fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Threads vs Processes
By: Rukshani Athapathu
Tags: Software Development, Coding, Programming, Threads, Process

Just a brief note to highlight the main difference between a thread and a process.

A Process

A process is an independently running instance of a program. If you open a same program multiple times, multiple processes will be utilized. These processes in an operating system share system resources such as memory and CPUs (processors) and when one program is waiting for some operation, another can utilize the resources.

A Thread

Within a process, you can have multiple threads simultaneously running your program flow. Even though each thread has it’s own stack and local variables, they do share the memory address space of their owning process. Because of that, threads that are in the same process share the objects allocated to it in the heap and will cause the program to behave unpredictably if access to the shared data is not coordinated properly with the use of synchronization.

A program with one thread in a multi processor system

Will run on only one processor at a time.

If the system has two processors this program will give up access to half of it’s available CPU resources. If the system has 100 processors, it will give up 99% of access to CPU resources (Brian Goetz et al, 2006).

A program with multiple threads in a multi processor system

Can run simultaneously on multiple processors and if one thread waits for some operation, another thread can run which makes this better than having a single threaded program, where the processor sits idle while waiting for some operation to complete (Brian Goetz et al, 2006).

References
Uber Sells Aerial Transportation Vision Amid Wary Public Sentiment
By: Hope King
Tags: Flying Taxis, Transportation, Urban Planning, Uber, Technology

Uber doesn’t have great luck when it comes to timing.

The company waited 10 years to go public, and its IPO in May landed at the end of a volatile week of trading. On the same day, the U.S. raised more tariffs on Chinese goods.

During its Elevate conference this week, Uber sought to sell its vision for aerial logistics. The two-day event started a day after a helicopter crashed into a high-rise in Manhattan, four days after CEO Dara Khosrowshahi internally announced his COO and CMO resigned, a week after Deloitte published a study that found 80 percent of survey respondents think vertical take off and landing (VTOL) vehicles are potentially viable, yet were unsure if they will be safe or certain they are not ー and on the same day the FAA said it had “no timetable” for approving Boeing’s 737 MAX to fly again.

Yeah.

Khosrowshahi, in his closing keynote Wednesday night, made no mention of these incidents or the backdrop of aerial safety concerns. Instead he focused on the company’s origin story and the societal benefits of Uber’s new master plan.

“We think the vision of Uber is our presenting to you how to get from point A to B, all the different ways to move,” he said on stage in Washington D.C. “We want to be not just the Amazon of transportation but also the Google of transportation ー we want to be your every day use case.”
Dash Art Contest: $300 in Digital Cash (And a Bacon Wallet) [May 20,2017]
Tags: Dash, Contests, Money, Blockchain, Art

Attention: creative people of the world!

DASH.org and Dash For Newbies are sponsoring a global, online art contest, open to literally anyone on planet earth. This means no age restrictions and no geography restrictions. It doesn’t matter if you live in Botswana or Berlin. Enter today for your chance to win digital cash and ridiculously fun prizes.

FIRST PLACE: 2 DASH+ Archie McPhee Horse Head Mask:

SECOND PLACE: 1 DASH + Bacon Wallet:

THIRD PLACE: .75 DASH + Handicorn:

Plus Mystery Prizes (hmmmmm…..what could this mean?)

(current exchange rate: 1 Dash = $92 USD)

DEADLINE: May 20, 2017 11:59 PM CST

STEP 1:

Create one visual art piece using the DASH logo somewhere in your art. It can be used in a subtle or obvious way.

STEP 2:

Take a photo or YouTube video of your art.

STEP 3:

Send a tweet to @stellabelle on Twitter and use the hashtag, #DashForNewbies. Make sure your photo or YouTube video link is included in your tweet. It’s mandatory to submit your art entry on Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account, get one. If your country censors Twitter, you can email your photo or video link to: DashForNewbiesATgmail.com.

All entries will be showcased on the Dash For Newbies Medium publication as well as the Dash For Newbies Facebook page.

What is DASH?

A digital currency, like Bitcoin only better and faster. Check out this survival guide to DASH to get up to speed. Is DASH real money?

Yes. You might be using it in the future if you don’t already. If I win, how do I get the money?

Get a digital wallet. An easy one for a computer is Exodus.io. An easy one for Android and iPhones is Jaxx.io. What kind of visual art will be accepted?

Drawing, painting, photography, embroidery, collage, 2-d & 3-d art, comics, food art, ceramics, fabric, environmental installations, holography, street art, cartoons, digital art, sculpture, cloisonné, cave art, etc. How will I know if I won?

You will be contacted via Twitter with instructions. If your country censors Twitter, you will be emailed.

Here’s a video that explains the contest (and might possibly freak you out a bit):

What are the judges looking for?

Creativity, absurdity, originality, sublety, random, passion, crazy.

