fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Woman, Reportedly Missing for Weeks, Found Buried Beneath a Mountain of Blankets on her Bed
By: J.W. Parr
Tags: Family, Satire, Winter, Humor, Fake News

Woman, Reportedly Missing for Weeks, Found Buried Beneath a Mountain of Blankets on her Bed

Photo by Nery Zarate on Unsplash

LEXINGTON, KY — As temperatures continue to plummet around the country, dipping below the 40s even down south, folks are starting to crank up their heaters and break the winter blankets out of storage.

However, some people are clearly taking things a little too far.

Local police have just announced that they are calling off the citywide search for Cathy Benson, a wife and mother of three, who had been reported missing over two weeks ago.

According to the police report, upon growing suspicion of foul play at the hands of Cathy’s husband, Charlie Benson, they launched a thorough search and investigation inside the family’s home. Less than five minutes later, Mrs. Benson was found, coming as a shock to all present parties.

Mr. Benson said, “No, I’m not happy that I was a suspect for a minute there, but at the end of the day, I’m just happy to have my wife back. Do you know how hard it is raising three girls all alone?!”

When asked about the circumstances leading to her disappearance, Cathy blushed and said, “It was just so warm, I didn’t want to leave. Between the impending cold weather right outside, and the three kids running around and destroying the house, the blankets really provided a much-needed safe haven.”

The police department refused to make any further statements regarding the situation.
Of course I am. I just don’t feel like it everyday. I get caught up in the idea and process of it, much like Roz Warren wrote in her article Are You a Real Writer: That’s exactly what I do! I’ll…
By: Mary Jones
Tags: Writing, Short Form, Roz Warren, Freelance, Writing Life

Sometimes, I don’t feel like a writer.

Of course I am. I just don’t feel like it everyday. I get caught up in the idea and process of it, much like Roz Warren wrote in her article Are You a Real Writer:

“In the research phase, the article was imaginary and, thus, and perfect. She knew that in reality the piece might fail to live up to her vision of it.”

That’s exactly what I do! I’ll research the heck out of the topic at hand. Then, the writing delays things. That’s when I start questioning whether someone else will think it’s good enough to read or buy.

Maybe I need a writing coach like Roz Warren.
Views Down
By: William, Dollar Bill
Tags: Writing, Education, Marketing, Freelance, Culture

Views Down

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

I received a blanket email recently from a Medium superstar on the subject of his and other popular writers’ descending view count. He sounded concerned. I, likewise, have noticed the same trend — what with my own view count decreasing 20% in the last month. And I’m new and presumably on the ascension curve. Oh well!

But the news isn’t all bad. What I’ve noticed of a gratifying nature is this: While my views are down, my member reading time is up! And predictably, my percentage of reads vs. views is on the rise as well. So even though fewer people are checking out my stories, I’m making more money — if that’s a metric I care about.

In my never-ending desire to understand the platform stats so I can maximize the effort, my analysis of this current trend tells me that my increased member reading time is an indication that the reduced number of readers who do come to my stories aren’t doing so haphazardly. They know who they’re reading.

This in turn tells me I have a few real followers. And that's a good thing. A very good thing — as that’s been my goal: to generate traffic organically. Ya know…that relational versus transactional thing.

After 200 stories, I still don’t think I’ve been curated once. And I’ve not been published in any of the majors yet — and may never be. But slowly, little by little, it all seems to be working out.

I simply write every day — and then publish what I wrote immediately. I rarely write and then submit. That just hasn’t been a rewarding experience. Generating a following organically has. So that’s the route I take — for better or worse.

It might not work for some. But it is for me. Just something to consider. Maybe it could work for you, too.

More posts about writing and marketing strategy:
Keeping Your Quora Numbers Up
By: William, Dollar Bill
Tags: Writing, Illumination, Education, Freelance, Culture

Keeping Your Quora Numbers Up

author stats

Quora is for all intents and purposes, a platform in my rearview mirror. Yes, it was gratifying to garner 7 million views in a few months. But ultimately, I could not monetize my popularity. Even though I was the most read writer in three different categories, nobody in the publishing world took notice.

And when via some writer’s answer, I discovered medium, and the fact that those 7 million views could translate into a paycheck if I could bring all that traffic with me, I migrated. That turned out to be a pipe dream. Those 7 million views translated into a few dozen on the new platform. Oh well!

Moving on to the point. Effectively abandoning Quora, my daily views descended from in the neighborhood of 60k when I was active, to about 4 or 5k now that I answer no questions — and haven’t for months.

But I do post my medium story links more or less daily on Illumination’s space (a medium publication if you’re not aware) on Quora. It’s one of those exercises I’m not convinced helps my medium exposure. But I do it anyway because I like Illumination and it only takes a few seconds.

Now, look at the image on top. How can I explain the bump in views in the past week or so? I haven’t answered any questions. My participation in the Illumination space is the only rational explanation.

