fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
About
Tags: Interfaith, Justice, Religion, Community, Baltimore

The Imagining Justice in Baltimore blog is part of ICJS’ multi-year initiative contributing Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspectives to the public conversation about justice and healing in Baltimore. The 24 Imagining Justice in Baltimore Fellows met for a four week intensive mini-course in spring 2018 and will lead small group conversations at the fall (October-November) 2018 public Community Conversations. Learn more and register for Community Conversations:

Our city of Baltimore has been in the national spotlight for a while. In 2016, the Department of Justice released an explosive report, “Investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD).” The report states:

“BPD’s targeted policing of certain Baltimore neighborhoods with minimal oversight or accountability disproportionately harms African-American residents. Racially disparate impact is present at every stage of BPD’s enforcement actions, from the initial decision to stop individuals on Baltimore streets to searches, arrests, and uses of force.”

This reports raises not only serious political questions, but also theological ones. Are we accountable as a community for the discriminatory and violent acts of law enforcement? And what do our religious traditions say about our responsibilities to reimagine how justice is fulfilled in our communities? How do our traditions imagine the role of police in a just society? Please join us for four community meetings as we try to answer these questions together.

IJB Community Conversations features small and large group conversations along with short lectures. The Imagining Justice in Baltimore Fellows serve as table facilitators at these public events.

Those from all walks of life are welcome. You needn’t be religious or religiously affiliated to join the conversation.

Learn more about the Fall 2018 Community Conversations.
How Will I Come Out to My Daughter?
By: Laura Fox
Tags: Family, LGBTQ, Bisexual, Motherhood, Parenting

How Will I Come Out to My Daughter?

Will she understand?

Image by Marta Branco on Pexels

I’m a bisexual woman in a heterosexual marriage. That poses enough difficulties in terms of coming out. Am I straight? Will I cheat on my husband? Am I welcome at Pride when I am straight-passing? And other nonsense that people genuinely believe.

Being bisexual isn’t easy. I don’t feel accepted by straight people, but I don’t feel accepted by the LGBTQ+ community either. I’m used to the lack of acceptance and I thought I was learning to be okay with it. But then it dawned on me that one day my daughter will find out I’m not straight. It posed the uncomfortable questions of how do I tell her and will she accept me?

I plan on raising my daughter to be tolerant and inclusive. I won’t shy away from taboo subjects and I will be honest with her. But how do I bring up that I am bisexual? Do I wait until she asks about LGBTQ+ issues? Do I tell her beforehand?

My husband and I are very open-minded and accepting people. I’m sure that our daughter will follow our example. The likelihood of her being biphobic is slim. But the likelihood of people around her being biphobic is not. If I tell her I am bisexual, do I also tell her not to tell anyone else? If I make out it’s some terrible secret, won’t that teach her biphobia? But if I don’t warn her not to tell people, she could be the victim of biphobia by association. And I remember my school days. Kids can be cruel and their parents even more so. I don’t want that for her.

I’m in a difficult situation and I don’t know how to navigate it. When I was pregnant, I thought about what I would do if she came out to me. It was very easy and I felt confident about navigating that situation if it were to ever happen. But I never thought about the fact I will have to come out to her at some point.

My dream is that my daughter is the child that doesn’t join in with the teasing of someone who is different. I want her to be opposed to inequality and to accept everyone. I want her to know that being anything other than straight isn’t something to be ashamed of. But I am ashamed of being bisexual. I wish I was straight so things could be easier for her. How can I create an environment of acceptance when I don’t accept myself?

Being proud of my bisexuality is hard. Sometimes it feels impossible. Maybe the problem isn’t how I will come out to my daughter. Maybe it’s my internalised biphobia and how I will work through it. Can I work through it in time for when she’s old enough to understand that people have different sexualities? That’s the dream.
Even if Time Travel Exists, I’m Not Going Back
By: Margarette Mathias
Tags: Philosophy, Personal Development, Productivity, Self Improvement, Life

We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves. — Alice Bloch

People have regrets in their lives. At the age of 50, they start wishing they can go back in time and redo their lives. After watching a TED Talk about procrastination, it had me thinking.

I tried to live in the shoes of the elderly people. I asked, “what if I can go back in time? What would I do?” It would be amusing to redo everything the second time around.

I was enthusiastic. “I would ace my examinations,” I thought. I let out an evil laugh. “I’ll be the Top 1 of our class.” It’s gonna be a great comeback. “I won’t get involved with my ex.” U-huh, that’s so brilliant.

I had fun speculating the possibilities. However, as the night went deeper, my thoughts became more pressing, too.

I opened my eyes. I projected my daydreams into reality. I asked myself again. “What if I really go back in time?” These were no happy thoughts this time. My daydreaming turned into a vague analysis.

I listed the things I would do if I go back in time. I listed about 10, but I’ll show you my top 2:

I’ll become a class valedictorian. I’ll start building my own business.

“If I do these, my life would be better than what it is now,” I thought. Recognition, more opportunities, and finances — I can get all of those. As I envision myself redoing my life, another question popped up.

“But why didn’t I do it the first time?”