Disclaimer: By submitting your art to this Dash Art Online Contest, you give Dash.org and all associated Dash sites permission to share your art on social media including in YouTube videos. Dash For Newbies is funded entirely by the Dash decentralized autonomous organization. The mission of Dash For Newbies is to help regular people learn about and feel comfortable using DASH, the new digital cash. And we hope you get entertained along the way……

This article is 100% DASH Blockchain-funded.
8 Bollywood Films You Should Watch Before You Turn 25
By: Adi Makkar
Tags: Life Lessons, India, Culture, Film, World

We have to admit that despite being third-most in generating the revenue, the Indian film industry is the largest out there. With endless amounts of combinations and storytellers, it’s one art we all have yet to delve deeper into.

Following the recent successes of films like ‘Dangal’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, Bollywood has widened its horizons and put a show on a global stage.

As life gets hard every day, watching a few movies you can connect with and apply to your life goes a long way. Here are a few Bollywood movies that everyone should watch before they turn 25.
Are We All Listening To Music From 20 Years Ago? Maybe We Should Be.
By: Dena Ogden
Tags: Music, Life Lessons, Nostalgia, Personal Essay, Life

Please enjoy this actual 2001 mix CD from my archives.

Image via Eric Napanen on Unsplash

These past few months, I’ve had a few long-distance errands which have required me to drive alone in my car for hours. Because my phone perpetually has little to no room for new music, I’ve dusted off the remnants of my CD collection for these drives. Most of what’s left is around 20ish-years-old, and burned by teenage me, so I fully expected a wave of nostalgia when I first played them.

But something else happened, too.

These old CDs transported me to a completely different mental space than I’ve otherwise been in this year. They are one-part time machine and one-part scrapbook, and listening to them felt like an old diary opening up and swallowing me whole.

There is one disc in particular that I felt viscerally. Its title, Summer Jeep Mix 2001, is scrawled across it in Sharpie. The music is almost entirely up-tempo, all pop and hip-hop, selected and burned with precision to be the soundtrack of my last summer before college. Most of the songs were some years old — a 1981 Earth, Wind, and Fire song makes an appearance, Bone Thugs N Harmony’s 1994 smash “Tha Crossroads” is the first song on the whole disc. But the track list wasn’t curated to capture that particular year in music, but rather the mood that I was living, which, if I had to describe in one phrase, it would be: energetic yearning.

circa late june/early july 2001

While I was living it, I was eager for the summer of 2001 to pass. And while we all know what happened on September 11 of that year, it was the months before when this CD was on repeat. When I was eager for what lied ahead on a personal scale, with no idea of what awaited all of us on a national scale. I graduated high school, turned eighteen, had already been accepted to the University of Washington, and was planning to move into a sorority house. With summer’s arrival, the long days just gave me more time for longing. The underlying sense that my life was about to change, about to start was constant.

There were a few complications — a sweet boy I hastily started dating post-graduation, friendships I wasn’t keen to dissolve. But the honest truth was, I was ready to embark on a new life on a new campus with new people and a twin bed and expensive textbooks and freedom. My pending departure was always on my mind. It was a sprightly Peter Pan shadow constantly connected to me, prancing around and dancing to the Ginuwine and N Sync and P.M. Dawn songs I played on repeat. Summer Jeep Mix 2001 so intensely brought back some of these memories that I could practically feel the physicality of them all; the excitement and pressure that hovered in my chest, the deep breaths I’d take while counting down the days, even the quintessential memory of wind blowing through open car windows and whipping through my long hair while I blared the stereo.
A Half Step Above Hopeless
Tags: The Bad Influence, 50 Words, Self, Reflections, 2020

50 WORDS

A Half Step Above Hopeless

Thrifty Words Theme Challenge #18: Closure

Photo from the author

This year I lost everything but gained my authenticity.

I’ve resided below rock bottom for the majority of 2020.

As we come into a new year, I’m hesitant to believe things will get better.

However, I know the pain I was granted this year will provide me fuel for change.
FPL Gameweek 16: Changes needed
By: Tom Thomas
Tags: Fantasy Football, FPL, Fantasy Premier League, Soccer

It was a fairly drab week for most FPL Managers with the league average dropping to 37. However, we fell below it. Injuries to our defense didn’t help.

Additionally, 3 of our star players didn’t play due to games being postponed with covid-19 worries. What a world we live in.

All things considered, 27 points isn’t terrible.

Quick changes

We need to swap out the defense who being injured are not doing us any favors.

We’re going to replace them with the most in-form players according to the FPL Data.

FPL Data Team Gameweek 17; source: FPL

OUT: Jannik Vestergaard, Victor Lindelöf, James Maddison

IN: Yerry Mina, Stuart Dallas, Harry Barnes

We take a hit of 4 points to make 3 changes. We’re dropping a lot of points and we need to capitalize over this busy week when others will also lose points with the busy schedule.

