fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Giving a Voice to the Voiceless
By: Anangsha Alammyan
Tags: Reading, Books, Feminism, Fiction, Life

Every once in a while, you come across a book that leaves you breathless, your heart shattered, and yet surging with hope. A book written straight from the heart that makes you feel that this is everything. That no other story will ever come close.

Arundhati Roy’s second work of fiction, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, was one such novel for me. From the time I read The God of Small Things, I have been an ardent admirer of Roy’s poetic prose, her unabashed honesty that shines through her brilliant characters, and her ability to rip a reader’s heart out of their chest, twist it raw, and leave it back where it belonged.

Ah, I am not exaggerating. That is how this book made me feel. That is just how much it touched me.

I took time in reading this book, but every second spent leafing through the pages was worth the investment.

This is a beautiful, beautiful story. Arundhati Roy is a master is what she does — crafting characters of such intricate details, that you cannot help but fall in love with their imperfections, their beliefs, the mistakes they commit and the way they see the world.
Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness — But It Can Get You Beer.
By: Amelia Dahm
Tags: Data Visualization, Pandas, Flatiron School, Python

Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness — But It Can Get You Beer.

Introduction to Data Analytics with Python

Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash

We have all heard the saying “Money cannot buy you happiness,” but what factors lead a person to a life of happiness? Like many questions in this world, the answers can be found by analyzing data.

But where can you begin?

Finding a dataset — For this project, I found a dataset on Kaggle titled Happiness and Alcohol Consumption. It gives units and descriptions for the columns. Kaggle has public datasets and resources to help get you started. Install and import your libraries — Here is the Pandas and MatPlotLib documentation to set up your notebook.

import pandas as pd

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

3. Read in, clean, and prepare the dataset — This line of code and taking the CSV file and converting it to a Pandas DataFrame.It is important to look for outliers, missing values, duplicates, etc.

df = pd.read_csv('HappinessAlcoholConsumption.csv')

If we take a look at the dataframe we get 122 rows and 9 columns. To look into datatypes and null values, you can run df.info().
ARK in Slovenia — 23rd Traditional Professional ICT Conference
By: Rok Černec
Tags: Development, Open Source, Blockchain, Developer, Conference

Every year more than 250 developers, CTOs and other technology enthusiasts attend the Modern Technologies and Services conference, in Maribor, Slovenia. This is one of the regions leading tech conferences for the last 23 consecutive years. As the new ARK core v2 was released just prior to the event, this was a perfect opportunity to present the ARK technology stack to the experts and gather their valuable feedback.

ARK was presented by our core-engineer Kristjan Košič with the help of community delegate Rok Halužan. We want to thank Rok for his participation.

The conference was a two day event, packed with interesting talks and workshops built around software architecture, information system designs in general and of course blockchain technology (see full program here and gallery here).

ARK also published a paper titled “Building an open-source blockchain ecosystem with ARK” which is already featured in the conference proceedings and will be available online with assigned DOI and ISSN numbers.

The rest of this post was written by Kristjan and his hands-on experience at the OTS.

Day-1: ARK Presentation — Opening Day

On day one, ARK was presented in the starting blockchain section. Topics covered were building an open source (OSS) ecosystem with ARK’s technology stack and what are the building blocks of a successful OSS project. We presented the history of digital cash and connected all the important innovations in this area with OSS technology and innovation it enables — substantiated by a living example of a working OSS ecosystem — the ARK Ecosystem.

As ARK is an open-source project, we built our slides as an OSS project.

The content is available here: https://gitpitch.com/kristjank/ark-presentation. We used the power of GitPitch.com with markdown to deliver the content.
This Is When “Doing The Work” Isn’t The Answer
By: Tara Mcmullin
Tags: Small Business, Startup, Mindset, Leadership, Freelance

This Is When “Doing The Work” Isn’t The Answer

The Subtle Shift You Need To Make To Create The Space To Grow

Photo by Mathias Jensen on Unsplash

My team and I are navigating some course corrections right now.

We’re examining where we’re at and where we want to be for 2019. The fun part is that we’ve gotten so much right and have so much clarity. The not-so-fun part is that doesn’t exempt us from doing some hard work over the next few months.

It’s at these times that it’s oh-so-tempting to put my head down and nobly “do the work.”

I am always ready to dive right in — especially if that means shutting everyone else out.

But that’s not what my team needs from me.

They need a leader.

The mindset shift from doer to leader is one that I cover in my new book, Subtle. ​

It’s not enough to go from “being the business” to “owning the business.” You have to transition from automatically responding to problems or needs with “doing” and start responding with “leading.”

It’s not just a question of delegation or getting help fulfilling the mission of the business.​ It’s a fundamental reworking of what’s required of you as the leader of your business.

My conversation with Kate Strathmann, the founder of Wanderwell, a bookkeeping and consulting firm based in Philadelphia, helped me see this shift in a new way.

