fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Update — 21st August 2019. Fortnightly update from the COSS Team
By: Coss Team
Tags: Trading, Crypto, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

ETH and ERC20 withdrawals

Many users have reported pending ETH and ERC20 withdrawals for several hours.

This happens when there is a sudden spike in gas fees owing to increased congestion on the Ethereum blockchain.

When the spike occurs, transactions that have already been broadcast with low fees remain pending and transactions which follow (even those with higher fees) remain in queue.

Some users who have tried to distribute FSA in this time have the distribution fee deducted and marked ‘success’, yet the distributed FSA has not been deposited to their wallet. This issue, too, is related to the Ethereum congestion.

We have already implemented real-time tracking and adjustment of gas fees for transactions sent out by COSS. The team is now working on a solution to bump up the gas fees on transactions that get caught in a spike, which will be a failsafe we have for the future.

Please write to support@coss.io for FSA that has not been deposited or ETH/ERC20 transactions which might have been dropped but still showing as ‘processing’ in your dashboard.
A Ghost In The Machine
By: Seven Point Seven
Tags: Idea, Death, Appideas, AI, Commentary

If you made a computer program that sent [on your behalf] random emails, texts, and comments, how long could you get away with it?

That’s the line from my first little Moleskine notebook, but it could use some elaboration. Essentially, the idea is to construct a computer program that learns your writing style from your emails, text messages, comments around the web, social networking updates, &c., and is intelligent enough to compose “likely” new messages. As soon as you flip the switch, you have an artificial self posing as you in the online world, that can post new things at random times. The question, then, is how long could this charade last before it was detected?

I like the idea because it seems like an interesting way to make a substantial piece of commentary about how “real” you appear to others as long as you are active online.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by thelunch_box

A friend of mine, Brian Brushwood, has also thought along the same lines — inventing a service he calls Afterlyfe. (Great name!) According to the website, the process is activated upon Brian’s death:

Once I stop checking in, Afterlyfe will assume I’ve kicked the bucket, and go into action, taking control of my facebook and twitter pages. From that point on, Afterlyfe will use all my previous tweets and facebook updates to recreate a digital simulacrum of my life. The goal is to make me the world’s first virtual ghost. For starters, we’re going to keep it simple: the default settings will be that the moment I die, Afterlyfe will make an exact copy of my last year in tweets, and release them at the exact times they were originally posted, year after year. Every year, followers will see me complain about taxes come mid April. You’ll get my same Christmas tweets. Happy birthday wishes I made in the past will continue to arrive, year after year, right on schedule.

If both ideas were merged together, you’d have new content generated by “you” even after your death! With a sufficiently advanced program, you would probably get some interesting results.

7

Follow @sevenpointseven

[15 Aug 2013. A company called LivesOn announced on 20 Feb 2013 that they would be attempting this exact idea. Seven point Seven first tweeted the concept on 5 Mar 2011.]
Tweet-storm about Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies
By: Gokul N K
Tags: Value Addition, Distributed Systems, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Decentralized Exchange

There are some of the thoughts I was having recently about blockchains and cryptocurrencies. I have just started and there is a lot I would like to explore and know about. In the mean time I would like to get your thoughts on these and would be great if we could discuss any of these.
Digital Masters Awards 2017: A night to remember
By: The Up Group
Tags: Digital Transformation, Startup, Awards, Digital

Now in its fourth year, the Digital Masters Awards stands alone as the gold standard for leadership within digitally-driven businesses.

The event, held at the Roundhouse in Camden, gathered over 1,000 C-level executives, entrepreneurs and investors to celebrate the world-class executives leading European companies to global success. The ceremony was hosted by broadcaster Rory Cellan-Jones, and featured entertainment from Groove Armada.

This year’s winners were judged by a panel of 32 of the region’s leading tech investors and advisors, and chaired by Daniel Waterhouse of Balderton Capital.

The Digital Masters Awards is a phenomenal celebration of digital talent” MD, Connected Homes, Centrica

The Up Group as always is perfect at getting the most relevant players in the industry together

CEO & Co-founder, Busuu

A great opportunity for us to meet with lots of companies in the space, both startups and large corporates

CFO, Criteo

It’s just a fantastic networking event

CMO, On The Beach

The venue was amazing, great company and superb presentation

COO, CompareTheMarket

The venue was spectacular, the ceremony was superbly organised and exceptional to attend.
Older gen iPhones make great traveling companions
By: Philip Valenta
Tags: Travel, Gadgets, Apple, Travel Tips, iPhone

With another trip to Latin America in the books as of earlier this year, something was reinforced for me technology-wise. As much as I hate to say it, since I lost my stomach for their products a while ago, Apple’s older gen iPhones are still great traveling companions; they continue to make for a reliable way to stay connected and keep in touch while on the go.

