fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Predicting COVID-19 With Tax Returns
Tags: Health, Data Science, Covid 19, Machine Learning, New York City

Predicting COVID-19 With Tax Returns

To explore more data on COVID-19, please go to covid19.topos.com

Income disparities and COVID-19

The relationship between income inequality and COVID-19 has been widely covered by various sources over the last 60 days. Findings show that the number of deaths and hospitalizations is much higher in low income neighborhoods, and cities with high levels of inequality.[1] Most of these studies rely on income data provided by the US Census, which is self-reported, often extrapolated based on relatively small samples (as in the ACS[2]) and fairly simple in the way income is measured (ie “Median Household Income”). A more nuanced and complete view of income can be gleaned from studying IRS income tax data. Tax data is only available publicly at the zip code level, but provides a highly detailed economic portrait of neighborhoods, particularly in the types of deductions that are claimed (dependents, capital gains, education credits, etc). And rather than being voluntarily self reported (as is the case with the Census/ACS), tax returns are mandated by law, with consequences for false reporting.

Thus while Census data can tell us how many people in a geography have salaries within specific intervals or what the median income of a neighborhood is, tax data can tell us how many people earned $25k — $50k, what proportion of those earnings were deductible (and for what reasons), and how much went to healthcare contributions. In this article, we study the relationship between fine-grained income tax data and COVID-19 cases at the zipcode level in NYC.

To focus our study, we started with tax metrics that generally indicate the top and bottom of the economic spectrum, looking at tax deductions that are only open to earners below a certain threshold (like the Child tax credit ), or income from financial instruments generally utilized by the wealthy (like Capital gains). The table below shows a selection of the correlation coefficients between cases per capita and income metrics in NYC.

Table showing correlations between cases per capita and various IRS income metrics

The strongest correlation (R = 0.79) to cases per capita is the average Child tax credit amount per tax return. In the year the most recent tax data is available (2017), an individual or family had to earn less than $75k or $110k (respectively) to qualify for it. The amount you receive is determined by how much you earn and how many children are in your household; thus it serves as an indicator for low to middle income families with many mouths to feed. Zip Codes that see the highest rates of child tax credits are lower-middle class neighborhoods like 11239 (Carnasie), 11436 (Jamaica), and 10462 (Pelham). On the other end of the spectrum, zip codes that see the lowest levels of child tax credits per return are: 10005 (Lower Manhattan), 10021 (Upper East Side), and 10003 (Union Square) — neighborhoods with some of the wealthiest residents in the city.
Looking Aside
By: Dan Gellert
Tags: Stranger Things, Poem, Aura, Poetry, People

Pull focus around them

Noting the details surrounding them

Their loves illuminated by weight of importance



Always look to their side

This is where little angels reside

Protecting that loitering wisdom awaiting attention

Give them a stage to profess their joy

And listen intently as their flow is employed

Catching those unspoken everyday details

They _are a stranger

They _may be a friend

Or they _is you, unaware and blinded by you
Sit. Stay.
By: Ann Litts
Tags: Quarantine, Hope, Covid 19, Sacred Feminine, Life Lessons

I am no stranger to messages from The Universe to sit in stillness. Every asthma exacerbation I have reminds me to simply be. To focus on breathing. To press the pause button. To let it all go and live in the moment.

However, I was stunned when She gave this message to everyone. Everywhere. Not one bit of Gaia was immune from Her Directive.

Stop. Be. Breathe.

And we did for a good long while. But that sort of lockdown isn’t practical for most Humans. Beyond the fact that we’re pack animals, our society had developed to the point that we have to have incomes to survive. The pandemic certainly focused our societies across the globe on the holes in all safety nets we thought we had in place.
‘Spiral’ is More Than a Cult Horror About Homophobia
By: Akos Peterbencze
Tags: Equality, Horror, Gay, Social Commentary, Movies

‘Spiral’ is More Than a Cult Horror About Homophobia

Shudder’s feature is a psychedelic scare-trip back to the 90s with social commentary.

Photo: Shudder

1995. Suburbia. America is drowning in close-mindedness and homophobia. Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Aaron (Ari Cohen) move to a new neighborhood with their daughter Kayla (Jenifer Laporte), who just wants to lose her virginity. Although the neighbors seem nice and welcoming, there is an instinctual fear behind their politeness. One of them says worryingly: “Oh, we don’t have any of you around here.”

Once they settle into their new home, mysterious happenings start to occur. A crazy-eyed old man shows up on their lawn day after day, starring. Someone spray paints the word “faggots” on their living room’s wall. One night, the neighbors seem to have an occultist séance in one of the homes.

Malik becomes suspicious from the get-go. He has a reason for it. As a teenager, he was the victim of a hate crime. That’s trauma 101. Even years of therapy and an accepting community around him couldn’t heal his emotional scars entirely. In 1995, that’s hardly the case.

One night he spots the crazy-eyed old man standing in the dark on their balcony. He’s watching. Observing. If Malik wasn’t sure yet, he is now: “GET. THE. HELL. OUT. HERE.” — his instinct screams.

