fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
DUP(py) Conquered
By: Dermott Hayes
Tags: Democratic Unionist Party, Brexit, Resistance Poetry, Ulster, Duppy

We must agree

to always say ‘no’,

no to Brexit,

no to free speech

if it’s not ours,

no to same sex

marriage,

no cakes for gays,

no surrender.

No time for Bob Marley

or his like and kind,

no time for papists,

no time for Taigs,

no time to toke

a fat doobie dope

no time for the Tee-Shock,

he’s gay, he’s brown.

Democracy happens

when we have control,

ten in Westminster,

we held back that crowd

until Boris (the bastard)

the big Tory clown

sold us out for a handshake

with Vradker and Juncker,

let’s retreat to the bunker

Let’s shout,

NO SURRENDER.

With apologies and thanks to Bob Marley & The Wailers for paraphrasing their song, Duppy Conqueror.

Duppy: https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Duppy
Escape from Gloom
By: Alma Writer
Tags: Self Care, Emotions, Nonfiction, Happiness, Life

There are these times when I feel like crying, but there seems to be no reason to do so.

Now, is probably one of those times.

My eyes threaten to start leaking, while my heart seems to be on the verge of tearing apart.

I feel alone, but I am surrounded by hundreds of people, who I could call friends.

My mind wanders far away, travelling to another world; so, I am here, and yet, I am not.

I want to smile, but my lips refuse to rise up, but for a droopy, watery, fake “smile.”

I want to disappear from this world, go to another one, and cry, cry and cry until I have no more tears left.

Wetness stings my eyes, and I rush out of the room, only too aware of the multiple pairs of eyes that seem to follow me out the door.

I find a place to be alone, and allow the dam to burst.

Tears flow, incessantly, and soon, my cheeks are warm with tears, and my eyes and nose are red.

I wipe my face and make my way back, to the world to where I am supposed to be, to who I am.

The smile on my lips is no longer plastered. It is genuine.

I feel better.

I feel lighter.

I feel free.
Slack App Directory Spotlight #2
By: Slack Api
Tags: App Directory, API, Slack

Hope you’re enjoying a productive and pleasant week! We have new featured apps fresh off the development cycle for your enjoyment. This bi-week’s featuring has something for everyone.

The team at Skype built a super handy slash command. This Slack app has seen quite a lot of attention already, as Skype boasts a massive user base and Skype plus Slack is a natural fit. The integration is dead-simple to use, simply add Skype to your Slack team and then type /skype in any channel to spin up a group call. You can probably use this for your next team meeting. You can find an overview and the `add to Slack` button on Skype’s site.

We are big fans of Zeplin here at Slack and use it for many of our design projects. Zeplin is like a translation service for designers and engineers: it automatically generates the styleguides and resources your development team needs to build the designs your team crafts. The Zeplin app sends updates into a channel of your choosing in Slack, similar to the Trello app, and is a great way to track your team’s progress.You can find full information about the app on Zelpin’s site or in our app directory.

If you’re the type of person that scans metrics, analyzes analytics, and relies on content marketing then you should check out Chartbeat. Chartbeat keeps a constant pulse on where your audience is and what they’re doing within your sites. Even cooler, the Chartbeat app is multi-level. You can type /chartbeat to call on a variety of data points about a site or social profile and you can also connect Chartbeat to a channel and customize the info that the Chartbeat app shares. Here are all details of how the Charbeat app works and how to set it up.
Is Netflix Reshaping The Film Industry?
By: Mustafa Yarımbaş
Tags: Culture, Film, Netflix, Business, Art

Nevertheless, for filmmakers, Netflix does not only affect the film industry positively. Many directors argue that the distribution model brought by online streaming services such as Netflix is ​​killing the cinema experience. Recently, Steven Spielberg has suggested that the Netflix format is close to television rather than film, so Netflix films are far from offering a cinematic experience. With the rise of online streaming services, more and more people are beginning to consume movies on their smartphones or computers for practical reasons. These practical reasons began to neglect cinematic experience, which can only be achieved in the movie theater. (You can check BBC’s reflection about the matter in here) These online platforms have created many positive and negative results for filmmakers. In the future, there is no doubt that these digital platforms will have greater reflections for filmmaking and filmmakers.

Since the cinema’s invention, it has been assumed that films belong to movie theaters. However, with this new model, it seems to be the answer to the question of where the movies belong is blurred. What is certain is that with the rise of online streaming services, our movie watching practices have changed and will be changing in the future.

That is my reflection on the subject. Thank you for reading.

And I am curious about your ideas.

What is your opinion? What do you think about the future of the film industry?
Get Seasonal With Fall Produce
Tags: Food, Fall, Recipe, Cooking, Healthy Lifestyle

Just because you’re hatching healthy habits doesn’t mean you need to fall into a menu rut. One of the easiest ways to stay motivated is to try out new recipes using seasonal ingredients. Here are some of our favorite fall inspirations. Keep an eye out for them while you browse the farmer’s market or the produce aisle of your local grocery store this autumn.

