fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
How To Train Your Dragon in 2020: The Joy of A Thing Of Vikings’ Fanfiction
By: Priya Sridhar
Tags: Romance, How To Train Your Dragon, Alternate History, Fanfiction, Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon fanfiction is fun to read and write. Obviously, don’t monetize it because that’s a good way to get a whole site shut down. But when you are diving into the fandom, you get a coral reef of stories.

I run a writer’s support group, where I make it a policy to screen everyone who joins. The reason is that there was a nasty troll in the HTTYD fandom, and I wanted to ensure they would not disrupt a safe space.

By some of the best luck, you meet new people and then you feel confident enough to invite them. That’s how I met athingofvikings (not using his real name), who would give advice on managing the DND session as a player and fight ignoramuses on social media. ATOV, as I refer to him online, is a really nice guy and a writer that you want in your corner.

ATOV has written one of the most detailed, thoughtful and poignant fics in the fandom. I’m still working through it but he has shared snippets that have made me scream. The fic is NSFW, so only read if you’ve studied the content warnings. As we say in the fandom, DLDR.

Art by blootwoosch on Tumblr

A Thing Of Vikings

How To Train Your Dragon takes place in a fairly anachronistic timeline. The Vikings know about chocolate and magnesium, even though both wouldn’t enter Western terminology till long after their time. Cressida Cowell in the books even lampshades that there are things that haven’t been invented, and to just take the anachronisms as they arrive. The movies are fairly similar.

The fanfic A Thing of Vikings takes a different approach by putting Hiccup back in history. Set in the year 1040 A.D., historical figures are coming together and realize that another civilization has dragons! The beasts are a game-changer for conquering and maintaining empires. Thus, the world take notice.

Hiccup is given more power than he wants and more responsibility. That means deciding if, as the prince and heir to his tribe, that he should use his single status to create more power and alliances or stay with the girl he loves. Astrid is a catch, but her family is already aligned with the Haddocks.

I do admit that the first few chapters seem to be a direct alternative sequel to the first movie. We get one character, whom in the canon is a Jewish stereotype, and instead is a fleshed out and reasonable. (THANK YOU, ATOV, for writing this!) All the holes in canon are filled and addressed, to pave the way for new narratives.

Snotlout is also different. Hiccup’s way usurps his means of regaining honor. When he tries to raid sheep the Viking way, he gets chided by Hiccup’s dad because it’s obvious that Berk invaded allies since no one else has dragons. Snotlout doesn’t agree with this and eventually forges his own path. That has consequences down the line, however, for him and his beastie.

I for one can’t wait to read the rest of it. It may take a while, given the fic is about 85 chapters long even when on hiatus. But I am excited to see what ATOV has next for me.
Ø Crypto Union Launches Partnership with Zaddex Cryptocurrency Exchange
By: Ø Crypto Union
Tags: Investment, Africa, Cryptocurrency, Venture Capital, Blockchain

STO platform to launch SME market via blockchain in West Africa

A Memorandum of Understanding established an agreement between the blockchain-banking project, Ø Crypto Union, with the newly-launched cryptocurrency exchange, Zaddex.



Zaddex completed its final stage of testing earlier this week in preparation for launch. The platform will utilize its native platform coin, ZEX, which will offer discounted trading fees, whilst functioning as a medium of payment for cryptocurrency listing requests. To further liquidity, an array of trading pairs will be established. In addition, the platform will utilize a share of quarterly profits to buy and burn ZEX coins directly through the market with a view to find financial benefits for market participants.



ZEX was not subject to a coin offering fundraising campaign; the cryptocurrency will soon be exclusively available through the platform upon launch. founders coins will be reserved to further the development of the decentralized counterpart, project marketing and for the establishment and maintenance of the STO platform; the venture is working in close cohesion with Komodo with view to establish a decentralized and scalable platform, complete with Komodo’s Crypto Conditions and Atomic Swap technology.

Under Ø Crypto Union’s controlling interest, the joint venture with Zaddex will seek to establish a launch platform, furthering Ø Crypto Union’s ambitions in Africa. Since 2017, the blockchain-banking platform has been working in cohesion with the Ivory Coast’s government. The partnership with the Ivory Coast seeks to connect the West African SME market with border-free blockchain technology with a view to expand across the UEMOA states through equity and debt financing via asset-backed loans and e-money. The partnership is documented through an agreement between Ø Crypto Union, the Ivory Coast’s Trade Ministry and extended government agencies; a business relationship with the BRVM has also been established. The exchange is fully licensed to operate in West Africa, with permission to integrate SME ventures.

The World Economic Forum reported in 2015 that small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 80% of the region’s employment. With the number of Africans joining the working-age population set to exceed of the rest of the world combined by 2035, an expanding labor force will facilitate the growth of a new middle-class, many of whom will live and transact locally, catalyzing economic development of local economies and the SME market. In identifying such opportunities, Ø Crypto Union has pledged to invest in 150 small businesses in the Ivory Coast.

Stay tuned…
May the fourth be with you
By: Aura Wilming
Tags: Geek, Star Wars, Movies

Awesome art by Elisa Insua

May the fourth be with you

I’ve said this today, with a straight face. I meant it.

