fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Saying Goodbye to a House Haunted by Happiness
By: Viggy Hampton
Tags: Childhood, Happiness, Memories, Home, Self

Saying Goodbye to a House Haunted by Happiness

Not all hauntings are scary

Original painting of my childhood home: Nikole Hampton used with permission

The listing went up yesterday. I found out via a Zillow notification pinging into my inbox; when I opened the email, I found a gorgeous picture of my childhood home staring back at me, the daisies blooming and the front lawn like green velvet.

My parents bought the house in Michigan in 2006, and we moved there from Dallas when I was 13. Before that, we were in Dallas for nine years, and before that, I was born in Nashville, Tennessee. The house in Michigan has been my favorite, and also the place I’ve been able to call home for the longest amount of time.

That makes it all the stranger to see the listing, to be scrolling through professional pictures that barely look like our house, with all of our personal photos and mementos stashed in cabinets and hastily made memory books. All the books are gone from my old bedroom, packed away in boxes sorted into ‘keep’ and ‘donate’ piles.

I’m not a particularly sentimental person; I’m more likely to throw away an old memento than keep it. With my family digging up our fifteen-year-old roots in Michigan and transplanting them to the marshy soil of Savannah, Georgia, I didn’t expect the wave of nostalgic sadness that washes over me whenever I see that listing.

How do we properly grieve for a house?

Maybe ‘grieve’ isn’t the right word; maybe even ‘sadness’ doesn’t capture the feeling accurately. It seems like a copout to say I have mixed emotions as I pack up cardboard boxes and sell off things I don’t want to move, but that’s exactly what’s going on. I feel simultaneously elated to move to a new place and wistful for the memories and history I’m leaving behind.

I’m not quite sure what to do with these feelings. I’ve been walking through the house, sometimes talking to it, thanking it for how wonderful it’s been, how it’s sheltered us and comforted us and given us a safe, fun space for so long. I tell the house that it’s going to be a wonderful new home for a new family, hopefully one with young kids who will put up a jungle gym in the backyard and have parties around the fire pit. I hope they have a dog or two that will take advantage of the large yard and play fetch off the back deck. I hope they fill the house with love and laughter, infusing its walls with even more happiness.

A fresh view on the ‘haunted’ house

Just like houses can be haunted by sadness and violence, I think houses can also be haunted by happiness. After all the years of laughter and joy my house has soaked up, I’d say this view definitely applies. I hope that when the new family moves in, they can feel the specter of joy that pervades this house like a miasma.

Finally, I hope that the new house we move into in Georgia will have this same type of haunting, and that we can continue to strengthen the happiness within its walls.

Saying goodbye to my childhood home will be difficult, but I know we’ve left it better than we found it.
Get A Grip: The Top 10 Hand Clapping Songs of All Time
By: Lon Shapiro
Tags: Humor, Advanced Analytics, Culture, Music, Hand Clapping

#2. (tie) “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles: 5+5+3+3 = 16

“A one, two, three, fo’!” begins the hand-clapping rocker that launched the British Invasion of the 1960s.

While some people might think of The Beatles as elevator muzak, this group started out rocking harder than any other band in the world.

In 1963, The Beatles rocked the world with “I Saw Her Standing There” at a time when the Rolling Stones sound like a bluesy 1950s cover band or a vacuous pop band from 1960. In 1964, Mick Jagger covered a Beatles song. The Stones finally found Rock ’n’ Roll satisfaction in 1965, after they couldn’t get any.

By 1965, The Beatles had moved on and cycled through pop, rock, sitar, harpsichords, ballads, guitar reverb, and all the studio effects that created the psychedelics. Heavy metal would have to wait until 1968 to be born with “Helter Skelter.”

The question is not who ruled rock in 1963, but how well the music rocks today. Listen to the song when it’s sung by McCartney at age 21, not when he’s old enough to be your grandfather.

At 160 beats per minute (bpm), “I Saw Her Standing There” fits right in with punk rockers and 80s rock bands.

For context here are the beats per minute for several high energy tunes: “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones (163 bpm); the GoGos’ “Vacation” by the GoGos (157 bpm) “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar (156 bpm); “Born to Run” by Springsteen (144 bpm); and “Pride” by U2 (136 bpm).

How crazy is it that “I Saw Her Standing There” is ranked #139 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, but was only the B-side of the Beatles’ first single released in the United States?

Maybe not so surprising when you find out the A-side of the single was “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” ranked #16 all-time by Rolling Stone.— 5 points.

The entire song is driven by hand clapping, almost to the point of it being too much of a good thing. The clapping is fast and frenetic, driving the beat at a hand-melting 105.1 claps per minute (cpm). — 5 points

The handclaps help drive the beat of the song like a drummer. But the clapping intermingles with Paul’s frenetic bass so it does not stand out as much as “We Will Rock You.” — 3 points

Clapping pattern: This is a simple 2-pause-1 pattern, a classic rock beat that adds an extra clap off the beat. — 3 points
Thank You to Our Supporters
Tags: Telegram, Blockchain, Ethereum, Certikrock, Verification

We are thrilled to announce that, on Jun 15th 2018, our group at Telegram has reached to more than 20,000 members! Thank you all and we promise to keep our community organic and prosperous like ever!

