fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Trezor Support for WAN
By: Oliver Birch
Tags: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Partnerships, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency

We are pleased to announce Wanchain GUI wallet 1.0.5 update which will go live within a few days. This update includes Trezor support (Trezor T is still not supported though). Please note you should be running GUI wallet version 2.1.2 or later!

Trezor support will include public transactions although we are exploring the option to add private transactions in the near future.

Prerequisites

To update the firmware version to 1.6.2 or later, please click here.

Important: Your Trezor will wipe itself if the device loses connection while loading the new firmware. Make sure you have your recovery seed.

If you are using any previous GUI wallet be sure to upgrade gwan to 2.1.2 or later.

Step by step guide

1) Connect your Trezor to a computer.

2) Unlock the Trezor wallet by following instructions on Trezor’s official website:

https://wallet.trezor.io/

(Might need to download and install TREZOR Bridge application first)

3) Open the Wanchain GUI wallet

The Wanchain GUI wallet should indicate “Trezor Account Connected” and display an overview of accounts associated with the Trezor wallet device connected

4) Send WAN

To send WAN from a Trezor account, first click the “Transfer” button on the right side of the account you want to send WAN from, it will take you to the transfer page (shown below).

Then enter the recipient address, transfer amount, and choose the transaction fee. Once all fields are filled and verified, click “SEND” button in the bottom.

5) Confirm transaction

Click “CHECK TREZOR” button to send transaction information to the Trezor wallet device

6) Confirm the transaction by pressing button “Confirm” on the Trezor wallet device.

7) Check transaction details

Once the transaction has been successfully confirmed, Wanchain GUI wallet will redirect you to the “Account details” page where the transaction information will be listed in “Transaction history” section.

About Wanchain
Day 67: Linked-list mergesort
By: Tomáš Bouda
Tags: Programming, Algorithms

I have implemented both, recursive and iterative versions of the algorithm.

Recursive version splits the list into two equally long partitions using fast/slow pointer trick from day 62. Each sublist is sorted and result is merged.

Time complexity is obviously O(n.log n) and space complexity is O(log n). Why not O(1)? Space complexity measured on heap would be O(1), but we have to take into account that recursive call has its cost and space used on stack is still O(log n).

Iterative version takes “sorted” lists of length one and repeatedly merges lists of the same length until a single complete list remains.

Time complexity is again O(n.log n) and this time we can clearly see that space complexity is O(log n).
Samsung Unveils the Galaxy S9 and S9+
By: Karthik Vempati
Tags: Android, Samsung, Technology

Image Credits: Samsung

This week, Samsung has finally unveiled the much anticipated Galaxy S9 and S9+ following weeks of leaks. Although the company is primarily focussed on the camera in their advertisements, the model presents an array of new features and updates.

Nonetheless, the camera is, perhaps, the most remarkable feature of the phone. Samsung has introduced new technology into the market: variable aperture on a smartphone camera. Essentially, the camera can adjust depending on how much light it is exposed to in order to take the best shot. The primary camera can switch between an F1.5 and F2.4. In addition, the S9+ model now comes with dual cameras. These updates also come with new software. For example, Samsung introduced AR Emoji, which although similar to the Animoji from Apple, allows for longer recording time, more customization, and different filters — more like a bitmoji than an emoji. Furthermore, the phone can now take super slow motion footage at 960 frames per second. However, this is only motion activated and provides only 6 seconds of footage (it doesn’t record for 6 seconds). Finally, Bixby is now built into the camera allowing for live translation of text on the camera without taking pictures.

Other less advertised changes include a revised speaker system, security settings, and updated internals. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ now allow for stereo speakers, claiming up to 40% louder audio. Also, the fingerprint sensor has been moved to under the camera, following customer dissatisfaction in the S8. Similarly, the facial recognition has been improved and iris scanning has once again been included in this model. The internal specifications have been significantly improved by using the updated Snapdragon 845 in North America (an updated Exynos will be used internationally). Samsung Dex now has a new dock with the ability to use the S9 or S9+ as a trackpad.

Although much of the phone looks similar — putting aside new colors for a minute — to its predecessor, Samsung has created a more powerful, feature packed, elegant flagship.
I Birthed A Shadow
By: Cat Hollyer
Tags: Motherhood, Postpartum Depression, Poetry, Depression, Ode

I Birthed A Shadow

A Poem

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

I birthed a shadow

without a name —

twelve feet, zero ounces

all colic and biting.

It cast itself over me,

hollowed me out —

confined to a couch

stained with milk.

It told me to hit things:

pillows, walls.

It stole every word

except “I’m fine.”

It took me on car rides —

screaming, we two.

It dared me to crash,

said it might help.

It dimmed my periphery,

leaving a hole

through which it whispered,

“You’re not a mother.”

I birthed a shadow

of my own flaws

who locked me in darkness,

eclipsing the truth.

