fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Git Part 2: The Three Worlds System
By: Henry Steinhauer
Tags: Development, Technical Writing, Sofware Development, Git, Version Control System

Today there are lots of different version control systems. One of the most famous is Git. But what are the reasons? How did Git manage to stand out? One important cause will be discussed today.

Agenda

3 Layer-System

Benefit of the Staging Area

Conclusion

3 Layer-System

Git consists of three areas. Below you can see their names and order. First, we’ll try to get an idea of how they work.

Working Directory

On the working directory, we have a single uncompressed version of the project. So we can make modifications and add new features. Besides, changes in the working directory are marked, but not stored in the Git database. If we lose changes, it’s not possible to restore them. Below is an overview of the flagged changed files.

Staging Area

The second layer is called the staging area or index. As soon as we move changes from the working tree to the staging area, we store a snapshot of all the changes to the files in the Git database. Files that we don’t change are only referenced. The corresponding command is git add filename . Or if you want to save all changes, you can use the wildcard. To do this, you must replace the filename with the dotted character. The changes are not saved permanently. All changes that aren’t committed to the git directory within a certain period are removed by the garbage collector. To see the status of the staging area, as well as the status of the working area as above, we need to type the command git status .

Git Directory

The last part is the Git directory. This is where the snapshots are stored permanently in the Git database. Additionally, all saved changes are linked to the project history. To do this we have to commit the changes from our staging area -> git commit -m "description" .

Benefit of the staging area

Most version control systems consist of a 2-layer system. One reason for Git to stand out is the layer between them. But why? What is the advantage?

In my mind, the greatest benefit is the control over what we want to commit to our git directory. In other version control systems, we simply store all the changes we have made. But in Git, it’s a bit different. Here, we can make changes and later decide which files we want to store group. We have commands like git reset , git stash , git commit -p and much more. So we can build our commits completely free. If you have additional benefits, it would be great to leave them in the comments.

Conclusion

Today we took a look at Git’s 3-layer system. In the end, you should know the differences between the layers and what they are used for. We also talked about the benefit of the staging area. If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments. See you soon.

In my following article, we will do an exciting tour through the .git directory. Buckle up and let’s go -> Discover the .git Folder.
London Bar BrewDog Dumps Cash Payments for Bitcoin
Tags: Ccn, Crypto, Bitcoin

London Bar BrewDog Dumps Cash Payments for Bitcoin https://is.gd/rG0nvq

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Craft brewery BrewDog, known in the UK for operating a chain of drinking pubs for hipsters, has opened a bar in Canary Wharf, London, that accepts not only bitcoin but also changes its markup based on the movement of the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE). According to a report on the Drinks Business, the FTSE induced pricing will be exclusively implemented on a “special beer tap.”

Due to the location of the bar, which overlooks Bellmouth Passage and the canal linking old North and the South Docks, known for trading, the company says the pricing of the beer will vary based on how the market is doing. If the FTSE goes up, the price of the beer goes on with it. If it falls, you will have an endless supply of beer at a steep discount. Before BrewDog, entrepreneurs Alan Grant and Glenn Burgess created the Reserve Bar Stock Exchange, an automated stock market for booze, three years ago. At the time, Grant had said that “alcohol doesn’t have to be sold at an extortionate rate.”

In an official blog post, BrewDog said the new location would also be the first of its bars to accept cryptocurrencies, allowing consumers to pay for their spirits using bitcoin or bitcoin cash and the second cashless bar under the company’s domain. The company advised consumers to come with their credit cards and their Equity Punk ID Card, a form of loyalty card that allows holders to redeem discounts at any of BrewDog’s location.

In addition to the grand opening of the Canary Wharf bar, BrewDog will also run a bitcoin cash giveaway, promising to give the first 100 attendees a BCH wallet pre-loaded with crypto between £12 and £100.

Earlier this month, Mr. Wolf’s , a nightclub in Bristol had an event where customers were allowed to pay for a pint of beer with bitcoin for the night. Mr. Wolf’s was ecstatic about the one-off event, which was done to support the documentary of two movie producers and prove that bitcoin could be a viable currency in a society that is fast becoming cashless.

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Summer Research Interns Bring Diverse Experiences and Ideas to the Media Lab
By: Mit Media Lab
Tags: Tech, Research, Diversity, STEM, Higher Education

“Change the ways we experience stories”

Daniel Diaz-Etchevehere, University of Rochester, NY

Daniel Diaz-Etchevehere (right) with his research advisor, visiting scientist Takahito Ito (left) of NHK, debugging their virtual reality simulation in the Macro Connections group. Credit: Aamena Alshamsi/MIT Media Lab

The Macro Connections group transforms data into stories by building online visualization engines that allow people to delve into large datasets. During my internship with Macro Connections, we decided to take this idea further — into virtual reality (VR) — by creating an interactive tour of Washington, DC, which leveraged data made available by Macro Connections in the Data USA website.

