fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
An Afternoon With Paul Kagame
Tags: Africa, Interview, Pensive, World

A t the opening of his lecture on big ideas for a small world at the 45th St. Gallen Symposium, the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame announced, “There are small countries but there are no small peoples.” Though many of his opinions remain controversial, the turnaround of Rwanda following a bloody history remains a vital lesson on how broken states can turn into successful nations. Even the Economist hailed current president as “one of the most successful leaders in modern African history.”

I was struck by Kagame’s personal background: a former refugee with a will strong enough to transform Rwanda’s trials into a success, which the Economist describes as hard to imagine “without his disciplined and strategic presence.” Freedom for Kagame was about choices, happiness and realizing satisfaction for what one wants in life. “Greatness is a choice available to any person,” he encouraged Symposium participants. “Acting and thinking big are choices that are available to all of us. Nobody owes you anything,” he insisted and reminded everyone that progress can never be taken for granted. In words that could be construed as motivational not just for countries but also individuals, Kagame advised that the individual always needs to strive to become better.

Kagame’s advice may easily be discouraged and dubbed as “motivational bluff”, but Kagame is a symbol that has delivered for his country. Over the last 15 years, Rwanda’s score in the Human Rights Index has nearly doubled, and the GDP per capita has doubled from $200 to $400. Twenty-one years ago, following the Rwandan Genocide, a bright future seemed unlikely, with more than 2 million people fleeing to neighboring countries and the population decreasing even more. Public services no longer existed and the treasury was looted. Rwanda was deemed a lost cause and an unlikely candidate to survive as a nation. In order to restore a nation, it needed to be re-created from the scratch. “We had to try something radically new,” Kagame explained. People should know what happened in the past, but they also needed a shared narrative about the future.

As we all can see from Kagame’s government today, smallness does not have to be a disadvantage. Rwanda is structured as a collection of startups, making it easier to involve everyone. His plan applies not only to countries, but also to individuals and companies. Just because you are small presently does not mean you won’t be big in the future. “If Rwanda can transcend its problems, anyone can,” he concluded his speech. Evidently, circumstance’s don’t define your future, but your response to those circumstances does.

If you enjoyed this piece, you can subscribe to Patrick Daniel’s newsletter or follow him on Twitter. Edited by Theodora Karamanlis.
I Became the Reader I Want to Have
Tags: Wisdom, Reading, The Golden Rule, Writing, Experience

I Became the Reader I Want to Have

Applying the Golden Rule on Medium

There’s a funny saying among some Lithuanians. When someone drives roughly while you’re in the car you have all the right to criticize the driver saying, hey, I’m not a sack of potatoes!

Among all the driving rules and advice, there’s not much talk about what it means to be a good passenger. Is it actually common sense? Why then drivers have preferences?

What kind of readers do I want to have as a writer?

I have clear preferences but they don’t actually agree with what kind of reader I want to be. I desire something from everyone else but I’m not willing to be an example.

Medium is a unique place where one minute you can be a passenger and another minute you can let someone else drive. You can easily switch from reader to writer.

I got an idea to become the reader I want to have. I wanted to see what is going to happen. How my relationship with the authors I follow are going to change? Is it even possible to be that perfect reader I want to have?

Medium became a perfect place to apply the golden rule. I chose to treat others the way I want to be treated. If I want people to read my articles, I should read theirs. If I want a kind and encouraging comment, I ought to leave it for someone else. The bottom line is that I need to become the reader I want to have.

On top of that, if I want everyone to be genuine with me, I’m obliged to be genuine to others. It’s not nice to find out that someone did a good deed as a way to get something from you. It’s manipulative.

I chose to have no strings attached. I can’t control other people or their reactions. But I do want is to see how it affects me.
A naive take on blockchain mining
By: Madhavan Malolan
Tags: Blockchain, Ether, Bitcoin, Ethereum

At the cost of sounding outright foolish, with all due respect to the people doing amazing work in taking blockchains as a technology forward, i write here some mundane observations — driven purely out of intuition and no research what so ever.

Every blockchain has one (usually) fundamental usecase. Mining rewards are distributed to nodes that keep the system running. Inherently, i feel, the mining should happen in a way that exploits the fact that the node performing the mining is successful only if it is contributing its resources on the network which bolsters the fundamental usecase. A successful mining means that the transactions have been verified by a node that is heavily invested in the network and hence its fundamental usecase.

By the same definition, capitalist countries are run by capitalists. States united by religion are lead by a religious leader.

There are a very few blockchains that i have stumbled upon that seem to fit this mental model of mine.

Bitcoin miners are miners who expend maximum compute power. Adding compute power doesn’t directly add value to transactions clearing. I assume Bitcoin’s fundamental usecase to be that of currency.

Ethereum’s vision of proof-of-stake proof-of-work hybrid seems to fit the model, because Ethereum is a Turing Complete machine and adding computation justifies the fact that more computation power that exists more complex smart contracts will be cleared; proof of stake continues to make sense because ETH also aspires to replace fiat currencies, and the nodes which are willing to stake a high number of coins deserved their say in dealing with money matters.