This is a horror film, so you know what comes next. No one believes him. They say he’s insane and ask him whether he takes his pills. A classic genre move. That’s the point when things get a little fuzzy, and a devilish smile appears on every horror enthusiast’s face saying: shit is about to hit the fan.
Husband XXL Hawaiian shirt size grand theft auto
By: Jack Clune
Tags: Aging, Weight Loss, Humor, Life Lessons, Self Improvement

The “Grand Theft Auto look” I invented and everyone stole

A few years back, I went on a Hawaiian shirt kick. When it comes to fashion, I get an idea in my head, and I really beat it into the ground. I decided I wanted to dress like the characters in the videogame Grand Theft Auto (“GTA”).

GTA

It was back when there were GTA advertisements on T.V. The commercials showed car thief criminal characters running wild through a Los Angeles landscape. The characters wore white sneakers, jeans, and sleazy Hawaiian shirts. I don’t know why this look appealed to me so much. These fashion whims just sort of come to me sometimes, and I go with them. Before this GTA phase, it was safari shirts with epaulets.

I wore jeans, Adidas Stan Smiths, and the sleaziest Hawaiian shirts I could find. That became my uniform for the past few years. We were on the Disney Cruise one year, and the entertainment director called me out on my outfit while Tracy and I were performing on “The Dating Game” in the pub in front of all the parents who were relaxing away from their children.

“Look at the outfit on this one! Nobody dresses like this anymore,” said the British lady host, pointing at me and trying to get a laugh. “Who are you supposed to be, Magnum P.I.?” The crowd roared laughing.

The next day on the pool deck, I was looking at my phone and Dolce and Gabbana, and all the other fashion designers had stolen my idea and were using my GTA look in their shows.

Don’t worry. I got that British entertainment director back good. That’s a different story.

These hot dog and banana prints Tracy was picking out, however, were too cutesy, and not sleazy enough. But I humored Tracy and said bring them home, and I’ll try them on.
Celer Network 74th Weekly Project Progress Report (2/3–2/7)
By: Celer Network
Tags: Celerweekly, Blockchain, Celernetwork

Dear Community,

Happy Weekend! 🙌 Here is our 74th weekly project progress report on our community building and technology development! Meanwhile, you can also follow our Twitter account for more updates from Celer Network.

Ongoing Events:

1. Celer Team is coming to ETHDenver

We’re coming to ETHDenver with exciting milestones! 💻BUIDL: monetize your dApps with Celer SDKs 🎮PLAY: Win $2000 CelerX crypto tournament! 🎬LAUNCH&STAKING: Mainnet upgrade and State Guardian Network’s Testnet! Read more here:

2. Celer Mainnet Name Gussing Campaign

Join us to celebrate Celer milestone releases on Feb 14.

Feb1–13, retweet https://twitter.com/CelerNetwork/status/1223335988015116288?s=20 with your guess of Celer mainnet upgrade’s name with #CelerMainnetName

2. Tag @CelerNetwork & 3 friends

We will randomly select 5 participants for $50 reward.

3. CelerX Tournaments are Live

CelerX tournaments feature is live now. We will have two tournaments this weekend. Fruit Punch tournament with $200USD starts from Friday 6 PM (PST) and Solitaire Win tournament with 2000 GT starts from Sunday 8 PM. Download CelerX at https://go.onelink.me/N9wI/1stT to play and earn!

Past Events:

1. Token Distribution Status update

We would like to give Celer community an update on our token distribution status. Two highlights:

All investors’ tokens finished distribution end of 2019.

2. Unlocked foundation and team tokens are not moved.

Upcoming Events:

1. MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Feb 24–27

The Celer Team will be in Barcelona for MWC 2020. Come and meet us if you’re in Spain.

Technology:

Mobile:

Improved Solitaire Win game onboarding flow and home screen

Finished loyalty points API design

Researched and prototyped technical solutions for some new features

Backend:

Design and implementation of next phase of CelerX features

Completed readiness for SGN Testnet launch

Upgraded to new OSP servers on Ropsten

Community:

Twitter: 19,010

Telegram: 23,261

WeChat: 9,766

Thank you for reading our 74th weekly report! Please join our telegram group to stay in touch and ask us questions!! We will see you next week! 🙌

Download CelerX now at https://celerx.app

Follow Celer Network:
If you don’t tweet, how can I know that you’re alive?
Tags: Comics, Life, Twitter, Friendship, Social Media

Offline is just as terrible as online.

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/ics/902/
4 Unspoken Traits Every Man Is Looking for in a Partner
By: The Good Men Project
Tags: Men, Love, Dating, Relationships Love Dating, Relationships

1. A Partner Who Has Their Own Identity

One thing that happens in a relationship is partners get comfortable with each other. This is good for many reasons, but there is one negative aspect to getting comfortable: losing your identity as an individual. You can end up identifying yourself and what you want out of life through the relationship and not as a person.

