fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
A Word On Fascism, Free-Speech, and Cancel-Culture.
By: Eduardo A. Llano
Tags: Self-awareness, Opinion, Politics, Fascism, Twitter

A Word On Fascism, Free-Speech, and Cancel-Culture.

Let's get make things clear; oil and water don’t mix.

Getty Images/iStockphoto/wildpixel

In this globalized and connected world, everybody seems to have an opinion on every topic. Social networks like Twitter, for instance, are one of the leading means of people letting themselves go with their opinions and thoughts.

This is a privilege we have as a society nowadays, but as stated in Spiderman, “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.” Sadly, people do not tend to understand the power and scope of their words. Most people understand that terms such as “Free Speech” should allow them to say whatever they want, no facing any consequence.

In light of the foregoing, other phenomenons like the “Cancel-Culture” have popped up, which has caused many terms like “Fascism” to come back to the picture, being wrongly used and indiscriminately applied to situations and people that have done nothing related to those terms.

This article has been inspired by a highly followed Twitter account (in my country) that called me a fascist just for tweeting we should cancel a comedian for saying misogynist and sexist comments. He claimed the comedian has “free speech” to say whatever he wants, and nobody has to mess up with his job… and that makes me a fascist (let’s laugh together). Reading the comments, I realized the number of people that agreed with that narrative, which — I'm not gonna lie — worried me and made me write this paper.

However, do Fascism, Cancel-Culture, and Free-Speech have some correlation between them? No. In this article, I will elaborate on what these terms mean and why they do not correlate. Let’s start with fascism.
Are You Superstitious?
By: Daniella Mini
Tags: Contradictions, Humor, Parenting, Psychology, Disability

Are You Superstitious?

Superstitions are dumb, but superstitious people aren’t

Photo by Lachlan on Unsplash

I don’t believe in ghosts, witches, or fortune tellers of any kind. I don’t believe that sleeping with your pajamas on backward or a spoon under your pillow will make a snow day the following day more likely.

Contrary to what every Venezuelan believes, I know that placing my handbag on the floor will not cause me to lose money, and I’m certain that passing the salt from my hand directly to another person’s hand won’t bring me bad luck.

I have close relatives who attribute people’s personalities to their Zodiac sign, and I think it’s beyond silly. Three people of the same sign, Pisces say, may have vastly different personalities, yet, somehow, they all fit Pisces perfectly. How can they not see that they’re only considering what matches their foregone conclusions?

Given my rejection of superstitious thinking, why do I sometimes embrace it like my life depended on it?

When I go on a plane, I must pray the whole rosary from beginning to end, starting right when the plane begins accelerating to take off. I will hardly breath or move until I’m done.

My teeth are a source of superstitious dread. I know something bad will happen if I don’t floss, and that something awful will befall my family if I fail to wear my mouth guard two days in a row.

My most involved superstitious phase had to do with my autistic son’s application to a residential post-secondary program he had his heart set on. After his interview, as we were driving home, I said to myself: If Diego gets in, I promise I won’t cut or color my hair for a year, and I’ll pray the rosary every day.

He did get in, and I followed two of my three promises. For a whole year, I didn’t cut my hair — which, by the way, grows phenomenally fast. From the day we found out he’d gotten in until his last day in the program two years later, I prayed the entire rosary every single day.

I postponed the promise about not coloring my hair for another time.
World Humanitarian Day: ‘I will not let the pandemic stop me from serving those in need’
By: World Food Programme
Tags: Humanitarian, Women, Afghanistan, Covid 19, Coronavirus

“I usually arrive at the distribution site at 09:00. We have distributions nearly every day, whether it’s in-kind food assistance or cash transfers. First, I check in with the assessment teams from our cooperating partners and the observers from the authorities who selected the families for assistance. The selection is based on our vulnerability criteria — for example, families who experience acute economic stress, households headed by women or elderly people, families with more than nine members or those that include members with a disability.

“Often, I go and talk to the families in their homes prior to the distribution, to make sure that the right people were registered. During the distribution itself, my job is to ensure that all the rules and principles of WFP are being respected, including the core principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.

“Banners at the distribution sites clearly state what our beneficiaries should receive, but often they cannot read, so I explain this to them. I count the money they receive to make sure the amount is correct and sometimes I reject bills that are in a bad condition and ask the staff from the financial service provider to replace them with newer ones. I also inform our beneficiaries about our complaints and feedback hotline and how WFP can be reached in case of need.

“These are my main tasks during the day, but of course they are not all. I meet with local officials, community leaders and local councils to explain our selection criteria and consult with them on when to conduct registrations. I also need to explain to them that our resources are limited and we only can assist those most in need.

“Sometimes, people show up at the distribution sites who have not been registered for assistance, asking us if we can assist them in some way. It makes me sad to tell them that unfortunately we do not have extra food for them. Sometimes they get rude and swear at me. But I do not mind, because I know they are desperate.

