fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The Math of Bugs and Boys
By: Haiku Love Bites
Tags: Life Lessons, Poetry, Life, Parenting, Children

Photo by Skyla Design

The Math of Bugs and Boys

a poem about the adventures of curious boy of six

.

Little boy of six, collected flowers

and caterpillars and brought them home, blunt

fingers added water to flowers and

lettuce to kidnapped bugs, two aliens

.

He danced around them with peace offerings,

set them afloat in bubble bath water,

and served them tea in miniature fittings,

before laying them to sleep in green bedding

.

He promised them jungles and wild tigers,

pirates on tall ships and hidden treasures,

flight between clouds and over volcano's,

if they stayed at home while he went to school

.

Told friends of two aliens eating cup

cakes and drinking peppermint tea, lacking

manners but friendlier than sulky worms

confused by the idea of up or down

.

Homework took all three, sweating over math

that asked what four beads added to three trees

was, but he had no problem counting legs

of bugs, candy sticks, or paper money

.

A new day and the aliens had gone

and flowers folded with heads touching toes,

falling the wrong side of time, mulched and mixed

the last petals into garden, reborn

.

He took leave and returned with ladybugs

counting the dots of the little red tanks

fighting for possession of broccoli

mounds, in aa brave new vegetable world

.
Introducing Pixel: A New Kotlin Image Loading Library for Android
By: Mobin Munir
Tags: Kotlin Coroutines, Kotlin, Android, Programming, Open Source

A New Kotlin Image Loading Library

The idea of using Kotlin coroutines for structured concurrency and threading partly came from another similar library, Coil, which is the first image loading library built entirely in Kotlin. This is the second.

Displaying images is an important part of many Android applications and developers often struggle to choose a library based on its sheer size and impact on their app — even regardless of its performance and perks. Common factors to consider are APK size, boilerplate code or its generation, and slower build times. This is where Pixel steps in.

Here’s what a sample of Pixel looks like:

Pixel is fairly new and under periodic development, so for now, only loading images from the internet is supported.
AI&Creativity: Comixify.. Comixify allows transformation of a…
By: Vlad Alex, Merzmensch
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Movies, AI, Comics

The interface of Comixify is simple:

You choose the Modes and types of Style Transfer. There are many variations to check out (Christmas Mode is a funny seasonal style, but I prefer the normal mode).

In Style Trasfer model are various training sets used. All of them have aesthetical values (well, the aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder).

Here a visual comparison — you choose by yourself your favorite. The GAN styles are based on various animation styles (read more here).

Comix GAN

CartoonGAN-Hayao

CartoonGAN-Hosoda

So we begin with obvious idea (and probably already a kitschy one): how does Matrix (1999) look like as cartoon?

Using this trailer:

we get this result:

Indeed, some iconic frames (let’s correct me: all frame in Matrix trailer are iconic) — but the style and storyboard alike layout are convincing.

Matrix itself, as a cineastic tribute to comic and animation (including another Cyberpunk masterpiece “Ghost in the Shell” by OSHII Mamoru) becomes the initial state of art.

The auratic power of the image may be contained in the original immersion of the movie — but indeed the scenes seems to be not random.
Why You Should Always Listen to Feedback
By: A Singular Story
Tags: Life Lessons, Communication, Self, Mental Health, Writing

Why You Should Always Listen to Feedback

It may be unsolicited, but it still could be invaluable advice

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

What do we write for?

If you make a living opening up in print about universal human truths yet act all offended when readers dare make comments or suggestions, what do you write for? Is it because you enjoy the sound of your own voice and seeing your name in print?

Articulating our shared humanity is how we engage with and relate to one another. When someone offers their perspective on my work, I want to hear what they have to say. There’s always the possibility that someone who isn’t me may see things more clearly than I do; experience also counts for something.

To a large extent, my writing is a counterintuitive way of crowdsourcing the therapy I haven’t yet been able to afford. Documenting how major depressive disorder can wreck every single aspect of a person’s life and psyche is how I’m rebuilding a life that works, word by word.

To me, writing means reaching out to others and building bridges.

If you don’t welcome feedback then why don’t you write a journal? Otherwise, why be so quick to dismiss readers’ comments, especially when your income is based on an audience engagement model?
The Podcast Campaign Trail
Tags: Politics, Data, Data Visualization, Podcasting, Podcast

By David Christ

With the 2020 campaign beginning to heat up, Democrats are vying to become the eventual nominee for the party. Podcasts continue rapidly growing in popularity, and candidates have been quick to jump on the bandwagon.

A few characteristics that often make podcasts attractive to advertisers also make them a prime platform for candidates — namely younger and more engaged audiences. Many podcasts also provide a long-form format which provides candidates with a better platform to express their ideas rather than a short TV segment.

