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FLAGS, FOR GOD’S SAKE
By: Michael Green
Tags: Flags, Design, Religion

First thing’s first, Buddhism and Hinduism are VERY different religions. However the are grouped together here because three of the five flags that feature Buddhist symbols jointly feature Hinduism.

Since there are only five, I’ll comment on each one.

Nepal

Oh Nepal, you vexilogical wonder! It is the only non-quadrilateral national flag on Earth. Its two points represent the Himlayas or the two dominant religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. No one can decide. They also say that if you mirror it over the flag pole, you get the shape of a stupa! Kudos for being unique and doing your own thing. Though you make it difficult to fit you in a flag grid…

India

By law, the flag must be made of khadi, a type of silk made famous by Ghandi himself. In the one month I spent in India, I couldn’t find ONE Indian flag to buy for my collection. In my research for this article, I learned that it was only in 2002 where the flag was permitted for use by private citizens! The extremely specific flag code could be the reason I couldn’t find one. That, and most Indians have very little disposable income and probably wouldn’t waste it on a piece of cloth they couldn’t use anyway.

Cambodia

It’s like your national flag is a big marketing pitch. “Come to Cambodia and see our one tourist attraction!” No offense to Cambodia. (Actually, yes offense to Prime Minister Hun Sen. You are a very bad man. Shame on you.) The Angkor Wat is a very important historic site for all of humanity, no matter what religion you are. Go see it.

Me hanging out at the Angkor Wat

Bhutan

This is probably up there with the top most bad-ass flags on Earth. Sporting their national symbol, Druk the Thunder Dragon, and the colors of Tibetan Buddhism, this is a flag no collection should be without! Bhutan is also the world’s happiest nation! And it’s obvious why…their national symbol is a Thunder Dragon named Druk!

But the winner of the most Buddhist flag goes to…

Sri Lanka

The gold throughout represents Buddhism as well as the four Bo leaves representing the four main concepts of Buddhism: Mettā, Karuna, Mudita and Upekkha. Also, you can’t lose when you have an angry(?) lion-y-thing wielding a dagger.

Unless maybe you are DRUK THE THUNDER DRAGON!
iOS Dev Academy Short Takeaway (Auto-Layout)
Tags: Devslopes, Ios Development, Learn To Code, Swift, Codingbootcamp

It’s been a while with all this Covid-19 going on since I have posted an article. I think that I am back in the groove of things again and not as “constrained” as I was before. This week I was really delving into Auto-Layout and what it helps you accomplish in making a User Interface of an app.

What is Auto-Layout? Well let’s break down the words. Auto is short for “automatic” meaning doing something automatically rather than manually. Layout, you can think of “laying out” a blueprint of a house. Where something belongs and exactly how much room and the dimensions it will take up. What Auto-Layout accomplishes is setting the dimensions or parameters of everything on your User Interface to where it will go and how much room it will take. You are basically setting the alignment and making sure everything looks nice and neat. You are also setting what are called “constraints” as to how far or how close they are to certain objects.

The reason Auto-Layout is used is because not all apps will be working on the same device. Some may be on an old device like an iPhone 4 or some will be on the newest device which has 3 times the resolution or pixels. It can even be on something as large as an iPad. For this reason, we need our app to automatically layout the User Interface so that it looks nice and neat on any device. And not only different devices, but even look nice when you transition from holding your phone in portrait or landscape mode.

One of the tools used in Auto-Layout is a stackview. This is used how it sounds, buttons or whatever can be laid out one on top of another vertically (or horizontally)and then can be grouped together in a stack. By doing this, you can ensured all are the same size or equal distance apart making a nice stack of buttons. Then, you can set constraints to the stack to be a certain distance apart from another image, button, stackview, etc. Image below explains.

These can be confusing, and at times I was frustrated with them, but I feel like I’m getting the hang of them now. Stack views can be inside of other stack views and it can get tricky, but there are plenty of resources out there to help you. I feel like for some people the UI is more difficult than the actual code behind the UI. I can definitely understand that now, but these are just growing pains and I’m glad that I’m having them because I know it’s growing in the right direction. This was just a brief overview of Auto-Layout, more to come later.

Rick Martinez
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
By: Peter Lang
Tags: Oxford, Irish, Ireland, Culture, St Patricks Day

Today the world is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day!

In light of this day of appreciation for the Emerald Isle, we wanted to present some of the ways in which Irish Studies scholars are attempting to reappraise the concept of Ireland and Irishness, sometimes employing a French lens, which is an important task in a world assailed by globalisation and a type of enforced uniformity, which the French have resisted better than most.

