fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
St. Paul’s Chapel
By: Haytham Ad-Din, The Photographic Muslim
Tags: Christianity, Religion, Photography, History, Episcopal Church

These photos were taken on a single day utilizing both a wide angle lens and a standard zoom lens. Some of the exterior photos were taken just after sunrise to avoid traffic and roadwork obstructions, while the interior photos were taken swiftly right after 10am opening time to minimize the capturing of staff, contractors, and other visitors. The Chapel of Remembrance was not featured as it is temporarily being used for storage. Acknowledgment and gratitude go to the Parish of Trinity Church Wall Street for sharing this photo-essay via Twitter and Facebook.
A petition for London independence signed by more than 35000 after Brexit vote
By: Zeyad Salem
Tags: Politics, Brexit, London

“ Let’s face it — the rest of the country disagrees. So rather than passive aggressively vote against each other at every election, let’s make the divorce official and move in with our friends on the continent.” Said James O’Malley who started the petition after the UK voted earlier today to leave the European Union.

The petition on Change.org is gaining popularity among Londoners

The number of people signing the petition has been on the rise and it is expected to reach its goal of 50 000 signatures within the coming few hours.

London is the only city in England who voted remain in the EU referendum.

Many users has been circulating the petition on social media under the hashtag #londependence

Meanwhile, an event under the name London Stays on Facebook,calling for a meeting at Traflgar square on June,28 has made it clear that it is not a call for London to become an independent state.

The petition comes as the Scottish prime minister saying that a second independence referendum for Scotland is likely to take place.

London, Scotland and Northern Ireland are the only areas who voted for the UK to remain in the EU.
Grandpa Enlightens the Youngsters
By: Gordon Mcfarland
Tags: Tanka, Poetry, Humor, Weather, Nostalgia

You call this a storm?

You think we’re in a blizzard?

This ain’t bad weather.

Now back when I was a boy….

We had storms! We had weather!

Here in New England, where I live, we woke to the first heavy snowfall of the season this morning. This Nor’ Easter as they’re called had been predicted for at least a week and, as is so often the case, brought the dread of world’s end upon us all. At least according to weather reports.

It did leave nearly a foot or more of snow, the roads and driveways weren’t plowed and visibility was poor. So it was no joke. On the other hand there was no wind to speak of and it wasn’t bitter cold.

I had to drive my son to work, take a friend to an appointment and pick my son up and taxi him to some errands. In the course of this driving I found myself relaying to my passenger’s accounts of storms I’ve known and definitely did not love at the time. But I guess I do love telling about them to anyone who will listen.

Then I got to thinking about that and had to laugh at myself.

The above Tanka is the result.
The Rainbow Startup Culture
By: Soon To Be Deleted
Tags: LGBT, LGBTQ, Life, Business, Startup

Years ago, I came across a salon in the city of Pune, India that was run by a group of Transgender women. This salon was special because it catered exclusively to the needs of other transwomen. It was in the news in 2011, but if you google it today, you won’t find any sign of it.

This is because the demand for such services in the transgender clientele was low in those days. This was also before Section 377 was scrapped by the Supreme Court of India, a regressive law that made consensual sex between two homosexuals punishable by law with a prison term of up to 10 years.

Ever since the law was scrapped, the LGBTQIA+ community in India has found its voice and people have started exploring new business opportunities.

There is such a vast untapped potential in the form of the Pink Economy. A Government survey conducted in 2012 estimated that there were about 2.5 Million Gay people in India. This value did not include Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender individuals. According to a 2017 poll, around 4.5% Adult Americans identified as LGBTQIA+. If the same percentage is assumed for the Indian population, the number comes up to around 60 Million.

60 Million! That equals the populations of entire countries in Europe.

This is a massive market that remains untapped in India. Imagine LGBTQIA+ individuals coming together and forming business ventures exclusively for their community. This is something huge that would create a lot of revenue. I would love to call this power that the Queer community holds. “The Rainbow Power.” I wonder whether the term would stick?

The gears have already been set in motion.

LGBT+ inclusive nightclubs are popping up all over the country. Keshav Suri, one of the leading hoteliers in India, has been at the forefront of this movement. He himself identifies as Gay and has done wonders for the community. His brand of night clubs, called Kitty Su has captured the majority of the share in this market in the country.

Photo by Sarthak Navjivan on Unsplash

There is still a huge possibility for growth.

If things go right and if there is no intervention from the Government, I could see India becoming the hottest LGBTQIA+ destination in the world. And this isn’t just profitable for the LGBTQIA+ communities — even entrepreneurs and businesses not connected to the queer community can benefit. They can do that by making their markets LGBTQIA+ inclusive, because right now they are missing a big chunk of the pie by being stubborn.
Improving Your Feel For The Waters
By: Jeff Yablon
Tags: Context, Improvement, Authenticity

Content may be king, but without context you have little more than click-bait. Let’s get an improved feel for the water.

Yeah, I’m being clever, but that’s the point of this post — and a big piece of what we help our clients accomplish. Every day, you feel your way through the business changes all around, and unless you get an improved feel for the water you’re going to have a problem. A big one. You’ll be splashing around in circles, not ever really getting anywhere.

