fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
I Binge Listened to ‘FRIENDS’ While Sleeping
By: Joydwip Mohajon
Tags: Covid 19, Anxiety, December Contest, TV Series, Friendship

2020: Fuck you! Me: Thank God, I had FRIENDS. We all have those friends.

I only left my apartment twice a month when the lockdown first happened. Just to get the essentials. I was staying alone for work, afar from my home. So it wasn’t like every two days I had to go out for essentials.

But people with big families probably used this very reason to go out to get the essentials once every few days. I understand not everyone like me — or some of us — can stay in a 3 room apartment for 15 days straight, and alone.

As days passed, however, it became scarier for me from all sorts of angles. I mean, with the lockdown my financial situation became very unstable, my family’s wasn’t so great either. Of course, there was the obvious danger of catching the virus because, well, the healthcare system where I live isn’t the greatest, let’s just leave it at that.

But the one thing that made me the most anxious was probably the fact that I was living alone at the time.

I’ve been living alone for like 7–8 years now. But this is the first time I’ve felt so alone that I got scared. I even feared that if I got the virus, who would be helping me!

Often, all these things made me sad, very sad. But, thank God, I had FRIENDS. We all have those friends.

Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, Phoebe.

I watch a lot of movies/series whenever I get the time. But in the lockdown period, with all that time, I probably watched only 1 or 2 movies, new ones.

Why?

Well, even if I had so much free time, I didn’t feel like watching new movies or put in that effort to watch a new movie. I just binged on FRIENDS.

It was probably because of the anxiety with the whole lockdown situation and I wasn’t so sure what the near future had in for me, there was an unknown fear. But I knew what happens on FRIENDS, I knew it was a happy ending, and it felt so close to reality.

Binging FRIENDS was different too.

I almost wasn’t watching it. I was listening to it, maybe I wasn’t even doing that too.

You are probably thinking, what the fuck am I saying! Or maybe not.

But trust me, subconsciously I didn’t feel the loneliness anymore or the anxiety whenever the sound of FRIENDS’ playing hit my head.

Whether it’s Joey refusing to share his food, or Chandler doing one of his jokes — I didn’t care. I just felt that my friends are here, they are doing the shit they do, but they are here. I am not alone, and the world isn’t in this mess.

I even slept with FRIENDS playing on my laptop.

It was like listening to a podcast without actually paying attention to what they are saying.
11 Trending React Native UI Components
By: Surender Vikram Singh
Tags: Mobile App Development, React Native, Development, React, UI

REACT NATIVE UI COMPONENTS

React Native encourages you to build the UI of your application using isolated components. It is much easier to build applications using libraries and UI toolkits as it saves time and make development faster.



There are a lot of React Native UI components available to get started. Here, I am listing 11 React Native UI components that you should know. The list does not rank any framework and is listed in a random fashion.

Am I missing anything? Feel free to comment and add your own suggestions.
Gradle Dependency Management With BuildSrc and Kotlin DSL
By: Siva Ganesh Kantamani
Tags: Programming, Kotlin, Software Engineering, Gradle, Dependency Management

Create buildSrc Directory

The first thing we need to do is to create a buildSrc directory:

Right-click on the project.

Click on New and select Directory.

Now name it as buildSrc .

If you still have any doubts about how to create the directory, take a look:

Then we need to create a file with the name build.gradle.kts inside buildSrc directory. Inside this file, we need to import the kotlin-dsl plugin and jcenter repository. Coming to the syntax, it looks like this:

Once you’re done with that, press the gradle “sync now” button, because Gradle thinks it’s just a regular file in a new directory. Yay! Now you can implement Kotlin Dsl scripts.

The next step is to create a similar directory structure that which we already have, i.e., src > main > java. Once we’ve done that, it looks as shown in the image above.

Now, we can create Kotlin files to declare libraries, maintain versions, or implement custom tasks.

Here our goal is to create a dependency management system, so we create a Kotlin file with the name Dependencies.kt (you can use any name you want).

Once we’re done with that, we can declare the libraries and versions in Kotlin code. Here we use Objects to declare specific types, such as Versions, AndroidX libraries, and more.

First, we need to create a versions object and declare all the libraries’ versions in Kotlin style. Take a look:

versions object to store versions of all dependencies

Once we’re done with that, the next step is to create individual objects for each library type, such as Kotlinlibraries, AndroidXLibraries, UiLibraries, etc. Take a look:

library declarations

When we put all the pieces together, it looks as shown:

The final step is to use those dependency objects in the project, app, and module-level build.gradle files. It’s pretty straightforward; we need to use the specific object name and the variable name. Take a look:

This approach seems simple, but it offers far more advantages, like code navigation, autocomplete, runtime errors, etc. Look at the gif below. Beyond that, we can use them in all the modules across the project.
The One Thing Your Business Must Have To Be Successful
By: Parker Nash
Tags: Startup, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Marketing, Business

When’s the last time you had a major breakthrough in your business?

Are your sales in the dumps?

