fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Call for submissions: Creating a World Without Racism
By: Global Health Corps
Tags: Racism, Race, Leadership, BlackLivesMatter, Advocacy

Read our full statement condemning racism in all its forms.

Writing is a critical tool for eradicating white supremacy. We’re inviting our community to raise their voices on this platform in this historic moment to drive change.

While we’ll give first priority to reviewing, editing, and publishing pieces from black community members, we fully encourage others to write, too. Just like sexism is not a problem for women alone to solve, racism is not a problem for black people/people of color alone to solve.

Here are some questions to consider addressing:

What does the term anti-racism mean to you? Why does it matter for health equity? At this moment, many people, including some in our community, are starting to engage more deeply in anti-racism learning and action. What does it look like to call people into this work? The concept that some racial/ethnic groups are superior to others has been at the heart of state-sponsored violence around the world. What is required for transformation and healing? Single narratives or “single stories” are incredibly dangerous and often spark deeper distrust or prejudice towards another person or group. Tell us about a single story you have rejected and how you came to unlearn a deep-seeded thought or idea.

Relevant links / other opportunities:

Anti-racism and mental health resources from the GHC community.

Read what others in the GHC community have written about race here, here, here, and here for inspiration.

Take over GHC’s social media accounts (@ghcorps / @globalhealthcorps) to raise awareness, challenge assumptions, share resources and reflections about racial justice right now.

Questions? Email Advocacy & Communications Manager Brittany Cesarini (brittany@ghcorps.org).

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.
A message for the bees
By: Theewari Dulandiya
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Poem On Medium, Loneliness, Poetry, Poem

A message for the bees

Poem

She is a solitary flower

Swings in the breeze

When bees come to collect nectar

Like it or not

She lets them without blaming

She has no wings to fly all over the sky

Like a hummingbird or a bee

You all don’t know her choice

Day by day

You will go to her

So dear bees

Please do not hurt her!
A simple tool set for data flows
By: Igor Chtivelband
Tags: Jenkins, Github, Talend, Engineering, Data Engineering

© Illustration: Caterina Carraro/Billie

ETLs and Maslow’s Hammer danger

Since Billie is a true data-driven company we have to deal a lot with ETL (Extract Transform Load) tasks. As the name implies these tasks arise when there is a need to take some data from data source A, transform it according to the desired format, and finally put it to destination B.

Our main data sources are Facebook, Google AdWords, Salesforce and, naturally, production database. Transformations usually include change of date format, integration of lookup keys, duplications removal, etc. Data Warehouse is the typical data flow destination since it is used as the single source of truth for the data analysis needs.

So let’s assume you have a table T1 in database D1, which you want to be the data source for table T2 in database D2. If databases D1 and D2 are deployed on different machines, then you have no choice, but to build a data flow.

Basic data flow

Many developers in this situation say to themselves: ”I know Python/Ruby/PHP/Java/Klingon programming language, so how complicated is it to write a short script which will connect to database D1, read table T1, connect to database D2 and finally push data to table T2”. Of course, it is not rocket science, and such script can be written in any modern programming language, but this is the perfect example of “Law of the instrument”.

The concept known as the law of the instrument, otherwise known as the law of the hammer,[1] Maslow’s hammer (or gavel), or the golden hammer,[a] is a cognitive bias that involves an over-reliance on a familiar tool. As Abraham Maslow said in 1966, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” (“Law of the instrument” n.d. in Wikipedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument)

Talend Open Studio for Data Integration

Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, it makes sense to use a dedicated instrument: an ETL tool. In Billie we use Talend Open Studio for Data Integration. It allows to build a data flow using mainly drag-and-drop and compile it to .jar file + shell script, which can be run on any *nix OS (actually on Windows as well) with JVM.

There are many tutorials on Talend Open Studio available on the Internet, thus I will not describe step-by-step how to create a simple data flow ( “job” in Talend’s terminology).
Beyond Your Goals
By: Laura Mcdonell
Tags: Goals, Morning Routines, Productivity, Becoming, Dreams

Becoming Takes a Long Time

He said, “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” (The Velveteen Rabbit)
I am nobody to you
By: Muthia Huda
Tags: Crush, Love, Poetry, Relationship, Poem

i am nobody to you, indeed.

but speaking with you is like a ride

on a bird that’s new in flight.

it is exciting yet challenging,

afraid i may lose you if

i say the wrong things,

afraid you may end this talk

if you find my nervousness

in every word I blurt.
Why You Should Kanban Your Life: An Interview With Amii LaPointe
By: The Team W
Tags: Amii Lapointe, Kanban

In this episode of the Human Tech podcast we bring Amii LaPointe on the show. Amii is a Professor at the Milwaukee School Of Engineering where she teaches User Experience. We talk about the “old” days of writing documentation manuals, and her experiment in “kanbaning” her life.

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Human Tech is a podcast at the intersection of humans, brain science, and technology. Your hosts Guthrie and Dr. Susan Weinschenk explore how behavioral and brain science affects our technologies and how technologies affect our brains.