I stared into blank space. Why didn’t I do it the first time? Maybe, I didn’t do it because I can’t. I lacked the knowledge back then. I was too afraid. But now, maybe I’ll pull these off.

There was a follow-up question.

“Why don’t you do it, now?”

I paused for a while. It’s funny to be interrogated by your own thoughts, but I continued. That’s right. What hinders me from doing these things now?

I can still receive academic recognition if I work for it. And my business hasn’t left off since step one.

Am I not ready? I’m getting ready. Are there obstacles? There are many. Can you do these plans today? Hmm.

There, I realized I’m also imprisoned in the trap of procrastination. How stupid am I to wish to change the past, while I can’t do any change today?

If you ever go back, don’t you think you’ll just waste it the second time? You’re procrastinating now. And you’ll be procrastinating there. Nothing will change.

It’s saddening. While procrastinators grieve on their lost time, they still continue to waste it nonetheless.

My Realization

Let’s put our efforts into what’s currently happening. There’s no need to look back so often. Build our dreams while we can still do it. Don’t blame the time nor the situation. The real change happens when we start it within ourselves. The perfect time is always now.
【Kindle 入門技巧】一鍵推送網頁內容、Calibre 電子郵件分享設定
By: 侯智薰 Raymond Ch Hou
Tags: 中文, Calibre, Productivity, Kindle, Read

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The Secrets Behind the Rockets’ Small-Ball Defense
By: Spencer Young
Tags: Sports, NBA, James Harden, Houston Rockets, Basketball

IN THE WANING hours before the NBA trade deadline, Mike D’Antoni and Daryl Morey had a pressing choice to make. Their starting center, Clint Capela, was nursing a significant heel injury, having missed the past 11 games, and Houston was playing P.J. Tucker at center full-time.

D’Antoni, for the record, was on a hot seat, on the last year of his contract with his team no longer playing like the juggernaut they were from 2017–2019.

So he and Morey made their choice: it was time to go all-in.

The collective basketball world was shocked when Houston traded Capela to the Hawks in a three-team deal that landed them Robert Covington, a former undrafted forward who was originally picked up by Morey. Covington was supposed to a the ideal piece for Houston, a player whose “3 & D” skillset made Morey’s statistical models identify him as a hidden gem all those years ago.

But that also meant, after Houston waived Isaiah Hartenstein and elected to swap the incumbent Jordan Bell for Bruno Caboclo, that the Rockets’ tallest player was now Jeff Green, and their starting center was now the 6'5" P.J. Tucker.

Mismatches abound… right? Not so fast.

Based on two years of statistical evidence, film, and the inevitable trend of basketball as a whole, these Rockets may not be so radical after all. Perhaps, this team is the final development after two years of pushing the Warriors to the brink in the Playoffs.

Without question, the events and transactions made by Houston have pushed them towards small-ball. We’ve seen this strategy work before — the Hampton’s Five and LeBron-at-center lineups battled in the Finals for many seasons — and Houston themselves have played small-lineups frequently over the past two seasons.

So maybe, just maybe, Houston can leverage their new, unique defensive scheme to win that elusive championship.
Cryptocurrencies Accepted by SafeCrypt.io
Tags: ICO, Bitcoin, Token Sale, Blockchain, Safecryptio

At SafeCrypt.io we are putting all our efforts into satisfying the actual demands of our community. Allowing users to participate using different cryptocurrencies not only makes it easier for a wider audience to take part in the token sale, but also helps us to demonstrate the functional prototype of the platform itself.

For the period of ICO (including pre-sale phase), SafeCrypt.io will accept the following cryptocurrencies (44):

Ethereum (ETH); district0x (DNT); TenXPay (PAY); BNB (BNB); Eidoo (EDO); Walton (WTC); Centra (CTR); Vibe (VIB); Storj (STORJ); Basic Attention Token (BAT); Open Trading Network (OTN); Ripio Credit Network (RCN); MCAP (MCAP); Salt (SALT); OmiseGo (OMG); TRON (TRX); 0x (ZRX); Monaco (MCO); Bitquence (BQX); SingularDTV (SNGLS); Santiment Network Token (SAN); AirSwap (AST); Golem (GNT); ChainLink (LINK); Status (SNT); Request Network (REQ); Kyber Network (KNC); Metal (MTL); Everex (EVX); Power Ledger (POWR); Moeda Loyalty Points (MDA); Populous (PPT); FunFair (FUN); Enigma (ENG); TokenCard (TKN); Iconomi (ICN); Aventus (AVT); Modum (MOD); Gnosis (GNO); Civic (CVC); Augur (REP); AdEx (ADX); Bancor (BNT); Bitcoin (BTC).