About CertiK

At CertiK, our mission is to give people the power to trust, and provide the world’s best formal verification platform for smart contracts. Founded by top formal verification experts and scientists from Yale University and Columbia University, CertiK provides the best scalable formal verification service in the market with the most competitive price.

Telegram: https://t.me/certikorg

Twitter: https://twitter.com/certikorg

Email: info@certik.org
How You Manage Expectations is Key to Your Productivity
By: Leon Purton
Tags: Leadership, Work, Productivity, Self, Psychology

Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash

Productivity and expectations

Understanding when I am the most productive and then identifying how to maximise it has really helped me. It turns out, it is how you think about expectations that define your motivation to get something done.

If you are someone who prioritises internal expectations, you need to own and understand the outcome. If you are someone who prioritises external expectations, you need someone to help with your accountability (particularly for internal goals).

If you are a Rebel, like me, then you can struggle with forming habits and meeting external and internal timelines. Importantly, Gretchen identifies that you can have a secondary tendency that you might prioritise, in that I am a Rebel-Obliger.

Here is a table from Alex’s article in understanding how to improve yourself as a Rebel;

As a Rebel-Obliger, I am most likely to do something that I identify with. It aligns with my personal values. I am next likely to do something for someone that I know needs my help. I am least likely to do it because I was told to, or I told myself I should.

This knowledge has helped me.

Let me help you if you fit into one of the other tendencies.

Upholders

Upholders are the easiest to understand. They are disciplined, structured and love routines and lists. Upholders will not force themselves to do things if they have other priorities. This means you need to give them enough time to plan out their work and understand if they tell you “No” it is because they are already committed, you’ll have to ask them again later.

Questioners

Questioners need to understand why, why now and why this way? They are more likely to meet their own expectations for themselves, and if they can rationalise or justify what someone else has asked them to do, they will internalise it and get it done.

They work well with people they trust to have done the appropriate research and have their best interests at heart. But they can struggle with analysis-paralysis, wanting to do all the research and become the expert before committing to do something.

Obligers

Obligers are bad at prioritising their needs. They will always try and say yes to others but are bad at making sure they are doing the things they need to do for themselves. They need to create external accountability for them to achieve the things they want too.

These types of people will never say no to working back because they want to book themselves in for a massage, and will always turn up for their basketball team. They’ll meet their external expectations before prioritising their internal ones.

They work best with a form of external accountability, but the effectiveness of the measure will vary with the individual. Sometimes a calendar reminder will be sufficient, other people will require an accountability buddy, like a personal trainer or a paid coach.
It Hurts Like Hell
By: Nancy Ann
Tags: Friendship, Poetry, Writing, Trusting, Poem

Photo by Claudia Soraya on Unsplash

It’s imperative to know how important you are.

Many people think they are important, they put themselves on pedestals.

You think you can count on certain people, but in the end, you can’t.

Sometimes the harsh reality hits you, and you realize how insignificant you are.

Or that you don’t matter to the people who matter to you.

The people you thought you can count on, the people that can count on you.

That foundation you built, comes falling down.

It’s important to know where you stand, but….

It hurts like hell… It hurts like hell.
Ритм жизни.
By: Orion Nebula
Tags: Orion, Music, Pieces

in Eudaimonia and Co
2020 Year-End Thoughts
By: Michael Burg
Tags: Ideas, Self Improvement, Inspiration, Life, Life Lessons

If you don’t get what you want, be grateful for what you have.

Now is a great time to learn something new, always.

Stay connected with the important people in your life, just do it differently if you have to.

Make plans for the year ahead, and figure out how to make them happen.

Mourn and remember the people who’ve died from Covid-19.

Mourn and remember all the others who’ve died as well.

This was a difficult year for everyone. Please remember that as you go about your day.

2021 is almost certain to be very different from 2020. Think, plan, feel accordingly.

Things can always get worse. They can also get better.

Engage the thoughts, beliefs, feelings and activities that bring you joy.

Live simply.

Not knowing what to do and how to do it is OK. Be OK with that.

Opinions are great and everyone’s got some, but an ounce of knowledge is better than a pound — or a thousand pounds — of opinion.

Most — maybe even all — of what happens in life is out of your control.

Earth is an insignificant speck in an incomprehensibly-vast universe.

Spend some time thinking about what you think about.

Some problems can’t be fixed.

Kindness counts.

Smile and laugh every chance you get.

Go outside and look up.

See sunsets and sunrises.

Play in the water.

Take a walk in the woods.

Try not to smoke or overeat.

I don’t have any of the answers. You probably don’t either.

Be humble.

Listen to others without judgment.

Go 24 hours without talking about yourself. Then try going 24 hours without thinking about yourself.
More and More Each Day
By: Jj West
Tags: Poetry, Haiku, LGBTQ, Love, Relationships

Love reading haiku? Me too! Why not go on and read a few?