You reached your zenith

just in time,

illuminating

everything.
My journey to landing the first UX job
By: Daniela Popa
Tags: UX Design, UI Design, Product Design, Entry Level Jobs

Fast forward to October 2020, I was preparing to take on my new role as a full-time UX / UI designer. Along with the bubbly, exciting feeling came certain “new job nerves” as I was meeting the whole UX / UI Design team. There were plenty of matters that ran through my mind, such as wanting to be of use from day one, getting on track with the team’s rhythm, and remembering every bit of information or every person I met — the usual!

Having been in this role for a short while, I would like to share a couple of thoughts and points to consider if you are are at the beginning of your design career.

In terms of personal development, it is a good idea to consider ways in which you will succeed at your job. However, this brings a certain risk of focusing a little bit too much inward. You also want to paint the bigger picture and look at ways in which you contribute and support the company’s / project’s goals.

Particularly if you are an entry-level designer, I suggest being open and honest with your manager when discussing your goals and what you would like to achieve. This enables your manager to support you to the best of their abilities and helps you build trust through transparency.

In my view, you should not be afraid of admitting your flaws, even as early as during the job interview. It shows you know yourself, and are able to critically evaluate your skillset and put it into perspective— where you are and where you would like to be in the future for example.

As a newcomer, you have the ability to ask plenty of questions, understand how the team got to where they are now, and what is their ultimate goal. Besides this, it can also be interesting to consider knowing how does success looks like to the team and what does it take to be successful when the product launches.
From Here to Peaternity
Tags: Comics, Humor, Family, Family History, Cartoon

Written by

Almost famous cartoonist who laughs at her own jokes and hopes you will, too.
✎ Free-ish since 1865
By: Whitney O Banner
Tags: Twitter

✎ Free-ish since 1865

Hi, I’m Whitney. This is a newsletter full of tweets from my feed. Tap the tweet to view its thread.
Diabetic Cyborg Life 12/30: Christmas/Holidays as a Philosophy
By: Adam, Diabetic Cyborg
Tags: Life Lessons, Humanity, Holidays, Optimism, Christmas

I care not to see the days as JC, peace be unto him, being born, or just as if your belief is just a jolly big guy who gives you gifts. It should be just a day of joy and peace that binds all humanity as people living now, as I see thanksgiving. Don’t see just the simple clichés of the days and see the greater meanings that penetrate our souls as people and humans that live here on Earth.

WE a all different. Use that as a tool to broaden ourselves as people, and not a simple aim that divides us as one humanity that lives here and now. Don’t let differences of nationality, religion, race or color divide us.

The epitome of all that is wrong can be seen in the selfishness and division of so many political parties, politicians, leaders. Millions of the overserved, overrepresented populous are making terror and hate for the very variances of us that make humans special and unique. Simple smug put downs are tools of theirs as they seek to spread hate and division for the momentary high humans get from that emotion.

I know this is a centuries long struggle we will never see end in our lifetimes. Yet, unite and show hope because that feeling is more difficult to make than hate but will stick around longer than the brief high that hate gives.
フィレンツェ郊外「フェッラーノ城」、新所有者が家族総出で作り上げる新しい姿
By: Kumiko Nakayama
Tags: ホテル, デザイン, イタリア, 建築, 日本語

in In Fitness And In Health
Crossed Legs
By: Stephanie Jackson
Tags: Relationships, Life Lessons, Poem, Breakups, Poetry

Cross my legs and hope to die,

Raspberries and grey-blue eyes

Tangled in you until tomorrow

Yours are minutes I’ll borrow

Tied with troubles

No business in the rubble

Fake the feeling

Even though for me, wheeling

Projecting and pretending

You would be sending

Your well wishes

And cigarette-stained kisses

Another visit, but I’m naive

Imagining one you’ll never leave

So light my name

Like flowers, tame

And resume your single-cylinder

Life, while I review new contenders
O que é phishing e como evitá-lo
By: Ramon Oliveira
Tags: Bancryp, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Criptobanco

in In Fitness And In Health
Tennis Note #35
By: Phillip G. Pate
Tags: Sports, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros, Tennis

According to Roland Garros officials, two tons of brick are needed to cover a red clay court. Terre battue, or a tennis surface topped with a layer of brick, is the calling card of the French Open. The surface known for its unpredictable bounces and slower pace requires more measured play and as a result, it has created quixotic journeys for many of the game’s greats including Sampras, McEnroe, Connors and Becker. This familiar futile journey seemed to resurface with the current No. 1 player in the world, losing at Roland Garros for eleven straight years including in three of the past four finals. However, a few weeks ago, the layer of brick that covers Philippe Chatrier Court became a metaphor, reminding fans of the late Randy Pausch’s message: Novak Djokovic broke through his most elusive “brick wall” and became the fourth male player since 1969 to win a Career Grand Slam (joining Agassi, Federer, Nadal).

Unfortunately, Djokovic has become criminally ignored in the main stream. His style is not as graceful as Federer’s nor as powerful as Nadal’s but his ability to convert his weaknesses into strengths has made him a threat to unseat Federer as the best tennis player ever. Sports fans should appreciate this recent Roland Garros victory as further proof that world class athletes are not just predestined but, with grit, are made.