PEARS

Both the green Bartlett and the red D’Anjou can be found in the markets this season.We love all the vitamin C and phytonutrients in these voluptuous, fiber-packed beauties. For a satisfying fall salad, thinly slice them onto a bed of mixed greens, then top with crumbled goat cheese and a sprinkle of toasted hazelnuts.A quick-cooked pear compote can add rich flavor and seasonal flair to healthy breakfast foods — from yogurt to oatmeal — all week long.

PUMPKINS

Don’t sleep on pumpkin season! Whether you’re picking up a Sugar Pie, Jack-Be-Little, or a Baby Boo variety , pumpkin is a high-fiber, beta-carotene-loaded canvas just awaiting the right flourishes from your kitchen. Slow-roast slices with coconut oil and garam masala for an earthy main to pair with greens and rice. Add scoops to a smoothie or to your favorite healthy muffin or pancake recipe to infuse fall flavor. And don’t forget to save the seeds — roasted, salted pumpkin seeds are an instantly gratifying snack with fiber and zinc.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

The earthy savor of roasted Brussels sprouts is one of the most anticipated flavors of fall. These delicate cruciferous veggies have a nutty, almost sweet flavor when roasted. They’re powerhouses of vitamins A, C and K, and contain other essential nutrients like folate. They’re easy to cook too: just toss them with olive oil and salt, then roast them on a sheet pan at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until crispy on the outside. For a decadent twist, toss with toasted walnuts, blue cheese, and pears.

PERSIMMONS

With their shiny, inviting orange skins, persimmons are one of the most enticing fall fruits.The Hachiya variety need to ripen until soft, and then can be scooped into smoothies, baked oatmeal and muffins, or made into a quick and easy persimmon jam that can make a sandwich sing. Fuyu persimmons, the more squat variety, should be eaten while firm and crisp. Toss with pistachios and frisee or bitter chicories for a fabulous fall salad.

-Sarah Bossenbroek
Neon Gods
By: Maruti Naik
Tags: India, Poetry On Medium, Pulwama Attack, Kashmir, Poetry

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

I watch this sordid drama unfold,

leaders giving vultures a bad name,

bobbing heads on TV crying for revenge,

warmongering anchors chasing a false fame.

a comrade felled, a brother slayed,

a widows wail, a child’s lament,

when the coffin arrives, cloaked in gratitude,

seeking to cover up someone’s shame.

tomorrow they will again appear,

saying we will never surrender,

when they vow payback to a fawning camera,

ask who is to blame for this blunder.

ask the question, who slept at the wheel,

who ignored warnings, what was the deal,

the chest being thumped , where was it yesterday,

your campaign poetic, now what do you say,

o neon gods with feet of clay.
Blockchain Technology is Shaping the Art World through Non-Fungible Tokens
By: Domraider Team
Tags: Digital Art, Non Fungible Tokens, Art Market, Blockchain, Nft

To learn more about Auctionity, please visit auctionity.com.

To stay tuned for real-time updates from the Auctionity team, explore the links below:

Twitter | Medium | Youtube | Linkedin | WeChat | Github
WuLab@ICWSM 2018
By: Eugene Wu
Tags: Social Media

The 2018 ICWSM conference is starting, and the WuLab is presenting our research on improving content quality on social media websites. This research was led by Hamed Nilforoshan, who is a rising Senior at Columbia University. He will present 2:40PM Tuesday June 26 in Paper Session III: Discourse Analysis. Come by the talk and say hi!

The paper, titled Leveraging Quality Prediction Models for Automatic Writing Feedback, addresses the challenge of providing timely and useful writing feedback on the web. Many of the services that we use on the internet — such as Amazon, Airbnb, Quora, Reddit, Twitter — rely on the users themselves to write the content that we read and use to make decisions. For example, when we purchase bluetooth headphones from Amazon, we read the product reviews to understand if the sound quality is good, if it is easy to connect, or if its battery life is as advertised. High quality, well-written content helps us make more informed decisions, while low quality content misleads us or adds to our confusion.

Unfortunately, it is easy for many well-intentioned users inadvertently contribute low-quality content. The community guidelines on most websites are too long and complex for a busy user to carefully study, and even then, they may have trouble applying them because norms can differ by community. For example, high quality product reviews prioritize informativeness, whereas high quality Airbnb profiles prioritize trustworthiness. Instead, it would be helpful to provide real-time suggestions during the user’s writing process. The challenge is to automatically generate useful feedback.

Prototype interface provides suggests improvements for the overall document and individual segments.

Our main observation is that there is already a research community focused on developing accurate quality prediction models for many different social networks. Thus, our paper proposes and develops techniques to leverages these quality prediction models in order to generate feedback based on what will most improve the model’s predicted quality. We find that this is a very promising direction that is simple to adapt to different application domains, and significantly improves upon existing approaches towards writing feedback.