“People trust WFP and they trust me quickly, especially the women. They share their stories with me and, often, I am the only outsider they can share their experiences with. They tell me about their poverty, the struggle for food and — sadly — often about domestic violence.
Trapped in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
By: Kristin Doherty
Tags: Depression, Nonfiction, Women, Literally Literary, Feminism

In these recent times, I cannot stop thinking about “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. It’s an old story. Of a trapped woman.

The woman feels ill but has been told she is not ill. Her husband is a doctor. She must stay in the room with the yellow wallpaper. She must wait it out, this is what must be done.

But in our hearts, we question this remedy. Who is her husband anyway?

In our hearts, we know she is disobedient. She cannot quite follow the rules. Of being female. She is unhappy with her situation.

So she must stay by herself in the room with the yellow wallpaper.

Maybe this is how we feel lately: Crazy. Trapped. Unhinged. Ugly.

Eventually she claws at the walls.

And behind the walls, something taunts her. She knows she is missing something, so she stretches her body to reach the highest places on the wall to tear it down, the paper comes off in strips of ugly, marred yellow and underneath! Underneath, there are images jeering at her. Bared teeth. She tries to get behind it. She crouches to see better.

Is there another woman back there? Some shadow of herself?

It is only temporarily soothing to tear at the paper.

She cannot stop. Underneath, there are bars, keeping her contained. There’s no escape. So she circles the room, develops a path that becomes well-marked, ingrained, a trail around the edge. Now she is a trapped animal with one thing in mind, Get out.

She can’t stop moving, pacing, wondering if she has done something wrong.

Of course she thinks she is to blame. For wanting to find an opening, a space, a window, a breath of fresh air. To get away from the ugliness of the wallpaper. To get away from something inside herself. To jump? Maybe.

Yes. To jump.
The Dark Side of Design
By: Joshua Braines-Mead
Tags: Design, UI, User Experience, User Interface, UX

Note: I was inspired to write this after reading the findings of dark patterns by researchers at Princeton University and University of Chicago. Check it out!

At its core, UX design is about helping people to do what they want in the simplest way possible. The goal is to make peoples’ lives a little bit easier by removing any unnecessary frustration in the way of their goal. Designers try and do the thinking for their users, since thinking is hard and makes your brain hurt. 🤯

When external powers get involved, they can force designers to stray away from this happy view of UX. KPIs and sales targets begin to enter the equation, and some designers are put into a tricky situation where they have to intentionally hinder the user experience to get more dollars into the corporate bank. This notion is sometimes referred to as “Dark Design”.

No, dark design is not about designing your product to support a dark mode. (Fun fact, every system has a dark theme — just close your eyes! 🙈) Dark design is about making the conscious decision to make users go out of their way to avoid unintended or detrimental choices that benefit the product owner.

Think of dark design as the opposite of the aforementioned “good” UX definition. It’s about restricting people to do what they want in the most complicated way possible. It wants to make peoples’ lives a little bit harder by adding unnecessary frustration in the way of their goal. It makes people think a lot, since thinking is hard and they’ll hopefully just cough up dollars instead.

Get it yet? Too bad, I’m still going to go through some examples of the various types of dark design so you can be aware of the tricks that some systems are trying to pull on you. I’m not going to name and shame because blame is bad for tha’ game, yo. 🎤
The Magpie Means Nothing To Me
By: John Horan
Tags: Poetry, Ocd, Mental Health, Faith, Superstition

I walk my dogs down the ravine everyday

And I will see a magpie.

First of all I want to say that I’m not superstitious

That would be bad luck

Anyway…

The magpie will trigger a thought

‘It’s doom again for me!’

I’m not afraid, I’m just anxious

The past has crept up stealthily

Beyond me again and

Lies crouched in the future

Ready to ambush me

Doom! Doom! Doom!

I’m not crazy, I just live in

An alternative reality

And it’s unhealthy…

The bloody magpies have it in for me!

I remind myself I don’t believe in magpies,

I scan the air for another one,

I definitely don’t believe two will bring joy,

It just cancels out the first one,

There’s always at least five hanging around here,

God what have you done to me?

I’m sorry, it was my fault, I know that,

It’s my fault I’m crazy,

Maybe I could see a dove?

That would really mean something,

I never see a dove around here,

A seagull would do,

They’re white too,

Which means something pure,

I lost touch with the inside of me,

Can anything save me?

Count my steps,

Feel the breeze on me,

Come out of my head,

It’s not too late surely?

Remember reality?

There’s three magpies now,

Whatever, it means nothing to me…
Hitchhiker’s Guide to Developing Ontology Smart Contracts in SmartX (Python)
By: Tim Feng
Tags: Python, Smart Contracts, Blockchain, Ontology, Programming

2. Cyano Wallet

Wait! Before we get into the details of smart contract development, you need to install Cyano Wallet.

Cyano Wallet is a web extension wallet which holds Ontology’s two tokens (ONT and ONG), as well as any tokens that you decide to create following Ontology’s OEP4 token protocol.