Not the kind of business change you’re after.

Improved feel for the water is about really understanding your customers

You know I’m not talking about literal water, of course. Nor are we looking for Band-Aids here. The context behind this improved feel for the water is about really understanding your customers.

I’m still good with the idea that occasionally context doesn’t matter. But generally, if you aren’t both transparent and authentic you’re on the way to building a problem.

If you’ve read my musings on business change and life for any appreciable period you get where I’m going. Lots of this is fine-line stuff. On one hand you shouldn’t ever swear in writing, but on the other, Fuck You Anthony Bourdain. On one hand, business is a holistic pursuit, but on the other, sometimes you need a pure geek. You know … to get geek things done.

Improved Feel For The Water

Think of business and business change like romance (and it is!)

Think of business and business change like romance (and it is!). I once dated a woman for about a year who, several years later, told me no-one else had ever “gotten her” the way I did. I wasn’t sure exactly what her goal was revealing that, so let’s go with “being authentic” as a practice. Or maybe she was trying to get me back (I’m a catch, right!??!). Or something else entirely was going on.

But “getting her” — getting your clients and prospects — matters, whatever the reason is for someone caring that you do. And you’ll never get that improved feel for the water unless you care — and work at it.

Which, speaking of practice, is the point. I’ve long said I don’t want doctors “practicing medicine” on me; I want them to know what they’re doing. But without continuing practice you become stagnant. So please: keep practicing.

Keep feeling that water. And if you aren’t sure which toe to stick where … start by feeling this.
2020 ABD Başkanlık Seçimlerinde Muhtemel Adaylar Kimler?
By: Hasan Hüseyin Lif
Tags: Cumhuriyetçi Parti, Amerika Seçimleri, Türkçe, Demokrat Parti, Bağımsızlar

Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.

Check your inbox

Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription.
Paypal enables cryptocurrency / Eth2 ready to launch/ Singapore's biggest bank launching a crypto exchange
By: Gaurav Agrawal
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Coinmonks, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

Paypal enables cryptocurrency / Eth2 ready to launch/ Singapore's biggest bank launching a crypto exchange

Harvest Finance Exploit / Stop the EARN IT Bill before it will break the encryption

Paypal launching a service that will enable customers to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies directly from their Paypal accounts.

DeFi protocol Harvest Finance was exploited and the attacker drained $33.8 million from the protocol and then returned $2.5 million.

A team of analysts at J.P. Morgan’s Global Markets Strategy group is touting Bitcoin’s emergence as an alternative to gold among millennials, suggesting a “doubling or tripling” in the price of the cryptocurrency if current trends continue.

Bitsgap introduces the Futures trading terminal and Futures trading bots coming soon.

Coinrule Crowdfunding Campaign — Invest In The Most User-Friendly Trading Bot

Coinrule developed an innovative interface that allows building automated trading strategies without coding skills in just a few steps. After launching the most user-friendly smart-assistant for trading and growing to become an outstanding option for crypto traders, UK-based Coinrule is currently expanding, launching a Seedrs crowdfunding campaign that will further boost features. The campaign is already 140% funded by over 300 investors. Invest here.

Try Quadency, a trading terminal build for traders to automate their crypto trading. Read our Quadency review.

Latest News 📰

Good Reads 📑

Developers

Source — Paypal will not allow you to withdraw your crypto to any other 3rd party wallet

Miscellaneous

eWasm Virtual Machine and Debugger for Ethereum 2.0

TypedMemView — a library for interacting with the EVM’s linear memory in Solidity

A Gas friendly WETH Contract

Mamba — A Web 3.0 Mystery Game.

ETH.Build — Free course by Austin Griffith

Loan Shifter — change your collateral or debt asset and shift between protocols using DeFi Saver

MultiBaas for Google Sheets

Podcasts & Videos 💽

Hackathons, Events & Summits

Crypto Deals and Discount 🔖

Get 25$ credit which you can use for fees when you join Mudrex

Get 25% off on Botsfolio using this link.

using this link. Try Altrady and get a 40% discount(when buying an annual plan) using coupon code COINMONKS

Product Reviews and other crypto software📙

Wanna us showcase your product? Contact us on Twitter @coinmonks

The picture says it all 📷

Jobs 👷

Get published on Coinmonks

If you like to write educational articles on crypto/blockchain space and wanna get published on Coinmonks publication. Just mail me at gaurav@coincodecap.com or DM me Twitter
Math Behind Euclid’s Theorem
By: Manoj Vignesh K M
Tags: Math, Programming

We were taught in our programming classes that, to calculate gcd of two integers efficiently use the Euclid’s algorithm.

Magic:

The Euclid algorithm is programmed as follows:

Take a step back and think for a minute. Why does it work?

How did you do that?

I will explain this with the magic as the starting point to end up stating the Euclid’s theorem. Reverse Engineering!

Rewriting the code

Now carefully understand the following,

‘%’ is not a basic arithmetic operator in mathematics. Consider the following implementation of ‘%’ function:

Now, Let’s replace the mod function with its implementation in the former code snippet.

