fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Governing outside of government
By: Jolene Funk
Tags: Urban Policy, Nonprofit

Last week we explored the non-profit role in urban policy. We normally think about the role of different governments in urban policy, but there is a significant governing that happens outside of government.

Connecting with the community for the United Way’s Golden Mile ILEO project

Non-profits can play a variety of roles in the policy sphere. The most visible being researchers, where their reports can shed light on key policy challenges and provide analysis that aids in having informed discussions. When researching an emerging policy issue non-profit reports are often one of the first places I look. Organizations like Pembina and Evergreen have a wealth of information on areas such as housing that build up our collective knowledge.

They can also support special interests such as the Wellesley Institute on urban health policy. In this role they can facilitate a dialogue on issues that may be neglected currently in the public policy conversation and push the needle on advocacy for marginalized groups. Unlike government or private organizations which have electorate or shareholders, non-profits have the ability to set their own strategy. However, it is worthwhile to consider how this can be influenced by funding sources and maintain a conversation about what views are represented.

One of the areas that has surprised me the most is non-profits’ role in funding service providers. The United Way funds smaller organizations who deliver services in the community which helps support small organizations connect with the resources they need.

Non-profits can also specialize on connecting partners and resources. At the United Way Greater Toronto, the Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity project in Scarborough’s Greater Golden Mile is connecting service providers, developers, government, and BMO, their corporate funding provider to work together to reduce economic disparity. They bring value in understanding relationships and having capacity to coordinate with not only partners, but the community.

The more time I spend in policy, the more I can no longer picture urban policy without non-profits and the unique connections and dialogue they bring.
Thank You to My Stripper-Loving Readers and Followers
By: Erin Taylor
Tags: Sexuality, Erin Taylor, Sex Work, Stripper Stories, Thank You

While I’ve only been an active writer on Medium for a little over a month now, it has been a truly rewarding experience to connect with so many of you through my stories in such a short amount of time.

For those of you who are learning about me for the first time, welcome and hello! My name is Erin, and I used to be a stripper.

The reason I decided to write (and overshare) online about my time as a stripper is to show the human side of the strip club. I hope I have done that for some of you. And if I’ve changed the mind of even one person who was prejudiced against sex workers and strippers like me, that would make all of this worth it.

And perhaps it may feel a little premature to write a thank you note so early on but it felt even more right to do so because of my small following.

After a month of writing, I am recognizing familiar faces and names in my comment sections and it warms my heart! And every time a reader or fellow sex-writer comments or highlights one of my pieces, I feel so accepted in this community of sex writers.

Thank you all for making me feel so welcome here.

To the lovely Joe Duncan and Julia Beaudett, thank you for welcoming me into the Sexography family. You two are amazing and anyone who reads or writes for Sexography knows this to be true. This pub is a safe and beautiful space for writers like me, and I love seeing my work on your page.

And to my readers, I’m currently working on a book about my time as a stripper with stories like the ones you’ve read here. I’m writing away excitedly with every spare moment I find.

I’m also looking to launch a new website very soon! In case anyone is interested in throwing a little love my way, I’ve set up a Ko-Fi page recently to raise some funds so I can get my website up and running.

Thank you everyone, from the bottom of my heart! I hope to continue reading and writing on this site for as long as I have stories to tell about my stripper past.

— Erin
L & D
By: Johannes Mudi
Tags: Spirituality, Poetry, L And D, Responsibility, Spiritual Secrets

L & D

A Poem

Prompt on Responsibility

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Leave behind personal bouts



Erase from thoughts selfish gains



Leaders stand out unannounced



Desires the greatest possible good,



Each man his needs



Reassuring healing weak limbs



Showing empathy to a sick



Honouring deeds of loyalty



Instilling hope in calamity



Peace promoting among keen
A Profound Puzzle: Our Love
By: Salam Khan
Tags: Spirituality, Poetry, Philosophy, Love, Religion

There were so many haikus, I wrote, re-wrote, and then deleted without sharing. Not anymore. Read a few of my other Haikus.
humble thoughts by humble ventures — Issue #12
By: Harry Alford
Tags: Updates, Newsletter

humble thoughts by humble ventures — Issue #12

monthly newsletter

In our final newsletter of 2020, we celebrate five years of humble, inclosed a report defining the current state of the ecosystem, top takeaways from our recent Amazon Pop-Up, and stories for how to reinforce the behavior you want to see in the world, and ways to cultivate success in 2021. Enjoy time with family, happy holidays, and see you in 2021!

humble updates

humble ventures: 5 Years In

This October marks five years since humble ventures first started. As 2020 wraps up, I am thankful. Like so many others, COVID and this pandemic have affected the health and safety of…

Defining The Current State Of The Ecosystem

COVID-19 and inequality disproportionately hit minority businesses. Analysis from the National Bureau Of Economic Research reveals 41% of Black business owners disappeared in April. More than 80% of…