You can install Cyano Wallet for Chrome here:

Once installed, Cyano Wallet can be accessed from where all your other Chrome extensions are.

It will ask you to create an account and memorize a mnemonic phrase and a private key — make sure to keep these recorded in a safe place.

Once you’re past this phase, Cyano Wallet should look like this:

While many of your smart contracts will depend on Cyano Wallet for handling token transfers to and from wallet addresses, Cyano Wallet is most important for holding ONG, which is the Ontology token that serves as “Gas” for smart contract deployment and invocation.

For those unfamiliar with Gas, it’s basically a transaction fee, paid out when a developer deploys a smart contract to the Ontology blockchain, or when a user invokes a function of a deployed smart contract.

For Ethereum, the fee is a small fraction of ETH; for Ontology, the fee is ONG.

So at this point, you may be wondering: “How am I supposed to get ONG? Do I even want to make the investment of purchasing ONG if I’m just trying out developing smart contracts on Ontology in the first place?”

These are all valid concerns that are also immediately addressable.

First, in your Cyano Wallet settings, you can select “TestNet” in the first dropdown menu and choose any node address in the second.
Why Your Friends Might Be Holding You Back From Living Your Best Life and What to Do About It
Tags: Self-awareness, Self Improvement, Self, Friendship, Love Yourself

Why Your Friends Might Be Holding You Back From Living Your Best Life and What to Do About It Gaby Spadaro Follow Dec 29 · 4 min read

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

You hear you're the average of the five people you hang out with, and you're scared to death; maybe your friends do not help you get to where you want. You want to become the best version of yourself but deep down, you know you are not hanging out with the right people, so you stay where you are.

You stick around because going out of your comfort zone to meet new people scares you, or you don’t want to put in the effort.

So, there you are, feeling bad for yourself, knowing again that maybe if you had a healthier community around you, it would be easier to achieve the goals you want and feeling happier with yourself.

When you feel tired of the place you are, and you commit yourself to make a significant change in your life people will often lash out if you start acting differently. You began to realize that the new values you are forming for yourself might not align with your current group.

Here is when it’s time to decide what's best for you. To make hard choices and maybe say goodbye to all those friends that aren't adding any value to your life or those friends that are only sucking your energy.

But friends are an essential part of your life. If you find good friends, they will lift you and help you get in the right direction; good friends will support you and be there for you when you don’t feel right and are going to genuinely be interested in your projects and help you achieve your dreams.

They will be honest with you and communicate when they believe things aren't going well, and they will respect your time. It's essential to hang out with friends that you admire, friends who inspire you to be the best version of yourself.

Friends are not only to share sorrows and pains.

Friends are essential to enjoy and create experiences, to reflect that we are strong. Friends are that space where we can be a child again and feel that we belong. Most importantly, friends have to help us grow because if you don’t grow together, it will be hard for you to become the person you always wish to be.

It will be hard to see some people go out of your life, but life is much better when you have a community that supports you, and you help each other day to day bring the best versions of yourself.

Here are some truths I finally accepted

You Should Let Go of Toxic Friendships That You Love That You Know Are Not Adding Value to Your Life

It sounds harsh, but if you love yourself, you will realize that sometimes you have friends you love that are not fighting for their dreams or are just not bringing anything interesting to the table. You guys are not growing together or supporting each other’s, and although you guys might be having fun together, every time you see them you leave the place feeling worse about yourself.
Blackbox Weekly
By: Cadence Bambenek
Tags: Fintech, Newsletter, Blockchain, Amazon, Cryptocurrency

Your regular dose of fintech news, views and insights

Can Robinhood Give Coinbase a Run for Its Money?

With the announcement and roll out of its commission-free cryptocurrency product Robinhood Crypto, Robinhood Markets Inc. is gaining ground on Coinbase.

Fintech Around The Web

1. Coinbase Has Made It Easy for Online Businesses to Accept Cryptocurrencies

Last week, popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase launched “Coinbase Commerce”, a service allowing businesses to directly accept bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum and litecoin payments right in their online checkout flow.

2. Venezuela Has Launched The Presale of Its Digital Token, Making It the First Country to Do So

Called the petro, critics have said the petroleum-backed digital currency is an attempt by the cash-strapped country to borrow credit against its untapped oil. The move is also said to be an attempt to circumvent Western sanctions imposed against Venezuela for its autocratic leadership last August. While President Nicolas Maduro claims the petro cryptocurrency raised $735 million in the first day of a pre-sale, a currency is only as legitimate as the people who hold it believe it to be. Venezuela has had serious problems both being transparent and in managing inflation. And the currency is already at risk of losing legitimacy if Maduro isn’t reelected come April.