She told me:

“I could happily sit in a room and think, write, and do the work and not talk to anyone for 3 days. And I wouldn’t really notice! But that’s not really helpful for a team. There were times I realized I was doing that and not available enough.”

This is absolutely my default mode as a “doer” in my business, too. Not only am I ready to get my hands dirty in service of a new idea or project, but I’m prone to blocking out the rest of my team so that I can. I justify it by telling myself I’m saving them from having to deal with learning something new or doing messy work.

But the truth is that I’m retreating to my comfort zone.

Whether you’re a team of 1, 10, or 100, your business needs you to lead — not simply to do the work.

That means leaving space to focus on not just what needs to get done but where your business is actually heading. It means taking the time to gather information and talk to people who matter (colleagues, team members, customers). It means coming up to breath on a regular basis.

If you’re making changes, if you’re up to a big project, or if you’re trying to find the space to grow your business — now may not be the time to do the work, it just might be the time to lead.
Encourage Festival
By: Lichfield Vocations
Tags: Music, Travel, Festival

When employers ask you to fill out a section on an application form about your hobbies and pastimes, they want to get an insight into what sort of person you are. What you like to do when it is your choice, what you are passionate about, what you think is fun. I never really like that question because I feel like there is an expectation that you have really defined hobbies — whether it’s sky diving or stamp collecting at least those things are identifiable and have a name. What I actually love to do is spend time with family and friends, eating and drinking, listening to music, having “heated debates” in the style of Mrs Merton. And however you try and dress that up I think it makes you sound like a teenager. Say in a Kevin and Perry type-voice: “I just want to listen to my music. And I hate you” then slam the door.

At the beginning of the year we were talking about holding a Vocations event; something that would reflect our belief that everyone is called. We wanted it to be a way for us to encourage people to think about what they are passionate about and to celebrate what God has called us to, individually, and together. And we wanted it to be fun because living the life you are called to live is joyous, exciting, challenging, stretching and fun. So we thought about the things we enjoy. We embraced our inner teenagers as we thought about music, discussion, friends, food, drink, poetry, film, and decided that we would combine all of those things in a mini music and arts festival. A day of performances, speakers, activities that would celebrate the things people are passionate about. That would be a chance for people to share their vocation, whether it is to play music, write poetry, create good food or whatever it might be. Seeing other people being passionate about their work and their life is a great spur to reflecting on what we are each passionate about.

So the idea of the Encourage Festival emerged, and we are so excited about it! There is loads of information on the website www.encouragefestival.co.uk and we’d love you to come along and bring your friends.

LH
Eight practical benefits of knowing your purpose and values
By: Finn Jackson
Tags: Conscious Leadership, Self Leadership, Leadership, Change Management, Antifragility

In a time of change, when every issue can seem vital and urgent, thinking about your purpose and values might seem like a distraction.

But by investing the time to find your purpose and values you will gain eight very practical benefits:

Better Results

The better you know your purpose and values, the better you will focus on creating the results that matter most to you and the more likely you will be to achieve them. Inner clarity leads to outer results. More Motivation

People who know their purpose and values are more able to keep going in the face of obstacles: and the better you know what really matters to you, the more energy you will have to pursue it, no matter what is happening around you in the world. Fewer Problems and Distractions

Winston Churchill said, “You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks.”

Knowing your purpose and values shows you which issues are worth addressing and which can be ignored. Clearer Opportunities

Knowing your purpose and values shows you which of the potential opportunities that come your way are worth pursuing and which to leave for someone else. Again, this helps to prioritise your limited time and resources. Clearer Outcomes

For the issues you do engage with, knowing your purpose and values will make it quicker and easier to define the outcomes you want to create: what ‘finished’ looks like. This gives you more time and resources to spend working to achieve those outcomes. A Greater Feeling of Control

In a world of constant change, knowing your purpose and values allows you to choose how you respond to any situation. This is true power: this is Inner Leadership. Immediate Results

Your vision of the future has two parts: the outcomes you want to create and the culture you want to live by when you get there.

If you choose to live in line with your purpose and values now you have immediately achieved half your vision. That will help you achieve the other half faster. More Freedom, Flexibility, and Adaptability

Seeing your goals as ways of achieving your deeper purpose helps you adapt to changing circumstances: when things don’t turn out as expected, you simply find new ways of achieving the same purpose. This brings you flexibility, continuity, and stability that enable you to recover faster from setbacks and be more flexible to changing events.

In a churning world, spending the time to define your purpose and values is a practical investment that will pay back many times over.

And combining the greater focus, motivation, efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability that results will bring you another step closer to becoming antifragile: able to use change to become stronger.

