fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
An Introduction to Selection Sort
By: Karuna Sehgal
Tags: Sorting Algorithms, Technical Interview, Web Development, Coding, Algorithms

What is Selection Sort and how is it associated with Algorithms?

Selection Sort is a type of sorting algorithm. A sorting algorithm is a method for reorganizing a large number of items into a specific order, such as alphabetical, highest-to-lowest value or shortest-to-longest distance. Sorting algorithms take lists of items as input data, perform specific operations on those lists and deliver ordered arrays as output. Applications of sorting algorithms include organizing items by price on a retail website and determining the order of sites on a search engine results page.

Selection sort is a simple sorting algorithm. This sorting algorithm is an in-place comparison-based algorithm in which the list is divided into two parts, the sorted part at the left end and the unsorted part at the right end. Initially, the sorted part is empty and the unsorted part is the entire list.

The smallest element is selected from the unsorted array and swapped with the leftmost element, and that element becomes a part of the sorted array. This process continues moving unsorted array boundary by one element to the right.
Belacam V4.0 Patch Notes
By: Tyler Marx
Tags: Belacam, Web Development, Social Media, Bitcoin, Erc20

While we’ve been making big upgrades and hit big milestones over the past couple of months to Belacam.com, it’s been a while since I’ve written up some patch notes to review the latest upgrades. Let’s dive in!

Backend Upgrade from Python 2 to Python 3

Python is one of the main programming languages that powers Belacam. Python 2 was first released in the year 2000, and it has since grown somewhat outdated (obviously). Upgrading to Python 3 was no small task and affected every part of the site. Python 3 heavily boosts the speed of Belacam and the security of users’ accounts.

Enhanced Site Layout and Navigation

Today, we introduced the Left Sidebar Menu which offers easy access to Belacam’s multiple earning opportunities and Belacam finance management. This marks the start of our push to offer more ways to earn money, making Belacam a more universal and broad online earning platform.

In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be releasing a Staking section of Belacam, which helps users stake their BELA for stake rewards. BELA’s unique Smart Contract Staking method currently pays around 36% APR each year.
High Summer Thunderstorm Returns Me
By: Craig Allen Heath
Tags: Childhood, Wisdom, Nature, Poetry, Poem

What glory to feel the pressure change,

the air to capture moisture from far above,

to bring it to earth as supplicant gift.

I am desiccated as desert bones in my mid-summer skin;

only the salves of supermarkets — moisturizer and chap-stick —

aid me in this season of sun-blanched skies.

The numbers, the measurement of suffering,

bespeak and belie the nature of this moment and place;

what is one-hundred-twelve degrees to scorched Mercury?

To my body, to this bag of skin filled with water,

today is a visit to a level of Dante’s Inferno;

I wonder: will the sun deny me life as it has countless others?

But in a moment, a series of moments as magic as life itself,

a rumble from far away announces the return of a king

like the drums of the Praetorian Guard once heralded Caesar.

Thunder strikes a spark, a charge,

from high to low like the blow of a sword —

and the parched land of my life is drenched in unseasonal showers.

I take my place under the deluge;

my part in this play is to celebrate, to welcome

this gift as a priest names and sanctifies the portent.

I raise my face, my arms, to the life-giving sky in welcome;

nothing but good can come of this sacred moment,

as my outstretched tongue begs for the blessing of living water.

This high summer thunderstorm returns me

to myself as a boy, who once felt the raindrops in the air

as proof that the world is good, and is my home, and bears no grudge.
Kamu’da Bulut Bilişim
By: Evren Yildiz
Tags: Google, It, Ankara, Kamu Kurumları, Teknoloji

in Both Sides of the Table
I Escape Stress With More Stress
By: Alexandra Sifferlin
Tags: Mental Health

I Escape Stress With More Stress

Adrenaline is my antidote

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash

I suffer from the kind of stress that’s immune to meditation. Sitting quietly or “relaxing” only makes me feel more anxious. I find I only really feel better if I put my body under more stress like going on a run, watching something scary, adding to my to-do list, etc.

I’m not sure this is healthy per se, but it is, apparently, normal. In 2018 Ashley Abramson wrote in Forge about the concept of “calming up” instead of calming down. The idea is that some people need stress to destress. It’s in part credited to psychologist Peter Levine, a trauma specialist, who in the 1970s researched why animals can shake off life-or-death experiences in the wild without any long-term effects. His argument is that the physical nature of animal stress, like trembling, helps them discharge from an aroused state.

People might be similar in some ways. Abramson writes:

Doing something scary in a controlled environment — whether that’s a more physical thrill, like riding a roller coaster, or something mental, like watching a horror movie — can be another way to constructively work through your stress. Research has shown that doing something risky can help you process the emotion by reframing it as something positive. Releasing adrenaline in a controlled environment helps you see for yourself that despite negative physical sensations, you are, in fact, safe.

I shared my love for “calming up” on Twitter, and it was interesting to see people’s responses. “My old therapist was from Levine’s school of thought and honestly it’s done me a world of good,” one person shared. “When people ask ‘why do you love horror if you have bad anxiety’ here’s why.”