Here is the topology of the candidate’s podcast appearances since 2018:
Simple Things
By: Keira Fulton-Lees
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Simplicity, Poetry, Beach, Uncertainty

Simple Things

The simple things in life I see

Of butterflies and birds and trees

A sea of smiles pure and free

With all my heart I’m listening

From silky sand between my toes

From tiny hands bright buckets flow

A castle here, a giggle there

Near mom, hold tight, in case I’m scared

If darkened clouds wear me thin

Pull covers tight and close to chin

Then shivering and gasp to breathe

I ride the waves uncertainly

Will the suns both sides I feel?

Or hope? Or calm? Or love? Or fear?

And will I know when moments near?

Words Softly.

Speak Slowly..

Simply Be…

Simply Be There.…
Don’t Be a SPAMMER (And why you need email software)
By: Bjorgvin Benediktsson
Tags: Email Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Online Business, Email Marketing Tips, Digital Marketing

The #1 mistake I see people making when they say they’re using email marketing, is not using an email marketing software.

They’ll say,

“I just add all my contacts in the BCC field in my Gmail and send my newsletter that way.”

When I hear that I just want to flip the table over!

Sometimes I feel like this Panda:

Don’t you know how dangerous that is? Do you want your Gmail to get flagged as spam?

Didn’t think so.

That’s why you MUST use an email marketing software if you’re sending out emails to large groups of people.

One caveat: this does not count if you’re sending emails to:

Invite a group of friends to a party

Create a group email for a small class

But for every “mass communication,” you’re doing via email to your subscribers, you’re gonna need an email software to handle it for you.

Which Email Software Should I Use?

Most email software is pretty robust. They all have more or less the same features.

They do the same thing. So which one should you use?

It doesn’t matter. Just pick one you like and go with it. Take a few of them for a test drive and see which interface feels most comfortable.

Here are some quality options:

Personally, I use Aweber, but I’m not sure I would recommend it for new users. Their technology hasn’t advanced as fast as their competitors, but I’m locked into their software because of all of the various funnels and email systems I already have in place. It would take me too much time to switch over so I make the most of it.

If I were to switch, I’d probably switch over to Active Campaign due to their robust funnel automation systems.

But if you’re just starting out, I always recommend Mailchimp because it’s free for up to 2,000 users. I started with Mailchimp way back in the day (2010 I think), and they’ve only gotten better since then.

What Does Your Email Software Need to Do?

Regardless of what email software you decide on, here’s what you need it to do:

You need to be able to create multiple lists

You need to be able to set up automatic emails so that you can create a welcome sequence

You need the ability to create opt-in forms, or it needs to integrate with your landing page software

You need detailed analytics on your open and click-through rates

You need automation that moves your subscribers to different lists or sequences depending on their actions

Everything else is just icing on the cake. Advanced features, fancy designs, etc. As long as it does the above things, you should be good.

Need Help?

If you’d like to dig in deeper and get personalized help with your email marketing, check out the Email Marketing Manifest right here.
Mom Called Me Out — Sort Of. Today isn’t going well.
By: Elan Cassandra
Tags: Life, This Happened To Me, Narcissism, Mental Health, Parenting

Mom Called Me Out — Sort Of

Today isn’t going well.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Well, my mom has apparently read or heard about my stories here on Medium, or at least one or more that dealt with her.

I knew, of course, that this was a risk that came with writing about her and about our relationship. I had weighed it all and made my decision.

Still, it messed me up when I woke up to a text from her today that passive-aggressively called me out. (She shared with me a link to a youtube channel with advice on dealing with narcissists.)

My first reaction was guilt, knowing I’d surely made her sad.

Then my anxiety kicked in. I hadn’t yet had the chance to take my meds, so that didn’t help.

What did help, however, was being kindly reminded me that the mom whose feelings I was worried about was the same woman who, a few years ago, sent me a letter telling me she was no longer going to be my mom.

Great point.

Still, I’m having trouble shaking the guilt and concern. I’m not focusing well, and motivation has been unusually difficult to muster.

This is what happens when you have that type of parent-child relationship — a hyper-focus on her and what she must be going through.

I’m actively trying not to start gaslighting myself.

I’ve just spent the day in this thick sadness.

A sadness that has kicked up other, underlying sadnesses, and now, I’m feeling the full holiday emotional hangover I thought I’d be able to avoid this year.

I should have known better than that. There’s no skipping that yearly tradition. Happy December 26th everyone!

Also, while writing this, I stress-ate a whole dessert — a dessert meant to be shared with my partner. Now, my tummy hurts.

And I’m still really f*cking sad.
Stranger Things, JavaScript Edition
By: Juan Cruz Martinez
Tags: Nodejs, JavaScript, Software Development, Startup, Programming

Scenario #1: [‘1’, ‘7’, ‘11’].map(parseInt)

Let’s take a look at the code for our first scenario

['1', '7', '11'].map(parseInt);

For what you would expect the output to be:

[1, 7, 11]

However, things get a bit off here, and the actual result is:

[1,NaN,3]

At first, this may look up very weird, but it actually has an elegant explanation. To understand what is going on, we need to understand the 2 involved functions, map and parseInt .

map()

map() calls a provided callback function once for each element in an array, in order, and constructs a new array from the results. callback is invoked only for indexes of the array which have assigned values (including undefined).

