fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Digital citizenship on blockchain
By: Mike Meyer
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Future, Diversity, Blockchain

It is almost time. The failure of old style pseudo representative political systems with voting in the hands of corrupt parties needs to be removed. National identity and all related services should be done on blockchain. This would mean totally transparent voting systems with all citizens registered on blockchain and no means of voter suppression or intimidation. Using blockchain for national identity and citizenship tied certification of public knowledge would allow weighted voting for those with educational certification. This is known as epistocracy related to Plato’s noocracy. This has been elaborated by Jason Brennan of Georgetown University. This really only makes sense with certification test included in the documentation as a blockchain contract granting weighted voting. This is not really possible without immutable public records.

The process is very close but the limited transaction capabilities of the current technology with resultant huge electrical resources required needs to be corrected. There are strong indications that both problems have been solved using sharding.

The ability to move citizenship records and service documentation plus certifications for education and training out of human hands to immutable, completely visible records with no intermediaries is the most profound solution to our current historical bottleneck.

Standardization on these technologies may be able to reverse the political death sentence that we are facing in the collapse of the 18th century nation state model. Citizenship can then be tied to virtual groups as well as geographic entities. These virtual entities can provide citizenship services based on personal or family preferences. In a sense this could allow extraterritoriality on a personal basis tied to a blockchain citizen record including specific rights and universal rights. The citizen blockchain contract would include not only rights but routing for citizen taxes to be processed by any revenue source anywhere on the planet or human inhabited space.

We need to make this happen.
Feirm Marketplace — Initial Release and Development Update
Tags: Masternode, Feirm, Cryptocurrency, Github, Marketplace

Good morning everybody, hope you had an amazing Christmas and promising start to the new year! It is time for the long overdue release of the Feirm Marketplace. In this initial release, it will give you the chance to create your account for use on the marketplace.

Feirm Marketplace — Initial Release

For those of you who are not following the project too closely, or are a new investor (welcome by the way!), then the Feirm Marketplace is the core of our project.

What is it?

The Feirm Marketplace is built from the ground-up with a vision in mind to eventually provide a trust-less marketplace where users can transact their goods for cryptocurrencies. We standout from others as users who transact with the native XFE coin do not pay any market fees, compared to others who may pay with another currency.

Where can I visit it?

You can visit our website for the link or check it out directly at https://marketplace.feirm.com

Registration

In order to create you account, all that is needed is a valid E-Mail address and strong password! As marketplace development progresses however, more details may be requested.

Bug fixes and Improvements

If you notice anything out of the ordinary with the Marketplace, or have an improvement to be made, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact us on our Discord. If we feel there is an improvement to be made, we will consider it and roll it out in a potential future update.

Signup Bonus

In order to get the ball rolling a bit quicker, we are going to be stepping up our giveaway game! On offer is going to be a Feirm T-Shirt and 1 masternode up for grabs (with help from a community member). More details will be published in our Discord server, so be sure to give it a visit!

Don’t forget to spread the word! (We’ll keep this post updated!)

GitLab Migration

Over the next few days, the majority of the Feirm GitHub repositories will be migrated over to GitLab for multiple reasons:

Better issue tracking

Different authentication levels on projects. For example it is useful for those who need access to the issue tracker, but do not need to give them access to the source code.

Redundancy. If for whatever reason GitLab goes down, it takes a matter of minutes for us to be able to operate on our self-hosted instance so that no projects are lost.

Unlimited private repositories. All of this is for free compared to paying the $25 a month for GitHub’s business package. (Unfortunately the latest news from GitHub does not cover organisations) :(

Final Words

I would just like to thank everybody who has helped us achieve a major milestone in the development of our vision, and the future is looking very bright from here on out. Once again, thank you, you know who you are!
Bitpie New Version 3.9.7 Support Lightening Network
By: Bitpie Wallet
Tags: Lightning, Bitpie, Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Lightning Network

Hi Blockchain! Buy, Store & Use multi-chain cryptos with ease & safety! Join us: (link: http://t.me/BitpieInternational) t.me/Bitpienews

Follow
Fat, Skinny and In Between
By: Michelle Monet
Tags: Dieting, Poetry, Self-awareness, Poem, Women

Fat, Skinny and In Between

Fat skinny and in between

Yea I’ve been those sizes.

Was I more content when bones stuck out?

Nah, I wasn’t wiser.

I thought it equaled happy

To be more thin than stout.

What a precious waste of time

What WAS that all about?

Haha…oh what a worry

All those years of such concern.

I was always in a hurry

To get those cal’ries burned!

So, here I sit past 50,

50 years on this sweet earth.

Concerned about the size of boobs?

And cellulite and girth?

What use did all that do me?

I thought I might just — DIE?

If I had excess blubber,

Oh DAMN that wicked lie.

My kitties they still love me

I’m still the same ‘ole me.

Fat thin and in between

I think I’ll — let it be.

Michelle Monet from book Catch a Poem by the Tale -2016

I used to make a living singing from Las Vegas to New York, Russia to South Africa. I am writing my memoir about my life in showbiz now. What’s interesting is how important I felt it was to be ‘thin’ on stage.