The only two other projects i have come across that also (probably coincidentally) fit this paradigm are Orchid and Filecoin. Orchid uses proof-of-bandwidth to provide a Tor like service over the blockchain. Filecoin uses proof-of-storage to provide a decentralized storage solution.

I know the devil is in the details. I would like to know if there is something fundamental that i have missed.
A Better Way to Remember Verb Forms
Tags: Language

When it comes to learning a new language, one of the trickiest parts is getting accustomed to the new verb forms you come across.

There’s past, present, future, continuous past, perfect present, and a whole lot more to remember depending on the language you’re studying.

That’s why LingQ has introduced a new feature that helps you remember verb forms easily.

Automatic grammar tagging.

What’s so great about this?

Now, every time you come across a new verb in your lesson, LingQ will automatically generate tags to let you know exactly which verb form it is. It also tells you the root form of the verb and the person of the verb. *Please note, not every language will have this feature yet*

Now every time you look at that word you can remind yourself of these verb elements instantly. Not only does this feature save time, it also keeps your vocabulary review organized.

Click on the”Vocabulary” tab then click “Filter” and you’ll be able to view your list of grammar tags (please be aware that they will appear in the language that you’re studying). For example, If you only want to view verbs in the past tense, then select the appropriate tag and LingQ will pull up exactly what you’re looking for.

Don’t forget, you can also access your tags on the LingQ mobile app.

Steve Kaufmann has said, very often things that we study now won’t stick for us until six months.

Which is why reviewing is so important.

Thanks to LingQ’s automatic grammar tagging, you’ll be able to remember verb forms faster and review them better.

Good luck!

Join LingQ for free today!
What if The Beatles Did “Get Back” Instead of “Let It Be”?
By: Bryce Zabel
Tags: Music, Beatles, Paul Mccartney, Get Back, Peter Jackson

What if The Beatles Did “Get Back” Instead of “Let It Be”?

In 1969, The Beatles tried to make an album in front of cameras with mixed results. You’re finally going to see it.

Director Peter Jackson has shared a sneak peek at his highly anticipated documentary project, “Get Back.” The 56 hours of footage it draws on is beautiful, vibrant and crisp. The new film promises to be everything that the original film made from the same material, “Let It Be,” was not.

Where Jackson’s film will end, “Once There Was a Way: What if The Beatles Stayed Together?” begins. The novel just won the coveted Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and lets John, Paul, George and Ringo find an authentic way to work it out.

Meantime, here’s the “not-a-trailer” trailer for “Get Back.”
Unlocked Stories Part I—
Tags: Poetry, This Happened To Me, Unlocked, Writing Archive

I see you

I look into your eyes and feel you looking at me Do you see me? Can you see inside?
The Date That Almost Never Happened
By: Rebeca Ansar
Tags: Life Lessons, Dating, Relationships, Love, Short Story

She was so tired of the endless disappointing dates. Boys who would try to woo her with tired lines. Boys who would creep her out and call it flirting.

Why make time for any of this? Why drag her body off the couch on a Saturday evening, as she tried to recover from a week of back-to-back work and school?

None of it was anywhere near a fairy tale, and not even one of the dates showed any valiant traits. One wrong move and you got yourself ghosted. They, however, could make a litany of mistakes in what they said or did. When you’re dating in the patriarchy, it is a man’s market.

Don’t you dare ask them what they’re looking for. It’s too much to inquire if someone has a plan for their life. Don’t stress them out. Be mysterious, but just enough to keep their interest in a prime state.

It was all too much. For what? The slim chance that she’d meet a good match?

She didn’t think she had any hope left in her. As she unlocked her phone to text a cancellation to her upcoming date, she saw he had sent a new message.

“Don’t know if I’m supposed to express anything more than lukewarm enthusiasm, but I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

She smiled. Fine. The inner pessimist handed the reins over to the well-intentioned optimist. But send something a little snarky, okay?

“I would be excited to meet me for the first time too. Just kidding. See you soon.”
FREE NOW: The BMW-Daimler ride-hailing venture Uber might be acquiring
By: Helen Wallace
Tags: Mobility, Corporate Innovation, Corporate Venturing, Startup, Uber

One would assume that global automotive conglomerates would have a vested interest in having people buy their own personal vehicles rather than encouraging them to forego them in favour of ride-hailing apps. But, clearly, BMW AG and Daimler AG are seeing the impact of technology on the present and future of transportation, which is why they joined forces on a venture to, as they say, ‘reinvent mobility as we know it.’