You can subscribe to the HumanTech podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, or where ever you listen to podcasts.
What Katy Perry Song Are You?
By: Christine Stevens
Tags: Quiz, Pop Culture, Humor, Katy Perry, Satire

Sign up for Down in the Dingle

By Down in the Dingle

Your monthly reminder to keep laughing and don't ever let the bastards get you down, because down here in the dingle it's all good, people. Stay safe. Don't fall in. Take a look
It’s an anagram — a poem for her. “…daternbete…”
By: Adam Kinyua
Tags: Poetry, Love, Hope, Crush

A poem

For a girl

That gives me a reason

To keep trying

Dear Crush

I am not positive whether you will ever see this/But in case you do/ You will

probably know its all yours/ Listen/ I got something for you/ I really need to tell you this/ If I do not/ Someone else will/ And I do not want that to ever happen/ I hope it will bring you happiness/ And if it will not/ I will still be grateful/ Because at least I gave it a shot/ I am afraid/ So afraid/ To do this in real/ You want to know why?/ I simply feel rejected/ I am worried that i might not be good enough for you/ But either way/ The people are asleep/ Its my time to shine/ A time, for broken speaker to produce some sound/ My bag is full/ And here is what i got for you/ I know we do not know each other/ Maybe we would befriend each other first/ Maybe get a lunch or dinner together/ Just as it is with almost every other/ Well, I do not think that protocol is necessary/ With what I know about you/ You simply irresistible/ As far as am concerned/ I am in love with the woman you are/ You are unique/ You are the newest, fashionable style in town/ I miss you/ more than i thought i could/ Your golden voice/ Your maturity/ Your physical beauty/ The way you speak/ The spark in your eyes/ Girl, you simply a balance of perfection/ Your behavior/ The way you deal with things/ Your limited friends circle/ your etc, etc and etc/ And your eyes of course/ Oh my God — Almost forgot your short afro hair// Many things/ Life included of course/ Have moved on/ Except you/ You/ Youuuu, no matter what happens/ I will never let/ Not a damn thing/ Change the way I feel about you/ I know/ We animals/ Metamorphosize/ That ain’t happening to me/ As far as you concerned/ I know/ You have not a single idea/ Not a clue/ Not even a hint/ Of how much you make me smile/ Fancy headphones/ African kangas/ a little smile on your soft lips/ You just make my day/ My days are no usual/ Whenever I see you/ I had no idea/ I would ever like someone this much/ I do not know what/ Miss fate/ and destiny/ has in store for us/ But I just figured it out/ That I am tired of waiting/ I ain’t doing none of that anymore/ I wish/ You can grant me a golden chance/ To grow old with you/ I know its one sided affection/ But you are the first lady i seriously liked/ I am so lucky that i liked such an intelligence lady/ Godly young woman/ I occassionally/ pretty often/ Experience the happy feelings/ Because of my crush on you/ You never tries to do a thing that hurts me/ No false hopes/ I am happy to know you/ Because i know the kind of woman I want/I am sorry if i make you feel uncomfortable//But I really like you though//
Integrate bootstrap to your React js application
By: Manish Mandal
Tags: Bootstrap 4, React, Bootstrap

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to integrate bootstrap to your React js application. We all know bootstrap is the most popular CSS framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites. Around 80–90% of websites globally use bootstrap for responsive design. Today we’ll learn how to integrate that with our React js project.

There are two most popular libraries to integrate bootstrap in the react project, The first one is react-bootstrap and the second one is reactstrap. So let us get started on how to use those libraries in our project.

React-Bootstrap

Open terminal inside your react project root directory and run

npm i bootstrap react-boostrap --save

2. Now open your index.js file and import the bootstrap CSS file from the bootstrap library.

import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css'

3. We will create a navbar for tutorial purposes. So first we will import the required component for the navbar from the react-bootstrap library. There are two ways to import the required component from react-bootstrap. import Navbar from "react-bootstrap/Navbar" and import {Navbar} from "react-bootstrap" We should always import individual component react-bootstrap/Navbar rather than the entire library so that it pulls only a specific component during the build and reduce the amount of code. Paste the below code in your app.js file

Now if we run our project npm start and refresh the browser we will see that the bootstrap navbar is displayed correctly and everything is working properly.

The same way we can import Buttons, Cards, Modal, Tabs, etc from react-bootstrap and use that in our project. For the full list of components available in react-bootstrap, you can visit their official documentation here.

reactstrap

Open terminal and run

npm i bootstrap reactstrap --save

2. Now open the index.js file and import the bootstrap CSS file from the bootstrap library.

import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css'

3. Here we will also create Navbar for tutorial purposes. Here also there is two way to import the required components. First is to import Navbar from 'reactstrap/lib/Navbar' and import {navabr} from 'reactstrap' . Here we will also use the first option for less code generation during the build. Paste the below code in your app.js file.

Now start your application and refresh the browser to see the changes.

For more components visit their official documentation here.

