fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Tiptoe
By: Lyondhur Picciarelli
Tags: Poetry, Sil

in In Fitness And In Health
Why the Top 8 List On Thom Rainer’s Site Is Faulty & How To Fix It With Content Marketing And An Advanced Tactic
By: Kenny Jahng
Tags: Work, Email Opt In, Content Marketing, Resources, Facebook Pixel

Why the Top 8 List On Thom Rainer’s Site Is Faulty & How To Fix It With Content Marketing And An Advanced Tactic Kenny Jahng Follow Oct 1, 2016 · 2 min read

It seems like everyone knows to prioritize website and content marketing when you build or manage a site these days. Even church websites are trying to optimize their sites well, which is a good thing.

Someone forwarded a great post from Thom Rainer’s blog recently that featured 8 Things Your Church Website Must Have.

First, let me say this: Thom’s blog is rock solid.

But when I read this post, it made me pause.

It’s not that this set of recommendations are wrong (they are all things you need on your website, so pay attention). But it is missing two super critical things IMHO that you can’t ignore much longer in this day and age of content marketing and advanced digital advertising strategies.

In this week’s video, I share what’s missing and why they need to bump all 8 things on this original list down in priority.

CONTENT MARKETING & ADVANCED AD TACTICS YOUR WEBSITE CAN’T IGNORE ANY LONER

Bottom line? Content Marketing + Remarketing are Two Critical Considerations For All Websites Today

This seems new to a lot of church communicators that I’ve run into. So I’m really wondering — Have you ever thought about these TWO CRITICAL TACTICS?

Please let me know if you’d like to learn more about remarketing so I can share more if there is interest.
Plutus Weekly Report — August 28th 2018
Tags: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Payments, Report

The first week of Plutus Tap & Pay live testing is well underway in the Apple App Store and Google Play App.

Plutus Tap & Pay for Android/iOS provides a mobile banking experience that includes the blockchain. Head over to http://plutus.it to download the app on your favorite mobile device, and get your very own account.

Current features enabled:

Use Plutus Tap & Pay to sell PLU, and withdraw to your bank account immediately.

Head over to the PlutusDEX to purchase PLU: http://dex.plutus.it

Upcoming features in the coming weeks:

The features above will be enabled for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Currently, we are working on the user-friendliness of our app. As peer-to-peer and crypto apps usually prove to be a challenge in this respect, it is our goal to improve the accessibility of our features.

The feedback from our community will decide the further development of our app. We are monitoring the Telegram channel and collecting feedback from there, but feel free to open up a support ticket if you would prefer to submit privately.

The tech team are now perfecting the new release of the Plutus Tap and Pay App, as we plan to expand payment and deposit limits in the next few weeks. Here is a short overview of some of the things we have been done:

Investigated user-reported bugs

Began finalising V1 of the Pluton (PLU) transaction tracker

Resolved login glitches on iOS

Development environment (re)configured

Created backups of our production environment

Marketing

Over the coming weeks, we will be upgrading our app to better serve our community. During this stage, your feedback is crucial. We would like to see Plutus from your perspective in order to develop and release progressive improvements.

During this time we will also release ‘How To’ video guides, accompanied by a broad spectrum of product reviews across the crypto and payments industry.

New Hires

We are also glad to announce that two new members will be joining our marketing team very soon, and we have a busy schedule of promotional activities planned to raise awareness about Plutus.

Meanwhile, visit our latest article on how to travel with bitcoin:
ARK is Going To New York For Consensus 2019
By: Travis W
Tags: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Arkecosystem, Cryptocurrency, Conference

Since 2015 Consensus has been one of the biggest events of the year, with ground breaking announcements and world renowned speakers. This year we are proud to be a part of that speaker lineup.

Consensus 2018 saw over 8,000 attendees and 250 speakers ranging dozens of industries and professions. Our industry is growing and we at ARK are proud to be a part of the educational and technological advances that will continue to expand our blockchain space.

The conference runs from the 13th to the 15th of May 2019, giving 3 full days of speakers, events and more. You can follow the agenda here, it will be updated quite often so stay tuned.

Speaking on Tuesday May 14th. These times may adjust depending on conference agenda adjustments.

Representing the ARK Crew will be Matthew Cox and Justin Renken. Giving an ARK overview as well as what has been accomplished since the inception of ARK. Both Matt and Justin will be sharing the stage for a 30 minute session with an accompanying Q & A session.

Last Consensus

ARK also attended Consensus 2018 last year. We had an overwhelming presence, with a full team at our booth consisting of ARK Crew and ARK community members, a private room with its very own speaker track, thousands of swag items and a dominating onsite advertising presence. You can see some of last years pictures here.

ARK joins in the Consensus Virtual Swag Bag

This year Consensus is also offering virtual swag bags, including NFT’s which can be acquired, traded and redeemed. ARK is part of this Virtual Swag bag with an ARK NFT Token. Meaning everyone that gets an ARK NFT can find me, Travis Walker, anywhere onsite for some free ARK! Just show me your ARK mobile QR code and I will send you ARK on the spot. You can also message me on the Consensus Events Mobile App, available on iTunes and Google Play.

Join us at Consensus 2019! Use the Discount Code ARK300 to get $300 off of your Consensus 2019 Tickets.