It used to be something to make fun of. As a life long Trekkie, making fun of the Star Wars fans was not just fun. It was kind of expected.

It’s not that I didn’t like Star Wars, I do, but it seemed a little silly. While Star Trek seemed so much more. More everything.

Star Wars has a black man’s voice dubbed over a white actor’s performance.

Star Trek has an interracial kiss.

Star Wars has a man kept alive by a mechanical suit.

Star Trek has a living machine called Data.

Star Wars has people that can manipulate matter around them with magic.

Star Trek has a race of aliens called ‘Q’ with God-like powers.

But above all that, Star Trek was nobler. More social-conscious, more diverse, humanitarian, more focused on peace instead of war…in short, people who preferred Star Trek were just plain better people.

Of course the universe conspired against me and Star Wars is now my geekdom-in-law. (well, not officially) and I had to look at my attitude towards Star Wars over the last 3 years and come to this conclusion: While all I’ve written so far is not exactly wrong, the other thing Trekkies are, myself included, is arrogant and conceited. Better people, indeed.

And so I say with all sincerity

Live long and prosper and may the force be with us all
How a British Driver Fooled Speed Cameras in Germany
By: Nicole Henley
Tags: True Crime, Crime, Cars, Germany, Puppet

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

How a British Driver Fooled Speed Cameras in Germany

British Muppet speedster outwits German speed cameras.

In 2008, authorities in Germany had a problem. A Muppet problem. On multiple occasions, an unnamed British driver had been avoiding getting caught on their speed camera numerous times. Each time he sped and one of their camera snapped his image; they instead got the face of a Muppet.

So, how did this happen? British drivers notably drive on the left side, while Germans drive on the right, their speed cameras were positioned to capture speeding drivers from the right, not the left. To get around this, the British driver would place a Muppet doll in his passenger seat, much to the frustration of German authorities.

As far as what became of the driver following this is unclear. But in case someone might be tempted, leave Animal on Sesame Street.
Memories from Lake District, UK
By: Vinitha Dileep
Tags: Travel, Lake District, Nonfiction, Photography, Blue Insights

Back in the summer of 2015, we visited this heavenly place called Lake District, a national park in Cumbria in northwest England. Surrounded by beautiful mountains and lakes this picturesque little place will take your breath away with its charm and grace.

The lakes and the pleasant view that it offered definitely made our summer stay a fantastic experience. The boat ride gave us such a splendid sight of quaint cottages which in fact were the restaurants and the hotels providing delicious meals and beautiful rooms for a comfortable stay disguised as a page from a fairy tale.

Lake District has a history of inspiring many famous poets including William Wordsworth and Beatrice Potter in unleashing their creativity, thereby extending its magical spell to the world.

Here I am sharing some of those wonderful photos from that memorable trip.
Hierophany: How The Sacred Manifests In The Profane
By: Serge Prengel
Tags: Society, Sacred, Trump, Sprituality, Sex Scandals

The concept of “hierophany “was dear to Mircea Eliade, the scholar of religious experience. Hierophany is the manifestation of the Sacred. There is a paradox to the Sacred: While it transcends the Ordinary, its manifestation is in the Ordinary, where it hides in plain sight.

Now, this may seem a bit abstract. So I will use an example, something that happened a few years ago, the sordid story of Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels.

Trump’s sexual adventures and his lying and bullying are solidly entrenched in the underbelly of the realm of the Ordinary. But he is not just an ordinary man. He made a career of embodying a certain kind of power that attempts to mask the fear of being weak.

And Stormy Daniels is not just an ordinary woman, either. She has figured out how to draw power from appearing to be an object of fantasy. She knows how to speak power to power.

So, as the sordid tale unfolds, we can also see in it the unfolding of one of the most sacred mysteries of the human condition: the dance of Sex, Power & Shadow. The larger-than-life cast of characters in this story makes it easier for us to see that archetypal dance.

Hopefully, seeing it reminds us that archetypes, and the Sacred, do not exist in a separate plane. The Sacred is not any truer, or less true, than the Ordinary, and vice versa. They are different experiences.

Limiting ourselves to seeing the Ordinary is an impoverishment. Seeing only the Sacred is an insult to common sense. In stating this, I am not claiming to represent what Mircea Eliade thought. I am articulating my own perspective.

My perspective is that of a therapist. In therapy, as we slow down the process in a state of heightened awareness, we become more in touch with what could be called the Sacred.

But the term is misleading if it implies that we see the Sacred as something that needs to be dealt with at a metaphysical level. In a down-to-earth manner, we pay moment-by-moment attention to experience, including the physicality of it.

This is the paradox of therapy: We deal with the Sacred in a down-to-earth way. Of course, it is only a paradox if we see the Sacred as being on a different plane.
Enjoy Every Moment
By: Danielle Gibson
Tags: Poetry, Inspiration, Art, Poem, Haiku

Enjoy Every Moment

The days feel so long,

But the years just fly right by.