I’m not a horror fan, but I do find it relaxing to watch fictional crime procedurals. If I’m being honest it’s basically the only television I watch. After a particularly stressful day all I want to do is binge Vera, a British crime drama that follows an obsessive chief detective who tirelessly solves crimes and is “driven by her own demons.” I can’t quite call my obsession with Vera escapism because the show is not aspirational. Vera is unglamorous, lonely, and drinks too much. The rural English countryside is beautiful but people keep getting murdered. And yet the hour-long adrenaline rush is like an antidote.

Yet, as Abramson’s story points out, the point of “calming up” is not to just experience adrenaline, but to process stress. Experts say that ideally, you think about what’s stressing out, you experience a stimulating activity, and then you work to calm down afterward and “remind yourself that you are safe”.

This week I am stressed about the pandemic, the election, and the future of democracy. I will watch lots of Vera, go for a run, and obviously vote. Hopefully, I will calm down. Hopefully, I will be safe.
Shit! My son’s got a girlfriend!
By: This Is Me .
Tags: Growing Up, This Happened To Me, Family, Children, Relationships

Breathe… Breathe…PANIC!!!!!!

OK. This is totally wierd. I’m looking at a picture of our son on the sideboard as I type this. He was about 2 when it was taken. Sweet, angelic, smiling. Looking through the lens at me as though I was the only woman he’d ever love.

Blam. Gone. What the F**k happened!

So — a couple of months ago he comes to his Dad and I and asks if he can go to the cinema.

Dad jumps in with his usual “Who with?” and things go very, very pink rather quickly for our poor son who is trying hard to maintain his composure…

Um… (name of girl)…

Dad immediately takes the Mick… son storms off… I think that’s the end of that.

Nope.

Fast forward a couple of months. School holidays have come and gone… she’s still around.

Now, don’t get me wrong, she’s lovely, I think the world of her, and she and my son are great together.

So why the problem?

Like all parents, I think, we feel we can “let go when the time comes.”

We talk about it over grown up dinners. We laugh about our own early fumbling experiences and we go away feeling like we know what we are doing, and can handle everything.

What I had completely forgotten about in all of this, was how it would actually make me feel, knowing my son was cuddling someone else, sharing his secrets, laughing, joking and loving another woman who was not me.

Quite honestly……. it was shit…….

I am, however, slowly getting used to it.

I am learning to give him his space, to let him explore this new relationship with another human being.

I am learning to laugh when he comes to me, exasperated — “Why are girls so ODD, Mum!”

I’m learning to just watch as they walk down the road together holding hands rather than constantly fighting the urge to link arms with them too.

But most of all, I am looking again into the eyes of my sweet, beautiful boy and realising that he is becoming the man I had always hoped he would be…. kind, loving, thoughtful, generous and loyal and I am so unbelieveably proud of him.

and guess what…. It’s not shit any more….
8 Essential Indie Publishing Tools
By: Timothy S. Boucher
Tags: Writing, Productivity, Technology, Publishing, Books

6) Lulu.com for Print-on-Demand Fulfillment

There are many print-on-demand (POD) companies out there, and many articles comparing the options and results available. I looked around a lot myself, but found very few companies offering the pocket-size book that I wanted. So Lulu.com was an easy choice in the end, and I’m overall pretty happy with their system.

One thing I dislike about modern indie publishing landscape is how strong controlled it all is by Amazon via things like CreateSpace, Kindle Direct publishing, and GoodReads. Depending on your book size, Lulu still lets you plug into Amazon distribution, while allowing you to work with an independent company. However, there are long waiting periods for submitting a work and revisions through Amazon. I have not done it quite yet, but believe it’s something on the order of 6–8 weeks, which I hear is radically longer than if you just go through CreateSpace.

A word about ISBNs: Many/most POD publishers have an option for cheap or free ISBNs. But there may be differences by country in terms of what’s available. For instance, Canadians can get free ISBNs from Collections Canada. It’s so easy that’s a bit surprising — you don’t even need to verify your physical address (which is slightly concering in this day of “fake news,” but I digress).

On Pricing: While Lulu’s self-service tools are mostly fairly easy to figure out, resolving international-pricing is still a bit weird and confusing. Lulu’s base pricing is a function of format and page count. Presently, I’m only selling through Lulu directly, because I can make C$10 per book sold at the price I’m setting over their base price, versus under C$2 if it gets sold eventually through Amazon. A Canadian cover price of C$25.95 (which seems very high for a paperback — even of 346 pages) is automatically translated by Lulu to be $17.95 USD for American audiences (which seems a bit more reasonable). Though I live in Canada, I recognize that book markets are substantially larger in the US, so this is an acceptable trade-off for now. But it’s clear there are still some kinks to be worked out here, but this is good enough for a first version as I learn the ins and outs.
[BLOG] GUHADA and the Fashion Trend
Tags: Blockchain, Luxury Goods, Temco, Fashion, Guhada

Continuously changing fashion trend, led by the millennials

The millennials are becoming the main consumers of fashionable items, as their spending reached about 6 Billion USD in the fashion industry. The millennials are referred to as the generation who are born between the years of the 1980s and 2000s, and this generation is becoming the main consumers of the world’s fashion market. Recently, the millennials in Europe has started to focus on the fashion goods that are possible for continuance in the vastly changing fashion trend.