Now that I’m recording music in my house (robe and slippers!) I am realizing how much of that was B.S. I’m even singing better now that I’m chubbier.
UHIVE— An Opportunity For Medium Writers To Grow
By: Em Hoccane
Tags: Personal Growth, Growth Hacking, Apps, Blogging Tips, Business

UHIVE— An Opportunity For Medium Writers To Grow

the new social media revolution that lets you earn

, this is not official logo just made on canava.com

UHIVE, a new era of the social network is a marvelous gift for us from technology.UHIVE is based on new unique positive and creative ideas. The idea here for us as a medium writer is that we can grow our medium post here. We may get traffic in an enormous amount by working on UHIVE.

The question is still in your mind ‘ How can we get traffic via UHIVE?’

Every new social network comes into the technology world with some extra benefits but to avail benefits, we must be aware of its proper handling.

Create a business space

The first thing you are going to do after making an account on Uhive is the creation of space. Space can be created easily under any category of the topic you choose. The list is given below

Art & Architecture Astronomy Autos Beauty & Make up Books & Literature Business Comedy & Fun Comics & Anime Education Fashion Food& drink Gaming Health & Fitness History Home&Lifestyle Movies Music News& Politics Parenting Pets& Animals Photo Religion Science Sports Technology Travel

Choose your space and embellish it with your creative thinking and ideas either in form of links to the medium story or just pictures or videos. The diversity in the topics above helps you better choose your space for your variable contents. You can own your own UHIVE space too.

I made my space in the name of my publication, Passive Asset. I have followers on my space greater in number than on my publication. So I found it a convenient way to spread my publication to other social media platforms.

As a Bonus of engaging on UHIVE, you get HIVE tokens that are new cryptocurrencies expected to be presented for exchange very soon. The value of Uhive tokens expected is 300 tokens equal to 1 dollar.

The interface of the Uhive app is very attractive and much beautiful. So I suggest you create your space to spread your voice, passion, and experiences. You can use it anonymously without being tracked.

UHIVE is the best place for bloggers, writers, and people interested in marketing because they can share here a review of a book or any product and get exposure to more and more people.
Our First COVID-19 Investment and July Updates
By: Tribeca Venture Partners
Tags: Startup, Entrepreneurship, Malware, Venture Capital, Digital Marketing

Matt Gillis, CEO at clean.io

As the world shut down around us and we shifted to working from home, we were forced to reinvent our investment process. Our old investment process, which consisted of a lot of in-person interactions, just isn’t possible anymore. But we still need to invest in promising start-ups…it’s what we do. Post-COVID, a trusted VC partner intro’d us to Matt Gillis and the clean.io team. Chip’s been operating and investing in the martech space for over two decades, so we have a deep understanding of the problem space and the people in the sector, so we dug in. After completing numerous Zooms, phone calls, model reviews, and 2x our typical number of front and back door references, we closed our first COVID investment without ever meeting the team live. And you know what…it all worked just fine. We are pleased to announce that we are leading the Series A in clean.io.

clean.io is a cybersecurity company that protects enterprises from the execution of malicious and untrusted code. A single line of malicious JavaScript on a brand’s website or mobile app can breach data security, create poor user experiences, reduce revenue, and tarnish a brand’s reputation. clean.io stops it. Read More In TechCrunch
Of the loneliest kinds of lonely
By: D Abboh
Tags: Poetry, Life, Prose, This Happened To Me, Loneliness

Us

I traced the palm of your hand with my fingertips, asking you to give me love, did you hear me — did you feel my love for you? Reading the book of you — as I touched your life lines and love lines from left palm to right — I never once read my name in any of your chapters.

Still, you would say…

I’ll hold you when you’re afraid, until the fear is no longer there — like smoke dissipating through the atmosphere.

Your palms were always a little moist, maybe from the remnants of escaped — lonely teardrops. Like water through your fingertips, you couldn’t hold onto us — not even for a little while.

You became the smoke dissipating as I gazed at the sky, the fear and the irony of it all — is what remained.
“A” is for amicable
By: Marilyn Flower
Tags: Divorce, Ideastream, Poetry, Love, The Bad Influence

Divorce papers delivered today,

and we can honestly say,

we’re very happy. In fact,

I’m brimming over with joy,

bought and paid for,

given all the tribulations

we’ve been through.

Yes, once we took our lover’s vows,

in the shade of a summer glade,

and tried our best, but that’s

over now, so we’ll give it a rest.

Nice to know amicable means

we still love each other —

just not like that.
The Deutsch-Jozsa Algorithm
By: Ryan Lam
Tags: Technology, Physics, Tech, Quantum Computing, Computer Science

To understand how the Deutsch-Jozsa Algorithm works, let's have an input where n=1. The process will be the same regardless of the value of n. If all measurements of n equal to 0, the function was constant. If at least one of the measurements results in a 1, the function would’ve been balanced.

In our example, since n=1, if the result is 0, the function would’ve been constant. Otherwise, if the result is 1, the function would be balanced.

