fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Humans of Walrus: Stacey Skulnik
Tags: Humans Of Walrus, Advertising, Advertising Agency

Stacey Skulnik, Senior Account Executive, Walrus

Stacey Skulnik is a Senior Account Executive and works with Walrus’ clients on the development of all brand campaigns and marketing initiatives. Outside of work, she has a unique obsession with burgers. Read on to learn some fun facts about Stacey, who just marked her one-year anniversary at Walrus. Follow Stacey on Twitter at @staceyskulnik.

Walrus (W): Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.

Stacey Skulnik (SS): Growing up, I was a competitive gymnast. I can still do some flips.

W: What’s your favorite part about working in the advertising industry?

SS: The people. I’ve met some of the smartest, weirdest and most creative people.

W: How did you get into the biz?

SS: I was always interested in TV commercials. I remember falling in love with the AT&T commercials featuring Beck Bennett. For some reason the concept really stuck with me and the adorable kids made me laugh. I ended up writing a final paper on this commercial for my advertising course in college. Which, by the way, I got an A on! I also loved my professor in that class. It was this combination that led me to apply for my first job in advertising.

W: If you could switch jobs with anyone at the agency, who would it be?

SS: Our Media Director. He gets all the meetings with free food.

W: Everyone has a spirit animal. Tell us about yours.

SS: Cookie Lyon from Empire, because she’s a fierce boss lady and can pull off animal prints like no one else.

W: When you have control of the music in the office, what’s your go-to playlist?

SS: Beyonce, to everyone’s dismay.

W: What’s your advice for people who are just getting started in the advertising industry?

SS: I didn’t start my career in advertising and I wish I did. Definitely get an early start. The more you learn early on, the better off you are.
How Open Mic Night Changed My Life
By: Sophia Carnabuci
Tags: Life, Change, Lessons, Music, Growth

Isn’t it strange how one decision, one action can reroute your life’s direction? This story marks a return to innocence and the beginning of my exploration of the self.

Every Christmas as a child was characterized by the construction of detailed sets in my grandparents’ kitchen, highly rehearsed songs and skits, and at least one costume change. This was our tradition from as far back as I can remember. My grandmother created the program and my cousin, sister, and I spent weeks practicing our acts. My introduction to singing and performing were these Christmas shows, and I haven’t stopped since.

Though, I did experience a blip.

Growing out of the Christmas shows aligned almost exactly with my entry into the terrifying boogie monster that was middle school. I think almost every reader can relate to the age of 13 cringes. My priorities during this time were increasing popularity, getting boys to like me, and avoiding bullies. I was in my school’s chorus but was too embarrassed to actually vocalize. Instead, I transformed myself into what I thought was a bully-proof heart-throb; ironed-straight hair, muted garments, a bit of sass… I am not necessarily ashamed of this. I see these changes now as survival tactics—middle schoolers are brutal. But I will admit that this transformation didn’t really work and it probably just created more problems for me.

My beginning-of-freshman-year self was the goliath of this phase. I was doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing with the people who I thought I was supposed to be with—and I was absolutely miserable. I couldn’t make a mistake or else my entire circle would put me on blast and manipulate my feelings. The mistakes I did make felt like the end of the world and would leave me in a weeks-long pit of despair.

I give all the credit to my mother for not only seeing my struggle but actively trying to help by signing me up for guitar lessons. I needed the push and did not hesitate. Learning how to play guitar allowed me to remember all the joys of music by enabling me to sing along. But importantly, it gave me something else to focus on. Once I was able to comfortably play and sing a couple of songs, my guitar teacher was adamant that I perform at an open mic in town.
January 2021 Community Theme: Installing Linux
By: Jason Evangelho
Tags: Linux Distribution, Publication, Installer, Linux, Open Source

Beginning in 2021, Linux For Everyone magazine will feature monthly topics in addition to our regular content. Think of these as a month-long series, approaching a theme from a bunch of different angles.

So, think about the concept of an installer and your history with them. We can build guides around it for new users. We can offer praise or criticism. We can tell hilarious, memorable or even disastrous stories from the recent or distant past. We can recommend things that people might appreciate, or talk about our experiences actually building installers (just like Thomas did for Drauger OS, below).

A fun Linux For Everyone interview with the creator of Drauger OS

Share Your Words With Us

Do you have something interesting to say about installing Linux? Here’s how to join the L4E community and submit your stories:
Challenge Accepted
Tags: TV Shows, One Tree Hill, TV Series, Teens, Diary

Challenge Accepted

Tutor Girl’s Diary — First part, day 2

Following day 1 — A New Raven?

Dear Diary,

I’m so stressed about today! In the evening, everyone will gather up at the river court to watch a one on one match — Lucas versus Nathan. Scott versus Scott.