At Amsterdam in the Netherlands, there is even a store that rents and sells used clothing known as “clothes-share” stores. In such stores, anyone can borrow or purchase clothes that have been worn by someone else previously, starting from 10 Euro. Such stores as mentioned are receiving heightened attention from the young ladies of the millennial generation. In Berlin, the young Europeans travel to Rosenthaler Platz road in Berlin where many consignment stores are located, so they can purchase clothes that could upkeep with the continuous change of the fashion trend.

Another place that is following the trend is in London. The consignment stores in Shoreditch, London are filled with teens and young adults in their early 20s, shopping for clothes that do not die out with the change in trend. According to google analytics, in the past 3 years, the statistics of google search for brands that are good for continuous changing fashion trend has increased by 450%. Also, the millennials who prefer environmentally friendly products and smart spending have increased and accordingly, the fashion industry has presented the development of a policy for eco-friendly processes as well.
ICO Alert Crypto Minute: May 31, 2018
By: Zach Quezada
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Crypto Minute, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Tron (TRX) Begins Migration to Own Blockchain

Odyssey 2.0, the mainnet software for the cryptocurrency Tron, was launched early on May 31, signaling the first step in transitioning the Tron network away from Ethereum and towards its own independent network. According to an article on CCN.com, the network will be in beta for the majority of June, with token migration occurring from June 21 to June 24. The official launch of Odyssey 2.0 will take place on June 25 with the implementation of the Genesis block.

Monster Products, Inc. Planning $300 Million ICO

According to Coindesk, electronic accessory maker Monster Products, Inc. has filed with the SEC and plans to run “one of the biggest ICOs of all time”. The Monster Money Network will be an e-commerce site for selling the company’s various products. According to the report, Monster Products, Inc. has been losing money for years, but “a $300 million initial coin offering (ICO) may be what it takes to turn the company around.”

Ethereum Classic Upgrades Protocol So Mining Remains Viable

According to CoinTelegraph, Ethereum Classic has successfully implemented an upgrade to the system protocol that will ensure mining on the network remains viable. On May 29, a fork removed the “difficulty bomb” that was leftover as a “component of the original Ethereum (ETH) code that was designed to exponentially increase the difficulty of mining to the point where it would become impractically slow, thereby triggering the need to transition to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm”. According to the report, the ECIP-1041 protocol upgrade will not result in an AirDrop, or the creation of a new token.
페이스북이 스테이블 코인을 발행하는 이유
By: Cha Jesse
Tags: Stable Coin, Decon, Blockchain, Facebook

in Both Sides of the Table
Wish
By: John Bysinger
Tags: Wish, Dreams, Poetry, Follow The Path

Wish

Make a Wish!

If this world really is controlled by our subconscious thoughts, our will is the simplest way to effect change.

The purest form of intention is a wish.

So make a wish, a conscious desire for something, wish for it in the truest sense of the word.

So pick the one wish that you feel will be the best, and put your heart and soul into wishing for it.

Do it with the best of intentions, intentions for you, and those for everything that we are a part of.

Make a wish, and the belief of it will guide you down the path.

Your will and trust in it will allow you to see the way.

How can it not come true?
Erotic Tails. A AAMBC Review - The AAMBC Journal
By: Aambc Review Community
Tags: Black Books, Erotica, Black Women Writers, Anthology, Book Review

It’s fall into reading season, and here at the AAMBC, we were craving a book that would keep us warm on the cold nights. That was when we received Erotic Tails by Mz. Suepreme.

Erotic Tails is an anthology comprises of six short erotic stories. None of the stories seem to be connected, which is gives the readers a new experience with each one. From revenge tales to threesomes, from BDSM to friends-to-lovers, this collection seems to have something for everyone.

We give Erotic Tails three out of five stars. A typical, middle of the road erotic anthology, this collection of stories neither disappoints nor outshines the competition. The love scenes, though hot, were predictable for anyone familiar with the genre. The writing style didn’t create an immersive experience for the reader. On the other hand, some of the characters were memorable, the dialogue was engaging, and the sex scenes’ creativity kept us turning the page.
TKX, Tokenize Emblem ICO: Private Sale is Over!
By: Alson Chia
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, ICO

On 18 May 2018, Tokenize organised a meetup for our community to celebrate the closing of our Private Sales Round! We are proud to announce that we have hit our target of 1050 ETH for our Private Sales round!

Reason on why the team only need such a low amount of ETH is because the team wants to raise funds only enough to reach our next milestone and to showcase to our early investors that we can properly utilise the funds!
The Pen and The Page
By: Connie Song
Tags: Inspiration, Writing, Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Self

The Pen and The Page

A Poem

Photo by JoelValve on Unsplash

I just needed a few hours away from the grip of the pen

and the words that were wrapped around my lips,

their obsessive compulsions pulling me deeper

into the quicksand, away from the iridescent light.

Cinching the ropes tighter that bound my legs

like a mermaid’s swaddled rapture

or the water nymph’s passionate siren

that lured me into the confinement of my flat,

where I would write from dawn until moonlight.