Or here, try something longer too:

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.
Find Refuge Here
By: Deborah Mcnamara
Tags: Mindfulness, Inspiration, Poetry, Love, Life Lessons

Find Refuge Here

A poem on becoming more intimate with life exactly as it is.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Nothing to return to

and nowhere to go,

instead

just intimate

with reality

pressed into what is

true,

much like petals

in a flower press

capturing colors

of a moment in time.

Life is not static

and still

can you love

each emerging

moment’s texture,

tending

this basic relationship

with

and in

reality

itself?

Find refuge here:

being alive

in relationship with what is,

given to this moment

as divine submission

to mystery

called by many names.

Like the flower pressed

even

in hard spaces:

become

greater bound to reality

as it is

with love

and in love

with life

exactly as it is.

✾
A Beginning of A New Story.
By: Suraj Ghimire
Tags: Dreams, Letters

A Beginning of A New Story.

This Shall Be Our Story; Letter 1

This Shall Be Our Story Cover Photo.

6th November 2019.

Hello All,

Firstly, I want to thank you for joining our publication, either as an editor, writer or mere followers.

We have started recently as a publication and we have already 18 stories published with us. We hope to have many beautiful stories collected in our publication that we will keep reading in the future.

Oh Yes, Our total stories have exceeded 1000 views in the last 30 days; 1346 views and 436 minutes to be precise.

I attach some of the recent stories on this list.

What I am thankful for? by Kat Morris

How to Reclaim Your Happiness By Nahrin Dowds

The Guitar Man By Joseph Brown

Why Wouldn’t I? By Sydney Duke Richey

A Recipe To Heal A Broken Heart By B. A. Howard

Sorry does not Fix a Broken Heart by Andrei Tapalaga ✒️

Where is home? By Amtul Jabeen

Money Can Secure Happiness — Yes, It Can. By Suraj Ghimire

Thank you, See you soon.

P.S. Here is our facebook page where your stories will be shared.

Regards.

Suraj.
Friday 18th June Live Prayers and Speech
By: Virtual Mosque
Tags: Live, Mosque, Prayers

We are the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam and this publication is dedicated to portraying the true, peaceful instructions of the final religion through our live broadcasts in the UK and regular editorials.

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[Golang] How to create a simple API
By: Visarut Junsone
Tags: Programming Languages, Golang Tutorial, Golang Api, Golang, Api Development

I’m Full-Stack Developer. ReactJS Golang C# Javascript C++ PHP and learning a lot more. Not lazy as it name. “Lazy-Dev”

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I Love the Smell of My Vagina
By: Stacey Herrera
Tags: Feminism, Sexuality, Advice, Health, Self

I read a great post written by traceybyfire yesterday aptly titled “Two Ways of Smelling a Vagina.” The subject matter is important because many women are sensitive to their own scent.

We are conditioned to reject nearly every part of our bodies. So it makes sense that the smell of our vaginas would be no exception. But I am among the minority of women who actually enjoy their own scent.

I spend 99.9% of my time at home naked.

I write in the nude.

I cook in the nude (which is not recommended near ovens by the way).

I coach in the nude (clothing is always optional during my sessions).

Needless to say, I am very comfortable in my skin. Being nude all the time also means that I catch whiffs of my vagina, all the time. And I find the scent absolutely intoxicating.

Yes, I am aroused by my own smell.

We often think everyone thinks and feels the way we do. That’s why I was well into my 20’s before I realized that many women are at odds with themselves.

There are women who don’t like the curve of their nose or their stubby baby toes. They don’t like the hair on their legs or the dimples in their thighs.

They think they’re too fat. Too short. Their necks are too skinny. Or their double chin is too double.

For a long time, I had a love/hate relationship with my arms. I got over it. But I have always loved my body, including the smell of my vagina.

When I was a child my mother let us sleep commando. “You need to let it breathe,” she would say. I can still remember pulling on my labia and rubbing my fingers around my vulva. And then I would bring my fingers to my nose and sniff.

Today I am 45 years old and tugging on my labia is still a thing. I also enjoy rubbing my fingers in the folds of my vulva. And I still sniff my own scent.

Being familiar with the smell of my vagina has its advantages. My scent sweetens when I ovulate. It becomes slightly acidic when I am pre-menstrual. The discharge is a lot slicker when I am in the pre-ovulation phase. And it gets creamy right before the egg drops.

Being intimate with my scent also means that I am intimate with my health.

I am not grossed out by the way I smell. I carry no shame about my acquaintance with the viscosity of my vaginal seepage. I am comfortable with touching, looking, and exploring every part of myself.
Tonight’s comic is really flexible.
Tags: Comics, Cats, Yoga, Humor

More from rstevens Follow

I make cartoons and t-shirts at www.dieselsweeties.com & @rstevens. Send me coffee beans.
Edge Development Update
By: Brett Maverick Musser
Tags: Exchange, Ethereum, Free, No Fee, Bitcoin

In our latest release, users in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, through our partner, Banxa, can use the Sofort payment network to buy BTC, BSV, ETH, LTC, USDC, and USDT for Euros!