The goals, dreams, and ambitions you once had get lost in you wanting to do what you feel will better the relationship. A strong relationship requires sacrifice but never losing who you are and what you want. Guys want a partner who never loses sight of themselves as an individual. They want a partner who is committed to the relationship, but also committed to being the best version of themself. There is nothing sexier than a strong and confident person.

2. A Partner Who’s Self-Motivated

When you see problems arise in a relationship, it’s often because one partner lets himself or herself go. This can be related to weight, habits, work, ambitions, or a variety of other areas in a relationship. They’ve lost their self-motivation and rely on their partner for their strength.

At first, this is cute and flattering. After a while, it’s exhausting to constantly have to be someone else’s inspiration and strength. Life is hard enough on its own, so adding the weight of motivating your partner can lead to resentment. To be the best version of yourself, you can only rely on YOU. Yes, there will be things you do as a couple — like workouts or healthy eating habits together — but your main source of strength has to transcend the relationship.

3. A Partner Who Shares Your Goals and Dreams

When you start out in a relationship, you’re agreeable to the things your partner tells you they want out of life. At some point, you reach that level of comfort where you can tell them what’s on your mind. What’s on your mind may crush your partner’s dreams and goals.

Every man wants a partner who will be real from the beginning so that we don’t waste our time. We want a partner who will support and dream with us. We want a partner who won’t settle for living a good enough life. This, of course, is assuming the goals and dreams are somewhat realistic.

4. A Partner Who’s Committed to Doing the Hard Work

Relationships are hard work to maintain in the long run. They require our time, energy, and digging deeper. To grow, we have to choose to love instead of how we feel at times. Guys want a partner who gets that and is willing to put in the hard work with us.

We want someone who tries to understand us. Someone who attempts to get a feel for our moods and tries to understand what we’re going through. I’m not saying we want someone who will put us on a pedestal because we understand relationships are a two-way street. But, we want to know if you’re willing to put in the work–we are.
For The Lonely
By: Mark Alden
Tags: Poetry On Med, Poems On Medium, Poems And Stories, Poetry, Lonliness

Anywhere, anytime.

Some little street, some little town.

It could be yours; it could be mine.

Beneath leaden skies and icy rains,

behind settling walls

and dirty windowpanes,

Surrounded by fading photographs,

patchwork memories trapped in dusty frames.

Stray uneasy thoughts melt into tides of fitful sleep –

white noise in otherwise silent rooms.

Unheard, unseen, the eyes of the lonely sometimes weep.

Today is as good a time as any to think of those less fortunate. Let’s not forget the people in our lives who may be alone this Christmas.

As always, thank you for reading!
What is Ethereum?
By: Hansmeet Sethi
Tags: Fetch101, Ethereum, Crypto, Blockchain, Eth

To start Fetch’s Ethereum 101 Series, here’s a primer to get you started and explain the basics of Ethereum.

Ethereum is an open-source platform for decentralized applications.

That’s quite a mouthful. Let’s break down the terminology to simplify what Ethereum is and is not.

Open Source

This one is pretty simple. The source code of Ethereum is freely available for anybody to inspect or modify. Official changes allowed to be contributed back are managed by an authorized group of software developers as well as the larger Ethereum Foundation.

Want to take a look at the code yourself? You can download the code today.

If you’re a developer interested in digging into tools and knowledge for the Ethereum codebase, take a look at the Ethereum Foundation’s developer intro.

Decentralized

Ethereum is a decentralized system, meaning it is not controlled by any single entity. Nobody “owns” Ethereum, everybody does. For example, a company, a centralized system, is a single entity that is owned by shareholders. The company could be shut down by a government regulator or the board of directors.

Ethereum has no board of directors or single point of failure that can be exploited in the same way.

How It Works

Ethereum runs on thousands of computers simultaneously , called nodes. Some are provided by volunteers as a contribution back to the ecosystem, while many are operated by companies in the business of providing computing power to blockchain based systems for profit potential.

In either case, all nodes are created equal and allow the applications and data on Ethereum to be processed simultaneously. Shutting down one or many of the nodes does not shutdown Ethereum. It simply continues to operate on the remaining nodes or new ones contributed to the network.

Applications

Each node supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The EVM allows applications to be run, similar to how your iPhone supports apps to be installed and run. EVM applications are called Smart Contracts.

While Smart Contracts could power any type of application (games, betting, etc…), their primary purpose has been to create financial applications. Everything from lending, borrowing and trading has been created thus far. The possibilities for more applications are endless.

Some interesting examples today include:

MakerDao — Collateralized Debt

Compound — Money Market

dy/dx — Derivatives

Ethereum vs. Bitcoin

As the two largest cryptocurrencies, Ethereum and Bitcoin are often compared. However, they have very different goals. Bitcoin is a money transfer and store of value cryptocurrency built on a distributed public ledger, a blockchain. You can think of it like digital gold.

Ethereum runs on a blockchain as well and expands the capabilities to enable applications to live and run on the blockchain. This creates a digital money that can be held on the blockchain and programmed or controlled via applications.