The presented selection of accepted cryptocurrencies may be extended during the ICO to satisfy the popular demand.
The Central Bank of Singapore and Bank of Canada start to employ blockchain for cross-border transactions
By: Alex Tishkov
Tags: Blockchain, Altcoins, Bitcoin, ICO

Monetary authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank of Canada made partnership to test cross-border transaction process via own cryptocurrency tokens. Singapore government plans on using technology of distributed registry for cross-border payments between businesses. MAS has already held two experiments that went successfully proving the concept feasibility.
dry Monku — Pure Minded
By: Dry Monkey Philosophy
Tags: Zen, Mindfulness, Poetry, Poem, Haiku

This is a collection of haiku-ish poetry as told by a Dry Monkey. They are loosely structured 5–7–5 — 3 lined stanzas. Each telling a story of its own, while collectively narrating a progressively realized ideal — Hope you enjoy!
Signing and Proving emails
Tags: Outlook, Bitcoin, Email, Microsoft, Blockchain

Woleet’s Outlook add-in to sign and prove the existence of emails and attachments by Vincent Barat — Woleet CTO

Woleet has released an Outlook add-in allowing to create and verify proofs of existence and proofs of signature for emails and attachments.

Using this add-in, you can:

Timestamp an email or attachment

Verify the timestamps of an email or attachment (whoever timestamped it)

Sign an email or attachment using a highly secured Ledger Nano S hardware Bitcoin wallet

Verify when and who signed an email or attachment (number of signatures is not limited)

A proof of existence is a self contained cryptographic proof (available as a JSON file compliant with the Chainpoint format) linking the digital fingerprint of the data to a Bitcoin transaction. This link allows to prove that the data existed at the time of the transaction.

A proof of signature is similar: it is proposed by Woleet as an improvement of the Chainpoint format. It links the digital fingerprint of the signature of the data to a Bitcoin transaction. This link allows to prove that the signature (and so the signed data) existed at the time of the transaction. Signatures are created using the Bitcoin signature scheme, and so signing can be performed using a regular Bitcoin hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S.

Generated proofs can be verified with no intermediary, not even Woleet (since the Bitcoin blockchain is a public ledger). Various open source tools exist (like http://btcproof.info) and the Woleet ProofDesk web application can also be used.

Creating a proof of existence or signature for an email or attachment doesn’t modify nor leak the content to the email or attachment: the digital fingerprint is computed client side by the browser, and the original content cannot be recovered from it (digital fingerprinting is a one way function).
Blood On Your Hands, God
By: Rajat Santhosh
Tags: Poetry, Prayer, Religion, God

Photo by James Barr on Unsplash

So I went to this church

A priest was directing the service

Devotional songs were sung

Prayers were said

The whole service had one thing in common

They were praising the “Gods”…

Everyone reciting their books

Most of them don’t know what they’re singing

What they’re praying

What they want

What it really meant to be a believer

Those who don’t praise the Lord

Will face the wrath of the Lord

The Lord who created the world

The Lord who created humans

The Lord who loves you unconditionally

The All-Mighty needs our constant praise

The Omnipotent would destroy us

If prayers aren’t served every day

Oh how foolish are you, God

You wouldn’t live if no one prayed to you?

Very soon, you’ll die

Because humans are dying

Not naturally

The praises that humans deserve

You’re stealing them

The humans feel purposeless

“Well done man! You worked so hard!”

Is replaced by

“God has blessed you. Hallelujah!”

Hallelujah indeed

The blood is on your hands

The humans are angry

Pray they don’t abandon you

Oh the irony!!!
Training and testing the model(Part 4)
By: Taiwo Adetiloye
Tags: Scala, Spark, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science

In the previous lesson, we created the pipeline. It is noteworthy that our ML pipeline contains vital workflow components comprising of the transformers and logistic regression estimator. We would need to fit our processed training dataset unto this pipeline. So, we have:

val model = pipeline.fit(trainProcessed.mainDataProcessor)

If you recall the testProcessed discussed in Part 2; well, now to make our prediction, we need to apply this to our model's transform function as follows:

val predictions = model.transform(testProcessed.mainDataProcessor)

Voila! we have successfully trained and test our model. And, the magic we have been waiting for is to show the category for the test data. This we do by using the following:
A Letter From A Work of Fiction #12
By: Jonathan Greene
Tags: Newsletter, A Work Of Fiction Letter, Publication, Creative Writing, Fiction

A Letter From A Work of Fiction #12

The End of Year Edition

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Welcome to the end of year letter from A Work of Fiction. These letters usually go out on a weekend when we have enough published stories to warrant a letter, so they have been sporadic this year as we tried to grow, but this year-end letter was moved to be closer to the last day of the year.

In 2021, we will be recruiting fiction writers to add to our small stable of great writers as we open up our submissions portal again. A Work of Fiction is a fiction publication brought to you by Assemblage. These newsletters always have friend links so everyone can read them whether they have a paid Medium account or not.

Our first story debuted on Medium on March 20th of this year. We weren’t sure what to expect in terms of growth, but any way you slice it, it was slower than anticipated. We think it’s mainly because fiction is a completely undervalued genre on Medium. People are used to reading books and haven’t found the fiction niche to be worthwhile on Medium.

But that’s why we created this publication. It’s just fiction here. Nothing else. And we hope to grow the right way in 2021, with your help. Thank you to all of our readers, and of course, to our fiction writers who have helped get us off the ground.
Ocular Bangkok Offices
By: Ronny Iversen
Tags: Ocular, Bangkok, Cryptocurrency

We are close to official opening of our Bangkok offices! Soon the offices will be very busy with our team working day and night to making Ocular a force to be reckoned with!