We will also probably wildcard the next week so these changes won’t affect us as much in the long run. We need fit bodies now!

Gameweek 17 Schedule; source: FPL

We chose Harry Barnes as he scored 2 goals in his last 2 games + plays easier opponent in Newcastle (2 Draws, 1 Loss Last 3 Games).

We chose Yerry Mina as he topped the list of most in-form defenders at the moment (24 pts. Last 3 Games) + West Ham as opponent (2 Draws 1 Loss Last 3 Games).

We chose Stuart Dallas as he too had a high point return (1 Goal 23 pts. Last 3 Games). He has a tougher opponent but Leeds are a team that can score at any moment.

We still have to decide who stays on the bench and who will play. Hope to provide good results after this round.

Good luck guys.

Thank you for taking your time to read through this. If you’d like to follow along in this series, here is a timeline of the FPL data analytics project.

1. Introduction

2. Gameweek 1

3. Gameweek 2

4. Gameweek 3

5. Gameweek 4

6. Gameweek 5–8

7. Gameweek 9–10

8. Gameweek 12–13

9. Gameweek 14

10. Gameweek 15

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

And there we go! Hope you enjoyed reading this piece as much as I did writing it. Feel free to write down any thoughts or suggestions. I’m always working on improving my analysis and my articles as time goes on so I appreciate all comments! Collaborating is fun so if you’ve got any interesting projects in mind, feel free to reach out to me personally. If you would like to follow me to keep up with updates in this series, follow me here or — — @__tomthomas

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Check if a Swift Array Is Empty: Best Practice Revisited
By: Yong Cui
Tags: Big O Notation, Programming, iOS, Mobile, Swift

Check if a Swift Array Is Empty: Best Practice Revisited

Looking at which is faster, isEmpty or .count == 0

Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

Suppose that you are an undergraduate summer intern at a software development company, you’ve just started learning Swift programming, and you wrote some code like the below.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), your code was reviewed by your team leader, a senior iOS developer, during your weekly one-to-one meeting with him.

When he saw these lines of code, he started to smile, and said: “Technically, your code is right and there’s no doubt about that. However, it’s not best practice,” in a low-pitched voice.

He stopped talking right there and turned to you, waiting for your turn to ask why. Although he couldn’t wait to share some insights (a.k.a., show-off by some definition), he had to pretend to be calm, after all, he is a senior developer.

You started to frown a little bit, making yourself look puzzled (you’d better do that, because that’s probably something your supervisor was expecting), and you asked: “Could you please clarify what you meant by saying best practice?”

He was very pleased with this question, and through your glasses, he saw a pair of eyes starving for knowledge, insights, and expertise.

“Well, to check if an array is empty, you should directly access the isEmpty property, which is O(1) complexity. However, if you access the count property, it will result in an iteration of the entire array to find out the number of elements for the array, which is O(n) complexity.”

He kept nodding his head while he was talking. “With that said, the short answer to your question is that the best practice is using isEmpty instead of comparing the count property with 0.”

While he was talking, you kept nodding at the same pace as him (so many behavioral skills to learn…). When he finished his speech, you asked: “Why is accessing isEmpty an O(1) operation?”

He explained to you, although you didn’t really understand it very much. Your conversation continued with more follow-up questions on this topic. Your whole one-hour meeting was used to discuss this.

When you were leaving his office, you still looked very puzzled because of too much influx of new information. Nevertheless, you learned something important: use isEmpty instead of using count == 0 to check if an array is empty —The best practice!

However, when you went back to your office and took a seat, you started to wonder whether it’s true that isEmpty will always outperform count == 0 .

Since Xcode was right in front of you, you decided to run some easy experiments to compare the performance of these two approaches. After all, data won’t lie to you!
The Opioid Crisis: Atlanta
Tags: Learning, Health, Drugs, Collaboration

Around 2015–2016 my much older cousin stayed with my family and I for a while. He had a drinking problem and would drink very often, alcohol isn't opioids but it can still be abused like them.

My cousin had his problem for years prior to him staying with me but I only learned about it when I had met him for the first time in late 2014. Eventually, my cousin moved out of my house in early 2016 and he ended up bouncing around my other relative's homes looking for a place to say. Every time I visited he could be seen drinking and I would often overhear my other family members talking about his drinking and shift in health and appearance. He unexpectedly passed mid-2016, from what I learned he died of liver failure and alcohol poisoning. I felt sad inside and I wasn't alone I saw what type of shape he was in especially when he lived with me that previous year. It showed me what substance abuse can do to people.

Statistics

Substance abuse is a substantial problem that is claiming victims by the day. Specifically opioids/ pain killers, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) there are over 192 overdoses every day that equates to around 70,80 people a year. In 2017 alone 47,600 people lost their lives, and it accounted for 67.8% of all drug overdose deaths. Specifically in 2017 Georgia was one of the states that saw an increase in OD related deaths.