To implement the circuit, we need 2 qubits: the first qubit, q0 , will be our “data qubit” (x), and the second qubit, q1 , will be our “helper/ancilla qubit” (y). We then initialize the qubits with q0 into the |0> state and q1 into the |1> state (We do this by applying an X gate).

Mathematically, it would look like this:

Next, we need to put the qubits in a superposition by applying 2 H gates; an H gate on q0 , and another on q1 . (Ignore the ID , it’s just a placeholder so my Hadamard gates are aligned)

After applying the Hadamard gates on q0 and q1 , we can expand the equation such that it looks like the following:

Now, we need to implement Uₕ , the quantum oracle/unitary operation. Uₕ does 2 things: it implements the function, h(x), and outputs the XOR of the bits of h(x) and the bits of the helper/ancilla qubit. If h(x) is a constant function (h(x) = 0), we don’t need to do anything, but if h(x) is a balanced function (h(x) = 1), all we need to do is to apply an X gate to the helper/ancilla qubit. Uₕ is a lot harder to figure out for balanced functions and is more complicated when n gets larger.

For our n=1 example, the oracle performs a CNOT gate, with q0 as the control qubit and q1 as the target qubit. After implementing Uₕ , the helper/ancilla qubit has a state of y XOR h(x) . This means that if the data qubit is |0> , the helper/ancilla qubit will be y XOR h(0) . If the data qubit is |1> , the helper/ancilla qubit will be y XOR h(1) instead.

We can actually rewrite the states mathematically like this:

And we can factor out the helper/ancilla qubit so it looks like this:

We apply another 2 H gates to our qubits. We do this so the |1> terms can cancel out if h(0) = h(1) and if h(0) ≠ h(1), the |0> terms will be canceled. In other words, for the data qubit, |0> becomes |0> + |1> , and |1> becomes |0> - |1> . For the helper/ancilla qubit, if it’s a |0> - |1> , it will become a |1> .

Now, with a bit more math and simplifying, we can get this:
Do You Write Better JavaScript?
By: Harsha Vardhan
Tags: JavaScript, Software Development, Programming, Web Development, Coding

Garbage Collection

One of the basic concepts that each of the garbage collection algorithms use is Reference. If any object has access to another object, then that can be called as reference.

The following are few of the algorithms used for Garbage collection:

1. Reference-counting garbage collection

This is one of the simplest and basic algorithms that just counts the number of references associated with any object. If an object has no reference at all, then it is collected as garbage. One of the most common usage of this algorithm is in IE 6 and IE 7 where this algorithm is used for DOM objects.

let a = {

b: {

c: 'Harsha'

}

}; // 2 objects are created. One is referenced by the other as one of // its properties. // The other is referenced by virtue of being assigned to the // variable 'a'. let z = a.b; // Reference to ‘b’ property of the object. // This object now has 2 references: one as a property,

// the other as the ‘z’ variable. a = 'HarshaVardhan'; //The object initially had json and now it has // lost all references and it’s garbage collected z = null; // The ‘b’ property of the object originally in a has zero // references to it. It can be garbage collected.

There is a known limitation in this algorithm — Circular references. A circular reference occurs when two objects are created with reference to each other and it creates a cycle. Since there will always be one reference to each of the objects, it will never be garbage collected thus causing a Memory leak.

function CircularRef() {

let obj_1 = {};

let obj_2 = {};



// obj_1 references obj_2

obj_1.object = obj_2; // obj_2 references obj_1

obj_2.object = obj_1; return ‘Memory leak’;

} CircularRef();

2. Mark-and-sweep-algorithm

This algorithm simplifies the problem by considering only the reachability of any object. In this algorithm the garbage collector starts with the global objects (aka ‘roots’) and then marks reachable and unreachable objects accordingly. Here, the circular reference is no longer a problem. Most of the modern browsers use this algorithm. Only limitation that we’re left with now is, there’s no way we can manually release any memory like in C.
ADF Performance Improvement with Nginx Compression
By: Andrej Baranovskij
Tags: Jsf, Jdeveloper, Oracle Adf, Nginx, Performance

We are using Nginx web server for Oracle ADF WorkBetter hosted demo hosted on DigitalOcean cloud server. Nginx helps to serve web application content fast and offer improved performance. One of the important tuning options — content compression, Nginx does this job well and is simple to setup.

Content compression doesn’t provide direct runtime performance, a browser would run the same code, doesn’t matter it was compressed or not. But it brings improved perceived performance (which is very important), network time is way faster, because of reduced content size. Oracle ADF is a server-side framework, each request would bring content from the server — faster this content comes, means better application performance.

1. Content Compression = OFF

Let see stats, when no content compression applied (using our Oracle ADF WorkBetter hosted demo).