Sofort is the predominant online banking method in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, serving over 20 million people. Edge users are able to buy up to 14,000 EUR per transaction and 150,000 EUR per month with fees set at 1.15% for each exchange.

But starting today, October 20th at 12 am EST and ending at 12 am October 28th, Edge and Banxa will be waving fees on exchanges made through the Sofort payment network. That’s commission free exchanging for over a week!

If you have any questions or troubles with Banxa, the Sofort payment method, or anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@edge.app.

Release Notes v1.17.3:

Support for Sofort payment method for users in the EU

Login UI cleanups

Changelly exchange bug fix

Upgrade/fix react-native-tcp

Download Edge on iOS

Download Edge from the Play Store

Android APK Direct Download
The Seen and The Unseen Part 3 Exponential Function
By: Shweta Barge
Tags: Towards Data Science, Python, Testing, Programming, Data Visualization

This is part 3 of The Seen and The Unseen Series. Part 2 covered how the seen and the unseen is affected by different implementation choices using geometric series. In part 3, I use the exponential function.

Exponential function

In this series, there is factorial in every term. Python provides math.factorial(x) function that calculates the factorial of x. This adds to one more case in the optimization of the function.

The following are the optimizations that I will be working on for this function.

In the end, I will put all the optimizations together and find the speedup with respect to naïve implementation.

Just like part 2 — Geometric Series, I need to find the terminating condition for the exponential function. To get an idea of how the exponential function works, I will plot its series for different values of x.

In the exponential function, the terms go as 1 + x + x²/2! + ... We’ve seen in geometric series that for |𝑥|<1 the series converges as the power increases. In the case of 𝑥>0, the terms will increase as the power increases but there is division by factorial which brings the series down to zero. That is why in the first plot of 𝑥=0.1 the series just converges whereas in the other three plots it increases to a certain value and then goes on decreasing. This is because the denominator increases at a greater rate than the numerator. Also, note that as the value of 𝑥 is increasing the series is converging slowly.

After a certain no.of iterations, the terms don’t change in value which means that they don’t add anything to the sum. Therefore I will terminate the loop once the value of the sum stops changing.

After implementing the naïve implementation, I will test it using the generic test function theSeenAndTheUnseenTest() , and also check the runtime.
Shotgun by Alyse Bensel
By: The Fem Lit Mag
Tags: Poem, Read And Listen, Poetry

Let’s start with her, pregnant, you,

unknowing, then knowing, me,

learning. I’m tired of this narrative

I’ve numbed to, like a twelve-gauge

fired off too many times against

my shoulder. I used to watch

my father disassemble and clean

his guns, then put them back together.

My non-pregnancy is an anti-

narrative. The hollow in my throat

constricts as I’m written out.

People ask me why I know so much

about motherhood and childbirth.

They ask me how many children

I have. I say none. The narrative stops.

A wedding, an ultrasound,

a countdown to when you disappear.

I cease to matter. My potential

children don’t exist. I met a woman

who married because, two months

into dating, she took antibiotics.

Her son was round and luminous.

She could not believe he existed.

We discussed caesareans,

mastitis, stitches, the slow

healing process. Postpartum.

She asked me to find

a husband who ignored her.

The shotgun’s primary parts:

the barrel most of all, where you

pull the snake through, scrub

the chokes, clean apparent filth

off the action. She made a weapon

and harbored it within her.

I have the story out of order.

There are too many moving parts

I mistook for the opportunity

to clear this up. I keep on missing

everything you left out.

This narrative may not

hit its intended mark. I blame

its misfire on my negligence.
How the Rich Stay at the Top of Their Game
By: David O.
Tags: Inspiration, Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Business Strategy, Startup

How the Rich Stay at the Top of Their Game

And why they do it

Photo by Taneli Lahtinen on Unsplash

Most people calculate the outcome they want to spend money on and determine whether it is worth it or not. This is smart, but most billionaires think differently. They can spend tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and multiple millions just to get 1% better. That is the kind of drive that keeps them on top of the world and at the top of their game.

Staying on top is more difficult than getting to the top. And the battle to stay on top begins immediately after getting there. Billionaires understand this almost better than any other category of people on the planet.

It is just like in motorsport competitions. The winner is probably milliseconds faster than the runner up. That millisecond difference is the 1% difference. It is also known as the slight edge.

The slight edge becomes more important as you grow out of a startup with a few people into a mid-size business and eventually into a big business. The slight edge gives your clients or consumers to continually choose you despite the antics of the competition.

There are several beneficial reasons billionaires spend a lot of money getting this slight edge. Here are 7 of them to consider for yourself in a fierce competition:
Andy the Anatomical Sidekick Turning Lauren’s Frown Upside Down
By: Qut Science
Tags: Engineering, Robotics, Quantum, Technology, Psychology

Humans are irrational. At least, a robot would think so… for now.

PhD researcher Lauren Fell is working on a framework that will help robots understand how humans make decisions based on facial cues.

“Human judgements are difficult to explain probabilistically because things like cognitive biases make us unpredictable,” Lauren said.

“We don’t really know exactly how we decide to trust or not trust someone when we first see their face, for example.”