Top Takeaways From Future Of Retail Pop-Up

If the gaps that exist for minority-owned businesses are not filled, our business ecosystem and our communities will suffer. This dire situation is authentic for diverse suppliers & sellers. Together…

top stories

Reinforce The Behavior You Want To See In The World

“Disaster often accelerates, exponentially, the macro trends that predate its arrival.” Consumer insight strategist Lucie Green offered this sage advice to the New York Times when she said this about…

Remote Work Resource Guide

At humble, our top priority is everyone’s health and hugging the ones closest to us. COVID-19, the economic downturn, and the racial reckoning in this country directly impacted our team and loved…

Why Diversity Is A Superpower For Organizations

How Six Made Their Way in the World is a Grimms’ fairy tale about an ex-soldier and his five companions with special abilities who obtain all of the king’s wealth through their feats. The story is…

what we’re tracking

Visa Extends Support To Minority Businesses

The new initiatives build on Visa’s commitment to small businesses and Visa Foundation’s $200 million Equitable Access Initiative.

CEOs Pledge One Million Jobs To Black Americans

More than 30 CEOs are backing OneTen, a nonprofit organization that has raised more than $100 million in seed funding and aims to train Black candidates for corporate roles.

National Org Aims To Grow Number Of Black VCs

Investors from around the region are launching BLCK VC to grow community and programming for folks looking to break into investing.
Is This the Time to Manage My Time?
By: Debbie Walker
Tags: Life Lessons, Productivity, Podcasts, Time Management, Publications

Is This the Time to Manage My Time?

We have so much to do and so much responsibility.

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

Sometimes, I feel like time is closing in on me. I have to write articles, schedule appointments, take care of grandkids, organize household chores, think about upcoming holiday events, email responses, and…and…oh, no! I just forgot!

Now, I remember. Listen to our podcast — it’s a-live!

I don’t think I can take it anymore. I want to escape but I cannot. What do I do? I gather my wits, gird up my loins, roll up my sleeves, and forge ahead.

Why?

Because I am a warrior! For my family, and myself. I will not give up. Wow, I am using the word up quite a bit. Maybe that’s a cue I need to look up. What do you think?

Looking up symbolizes a request for help. I know what that means for me. I throw my head back and cry out for help because I cannot do this alone. What do you do?

Leave a comment about how you manage your time. We want to know. Maybe, we can learn together.

It’s time to celebrate! Drum roll, please…

So Many Commitments, So Little Time — Marilyn Flower

5 Steps to Jumpstart a Writing Routine — Debbie Walker

How to Step into Your Future After Menopause — Debbie Walker

Our purpose is to encourage, inspire, and empower you to live a life of meaning and purpose. Whatever that is to you.

Leave any comments, suggestions, or just send us virtual words of love and support (We sure need it!) at middlepause51@gmail.com, follow us on https://twitter.com/MiddlePause; https://www.pinterest; STOMP!

Remember, To engage is to empower!

Also, if you are in a crisis of managing work, family, parenting, caregiving, disability, racism, or menopause; check out how I created an oasis of peace in my life.

Until next time…

Peace & Blessings!

Your Superheroes!

From Debbie, Margie, Marilyn, and Meg
Stauts Way
Tags: Bill Stauts, Medford Town Council, Stauts Way, Headlines

The Medford Township Council is pleased to announce that it has dedicated a formally un-named road off of Fostertown Road near Kirby’s Mill as “Stauts Way,” in recognition of the numerous civic contributions made by William “Bill” Stauts.

A dedication ceremony and unveiling of the street sign has been scheduled for this April 2at 10 a.m. at Kirby’s Mill, located at the intersection of Church Road and Fostertown Road.

Since moving to Medford in 1955, William “Bill” Stauts was elected to the Township Committee (as it was formally known) in the 1960’s, served as Medford’s Zoning Officer and Director of Environmental Protection in the 1970’s, and was also appointed to serve on Medford’s planning and zoning boards during the time when Medford was adopting its land development ordinances that are a model for protecting the environmental and historical assets of the Township.

Bill continues to be actively engaged with Township business by attending township council meetings, serving as the Medford Business Association liaison to the economic development commission, and attending planning & zoning board meetings.

Stauts has also dedicated himself to community service, working tirelessly for the betterment of Medford; including service as the President of the Medford Historical Society, of which he has been a member for over 20 years, multiple terms as President and Vice President of the Medford Business Association during 40 plus years of membership, treasurer for the Medford Memorial Community Center, a board trustee of the Medford Arts Center and the Medford Celebrates Foundation, and a member of the Medford Vincentown Rotary and a participant in the Sunrise Rotary of Medford meetings.

