fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
ZLogger — Zero Allocation Logger for .NET Core and Unity
By: Yoshifumi Kawai
Tags: Csharp, Aspnetcore, Logging

I’ve just released a new logging library ZLogger for .NET Core and Unity. It is very fast, and using previously introduced ZString — Zero Allocation StringBuilder in the backend, it eliminates the allocation when formatting the string.

GitHub — Cysharp/ZLogger

The standard output is especially important for containerization. For example, Datadog Logs and Stackdriver Logging collect logs directly from the standard output of the container. Writing to standard output is also recommended in The Twelve-Factor App — XI. Logs section. As such, dealing with over-decorated logs for the local environment and standard output in a slow Console.WriteLine is too old-fashioned an idea, and unfortunately, until now, no library has taken that into account in C#.

There is a lot of waste in the old logging process.

The standard String.Format causes boxing to take all the values as objects, and also creates a new UTF16 String. Encode this String in UTF8, will be the flow to write to the final stream, but for ZLogger ZString format the string directly into the buffer area using ZString as UTF8 write, and streamed together in the ConsoleStream. There is no primitive boxing and it is written asynchronously and at once, so there is no load on the caller or the application as a whole.

In addition to ZString, I have also made libraries for performance, such as MessagePack for C#, Utf8Json, and more recently LitJWT and Ulid.

I hope that ZLogger will make you think again about the performance of loggers.
Fresh Snow Fell Last Night
By: Gregory D. Welch
Tags: Poetry, Snow, Poetry On Medium, Life, Poem

Fresh Snow Fell Last Night

Poetry

Photo by Pietro Tebaldi on Unsplash

Fresh snow fell last night

the road peeks through in black strips

but there is a shimmer

the ice winks and grins with devilish potential

The road can almost be seen

but my heart tenses when I think of driving

those tires like to flirt with the road sometimes

but they have commitment issues and like to slide away

My heart grips itself like a pair of worrying hands

holding one another in a python squeeze

they have issues with letting go

the worry is their commitment

If only the road and those tires would hold each other

but there is a devilish shimmer of ice

they’re dedicated to the worry

fresh snow piles up
Like 0x? You’ll love Fetch!
By: Hansmeet Sethi
Tags: Crypto, Blockchain, 0xproject, Ethereum, Fetchproduct

Fetch makes it simple to discover the best trading rates across exchanges and execute a token trade. It’s too confusing to make a trade today and we’re excited to improve the experience for everybody (sign up for the beta!).

Fetch will include support for the 0x protocol to make it simple to find the best price and trade on 0x-powered exchanges.

The 0x Protocol and the 0x-enabled exchanges, called Relayers, are a huge step forward in making token trading easy and trustworthy. We’re happy to share that Fetch will make it even simpler for you to see the best prices across Relayers like Radar Relay, DDEX and ERC dEX and then trade with one-click. Fetch will support finding the best price and trading across 0x Relayers, other decentralized exchanges (ex: IDEX, EtherDelta), anonymous exchanges (ex: ShapeShift, Changelly) and over 100 centralized exchanges (ex: Binance); all from one simple and secure desktop application.

Decentralized exchanges and protocols, like 0x, have great momentum but make up a small percentage of today’s overall trading volume. We’re very optimistic about their value and believe they’ll gain even more momentum and volume through the next year. User to user trading and retaining ownership of your keys are critical for a healthy and growing ecosystem of decentralized finance.

So how does Fetch make 0x powered trading easy?

One App, All The Prices

Today, any company or token holder can submit orders to dozens and maybe, in the future, hundreds of open order book APIs. When you want to trade a token, navigating two or three order books is hard enough, but dozens, hundreds? That’s why we’re building Fetch, to make all of this transparent to you. Fetch integrates with exchanges and shows you results across order books, letting you choose the rate that is best for you. Simple.

One-Click Trading

After finding the best rate, execution of the trade happens with one-click on Fetch regardless of the type of exchange offering the rate. With Fetch’s support for 0x, the exchange may be a 0x Relayer but you won’t have to understand the details of how it works or the nuances of the protocol. You’ll be able to execute the trade in the same way you would on any other exchange, by pressing the Trade button, sitting back and letting Fetch do the work.
4 Constructive Ways To Overcome Writer’s Block
By: Wajeeh Khan
Tags: Work, Writing, Freelancing, Productivity, Writers Block

4 Constructive Ways To Overcome Writer’s Block

It’s not a phase that’ll eventually evaporate on its own.

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

Have you ever spent the whole day at work in excitement of writing a new blog post in the night? Days when ideas start to naturally pop up in your head — and you just can’t wait to get home, turn on your laptop, and start punching in buttons?

But then a few hours later, when you’re home and in front of your computer, there’s an invisible force that is keeping you from typing in words. You’re not thrilled anymore, there’s hardly an idea in your mind, you’re staring at a blank page, and the feeling is inexplicable.

Is it frustration, a panic attack, anxiety, or maybe all at once?