In honor of John McPhee’s Levels of The Game, the balance of the article pivots between Djokovic’s transformation to the World No. 1 and some of the key takeaways during his French Open Final versus Andy Murray.

The Opening Set

Murray serves a perfectly angled 125 mph bullet into the right corner of the deuce court, forcing Djokovic to hit a crosscourt forehand well inside the baseline. This gives Murray enough time to set up a cracking forehand crosscourt and pushes Djokovic back to hit another forehand. Murray meets it as he storms the net hitting an approach shot to the ad-side and then, swiftly volleying away another defensive Djokovic backhand at the net. Murray gains advantage [Ad-40] in a pivotal game that lasted 10 minutes and appears to be the true start of the match at 4–2, Murray.

Murray would win the first set 6–3. The Scotsman channeled his early adrenaline into big shots and octopus-like defense. The first set surprised the pro-Djokovic crowd and reminded the spectators, and probably the competitors, that Murray beat Djokovic in straight sets three weeks earlier on the Italian Open clay. However, you could tell Murray expended a considerable amount of energy to open well.
Companies who offer a Service. Do they Actually Do what it says on the Tin?
By: Peter Moore
Tags: Customer Service, Delivery, Professional, Company, Services

We are living in a “service” based world, with a big shift on the internet, if you are not online then where are you today.

But NOT all people are online and many companies just brush you off with customer service centers, holding you online to then speak with a person who really doesn't care that much and thinking of what they are going to have for tea that night, or if they are going to the pub for a beer… they then start by saying;

“How can I help you today”…

Over the years we have also become a society that says NO, due to the fact of losing your job and just have NO responsibility to say YES!

So it's easier to say NO or pass the buck to a colleague or someone in your team, but when you pass it on does this ever get dealt with? People just want the easy life to eat lunch travel home, and just watch TV with the companies message saying;

“We put the customer first!” Really?

You’ve definitely heard this phrase before — and probably from many companies and people over the years and you will continue to hear this message even more over the next few years!

Now that's something to look forward to!

This statement is a foundational promise in countless mission statements, website headlines, and choruses of customer service teams everywhere in the land.

Today, it’s hard to find a company that doesn’t say, “We put the customer first” in some part of their marketing messaging.

But here’s a really tough question: how many of these companies go beyond a marketing message and actually take the necessary steps to put their customers first?

According to new HubSpot research — not nearly enough of them. They found that an astonishing 42% of companies don’t survey their customers or collect feedback.

How can your company claim to put the customer first if you aren’t making the effort to listen to what your customers have to say?

The truth is this: even though most businesses claim to be “customer first”, they aren’t taking steps to actually be there for their customers.

That’s probably why only 12% of people actually believe a business when they say “we put the customer first”.
Wine Mom Face Masks
By: Sarah James
Tags: Motherhood, Satire, Parenting, Humor, Wine

Sign up for Yapjaw

By Slackjaw

Yapjaw is Medium's #1 newsletter for all things humor, and we're sorry to say you'll only receive it a few times a month. Take a look
Foresting Android/IOS versions update
Tags: Android, Blockchain, iOS, Updates, Social Media

Dear friends!

Today is the beginning of the last week of the spring and soon very hot summer will start. But before the HOT summer, we would like to announce HOT updates that we were working on lately.

Despite the rainy day we hope that our good news will enlighten your day like a beam of light guiding you through the heavy clouds.

We took into consideration your opinions and feedback regarding the app and made some updates 😊

Let’s review them one by one!

Here are updates made on Foresting platform:

We have modified the event banner location inside of the platform



In-app event banner used to be in a searching tab before the update. So, many users are missing great opportunities as they are not aware of the events we are having. We changed the location of the Event banner to the main feed so that you do not miss any latest events!

2. We improved the Main Feed

From now on all of the newest content Exposure will be according to the followings and popularity. Best content should be rewarded with better exposure. What do you think?

3. We added comment deleting feature

As you remember once you made a comment on Foresting you were not able to delete it.

Now it became possible.

Write the comment down-> Delete if you don’t like it->Rewrite it-> Delete once again LOL (It may go on forever (joke!))

4. Notifications alarm

We had this feature during the closed beta version but decided to turn it off for some updates and better version of the notification icon. Our bad! ☹ BUT! We have fixed it and now you will get even comment notifications 😊😊😊 See that annoying red button? If yes, click on it, there might be something waiting for you to be checked.

5. We changed the order of content exposure in the Searching Tab

The exposure of the content was just like a nightmare with no clear understanding of what is where. It was just like a large pile of everything. From now one it looks like a study desk of the freshman (joke). Everything is in order and so neat. How did we do that?

-. 18 contents uploaded within 7 days (before compensation) ranged by popularity

-. 18 contents uploaded after 7 days (after compensation) ranged by popularity

Less is more😉

6. We added the Editing feature (at the end of the day)

We used to have a rule of non-editing content, but it didn’t make you happy. So, we just added this feature and we would be more than happy to get feedback from you.