Ocular and its sister companies, soon one more poster to be added (our own bank;)

Beautiful Bangkok, our offices are located in Bhiraj Tower, prime location with a Emquartier and Emporium shopping mall as well as direct connection to the BTS train system.

Welcome to Ocular!

Our meeting room

Lounge area + office booths

Office booth

Interactive TV for showing visitors current and previous developments of the project.

Of course no self respecting office should be without an 88 inches TV ;)

We will add more photos and soon have an official opening party! Stay tuned!

Please follow us on telegram: https://t.me/oculartech and our official website: https://www.oculartech.io
Love Happens
By: Elisa Álvarez
Tags: Relationships, Love, Advice, Kindness, Self-awareness

Love Happens

Fresh air, warm hearts… how?

Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Unsplash

I can’t remember the first time I felt eager for love.

But I’m certain I was wrong. My idea of it was completely mistaken. However, I like to believe it was not my fault.

Growing up, society failed me. It failed all of us. The constant misrepresentation of so many concepts has built the mess we’re living in. Physically, mentally, emotionally… and we’re left with ourselves to discover the world through our tears.

First of all, love does not hurt. I wish I had known it earlier. I wish someone had told me all those heartbreak songs were just misconceptions about it.

The way love has been portrayed in the media makes me sick nowadays. I wish we had been able to see more healthy relationships in the movies, series, and, well… everywhere. I hope we can now aim to represent true love for future generations, so they grow up healthier and kinder.

But what is love?

I’m sure it depends on everyone. But, for me, love is fresh air.

Love is the never-ending giggle I let out whenever I’m playing with my dogs. It’s the way they show me joy with their whole bodies, and how they drag me back to the garden so I can toss the ball one more time. It’s their rough greeting, their eyes speaking a language I’ve never learned but can comprehend.

Love is my friends’ laughter and the sense of belonging we’ve built as time passed by. It’s how we take care of each other as if there’s something stronger than blood tying us together. It’s the songs, the conversations, and the photographs slowly fading in my bedroom.

Love is the wholesome moment I get lost in my boyfriend’s smile. It’s the way he chuckles whenever he steals a bite from my plate, and it’s the feeling of his arms around my shoulders. It’s the way he holds my hand whenever I feel unsafe, and how I hold his every time his past clouds his eyes.

Love is the playful calm with my brothers, the certainty that they’re part of my life for the rest of it. It’s the shared stares and knowing nods. It’s the assuring belief that I can be everything around them, and they can be everything around me. It’s the way we look for each other in the crowd.

Love is the early chores I do so my parents can stay in bed a little longer. It’s the way they look at me with pride, even in those quiet days when I feel like a failure. Love is my mother’s excitement for life; all her joy and wit reflected in her eyes. Love is my father’s hunger for knowledge, all the things he knows because he just can’t help being curious.

Love is all my family’s embrace. It’s all the people who have touched my life with a little light. The ones I lost on the way, and the ones who never left.

Love is a lot more than the touch of a desiring hand, and the vague promise of lustful eternity. Love is profound, but you’ll find it on the surface.

Love happens every day, every night. Have you felt it?
New Changes in Our Prepayment Policy
Tags: Lending, Interest Rates, Fintech, Bitcoin, Finance

Two weeks ago, we presented a new early repayment policy, that was intended to protect the lender’s interests. According to that policy, borrowers were required to pay the full interest amount even if they repay their loan early.

However, updates don’t always work as desired, and the prepayment update became our most controversial one. We received a lot of feedback from borrowers and lenders, who considered the new policy went too far and should be reviewed. We are just grateful for your opinion and can’t ignore it.

Today we present a new prepayment policy that was based on the feedback of CoinLoaners. Long story short, new prepayment logic seeks to resume that flexibility to the borrower, but still, ensure returns for the lender.

Two things had remained constant. First, borrowers pay no penalties or extra fees for early loan payments. Second, in the case of early repayment, the loan principal must always be repaid in full.

Concerning interest repayment, here’s what’s different:

The interest of short-term loans (7–30 days) should be repaid in full if a borrower repays their loan early.

If a long-term loan (2–36 months) is already repaid for 50% of the total interest amount or more, a borrower pays no extra interest in the case of early repayment.

If a long-term loan is repaid for less than 50% of the interest amount, paying off early, a borrower covers 50% of the total interest amount.

The picture will undoubtedly become clearer when we look at the example.

Source data:

Loan amount — 1000 EUR;

Loan term — 1 year;

Interest rate — 12% APR;

Total interest amount — 66.2 EUR;

50% of the total interest amount — 33.1 EUR (66.2 * 0.5);

The amount of the monthly payment ~ 5.52 EUR.

This loan can be prepaid in different scenarios, as described below.

Scenario one.

Let’s say, the borrower was paying according to his repayment schedule for the first six months. It means that half of an interest amount (33.12 EUR) was covered already. In this situation, the user doesn’t pay extra interest, since 33.12 EUR exceeds 50% of the total interest amount.