I needed sweet release, to feel the spray of the ocean breeze,

as I planned my escape from the ink-stained page,

to frolic in the spotlight of the magical sun.

Better to feel the warm, welcoming glare,

Allow the wind to mess the hair,

Let go the balloons and the baggage,

Just let them float away,

Or fall like rain another day.

Drops of pleasure,

Pangs of pain

Will still remain.

From eyes wide open, to willfully shut,

I’m set free in the calm of the meditative mind,

until my thoughts broken, interrupted

by the randomness of self-inflicted doubt.

The race not run.

The song not sung.

The kiss on the face,

warmed by the rays

of the magical sun.

And I continue to pray, they will all still be there,

within my grasp, when I return in my bandaged scars,

to the pen and the page and the merciful sun.
Bitcoin awaitings next year
By: Igor Geronemo
Tags: Bitcoin, Year, Perspective

in Both Sides of the Table
BERT in Keras with Tensorflow hub
By: Jacob Zweig
Tags: AI, Machine Learning, TensorFlow, Data Science, NLP

At Strong Analytics, many of our projects involve using deep learning for natural language processing. In one recent project we worked to encourage kids to explore freely online while making sure they stayed safe from cyberbullying and online abuse, while another involved predicting deductible expenses from calendar and email events.

A key component of any NLP project is the ability to rapidly test and iterate using techniques. Keras offers a very quick way to prototype state-of-the-art deep learning models, and is therefore an important tool we use in our work.

In a previous post, we demonstrated how to integrate ELMo embeddings as a custom Keras layer to simplify model prototyping using Tensorflow hub. BERT, a language model introduced by Google, uses transformers and pre-training to achieve state-of-the-art on many language tasks. It has recently been added to Tensorflow hub, which simplifies integration in Keras models.

Deeply bidirectional unsupervised language representations with BERT

Let’s get building! First, we load the same IMDB data we used previously:

Next, we tokenize the data using the tf-hub model, which simplifies preprocessing:

We next build a custom layer using Keras, integrating BERT from tf-hub. The model is very large (110,302,011 parameters!!!) so we fine tune a subset of layers.

Now, we can easily build and train our model using the BERT layer:

Using a GPU for large models like BERT is advised!

Pretty easy! See the full notebook on Github and build cool stuff!
I numeri nella foresta
By: Dave Fuschi
Tags: Wild Mazzini, Numeri, Podcast

We exhibit solo and group projects by emerging or international artists who use data to create artworks that transfigure complex information

Follow
Noël
By: Connie Song
Tags: Noël, Prompt, Poetry, Xmas, Scribe

This poem was published as part of the Christmas 2020 writing challenge. Discover the three winning poems and the gifts that were distributed for the occasion. Subscribe to The Story Box just below to make sure you don’t miss the next writing prompt. Thanks for your reading!
Will UI Designers be Unemployed Soon? (and other UX links this week)
By: Fabricio Teixeira
Tags: UX, Design, UX Design

What’s hot in UX this week:

When the first iPhone came out in 2007, the demand for UI designers skyrocketed. Every team needed someone to design the hottest skeuomorphic apps. Plenty of conversations probably revolved around creating a realistic wooden bookshelf to make a certain app look just like real furniture.

But as years passed and the world grew flatter and simpler, it became very clear — all the designer needs to do is to follow the rules. And the rules are very simple:

• Live by the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

• Stick to the brand guidelines

• Make sure not to screw up the UX

Got all of these right? Great job! You can work as a UI designer in a top tech company in the Valley, and earn plenty of money.

Read full story →

via @fabriciot
The Living Hope Restores
By: Jill Kelley
Tags: Hope, Gifts, Christianity, Weekly Prompts, Centina

She was broken. Lying there on the couch crying for the third day in a row, she reached for a tissue. The box was as empty as she felt.

So, she went to the cupboard to get a towel and was frightened by her lack of strength. She was an emotional wreck, dying of despair. Hopelessness was killing her.

Then she remembered the gift that had been given to her as a child — the one she had compartmentalized and stowed away long ago, the gift of salvation. She looked, and it was still there, the greatest gift she ever got.
Humanizing the ride sharing experience: From design challenge to an app feature for Lyft
By: Francesco Stumpo
Tags: Design, Case Study, Mobile, UX, UI

Project Overview

During a good part of the last decade, corporations, start-ups, small businesses and freelancers have been asking themselves, and their businesses, how to engage more openly in an honest conversation about the different ways to express gratitude in the workplace.

The brief

How might we improve the ride sharing experience to allow both drivers and riders to communicate more authentically while removing communication barriers in the fast paced shared-transportation environment?

Team and Award

This case study originated during OpenIDEO’s San Francisco Chapter’s design sprint for the Gratitude in the workplace challenge sponsored by the Greater Good Science Center. This submission was selected as a finalist to continue to the refinement phase of the design challenge, and ultimately recognized as a one of the Top winners and Grant Recipient. The entire process, from start to finish, has been an evolving study since completing the sprint phases in late 2017.

Greater Good Science Center, University of California Berkeley.

