fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Shopping for Knives in Baker Street
By: Mark Kelly
Tags: Food, Family, Shopping, Humor, Christmas

Shopping for Knives in Baker Street

Cue saxophone solo

Photo by Felix Hanspach on Unsplash

It puts me in a great mood when I step out of Baker Street station whistling the sax solo to the Gerry Rafferty song (as I always do) and see someone smirking at the sound. Someone who is probably suppressing the urge to do the same.

It’s certainly a street worth celebrating. From the interminable queues for Madame Tussauds, down to the Chess and Bridge Shop, with players engaged in matches on the pavement in the pouring rain, it has a character all of its own.

I don’t dally, having a serious Christmas shopping mission to accomplish.

The Japanese Knife Shop does exactly what it says on the tin.

“Is this knife Japanese?”, I ask.

“They are all Japanese”, comes the weary reply

I don’t contradict him, even though I have just been offered a Chinese cleaver in the room next door. I am just trying to achieve some thematic consistency in my purchase of a meat cleaver, a carving knife and a steak knife and fork set. The kanji characters on the blades set my mind at rest and I assemble the basket.

Two little cultural bumps in the experience. One is that all of the staff seem to be young and Indian, whereas I was expecting to be initiated into the mysteries of Japanese silverware by a Yoda-like samurai sage.

The other is that they have an impeccable, but very modern and Western, playlist in the background, encompassing Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Green Day, Cranberries and Nirvana, among other favourites.

Never mind — they have everything I need in the hardware department.

Photo: Me and my Samsung Note 9

My wife recently drank the Mikhaila Peterson kool-aid and started following the Lion Diet which, from what I understand, entails eating only the flesh of ruminant animals and drinking only water.

I think my wife is cheating a little when she sticks a few fried eggs atop her steaks, but it seems to be working for her so far, and it has solved my perennial problem of what to get her for Christmas. We were coming up short in the cutlery arena, given her latest kitchen needs. Now we are sorted.

In heading for the Tube, I happen upon Selfridge’s Food Hall, which has ridiculously fat-marbled Wagyu steaks on special. Now I have the complete Christmas package sorted, a whole week in advance!

Am I worried about posting this now, and spoiling the surprise?

Not at all. There is nothing less likely in the world than any of my nearest and dearest voluntarily troubling themselves to read my blogging efforts.
Další aut v cyklistice a Svrhne Paroubek vládu?
By: Martin Pánek
Tags: Odkazy, Politika

in Both Sides of the Table
Option 3: Gender X
By: Melanie James
Tags: Transgender, Binary, Gender, Nonbinary

On January 27, 2018 the state of Washington has now given their residents the option of changing their sex on their birth certificates to ‘Gender X’. Gender X according to the Department of Health is defined as,

“A gender that is not exclusively male or female, including, but not limited to, intersex, agender, amalgagender, androgynous, bigender, demigender, female-to-male, genderfluid, genderqueer, male-to-female, neutrois, nonbinary, pangender, third sex, transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit, and unspecified.”

The purpose of the policy change is to show support for the non-binary communities and challenge the status quo.

In the article, The Complexity of Identity: “Who Am I?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum, the author mentions another writer, Audre Lorde. In her essay, Lorde, discusses a mythical norm. A norm where if you weren’t male, white, financially stabled, Christian, heterosexual, young, and thin, then you are powerless. You are part of the subordinate group because you lack one of these traits. In my opinion, “Gender X” pushes against the binary and promotes individuals and their parents to an idea of gender fluidity and non-conformity. Individuals can define themselves for who they are and not who they should be (according to society). While gender is one of many social constructions we ascribe to individuals, it does not tell their story, who they are, their sexuality, sexual orientation, etc. It does not explain what we are capable of or aspire to be. To me, Gender X gives individuals the chance to express and present themselves, confidently, to the world as they are and not who society says they should be.

References:

Tatum, B. D. (2000). The Complexity of Identity; “Who am I?” In Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Hackman, H. W., Zuniga, X., Peters, M. L., (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An Anthropology on racism, sexism, anti Semitism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism (pp 9–14). New York: Routledge.

A. Lorde, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” in P.S. Rothenberg, ed., Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study, 3d ed (New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 446.

Grinberg, E. (2018, January 04). Washington state offers third gender option on birth certificates. Retrieved January 31, 2018, from https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/health/washington-state-gender-neutral-birth-certificate/index.html
Git Tutorial for Beginners: Basic Git Commands
By: Chao-Wei Peng
Tags: Git Commit, Git Init, Git Status, Git, Git Tutorial

Git is a very popular version control system for software development. However, it’s not so easy for beginners to get a clear picture of how to use it in the project. That’s why I write this beginner’s guide for you.