Scenario two.

A borrower makes a prepayment before the first payment deadline comes. In this case, the user pays 33.1 EUR (66.2 * 0.5), which is half of the total interest amount.

Scenario three.

Suppose a borrower made two payments in the schedule and repaid 11.04 EUR of interest (5.52 * 2). To make a prepayment at this point, the user needs to pay an extra 22.06 EUR (33.1–11.04), which means the remaining amount of the 50% interest amount.

We hope that our new prepayment policy will satisfy both parties.
29/01/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere
Tags: Bitcoin, Human Rights, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Insurance

1. WWF To Use Blockchain To End Illegal Fishing and Tuna Fishing Slavery

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced on its official website that it would start using blockchain technology to put an end to illegal fishing, and slavery in the tuna industry. This technology would enable buyers to know if the producer was unregulated, or abused human rights, by scanning a QR code with their smartphone. WWF-Australia, WWF-Fiji, and WWF-New Zealand have joined forces with blockchain tech firm ConsenSys, seafood traceability tech specialist TraSeable, and tuna fishing and processing company Sea Quest Fiji Ltd. The project would focus on the Pacific Island tuna industry.

2. Decentralised Insurance Could Be Next

Bee Token, the startup trying to decentralise Airbnb, and financial services platform WeTrust, have partnered to decentralise insurance. The two San Francisco-based blockchain startups will do so by creating a “decentralized insurance layer based on crowdsourced security deposits”. The target audience for this project are people already into cryptocurrencies. However, they are not the only ones to believe blockchain technology could revolutionise the insurance industry. Ken Markle, Ageas UK Head of Strategic Development, said that this technology could cut administrative costs by up to 30%, by improving the transaction process. Markle is also a representative of B3i, another project wanting to use blockchain technology to improve the insurance industry.

3. One of South Korea’s Largest E-commerce Platforms Is Adding 12 Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Included

One of South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, WeMakePrice, has announced it will add 12 cryptocurrencies to its payment platform OnThePay. Examples of cryptocurrencies which are going to be included are Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. The platform, also known as Wemepu, is working in collaboration with the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb. This is the first time that an e-commerce of this size has offered cryptocurrency payments. However, considering that almost every big business group in the country owns stakes in cryptocurrency companies, it should not come as a surprise.

4. Japanese Electronics Merchant Yamada To Accept Bitcoin Payments

Japan’s largest consumer electronics merchant Yamada Denki has partnered with Bitflyer, and is now trialling Bitcoin payments in its stores. The adoption will be gradual, starting with two stores located in Tokyo. It will then expand to the rest of the country. One is in the business district of Tokyo, while the other one is in an area frequented by tourists. According to an announcement by the company, the trial started on January 27. The company hopes to increase Bitcoin awareness and usage. A settlement cap of 300,000 Yen ($2,760) has been set on individual accounts.
Dialexa Technology Weekly | June — Week 3–2017
Tags: Tech, Software Development, Technology, Digital Transformation, Software

The Dialexa Weekly Technology RD&C News delivers you our selection of insights around entrepreneurship, technology transformation and product strategy.

If you enjoy what you read here, please pass this on. Want to get our top reads first? Click here to subscribe.

WEEKLY TOP READS:

IoTAgenda gives three design principles that will stop companies from just designing an IoT product but rather design for UX in Design an IoT user experience, not an IoT product.

Computer science blogger Ozan Onay talks about the UNPHAT method for new technology to build your architect around. Learn more about why You Are Not Google

VendorMatch CEO gives his opinion and insight in 8 steps CIOs can take for successful supply chain management for CIOs and IT decision makers.

SAP’s Kann Turnali discusses how Digital Transformation Is Not a Technology Makeover. It’s a Business Revolution.

Steve Zurier of Zfeatures evaluates a myriad of emerging tools necessary to ensure connected enterprises don’t get hacked in Vendors changing the state of security in IoT environments.

Global Head of Strategy at Credit Suisse, Falguni Desai, shares six simple ways to make sure your strategic plan remains relevant and gets executed in Secrets To Making Corporate Strategy Work.

If your only focus is fast tracking digital transformation, you might be putting your efforts at risk.

In the context of technology strategy for business outcomes, mergers and acquisitions are what initiate rapid changes for your company.

Stay connected with the Dialexa team: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram

…And if you want to grab some time to talk.

Originally published at https://by.dialexa.com/dialexa-weekly-newsletter-june-week-3-2017.

At Dialexa we start by asking “Do you know what your business will look like tomorrow?” Whether you have a plan, a problem or no idea, connect with us to explore the right answers for you.
Here’s How a Good Idea Goes to Crap
By: Todd Brison
Tags: Life Lessons, Creativity, Journalism, Business, Art

It starts so innocently.

The creative makes a new product, service, document, or presentation. She gives her heart to it. The design is beautiful. The narrative is clear and concise.

Later, the item in question gets passed around for feedback (because everything needs feedback). The first person says:

“Hmmm, are you sure everyone will know what you mean by Initiative Y?”

