fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
This is the most widely used tool for Data Analysis!
By: Athul Anish
Tags: News, Sql, Technology, Data Analysis, Data Science

SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is mainly used for management of data in database. Almost every company on this planet stores data in the form of rows and columns or tables and these tables are stored in what is called a relational database management system (RDBMS).

SQL is used to create, insert, delete, update, organize, or in other words manage all the data's in the database. The aim of this article is to give you a quick and easy understanding of what SQL is and why it should be the first thing you need to learn in order to become an efficient data analyst.

So WHY is SQL the most widely used technology?

SQL is simple and easy to learn.

There are a wide range of options to choose from when it comes to working with Data. R, SAS, Python, Tableau, Excel, SQL, Microsoft BI, Xplenty etc just to name a few. Right from data manipulation to hypothesis testing to model building can be carried out using any of the present day applications.

Then why SQL?

It’s simply because, the queries are simple and straightforward. A complete beginner can start working with databases within 2 weeks of learning SQL that’s how easy it is. No prior coding experience is required for one to master SQL.

Fast, Efficient, Reliable.

Considering the fact that queries in SQL are as simple as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, large amount of data can be worked upon with minimal error and maximum efficiency.

It’s Flexible.

SQL work on anything. PC’s, laptops or any operating system. It doesn’t require a fixed operating system or high power. Its a small yet highly powerful tool.

It’s FREE!

Yes. SQL is an open source platform which means all you have to do is head to google and search for SQL, download, install and your playground is ready. MySQl, MariaDB, PostGres etc are some of the commonly used platforms. There are also large number of communities where you can discuss your queries and also read about how others are working with SQL.

Used by majority of the cooperation's.

Microsoft, Adobe, Capgemini, Amazon, Qualcomm, J.P Morgan, Accenture, Cognizant… Just to name a few.

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

If you are a beginner and if you’re wondering where to start your data analytics journey, then you have come to the right place because once you have mastered the art of SQL, there’s no stopping you. The opportunities are endless!
Solving Cross-Browsers Localization on Numeric Inputs
By: Daniel Liverant
Tags: Angular, Localization, HTML, Web Development, Browsers

1234.56 vs 1234,56

While working at Takeaway.com developing a multilingual, multi-currency, multi-whatever-you-want app we released our first version to be used in a local restaurant in the Netherlands.

A couple of days later our product-owner from the Netherlands contacted our product-manager in Israel and told him that he used the catalog feature on our app and couldn’t enter the comma (,) character in the price field.

Duh!

The decimal separator is a dot (.), not a comma, well, at least I thought so.

My journey to numbers-localization and cross-browsers support begins.
耐重150公斤的好先生烤箱鐵架，真的是好用又推薦！太強了！
By: Tony Zeng
Tags: 生活, 美食, 房屋, 設計, 室內設計

in In Fitness And In Health
Project Euler — Problem 46 Solution
By: Yan Cui
Tags: Project Euler Solutions, Programming, Functional Programming

Project Euler — Problem 46 Solution

Problem

It was proposed by Christian Goldbach that every odd composite number can be written as the sum of a prime and twice a square. 9 = 7 + 2x12 15 = 7 + 2x22 21 = 3 + 2x32 25 = 7 + 2x32 27 = 19 + 2x22 33 = 31 + 2x12 It turns out that the conjecture was false. What is the smallest odd composite that cannot be written as the sum of a prime and twice a square?

Solution

[code lang=”fsharp”]

let hasDivisor(n) =

let upperBound = int64(sqrt(double(n)))

[2L..upperBound] |> Seq.exists (fun x -> n % x = 0L)

// need to consider negative values

let isPrime(n) = if n <= 1L then false else not(hasDivisor(n))

// generate the sequence of odd composite numbers

let oddCompositeNumbers =

Seq.unfold (fun state -> Some(state, state+2L)) 9L

|> Seq.filter (fun n -> not(isPrime n))

// generate the sequence of prime numbers

let primeNumbers = Seq.unfold (fun state -> Some(state, state+2L)) 1L |> Seq.filter isPrime

// function to check if a number can be written as the sum of a prime and twice a square

let isSum(number) =

primeNumbers

|> Seq.takeWhile (fun n -> n < number)

|> Seq.exists (fun n -> sqrt(double((number-n)/2L)) % 1.0 = 0.0)

let answer = oddCompositeNumbers |> Seq.filter (fun n -> not(isSum(n))) |> Seq.head

[/code]

All pretty straight forward here, the only slightly confusing part of this solution is how to determine if a number can be written as the sum of a prime and twice a square:

Odd Composite Number = Prime + 2 x n2 => n = sqrt((Odd Composite Number — Prime) / 2)

As you know Math.Sqrt works with a double and returns a double, hence to find out if n above is a whole number I had to check whether it divides by 1 evenly
Process Mining, Data Science & Process Science
By: Roy Klaasse Bos
Tags: Process Mining, Ethics, Academia, Education, Data Science

Educating the Eindhoven Engineer

One of Dirk’s main reasons to settle down in Eindhoven was the TU/e its education set-up that involves regular hands-on work. “I’m really a person who doesn’t want to do things just for the drawer or the books but make it work in practice. That doesn’t mean doing things for myself but also teaching other people to be good data scientists for that matter.” Although this idea is now very appealing to him, he admits he had to get used to it at first: “Here students really like seeing why it matters right from the start. This challenges you as a teacher quite a lot. Even for fundamental things you suddenly have to think: What’s the use of it? How can I motivate students to see applications?”