Wrap-up

To understand better, let us optimize the code to make analysis easier. Observe that b takes the value of a after n a’s are removed from it, and a is given the processed b value. Consider the second iteration. If the values were swapped, the code runs as expected. But, if they were not swapped, then we need to make an edition such that tmp takes a, the condition becomes tmp ≥ b, and the loop-code is tmp = tmp-b. Let’s make these changes to the code and merge the loops.

Take a moment to understand and verify the code snippet.

Thus, we observe that gcd(a, b) = gcd(a-b, b) = gcd(a, b-a).

Let, d be a factor of both a and b. Hence, d|a (d divides a) and d|b (d divides b).

In mathematical form, a = dx, b = dy, where x, y are Integers (Z).

a - b = dx - dy

=> a - b = d(x - y)

and,

b - a = dy - dx

=> b - a = d(y - x)

Hence, d|a, d|b, d|(a-b) and d|(b-a). The least positive d that we finally end up is the GCD of a and b.

Now traceback through the blog, to understand why Euclid’s GCD theorem works.

I hope you enjoyed this. More of this to come, so stay tuned!
How Marketing Analytics Helps Businesses Make Data-Driven Decisions and Grow
By: Maryna Sharapa
Tags: Marketing Analytics, Business Strategy, Owox Bi, Marketing, Business

Why Marketing Analytics Is Necessary

Thanks to marketing analytics, you can avoid guesswork and pay special attention to unprofitable marketing campaigns, uncover patterns and valuable insights into your marketing strategy, adjust your advertising campaigns, and get more revenue.

The importance of marketing analytics is illustrated by recent research by Gartner, Adage, and The Trade Desk.

As marketing costs decrease, the share of those costs for analytics and marketing technology is growing.

37% of company executives who don’t meet the growth plan believe the CMO should be changed first. Therefore, it’s crucial for marketing directors to implement plans and achieve growth goals.

78% of marketing directors have raised ROMI by using marketing analytics to shape their strategy.

How to set up an analytics system and what tools to use depend on the goals you set for your company. But two rules apply to everyone: You should ensure the quality of your data and combine it in a single system.
Germantown Info Hub Radio Hour: 198th District state rep candidates
By: Nichole Currie
Tags: Primary Election, Pandemic, Germantown Info Hub, Pennsylvania, Coronavirus

On Thursday, May 21, co-researcher for the Germantown Info Hub Letrell Crittenden spoke with Supreme Dow and Darisha Parker, candidates for the Pennsylvania House 198th district seat, a legislative district serving Germantown, East Falls and several other nearby neighborhoods.

Crittenden discussed each democratic candidates post-pandemic plans if selected for office, their campaign effort and how to tackle hyperlocal issues like trash, gentrification or youth assistance.

Additionally, the Info Hub touched base with local businesses since the last radio show in April. Miles Butler and Jeff Podlogar spoke with Crittenden about their business, Germantown Expresso Bar.

The expresso bar is closed and all their baristas are on unemployment. Podlogar said the pandemic effects have been interesting, but the coffee shop owners are selling coffee by the pound to hyperlocal neighbors. Butler said it is beneficial but is only bringing in a fraction of what shop usually makes in sales.

“That’s been been going nowhere near what our operations were,” Butler said. “To give you an idea of what April was as a month, what we did in sales over the whole month was about what a little under a week would be.”

The Germantown Info Hub, in partnership with G’town Radio, will continue to host community call-in discussions during the coronavirus outbreak. To suggest a topic, email us at Gtown.infohub@gmail.com and follow #Gtowninfohubradio.

If you’d like to listen to previous Info Hub radio call-in episodes, visit their YouTube channel.
Why Grind When You Can Repurpose? Even if Gary Vaynerchuk Says You Should…
By: Jeff Herring
Tags: Writing, Content Repurposing, Content Marketing, Content Strategy, Repurposing Strategy

Content Repurposing Strategy

Why Grind When You Can Repurpose? Even if Gary Vaynerchuk Says You Should…

Jeff’s Daily Content Repurposing Quote for December 29, 2021

Pixabay with Permission

This quote is from an Instagram Story and Highlight:

“Why grind when you can repurpose?”

- Jeff Herring

As a Content Creation, Repurposing, and Profit expert, it drives me nuts when GOO-ROOS preach the false religion of grinding all the time.

The big idea here is one big myth online is you have to grind it out daily 24/7/365. Grinding is only good for sausages.

Are you a sausage?

Here’s how this applies to us, content creation & profit:

* Content Repurposing is “hyper-sanity” — working smarter instead of harder by using the same content over and over again strategically and getting great result and profits.

So, let’s put this into action:

1. Become good at content repurposing

2. Create “opt-in lead magnets” with repurposed content

3. Create courses and other info-products with repurposed content

Oh, and just one more thing…

If you’re an online entrepreneur whose goal is to turbocharge this process, take a couple of minutes to join the “Repurpose with Purpose” community today at RepurposewithPurpose.com — this makes it easy for you to profit with your content without grinding 24/7.
Data-Driven Content Marketing
Tags: Marketing, Martech, SaaS

Originally published at ajayagarwal.net on May 20, 2014.

