fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
5 Insanely Difficult Novels (and Why They’re Worth the Effort)
By: Jackson Best
Tags: Reading, Classics, Literature, Books

Gravity’s Rainbow — Thomas Pynchon (1973)

Source: Creative Commons

One sentence synopsis

Various characters try to uncover the secrets of a peculiar V2 missile in WW2 Europe.

Why it’s difficult

The preceding description is virtually worthless. That’s like saying the Bible is about a man with a great beard and his son.

Because Gravity’s Rainbow is jam-packed with enough complexity to keep even the most thorough reader busy for years.

I’ve left out:

An octopus which is trained via Pavlovian conditioning to kidnap beachgoers

Attempts to bring the New Turkic Alphabet to Kyrgyzstan

A militant unit of Herero genocide survivors

Many boners

A conspiracy involving I.G. Farben and a latex-ish material used in both S&M play and missile development

The life story of a sentient light bulb

Kazoos

Countless other things I’m forgetting

Writing this list has only served to remind me of how much flew straight over my head when I read Gravity’s Rainbow. There are so many characters, plots, subplots, sub-subplots, and obscure references that it deserves an accompanying encyclopedia to figure out (although in that regard there is the ever-helpful GR Wiki).

Why it’s worth it

You know those moments where you just want to read everything all at once?

Heck, sometimes I don’t even want to read — I just want to immerse myself in an ocean of knowledge and ideas and soak it up.

Gravity’s Rainbow lets you do just that.

It’s like the best of SF/fantasy world building combined with history, philosophy, engineering literature, chemistry — pretty much any discipline you care to name. It’ll make you feel dumb, but you’ll be too awestruck to care.

The Magic Mountain — Thomas Mann (1924)

Source: Creative Commons

One sentence synopsis

A young man visits his sick cousin in a mountain sanatorium — and ends up staying for seven years.

Why it’s difficult

I defy you to find a slower book than The Magic Mountain. This is an 800-page novel where the main character spends seven years resting, for god’s sake.

Why it’s worth it

The slowness of The Magic Mountain is actually what makes for its unique charm.

Because the novel is about the elasticity of time (among other things). It’s set in a place where the hours pass at a glacial pace — but seven years also disappears in the blink of an eye.

And somehow the experience of reading the novel is exactly like that. Mann somehow writes time as it’s lived. It ebbs and flows, then ultimately disappears.

As a result, you finish The Magic Mountain feeling as if you’ve lived another life in miniature. In the process, you learn how fleeting your own life is, and how easily time can slip by if you get stuck in complacency.

In this way, a book with almost zero narrative action turns out to be one of the most powerful invitations to live, to act, to move — ever produced.
BitClave Weekly Update — May 28, 2018
Tags: Blockchain, San Jose, Technology, Update, Decentralization

Development

Last week we finished the basic functionality for REQUEST and OFFER entities, allowing to create and manually match this entities. This skeleton will allow us to test system flows for “good” recommendations by a search engine or “bad/malicious” recommendations by a search engine. We have also implemented the service that will pay CAT Tokens as a reward on behalf of business.

This week we’ll continue to work on the APIs involved in interactions between REQUEST, OFFER and Search Engine.

Marketing

Last week we were following up with the people who we met during the Blockchain Week in New York City. We have already started finding such big events in the coming future. Last week we were also closely following the GDPR updates and its implications all around the world mainly in the blockchain space. We have more content coming this week and we are also discussing with our legal team regarding the its implications for BitClave and our products.

Here’s an article we wrote on it recently on GDPR with the headline — What the heck is GDPR, and why am I getting all these emails?.

We also wrote an article on how we are leading our towards innovative decentralized products with the use of blockchain technology. Read here.

We continue to hire more people to join our Marketing Team. You can check for the latest job postings here. https://angel.co/bitclave/

Events/meetings

During the week we were searching for new opportunities and prepared the events for June.

On May 28–29 our Events Manager Stanislav Liutenko is attending Blockshow Europe in Berlin. Please, let us know if you would like to meet him there!

Our Head of Growth Praitk Gandhi visited the HQ in San Jose for the first time last week. Here’s a picture he clicked with our Head of Blockchain Mark Shwartzman.

Want to learn more? Don’t miss our special news updates. Sign up for BitClave here.

Join our Telegram Channel: https://t.me/BitClaveCommunity

Github: https://github.com/bitclave/

Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/bitclave

Official Facebook: https://fb.me/bitclave
Abuse Culture Case Study: The Raw Deal
By: Michon Neal
Tags: Homelessness, Domestic Violence, Parenting, BlackLivesMatter, Abuse Culture

I do currently have an offer for housing from another single parent. But…

Red Tape B.S. Continues

Update: Yeah, it’s confirmed. The housing services can only help if I get a place by myself. Which they should have fucking told me months ago because with that racist eviction and my fucked up credit, no one’s going to rent to me, anyway. So that’s time wasted on this wild goose chase when I could have at least been prepared to do it on my own.
Obsessive Reading: Even the Soundest Thing Can Go Wild!
By: Karmen Jurela
Tags: The Masterpiece, Obsessions, Self-awareness, Life Lessons, Reading

When I was seven years old, we moved back to Germany after three years of living in Croatia, then Yugoslavia. We came back for my second year of primary school. My German was not the best. Actually, I had forgotten it completely.