7. Minor updates:



-. Android/iOS push error: Fixed

-. Display message on the recipient notification window

-. Multiple function stabilization

We really hope to provide better service through this update, so that you can enjoy the better version of Foresting platform and get a better experience.

Don’t forget to update the app in Google Play or App Store.

Here are direct links:

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foresting.app

App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/kr/app/apple-store/id1453972274?mt=8

Stay tuned with Foresting😊
Data Analysis on US Foodborne Outbreak Incident in 1998–2018
By: Chi-Yun Chen
Tags: Data Analysis, Food Outbreakdata, Public Health

Food is one of the necessary things in our daily life. With economic growth, people value the safety of food more. Although the government had passed many acts related to food safety as time goes by, roughly one in six (or 48 million) people in the United States get sick from eating contaminated food every year. More than 250 pathogens and toxins have been known to cause foodborne diseases, and almost all of them can cause an outbreak. Through this analysis project, we can review the status of food safety in the US.

Photo from Yale School of Public Health (shorturl.at/beghC)

Outline

Introduction

Goal

Data Preparation

Exploratory Data Analysis

Model Training & Evaluation

US Heatmap

Conclusion

Introduction

A foodborne disease outbreak occurs when two or more people get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink. While most foodborne illnesses are not part of a recognized outbreak, outbreaks provide important information on how germs spread, which foods cause illness, and how to prevent infection.

In this project, all the code was conducted on the Google Colab Notebook. The following links are the source code uploaded to Github.

FoodBorne Event Dataset

In all 50 states, public health agencies, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and Freely Associated States have primary responsibility for identifying and investigating outbreaks and using a standard form to report outbreaks voluntarily to CDC. During 1998–2018, reporting was made through the electronic Foodborne Outbreak Reporting System (eFORS).

This dataset provides data on foodborne disease outbreaks reported to CDC from 1998 through 2015. Data fields include year, state (outbreaks occurring in more than one state are listed as “multistate”), the location where the food was prepared, reported food vehicle and contaminated ingredient, etiology (the pathogen, toxin, or chemical that caused the illnesses), status (whether the etiology was confirmed or suspected), total illnesses, hospitalizations, and fatalities. In many outbreak investigations, a specific food vehicle is not identified; for these outbreaks, the food vehicle variable is blank.

US Population dataset

The US population dataset comes from the US Census Bureau.

Goal

There are some question and goal we want to find out through this project:
Saturn Return
By: Jenny Jedeikin
Tags: Comics, Relationships, Family, Saturn Return, Astrology

Jenny Jedeikin’s work has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone, The Advocate, The UK's Oh Comely; read more at jennyjedeikin.com.

Follow
The ICE Score
By: Daniel Morales
Tags: Growth Hacking

The ICE Score

Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown

Solve challenge here: https://www.bookcademy.com/home/show_daily_challenges/the-ice-score

When submitting ideas, the submitter should rate each idea on a ten-point scale, across each of the following three criteria: the idea’s potential impact, the submitter’s level of confidence in how effective it will be, and how easy it will be to implement.

Then those ratings are averaged to provide an aggregate score for each idea. The entire bank of ideas are then ranked by their scores, and the team begins experimentation with the highest-scored ideas in the area of focus chosen by the growth team.

For example, a highly rated customer acquisition idea will be passed on in favor of a lower-scored idea around retaining users if the growth team is currently focused on improving customer retention

Here’s an example of the style of ranking the team of Sean created, listing the results for the grocery app team’s ideas. This ranking can be done in a spreadsheet or in your project management software. You can see how the scoring has led to clarity about which two are the best ones to try first. Though the aggregate score of an idea may not always be the ultimate arbiter of which are select in what order, because the team may decide after discussion in the team meeting that there are reasons to go with a lower-scoring option, you’ve got a great starting point
Design Longterm User Experience
Tags: Product Design, UX Design, Spotify, Mobile, User Interface

First Date

The first date in design world is a First Time User Experience. It’s a process of involvement to a new product and learning of what-and-how the user can solve with this product. In case, you do not explain what-and-how on the first date, will not make it gently and carefully, or rather overload him with the unnecessary information — the user would be lost. If not on the registration step, then after. Therefore, bad user onboarding rate and the upcoming CRR.

The First Time UX can be divided into two parts: visible and invisible to the user. Roughly speaking:

the visible one: the walkthrough screens, contextual tips, tutorials, Getting Started guides, etc. So, all of those things for directly help to start with the product.

the walkthrough screens, contextual tips, tutorials, Getting Started guides, etc. So, all of those things for directly help to start with the product. the invisible one: the analysis by the product itself of the user data; a first-time app tuning and searching for the relevant content.

Let’s take a look at a simple example. On the first entrance after the registration in some good social network, the feed (or the timeline) will be full of relevant content specified exactly for you. It’s based on your email, contacts, sometimes even photos at your Camera Roll, etc.