If that sounds familiar, you’ve had an experience with a “writer’s block”. But you’re not alone. Every writer worth his salt struggles with it from time to time.

Naturally, writer’s block is a matter of intense research. Over the years, people have come up with tips and tricks that are effective in blowing past this affliction that turns a writer’s life into a living hell.

Let’s start with a reminder that a writer’s block demands active extermination. You can’t just ignore it like a phase that eventually evaporates on its own.

So, today, I’ll talk about the four practical tips to overcome a writer’s block that have helped me throughout my career as a freelance writer.
No, I Will Not Look You in the Eye
By: Kitty J
Tags: Disability, Relationships, Equality, Autism, Communication

I never liked when someone told me to look them in the eye. For me, it wasn’t something I could handle and the whole situation caused me great anxiety.

For them, my refusal to do this often meant they thought I wasn’t listening, or I didn’t care, or worse, that I didn’t respect them.

None of that could be further from the truth.

There’s this general consensus that one must look someone in the eye and if they don’t, they are one of the above things. Or sometimes this extended to people thinking I was lying or trying to hide something.

I’ve always found this line of thinking foolish and, yes, ends up being exclusive.

This behavior can be considered “shifty” by some, including doctors and others in authority. This runs alongside disbelief and others believing people who won’t meet your eyes are liars and are hiding something. I’ve had it used against me when seeking medical help in the ER; have been accused of using or seeking drugs when my lack of eye contact is put in the column of suspicious behavior.

Combine my avoidance of eye contact with stimming that involves things like shaking my legs or biting my nails, high sensitivity to lights and noises around me, and slow auditory and sensory processing? You’ve got the perfect storm for “questionable” behavior that leads others to believe I’m not being sincere or am not generally in distress.

And telling those in charge I’m autistic to avoid the wrong reading of my behavior often leads into other issues, including not being believed (e.g. “you don’t look autistic”; “that’s not possible, you can communicate.”) which leads to a whole other set of issues.

Which leads me to these two questions I have…

What, exactly, do I have to do/say to get people to understand that a lack of eye contact means nothing except for the arbitrary meanings attached to it? And how can we put an end to using eye contact as a way to determine what a person’s behavior means?
Optional Views With SwiftUI
By: Alberto Salas
Tags: Mobile, Swiftui, Programming, iOS, Swift

Making the Widget Optional

In order to turn the widget optional, we need to do a few changes.

We start by extracting the widget’s instantiation out of ContainerView and using a protocol so we can inject it:

And now we can refactor the view property so it returns either self or EmptyView depending on whether the user is already premium or not.

There’s a problem with the view property’s return type, though, because SwiftUI.View cannot be used as the abstraction of PremiumWidget . It uses Self , so it cannot be used as a type. We cannot return some View either because opaque types cannot be the return type of a protocol requirement.

Fortunately, SwiftUI provides at least a couple of ways to do this. One is using a type-erased view — AnyView . Another approach is using Group. Some claim that AnyView has performance implications, but you should read this article first and then make your own decision. Anyway, we are going to show how it can be done with AnyView , but feel free to use either of them. The differences in code should be minimal.

Now we have an optional widget based on the condition of the user being premium or not, but there are a few significant issues here:
An Overview of Academia & Blockchain
By: Wesley Graham
Tags: Blockchain, ICO, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Many academic-driven developments come from an eclectic mix of professors from traditional “prestigious” universities as well as technology hubs. These include active developments from professors at schools like Cornell (Thunder Core, Spacemesh, & IC3), and MIT (Algorand, Enigma, & Zerocoin), as well as international schools like the National University of Singapore (Zilliqa & the Kyber Network) and the University of Oxford (IOHK).

Over the last twelve months in particular, a substantial amount of development has occurred in the Bay Area, with schools like UC Berkeley (home to the founders of Oasis Labs, ZCash, Starkware, and Coda) and Stanford (creators of Stellar, Filecoin, Bloom, and Cognito) establishing a considerable presence in the space.

Recently, many projects have been emerging from academic hubs in Israel, primarily due to the efforts of researchers from ZCash, Starkware, and Phantom. Projects like Spacemesh, led by faculty at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, and DAG Labs, led by faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have proposed unique approaches to scalability through the lens of both novel consensus algorithms (Spacemesh’s Proof of Space Time) and data structures (DAG Labs’ Directed Acyclic Graphs).

It is also interesting to note that angel investors, VC’s, and hedge funds alike have begun actively pursuing investment in this field, and has joined Dekrypt Capital as early-stage investors in a number of the projects listed above.

The Role of Academia Going Forward

Going forward, we are excited about the role of academia in building future blockchain infrastructure.

In order to place cutting edge tools in the hands of billions of people, the underlying technology supporting these tools must be as close to perfection as possible. The intense public scrutiny and revision that academics face can be considered one of the most effective screening factors when cultivating the next wave of blockchain pioneers.