3. Amazon found a partner in Bank of America for its lending to small businesses

With the launch of Amazon Lending in 2011, Amazon has been originating loans, ranging from $1,000 to $750,000, to small business owners that are top sellers on Amazon.com. Last week, CNBC reported Amazon has been in partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch since October 2016 where the bank serves as a “$500 million revolving credit facility”, helping the tech giant reduce its risk while still providing credit to merchants for the acquisition of inventory.

4. House Backs Bill That Would Benefit Bank/Fintech Partnerships

The House recently approved a bill that would make it so high-interest rate loans could be sold to non-bank entities, such as fintechs like LendingClub, at interest rates higher than state caps. That means a debt collector or fintech in a state where interest is capped at 16% could both buy debt and issue new credit to borrowers at higher interest rates than that 16% cap. For fintech firms, this legislation could provide an easier way for them to get one of the perks — and added revenue stream — of being a bank without actually being a bank, which could be an appealing opportunity for the myriad of fintechs looking to monetize their products.
Weekly update #15
By: Live Stars
Tags: Startup

Another week has passed and it is time to share the results with our community.

During the last two weeks, a lot of work has been done concerning development and testing of essential Live Stars webcam platform features, such as streams and LIVE token processing. We have reworked model account dashboard and completed the development of one of the most important parts of the platform — administration panel.

At the moment we are testing out the visual side of the website, mark-up, and user interface.

We are now conducting closed beta test of platform functions. We still have to complete the stress-test of our new streaming system.

During the next several weeks we will finish our redesign tests and will be ready for public testing.
This Is Why You’ll Forever Be an Ignorant Person
By: Raphael Paul
Tags: Life, Self Improvement, Psychology, Advice, Life Lessons

You Think You're Smarter Than You Actually Are

On April 19, 1995, one Mcarthur Wheeler robbed two banks in Pittsburgh. What makes his case unique is that seeing how lemon juice makes ink invisible, he smeared his own face with lemon juice, believing that this would make him invisible to surveillance cameras.

He then carried out the robberies full of confidence, in broad daylight, and he didn’t even bother wearing a mask to hide his face from cameras. Why would he? To him, that would be like superman wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Of course, he was quickly identified and arrested by the police later that day. And to prove just how confident he was in his little magic trick when he was being taken away by the cops he mumbled, "but I wore the juice."

Now, you think of him and laugh at just how ignorant he was and even wonder if he was high on drugs. But how many times have you been so damn sure about something… and still ended up being wrong? Cause I for one know that has happened to me a lot. And this is what the Dunning-Kruger effect aims to explain.

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision - Bertrand Russell

Named after social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that shows that people tend to overestimate their own knowledge and abilities in areas where they are incompetent, while those who are more competent do the opposite; thereby creating an ironic scenario where the less we know about something, the more confident we are about that subject, and vice-versa.

To put it in other words, the Dunning-Kruger effect shows that when people lack basic knowledge on a subject, they also lack the experience to understand how little they know. As a result, they vastly overestimate their comprehension of the subject.

To justify this claim, Dunning and Kruger conducted numerous studies and the results all pointed to a single truth: we are all Mcarthur Wheeler in one area of our lives or the other.
Emails From A CEO Who Just Has A Few Changes To The Website
By: Amanda Rosenberg
Tags: Tech, Humor, Design

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:44:05 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: Website Changes

Hey guys,

Just looking at the website. I know I said I loved it yesterday, but looking at it now, I hate it. It feels too cluttered. Too many words.

@Design team — pls mock up what it would look like with fewer words.

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:45:08 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: Website Changes

And fewer images.

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:48:13 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt<ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: Website Changes

Hey guys,

The navigation is confusing. We should make it all one page like everybody else.

@Design team — make it all one page like everybody else.

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:50:19 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

And add infinite scrolling. I never want to reach the end of the page. Ever.

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:51:02 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

Actually don’t.

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:51:02 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

What if the homepage was just a picture of a white wall? Think about it. People will be like “Where am I? What’s happening?” and isn’t that the whole point of having a site?

@Design team — white wall it.

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:54:32 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

This “About Us” section is a fucking mess.

@Design team — white wall it.

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 2:57:21 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

You know what? Scrap the words altogether. Words are cliché. You know who hated words? Hemingway.

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 3:17:01 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt<ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

Hey,

So I’ve been looking over the site a little more and here are a few more changes:

-More words.

-More images.

-Separate pages for each section.

-Add an “About Us” page.

@Design team — pls mock that up and get it over to me by EOM (end of morning).

Thx

-E

Date: May 14th, 2016 at 3:20:12 AM PST

From: Ed Pratt <ed@dumply.com>

To: everyone@dumply.com

Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Website Changes

Hey guys,

Just took another look at the website. Looks great.

Thanks,

-E
#50 Growth Weekly News
By: Alexandra Poulopoulou
Tags: Google Cloud Platform, Holiday Shopping, News, Google Analytics, Cloud Computing

Learn the latest news in Digital Analytics world and join us on this week’s stories in the comments.