Causes

In the 1990s pharmaceutical companies told the medical community that prescription pain killers were safe to distribute and had little repercussions. This led to widespread misuse of the products before it became evident that they were addictive. Afterward, American Opioid abuse began to steadily rise.

Citations

https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/analysis.html
How to miss God
By: Sam Radford
Tags: Christianity, Religion, Faith

St Paul’s Cathedral

How to miss God

Why religion can be the greatest obstacle to experiencing God

“The last experience of God is frequently the greatest obstacle to the next experience of God.” — Richard Rohr

I read the above quote from Rohr’s book Everything Belongs on the bus on the way to work. It jumped out of the page at me and felt like it slapped me around the face.

It’s just so true.

And it explains so much about religion too.

Religion tends to do a great job of building structure and systems around what God did in the past. Sadly though, it often then gets in the way of preparing people for the experience of what God might do next.

God is not tied to one way of doing things.

God is not constrained by our buildings, traditions, rules, and regulations. God is bigger than and beyond the monuments—both physical and ideological—we construct to capture our experiences of him.

How open, really, are we to God operating outside of our current religious or philosophical framework?

The Christian Scriptures are just one example of story after story of God showing up in new and surprising ways. Why on earth would we think that God has stopped doing anything new and will now only repeat how he’s operated in the past?

If we have reached the place of being sure about what God will or won’t do, or how he will or won’t do it, we can be pretty sure we’ll miss out on the next experience of God.

We need to stay open, humble, and not let religiolatry get in the way of encountering the Divine.
Marks do matter.
By: Neha Garg
Tags: India, Education, Outliers, Opinion

Yes, marks do matter. In most of the cases. At most of the places. For most of the people.

Of course, there are outliers who make it big despite not having a big score on their report card. But the numbers are far few and between. And there is a reason why they are outliers. Because, fortunately or unfortunately, as a norm, marks do matter.

Education system is the very foundation of any society. However flawed, it is that system which determines that linearity, progression and development of a student. At least in the formal education space.

I can only speak for myself, but, I can speak for myself with full authority. And whatever little I have achieved till now — professionally AND academically — it is all because of the marks. Be it at the school level, graduation, or post-graduation. Or competitive entrance exams, for that matter. Nobody told me marks don’t matter. Or they do. As a matter of fact, it was never a question. At the end of the day, it is the theory of evolution. And to survive and secure a spot for yourself in the race, you have no choice but to stay ahead of the pack.

My 10th standard board marks may not matter today, at five years of work experience post a PG degree, but that doesn’t mean that we forget the importance of those marks in the scheme of things. Admit it or not, but 10th standard marks determine the subjects you end up choosing for the higher secondary school. And in my case, they ended up changing the course of my life. I wanted to study science, but could not because of the inadequate score. I had to take up commerce as a consolation prize (that’s another story that I ended up loving it!), which I absolutely hated at that point. Moving forward, 12th standard marks determine the choice of college AND choice of subjects. And so on and so forth.

I’m all for not putting pressure on our kids and letting them thrive. But this whole brouhaha that marks don’t matter is taking it too far. We have to be realistic. How many dropouts have you seen succeeding in the regular course of life? And the ones who do, do not ‘because’ they dropped out/ scored less marks. But they succeed despite dropping out/ scoring less marks. Unfortunately, there are only limited spots for success, and the chances are, someone much better, brighter, and determined is already fighting for that spot, reducing the odds for your success.

So let’s not be delusional. Let’s not make our kids live in delusion. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and the kids should see it for what it is. And if they are okay with the repercussions of scoring less marks and being left behind in the race, let THEM make that choice. As for the most of the world, marks do matter. Like it or not.
¿Seremos testigos del fin del salario?
By: Alberto Gómez
Tags: Medium En Español, Twitch, Newsletter, Español, Finanzas Personales

This is an email from Monee Blog .
Cookies y RGPD
By: Antonio Cambronero
Tags: Rgpd, Bloguiland, Blogging, WordPress, Marketing

in Both Sides of the Table
Rye Rye’s Awesome “Hardcore Girls” Video and Giant-Hand Jumpsuit
By: Edith Zimmerman
Tags: Music, Music Videos

RYE RYE! The Hairpin loves rising hip-hop star Rye Rye as well as every other human being and clothing ensemble in this video, with a special shout-out to the girl with the lollipop leaning against the pay phone, who I heard incinerated five whole cameras with her beauty/coolness before they found one that could tape her. Five!

[Via]
Only One Officer Indicted, but Not for Killing Breonna Taylor
By: Dave Gershgorn
Tags: Racism, Race, Breonna Taylor, Police Brutality, Police

Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Brett Hankison, the only officer fired in the aftermath of the late-night raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, was indicted for “wanton endangerment” by a Jefferson County grand jury today.