Which of these eight benefits would be most useful to you today? Are you willing to invest the time to get clearer on your purpose and values?
Anti-feminism in ‘Mrs. America’ seems way TOO familiar
By: Marina Zigneli
Tags: Mrs America, Television, Women, Feminism, Series

Credits: Hulu

The new series starring Cate Blanchett, ‘Mrs. America’ came out a couple of days ago and almost everyone felt uncomfortable. Not because it looks back on the very beginnings of the feminist movement, but mostly due to the fact that we have seen this story before.

We may accept the argument that feminism has made great progress since its first appearance. But we are not able to ignore that many of the issues discussed in Mrs. America, are still troubling us since the ’70s. It was in the ’70s when the first attempts for the establishment of equality between men and women were made. Yet, there was a woman who would always argue against this equality. Cate Blanchett was called to portray this woman, Phyllis Schlafly, on screen.
[GEEKY] Resfulie GEM for Rails and RESˇ
By: Pito Salas
Tags: Programming, Rest, Rails, Geeky, Technology

This is really nice: Restfulie — Rest from Scratch. It’s a package of code for creating REST clients and servers with built in content type negotiation and other goodies. Watch the fun tour-do-force video too:

“Rest from scratch” with Rails and Restfulie — part 1 from Caelum on Vimeo.
Visualizing Uncertainty for Decision-Making — Why and How?
Tags: Decision Making, Visualization, Data, Communication

Only by admitting the limits of our certainty can we make advances in better prediction. — Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise

The ultimate goal of data visualizations is to support decision-making, in one form or another. And the often-neglected peril of data visualizations is that once data is represented in a visual format, it “attains a kind of literal concrete quality that makes one think it is accurate” (Colin Ware, Information Visualization). The 2016 election is a perfect example of how deemphasizing the uncertainty (margin of error) can lead people to wrong conclusions and make wrong decisions.

Based on research, uncertainty visualization overall has a positive effect on decision accuracy. Although it has also been shown to cause delays in decision-making when extra information needs to be processed and the risk of focusing on worst-case scenarios. In some cases, training is needed in order for decision-makers to know how to interpret data with related uncertainty.

Visualization designers can support by providing graphic literacy and effective decision support tools to ensure decision-makers can use uncertainty information properly.

I will touch on some of the tips and tools below based on learnings from the catalog that inspired this post: Visualising Uncertainty: A Short Introduction by Jo L. Walton and Polina Levontin.
You Will Never Be Rich If You Keep Doing These 10 things
By: Ben Le Fort
Tags: Life Lessons, Personal Development, Money, Personal Finance, Wealth

Written by: Desiree Peralta

There are still a lot of people that do nothing because they feel that one day “their time will come” and believe that wealthiness is a matter of divine luck.

But having money or “financial freedom” is more a matter of habits and effort than “luck or easy way,” and there are many habits that do not allow you to achieve that goal.

From living beyond your means to having a single source of income, I bring you 10 signs that say you will never be rich.
[BLOG] GUHADA, a leading e-commerce platform
Tags: Nfc, Platform, Guhada, E Commerce Solution, Luxury Goods

Increased in number of platforms aimed at secondary luxury goods market

The third reason why “The RealReal” is attracting much attention is that there are similar companies progressively following the trend.

“ebay”, as the dominator of the secondary goods market industry, initiated the sales of secondary luxury goods and developed its own authenticity verification system known as “eBay authenticate”. In 2016, Facebook has released “Facebook Market Place” to support the sales of secondary products within the platform.

GUHADA, a platform that will facilitate the secondary luxury goods market

GUHADA is being developed to become the most reliable blockchain-based e-commerce platform for sales and resales of secondary luxury goods. As part of the development, TEMCO is working on integrating NFC chip technology into GUHADA platform to record and share the data about the luxury goods sold. With the technology, the products records can be transparently viewed. Through the function, the consumers can view all the distribution information at once.

In addition to the integration of NFC chip technology into GUHADA platform, the authenticity verification system is also being developed for the platform. When a product is appraised through the authenticity verification service, the verified product information is uploaded into the blockchain. As emphasized, the data that are uploaded into the blockchain are immutable, guaranteeing reliability and trust to the consumers. Also, once the product record is uploaded to the blockchain, the product can be resold on GUHADA platform without a hassle since the data about the product is previously recorded.

As for the TEMCO, while in the developing GUHADA, the team has been attending the demo tour presented by Tribe Accelerator who is supported by the Singapore government. The demo tour included many of the professionals in the traditional venture capital industry, Singapore government personnel, and more. TEMCO team was selected as one of the top 10 startup companies to be involved in this tour. During the tour, TEMCO team presented the NFC technology that is to be integrated into the GUHADA platform and received focused attention by the audience during the demo presentations in Singapore, Shanghai, and Seoul.
Why I think investing in an ICO because of top VCs is a bad idea
By: Jason Cameron
Tags: ICO, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

I’m not sure whether you invest in ICOs or not…but I do, not as much as I used to, but I still do. And what’s becoming more and more difficult is keeping up with all the upcoming ICOs, being able to take a look at them before participation begins.