So how does he do that in practice? “I would rather spend 45 minutes discussing concepts and ideas than presenting definitions. This requires me to bring students to a level where they can actually have a substantive discussion with me. What works well, is asking students to prepare a video lecture, quiz or exercise at home. Then, in class I give them a mini-assignment that is actually too difficult for them. This may be a bit mean to students, but it forces them to start thinking about the problem and eventually get the hang of it.”

As a university that has been experimenting with video lectures and clickers since the very first hour, what’s his vision on the role of technology in modern day education system? “Technology alone won’t do it; I really need to know the subject so well that I know what I can give to students as preparation. As every teacher will tell you: you need a couple of years to get this right. The big challenge is to make it interesting enough for students to invest their time upfront.”
Latest picks: In case you missed them:
By: Tds Editors
Tags: The Daily Pick, Data Science, Machine Learning

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QuarkChain Participated in The 2020 International Blockchain Academic Conference Hosted by BUPT
Tags: Blockchain, Quarkchain, Blockchain Technology, Blockchain Development, Conference

QuarkChain Participated in The 2020 International Blockchain Academic Conference Hosted by BUPT QuarkChain Follow Oct 20 · 2 min read

The 2020 International Blockchain Academic Conference, hosted by BUPT(Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications), was held from October 10 to October 11, 2020. This conference aims to provide in-depth communications and discussions on blockchain technology fields such as blockchain applications and services, blockchain scalabilities, blockchain securities and crypto algorithms. Dr. Qi Zhou, the founder and CEO of QuarkChain, was invited to participate in the conference remotely and gave a live broadcast on the topic of “High-performance Blockchain Infrastructure Database Optimization”.

At his presentation, Dr. Zhou shared an in-depth and detailed introduction on the blockchain infrastructure database optimization: One hot topic in the blockchain area is to improve the single-chain performance in terms of transactions per second (TPS). Most of the ongoing projects are focusing on improving the consensus so that the network can reach a consensus or finalize a block in a couple of seconds. Some of the projects claim that, under their test environments, their networks can reach thousands of TPS.

However, most of these tests use a small state, i.e., a small number of accounts in the blockchain database, while the most popular blockchain such as Ethereum has more than 100M accounts nowadays. The more the accounts are in the database, the lower the performance of the network can be. Dr. Zhou use the production data from Ethereum and perform a test to show that, even without the cost of consensus, with 100M accounts, it is almost impossible to achieve 1000 TPS stably using a traditional ledger model such as Patrica Merkle Tree.

To address the performance bottleneck of the database, Dr. Zhou leads the QuarkChain Tech Team and proposes a FastDB ledger model. Using Ethereum production data, Dr. Zhou demonstrates that, without the cost of consensus, FastDB is able to achieve more than 10000+ TPS without sacrificing security. The QuarkChain mainnet is the platform for theoretical verification and landing of these technologies.

The 2020 International Blockchain Academic Conference is a series of academic conferences celebrating the 65th anniversary of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The conference attracted Chinese and foreign researchers and participants in the blockchain field to attend, including JD, Hyperledger, Huobi, Baidu, and other corporations and academics. QuarkChain got the opportunity to show the infrastructure design to well-known digital information scientists and blockchain experts, and gained more recognition from researchers and experts.
How A Pandemic Forced The World To Slow Down
By: Sarah Seweryniak
Tags: Covid 19, Life Lessons, Time, Family, Hope

How A Pandemic Forced The World To Slow Down

Ways our family are growing together during the COVID-19 crisis

I’ve been working from home for a full week since COVID-19 forced the world to stand still (or stay home).

I felt the stress of making sure our family was taken care of with basic essentials like food and toilet paper. I worried about managing my work responsibilities and juggling parenting with my husband.

As the days moved on and glitches worked out we have settled into our new normal. A world that moved very fast has started slowing down. Proof that even in bad there is good.

Here’s how a pandemic helped our family slow down and reconnect.

Time Is On Our Side

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

My commute to work is 25 minutes. That’s 50 minutes a day. That’s a little over 4 hours a week. For those 25 minutes in the morning I am able to commit more time to myself. I can do a workout or spend more time with my daughter. Without worrying about a commute home I’m able to prepare family dinners (and desserts).

Speaking of family dinners, everyone is under the same roof. Even if my husband is still working, he can take some time away for everyone to enjoy a meal together.

The evening is my favorite. My husband and I go outside and play with our daughter. We do activities like hop-scotch, riding bicycles, wagon rides and playing on the swing set. We enjoy going for walks in our neighborhood and getting out.

We’ve used this time to cut technology, but we will use a cell phone to take photographs.

Getting fresh air and hearing the sweet sound of a child’s laugh is the greatest stress relief.