It was a phenomenal experience: everyone in the group was incredibly supportive and always down to chat or play ping pong. My advisor, Takahito Ito, a visiting scientist from Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) who is charting new territory in VR, was a perfect match for me, since I grew up on Japanese games and animation and I’m very interested in Japan. VR was new to me, but at my university I’ve done a lot of art — illustration, painting, and graphic design — as well as programming for my environmental science major, so I was able to adjust. Prior to this internship, my research was independent, but at the Media Lab we developed the VR experience together. That experience made me realize how crucial and efficient collaboration can be.

I’ve been searching for a way to combine my interests in art, storytelling, video games, animation, and scientific research, and my time at the Media Lab has allowed me to see the breadth of possible combinations. I want to keep exploring new media such as VR and Augmented Reality (AR) and their intersections with both scientific research and media. I am particularly interested in pursuing VR/AR storytelling and their other applications and seeing how they can change the ways we experience stories and understand scientific research and data.
E.N.T.E.R.T.A.I.N.M.E.N.T.
By: S.F.N. Cook
Tags: Flash Fiction, Science Fiction, Psychedelics, SciFi, Dystopia

E.N.T.E.R.T.A.I.N.M.E.N.T.

Would it be worth it?

Image public domain, courtesy of digitalcomicmuseum.com, modified from original.

Oono feared the anticipation, but got excited none-the-less to be on ENTERTAINMENT. ENTERTAINMENT was the future. ENTERTAINMENT was destiny. Eventually everyone would be on ENTERTAINMENT.

It was a virtual space where he and his click, a social group, could experience each other, inside and out, feelings and bodies. A reverberating fungus of emotions and shared experiences. His click had about sixty people now: Some people were scanned-in already and others, like him, were still outside-looking-in.

But that was changing today. This morning he had been scanned-in and now he was walking to his death. His other self, Oono 2.0 was there, on ENTERTAINMENT, with all of them now. Probably just waking up into that new life, that new experience, with all of those who had gone before him. They were ENTERTAINMENT, they made it up. Ice cubes floating in gelatin.

This part of the city was poor and dangerous. Graffiti and mud. It made him nauseous so he clicked-on for a quick dose of ENTERTAINMENT. The two worlds mixed like paint in a centrifuge. The warmth of ENTERTAINMENT spread over his scalp like butterscotch LSD. A hallucination-within-a-hologram with euphoric overtones. But he was only the carbon, not the scan. Oono 2.0 was the scan and was there now on ENTERTAINMENT.

It was a story of jealousy, to be the carbon, not the scan. He had lost consciousness when the scan started. He remembered hoping, naively, that he would somehow wake up to be the scan. But how could that have happened? He was the carbon and Oono 2.0 was the scan.

He was sitting in a studio. “Look up here,” the massive British brute said, gently winding the garrote around Oono’s neck but not putting pressure on it yet. Oono looked up into the man’s gray eyes. Someone with a camera shifted in his peripheral.

“Will it be worth it?” he asked the man with the garrote.

The man’s practiced focus shifted to fake sympathy: “Of course it is, mate! It’s ENTERTAINMENT! You’ve made it! You’re the #1 story today! Everyone’s watchin’ you!”

Oono looked at the camera and wished everyone from his click could be there with him. But all he saw was the confusing optical geometry of an articulating lens.

He had not be a rich man and could not pay money to get into ENTERTAINMENT. He had to pay with his death. A death that would be broadcast to all the clicks in the world. It was a big event to sell your death. Not many people had the guts to go through with it. Oono 2.0 would be there, sharing the experience of watching himself die. Oono 2.0 was somewhere out there watching the feed from the camera there at his side.

“Ready, mate?” the garrote asked.

Oono nodded and looked into his eyes. The big man put the pressure on Oono’s throat slowly. It was supposed to take a long time to die.
【共鳴讀書 no.78】～音樂的素養與價值
By: Jinna Sun
Tags: 讀書筆記, 音樂, 共鳴讀書, Art

in Both Sides of the Table
Red Sugar Mountain
By: Toni Tails
Tags: Flash Fiction, Children, Family, Fiction, Short Story

Tural looked at the glass of Kool-Aid sweating in her palm and thought something. She thought it long enough that she decided to say it out loud.

“Pical,” she said to her twin brother, for that was his name, “How do you suppose the red gets into Kool-Aid?”

“Oh, I don’t suppose at all, I know” answered Pical, for he was full of the knowledge of many things.

Pical was quiet for a while. Tural waited. She knew with a sharp mind like her brother's, patience was key.

“I’ll tell ya,” he finally responded. “It’s red sugar is all.”

“I’ve seen white sugar and brown sugar, Pical. I’ve never seen red!”

“Oh, I seen red sugar plenty o’ times at the market,” Pical rejoined, “It’s in funny little pill bottles, and you can see the sugar right through it. There’s all sorts o’ colors, not just red; blue, yellow, green, purple…

Ask Mom if you don’t believe me!”