During Bill’s 60 years of involvement, historic sites such as Kirby’s Mill, the Cross Keys Schoolhouse, and the Dr. James Still Education Center have thrived as preserved historic and educational sites in Medford, and annual events such as the Apple Festival, the Art, Music and Wine Festival, the Quilt Show, and Country Day at the Mill have all started and grown to attract thousands annually to Medford Township.
Super Glitch
By: Joanna Vang
Tags: Effect, Poetry, Perception, Scrittura, Glitch

Super Glitch

Poetry

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Upon the mirror touch of light

and the strict breathing of the clock

properly balancing

the interactions of opposite energies

alien interruptions exceptionally crafted

shunning the path of the absent freedom

in cosmic touchstones for exploration

relentless dust strikes the journey

till no bonds are able to secure

the invisible through melody

and the rhythm devotes its tears

to the unnameable

that lost cohesiveness

into the oceanic determinism

where energy displacements

are absorbed into the affinity of space

Joanna Vang 2020
A Cursed Alarm
By: Mr.M, Muthu Raja
Tags: Short Story, Horror, Fiction, Microfiction, 50 Word Stories

I discovered this strange clock piece in the attic. It has a stop and snooze button, surprising technology for a vintage collection.

The numbers inside showed dead people's faces. The snooze button bore a sentence. “Don’t press”.

I did.

My face appeared inside the clock with my lifeless body outside.
สามส่วนสำคัญ. ในการทำงานอะไรให้ได้ดี…
Tags: Self Improvement, Knowledge, Startup, Leaders, Skills

A member of Mutrack and Inthentic. I lead, learn, and build with vision, love and care. https://piyorot.com

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Akoin, BitMinutes, and the Future of African Entrepreneurship.
Tags: Technology, Cryptocurrency, Stellar, Blockchain, Akoin

“Our relationship with BitMinutes provides the cornerstone for how we achieve our shared vision for bringing financial inclusion to rising economies such as Africa; starting with prepaid minutes as a medium of exchange was a clear pathway for us given the store of value people in Africa already recognize there, and is the first step in bringing more users into our blockchain-based economy we’re developing at Akoin.” -Lynn Liss, Chief Operating Officer for Akoin

Without a reliable currency, communities in Sub-Saharan Africa have turned to their local telecommunications companies for a strong way to store value. Many Sub-Saharans, hindered by economic corruption and fluctuating local currencies, use pre-paid cell phone minutes to pay for utilities, goods, and services because of their usable and immediate monetary worth.

BitMinutes is the first prepaid airtime token (BMT) to provide low-cost financial services to the world’s two billion unbanked consumers.

Through the integration of Bitminutes, Akoin users will have freely transfer money to 1.2 billion accounts and free mobile top-up for four billion mobile phones. Unlike traditional conversion of currencies via exchanges, multi-currency (prepaid minutes, crypto, fiat) transactions on the Akoin Platform happen instantly thanks to the integration of some world-changing technology by our friends at Stellar. Within seconds, an Akoin holder can top-up a mobile device and convert their Akoin to BMT to airtime for phone calls. Those who struggle to exist within the traditional fiat currency model will thrive using a model they’re familiar with: transacting with prepaid minutes.

BitMinutes has created and manages the Trusted Agent Network (TAN). The TAN empowers highly vetted individuals to become the financial centers of their communities, providing small loans for entrepreneurial development as well as cash in and cash-out services to those using the platform. BitMinutes and Akoin are facilitating crucial business funding where it’s needed most.

To the 2 billion unbanked individuals globally, we believe in your entrepreneurial spirit.
Struggling to Make Better Security Decisions? These Tips Can Help
Tags: Security Operations, Cybersecurity

Unintended consequences — the unforeseen outcomes of actions we take — are all around us. It may be an unforeseen benefit, but, more frequently, it’s an unexpected drawback that can create a new problem or make a situation worse.

In the security industry, Security Operations Center (SOC) and Incident Response (IR) teams often face unintended consequences when they try to make better decisions faster by bringing in more data feeds and investing in more analytic behavioral detection tools. Despite their good intentions, these actions do not drive improve decision making. Instead they often make the problem worse — burying staff under data and adversely impacting decision making due to alert fatigue.

Through our work, both previously as practitioners and now with clients, we’ve seen the challenges in making better security decisions and have developed best practices to overcome the pitfalls of alert fatigue and introduce situational understanding to make decisions faster.

The first step is to gain context which comes from aggregating and authenticating internal security indicators (indicators of compromise and event data) with external threat intelligence. Examples of threat-based contextual intelligence include the origin of the data, the distribution method, the actors, the target victims, attack vectors, target data, etc. Having the right context empowers analysts to perform alert triage, separating alerts carrying immediate risk from those that carry high risk, but that can be addressed later. Alert triage reduces alert fatigue by facilitating differentiation of one high priority alert from another and focus time and attention for maximum impact. But it must be done quickly and continuously, using automation, to keep up with the flood of critical alerts analysts face every day.

