fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Enterprise Analytics
Tags: Enterprise Analytics, Oracle Cloud, Data Driven Decisions, Analytics, Data

New analytical capabilities and tools are mushrooming every day. Almost every aspect of our day-to-day life personal and professional is digitally disrupted.

The god and analytics share a common quality of being omnipresent. Analytics is everywhere — in retail, sports, politics, health sciences and agriculture (Alas that cow there, she doesn’t know of her loss of privacy — Disruption in every sense) .

Enterprises are no exception to this phenomenon, they are using data and analytics not only to improve business performance, but also to implement change by transformation. Enterprises today are powered with INSIGHTS to drive their strategy and help restructure themselves.

What is Enterprise Analytics?

Enterprise analytics is the process of using analytics to analyse and process data used by an organisation for all its functions. The insights generated are actively used to support decision making at all levels within an enterprise. We even have a new term analytics-driven-management-culture.

Beneath all the hype and insane levels of inspiration for analytics, the reality is most enterprises of all shapes and sizes are struggling to transform their data into actionable insights and drive growth.

Some challenges in the way of Enterprise Analytics -

1. It is hard work to understand enterprise wide data —

Monitoring business processes to assess data fitness in terms of accuracy, timeliness, completeness, reliability, consistency etc.

2. Analytics and data science resource scarcity and their ability to use the skills effectively.

3. Eliminating data silos and the need for multiple analytics platforms.

And because the whole (Enterprise) is greater than the sum of its parts (departments/siloed functions). Some recommendations for the way forward -

1. Measure only what truly matters, identify key drivers of growth and align key metrics.

2. Optimising/redesigning data driven decision-making processes to accommodate new insights.

3. Introduce an enterprise-wide change management strategy to promote an analytics culture. (Metrics, analytics, insights can only help if people within an enterprise adopts them)

4. Strong commitment and executive sponsorship to communicate and endorse enterprise analytics vision and goals.

With the power of today’s technology and open-to-experiment business culture — analytics has managed to move from being Somewhere to Everywhere.

Hopefully, this change powered by analytics will drive enterprises closer to their ultimate objective.
👓Joey👓
By: Rolli, Https, Ko-Fi.Com Rolliwrites
Tags: Mental Health, Fiction Friday, Family, Fiction, Short Story

Illustration by Rolli

Mom pushed me to Joey’s headstone. Then she dropped herself like a garbage bag and started bawling.

I wheeled around a bit. Cemeteries are depressing. Some of the grave names are hilarious. Adolph Lipshitz. I actually laughed.

Ten minutes later, it takes her that long to drain, I wheeled back. Mom was standing up.

“Do you want to say something?”

I didn’t say anything.

“He’s your brother.”

“Your only brother.”

“You didn’t even bring your flowers.”

“Ma. I’m sorry. I know how much he loved plastic flowers from the dollar store.”

Mom dropped her head like an axe. Then she picked it up slowly and said slowly:

“You sound exactly like your brother.”

She looked at me.

“Do you want to end up like him?”

I glanced at his headstone. Joseph Vitali — Happy at Last.

“Do you?”

I looked up. I searched for the cloud that resembled a normal family.

“Do you?”

I thought about it. I thought about it for a long time.
Australian Government loses majority as High Court disqualifies deputy Prime Minister
By: Roydon Ng
Tags: Roydon Ng, Politics, News, Barnaby Joyce, Australia

D-day for the ‘Citizenship Seven’ has arrived for the Australian politicians taken to the High Court over their eligibility to stand in Parliament.

The seven politicians caught up in the dual citizenship saga. (AAP, composite by Stephanie Preston)

In a major ruling, the High Court has found that deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce to be ineligible due to his New Zealand citizenship

The High Court has also disqualified Greens senator Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and Nationals senator Fiona Nash for dual citizenship.

Under Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, members of Parliament are not permitted to be dual citizens.

Nationals Matt Canavan and South Australian Nick Xenophon have been cleared by the High Court paving the way for the Nationals senator to return. Senator Xenophon has already announced his intention to enter state politics prior to today’s ruling.

Image: Dan Smith/ABC

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s coalition government has now lost its majority with a by-election to be held in early December in Barnaby Joyce’s seat of New England.

Although Mr Joyce is expected to face a run off against former member Tony Windsor, the former deputy Prime Minister is favourite to return to Parliament.

Greens Leader Richard Di Natale has commended Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters for resigning as soon as they became aware of their dual citizenship status.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek has announced that the opposition will now seek consider its legal options in regards to decisions made by disqualified politicians.
My 5 work principles
Tags: Front End Development, Design, Work Ethic, UX Design, Web Development

Now that I’m close to having 20 years of experience (shhhh 🙊) as a designer and front-end developer, I’m realizing that I’m constantly operating based on a few principles. Here there are — in no particular order — in case you’re looking for inspiration.

