Halloween

Halloween and Writers’ Prompt

This Is Halloween

Everybody Scream!

Photo by Maciej Karoń on Unsplash

Here we are at that time of year, when spirits come out and dance unabashedly among us. And sometimes we dance along beside them. This is MuddyUm’s second year of celebrating our writers’ talents through this least of funny seasons. And yet…we bring the humor. Writers unite! The Great Pumpkin officially requests your spookiest story with a funny twist! And to get your mojo flowing, here are a few of our already published favorites.
Unlike Any My Eyes Have Ever Seen
By: Jl Matthews
Tags: Microfiction, Storytelling, Fantasy, Short Fiction, Fiction

Unlike Any My Eyes Have Ever Seen

A 100-word story

Image by Youssef Jheir from Pixabay

He sat down next to her on the smooth, flat boulder. As they had done a thousand times before, they stared out at the sun, setting into the ocean. Yet, this evening was different.

There, past the crashing waves, a caravel drifted in the sea. Gulls flew over and around its masts and rigging.

“What is it, father?” She asked.

“A boat. But unlike any my eyes have ever seen,” he replied.

“And what people could build such a boat?”

“If it is people who built such a thing, surely they are wise. Let us hope they are good, too.”
On the Outskirts of Hope
By: Jonathan Greene
Tags: Hope, Poetry, Society, Life, Nature

On the Outskirts of Hope

A Poem

Photo by Evelyn Paris on Unsplash

I don’t live there,

in a hopeful place

where the future

is a foregone conclusion

and our hope is a beacon,

a signal of our resolve

No, that place is nice,

but not really my cup of tea

as I prefer a heavier dose

of real talk and statistical analysis

to make me comfortable

with the hope of hope

But where I live is nice

quite quiet and serene

octaves lower than the noise

riddled with nature

and fueled by fact

On the outskirts of hope

I can get there quickly,

if I wanted to or had to,

but I don’t have to remain

I can look in, from the outside,

and watch what I’m missing

while I sit still, breeze on my face

The outskirts are where the hopeful gather

Data in one hand, idealism in the other

A congregation of investigators

methodically researching their psyche

while clouds pass in a flurry

providing all the hope that they need

It’s fine if you live there, nice even,

but just because you like it

doesn’t mean that I will, too

I much prefer to live on the outskirts

Known and unknown

an evaluator of hope
Where & How to buy ELF
By: Vaz Reddy
Tags: Ethereum, Binance, How To Buy Elf Aelf, Elf Binance, Bitcoin

Where & How to buy ELF

Comprehensive guide on understanding what is ELF , It’s token, purpose and how to buy ELF (aelf) token from Binance.

An Introduction to ELF

I think it’s important to understand at least the very basics of what you’re purchasing, so this and all future articles will include a short introduction to get you started.

ELF tokens are used to pay resource fees in the system, such as the deployment of smart contracts, operating and upgrading of systems (transaction fees, cross-chain data transfer fees). It also enables community to vote on major decisions, such as electing mining nodes, introducing new features to the system and other major decisions.

Let’s get started

To begin with, we need to buy either Bitcoin or Ethereum to buy any cryptocurrency on exchanges. So follow the link below to buy Ethereum on Coinbase and then follow the next steps to buy ELF on Binance. If you already have Ethereum with you — you can skip this step and go on to Binance registration.

ELF can be bought with Bitcoin too — just that it takes more time to transfer to another exchange, I am suggesting to go with Ethereum as it takes only few minutes.

Register on Binance

Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange with relatively less transaction fees and been faring good so far without any issues and good support response. There are two options for trading platforms on Binance: Basic and Advanced. I’ll be primarily covering the Basic trading option in this article, but you can check out the Advanced view below. There are not many differences between the two views with the exception of being able to do more detailed technical analysis in the Advanced view.

Deposit your Ethereum to Binance

Once you’ve registered on Binance and logged in, you can see few menu items on top right corner. One of the is “Funds” which has a sub menu item named “Deposits Withdrawals”. This is the place where you can see all your coins(purchased on Binance and received from other addresses).

So in order to send Ethereum which we bought on Coinbase or Gemini to Binance, we need to have an Ethereum address — we can find this on this page.