The two of them have been exchanging deadly glances since the day couch Durham gave an open invitation for the team at Lucas. Nathan has always been aggressive towards him and against all those who didn't belong to his small clique, where he manages to play the role of leader. Yesterday he started a big fight at school and challenged Lucas to play a game with him, and if Lucas loses, he will “disappear” from his life as it was for so many years. Luke’s condition from the very beginning was that if he wins the game — he was about to join the team, but then he challenged Nathan even more by saying that he would win for Peyton.

Peyton was, is, and will be Lucas’s dream girl. We were still around 10 years old when he was already saying she is a blonde angel. I always say that these two should be together. He — melancholic, always with a book in his hand and headphones in his ears. She — ways quiet and lonely painting or listening to hits from 1970 to 2000. Peyton was one of the most popular girls at school just as much as was her best friend — Brooke, but in so different ways. Brooke is the classic, popular, prom queen, incredibly beautiful, and shallow girl. While Peyton was the most melancholic cheerleader there is, and always makes me wonder why she is a cheerleader, honestly? Oh and also, Peyton happens to be Nathan’s girlfriend since last year.

Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush) and Peyton Sawyer (Hillary Burton) as cheerleaders. One Tree Hill — Season 1, episode 2.

When I asked Luke last night if he thought he could really win against Nathan, and why did he provoke him even more, he told me that he did it mainly for his mother — Karen.

I think he has good chances. And I’m very happy thinking that in a few hours Lucas will be able to rub on Nathan’s face not only a victory in a one-on-one match but also every point he scores after that, as a Raven in his own team.
How to be fancy with Python
By: Dipam Vasani
Tags: Programming, Coding, Data Science, Python

Python is cool. Really cool. However, a lot of us started with a different programming language and although we picked up Python really easily, we still aren’t good at the pythonic way of doing things. This article introduces some tricks I’ve learnt over the years and practical examples for the same. Hope you enjoy it.

Update (June 25, 2020):

The most up to date tricks are on Github. Star the repository to stay in touch with them. You can also follow my hashtag on LinkedIn for the same.

-1. Useful keyboard shortcuts

To indent code Press Tab.

To unindent code Press Shift + Tab.

To comment or uncomment a bunch of code, select it and Press Contrl + / or Command + / for Mac.

To put quotation marks around something, select it and then Press Shift + ' or Shift + ".

0. Zip

Zip can be used to iterate over 2 lists together.
Worry Lines
By: Giselle Flores Alvarado
Tags: Creative Writing, Poetry, Latinx, Anxiety, Mental Health

Photo by Giselle

i’m tired

adolorida y temblando

i’ll tap on my collarbone, hope that chases you

out of my easily shocked system,

that maybe my brain waves will choose

to crash somewhere far away from my brain ridges

but lately you’re closer

to my left ventricle

than medicine should allow.

so i’ll up my own dosage of

bed rest and sleep. ignore you

flipping down marrow tracks into

deeper carne y hueso

i just don’t have the energy to argue

words dripping down my mouth,

getting further away from my mother

tongue it feels like swallowing static.

i feel too close to madness.

i’ll even forget how to spell my own name.

letters and identities turning into riptides

filling my chest cavity and you

make me forget how to breathe.

i’ll bend for you and make myself small

as you fire commands in my brain and leave me to rot

with ‘what ifs’, ‘could have beens’ and worst case scenarios

nada de esto es romántico. there is no such thing

as beautiful suffering. i have bled through every shirt I own.

Worry lines cutting off circulation pushing blood and plasma

into and out of me leaving only rust in my mouth.

and i hate that maybe you know me best.

are you too honest?

are you a liar?

closed circuit synapses spark and

i’ll call you by familiar names just trying to

turn you into knowable ghosts.

this has to be anything but poetry.

Originally published at https://inqluded.org on March 13, 2019.
Five Research-backed Truths about Venture Capital
By: Anna Diaz
Tags: Venture Capital, Startup

I joined the venture capital industry just over a year ago and have had a steady diet of blog posts and newsletters that highlight specific companies, technologies, and trends. While this has been good food for thought, I often seek understanding of the bigger picture. A recent lecture I attended was particularly helpful in providing such a perspective, with good data to support.

Last month, Chicago Booth professor Steven Kaplan* discussed trends in venture capital based on his research involving 889 venture capitalists across 681 firms, with roughly 25% of those based outside of the US.**

“A Lecture on Decisions and Performance in VC”

Here are my five revelations from Professor Kaplan research and lecture:

The Horse matters, but VCs back the Jockey

While VCs care about the business model, technology, industry, and other factors (the Horse), the most important factor for backing a startup was the management team (the Jockey).

Even investors in Unicorns believe they are overvalued

2. “Unicorns are overvalued” was claimed by both investors in a $1B+ valued round (average 91% of 308 total responses) and those who did not participate in the round (average of 92% of 185 total responses).

Key: Numbers on the top line, represent percentages of VCs whom believe unicorns to be overvalued. Numbers in parentheses represent margin of error, and the bottom line represents the number of respondents.