Last blog post for 2019 and we wanted to make it a little bit Christmassy.🎅🏼 May the new year brings us health, joy and exciting new updates from Google. So, grab your cocoa, sit next to your fireplace and enjoy the last stories for this year…

Last week in summary: A quick flashback in Google Cloud’s year, along with an algorithm walk-through to save memory for count-distinct calculations. Also, BigQuery Reservations is now available in beta for US and EU regions.
Spotlight on Jeffrey Miller
By: Eureka College Alumni
Tags: Writing, Short Story

Spotlight on Jeffrey Miller

Class of 1987

Jeffrey Miller, class of 1987

Jeffrey Miller is a 1987 Eureka College grad now living in Daejeon, South Korea. After completing his bachelor’s at Eureka, he enrolled in a master program in English at Western Illinois University. He took two of the graduate class that I taught, and I was a member of his thesis committee. His thesis was collection of short stories. In addition, he read fiction manuscripts for. The Mississippi Valley Review, a little magazine published by Western’s English Department.

Jeffrey then went to South Korea, where he has been teaching for twenty-six years. Currently employed by Solbridge International School of Business, Jeffrey teaches advanced writing courses for students who plan to study in the United States. He also teaches reading and history classes. Most of his students are from Korea, China, and Kazakhstan. This semester he has selected Fahrenheit 451 as required reading for his students.

Jeffrey has been married for eight years. He and his wife have four children — three boys and a girl. He writes, “They keep me young chasing them around the house.” He also admits, “It’s about time for me to come home.” He is actively searching for a job in the States. In addition to his teaching, Jeffrey published two works of fiction in 2012: War Remains: A Korean War Novel; and Ice Cream Headache. His collection of short stories will be published later this year. One of those stories is a reworking of the prize-winning story he wrote for EC’s Impressions. He is currently at work on four projects: three novels and a novella. In his own words, “I bounce from one to the other whenever I experience writer’s block.”
What is the moss of New York?
By: Christa Avampato
Tags: Sustainable Development, Nature, Cities, Economy, Science

Photo by Madina on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/0cBKrqmlJrE

Though moss is a simple plant, we shouldn’t underestimate its wisdom. It’s one of the oldest, wisest, and most experienced forms of life. Moss is an opportunist making the most of what’s available. It lies in wait, sometimes for years, for the right conditions to grow and reproduce.

Moss exhibits the skill of anabiosis When water is scarce, moss will completely dry out and play dead for as long as needed. But they aren’t dead at all. In their drying, they lay the groundwork for their renewal. Sprinkle them with a little water and the moss will spring back to life as if nothing had happened. They can also regenerate themselves from just a minuscule fragment.

Moss is the first life form to reinhabit an area that’s experienced devastation and loss. It’s the plant of second chances. Moss is hopeful. Despite destruction and stress, moss finds a way in and sets the stage for more life to return. Through their actions of collecting and holding water and contributing to the nutrient cycle of land, the will of moss changes the world, turning barren rock to gardens with enough time.

As I walk through my city of New York now, devoid of so much life and so much of what I love about it, I wonder what our proverbial moss will be. What will come back first to literally create the conditions that will seed the path for restoration and revitalization? What will create a haven for life and growth on the cultural bedrock of our city? What and who will set down roots here to build an enduring legacy for others, and how?

If only humans and our dreams could be as resilient as moss. If only we could find a way to see this time of COVID-19 only as a holding pattern. Not something that destroys us but something that makes us stronger, more resilient, more determined to thrive in the days ahead. Unfortunately we don’t have that seemingly-magical power of anabiosis. We can’t curl up in a ball, dry out, and wait for better times. We have to keep living, breathing, moving, working, eating, and growing. We’ll have to make a way out of no way, and the only way we can do that is together.
Tutorial: Receive and send Bitcoin by Java
By: Lin Li
Tags: Java, Open Source, Programming, Mixinnetwork, Bitcoin

Mixin team has published a tutorial based on Java. The developer can receive and send bitcoin after reading the tutorial.

Create a bot in Mixin Messenger to receive user’s message

Receive & send Bitcoin

The Java developer can create a bot in Mixin Messenger after reading the tutorial. The bot can receive message and Bitcoin from Mixin Messenger users. The Bot can send text and Bitcoin to Mixin Messenger user.

There are many SDK, tutorials, and open source projects created by Mixin Network community.
Read This When You Feel Like You’re Not Enough
By: Katharine Chan, Msc, Bsc
Tags: Self Improvement, Motivation, Life Lessons, Personal Growth, Inspiration

Read This When You Feel Like You’re Not Enough

“There’s no point if other people are better than me.”

Growing up as an Asian Canadian, I was often compared to another kid. It was the norm. It’s the culture.

Who’s doing better in school? Who got fatter? Who is better at XYZ?

And when you grow up with this mentality like myself, your self-esteem can become fragile because it all depends on how you compare to the person beside you.

So if you ever feel like you’re not enough because someone else is better, please read this.