In our new report, 5 Steps to Making Better Security Decisions , we discuss how to gain context, why it is important to incorporate it earlier in the analysis process, and how context facilitates the next two steps in making decisions — prioritization and focus. We then explore how security teams and technologies can operate more efficiently and effectively to enable the final two steps for better decision making.

Ultimately, SOC and IR teams must avoid the unintended consequences of more data feeds and analytic behavioral detection tools by ensuring these investments are being fully utilized for situational understanding and better decision making. These five time-tested steps can help.

Download the report to learn more.
AI Guild Podcast #5: From Biology into Data Science with Macarena Beigier-Bompadre
By: Leyla Allahyarova
Tags: Ai Career, Biology, Data Science, Academia

AI Guild Podcast #5: From Biology into Data Science with Macarena Beigier-Bompadre

Macarena Beigier-Bompadre has very deep domain expertise in Machine Learning. Her Data Science skills include Python, R, SQL, Biostatistics, Scikit-learn, Neural Networks, and Deep Learning, and data visualization tools. She co-authored 23 scientific papers.

Macarenas tips for the transition from academia into data science:

Start to learn a programming language (e.g. R) early

On-site data science courses have the advantage of getting real-time feedback on your work

“You can always go back to academia”, and data science skills will always provide a career advantage regardless of the field

About the interviewer:

Leyla Allahyarova is an IT Management Consultant at Lexta GmbH in Berlin and a co-founder of the AI Guild.

About the podcast:

AI Guild is a community of Data Scientists and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Practitioners as well as everyone who wants to strengthen the AI community in Europe and support businesses with the accelerated adoption of AI.

On the AI Guild Podcast Series, we share valuable insights from our community of Data Scientists and AI Practitioners, helping you learn more about the topics of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. It is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, and other channels. For more updates, follow our #podcast channel on Slack, and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast channel of your choice!
The Balance Between Regulations & Disruption
By: Michael Vogels
Tags: Blockchain, Innovation, Disruption, Beyond Blocks, Regulation

The Balance Between Regulations & Disruption

Regulating Blockchain Innovation

While blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the world, the ecosystem is still very much in its infancy. To allow innovation to thrive, it’s important to set the right environment. The lack of regulation and — on the flip-side — over-regulations caused disruption and false-starts in the space.

How do we find balance between regulation and innovation? How much regulation is necessary until it becomes an outright hindrance? In this article, we discuss these queries in comparison with other ecosystems, while particularly focusing on South East Asia.

This topic was discussed during a panel at Beyond Blocks Summit Seoul ’18.

Regulation is a highly discussed topic when it comes to blockchain and crypto-currencies, and it seems like governments are constantly shifting their stance on the matter. Having either heavy regulations or a lack of regulations won’t have a positive effect on the ecosystem.

One interesting country — (when) talking about the stance on regulations — is China. Read more about the current stance of Asian and Western countries on our other blogpost Beyond Blocks Blog on Regulations: East vs West

“Regulation is bad” — Michael Arrington, and “Not all regulation is bad, but bad regulation is terrible” — David Lee

Elaborating on his statement, Arrington said (in another panel): “There’s a lot of bad stuff happening that needs to be regulated, but having no regulations also caused all of this creativity. …Try to regulate just the really bad stuff”.

On the same panel, Dovey Wan added: “I’m not pro-regulation, but it is necessary to protect retail investors from fraud.”

For an exclusive interview with Michael Arrington, click here

The uncertainty is still lingering over, but the ‘consensus’ here is/was that ‘sensible’ regulations are coming soon. However, much more time and close collaboration is needed in order to clear the uncertainty. Regulators are working on frameworks and putting a conscious effort into engaging and understanding what’s happening and needed in the space. Everyone wants a healthy and balanced ecosystem to work and grow in.

Read the full article on our blog

https://beyondblocks.com/regulating-blockchain-innovation-the-balance-between-regulations-disruption/
Welcome to the New Singularity University
By: Singularity University
Tags: Singularity University, Logo Design, Impact, Rebranding, Design

Welcome to the New Singularity University

To reflect everything we have become since our founding in 2008, and more importantly, to showcase and accelerate our bold vision for our future, we’ve undergone an extensive company-wide rebrand.

We’ve updated our website and moved to a new domain: su.org.

We’ve also unveiled a new logo and brand narrative.

What you see here is the result of a comprehensive 18-month process. We spoke with alumni, faculty, investors, community members, partners, prospects, employees, and other stakeholders. And through this process we were reminded that our community and impact are the heart and soul of Singularity University.

We’re proud to now have alumni in over 100 countries and chapters in 50 cities.

Students at the Global Solutions Program 2016 (GSP16) Opening Ceremony

As we created our new brand, we wanted to emphasize what is unique about Singularity University: the transformative experience our participants report, the people who make up our community, and our shared mission of impact. Our new tagline expresses our invitation to join us on our mission and underscores our belief that everyone has the potential to create exponential impact:

Be Exponential.