Today, one of our most exciting portfolio companies, Captora, publicly announced its Series B funding led by NEA.

We have had the good fortune of working with the Captora founders since late 2012. We knew Anindo Mukherjee, Captora’s CTO from his time at Bloomreach and he brings incredible strengths in machine learning and data science. We introduced Anindo to Srihari Kumar, Captora’s head of product who was previously a founder of a marketing automation company, LeadFormix. Srihari brings strong product expertise and domain experience in the marketing automation space. And to round out the team is Paul Albright, Captora’s CEO, who previously was the CRO of Marketo and who has successfully helped a number of successful software companies scale including Informatica and Success Factors.

It’s been incredible to watch the evolution of Captora from their early days working in our Palo Alto office in late 2012 to their Series A funding in spring of 2013 and now year later, having accomplished an array of amazing milestones culminating in today’s launch and their new funding.

The problem Captora is addressing is very simple: how can b2b CMO’s more intelligently manage, create, and optimize their content across channels to increase conversions while improving productivity. Every modern b2b CMO knows that the key to building the “top of funnel” is content marketing. Yet these CMOs don’t have the tools to help them figure out which content to create, where that content should be placed, how well that content is performing, and which content should be retired. As a result, the process today is manual and ad-hoc and ultimately sub-optimal. For most CMOs, content marketing today is not a “machine” that can be managed, scaled, and measured the way other key processes within sales and marketing are managed today.

What makes this problem especially tough is the fact that marketing content is typically unstructured, the volume of content is massive, and this content is incredibly dynamic (based on changes in market, competition, product features, etc).

Captora has created the first data-driven marketing solution to help CMOs 1. Determine where they have content gaps relative to their competitors 2. Quickly and easily create new content to address these gaps. 3. Measure the efficacy and conversion rates of each piece of content and 4. Extend the reach via a range of channels for high performing content. For the Captora customers that use the system, the solution is “magical” and results in more leads, higher conversion rates, and ultimately more revenue.

We are proud to be working with Anindo, Srihari, and Paul and the entire Captora team. Thanks to Captora, content marketing will never be the same!
Bitcoin Technical Analysis
By: Ledgerfund Technical Analysis
Tags: Bitcoin

As you can see in the chart below there are clear divergences visible in the RSI (Relative Strength Index) which tells the momentum of the trend and Stochastic RSI. The price is making a higher high but the RSI is making a lower low which is a clear indication of bearish divergence. Also, we can count a 5 Wave impulse upwards.

Price will most probably fall to the indicated blue box(0.382 and 0.236 fib levels).

As you can see in the chart below there are clear divergences visible in the RSI (Relative Strength Index) which tells the momentum of the trend and Stochastic RSI. The price is making a higher high but the RSI is making a lower low which is a clear indication of bearish divergence. Also, we can count a 5 Wave impulse upwards.
Girl Fight
By: Jenny Justice
Tags: Girls, Poetry, Parenting, Bullying, Growing Up

Glares and gossip fill the room, somehow this is

how to deal with feelings, somehow this is not stopped as

learning takes a backseat to these daggers in the air, 5th grade

girls once friends, now not, once friends again, now not again the process

is exhausting

I tell my daughter about what a good friend is, what a safe friend is, what it means to grow up and have to sort all of this out, which means often, losing

friends one by one, like leaves falling from a tree, we start out young and earnest and sweet, we start out thinking we can be,

and then this slight, this fight, this incident, that lie and nothing is clear anymore about who is a friend and who is not and when a friend is a friend

and when she is something a bit more frightening something a bit more difficult to navigate, blood

is in the water and little girls can be sharks,

and this is the worry this is the fear one girl is out, she’s somehow the target of the gossip and glares, she’s selected for the nightmare

I tell my daughter I am sorry she has to go through this, I tell her she has not done anything to deserve these ups and downs, this toxic air, this heavy heart in the classroom,

taken over by girl fight.
NZMM Artist Profiles: October
By: Mitch Ley
Tags: October, Nzmm, Msc, Music, Pop

NZMM Artist Profiles: October

The unlikely pop genius making waves with her infectious industrial bops.

I’m not sure if she’d like me describing her music as pop (or even a bop for that matter) but when it’s so catchy and enjoyable, there really isn’t any other choice. We’re living in a strange time for pop music, where the charts are full of sounds that just 5 years ago would have been considered subculture. October is one of New Zealand’s best examples of this. Her music is a euphoric and raw experience dressed in barbed wire and sheet metal. The latter comes across heavily in the visual brand, which is intimidating, but the ear worm vocals will keep you listening.

Born in Blenheim, October (real name Emma Logan) was a music student in Wellington before she dropped out, moved to Auckland and signed with Universal. In 2016 she dropped the innovative EP Switchblade, and then started to turn heads with her single Cherry Cola. The track was one of the best pop hits to come out of NZ that year. It was recognised by i-D and NME, loved by Lorde, and led to performing with Broods and at Red Bull Sound Select.