An iPhone 5 got me through several years in Mexico, no adjusting of settings ever required, no matter the carrier. For the sake of reference, those included Telcel and the retired Iusacell (now AT&T). The same could not be said for two Android phones, much to my dismay. One of them was a Samsung Galaxy S5, the other an older model HTC.

During a trip to Belize, an iPhone served me flawlessly on the Digicell network. Most recently, I entrusted my connectivity needs to an iPhone 5 and a 4S in Costa Rica followed by Nicaragua, on the Claro and Movistar networks respectively. I wasn’t disappointed.

What’s more, the older models don’t pose such a mugging or theft risk, though you should always practice common sense and avoid flashing them around wherever you wander. Hell, practicing discretion is always advisable.

At any rate, what you’ll need to ensure, of course, is that the older iPhone — whether it’s already yours or a used one you’re about to purchase — is unlocked. That way, it can seamlessly accept the new SIM card from whatever phone carrier you choose to go with, and will function properly while you’re traveling in that particular country.

These days, “unlocked” means it’s no longer tethered to a specific carrier such as Verizon, nor is it tied to any individual’s iCloud account. Keep in mind that if you already own a newer iPhone and you’re on an installment plan with your current carrier, they will not unlock it for you until you’ve finished making your payments.

To verify that the phone in question is indeed unlocked from a domestic carrier, or to learn more about the steps you can take to get it unlocked, I suggest you do some further reading on best practices. These include contacting the current carrier, inserting a different SIM card and trying to place a call, checking the phone’s settings, contacting Apple support, and utilizing a CTIA-Accredited IMEI checker online.

With respect to iCloud account issues, I again recommend some additional further reading. Steps you can take to check an iPhone’s status and get it unlocked (if it comes down to that) include clarifying those details with the seller before you buy, visiting Apple’s support website, and utilizing a trusted activation-lock removal service online.
How to Register at Bitkub
Tags: Thailand, Bitcoin, News, Articles, Bitkub101

Bitkub.com is a new generation digital asset and cryptocurrency exchange platform that offers advanced cryptocurrency exchange services

Follow
That Unwritten Poem
By: Priyanka Srivastava
Tags: A Cornered Gurl, Prose, This Happened To Me, Writing, Poetry

My fingers don’t want to type another lie, I know you don’t read these words where I hide each day, Ma. Each day when I meet you through that screen I see one more line on your face as if in a day you aged a bit more.

I am worried about you but I don’t tell you I crumple like a page quietly and later write that poem.

Those words stay hidden from you but the sadness is real. Tomorrow, again when I meet you, we will talk about nonsensical things and tell stories to each other.

Tomorrow an unwritten poem waits for me.
Q#4: First or Third Class Mailers?
By: Abish Pius
Tags: Interview Questions, Data Science, Statistics, Beginner

Suppose you’re trying to optimize a mailing campaign where physical mail is sent to potential customers. There are two options to send advertising mail: either first class or third class. First-class costs $0.50 per parcel with a delivery rate of 99% and third-class costs $0.35 per parcel with a delivery rate of 65%. Third-class mail also receives a volume discount, if a batch of parcels is greater than 500, for first 500 are $0.35 and anything additional costs $0.32 per parcel.

Questions:

Assume our goal is to reach as many people with a cap of $1000, which option would be the best? Assume our goal is to reach 100 people, what option is best?

Credit to -erik@interviewqs.com (Feel free to sign up for questions)

Try it yourself

Answer:

This is a statistics question and relies on your ability to calculate expected returns.

Let’s break down question 1 first with $1000 dollars using 1st class mail, I would expect to reach the following number of people:

1000/$0.5*.99 = 1980 people

Similarly we can calculate the number of people reached with the third class mail (a little more careful on the math):

First 500: 500*.65 = 325 people reached

1000 - 500*$0.35 = $825 left over

825/$0.32*.65 = 1675 people

Total = 325 + 1675 = 2000 people reached

Now we clearly see that if our goal is to target the most number of people with the same budget, using third class mail is the better option.

For question two, we now have to consider how much it would cost to reach a certain number of people using either first or third class mail. It is still an expected value question.

For first class mail:

100people/.99*$.50 = $50.50

For third class mail:

100people/.65*$.35 = $53.90

Here we see that first class mail is the better option if we want to reach a target number of people under the bulk discount value.
Tales From the Ethereum Mines
By: Steve Wilson
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Ethereum

Collected writings on cryptocurrency, blockchain and related topics

Around Thanksgiving 2017, my daughter and I got interested in Bitcoin. Since then, we started a mining business together and have both written about our adventures (together and separately). This page is a one-stop-shop for our collected writings on the topic.

While our Father/Daughter articles have been our most popular, here are other articles we’ve written.