1. Use the right tool for the right job.

A good tool is designed to be good for a few use cases only. That means:

- don’t try to use the same tool everywhere just because it works wonders in one instance. From Sketch to React, you will only exhaust and distort this resource if you keep on using it over and over (oh hello jQuery!).

- a tool that tries to do it all will ultimately fail. Did you know that you can write HMTL files in Microsoft Word???

- if you don’t think much of a tool, maybe it’s because you’re not its targeted audience. Finding the right tool for your next project doesn’t mean that you have to issue a death sentence to everything that’s not 100% perfect for your specific need.

2. Don’t stare at a screen and you’ll be more creative.

Whether I’m designing or developing, a good practice is to start simple: paper and a (mechanical) pencil. No distractions, no notifications and no how would I bring to life this idea that I have in mind with this tool? Maybe if I check this website…you know where this ends.

It helps to focus on the essential and not dive into details at the start.

3. Spend more time learning the basics.

The more I advance in my career, the more I’m only interested in the design principles and programming languages and less by learning tools and frameworks. Why, you ask?

Because tools and frameworks change all the time, but the principles and languages behind them stay very much the same. Because you better and more quickly understand those tools and frameworks when you know what they’re built upon.

4. Follow the rule of least power.

Check out the Wikipedia article if you need a definition. I see so many developers rushing out to find powerful frameworks to reinvent the wheel when it was already included in simple semantic HTML tags and CSS properties.

5. Beware of trends.

So many things to learn, so little time. When is it wise to invest time and pay attention to a new tool/methodology/framework? There’s a sweet spot when it starts to be used and before it’s so popular that it’s becoming problematic to not know it. I would argue that if you’re like me with minimal free time (i.e. have other interests in life), you need to keep an eye on all those things, but really invest time when you might be using them in an actual professional project. They come and go so fast.

Also — and this is particularly true in Silicon Valley — don’t be afraid to be uncool by using an older framework when you need little things like speed of execution, reliability and stability in production.

I hope you found these helpful. What are some of your work principles?
休業日記 047 — 那些擺攤遇到的人們（八）. ooff: 047
By: 曼努 Manzoo
Tags: Work, Ooff, Design, Writing, Life

in Both Sides of the Table
Misperception of planning
Tags: Software Development, Life

“Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails. Throw away the plan.”
The “You Had Me at Hello” Content Opening
By: Jeff Herring
Tags: Content Marketing, Content Creation, Writing, Content, Content Strategy

Profitable Content Tweaks

The “You Had Me at Hello” Content Opening

Why not start strong?

ImgFlip with Permission

Mastering content creation is the beginning of online success. So many great things come from you creating great quality content.

And online success is why you’re reading this article, right?

One of the big challenges is that so many online entrepreneurs begin their content in a very weak fashion. You want to start out strong. This keeps your prospect consuming your content all the way to the call to action at the end.

Here’s how:

Your Content: Starting Strong

Once you have attracted your prospects with a compelling title and strong description, the next thing you want to do is start out strong and capture your prospect’s attention.

The last thing you want to do is start out in such a way that chases away or bores your prospect.

If the job of the title and description is to get your prospect to open up your content, then the job of the content opening is to get them to want to consume the entire content.

You want to get them from the beginning to the end of your content.

The “You Had Me at Hello” Opening

There are 2 ways to do this with the “You Had Me at Hello” opening.

Number one: Keyword-Rich Absolute Truth. Use keywords right away by telling them something they already know to be true so they agree with you.

Example: “Profitable Content Conversion is where the money is made online. This is how you get more prospects and profits.”

Number two: A Connection Magnet. This is like in a play or the movies when someone talks right to the audience. You are communicating directly to the prospect and a connection is created.

Example: “And you do want more prospects and profits, right?”

This such a different opening to your content than I see most people do. And as you’ll hear me say often, you don’t want to do what most people do.

Why? Because most people are broke.

Open your content with one or both of these strategies and you’ll get more prospects consuming your content.

Pixabay with Permission

Side Note: Since you’ve made it to “almost the end of the article” check out how this article opened ;-)

Bonus Tip — The best and most powerful way to create content every day is to use content creation templates.

And guess what? I just so happen to have 21 fresh content ideas for you right here

Pixabay with Permission and Author

Brought to you by Jeff Herring — dedicated to helping you unleash and cash in on your content.
A Newsletter Isn’t a Strategy, It’s a Tactic
By: Kirsty Hutton
Tags: Email Marketing, Content Marketing, Social Media, Email, Marketing

What’s Replacing Emails?

With the slow death of the email newsletter, what will take its place in the marketing world? Firstly, if 20% of recipients are still opening emails, and you’re using the content generated for other parts of your strategy, emails still have a place in marketing. It’s not difficult to generate good looking emails linking to interesting content for those who are still consuming information that way.

But to avoid blowing your marketing budget, anything used in an email needs to be used somewhere else too. In fact, your marketing messages need to appear in many places and be seen a number of times before they have an impact.