The result? The FREE NOW group, which consists of ride-hailing apps FREE NOW (available in nine European countries), beat (Greece, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico), Kapten (France, UK, Portugal and Switzerland) and Clever (Romania). They boast over 21 million users across their countries of operation, having shown enough market success to have piqued the interest of Uber Technologies Inc. who, just this year, indicated that they were interested in potentially acquiring this joint venture, which would greatly boost its market share Latin America and Europe. This came about after, despite high hopes and a promising reception, FREE NOW was unsuccessful in attracting additional investors or gaining significant traction due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Daimler, this joint venture aimed to focus on mobility services with BMW that respond to the mobility needs of the present and the future, with a major emphasis on digitalisation. They collectively invested roughly €1 billion into this project, which resulted in the birth of the NOW Group under which FREE NOW and their other mobility initiatives, such as PARK NOW and SHARE NOW, live. They said that ‘over time, customers will be able to use and experience additional mobility options from all-electric autonomous fleets that are available on-demand, charge and park themselves, and connect with other modes of transport beyond road and rail.’

And, just because they have shown interest in selling doesn’t mean that this joint venture wasn’t a successful or profitable one. Through strategic integration with smaller ride-hailing companies, they managed to expand to cover over 100 European countries, making them legitimate competition that even a giant like Uber can’t ignore. In June, Daimler valued its share in the operations as being in the region of €610 million which indicates that, despite the initial coronavirus-related hurdles, FREE NOW was still managing to disrupt the market with their new mobility-service offerings.

While their plans might be future-focused, without the capital, reputation and market stronghold that Uber has managed to earn since it revolutionised the ride-hailing industry 11 years ago, there is a good chance that they could soon become yet another startup acquired by Uber Technologies Inc., making this market-dominating beast even bigger and even more powerful, especially when it comes to sniffing (and buying) out any businesses that threaten their position.
Social Impact Heroes: How Richard K. Davis, CEO of Make-A-Wish is helping to change the lives of more than 130,000 critically ill children
By: Yitzi Weiner
Tags: Children, Social Impact Feature, Leadership, Purpose, Nonprofit

Thank you so much for doing this with us Richard! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I moved on from leading U.S. Bancorp in 2017, I didn’t know what I would do next. What I did know was that the right opportunity would come along, and when it did, I’d be ready.

A search firm contacted me with that “opportunity” when I was playing putt-putt with my grandkids. My heart jumped when I learned that opportunity was Make-A-Wish.

Make-A-Wish is in the business of hope — and the impact our mission makes in the lives of not only wish kids and their families, but also donors, volunteers, medical professionals and entire communities is remarkable.

I’ve always wanted to be part of something that changes others’ lives for the better, and I’m very grateful that that “something” led me to Make-A-Wish where we transform lives, one wish at a time.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

While meeting colleagues at Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles, I asked about the simplest wish they’ve granted and without skipping a beat, the team told me about a 7-year-old boy’s wish to have a bunny.

Upon first learning his wish, the team attempted to push his imagination a bit further, knowing that Make-A-Wish can truly make the impossible possible. After further questioning, the boy decided to make his wish a bit more complex — he wanted a bunny, one that was a boy.

Later in the wish process they learned why. The boy’s critical illness had led him to be wheelchair bound for most of his life, and he’d frequently watch bunnies run around outside his bedroom window. In his mind, bunnies were cool because they could run, so he wanted a bunny.

The child’s wish, which included the best bunny they could find, the highest quality cage and an endowment of food for the bunny’s lifetime, cost $476.56. His wish was so pure, so simple.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

It’s funny how much weight every word carries. When I first started, I kept saying Make-A-Wish makes wishes. But we don’t, the children we serve do.

Instead, we grant wishes, made by the imagination of children with critical illnesses, funded by individual and corporate donors and executed by employees and volunteers.
Hard Man
By: Paul Austin Murphy
Tags: Hard Men, Obsessions, Working Out, Unemployment, Poem

Alone.

Another day.

Another work-out.

He’s forging the hard-man’s form

By breeding muscles with sweat.

Inuring his body and mind

Ready for the next blow.

Each dumbbell lift and sweated press

Bring him joy through strength.

The muscles are his means.

The gym mirror says, You have not failed.

And peach-smooth pectorals, in oil,

Glint purchased body-tan brown

Like appreciating eyes.

Before his body had been pumped

Into the shape of self-respect,

His other skills were deemed expendable.

Fifteen years of loyal slog

Rewarded with the gift

Of a thousand days’ idleness.

Just too many days

For his body to sag,

His mind to wilt.

Now the flesh-machine has new-found skills

Which no vandal can wreck or ruin.

Like clay to pot,

His body hardens to the task.

Brittle-stiff,

It aches to crack.
iPhone X, the supercar of the Smart Phone world — Price, performance, exclusivity and the future
By: Joseph Emmi
Tags: Apple, Business, Technology, iPhone, Mobile

Supercars are expensive, they are fast and inaccessible to the majority, all this while providing advanced technologies that have not been adopted yet by the mainstream. The iPhone X seems to work under the same premise.

Price

The first thing that separates the iPhone X from the rest, including its own predecessors is price. With a £999 ($999) starting point, Cupertino’s new ultra-premium phone definitely take things to the next level.

but the only reasonable strategy to elevate and/or preserve the status of the product.