Now the callback function referenced above will receive some particular parameters, let's take an example with it's output:

[1, 2, 3].map(console.log)

1 0 > (3) [1, 2, 3]

2 1 > (3) [1, 2, 3]

3 2 > (3) [1, 2, 3]

As can be seen, the map function not only did pass the value of the item but also the index and a copy of the full array on each iteration. This is important and is in part what’s affecting our previous result.

parseInt()

The parseInt() function parses a string argument and returns an integer of the specified radix (the base in mathematical numeral systems).

So now, by definition, parseInt(string [, radix]) expects two parameters, the string we want to parse, and the radix.

Resolving the mistery

Now we know enough about the two functions, let’s try to understand what is happening in our case, we will start with our original script, and we will explain it step by step:

['1', '7', '11'].map(parseInt);

As we know the callback for the map function will receive 3 arguments, so let's do that:

['1', '7', '11'].map((currentValue, index, array) => parseInt(currentValue, index, array));

Starting to get an idea of what happened? When we add the arguments, it comes clear that the parseInt function is receiving additional parameters and not only the actual value of the item in the array, so now we can take test what the function would do for each of these value combinations, but we can also ignore the array parameter as it will be discarded by the parseInt function:

parseInt('1', 0)

1 parseInt('7', 1)

NaN parseInt('11', 2)

3

So that now explains the values we saw initially, the parseInt function result is being altered by the redix parameter which determines the base for the conversion.

Is there a way to get the originally expected result?

Now know how it works, we can easily fix our script and get the desired result:
About someone else’s diary
By: Asli Sonceley
Tags: Memoir, Privacy, Truth, Writing, Essay

No name on the first page.

It wasn’t my husband’s.

No one asked about it the next day.

I texted some guys from the party. They didn’t claim it.

Some dollar bills were tucked into random pages. I didn’t touch them. Scattered writing. Some pages skipped or flipped. I did not read the words.

I wouldn’t do that.

I couldn’t throw it away either. So it lived in a drawer, dangerously close to journals filled with my own writing. A decent dose of someone else’s private thoughts, living with us in our home. This became a test of my willpower. I was building resistance to entering a mind without consent.

I wouldn’t confuse someone else’s thoughts with mine, of course. Yet, they were there, as if they could contaminate my mind.

In my most tempted moment, I allowed myself to read a few words on a random page.

Something about acting.

A girl’s name. An echo says, “Lauren.” Was she significant? Do side characters ever make it into people’s diaries?

Only words, no full sentences. I could not possibly reveal the full context. Even then, I felt guilty of crossing a line. With little information, I had already built too many assumptions about the writer.

He didn’t claim the diary, because he must have assumed that I or someone else read his private thoughts, and discovered something embarrassing.

Or, he didn’t claim the diary, because he simply couldn’t remember where he might have left it.

Or, he remained unidentified because the writer was a she?

Could she have left the diary unattended on purpose, to be secretly read by someone else?

What would I do in her place? You, in mine?

Any further revelations about the writer would have been on my conscience as much as hers. To sustain self-righteousness, I tricked my brain. I let my memory do its job. Details became diluted as years passed. Which party was this again? Who was at the party? Some new people I just met? What year was it? No longer a reliable witness to myself, I could not identify the writer accurately. Therefore, I remained innocent of developing any further judgments.

All that this had left me with, was my game of temptation.

I wouldn’t steal someone else’s thoughts of course. Yet they were there as if they could be mine.

A few months ago, I brought the diary from the house to my car. Next time we went out, I released it at a parking lot in West Hollywood. Dollar bills, intact.

I won.
5 Suggestions That Will Help You Become a Successful Salesperson
By: Don Lee
Tags: Business, Success, Sales

5 Suggestions That Will Help You Become a Successful Salesperson

Follow these tested-and-tried practices.

The first step to success is taking the first step. Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash

Selling is difficult.

I know because I’ve been selling for years. And with the double whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, selling is now more stressful than ever before.

So, what does it take to be a successful salesperson during these challenging times?

Here are five suggestions to help you –

First, be patient.

Don’t rush. You can’t master selling in a day. Learn about your products and services. Learn about your market and industry. Whatever they teach you in your employer’s training sessions, absorb it. Selling is a profession, not a job.

Second, be persistent.

Or, better yet, be reckless, but in a polite way.

You don’t want to be a pest, but you don’t want to be a wallflower either. Unless your employer is providing you with warm or inbound sales leads, you must prepare to make many cold calls.