No one in this world has your experience, your history, or your story.

No one is you!

Your mom’s egg (which only gets released once a month…if maybe) and your dad’s single sperm (out of 200 million) came together and miraculously created YOU.

For those who have struggled to conceive, you know what I’m talking about.

There will always be people who are better off than you. There will always be people who are worst off than you.

Take a moment to look up for a moment from your phone.

See that guy or girl waiting in line, that mom crossing the street or that old man waiting for the bus? They may or may not be having a better day than you.

You have your own unique set of skills and abilities, strengths and weaknesses, values and beliefs.

Sure, you may share some of these things with another person but the combination is what makes you who you are.

So stop comparing yourself to others. It’s not like apples and oranges, more like numbers and colours.

So Readers, What were you compared to as a kid? Were you the better kid or the one that needed “improving”?
How does the global economic recovery look like in the next two years?
By: Faisal Khan
Tags: Health, Investing, Business, Finance, Economics

GLOBAL ECONOMY

How does the global economic recovery look like in the next two years?

Visualizing the economic projection for the year 2020 with the expected rebounds in 2021 & 2022

It has been an unprecedented year in so many ways. Although the biggest concern was health-related, the resulting economic fallout has been equally devastating. The general consensus right now is that the global economy will see a rebound in growth albeit at a gradual pace. According to the data by The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the global GDP will rise by 4.2% in 2021 after a decline of 4.2% this year.

The V-shaped recovery projected earlier by many analysts based on extraordinary stimulus measures taken, concerted health policies enforcement & aggressive search for a vaccine for the pandemic hasn’t really materialized as a much larger second wave of infections took the globe by a storm. Even though three vaccines have moved into the deployment stage, things might get worse before they get any better. Renewed lockdowns are endangering the fragile economic recovery.

Along with the current economic projections, the OECD has also forecast an upside and downside scenario (chart above) — for the latter, delayed vaccinations or new outbreaks could cause a $4 trillion GDP loss by 2022 compared to current projections. On the flip side, vaccine rollout and boosted consumer and business confidence, could add $3 trillion to the global economy.

These current economic projections are based on the premise that renewed virus outbreaks remain contained, and a widely available vaccine by the end of 2021 helps to support consumer & business confidence. With this in mind, let’s look at three infographics visualizing the projected GDP growth/decline for 2020, 2021, and 2022.

2020
How You Can Use Social Media To Get More Freelance Clients
By: Ewan Mcbride
Tags: Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Freelancing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Why You Should Use Social Media

There are hundreds of millions of people that browse social media every single day and you can take advantage of that. On Instagram alone, there is over 25 million business that you could do some kind of freelance work for.

Another great thing about social media is that it is really easy to reach out to these businesses. You can also have business discover you so that you have freelance work coming in without you having to do anything.

If you can create really nice profile you can grow quickly. There are some great ways to grow fast and if you can get one of your posts to go viral, you can grow significantly.

Another amazing thing about social media is that if people follow you for a while, they may see more of the orders you have completed in the past. This means that potential clients will be able to trust you more and therefore more likely to buy your service.
3 Tricks to Scaling Onboarding with Google Admin
By: Leia Rollag
Tags: Startup, People Operations, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Onboarding

Here’s how to do it:

(1) Automatically update all@ by nesting your Google Groups

A Group can be added to another Group a member, just like an email address.

For example:

Create your team groups, say team-a@ and team-b@

Chose “Team” access level: “Only managers can invite new members, but anyone in your domain can post messages, view the members list, and read the archives.”

Do NOT check the box “allow anyone on the internet to post messages”

Add each team member to their correct group

1 team member per team group

Create your company-wide group, say all@

Add team groups to all@

It looks like this:

Now, if you add a new team member to team-a@, their email address will automatically be reflected in all@ and receive emails sent to all@!

(2) Automatically update Calendar events by adding Groups to events as guests

A Google Group can be added to a Calendar event as a guest, just like an email address.

Here’s what your all-hands Calendar event could look like:

Here’s what your team meeting events could look like:

Now, if you add a new team member to team-a@, their email address will automatically become a guest of your All-Hands Weekly Meeting and the Team A Meeting. Easy.

(3) Automatically update Drive folder viewing and editing permissions with Groups

Last, but not least, a Google Group can be added to a Drive folder to set the level of viewing and editing access for that folder, also just like an email address.

For example, the structure could look like this:

Company Drive Folder : all@ view only access, yourname@ edit access

Team A Drive Folder : team-a@ view and edit access

Team B Drive Folder : team-b@ view and edit access

This translates to:

Everyone in all@ can VIEW what’s in the Company Drive Folder, including what’s in:

Team A Drive Folder

Team B Drive Folder

Only you can EDIT what’s in the Company Drive Folder, including what’s in:

Team A Drive Folder

Team B Drive Folder

Only team members in team-a@ can EDIT what’s in the Team A Drive Folder

Only team members in team-b@ can EDIT what’s in the Team B Drive Folder

Here’s what your company drive folder could look like:

This means that if you add a new team member to team-a@, they will automatically have viewing permissions to everything in the Company Drive Folder AND editing permissions to everything in the Team A Drive Folder. Neat.

