fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The edges of the gaze
By: J.D. Harms
Tags: Love, Passion, Poetry

Photo by Alex Iby on Unsplash

“it is intermittence, as psychoanalysis has so rightly stated, which is erotic: the intermittence of skin flashing between two edges of clothing[…]” — Barthes

Bends through/ into the pose

this relaxing we’re doing

what I’m attempting to do

before/ even as your sweater rises (just slightly)

but so distractingly

making evident slice of skin

exposing me to this derailing — (I do so love your

yoga pants)

clinging, barely, yet to this halfhearted effort

to continue into the stretch

into the lesson you are imparting/ stretch

we should be sharing

but…

but I can’t/ won’t tear away

from an inch, or maybe it was less

(flustered: makes for lack of precision even —

even if I know what I saw)

& it tears me to say this

I do, after all, want to be doing this with you

but the edges of the gaze

keep stealing my focus

& the yoga pose slips into

…indifference while desire

blanks everything else out.
The Unusual Origins of Popular Acronyms
By: Nolan Yard
Tags: Acronyms, DIY, German, College, FAQ

Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

Sometimes things can turn out quite different from when they started, right? Well, when it comes to well-known acronyms, they are no exception.

P.S.A. — Few know that this little dandy originally stood for the Porcupine Survivors Association. Yes, poor souls who came into contact with the little creature’s quills, and lived to tell about it, would meet monthly to discuss their harrowing encounters and ways to prevent such an ordeal from happening again. Occasionally, those afraid of getting flu shots or giving blood donations were allowed to attend these meetings in hopes of surmounting their pointed fears.

D.I.Y. — This one started as an unorthodox brotherhood of sorts. Called the Daring and Intrepid Yodelers, this fraternal society found unique, and often dangerous, ways of displaying their vocal prowess. Known places of serenading included literal cliff edges, snake pits, Colorado River category 4 and above rapids, stygian volcanic caves, and — a societal favorite — grizzly-infested dens of Kodiak Island. Puts a bit of a damper on those self-completed household projects.

F.A.Q. — Now a helpful acronym for questioning customers on consumer websites, F.A.Q. used to refer to those Frequently Annoying Quadrupeds carousing homes in old log cabin days. Prior to industrial construction-material advancements, including drywall, sheetrock, and weathered-paneling, little critters used to find ways of invading abodes on the regular. So oft was the attendance of opossums, coons, mice, rats, and other furry whippersnappers within the home that many a log-cabinite refrained, “Get the F.A.Q. out of here!”

W.T.F. — Many don’t know the simplistic provenance of this bemused reply. The pioneers of wood tile flooring actually used the acronym for their business name, Wood Tile Flooring. They prided themselves on masking wood in a way where it looked, incredibly, just like tile. Their business has lasted for over a hundred years and thrives to this day, though due to customer opinion they opted to change their DBA.

S.A.T. — Around the time the idea of the Scholastic Aptitude Test was being thrown around by academics in ivory towers, freshman college students took pity on their future collegiate colleagues and started a campus-based club that soon expanded to off-campus environs, including suburban households and televised cooking shows. Before the SAT was a test, it stood for Saturdays Are for Tiramisu. That’s right, college freshmen and apron-wearing homeowners alike enlivened their weekends with the practice and art of creating the Italian coffee-flavored dessert. Sadly, these days high school seniors taking the SAT think little of baking and sweets. But they can still partake in the original baking tradition on any other Saturday when they can close the textbook and flip open a cookbook.
2020 In Review: Yet Five More People Who Got Us Through This Awful Year
By: Will Leitch
Tags: Maya Moore, Kyler Murray, Vaccines, Fiona Apple, Kamala Harris

2020 In Review: Yet Five More People Who Got Us Through This Awful Year

Next in a weekly series until this monstrosity of a year is finally over.

This year has been awful: You don’t need me to tell you that. But to try to accentuate the positive, if that’s even possible, every Friday until the end of December I’ll shout out five people who got us through this wretched year. (Here is the one from two weeks ago and here is last week’s.) These people may work in politics, or entertainment, or the arts, or any field in America or around the world. All that matters is that their contributions in 2020 made it a little easier for the rest of us to make it through.

Also, send me your recommendations and nominees at williamfleitch@yahoo.com or in the Responses to this piece. Who has gotten you through this year?
Candy
By: Toni Crowe
Tags: Hope, Poetry, This Happened To Me, Love, Poem

Toni Crowe retired to pursue her dream of being a writer. Toni has written six books. Her bestselling business book, ‘Bullets and Bosses Don’t Have Friends’ won a Gold Readers Award.

Visit My Facebook Community | Subscribe to My Newsletter | Visit My Website
Nine Thousand Miles. Maybe goodbyes were not meant for you…
By: Arka Bani Maini
Tags: Breakups, Moving On, Life, Love, Relationships

Maybe goodbyes

were not meant for you and me

Now that we are at crossroads

Remember the night

you wanted to drive and

I let you take the wheel?