Does the bump mean anything with respect to my earning more money or generating more followers? Maybe…maybe not. But apparently, my Illumination links are bringing me more Quora views.

Bottom line: Submit links on your illumination stories to the Illumination space on Quora. It apparently gets you more views on Quora if nothing else. And that couldn’t hurt.
50 Things I’ve Learned in the First Year of My Writing Career
By: Aymes Sarah
Tags: Writing, Freelancing, Life Lessons, Writing Tips, Freelance

50 Things I’ve Learned in the First Year of My Writing Career

We all have to begin somewhere but you can make your mark in this field earlier than you think… Aymes Sarah Follow Dec 4, 2020 · 10 min read

Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash

I haven't been writing on here much and I’ve missed it, a lot. A few months ago, I acquired a writing job with a technology company. Also, I’m writing a book, looking after my family, and training a puppy. Needless to say, I’ve been a busy bee.

So first, I’ll list the great things that have happened to me in my first year of writing. I know, it seems boastful but I think sometimes we need to pat ourselves on the back and show gratitude for the good in our lives.

I wrote 30,000 words of my first book within a month.

I made new friends who share the same passion I do for writing.

I stayed (somewhat sane) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have reached 187,000 people through this platform.

I acquired my first five freelancing clients.

My first viral article has 96,000 views to date.

I made the “100club” in my second month on Medium.

I was hired by an awesome technology website as a Social Media Staff Writer.

I’ve gained much-needed self-esteem through writing and having a career again.

I think it’s important to inspire people who need it, so I wanted to celebrate my one-year career anniversary with an article of random writing tips I’ve picked up in the past year.

After all, is there a better way to celebrate an exciting milestone than writing a huge article?
Why Earnings Don’t Matter on Medium
Tags: Success, Money, Work, Freelance, Life

Photo by Gabriel Beaudry on Unsplash

Some heard about the overnight success that Medium may bring and jumped at the opportunity. Others saw it as an easy way to have a blog without having to do any of the hard parts of setting it up. There are people who just want a place to write their content and Medium provides a great way to do that.

Right away, one of the first things I did was activate my Medium Partner Program. Despite not being in it for just the money, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to earn if it came to that. And I did… sort of.

Now, my earnings for the past few months aren’t anything spectacular. Yet I couldn’t be more happy with the opportunity to write on a platform in which allows me to earn a few cents for incentive to continue getting better with each article I write.

No expectations. No commitments. No pressure.

So what?

More likely than not, if you are reading this article, you fall into one of three categories: you are a Medium writer that wishes to grow their platform, an avid reader of the Medium content, or someone who wants to write but haven’t found the right outlet.

There are many articles promoting fast ways to attempt to make money or earn success on Medium. But this is not the intention I have.

Instead, I’m here to say that success looks different to everyone. Success for you may mean working from home and making writing your full time job. But for me, success is that I’m reaching my goals of consistently writing and growing my skills.

Now what?

Before I break your dreams completely, remember that the algorithm consistently changes. One day an article could have five reads, and the next morning, it may jump to five thousand reads. Money, success, skill, it all can fluctuate at a given moment, so instead of losing hope, keep doing what you’re doing.

Being consistent on the platform while also producing high quality content is going to create growth, maybe not an overnight success, but still growth. Writing articles that convey emotions or hook the reader because of a new angle or perspective may be the ones that people will want to click on.

Readers want to be excited, entertained, and educated at the same time. Finding a balance by striking curiosity may help find a specific niche.

So, you may earn a few cents, maybe a dollar. But it’s nt enough to quit a full time job over. For some, it may never come to that. However, the skills that are earned while writing for Medium (proofreading, generating ideas, keeping a consistent writing schedule, getting feedback) may help in your area of work or a potential side hustle that may pay more. Freelance writing doesn’t stop on Medium.
Editors Explain: What Are Your Self-Promotion Tips for Shy Writers?
By: Jessica Jungton
Tags: Writing, Marketing, Editors Explain, Freelance, Ask The Editors

Editors Explain: What Are Your Self-Promotion Tips for Shy Writers?

Artwork by Jessica Jungton, inspired by RF._.studio

Self-promotion is for many the most awkward part of being a writer. It can be especially difficult for introverted humans and those who find social interactions uncomfortable. If you recognize yourself in these words, you are not alone! This week, our team is joined by Reuben Salsa, editor of The Partnered Pen and The Bad Influence, to share our tips for getting your work out there.

Question: What are your self-promotion tips for shy writers?

It’s all about engagement. It’s easy to comment and join writing groups without any face-to-face contact. It doesn’t matter how good a writer you are if nobody knows you exist. It’s more important than ever to engage on social media platforms. Which can also be exhausting!

I currently showcase my work on Twitter, Medium, Mix, FB, Linkedin, Ko-Fi, Patreon as well as merchandise on RedBubble and Bonfire. And I’m not even doing YouTube, Quora or Instagram. It’s hard work promoting. I’d say, build an audience on one platform and engage there. Do it well and then crossover taking your audience with you. There’s no quick fix.