Now more than ever

With remote and distributed work at an all time historic high thanks to the unfolding adjustments of Covid-19 around the globe, it’s been clear gratitude in the workplace is now more important than ever.

So I decided to revisit this body of work during the summer of 2020 and translate the human-centered-design process to a UX/UI framework that delivers a solution that integrates into an existing digital service.

So why Gratitude? An opportunity

The practice of gratitude strengthens our relationships, improves our health, motivates us to achieve our goals and is closely linked to boosting our overall feelings of satisfaction with the tasks at hand, however small or routinely they might be.

When looking at gratitude in the workplace, our team focused on the gig-economy population, as we recognized they are the largest growing number of employers further removed from the traditional office environment. Moreover, when employees feel valued, it benefits both them and the company, as they are more likely to stay with the business when they don’t feel replaceable.
Why Smart Contract Matters
Tags: Smart Contracts, Blockchain, Sharing Economy, P2p, Blockchain Education

in Both Sides of the Table
薩提爾學習者的迷思
Tags: 師生對話, Education, 教學現場, Sharestart

in Both Sides of the Table
Cryptocurrency Movement Over Time
By: Chandan Lodha
Tags: Visualization, Cryptocurrency, Taxes, Ethereum, Bitcoin

tl;dr — we visualized cryptocurrency movements between popular wallets

At CoinTracker, we are building the most trusted tax and portfolio manager for cryptocurrency. As part of this effort, users from 146 countries have synced their crypto wallets to monitor their portfolios. As a by-product of this effort, we have been able to make some interesting observations about the aggregate flows of cryptocurrencies over time (individual user data is completely private on CoinTracker — privacy policy, security policy).

We pulled the anonymized & aggregated dataset, worked with the world-renowned firm Stamen to visualize it, and now we would like to share it with the community.

Specifically, the visualization shows the movements of digital currency flows between popular wallets for some of the top coins over the last five years. Each node on the graph represents a cryptocurrency exchange (or local wallet). The edges represent the flow of funds transferring between the wallets, with the color indicating the coin and the thickness indicating the volume of transfers. The size of the nodes changes with aggregate transfer volume from a selected start date forward. You can filter coins by selecting/un-selecting coins in the legend, drag the slider to pick a particular time, and hover over a specific node to isolate the activity in and out of that wallet.

Some caveats:

The data set is across ~50,000 users

The data is biased to users who track their cryptocurrency on CoinTracker

There may be some errors from users who manually edited transactions indicating a wallet supported a particular coin before it actually did

Here are some patterns we have noticed in the data:

1) Price as a leading indicator for transfers

December 2017 brought the peak prices in cryptocurrency history (to date). The following month, January 2018, had the greatest inter-exchange crypto activity in blockchain history. This suggests that cryptocurrency prices are a leading indicator of cryptocurrency transferring between exchanges to take advantage of the skyrocketing volatility.

Inter-exchange cryptocurrency movement leading up to the biggest price spike in history

2) Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

The patterns of bitcoin and ether flows during the price peak in December 2017 — January 2018 are quite different. While ether has a large net outflux from local wallets (into exchanges, especially Coinbase and Binance), bitcoin had a net influx into local wallets (from exchanges). This suggests that crypto-holders at the price peak of the bull run were more eager to trade ether and more likely to HODL bitcoin. One possible explanation for this is a change in the popularity of Ethereum maximalism (Web 3.0) vs. Bitcoin maximalism (digital store of value).
Another Lifetime Ago
By: Bradley J Nordell
Tags: Hope, Poetry, Self Growth, Mistakes, Past

Another Lifetime Ago

A poem about youth, mistakes, and self-growth.

Photo by Ian on Unsplash

Its been years

and I wonder,

did you ever think about

your husband,

when we made love?

And when I finally gave up hope

after the third broken promise

and second kid,

you left him,

shattering that thin fantasy

we so carefully weaved.

Begging me,

teary-eyed

and broken of soul,

that I was your Gatsby,

a soulmate etched,

upon the Stonehenge of time.

But what damage

did you leave behind?

what wreckage was

I left to pick up

with opiate nights

and hemlock shame.

And now I see you,

married again

But no longer do I get

your letters,

ink smeared

with empty promises,

that I held unto so desperately,

as if they were the breath of life.

Because I died long ago,

when I got to close,

to your uncertain love.

But did you know,

I ended up alone,

just like him?

Now I count days

of lampshade remembrances

and empty cupboards

to never fill,

the grave I dug,

to never still

a broken heart,

inside a coffee mug,

the edges stained like us.

Because now

it’s too deep to dig any further

and too muddy to climb back

to the light.

This ring finger itches,

and will always feel

far too light.

I sacrificed it all

For a lost dream

because I didn’t know

self-love and boundaries.

But now I reap,

the prison I've sown.

And now,

All I want is to sleep

until the next recursive

universe comes around.

Maybe I’ll do it all again

a blind eye see’s

the shape of love and lust,

or maybe the next

iteration

I’ll find my Daisy

without pain and loss.