Hankison is not actually being charged with the killing of Taylor. The three charges he faces are for recklessly firing his weapon into a neighboring apartment with three occupants who were not hit by the shots, according to the decision. However, Taylor’s initials, “BT,” were not listed as the occupant of any of the apartments Hankison shot into.

This announcement means that no officers are being directly held liable for Taylor’s murder.

Taylor’s family received a $12 million settlement from Louisville, which did not require the city to acknowledge wrongdoing in the tragedy.

Now, at least two states are preparing the National Guard. Governors from Taylor’s home state, Kentucky, and Illinois have told press that they are ready to send troops in to quell dissent.

“As the governor has always said, all of the state’s resources are available to municipalities if needed; this includes additional Illinois State Police troopers and the National Guard,” a statement from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration said.

It’s not new but solidifies that lawful protests will be met with the same force that they have in the past. Nearly 62,000 National Guard troops were sent to 24 states after the killing of George Floyd by police.

If you are going out to protest, make sure to be prepared. Wear a mask, and read up on how to deal with chemical weapons commonly used against protesters.
Doing It On Purpose
By: Genola Johnson
Tags: Life Lessons, Manifestation, Careers, Career Advice, Purpose Driven Life

I want something. I want a lot of things. But there’s one thing I do know, not taking action, any action, I’m not going to get those things.

Often people wake up on a Monday morning, any Monday morning, and realize they are in the wrong job. They get a pain in their stomach and lay there trying to figure out what legitimate excuse they can conjure up to not go in THAT day, days, weeks, you get the picture.

I know, I’ve been there and I REFUSE to go back. To prevent this from ever happening to me again, I made a plan, although flexible, I made a plan with some non-negotiables.

When making my plan, I knew two things, some things will take time, and some things I think will take time will not, depending on where I am in my level of receiving frequency.

With that being said, here’s my plan:

Decide what I REALLY want. Write it down. Decide nothing is going to stop me. Refer back to step 1.

The way the plan will play out, well, that depends on how level my feelings are toward what I want. I deliberately decide what to listen to, who to speak to, who to avoid.

I’m on a mission. I don’t have time to sit around chewing the fat on something that is insignificant to me, I can’t change or even want to change. I avoid complainers and how often I watch the news. Because if I allow those things into my world, well, it will just slow me down and I don’t have time to waste. I want to be on with my wonderful journey of getting what I want.

To get a holistic view, you might consider hiring a coach. Whether it’s for your life, business, etc. Hiring a coach will help you map out areas that are hidden by you, because you’re in the mix of it all and can’t see the other side, where your coach can view your moves from a different perspective.

You think, damn, that’s gonna cost me, well, it might. Actually, it will cost you, but how bad do you want it? For me, I wanted it, I figured out a way to make the money I’ll need to hire a coach. If you’re not sure what hiring a coach sounds like, check out my podcast, “Joyful Empowerment Coaching ft. Sara Joy Madsen.”

Extra hours, extra clients, whatever I needed to do, I’m doing it because this NOW right now is not where I plan to be 365 days from now.

Be open-minded in your approach to all of it. The plan, the journey, just be open-minded. Because, most likely, it will not turn out like you planned it would, especially the journey. There will be hills, curves, drop-offs, but that’s okay. That’s life.

One thing to keep in mind, stay focused. Not sure how to start your plan? Download my “First Steps To Finding Your Purpose” template to help you consider what your plan will be.
Fair and Lovely
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Women, Feminism, Equality, Beauty, Poetry

just use it like cream

she said in the soothing voice

only a mother can harness

like this

she demonstrated a circular motion

across her already porcelain face

I looked defiantly at her

nine or ten or eleven

unwilling to believe that there

was anything necessary to change

about the rich brown skin

I had inherited from my father

I don’t want to

I retaliated

she sighed

resigned herself for a moment

only to have this conversation

across decades with me

it will just clear up your face darling

to which I would retort

Ami, there is bleach clear as day

listed in the ingredients

Fair and Lovely is a company

that brazenly promotes the

colonizer’s idea that

fair is lovely

and anything else is less

it tells you that you were not born

the way you should have been

but wait

they offer a solution

to that pesky problem

you’re having with your melanin

they can rid you of the

skin deep shame

that they have perpetuated

upon you

here,

just use it like a cream

they say

in a soothing voice

using your mother’s mouth

as their puppet

to pass on a legacy

of colonization

for profit

this wound

is more than skin deep.
Six Rules for Writing Good Articles
By: Hannah Frankman
Tags: Self Improvement, Writing, Writer, Content Strategy, Life

Rule #2 for writing a good article: keep your paragraphs short and your text visually appealing. In general, shorten everything.

How many times have you seen rows and rows of dense paragraphs and lost interest? Be honest. Even after you’ve sold a reader on committing, you can lose them if consumption becomes too much work.

Short paragraphs, on the other hand, are tantalizing. They’re easy. They feel like an accomplishment. You always want to read just one more — your eye gets drawn down the page. So break your text up. Keep your reader chasing the words from paragraph to paragraph. Pace them. Give them space between ideas.