Justin Cox, editor of The Writing Cooperative:

What a fun question. Like many writers, I’m an introvert by nature. Despite being shy in real life, I thrive in a digital world. Though, like Reuben mentions, trying to stay on top of each social media service is a lot.

My advice: pick a few services and specialize there. You can’t be everywhere all the time. Sure, there are tools to help, but it’s not worth your time spreading yourself so thin trying to be everywhere all the time.

Jessica Jungton, editor of The Writing Cooperative:

If you are worried about being obnoxious, find a couple of writers you admire on social platforms, especially indie authors or bloggers with small to medium followings, and watch how they promote their work. Take notice — and perhaps notes — of how often they talk about their writing and what else they are saying. You’ll get a feel for how to be conversational and engaging. Followers will sense if you are only there to push your writing. Make a goal of connecting with humans. Share other elements of your personality and the things you enjoy. When people feel like they know you they will care more about what you have to say.

All of the writers you admire also had to awkwardly promote themselves at one point or another. If you are still nervous about sharing the things you have made, here is your permission to do so. You have worked hard on those and there are people who will enjoy them. You just need to find those people.
Participate in a virtual hackathon to fight COVID blues
By: Sarabeth Jaffe
Tags: Mental Health, Techology, Covid 19, Hackathons, Women In Tech

This past weekend (Friday night through Sunday) I took part in my first virtual hackathon. Run by Startup Weekend Silicon Valley Womxn, there were about 80 participants from across the world.

In these 56 hours, I interacted with more people than I had in the last 3 months.

I sent out surveys, cold-called potential customers, spoke with mentors, hackathon organizers, and my fellow participants. I worked through problems that were completely out of my realm of expertise (such as machine learning, sensors technology, manufacturing, and more.)

I will admit my social skills are a bit rusty after quarantining since March 2020. At first, these interactions took a lot of effort. But by the end of the weekend, I felt I had “oiled” my social and creative gears while making productive use of a cold, rainy weekend.

I look forward to participating in more virtual hackathons this winter as a way to enjoy human connection in these socially distant times. (Governor Inslee just proclaimed even stricter social distancing measures to be reevaluated in mid-December. Source)

Even though I will not be able to spend time in person with friends and family for the holidays, I can still find excitement and form relationships virtually.

Check out folk’s pitches here.

My team which included Lina Lakoczky-Torres and Annika Behnke focused on streamlining waste processing facilities.

Best & Take Care of Yourself,

Sarabeth
Oasis Second State Hackathon
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Hackathons, Dapps, Oasis Labs, Blockchain

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Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Hack.Asia
By: Lee Wei Juin
Tags: 48 Hours, Hackathons, Augmented Reality, Jardines, Daimler

Hack.Asia

From left: Team Mean Machine — Singapore Polytechnic Year 2 Diploma in Aerospace Electronics Lee Wei Juin, Year 2 Diploma in Computer Engineering Jabez Tho, Year 1 Diploma in Infocomm Security Management Loh Kar Wei and Year 2 Diploma in Computer Engineering Hans Delano

Introduction

Hack.Asia 2019 was an inaugural 48-hour hackathon organized by the Jardine Matheson Group (Jardines) and Daimler Group (Daimler), with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Held at the Amazon Web Services office, the hackathon saw 36 finalist teams comprising student entrepreneurs and innovators working against the clock to develop technology-driven solutions to address current challenges faced by Asian businesses and economies.

Current Status

The world is undergoing a massive digital transformation especially with the pandemic and we have the challenging task to alter our behaviors to keep up with this change. According to research, human error is a top cause of data breaches. This is mainly to be blamed on the lack of knowledge we have on information security and we would commit “cybercrime” without even knowing!

Problem

Information theft may lead to a loss of productivity or profitability, damage consumer confidence in the business. Therefore, it is important to protect your organization’s vital blueprints and public relations and to encourage employees to take security seriously as the first line of defense in the protection of personal sensitive data to safeguard yourself from an identity thief.

Solution — 1st Runner up

I-S.E.A.R (Information Security Edutainment Augmented Reality) is an augmented reality-based education platform to learn information security and ensure compliance with information security policies. This application gamifies learning and educates the importance of internet security by cultivating best practices through interacting with a virtual host that encourages employees to complete missions and earn special recognition while harnessing the ability of augmented reality to provide a realistic simulation of an information security breach and bad practices.

I-S.E.A.R (Information Security Edutainment Augmented Reality)

As the Top 2 team for our problem statement, we were invited to Hong Kong to present at Jardines Digital Conference.

Special thanks to Teammates: Jabez Tho, Hans Delano, Loh Kar Wei, and our mentor Teo Shin Jen, Singapore Polytechnic
Making hackathons more inclusive.
By: Paul Wilshaw
Tags: Event Planning, Design, Covid 19, Hackathons, Ethics

Making hackathons more inclusive, pt3.