Check out the Coindesk Consensus 2018 recap video here

Any press, bloggers, or influencers that wish to have an interview, have a private chat, or ask any blockchain/ARK related questions, please don’t hesitate to send a message to Travis Walker on the Consensus Events App, available on iTunes and Google Play, so we can arrange a meeting at Consensus 2019.
OceanONE Beta Test Event!
By: Yasmine Moustatia
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Technology, Blockchain, Ethereum

Hey, dear MIXIN users, join this OceanONE Beta Test Event to win XIN token!

If any OceanONE user completes the registration and trades on OceanONE at least once from 13 Aug to 20 Aug, they will get 0.015 XIN as bonus. During such period, any of OceanONE users can report a bug or gives suggestion. We collect all these feedbacks and select the useful opinions, the winners divide equally 10 XIN token.

You can fill in the following forms to give us the feedback.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTwNZxL9mFu3j07DGHZ_QybjFuchZz7wSvCezN7C6iZzg5Gw/viewform

Or you can contact us directly on Twitter or Facebook :)

For fun, you can join the test group community to discuss with other passionate users on the Mixin Messenger (https://mixin.one/codes/6de2b2b8-adc9-477e-bb0a-e6727c1555cd),

Note:

If you have Mixin Messenger Installed on your phone, you can just scan the QR Code with in app camera and you will be redirected to the OceanOne Beta Test 2 group chat If you do not have Mixin Messenger in your phone first you have to start by Downloading Mixin Messenger, Register and then scan the QR Code to be redirected to the OceanOne Beta Test 2 group chat.

You can refer to the following videos on how to register and use the Mixin Messenger app:

Iphone : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHFg_i_Crbo&feature=youtu.be

Android : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGk5ZBJxb6s&feature=youtu.be

Good Luck :)
The First version of GastroAdvisor has been released!
By: Gastroadvisor Official Ico
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, ICO, Ethereum, Restaurant

On this first version of GastroAdvisor it will be possible to try a preview of what will be the official platform released in Q1 2019, where there will be 20000 restaurants in Switzerland.

GastroAdvisor differs from other similar platforms because it allows you to create 3 types of different reviews, Bronze Silver and Gold. For all three types, the reviews will be based only on individual assessments of 1–5 stars to indicate the quality/price ratio and with a score from 1 to 10 to rate the kitchen, service and location.

At this moment the ICO of GastroAdvisor is on the initial phase of pre-sale of tokens! On this phase of sale you can take advantage of 30% bonus, lowering successively to 20% and 10% with the progress of the sales phases. You can buy tokens only on the official website https://www.gastroadvisor.com.​ The FORK token, having the Utility and Payment functions at the same time, is called Hybrid token.

The MVP release has been anticipated by 3 months, compared to the roadmap, to allow investors and supporters of the project to see, try and understand the product offered by GastroAdvisor, taking advantage of basic initial functions.

Very soon, the CryptoPos will be presented, which the GastroEsercenti will be able to receive through GA. Through this device merchants will be able to accept payments in Cryptovalute and activate the decentralized and certified reviews on Blockchain. (Gold reviews)
LinkedIn Mistakes Everyone Is Doing
By: Intisar Mahee
Tags: Careers, Linkedin Profile, Career Development, Career Advice, LinkedIn

You need a job, so you open an account on LinkedIn for job searching. You’re trying your best and using the platform like hell but nothing happens. LinkedIn isn’t helping you to get the job.

I know you’re thinking, “What the hell I’m doing wrong!”

You’re not alone, most of the people around us using LinkedIn very wrongly. It’s not like Facebook or Instagram. It’s a whole new level tool for searching job. If we use LinkedIn like other social media, we are not getting any job it’s for sure.

So, the question is “What are the Wrongdoings?”

Let’s go to the main part!
Active Medium Publications Organized by Topic
By: Casey Botticello
Tags: Medium, Tags, Topic, Submission Guidelines, Publication

This article is intended to serve as a guide for Medium writers who are looking for active publications that accept new writers and new content. All these publications also have published the work of at least three different authors.

The hope is that this list will help writers identify publications that won’t waste their time and are more likely to publish the work of another writer (beside the publication owner).

In addition to creating this article, I’ve created a new publication to keep track of active publications accepting submissions, called Active Publications.

I will be adding more content to this over the coming weeks, so please follow and subscribe to Active Publications to get the most current information on active Medium Publications.

This collection of publications will not be an attempt to aggregate every publication ever created like Smedian (which I highly recommend all new writers check out). It will contain a small but actively updated list of publications that are great options for writers looking to have their work published.

This article contains a small preview of the publications that will be featured in Active Publications.

If you want to add your publication to Active Publications, read the guidelines and submit the Google form at the bottom of the page:

I’ve organized the publications by subject matter to help make them a bit easier to sort through for this article. Additional topics of publications will be added to Active Publications. However, the publications below cover a broad range of topics and are a good starting point.

Publication Topics

Section 1 — Writing / Publishing

Photo by Lauren Mancke on Unsplash

For the full and most up to date list of Writing Publications, check out the list on Active Publications:

1. The Writing Cooperative

🔗 Publication Link

✍ Editors: Sand Farnia | Justin Cox 🍩 | Jessica Jungton

✎ Publication Description:

“Our publication serves 600k page views a month and 15k unique visitors every day. Everything we publish falls within our mission statement: Helping each other write better.