The competition for your money is fierce and because people don’t want to miss out on the next ICON or Zilliqa, there’s a natural state of FOMO and all it takes is a couple of influencers to mention a project and people flood to get in.

Bottom line…people don’t want to do research.

And I don’t blame them. There’s too many projects, it takes far too long and we just want to make money on a quick flip and get that 10,20,50x asap.

The problem with this is that, if people don’t want to do research, they find shortcuts and the biggest trend, the biggest shortcut I see right now, is that people are getting into a project because “so and so VC” has got in or this is used as a key ‘selling point’.

Now I get why — if they pass the VCs due diligence then this increases the projects credibility and validates it that much more — it saves time.

I’m not saying that this strategy is wrong, I just don’t think it’s that smart for it to be THE metric I work with. What we need to remember is that VCs are playing a numbers game…they don’t always win — have you checked some their portfolios?

The key thing to note is that VCs have a strategy, an investment thesis that they are following and as an investor you should develop and invest by your own investment thesis, not somebody else — unless you’re prepared to give them your money and let them bet for you, taking advantage of their deals and taking the rough with the smooth.

However, typically, I’m not getting their deal, I don’t know what that VCs appetite to risk is, what the bet size is in comparison to their portfolios and whether they are going long or short — I don’t know why they are investing.

Nor do I know if they received tokens or equity for their backing — this is very important.

Additionally, many VCs are now flipping their allocations. So if I don’t know why they are investing or whether they are going long or short, then their association in a project could be just a quick flip to take advantage of the current private sale FOMO mania and gain instant liquidity, with margin, on locked tokens.

For me, this approach is just too risky, especially as I’m not getting their deal. So I’m playing their game and I don’t know the rules. Unless I’m getting their exact deal, I would much prefer to develop my own game, play by my own rules and if I land on the same pitch as a VC, then that validates my thesis.

I would much prefer to use VCs as A metric, not THE metric and if their thesis is the same as mine, then maybe I’ll follow them a bit closer.
What the heck is a virtual computer
By: Thomas Wollburg
Tags: JavaScript, Operating Systems, Computer Science, Cloud Computing, Decentralization

Here at Friend Software Labs we are creating the internet operating system and talk about virtual cloud computers. What is that? A virtual computer? Can I actually use it? How does it differ from the computer I have now? Why would I want/need/use that?

This article is the first of two in a series of two explaining why virtual computers rock.

What is a virtual computer

A virtual computer is a collection of software that resemble the functionality a user expects from his computer.

So while it is not a physical device with keyboard and mouse it is a device that lets you interact with it using your keyboard and mouse.

Can I actually use it? How does it differ from the computer I have now?

As the virtual computer lets you use keyboard and mouse just as on your computer, of course you can use it. The computer you use today is running an operating system that is installed onto the computer. That usually is Windows or OSX or Linux. Where the Friend computer differs from yours is that is never installed onto your device. While it provides all the functionality you need, it does not depend on your hardware to work.

That has both advantages and disadvantages. We think the advantages in today’s connected world by far outweigh the disadvantages. We also have plans to make Friend work in offline scenarios.
Undo Yourself
By: Anthi Psomiadou
Tags: Personality, Awareness, Self, Behavior, Consumerism

Come on! Why did you pause?

Keep serving the herd’s boss.

The system wants you to consume, so,

go for more; a bigger house, the latest

version of your cellphone, a second car.

It can go too far…

Every desire that is fulfilled,

gives birth to more desire in the mind’s field.

Is it enough to have two bags?

Less than twenty really sucks.

Can you live with only three pairs of shoes?

This way, your “richy” image you abuse.

Drinking a simple coffee doubts your successo;

you are a loser if you can’t afford Nespresso.

All those movie-stars you admire,

they’re not poor, so you mustn’t be either.

Go and imitate others!

Your value lies on the covers…

Do you even know why the “something more”

you always chase?

What’s the point of this race?

Do you understand the reason why

you’re always thirsty for things to buy?

Instead of searching for e-shops,

dig in to find your hard truth’s rocks.

What is the gap you try to fill?

Find that monster you have to kill.

There’s not a gap, but until you “see” that,

observe the illusion of your act.

The painful uncovering of the truth is

the first step for freedom. Then, choose.

Choose to demolish the persona you built,

to walk on the ruins, to mourn, and proceed.

Keep just the healthy parts you’ll find.

Throw all the garbage and the lies.

Undo yourself and watch what’s happening.

Your liberation waits beyond self-labeling.

Build again on a healthy foundation.

Your temple will be your Self, after re-creation,

or — better say — after returning to where “you” came from.
One Essential Truth for Creating Anything
By: Ryan J. Pelton
Tags: Creative Process, Productivity, Creativity, Writing, Writer

I hear it all the time…

Ryan, I’m not able to write the book, start the relationship, or build that nonprofit. I’m a busy person. Ryan, that might work for you, but not for me. I have unique circumstances…

I get it, you’re a special snowflake, and no one has faced the challenges you face.