Hackathons are great, they do however exclude people! I created a plan for a hackathon to include people who may normally be excluded from taking part. Encouraging people to understand the problem through research. Offering training and up-skilling for those who are not confident in coding or design.

You may want to read these first:

Making hackathons more inclusive — part one

(Identifying the problems with hackathons and defining a good problem statement.)

Making hackathons more inclusive — part two

(A communication strategy, tone of voice, personas and pricing events — working towards a common goal.)

I defined the problem statement to solve and provided a framework to deliver a hackathon to help solve access to mental health services in the UK. And then I detailed how to create an effective communication strategy, tone of voice and pricing structure.

A critical reflection of hackathons, what could be done better (pandemic aside).

The what?

Hackathons, are a type of popular ideation contests, are events in which computer science developers, designers and sometimes individuals from other disciplines collaborate to deliver a demo or prototype that meets one of the events defined briefs (Soltani, Pessi, Ahlin and Wernered, 2014). Due to the value of hackathon outcomes, increasingly, being recognised and then applied in numerous fields with organisations, such as Facebook and Microsoft, that have become regular events for research, ideation and development (Chowdhury 2012). Hackathons have become part of the application of idea management systems. These ideation contests can often be regarded as the first phase in broader innovation processes (Cooper & Edgett 2008).

The automation and AI hackathon event is a short-term, intensive event with the focus on designing, developing and producing automation and AI prototypes or media as practical

solutions to solve the initial problem statement around mental healthcare. Preferably, aiming to include diverse expertise and experience of its delegates towards a solution. In many countries, mental healthcare services do not currently provide sustainability and involve long waits, with a quarter of patients waiting three months, to see a specialist (Campbell, 2018). Healthcare systems and institutions are still primarily based on providing acute face to face and reactionary care; this approach is not well suited to the increasing burden of mental healthcare and that of an ageing population that requires more preventative and long-term solutions.

Creating a consistent campaign to promote the hackathon over three months requires reference material to ensure suitable delegates attend the event within the intent of educating and potentially solving the problem statement, that, of finding solutions to:

Provide access to services and information for mental health patients

or

Provide information or service with specialist help to mental health patients.
Why Hackathons Drive Innovation
By: Allen Helton
Tags: Programming, Innovation, Hackathons, Software Development, Software Engineering

Why Hackathons Drive Innovation

Image by kiquebg from Pixabay.

October.

Leaves gradually getting their fall colors. Crisp morning air. Pumpkin spice everything. Hacktoberfest.

As the temperatures drop, our minds start shifting more and more toward the holidays, time off, family, and side projects.

It’s not a matter of if but when your developers are going to start drifting and their performance dropping. It’s not their fault — it comes with the season.

This is the time of year when we need to start getting creative to keep our development teams actively engaged. Time to get creative and have fun. Time for a hackathon.

A hackathon is a short event, typically ranging from one to three days, that focuses on building a creative solution to a known problem. Developers group together, come up with a plan, and hack something together in a short amount of time all in the spirit of competition.

The result is often a set of astonishingly innovative proof of concepts that never would have seen the light of day had you not set aside time for them.

But why? If it only took one or two days, why couldn’t these POCs just fit into the standard development schedule? We all could use a little jolt of innovation now and then.

The answer lies in the event itself. A hackathon provides an opportunity that some developers wouldn’t normally see. An opportunity to flex their creativity in ways their day-to-day doesn’t allow.

How so? Great question.
#ElectionHackathon: Addressing Election Insecurities W/ A Competition
Tags: Minority Programmers, Appdev, Hackathons, Election 2020, Diversity

Throughout the world, especially in this news cycle, we constantly see concerns about flaws in our electoral systems with issues like security, lack of representation, disenfranchisement and so much more. At the same time we see a lack of jobs in STEM especially for minority communities. And in the most in demand field of STEM, software engineering.

Now with one of the most controversial election history coming up, with concerns about hacking, voter intimidation, vote by mail systems, electoral college, and so more, my friends and I thought what better way to address these problems than through a Hackathon? This is why the team at the Minority Programmers have decided to host the #ElectionHackathon.Unlike traditional voting hackathons where cyber security specialists penetrate existing voting systems, we are encouraging developers to redesign antiquated voting systems of the past with modern more just approaches to dividing power that technology can enable, potentially revolutionizing the way we look at voting.

In this hackathon we are challenging competitors from all across the world (October 16 — Nov 1 [2 days before election]) to build a platform for their own (teams of 1–5) democratic system (With a chance to win $1000+ in prizes)

This could manifest itself from an application that visualizes rank choice voting, a blind date style of voting where you choose candidate solely on issues they support, a blockchain based voting system, a streamlined petition system to get candidates on the ballot, an electoral college system based on geolocation, and so much more! Not only do I encourage developers to take part, but I encourage members of the community to serve as a think tank for these new systems that will be available after this Presidential Election!