Page load size is 2.69 MB transferred. Finish time 1.55 s:

Navigation to the employee section generates 165.76 KB and finish time 924 ms:

Navigation to employee compensation generates 46.19 KB and finish time 494 ms:

2. Nginx compression

Compression is simple to setup in Nginx. Gzip settings are set in nginx.conf, make sure to list all content types which must be supported for compression. Restart nginx process after new settings are saved in nginx.conf:

3. Content Compression = ON Page load size is 733.84 KB transferred. Finish time 1.48 s:

Navigation to the employee section generates 72.75 KB and finish time 917 ms:

Navigation to employee compensation generates 7.59 KB and finish time 498 ms:
Advent of Cyber 2: Day 1 [Tryhackme]
By: Akshay Shinde
Tags: Writeup, Tryhackme, Ctf

Hey fellas, finally the Advent of cyber is here and you guys can play the game at Tryhackme. So, Day 1 is all about Web exploitation and it covers the basics of how the web works. So let’s get started.

Task 1

We got a bunch of questions and these questions are very simple.

Control Centre

We got to this Control Centre, let’s register the user and see what we can get after logging in.

Here, we have to find the name of the cookie used for authentication.

1. What is the name of the cookie used for authentication?

Ans: auth

So the second question is based upon the value of a cookie.It’s encoded using Hexadecimal, which gives us the answer to the second question.

2. In what format is the value of this cookie encoded?

Ans. Hexadecimal

Let’s decode the value of the cookie and what we get is this output in JSON Format.

3. Having decoded the cookie, what format is the data stored in?

Ans. JSON

We can manipulate the username field to change it to santa to get access to his account.

4. What is the value of Santa’s cookie?

Ans : 7b22636f6d70616e79223a22546865204265737420466573746976616c20436f6d70616e79222c2022757365726e616d65223a2273616e7461227d

Copy the value of santa’s cookie and paste it in the Cookie Editor to get the access of santa’s account.

Cookie Editor

Getting flag

5. What is the flag you’re given when the line is fully active?

Ans: THM{MjY0Yzg5NTJmY2Q1NzM1NjBmZWFhYmQy}

Thank you 🚀 Happy Hacking 💻
Writer Success Spotlight: Chuck Radke
By: Terri M. Leblanc
Tags: Authors, Publishing, Writers On Writing, Success Story, Writing

Q: What is your favorite passage from the book?

On the north side of Bullard, just a few hundred yards from our house, stood long, neat rows of fig trees, which at one time covered most of Fresno’s city limits. They arrived as cuttings and seeds, left in the earth by mission-building Spaniards looking to colonize the Pacific Coast and convert Native Americans into devoted Christians and Spanish citizens. But the fig trees of my youth reach back in time even further, to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve are said to have sewn garments from fig leaves to hide their nakedness. Fig trees grew in the Promised Land, in the gardens of ancient kings, where just one of them was a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Fig trees meant full tables and households that lacked nothing, and from our front doorstep, we could see acres of them. By such a measure, then, we should have lived a life of comfort and ease.

But there is a counter-narrative, one that cannot be ignored: On the day Jesus left Bethany, just before he entered the temple courts and overturned the tables of moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves, he sought nourishment from a fig tree, then rebuked it when he found nothing but leaves. “May no one ever eat from you again,” he said. And there, before his disciples, the fig tree withered and died.

The land where I grew up, then, was as holy as it was cursed.
Testing In React, Part 1: Types & Tools
By: Bryn Bennett
Tags: JavaScript, Software Development, Testing, Programming, React

It is painfully easy to get away with writing frontend code sans formal tests. Unlike backend programming, you are naturally “testing” your frontend application continuously throughout development just by interacting with the user interface. If you add an onClick handler, you intuitively head to the browser to click on that component. When you create a new route, most likely the first thing you do afterwards is navigate to that route.

This is a form of testing, and it is both necessary and helpful. However, it servers a very specific purpose. This testing-by-doing strategy provides confirmation that the exact set of steps within that exact version of the codebase will yield the desired result. It is quick, efficient and effective in this sense, and is an obvious necessity in spite of its limitations.

Writing formal tests for your interface can help to fill the holes left behind, a few of which are:

Ensuring that the code continues to yield the desired result, and does not break with further development.

Testing for various use cases, rather than just the one that you performed.

Reminding you why code is written a certain way (to handle the finicky third-party package rendering, or ensure that functions come to completion in the proper order, etc.)

We have all been there — that place where you finally find a solve for that unique functionality you are adding in, only to realize that handling it in that way breaks something else. This is where formal testing comes in. It ensures that your app is continuing to function as expected, and can save you a massive headache down the road.
Musicians Generate Every Possible Melody and Make it Public
By: Przemek Chojecki
Tags: Technology, News, Music, Programming, Law

Musicians Generate Every Possible Melody and Make it Public

Using algorithms musicians generated every possible melody to give access to other musicians.

Damien Riehl and Noah Rubin generated and saved every possible MIDI melody and then shared it with public under Creative Commons Zero license, making it now possible for any musician to use it.

Musicians generate every possible melody. Damien Riehl and Noah Rubin.

The goal of their amazing feat is to make it easier for songwriters to write songs. They have published the code on Github. It is all about enabling musicians to create freely, without being scared of a potential law suit. If you’ve ever thought one song sounded similar to another, the culprit may not be an unethical forger, but rather the limited mathematical musical equations that our favorite artists have to work with. Copyright law is at risk of severely limiting future music creation and future human creativity.