I got the chance to see October perform at a small show in Auckland last year. It was an interesting experience. The songs she had released were mostly downbeat, and forced her into a more mellow live set. I could tell October’s energy was bubbling at the surface just desperate to explode, which it did when she played Cherry Cola. Her eccentric personality and dancing make for a great show, and I’m looking forward to seeing her perform again.

As I’m writing this I’m wondering if October had any idea that Cherry Cola would become the lead single for here debut album Ultra Red. The 11 track project dropped last month to a hot reception from fans and critics alike. The production is excellent across the board on Ultra Red. Because first and foremost, October is a bedroom producer. She spent several sessions working with other producers on this album, to the point where it was finished, but then took it back just weeks before its release date to reproduce the entire thing by herself.

It’s a good thing she did too. The album sounds like nothing else out there right now. The combination of rock’s anthemic feel, punk’s angst, trip-hop’s sub-bass percussion, and pop songwriting disguised by reverb and delay lends itself to October’s unique sound.
Here Are Seven Memes To Remind Us Of Key Lessons From History
By: Kesh Anand
Tags: Funny, Memes, Lessons Learned, History, World

Here Are Seven Memes To Remind Us Of Key Lessons From History

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Here are 7 lessons we should never forget

Memes are a dime a dozen on the internet these days — but precious few relate to history.

In an effort to remedy the dearth of nerdy history memes, I’ve created seven new ones below in the hopes that they will both entertain and serve as important lessons for all students of history.

Here we go:

#7: How to invade Russia

#6: Don’t dare someone to cross a red line — if you can’t enforce it

#5: Don’t write a blank cheque if you can’t cash it

#4: Careful taking territory that doesn’t belong to you

#3: A treaty doesn’t count if you’ve got your fingers crossed

#2: It isn’t always the safest to be the one in control

#1: Don’t poke a sleeping bear
A Tribute To Gratitude
By: Victoria Ponte
Tags: Happiness, Disability, Gratitude Journal, Gratitude, Self

Peter Jones for Unsplash

A Tribute To Gratitude

There are benefits to staying grateful

Last night I forgot. Or I was just too tired. As I was closing my eyes I remembered my gratitude journal and how I should have written down the three things I was grateful for yesterday.

I have been keeping up this practice of writing down three things before I go to bed. I find it to be relaxing at minimum and happiness inducing at other times. Falling asleep while those three things are still on my mind is very soothing.

According to an article in Psychology Today, there are seven proven benefits of gratitude:

Gratitude opens the door to more relationships Gratitude improves physical health Gratitude improves psychological health Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression Grateful people sleep better Gratitude improves self esteem Gratitude increases mental strength

For details, see here:

I began keeping the gratitude journal in the midst of this difficult year when it was all too easy to fall into complaining about the hardships the pandemic has wrought.

I have had decades of practice staying grateful since I became disabled by a severe stroke at age 35 in 1999. I am always grateful for being given another day to live. I appreciate being able to function. Every. Day.

Even though I was filled with gratitude last night for the lovely presence and presents granted to me over Christmas, I harbored a bit of regret over not writing my three things in my journal.

It was then I decided that I should write a full on tribute to gratitude.
A blockbuster…
By: Andy Anderson
Tags: Show, Funny, Humor, Comics, Storytelling

If you purge your soul onto paper and are doing it for the love of writing. Then this publication is for you. We love gritty, raw, emotional, thought-provoking, rebellious, sexual, spiritual, nature-related writings and comic strips.

Follow
The ISW: W2 2019 NFL Odds & Data
By: John Culver
Tags: NFL, Sports Betting, Handicapping, Lean Startup, Alternative Investments

***Last updated at 1pm EST on 9/15***

FERN’s COMMENTARY

W2 UPDATED POWER RATINGS

TWO TEAM 6 POINT TEASERS

FERN’s W2 PLAYS

THE ISW W2 VALUE LEANS

THE ISW W2 BIG BOARD

KELLY GROWTH CRITERION MODEL W2 INVESTMENTS & UPDATES

W2 POWER RATINGS

FERN’S COMMENTARY— Situational Handicapping

Week 2 of the NFL — the week of overreactions. Bettors spend months waiting for the season to start, analyzing draft selections, off-season moves, and preseason games…only to throw out all of their analysis after Week 1.

You’ll hear the same narratives all week: the Steelers aren’t the same without AB, we should never have fallen into the “Browns” trap, yada yada. This is when contrarian betting and fading the public opinion become highly valuable. Avoid the temptation to overreact to Week 1 results and follow the data.

Before the lines were posted, there were two teams I knew would be undervalued in Week 2 — the Atlanta Falcons (ATL) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (PIT) — both teams are:

Teams that historically shine on their home turf, but fall flat on the road;

Teams with playoff aspirations coming off a Week 1 road loss hosting teams coming off a Week 1 home win;

Teams with elite QB / WR combos versus porous secondaries.

Trends can be deceiving, but if there is sound logic supporting them, they can be a powerful statistic.

ATL is 10–1 against-the-spread (ATS) in home openers since 2008. PIT is 16–9 ATS off a loss since 2014 and a 1pm ET start for Seattle. The Over is 24–11–1 in PIT home games as favorites since 2014.