As academics begin to perfect their technology and “scale up” we encourage founders to reach out and seek entrepreneurial expertise. We believe academics who onboard experienced entrepreneurs and seek assistance from proven early-stage investors possess a strong competitive advantage over those who do not. Dekrypt actively supports academic teams, and have been impressed by the innovative projects emerging from college campuses to date.

Summary

As we continue to see interest in academia-driven projects grow, we believe more usable infrastructure will make its way into future application.

These graphics serve as starting points for a deeper discussion on academia’s role in this space, and will be amended with suggestions of other emerging projects (please comment your schools and projects below!!).

Thank you to Jon Allen, Howard Wu and the rest of the Dekrypt team for valuable insights and input on this article.
SWOT Analysis for Personal Improvement
By: Ken Lai
Tags: Swot Analysis, Ken Lai, Self Improvement, Thoughts

The SWOT analysis is a structured planning method used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective and identify the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. Here we will it SWOT analysis for personal improvement.

What does SWOT Analysis do

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Performing a SWOT Analysis is helpful to use in your career planning for answering the following two questions:

What are your Strengths and Weaknesses (in your internal environment)? What are Opportunities and Threats in your career field (external environment)?

Key points of each aspect in SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Internal, positive aspects which you can capitalise upon, such as:

Work experience Education Technical skills and knowledge (e.g., computer skills) Personal characteristics (e.g., superior work ethic) Strong network of contacts Involvement with professional associations and organisations Enjoying what you do

Weaknesses

Internal, negative aspects that you plan on improving, such as:

Lack of work experience Inconsistent major with the job you are looking for Lack of specific job knowledge Weak technical knowledge Weak skills (leadership, interpersonal, communication, teamwork) Weak job-hunting skills Negative personal characteristics (e.g., no motivation, indecisiveness, shyness) Weaknesses identified in past performance appraisals

Opportunities

External, positive conditions out of your control, but you plan to leverage or add value:

Field trends that create more jobs (e.g., globalization, technology) Field needs your set of skills Opportunities for advancement in your field Location Strong network

Threats

External, negative conditions out of your control, but you may be able to overcome:

Field trends that diminish jobs (e.g., downsizing, obsolescence) Companies are not hiring people with your major/degree Competition from college graduates with your same degree Competitors with superior skills, experience or knowledge Competitors who attended better schools Limited advancement in your field (too competitive) Limited professional development in your field Find hiring/employment trends in your field.

After completing SWOT analysis, it’s better to re-plan your personal improvement strategy according your result. Also, use your SWOT results to develop the career goals and action plan with proper deadlines.
EnergiToken CEO calls on Government to introduce scrappage scheme with immediate effect
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Energy, Diesel, Electric Car

EnergiToken CEO calls on Government to introduce scrappage scheme with immediate effect EnergiMine Follow Jan 25, 2018 · 2 min read

Electric vehicles are the future

The CEO of Energi Mine, the Oldham-based company tasked with developing the UK’s first cryptocurrency payment system for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points, says diesel cars are in terminal decline and will be obsolete within ten years.

Omar Rahim, CEO of Energi Mine, was commenting after a new survey said sales of diesel cares will continue to plunge. Aston University predicts they will account for just 15% of the UK market by 2025, down from a 50% peak. The latest figures from industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed sales of new diesel cars fell 17.1% last year as higher taxes and pollution fears hit demand.

Aston University expects a further 10% drop in sales this year and says diesel will account for less than a third of the market by 2020.

“Diesel cars are in terminal decline,” continued Omar. “The government now needs to incentivise those who reduce their environmental impact by introducing a scrappage scheme that encourages drivers to switch to electric cars.”

Last year’s Queen’s Speech introduced plans to make motorway service and major petrol station chains install EV charging points while Shell has just opened its first EV charging points at three service stations in Britain. The House of Commons has also recently debated the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill, with Transport Minister John Hayes saying the Government would discuss changing planning rules to ensure more EV charging points were in place.

“Electric vehicles are here to stay,” added Omar. “The transport sector makes up 30 per cent of global energy consumption but everything is moving towards decreasing energy consumption.”

Energi Mine has launched a blockchain-based platform to incentivise energy conservation with digital currency and decentralise the energy market. A new Energi Token (ETK), is at the core of Energi Mine’s energy efficiency reward system, with users rewarded for energy saving behaviour.

Added Omar:

“Our platform allows drivers of electric cars to charge their vehicle using Energi Tokens, which they accrue each time they engage in energy reducing behaviour — such as purchasing energy efficient appliances. We believe this model is the future of the energy industry. By incentivising people to save energy by rewarding with them with our token, which can be reused to charge electric vehicles or pay bills, we will drive down energy consumption globally.”
Storiqa Merchandise Feedback. T-shirt Design Voting Results
Tags: Blockchain, Token, Design, Storiqa, Cryptocurrency

Your own wallpapers for the smartphone. Your own stickers on the laptop. You do like to choose designs, don’t you? We don’t pursue you — we just love searching and choosing unique items just as you do! That’s why we’ve made a Storiqa Merch Poll. We want to create something together!

