fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
When Peace Summons Loneliness
By: Tre L. Loadholt
Tags: Dogs, Is Always Needed, Feel Good Music, Peace, Writing

This past week, I shared my space with my doggy niece, Nala. March was a hard month. We lost her brother, Reese after 13 years. With her, Jernee, and Reese, I used to call them the Triple Threat, now they’re just Double Trouble. They were tons of energy running about, playing with each other, always content enough to enjoy their simple lives. Nala is motherly. She is kind. She is the sweetest Boston Terrier and she has always mothered Jernee. She is protective of her, shielding her when necessary and Jernee eats it all up. As long as all attention is on her, she is satisfied.

Nala, being two years older has afforded some rights in this area of expertise, the motherly category. She is a burst of excitement that takes the wind out of you and watching her lanky yet, hefty frame leap towards you is a sight to behold. I am never prepared.

Ooh! Is this my closeup, Human Auntie? Yes, is this good? Okay, thank you.

For six days, she hopped, gulped, ran, played, rested, kissed, and strutted around my home like she lived here full time. Having both her and Jernee together was a reminder that I am out of shape.

Majorly!

One is full of energy and can go on for hours on end. The other needs more breaks in time and requires more attention to certain things. Age is bad mutha “shut your mouth.” I walked them separately. I live on the third floor. Let me repeat that, I live on the third floor. Thus, I received double the exercise and double the fun. Why did you walk them separately, Tre? Please see the details above regarding their differences. Jernee and I walk with a purpose. There is an eager bop in our steps, we flow, and our walks can get lengthy. Nala needs subtle steps. A smooth cruise ensures that her breathing will not become labored. We take our time. We savor the walk. We become the breeze.

Jernee: Yes, listen human. I did not do anything wrong. You gotta believe me. Nala: Um, that’s a puppy-faced lie, Human Auntie!

When we settled into the evening, the girls liked to get that last bit of energy out by running back and forth from the living room to my bedroom. Usually, I could be found reading and enjoying quiet time. One night, Jernee (because it is always Jernee. ALWAYS!) had gotten into some mischief. What that mischief was, I do not know. I have not retrieved the evidence. I can only assume she ate Nala’s treats and Nala was coming to tell me, however, Jernee beat her to it. Notice in the photo above how my little one has a look of innocence plastered on her face, but also one that says, “Human! Do not believe a bark she says!”
Everything you need to know about Min-Max normalization: A Python tutorial
By: Serafeim Loukas
Tags: Machine Learning, Python, Scikit Learn, Normalization, Feature Engineering

Introduction

This is my second post about the normalization techniques that are often used prior to machine learning (ML) model fitting. In my first post, I covered the Standardization technique using scikit-learn’s StandardScaler function. If you are not familiar with the standardization technique, you can learn the essentials in only 3 min by clicking here.

In the present post, I will explain the second most famous normalization method i.e. Min-Max Scaling using scikit-learn (function name: MinMaxScaler ).

Core of the method

Another way to normalize the input features/variables (apart from the standardization that scales the features so that they have μ=0 and σ=1 ) is the Min-Max scaler. By doing so, all features will be transformed into the range [0,1] meaning that the minimum and maximum value of a feature/variable is going to be 0 and 1, respectively.

Why to normalize prior to model fitting?

The main idea behind normalization/standardization is always the same. Variables that are measured at different scales do not contribute equally to the model fitting & model learned function and might end up creating a bias. Thus, to deal with this potential problem feature-wise normalization such as MinMax Scaling is usually used prior to model fitting.

This can be very useful for some ML models like the Multi-layer Perceptrons (MLP), where the back-propagation can be more stable and even faster when input features are min-max scaled (or in general scaled) compared to using the original unscaled data.

Note: Tree-based models are usually not dependent on scaling, but non-tree models models such as SVM, LDA etc. are often hugely dependent on it.

The mathematical formulation

The mathematical formulation for the min-max scaling. Image created by the author. Here, x represents a single feature/variable vector.

Python working example

Here we will use the famous iris dataset that is available through scikit-learn.

Reminder: scikit-learn functions expect as input a numpy array X with dimension [samples, features/variables] .

from sklearn.datasets import load_iris

from sklearn.preprocessing import MinMaxScaler

import numpy as np # use the iris dataset

X, y = load_iris(return_X_y=True)

print(X.shape)

# (150, 4) # 150 samples (rows) with 4 features/variables (columns) # build the scaler model

scaler = MinMaxScaler() # fit using the train set

scaler.fit(X) # transform the test test

X_scaled = scaler.transform(X) # Verify minimum value of all features

X_scaled.min(axis=0)

# array([0., 0., 0., 0.]) # Verify maximum value of all features

X_scaled.max(axis=0)

# array([1., 1., 1., 1.]) # Manually normalise without using scikit-learn

X_manual_scaled = (X — X.min(axis=0)) / (X.max(axis=0) — X.min(axis=0)) # Verify manually VS scikit-learn estimation

print(np.allclose(X_scaled, X_manual_scaled))