Does it feel like pulling teeth to attract new customers? Even worse, are customers not paying attention to what you have to say?

The shame is you have a great product. Once you get your product into your customer’s hands they fall in love with it. Your product makes their lives better and it’s just not right that you can’t get it to them!

Perhaps your problem isn’t attracting new customers. Your sales are growing steadily and your customers love your product but your organization is a mess. Your team is stumbling over each other. Competition and infighting have risen to an unbearable level. It feels your team is going to implode at any moment.

Or maybe your team is simply unclear of what each person should be doing in their role. They are completely lost.

Unsure if your employees are clear about their responsibilities? Ask yourself this, do you ever get upset when your employees spend hours and costly resources working on the wrong things?

If any of these scenarios ring true, then confusion has run rampant in your organization. It may seem like a vast oversimplification, but confusion is at the root of all problems.

When confusion is rampant, the effects are deadly. Customers don’t listen, prospective buyers go to your competition, teams do duplicative work, and employees do the wrong work.

The answer to all your problems is clarity.

If you had a clear message, customers would listen and pay attention. With a clear message, customers come calling.

If you had a clear and purposeful mission for your team, your employees would be working together, not against each other.

If you had clear expectations for each person on your team, your employees would thrive rather than flounder in their roles.

The Antidote To All Your Problems: Clarity.

There are all sorts of different types of leaders but the best share one common trait: they are great at creating clarity in all aspects of their organization.

Great leaders are masters of simplicity. They have a magical way of making everyone’s lives easier, but it’s not magic, it’s clarity.

More is easy, more is lazy, more is destructive in a company. Doing less is the hardest, yet most impactful thing you could start doing right now in your company.

The more you try to do or focus on, the more confusion foments. The few, truly important items for your company become shrouded in obscurity.

As the old saying goes, a friend to all is a friend to none.

The same logic applies to your business. The more you try to do, the less important it all is.

If you are fed up with the deadly effects of confusion on your company then you need to create clarity now.

Here are 3 simple ways to create clarity in your company so that your organization can thrive:
Route 70 resurfacing project beginning tonight requires overnight westbound lane closure in Medford
By: Tom Beck
Tags: Construction, Roadtrip, News, Chris Christie

Route 70 resurfacing project beginning tonight requires overnight westbound lane closure in Medford

The overnight detour necessary during construction.

New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials today announced Route 70 westbound will be closed overnight beginningtonight for a resurfacing project in Evesham and Medford in Burlington County.

Beginning at 8 p.m. tonight, Thursday, August 17, until 6 a.m. the next day and continuing Monday through Thursday nights until August 24, NJDOT’s contractor, A.E. Stone, is scheduled to close Route 70 westbound for the milling and paving of two miles of the roadway from approximately Greenbrook Drive in Evesham to about Old Marlton Pike in Medford, Burlington County. Route 70 eastbound traffic will be maintained throughout construction. For a detailed map of the road closure click here.

This work is part of a $980,000 project that began this week to resurface 3.5 miles of Route 70 from North Maple Avenue/CR607 (mile post 8.6) in Evesham through Old Marlton Pike (mile post 12.1) in Medford, which approximately 35,000 vehicles use each day. The project is part of the $400 million in FY17 supplemental TTF funding that Governor Christie requested for immediate action on multiple projects this year. NJDOT will use $260 million for repairing local roads and bridges in all 21 counties in the State, while $140 million will go to the New Jersey Transit Corporation for implementing technology and system safety improvements.

Variable message signs and detour signs are being utilized throughout the project limits to provide advance notification to motorists of all traffic pattern changes associated with the resurfacing project. Throughout the project, NJDOT will provide information before upcoming road or ramp closures.

The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors. Motorists are encouraged to check NJDOT’s traffic information website, www.511nj.org, for real-time travel information and for NJDOT news follow NJDOT on Twitter @NJDOT_info.
Ice Cold Heart
By: The Hairpin
Tags: Videos, Finland, Jazz

by Bonnie

Do you enjoy beautifully shot videos of a bright red drill breaking through thick ice, into the sparkly bubbling lake below, and featuring an occasional flash of bare Finnish-musician butt, en route from sauna to lake? Videos set to well-timed, moody jazz horns? Videos that feel like they must mean something about this time of year and how you’ll get through it? Do you enjoy those? Oh, but you do, you will.