Earlier we have announced a poll where you could choose a t-shirt design, which we are about to improve and print in our final merch versions (which will be ready for pre-order soon)!

There were eight samples of STQ design:

STQ token holders and supporters could rate the designs from 1 to 5.

So here are the results:

There are participants from 48 countries: 20% of the total number are the citizens of Indonesia; USA, Brazil, and Nigeria have a 7% of the total number each. You have chosen the most interesting designs:

#2, #3 and #8 designs have the highest rating

Congratulations! Look at the T-shirts again.

What’s next

Storiqa designer will improve those merch versions and upgrade them. We are gathering your comments and feedback in Social Media (FB, Twitter) and in the chat room. We will show final versions of T-shirts in a week, and they will be ready for pre-order on beta.storiqa.com very soon!

We will announce exact dates and prices in STQ closer to the release date.

The most important part

Please, participate in our votings and polls! We are getting better with each your vote. Don’t forget — we are improving eCommerce with STQ token together!
No Trace
By: Daniel Roxas
Tags: Poetry, Love, Broken Heart

Like a bubble you vanished

Disappeared in a millisecond

Leaving nothing behind

But the memories made

The photographs of you

That I took

A moment frozen in a picture

The promises of forever

Torn apart, broken

Shattered pieces of my bones

Is what you’ve left me with

You vanished into nothing

Taking what’s yours

Taking my heart with you

And now, I’m dying.
How to become a good Developer Evangelist / Advocate / Buddhist?
By: Jonas M. Kress
Tags: Developer Relations, Development, Developer Buddhism, Developer Evangelism, Developer Advocacy

Evangelist according to Wikipedia:

A commissioned Evangelist in the Anglican Communion is a lay person who has received professional training in Christian outreach ministry, and been commissioned by episcopal authority. In practice, almost all those formally admitted to the office of Evangelist are members of the Anglican mission and outreach agency, the Church Army. Evangelist is one of the commonly acknowledged lay ministries of the Anglican Communion internationally, along with the ministries of Lay reader, and Deaconess.

Advocate according to Wikipedia:

An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries’ legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law-based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, in Scottish, South African, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, Polish, South Asian and South American jurisdictions, “advocate” indicates a lawyer of superior classification.[1]

“Advocate” is in some languages an honorific for lawyers, such as “Adv. Sir Alberico Gentili”.[2] “Advocate” also has the everyday meaning of speaking out to help someone else, such as patient advocacy or the support expected from an elected politician; those senses are not covered by this article.

Buddhist according to Wikipedia:

All Buddhist traditions share the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth, either by the attainment of Nirvana or through the path of Buddhahood.[6][7][8] Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the path to liberation, the relative importance and canonicity assigned to the various Buddhist texts, and their specific teachings and practices.[9][10] Widely observed practices include taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, observance of moral precepts, monasticism, meditation, and the cultivation of the Paramitas (virtues).

According to ashleymcnamaras Developer Advocacy in a nutshell the main key points are being a perpetual learner, to love documentation, not being afraid of public speaking, care deeply about community and to help developers.

According to Chris Heilmanns Developer Evangelist Handbook the following points are very important:

What do you think is important to be a good Developer Evangelist/Advocate/Buddhist ?
Github Replacing “Master” With “Main” is a Huge Win for Inclusion in Tech
By: Ryan Perry
Tags: Software Development, Programming, Minorities In Tech, Inclusion, Diversity In Tech

Github Replacing “Master” With “Main” is a Huge Win for Inclusion in Tech

The little things are the big things

Image credit: Author

Since I started my journey in Software Engineering three years ago, there have been plenty of times that I’ve found the field to be non-inclusive. The most egregious of these is in the term “master-slave” architecture and the fact that I start off every day on Github requesting updates from “master.”

Even worse is that in Software Engineering “machines” are often called “workers” so I’ve heard people at work discuss “killing the slave [workers]” when talking about taking down servers.

Recently, Github made a transition from labeling their main branches as the “master” branch in an effort to promote more inclusive language and today I created my first repo on Github where the term “master” has been renamed to “main.”

This is in line with a number of changes across the tech industry to shift towards more inclusive language and it is a massive understatement to say that this change, while small, is incredibly satisfying.

“master” has now been replaced with “main” in new repos

It may seem small. However, many, if not most, minorities currently in Software Engineering roles have found their own ways to suppress or repress these daily references to slavery — while many of our white colleagues don’t think twice when they interact with “master” or “slave” terminology in their daily work.

More importantly, recruiters and those complaining about the (alleged) ever-elusive “pipeline problem” of getting minorities into tech have no idea how much of a road block unnecessarily non-inclusive terms like “master” and “slave” have in causing many minorities who do enter the “pipeline” to leave at higher rates than their white counterparts.
Community Spotlight: Johnny Wang
Tags: Food, Travel, Community, San Francisco, Foursquare

Community Spotlight: Johnny Wang

Meet the members of our community that help make our technology great. In this month’s edition, we reached out to Superuser Johnny Wang of San Francisco, California, to learn more about the places he likes to explore and map with Foursquare City Guide.

