fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Iowa Caucus Collapse: In Absence of Republican Opponent, Dems Still Find a Way to Not Win
By: Sir Longfellow
Tags: Democrats, Bernie Sanders, Politics, Democratic Socialism, Democratic Primary

In a courageous display of perseverance in the face of accessibility, the Democratic Party staged a stunning come-from-ahead defeat on Monday night, inexplicably finding a way to not win in their own Iowa Caucuses, despite the absence of an opposing Republican candidate on the ballot.

Speaking with Penny Press sideline reporters after the contest, veteran quarterback Bernie Sanders had this to say about the gutsy failure: “It was tough. Really tough out there. Ya know, things were just going our way; it seemed like no matter how hard we tried to fail, we just couldn’t miss. But then, when all hope seemed found, we managed to pull apart at the seams, dig deep and gut out the hard-lost L.”

In a back-and-forth contest in which the democrats struggled against themselves, the epic collapse was eventually secured when it was discovered by DNC officials late Monday that Shadow-the app procured by the DNC to report voting results-required an in-app purchase to actually deliver said results.

Recounting the big play, DNC Chair Tom Perez said, “I kept trying to hit download but this error message kept popping up, saying, ‘Please Update Your Payment Information.’ So I tried going to General, Settings…but then I couldn’t remember where you click to get to your iCloud. So I finally figured out it’s at the very top, buried amongst Apple ID, iTunes & App Store, etc. But then when I finally found it, I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember my password. It’s soooo confusing.”

The most recent loss is, per DNC chair Tom Perez, part of a larger strategy by Democrats to differentiate themselves from their Republican opponent. “Trump’s brand is all about winning. We needed to find a way to differentiate ourselves from our competitor. So we went with losing. We figured that if we could become known for being the most incredible losers of all time, it might just give us a shot to win in November.”

Following the big loss, the democrats look to extend their losing streak in New Hampshire on Tuesday night. When asked if he thought they could continue to hamper their own momentum, rookie Pete Buttigieg offered, “I’ll be honest: I don’t know why I’m here, or how, or what’s going on. So yea, if we keep our heads down and keep falling backwards, I’d say we’ve got a chance to keep this losing streak going right up through November.”
February
By: Janet Rhodes
Tags: Nature, Clouds, Poetry, Winter

Six Years of poetry-only publishing, PoetsUnlimited was a diverse, engaging and authentic poetry magazine. For most of that time a daily publication, it was always diverse and original, and free-to-read by all.

Follow
Rain…
By: Anna Sircova
Tags: Writing, Photography, Poetry

a rainy autumn day …

when the rain drums on the window and the roof …

when you feel lazy and it feels right to just stay at home

when all is needed is a hot cup of tea and a very comfortable sofa

it would be perfect to light up the fireplace and listen..

listen to the rain outside and wood cracking by the fire

soft light and maybe some soft music on the background …

natural conditions for reflection and light melancholy
Trapped
By: Liza Donnelly
Tags: Women, Feminism, Domestic Abuse, Pandemic, Domestic Violence

In a report in The New York Times, I learned that in the UK, at least twenty-six women and girls were violently killed by significant others in the home since the start of the pandemic lockdown. Countless others are trapped with abusive partners.

The lockdown is difficult for many, but tragically and often fatally so for those in abusive relationships. China reports domestic violence has increased triplefold. Some countries planned for this type of increase, such as New Zealand, Germany and others. It is something that needs more attention. What’s clear is this problem is a global problem that is exacerbated by the stresses of the pandemic.

I drew this in hopes of shining a stonger light on global domestic abuse.
My Predictions for Technology Trends in 2021
By: Adarsh Bulusu
Tags: Programming, Data Science, Software Development, Technology, Tech

2 | Quantum Computing = Computational Panacea

Quantum Computing, which functions by manipulating quantum particles, known as qubits, performs classical computations at an accelerated rate. The purpose of quantum computing, outlined by Paul Beinhoff in 1981, was to create a tool to solve non-deterministic polynomial problems in polynomial time efficiently. Some example problems include the optimization of the finance and health sector, data analysis for medical advancement, and breaking intricate encryption systems.

So, what will Quantum Computing look like in 2021? IBM and Google will be adding more qubits to their machines, and if IBM wants to keep their promise of delivering a 1 million qubit quantum computer by 2030, they better get moving. I also believe Google will also join this race to a million qubits. Moreover, I think the real ‘hype’ quantum computing will receive in 2021 will come from quantum computing software solutions rather than any hardware breakthroughs. One field in particular that will be impacted by the creation of quantum computing software is medicine. The astonishing speed of quantum computers will allow us to parse through millions of molecular combinations to develop AI-generated treatments, which could potentially save millions of lives and reduce R&D costs.
Cryptosphere best practices: How to check if an external project is affiliated to a company
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Tenx, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Cryptosphere best practices: How to check if an external project is affiliated to a company TenX Follow Jun 11, 2019 · 2 min read

The internet is a free world where projects can claim to be affiliated with larger companies. This can make it confusing and dangerous for crypto consumers and token holders, and it is extremely important to always authenticate any such claims.