I think something like 5–10 minutes in the sauna is nice, then a break, then in again, into the lake, sauna, lake, air, beer, sauna and so it goes on for hours and hours.

via JazzandFlyFishing
Dérive on THE World Star Hip Hop
Tags: Music

Dérive on THE World Star Hip Hop

I must say this experience was different. I came across a lot of interesting sites upon the internet, but I want to cover one of the most hottest websites out. That website is World Star Hip-Hop (WSHH: http://worldstarhiphop.com/videos/). I saw this site while scrolling through the yahoo entertainment page. WSHH is infamous for posting videos of violent fights, police brutality, public sexual acts, public shaming, child shaming, and child abuse. Many of the videos of violent events have gone viral all across the net such as twitter and instagram. They have helped spread awareness amongst the black community, so that made this site very interesting to visit. Once I accessed the site, above the logo comes an advertisement (titled Love Has No Labels) I actually clicked on the ad and It took me to an error page, so I wasn’t sure what that was about. Located on the navigation bar contains social media handles for WSHH such as twitter and instagram. One of the biggest things that i noticed about the site was the background itself. It’s like an animated background that was actually an ad itself. I pressed the picture and It took me to Datpiff, which is a website that allows you to stream music from mixtapes (I thought It was an illegal site so I exited quickly before my computer obtained any viruses.) The site has may attractions that may come off as an eye grabber to the viewer. There were links (attached with pictures) of interesting topics from the entertainment, to sports and movies that were trending in today’s news. The site is mainly popular for the celebrity gossip blogs that their writers publish. I guess you can say it’s kind of like an urban version of TMZ. I read some stories and even played some music videos that were trending. Under those videos were advertisements from Finish line to Pacsun (I’ve been online shopping with them). There is a special page on the website dedicated to urban rap artists that had music video premieres. When I clicked to view these videos, many ads popped up that would take me to site of merchandise by WSHH. I actually pressed onto the ads to see where It would take me and It took me to shop.worldstarhiphop.com (containing hats, shirts, hoodies, socks and iPhone cases). That gave me a sense that they were pretty popular to have selling merchandise and advertisements on It. Throughout this website I’ve come across a lot of pop up ads and distractions while trying to read blogs and keep a focus on one thing. Really the website had a lot going on with its ads and It just kind of seemed a bit crumbled and cluttered. That’s just my opinion, from the views and counts of audience visits, you can tell it’s pretty popular and visited often. Overall, my experience with this experiment was quite fun being that I was very attentive to every detail that came across the computer monitor. I was able to notes on everything from backgrounds to videos to advertistments. I think I may have been introduced to a new site to read those celebrity gossip blogs now.
Stimulus, No Space
By: Marla Bishop
Tags: Children, 50 Word Stories, Life, Stimulus, The Bad Influence

50 WORDS

Stimulus, No Space

Thrifty Words Theme Challenge #17: Stimulus

Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash

She’d always remember her daughter, laughing aloud and skipping beside her, holding tight to her hand.

Stopped at the pedestrian crossing, the child sees her father emerge from the subway, pulls free, calling out: “Daddy!”

“NOOOOO!”

Her scream doesn’t stop the gap between her running child and oncoming lorry closing.
Sacredness of Being
By: Rhonda Skinner
Tags: Spiritual Secrets, Sacred, Shamanism, Poetry, Spiritual

Sacredness of Being

Spiritual poetry

A Sacred Space, Photo by Author, Copyright All Rights Reserved

The sacredness of being

I drink you in

Moments so random

No map can be held

No GPS coordinates set

Breath I take and release

To stillness

Under the tree waits for me

Drumbeat I hear in the distance

As I expand

Always brings a smile

To my face

Sacredness in a drop of water

Resting on a blade of grass

Waiting as time pass

I find stillness speaks

on the canvas of my mind

Where everything is possible

The sacred I feel in this moment

Is hard to describe

The beauty of all fills the landscape

of my mind, and I know true bliss
The pain of Two Factor Authentication(2FA)
By: Gaurav Agrawal
Tags: Technology, Startup, Bitcoin, Security, Cryptocurrency

So are you trading now and your exchange added a security system(2FA) and ask you Google Authenticator code every time you logged in and then you go to your mobile, open an app to see the authenticator code. Don’t you think this is a pain in your easy life ? So lets do something so that when ever you want to login in any of these exchange(Or any site which uses this security system) you can do this without your phone.

Actually its a very simple solution, we are going to do use a google chrome plugin for this, download this plugin (you can download any of similar, i use this) .

So follow these steps to add your keys to authenticator.

Step 1-Click on plugin and then edit button.

Step 1

Step 2-Click on + button.

step 2

Step 3-If you have QR code on the screen then you can just can it after clicking on Scan QR Code or click on Manual Entry.

Step 3

Step 4- Add your account name(your choice of name) and Key given by site.

Step 4

Ta-da and you are done now. So if you felt happy about this and wanna share your happiness so ….

❤️ Like, Share, Leave your comment

And ……….

follow me

Note — thanks to sneezry.com to develop this plugin and making our life easy.

We have an active community, come join us here. Subscribe our newsletter where we share interviews, trading Ideas, Market insights here. Get Best Software Deals Directly In Your Inbox

If you are investor, Trader, developer or crypto enthusiast or just have a lot of questions about how heck crypto works, come join us on our slack community. Our Crypto Forum CoinMonks and also check out our website which ranks crypto according to their development progress CoinCodeCap.

❤️ Like, Share, Leave your comment

If you like this post, don’t forget to like, share with your friends and colleagues and leave your comment below about the post.

And Follow me…….
A touching story
By: Shakti Shetty
Tags: Gadget, Smartphones, Shakti Shetty, Technical Liabilities, Lenovo A390

I recently bought an Android embedded phone. It’s a delight actually to see how amazing a piece of technology could behave. Even Graham Bell would have been surprised! At least i am. I knew that something incredible is going on on the cellphone front but my curiosity never got the best of me. I somehow managed to stay indifferent. To the point that i was the only with an outdated Nokia handset while my friends and colleagues shifted to QWERTY. In my defense, i was happier with the longer battery life of my poverty-stricken phone. Slowly but steadily, i could see the world falling for touchscreen and before i realized it, Android was in vogue. Everybody’s fingers were seen tap dancing smoothly on the screen allowing fingertips to don the proverbial power. Awesome indeed.

Well, i had progressed to QWERTY by then. No shit. I was content nonetheless. It wasn’t like i didn’t have the money. Just that i never felt the need to buy something fancy.

This was before i finally bought something fancy.

I took Tushar to shop and we ended up buying a phone none — let me repeat, NONE — have heard of. I sprang upon it because it perfectly matched my low budget. I brought it home but couldn’t bring myself to give up on my old phone. As a result, i kept using it for 1.5 months more than intended before finally switching to the one with the influential touch. I’m still getting a hang of it. It’s cool though to learn so much about apps. Speaking of which, WhatsApp has become a toy. It takes me back to the cyber café days of chatting with strangers. However, i’m not chatting as such. It’s more of Hi-Byes and nobody on my gadget is a perfect stranger. Nice to be distracted by real people for a change.

Besides, there’s no advantage, whatsoever, in being a Luddite. You just do one thing: suffer. The adage of ignorance being a bliss doesn’t help either. That burden of holding a scepter which says TECHNOLOGICALLY CHALLENGED has no pride attached to it. I can say all this and much more because i am one of them. It’s no surprise that electronics gave up on me before i could. Also, humankind needs smarterphones with higher touchscreen accuracy and lower charge wastage.
Wood
By: Jacqueline Dooley
Tags: Creative Writing, Nature, Poetry, Poems On Medium

If I sit outside long enough

I notice that the trees change

the creak of aging wood,

the lichen on gnarled branches…

Even in death, the trees offer refuge —

countless perches for tired crows

a vantage point to observe

the neighborhood cats

with their fat bodies

and languid eyes

The abundance of my backyard surprises me

with its tenacity of growth,

as if my tiny plot of land

is on the cusp of being consumed

by the encroaching mountainside

with its wild dazzle of swaying pines



I wonder at the strength of trees;

at how the wood wants to reclaim it all

this lawn, this house, this feeble garden

It’s likely to succeed
Central Synagogue
By: Haytham Ad-Din, The Photographic Muslim
Tags: Photography, Judaism, History, Religion, Special Feature

This photo-essay was originally published in July 2019, featuring photos taken during public hours and the weekly guided tour. For that original iteration, acknowledgments and gratitude at the Synagogue go to security staffer Glenn for his courteous supervision, Congregant-Docent Judy Borkowsky for the lovely guided tour, and Archivist Anne Mininberg for kindly reviewing the original draft.

The photos presently featured were taken on a single day in January 2020 utilizing both a wide-angle lens and a standard zoom lens. The greater variety and quality of photos is the result of a dedicated session of photography. For this present iteration, acknowledgments and gratitude at the Synagogue go to Director of Communications Jessica Barist Cohen for graciously making contact and scheduling an appropriate time slot as well as to Building Manager Arkady Frukhtman for facilitating access to the Sanctuary.

Peace and blessings to the Synagogue’s leadership and congregation for creating such a welcoming environment of religious hospitality.
Eat the Rich
By: Michael Madill
Tags: Political, Poem, Poetry, Socialism, Revolution

Photo by Alfred Kenneally on Unsplash

First, they stole the money,

Then they rigged the show.

They fed us trash we thought was funny,

But little did we know

The money was an illusion,

And the show was a pyramid scheme.

The one sowed moral confusion,

And the other cracked self-esteem,

So you’d throw away your votes

And abdicate your judgment,

Measure men by their stock quotes,

And not question what it all meant,

While ignoring the systematic theft

Which kept the masses in a stitch,

So the only practical options left

Were torches, pitchforks, and eat the rich.
Leading Your Clients Through Tough Decisions: Learnings from “The Bachelor”
By: Limor Zisbrod
Tags: Design Process, Storytelling, The Bachelor, UX, Design

Design is about making decisions. As designers, we have many tools to help us evaluate our options. We work with a team of people — other designers, product owners, stakeholders, and developers — to go through this process together, and, ideally, feel confident in the final direction. But it’s pretty unrealistic to think that everyone will always agree, especially when people have different visions and objectives.

So how do we make informed decisions and keep everyone aligned? Fortunately, there are now 20+ case studies featuring a similar dilemma, painstakingly documented on the famous American reality television show, The Bachelor.

Every season, our protagonist conducts a series of tests to narrow down 26 contestants to one in a 12-week sprint. The journey highlights many of the same challenges we face in the design process. First, it underscores the need for wide exploration along with a rigorous selection process, scrutinizing your options before “settling down.” Second, it’s a reminder that, even with the most rational process, you have to acknowledge everyone’s considerations, from project managers’ budget concerns, to your parents who didn’t want you quitting your job for reality TV. It’s easier to find your happily-ever-after when everyone is aligned.

Every project has its thorns and, while I can’t guarantee love, there are some methods we can learn from The Bachelor to help us achieve a smoother and more efficient design process.
Interval
By: Kevin Keeney
Tags: Mental Health, Self, Life, Depression, Poetry

Kevin Keeney is a writer of poetry, fiction, and real-life ramblings. He publishes stories in Unlocked Words and other select publications on Medium.
‘The Twilight Zone’: S02.E04. “Ovation”
By: Shain E. Thomas
Tags: The Twilight Zone, Thomas Lennon, Jordan Peele, Jurnee Smollett, Television

Ovation, like the first season episode The Comedian, broaches the entertainment world from a darkly twisted perspective. In The Comedian, if you recall the first season episode, Samir Wassan (Kumail Nanjiani) attained the laughs he sought after.

This second season episode finds Jasmine (Jurnee Smollett) attaining a deafening applause level of applause which almost kills her. The applause she receives, having driven Jasmine insane, causes her to kill her sister.

The set-up to Ovation, one that conceals a significantly subtler twist, is itself every bit as sinister as the episodes main narrative. We initially see the episode approach the story from a be careful for what you wish for perspective. Suicidal pop star Fiji (Sky Ferreira) gifts Jasmine an unusual coin. The coin turns out to have magical properties.

Image Credit: IMDb.com

Playing a song at a vigil for Fiji, not expecting anyone to really pay that much attention to her music, Jasmine finds herself receiving all the applause she could possibly want. Jasmine, regardless of the quality of her music, finds people immediately applauding her talents.

Zara (Tawny Newsome), early in the episode, doubts will ever make anything of her music. Zara, an ER doctor, is Jasmine’s sister. There is an underlying resentment which is the root of her mocking.

Zara, feeling her sister puts herself out there far too much, implies Jasmine is nothing more than a poser with delusions of grandeur. The ER doctor would prefer Jasmine focus her efforts on getting a real job.

The applause for Jasmine’s music, something the musician herself can’t completely ignore, becomes creepy as the episode progresses. Zara, having discovered the significance of the coin, takes it from her sister.

Whilst out initial assumptions tell us Zara merely took the coin for safekeeping, soon thereafter, Jasmine reads of a new rising star within the pop music world. Jasmine, possibly because of her growing need for fame, sets out to kill this new pop star sensation. The new rising talent is Jasmine’s ER doctor sister.

There is an ambiguity to the episode’s ending which proves unsatisfying. Why did Zara take the coin? Was it to protect her sister or was it because she wanted fame for herself? The best way for you to address these questions is to watch the episode.

Paul F. Tompkins briefly plays a talk show host. He is curious as to how fame came to Jasmine. Jasmine is seemingly an overnight sensation. It would have been more interesting if Tompkins should have played Ovation’s J J Malloy and Thomas Lennon had played the talk show host.

Previously …
JavaScript Fat Arrow Functions for Beginners: An Illustrated Guide
By: Daire Ní Chatháin
Tags: Coding, ES6, Programming, JavaScript, Web Development

You started learning JavaScript. And now you’ve noticed you keep meeting this thiccc arrow.

You kinda get the gist from seeing how other people use it, but you don’t really get it. So you smile and nod because it’s too late to ask what it’s all about now.

Except it’s not.

Let’s dissect fat arrow functions and get you using some ES6 slang!

Apparently this is what a cool developer looks like

Fat arrow functions are like the regular JS functions you already know, only they’re written in a more concise manner. Let’s walk through giving a straightforward JS function a fat arrow makeover.

So we can understand how this:

function sparkleMachine(boringItem){

return boringItem + ‘✨’;

}

Is actually the same as this:

const sparkleMachine = boringItem => boringItem + ‘✨’

Breaking it Down

Let’s say you made a machine. Not any old machine, but a sparkle machine. It adds ✨ to the end of anything you hand it. Why? Because you’re a groovy person and like to add a lil’ something-something to boring things.

The Sparkle Machine

You pass it something → adds sparkle → returns thing but with sparkle.

function sparkleMachine(boringItem){

return boringItem + ‘✨’;

}

The fat arrow makeover

Now, let’s help our sparkle machine shed some of its extra baggage. Don’t you think the function key word is kind of clunky? Let’s swap it out for something leaner.

But what can we substitute it for? If only we had some universal symbol to show we’re going from one thing to another? Aha, yes- an arrow! We can ditch the function key word and replace it with a => .

const sparkleMachine = (boringItem) => {

return boringItem + ‘✨’;

}

Nice! Our sparkle machine is looking sleeker already. But we can do better.

Notice how the machine performs one action — it returns our boring thing with some added ‘✨’. In other words, our function consists of a single expression.

const sparkleMachine = (boringItem) => {return boringItem + '✨'};

And so, as it’s a single line of code, and not a block, we don’t need those curly braces.

On top of that, it’s implicit that we’re going to return something, so we can even dump the return statement.

We only have one parameter(thing), so we can drop the brackets too!

How are we looking now?

…drum roll please….

✨TADA!✨
Sikoba July 2020 — Update. July was a very busy month for Sikoba…
By: Sikoba Network
Tags: Sikobapay, Sikoba

July was a very busy month for Sikoba: we announced two partnerships and released a new version of the SikobaPay mobile app. We also made significant progress on the web interface, published new online user documentation and worked on the blockchain layer.

In particular:

we announced a future listing on the ProBit exchange;

we announced a partnership with De Kär, operators of the Beki regional currency;

we announced a partnership with Libranzas Group SAS, to launch the Te Fía micro/nano-credit project in Bogotá, Colombia;

we released the v0.4.4-beta version of sikobaPay, which includes more efficient language handling. This version also added a Vietnamese version, bringing the list of supported languages to 15. Here they are:

Languages currently supported by sikobaPay

First version of sikobaPay user documentation

Kate, our Product Manager, has published the first version of the sikobaPay user documentation at https://sikoba-docs.netlify.app. It has been created using Docusaurus and looks very professional!

Sikoba web interface

We have known from the beginning that some business users will need to manage large numbers of connections, credit lines and IOUs. A web interface that takes advantage of the larger screen on laptops and computers is therefore necessary. So far we have been able to implement all the features of the mobile app in the web interface, and have started to add additional features such as bulk creation of credit lines.

Work on new designs

Roman has been busy working on new designs for the mobile app, here are some examples of the work-in-progress. Some of this will be implemented in future releases.

Work on blockchain layer: testing Babble

We have done some stress testing with Babble, and are preparing to integrate it with the main Sikoba back-end. Some of the code is on our public GitHub at:

https://github.com/sikoba/sko-public/tree/master/babble_demo

NB our code is currently not open source, we will gradually make it open source after production/mainnet launch.
Conversations with My Wife (collection)
By: Jack Herlocker
Tags: Love, Relationships, Collection, Conversations, Marriage

You might guess from all the above that I like being married. You would be correct.

I’ve also done some other stuff. It’s all over the map, content- and genre-wise, but some of it’s okay.
Wounded Mother
By: Cassius Corbin
Tags: Nature, Poet, Poem, Poetry, Environment

at times we must drive

under the spring trees

on paved roads cradled by

long thin fingers of leaves

Earth’s children going back

to be held by The Mother

then running back home

at the first sign of thunder

we drift down Her scars

heavy roads of thick asphalt

black burns in tender skin

wounds we know are our fault

yet no matter our lashings

or the heat of fights and sin

Mother accepts us back to Her

again and again and again
Mixin Network has delivered $245,000 mining awards to 15 full nodes
By: Lin Li
Tags: Mainnet, Bitcoin, Mixinnetwork, Open Source

Mixin Network has verified real asset on the main net. The developer can find transaction by open RPC port

The first asset on the main net is CNB . You can find its transactions on Mixin Network explorer.

The main net automatically released 1726 XIN token, equal to $245,000, as mining awards to all 15 full nodes. The next award will be released after 24 hours.

The community operates Mixin Network main net, so developers have the confidence to build the application on Mixin Network.

Full Mixin network resource index

There are many tutorials help developer to build the application quickly:
Get 1000 GBT tokens for each friend that you refer
Tags: Globatalent, Referral Program, Airdrop, Referral Marketing, Sports

The First Sports Assets Exchange launches a referral program.

We have launched our referral program giving you the opportunity to earn 1000 GBT for each friend you refer to Globatalent during the promotional period.

If you have not an account at Globatalent yet you can register through this link and earn 2000 GBT https://globatalent.com/promos/referral

Once you have registered you can visit your user account-myglobatalent-profile section to access to your invitation link to share with your friends, remember you can earn 1000 GBT for each one. Do not wait any longer to start sharing.

You can trade with the GBT!!!!

This offer is only available for UK and Spain residents.

Discover how to invest on sport talent.

For more info please check the link

https://globatalent.com/promos/referral
AI as a Movie Maker
By: Vlad Alex, Merzmensch
Tags: Published Tds, Artificial Intelligence, Merznlp, Art, AI

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A National Moment
By: Mark Kelly
Tags: Covid 19, Family, Coronavirus, Nonfiction, UK

A National Moment

Why I clapped at the door

Photo: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning

I’m not normally much of a joiner-in. I had a cast iron excuse when my colleagues invited me to a virtual round of drinks earlier in the evening (unspecified “family duties”). I have a lengthy debate with myself before I even stand up for the national anthem. However, 8pm this evening saw me with jacket on, waiting behind my door ready to join the national bout of clapping for NHS workers (now extended to be a show of support for delivery drivers, care-workers and others on the C19 front-line).

Of course, this being the repressed UK, most people were hiding behind the doors waiting to see whether the neighbours would appear, which would embolden them to put in an appearance. Not too early and not too late is the right way. Last week this occasion passed me by, and I was racked by worries that they would think I just didn’t care.

This week, I stepped out boldly, not the first and not the last, and gave it a good minute of self-conscious clapping before retreating back inside. I didn’t see any doors where people didn’t appear, though to the best of my knowledge no NHS staff or delivery workers live on our street.
Storii: A Senior Care Management Platform that Users Love
Tags: Technology, Startup, Seniors, Elder Care, Venture Capital

Cameron Graham was hospitalized after taking part in a charity run a few years ago. During that stay in the hospital, he got to spend every day next to an elderly man with dementia and see what life and interactions with family and caretakers was like. That led him to create Storii.

Storii (and its product, StoriiCare) helps senior living providers offer the best care possible by saving them hundreds of hours on paperwork and administration. The product also includes a social-like feature that allows family members to communicate with their loved ones and track their activities in senior living facilities.

Cameron Graham, pc: eveningtimes.co.uk

Senior care facilities across the United States and the United Kingdom spend hundreds of hours every month doing basic administrative paperwork. Caretakers waste days filling out and filing paperwork while they would rather work with and take care of seniors. Facility managers have little idea of what their facilities and community members are actually doing without directly auditing this paperwork. And family members have no way of tracking what activities their loved ones do while in senior care facilities.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a product aimed at helping people with their loved one’s in senior care facilities — but it is the first one we’ve seen that gets the market inside and out. Cameron is a master of customer discovery and has personally visited hundreds of senior living facilities, talked to their staff and managers, and understands their needs.

As part of our diligence process, we speak with customers to see how they use the product, what they think of the team, and how much they value the product. This kind of diligence call can shed more light at the seed and pre-seed stages than any set of numbers or projections about growth ever could. Our calls with Storii’s customers may have been the best we’ve ever done. Not only did the customers rave about the product, they applauded Storii’s “engineering department” (a few of the cofounders in London) for their responsiveness and helpfulness.

We’re thrilled to leadthis round and help Storii scale to thousands of senior living facilities across the globe.

Storii is hiring.
About VisionWizard
By: Shreejal Trivedi
Tags: Data Science, Programming, Artificalintelligence, Computer Vision, Deep Learning

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

― Søren Kierkegaard

Hello, from VisionWizard. We a team of engineers/researchers working in AI started VisionWizard in one of the worst human adversaries in the history of mankind — Covid19 Pandemic, with a basic need to bridge the gap between research and development by simplifying the explanations of research papers in the field of Computer Vision and Deep Learning.

We ourselves are working every day to solve complex computer vision/deep learning problems as a part of our daily jobs. We know first hand, how much time is wasted behind reading the research papers and not understanding more than half of it due to bloated unwanted explanations written merely to fulfill the minimum length requirement for publishing it. Not all papers do this, but more often than not, this is the case. The readers lose interest and end up wasting their time. This is the sole reason why we started this publication.

By no means, we are professional writers but we are skilled in dissecting complex research papers into chunks of simple ideas that can be easily understood and used for further implementations.

While we can’t cover every research paper, we will try to unravel the most important ones. Your suggestions in the comment sections or mail would be most welcome :)
The Data Science Process — Step by Step
By: Swati Jain
Tags: Online Courses, Getting Started, Step By Step, Data Science, Data Visualization

Step 1: Frame the problem

The first thing you have to do before you solve a problem is to define exactly what it is. You need to be able to translate data questions into something actionable.

You’ll often get ambiguous inputs from the people who have problems. You’ll have to develop the intuition to turn scarce inputs into actionable outputs–and to ask the questions that nobody else is asking.

Say you’re solving a problem for the VP of Sales of your company. You should start by understanding their goals and the underlying why behind their data questions. Before you can start thinking of solutions, you’ll want to work with them to clearly define the problem.

A great way to do this is to ask the right questions.

You should then figure out what the sales process looks like, and who the customers are. You need as much context as possible for your numbers to become insights.

You should ask questions like the following:

Who are the customers? Why are they buying our product? How do we predict if a customer is going to buy our product? What is different between segments who are performing well and those that are performing below expectations? How much money will we lose if we don’t actively sell the product to these groups?

In response to your questions, the VP of Sales might reveal that they want to understand why certain segments of customers have bought less than expected. Their end goal might be to determine whether to continue to invest in these segments or de-prioritize them. You’ll want to tailor your analysis to that problem and unearth insights that can support either conclusion.

It’s important that at the end of this stage, you have all of the information and context you need to solve this problem.
You Are Not ‘Working From Home’
By: Kelli María Korducki
Tags: Work Life Balance, Coronavirus, Succeed, Work, Working From Home

You Are Not ‘Working From Home’

You’re at home, during a crisis, trying to work

Photo: Johner Images/Getty Images

Advice about working from home has been plentiful lately, including from us here at Forge: Establish a routine, organize your desk, take breaks, wear pants.

But let’s make one thing clear: At this moment, you are not just “working from home.” You are “at your home, during a crisis, trying to work.”

That’s how the bosses at the Canadian federal agency Parks Canada put it recently, expanding a tweet that went viral in March with a set of principles for working remotely under Covid-19. Those six guidelines were shared by an employee at an adjacent department of the government in a now-viral tweet.

The principles highlighted something millions of people around the world are feeling: Everything is hard right now. It’s hard for the legion of working parents balancing jobs with childcare, homeschooling, and the ongoing demands of running a household. It’s hard for single people, alone for weeks or months on end. It’s particularly hard for women, who disproportionately shoulder the burden at home and at work.

The Canadian government’s guidelines are an acknowledgment of several fundamental and self-explanatory truths about life right now: None of us is working at 100% or being our best self. Each of us is dealing with a different set of challenges, and our ability to “cope” varies widely. Now is not the time to insist upon business as usual.

But while many companies and managers are trying to tend to their workers’ well-being, basic respect for humans over productivity — laid out so forcefully in the Canadian memo — is far from standard, as many of the replies to the tweet indicated.

And at a time when layoffs and furloughs are everywhere we look, many who are lucky enough to have jobs are feeling anxious about keeping them, and doing all they can to prove their worth, sometimes overworking and burning out in the process.

It’s a coping mechanism that capitalism and the cult of efficiency taught us long before the pandemic struck. The pressure to “keep it together” at work, at all costs, is nothing new. And of course, it’s reassuring to pretend that if we only hustle hard enough, everything will work out for us. That attitude has come to define modern workplace culture: Produce more, achieve more, innovate harder, and you won’t get left behind. It’s not treading water; it’s passion for a purpose.

Despite our tremendous ability to adapt and grow as a species, we’re not immune to the conditions of the world around us. We never have been.

If there’s any comfort to be had from a global catastrophe, it’s that it has shown the cracks in the facade of our status quo. We can try and achieve “peak performance,” but the fundamental processes and rhythms of our bodies, minds, and relationships keep getting in the way. We are only human.

“Normal” was never normal, and once this is over, we shouldn’t forget that.
How and why to get whitelisted for the token generation sale?
By: Peer Mountain
Tags: Technology, How To, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, ICO

Information about the Whitelist sign-up process:

Why to get whitelisted?

o Whitelisted users will secure a place in the token sale. You will be guaranteed to participate in the first round of the public sale. It means that you can secure the highest public sale bonus.

o When you get whitelisted, you will be able to participate in the token sale on a day one of the sale. Non-whitelisted users will have to go through the full KYC process (which can take up to 10 days).

When does the whitelist sign-up begin?

o The whitelist sign-up process will begin on 4th September 2018

Where do I register?

o Click the “JOIN WHITELIST” button on the Peer Mountain website at www.peermountain.com . You will be redirected to the TokenMarket.net website to complete the sign-up.

o You can choose many signup forms:

o Please follow the instructions provided on the TokenMarket.net web site for registration details

How long will the whitelist sign-up process last?

o Being cleared through the KYC process may be immediate or it may take a few days that is why we encourage everybody to sign up as soon as possible.

o A limited number of people can be processed through the KYC process each day. You will receive an email from TokenMarket.net with a secure link to continue with the KYC process.

What happens if I already started the Whitelist process?

o If you were able to get into the whitelist form at launch, completed the necessary information and received a confirmation email back from TokenMarket confirming your email address and received a secure link to continue the process and an email confirming you have been accepted into the whitelist you don’t need to resubmit anything else.

When will the public token sale begin?

o The public token sale will begin on 2nd October 2018.

Who will not be allowed to sign-up?

o People who do not pass the background check process will not be allowed to sign-up.

o This token sale is not available in the following countries: United States, Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, British Virgin Islands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Congo, The Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, China, Serbia,Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

o People who are a citizen or resident of a geographical area in which purchase, holding or use of PMTN token is subject to applicable sanctions or embargoes, or prohibited by applicable law, decree, regulation, treaty or administrative act.

o People who are identified on applicable sanctions lists, or employed by or associated with an entity that is identified on applicable sanctions lists.
All is Well
By: Ani Vidrine
Tags: Mindfulness, Love, Home, Poetry, Spirituality

Poems From The Porch

photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.com

The egrets are flying low over the field this morning.

The symmetrical bales have been removed, and the land is a sea of green.

The wood from the tree that fell during the last hurricane is crackling on the firepit — a cozy comfort against the grey chill of the day.

The fire is heating my slippered feet, and my fluffy deva friend is warming my lap.

There are still bright, yellow flowers blooming in the garden and in one pot.

Sunday is pancake morning, made with toasted oat flour and adorned with butter and pure maple syrup.

The ingredients are measured out and ready to be mixed, a task I completed when I first got up.

Fozzy Deva was feeling affectionate and just reached up to give me a kitty kiss.

We are both purring.

The bell in the church at the center of our town is ringing the hour, and the builder of the fire has returned with another cup of coffee.

What in this moment is lacking?