Another example — Spark Mail by Readdle, I’ve been working on for the last 18 months. Here are some simple things we at Readdle can learn the user registered:

archives or immediately deletes the read mails;

uses GMail folders or Mailbox lists;

power user or a regular one, based on the number of mails per a day.

So we can adapt the interface and the flow to a specific user.

Okay. The first few dates take a short period in the relationship. Right? So, what’s next? How to keep the user for longer? What should we do? Here comes the Long-term User Experience.
Setting up Android devices for Espresso tests with Testdevicemanager
By: Sebastian Krawczyk
Tags: Android, Espresso, App Development, Ui Testing, Spring

UI tests are an important part of our test pyramid at the WELT Mobile Native development team. That’s why we continuously put an effort not only into extending the UI test coverage but also into making the whole process smoother and automate more and more parts of it whenever possible.

Several issues were causing our UI tests to fail and resulted in time-consuming investigations that could have been avoided if the test devices were set up correctly. These issues were, for example:

being connected to a wrong WiFi

stay awake mode was not activated and the device turned off the screen during the test

animations were enabled when the tests started

Setting up the devices automatically before each test run would solve the problems we were facing. There was also the requirement to not add any additional access rights to our app nor use rooted devices. That’s how the idea of a Gradle plugin manipulating and checking real devices arose.

We implemented an open-source solution called it Testdevicemanager and in this article, we want to describe to you what the plugin is capable of and how you can use it.

Currently, Testdevicemanager is able to:

Lock / unlock a device

Enable / disable animations

Enable / disable “stay awake” mode

Checking for connection to a specific WLAN

Checking / setting device language

You can check out the repo on Github:

Preconditions

There are some preconditions that need to be met before you can use the plugin. Don’t worry though, it is nothing more than setting up the device for running Espresso tests with Android Studio:
Over-burdening Expectations of Parents
By: Ruchi Thalwal
Tags: Expectations, Spiritual Secrets, Parenting, Poetry, Freedom

Oh my baby, so cute, so little

my creation, my sweet one

Parents swelled with proud

as they see their girl’s face after 9 months

In kindergarten, oh baby

Speak and write like this

With a little practice, you will be pro

Take one step at a time

Hey girl, watch your tantrum

You are no queen

Learn to behave and throw away all the attitude

We are your parents; we know better

This wretched teenager has made my life hell

Pathetic liar, laughter like a devil

God knows what we have done to deserve her

She will destroy our well-established name

Hey, you evil woman of 30 year

Why don’t you listen and get married

Everybody is looking down upon us

Backbiting how we raised our girl

So self-obsessed this 40-year-old has become

We supported her, educated her

Still, she does not listen to us

I wonder why she lives on her own

I have accepted my defeat

It is as if we and society for her do not exist

At their death bed, Oh my girl

I am so proud of you

you did exactly what you wanted to

Sorry for crushing your spirit for our whole life

I was imprisoned and had a lot of expectations

Now I see what you were telling the entire way along

I’m so sorry to have found this late

Won’t be able to enjoy the freedom which I recognized at last

You are no slave, but I was in chains

You are unique, even if you lesbian

I apologize, I smothered you

Every day, each night

It was not your tantrums, but mine

That well-preserved ego made me blind

The expectations which I burdened you with

have kept me shackled till I got sick

Life is precious, No need to live at the term of others

My baby, fly high and soar,

Always listen to your inner core.
Universal Data Tool Weekly Update 3
By: Wafaa Arbash
Tags: Data Labeling, Machine Learning Ai, Data Science, Data Tools, Machine Learning

If you haven’t heard of the Universal Data Tool, it’s an open-source web or desktop program to collaborate, build and edit text, image, video, and audio datasets with labels and annotations. You can get started with the Universal Data Tool

This is our third community update! We’re hoping by releasing these we can better engage the community and encourage new contributors. Let’s get started…

To watch the full video click here

New Feature: Two different AWS authentication methods

Universal Data Tool now supports 2 methods of the authentication, you can either use Incognito mode or regular IAM mode.

To use the IAM mode, you just need to enter your Access Key ID, your Secret Access Key, and the region of your S3 bucket and you’re good to go.

The CORS proxy allows you to make requests of the things where the CORS origin security rules don’t allow you to use access to the resource. We introduced this week because it will allow us to use AWS S3 API. There are 2 new options to upload that’s IAM and S3.

New Feature: Fixes for Login with Cognito and import via S3 (Cognito)

We also have the fixes for Login With Cognito including the detection of the upload state, So when anyone logs in and refreshes the page, it remembers to keep logged in.

We also fixed import via S3 (Cognito), so it loads automatically from the bucket. Another fix is for the local directory import.

That’s it for our third community update, be sure to follow us on Twitter, or join our Slack to hear more!
Bitter fruits of a split in Islam
Tags: Saudi Arabia, Islam, Iran

At the center of the split is a question of religious authority and political legitimacy. Islam embraces a worldview that makes no formal distinction between politics and faith, and Muhammad exercised power over both spheres.

