fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Introducing a hands-on knowledge bank to drive diversity and inclusion in tech.
By: Carl Fritjofsson
Tags: Startup, BlackLivesMatter, Diversity, Venture Capital, Resources

This knowledge bank is meant to be used by anyone leading, working, or investing in technology companies. It’s an action-driven resource bank to help any kind of tech company or VC tackle common diversity challenges such as reducing bias, implementing a diverse hiring strategy, or measuring inclusion.

The list is divided into different categories:

Hiring: An extensive list of best practices in strategic talent sourcing, including a collection of great tools, resources, and recruitment companies.

An extensive list of best practices in strategic talent sourcing, including a collection of great tools, resources, and recruitment companies. Organizational Management: Best practices and tool recommendations to properly implement diversity strategies in your organization such as how to manage unconscious bias, create a code of conduct, or track diversity metrics.

Best practices and tool recommendations to properly implement diversity strategies in your organization such as how to manage unconscious bias, create a code of conduct, or track diversity metrics. Communities: A long list of relevant communities and organizations to partner with, sponsor, or use for talent sourcing.

A long list of relevant communities and organizations to partner with, sponsor, or use for talent sourcing. Diversity in VCs: This list includes tips to increase diversity in the deal flow process, as well as secure more inclusive post-investment strategies. On top of that comes a list of companies and initiatives for VCs to partner with.

The Creandum Diversity Knowledge Bank has been designed to move on from the theory and warm words to something more tangible and hopefully equip tech companies, as well as venture capital firms with the practical skills and tools required to build a more diverse tech scene.

A living resource

This knowledge bank is not an exhaustive list and there’s still a lot of room for improvement, including the addition of more content and categories. It’s intended to be a living resource for founders and VCs to continue to add to as they create and discover new answers to the issue of diversity.

Naturally, we don’t believe a spreadsheet with URLs is the solution to our industry’s diversity challenges, but we see this as one of many initiatives we can provide to help push this topic forward. We hope Creandum’s Diversity Knowledge Bank gives companies a head start in becoming more diverse and inclusive, and fosters our industry’s collective understanding of how we can bring about continuous, positive change.

Technology has managed to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, and it won’t stop here. We’re convinced that, together, we can begin to look at diversity in a new light and make our industry more inclusive, but we all need to roll up our sleeves and work long-term on this. There’s more to be done!

We are constantly looking for more content to add to this knowledge bank. For submissions, please send an email to diversity@creandum.com.
Be a Better Virtual Speaker: How SpeakerHub’s SkillCamp Can Help
Tags: Webinar Tips, Speakerhub, Virtual Reality, Online Conference, Resources

Many speakers are currently facing challenges they have never experienced in their careers.

New speakers who had just started getting comfortable on stage struggle to make the connections and network as they were able to last year.

The most-seasoned stage performer may struggle with engaging an audience when they aren’t in the same room with them.

SpeakerHub is an important resource for speakers as we collectively learn to navigate a new landscape.

This means that for the past few months and moving forward, we have been creating resources specifically framed around the issues speakers care about most right now, including:

how to give great online performances

networking online to building yourself a community

how to transition and reinvent your business in challenging times

building a great profile that helps you get more speaking engagements

what to do about your finances right now, and how to plan for the future

From in-depth articles to podcast interviews with experts, to interactive webinars, our multimedia approach delivers content in a variety of ways so that you can learn in the way that suits you best.

Top articles for speakers on SkillCamp

Podcast interviews with pro speaking experts

Want to learn more? Visit our SkillCamp.

We would love your input. Do you have questions that we can help find answers to? Do you have experiences you feel others could learn from? Or suggestions for topics or themes we haven’t yet explored but would be useful? Please contact us.

Thank you for your continued support, we wouldn’t be here without you.

This was originally posted on SpeakerHub Skillcamp.
Why social discrimination is still real?
By: Savash On-Air
Tags: Social Discrimination, Resources, Human Rights

When we speak about crimes against humanity, we speak about the crimes that are done by us or were not prevented by the ones with power. Homophobia, racism, islamophobia, sexism — the list of hate expression is enormous.

If you think that the feeling of intolerance and superiority above any group is the inborn emotion — you are wrong. Hate is what people are taught to feel for some reason, and this reason is resources.

An old axiom

Divide and rule is the axiom that proved its undeniability for the whole bunch of rulers. Since the existence of politics, repressions, hate crimes, and crimes against women is being practiced in foreign policies as well as in domestic ones.

Fight for resources

The most shocking thing about oppressing a group of people depending on any distinctive feature is that the oppressors believe in their superiority. And considering this fact, the hate is really hard to stop.

But why this happens? All is very simple — the oppressors occupy the resources of the oppressed. The simplest example is shown in the research where it says that for every 63 cents earned by a black woman there is one dollar earned by a white cis-gender male. For Latina women, it’s even less — 53 cents.