What? Do you think cold calling is dead? Not so. In this economy, most of your potential customers will not contact you unless they have an urgent need. So, you must take the initiative and make outbound calls. But don’t rely on calls alone. Send attention-grabbing emails with eye-catching subject lines. Keep your emails concise. Be confident. Encourage a call to action. Your goal is to hook your prospect to schedule an appointment, not waste his precious time with long, torturous messages.

And don’t be shy about leaving voice messages.

Using a variety of tactics should get your proverbial foot in the door.

Third, be curious.

The more interested you are in your market and your customers, the better chance you will learn more.

Keep up with the latest trends in your industry and market. Read books. Watch videos. Listen to audiobooks or CD-ROMs. Never stop learning.

“Selling Ain’t Hard When You Know How” - Victor Antonio, Author & Business consultant

Fourth, be emphatic.

Customers want to work with salespeople who care about them.

If they sense you only care about money, they will run. Your customers need to know that you value their business and that they are not another meal ticket. Don’t focus on the short sell; instead, foster on building long-term relationships that will reap more revenue down the road.

And finally, be a good listener.

The more you talk, the less you sell. Customers don’t want to hear your rehearsed sales pitches. They want you to listen to their problems and help solve them. It’s that simple.

The Takeaway.

Selling may be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be hard. Follow some simple and basic practices and rules, and you will be successful.
The 6 Habits of Financially Miserable People
By: Sinem Günel
Tags: Money, Psychology, Advice, Finance, Money Mindset

The 6 Habits of Financially Miserable People

Avoid them and watch your bank account rise.

Photo by Emilio Takas on Unsplash

Most people grow up with false beliefs such as money is the source of all evil or money is dirty.

In most cases, these negative associations with money are based on the thoughts and experiences of our parents.

The truth, however, is that wealth is nothing more than an enabler for opportunities.

Not everything in life is tied to money, but life is certainly more fun without financial struggles.

We all have dreams, hopes, and aspirations. And in most cases, these are bound to money.

Money is not everything, but without it, it’s hard to fulfill most of our dreams and make the experiences we desire.

Yet, the truth is that money is just a tool. It’s a neutral form and energy. It enables you to do good things and bad things.

What you do with money is up to you.

“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” — Henry David Thoreau

They deny the importance of money.

People who are good with money aren’t afraid to talk about its importance.

Bob Proctor once said that money has a more significant influence on your life than almost any other commodity you can think of. Yet, we often feel uncomfortable talking about the truth because we grew up with limiting beliefs.

If you claim that money isn’t important, you either never had to work for it, or you’re lying.

We all need to pay our bills and I bet you don’t want to worry about affording the next meal.

Money, just like other resources, is a form of energy and enables you to live life on your own terms. Without money, you won’t only lack shelter and food, but you also can’t contribute to making the world a better place.

How to improve:

Stop saying that you don’t care about money. Because you do. We all do.

We all spend +40 years of our lives working for 40 hours per week for money. So there obviously is some relevance to it.
Brother, Can You Buy Me Some Coffee
By: Rasheed Hooda
Tags: Money, Life Lessons, Tips, Humor, Writing

I am not a thief. (Ding, ding, ding)

However, I will “borrow” your idea, put it in “my” words, and call it my story.

I’ll justify it by saying that there is nothing original under the sun.

Roz Warren had a brilliant idea, I think.

Do I mean it was brilliant, or that it was Roz’s idea; I’ll never tell.

But the fact remains.

The brilliant idea — Darn it, I let the cat out, didn’t I — is to set up an account at ko-fi.com and link it to the little blurb at the end of our stories. This way whenever someone reads her words or reads mine, it would say to buy her, or me a cup of coffee.

But then she realized, as has every other Medium writer, that no one pays attention to the blurb.

So she had another even brilliant-er idea. Why not tell everyone that it is there; and that it’s a great idea for whoever reads and likes her shhtuff, to buy her (or me in my case) a cup of coffee.

BTW, you should definitely read her brilliant idea that I am “borrowing,” and more importantly, buy her some coffee; after all, she is a much better writer than I am. (Don’t tell her I admitted that.)

Anywho, yeah, there is a little blurb at the end of this story where you’ll find the link to my Ko-Fi account, and I would definitely appreciate you buying me a couple of coffees — I need to pay interest on what I borrowed.

I know, I know. You’re thinking: “Well, Roz is a celebrity. She has her work published in 14 Chicken Soup for the Soul books, (really? they have that many? or is it that the book with her story sold 14 copies?), besides, buying her a coffee is something I can put on my CV. But, who are you?”

I call myself Mister Weirdo. What kind of a nut case would do that?

That is my whole point. I am a nobody, a bum. I need that coffee, Roz could afford her own. But it’s not about whether one can afford it or not, it is about showing appreciation.