“Who is going to spend so much money on a phone?”

“Does people is actually going to buy it?”

Yes, people is going to buy it. Every year, since the first iPhone, these are the type of comments that come after the launch, yet, with each iteration the results remain the same.

Apple is clearly not scared about the price.

Performance

Apple have been working hard over the years to develop its own chips, a strategy than have been paying off, and that now populates their entire ecosystem inside and beyond the iPhone. From processors, to GPUs, and even connectivity (among many others), immediately translating into outstanding performance and energy efficiency that is constantly benchmarked above the competition; and in the case of their latest A11 Bionic, even excelling their own line of Pro laptops.

Exclusivity

With high prices comes exclusivity and status, especially for the iPhone line, and historically premium family of products, even at the entry level.

This year they created a higher end “ultra-premium” category in order to separate the iPhone X from the rest, including their top of the line, the iPhone 8, an already premium device. Supercar manufacturers of the likes of Ferrari, which only offer luxury products on a regular basis, they then create even greater models with cutting edge technology, offered at a higher price tag than usual.

What Apple is doing here, seems to follow a very similar strategy, offering what they call (and market) as their most advanced phone to date. As iPhone annual updates have become less impressive (merely incremental), the only way to keep the product’s status is to elevate it even more, providing a sense of exclusivity, through high pricing, justified with new “wow” features, like “FaceID”.

Those that can afford it will just get it, and many that can’t, will get it as well, and you will know how much they paid.
Being Creative in the Classroom
By: Brian Whalen
Tags: Creative Process, Entrepreneurship, Learning, creativity, Education

Much like my blog writing, I have always struggled with “starting” class. Objectives? Learning Targets? Tasks? Agendas? I started to incorporate Creative Challenges in the classroom. These activities(all of them can be done in less than 5 minutes) will challenge your student’s thinking and get their brains active right from the get go!

Here are three activities that I have used. My hope is that you can incorporate these in your class.

1. Incomplete Figures

Developed in the ’60s by psychologist Ellis Paul Torrance, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) sought to identify a creativity-oriented alternative to IQ testing.

You’re given a shape like the below, and then asked to complete the image(examples below)

2. Remote Association

The Remote Associates Test takes three unrelated words, such as “Call — Pay — Line,” and asks you to come up with a fourth word that connects all three words. You won’t have much luck solving this type of problem by methodically going through all the compound words and synonyms for ‘call’ ‘pay’ and ‘line’ and comparing them to each other. As with riddles, the solutions typically arise as a flash of insight. Click here for a sample test.

3. Alternative Uses

Developed in the 1960s, the Alternative Uses Test stretches your creativity by giving you a set amount of time(I usually give 3 minutes) to think of as many uses as possible for an everyday object.

Try it yourself:

How many uses can you think of for a spoon? You have two minutes… Go!
My Soul Is a Writer.
By: Rebecca Kojetin
Tags: Writing Tips, Writers Life, Writing, A Writers Life, Writers On Writing

My Soul Is a Writer.

Is Yours?

Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash

Not able to afford the cost, time, or frustration that surrounds enrolling in a college or university to obtain an MFA in creative writing, I chose a different path: I decided to create my own DIY/MFA.

“Why?” you ask.

I give you three succinct reasons:

I have had some horrible experiences with college professors and the courses they teach. I taught high school for 34 years in the areas of English/language arts and composition, creative writing, public speaking, acting, directing, and technical theater. While investigating different MFA programs (specifically low residency), I realized the value of my time: many required completing courses I wouldn’t need, had no interest in, or had spent time researching and simplifying for my high school students.

You can read more about these in this article.

SO, HOW’S IT GOING?

I jumped onboard the DIY/MFA bandwagon almost a year ago, but with the events of 2019 and the lessons it taught me

and 2020 bringing COVID-19 to an area near you, I fell onto the procrastination-depression-why-bother bandwagon.

Walking down Lower Broadway in Nashville to suck up the creative energy couldn’t happen. Playing my fiddle on the square for First Fridays in my town south of Nashville was not happening. Going anywhere to fuel my creative fire couldn’t happen and my artist dates became non-existent.

Plowing Ahead at a Snail’s Pace (But hey, one step forward is still one step forward.)

I read some; I wrote a few words.

No, wait!

I wrote a lot of words, but they were in the form of “Morning Pages” and not articles or stories for anyone else to read.

But, I was writing.

I stumbled across “Morning Pages” while reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron a few years ago and had tried to utilize “Morning Pages” without success. I’d get up and life would have me running errands, taking hubby to appointments, feeling like this was the time to work on my decluttering. I tried them in the morning; I tried them in the afternoon; and I tried them before in the evening. There was NO consistency to my “Morning Pages” nor my writing of anything.

I tried again a few months ago. “What the Hell? It couldn’t hurt. I’m not really working on any project right now anyway.”

Some mornings I barely produce one page of ideas because my brain is racing out of control, but other mornings, I end up with four or more pages.