Check out the following screenshots to learn how to deposit Ethereum to Binance from Coinbase
Microsoft Excel — Easily Create an Interactive Executive Resource Dashboard
By: Don Tomoff
Tags: How To, Excel, Dashboard, Analysis, Top 10 Post

Let’s Walk Through This

1 — Create the Lookup Table and the Data Validation List resource

This table serves a dual purpose — the left hand column serves as the Data Validation source and the whole table serves as a VLOOKUP resource.

Since the data is set up in the Excel TABLE format, the ranges will automatically update as data is added to the list. This is essential — it keeps maintenance simple!

Data RANGE NAMES are assigned:

— “InfoSource” = data validation list

— “WebLinks” = VLOOKUP table range

Dashboard data table source

2 — Create the Dashboard

— Create the Data Validation dropdown cell

Drop down list using Excel Data Validation List

Data Validation using a List, with the source = Range Name “InfoSource”

— Create the dynamic HYPERLINK (link changes based on selected content)

2 steps:

Use VLOOKUP to 1) look at item selected (cell A7) and 2) return value from column 2 in Data Table (and it must be an EXACT match).

“Mask” the HYPERLINK with the description “Click Here to Open Webpage”.

Create dynamic HYPERLINK from selected drop down menu item

Once a item has been selected from the drop down list, click the HYPERLINK and your web browser will open the link!

That’s it — you’re done!

Applications

I demonstrated a very simple example to walk through a very compelling concept.

Here are various types of data resource reports I have seen used with this:

Management reporting — to select Excel report page

Training content front-end

Website monitoring — competitor or industry analysis

SEC reporting industry or selected company analysis — access SEC website links

Network document access — opens documents stored on your computer or network drive (i.e., the links become shortcut paths)

Let your imagination run…how can you see applying this idea in your organization?

About Don

Don Tomoff is a “recovering CPA”, who is passionate about helping professionals and organizations keep up and adapt to the changing business world that we operate in.

One lesson learned over the years is that all of us, regardless of organization type or size, struggle with similar issues — primarily information management and presentation, and effective use of our time. Let’s change that…one person at a time!

Connect with Don!

LinkedIn, Flipboard, Twitter, Snapchat

Or, just Google me…I’m everywhere

Send Don an email
We Came Up With 20+ Taglines For PAWS in an Hour
By: Allie Lefevere
Tags: Spec Work, Copywriting, Branding, Brainstorming, Marketing

This one went off the rails fast but funny ideas usually do, right? RIGHT?

We chose pet adoption organizations as the theme for today’s challenge because we both have rescue pups hence are better than you.

Copyright: Obedient Agency

The rules, in case you haven’t been reading, ugh:

1 brand or product

A firestorm of one-liner campaign concepts

Humor + fun = weapons of choice (duh)

All concocted in under one hour

Based solely on the brief benefits they list on their home page or packaging. (Hell, we only have an hour, ok?? THERE’S NO TIME FOR A LARGER STRATEGY THAN THAT.)

Play fast and loose

Do your best

Trying and bombing is better than never trying at all

All’s fair in a creative ideation dump

Champions never cry

Here are our 20 impressive eye-rollers. (God blezz the 50+ on the cutting room floor.)

Copyright: Obedient Agency

Kennel you believe this gorgeous dog isn’t a purebred? Don’t be a p*ssy, adopt a cat. Tap into the sheer smugness of getting to say, “She’s a rescue.” You bought a dog? That don’t impress me mutt. Because your dog allergy is probably as real as your gluten one. Stop waiting to be saved by a Knight-in-Shining-Armor and be one instead. I’m not a player I just adopt a lot. Stop rescuing ex-boyfriends, rescue a pet. Adopt right meow. Cats may have 9 lives but you only have one: do the right thing. People who only want Purebreds are the same people who send wine back. “I’d ONLY ever have a Frenchie,” says the girl who studied abroad in Paris 13 years ago. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks but you can give him a new home. Stop, adopt, and roll out of there with your new best friend. Get a dog from a breeder when there are thousands of pups without a home? That’s ruff. If you don’t rescue, it’ll hound you forever. What has 4 legs, a cold nose, and you as his only hope?

*referee whistle*

Copyright: Obedient Agency

PS: Our favorite flops: Shih-Tzu happens. | Cat got your conscience? | Rescue organizations are man’s best friendzone. | Collar me by your name. | Shit crappens.