But the Prophet named no clear successor, leaving the community to grapple with two central questions still facing believers: Who is a good Muslim? And who gets to say?

Muslim pilgrims cast stones at a pillar, symbolizing the stoning of Satan, in a rite of the annual hajj near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Differing answers provided the framework for the development of the Sunni and the Shia. The same questions have attracted countless pretenders, would-be prophets and revolutionaries, including such disparate figures as Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden.

Little is known in any historical sense of Islam’s early years. But both Sunni and Shia have developed powerful traditions to explain their respective pasts, justify the present and express future hopes.

The same traditions have given birth to distinct cultural and ritual differences, although the central tenets of Islam are common to both communities.

“Rejecters” and “Usurpers”

To the Sunni, it is accepted that the first Caliphs (from khalifa, or successor) were chosen from among Muhammad’s companions, those who followed his example.

These figures testified to the Prophet’s deeds and sayings, which form the basis of much of Islamic law and practice. Refusal to recognize these leaders lies behind the Sunni charge, popular among today’s Salafis, that the Shia are “rejecters,” or heretics.

For the Shia, the acceptable succession follows the Prophet’s bloodline, from his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib and through the male descendants, considered defenders of truth and justice. For the Shia, the Sunni are “usurpers” who stole the Prophet’s mantle from its rightful heirs.

The most prominent Shia grouping today, the Twelver Shia concentrated in Iran, Iraq and parts of Lebanon and the Gulf, recognize the authority of Ali and his 11 descendants.

They believe Twelfth Imam went into hiding in 874 to escape the Sunni assassins who killed his predecessors, and his eventual return at an indeterminate future date — eagerly awaited by Shia everywhere — will bring in an age of peace and justice.

Other Shia groups, most prominently the Islamailis and the Zaydis, follow different lines of succession.

In all, there are around 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, with the Shia representing around 12 percent of that figure. As many as 80 percent of them are concentrated in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.
Summer 2019: Product Management Intern @ NYC Planning Labs [FILLED 5/5/2019]
By: Hannah Kates
Tags: Nyc Planning Labs, Agile, Jobs, Product Management, Urban Planning

Summer 2019: Product Management Intern @ NYC Planning Labs [FILLED 5/5/2019]

Join a modern tech team building the future of city planning

Application deadline: April 25, 2019 (Apply here)

We’re looking for a student or recent graduate with digital product experience who’s excited about bringing modern software development into city government. In this paid summer internship you’ll work with Planning Labs’ Product team, supporting our entire portfolio of apps.

About NYC Planning Labs

NYC Planning Labs is a division of the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) that embraces progressive civic tech values including open technology, agile development, and user-centered design to build impactful products with NYC’s Urban Planners.

We work with modern tools and languages. We embrace mature frameworks, with an eye towards maintainability and long-term stability. We’re on the forefront of web mapping, and we intend to make our mark in open-source data engineering. We’re building an emergent UI language and tackling unique design challenges like bringing city planning mapmaking into the digital world. And we’re just getting started.

What you’ll do

Help prioritize and track engineering and design tasks using GitHub and other agile project management tools

Conduct user research to inform critical design decisions and identify potential product improvements

Test products and new features to confirm usability and identify bugs

Contribute to product strategy and success metrics, including Key Performance Indicator (KPI) models, monthly analytics, roadmaps, etc.

Collaborate in the creation of product development and management documents, including roadmaps, project briefs, and user stories

Assist in the design process and creation of prototypes and other assets

Your work will help us develop product strategy and ensure that our team is working effectively. It will involve understanding a complex mix of user needs, helping prioritize bugs and enhancements, while balancing constraints of technical skillsets, deadlines, and other inputs that affect work prioritization. You will be working with engineers and designers in an agile/scrum framework, gaining experience with front-end development (HTML, CSS, Javascript, Git/Github, etc).

We’re looking for someone who is civic-minded, with outstanding communication and organizational skills. Familiarity with web development or similar creative project management is a plus.

Details

Program Duration: June 3rd - August 9th 2019

Hourly Rate: $17.50

Deadline to Apply: April 25th

Apply here. We look forward to hearing from you!
What to Do During a Dry Spell
By: Aude White
Tags: Comics, Writers Block, Dry Spell, Inspiration, Patience

Aude White is a publicist and graphic artist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Racked, The Hairpin, and more.

Follow
Hiatus
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Poetry, Writer, Artist, Self, Process

I seek distance only

to transmute into

the elastic band

of a catapult

to lunge my heart

harder at the canvas

to crack it open

and release

the colors confined

within my center.
My Mind Wanders
Tags: Covid 19, Airlines, Ramblings, Poetry, Resistance Poetry

My Mind Wanders

Ramblings from a plane

Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash

Floating through the bowels of this flying beast,

Faces covered,

Identity unknown,

Masked travelers on every row.