Now, I am writing, at least the “Morning Pages.”
Workflow ของการใช้ git ภายในทีม
By: Suranart Niamcome
Tags: Coding, Highlight, Git, Workflow

in Both Sides of the Table
“BFoundAPen”
Tags: Relationships, LGBTQ, Love, Poetry, Writer

“BFoundAPen”

Who is he?

Photo by Quaid Lagan on Unsplash

I’m on overtime

You can’t catch up to me

My pen never stops moving

You ain’t never hopped out of bed

An hour after they snatched out an organ

Ain’t never sat through dialysis

Checked in three times a week

This life ain’t for the weak

Ain’t no regular

I’m the chief

Her king

You can’t call her Queen

All you want

Go ahead and bow

If you want

But don’t front

Don’t get it twisted

Who is he?

BFoundAPen

B — The King with the pen

B — Dropped another poem

B — Showed out again

B — Forever focused, forever growing

B — The one she noticed

B — The one you love the flow of

Young, black, and gifted

Stacking skill on top of talent

Success addicted

I’m on overtime

You ask too many questions

Brandy — Borderline

You want to be down

But this time

Love counted you out

Got you beggin and pleadin

But you didn’t shoot your shot in time

And almost doesn’t count
Çocuğunuzu Doğaya Yaklaştıracak Harika Fikirler
Tags: Hediye, Türkçe, Doğa, Ağaç, Sağlıklı Beslenme

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Changemakers Association’s M.A.N.I.F.E.S.T.O
By: Changemakers Association
Tags: Changemaker, Social Innovation, Social Change, Social Enterprise, Social Entrepreneurship

Join the association today !

More info & sign up >> https://changemakersassociation.com/join/

Brought to you by :

Danielle Carruthers

Danielle is the co-founder of Changemakers Association, and founder of theSedge.org, an online community that provides learning opportunities to social entrepreneurs around the world.

In everything she does, Danielle is passionate about inspiring entrepreneurial problem-solving and working collaboratively to design innovative, financially-sustainable and impactful initiatives.

Her background includes three years managing commercial loans with an international bank, participating in the world-class business incubator, Start Up Chile, and leading many community-driven projects over the past 8 years including sitting on the Calgary+Acumen committee.

Solène Pignet

Solène is is the co-founder of Changemakers Association, as well as the founder of Creators for Good — an online consulting agency helping value-driven individuals transition from successful-yet-unfulfilling careers into Citizen Entrepreneurship.

She is a globe-trotteur, passionate about Sustainable Development. She believes that the best way to live in a better world is to create it!

She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication, and a Masters degree in Corporate Social Responsibility. After working in the field of macro-economic research in 5 different countries (Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Russia and Turkey), she quit her job to start her own value-driven enterprise. Since 2014, she has provided strategic consulting to Citizen Entrepreneurs in 10+ countries.

We hope to see you inside !
The Canoe Ride of Life
By: Leon Purton
Tags: Life Lessons, Connection, Self, Growth, Life

Living life

I’ll ask you a question, when do you feel the most alive? Or perhaps a more pertinent question might be, when do you feel the most connected with yourself or those around you?

Living life is the feeling you get when you’re chasing your partner around the living room. It is the feeling you get when you sign up to do your first fun run. It is the feeling you get when your favourite song comes on and you have to start dancing.

Or, it is the feeling of finishing your latest book while in the bath. It is the decision to spend some extra moments with your friend who is having a tough time. It is taking the time to build a cubby with your kids. It is recognising the need to give yourself a sleep-in on Sunday.

Each of these moments is special. They are special not because of the individual moment of itself. They are special because you are making a deliberate choice.

You are choosing to not let life happen.

You are choosing the speed of your life. You are saying at this point in time, I choose to do this.

So much of our life is controlled by someone else. You need to be somewhere at a certain time. You need to tick these things off your never-ending to-do list. You work so hard to satisfy the needs of those around you. Those frantic moments are the rapids of your life.

At some points, it feels like you wake in the morning, stuff happens, and then you’re in your pyjamas again. It drains you.

Nothing significant happened, nothing memorable occurred — Life happened and you were its passenger.

Life was in control.
Lack
Tags: Poetry, Love, Pain, Life

A gathering place for stories to be told, read and appreciated.

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There Are No Stupid Questions In Startup
By: Joe Procopio
Tags: Careers, Entrepreneurship, Startup, Business, Education

There Are No Stupid Questions In Startup

An entrepreneur is always learning. Teaching Startup is built on that premise.

It’s frustrating to me that a lot of potential entrepreneurs never get started because they think there’s too much science or too many secrets involved in starting a business.

As a 20-year entrepreneur and 10+ year advisor, I see this happen all the time. For every founder that is all head-over-heels about a crazy idea that may never work, there’s another potential founder who actually has a viable, executable, potentially game-changing idea that they don’t act on, because they think they’re not equipped to bring it to reality.