The Big Picture

When you’re a mother who works full-time it’s hard being away from your little ones. I swear there are days she looks like she has aged years between the time I have left for work and by the time I get home.

It’s heartbreaking to see the world suffer and live in fear, but this time has been a gift.

I love being home and being able to take a quick glimpse away from my computer to watch her play. I love watching her curiosity and joy. I’ve loved having her come up to me asking what I’m doing and actually seem interested.

Children bring a lot of humor to the world. There’s nothing like a sweet toddler voice yelling, “Bye!” repeatedly on the phone when I’m on a conference call.

The pandemic storm will pass, the big picture I’ve learned is to remember to slow down. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s moments like these that make me realize we have to stop and smell the roses sometimes.

While the present is a stressful time. These will be the days we’ll remember and cherish. These young children will remember this as the time they got to be with their family. When the world stood still and we got to reconnect.
Debts We Owe
By: Mahesh Cr
Tags: Poetry Writing, Sri Aurobindo, Yoga, Poetry On Medium, Poetry

Such paltry tokens we strenuously earn

By our ignorant labour in mortal hours

To purchase passage through roads known

To offer obeisance with hearts of ours.

Yet how all Thou approachest us each

Stooping like the Sun with a million rays

Consenting to illumine and patiently teach

To eschew the roads of our vagrant ways.

Such debts we owe Thee O Diviner,

So one sided our book of accounts

That all world offered as a flower

Outweighs not labour of Thy moments.

Pray tell what hidden fortune forgotten

Did we to Thee bequeath, what old toil

Over many lives this Thy grace begotten

To us upon this sordid, forlorn soil?

By a pinhole mind on Thee we gaze

Already too awed in stupefied wonder,

How can we hope to ever recompense

Even an instance of Thy saving gesture?

Teach us as Thou didst to the sages old

The meticulous askesis grand and subtle,

To venture a sacrifice transcendentally bold

For combusting here Thy flaming miracle.

Equip us ever for exertions large

That we may bear Thy distant hue,

Lead us beyond mortality’s marge

To dwell ever immortally beside you.

PS: Offered at the feet of our beloved Master, on this day of 5th December. To Him, Lord and Author of all we are and all we shall be, our obeisance.
Deep into the Code Bootcamp Experience
By: Adam Weiler
Tags: Web Development, Coding, Technology, Codingbootcamp, Programming

1 We’re in week 9 of 12 and I feel like I’ve learned a lot. The time is really going by quickly; it’s hard to believe it’s almost over.

I tried my best to prepare myself beforehand, but I don’t think I realised how fast the pace would be. Every weekday we have at least 2 to 3 assignments due, so that’s over 100 assignments by now. (Some are short, some take a lot longer.)

I’m in a class of 10 students, and it’s a very positive environment. Everyone is here because they want to be here, to learn and improve. A few classmates are brand-new to coding, and a few have a lot of experience with coding and advanced concepts. It’s easy to ask each other for help, it’s really nice.
Painting Women’s Desire on Screen
By: Marie Eberle
Tags: LGBTQ, Movies, Cinema, Women Directors, Film

Brittany, France 1760. Young painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), who has just left a convent. She is to be wed to an Italian nobleman in place of her sister, who, as it becomes clear in the first act of the movie, has taken her own life. Héloïse strongly rejects the marriage, so Marianne must masquerade as her companion by day and paint her in secret by night. The plan goes sideways when desire between the two women blooms into love.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is Céline Sciamma’s latest feature, the winner of both the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay at Cannes 2019, and unequivocally one of the best films of the year (if not the best).

I was lucky enough to be able to garner a seat for it at a recent film festival, and I’ve been shouting from the rooftops about it ever since. Frankly, it’s a crime that France didn’t put it forward for the Oscars.

But why is this film specifically so good? Let’s dissect the anatomy of this screenplay and see what it can teach us about the female gaze and desire.
Pain and Glory
By: Shringi Kumari
Tags: Addiction, Prose, Movie Review, Poetry, Almodóvar

My lower spine tingled through the entire movie

My neck went stiff and arms limp

The guilt of a child and expectations of a mother

took the shape of one giant teardrop, stuck in my throat

at an awkward angle

Almodóvar’s poetry and Antonio Banderas’ sublime dance

rose and settled like tides under my skin — about to explode

in tiny particles

The writer in me relaxed, she realised, not every story needs to be told

The writer in me wrote soft notes on my mind-wall, for a time, not now

The first stroke of sexuality, the etch of a storyteller, one beautiful coincidence after another, sunk chest deep in water

Songs of actual mothers by a running stream, their desires and half-willed yet joyful acceptance of life — made me instinctively aware of all the life moving fast and slow outside the many theatres we sit in, live in

A child in his simple existence — bolder, smarter, from a world not of his mother’s, in a world mostly hers. Books were trees and flowers accessories in paintings. He bloomed alright, only to start wilting before time — settled as a half dry rose hanging by a branch not falling any time soon.

Addiction — not a monster, neither a seductress

Addiction — not a crutch, neither an exodus

Addiction — just a partner, ending its journey before we do
How to Finish 2020 Thriving Not Just Surviving
By: Tori Nauer
Tags: Life Lessons, Inspiration, Self Improvement, Mindset, Mindfulness

On New Year’s Eve 2019, I, like billions of others around the world, set myself a new year’s resolution. 2020 was to be the year of the career. I, like everyone else, had no idea what was about to happen.