Situational handicapping can help you find values but finding the optimal size and structure of your bets is equally important as the picks themselves in terms of maximizing your return on investment (ROI).
The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Great Designer (Part 1 of 3)
By: Jon Moore
Tags: Design, Design Tools, UX, Branding, Craft

Starting any profession is a lot like going to a buffet for the very first time, where a myriad of choices are available.

Hot food. Cold food. Salad. Desserts. A fresh tray of bacon. Is that soup?! Big plates. Small plates. Adorable little ramekins. Oh my, soft serve ice cream!

Things can feel pretty overwhelming, and you are almost certain to make bad decisions the first time around. What should you eat? How much? Can this buffet sushi be trusted?

The secret to buffets is learning something new each go around, so your approach improves over time. Over time you learn what to get, what not to get, and how much mac and cheese your body can handle in a single sitting.

Learning design can feel exactly the same way. The first time around you take on way more than you can handle, make poor decisions, and waste time focusing on the wrong things.

Allow me to offer some guidance with a cheat sheet of everything I’ve learned from countless trips to the design buffet that have made me a better, more efficient designer:
Don’t Lose Sight of Syria Just Yet
By: Dan Feininger
Tags: Syria, War, Foreign Policy, Russia, Conflict

Don’t Lose Sight of Syria Just Yet

Damascus and Syrian Kurdistan are the key pieces holding Russia in check.

The Kremlin

Syrian conflict has historically remained a touchy subject in American foreign policy. This persists today. American leadership in the current climate is right to be hesitant regarding a third major front in the Middle East that shows no signs of abating.

But this doesn’t mean we should take our eyes off of Syria. The country sits physically at the strategic crossroads of a greater MENA, and the battlefield is one that draws Russian, Turkish, Iranian, and Saudi (all alongside American) personalities into varying and eternally shifting degrees of coordination and conflict with one another. The Syrian state has for years maintained a delicate balancing act that affords the tiny minority Alawite community in the northeast corner of the country centralized power over its entirety.

The Alawite community is congregated in Latakia — the city and its slim coastal flatland that plays primary host to Russian military elements in Syria. Latakia, Russian interest, and the rugged spine of highland that detaches it from the remainder of the state are critical to understanding the pincer unleashed by Turkish forces during the brief withdrawal of American personnel.

Admittedly, it is possible that a sudden US evacuation was designed as a ruse to create movement among ISIS leadership — in particular Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who was successfully killed during these unexpected realignments. However, the lasting damage that it has wrought elsewhere was too steep a price to pay for a head of dwindling importance.

By repositioning American troops elsewhere, we left Kurdish allies without any support and trapped between an unmoving Russian contingent and a rapid American retreat. Kurdish fighters had been instrumental in routing ISIS gains across northern Syria, and our absence created dramatic lane for Turkish armor and men to exploit. Their deployment crippled a number of key footholds for the Kurdish rebellion that had almost unilaterally pushed back ISIS combatants and then built and maintained systems of government in spaces that Syrian state authority has completely lost.

The real loser in this movement is the Kurdish population spread across the lower, east, third of Turkey.

Wikipedia

By allowing for the rapid deployment of Turkish military equipment, the American government has singlehandedly threatened Kurdish security inside of Turkey’s borders. As Turkish troops return to their posts, they will be traveling through spaces most heavily affected by Kurdish protest movements. Erdogan has shown himself to be highly resourceful in applying pressures on national inconveniences.

The American government has handed Turkey a golden opportunity to strategically place a bolstered military presence in its most autonomous region without the requirement of internal justification.
Commonly Used Built-in Directives in Angular
By: Nivetha Maran
Tags: Angular, Ngfor, Built In, Directives, Ngif

In this blog , we are going to briefly see in detail about a set of commonly used, built-in directives in Angular. The topics we’re going to cover are listed below:

What are directives Types of directives Component directives Structural directives Attribute directives

What are Directives?

Directives are markers on a DOM element that tell Angular to attach a specific behaviour to that DOM element or even transform the DOM element and its children. In short, it extends the html. For example, we can change the appearance or structure of a particular DOM element dynamically based on a specific condition. We’ll be seeing them in detail with examples in the below sections.

Types of Directives

There are three types of directives:

Component directives Structural directives Attribute directives

Note: We will be covering only the commonly used built-in directives in this blog.

Component Directives

These are a special kind of directive that has their own template, which has a ‘@Component’ decorator . We can define a component view with its companion template. A template is HTML that tells Angular how to render the component. Whenever we create a component, that is nothing but a directive. And we all know that Angular is all about components. And each component consists of a HTML template , CSS and TS file.

For example, in the root component below ,we have used the @Component decorator here to define a component.

Structural Directives

Structural directives alter the HTML of your application. They have the full power of creating and removing DOM elements . The commonly used built-in structural directives are *ngIf and *ngFor.

In the below example, we have assigned a boolean variable to the *ngIf directive. If the return value is true, then that particular div with text ‘Yes, I can be seen’ will be rendered in the browser.

Using *ngIf dynamically renders text on the page based on a given condition.