Maybe they’re not, but it kills me that they don’t even try. And nine times out of ten, it’s because they’re afraid of asking stupid questions.

Society conditions us to keep our mouth shut until we know what we’re talking about. And I can see where this makes sense. We live in an age marked by an unlimited number of platforms where anyone can spout off passionately about things they know next to nothing about.

But innovation doesn’t work like that. In fact, it thrives on the opposite. One of the quickest paths to entrepreneurship is when a person looks at something that’s been done the same way forever and starts asking why.

The person doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist.

They don’t have to have connections.

They don’t even need a background in the thing they’re questioning.

Teaching Startup is built on the premise that there are no stupid questions about becoming, being, or succeeding as an entrepreneur.

Over the last six months, we’ve answered questions as simple (and complex) as “How do I create a sales pitch deck?”

But remember too, entrepreneurship doesn’t have a linear learning path. In fact, yesterday’s issue featured a simple question about creating your first investor contact list — and I learned something from that answer. I already have investor contacts. Hell, some of them are probably reading this post right now. But I still took away something I can use.

You never stop learning to be a better entrepreneur. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that because knowing that is what helped make them successful.

So yeah, if you’ve got stupid questions, you’re probably no different than any entrepreneur, from the newest founder to the one who’s exited a few times already.

Try Teaching Startup for free for 30 days and tell me if I’m right or wrong. It’s a premium advice newsletter and app with answers on demand for entrepreneurs at all stages. It’s affordable, at just $10 a month, and if you use invite code ASK you can get half off your first month after your free trial.
How to Find Unique Dates in an Array in JavaScript
By: Dr. Derek Austin
Tags: JavaScript, Programming, Software Engineering, Web Development, ES6

1 — Does each Date have a unique “object reference” in memory?

Every JavaScript object has a unique “object reference” — the exact location it lives in the computer’s memory.

That means that objects that have identical contents are technically different objects, according to JavaScript’s definition.

If you have an array of Date objects that you call Set on, then you’ll end up with just as many Date objects as you had before.

That’s because every object has a unique object reference, making every Date object unique: new Date() !== new Date() // true .

The only time Set will remove a duplicate Date from an array is if the same variable was added multiple times to the array.

Let’s take a look at what exactly that means by finding unique dates by object reference in JavaScript:

View raw code as a GitHub Gist

You call Set with either Array.from() or the ... spread operator to create the array of unique Date object references. Which you use doesn’t matter, but you need to keep track of your object references.

In this example, we ended up with 2 unique object references, even though both Date objects were pointing to the same exact time.

Since Set maintains the “insertion order” of the original array, we end up with the first Date object being date1 , then date2 .
When We Made Love
By: Gurpreet Dhariwal
Tags: Love, Love Poem Unique, Makin Love Until We Drown, Poetry, Spiritual Secrets

When We Made Love

Micro-poetry

You woke up

In the middle

Of the night

You saw me

Looking at you

You slept again

Closing your eyes

I was still

Making love to you

In my thoughts

More in my soul
A Sermon from The Mercy to All the Worlds (s)
By: The Blessed Hub
Tags: Muslim, Religion, Islam

(حديث مرفوع) عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ : سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ : ” يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ شَمِّرُوا فَإِنَّ الأَمْرَ جَدٌّ ، وَتَأَهَّبُوا فَإِنَّ الرَّحِيلَ قَرِيبٌ ، وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ السَّفَرَ بَعِيدٌ ، وَخَفِّفُوا أَثْقَالَكُمْ فَإِنَّ وَرَاءَكُمْ عَقَبَةً كَئُودًا لا يَقْطَعُهَا إِلا الْمُخَفِّفُونَ ، إِنَّ بَيْنَ يَدَيِ السَّاعَةِ أُمُورًا شُدُدًا ، وَأَهْوَالا عِظَامًا ، وَزَمَانًا صَعْبًا يَتَمَلَّكُ فِيهِ الظَّلَمَةُ ، وَيَتَصَدَّرُ فِيهِ الْفَسَقَةُ ، فَيُضْطَهَدُ فِيهِ الآمِرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيُضَامُ النَّاهُونَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ ، فَأَعِدُّوا لَذَلِكَ الإِيمَانَ بِاللَّهِ ، وَالْجَئُوا إِلَى صَالِحِ الْعَمَلِ وَأَكْرِهُوا عَلَيْهِ النُّفُوسَ ، وَاصْبِرُوا عَلَى الضَّرَّاءِ تُفْضُوا إِلَى النَّعِيمِ الدَّائِمِ ”

O community of Muslims, roll up your sleeves, for the matter is momentous. Prepare for an imminent journey. Garner provision now as the journey is long. Lighten your loads, for before you is an ascent most steep! Only those traveling lightly shall bear its climb.

O humanity, before the Hour comes, you will see wonders, vast tribulations, and difficult times. Darkness will prevail, and foulness will take the forefront. Those who enjoin right will be oppressed, and those who condemn vice will be suppressed.

