fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Billie Eilish’s ‘No Time to Die’ Music Video Is the Most Outrageous Thing You’ll Watch Today
By: The Film Addict
Tags: Daniel Craig, Film, Billie Eilish, Movies, James Bond

Source: Billie Eilish

The song will have supernatural powers to bend bullets away from Bond. I am pretty sure it will, else, why are there people across the Net defending Eilish’s “No Time To Die” music video like it is some religion that Bond needs to convert to?

We first got to hear Eilish’s song for Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond back in February this year when she dropped the song, which bears a similar title to the film. Of course, back then, the marketing team was on full-throttle to prep No Time to Die for its widely anticipated premiere in April. Then came the coronavirus, which had triggered drastic nation lockdowns beginning with China — an emerging stronghold in box-office sales for the Bond franchise. Other than the UK, China was the highest grossing overseas market for Spectre (2015) — the latest installment within the franchise, just before No Time to Die.

Had China not been put under lockdown, Eilish’s music video for No Time to Die would have easily been unveiled back in March or early April this year. When I first tuned-in to “No Time to Die” in February, I thought that the song was truly befitting for a Bond film which leans itself towards a darker and moodier theme, such as Craig’s. The song does not deviate too much from Adele’s “Skyfall” and Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall”, preserving the qualities of being classy and dramatic from the previous two, though Eilish’s noises tend to cloud the overall music.

Now that the music video is released, the vocals coupled with the visuals in the video is starting to paint a picture in a different direction. Check out the newly released music video below:
PyTorch Multi-GPU Metrics Library and More in PyTorch Lightning 0.8.1
By: William Falcon
Tags: Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Pytorch, Tutorial, Data Science

Faster multi-GPU training

Another key part of this release is speed-ups we made to distributed training via DDP. The change comes from allowing DDP to work with num_workers>0 in Dataloaders

Dataloader(dataset, num_workers=8)

Today when you use DDP by launching it via .spawn() and you try to use num_workers>0 in Dataloader, your program will likely freeze and not start training (this is also true outside of Lightning).

The solution for most is to set num_workers=0, but that means that your training is going to be reaaaaally slow. To enable num_workers>0 AND DDP, we now launch DDP under the hood without spawn. This removes a lot of other weird restrictions like the need to pickle everything and the need for model weights to not be available once training has finished (because the weights were learned in a subprocess with different memory).

Thus, our implementation of DDP here is much much faster than normal. But of course, we keep both for flexibility:
CommunityBridge-Codeuino mentorship: Playing with React State movements(Week 5)
By: Aayush Gupta
Tags: Codeuino, Open Source, The Linux Foundation, Software Development

Just one more week to the next evaluations. Let us make them worth the wait!

What did I work on this week?

Spansberry frontend! With a brainstorm on UI and UX for the application!

Started off with putting thought on the overall look and theme of the platform; everything from colour themes to font styles. For now, you can call the platform pretty minimalist. So, we have a lot of room to put in more decoration; but let’s just get done with the basics right first.

Finally completed the Authentication flow after some more tweaks and improvements. Now it includes more functionalities including auto-login on signup, client-side validations and revamped UI. Here’s a sneak-peak:

After this implemented the initial screen of the application — Create Organization page. And yes, you’re right it too is pretty minimalist. Now we are on the same page :P

Moving ahead, I started development of probably the most viewed page on the application — the Homepage aka Dashboard. With a bunch of moving pieces and a whole state management saga (react problems !) I finally ended this week with the Navbar and Sidebar done.

Well mostly! The navbar will have its additions along with more working feature developments. So, this is how it looks right now:

Don’t worry, I can see that huge blank space. Hoping to finish it off this week along with some more developments. With festives coming in, we can hope to get some productivity crushed in but not enough to hamper the growth of the project.

Till then, Sayōnara!
Classroom Behavior Management (Manajemen Perilaku Anak di kelas)
By: Obed Nugroho
Tags: Anak, Sharing, Behavior Management, Education, Gereja

in In Fitness And In Health
The Witch Doctor’s Manifesto
Tags: Software Development, Consulting, Agile

It is my mission to bring magic to your business. When you look at the fastest growing and most profitable businesses today it may seem they achieved this through magic. They did not. They did it using software. When Silicon Valley uses the word “Disruption” they are talking about the process of targeting a market inefficiency with software that gives them a competitive advantage. I can help your business become a disrupter!

Platforms

I am a developer with disciplined problem-solving approaches, a solid grounding in software engineering techniques, and the mental and physical fortitude to see your work through. I am an application developer. The applications I create for you will work on any web compatible software platform. Many job listings post a ridiculous number of qualifications for their candidates. This is a natural consequence of the software platforms their applications run on. Exhaustive lists of required experience with specific programming technologies is folly and a needless inflationary pressure in the cost of your development process.

Project Management

I create successful relationships with clients that produce valuable products with an emphasis on business value. Clients contract with me for a single “sprint” (usually a continuous 40-hour work week) at a flat fee and give a prioritized list of desired features for their product. In return, I deliver a working product that implements the requested features in priority order. All implemented features will be complete and bug free within the first 30 days of development. If during development I discover your requirements are more comprehensive than we understood I will notify you immediately and request the terms of the arrangement be renegotiated. After product delivery the client and I meet, discuss the delivered product and whether you have any further needs.