Tural assured her brother that she believed him. She remembered having seen the funny pill bottles herself, only she hadn’t known what they were.

“I wonder where does red sugar come from?” Tural asked as if to no one in particular.

“Oh don’t you know anything?” Pical put down his cup and stood facing his sister. “Color sugar comes from the same place as white. Only color’s worth more, it being rare and all.

Far away in the North, where it’s nothing but snow all year ‘round, is where you find sugar mines.”

Pical got into his tale and looked far past the yard, as if he could see the snowy mountains right there.

“They started off as caves, see? But when some miner or other hits a color vein, they take in dynamite and all sorts of bombs in things, then they blow it all up. Soon the caves become deep, dark tunnels. They put train tracks in the tunnels, but they ain’t got no trains, only funny carts that they tote sugar in. Each miner has two carts, a pick, and a shovel.

The pick’s to bang on gray rocks until they get sugar pouring from it. The shovels are to shovel the piles of sugar into one cart, and the other cart is to put all the diamonds or rubies or gold nuggets and things they find.”

“And that’s how the miners are paid!” interrupted Tural, clapping her hands at the thought of so many sparkling things.

Pical looked disgusted. “Of course not, Stupid!

Diamonds and rubies and such are alright, of course. But they aren’t that easy to get rid of unless you can find a pirate who needs some for his treasure chest or a princess or something like that.

Everybody needs sugar, though. The miners take half of what they find home. They never have to buy sugar again, and they sell the rest.”

“And the other half is sent to factories and put into little pill bottles!” Tural cried, sure she was on to something at last.

Pical smiled. “Yeah, that’s right. I suppose you aren’t too stupid after all.”
How I Managed to Get 325K Views on Quora in Only 3 Months
By: Andrei Tapalaga
Tags: Quora, Promotion, Productivity, UX, Marketing

Breaking Down the Statistics

So let’s look at the statistics offered by Quora and how my view count has fluctuated over a three month period.

My own Quora stats

For some of you these numbers may not seem so big, but for me (a person that has never gone viral), it’s quite the wow factor. The first thing that I would like to point out is that a post on Quora has a longer lifespan than most other platforms. What I mean by lifespan is the period of time that a post produces views or grabs the attention of other users.

The lifespan of posts on Quora is averaged at a whole week with a 30% drop in views during the weekend. This is what can be seen from my stats as well. If you look closely, at the start of November you can see a pattern for the first three weeks.

As you can see, the posts start to generate views on Monday. As the week progresses, the views keep going up, but as the week comes to an end, the views drop around 50%. It’s imperative to mention that this was a period of time where I was posting on a strict schedule.

I should also mention that these views don’t take into consideration the views I get from my answers but only the views from posts that I share across Quora.

Near the end of December, you’ll see there’s quite a gap. This is because (for unknown reasons) Quora blocked my ability to post articles from Medium. In four days, the problem was sorted and I was able to get back to posting Medium articles. It’s imperative to mention that most of these views do come from Medium content, but not only my own as I share all the articles published in my publication, History of Yesterday.
ChainEX’s Monthly Update
Tags: Blockchain, Crypto, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

ChainEX has seen a tremendous year so far and July has been no exception! We’re halfway through the year and still so much to create and experience on the blockchain! We’ve put together a quick summary of our June and July travels, achievements and goals for you to catch up on.

Our promotions currently running:

#ZeroFees was introduced in the beginning of June to give users the chance to trade for free and see what our platform is like. We want users to see what makes us different from all of the other exchanges out there, and how we can make trading easier for you. ChainEX normally charges a flat rate of 0.25% on all of our transactions. The #ZeroFees promotion is an amazing saving for all new and existing traders. This promotion is still ongoing, so don’t miss out!

Where in the world have we been?

ChainEX has certainly made it a mission to get to know what is truly out there and what we can learn from others. We recently travelled to Prague to see how Europe has adopted and started accepting cryptocurrencies. We were also fortunate enough to meet the Particl team.

Our travels continued all the way to the Netherlands for Neverland festival that has ties to crypto! Blocktix did their live pilot, scanning many tickets that ran through the ethereum blockchain whilst we were watching with curiosity and excitement. Their aim is to create many events on the blockchain and sell tickets counterfeit resistant tickets that eliminate fraud in event ticketing. Neverland Festival was quite interesting and we certainly could learn a lot from Blocktix and what they’re all about.

Last week we also attended the Jonhannesburg Blockchain Conference in Midrand, and had the privilege to be a sponsor. We showcased our own stand and met some exciting people and made new connections.

Some changes on our system

This month we enabled trading for unverified users. The our KYC isn’t as strict for users who just want to trade crypto to crypto, which allows beginners to see what trading is like. With just a first name, surname and email address, you are now able to trade with us! To read more about this, follow the link to our previous blog post.

Our Team

Our team has been working around the clock to integrate new coins. This month we’ve integrated XRP and Tezos! We are hoping to bring more coins and a better platform to trade on.