And then another:

“You should go a little further into detail on page 7.”

Should we do one more? Why not.

“Ooh, you didn’t talk about _____! We’ve got to have _____ in everything we talk about!”

All feedback points to more. More details. More explanation. More contingencies. More references. Suddenly, without anyone really knowing what happened, a well-designed work of art is now a Frankensteined mess.
How Zeph rewards work
Tags: Zeph, Crypto, Investing, Altcoins, Bitspark Updates

Zeph is a token created by Bitspark as part of the rewards mechanism built into our services across all products. The token itself can be exchanged using the mobile app and on the Sparkdex in any of the markets available through Bitspark.

How to earn Zeph rewards

You can earn Zeph rewards by using the referral code associated with your account. Share your referral code with friends to download the app and earn 0.3% on their transactions after signup. Plus, your friends earn an extra 0.2% on those same transactions, so it’s a win-win.

You can find your personal referral code under your profile settings when you sign in.

The bigger your network, the bigger your earnings.

For example, if your friend signs up with your code and exchanges 5000 HKD into BTC, you will earn 15HKD worth of Zeph and your friend will earn 10HKD worth of Zeph.

There are no limits to how much rewards you can earn or how many people you can sign up. Your earnings can be multiplied simply by signing up more people using your referral code.

Build out your referral empire and start raking in Zeph rewards.

More on Zeph — How buybacks work

Bitspark buys back Zeph from the market on a monthly basis, using 25% of transaction fees earned that month. This was designed to apply continuous positive price pressure on Zeph as the Bitspark network grows, with more users cashing in, exchanging, cashing out and building their referral networks.

Each month, we publish the status of the monthly buybacks on the Zeph Buyback page.
INDEPENDENCE DAY
By: John Edward Marks, Jem
Tags: Look, Bridge, Tonight, New York, Wrinkle

Photo by Zichuan Han on Pexels.com

“We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. — Robert J. McCracken

My mom was leaving this world

Her final days were spent with music

It had gotten late and everyone was asleep

She had drifted off and this song was her favorite.

Reminded her of when she was young in Brooklyn.

I started singing it and she reached over and grabbed my hand

She started singing along and she had such grace.

It was like she was just going to get up the next day and be fine.

I was just a teenager and she was trying to get me to go back to sleep.

I don’t share her faith, but this moment was holy.

I am sad that I can’t send this song to her,

But maybe she hears it anyway.
Infocomic en Argentina Comic Con
Tags: Infografreaks, Infografías, Argentina Comic Con, Vorterix

in Both Sides of the Table
Who’s afraid of Machine Learning? Part 2 : Creating a Machine That Can Learn
By: Britt Barak
Tags: Deep Learning, Mlkit, TensorFlow, Firebase, Android

Hands down, my favorite food in the world is strawberries 🍓! I can eat them every day, all day, only them, and it would make me so happy! 😁

I want to write a program that will take an image and tell me if there’s a strawberry in it or something else. To simplify:

Is this a strawberry or not a strawberry?

If you were to teach a baby, who just came into the world, that an image is of a strawberry. How would you do it?

Showing the baby an image and saying- “this is a strawberry- learn!” would not be so helpful.

You will probably say something like: “see this image? In the image, there’s a strawberry. Do you see how red it is? And its shape is round on the top and pointy at the bottom.. And it has some small narrow leaves at its top.. And it has a unique pattern of seeds all over it.. that’s how you can tell it’s a strawberry.”

The baby would look at the image, would notice the features you just described, and then drive a conclusion: “because of those features, those characteristics, this is a strawberry.”

When the next image would appear, the baby will already know to look for the characteristics, spot them or their absence, and then make a brave conclusion: “this is a strawberry!” or “it’s not.”

Truth is, even if you didn’t break down the image to features, the baby’s brain will. In fact, either way, it will find more characteristics that you haven’t explicitly mentioned. This is how our brain works and some of the magic it just knows how to do. 🔮

Let’s dive a little deeper into that inner conclusion making process, and suggest how we can get a machine to do something similar:

Creating an Artificial Conclusion Making Model

The previous post, mentioned that our brain works with a neural network. To create a similar model for a machine, we should create an Artificial Neural Network (ANN):

The input

An image, as stated before, is too complex to be used as input just like that. We would want to find its features, the same as we did for the baby. So our input will be, not an image, but a list of features.

For simplicity, let’s focus on 3 features only: the red color, the seeds pattern, and the top leaves. For each of those features, let’s dedicate an artificial neuron to represent it.

A neuron, as mentioned, is just a bit of data. Each neuron will get a number, a score, to hold. For instance: how much is the image red? How much does it have a seedy pattern, how much are the top leaves are a strawberry’s top leaves?

** The numbers in the picture are just some scores I made up for the sake of the example. Don’t dwell into what do they actually mean. The concept is the important thing here: our input is a list of artificial neurons that represent features extracted from an image.