Next

Now that you’ve got the basics of Ethereum down, check out part 2 of our guides, What is Ether (ETH)?
CEO’s Report June 12 2018
By: Akihiro Yamase
Tags: Ethereum, English, Blockchain, ICO, Icovo

Hi! I am ICOVO’s CEO, Yamase. I am pleased to disclose to you our status. Development for our product, the smart contract DAICOVO implementing DAICO, is going well and will be launched on June 17. DAICOVO will be audited by New Alchemy until June 30 and, furthermore, we will hold a bug bounty event for it on June 30 at Shibuya, Tokyo. We have changed the venue from a small to large one because of the influx of applications.

DAICOVO will be in operation for ICOVO’s ICO, and the presale will start on July 17.

About the ICOVO App

The ICOVO App features the multi-token wallet Tachyon, which is compatible with ERC20 tokens, based on a safe private wallet that has already been released and is being used by many, and was developed from scratch by our CTO Nishimura. The release on June 15 will include features such as a private wallet, multi-token compatibility, dashboard feature, and KYC for closed-sale investors, while features such as the DAICOVO user interface will be added on August 15 so that it can be used for ICOVO’s ICO starting on July 17. We are now awaiting a reply from Apple.

About events. Hack Ethereum Tokyo is held every month from April 2018. Next event will be held on July 13. Additionally, we are attending overseas events very actively. The first event was held at Kua Lumpur on May 19. Below are the future events we will be attending.

June 13: London https://mjac.io/

June 27: Amsterdam https://blockchain-expo.com/europe/

July 3: Zug https://cryptovalley.swiss/

July 17: Singapore Hosting Party

July 19: Singapore https://singapore.worldblockchainsummit.com/

If you will be attending the above events, let’s grab some coffee!

Concerning promotion of ICOVO, we applied to listing sites such as ICO Rating, ICO Bazzar, etc. We will start making announcements on BitcoinTalk and Reddit.

Regarding exchange listings, we are talking with those who are in charge but it is impossible to contract with exchange companies before our ICO has ended.

I will be disclosing the progress of our project frequently.

Thank you ICOVO family!
Coding with humans in mind
By: Andrea Chiarelli
Tags: Programming, Clean Code, Code Review, Software Development

We all agree. Documenting code is a waste of time and a considerable cost. It is much better to refer directly to the code if you want to understand how an program works internally.

Of course the intention is good, but what if we run into a snippet of code like this?

const f = (st, p) => p.filter((i) =>

i.title?i.title.includes(st):false||

i.keywords?i.keywords.includes(st):false);

The JavaScript code is perfectly working. It does its job properly. But exactly what is its job?

Considering the code as documentation may be a nice idea, but it remains just an idea if we do not strive to change mindset when we write our code.

As Martin Fowler says:

“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.”

The problem is that when the developer writes his code, he usually thinks about how the computer will execute it to solve a given problem. He does not care about humans who will read the code (including himself after some time).

But if we want our code is readable to a human being, we must think of him in the first place. This is the basic rule of the writer: when we write a technical document, a blog post, a magazine article, an essay at school, we have to think about the reader and put ourselves in his shoes to see if what we have written can be understood.

It is not easy, because the writer must try to imagine if what is clear for him it is equally clear for a generic reader, and readers are not all alike. Obviously the writer and the reader must have a common knowledge base to be able to communicate, but the writer cannot assume that the reader understands on the fly what he wrote.

One way to get as close as possible to an acceptable outcome is to imagine one of your colleagues as a reader of your code or, even better, ask directly to him if the code is understandable.

In short, if you want your code acts as documentation of itself, write it thinking of a human being who will read it rather than of the machine that will execute it. All in all, the high-level programming languages used by the vast majority of developers have been created to make life easier to humans rather than to machines. Especially since the machines do not use the code written by us, but the low-level one generated from it.

That being said, we can rewrite the code above giving it a more human appearance, with one more chance to be documentation of itself:

function getFilteredPages(searchText, pages) {

let isInTitle = (item) => item.title?

item.title.includes(searchText)

:false;

let isInTagKeywords = (item) => item.keywords?

item.keywords.includes(searchText)

:false; return pages.filter(item => isInTitle(item) ||

isInTagKeywords(item));

}

Even if the code is a bit more verbose, it’s definitely easier to guess at its purpose without the reader has to identify himself in the machine that will execute it.
Democracy Doesn’t Work With White Citizens
By: Sam Mckenzie Jr.
Tags: Democracy, Politics, Racism, White Supremacy, Race

Democracy Doesn’t Work With White Citizens

Whiteness is the corruption America needs to stop

The Washington Post slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is wrong. Democracy doesn’t die in darkness; democracy doesn’t exist in whiteness. America’s political system is a white sham: Elected leaders are 90% white. That number must be part of the status quo Shirley Chisholm refused to accept. That number must come from the corrupt and antidemocratic policy of whiteness.

In the book “The Machinery of Whiteness,” the activist-scholar Steve Martinot writes, “Whiteness cannot escape the corruption of basing a sense of humanity (and of its humanity) on exclusionism.”