If budget is an issue for you our “sprints” will be scaled so you can still derive business value — instead of doing one — 40 hours sprint, we can work a two or three-day sprint. Billing can occur at an hourly rate, product delivered rate, or time/cost estimate rate with this understanding: The only way to know how long a piece of software takes to write is to write it, thus the word “estimate”.

Location

Telecommuting is one of the best innovations to come to software development in the history of the profession. I work efficiently remotely and can accommodate customers who desire on-site work at additional costs. Growing your business in a profitable manner while working magic as an application developer is what I do best.
How to Register in Dakuce ICO?
By: Dakuce Cryptocurrency Exchange
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Dakuceexchange, Register Dakuce Ico

In this article we are going to explain you how to register to DAKUCE ICO.

Note: You need to clear your Desktop and mobile phones cache, cookies, and history for better result.

Registration steps:

Step -1

First of all, access our website https://dakuce.com and click on the REGISTER button. You will be redirected to our login page https://dakuce.com/register

How to Register Dakuce ICO?

Step — 2

A registration form will be displayed which will require you to enter your email-id, Username and password.

Step — 3

When entering the email, the user should see to it that a valid and working email-id has been entered.

Step — 4

The Username and Password to be entered should fulfill the requirements of the company’s criteria.

Step — 5

Once you click on Register, a confirmation mail will be sent to the email-id mentioned in the registration form.

Step — 6

In case the mail doesn’t appear in the inbox, please check your spam inbox.

Step — 7

Once the account is confirmed through mail, you are free to login.

Step — 8

As soon as you login, a pop-up will appear asking you to enable 2FA (Two factor Authentication).

Step — 9

To enable Authentication, the user will be required to install Google Authenticator on their personal smartphones through Google Playstore or through App store and then follow the steps as mentioned.

Step — 10

After installing the app, the app will ask the user to create account either by scanning the QR code or by entering a provided key.

Step — 11

Here the option for scanning QR code has to be selected.

Step — 12

Once the code is scanned, a backup key will appear which will have to be noted down manually by the user.

Step — 13

The next step will require the user to enter the key that was manually noted down along with the 2FA code on the mobile screen.

Step — 14

Once these details are entered and then confirmed, you have successfully enabled Google Authenticator.
Machine Learning Introduction
By: Kaushal Prajapati
Tags: Machine Learning, Beginner, Machine Learning Recipe, Data Science, Introduction

Note: All my stories are inspired by either some articles or books. What I am trying to do here is simply making notes for me and you.

So let’s begin!!!!!!

How it started:

The first time someone solved a problem using ML method came from statistics in the ’50s.

They solved math tasks like searching patterns in numbers (1, 3, 5 … you know it), Proximity measures which can be for similarity or dissimilarity between two objects (Driving distance amongst a set of US cities), Calculating vectors` directions (I don’t know how to explain this). checkout this link https://qr.ae/TWrL1T

How It’s done:

Classical algorithms are so easy to decide. It’s like arithmetic operators and which to use when.

Supervised Learning (When data is categorized or numerical) Unsupervised Learning (When data is not labelled at all)

Supervised Learning:

Classification (Predict a category) (e.g. divide the balls by colour) Regression (Predict a number) (e.g. divide the tiles by length)

Unsupervised Learning:
Once You Became a Stranger
By: Anna Breslin
Tags: Poetry, Relationships, Self, Love, Life

Once You Became a Stranger

A poem

Paul Klee — Public Domain

~

.

Once you became a stranger,

you never stopped

being

a stranger,

and it happened to me

as well.

Who was that woman

who looked like me?

I thought you were my

every

all,

my wants,

my needs.

I rolled around

in willing suspension

of disbelief,

until I tumbled down a slope

grass-stained,

hit a rock and woke up.

At the altar of wishing it to be,

there was so much potential,

unspoken expectations,

we could never see

or be

just us.

If the dust cloud of magic thinking

had ever lifted,

who would we have been

to one another?

You without expectations,

me without romantic fairy tales?

Were we ever not strangers?

Didn’t we always look at each other

and see what we wanted?

Are there really people who see

one another while

falling and living in love?

I think one is always blind,

maybe there is

some taking turns.

~

© 2019, A. Breslin. All Rights Reserved
“Fire”
Tags: Poetry, Poem, Friendship, LGBTQ, Life Lessons

A poem

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

A fire

Roars between us

Strapped in a bus

Speeding on the opposite

Side of traffic

Speak to me

I’m in a dire need

Flames

Fill my vision

Smoke

Burns my lungs

Ashes to ashes

Tears full of tragic —

Tragedy

Digging a hole

To bury the hatchet

Words made with elastic

Two souls

Tugging at opposite ends

A fire

Roars between us

Bridges

Threatening to burn

Two old friends

Who entered adulthood together

Back to back

Handling whatever the weather

Tossed their way

Red, fiery flames

Threaten

To burn everything away

Sparks ignited

Flirted with accelerant

Then

Everything blew away
Dandy Jazz Dancers on City Street
Tags: Nature, Spiritual Growth, Life Lessons, Poetry On Medium, Weeds And Wildflowers

Thank you, Dennett, for allowing me into this family of nature lovers and for promptly looking over my first submission in your pub.

I come with flaws. For one, I curtail my dependence on my cell phone, which is the only camera I carry around. I’ve observed that my pictures hardly ever capture the beauty before me. Instead, I store things in my inward eye where they remain. (a good excuse, perhaps. Read more.)

This could be thought of as a flaw, for it would have served me well to have snapped a picture of those dandelions queued between the wall and sidewalk in a busy Tokyo street. This time I will rely on the fact that everyone has seen an image like the one I talked about in the poem. I hope so. Or, trust me that dandelions do find a way to break through concrete.

The lesson: Even wandering through industrialized concrete jungles, one can find a spiritual moment to remind us of our connections with more important things. Nature is our way back to the divine. Bask in that knowledge.

p.s. I have over 5,000 pictures on my cell phone, and I purchase space monthly to maintain them there. I really need to free up space. One day I will. So, you see, it’s not that I don’t like taking pictures; I’m flawed.

THANKS FOR READING

I Wish You Miracles.
The other day, I had an out of body experience.
By: Bronté Bettencourt
Tags: Writing Life, Motherhood, Existentialism, Love, Growing Up

I’m inching ever closer to thirty, closer to my mom’s age when she had me. My mind shifts whenever I think of being a mom.

Alex and I debated over how we would raise our kids. The topic of drugs and alcohol came up, and without a second thought I said, “Weed and alcohol? Yeah, why not?” I registered the look of horror on his face. I wasn’t thinking like a mom. I was thinking like a teen that would try those things if they were accessible. As we argued, I switched into a gear I didn’t know I had.

“I’m not saying that stuff is okay. But being too strict will drive them to keep secrets from us. We can’t coddle them or they’ll act out. They need to feel like they can come to us for situations like that, because by the time they reach that age they’re discovering themselves, and we can’t treat them like children and hide them from the world. So if they do enter a situation involving that kind of stuff, they will feel comfortable coming to us.”

Alex nodded in agreement. We came to an agreement, but I didn’t know who I was at all.

This shift in perspective is especially jarring when I think about Ellie.
Spiritual Consciousness — An Explanation
Tags: Religion, Consciousness, Radhasoami, Spirituality, Meditation

Spiritual consciousness is to explore the knowledge of the spirit and its origin or reservoir through intuitive realization. The proper course of attaining higher levels of spiritual consciousness for a sincere lover of the Supreme Being, according to Huzur Maharaj — the second Master of the Radhasoami Faith — is “to acquire knowledge of the secrets and the order of creation and the means of traversing the distance between his dwelling in the body (the pupil of the eye [Third Eye Center accessed during meditation]) and the Abode of the Supreme Being, the prime source of everything; and to start on his journey with fervor and perseverance with the avowed object of reaching the presence of the Most High and Beloved Supreme Father.”

Love and devotion are the basic driving forces to attain success in life, whether temporal or spiritual. As a scientist, unless driven by a passionate zeal to find the truth, finds it difficult to surmount the hurdles in his path, so does a spiritual seeker, devoid of love and devotion, fail to attain any tangible results in his spiritual pursuit. Love and devotion are therefore the cardinal values in any endeavor to succeed. The medieval Bhakti traditions ushered by saints laid great emphasis on love and devotion for the master and Supreme Being. The Radhasoami Faith, which is the culmination of the saint traditions, lays great emphasis on love and devotion for the master and the Supreme Being. Hazur Maharaj says that “a heart devoid of love or affection is as hard as stone and does not form a suitable receptacle for the Light of Heavenly Grace and Compassion… The Supreme Being loves and takes special care of those who love Him with all their heart and soul and gradually draws them towards Himself — the Center of Pure Light and Attraction.”

— Agam Prasad Mathur, at the beginning of the chapter, Spiritual Consciousness — An Explanation, in the book, Spiritual Consciousness
Ford v Ferrari
By: Yehudit Mam
Tags: Cars, Film Reviews, Film, Movie Review, Movies

Start your engines.

The title of this thrilling film by James Mangold may sound like it’s a story of American ingenuity versus Italian craftsmanship, but the happiest surprise of this very fun ride is that the movie is about the struggle of the artists against the suits. In this case, the artists are the legendary driver and car builder Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and British driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) who team up to build and drive the fastest American race car. They end up working for the Ford Motor Company, which wants to try to win a race at Le Mans, in order to beat a sales slump. Ford executive Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) convinces Henry Ford II (the fabulous Tracy Letts) to try to build a Ford to beat the six-time champion Ferrari at the 24 hours at Le Mans.

The biggest nemesis in the movie is John Beebe, the head of marketing at Ford (Josh Lucas, relishing the opportunity to play the meanie, bad hair included). Marketing is about surface and optics, and it dehumanizes people. And so Beebe doesn’t like that Miles looks like a schlub. He doesn’t care about his talent, or his courage, all he cares is that he doesn’t represent the brand, and he is willing to die on that hill even as Miles amply demonstrates he is the only guy for the job. Meanwhile we see the toll it takes on everyone to try to be as fast possible.

Damon and Bale are both spectacular and have genuine chemistry together. Damon’s acting is precise and unobtrusive. Bale inhabits the role of the eccentric Miles with his usual fierceness but brings charm and sweetness to the role. The racing scenes are shot up close and the sound of the engines and brakes is high so the audience can get close to vicariously understanding what it feels like drive a little car at over 200 miles per hour. Watching the cars zip by reminded me why I used to like to pick up speed on the highway. It’s a great feeling even at 90 miles an hour. Also, very dangerous.

Even though some of the writing by the Butterworth brothers and Mangold is a bit trite, the movie is gorgeously made, the race scenes are thrilling, and the entire cast rises above the din of the engines with verve. I am not a guy, I don’t care about cars, and I had a blast.
love after death
By: Zach J. Payne
Tags: Poetry, Relationships, Death, Love, Hope

after ali novak.

Perhaps you stole my breath (you stole my heart)

when I, in grieving’s grace, was wandering

and we should not have touched right at the start

but with a kiss you left me pondering

the elegance of stars, God’s great machine

that pulls the heavens into perfect shape,

the carbon of your body, like a dream

that carries me away, a sweet escape

from every tear I shed, the grief I know;

you carried me above my body’s weight

and washed away the weary from my bones

rewriting light into my bitter fate.

Love comes in many shapes: you gave me all

and smirked, assured, as you watched me fall.
Trump Administration Work Visa Policy by Numbers
By: Ivan Lapickii
Tags: Trump, Immigration, Infographics, Data Visualization, Visa

The US H-1B visa program that allows educated foreign professionals to work in the United States is taking a hit under the Trump Administration. In 2019, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denied about 15 percent of H-1B visa petitions, a notable shift from 2015 when the denial rate was 4 percent, a rate second only to L-1A and L-1B visas, which now have a 28 percent denial rate.

The Administration’s “put American workers first” policy seeks to improve Americans’ welfare by reducing the inflow of low-paid labor. Toward that end, within the realm of work visas, the Administration adopted two approaches. First, the review process of H-1B visa applications has become stricter, leading to an increase in the number of requests for evidence (RFE) and, ultimately, visa denials. Second, the former H-1B visa lottery was suspended, further reducing access to H-1B visas.

You may conclude that the odds of obtaining an H-1B visa are best for only the most gifted, skilled and highly paid workers. That’s true. But it’s also true that while American companies may prefer to hire unskilled staff from abroad under the H-1B program for the sake of lower labor costs, most of these visas are issued to specialists in technical design and programming. And it’s in that disconnect that we start to understand why tech industry giants so often publicly at odds with President Trump have a lot to lose under this new policy and will likely lobby strongly for adjustments in the months to come.
New Perk — Earn 15% Crypto Reward on iPhone 12
Tags: Fintech, Announcements, Rewards, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

New Perk — Earn 15% Crypto Reward on iPhone 12 Plutus Follow Nov 9 · 5 min read

We are heading into the shopping season, and e-commerce is booming! In light of the multitude of new tech products arriving on the market, we have introduced an exciting new Bonus Perk — 15% crypto rewards on iPhone 12 purchases.

iPhone 12—15% Crypto Reward

Promotional Offer

For the remainder of the year, you can earn 15% crypto rewards (PLU) on any iPhone 12 model purchases (includes Regular/Mini/Pro/Pro Max) directly from your Perks dashboard > Apple’s online store.

Current Availability

Timeline: 01 Dec 2020, 00:00 BST — 31 Dec 2020, 23:59 BST

01 Dec 2020, 00:00 BST — 31 Dec 2020, 23:59 BST Account Type: Premium / Pro

Premium / Pro Staking Level 2 : 450 PLU

: 450 PLU Countries: All Supported Countries

From December 1st, this promotion is available only to Premium/Pro members who have staked the 450 PLU necessary to unlock this Perk. The offer is international and will be available across all of our supported countries.

Note: The PLU rewards will be visible in the Earned section of your Pluton Dashboard after the transaction has settled (typically less than 3 days). It will move to Available after 45 days whilst Plutus does our own internal validation checks. If your staked holdings drops below the required 450 PLU staking threshold during this 45 day period, your 15% reward for the iPhone 12 will become void.

How Does it Work?

To reap the savings upwards of £115, just follow the steps below.

Log in to your Plutus web application.

Click on the Perks tab and find the iPhone promotion.

Select the iPhone of choice — this will redirect you to Apple’s website.

Make the payment via your Plutus Card on the Apple Store.

Important Note: The link will take you to the UK Apple Store, if you reside outside of this region, just amend the URL to your local Apple Store and you will still be awarded for your purchase.

The purchase must be made on the Apple store via the Plutus Perks dashboard. The payment must be made using the Plutus Card and in full (no split monthly payment or contracts).

What Products are Eligible?

The following products are eligible for the 15% crypto reward:

iPhone 12 SIM-free handset

SIM-free handset iPhone 12 Mini SIM-free handset

SIM-free handset iPhone 12 Pro SIM-free handset

SIM-free handset iPhone 12 Pro Max SIM-free handset

SIM-free handset Apple Care

Important Note: The phone must be purchased outright in full, we do not reward users on monthly payments or contracts.

How to Stake & Earn Crypto (PLU)?

If you have just received your Plutus Card and would like to learn how to get started then please check out the blog below.

You can also find details in our helpdesk article of all other benefits included in Plutus Perks as well as the full breakdown of requirements and rewards of each household brands affiliated with Plutus:
Repurposed Infosec Comic #8: “Overcoats are expensive.”
Tags: Infosec, Cyber Security Awareness, Tech, Security, Information Security

Like this story? Want to see others like it? Check out more technology/cyber security influenced articles in Infoseconds. Check out other publications around Historical News or Internet Archaeology (True Crime).
Blockchain Blind Spots
By: Arthur Brock
Tags: Holochain, Consensus, Feedback Loop, Blockchain, Systems Thinking

In modeling systems dynamics, Self-Reinforcing Feedback, also known as a Positive Feedback Loop, happens when the output of a process amplifies the input to that process in continuing cycles of that process.

That may have made it sound complicated, but it’s fairly simple. In a large group of cattle, if something startles a few of them, and they react suddenly startling others, then this pattern repeats, then you get a stampede.

Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake both Centralize Power and Wealth

In Proof-of-Work, if you have more money to buy more computing power, then you can perform more hashes so that you earn more money than others, which lets you invest in more computing power, and so on.

In Proof-of-Stake, if you have more money to put at stake for your computed answers, you win more of the stakes, which lets you invest more stake, to win more stakes, and so on.

Make no mistake about it, in both cases, the rich get richer. Those with the power amplify their power.

Proof-of-Stake may solve the problem of wasting .3% of the planet’s electricity churning hashes, but it is exactly the same kind of positive feedback loop as Proof-of-Work.

If someone tells you they’re building a “decentralized” system, and it runs a consensus algorithm configured to give the people with wealth or power more wealth and power, you may as well call bullshit and walk away.

That is what nobody seems willing to see about blockchain.

In less than 10 years, bitcoin issuance and holdings became more centralized than dollars. Blockchain is just a turbo-charged replay of the same destructive, reductive, and speculative patterns of national currencies. We get to the same imbalances faster.

Positive feedback loops do happen in nature, but they typically have boundary conditions which act as a guardrail — a way to break the cycle so that it doesn’t spiral into dangerous imbalance. But what is the limit to people’s greed? Do you see any realistic way to break this cycle other than collapse of the currency itself?

A viable alternative: This is why we’ve built Holochain — a scalable and healthy alternative to blockchain based on nature’s design patterns for operating on large scales.
Responding to Challenges a Theme at Fall Commencement
Tags: Prison, Ohio, Education, Baking, Graduation

A number of family members and friends were invited to Richland Correctional Institution (RiCI) to witness the commencement ceremony celebrating over 100 graduates in various education based areas. The theme of the ceremony was, “What happens to you is small, compared to how you react to what happens to you”.

RiCI Deputy Warden of Special Services, Tim Milligan, welcomed the attending civilians and graduates. School Principal, Ernest Mack (RiCI/ManCI) congratulated the offenders on their accomplishments. Afterwards, the graduates visited with attending family members while enjoying refreshments.

RiCI graduates were recognized for course work completion in areas such as Adult Basic Education, Pre-GED and GED. Those honored included offenders who completed Janitorial, HVAC and Animal Training apprenticeships.

Offenders who graduated Career-Technical programs were also recognized. These programs include Auto Collision repair, Baking, Carpentry, and Drywall. Offenders also were honored with certificates for their work attending Ashland University. The programs spanned from Basic Business, Office Management, Business Management, Office Technology, Retail Management and Retail Sales.

The Education commencements are a biannual event at RiCI.
The Banana Republic
By: Brian Lamacraft
Tags: Poem, Democracy, Elections, Politics

The Banana Republic

Get in the boat!

Photo by mahdis mousavi on Unsplash

Votes are cast

It’s done at last

Same as it always was

In the boat

Of a banana republic

— -

Tax for you and less cash

Come with us as we burn it to ash

Money here and money there

In the boat

Of a banana republic

— -

Left or right

They put up a fight

We hide from you through all we do

Pulling the strings

Of a banana republic

— -

Life gets better, yes it’s true

Like we always promise you

50 years and what do I see

So much less for you and me

Hoist the sail

Of a banana republic

— -

Oh, but this time it will change!

No not us, mentally deranged

So go out, let’s all get drunk

Don’t be in such a funk

Let’s all drown

In a banana republic

Get my newsletter with writing, blogging, and other updates
8 UI design trends for 2020
By: Dawid Tomczyk
Tags: UI, UI Design, Design Trends, Visual Design, UX Design

Summary: 8 UI/UX design trends for 2020

#1 Animated Illustrations

By applying motion to illustrations we might really make our designs stand out and bring them to the life — adding extra details and personality.

#2 Microinteractions

Microinteractions are the perfect proof that details and attention to them might greatly improve the overall user experience of your digital products and place them on the next/higher level.

#3 3D Graphics in web and mobile interfaces

New web browser capabilities have opened the door for 3D graphic allowing us as designers to create and implement amazing 3D graphics into modern web and mobile interfaces.

#4 Virtual Reality

Gaming industry very often brings innovation and new technologies into digital product design.

#5 Augmented Reality

There are endless opportunities to innovate and create brand new and exciting experiences in AR space. UI design for AR will be one of the major trends in 2020, so as designers we should be prepared and eager to learn new tools, principles when creating AR experiences.

#6 Neumorphism

The grow of VR/AR technology and latest design trends shown on the most popular design platforms might make skeuomorphic design comeback in 2020 — but this time with a lot modern fashion.

#7 Asymmetrical Layouts

There is a lot of room for creativity as the number of options and opportunities when creating asymmetrical layouts are endless. Although, creating successful asymmetrical layouts requires some practice and time.

#8 Storytelling

Storytelling is all about transferring data to the users in the best possible informative and creative way. Storytelling is also great and efficient marketing tool that might greatly increase the sales of your products/services.
Government of Thailand announced new requirements for ICO and Crypto-currency
Tags: Finance, Cryptocurrency, English, Plasmapay, Bitcoin

For companies who plan to issue tokens it’s essential to have:

transparent information on the type of tokens and investments planned;

the authorized capital not less than 5 million baht (equivalent to more than $ 150,000);

the share of private investment not exceeding 300,000 baht, slightly more than $ 9,000, and making up no more than 70% of ICO’s capital.

SEC Securities Commission of Thailand allowed the stock exchanges to trade currency pairs using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Etherium, Etherium Classic, Litecoin, Ripple and Stellar.

Until August 14th, approximately 10 applications for obtaining licenses for exchange trade in crypto currency are expected.

It can only be carried out by companies registered in Thailand. They need to have:

assets from 5 million baht;

authorized capital of 50 million baht, which is more than $ 1.5 million for a centralized stock exchange; 25 million baht for a brokerage company;

authorized capital of 10 million baht, approximately $ 30,000, for a decentralized stock exchange and 5 million baht for a broker;

an annual fee of 0.002% of the total turnover on the stock exchange, but not less than 0.5 million baht, approximately $ 15,500

0,001% of the annual volume of brokerage trades, but not less than 250,000 baht, about $ 8,000.

Through licensing measures, the country is trying to attract capital and improve the economy, ’cause now Thailand lives mainly due to income from tourism. In addition, it will be easier to protect citizens of the country using virtual money. And financial transactions with crypto-currencies will facilitate the processes for those who previously experienced difficulties in working with local banks.

But, like any innovation, it has its pros and cons, says Ilya Maksimenko, CEO of Plasma Bank:

“Thailand has become one of the top twenty countries leading by the amount of personal remittances. The legalization of exchange transactions allows the population, which is still quite far from the banking, to use the crypto currency as a cheap way of remittances around the world. The government of Thailand does not have any idea what Pandora’s box they are opening, allowing dozens of stocks and exchangers to work legally in the country, even under licenses”.

Here are just a few possible negative consequences of this situation:

1) the absence of tax revenues from cash transactions that bypass the conservative financial system;

2) impossibility of application for large international money transactions due to high volatility;

3) the risk of expanding illegal activities.

Let us not forget that Thailand was the first country that banned the bitcoins in 2013. During the next years the attitude to the crypto currency was changing. This year in February, Thai banks were ordered to suspend work with virtual money, and in April the SEC introduced double taxation of crypto-currencies.
The US Defaults in 2 Months
By: Alexander Kuzmin
Tags: Crisis

Apocalypse Tomorrow

When the stock market collapses this coming fall, ordinary investors are going to be shocked. The Dotcom bubble was a joke, we are into something akin to the Great Depression. The inevitable devaluation of the dollar and the loss of its main reserve currency status will lead to a sharp decline in the living standards of ordinary Americans. Prices for everything in the US will skyrocket. Americans will no longer be able to travel. The national social contract (the tacit agreement between the people and the government) will be broken. The U.S. pension system will fall apart quickly and completely.

A war of all against all — whites against blacks, democrats against republicans, conservatives against progressivists, women against men — is what awaits American society. And its stratification promises to reach critical proportions. We have already seen the model of the future, live, in downtown Seattle. It is an anarchist commune where power is seized by “racially correct” bandits. Many armed dictatorships like this will be established across the territory of the former United States. It will look like a parody of Soviet communism in the late 1910s and early 1920s — endless rallies, demonstrations, and propaganda shows, the abolition of the family way of life, destruction of private property and the state, and, of course, some kind of “subsistence level support” (modern term is “basic income”).

Some very rich people will manage to create enclaves, where there will be no place for feminists and other minorities. A rigid patriarchal system, racism, and sexism will be legitimized again. Society will be divided into classes, the transition from one class to another will be impossible. Of course, torture and public executions come in the package.
What I Learned From Going on 100+ First Dates Before Meeting My Soulmate
By: Todd Lincoln
Tags: Relationships, Love, Self Improvement, Dating, Life Lessons

9. You have to fly your flag.

On dating profiles, people tend to play it safe. They say very little, appeal to common interests, and keep things general. My single friends used to joke that all profiles said the same thing: “I like fun, laughing, and pizza.”