For those of us who enjoy traveling, sometimes the most challenging part of the experience occurs even before the trip itself — the planning stage! With so many options all over the world, finding interesting landmarks, museums, shops, and restaurants to visit can be stressful without the necessary venue details (like location information and pro tips). As someone’s who’s personally felt this pain time and time again, San Francisco resident Johnny Wang wants to save others from the same frustration by editing venues with the latest details. With 223 edits and counting, Johnny hopes his edits make it easier for visitors and locals to map their itineraries as they explore San Francisco and other cities around the world. His in-depth lists also help him keep track of and organize places based on his personal preferences. As a Superuser Level 2, his journey is just beginning.

Explore ‘The City’

Known by locals as ‘The City’, San Francisco is rich in its history, culture, food and natural landscapes. While the city itself may span just 46.89 square miles (121.4 square km), one may be surprised to find there are numerous and varied micro-cultures and climates across the neighborhoods. Despite the rapid rise of tech, the city is quite welcoming to individuals from all walks of life.

San Francisco is known as ‘The City’ by locals.

While there are endless options for and interpretations of “local food” given the city’s diversity, one place Johnny likes to introduce visitors is the Liholiho Yacht Club. While it may not be hole-in-the-wall, the Hawaiian-inspired restaurant is typical of San Francisco, offering a modern take on cultural cuisine. What once used to be a small pop up is now a full-blown brick-and mortar-restaurant gaining even more popularity in downtown San Francisco. (Oh, and Johnny would also like to point out how Instagram-friendly the dishes and the places are — be sure to post them on City Guide, too!)
Tortellini
By: Megan Minutillo
Tags: Food, Poem, Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Family

Tortellini

A poem

Photo by Sara Scarpa on Unsplash

My Nonna will not be here for

Christmas, as she has gone to

dance with the angels.

It will be an empty chair that

hurts too many hearts, except

of course, she was not the kind

of woman who would be found

sitting in a chair.

She was not the kind of woman

who would be found sitting, period.

She didn’t sit; she stood. She didn’t

walk; she ran. She didn’t whisper;

she laughed and spoke with every

ounce of her being.

She will be missed, and yet,

she left behind things that make

her feel like she’s still around.

Things like memories and the

way my mother’s eyes smile just

like hers, and stories, and photos

that sit proudly on the mantle.

But more importantly, things like

the recipe to her famous tortellini.

Now, my mother will knead the

dough, and chop and mix the

filling. She will be the one to brew

the broth and she will fold them

into tiny, bite-sized dumplings of

perfection.

And as we delight in the warmth

of the soup, the magic of memory

or maybe it’s the magic of Christmas,

will make us feel as if Nonna is close

enough to feel our love and hear

our laughter.
How To Know If You’re In A Day 1 City
By: Harry Alford
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Startup, Amazon, Venture Capital, Pittsburgh

How To Know If You’re In A Day 1 City

Pittsburgh, The Playbook For Building A Great City

Amazon Founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, released his annual shareholder letter a few days ago. Bezos attached a copy of his 1997 shareholder letter that still holds relevance today. Within the letter, Bezos states that companies should either be Day 1 or Day 2 companies. CNBC’s Anita Balakrishnan shares Bezo’s explanation of Amazon’s philosophy and the difference between Day 1 and Day 2 companies:

Bezos compares “Day 1” companies — companies that are at the beginning of their potential — with “Day 2” companies. “Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.”

Bezos’ approach should not just be a lesson to all companies, but also cities. Cities, much like internet companies such as Amazon, can be susceptible to a state in which things do not change, move, or progress. This can often occur unknowingly by simply being dictated by the process instead of the outcomes. Customer obsession, a skeptical view of proxies, the eager adoption of external trends, and high-velocity decision making are essential to staying in Day 1.

A city that we, humble ventures, recently visited (and were blown away by) that encompasses all of these characteristics is Pittsburgh. Below are some eye-opening insights into how Pittsburgh has come to be a high collision environment and Day 1 city:

True Customer Obsession

“Even when they don’t yet know it, customers want something better, and your desire to delight customers will drive you to invent on their behalf.”- Bezos

The customer in Pittsburgh’s perspective are the high-growth tech startups and employees that live in the cultural districts across the city. Pittsburgh has an incredible pool of talent coming out of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and other academic institutions that are attracting startups to launch and scale their businesses.

Startups are also being conceptualized on campus, too. Companies like reCAPTCHA and Duolingo were birthed out of Carnegie Mellon University by professors in the nation’s top-ranked computer science program. But there are also young startups outside the university system that have decided to build in Pittsburgh like Ikos and SQWAD.