What social distancing?

Breast to breast,

Shoulder to shoulder,

Even the arm-rest is shared.

Set to leave

This place I called my temporary home.

A victim of a virus,

Grounded on foreign lands.

Finally let free,

To risk it all,

And explore the world.

A world strangled,

Ravaged by a raging illness.

It is my choice to leave this bubble,

My safeguard,

My oasis,

My island unknown,

Untouched and unbothered.

By this alien,

That’s taken so much,

And haltered our very lives.

Is my choice fatal?

Where do I go from here?

My health woes have been many.

With a weak immune system,

Doctors say I’m vulnerable.

Will this mask be my protector?

Would this alcohol on my palm,

Be the shield that’ll guard,

And shelter me from harm?

Or should I have stayed in my oasis,

My lonely little island,

Bereft of intruders,

Plunderers and saboteurs.

Questions for another time.

I must stop this scribbling.

There’s a lady in a dress,

Standing over my shoulders with a frown,

My phone seems to be the problem.

Goodbye for now.

Thoughts before take off.
The Moon is Still There
By: Edward Riley
Tags: Bad Decisions, Moon, The Junction, Comforting, Poetry

The Moon is Still There

Comforting those who seek it

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

I am winding down the night

The previous hours have been

Hard.

Holding your loved one

Feeling their heart and body

Break

The trust you demolished

Is so much more wide-spread

Congratulations

You have royally fucked up

Is the phrase that comes to

Mind

Turns out you’re more of a sneaky liar

Then we could have ever guessed

Wow

Just, wow, really

Breathtaking in scope and

Recklessness

But as I slide down in bed

My legs gliding around the cats

Sleeping

I see a light out the window

I glance up and see it

The Moon

Mystical in the aura it sheds

Framing two cats between legs on my

Bed

There is something comforting

About this scene that catches my

Breath

I needed some peace just now

Before I could sleep

Goodnight
Expectation Is The Trigger To The Time Bomb Called Disappointment
By: Adit Daftary
Tags: Expectations, Disappointment, Life, Learning, Birthday

One another real-life example I would like to give is this (Please bear with me) Very recently, IndusInd Bank came out with its Quarter results. It posted a Quarter-on-Quarter 77% slump in profit. Now with such huge losses, any layman would expect it’s stock price to dive down. It came as a surprise to many when it’s price rallied a staggering 19% upwards the very next day. Why did this happen? The market was expecting terrible losses with an estimate of more than a 90% slump in profits. The market was treated with something way better than their expectations and despite the losses being huge in an absolute term, expectations were what led to the upward rally. Much similar to this is our life!

Just like how the market prices in all the expectations, our feelings too, factor in all our expectations.

And when the reality is even a bit offset from our expectations it explodes into either disappointment or immense joy. When I woke up early in the morning on my birthday, I had received a sweet letter written to me by my mother. It was the first time in 20 odd years that she had shown a gesture such as this and it was more than enough to turn my day around. Now, had the same letter or message been written to me by one of my close friends, it wouldn’t even compete with what I felt on receiving it from my mother. Why? Because that is what anybody would expect from a close friend. I always like to use analogies and I feel,

Expectation is like lending a loan of happiness to someone, in a world where the counterparty default risk is very high

Similarly, many a time we go out of the way to help someone and expecting the same from them in the future just becomes our second nature. It’s as if we did help them just to get it back later on in life, and when it is not reciprocated well, we all know what happens.

We as humans generally tend to do what we do out of expectations; and when that happens, it becomes more of a result-driven process than a purpose-driven one.

I have had a fair share of disappointments in my life majorly because of high expectations and after a certain point, I started to identify the cyclical nature of it. When you face a problem repeatedly in life, you decide to chase it and destroy it once and forever. This is one key takeback for me:-

Your happiness is your responsibility

If it makes you happy, it doesn’t have to make sense to others

After my birthday, I realized that being able to enjoy one’s own company is very important in life. You needn’t always be dependent on your friends, family members, relationships, or colleagues to bring that factor in your life. Let that just be an addition to an already happy individual. Yes, I understand that it is far easier said than done, but, I have started going on more solo lunches post my birthday and it’s been fine! Imagine not having to cancel a plan just because your friends couldn’t make it. Trust me, that can happen!
Within A Feather
By: Lark Morrigan
Tags: Spirituality, Tanka, Life, Poetry, Birds

Within a feather,

I can see another light

that time never knew —

great mysteries transcend grief

and eternity remains.

I do not yet know

what the light is telling me

or where the feather

was a humble sojourner—

but I know the light’s still there.

The wisdom of birds

is mine to keep, for I see

a weightless spirit

within me — capturing a

lifetime of infinite flights.
Rdoc.info
By: Nick Plante
Tags: Github, Documentation, Ruby, Software Development, Open Source

For the past few months I’ve been trying to roll out a 1 or 2-day micro-app every month. Because, why not — it’s fun and refreshing. In February there was tweetdreams, March was Mogo madness (in use at offrails.org), and in April we spent a few days tossing this together.