#True

The effect of the transform in a visual example
Kenapa Design System itu Sangat Penting 🕺
By: Rizki Mardita
Tags: Design Systems, Design, Gojek, Design Language System, Product Design

“Design Systems is about how to approach your design process more systematically, and ensure your design system helps to achieve the purpose of your product and fits with the culture of your team.
What is a Comms Planner vs. a Media Planner vs. a Brand Planner vs. a Digital Strategist?
By: Larissa Hayden
Tags: Marketing, Digital Strategy, Advertising Agency, Brand Strategy, Advertising

Comms Planner

A comms planner provides strategic rigor to the implementation of the idea, ensuring integration of the work between creative and media. Their key outputs include messaging frameworks, comms tasks, tactical briefs, and ecosystems.

Previously (and less frequently) known as Engagement Planners, Channel Planners, or Connections Planners.

Brand Planner

Also called “Account Planner” or in some smaller advertising agencies, simply the “Planner” or “Strategist.” Confusing, no?

The Brand Planner is considered the “voice of the consumer” in the creative process. They figure out what messages need to be communicated to reach target consumers in the right way, with the right message. To do this, they consumer research and trends to write creative briefs and evaluate work.

Media Planners

Called “Comms Planners” in some media agencies.

Within a media agency, media planners calculate how to best and most efficiently reach target consumers. They do consumer media research similar to an agency’s comms planner and use this research to develop a media plan and a tactical channel plan.

Digital Strategist/ Social Strategist/ Digital Guru….

May just be called “Strategist” especially at digital or social agencies.

From my experience, these roles vary the most from agency to agency. Generally, these people have a deep knowledge in a specific field such as social media, search strategy, website strategy, etc. They use these precise skills to develop digital or social solutions to a brand’s problems. In addition, they think about how to optimize each piece of creative for the channel similar to a Comms Planner.

How Do Comms Planners and Media Planners Compare? How do they Overlap?

Here is a simple Venn Diagram that outlines how BBDO Comms Planning compares to our counterparts at a media agency.

How Do We Keep The Planners Straight?

In summary, we’ve found at BBDO that a simple way to talk about the different types of planners is to think of the Who, What, When, How, and Where of communications.
How to Find The Best Mobile App Developers for Your Project
Tags: Mobile Apps, Mobile App Development, Technology, Top Mobile App Developers

There are nearly 2.3 million professionals working as mobile app developers across the globe. The number is enormous and increasing every day, making it impossible for you to find the right kind. To save you the trouble and billion dollars we’ve found you the right strategies on how to employ the best resources and brightest minds? If you choose your resource without putting much thought into it, there are chances that you will make a wrong choice. You really can’t afford to go wrong when hunting for mobile app developers for your project. The write-up is going to offer you insightful suggestions on how to find the best resource.

Tips to Find the Best Mobile App Developers

Here are a series of tips that will help you find the best mobile app development resources. While making the choice, try to get as much information as you can about the developer. This will help to find the best mobile app development company for your project. Here are the suggestions to keep in the mind.

Select A Destination

Now there are analyst firms that allow you to access the developers from all around the world. However, the top locations seize to be some preferred locations like India, U.S. or may be the UK. Depending upon the location, the cost of the resource will vary prominently. India is a preferred destination to hire mobile app development companies and the cost for a basic mobile application can range anywhere between $5000-$8000. This basic amount can reach up to $40,000 an app depending on the complexity of it. So, the idea is to do a thorough research to find a company that offers the best services under your preferred budget.

Choose: a Company VS an Individual

The next thing that will play an important role in finding a perfect match is to decide whether you want a mobile app development company to work for you or it is a developer who can excel in the similar job? Freelance mobile app developers are getting the due attention they have always deserved. The best thing about hiring freelancers is, you get a resource to work for your project only, unlike a mobile app development company that manages a number of projects simultaneously.

This Article is Originally Published here.
The Absolute Reasons of Having a Mobile App for Business
Tags: Mobile App Development, Technology, Apps

The global number of mobile phone users, as per Statistica, by the end of 2017 is going to be 2.32 billion. The fact also denotes that one-third US population is likely to have smartphones of their own by the end of this year. The figures are persuasive enough to every mobile app development company to have an app for the business.

A business seems closer to the clients when there is an app to leverage a direct connection to the users. Additionally, user’s dependency on mobile phones has made it essential for companies to create an app for their businesses. Moreover, the ease of connecting with the clients helps to gain more clients in the business. Here are added absolute reasons to invest in mobile app development.

Reasons to Invest in Mobile App Development

24*7 Availability to the Clients

There are a set of pre-defined perks to having a mobile app to every mobile app development company. And, the best one is to offer continuous connectivity to the clients. A business app makes it quite easy for clients to interact with the business. Modern apps have also made it a cakewalk to offer a way to the clients in order to interact with the business at any point of time. This is one of the most exclusive reasons to invest in mobile application.