It’s the deals you do, not those you see

3. Of the surveyed VCs, almost half (~49%) believe prudent deal selection is the most important contributor to Fund success; more so than value-add services (~27%) and access to good deal flow (~23%).

Venture Capital returns are actually better than S&P’s

4. For an asset class that’s taken a lot of heat for undersized returns, VC returns have performed better than returns on the U.S. S&P stock market since 2003.

Key: Years above a 1.0 on the y-axis, represent VC returns better than the market average.

From 1991–1998, VC returns were well above the S&P.

From 1999–2002 (“bubble burst”), VC returns were below the S&P.

From 2003 onwards, VC returns have performed slightly better than the S&P.

No, we’re not in a VC bubble

5. Commitments to VC funds, as a percentage of stock market value, are not nearly not as high now as they were in the bubble of the late 1990s.
RISD School Times — September 12
By: Risd Digital Media
Tags: Patriot Day, Education, Hurricane Harvey, Risd School Times, College Fair

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9–11 Remembrance, Patriot Day Observed Around RISD

RHS Interact students held a food drive leading up to 9–11 and hosted a ceremony honoring first responders and veterans, including former RISD Superintendent and WW II veteran Dr. Arzell Ball.

Staff Spotlight

Congratulations to RISD Instructional Technology Secondary iTeam Lead and former Richardson HS teacher Lauren Hawkins for being named a finalist in the 2017 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching — one of just five secondary teachers in Texas to be named a finalist.

PAEMST is the highest recognition a mathematics or science teacher may receive for exemplary teaching in the United States.

Know Your STARS — Bonnie McClure

Click to learn more about 2017 STARS Teacher of the Year Bonnie McClure from Richland Elementary School.

Support EiE on North Texas Giving Day

This Thursday is North Texas Giving Day, and the Excellence in Education Foundation is joining the excitement. All contributions made to the RISD Excellence in Education Foundation on North Texas Giving Day will receive matching donations!

It’s a great time to support the EiE Foundation — which exists solely to support the students and staff of Richardson ISD.

Participate in North Texas Giving Day here, (and be sure to type in RISD Excellence in Education Foundation).

Hurricane Relief T Shirts Still Available

Relief is still needed on the Texas coast for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

Stop by the RISD Administration Building and support affected families through the purchase of a #Can’tStopLove T Shirt for $10.

Sizes XL, L and S are still available. The RISD Administration Building is located at 400 S. Greenville Ave. and open school days from 8:00 am — 4:30 pm. (Fridays until 4 pm).

District Calendar

September 25 — Board Work Session

October 2 — Regular Board Meeting

October 6 — Student Holiday/Staff Development

October 9 — Student & Staff Holiday

October 20 — First Grading Period Ends

Upcoming Meetings, Events & Fundraisers

Reminders

Click to view the 2017–18 Student Academic Calendar, formatted for printing.

Have questions about your junior high or high school student’s Chromebook? Click to visit the 1:1 initiative parent resource site — We Grow.

Have a Question About RISD?

We’re glad you asked!

From time to time, students, parents, residents or taxpayers have questions about information or issues related to RISD, but aren’t sure who to ask or where to go for information. We’re Glad You Asked is a feature on the RISD website that lets stakeholders ask questions about anything related to RISD, and you’ll receive an emailed response from the appropriate RISD staff member. Some questions & answers may be featured in district publications.

Simply visit risd.org/gladyouasked to use this new feature.

Richardson ISD — www.risd.org

400 S. Greenville Ave. | Richardson, TX 75081 US

Originally published at t.e2ma.net.
NodeJS — Using ES Modules Instead of CommonJS
By: Huda Prasetyo
Tags: Nodejs, JavaScript, Backend, Expressjs, API

Interested? Here’s the easy approach to use that kind of code. I assume you already install NodeJS LTS version 14.

1. Init package.json

Make your own project folder to start using ES Modules in your code, name whatever you want, go inside that folder, and start type this command in your terminal or CMD.

npm init -y

The code above is for generating your entry point for your application. Here’s the example of the code when you first generate the first package.json.

Fresh Package JSON

So, to start using the ES Module to your app it’s quite simple, you just add this code to your package.json.

That’s it? yaa, you just add that "type": "module” and you ready to roll.

There are a couple of things to watch in here, read the next step.

2. Import Schema

The common way to import in ES Module is pretty simple, right? just like this example.

Common ES module import syntax

There’s nothing wrong with that code. But, when you use it in the NodeJS app, you must do this.

Node Es module import syntax

Yep, that’s right, you already notice the difference, in NodeJS you must type the file format to import in NodeJS. It’s kinda weird, but it’s the way to use it. Except, if you importing third-party modules, you don't need that file format.

NOTE: If you didn’t use import with the file format, you will get an error!

3. Exporting

The last thing I want to show you when you start using this ES Module in NodeJS is when using export, imagine if you have a folder called utils, in utils folder, there’s a lot of files you must to export to start using in another file, in this case, you want to make an index.js to start point to all file that you want to export. Make sense? If you don’t understand 😁, here’s the simple example code.