The “cannot” part is clear. Nothing can launder whiteness. White population numbers are corrupt; white political power is corrupt; being white is corrupt. Inherent corruption demands inherent contempt. Whiteness is the corruption America needs to stop because democracy isn’t possible with whiteness.

On whiteness and democracy, Martinot adds: “[W]hiteness is in essence anti-democratic because it relies on the purity concept, all who call themselves white, and who identify as white, objectively form an anti-democratic group. This does not depend on whether they adopt a supremacist ideology or not. It accompanies their whiteness.”

The “anti-democratic” part is clear. Whiteness requires the opposite of democracy. For the historian Dr. Carol Anderson, “Democracy requires a fully engaged citizenry.” The investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has the right angle — “America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One.” In the dark, democracy is possible.

In the book “The Abolition of White Democracy,” the scholar Dr. Joel Olson named “the white citizen” “the central challenge” to expanding “political participation.” And Olson said what democracy must do — “[T]he task of democratic politics is to abolish him [the white citizen].”

The “abolish” part is clear. What they say about monopolies, what they say about billionaires, is what they should say about white citizens. Break up white citizens; white citizens should not exist. Strip white citizens of political power; make white citizens politically nonexistent. Then — let’s see how free people are to take part in the political system.

People have ideas, and ideas, about how democracy should work. But democracy doesn’t work with white citizens. That’s the main idea to digest and distribute. Democracy starts at the end of white, and America is nowhere near dark. We should at least be clear.
Why You Should Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
By: Jason Gutierrez
Tags: Growth, Self, Life, Personal Development, Self Improvement

Photo by Erlend Ekseth on Unsplash

“All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” — Michael John Bobak

Earlier this year, I powered on my laptop and stared into the blank canvas on the Webflow site builder. It was an early Saturday morning, and I had only one task on my index card:

Design jasongutierrez.me in Webflow

I had been dreading that moment for months. For the previous 4 years, I had used WordPress as the engine for my website, blog, and central hub of my writing. During that time I learned it inside and out.

You could say we were best friends, or at least as close as a man and a series of web applications could be to best friends. I knew WordPress and WordPress knew me.

But all good things eventually come to an end. WordPress had grown too clunky for my “lean” business model. I wanted to re-brand from The Monk Life to my own name, and it just made so much more sense to start fresh on a newer, better application for building websites.

Webflow came struttin’ down the runway and caught my eye, and I knew sooner or later making the switch was inevitable.

So as I stared into the blank canvas, feelings of doubt, dread, and procrastination swirling about, I took a sip of my coffee, put some music on, and got to work.

Half a day later, the foundation for jasongutierrez.me had been laid, and I felt pretty darn satisfied at the work I had accomplished.

On more than a handful of moments throughout the day, I felt extremely frustrated, each time wanting to chuck my phone into the wall and go enjoy the fresh Spring sunshine.

That’s how it feels to step outside of your comfort zone. By definition, it’s uncomfortable. But as Michael John Bobak says, it’s the only place where progress occurs.

If you live inside your comfort zone your entire life, you never have the opportunity to grow, and though it certainly would be “comfortable” you’re extremely limited.

However, the more often you step outside of it, the more it grows along with you.

The obvious benefits of stepping outside of your comfort zone are things like progress, success, skills, knowledge, and self-confidence.

But, one overlooked benefit of growing your comfort zone is that you’re actually MORE comfortable retreating back into it. Your circle of comfort is bigger because you’ve experienced more things that you’re confident you can handle.

I knew next to nothing about Webflow going in, and now, I’ve used my newly learned skills to grow my audience at jasongutierrez.me and to develop a coffee website from scratch — the one that’s launching soon. Without powering through the frustration and discomfort, I’d be stuck in the past, missing out on all the amazing experiences that new horizons have to offer.

The only way to break out of the cycle of stagnancy is to step out of your bubble and just do the damn thing.
Monokai Pro: beautiful functionality for professional developers
Tags: Programming, Sublimetext, Software Development, Design, Web Development

Beautiful Functionality

Almost every code editor has a Monokai preset. It has been recycled, remixed and implemented in more software products than I can count. The old Monokai has been going strong for more than a decade.

The new Monokai Pro not only is an updated color palette, it’s a complete visual overhaul of Sublime Text. A color scheme for syntax highlighting in multiple languages and a user interface theme that doesn’t get in your way. It contains more than 50 custom made icons.

The single goal of Monokai Pro is to help you focus. All design decisions were guided by the principle of Beautiful Functionality. Carefully selected shades of colors are the foundation of an uncompromising, non-distractive user interface.

The single goal of Monokai Pro is to help you focus.

Color harmony

What makes Monokai Monokai are its vibrant accent colors. It’s key for good design that colors are balanced. This isn’t a very straightforward mathematical process. To achieve color harmony, you need to carefully handpick the best matching colors.

The all new Monokai Pro accent colors

If you look back at the old Monokai preset, you notice some accent colors “pop” more than others. The pink stands out because it’s vibrant, but the perceived lightness of that pink is actually less than the other colors. This difference, perhaps unconsciously, feels somewhat unbalanced. Monokai Pro solves this by better harmonizing its colors.