We want to thank James Sands, Kevin Lin, Rahul Khanna, Jiannan Wang, Lydia Chilton, Eric Riesel, Markus Krause, Xiao Ma, Mor Naaman, Julian McAuley, Niloufar Salehi, Robert Netzorg, Ali Alkhatib, and Philippe Cudre-Mauroux for helping us with this work. This work was supported by an Amazon Research Award; NSF #1527765 and its REU.
The Less Romantic Side of Farm Life
By: Logan Sachon
Tags: Farmers, Endtimes, Farm Life

A early season blizzard in South Dakota has killed between 10,000 and 20,000 cows. Some farmers are reporting a loss of 30% and even 50% of their herds. Al Jazeera has a really well-reported story about how farmers are coping (for now: on their own, since the government is shut). The line that explains the loss: “Those calves were this year’s paycheck. The cows were bred to produce next summer’s paycheck. Producers are really reeling from that.”

The cows were still in their summer pastures. It isn’t supposed to blizzard in October.
DataBroker DAO is now one of the smart solutions on bee smart city
By: Frank Van Geertruyden
Tags: Smart Cities, Data Marketplace, Digital Challenges, IoT, Data

Smart city managers are facing a daunting task. Depending on their size, location, population and numerous other factors, every city has different needs and requirements. And to make things worse, the smart city market is currently neither transparent nor digitalized, making it extremely difficult for them to see the forest through the trees and find the appropriate solutions for the problems their cities are facing.

bee smart city, founded in 2017, has one simple goal: to accelerate the development of prosperous and livable smart cities and communities around the globe. To this end, they provide an efficient toolset for smart city analysis and for facilitating collaboration and the successful implementation of the best smart city solutions available.

Their database currently features about 500 smart solutions, neatly divided in subcategories like Smart economy, Smart environment, Smart government, Smart living, Smart mobility and Smart people. Recently DataBroker DAO was added, showing cities all over the world the road to our decentralized marketplace for sensor data.

Benefits for smart cities …

As a user, registering will enable you to search the database for solutions, using smart indicators to filter the results. You can learn how other cities address problems and challenges, explore their aims and the results of implementing individual solutions and access information on involved partners for project implementation. In addition, it will allow you to share solutions, label them as being smart and add them to your favorites. And soon a rating will be displayed on every solution in the bee smart city database, enabling you to quickly identify the best solutions available.

… and for solution providers

As a solution provider, you can add new solutions to the bee smart city database and edit or modify your solutions. Seizing the opportunity to make your solutions available globally and increasing your visibility in the market by showcasing your portfolio of solutions, connecting with municipalities, companies and other organizations around the world and helping them to accelerate their smart city projects by acquiring them as new clients or partners.

424 cities worldwide are already using the bee smart city database, with top cities Amsterdam, Moscow, Winnipeg and Columbus already deploying dozens of solutions. And now that DataBroker DAO is added to the list of solutions, we’re curious to see which city comes knocking on our door first…

In the meantime, we’re working on a new website for DataBroker DAO, soon on air… Stay tuned!

Join our Telegram channel for all information and questions or drop us a line: hello@databrokerdao.com
Victory on the Chaplaincy programme — scuttled by Labor. What??
By: A.C. Flory
Tags: Politics, Religion, Australia, Education, Chaplaincy

I just learned that the High Court has ruled against the Chaplaincy programme indirectly, by ruling that the funding model was not constitutional. As this type of funding model is also used by the commonwealth to fund about 400 other programmes, this is going to give the Abbott government a massive headache.

Despite the court ruling, however, Abbott has gone on record to say that he will do whatever it takes to keep the chaplaincy programme going. Excuse me?

Just to quickly recap for those who may not have been following this issue ; the Abbott government refuses to fund professional counsellors in schools, but clings to this ridiculous, religious patronage. Unless your child happens to belong to the denomination favoured by Tony Abbott, he or she will not get much value from this so-called caring programme. Yet this is exactly what Abbott supports.

Egalitarian? No.

An appropriate use of taxpayer funds during a horror budget? No.

Respectful of our multicultural, multi-faith, sexually diverse society? Hell no.

But I’m not saving all my bile for the Abbott government. Labor gets a big fat serve as well. Instead of coming out against this farce, Labor apparently will support coalition legislation designed to make the programme — ‘legal’.

I have very little time for Bill Shorten, but this is beyond belief. Is Labor brown-nosing that diminishing segment of Australian voters who are white, protestant or catholic and over 60?

Not happy, Bill, not happy at all.

acflory
Resources for Fat Liberation & Body Acceptance
By: Rachael Hope
Tags: Body Image, Weight, Fat, Body Positive

A compilation of places to go for information, guidance, and commiseration

Image purchased from Body Liberation Stock

Books

Websites

Body Image Movement Website

Articles

Podcasts

Facebook Groups

Social Media Accounts

Instagram

@fatgirlflow

@glitterandlazers

@fitfatlibrarian

@shooglet

@iamdaniadriana

If you have resources you’d like to see added to this list, please email me at rachael.hope.writes@gmail.com or leave a comment!
Getting Started With Your Writing Journey On Medium
By: Chinar Amrutkar
Tags: Getting Started, Improvement, New Start, Writing, Writer

The Write One is a publication dedicated to helping new writers find an audience.