For the last dozen years or so, I made balloon animals and gave them away. People gave me money for them. Heck, there were even times when people gave me money to go away. So I figured, it would be worth it; kind of like blogging for tips instead of twisting for tips.

Thanks, Roz, for letting me borrow your idea.

As always, thank you for reading and responding.

Here are a couple of related stories:

Graphic created by Rasheed Hooda using Canva

Rasheed Hooda is a published author, who has contributed to many of Medium’s top Publications; Start-up, The Ascent, P.S. I Love You, Rogues’ Gallery, and ILLUMINATION, to name a few. He is also a Top Writer on several topics. If you like his work you can buy him a cup of coffee.

Testimonial by other writers.
She Blooms
By: Jackie Ann
Tags: Resilience, Poetry On Medium, Spirituality, Poetry, Spiritual Growth

pixabay.com

She blooms

because she was meant to.

She rises

above barren soil

in ignorance

of its inability

to nourish.

Her only awareness

is of her purpose.

There is nothing

too heavy

with gloominess

to dampen the fullness

of her colors.

She bends her body

into a defiant slant

as she pushes through ground

infertile and scant

because it is precisely when

they think she can’t

that she

will always

bloom.

© Jacqueline Ann 2020
confession
By: Haiku Love Bites
Tags: Spirituality, Relationships, Life, Love, Haiku

Written by

#Writer — #Haiku #poetry & #love #poems — Big feelings and emotions packed into seventeen tiny syllables of mystery and adventure one Haiku at a time -
BitBay Community Update —July 12th, 2018
By: Bitbay Official
Tags: Bitbay, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Fintech, Blockchain

BitBay listed on Qiex exchange

BitBay is delighted to announce the listing of BAY on the Qiex cryptocurrency exchange! Based in Hong Kong, Qiex will offer both BTC/BAY and USDT/BAY trading pairs to investors in southeast Asia.

This exciting news marks our very first direct USDT/BAY listing, as well as our first Hong Kong-based exchange. The possibility to exchange directly with USDT will allow those investors to have more options when buying and selling BitBay’s currency.

Find out more

Purchasing $BAY through the CryptoBridge DEX

We are pleased that BitBay is available on the CryptoBridge decentralized exchange! CryptoBridge offers both a downloadable software client, and a web-based platform.

We have put together a step-by-step walkthrough of the web-based part of the CryptoBridge DEX. This the easiest method to acquire $BAY with BTC through their platform.

View tutorial

Upcoming Whitepaper

Pssst! Keep an eye out for our upcoming Dynamic Peg whitepaper!

Our dynamic peg is one of the most amazing, profoundly simple methods of controlling supply in order to control the price of any currency. This will finally solve volatility concerns in crypto-currency.

As always, thank you for your interest in the BitBay project!

Join the conversation at the BitBay forum!
The Road to the Super Bowl
By: Niraj Shah
Tags: NFL, New England Patriots, Super Bowl, Philadelphia Eagles, Sports

The most watched television broadcast in the United States is coming up in a week, the Super Bowl.

Superbowl LII- Patriots vs. Eagles. Picture Credits

In this Super Bowl the defending champions, the Patriots, marshelled by the veteran quarterback Tom Brady are pitted up against the 13–3 Eagles led by Nick Foles, a quarterback trying to prove himself.

In Week 17, Nick Foles had an abysmal game. He threw for 39 yards and maintained a 9.3 passer rating. However, in the NFC Conference Championship, the tables turned. He threw 352 yards and maintained 141.4 passer rating in order to decimate the Vikings 38–7. In order for the Eagles to have any chance in this game, Foles needs a repeat of the game against the Vikings.

Tom Brady on the other hand is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and is coming off of orchastrating a miraculous 4th quarter comeback in the AFC Conference Championship to beat the Jaguars 24–20.

It will be up to the Eagles defense to keep the Patriots power-packed offense at bay, and their offense to pick holes in thier injury ridden defense if they hope to topple the defending champs.

This Super Bowl will feature Justin Timberlake in the halftime show.

Sources:

NFL, ESPN, TV Broadcasts, CBS
[Google Analytics] 全新跨裝置追蹤功能 Google Signals，測試版開放使用中！
By: Kang Yuchi
Tags: Web Analytics, Digital Marketing, Google Analytics, 華文

in In Fitness And In Health
How CRM Helps Small Businesses
By: Sumit Mattey
Tags: General, CRM, Revenue, Productivity, Business

If you want your small business to grow and thrive, its important to take the advantage of the tools and technologies that set you up for success. Implementing a CRM system will give you below and much more.