Some people see text messaging as the next big thing, but I feel that will be short-lived. I already ignore text messages that are sent from businesses, and I can’t remember the last time I actually clicked a link in a marketing text to see what they were actually offering. I could be wrong, and there could be a golden time for text-message-marketing, but I don’t think it’ll be the gold star tactic.

Social media seems like it’s here to stay, so it’s a good idea to share your message where people already have their attention. That means breaking it down into thumb-stopping posts and building on your profile and reputation.

Businesses who are relying on emails will continue to struggle to stand out, but combining showing up in inboxes with appearing on social media, and even in targeted display ads, they might have an impact.

Sending emails is easy, and everyone is doing it — which is why they’ve lost their value. Clever marketers are taking a broader approach to marketing, and more importantly, remaining agile and awake to the changes in customer behaviour and attention.
5 Secrets to Get Me to Pay for Your Products
By: Julia Tsoi
Tags: Apps, Platform, Design, Digital, Marketing

5 Secrets to Get Me to Pay for Your Products

I might be an annoying user, but I do pay if you touch on these things

Photo by Shane on Unsplash

In my previous article, I wrote about why I start paying for apps. It talks about how much I hate advertisement, and my desire to get the advanced features of the apps. And this month, I newly joined Busuu and Grammarly for their premium membership.

Interestingly, I found there are five key considerations that I examine during my decision.
Paving the Way for Autonomous Mobility — Our Portfolio Company Apex.AI is Hiring
By: Toyota Ai Ventures
Tags: Mobility, Careers, Autonomous Cars, Software Development, Jobs

Senior Tools Engineer (Palo Alto, CA): Apex.AI is currently looking for a senior engineer to help build new tools that support the company’s DevOps, QA, and Tooling efforts. This role is perfectly suited for candidates who like to work independently, while contributing to the short- and long-term goals of a tightly-knit engineering team.

As the Senior Tools Engineer, you will build and maintain a variety of tools for deployment, monitoring, and operations. You’ll also research and implement frameworks for various levels of testing, and periodically help with general QA tasks. As Apex.AI grows, you will be responsible for scaling the existing tools and solutions, as well as supporting new internal use cases.

To qualify, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, math, physics, or a similar field, and at least three years of experience with tools, DevOps, testing and/or quality assurance. You’ll also need a deep understanding of Linux systems, C++, and excellent scripting skills with Python and Bash. A drive to implement robust and reliable software is also important, as is a strong work ethic and research skills. Due to the seniority of this position, you’ll be expected to propose new solutions to existing problems and present them to internal stakeholders, requiring you to have exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
The Echo #29
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency

Paradigm is an investment firm focused on blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and cryptonetworks shaping data economy and financial industry since 2013.

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Ask Baba Yaga: How Can I Stop Craving Male Attention?
By: Taisia Kitaiskaia
Tags: Ask Baba Yaga, Advice

Dear Baba Yaga,

I think I must crave male attention too much. I fear that, without it, I would feel invisible.

BABA YAGA:

When you seek others this way, you are invisible nonetheless. Yr shawl is covered in mirrors in which others admire themselves; this is why they greet you so passionately. It is good to be seen, but it is better to see. Find a being to look hard into, & you will see yrself and what is more than you.

Previously: How Do I Overcome My Guilt?

Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet and writer living in Austin. She’s taking questions on behalf of Baba Yaga at askbabayaga [at] gmail.com.

Illustration of Baba Yaga’s hut by Katy Horan.
Peer Coaching: Emotional Agility, Psychological Safety, Experiential Learning
By: Andreas Holmer
Tags: People, Block, David, Hurst, Imperative

Each week I share three ideas for how to make work better. And this week the topic is peer coaching — the process through which two people help each other learn and grow.

Let’s quickly define the terms:

Peers are people equal with or of the experience as you. They need not be from the same profession, however, meaning a Sr. Designer and a Sr. Engineer are peers.

Coaching is about helping the others help themsevles. Unlike instruction and mentoring, it does not seek to provide specific answers. It serves only to guide the process.

Here’s why it’s important:
My 2nd TEDx Talk is Live and it’s NOT about Detours…(or is it?)
By: Amy Oestreicher
Tags: Life Lessons, Inspiration, Speaking, Ted, Tedx

My 2nd TEDx Talk is officially live! It’s about transforming trauma — or any adversity — into a warrior’s adventure through creativity, story, wonder, and a bit of the archetypal hero’s journey.

On February 25th, 2017, I gave my 2nd TEDx Talk on how I healed from trauma, through turning myself into Tigerlilly, the warrior, using my “Four Hard Core Skills to Resilience” that I created from my roadmap….the archetypal hero’s journey.

Creativity was a mindset that literally saved my life. REMEMBER…we’re all artists at heart!

I would love to hear from you.

What does creativity mean to you?