The radio was playing

a Bruce Springsteen song

that I can’t remember now

While you drove

effortlessly

as I held your hand

and we shifted gears

together

And just like that

we kept driving for

Nine thousand miles

You and I

down the highway

that lead us where dreams go wandering

in warm winter nights

And now here we are

Where the road forks

into untold stories

Maybe they will

meet again

Where rivers finally meet

before melting into the ocean

Or maybe they won't

Who knows

But let me get out

for a moment

I think I need a smoke

and a walk

down that unpaved road

into that unknown horizon

It’s dark now and

I can’t see very far

But it’s okay,

you know

Take the car now

And take care

You still remember how to drive, right?
How to Submit Your Medium Stories to Publications
By: Brian Rowe
Tags: Success, Entrepreneurship, Writing, Medium, Publication

Submitting your Medium stories to publications is often simple, but sometimes it’s not.

It’s simple when you just publish a story and then pick a publication to submit it to. Boom. You’re done in a matter of seconds.

It might take half a day on the editor’s end to actually accept your story into his or her publication, but the work on your end is done at least.

If you’re the editor of your own publication, and you want to publish your latest piece in that, that’s easy as pie!

First, once the story has been written and then polished to your heart’s content, publish it first, then scroll to the top of the page and click on the button with the three dots to the right of READY TO PUBLISH.

Click on ADD TO PUBLICATION, and then scroll down and choose your own publication. Submit, and voila, your piece is now in a publication!

These are the exact same steps you should take if you want your latest story to be submitted to someone else’s publication that allows for your story to already be published. About half of the publications on my list allow this.
Cold Culture
By: Paul S Markle
Tags: Kindness, Poetry, Empathy, Apathy, One Line

Rare drops of empathy

drip…

from this parched culture

marred by tone deaf apathy,

until hearts once bold

hear compassion’s call,

serendipity will fall

only in places bitter and cold.
Heart or Mind
By: Laura Black
Tags: Mindfulness, Life Advice, Poetry, Inspirational, Poetry On Medium

Our hearts don’t tell us to kill

to harm

to fear

to hate.

Our minds tell us that.
Rubius and World Coin Network Launch Strategic Partnership
Tags: Ethereum, Rubius Ico, World Coin Network, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

World Coin Plans Blockchain Platform that is Compliant with Sharia Law

In the future, Rubius will help World Coin Network build their own blockchain platform. And, the key to that platform’s success will be integrating the blockchain solution with physical exchanges. This would enable Muslims to exchange cash directly for the cryptocurrency.

World Coin’s platform will be followed by a website plugin, the Sharia law lending platform, and mobile app development. Rubius’s expertise will be vital for the creation of those solutions.

The Sharia Law Lending Platform will facilitate economic development in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia by making credit available to Islamic merchants. This will help World Coin Network achieve its goal of integrating traditional Islamic merchants into the global economy.

The potential market World Coin can tap is immense because there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world today, the Pew Research Center calculated. Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion, Pew forecasts that the number of Muslims will grow by 70% and reach three billion by 2060.

Bringing all of those people into the global economy is necessary for the peace, security, and stability of the world. Middle Eastern countries that lack stable currencies and access to the world’s financial system are among the most unstable. Those nations include Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, which are plagued by terrorism and civil war.

Currency devaluation is the main destabilizing force in the Middle East. Lack of stable currencies blocks business creation and economic development. Devaluation fuels the refugee crisis plaguing Europe by forcing people to flee to regions with more stable currencies in search of work.

The Middle East will be the perfect place to test Rubius’s plan of using cryptocurrency, blockchain platforms, and apps to bank the unbanked. Around 85% of the people in that region lack bank accounts.

By offering currency stability and access to the financial system, the World Coin Network and Rubius hope to bring the Middle East and other regions into the global marketplace. Such access will be key to fostering economic development and bringing peace to the region.

You can learn more about the World Coin Network at:

https://worldcoin.cash

https://www.facebook.com/worldcoin.cash/

Chat with World Coin team at:

https://t.me/WorldCoincash

To learn more about Rubius Inc. and their projects, please visit:

https://rubius.io/

https://youtu.be/4DLMajAfxsM

https://rubius.io/rubius-whitepaper.pdf

Chat with Rubius team at:

https://t.me/rubiuschat
[Video] Seeking nearness to Allah Part Three
By: Virtual Mosque
Tags: Ahmadi, Ahmadiyya, Ahmadiyyah

In the second khutba Hazrat Amir discussed the things you should do to achieve nearness to Allah.