As for the example of injustice in foreign politics — annexation of the territories in East Europe or fight for oil in the African continent, where the powerful just take the resources of the weaker to feed.

Co-operation is the key to survival

The list of injustice can go on and on both for domestic policies of any country and foreign ones. The inequality that now is seen towards nature, oceans, and living beings cannot be disputed from a reasonable angle of view. Humanity takes advantage of nature, leaving it without resources as well.

Conclusion

We all are oppressors and oppressed. The duality of the situation confuses and scares, but there is the way out. Tolerance to the other, equality in the allocation of resources among people and nature, social credit for the groups of the oppressed might help to stabilize the conditions with the supplies and improve the co-living of people and nature for a long time to come.
John: Decisions that Define Us
By: Oasis Church Birmingham
Tags: Christianity, Life, Spirituality, Faith, Resources

John: Decisions that Define Us

Recordings, notes and application questions

Each week, we produce notes, discussion points and application questions for the Sunday talks — helping you go deeper into everything we’re looking at together and resourcing our Small Groups during the week. Use the embedded player to listen to the talk, or click here to visit Soundcloud and download it on a PC. You can also subscribe to Oasis podcasts on Spotify, iTunes or Podbean for listening on the go, and you can find the accompanying Powerpoint presentation for this week’s talk here.

Key Passages

John 1:35–51

Philippians 3:12–14

Genesis 28:10–22

Notes

Jesus calls each of us to ‘follow.’ To live life with Him at the centre and have our identity defined in Him. He is the one who calls. But the specific experience of that may be different from one person to the next. In this passage, Jesus calls his first disciples to himself.

Andrew (what do you want?)

Everyone is looking for something (often a thing or an experience).

Jesus asks Andrew ‘what are you seeking?’

He then asks Andrew to come and investigate — he does not rush, but calls him into relationship through spending time with Him, hearing His voice.

Andrew becomes convinced by being with Jesus. Faith produced by Jesus’ word.

Peter (known by Jesus)

Jesus shows Peter that He is known and gives Him a name as an identity to live in.

God knows all things perfectly. He knows us fully, so no ‘skeleton in the closet’ can be pulled out to put God of us. He knows us fully, nothing hidden. And yet He chooses us, irrespective of weakness and failures, or strengths and successes.

Jesus renames Simon, calling him Peter (‘rock’)

Jesus calls him rock way before Peter acts like or looks like a rock. Jesus ‘words him into being’. It’s like saying ‘become what you already are’ not by your skill / efforts but by Gods word.

Pete than has the ongoing decision to live in who Jesus says he is, rather than every other competing voice (within and without)

God knows you better than you know yourself, so learn what He says about you in His word and live in the good identity He puts on you in Christ (‘a child of God’)

Philip (follow me)

Jesus went to find Philip, not the other way round. How good to discover that God is seeking you out.

God always makes the first move, whether we are conscious of it or not.

Nathaniel (come and see)

Once again, Nathaniel finds that he is known and welcomed. His trust is in response to Jesus’s word given to Nathaniel.

The Son of Man (Jesus) will now be the meeting place with God. He will be the place where heaven and earth come together. And at the cross the bridge from heaven to earth will be made known.

Application Questions
What is “good design”?!
By: Kurt Yalcin
Tags: Product Management, Design, User Experience, Design Thinking, Resources

From the perspective of a dev: No joke I used to think for the longest good design was anything I was being asked to build that was easy to implement because it meant the designer(s) were producing work with a clear understanding of an important audience (the folks who have to make these designs function).

Nowadays I think a more complete version of my thoughts about this is that “good” design in my opinion knows who it is meant for and is ruthlessly efficient in that pursuit. It doesn’t look any one way, it doesn’t come from any single source, it isn’t a bundle of specific features, easy good design definitely isn’t bound by moral or ethics either, it just knows who its for and shows you.

I think as someone who has overemphasized thinking about all sorts of “systems” and thinking about outcomes I think this is how I’m at least able to identify “good” design. It’s Affirm’s invisible lending algorithms that determine credit worthiness without a credit check and the correlated innovations, (and implications). Problematic certainly, but the results (it doesn’t even feel like being extended credit) can’t be disputed.

It is a home buying process that relies on needless complexity, obfuscation, and a general lack of resilience against systemic exclusion that keeps unwanted populations out of the market as efficiently as possible (speaking from experience). Again, problematic, but you can’t help but marvel at its efficacy.

It is also a social media platform (yes I’m this boring) that is widely hated for all the harmful things it perpetuates but continues to be the undisputed king of telemetry and predictive consumption behavior. Yes I think FB is actually good design once we fully accept/internalize what it was designed/setup to do.

I guess without going too deep on this slight tangent and maybe without also copping out with vague furrowed brow nonsense: good design in almost all things are the ways its effective without our assumptions of what it “should” be doing and a honest appraisal of what it is actually effectively doing.