Our new logo is bold and vibrant like our community and was designed with our shared mission and community at the core:

The mark represents all of the necessary ingredients for impact coming together in an exponential mindset and going back out into the world to create global impact and, in turn, a more abundant future.
Creating and Syncing snippets in VS Code
By: Andrew Jackson
Tags: Vscode, Startup, Programming, Software Development

Create and Sync Personal Snippets in VS Code

How to create snippets and how to share them across your machines or team

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash.

I recently started a new side project in a language (Perl) and framework (Logitech Media Server aka Slim Server) I’d never used before. This combination and my lack of experience meant there was no way of debugging. It was logging everything and muddling your way through.

Don’t panic! What I’m going to describe is completely agnostic to the language/frameworks used.

I use Visual Studio Code as my editor of choice for most things these days and I was getting fed up with typing the same old things over and over, so I looked into what options VS Code had to make some of this repetition easier.

It turns out VS Code has a very mature snippet facility and getting it working was pretty trivial. This isn’t going to be a tutorial on everything snippet-related, but it will get you started with what I found useful.

Snippets are at three levels: project, language, and global. For my use case, I wanted some language-level ones and some global ones since I’m looking at more than one project using Slim.

Within VS Code, you can add snippets using File > Preferences > User Snippets (Code > Preferences > User Snippets on macOS).

If you are creating a language snippet, choose the language.

If you are creating a global (framework) snippet, choose New Global Snippets File.

If you are creating a project-level snippet, choose New Snippets File for <your project>.

With all of these, you get a commented-out starter JSON file.

First, I created some Perl language helpers.
To Those Men On Harley’s And Hyped Up Header Cars And Heavy Trucks
By: Christyl Rivers
Tags: Self Improvement, Humanity, Empowerment, Sleep, Responsibility

Another forest on the truck, Unsplash photo by Krzysztof Kowalik

I am living near a busy intersection for the summer, as my summer cabin has no septic system yet. That’s a whole other story, probably only mentioned because I am sleep deprived.

My sleep is in complete disarray. My ears can’t seem to support ear plugs all the way through my tossing and turning. The glare from the gas station where truckers pump up, is hard to escape. The rumble in the thin walls wake me, as I assume that we are having a routine Pacific Northwest earthquake.

Don’t even get me started about those mud flaps.

Why am I suffering these indignities? It’s because some men out there love really loud, and aggressive vehicles. Some others wax poetic about obnoxious bikes that sound like I am sleeping under SeaTac airport.

I know they will never read this, as they probably have accessories to buy or are having beer meetings — or whatever. But I just have to say it. Please, don’t you guys have anything better to do — between the hours of one am and seven am — than disturb starving writers who need their duty sleep?

I get it that probably trucks have become as toxically politicized as walls, beans, hats, and now face masks. I get it that you want to feel “manly.” But your approach is misfiring like a monster truck headed for an Endo.

For those who are likely to label you as backward and redneck, you are simply playing into their sign waving hands. They see you as having small penis issues, and making up for inadequacy with revving, roaring engines and/or leather chaps.

But, honestly, some of us just want to get some rest.

Personally, I am also kept awake at night just thinking about these dualistic and heavily partisan divides which I fear are ruining our world by separating us. Just have a bit of common courtesy when you know babies, old ladies, and long-passed into geezer, former bikers, are sleeping. Or trying to sleep.

Cars and stars

Here is your tow away. You don’t need to disrupt tranquility to prove that you matter. Yes, even truckers and biker lives matter, too. But you do need to realize we are all of us, always in this together.

To see the comet the other night, my husband and I had to drive twenty miles more out into the country to see the stars. Seeing the stars is good. It makes people more reflective of what life is for. It makes people peaceful. It makes people more contemplative about how we can make the gorgeous universe that we are given forever glorious. It makes us less dominating and more accepting of something bigger than we.

I am sorry to say this, but please, get out there and see some possibility of no light pollution, no noise pollution, no dead forests on your flatbed, and no intrusions into other people’s dreams.
Lovys, adaptive insurance with a monthly subscription
By: Kevin Hart
Tags: Insurance, Startup, Insurtech

Lovys has raised $3.8M in total. We talk with its CEO Joao Cardoso.

PetaCrunch: How would you describe Lovys in a single tweet?

Joao Cardoso: Lovys is a monthly subscription for all your insurance needs, digital, flexible and tailored to your needs.

PC: How did it all start and why?

JC: We have created two startups before, TaCerto, the first comparison website in South America and VisionX, a broker for insurance companies and real estate agents. Both companies did very well but they haven’t changed much the customer experience in insurance. Lovys answers to 3 main challenges of the industry: the lack of a seamless purchasing, heavy claim management and the absence of a platform that can manage all the users’ insurance contracts.