✉ Article Submission Information:
“As The Latest Killer Cop Walks, I Wait For The Revolution”
By: Jess Brooks
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Activism

“The system has failed us, the cops murder us, what can we do about that? How… how is it even possible to meet these murders with a monopoly of force nonviolently, and if it is possible, what is the most effective way to do that? Tulsa officials called for “calm” after scattered protests broke out last night. The reason Tulsa isn’t on fire is not because black people are “calm,” it’s because we are NUMB. We are so used to this endless parade of white paramilitary shit that taking the fight to the streets seems pointless… I would never admit this if white people were still reading, but at this point I am nonviolent because I’m afraid of the white man, and terrified of his police… I wish I could blame my restraint on God, or my respect for the rule of law, or even on a sense of hope. Instead I must live with the knowledge that my desire for self-preservation trumps my desire for justice.”

Yes, the numbness is real. The feeling that resistance is futile that creeps in, and then you retreat back to the numbness because there is still technically some potential from that position.

Weirdly, since I was a child I would calm my fears of racist violence by thinking “I am loved by lots of passionate white people who think I deserve to be safe; if I were to die, they would do something about it, my worth and value would be honored”. I felt safer because I lived in a wealthy area, then because I was a private school kid, then later an Ivy Leauge graduate — and, more than that, I felt that white supremacist violence could never achieve its aim of erasing me.

I can no longer pretend that this is true.

→ also, I read and experience this essay as a person telling us about their emotions, their trauma, their grief, their struggle; an appropriate reaction is an empathic one, thinking about how to restore him to a place where he feels safe. I am concerned that most people won’t see that, that they will read his raw feelings as some kind of absolute political manifesto and their first reaction will be to “debate” the “validity” or “rationality” of his “points”.

Related: “KING: Stop asking black victims of white violence if they forgive their victimizers”
為什麼測試要自動化？
By: Yu-Song Syu
Tags: Test Automatio, DevOps, Test, Agile

Why Test Automation? Automated Testing Benefits and Tips

See why automated software testing is the best way to increase the effectiveness and speed of your software testing…
Howling to My Future Lover
By: Yael Wolfe
Tags: Relationships, Love, Sex, Sexuality, Howl By Yael Wolfe

Howl

Howling to My Future Lover

Can you hear me calling for you?

Photo by Veerendra from Pexels

I am so hungry. My mind is swirling with fantasies at this time of the month. I want all of it. Selfishly. Indulgently.

I want you to cook for me. Make me dinner — something that doesn’t come out of a box. Something I would truly love to eat. Something that would make my lips wet with its juices and maybe something just a little bit sloppy, causing bites to fall off my fork and back onto my plate, making us both laugh.

I want you to sit next to me in my living room and talk to me in a quiet voice, telling me about your day and listening to mine. I want you to put your hand on my knee while we talk, just for a moment, just every now and again, to remind me of the magnetism of our bodies, always pulling together.

Eventually, your hand won’t pull away. You’ll tug at my arm, moving me into position on the floor, between your knees. No…not for that. I’ll be facing away from you and you’ll smooth my hair over one shoulder and dig your fingers into them.

I want you to keep talking to me while you do this, running your fingers up into my neck, to the bottom of my skull and our voices will lower even further until your fingers tire and you simply wind them through my hair, again and again. And then my voice will fade as I surrender to this feeling, my whole body melting.

And then you lean forward, bend my head to the side and press your lips against my neck, winding my hair tightly around your fingers.
Joseph Veazie Branding
By: Curtis L. Thornton
Tags: Product Design, Branding, Logo Design, Musician, Digital Marketing

Joseph Veazie is a local musician in Dallas, Texas. He decided to take on his own music career after working for a talent agency and leaving his band The Brofessionals.

In order to capitalize on his name alone, he contacted me wanting a new logo and identity. I made some sketches and put together a few examples of what we could go with. I wanted something that had a high personality, as well as being versatile in it’s style and form.

The Look & Feel
Los mejores avances tecnológicos de 2016
By: Gabriela Nova
Tags: Marketing Digital, Español, Tecnología, Company, Eivos

in In Fitness And In Health
Mrs Bailey’s Blueberry Buttermilk Scones
By: Chaz Brenchley
Tags: Mrs Baileys Kitchen, Scones, Food, Blueberries, Cooking

Mrs Bailey’s Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

Afternoon tea, the Crater School way…

Photo by Briana Tozour on Unsplash

Afternoon tea is very much a thing at the Crater School, but here are no dainty sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Mrs Bailey has to tend to the appetites of growing girls, and a great many of them.

Scones are one of her staples, and this is one of her favourite recipes — acquired, of course, from an American pupil, for Mrs B is ever on the qui vive for food from other countries and cultures. Happily, blueberries thrive in the Martian climate, and buttermilk of course is everywhere.

250g all-purpose flour

40g granulated sugar

two heaped teaspoons baking powder

100g chilled grated butter

one carton fresh blueberries

112g buttermilk

one egg

vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Put the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl, and mix them together. Add the grated butter (in the US, that’s one stick, minus the little you dursen’t grate for fear of grating your fingers). Mix again, tip in the blueberries and mix again.