Is there a story you’ve read as a child that’s always stayed with you?

After watching my talk, what step are you in on the hero’s journey?

How can you use that pattern to tell you where you need to go next in your life?

I gave this TEDx Talk for VCU’s theme of PATTERNS. Is there a pattern that has guided you? What’s your favorite pattern?

Oh, and what’s one pattern we all have in our lives?

DETOURS! And what’s a DETOURIST…?

Through sharing our stories, we become empowered, inspired and more comfortable with our life circumstances, as well as with who we are. Telling our stories helps us process it — just like you learn something better yourself when you have to teach someone else. Through our shared experience, we gain confidence and become travel-partners on our detours. And traveling is always less scary when we’re not alone.

Even if you’re not ready to share your story, read a book. Hear the stories of others –courageous, adventure stories! We learn by example, so when that difficult detour surprises you, you’ll be able to pull those heroic stories out of your back pocket and follow your own hero’s journey.

Watch my first TEDx Talk on Detours here…

I’d love to hear from you all on the patterns in your own life — and the stories you’ve heard that stick with you today.

As an artist…I love patterns…

Remember — everyone has a story worth sharing. Even if for now, it’s one that’s been told to us.

They’re your secret weapon!

Don’t believe me? Watch the talk !

More art at amyoes.com/galleries

Safe travels, Detourists and Warriors!

Oestreicher is a multidisciplinary teaching artist, TEDx speaker,PTSD Specialist, author, actress and playwright. See more mixed media artwork, learn about her plays, or catch her touring Gutless & Grateful, her one-woman autobiographical musical. Download a free guide to getting a TEDx Talk at www.amyoes.com/discover.
Loving Families
By: Susannah Mackinnie
Tags: Childhood, Family, Poetry, Storytelling, Life

Suntonu Bhadra began this ‘Multiplier of Five’ Poetry Series challenge.

5 (five) poetries in 5 (five) days, each in precisely 25 (twenty-five) words (spaces not counted)

Anyone can join in the challenge, and the theme is up to the writer, or it can be different for different days. If you are up for it, I’ll request to tag me at the endnote of the first poem you write so that I can follow your series too. Best regards.
“Once again, our country has been struck by an Islamist terrorist” Says French President Emmanuel Macron
By: Steven Psaradakis
Tags: Politics, Crime, Society, Terrorism, Islam

Three people were recently stabbed to death in Nice, France, by a 21 year old Tunisian man, named Brahim Aouissaoui, who had just arrived in the country earlier this month. The young man was armed with three knives, and was holding a copy of the Quran, when he attacked all three victims within a local church.

One of the victims, a 60 year old female, was found “virtually beheaded”, according to local officials. Another, a 55 year old male was found with his throat slit. And the final victim, a 40 year old woman, was able to flee to a nearby cafe, but later died of her multiple stab wounds.

The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said that Aouissaoui “repeated endlessly ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greatest)”.

Police were able to shoot and detain Aouissaoui.

In a statement, the French President says “clearly, France is under attack”:
ネットワークデザインスタジオ卒業・修了制作展2016
By: Toshikazu Seto
Tags: Conference

Lecturer of CSIS at the University of Tokyo / Social Geography / Participatory GIS / Neogeography / Volunteered Geographic Information / Qualitative GIS

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Students from DCI, Washington, DC. Celebrating African-American Culture
By: Christopher Rogers
Tags: Teaching, Schools, Racial Justice, BlackLivesMatter, Education

This will serve as a gallery for student work happening all over the country for #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool

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Emotional
By: Femi Nassi -Femiche
Tags: Poetry, Astronomy, Love, Science

I can no longer stand it, I can no longer deal with it.

Make it stop. Make it crack. My brain is broken. It needs replacement. It needs arrangement. Come on’ feel my pain. I’m not lying, I’m just trying. Today I’m not faking, I’m just showing.

But it will not last, as I will not break. I may be collapsing, but I’m still surviving. From a star to a black hole and from light to darkness, I exploded in a supernova. Suck it all, take it all. Come closer, give me all. But I remain strong and deep. I remain free, I remain me. No descriptions, I’m just a self. A tiny dot, in this world of sand.

My story may be sad but at least it’s a story. Not one of the common ones, but the very rare ones. You kiss me once, you feel me always. You touch me once, you love me always. But then I’m gone. Away and lost. Forever lost. In this galaxy of ours. And this cluster of ours.

Farewell amor, my feeling for you will last. Last ten billions years. Just like our sun.

Ha! I’m doomed like you. Switch the keys. Turn the alarm. Move the sock. Hit the wall. One. Two. I’m doomed like you. And in this life, I’m such a fool.
AIFORSE Framework — Software Engineering Enterprise Processes Map (08/Jan/2019)
By: Valentin Grigoryevsky
Tags: DevOps, Software Development, Artificial Intelligence, Framework, Software Engineering

AIFORSE Framework (AIFORSE_xF)

AIFORSE Framework (AIFORSE_xF) is a suite of best practices and standards that enables and utilizes artificial intelligence for effective and efficient software engineering.