PC: What have you achieved so far?

JC: The most recent achievement was a record-breaking seeding round of €3.3 million. It gives us the perfect conditions to conquer the French market and become very soon one of the leading insurtechs in Europe. Our time-to-market was also a great accomplishment, we have created 2 products in less than 1 year and managed to create a network of several underwriting partners. Last but not the least the satisfaction that our customers have shown after trying our products.

PC: How will you use your recent funding round?

JC: One of our priorities is to make Lovys the only platform for all the insurance needs of our customers. We want to be the ones protecting everything that matters most in their lives and centralize that in an amazing interface over which they can have full control. To do so, we will launch car and travel insurance this year-round, after having launched smartphone and home insurance. Second, to continue developing the technology we integrate in our products that ensures that we can propose fair prices and to solve any claim in as little time as possible.

PC: What do you plan to achieve in the next 2–3 years?

JC: We want to change the negative perception that most people have towards insurance by scaling up a customer-centric product. We want to transform insurance into something much more relational and where our role is much broader than only assuring someone’s protection.
E-Commerce Marketplace Optimization with SupplyBloc
By: Supplybloc Technology
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Ecommerce, Use Cases, Blockchain, Smart Contracts

E-Commerce Marketplace Optimization with SupplyBloc

Utilizing Data Registration, Auditing, and Automation

E-commerce businesses need to rely on sophisticated data registration and automation processes in order to remain competitive and improve user engagement on their platforms. Our solutions span from larger scale logistical management services to more individualized consumer portals. While the former will help e-retailers make both micro and macro optimizations to their supply-chains, the latter can serve to rapidly transform customer-facing experiences.

SupplyBloc will provide the tools for e-commerce businesses to create multidimensional and incredibly dynamic online marketplaces. An online retail shop using SupplyBloc would allow for blockchain-based tracking & auditing of all consumer data, including purchases, feedback, and general interface engagements.

Our blockchain ledger enables e-retailers to automatically register every transaction and interaction that takes place between consumers and their digital stores. They can use automation tools to monitor the influx of this data and respond with incredible speed and precision. This allows e-commerce businesses to manage manufacturing, distribution, and inventory services based on real-time data taken from the various ways in which consumers interact with their stores.

Smart contracts would be implemented to ensure secure and transparent transactions between all supply-chain participants. And all supply-chain participants will have access to this data in order to automate optimizations as growers/producers, manufacturers, distributors, payment procurement institutions, e-retailers, and even consumers themselves.

Our tokenized system adds additional layers of transactional and customer engagement optimization. The SupplyBloc token (SUPX) will be readily available to all participants on our platform to help facilitate rapid, secure, and immutably recorded transactions that occur in digital marketplaces. E-retailers will also have the option of creating customizable rewards programs to improve customer awareness, engagement, and loyalty via automated and/or manual SUPX distribution.
Casa Keymaster Security: Mobile Key Overview
By: Blake Neuman
Tags: Security, Bitcoin, Key Management

Recently Coinbase announced that they would enable the backing up of private keys for Coinbase Wallet users to their personal cloud storage accounts — either Google Drive or iCloud. They stated that the keys would be safe in the cloud because they would be encrypted with the user’s password. Naturally, a lot of security-conscious folks were upset by this feature because they know most users are terrible at using unique passwords that are hard to brute force. As such, if these cloud storage providers are compromised, it’s likely that a sophisticated attacker would be able to access at least some of the storage. We have seen plenty of instances of cloud storage being compromised in recent years, so this sort of attack is not out of the question.

We’ve moved our blog! To keep reading this article, visit the link below:
Survey Says *This* Is the World’s Most Beautiful Vagina
By: Ms. Part Time Wino
Tags: Sexuality, Feminism, Humor, Women, Body Image

Did you know that in 2015, there was a contest to find the world’s most beautiful vagina?

Nope — neither did I.

Of course, it wasn’t your typical beauty pageant where the vaginas had to answer questions about world peace or show off their latest talents by tap-dancing or playing the accordion. In fact, it wasn’t a beauty contest that should have been taken seriously at all.

That’s because the contest was held by robot blow job creators, Auto-Blow sex toys. Even if you’ve never heard of them, you can probably guess the demographic that would soon be judging what “the world’s most beautiful vagina” should look like.

The top three winning coochies would receive a lump sum of cash, plus a 3D scan that will be reproduced their exact vaginal mold for future Auto-Blow sleeves.

What an honor!

182 women from around the world submitted their photos, and over 132,000 distinct voters cast their ballot for the prize winner.

If you’re curious (which, heck, I know you are), you can see the leaderboard and contest winners on their site.

Not surprisingly, the three top winners have downright gorgeous vaginas. But as you scroll through the list of the highest-rated (and therefore what the world considers the most attractive) vaginas on the site, you’ll see a glaring similarity between them all.