I have a utils folder, that contains one file.

exported functions in util folder

To make import simple, you want to make a file called index.js inside the utils folder, so when you want to get those functions, you just point to the folder and get whatever you want.

Here’s a very simple code.

export all things from the file

Okay, make sense right here? the point is, you want to get all exported function inside a file that you already make, to make import easier, you just point to the utils folder and start everything. But, you can’t write your code like this. It makes me confuse when start to work with ES Module in NodeJS 😂.

Not Work — Export all.

That code will not work if you use that. What’s the problem with it? is a quick guess… Yep, that’s right, you must still import the index.js file to work with! I mean, what?!😶

So for the code to work, just like this.

Export all that work

It’s made my back hurt when to start to search for this problem 😁, but there you go. And you can start working with that kind of export.
Consciousness
By: Anna Rozwadowska
Tags: Consciousness, Spirituality, Poetry, Self, Existentialism

It is a rather fine tale, of those who run from their hearts,

engines fueled by the beating of what lies within,

what lies we tell ourselves; consecration of identity.

Stars lay among us, unrestricted by the bourgeoisie,

we lay among ourselves, drinking the fine wine.

Consciousness, here in the modern age, existentialism,

taught are the restrictions in the golden era,

fine lines filling creases in the face; taught.

Consciousness is the better part of non-existence,

where swallows join the wheat stalk,

and birds record their sigh.

It is truly an achievement,

to mark your identity,

and say, you have truly understood.
🚀🚀 3 September 2018 10:00 AM! XRP is ready to trade on Coin Asset
By: Korn Cax
Tags: Coin, Ripple, Coin Asset, Xrp

Invest In The Future Of Blockchain & Cryptocurrency With CoinAsset ®. Our commitment is to assure 'easy-friendly-security' experience for both domestic and international traders.

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How To Know When You’re NOT AT YOUR BEST!!
By: Robin Klammer
Tags: Sick Day, Life, Humorous Life Lessons, Humor, Parenting

How To Know When You’re NOT AT YOUR BEST!!

If it’s not readily apparent…

“man wiping mouse with tissue paper” by Brittany Colette on Unsplash

So if you’ve been following me the last week or so, you know that I’ve been sick as a dog…as has my son and his dad.Actually I would have preferred to be a dog this week…especially if it was Krieger!! KD Murray. Krieger is a lucky dog for sure to have KD as his human mom.

It’s no secret that schools are amongst the worst culprits for germs and illnesses being spread like wildfire. Like tumbleweed being set afire… the rest is history.

Tis the season right?

Well, it’s quite evident that I am a scary mess when I’m sick. Hell hath no fury upon those who ask for anything when I’m sick.

When my brain is clogged with mucus, my sinuses are on fire, nose running… you get the picture.

It doesn’t bode well for me WW Boot camp just started a week prior, and I was running behind…However, the ideas were still running quite fluidly, along with my nose and stomach. I’ll spare you the gorey details though.

Suffice it to say, I felt like death warmed over.

After taking my son to the doctor, I had to go to the school as I had previously committed to volunteering, though not with the kids.

I SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE… feeling the way I did.

I’m on the school council this year,and I didn’t want to bail on the first request from the principal. I quite like my son’s school and volunteer there often. The teachers and staff are easy going and friendly, and some are quite funny too. My kind of people.

I had to tally up the money from the hotdog day. I thought, how hard could it be?! Evidently quite difficult, when not at your best, and to be honest, math and I are longtime foes.

For all intents and purposes, I may as well have been dealing in foreign currency, and English at that point was, “All Greek to me”, since I was doped up on cold meds and every so often my stomach would protest…and I would pray to the potty gods to have mercy on my soul.

For the life of me, NOTHING MADE ANY SENSE!

It may very well have been better for the other lady, had I not gone in.

Fortunately, the lady I was working with, was ever so gracious and patient. She was not in the least bit condescending, as I apologized for my apparent ineptitude at that moment.

Thankfully, we have worked together before,so we are not total strangers, and she was understanding, as I cracked jokes about being ADD amongst other things.

It’s quite nice to be around people who accept you as you are, and there’s not a facade of pretence.

As for my loved ones: They have seen me at my best and worst.

They know that I’m inherently absent minded and clumsy, however, I do try to make up for my short comings, of which there are plenty, with my abundant humor.

So thank you to all those who like me the way I am, and to my friends and followers here on Medium!
Selection in Relation to Sex
By: Sara Grace Stasi
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Poetry, Birds, David Attenborough, Nature Poetry

In a BBC special featuring

the mysterious mating dance

of birds of paradise,

tropical jewel-colored

birds that thrive

in the steaming jungles

of New Guinea and Australia,

David Attenborough narrates

the elaborate process

of sexual selection.