Hence, strengthen your faith for that time, and cling to faith as you would clench on for dear life. Flee to righteous deeds, and force yourselves to perform them. Be patient during the difficult times, and you will eventually arrive to eternal bliss.
Moving mountains: welcome to the first GoCrypto mountain
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Bitcoincash, Cryptocurrency

The GoCrypto solution for accepting instant payments from different crypto wallets is now present at more than 550 locations. We are very proud that they are not only in busy city centres. Far from it! GoCrypto can be found at agritourism farms, sports facilities and beautiful nature spots. Our latest fresh air addition is the most popular hiking spot in Ljubljana — the Šmarna gora hill.

The Ledinek Inn on top of Šmarna gora receives an enormous amount of visitors and is known for a range of Slovenian specialties. So if you are in the Slovenian capital, it is time to get some exercise and enjoy this fabulous view with some crypto refreshments.

Due to GoCrypto, Slovenia is the country with the highest number of physical locations accepting cryptocurrencies. You can also find our spots in Croatia, and we are now expanding to Switzerland, the UK, Turkey, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Would you like to accept crypto payments at your shop or service? Simply visit GoCrypto.com or contact us at partners@gocrypto.com!

Join our vision and our community!

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THE VISION BLOG: X8 is the ultimate store of value for world economy
Tags: Crowdsale, Bitcoin, Money, X8, Cryptocurrency

THE VISION BLOG: X8 is the ultimate store of value for world economy X8currency Follow Aug 21, 2017 · 2 min read

All markets and all wealth have always been subject to the ultimate rule: the value of any currency tends to fall with time. Many mechanisms were developed that aimed to solve that problem, but at the cost of losing liquidity. This problem is already severe for wealthy individuals in the traditional economy, but in the extremely volatile world of cryptocurrency it has only grown worse.

As the recent years have shown value of the cryptocurrencies can evaporate within hours generating huge loses for the crypto investors. This is why a great investor always keeps a part of his assets in stable investments. But even in cases when an investor knows that the cryptocurrency has reached its peak and it will start loosing its value soon there is no easy way to securely escape the bubble. The values of cryptocurrencies are still entangled and when one drops others follow. You can fight the upcoming burst of the bubble by transferring assets into fiat currencies but the process is expensive and in most cases legally complex if the sums are high.

The volatility is an even bigger problem for the new generation of blockchain startups that are trying to raise money through crowdsales. We have all read stories about startups losing 10–15 percent of their collected funds on the very next day after a successful campaign, all due to the high volatility of the collected cryptocurrency. Transferring part of the raised capital to more stable assets is something every smart entrepreneur will do. And the market capitalization of the crowdsales will reach a billion dollars in 2017.

X8 developed a solution by combining major fiat currencies and gold in a portfolio managed by an advanced trading AI that focuses not on profits but on preservation of purchasing power. The platform has been operational since 2015 and in this time had processed more than a billion dollars worth of transactions for our clients from financial sector. And the X8 AI delivered what we promised. Even when global events like Brexit happened portfolios of our most prorisk clients did not lose more than 5 percent of their capital during a three months period!

Now we are bringing the solution to crypto world. We call it the X8 Currency — the ultimate stable currency. But the solution is not answering just the needs of the crypto world but the whole world economy. Where assets are in tens and tens of trillions of dollars and are always looking for safe haven. Now they have it. The ultimate store of value for world economy.

For more information about the revolution in the cryptoworld check X8 website, Medium page or join the public Slack channel.
SoDA GMM 2019: 3 Learnings and One Disappointment
By: David Chang
Tags: Digital Strategy, Marketing, Nashville, Digital Agency, Digital Marketing

My trip to Nashville was heartbreaking. Sure, after a few days at the SoDA Global Member Meeting, I picked up some valuable insights about the state of digital agencies, heard keynote addresses from top-notch speakers, and participated in engaging sessions with my bright, innovative peers, but I was too busy at the conference to complete my most important mission and goal: Eating hot fried chicken.

It was my 3rd GMM that I’ve attended, and the first I’d been to in the past three years. At such a pivotal point for agencies within the changing digital landscape, I was drawn back to hear what others were doing to adapt and grow. But mainly I wanted hot fried chicken.

At such a pivotal point for agencies within the changing digital landscape, I was drawn back to hear what others were doing to adapt and grow. But mainly I wanted hot fried chicken.

Over the four days of conversations and presentations (plus a brewery tour, some country music, and a little bit of barbecue), I picked up some key takeaways:

1- It’s the end of the beginning

This year’s theme was “The End of the Beginning” which originates from a Winston Churchill quote in 1942, but more recently from a presentation by Benedict Evans of venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. At SoDA, this means that the age of digital has reached maturity, and is no longer new and undiscovered. The need for a digital marketing presence is firmly established, with most of the world connected and on mobile phones. Furthermore, the next generation of technologies and innovations are waiting to be discovered, and new opportunities abound in the creative use of these tools. As leaders in the digital space, it is important to see the macro view and take a hard look at where we belong and what part we will play in shaping the next wave.