Riehl and Rubin developed an algorithm that recorded every possible 8-note, 12-beat melody combo. This is similar to what hackers use to guess passwords: brute force, that is getting through every possible combination of notes. Their algorithm generates roughly 300,000 melodies per second.

In his Ted talk Riehl said:

“Under copyright law, numbers are facts, and under copyright law, facts either have thin copyright, almost no copyright, or no copyright at all. So maybe if these numbers have existed since the beginning of time and we’re just plucking them out, maybe melodies are just math, which is just facts, which is not copyrightable.”

You can see Riehl here:
Using a Blockchain Performance Bond to Execute Collaborative Arbitrage
Tags: Trading, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Performance Bond

The idea of Collaborative Arbitrage is quite simple. Two traders collaborate to profit from differences in the price of an asset in different markets.

There are two possible collaborative models. In the first model, Bob sells the asset in one market. Alice buys back the asset at a cheaper price in another market and sends it Bob.

In the second model, Bob sends the asset to Alice. Alice sells the asset in another market whilst Bob buys back the asset at a cheaper price.

Counterparty risk is the primary problem with collaborative arbitrage. Will Alice remit the proceeds of the sale to Bob? Will Bob pay Alice the agreed share of the trading profit?

A blockchain Performance Bond provides a cost effective tool for eliminating counterparty risk inherent in collaborative arbitrage. The diagrams below show how a Performance Bond eliminates counterparty risk in models A & B.

Counterparties need to agree terms including the value of the bond, the quantity of asset been transacted as well as how trading profit is to be shared.

The rest of this article provides an overview of the Token Changer Performance Bond DApp.

Performance Bond

The Token Changer Performance Bond is a smart contract that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. There are three parties to the contract. The Bond Writer, the Bond Beneficiary and the Arbitrator.

The bond writer is the counterparty that receives value in a transaction. The writer creates a Performance Bond by sending ether (ETH) to the smart contract. The bond beneficiary activates the bond by sending a percentage of the bond value (ether) to the smart contract.

Both the bond writer and beneficiary need to approve the arbitrator before the arbitrator can intervene in a dispute. If there is no dispute at the expiration of the bond, the smart contract refunds (less fees) the ether deposited by the writer and beneficiary.

The bond writer or beneficiary can file a dispute at any time before the expiration of the bond. Once a dispute is filed, only the arbitrator can decide the amounts to refund to the writer and beneficiary.

After the expiration of a performance bond, the beneficiary cannot file a dispute again. This is why the smart contract provides the option for the beneficiary to extend the expiration time of the bond.

To stop the beneficiary extending the bond indefintely, the writer can stop the extension of the bond. In this scenario, the beneficiary has to file a dispute before the expiration time.

Arbitrators are qualified and registered on the smart contract by Token Changer. The bond writer or beneficiary can appoint any registered arbitrator. However, both the writer and beneficiary have to approve the appointed arbitrator for the appointment to take effect.
What is StarLink broadband?
By: Lakshay Budhiraja
Tags: Technology, Future, Internet, Elon Musk, Spacex

HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS ACROSS THE GLOBE

With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.

Starlink is targeting service in the Northern U.S. and Canada in 2020, rapidly expanding to near global coverage of the populated world by 2021.

Image Credits: Starlink

KEEPING THE SPACE CLEAN

Starlink is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation, meeting or exceeding all regulatory and industry standards.

At end of life, the satellites will utilize their on-board propulsion system to de-orbit over the course of a few months. In the unlikely event the propulsion system becomes inoperable, the satellites will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere within 1–5 years.

SpaceX now has more than 400 flying routers in orbit, with plans to more than triple that number in the coming months. While it has the go-ahead to launch more than 12,000 satellites in the coming years. Musk said in a tweet that a “private beta” test of the service is about to begin, followed by a public beta for testers at northern latitudes.
Belly Positivity
By: Background Noise Comics
Tags: Humor, Cartoon, Comics, Body Positive, Body Image

Written by

Daily comic by Lisa Burdige and John Hazard about balancing life, love and kids in the gig economy.
A glimpse into the future of the global economy
By: World Economic Forum
Tags: Growth

After a number of years of economic crisis, can we now be optimistic about the progress of global economies? What are the reforms that should be implemented? What are the implications of the backlash against globalization for the global economy? What would a fractured global economy mean for financial globalization? With the coming of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, do you see new opportunities or tools that can help keep the global economy together?
Unconventional Productivity Tips: Another Way To Look At Productivity
By: Eric S Burdon
Tags: Life Lessons, Life, Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Personal Development

It’s honestly a moot point as to whether gaming is productive or not, but I think that some gaming can help out significantly.

It’s a form of relaxation, and clearly some moderation in gaming can provide some advantages.

Some other key points to note is that people have started businesses from gaming as well with most top earners on Youtube being “Let’s Players”. These are people who provide online commentary to a video game.

Furthermore, Twitch is a platform dedicated to streamers playing video games.