Lauren is applying quantum cognition to social perceptions — using theories of quantum physics to explain cognitive phenomena, specifically how we perceive faces.

She is even building herself a side-kick to help — Andy.

Lauren Fell is a PhD researcher in the QUT Information Systems School. She using quantum physics theories to explain cognitive phenomena, specifically how we perceive facial expressions. She also taught herself how to build and program robotic soft muscle to develop Andy the Anatomy Bot, a prototype head that mimics human facial expressions.

“’Andy’ is an anatomical robot I started building as a side-project, but now think he will be useful for my research,” Lauren said.

Andy is a prototype anatomical robot face with silicon muscles and air valves, designed to mimic human facial expressions.

Lauren and Andy will teach people how to make soft muscles they can take home with them from Robotronica — QUT’s free robotics festival at the Gardens Point campus on 18 August, 9am — 4pm.

“It was actually just an idea I had one day — I was looking into pneumatic muscles for a freelance project I was working on and thought it might be interesting to make a robot with all the same muscles as a human face.

“When the call for expressions of interest came through for Robotronica late last year, that gave me the motivation to actually try it out and I’ve been working on it ever since.

Lauren completed her undergraduate degree in psychology — not robotics — and taught herself how to make soft robotics using code, silicon moulding, air valves and 3D printing.

She also learned about facial anatomy and which muscles were used in different expressions, such as smiling.

“I started by learning how to design the muscles themselves. The construction of the muscles using silicon and 3D printing was actually the harder part of Andy’s development,” Lauren said.

Giving Andy facial expressions was trial and error, according to Lauren.

“Coding was not that complex. I just needed to make sure air was getting to the right muscle so it expanded and contracted the way a real muscle would.”

“His expressions are not large at the moment because he is just a prototype but he will have stronger muscles in the future.

“It’s been a really fun learning experience and my PhD has actually gone in the direction of looking at how people judge personality traits from faces, so I might even use Andy for that research which might be interesting.
Jackpocket Wins VentureFizz’s Spark Award!
Tags: Whats New, Innovation, Nyc Tech Scene, Technology, Awards

Jackpocket Wins VentureFizz’s Spark Award!

For having “that certain spark likely to ignite something greater”

We’re really fired up for Jackpocket to be named VentureFizz’s Spark Award winner for the month of June!

The award recognizes companies innovating in the New York tech scene. And we were certainly in some incredible company, alongside nominees TodayTix, Talkspace, Dashlane and Pillar. 🔥

This year, we closed a Series B extension funding round (with $30 million raised to date).launched Jackpocket in Texas, and are prepping for an official relaunch in New York. We’re proud that our efforts to ignite change in the lottery space are being recognized.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us. We’re looking forward to creating an even bigger and better second half of 2019!
Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues
By: Terry Mansfield
Tags: Jazz, Blues, Black Women, Music, Bio

Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues

One of the giants of America’s Jazz Age

Photo of Bessie Smith by Carl Van Vechten, restored by Adam Cuerden — This Public Domain image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division.

The Jazz Age

Jazz music and dance styles became highly popular across America during the 1920s and 1930s, a period which is now known as the Jazz Age. America is the birthplace of jazz, and the Jazz Age was a fantastic period that gave rise to many famous singers and musicians performing in that genre.

Empress of the Blues

One of those singers was the extremely popular Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 — September 26, 1937), whose nickname was ‘the Empress of the Blues’ (she was also called ‘the Queen of the Blues’).

Music historians regard her as not only a major influence on other blues singers and jazz vocalists of her time, but as one of the greatest singers of the Jazz Era, or any era for that matter. Without a doubt, Bessie Smith was the most popular female singer of the 1920s and 1930s.

St. Louis Blues

Bessie Smith overcame extreme poverty in her family and eventually became a huge recording star. When the Great Depression happened in 1929, she branched out that year, appearing on Broadway in Pansy, as well in the film St. Louis Blues, in which she sang the title song that was written by the famous W.C. Handy.

“I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich, and rich is better. “ — Bessie Smith

Billie Smith Performs

You can watch her performance in the film St. Louis Blues here.

And below is a video montage from 1925 of her singing St. Louis Blues, while accompanied by the incomparable Louis Armstrong. The video also shows some great old photos of the author’s hometown St. Louis in the early 20th century.

Bessie Smith — St. Louis Blues, 1925, YouTube

A Tragic End

Bessie Smith’s successful career continued until 1937 when tragedy struck. She was a passenger in an automobile that crashed and killed her at the age of 43.

But, fortunately, her beautiful singing lives on through various media that are easily accessible nowadays.

“It’s a long old road, but I know I’m gonna find the end.” — Bessie Smith

References

__________________

Thanks for reading.
You’re Not Getting Out of Here Alive; Why Are You Rushing to the Finish Line?
By: Mary Gallagher
Tags: Mindfulness, Lifestyle, Life, Advice, Life Lessons

You’re Not Getting Out of Here Alive; Why Are You Rushing to the Finish Line?