Don’t get swept away.
Building and Deploying Explainable AI Dashboards using Dash and SHAP
By: Xing Han Lu
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Dashboard, Explainable Ai

Let’s take, as an example, the task of predicting tips received by waiters based on features such as the total bill, the gender of the payer, the day and time, etc. A black-box model that ingests all those features just to predict the tips could be highly biased and might not be useful for business analysts trying to understand the behavior of the customers. However, by applying SHAP, we can gain more insights on the impact of each feature on the final value predicted by the model, which can be useful for understanding how the model perceives factors prone to biases, such as sex, age, race, etc.

In order to make such xAI methods more accessible and interactive, we used Dash to build an end-to-end application that runs an ensemble model called LightGBM on custom inputs. The dashboard and the full model are deployed on our Dash Enterprise Kubernetes servers, and both the black-box model and SHAP are running in real-time.

In the app, you will find controls that let you control the total bill, sex, day of the week, etc. Each one of those controls defines an input feature, and every time you update them, a new sample is given to the trained LightGBM model.

However, since LightGBM is a type of gradient boosting method, it is hard to directly interpret it. Therefore, we simulated the controls to allow the app to compute the SHAP values and display them in a waterfall chart.

In addition to specifying custom model inputs, you can also select a random example from the training set. Whenever you do this, you will see the real label appear on the right side (as a scatter point). You can then tweak the feature values to see how the various SHAP values change.

Moreover, you can also decide to make binary predictions (e.g. the sex of the customer) and interact with the graph using the Plotly modebar.
Tools of the Trade: Active Learning and Lecturing
By: John Kanady
Tags: Teaching, Education, Lecture

Lecturing is a tool.

Like any tool, it can be used very well or very poorly. Take several people and put a brush in their hands. Give them paint. If you ask them to create a picture of a house, you’ll likely get very different products in terms of both quality and interpretation from each person.

In much the same way, ask different professors to teach about a given topic using the lecture method and you’ll get a similar variety of “products”. The outcome will depend on the person’s creativity and skill with the tool.

In fact, there have been lectures that I’ve learned quite a deal from. An example from recent memory is a series of biology lectures given by Eric Lander at MIT. I attended them through digital space, watching his chalk talk from the seat in front of my computer.

For me, what is it about Lander’s lecture method that I think is so effective?

It’s not just a pile of facts that he’s disseminating — he’s telling stories. The stories are about the people and the struggles they went through to generate the knowledge that he’s sharing with us. The stories inherently involve the problems and the process that went into figuring out how to solve them. They are stories that give us a way to connect the information to something we can relate to on a personal level — conflict and growth.

We learn from stories. We’re attuned to them. Using the lecture as a means to tell a good story, in my opinion, is a masterful way to use the tool.

And, according to NPR, Wieman hasn’t abandoned the lecture. It seems he has simply tweaked how he uses it:

“We’ve talked about how to get even one wave packet like that if we just have a single value momentum,” Wieman says, offering up a kind of mini-lecture. But Wieman quickly switches to giving these undergraduate physics majors a problem to discuss and think about in small groups of four or five.

He breaks the lecture up into smaller chunks. Then he uses a different tool. The “brush” this time? Practice problems.
Facebook Boycott: Zuckerberg Lost Billions Amid Scandal
By: Marko Vidrih
Tags: Business, Finance, Mark Zuckerberg, Advertising, Facebook

Facebook Boycott: Zuckerberg Lost Billions Amid Scandal

Mark Zuckerberg became poorer by $7.2 billion after a number of companies announced a boycott of social media ads. Facebook shares fell 8.3% on Friday, the highest level in three months. This happened after one of the world’s largest advertisers, Unilever, joined other brands in boycotting Facebook ads.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the fall in stock prices led to Facebook’s market value dropping by $56 billion and Zuckerberg’s fortune dropping to $82.3 billion, leaving Facebook founder to leave the top three richest people on the planet.

On June 17, activists of several public organizations at once urged brands to stop advertising on Facebook. Social networks are accused of failing to protect users from hateful rhetoric. Facebook is allegedly not struggling enough with incitement to protesters, racism, hatred, and misinformation in the run-up to the upcoming presidential election.

More than 10 major brands have already joined the Facebook boycott: Unilever, Coca-Cola, Honda Motor, PepsiCo, Verizon, Levi Strauss, Viber and others. Not only the brands themselves are boycotting Facebook, but also the agencies that work with them.

Facebook, in turn, reports on steps taken to combat hateful content. In particular, the social network has already deleted a series of advertisements for Donald Trump’s election campaign, believing that they are inciting hatred. Facebook will also accompany all posts on US elections with a link to a new voter information center.

Earlier it was reported that Facebook allowed users to completely remove from the impressions in the tape political ads that they do not like. The new feature will be available in the eponymous social network Facebook and the application for sharing photos Instagram, owned by the company.

Author: Marko Vidrih

Featured image credit: Unsplash
Darkest Hour
By: Josh, Υя_Ωιѕємαη
Tags: Poetry, Life, Poem, Love, Writing

I ain’t got a word to say I’m sorry.

Saying sorry won’t change my prayers.