We would love to feature your articles here on The Write One. If you want to send us an article, write down the title of the article and a link to a draft of it in the comments section of this post. Also, make sure that you use the tag “The Write One”. After using this fixed tag, you still have 4 more to go. Use them wisely! We promise to get in touch with you as soon as possible.

Alternatively, you can also follow the link below to request to join the community.

At The Write One, our goal is to bring writers from all genres together and make sure that their amazing work isn’t lost among the thousands of articles created every day on Medium. Every writer here will have a chance to make sure that their voice is heard.

We really love your work and we’re always eager to hear from you. We appreciate your support and we look forward to featuring your work!

Have a great day :)
Snark Hyper: Serverless Deep Learning and Hyper-Parameter Search
Tags: Serverless, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, AI, Cloud

How it works?

You can easily install Snark CLI and register an account at Snark Lab.

sudo pip3 install snark

snark login

Define the training process in a mnist.yaml file



experiments:

mnist:

image: pytorch/pytorch:latest

hardware:

gpu: k80

command:

- git clone

- cd examples/mnist

- python main.py version: 1experiments:mnist:image: pytorch/pytorch:latesthardware:gpu: k80command:- git clone https://github.com/pytorch/examples - cd examples/mnist- python main.py

Boom, you are done…

snark up -f mnist.yaml

You have just started an instance, loaded the container equipped with PyTorch, downloaded the source code and started training. Well this will take some time since we are bounded by the speed of light, however for long trainings, a few minutes should not matter.

After scheduling the task, we are able to check the status of the experiment by running snark ps . Once we are happy with the training process, we simply take it down by snark down {experiment_id} to avoid additional charges of machine time.
Bitcoin Whitepaper (Bahasa Indonesia)
By: Christopher Tahir
Tags: Bahasa Indonesia, Bitcoin, Whitepaper, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

We are a community focusing on cryptocurrency analysis (fundamental & technical analysis) that also empower blockchain projects to be able to raise their funds

Follow
About Me — Iva Ursano. This is gonna be a wild ride!
By: Iva Ursano
Tags: Volunteer, Solo Female Travel, Writer, About Me, Personal Story

Growing up in a dysfunctional family

I was born and raised in Northern Ontario Canada in a strict Catholic Italian household. Yelling and physical violence was the norm. I was the 3rd girl out of 4.

I moved out at 18 and was in and out of school, jobs and abusive relationships. My entire life up until I turned 52 was chaos and struggle.

My job history goes something like this:

Waitress/bartender

Loans and mortgage officer at a bank

Income tax corrector for Canada Revenue

Counselor at shelter for homeless teenage boys

Hairstylist

Personal trainer/aerobics instructor

Social media manager/ghostwriter

Online business owner/writer (that’s what I do now)

Colourful yes? I did an awful lot always trying to figure out what the heck would make me happy. Clearly the last one does.

I left my last abusive relationship at the age of 51 with no money, no job and had just recently declared bankruptcy.

I completely reinvented my life then and have never been happier in my life. Ever never ever!
What is happiness?
By: Daivik Goel
Tags: Philosophy, Happiness, Mind, Thoughts, Happy

What is happiness?

A longing completed?

A fleeting sense of fulfillment?

Or just an illusion?

We all say we want to be happy but what does that entail?

We work towards finishing something, doing something,

Just to make our mind feel good?

What is our end goal of all of it?

Keep working to take drags of this state of bliss?

As humans we strive towards reaching a point of self-fulfillment,

A state that many seem to classify as eternal happiness,

But why can we only seemingly achieve that in action?

Why is it so hard to keep ourselves in a state of contentment and just do for the sake of doing?

Many accept freedom as a prerequisite to happiness,

As how can you be happy if you are not free?

But can we truly have both at the same time?

If our happiness depends on a construct in our mind,

Then are we not bound by the rules we set ourselves?

And if happiness is within us then why does it require payment to channel it?

Why are we in debt with ourselves?

It’s something that I like to think about,

As a bigger exploration of why we lead our lives like we do.

Maybe this is just something the enlightened ones know,

Since they are happy through every high and every low.
Unlocking China — The Airwallex And Latipay Story
By: Fintech Victoria
Tags: China, Airwallex, Fintech, Fintech Victoria, Latipay

Unlocking China — The Airwallex And Latipay Story

For this event we have the founders of Airwallex and Latipay along to talk about how they navigated the China market, through partnerships, to establish themselves as regional players in the payments sector.

China’s rapid economic expansion has created a range of opportunities for Australian fintech startups. However, unlocking the opportunity has historically been challenging.

At this month’s Next Money meetup we’ll be joined by Jack Zhang, CEO of Airwallex and Leigh Flounders of Latipay to talk about how they forged partnerships in China.