Few Examples of what a CRM Solution can do include THE ABILITY TO:

View Contact Information Follow Up Via Email or Social Media Manage Tasks Track Performance

I am trying to mentioned few ways the right CRM System can help your Small Businesses -

CRM Helps you get to know your customers — Whether you and your team are in the office or on the road, the right CRM can save and monitor the full history of your customer interactions. Know your customer better with contact management and simple task and event monitoring. CRM lets you manage email effectively — Banish that mountain of an email inbox. A great CRM will let you take control of your email with easy integration, templates, and mass emails for marketing purposes. CRM makes the most of your time — You can do so much using a CRM system that will save your time. Get more productive with marketing campaign management, lead scoring and easy opportunity tracking. CRM gives you Big Business Power — You might think that service (such as product tracking and real-time quotes) and processes (such as analytics) are things only big companies with many employees can do. But a CRM solution give you the power of large enterprise with ease.

To know more or discuss about CRM power and what it can do for your business. Feel free to contact me directly.
The Turkish defensive line
By: Andrei Tapalaga
Tags: Crusades, Medieval, History, Strategy, Army

The Turkish defensive line

Where armour counts for nothing

It is the 12th century and the medieval war between the Turks and other Christian countries continues. Many say that the Turks had the numbers but they also had the skilled and miliary strategy to conquer. It is imperative to understand that the more land you posses throughout the war the more difficult it is to defend it. The major problem was that the Turks have raged war with many different countries, even if they were not comparing to the power as well as the financial muscle of the Turkish nation it was very difficult because they were constantly attacked from many different fronts.

As the second crusade began in 1147AC the ‘ Mujahideen’ (jihadist soldiers fighting combatants of the crusade)were getting ready for some fierce battles because they were about to face the biggest crusade the world has ever seen with more than 13 countries taking part. This meant that the Turks were in major danger of losing most of their conquered land because they were about to be outnumbered for the first time. Rather than taking any chances, Mesud I which was the General of the Turks at the time wanted to prepare his soldiers for more of a defensive act of fighting. It wasn’t necessarily about the fighting style itself as much as it was about holding the defensive line and using tactics to their advantage.

So Mesud I came up with quite an engines defensive line that resorts more to a final formation of a last stand formation if necessary. This formation would require at least 3 spearmen infantry groups and at least one group of archers. The idea was to set up next to a geographical position that would not allow the enemy to flank from behind and stretch the troops around to create a line that is long enough to house all the archers but at the same time strong enough to hold the enemy back whilst the archers were going to work. The infantry was to be positioned in a half-hexagon position (depending on the number of troops available as well as the terrain) having each infantry group as one side and inside the half of the hexagon having the archers and other ineffective troops at defence. The point was to make good use of every soldier no matter if they were outnumbered, especially of the archers that were the vital point and soul of this tactic.

This tactic proved to be superb as the infantry would just hold their defence and the archers would do most of the killing. However many do not know of this tactic as it was not used as much, the reason for this being is that there was no need, many crusaders underestimated the Mujahideen and their fighting capabilities. It would not take long to see that the Mujahideen were made up of mostly Turkish infantry that was very effective in combat even with weak equipment. Furthermore, if we add up the use of their military skill we can see a true opponent being challenged including the vast number of soldiers. Throughout time the Turks would keep this defensive line strategy and upgrade from archers to soldiers equipt with muskets riding camels.
How to Add Multiple Entry Points to Your React App
By: Rahul Mehra
Tags: Multi Page Application, Webpack, Create React App, Single Page Applications, React

Photo by Antonio Batinić from Pexels

Often in our application, we require multiple entry points or html pages at our client side user interface. For instance, let’s take a basic scenario where you are making an application that requires a login page, a registration page and your application’s main index page. Though we can handle this requirement with React routing by creating different routes for login, registration and application, it comes with its own set of caveats.

For example, more often than not your login and registration page will have completely different components structure than your main application. And that is why it would be better to have different entry points and code segregation. Though Create React App gives you many out of the box features, it does not support multi entry points functionality, as it is supposed to be a “SPA”.

Having separate unsecured HTML pages for registration and login also makes it a lot easier to handle server side logic for security.

So in this article I will describe the detailed steps to transform your Single Page CRA generated React App to a multi entry point application.

The first step is to eject your React app so that you can configure your Webpack.
6 tips for managing an effective CMS
By: Aleksey, Aleks
Tags: Technology, Marketing, Startup, CMS, Business

1. Avoid the Failure to Assess Needs

It’s easy to rush into selecting a CMS based on all the excellent features you hear of, without first considering if the features fit your business and website needs. When running a CMS for your business, it is essential to have a dedicated website and specific business goals. Do your CMS needs include meeting existing needs, enabling you to attain estimated growth, or both?

Before considering matching the CMS to your website goals, ensure that it first meets your overall business goals. Consider your target audience, expected result, time, and resources you will require. By failing to examine what your business needs first, you’ll likely find yourself in a position where you purchase a CMS that does little or nothing for your website and business growth.