I go out and about, turning all-around against myself.

And sorrow remains the same all so fast.

You run away from the hurt that chains you to the past.

That chases you through the night already drunk.

Devour the time that lies in wait

Longing that never lies

The fear that has always lived by my side

I´ve been thinking about you.

In the river that flows and washes your woes

It’s worth waiting for me.

Long way home

Through the darkest hour

I ain’t got no strength to bring it back to you.

When I do, it just does mean I care.

I’ve been right and wrong but never got close enough to see

The promise we made but never came to share
The Internet Isn’t Killing Your Creativity, you are
By: A Singular Story
Tags: Creativity, Social Media, Work, Philosophy, Writing

Your spirit is dying, you don’t know whether you’re here by design or by default, and you don’t care anymore. The internet demands feeding and so you type and you publish and you burp the digital baby as it projectile vomits words into the ether. Sometimes, you wake up the next day finding throngs of agitated people poring over them and pointing the finger and you shrug because this kind of writing means nothing. It never did and you knew this from the start but you never expected it to trap you, either.

The one thing you had, the one thing that kept you going, the one thing no one could take away from you was your words, the words your heart whispered when everything around you made no sense, the words you hoped would someday lead you toward greater ease, one imagining at a time. You sold them all without keeping a single one to yourself, not even the most intimate, the most private ones. You auctioned everything off, right down to what never even belonged to you.

There’s nothing left of you to know, nothing left of you to reveal, nothing left of you to sell, the stool in the window is empty even though the curtain is pulled back. The digital red light district is empty, it has been empty for weeks now and that’s for the best. Remember when the tourists used to come for you? You were an economic driving force for a while, buttressing an entire make-believe universe of achievable dreams powered by the delusion that willpower was all it took. And you had it in spades because nothing motivates you quite like desperation, that commitment to a life that was never self-evident but which you chose to embrace rather than depart. You instinctively knew you needed witnesses then, you were still tethered to the world in a way that made loneliness almost irrelevant at times; you still had a world, albeit brittle, tentative, and a little elusive.

For weeks now, you’ve been sitting in the window every single day out of habit, putting out for an audience of stray cats and the odd seagull, naked but for your skin of shame, your rictus of regret, your air of wear and tear.

This was never your dream; your dream is dead.
Getting Acceleration by iPhone
Tags: iOS, Mobile App Development, Acceleration, Swift, iPhone

Here’s how to use the iPhone’s accelerometer to get the acceleration.

As shown in the following image, the acceleration in the X, Y, and Z axes can be acquired.

This image is my application interface.

When we get the acceleration on iOS, we use CoreMotion, which is provided by Apple.

import CoreMotion

This is the source code

Set an interval of updating accelerometer.

motionManager.accelerometerUpdateInterval = 0.2

Start updating the accelerometer.

motionManager.startAccelerometerUpdates

End updating accelerometer.

motionManager.stopAccelerometerUpdates()

We use these technologies to evaluate drivers, improve their driving skills, and work to reduce traffic accidents.
Is rel=nofollow Dead?
By: J. Angelo Racoma
Tags: SEO, Google, Nofollow

It started as an idealistic move to help combat spam in blogs, websites and comment threads. But today, some bloggers feel that the rel=nofollow microformat is not a good solution to a widespread problem. Some thoughts here:

* Lorelle VanFossen on the Blog Herald

* Jack of All Blogs

* Google Tutor

The idea behind the nofollow technique was to take away all the â€œlink juiceâ€ comment spammers wanted, thus encouraging them to stop spamming. Google introduced the nofollow tag to discourage comment spam from flooding their search indexes, and blogging programs added it to avoid being penalized and jump on the anti-comment spam bandwagon. WordPress and many blogging programs and forums added a nofollow by default for all links within comment areas. This instructed search engines not to follow the link as they crawled the page, taking away the credit search engine page rank gives to incoming and outgoing links. Recently, while late to the party, in an effort to discourage comment spam, Wikipedia has added nofollow to their outgoing links.

The argument against rel=nofollow basically revolves around the idea that Google is penalizing even the legitimate bloggers and commenters (e.g., if nofollow is automatically enabled on blog software), and that spammers still keep on spamming.

Here’s one of the sites that’s actively advocating against nofollow: No Nofollow. Here are 11 reasons why nofollow is not effective, and expanded explanations on these (and 5 more).

Do you think it’s time to retire rel=nofollow? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
E52 Part 1: Bob Moesta — The Grad School Jobs to Be Done Interview
By: Jay Gerhart
Tags: Innovation, Education, Higher Education, Jobs To Be Done, Podcast

Bob Moesta rejoins the podcast during the release of his first book, Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life, co-authored with Michael Horn. In Part 1, Bob and Jay put Ben in the hot seat, conducting a live Jobs to Be Done interview about Ben’s process of picking a graduate school. This episode not only introduces Choosing College but also provides our listeners with another example of Bob’s renowned JTBD interview technique. Hear the Master compile Ben’s story and identify which of the five higher education Jobs to be Done that Ben pursued. As you listen to the interview, notice a few of the hallmarks of Bob’s technique:

Adopt a beginner’s mindset

Unpack language to uncover intent

Build the story so that you as an interviewer can play it back to a high degree of accuracy

Stay tuned for Part 2 to hear more about Choosing College, as well as common themes between higher education and health care.