On the night we’ll be discussing:

why entering the China market is such a big opportunity for Aussie fintech startups;

the challenges Aussie fintechs face when entering the Chinese market;

the strategies Airwallex and Latipay used to build their presence in China;

why Asia is still not considered the primary market for Aussiefintech companies; and how this will change; and

how your startup can become ‘China ready’.

Agenda For The Night

6.30pm — 7.00pm: Doors open — networking and drinks

7.00pm — 7.15pm: Rapid fire intros by Latipay and Airwallex

7.15pm — 8.00pm: Panel discussion and audience Q&A

8.00pm — 9.00pm: Drinks and networking

About Airwallex and Latipay

Latipay

Latipay is a first to market, fully compliant payments platform that provides its customers access to the five main Chinese e-wallets WeChat, Alipay, JDPay, BaiduPay, Tenpay and nineteen main Chinese Banks.

If you are a merchant, education provider or exporter, Latipay makes doing business with China seamless.

Airwallex

Airwallex has developed a platform combining low-cost foreign exchange and payments technologies.

It provides small businesses needing to make cross-border payments with a cheaper alternative to the banks, Western Union and Paypal.

Our Partners For The Night

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

RSVP for the event click the link below 👇
Get to The Point: How to Write The Perfect Thesis Statement
By: Homework Help Global
Tags: Work, Creativity, Thesis, Writing, Education

One of the hardest parts of writing an essay is coming up with the perfect thesis statement that will set you up for a strong argument. Sometimes, we find ourselves wasting time staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what to write about. A thesis can make or break your grade, too. Most instructors and professors look for your thesis statement and a large chunk of your mark will be based on whether it was strong enough or not.

Why is it so Hard to Write my Thesis?

Your thesis is so important because it sets you up for the organization and development of the rest of your essay. If you don’t create strong enough points to argue about, you’re just making it harder on yourself to fill up your paper with good information. It doesn’t even have to be something complex. You can create three basic points and expand on them within the paper to form a strong argument.

Consider What Type of Paper You’re Writing

A good thesis is different depending on what type of paper you’re writing. Every essay needs a strong thesis statement, but there are so many kinds of claims and arguments. For example, when writing a research paper, you’re explaining something to the audience, so your thesis is used to structure the paper. When you’re arguing your opinion about something, you’re making a more general claim that you’ll be backing up with specific arguments.

Do a Quick Google Search

Wikipedia and Google aren’t good resources for an academic paper, but they are a great place to start to get a general overview of your topic. Once you’ve read a little bit about it, you’ll start to notice there are certain patterns or common themes. For example, let’s say you’re writing about the Enlightenment. You’ll notice all the inventions and ideas that occurred. So, your thesis could argue that the Enlightenment was important to modern history because of the societal, political, and religious developments of the time.

Ask a Question

A good thesis statement answers a question. It could be something basic or complex, depending on what subject you’re discussing. For example, if you’re writing a paper on World War 2, you could ask, “why did the United States enter the war?” Then, your thesis statement would list 3 main reasons and you would proceed to answer the question throughout the paper.

If You’re Truly Stuck, Use an Essay Writing Service

Even if you just need basic writing help, there’s nothing wrong with asking for some homework help, and there are tons of resources available to provide it. An academic writing company can provide you with the right resources to really break down that argument, and a professional can help clarify what you’re trying to say.

Homework Help Canada is an academic writing company that provides professional writing services for all academic areas and subjects. If you’re looking for help with your thesis, an essay writer at Homework Help will be able to provide you anything you need to get your assignment done on time and with high quality results. For more information, contact us now!
Gostou da roupa? Curta
By: Thiago Acioli
Tags: Marketing Digital, Comprar Roupas, Aplicativo, Web, Mobile

in Both Sides of the Table
Just Snow
By: Indira Reddy
Tags: Inspiration, Society, Poetry, Senryu, Haiku

Snowflakes are unique

when up close and personal,

otherwise just snow

Take the bird’s eye view

Soar above fabricated

lines of division,

personalities

will then merge into the weave

of humanity
Beautiful!
By: Pawan Kumar
Tags: Crush, Relationships, Love, Beauty, Poetry

She’s so beautiful.

If she was less beautiful,

yet very beautiful.
Motivational Monday — 12/21/2020. About Me Stories — New Updates and New…
By: Quy Ma
Tags: Bio, Community, Writing, Motivation, About Me

Motivational Monday — 12/21/2020

About Me Stories — New Updates and New Writers

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Hey everyone!

We’re approaching the end of 2020 and what a year it’s been. We’ve seen our patience, mental health, and economic securities tested this year like no other year before. But despite all of the crazy stuff that’s going on, there’s still so much good to balance it out.

Jennifer Marie’s situation

Last week, I told you all about my co-editor’s situation at home. Jennifer Marie had her house broken into two weeks ago while she was out of the house. The thieves took everything under her Christmas tree, including all of her presents that she bought for her children. They even broke her mirror and her TV on their way out. She was absolutely devastated.