That’s it for today below is the Github repository and live code for reference.
This Was Going to Be My Year, Then Covid Happened
By: Victor Neves
Tags: Brazil, LGBTQ, Gay, Queer, Covid Diaries

In Brazil, we say 24 is the gayest age of someone’s life. That’s because of a pun with the name of the number in Portuguese. It started as a homophobic joke, but I decided to resignify and embrace it, then it became my motto for 2020.

Even though I had a lot of cons to face in my life this year, I was somehow optimistic. In 2020 I would turn 24, and that could only mean it was going to be the gayest year of my life.

Or so I thought.

Since last year, when I decided to move to my father’s again after a hot minute, I knew I had to tone down my “gayness” and act more neutral — for the sake of my safety and my mental health. Living with a father who’s not the biggest fan of The Queer Agenda required some sacrifices and that was okay for me if it meant I would achieve my goals.

Sure, I should’ve known better than ignoring those big red lights in front of me, but I had my reasons.

The thing is that, since July, I am 24 years old, and because Covid decided to run the world without any warnings, now I’m stuck at home with my father and nowhere else to go. Hell of a gay life, huh?

We have a good relationship when it comes to everything else, but when the subject is my sexuality, as Jujubee said at the Snatch Game from season 2 of Drag Race: “we don’t wanna talk about that…”

I should stand up for myself, I know, but to be honest I think it’s not worth the fight. I’ve always picked my fights very selectively; if I don’t see any change coming from my father, then why should I waste my time? It’s better for me to wait a few more months till I can finally get the hell out of here — again.

But I feel that every second I spend here I’m regressing. Gradually, my hair is growing longer and longer and I’m resembling my old self from ages ago more than I’d like to admit. I even gained more than 20 pounds during these eight months. Taking a look at myself in the mirror is like seeing that weird kid again.

I hate it.

Sometimes I feel that being oblivious to what’s happening in the world with regards to Covid is bliss. If I were like those people, I would totally be enjoying my gayest age as far from my homophobic hometown as I could and I’d probably be way happier than I am right now.

I would definitely celebrate my birthday partying with my friends till 6 AM. And dress as Rocky Horror characters with them for Halloween. You know, I would definitely be happy.

Unfortunately, I went through the other way — the better way, maybe? Not sure.

I spent my birthday at home with my father, doing nothing but watch Covid news on TV, pretending I don’t have a loud and colorful personality, and thinking about all the things I could be doing if this virus wasn’t a thing.

But at least I’m alive, right, Lady Gaga?

Luckily, this queer nightmare won’t last till next year, and the gayest year of my life will be 2021.

I hope so.
The Dance of Shiva & Shakti in the #MeToo and #TimesUp Age
By: Raja Choudhury
Tags: Shakti, Tantra, Spirituality, Meditation

The Dance of Shiva Shakti by Raja Choudhury

How Tantra and Kundalini can empower Gender Equality and Planetary Balance

Do the ancient teachings of Tantra, Shaivism and Shaktism have a message for us in this age of hashtags like #metoo and #timesup? Can they play a role in the growing consciousness of gender activism and awakened living? Can we teach men and women to balance their polarities and create a more balanced, empowered, sacred world?

Shift Network teacher, filmmaker and TED speaker Raja Choudhury believes we can, and through talks, courses and films he raises awareness about our feminine energy, Shakti and how to balance it with our masculine consciousness, Shiva. #ShivaShakti

Raja Choudhury talks about Shiva Shakti and the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

Tantrics believe that the universe is a throbbing, pulsating, intelligent mind and hidden inside every one of us is an intelligence called Kundalini that if awakened releases immense energy, balance, bliss, ecstasy and expanded consciousness. Kundalini lies dormant within unless activated through meditation, breath, mantras, and sacred geometries, as well as through creativity, food, sexuality and living fully in life. Once awakened, a union between the body and consciousness occurs and we become fearless, blissful and fully alive.

To Raja, “finding a balance between your masculine and feminine energies, and between your animal nature and your higher consciousness is the key to true awakening and enlightenment in this age. These practices have been preserved in Indian wisdom for thousands of years and are the key to this alignment. The world needs to rediscover them.”

In his mind, most problems in the world today occur when an imbalance exists between Shiva and Shakti within each of us, in society, the planet and in our alignment between our inner and outer selves. The seeking of this balance is what Raja tries to share with the world online through The Shift Network and via Youtube and Facebook.

In a compelling testimonial, a student in the US says Raja “possesses comprehensive knowledge not found in any books I’ve read about Kundalini. I believe that his teaching is the most complete and succinct available on this subject at this time.”

In a free Webinar on The Shift Network on Wednesday 1st August at 5.30 pm Pacific, Raja will be sharing the teachings of The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra exploring 112 methods to awaken the union between Shiva and Shakti within each of us. Raja also offers online Kundalini and Meditation courses and workshops around the World.

To register for this Webinar or for further information visit The Shift Network or email Raja Choudhury.
Building a JetBot AI, Part 1 — Hardware
By: Dan Siwiec
Tags: Jetson Nano, Jetbot, Nvidia, AI, IoT

I recently discovered a new-found passion for DIY projects around IoT devices and set out to build an AI-enabled robot — Nvidia’s JetBot AI. In this first part of the series, I will share my experiences from building the JetBot. In Part 2, I will cover the software side of the robot.