In this third and final khutba of this series Hazrat Amir discusses the “don’ts” for a Muslim. That is the things a Muslim must not do if he wants to achieve closeness to Allah.

httpv://youtu.be/fC9KtqXzg2s
We Write
By: A Singular Story
Tags: Ideas, Poetry, Writing, Society, Communication

We write

To know human warmth

Without the mediation of interfaces,

The courtship of hearts never on display

But contained between the lines,

Hidden in plain sight.
BitClave Token Sale Terms
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum, ICO

The date is set. The BitClave public token sale will start on Nov 29th.

Our project has created a lot of excitement. During the initial Pre-Sale and Deposits, we raised $22M out of $25.5M hard cap. We are oversubscribed for crowdfunding with 64,000 registered users. Thank you for your great support!

As a result, we are closing our whitelist on Nov 22. We are also cancelling all bonuses for the non-whitelisted participants.

There is a chance we will reach our cap before all whitelisted participants have made their contribution. In this case, the priority will be given to participants who made a deposit.

Due to the recent increase in crypto to USD rate, we might reach our USD cap before reaching the tokens cap. In this case, the unsold tokens will be burned.

Here are the final terms:

Token Sale hard cap 25.5M USD

1 CAT price is 0.10 USD

All bonuses are cancelled for non-whitelisted contributors

Token conversion is done at the highest rate between the following two options:

- Crypto/USD rate at the time of the deposit date

- Crypto/USD rate on Nov 29th

See more details here.

Note:

If you are our real and authentic fan, and you missed the whitelist deadline but you are very interested in participation, we still can accommodate you. After Nov 22nd you can get subscribed to the whitelist only by the POF (Proof-Of-Fan) model. In POF, before submitting your whitelist registration, you’ll have to publish a video or a blog promoting BitClave and send us the link for manual evaluation.
There Won't Be Another You
By: Jocelyn Soriano
Tags: Poetry, Love, Grief, Death, Poem

They say time heals

They say it makes you forget.

They say I'd move on,

And that I shouldn't fret.

Perhaps I'd find another love,

Perhaps my heart shall beat again,

When I have learned to let you go,

And I have met another friend.

Well I don't know about letting go,

And maybe only time will tell,

But I know that I shall love you so,

Though my heart begins to mend.

Perhaps I'd learn to hope,

Perhaps someone else would love me true

Perhaps I'd learn to live again,

But there won't be another you.
Hunting in the Covid
By: Gail Walter
Tags: Self Improvement, Covid 19, Poetry, Life, Life Lessons

Hunting in the Covid

Learning to be free

Kay Nielson | Brothers Grimm

This covid I thought

I would hunt down

every little hurtful remark

and kill it

I felt like lace

shot through with insult

I was not well,

buried as I was

beneath the rubble

I was as a target

feels so much

the subject

so it kept me busy

all this hunting

down

and killing

but just yesterday

I let a few victims go

without losing their lives

and when I did

I felt lighter

and more alive

myself

as though my survival

did not depend on their

eradication

but my forgiveness

of them

© Gail Walter 2020

More from Gail Walter:
Hi, I’m Alex.
By: Alex Rowe
Tags: About Me

Hi, I’m Alex.

I’m fascinated by the intersection between religion and everyday life, particularly the way in which our beliefs about God, the world, and ourselves affect the way we each choose to live. This is what I like to explore in my writing and research.

I am a graduate student at Oxford, reading for an MPhil in Judaism and Christianity in the Graeco-Roman World. Religious documents like the Tanakh, Christian Bible, or Qur’an are foundational for the way millions of people live. I’m convinced that part of what it means to effectively interpret these documents for today is to appreciate the ancient historical contexts from which they arose. I sometimes share my essays on Academia.edu.

On my blog, The Coffeehouse Cleric, I share insights from my studies that are, I think, beneficial — or I hope at least interesting — for both church and society. I’m not the only one who asks the ‘big questions’ of life. We all do. So, I invite you to join in the conversation.
Will Humans of the Future be Limbless Drones?
By: Alex Vikmanis
Tags: Future Human, Fashion, Augmented Reality, Illustration, Technology

Will Humans of the Future be Limbless Drones?

And other thought experiments from three imaginative artists

Evolution may not change human bodies very much in the next century, but you never know what new technology we’ll create that will change the way we look, move, and interact with each other. As part of our monthly magazine, Future Human, we allowed several illustrators each week to run wild with their vision of what humanity will be like far into the future. Find previous installments of the project here, here, and here.

Along with their illustrations, each artist wrote about their imagined future. Their ideas are wild, bold, and radically different from one another: mix and match body parts, avatar masks, and drone bodies.

What kind of human do you want to be?

Richie Pope

From Dallas, TX
Case study: an app to help people quit smoking
By: Hamdan Rejees
Tags: Mobile, Case Study, User Experience, Quit Smoking, Ux Case Study

This is my first case study I worked on which was a part of the UI/UX specialization course offered by Calarts

My first task was to look for problems to solve. From there I had to establish my goals, define user requirements and so on.

So, Let’s get down to business !