Beat the egg with the buttermilk and a dash of vanilla extract. Working quickly and casually, mix that into the dry stuff, then tip it all out and knead it briefly into a rough dough, or ruff duff. As soon as it holds together, shape it into a round and cut into wedgie scone-shapes.

Lay them on parchment paper or a Silpat silicon sheet on a baking tray, brush with more buttermilk and scatter with more sugar.

Bake for twenty-five minutes or so, until golden brown and yummy.

Let cool a little if you can, before eating.

For more of Mrs Bailey’s recipes, see here:
MOAC Introduction Series Part 2- What is Microchain
Tags: Blockchain, Moac, Microchain, Introduction, Moac Technology

in In Fitness And In Health
100% PRIZE WINNERS FOR CUTEST PUPPY GAME
Tags: Steem, Games, Crowdini, Questions, Steemit

RESULTS AND THE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Yesterday’s Question: Your friend is driving you and 3 others in their 4-door sedan. You are stuck sitting in the back. Which seat do you prefer to get?

Comment: “I actually prefer the middle because an unobstructed view of the road really helps with my back seat induced motion sickness. however, I know no one else likes the middle and with the passenger you can always squish their legs for adequate leg room but the drivers gotta drive!” by lexluther who answered “Window seat behind the front passenger”.

See the results and comments here: https://steemit.com/crowdini/@crowdini/question-2018-08-01

=======

NOTE: Comments are published immediately but votes are not posted until the post is 30 minutes old. If you don’t see your vote after 30 minutes, wait a minute, refresh the page and check again.

Make sure you check to see that your vote was counted. You can tell if your vote counted by seeing the circle with the up arrow to the left of the post earnings is green. You can also go to https://steemd.com/@crowdini (replace crowdini with your steemit username) and look at the right column for your vote.

You can always manually upvote at any time.

If your vote was not counted, fill out this form and we will figure out why ASAP.

=======

YESTERDAY’S RESULT

Yesterday’s Question: Your friend is driving you and 3 others in their 4-door sedan. You are stuck sitting in the back. Which seat do you prefer to get?

Majority Answer: Window seat behind the front passenger

TODAY’S QUESTION

Would you rather live in a house with see-through walls in a city or in the same see-though house but in the middle of a forest far from civilization?
Composing and typesetting a funding proposal using LyX (SSHRC/ NSERC /CIHR)
By: C Barrington-Leigh
Tags: Latex, Lyx, Academia

This is one of the geekier posts I’ve written, in the sense that the number of people for whom this might be useful is… small and they are not likely to search for it.

In Canada, submitting an application to the government “Tri-Councils” for funding of research costs involves one of a couple of horrid/laborious (soul-crushing) interfaces for entering one’s C.V. information. However, I have nothing useful to say about that task.

On the other hand, the core of the rest of the proposal (for several types of funding) consists of the following:

Some parts which are simply small form entry, online

Some parts which consist of unformatted text pasted into a textbox, online. The text size is limited in terms of characters ,

, Some parts which are uploaded as PDF files; their length is limited in terms of number of pages.

For instance, for the 2015 SSHRC Insight Grant there are two of the big text-entry boxes and seven separate PDF sections to upload. One of those is a list of references. I would like to use a citation manager to make citations across the various PDF sections, and to have the reference list coordinated across them. I would like to have a count of how many characters are in drafts of the character-limited sections. I would like to have appropriate headers and footers which indicate the current page and total number of pages within each PDF section. I would like to prepare everything in one file when I’m writing or sharing drafts for comments.

I imagine I could do most of this in LibreOffice or another office suite pretty straightforwardly, but I want to do it in LyX because that has a nice interface to my BibTeX databases, and because of all the other advantages of LaTeX; I think the output from LaTeX still looks vastly nicer than what everyone not using it seems to produce.

So, I made a short Python script which

exports my LyX file to LaTeX;

counts the characters in each named text box, and display this in red above the box;

exports the text contents of each textbox into a separate, named, paste-ready (ie most newlines removed, etc) file;

compiles the LaTeX and BibTeX source into one big PDF file; and

extracts the appropriate PDF page ranges into named PDF files ready for upload.

Here it is (it makes command line calls for a POSIX system, of course):
GUI Barcode Reader: Porting .NET Framework to .NET Core
By: Xiao Ling
Tags: Net Core 3, Dot Net Framework, Barcode

Last month, Microsoft released .NET Core 3.0 that allows developers to port Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) projects to the .NET Core projects. However, the feature is still Windows-only, which may disappoint someone who wants to create cross-platform GUI apps based on .NET Core. In this article, I will share how to create a simple Windows GUI barcode reader app on .NET Framework, and then port it to .NET Core.

Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio Code

I use Visual Studio 2017 for the .NET Framework project and Visual Studio Code for .NET Core project.

Visual Studio 2017 does not support creating Windows Forms App on .NET Core. If you want to create the .NET Core GUI app in Visual Studio, please install Visual Studio 2019 and then follow the video tutorial to create your first WinForms app on .NET Core.