Here’s the black sicklebill

a sleek ebony bird, his yellow eye

piercing the camera

as he swings his wings

up over his head

in one smooth practiced motion.

He’s warming up, David explains,

before the camera draws back

and we can see the full spectacle

of this bird, his long jet tail

swooping away from his perch

on a broken tree branch

rising up from the trunk like a fountain.

Then, with a final flourish, where there was a bird

there is now a kite, a cobra’s floating hood.

He has pressed his wings together

above his head to form a tide, a fan,

a fish writhing and twisting in a stream

where there was a bird there is now

a fluttering ribbon of love.

He lowers his wings and is a bird again.

He repeats this ritual

on his chosen post

several times a day until

he attracts a mate. Not only that,

but he has practiced each element

of this intricate dance

day after day for years,

since before he even had

the right equipment.

Now he assembles and displays

all of his worldly knowledge

he demonstrates his glorious virility

he hopes to secure his legacy

he wants his dance to be danced

by each black sicklebill for generations.

Evolution dictates

that form precedes function

Darwin believed that

beauty itself

is appreciated,

the energy expended to rise with a flourish

to transform ourselves in the name of desire

to capture the eyes of our lover.

We must have beauty to survive.

Unlike those birds, you

do not have to wear a crown

of brightly colored feathers

or transform yourself into a fan or flower

for me to look your way.
Bridge Academy- Alpha Cohort Roundup 🎓
By: Ankit Kumar Singh
Tags: Ethereum, Blockstack, Bridge Academy, Crypto, Blockchain

Bridge Academy Winter 18' Fellows

Bridge Academy- Alpha Cohort Roundup 🎓

A summary from the Inaugural Bridge Academy *Alpha* Cohort.

In late 2018, we started Bridge.Academy, as an initiative for talented developers to gain expertise, exposure, and opportunities to break into the blockchain industry.

The question we were looking to answer was:

Could we take developers from all over the world and give them the fundamental building blocks to build decentralized applications using blockchain technology in 3 months?

Our Co-founder and CEO, Adam Breckler has written more in detail about why we are building Bridge here:

In this blog post, we do a roundup of the top 10 projects that we saw in our first cohort at Bridge Academy.

Let’s go!
Express route param regex validation
By: Sean Wragg
Tags: Expressjs, Nodejs, Technology

The punchline here is that the docs actually provide all the information needed but, when you’re glancing for a quick overview in how their API works, it can be very easy to miss (and apparently I’m not the only one who feels that way).

The quick and dirty:

express 4.11

Essentially the following snippet would need to be run prior to leveraging the router.param(fn) method if you're using express <= 4.11 . (you can use app instead of router)

router.param(function(name, fn) {

if (fn instanceof RegExp) {

return function(req, res, next, val) {

var captures;

if (captures = fn.exec(String(val))) {

req.params[name] = captures;

next();

} else {

next('route');

}

}

}

});

This then grants you the ability to validate route params using the following:

// validation rule for id: should be one or more digits

router.param('id', /^\d+$/);



router.get('/user/:id', function(req, res) {

res.send('user ' + req.params.id);

});

express 4.12

If you’re using express >= 4.12 you can accomplish the same without the need of router.param(fn) using the following. In fact, the pre 4.12 example above will pop a deprecation warning.

app.get('/user/:userId([0-9]+)', fn);

While this is stated in the doc, it is quite easy to miss. Hopefully this helps clear things up for those that skim the docs as I did.
Youth Make Up Staggering Portion of Florida’s Homeless Population
By: Orlando Free Press
Tags: Homelessness, Orlando, At Risk Youth, Affordable Housing, Youth Homelessness

Photo by Ev

by Hayley Michelle Clemmer | The Florida Free Press

ORLANDO — They might not be holding cardboard signs asking for money or sleeping on sidewalks, but youth represent a significant percentage of the homeless population in Florida.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reports that 95,167 Florida students experienced homelessness during the 2017–2018 school year. Out of this number, 7,839 were unaccompanied, meaning they were living without adult care or supervision. The definition of youth includes ages 13–24.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, many unaccompanied youth flee from their families because of instability at home, which is often fueled by abuse or parental drug addiction. Others run away or are kicked out by disapproving parents due to teen pregnancy or because they come out as, gay, lesbian or transgender.

Today, the exact number of unaccompanied homeless youth in Orlando is hard to determine. Many seek to stay hidden out of embarrassment or fear of being apprehended by police. While some sleep in cars, abandoned buildings or on a friend’s couch for the night, others are sexually exploited in exchange for a “safe place” to stay.

Homeless youth who still live with their families are often in this situation due to a lack of affordable housing options in Florida. Hurricane devastation in recent years has further exacerbated the living situations of many low-income residents.

Although most still attend school, homeless students — who frequently move between motels, friends’ houses and temporary shelters — struggle to achieve academic success.