Additionally, do not consider only your current goals when picking a CMS for your business. For instance, a writing service review website such as Pick the Writer, may focus mainly on paper writing and not a lot of blogging. However, it doesn’t mean that they can’t consider other channels to increase content marketing and the impact it could have on the business and budgeting.
POSTCARDS FROM NEW YORK: FROZEN SPRING #3
Tags: Poetry, Collaboration, Art, Photography, Thesceneandheard

Scene & Heard is where readers, writers, artists, photographers, creatives gather to observe and showcase their artistry…

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Why Mastering Vanilla JavaScript Will Make You Stand Out as a Developer
By: Piero Borrelli
Tags: Technology, JavaScript, Programming, React, Learning To Code

Why Mastering Vanilla JavaScript Will Make You Stand Out as a Developer

Be better than seasoned developers by having the knowledge that many of them miss

Photo by matthew Feeney on Unsplash.

Despite being one of the easiest languages to learn as a beginner, JavaScript is eccentric enough to be truly hard to master. It allows you to write full-scale programs while still scratching its surface, discouraging you from truly understanding the language deep’s capabilities.

It’s both a simple tool and a complex set of empowering mechanics. But what can it do for you if you truly master it?

Let’s try to answer this question.
Marketing for Realtors: Why You Should Be Blogging — Vancouver Based Digital Agency Buzz Design
By: Alireza Ameri
Tags: Marketing, Realtor, Blog, Blogging Tips, Real Estate

Blogging has become an increasingly effective marketing strategy that reaches a greater demographic as it brings content to your social media accounts. Blogs are regularly updated web pages that aid in communicating with prospective clients. It acts as a channel to display your skills while simultaneously improving your search engine rankings.

Blogging reaps many benefits to a realtor because it is:

Very cost-effective.

Easy to produce content because the writing is generally informal and is something you will already be well versed in.

Sustainable– the content will remain on your website and will thus contribute towards its overall effectiveness.

However, do keep in mind that starting a blog requires a lot of time and effort.

Types of Blogs

In general, there are three categories for blog posts:

1. Conversational: where you produce content about neighborhoods, renovations, ways to save money, etc.

Gardening and landscaping

Mortgage rates and products

Decorating ideas

Architecture or housing styles

Homeowners insurance

New businesses coming to area

Lists of local businesses

2. Resourceful: where you provide valuable assets to buyers and sellers such as checklists, home inspections, etc.

Checklist for buyers and sellers

What you should know about home inspections

The key to staging homes for faster sales

Answer questions buyers frequently ask you

Answer questions sellers frequently ask you

How to price your home right to reap the best benefits

Choosing the right upgrades to maximize return when selling

First-time home buyer programs

3. Informational: where you describe the market in a given area. When brainstorming blog titles, put yourself in your client’s shoes and think about what they would search for if they were buyers or sellers.

Real Estate Market Update for (Your Area)

3 Bedroom Homes For Sale in (Your Area)

(School Name) Catchment Homes For Sale

Homes For Sale in (Your Area) Priced Under ($500,000)

Homes With Legal Suite Mortgage Helpers in (Your Area)

New Listings for Homes for Sale in (Your Area)

Do not be scared to mix things up. Although some types of blogs are more interesting to read or write about, they may not be beneficial to your clients who are solely focused on the real estate market.

Things to Keep in Mind

As mentioned previously, it is important to improve your search engine ranking. In order to do so, keep the following in mind:

Ensure that you are writing for your clients, not the search engine.

Find the right balance when repeating a real estate related keyword in your entry.

Titles should be concise, yet eye catching.

Add photos with brief captions to keep your post interesting.

Blogging Frequency

To be frank, the more you post, the better. Perhaps create a schedule where you post three times a week and have each post be a different type of blog. By doing so, you will increase your chances of gaining the interest of prospective clients.
Looking Into The Future: eCommerce Marketing Trends for 2018
By: Madhuri Guram
Tags: Marketing, Ecommerce Trends, Ecommerce, Customer Success, Customer Engagement

2018 is just around the corner!

While marketers are putting together their annual marketing strategy for the next year, we decided to interview 8 industry influencers to find out eCommerce marketing trends to keep an eye on as we head into 2018.

Hear it from the experts

Mike Rossi

Co-founder, Smile.io

Retention marketing! Every year paid acquisition is getting more expensive, and 2018 will be no exception. Getting a business online is easier than ever, and more businesses competing for the same audience means things like Adwords and Facebook ads are getting more and more expensive. However, that expense is worth it if you can keep each new customer around!

In order to succeed, brands need to put a distinct, intentional focus on retaining the customers they have and nurturing those growing relationships. Whether it’s with tools like a rewards program, increasing the customer lifetime value of each new customer can make that initial investment worthwhile. Remember: it’s 7 times less expensive to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one!

Karl Pawlewicz

Head of Communications, Olark

Adding a more human tone to email outreach. Writing and sending emails that come from a human — maybe somewhat vulnerable — place that helps your customers feel like they really know the person at your company sending the email. I feel like the trend is driving more thoughtful marketing in the B2B world, and will benefit more B2C brands who slow down and think of ways to be more human.