Before starting, we must have some basic knowledge about software development, including how to create a folder for a new project and use command line interface in your operating system.
Chestnuts
By: Sean Zhai
Tags: Holidays, Poetry Writing, City Living, Poetry, Art

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

Follow
What is the KYC procedure and how to successfully go through it?
Tags: ICO, Kyc, Token Sale, Blockchain, Taylor App

The KYC procedure is a simple online process of identification. To be added to the whitelist and have access to Taylor’s token sale contribution address the participant will have to go through it. Participants will need to provide a high-quality image of a passport or government-issued ID. The procedure will take place online, in real time, and in most cases, the results will be almost immediate. The KYC procedure will start prior to the token sale launch and will be ongoing alongside it until its closure on March, 20th.

Taylor is implementing the KYC procedure to address concerns from specific countries regulators. Our team also believes that it symbolizes better business practice and it is beneficial to all parties involved in the token sale.

How to go through the KYC procedure

Visit our official website and register for the token sale with your email address. You will receive an email from us to confirm the email provided during the registration. Confirm your email as soon as possible. Within the dashboard, you will be presented with the KYC and instructions on how to proceed. You will be required to provide a good-quality image of your passport or government-issued ID. Upon successfully identifying yourself via the KYC procedure, verified your email address and informed your Ether wallet you will be automatically added to the token sale whitelist.

What to do if the KYC identification procedure is unsuccessful

Try again using a better quality image than before. Make sure that the image shows all the information contained in the document, and that it is clearly visible. Use an original image, uncropped, and unedited. You may also choose to use a different form of ID.

We are excited about Taylor’s token sale and we hope you are too!

The Taylor team thank you in for your interest and support. Together we will make crypto history.

We look forward to seeing you at the token sale.

Join us today

Find more detailed information about the Taylor service, and our upcoming token sale at https://smarttaylor.io.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or on your favorite social media platform to stay up to date with our latest news and announcements, as well as, our blog here on medium.

Feel free to post your questions, suggestions, and comments on our Telegram channel. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
SOPHIE LABELLE Event at the Leicester LGBT Centre
By: Pep Sanz
Tags: Assgnedmale, Transgender, LGBTQ, Leiceter, Sophielabelle

We are excited to be part of Sophie Labelle’s 2017 UK Tour!

The Leicester LGBT Centre is holding an event on Saturday the 7th of October with the Canadian trans author Sophie Labelle.

Sophie will meet with the young people from the Young Transgender Centre of Excellence and will take part in a workshop with them during the day. This is a private; invite only event but exciting nonetheless!

In the evening, she will be holding a talk and Q&A session open to anyone who would like to attend. Tickets are available on a first-come-first-serve basis and you need to register to attend. You can do so here!

There is a small fee for tickets. Drinks and nibbles will be available on the night and in return we will be asking for a small donation to the LGBT Centre.

So get your diaries out or calendars up and pencil it in. We are so looking forward to this event and we would love you to be part of it!

Get your tickets here.

About Sophie Labelle

Sophie Labelle is a Canadian trans author, cartoonist and public speaker, world-renowned for her web comic Assigned Male. She devotes herself full time to both art and trans activism. In a recent interview at Huffington Post, Sophie explained that she seeks ‘to empower trans people, to get them to talk about our microaggressions that we live (through) on a daily basis in a relatable way and feel like we’re part of society’s imagery’.

Sophie has faced many threats, but she is determined to keep drawing for trans people.
Designing a Cohesive User Experience From Ticket Selection to Payment for TiRoll — Online Ticketing Platform
By: Dan Suteu
Tags: Experience Design, Mobile Apps, Online Ticketing System, UI Design

2. Select the Number of Tickets

One of the differences between standing and seated tickets is that the seated tickets are assigned a specific place in the venue. So users know where they’ll be seated. The best seats might be the ones closer to the stage, though they often are more expensive and are the first ones to sell. For selecting these seats the team designed an interactive layout of the venue. Users can easily zoom in and select the seats they like. For this task the team had a request from the stakeholders: in order to assign every seat to a customer some limits had to be imposed. The seats that users select have to be next to other booked seats or to leave at least 2 seats empty in between.

3. Select a Delivery Method

TiRoll offers two delivery methods: shipping the tickets to users or emailing them the tickets. The team showcased the option that they think it’s best for users by moving it at the top of the list and preselecting it.

Users can also see in real time additional costs added to their order for every selection. An overview of the selections that users made in the previous steps is constantly present throughout the purchasing flow. Information about the event’s date and location can reinforce user’s decision to move forward.

4. Payment Method

Users have the option to pay online or to pay cash when the tickets are delivered to them. Salt&Pepper’s designed this experience to be as simple and straightforward for users as possible. The platform requires only the minimum amount of information to complete the checkout process.