“A University of Florida study shows these students will struggle in school and have lower education attainment,” writes Shannon Nazworth, the chairperson for the Florida Council on Homelessness in her 2019 report. “And, if not properly assisted, these students are at-risk of falling into literal homelessness, which will have life-long impacts on the children, their families and the communities in which they live.”

As Nazworth suggests, there is a particular urgency to address the problem of youth homelessness.

“The single most common trait of older homeless adults is that they were once homeless children,” Matthew Morton, a research specialist in youth development and homelessness from the University of Chicago, told the Orlando Sentinel.

Several agencies exist to help at-risk young people, but the needs often overwhelm the available resources. Because of this imbalance, homeless youth remain a largely underserved population.

Covenant House, an international organization that houses homeless and at-risk youth, is one of the major care providers for this demographic in Orlando. In recent years, however, Covenant House Orlando reduced its available beds from 48 to 25 due to budget cuts. The organization’s operations are also subsidized by the Fort Lauderdale location, since they cannot raise enough funds locally.
The Power of Partnership in Marketing
By: Umna Khan
Tags: Partnerships, Startup, Marketing

“Two hands are better than one.”

“Work smart, not hard.”

You’ve heard those phrases time and time again in different settings and context. Whichever way you choose to phrase it, growing and sustaining anything on your own is rarely the most efficient way of doing things. The same goes for your business in the marketplace.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur launching a startup or a part of a multi-million dollar company transacting worldwide, combining forces is often essential for your continued success. That is why almost all lucrative companies and brands wisely choose to engage in marketing partnerships.

Successful marketing partnerships are not just random pairings — they’re strategic alliances based on integrating similar values, goals and practices of each company.

The recipe for a perfect partnership is simple, but every ingredient counts. Its best to have the following:

A clear understanding of each other’s goals and responsibilities

Similar or complementing company values

An equal amount of resources to provide

A mutual benefit for each partner

Partnering can allow incremental exposure and customer acquisition within ideal audiences that cannot be reached independently. A partnership should be a platform for both companies to exchange innovative expertise and deliver substantial results — give and take should always be kept at a balance.

Here’s what Uber does

Let’s take a look at Uber for example — a company notorious for their groundbreaking global partnership marketing efforts. As a multibillion dollar company that operates in 400 cities with over 8 million active users, it’s safe to say they have a solid strategy locked down. Uber has only reached the pinnacle of its success, however, by continuously climbing the partnership ladder. The ridesharing company has managed to always stay at the forefront of consumer attention while setting the pace for a new generation of brand marketing.

Uber has used its own reputable brand identity to give exposure to partner companies whether it’s in a national movie campaign or global music launches. In turn, those companies have contributed their services that allow Uber to expand its platform in innovative ways. Most recently, Uber partnered with Yext — a technology company that helps businesses manage location information across platforms — to enable customers around the world to book a ride to a store directly from the retailer’s website. This reflects both companies’ shared mission, which is “to help people go places.” Yext’s integration with Uber API also offers businesses the ability to engage with those customers by providing branded in-app experiences while they are en route.

Yes, you heard that right. So not only are Uber and Yext benefiting from the exposure to complementary demographics (shopaholics, people who are car-less) in this joint venture, but so are many other retail stores, restaurants and companies that get to access and engage with Uber’s sizable user base — the ultimate brand marketing power pair.
Signs Your Relationship Will Last
By: Annie Tanasugarn
Tags: Relationships, Life, Advice, Love, Dating

What is Adversity?

Adversity in a relationship can be seen as a soft-spot or a vulnerability. Adversity triggers our emotions, usually the ones we’d rather not deal with like anger, fear, sadness or jealousy.

No relationship is without its fair share of adversity. Some relationships will have more adversity based on their relationship dynamics while others may see less of it.

While the level of adversity is a critical factor for any relationship, what is more important than how much adversity there is, is how effectively adversity is resolved in the relationship.

. . . Or whether it’s not.

The Spectrum of Adversity

Relationship problems, as with many things in life, are analyzed on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum, we see relationship issues as us being further removed from the problem, because it may not directly affect us.

For example, if our partner lost their relative, our goals as their partner may include emotionally supporting them by providing a safe space, being there for them to talk to, and giving time to sort out their emotions.

On the flip side, if our parents were divorcing, our partner may provide us a shoulder to cry on, or be supportive of us if we need someone to talk to or be understanding if we need a few days to be with our parents.

These examples are often easier for partners to be supportive and understanding when faced with this type of relationship adversity because only one partner is directly affected at one time.

As we move along the spectrum, some problems become less abstract and more personal, meaning they can affect both partners in the relationship at the same time.

This is where adversity usually hits us below the belt.

For example, if you decide to move out of state for a career opportunity, this choice directly affects you and your partner and represents the potential for adversity in the relationship.

What if your partner doesn’t want to move?

Or, what if you’re going to make more money than them? Will they be supportive?