It enables you to assess and optimize performance using a proven, data-oriented approach to operations and integration. The practical tools available in AIFORSE_xF help improve end-to-end management of services across complex environments.

AIFORSE_xF is aimed to improve agility in product development, solution delivery, and outsourcing Processes, resulting in increased margins, lower costs, and optimal customer experience. AIFORSE_xF is created and evolved by AIFORSE Community members.

AIFORSE_xF also includes adoption best practices to help companies implement and use the standards and management best practices to ensure ongoing conformance.

Software Engineering Enterprise Processes Map

This is the high-level (L0) Map of all the main processes, related to production and delivery of software solutions by companies of a different type, size and specialization, independent on a software type, chosen methodologies and implementation practices. It can be used by both Product and Outsourcing Software Companies to align internally as well as with Customers, Partners, and Investors on the main Software Engineering related activities, which shall be planned, organized, run and managed.

Main Layers: Software Engineering and Solution Delivery

The main Layers of the AIFORSE Framework Software Engineering Process Map, which are the most related to the Software Production Operations are:

Project Layer

Product Layer

Service Layer

Resource Layer

They define the levels at which Organizations operate, and provide capabilities to synchronize the corresponding activities.

Project Layer

It combines Elements of lower level Layers (Products, Services, Resources) for a defined Customer, Timeline, Scope, and Budget.

Product Layer

It covers any Software with defined Users, Business Cases, and Functional Capabilities.

Service Layer

The Service Layer is responsible for any Operations (Manual or Automated), related to the creation or maintenance of Software (Design, Coding, Testing etc.).

Resource Layer

It holds everything related to used or produced Resources (Logical or Physical), related to the creation, use or maintenance of Software (Workforce, Infrastructure, Artifacts etc.).
Twitter Attempts to Wield the Truth Hammer
By: M.G. Siegler
Tags: Tech, The New York Times, Ben Thompson, Twitter, Journalism

Ben Thompson on the whole Twitter-banning-links fiasco:

The point of this is not to debate whether or not the email story was true, or Hunter Biden’s laptop story. Rather, it’s to establish that while social media publishes everything, from mountains of misinformation and conspiracy theories to critical information about an impending pandemic, making something matter requires more than manufacturing zero marginal cost content. The New York Times has that power by default, while Twitter and Facebook only has that power to the extent they do the opposite of what most expect from them (which is to act as a utility for the conveyance of information).

It’s a great post first and foremost because it clearly points how badly Twitter shit the bed here. They did the exact opposite of what they should have done. They should have left the links up and if and when the story was credibly refuted or called into question, they should have highlighted that element of the story to those sharing it. Instead, by banning the link, they just Streisand Effected it. And worse, just gave the group of conservatives who believe their voices are being silenced on places like Twitter the best ammunition possible.

Second, it goes directly after the ongoing battle between social media v. traditional media in the context of the last election. While social media gets most of the buzz for the outcome of 2016, partially thanks to traditional media continually pushing this narrative, it seems far more likely that traditional media itself was far more effective at altering the course of that election. But by pulling down this link, Twitter made it seem as if they want to be in the business of The New York Times: arbiters of truth, as it were. They shouldn’t want that. And we certainly shouldn’t want that.
🚨Tomorrow will be released the first version of GastroAdvisor
By: Gastroadvisor Official Ico
Tags: ICO, Restaurant, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain

GastroAdvisor will create the world’s first blockchain-certified restaurant review feature. Check our website for info about the project! https://www.GastroAdvisor.com

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Conquiste a realização profissional: 5 dicas essenciais para chegar onde deseja!
By: Agência Bang
Tags: Empreendedorismo, Gestão, Sucesso Profissional, Carreira Profissional

in Both Sides of the Table
Some Presidential Lasts
By: Daniel G. Jennings
Tags: America, President, Presidential Campaign, American History

As America prepares to welcome a new president, it is time to look back at some presidential lasts.

Some interesting presidential lasts include:

Last President to wear facial hair, a mustache William Howard Taft (R-Ohio), 1909–1913. Taft famously wore a handlebar mustache. No chief executive since Taft has worn facial hair. Interestingly, no major presidential nominee has had facial hair since Governor Thomas E. Dewey (R-New York) in 1948 who wore a mustache. Notably, Dewey lost the election. Last President to wear a beard; Benjamin Harrison (R-Indiana) 1889–1893. Last President to wear glasses; Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri) 1945–1953. Last President not to graduate from college; Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri) 1945–1953. Truman attended night school but never studied at a formal college. Last President not to attend an Ivy League University. Ronald Reagan (R-California) 1981–1989. Reagan attended Eureka College, a small liberal arts school in Illinois. Note: incoming President Joe Biden (D-Delaware) attended the University of Delaware. Last President to fight in a war. George H.W. Bush (R-Texas) 1989–1993. Bush I was a Navy flier in World War II. Note; Bush’s son George W. Bush (R-Texas) served in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War but saw no combat. Last President to serve in the regular military. Jimmy Carter (D-Georgia) 1977–1981. Carter served in the US Navy after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. Carter later left the service to run the family peanut farm but stayed in the Naval Reserve. Last President to serve in the military. Again, George W. Bush (R-Texas) 2001–2009). Bush flew fighter planes for the Air National Guard. Last President to fight in the Civil War. William McKinley (R-Ohio) 1897–1901. Last President to serve as an enlisted man in the US military; William McKinley (R-Ohio) 1897–1901. McKinley enlisted in the Union Army as a private but rose to the rank of major. Last President born in the 19th Century; Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas) 1953–1961. Ike was born in 1890. His successor, John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) was born in 1917.

There are many presidential lasts. However, these lasts stand out to me.
Desarrolladores vs “Emprendedores”
By: Alessandra Pereyra
Tags: Developers, Startups

Ideas, ramblings, concepts and whatever crosses my mind or just plain crosses me.

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The Anti-Business Model
By: Larry G. Maguire
Tags: Psychology, Self Employed, Small Business, Self, Creativity

When I started first in business over 20 years ago, the implicit and explicit message in all advice I ever received regarding business building was; put the customer first.

Whatever the service or product, you must always have the customers needs first on your list. Ask them what they want or need, profile them, understand them, tailor your offering to what they desire most.

Find the emotional trigger and sell to that.

It’s staple advice for business owners at all levels, and for Christ’s sake, at one time I even promoted this idea.

That advice remains dominant today, and I have grown to understand that it is fundamentally flawed. It is at its core manipulative and often runs counter to our sense of humanity. In fact, in order to operate “successfully” in the world of business, we are often required to forgo our humanity.

“It’s just business”.

It’s the cart before the horse, born from the capitalist ideology that everyone can be commercially successful — you just need to work hard. Yes, of course, other people will suffer under the weight of your pursuit of commercial success, but that’s how the world works. Tough shit. It’s their own fault.

It’s “dog-eat-dog”, “survival-of-the-fittest”. It’s a 19th Century mechanical system — a Darwinian model for life.

Material things are the measure of worth, and from that comes notoriety and influence. It is as hypnotic as it is insidious, and at its most extreme, it allows us to inflict all kinds of obscenities on each other.

The standard model for business suggests that everyone who becomes self-employed wants the same thing, and the measure of your success is the degree to which you can defeat the competition. Anyone who stands in your way, and this is especially so at a corporate level, is fodder for canons.

Whether you are a painter, writer or poet, bricklayer, accountant or coffee shop owner, your business is pretty much irrelevant if you can’t grow, take on more staff, and generate more profit.

The public is complicit in this.

Forget about the psychological, emotional, social and ethical value of the work. These things are down the pecking order of importance. If you’re not making money your service doesn’t fit the model and will probably fail.

Give as little as you can for the most money.

Efficiency is key.

The capitalist model for life and work says the market is open and free, and everyone has equal opportunity. However, we all know that’s bullshit.

The truth is, the better you and your cohort are bending people’s opinion, manipulating their emotions and convincing them they need stuff they don’t, the wealthier you become.

You’re now successful.
Yuletide Greetings Across the Centuries
By: Kim Vertue
Tags: Art History, Art, Painting, History, Landscape

Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted it in 1565 as part of a series depicting the months of the year, which was commissioned by wealthy banker and royal official, Niclaes Jonghelinck to decorate his Antwerp townhouse. Hunters in the Snow depicts a landscape in the depths of winter and was also known simply as January and nowadays is often called Bruegel’s Winter.

The ‘labours of the months’ were often used in illuminated books. One of the most outstanding examples created by the Limbourg brothers for the Duc de Berry’s Book of Hours, in the fifteenth century, and their ‘template’ was later adopted throughout Europe. Yet Bruegel brought a fresh vibrancy, an immediacy to his painting that still holds us enthralled.

Though fragile, painted on a large wooden panel with oils, the vivid mineral pigments have survived well over the centuries. The composition was an innovation for its period and remains striking. We first follow the weary hunters and their pack of dogs in the foreground, plodding home through bare trees and the ankle-deep snow as they return from what appears to be an unsuccessful hunt. One hunter carries a single dead fox slung over his shoulder — it’s January and game is no longer as easily tracked down.

One distinguishing aspect here, and in many of Bruegel’s landscapes, is the ‘wide-angle’, elevated view that seems to open up the scene and invite the viewer to step into it and explore. We are also brought into the frame by the glance of one of the hounds that looks out of the image and makes eye contact, acknowledging our presence. The figure of the foremost hunter seems to have been added late in the composition to ensure that we share his point-of-view, looking almost directly over his shoulder.