On the shortness of life

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

“Recognize things when at their best, in their season, and know how to enjoy them.” — Baltasar Gracian

This is good advice. Peaches, babies, young love, a sun-filled day on the beach. Squeeze all you can from these experiences and learn to view them as if you are living them for the second time.

That’s right, I said the second time. Slow down. Say the things you want to say now. Avoid regrets. Pay attention. Don’t try to fill all the empty spaces — just settle into them.

Notice the way the sun glistens off the water and how the texture of the sand changes as you dig your toes down to where it’s wet and cool.

Take in the laughter of your children and their voices — they will never sound the same again! When is the last time you will hear that cherub voice say, “Ober dere” before it matures into “Over there”?

You'll not pass this way again but there will be days you wish you could.

Take mental snapshots and form perfect memories frozen in time. Memories you can pull out of the pockets of your mind and relive.

Take time now so you won’t regret the passing of time later.

When you think about a perfect day, what comes to mind? The answer is obvious. Is it a day you were hectic and harried, stressed and distracted, or was it a day when striving was set aside and you found the magic of the moment?

Where a minute felt like an hour and an hour felt like a day and the day felt incredibly full because you were in it — I mean fully and completely — in it.
What You (Should) Look For In An Ad Agency
By: Travis Biechele
Tags: Investing, Advertising, Experience, Marketing, Trailblazer

1. A Trailblazed Path

To trailblaze is to “make a trail where there wasn’t one, such as through a forest or an area of wilderness.” Figuratively, we know this to refer to a person who is among the first to do or accomplish something. In turn, this helps others follow an established path, find efficiencies, and push further along that trajectory.

Blazing a trail has nothing to do with fire. Rather, it originally meant to make small cuts into the bark of trees, marking a path for others to follow. Often thes trailblazers were explorers and pioneers, forging into the unknown and settling new places. The risks were great, and the obstacles many. These individuals were truly a rare breed.

Few people have the appetite to explore something new and completely unknown. That appetite shrinks when there is money on the line. Businesses must invest in acquiring new customers, higher-quality customers, and longer lasting customers. This can be an expensive proposition.

As a result, you may find yourself adopting a certain conservative approach. You may gravitate toward the safe route, even if it’s perhaps not the right way forward. The “clear” way forward. That path that’s been trailblazed already.

2. An Experienced Veteran

Sometimes, it’s not enough to walk a blazed path. You want a guide, a sherpa to take you along the journey to success.

Sherpas are renowned for their mountaineering skills. Many know the Himalayan slopes like they know themselves. The name or term sherpa translates to “eastern people,” so they are truly native to their land and their craft as local guides.

Genetically, their bodies are better suited for high altitudes than the average human. They possess the “super-athlete gene” that governs their hemoglobin production, allowing them to more efficiently use oxygen. Quite literally, they are a rare breed.

When exploring the unknown — a new online ad platform, a foreign ad format, a new campaign strategy — you may find yourself wanting a sherpa. In business, this can be accomplished with a verbal, “Oh yeah, we have experience with that.” from an agency or consulting partner. It’s a mental checklist item, helping you rest easier.

Regardless, a sherpa can instill confidence that you will avoid unnecessary, wrong turns.

3. A Guarantee

When you spend your own (or company) money, you never want to fail. Of course. However, the pressure of success is often pushed entirely on the shoulders of your agency or any outside help. Nothing is too big to fail, yet that agency or help can carry an outsized load. The expectations can be huge, and that’s important to recognize.

The giant risk is that…if an idea, a campaign, or a batch of creative fails…we must face a sunk cost. Facebook or Google gets richer, and we are out that money. It feels safer to secure some sort of guarantee before engaging.
The content of Nigeria’s education system might be redesigned. — Report
By: Wizitup Elearning
Tags: Nigerian Education, Education In Nigeria, Latest News, E Learning, Education

The Federal Government, on Monday indicated the content of Nigeria’s education system might be redesigned to promote the spirit of inclusion in the younger generation in schools.

The administration additionally made plans to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals 4, which specifies quality education for all.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu, said this amid the 2016 Commonwealth Day in Abuja.

He said, “We are determined to strengthen our citizens through the provision of quality education at all levels. We are committed to pursuing and achieving the six goals of equality for all. The Universal Basic Education Act 2004 emphasises and stipulates compulsory education for all Nigerian children of school age.

“We are also committed to achieving the 16 SDGs, especially the SDG 4 and its 10 strategic targets, which have a direct bearing on the education of the child and the vulnerable, including persons with special needs.

“The content of our education may have to be redesigned in a way that promotes a flowering of the spirit of inclusion in our younger generation. It will also be done to inculcate values in our senior generation and entrench its norms in all our political, social and cultural institutions.”

Technology has the power to transform education, in Nigeria………….. DID YOU KNOW?

WizitUp is an e-learning solution for schools, corporate organizations, government and content creators. On WizitUp, teachers and lecturers can upload their own content in videos and text, so students can access study materials anywhere, anytime

Our platform also helps content creators monetize their creativity, organizations to maximize investments in human capital development, government and charity organisations to achieve more and for schools to take their teaching online so students can interact with their teachers and access e-learning materials 24/7.