The icons in Monokai Pro look as sharp as Dracula’s fangs

Filetype icons help you to quickly scan through your code base. However, creating icons is not the same as slapping down a scaled down logo next to the filename. That leads to blurry icons, because the shapes don’t line up perfectly with a pixel grid.

Pixel perfect icon creation process

Blurred icons not only look frustratingly bad, they lead to unrecognizable graphics. They also make you squint and make you think you need glasses. The icons in Monokai Pro are made from scratch. Point-for-point perfect pixel pleasure. That’s 5 P’s.

Color filters

Monokai Pro comes with a set of five color filters that suit your mood. They’re all variations on the standard palette, and they’re all Monokai Pro. You can quickly switch between the filters, the sidebar icon colors will match as well.

Monokai Pro has a couple of other design tricks up its sleave, like automatic sidebar font syncing, monochrome icons and a “minimal” setting. That’s for the pros, and you can read up on that on the site: www.monokai.pro.

Try Monokai Pro for free, it’s €9,95 for a license that removes the pop-ups.
Do You Know The Story Behind This Famous Painting?
By: Froyle Davies
Tags: Gallery, Creativity, Painting, Art, Inspiration

The language of emotional connection

Did Munch literally hear a scream from around him or was the experience an outworking of his own mental distress?

“I felt a great scream — and I actually heard a great scream — The colours of nature broke up — the lines of nature — the lines and the colours — quivered in motion — These oscillations of light not only caused my eye to vibrate — they also brought my ear into vibration — so that I truly heard a scream — I then painted the picture Scream.” — Munch

The painting is a radical and timeless expression of human fear and anxiety, universal in its meaning. The ambiguity of the subject’s gender helps to solidify our collective connection to the artwork. We all feel fear, and through the uncertainty of our present time, this image has become an icon.

“It is a symbol we reach for as we might for a strong word, to express what we’re feeling this minute” — Johnathon Jones.

Everybody copies a genius.

The success of this image to transmit the desired emotional effect can be seen through the many parodies of The Scream. The popularity of the image has permeated every aspect of pop culture, from film and TV, to tattoos and memes.

The Scream was referenced by Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone; the Ghostface mask in the Scream horror franchise, and Doctor Who, in The Silence. Even Homer Simpson has referenced this artwork.

“This is the key to The Scream’s universal appeal, states art critic, Jonathan Jones, by removing all individuality from this being, Munch allows anyone to inhabit it. He draws a glove puppet for the soul.”

Now, it has also been recreated as an emoji — ‘face screaming in fear’. It has become the ultimate image of the existential crisis.

If you’re feeling it, go ahead and, you know… 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
V is for Vulnerability
By: Oprah Jobs
Tags: Vulnerability, Motivation

The microphone shook in my hands as I began to tell over 30 people in the room what my vulnerabilities were.

It was two years ago; the first time I ran a Facebook Ad.

Like most first Ads, the result was awful!

But that experience left me burnt out. I started questioning my skills and the numerous certificates I had acquired over the years.

I saw myself as a failure rather than the Ad.

Thinking back now, it was all a rushed process. I clumsily watched a YouTube Tutorial video(Whose focus was on the USA market) and duplicated his methods. Of course, the result came out terrible!

If I had seen the failure as an opportunity to learn something new, figure where I had gone wrong, and focus on doing better next time. Perhaps, I’ll be calling myself a “Facebook Expert” now.

Running from failure is something I’m accustomed to.

At several stages of my life, I have always found a reason to run from situations that didn’t work out as I expected. Or a quit on new things that starts challenging me beyond what I prepared for.

The fear of failure is my greatest vulnerability.

Oh, there’s the fear of public speaking too, but come to think of it, behind that fear is resistance — that small tiny voice in our heads that doesn’t want us to embarrass ourselves. It all boils than to the fear of not saying thrash that’ll make others think lesser of us. We are scared of being vulnerable.
Hey Liberals, We Need to Not Gloat
By: Glenn Geffcken
Tags: Unity, Politics, Current Events, Polarization, Election 2020

Beliefs Are Choices & We’re Not Always Right

Ideas are just ideas. Opinions are just opinions. And I would go even further and say that beliefs are just beliefs. Whether they be related to the nature of family or the nature of God, we shape our reality by the beliefs we hold. And those beliefs are merely our choice.

I would go further still, to venture into the sacrosanct domain of “capitalism,” and the much maligned “socialism,” to say that both systems are imperfect and flawed, and that they both can succeed or fail, not based on their theoretical underpinnings, but rather by how they are executed. Meaning, they are executed by people — wonderfully flawed and imperfect, filled with envy and a desire to control, often accompanied by egotism and pride.

How could it be any different? — that we are imperfect and whatever system we employ is doomed from the start to be imperfect. So, as soon as one system or ideology fails, it gives rise to the detractors to point out its faults and deem the system and the ideology a failure (not the execution of it). Then things flip the other way for a while, until the new direction fails and gives its detractors the opportunity to criticize and dismiss the ideology — and the cycle continues.