Pittsburgh has garnered attention as one of the top cities for techies to relocate due to the popular food scene, livability and Pennsylvania’s tax incentives. Also, the average rent in Pittsburgh is $899 per month. Pittsburgh is creating a welcoming atmosphere for entrepreneurs without negatively impacting them with the high cost of living like we’re seeing in coastal cities.
Rift
By: Jessica Lee Mcmillan
Tags: Literary Impulse, Hiraeth, Poetry, Philosophy, Longing

This fertile heart is rip-torn

in yearning without shape,

feeling only through trace

of pleasure and agony linked.

Such incomplete relish

in heavenly betweens,

the jingling wind chiming

a haunted melody

from another window, another time,

signalling a soul has found its way

to a greater divide.

Such afflicted joy seeking resting place,

within you all those old rooms…

Each sense brushing up to eternity,

I could burn up in ecstasy of wild rose,

beg for nirvana in touch of wintry fog,

ache in the sunned mist of green of sea

on my imperfect face and parched eyes,

heart migrating with crisp furs uplifting

into longing, perpetual blue sky.

Flavours that grip the past

with push and pull of chest

in witnessed transience.

We lose moment’s beauty,

perceived in a single sigh

with no language for emotions,

we stand, a muddy palette inspired.

But breached heart is an organ supreme

finding destinies that congregate

feelings in all tenses of desire,

where we belong across all lines

to meet our consciousness,

unfinished and divine.
One of the Most Common Web Accessibility Mistakes
By: Roberto Hernandez
Tags: Software Development, Web Development, Accessibility, User Experience, Programming

One of the Most Common Web Accessibility Mistakes

Web accessibility matters

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

Web accessibility really matters not only because you are going to drive more traffic to your web or for the moral dilemma but also because according to this recent research which has revealed that “two-thirds of the Internet transactions initiated by people with vision impairments end in abandonment because the websites they visit aren’t accessible enough.”

Having said that, I have to be honest: Over my seven years working in web development I did not care enough about web accessibility. I was coding without accessibility in mind until one day working on a project a Jira ticket knocked on my door.

That project was based on the Magento core but it also had huge custom features — modules, plugins, and a custom UI. Due to that, or because we were in a rush, we forgot to add basic web accessibility standards to the components we created. We left out the alternative text (ALT) property to the IMG tags, form labels, page title, aria-label, or other web accessibility standards.

To fix that, the requirement was to add ALT attributes to all IMG tags, aria-label, title, and role property among the all of the store's e-commerce platform elements that needed them. I knew a little about web accessibility standards so I started to fix that first.
A Psychologist Explains How Masks Transform Our Social Relationships
By: Frank Faranda
Tags: Relationships, Masks, Shame, Psychology, Social Connection

A Psychologist Explains How Masks Transform Our Social Relationships

If it feels weirdly shameful to make eye contact in a mask, you’re not alone

Image: Yulia Reznikov/Moment/Getty Images

The first time I wore a mask out in public felt strange. And I’m not just referring to the odd physical sensations — the constriction, the foggy glasses. Rather, a surprising emotion surfaced as I passed a man on the street.

I knew him by sight from the neighborhood, someone I might casually say “hey” to or just give a nod. We do that in my suburban neighborhood; we say “hi,” and we nod. I like that about us. But as he approached, I found myself averting my eyes and lowering my head. We passed each other without saying a word, and as I continued down the road, I realized how uneasy I felt. It was more than the heightened vigilance, more than the subtle measuring of distance or the tightening of my muscles — something else seemed wrong to me. It took me a while to realize what I was feeling: It was shame.

Many of my patients in psychotherapy struggle with feelings of shame, a sense that there is something bad within them or about them. I have my own share of this as well; many of us do. When we are exposed to strong feelings of disapproval from those we depend on, particularly when we are young and vulnerable, shame is often the result. And, quite understandably, shame is also an outgrowth of abuse. Contemporary western culture has come to pathologize shame because of these toxic sources and its use as a tool of power. This is a malignant and unhealthy shame.

Like all emotions, however, shame evolved because of its value to us as a species. Shame can help us recognize that we have let down our community and ourselves. In this way, shame can be an instructive force. To me, there is something potentially healthy in this form of shame, something akin to a conscience, a “hitting bottom,” or a call to redemption.

This is what I felt that day on the street when I passed that man — a recognition that in wearing my mask, I was doing more than slowing the arc of a virus. I was also opening the door to a new world where we value survival more than trust.

Beyond the instinctual bonds of species or the loyalty of “clan” and “tribe,” trust is our willingness to place our lives in the hands of another, to give our weight to someone, to surrender to them. We do this knowing that we are all capable of being hurt deeply by people we know and by those we don’t. Trust transcends survival, and it is a vital part of what makes us human.
A cool breeze through my window…
By: A.C. Flory
Tags: Warrandyte, Heatwave, Australia, Luck, Bushfire

There were times over the last five days when I doubted I would ever say ‘cool’ and ‘window’ in the same sentence again. It really was that hot. Then yesterday, day five, the downstairs air conditioner refused to work. The one upstairs in the Offspring’s room gave up the ghost the day before. Which just goes to show things can always get worse, but I’m not actually complaining — the fire stayed away despite the weather. That is worth a great deal.