But for now,

I must burn these words

memories just my lore

as I let the past flutter

to dust

and nothing more.
Travel Technology Providers Landscape
By: Altexsoft Inc
Tags: Marketing, Travel, Travel Technology, Hospitality, Infographics

Back in 2011, Scott Brinker, a marketing technology analyst, has unveiled his first version of the Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic with about 150 companies. In 2018, the Supergraphic contains about 7,000 companies. The Supergraphic has become “a desk companion” of every marketer out there.

We at AltexSoft specialize in traveltech product development and we think that travel technology deserves a map similar to the Supergraphic. We also start small mapping the core players on the travel technology market. So, this infographic will be further expanded with more players. Currently, the material contains ten traveltech product categories, including hotel management and room reservation systems, airline reservation and management systems, global distribution systems, and products for business travel and expense management. In further iterations, we’ll expand the list within the existing categories and add the new ones.

How to use the infographic:
Bisk Healthy U & Yoga
Tags: Tampa, Bisk Healthy U, Employee Engagement, Employee Benefits, Company Culture

Bisk employees enjoy a variety of perks and benefits which include health and wellness initiatives through our Healthy U Team.

Here’s a great video of an employee who tells her story and explains the importance of having these programs.

Enjoy and thanks for sharing Lee. =)

Written by Mark
Having the Reopen Conversation
By: Ohio Federation Of Teachers
Tags: K 12 Education, Ohio, Covid 19, Teachers, Education

This is a guest blog by Terri Hook, Chair of OFT’s Education Issues Committee and Deb Tully, OFT’s Director of Professional Issues

Reopening schools in the fall will be a very delicate and complicated process. To get it right, it is essential that decisions are made collaboratively. School district administration will need to work together with educators and staff to be sure they make sound decisions and are able to implement them Because every district is experiencing different levels of impact from the virus and community comfort with resuming school, there needs to be a discussion as to what will work best locally. To that end, OFT assembled a committee of members to discuss what issues needed to be addressed as these decisions are made. The members involved represented a wide range of our locals including those from large urban districts, small rural districts and everything in between. There was representation from the full spectrum of grade levels, along with educators at Career Technical Centers. This document can be used by K-12, as well as higher education local unions. Having the Reopen Conversation is the result of the hard work of the committee.

Having the Reopen Conversation is not meant to be recommendations on how to proceed for the 2020–2021 school year. Rather, it is a series of questions in a variety of categories that should be asked as conversations occur and decisions are made. There are any number of documents that deal with health and safety concerns to draw from, but the OFT, while addressing some concerns of health and safety, also looks at considerations for delivering instruction and the social emotional well-being of our students. Questions are there to lead to discussions of flexibility and what the needed resources are to accomplish a reasonably smooth opening.

We encourage you to review Having the Reopen Conversation before you sit down with your administration. There are so many aspects of getting started this fall. We are sure the OFT document will be a help in making decisions and considering all aspects of what needs to be in place to get back to school in the fall.

For additional information, see our COVID-19 Resource page where we also have documents on how to re-open safely from AFT, CDC, and the Big 8 Plus Health and Safety Coalition.
Tendencia y distribución por medio de gráficos
By: Natalie Vielma Vinci
Tags: Charts, iPhone, Empresa, Marvel

in Both Sides of the Table
1.0.3 Crypto Central — Get orders directly from exchanges and no more Facebook Connect
By: Vincent Tellier
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Mobile Apps

✌Synchronize your exchange with Crypto Central

The 1.0.3 includes a big feature: you can get your trades from exchanges directly with your own API credentials. Feel free to read our articles regarding this process.

We integrated these 3 exchanges based on the community needs (and our own 😂 that’s true!). Tell us which one you would like to see integrated as soon as possible by email me at vincent@cryptocentral.ai

PS: If you had data from previous version of the application, go to “Synchronize”> “Legacy data”. Accept Facebook Connect, then you will get back your trades into the app — Saved on your phone! ✌️
Letter from the Medford Library Association
By: Lindsey Nolen
Tags: Events, Letters, Library, Activities

Mother Nature has played a cruel trick on the community by tempting us with warm weather and shocking us with the truth of winter. None the less, spring has arrived.

Speaking of spring, are you doing any spring cleaning? If you have gently read and loved books that you are wondering what to do with, consider donating them to the library for the Medford Library Association book sales. The MLA offers donated books for sale in the vestibule of the library at rock bottom prices. There is a good variety of titles for all ages, and proceeds go directly to funding our programing. We are in special need of cook books and books for children. Won’t you consider paying it forward?

We have a new class beginning for adults on Tuesday, March 21 at 6:30 p.m. Paper Crafting at the Pinelands teaches how to make greeting cards, tags, bag books, notepads, notebooks and other paper items. You will need to bring your own scissors and double-sided tape. This is an ongoing program, so if you miss the first session, be sure to check our calendar for more opportunities to join us for the fun.

We have not one, but two Family Movie Nights coming up in April. The first is on Tuesday, April 4 at 6 p.m. when we will be showing “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” A week later at the same time the feature will be “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” These are wonderful opportunities for some quality family and community time.