The answer?

Liberals need to not gloat. Don’t stoop to the level of egoic criticism and cavalier dismissal of ideologies that a good percentage of the country still believe in — whether you agree or not. Because the truth is, no one is right 100% of the time. And . . . there may very well be some essential underpinnings of the opposing platform that hold merit and are worthy of consideration. Even if just to consider for a moment and potentially integrate within a greater political philosophy. That would serve to bring us together and mend the divide.
ADF Faces and Client Side Value with innerHTML
By: Andrej Baranovskij
Tags: JavaScript, Oracle, Oracle Adf

In ADF Faces you can leverage the full power of JavaScript. I will explain how you could assign a value from ADF Faces component to the plain HTML div.

The sample app is available on GitHub repo. It doesn’t require DB connection, you can run it straight away in Oracle JDeveloper.

Look into JSF page. I have implemented ADF Faces input component with value change listener. Below this component, there is HTML div with ID ot1. We will assign a text value to this div programmatically from JS function passClientSideValue:

JavaScript function reads the value by client ID from ADF Faces component and assigns it to the innerHTML property of HTML div:

When ADF Faces value is changed, value change listener is invoked through ADF auto-submit event. In value change listener, we extract client ID of the input component and pass it to JS function through JavaScript call from Java:

This is how the end result looks like:

In particular, this approach can be useful, when you want to bypass ADF Faces validation lifecycle and display updated value despite current validation errors in the form.
Something magical is happening in the meditation space.
By: Insight Timer
Tags: Mindfulness, Consciousness, Learning, Marketplaces, Meditation

Something magical is happening in the meditation space.

Twelve months ago we started the long journey towards becoming a sustainable company. Our business plan says we have two years to go but I often lay awake at night wondering if we’ll get there at all… other meditation apps outspend us a gazillion to 1.

Every now and then we come across something #mindblowing which reminds us of why we do what we do. So we inhale deeply and take the next step.

This chart shows how much time is spent on Insight Timer compared with many other meditation apps who you often read about in the media.

Usually the journalists write about how many downloads these apps have, or how much funding they’ve raised, or how much money they’re making. Rarely do they write about how many of the downloads convert to meditators, or how much time people spend on them, or how often people return each week — ‘metrics’ that actually matter when nurturing a meditation practice.

I realise now that it’s up to us to tell our story. We can’t wait any longer. So here I am doing exactly that, telling our story with a piechart 🤓

If we’re going to make it through the next part of journey, Insight Timer needs to grow. Our 5 million meditators needs to become 50 million. And even though just a small percentage of our community will subscribe to our paid features, they will be enough for Insight Timer and our 3000 teachers to live sustainably.

And 48 million people will have access to a free daily meditation practice.

So today I’m also asking for your help.

1. If you know any journalists who’d like to break a #bigstory about a small team, come find me here. I have lots more to say about our little red caboose 🚂

2. If you know any influencers who can help us get our story out there please share this with them. Better still, share the chart and this article on social media and @insighttimer us 🙏

3. Or next time someone asks you about meditation apps, reply with this question; ‘Did you know that people spend almost 3x more time on Insight Timer than many other apps who have 10 times more downloads and a bazillion times more revenue?’.

Thank you for sharing.

We can do this. One person at a time. But not without you.

Christopher Plowman

CEO Insight Timer
On this Day, February 1, 1984, Larry Stanton Died of AIDS.
By: Ken Gault
Tags: On This Day, LGBT, AIDS, Art, New York City

Larry was a brilliant artist. I have no idea how I met Larry. The last time I saw him, he was having the breakfast special at Homer’s, the Greek Diner on 10th Street behind the Jefferson Library, between Greenwich and 6th. He was there with his mentor, David Hockney. This was not really my circle, so we must’ve met through my ex, Joe McCormick.

His studio was in the next block of 10th Street between Greenwich and 7th, across from the FDNY Squad 18, down the street from the 9th Circle, around the corner from Sheridan Square. He lived and worked it a basement apartment there. It was one of those buildings that had a gap between the sidewalk and the basement. Looking down from the sidewalk you would see STANTON in block letters across each of the three windows lighting his studio. They were there for months after his death.

Peter Bock by Larry Stanton (36"x36")

“… his monumental portraits of friends and artists, give strong testimony to his love of life and his skills as an artist. “ — Henry Geldzahler, Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

I loved his work and bought one of his paintings. The sitter was Peter Bock. I never met him, but I wanted to be like him, and the other men Larry painted, so I asked him to do a sketch of me. It didn’t work. I was a client, not a friend. It showed a truth about me that I did not recognize or like. It was 1982. I was 31. I had recently learned that I had whatever’s going around.