Visual Studio Code is like a light-weighted Visual Studio. It is convenient for running and debugging the .NET Core project.

Creating a Windows Barcode Reader on .NET Framework

Create a new Windows Forms App project. Drag a PictureBox, a Button, and a TextBox from the toolbox to form designer.

Open NuGet to install Dynamsoft Barcode Reader.

Use system file dialog to load image files:

Pass a bitmap to the barcode decoding function:

Get a free trial license from Dynamsoft website to make the barcode reader object work:

Run the app.

Converting .NET Framework Project to .NET Core Project

The C# code above is pretty simple. Now let’s try to port the .NET Framework project to .NET Core project.

Microsoft provided some tools to help developers quickly port their projects. Download and run PortabilityAnalyzer to check the portability of our .NET Framework project.

It seems the conversion will be perfect.

Download and run try-convert with the following commands:

> cd <.NET Framework Project> > try-convert -w .\ Conversion complete!

Let’s check the changes.

The tool only modified the *.csproj file.

So far, you may think the porting has succeeded. Run the app to see what will happen.

Oops! It crashed! We can use Visual Studio Code to debug where the error occurs.

The exception occurred in Dynamsoft.BarcodeReader.dll. Although I’ve used the portability analyzer tool to analyze the project, the compatibility issue still exists. It turns out the analyzer tool is not 100% reliable.

Fortunately, there is a C/C++ dll file available in the SDK. We can interoperate C# code with unmanaged C/C++ code to make the app work on .NET Core.

Use DllImport to load relevant C/C++ functions:

Define relevant structures for converting unmanaged memory to managed memory:

Get the pointer of the bitmap pixel data and then decode barcodes:

Try again.

I finally ported the .NET Framework barcode reader to .NET Core barcode reader successfully.

Source Code

https://github.com/yushulx/net-barcode-reader
5 Ways To Deliver A Shitload Of Candy On Pandemic Halloween
By: Lynn I. Hsu
Tags: Satire, Parenting, Humor, Comics, Halloween

5 Ways To Deliver A Shitload Of Candy On Pandemic Halloween

Socially distant sugar hits.

All illustrations by the author.

There’s a lot to worry about this Halloween: the coronavirus pandemic, kids’ happiness, and the pressure to keep up with the Joneses for the best-decorated house on the block. But don’t fear, we know kids need their candy, and nothing can stop Halloween from happening. Since the CDC has advised against traditional trick-or-treating, the Support Unrestricted Candy Consumption Association (SUCCA) has come up with some creative ideas for socially distant candy delivery.

1. Grand Sugar Slam

Transform your home into a baseball park with authentic light-polluting flood lamps, so trick-or-treaters within a 1-mile radius will know your house is open for business. Bases will be loaded with kids waiting for a sugar hit. Little Tommy couldn’t catch your 90 mph Atomic Fireball? Well, he deserved to have his teeth knocked out. Note: SUCCA also recommends softer, full-sized bars of Baby Ruth.

2. OctoSlide

Create an ocean-themed OctoSlide costume from repurposed house gutters filled with a sanitizer, to safely slide candy to trick-or-treaters. SUCCA recommends flooding the slides with 190-proof Everclear spirits to ensure faster delivery of germ-free Swedish Fish to eager hands and mouths.

3. Candypult

Build a giant wooden catapult for a Medieval Halloween. Release a sugar-infused payload to all trick-or-treaters who venture to your castle. Don’t worry if kids skip your house; this powerful Candypult will reach people across the street too. Note that SUCCA condones the use of Jawbreakers to disperse large groups of maskless kids or annoying neighbors.

4. Robots

Execute a military candy strike from the comfort of your home. All you need is a credit card for a “shock and awe” Halloween. Amazon provided SUCCA drones will drop sour Warheads on any human and/or living animal in the neighborhood. At ground level, wheeled robots dish out buckets of explosive Pop Rocks.

5. Self-Care Treats

Finally, there’s always the option to turn your house lights off, hide, and gorge on bags of candy until the emptiness in your heart is filled. You can never have too much chocolate stockpiled for emotional support during these scary pandemic times. Happy Halloween from SUCCA!
Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake
By: Deborah Tan-Pink
Tags: Recipe, Baking, Cake, Dessert, Cooking

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake

For those who don’t know, I bake.

I picked up baking because I needed an activity that’d distract me from my business (Material World). I wanted something that’d get my hands dirty so I wouldn’t touch my phone. You see, the one thing worse than getting hit by a wave of work-related emails is not getting any. No email = No enquiry = No business.

That was in 2013. I started out with scones, then I moved to loaf cakes. Then I got braver and tried my hands at pies. It took me a while to attempt cupcakes because the idea of frosting scared the daylights out of me. Six years later, my repertoire includes tarts, cheesecakes, Peranakan sweets, and macarons. Anyway, if you are interested, my old baking blog can be found here.

Full cakes (you know, big round things properly frosted and decorated) are my Achilles heel. I just can’t get them to look pretty and polished. Maybe it’s a reflection of my outer appearance: I’m not pretty in a traditionally feminine way, not polished like one of those sophisticated corporate chicks. Always a little rough around the edges even when I’m wearing a black dress and heels.