I announced a GoFundMe and posted her story in last week’s post. She was so appreciative of the love and support from everyone, especially from some of the members of the community from About Me Stories.

To JGS Jay Pendragon Megan Benson and a few more anonymous donors from the Medium community — thank you so much for your generosity. We’ve been able to raise $620 out of the $2000 in expected losses she incurred. She’s eternally grateful and was so surprised to see the GoFundMe.

She’s currently still trying to figure out what to do and is taking a few weeks off from the publication. If you’re still wanting to donate to help or find out more, here’s the link to the GoFundMe. All funds will go towards helping her recoup the losses and bringing some semblance of Christmas joy back to her talented boys.
100 основных SEO-терминов по-русски
By: Stanislav Salangin
Tags: Словарь, По Русски, Термины, SEO, Продвижение

in Both Sides of the Table
7 New Year’s Resolutions for SaaS Product Teams
By: Julie Brown
Tags: Product Manager, Product Marketing, Product, Product Management, SaaS

As we approach a new year, it seems making New Year’s resolutions is a tradition for many. A new year represents a reset button. So, what better time than now to decide what product marketing and product management resolutions you want to focus on for next year to achieve your goals?

I asked multiple product practitioners on what their New Year’s resolutions would be for next year when it comes to managing and marketing SaaS products. Check them out below. Any resolutions that you would like to add to your list? (It doesn’t always have to be about losing weight!)

7 New Year’s Resolutions for PMs and PMMs

Identify my target market/user before developing a new feature or product. Put the customer first. Take time to be more creative when planning a product launch. Improve communication lines between product and sales. Strive for more collaboration between product management and product marketing. Make sure product marketing holds product accountable for a data-driven “why” for new product ideas. Ensure sales have what they need to meet expected goals.

Want a little extra help in staying on top of your resolutions? Join us on March 19 in Carmel, IN at Project Product: Uniting Product Marketing & Management! Space is limited!
Sorry to Disappoint You, But…
By: Marilyn Flower
Tags: Ideastream, Politics, Race, Election 2020, Poetry

If you’re wondering the complexion

of the upcoming election,

it’s mostly white.

The Repubs are a disgrace,

when it comes to race,

with barely a trace

of acknowledgment.

It’s quite a perplexion,

a bitter confection,

a dereliction of recognition

of the plight of most of humanity.

What we’ve come to expect —

the democratic process now suspect —

so if we are to resurrect

some semblance thereof —

put on your mask, grab your tote,

do all you can to get out the vote!
Sometimes it’s better not to know
By: Yann Girard
Tags: Life Lessons, Inspiration, Writing, Poetry, Life

How hard it’ll be.

How much pain it’ll cause.

How much you’ll doubt yourself.

How many times you’ll feel like giving up.

Because if we knew, then we would probably never do any of it.

And then we would never be able to really see and cherish the light after all of this darkness.

Sometimes it’s better to not know.

To be able to know…
You’ll Be Scared in the Dark
By: The Unlikely Techie
Tags: Philosophy, Machine Learning, Future, AI, Technology

One of the most debated AI-application in recent years has been facial recognition (such capabilities were called image processing 15 years ago but are routinely termed AI today). Did you know that a study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that these systems misidentified people of color more often than white people? Moreover, people of Asian and African American descent were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white, middle-aged men. But the algorithms also misidentified the elderly, women, and children at a significantly higher rate, the study found. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that middle-aged white men generally benefited from the highest accuracy rates. According to The Verge, NIST looked at 189 algorithms from 99 organizations, which counted together, powering most of the facial recognition systems in use.

Is Dystopia the Logical Consequence?

We know different ways in which unfounded fears are stirred. The various ways in which news is distorted or facts are denounced as fake news. We understand how AI applications produce fake images and distribute them to compromise deep counterfeit pictures and videos (called “deepfakes”).

Since there are no killer robots yet and the probability is more significant that humans’ technological advances against other humans seem more likely, we need to know whether and how we should be afraid or develop a fear in the first place. Or, in other words: Where is it worth taking a closer look? How do we have to educate ourselves to find out precisely what is in danger? With the advances that have been made, the threat of AI seems to affect not so much our physical integrity but rather our social norms and the freedoms as citizens. In other words: We have to look closely into Dark AI applications and the potentially disastrous consequences they might have.

Therefore, it is evident that we have to ensure that many people have a voice and contribute when we discuss AI applications. Ultimately, we must inform ourselves about the critical aspects of AI and form an opinion on how it should be used. To do so, we should try to understand AI as a political and social ideology and not only as algorithms since we are users, beneficiaries, and in part, victims of this technological advancement. It is essential to know that in the wrong hands, AI is currently a more significant danger than science-fiction killer robots. Therefore, more has to be done to ensure inclusion, equality, and equity in developing such applications. This requires our attention and cooperation as citizens, as humans, and participants in the ecosystem we live in. We don’t have a choice in this matter: machine learning, deep learning, and all other aspects of AI are here, and they are here to stay.