So it’s fair to say that gaming isn’t as bad as people let on. Too much can be fatal, but some is acceptable.

The tricky thing is bringing those skills from gaming over into the real world, which honestly is a whole other beast.

But you can be sure that playing at least a half hour to an hour a day of gaming can help you significantly regardless of field.

Have Less Goals And Less Work

I’ve said in the past that I’ve boosted my productivity by doing less and I certainly have. Every day I have a satisfying day because I devote my time to some of the “toughest tasks” that are on my list.

These tasks overall take a few hours out of my day and leave the rest of my day open.

Although I honestly can’t afford the same kind of luxury as Tim Ferriss, there is still some nugget of truth to how Tim Ferriss lives.

Doing less and focusing on the main points of work can help in boosting overall productivity.

The reason it can work is that you reduce the risk of getting overwhelmed.

That’s not to say we should all have less goals and ambitions in life. Instead only take on what is necessary at the time.
Programming career
By: Tarishi Singh
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Programming, Work Life Balance, Coding

Let’s dive in some of the practices that you WILL have to adhere to as a programmer —

Practice #1 — DO YOUR BASICS

Do not jump straight to a Language. Yes, learning python is very much cool, but knowing the syntax will not help you to understand the logic of the problem. It will take you some time to get used to it but start doing a thorough study of DATA STRUCTURES and ALGORITHMS.

Data structures are the fundamental building blocks to organize the data, which can be further used as ingredients to create efficient and robust algorithms.

Practice #2 — LEARN ONE (OR FIVE) LANGUAGES

In most CS degree courses, the common programming languages taught are C, C++, Java, and Python unless your class is specialized. Learning more than one language is fine if you’re able to understand the syntax, but if you’re not comfortable, don’t worry because at the end of the day, it’s your logic that matters, but this depends on the field that you want to go in.

For example, for Front-end web development, HTML and CSS is a must along with JavaScript. For data science, software development, and Machine Learning, Python is the way to go.

Practice #3 — CODE! CODE! CODE!

That should (not) take you by surprise, start small and practice snippets of code, and better understand practice “What will be the output?” questions. Take up small projects which can add to your profile; for example, you can code a calculator or the hangman game.

Practicing will give you insights into your coding style and make you familiar with the types of errors that occur. Remember, it will be frustrating when you’re stuck on a problem for long, so HAVE PATIENCE and don’t give up keep trying until you get it working.

Also, rote learning and Memorizing WILL NOT work as each problem has its logical flow, so memorizing will be a waste of time!

Practice #4 — CHOOSE YOUR DOMAIN

One of the crucial steps if you want a career in the technical field. Which is your area of interest? Do you enjoy dealing with datasets? Do you like developing websites? Ask yourself these questions then decide which is the domain in which you’ll thrive.

No domain is considered any less than the other, it is solely your choice to opt for any of them, but once you choose based on them, your TECHNICAL INTERVIEW will take place, one of the main highlights for a technical job.

Practice #5 — UPDATE WITH TIME

It is doubtful in a technical field that you’ll be using the same programming language for the rest of your life. For example, I started coding with QBasic, which has no implementation now. With the emerging technologies, always keep yourself updated with any new languages that can benefit you or add to your portfolio.

Programming languages are always competing in terms of popularity. In 2020 Python is considered at the top, followed by Java, C/C++, JavaScript, R, Swift, Go, and so on.
Machine Learning with or without Human Supervision
By: Super Albert
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Machine Learning, Education, Data Science

Machine Learning with or without Human Supervision

Choosing Machine Learning algorithms

Machine Learning (ML) systems can be classified according to the prior knowledge on the data and type of output it is already known for our training samples.

Supervised Learning

This is the first type of ML system you will probably deal with when starting to learn about Machine Learning. It is called Supervised Learning(SL) because you already know the expected output value the algorithm should return. Therefore, the training data that you feed the system already includes the desired solutions, known as labels (data consisting of a set of training examples where each is a pair consisting of an input and the desired output value).

The goal of Supervised Learning is to find the function that models relationships and dependencies between the target prediction output and the input features.

Regression

A typical Supervised Learning task is to predict a future target continuous numeric value, such as the price of a house, given a set of features(numbers of rooms, area, etc) called predictors. This is known as Regression.

To train the algorithm you have to feed it with a great number of examples of houses, including both the predictors and their labels (e.g. sale price)

Other real time examples :

What will be the value of the USD equivalent to Bitcoin on a future date? |How long will it take me to go from the office to home | What will be the sales values for next month?

Regression algorithms:

Linear Regression

Logistic Regression

Polynomial Regression

Etc.

Classification

It is also a typical SL task, however it differs from regression in the way it does not try to predict a numeric value but assign a value to one of the existent classes. The goal is to predict a discrete value, e.g. {1,0}, {True, False}, {spam, not spam}.

Classification vs Regression. Source

Other real time examples :

Is this email Spam or not? | Will the customer by the product? | Is the client happy? | Will the customer leave our bank? | Can the client apply to new credit?