Introduction

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year. If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030. Tarabo provides motivation, support and rewards to help those interested in quitting once and for all.

Overview

Designing a seamless mobile app to help smokers reduce or even break their smoking habit. This app has to be simple, informative and should have the ability to bring and maintain user engagement with strong UX methods.

Design Process used

1) Strategy

2) Outline of scope

3)Information Architecture

4) Wireframes

5) Visual Design

Research

I decided to study various already existent quit smoking apps such as Quit Now, Smoke free and Easy Quit.

In the process, I tried to understand why certain things were done in a certain way in those apps and thought of ideas on how the app could function in a better way.

After the online research, I did a small user research interview among smokers and understood the problems they faced. Many users said they didn’t have the motivation or didn’t remember to report their habits. Some of the users felt lonely as they felt they didn’t have support. Other users said they didn’t get any good feeling after reporting their smoking habits.

Solution

In order for the user to report their smoking habits, there should be a desire in the user to do so. For this purpose, I introduced the leaderboard system in the app where the user would get rewards if he/she gets a good rank in the weekly leaderboard table.

I’ve decided to include the community section in the app for those users who felt lonely in their journey to quit or those who were lacking moral support. User who help others in the community section will be rewarded with points.

I know what you’re thinking. What are these rewards ? these points ? Well, I would like to call them Tarabopoints (TP). With Tarabopoints, you get massive discounts and vouchers at stores like Nike, Puma, etc.

Initial Designs/ Wireframes
11 of the Weirdest Places You Can Spend Your Crypto Coins
By: Ivy Riane
Tags: Ethereum, Lifestyle, Investing, Finance, Bitcoin

Some real estate firms are allowing large purchases for properties with Bitcoin and apartment rental offices are starting to offer rent payments or deposits to be paid in Bitcoin using services like BitPay.

#6 Emergency Food Rations

I have friends and family members that could be considered “preppers” and they have excitedly purchased some food rations via Bitcoin on Overstock.com. Of course there are many options that can be purchased on Overstock.com like furniture and clothing as well. Overstock.com as a whole supports purchases with Bitcoin.

#7 Cars

Tesla has allowed the purchase of some of their models with Bitcoin, but Elon Musk has always been one for innovation and why wouldn’t he allow payments with Bitcoin, right?

#8 Fast Food

Some Subway locations have been rumored to accept payment via Bitcoin. I don’t eat out much so I have not checked my local Subway yet to see if they offer this option. And some Burger King locations internationally have started to accept Bitcoin in exchange for a Whopper and some even offer buy 1 get 1 free if you pay with cryptocurrency.

#9 Cab Rides

Some cab companies in major cities around the world are now accepting Bitcoin as payment in exchange for services rendered.

#10 Currency

Everyone knows that you can exchange cryptocoins for fiat currency like US dollars but did you know that you can also use Bitcoin to buy gold, silver, and other precious metals?

#11 Travel!

This is my favorite one, if you want the truth. Because who doesn’t want to go on vacation to somewhere tropical and warm, especially when you can make money while you’re sleeping with the current rise of Bitcoin. Check out Expedia.com and CheapAir.

The best part about the newness of crypto is that even with the new influx of money there are still so many people that don’t know about it yet and have never even heard of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. Think about how many businesses are going to offer the option of purchasing with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the near future. I can’t wait to see how this all plays out.

What have you purchased with cryptocurrency that you couldn’t buy before? I would love to hear about it in the comments! If you found value in this post please share with your friends or leave a few claps so others can see the weirdest places that they can spend their crypto coins too.

Disclosure: This blog post is for educational and informational purposes only and is based upon my individual experience. Please do your own research and do not invest any money that you cannot afford to lose. Consult with attorneys and tax professionals for any legal or tax related questions that you may have. This should not be considered to be investing, legal, or tax advice.
Mileage Matters: Episode 22
By: Drive Capital
Tags: Artificial Intelligence

This week we discussed the importance of energy storage in maximizing the efficiency of artificial intelligence. We also touched on the pace of product cycles in early release stages of applications. Lastly, we talked about the market the service industry provides in regards to chat platforms and how we can monetize it.

Listen in below as we openly discuss the best opportunities of the week. We’ll see you next Friday.

Mileage Matters is recorded live at the start of every Drive Capital Partner meeting. We kick off our week with a discussion of the things that caught our attention over the past seven days. We’re going to begin sharing these musings in the form of a short podcast. Our goal is to give entrepreneurs a glimpse into how we think about the markets we cover (and more). We’d love to hear from you, and learn what’s catching your attention these days too. Let us know what you think on Twitter or drop us a line.
I Wasn’t A Very Good Perfectionist, So I Quit
By: Kim Mckinney
Tags: Mental Health, Lifestyle, This Happened To Me, Philosophy, Self

I Wasn’t A Very Good Perfectionist, So I Quit

The freedom of “good enough”

Photo by Raka Rachgo on Unsplash

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.” — Anne Lamott

I am anxious by nature. That means I grew up with my stomach in knots and always worried that I wasn’t good enough.