Balance words with empty spaces — like the breaths between spoken sentences.

Note: short does not mean that your writing can’t be stylistic and beautiful. Do not make the mistake that short must be bland. I thought that once, and I was wrong. Short means strong and precise — like a shot of tequila instead of a bottle of light beer. See?

When you’re brief, your words aren’t simple and cheapened. They’re potent.
How I Broke the Habit of Making a “Dream List”
By: Roger A. Reid
Tags: Life Lessons, Personal Growth, Productivity, Self Improvement, Life

There was a time, not too long ago, when I constantly told myself there were things I needed to do — tasks I should accomplish.

Knowing the importance of having written goals, I added each new ambition to my list of objectives, then reduced them into small, achievable steps. These became must-do tasks that would eventually take me to my goal.

Finally, I scheduled a reasonable amount of time for their completion.

But at the end of the week, these new must-do items were still on the list, unfinished.

“No problem,” I told myself. “It was a busy week. I didn’t have the time. Other responsibilities got in the way. I’ll just move the objectives forward and raise their priority.”

I’m sure you know what happened.

At the end of the following week, those tasks remained incomplete. Still convinced of their importance, I rescheduled them again. And then again.

The result?

After a month or so, I began to feel a sense of dread and frustration every time I looked at my daily planner.

There’s a reason we accomplish some things and not others.

If you’re continuing to procrastinate over starting a new project, or you find yourself putting off completing the next step toward a specific goal, it could be your subconscious telling you it’s the wrong direction, or the wrong choice.

Self-defeating behavior — delaying, re-scheduling, postponing — are symptoms of a mismatch; a disparity between what you’re telling yourself you want and what your inner-most self really needs.

This ecological incongruency often reveals itself with symptoms we’re all familiar with: frustration, confusion, and yes, procrastination. And the greater the degree of conflict, the more obvious the symptoms.

Think of it as your brain’s way of letting you know it’s time for a little heart-to-heart chat, about your life, your direction, and how you’re spending your time.
Call for submissions: Showcase your innovative civic tech project at #CTIF2020
By: Civictech Contributor
Tags: Civic Tech Collaboration, Civic Tech Network, News, Ctif2020, Civictech

Civic Tech Innovation Forum (#CTIF2020)

The Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN) will be hosting its third national convening from the 18 — 20 March 2020. The CTIN conferences are intended to enable network members to engage face to face, learn about innovations, tools and techniques, share experiences and meet potential collaborators. They present an opportunity to gain an overview of what is going on in the sector in South Africa, Africa and the world. They also provide an opportunity for CTIN to consult with network members to inform the design of future activities.

CTIF2020, in collaboration with JamFest, a new African media and information festival directed at a diverse set of African media makers. The festival will showcase new media and journalism content styles and approaches, new audiences and innovations in delivery. It aims to track trends in information flows and digital public space across the continent and provide opportunities for dynamic engagement between diverse stakeholders.

CTIN is seeking new civic tech innovations, case studies, govtech tools, citizen participation tech tools, and smart cities innovations to exhibit during the CTIF2020 conference. Exhibitors will be invited or accepted to showcase their initiatives either digitally on live screens or as paper posters at the event venue.
How To Leverage Google Authorship For Your Business And Why You Need To Do This (Like Yesterday…)
By: Bipper Media
Tags: Google, Google Authorship, Content Marketing, Blog, SEO

Here’s a concept that you may have never heard about before but it’s called “Google Authorship”, and it allows anyone publishing content on the web to generate a thumbnail image with their search results.

Let me give you a quick example of what I’m talking about:

Notice in the search result above for the keyword phrase “dui attorney athens ga” the listing that has the thumbnail image associated with it — that’s an example of Google Authorship at work. Basically, Google is adding a social layer to their search results to help increase the quality and “legitimacy” of the pages that get indexed. Allowing content producers to verify themselves, and their content, is one way they can achieve the quality they seek.

Now, since this is actually one of my clients, I can tell you that not only is this an example of Google Authorship, but it’s also a new search marketing strategy that can have a tremendous impact on your bottom line!

The person you see in the image above is actually an attorney in Athens, Georgia. And because he has a website where content is being produced, he is able to associate his own brand and identity with these particular pages.

As a result, this client is absolutely crushing it, and his competitors, because of his increased exposure in Google. This client has seen an increase of 25% in new DUI cases and their website is experiencing double digit growth month over month in web traffic.

The benefits of Google Authorship for business:

build your brand

increase click thru rates to your website

connect to more people searching for you

generate more business

The power and effectiveness of Google Authorship is something that very few businesses even realize exists, but as you can tell from above, it’s a strategy that can quickly give you a competitive edge by standing out in front of perhaps your most profitable lead pool — those who are actively searching for what you offer!
UX/UI Case Study: KFC Careers
By: Chris Rusnak
Tags: Kfc, Case Study, Design, UX

Our Challenge

The brief was simple. Transform the KFC careers portal into a fun, engaging and on-brand experience. Make use of great form design to improve UX issues, and speed up the overall customer journey.