So what will you do?
Every Writer Needs to Know How to Plot a Story
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Creativity, Publshing, Writing, Fiction Writing, Fiction

I know. I know.

You’re a pantser.

You’re a rebel and you don’t want anyone telling you how you have to tell your story.

If you plot your book, you’re going to get bored of it and you won’t want to write it anymore and who is that helping?

Plotting will absolutely ruin your story. It will kill your art. You can not plot.

Trust me, I’ve been there.

But then I sold my first book. To Penguin! I was a true pantser and Viral Nation took me two years to write and now, here were all of my dreams coming true.

And then my editor called and said, “Can you shoot me a synopsis of book two by Monday?”

What the actual . . .

I have to know what my book is about before I write it?

With a six-month deadline for the first draft and an editor that wanted to approve the basics of the story before I ever even started writing it, I had to teach myself to plot.

Not only that, but with a rebel personality, I had to teach myself to love plotting or I’d just not do it.

I did it. I went to a conference where I heard Alexandra Sokoloff talk about plotting in a way I’d never heard before. Plot almost as a craft project. And I studied The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler.

I developed my own way to make a flexible plot that let me write faster and with more efficiently, but didn’t quash the creative rush of figuring out something new about my story as I was writing it.

Plotting changed my life. Yes it did.

The thing is, to be a good writer, you need to know how to plot a story.

Even if you think you never do it.

Sometimes I’ll talk to a writer who just insists that they never plot. Successful, prolific writers who really believe that they just never plot.

The thing about those people? If they’re actually writing books that people want to read, and writing them all the way through to the end regularly, they’ve internalized the plotting process.

They don’t feel like they’re plotting, because they’re not sitting down with a plot board or a written outline. But they’re still doing the work. Just in their brains. Like magicians or something.

If you’re that writer, then carry on my friend. You are special and uniquely talented and I’m a little jealous.

But if you find yourself clinging to your pantsiness, refusing to plot, but also never actually finishing a novel. Well that’s a different story all together. Especially if you find yourself getting stuck around the Act II area of your book. You know, the part where things get complicated and can be saggy.

The part where a shiny new idea with a bright and beautiful Act I that you can hold in your head all at once shows up and distracts you.

If you’re that pantser, you need to learn to plot.

Even if you never sit down with a plot board again. You need to know how to do it, so you can internalize the process just like those uniquely talented writers.

It will change your life.

You can learn more about my method here.
Where I’m Going
By: J. Garcia
Tags: Life Lessons, TV, Opinion, Life

I am 28 years old; I was born in Cuba and moved to the US when I was five years old. At twenty, I dropped out of college and learned American Sign Language. At 22, I moved to South America (Paraguay) for almost four years. There I learned another Sign Language as well as an indigenous tongue. I am open to new ideas—in fact—I love new ideas. That is why I went back to school at 28 years old. Right now, I am learning how to be a first-time father, and these last couple of days I have seriously thought about opening a business. But above all things I challenge time—yes the ticking type—to allow me to accomplish what I want. I have time. I have desire. I have ambition. What I don’t do is watch TV.

One of my greatest passions is to read and to read to my daughter. I would like to open a children’s bookstore in the city I live in. There is a little shopping plaza that has a lot of foot traffic consisting mostly of families. It is a great place for a niche children’s bookstore.

I also love to write and I am constantly reading to keep my brain active, but foremost acquire better writing skills. My writing style has experienced various metamorphoses as I have read classics and contemporary literature. I have read challenging titles such as War and Peace and Les Miserables. I always have some stimulating novel lined up. My next one is Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.

Reading and writing go hand in hand. I write a blog that includes my poetry, vignettes, and short stories (this one). I have recently published a book, and I am working on another manuscript. I plan to finish my current manuscript within the next two years. It is a challenge with college to get the time for writing what I want to write, but on my downtime, I always make room to expand my stories.

Time, what is it? It is the seconds we are given on this Earth to experience love, family, and life. My motto is that there is room to lead a fully challenging and intellectual life but the TV has to be off most of the time. I could not accomplish half the things I do if I gave my time over to Television.
PNG 2020 National Budget Data Visualization — Revenue
By: Neo Malesa
Tags: Data Visualization, Papua New Guinea, Budget

PNG 2020 National Budget Data Visualization — Revenue

Visually presented, easy to understand.

The following visualizations were created with published data from the Papua New Guinea Department of Treasury with supplementary data from Deloitte.

They are simple visual representations of numerical data from the 2020 Budget.

Total Revenue Breakup

Figures in K millions, Source: www.treasury.gov.pg

Note on adjustment: Treasury sums Revenue at K14,095.40 million. The numbers from the published Budget 2020 documents added up to K14,095.50 million so I adjusted for this graph.

Taxes Breakup
Mash Health
By: Matt Shaw
Tags: Health, Healthcare, Open Government, Open Data, Data Visualization

Pharmacies in London

Open Data API WIN!