As a bonus, this structure gives all and only the right team members editing access to folders. When a company hits 100 employees, you start to see files and folders go missing because it’s too easy to move things around in Drive without training… and who has time to spend on that?!
[JS/TS] Simple App State Management
By: Jijie Liu
Tags: Typescript, Provider, State Management

Provider

First, Provide must be unique in the application. It makes sure all the listeners have the same data.

To make it happen, I used a design pattern: Singleton. It creates a private instance, and provides a public method to make instance accessible from the outside. This prevents the instance to be created more than once.

class Provider {

private static instance: Provider; public static getInstance() {

if (this.instance) {

return this.instance;

} else {

this.instance = new Provider();

return this.instance;

}

}

}

It should avoid modifying data from outside without control. Therefore, Provider sets data as private, and gives the public methods to manipulate data, such as addItem , deleteItem , getItems , updateItem , etc. To make demo simple, I wrote a method, addItem . Input will use it.

Finally, Provider should hold the function of the listeners. The listeners tell Provider what to do when data is update. Therefore, Provider can notify listeners by running all of these functions. These functions ask for the data in Provider. Provider always sends the copy of data to them for protecting data from being polluted.

The code is presented as followed:

In conclusion, there are 3 key points of Provider:
The Top 10 Keyword Research Tools and How To Use Them
By: Alphan Maina
Tags: SEO, Data, Google, Keyword Research Tools, Keyword Research

Ubersuggest has been a favorite of many online entrepreneurs and bloggers worldwide, and for a reason. It is a fast and free keyword research tool. While most keyword research tools assume you know the keywords to use even when you don’t, Ubersuggest gives you keyword ideas.

You only need to enter a simple generic term, and this keyword research tool will help you narrow down the options with its suggestions. Upon loading the webpage, you can begin your keyword research immediately.

Just enter a URL or seed keyword, set your region preferences, and click Search. What’s more, it gives you related keyword suggestions and long-tail keyword suggestions.

How Ubersuggest works

Ubersuggest breaks down keyword research into three main categories: overview, keyword ideas, and SERP analysis.

Domain overview

This is a graph that presents the search volume over time. It will show you the search volume for any keyword in any country in the last 12 months. You will be able to see if the keyword popularity is increasing or declining.

The overview also shows you the difficulty score for your desired keywords, ranging between 1 and 100. The higher the number, the harder it will be to compete for the keyword and vice versa.

Keyword ideas

The second part of Ubersuggest’s keyword research displays a list of keyword ideas. The keywords are sourced from Google Ads and Suggest recommendations, making it easy for you to identify potential keywords for your business.

You will also have the ability to see the search volume data for each of the keywords as well as the paid difficulty, cost per click, and SEO difficulty data.

SERP analysis

This section shows you the top 100 brands that are ranking for a particular keyword. This section goes a step further and shows the countries and regions where the brands are located.

Source: Neil Patel

If anything, Ubersuggest is one of the best keyword research tools available today. The best part of it is that it offers a comprehensive list of potential keywords as well as brands that are outranking you for any given keyword.
THE ETERNAL PARTY: Understanding My Dad, Larry Hagman–By Kristina Hagman
By: Carol Mann Agency
Tags: Books, Celebrity, Television, Love, Family

When you have a very famous father, like mine, everyone thinks they know him.

My dad, Larry Hagman, portrayed the storied, ruthless oilman J.R. on the TV series Dallas. He was the man everyone loved to hate, but he had a personal reputation for being a nice guy who fully subscribed to his motto: DON’T WORRY! BE HAPPY! FEEL GOOD! Dad had a famous parent, too―Mary Martin, known from many roles on Broadway, most memorably as Peter Pan. Off-stage she was a kind, elegant woman who maintained the down home charm of her Texas roots. Both were performers to the core of their beings, masters at crafting their public images. They were beloved. And their relationship was complex and often fraught.

My father never apologized for anything, even when he was wrong. But in the hours before he died, when I was alone with him in his hospital room, he begged for forgiveness. In his delirium, he could not tell me what troubled him, but somehow I found the words to comfort him. After he died, I was compelled to learn why he felt the need to be forgiven.

As I solved the troubling mystery of why my happy-go-lucky, pot-smoking, LSD-taking Dad had spent his last breaths begging to be forgiven, I also came to know my father and grandmother better than I had known them in life.

KRISTINA HAGMAN is an artist who has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, People magazine, Closer magazine (UK), and more. She is the daughter of Larry Hagman and granddaughter of Mary Martin and lives in Santa Monica, California.