With technology, we can achieve more.

Learn more about WizitUp and get a free account
A Hair-Raising Week
By: Sherry Mcguinn
Tags: Humor, Prompt, Society, Goofy, Marketing

On Sunday mornings, while I drink my coffee, I like to look at the store circulars that come with the newspaper.

One of my favorites is a popular brick and mortar, as well as online, purveyor of beauty products. Now, I don’t need any more beauty products as I’m full-up. But I still like to look.

What caught my eye was the headline on the cover of this particular circular:

It’s National Dry Shampoo Week! March 8 to March 14th!

What the ever-living F? “National Dry Shampoo Week?” I’d love to meet the copywriter who came up with that one. And then slap the living shit out of him or her.

I have nothing against dry shampoo. I even have a can or two. I rarely use it though as I wash my hair every other day in the shower and that works for me.

Dry shampoo, aside from whisking away oil from your tresses, can also be used as a volumizer. But does that mean it deserves its own National week?

What’s next? Greeting cards that we can mail off to all our greasy-haired friends? (With a 20% off coupon inside.)

I don’t know. If we’re going to go down this road, then I think there are a plethora of other products that should be recognized nationally, as well, like the following:

National Personal Lube Week!

Grease up and get down.

National Dental Floss Week!

Spinach belongs on a plate, not in your teeth.

National Toilet Paper Week!

Wipe. Don’t swipe.

National Plastic Water Bottles Week!

When you’re too lazy to give a shit.

National Tube Meat Week!

Is that a kielbasa in your pocket…?

National Oven Mitt Week!

Drop it like it’s hot.

National Fireplace Week!

Got wood?

National 151 Rum Week!

Suck it down. Throw it up.

National Body Spray Week!

Because showering gets old.

We can even celebrate specific personality types:

National Asshole Co-Workers Week!

They suck. So tell ‘em.

National Procrastinators Week!

Whatever it is, put it off.

National Shy Persons Week!

Just look the other way.

National Bullshitters Week!

Tell your story walkin.’

National Hubris Week!

Believe in yourself because no one else does.

As you can see, there are limitless options for celebratory weeks in our society. We Americans are accomplished spin-doctors. Just look at the criminal in the White House!

We’ll buy anything!

Now go get your dry shampoo and let’s party.

Sherry McGuinn is a slightly-twisted, longtime Chicago-area writer and award-winning screenwriter. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and numerous other publications. Sherry’s manager is currently pitching her newest screenplay, a drama with dark, comedic overtones and inspired by a true story.

Yes, I’m ridiculous. But I hope you enjoyed this nonetheless. If you did, report back with your own ideas for crazy “National” weeks like the ones above. And if you’re up for reading more, please check out the following.
It Doesn’t Get Better
By: Karen Banting
Tags: Health, Life, Chronic Pain, Healing, Chronic Illness

It doesn’t get better. Or it does, but then it gets bad again. I want to keep the faith and believe it will get better, that I’ll get better, but some days, scratch that, some weeks, it’s tough. Last week it was my hands, this week my foot, so painful that I limp out of bed in the mornings, limp around the bathroom until my body remembers and I walk just so, so as not to make it any worse.

It doesn’t get better. Never fully, not yet anyway. It’s been years now, so long it’s hard to keep track. Shoulder first, then knees, now hands and feet. It bounces around, picks a new part of my body to set up shop, just when I think I can’t handle one more thing.

It doesn’t get better. But wait, it does, by degrees anyway. Or for months and months at a time until I almost start to believe I’ve kicked it for good. But back it comes, pushing on my consciousness the moment I wake up in the morning, the moment I remember myself. Knees cranky and stiff, hands tight and sore.

“Good morning my love. No, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m happy!”

It doesn’t get better when I deny it though, we both know that by now. So now I’m crying because I’m 35 and my body feels like it belongs to an old lady and I’m scared that I’ll never get better and that if I already have all these problems now, god knows what will happen when I’m actually old. And he’s comforting me and telling me he’ll always love me no matter what, and I know he means it, but I also know what waking up to this must take out of him, because I know how much it takes out of me.
Work Out Loud on Yammer
By: Cartier Gwin
Tags: Future Of Work, Work, Leadership, Yammer, Challenge

International Working Out Loud Week is here! On November 7 through November 13, teams all over are sharing their work to connect their work. If your team or organization doesn’t already have a strategy for working out loud, get this infographic, and learn how Yammer can help!
Darkness
By: J.D. Harms
Tags: Light And Dark, Poetry, Relationships, Vision, Image

Darkness

A Poem

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

Pitched, passing, going towards the slightest bit of light. Turning south, everything is inked, no lights at all but me. Then, east, finally, again, the lightening of a sky at an hour we named dark.

Possessed of every anxiety, of the dark, the fear in not seeing, not understanding the shapes in the space rushing around us, swallowing us.

I miss you. I can’t see any of my tears, now, or even, really, if I’m crying at all. I covet the cover, what to shade and reveal in the negative that surrounds this grounded figure.