The line of trees on the left gives a visual rhythm that emphasises the heavy trudge of the huntsmen and leads us to look beyond the precipitous slope that they crest, which forms a diagonal slash in the landscape, to the snowy vista beyond. The limited palette of black, browns, whites, and grey-green convey the chill of winter and the quality of dull light against bright snow in a way which almost makes you shiver.
On ‘The Evils of Duplication’
By: Rebecca Robbins
Tags: Dry Code, Pragmatic Programming, Flatiron School, Programming, Software Development

On ‘The Evils of Duplication’

and keeping your code DRY

Apparently good ideas about how to program, like rubber duck debugging and the concept of keeping your code DRY come from The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas. We are introduced to it in one of the first essays in the book, ‘The Evils of Duplication’. While we’re immediately reminded of the time that Captain Kirk disabled out of control AI by giving the computer contradictory knowledge, we’re just as quickly thrust back into reality. Life is not sci-fi, contradictory knowledge in your work is far more likely to bring your code down, and as programmers, our job is to avoid that at all costs. An excellent method used far and wide to help keep your code neat and your web apps running is just Don’t Repeat Yourself, keep it DRY.

Duplicitation is rarely a good thing.

Programming is a maintenance game in both the short and long term. Contrary to what you might think maintenance starts well before an application is released; it’s constant. When you’re first learning to code maintenance is often the furthest thing from your mind. The idea that you’ll be building something that has to be updated and adapted, and possibly last for years after you’ve moved on is kind of a wild concept, and often the furthest thing from your mind. When all you want to do is get data on the DOM you’ll do it by any means, even if those means mean you’re copying and pasting the same three lines of code with one tiny difference, multiple times in the same function. And this is fine for now, get that data on the page! Just always know that it’s not sustainable and that refactoring in the spirit of DRYness is in your future.

“A s programmers, we collect, organize, maintain, and harness knowledge. We document knowledge in specifications, we make it come alive in running code, and we use it to provide the checks needed during testing.” — ‘The Evils of Duplication’ from “The Pragmatic Programmer” by Andrew Hunt & David Thomas

As you develop your skills it’s important to start considering the long-term over the immediate as soon as you can wrap your brain around it. Knowing that the ultimate goal is the maintenance of your code and considering that every time you successfully create a feature your goal is to make it as DRY as possible will help not only the readability of your code in the moment, but will help prevent a tangled mess of broken code and an abundance of emotions in the future. I don’t know about you, but when Snail-o-gRama takes off and BookFacer buys it for millions, and your code is passed off to a team of Flatiron grads eager to make the best damn social media photo editing and sharing app the world has ever seen you don’t want your files to be WET (because it Wastes Everyone’s Time when you Write Everything Twice), you don’t want them to look like this.
One Simple Thing to Improve Your Self-Confidence
By: Joscelyn Kate
Tags: Mindfulness, Personal Development, Self Improvement, Confidence, Growth

Stop Allowing Others to Determine Your Worth

If you feel like you are judged by being alone, in any situation, try doing this one thing to help you get comfortable with yourself.

Go out and eat alone.

Go to a restaurant or bar, have a drink and order some food. Eat by yourself, drink by yourself, and enjoy your own company.

You can scroll through social media or text friends and family, but don’t talk on the phone. Just be alone. You can bring a newspaper or a book, but don’t bring a person, and don’t plan on meeting anyone at the restaurant either.

Show up alone, eat alone, and leave alone.

This probably sounds devastating and outrageous to some. I worked at a restaurant as one of my 15 jobs and remember a man that would come in and eat alone, once a week. I used to feel sad for him. I’d sometimes consider offering to sit with him during his meal.

He didn’t seem sad though and he didn’t seem lonely. (Read: I wasn’t judging him based on the actual appearance of his emotions but rather the projection of my own.) He was cheerful and friendly. He always carried a briefcase and a newspaper, although he dressed more casually than what you’d expect for someone who always carried a briefcase and a newspaper.

As an adult, I realize that he was probably just enjoying a quiet lunch hour and didn’t want to eat in his car—like I did when I was 18 on lunch breaks and none of my friends were working with me that day.

As an adult, I realize how precious those moments alone really are. It’s a chance to think quietly, to get to know yourself, to process things you may otherwise avoid, or not think about.
Feature Flags at Behalf.com
Tags: Case Study, Feature Flags, Continuous Delivery, Software Development

We were thrilled Yonni Mendes, Front-End Team Leader at Behalf.com recently shared a post about how feature flags have made an impact on their development and release cycle. Behalf has received over $120 million in funding to help small companies get the loans they need to keep growing. They’re using LaunchDarkly to achieve stability in their continuous delivery processes.