JetBot is powered by Nvidia’s Jetson Nano — a Single Board Computer (SBC), similar to a RaspberryPi, however with one important advantage over it — it sports a powerful 128-core GPU onboard. Nvidia advertises the chip as an easy to use platform capable of embedded IoT applications like home robots, image classification or speech recognition.

Jetson Nano enjoys an active community contributing open-source project ideas based on the Nano and JetBot is its flagship project, including STL files for 3D printing its frame, a detailed Bill of Materials outlining the necessary hardware components, all needed software packages and a set of engaging example programs showcasing Jetbot’s capabilities.

There are two ways you can build your JetBot — either by printing the body elements and purchasing the hardware components individually or selecting one of the kits from an ever-growing list of partners. This being my first project of this kind, I went for an easy option and purchased a kit from SparkFun.

The kit comes in two versions — a Jetson-included ($250) package or sans Jetson, in case you already have your own ($150). The SparkFun kit contains all the components you will need, like a battery pack to power the Jetson on the move, camera, wifi module to all the body elements, and wheels. The SSD card is pre-loaded with the OS that will boot up the JetBot and also contains software examples.

SparkFun provides detailed step-by-step instructions on building the robot and it’s mostly a breeze. It roughly takes 3 hours to complete the assembly at an easy pace.

Most of the steps require just a Philips screwdriver to assembly.

The acrylic plates were a bit tight to combine and I ended up cracking one of them… Luckily it was not a show stopper.

The Serial Controlled Motor Driver (SCMD) assembly requires the soldering of a few jumper contacts and some PTH headers.

Included breadboard allows the SCMD to be connected with a Micro USB breakout.

The SCMD module eventually gets connected to the DC motors.

The kit comes with a 64x48 OLED breakout which we will find helpful later on.

Finally, we mount the Jetson Nano board on top of the body.

And voila! The JetBot is complete!

In the next part of the series, we will look at the Software driving the JetBot and play with the examples provided by Nvidia.
“What do women want?” is the Wrong Question
By: Riley Black
Tags: Dating, Relationships, LGBTQ, Feminism, Gender

The question’s construction is undoubtedly part of the problem. “What do you want?” isn’t really useful unless you’re literally looking at a menu. “What do you want in a relationship?” is only a step better, but it carries its own pitfalls.

I found out the hard way after my divorce.

I’d lived for 36 years as a man. That was going to stop Day 1, and I couldn’t wait to start hormone replacement therapy, but that was more to do with me than anyone else. Obviously anyone who I dated would have to love me as Riley, not as a “used-to-be” or “might be someday.” But that’s true for anybody.

It almost felt wrong trying to make a list. I knew I wanted to be with someone who was compassionate, enthusiastic, funny, supportive, and sexual, but all of that sounded so vague as to be useless. Everyone is compassionate in some ways but not others, enthusiastic about some things but couldn’t care less about the rest of the universe. I felt like I was creating a shopping list, or like I was writing a job description.

I had a stronger idea of what I didn’t want. The neglect and emotional abuse I suffered for years had given me a checklist of warning signs. But if an attractive someone walked up to me and said “What do you want in a relationship?”, I wouldn’t be able to answer beyond “Pizza?”

What I really want is for people to start treating other people like… people, and not a bag of labels. We all have our preferences for any number of things, but we date human beings — not resumes. I’m sure I could meet someone who could meet any number of my hypothetical requirements and be totally toxic. And I’m sure I could meet someone who isn’t at all my type, yet we could have a warm relationship. What I want, then, relies on action, on what I choose to explore or not.

I worry these one-dimensional questions hurt men, as well. I dread to think that guys looking to date are reading “What do women want?” articles and taking notes, as if they can apply a formula and win someone to warm their bed. All the question does is reinforce stereotypes and assumptions, making us all the more confused when we’ve done everything “right” only to wind up hurting again.
Please Destroy These Shoes
By: Jeffrey Alan Henderson
Tags: Testing, Shoes, Design, Process, Engineering

Please Destroy These Shoes

Learning from Weartesters is a Must

Over a year ago I began working on a simple running shoe. The goal was to engineer a lightweight yet durable product that would be as comfortable on morning strolls as they would be in 5k road races.

Our first samples were well executed by an amazing factory partner and the feedback from retailers and consumers were all positive. Fresco BK at Stadium Goods and Sue Boyle at Rime NYC helped the team decide which colors were rocks stars and which colors were duds. Our podiatrist Dr. Roxann Clarke gave us two thumbs up as she compared our product to the best running shoes in the market.

But as a designer and engineer, that doesn’t make you feel better. It just makes you more anxious.

I learned this in my first few weeks of working in Nike Basketball nearly 20 years ago. Every shoe that ever landed on an NBA or NCAA court made Jeff Johnson and Craig Santos — development and innovation directors in NIKE Basketball— nervous. There are thousands of details and processes that make up a shoe — from how long you cook a midsole to the chemistry of glues that keep a heel counter in place. Every decision that lead up to those shoes being worn by the best players in the world was managed by these engineers. Their worst nightmare was having a shoe fall apart in the middle of a game.