Kennan, 1/5/1982

You’ll see much more attractive, happy, important, even fabulous men and boys on his site. http://www.larrystanton.net. There’s even a movie.
Women Bear the Burden Of Covid
By: Liza Donnelly
Tags: Sexual Harassment, Womens Rights, Women, Covid 19, Feminism

There was an article in the Washington Post on December 8th that told us that for women who are waitresses during covid, tips are down and sexual harrassment is up. Not surprising, sadly. After reading the article, I understand and agree that harrassment has always been there in large amounts for women waitresses, it is just taking a different form under covid, i.e. gross behavior and words that involve masks and belittle and humiliate women. Here is the study.

I also read that globally, covid is economically more taxing for women, here is the UN study. “The resurgence of extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic has revealed women’s precarious economic security,” adds Antra Bhatt, Statistics Specialist and co-author of the report From Insights to Action. “Women typically earn less and hold less secure jobs than men. With plummeting economic activity, women are particularly vulnerable to layoffs and loss of livelihoods.”

This is an ongoing series I started last week called #WomensRightsWednesdays, where I focus on an issue that concerns women around the world, and do a drawing to express the issue.

I drew the above cartoon during my daily live draw on HappsTV. You can follow me there to get notifications of when I go live. You can also become a sponsor, which I would greatly appreciate. Here is the place to go to check out HappsTV and my homepage there.
How to Create Animations and Transitions for your Android App
By: Vaidhyanathan S M
Tags: Android, Transitions, Android App Development, Animation, Java

Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn. — Norman McLaren

Animations and Transitions improve the user experience and provides smoothness when transitioning between various activities. In this article let us look at how to create animations/transitions in android.

First of all, we need to organize the file structure to place the files related to animation. So, create a new resource directory named anim.

Now, let us the see how can we create transition effects when switching between activities. So, now create a new Animation Resource file by right-clicking on the anim directory. Name the file as fadein.xml.

Also, we need to create another animation resource file named fadeout.xml.

Now, we can simply use these animation resource files to create fade-in and fade-out transition effects as shown below:

The overridePendingTransition() method is to be called before calling the setContentView() method.

So, now when the activity is launched, the transitions can be seen clearly.

So, done with the transition effects! Now, let us dive into some animations that can be applied to the elements of the activity.

For example, we can create swipe in animations for Buttons or TextViews, that is, they swipe in when the activity launches. Also, we can create floating animations that can be applied to Buttons or ImageViews. So, let us get started!

Animation is Imagination!

Again, right click on the anim resource directory and create a new resource file called animation.xml.

So, we can this swipe in animations and apply to any element such as a Button. Let me illustrate.

Swipe In Animation

Now, let us move on to see how can we create floating animation effects.

Create a new animation resource file called floatinganimation.xml.

Now, the above animation can be applied to elements such as Buttons and ImageViews. See the illustration shown below:

Floating Animation

Are you able to see the floating effect on the ImageView? Amazing right!

If you have any queries please post in the comment section below. Connect with me on LinkedIn . Also, if you want to look at my amazing collection of apps developed, don’t forget to check Google Play Store.

Know more about me here.

With that being said, thanks for reading my article and Happy Coding!
Blockchain Simplified
By: Digital Leaders
Tags: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Digital Transformation, Fintech

Written by Fintan Galvin, Founder of Invotra

Recently lots of people have been asking me about blockchain because they don’t seem to understand the basics. So in this blog, I just want to try and explain it in as simple a form as I can.

Purists may hate this, Geeks should look away now!

Blockchain is:

A database for the internet

A database that anyone can write to, no one can delete from and everyone can read from

Extremely resilient, it is spread across the entire internet with no single point of failure

Transparent, everything is publically recorded

Permanent, once something is written to the blockchain, removing it is “nearly” impossible

Not controlled by any one person, country or organisation, truly decentralised

Able to store encrypted information

You can think of it as a shared database for the entire world, in the same way that wikipedia is the default shared encyclopedia of the web.

So once you understand this basic concept, we can start to imagine what’s possible. Conceptually this graphic shows how you can think about it, with many companies sharing information and tying together applications.

This is where people are struggling to get to grips with the potential scale, most of this confusion comes from an inherent bias towards internal applications that are controlled and managed in a way that we all understand.

Now we have to expand our thinking away from the enclosed proprietary view of the world into something that ignores boundaries and where we have more certainty than we are used to having.

When we all share the same data we can do amazing things that can dramatically change the way society, organisations and people work. We can chain together information to create information networks that are all up-to-date and we can know with some certainty, that what we are seeing is real.

Blockchain is a database that is focused on things that require or can benefit from, a permanent record. Imagine if all decisions by politicians were recorded in this manner or a land registry that you didn’t have to pay a lawyer to verify for you. Imagine that you can track all purchases made with your charitable donation or that you can trace the provenance of all your assets.

Blockchain will bring a new level of transparency and openness to the world and help to create a truly global society, plus its really cool tech!

This article was originally published here and was reposted with permission.
Change Often Starts With The Word No
By: Pierre Trudel
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Love, LGBTQ, House Of Haiku Prompt, Self Improvement

I am a writer, sharing my life with a partner and soul mate for over 52 years. We love to help others reach their Dreams. Thee Quest. Let us be your compass.

Follow