Sign up today https://election.devpost.com/
Peace in the Middle East
Tags: Peace, Resistance Poetry, Poetry, Annexation, Palestine

Peace talks held without mention of the afflicted,

Peace talks held when no quarrel ever existed,

Peace talks held with an occupation still proceeding.

Diplomatic victories, surely look good for an election,

Throwing the word peace in there also never harms,

Especially, if you’re trying to deceive a base gullible to your whims,

Who’ll accept any form of conquest.

Never mind it being helpful if the media reports it as a win,

More points for an election.

So lets look at what really happened,

In your normalization efforts.

Peace between who?

I’m sure it was states at war.

You know the Emirates and Israelis,

Don’t forget the vicious conflict Israel had with Bahrain.

Life long enemies, haven’t they always been at odds?

But it’s all over now,

Since the white knight looking for re-election,

Has brokered the deal that’ll witness,

“Peace in the middle east, without blood all over the sand”.

Maybe he does deserve that peace prize.

I hope you get the sarcastic tone of these lines,

Misleading is not my intention,

But the ridiculousness of it all.

Quite frankly,

Forces the folly in my words.

But proceeding to negotiated agreements,

What about the people unmentioned,

In your victory speech.

Remember the Palestinians in peril,

The victims of an unlawful annexation.

I’m guessing the peace also extends,

To the people you’ve conquered.

In the form of admittance and confessions,

From their Muslim brothers uncaring.

That their plight is their own,

And they’re left to their devices.

Or maybe the peace refers to a normalization,

Of sales of weapons of mass destruction.

Surely the instruments that’ll cease all conflicts,

And bring serenity to a region.

Perhaps, what you really mean by peace

Is a coalition of countries who sponsor,

Mass killings of a resistance,

To colonial conquests and occupations.

Yemen is unforgotten.
The Abraham Accords to a Palestinian
By: Samer Hassan
Tags: Israel, Palestine, Trump

Photo by Anton Mislawsky on Unsplash

People around the world are proclaiming an end to an era of conflict. Two Arabian monarchs have signed a peace deal with an Israeli prime minister. The American president now deserves a Nobel peace prize for facilitating this landmark agreement, right?

Wrong.

What are the Abraham Accords but a publicity stunt designed to reward Israel for its breach of international law?

All ruthless governments work together. This has been the case for Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain for years. Now, it is just out in the open.

The irony of it all as Netanyahu, the head of the self-purported “only democracy in the Middle East” who faces corruption charges while running for another four-year term shook hands with despots. The world watched as two unelected monarchs who have mercilessly stamped out any local resistance against their autocratic regimes signed an alliance with an Israeli politician that has been in power for 15 years. Democracy wasn’t a guest at the ceremony.

I saw regular Americans and world leaders applaud and hail this agreement as a means to an end of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict while knowing all too well that this deal only entrenches brutal governments accused of rampant human rights abuses.

Where were the Palestinians?

Where they’ve always been, on the front lines of protests around the world, in the occupied West Bank, in besieged Gaza, in cramped and unsanitary refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, Palestinians weren’t celebrating the Abraham Accords. They were organizing, leading sit-ins, and facilitating virtual events because they know all too well that this ‘peace deal’ is a farce. As Southern Israel and northern Gaza exchange missile fire, as Palestinians continue to be kicked out of their homes in Jerusalem, and unable to travel freely in their own land, it’s hard to think of the word peace as a description.

What does this ‘peace deal’ mean to them?

To a Palestinian like me, this deal means nothing but a paper signing ceremony. The kingdoms of Bahrain and the UAE have only given the Israeli government their blessing to continue the incremental erasure of all things Palestine. While the Arab autocrats purported that this agreement would stop Israeli attempts at annexing the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already publicly declared that Israel only agreed to ‘delay’ applying sovereignty over parts of the West Bank.

So what exactly was achieved today? What has President Donald Trump thinking he deserves a Noble peace prize?

Samer Hassan is a Palestinian activist and graduate of Columbia University New York City
Trump’s Middle East Peace Pageant
By: Jay Sizemore
Tags: Politics, Israel, Trump, Middle East, Palestine

Trump’s Middle East Peace Pageant

Photo by Ahmed Abu Hameeda on Unsplash

Conservative media outlets were eager to just go ahead and hand Trump a Nobel Peace Prize after he declared that his meeting with ambassadors from Israel and the UAE and Bahrain signaled a turning point for relationships between nations in the Middle East. Trump heralded the signing of the Abraham Accords as a turning point in history. But, when you look at all the details of what this agreement really means, it becomes quite clear that it will be ultimately meaningless.

For one thing, agreements like this come and go in the Middle East, with previous iterations being signed in 1979 and 1994. For another, the major conflict between Israel and Palestine is basically being ignored, with the United States throwing their full support behind Israel and completely abandoning the desires of the Palestinians.