But the reality is with creation we’re all in this together.

Humans are given twenty-four hours a day. We can only be in once place at one time. All of us have work, relationships, a need for food, water, and sleep. Not to mention the dog that needs food, water, and a walk.

The challenges are the same. We all need the same stuff and have similar responsibilities.

So how can we be more productive with the limitations and needs of daily life?

You start with the first thing.

Did you hear it? The first thing is always the next thing, next step, and most important step of creation. It’s so obvious that we often miss it and forget these foundational truths of creation.

The next step is always the next word, sentence, or detail in the project. Problems arise when we obsess over step nine, ten, or three hundred and thirty-nine. Those steps of creation will come later, much later.

Our situations are unique because we’re unique and our stories are unique. But the path of creation and writing and making things for the world to enjoy and doing work that matters is always the same…

Start here, and then go here, and then here, and here.

I’m sure woven into your story, and my story, are unique complexities and situations. Maybe it’s long hours at the office, a sick family member, or chronic illness. But wherever we find ourselves the truth is this:

The next step in your creative process, the next hour of writing your book, will be the same for you and me.

The path is always the first thing.

We have no idea what will happen after that. But that’s the beauty and fun and adventure of creation… only God knows where we’ll end up.

If you feel stuck and aren’t sure why the project isn’t going anywhere. Remember, just do the next thing. Don’t worry about step ten, worry about step one.
Atlas Protocol Bi-Weekly Update
By: Atlas Protocol
Tags: Advertising

Welcome to Atlas Protocol Bi-weekly Report (January 14th, 2019), where we release the latest developments and progress of the Atlas Protocol project.

The Atlas Protocol Biweekly report is maintained by the Atlas Protocol team.

Welcome to contact with us at media@atlasp.io, or @atlaspio on Twitter, your opinion is important to us.

Last week’s dynamic summary

◢ Atlas interactive advertising platform has been launched

The Atlas interactive advertising platform developed by the Atlas team has been officially launched and operated. Based on the Atlas on-chain interactive advertising marketing platform, Atlas interaction combining the original on-chain interactive incentives and online digital advertising, to open up the online to on-chain conversion channel and provide reliable and credible multi-win solutions for the blockchain industry. By now, nearly 100 advertisers have published their advertisements to dozens of media through the Atlas interactive advertising platform, and get real traffic data feedback.

◢ Atlas Protocol Annual Meeting will be held soon

Since its establishment in 2018, the Atlas team has been technology-driven, efficiently developed Atlas interactive advertising products, during which many technical difficulties have been overcome, and many achievements have been achieved. On January 16th, the Atlas team 2019 annual meeting will be held. At that time, the Atlas team will review and summarize the achievements and experiences of 2018, look forward to 2019, and set up entertainment and lottery sessions to welcome the Chinese New Year with everyone.

◢ Atlas Protocol 2019 Recruitment

In order to better enhance the technology development capability and actively expand of Atlas interactive advertising business, the 2019 Atlas team will continue to recruit talents. The specific details will be released in the near future, and we welcome more friends to join us.

Product development progress

◤ On-chain interactive advertising product has launched

Atlas has completed the testing and integration with multiple channel partners, and has successfully launched. Users can experience interactive advertisements released by Atlas Interactive Advertising Platform in a variety of scenarios. In future, Atlas Protocol will provide variety of onchain interactive advertising products, please stay tuned!

About Atlas Protocol

The Atlas Protocol is a Tokenized Marketing Protocol, which aims to create a blockchain marketing native infrastructure.

A number of partners have announced their participation in the Atlas Protocol ecosystem partners union. Multi-party deep cooperation aims to create more effective interaction and marketing channels for blockchain applications.
Trump’s Tweets
By: Liza Donnelly
Tags: Politics, Twitter, Election 2020, Trump

This drawing was drawn after Trump put out a flurry of angry tweets over the course of 24 hours. This is not a new thing, but his tweets seem to be increasing in frequency and vitriol. This recent blast was during the difficult events surrounding the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the Portland protests, and susequent violence instigated by Trump supporters on pickup trucks, armed with paintball guns, pepper spray.

With each day as we head to the election, Trump seems to feel he can control his re-election by tweeting. What he is doing is simply rallying his base with angry dog whistles, inciting racism, and fomenting violence. Trump shows his true colors in his tweets.

Reading his tweets and watching him speak about conspiracies (“dark corners” of people in black who control Joe Biden) — and his attacks on the “corrupt” media — it’s tempting to be confident that Trump will lose in November. I am hopeful his tweets will topple him, but we cannot be complacent.

It’s a scary time. Vote.