The space of Irish Studies is greatly expanding and new viewpoints and studies are continuously being portrayed touching on Ireland’s cultural, social and political development at this difficult point in time Exploring the concept of patrimoine, a French word used to denote cultural heritage, traditional customs and practices, we can seethe extent to which this concept impacts on France and Ireland. In terms of France, we might look at fashion, wines, gastronomy, literature, philosophy, regional specificities, architecture and café culture, while in Ireland the emphasis might be on the pubs, the writers (traditionally quite often to be found in said pubs!), the fighting spirit, the greenness, the historic struggle with our near neighbours, the beef, the Guinness. There are strong connections between the two countries and this is manifested in the way in which they underline and commodify their respective heritages. Both countries have a rich and diverse cultural legacy that remains essential and unique, and patrimoine forms part of culture, and is a means of mediating that culture.

While exploring Franco-Irish relations allows insight into one aspect of culture, scholars are re-examining Irish Famine scholarship, adopting a broader interdisciplinary approach that includes ground-breaking demographical, economic, cultural and literary research on poverty, poor relief and class relations during this devastating food crisis. Incorporating a comparative European framework, as well as exploring the issue of class in relation to the British and North American Famine diaspora, Marguerite Corporaal and Peter Gray have established a significant new stage for the study of Irish history.
Design should be for people, not for designers
By: Илья Сидоренко
Tags: Product Design, UX, Work, Careers, Design

“You can’t beat what you copy” — Gary Vaynerchuk

It could continue for a long time, but I was lucky. When the user base of our service exceeded 5000 users, we started to get feedback. I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the users were satisfied with the application. According to the comments it was clear that people found the necessary functions in it.

I was surprised because the design of the BINO CX app was done for the week. The main ideas came to me during the 12-hour flight from Moscow to New York, when I worked without the internet, “inspiration” and I had only one thought in my head:

“How would this work like if it were easy?”

It turned out that to create a convenient and useful interface it is not necessary to prepare a moodboard, have a lot of experience and higher education. Very often it’s enough to put yourself in the user’s place and to simplify the fulfillment of its main tasks as much as possible.

The design of the app people liked, but despite this, I have not published it on Dribbble, as it does not correspond to modern trends. Instead of thinking about a full redesign that would be appreciated by the community, I began to work consistently on simplifying the main scenarios. It does not attract the attention of the community, but it gives satisfaction, because your work benefits people.

Design for people, not users

I am one designer in the company, but many people participate in product design. You can understand a lot about how people use the service by talking to an analyst, marketer, recruiter and based on this, think through the logic and make visual accents.

The design is not rocket science, but the creation of services for people, who we are. Very often designers exalt themselves over users, although we have the same basic motives, habits and needs.
Boy. Bouncing. Breathing.
By: Zach J. Payne
Tags: Poetry, Life, Love, Mental Health, Ninjabyob

Boy. Bouncing. Breathing.

A sonnet for Theodore Finch.

after Jennifer Niven

Inhale. A primal gasp. It comes to us

so simply — else, it should, but breathing is

a Herculean task — but breathe we must

to keep our blood electric with the fizz

of possibility. Flutter your eyes,

pull all of Heaven in a perfect line

and let it rescue you from sure demise,

a moment or an hour. It is fine

outside. Bundle yourself against the cold

that presses in, the heartlessness of words

thrown carelessly. And you would smile, bold

a little while, although it feels absurd

projecting manic glee, safe deflection,

chasing quiet hope with your affection.
Nurhadi-Aldo, Bukti Anak Muda Tidak Apolitis
By: Ann Putri
Tags: Newsmap, Sentiment Analysis, Nurhadi Aldo, Politik, Etnografia Digital

Another writer in the sea of talented authors. Open for freelance work.

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Dear Writer, don’t give up just yet — the best is yet to come
By: Itxy Lopez
Tags: Creativity, Motivation, Advice, Self-awareness, Writing

It’s easy to want to quit

All of this discouragement from others and ourselves is enough to drive anyone to quit.

Thinking we don’t deserve to be heard can make anyone put down the pencil and close the laptop. It’s enough to convince us to give up when we’re this close to reaching our goals. But…

Don’t give up because tomorrow might be the day you’ve been waiting for.

Maybe you’ll finally reach one hundred followers. You’ll finally have the guts to share the story you’ve had locked up in your computer for the past six months.

You’ll put together a piece that goes viral. Perhaps the client of your dreams will finally hire you. You’ll hear back from someone who wants to run with your book. You’ll get the comment you’ve been waiting for.

You never know.

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Tomorrow might be the day your dream finally comes true. And if it doesn’t happen tomorrow, it could happen the day after that.

That’s why you can never give up. You’ll always have tomorrow to look forward to.

If you keep pushing, then that day will come. But that’s what matters — that you keep trying.

Meanwhile, we have to find the good in everything

Positivity is for writers too, you know? I know that’s hard to believe considering how much time we spend in our heads, usually in some sort of self-loathing, but we really need to work on that.

Some assholes won’t believe in us until we’re rich or famous (or both), but we also have some awesome people in our corner that deserve to be acknowledged.