5. Success Page

Users are redirected to a success page after they placed the order. They get a success message and a summary of the order. Users can easily access a Q and A page for additional information from here.
GAIA, una stella tra le stelle. Lancio perfetto
By: Sabrina Masiero
Tags: Esa, Gaia

in Both Sides of the Table
What do a condom shaped hat, claymation featuring ice cream trucks, and an amusement park have in…
By: Aimée Gramblin
Tags: Music, Culture, Music Videos Online, Women, Short Form

What do a condom shaped hat, claymation featuring ice cream trucks, and an amusement park have in common? They’re all featured in the videos linked in my first ever music article. 🎧

My music taste is all over the place — Beastie Boys, Aldous Harding, Lucinda Williams, XAmbassadors, Simon and Garfunkel, The Cure, the Ramones, Lady Lamb, Thao Nguyen, John Moreland, and more. It’s usually the lyrics that hook me, then the actual music. I’m excited to start writing for Hogan Torah’s music pub HTMV. Check out my debut article featuring 3 badass indie womxn singers.

Have you heard of them? Give ’em a listen. You might find something you like.
How KFC Won Christmas in Japan
By: Jake Daghe
Tags: Culture, Food, Christmas, Advertising, Marketing

How KFC Won Christmas in Japan

Why a brilliant marketing technique has led to a nationwide tradition unlike any other

via Wikimedia Commons

If you look up Japanese Christmas traditions, you’ll likely be surprised at the top tradition celebrated by most families across the island nation: Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Colonel Sanders and his army of marketers have done the seemingly impossible: they’ve taken over one of the most important days of the year, winning Christmas for the millions of people who call Japan home.

Business Insider and the BBC report that:

“An estimated 3.6 million Japanese families eat KFC during the Christmas season. Millions of people weather long lines to order fried chicken weeks in advance to carry on the tradition.”

How did KFC manage to secure such a vital stake in the country’s celebration of this upcoming holiday? Through a decades-long clever marketing plan and strategy — here’s how they did it.
Daily Routine of a Survivor
By: R.J. Darwin
Tags: Pets, Mental Health, Challenge, PTSD, Routine

It’s The Little Things

It is the little things that make up my successful routine. I do not have a routine scoping the entire morning, afternoon, or even the whole day. Instead, my methods are more specific, focusing on smaller pieces of my day. When the little things go right, so do the bigger things. At least the bigger things go right most of the time.

Subconsciously like muscle memory, the little things align.

It isn’t until I reflect on my day that I realize how many little things come together. Subconsciously like muscle memory, they align like pieces of a complicated puzzle. I start my day by taking the dogs outside. I do not rush them, as the feeling of being outside is calming. When we go inside, before heading upstairs, I have to take my medication. Taking the medication now is what works. It might work just fine if I take it after my shower, shaving, etc.; however, I prefer not to find out.

Once I am ready, I eat breakfast. First, making sure the dogs have their breakfast, I make mine. The food does not matter; eating does not have a small routine itself. I take my time and focus on the taste and texture of the food. Amazingly I taste food better now than ever. After eating is another little routine. I spend time with the dogs on the floor watching YouTube videos. We have subscribed channels we like, and we catch up on the latest.

Convinced the dogs also view some of the videos, I say we. I know they like basketball, so YouTube is not out of the question. I think the dogs look forward to this part of my morning as much as I do. This little thing started years ago when I felt the effects of PTSD and anxiety in the morning, making it nearly impossible not to have a fight or flight attack. The morning was the most intense, and the dogs, sensing this, took comfort in helping me. First playing, then lying firmly at my side, I was under their care. As the routine began, I found support and eventually ease. I will not take this out of my morning routine.

Image By: georgerudy

Following our quality time, my day becomes more fluid. Worry about what or how to do tasks throughout the day diminishes, lifting a heavyweight from my mind. The dogs are never far and check on me often.

Recently, we got a new puppy. I am very excited, and while a puppy is a lot of work, she is worth it. Getting up at night is ok because she is a puppy, and adding a new puppy to the morning routine will only make it better. I am surprised how this positive change to my morning routine created some physical reactions.

Hot and sweating head, kneck, arms, and hands are all pre-cursor signs to an attack. I remind myself she is a puppy and pet her; the reactions subside. One of my other dogs who sense this from a distance appears from around the corner. He is happily heading towards me to sit by my side with his exceptional ability to make everything better.
Will you stay by me?
By: Kuro, 黒
Tags: Poetry

When the grass turns dry

& rivers die of thirst.

Will you stay by me?

Give hope to future?

For i can conjure clouds to rain

And bless fall into spring.

If i know i have

Someone to nurture.

When the world turns arid

& the skies turn darker.

Will you stay by me?

Give strength to endure?

For i can change deserts to heavens

and add hues to a rainbow.

If i know i have

Someone to secure.

When all my powers recede,

As i near my last breathe

Will you stay by me?

Ease pain to bear?

For i may not promise anything anymore,

Only roses in December.

If i know i have

Someone to cheer.

Your presence itself is very fulfilling.