What’s Gone Wrong with Bitcoin and Can It Be Fixed In Time? — A deeper analysis into how the internal architecture of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies is failing under stress. The article goes onto explore possible solutions

Look Out World! Here Comes Alexa Wilson, and She Can Teach You a Thing or Two About Tech — Alexa’s experience in crypto mining leads to her guest blogging spot for a major, corporate tech web site.

Get yourself Alexa’s Cryptocurrency Mining Starter Kit here
Introduction To My New Column: Sustainability Made Simple
By: Claire Stapley
Tags: Environment, Nature, Sustainability, Innovation, Climate Change

Introduction To My New Column: Sustainability Made Simple

Attempting to make sustainability accessible for everyone

Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash

2020 has forced all of us to take a long, cold, hard look at ourselves because let’s be honest — there’s not been much else to do.

2020 has been a horrendous year for all of us, however, it’s also given people time to reflect and spend more time on themselves — at least for me, that’s what it’s felt like.

I’ve worked the most I have in my life, but also I’ve watched loads of informative videos, documentaries and focused on the type of person I want to be in 2021, rather than dwelling on 2020.

Sustainability is something that admittedly, I’d turned my nose up at a lot of the time, because it always felt so far-fetched and difficult to ascertain. There are so many people on the internet who preach an “all or nothing” approach, which I think is one of the main reasons that people don’t make conscious choices to be more sustainable — because you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t.

However, I became very inspired after watching David Attenborough's “A Life On Our Planet” — and decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to try and be more sustainable, which is the purpose of this column.

Every week I’m going to be sharing my learnings around sustainability, as well as things I’m doing as the “average” person to care for our planet more, and ultimately document my sustainability journey.

One thing I also want to try and do is present sustainability through the eyes of someone that lives a pretty normal life. I find it difficult to relate to influencers and YouTubers who preach about sustainability and don’t recognise their privilege.

To be sustainable is a privilege in itself, so I’ll do my best to make my pieces as balanced as possible and present multiple options based on income where necessary. There’s no judgement — I’m here to share knowledge and hopefully raise awareness of the little things we can do to be better, and look after our planet.

Hope you enjoy this column, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
A transformation from designer to design leader
By: Mohammed Suhail
Tags: Leadership Development, Leadership, Design Leadership, Design, Designer

Transformation of knowledge, experience, and career might influence by inspiring people, Here I like to share the qualities and experience working under different design leads.

“The designer put the user first and design leader put the designer first”

Be the listener

A design lead needs to be calm in times of crisis, so listening to others is the biggest quality of a leader, this helps you to understand the real problem and bring a positive solution. A good listener brings ideology and strength among the team, design leader knows how to assemble great design team, guide and inspire them.

Break the Borders

A good design lead breaks their limitation and border in all aspects of the work environment. Sticking on your roles and responsibilities and just monitoring or getting a job done from your team all your borders. Push your team in the right direction and practice the team on healthy discussion and sharing thought which helps to enhance design thinking process and innovation.

Believe the team

A good design lead believes his team, and the team believes him. Accepting their proposal/ideas and allowing a team to execute those ideas without any tracking or micromanagement system will bring a great bond. A leader, not only project they lead the team, so always incorporating the team in every action, share the responsibility, helps the team to reach the vision, reward, and credit the deserved person, and motivate the team.

Learn, unlearn and relearn

The skill you got it no more sufficient to be a good leader. In this modern era technology and innovation taking massive boom every day, A good leader has to learn new approaches, tool, techniques and behavior it could be from a junior team member.

Accept failures and mistakes

You can’t be a winner always, be ready to carry the failure on your shoulders. You should accept the failures and identify the pitfall in your process. Make sure mentally you’re retrofit for all these unplanned troubles. Accepting failure helps you to be stronger.

Hands-on activity

Regular eight hours work module creates a boring environment in the team, the design leader plan or organizes any creative exercise or short activity to engage among the team. This helps to enlight the other side of creative thinking in the design team and you could identify some unique talent in your team. Poke your team to some interesting workshop or conferences.

Things you shouldn’t do
JavaScript Graph Visualization Libraries Updated — Check Out AnyChart 8.7.0 with New Cool Features!
Tags: JavaScript, Front End Development, Data Visualization, Business Intelligence, Web Development

AnyChart 8.7.0 is out with a lot of new awesome data visualization features. Look what we’ve added to our JavaScript graph libraries in this major update.

New Features in AnyChart 8.7.0

Client-Side Export

We’ve added the client-side export feature to all our libraries — AnyChart, AnyStock, AnyGantt, AnyMap. Save your charts as SVG, PNG, JPG, and PDF without a roundtrip to the server.

Stock UI Controls: Swap and Maximize

AnyStock is now provided with new UI controls — “Up,” “Down,” and “Maximize.” These buttons allow swapping the adjoining charts and maximizing one of them so it fills the entire page.

Stock Plot Splitter

A splitter is now automatically created between stock chart plots. It enables the viewer to change the relative height of the charts by dragging it up or down, facilitating analysis when multiple charts are on the page.