I’ve never thought of myself as superstitious before, but now I have this overpowering feeling that we all pay for good luck in big things by having bad luck in small things. So far, I’ve had bad luck with the servicing of my fire fighting pumps, my ignorance about how to run them properly, the subsequent leak in one of the pumps, the breakdown of two air conditioners, and a mild touch of heat exhaustion. But if all that adds up to no bushfire threatening my home then I truly do count myself lucky in the ways that really matter.

I’m not looking forward to the cost of repairing all these big gadgets of mine, but for now I’m loving the feel of cool air caressing my skin. It’s so cool I’m just a whisker off goosebumps. It feels wonderful. :)

Enjoy the cool Warrandyte, and stay safe.

acflory
This is What Regret Looks Like
By: Gillian May
Tags: Culture, Travel, Life Lessons, Self, Education

I was absolutely uncomfortable in Guyana in those first few weeks. In fact, I almost went home. But then one day, I woke up and surrendered to the quest of being there and finally growing up. From that moment on, I became a better version of myself and every single day after was joyful, even when it was still uncomfortable.

What I learned about justice, economics, globalization, health inequities, and the intricacies of community could never be taught in the system I grew up in. As such, my experience in Guyana flipped my whole world view, but boy did it need flipping.

When I returned home, nothing made sense anymore. Everything I learned before Guyana was at odds with what I learned while I was there. As a young person, I second-guessed myself thinking I didn’t know enough to navigate these new realizations.

So, instead of continuing the new path that begun in Guyana, a path my heart was longing for, I abandoned myself.

I did what others said was the right thing to do; get a career, get comfy and become a good law-abiding consumer.

But there I was, sitting in the food court below my workplace with a nagging feeling that I’d made a big mistake.

That’s what regret looks like.

Photo by Thomas Griesbeck on Unsplash

Because deep down, I didn’t want to be comfortable; I wanted to continue growing. I wanted to continue the uncomfortable but necessary dialogue about the inequities and contradictions that I saw. I also wanted to talk about the joy I saw in Guyana that was dismissed and othered when I spoke about it to my new colleagues.

I wanted to feel part of the world rather than just a young Canadian whose future was only bright if she played nicely with others and stayed inside her national sandbox.

I wanted more Nicole’s* in my life who would challenge the status-quo and speak openly about things that affect all of us, not just a select privileged few.

I wanted adventure and growth. I wanted to be surrounded by diversity and learn how to be part of that, rather than at odds with it. And I wanted to see, touch, taste, and experience life outside the confines and borders of my home country.
Your Ex Has Moved On. Do the Same, Bro.
By: Aliya S. King
Tags: Relationships, Men, Self, Ex, Dear Level

A few months before the pandemic struck, my partner and I decided to play hooky. We went on a date, wandering our town, doing those activities that locals never get a chance to do. First we sat down for an unhurried cup of coffee. Then we strolled through a mostly empty museum, stopping to read the captions and descriptions for the artifacts in each exhibit. We capped the evening with dinner at a restaurant in a newly opened luxury hotel.

Again, there were lots of vacant tables (where was everyone?), so the maître d’hôtel immediately led us through the bar area toward the dining room. After a day of moving slowly and laughing at inside jokes, I was completely relaxed and a bit giddy as I walked ahead of my partner, holding his hand. And then, before my brain could even transmit the information, I felt a chill run up my back and the hairs on my arms stand up.

Sitting a few feet away from me — and getting closer with every step I took — was my ex.

We’d been apart for many years by this point. And we were still great friends. We share two daughters, including a teenager, so we communicate all the time. I’d just spoken to him that very afternoon about summer camp options for our youngest. So why was this different?

Completely letting go of a relationship and watching that person move on to someone else is like watching a child grow up. They change, move on, and need less and less of you.

Well, it was different because my ex was sitting at the bar with a first-date smile on his face. And sitting across from him was a woman with a matching nice-to-meet-you smile on her face.

He was on a date. I wanted to throw up.

Keep in mind: I’m on a date too, with my actual boyfriend, whom I’d been dating for about six months at that point. (We’re now engaged to be married.)

But still, me and this guy sitting at the bar were together for more than a decade. As I approached, I saw his twentysomething self back in the ’90s, when we’d sit across from each other at Manhattan bars like Madame X, where we’d pool our meager spending money for after-work drinks.

It was super weird. And as these thoughts raced through my mind, I realized there were about 10 more steps until we were literally walking by my ex and his date. I had to think fast.

I called out his name. He saw me and looked like he was about to fall out of his chair. I waved, introduced him to my dude, and said hello to his date, all without stopping. Once I finally sat in my chair, across from my partner, I apologized for being so weird.

“Hey,” he said. “I have an ex-wife. If I saw her sitting at a bar with a guy… Well, actually, I’d just be really happy for her. Aren’t you happy for your ex?”