This olive oil cake is one of my more “successful” full cakes. It worked out because (1) there are no layers and (2) you just need to pour the glaze over the top and let its natural viscosity do its job.

If you’ve not tried olive oil cake and are imagining it to be replete in the strong fragrance of the oil, rest assured it’s not.

This cake is moist and tender with the bright, zesty notes of citrus fruit. Orange is also one of the flavors of the holiday season so if you are thinking of baking something for a potluck, try it!

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake

Tools: 9-inch springform round cake tin lined with baking paper.

Oven Temperature: Set it at 180C while you’re prepping the cake. When you pop the cake in, turn it down to 160C.

Ingredients:

Wet mix:

1. 3 tbsp orange juice

2. 1 tbsp lemon juice

3. 3 tbsp amaretto, Cointreau, or any liqueur of your choice

4. 2 tsp vanilla bean extract

Dry mix:

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour

2. 1/3 cup ground almond

3. 2 tsp baking powder

4. 1/2 tsp baking soda

5. 1 tsp salt

Others:

1. 3 eggs

2. 3/4 cup sugar (plus more)

3. 1 tbsp orange zest

4. 1/2 tbsp lemon zest

5. 1 and 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

To Finish:

1. 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2. Glaze made with 50g melted butter, 1 cup icing sugar, and Cointreau (you’ll need to keep adjusting to get the consistency and amount you need)

3. Orange slices and rosemary leaves (optional)

Steps
Bitcoin-ETF: What Happened And Possible Consequence
Tags: Bitcoin, Etf, SEC, Cryptocurrency, Altcoins

It’s been several weeks since Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) postponed the decision about launching the bitcoin-ETF. The decision will be made by Thursday, August 23. Nevertheless, the special source of CFTC magazine stated that the positive decision will be made with 90% probability until September 21.

It might sound strange, but this news pushed the bitcoin price up, and also triggered a buzz around this topic not only among crypto traders and enthusiasts but also among institutional investors. Here are some graphics that illustrates the positive correlation between BTC price and the buzz around Bitcoin-ETF:

The rise in Bitcoin’s price can be compared with the increase in requests for «bitcoin-ETF»

The dynamics of Bitcoin price

Dynamics of requests for “bitcoin ETF” (Google Trends Data)

Breaking down «Bitcoin-ETF»

To begin with, ETF stands for “exchange-traded fund” and describes a kind of investment fund where the price of assets like gold, stocks and oil can be tracked. These assets can then be traded on exchanges, just like conventional stocks. What this means is that investors have the option of buying and selling their holdings in this exchange-traded funds to other investors via the stock exchange.

Therefore, a Bitcoin ETF is one where the underlying asset is Bitcoin. This means that when you purchase Bitcoin ETF, you’re purchasing the cryptocurrency, albeit indirectly. This is because you’re holding the Bitcoin ETF in your portfolio and this ETF tracks the real-time price of Bitcoin. Therefore, the difference is that when you invest in Bitcoin ETF, you have the luxury of trading Bitcoins without the struggles of buying and storing it.

In order to better understand the idea of Bitcoin-ETF let’s consider an example. The asset management company «Bitwise Asset Management» suggests creating the ETF that will have the basis in the form of the index «HOLD 10». This index will include BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, XLM, LTC, DASH, ZEC, XMR and ETC. By that way, this financial instrument is not limited to one cryptocurrency and quickly adapts to the market.

Possible consequence if Bitcoin-ETF is on market

Generally speaking, the creation of Bitcoin-ETF will make the investments in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies much easier and safer. The Bitcoin itself will became more legitimate mean of storing capital. This already causes interest of institutional investors, who had previously thought about investing in cryptocurrencies, but who were afraid of the high volatility of such assets. Thus, their positive expectations, fueled by SEC statements, increase the price of BTC during the whole previous weeks.

Nevertheless, the emergence of ETF funds will not only have positive consequences. The holder of coins and tokens will not be an investor, but an exchange fund, so the success of investing will depend on fund’s portfolio managers, regulators actions, etc. Thus, bitcoin will become exposed to counterparty risk, which will reduce consumer protection
Still confused by Steem, Steem Power and Steem Dollars— Read this
By: Rajat Dangi
Tags: Steemit, Steem Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Hapramp, Blockchain

A simple example to understand the STEEM, Steem Power (SP) and Steem Blockchain Dollars (SBD)

Think of Steem-Blockchain as a gold mine. Steemit as a tool to mine this gold. And users use this tool for mining.

The mine produces a fixed amount of gold every day. In the world of Steemit, we call this gold ‘STEEM’. The Steem (gold) is traded by the people in the market (online cryptocurrency exchanges). They buy it on a speculative price and keep it (hold) with them to sell later when the prices go up. Why the prices will ever go up? Because the Steem has many use cases; it is useful and scarce.

The value of Steem is exactly the amount at which people are trading it in the market. The trust of the buyers and holders (the one who own Steem) gives it a price on the exchange.

SP and SBD

The Blockchain algorithm (program) produces SP and SBD in correlation with the Steem generated every day.

The SP and SBD are derivatives of the Steem (Gold). Just like ornaments and gold coins are two different derivatives of gold with a different purpose. The role of SP and SBD in the Steem Blockchain makes the whole system function.