Infinite Range Annotations

We’ve also delivered two new annotations to AnyStock — infinite ranges, horizontal and vertical. So now they can be drawn using a ready-to-use UI. Look at two demos — horizontal range; vertical range.

New Technical Indicators

5 new indicators for technical analysis are now available: Envelope (ENV), Ichimoku Cloud (IKH), Price Oscillator (PPO), Rank Correlation Index (RCI), and Psychological Line (PSY). See examples.

Milestone Preview on Parent Task Bar

Milestone preview on parent task bars is now available in AnyGantt, allowing the viewer to quickly understand the milestones of such a task. Gantt w/ milestone preview example.

Custom Marker for Milestone

We’ve also added an option to customize milestone markers on Gantt charts by type and color. Use it to differentiate between the milestones of non-identical nature. Here’s an example.

Custom Basic Year

Previously, our Gantt charts only supported the calendar year as the basic year period. Now, it is possible to define a custom one. For example, you can go ahead and set a fiscal year, or academic year, or any other kind of year.

Polygonal Selection in Maps

We’ve made it possible to select points on JS maps in AnyMap by drawing a polygon. Such a complex, polygonal selection can now be easily configured using API and is also available from the context menu. Demo.

More JavaScript Graph Visualization Improvements in Version 8.7.0

In fact, release 8.7.0 has delivered even more improvements as well as bug fixes.

Check out the version histories of our products for more information:

The next major update of our JavaScript graph visualization libraries will bring multiple other improvements. In the meantime, feel free to send us new feature requests along with any other suggestions — just get in touch with our Support Team, and we’d love to hear from you exactly what you want to get.

Enjoy AnyChart JS Charts 8.7.0!
How 15 Mundane Miracles Saved 15 Lives From an Explosion
By: Martina Petkova
Tags: Mystery, Miracles, Unsolved Mysteries, Coincidence, Bizarre

How 15 Mundane Miracles Saved 15 Lives From an Explosion

The miraculous case of the Beatrice, Nebraska choir members

Adaptation of Photo by Stephen Radford on Unsplash

On March 1, 1950, choir practice was scheduled, as usual, for 7:20 PM at the West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska. Choir members would usually all gather by 7:15 PM.

At 7:25 PM a gas leak caused an explosion. The blast demolished the church, destroyed the windows of nearby buildings, and took a nearby radio station off the air.

None of the 15 choir members scheduled to practice died. They were not there. Every single one had been delayed by a completely different and random reason.

What saved them?

The minister, Reverend Walter Klempel, his wife, and his daughter, Marilyn Ruth, were all set to leave on time. They were almost out the door when Marilyn Ruth noticed her dress had a stain. Her mother took out another dress and started ironing it.

When the church exploded, they were still at home.
More people died of COVID in the past week than died in the attacks of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor…
By: Jeff Swift
Tags: Economy, Politics, Covid 19 Crisis, Covid 19, Congress

More people died of COVID in the past week than died in the attacks of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined.

And just think — 9/11 led to the creation of an entirely new branch of the government (the controversial Department of Homeland Security) with it’s ~$50 billion/year budget. The attacks on 9/11 led to two wars, which brought about hundreds of thousands of deaths while costing over $6 trillion.

With that context, it’s even more frustrating that Senator McConnell is blocking adequate funding for COVID aid to states, municipalities, small businesses, and individuals across the country.
Data-ism
By: Maung Agus Sutikno
Tags: Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Data

A part of writing-after-reading series as a personal goal, I present you a book about a new oil, data. A book by Steve Lohr.

This book is written by a The New York Times journalist who always covers technology, business, and economics for more than twenty years. He won Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting, a distinguished award for writer who has the abilities to explain the subject that is important and complex, demonstrate mastery of the subject, have lucid writing and clear presentation.

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

He writes the book with eleven chapters inside which will be revealed sequentially in detail below:
Intro To Limits: Average Speed vs Instantaneous Rate of Change
By: Brett Berry
Tags: Mathematics, Math, Tutorial, Limits, Calculus

Seeing as Newton pioneered Calculus, or as he called it The Method of Fluxions, it’s no wonder that one of the first topics you’ll learn about in Calculus involves an application of physics: rates of change.

If these sorts of applications make your eyes cross, then this quick tutorial will hopefully ease the pain. We’re going to start with some very basic concepts and work our way, gently, up to the idea of the limit, which lies at the heart of Calculus.

Galileo’s Law

We’ll begin our exploration of Calculus by investigating a simple and classic concept: the rate of a falling object over a period of time.

In the 16th century, Galileo discovered an equation that relates the distance and time it takes a solid object dropped from rest to hit the ground. The equation accounts for the effect of Earth’s gravity on the object and assumes negligible air resistance. The equation is pretty famous, and you’ve probably seen it before. It says that the height or distance from the ground in feet,(y) is equal to the fall time (t) in seconds squared and multiplied by 16.