Despite the setbacks, the lockdowns, the cancellation of oh so many travel plans, I have (actually) achieved many of my goals. I am proud of what I have accomplished in this year so far. And in five years, I hope to look back on 2020 and think, oh yeah, that was the year I launched my career, that was the year I gave everything I had and built the foundation for where I am now. Rather than, oh yeah, that was a waste of my time.

And in five years, I hope to look back on 2020 and think, oh yeah, that was the year I launched my career, that was the year I gave everything I had and built the foundation for where I am now.

So, I invite you too to take a moment to reflect on your year so far. What were your goals for 2020 back on January 1? What have you achieved? How have you stepped out of your comfort zone and what are the biggest lessons you’ve learnt? What are you proud of?

Research by the Havard Business School found that employees in call centres performed 23% better than other colleagues, after a period of 10 days, when asked to spend 15 minutes at the end of each day reflecting on their performance and any lessons learnt.

How can we learn from our mistakes if we ignore them? How can we finesse our success, if we don’t take a moment to see how far we’ve come? How can we make tomorrow even better than yesterday? 2020 I’m looking at you.
ILLUMINATION-Curated
By: Dr. Deborah M. Vereen
Tags: Virtual Learning, Schools, Parenting, Online School, Education

Many parents are filled with varied emotions about the quality of their child’s virtual education during this unsettling time.

Some parents are skeptical about their children’s online learning. Others feel as though their children are being deprived of the the vast experiences in-person schools provide. There are also parents who believe that remote learning gives their children a watered-down education. Sadly, many of these parents complain about their child’s school.

Among those parents who grumble are some who do not support the learning of their children at home. They do not hold their children accountable for attending online lessons or completing work. This is causing their children to get behind in their lessons.

I wrote about this in the following articles.
Commandos hunt down drug runners in the Caribbean
By: Ministry Of Defence
Tags: Drugs, United States, News, Military, UK

The large support vessel used the cover of rain and darkness to stay out of sight and avoid raising suspicion, meanwhile, her boarding team of Royal Marines of 47 Commando and the US Coast Guard prepared to strike.

On approaching the target craft, the Royal Marines were spotted and the suspect vessel’s crew started to throw their illegal cargo overboard, at this point the boarding team turned on the blue lights and went loud.

“Some patches of heavy rain had hidden Argus from sight in the distance and we were closing in unseen. When we were one mile off they saw us and started to run for it. We gave chase.” — Boat Group Commander from 47 Commando’s 539 Raiding Squadron

The crew of the intercepted vessel were brought back to RFA Argus along with their seized cargo before being transferred to US Coast Guard cutter Spencer.

“We could see people on board throwing packages into the sea. This is important evidence, so we had to stop and collect one. The rest were picked up later. We then continued the chase and managed to catch the vessel.” — Boat Group Commander from 47 Commando’s 539 Raiding Squadron

The small vessel would no longer be transiting any goods anywhere as soldiers from 24 Commando Royal Engineers later sunk it.

24 Commando Royal Engineers sunk the drugs runners vessel.

A few days later, offshore patrol ship HMS Medway acted on reports of a suspicious go-fast, diverting course and launching sea boats piloted by Royal Navy sailors with a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment aboard.

A go-fast boat is small and fast designed with a long narrow platform, which is the preferred boat for drugs smugglers.

The boarding team getting ready to depart.

16 bales of cocaine and three detainees were captured in this boarding, which saw Medway catch up with the suspect craft from 45 miles out.

Only a day later more information was fed to Medway and she gave chase to another craft, landing a further nine bales and three more detainees. The detainees and the seized drugs have now been handed over to US authorities allowing Medway to resume patrols of the region.
Can AI Make You a Better Athlete?
By: Tds Editors
Tags: The Daily Pick

By Dale Markowitz — 11 min read

Ah, sportsball. Can you ever forget the first time you grab that pass, fly down the court, and sink that puck right through the net as your fans yell adoringly from the bleachers, TOUCHDOWN!

No? Not ringing a bell? Me neither. That’s what you get when you spend your high school years learning calculus and icing pi on cookie cakes instead of doing sports.
Caturday
By: Louise Peacock
Tags: Cats, Caturday, Cute, Pets, Photography

Caturday

Taffy Toes and Gandalf Tail

Our cats, Taffy and Gandalf, love to take afternoon naps with us. After we get up, they stay in place on the bed where they remain until suppertime.

Recently, this is all one could see of them. A few fuzzy toes, and one glossy tail.
Tukey’s forgotten techniques
By: Tds Editors
Tags: The Daily Pick

Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

One of John Tukey’s landmark papers, “The Future of Data Analysis”, contains a set of analytical techniques that have gone largely unnoticed, as if they’re hiding in plain sight.