In place of a virtual 23andMe to verify virtual ‘lineage’, here are the 3 best practices to keep you safe:

1. Check the official parent website

The official website is typically the source of truth for a company. Check the parent website for direct links to verify any claimed affiliation. As a rule of thumb, a project is affiliated with the company only if you can click to it from the official parent website.

On our website tenx.tech, we link to external websites such as CoBloX and the COMIT Network, and our third-party platforms such as the Product Board, Rocket Chat, Community Forum (new!), and Support Center.

Important: Always check links from the parent website and not from the other external website.

2. Ask the moderators on official company chats or forums

The official chats and forums of TenX are Rocket Chat, Community Forum, and r/TenX — all of which have active, helpful moderators who will be happy to verify whether an external website is affiliated to TenX.

Ensuring that you are on the official community platforms is vital. A good practice is to use the official website to click to the chat or forum.

3. Contact official Customer Support

When in doubt about any external websites claiming to be affiliated to a parent company, contact the parent company’s official Customer Support.
Ashes Ashes
By: Ann Litts
Tags: Lent, Self-awareness, Life, Spirituality, Life Lessons

Photo by Ahna Ziegler on Unsplash

Ash Wednesday. Today begins the season of Lent. Typically when I was growing up in my mother’s very Catholic home it meant No-Meat-Fridays and “giving up” something you really really enjoyed. My mother “kept the fast” on Sundays. I was well into my 30s before someone told me we got a reprieve on Sundays and could, in fact, eat chocolate or drink beer — whatever said enjoyable something we had “given up” was.

My mother was hardcore Catholic.

As I grew spirituality I left the Catholic Church and developed my own personal relationship with The Divine.

Note to self: She didn’t give a fuck what I ate or when I ate it.

She was way more interested in how I treated My Life. Was I using My Gifts? Was I learning? Was I echoing Love? Or was I stuck in the stupid shit? Stupid shit like “fasting from meat” on Friday by eating seafood which costs twice as much. Now there is a great loophole every Catholic worth their salt knows about!

But back to Lent.

Forty Days. That’s the Magic Number for us to get our spiritual house in order. Forty Days. You see it a lot in religious traditions. Every. Single. One.

In Christianity and Judaism, it’s referred to the number of testing. In Hinduism, it’s the number of repetitions for prayer. In Islam, Muhammad was forty years old when he began his ministry and he sent forty followers out into The World to spread his teachings. It’s a fascinating number — check it out — it has it’s own Wiki page. No lie.

But I digress. Back to Lent.

I keep getting sidetracked because this is what Lent is. It’s a tangent. It’s a spiritual sidetrack in Our Lives.

The Universe didn’t set up Lent or any of other the Forty Day Excursions into Spirituality. We did. The Magic Number is completely a Human Construct.

The Universe doesn’t check out the other 325 days of the year. She is always with us. ALWAYS.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I think it’s a wonderful idea for a Human to take time out of time and pause to deep dive into their Soul. Every Soul requires this kind of maintenance. But my point is this — We have this ability to do it outside of the constraints society and organized religions set up.

We can access The Universe at any time. She is always with us. In Our Hearts and hanging out with Our Soul just dying for a chat. She does some of Her best work off the cuff — in our daily lives.

This is not Rocket Science. We are on The Earth to experience Our Lives. Every single moment. In Our Now.

All you have to do is Be Open. Let Love guide you. Be still for a split second and you will hear Her Voice.

From personal experience — I know exactly what The Universe will say.

She will tell you — Eat the Chocolate. Because we all know chocolate = Love.

Namaste.
Parent
By: Georgia Lewitt
Tags: Parenthood, Writing, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Life Lessons

Wednesday: Describe a decision you’re facing right now. Which path will lead to most growth?

I don’t really know. This question makes me panic, dreading that I may be lost. What if there is no growth on my path- because I feel stagnant now? No growth-leading-path hanging on new decisions at the moment.

I do vow to follow through with the most recent one that I believe will help me grow as a mother, a person, a being.

My little guy is the third boy I’m bringing up. This time my own flesh and blood, his cells unite often to push those hidden buttons, or worse, buttons I thought inexistent. After raising my voice and threatening punishment countless times, feeling rotten afterwards, I’ve decided to become a better parent. Fury escalates into violence, loss of control. I should know better where that leads to. I remember all too well.

The amount of books and audiobooks one can find at the public library is enormous. I’ve put my name on waiting lists for as many as possible, borrowed as many as I could, and I’m listening, reading and scribbling down things to do, or that I think would help, with every chance I’ve got.

I can now slowly think ahead. I am slowly changing my understanding of my son’s actions and reactions, and I am slowly changing my responses, physical, verbal and in my mind. It’s becoming easier with practice, and I allow a sigh of relief here and there each time there’s the realization of progress.

My son is starting to trust me not only because I am his parent, but because I am love and comfort. He sees me less as the big bad wolf howling demands and more as the womb he came from as life.
Experts Are Changing The Way We Talk About STDs
Tags: Sex, Sexuality, Stigma, Education, Health

Reducing Stigma: The Psychology of Replacing of STD with STI

One goal of repurposing the term STD is to reduce the stigma of sexually transmitted infections, viruses, and diseases. As mentioned above, most sexual health risks are treatable infections. In fact, out of all the ailments one can get through sex only four do not have a cure: Hepatitis B, HIV, Herpes, and HPV. While these maladies aren’t curable right now, medical advances enable us to manage and treat them effectively. We’ve come so far that Dr. Adam Spivak, an HIV specialist at the University of Utah Health, has gone on record saying that HIV is no longer a death sentence.

Still, the term STD is frightening and the average Josephine isn’t staying up late reading medical journals about sexual health. So long as STD remains the umbrella term for all sexual illnesses, even the most mundane sickness can be misconstrued as a disease. Moreover, the diseases that are incurable, but not life-threatening, take on a whole new meaning. One vibrant example of stigma is Herpes. HSV 1 & 2 (a.k.a. Oral & Genital Herpes) have a sinister reputation on par with HIV. Yet, herpes is nowhere near as invasive as HIV.

“The symptoms associated with oral or genital herpes infection are mild and/or infrequent, the negative impact a positive herpes test has on someone’s life can be enormous.” — Elizabeth Bowsky PhD, Expert in sexually transmitted diseases.

When it comes to sex, stigma is a disease that no one is talking about. It can inspire social isolation, self-loathing, and bullying. Which can cause or exacerbate depressive tendencies or anxiety disorders.

By changing the language from “disease” to “infection”, medical professionals can be clearer about sexual health. This clarity is essential. In our day and age-sex education is in disarray. The average person is lucky if they learn about sexual health as an adult in a doctor’s office. When everyday language has the ability to be more accurate, it creates a culture shift.

Experts hope that this is exactly what will happen, and in the meantime, there is another hill sex-positive professionals are attempting to climb.
How to Use Property Decorators to Prevent API Break Changes
By: Yong Cui
Tags: Python, Programming, Machine Learning, Software Engineering, Technology

How to Use Property Decorators to Prevent API Break Changes

Make your APIs consistent

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

Introduction

Some Python programmers develop packages and frameworks for others. In this case, their code includes public APIs that other developers can use. When we design the packages, it’s not always possible to foresee all the potential problems that can arise during the evolution of the technological world — nor can we foresee every pertinent business need. Oftentimes, we have to keep updating our packages, and this is when you see different versions of the packages that you may use.

Because of the open-source nature of Python, most of Python programs, including many packages themselves, rely on other Python packages. One common thing that can happen is one day your code works, but it stops working the next day after you update some dependencies for your program. Certainly, it’s why people use containers like Docker to address these dependency-related issues. But from the perspective of the package developers, we should strive to prevent API-break changes at all costs.
No, You Don’t Compromise Quality by Choosing Quantity
By: Ria Tagulinao
Tags: Self Improvement, Writing, Creativity, Life Lessons, Writing Tips

What happens when you do something over and over again?

Being a dancer for almost half of my life, I’d still say that nothing compares to the high you get from killing it in a routine. You step out on stage, go to your first position, and when the music plays, you go all out. You just lose yourself. And it’s the best feeling in the world.

But just because you “lose it” on stage doesn’t mean you lose control of the movement. On the contrary, you hit all the right steps in the right angles and the right energy. You’re executing the movement with full quality. And you don’t even have to think about it.

Simply put, excellent execution has become muscle memory.

But how do dancers even get there?

To nail a routine, there are two things you need to do. The first is to thoroughly break down the choreography. You literally go through it step-by-step so you can check the form of your movement — Are your limbs in the right place and the right angle? Is your body in the right orientation? Should your hands be open or in a fist position? Should your feet be shoulder-width apart or farther from each other? Should the movement be sharp or flowy? Which beat of the song are you supposed to hit? How do you connect this step from the previous step? And how do you transition to the next?

This process is called polishing because the aim is to polish every single move. You purposely slow down to focus on the quality of the execution.

But here’s the second part of the equation: Once you comprehend how a certain step should be executed, you need to do it over and over again. It doesn’t matter if you’ve memorized the choreography after learning it once. You play the song, start from the top, and dance.

Repeat a thousand times or until the proper form sticks and you don’t have to think anymore about it (whichever comes first).

Because when it comes to that point where you can perform your piece without thinking too much about it, that means quality has become muscle memory.

That’s how you become a better dancer.
Recipe 27: Chicken Carbonara
By: Sarah Charles
Tags: Intentional Life, Cooking, Love, Recipe, Marriage

This is one of the many recipes that Aaron and I want to share with you. We are overjoyed for you to come with us on our journey as we put together different concoctions and laugh together (all while hoping to not burn our apartment down). Please enjoy these recipes as much as we have. We welcome you to a small, but intentional, part of our lives.

If you would like to read the post that accompanies this recipe, check it out here.
Day 13 of ‘A Photo A Day For 30 Days Challenge’
By: Divina Grey
Tags: Humanity, Creativity, Photography, Life, Love

Yup, you guessed it. I took this photo while on another hike with my kids. I love how the scene goes from light to dark. The ground and rocks look dreadful, but as you move your eyes up the photo, things start to improve, and the sun begins to shine through.

Hang on everyone.
How to convert any Document File into PNG Array in Python
Tags: Document, Convert, Python, Png, Arrays

With today’s setup, you will be able to easily convert a nice range of document file types into arrays of PNG images. As an added bonus, the entire process only takes a handful of minutes. It begins with pip install:

pip install cloudmersive-convert-api-client

And now that we have our client, we can formulate our function call. Here’s a general idea of how that can be structured:

from __future__ import print_function import time import cloudmersive_convert_api_client from cloudmersive_convert_api_client.rest import ApiException from pprint import pprint # Configure API key authorization: Apikey configuration = cloudmersive_convert_api_client.Configuration() configuration.api_key['Apikey'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY' # Uncomment below to setup prefix (e.g. Bearer) for API key, if needed # configuration.api_key_prefix['Apikey'] = 'Bearer' # create an instance of the API class api_instance = cloudmersive_convert_api_client.ConvertDocumentApi(cloudmersive_convert_api_client.ApiClient(configuration)) input_file = '/path/to/file' # file | Input file to perform the operation on. try: # Convert Document to PNG array api_response = api_instance.convert_document_autodetect_to_png_array(input_file) pprint(api_response) except ApiException as e: print("Exception when calling ConvertDocumentApi->convert_document_autodetect_to_png_array: %s

" % e)

This function will automatically detect the format of your input file, and then perform the necessary steps to convert it into PNG image form, with one image for each page.
Balancing Technology and the Human Element in a Tech-Enabled Service
Tags: Product, Product Management, Podcast, Tech, Startup

Podcast

Balancing Technology and the Human Element in a Tech-Enabled Service

Key takeaways from our interview with Sally Reasoner, VP of Talent Identification at Ascend Indiana

This week’s episode of Better Product was with Sally Reasoner, VP of Talent Identification at Ascend Indiana. As a nonprofit organization with a mission of fueling Indiana’s talent ecosystem, it may not be immediately clear how tech fits into their organization. After all, their differentiating factor is their people — they take the time to get to know each and every candidate one-to-one.

But as the lead of product development for the Network, Ascend’s digital product that allows them to scale and empower their team, Sally is very aware of the value of tech in every industry, even non-tech ones. Here are the main takeaways from Sally’s episode:

1. Customer feedback can improve all aspects of your business, not just product.

You’re constantly collecting feedback and insights for product (or at least you should be!) so why not get more bang for your buck? At Ascend, Sally applies product feedback all across the business to make user-informed improvements.

“Product is more more than your creative vision and your pathway, it’s responding to the market and how users use it.”

2. Find the balance of tech while still appealing to the personal, human aspect.

Instead of looking at tech as something that replaces people, Sally looks at tech as something that can scale the Ascend team and make the personal touches easier to execute. The Network was created to amplify people, not replace them.

“I thought I would have this grand vision and that would be what the Network is, and that it’s your vision as a product owner or manager. But what I learned very quickly is, that’s not the role at all. The role is to be responsive to the users.”

3. Tech can be the great differentiator for a non-profit.

Tech and non-profit may not sound like they mix, but Sally talks all about how tech has elevated their effectiveness and made them better at solving for impact, not profit.
Starting HRT — the Nonbinary Way. Month 2 — by Emil Tinkler
Tags: Gender, LGBTQ, Transitioning, Nonbinary, Transgender

Hello everyone! This is my second month on testosterone update, so if you did not read my introduction to starting HRT, I recommend reading that one first to avoid any confusion.

So far, my second month has been going well! Since I am on a low dose of topical testosterone, my transition is happening a bit slower than if I were to be taking shots. This unfortunately means I am still having the time of the month, but I hope that this will go away sooner rather than later. In less exciting news, I have also noticed myself feeling frustrated more often and being quicker to anger than before I was on T. I have heard that this can be normal, but I do plan to talk with my therapist about it further to make sure I am handling and processing everything in a healthy way.

In more exciting news — starting on November 18th, my voice finally started the process of dropping! In my previous post, I talked about having a voice crack or two within the first month of starting, but now my voice cracks several times a day. I have even started to notice an audible difference in the pitch of my voice when talking normally. During the first few days of the drop, my partner was worried that I was upset with him because my voice was weird and deep which he was not used to. Another thing I have noticed with my voice is that I am somewhat losing my ability to sing. This is very disappointing as I have always really loved singing and I even did choir in high school. I have a hard time realizing what my pitch is now and singing songs that are higher in pitch.

Another odd thing I have noticed is that sometimes when I try to sing the way I am naturally used to I simply can’t get any sound to come out other than something that sounds like and airy wheezing noise which is certainly something interesting to say the least. Despite being disappointed in the slight loss of my singing ability, I am still happy with how my voice is progressing as it is really starting to in my opinion get down towards to slightly masculine/gender-neutral range that I am aiming for.

Other than this, the only other small change I can really think of is that my eyebrows seem darker and they are starting to fill in more. I used to fill in my own eyebrows to make them look darker and more “masc” and I it looks as though my eyebrows are naturally starting to look the way I would try to fill them in — which is nice.

Again, my transition is going pretty slowly so I’m not expecting a whole lot of big changes to happen often or frequently, but I will continue to update as new changes occur!
Along the Border
By: The Big Roundtable
Tags: The Promise, Trump, Texas, Border Wall, Immigration

On a wind swept plain overlooking the floodway near the tiny South Texas town of Granjeno, there is a four-foot high yellowing water line on an 18-foot tall concrete flood wall, marking where the rising Rio Grande waters came up to in 2010 during heavy rains.

It’s proof, says Raul Sesin, general manager of Hidalgo County Drainage District №1, that the combination of earthen levees and concrete levee walls — which the county began constructing in 2008 with federal funds as part of a joint project to help control flooding in this flat region and also doubles as a natural barrier against illegal immigration — is doing its job. Because just over the concrete barrier wall, about 30 feet away, is a small home, which Sesin points out could have been flooded had this structure not been here at that time.

Wild dogs bark in the distance. Jack rabbits run through the brush near where Sesin is standing at a spot called “Segment 05” in the expansive floodway system. It’s a triangular concrete easement where one is able to walk up at a vertical sloping grade to the top of the 18-foot high concrete wall. At the top is a low chain link fence that meets a dirt levee road, made of caliche rock, where U.S. Border Patrol agents in rugged sport utility vehicles regularly drive back and forth and are keen to stop and question anyone found in this vicinity as they patrol for illegal immigrants.

This particular vertical concrete slope was designed to handle and redirect “turbulent waters” in case of “diversion flooding” from the Rio Grande, Sesin said. But if President Donald Trump’s administration decides to put a solid border wall structure throughout the Southwest border with Mexico, as he repeatedly promised during his presidential campaign, then this particular easement likely would be torn down and replaced with a solid border fence or concrete border wall that one could not walk up. If that happens, however, it’s uncertain how such a structure would abate rising waters, protect local property and affect wildlife, say local activists, environmentalists and some municipal officials.

Currently, the almost $200 million “border fence” in Hidalgo County, in deep South Texas, serves a dual purpose: To stop flooding and halt immigration. It is a mixture of concrete 18-foot-high walls, 20-foot-high metal bollard gates and earthen-built natural levees that pop up from the prickly brush, mesquite trees and alligator-laden water inlets throughout these borderlands and is built along and with the bending of the Rio Grande.

The fence is in no way complete. There are large gaps, some big enough to drive a tractor through, and often the metal fence gates are located a mile apart. Landowners and farmers whose properties straddle this vast no-man’s land are the only ones with access to cross at these gates, which are watched by Border Patrol agents and frequently paired with Border Patrol special cameras and towers. In between the gates, the concrete walls drop many feet below and seem impassable.

But somehow people get across.
“Stablecoins Are Killing It” Ep. #12 — Thursday, Aug 20th, 1–2pm EST Featuring Celo & DeFiDollar
By: Lou Kerner
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Stablecoins, Stablecoin Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

We started “Stablecoins Are Killing It” on April 25th, 2020, because stablecoins were the fastest growing segment of crypto, growing by $2.4 billion in Q1 ’20 to $8B. That 40% quarterly growth accelerated in Q2, to 48%, as stablecoins added another $3.8 billion in market cap. We’ve added more than $3 billion in the first half of Q3, as growth continues to accelerate:

But it’s still early days for stablecoins, with some predicting that stablecoin market cap will exceed $1 trillion by 2025.

The first 11 episodes have been entertaining and packed with insight, data and context for understanding the rapidly evolving stablecoin ecosystem. During the 1st half of our shows, our featured panelists give 10 minute overview presentations. The 2nd half of our shows feature audience Q&A where we open up the audio & video for audience members to ask questions and comment, creating a vibrant environment for discussion and debate.

Click here to register for the call on zoom

Our featured speakers for Episode #12:

Ezechiel Copic, Partner at cLabs Inc. Ezechiel works on the Celo platform, focused on official sector outreach and engagement. Ezechiel is a former central banker, having spent many years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in a variety of roles, focused on the understanding and implementation of monetary policy for the Federal Reserve System. Additionally, he also served as Director of Central Banks & Public Policy at the World Gold Council, advising central banks on gold reserves management. Ezechiel is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium, and serves as Team Vice Lead for the Digital Currency Global Initiative, a collaborative effort by ITU and Stanford University.

Sid Jain & Arpit Agarwarl, Co Founders of DeFiDollar, which is an index of stablecoins that uses Defi primitives to stay near the dollar mark and subsidize the collateralization ratio. An index provides a way to diversifying crypto-dollar positions to dampen the downside if a particular stablecoin like Tether falls (partially or completely) from its peg. DeFiDollar is backed by some of the leading DeFi degens. Prior to DeFi Dollar, Sid was an Ecosystem Development & Grant Fund Manager at Matic Network

Click here to register for the call on zoom

If you like this content PLEASE clap below (up to 50 times!) so others can benefit too. THX!
Update on Facebook Page
By: Experience Points, Xp
Tags: Social Media

As most of you are aware, this past week someone took over our Official Facebook Page in a hostile takeover. We believe that it was carried out by someone with admin access on our page. They either took over the page themselves or gave access to someone who then proceeded to kick out current admins and brand it with XPChain’s logo and information.

At this time, we are still doing investigations internally to see if we can find a way to regain access. We have accumulated a significant amount of evidence and have been in communication with Facebook support. We have also opened a new Facebook page (linked below) to act as a new place to receive news and have conversations.

This blog post is to reassure the community that we were not hacked. You can be assured that we have very tight security measures setup. Unfortunately, in this instance, we put our trust with a member of our team and they completely broke it. As a team, we are using this malicious series of events as a learning opportunity to help build our team’s trust and continue progress on our project.

This attack will not impede our team’s ability to move forward! We are very excited for the future and thank you all for your continued support as we build XP.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media pages for more updates!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBigXP

Facebook: https://goo.gl/hwb8Xo

Discord: https://discord.gg/Q4XAUD
The Science behind speech recognition
By: Matthias Hacksteiner
Tags: Tech, Audio

Great video by Google on the tech behind speech recognition.

via [androidandme.com]
Network Chain — Infomediary, Edge Interactions, and Data+ Network Effects
By: Khalid Al Madani
Tags: Collaboration, Ecosystem, Network Effect, Platform, Startup

Net Worth introduced the Infomediary concept as a full-fledged revolutionary business model. Here, I will try to present a lighter version of Infomediary as a function/profession. In the coming decade, Infomediary will resemble the form of apps backed by intelligent algorithms — thanks to the interplay between the biotech revolution and technological revolution. Although such Algorithmic Infomediary (“AIn”) is not the mandate of this post, below is a glimpse of how this might look like (AIn in hypothetical action).

Hypothetical Example — Kindle+

Kindle+ will be empowered with Algorithmic Infomediary, supported with advanced facial recognition software, which can trace your eyes along with every single paragraph, line, and word, and record your facial expressions as well as detect and analyze the movement of every tiny tissue beneath your skin. The AIn can detect the nerve impulses and muscle contractions affecting the size of your pupil with every line you read.

The AIn will provide you with a detailed analysis in an absolute percentage of your understanding based on the level of your emotional and intellectual engagement with the book. The AIn can then reproduce the book (e.g., with only the paragraphs that scored above 80% of passionate engagement.) Next time, when Amazon recommends a book, you will not have a choice but to buy it, since the recommendation will be derived from your inner and impartial emotions.

Amazon’s AIn will redefine the notion “like-minded.” You will be matched with an accurate percentage. For example, you can choose to be matched with someone who read the same book and scored 87% rather than 85% on the like-minded dashboard. I will stop here, but if you want to be enlightened about the future, read the 21 Lessons for the 21 Century by Yuval Harari.

In “Network Chain,” I wanted to draw the attention that in the core of every network effect, there is a vibrant network chain with a uniquely chained (DNA) configuration between the network’s features. With the above genome engineering, I am hoping to introduce a new (mutated) network effect — DATA+ Network Effects — by editing such a configuration. The added plus (DATA+) resembles the introduction of “Infomediary as a function/profession.”

DATA+ Network Effects generates a virtuous cycle of relevant, up-to-date, personalized, and curated data (choices and solutions). The Infomediary will be empowered with a wealth of actionable information that will enable him/her to zero-in between supply and demand.
Thalmic Labs’ Next Phase: Announcing $120M USD in Series B Funding
By: Stephen Lake
Tags: Wearable Technology, Venture Capital, Technology, Startup

Superpowers, here we come.

Today, we’re excited to announce our $120M USD Series B Funding led by Intel Capital, The Amazon Alexa Fund, and Fidelity Investments Canada, with participation from existing investors including Spark Capital. This new investment will help us realize our vision for the next era of computing, where the lines between humans and digital technology become increasingly blurred.

We’ve been reimagining human-computer interaction since we first created the Myo armband in 2012 and are proud of what the team at Thalmic has accomplished to date. With Myo, we built an entirely new type of sensor from the ground up, made breakthrough advances in gesture recognition, and ultimately turned science fiction into reality for tens of thousands of customers in over 150 countries.

Our developer community took the technology further than we ever imagined possible: researchers are using the Myo armband to train amputees on how to use their prosthetic limb and to translate sign language, while some developers have built incredible virtual reality experiences.

Myo was just the beginning. We have new products in the pipeline and are excited to share more soon.

Nearly four and a half years in, what we’re most proud of is the incredible team of people who have joined us. It’s a team that lives at the intersection of science and engineering; reasoning from first principles and pioneering new paths. We’re humbled every day to work alongside our colleagues at Thalmic and are always looking for those sharing our passion and vision to join the team. We’re hiring experienced team members for sales, marketing, and business development positions in our new San Francisco location while growing our engineering, R&D, and design teams in Waterloo.

This financing marks an exciting milestone for us, however, it’s just one step on a long journey ahead of us. Today is still day one. We wouldn’t be where we are today without our early supporters, our Myo community, and our investors. Want to be the first to know what’s next? Sign up.

—

Aaron Grant, Matthew Bailey, and Stephen Lake

Co-Founders, Thalmic Labs
New writing guide for you
By: Nicole Bianchi
Tags: Freelancing, Work, Writing, Remote Work, Productivity

Hey there,

Hope all of your writing projects are going well. I just wanted to let you know about the latest article:

How to Boost Your Productivity While Working From Home: Five strategies I use to organize my projects, structure my day, and stay healthy

I hope this guide is helpful to you.

Cheers,

Nicole
Adding SQLite.db file from the assets/internet (in Flutter).
By: Umesh Shrestha
Tags: Sqlite, Sql, Android, Flutter, iOS

Adding SQLite Database from the assets.

To add your database.db file, create a folder with name assets in the root project directory, and under assets create another directory called db and add the database files here.

Here the eng_dictionary.db and nep_dict.sqlite3 are db files.

(Note: The flutter Plugin SQLite supports both .db, .sqlite3, file as far as I know)

Now add the assets in pubspec.yaml.

adding dictionary on assets.

2. Write a model for your database tables.

Once we have our database we need the model of the tables that are present in the database file.

For example, in the about database eng_dictionary.db there is one table named words and that table contains 6 columns. To see the data in db file you can use tools such as dbeaver.

To create a model for that table you can create it manually. or you can auto-generate the model by using tools such as quicktype. But the quiketype creates the model from JSON. So you can export the database from dbeaver to JSON and use that JSON data to make the model from quicktype.

The model would look like this:

3. Now let’s create the database_helper .dart to create and initiate the database from the asset. And perform database crud operations.

Here the DictionaryDatabaseHelper.init() function initializes the database . To improve the performance the only once the DB file is created from the asset file for the first time.

Here, if you want to use the database hosted somewhere on the internet you can download and initialize the database as follows:

And the function DictionaryDatabaseHelper.getAllTheWordsEnglish() function gets en_word and en_defination of all the rows from the table words.

This can be heavy on performance if the database is large. So I recommend using the limits while fetching the database. You can use limit in SQLite while querying database as such:

Note: If you want to do pagination, you always have to use an oderBy clause; otherwise, the order is arbitrary.

Similarly, you can perform all the CRUD operations on the database.

Thank you all, for reading this article.

Hope this helped. Please leave feedback so I can improve my upcoming articles.
The ISW: W16 NFL 2019 Kelly Growth Performance Updates: +43.7% YTD
By: John Culver
Tags: NFL, Sports Betting, Sports, Financial Modelling, NFL Picks

***Last updated @ 4:30 pm EST on 12/21***

Kelly Growth Criterion Model [KGCM] Performance Updates The ISW’s NFL W16 Odds & Data Want to learn more about sports wagering? Visit PlaybookBets for top bonuses, product reviews, interviews, tons of fun content!

Last updated: 4:30 pm EST on 12/21:

Initial Investments: Week 16

Initial hypothetical NFL W16 KGCM investments as of 2:45 pm ET 12/18. All Kelly Growth simulated wagers are scored according to the final closing moneylines at Caeser’s Sportsbook. Hypothetical investments will change frequently, and will be updated infrequently prior to market close.

The KGCM’s utility is in maximizing returns according to expected value

To wit’s function should not be confused with a formula employed to pick winners, or even as an algorithm to select the more likely winner of a game — in fact, in the 160 games selected by the KGCM this year, 118 or 73.8% have been underdogs (< 50% implied chance of winning). Even if we assume that the wizards in Vegas frequently (and deliberately) misstate the real odds at least 50% of the time, KCGM typically favors picking the underdog as an investment.

When f > 0, this suggests that there is value (i.e. inefficient pricing) between the real odds (p) as quoted by the ISW fundamental odds tables, and the net Vegas implied odds (b) as quoted by Caeser’s sportsbook.

ISW Kelly Growth Criterion Model [KGCM] Performance [W1-W15]

Throughout the first 15 weeks of the 100th NFL regular season, the KGCM identified 160 hypothetical value opportunities out of a possible 416 sides where f > 0.

Below are the results from weeks 1–14 from a hypothetical initial bankroll of $100,000. All investments were proportioned on a weekly compounding bankroll basis.

KGCM PERFORMANCE [W1–W15] NFL 2019
Remember Your Worth & Build a Wall
By: Dianna Carney
Tags: Self Confidence, Poetry, Self Worth, Fear Of Failure, Poem

Photo by Rachel Ruquet on Unsplash

Let go of the fears that are holding you back,

Don’t be fazed by any setbacks.

Your brain will want to quit; it’ll try and justify,

All the reasons why it’d be easier to just comply

With every voice telling you to stop reaching for your dreams-

I know its hard to block out their bloodthirsty screams.

Self-confidence can be built but also destroyed.

Overtime critics’ opinions make you paranoid.

Remember your worth and build a wall,

Between yourself and those who wish to see you fall.
CryptoMentor 99 — Interview with XinFin Head of American Development, Christopher Neill
By: Xinfin Team
Tags: Blockchain, Team, Xinfin, Videos, About

CryptoMentor99 interview with Christopher Neill, Head of American Development. Click here to see full XinFin Community, Management and Advisor Team.

CryptoMentor99 is a XinFin community member that took upon himself to launch a YouTube channel to educate and inform the crypto-investor community on XinFin.

Almost every day CryptoMentor99 produces and shares a YouTube video.

Follow CryptoMentor99 at his YouTube channel:

Or join the XinFin community on Telegram where CryptoMentor99 shares his videos daily.
No one reads online privacy policies
By: Christopher Koopman
Tags: Facebook, Privacy, Technology, Data, Internet

Perhaps the most common activity on the internet today is mindlessly agreeing to terms of service (ToS). We’ve all been there. If you have ever signed up for new services at websites like Google, Facebook, Uber, or Amazon, the odds are that you agreed to the terms without reading any of them.

If you feel some sense of embarrassment to admit it, you shouldn’t. You’re not alone. Some of the greatest minds in America sign contracts without reading them. Chief Justice John Roberts doesn’t bother with them. Judge Posner signed a home loan without reading anything.

This may strike a chord with some internet users. After all, even if we wanted to read them all, who has the time? In 2012, Alexis Madrigil estimated that 53.8 billion hours would be required for every Internet user in the United States to read every privacy policy on every website they visit. It’s a safe bet that this number has only grown since then. Just reading Amazon’s ToS out loud would take an entire workday (nine hours, to be exact).

There have also been some recent efforts to visually demonstrate the excess of pages that would need to be sifted through. Last spring, Joanna Stern at the Wall Street Journal pointed out that she could cover the length of a football field using the printed privacy policies of the apps, services, and operating systems she most regularly uses.

Regardless of the effort required, the onus is on the users to know what they agree to. However, even if someone had all the time (76 work days by Madrigil’s count), energy, and attention span to read every word of every privacy policy we encounter, there’s one more problem: most of us wouldn’t even understand what we are reading.

There is some growing concern about whether or not tech companies can sustain this status quo. The New York Times, for example, published what may feel like a stinging critique. In an editorial titled “How Silicon Valley Puts the ‘Con’ in Consent,” it strikes at the heart of the current data privacy debates: the legal fiction of consent. “If no one reads the terms and conditions,” it asks, “how can they continue to be the legal backbone of the internet?”

What’s really at the center of most of the recent kerfuffles isn’t that companies are abusing user data. Instead, people are shocked, confused, and sometimes outraged to discover what they’ve agreed to. After all, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos aren’t exactly available to answer the average person’s questions about what their privacy policies are.
SAMENA Trends — January 2019 by SAMENA Telecommunications Council
By: Bubbletone Blockchain In Telecom
Tags: Blockchain Development, Blockchain, Telecommunication, Middle East, Blockchain Technology

Potential of Bubbletone Blockchain in Telecom for Further Development of eSIM Technology

By Alexander Yakovenko, Project Director at Bubbletone Blockchain in Telecom, pages 73–75:

About SAMENA Trends

SAMENA Trends is SAMENA’s monthly newsletter. This newsletter incorporates news, analysis, data and research on Telecommunications and ICT industries in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and reports on recent regulatory, and commercial and technical developments in the sector.

https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena-trends
Certificados seguros libres y sin costos en mi sitio web
By: Daniel Vargas
Tags: Ruby, Development, Amazon Web Services, Software Development, Ssl

Thanks to Martin Ramos Pino and Alejandro Soto Cisterna .
TBI Wall of Badassery
By: Reuben Salsa
Tags: Patreon, Poetry, Writing, Creativity, The Bad Influence

The Bad Influence Presents

TBI Wall of Badassery

Recognition of our devoted Patreons

The Bad Influence have reserved a special place to all our Patreon’s. A permanent feature on our legendary WALL OF BADASSERY.

To be featured on this anti-climatic, not-quite-a-wall, visual homage of devotion to all things BAD; all you need to do is pledge allegiance to Tier 2 or 3 of our Patreon’s page.

Here’s the link:

Don’t hold back. Send some love!