A quick reminder about the fourth and fifth grade book club. They will be meeting on Monday, March 27 to talk about the book “Gregor the Overlander” by Suzanne Collins. Gregor and his sister Boots take a magical trip to the Underland where spiders, rats and roaches live peacefully with humans, but this world is on the brink of war and Gregor has a part to play in it. Can you guess what that part will be?

Until next time, keep turning those pages and stay warm.

Medford Library Association
ICO Alert Crypto Minute: June 9, 2018
By: Kyle Protho
Tags: Netherlands, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Crypto Minute, Lithuania

Lithuanian Finance Ministry Releases Guidelines for ICOs

The Lithuanian Finance Ministry has released comprehensive guidelines for ICOs in an effort to attract blockchain-based startups. According to Xinhua, Lithuania is now the first country in the E.U. to publish such guidelines for ICOs. The guidelines cover regulatory, corporate, indirect taxation, accounting and anti-money laundering aspects for ICO projects. For instance, in those guidelines, authorities claim that funds raised through ICOs are subject to corporate or personal income taxes, and value added tax. The guidelines also outline the conditions under which cryptocurrencies can be described as security, and consequently subject to regulations on financial markets instruments, securities, collective investment subjects.

De Nederlandsche Bank Declared Blockchain Is Not Ready to Meet Demands of Large Financial Market Infrastructures

The central bank of the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), declared that blockchain technology is not ready to meet the demands of large financial market infrastructures. According to ETHNews, the DNB attempted unsuccessfully to develop four different distributed ledger prototypes over the past three years. After these attempts, the DNB concluded that DLT, while more secure than traditional technologies, is neither sufficiently scalable nor energy efficient.

Chile-Based Exchange Orionx Sues Six Chilean Banks for Abusing Market Power

Orionx, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Chile, has filed a lawsuit with the country’s Court for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC) against six major Chilean banks. According to Bitcoin.com, the six banks being targeted in the lawsuit are Bancoestado, Banco de Chile, Banco Bice, Itaú Corpbanca, Santander, and Scotiabank. The exchange asserts that these six banks are abusing their market power by prohibiting exchanges from using banking services, thereby impeding free market competition in the country’s cryptocurrency industry.
Bioinformatics 1: K-mer Counting
By: Gunavaran Brihadiswaran
Tags: Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, Programming, Computer Science

Bioinformatics 1: K-mer Counting

A challenging yet intriguing interdisciplinary problem

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

K-mer counting is an interesting yet challenging problem in bioinformatics. In this article, we’ll talk about what k-mers are, the problem of k-mer counting, its applications, and some interesting insights from the computer science perspective.

What are k-mers?

In simple terms, k-mers are substrings of length k in a given string (can be DNA, RNA, protein, or any string sequence). Since our interest is towards bioinformatics, we will converge our attention to k-mers in a DNA sequence.

Consider the DNA sequence “ACGAGGTACGA” which consists of 11 nucleotides. Let’s try to obtain all the 4-mers (substrings of length 4) in this DNA sequence.

4-mers in the sequence ACGAGGTACGA

The idea is simple. We create a window of length 4 and slide it from left to right, shifting one character at a time. If the length of the given DNA sequence is N, we would end up with N - k+1 k-mers.

Total no. of k-mers = N - k + 1

In the above example, the given DNA sequence is 11 characters long (N=11) and k = 4, thus we get eight 4-mers (11 - 4 +1).

The Problem of k-mer Counting

K-mer counting is not one of those labyrinthine problems which are complicated and confusing. It is a very simple problem where you count the frequency of each k-mer in the given sequence. We usually look for three different types of frequencies: total count, distinct count, and unique count.

Let’s consider the aforementioned DNA sequence again.

The Total Count is simply how many times each k-mer has appeared in the given sequence. Except for ACGA, which has appeared twice, the rest of the 4-mers have appeared only once.

The distinct k-mers are counted only once regardless of how many times they appear. For example, even though ACGA has appeared twice, we count it only once. The Distinct Count provides us the information of whether a k-mer has appeared or not (not how many times it has appeared).

The unique k-mers are those which appear only once. In the above example, since ACGA has appeared twice, its unique count is zero. The Unique Count reveals which k-mers have appeared only once.

The output of k-mer counting would usually be in tabular form as in the figure above or a histogram.

Applications of k-mer Counting

This section is worthy enough to write a separate article. At this point, I’ll list some of the applications where k-mer counting is used.
Counting Gigabytes and Pretending to be Kubrick and Tarantino
By: Christopher Lundy
Tags: Film, Movies

The final months of my college undergraduate career have been filled with production and the highest project volume I’ve handled to date. Between my senior thesis film, videography work for my college, and other personal endeavors, my life at this point would be best described in the format of gigabytes rather than emotions (approximately 1.7 terabytes… but who’s counting). The reason I am aware of this phenomena is because of my latest file transfer from TCNJ and IMM alumnus Josh Lewkowicz, who’s previous senior thesis film I will integrating into my own.

When I asked him how easy it would be to send over his project folder containing raw REDCODE files, he almost laughed at me noting its size of nearly 461.95 GB. Naturally, this was a conundrum with my presentation being a week away. However, we were able to consolidate essential files to a mere 120 GB and successfully transfer over the internet via Google Drive. These next 2 or so days will be integral to completely re-edit this project to my specifications and give it the same style as the other four pieces.