However, we lived in a district with a lovely children’s and youth library. My friend Michi took me there, and from then on, I got hooked!

The children’s library was right on my way to school, and at least once or twice a week, I stopped by to return a stack of books I had read. I never failed to borrow a new one.

Once I understood the concept, I felt like the young Lady of The Books, and the library was my castle!

All the books were mine to read! I took good care of them, and to show that I cared meant to read them all!

With my new self-imposed reading task, the German language came back to me quickly and easily. My improved language skills came along with a lot of benefits. I could get to know the other kids and play with them. I caught up in school, which was very important to me.

Beforehand, in Yugoslavia, I was among the best students in the class, and back in Germany, I did not understand a word. I felt like an alien and rejected by everybody in the beginning. But that is another essay to write.

However, the most significant collateral benefit from my reading was: my self-esteem rose.

The flushing shame of not understanding the spoken word and being condemned to silence and rejection calmed down, and my fear of participating in school or other activities decreased.
How to SSH Into a Kubernetes Pod From Outside the Cluster
By: Sandeep Madamanchi
Tags: Ssh, Kubernetes Cluster, Programming, Kubernetes, Cloud Computing

How to SSH Into a Kubernetes Pod From Outside the Cluster

A Pod, by definition, is analogous to a virtual machine, so we can SSH in

Photo by Orlova Maria on Unsplash

Secure Socket Shell (SSH) is a UNIX-based protocol that is used to access a remote machine or a virtual machine (VM).

Pod, by definition, is analogous to VM as it allows the containers to behave as if they are running on isolated VMs. If you are inside the cluster — the simplest way is to use kubectl exec command

But, Is it possible to SSH into a K8 Pod from outside the cluster?

SSH into a Kubernetes Pod from outside the cluster

Yes. It’s possible! — But only after incrementally answering the below questions…
Avrupa’da Nerede Yaşamalı? (2)
By: Özlem Özmen
Tags: Hollanda, Almanya, Çocuk, Türkçe, Finlandiya

Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.

Check your inbox

Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription.
About me — Kriti. Hello, all of you reading this. Welcome…
By: Kriti Krishan
Tags: Personality, About Me, Personal Development, Personal Growth, Introduction

About me — Kriti

Hello, all of you reading this. Welcome to Me

Chances are you’re here to get a glimpse into peoples inner lives. Beyond the two-dimensional backlit screen you see their words plastered on two, we are three (maybe four) dimensional people who have thoughts, feelings and behaviors completely outside the act of tap-tap-tapping on a keyboard.

Photo By Author

Here’s a little background about me.

I was born in Delhi, India and then I moved to Mumbai. As a child with no siblings and no first cousins, I spent a lot of time alone in my childhood — which led me to books.

I was always the shortest person around. And that made me work hard.

In school, I was quick-witted and shy.

In college, I studied psychology and was confident, excited and studious.

My post-graduate diploma was in Liberal arts and there, I was curious.

At work, I’m a UX designer. I’m efficient, clear and willing.

Now, I’m a feminist. I’m a mental health advocate. I’m a designer. I’m a learner. I’m a binge-watcher. I’m a reader. I’m a friend.
Desert Road
By: Aiyanah Rose
Tags: Inspiration, Poetry, Photography, Blue Insights, Life Lessons

Miles of empty road ahead, an infinite line hypnotizing the traveler

where time hovers suspended in the distance.

Nothing to do but contemplate

the past

the words said

the future

the magic of chance in the rising sun

the state of our human condition

The present, an endless black highway twisting wildly in vast landscape, luring the mind to random jaunts with every curve offering no rhyme, no reason.

The friend gone too soon forsaking logic in desperate frailty

The touch of love in all its splendor of innocence

The distance from where we started to where we are now

That magical night on the beach

So many nagging questions left dangling in the space between. Will we merit the answers in the next dimension? The children scramble desperately seeking to understand the game while rewriting the rules by our own design, flirting with impending self-destruction like a playful muse.

Is it too late to turn off now?

The flame once burning strong now smolders in tired ashes. Are we the same or were we blinded by the light of an ideal inside a dream? Maybe in this state of transformation acrimony is simply incongruous with the enlightened spirit, and only one can survive the other.

Is the bridge still out ahead, or has awakening restored the way?

How much longer is the drive?

What to do first when I get there?

Which side of the mountain for the best view?

Will we all be able to be together again? Will it be safe to see them?

Has life changed forever, neglected freedom fleeing in the wind because it was taken for granted? Or maybe it’s a message:

A reminder to cherish our freedom, family and friends

A reminder to cultivate and share our talents wisely

A reminder to honor the fleeting gift of time

A reminder to love without limits, as life is too short for hate or indifference

The road is open child, and time only knows today.

Photo and verse ©️ 2020 Aiyanah Rose
Persistent State in React.js using useEffect hook
By: Hamsa Harcourt
Tags: Programming, React, Javascript Tips, JavaScript, Software Development

Photo by Sean Lim on Unsplash

Before we begin, I know some people don’t know the meaning of persisting state and that’s fine because i’ll give you an instance. Have you ever built a react app and used any state management tool like redux , the context API or what have you , after managing the users state successfully, you hit refresh ? If you’ve tried this before, then you know what happens next ( here’s a little expo; you lose all the data you have in your state ). How awful. If you want to know how to overcome this, then i urge you to read on.

PREREQUISITES

React : I assume you already know the basics of react . useEffect hook: This is a react hooks feature and it’s fairly easy . If you’re familiar with React class lifecycle methods, you can think of useEffect Hook as componentDidMount , componentDidUpdate , and componentWillUnmount combined.

Let me walk you through the whole process before we begin coding because that way, you’ll get the hang of what’s going on quickly.

Firstly, we’ll retrieve the stored data from localStorage and update the value of our state.

Finally, we are going to take what’s in our state and save it in our localStorage upon component updating.

Quite simple right? Now let’s get our hands dirty. You can find the source code on my github repo.

In the code above, We first create a state called isLoggedIn using the useState hook.

If you’re familiar with React class lifecycle methods, you can think of useEffect Hook as componentDidMount , componentDidUpdate , and componentWillUnmount combined.

Then , we check localStorage for any item called “is-logged-in” . The name can vary , and is based on the what we provided when creating it. If it exists, then we set the state.

Note: localStorage takes takes in strings only and returns the same. Hence we used JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse()

Finally, we set the value of “is-logged-in” upon component update. The first value passed into localStorage.setItem() is the variable name and the second is the value of the variable.

I hope you found this article intresting, share this article if you feel it was worth your while.

Happy coding :)
My First Month Using a Trading Bot on Bittrex & Binance
Tags: Ethereum, Bots, Crypto, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

I feel like it is time for me to make a written post that will actually give some value to everyone in the Crypto Community. I am going to start out by saying that I am open to all of the criticism i will receive and am by no means an expert and learn ALOT every day in this space and still feel like I am Jon Snow and KNOW NOTHING.

The reason for this post is to share the success I have been having recently with Trading with a Bot called Profit Trailer. Here is the quick rundown

CURRENT COMPATIBLE EXCHANGES: BITTREX, BINANCE, POLONIEX

CURRENT MARKETS: BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB

BUY STRATEGY: This bot uses different strategies like LOWBB, EMAGAINm EMASPREAD & a few others to make trades and then uses DCA Averaging to remain profitable if the coin drops further. IT then automatically selects the best pairs on the exchange based off of the parameters you set in the config file. (YOU CAN DO ALOT CUSTOMIZING HERE I MEAN ALOT)

DCA: The bot then uses Dollar Cost Averaging to keep the pairs in a range where they can remain profitable on a bounce.

SELL STRATEGY: You can then tell the bot what to percentage gains to sell at that includes the exchange fees.

TRAILING PROFIT & BUY: The reason this bot works so well is it trails the values you set up and down allowing you to catch trends and follow them up and down while buying.

Now if you can’t tell already I am sadly not the best with writing things however I did want try and use the profit format here to help others learn more about this bot.

Here is a link to the Profit Trailer Website : https://profittrailer.io/pt/CryptoGnome/

I give links for free settings in my videos and version control them so you can see what adjustments I make and we have about 1000 people using the Bot in our discord.

Discord Link:

https://discord.gg/dK7Uwr8

Now alot of people have said why not just buy and hold, and what I say is yes you should do that as well because it works, however this method works too and grows your BTC, ETH, or USD.

It is just another tool that you can use if you are into crypto and in my experience it has been very fun to automate something and tweak it to where I see profits!

Please ask me anything in the comments and I will do my best to answer every one today!
§71 On Discipline and Comfort in Contemporary Academia
Tags: Foucault, Emerson, Academia, Comfort, Discipline

While one of Foucault’s major contributions is the recognition of a transformational break around 1800 in terms of disciplinary power, little attention has been placed on the appreciative leanings of others, such as that of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s.

As a noun the word ‘discipline’ has two contemporary designations. The first describes a practice of restraint and commitment related to the training and refinement of one’s behaviour in adherence to an ideal or specific code of conduct. The second refers to a specific branch or domain of knowledge around which university departments and faculties — and in turn their specific vocabularies, emphases, concerns, and traditions — are developed and established. However, in contemporary Higher Education the two have become ever more closely intertwined, and the former also describes the conduct required to establish an intellectual home in the latter.

This is a far-cry from the pedagogic ideal named by Emerson in his essay, ‘Education’ (1884), in which he writes:

‘The two points in a boy’s training are, to keep his naturel and train off all but that — to keep his naturel, but stop off his uproar, fooling and horseplay — keep his nature and arm it with knowledge in the very direction in which it points. Here are the two capital facts, Genius and Drill. (Emerson, 1969: 219)

For Emerson, discipline (Drill) is central to cultivating a truly individual character and comportment to the world (Genius), rather than a calculated and bureaucratic means of securing mere membership and acceptance in a disciplinary tribe on which a vulgar career might be forged.

In Note §31 (In Defence of Exclusive Language), I considered how different academic disciplines employ specific modes and patterns of language to enable them to ‘discourse with the appropriate amount of nuance their subject requires’.

With Emerson’s humanistic words and sentiments in mind, the ‘discipline’ of training and conformity as a means of acquiring a home in the current institutional arrangement of academe inevitably leads to a sense of belonging that comes at the expense of the individual. In such a world, discipline become a tautology: one’s means and end, and woe betide any person established in their discipline that is exposed to a new domain, or attempts to embark on a truly interdisciplinary pursuit.

/Pete Watt

Reference:

Emerson, R. W (1969) ‘Education’, in Selected prose and poetry, pp. 208–229. New York City: Holt Rinehart & Winston.
by Martino Pietropoli
By: Martino Pietropoli
Tags: Friday, Psychology, Love, Art

First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.

Follow
Wrestling with life…
By: Bev J Williams, Beverley Jordan
Tags: Religion, Genesis, Jacob, Drama, Learning Resource

© Bev J Williams

Last year I was asked to put together a short performance based on Genesis 32, 21–31 — Jacob Wrestles with the Angel

This project was inclusive and included all ages and religious / non-religious participants. What was really interesting for me was how scripture can be used, by ANYBODY, to embrace and explore universal themes about life and its complexities — a truly wonderful means of exploration.

It saddens me that we appear to live in an age where we are all too ready to attack religion instead of embracing how it could be used and explored for the greater good. Media are guilty of negative focus. I think that we need to remember that religion doesn’t cause wars, or indeed sin, but man alone does — sometimes unfortunately in the name of religion.

The final performance manifested itself over a period of a couple of weeks with all participants, young and old, able to discuss and reflect in a safe environment.

It was such a great experience that I decided to write about the process in the form of a learning resource. This is FREE. Please find the link below.

Please share this post — it is a wonderful feeling to think that other groups could be inspired to do something similar. Let’s bring community back into our lives.

Jacob Wrestles with the Angel (this is where you will be able to access the links to the pdfs — enjoy!)

PLEASE SHARE — IT’S FREE!
Something
By: Paul Mulliner
Tags: Mindfulness, Meditation, Spirituality, Yoga, Self

Something inside us

and throughout the Universe,

the quiet presence of awareness,

a soundless resonance

in all space everywhere,

weaves us into the fabric

of a conscious Universe

and joins us into each other.

Something that’s always available

to our inward attention,

it dissolves our separation

from itself,

helping us bring

the universal voice

of conscious silence

into the everyday,

helping us know ourselves

as consciousness expressing itself

as a human being.

Something inexpressible

within all life

and in our heart,

is orchestrating the motion of atoms

and the biochemistry

of photosynthesis,

as we gaze into each others’ eyes

and feel the breath of love

on our face.

Something that reveals itself

in the silence of our heart,

is always here inside us

and throughout the Universe.
Watercolor Tutorial: Painting a Landscape
By: Christopher P Jones
Tags: Painting, Art, Creativity, Watercolor, Makers

Watercolor Tutorial: Painting a Landscape

Step-by-step advice on painting a landscape in watercolor

I enjoy painting all types of subjects. Landscape painting is especially pleasurable because it encourages me to look so much more closely at the scenes around me. Finding the right subject matter is not always obvious at first, but after a bit of practice, suitable scenes for painting seem to jump out at me all the time.

I took this photograph whilst on a walk in a part of England known as the Peak District, a national park in the north of the country. The pathway winding to the stack of rocks at the top of the hill feels like an appealing subject to base a painting on.

Photo by the author

Make a sketch first

As a useful exercise, I tend to make a quick pencil sketch of the scene before beginning the main painting. I only spend about 10 minutes on this, since the purpose is to roughly plot out the structure of the painting rather than get pulled in by the details.

The benefits of making a sketch are two-fold: firstly, it allows you to clearly define the structure and composition. In this painting, I’ve decided to follow the classic “rule of thirds” as it fitted well with the original photo: divide the picture into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) and place the points of interest along the lines and at the intersections.

Secondly, sketching helps to train your eye on the subject, improving your powers of observation and allowing you to explore the areas of the scene that may not be particularly obvious at first glance. For instance, when sketching out this scene, I realised there is a whole swathe of scrubby heather in the bottom-right that I hadn’t even considered, an area I will have to deal with when it comes to making the painting.

First steps

With a good sense of the layout of the picture, I sketched out the design on watercolor paper. I like to use a nice and heavy paper with a weight of 600gsm/300lb, which is not only full of texture but also more tolerant to washes (laying down broad areas of paint) and lifting-out (removing paint).
Let’s consider the miraculous wonder of spermatogenesis.
By: James Knight
Tags: Sex, Poetry, Reproduction, Sperm, Tribute

Let’s consider the miraculous wonder of spermatogenesis. Spermatogenesis is the process whereby spermatozoa are formed in the seminiferous epithelium (specifically the Sertoli cells) of the testes. It consists of mitosis (an increase in sperm number), meiosis (reduction division to produce a haploid cell from a diploid cell), and differentiation (termed spermiogensis).

The process of spermatogenesis requires approximately 74 days in men. Sperm are released continually from the seminiferous epithelium in post-pubertal males. In men, about 200–300 million sperm are released daily.

So, what will be the ultimate fate of these millions of sperm after this miraculous 74-day process? Fertilizing an ovum and producing a beautiful baby? Perishing in the woman who received the ejaculate since it wasn’t the lucky winner of the race to the ovum? Perishing after a blow job? Ejaculated onto a stomach? Or, more likely, masturbated onto the shower floor and washed down the drain!

Here is my tribute to a sperm:
We Are Not All in The Same Boat
By: Chloe Cuthbert
Tags: Mental Health, Pandemic, Personal Development, Self-awareness, Social Media

I saw this on social media a couple of days ago and it’s stayed with me. There’s no known author that I can find.

I heard that we are all in the same boat, but it’s not like that. We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Your ship could be shipwrecked, and mine might not be.

Or vice versa.

For some, quarantine is optimal. A moment of reflections, of re-connection, easy in flip-flops, with a cocktail or coffee. For others, this is a desperate financial and family crisis.

For some that live alone, they’re facing endless loneliness. While for others it is peace, rest, and time with their mother, father, sons and daughters.

With the $600 (US) weekly increase in unemployment, some are bringing in more money to their households than they were working.

Others are working more hours for less money, due to pay cuts or loss in commissioned sales.

Some families of four just received $3400 from the stimulus package, while other families of four saw $0.

Some were concerned about getting a certain candy for Easter, while others were concerned if there would be enough bread, milk, and eggs for the weekend.

Some want to go back to work because they don’t qualify for unemployment and are running out of money. Others want to kill those who break quarantine.

Some are at home spending two to three hours a day, helping their child with online schooling, while others are doing the same on top of a 10–12 hour work day.

Some have experienced the near death of the virus, some have already lost someone from it, and some are not sure if their loved ones are going to make it.

Others don’t believe this is a big deal.

Some have faith in God and expect miracles this year.

Others say the worst is yet to come.

We are not in the same boat. We are going through a time when our perceptions and needs are completely different.

Each of us will emerge, in our own way, from this storm. It is important to see beyond what is seen at first glance. Not just looking, actually seeing.

We are all on different ships during this storm, experiencing a very different journey. — Unknown Author
This Cayman Island Company Raised $4 Billion and Are Said to be a 3rd Generation of Blockchain
By: Crypto Influence
Tags: Blockchain, Eos, Ethereum, Media, Interview

David Moss, former SVP of Tech Ops for Block.one, which built EOS.

EOS is the most powerful infrastructure for decentralized applications, raised over $4 billion dollars.

“EOS is an actual real blockchain operating system like the operating system on your phone, that allows many other people to build applications on top of it.”

EOS and Ethereum are competitors and David said they consider “EOS to be a third generation of the blockchain.” The first generation is Bitcoin, the second generation is Ethereum and third generation is EOS.

EOS is similar to Ethereum in turns of function and ecosystem, they are the basic system for any possible applications. EOS protocol emulates most of the attributes of a real computer including hardware with the computing resources distributed equally among EOS cryptocurrency holders. It enables horizontal scaling of decentralized applications, allowing developers to efficiently create high performance distributed applications.

David Moss now is getting ready to have a brand new stealth startup. Stay tuned!

See what they have to say about this amazing system!👇👇
Food, Memories and Moments in Time
By: Kathryn Dillon
Tags: Memories, Family, Relationships, Food, Self

I’ll never forget that macaroni and cheese — decadently creamy sauce, pasta with just a hint of resistance to the tooth, and best of all, a baked casserole generously flecked with crispy breadcrumbs turned deep gold in the oven.

It was my mom’s mac and cheese, the backdrop for a wealth of childhood memories.

We don’t make it exactly like that at home anymore, because my husband’s version was different. Eventually — after much trial and error — we merged the two recipes to create a new entity, specific to our new family.

It seemed the most appropriate way to honor both traditions, both sets of associated memories.
Democratizing Liquidity Mining on Loopring
By: Matthew Finestone
Tags: Loopring, Decentralized Exchange, Trading Bot, Liquidity Mining, Linq

Linq is proud to announce our collaboration with Loopring, a leading decentralized exchange protocol. In line with our original mission statement, Linq is focused on enabling, and increasing digital asset market liquidity, with a specific focus on innovative DeFI platforms.

Loopring operates the world’s only zk-rollup enabled DEX on Ethereum, and as a result, in our view, has built a platform that combines the best of self-custodial DEX asset sovereignty, with the performance, and ease of use of a traditional centralized exchange.

As Loopring continues to grow, they have been hosting liquidity mining campaigns to encourage democratic participation in the provision of liquidity into their order books, and provide financial incentives for quality of spread and total capital placed at risk.

To support their community growth and lower the barrier to entry for everyone to try programmatic trading and liquidity provision, Linq has created an integration for Loopring into Hummingbot, a popular open source, algorithmic crypto trading infrastructure available via our fork of Hummingbot.

We warmly invite new and existing Loopring users to test and run strategies with this integration. We also expect an enthusiastic response from Hummingbot’s large community of users to take a look at Loopring as a new destination for their strategies.

Stay tuned for more news and announcements by Linq with Loopring in the near future.
Training Taking Too Long? Use Mini Batch Gradient Descent!
By: Danyal Jamil
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Optimization, Data Science, Deep Learning

Stuck behind the paywall? Click here to read the full story with my friend link!

We all, ML Engineers or Data Scientists, love Data. Whenever we hear that we are getting more Data to use, it sounds like Heaven but

Not everything is as it seems.

“What is the drawback here?” ~ you might ask. So, we have our little CPU Processors, but some of the lucky ones among us have GPUs, but then too, the Computing Power is not skyrocketing and has a limit. The main drawback that I can think of is Too long Training time obviously.

Mini Batch Gradient Descent

Say you have a batch of 5,000,000 data inputs. Now, this would alone make a vector of 5,000,000 sizes, and should you think of efficiency when performing any Mathematical operation on a vector this big. What we do here? Ever heard of the saying “Baby steps”, this is essentially that.

Mini-Batch (Baby Batch): Suppose it’ll just have 1k data inputs in them. Now, 5,000,000 means that we’ll have 5000 mini-batches.
What they tell you is Valuable
Tags: Perspective, Scrittura, Poetry

What they tell you is Valuable

Poem

Photo by Severin Candrian on Unsplash

When roses turn

To their final stage

Beauty is transferred

From the flash of the moment

To the eternity

Of dried features

Only crumbled

By our Arrogance,

Labeling perfection

As trash.

Markmalady
Can 2 seconds video views actually drive sales?
By: Paul Dughi
Tags: Digital Marketing, Videos, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media

P & G — acknowledged as the world’s largest advertiser — says their data reveals the following about digital video ads:

The average ad is viewed for 1.7 seconds. Remember, that’s the AVERAGE

Only 20% of all ads are viewed for 2 seconds

That means that 80% of all ads are viewed for less than 2 seconds, or not at all.

So, you may ask, what can you do in 2 seconds or less? Well, of course, there’s a study about that. Note the source: Facebook and Oracle Data… but their study says that 2 seconds can work. According to their research, views under 2 seconds drove 52% of sales lift attributed to the campaigns.

They’ve made this claim based on tracking 14 ad campaigns. Now call me skeptical, but Eric Roza from Oracle, told AdAge, “They do drive sales outcomes. Albeit less so than longer length videos.”

They did conclude, as you would expect, the longer you watched, the more valuable it became. Long views were 1.6x more valuable than short views. Long views tend to have higher lift estimates at any given impression number, according to the study.
The List of Things I Don’t Want to Do Is Growing
By: Berend Van Daalen
Tags: Self Improvement, Personal Development, Personal Growth, Life Lessons, Self

Just make the list

To anyone that has read any self-help related book, the concept of setting priorities will hardly be new. However, it seems as though many of us haven’t accepted that they cannot do everything.

Creating a list of personal values is an essential step in figuring out what matters to you.

Taking the first step, similar to a lot of things, can be difficult, but you should keep in mind that this is not a first time right type of process. In fact, it’s rather unlikely that your values will be crystal clear if you haven’t thought about it before.

In addition, your list of values does not have to remain static. You can revise it as many times as you want. Be honest with yourself, and keep it as a reference. I figured out a lot about myself through this method, and I still do.

When I take a look at my list of values now, I’m sold on three out of five, the other two I’m no longer sure of. They could actually be holding me back. I treat these insights as opportunities for personal growth.

As I get closer to figuring out what it is, I find important it is easier to reduce or even eliminate what is not. Through this experience, the list of things I don’t want to do expands.

(OK, I don’t keep an actual list of things I don’t want to do. I got the title for this post from a YouTube video that appeared in my feed a while ago.)

When you have a clear view of what your values are, it will become much easier not to succumb to external pressure from your peers or the expectations of others. The unavoidable trade-offs or opportunity costs paired to your decisions become much more apparent.
Looking Back on Friends
By: Felix Quiñonez Jr.
Tags: TV, TV Series, Pop Culture, Television, Friends

When Friends premiered, there weren’t too many shows starring people in their 20’s who were still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. At the time, shows usually focused on older characters or those who had their careers more figured out.

That’s an essential aspect of understanding the show. Friends takes place during a significant part of one’s life; their 20s. Until this moment, it can feel like our lives are dictated by adults telling us how we should live it. They tell us what to eat, when to sleep, when we can go out, what we can do, and so many other things. It can start to feel like we have very little agency in our own lives. That is why when we finally leave the proverbial nest, it is such a momentous occasion.

When we meet them, the group is living in that sweet period of life when you finally have freedom and independence but haven’t yet acquired the multitude of responsibilities that comes with adulthood. The characters have left their family but haven’t yet started their own. During this time, our friends are who we tend to lean on the most and are effectively our families. And that is what the titular friends are. Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel are each other’s chosen family. (Except Ross and Monica, who are actually family.)

Throughout the series, we watched these friends play the roles of surrogate family in each other’s lives. At the beginning of the show, we find Rachel at a place familiar to many. Unsure of what to do with her life, she decided to go from daughter to wife. She had spent her life being financially taken care of by her father and was getting ready for her — soon to be — husband to do the same thing.

But when she realizes that isn’t what she wants for her life; she turns to Monica, who takes her in. At that moment, Monica acts as a parent to Rachel and, along with the gang, becomes her family. Throughout the first season, we see the friends take care of Rachel how family often does.

They encourage her to rip up her father’s credit cards and, by extension, her dependence on him. They are often there to help her out financially. When they see how little she makes as a waitress, they, without hesitation, give her money in the forms of very generous tips. When she can’t afford to go back home for Thanksgiving, they all chip in to help her buy a plane ticket.
Leftovers
By: Lubna Yusuf
Tags: Heartbreak, House Of Haiku, Tanka, Poetry, Relationships

Haiku is a form of poetry usually inspired by nature, which embraces simplicity. We invite all poetry lovers to have a go at composing Haiku. Be warned. You could become addicted.

Follow
Deep Dive MultiCollinearity!
By: Harshit Dawar
Tags: Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Big Data, Data Science, Deep Learning

How did MultiCollinearity occur?

When there are some features present in the dataset, that can completely derive the value of some other feature, then there will be MultiCollinearity for sure. Examples of the features which can create multicollinearity issue are as follows:

Example 1

Consider a dataset that contains 3 columns one random number between 1 to 50, another column also containing a random number between 1 to 50, & at last a third column that contains the value obtained after subtracting the sum of both the column values from 100.

It can be easily understood that if we have spent on 2 different things, & a total of 100 is there, then the value of the third column can be easily calculated. This generates a strong correlation between those columns.

Note: if you are unaware of correlations, then please read the below-mentioned blogs on correlations.

Dataset! [Image by Author!]

When you calculate the correlation among these features you will get it as:

Correlation among the features![Image by Author]

In the above image, you can see (cost 1 & cost 3), whereas (cost 2 & cost 3) are very much highly correlated.

Example 2

Consider the feature of Gender, it is a categorical variable (nominal categorical variable), therefore, it has to be one-hot-encoded to make it suitable for the model. After the encoding, it will be converted into 2 columns which contain 0 or 1.

Since the value of any one column can be derived easily from the value of the other(because if one column value is 0, then it is understood that the original value/other column value is 1 & vice versa), then it can easily be understood that there is an issue of multicollinearity.

Check out the images for the dataset & images below for clear understanding:

Gender Dataset![Image by Author]

Correlation among the features![Image by Author]
Vivaldi 1.12 — Giving you the browser you want
By: Jon Von Tetzchner
Tags: Vivaldi, Software Development, Browsers

We know you’re all waiting for bigger features, such as Sync and Mail, and we do share your sentiment. Let me assure you that we are working hard on giving you these features, as well as other important functionality. In the meanwhile, we also keep sight of other prominent features that you’ve been asking us to implement.

Get the full picture with built-in Image Properties

Instant access to Image Properties has been one of our most requested features. We’ve added it to Vivaldi 1.12, which means you can drop an extension or two and find out all the information you need about an image right in the browser. This is part of the Vivaldi philosophy — adding built-in functionality to boost performance and make browsing smarter.

Right-clicking on the image and selecting Image Properties from the drop-down menu reveals all the information available based on the image meta data, such as:

File name and URL

The model of the camera that took the image

Depth of field and sensitivity of the image sensor (ISO)

Exposure and focal length

Histogram, white balance and color space

Dimensions and size

Time and date when the photo was taken

Software used to process the image

We hope that people who work with images — photographers, designers, bloggers and other creators — will appreciate this feature.
Three Stories About Leonard Cohen
By: Nicole Cliffe
Tags: Music, Leonard Cohen

…who has added a bunch of new tour dates.

1. My little brother works at a Tim Hortons in Ottawa, because Canadians, and one of his customers gave him two tickets to see Leonard Cohen, who he did not know from a hole in the ground. And he emailed my mom and I to say “do you know anyone in Ottawa who might want to see Leonard Cohen?” and we yelled at him and said, oh, my God, you idiot, go see Leonard Cohen.

So he got a little drunk and went to see Leonard Cohen alone, as one does, and it was a transformative emotional experience.

2. This one.

3. I cannot find the interview, but I remember him saying he didn’t really like to perform “Bird on the Wire,” the greatest song of all time, because people forget that songs are rooted in singers’ lives, sometimes, and when you say “I swear by this song / And all the things I’ve done wrong / I’ll make it all up to thee,” and it turns out you didn’t, you don’t necessarily want to go around proclaiming it for the rest of your life.

Maybe you should go?
Do You Want to Submit An Article?
By: Rj Carr
Tags: Catholic

Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Submissions to this publication Writing from the Catholic Abbey to the Secular World are welcome.

Requirements are that writing must be respectful to the Catholic community reading them.

Writers do not have to be Catholic and the point of view can be challenging to the Catholic position as well.

Stories must focus on topics of concern to Catholics that encourages dialogue and helps all readers deepen their understanding of their faith and their role in the world.

The point of this publication is to publish material that mainline Catholic publications do not. Therefore, the key restriction is against saccharine pieces. (i.e. “Every morning I thank Jesus for making the sun even though I am dying of cancer.”) Challenging relevant pieces such as A Catholic Take on Conversion Therapy are welcome. Critical pieces such as Twitter Is No Place for Catholics, are also welcome.

A good knowledge of Catholic teachings and of the writings of saints and Catholic writers is a plus.

I am looking for:

Material that shows you have a genuine interest in writing to the Catholic Community, even if you are not Catholic or do not agree with Catholic teaching. Take time to research what Catholics believe and show a genuine respect for your readers.

Stories that challenge Catholic teaching on controversial topics in a way to encourage people to investigate why they believe what they are doing are most welcome. “Should a Catholic Bake a Cake for a Gay Wedding, in Light of Jesus’ Teaching about Following the Law in the Sermon on the Mount?” Inspired by the “Engaging the Powers” series by Walter Wink. “My Confirmation class was so boring I never returned to Church and I left Catholicism immediately after the ceremony.” (That was actually spoken to me by a former Catholic who thankfully did not attend my Confirmation program.)

Stories that inspire Catholics and others are also welcome: “When I was ready to give up, I learned that God was not in the good times, but was teaching me through the bad times,” would be a good topic.

What is not accepted:

Nothing about the occult, pagan or spiritualist practices: no articles on tarot cards, witchcraft, astrology, etc.

Whining pieces or those articles that contain false or unverified information cannot be accepted, i.e: “Catholic people must be stupid to believe in what they do and they make my life miserable.”

Stories designed to demoralize or attack the Catholic community or designed to get them to reject Catholic teaching also cannot be accepted.

Finally, all stories must conform to Medium’s terms of service.

When writing for Catholics, how you phrase your position is key. As the old joke goes: “The monk who smoked while he prayed was castigated; the monk who prayed while he smoked was honored.”

Payment is through the Medium system.
Ta dose crypto du mardi 13 mars — Le Ministre des Finances néerlandais souhaite une réglementation internationale sur les monnaies numériques
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, ICO, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Thailand to Empower the SEC with Crypto Regulatory Powers | Finance Magnates

Thailand is on its way to regulate cryptocurrencies as the prospect has received the nod from financial experts…
How Smart CIOs Drive Student-Centered Learning
By: Alexis Castorina
Tags: Edtech, Teaching, Students, Education, Cio

Smart CIOs and administrators are passionate about successful student outcomes. And because of this, they recognize that one of the smartest ways to improve the learning experience for both students and faculty is to involve both in the initial discovery, planning, implementations and assessments of new programs and technology.

Here’s how smart CIOs and administrators are driving student-centered learning.

Smart CIOs… Move Away from Dated Technology

Many of the learning management systems still being used by universities today are off-the-shelf, static and utilitarian experiences. New education technology focuses on social learning and student-centered design. The interfaces and user experience are more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate. Student-centered technology focuses on building out experiences that mimic modern tools and social media that students are already using. Smart CIOs don’t have students conform to outdated technology. They introduce technology that conforms to students.

Smart CIOs… Keep Up with Social & Tech Trends

Even though they may not be active Facebook or Snapchat users, smart CIOs will sign up for the social media, productivity, gaming and other online platforms that are popular among students today. It’s important to get a sense of the user experience and functionality that continues to evolve. Maybe implementing a learning platform that incorporates features like vomiting rainbows, face swaps or puppy-faced filters isn’t realistic, but smart CIOs will explore these social networks to glean what technology is resonating with students today.

Smart CIOs…Engage Students and Faculty in Decision-Making Processes

Smart administrators talk to the actual end-users of technology. They set up focus groups, create advisory boards, survey current students and alumni, and do periodic user testing. Smart CIOs go beyond standard surveys. They talk to students, involve them in vendor evaluations and even take them to conferences. For example, when Notebowl was created, every aspect of its design was — and continues to be — centered around the student. Students were involved at the very beginning of the product design and all the way through the end and beyond.

When it comes to driving innovation and transformation at the university-level, the chief information officer is also the “chief change agent.” It’s no easy feat. Fostering a student-centered learning environment, keeping up with advancements in technology, understanding how a new generation of students communicate and learn, and making a case for change doesn’t happen in a silo. It takes a community. And it takes a strong (and sometimes brave) technology leader to drive the mission and inspire others to focus on the most important aspect: students.
컨텐츠박스 CFO Calvin Jiang 인터뷰 with 토큰포스트
Tags: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Korean

ContentBox is a blockchain-based infrastructure for the decentralized digital content industry.

Follow