No amount of testing in the lab will guarantee 100% success — especially if you’re pushing the envelope with design & engineering or exploring new partners in manufacturing & components. You have to put product through real world testing to get feedback from people who will push your product farther than most consumers would ever imagine.

For Nike Basketball it wasn’t enough to test size 9’s in the Bo Jackson Fitness Center. The team organized entire events around getting feedback from professionals in order to see how the product would hold up.

In Japan we worked with collegiate runners at 5:30AM as they prepared for their annual Ekiden relay race. Our team of engineers and weartest coordinators painstakingly detailed every like and dislike these elite athletes would share with us — even when they were too polite to tell us how they really felt. From lace length to material breathability, we wanted to know everything they could tell us about how our product worked. Hours upon hours of feedback pushed us to develop a shoe capable of winning Olympic Gold.
A Poem On Coronavirus: COVID-19
By: Salam Khan
Tags: Health, Coronavirus, Poetry On Medium, Written Tales, Poetry

A Poem On Coronavirus: COVID-19

With dislike and sanitizer

Photo by Burst from Pexels

This Novel Coronavirus,

Was made in China,

But, is more dangerous than ISIS.

So many lives it’s taken,

And put many in isolation,

That now, we’re under a crisis.

From Wuhan (China) to Italy, South Korea to Iran,

Australia to the States, Spain to Japan,

Declared a pandemic,

Spread in the far corners of the world,

Almost everywhere;

Other than the antarctic.



All the big gatherings banned,

NBA, F1, Cricket, and other major events canned.

Wreaking havoc in industries around the world,

Every company is creating a business continuity plan.

Travel, tourism, and cross-globe movements almost stopped,

They have grounded many of the planes.

Rice, Pasta, sanitizer, Facial mask,

Emptying supermarkets’ shelves;

Grocery shopping has become the most crucial task.

Fighting over Toilet paper,

Everybody has gone a bit mad,

In all reality, it’s very sad.

Don’t be xenophobic but stay away from the sick,

Especially from those coughing and sneezing.

Eat healthily and keep washing hands with soap,

Avoid touching eyes, face, and also nose.

Salute to the doctors and the medical staff,

Dear humans, keep calm and don’t lose hope.

So listen, you COVID-19,

You’re not the biggest evil we’ve ever seen.

You can infect our bodies, but can’t hurt our spirits,

We are humans, big, bad, and mean.

Learning about you every day,

Within a year, we’ll create a vaccine.

With dislike and sanitizer,

Salam
Embracing Other’s Differences with Respect
By: Katie Brydon
Tags: Inclusion, Illinois, Respect, Spread The Word

A testimony from Best Buddies Global Ambassador, Jack Mayor, from Naperville, Illinois.

The campaign, Spread The Word, plays an extremely crucial role in the assistance of shaping our society’s perspective, as well as embracing other’s differences and respect. We as a society know what language is considered as expected or unexpected. We know how to correct our false perceptions on outlandish ideas of people with disabilities. We also know what is true or false.

Best Buddies Global Ambassador, Jack Mayor, at the Annual Best Buddies Hyannis Port Challenge.

Let me tell you something: just because someone looks or acts differently than you, does not mean that they are any less than you. A person’s label does not define their personality or character. We are all created uniquely, and each and every one of us possesses special gifts. I highly encourage you to stop labeling.

I’d like you to join me by taking the pledge to spread inclusion by going to https://www.spreadtheword.global/ or you can go to https://pledgeforinclusion.org/. The whole point of this is not only to embrace our abilities, but I want to make it abundantly clear that we all promote 110% of respect and inclusion. Respecting each other’s differences builds trust, and including each other builds friendships.

I personally think the R-Word is so derogatory and disgusting that it should not even be a word. This word has a negative meaning and it destructively labels other people. Thankfully, I have never been called this disrespectful word by any of my peers. However, I have heard other students at my school use it in a conversation. The use of the R-Word makes me and others feel insulted and offended. The campaign, Spread The Word To End The Word, plays an extremely crucial role in the assistance of shaping our society’s perspective, as well as embracing other’s differences and respect. We as a society know what language is considered as expected or unexpected. We know how to correct our false perceptions on outlandish ideas of people with disabilities. We also know what is true or false. Let me tell you something…just because someone looks or acts differently than you, does not mean that they are any less than you. A person’s label does not define their personality or character. We are all created uniquely, and each and every one of us possesses special gifts. I highly encourage you to stop labeling. I’d like you to join me by taking the pledge to abolish the use of the R-Word by going to https://www.spreadtheword.global/ or you can go to https://pledgeforinclusion.org/. The whole point of this is not only to embrace our abilities, but I want to make it abundantly clear that we all promote 110% of respect and inclusion. Respecting each other’s differences builds trust, and including each other builds friendships.
Centralize Your Docker Logging With Syslog
By: Al-Waleed Shihadeh
Tags: DevOps, Programming, Docker, Logging, Containers

Background

During one of the projects that I worked on in recent years, I had the task of integrating a centralized logging system with the applications stack we use (following a microservice architecture). The first idea that came to mind was to build an ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) stack to accomplish this task. However, it turned out that this was not an option due to a limitation on the project’s resources.