~ God gave us memories so we can have roses in December.

https://youtu.be/buxx_fubkDI
Dear Jews Who Say ‘Black Lives Matter’
By: Virginia Avniel Spatz
Tags: Black Lives Mater, Election 2020, Ammud Jews Of Color, Blm Dc, Jews For Black Lives

The Same Machinery

There is a temptation, amid all of this election’s confusion and fear, to suggest that this is somehow not the time for Jews to be more vocal in support of Black Lives Matter. But this election moment is helping to embolden white supremacists and increase threats to the movement for Black lives. Moreover, as the June letter reminded us: “Antisemitism is part of the same machinery…”

Movements like “Jews Against Fascism” are essential in the coming days and over the long haul. Still, Jews cannot remove our attention from the ongoing threats Black people continue to face from police —

— In daily life, through “stop and frisk” and other policies that disproportionately affect Black and brown people;

— In direct targeting of the movement for Black lives and our leaders; and

— In disproportionate response to Black folks’ exercise of First Amendment rights.

Compare, for example, the treatment of predominantly white protest groups — some heavily armed and some interfering with lawful voting and vote-counting activity — with that of predominantly Black gatherings breaking no laws and bringing no armed threat. Compare, too, the reporting on protests: Who is treated as a threat and who benign? Who is vilified by police and government spokespeople? To what end?

“Just as the sword can kill, so can the tongue,” warns another Jewish teaching (B. Talmud Arachin 15b). We must be vigilant in naming and countering words of antisemitism, whether outright or coded. We must be equally vigilant regarding words of anti-Black racism.

Back in June, Jews signed on to “reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.” Tensions of this election period are no reason for further hesitation but an extra urgency for Jews to speak up now.
The Mysterious Sitter. Part II
By: Marina Viatkina
Tags: Art Collecting, Versailles, Art History, History, Art

What a family! No wonder they were so praised by the Kings and their painter peers who supported them in the academic career.

Going back to the investigation:

Carle’s brother, Jean-Baptiste Van Loo (1684–1745), looks very much alike our sitter in question. The dates do fit well too, however, he has never received the Black Ribbon of the St. Michael Order.

Could it then be Louis-Michel? Moreover they used to paint one another in this family.

I’m afraid, I had to rule out him as well since he’d be too young in the times our portrait was painted.

Yet there was a much bigger problem lying out there on the surface.

Both Carle and Louis-Michel received their Orders too late! Well, not too late for them and their careers, of course, however, too late to be considered as our Mystery sitter!

Louis-Michel became the Knight of the Order of St. Michael in 1748 and Carle — in 1752. I think, you would agree, it would be too strange for someone to be painted with an Order he didn’t receive yet.

Oh, no, not this! It all ruined my so promising gut feeling! Seems like this idea was really mad.

All right, it’s still something. Now I have the last path to go and, hopefully, find the one I’m looking for.

Getting hands dirty in the online archives

This is the approach I decided to take next.

Take all the recipients of the Saint Michael Order from 1715 to 1745/48 as maximum [some of them were listed in the Almanach national: annuaire officiel de la République française or sources like this one]. Add all the Knights found additionally in the annals of the French Academies of Sciences. Rule out those with surviving portraits that do not resemble our Mystery sitter in any aspect. Check up all the available biographical info on the ones left and eliminate those who could not be the person on our portrait due to various reasons [either didn’t have a chance to meet with Carle, or were leading a completely different lifestyle to the one this portrait presumes, etc.] Scrutinize the bio of Carle himself [incl. many 18th century notes and documents] and try to find the direct indication of the names of the pre-selected persons [taking into account he came back to Paris from Rome only in 1734]. Make the short list of those left and try to make an assumption who might fit the best.

For example, this way I had to exclude another candidature I initially liked so much — renowned French painter Jean-François de Troy (1679–1752). He was already a Knight of St. Michel in 1730’s [appearing on a portrait by Aved with the Black Ribbon in 1734], a known bon-vivant, a man of fashion who had some close relations to Versailles and Italy, and who could potentially meet Carle there or in Paris in 1730s. Unfortunately, his surviving portraits, though looking quite similar to our sitter’s face, show his one distinctive feature that is totally missing in the face of our incognito — the eyebrows! How pronounced and dark they are on all portraits of De Troy and how different they are in out portrait by Van Loo.
Man is Not Made For Defeat
Tags: Mental Strength, Resilience, Mental Health, Mental Wellbeing

The city of Paris has a motto, Fluctuat nec mergitur, meaning “tossed by the waves, but does not sink”. I’d like to believe this applies to all of us. We’re in for a rocky time, but will weather this storm as we always have, by helping each other.

City of Paris coat of arms

I have no doubt that we will pull through this. Bruised but not broken, we’ll recover having reassessed who and what matters most. And one day we’ll be telling stories of how we survived by coming together as a community.