You can purchase your own copy of The Eternal Party on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or at your local indie bookstore.
Why Too Much Self-Help Is Not Working Well for You
By: Younes Henni
Tags: Self Improvement, Personal Development, Productivity, Mindfulness, Life

Why Too Much Self-Help Is Not Working Well for You

And how to stop productivity guilt from hurting your mindset.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

If you try to follow all the self-help you’ve been reading, then you must:

Wake up at 5 am.

Take a cold shower.

Drink two gallons of water.

Journal for twenty minutes then meditate.

Do intermittent fasting.

Exercise four times per week.

Read one book a week. Etc.

But here’s the thing:

Whenever you miss or don’t keep up, your mind says: “You should work harder instead of taking a day off. You’re not serious about getting fit if you skipped today at the gym.”

Consuming self-help without moderation can hurt your mental well-being. You’ll feel guilt build up whenever you miss all the expectations you’re setting for yourself.

Scott Young, the author of Ultralearning, calls it the productivity guilt.

This begs the question: how can you get better in your life and career without judging and talking to yourself harshly?

To answer this question, I want you to look closely at this quote from Sam Harris, the creator of Waking Up meditation app. He says:

“The most important relationship in your life is your relation with your mind.”

When your relation to your mind isn’t a healthy one, nothing else will work — self-help advice, your friendships, your family bonds — nothing.

The key point is this:

Go easy on yourself when reading and following all that self-help advice.
It’s Better to Regret Something You’ve Done Than Something You Haven’t
By: Hogan Torah
Tags: Humor, Death, Health, Art, Fiction

“I made you something. I spent weeks on it. I’m still not happy with it but I’ve erased so many times the paper is about to tear.”

Drawing by Melancholicanna

“Oh wow!” I gushed. “That’s incredible! You really spent some time on this didn’t you, very impressive.

She asked a bunch of questions about the things I wrote. Smart questions like why I took the story down the path I did. Asking about the origin of my more insane ideas.

I answered all of her questions, even though some answers might have been considered inappropriate to tell some one of her age. But the kid was going to die sooner than later so I did. She seemed to have that deep understanding of writing it took me years to develop.

I showed her the outline of my upcoming book and the completed parts. She showed me some things she wrote. Very wholesome.

It seemed like there was something she wanted to ask but was afraid to say. I asked my embarrassing question first.

“You could have wished for anything and they would have tried to make it happen. Why me?”

While still looking me dead in the eye she said.

“I want you to fuck me.”

Image author

Lexi said it firmly and directly. The kid didn’t miss a beat. She wasn’t scared, just waiting for the right time. There is no right time on that one.

“Uh… That’s very flattering and you are a beautiful girl, but that’s going to be a hard no.”

Her face crumbled. “Why not?”

“How old are you?”

“I’ll be 16 soon, maybe. In Ohio that’s the age of consent.”

“I get it. I do. I’m sorry but I can’t. No. The foundation said not to get too close. What you are asking from me would be crossing a line that’s bad for both of us.”

She gave me the sick kid sad eyes. My heart was breaking but I had to be firm. I’m the adult here.

“No! Look, I’m sorry. I would really like to help you, I would. But I’m a public figure and even if I wasn’t, no. You are a beautiful woman, and some day in the futureee…”

Oh shit. Some fucking wordsmith I am.

“Ehhh.. I… I’m going to smoke and pee. But I promise I’ll be back.”

When I looked back and saw her scrunched up sour face. Then started having a coughing fit from her heart breaking. The image of her trying not to cry it is forever burned in my mind. But hell nope.

I broke character when I said no. Because Hogan Torah wouldn’t deny someone especially under these circumstances just because the law said it was wrong. But I didn’t say no because of the law, I said no because you don’t have sex with kids. Period.

I’m not going to be arrested and go to jail for being a fake. If I have sex with a minor I will.

Her parents were waiting out side the door for me.

“Did she ask you?” Said her stepdad.

“Huh?”

“What did you say?”

Image Author

“No!” Oh my god. That’s why they picked me! Son of a bitch! I’m an actor playing a character! Though it’s more of a gimmick really.

I am morally ambiguous about damn near everything. But I’m not a murderer and I don’t fuck kids.

Lexi’s parents were both now giving me the face.
3 Reasons Why You Don’t Get Things Done With Your To-Do List
By: Ronald Mathew
Tags: To Do List, Productivity

3 Reasons Why You Don’t Get Things Done With Your To-Do List

And how to fix them.

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels

To-do lists are one of the most popular productivity tools ever, and that is for a good reason. It’s crazy simple, you write your tasks and then you check them off after you finish them, but the question is are they really effective in helping you get your tasks done? Well the answer depends on who you are asking.

There’s really a mixed consensus, there are people who view to-do lists as pointless because it is much more effective to schedule your time using a calendar. Although these people are not wrong in any way (because what’s important is what works for you) there are just ways that make to-do lists better and not at all futile.

On the other hand, there are people who actually use to-do lists and get a ton of stuff done, and they cite reasons on how it works for them.