By Ron Sielinski — 16 min read
A/B testing in a nutshell
By: Tds Editors
Tags: The Daily Pick

Our daily picks will be back on Monday! If you want to receive our weekly digest on Fridays, it’s easy! Follow our publication and then go to your settings and turn on “receive letters.” You can learn more about how to get the most out of Towards Data Science here.
RSS feed for for twitter
By: Pito Salas
Tags: Geeky, Blogbridge, RSS, Subscribe, Feed

A simple question that for some reason does not have a simple answer:

“I want to follow someone’s twitter feed using an RSS reader, where is it?”

Well it seems that for some reason Twitter has quite hidden it but as a public service I will share the results of my research with you.

You will find it at:

So, for my twitter feed it is:

Of course, users of BlogBridge have a much easier time and have many more options. With BlogBridge you can subscribe to a person, to a list, or even to a general Twitter query, like “Object Oriented Marketing”.

Watch this brief video to see how you would do it in BlogBridge:
Mud
By: Not Another Tv Dad
Tags: Poetry

By CL Bledsoe

It’ll suck you in if you slow

down. Each step, a throaty

release of rubber coming free

of deep mud. A line of men pulling

a net across the darkness

to gather catfish, buffalo fish,

dumpgulls circling overhead.

All of them working on

hangovers from the night before.

This is how bodies are broken,

not with a crack but a slow push.

I was afraid if I stepped in,

I’d never get free.
The P/E Ratio Captures More Information Than Many Think
By: Asger Bruhn
Tags: Finance, Investing, Economics, Venture Capital, Stock Market

A Quick Glance at The Price to Earnings Ratio

The key takeaway regarding the P/E ratio: Starting from it paves the road for a structured analysis based on revealed assumptions instead of implicit ones.

Looking at simple multiples risks omit important information of a company, but it facilitates further analysis and can uncover puzzles that allow the analyst to understand fundamental aspects to a company’s outlook.

All assessments [of a company] boil down to one thing: Whether the company will generate profits, now and in the future

When valuing a business, one must consider many things. Whether a business will thrive depend on a myriad of factors.

Amongst them the strength of management, the capital structure, expectations toward changes in market share, and whether the company has or is building a moat (advantages that allow companies to protect market share and stay profitable enabling some degree of pricing power).

But all assessments boil down to one thing: Whether the company will generate profits, now and in the future.

The P/E ratio expresses the share price relative to the earnings per share (EPS). Thus, it gives the investor a vague indication of whether the cost of ownership is compensated by the value of owning a part of the given company.

But this value depends not only on current earnings but also on the present value of expected future earnings. The P/E ratio doesn’t measure that.

A common intuitive explanation for the P/E ratio goes along the line of “The ratio tells how many years of earnings it would take to equal the stock price.” Yet, that explanation leans on a crucial assumption — that earnings are perpetual.

The P/E ratio can be thought of as a static glimpse of a dynamic variable. Earnings are rarely constant over time.

If a business is growing, its future earnings will imply a larger denominator, meaning the P/E in the future — given the share price don’t move — will be lower. Thus, high expected earnings growth all else equal justifies a high P/E ratio.
Sweet Dream
By: Jj West
Tags: Poetry, Haiku, LGBTQ, Relationships, Love

Love reading haiku? Here, read a few:

Or try this:

Want to be the first to pick up what I’m putting down? Click this link to slip inside my inner circle for updates on new articles, stories, poetry, and anything else I’ve got goin’ on.
Epochenwechsel
By: Mike Essig
Tags: Politics, Resistance Poetry, Poetry, Culture, Nostalgia

Wasn’t that a time!

Too much longing for the old world.

The past as paradise. Lost golden ages.

When no strangers walked among us.

A time when we were all ourselves.

When the Other was safely somewhere else.

When women were happy as helpmates.

When every prize was assumed our right.

The broken mirror now reflects fragments.

Black. White. Red. Blue. Left. Right.

Imaginary ideals shattered into shards.

Deplorable snowflakes surround us now.

Uncomfortable immigration of the unknown.

We demand to feel again at home,

comfortable in a world we own.

Apparently, still not too late

to lapse back into lulling hate.
How to Give a Good Eulogy
By: Mary Devries
Tags: Public Speaking, Funerals, Death, How To, Life

How to Give a Good Eulogy

Pulling yourself together to speak meaningfully at a funeral is challenging but worth it.

Photo by Rhodi Lopez on Unsplash

I’ve given a eulogy at a funeral twice in my life. First for my father and then eight years later for my brother. Pulling my thoughts and emotions together to speak clearly while deeply grieving was challenging but also healing.

A good eulogy helps the audience grieve together.

It celebrates the life of the deceased.

It’s a weighty responsibility.

Here’s what worked for me.

Reflect on the life of the person. Think back on your experiences together as well as stories you have heard. Ideally your eulogy will have the audience nodding their heads saying, “yes, that sounds like the person I know” or “wow, I’ve never heard that story or thought of her that way before but that really makes sense.” Think about what aspect of the person you want to convey. Choose not just your favorite stories but the stories that best illustrate this characteristic. Save those other stories for less formal times such as a luncheon after the funeral, gatherings with friends, the wake. Be brief. Ask whoever is in charge of the funeral how long they expect you to speak and stick to it. Consider your audience. Now is not the time for revelations that will wound close family members. It is also not the time to indulge only in inside jokes or references that most of the audience won’t understand. Write it down. Even if you normally speak off the cuff it is a good idea to at the very least speak from prepared notes. This is especially helpful to keep you from breaking down while delivering it. This also allows you to hand it off to someone else to read if you find in the moment that you aren’t able to carry on. It’s okay to break down. It’s okay to stop in the middle and hand it off to someone else to read or just end abruptly. It’s okay to say you just can’t do it even if you had said earlier that you would.