Experimenting in Short Films and Direction

(2001: A Space Odyssey’s event horizon sequence)

The above image is a sequence takes from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The reason I am pointing this out to the esteemed readers of this blog post is because it is both the effect I tried to emulate and ended up using as a practical element in my latest project Obsidian. I feel as of late that my style as a shooter and editor has grown immensely and that as such, I feel more confident to take on more ambitious and experimental projects.

The trailer for Obsidian demonstrates not only how different of a direction this film takes, but the unique cinematography and practical effects that changed the way I oversaw the project as a whole. It also was a much needed refresher in the reason why we produce content to begin with.

The other project I recently participated in that changed the way I shoot was a dialogue heavy short inspired by the many great car scenes from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. The reason it changed my shooting style is that this was legitimately the first time I payed attention not only what just “looked good” but what focal lengths were being used relative to what mood was being portrayed.
What happens in Vegas?
By: Adam Meldrum
Tags: Democratic Primary, Nevada Caucus, South Carolina Primary, Google Trends, Sentiment Analysis

Follows you to South Carolina.

Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

There is a lot of interesting data to look back on from Iowa and New Hampshire.

We will dive deeper soon…

For now, at a high level:

— Monitoring search interest in Iowa and New Hampshire surfaced candidate momentum.

—In some cases, analyzing the positive/negative sentiment split in online discussion tracked with candidate “upward mobility potential” (positive sentiment lean) and also registered attacks as a candidate’s profile increased (negative sentiment jump).

For instance, leading up to Iowa, Buttigieg maintained a high “positive to negative” sentiment split and was very competitive with Bernie in search interest.

Biden showed the exact opposite.

This type of data tracked well ahead of polling, which showed Biden in 2nd all the way up to caucus day, and informed an accurate guess of Election Day results.

Revisiting RCP IA Averages:

LSSS: Internal Pre-IA Analysis and Predictions:

“1st Preference: 1.) Bernie, 2.) Warren, 3.) Buttigieg, 4.) Biden, 5.) Klobuchar, 6.) Yang, 7.) Steyer 2nd Preference: 1.) Bernie, 2.) Buttigieg, 3.) Warren, 4.) Biden Enjoy the night, friends.”

Looking at data from search trends and sentiment helped inform our guess that Biden would fall flat and Buttigieg would over perform. We correctly guessed the raw vote rank.

I say “guess” because look, I get it, this was not based on actual mathematical/statistical analysis. We looked at polling, monitored real-time trends, and mixed it all together with some good old fashioned political/campaign acumen.

In this case at least, our simple recipe resulted in a delicious bowl of “we were right” soup.

From IA to NH

Search trends tracked in-line with what you would expect moving from Iowa to New Hampshire — Buttigieg gained momentum, Biden and Warren faded, and Klobuchar came on strong.

In the end, Klobuchar’s late surge (which also showed up in our analysis) probably kept Buttigieg from besting Bernie.

These posts below wrap up our New Hampshire commentary nicely:

— In the end, we feasted once again on prediction glory:

“New Hampshire: Very close #1 and #2 respectively — Sanders and Buttigieg — if Buttigieg squeaks a win it again points to his strong ground game (which is a strong sign going into Nevada). #3 Klobuchar rises #4 Warren barely tops #5 Biden who has a lot more than 99 problems.”

— And related to Klobuchar, we noted:
IBC와 ICS
By: Junha Yang
Tags: Ics, Blockchain, Tendermint, Ibc, Codechain

in Both Sides of the Table
How to Navigate the Knowledge Economy for Your Startup
By: Brian Wallace
Tags: Gig Economy, Freelancing, Startup Lessons, Infographics, Knowledge Economy

Are you looking for a way to have a more flexible schedule, work from home, or be your own boss? Chances are you’re already an expert at something, even if it’s just a hobby. You can turn your expertise into a freelance career as an infopreneur.

Last year more than 57 million Americans worked as freelancers, including nearly half of all millennials. Freelancers are finding it easier than ever to find work, adding $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy last year.

If you’re looking to get started on a freelance career, infopreneurship might be for you. Infopreneurs engage in knowledge commerce, selling their expertise by teaching, consulting, and creating media.

People are eager to learn, and the e-learning market on track to reach $241 billion value by 2022. You don’t have to know everything about a topic to get started teaching others. If you know enough to teach a beginner, you’re set to go.

Whether you’re an amazing cook, play an instrument, or you just figured out the best way to turn a profit as an Uber driver, someone on the internet is looking to learn from you. Read this infographic to learn more about finding your expertise and becoming an infopreneur:

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 340,876+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.
Reverie
By: Aigner Loren Wilson
Tags: Spring, Poetry, Poetry On Medium, Winter, Poem

It’s nearly the crest of the year.

I can feel the sun gaining strength

against the silent winter nights,

galloping like a horse on high.

The birds can feel it too;

they sing no more

frozen swan songs,

only sweet dawn songs.

The lovers nestled

in their cold cavernous caves

sicken at the coming sun.

They know only true love

happens in winter.