As a result, I investigated all the options and ideas that would help me implement this feature without conflicting with our limitations. I ultimately came up with the following ideas:

Collect Docker logs directly.

Using Syslog to collect the logs.

As I already said, the first idea was to build an ELK stack for collecting the logs. However, that was not an option due to budget and resource limitations for the project.

Another idea was to forward the logs to a managed service like logz.io. This option was also not possible because production servers have no internet access—plus the same budget limitations.

The third idea was to set up a Logrotate script that performs the following actions to generate the log files:

Collect the Docker logs from /var/lib/docker/containers/* .

. Rename the files with the container names instead of the ids.

Compress the log files.

The second step of this idea was to set up a Cron job to copy the log files to a centralized server where the logs could be loaded and inspected.

This idea had many disadvantages and was more like reinventing the wheel. One of the most important disadvantages was that logs would be lost if a new deployment occurred and the containers were replaced.

That is why I started looking for an alternative solution that would help us collect the logs from the servers to a centralized server without losing logs. Luckily, Docker supports multiple log-drivers (see the full list). One of these log-drivers is Syslog, which is by default installed on Linux systems (no extra software needs to be installed). For this reason, I decided to implement a centralized logging system with Syslog.
Address Speech Musings
By: Vasundhara Gaekwad
Tags: Work, Life Lessons

Hey Yo,

After passing through various stages of life like being a playful skeptical child,after the adolescence trap,twirling teenage,confused student phase,nervous fresher GET(graduate engineer trainee) phase,a learning teacher phase,the pretentious post teen phase,living in as DIL(daughter in law) ,wife and an entrepreneur mode phase, I FINNNNNNAALLLLLLLLLEEEEHHHHHHHHH started a blog.

Genuine & Warm Regards
JEF’s Cocktail with the Italian Ambassador Benedetti
Tags: Italy, Jef, Israel, Business, Jef Activities

The Italian Ambassador in Israel and the Jewish Economic Forum hosted a networking cocktail on Wednesday evening at the Ambassador residence in Ramat Gan.

The JEF introduced the newly appointed Ambassador to the business community. Among the guest many important top managers of large international groups from the Banking, Real Estate and Technology fields.

JEF Chairman Jonathan Pacifici stressed the important role of Italy as one of the major business partners of Israel.

Ambassador Benedetti thanked Mr. Pacifici for the help in the startup phase of its mandate.

JEF’s Chairman Jonathan Pacifici and Italian Ambassador Gianluigi Benedetti

Tasting Netofa Wines

Mr. Moshe Sharashov and Italian Ambassador Benedetti
Convert Iterables to Array using Spread in JavaScript
By: Samantha Ming
Tags: JavaScript, Software Development, Programming, Software Engineering, Web Development

CodeTidbit by SamanthaMing.com

Use ES6 spread (…) to easily convert Iterables into an Array! Often, iterables are limited in terms of their built-in methods. By converting it into an array, you’ll have access to ALL of the amazing array methods such as filter, map, reduce! Awesome 🎉

[ ...'hi' ]; // // ['h', 'i'] [ ...new Set([1,2,3]) ]; // [1,2,3] [ ...new Map([[1, 'one']]) ]; // [[1, 'one']] [ ...document.querySelectorAll('div') ] // [ div, div, div]

Built-in Iterables

In JavaScript, we have some built-in iterables that we use spread to convert them to an array:

String

Array

Map

Set

There’s one more, but we won’t focus on that for this post, TypedArray .

What are Iterables?

Iterables are data structures which provide a mechanism to allow other data consumers to publicly access its elements in a sequential manner.

If you’re interested in learning more about iterables, check out these awesome posts:

String → Array

const myString = 'hello'; const array = [...myString] // [ 'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o' ]

We can convert the array back to a string by using join()

array.join(''); // 'hello'

Set → Array

const mySet = new Set([1, 2, 3]); const array = [...mySet] // [1, 2, 3]

We can convert the array back to a string by passing it into new Set

new Set(array); // Set { 1, 2, 3 }

Map → Array

const myMap = new Map([[1, 'one'], [2, 'two']]); const array = [...myMap] // [ [ 1, 'one' ], [ 2, 'two' ] ]

Similar to Set, we can convert the array back to a string by passing it into new Map

new Map(array); // Map { 1 => 'one', 2 => 'two' }

NodeList → Array

const nodeList = document.querySelectorAll('div'); const array = [ ...document.querySelectorAll('div') ];

// [ div, div, div] *

*I suggest you paste the code into your browser to see the actual output

Array.from vs Spread

Another very similar method to the Spread syntax is Array.from . In fact, we can replace our examples with this:

Array.from('hi') // // ['h', 'i'] Array.from(new Set([1,2,3])) // [1,2,3] Array.from(new Map([[1, 'one']])) // [[1, 'one']] Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('div')) // [ div, div, div]

What’s the difference?