We have to be grateful for the ones that clap, like, comment, share, repost, retweet, and all the other “re-s.”

When that isn’t enough to make you feel good and to keep propelling you forward, focus on the writing.

Writing is the best thing ever. I think we can all agree with that.

No matter what I think about myself, no matter how difficult the process, and despite the days I want to quit because I feel lonely and I’m tired of being on the damn laptop all day, I love writing with everything in me.

I love being able to express myself through words, making up characters, and that I can stay in bed to work. I love the stupid clicking noises of the keyboard people who write about writing always mention. I love geeking out about cool words, doing research, and editing.

I love the whole fucking thing.

When all else fails, I will let my passion for writing drive me forward.

Let writing be your guiding light. When no other form of motivation works, let your love for writing push you to keep going — if only until tomorrow.
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Friday, Humor, Comics, Cartoon

First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.

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Breadth First Search vs Depth First Search
By: Eli Kantor
Tags: JavaScript, Software Development, Data Science, Software Engineering, Web Development

Illustration of DFS Preorder and BFS Searches

This article will discuss what Breadth First (BFS) and Depth First (DFS) Searches are, when to use one over the other, and how to implement each with Javascript.

BFS and DFS Definitions

BFS and DFS are two common ways for a computer to traverse non-linear data structures like trees or graphs.

BFS, or what is also called Level Order Search, is a process where nodes on the same level are all visited before moving to the next level of nodes. An illustration of a BFS traversal is shown below.

Breadth First Search Illustration

Conversely, a DFS traversal takes a vertical approach by visiting a node’s branch before backtracking to access siblings and their branches. DFS can be implemented in multiple ways. I cover three of the most common below.

DFS: Inorder

DFS Inorder follows the left-root-right traversal pattern. This means visiting the structures left most leaf first, that leaf’s parent, and that leaf’s right sibling (if present) before backtracking up a level and repeating the process until the target node is found or all nodes have been visited.

DFS Inorder Traversal

DFS: Preorder

Based on a quick internet search, Preorder traversal appears to be the most commonly illustrated DFS search. The process follows the root-left-right traversal pattern that can be seen in the top illustration on the left.

DFS: Postorder

DFS Postorder follows a left-right-root traversal pattern meaning the search first visits the structure’s left most leaf, then its right sibling (if present), then its parent, and then repeating the process.

DFS Postorder Illustration

Use Cases

BFS vs DFS: Since BFS starts at the top of a structure and DFS typically starts at a leaf, BFS is a preferred traversal method if you know the datapoint you are looking for is near the top. Conversely, DFS is typically more efficient if the target is closer to a leaf.

DFS Postorder is often used for deleting nodes or an entire tree due to the process visiting each node’s child before the node itself.

DFS Inorder is often used on Binary Search trees to return each node in ascending order/value. Reversing the process (also called Reverse Inorder) visits each node in descending order/value.

Implementation

Each method requires storing nodes that need to be accessed in the future while the traversal process is ongoing. This is usually done with a queue when implementing a BFS.

And a stack when implementing a DFS.
To Avoid Burnout, Know Your Minimum Output Level
By: Darius Foroux
Tags: Productivity, Work, Burnout, Careers, Success

To Avoid Burnout, Know Your Minimum Output Level

Having a long and consistent career requires doing just enough each day

Photo: Westend61/Getty Images

It’s simple and inevitable: When you try to do too much in a short amount of time, you burn out. The only way to avoid that, to have a long and consistent career, is to do just enough each day.

But what is enough? To find out, let’s look to those who have it down to a formula.

When we think about the most productive people, it’s easy to assume they’re working 18-hour days and sacrificing their personal lives (and sleep) to get it all done. But that’s just not the case.

Take Stephen King, who publishes a book a year: In spite of his extraordinary output, he’s not sitting at a computer and writing all day long. In his memoir On Writing, King writes: “I like to get 10 pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words.”

That’s a good amount of writing, but it’s manageable, and if you’re a pro like King, it might take just a few hours. He writes that he has enough time in the day to go for a walk, read a lot of books that are not his own, spend time with his wife, and watch baseball.

King figured out what I call his Minimum Output Level (MOL), which is the specific measure of work you need to do consistently in order to reach your goal. You can calculate your MOL per day, week, or month, depending on the type of work you’re in.

On his MOL of 2,000 words a day, King writes, “That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book — something in which the reader can get happily lost if the tale is done well and stays fresh.” He took what he wanted to achieve — a finished book in three months — and worked backward.

To avoid burnout, figure out your own MOL and how much energy you should be exerting every day. Here’s how:

1. Set a realistic goal. Give it a time frame, such as “launch a side business in six months.”

2. Break down your goal into daily actions. Make these actions as concrete as possible. For instance, you might calculate that to start your side business, each day you will need to email five potential partners, work on your proposals for one hour, and gather research for 30 minutes. This is your MOL.