The this that I refer to in the previous paragraph is Rdoc.info, a simple web service that generates documentation for Ruby libraries that are hosted on GitHub. You can add a new project and it’ll clone the repo from the hub of Git, use YARD to generate rdocs, and then host them for you. So you can read them. Online. Because it loves you.

If you’re the project owner, it’s even better; just add the following simple post-commit hook to your project’s settings in GitHub http://rdoc.info/projects/update and it’ll automatically regenerate documentation for you whenever you push to the remote. So yeah, unlike a random Twitter vanity application, it’s like, actually useful and stuff.

I’ve shown this to a few friends and they’ve had some good suggestions for how to make it more useful. Jeff, in particular, had some really great ideas that we’ve been looking into (more on that later, hopefully). Anyway, I’ve doc’d feature ideas in the project’s GitHub Issues list, and although we plan to get to them sooner or later, I wanted to release it first as-is, in the spirit of “release early, release often”. If you want to help out, the project has been open-sourced in the usual place.
《每周50在幣圈》005-在幣圈的路上誰是最牛逼的分析師？
Tags: Bitcoin, Eos, Ethereum, 中文, 區塊鏈

in In Fitness And In Health
A Brief Introduction to PEACH
By: Navin Ramachandran
Tags: Healthcare, Cancer, Augmented Reality, Health Technology, Conversational UI

A Platform for Enhanced Analytics and Computational Healthcare? Let me tell you a bit about it.

What exactly is PEACH?

PEACH is a unique collaboration between the Computer Sciences Department at University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals (UCLH), investigating the overlap of traditional healthcare, IT and data sciences. The founders are Dr. Dean Mohamedally from UCL and Dr. Navin Ramachandran from UCLH.

Our projects aim to tackle problems in different areas of Healthcare IT, ranging from information modelling systems, through realtime analytics, workflow management and user interfaces.

Why did we choose that name?

Well it makes for a good acronym, which is a fine start. The name is also wide-reaching in its scope, which matches our own ambitions.

What are we currently working on?

We will hopefully tell you a lot more about the projects in the coming weeks. But as an overview, we currently have 27 students and their overseeing teaching assistants, working on:

An open source medical data store, compliant with the openEHR specification.

A design guide and UI library based on modern frontend frameworks, optimised for healthcare data.

Reusable workflow components to support rapid prototyping of future applications.

A messaging platform for both healthcare workers and patients.

A chatbot to explore the use of conversational UI when engaging patients.

A cancer health record and patient pathway manager (a prototype combination of multiple sub-projects).

A clinical trials database.

A realtime cloud analytics platform based on a kappa stream/batch architecture.

A data anonymisation/generation tool.

An augmented/mixed reality platform for exploration of imaging and dashboard data.

Where to from here?

The current projects are all exploratory in nature. But we are getting some really interesting results, which we hope to share with you soon. We learn from our mistakes and build on our successes - iteration at its best!

If you want to join us on our journey, please get in touch!

Navin
Ignorance is Bliss (Sometimes)
By: Eraes Ellis
Tags: Grief, Death, Life, Self, Family

It was October 19, 1999.

Twenty years ago, now.

I’ll admit, I’ve been feeling manic since 2018 — the countdown to the twentieth anniversary has been eating me alive. Last year, I paid for a TruthFinder account, and I did something I would regret.

I looked up the woman who killed my father.

She hit him with her vehicle while he was riding his bicycle. She was under some drug influence at the time, and she wasn’t a stranger, either — they were dating. I don’t know much else, and I suppose I don’t care to.

I know that when I asked TruthFinder for answers, it gave them to me. Cities and names — families I could put together like tragic puzzle pieces, and sure enough, I had a clear picture by the end of a sad night.

There she was: the woman who changed my life by robbing my father of his.

She was a real person now. Not some monster in my head that I’d conjured up as a child and grown familiar with into adulthood. She was a normal lady you would see at a grocery store. Her hair was dyed, and her roots were coming through. She was sitting on a couch, and she looked like she had seen some stuff.

Part of me even felt bad for her because I could feel it in her posts. Public, of course. Of course, she wasn’t concerned enough to have them set to Private. Every one of them seemed to carry that weight, that guilt, of having taken a life and paid the time for it.

At least, that’s what I wanted to believe.

I was furious that she had this seemingly beautiful life. Her beautiful daughter was prettier than me and already had a child.
Coffee … ☕
By: Nupoor Raj
Tags: Coffee, Prose Poem, Coffee Culture, Poetry, Creative Writing

A poetic sip

Photo by Deborah Diem on Unsplash

Office stress?

college break?

staying awake late?

waking up not-so-great?

celebration…relaxation…

reading a book…watching it rain…

gossip or drama;

bunch or lone;

friend or bae;

cheers or tears!

The.one-stop.friend.

Thus said, let me take another divine sip…

☕️ ☕️ ☕️

©Nupoor. All rights reserved.