We would like to encourage users to get to know our team personally on the trollbox. Our team of experts are here to assist during any time of the day, to make the impossible possible.
About A Poet
By: John Horan
Tags: Mental Health, Literature, Writing, Poetry, Poem

I’m getting washed away on a tsunami

Of lost potential recovered

Something about the sea and me

Is unfinished and needs to be released

I let it pour through me

Waves of words

Melodies of verse

Rhyming tides

And the endless universe

Flow out and in

And through my pen

Somehow something will be made right

And all my losses wins

Somehow someday when…
Beautiful Season
By: Edie Tuck
Tags: Seasons, Lessons, Friendship, Memories, Poetry

They say people are in your life

For a reason, a season, or a lifetime

Your reason was to teach me

To open my eyes to so much

You’ve expanded my horizons

And made me see the world as a better place

Your lifetime is in my heart

In my mind, and in my soul

The seed of friendship you’ve sown

Will sprout roses for me

And will bring fond memories forever

Your season was a sweet sweet one

Like Summer, it was much too short

But it was full of smiles and sunshine

When I see a dragonfly frolicking in the sun

Or hear the mesmerizing voice of the old Welsh witch

I will think of you, and I will smile a sad sad smile

And I will remember you always

My beautiful season
[AI Bootcamp] Zero to Deep Learning Bootcamp 👨‍💻
By: Federico Gobbi
Tags: Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Data Science, Reinforcement Learning, AI

[AI Bootcamp] Zero to Deep Learning Bootcamp 👨‍💻

JOIN THE BOOTCAMP! Powered by Catalit; In parntership with AIMA

Why Zero to Deep Learning?

There are many online courses, 1 or 2 day trainings, and much longer fellowships on Machine Learning and Deep Learning. We are however yet to see an immersive course to take you from Zero to Deep Learning, in a proven way, in 5 days. That’s why we teach our bootcamp — to deliver a 5 day full-time introduction to cutting edge Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques using Python.

Who Should Attend?

It is designed for Software Engineers, Software Engineering Managers, and Data Analysts seeking to upskill into Machine Learning & Deep Learning.

5 full days of Knowledge and Skill

You’ll get versed in Data Visualization, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning. These are the elements that come together to make driverless cars, to recognize faces, to market products, and to drive big decisions from big data.

You will Build:

A language detector

An image recognition engine

A sentiment classifier that can decipher the tone of text

A spam detector that can triage sms messages

A forecasting algorithm that predicts future energy consumption

A deployed API that predicts phone location from wifi signal

A final project of your own

And more …

Final Project:

Apply what you have learnt immediately

Collaborate with a team

Build an application end-to-end

Show off your results

Immediately bring back value to your organization

In the past people have built:

An algorithm to forecast the price of Bitcoin

A mobile application to recognize objects

A web application to detect toxic language in comments

And more …

The most up to date curriculum with best practice teaching

The curriculum is specifically crafted to make Deep Learning accessible to a broad range of students and professionals. The bootcamp is fully immersive — you will be hands on throughout. Classes are a mix of lectures, practical exercises, Q and A, supported by teaching assistants to make sure each person is progressing throughout the bootcamp.

What makes Zero to Deep Learning different from other courses?

We focus on Machine Learning, Deep Learning and neural networks with Python.

We balance breadth and depth. By the end you will know enough of the foundations of ML and DL to bypass the painful part of approaching a new subject, and take your learning curve from months to days.

It’s 5 days, and immersive. There are many 1–2 day courses available, but generally we think these are too short. We also know the appeal of part-time courses — you can complete them while working full-time. We have however seen that participants often don’t make the time and mental space to learn, and get less value from the courses. We believe immersive is best, and 5 days is the sweet spot between time out of the office, and learning powerful content to with a very positive return on investment

Our courses are self-contained, hands-on and interactive
What if Russia Never Sold Alaska to America?
By: Andrei Tapalaga
Tags: Culture, Politics, Alaska, Economics, History

Alternate History

What if Russia Never Sold Alaska to America?

A “wasteland” full of treasure

Alaska Coat of arms of Kosovo Russian America Socialist heraldry, Alaska flag, emblem, communism, and socialism (Source: PNG Wing)

It is not often that we look back onto “drastic” decisions that have been made by powerful nations and how these affect the present. Remember the words of George Orwell, “He who controls the past controls the future.” Thus, thinking of how the past would have affected the contemporary future (our present) is intriguing. In this alternate piece of history, we will be looking at possible outcomes of what would have happened if Russia hadn't sold Alaska to the United States (U.S.) in 1867.

Background context

Contemporary Russian historians have sort of hidden the fact that Alaska was its own nation back in the 10th century, however, over time, with the power that the Russian Empire had grown to be, it claimed it and Russified the nation, as well as its name which used to be Alyaska. Deprived of any resources (from the knowledge at the time) and due to the extreme weather conditions, it did not seem like an important piece of land for the Russian Empire, but more of an authoritarian asset which would translate into power by enlarging the size of the Empire.