Galileo’s Law in feet and seconds

Falling Rocks

Let’s put our formula to use. Say we have a rock that breaks loose and falls from a cliff, and it takes 20 seconds for the rock to hit the ground. Using Galileo’s law we can calculate just how high that cliff was by simply substituting t=20 into the equation.

Therefore, we know that assuming negligible air resistance, the cliff has a height of 6400 feet. Not too difficult, right?

Calculating Average Speed

Next, we want to find the rock’s average speed over an interval.

One thing we know about gravity’s pull on falling objects is that the longer the object falls the faster it’s speed. In other words, free-falling is an acceleration. This means that the speed differs over different time intervals of the fall.

For this first example, we are going to find the average speed during the first 3 seconds of the fall.

To find Average Speed divide the change in height (Δy) by the change in time (Δt).

Since we want to find the speed, we know we’ll be looking for an answer in distance over time. In this case, our units will be feet per second.

And we want the average, so we’ll average both the change in height from the beginning of the interval to the end, Δy, (pronounced “delta y” where the delta symbol represents “change”) as well as the change in time, Δt.

Our interval is the first three seconds, so we can think of this as the interval [0,3] in mathematical notation. I’ll label the first time in the interval as T1 and the second time as T2. That means we’ll be calculating the height (y) for T1 and subtracting it from the height of T2 to get the change in height, Δy, over the time period.

Similarly, I’ll also be subtracting the start time from the end time in the time period to get Δt. This will provide us with the change in height divided by the change in time, which, if you think about it, is the average speed over the interval.
Getting Personal
By: Holli Reckin
Tags: Teaching, Education, Gmwp

Getting Personal

A language teacher’s best tool? Relationships.

Establishing a sense of community is the most important thing a language teacher can do in the classroom.

There. I said it. Sorry, college methods professors. You probably want me to say that integrated performance assessments, comprehensible input in the target language, or culturally authentic lesson plans are more important. It’s not that those aren’t valuable, but if you want your students to be comfortable speaking a second language in front of their peers, you need to create a community of risk takers in which they feel comfortable making mistakes.

This past school year was the best I’ve had in my seven years of teaching. When I sat down to think about what I value as a teacher, I needed to ask myself: What went well last year? The more I reflected on the school year, the more it became clear to me: RELATIONSHIPS! The relationships formed and community established in my classroom last year were among my greatest accomplishments as a teacher. My students were successful because the sense of community they felt was so strong that it promoted growth, accountability, and risk-taking.

So what does this all mean? How did I do it? How can I build upon this camaraderie to meet the learning goals of my students? Stay tuned, friends.

Spoiler alert: it gets personal.
The Other Side of Love
By: Gail Walter
Tags: Relationships, Self, Love, Poetry, Life

Helene Schjerfbeck | Katkelma

I have tried to leave you

over and over and

not just in my head

many graveled driveways

bear the scars of my

hasty reverse acceleration

many doors bruised from

slamming many nights

plotting escapes eyeing

tiny homes in distant enough

otherwheres modest

for my lonely budget

I have a ritual

watching my footsteps

facing away carrying me

careless from the paint-stripping

confrontation the skin peeling

heart wafer thin enough to flutter

in a light disinterested breeze

I have pictured escape

from the rigors and the

gaping maw of revelatory

darkness where separate

splits and bleeds

I have never

believed in forever

except for moments

I have seen endings as escape

I have wanted to escape

so that my mouth watered

at the idea

I have not wanted I did

not invite you to shape me

with your prodding

hiding in the anonymous dark

calling me out

calling me out to face

to face the in and let go

of the out to face the

dark inside and stand

without running

to witness the

fires out of control for

as far as I can see

I have wanted to escape

to run away and be free

You have tied my foot

to the ground and I

have circled and circled

my madness and hated

myself and at dusk you

have dragged this

dull pale reluctance

back inside to the

mess in the kitchen

the mess in our broken

hearts you have forced me

to tidy up when I have

no hope left and more so

I don’t care I don’t care

I don’t care what the

world is made of

it is not for me

You have made me stay to

see a sunrise over a new day

unblighted you have fixed

a bleak destruction

with the soft animal edge of

conciliatory love

you have made me

believe in love

as redemption

so I thank you now

with these dry

reluctant words

I thank you

for sometimes

I don’t know

if you know

that you save

my life

© Gail Walter 2020
То ли радость, то ли ожиренье.
By: Orion Nebula
Tags: Baroc, Music, Video

in Both Sides of the Table
Artis Turba News Update 28 March 2018
By: Artis Turba
Tags: Ethereum Wallet, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain, Altcoins

Hey guys! We hope that you are all enjoying the journey with us and that all Artis Turba family members are as excited as we are about Artis Turba’s first product release occurring today. Artis Turba development is conducted in phases and each phase represents a significant milestone to reach in order to provide a wholesome service and experience to our users.