Watch me draw this image and talk about it:

And on Instagram
Simplificando o git com git alias
By: Lucas Salvador
Tags: Github, Gitlab, Terminal, Git, Desenvolvimento

Git - Git Aliases

Before we finish this chapter on basic Git, there's just one little tip that can make your Git experience simpler…
Pretending to Like Someone
By: Jayzel F.
Tags: Pretending, Nonfiction, Reflections, Reflections Of Life, Best Friend

Pretending to Like Someone

A thought

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Perhaps everyone around us has someone they despise who cannot be told off. They’re still there, and feeling like you are required to like them can be exhausting. Especially if you don’t.

I just got off the phone with a best friend. She mentioned that she was in a relationship. Again.

With the same man.

She made the boy apologize to me because he was abominable the first time they were together. Why me? I was reasonably furious at him for treating my best friend the way he did, and it seems like my approval meant something.

They were happy together again, and I didn’t want to get in the middle of that. So, I brushed it off and simply told him to give my best friend what she deserved — a life straight out of a fairy tale.

None of that changes the fact that maybe I don’t like him as much as I say.

Pretending. It’s so common and sometimes done even without reason. Does that reflect an unpleasant personality?

Thoughts can be uncontrolled and wild, but they are private. Some may share, most keep them to themselves. However, it is a great lie to say that you have never once pretended to like someone.

For one, it is simpler to feign a smile than to tell someone off.

I think it’s human nature to act this way, yet there are people out there who would attack others for doing something everyone does.

You can’t like everyone, but having to live with the fact that you are not truthful to them can be dreadful. Maybe they deserve it, and maybe they don’t. There are too many situations I can come up with.

Like if you had a vile friend who you wish to leave. You know you should, but they are the only person you know, and you don’t wish to be alone.

There are millions of circumstances, but they all have the same conclusion. You are putting on an act when your heart desires otherwise.

Here’s the thing — I don’t think we can just stop. Usually, on a topic like this, I would write tips and stories about how to be true to yourself and everyone else. However, this is different. This time, we might have a more significant consequence to face if we were to tell everyone what we think.

Thinking about it, the best way to deal with it is allowing time to bring you elsewhere. You cannot be stuck in a situation forever. Let time bring you an opportunity

Perhaps I might grow to truly like the man my best friend is with as a person. I can never know.
The monster
By: Nasar Karim
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Horror, Dreams, Nightmare, Poetry

The monster

A poem about my nightmare

Photo by Marloes Hilckmann on Unsplash

“I’m still here” said the monster

“I can see you” it smiled,

I tried closing my eyes

I held my breath for a while.

For a moment it worked

But then relief turned to fury,

The monster was gone

Replaced by a jury.

All of those voices

The laughter that lingers,

Shaking heads at my choices

And pointing their fingers.

The noise filled the courtroom

The judge started singing,

Naked bodies on ropes

From the ceiling were swinging.

I tried closing my eyes

When they opened again,

I drove through the desert

No roof in the rain.

Laughter I heard

From the passenger side,

She touched my shoulder and smiled

I saw myself in her eyes.

Golden hair rode the wind

But her voice was misplaced,

A manicured hand

Tore the flesh from her face.

“I’m still here” laughed the monster

When I awoke I was screaming,

The monster whispered

“Do you still think you’re dreaming?”
Why You Should Write About Pain and Pleasure
By: Samantha Blake
Tags: Life Lessons, Self, Advice, Society, Writing

Pleasure

And why write about pleasure? Talking about the good things in life — joy, love, friendship, sex, sexuality, humor — evokes emotion, too.

Writing about positive experiences like love, joy, and friendship, helps others see that there’s hope.

It gives a glimpse into the good side of life, which makes people

(ideally) walk away just a little bit happier. Hope can be an extremely powerful thing, especially in a time when everything on the news is seemingly negative.

And, there’s a reason so many songs and books are written about love. No matter who you are — everyone wants to feel cared for, loved, and supported. It’s an intoxicating feeling. People want that.

As for writing about friendships — relationships change all the time, whether they are romantic or not. Friendships can be difficult to navigate, and sometimes they honestly don’t last (and I suppose this can be both positive and negative). I’ve written about some of my experiences with failed friendships because 1) it helped me to really move on, and 2) it gives other people perspective.

My goal is to have others relate to my experience, but even if they don’t, it might make them think and learn about their own life.

Writing about sexuality and sex is fun, attention-grabbing, and also helps spread awareness.

Let’s face it — sex sells. That should come as no surprise. There’s definitely money to be made writing about sexuality, sensuality, and everything in between.

But, that’s not the only reason to write about it. Like so many others, I grew up in a home where sex was not something to be discussed, even for educational purposes. I didn’t know much about my own body — I was even ill-informed about periods, what to expect, and how to cope. Personally I don’t think any young woman (or young man) should have to go through that.

It would save a lot of people a lot of discomfort and/or shame if we as a society could learn to be more open about issues of the human body. There’s always going to be someone out there who’s wondering the same things that you are. And they might be too afraid to ask anyone.