Truth was that I wasn’t by some standards. I had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), which not only meant that I often have focus problems, but the tension to stay hyper-focused adds more weight to the load.

I was also dyslexic, though it manifested itself in different ways than most. I reversed letters when I learned to write, but not for a long time. As a natural reader, it was easier for me to learn to compensate than it is for many dyslexics.

But putting my shoes on the right foot — I have selectively forgotten how long it took me to do that correctly, but let’s just say that I was probably in the bottom ten percent for my age group.

My mother was patient with me. She’d show me my foot, and show me the shoe, and say. “See how your foot curves in this direction? Just match up the shoe that does the same.”

Which brought out another problem with my dyslexia. I can’t reverse mirror images, so this sort of matching was also a bit of a challenge. Neither of us understood that at the time. But eventually, I learned. I now put my shoes on the right feet 99% of the time.

Then there’s my hand-eye coordination. It was never my strong suit. I was looking at my report cards from first through third grades recently, and my handwriting grades were abysmal. Well, I got a B+ in first grade, but we all know that’s probably the lowest grade they gave out for a nice student who obviously put a lot of effort into trying to get better.

Give me a craft project and it simply wouldn’t be completed. I get discouraged early on and quit.

There was also my sports ability. I was unathletic. In elementary school, and truly through much of life, people put others in the “athletic” or “unathletic” category and some never emerge from that label. I avoided anything athletic in nature, and yes — I have the trauma of being the last one picked for teams often. Such an evil practice.

High school came and so did communal showers. Well, we had our stalls for a couple of minutes, but with fewer showers than people we had to be quick about it. And we had to take our showers. There’s a lot of body comparison that goes on at that age. Mine didn’t measure up. More trauma.

Inwardly I knew I wasn’t perfect, but I kept trying to act as though I was on the outside. I was an abysmal failure. I spent my life stressed out and frustrated. It’s a heavy load for a kid to carry. I also felt very alone in my imperfect world.
Conditioning the Blockchain
By: Anushka N.
Tags: Hash Function, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Proof Of Work

Author: Dr Michael Scott

As described in my last posting on the ‘Essence of the Blockchain’, the block-chain is just a public ledger supported by the power of the cryptographic hash function.

From a “genesis” block, a chain of blocks propagates onwards. Due to the one-wayness of the hash function, it can never be reversed and the contents of a prior block can never be changed. However we can add new blocks on to the end of it.

The biggest problem in creating a block-chain is one familiar to anyone with long hair. Split ends. What’s to stop the chain being forked and split in numerous different directions? The whole point of a public ledger is that there should only be one of them. If anyone can create a fork and hence create their own block-chain how do we know which is the one true block-chain?

What we need is a way to effectively “seal” the end of the block-chain so that it cannot be forked. Some kind of serum or conditioner maybe.

This is the tricky bit. The BitCoin solution is particularly clever. Recall that BitCoin is an application of the block-chain to the creation of a virtual currency. The trick is to motivate a group of “miners” to take part in an expensive process that effectively seals the end of the chain. But why should they? How do we motivate them? Simple, pay them some BitCoin!

So there is a feed-back at work here. The method of sealing the end of the chain is fundamentally associated with the application of the chain.

And that’s the biggest issue in block-chain research today. How do we come up with clever ways of sealing the end of the chain that will (probably) depend on the purpose of the chain, but hopefully won’t require as much work.

In BitCoin its “proof-of-work” (iterating a hash function billions of times) which the group of miners use to seal the chain. A common alternative suggestion is “proof-of-stake”, where a valid miner can demonstrate that they have already invested heavily in the construction of the chain to its current point.

Download the Essence of the Blockchain PDF
8 Spiritual Principles for Connecting with the Divine Inside
By: Patrick Paul Garlinger
Tags: Personal Development, Spirituality, Relationships, Philosophy, Self

You Are Light

This has become so commonplace in spiritual teachings that it might seem banal to begin here. But it is so easy to forget what it means and, more importantly, what it does not mean.

The essence of this principle is that you are a spiritual being having a human experience. This means, first and foremost, that you are connected directly to God. Your connection is non-negotiable because you are an aspect of the divine made form. It is your birthright to cultivate that connection. You do not need the permission of a mediator to connect with God, but teachers who can guide you to cultivate your connection can be profoundly helpful.

By being an aspect of God, it means that you are literally energy — cosmic energy. Everything is energy, vibrating according to our nature. We are part of, and inseparable from, a field of energy that can only be partially captured by our physical senses.

In that way, most of our senses are inadequate to understanding the full array of who we are. We typically limit ourselves to the rational mind and the material world — what our five senses and our logical minds, aided and augmented by technology built from those same minds and same senses, can perceive. We assume that what our eyes tell us is reality rather than a version of reality. What we experience is part of a totality that we cannot fully comprehend.

It also does not mean that we are only light. It does not mean that our bodies are illusions, or that we only experience positivity all the time. Our materiality and our pain are critical to understand what it means to be light. As spiritual beings in human form, we are here to move beyond our sense of separation as material beings, while at the same time embracing our materiality. In other words, we awaken to our true nature while still living as beings of flesh and blood.
Meet USDS at Code for America Summit 2020
By: U.S. Digital Service
Tags: Engineering, Government, Code For America, Civictech, Product Management

Meet USDS at Code for America Summit 2020

A rundown of all the things we’ll be up to at this year’s Code for America Summit.

There will be over 40 USDSers and alumni, attending this year’s Code for America Summit in Crystal City, VA. If you’re attending and would like to connect, drop us a note!

Read on for a peek at what we’ll be presenting. Looking forward to seeing you March 11–13!

Not attending Summit? We’ll also be at a few events in the DC-area that are open to all. 💪🏽🖥🇺🇸
Making sure Australia remains ‘the lucky country’
By: This Working Life
Tags: Actu, Dave Oliver, Australia

AUSTRALIA isn’t the lucky country by accident.

Since the historic Harvester Judgement of 1904, Australian unions have always fought for a decent minimum wage for everyone.

Unlike many other countries, Australia’s minimum wage is a living wage.

In Australia, we believe that if you work hard, you should get a fair day’s pay. You shouldn’t have to rely on tips to keep your head above water, and you should be able to put something away to plan for a better life.

The spirit of a fair go that is imbued in our national character means we don’t want to see anyone left behind.

But in recent years, unions have become concerned that the widening gap between average earnings and the minimum wage could see the emergence of a working poor in Australia.

httpvh://youtu.be/3l_nLq2tgis

Every year, unions, led by the ACTU, go into bat in the Fair Work Commission on behalf of the 1.5 million Australian workers who rely on Award minimum wages, whether they’re in a union or not.

In 2013, unions have asked the Fair Work Commission to increase the National Minimum Wage by $30 a week to $636.40.

The employers, predictably, have suggested a much lower amount, down as low as $5.80.

The ACTU claim is modest, but it would make a big difference to workers on the minimum wage.

Please take a minute to watch this video and share it with share with anyone you know who is not a union member, and encourage them to join with us in standing up for a decent minimum wage to keep Australia the lucky country for everyone.
How to Buy Education Tokens (LEDU) on IDEX
By: Dr. Michael J. Garbade
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Token, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Education tokens (LEDU) are now trading on IDEX. This article will explain how to purchase tokens on the IDEX exchange. See also How to Buy Education Tokens (LEDU) on Exrates, Livecoin, and Mercatox.

Sign Up

1) Click on “Unlock wallet” and login using your ethereum wallet details.

If you don’t have an ethereum wallet address, click on “New wallet” to create your own wallet address.

Deposit

2) The next step is to deposit the ETH in your wallet onto your exchange account.

3) When depositing ETH into your wallet, you will be asked to state the amount of ETH to deposit to IDEX from your ETH wallet.

4) Once you have ETH on your IDEX account then you are ready to purchase LEDU Coins.

Purchase

6) LEDU tokens on Idex.market are available with an ETH pairs, meaning you can use ETH to purchase. Locate the LEDU/ETH pair and click on trade to purchase.

7) You will be taken to the trading page where you can buy LEDU tokens. Simply enter the amount you wish to purchase and click BUY LEDU to purchase LEDU tokens.

8) Once you’ve completed your purchase the token balance will be visible in your Idex.market exchange account.

Withdraw

10) Now that you’ve purchased LEDU tokens you can withdraw them to your ERC20 token wallet. Simply go to the ‘balance’ tab and click on ‘withdraw’, enter the amount of tokens you wish to withdraw and send.

Note: it will be sent to the address you logged into IDEX with.

Get LEDU Coin

Get LEDU coins now on Exrates, Livecoin, Mercatox and IDEX or join the LEDU OTC Trading program for large purchases. Read more about LEDU coins on our project page and ask any questions you might have in our Telegram group chat.
Training a double-jointed arm with DDPG — Deep Reinforcement Learning
By: Douglas Trajano
Tags: Python, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Reinforcement, Deep Learning

Today we’ll see another powerful Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm.

It’s important that you can know the basics about the Deep Reinforcement Learning, you can see my last article here (Collecting bananas with Deep Reinforcement Learning).

Before we start, I’ll share with you something more about Deep Reinforcement Learning. It’s fast, I promise!

Theory first

Reinforcement Learning is a subclass from Artificial Intelligence, and this subclass has different types of algorithms.

Types of reinforcement learning

It’s important to know about these types because each type has its own way of learning.

Value-based

Estimate the optimal value function Q* (s, a).

This is the maximum value achievable under any policy.

Policy-based

Search directly for the optimal policy π*.

This is the policy achieving the maximum future reward.

Actor-Critic

We combine Value-based and Policy-based methods.

The Actor is policy-based and Critic is value-based.

For this project I used an Actor-Critic Method. The algorithm choosed is DDPG (Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient).

DDPG works a little bit different comparing with the basic approach of Reinforcement Learning. We’ll have two neural networks inside the agent.

Now, let’s know more about the environment and the double-jointed arm!

Well, the environment that we have here it’s better than we have in the GIF above. I used Reacher Environment from Unity.

Environment

In this environment, a double-jointed arm can move to target locations.

The first version contains a single agent.

The second version contains 20 identical agents, each with its own copy of the environment.

DDPG is a good approach for this environment because we can have more than one agent. We can learn from all agents and share the knowledge with all agents as well.

State Space

The observation space consists of 33 variables corresponding to position, rotation, velocity, and angular velocities of the arm.

Actions

Each action is a vector with four numbers, corresponding to torque applicable to two joints. Every entry in the action vector should be a number between -1 and 1.

Reward

A reward of +0.1 is provided for each step that the agent’s hand is in the goal location. Thus, the goal of your agent is to maintain its position at the target location for as many time steps as possible.

To solve this environment we need to have 30+ score at last 100 episodes.
Love in the Time of Quilts
By: Sara Harvey
Tags: Humor, Comics, LGBTQ, Love, Relationships

Love in the Time of Quilts

Cold weather is upon us! Just like quilts.
How to start with Flutter, Firebase and Cloud Functions
Tags: Firebase Cloud Functions, Programming, Flutter, Cloud Computing, Firebase

What is Faas?

Is server less the next evolution ? ©Ippon

Before beginning, we will speak a little about Function-as-a-Service (Faas) or serverless software.

It is a beautiful mainstream concept.

Imagine, you can store a function in the cloud that does anything you want. No server, no VM, no container, just one thing to think about your business code.

It looks elegant. And it has advantages.

You just write a function, post it on the cloud. And when some software needs this function. It is awake, runs code and then it finishes.

If millions of users use your code at the same time. The millions of instances of our function are called. So it is scalable .

. You need the new functionality in your software. Very easy to develop and to implement.

to develop and to implement. If you use major cloud companies (Google, Amazon… You know what I mean), you pay as your use. And some companies propose sometimes until 2 million functions call per month. It is very cheap. I know companies run their business without charge.

But Cloud Functions is not the solution to every problem. You have difficulty making a test, moreover, you have less system control. And when a function is not used for a long time, the response time of the first call can take a long time.

So be careful, many experts swear only with cloud function. It depends on your use case.
How we pivoted & pivoted & pivoted
By: Julian Paul
Tags: Self Improvement, Growth Mindset, Startup, Entrepreneur, Accelerator Program

The word pivot is a term that is often times misused in either scope or context. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to pivot strictly in the context of entrepreneurship/business as well as the scope of planning, moving and executing in an agile manner. If you want to be even more specific than that, then here is the actual definition by the Cambridge Dictionary:

To pivot is to change your opinions, statements, decisions, etc. so that they are different to what they were before.

Without further ado, let’s get in to the nit & grit of it all, shall we?

This is our story of many many pivots

Initially, VENTRY started out as a simple incubator idea. I spent hours pondering over a structure that would allow a select group of individuals to come together in an Austrian Chalet with the sole purpose of executing on 2 different things: 1 being a solo project & 2 being a team endeavour. The plan was to run the house on a ‘Makers Schedule’. If you are unfamiliar of the difference between the Makers and the ‘Managers Schedule’, you can read up more here.

But as this is a story of pivots, you could have already guessed that the physical incubator never happened. And you would be right! My now business partner Leon Allinge and I tried getting a cohesive team together around 3–4 different times. However, without luck. Which was mostly due to the fact that certain individuals not being able to commit or simply having other things they needed to prioritise instead. A true shame, really!

Heavy hearted, after nothing had worked and we couldn’t find any way to make the incubator a reality — even with just the two of us, something completely unexpected struck the world. And that was COVID-19.

Now, if you are reading this article, odds are almost 100% you lived or are living through this global pandemic. So, without diminishing its severity and impact on thousands, I want to acknowledge the global implications first, before addressing how the pandemic affected me.
3 Online Courses to Learn Angular for Different kind of Learners
By: Suraj Kumar
Tags: Angular, Online Courses, Programming, Web Development, JavaScript

From last couple of decades web engineering is dominating how we use softwares to make our life easier or to solve a business problem, Web has solution for everything. Web is one of the evergreen field of this digital era. But with the time web engineering also evolved and getting mature day by day. In old times we used to develop web apps with just static HTML and then JS come into action and helped us in making Dynamic Web apps but the development is tough and not cost effective to overcome this issue many JavaScript frameworks were made and Angular is one of them which is developed by Google for effortlessly building dynamic web apps.

In this article we are going to find the best courses to learn Angular for different kind of learners.

If you are looking for a course that takes you from ground zero to cloud nine then this course is for you but make sure you good amount of patience and time because in this course you learn everything from higher level to very deep concepts, apart from all these this course will first teach you the theory of every concept with small examples then it goes to larger and complex project, so if you have plenty of time, clear insight of JavaScript basics, and eager to learn angular completely then surely go for this course. Explore this course now

If you are a beginner looking for a fast track course which teaches Angular in very less time and in a Project oriented manner then this course is for you because it will not overwhelm you by directly introducing deep and complex concept, it will explain everything during different phase of the the project so that you can learn every concept one by one instead of learning all at once, so if you are a beginner and want a working knowledge of angular in less time then surely go for this course.Explore this course now

If you have some very basic knowledge of web development and want to get your hand dirty with angular in a moderate amount of time with a proper balance of time and real life projects then this course is for you, this course will go from very basic to the peak, along the journey you will learn the usage of various third party libraries and third party services like firebase etc. More often this course is also focused on following best practices in development and production. so if you have moderate amount of time , Basic understanding of JavaScript and want to acquire complete knowledge then surely go for this course. Explore this course now

Why you should purchase a online course.

Although we are aware of the fact that online course gives you flexibility to learn from anywhere, anytime and on any device, but the best thing is the life support they provide when you are stucked somewhere then you can get your problem solved in no time. That’s why we encourage you to purchase the course and don’t try to acquire them illegally.

Thanks, and follow us for more amazing articles related to technology.
Predict Bitcoin price using Machine Learning Model
By: Chhaya Vankhede
Tags: Lstm, Keras, Machine Learning, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin has set the trend for investors to put their money and trust in the cryptocurrency over the past few years and no doubt that it is for the long run. So wouldn’t it be great if we can predict tomorrow’s price of Bitcoin? The value of the Bitcoin climbed its pick on Dec 2018.

Although there are many cryptocurrencies out there here in this blog we will be predicting the Bitcoin price using LSTM by using the numerical historical data of Bitcoin. There are several resources and API’s which provides up-to-date coin price.

LSTM is artificial recurrent neural network architecture with feedback connection. LSTM memory cell is composed of an input gate, output gate and forget gate

Here the data set is quite simple as it contains only timestamp and Bitcoin price.

Below is the visualization of the data set.

Here we will use the past 9 days data for prediction and normalize it. Below are the functions to perform this task.

Split the data into train and test set.

Create a Model

The model will consist of two LSTM layers and two dense layers. Below is the model architecture, you can try a different combination of the parameter and different model architectures. Usually, LSTM models consist of a few layers. As it is a regression problem so we will use linear as an activation function.

Now it is time to train the model, you can train model over different parameters.

After 25 epochs model is trained and now we can use it to predict next day’s Bitcoin price. Do not forget to save the model so you can use it later.

To predict for tomorrow’s price we need past 9 days data. Below new_sample is past 9 days data. We will normalize it and then we will predict. As it will give the value between 0 to 1 we need to de-normalize it to get the real value

Although it gives the pretty good results they are quite different than actual values. Therefore, the model needs to be improved.

Note: It is not advisable to invest based on this prediction, one should always take the assistance of a qualified advisor for investment.

Thanks for reading this article.

AI and machine learning enthusiast. View all posts by csvankhede

Published
The Perfect Pitch
By: Dan Leicht
Tags: Work, Coffee, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story

Greg paced in his office, a caged tiger hoping for a lightbulb of inspiration to strike. The meeting that would keep his marketing business afloat was in thirty minutes and he didn’t have a single idea.

“Coffee, coffee, coffee,” he said, the words sailing on exhales, “everybody likes coffee. What’s to sell? It sells itself. Early Risers.” The name of the brand rolled around in his head. “Early Risers. Early Risers.”

There was a knock at the door. He looked through the glass to see his secretary, a young man fresh out of college who was looking for a day job while he filled his nights with open mics at the local comedy clubs. Was it time already? How could that be? Greg nodded, gesturing Brad to enter.

“They’re here early,” said Brad. “What should I tell them?”

“Early? What’s the point in showing up early? The coffee in the break room isn’t even on yet.”

“So…”

“I’ll be there in a second.” Greg returned to his pacing, then the lightbulb went off.

He entered the boardroom, where three corporate suits were sitting, each with a cup of coffee sitting in front of them, their own blend curtesy of Brad’s early morning grocery run.

“Gentleman,” he said, “and lady,” he cleared his throat. “What’s the point in showing up early if you don’t have a coffee?” He looked around. “That was it. What do you think?”

Confused gazes shot his way and made their way up his spine.

“I like it,” said one of the suits.

The second suit nodded.

“Simple. On brand. I’m in,” said the third suit.