This is why, while the very agreements were being signed today and all of the pageantry and propaganda of Trump and Netanyahu’s statements and declarations of what this means for the future, rockets were being fired out of Gaza and into Israel.

There’s also the matter of what each country hopes to achieve with this agreement, and the odds are that all the promises made today will not be kept. The UAE asks that Israel pause their plans to move into the West Bank. Israel agreed to do this, but they make no promises as to how long they will hold off on it. And then there’s the matter of the UAE military wanting to purchase F-35 jets from the US, something that would greatly improve their air power, and that Israel would really rather not happen.

None of this improves relations between the countries that are really in conflict, and it actually may destabilize relations with Iran and Turkey even further, as the Palestinians have the support from those nations. Saudi Arabia also backs the Palestinian cause, and they are a huge player in the region. Trump has already destabilized the Middle East by ending the Iran nuclear deal. He then moved an American embassy into Jerusalem, something that was taken as a huge insult by Palestinians.

At the end of the day, all this pomp and circumstance is meant to do one thing and one thing only, and that is to make it appear as if Trump accomplished something, when in fact he has accomplished much of the opposite. Today’s goal was merely a manipulation of public perception, meant to give Trump a boost before the election. The Middle East remains as far from peace as it has ever been, and as long as the humanity of the Palestinian cause is ignored, the turmoil in the region will remain far from ever being peacefully resolved.
The Tumultuous Decade: Arab Public Opinion and the Upheavals of 2010–2019
By: James M. Dorsey
Tags: Israel, Palestine, Middle East, Iran

JAMES ZOGBY

The Tumultuous Decade

Arab Public Opinion and the Upheavals of 2010–2019

STEUBEN PRESS 2020

September 4, 2020 James M. Dorsey

James Zogby’s The Tumultuous Decade: Arab Public Opinion and the Upheavals of 2010–2019 (Steuben Press, 2020) takes the reader on a decade-long tour of the Middle East as the region reverberates from popular revolts that toppled long-standing dictators, civil and proxy wars that sparked some of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, foreign interventions and seemingly intractable power struggles.

It does so through the eyes of ordinary Arabs, Iranians, and Turks rather than the region’s political elites. Zogby’s ability to tease out a sense of public opinion in a part of the world in which freedom of expression and freedom of the media are rare quantities constitutes an important contribution to the literature and understanding of a region that often seems too complex and intricate to easily wrap one’s head around.

In a world of autocracy, repression and conflict, polls often offer ordinary citizens a rare opportunity to express an opinion. Zogby demonstrates that autocratic and authoritarian leaders frequently ignore public opinion but track it closely and at times are swayed by what the public thinks and wants. Years of polling also demonstrates that failure to understand public sentiment and/or take it into account produces misinformed and misguided policies not only by rulers in the region but also governments like that of the United States.

Zogby’s discussion of Iraq since the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein illustrates the point. So does his analysis of polling of attitudes over several years in countries that overthrew their leaders during the 2011 popular Arab revolts as well as of perceptions of Iran and Palestinians incapable of wresting themselves from Israeli occupation. Zogby’s book offers a different look at the Middle East, one that offers fresh insights on the basis of citizens’ aspirations rather than what authoritarian and often corrupt elites would like the world to believe.

James Zogby is director of Zogby Research Services, a firm that has conducted groundbreaking surveys across the Middle East, and the founder and president of the Washington, DC-based Arab American Institute.

Click here to listen to the podcast

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. He is the author of the syndicated, column, blog and podcast, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer
What Will You Do When It’s Over?
By: Gary Mcbrine
Tags: Pandemic, Covid 19, Masks, Hope, Future

What is the first thing you want to do when the COVID-19 pandemic is over?

Will you run through the streets hugging your neighbours?

Have a mask burning party with all your friends and family?

Will you have a renewed appreciation for life and your day-to-day freedoms?

Do you remember a year ago before everything changed?

Having gone through this experience, has it changed you for the better? What lessons have you learned?

The distribution of vaccines offers no guarantees, but one day this emergency will end.

What is the first thing you will do? Talk about it with friends.
Elevated access for dotnet commands
By: Sukhpinder Singh
Tags: Dotnet Core, Csharp, C Sharp Programming, Aspnetcore, Dotnet

Elevated access for dotnet commands

The article describes the scenario for programming such software or applications in .Net Core.

Install tool Globally

The following instructions guide the way to run, install, or uninstall .Net Core tools that need to be executed with elevated permissions.

Windows Installation

If a folder already exists in %ProgramFiles%\dotnet-tools the path, then checks whether the user group has the permission to write or modify the directory.

To install, run the below command in a command prompt session with Administration mode. It will generate the Dotnet-tools folder during the installation.

dotnet tool install PACKAGEID --tool-path "%ProgramFiles%\dotnet-tools".