We can call this list of neurons — input layer.
Computational Thinking Playground
By: Yahya Tabesh
Tags: 21st Century Skills, Jeannette Wing, Coding, Computational Thinking, Playground

Jeanette Wing published his not in 2006 addressed 21st century skill

Computational thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution in such a way that a computer can effectively carry out. Computational thinking is a four-stage problem-solving framework consisting of decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design. We have enriched and connected the stages with a “playground” as a place for experimental problem solving.

Polyup is a computational thinking playground.
Babies in boxes — The story that keeps on giving
By: Adam Colthorpe
Tags: Newborn, Family, Nudge Theory, Finland, Babies

Oh look, it’s a baby in a shoebox. Cute. You know that somewhere on Pinterest that picture has just been added to a collection of newborns in faux nests, with angel wings, and in amongst a thousand pastel-shaded murals. But let’s not pass up the moment to heap praise upon the story behind the intriguing headline — The Finnish baby box, which the state has given to expectant mothers for 75 years, has sparked copycat boxes across the globe.

When this story first appeared on the BBC news website and via the excellent radio programme From Our Own Correspondent, the article shot to the top of the most viewed/commented charts and stayed there for a few days. It was a story that was just part of everyday life in its native Finland, but outside of those borders, it seemed incredible — a simple and low-cost method of ensuring that newborn babies had the basics covered, that they got off to the best start, and that as a gesture of equality — it was available to all.

A while later, the story resurfaced and seemed to engage a whole new audience once again. Cue more adorable pictures of babies in boxes, and more momentum to the things-are-always-better-in-the-nordic-countries narrative.

Well, it’s back once more, and as far as good news stories on a Monday go, this one ticks all the boxes.

“I’m a livin’ in a box…”

It seems that entrepreneurs from other countries have seen an opportunity to issue baby starter packs for both profitable and charitable reasons.

In some cases, it’s simply a way of packaging up a wonderful gift for expectant parents; in more altruistic circumstances, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate that nudge theory works and that life can be improved by providing a place that is safe to sleep or bath (see BBC article about the plastic alternative).

Some Mondays, you need a little good news.

Source: Why babies all over the world are now sleeping in boxes — BBC News
📢 Marketing budget allocation
Tags: Fintech, Japan, Korea, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

To provide the best possible XPC promotion for the Korean and Japanese community, XPChain will arrange a marketing budget for Japanese & Korean community.

The XPChain team will have 2 designated wallets with 1 Billion XPC each for marketing funds to be used for future promotion and marketing activities in these two countries. Promotional and marketing activities will be coordinated by each respective Country Liasion.

👉 Official Korean Liasion: Arnold Cho

🐤 Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Arnold_W_Cho

✔️XPC Association Vice President

✔️ChainEdu CEO (Blockchain Education & Blockchain Business Consulting)

✔️ChainBase Chief Advisor (Venture Capital)

👉 Official Japanese Liasion: CryptoYami

🐤 Twitter account: https://twitter.com/CryptoYami

✔️Managing XPC/Avacus related events
The Whiff of Burning Witches
By: Michael Madill
Tags: Salem, Political, Hypocrisy, Poetry, Poem

Photo by Tom Pottiger on Unsplash

The grand old oak tree burned last week,

The one at Schuyler’s farm,

And when it went I heard the creak

Of a façade coming down.

That tree was planted ‘ere the war,

When ranks wore tricorn hats.

It fed on soil wet by fear

Of over-mighty laws and tax.

The wood where it learned to be a tree

Was century-old and filled with lore,

And Schuyler’s oak was brought to see

The shame the men of Salem wore.

By the time it burned, the wood was gone,

Cut down by Salem’s people,

To chase away the wrong they’d done

And build a new church and steeple.

When last week’s flames licked its trunk,

The grand old oak reflected

That Roundhead fear has twice sunk in

And twice now us infected.

‘Cept now it’s us upon the stool,

It’s us awaits the slipknot.

It’s us were played for fools

And us who stinks of rot.

So next time you’re asked to trade some love

To scratch your evil itches,

Remember Salem still reeks of

The whiff of burning witches.
12 Quotes To Inspire You To Action
By: Lucy Milanova
Tags: Inspiration, Self Improvement, Mindfulness, Education, Life

Quote 6:

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. — Lao Tzu

I already talked about the mind in the previous points. See how deceiving the mind can be?

We often forget to acknowledge that even that the mind’s voice, that’s usually the critical voice, speaks to us regularly, we are not that voice and we’re not our minds. We’re not what the mind says, and we’re not the thoughts it speaks. Therefore, we don’t have to agree and associate with everything that it’s saying. We do have a choice. We only have to recognise it.

We have a choice to pause, think it through and question our mind. We can ask it why is it saying whatever it’s telling us? Why is it thinking so? We can converse with it and prove it wrong. We can own it. We’re the ones to regulate our mind, it’s not the mind that should control us.

Start with a little experiment for yourself. The next time your mind tells you something upsetting, something that takes your joy or peace away, question it. Question the truth of that statement. And keep asking why’s until you reach at the bottom of what the issue actually is.