I opened my mouth to say yes. Or no. I wasn’t exactly sure.
Deserts
By: Iulia Halatz
Tags: Poetry, Blue Insights, Deserts, Luliah, Love

Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé

“Men had always been the reciters of poetry in the desert.”

― Michael Ondaatje

…As among dunes you can only see God or who you want. To see.

No assault to the imagination. No questions and whispers by people.

Only the wind carries wishes afar.

A poem soaring above the dunes brings the clarity of music and has the speed of sound.

And we get to see the glassy shine of Orion…

Love among deserts is never the same.

©
Top Three Strategies for Relating to Others Effectively
By: Tantra Bensko
Tags: Brain, Top 3, Introvert, Psychology, Productivity

Top Three Strategies for Relating to Others Effectively

Improve the workplace, shift difficult relationships and rewire the brain

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Cheryl Corbin’s instructions to companies to accommodate introversion in the workplace seems like it could be extremely useful as a popular required-reading guide. And it also helps us understand those who are different from us, and acknowledge our own needs as well.

“Inside, we are deep thinkers. We thrive on work that allows us to dive into a subject or process. We will spend hours considering a problem from all angles, so that we can fully understand it, and then find a solution.” Though depth isn’t as appreciated in our society as I once thought it was, this essay shows why it should be.

Barry Davret in The Startup show how asking people for favors, particularly if the favors highlight the person’s superior skills, leads to positive results far beyond the favor.

“Let’s suppose you perform a favor for someone to whom you feel indifferent towards, or maybe even dislike. You now experience dissonance, an inconsistency between your belief and your action, which you must resolve.”

Dr. Aimie Apigian in The Startup points out that traumas affect our developing brains, and we need to take biological, not just psychological, steps toward harmonizing the brain again. Nutrients have that power. Rather than raging at people and disrupting our connections with them, often we can eat a healthy diet that changes our behavior and allows us to socialize effectively.

“Of the patients who were compliant with the targeted nutritional treatment to correct the biologic imbalances found after testing, 92% of them reported a reduction of anger-induced assaults, and 58% reported they had complete elimination of their symptoms!”
Are Probiotics Really Good For Kids?
Tags: Home, Children, Health, Nutrition, Parenting

Are Probiotics Really Good For Kids?

How to get started with children’s probiotics, specific bacterial strains, and safety considerations

It’s pretty overwhelming to look through kids’ probiotics these days. Supplement labels often have unfamiliar bacteria names. Some list the amounts of their bacterial strains; others don’t. Then, products often don’t say what to expect in terms of benefits, and if they do, it’s still hard to trust that kind of marketing.

Given what we currently know from scientific research, probiotics could very well be beneficial to children. In this article, we’ll give you some guidance on children’s gut bacteria, how probiotics might help, and how to go about choosing a supplement that works for your child.

For more information about the quality and safety of best-selling probiotics for children, visit Labdoor’s full lab test results here.
Demystifying Corporate Partnerships — Find Out What It Takes To Succeed
By: Fintech Victoria
Tags: Partnering, Meetup, Fintech, Fintech Victoria

Demystifying Corporate Partnerships — Find Out What It Takes To Succeed

In partnership with our friends at Next Money, we’re running our first big event for 2017.

For many fintech startups partnering with a bank or superannuation fund is the ‘holy grail’ of distribution deals. Yet little is known about how the process looks and what the challenges can be in establishing a meaningful partnership that actually benefits both parties.

At our first big meetup for 2017, we’re exploring corporate partnerships from a ‘fincumbent’ perspective. More specifically, at this meetup we’ll be exploring:

What the internal challenges can be for a bank or superannuation fund in establishing a partnership with a startup.

How startups can navigate through the partnership process to ensure they overcome any roadblock.

What has the partnership experience been like for banks and superannuation funds — what have they learnt?

What happens after a partnership agreement has been signed?

How can a startup make the most of a corporate partnership?

To give you a true insider’s perspective, we’ve brought together an amazing panel of experts from some of the biggest corporate names in fintech — NAB, ANZ and HESTA.

Our Expert Panel For The Night

To give you a true ‘inside perspective’ we’ve brought together an expert panel from 3 major Australian financial institutions.

Our panel for the night will be:

Jonathan Davey, EGM, NAB Ventures

Stephen Reilly, COO, HESTA

Matthew Buck, Senior Manager Strategic Partnerships, ANZ

Moderator: Gajia Lu, Partnerships at Moula

On the night there will also be an opportunity for questions. So get them ready!

Agenda For The Night

6.00pm — 6.30pm: Doors open — networking and drinks

6.30pm — 7.30pm: Panel discussion

7.30pm — 7.45pm: Questions from the audience

7.45pm — 9.00pm: Drinks and networking

Our Partners For The Night

Events like this can only happen with the support of our amazing partners. For this event they are:

So make sure you RSVP, as this is a rare opportunity to learn what it actually takes to partner with a major Australian financial institution. Link below: