fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Develop and Deploy Kubernetes Applications on a Raspberry Pi Cluster
By: Richard Youngkin
Tags: Kubernetes Cluster, Programming, Kubernetes, Raspberry Pi, Microservices

Why Am I Doing This?

I’ve been looking for an interesting project to work on. My day job involves exactly this, developing and deploying applications on Kubernetes clusters. However, I’m just part of a larger team. While the team are familiar with all the technologies used in the application, we each tend to take on more specialized roles. In particular, my role is focused on the application. I felt like I could “drive” Kubernetes in the sense that I knew how to accomplish certain operations relating to the management and troubleshooting of the application. That said, I certainly didn’t have what I would call an in-depth knowledge of Kubernetes.

To become more familiar with Kubernetes I decided to create a Kubernetes cluster from scratch. Since I don’t have access to a larger cluster of computers, and I have a side interest in Raspberry Pis, I decided to create my cluster using Raspberry Pis.

To further hone my Kubernetes skills I needed to create an application consisting of multiple microservices to run on the cluster. In addition, all applications I’ve worked on have had to address trade-offs with respect to time-to-market and best practices, for example baking logging into the application vs. bolting it on later. So to make things more interesting I decided to create a relatively simple, but realistic, application that could showcase what I consider to be best practices.
Daniel Bacchieri: Mapping Street Music Around the Globe
By: Barbara Yang
Tags: Photography, Buskers, Busking, Music, Street Music

“StreetMusicMap is a global report on street music.”

Music reporter Daniel Bacchieri fell in love with music as a child. In his house in Rio Grande, Brazil, music was always on — jumping from jazz to tango, from bossanova to Brazilian pop and rock bands.

Daniel believes music is the most universal art in the world because people can enjoy it and understand it even without knowing the words. He especially loves rock ‘n’ roll from the sixties and the seventies, as well as jazz from the fifties. Sometimes, he wishes he could live in the old times.

In the first years after he completed school, Daniel worked as a radio and television reporter. After that, he focused on film and documentaries. During the last 12 years he has been woking as a freelancer film director focusing mainly on music and sports projects. For him, perfection means a mix of music, filming and journalism.

Although Daniel doesn’t play any instruments, he’s found his own way to celebrate his love for music — his own way to report on it and share it all over the world. Daniel approaches talented buskers, street musicians, in different cities and different streets to find new music. Everywhere from Porto Alegre and São Paulo in his home country of Brazil, to America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. When he finds something new and exciting, he shares it online.

StreetMusicMap Official Site: www.streetmusicmap.com. Created by Daniel Bacchieri and powered by Genosha.

He then turned that passion into a project: in 2013, during a trip to Ukraine, he first had the idea for StreetMusicMap. The next year, he made project that project into a reality. Today, StreetMusicMap has more than 1,200 talented street musicians from 93 countries documented on video filmed by more than 700 contributors — and the numbers are expanding daily.

Daniel wants to turn this project into the most comprehensive platform for street music in the world and promote exchange and networking between the musicians, fans and music business. He sees it ultimately as a platform where bands can connect with fans, and a place for everyone who wants to find the next big thing.
How To Use jQuery In Angular
By: Bhargav Bachina
Tags: Angular, Programming, Web Development, JavaScript, Software Development

How To Use jQuery In Angular

Sometimes we have to use it

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Angular is a javascript framework that helps us build the enterprise-level front end applications in an easy and opinionated way. On the other hand, jQuery is a small yet feature-rich powerful javascript library that helps to manipulate the HTML DOM with less javascript code. Now you have a question that why the hell should we use jQuery with Angular and what is the need for it?

There are some situations you come across while building Angular apps that it’s absolutely necessary to use a library like jQuery to get something done. One of the examples that I can think of is that submitting the form to the external website from your Angular app.

Imagine a situation you are on the website built with Angular and shopping something. You have a link that takes you to another website to complete the order with all the details entered on this website. There are ways to implement this without jQuery but I am just creating a hypothetical scenario where you might use jQuery. In this post, we will see how to use jQuery with Angular.

What is jQuery

Example Project

jQuery With Angular

Summary

Conclusion

What is jQuery

jquery is a simple, small yet feature-rich javascript library that helps to manipulate HTML DOM with less javascript. Here is the official website of jQuery you can go through.

Let’s do one simple project to understand jQuery better for those who didn’t use it yet. Here is a simple form that takes the first name and last name. When we click on the submit button the name should be displayed at the bottom of the form.

Example jQuery Project

Here is the code for the above. The entire logic is put inside script tag. We can query and set the DOM elements with jQuery based on the ids, CSS selectors, etc. For example, we can query the first name with $("#fname").val and set it with this $("#fn").val(firstName).
What Turning 18 in an Immigrant Household Means
By: Arijana Ramic
Tags: Immigrants, Diaspora, Comedy Writing, One Liners, Satire

The Foreigner Blog explores the comedic side of being an immigrant, children of immigrants, and diaspora. Our experiences are often clouded in dark and painful realities, but here we find the light and the levity. Welcome!

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027 | Binance (バイナンス) の登録方法&入金方法
Tags: Crypto, Blockchain, 日本語, Binance

in Eudaimonia and Co
Long-term relationships require getting over three progressively taller fences:
By: Kevin Ervin Kelley
Tags: Divorce, Love, Dating, Relationships, Marriage

Long-term relationships require getting over three progressively taller fences:

Fence #1: The Attraction Phase. For two people to have a shot at a relationship, they need to be attracted to each other first. But attraction is only the start of a relationship, not the finish line.

Fence #2: The Personality Phase. While you might find your date attractive, it doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy being around them for long stretches. Couples in this phase are just getting to know each other’s personalities: Work vs. Play? Thriller vs. RomCom? Homebody vs. Partygoer?

Fence #3: The Values Phase. This phase is when couples confront the Big Issues: religion, politics, money, sex, in-laws, where to live, and whether to have kids. Most couples struggle to get over this fence, which is why you see so many seemingly solid 3–5 year relationships end abruptly.

You can read more here.
Defining Brand As Culture
By: Courtney Bochicchio
Tags: Blog Posts, Team Building, Culture, Customer Experience, Branding

It suddenly seemed so shockingly obvious to me. Why have I never thought of branding in this light before? It’s easy to assume that customer service is a one-way street. You have a problem with a product or service so you call someone to fix it. But it can’t possibly begin there. The employee on the other end of the phone has to believe in what they’re representing in order to be an advocate for the client’s needs.

The easiest way to visualize this is with a real brand example. One of the first companies Cravety talked about was JetBlue, which I agreed with whole-heartedly even before listening to their reason. If I’m going on a trip, the first airline I look at is always JetBlue. Why? Because their customer service is impeccable. One March, I was traveling to Fort Myers, Florida for spring break. Out of all the days I could have picked to travel, this ONE day was forecasted to snow. I called the customer service line, explained how I was afraid my flight would be cancelled and asked if I could hop on an earlier one. In a matter of seconds they had re-booked me at no cost, and I was on my way. Side note: my original flight ended up not getting cancelled because JetBlue is the GOAT. But I digress.

The Cravety team explained how JetBlue Founder and current Chairman of Azul Airlines, David Neeleman, achieves this top-tier service:

Train employees to act as ambassadors of the brand Create products or services that are as flawless as possible Transform problems into opportunities to please customers (like my example above!)

What exactly do your employees want, you say? Employers need to figure out what motivates each employee. For example, maybe one employee has a kid and wants to be able to pick them up from school each day. Another may desire flexible PTO and WFH benefits. When I worked in sales, my manager rewarded me with Sephora goodies when I met monthly quotas. You can bet your booty that made me hustle even harder each month!

Ultimately, the idea here is that we can’t assume all employees want the same things. We need to go deeper and see what motivates each individual.

Now, the flip side: How do you define what your customer service experience will be? This will look different from company to company, but start by mapping each interaction out on a piece of paper or white board to see where every client touchpoint, no matter how seemingly small, can be enhanced.

At the end of the day, people are driven by emotion. Good experiences are more likely to attract repeat happy customers.

So remember:

Happy employees = happy customers

Happy customers = happy business
Mengenal Delegation pada Swift
By: Muhammad Ridho K. Pratama
Tags: Programming, Software Development, Swift

Software Engineer. Aviation Enthusiast. Do the best, let God takes the rest. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/99ridho/

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My Name is Tom Cruise and I’m Going to Scream at You All For Ten Minutes
By: Christine Stevens
Tags: Movies, Humor, Hollywood, Celebrity, Satire

My Name is Tom Cruise and I’m Going to Scream at You All For Ten Minutes

It makes me feel important, but it does kind of kill the vibe

Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons

Listen guys,

I want you to know something before I get started — I’m about to blow a fuse. And when that happens, as you know, I tend to scream at everybody for a really long time and make all kinds of threats.

It’s awesome, actually, and it’s part of my training to become a god. Gods are angry, didn’t you know that?

The only problem with my tantrums, I have to admit, is the weird vibe afterwards.

It’s like everyone’s walking around on eggshells. Paranoid. Bummed out.

It’s like suddenly this set is no fun to be on any more.

That is not what I intended

I want this set to be a fun place where we can all enjoy this great thing we call movie making.

WHERE PEOPLE LIKE ME STAR IN MOVIES SO ALL YOU LOSERS CAN HAVE JOBS AND SEND YOUR KIDS TO COLLEGE, GOD DAMN IT.

Whoops, that caught me by surprise. Seems like a little is leaking out early, before the tantrum has even begun. I guess it’s kind of like pre-cum.

But anyhow, this is what I wanted to say. Let’s not have that weird vibe on the set after this next tantrum. Because it makes me feel ashamed. Like I ruined everyone’s day.

So if anybody has a weird vibe after the tantrum, THEY’RE FUCKING GONE, DO YOU HEAR ME. FIRED!

Whoops, there I go again.

No, seriously, I really am up late every night TALKING TO THE HEADS OF EVERY FUCKING MOVIE STUDIO TRYING TO SAVE THIS GOD DAMNED BUSINESS.

WHEN I COULD BE OUT IN THE DESERT RIDING MOTORBIKES!

OK, so it looks like things are really getting started now. I’m gonna be yelling for about ten minutes. If anybody records this and leaks it to the media YOU’RE FUCKING GONE! GONE! GONE!

YOU BETTER NOT RECORD THIS!

I’m Tom Cruise. AND I’M IMPORTANT!

REALLY IMPORTANT!

YOU KNOW WHAT WORKING WITH YOU GUYS IS?

IT’S A MISSION FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE, THAT’S WHAT IT IS!

(Sorry guys, this is a bad one, even worse than I thought it would be, don’t worry, it’ll be over in ten minutes, and then, remember, don’t kill the vibe. Keep smiling. And not fake smiling.

ANYBODY FAKE SMILING IS FUCKING GONE! HEAR ME?

(Gee, I’m really glad I’m not a female actress, because you know what they would say if I blew my stack like this and berated the entire crew for ten minutes, right? That I was “difficult.”)

(Or a “diva”)

(Or “bitch”).

(Good thing I’m Tom Cruise and not difficult. Just “passionate.”)
Factory Design Pattern Pada Golang
By: Redha Juanda
Tags: Indonesia, Factory Pattern, Design Patterns, Go, Golang

Easy read, easy understanding. A good writing is a writing that can be understood in easy ways

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4 Signs You Aren’t Mentally Prepared To Give This Holiday Season
By: Melissa A. Matthews
Tags: Holidays, Self-awareness, Giving, Love, Life Lessons

4 Signs You Aren’t Mentally Prepared To Give This Holiday Season

Giving for the wrong reasons is just as bad as not giving at all.

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash

As Christmas and the end of the year inch closer and closer, we all become inundated with opportunities to give. It’s inevitable in a year like 2020, wherein so many things have gone wrong for so many people. Those of us that are doing well or reasonably so, might feel compelled to give to those whose circumstances maybe different from our own. However, some of us aren’t really prepared to give and sometimes, giving when one is not actually prepared to give freely is more detrimental than not giving at all.

For example, earlier this week, a social-worker friend of mine put out a request in a group chat for help to get a high school student’s books. The child had spent most of this first term of online school without a single book. This was not a particularly unusual request in my network as I work in the NGO sector on an island. The idea of the “village” is still very much alive even in our modern society. The ask was for secondhand books or any help that could be rendered. Another person in our network forwarded the request to her network and the response was a barrage of questions…

“Who is this social worker? who exactly is the child? Where does she live, etc.? Why doesn’t she have books yet?”

As I read the message, I struggled to determine how any of that information was paramount to one’s ability or willingness to give. This was not a multinational organization asking for thousands or even hundreds of U.S. dollars. This was a community social worker asking for secondhand books. When pressed about why all of that information was necessary, the person defensively declared that “people just want to make sure that both people are real! There are all kind of scams these days.” Mind you, she knows the social-worker personally, as we — members of the group — all do.

This statement — she and her network — is a glaring example of a group of people who are not mentally prepared to give. Perhaps, I’m naive, but I was raised to believe that when one gives it is to be done with a pure mind and heart. How can one give freely, if at first suspecting those in need of being scammers?

There is a school of thought out there that as long as people give their motives and/or mindset shouldn’t matter. However, as someone who believes in both intention and energy, I’ve witnessed how things given without positive energy either don’t last or fail to adequately fulfill their intended purpose.

In the Caribbean, we call it maljeaux (pronounced mal joe) — bad eye — in the states, it’s bad juju. Either way, it’s quite literally the throwing of negative energy onto people or things. In a year like this one, many of us are carrying unhealed trauma and unconsciously projecting that pain onto others — hurt people hurt people. Not sure if you fall into this category? Here are four telltale signs that you aren’t mentally prepared to give this holiday season.
แทรกกลาง. ทุกคนต้องการการลงสนามเพื่อพัฒนาตัวเอง…
Tags: Self Improvement, Employee Engagement, Mentorship, Leaders, Coaching

A member of Mutrack and Inthentic. I lead, learn, and build with vision, love and care. https://piyorot.com

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Love
By: David Grant
Tags: Poetry, Life, Love, Unrequited Love, Poetry On Medium

If it’s love that you want

You don’t have to look any further

And if it’s time that you want

Take the whole day

But if it’s me that you want

You’ve got me wrapped around your finger

Because I love you

And I’ve got to get you back again

If it’s space that you want

I will try not to crowd you

And if it’s the peace that you want

I will try not to disturb you

But if it’s me that you want

You’ve got me wrapped around your finger

Because I love you

And I’ve got to get you back again
Coachella Band or BBC Architecture Show?
By: J.P. Melkus
Tags: Humor, BBC, Coachella, Design, Architecture

It's been a real leisure. [That picture is not me.--ed.]

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The Eidoo Hybrid Exchange — a technical look under the hood
By: Amelia Tomasicchio
Tags: Trading, Blockchain, Exchange, Ethereum, Token

In this article, we want to tell you more about how the Eidoo Hybrid Exchange works from a technical point of view.

To do so, we have prepared a technical paper about the Eidoo hybrid exchange, a new architecture which provides efficiency, security and transparency.

This hybrid exchange is an important part of our roadmap and, as explained on our social media channels, a first version will be released in March.

See more images of the hybrid exchange here.

The first pair listed will be EDO/ETH; then we will gradually launch more pairs, including the most popular ERC20 tokens on the market.

As usual, everything will be very user-friendly being the user experience our main goal for the whole Eidoo app.

Code is Law

In the technical paper that follows you will see how the whole architecture works, and why we define it as “hybrid”.

Hybrid platforms leverage both centralized and decentralized system to get the best features out of both. Any transfer of value is executed on the blockchain according to the exchange smart contract and dedicated user wallets, this is to give to the users full control of their funds and to guaranteed a safe management of those.

Eidoo and Oraclize

Thanks to the strategic alliance between Eidoo and Oraclize, we can prove that the centralized order book server is behaving as expected, making front-running impossible and ensuring that a fair matching of the orders always happens.

This is possible thanks to the use of the Oraclize “authenticity proofs” and of their “computation datasource”.

The Eidoo’s hybrid solution

You as a user will maintain total control over your tokens because ETH, ERC20 and ERC223 tokens will be managed on a safe and trustless platform, but with higher speed and scalability than a normal decentralized exchange.

The hybrid Eidoo exchange will overcome current decentralized exchange limitation regarding the management of large amounts of trades while maintaining low fees.

User accounts are based on a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain, where tokens are placed: the exchange itself won’t have any direct unauthorized access to funds.

Also, in a similar way to what happens in decentralized platforms, exchange transactions between wallets will be based on atomic swaps: this means that the operation will be indivisible and can only terminate with a full exchange; otherwise, nothing happens.

Read more about the hybrid exchange on our Technical Paper here.
Identifying external data sources is just the start.
Tags: Data Scraping, Data Analytics, Web Data, Web Data Scraper, Data Science

With data creation and consumption being the 21st century way of life. It’s predicted for 1.7 megabytes of new information to be generated every second for every person on earth, this year.

With most of this data stored on the internet, it is by far the largest database on earth. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook alone store 1,200 petabytes (1.2 million terabytes) of data.

With SO MUCH data being generated every living second, it’s ironic how it continues to present the greatest challenge in doing Data Science and analytics. At Webgrinder, our mission is to assist our users in their journey to source and consume external data.

The process of acquiring external data starts with a deep dive into the issue the business is trying to address. This deep dive is critical before proceeding with researching and shortlisting the external data sources that have the correct data. Bearing in mind how quickly the costs of acquiring data can spiral out. This research is also essential in identifying the right tools and the right partners in this endeavor.

Having identified the type and source of data is only just the beginning. The fun (pun intended) begins with data preparation.

Data preparation is all about cleaning the data and enriching the data features that would work best with your model. Since external data sources like websites and portals, more often than not, present data for viewing and not to perform Data Science. In most cases, you will be getting raw, disparate, unorganized, and un-normalized data, warranting several steps of cleaning and enrichment before consuming it for Data Science.

Here are some obvious examples:

Now, typically you would go about either writing Python scripts of moderate to severe complexity or building multiple rule engines, to take care of each of these scenarios. The smarter way, however, would be to consume from a growing library of data cleaning agents available at your disposal. You can simply select, test and include these cleaning agents in your data sourcing pipeline and be done with!

Similarly, with data enrichment, consider the raw data:

You could yet again, either write Python scripts giving one or more of your sourced data fields as input and generate an output column with new data features or simply select, test and consume pre-written data enrichment agents.

At Webgrinder we understand the importance of data from sourcing through to data preparation. And have, therefore, not only built an intelligent external data sourcing solution but have gone ahead and built a growing repository of readily consumable data cleaning and enrichment agents to ensure you don’t just hoard data but instantly consume it to your advantage, with a high level of trust and confidence.

Webgrinder, your partner in Data Science and Data Analytics.
Blockchain Technology and The Future of Work
By: Julien Breteau
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Founders, Videos, Bitcoin

Founders in Focus Episode #1

Welcome to the very first episode of Founders in Focus. A show that gives you unprecedented access to the most influential startup founders in the world of blockchain. We’re on a mission to educate and inform founders and investors on the current affairs of the blockchain industry, providing an accurate and up to date perspective on the competitive business environment, global investment landscape, and the leaders who are changing the game.

In this value-packed interview, Jack du Rose, co-founder of Colony, gives us an inside look at what it takes to build a blockchain-powered company.

Tune in as we discuss:
What Are Code Smells in PHP? An OOP Approach for Cleaner Code
By: Peter Matisko
Tags: PHP, Oop, Laravel, Programming, Software Development

1. Too Many Ands in the Functionality Description

Whenever you describe the purpose of your classes, pay attention to how many times you use ‘and’. As code grows, we naturally tend to put too many functions into a single class or too many functionalities into a single method.

The issue with big classes is that they are hard to understand, difficult for testing, and extremely difficult to extend. Remember that one of the most important principles in OOP is the Open-Closed Principle [1]. Classes should be closed for modification, but open for extension. Any class that does way too much is very difficult for extension while keeping the complex original functionality the same.

Example

I am not a fan of the Laravel’s ORM system Eloquent, because the Laravel’s models do way too much. They carry data, and communicate with a database, and map database data into the model attributes, and handles events, etc. Way too many responsibilities of a single class.

A better approach might be to split the responsibilities into the following layers:

Controller — validates incoming data

— validates incoming data Service — contains business logic

— contains business logic Model — carries data

— carries data Repository — prepares data for the database

— prepares data for the database DBMapper — maps models into database rows using a ModelMap which knows how to properly map the model attributes to the database columns

(We use this approach in our LayerFrame module for Laravel, described here.)

Incoming request models should not be reused for repository or DB Mapper. They should be considered the sole property of a controller. Whatever further processing has to happen by mapping these models into business models and vice versa.
TALENTED AND EXPENSIVE FEET
By: Brenda Ray Coffee
Tags: Feet, Call Girls, Voices

The podiatrist says age and gravity are having their way with my feet. The toes on my right foot have begun to curve backward toward the sole of my foot — hammertoes — so the end of my poor middle toe is bearing the weight when I walk. As a result I’ve developed a callus on the bottom of that toe, which I tried to trim, but it only made matters worse. When I asked the doctor what the little dot in the center is — thinking it’s a “core” of some sort, like with a corn — he said it’s my bone.

Egads!

When I was in elementary school the neighbor lady thought my toes were long enough to be fingers and frequently said my feet were beautiful and graceful. Each time my mother corrected her and said, “No, they’re just expensive.”

My feet are crazy skinny! I wear a size 9.5 with a 6A heel. There are only a couple of brands that make shoes that narrow, and they’re Italian and expensive. No cute, trendy shoes for me and shoes on sale? It’s easier to find an albino, baby elephant than a pair of shoes narrow enough so I don’t walk right out of them.

James had skinny feet as well. He once said if we’d had children, they would have had ice skate blades for feet. He told me about a woman, we both knew, who was vain about her feet. She thought they were pretty. I’ve seen her feet. I’m not sure whose feet she was comparing them to, but the only women of a certain age I’ve seen with really pretty feet are foot models.

Did you know the most sought after foot models need to have more than pretty feet? Their feet need to be able to “flirt” with the camera, as in… They need to look like “they’ve just been tickled, or they’re excited.” In other words, their feet need to imagine someone or something — other than age and gravity — is having their way with them. Those are some talented feet, which reminds me…

In my 20’s, I had a friend who was a madam. Yes, I know you’re wondering how we met, but that’s another blog… or two. She was one of the smartest, most well-read people I’ve known, not to mention a natural blonde beauty who was also cross-eyed. It made for an irresistible combination for politicians, celebrities and wealthy men. You think I have good stories? You should have heard hers.

Sometimes my first husband and I would meet her and her husband somewhere fun and catchup. One year they met us at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island. While the guys went off to rent motors scooters, she and I sat by the pool while she told me stories about her clients.

One well-known guy paid her $500 every time she unzipped her boots and took them off and another $500 every time she put them back on and zipped them back up. He never touched her. Now she had expensive feet. She also had an artful way with words, so much so that all the waiters were hiding in the bougainvillea behind us, hanging on her every word. No wonder our Piña Colada’s were slow in coming…
Dying on the Vine
By: Jonathan Greene
Tags: Poetry, Life, Nature, Death And Dying, Self

Watch me shrivel and die

before being harvested,

due to neglect of self

and a compromised branch

that is connected to a dead tree

I will not come to fruition

as this neglect is pure

and unadulterated,

leaving me inept

and sallow

I’m dying on the vine

right in front of you,

jaundiced and discolored

like a patient

who knows

But the weird thing about this vine

is that it won’t stop living,

and therefore, neither shall I,

as I push my toes down hard

and allow life to push up

inside of me,

breathing air back into

this tired soul
10 tips to be a good Swift developer
By: Ivano Di Gese
Tags: Coding, Tips, Programming, Swift, iOS

1. Use Protocols

Protocols are a great way to do a lot of things in Swift. With protocols you can establish and design behaviours of software components, making them compliant to specific implementations. Protocols are in Swift what interfaces are in Java programming and, as many of you know, they’re absolutely fundamental in OOP programming.

Here are some examples of when protocols are absolutely essential:

To make a modal communicate anything to the component that did present it

To adopt the same behaviour on multiple UIViewControllers or, generally, between Cocoa Touch Classes

To fire an even from a UITableCell to the parent UIViewControllers

These are just examples but as you can see, we’ve covered some of the most popular requirements in iOS coding.
Robinhood and its Merry Stock Options
By: Sera Maddingly
Tags: Financial Planning, Stock Market, Investing, Money, Finance

Robinhood. Gotta love the name, right? No, this doesn’t have to do with stealing from the rich and giving to the poor(er), aka, me. Robinhood is a free app that lets you invest in stocks and EFTs without paying a commission, so you can buy and sell stock without additional fees. Robinhood will even give you a free stock just for trying them out, and it’s really free… totally not stolen or anything hinky.

After realizing I needed another plan of attack for future income rather than putting the bare minimum matched into my 401K, I’ve decided to go another route. Yes, I’ve got the IRA too, but again, we’re talking very minimum amounts here. I stumbled upon the idea of investing as a legitimate way to plan for the future from a website called Millennial-Revolution and their FIRE method (Financial Freedom, Retire Early).

After the stock market crash of 2008 and hearing the horror stories of some people losing everything they had, I always had assumed buying stock was just too risky for a risk-averse person like myself. I couldn’t stomach putting so much money into something and seeing it all disappear within seconds like so many companies and individuals experienced back then. The stock market can be volatile but I didn’t realize then there were ways to reduce your risk by buying things like EFTs (exchange-traded funds) that allow you diversity in a set of securities you purchase vs putting all your eggs in one basket by purchasing stocks in single companies.

I am learning every day and starting very small to try it out. I’m not going to be retiring early or anything fanciful with such minuscule stock purchases, but at least I can get my feet wet without risking anything crazy. I admit that I don’t know fully how it all works, not really anyway. I’m a complete noob in every sense of the word. Hell, I just found out the exact definition of an index fund and EFT when writing this article. My point is, don’t let the terrible stories and complex names put you off of giving investing a try. I assumed I was not smart enough to understand all this buy, sell, trade, oh my! stuff, but with the information provided by Robinhood and other websites, it doesn’t seem impossible anymore. I wouldn’t recommend throwing a thousand dollars at the market and then hoping for the best while not knowing anything, though. Starting tiny allows you to have fun with it without the scary risk lurking behind every stock value decrease.

Have you tried Robinhood or any other service to give stock investing a go? Did it seem more or less complicated than you assumed after trying it?
The Kaingaroa Rock Carvings
By: John Mills
Tags: Archaeology, History, Ancient History, New Zealand

Since I was a small boy, I’ve had a keen interest in ancient civilisations and archaeology. As an adult, I have been fortunate to be able to travel overseas and visit some amazing historical sites in Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Italy, United Kingdom, Thailand, Cambodia and several of the Pacific Islands.

My homeland, New Zealand, is a relatively young country and is believed to be one of the last lands to be settled by humans. It is a lush and fertile country with spectacular mountains, lakes, forests and coastline. It has cute little towns, beautiful cities and great people. However, with the Maori people discovering New Zealand only around 800 years ago and having a fairly primitive level of technology based around wood, bone, flax and stone, my curiosity for ancient sites was going to have to wait until I was overseas again.

Or so I thought.

It will come as quite a surprise to many, but it turns out that New Zealand has numerous sites containing unusual stone formations and rock art. The theories and stories surrounding the origins of these sites vary wildly, ranging from naturally formed volcanic rock formations, to civilisations that may have predated the Maori, to giants and fairies. Regardless of what one believes to be true, the sites themselves are incredibly interesting. I’ve spent the last few years slowly tracking them down have visited the Kaimanawa Wall, Raglan Petroglyphs, Takiroa Rock Drawings and Weka Pass Rock Drawings to observe them firsthand.

My most recent hunt was for the Kaingaroa Rock Carvings. It can be fairly difficult to locate the site as it is unmarked and cannot be seen from the road. Unless you know where to look, chances are you will drive right past the little track that leads from the roadside to the rock shelter. I certainly did. About six times!

With a little help from my friends Google and Google Maps I was able to gather just enough information to help me roughly figure out whereabouts to search for the path. Even then, I searched on the wrong side of the road for an hour or more due to the vague information available.

Eventually, just as I was starting to get low on petrol and was considering giving up, I was able to locate the track entrance. While it is not signposted, once you have found it, the trail to the rock shelter is well trodden and easy to follow.

The path is about a 10 minute walk from the roadside to the rock shelter. When the shelter first came into view I couldn’t help but feel very excited! What a fascinating site, that barely anyone knows about!
Nouveau
By: Sarah E Sturgis
Tags: Poetry, Writing, New Year, New, Life

Nouveau

A poem

Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash

Winter dust of white

The snow, such a delight

We sled and play

We stay all day

Enjoy our new year’s night

Happy as we go

Where to, no one knows

We play like children

Dance and then

We celebrate, we crow

A gift, a brand new slate

A New Year’s Day date

A promise to

Give in to you

And love what you used to hate

An overwhelming love

It comes from up above

A brand new chance

So stay and dance

Or fly away, my dove.
Writeup HackerRank Internal Contest 210720 (part 1)
By: Septian Hari
Tags: Python3, Programming, Algorithms

OVO Tech

Stories from the builders behind OVO app.
Jim Jefferies is Intolerantly Hilarious and Brutally Honest in His Latest Stand-Up Special
By: Akos Peterbencze
Tags: Stand Up Comedy, Television, Culture, Netflix, Comedy

STAND-UP COMEDY

Jim Jefferies is Intolerantly Hilarious and Brutally Honest in His Latest Stand-Up Special

The most offensive Aussie comic is back.

Photo: Netflix

Ever since his career took off, Jim has been called a misogynist, a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, an alcoholic, a cocaine addict, and of course, an asshole from Australia.

I just call him my favorite stand-up comedian.

He is a foul-mouthed, raunchy, hardcore atheist. And I enjoy listening to foul-mouthed atheists saying dirty jokes because it’s a blast. In today’s entertainment industry, stand-up comedy remained the only art form where comedians can still be brutally honest. Of course, there’ll always be consequences for joking about delicate subjects, which sometimes will hit close to career-destroying moments, but on stage, they still have some kind of freedom. It’s up to them how they want to use it.

“You know why I stopped drinking so much is because I cracked open a beer, and my son, he was five at the time, he looked up at me, and he went, “Daddy, are you drinking again?”” — Jim Jefferies

Jim didn’t change much over the years. He’s just as rude and offensive today as he was 10 or so years ago. Look up his early stuff if you like, but I can tell you what you’ll find; drug and alcohol abuse, insults towards every single demographic group, and offensive jokes about religion. He never bent his personal or political views to be more accepted by the public or to gain more fans. Nah.

Jefferies grew up in Sydney, Australia. His father was a decent working-class fellow, and his mom was a substitute teacher. Jim lived in the UK for 10 years and currently living in the US for a long while now, but somehow he managed to stay true to his Australian upbringing. Even if that means he’s still an arrogant prick most of the time. I think there’s some honor in that.
The Melker Project’s Full Fleetwood Mac-shup
By: Edith Zimmerman
Tags: Mashups, Music, Fleetwood Mac

Spiralbound editor. Formerly at The Hairpin. Also now making a newsletter: https://drawinglinks.substack.com

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Notes for the New Year
Tags: Success, Happiness, New Years Resolutions, Life, Culture

I made some notes before my brother Jack interviewed me for How to Build the Future, where I mostly talked about how ambitious young people should think about their careers. I thought I’d clean those up to share for the New Year. Here they are.

The world only gets better if committed people with strong visions about the future work hard to make it better.

I made some notes before my brother Jack interviewed me for How to Build the Future, where I mostly talked about how ambitious young people should think about their careers.

Enjoy your life when you’re young — it’s a true cliche that you only have your youth once — but work harder than most people think you should.

A mistake a lot of people make is to compare themselves to very successful people today, instead of the version of that person from ten years ago, which probably looks a lot more familiar.

You want to find your tribe — the types of people like you that you can imagine working with for the rest of your career.

When you help people without any intention of ever getting benefit back, doors and new connections will open — this has been super important for me.

On Giving Up. When some people try something and it doesn’t work after a few weeks or months, they give up.

The super successful people I know spent a very long time pursuing their ideas, way past when most people would have given up.
Value Objects en PHP
By: Francisco Ugalde
Tags: PHP, Domain Driven Design, Software Architecture, Value Objects, Software Development

Senior Software Engineer | I love coding, software architectures and all new technologies. I’ll try to share, in an easy way, all the bits of my head.

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Are You Spending Extra on Small Businesses and Charities Right Now?
By: Nicole Dieker
Tags: Giving Tuesday, Charity, Small Business Saturday, Small Business, Black Friday

Earlier this morning Megan asked how your Black Friday shopping had gone, so I will ask you how your Small Business Saturday shopping went and how much you’re planning to spend on Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.

(I wonder why Sunday hasn’t yet gotten a name? When I started typing the question into Google, it autocompleted “Black Friday Small Business Saturday what is Sunday,” so I am clearly not the first person to ask this question.)

I spent the weekend in a cabin in the Canadian wilderness, which meant I was mostly shielded from Black Friday and Small Business Saturday promotions, minus the emails pouring into my phone every time we were near Wi-Fi.

But had I been in Seattle, I probably would have made an effort to support a small business on Saturday. Even though I spent $77.82 at my local bookstore just a week ago, I would very likely have walked down and bought at least one more book. (We did spend part of Friday touring Canadian wineries and I bought a few bottles of wine, so I can say that counts as supporting small businesses.)

Same goes for Giving Tuesday; even though I have made a lot of charitable donations this month, I am already planning to give more. Because Tuesday is the day you’re supposed to give, even if you’ve already given this month.

I will skip Cyber Monday, although I am aware of the sales—I do read those promotional emails, and time my purchases accordingly—and very aware that I am leaving money on the table by not buying stuff TODAY, but I’m sure some of those sales will come back around in a few weeks. That’s how sales work.

Part of me feels like “remember when it used to be just Black Friday,” in the same way I sometimes think “remember when most retailers closed on Thanksgiving” and “remember when the holiday shopping season didn’t start in August.” I appreciate the importance of supporting small businesses and charitable organizations. I don’t appreciate the way Black Friday has expanded into a business week’s worth of Spend Or Feel Bad.

I suppose I could just not feel bad. I’ve exceeded my budget for charitable spending this month, and I could say “nope, not giving on Tuesday, I don’t have the budget to give more until December, so they can wait two more days.”

Or I could have planned my giving better, set aside part of the budget specifically for Giving Tuesday, and that would have been the smart move had I remembered at the beginning of November that Giving Tuesday was a thing.

But I didn’t remember, and so I’ll give a little bit more on Tuesday because that’s what someone decided we’re supposed to do, and I know charitable organizations can always benefit from a little more cash.

What about you? Do you make an effort to support small businesses and charities on Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday, and do you feel a little guilty when you don’t? Or is it something not worth worrying about?
You Don’t Have to Write Pretty Code to Make a Fun Game
By: Shubham Dixit
Tags: Digital Life, Programming, Technology, Gaming, Gadgets

Components of my game

The main component of the game is a spherical ball. The camera follows this ball, and it can turn to left or right using the keys. Next thing is that it should not collide with the cubical shaped enemies of the game.

Screenshot by author

Once they collide, the game restarts.

I kept this game very simple, as I wanted to understand the working of the platform with the tool.

I am planning to combine it with other levels as well, and adding some more effects.

Bolt uses a simple tool named Graphs. These graphs are a place where you can edit the movement and control of your game objects.

You can edit the way your objects behave and code almost anything for your game without actually coding.

To help you out with some illustration on how to make our player move in the game using visual scripting. I have two illustrations, one for the player itself, and the other is for the enemy of the game.

Player graph:

This graph tells the compiler to start the game with the player, and allow the movement of the left and right direction to it.

Whatever you can think of for your game to be. This tool lets you build that in an easy way. I have made this game in just 20 minutes.

It might not look fancy enough to gain millions of downloads, but the thing is that it’s actually working.

Screenshot by author

Enemy graph:

This is the enemy graph, and it tells the compiler to multiply the number of cubical enemies as the game progress.

Cubes will fall like rain with a delay of 1 second. I have added some colors to the prefabs of the enemy, and ball (player) of the game.

When it collides with the ball (player), the game will restart.
You/Ghost/You.
By: Lisa Martens
Tags: Sex, Poetry, Love, Poem, Creative Writing

You/Ghost/You.

A Love Poem.

Photo by Jana Sabeth on Unsplash

They say you can move electricity through the nerves, in the same way you can feel songs in the hairs of your skin. Are you patient enough to shock me?

Deaf to me, you cannot hear. Some invisible channel remains under all that blood and bone. Give me a chance to tell you I love you, while you’re sleeping.

The world is on fire and we have to hold one another anyway. We cannot wait for the burning to stop; it will be never. We love in fake urgency.

I am normally stressed, everything in me doesn’t want to get caught. So just bite me until I stop flinching. You’ll know when I’m as relaxed as you.

All my histamines want to attack you.This is empty. Do you hear my skin screaming?

My thighs are softer than yours. You can lick them and see. That is the only way, I promise.

I heard noises at night. I became angry at the ghost; I am trying hard not to disappear. I don’t want the reminder. Remind me that I’m still a side effect of a beating heart.

Write your name, kiss the paper, slip it into one of the chambers. It’s easier than you think. Don’t tell anyone.

They’re trying to graph magic. They don’t realize magic changes; I am a witch and the world is just my spell. Once they figure it out, it becomes something else.

That silicone hole is not my skin, I promise. Your anger and hesitation will melt when you see me. Fear dissolves like Jesus Christ on a tongue.
National Weather Service announces another flood watch in Monroe Township
By: Anthony Mazziotti
Tags: Community, Weather, Local, Safety, New Jersey

National Weather Service announces another flood watch in Monroe Township

The flood watch will be in effect from 6 p.m. Thursday evening until 6 a.m. Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service has issued an areal flood watch as more heavy rain is expected to hit the Monroe Township region over the next couple of days. The flood watch will be in effect from 6 p.m. Thursday evening until 6 a.m. Saturday morning

Period of light to moderate rain will continue throughout Thursday, with heavier rain moving into the area Thursday night. On Friday, periods of moderate to heavy rain will fall. The rain may continue into the weekend.

General rainfall amounts of two to four inches are expected over the next three days and locally higher amounts of more than five inches are possible in areas hit by slow-moving thunderstorms.

The rain could cause low-lying and poor drainage flooding, as well as flash flooding if thunderstorms repeatedly move over the same locations. Several

days of excessive runoff will eventually lead to a risk of flooding in larger streams and rivers though the extent of the flooding will depend on where the heaviest rain falls.
3 Reasons Why I no Longer Accept Most Podcast Guest Requests
By: Denis Murphy
Tags: Creative Process, Creativity, Productivity, Podcasting, Podcasting Tips

3 Reasons Why I no Longer Accept Most Podcast Guest Requests

The Nice Guy Persona is Overrated

I used to say yes to over 90% of requests to be on my podcast.

I did this for two main reasons.

I wanted to be a nice person and give everyone a chance. For the first two years I rarely ever received messages from people wanting to be a guest on my podcast.

It was a difficult decision for me to stop saying yes to podcast requests. It challenged my core identity of being a nice guy.

But I knew that if I wanted the podcast to grow I would have to make this decision and sit in the discomfort with knowing I wasn’t always a nice guy.

If you’re at a similar crossroads in life then here are three insights that can help you.