Due to the massive losses both in manpower and financially suffered by the Russian Empire in the Crimean War (1853–1856), Russia was in dire need to reclaim its status in case another war broke out. The Russian Empire loved to be prepared and always had its forces ready. Good military power is expensive, and with not much trade going on within the Russian Empire that could grow the treasury in a short period of time, they turned towards selling a piece of unused land within their country.

At the time, it seemed like a good move as less land meant the need for fewer troops to protect it. Alaska not only being the only overseas part of the Russian Empire but also measuring at around 580,000 square miles. Not that the land needed much protection — or any at all — as Russia considered it as a land of nothingness.

Once put up for sale, the first nation to be interested was America, since Alaska was attached to the continent. Due to the industrial revolution, America was showcasing an impressive financial muscle, that permitted them to discuss a potential deal. At the time, even America did not know of the vast resources of gold within Alaska, they just saw it as an expansion that may come in handy in the future.

Therefore on the 18th of October, 1867, Alaska was sold to America for $7,200,000 ($111,000,000 today if we just for inflation). For more information on the context of this event, I would recommend reading this article by Calin Aneculaesei which goes into more specific detail.

For the more interesting part now, we will look at different perspectives of how these two major powers would have been affected if this transaction would have not taken place.
You Have to Not Hate the Work
By: Zach J. Payne
Tags: NaNoWriMo, Creativity, Process, Writing, Art

As a group, we’re also really bad with dichotomies and absolutes. So let me be clear: I’m not comparing writing to being a coal miner or a Kindergarten teacher. Writing is not an abject hell the way that some jobs are. But it is still a job. And writing is still work.

At some point, you will actually have to put your ass in the chair, block off all of the distractions, and get some writing done.

Sometimes, it will be uncomfortable. Emotionally difficult. And it will feel like you’re trying to spread tar over a butterfly’s wing. It will be frustrating. And you won’t be able, to borrow a turn of phrase from John Green, fathom your stars into constellations. The shit will fall apart. It will feel like gibberish.

You’ve just got to keep going.

I have a great writing group through Ninja Writers. We read some of our work every week or two. And, to my knowledge, every time I’ve read something, especially from an early draft, I’ve hedged it with something about how unsure of it I am. How it was difficult to write. How it’s probably not good.

And every time so far, I’ve received great feedback.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also received several suggestions for things to fix. These are fellow writers, and they’re not blowing smoke up my ass.

But no reader in the world is going to be able to go through your finished book and say “I could tell that you really struggled to write these paragraphs, this chapter. And here, here’s where you hit your stride.”

Nah. You might remember which parts were hard and which were easy, but I doubt even that.

You can’t sit around and wait for the spirit to strike you. You can’t sit around and wait for the process to be easy. You can’t sit around and wait for inspiration. Because that’s the road to never finishing a damn thing.

You’ve got to put your ass in the chair, ignore the social media for a while, and write. Not just think about writing, fantasize about writing, imagine writing . . . but actually write, imperfect though it is.
Cómo adquirir tu hosting para Wordpress con Siteground
By: Raziel Tovar
Tags: Internet, Vida Digital, Hosting, WordPress, Tecnologia

in Both Sides of the Table
3 things you may not know about Nurse Practitioners
By: Peter Lang
Tags: New York, Education, Nursing, Healthcare

Chances are you or someone you know has been under the care of a Nurse Practitioner, also known as an NP. I hope that was an enjoyable experience for you, and that you received excellent health care.

In honor of this growing profession, I want to share 3 NP fun factions with you:

Fun Fact #1

Nurse Practitioners are licensed to practice in all 50 states plus the District of Colombia. In many states, we are considered primary care providers, meaning we are the go-to person for preventative care medicine, as well as for an acute care sick visit.

Fun Fact #2

There are almost 250,000 licensed Nurse Practitioners in the United States. You can find us in virtually any area of medicine including family practice clinics, the emergency department, and even the ICU.

Fun Fact #3

Nurse Practitioners can write prescriptions, and we often write multiple prescriptions a day!

You can read all about Nurse Practitioners, including how to become one, in The Ultimate Nurse Practitioner Guidebook.
3 Powerful Ways to Adapt When Your Peers Are Smarter Than You
By: Julia Tsoi
Tags: Work, Self, Creativity, Business, Growth

3 Powerful Ways to Adapt When Your Peers Are Smarter Than You

Embrace the difference, and explore your own field instead

Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash

I could still remember my joy when I received the job offer as a consultant trainee from the global technology giant 6 years ago. Together with the other 20 people in the batch, I was fearless and excited. Like my peers, I believed this offer symbolized my market value and capability, and there was nothing that we could not achieve.

Obviously, I was too naive about that.

After working for several months, I found out that my peers were just way smarter than me. I was not as presentable as others; I was not as sharp and intelligent as them. And my biggest frustration was seeing them treating the technical tasks like a piece of cake, whereas I spent days and nights learning the basics.

