fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
5 Harsh Truths That Will Improve Your Life (If You Accept Them)
By: Moreno Zugaro
Tags: Philosophy, Happiness, Self Improvement, Truth, Life Lessons

Last week, I did something I should’ve done ages ago. I deleted an app from my phone.

The app itself wasn’t so much the problem as what came with it. Endless hours spent in misery, frustration, and anger, an endless cycle of “it’s not going to be that bad this time” and “yep, definitely the same shitshow again.” I had enough.

I’m not ranting about social media or anything the like — I’m talking about the app of Deutsche Bahn, the German train company. I’ll spare you the details of our history, but I’ll tell you this much: I found a Facebook post from 2014 ranting about how shitty their service was and that I never wanted to use it again. It only took me six long years of anxiety-filled train rides and hour-long delays in cold stations to accept it wouldn’t get better, but I finally followed through.

As a diehard optimist, it’s often hard to accept defeat. You see the potential and opportunities, hold on to your dream, and hope for a better tomorrow. But no matter how much you wish for a better world — some things will always be messed up and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s frustrating, but only until you accept the fact.

When you face reality, you don’t make yourself miserable anymore because you hope for something that never comes. You don’t waste your energy and time trying to change the unchangeable. You focus on yourself and making your own life better. You set yourself free.

Just as I had to accept that German trains will never be friends, there are a few harsh and inconvenient truths of life you’ll have to acknowledge. They’ll be hard pills to swallow but if you don’t, you’ll forever tilt at windmills. You’ll waste time and energy without accomplishing anything in the process. But if you accept what you can’t change, you redirect your efforts to what you can.
Spindling
By: Elizabeth Helmich
Tags: Mindfulness, Seasons, Spring, Poetry, Joy

I crave the depths of introversion,

like deep pencil marks scrawn

with purpose over a blank page.

I hide beneath my blanket of thought

that busyness tends to misplace

in his frenzied routine, but I can not stay.

Drawn as a moth displaced in day,

I spindle my senses to flock

over earth’s playground.

Thoughts refuse to remain mute.

They erupt from a bird’s trumpet,

making promises of another meal, soon.

From the swoosh of an airplane,

marking up sky in its wake.

They sigh out from bamboo chimes

reciting ancient tales of the breeze.

Quieter, still, are the whispers

of white blossom children playing

over spring’s fresh new landscape.

And if you edge in close enough,

you can hear the maple tree

loosening his belt, just a little,

to add one more ring.
Show of Grace
Tags: Resistance Poetry, Poetry, Mindfulness, Freedom, Grace

Pay no mind to their fear of color and change

They are lost in disjointed narratives of the past

And cannot see you clearly for who you are

But the idea of home is still yours to define
It’s BitBoxBase beta time.
Tags: Sovereignty, Crypto, Lightning Network, Pine64, Bitcoin

We recently shipped our first batch of BitBoxBase beta devices. We’ve done a lot since we started exploring the idea of building a Bitcoin & Lightning full node. But there’s still so much to do and we need help. There are bugs to catch, features to add and a community to build.

This is what the beta program is for. We look forward to your insights.

Quick recap

We’ve come a long way with our open-source project since May 2019, with 287 pull-requests merged in our GitHub repository digitalbitbox/bitbox-base.

We’ve created our own build environment to produce a custom Linux disk image; collaborated with Mender to integrate over-the-air updates; built our own Middleware to manage the BitBoxBase and talk end-to-end encrypted with the BitBoxApp.

And that’s only the software stack.

We also designed a custom case with a glass top, integrated screen and capacitive touch buttons and created a hardware security module based on the BitBox02.

Testing, testing, testing

Now the BitBoxBase must stand up to reality, regular use and various environments. We are testing and building, but there’s nothing like the real world outside… with our beta testers.

Shipping

A lot of thought went into packaging. It’s stealthy outside, protects the BitBoxBase on the way and welcomes you in a professional manner on arrival. Take a look at this quick unboxing video.

Let us know how you get on.
Oh, Kanye
By: Terry Mansfield
Tags: Humor, Poetry, Poem, Kanye West, Politics

Oh, Kanye

Oh, Kanye, Kanye.

I blinked and missed

your campaign. But

’24 will be here before

you know it. And then

you can try it again.
How to Make the 2019 Word of the Year “Transparency”
By: Bryan Merica
Tags: Social Media

Disconcerting as it was to hear that Dictionary.com recently declared “misinformation” as the 2018 word of the year I also see it as a learning opportunity. I started to think how my I can use my work in digital media to help reverse the increasing trend of false information being spread. In our high-tech world of 24–7 connectivity in which brands and issues are increasingly competing for attention it is critical to ensure transparency and build trust. Companies need to maintain their brand integrity while trying to raise visibility and issue campaigns need to use messages and messengers that are seen as trustworthy.

A few thoughts on how to do that:

· Test your messages. Before carefully crafting your messages, it is critical to test them to make sure they resonate with your target audience and are perceived as credible. In your message testing you’ll want to gauge if your audiences feel the brand/product/issue is genuine and authentic. If so, they will be less likely to spread misinformation. If there is skepticism or doubt, you best be warned that half-truths or “fake news” may abound.

· Target your audiences.In order to do this, you need to know the demographics, geography and preferences of your target audience. This should not be “your best educated guess,” but rather it should be based on sound research and data that informs how and when to most effectively reach, educate and motivate your target audience. If you reach your audience through channels that they believe are respected and trustworthy there’s a greater chance your messages will not be misinterpreted.

· Personalize your message. Once you’ve targeted and segmented your audience personalize your message to make sure it’s coming from trusted, credible sources. If you’re using video choose spokespeople who your target audiences can identify with. And use different messengers in different mediums; you shouldn’t assume that everyone will be influenced by the messenger.

· Listen.Above all the most important piece of advice is to listen. Listen to what people are saying in the mainstream media, industry outlets, on blogs and social media. Listen as much as you can so that if you remotely suspect there is misinformation being spread about your brand or issue you can move fast and assertively to correct it.

Regardless of whether people intend to mislead others when spreading misinformation there’s an inherit problem with this growing trend. Looking ahead, it will be even more important to have a transparent and targeted digital campaign to make sure a brand or issue is not being misinterpreted. I completely agree with Dictionary.com that said “ the rampant spread of misinformation poses new challenges for navigating life in 2018. Our #WordOfTheYear2018 isn’t just any word. It’s a call to action.” I’m hopeful that with the spotlight being shed on the vast amount of “misinformation” we can make 2019 the year of transparency.
Exploring LiveData and Kotlin Flow
By: Siva Ganesh Kantamani
Tags: Programming, AndroidDev, Software Development, Livedata, Kotlin

What is LiveData?

In simple terms, Live data is an observable data holder class — meaning livedata can hold a set of data that can be observed from other android components like activities, fragments and services.

Live data is lifecycle aware — once the component which is observing data is destroyed or not active, livedata stops publishing data to that observer. This solves many conventional problems for Android developers.

Most of the developers use livedata in MVVM Architecture to communicate or transmit data from the ViewModel to view. This ensures a lifecycle aware communication between them by reducing memory leaks.

Advantages of using LiveData:
1 a.m. Concert
By: Jenny N Olson
Tags: Thoughts And Feelings, Heartbreak, Relationships, Poetry, Life

Awake at 1 a.m.

Headphones inserted

Floating on thoughts filled with music

My lyrics differ though

I pray you do lie awake for me

You… in the distance

Feeling drunk while sober

l approach a door your

subconscious cracked open



You don’t realize you’re ready for visitors

You weren't expecting me

I’ll be gentle

Existing on a higher frequency than others,

it seems there lives another who shares my gift(curse)

My curiosity is aroused

A blush forms on my cheeks

An inexorable longing takes over

I lay back, drifting off…

A flurry of music and images

Tides of unexpected calm cover me

Rocking me

Protecting me from afar
Liquid Moments
By: Paul Mulliner
Tags: Mindfulness, Self, Awareness, Poetry, Life

As life passes by,

there’s a flow,

a living stream drifting slow,

as impressions, feelings, moments

occur briefly in an inward space

before fading

like footprints on a windy, snowy road

or echoes of the clank of distant rigging

that linger,

while rain clouds blow

across the sky.

Like light reflected

from a nearby mirror

that shimmers on the ceiling,

or like smoke that drifts through space

making shadows

and blending with the morning air,

there’s no way to hold experience,

it’s always slipping through our fingers

like water slipping through a grating.

And sometimes,

there are those moments,

like reflected sunlights’ dance,

or your laughing glance,

in the mirror of the café

where we met,

moments transient,

inexpressible,

when all experiencing seems joined,

into the one shared heart

of our being

and all life breathes

with one breath.

And though

the moments of our life

can seem lost forever

like smoke blown into the wind,

all our experiences

are woven into the fabric

of a conscious Universe,

and all that is known

and experienced

becomes memories

the Universe has of itself.
Testing a Smart Contract on Morpheus Labs BPaaS
By: Morpheus Labs Team
Tags: Bpaas, Smart Contract Blockchain, Technology, Blockchain, Technical Writing

Testing is an integral part of a software development process that allows us to inspect the outcomes of the program and gives us confidence at the time of software distribution to end-users.

In the previous article, we illustrated building a lottery contract on Morpheus Labs BPaaS. Today, we will talk about testing your work. In this way, we ensure the contract works as we designed it to.

Setting up the application directory.

First of all, we must set up Truffle. Truffle is a suite of tools that makes the testing, deployment, and overall development of Smart Contracts way easier.

There is no need to install the truffle suite as it is already in the stack selected in our workspace. However, there is some set up to do.

First, let’s open a new terminal tab in our CDE.

Clicking the + icon at the bottom, and select terminal.

We are going to make use of the command truffle init.

The truffle init command must be run in an empty directory, but our app directory already has the file lottery.sol.

We will temporarily create an empty directory which we would call temporaryDir to run the command.

After the initiation process runs, we will have a set of directories and configuration files that will aid us in our development process. However, we should place them in our app directory by running the commands.

Our sample file structure should look like this:

As we can see, there is another file called Migrations.sol located in the contracts directory. This file is created by truffle, and it is actually a smart contract designed for the deployment of our contracts.

Finally, we must compile our contract by running the command in the environment set up before creating the tests.

This command will create a new directory called builds, which will include .JSON files that describe the contracts written in solidity as an ABI and Bytecode.

Creating the tests

Truffle comes with a framework to automate tests, based on Mocha.

We will write a javascript test file that accesses our lottery contract and interacts with it over an Ethereum local test network, that runs every time we run our tests.

First create a new file under the test directory by right-clicking it, selecting new, and then file.

In lottery.js, we create 5 tests to verify the following:

Assert that the manager_address and deployer_address are the same

A new player can enter the lottery

A new player to the lottery sends more than 0.1 ether to join

a player cannot call the selectWinner function

The manager can call the selectWinner function

In your DApp, you can specify your own tests based on the intentions of your smart contract and verify it in a similar format.

Running the tests

Be sure that we are located in our lotteryapp directory in the terminal. Now, let’s run the next command to start our tests.

If all the test pass successfully, we should see an output similar to:

Now that these tests have passed, we can be more confident in the deployment of our contract, which we will talk about in the next article.
Robinhood Opens Crypto Trading for New Yorkers
By: Tanaya Macheel
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Business, Fintech, Technology

Robinhood Opens Crypto Trading for New Yorkers

Customers can now invest in seven cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ethereum, and track price movements and news for 10 other crypto assets.

Source: Robinhood

Robinhood Crypto is set to launch for residents of New York State Thursday.

The New York launch comes five months after Robinhood, which was initially founded as a free consumer stock-trading app, received a virtual currency activities license (aka the BitLicense) and a money transmitter license from New York State.

“We’ve introduced millions of people to equity investing on Robinhood, and want to do the same for everyone interested in crypto, so launching in New York is a crucial next step,” Josh Elman, VP of product, told Cheddar by email Wednesday.

Robinhood has been adamant about its plans to “democratize access to the American financial system” — something of a chorus among fintech startups. Operating in New York is obviously an integral part of achieving mainstream and institutional adoption, with 20 million consumers and the largest financial hub in the world.

Historically, New York regulators have been more rigorous in their approach to cryptocurrency businesses than other states, an unpopular approach among many in the crypto industry. But industry leaders, including Robinhood, Square, Circle, and Coinbase and others, hope that by complying with New York’s requirements, they can bring crypto closer to the incumbent financial system. New York has granted BitLicences to 18 companies since introducing the license in 2015.

When Robinhood first introduced its zero-commission cryptocurrency trading service in January 2018 it became something of a gateway drug for users who would then move on to other Robinhood products like equities and options.

“We heard from lots of our customers that they want crypto to be a part of their investment strategy,” Elman said.

Robinhood Crypto customers can currently invest in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Dogecoin on Robinhood Crypto and track price movements and news for 10 other crypto assets.

The fintech startup is valued at $5.6 billion, after its last funding round which closed in March 2018. Robinhood has raised $539 million in capital to date and last fall revealed it’s preparing for an eventual IPO.

The company now boasts six million users in the U.S. across the platform, compared to four million this time last year. Crypto trading is available in 39 states, compared to 16 last year. The company declined to specify how many of its users are active on Robinhood Crypto.
Local Christian Abstains From Sex Before Marriage To Get Into Heaven
By: Ryan Fan
Tags: Humor, Satire, Christianity, Self, Religion

Self-proclaimed Christian and 40-year old bachelor, Mark Hall, sits in service on Friday urging the value of abstinence in faith.

“I’m going to Heaven because I don’t have sex before marriage,” Hall screams to the congregation. “Paul preaches in Corinthians that sexual immorality is going to put you in hell.”

Hall’s zeal about abstinence has led him to speak at school assemblies about the perils of sex before marriage, and having volunteers pass out purity rings to all who take the abstinence pledge. He has even pioneered a task force at the local high school, for students to document peers who are suspected of having sex.

Hall has gathered members in his congregation to gather at areas where sex workers congregate, lambasting them for their sin. When interrogated by Pastor John about whether he was being too unforgiving and merciless, Hall was unrelenting.

“They are doing the devil’s work,” he said. “A real man of God would denounce these heathens immediately.”

At last Sunday’s service, Hall interrupted Pastor John’s sermon and shouted at him from the back of the room after Pastor John urged congregation members to love God and love others, telling him that no human being is pure. After Pastor John, a married man with two kids, admitted that he struggles with sexual temptation towards men, Hall made sure to yell homophobic slurs for ten consecutive minutes at the pastor.

“We need new leadership,” Hall said. “And I’m the only real Christian in the congregation.”

Congregation member, Joe Fisher, admitted fear of Hall and his zealotry. Fisher expressed exasperation at Hall’s influence within the church, and spoke to fears that other congregation members had in speaking out against Hall.

“Look, I don’t think any man of God should be calling another man a faggot,” Fisher said. “If he keeps this up, I’m just going to go to a different church.”

Hall has completely disregarded Joshua Harris, purity culture’s pioneer, and his 2018 statement reneging on values of purity and abstinence at the expense of loving others.

“He was right 20 years ago,” Hall said. “Now he’s gone to the devil and is going to burn in hell.”

Meanwhile, a couple miles above, God is shaking his head at Hall’s behavior, and has recently added Hall to His excel sheet titled “Hell”.
A Story of the Tree Spirits
By: Melissa Bee
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Nature, Narrative Poetry, Poetry, Photography

Poetry

A narrative poem told through photographs

Photo credit: author

Deep within the shade of an abundant orchard

kindred silent spirits absorb all the tortured

blended in the highs and lows of tints and tones

they chatter together, they hear the groans

unable to make sense of spurred cyclones

then another one stumbles and crumbles

evil shadows seize allies

talk is lost — red disguised

failed gestures

spirits agonize

Photo credit: author

Unabating pain and suffering

jaded spirits embrace blustering

reality — lightening thundering

brilliance through the tiniest openings

simmering soaring flames of anger

smothering into calm yellow somber

Photo credit: author

the spirits teeter between tears and mud

as a force pulls them to a balanced flood

of life and death and magisterial rest

feelings of failure drain the oppressed

the magical hearts yearn to decompress

along on the journey but dormant —

they confess

Photo Credit: author

A sacred peace

short, while spirits sleep

endangered sanity keeps

hope alive in leave heaps

decompose to nourish

strive into a fresh flourish

spirits shall resume

the old time

talk

but too many

cut and stumped—

bark

Photo credit: author

the spirits never cease grieving

but many stand strong leaving

while enduring frost heaving

their positive energy achieving

magic

inspire humans—

believing.
Introducing Bitfury’s New Brand
By: The Bitfury Group
Tags: Bitfury, Company Culture, Bitcoin, Blockchain

bitfury.com

Bitfury today proudly unveils a new logo and website that reflect the remarkable growth and success we have achieved over the past several years.

Bitfury began in 2011 as a handful of employees and a fast and furious, tiger-like focus on becoming the best security provider for the Bitcoin Blockchain. Today, we are a multinational company that leads the bitcoin and blockchain ecosystems, with team members in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States and datacenter operations in Canada, Norway, Iceland and the Republic of Georgia.

We have grown, and our mission has grown with us. We are now focused on promoting innovation in every sector by building out a full stack of secure and scalable blockchain and bitcoin services and products. We work every day to deliver the software and the hardware solutions necessary for businesses, governments, organizations and individuals to securely move assets across the blockchain.

We will always cherish our days as a young and hungry startup. But we have grown in ways that now require us to embrace a fresh approach. New look. Same ferocity and focus. We hope you like it. We certainly do!

Sincerely,

Valery Vavilov and the Bitfury Team

bitfury.com
3 Basic Steps to Resolve Bugs
By: Živković Miloš
Tags: Programming, Bugs, Scrum, Software Development, Git

3 Basic Steps to Resolve Bugs

How to resolve and prevent bugs

Photo by Nicole Wolf on Unsplash

Bugs Are Inevitable

Nobody likes buggy software, but still, we code on. Bugless software is impossible, resourceful, infeasible.

Everybody makes mistakes.

Most of the developers work on big systems. Minor change causes a ripple project-wide. You need to keep things in place even with new features.

Sometimes we get the code right, but it is not doing the right thing. Tests help document the software, create more stable software, clarify business requirements.

Let's go through generic methods you can apply, to prevent and resolve bugs.
Binance to delist some cryptocurrencies including BCN, CHAT, ICN, TRIG
Tags: Bytecoin, Binance, Bitcoin

The renowned and largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance, has chosen to delist some cryptocurrencies. These cryptocurrencies include BCN CHAT, ICN and TRIG. The step is taken to safeguard users from scams. Furthermore, Binance ensures that the project maintains quality on its platform, in the cryptocurrencies.

Binance conducts periodic reviews of quality on the listed cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and tokens on its platform. Furthermore, if the quality of any of these cryptocurrencies, or digital assets drop, they are subjected to review. Furthermore, if it fails, it delisted from the exchange.

About the Announcement

The announcement came from their official Twitter handle, and official website.

Binance stated on their official website about this. “Fellow Binancians, In order to protect our users, the Binance team conducts comprehensive and periodic reviews of each digital asset listed on our platform to ensure projects maintain a high standard of quality. In the event a coin or token falls below this quality standard, it will be subject to further review and potentially delisted.”

The company also informed about the factors on which they judge a cryptocurrency. Furthermore, they judge the cryptocurrency on the commitment of its team to the blockchain project. Also, they keep in the review, whether the project maintains quality and that the level of development activity going on.

Furthermore, coming to technical points, it takes in the review, the stability of the cryptocurrencies’ smart contract. It also judges the cryptocurrency project on social factors such as evidence of frauds or unethical activities or conduct. It sees how the project is helping the cryptocurrency ecosystem to become more healthy and open.

From 10:00 Am (UTC) of October 12, Binance will delist some of the existing cryptocurrencies on the platform. These cryptocurrencies include Bytecoin (BCN), ChatCoin (CHAT), Iconomi (ICN), and Triggers (TRIG). Moreover, users will be able to withdraw these coins till November 12, 2018.
All about product careers
By: Robert Drury
Tags: Product Management, Software Development, Product Manager, Book Recommendations, Product Owner

All about product careers

6 books to help you get the role of your dreams

Getting a career in product management requires all the common areas of attention (CV writing, interview preparation, and career planning) and then domain specific knowledge to prepare for the role and the transition into them.

Product managers are prepared, organised, and know the goals they need to achieve, which is all perfect preparation for interviewing for your dream role.

Here are six books that give real insight into what you need to consider and how to go about it, and you can find more in the Careers section on the Getting Started in Product bookstore.
How do Blockchain assets truly derive their value?
By: Tenx Wallet
Tags: Tenx, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Blockchain

(This is re-post from TenX see the original post here)

Many people are not fully aware on how an asset derives its value. They believe it is purely a function of supply and demand. This however is only 1/3 of the full story.

Any Blockchain asset’s value is generally decided by 3 factors:

How many people are interested in the value = supply & demand The asset’s ability to generate profits for its holder = cashflow The holder’s ability to liquidate an asset = liquidity

While point 1 and 2 are generally quite easy to understand, the 3rd one can be quite crucial: If you own something that generates a lot of cashflow and a lot of other people want it, but you cannot get it to them, its value will be significantly lower than if it was easy to transport. One of the reasons why currencies in general prevailed over physical goods such as pigs, sheep or chicken is exactly this 3rd point.

Many cryptocurrencies have seen similar challenges in the past: A lot of people would love to own them and some of them also provide great internal value for its holder. Actually using and spending a coin/token in the “real world” however can be harder than one might think at first glance. If you look at Bitcoin’s dominance, this is mainly due to it being quite the only cryptocurrency so far, that can be used in at least a few stores and shops.

TenX’s mission is to make any blockchain asset spendable instantly. This will bring great value to any partner exactly because of this last factor. Token holders will see an uprise in their token value as it now not only has great demand from people and it has a use case, but also it is now spendable instantly through the TenX debit card system worldwide. Suddenly all 3 factors are maxed out from a value perspective and it is even more powerful as if an exchange lists a token, which has always shown to increase a token’s value.

How will this work in real life? A user downloads the free TenX app onto their mobile phone. They then create a wallet for a token and fund the account. They then order a virtual or physical card and can start spending their token straight away. It is a simple as that.

Exactly for that reason, TenX will announce many strategic partnerships over the next couple of days as it will be a WIN WIN for both.

For more info follow TenX’ on Social Media:

www.facebook.com/tenxwallet

www.twitter.com/tenxwallet

PS.: Should you have any questions, please post in the comments below. If you like the article, I would be very glad if you shared it with others, so we can make the world #cryptofit and get valid info in front of many readers.

The author Dr. Julian Hosp is the co-founder and CVO of TenX.

TenX (www.tenx.tech) is a Singapore based financial service that makes any Blockchain asset spendable instantly by offering a debit card payment system to its users on the frontend and by connecting any Blockchain at the backend.

TenX Whitepaper:

https://www.tenx.tech/whitepaper/tenx_whitepaper.pdf
Tokenbox Q2 2018 Report
By: Alexandra Petrova
Tags: Exchange, Tokenbox, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Tbxnews

Headcount increased from 19 to 24 people (Q1 vs Q2)

We’ve strengthened our Product development team with 2 more developers, 1 product owner, 1 system analyst and 1 dealing manager

Headcount filling percentage: 76%

Gender diversity: 28% female, 72% male

New hires: 5

IT & DESIGN TEAM

The hope and strength of Tokenbox, the almighty teams of IT&Design made it possible for the Alpha Version to go live. They fully implemented the following options:

Platform registration and e-mail verification

User authorization

Password reset

KYC procedure

Refer A Friend Bonus Programme

Adding funds to the Wallet — test mode (BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, XRP)

WIthdrawing funds from the Wallet — test mode

Design mockups and testing of the new Product website Home Page

LEGAL DEVELOPMENT & LICENSING

Tokenbox continues to build up its presence in different jurisdictions to provide legal and regulatory support for the launch and operations of the platform.

In April, 2018 Tokenbox set up TKNBX OU (registry code 14478337), a private limited company operating in Estonia, EU. In May 2018 we received 2 operating licenses to conduct the following activities:

Providing a virtual currency wallet service (FVR000143).

Providing services of exchanging a virtual currency against a fiat currency (FVR000171).

Through TKNBX OU we filed application for TOKENBOX trademark in the EU, and expects to extend trademark protection to the top potential markets in Q3.

Regulations in the crypto industry are evolving rapidly, and Tokenbox is actively monitoring such developments. Quadrat Enterprises Limited (company Number 117159), the Gibraltar-based subsidiary of Tokenbox currently in talks with leading legal advisors on its next steps in obtaining DLT license, and other potential options to support the offerings on the platform.

TOKENBOX IS GOING PLACES: EVENTS THAT WE’VE ENJOYED

In April Tokenbox co-founder and managing partner Vladimir Smerkis and Tokenbox Media director Ola Yaroshevsky hosted the Armenian Blockchain Forum in the beautiful city of Yerevan. Check the coolest photos with Suren Karayan, Minister of economic development of Armenia, Dirk Ahlborn, Hyperloop TT CEO and others here.

In May Pavel Salas, Tokenbox CEO spoke about the future of crypto assets’ management at the CHAINGES conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

At the end of May we visited one of the most exciting gatherings, which our media-friends from Cointelegraph organized tremendously. Thank you for having us at Blockshow, CT!

FIRSTHAND EXPERTISE: OUR COLUMNS AND TOP PUBLICATIONS
Our First Newsletter
By: Kristen Nadel
Tags: Advice, Relationships, LGBTQ, This Happened To Me, Life

Photo by Tristan Billet on Unsplash

Hello, everyone! Thank you for following this little queer publication. I say little, but it has been growing at a rapid pace. I truly appreciate all of the support.

As we are officially in Pride month, I want to extend a celebratory greeting to all of you in the LGBTQ+ community. This year has been a true test for all of us, but we will always prevail.

Reflecting on what is going on in the world today, it can be hard to find reasons to feel joyful. Pride is normally all about being carefree and living your truth.

I urge you to be kind to one another and do your best to be inclusive of everyone in our wonderful community. What we need more than ever is to come together.

Practice your kindness in other ways, too. Donate to social justice causes that you support. Spread the word about important issues. Remember, the first Pride was a riot.

Thank you for reading!

I Got Into a Fist-Fight with Transphobic Strangers

Why I Think I’m a Lesbian

I Almost Got Hit by a Speeding Car

Let’s Talk About Pride Month
JavaScript console is more than console.log()
By: Grigor Khachatryan
Tags: Programming, JavaScript, Tech, Debugging, Front End Development

One of JavaScript’s most straightforward approach to troubleshoot anything is to log stuff utilizing console.log. But the console provides many other methods that can help you debug better.

Let’s start with it. Logging a string or a lot of JavaScript objects is the very basic use case.

Just like this,

console.log('Where am I?');

Assume we have scenario when we have a lots of objects and need to log them into console.

const foo = { id: 1, height: '200px', width: '100px' };

const bar = { id: 2, height: '250px', width: '200px' };

Only console.log(variable) one after the other is the most intuitive way to log this. When we see how it appears on the console, the problem becomes more apparent.

Variable names are not visible

As you can see, variable names are not visible. Sometimes, it gets hard or annoying when you have lots of outputs and have to expand one by one each of them to understand which object or variable is it.

One solution to avoid this is to use console.log as this:

console.log({ foo, bar });

This also reduces the number of console.log lines in our code.

console.warn() & console.error()

Depending on the situation, you can add logs using console.warn() or console.error() to make sure that your console is more readable. In some browsers, console.info() also displays an ‘i’ icon.

console.error() and console.warn()

console.group()

This can be used when grouping or nesting together relevant details to enable you to read the logs easily.

This can also be used if you have a few log statements within a function and you want the scope of each statement to be clearly visible.

For example, if you log the details of a shopping cart:

console.table()

We can take this one step further by putting all these in a table together to make it more readable. Use console.table() every time you have objects with common properties or an array of objects. Console.table({foo, bar }) can be used here and the console displays:

console.table()

console.trace()

This will show you the call path taken to reach the point at which you call console.trace()

console.time()

Starts a timer you can use to track how long an operation takes. You give each timer a unique name, and may have up to 10,000 timers running on a given page. When you call console.timeEnd() with the same name, the browser will output the time, in milliseconds, that elapsed since the timer was started.

console.time()

console.clear()

Clears the console. The Console’s contents will be replaced with an informational message like “Console was cleared”.

console.dir()

console.dir is the way to see all the properties of a specified JavaScript object in console by which the we can easily get the properties of the object.

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Optimize Your Application With Redis Caching
By: Jason Yu
Tags: Redis, Programming, JavaScript, Caching, Learning To Code

Optimize Your Application With Redis Caching

One of your most important features is speed

Photo by Liam Briese on Unsplash

The role of a software engineer is more than building and creating new things. If you view your application like building and owning a house, you can imagine that it would require constant attention and maintenance. Now imagine that, after all that work, it took someone more than three seconds to get through any of the doorways. With any web application, the frustrations are mutual.

Many studies show that people will leave a page if it takes more than three seconds for it to load. In this era of widespread mobile use and shorter attention spans this has become especially true. Many applications are more than just static pages — all these moving parts mean many more things to load. Because of all this, optimizing load times has become increasingly important for any software engineer when creating and maintaining a successful website.

Every second counts!!

But where to start? There are so many strategies out there. The efficacy of each strategy varies depending on the application. Module bundling, minifying code, compressing images, using a content delivery network — all are valid techniques but each is used for a slightly different purpose.

In this article we’ll be covering one specific solution: caching. Caching is when recently used or transmitted data is temporarily stored in a way that allows for faster, future accessibility. Caching saves on application costs and creates a better experience for the users.

At the end of this article, I’ll be showing how you can implement your own cache using Redis.
We mostly value the same things — just in a different order
By: Ev Williams
Tags: Politics

We mostly value the same things — just in a different order Ev Williams · Nov 3

We often think that people who don’t agree with us on issues have different values. And when someone doesn’t value the same things we do — things we hold sacred — it can seem like they are broken, distorted, corrupt in some fundamental way that’s hard to understand. I think that's rarely the case.

For example, I bet there are very few people in the world who don’t value freedom, fairness, and a healthy environment. However, one person, if forced to choose, may say the order for priority is:

Freedom Fairness Environment

While another would stack rank thusly:

Environment Fairness Freedom

And yet another like this:

Fairness Environment Freedom

Ignore for a second that people also have different definitions of these things and what leads to their preservation. Even without that, these rather minor differences in value-ranking—due to upbringing, personal history, or culture —would likely lead (at least in today’s climate) to drastically different political stances, for it to seem like these three people don’t agree on anything. When in fact, they probably agree on a lot.

I don’t have any solution to that, but I do think it’s important to keep in mind: The person you vehemently disagree with probably values the same things you do — just in a different order.
How to Submit to Write Like A Girl
By: Zoe Yu
Tags: Submission, Feminism, Equality, Culture, Politics

What we look for

At Write Like A Girl, our overarching mission statement is to amplify and empower the voices and ideas of women through compelling stories. We love personal stories that resonate with readers, as well as pieces on everything from politics to poetry.

Above all, we write by this saying: “Every time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.”

Topics we focus on:

Feminism and women

Mental health

Culture, politics, and society

Equality

Life, love, and self

Gender-based violence

Fashion and style

Current events

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to take a look at our latest stories to see if your article would be a good fit. Here are some examples:

Keep in mind that you’re not limited to these topics. As long as it aligns with our themes, we’ll love it.
Indent Detector
By: Alex R. Young
Tags: Indentation, Scripts, Plugins

What’s the worst culprit for bad indentation that you’ve ever seen? For me Xcode springs to mind. Maybe Xcode isn’t inherently bad, but somehow when I open projects authored with it in Vim I see a ridiculous mix of tabs and spaces that makes no sense. I think it downplays the importance of keeping tab settings the same as the rest of your team. It really makes understanding diffs and pull requests on GitHub a messy process.

I recently found Indent Detector (GitHub: luochen1990/indent-detector.vim, License: MIT) by Luo Chen. It attempts to detect mixed indentation and show a warning on bufEnter and bufWrite . It also tries to switch the indentation settings to match the current style.

The time taken to detect indentation is limited, so opening large files shouldn’t lock up Vim. It also keeps quiet when readonly files are opened to avoid showing errors when reading help files.

This may help me deal with messy Objective-C in Vim, or at least avoid making the same mistakes in clean projects.
Germany, a culture in crisis
By: Abc News
Tags: Islam, Immigration, Germany, Syria, Refugees

Once dubbed the “most powerful woman in the world”, Chancellor Angela Merkel is reaping a bitter political reward after announcing Germany’s “Open Door” to a million refugees last year.

Her party suffered a drubbing in recent state parliamentary elections, while the surging anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) snared its first seats in Berlin’s Parliament.

Photojournalist Christopher Bobyn takes a sounding on the ground in Europe’s biggest economy, where the shock of Berlin’s election result is still resonating internationally.

“Can we do this?”

“Wir schaffen das,” or “we can do this”, was Ms Merkel’s call to action when Germany faced a massive influx of refugees last year.

Now with over a million refugees, and more arriving daily, the mantra for many Germans has become a series of questions — should we do this; can we afford this; are we safe; and can so many Muslims truly integrate into German society?

Ultimately, Germans are asking: “Who are we now?”
Lesson Twelve — Endings are Brutal
Tags: Breakups, Endings, Adultery, Cheating, Affairs

ADULTERY ACADEMY

Lesson Twelve — Endings are Brutal

Getting off the Roller Coaster

Affairs have timelines. When you start to get sick, it’s time to get off the roller coaster. If the pit in my stomach is because I don’t want to open your text or see you, it’s over.

I’ve had my share of endings. Some mutual.

This is rare.

My ex-lover was a mutual ending, kinda. He called it quits because of a new pressurized job and I bowed out. Crying in a parking lot is never easy.

Some not.

Like my ex who pulled the plug on me a year ago. “I decided I’m not going to see you anymore.”

I was shocked to say the least. I blinked back tears driving. It was a miracle I didn’t crash the car that day.

I pulled the plug on my three year affair a week ago. He was thrown for a loop even though I felt our affair was “ending” for months. I couldn’t find it in me to keep going with him. He’s angry and upset.

I get texts.

“I don’t understand why we can’t be together.”

“I’ll love you forever.”

How do I even answer? There aren’t any good reasons.

All endings suck.
Woman puts sanitation worker in the hospital for splashing water on her shoes
Tags: Wtf, Assholes, China, Shoes

Woman puts sanitation worker in the hospital for splashing water on her shoes

The cleaner apologized but that failed to quell the woman’s rage over her dirtied footwear

A sanitation worker was taken to the hospital on Monday with blood gushing from her head after allegedly upsetting a woman wearing a pair of purportedly very expensive shoes.

According to bystanders who witnessed the incident, which took place at seafood market in Sanya, Hainan province, an auntie cleaner had made the grave error of accidentally splashing some water on the woman’s pricey footwear.

While the auntie apologized, explaining that she hadn’t noticed anyone was there, the woman flew into a rage, scolding and even beating the cleaner over the head while declaring that her shoes were so expensive that she wouldn’t even be able to afford to compensate her for them.

Footage from the aftermath of the scene shows the cleaner with a bloody cloth over her head and her attacker being led away by police. However, none of the photos or videos actually show what the woman’s shoes look like.

Afterward, the sanitation worker was taken to the hospital with head injuries. Police are currently investigating the case.

“Wearing expensive shoes won’t hide your ugly heart,” wrote one Weibo user, summing up this tale.

[Images via Btime.com]
Augmented Reality in 10 Lines of HTML
By: Alexandra Etienne
Tags: Augmented Reality, Programming, Virtual Reality, Coding, HTML

Augmented Reality in 10 Lines of HTML

AR.js with a-frame magic

Do you want to do Augmented Reality on the web ? You can now do it in 10 lines of HTML! Seriously! Let me walk you thru the code, it’s crazy simple.

We released AR.js recently. You can experience efficient augmented reality for the web directly on your phone without installing any applications. But let’s go further and see how to produce your own augmented reality experience. The shortest example of AR.js is only 10lines of HTML thanks to the magic of a-frame. You can see it live on codepen:
Singing in the Sunshine
By: John Schupbach
Tags: Poetry, Squalor To Scholar, India, Spirituality, Religion

I eagerly returned to mass with the sisters this morning. I took with me the three new volunteers who arrived last Sunday night. We sat right behind the sisters. The sermon and hymns were scheduled to be in Hindi today. However, the priest and choir switched some parts of the service to English so that we could participate. It was a sweet gesture.

One of the English hymns they chose to sing, called “Here I Am Lord,” was particularly gripping.

However, my favorite hymn so far is one from last week. I can’t seem to find a recording of it, but these are the lyrics:

Walking with the Lord,

We are walking in the morning,

Lift up your hearts,

For you are walking with God.

Singing to the Lord,

We are singing in the sunshine,

Lift up our hearts,

For you are singing to God. Hand in hand with everyone,

We’re walking, walking,

Black and white and brown,

Together, walking, walking,

Singing new songs now,

Living new lives,

Building new bridges,

Walking distanct miles,

Well we’re walking with the Lord…. Rain and storm will not prevent us,

Walking, walking,

Faith and hope and love,

Will send us walking, walking.

Crossing all barriers,

Climbing all stiles,

Breaking through fences,

Walking distant miles,

Well we’re walking with the Lord….

Taking into account all of the current circumstances, I seems like a perfect soundtrack for the month. If anyone has heard it before, please chime in! I have had it stuck in my head all week.

Heather (Nova Scotia), Crystal (Saskatchewan), Natalie (California), and me with the priest

Once again, I met with nearly the entire congregation. We took pictures with the priest and some of the exceptionally welcoming parish members. We went home, changed, and headed out to the slum for our meeting with the parents.
Worst Locust Swarms in 70 yrs Cause Crop Devastation in Kenya
By: Darren Smith
Tags: Locust, Satellite Technology, Natural Disasters, Agriculture, Pest Control

Figure B: Locust swarm transit paths and distribution since late December 2019 (Credit FAO).

About Soar.Earth

The world's maps and satellite/aerial images have a big problem. 80% of this content is found only through direct channels, often via enterprise or government level services. Meaning that currently not only is getting the right map data difficult but in most cases time consuming, inaccurate and expensive. There are Petabytes of data out there that only a small fraction of people get to see and use. Imagine if we could unleash this to the masses and truly democratise its outputs? With Soar, we are creating the world's first civilian mapping platform that is capable of map data viewing, analysis, and sharing. Our goal is to build a unified platform where users can access everything from near real-time satellite imagery, historical aerial imagery, archival to pographic or geological maps (and more!), all in one place. We are building the world’s biggest index of maps and imagery and you can contribute. Please visit us at soar.earth to learn

more.