A eulogy that has always stuck in my mind was given by my cousin at my grandfather’s funeral. He talked about how he hadn’t really spent a lot of time with our grandpa because he lived so far away but felt like he knew him well because of the way he raised his son, my cousin’s father. He concluded with the wish that he could be half the father to his own children as our grandpa was to his dad.

That’s what the best eulogies do. They let us think about the characteristics of the person that we most want to remember, celebrate, and emulate.

Here, as one humble example, is a bit of the eulogy I gave for my brother at his funeral.
That Moment When You Realize You’re Stuck Being You for the Rest of Your Life
By: Stephanie Georgopulos
Tags: Identity, Self

I was sitting across from this blonde girl on the subway. Her haircut was all split ends and sharp and she held a viola case at her side and it occurred to me, for the first time, that I was stuck being myself for the rest of my life.

Like, it just hit me that I would never be this blonde girl on the train toting an instrument. People I will also never be: someone who can pull off dark lipstick; someone whose bangs make sense; someone who can remember what she read in a book just a week ago; someone who wears nightgowns to bed and wakes up early to cook scrambled eggs; someone who sits at a desk and handwrites thank you notes, fondly stroking her own penmanship in a moment of self-reflection and gratitude; someone who handwrites, period.

I have a sister who’s sixteen years my senior, which made her sort of unreal to me. Growing up, I would observe her life and make up stories about what my own would look like eventually. I pictured myself dating a tall, be-sweatered and brown-haired man who wore glasses and read books. We would live in the Columbia University dorms that I thought were regular apartments back then, and we would listen to records and burn incense and hang tapestries and own cats. I had seen my sister do these things—or maybe it was a character from A Different World—and I felt entitled to them. My 2D version of my sister would someday become my reality.

Thing was, I didn’t realize that indulging in those fantasies at age four, ten, fifteen was just one more thing I (the real person, me) was doing — like brushing my teeth, going to work. Fantasizing about the fake me wasn’t just a hobby the real me enjoyed, it was like I was unknowingly practicing “The Secret.” I’d always thought there would be some event, a Big Change, that would turn me into the person I imagined myself as. The person I was supposed to be. If I just focused enough, I would be “reborn” as the correct person.

Like, one day I’d magically stop stumbling over my words because that thing in my brain that tells me I need to get it all out at once would disappear. Or one day, all the things that made me who I am would be muted, all my past experiences made irrelevant, and I could get to the real business of knitting blankets or baking cookies or whatever the fantasy adult me enjoys doing. One day, I would wake up as a bad-haircut blonde on the train who plays the viola.

But these things are superficial; they couldn’t possibly fill up an existence. Hobbies and perspective and mindfulness are all just trimmings on the core of who I really am, and adding or deleting those things will still leave a whole lot of “me” behind. So I stared at this blonde thinking, “Fuck, I’m trapped being me for the rest of my life.” And later, I told myself, “Well. So is she.”

I wanted a 2D life because it’s easy. It’s a simpler way to exist. You can project whatever you want onto the baker or the musician. There’s no sadness for the woman who knits.
Time Series generation with VAE LSTM
By: Marco Cerliani
Tags: Data Science, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Variational Autoencoder, Editors Pick

The usage of deep learning models for instance generation is becoming popular over time. These kinds of models are known as generative algorithms and are used in various fields to generate new and unseen samples after studying a population of reference. The most famous adoption of these techniques is well documented in the computer vision domain, where various applications can generate images that don’t exist before.

The utility of the generative models is variegated and domain related. They can be useful to create new instances in a fast way where the manual creation of the same is more expensive or also not possible. They can simulate uncover situations that till that moment are not documented or missed. They can be used to generate different copies that vary from the original one of a certain degree of noise to have enough samples that replicate rare events.

In this post, we present an application of VAE in a time series task. More precisely, we try to use a Variational AutoEncoder structure to fill some time series sequences that can be characterized by the presence of missing data in a real scenario. In the second stage, we also inspect the results produced by our trained VAE to investigate the possibility to produce augmented time-series samples.

THE DATA

For our experiment, we choose the Metro Interstate Traffic Volume Dataset. It reports the hourly interstate traffic volume for a particular metro station roughly located midway between Minneapolis and St Paul. This dataset is also rich with additional useful information such as hourly weather features and holidays that may have an impact on traffic volume. Most of these additional attributes are available in the categorical format.

Data sample of metro traffic (image by the author)

Since the full history of traffic at our disposal is considerable but with some missing intervals, we decide to focus on the last 3 years of data. This is because the mentioned period seems to be consistent enough due to the rare presence of missing pieces that, in case, can be filled with simple interpolations to have a complete and valuable data source to develop our approach.