The difference is in the definition

Array.from works for:

array-like objects (objects with a length property and indexed elements)

iterable objects

Spread only works for:

iterable objects

So let’s take a look at this array-like object:

const arrayLikeObject = {

0: 'a', // indexed element

1: 'b', // indexed element

length: 1, // length property

}; Array.from(arrayLikeObject); // [ 'a', 'b' ] [...arrayLikeObject]; // TypeError: arrayLikeObject is not iterable

Which should I use?

Of course, it depends. If you are working with array-like objects, you have no choice but to use Array.from . But when it comes to iterables, I've always used spreads . Why? Because I'm a huge fan of the Airbnb Style guide. I wish I have a better reason, but that's all I have lol 😝 I'm guessing because it's less typing 🤔 If you know the reason, please drop it in the comment 😆

Resources

Share
Are You Also Getting Too Excited About Writing Sometimes?
By: Smillew Rahcuef
Tags: Writers Life, Writing, Writer, Writers On Writing, Writing Life

Are You Also Getting Too Excited About Writing Sometimes?

Is this what they call the flow?

That’s me jumping after finishing my last article by Dmitry Shamis on Unsplash

More! I want to write more!

I just had a look at my queue, all the stories in draft status I have, waiting to be submitted or published. (Or edited some more. I’ll do this later, though.) Strangely enough, it got me all pumped up about writing.

I want to write some more! Some of these stories will make a cool read. Seriously! (I might be subjective on this one.)

I wish I could get such a feeling more often. I guess that’s what the professionals with 50k+ followers call THE FLOW. It’s a nice place to be, for sure, absolutely exhilarating!

I wish you to find it, and that you’ll have the possibility to stay in it. Family life can be hard on the flow sometimes. I’m sitting there, in the middle of it, and suddenly, it’s time for dinner, it’s time to read a story or to go shopping. That can be pretty frustrating.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could store part of this energy boost for dry-spells to come? I sure wish I could. I know that tomorrow or in a few days, I’ll be looking at my computer from a distance, not wanting to sit anywhere near it.

But right now, I’ve got a pencil in my hand flying over the page and wish I were able to write simultaneously with the other one. Actually, I’m typing, but you get the idea. It’s when you’re typing so fast that the text editor isn’t able to follow anymore. It’s when typos are underlined in red every two words, but you don’t care and keep on going.

The faucet in your brain is open to the maximum flow rate, and there’s no way to stop it. Except by writing words following words, as fast as possible. At times, the nerves are barely coping with the volume of data sent to your fingertips.

As if the discharge of your creativity river went suddenly from local to Mississippi size. Your wrists are aching, and your fingers are burning. Good thing you invested in this Kevlar keyboard recently! You would like to take a rest, but your neurons keep on firing signals, and you’re too scared to lose the inspiration. So you stay seated at the desk and strike the keys without mercy.

Imagine if you were to lose the inspiration. Ejected from the flow and left on the river bank, watching as it keeps on its journey without you. What a horrible state to be in. It must be comparable to withdrawal syndrome for drug addicts.

May the inspiration always be with you.
Themed React Native app with redux, and styled-components
By: Munene Evans
Tags: Redux, Styled Components, React Native, React

In this article, I will show how to move from a design to a fully customize-able theme. We will use the three main libraries described below and any additional as the need arises. Luckily, many of us are already familiar with redux, react-native and styled components.

Design

First we need to see a design so as to understand what styles we need to apply. If you work with designers or are provided a ui-kit, then you are in luck. If not, then it would be important to take a step back and really think about what styles your design are made up of. Especially those that are not explicit.

We will use the design below to create our theme.

From the design above, there are a few things that we can deduce. Having an understanding of the how react native styles work, there are a few styles that we can list in our theme.

FontSize, FontFamily, BackgroundColor, Color

There are many aspects of the style, but i will limit myself to just those mentioned above for this example. Using the basic react native stylesheet, we can make the user interface. But first we will make a simple react-native project:

react-native init themeable

cd themeable npm install --save redux react-redux redux-thunk styled-components

react-native run-android

npm start

our app is now ready

We can now add a login screen in the same level as our App.js file.

touch Login.js

And we will override our App.js to show the login page.

Our Page is close enough

Redux

Now that the View looks fine, we can connect it with a basic redux store. The redux store is where we will create our theme and serve the app.

To set up our store, we will create a folder called store and add two files: our themeReducer a theme file.

Why Redux anyway? Redux will provide us the ability to customize the theme as we desire. This means we don’t have to hard code the styles. Redux can also change the theme in run-time, and will cause all affected component to re-render making style changes immediate.

We also need to connect our app to the store. Add this code to App.js

As you can see, the theme is provided in the initial state of the reducer by combining all theme objects into one. I know the theme.js looks complicated, but it is simple. Here is an illustration.

At the bottom, we have the base, the styles that can never change such as FontSize, FontFamily.

Then we have our themes. Primarily Dark and light. They mostly affect BackgroundColor and Color.