Live chat as part of a email marketing campaign. If you’re going to spend a ton of time to craft the perfect email and landing page, you should ensure it converts by putting your sales team on the page to help customers when they arrive. By adding a live chat widget to a landing page that sends an automated message when someone clicks through from their email, your sales team can answer sales objections in real-time and play an active role in improving ROI for the campaign.

Tomas Oberlo

Online Marketing Director, Shopify & Co-founder at Oberlo

Personalization is the way forward. With organic search, voice search, and social media gaining increasing popularity, marketers need to focus on creating a unique customer experience. The future is all about catering to the specific and individual needs of the consumer, and gaining emotional loyalty through humanizing your brand.

Want to know what the rest of the experts predicted?

READ THE FULL ROUNDUP

Originally published on The Marketer’s Last Mile — the PushCrew Blog
This Is Not My Real Name
By: Mari Teresienė
Tags: Introduction, This Happened To Me, Illumination

This Is Not My Real Name

I don’t want my former boss and colleagues to find me here on Medium

Photo by Jaroslav Devia on Unsplash

This is an introduction page dedicated to ILLUMINATION.

My name is Mari — it’s a nickname. There are actually three more letters, which you can guess easily.

I come from Indonesia and ended up in England last year. I left my job in Bali in a small company to join my Lithuanian husband. My former boss had a high expectation for me. He was so sure I could get a promising job based on the experience I got with him. I admit that was a precious one.

But I think I made him disappointed. Maybe he’s not. I’m actually the one being disappointed. I set my standard so high the first time I came last year, that I never get what I expect until now. I even reduced the standard many times already.

After a month, two months, three months… I said to my husband, “It’s been three months, I haven’t got a job.”

After 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, I kept saying the same thing.

After 10 months, that’s where I drew the line. I didn’t want to keep saying the same thing 5 years later. So what I did was spread my CV all over the internet, and if in a month I got nothing, that’s it. I’d do something else.

I haven’t changed my surname; it’s not a common practice to do in my country. Bureaucratic processes are not Indonesia’s strength, but our food is. So I legally keep my birth name and use my husband’s surname here on Medium and YouTube.

Because if my former boss and colleagues google my name to search my name, I don’t want them to end up here.

Or end up in a YouTube channel where I attempt to speak Lithuanian while making Asian black-pepper beef.
Form best practices — the Do’s and Don’ts in form design
By: Victoria Verner
Tags: Product Design, Usability, Ts, UX, UI

What does ‘form’ mean and where it is used?

In general, a form is a box with labels and fields with a call to action buttons.

Below are some examples of Forms used in many parts of websites and applications:

· Login/registration

· Purchase order

· Ticket reservation

· Room booking

· Payment checkout

· Newsletter/subscription

· Consultation/audit request

· Donation

· Survey

· Custom form.

So, How to design a user-friendly form?

In general, form design hides a lot of hard and painful points for user side. Hence, it is necessary to design a form that is user-friendly.

Let’s start by discussing the two main rules for form design:

· First of all, the best practice for designing forms is to do User Testing and never neglect a user’s opinion, even if you disagree.

· Doing User Testing helps to figure out life-hacks like measure time of interaction with form, detect pain points, observe how user work with interface, and where he got stuck or can’t find the necessary element, etc.

Performing these activities helps beginners to avoid the biggest and ignorant mistakes in the FORM world.
Where do the bunnies go?
By: Gérard Mclean
Tags: Walk, Work, Rufus

Yesterday, as I was walking around the block, it hit me that there were not as many rabbits as in the spring. Why? Where do they go? How long to bunnies live? Is there a stockpile of bunny-bodies somewhere or do they “return” to nature quickly? Dunno all this stuff….



Rufus crapped on the Palace Grounds today… hehehe…. Emily has been sick, so Tom has had to work most days at the Java Spot… he didn’t seem happy today, so maybe it is wearing him down….
APEX Network: Node and Token Stats — May 2019
By: Apex Team
Tags: Blockchain, Marketing, Apex, Technology

Token Distribution

Token distribution in % of total supply — May 2019

Token Distribution — Total tokens and % vs total supply for May, March and January 2019

The numbers show that our Supernode candidates have increased their CPX holdings by 20,9M over the past two months while other tiers have slightly dropped.

We can also note that 4,3M less CPX are currently stored in exchanges than in March— though it is hard to know how many of those are in the order books and how many have already been acquired by new holders but not withdrawn. One potential reason for this decrease could be the launch of our $100,000 KRATOS Node Rewards Program whereby APEX Network will be rewarding all token holders commanding at least a Data Cloud Node (>20k CPX), permitted they store their tokens in personal wallets (non-exchange wallets).

Stay tuned for an additional tech announcement shortly.