Remember: The Steem comes first out of the Steem-Blockchain which is traded in the market. Then Steem-Blockchain produces SP and SBD which has some use cases on the Steemit (same use case of SP & SBD on other Steem Blockchain based platforms).
Destroy/Create
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Poem, Self, Change, Poet, Poetry

on my way

the waves are roiled

their roaring song

spitballing salt solutions

to a steady life

hair a roughed-up

fishtail- floor held together

for now, but asunder looms

like a prophetess

destroy and

create

destroy to

create.
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Drawing, Illustration, Sunday, Art

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

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How to host a Git repository on a subdomain with Netlify
By: Glyn Lewington
Tags: Technology, Tech, Netlify, Programming, Web Hosting

Let’s say you have your portfolio, like www.glynlewington.com , hosted on Netlify and want to add your projects onto the same domain. They are all separate git repositories and Netlify is made for hosting from a single repository…but don’t fear! We can host them on subdomains like project.glynlewington.com with just a little work.

Photo by Nicole Y-C on Unsplash

Netlify makes it super easy to host your static sites with them for free. I recently moved my portfolio from a VPS over to them, and it’s great that they automatically update your site every time you push to your git repository.

In the past, I had all my personal projects also hosted on subdirectories, e.g. www.glynlewington.com/project . This is either difficult or impossible with Netlify. Netlify is mostly set up for you to host everything in one site from one git repository.

The compromise I came to is hosting them on subdomains instead, like project.glynlewington.com . This also isn’t documented very well but it is possible.

Go to www.netlify.com and login or signup.

Select “New site from git”.

Choose your provider (e.g. GitHub) — You may need to authenticate here.

Select the git repository you want to create a site from.

Select the branch you want to deploy from.

Choose any commands that need to be run. — If it’s a React app you will need to run a build command.

Choose the directory that you will publish from. It will contain files such as index.html. — If it’s a React app this will probably be the build folder.

Select “Build Site”.

At this point, you should have a functioning app hosted on a Netlify free domain such as https://hungry-bose-fb0e6d.netlfiy.com . If this isn’t working, check that there are no errors with the build process and fix these if there are.

Now to set up a custom domain.

Go into your app overview on Netlify.

It will say your site is deployed successfully and you can set up a custom domain.

Click on set up a custom domain, type in the domain you want, including the subdomain, and click verify. E.g. project.glynlewington.com .

Next, login to your domain hosting provider. I use Cloudflare but it will be the same or similar using others.

Go to DNS settings.

Select a new CNAME record.

Input a “Name” — this is the subdomain, it should be the same one you selected previously on Netlify. E.g. project

Under “IPv4 Address” input the free domain for your Netlify site. E.g. hungry-bose-fb0e6d.netlify.com .

. If you are also using Cloudflare, turn off the traffic routing through Cloudflare. This messes with Netlify.

Add record.

Done! Once you’ve done this you can access your site on the subdomain.

Netlify will also automatically add https security to your site, no need to worry about this.
Family Selfie
By: Christopher Raley
Tags: Love, Thesceneandheard, Family, Lifestyle, Poetry

All day wind swept sand

against driftwood, and now

sand drapes over them like sheets.

The setting sun casts relief

in long shadows, and we sit

on a log while Ray attempts,

with noise, to make sand angels

and Charles walks back up

the beach like a shadow.

As the sun nears the bluff, I think:

I’ve not written enough about

happiness or contentment.

So when the sun disappears

I gather us together,

demand we shed irony,

and take a family selfie.

You can still see the lost sun

glowing on our faces.
APIS Masternode EarlyBird Report #7
By: Sophie Ha
Tags: Blockchain, Notice, Cryptocurrency, Kor, Finance

APISplatform

Official publication for APIS, the world-first masternode…
Presentando la Sociedad de Visualización de Datos
By: Elijah Meeks
Tags: Visualización De Datos, Ciencia De Los Datos, Data Visualization, Data Science, Dvsintro

Sign up for The 'Gale

By Nightingale

Keep up with the latest from Nightingale, the journal of the Data Visualization Society Take a look
No Matter How Interesting and Informative Your Piece on Christopher Hitchens Is
By: Nicole Cliffe
Tags: Writers, The World Of The Living, Miss You Already

…I see his name in my Google Reader and say HE’S DEAD, HE’S DEAD, ISN’T HE? and get all wigged out and upset until I click through and confirm it’s just “man, he’s funny and pissy and a drunk and wrong about Iraq but, whoa, who’s going to fill his slot?”

Maybe you could start titling these (always enjoyable) pieces, “Not Dead Yet: Christopher Hitchens is Awesome and Aggravating,” online journalists? Just a thought.
Are You Not Having Sex? Here’s Why And How To Fix It
By: Dayana Sabatin
Tags: Relationships, Love, Sex, Growth, Life

Stress

Your sex life could be suffering significantly if you’re constantly stressed. A busy lifestyle could make you feel like nothing else matters but being in a constant state of “go, go, go.”

When your body is in a constant state of stress, it begins producing a hormone called, “cortisol” otherwise known as the stress hormone.

The building blocks that are used in this process are actually the exact same that are used in producing the male sex hormone testosterone. This means, that if you’re someone who suffers from stress constantly, your testosterone production is reduced significantly.