Finally, we have our color options. They affects the colors as well, but for specific elements such as buttons and headers.
Bleed yourself into everything
By: Florence Wanjiku
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Poetry, Self-awareness, Poem, Life

Florence Wanjiku is a writer and poet based out of Boston, Massachusetts. She is also the Editor of Without Borders. A platform for poetry and stories from immigrants writers, travelers, and writers who love to push their own personal boundaries. Outside of her work, she has a master’s in Education and hopes to teach and inspire others to follow their dreams and live beyond their borders.

Read more of her work below…
Building BWN: Blue Whale X Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority
Tags: Bwx, Blue Whale Global, Partnerships, Research And Development, Blockchain

Blue Whale Global and Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (IFEZ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support future research and development collaborations for Songdo International Business District as a blockchain hub city.

The signing ceremony of the MOU took place on November 28 and was attended by Kim Jin-yong, Commissioner of IFEZ, and Will Lee, CEO of Blue Whale Global.

Blue Whale Global will initiate sandbox regulations and establish a research-based community for blockchain and blockchain-related startups, incubators, and shared offices at Songdo International Business District. Songdo is the world’s first Smart City and has well-established infrastructure as a global business city. The city will also open its doors to the Institute for Basic Science, a South Korean government-funded research institute, in 2019.

Blue Whale Global will also actively cooperate with IFEZ to build and develop a blockchain hub city in Songdo. IFEZ established its foundation in blockchain earlier this year with the inclusion of a blockchain sector under the Key Attraction Sectors for the IFEZ Free Economic Zone Plan.

“Blockchain is a new industrial sector in the new era of the fourth industrial revolution and IFEZ is the best place to cultivate such a blockchain-based industry. Following the tremendous growth that IFEZ has made from the beginning, we will continue to create initiatives in the field of blockchain,” said IFEZ Commissioner Kim Jin-yong.

As a market leader of the blockchain industry in South Korea, Blue Whale Global recently launched an asset tokenisation platform, Shareable Asset, in October 2018. The user-focused platform enables and maximises the liquidity of tangible assets while simultaneously ensuring that all participants are able to gain opportunities to invest as independent economic subjects and maximise their profits.

Blue Whale Global has also recently signed a MOU with Samsung Electronics Corporation in November to develop viable means to support the global indie game ecosystem together with its existing infrastructure and technology.

On December 3, Blue Whale Global will be launching Splash, a suite of software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools catered to Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). The new service will provide these businesses effective solutions in handling ad referrals, lead generation, user verification and customer arbitration. The launch will be promoted in collaboration with Seoul Design Festival 2018 from December 12 to 16. In partnership with Design House, South Korea’s largest design publication agency, Blue Whale Global will be participating and working together with more than 100 exhibitors for the annual design-specialised event.
Are You a Tree Hugger? I Am.
By: Rasheed Hooda
Tags: Photography, Nature, Humor, This Happened To Me, Trees

Did you ever hear or read something and thought, that’s it!, dropped everything, and went for it?

Well, a few days ago, Joe Luca commented on one of my stories about finding delights in everyday life. He said:

I try to take notice of my surroundings. Take pictures of trees that are interesting. Just so I remember them. Love trees.

That’s It!

I do, too. My roommate in Chicago couldn’t understand why I would take a picture of a dead tree; then caption it, Life.

Yeah, I am a weirdo, and I like myself that way.

Trees are Nature’s messengers. They invite us to slow down, even stop for a moment, take it all in, and LISTEN.

So I was going to respond to his comment with some of my tree photos. As I started looking for them on my computer and saving them in a folder, I thought, wait a minute, I can make a story out of these photos. I challenged Joe to do the same.

Dennett is a master (or is it, mistress, or madam?) at creating stories from photos. Check out her publication, Weeds and Wildflowers. Currently, she has invited her writers to share stories with images of Autumn Colors. But, I digress.

I came across the Featured Photo when I was walking along Buffalo Bayou, between Memorial Drive and Allen Parkway, near downtown Houston. I was looking to shoot Houston Skyline with nature in the foreground. I wasn’t happy with what I found that day, but I will go back to find what I was looking for.

Something similar to this photo of the Chicago Skyline, taken from Lincoln Park outside the Chicago Zoo.

Even in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the USA, you can find an opportunity to slow down and admire the beauty of nature and man, together in harmony.

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more, I revere them when they stand alone… to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.” ~Herman Hesse

The beauty of a tree is in its form, whether it grows tall, or wide; whether it is in the winter, devoid of leaves, or in the summer, full and lush.

Some of them spread their “arms” wide and join hands with their neighbors.

Others spread their love more than once by spreading out, reaching down, rerooting, and shooting out again.

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” ~ John Muir.

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.” ~Khalil Gibran

And I have read some beautiful poetry in my travels.

But, the best quality of trees is that even in “death,” they find ways to support and beautify life in many ways.
5 pasos para crear un plan de marketing estratégico
By: Leyla Vivanco
Tags: Marketing Digital, Marketing Estrategico, Plan De Marketing

in Both Sides of the Table