2- Differentiate

As the AOR model shifts, agencies are trying to figure out what differentiates them past their “digital” label. No longer are “digital websites” or “social content creation” unique or elusive capabilities. David Baker put it best in his keynote when he told the crowd to stop adjusting their value propositions to cater to potential clients; instead, he said, find your differentiator, refine your unique skillset, and bring that perspective to every client you have. Examples of this I saw included a “voice”-focused group, influencer marketing specialists, or (ahem) dynamic scalable video.

3- Find your ideal client

As agencies find niche capabilities and strong areas of expertise, they are increasingly able to find compatible clients. Without a clear positioning, agencies find themselves treading water within their current client portfolio, constantly shifting their focuses to serve clients who are difficult to work with, are disorganized, or might not stick around for a while. All business is good business, but collaborative, productive partnerships are great business.
Impressionism
By: Thom Garrett
Tags: Poetry, Love Poem, Poem

Misty distance swirls your colors while

Hopes, lusty and tender, cast beguiling shadows

En plein air, the slanted sunlight

Paints your skin in rosey warmth

Glimpsed through folds of silk

Revealed, then hidden

Untouched
Self-Help Won’t Save You
By: Jonas Ellison
Tags: Culture, Spirituality, Faith, Self Improvement, Life

If you’re on the same countercultural path that I am of attempting to live in the light of the grace-based gospel, you understand (even if you can’t always believe) that we are all forgiven and loved by God no matter what we do or don’t do. For it is not because of our works that God loves us, but because we are a part of creation. Your soul and my soul were hand-crafted before life was breathed into our lungs and our hearts were given movement.

Yes, it is done. Jesus came to show us that God is with us, even in our most broken, busted-up moments.

Soooooo where does that leave us? What is there to do now? I mean, I guess… We’re good to go? Might as well kick our feet up, order a bucket of KFC (crispy, of course) and marathon Netflix for the rest of our days.

It’s interesting — in some of the Christian circles that I loiter around, there’s this central ethos of judgment towards anyone who partakes in self-help of any sort. People who do yoga, eat vegan, make vision boards, or go to barre classes are scoffed at. These secular-religious rites are mocked as ‘self-justification’ — I’ve even described them as our ‘personal salvation projects’.

Snooty grace-based Christians like me proclaim that our worth is not established in any of these works-based programs of self-betterment but in the fiber of our being from God. Our worth is secure in Christ. Full stop. (So bring on the KFC and ‘Flix!!)

I have to say, I’m still with this grace-based camp that I described above. However…

Yes, God loves every single one of us just as we are in all of our imperfection, sloppiness, pettiness, and greed. But that doesn’t mean we can’t dream of/strive for a better life. It doesn’t mean we can’t do things to live well. We just have to know that none of it will save us.

Because we’ve already been saved — not from the wrath of God, but from the wrath of our inner accuser.

That being said, what does life look like?

I say that the more rooted we are in this Gospel truth — this promise about God’s unending and unconditional love for us — the more the fruits of our lives show up as things that look a lot like self-betterment. We tend to sleep more. We tend to care for our bodies more. The interiors of our homes start to reflect the loved interiors of our souls. Our relationships start to reflect the love that Christ has for us.

But, with faith in Christ, this stuff takes on a less-heavy tone. Our hearts are softer as we go about them. Our faces aren’t so gray as we go about doing the things that we want to do. Because we will mess up. Royally. And when we do, because we have this grace as an existential safety net, we’ll fall far softer. We’ll tend to laugh more and be less judgey to those who might not be afforded the same outlets of self-help that we’re privy to.

Self-help in and of itself may bring short-term results. But in the long-run, it tends to lead to hard-heartedness. It helps to have an unshakable sense of worth behind it to pad you when you come up short. As we all do.
A Tale of Two Sisters: The Subtle Art of Showing, Not Telling
By: Dhruv Sharma
Tags: Cinema, Film, Horror, Self, Movie Review

The Second Viewing: The small pieces of its puzzle started falling together

A Tale of Two Sisters isn’t bereft of jumpscares or those typical “ending changes everything” moments. However, the movie does not let its horrifying menace go to waste.

Instead of instilling cheap thrills, it blurs the lines between its psychological and paranormal elements. Before you know it, you, too, become the protagonist, digging into her mind for answers.

As the film progresses, you start noticing things. You see parallels that you didn’t see the first time around. Your eyes open up to everything from the color codes in the characters’ clothes to the uneven sense of time in the movie.

Then comes a time when its foreshadowing, twists, untwists, red-herrings, coincidences, and ambiguous plot points all fall in the same line.

But it comes down to you to decide whether or not its bizarre apparitions have paranormal underpinnings. Or, they are mere projections of an unstable human mind.
The Simple Path to Worthy Code
By: Samer Buna
Tags: Programming, Agile, Technology, Software Development

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