I also have no doubt that these will sound like hollow platitudes if you’ve been personally affected by the crisis. In my biggest failures, I heard them all — time heals all wounds, failure is one step to success, losing opens up new opportunities. I instinctively knew them to be true, but honestly didn’t give a sh*t then.

And that’s ok. It’s ok to be feeling what you’re feeling now. Frightened. Enraged. Lost.

But know that those feelings will fade, and you’re better than your temporary temperaments. For man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

We are remarkably resilient. Times are hard, and there will be more hard times to come. But we can make the decision to face our fears, one small step at a time. Small progress is still progress.

And when you’re ready, there are people standing by to help.

If you do need help, there are some resources in the “Other” section below that might be worth checking out.

And if you’re fortunate enough to be able to help, the “Other” section also highlights ways to do so. It’s ok if you’re not in a position to help right now; “secure your oxygen mask” first.

In these trying times, we’ll be tossed by waves of fear and hopelessness, but will not sink to despair. If we all help rather than harm, we can get through this. Reach out, even if it’s just to one person.

You can make a larger difference than you think.

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain - Emily Dickinson

Other resources to help or get helped
Two thumbs up for the pursuit of mindfulness
By: Ethen Kauiers
Tags: Mindfulness, Self Help, Meditation

I feel like I always start these essays or pieces with ‘it’s a funny thing’. Perhaps because once you get passed the anxiety and frustration of lifes’ curve balls, you begin to see problems as strange situations that are merely matters to overcome.

I think a lot of things are quite funny in that regard.

Life. Quite a funny thing too.

So the reason I feel so comfortable talking in these terms and discussing problems as ‘obstacles’ or even ‘opportunities’ is because this whole ‘mindfulness’ thing is starting to work.

I’ll admit a few things first though.

I wanted to become Zen straight away.

When I first started on this path towards a happier, more honest state of mind, I was perhaps…a little naive. Hell I'm still naive.

I wanted my ego to die away, never to come back and leave me grounded like a fucking pebble. But that didn't happen — just in the midst of a 6 gram mushroom trip.

Instead, I fell straight back into the throngs experiencing lifes’ hardships, wondering what the hell was wrong with my headspace and how I could achieve a steady state of being.

Mindfulness had come and gone as an option. Or a fad. It was practised (partially) without any great commitment and eventually gave way to a perspective troubled by everything it seeks to eliminate.

I learnt some valuable lessons, expecting my abrupt expansion in consciousness and awareness would bring salvation to the every day challenges I faced.

But I was wrong, and things got tough.

As tough as the other periods of my life that kept me wondering ‘when it was going to get better’.

But it’s fine. I got hit hard with yet another lesson to take under my belt.

So now I'm back, pursuing the ‘practise of mindfulness’, and I feel like being the used car sales-man the pursuit of enlightenment deserves.

I feel like I'm one of those born again hippies that’s finally starting to feel the benefits of a practise that by all accounts is friggn’ tough to commit to.
Platio’s multi-asset platform refuses from token sale and focuses on product delivery.
Tags: Investment, Payments, Blockchain, Tokenization, Banking

LONDON — Jan. 25, 2019 Fintech innovator Platio has announced today that key features of the platform will be launched much faster than it was initially planned.

Platio’s multi-asset platform will provide banking and investment services to individuals and businesses in fiat, stocks and digital assets. Powered by Graphene-based blockchain, Platio adds the speed and transparency of blockchain to the reliability and compliance of traditional ﬁnance.

Platio’s current announcement has followed company’s decision not to begin with a public token sale until an official launch of Platio platform.

“We believe that the market is tired of promises, it’s time to deliver. And all the marketing efforts have to follow the product and not vice versa,” said Vlad Bunin, Platio Board Member. “We are actively and successfully raising funds from the traditional sources. Our aim is to remain transparent and reliable as a business for our community, investors and partners.”

It has been also announced that the platform will be opened for public testing in April 2019.

“We perceive token sale as a marketing tool which would be more efficient after an official launch of Platio platform. We have already got nearly 30 000 contributors waiting to become our first users and providing this opportunity to them is our key priority,” also emphasized Bunin.

Platio will meet the financial needs of the information economy, empowering its users to take advantage of asset unification. Platio will also offer Asset Guard and Smart Escrow, innovative built-in safeguards for multiple types of asset and transactions.

Platio is an international fintech company licensed by the FCA and headquartered in London. The company holds European licenses for crypto operations and is an Authorised Payment Institution.

This content has originally been published on PRLOG.
FABcoin to be Listed on OKEx, World’s Leading Digital Asset Exchange
By: Fab Info
Tags: Trading, Partnerships, Exchange, Blockchain, Decentralization

The FAB Foundation’s FABcoin has just been announced as a winner of OKEx listing competition.

The listing competition allows fans of cryptocurrency and OKEx exchange users to use tickets to vote for the next currencies that the major digital asset exchange will list on their platform for buying, trading and storing. Over 22 cryptocurrencies competed with the top 3 winning listing.