I felt like I was a loser and not good enough for the role. No matter how hard I tried to do better, my peers were always miles ahead of me. After one year, some of them were already working as a Project Manager in the team. In contrast, I was still a Functional Consultant in the small work-stream. From time to time, I could not help thinking; maybe it was more about the gene, rather than how much effort I put in.

With all the low self-esteem, it was a tough time for me. During the catch-up meeting with my manager, he acknowledged my frustration and told me that those stress were all from inside-out. He said that there was no point in comparing myself with others, and I should only compete within myself instead.

“To be a champion, compete; to be a great champion, compete with the best; but to be the greatest champion, compete with yourself.”― Matshona Dhliwayo

It was a hard pill to sorrow. It turned out I invested so much time to live under others’ shadow. I forgot who I am and what I want to do for my career. Cramping myself into a competition, as clear as it may seem, was going nowhere.

Eventually, I changed. Instead of comparing myself with others all the time, I decided to find my niche in the industry. Instead of caring so much about what people think, I focus on my self-growth. What happened next was I got into a path that I could have never imagined myself doing 6 years ago, which I would share more with you later on.

In the following, I summarised 3 ways to overcome the frustration of lagging behind others. Those are not rocket science, but they help me get through the journey and become who I am today.
A Really Necessary Pirates of the Caribbean Isolation Ranking
By: Zac Van Manen
Tags: Film, Essay, Review, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Film Reviews

Dead Men Tell No Tales — number 5 in order, number 4 in this ranking.

It’s quarantine so we’re all burning through movies at a rate of knots but only one film franchise takes you to the sea (where the salt water is great for your skin and the sun is even better) aboard actual pirate ships.

Here, there be monsters and early-to-mid-2000s Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley. They’re all quite soft on sore eyes used to the same four Aztec-god-damned walls so that’s your first rewatch excuse.

The second excuse is because they’re all fun as shit and I’m not here to entertain wrong assertions in the other direction.

But everyone knows it’s impossible to watch a movie through an Internet connection without developing violent opinions. So here I am, outletting.
On the agenda for the G20 this week: Financing universal health coverage
By: World Bank
Tags: Health, Financial, G20, Finance, Universal Health Coverage

Change starts with countries, which can make substantial progress by adapting proven health financing principles to their specific context. For example, they can improve the efficiency and equity of resource use by prioritizing the financing of good quality primary and community health services. Joint leadership by ministries of finance and health is critical for the development and implementation of health financing policy solutions, particularly in areas where progress lags despite broad agreement on principles and policies.

Countries can further improve results by embracing resilience and sustainability with a whole of government approach. For example, raising taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks creates a win-win for public health and government revenues.

International partners, too, must adjust their approach, increase development assistance for health and ensure that investments complement domestic resource mobilization and are aligned with country priorities. Development assistance has driven dramatic change in the past, but more recently growth in investments has slowed down. Development assistance needs to target countries and populations that are furthest behind and also prioritize investing in a country’s governance and organizational capacity to help them overcome financing shortcomings in the long-term.

Even under the most optimistic scenario, these measures will cover less than half of the financing gap projected for 2030. This is why it is imperative to foster innovation in health financing that generates new solutions that can help increase pre-paid and pooled financing instead of the pay-as-you-go out of pocket of spending, tap into private sector sources and create the incentives for quality and efficiency of service delivery.

G20 Finance Ministers can help transform health financing in developing countries in several ways. First, by holding regular dialogues on resilient and sustainable financing for UHC between ministers of finance and health. Second, by creating a dedicated innovation fund for health financing to identify new opportunities. Finally, the G20 can also ensure that development assistance for health effectively catalyzes efficient and equitable use and mobilization of domestic resources and strengthens country capacities in sustainable health financing.

Unless urgent action is taken on health financing, countries will miss the opportunity that high performance health financing for UHC offers to spur sustainable, inclusive growth. This threatens to put out of reach not only Sustainable Development Goal 3 on Health, but also our common global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. With just over a decade out from the SDG deadline of 2030, the time to act is now.
Fedora 31 Setup Routine
Tags: Desktop, Linux, Gnomeshell, Fedora

1. Shell prompt quick customization

We’ll keep it simple here, I won’t take you around a full featured customization as the one you can get through Zsh.

Use any online tool to easily tweak your PS1 prompt, like: bashrcgenerator.com. Once again, I kept it simple:

$ export PS1="\[\033[38;5;0m\]\[\033[48;5;14m\][\u: \w]\[$(tput sgr0)\]: \[$(tput sgr0)\]"

2. Gnome Terminal padding

You’ll notice unusual margins on the previous Gnome-Terminal screenshot. To add margins to your terminal, dd the following code to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css or create the file if not already there by default:

VteTerminal,

TerminalScreen,

vte-terminal {

padding: 20px;

-VteTerminal-inner-border: 20px;

}

3. Prevent Gnome Shell from grouping windows on Alt-Tab

Rather than to rely on an outdated Gnome shell extension, learn to use Gnome dconf-editor:

$ sudo dnf install dconf-editor

Open dconf-editor

Go to org/gnome/desktop/wm/keybindings

Move the value '<Alt>Tab' from: switch-applications to: switch-windows , then move '<Shift><Alt>Tab' from: switch-applications-backward to: switch-windows-backward

dconf-editor on Fedora

For Alt-tab to work across desktops, go to org/gnome/shell/window-switcher and uncheck current-workspace-only

and uncheck You can also set the app-icon-mode to app-icon-only

dconf-editor on Fedora

All set now!