An excerpt from Yonni’s post:

“Just another day. We deployed another new feature here at Behalf.com. This new feature hasn’t been tested yet. It doesn’t even have proper automation ready to prove its different workflows. In fact, the only person to see it work is the developer — and he’s the new guy…”

Read the full article here.
Статистика работы сервиса Bit Trade с момента запуска открытых торгов Bitbon
By: Bitbon System
Tags: Digital, Trading, Статистика, Майнинг, Bitbon

The Bitbon System is a large-scale infrastructure project, which represents a decentralized platform for Contributing. https://www.bitbon.space/en/home

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COVID-19 Heightens Need for Safe Consumption Sites
By: Harrison Gleicher
Tags: Covid 19, Informative, Opioid Epidemic

The present pandemic has stripped many Californians of the communities and places they once cherished. For one vulnerable population, however, the lack of support and resources available during quarantine has exacerbated their illness. With fewer people seeking out and receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD), California has seen a spike in the number of relapses — and thus the number of overdose deaths.

Those in recovery for OUD need structure and community, but COVID-19 has disrupted the support networks that many rely on. With Narcotics Anonymous meetings moving to online platforms such as Zoom and Skype, many have lost the feelings of camaraderie and friendship that motivated them to stay sober. Furthermore, with a nationwide shift to telehealth, medical services often prioritize those with access to cell phones and computers. The critical outlets that promote sobriety are no longer equitable, and many of those struggling with OUD cannot find an accessible source of support.

The statewide quarantine has also generated feelings of stress and anxiety, which can manifest in illicit drug use. Due to these heightened emotions, many with OUD are beginning to experiment and differ from their drug of choice. Often, this experimentation leads to overdose because dealers lace drugs with fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid. Thus, when people think they are buying oxycodone or heroin, they get something about 20 times stronger. In part due to a lack of support and these fentanyl-spiked batches, California has seen the highest increase in the number of overdose deaths when compared to other states.

So what can we do? Safe consumption sites are medically-supervised facilities where those struggling with OUD can inject intravenously. On-site supervision helps to prevent overdoses by overseeing drug use and carrying Naloxone, a narcotic that reverses opioid overdose. Furthermore, safe consumption sites could help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, such as HIV or Hepatitis-C. Many of those with OUD regularly share needles or cotton, which can facilitate the spread of disease. Safe consumption sites provide clean needles, alcohol wipes, and syringes so that people with OUD can inject safely. Assembly Bill №362 now sits in the state Senate, which would legalize safe consumption sites in both San Francisco and Oakland, my home town.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly exacerbated the Opioid Epidemic in California, necessitating the need for intervention. Both public health professionals and lawmakers have underscored the need for safe consumption sites in California.
Los propósitos de los emprendedores para el futuro
By: Gabriela Nova
Tags: Happiness, 2017, Futuro, Emprendedores, Estilo De Vida

in Both Sides of the Table
The Top Three Reasons Why Academics + Universities Publish on Medium
By: Gabe Kleinman
Tags: Higher Education, Academia, Education

P.S. Medium isn’t just for the Ivies.

One of the most exciting use cases we’ve seen emerge has been from an unlikely character: Mt. San Antonio College outside Los Angeles.

Journalism professor Toni Albertson pioneered their student publication migration over to Medium, now called Substance. It’s amazing, and produces work like this — their first post — with over 15x more traffic than their most successful piece previous to publishing on Medium:

What has struck me isn’t their immediate success, but the rationale behind the endeavor. It cuts across nearly every issue higher ed is facing today:
Let’s make some cool things!
By: Michal Malewicz
Tags: Design, User Experience, Tutorial, UX, UI

2020 is nearly over — whew! But I wanted to remind you, that you can still follow some of these tutorials, explore new ideas and grow as a designer.

I strongly believe, that using only pre-made components is not the best way to get better. You can get a lot of inspiration from different techniques, like 3d, glassmorphism, neumorphism and even good old skeuomorphism.

Yes — I’m suggesting you try a wooden shelf UI in 2020 and it’s not a joke :) Just don’t offer it to a client, but try it nevertheless.

And next year we’ll also play around with some voxels — it’s easy and super fun, and the app to make them is free!

Voxels

This was one of my first voxel attempts, but after that I learned to do lights and more complex structures. This is pure fun! And we’re going to learn the basics of this super fun technique. Some of these you can then export and use as design illustrations, or fully coded, 3d worlds that you can interact with on the web.

So try these before the year ends and have fun!

Bonus

And as a bonus see what I think about companies looking for junior designers with 5 years of experience.
Research Brief & Plan of Cuuveed’s Data Entry Form 👨‍💻
By: Rizki Mardita
Tags: Test Plan, Product Design, User Research, Usability Testing, UX

Cuuveed is a tool that helps people to build their creative CV online. A lot of templates we can use. Select the template we want, change the color, design and then we can print or share our CV. This tool is totally free.

Background

Cuuveed.com as a cv builder platform wants to make a better experience for users when they fill & complete their data.