Photo by Ethan Elisara on Unsplash

Quote 7:

Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power. — Lao Tzu

It’s easy looking at what others do or what they don’t do and judging it — what they’ve achieved, what they messed, what they can improve. It’s always easier to see their shortcomings than our own.

It’s easier to master others than ourselves. Yet, mastering others doesn’t help us as much as it helps them. Focusing not on what others do but on our own doing, on what we can achieve is precisely a sign of our power and character.
Create and Share an Interactive Map in 1 Minute
By: Joe T. Santhanavanich
Tags: Maps, Covid 19, Data Science, Data Visualization, Google Sheets

Let’s Get Started!

Step 1: Put Your Dataset on the Google Sheet.

In this first step, you just need to head the Google Sheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets). Then, import your data from CSV, Excel, Html, etc. or you can even copy and paste your data to the Google Sheet. As an example below, I used the confirmed COVID-19 case dataset**.

Using Google Sheet to create Geo Chart. (by Author)

** This data set is the queried and aggregated COVID-19 data from JHU-CSSE using the Google Big Query. If you are wondered how is it done, please check my tutorial here.**

Step 2: Create an Interactive Map.

To create an interactive map, just click on Insert > Chart.

Using Google Sheet to create Geo Chart. (by Author)

After the chart is imported to the sheet, just find the “Map” category and select the “Geo Chart” chart type.

Using Google Sheet to create Geo Chart. (by Author)

Then, you can make some final settings such as customizing map style, background colors, fonts, etc.

Customizing Map Style on Google Sheet. (by Author)

Congratulation, now you have a nice interactive map in Google Sheet!

Step 3: Share the Map.

After the map is made, you can easily share the Google Sheet with your colleagues. Or, you can also embed the final map to your website by clicking on the right corner menu of your map and clicking on the “Publish chart”.
Smart Speakers, Virtual Assistants and the Music Biz; What is Hi-Res Audio, and Should I Care About It?
By: Platform
Tags: Music, Streaming Music, Smart Home, Audio

How Apple’s Homepod, Amazon’s Echo and voice recognition are changing the music industry as we know it — www.musicbusinessworldwide.com

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 12 months you will be aware of the unprecedented development and take up of virtual assistants and smart speakers. Make no mistake: these devices and this technology will have a profound effect on our industry across all sectors.

A recent survey from Adobe Analytics discovered that the most popular activity on voice controlled devices is, yep, you guessed it, playing music.

How Spotify Beat Apple to Charting the Future of Music — www.theringer.com

Spotify beat back the scourge of streaming album exclusives, and now it’s ready to go public. Here’s what it says about how fans value artists and platforms.

What Exactly Is Hi-Res Audio, and Should I Care About It? — pitchfork.com

With labels eyeing hi-res audio as the next add-on for streaming services, we explore the challenges of attaining a future that sounds much better.

Musicians Turned Miners? How a DJ Is Disrupting Spotify With Blockchain — www.coindesk.com

A streaming service that “mines” via a smart contract, Choon gives 80 percent of profits directly to musicians — a step up from similar services like Spotify — which pay out disturbingly low fees.

There’s no future in England’s streaming: Why British music needs radio more than ever — www.musicweek.com

The streaming revolution has reached every corner of the music business, but its effect on radio has always been greatly exaggerated.

Apple Music to Release Cash Money Documentary Friday — www.billboard.com

The delayed documentary will finally be available to the public on Friday, February 16 on Apple Music. ‘Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story’ will detail the life of Bryan “Birdman” Williams prior to him starting Cash Money Records.

How to Optimize Your Spotify for Artists Profile — blog.symphonicdistribution.com

One of the most effective ways to utilize the platform is to create a custom Spotify for Artists profile, which will help you get verified, easily manage your profile, learn about your fanbase and more.

Safaricom Moves to the Beat with Songa Music App — www.techweez.com

Safaricom Beatz is a music streaming app that is meant to create an alternative revenue stream for artists and well, of course, mother green (Safaricom).

New licensing platform launched in Kenya — www.musicinafrica.net

Kenyan copyright collection agencies yesterday took a new leap into the digital era with the unveiling of an online platform.

YouTube explains how it’ll punish ‘egregious’ creators — musically.com

Vlogger Logan Paul wins this month’s award for being the least self-aware social-media influencer on the planet.

Dallas Records Stores and Bands Hang Onto CDs as Big Chains Abandon Them — www.dallasobserver.com

“The CDs that nearly killed vinyl are seeing a boost from vinyl’s resurgence, says Mark Burke, owner of Denton-based Mad World Records.
#Instamas: I Challenge You
By: Brianna Bennett
Tags: Instagram, Culture, Writing, Life

I get ideas at the strangest times and in the oddest places.

I’ve had brilliant ideas in the shower. I’ve had genius thoughts in the car. People-watching is a favorite hobby of mine no matter where I am.

This morning I got an idea while laying in bed. I was still about 66% asleep, which makes this even more remarkable that I had it and actually remembered it.

Okay, enough beating around the bush. What is it?

(I was going to put a picture of Pennywise here, but I figured that the Halloween season is technically over, so I’ll spare you from seeing the creepiest clown in existence.) [Thanks, Steven King.]