Linux or macOS Installation

The global tool package should be installed in a protected location using --tool-path flag

sudo dotnet tool install PACKAGEID --tool-path /usr/local/share/dotnet-tools

By default, the tools have drwxr-xr-x permission. If the folder directory exists already, then use the ls -l command to check the assigned user doesn't have permission to edit. If so, practice the sudo chmod o-w -R /usr/share/dotnet-tools command to remove the access.

Run Global tool

There are two ways to run a global tool, as follows:

Windows

Use full path in the command prompt in Administration mode.

Do the environment variable setting once using setx Path "%Path%;%ProgramFiles%\dotnet-tools\" then use TOOLCOMMAND directly.

Linux or macOS

Use full path with Sudo. sudo /usr/local/share/dotnet-tools/TOOLCOMMAND

Do the environment variable setting once using sudo ln -s /usr/local/share/dotnet-tools/TOOLCOMMAND /usr/local/bin/TOOLCOMMAND then use sudo TOOLCOMMAND directly.

Uninstall the Global tool

Windows

Run the following command to uninstall the global tool using command prompt in Administrator mode.

dotnet tool uninstall PACKAGEID --tool-path "%ProgramFiles%\dotnet-tools"

Linux or macOS

Run the following sudo command to uninstall packages.

sudo dotnet tool uninstall PACKAGEID --tool-path /usr/local/share/dotnet-tools

Elevation during development

During development also there are scenarios in which you may need elevated access to test the application.

RECOMMENDATION: Build the application without elevated permission and run applications with elevated permissions.

For best startup performance, use generated executable

dotnet build

sudo ./bin/Debug/netcoreapp3.0/APPLICATIONNAME

Run the .Net application with no build flag to avoid generating new binaries each time
.Net Core Startup Class Guide
By: Sukhpinder Singh
Tags: Dotnet Core, Csharp, Aspnet, Aspnetcore, Dotnet

C# CONCEPTS

.Net Core Startup Class Guide

Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay

The Startup class explained as follows:

It contains an optional Configure Services method to configure app services. A service is a reusable module that provides functionality.

method to configure app services. A service is a reusable module that provides functionality. Need to register services in the Configure Services method and consumed throughout the application via dependency injection .

method and consumed throughout the application via . Includes a Configure method to build the app’s request processing pipeline.

ConfigureServices and Configure are called by the .NET Core runtime when the app begins executing:

Specify the Startup class in the app’s host built. The Startup class is typically defined by calling the WebHostBuilderExtensions.UseStartup<TStartup> method on the host builder inside the Program.cs file as shown below.

The host provides services that are accessible to the Startup class constructor. The app attaches additional services via the ConfigureServices method. Both the host and app services are available to Configure and throughout the app.

The following services can be injected into the Startup class constructor:

IWebHostEnvironment

IHostEnvironment

IConfiguration

Multiple Startup Classes

At runtime, the appropriate Startup class is selected when the app defines separate Startup classes for various environments.

The class whose name matches the current environment is prioritized. For example, if the app includes both a Startup class and a StartupDevelopment class, and the app is running in the Development environment, then the StartupDevelopment class will be used.

The ConfigureServices method

The ConfigureServices method is:

Optional.

To configure the app’s services.

To set configuration options.

The Configure method

The Configure function is used to specify how the app responds to different HTTP requests. The pipeline is configured by adding middleware components.

The .NET Core templates configure the pipeline with support for:

Developer Exception Page

Exception handler

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)

HTTPS redirection

Static files

ASP.NET Core MVC and Razor Pages

Each Use extension method can be used to add more than one middleware components to the pipeline. For example, the UseStaticFiles method tells the middleware to serve static files.

Each middleware component in the pipeline is responsible for invoking the next element in the channel, if appropriate.

Additional services, such as

IWebHostEnvironment

ILoggerFactory

Anything defined in ConfigureServices

Configure services without Startup

Configure services and the request processing pipeline without using a Startup class, call ConfigureServices, and Configure convenience methods on the host builder.

Multiple calls to ConfigureServices append to one another. If multiple Configure method calls exist, the last Configure call is used.

You have learned
App Trimming in .NET 5: Reduce Your App Sizes Dramatically
By: Ali Bahraminezhad
Tags: Dotnet 5, Dotnet, Dotnet Core, Deployment

One of the main difference from .NET Framework and .NET Core is that .NET Core supports self-contained deployment; everything is bundled together, including runtime and app. That brings easy deployment, but there is draw-back: Increasing application size because the runtime is included too.

Imagine you have a small desktop or web application, but the deployment size is like 200MB, that doesn’t sound good, right?

In .NET Core 3, to resolve this issue, the .NET team introduced a tool that finds unused assemblies to remove them from final deployment. In .NET 5 they went one step forward; not only can it remove un-used assemblies but also removes unused code in assemblies by opening assemblies and removing the types and members that are not used by the application

There is one big catch; trimming uses static analyzing to find unused members, assemblies, etc. For example, using reflection to work with methods or load assemblies, the trimmer does not know if those types are needed, so it just throws them away.