FABcoin ended the three day vote on June 22, 2018 with over 482,751,168 tickets, an incredibly large haul. Voters purchased OKB tickets and used them to vote; voters could use several tickets.

The FAB Foundation

Implications

The winning of the listing has many positive implications for both FABcoin and the Fast Access Blockchain.

Popularity

With over $1 billion USD worth of daily trading volume, OKEx has one of the largest trading bases of any exchange. FABcoins listing on OKEx will bring a large increase in the amount of new enthusiasts finding and becoming interested in the project.

Community expansion is integral to the health of any blockchain project. A larger community creates a larger mining base, preventing centralization of mining. A larger community keeps the coin price steady and provides transactions for miners to confirm, resulting in worthwhile block rewards. Community expansion also brings more developers into the fold to build development applications (Dapps) that the community would want to use on the FAB platform.

Additionally, newcomers to the FAB community will want to hold the coin. This could have the potential to affect the price of FABcoin in a positive way, something that has been seen with listing of other currencies after listing competitions.

Accessibility

Being one of the largest exchanges, it is more likely that many supporters of FAB’s project already have OKEx accounts. This makes it more accessible for interested parties to buy FABcoin from a more established exchange. OKEx also has a network of near 100 smaller exchanges that will pick up FABcoin after it is listed on the platform, opening up the coin to new markets and user bases.

Furthermore, when one large exchange picks up a popular cryptocurrency, others tend to follow suit.

Visibility

Being listed on a page of a major exchange brings visibility. Visibility of FAB is important in driving PR and mainstream noise about our project. Ultimately, a goal of our project is to spread blockchain knowledge; this feat puts us closer to mainstream viewership to expand the blockchain community as a whole.

Major Backing

During the listing competition, FAB was backed to be chosen by 4 large trading conglomerates in the OKEx ecosystem called Prime Investors. Prime Investors have special privileges within the OKEx ecosystem and their backing lends legitimacy to the value of coins and projects. This backing helps establish FABcoin as a viable cryptocurrency for many traders.
How To Get Rid Of Eczema Scars | A Step By Step Easy To Follow To Infographic Steps
By: Nav Gosal
Tags: Home Remedies, Health, Skin Care Tips, Eczema, Skin

How To Get Rid Of Eczema Scars | A Step By Step Easy To Follow To Infographic Steps Nav Gosal Follow May 23, 2019 · 1 min read

How to get rid of eczema scars is a common question that haunts people affected by eczema. If this chronic skin condition, Atopic Dermatitis/eczema has been big trouble and you fear it from worsening, read further to gain insight of simple home remedies for eczema scars.

This infographic to save your time to offer you simple solutions for making your eczema skin beautiful again naturally.
Django Quick Tips: Context Processors
By: Farel Ellely
Tags: Programming, Coding, Python, Django, Web Development

Django Quick Tips: Context Processors

Better templating in Python

Photo by Vishnu R Nair on Unsplash.

Let’s talk about context processors and see how you can use them effectively in your Django projects.

“A context processor has a simple interface: it’s a Python function that takes one argument, an HttpRequest object, and returns a dictionary that gets added to the template context. Each context processor must return a dictionary. Custom context processors can live anywhere in your codebase as long as they are pointed to by the context_processors argument of Engine.” — Django’s documentation

When working with multiple and separate views , you may load different data objects into different views, but sometimes the use case requires you to have the same data available across the entire application — by that, I mean across all templates of the application. What would you do in that case? A beginner might repeat the process of loading data into a template context for each view, which is not so clever, right?

That’s exactly where custom context processors can be very useful.

We’ll see how we can put them in practice in just a moment, but let’s define a use case that would let you easily grasp what we’re about to implement.
Machine Learning Meets Synthetic Biology
By: Niko Mccarty
Tags: Science, Newsletter, Biology, News, Biotechnology

NEWSLETTER

Machine Learning Meets Synthetic Biology

This Week in Synthetic Biology (Special Issue #10)

This week’s issue is focused on the intersection of machine learning and synthetic biology. Two articles were published this week in Nature Communications (read the press release) by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute, describing a machine learning framework that helps metabolic engineers maximize the production of specific molecules (most of the time).

I was seriously impressed by the papers, but I did want to briefly use these studies as an opportunity to espouse the merits of gaining mechanistic understandings as scientists. New machine learning tools may be able to predict an “optimized” metabolic pathway by analyzing datasets from dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of experiments, but they will not provide metabolic engineers with a greater understanding of why this combination of proteins, or that batch of promoters, led to a desired outcome.

In the two studies, the authors use a machine learning framework (called Automated Recommendation Tool, or ART for short), that can speed up the “Learn” phase of the Design-Build-Test-Cycle. Notably, the tool operates “without the need for a full mechanistic understanding of the biological system.”