Rushed through the light period, inflicting darkness on a few moments I can’t handle. I miss you. I said that…already. But I’m not seeing anything right now, and that includes you, only now, it’s all balanced.
Using Multisig with the Stellar Account Viewer
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Stellar, Stellar Lumens

For a quick refresher of what multisig is, read https://medium.com/@stellarguard/securing-your-stellar-lumens-with-multisig-and-stellarguard-103385c671e3

The official Stellar.org Account Viewer recently merged a pull request that StellarGuard submitted to add basic support for multisig accounts. Here is how you can use it. Note: the account viewer only supports basic payment operations.

Go to https://www.stellar.org/account-viewer, which is the website of the official Account Viewer.

2. Enter your Secret key to sign in (you may also use a Ledger to sign in).

3. Enter the public key or federation address of the account you are sending to, and the amount you want to send.

4. Click “add memo” to add an optional memo.

5. Click “Send lumens” to be taken to a confirmation page. Verify that the payment information is correct and click “Submit transaction”.

6. If your account has multisig enabled, instead of submitting the transaction, you will be taken to page that displays the signed transaction XDR (encoded transaction details). You can then copy this XDR and send it to someone else to sign it in their tool of choice.

7. If you are using StellarGuard to protect your account, you may go to https://stellarguard.me/transactions/new and paste the transaction XDR and press “Submit”. You will then receive an email with instructions about how to authorize the transaction (a code sent in the email, or 2 factor auth code from an authenticator app).

That’s it! Multisig transactions in the official Stellar Account Viewer!

If you’d like to see StellarGuard integrated directly into the Account Viewer so that accounts protected by StellarGuard will have their transactions submitted directly to StellarGuard, give a +1 at https://github.com/stellar/account-viewer/pull/68.

This tutorial is available at: https://stellarguard.me/help/new-transaction-account-viewer
Interaksi Modern yang Rawan Multitafsir
By: Didik Tri Susanto
Tags: Multitafsir, Komunikasi, Opini, Chat, Internet

Written by

Proud to be Moslem | Introvert | Backend Engineer | VP of Engineering DOT Indonesia | dot.co.id
How to Run Google Data Catalog Connectors in Production — Cloud Functions VS Kubernetes
By: Marcelo Costa
Tags: Data, Serverless, Google Cloud Platform, Cloud Functions

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are my own, and represent no one but myself…. They come from the experience of participating in the development of fully operational sample connectors, available at: GitHub.

If you want to hear more about some of the Data Catalog connectors use cases, please check the official documentation:

Data Catalog connectors use cases, from official docs.

To put it in a nutshell, Data Catalog connectors are Python CLI’s, that users are able to run to connect their source systems metadata with Google Data Catalog.

Usually, a CLI relies on manual execution, and life has taught us that anything that is not automated at some point in time will fail.

So to better understand this, let’s take a quick look at a normal day on the SmartTechnologies corporation:
Fibery vs. Notion
By: Michael Dubakov
Tags: Productivity, Fibery, Notion, No Code, Startup

As you see, Fibery already is more advanced in Views. However, Views in Notion are better polished and more pleasant to use in some cases.

API & Integrations

🦐 Notion has no API (yet). This the the top request from community and they are working on it. Hopefully API will be there this year, but Notion wants to deliver something really cool and it may take more time. We’ll see.

Fibery has a weird API that is hard to learn by mere mortals.

In fact this is quite low level API, but it’s very powerful. You can create databases and build your own schema using API, and definitely you can do pretty advanced queries and create entities. Webhooks are there as well.

🍎 Our next step is to wrap API into GraphQL or something similar.

Performance

💪 Notion UI is slightly faster.

In many cases you has almost desktop-like experience and there are zero delays between your actions. Notion is a joy to use.

Notion speed.

Fibery is slightly slower.

In some cases you have to wait 2+ seconds to load a view. We are trying to make Fibery right first, and then fast. “Get it right” stage is not over for Fibery, so our goal is to have a “good enough” performance so far.

Fibery speed.

Public sharing and permissions

💪 Notion has a good public sharing. You can share workspace to outer world, make a web page with vacancies, share product roadmap or even create a web site with Notion.

🦐 Fibery has no public sharing. So far you can’t even share a single document. We know it sucks.

Mobile

💪 Notion has great mobile apps. They work perfectly well. Mobile support is a must have for personal use cases.

🦐 Fibery has no mobile apps so far. You can access web version, but the user experience is just bad. With a team/company focus mobile apps are less important, since mostly people use laptops. Anyway, we’ll definitely add them in future.

Summary

Short summary is this:

Notion

🕶 Notion is pages and documents first, databases and views second. Notion works best for individuals and small teams (as a knowledge base notion works for the whole company just perfectly).

The power of Notion: Fantastic UX, Wiki, Documents / Pages / Sharing

Cases where Notion shines:

Individual notes tacker or life organizer

Company wiki, knowledge base, public pages

Work management for very small teams

Fibery

🍀 Fibery is connected databases and views first, documents second. Fibery works best for teams and small/medium companies.

The power of Fibery: Databases and relations / Views (Whiteboard, Timeline, Chart) / API

Cases where Fibery shines: