fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Multilayer Perceptron model vs CNN
By: Saumyadeepta Sen
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural Networks, NLP

Multilayer perceptrons are sometimes colloquially referred to as “vanilla” neural networks, especially when they have a single hidden layer. — MLP Wikipedia

A multilayer perceptron (MLP) is a class of feedforward artificial neural network. A MLP consists of at least three layers of nodes: an input layer, a hidden layer and an output layer. Except for the input nodes, each node is a neuron that uses a nonlinear activation function. MLP utilizes a supervised learning technique called backpropagation for training. Its multiple layers and non-linear activation distinguish MLP from a linear perceptron. It can distinguish data that is not linearly separable.

Multilayer Perceptron (MLP)

This is used to apply in computer vision, now succeeded by Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). MLP is now deemed insufficient for modern advanced computer vision tasks. It has the characteristic of fully connected layers, where each perceptron is connected with every other perceptron. The disadvantage is that the number of total parameters can grow to very high (number of perceptron in layer 1 multiplied by # of p in layer 2 multiplied by # of p in layer 3…). This is inefficient because there is redundancy in such high dimensions. Another disadvantage is that it disregards spatial information. It takes flattened vectors as inputs. A light weight MLP (2–3 layers) can easily achieve high accuracy with MNIST dataset.

Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)

The incumbent, current favorite of computer vision algorithms, winner of multiple ImageNet competitions. Can account for local connectivity (each filter is panned around the entire image according to certain size and stride, allows the filter to find and match patterns no matter where the pattern is located in a given image). The weights are smaller, and shared — less wasteful, easier to train than MLP. It is more effective too, can also go deeper. Layers are sparsely connected rather than fully connected. It takes matrices as well as vectors as inputs. The layers are sparsely connected or partially connected rather than fully connected. Every node does not connect to every other node.
Look out 2021! Your Money Might Take a Plunge in Value
By: Brandon Wang
Tags: Money, Economics, Finance, Investing, Saving

The Reason Banks Want Inflation

Governments and central banks want to maintain a healthy amount of inflation for a few reasons. The first of which is that it encourages spending and consumerism and creates a healthy economy. If we can buy more socks today, we’re definitely more likely to go out and spend our money instead of saving it. The second reason is to help get rid of their debt. As of 2020, America’s national debt is over $27 trillion and growing each day. The prices of goods, services, and wages all rise with inflation. Debt is one of the only things that will not increase along with inflation. In this way, the government will be able to shrink their debt as inflation makes the value of their debt decrease.

One of the tools central banks and governments use is basically just printing more money or currency. A $100 bill is really just a piece of paper that we trust to have a certain value. We trust that these central banks and governments will back up the value held in these slips of paper. Throughout history, we’ve had many examples of what happens when this trust is lost or destroyed.

A very recent example of this happened in Zimbabwe. Most people know that in Zimbabwe their currency is almost worthless. In fact, most people are millionaires in Zimbabwe dollars which is equivalent to a few thousand USD. The currency in Zimbabwe completely collapsed as people lost trust in their government and hyperinflation set in. This can be worrisome to a lot of people especially if we start to see any signs of hyperinflation in America.

Inflation makes all our money go down in value and in effect, we’re able to buy less socks despite technology making it easier and cheaper to manufacture socks. Despite this, the governments and central banks still want inflation. These same governments and central banks literally created 20% of all the currency that exists today in the past twelve months. Yes, that should sound at least a little crazy to you. $1 has been magically created for every $5 that existed prior to 2020.
The Way of The Dog
By: Mary Ann Lopez
Tags: Self Improvement, Mindfulness, Life Lessons, Life, Success

Recently my uncle sent me a letter. Knowing I was searching for a new position, he shared the well-known survival of the fittest story about the lion and gazelle. “It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

While that image of the gazelle having to outrun the cheetah, lion or whatever predator it must beat to see another day, has been used as a motivator for those in business for many years, the image it conjures for me is one of predator or prey. To succeed, one needs to kill, beat, outmaneuver your competition.

I appreciate my uncle’s concern and attempt to motivate me. It’s noted and understood. In theory, it makes a lot of sense. A person will not get anywhere if they are lazy or not ready to pounce on opportunities. Still, I think I would rather follow my dog Sadie and her approach to life.
6 Inescapable Truths for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
By: Jack Krier
Tags: Personal Growth, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Business, Startup Lessons

1. The 1,000-day rule

Happy days, you’ve read The 4-Hour Workweek and fallen in love with the idea of “lifestyle design.”

You have internalized the concepts of Pareto, automation, geo-arbitrage, and delegation. You’re ready to venture out into the world with a great business idea and the tools to make it succeed.

I don’t want to crush your dreams.

As a matter of fact, I believe in Tim Ferriss’ methods. Many of them have yielded remarkable results for my businesses over the years.

As an example, I saved hundreds of hours by streamlining my client response process — freeing up time to focus on the actual business.

In that same vein, I love the idea of replacing unproductive, monotonous office hours with passionate endeavors such as skydiving and flirting in Brazilian Portuguese.

There is, however, one critical element missing from Ferriss’ bestseller: the 1,000-day rule.

First established by TropicalMBA, the 1,000-day rule has gained a lot of recognition over the years.

According to this theory, it will take 1,000 days before you are better off with your business than you were in your corporate job.

Consequently, your business will need 3 years before becoming successful enough to enable you to fully design the content of your life and to “live the dream.”

Especially when it comes to online business, most ventures require huge time investments before making any dollars.

This was the case for my travel blog. It took 2 years before getting significant traffic and 3 years before consistently making over 1,000 $ a month.

After that, I failed to devise a new growth strategy and the blog stagnated.

I should stress that I worked on this blog for at least 5 hours a day throughout its 4-year existence. You don’t need to be a mathematician to see that this was an appalling hourly rate.

Unsurprisingly, I became demotivated after 3.5 years and sold most of its content to other blogs and freelance clients in late 2019.

Even though I made a decent chunk by selling off the blog’s best-performing articles, I now see this venture as a case of misjudged expectations.

The blog is now obsolete but I have learned my lesson: the road to success is long and onerous, and you have to be prepared to suffer for 3 years before spending the bulk of your time living life to the fullest.
We Need to Talk About Carrie
By: Emily Von Hoffmann
Tags: Travel, Photography, Mental Health

Emily von Hoffmann: How did the idea for your artist exhibition photobook, “Notes From My Therapist,” arise? Can you describe its concept for our readers?

Carrie Thompson: I made Notes From My Therapist from 2012–2015. I was so unhappy. I was starving physically and mentally. I spent my days surviving, not living. I decided to try therapy. Because my mom was a therapist, I’ve always disliked therapy. She made me go as a child. I was very good at convincing them I was just fine. This time I wanted to be open and honest in the hope that I would be able to live more than just survive.

I wanted to stay invested in the therapy, so I asked my therapist if she could please talk to me the way she would talk to a friend. I did not want to hear psychobabble. She did as much as she could and I was thankful. She started giving me notes at the end of our sessions. The notes were things I said or themes from our session. Soon after, I also asked her to start making portraits of me. She seemed as vulnerable taking the photos as I was telling her about my struggle. It was a collaborative process.
The Reminiscence
By: Yash Prakash
Tags: Romance, Poetry, Its Complicated, Poem, Love

The Reminiscence

Free Verse — It’s Complicated: Lit Up & TWC Contest

Met you after a long time

Expecting to feel nothing

But my heart betrayed my resolve

When it beat with the same alacrity,

It surged to feel that warmth again,

Nerves beginning to dance on its whim,

And in that moment of reminiscence,

Bound your bewitching smile to my incorrigible heart, again.

But I knew I had to reign my senses in,

It was dangerous to walk that path,

But the heart wants what it wants,

Even if it ends up wanting alone,

Therein I decided, whatever be the outcome,

It was now or never,

Sighing with the breath ineffable,

Of every emotion that she reinflamed,

My lips began to move in earnest,

Surrendering all my feelings arcane,

It was when my throat had succumbed

To relaying every last word it had meant to,

That she held up her hands, and

A simple gesture meant to placate the heart

Ended up setting fire to mine,

And then, in the blink of an eye,

She had wrapped her arms around me,

Her tears soaking my shirt,

Her sobs wrecking my battered heart,

And then came the words

That my dismayed self

Would have never reckoned,

The sunshine shattered the storm

Of my racing heart away,

When she, in all her omnipresent beauty,

said, “I feel the same way!”

-Yash Prakash
The Farmhouse
By: Josh Petersen
Tags: Short Story, Fiction, Quick Reads, Writing, Science Fiction

The sound of crunching gravel could be heard beneath the wheels of the old, rust-stained Chevy as its headlights cut through the starless night.

George Wilford sat in silence as he drove. What was Jerry up to? He wondered. Calling him to come over in the middle of the night. Apparently, unable to tell him anything over the phone.

The farmhouse was dark, except for a single porch light.

George parked and went to hop out. Before his boots hit the dirt Jerry came bursting out his front door carrying a lantern and…

George squinted his eyes against the darkness. Was that a shotgun? What had he gotten himself into?

“It’s in the barn,” Jerry explained through heavy breathing.

The barn door had been locked with a chain and padlock. Jerry produced the key from his pocket and led George inside.

Hay had been scattered across the barn floor revealing a small door in the ground. Most barns in the area had the same setup. It was a tornado shelter.

A rake had been shoved through the handle across the door to keep whatever was down there locked in.

Jerry handed George the shotgun, ready to fire. He crouched down grabbing hold of the rake and explained, “When I remove this you fire at the thing. Don’t hesitate. He’s a quick bugger.”

Jerry dragged out the rake and tore open the door.

From the dark depths below a man stared up at George which caused him to do exactly what Jerry said not to, he hesitated.

But how could he not? He wasn’t just staring at any man. He was staring at a second Jerry. There were two of them. Eerily identical.

“Wha — ” George hesitated for a moment lowering the gun.

Long fingers — alien like — gripped the top of the ladder, and the creature pulled himself out of the shelter.

That’s the moment the real Jerry noticed George’s fingers. Long and mutated, curled around the trigger of the shotgun. The shotgun that was now pointed at his head.

Bang.
Local Neighborhood Mochi
By: Sam Nakahira
Tags: Sam Nakahira, Japanese Food, Mochi, Japan, Comics

​I make comics about things that interest me: history, food, dreams, and more. https://www.samnakahira

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ของใหม่. อะไรที่มักจะมากับของใหม่?
Tags: Teamwork, Software Testing, Agile, Software Development

Product Craftsmanship

Everything I know, I try, and I Fail About Making A Product…
Light Behind The Clouds. Light Behind The Clouds
By: Ani Vidrine
Tags: Personal Growth, Mindfulness, Spirituality, Poetry, Nature

Light Behind The Clouds

Poems From The Porch

It is quite humid this morning, something to be expected in summer, but it hasn’t been the norm this year. The air is finally still, and I feel the same stillness in me, too.

The sunlight only momentarily reached the vines that I have woven through the porch rails. It made my heart smile to see the splash of brightness on this cloudy day. It reminded me that there is light behind the clouds.

Now there is a little brown and grey bird hopping in the crepe myrtles. Did the wind take their blossoms? I don’t see them on the ground. Maybe they were lifted up and distributed elsewhere. I hope they enjoyed the ride, felt the freedom and exhilaration of flight, like I do in dreams, sometimes.

Their sojourn on the trees was interrupted by a random event, like the young family who was driving together a few weeks ago when another vehicle overcame them and started shooting at their car; or like my friends who weren’t able to breathe when they walked outside their homes because of the sparks that became raging wildfires; or like my classmate who was blown across a room in her home when an explosion shattered the windows and made the city all but uninhabitable.

What about the man who smothered under the knee of a policeman? I didn’t know him personally, but I’m thinking that he didn’t expect to die that day. And then there is my friend who has been diagnosed with ALS and my friend, his wife, who must work to keep up the insurance that pays for his care. It seems worth mentioning that we are in the midst of a pandemic and massive political strife.

There is a sense that these random events are escalating and that we, as a collective, are about to implode. Some people attribute these happenings to a disgruntled deity, creating a narrative of retribution. That feels like darkness to me, rather than the Light that I know is there. It seems that finding a reason for chaos makes it appear manageable, but it isn’t, and never will be.

Chaos and impermanence are the states in which we live. We breathe in, breathe out, pause. We pant, and we hold our breath, and we question the nature of breathing as we wait for the next inhale. All of us are control freaks. Breathing is simply a gift.

I know this, so I relax into my next breath, and I realize, in the stillness, that I am grieving. The whole world is in a state of grief, so we try to find order in chaos. Our pain is palpable, and we are crying, although sometimes the tears are shed through anger.

I wonder if the crepe myrtles are grieving the loss of their blossoms, too. I’d like to think they are because there is comfort in knowing that we are all in this together. I want to reassure them that the sun is still shining behind the clouds and that they will bloom again, but they may not be ready to hear it.
Are You Uncoordinated, but Want a Job Where You Can Exercise?
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Exercise, Parody, Jobs, Job Search, Humor

Are You Uncoordinated, but Want a Job Where You Can Exercise?

We have the perfect gig for you.

See this? Don’t let people take photos of this. Photo by Chris Slupski on Unsplash

Wanted: People to jump in front of the TV screens displaying roller coaster photos.

Job Description: Are you uncoordinated, but understand the benefits of getting some exercise? Are you too shy to go to the gym around all those people who huff and puff and seem to know what they’re doing? Do you live in constant fear that someone will kick your ass for not wiping down the elliptical? Do you pretty much just use the treadmill, because you’re unsure how to use the other equipment?

Do we have the job for you!

You see, during roller coasters, a camera goes off and takes your picture. And we want to sell those photos for a really absurd price. However, because of cell phones, people now just take a picture of our picture, and go on their merry way.

That’s where you come in!

You don’t have to be graceful. You don’t have to be an athlete. You just need to be able to photobomb the crap out of people’s good times!

Throw an arm up there, or an elbow. Make an ugly face! Lacking grace, poise, and athletic abilities is a huge plus for this job. You may have to jump ever so slightly, but it’s wholly unnecessary.

Can you move sideways like a crab and put your arms out like a starfish?! Then YOU qualify!

This job will provide you with hours of exercise. Oh, and we have a camera watching you as well, so if you do not wave your hands and jump around every time you see a cell phone, then that is grounds for firing you.

Welcome to our family!

Pay: $12/hour, and one food voucher per shift.

Education required: At least, I dunno, a Masters? But in a liberal art.

How to apply: We can’t legally require footage of you jumping around like a starfish-crab, but if you were to record yourself flailing about, post that on social media, and then drop a hint as to where to find said video, then that would be something you did on your own, not something we asked for explicitly. Let me reiterate: We are not directly asking you for footage of your mobility.

We will require a social media background check, however, so if a photo of you moving like a sea creature should just so happen to appear, we would have stumbled upon it organically.

Benefits: Exercise, low pay, a food voucher for fried junk, having to wear our uniform, and your friends who visit the park will definitely think you’re a tool.

Apply today!
Links We Like, 6/18: Your story is the key. 🔑
Tags: Links We Like, Storytelling, Featured, Film, Photography

There’s a story of creativity and passion behind every project on Kickstarter, and we’re constantly in awe of that. No matter how you choose to share your story –– with great images, or a powerful narrative, the links below are sure to inspire.

1.) If a picture is worth one thousand words… what are your thousand words?

Photographer Thomas Holton

2.) Passion & planning will always set you apart.

Peak Design’s Everyday Messenger Bag

3.) “How do you want to present yourself and your story to the world?” — Liz Cook, our Documentary Film Outreach Lead

Kickstarter Film Festival 2013

4.) Passion boosts entrepreneurs’ creativity and persistence. Experience your feelings & succeed!

5.) Tell us YOUR Kickstarter story!

Tweet us your story! Follow Kickstarter Tips!
Re-Inventing The wheel of Public and Private API’s via API-Gateway
By: Yash Kumar Shah
Tags: Load Balancer, Https, Api Gateway, AWS, DevOps

How we solved the Spring Boot Actuator exposing data via whitelisting certain API’s using API-Gateway. Spring boot Application has some problem that they Explicitly expose APIs in Spring Data Rest.

Problem Statement

Majorly some micro-service that are client facing and are Used by some another micro-service, Need to be having both Internal-facing and Internet-facing Load Balancer. The internal loadbalancer reduces the api call by ms and thus the reducing the latency.

We at BharatPe Re-Invented the wheel by making all our API’s internal, So far the client facing API’s that need to be called via Internet. We Use the Api-Gateway Integration with the Internal Load-Balancer and allowed only specific [Method] , Specific [URI] to be called upon. Rest Hiding the critical and internal API’s from Rest of the World.

Let’s Jump on the Implementation

We Re-Invented the wheel on our Recharge API’s. We created a Load-Balancer internal Facing.

2. On Top of it we added API Gateway With Integration with Load-Balancer using VPC-Link

So what the heck is VPC Link

It is responsible for forwarding API method requests to the VPC resources and returns backend responses to the caller. For an API developer, a VpcLink is functionally equivalent to an integration endpoint. VPC links enable you to create private integrations that connect your HTTP API routes to private resources in a VPC, such as Application Load Balancers or Amazon ECS container-based applications.

You can expose your resources in a VPC for access by clients outside of the VPC by using private integrations. You can control access to your API by using JWT authorizers

Creating VPC Link

1. To Create a VPC Link Click on API-Gateway -> VPC-Link

VPC Link Landing Page

2. Select the option VPC Link For HTTP APIs and fill in the detailed info with the vpc link , vpc in which you want to link your private subnets to the API-Gateway. At, Last select the private subnets and security group that you want.

Till now you have created the vpc link and from now on you can move on to create your api-gateway. The complete journey requires a lot of hands-on.

API-GATEWAY

Amazon API Gateway enables you to create and deploy your own REST and WebSocket APIs at any scale. You can create robust, secure, and scalable APIs that access AWS or other web services, as well as data that’s stored in the AWS Cloud. You can create APIs to use in your own client applications, or you can make your APIs available to third-party app developers.
TREES
By: Shirley Jimenez
Tags: One Line, One Line Poetry Prompt, Chalkboard

I’m as old as the earth itself, I see horror, joy and laughter. Many take refugee underneath my comforting bosom. Many lives come and go but I’ll stay here rooted, a silent testimony how human treat nature.

Your Turn

THEME: [ TREES ]

Share your own one-line poem on the theme as a response to this post, or write a stand-alone piece if you prefer. Tag your piece “One Line” and, if you have a stand-alone poem, be sure to leave a link in the response section below.

FYI: Responding to this or any Chalkboard prompt adds you to the prompt notification list.
Hedge Connect — Fully-Managed Blockchain Networking
By: Daniel Hoffmann
Tags: Product Launch, Staking, Networking, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

We recently announced our new, more focused mission — help developers everywhere build the next generation of blockchain-powered applications. The first step in achieving this was launching our key management and custody product, Hedge Secure. Managing keys remains one of the biggest challenges for the masses and we are continuing to work with customers to reduce the complexities surrounding them. For the next step in achieving our mission, we’re focusing on another critical piece of decentralized infrastructure — networking.

Hedge Connect: Fully-Managed Blockchain Networking

Introducing Hedge Connect: A fully-managed platform for deploying blockchain nodes. With a just a few clicks, users can be up and running with public or private nodes to a variety of protocols including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tezos, EOS, Decred, and more. Connect takes care of storage, load balancing, security, and monitoring in a matter of minutes.

By giving developers an easy, secure way to manage keys and providing them with a fast, secure gateway to use them we’re advancing the industry. The resources necessary to stand up and manage this infrastructure internally is extremely cost prohibitive and by eliminating the complexity of both networks and keys, we can enable a new group of developers and companies to build on these decentralized networks. Pairing our Secure and Connect products allow developers to go from idea to proof-of-concept faster than ever.

A variety of use-cases are a perfect fit for this product pair but one in particular has us really excited — staking. Network participation is quickly becoming a critical piece in the future of decentralized networks and for that to work, it comes down to two pieces:

Secure, readily available keys Fast, reliable networking

Hedge Secure gives you hardware-backed keys that are available when you need them while Hedge Connect ensures you’re always connected, helping secure the network you are participating in.

Hedge Connect is launching in beta and during it pricing will remain free for a limited amount of customers who sign up. We want to work closely with users to ensure their success and that we are providing the best managed product we can. We invite anyone to sign up and let us know how Hedge Connect can help your project or business.
A Preposterous Corbynian Future Would Nationalise Our Homes
By: Russell Quirk
Tags: Jeremy Corbyn, UK Politics, Property

Three months ago it was preposterous to think that the Labour party membership would be so antagonistic as to elect a man to its leadership that would swerve them so far to the left that it would make Michael Foot look like one of Nigel Farage’s drinking buddies.

But happen, it has. And now that Corbyn is at the head of the second biggest political party in Westminster with an albeit vague shout for the top job in the land in 2020, what could this mean for the UK property market?

A Corbynian future would certainly see our energy companies, communications firms and transport returned to public ownership. He’s made that back-to-the-future pledge already. The rail companies, electric and gas conveyers would be swiftly consigned to mere articles in business text books and we would ‘look forward’ to British Rail, British Gas and perhaps even British Leyland, being resurrected from the nationalised dead. Ministers would be compelled to be chauffeured around in a 2021 model Austin Princess and would always be late for photo-calls because they’d broken down on the way. Same if they took the train really.

This got me thinking about other matters literally even closer to home. With his apparent penchant for all things communistic, could Jeremy Corbyn as PM also move to nationalise our homes? After all, JC’s posthumous mate Mr Karl Marx once didn’t say something along the lines of ‘All property is theft’ but if he’d thought of it at the time, apparently he would have done.

Property ownership in the UK is a fundamentally ideological, aspirational thing. Buy a home and raise a family in it, yes, but it’s also equally about making a profit too. That’s simply what we do here. As my estate agent (biased) Grandfather used to say, ‘Safe as houses, boy’.

On the basis of socialism being the enemy of aspiration (isn’t that what such a standpoint argues for?) surely it follows that a Corbyn Government would ‘ban’ property ownership and would take our homes and reallocate them on the basis of ‘need’. So in other words, that family of 18 from Lincoln that’s been on benefits for years but has a requirement for multiple bedrooms and a decent garden, would be shipped in to Windsor Castle pronto and her Majesty and Phil sent up the A1 to live in their 3 bed semi?

Now, I don’t want to give Comrade Corbyn any ideas, but today’s political disappearance along that sharp left turn in the electoral road (surely) may well lead to things almost as preposterous.

Thankfully, whilst I believe that Jeremy Corbyn’s election will be great for the cut and thrust of British politics, I suspect today will mark the last election he will ever win.
A new design will make you money in 2015!
By: Pennink Productions
Tags: Business, Social Media, Website, New Beginnings

Is your website looking a bit tired? Are your business cards not telling the right story? Could your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, or LinkedIn profile use a bit of zing?

January is the perfect time to address these issues. Most people are back after a short break to recharge and are firing on all cylinders. What better time to give your website a well-deserved revamp? Check out the analytics to see whether the menu structure could use sorting out. Clearing up your menu will certainly have SEO (search engine optimisation) benefits for your site, too. Switching to a responsive site design will do wonders for your reach, with more and more people viewing websites on smartphones and tablets. If your site isn’t responsive, it’ll take a big SEO hit, too, so it’s definitely money well spent.

Switching to a responsive site design will do wonders for your reach. Click To Tweet

If your branding doesn’t feel right across the board, maybe it’s time to take a unified approach and standardise the design on all your printed and digital media. Get your social profiles, website, and business cards to work together. How about integrating a QR code on your business cards?

If your social media profiles are looking a bit stale, tart them up with some new graphics. There’s nothing quite like starting off the new year on the right foot like our latest client, Shiv Duggal, who has just launched a new website and a Facebook page that uses a brand new design. Stay tuned to see how he’s doing!

If you’re stuck for ideas, why not get in touch?
Why You Should Learn How to Dance With Fear
By: Lucy King
Tags: Creativity, Self Improvement, Travel, Lifestyle, Psychology

Why You Should Learn How to Dance With Fear

Most people choose safety over uncertainty. But do safe choices always bring you happiness in life?

Photo by Juan Jose on Unsplash

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.

This quote by Vincent Van Gogh is my favourite for sparking creativity. If you swap out “paint” with another verb, you have a multi-purpose formula for overcoming fear and doubt.

Try it out for yourself:

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot dance, then by all means dance and that voice will be silenced.

It works for sports too.

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot run a marathon, then by all means run a marathon and that voice will be silenced.

Another good example is writing:

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot write, then by all means write and that voice will be silenced.

Doubts and fears can be hard to let go. But if something scares you, you should do it because it scares you. Trust me, you are capable of a great deal more than you realize!

To give a personal example:

Early in my career, I wasn’t sure of my direction in life. I was on a well-trodden path, an established road to success. But it wasn’t my path — and that was the crux of the problem.

As I rode the bus home one day, I had a revelation: I don’t have to limit myself. Why not design my own path and blaze my own trail?

A short time later I moved to Japan to find work as a designer. I was gritty back then. Each time I failed, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and kept going.

You can read about my Japan adventures here: How To Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You

The point is I learnt how to dance with fear and I have not stopped dancing since.

When I look back over my life, I could never predict where I am now. Six months from now I will be doing something I never imagined today. This motivates me to try new things!

Lessons I have learnt along the way

A positive mindset takes you further in life.

Taking action (any action!) is better than endlessly preparing.

Skills amplify once you put them into active use.

Your tribe will find you once you start reaching out.

Failure is a learning opportunity

The last word

When you venture outside of your comfort zone you can often feel ecstatic. And why not? You have liberated yourself. You have done something a part of your mind didn’t believe was possible. You have followed your own path. You have blazed a new trail.

It’s a good feeling and trust me; it’s addictive.

Thank you for reading!
Koronavírus — Mit kellene tenni, már MOST
By: Szofi Molnar
Tags: 1st, Koronavirus, Hungarian

Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing

This Viewpoint describes the outbreak response infrastructure developed by the Taiwanese government following the SARS…
Why We Appointed An Advisory Board
By: Dawn Kissi
Tags: Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Media

In May of this year, Emerging Market Media appointed its first global Advisory Board. I say “global” because that is what we as a firm are. Growing, incredibly diverse and dispersed around the globe. From Cape Town to Singapore, our experienced correspondents live and work in key markets around the globe.

So why now? We are approaching our second year of “business” and while our brand is growing, so are our overall mission and team. Having a solid stable of professionals backing us in spirit (at the very least) was the next and ideal step for us. Our Board, my cofounder and I agreed, would represent our brand, field our questions, engage with us on predetermined occasions and support us within their respective industries by raising awareness and visibility. From product to design to ongoing business strategy, we feel as though we’ve assembled a solid group of professionals to join us on our journey.

My cofounder and I debated the opportunity cost and how we would make it “worth” their time. And, whom, exactly should we approach? Friends? Maybe. Industry colleagues? Potential professional conflicts could arise. Only media or only business pros? It took us close to a year to pull it all together. And when we did, we knew we had made the right move for the business and even ourselves. We discussed the opportunity cost involved for all and how we would strategically tap into the knowledge and expertise of each while not being a burden. We took their personal and professional obligations into consideration. We “interviewed” them and explained how we intended to make the most of their expertise. With all on board and eager to support a growing brand, we knew the time was right.

The lesson learned: Relationships, no matter what, still very much matter.

Read more about our Global Advisory Board here.
Toppling of a statue
By: Keith Parkins
Tags: Slavery, Black Lives Matter, Edward Colston, Bristol

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. — Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

The past is never dead. It’s not even past. — Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner

At this moment, many people have stopped living. They do not become angry, nor cry out; they merely wait for time to pass. They did not accept the challenges of life, so life no longer challenges them. ―The Fifth Mountain, Paulo Coelho

Destroying what we do not like is what religious fundamentalists and fascist regimes do. Deface statutes, blow up ancient Muslim statues, burn books and so on. History must be rewritten no memory of what was the past.

At the weekend during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was toppled and dumped in the harbour.

Where do you wish to start next?

Burn down all the buildings in Liverpool and Bristol, all built on the wealth of slaves and sugar?

A three way trade, slaves to the Americas, sugar to England, industrial goods to Africa.

Bones of slaves were used to whiten the sugar.

Let’s burn down Tate and Lyle.

Do we burn The Monk? Incredible novel written by an MP and owner of a slave plantation.

Maybe Winston Churchill next. He was the first to drop chemical weapons on civilians. On the Kurds, long before Saddam Hussein.

What about all those Kings and Queens and Barons. Surely they must go.

Then what about Norman Castles and Cathedrals.

Lincoln Castle and Lincoln Cathedral must go. Symbols of Norman oppression of an Anglo-Saxon population.

Tear down Hadrian’s Gate, demolish Library of Hadrian. And let us not forget statues of Roman Emperors, ancient Greeks.

Then there is the Berlin Wall. Demolished, used as an example. Except it is not and has not. It was demolished because it separated East Berlin from West Berlin. People were killed trying to cross the Wall. Sections and fragments still remain. In the shadow of one section, an exhibition documenting Nazi atrocities.
The View
By: Alexander Lawrence
Tags: Cancer, Illness, Fiction, Overcoming Obstacles, Flash Fiction

Photo by Derek Liang on Unsplash

Laura sat, looking out the window. The setting sun resolving the palm trees into silhouettes. The gentle rumble of crashing waves at the barest edge of perception. The murmur of insects readying for their nightly rituals. It really was beautiful to behold.

“Do you understand your options?” the doctor said.

“I do,” she replied. “I want surgery, chemo, radiation, anything we can use to beat this thing.” Her daughter, sitting next to her, gripped Laura tightly on the shoulder. She should really be doing schoolwork, not accompanying her mother to doctors’ appointments.

Moving her perception slightly inward, she took in the light making its way through the window and into the room. Illuminating a languidly floating column of dust. Flowing air creating eddies in the stream. Fluid dynamics in its purest expression.

“If we want the best chance of success, we should operate immediately,” the doctor continued. “Do you have anyone to drive you to and from your surgery and treatments?”

“I’ll do it,” came Elizabeth’s response. The temporary license folded up in her wallet attesting to her ability. Laura wanted to protest but knew her options were limited.

“Good, then we’ll see you back here on Tuesday for the procedure.” The doctor rose to indicate their time together had come to an end. Laura’s daughter tried to help her up. She shooed her away. Not yet, she thought. Not yet.
SpaceX Fuels The Future: The Second Wave of Space Exploration
By: Jouz Sang
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Solar Energy, Space, Internet, Life

Impact On The Future

The space industry will continue to fuel the development of new products around the world. The involvement of SpaceX, and the interest they have generated, have already shown signs of technology that will benefit in the future.

A.I. Development

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Artificial Intelligence has already been used in the space industry. They started with capturing images of natural calamities such as hurricanes or volcanic eruptions. “The same goes with SKICAT (Sky Image Cataloging and Analysis Tool) which assisted researchers to discover objects during the second Palomar Sky Survey where it classified at least a thousand objects in low resolution. That’s a lot more than a human could identify.”

Currently, new successful applications of AI include a Crew Interactive Mobile Companion. “The applications of CIMON include Search for objects, inventory management, documenting experiments, photography, and videography. It is also perfectly capable of hearing and seeing and thus it can act as a personal assistant.” The AEGIS has also been used since 2016 to analyze the ground on Mars. Its performance has improved from 24% to 93% in just three years.

Because artificial intelligence relies on repetition and effective infrastructures, the expanded use in space will be of benefit for everyone. Space exploration presents unique challenges with small margins of error, which are ideal scenarios for developing effective systems.

Internet Everywhere

Back in 2015, SpaceX submitted documentation for Starlink. It consists of a series of low orbit satellites stationed around the globe to provide internet anywhere. Musk says “We’re really talking about something which is, in the long term, like rebuilding the internet in space." Although the company has been met with some resistance and controversy, they are still moving forward with the project.

The ability to use the internet has changed the way we live our lives. Information available on the web has made education accessible to more people than ever. It helped to even the playing field between different social and economical classes. Tools like smartphones, podcasts, and e-commerce have made us more efficient and effective. As a result, the economy around the world has also grown exponentially.

As of 2017 only 15% of the world had broadband subscriptions. If Starlink is successful in providing internet access to the rest of the world, we can expect productivity and education to continue rising to new all time heights.
What is cryptocurrency mining?
By: Solar Hash Hub, Official Blog
Tags: Cryptocurrency Investment, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency Mining

The production of cryptocurrencies is nothing near the issuing of standard paper currencies. Instead of being printed, cryptocurrencies are being mined. People who take part in such operations are called crypto miners.

Satoshi Nakamoto, which is a pseudonym for the person who is believed to be responsible for the launch of Bitcoin, mined the very first digital currency. Users gain a fraction of the Altcoin (any alternative to Bitcoin cryptocurrency) that they crypto mine as a remuneration for their efforts in producing new coins. The main idea of digital transactions is the involvement of the user in the process.

The main task that crypto miners have to deal with in the process of mining cryptocurrencies is to solve complicated mathematical problems. However, this is not a task that is done by one person only. Many compete to solve the math problem and the competition is fierce. Putting a lot of effort to contribute to the solution of the problem requires very powerful hardware and software to do it correctly and it is all worth it if the miner succeeds to contribute to the solving of the problem.

Because the amount of Bitcoin available is capped, the cryptocurrencies can be very precious to the person that they are in possession of. This is the main reason miners invest so much time and effort to win this prize. Mining of cryptocurrencies is an important part of Bitcoin as it aids to prove both the transparency and validity of the transactions, qualities which attract adherents of cryptocurrency.

You can imagine the difficulty in being the one to solve the math problem when so many are trying to do it at the same time. Putting all this effort in, which often requires sophisticated computer hardware and software to do it correctly, is worth it if the miner solves the problem. When they do, they are rewarded with a set amount of Bitcoin.

As this is a complicated process that requires powerful equipment, a good alternative for you to take part of the process of crypto mining is by having digital assistance. And with the help of Solar Hash Hub, mining is easier than ever. All you need to do is sign up, get their miner and receive a daily amount of cryptocurrency on your account! On affordable and flexible prices, Solar Hash Hub will do the crypto mining for you. Join thousands of others who made a digital investment in their future!

Cloud Mining Provider — SOLAR HASH HUB
“ Tomorrow we’ll rise so let’s fight today”
By: Nick Ferguson
Tags: Music

Image From Wikipedia

Back in high school, my music was all over the place, but it was mostly hard rock and metal. Call it the angsty teenage years, call it a path to discover what my identity was, I call it old tastes that I am not much into anymore. I can attribute a lot of my tastes though to Pandora and my friend Matt, who came in my freshman year. It was thanks to him, that I was first introduced to Hollywood Undead, in Spanish class.

Image from Genius

It was such a strange band when I first heard them. It sounded like a mixture of rock and rap that just made me scratch my head and go “huh.” But it wouldn’t be long before I decided to listen to more from this band, including the song being discussed today, Undead. Why wouldn’t this band be popular though ? The lyrics always seem to be used to get pumped up and the songs seem to also be incredibly catchy. So then what seems to be the problem with this band and the song ?

Well it seems to be a case of toxic and aggressive masculinity. These guys suggest that if someone is talking smack or ticking you off, you get violent and go to lengths of defending what you stand for with violence. With lyrics like “ And when you’re running your mouth, our razor blades come out” lead us to give men the idea of what it takes to be a man and act violently against all the haters that are against them. This is obviously not how men should react if they are feeling ticked off or dealing with negative comments as it is not healthy and will lead to issues down the road.

I should make a point that Hollywood Undead advertises themselves with masks on, not showing there real faces. I have no idea if this is an attempt to seem tough looking and thuggish, if they think it looks cool, or if this is an attempt to hide their true selves behind violent aggressive masks. We shouldn’t handle our emotions like this, as it just builds up til we lash out. We need to remove the masks and deal with things as they come up.

Undead’s lyrics may be catchy and used to pump yourself up, but they are not the best ways of representing proper actions of manliness. Use this song with either extreme caution or a realization that this is not the appropriate way to act. You may look cool, Hollywood Undead, but you are not the way that we should act.
COIN vs TOKEN. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Tags: Altcoins, Cryptocurrency, Token, Blockchain, Coins

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A Heartfelt Tale
By: Amanda Dalmas
Tags: Honesty, Storytelling, The Rebel Poets Society, Journal, Heartfelt

Sorta Journal Entry:

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

I feel bad that I have not been chillen in Medium land as much as I desire to. I have been struck down by this pandemic, just like ya all have been. I keep busy but I’m unfocused and depressed. For these dark times, I just want companionship more than anything. No gifts, just human touch, a hug, a kiss, something.

I’m glad that Mimi won the contest. As a fellow writer and publisher, she definitely earned it! Her writings are refreshing and usually, I have to look a few words up as well. I love it! I like how on this platform so many different styled poets can come together and create great art! And for the most part, not bicker about it either.

I have just been slacking in the writing department….but I will come back…around. I usually bounce back. It’s been extra hard …because unlike most of America… I gave up drinking this year for the most part. I had a few drinks here and there…but usually I would pour them out, not even halfway through. So really those little slips don’t count. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Sincerely,

Amanda Dalmas ~ Dec. 18th, 2020
I’m Reduced to a Thing That Wants
By: Jocelyn Villarreal
Tags: Poetry, Long Distance, Poem, Love, Blue Insights

I’m Reduced to a Thing That Wants

A short poem

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Sometimes, I think about the stars

and how lonely they must be

To be placed so far away

from their former lovers

Doomed to watch over them

from such a great distance

Then, I think about us

and how lucky and unlucky we are

A blessed curse

To have finally found each other

only to be pulled apart by distance,

once again

I know we are not nearly

as doomed as the stars

and their former lovers

And our distance

does not compare to theirs

But that will not stop me

from missing you and missing you,

greatly