App Trimming is a nice feature from .NET and I’m really thrilled to use it in different examples in this article.
Gtk#
By: Matt Perley
Tags: Gtk, Monodevelop, Dotnet Core, Mono, C Sharp Programming

If you use C# and .Net you are probably well aware of winforms, WPF and UWP. These frameworks allow you to design UI for your applications. What happens though when you want or need to write cross platform code? There are a number of really great libraries that provide this functionality. One such library is Gtk#.

Gtk# is a wrapper around the Gtk+ library. It includes a number of other api’s like Cairo# or Gdk that add text, font and other features to the package. You can use Gtk 2 with Mono in Monodevelop. Monodevelop provides a Visual Studio like GUI designer (stetic) to build your widget and window layouts. Monodevelop can be downloaded from: https://www.monodevelop.com/download/.

Outside of Monodevelop and Mono you can use Gtk# 3 as a nuget in a .Net Core project. You can use Visual Studio Code to write code and debug your Gtk# applications. The .Net Core route however does require you to use Glade instead of stetic to create your UI. If you have worked with Xml before you will be able to understand whats going on pretty quick. You can add Gtk to your .Net Core project by using: dotnet add package GtkSharp — version 3.22.25.128, to get started. Alternatively you can use: dotnet new — install GtkSharp.Template.CSharp, and then: dotnet new gtkapp, to make a new app straight from the terminal.

I will likely cover Gtk many more times in the future. Its a framework I use frequently, especially for Linux development. It has some quirks and oddities I would like to cover and a number of things that are fairly different from their Winforms or WPF counterparts. I am going to do some one off posts, in between doing some upcoming ML blogs, that explain how to use individual widgets in C# using .Net Core.

What are your thoughts or experiences with Gtk? Was it a nightmare? Or did you have a fair amount of success from using it?

Until next time, take care.
HTTP 500.19 Error in IIS
By: Paul Galvin
Tags: 500, Iis, Dotnet Core

We had an issue where we were hitting a 500.19 error in IIS. We didn’t see the details of that error until we went onto the server itself and “browsed” from IIS console. Clients were getting a simple 500 error, which led us to believe something bad was happening in the code. Event viewer showed nothing.

The “.19” part was important because Microsoft helpfully provides information specific to that error. As is often the case, Microsoft’s information was not directly relevant to the problem but long story short, we figured out that we needed to install dotnet core 2.2 hosting bundle onto the server. That solved the issue.

Hopefully this will help someone else in the future.

Happy coding!

</end>
Debug .Net Core apps using Linux Kernal in Windows OS
By: Sukhpinder Singh
Tags: Dotnet Core, Visual Studio, Windows 10, Wsl, Wsl 2

C# CONCEPTS

Debug .Net Core apps using Linux Kernal in Windows OS

What is WSL 2?

The Windows Subsystem for Linux(WSL 2) lets developers operate on a Linux environment without the burden of a conventional virtual machine or the dual operating systems.

Here is the link to install the WSL 2 extension for Visual Studio

After the extension is successfully installed, open an ASP.NET Core web app or .NET Core console app using the Visual Studio, a new Launch Profile named WSL 2 will be visible as shown below.

The relevant launchsetting.json will look similar to this.

"WSL 2": {

"commandName": "WSL2",

"launchBrowser": true,

"launchUrl": "https://localhost:5001",

"environmentVariables": {

"ASPNETCORE_URLS": "https://localhost:5001;http://localhost:5000", "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"

},

"distributionName": ""

}

Now start Debugging as usual, and now .Net Core app is running on default WSL 2 distribution.

There are two ways to target distributions with WSL2.

SIngle/Specific Distribution

Multiple Distribution

Targeting specific distribution

By default, the WSL 2 launch profile will use the default distribution asset in wsl.exe.

If required to launch profile to a particular distribution, alter your launch profile. For example, debugging a web app on Ubuntu xx.xx, the launch profile would look similar to this:

"WSL 2": {

"commandName": "WSL2",

"launchBrowser": true,

"launchUrl": "https://localhost:5001",

"environmentVariables": {

"ASPNETCORE_URLS": "https://localhost:5001;http://localhost:5000",

"ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"

},

"distributionName": "Ubuntu-xx.xx"

}

Targeting multiple distributions

If working on an application that requires to run in multiple distributions and test on each of them, you can have various launch profiles.

For instance, if you need to test your console app on Debian, Ubuntu xx.xx, and Ubuntu yy.yy, you could use the following launch profiles:

"WSL 2 : Ubuntu xx.xx": {

"commandName": "WSL2",

"distributionName": "Ubuntu-xx.xx"

},

"WSL 2 : Ubuntu yy.yy": {

"commandName": "WSL2",

"distributionName": "Ubuntu-yy.yy"

}

With these launch profiles, one can quickly shift back and forth between target distributions.