@bmoesta @michaelbhorn @ChristensenInst

Learn more about the book HERE

Purchase your copy HERE

@JayGerhart @TheBenReport @SherpaPod

A Sherpa’s Guide to Innovation is a proud member of the Health Podcast Network @healthpodnet -

Listen Now:
From Hungry to Scared — Life as a Consultant
By: Year Target
Tags: Life Lessons, Feelings, Projects, Work, Consulting

Having too little to do is really frustrating, and I also felt that I had a hard time to show my worth.

All of a sudden I am thrown into a project at work with high expectations and a lot of work. I think nailing this challenge can be really beneficial to me.

The problem is that I do not know what I am thrown into. Being a consultant means you are a product. You are sold as a solution for a problem and are expected to solve the problem no matter what. We, as a company, will always be able to solve the problem somehow. But it is not necessarily the assigned consultant that will solve it. However, the customer doesn’t know that.

So in the meantime, I sit there nodding approvingly, taking notes and agree that this and that is solvable. The customer thinks I know what I am talking about. Then I need to go home and find out what they talk about. And in a short amount of time, I going to become that expert they think I am.

The amazing this is that this often works out just fine. This is part of the consulting game. This is what we are good at.
064 | 在OKEX交易所躺著賺
Tags: 被動收入, 比特幣, Okex, Okex交易所, 區塊鏈

in In Fitness And In Health
The Butterfly Effect
By: Bill Adler
Tags: Short Story, Fiction, SciFi, Centina, Science Fiction

The future is never what we expect

Photo by Bill Adler

“Run!” I shouted.

Amelia’s legs were shorter than mine, but as an Olympic medalist, hers were more muscular. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along, sharing her speed with me.

Two monarchs swooped, their razor-sharp teeth narrowly missing us. Piranhas of the sky. Another yellow, orange and black butterfly kept pace above us, buzzing hungrily, positioning its stinger to inject us with its deadly toxin.

“There!” Amelia pointed to the tree where a nest of cat-snake hybrids roosted. “They prey on monarchs.” We dashed to safety.

I wrapped my three arms around her. “We’re safe,” I said.

“Are we?
Let’s All Admire This Amazing Dog Who Keeps Ruining Photoshoots
By: Jack Shepherd
Tags: Pets, Life, Instagram, Humor, Photography

Let’s All Admire This Amazing Dog Who Keeps Ruining Photoshoots

Some dogs just march to the beat of their own drummer

Photos: Yokokikuchi_ks via Instagram

Let me introduce you to a Shiba Inu named Hina. She lives with her best friends, Kikko, Sasha, and Momo, in Hong Kong, and she is constantly ruining their photoshoots. Her older sisters are professional and versatile models, and they’ve mastered all of the important skills required to be relevant on Instagram—smiling, smizing, simpering, and looking extremely serious when the situation calls for it.

But no matter how hard she tries (which by all accounts, is actually not very hard at all), Hina can’t get on the same page. She’s just not a joiner.

There was, of course, the time when she fell asleep during the photograph.

And the other time she fell asleep during the photograph.

The time when she was definitely awake for the photograph but forgot to open her eyes.

The time when she was way too excited during the photoshoot where they were supposed to be acting cool.

And then there was the big shoot for Momo’s fifth birthday. We don’t talk about that one.

There was the dramatic yawn in front of the beautiful hedge.

The dramatic yawn down by the docks.

The dramatic yawn that ruined the otherwise perfectly staged brick-wall shoot.

And the reasonably subdued yawn that still kind of ruined the shoot at the harbor.

There was the time when she smiled a little bit too big.

The time when she smiled a little bit too scary.

And the time when, unbelievably, she smiled, yawned, and fell asleep at exactly the same moment.

And let’s not forget about the pouncing incident.

Or the one where she pretended to be a statue?

The time she got everything right except the direction of the camera.

That big miscommunication about tongue direction.

“Tongue placement” has actually been kind of an ongoing issue for Hina.

“Focus” is another big problem area.

And then sometimes you’ll get a “tongue placement” and “focus” issue at the same time.

And of course sometimes there’s TOO MUCH focus.

Or too much sunglasses.

But every now and then, when you’re least expecting it, everything just falls into place.
How I Started on Web Scraping
By: Bm Sandra
Tags: Power Bi, Web Scraping, E Learning Solutions, Python, Etl

In my current work, I saw the opportunity to gather information from an e-learning management system that became relevant because of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

So, I did my research about how can I get information on attendance, virtual class recordings, internet issues of teachers and students, and I discovered that part of this information was in CSV reports and the other part was in the database of the system, but I realized that I couldn’t integrate those pieces of data easily, I needed a link between them.

After a few days investigating the whole process of creating the virtual classes, I found that the piece of data that I could use to join the information was within HTML code in a div tag.