One of my least favorite articles is a 2008 op-ed in WIRED by Chris Anderson, who was, at the time, editor in chief of that magazine. In that article, he writes that, when “faced with massive data, this approach to science — hypothesize, model, test — is becoming obsolete.” Obviously, that prediction has not come true, and that was before machine learning became one of the hottest topics in biology, eager (and, maybe one day, able) to solve all of our experimental problems.

So, while this issue of This Week in Synthetic Biology pays homage to machine learning and synthetic biology, and all the wonderful things that they can do together, I hope that synthetic biologists do not lose sight of what it means to be a biologist; to be in tune with the wonders and intricacies of life.

Or, as my undergraduate research mentor used to say, “That’s neat and all, but what’s the mechanism?”
Service Level Objectives (SLO) and Error budgets
By: Karen Bajador
Tags: Site Reliability, Sre, Slo, Error Budget

SLO and SLI

SLO, also known as Service Level Objective, is agreed upon objectives of how reliable a service is expected to be. Before one can fully understand SLO, one has to know what SLI is. SLI, also known as Service Level Indicator, is a metric over a period of time that informs about the health of a service and used to determine if SLOs are met.

Below are the two most common SLI category:

AVAILABILITY — How many requests have returned successfully?

— How many requests have returned successfully? LATENCY — How long does the application take to respond?

Generally, it is recommended that SLI be the ratio of two numbers: Total good events / Total events. See examples below:

Number of successful HTTP requests / total HTTP requests

Number of HTTP requests that completed successfully in 200 ms / total HTTP requests

How do you think these metrics translate to user satisfaction? Let’s hear Jacky’s story.

Jacky uses a remittance platform to send allowance to her family from overseas on a monthly basis. One day, the app had an unexpected outage that she had to wait the next day to use the service. She was disappointed at not being able to send the money as it was intended to pay a bill that was already due. But she continued to use the platform anyway as she had been a long time customer and has been satisfied with its service. However, the abrupt outages became more frequent to the point that she experienced downtime once a month in random occasions. This is no longer acceptable for her which prompted her to consider switching to another platform.

Services don’t have to be 100% available but still need to be at a certain level that keeps customers engaged.

SLO is all about figuring out that SWEET SPOT, the bare minimum reliability percentage that is GOOD ENOUGH TO KEEP CUSTOMERS HAPPY.

The window of unavailability is utilised for releasing new features and system upgrades that may cause considerable downtime but would result in a more improved user experience and much better performance. This brings us to the next concept called “Error budgets”.
Haecksen und Hacker gesucht
Tags: Hackathon, Geekettes, Misc

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Fashion Weekly Round-Up: 1/9–1/15
Tags: Style, Fashion, Women, News, Ecommerce

Your weekly summary of the latest in fashion, covering a combination of industry news, tips for your daily routine, and the top trends to look out for.

Round-up brought to you by your friends at Arthur, a membership for women that helps them assemble the right wardrobe for their professional lives. Members enjoy perks like 10% back in credit on all purchases, plus free shipping & returns on all orders.
与其讲自己的故事，不如让客户来讲他们和你的故事
By: Ken Lai
Tags: Ken Lai, Relationships, Business, Thoughts

in Both Sides of the Table
Bodisatva de cara nova
By: Plataforma Bodisatva
Tags: Budismo, Contemplação, Logo, Cebb, Revista Bodisatva

in Both Sides of the Table
Shooting Starman: Intimate David Bowie Photography
By: Mike, Dj
Tags: Music, Featured Rock, Photography, Bowie Spotlight

While only shooting David for that two year period — including the album covers for Station to Station and Low — Schapiro had another opportunity to join him on tour in 1987, but it didn’t come to fruition.

“I didn’t speak to him for a while and then in 1987, he called me wanting me to go on tour with him, about 15 minutes before me and my family were about to leave to the airport to France for a vacation,” he remembers. “It was really a tough decision, but I really had to stay with my family. I would have loved to have done it. But it was last minute, in terms of where we were at with our plans, so I just couldn’t do it. Especially during that time period, we were close in terms of what we did and we had a very good relationship.”

Like most of us, Schapiro had no idea about Bowie’s bout with liver cancer, that day in 1987 would have been his last chance to shoot him. But Bowie did give his blessing to the project from afar.

“I had no knowledge at all,” Schapiro says of his health. “In terms of this project, I sent a message to Bowie through his assistant asking if he would write a few things for the book. I got a note back that David really wished me the best with the project and hoped to see it in the Spring of 2016. But I had no idea what he was going through. I think he kept that very, very quiet. You see all of these things about Burt Reynolds, which become very public about what his health is like. There’s nothing like that about Bowie. I would imagine that after his heart attack, it changed his whole way of looking at things and he was much more involved with his family and things of that sort.”

In addition to the book, Schapiro has also been tapped to provide photos for a forthcoming David Bowie box set, which will cover the 1974–76 period. “They’ve asked me to come up with eight pictures that haven’t been seen for that box set. David actually picked that cover himself in October.”