According to sexologist, Haakon Aars, testosterone is the sex hormone with the greatest significance to sex drive in both men and women.

There are several other factors that also play into sex when you’re stressed.

When you’re stressed, you don’t feel like yourself. It’s almost impossible to have fun, be yourself, and let loose.

You might be going on a dinner date, but your mind is elsewhere. Which in turn might cause tension between you and your partner.

I don’t know about you, but anytime I feel stressed I don’t want to be with anybody but myself. Which makes me absent, and leaves little to no room for true closeness with my partner.

Absence strips away the intimacy that you have created within your relationship. It creates a distance that is extremely difficult to get through.

There’s no clear cut answer for reducing stress, we all have difficulties and challenges that come our way. I wish there was a magic potion that could relieve us all of the stress.

However, it is possible to reduce tension within your relationship.

Communicate

Talking to your partner about what it is that you are feeling/going through can help significantly. When you communicate it unites you as a team and makes you feel less alone.

They can also provide you with helpful advice as to how to handle what it is that you’re feeling, in the end, you could potentially even feel significantly better because you will feel like you solved the problem as a team.

Accept your lack of sex drive as temporary

Oftentimes when you go through a dry spell, you might feel like something is wrong within your relationship. In reality, stress is just holding you back from enjoying one another.

Learn to accept that in stressful situations, your sex life may be low and it might take some time and effort to get back in the swing of things but if you both show up, your sex drive will also return.

Foreplay

Sometimes all you need is some help relaxing. A loving touch or stress-relieving massage can go a long way. Take a bath, light some candles, drink some wine. Cuddle on the couch and watch a light movie. Do what makes you feel good.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget the little things you once used to do for your partner, especially as the relationship progresses. It’s important to always put in the effort to make your partner feel good.
The Narrative Arc of a Sunrise
By: Katie Martin
Tags: Self Improvement, Self, Lifestyle, Mindfulness, Pyschology

Setting the scene—it’s how a traditional story arc begins. It’s the calm beginning. It’s coffee dripping in the darkness before sunrise. It’s a fresh slate. Nothing has happened.

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, wrote:

“In alchemy, nigredo is the initial state, in which death reigns, absolute unconsciousness.”

Alchemy, the medieval precursor to chemistry, was rooted in the transformation of matter. Carl Jung’s idea of alchemy was that of a personal transformation. He believed we had an instinct to grow and transform within our own narrative. That we must first delve into an initial darkness in order to bring to light our unresolved psychic elements. We must sit within ourselves. Every transformation, every story, must begin in the shadow.

And here we are.

By the time you sit down with your coffee, the sky is a dark indigo. It’s the seed of something stirring. Shifting, shifting, shifting—one cup later, the sky is edging on a misty blue. Jung continued:

“Then follows the albedo, that is, whitening.”

You see it first as a bright orb of orange. Over the tree line comes the inciting incident: the sun breaks the horizon.

“The alchemists call it the rising sun that brings the morning and the crack of dawn.”

The first conflict begins. Opposing forces collide against each other. It’s a compelling tension; blue and its opposite, orange, are woven together in various shades across the sky. On a cloudless morning, it’s a smooth gradient.

The rising action.
Captain Lee is the Best Leader on Television
By: Matthew Donnellon
Tags: Work, Leadership, Careers, Reality TV, Television

Greg Endries/Bravo

Being a leader is hard work, and those born to lead are found few and far between.

That’s why it is important to showcase them when you see one, especially on television.

That goes double for reality television. Usually, people in a leadership are characterized as incompetent, or screaming, raging psychopaths like Gordon Ramsey.

However, there is one man that is neither of these things. Captain Lee Rosbach captains mega yachts for wealthy clients, and for the past five seasons, he has been doing as the captain of, and arguably main star of, Below Deck, a reality series on Bravo.

He is everything you’d want in a boss. He’s stern but fair. He doesn’t play favorites, and he holds his entire crew accountable. He isn’t quick to give out praise, but it means more when the crew finally hears a kind word.

Some may say that he’s too hard on the crew, but anyone that truly pays attention sees that isn’t so. Yachting has a strict hierarchy, but that is because it’s potentially dangerous. If a storm arises, there isn’t time for debate. People need to follow orders.

Anyone that watches sees that safety is paramount to Captain Lee. In the first season, he made the green crew practice fire drills until they got it right. He makes sure time and time again that anyone under his command is not in any danger. He obviously cares for the people he works for.

He’s mentored several of the cast. He was close with Eddie, the bosun the first few seasons. And he mentored the former marine Kelly until he became a capable seaman and leader himself. And, if people don’t make the cut, then he lets them go. Several people have fallen victim to receiving a plane ticket home, because they couldn’t hack it on the yacht.

Perhaps the best way Captain Lee shows his leadership ability is his frank, and honest communication style. He makes it know what he wants from everyone and they are expected to keep up his high standards.

His forthrightness is a welcomed deviation from typical reality shows. He isn’t afraid to tell people they’re wrong to their face. Also, at the reunions, instead of pretending, he doubles down on any criticisms he had on the show, and he will say it face to face with his crew, and he admonishes those that refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes.

He’s the tough fatherly figure that people may not want, but everyone needs.