According to this, I realized that the use of Web scraping could be an alternative to get what I want, but I needed an easy way to implement the solution for free and Python came into my mind. I found that Python works with the Selenium package to automate web browser interaction, so I thought it was a great opportunity to implement it.

Importing the packages

Part of my code where I define the HTML elements

Part of my code where I define the chrome options

Later, I finished the whole ETL pipeline that consisted of two web scraping projects, one for getting the data from CSV reports and the other from HTML, and Transact-SQL scripts that gets transforms and inserts the information from the database and the web scraping projects.

After that, I implemented some dashboards in Power BI, where I presented the ranking of attendance, none attendance also, the internet connection stability, operating system, and internet browser most used.

ETL architecture diagram

I summarized what I did because it involved research, implementation, and trial and error process, but I finally got what I want to present to stakeholders and they were happy to have information to make decisions.

Unfortunately, because of legal reasons, I cannot share my code and dashboards, but I could share with you the source of information that I used.
Data Science Blogathon —$2500 up for grabs!
By: Team Av
Tags: Blogger, Writing, Machine Learning, Deep Learning

Learn, share your learnings with community and win big!

“If you want to change the world, pick up a pen and write.” — Martin Luther

Note: This blogathon has concluded but we are always open to publishing your article on our platform. Get in touch with us and we look forward to your contribution!

Announcing the Winners

We saw an overwhelming number of our community members participating in this blogathon! We had plenty of posts on various topics and we are excited to announce the winners:

Most Popular Article Award

Most Popular Articles with More than 10 Unique Fans:

Introduction

We are delighted to announce the launch of Analytics Vidhya’s Blogathon, the ultimate competition which combines your writing prowess with your machine learning skills!

Analytics Vidhya has always been at the forefront of knowledge sharing, and we want to continue this trend among our community members. We will not only publish the best articles on Analytics Vidhya’s Medium page, but also provide feedback to every writer on their article.

Along with recognition in front of a broad audience, there are lucrative prizes to be won! The focus of the articles can be on any data related field — data science, machine learning, deep learning, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, etc.

The blogathon starts today, 25th August, and will conclude on 23rd September. Beyond this, you will be given an extra week to work on any feedback we have provided on an already submitted article.

We will announce the winners in each category on 30th September.
Time to Cast the Big Vote
By: Rae Lately
Tags: Vote, Politics, America, Electoral College, Election 2020

Time to Cast the Big Vote

It’s almost noon, electors

Photo by Simon on Unsplash

Time is just about up. No 11:20 lawsuits, bribes, blackmail, intimidation, or cheating can keep the electors from making the 2020 election results official.

The big question of course is: What will Trump and his followers do next? Which republicans will not only accept the results, but also support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris?

To be honest, the backlash from this election has been more than scary. People are spreading conspiracy theories and false information, and it is dangerous. State governments are pressing forward with lawsuits against this election, people are literally up in arms, and this looks to me like seeds for breaking up our nation.

And yet, Trump is still president. He is still supposed to do his job for another month. What sort of grand damage will he create on his way out?

Even today, how will he react to the results of the electoral college vote? Will he claim victory still? Will he pretend he sits on a throne? If the past four years are any indication, then for sure we know how he will behave. I have a feeling that the electoral college will be challenged (and dismissed) in court. I think Trump will send his loyalists to spread more lies about how he was robbed.

It is past time to put all of this behind us. It’s past time for justice. It is past time for our nation to restore faith in our leaders and heal these wounds.

R.L. 2020
If self-driving car killed someone, who is guilty?
By: Alen Huskanović
Tags: Thoughts And Feelings, Tech, Self Driving Cars

Self-driving cars are the near future, we know that. It’s awesome to know that something like this is possible, but there is the dark side of technology.

Let’s go straight to the point. There is a big ethical question who should get killed in some circumstances.

Tunnel problem

You are traveling along a single lane mountain road in an autonomous car that is fast approaching a narrow tunnel. Just before entering the tunnel a child attempts to run across the road but trips in the center of the lane, effectively blocking the entrance to the tunnel. The car has two options: hit and kill the child, or swerve into the wall on either side of the tunnel, thus killing you. How should the car react? robohub

In this situation, both outcomes will certainly result in a death. But, which dead? Who should be the more valuable person to justify the death of other? Computers can’t think, they can just follow the orders, so if it’s necessary to kill someone to follow the order they will do it.

Responsibility?

It’s clear that the person who is in the car will be label as more valuable. If it’s not the case, then the family of a driver could sue the company. There is no company that will take the risk.

Who should be responsible for results? Who will give the order? The company that is making those cars? Programmers that actually wrote the source code that will decide?

Protect me, screw them

I read a few articles about putting the responsibility on the driver. The person who buy the car should decide who should be protected: the driver or the pedestrian. It’s not an easy decision, if someone got killed you will be guilty for it because you gave the order.

Some people say that they would never sit in the car knowing that they are more valuable person then others on the road. It’s a moral, it’s ethics and as a humans we can’t run away from our feelings. Who am I to play the Good? Who am I to decide who should die? But, of course someone will not have a problem with that, it could be a easy decision for them, protect me screw them.