Today’s wallet release is termed phase 1.1 and includes full wallet functionality for Artis, Ethereum and Bitcoin. Our users will now be able to safely and securely store and transact with their Cryptocurrencies. Thereafter, Phase 1.2 is expected to be completed over the next month and will see wallet functionality implemented for Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash, Ripple, Monero and popular ERC-20'S.

We are happy that phase 2.1 work has already started and is expected to be completed in June month 2018, during which we will implement the Artis Turba exchange platform. The exchange platform will enable our users to trade the listed Cryptocurrencies and will open up new Crypto pairs which has not been available to the public as of yet! We are also aiming to create a new trend and standard for Crypto Exchanges in terms of user functionality.

Phase 2.2 is the highly anticipated Artis Turba Affiliate Rewards Program and will be implemented along with phase 2.1. This will enable all of our users to earn an income from Cryptocurrencies and we have worked hard to ensure that the model implemented will be sustainable in the long term.

After the first two phases we will move onto phase 3 which we termed the “value addition” phase. During this phase we will implement free signals for our users as well as fiat conversion options! We are also glad to announce that we have already started negotiating with service providers about this.

As for the listing of ARTIS on additional exchanges; we will apply to more exchanges after completion of phase 1 and are carefully considering the options to place ARTIS strategically. Our recent listing on OctaEx has enabled ARTIS pairs with BTC, LTC and USD and also afforded ARTIS the opportunity to gain exposure to the Asian markets.

We sincerely believe that the completion of each phase will boost confidence in ARTIS and thereby promote growth for all ARTIS holders.

Forward Together!

Nigel & Nickey
Metanoia
By: Marianna Saver
Tags: Inspiration, Culture, Relationships, Love, Poetry

Metanoia

Poem #19

Photo by Riki Ramdani on Unsplash

Your breath last night,

a story yet to be told,

notes of nothingness,

of peach and wood,

of musk and mud,

and something else

I can’t quite catch.

What are we — after all –

if not a mark in space,

a fraction of a moment,

a flash of eternity,

the time it takes to tell a joke.
Medium: Help List
By: Stevie Adler
Tags: Medium, Medium Tips, Help, Medium Help, How To

Story: Drafts and Public and Unlisted

When Stories are listed, under Your Stories there are three types, Drafts, Public and Unlisted.

Drafts are just that, a Draft of a story under development. These are private to you. Most publishers require stories to be a Draft. A Draft can be posted/promoted to published.

are just that, a Draft of a story under development. These are private to you. Most publishers require stories to be a A Draft can be posted/promoted to published. Public: A published story can have visibility called Public where everyone, including search engines, can view the story.

A published story can have visibility called where everyone, including search engines, can view the story. Unlisted: A published story could also have restricted visibility, known as Unlisted. Unlisted Published Stories can only be navigated to and read via a direct link, so cannot be searched for.

Why Make a Story Unlisted?

Making a story Unlisted restricts who can read it.

Unlisted stories will not appear in the home feed, profile page, tag page, or search on Medium, nor will they appear in notifications or email digests.

I have used Unlisted Posts to contain additional information, that will only be accessed if required (from a link in the main story), thereby making the main story that much shorter [see story Rules of Engagement Broke?, where there are links to several reference documents.]
New Growth
By: Emma Briggs
Tags: Change, Resistance Poetry, Social Change, Growth, Poetry

Even in the midst of winter here, when reptiles sleep and insects are quiet,

tiny, pink leaves emerge in search of sun,

slowly maturing against the chill, blue sky,

defying expectations of colonial Brits in history books.

Even now, as systems collapse over tipping points and the end of truth,

little ideas unfurl as surprise seedlings,

stretching high to draw minds out of the dirt,

disrupting assumptions implanted by malignant lies.
What The Heck is U2F?
Tags: Tech, Bitcoin, Hacking, How To, Security

I just finished reading about a guy named Cody Brown who lost $8k of Bitcoin in 15 minutes from Coinbase.

How did this happen? Didn’t he have Two-Factor Authentication set up for his Coinbase account?

Yes.

But he had the wrong one: SMS text messaging.

SMS text messaging is very insecure as a Two-Factor Authentication. Hackers nowadays can easily call up your phone provider and pretend to be you. They don’t need to prove any identity. All they need to do is convince the employee that he is you. And some hackers are really good at this. It’s currently the weakest link that exists and regular people still don’t understand the risks involved.

One of the biggest Blockchain VC’s, Bo Shen had over $300,000 stolen recently by a hacker using this same weak link: SMS text messaging. It’s a huge problem right now that many people are unaware of.

Disconnect your phone from your accounts right now if you have SMS text messages as your 2FA. I’ll explain what you should do in place of it that is actually secure.