If it isn’t doing anything particularly well or in an organized consistent way , then imo that is genuinely bad design. So uh whatever isn’t doing that. — Roti Williams, creative developer
Lesson 101: Intro to Opacity Cloud Storage and File Sharing
By: Aron Hiltzik
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Technology, Blockchain Technology, Blockchain, Resources

One of the best things about the Opacity zero knowledge file storage platform is that you don’t require an email address or password to login. Protecting your privacy is paramount with Opacity and these small protections prove that. These simple omissions ensure that your details are kept private.

Most people use the same email address and password across many sites which isn’t good practice as hackers can utilize these details. With Opacity, you don’t need to worry about data breaches or your private details getting into the wrong hands. Why? Well, Opacity doesn’t hold those details for anyone to steal. It really is that simple.

Anonymity at its best.

How to Get Started

To get started, you need to head over to the Opacity home page and click on the Sign-up button. The process is very straightforward, but make sure that you read the instructions carefully, as the Account Handle and the Recovery Phrase are very important.

The Recovery Phrase is something that I’d advise you to store somewhere safe, (Warning: notepad files or email drafts are not safe!) somewhere that you can easily dig out when you need them. I use a physical notebook, which gets stored in my lockable document file. You can also use secure password managers that you trust.

Once you’ve stored your recovery phrase safely, agreed to the terms of service and proven that you aren’t a robot, click on Continue.

The Opacity Account Handle is the key to your Opacity account. Without it, you will not be able to access your files. Just like the recovery phrase, this is something that you want to store in physical form. Double and triple check that you have copied the Handle correctly, and to be double-y sure, you could copy the handle onto a notepad file and print it out and then delete the notepad file. Or use that secure password manager!

Summary

✓ Recovery Key — This is equivalent to your website username.

✓ Opacity Handle — This is equivalent to a website password.

✓ Requirements — None. You need zero knowledge of storage websites to use Opacity Storage.
Give Opacity Gift Codes with Willard
By: Tim Dehaas
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Community Engagement, Blockchain Technology, Blockchain, Resources

Willard, sharing Opacity’s file storage with anyone, the simple way!

A problem Crypto communities address daily

Cryptocurrency communities are always emphasizing the need for ease of use and adoption…

“My friends & family don’t understand crypto, we need to make it simple.” “I want to share the platform with people outside of crypto, but teaching them is painful and takes a lot of time and effort, until they finally can use the product.” “How is my grandma supposed to use Opacity?”

You probably have seen these or similar quotes before. There’s the standard question of how to make the process of using a crypto product more simple for the average person.

In Opacity’s Telegram group, one of our main community tools we use for outreach, we share OPQ with a third-party tipping tool called ParJar. It allows members to tip each other the OPQ token, and by adding Ethereum to your ParJar account, it is possible to make a payment directly from ParJar to the ETH address provided during Opacity’s sign-up.

However, while ParJar is a useful tool to foster community engagement, the fact that it requires Ethereum to send OPQ from ParJar proved to be an obstacle. Also, the tipping feature is limited to Telegram, creating another hurdle for this useful tool. With Telegram’s increasing user base of non-tech-savvy new users, they are often overwhelmed by the functionalities of actively using the bot.

People should be able to share Opacity all they want, anywhere they want, while not sacrificing the advantages of our zero-knowledge, private cloud storage. So, what’s simpler than a gift code?

Everyone is familiar with them. You’ve probably received one from a family member or a friend in the past. People are familiar with the concept, it’s easy, straightforward and adds a feel of value, too.
WTF is Legal DD??
By: James Cameron
Tags: Startup, VC, Resources, Technology, Tech

There are no two ways about it — fundraising sucks.

I’ve seen it from the founder’s side and also from the VC’s side, and in both cases it’s mostly a big blackhole that drains out every ounce of time and energy you have.

To make the process a little more transparent, and hopefully win you back some time (and money), we’ve shared a whole collection of open source fundraising resources here — including our term sheet, ESOP docs, financing docs, and an overall step by step guide to our investment process.

Today we’re adding another to our list — a typical legal due diligence (DD) checklist.

So WTF is Legal DD??

The legal DD process is usually the last stage of any investment process. It’s almost always run by lawyers, and involves them reviewing key things like your incorporation docs, material agreements, and insurance policies.

The idea is to make sure everything is in place, and there are no legal issues that could create real headaches for you down the road.

TFW … you receive a legal DD checklist

Yes it’s tedious —but look on the bright side — its a good way to make sure you’ve got everything tidied up ahead of your next phase of growth —things like IP protection, shareholder registries, and employment agreements.

Also — you’ll typically only get to the legal DD stage once you’ve gone through all the commercial DD and have a term sheet from your investor. So that should at least give you something to smile about.

Important: If you’ve picked a good investor, there really shouldn’t be any more commercial DD to be done at this point — they should have already fallen in love with your business. There are exceptions of course, but generally a VC who offers you a term sheet should have already finished their commercial DD. Feel free to press them on this when you get a TS.

What does legal DD cover?

So below is what a typical legal DD checklist might look like.

This has been pulled together with our friends at LegalVision (h/t to Nick Brown) — who do a fantastic job working with early stage companies.

You’ll see that this list is actually pretty short (only 1.5 pages) — and that’s for a good reason.

Every company is different, but for an early stage company legal DD should be very lightweight. There is no way an early stage company should ever receive a 10-page request list… if you do then you should definitely push back because that’s crazy.

You won’t usually need the docs on this list until late in the fundraising process — but it’s worth pulling them together early so they are ready once you have the term sheet agreed. There’s nothing worse than holding up a fundraise because you can’t find one of your basic incorporation docs.

We hope this helps you to learn more about the process and get a sense of what you need to prep for (even if it just saves you a few hours work) — if anything isn’t clear, please feel free to ask at any time.

And if there any other resources you’d like us to share — we’d love to hear from you as well.

A full list of AirTree’s Open Source VC resources can be accessed here.
Dear Leading Lady
By: Jocelyne Msigwa
Tags: Women In Business, Resources, People, Entrepreneurship, Leadership

You may not hear this as often as you need to:

You are doing a great job. Holding it all together despite the thick fog is just not as easy. Your hard work, your courage and your hope is so contangious, it is what continues to drive your team forward. You are well on your way. Keep gooing honey. Thank you for your sacrifice, and your unwavering commitment. It takes guts to step forward and lead. It takes a heart of steel to overlook the critics and brush off the naysayers. And yes, it takes a whole level of intelligence to fix your eyes on the ball. Especially during such a difficult time as this. Be proud of YOU!

Amongst everyone else in your team, the weight on your shoulders weighs the heaviest, yet you stand as a reflection of hope and continue to point the way after every dead end.

As a leader, you are heavily invested in the growth of your business and your team. Most of the time, you are thinking of the strategic objectives and the future of your business, a lot of emotions are involved.

How then can you gracefully navigate through the daily business challenges and now this pandemic outbreak as a leader?

Be in Sync with your true self

Great companies are creatures of the founder’s obsession. First, your business/company is great (Speak this into existence)! Secondly, you are the founder (This comes with a lot of responsibility). At this point, you are the bloodline of your business. All that you are affects all of your business. It is a lot at stake. To keep going you need to ensure that you are OKAY in every possible way. You need to take care of YOU first.

Take good care of your mental health, your physical health, and your spiritual health. It will take all of that to keep you going. And regardless of what life throws at you, you will still come out as a champion! Be in sync with yourself. That ideal picture you have of the perfect you, — build it every. single.day.

Here is how I do it:

Wakeup, pray, run, shower, breakfast, work, lunch, work, read, dinner, family time, sleep. Repeat!

Come hail, come rain. This routine is what keeps me grounded. Find one that resonates with you and give it all you’ve got!

Be in Sync with your team
A Beginner’s Introduction to REST
By: Erandi De Silva
Tags: Uri, Rest Api, Client Server, Webapi, Resources

In this Blog post I will give a simple and slight introduction to a very popular topic in the world of Application Programming Interface, REST API. In the previous post I have simply explained what is an API. In here I will focus on one of the most popular subset Web API’s standard architecture style in the present — REST API.

First things first, let’s look into what a WEB API is,

It’s simply a concept to an API that can be accessed using HTTP protocol like GET, POST, PUT,

REST or Representational State Transfer has few features:

It’s Stateless — which means the State of the service does not rely on the previous requests or responses sent to that same service.

— which means the State of the service does not rely on the previous requests or responses sent to that same service. REST is a Client-Server Protocol.

Protocol. It treats server objects as Resources that can be created, updated or deleted. These resources are identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

that can be created, updated or deleted. These resources are identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). It’s lightweight, scalable and maintainable.

Represents the resource object as either as an XML, YAML and most commonly JSON.

REST is also an Architecture Style that defines a way to make uniform API calls from REST-full web service interfaces.

There are a series of rules or constraints for the server so that everyone who uses the service understands and knows about how it works. These constraints include the following:

Uniform Interface — Based on the HTTP specification. URI refers to the resource and HTTP verb/method refers to the action performed.

Stateless

Client-Server — URI makes the connection between the client and the server. Clearly separated the user interface and the service.HTTP stack is the communication platform.

Cachable — Data that doesn’t change very frequently and for how long it is good is determined.

Layered System — Client only knows the URI. Doesn’t see the underlying complexities of the service.

These are the basics to know about REST services or API’s in a nutshell.
Land Management Resources for New Landowners
By: Texas A M Natural Resources Institute
Tags: Wildlife, Land, Resources, Management

Recently, a new landowner contacted me, having questions about native grassland restoration, bobwhite management, and techniques to reduce feral hogs. I thought our correspondence might be helpful to others in their search for land management resources.

Hello Mr. XXXX,

I want to provide you with several resources for native grassland restoration and, feral hog and quail management. Perhaps this note will help save you time in your hunt for resources.

Native Grassland Restoration and Monitoring:

You will find 2 attached publications that will be helpful, 1) Native Grassland Restoration in the Middle Trinity River Basin [released this week] and 2) Habitat Restoration in the Middle Trinity River Basin.

Also, find 3 videos on our WFSC AgriLife YouTube Channel that will be helpful (Available Resources for Landowners, Rangeland Measurement Techniques, Rangeland Monitoring Techniques. Keep watching our YouTube Channel, as we have new videos describing implements and their uses in wildlife food plots, coming soon.

Look to see how Trinity Waters, a group of landowners to the south of you, mix row crop, livestock, water, and wildlife management. My shop has helped this group gain its organizational capacity of the last few years. We help relay land management information.

Trinity Waters website — good background on this group of landowners; resource library; calendar showing many of our seminars and more

Trinity Waters Facebook — another way to let the world know about our work

Trinity Waters Twitter — timely notices about land and water management

Trinity Waters Scoop.it — we search the web and present resources that will be an interest to you (looks like a newspaper or newsletter)

Northern Bobwhite:

You will find 1 publication, Habitat Monitoring for Quail on Texas Rangelands. You may also search the AgriLife Bookstore for subjects (bobwhite, quail, etc.) Publications are often low cost or free.

Look to our WFSC AgriLife YouTube Channel again for many videos on quail management done by my colleague Dr. Dale Rollins (search the bookstore by his name also).

Look to TEXNAT for key quail plants and much more.

Team quail many good resources

Feral Hogs:
Essential Skills For Programming
By: Kizito Njoku
Tags: Essentials, Skills, Debugging, Programming, Resources

Posted by Kizito Njoku on March 1, 2020

Through Flatiron School, I have achieved a few major skills I believe are essential for success in the programming world. The First major skill I pickup was how to debug your code. Second, was iterating and improving on it. And third, was how to find the resources you need to get past the wall. These are all the skills I believe are essential in breaking through any obstacle in the programming field.

Debug Your Code

Whenever I’d get stuck in code or wondering if my program is receiving the data, I always wonder if there was a way to check your data. Well, fortunately, there is for every programming language out there. In ruby , there’s debugger gem called pry . With this, you can check your data where ever you put binding.pry . What this simple code does is pause the application at the line of code you have binding.pry in. From there you can look at your terminal and type in the code or variable to see if they have any values. There, you will be able to decide what to do next.

DONT BE ASHAMED TO USE A DEBUGGER “REAL PROGRAMMERS USE DEBUGGERS”!!!

Iterating

Iterating is one major factor in programming. When you what certain acts to take place because a different value was given that’s when iterating is essential. Here is a simple real-life situation of iteration , the vehicle’s default value is set to drive straight, now if the driver turns the steering wheel counterclockwise condition , the vehicle will turn left result . The value for the vehicle is set to turn left, because of the condition it meets. If it wasn’t for the condition the vehicle would have continued to drive straight this is why iteration is a very important skill to have.

Resources

Finding resources is essential in the programming field. You may be in the process of developing an application, but there are just two or more things that aren’t working in your favor. This is where do your research comes in to play. Depending on what resource you are looking for you must know the right terms and place to find what you are looking for. For example, you want to specifically find a breed of dogs when you use the search engine in Google, instead of searching the breed “Jack Russell” you search “dog” or even “jack”. Searching “dog” is a little better, because you may find the breed you are looking for down the line, but it may take a while, searching “jack”, on the other hand, you may never find what you are looking for. Hmmm, maybe if you include “dog” when looking up “jack” you may find what you’ve been searching for all this time.

When it comes to programming or maybe anything in life, the skills you must use to be successful are one, having the ability to debug your code. Two, iterating through a task to get the result you want to be based on the conditions. And three, using the appropriate terms to find the resources you are searching for.
Decison Making — An Example from Sports
By: Abdur Rehman
Tags: Decision Making, Cricket, England Vs Australia, Resources, Sports

Decison Making — An Example from Sports

England were chasing 359 on day 4 at Leeds against Australia. They were reduced to 286 for the loss of 9 wickets with Ben stokes and tail-ender Jack Leach on the crease. Still required 73 to register a historic win. In the end, England registered the historic win and Ben Stokes’ incredible 135* will be remembered forever. You know where Australia lost, in making the right decision at right time. Pressure was on both sides and stadium was jampacked. In over number 124, England were at 342/9. First ball of 124th over, Stokes dropped by Harris, a difficult chance but it increased the pressure on 11 Australians on the field. Next two deliveries were dispatched to boundaries. Now England required just 10 more to win. Last delivery of Cummins’ over, Jake Leach was on strike. Pitched up, skids into the pads, appeal for lbw but looked leg side. Australia review, but it’s a desperate one, pitching well outside leg. The high pressure on the field forced Australians to go for the decision review, last one they had and they lost it. Next over by Lyon was more eventful, on 5th delivery Lyon missed the simple run out chance. On last delivery Stokes goes for the slog-sweep, hit on the pads, Wilson shakes his head! Lyon can’t believe it; Australia have no reviews! That looked a pretty good shout, pitching on middle and leg. Did it straighten enough? It was hitting the wickets but it was too late. Australia had wasted their last review in the previous over. England won the match in the next over.

You might have resources may be limited; it all depends on when you are going to use it. Many people end up wasting their resources to the forceful decisions which led to chaos in the end. Best manager is the one who knows the right time and right place to use the available resources by making a fruitful decision. What Australia did on the field, don’t end up doing the same in your life.

“You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.” ― Michelle Obama

Abdur Rehman
InfoSec101 — Part Four: Books, Books, & More Books
Tags: Reading, Infosec101, Cybersecurity, Books, Resources

Stock Photos are awesome. Credit: http://www.capstan.be/can-computers-read-books-and-what-knowledge-can-we-gain-from-them/

In the final part to this series, I want to share something that’s very close to my heart: books. If you like reading, hop on this journey with me and explore the possibilities. If not, maybe you can recommend this list to people who do.

As I’ve reinforced throughout this series, the cyber security industry is very fast paced. It’s clear that as technology changes, some books may become outdated, and you might think to yourself, what’s the point of reading 400 pages when the next version will be out in two years? Well, this list compromises of books that offer the reader basic, foundational, or necessary knowledge if they wish to continue down a certain path or skillset. They teach technique, attitudes, and fundamental technical understanding, all of which are important at the start or during your career in cyber security.

Thus, most of which I’ve recommend here are for beginners, or at least have the first couple of chapters dedicated to covering basic knowledge. I’ll seperate the lists based on a few topics: Book Sellers/Publishers, Networking, Red Team, Blue Team, Social Engineering, and Others.
VITE Vs. VITE ERC20
By: Vite Editor
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Vite Labs, Digital Wallet, Blockchain, Resources

Many of our users have been asking questions about whether or not they can trade Vite tokens on exchange platforms that support ERC20.

This depends on what kind of Vite token you have. There are currently two types of Vite tokens.

If you have VITE native coins: these are labeled as “VITE” with a “Vite Coin” subtitle. You can obtain these coins when you participate in the daily Airdrop rewards, campaigns or the High Roller dApp game.

You cannot trade VITE native coins on an ERC20-supported exchange.

Once the ViteX DEX has launched, you will be able to trade VITE native coins. Please note that VITE native coins cannot be converted to Vite ERC20 tokens.

If you have VITE ERC20 tokens: these are labeled as “VITE” with the “ERC20 Token” subtitle. If you are relatively new to Vite, chances are you do not have these tokens. The reason that VITE ERC20 tokens exist is because when Vite was first founded, we issued VITE ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network. However, with the launch of the Vite TestNet in November 2018, we released a Vite wallet update with the option to migrate VITE ERC20 tokens to VITE native tokens at a 1:1 ratio.
Introducing ViteConnect
By: Vite Editor
Tags: Blockchain, Resources, Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrency

Note: This feature is currently only supported on the iOS Vite wallet. Support for Android will be ready soon!

If you’re a crypto trader, you will know that logging into exchanges can be a very tedious task. For centralized exchanges, you need to enter your account name & password and then go through some sort of two factor authentication through your phone or Google authenticator app. For decentralized exchanges, you have the added complexity of importing seed phrase files and finding private key addresses. As we all know, keeping your private key safe is of utmost importance. If your device gets infected, it is easy for the hacker to steal your private key and with it, your hard-earned assets.

In order to help you protect your assets, Vite Labs has launched the ViteConnect feature and integrated it with the ViteX exchange login. Now, if you want to access your ViteX account all you will need to do is scan the QR code using the code scanner in the Vite mobile wallet.

How to Use ViteConnect

Step 1. Head on over to ViteX

You should be presented with a QR code.

Step 2. Open up your Vite wallet.

See that QR code scanner icon in the upper r ight hand corner? (It looks like a flat line with a small box around it) Click on it.
10 useful CSS properties you can start using today
By: Miroslav Šlapka
Tags: UI, CSS, Technology, Resources, HTML

You might have 2 common CSS properties in mind when you read content and visibility.

display: none

visibility: hidden

They are often used to control visibility of the content. The new content-visibility property is similar, but it provides us with several advantages. The main one is improvement of performance!

The content-visibility property, launching in Chromium 85, might be one of the most impactful new CSS properties for improving page load performance.

It enables the browser to skip rendering work, including layout and painting, until it is needed. That means that off screen content won’t be rendered and we can save several milliseconds on initial load and boost the performance.

How to use it? The easiest way is to use auto as a value, so the browser determines when and how to use it.

.container {

content-visibility: auto;

contain-intrinsic-size: 1000px;

}

Notice contain-intrinsic-size property.

In order to realize the potential benefits of content-visibility , the browser needs to apply size containment to ensure that the rendering results of contents do not affect the size of the element in any way.

We need to set contain-intrinsic size to the element otherwise the browser might think its height is 0, and in that case we won’t gain performance benefit.

To have a better control over showing/hiding elements you could also use content-visibility: hidden. It behaves like display: none, but it preserves the rendering state of the element!

For more details I recommend you to read this article.

Browser compatibility

It’s similar to aspect-ratio, but here Firefox doesn’t have even a partial support. It doesn’t matter much since this is a feature that won’t break your site if you use it and it’s not supported. It can only help you with performance when applied correctly.
Meet Ashley & Alina, Founders of MindRight
By: Monique M. Leblanc
Tags: Innovation, Education, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Resources

Finding Purpose

By the time Alina Liao and Ashley Edwards met in graduate school, they had individually developed deep passions for supporting youth suffering from trauma. Through their work in schools and nonprofits, and with their own families, they had each seen how untreated emotional trauma impacted student education outcomes. They were also deeply troubled that schools and other institutions were not supporting students emotional and mental health needs. Ashley and Alina cofounded MindRight with the firm belief that if students were given the right emotional supports, it could not only improve their academics but help them succeed in life. They envisioned a world where all students have access to mental health support.

Running a Small Scale Test

After researching different kinds of mental health supports, Ashley and Alina were ready to run a “quick and dirty” test of their idea: texting-based socio-emotional coaching for low-income students, using Whatsapp as their platform. By using an existing tech platform and focusing on content, Ashley and Alina were able to test their core assumption that students would engage with the service. Students told them that their service was one of the only spaces they felt safe expressing their raw thoughts and feelings. By the end of their first set of tests (like what they would run at Essentials), Ashley and Alina had the evidence they needed to start testing how to support a greater number of students.
Letter to the Editor: DA Krasner responds to McSwain’s fact-free nonsense
By: Philadelphia Dao
Tags: Human Trafficking, Sex Workers, Stories, Sex Work, Philadelphia

U.S. Attorney William McSwain’s January 2 Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed asserts that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office is no longer prosecuting ‘johns’ who solicit sex workers and suggests the Philadelphia DAO is not vigorously pursuing human traffickers. This is fact-free nonsense.

Here are the facts: We don’t prosecute sex workers, whom we view as victims. No one should. We do prosecute johns — -sex work customers. For example, in 2018 this office prosecuted 76 Patronizing a Prostitute cases and declined three. And we vigorously prosecute sex traffickers on our own and in conjunction with federal authorities. For example, Graham, one of the two federal trafficking prosecutions Mr. McSwain cites, was originally charged by the Philadelphia DAO in state court and was vigorously prosecuted in Philadelphia before the U.S. Attorney’s “adopted” the case before trial in state court. The feds (long before Mr. McSwain was U.S. Attorney) then prosecuted it in federal court, as is common practice. Similarly, in June of last year the Philadelphia DAO successfully convicted a large sex trafficking operation in state court.

Mr. McSwain’s unthruths notwithstanding, the Philadelphia DAO continues to enjoy an excellent, productive partnership with a federal sex trafficking working group that includes my office (a fact Mr. McSwain did not mention), the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the FBI. That excellent relationship existed before Mr. McSwain’s tenure, continues now, and will remain after Mr. McSwain’s departure, which we can reasonably expect to coincide with the departure of his boss, the man who appointed Mr. McSwain, Donald Trump. Mr. Trump’s disregard for the truth is nothing to emulate.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner

This Letter to the Editor was submitted on Jan. 3, 2019
The State Department Requests Input… Sex Workers Respond
By: Reframe Health
Tags: Human Trafficking, Sex Work, Sex Work Is Real Work

Every year, the Department of State puts out an annual call for input on the Trafficking in Persons Report. The report assesses the anti-trafficking efforts of each country, including the United States. Each country is ranked, and unsurprisingly, the US annually labels itself Tier 1, the highest echelon possible.

This year, sex workers and groups led by sex workers contributed to a letter which firmly announced — the worst actor for increasing exploitation and vulnerability to trafficking for people who trade sex was the United States government.

The response focused mainly on the impact of passing FOSTA/SESTA, as well as the seizure of Backpage.com, two actions undertaken by the Federal government in 2018, and the way that has directly harmed the health, safety and well-being of people who trade sex, including those experiencing trafficking and exploitation. These two acts, which resulted in worse labor conditions in venues, increases in vulnerability to exploitation, and increases in targeting by law enforcement.

Other concerns included a consistent conflation of trafficking and all commercial sexual exchange, lack of resources, inadequate service provision options, and requirements to cooperate with law enforcement.

While backers of FOSTA/SESTA and proponents of criminalization, including “End Demand” legislation, continue to celebrate these as wins, it is important to keep the focus not on their campaign value but the violence, victimization and exploitation they cause. This submission is only one piece of what is becoming a louder cry to listen to the only people who were correct in the impact these actions carry: sex workers.

To read the full submission, please click here.
Sex work in 2020_Encounter D..
By: Joe King
Tags: Sex Work

The super discreet Latin-American wife of a diplomat. Her appointment was part of her jogging route and she arrived like an under-cover agent, dressed in black activewear, baseball cap and sunglasses.

D was in the early months of her pregnancy with a small bump. She had disclosed online her unpredictable cravings for food and sex and the anxiety of the lock down had created a stress she wanted and needed to release.

We would shower together and have sex in the bathroom and then she would leave. It seemed important to D that there was no evidence of our encounter.

Like wiping the search history of her browser, having sex in the shower meant cleaning off the manly fragrance, and any trace or cum I might have left in or on her.

As much as I diligently worked to please and serve ,and accomodate her, I knew very little of what was going on in her mind, and it wasnt my place to know.

Then again who am I to argue, and in her own eloquently words she summed it up nicely one day….” I just want to fuck,that’s all ” no more, no less .
Spankchain White Paper: Abstract
Tags: Social Media, Cryptocurrency, Sex Work, Online Marketing, Blockchain

Learning a New Crypto for Content System

To quickly sum up: Spankchain is code you can put on any website that allows you to receive cryptocurrency payments for your content anywhere. The age verification process to get the Spankchain crypto-wallet allows anyone or organization to know you’re legit without knowing any personal data, even your real name. Its like using your passport to prove you have a social security number — your passport doesn’t display your social security number however any 3rd party knows you have a US social security number because that is required to get a passport.

Off-chain interaction is measured with Booty Credits which represent ERC20 Ethereum Tokens and can be traded for any currency on an exchange.

Anyone can create tools and apps with Spankchain, however Spankchain itself is first in operating cam and advertising sites to jump-start the movement.

Come with me and start earning directly for your content!

Spankchain’s Abstract Concept from the Spankchain Whitepaper:

Abstract

In this paper, we present SpankChain, an adult entertainment ecosystem powered by blockchain technology. The SpankChain ecosystem possesses a tiered architecture featuring three layers: SpankChain Core, SpankChain Services, and SpankChain Applications.

SpankChain Core is comprised of smart contracts and tooling which provide the foundational functionalities necessary to operate a streaming or static content distribution application, namely a user profile system and payment capabilities.

The SpankChain Services layer contains a suite of ancillary services which add enhanced functionality to applications built upon SpankChain Core, including payment channel hubs, age verification, live video, an ad network, an affiliate network, indexing/search, and an interface builder.

SpankChain Applications exist on top of SpankChain Core, leveraging various SpankChain Services. The applications layer is a collection of branded interfaces that tie together underlying pieces of the ecosystem to attract paying audiences.

The SpankChain team will develop the ecosystem’s first application, a live cam site aptly named SpankChain. SpankChain utilizes a multi-token economic model, beginning with the SPANK token. SPANK is a staking token which can be utilized to mint alternative tokens, offering specific payment and governance rights throughout the SpankChain ecosystem. The multi-token model is designed to abstract away ecosystem-wide coordination processes from mechanisms which meter platform usage rights.

We also introduce a novel verification game called Proof-of-Spank to address underage model swapping and simultaneously incentivize active participation in the SpankChain ecosystem.

Link to Spankchain’s Whitepaper:
Design Case #01 / Mari Zombie
By: Data Detox
Tags: Sex Work, Camgirls, Nsfw, Design, Case Study

01) The project

This is definitely one of my favorite projects since I was able to develop a lot of different design materials, learn new things, understand how areas until then completely untrodden by me worked and get out of several of my comfort zones.

Mari Zombie is an alternative model who works with adult entertainment in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The process of naming the project was also my responsibility, and to be honest it was quite simple. I already had the whole concept in my head when the client decided to take me on board for the job. Since she was already a friend I knew about her personal preferences, and it was simple to put together her name, Mariana, with something she likes and has a tattoo of, musician and director Rob Zombie, thus creating Mari Zombie.

02) Visual ID

The whole project had a lot of inspiration from the client’s personal taste, and a lot of the references are from horror and gore movies, specially the ones directed by Rob Zombie.

I) References

Movies like House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th had a direct connection with the final result of the project’s visual material. Band logos such as Sarcofago, Mayhem and Rob Zombie also influenced the logo’s typography.