By writing about my own experiences and talking about topics that have more often than not been hush-hush, it helps educate and hopefully reduce the stigma.

Writing about humor — funny love, bad sex, unfortunate series of hilarious events — can be both cathartic for yourself, and good for the reader.

Everyone likes to laugh. And sometimes, we just need a break from real life. Life is messy, but it’s also full of moments in which there’s nothing to do but chuckle and move on.

People want to know they’re not the only ones who’ve made silly mistakes, or who have a stupidly funny, bad sex story. What you share is up to you — but personally when I read something that makes me walk away smiling, I’m much more likely to come back for more.
The Hashashins — The Secret Order of Assassins
Tags: Culture, Religion, Christianity, History, Islam

Role of Assassins during the Crusade wars between Muslims and Crusaders

The Assassins made two Assassination attempts on Saladin.

Assassins were most active during the mighty Crusades. Rashid-ud-din-Sinan, the new leader of the cult, quickly intermingled with Syria’s political affairs and the holy land. He operated out of his headquarters in Masyaf. Upon realizing the increasing influence of an up and coming ambitious Muslim leader, he sent his Fidai’i to kill him. However, the new leader survived two assassination attempts. This leader was later known as Saladin. In response, the Saracens laid a siege on Masyaf. However, the fort could not be captured, and Sinan and Saladin reached a compromise. However, this reflects the extent of influence the Assassins had in the region.

The Assassins are also rumored to have a relationship with Richard the Lionheart, one of the most prominent leaders of the Crusade. Philip Augustus’s close aide Conrad was elected the King of Jerusalem. Richard the Lionheart did not want Conrad to be King and Augustus to have influence. Just a few days before the new Monarch’s coronation ceremony, he was killed by two Assassins disguised as Christian Monks. These Fida’i were sent by Sinan. However, Richard the Lionheart was accused of Conrad’s murder, among others because of his enmity towards Conrad.

The Hashashins or Assassins were the modern day equivalent of suicide bombers

The destruction of Ismaili Nizari state by Mongols

Sinan passed away at the end of the 12th century. The 13th century only brought grim news for the secret order of Assassins. The Muslim world saw the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. The Mongols crushed everything in their path. They specifically targeted the Assassins and their forts. Soon, Hulagu Khan besieged Masyaf. Muhammad the 3rd was the Nizari Ismaili Imam at that time. He capitulated and surrendered. He was captured and later executed by Mongols. Soon, all other Assassin strongholds fell to the Mongols, and they were completely obliterated from the region. Their castles were torn down and their libraries were burnt. The Hashashins were killed mercilessly.

The ruins of Alamut castle. Source: tehrantimes

Where are Hashashins or Ismaili Nazaris now?

Miraculously Hashashins survived. In today’s day and age, they are present globally in numerous countries. They are led by their Imam Prince Karim Aga Khan. There are almost 15 million Nizari Ismailis who live in different countries throughout the globe. Although they are not militant now, the self-sacrificing Fida’i predecessors are still an important part of their history and shine brightly in their memories.
Google Play Music Comes To iOS
By: Ipg Media Lab
Tags: Apple, iOS, Percolate, Google Play, Rdio

This development in Google Play Music’s development puts it squarely in competition with iTunes Radio, as well as other streaming applications like Pandora, Spotify, and Rdio, which all have iOS apps and are more deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem. As well, Google is offering an “all access” option which would allow you to store your music in the cloud, stream music across multiple devices, and include the first month free. All access also adds a radio option. It will be important to see who emerges atop this growing heap of music streaming services.
How to Build a Simple Restful API in PHP
By: Casey Mcmullen
Tags: PHP, JavaScript, API, Programming, Rest

Server-Side API Back End

Next, pull down the back-end code for the API. Once again, I open terminal and navigate into my Sites folder. In my project, I use a folder called phpapistarter for the API server code, and you’ll see that referenced as the API host in the code. If you use a different folder, make sure to update that in the code.

git clone -b original https://github.com/crmcmullen/medium-php-api-starter.git phpapistarter

The API service has the following files:

index.php

A straightforward page that allows cross-origin requests. It prerequires all the necessary classes, validates the incoming API request, and hands the function request to the API handler.

/src/api_handler.php

This is the heart of the API service. The loadFunctionMap function preloads all of the public facing end points and the classes to which they belong into an array. The array allows you to alias the function names internally if you want. For example, if the public facing end point was getToken but internally in your code you referred to the function_name as fnGetToken , you could do that. In this first version, the only valid end point will be getToken .

Future end points will need to be added to this array. If the end point doesn’t exist in the array, an invalid method call error will be raise to the client.

The validateRequest function evaluates the request to make sure it includes an API Key and Token, retrieves the caller’s app_api_key record and uses the API Secret Key to decode the JWT. It then makes sure all the things match and that the token isn’t expired.