Do It Right Now.

Sometimes a video can explain all of this better than reading text, so please watch this one. In it, the young man uses Yubikey, which I have never used. I use a Trezor as my U2F (or physical key).

So, what exactly is U2F?

I’m going to simplify this definition:

U2F is a physical key that you put into a USB port on your computer. You put this in after inputting your password. The U2F device uses encryption, as it contains a private key that is matched up to your public key in order to unlock your accounts like Gmail and Facebook. Without the physical key, no one can access your account. So, hackers, and even key loggers will not be able to steal your passwords because the U2F encrypts the data.

There are other cheaper options like the Yubikey that costs $18 from Amazon. I’ve never used Yubikey and only learned of it recently after doing some research. A good idea is to have several U2F devices connected to your account, to ensure you don’t lose access if you lose one of your keys.

It’s overwhelming to do this the first time, but once you do, you will be able to sleep at night. Hackers are just getting more advanced and sneaky over time, so the sooner you get one of these physical U2F keys, the better! Cars and houses need physical keys, so do your accounts!

Here’s a how-to video that shows you how to set up a U2F physical device like Trezor or Yubikey with your gmail account:

You can do this……….now.
The Employee Benefits Matrix: compensation vs culture
By: Team Guild
Tags: Employee Engagement, Employee Benefits, Future Of Work, Hiring, Employee Retention

Improving employee happiness is a major goal for HR departments, particularly among larger companies.

I wanted to explore how employee benefits can play a part in that, as increasingly we’re hearing about the value of non-monetary benefits, and the importance of a strong company culture.

In fact, a Glassdoor study found that company culture was the single most important factor in the workplace in terms of driving employee satisfaction, which is key to retention. Meanwhile, ‘compensation and benefits’ was ranked at the bottom of the list, at least as far as satisfaction goes.

It strikes me that some benefits are more aligned to culture than to compensation. And some perks will play a key role in hiring new employees, while others will help to reduce staff turnover.

Benefits such as salary, bonuses and paid holidays — might be dealmakers or breakers when trying to hire new talent, but once someone is onboard, it is often the softer, intangible benefits that will keep them happy.

The employee benefits matrix

I spent some time researching the most common types of benefits offered by employers, as well as a few not-so-common ones (anyone fancy a nap?).

In total I’ve focused on 39 employee benefits. No doubt there will be others I have missed.

I’ve mapped these benefits onto a matrix, to try to figure out how they can help to attract and retain talent, and where they sit in the general scheme of things.

Everything is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. What matters most to one person might not count at all to another.

I’ve highlighted in bold the benefits that I think are must-haves. This is pretty subjective although I’ve based it on everything I’ve read, including the research we’ve referenced here on the Guild Journal.

Ok, here’s the matrix:

In the future the best places to work will offer many of these perks to employees. Those companies will be ranked at the top of the list of ‘best companies to work for’.

How many of these does your company currently offer?
Shoot First
By: Randy Rather
Tags: Challenge, Catchphrases, Guns, Fiction, Short Story

Catchphrase Challenge

Shoot First

Ask questions later.

Photo by Thomas Def on Unsplash

While driving down the street, Robert saw three men, each with a knife, threatening a woman. He quickly stopped, got out of his car, pulled out his gun, and pointed it towards the men.

“Stop right there!” he shouted.

The men froze, then turned to look at him. Seeing the gun pointed at them, they all dropped their knives. One of the men started to run away, but Robert shouted, “I wouldn’t do that! You need to understand, I’m of the mindset: shoot first, ask questions later.” The man stopped and raised his hands in the air.

“Good, good,” Robert said. He pointed the gun at the first man’s leg and fired. The man cried out in pain as he fell to the ground. The other two men, as well as the woman, stood wide-eyed with shock. “Now, what’s your favorite color?” Robert asked.

“Why did you shoot him?” the third man yelled.

“Shut up!” Robert snapped. “You’ll get your turn.”

Looking back to the first man, Robert said, “Answer the question.”

Clutching his leg and wincing from the pain, the man said, “Blue.”

“Excellent,” Robert said. Then he pointed the gun at the second man’s arm and fired.

The man staggered back a couple of steps, holding his arm. “Why’d you shoot me?! I didn’t do anything!”

“I told you,” Robert said. “I like shooting and then asking questions.”

The third man started to speak, but Robert cut him off. “No! It’s still not your turn.”

Looking back to the second man, Robert asked, “What’s your favorite flavor of milkshake?”

“What…?” the man looked confused.

“Don’t make me ask again!” Robert yelled.

“Strawberry!” the man cried. “It’s strawberry.”

“Ok.” Robert pointed the gun at the third man’s abdomen. The man was crying. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Please don’t shoot,” the man was saying, but Robert fired. The man doubled over and fell to the ground.