Programmer’s responsibility

It’s the same like a war, if a soldier kill someone he could say ‘It was my job. I just followed the order’. If programmer wrote the if else condition that will decide to go straight and kill a pedestrian. What do you think, how he will feel knowing that he wrote the piece of code that actually makes a decide to kill someone?

Well, a programmer could do the same ‘It was my task, I just followed the order’. I don’t know how I would feel if I see the news that car that uses my software decide to kill a pedestrian because of my condition in a code. I am glad because I don’t make a software in car or military industry.

Self driving cars are already much safer than human drivers, and it’s been projected that they could eliminate 90% of traffic fatalities. But, in situations when someone has to die, who should give the order?

Please respond to this question: Tunnel problem: Who should die? at this questionnaire http://bit.ly/2igJKLL
Discover Computer Vision
By: Somraj Saha
Tags: Computer Vision, Join Us, Blogging, Deep Learning, About Us

Who Are We?

We’re a bunch of Computer Vision enthusiasts from varying fields of expertise each with our own sets of knowledge & skills to employ CV techniques to our domain.

Over the years as we progressed further in our respective domains, we realized how the field of CV is lacking enough content creators. Although, the field is brimming with researchers & other industry experts, very few of them who were willing to share their knowledge actually found an opportunity to do so.

We also observed that a majority of the blog posts out there are usually riddled with marketing gimmicks & affiliate fluff making it very unattractive to some readers.

Heck, do a quick Google search & you will also come across nothing but tutorials & MOOCs which leaves little room to have a meaningful informative discussion on a topic. The situation was disheartening & as such we took it upon ourselves to create a community where content on CV was shared prioritizing quality & added value over anything else.

Hence through, Discover Computer Vision we hope to accomplish our goal of creating not just a platform for like-minded individuals to share their content but act as an enabler to network among each other as well.

So you could say that the publication is more of a community with content sharing as an added benefit.

What Do We Publish?

At Discover Computer Vision we thrive to share top-quality content on Computer Vision(CV) with our readers.

By content, we mean any original authored pieces of articles pertaining to the latest research topics, real-world applications, open-source resources, or other related discussions in the field of Computer Vision(CV).

If you’re wondering, the article you drafted, will we publish it? So, before you submit the draft for our revision, ask yourself these questions first.

Is my article a self-improvement one, to teach oneself how to code in a particular programming language/library/framework?

I’ve found a paper & recreated it, its more of a rephrased, simpler to read & understand content. So its a duplicate content?

I built an opens-source software, is the content more of a marketing gimmick about my product?

Is the article about Deep Learning in general & not specifically about Computer Vision?

When you ask yourself the aforementioned questions & the answers to them are NO, then I’m sorry you might’ve to look for other publications to submit your articles.

If you’re still confused about the context of your article, we still suggest that you submit your article & wait at least 48 hours for a response from our editors.

What We Don’t Publish?
April 2020 Marketing Wrap-Up
By: Rowena Chang
Tags: Social Media Marketing, Marketing Trends, Advertising, Digital Marketing, Media

Media and marketing highlights of the month.

5 Key Takeaways
15 Topics to Consider as You Review Code in Data Science
By: Rose Day
Tags: Technology, Software Development, Data Science, Code, Computer Science

Exposure to New Ideas and Technologies

The main reason I have found code review meetings beneficial on a data science team is the exposure to new ideas and technologies. Being apart of a large team means a data scientist may not be aware of everything people are developing. Having the opportunity to sit in on code reviews allows them to see different projects people have been working on, understand how they wrote the code, and even ask questions. There is so much you can learn from talking with others about your code!
New Ethereum Draw Coming
By: Ethlus Winning Machine
Tags: Metamask, Ripple, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin

Ethlus | Draw and Win any Crypto and Tokens

A Safety draw is absolutely secure. When you choose this type of draw, you set a draw period and should pay us a…
Shatterfang
By: Frankie G.
Tags: Necromancy, Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Hunting

Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash

For 10 long days & 10 cold nights, she’d tracked the wizard Shatterfang. Tricky was he, wicked was he, but stealthy he was not. Broken twigs, snagged robes, an obvious trail to follow. She knew he must be in this cave, her cornered, hated prey.

No need then to rush things, to run in unprepared. He has nowhere left to run, this wizard Shatterfang. She kneels beneath a slouching elm, and prays to her scoffing gods. She does not beg, would not plead; instead she makes a vow. Tonight this long sad saga will end, with or without their help.

She spits in the dirt to seal this pact, and rises to her feet. And then she draws her curved dirk, that her son’d left behind. He’d been killed 12 days ago, like everyone else she’d known. Taken too soon, cut down in his prime, by that wizard Shatterfang.

She sneaks forward on tender toes, weapon at the ready. She can hear that bastard inside the cave, muttering utter madness. Sinister words, in some strange tongue, dark noises from hateful lips. Whatever they are, they’ll be his last; she’ll silence Shatterfang.

He hears her then, and whirls about, his eyes gone white & wide. She feels the flamberge slide in deep, carving through his feeble ribs. Shatterfang bleeds upon her black blade, and whispers one last word.