The world loves a petite, bald, and nicely tucked-in vagina.

But as it turns out, it also loves a protruding, long-lipped one as well.
Time Complexity of Algorithms— Big O Notation Explained In Plain English
By: Yong Cui
Tags: Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Programming, Python

General Discussion

In the above sections, we have learned what time complexity means and how we can use the Big O notation to denote time complexity. More specifically, we studied two realistic examples about O(n) and O(1). As shown in the figure below, the green line shows the O(n) time complexity and the purple line show the O(1) time complexity.

Time Complexity — Big O Notation (Source: Wikipedia)

The figure also shows you other kinds of time complexity, such as O(n*n) and O(sqrt(n)). As you can tell, the steeper the slopes are, the higher the time complexity they have. For example, O(1) complexity has a slope coefficient of 0, while O(n) has a slope coefficient of 1 (or some other fixed number in reality). When the time complexity is n! (3! = 3 * 2 * 1, 4! = 4 * 3 * 2 * 1), the time needed for an input size of 100 or 200 is already enormous!

One outstanding question is how to analyze the time complexity. Well, one simple working solution is that you can test your algorithm with a smaller dataset. If it’s OK time-wise, gradually add more data and see if any performance worsens.

However, this approach works practically, but in reality, you can always have some abstract analysis of your code. In essence, you can simply estimate the number of basic steps that your algorithm needs to run to generate the ideal output.

Take the algorithm that calculates the total sale amount, you know that if we have X number of records, we need to run the addition for X times. In other words, the algorithm needs X steps to produce the output with input data of size X. In this case, we can presume that the algorithm has a time complexity of O(n).

Consider the following hypothetical example. In the code below, we have a nested loop (an iteration loop nested in another loop). As you can estimate, the total number of iterations will be equal to n * n. For example, if n=4, we’ll have to run the addition for 16 times. If n=5, the number of additions will be 25.

With these simple calculations, do you know what the time complexity of this algorithm is?

def another_algorithm(n):

running_total = 0

for number_i in n:

for number_j in n:

running_total += number_i + number_j

return running_total

Yes, I guess you got the right answer — the time complexity is O(n*n). It’s not that hard, right?

The present article uses some simplified examples, but in reality, the analysis of complex algorithms can be a lot harder. Nevertheless, the purpose of the current piece is just to provide a 30,000 feet view of the time complexity of algorithms. I hope that you’ve learned how to use the Big O notation to indicate an algorithm’s time complexity by conducting a very basic analysis.

The key takeaway is that if it’s all possible, you always want to minimize the time complexity of your algorithms.

To learn more about time complexity and Big O notation, here’s an excellent reference that you can take a look at.
Welcome, Cohort 11!
By: Andy Orr
Tags: Diversity In Tech, Community College, Student Success, Career Advice, Applied Baccalaureate

Twice a year, every fall and winter, Green River College’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Software Development onboards a new cohort of students. Yesterday, we had the privilege of welcoming Cohort 11 to the program.

During the cohort meet and greet, 26 new students met their peers, participated in team-building activities, drew wisdom from guest speakers, and participated in a Q and A with faculty and staff on how to be successful in the program.

To kick off the event, we had students organize in small teams and introduce themselves to one another. We then gave each team five minutes to identify a common interest, then write a haiku about it.

Students also heard from Carmen Gallardo, Alicia Buehner, and Robert Hill, the trio behind BoardMasters, a student club at Green River focused on whiteboarding and technical interview preparation. Carmen, Alicia, and Robert did a great job promoting the club, offering tips for academic and career success, and fielding questions from the audience.

Instructors Josh Archer and Ken Hang next walked students through a students habits playbook activity.

Finally, we concluded the event with a round of Lean Coffee led by instructors Tina Ostrander and Susan Uland. This is a tried-and-true activity we use often that allows students to individually submit, then collectively vote on, questions and other topics of interest to discuss as a group.

More than just a fun networking opportunity, events like this help our students form peer-to-peer relationships and prepare for success in the program. At Green River College, we’re helping shape a new, more diverse generation of software developers to fill jobs right here in Seattle-Tacoma. At the heart of that enterprise? Students like this.

Welcome, Cohort 11!
Creating factors and re-ordering factor levels in R
By: Holly Emblem
Tags: Data Science, Data Analysis, Programming, R, Statistics

“Letter buttons on an old, dirty jukebox.” by Diomari Madulara on Unsplash

When working with data in R, you might want to convert numeric values into factors for easier exploratory data analysis or model building. You might also wish to control the order of factors, if the default chosen by R isn’t satisfactory. In this blog post, I’ll cover both use cases.