4. Theming & fonts

Personal tastes here:

GTK & Shell themes : I’m quite fan of the Adwaita theme, but always find myself going back to Adapta after a few days. It may be a souvenir of my Manjaro years.

$ sudo dnf install Adapta-gtk-theme

Fonts: Roboto fonts is the best choice for a modern desktop

$ sudo dnf install Roboto

Icons theme : once again I love the new Adwaita icon set, but until today nothing beats the Newaita icon theme: https://github.com/cbrnix/Newaita

: once again I love the new Adwaita icon set, but until today nothing beats the icon theme: https://github.com/cbrnix/Newaita To adjust your settings:

$ sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks

Fedora 31 / Adapta + Newaita

Update / 2020.05

Update since Fedora 32 Workstation came out: Gnome 3.36 brings a huge improvement to the Shell and GTK themes, enough to beat any other theme in term of consistency and integration. So Adwaita is now my only theme for GTK, Shell and Cursors.

I’m sticking with Marwaita as Icon set though, as it is more complete than Adwaita and brings more coherence to the desktop experience.
New Questions for Online Dating Profiles During a Pandemic
By: Rachael Ann Sand
Tags: Dating, Women, Humor, Online Dating, Satire

In response to concerns about a highly contagious novel coronavirus, developers are helping users screen potential dates. Ladies must be more vigilant than ever when looking for red flags. It is critical to know how your future mate responds to crisis. Will he/she/they protect you or put you at risk? Find out by reading their responses to pandemic related questions.

When do you wear a mask? Choose all that apply.
How One Animal Kills Its Prey with Flatulence
By: David B. Clear
Tags: Animals, Flatulence, Evolution, Science, Biology

How it starts

You see, the adult latipennis flutters about the landscape pretending to be a butterfly, all the while looking for the damp and musty smell of decomposing wood. Then, when it detects a woody sniff, it homes in on the source — let’s say an old log — and checks it for termites. If there are some, it chuckles to itself and proceeds to lay some eggs next to the termite nest. Having squirted out a bunch, it then continues on its merry way to do whatever else adult latipennises do.

Sometime later, a baby latipennis hatches — a larva. It yawns, smacks its lips a few times, and begins to salivate as it looks around and smells breakfast. Its breakfast — the termites — meanwhile continue unperturbed crawling in and out of their nest.

Having spotted the crawling buffet, our baby latipennis picks out a particularly juicy looking termite and then approaches it. Next, as Wikipedia informs us, the larva “waives the tip of its abdomen near the termites’ head” and then — oh God then — it lets go of such a toxic bottom burb that “the termite becomes immobile after 1 to 3 minutes, and completely paralysed very soon after this.”

Having subdued its prey with such a foul chemical attack, the baby latipennis begins to eat its victim. And yes, the poor termite is still alive while that’s happening.

Ah, nature. Beautiful, isn’t it?
Scaling Node.js Applications With Multiprocessing
By: Janith Gamage
Tags: Typescript, JavaScript, Software Development, Nodejs, Programming

Handling CPU-Intensive Tasks

If you’ve been using Node for a while, you must’ve already heard that Node is not a good choice if your application has CPU-intensive tasks. This is because if you run a CPU intensive task that takes a considerably long time to complete, Node will have its single main thread blocked and it will not be receptive to new requests until the task is completed.

The Node child_process module is a good workaround for this issue. It’s ideal when you want to have multiple Node instances following different execution flows to complete a single common task. It allows you to fork a new Node instance (a child process), ideally in another CPU core, and offload the heavy task to the newly forked child process. This keeps the main thread of the parent process free for new requests, and the results of the offloaded task can be communicated back to the parent process once the task is completed.

Let’s see how we can demonstrate this with some code. First I wrote an algorithm to check, in the least efficient way (to mimic a CPU-intensive task), whether a given number is a prime number or not.

Next I coded a simple Node server to execute the above function using a newly forked child process once the relevant API endpoint is called.

Then I benchmarked the server using autocannon by sending eight requests using eight concurrent connections.

Benchmark with multiprocessing

As you can see, it only took the server 1.02 seconds to serve the requests. Finally, I coded another server without using multiprocessing and ran the same benchmark on it.

Benchmark without multiprocessing

This time it took the server over 74 seconds to serve the same number of requests. That’s a huge drop in performance when compared to the previous implementation with multiprocessing.