I’m all for government open data on data.gov.uk, it’s important that it’s published in the public domain for transparency and to encourage re-use and innovation. However, part of the problem is unless you want to download that data, process it, host it, load a database etc, it’s not as easily usable for a developer as it is to someone who just wants to view it. The availability of the data on data.gov.uk is high, the ease of re-use is, in my opinion, low.

That’s why it’s great that there is now programatic access to some datasets over a common protocol (http), using standard interfaces (RESTful API) and serving open data in open standard formats (JSON). Many thanks to Ross Jones for his help in answering a few questions for me and taking my feedback on the API so far. I look forward to seeing and using many more data.gov.uk APIs in future!
Past-Me Versus Future-Me
By: Arun Venkatesan
Tags: Humor, Travel, Short Story

I awake to a beam of light focused squarely on my left eye and the faint sound of drilling outside my window. I turn over and hit the home button on my iPhone. It reads, “12:28 Friday, September 26”. I had slept through the morning.

The night before, I looked at my watch at least three dozen times. Every time the waitress came around, I would think to myself, “Just a few more minutes, and I’ll go home” and then I would sit back as my friends ordered another round of drinks. It wasn’t until around 2:30 a.m. when I finally stumbled onto an uptown N train.

Normally, whenever I ride the Subway, I imagine it transforming. During rush hour, Subway cars morph into cans of sardines, riders packed tightly and standing perfectly still as if they actually were suspended in some kind of brine. In the afternoon, trains transmute into parks, with kids swinging between the bars and the elderly gossiping.

At that moment however, the train felt like the aftermath of a party gone wrong. Bleary-eyed girls in tight fitting cocktail dresses staggered in from the platform with high heels in hand. A latino man who clearly had too much to drink was bent over clutching his head while his friend lay back snoring with the top three buttons of his shirt unbuttoned and his tie loosened around his neck.
Let Go of Your Backlog
By: Alex Rowe
Tags: Gaming Culture, Self, Videogames, Self Improvement, Gaming

When I worked for a small computer magazine, I had to treat gaming like it was a business task.

I wrote three game reviews every month, which meant I had to finish three big games every month, like clockwork.

It was efficient. It was effective. But it wasn’t always fun.

It instilled in me the mentality that I had to play every “significant” video game, and then any other game which I was interested in after that.

So I kept buying them. And buying them. And finishing fewer and fewer.

Once you’ve played a lot of video games, you get really good at tearing them apart in short order. You’ll see everything their mechanics, visuals, and design have to offer in the first couple of hours.

I sometimes have a hard time continuing past that point, unless the story or the gameplay loop have really grabbed me.

So I move on. And often feel terrible.

I almost always regret not playing the rest of a game, even if I bought it at a fraction of its original price.

That regret is silly.

It might be born originally from a place of sincerity, but these days I’m working to discard it and try to focus on what I’m doing right now.

Games are for fun, ultimately. They’re for entertainment. They shouldn’t be obligations. They shouldn’t be the proverbial albatross.

So what if a game reviewed well? So what if all of your friends like it? So what if that weird guy at the GameStop tells you that it’s the greatest thing of all-time?

You don’t have to play it.

You don’t have to play anything.

You’re the arbiter of your own time.
Why do Evangelicals hate Beth Moore?
By: Jonathan Poletti
Tags: Evangelicals, Religion, Faith, Feminism, Christianity

Can I make a confession? I love looking at Beth Moore’s hair. Every little strand! So perfect, so coiffed and calculated. Always trying to be so perfect. The vision of a feminine woman, mother and household saint.

The truth is: Do your hair all you want, and it doesn’t really matter? I’m fascinated by the attacks.

“Moore is clearly speaking with a forked tongue out of both sides of her stammering, lisping lips.”

It’s fascinating because Evangelicals talk this way in public, not seeing how horrible they look?

Beth Moore, who has jumped out of the closet as a foaming-at-the-mouth feminist and Social Justice leftist over the course of the last year, is now using her position as a “Bible teacher” to attack doctrinal purity. Yes, that’s right. The wild-eyed and increasingly-bizarre feminist preacher seems to be going through some kind of spiritual menopause, experiencing dramatic life changes and manifesting hot-flashes of outrage on social media.

Undeterred, Moore realized that her own own past language about gays was a problem. In the 2009 book Praying God’s Word, she’d written:

Before we proceed to our Scripture-prayers for overcoming sexual strongholds, we are wise to address another deadly sexual assault of the evil one in our society: homosexuality. I have wonderful news for anyone who has struggled with homosexual sin. God indeed can deliver you and anxiously awaits your full cooperation. Do not let Satan shame you into not seeking forgiveness, fulness, and complete restoration in Jesus Christ. I know complete transformation is possible not only because God’s Word says so, but because I have witnessed it with my own eyes. I know plenty of believers who have been set free from homosexuality.

She removed it from the Kindle version. “What I’d written was doing considerably more harm than good,” she explains.

I’d note that she’s implicitly saying that none of it was true. It was Evangelical boilerplate that she passed on, like they all do.

Then one day she realized being loving to other humans was maybe a different activity.