“How do you feel about Nickelback?”

Groaning with pain, the man said, “They’re overrated.”

Robert shot him again.

“Why’d you shoot him again?!” the woman asked.

“I never said there weren’t any wrong answers,” Robert replied.

“Thank you for helping me.” the woman said, terrified. “I’m going to just…”

Robert turned the gun toward her and shot her in the leg. She fell to the ground with a yell.

“Now, how do YOU feel about Nickelback?” Robert asked.

“They’re amazing!” she cried.

Robert shot her again. He hated liars.

He took a last look around and, seeing his work was done, got back into his car and drove away with a smile on his face. “Guns are fun.”
We Bought A … (What?)
By: Tim Penrod
Tags: Horses, Farming, Ranch, Startup, Equestrian

A few years ago, our family lived in Arizona and decided it was time to relocate somewhere cooler. My wife and I both grew up in AZ, and we were ready to live somewhere that had 4 seasons and that generally stayed below 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.

A film came out that year called “We Bought a Zoo”, and odd as it may sound, we really connected with the movie and its storyline. While we didn’t buy a zoo, or even anything other than a house, I think the movie inspired us to take the big step of moving somewhere different. We ended up in Colorado, in the beautiful town of Castle Rock, just south of the Denver metro area.

But it wasn’t until a few months ago that we entertained the thought of buying an equestrian ranch. An historic ranch at the entrance to our subdivision had been out of operation the past couple of years as several deals to purchase the property fell through. One day, I mentioned to my wife that the property had been on my mind recently, and she said she had been thinking about it as well, although neither of us had mentioned it to the other before. She called immediately and inquired about the property, only to find out active offers were on the table. We had to act quickly if we were to have any chance of being considered as a potential buyer.

And that is the beginning of the story of how we became owners of an equestrian center on 50+acres of land, and how we started on an amazing journey of life Around the Ranch. We are looking forward to sharing our adventure here in this publication.
The Art of Embracing Actual Adulthood
By: Luke Trayser
Tags: Work, Relationships, Humor, Love, Parenting

The Art of Embracing Actual Adulthood

A begrudging appreciation of life’s difficult things.

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

When I was 21, I flunked out of college. In my defense, school was difficult for the first time in my life and I wanted no part of it.

The complete freedom I enjoyed on campus transitioned — almost immediately — into a lack of discipline. I stayed up late, slept late, gained weight, partied with my friends, and skipped more classes than I attended. A good formula for fun, but not a good formula for academic success.

I switched my major to English, got back into college, got my degree, and began the job hunt. At my first official writing gig, I took more sick days than I was allotted, didn’t ask questions, and generally coasted my way through most days and most projects. Over my four years there, I wrote some good stories and gained valuable experience, but I can say with certainty that I didn’t give maximum effort.

Speaking of not giving maximum effort, we now go live to my love life. For the past 14 years, I dated and have been married to an incredible woman. She’s kind, beautiful, thoughtful, loyal, and the most trustworthy person in my life. And for 9 of those 14 years, I rewarded her with a reluctance to help around the house, a reluctance to work hard and attack our college debt, and a reluctance to give her the quality time and relationship attention she so clearly needed and deserved. I knew how lucky I was and how special she was, but I avoided most difficult tasks unless I was prodded.

Then, finally, I changed. When I was 31, after wasting my 20s due to laziness and apathy in all facets of my life, my first son was born.

He showed up in September 2014, and his little brother followed him in May 2017. And so, for the past five years, I’ve asked myself what kind of man I want my sons to see when they look at me. The answer is simple: someone who works hard, loves others, takes care of himself, and makes sacrifices for the good of the family and the community.

Getting there is not as simple. It requires a lasting relationship with what I’ve come to know as Actual Adulthood.
The Customer Is King? No, She Is the Hero in the Story!
By: Berenike Schriewer
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Customer Service, Freelancing, Leadership, Business

We’ve all heard the business mantra that the customer is king. It describes the importance customers have to business, and the resulting need to provide good services to them.

While we can probably all agree that our customers are important and that we need to provide great service to them, does the mantra “the customer is king” make sense? And should those of us who work in B2C (business-to-customer) act like it?

Let me give a personal example: Recently, I disappointed a client. This person had rather unrealistic expectations on how quickly and often I could be available for them, given the limited service they had picked and how it was described.

I explained that to them and they quit (which was honestly a relief).

Is that how I would treat a king?

The truth is that it probably depends on whether we’re talking “Game of Thrones” model of kingship or today’s more fashionable representative monarchies. In the first case, I’d probably do whatever is necessary to keep my head… including catering to unreasonable whims.

But is that really the associations we want to have with our customers? A relationship dynamic that’s based on power imbalance and, well, fear?

(And if that’s what we want our work life to look like, wouldn’t it be easier to just get a job so we can have someone else tell us what to do?)