Changing numeric values to factors

Changing a numeric value to a factor is very easily done in R. Typically, you might have a column or multiple columns that you want to update the values for. This is done as so:

> numericValues = (sample(1:5,100, replace=TRUE))

> levels(numericValues)

NULL

We can use levels(numericValues) to confirm that there are none, and indeed the call returns NULL.

Now, if we wish to convert these values to factors, we can simply use factor():

> numericValues <- factor(numericValues)

> levels(numericValues)

[1] “1” “2” “3” “4” “5”

Changing the level order of factors

Now, we might wish to invert the levels of our factors, so 5 is the lowest and one is the highest. This can easily be done by using factor() in combination with levels():
The Art of Wrapping It Up
By: William, Dollar Bill
Tags: Sex, Education, Inspiration, Condoms, Humor

The Art of Wrapping It Up

Condoms 101 for everybody!

Bruno-Germany — Pixabay

The other day I visited one of my favorite playmates. As per usual, we followed a familiar routine. Ya know…a little catching up on gossip…a little physical foreplay…a little of this…and a little of that. And then it was time for the main event.

I whipped out the rubber…opened the wrapper…and checked to see in which direction to unravel the sheath. From there, my fiance took over. With fingers from both hands, she unrolled the bad boy a couple of inches…stretched out the condom…and then slapped it audibly over the head. From there she unfurled the raincoat down to the base and beckoned me forth. The entire activity took maybe 5 seconds from start to finish. We (and she) have it down!

In fact, there are a lot of things I like about this girl. And her mastery of the art of dressing a guy up for the party isn’t the least of those. Nobody gets a condom on quicker and more efficiently than Bertha (fake name…obviously). She does it pro-style.

But really, I shouldn’t use the term “pro-style” for her when I think about it as there have been times (and you car dates will vouch for this) that my partner will gently place the rubber on the head and then dive to seamlessly roll the condom over the ridge and continue on her intrepid path until the apparatus has been rolled down to the hilt. And all with her mouth! Now that is what I call “pro-style.”

I like when a woman takes the initiative. And if I were a girl, I think I’d get good at this one little task — because I know that guys often need help in that area. We’re not that good at putting on a rubber.

Yet not all women have considered the importance — nor have mastered the art — of wrapping it up.

Take Gertrude (another fake name) for example. Dirty Gerty is a hot number…with an awesome body. But when it comes to readying the raider? Brutal! Hopeless!! If you can’t do it yourself, it won’t go on…and you won’t get to partake!

Fortunately, I myself have mastered the art of wrapping it up. I’m no expert, mind you. But when push comes to shove…I’ll get to push and shove. Not knowing how to get a rubber on my own equipment is not one of my many problems.

Ya know…there’s a lot of talk about teenage promiscuity, abstinence, pregnancies, birth control, and all that jazz. And I don’t know if high school girls (and guys for that matter) are actually educated on the art of wrapping it up. But it seems that that would be one of the most important courses you could offer a schoolboy or girl.

The rubber has been part of our species’ reality for a long time. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. So it would make sense to take the 101 course. And that goes for students and everybody else as well! The world has more than enough people already. Siring more in an unplanned fashion is folly. So the message? Wrap it up! And don’t depend on anybody else to do the wrapping for you. You gots to know how to wrap it up yourself.
Top 4 Python Modules For Engineering & Research
By: Keenan Kon
Tags: Data Visualization, Data Science, Programming, Python Programming, Engineering

Top 4 Python Modules For Engineering & Research

Python modules for today’s engineers & researchers

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

Python is perfect for a beginner as the syntax is easy to grasp and simple to understand. With this perk, it is already a leading programming language in the engineering and research fields. As engineers, we are tasked to “apply the principles of science and mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems”.

Python is one of the many tools that can help us achieve this task. I use Python at work to extract information from technical specification sheets, process experimental and testing results, and solve numerical calculations. Here are some of my favorite Python modules every engineer and researcher can utilize to increase their day-to-day output.

1. Math module

The math module is part of the Python standard library and contains mathematical tools and constants commonly used in engineering calculations. Need to know the arcsine of an angle? A single line of code will do the job.

Can't remember Euler's number, or the 4th decimal of pi? No problem, the math module got us covered.

math.e # returns 2.718281828459045

Of course, being named the math module, it also enables functions, like the trigonometry and logarithmic functions to be computed. Another favorite operator of mine is the “_” operator, where Python returns the value of the last operation.

23.74*0.56 # returns 13.2944

_+0.582 # returns 13.8764

_/math.e # returns 5.104842277471403

This is exceptionally handy when we need to come up with quick calculations. Let’s look at an example of using the methods from the math module to calculate RMS data from some vibration sensor readings (the magnitude of the readings).

Photo by Jorge Ramirez on Unsplash

Using an example of 10 sensor energy readings, we can find the RMS value by the following:

import math

N = 6 with open("data.txt") as file:

for i in range(6):

line = next(file).strip()

print(line)