We also wanted to make it a better experience post-application for both hiring managers and future employees, taking advantage of automated EDMs to show the status of an application.

What we did

UX Audit & Design

We applied good design practices to make this site not only incredibly easy to use, but engaging as well. Principles of good form design, such as pre-formatted date input fields (pop-up calendars are so 2010) and the ability to not only apply for multiple roles, but multiple stores too, all on a really lovely map view, where you can see exactly where each store is.

Total Design Refresh

The new design is modern, fresh and quintessentially KFC, right down to the buckets of chicken as stage markers, and emojis in place of icons.

Probably the most fun you’ll ever have applying for a job

Party in the front, business in the back

Using real-time data, we can pull in job listings, send through application data, and create automations to notify applicants of the progress of their application in real time. Stores now also have an automated process to reject applications that are out of date.

The Result?

A job portal that’s engaging, fun and easy to use — and oh-so-on-brand for KFC. Since lauch we’ve smashed our goals with:

60% increase in completed applications Thousands of happy applicants!

Check it out for yourself!
Challenges for Odyssey Hackathon 2020 announced!
By: Waves Tech
Tags: Hackathons, Wavesplatform

At the upcoming Odyssey Hackathon 2020, Waves hopes to offer the building blocks to help participants solve the most difficult challenges.

Since 2016, Odyssey participants have tackled 21st-century challenges using technologies such as blockchain, AI, Big Data and robotics. Overall, more than 230 prototypes have emerged from the hackathon.

All teams participating in Odyssey Hackathon 2020 will be provided with access to ecosystems related to their challenge for further prototype development and pilot launch after the event. All 2,000 participants will also receive part of the €200,000 total cash rewards.

The hackathon is optimized for startups, established teams, scale-ups, SMEs, corporate teams, as well as community and student teams who want to work on one of the challenges outlined.

In late October, we announced that Waves was joining the Odyssey ecosystem. We therefore hope to see more Waves-based solutions presented by hackathon participants for a broad range of industries, from cybersecurity and critical infrastructure to environment and energy.

In April 2019, the Tradisys team won the hackathon’s Rethink Retirement track. Tradisys came up with a solution for a Dutch pension fund based on the Waves Platform open protocol.

20 challenges to shape the 21st century

The Odyssey challenges address complex multi-stakeholder issues that cannot be solved by one company, government, or industry. Teams will be able to leave their mark on a range of industries, from healthcare and energy transition to public safety and security.

The challenges are provided by various companies, state institutions, and non-profit organizations, including the International Council for Conservation of Nature, KLM Cargo and the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

You can explore all the challenges here.

Waves will reveal its potential building blocks to help solve the challenges at Odyssey Connect, which will be held on 4–5 February 2020.

Odyssey Connect

To help participating teams successfully tackle the challenges there will be a two-day knowledge exchange event in The Hague, Netherlands. Here, prospective teams can meet the challenge leaders, find out more about the challenges directly from them and get a headstart in hackathon preparation. You will also be able to network with other participating teams.

The Waves team will attend the event and announce its building blocks — the technology stack participants of the hackathon can use — and the challenges that can be addressed using them. We’ll provide any support needed both during Odyssey Connect and with our team of Jedi during the hackathon itself.

You can apply to participate here. The event is free.

If you have any questions about Waves’ participation and support, please ask them in our Telegram group. See you in The Hague!

UPD: This article has been updated on March 30, 2020
Looking for Consistency across Beliefs and Choices
By: Piyush Kamal
Tags: Life Lessons, Lifestyle, Self, Self Improvement, Life

Be it reaching the airport on time, or completion of that critical project, or even getting those stupid nods of approval from friends, we are somehow evolutionarily wired to feel secure when we seem to be in control of things.



Want to check the veracity of this claim? Please observe your physiological response when your Uber driver chooses to cancel your ride to the airport when you are already running late. An unexpected event, irrespective of its magnitude, often manages to catch you off the guard. And the last thing you want in your life is to find yourself at the edge of some unknown cliff.

Last evening while coming back from the dental clinic, we were stuck in a traffic jam (definitely not an ideal time to get into an argument with my partner). On second thought, is there a perfect time? If you think there is one, please let me know, because, in our eight years of togetherness, every single argument seemed to have cropped up at the most inappropriate moment. Well, that’s a separate topic for a full-length post.



We have a six-year-old excuser-in- chief who specializes in the art of weaving stories after assessing our vulnerabilities. She has made us believe that brushing her pearly for more than a minute will lead to vomiting, so any resistance on her part is nothing but a reflexive response and should not be interpreted as non-compliance. It’s been a while since she started complaining of toothache which could no longer be ignored. In a way, late evening visit to the dental clinic was something imposed on us due to this unavoidable urgency.