Enhancement to Brand Recognition

Developing a business centric application is taking a leap towards improving the brand recognition. A brand is the first line of introduction of a business to every user. It needs to make an impact on the users in order to entice them towards the services. Even if the users are not interacting with the business directly, an enticing mobile app development company’s logo can attract them towards the website, which will always count for the success of the business.

Providing Value-Centric Services to the Clients

Apps actually help mobile app development companies to offer value-centric services to the clients. For example, there are a number of applications that users can browse through either for getting the directions, knowing the nearest food outlet or for navigation purposes in order to reach a place. In the context of mobile app development business, the apps can really be helpful for clients to offer them knowledge about the latest app making technology.

This Article is Originally Published here.
Hi Santa.
By: Aldric Chen
Tags: Christmas, Self-awareness, Thinking, Short Story, Santa Claus

Hi Santa.

I am a child living on the equator. I never had any Christmas wishes growing up. This year, I do. Would you hear me?

I am not asking for toys. They are irrelevant to me this year.

My parents have been retrenched and are staying at home. I used to complain that they never had time for me. Now, they have the time, but they look at me with sadness in their eyes.

I don’t want that. I want my parents to be happy.

How can I help them? How can I find a job when I am too young?

Maybe I should try becoming a social media influencer. I see many people doing that on my Instagram and YouTube accounts.

Can you teach me how to do that?

Hugs and Kisses,

Kiddo

Chuttersnap on Unsplash

Liam Ireland
Training Considerations for Multiple Skills Orchestration
By: Cari Jacobs
Tags: Editorials And Comments, Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, Data Science, Watson Assistant

When you are building a Watson Assistant chatbot that must handle a variety of knowledge domains, you may begin looking into a concept known as “multiple skills orchestration”. Natural language classifiers often perform best when the classifier is focused on a single domain. Some use cases will perform just fine when mixing domains in a single skill (such as a banking use case that also handles light chit-chat). However, if your chatbot needs to demonstrate a broad range of knowledge and is struggling with accuracy and confidence, the solution may benefit from isolating each domain as a separate skill. This allows you to deliver a robust natural language experience where the chatbot can cover a wide range of topics and also go deep into any single domain.

The three main approaches for implementing a multiple skill solution are:

Router

Spray

Waterfall

There are a number of factors to consider when selecting an approach. (Check out this article to dive into the technical implementation aspects.) Once an approach is selected, there are a couple of options for training your skills. This article focuses on those training considerations.

Note: This article includes the results of several experiments that demonstrate various machine learning/training concepts. These experiments were conducted using data available in the Watson Assistant Content Catalog. Consider replicating these experiments with your own data if you are struggling to identify the best approach for your use case.

The Router Approach

The router pattern is a hierarchical configuration in which an utterance is initially classified to the most likely topic or domain, and then “routed” to a sub-skill for refined intent classification (and usually to deliver the associated response).
World Humanitarian Day: Veterans of WFP’s Ebola response talk coronavirus
By: Tatenda Rodney Macheka
Tags: Humanitarian, Zimbabwe, Ebola, Coronavirus, Covid 19

Meet Modesta Tuturu and Joseph Makumbe. As part of the World Food Programme (WFP) Zimbabwe’s Supply Chain team they are no strangers to emergency response during a pandemic — such as the one pushing Zimbabwe to the brink. Modesta and Joseph were both on the frontlines in 2014. No strangers to quarantine or lockdown, they understand the ins and outs of social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE). Below, they talk about their experiences of lockdown — then and now.

Tell me about where you were during the Ebola response

Joseph: I was deployed to Freetown, Sierra Leone in September 2014. I was responsible for monitoring stock levels and overseeing the movement of incoming and outgoing goods. When dealing with a pandemic, you always have to be ahead of the game.

Both Modesta and Joseph agreed that the most important part of their job is the last mile distribution. Seeing the food going home with smiling faces. WFP/Tatenda Macheka.

This is a lesson I learnt well in Sierra Leone. My role there was to make sure food and PPE were transported seamlessly, and WFP was the UN Agency taking the lead on this. I was making sure everything arrived in time, and that we were ahead of Ebola.

Modesta: I was deployed to Vonjama in Lofa County [the most affected city in Liberia] in October 2014. I was responsible for the last mile of distribution, for setting up logistics hubs. When I arrived in Liberia there was nothing — and as a woman I had to demonstrate that I could lead. We didn’t have much time when we were there, so we needed to be as fast as we could. Speed and efficiency are key. There is no room for error when dealing with such pandemics.

Modesta says balancing family responsibilities against humanitarian work is tricky. Photo: WFP/Tatenda Macheka

Were you prepared to be at the frontlines fighting Ebola?

Modesta: I had to leave my family, including my two-year-old baby, at home to venture into a male-dominated field. I was emotionally torn between my family and my career, but the passion for humanitarian work kept calling me. Some people didn’t want me to go, and even tried to discourage me from going. But for me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.

Joseph: I realised that it’s real when I arrived at Lungi International Airport. I was hit hard by culture shock when I was thrown in to work while trying to adjust to the new food and climate. I remember watching the news on Ebola and being afraid to go to Sierra Leone, but, thanks to the support and training I got from WFP, I felt prepared.