What if your friends and families are here and you won’t know anyone out of state? How does this affect your choices in moving?
Migrants in Oman no longer account for majority of new coronavirus cases
By: Brian Whitaker
Tags: Covid 19, Oman, Migrants, Coronavirus

New Covid-19 cases in Oman over the last three months. Seven-day rolling average, day by day.

During the last two weeks the Gulf state of Oman has seen a shift in the pattern of its coronavirus epidemic. Previously, most of the new infections were occurring among foreigners — predominantly migrant workers from poor countries. That has now changed and the majority of new cases are Omani citizens.

Oman has recorded more than 45,000 cases since the outbreak began — almost one-third of them in the past fortnight. Describing the latest surge as “annoying, deplorable and frightful”, last week the health minister lambasted members of the public for ignoring safety precautions.

“There is one person who went to work and shook hands with all his colleagues, and then he testified that his wife was infected with Covid-19. What can we call this behaviour?” he said.

There also appears to be a problem with employers failing to report suspected cases among their workforce — presumably to avoid disruption of their business — and the authorities are now threatening to carry out spot checks, with additional penalties for violations.

Oman, with a five-million population, currently has almost 18,000 active cases and health services are coming under pressure. They are said to be coping at present but in the expectation of further increases plans were announced last week for a new field hospital with 250–300 beds.

Covid-19 first arrived in Oman towards the end of February with travellers returning from Iran. The authorities took swift preventive action and for a while their efforts seemed to be paying off.

That changed in mid-April when large numbers of cases began appearing among Oman’s expatriate communities whose cramped living conditions made them especially susceptible to infection. Expatriates, mainly Indian and Bangladeshi migrant workers, form a minority of Oman’s population — around 43% — but account for 53% of the new cases recorded since mid-April.

Since April 16 the health ministry has reported separate figures for Omanis and non-Omanis in its daily updates ( see spreadsheet).

Analysis of these over the last eleven weeks shows that in the first week Omani citizens accounted for only 36% of new cases. During the ensuing eight weeks the figure never rose above 45%.

It was not until the week before last that Omani cases outnumbered non-Omanis cases for the first time, and a week later they have now reached 65%.

Graph shows percentage of Omani citizens among new Covid-19 cases recorded in Oman over the last eleven weeks

Further information:

Covid-19 in Oman

Middle East coronavirus updates

Covid-19 statistics for Middle East
Driving Forces of Cybersecurity Management
By: Eric Vanderburg
Tags: Driving Forces, Cybersecurity

Driving forces are the elements in an industry that cause major changes in an industry’s structure and competitive environment. Driving forces are important to understand for cybersecurity because they will prompt some change in the organization in response to them. Due to driving forces, industry participants will drastically have to alter their actions. Driving forces fit into some of the following categories: Technology, Regulation, Societal forces, Suppliers, and Labor.

For example, for cybersecurity, technology driving forces include the software and hardware that is released to solve business problems and address specific security concerns such as encryption software, token authenticators, or password cracking tools. Driving regulatory forces in cybersecurity include privacy, intellectual property, or safety regulation. Societal forces in cybersecurity include the perception of privacy and the pressure society at large applies to companies to keep data secure. Customers may demand some minimum standard in cybersecurity to continue working as a supplier to the customer. This is most common when working for government organizations or government contractors. Lastly, labor may include the importance the average employee places on cybersecurity. I have placed this in a table for easy reference.

Driving Force Cybersecurity Examples Technology Encryption software, token authenticators, password cracking tools Regulatory Privacy, intellectual property, or safety regulations Societal Forces Perception of privacy, expectation people have for companies to keep their data secure Supplier Customer cybersecurity requirements Labor Employee views on the importance of cybersecurity

Security managers must be aware of an industry’s driving forces to make good strategies because of the large impact driving forces have in the industry. Strategies must be feasible given the expected forces and should take advantage of opportunities these forces may bring about.
FlutterForce — #Week 99. Weekly Flutter Resources
By: Ümit Duran
Tags: Flutter App Development, Dart, Flutter Widget, Flutter, Flutter Ui

- Retrofit — The easiest way to call Rest APIs in Flutter

Flutter contains Networking and JSON serialization modules. For the small JSON data, we still need to write much more boilerplate code as Dart does not support reflection.

I hope you all are aware of Android/iOS, you may know a few libraries like Retrofit and Alamofire. We use network calls in almost every application they are now a crucial part of application functioning. These libraries take care of all the data parsing and that makes API calling a cakewalk.

In this content, we are going to learn how to use the Retrofit library in Flutter by Hetashree Bharadwaj
As the women & children pass by
By: Dan Mccarthy
Tags: Observing, Photography

At a distance, they seemed draped in joyful gossamer. When they came close, they clopped like anxious carriage horses. The children were afflicted with brittle laughter. Not even Spring’s rolicing dappled sunlight could banish the sorrow.
Gender Identity Laws Endanger our Children and Support Sex Offenders
By: The Huevos
Tags: LGBTQ, Transgender, Legislation

By El Contra Bermudez

Houston (Texas, believe it or not) is voting to make it illegal to deny “transgenders” access to public bathrooms based on their “gender identity”.

That means if you’re at a restaurant and some creepy dude wants to use the women’s room, it’s illegal to deny him access as long as he “identifies” as a woman. If you’re 10 year old daughter is in there, tough shit. You have no right to place her safety above the “civil rights” of men who think (or say they think) they’re a chick. He’s going in and you can’t do a damn thing to stop him.

Seriously, do you want this alone in the bathroom with you daughter so it can “feel” good about its “gender fluidity”?

Some gender fluid guy who definitely does not need to be in a public bathroom with my 15 year old daughter

This proposition is so obviously ridiculous it’s hard to even describe it in words, but there are enough raving liberal nut jobs out there that it will get votes. If you live in Houston, here’s some sound advice to hopefully motivate you to get out there in November and VOTE NO ON PROP 1.

From Stopsexoffenders.com (obviously a right wing conspiracy site),

Parents have unknowingly sent their children into potentially dangerous situations. We like to think of our world as mostly safe, with only a few potentially dangerous situations from which to steer clear. But today’s world is not like the world when we were children. We cannot let our children walk home from school alone or play in the nearby woods without fear. We can’t even let them play unsupervised in a video game arcade or allow the teenager down the street to baby-sit without carefully following up on personal references. From baby-sitters to public bathrooms, parents have unwittingly helped their children to be victimized. One devastated grandmother told us a story of how a trusted male family friend, who often baby-sat her grandson, was found to have been abusing the child at every opportunity. Public restrooms are among the most dangerous places you can send a child alone. It gives child molesters easy access to their victims, the privacy to commit their act, and the ability to get out and get lost in a crowd. (One side note about public restrooms: In a report from a Dallas policeman, one of the local gang initiation rites involved waiting in a mall bathroom for the next young boy to walk in alone and then cut off his penis; the next boy to walk in was eight years old.) The bottom line: parents today have to take every precaution to ensure that their children’s safety and innocence is not compromised in a world that can be less than kind.

Help stop this madness and share this post. Respond to #HERO on Twitter and make sure our children’s safety comes before the cause of enabling mental illness.

visit our blog at www.thehuevos.com!
This Girl is a Mess
By: Jessi Roman
Tags: Becoming, Poetry, Self, Writing, Women

This girl is a mess

Scattered and spilt across the web

A life lived in brokenness

Searching for surrender

So here she shall pour it all out

Her very soul onto a virtual page

Diary of becoming

In hopes of dying to self

Stepping out from "I"s and "me"s

This girl

Who used to be a Jessi

Searching for what she may become
Four One-Minute Ways to Help You Be More Productive on Slack
By: Bart Kowalczyk
Tags: Communication, Communication Tools, Productivity, Workflow Automation, Slack

I discovered these during my recent attempts to make Slack more usable. None of these requires configuring bots or adding heavy integrations, so after reading these articles you’ll be ready to use these tips in no time.

Keyword-based notifications

This one is by far the best power move that I discovered on Slack to this day.

How?

Click on your avatar in the top right corner of the Slack app Go to Preferences On the left, choose Notifications from the menu Go to My Keywords section Type in a comma-separated list of phrases that, when used by someone in a channel that you are a member of, should trigger a notification

Why?

I have so many channels on my list that it’s consistently a challenge for me to catch up on what’s going on in all of them. I have made amends with the fact that I won’t be able to stay up to date with all of them and still be able to do some meaningful work during my workday, unless I extend it to at least 12 or 16 hours.

On the other hand, I often go through that list and remove myself from a channel if it is outdated or not needed anymore, so the list I end up with is more or less the list I have to have. Not every conversation on these channels will be of interest to me, so to make sure I get notified about things that really matter to me, I’ve set up a list of keywords that includes:

Names of my current and upcoming projects

Name of team

My name

Name of the technologies unique to or heavily used by my team

Most characteristic keywords that correspond to any of the above

I try to keep the list as short as possible (to not get too many notifications about things that don’t bring much value) but when in doubt, I add a keyword and evaluate if it was needed later on. If I get spammed too much about it without much value, I would remove it from the list.
Active Medium Publications About Poetry
By: Casey Botticello
Tags: Creative Writing, Poetry, Poem, Haiku, Writing

— Casey Botticello

Thanks for reading this article! Leave a comment below if you have any questions. Be sure to sign up for the Active Publications, to get the latest updates on new Medium publications accepting writers!

If you liked this article, here are some other articles you may enjoy:

Casey Botticello is a partner at Black Edge Consulting. Black Edge Consulting is a strategic communications firm, specializing in online reputation management, digital marketing, and crisis management. Prior to founding Black Edge Consulting, he worked for BGR Group, a bipartisan lobbying and strategic communications firm.

Casey is the founder of the Cryptocurrency Alliance, a Super PAC dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain advocacy. He is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania, where he received his B.A. in Urban Studies.