Classification algorithms:
[自己挖的坑自己跳] — 談程式的易測性
By: Yu-Song Syu
Tags: Testing, Software Engineering, Testability, Coding, Unit Testing

Kuma老師的軟體工程教室

Welcome to the Kingdom of Software Engineering
The Lake
By: Galit Birk
Tags: Poetry, Nature, Here And Now, Self-awareness, Nature Photography

Flicker and Flight is a Poetry Publication that has married the art of Photography. This publication focuses on supporting Nature, Love/Unity, Spirituality, and Growth, through the beauty of Word-Play and Images.

Follow
HMS President helps fight on the frontline
By: Ministry Of Defence
Tags: Case Study, Covid 19, Medical, Military, Coronavirus

HMS President helps fight on the frontline

Royal Navy reservists from HMS President are on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus

Commander Adham Khalek

Adham Khalek.

In his civilian career, Adham is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

When on duty he is responsible for overseeing the initial assessment, treatment, resuscitation (if necessary) and admission/discharge of all Emergency patients — along with a team of doctors, nurses, porters and other health professionals.

His job now is no different from his job normally but now with much higher levels of safety put in place — working in various levels of PPE to manage the added risks.

Cdr Adham Khalek.

“It may sound cheesy but the Royal Navy core values (commitment, courage, loyalty, respect, integrity and discipline) are exactly what is required from everyone and has been on display.”

Everyone at work in his department has pulled together recently (even more so than usual) and overcome a continuous chain of challenges in a way that is strikingly similar to the can-do attitude he has seen and experienced on operations.

But he couldn’t stop there, he has also volunteered for the COVID vaccine trial — which he has been screened for and is awaiting a response!

Father Tom Pyke

Tom Pyke, is a Parish Vicar in the Isle of Dogs and HMS President’s Chaplain. Like all Chaplains in the Royal Navy, he is affectionately known as ‘Bish’.
The Mandalorian, Vietnam, and Cheetos
By: Brett Chrest
Tags: Disney, Star Wars, History, Mandalorian, Humor

Look: I get it. It is a silly show whose main draw is all of the tie-ins from other parts of the Star Wars canon. I’m no different. I fell sucker to the X-Files decades ago (that show has NOT stood the test of time…). There are neat effects, characters with exotic names, and a little green thing that needs to see an ENT doctor to figure out what is going on with all of those involuntary ear movements (maybe that should be Season 3, Ep. 1). In the end however, there are three types of people who are the main audience: people that see every last detail, people who listen to those people and add unfounded comments, and people who have no idea what is going on and just want to be part of the club:

Person A: “Dude! Did you see that seen where Thoraxicus had Sphincterious’ Model K-12_a blaster? That must mean that Thoraxicus has captured or killed Sphincterious! And if captured/tortured, did Sphincterious give up the location of the jade monkey?!” Person B: “No way — after getting marooned in the Tacobellus System, Sphincterious proved he was nice and tight — nothing is leaking out of Sphincty.” Person C: “I like Lunchables.”

I used to work in an office that had several “Person A”s who were particularly fond of the Star Wars universe. After a trailer was released a few years back for one of the newer movies, two office-mates almost got into a fist fight over which burned out hulk of a Star Destroyer was featured during an action scene. Granted, the two belligerents weren’t exactly going to put on an epic Jason Statham-esque battle, but someone was forced to step in and say “don’t get fired over this…”. Of course, their tone of voice wasn’t “fighting over Star Wars is dumb”, it was “fighting over this particular part of Star Wars is dumb…if you want to throw hands over <more important esoteric Star Wars issue>, go nuts.”

I can’t throw stones. I like baseball, and pour over useless stats. But…
Become a Preferred Supplier as a Freelancer or Solopreneur
By: Kahli Bree Adams
Tags: Marketing, Freelancing, Small Business, Entrepreneurship, Business

Become a Preferred Supplier as a Freelancer or Solopreneur

Be your clients’ first choice

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

If you’re one of the almost 60 million freelancers in the US or elsewhere in the world, make sure you’re not one of the 92% who never takes time off because they need to work non-stop to make ends meet. A good way to make your income more secure is to become a few companies’ preferred supplier.

Become a preferred supplier

Reputable agencies and end clients typically have a select pool of freelancers or small businesses they use time and time again and contact about new projects before everyone else — their preferred suppliers. It can be very profitable to become a preferred supplier for a handful of companies.
Someone asked me why they notice pennies on the ground.
By: Terry Mansfield
Tags: Money, Short Form Content, Life Lessons, Self, Short Form

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

I answered this way:

That’s probably a habit you picked up as a child when any size denomination of money would have been viewed as valuable and worth accumulating.

Old habits like that are hard to break, even after we become adults. Besides, it’s a harmless habit.

Personally, I’ve graduated to actively looking for quarters, although I won’t pass up other coins.