A generic profile is one notch better than a blank profile. Everyone likes fun. Everyone likes laughing. Most people like pizza. After reading that, I have zero idea of what the person is like. On your profile, you need to do the opposite. Don’t try to fit in. Try to stand out.

When I started online dating, I tried to fit in and appeal to a broad audience. I said things like, “I love good food” and “I enjoy a fun weekend getaway.” I found I was attracting the wrong type of women and striking out with the women who seemed like a great match.

Finally, I got so frustrated I thought: I don’t care who I turn off. I’m just going to be who I am. I’m going to fly my flag. So I rewrote my entire profile to highlight things about me that were unique and specific. I said things like, “I enjoy a Saturday night curled up on the couch with a good thriller novel” and “I’m not much of a drinker, but I love a good cup of tea.”

Such statements were intentionally divisive. They turned away the party people and gave the introverts butterflies. Plus, they showed that I was self-aware and confident in who I was and what I wanted. Once I started to fly my flag, I found it easier to get dates and the people I met were much more like me.

You have to proudly fly your flag. Paint an interesting, authentic, and detailed picture of who you are that will act as a beacon for the type of person you want to attract. Don’t be afraid to say who you are, what you want, and what you don’t want. If you have deal-breakers or distinct interests, find a positive way to share them. But be nice, you don’t want to come across as difficult or rude.

Be clear about who you are and what you’re looking for. Not only will this authenticity turn away poor matches, but it’ll resonate with the people you want to attract. And this philosophy should carry over from your profile into your dates.

Dating is not the place to please everyone. It’s the place to find the right person for you. So write for your future partner, not for the masses.
Man Wore Snake As a Face Mask On Public Transport
By: Akos Peterbencze
Tags: Humor, England, Covid 19, News, Satire

SATIRE I HUMOR

Man Wore Snake As a Face Mask On Public Transport

What was he thinking? Let’s find out.

Photo: BBC

England is a funny country. I should know this because I live here for almost 8 years now. People say that the English are a moody, miserable bunch, but that isn’t necessarily true. For example, yesterday, a man decided to take a journey from Swindon to Manchester, feeling confident enough to wear a reptile as a face covering. You got to admit he must have a sense of humor.

“The commuter and his reptilian mask, which was wrapped around his neck and mouth, were seen on a bus from Swinton to Manchester on Monday.” — Express & Star

I’d like to illustrate that man’s possible thinking in that morning, and what ran through his mind before he headed out with a python wrapped around his neck and face.

“G’ day, mate! I hope you’re doing well Georgie because today we must take a trip to the good ‘ole’ Manchester, my friend. I need to see me brother, Brendan. He needs a hand to move some furniture. I haven’t got a clue what’s going on with this bloody virus out there, but me mate John said that no one can travel without a mask. I won’t wear no bloody mask because this whole thing is such a non-sense. What do you say, Georgie? Are you up for a trip? I thought so.” The man takes out his snake from its aquarium and carefully wraps it around his face in front of the mirror. “That will do, me “ole” fella! We look good, and me mouth is completely covered. If someone might ask, I’ll say that you’re a friendly guy, aye? Let’s go, Georgie! We don’t have all day to fool around. Brendan’s waiting.”

The man leaves his apartment with a big smile on his face that’s not visible to the public because it’s completely covered by a giant reptile.
Internet hoaxes and patriotism
By: Anuj Mathur
Tags: Advice, Humor

It’s time for another edition of your beloved column. Let’s face it, you can’t really do without me. I should probably check to see if I can claim this column as a tax deduction under 80C.

Our first question comes from a gullible reader who has fallen prey to yet another Internet hoax:

Dear Know-it-all, I went to the movies with my friends today. We only had two options at our local theatre — The Conjuring and Chennai Express. Since we were in the mood for some scares, we chose to see Chennai Express. I recently received a forwarded email which mentioned that anything Deepika says in her Tamil accent, when played backwards, reveals Satanic messages which affect the viewers subliminally. Is that true? – living in fear

Dear living in fear,

Don’t be silly. It’s common knowledge that you don’t need to play her dialogues backwards to hear those messages.

It’s like no one has even heard of snopes. The next question comes from a self-proclaimed Indian patriot. Yeah, one of those guys:

Dear know-it-all, Why is the government trying to push the changes to the RTI act? Does it think that all Indians are idiots and will let them do it? – A true patriot.

Dear true patriot,

I don’t know about other Indians being idiots, but you certainly are one. Can’t you see that the call for amendments to the act has finally united all the political parties to fight for a common cause? Even the Independence Day speeches could not do that. I say it’s absolutely worth it even if takes a Right To Information Pact(see what I did there?) to get them to act together for once.

Dear Know-it-all, I’ve heard rumours that the recent cricket series between India and Zimbabwe was fixed. Was it? – A cricket fan

Dear cricket fan,

You’re right, that series was fixed. But now how you think — there were no towels or other signalling infrastructure involved. After making some detailed inquiries which included some frenzied Googling and asking Prabhakar to shoot some grainy videos, I’ve come to the inevitable conclusion — all the games were computer generated by the BCCI(I think Randy may be involved too). Now before you dismiss my claim citing the Law of Averages(even I have to be wrong one day), just answer the following question — have you ever met anyone who has claimed to have seen that particular series in person or on television? Exactly. Also, repeated attempts to get any information from Kohli who was the ‘captain’ for this ‘series’ were met with non-committal responses like ‘Who are you and what have you done to the real milkman?’ and ‘What are you doing inside my fridge?’ and ‘No, I will not give you my autograph on that!’ I rest my case.

That’s it for yet another edition. Just remember what a wise person once said before hitting that send button — ‘There’s no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people who ask said questions.’

Like this:

Like Loading…
MS Excel — Connecting PowerQuery To An Excel File In The Cloud (Google Drive) — Part 2
By: Don Tomoff
Tags: Power Query, Excel, How To, Data, Google Drive

Here’s The Process for Excel Files in Google Drive

Locate the Excel file in Google Drive. Open the spreadsheet.

Excel File in Google Drive Folder

Share file from Google Drive to “Anyone With Link” (I would recommend NOT to do this with sensitive information!).

Spreadsheet in Google Drive with “Share” Icon

Sharing Set at “Anyone with Link can view”

Next, we need to access the data source link for use in Power Query. To do this we use “File >> Download as >> Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)”.

Although the file will download, what we care about is the download LINK that is generated.

Download Google Spreadsheet as a Microsoft Excel file

Downloaded file — this can be deleted later!

Now, access the Downloads information for your Web Browser (I am using Chrome here — which is “CTRL + J”).

Downloads page of the Chrome Browser — Copy associated Link

This is what we use in Excel Power Query to access the data directly on the Internet.

Open a new Excel workbook. Using Excel 2016, I select “Data >> Get & Transform Data >> From Web”.

Excel 2016 “Data >> Get & Transform Data >> From Web”

Paste the link into the Dialog box that appears.

Paste Download link (Web URL) Into the Dialog Box

Connect using “Anonymous” and click “Connect”.

Select “Anonymous” and Click “Connect”

Select the worksheet tab that you want to Import and click Edit — do not immediately Load the query.

Select Data source and Click Edit in Query Navigator window

Edit Query Settings to change the query name.

Power Query Edit Mode — change Query Name

Finally, this is where we edit the query and shape the data set. For purposes of this discussion, I am not going to do anything other than “Load” the data.

Editing and shaping this data is for another discussion!

I load the data into a Table in Excel.

Load Data — select “File >> Close & Load To…”

Load data into an Excel Worksheet
Ulysses on Reading Ulysses by James Joyce
By: Simon Black
Tags: Humor, Literature, Funny, Fiction, Satire

Mosaic of Ulysses tied to the mast, photo by Dennis Jarvis used with permission

OK, Penelope thought it would be funny to buy me this book for my 2800th birthday, because I do spend most of my time reading nowadays, instead of traveling all over the world going to war. I’ve really calmed down, that’s for sure.

Anyhow, this book is weird. If it’s about me, why are there no boats or Trojan Horses or wars or anything?

Alright, I tried pretty hard, and I got through a few hundred pages when the guy I figured out was supposed to be me, this Leopold Bloom fella, starts masturbating in public.

That really shocked me.

I mean, have you ever heard that song, “Killing me softly with his song?” That's the way I feel about this Joyce guy now. I mean, Homer never even mentioned the public masturbating in his epic about me. That’s because Homer was blind and couldn’t see me when I would do it — which was a lot.

I mean it took me ten years to get home to Penelope. You better believe there was some fapping on board that ship.

But then I got scared. If Joyce knew about the masturbating all the time in public while I was away, what else did he know about?

Did he know about how gassy I was? Surely not. I mean my comrades knew because they had to smell it in the boat all the time, and they made fun of me. In fact, that’s the real reason they tied me to the mast in that episode that Homer got so wrong. It wasn’t because of the siren’s song. It was because I had a terrible case of the stinky farts and they didn’t want me to come below deck so they tied me to the mast up above.

And if he knows about how gassy I was, then he probably knows about Circe.

In Homer it’s supposedly Circe who “turns” my men into pigs and I have to do all kinds of trickery to get them turned back to men.

But in this MeToo era it should be pretty obvious to everyone — Circe didn’t have to “turn” those guys into pigs because they already were swine. Dogs. Worse. They were sex fiends.

Homer was papering all that over, luckily. But what if this guy Joyce knows the truth and is going to reveal exactly how piggish we were on that ten year long home journey home?

Shit.

I just hope he doesn’t know the worst of it. That it only took ten years because there were that many whores between Troy and Ithaca. Especially that one called Molly. Oh God, he doesn’t know about Molly, does he? I can still hear her now — “Yes, I will, yes, yes.” What a passionate lass.

We can’t have Penelope finding out about her now, can we? I just threw this piece of junk Ulysses into the trash where it belongs and I picked up my aged and respectful version of The Odyssey and started at the beginning. Feeling good! Order restored. No fucking stream of conscious and no killing me softly with his song and no Ireland.

Just Greek men being heroes. Oh Gods, I feel like myself again! Here we go:

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story

of that man skilled in all ways of contending,

the wanderer, harried for years on end,

after he plundered the stronghold

on the proud height of Troy.