There are certain time-consuming tasks, such as I/O operations, network operations, and cryptographic functionalities, that Node manages to execute in an asynchronous non-blocking manner without needing a manual implementation of multiprocessing. To learn more about how Node handles asynchronous tasks, check out my previous article.
Organizing Your Data for the Industry 4.0 Factory
Tags: Data Visualization, Data Science, IoT, Industry 4 0

Bigger problems require bigger solutions.

Example Data Model based on ISA-95

During the Industry 4.0 era, a large amount of data will be collected and it has to be managed and organized with a united approach. There should be a single source of truth in the factory. On top of the data, processes should be established to ensure availability, usability, consistency, data integrity, and data security for effective data management throughout the enterprise.

ISA-95 is an international standard for developing an automated interface between enterprise and control systems.

If you are looking for actual implementation, I will show a use-case.

In Summary

The data can be model this way and stored in a centralized repository. Later any application will know where the data is located.
A Poem by Chaya Bhuvaneswar
By: The Awl
Tags: The Poetry Section, Poetry, Chaya Bhuvaneswar

A Poem by Chaya Bhuvaneswar

Mount of the Dead Men

Sculptor left your stone eyes blank. But you were busy looking someplace else.

No dancing girl, Mohenjo Daro, terra cotta, Indian Jazz Baby, Twenties flapper contraband for bobbed hair alone.

You’re one of us, all the real girls.

Three steps you were supposed to stay behind but you two-stepped, grape-vined, twined closer with a lover’s hand. Moved him out of the way, so you could see words he was reading.

Half out of his mind with grief once you were gone, out of sight, out of mind, he listened to you then, instead of expecting you to look at him.

In fact, it was his eyes that went blank then, listening for words you had to say that were his words, not finding them,

not finding you. No Eurydice, no Beatrice, no Muse, no Magic Bus.

You only came up to here, on him, but had it up to here with him.

And had your way. And didn’t get your way.

As one of us, all the real girls. An Amrita, Arundhati, Mira, Deepa, Mahesweta Devi.

You were a gritty brown bottom exhibiting yourself, telling stories of what the sculptor did. Leaving your eyes that way, so you couldn’t see.
Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
By: Bernard Mcdonough
Tags: Mental Health Awareness, Ect, Mental Toughness, Motivational, Mental Illness

Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT)

My story.

Photo by Max LaRochelle on Unsplash

It was the scariest time of my life. I had already attempted suicide and another attempt was on the horizon.

Nothing was going right for me, and if I wanted to live (I did) I had to go to extremes. The extreme my family and I decided on, with my psychiatrists’ recommendation, was to try ECT. That stands for electroconvulsive therapy.

Was I scared shitless? Yes.

Did I need to exhaust every option before making a terrible decision? Absolutely.

When I went into the basement of the hospital before my 16 treatments I was filled with fear and anxiety. I wanted to run. But I didn’t.

I was put out 16 times and had my brain shocked.

Here’s what happened.
Portrait of Enkool & Duzka
By: A G N U U S H
Tags: Archive, Photojournalism, Photography, Homepage, Portrait

in Both Sides of the Table
Why Use Advertiser IDs?. Do you remember the early days of…
By: Marc Rose
Tags: Ad Targeting, Ad Technology, Data Science, Location Intelligence, Advertising

Do you remember the early days of the internet? Each web-page was a unique experience. Even when you fired up well-known sites like Friendster or Myspace, you were still never quite sure what you were going to get.

What about the ads? The ads kind of sucked.

Oh Boy!, I can’t wait to invest all the money my high school Nickelback cover band made last summer!

Over time, the industry learned. We got these wonderful things called cookies — little snippets of code in your browser that let sites know what you’ve bought before, and what kind of ads you might be more receptive to.

Unfortunately, the technology is still not perfect:

Amazon thinks I’m trying to start the world’s largest frying pan collection.

YouTube is very excited to help out with my new career as a Russian ballerina, and;

The Scientologists got very excited after I Googled Tom Cruise.

I swear it was only once

The problem the industry faces is that web pages only receive an extremely myopic viewpoint on the target individual. There are a lot of really complicated algorithms working hard to serve me ads I’d like to see, but without a more nuanced data set, they’re worthless.

Enter the Advertiser ID.

Mobile Advertiser ID (Ad ID or MAID) is essentially the smartphone version of the browser cookie. Each Ad ID is tied to your operating system instead of your browser, making it far more valuable. This link means that my Ad ID has access to everything: what shows I watch, my favorite locations, even the music I like. But Ad ID isn’t just handing all that information over to advertisers. Ad ID works with the app or web algorithm to pick and choose the ads I’d like to see, from its catalog.

Sadly my Ad ID can’t clean up after me, that’s why we need Marie Kondo.

At mobilads, we work with Ad-ID to track the impressions our cars make on pedestrians. Thanks to the Ad ID’s we collect, we can help serve relevant ads to our target demographics.