fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Who Cares If Warren Buffet Reads 5 Hours per Day?
By: Sergey Faldin
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Self, Personal Growth, Inspiration

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to come up with the best set of rules for my life. I tried to create the ideal day. I’d write to myself in my Moleskine:

“Wake up at 6 AM. Write for three hours. Go to the gym, run 10K. Have a protein-rich breakfast. Then work, take calls, or meetings. At the end of the day, read a book or socialize with family.”

Of course, this almost never happened. There were days when I was quite close to living my ‘ideal day’ — which took a toll on my energy and will-power — but most often, I was left burnt out and full of self-loathing because of how far away from perfect my day was. Or, if I am honest, how far away from perfect I was.

It’s the same with to-do lists. When you make to-do lists, you’re excited — sometimes too excited. You think that you’ve got this whole day ahead of you, and so many things you could do, so you fill it up with projects, tasks, and commitments, trying to squeeze everything in and make every second productive.

“Carpe diem!” they said.

Then you fail to get through even a third of those tasks and so you blame yourself and feel bad about it. You immediately assume that everyone else is more productive than you. On the flip side, however, if you’d set yourself that 30% of tasks you’ve actually accomplished, it would have been a very productive day indeed. The same day, but a very different experience.

Jack Kerouac famously wrote, “I felt free, and therefore I was free.”

Our lives — and their quality — are defined in a much bigger way than we give it credit by our emotions.

At the end of the day, how we feel about the day matters more than what we’ve done. Because tomorrow will be another day, and you’ll be able to accomplish everything you couldn’t accomplish today. More than that: you probably don’t remember what you accomplished last Tuesday. But you do remember the emotions — both pleasant and unpleasant.
Distributed databases: BigTable, HBase and Hypertable
By: Iván De Prado
Tags: Hypertable, Distributed Systems, Scalability, Hadoop, Computers

Since the publication of the Google paper about BigTable, people have started to make up their mind about distributed databases. BigTable is a distributed database where you can store big amounts of data. On the other hand, a lot of requirements have been relaxed in order to achieve this scalability. Therefore BigTable cannot be compared with typical RDBMs.

We can see BigTable as a big ordered map where you can insert pairs of (key, value). The data are stored sorted by key, so retrievals by key or by a range of keys are fast. You cannot create indexes using other fields. These big tables are physically stored in smaller pieces (of approximately 100 Mb) named “tablets”. These tablets are stored in a distributed file system.

A very interesting attribute of this architecture is that tablets can be compressed before being written to disk. That is very useful if you are thinking in storing text data (web pages, documents, etc). For example, a big quantity of crawled content can be stored in this database.

In conclusion, BigTable is not a distributed replacement for RDBMs. Instead, it is a big database with limited functionalities but with a big quality: It is scalable.

Two Open Source projects are developing BigTable clones. HBase is a subproject of Hadoop, so it uses the HDFS as file system. It is entirely developed in Java. See some performance numbers here and here.

The second one is Hypertable. They have selected to use C++ as language. KFS or HDFS can be used as file systems. Recently Some performance numbers have been published.

Both projects are in an early stage of development, but look very promising…
Five Features That Can Propel Color the Top
By: Color Platform
Tags: Color Coin, Cryptocurrency, Color Platform, Blockchain, Color

Hello, Color supporters!

What do you think is the most important thing for a blockchain platform to maintain a sustainable ecosystem? Today, the Color team would like to introduce five features that set Color apart from the rest.

#1: ‘Prism’, A Parallel Consensus Algorithm

Comprehensive Block Builder selection process that is randomized and cartel resistant

Speed enhanced and energy reduction by decreasing data chatter to reach consensus

Color’s consensus is a leagued parallel BFT algorithm that leads agreement of 7 continents and 49 Block-Builders. There are mainly two benefits. First, there is a comprehensive Block Builder selection process that is randomized and cartel resistant, making it difficult to determine who will build the next block. For instance, in the case of EOS, people know which Block Producer will make the next block. Therefore Block Producer could become the target of malicious hacking attempts. Second, the Color Platform brings speed enhancements and energy usage reduction by decreasing the data communication amount needed to reach consensus. You will be able to check the technical details with the upcoming blog post after the yellow paper is published.

#2: Pixel Program, Color Coin Issuance Program

Network Effect Driven Referrals

The Pixel Program encourages a fair distribution of tokens and the ongoing use of tokens. Platform users receive five pixels per day, and Pixels will in time, convert to Color Coin. The Pixel Program accelerates attracting new users and boosts token circulation. It promotes the gift economy and achieves the network effect.

#3: ‘Color Coin’, A Global Single Currency

All dApps accepts one single currency, COL

The Color team is creating a unified coin that will be usable across all dApps in the ecosystem. This means that even though projects on Color can launch their ICOs and have their own token, the dApps will always be able to be used with Color on the platform in one way or another. In addition, we will leverage partnerships with existing successful applications and transition them to the blockchain world.

#4: ‘Color Pay’ The Unhackable Hardware Payment System

Not only will this payment system be resistant to most hacks, but payments will settle instantly without a third party and even be available offline.

#5: ‘Color Spectrum’ Parallel Data Processing Technology

Blockchain Data Separated from App Data

The Color Spectrum gives the ability to split the data needed for repetitive service processing and blockchain data in its dApp Development Kit. As a result, we have significantly reduced costs such and fees for developers and users of apps. Not only that, but a friendly development environment where you can easily take advantage of cloud storage and blockchain processing will be seamlessly integrated into the developer experience.

Have any questions? Send us an e-mail at hello@colors.org and stay connected with us through our Telegram channel.

Have a Colorful Day :)

Join Our Chatroom to Learn More!▼
Family in the Time of COVID
By: Jane Woodman
Tags: Family, Love, Poetry, Covid 19, Free Verse

Family in the Time of COVID

love and hope

Author’s grandson far, far away

Summer sun touches us

On this cold, wet day

In the smoky taste

Of these roasted poblanos.

Our son’s smile reaches us

From a far country

In the flurry of photographs

We see every day.

Silly smiles and raucous laughing

Tease us to laughter, too

In the electronic embrace

With daughters and their children.

So if I can feel your touch

On my skin and in my mind

Through these silky bonds of love,

We know that’s true, too.
Four More Years
By: Chas Wyatt Https
Tags: Climate Change, Social Justice, Justice, Illumination, Politics

“Maga Mask”, background illustration by author, mask painted by author; photographed by author

I rarely delve into political discourse, other than leaving a comment on something someone else has written. I do not enjoy conflict; others may relish it. Now, at this time on the planet, I can no longer go silently into the night.

America is Burning.

There is no “Justice for All”. Look,I am an old white man. I cannot possibly know what it is like to be a black person in America. I cannot know what it is like be black and be pulled over by the cops at night in the inner city. As I cannot know what it is like to be discriminated against for being a woman.

The closest I have come to reaching an understanding of racial prejudice and discrimination was when I lived in Hawaii and was called a haole. I was judged and treated differently based soley on the color of my skin. I had a harpoon thrown at me and was threatened with a couple of machetes, merely because I was white. Although a far cry from what a black person experiences every day in America, it did give me a limited understanding and perspective on racial prejudice.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I was around for the civil unrest of the late 60’s and early 70’s during the debauchery of the Nixon administration. Trump makes Nixon look like a hand puppet. Violence begats violence. Trump is fanning the flames and ignoring a global pandemic that is devastating the elderly, as well as the Navajo and Hopi Nations. In the spring Trump insisted that the virus will just “miraculously” go away as the temperatures rise.

Well, it is now September and summer has come and gone, but, the virus is still with us, as the death toll mounts. Ivanka Trump introduced her father at the RNC, by stating, “America needs four more years of a warrior in the White House”. Sorry, Ivanka, but, your father who received draft deferments for bone spurs in his heels is no warrior.

He is a child-man who goes on Twitter-tantrums every time someone calls him out on his lies, or criticises him, or his policies. Four more years of disembowelling the NPS and the EPA. Four more years of social injustice and discord. Four more years of catastrophe, economic collapse, hatred, and blood in the streets. No thank you.
The Sugar Plum Waltz
By: Dan Leicht
Tags: Christmas, Haiku, Waltz, Poetry, Dance

Fiction writer. Coffee enthusiast. Writer of romance, mystery, and humor. Discover more at Patreon.com/danleicht and DanLeicht.com

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Kineticex is here to save the day
By: Kineticex Support
Tags: Mobile Payments, Blockchain, Exchange, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Payments Industry — The present condition

An exponential surge has been witnessed in using cryptocurrencies for online shopping, online gaming, digital assets, credit card bills, mortgage, international payments, and peer-to-peer payments.

Blockchain improves the payments infrastructure as a whole in many ways. As transparency is practiced with full precision, the certainty of the ownership is established. Blockchain is said to be the most secure technology, with no dispute over the transactions. Various technology startups are building their custom-made distributed ledgers, inspired from Blockchain.

Blockchain’s role on the current scenario

Public blockchain is widely used as the transfer system for fiat currency and is accessible by everyone. The use of public blockchain by consumers and merchants allows them to make payments from bank accounts, without even using the card payment systems. This move eliminates the need for infrastructure to transfer large amounts of money.

Kineticex has come up with a solution to by integrating blockchain in establishing payment networks for mass adoption of cryptocurrency as a payment mode, public blockchain works the best, as private blockchains require special permission to join. They can be used for firms who have other units of value, other than bitcoin and altcoins.

A word on Kineticex and its abilities

Kineticex is loaded with great inbuilt features, the company is leading with example and is in the forefront of payment solutions. A wide variety of people can start using Kineticex ecosystem as a highly agreeable alternative for payment processing solution that is both reliable and secure for any volume of trading. Kineticex is proved itself to be far better compared to its competitors with handling large exchange transactions without any glitches .

Read more about kineticex check out here:

Exchange: https://kineticex.com/

Follow us in Twitter: https://twitter.com/KineticexE

Like and share: https://www.facebook.com/kineticex.io/

Join us Telegram: https://t.me/kineticexexchange

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kineticex-revolution-ltd/
This Is The Day
By: Anthony Cloe Huie
Tags: Time Travel, A Cornered Gurl, Love Loss, Poetry, Stolen Lives

This is the day that has sat upon our horizon for decades

peacefully un-disturbing of our time as we floated by

This is the day that we both knew would soon arrive

needing not an invitation as it was by its invitation that

we had these stolen moments never stopping to ask why

This is the day that has now arrived

determined not to leave its passengers behind

affording just enough time to say goodbye



Now I return to my imaginary world

where I can dream of things that were never

ever going to be mine

but in my world, the reality is so much less bitter

so much more kind

And even the taste of bitter wine

when drank here in the loneliness of my

mind becomes my imaginary divine

This is the day that has now arrived

determined not to leave its passengers behind

affording just enough time to say goodbye
What Makes the Blockchain Special
By: David Mcneal
Tags: Distributed Ledgers, Blockchain Technology, Blockchain Startup, Blockchain, Future Technology

What Makes the Blockchain Special

Blockchain technology could become the new standard for storing and exchanging data in the online and real world. Bitcoin is only the crowning of the digital revolution.

Special Properties of Blockchain

Immutable

Once entered, no one can alter its records.

Distributed

Anyone can participate adding and verifying its records.

Decentralized

No single party controls its input or output.

Verifiable

Anyone can verify directly its complete history.

But, how can the blockchain be used in the real world?

Especially Special Use Cases

Energy Industry

In the energy industry, the Blockchain-based company Essentia is developing a test project that will help energy suppliers track the distribution of their resources in real-time while maintaining data confidentiality.

Another example of blockchain proving its worth in the energy industry is Chile’s National Energy Commission, they have started using blockchain technology for certifying data of the country’s energy usage as it seeks to update its electrical infrastructure.

Real Estate of Block-tech

In real estate, the Blockchain is now being used to record ownership and complete property deals, the first of which was conducted in Kiev by startup company Propy.

Land registry titles are now being stored on the blockchain in Georgia in a project developed by the National Agency of Public Registry.

Enterprise

Ethereum’s blockchain can be utilized as a cloud-based storage, courtesy of Microsoft Azure.

Google is building a Blockchain which will be integrated into its cloud-based services enabling businesses to store data on it and to request an individual white label version developed by Alphabet Inc.

IBM and Walmart have partnered in China to create a blockchain project the will monitor food safety.

IBM is using the Hyperedger Fabric blockchain in China to monitor carbon offset trading.

Environment

The protection of endangered species is being facilitated via a blockchain project the records the activities of the world’s rarest creatures.

Blockchain technology has been used to provide a transparent record of caught fish, ensures they are legally captured.

Expression

Blockchain technology has the potential to prevent censorship and increase transparency as Civil is proving.

By storing certificates of authenticity on the blockchain, it’s possible to dramatically reduce art forgeries, as several blockchain project is proving.

Arbit is a blockchain-based project led by former Guns N Roses drummer Matt Sorum seeking a fairer way to reward musicians for their creative efforts.
Isle Of Cats. A Purr-fect Island For Paw-some Cat…
By: Zac Malik
Tags: Cats, Animals, Education, Tourism, Cute

Culture

Isle Of Cats

A Purr-fect Island For Paw-some Cat Lovers

Image Via Metro

Have you ever heard about an island filled with furry little cats. Now, I know it may seem like a fairy tale straight out of a Disney movie but it is very real. The name of this island is Aoshima but is now commonly known as the Cat Island due to the large number of felines present on the island. It is located in the Seto Inland sea in the southern part of Japan.

This island is home to more than 190 cats. Now it may not sound like a lot cats but they are more than enough for this small island which is only 1.6 Km long. Compared to these cats, you’d be surprised how many people live on this island. 13, Yep, you heard that right. There only 13 residents currently living on this cat ruled island.

Misato Kamioka, A local with cats

History

So how did these many cats on this island came to be, to the point that they outnumbered humans. Well, there used to be a rodent problem on this island back in the day and to solve this problem some cats were brought to this island. After a couple of years, these cats increased in great numbers to the point that they outnumbered the local residents of this island. Now every square inch of this island is filled with these cute little Fur-ends.

There used to be a lot of mice and not many cats. some cats were let loose and some were abandoned, and the rest is history.- Misato Kamioka (Local Resident)

Image Via gettyimages

Another reason why these cats now govern this island is because A lot of residents left this island for the big cities of Japan. Would you believe me, if I said there used to be more than 900 people living on this island?

Back in 1945 more than 900 people used to live on this small island, most of them were fisherman but to chase the big city dreams almost all of them left this island and now only 13 residents are left.

Population Control

Due to the large number of cats roaming this island, there is not much food or prey left for them on the island, so they kinda depend on tourists as well for their food supply. Now, to prevent these cats from further increasing their population and keeping their growth rate at a mew-nimum, the residents of this island decided to slow down the continually expanding feline population by neutering and spraying them.

Image via nippon

With the support of Dōbutsu kikin animal welfare fund, veterinarians arrived on this island and successfully performed neutering and spraying operations on 172 cats.

Tourism

With the the continuous rise in the cats population on this island over the past few years, this island has now become a common tourist attraction of Japan. Dozens of people come here to visit these adorable little fluffballs everyday. Countless videos of this island have also gone viral on the internet further promoting tourism on this island.
BitMax.io (BTMX.io) Weekly Update (July 4, 2020 — July 10, 2020)
By: Bitmax.Io Support
Tags: Bitmax, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Product Update:

Updated Relevant Texts for Margin Trading Liquidation Mechanism

Platform Update:

Round Three of BitMax’s Trading Regatta will soon conclude. 49 traders will be selected to compete in the Final Showdown. Please stayed tuned to find out which traders are leading the pack.

Insolar (XNS) Pre-Staking Service is available on BitMax.io. Stake XNS for an estimated 10% annualized return.

The second round of THORChain (RUNE) Staking promotion has started. Users can stake RUNE and compete for a chance to share additional bonus worth around 30,000 USDT (61,000 RUNE, per its price as of July 9th, 2020).

FIO Protocol (FIO) made its market debut on BitMax.io. To celebrate the debut, the platform is hosting four exciting promotions with total token rewards worth 100,000 USDT (2,010,000 FIO, per its price as of July 8th, 2020).

BitMax.io is offering a 3-month pre-staking program for xDai (STAKE) with an estimated 36.4% annualized return. Users who participate in xDai (STAKE) pre-staking while staking XTZ or ATOM or KAVA will be eligible to join the Pre-Staking Sweepstake Draw. Winners can earn 5 times the staking rewards for all staking in the corresponding reward calculation period.

Upcoming Events:

Update Futures Trading Fee Schedule on July 12th

Rename BCHSV to BSV and Update Perpetual Contract Display Name on July 12th

Test Version 1.2 for Copy Trading Service; Optimize Layout & Info Display of Copy Trading Pages

Develop Pages & Functions for Round Four of BitMax’s Trading Regatta

Roll out Staking Service on APP

Develop Isolated Margin Mode for Futures Trading

TRC20 USDT In Testing

Front End Development of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Note: Please refer to announcement on bitmax.io official website for further details.

For more information, follow BitMax.io on:

Official Website: BitMax.io (BTMX.io)

Official Telegram Community: https://t.me/BitMaxioEnglishOfficial

Official Telegram Announcement Group: https://t.me/BitMaxOfficialAnnouncement

Official Telegram Customer Support: BitMax.io Support (@BitMax_Official)

Official Twitter: BitMax_Official (https://twitter.com/BitMax_Official)

Official Facebook: @BitMaxOfficial (https://www.facebook.com/BitMaxOfficial/)
Lughna
By: Lyondhur Picciarelli
Tags: Poetry, Sil

in In Fitness And In Health
Dancing Flower
By: Not Another Tv Dad
Tags: Poetry

By CL Bledsoe

I told my therapist I see my daughter

on the weekends. The rest of the week:

“You know those solar-powered dancing

flowers you can get for your car dashboard?

I’m like that.” My whole life, really. Waiting.

“She’s lucky to have you,” she said. That

night, I lay in bed until the morning, my brain

racing. At work, everyone was angry with

each other. It looked like rain, and I needed

to go to the DMV. I planned to call my

daughter that night, but what would I say?

This world will break your heart with how

boring and stupid it is. What I want to say

is hang in there. The weekend is coming.
Functions in Power BI — (Table.FindText)
By: Peter Hui
Tags: Functional Programming, Data Science, Data Analysis, Power Bi, Technology

Functions in Power BI — (Table.FindText)

…using Table.FindText to search for anything and anywhere in your file.

Photo by Rabie Madaci on Unsplash

I’ve always been amazed at the simple find function. You can find anything that matches your criteria, even if your search item is hidden in different work sheets, open text or tables.

Just imagine, you can search for anything that appears anywhere in your raw data. Even if it is hidden somewhere in an open text field. Quite amazing!

How is this helpful? It’s very helpful if you are looking for a key word or a set of numbers that has importance, but you just don’t know where to look. This number can be in the open-text field, it could be in the name field etc.

Once found, you can combine these search results and tell a story with it. Sometimes, doing a find is just out of curiosity, but sometimes you may be surprised by what you’ve found.

I’ve used this Table.FindText function as a fraud detection exercise, It came in very handy because my tables were huge and I was just looking for one single individual. There are other ways this simple function can be helpful. You can use it as a historical search of account records and to answer some questions you may have.

Let’s get started!
PEP Network introduces two Awesome, Free-to-use Telegram bots
By: Sharik Khan
Tags: ICO, Blockchain, Bots, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Going with the vision to make the world to express in a whole new way using real life emotions in digital communication, PEP Network has introduced two awesome, free to use Telegram bots for Crypto lovers.

Given below is a short description of the Bots:

1. Welcome Bot (@PEPWelcomeBot)

Now Telegram Admins have an awesome new tool in their arsenal to greet new users joining a group chat.

With @PEPWelcomeBot it’s possible to automatically send an awesome animated message to a newly joined user and make them feel special.

Once initialized and added to a group, the bot welcomes a new user with an animated GIF featuring a 3D mascot (we named him Crypto Fox) that makes a variety of crazy welcome gestures along with a welcome message bearing the name of that user. This makes the welcome message personal and visually delightful like it was specially made for that user.

Welcome Bot automatically welcomes a new user with an awesome CryptoFox animation bearing the user name

We have also taken care of the Marketing needs of people-in-business. You can re-brand the animations with your own LOGOs in real-time… Marketers, are you listening? This next level of personalisation is made possible through our revolutionary realtime 3D tech.

And even more, the bot automatically deletes the previous welcome message once it sends a new one keeping the chat window clean and clutter free 😎

So, what are you waiting for? Claim your Welcome bot while it’s still free and welcome new users like never before!

Start Welcome Bot by clicking on this link: https://t.me/PEPWelcomeBot

2. PEP Network Bot (@PEPNetworkBot)

No more boring chats! This second Bot by PEP Network empowers Telegram users to chat in the coolest possible way.

With @PEPNetworkBot you can create and send awesome Crypto-animations, instantly noticeable in a chat.

Once initialized, a user can call the Bot, type his message and select an animation to share. These specially designed animations feature our beloved 3D mascot, the Crypto Fox, that performs a variety of gestures related to the Crypto world, making the messages very well suited for the Crypto community.

PEP Network Bot enables users to type their message in any language and share a variety of animations featuring CryptoFox

And with our bleeding edge tech, you can write your own messages featuring inside the animation in any language… No language barriers anymore!

Like the Welcome Bot, we are offering PEP Network Bot as a free service for a limited time. Try it right now!

Start PEP Network Bot by clicking on this link: https://t.me/PEPNetworkBot

We will be continuously updating the Bots with more cool features, animations, mascots and loads of AWESOMENESS… So stay tuned! 😎😎😎 For any special feature requests, queries or feedback, please email us to: bots@gopep.network
Double Trouble
By: William, Dollar Bill
Tags: Lie Lessons, Love, Transgender, Culture, Sex

Lace became my first real transsexual friend after I got my job at Action magazine, a contact tabloid out of Philadelphia with an advertising base comprised almost completely of prostitutes.

To take a look at the girl, you wouldn’t suspect for a second that she was born a he. Lace looked really good. Better than most of her female counterparts in the business. It came as no surprise to me that she made money hand over fist as an escort.

Once Lace had her ad set up with me, the money began rolling in, and she moved from a crappy SRO on the Upper West Side of New York City to a snazzy duplex in Midtown. Essentially, the apartment had two separate floors. It was actually really upscale for Manhattan.

Whether a girl has a duplex or not, New York escorts often double book clients figuring that one won’t show — avoiding the predicament of having two customers arrive at the same time.

So one day, sure enough, Lace booked two separate guys only to have them both call from the corner within two minutes of each other. What to do! Lace rolled the dice, deciding with a duplex, she could handle both simultaneously. It was a bold decision that really should have spelled disaster. But actually, it all worked out in the end.

Lace parked one guy downstairs — then the other on the first floor — and attempted to bounce back and forth with the usual excuse “I’ll be right back. I’m going to freshen up” only to return to the other customer whereupon she’d pull the same stalling tactic.

It wasn’t long before the ruse fell apart. Tricks can be stupid. But not that stupid. And rather than have the situation implode in some unwieldy or even threatening situation, guess what happened.

She sat by the wayside and directed the action as the two guys blew each other! And more bizarre?

Neither complained about the full payment! Lace kept the money from both parties and barely even participated! They were so busy sucking each others’ cocks, they forgot about including her, which for a transsexual prostitute, is a dream. Because let’s face it. How many guys is a tranny gonna get hard for in a day?

Selling advertising to a division of New York flatbackers could often get really dismal. A lot of the girls were droning deadheads who would bore me to death. But some of the trannies were fun. And that’s why I became friendly with Lace. She was such an entertaining drama queen. I can still hear the cries of “oh honey!” in her syrupy, juicy voice.

Lace eventually fell in love with some Russian guy who booked her for an hour. And as far as I know, they lived happily ever after.

I’m out of the business and haven’t seen or heard of Lace for at least 10 years. But if I saw her on the street, it would be like old homey day. Most of the hookers to whom I sold ads were just customers. Only a few were what I’d consider friends. Lace was in the latter category.
The Field
By: Kara B. Imle
Tags: Poetry, Poems On Medium, Poetry On Medium, Love

Photo by Derek Mack on Unsplash

This would be my gift to you:

fresh-mown grass to lie on

beneath windless trees

and enough sky to treat your eyes

to every shade of blue.

I would give you the sound of thunder

and the forecast of a rainy

afternoon. There — now time slows

and seems to drift

sleepy as a sated bee.

Soon we will fall asleep

but not yet. There are books to be read

and shoes to be kicked off

and sleepy conversations to hold

on the shapes of clouds: this one

is a bird, or a dog standing on its head

and that one a ship

which will carry us, when we are ready

to the dreams of our choosing.

Then, when the dark closes in

let someone come walking

unhurried across the sweet field

just before the rain

and cover us where we sleep.

Thank you for reading! You can find this and other poems in my book, Migrations: A Map of the Human Spirit.
Disquietude
By: Anna Breslin
Tags: Poetry, Anxiety, Self, Love, Life

Disquietude

a poem

Model by the Wicker Chair, Edvard Munch (public domain)

~

.

Sucked in,

I feel tickles

on the tip of my uvula,

at the back

of my throat,

a steady

stream of feathers

barely feeding

my lungs or my blood,

lackluster.

But what is missing

depth,

is made up

for with quick

repetitions

that push

my pulse up,

it’s a shallow surge

within,

dim.

My heart gives up

a few more beats,

louder thumps

reverberate

within these ribs

caging

the gut of me.

Life ripples

its forces,

constricting

my attention

flow,

it leaks,

drips,

splats

on the day,

a blot of ink.



Sinew twists,

jaw fibers

thicken,

shoulders lift,

trapezoids constrict

a torqued blinder

forms to

skew, shrivel, enlarge,

turn upside

down any

everything.

At night,

sleep REMs

do not come,

according to

my watch.

I awaken to sounds

in a dream,

that could have

been real.

In the dark,

it takes hours to realize

the sound

was within me

and not out.

Silent,

I draw in

breezes, waves,

nothingness.

I push them

into my belly

fall

rise,

it’s a losing cause,

but I persist,

and persist.

~

© 2020, A. Breslin. All Rights Reserved
#MakeoverMonday2019 — Week 12. How do we really feel about women…
By: Pat Vu
Tags: Makeovermonday2019, Data Visualization, Tableau

For my revision:

Go back to columns. It’s boring but it gets the job done.

The y-axis starts at 50, instead of 0 (zero), to emphasize the gap between the top four countries and the bottom three countries.

My first revised viz

After I shared my viz on Twitter, Dorian Banutoiu @canonicalizedco suggested that avoiding cutting the y-axis. I took it and reiterated the viz.

My second revised viz

Link to interactive viz on Tableau Public
(Un)Tethered
By: The Public Key
Tags: Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Ah, Tether. The stablecoin above all stablecoins. The one coin you can trust, that’s “tethered” to the US Dollar…or not. For the uninitiated, Tether is a stablecoin intended to be pegged one to one to the US Dollar. The intent of the coin is to allow HODLers to “hold” US dollars without having to cash out to fiat. This also enables a holder, on paper, to avoid wild price swings seen in other currencies. Tether worked — for quite some time. However, this one to one pegging flailed this week, with the price of Tether actually dropping below $1.

What gives? Demand could be dropping, which can lead, among other things, to a price drop. With a sell off of Tether, the price will drop, and this could lead to a self reinforcing cycle leading to impressions that Tether (USDT) is unstable. With Tether at 99 cents, it becomes more expensive to purchase anything by using USDT. Think you’re unaffected, because you don’t own any of them tethers? Think again. According to researchers at the University of Texas, Tether is used by the larger crypto market to “provide price support” — so even if you don’t own any USDT, a sneeze for Tether could be a disease for the market as a whole.

Furthermore, other stablecoins have been aiming to overtake Tether while it is currently in a weak spot. Tether has also been dogged by controversy: There was some sketchiness in accusations saying that Tethers were created out of thin air along with Tether burning 500 million coins this week. Tether claims to be backed by actual USD, but in reality have actually never been truly audited. In the end, you have to approach all of this with caution — be wary of many things in cryptoland, but especially be careful of your good ol USDT. After all, a dollar may not actually be “a dollar”!

For more articles like these and crypto-related events in the SF Bay Area, please sign up for our free weekly newsletter at thepublickey.io.

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Happy Summer Solstice!
Tags: Blockchain, Summer, Summer Reading, Summer Camp

Happy Summer Solstice! May the sun continue to shine on cryptocurrency and brighten its outlook for a decentralized future!

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Theatre News: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice To Premiere In January 2021
By: James Hanton
Tags: Poetry, Theatre, Stage, Magic, London

A new British musical, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, is set to premiere at the Southwark Playhouse in London next January.

The production, the latest adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous poem, is being directed by Charlotte Westenra. The cast includes Dawn Hope, David Thaxton and Mary Moore in her debut professional show.

Southwark’s website describes The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as a “gripping family-friendly story [that] sees brooms coming to life and love blossoming anew.”

Southwark, a staple venue of central London’s theatre scene since 1993, have reconfigured their performance space to allow audiences to observe social distancing. Ticket holders are also asked to wear masks when sitting in the auditorium or moving around the theatre. Southwark staff will be managing a one-way system throughout the venue and ensuring that queues also remain socially distanced.

Von Goethe’s fourteen-stanza ballad was popularised by the Disney animation Fantasia, which featured a symphonic poem of the same name from Paul Dukas that is inspired by the original. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has also been adapted into novels by Hanns Heinz Ewers in 1910, and by Christopher Bulis in 1995.

Words by James Hanton.
[GEEKY] Sublime Text surpassing TextMate?
By: Pito Salas
Tags: Textmate, Sublimetext, Rails, Geeky, Programming

I’ve been doing some more coding these days in Ruby.

I’ve had great success and fun (especially when debugging) using RadRails, which is an Eclipse based IDE for Ruby and Rails. It’s quite nice.

With introduction of RVM, bundler, and so on, I’ve gotten a feeling that RadRails maybe too much. It seems to get contexts confused and create more hassles. I am not sure yet, but it’s caused me to go back and use TextMate, which I’ve always had in an honored spot in my toolset.

Poking around forums and other resources there seems to be some frustration that TextMate 2 has not been completed yet, having been ‘in development’ for I think over two years. Also there seems to be more and more talk of Sublime Text 2 as a great alternative to TextMate. So… Here I go. I will report back.
I Don’t Want a Rockstar President.
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Elections, Humor, Politics, President, Satire

I want a president who is bad at selfies. Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

I don’t want a rockstar president.

I don’t need a president who can YEET or DAB or does it for the gram (dabbing is old, by the way — We hittin’ the woah now).

I don’t need a president who coke Tweets at 2 a.m. to other countries with nuclear bombs.

I don’t need a president with rapper-style beef with other presidents.

I don’t need a president who is too busy competing with other rockstars to focus on things like healthcare, human rights, immigration, and debt.

I need a president who does not know how to use Snapchat because they are busy reading feminist theory, gender theory, and the constitution.

I need a president who does not know which filter best suits their dick.

I need a president who uses words and knows what they mean.

I need a president who is well-spoken enough that they can be easily translated into other languages.

I need a president who knows that some millennials are almost 40.

I want a president who doesn’t think it’s beneath them to know more than one language…fluently.

I want a president who has tried to live on minimum wage and realizes how much it blows.

I want a president who has had to pull all-nighters just to be able to afford college.

I want a president willing to fight in the wars they start.

I don’t want a president who has to spend most of their presidency defending against allegations.

I don’t want a president I’m ashamed of when I travel abroad.

I don’t want a rockstar president. I don’t want an entertaining president. I don’t want a president who makes my phone light up with new, grotesque headlines day after day.

I don’t want a president who breaks the internet.

I want a boring one.

I want a qualified one.
Best Life Lessons from 12 Angry Men
By: Connor, Bearcat
Tags: 12 Angry Men, Life Lessons, Pop Culture, Film, Wisdom

Leadership

“Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” — Margaret Thatcher

The film provides an interesting take on leadership as we watch Juror 8 flip the opinion of the entire jury, who originally thought the case they were put on was an “open-and-shut” case for guilty. Little by little, the room turns from an 11–1 vote for “guilty” to a unanimous 12–0 for “not guilty,” because Juror 8 had confidence and conviction to start a conversation exploring questionable details of the case.

Photo: Orion-Nova Productions

How did he do it? A large part of Juror 8’s successes was his first follower, Juror 9, who voted “not guilty” in the jury’s second vote. This was the start of the movement. If it weren’t for Juror 9, the men would have stopped in their discussion and voted guilty, because Juror 8 proposed to abstain from this second vote and change his vote to guilty if everyone else agreed. Juror 9 gave Juror 8 his respect since he recognized that “it’s not easy to stand alone against the ridicule of others.”

It reminded me of a powerful lesson I recently saw in a concise, effective TED talk from Derek Sivers on “How to Start a Movement”:

Video: TED

Siver explains that a leader needs the “guts to stand out and be ridiculed,” which we see in 12 Angry Men from Juror 8. After he votes not guilty, the majority of the room groans, shouts and antagonizes him for his “stubborn” and “wrong” view. Yet, the essence of the lesson comes when Siver states that:

“The first follower is actually an underestimated form of leadership in itself. It takes guts to stand out like that. The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader.”

Juror 9 was this first follower who transformed Juror 8 from a crazy, wrong person to the original leader of a movement within the jury. He too had guts to stand up against the rude, badgering crowd. Both these characters play a vital piece in swaying the room, not just Juror 8 alone.
Build Simpler, More Modern Collection Views in iOS 14+
By: Kelvin Tan
Tags: iOS, Xcode, Swift, Programming, Mobile

Build Simpler, More Modern Collection Views in iOS 14+

What’s new in UICollectionView

Photo by Ferit Çiçek on Unsplash

It seems like Apple is elevating collection view, giving us more flexibility in customising it by letting it include horizontal scrolling, vertical scrolling, and so on. I believe the new term for this is modern collection view.

Today you will be going the easy route of building just a simple modern collection view.

Bear in mind that this is only supported in iOS 14 and above, and can only be used in XCode 12+.
My Failed Ambition
By: Jeff Suwak
Tags: Poetry, Life, Spirituality

Photograph by Jeff Suwak

All I wanted to be,

all I ever wanted to be,

was a pair of compassionate arms

to hold them all together

and tell everyone

that everything

is going

to be

okay.
I Will Watch The Sunrise Alone
By: Daniel A. Teo
Tags: Poetry, Imagination, Blue Insights, Love, Breakups

It's funny how reflections change together with our silhouettes and our hearts are coated with fluids that arent blood. In our fabricated denouement, We pursue ourselves to lead towards the end of the precipice and let the boulders crash in to refill our devised darkness with light. Our souls sit aside in director stools and espy the formulated purgatory.

In my bedroom, I have written a fantastical chapter with you where we ride horses and discern between waterfalls and night mist but you’ve only pasted a mere scribble in a thin book of nursery rhymes. Is that your way of embedding the pumps of love into my veins and arteries till they backflow and spill into my personifications from both directions?

Because I crave your scent and your rose gold blushes but the horse that we once galloped on has stopped leaving footprints on the mud and the night mist have long gone cried out from its tear glands. Demolish the sleigh, your love lifts me up like helium but mine sinks you. I claim that to be manifestations of uranium. Maybe even the work of our inseparable poisons — in your nucleus holds my subatomic particles.

You fill me up to float towards the sun; I empty you till you fall back into the soil and catch grass. I am unable to decipher the floodings of your hieroglyphic definitions that you claim the volume of your fluent heart speaks.

Alas, the story continues, but our chapter ends here.
The story of One: How an Apple II computer set off a movement for change
By: Aaron Skonnard
Tags: Education, Pluralsight One, Inspiration, Technology

It’s hard to believe Pluralsight One launched just over a year ago. Already we’ve piloted our platform with more than 40 nonprofit organizations across 16 countries, with the goal of helping them use technology to improve lives and make the world a better place. Our products for nonprofits, which allow organizations to accelerate their missions, launched this month. And we recently announced partnerships with Code.org and CSTA to provide equal access to computer science education for girls and underrepresented minorities.

Even though it’s only been a short time since the launch of our social impact initiative, the journey towards its creation began decades ago when I first discovered my love of technology. When I was 8, my father brought home an Apple II computer and taught me to code at a makeshift work station in our basement. It was magic. In that moment, my father unlocked so much opportunity for me. It was a gift that would change the course of my life.

Through Pluralsight One, we want to unlock opportunity for people all over the world.

Reaching communities at scale

When Pluralsight co-founder Fritz Onion and I started Pluralsight in 2004, we were teaching in a classroom, reaching a few hundred people a year. Once we started moving our content online, we realized the potential to turn the world into our classroom. If we could reach millions of people, we knew we could drive immense progress.

Our commercial business has grown to do just that, but on its own, it can’t help us fully realize our mission to democratize technology skills. That’s why Fritz and his wife Susan joined my wife Monica and I to launch Pluralsight One in 2017.

I invite you to take a few minutes and watch the video above to learn more about the story of why we founded Pluralsight One, and how we see it impacting communities around the world.

Technology as a spark for change

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing stories from people who harness technology and Pluralsight One to empower themselves and those around them. To build a better tomorrow.

These stories have touched me personally. Seeing how technology creates agency, powers the hopes and dreams of people across the world, and witnessing the power in one individual, confirms to me we’re moving forward in the right direction. That as individuals, as one community united for change, we are one.

And that’s incredibly powerful.
Windowbear : A Song For My Dog
By: Sarah Miller
Tags: Songwriting, Animals, Dogs

Windowbear : A Song For My Dog

I’m not a songwriter, but this is actually not a bad song

“Windowbear”

I drove up to Chico for a flat of pears

And saw a Red Heeler that was part éclair

I said “Can I be your forever au pair?”

You said: “If I can be your Windowbear”

Windowbear in action

Windowbear, Windowbear

Now when I come home you’re always there

Standing on the bed, standing on a chair

Looking out the window like a Windowbear

Windowbear being Windowbear

Your eyes your ears your golden hair

You’re The Jungle, I’m Upton Sinclair

You’re Ginger Rogers, I’m Fred Astaire

You’ve effectively made me a kajillionaire

Classic Windowbear

Ohhh, I do declare

The Eiffel Tower and l’ École Militaire

Are further apart than I could bear

To be away from you mon frére

How hard I would fight in every guerre

To defend the honor of Windowbear

Hotel window during the fire taking care of mommy

[Musical break, whistling]

Last verses sung by enormous child’s chorus, forte;

Windowbear, Windowbear

We’re Mrs. Garrett, you are Blair

When forced to complete a questionnaire

We mark every answer “Windowbear”

From Seattle to Eau Claire

From The Mall of America to Arden Fair

We shout your name into the toxic air

And it shouts back Windowbear

[Piano]

And it shouts back Windowbear

And it shouts back Windowbear