While we were stuck in traffic when coming back after getting multiple cavities of our storyteller filled by the dentist, I was wondering if this unwarranted situation could have been avoided, had I taken the matter more seriously into my own hands. Given the fact that I did opt out from taking the complete responsibility of getting our storyteller’s pearlies clean on a daily basis, therefore, I couldn’t blame anyone. I had no choice but to accept it as if it was always meant to be (a more comfortable option compared to self-blame).
John Boyega is Right to Call Out Disney Over Star Wars
By: Walter Rhein
Tags: Film, Racism, Disney, Diversity, Star Wars

Diversity in Star Wars

Star Wars has always been known for having a diversity problem. There are not enough developed female characters and the plight of minorities is often overlooked. However, there are examples in Lucas’s work that indicate he was at least making an honest effort to do better. There are even some significant achievements.

Carrie Fisher’s portrayal of Princess Leia is far from that of a shrinking damsel. Fisher offered her own criticisms over the bikini segment in Return of the Jedi, but even that sequence ends with Leia strangling her oppressor to death. Princess Leia is widely regarded as a positive embodiment of female strength and dignity.

Lucas was never deaf to criticisms of his films, and adding Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back helped bring more diversity to the cast. It’s important to note that although Lando has the same sort of scandalous reputation as Han Solo, Lando is a figure of respect and importance. He is a city administrator with a complex character arc that goes from pragmatic to competent and finally heroic.

Lucas even featured Samuel L. Jackson as Jedi Master Mace Windu in the prequel trilogy. Although most fans would agree this character was criminally underutilized, it shows that Lucas had no problem casting minority actors to play important and powerful characters.
JET8 Social interviews Victoria Gago, Co-founder of the European Blockchain Convention.
Tags: Digital Currency, Press Release, Blockchain, Weekly Update, Technology

JET8 Social had the pleasure of sitting down with Victoria Gago, Co-founder of the European Blockchain Convention. Gago is also an Associate at AddVANTE M&A where she advises tech, retail and industrial companies.

With a global mindset, Gago has lived in Malaysia, Australia, UK, Spain, Luxembourg, and Denmark. In 2016 she founded Accelerate Network, an association for young female professionals to inspire young women to reach their full potential, empower upcoming talents and future female leaders. Amongst all her achievements Gago is also a blockchain guest speaker at Millionaire’s Club, a leading Denmark financial radio show.

Her view is that blockchain is still in its early days but in the next 18–24 months we will start to see the full potential of blockchain. Once individuals, retailers and brands start to see it active, blockchain will be adapted faster in these networks.

When asked about JET8 Technology, Gago views the platform as a place that provides users with more freedom to use their digital currency. According to Gago, it makes complete sense for content creators to be rewarded for their UGC. She says the JET8 network feels like teamwork between the brand and the user.

Watch the full interview here.

ABOUT JET8

JET8 is the world’s first World’s Social Wallet; a platform for brands to reach content creators in order to build meaningful and direct relationships with consumers.

Apps created with JET8 technology turn social media users into empowered creators and consumers, and allow brands and agencies to target, publish, and track the life of branded content.

For every like, comment, and share, users are rewarded for their influence with JET8’s social currency, JETPoints. With JETPoints, users can redeem products online or over the counter across more than 30,000 retail stores around the world, including Watsons, Circle K, and 7-Eleven.

JET8 launched in 2015 and is currently utilised by over 50 global brands and marketers including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and McDonald’s.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Keshia@jet8.io, PR and Social Media Manager
I Found the Best Hour for Breakfast. Science Agrees
By: Auriane Alix
Tags: Health, Food, Self, Breakfast, Self Improvement

I Found the Best Hour for Breakfast. Science Agrees

No more rumbling stomach at 10:30 am.

Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash

First, I worked on reducing sugar. Then, on the consumption of wholegrain cereals only. After, I tried to restore a connection with my body and its signals of hunger and satiety, through intuitive eating. Even after that I changed my breakfast to something much more nutritious and filling.

It was time to take the next step.

I was raised as a breakfast person. My parents wouldn’t let me go to school on an empty stomach. Even if it was just an apple or a slice of bread, I had to eat something.

But most of the time they didn’t have to fight at all.

I’ve always loved breakfast. From sweet children’s cereals to English muffins, French toasts, and now avocado toasts, fried eggs, or sheep yogurt with muesli, it’s one of my favorite times of the day. Waking up and thinking of nothing else but getting to the kitchen table to refuel before the day begins.

Curiously, my brother turned out to be a no-breakfast person. In fact, he doesn’t eat right away when he wakes up, but a few hours later when he gets hungry.

When he told me this, I began to see the major problem lodged in my own breakfast habit.