3. Give yourself some guidelines. Sticking to your MOL is simple, but not easy. If you’re like me, you’ll want to do more. But tell yourself that after you complete your daily actions, you will allow yourself to be satisfied with calling it quits. You won’t feel guilty if people around you seem to be working longer hours or creating more — it’s likely that what they’re doing isn’t sustainable.

What I’ve learned after studying personal productivity for 10 years is that every time you think you need to do more, you probably need to do less more effectively. If you think deeply about what you want, you’ll probably realize you don’t need to do all that much. There’s power in recognizing when it’s time to walk away.
The Unexpected Advantages of Being an Introverted Parent
By: Cynthia Marinakos
Tags: Introvert, Life Lessons, Self, Personal Development, Parenting

The Unexpected Advantages of Being an Introverted Parent

You have more to give than you realize

I just want to be left alone. Photo by Alex Jones on Unsplash

Go away! Leave me alone!

Please!!!

I feel like I’m going crazy. I need time out from her.

She’s been unbearably clingly lately.

First it was nightmares. Now she’s sick.

The result is she follows me like a shadow. Everywhere.

Kitchen.

Lounge.

Even into the bathroom.

It would be sweet if it wasn’t so damn annoying. Claustrophobic.

Can’t. get. away.

The worst feeling for an introvert.

I once broke up with an ex because he called me every day. He was stifling. And being smothered brings out the worst in me. Not having space to breathe. To be alone with my thoughts.

But we can’t break up with a kid. And as an introvert, we get cranky when our kid or partner invades our space for too long.

Banging dishes around the kitchen.

Snapping at your kid for leaving dirty laundry on the floor.

Counting down the minutes until you can head out for a class or a walk around the block.

Hulk comes out when stifled. Photo: Drawing by Cynthia Marinakos

I feel like the Incredible Hulk when he’s pushed over the edge. Because I just really. need. to. get. out.

I wonder if being an introvert and a parent is a shitty mix. I’ve never seen this side of myself before I became a parent. That’s one of the toughest parts of parenthood as an introvert. Not getting enough ‘me time’.

Thankfully, when I get my time alone, I change from The Hulk back to a calm, reasonable, glass-half-full person. And I realize that instead of a shitty mix, we introverts make damn good parents.

Here are 8 unexpected advantages introverts have that make parenthood a hell of a lot more enjoyable.

1. You do what you think is right rather than what’s the norm

Introverts have a quiet confidence. We live by values we’ve created through careful thought and insightful experiences. That’s why we’re not easily swayed by what parents are ‘supposed’ to do (or not).

Introverts have courage to go their own way. Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

We’re comfortable putting our kid to bed at 7 when most parents put their kids to bed at 9.

Taking our kid on holiday outside the official school holiday period.

Or not putting on a festival for our kid’s first birthday — and every birthday after.

Introverts courageously carve out their own parenthood pathways, rather than choosing the easy way out: meekly living according to the expectations of others.

And as all parents know, everyone has an opinion about how you should raise your child.
Change.org Quietly Censored Petition that Challenged Billionaire Investor
By: David Kain
Tags: Politics, Silicon Valley, Covid 19, Ethics, Journalism

Reports of an allegedly removed Change.org petition protesting Bill Gates and potentially mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations were swept under the rug earlier this spring. The petition is said to have garnered as many as 150,000 signatures — though some statements have capped at 130,000.

Change claims that it does not dictate who can and can’t post petitions to its site and does not incorporate guidelines that specifically bar protests against public figures. At the time of reporting, Newsdive has not discovered evidence that identifies the petition as having violated any of Change’s community guidelines or terms of service. Change.org has not responded to our request for questioning.

The site states atop its Terms Of Service (TOS) page:

“We’re an open platform because we believe more change happens when people with different backgrounds and perspectives can participate in the conversation.”

At face value, this ideology looks up to par — given that Change petitions can be found covering everything from student debt cancellation to animal rights laws, both anti-Trump and anti-Biden movements, and to ludicrous causes like canceling the sun.

While the impression of policy uniformity is typically upheld, these standards potentially do not apply if the contended public figure is one of the company’s key investors.
The Power of Visualization in Data Science
By: Matthew Stewart, Phd Researcher
Tags: Communication, Data Visualization, Data Science, Art, Towards Data Science

What is Visualization?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines visualization as:

(1) The formation of mental visual images.

In the context of visualization with data, it is necessary to add something to this definition, so that it becomes:

The formation of mental visual images to convey information through graphical representations of data.

If you are pursuing a career in data science, this is one of the most crucial skills that you can master, and it is transferable to virtually any discipline. Let us imagine that you are trying to convince your manager to invest in a company and you present them a spreadsheet full of numbers to explain to them why this is such a good investment opportunity. How would you respond if you were the manager?