The getCommand function retrieves the class and internal function name from the function map, and execCommand converts it into a function call with associated parameters.

Of course the getToken command is one of the core API end-point commands in the API Handler and the focus of this demo.

/src/app_autoloader.php

This file preregisters all of the classes that’ll be referenced by the API and will speed up class loading.

/src/app_jwt.php

This class is built on the JSON Web Token encoder/decoder code provided by Neuman Vong and Anant Narayanan here.

/src/app_response.php

A simple class library that provides standard HTML response codes and descriptions.

/src/db_classes/data_access.php

This abstract class is extended by other database classes and provides connectivity to the MySQL database via the db_connect function, as well as an abstract function for retrieving a ResultSet array with getResultSetArray .

Note that db_connect has the connection variables hardcoded in. These will be replaced in a later project, where we’ll move these to an INI file.

/src/db_classes/app_api_key.php

This is the database class for the app_api_key database table. At the moment, it simply has one method and that’s to retrieve the caller’s API record for the API Secret Key in order to encode/decode a token.

And that’s it for the API service. Granted, it only has one end point of its own. But the framework is now in place to add other API end points in the future.
📁How To Install OneNote On Ubuntu 📁 Linux 18.10, 17.10 & 16.04 → Full Working Tutorial 2018/2019…
By: Frontline Utilities Ltd
Tags: Install, Ubuntu, Office

4️⃣ Load with PlayOnLinux

Loading the application into PlayOnLinux requires you to first “install” the application”. To do this, follow the steps here:

Click on the “PlayOnLinux” icon from your apps menu

icon from your apps menu When POL loads, click “Install” — this will bring up a new Window

— this will bring up a new Window From the new Window, select “Office” from the top bar

from the top bar Scroll down and select the version of Office applicable to your ISO

applicable to your Click “Install”…

This will prompt you to load an appropriate DVD/CD to which you’re now able to select your newly mounted ISO:

This will lead you onto another Window which allows you to choose

mounted optical media (which will include your mounted ISO):

If the mounted ISO does not appear, click Refresh

After this, you will need to press “Next”, which should start the installation process for Office...

After this completes, you’ll be able to load OneNote either from the apps toolbar or from PlayOnLinux directly…

As mentioned, this should give you full access to OneNote (and other Office apps) on your Ubuntu system…

⚙️Resources

☎️ Further Support ☎️

If you need further support, please feel free to contact us → we’re in the UK so please consider the ⌚ difference!

—

We have a 👾PCFixes.com👾 live chat support channel at https://railshosting.pcfixes.com/ → this is available 24/7…

Live support is recommend IF you use your system for business or work.

If you need the help right now, getting an expert on screen gives you the ability to at least get a second opinion (and perhaps someone to help guide you through the fix). Live support is the only way to do this.

⚠️ Do NOT use live services that charge up front. ONLY use companies who provide live support without ANY up-front commitments…⚠️

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Multi-Bank Savings Accounts
By: Sankaet Pathak
Tags: Finance, API, Banking

Later last year we launched white labeled Savings accounts, which enables developers to issue interest bearing accounts for their users in seconds.

Starting next week, all the savings accounts will also get $16M in FDIC coverage per user. We call this feature Multi-Bank.

As the name suggests, Multi-Bank spreads customer deposits across multiple banks to increase FDIC coverage. Essentially, we try not to keep more than $250,000 per user with each bank.

We also make sure that deposit accounts held only in banks categorized as “well-capitalized” by the FDIC.
Who Will See the Reward Program Offer? Let’s Create the Predicting Model With Python, Scikit-Learn, XGBoost
Tags: Xgboost, Starbucks, Machine Learning, Data Science, Udacity Nanodegree

Business Understanding

The reward program is a representative marketing method that induces users to purchase. But program that user are not interested in, user may unsubscribe corporate marketing channels or have a negative image. That’s why it’s important to send a SMS, email of reward program to interested users. In this case, the user’s interest is determined by whether or not the user has viewed the program. By creating a model that predicts whether users will see the program, you can deliver the right program to the right users.

Metrics

In this article, I will explain how I made the model for predicting whether users will see the program or not. To evaluate the model, I need to set criteria and metric.

Accuracy is a common metric for almost all classification models. But 75% of the users who received offer viewed offer. That means if we determine that all user view the offer, we will get a 75% accuracy😱.

So not only accuracy, but also precision, recall, and F1 scores should be checked. In unbalanced data, F1 score is a widely used metric. The F1 score is the harmonic mean of the precision and recall. It is a better indication of accuracy in unbalanced data because harmonic mean penalizes the extreme value. You can see the definition in the image below.

Precision and recall from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-score

Definition of F1 score from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-score

Data Exploration & Visualization

First, We can download the dataset from below link of Kaggle.

Let’s see the files of dataset.

Portfolio.json