Missing value overview in the dataset (image by the author)

As clearly visible and intuitable, the data show different levels of seasonality. Starting from the monthly aggregation, we can see a reduction in traffic level when people tend to go on holiday (Christmas/summer period). Weekly and hourly patterns are the results of human behaviors from the normal usage of the public transport system. Other analysis showed that in the presence of extreme events (such as snowstorms) the traffic can drastically change. This information is present as an additional categorical source.
Waxing Crescent
By: Jacqueline Dooley
Tags: Creative Writing, Poetry, Poems On Medium, Grief, Nature

this same spot

where the old table was

where we sat, peering up

hoping to see it

counting stars

wondering at the thick, painted sky

black as soot

black as sleep

black as a cold hearth

its embers, long dead

but this night

this cold, clear, cloudless night

yields no moon

I doubt it exists

though I saw it glimmer, a wink

between a clutch of leaves

(their story almost over)

I search the sky

as if each star is a gift owed to me

a found treasure, plucked

from the dark canopy of space

to wear at my throat
Hello, New Normal
By: Avalina Robin Harvey
Tags: Avalina Robin Harvey, Spirituality, Editors Pick, Poetry, Covid 19

We can take or break a stand,

we’ve got the whole world in our hands

the wonders and the wishes,

the risk of those who may be lost.

Let’s not pay that cost,

don’t bid time turn back.

Fight walls of words or worship,

find our way back.

For no matter, God or no God,

we are all under attack,

and the clock will tick, the numbers rise,

until we answer the “will-we-won’t-we” and sympathize.

The new normal’s here, it’s called us out,

its gauntlet down,

its white flag waving, too,

so we can see what truth can do.

Because with us or without us, the new normal’s all about us,

let there be no hesitation.

Let it in each weary nation,

let it in

for free,

give it room

to see,

how understanding and healing can bloom.
Labouring in Lighthearted Luxury
By: Randy Siu
Tags: Agency, Vancouver, Work Life Balance, Office, Consulting

I snapped this photo at a brainstorm meeting last year. A group of us were sitting around the big table. Instructions were being presented. People were scribbling down their thoughts. Good hydration was being practiced. And everyone was very focused on the task at hand.

Seems pretty mundane, right?

But, despite the fact that my stupid thumb is covering part of the lens, I actually love this photo. I think it’s perfect. Because it exemplifies what makes Modern Craft different and—dare I say it—special.

Let me explain.

The goal of this session was to come up with a new name for a client organization. This client had hired us to help with their brand strategy. Along the way, they’d decided it was time for a new name. They’d started this process on their own. But, as any start-up founder can tell you, finding a name that represents you perfectly AND isn’t already taken can be a real challenge. So even though this isn’t our core competency and even though this deliverable was nowhere to be seen in the Project Plan or the Statement of Work—we offered to pitch in. Gratis.

We organized a brainstorm over lunch. We invited all of the full-time staff (plus a freelancer—hi Annabelle!), fed everyone sushi and got down to work. It was an optional “meeting”. No pressure to give up your lunch hour. But people came. Actually, everyone came. Despite the fact that it was a glorious sunny day and this wasn’t their client or their project, everybody wanted to help.

Moments like this—where our true character really shines through—happen every day at Modern Craft. They rarely get photographed, but they’re incredibly important. In fact, we wouldn’t be here without them.

So how did we make this happen? How did we create an environment where people:

—Care about doing the right thing?

—Are willing to give more to solve the problem?

—Choose to be supportive instead of competitive?

Getting our values and culture right has created the foundation that allows moments like this to happen.

And, like anything worthwhile, it turns out getting values and culture right isn’t easy. We’ve been well-intentioned from Day 1. But intentions only get you so far. It took a lot of time and effort to define these things clearly—and turn those definitions into everyday reality.

Looking back, the story of our journey from good intentions to something deeper and more meaningful unfolded over four distinct acts:
If I Was to Give You the Best Blowjob
By: Ena Dahl
Tags: Short Story, Oral Sex, Sex, Sex Tips, Blowjob

If I Was to Give You the Best Blowjob

I’d do a little sumpin’ like this…

Valerie Elash via Unsplash

—Blowjobs are like pizza. Even when it’s bad, it’s still good.

I’ve run into this saying a few times lately, and it’s made me think. I don’t know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a blowjob, but I do know what it’s like to eat sub-par pizza.

When I was younger, I gladly ate any random pizza. I was often tipsy when eating it anyway; hungry after a night out at some bar, I picked up whatever I could find on the way home.