If presented in visual form, information is often much easier to digest, especially if it makes use of patterns and structures that humans can interpret intuitively. If you want a quick and easy visualization that requires little to no effort, you can go with something like a pie chart or a bar chart. In terms of developing visualizations, this is often as far as most people go, and often, it is as far as they made need to go for there field of expertise.

Another factor that inhibits our use of visualizations is the amount of data we have available. How do I know if visualization is an appropriate method to communicate a message?

This is a difficult question to answer. One design study recommends that we assess the viability of using visualizations based on the clarity of our task and the location of the information.

Design Study Methodology: Reflections from the Trenches and the Stacks, Michael Sedlmair, Miriah Meyer, and Tamara Munzner. IEEE Trans. Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2012.

If we are in the top right corner of this diagram, it becomes feasible to develop and program interactive visualizations, which is the realm in which data scientists are now entering due to the persistently increasing scale of data resulting from the information explosion.

Information Explosion.

We are now living in a data-driven world, and it is only likely to become more data-driven. This is clear from multiple areas, such as important advances in developing large-scale sensor networks as well as artificial intelligence agents that interact with the world (such as self-driving cars).

In a world where data is sovereign, having the power to develop clear and impactful visualizations is becoming an increasingly necessary skill.
The boy and the universe ahead.
By: Parnell Piano
Tags: Short Story, Poetry, Fiction, Poem, Haiku

Photo by Aperture Vintage

A haiku (the third and final part);

From the ocean depths,

the boy rose into the stars.

Human, nevermore.

—

Part Two

The boy and the ocean.

At the plateau, his —

eyes saw the ocean; repose.

Descend to its floor.

—

Part One

The boy and the mountain.

The boy climbed and climbed.

He reached the mountaintop but,

never found himself.
Opening the Doors for Everyday Users
By: Matej Tomazin
Tags: Ethereum, Announcements, Bitcoin, Iconomi, Goals

Opening the Doors for Everyday Users

ICONOMI Fiat Gateway

Opening the Doors for Everyday Users

One of our goals for 2018 was to open the door to mass adoption by introducing a fiat ramp-up service on our platform. Today, we are excited to announce the release of the first stage of the fiat ramp-up: over-the-counter (OTC) deals.

This gives ICONOMI users everything they need to enter the crypto-economy in one place: purchasing and selling bitcoin and ether with fiat, and diversifying their digital portfolio through baskets of cryptocurrencies (Digital Asset Arrays).

Introducing Fiat Deposits and Withdrawals

For Users

In an OTC trade, eligible users can make a deal with ICONOMI to purchase a certain amount of bitcoin or ether, pay using their bank account, and receive their bitcoin or ether directly to their ICONOMI account.

As communicated in our Q1 2018 Financial Report, we will be releasing the fiat ramp-up in several stages. During the first stage, fiat deposits and withdrawals require a minimum of 50K EUR and are processed as over-the-counter deals.

The process is simple. Much like other payment services, users create an ICONOMI account and fulfill KYC and AML requirements (see our verification process) before depositing. Once you are a verified Tier 2 user you can contact us at otc@iconomi.com and we will lead you through the simple deposit process.

For DAA Managers

ICONOMI DAA managers can now seed their DAAs directly with EUR. This allows for a faster, more streamlined seeding process. If you would like to set up your own DAA, follow the instructions in our Knowledge Base article.

Looking Forward: Direct Deposit

The second stage of the fiat ramp-up service is already being implemented. It will be made available on a country by country basis, beginning with EU countries. During this stage, any registered and Tier 2 verified ICONOMI user in an eligible country will be able to use ICONOMI services with direct deposits from their bank accounts.

Offering a comprehensive set of tools to allow anyone to enter and explore the crypto-economy breaks down the barriers to entry and will expand ICONOMI’s reach even further.

Follow our official channels for more updates and news:

Facebook / Twitter / Reddit / Medium
Superhero Layout — internationalisation
By: Anton Ball
Tags: Grid, CSS

We made it to the sixth and final part of the CSS Grid Superhero Layout series. Phew. In part six we look at how CSS Grid supports internationalization (i11n). It may surprise you how much we get out of the box with CSS Grid when it comes to different reading styles.

All of the layouts we have played with throughout the article series have a western layout. Reading top-to-bottom, left-to-right. Consider Japanese manga, which has the reading style, right-to-left. Using this page from Naruto as an example:

The page starts in the top right corner and you read through to the bottom left. Even when translated to English it retains the same reading style.

Naruto #9 — Madman Entertainment

The initial thought could be to order the HTML with the panels in the visual order required. In part three when we covered layering we discussed the importance of reading order on accessibility. But in short, source code order matters. We can’t do that here because the panel order would become panel 2, panel 3, panel 1, panel 6, panel 5, panel 4. The meaning has been lost.

Instead, we put the images into source code in the correct order. Panel 1 through to panel 6.

.comic {

display: grid;

grid-template-columns: repeat(13, 1fr);

grid-template-rows: 1.5fr 1fr 1.5fr 0.2fr;

grid-gap: 2rem 1rem;

margin: 0 auto;

}

Which is great for those who read left-to-right. Next, we make use of the direction attribute and CSS Grid handles the layout for us!

<main class="comic" dir="rtl">

We have added support for a whole new reading style, just like that. I put together a demo on Codepen where you can toggle the dir attribute. That’s the main layout done!

There’s more though. Using this panel from the same Naruto manga, we have another consideration.

The speech bubble is right-to-left but also reads top-down. Here’s the English panel for comparison:

The CSS property that will achieve the desired direction is writing-mode. This typically would be set on the root HTML but for the example, we can add it to the speech bubble element like so:

.bubble {

writing-mode: vertical-rl;

}

The demo for writing mode is available on CodePen.

With a logographic character set, like what’s in the Japanese manga, the text will read vertically, whereas in English it is vertical but has also turned the letters. I don’t know Japanese so I didn’t want to risk writing something widely incorrect but we now have layout right-to-left and reading top-to-bottom. There wasn’t much to it this time around as browsers and spec writers have done a great job in defining this functionality.

I hope you picked something up about internationalization and CSS Grid within this post. There are CodePen demos for the direction attribute and writing mode.

That brings us to the end of the CSS Grid Superhero Layout series. I hope you enjoyed the journey through the age of comics and how we can recreate these layouts with modern styling and CSS Grid. If you would like to read any of the other articles in the series I have linked them below.

Posts in the Superhero Layout series
Block Height Announcement — Release of Lisk Core 1.0.0-rc.2 to Testnet
By: Maciej Baj
Tags: Development, JavaScript, Lisk, Announcements, Blockchain

We are excited to announce that Lightcurve has successfully finished the quality assurance (QA) cycle for Lisk Core 1.0.0-rc.2. This means that release candidate number 2 is ready for release onto Testnet. As previously explained in our weekly development updates, this QA cycle was more tedious than a typical one due to the complexity of Lisk Core 1.0.0. Here’s a short summary:

15 new issues were attached to the Milestone Board

were attached to the Milestone Board 7 full cycles were performed

were performed We had 2.5 weeks of development and testing

Testnet migration from 1.0.0-rc.1 to 1.0.0-rc.2

As you may have noticed, the Testnet network has been growing since June 28, with blocks produced by nodes on version 1.0.0-rc.1. The next release candidate is a hard fork due to the bumped block version — you can read about this issue in-depth here. The collaboration with the community migrating on the same height would be highly beneficial to test the migration process once again before the final release — to Mainnet. We also encourage everyone to use the lisk-bridge script, which fully automates the migration process by accepting the migration height as a parameter. To get yourself familiar with all of the changes introduced by the Lisk Core 1.0.0-rc.2 version, check out our last development update.

When?

The Testnet migration will happen no sooner than 2 days from now, at height 5932033. We expect this to happen at approximately 12:00 CEST* on Thursday, 9 August 2018.

The Testnet release block height takes into account the following factors: the missed block slot ratio and the 5 delegates that are not forging on Testnet.

Documentation

Based on the community feedback received during the previous Testnet migration, we’ve refined and updated our Documentation. Please check out the Migration Guide to prepare for the migration.

-Maciej and the Lightcurve team

*CORRECTION: The time of the Testnet migration will happen at 12:00 CEST. Previously, we stated the Testnet migration would happen at 12:00 CET.
The logistics war enters a new phase
By: Enrique Dans
Tags: Fedex, Transportation, Ecommerce, Amazon, Logistics

IMAGE: Mohamed Hassan — Pixabay

Amazon is no longer hiding its plans to integrate vertically and become its own logistics company: it already sends almost half of its shipments in the United States, 47.6%, itself, with USPS making up a declining 33.3% (Donald Trump has told it to start charging Amazon more), and FedEx and UPS already reduced to 16.5% and 1.6% respectively.

The all-too-clear intentions of the e-commerce giant are already worrying FedEx, which until recently was playing down Amazon’s logistics potential, but has now said it will not renew its logistics contracts with the company. Perhaps in response, Amazon is announcing an increase of the operations of its aircraft fleet, Amazon Air, into the strategic Asian market. In addition, it has signed an agreement with Rite Aid, which will apply to other large chain stores, to deliver packages in their outlets for collection, hopefully boosting customer flow in them, while at the same time pressing ahead with the creation of small last-mile delivery companies as well as the use of subcontractors through Amazon Flex.

Logistics is a $1.5 trillion market. For the moment, Amazon seems interested only in its own e-commerce activity, but following its usual strategy and having obtained the appropriate economies of scale and expertise, it may seek to increase its turnover by offering logistics as a service to its own suppliers or other companies. Even taking into account that logistics is not only the business of distributing the stuff we buy online, but is also a huge business moving all kinds of goods around the world, this is no small threat: Amazon already makes up 49% of online shopping in the United States, which represents no less than 5% of all retail sales.

At the same time, logistics will be made yet more efficient thanks to machine learning, a field in which Amazon clearly outstrips its competitors. It is also the cause of the vast majority of customer complaints.

In short, a company that until now has kept logistics companies in business has decided to go for vertical integration. Furthermore, in the medium term, it will start offering logistics services of its own. If you’re in the logistics business, be afraid, be very afraid.
Common JavaScript Mistakes — Part 3
By: John Au-Yeung
Tags: Nodejs, JavaScript, Technology, Software Development, Programming

Trying to Overload Functions

Functional overloading is a feature of some programming languages where you can declare functions with the same name but different signatures. In JavaScript, we can’t overload functions. Whenever a function is declared more than once, the one that is declared later overwrites the one that’s declared earlier. This is because functions are objects and declaring a function is like assigning an object to a variable. When you assign an object to a variable more than once, then the value that’s assigned later will overwrite the value that’s assigned earlier. That means that we can’t have two functions with the same name in the same module in JavaScript. For example, if we have the following,

function add(a, b, c) {

return a + b + c;

} function add(a, b) {

return a + b;

} console.log(add(1, 2, 3));

then we get three because the add function that’s declared later has overwritten the one that’s declared earlier. To fix this, we have to rename one of them. We can also put them inside two different objects. Then they can have the same name since they aren’t in the same level. Also, we can write an Immediately Invoked Function Expression, or IIFE for short. IIFEs are run as soon as they’re defined. To wrap them in an object, we can write the following:

const a = {

add(a, b, c) {

return a + b + c;

}

} const b = {

add(a, b) {

return a + b;

}

} console.log(a.add(1, 2, 3));

console.log(b.add(1, 2, 3));

As we can see, if we run the code, then the console.log of the first one will be six and the second one will be three since a.add has three parameters and b.add has two.

We can also use an IIFE as in the following example:

const sum1 = (function add(a, b, c) {

return a + b + c;

})(1, 2, 3); const sum2 = (function add(a, b) {

return a + b;

})(1, 2, 3); console.log(sum1);

console.log(sum2);

In the code above, we wrapped the function inside the parentheses and then called it immediately after it was defined. Then we assigned the returned result to a variable. After that, we get six and three as we wanted. Because we called each function immediately and returned the result, we get the right result since they didn’t overlap. It also means that they can’t be called again.
Coronavirus Will Teach Us Financial Literacy
By: Anastasia Shch
Tags: Life Lessons, Enrepreneurship, Change, Business, Personal Finance

Coronavirus Will Teach Us Financial Literacy

The sudden change made “living in a moment” lifestyle backfire.

Photo: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Crisis situations are hard to predict, but they all have something in common — they happen unexpectedly and they hit hard. Spoiled with favorable economic conditions a lot of businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers are now losing their income because of the pandemic.

There are more reasons for it than personal negligence. It is rooted deeper — in education, upbringing and culture. Take millennials who struggle with personal finances for example. I know very few people who take financial planning seriously. I was like this too, focused on living in the moment. A savings account would have helped now a lot.

However, millennials are not the only ones. Living in comfort and relatively stable economy made even more manure and experienced people loosen the grip on their finances and give in the temptation to trade security for fleeting joys.
Want Real Life, Real/igion?
By: Rev Dr Sparky
Tags: Spirituality, Life, Humor, Religion, Community

Want Real Life, Real/igion?

Go ahead — one more newsletter won’t hurt you…

At least, this one won’t.

Look: I don’t believe that every random word I write is platinum.

But if you follow Real Life, Real/igion, you’ll get the word when there’s something holy enough to laugh about, human enough to rant about, or something else indescribable.

Because this is real/igion for the rest of us.

We are the congregation of the real world.

RevDrSparky
A Kind of Trust
By: Michelle Berry Lane
Tags: Poetry, Spiritual Tree, Faith, Vulnerability, Spiritual

A Kind of Trust

A Poem About Leaning Into the Unknown

Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

eyes open

palms turning up,

even in darkness

the air,

every breath given

and then let go,

before it came into this body

it was exchanged

in the complex interior labyrinth

of countless other beings

for eons

this heart, beating

my-o-cardium

raise this cup

and drink

it may be that

to be truly alive

in this uncertain world

is. . .

yes
Through the Looking ‘Gram
By: Ellen Lindner
Tags: Social Media, Autobiography, Instagram, Japan, Comics

Ellen Lindner is the author of The Cranklet's Chronicle, a zine about women in baseball, and editor of The Strumpet. She lives in upper Manhattan. @ellenlindna

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27/04/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere
Tags: Taxes, Patents, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Alibaba

by BlockEx

1. Alibaba Eyes Blockchain To Fight Food Fraud

Alibaba might start using blockchain for supply chain tracking to fight food fraud e.g. using lower-quality products or fictitious ingredients. The Chinese e-commerce is currently testing a pilot program, with its own blockchain-backed Food Trust Framework. The trial involves the tracking of international shipments coming from Australian health supplements firm Blackmores, and New Zealand-based dairy company Fonterra. The pilot will be conducted through the company’s T-Mall e-commerce arm. The aim is to instil higher trust in customers through more identifiable products, and a more transparent process.

2. France Changes Tax Structure For Crypto Gains

Various French news outlets have reported that the French Council of State has decided to change the tax structure for crypto gains. The governmental body stated that crypto transactions should be considered capital gains of “movable property”. They are currently considered either “industrial and commercial profits” or “non-commercial profits”. This means that the current tax of up to 45% (BIC rate) will drop to 19%. However, not all transactions will fit the new description. Furthermore, crypto mining and business activities will still be taxed at the BIC rate. The news comes following a group of investors challenging the current tax rate in front of the Supreme Court.

3. Singapore To Expedite FinTech Patent Processing

Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has introduced the FinTech Fast Track initiative, with the hope of promoting FinTech innovations in the city-state, and encouraging the industry to flourish. Timing is now going to be cut down to six months, against the average two years. In the appendix, it was added that patents related to the use of blockchain within banking would also qualify for the initiative. A brief list of qualifying requirements was also provided in the document. The project is part of the Republic’s Smart Nation agenda to promote innovation and digitalisation.

4. Pantera CEO Thinks This Is The Right Time To Buy Bitcoin

Pantera Capital Management LP CEO Dan Morehead believes this is the right time to purchase Bitcoin. During an interview with Bloomberg, he said that the $1 billion crypto hedge fund has 10% of investments in Bitcoin. Morehead went on to say that Bitcoin price will considerably increase in the next 12 months. He also stated that the crypto market cap could grow from the current $400 million, to $4 trillion, if not even $40 trillion, over the next 10 years. The rising number of hedge funds specialised in cryptocurrencies and institutional investors entering the market was also discussed.

This news roundup was brought to you by BlockEx.
Bitcoin — The Savior
Tags: Money, Freedom, Digital, Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto

Image Credits — To the Owner

Bitcoin the genesis of all creation matters blockchain and cryptocurrencies

It’s that which gives us the freedom to choose

To choose where to send our money from

To choose when to send our money

To choose at what time we want to do our transaction

To choose whoever you want to bless with, the digital coin.
Develop a full fledged Global News Flutter App in a day PART 2.
By: Himanshu Ranjan
Tags: iOS, Mobile App Development, Dart, Android, Flutter

So,In the part 1 of this series we designed our homepage for the news app that we are building.So, Let’s dive deeper and design our news page based on different categories.

Let’s get started with the part 2:

Workflow:

We will define a fetchnews() function which will help us fetch news from API based on the keywords we provide.

Then we will design our custom Appbar which will show the Category Name we are browsing currently.

We will create a News Tile widget now which is like a news Card which contains 1 image and the news article description.

News Tiles Structure

So, the implementation of the above mentioned workflow is attached below:

Let’s design our News Tile now:

Workflow:

An Inkwell Container is used to hold all the news content and which on tap will navigate the user to the news page that contains the complete details of the news.

Share button is implemented in case the user wants to share a particular news on social media or via any other source.

News Tile

So,the Category page is implemented now and that’s it for this part. In the next part we will implement features like notifications,Introduction Screen and many more stuffs like that.

PART 3:

Here’s the link to my Github repository that contains the full implementation:

That’s it for this article and see you guys in the next one.
Espejitos de colores
By: Nicolás J. Engler
Tags: Creative Writing, Short Story, Fiction, Nonfiction

Digital product designer that also happens to do a bunch of other stuff on the side. Jack of all trades.

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Best Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts)
By: Michael Henderson
Tags: Recording, Behringer, Studio Monitors

Best Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts)

Buy Link: CLICK HERE

Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts) Product Description:

Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts). These compact, super-affordable 2 x 20-watt near field monitors feature ultra-high resolution 24-bit/192 kHz D/A converters, which let you connect digital sources directly in order to eliminate analog line-loss and hum. Recording Behringer. Recording, Studio Monitors, Desktop/Multimedia Monitors. Price: 269.99 USD. Sale Price: 179.99 USD.

The Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts) is certainly that and will be a great buy. For this price, the Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts) is highly recommended and is a popular choice with lots of people.

Buy it Now

Buy Behringer MS40 Digital Studio Monitors (40 Watts) is a post from: Musical Instruments