I wrote a poem that gives my philosophy on being selective about which pennies I reach down to pick up:

__________________

Thanks for reading.
“Snakes”
Tags: Life Lessons, Friends, Poetry, Relationships, LGBTQ

Snakes in the grass

They never want

Anything good to last

Praying for a downfall

Just so they can get the last laugh

Fuck all that

The game ain’t never been balanced

But we don’t back down

From a challenge

If they want war

Tell ’em they can have it

My crown

Stays on straight

Skin brown

So I know all about the hate

My life

Ain’t up for debate

Snakes in the grass

Upset they just can’t relate

Fake friends

Love you cause its a trend

Looking forward to the end

So they can feel good about themselves

Once again

Tell ’em that fake shit is dead

Off with their heads

No way to make amends

Snakes

They can’t help it

Friendly ‘till

They’re ready to bite

Lurking all over the grass

Hoping it don’t last

But jokes on them

We’ll get the last laugh

Cause real love doesn’t fade
Where to find Privacy International and our Partners at Rights Con 2017!
By: Privacy International
Tags: Brussels, Human Rights, Privacy, Surveillance, United Nations

Privacy International

We fight for the right to privacy across the world.
Sweet Mother
Tags: Creativity, Mothers Day, Writing Prompts, Newsletter, Writing

Sweet Mother

May Self-ish Updates

Hello TeamSelf-ish!

I honestly can’t believe it’s May already, I just can’t. Am I the only one who feels like someone is stealing all my Time to build a giant Time Machine? Well, maybe it’s because I’ve been spending lots of it with all you wonderful people and that’s why it has gone by so fast.

But…no matter. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Newbies

So we have a new writer in the house!

M Sahr Nouwah is from Sierra Leone and is a Humanitarian worker in Papua New Guinea. He uses poetry and storytelling to in his words ‘challenge issues affecting women and children within modern society and call for a self-inspired change.’ They focus on human development and fighting poverty and I can tell you we are excited to see what magic and conscience he brings to us. Keep your eyes out!

Trending

We’ve got some hot stuff on our buzz list:

An Overthinker’s Guide To Weathering Attraction : To avoid being blindsided by your own feelings by Ameaka is a funny, honest and deeply personal piece on how not to self-sabotage your relationships. It comes highly recommended.

: To avoid being blindsided by your own feelings by Ameaka is a funny, honest and deeply personal piece on how not to self-sabotage your relationships. It comes highly recommended. Poesia Non-Grata: A symphony of thoughts by Awanto Margaret is a must-read for any creative. Never has the process of birthing a story been described with such wit and metaphors. It’s a piece to be bookmarked and re-read at leisure.

April Prompt

Our April prompt was definitely a tricky one and the call went out in our April Newsletter. April was Poetry month and

The challenge: A Selfish (A Self-ish Tale), poetry style. What do I mean? How you do interprete or relate to the concept of being Selfish(-ish), pun intended 😃

The writers brought it as always.

It’s My Turn To Tell The Story by Ameaka is our first entry and also happens to be trending. It talks about the power of owning your voice and saying what needs to be said. If we do not tell our stories, who will? and if not now, when?

Being Self-ish: The moment I decided to chose myself more by Sammy J❤ is full of her usual wisdom and is a strong affirmation of why being Selfish is sometimes the most Selfless thing you can ever do.

Letting Go: I am Selfish by Joan Amanwi talks about the selfish act that is forgiveness. Releasing yourself from hurt and anger is not only selfish, but it is freeing.

May Prompt Challenge

What are prompts without a twist? Well, you won't ever find out as long as I can help it 😃.

May has plenty of events, Mother’s Day being pretty special. There have been poems, songs and all forms of adoration for the wonderful women who’ve raised us. But bring us the untold stories, the hidden pain, the what-ifs.

The Challenge: ’10 Things I Wish To Tell My Mom’ in under 1000 words.

Remember: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 😏. Ready to bring it? Let’s go!

Edit: The letter that went out had a few glitches. Autosave issues. That’s why I could only correct in here.
Happier Birthday to Me
By: Lizzie Finn
Tags: Life Lessons, Marriage, Relationships, Self, Happiness

Happier Birthday to Me

Part of getting older and becoming happier is integrating our messier, fragmented parts so we can become whole on our own

Photo by Lizzie Finn

A year ago, I escaped to Jamaica to attend a psilocybin retreat. I didn’t want to spend my 52nd birthday alone. After a sudden and painful separation, I thought it would be better to spend my birthday with strangers doing magic mushrooms than it would be to spend it alone.

I was right. The retreat was immensely healing and transformative. And it turned out those strangers were no strangers at all. Thanks to the intensive therapeutic experience we shared, those strangers became my band of brothers and healing partners in a mere week. I felt like I had known them my entire life.

The real stranger was me — and the life I had been leading.

I spent three decades with a man I barely knew. He had been there physically for me, providing a secure life for my children and me — but had never really shown a desire to connect to me (or anyone) mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

I believed that my husband, like many men, adopted a public persona and put on a performance for others out in the world. It didn’t bother me too much when his personality was inconsistent because we all contain multitudes.

Besides, I thought he was showing ME his true self. I never imagined he was also performing at home for our family.

It wasn’t until I woke up in Jamaica, on the island where I spent my honeymoon 25 years earlier, that I realized my husband was not who I thought he was.

He was a stranger to me.

A stranger who had shattered my heart.