These days, mediocre pizza doesn’t appeal to me. I mean, it is ok, but I’d rather have pizza less often, and save myself (aka the calories) for when I can indulge in the very best of the best; proper, stone-oven baked, Neopolitan pizza.
What Light And Darkness Reveal
By: John O'Neill
Tags: Nature, Spirituality, Darkness And Light, Poem, Poetry

Light and darkness are twins

You must take that as a matter of faith

For you will rarely be able to see them together

Darkness and light also appear under different guises

Further confusing attempts at being easily defined

Natural light in the daytime uncovers

Flaws obscured when there is

Only moonlight to rely upon

With its romanticized pretensions

And promises revealed

As illusory upon awakening on the morrow

Darkness can be threatening when,

Imagination running wild,

You walk unfamiliar streets,

With only artificial brightness as a guide

Yet evening time can bring comfort

As night touches your body and your mind

Making you feel more alive,

In tune with nature,

As you lay in the grass

Watching the sky become vibrant

With stars finding their way

Through the fog of life

Directly to, and especially for, you alone

There is the light that comes from within

Its sight allowing one to view others

As surprisingly like yourself,

Unique in external appearance

But touched by the same divine light

That marks you as part of one universal family

There is a darkness that bursts forth with an energy

And fire of its own design

That helps you

To see the kindred spirit

In each and every person you meet

And knowing that you all share

The same fears, desires, and hopes

Light and darkness

Should never be mistaken for

Being synonymous with good and evil

Their bond is far deeper

And more complementary

They nurture one another

Tell each other necessary truths

Set a star in the heavens

For you to follow all your days

Light and Darkness together

Give voice to this message:

“Be faithful all your days

To your search

For your Mistress, Truth

She alone will satisfy your hunger

And give meaning to your journey”
Crypto Airdrops 12 Oct 2020
By: Atnet, Airdrops, Trading
Tags: Sign Up, Bybit, Airdrop, Airdrops Alert

Crypto Airdrops 12 Oct 2020

One new signup bonus ✌️

Via ATNET Airdrops.

ByBit Signup Bonus 10 USD + MORE! (no KYC)

Until Oct 31, 2020

ByBit is a trading platform that offers perpetual swaps of large cap cryptos without KYC (Be mindful of risks and legal implications).

In October 2020, you get 10 USD worth of BTC sign up bonus — you need to sign up and deposit at least 0.02 BTC.

There are more bonuses waiting in the Rewards Hub after you sign up.

🚀 sign up

Staking without KYC on WhiteBit

New!

WhiteBit opened 17 different staking plans with 9 different currencies to choose from. 40% APR, available to the users without KYC. (Be mindful of risks)

🚀 sign up

Also read:
‘Axis’ for October 28, 2020
By: Thomas Whitfield
Tags: Grammar, Women, Comics, Axis, Men

Artist, rockstar, recovering designer, and general all-around do-gooder; that’s me. Please add to this that I am intrepid, dogmatic, and fastidious.

Follow
PR Opportunities for Freelancers and Small Businesses
By: Kahli Bree Adams
Tags: Freelancing, Translation, Public Relations, Small Business, Pr

Translation Times

Focus on translation and language — for translators and translation buyers
Your Only Purpose
By: Robert Merrill
Tags: Growth, Book, Abundance

Left to itself, a grape plant will always favor new growth over more grapes.

That’s why the vinedresser cuts away unnecessary shoots, no matter how vigorous…

Because a vineyard’s only purpose is… Grapes.

[Secrets of the Vine, p. 59]
Rue No More
By: Mahesh Cr
Tags: Sri Aurobindo, Yoga, Poetry, Poetry Writing, Poetry On Medium

The fanfares have faded, only echoes

In lesser lips the memory of that savour,

By reminiscence reliving the hour forever

For memory’s fruit is sweeter than reality’s.

All sheen of hues have aged to a dulness;

Colours, like youth clinging to ideal’s edifice,

Did eagerly daub the high wall face

And amplified wonder of heroic poises.

The veneer peels like dry skin

Of old limbs that tires of youth,

Forlorn words utters the mouth

Wearied of the ways too human.

Each breath like a poignant lute

Sings on ode to melancholy,

For departs vestiges of humanity

To the dawning of soul’’s light.

‘Rue no more, rue no more’, said the Spirit,

‘In death of thy mortality I am solely complicit.’
Attract, Don’t Chase
By: Jesse J Rogers
Tags: Real Estate, Book Summary, Ron Howard, Small Business, Realty

A Humble Start

Ron runs a top team that brings in millions of dollars in commissions every year, but as you might imagine he didn’t start at the top.

In the beginning, he partied too much, and his carefree attitude prevented prospects from seeing him as the right person for them to do business with. Getting honest with himself was the first step to changing his reality.

I asked myself this question: “If you were in the market for a Realtor, would you hire yourself or one of the other top five agents you already know?” I was disappointed with my honest answer of Hell no.

Ron put together a plan and spent a lot of time on personal growth and mindset. He withdrew from his social groups and threw all the distractions that didn’t serve him on the fire.

One of the simple, memorable strategies he deployed was to “Drop 5/Add 5”. Write down 5 things about yourself that are disadvantageous to your brand, and 5 traits that you want to deliberately evolve your brand towards instead.

For example, one of the perceptions people had about Ron was that he was too self-centered, and so he made a point to do a lot more volunteering and get involved in the community.
Analysing and classifying real patient cough sounds
By: Tds Editors
Tags: The Daily Pick

Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash

By Vyacheslav Polonski, PhD — 8 min read

Billion-dollar investments in AI are booming. What does this mean for startups looking to AI for their innovative and competitive edge?

The strategy seems simple: take one of humanity’s perennial problems and fix it with machine learning. Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Uber did it. It can often seem like the obvious question is why not use AI?