Another commonly used structural directive is *ngFor. The *ngFor directive is used to output an array of data onto the page.

As you can see, we have used the ngFor directive to loop over the`frameworks` array to display each value.

Attribute Directives

Attribute directives are used to change the appearance of some HTML. The most commonly used, built-in attribute directives are ngStyle and ngClass.

In the example below we have used the directive ngStyle to give the element a background color, padding and font size.

Next, in the example below we have used another attribute directive ngClass. As you can see in the template file, we have added ngClass and defined some stylings for that class as shown in the css file.

TS File:

CSS File:

Now those specified styles will be added on those elements which are wrapped using that class.

In conclusion, you now have a basic understanding of the 3 types of directives in Angular as well as some of the built-in directives and how they are used.
MVI Architecture Tutorial - Step by Step Guide
By: Amit Shekhar
Tags: Mobile App Development, Mobile, Android App Development, Android, AndroidDev

Working with the smartest people in the world to change the way we learn. EdTech products: MindOrks | AfterAcademy | CuriousJr | https://amitshekhar.me

Follow
Meridian Hackathon 2020 Finalists
Tags: Stellar, Fintech

Meridian Hackathon 2020 Finalists

Thanks to all participants, and congratulations to the finalists!

As part of this year’s Meridian, the Stellar Development Foundation is sponsoring a hackathon that challenges old hands and newcomers alike to build something showcasing at least one of Stellar’s new features.

In addition to $12,000 worth of XLM in prizes, contestants will compete for bragging rights and glory: the 5 finalists are being featured on the event website, are getting feedback from some of the top brass at SDF, and will be evaluated and voted on by the wide world of Meridian attendees.

The Challenge

Four new features were added to the Stellar protocol in 2020, and contestants had to build a project on the testnet that incorporates at least one of them. They are:

Fee bumps , which allow an account to cover another account’s transaction fees

, which allow an account to cover another account’s transaction fees Sponsored reserves , which allow an account to cover lumen reserves for another account

, which allow an account to cover lumen reserves for another account Claimable balances , which allow an account to create a balance of any asset, and to designate another account to claim it

, which allow an account to create a balance of any asset, and to designate another account to claim it Fine-grained asset authorization, which make it easier to issue regulated assets on Stellar

The Finalists

Without further ado — and in no particular order — we are proud to announce the 5 finalists for the Stellar Meridian 2020 Hackathon!

InTrip

Enabling Offline-Offline Payments for traveling anywhere in India for the masses. Completely cashless and contactless for the post COVID-19 Indian travel economy. Full submission here.

Pagas

Pagas is an online platform that facilitates the sale of products by creators directly to consumers using Stellar. Full submission here.

Waris

Waris aims to promote financial planning and management by making claimable funds self manageable, easy and safe. Full submission here.

BlockBill

A decentralized blockchain expense management system for personal and business powered by the Stellar Network. Full submission here.

Meza

Meza keeps your chama’s financial books in check. No more worrying about why your figures aren’t adding up. Full submission here.
What Happened When I Misused Instagram and Lost My Authenticity
By: Florian Führen
Tags: Writing, Authenticity, Burnout, Social Media, Human Behavior

What’s to Love About Social Media?

First off, let me say that I don’t want to turn this into one of those social-media-is-evil-posts.

If you use Instagram, Twitter, & co. for customer acquisition or for discussions with your peers, all power to you. I don’t intend to steer you away from something you enjoy.

I only hope that it could help you in case you felt misplaced on a platform you’re using because someone told you that you had to be there.

That being said… what about those social networks, huh?

I genuinely believe that social media can bring good things into your life. I’ve met some amazing people through Twitter and Medium who I simply couldn’t have met had I lived only twenty or thirty years earlier. Yes, I’m thinking of you, Rose Mary Griffith and Agnes Louis 😃

I enjoy the exchange, and I certainly profit from the advantage of observing a market that is always a few years ahead. Watching the English-speaking world blogging or publishing on Amazon is like gazing into a crystal ball. Most countries here in Europe usually follow your tactics five years later.

Especially when you’re in a non-English market, using social media is an excellent research tool.

Obviously, you don’t want to just copy the headlines into your mother tongue, but you can certainly get ahead by working on subjects that the competition in your own country hasn’t even thought of yet.

But that advantage comes with a price tag. You cannot open your door to all the creators and ideas in the world without letting in… well, the creators. And sometimes, marketing amateurs who try to play the system once again.
Bir Şiir-2: Bir Telden Sesim
By: Osman Derviş Kıtay
Tags: Şiir, Tanrı, Felsefe, Türkçe, Hayat

Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.

Check your inbox

Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription.
The Biggest Obstacle to Sales Isn’t Pricing, It’s Customer-Perceived Value
By: J.A. Taylor
Tags: Sales, Marketing, Customer Relationships, Pricing, Customer Service

How to Raise Perceived Value

In the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, large advertising companies were laying off videographers and selling video equipment. That’s when I co-founded a video production company. We ran everything through a contract model and only rented what we needed for each shoot. This kept our overhead low, allowed us to offer great prices, and serve clients who were no longer able to produce their own in-house video content.

Even though we didn’t have a local competitor who could even come close to the value we offered, we still had potential clients eschew our services, thinking we were overpriced. Instead of lowering prices we knew were fair, we took a different approach. We raised the value of our product and services by teaching clients how to shoot the best video possible, even if they didn’t want to hire us.

We crafted DIY blog posts like, “How to Get the Best Quality Video Without Hiring Us.” We showed potential customers how to position their cameras in relation to light sources. We offered suggestions on the best cameras and editing software for a low budget. We wrote lengthy explanations on how to overcome limitations with DSLR cameras. We did it all with a “no pressure, no obligation” approach. And we learned some things about how to make a sale and form great long-term relationships with clients.

There were a few customers we just couldn’t win over. They shot their own crappy videos and didn’t listen to our free advice or take our offer for free help. Their little startups didn’t survive the year. Others took all the advice we offered and tried it on their own for a little while. It wasn’t long before they realized making a great video required specialized knowledge, high-end equipment, and editing skill.

Suddenly, the value of our services skyrocketed in their eyes. They hired us and loved the finished product. Others still saw the value of our product, but truly had budget constraints. They traded services with us — created logos, wrote copy, and designed websites. Both our businesses prospered, and we referred clients to each other.

Too many businesses are greedy in their endeavors, but no one enjoys doing business with someone who is greedy. If your potential customer truly has a budget issue preventing them from hiring you, listen to their limitations. See if you can help them learn how to do the best they can with what they have. Ask questions and offer to help.

When you are open with what you know, it convinces people you are for them. This builds trust. And when a potential customer trusts you, they want to do business with you. Share your knowledge and teach a potential customer how to do your job. This displays your expertise and raises customer-perceived value. When you do this, you may just find your potential customer becomes a paying one.
Design & Research: doing UX research without users
By: Mehek Kapoor
Tags: Product Design, Design, UX Research, UX, Research

Users are an integral part of any research that is done for a digital product. Doesn’t matter if you are conducting an A/B Test or a usability test, you need to talk to the people who are using the product. But —

What if there are no users yet?

Let’s say you are yet to ‘launch’ a product in the market, or maybe you are working on a personal project. But you want to make it as close to reality as possible, and you are really interested to do some real research for it. But there’s a problem — there are no users you can talk to! Happens. And it happens more often than you can imagine.

Many companies don’t conduct a proper UX Research, and just hire designers to change UI and think about some changes in the UX on their own, without user testing. This works in some cases, but in some cases it backfires.

When there are no users to begin with, in that case a research is always ‘beneficial’

Again — not necessary, but beneficial. If there are no users to start with, you can always chalk-out some potential user-groups for your product and talk to those people about general stuff. Their lifestyle, things they like in an app or features they dislike in another app. There are many UX research methodologies that you can try, depending upon —

Number of users: If the intended number of your users is too many, it’s best to conduct a survey or a hand them over a small questionnaire to fill. If they’re less, you can always resort to more intensive research methods like a personal interview Time that you have: If you have less time, faster research methodologies are better, like usability analysis or A/B Testing for which you can hand over quick prototypes and get results fast. But if you have a lot of time in hand, you can conduct a diary study, where you observe the users for a week or more and talk to them about everything that is required for your research.

And if your potential user is using a competitor’s app already, then they become a gold mine for you. You can ask as many questions about the rival product, and make sure you solve all the user problems that they haven’t.

They will (obviously) not be able to tell you about your product because they’re not your users — but being potential users, you can design some of the product features, based upon their suggestions and user requirements. This helps in nascent stages, where you don’t have substantial data or information to start with.

Once you have a ground to set foot on, you can start constructing a building over it. And once you launch your product, then user research becomes a continuous effort, where you constantly push changes based upon user suggestions.
Whatsapp Grubumuz
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Community, WhatsApp, Türkiye, Groups

in Eudaimonia and Co
To Reinvent Your Firm, Do Two Things at the Same Time
Tags: Disruptive Innovation, Disruption, Innovation, Jc Events, Scott Anthony

by Scott D. Anthony

Scott D. Anthony, Innosight managing partner, discusses why established corporations should be better at handling disruptive threats. He lays out a practical approach to transform a company’s existing business while creating future business. It hinges on a “capabilities link,” which means using corporate assets — that startups don’t have — to fight unfairly. He also discusses the leadership qualities of executives who effectively navigate their companies’ imminent disruption. Anthony is the coauthor of the new book, Dual Transformation: How to Reposition Today’s Business While Creating the Future. (Listen to the Harvard Business Review IdeaCast)
Current Masternode Cost is Only $1002USD with this Network
By: Anonymous Duck
Tags: Blockchain, Investing, Technology, Business, Cryptocurrency

Masternodes help maintain network infrastructure, on the BlockNode network, Masternodes obtain the highest rewards possible.

The reward for each PoS (Proof-of-Stake) block is split as follows:

80% to Masternodes.

15% to staking nodes.

5% to governance.

To learn more, visit the BlockNode Telegram Channel: https://t.me/BlocknodeChatGroup