With the Bowie photobook available now, Steve Schapiro has graciously offered Cuepoint a look at select images with exclusive commentary from the 100+ page volume.
Shape From Dark Meadow
By: Jessica Lee Mcmillan
Tags: Intuition, Faith, Psychology, Writing, Poetry

Writing through apathy

is phrasing the sky prosaic

pedalling expression

in empty chorus

of emotions burnt out

like yielding shape

from dark meadow unlit

We must shine our words

from senses agitated,

the ambiguous moonbeam of heart,

to ventilate colors to still wind,

sun having tilted its head down

waylaid in unmoving cloud

where new worlds condense

With untiring eye,

now palette of grey

pen words in faith that seek

not to recast stagnantly

but behold window’s sash

in that moment, letting go

confusing colors invite

unlocking flame, light

to glimpse with pen

a window on page

Jessica Lee McMillan
Life on Mars #duststorm
By: Dan Hill
Tags: Photojournalism, Sydney, Extreme Weather, Australia, Climate Change

Note: these colours aren’t treated at all. If anything, they appear slightly less vivid than how I remember it.

Slowly it became clear what was going on. It seemed on the scale of an eclipse. A thin film of dust was on everything, inside and out. Barely any windows had been left open, due to the wind and rain the night before, yet this new microscopic layer could be felt under the fingertips everywhere.

(In a sign of the times) I turn to Twitter to find out what’s going on, and tweet a little myself. My friend Tom picks up on it and curates a fantastic set of the images being uploaded in real-time to Flickr. Have a look at that set to see how eerily beautiful the whole thing was. My photos here don’t approach them in terms of drama or quality, but are what I saw, and so just as affecting to me.

The dust came from South Australia, via the distant mining town of Broken Hill. The distances involved here are indeed vast. The dust cloud covered half of New South Wales and then stretched 600km up the coast to Queensland, where it would later appear in Brisbane in an altogether yellower guise. It had travelled around 1500km to get to Sydney, dropping millions (billions?) of tons of dust over the east coast.

It’s almost beyond comprehension that the dust filling the air is from that far away; that you’re inhaling South Australia. It’s akin to the notion that you’re constantly breathing in detritus from the Big Bang. One’s reminded of the scale of the intercontinental weather systems around here, not least the El Nino, which covers almost half of this side of the planet and is probably on its way soon, bringing further extreme weather conditions.

By the time I leave the house, the red colour was beginning to become paler, settling on a glowing sulphurous yellow. The dust picked out the structural supports of a spider’s web on our porch and covered the electricity cabinet in the street. All the cars were clearly covered in a thin film. Silver was not a good paint-job for a car this morning.
Teaching students the value of active citizenry, human-centered design, and civic tech
By: Civictech Contributor
Tags: Civictech, Events

Durban University of Technology students participated in an interactive minibus taxi mapping workshop on the 21 October 2019. The third-year planning students have learned about public transport planning during their coursework this year.

However, the workshop was the first time any of them had looked at mapping informal public transport routes. It was also the first time many of them had ever used Google maps to map their own transport routes. The students were very engaging, enjoyed contributing their own knowledge to TaxiMap’s growing database of minibus taxi routes in South Africa and gave positive feedback. “Amazing, informative and relevant to my everyday context” was one of the participant's overall feedback.

Hosted by Open Data Durban, in collaboration with TaxiMap, Durban University of Technology and with funding from the Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN), the workshop was a unique learning experience for students — teaching them about the value of active citizenry, human-centered design, and civic tech.

The students helped TaxiMap by updating the prices of several minibus taxi routes, giving feedback on the usability of the platform, and mapping new routes that didn’t already exist. In pairs, the students reviewed existing routes on the TaxiMap website and updated the relevant prices. Most of the +1100 routes on the TaxiMap website were captured in 2017, and the prices needed updating. At present, taxi route information is commonly available by word of mouth.

Commuters are familiar with the routes they take on a regular basis and only on exception will one take a taxi to a new place or destination. To do so, they need to ask someone where to go and where to wait for the right taxi, how often it operates and where or when it is safe to travel on your own or with someone. Learning how to access information about taxi route information will increase their potential mobility. TaxiMap is free to use, an open-source platform that provides taxi route information that is normally only known and shared via word of mouth. You can also search for minibus taxi routes, fares and information on www.taximap.co.za and offer feedback too.

To identify and map new routes, the students were guided step-by-step on how to map a missing transport route using the My Maps function on Google Maps. They added 7 new routes to the TaxiMap database — 4 in Durban, 1 in Johannesburg, 1 in Stanger, and 1 in Pietermaritzburg.

The workshop was also an important user testing exercise providing TaxiMap with valuable feedback for improving the design and usability of the website.

Hack for Human Rights received a grant from Civic Tech Innovation Network to host this event, part of a series of regional peer-learning events.