“Why?” he pleads, but she merely stares, aghast at this last query. How could he not know what he’d done, not recall his evil deeds? He’d slaughtered them all, consumed their flesh, growing his foul powers. It seems to him they were mere beasts, not worth a drop of grief. A monster, truly, to the core, this wizard Shatterfang. He’s been stopped, but there must be more. He had learned from someone else, some other vile fiend.

And so she makes another vow: she’ll stop them all, every one, extinguish this black-heart clan. She’ll span the world, hunting down every warlock, mage, & witch. But first she’ll learn their tricks herself, get on an even plane. He had books in here, books & tools, and she has plenty of time.

He stole her world, so she steals his name, to make his sins his legacy.

All wizards will learn to tremble in fear — fear of Shatterfang.
The Story Behind YouTube’s History as a Dating Site
By: Richard Liu
Tags: Technology, Marketing, Social Media, YouTube, Business

“OK, forget the dating aspect, let’s just open it up to any video”

It was soon clear that the dating idea perhaps wasn’t going to work.

This is where the team decided to open it up to every video instead of keeping it to a niche. Youtube was about to break the age-old rule of sticking to a niche early into their venture.

By breaking this rule, Youtube uploaded its first official video in April 2005 onto the platform during its private beta, Karim’s Me At The Zoo (yes, the video is still up!).

Within a month, Youtube launched its beta version, and the website attracted 30 000 viewers a day, and by half a year, over two million users were using the site daily.

During late 2005, Sequoia Capital invested 3.5 million dollars into Youtube’s Series A. Sequoia partner Roelof Botha had worked at Paypal with the cofounders and learned about the platform after using it to upload honeymoon and wedding videos.

In October 2005, the platform saw its biggest viral video hit one million views. The video was a Nike ad featuring Ronaldinho (see below) receiving his pair of ‘Golden Boots.’ This was the first of many viral videos to hit millions of views.

The Virality Of Youtube

By the end of its first year, Youtube was receiving around 25 million views daily.

One of the biggest reasons for Youtube’s success and subsequent acquisition of Google was its ability to be a virality magnet. Videos posted on the platform could go viral for many reasons, from successful ads to a simple one minute clip of a baby biting someone else’s finger.

In late 2006, Youtube was acquired by Google for 1.65 billion dollars, and the company has since skyrocketed. Today over 2 billion users visit the site every month, and remain the second most used social platform globally.

Youtube has kickstarted the careers of many superstars of the video platform, including Pewdiepie, Michelle Phan, Psy, and more. Without the platform, many wouldn’t have had the chance to chase their passions.

Today Youtube has evolved from helping showcase amateur videos to original content, licensed by singers, bloggers, and more. It has since grown from just collecting ad revenue to a full-fledged streaming platform as well as a subscription service.
Poet Profile: Bänoo Zan
By: Burstout Magazine
Tags: Islam, Poetry, Culture, Books, Writing

Bänoo Zan is a poet, translator, teacher, editor and poetry curator, with more than 120 published poems, etc., as well as two books. Song of Phoenix: Life and Works of Sylvia Plath, was reprinted in Iran in 2008. Songs of Exile, a collection of her poems, was released in 2016 in Canada. A second collection, Letters to My Father, is due to be released early 2017. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), the most diverse poetry reading and open mic series in Toronto. It bridges the gap between poetry communities, bringing together artists from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities, poetic styles, voices and visions.

Bänoo has chosen to present her poem ‘The Hajj Pilgrim’ as it is a good representation of her as a person, as well as her work as a poet.

— — — — — — -

The Hajj Pilgrim:

Khoda,

They say

you are a man —

in tavaaf —

on the day of ‘Arafah

stoning the Shaytan

They say

you are a woman —

covering your breasts

from the na-mahram —

your long hair in hijab

They say

you are angry

never drink or dance

never smile

But I’ve seen you

with Mohammad

in intimate embrace of

religion and justice

chaste and naked

You love like a man —

give up everything

for a kiss

You love like a woman —

want everything

in a kiss

I heard

you are converting

from you

to the lover

you are

Wash blood

off bombs and believers

Mourn the loss of innocence

in the ritual of need

Shave your head

Cut your nails

Wrap yourself in ihram

and join the humble crowd

that dies

for a visit

from you
Getting Real With How I Look in Photos.
By: Tracy Nguyen
Tags: Social Media, Self Love, Self, Photos, Smartphones

I recently upgraded to my phone.

One notable difference from my previous phone besides the size, is the camera quality. It has made me more self conscious about my appearance but has made me accept my appearance as a whole. I could see my pores visibly through my selfie camera which was not possible with older phone models. We live in a day and age where our mobile cameras are powerful enough to replicate what can be seen through a real mirror.

In addition to that smartphone cameras have access to many applications that that can change our appearance. These apps gives us the power to improve the photo with different features such as filters and photoshop as some examples. Apps are advanced where we don’t need to wear makeup and can “apply” it through the app or are already part of a filter set. Its evident with the some apps in China where a filter can alter your entire body which has led to deception through live streams.