What sticks in your mind as a lasting memory of that time?

Modesta: There was a time when I had a high temperature and I was asked to visit the clinic. I thought I was sick and everyone was afraid. It turned out to just be tonsillitis!
What do you want to read?
By: William Pardo
Tags: Philosophy, News, Friendship, Love, Psychology

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

What do you want to read?

We have been bombarded with thousands of pieces of information all the time, from the special diet to the crisis of existence of the film actor. Cake recipes, tutorials on how to care for plants or raise pets.

Internet, television, radio, books, magazines, egg cart and billboard. Selling images, ideas, ideals, goals, commitments, real commitments in relation to supply and demand. I suggest that we return our thinking to the ends, what would be the purpose of buying a new car before the old one falls into disuse? New clothes before the ones we have are torn? Make new friends without knowing old friends in depth? Having sex with several people without having experienced odd intimacy with at least one before? To seek God without being surprised by an act of humanity? Looking for eternity after life without having heard or spoken something that echoes and answers for eternity itself?

I have become a double of my past, just as many others have become, reflections of a human capacity so complex, so powerful, so we are, memory itself, a character in a dead text, immutable, indigestible, but totally assimilable. Assimilable to the point of becoming ghosts of ghosts. For those who did not understand, I will become clearer, we are reflections of our past which is also a reflection, I admire myself and at the same time I find it an intoxicating grace, when people say they are meeting, when they say they are looking for the real “I” , I have the decency and duty to write to you that life itself is a lie and that if there is a real self, for the maintenance of the common good it must remain inaccessible and silent.

I confess that I am extremely tired and distressed to read, watch and listen to what I expect and to write what is expected of me, my next text will be a meditation guide to find balance, or a tutorial with investment tips, perhaps giving tips about tantric sex, tell me what you think you want to read.
Crypto Tales: Success story of Vikash
By: Vaibhav Seth
Tags: Storytelling, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Bitbns

Hey everyone,

I am Vikash and you’re reading my crypto tale. I have been into cryptocurrency trading for about 4 years now and I think I have built quite a stable portfolio that is able to withstand even the harshest of market crashes. And that has become possible due to the liquid nature of my trading strategy. Most of the traders usually lose money while trading along daily trends, but that is where I make profit. I came to know about Bitcoin in 2012 and I did not invest back then because I thought it is a scam.

However, things took a different turn for me when I purchased Bitcoin in 2015 through Zebpay, which was an Indian cryptocurrency exchange that recently shut down. Back then the price of BTC was Rs. 2,00,000 and I invested around Rs. 8,000, which quickly sore to about Rs. 36,000 when the price of BTC crossed Rs. 12,00,000. Greed got me, and I did not sell my BTC at that time; instead looked for ways to make even more profit.

I think this second phase was where I went wrong. I joined some social channels where people would predict the market for different cryptocurrencies and sometimes, I’d be surprised to see their predictions were right, due to which I made some more profit in the market. But then I joined the pump and dump groups, incurred some losses due to the false wisdom circulated on the channel, and finally figured it’s not the right way to trade. Now on a quest for some genuine ways of trading, I learned about technical and fundamental analysis, which are two different ways of predicting the market. YouTube was my place to go for learning these two prediction techniques. Even though the profits that I made after learning these techniques were not consistent due to improper money management on my side. But still, I had learned the concepts of trading and I just needed a proper trading platform with sufficient trading tools and a fair market.

In the beginning of 2018, I got to know about Bitbns, which I found suitable for arbitrage with many more amazing features. I never stopped making decent profit after that.
Searching For The Centre
By: Larry G. Maguire
Tags: Work, Philosophy, Psychology, Reality, Life

Searching For The Centre

Skirting the edges, most of us blindly play the game never finding the truth of the matter, if indeed, there is one.

On the edge, just inside the edge, there is the mainstream media, culture, society, a glut of data. Fabricated, manipulated, molded, spun, practiced and polished. It’s where most of us get our information.

It’s the nature of surface level reality, but rather than thinking of this information distribution in a two-dimensional circle, consider it three-dimensional, with no centre and no edge. Particles, waves, wavicles in constant motion, combining, separating, mutating, dipping, diving, pulsating, expanding, contracting, growing.

Immensely complex and self-organised.

It’s not ours — we inherit it, then adopt and contribute to it.

We come into the world, Aristotle proposed, a tabula rasa. Then the world of things and people, rules and regulations, impose its will on us.

We must conform with it not merely to live successfully, but to become that which we call a human being.

So here we are, all grown up and at the mercy of the narrative.

So which one will you choose?

The more we learn and experience, the more open we are to change and develop, the closer we may get to, or away from the centre. It is the source of all information — the singularity. It is not just reading what someone else has reported and taking it as gospel.

No.

It is the product of true first hand experience. The application of some prior information and putting it to the test. It is to be the guinea pig in your own experiment.

And as we experience change, we get closer to the source of information; we have the opportunity to move closer to the centre.

Then maybe one day we get there and rather than finding some old bloke with a white beard, the idol, standing there smiling, we find we are alone.

There’s nobody there.
Dealing With My Anxiety Because…Life
By: Michelle Jaqua
Tags: Self, Mental Health, Life Lessons, Women, Anxiety

I have the day off work today and you’d think I’d be happy and content looking forward to my day.

I am not. I have an underlying sense of deep anxiety and trepidation.

I can feel it in my gut. It’s a buzzing in my body and some nausea. It’s a clenching in my throat. I’m all to familiar with these feelings. I recognize my own cues of anxiety which warn me something isn’t right in my life.

Usually I don’t initially know why I’m having an anxiety attack. I have to make an effort to figure it out, which I don’t like doing, even if it’s in my best interest.

If I want to know why I’m having anxiety, I need to look at what I’m avoiding.

If I want to relieve my anxiety, I do certain activities to take off the pressure; I write, I exercise. I strategize about moving on with my day because I still need to live even if I don’t feel right inside. I refuse to let my anxiety disorder take over and become debilitated from it. I’ve done that in the past and it’s never a good outcome.

So I will continue on with the tasks of my day. I’ll apply for that car loan and go car shopping. I’ll have dinner with my mother. I’ll get over my anxiety attack eventually and be proud that I still adulted regardless.
When the Doors to the House are Locked
By: Presley Thomas
Tags: Essay, Quarantine, Religion, Christianity, Coronavirus

When the Doors to the House are Locked

Accepting Christ’s Peace when We are Afraid

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear…Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.” John 20:19–21(NRSV)

Quarantine, social distancing, and spending so much time at home were not listed on the church calendar this year. That our social, emotional, financial, and faithful elements of living would change so drastically were not predicted. There is some solace in knowing the church has dealt with deadly disease in its past, but we didn’t expect it to find us now.

There are resources in our time as we love our neighbors by staying apart — technology, digital bulletins, virtual hangouts, and online chats as we watch a service from home or gather in community groups. Many of us may have the gift and curse of living with our families, biological and created. Others may be alone in close quarters, controlling what we can in our surroundings, but knowing the outside is different, more measured and reserved as we keep our distance.

This includes our churches too. The Christian tradition is embodied in the act of showing up, being present, and asking what the Lord will do. What if God shows up for you as Christ does in the short passage above?

Disciples, alone and afraid, locked away, suffering from a shared fear after the crucifixion of Jesus. They wonder if they will be harmed as well.

Christ comes to them, resurrected, showing the wounds on his new body. A testament to suffering and love for those gathered there. The door is locked, but Christ is present.

Gather with your churches in ways that love your neighbor well. Many services come through the same device you are reading this article on now. If your faith is still floundering in this new posture, that’s okay. Acknowledge that. Grief is also an offering. Don’t ask yourself what’s enough if it’s all you can offer. God will find you. Follow Christ’s model as he greets the disciples in their fear and loneliness, to yourself and others — offer peace.
Crypto Tales: Success story of Sanchit Jain
Tags: Storytelling, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

I became aware of the cryptocurrency in 2017, but I never paid much attention to it. People everywhere said that it was a fraud, that it was some kind of trap, and so on and so forth. So I thought I’d stay away from it and I did — for sometime. But around the time of Diwali I came to know that BTC was cheap, so I thought I’d give it a try. I thought that even if I lost it wouldn’t be much.

I asked my dad to lend me some loan to purchase BTC, but he denied. I wasn’t surprised, of course. I saved some money on my own and on 9th December I invested 2K in BTC and soon it soon went up to 15K. During those days I wasn’t aware of any ALT coins or any other kind of crypto. Learning about them didn’t take longer and I invested in XRP. It went up to thrice the amount I’d invested and didn’t sell it. That’s the mistake I made. I got greedy and expected it to go up further. My investment of 35K turned to just about 8K.

I was heartbroken but not without realizing that holding crypto was a dumb move. I also realized that even if NTC pumped up to, say S20K, I’d still book a loss if I just hold on to them. I’d also booked some loss in Zebpay due to some mismanagement from their side. That’s when I discovered Bitbns and my profits have soared ever since.

I started investing in cheap coins like DOGE, DGB, etc. in search of some profit, but still the market was going down by the day. Then the Bitbns team introduced me to Arbitrage and taught me how it worked. I started arbitrage with very small amount, about 2K that I had got from liquidating all my BTC. Once I started arbitrage I started earning for the first time and I soon started recovering my losses.

All this was possible because of Bitbns. Bitbns is the only exchange in India that has a variety of coins and the best customer support. I have made profits I wouldn’t have dreamt of making if not for Bitbns.

Thanks, Bitbns, for helping me recover my losses.
Recovering a dormant obsession
By: Julio Martínez
Tags: Typography, Design Process, Visual Design, Design, UX

On March 2 of this year, the 36 days of type project started, and I took that as a final nudge to get this going. I began, of course, with that uppercase A. From the outset, I wanted to explore the typeface in a couple of different realms — in one, I stayed close to the original outlines and trimmed the contours; in another, I accentuated the stroke contrast. Lastly, I added a stencil on some studies that took even broader geometric liberties. Would the spirals taper or not? Would I keep the slabs? Would the quirky internal architecture of the original lettering hold up for legibility within an entire alphabet? Those are things I wanted to dig into as the project got off the ground.

Over time, the forms that were closer to the original began to lose their appeal, as it felt like an exercise in cleaning up vernacular type without adding anything else. A specter of pointlessness began to fall over those letters, particularly in the middle of the alphabet, where the task felt more like a production assignment, not a years-long What If project. I loved how the A and the B and the C turned out, and I continued drawing them to see what would happen once the R or the X or the Z came around, but I did so without the same interest.

Drawing tapering spirals also tested my patience a little too much, especially with the daily pace the project required. The high contrast version stayed around a little longer (in fact, it is still an intriguing idea to me and perhaps something I will revisit down the line). Still, by the end of the alphabet, I was most satisfied with stencil / geometric approach. I kept drawing high contrast versions until the end, but as the numerals started to count down, I knew the outcome would be a cleaned-up version of that stencil set.

Little rules emerged here & there. The original wordmark had no diagonals, so I stuck to that as much as possible, which made things like the N and the forward slash and the accents somewhat of a challenge, but I felt there had to be some idiosyncratic remnant to the alphabet to keep the spirit of the original letterforms. I had to sacrifice the original S as it just started to read like a 5 in most cases (I kept is as an alternate), and, though I’ve always loved the NE relationship, I removed the curved stem of the N to make it work better in the entire system.
January Summary
By: Adrià Navarro Martínez
Tags: Development, Money, Trading, Investing, Freedom

January Summary

By Adrià Navarro Martínez on The Capital

This weekend has concluded my first month of trading in TopStepTrader evaluation and here’s my story about it.

It has been a roller coaster.

Not only with monetary results, but with emotions, it all started with a drawdown as you could read in my posts, but it ended with profits.

Here is my trade report on this concluded month. Around 900$ in profit, close to 1/3 of the first step on TST.

Continue reading to see and understand what happened along this month.

Let’s start speaking with the emotions that have appeared during this month and how it evolved to the end of the month:

Boredom: yes, the first days of my trading month were negative but I was still trading in the market. I didn’t saw any opportunity within my plan until 1 week and a half. It was really boring to be in front of the screen and not taking any trade. Then the need for more trading strategies got a place in my mind. Something positive about this was that I didn’t enter on anything that wasn’t in my plan. Despair: once boredom attacked my room head, it evolved to despair, I couldn’t find any profitable trade in the market and I didn’t set up/organize my time to develop more strategies. Taking into consideration the weekend but I couldn’t manage to do it. Breaking the rules: crazy day, my mind stopped working on discipline mode and started thinking of being on the market in any condition, was just 1 opportunity to trigger that mechanism in my mind. “I wanted to take a trade and make benefit from it”. This day I won some money in the market but the rules were broken, so the next trade equal to that made the profits gone. Recovery: As this was only 1 day bad in my trading month, I decided to be the last. So I would never break the rules again because I started to feel worried, afraid and not confident in my trading, and I don’t wanna any of these emotions while I trade. I just want to execute profitable setups and wait time to make the hedge be working. Confident: The last week of January and the first of February something triggered on my mind, It was the end to do stupid things, I am here to be professional and to take the best opportunities on place. Plus our mentor sharing his ideas day by day on the market gave me the boost to feel confident and feel that this is possible again, not only in my mind but in my body.

This is a marathon and not a sprint.

I started January with a kinda nervous body and emotions around trading, but I remembered why I’m doing this and the trading action cleaned that.

The fear of failing isn’t here anymore, my action deleted fear day by day, that’s the only way to get out of the comfort zone and grow.

At the end of the month I gained confidence and I know what are my next steps, I’m reviewing every weekend my trades and learning from my errors, and the last one: I decided to open a real personal account on CFD to recover my personal developed strategies and execute them on real-time day by day.

Let’s see how this February month ends.

Have a nice week people! Cy@
How to Make Better Decisions by Overcoming the 5 Obstacles of the Mind
By: Moreno Zugaro
Tags: Decision Making, Buddhism, Self-awareness, Self Improvement, Advice

Master Shi Heng Yi is as interesting as his name suggests. He has an MBA, two university degrees, and a bunch of other diplomas and certificates. Yet, he has also 30 years of practice as a Shaolin monk. If I had to ask someone about how to overcome all the obstacles of our modern world, he’d be high up on the list.

His answer is in line with what Brendon Burchard, author of the NYT #1 bestseller High Performance Habits advocates: First, seek clarity. Yi says self-mastery and living a valuable and meaningful life is all about seeing clearly. However, this isn’t as easy as wiping your windshield — there are five major obstacles you have to overcome.

The modern world aims at making things easy and convenient. Google Maps tells you where to go, Starbucks has your coffee needs covered, and if you’re in the mood for diarrhea you seek out the nearest McDonald’s. But in your personal life, decisions are more complicated than ever.

Should you take that job or wait for another offer? Should you tell her you’re unsatisfied with your relationship? Should you read that book or watch Netflix? Should you move cities? Should you sign a gym membership? Should you get a dog — and if yes, which one, and should you get pet insurance? Whether you want to adopt a canine or not, you get the point.

In today’s world, there are almost endless possibilities — and all these options make it hard to choose. You start sweating from all the heavy thinking, your windshield gets foggy, and you can’t see clearly. You take the wrong turns and end up in the wrong places.

The ancient advice of the Shaolin has been around for millennia, yet it’s still invaluable wisdom for your modern life. By mastering yourself first before you take on the outside world, you’ll free yourself from distractions, bad decisions, and layers of overwhelming uncertainty.

When you apply it, your life’s windshield clears up. You can set the trajectory for the life you want, make better decisions, and take the action that will get you exactly where you want to be.
How to Write a High-Quality Article in 1 Hour or Less
By: Celeste Galizia
Tags: Writing Tips, Content Writing, Article Writing, Writing, Self Improvement

How to Write a High-Quality Article in 1 Hour or Less

So that you can write more and make more money. Quality doesn’t lie in the effort

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

I used to think the more effort you put in and for longer, the better the article or piece of content will be. Combine this belief with ever-lasting perfectionism (like in my case), and you get a deadly match.

After thousands of hours spent working as a freelance writer, I found out how shallow and dangerous this mindset really is. It can deplete your energies and waste your best hours of focus — leaving you to burn out every few weeks or months.

I proved this idea wrong when I got my first semi-viral article here on Medium. I was experimenting with shortening my writing time, and that article took me exactly one hour to write, edit and publish. I definitely didn’t think it was a good article, but I decided to publish it anyway just because.

Not only did it get accepted, but it received a ton of attention, too. I published it months ago and it still receives comments and highlights on a daily or weekly basis. I would have probably thrown that article away because I didn’t “put enough effort into it,” and there it was, receiving comments about how useful people found it.

At that point, I asked myself what the real goal of writing was for me: to spend hours reading every paragraph 50 times, or to be helpful?

I started fighting my perfectionism habits relentlessly, so I could write more and help more. And this is why we’ll talk about how it’s absolutely possible to write a perfectly-good, high-quality article in one hour only, including everything, from writing to publishing. Let’s start.
The Art of Unifying Broken Pieces
By: Brenda Mahler
Tags: Faces Of Covid, Reflections, Poetry, Coronavirus, Covid 19

With a desire to connect faces to this insidious disease, people where asked to participate in a project. Everyone who participated were asked the same questions and their responses developed into poems sharing their experiences.

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聽 UX 開山始祖們談 UX！Nielsen Norman Group 修課觀察
By: Jasmine Lin
Tags: 學習, 設計, Design, 設計思考, 中文

Written by

UX Designer / Information Architect from Taiwan, now living in Seattle.
Don’t Let COVID-19 Doom Your Holidays
By: Katy Velvet
Tags: Christmas, Mental Health, Family, Relationships, Friendship

Don’t Let COVID-19 Doom Your Holidays

You just have to get a little creative.

This year has been challenging to say the least. From the way we work — to the way we socialize, we have all ultimately hit the ‘reset’ button. But perhaps there are still ways to keep the spirits up during this time.

As Christmas season approaches, we all have to remember that there is still an ongoing pandemic and that we need to spend it safely and responsibly.

Depending on where you live, you may still be able to see a small bubble of friends from a distance or perhaps another household other than your own.

Regardless of your situation, there are still ways to keep your holiday merry and bright. Maybe this year is the year is really cherish those around us.
Why, Yes, I Do Feel Like an Enormous Fraud
By: Shannon Ashley
Tags: Self, Life Lessons, Blogging, Success, Writing

I don’t really like to talk about imposter syndrome. It’s not something I typically get into when I write about writing because, for me, it’s up there with writer’s block — everybody talks about it, everybody has an opinion about it, but neither of those things means my thoughts about it will make a difference.

For a long time, I’ve sort of just taken it for granted that every writer feels painfully inadequate some days. Don’t they?

Toward the beginning of October, I wrote a story that’s had about 360,000 views. It was a nice enough ride until the traffic began to sputter, and I wound up feeling a bit like a failure.

Maybe the story wasn’t good enough. Maybe other writers would have done much better. Maybe it was weird that the story quit spiking when it did. On and on it went with my mind making up imaginary problems just because my traffic went down again. Back to normal. Suddenly, my normal felt like a real deficit.

Everybody who deals with imposter syndrome knows that it doesn’t actually matter what you do or how well you do it. It follows you around wherever you go and beats you down just because it can. Imposter syndrome is opportunistic, and lately, it seems to find a lot more faults in me.

The truth is that my writing’s changed a lot in 2020. I suspect there’s a lot of that going around this year. A lot of general uneasiness among creatives.

For more than two-and-a-half years, I’ve been known for writing deeply vulnerable stories about my life and all the gory blunders. My best writing feels a lot like opening my veins — it’s cathartic — not just for me, but for certain readers too. For the readers who get it, who need it, there’s nothing tawdry or low-brow about bleeding on the page.

Even so, I find I do a lot less bleeding on the page these days. It feels like 2020 has chewed up and spit out more than enough of me. Much of it has to do with being a single working mother in the middle of a freaking pandemic. Some of it has to do with various health problems during a viral pandemic. A lot of it has to do with hitting perimenopause before I’m even forty… in the middle of a fucking viral pandemic.

And then, you know, there’s the election.

I mean, I’m tired and exhausted. Emotionally, mentally, and physically depleted. It feels a helluva lot better —or even safer? — to lean into cultural commentaries. Slightly less personal politics. Unpacking, reliving, and learning from my past? God, that’s so pre-corona.

For the past seven months or so, I’ve lived with so much heightened stress that I can’t get too excited about any deeply personal topic. And hello, imposter syndrome. I see how much you like to take advantage of that.
Comprehensive Guide To Optimize Your Pandas Code
By: Eyal Trabelsi
Tags: Machine Learning, Python, Performance, Data Science, Pandas

Avoid Loops ♾

Pandas is designed for vector manipulations. Vectorization is the process of executing operations on entire arrays, Which makes loops inefficient.

Bad Option 😈

A rookie mistake in pandas will be to just loop over all the rows” by either using errors or regular loops.

In the following snippet, we are calculating the original meal price (without the tip) by subtracting the tip from the meal price itself.

def iterrows_original_meal_price(df):

for i, row in df.iterrows():

row["orig_meal_price"] = row["meal_price"] - row["meal_tip"]

return df %%timeit -r 1 -n 1

iterrows_original_meal_price(df) 35min 13s ± 0 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 1 run, 1 loop each)

As you can see, the execution time is around 35minutes, unsatisfying results indeed. But don’t worry, as I said, using iterrows is a rookie mistake, and I am here to show you a much better approach.

Better Option 🤵

Fortunately, there is a much nicer way, using apply. Apply accepts any user-defined function that applies a transformation/aggregation on a DataFrame (iterative).

def calc_ orig_meal_price(row):

return row['meal_price'] - row['meal_tip'] def apply_original_meal_price(df):

df["orig_meal_price"] = df.apply( calc_ orig_meal_price, axis=1)

return df %%timeit

apply_original_meal_price(df) 22.5 s ± 170 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1 loop each)

As we can see, the performance boost here is insane, instead of 35 minutes, the same program took us 21 seconds which is much better. I will gladly take the 100x Improvement In Execution Time over iterrows⌛.

So the lesson is that Iterrows is pure evil 😈.

But is all can we do? Can’t we make the same simple code extremely fast? Well, it can be done, and now I am going to show you the best way, aka vectorizations.

Best Option 👼

As a reminder, vectorization is a process of executing operations on entire arrays. Pandas/NumPy/SciPy includes a generous collection of vectorized functions from mathematical operations to aggregations or to create new ones with np.vectorize .

In the following snippets, we are going to subtract the entire meal_tip column from the entire meal_price column.

def vectorized_original_meal_price(df):

df["orig_meal_price"] = df["meal_price"] - df["meal_tip"]

return df %%timeit

vectorized_original_meal_price(df) 2.46 ms ± 18.1 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 100 loops each)

That’s insane. We can see the benefit of the vectorized function right away. We got to 2.5 milliseconds. And about 100,00. 8000x Improvement In Execution Time over the apply method⌛. So the lesson is that vectorized operations rules 😇.
Avoid Security Loopholes Using @JsonView in Spring Boot
By: Parul Dhingra
Tags: Spring Boot, Web Development, API, Java, Programming

Avoid Security Loopholes Using @JsonView in Spring Boot

Don’t expose more than you think needs exposing

Spring Boot logo

If a certain property on an object is internal to your business and not useful to a consumer, then don’t return it.

Let’s say we’re using the controller to query information and return it to the front end in the JSON data format. Often, some username and password queries are involved in the JSON data, but for security reasons, we may not need all of the User object user information (for example, username and password ) to be returned to the front end.
London Calling
By: Aarish Shah
Tags: Inspiration, Poetry, UK Politics, Photography, Writing

Photo Credit — Me — St Paul’s Cathedral — London

Freedom's what unites us

You want to test this, come to my yard and fight us?

Telling you mate you best think twice cos

We hear London calling

Best believe that London it ain’t falling

We pick ourselves up, stand tall and

The man dem from Big Ben to Wren's St Paul's dem

All stand together

Our city's our tether

Keeps us bonded from now to forever

Here, let me give you some advice

We Landoners mate, you thought once?

Best think twice.

For those that fell. 22/03/17
Can I complain for a minute?
Tags: Pedantry, Friendship, Psychology, Comics

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