First of all, apologies for the short hiatus. Our excuse is simple. We were a bit occupied with year-end holidays and other life related items. With new year 2021 we are back and ready to write and reward on the hive blockchain.
We like to start the new year with something positive. Personally, I enjoy interacting with people much younger than me. This is simply because I tend to learn so much from them. Today I was on a phone call with my 21-year-old nephew who is a computer programmer looking to apply to graduate school for a PhD program. Every time I talk to this lad, I learn something new. He is well published already at 21, and he gave me a short lecture something I never heard off. It is called โGenerative Adversarial Networkโ. After the phone call I had to google it, as I often do after any conversation with the dude. He is working on dual neutral networks to decode patterns of โsarcasmโ from peopleโs facebook or twitter messages. He wrote a code that scans the web in search of texts that can be identified as โsarcasmโ. In other words, his algorithm tries to find out your โtoneโ from your facebook post. Watch it people! This dude can train his AI to do other things with your facebook or twitter posts too! Be careful what you put out there.
That leads me to an another completely un-related 25-year-old, Stephanie Giordano, whoโs invention at Regeneron might save you from Covid-19 if you get sick. I recently read an article about her in NY Times about her contribution and discovery regarding the treatment of Covid-19. There is a wonderful short podcast on the subject here. There is so much politics about the vaccine and treatment of Covid-19, which country, which politician did what! However, there is little discussion about scientists and researchers who are actually working on the treatment, inventing the cure. It is not one person, there are 100s-1000s, but in this strange world, these positive stories are not getting shared. Stephanie here is this modest young lady, who spend tireless hours on a small segment of the treatment. It is these little things from our young generation that give me hope.
Today, somehow the world is getting more and more segregated. When I was 20 something, we were told in 10-20 years times, in the new globalized world, science and technology will melt all the barriers. Human civilization will be united under our immense technological advancement. Advancement we did achieve, as I look back and forward. However, I canโt say we are united. I was thinking about a famous Norman Rockwell painting โThe Problem We All Live With" depicting Ruby Bridges โ the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the Southern United States. That was 1964, during the civil rights movement. I must say we have come a long way from there. But still in a way, we have also sort of degenerated and going back in our civilization. Throughout the world, race remain an issue. That is very troubling to me. I always have a strong belief, if we are true to ourselves, and if we can apply proper scientific learnings, we can overcome any adversity.
In order to think about where we think we are and, more importantly, where we are going, at a very personal level, we have introduced a new contest about what you think your future might hold. We at BDC, are very interested in knowing your thoughts on your and our cumulative future. We will look forward to you to influence our vision of the future.
-Editor
I'm sure there are a lot of reasons to love paper books. They have been around for most of the time after all. However, when you ask the readers what they like about paper books, almost every single one of them will tell you that they like the smell. Also the weight. The sensation of holding a physical book and smelling them is hard to abandon. I've rarely seen anyone talking about ergonomics though. But they should. Paper Books don't emit light rays, making them really easy on the eyes. A great way to read. However, they are heavy and if you like to read them on bed, I don't need to tell you about the swollen lips when they fall on you from your hands if you get sleepy or careless.
True, E-books donโt have the smell readers love but they can solve the problem of weight as they weigh nothing bar the weight of the device. You can always carry thousands of books with you. And if you're reading on an e-reader (like kindle, kobo etc), they don't emit light as well. They actually look like paper, under a thin layer of plastic. If you've never seen a reader before, think of old Nokia phones that could show its screen under direct sunlight without any help from the screen light.
Ebook formats (epub, mobi etc) have some great advantage as well. They don't have fixed pages and each page can be dictated by your own reading habit. Want to read with a larger font? No problem. A different font that's easier on the eyes? Sure. Add bookmarks and annotations all you want, the book won't look ugly. Also all the classical books have no copyright. You can download them for free. If you wanted to read them on paper, you still had to buy. See? Suddenly you have thousands of books ready to be read, for free!
I'd recommend investing in an e-reader though. While you certainly can read on a phone or tab or pc, their screen will tire your eyes pretty quickly. A reader won't. They are also waterproof now. Bet you never thought you could read in the shower or near any watery body, did ya?
Fear works more or less in all the creatures of the world. All other animals on earth except humans has fear for their survival only. The beasts are so scared of life that they cannot find the distinction between a scarecrow and a human. We smart people use this fear of animals for our own benefits. On the other hand, we ourselves are afraid of various subjects.
Human beings have the fear of life including other ancillary issues as well. Again, these anxieties are different in classification. The fear of the impoverished denomination is always centered on their survival. They always work on their short term mission whether they will be able to pass the next day in a decent way or not. On the other hand, the middle class people in our society are most anxious about their daily lives. This class of people is ashamed to reveal their poverty to others although they are struggling to adapt to the ever-changing lifestyle.
Again, the fear of the so-called rich class goes a different direction. They are always afraid of maintaining the current social status. There is a constant battle to maintain the current status and stop it slipping from today's established position. This fear drive themselves to the pinnacle of success and eventually they are able to reach there.
But in my opinion the biggest fear in today's social situation is security. People's lives are in danger today because of the nuclear power of several powerful countries. We have observed many wars that took place as a result of disagreement between one nation or country and another. But if we think on a smaller scale, we are not safe, even in our familiar environment inside the country. As a parent, you are always worried about whether your child will return home safely or a varmint will put a black spot on your child's character.
Coronavirus is said to be the biggest apprehension in the world today. In the near future, maybe this pandemic situation called Corona will leave this world. But the question is whether the fear with the various issues will go away from the people at all! This fear is not of any disease or virus. This fear is distinct. So only in a friendly environment can overcome these fears. So let's all make this world more glamorous by manifesting our human qualities.
Akhlas ahmed is a primary school teacher. Who has a little family of a son and a daughter. He can be said as a middle class person. Who leads his life in a very simple way. Keeps good relation with everyone in the society.
His elder child rahim is at class two. Every week at friday rahim goes to mosque for jummah prayer with his dad. He performs salah as like as his father does. In the end he always knows that his dad will give some money in his hand to donate that to the mosque. Yes, every time his father gives some money to rahim's hand and he donates those money to the mosque.
Days and years are passing. A middle class father's main goal is to make his child well educated and established. He too did. His son is now at a good post in a reputed company. His daughter is also at a good position. Happiness in their life. An ideal example of a happy family. Dad is retired from teaching and now passing days with the family.
One day there is a big announcement for the renovating work of the mosque and needs huge donations. Rahim came to his dad and expressed his eager to donate for this noble work. Akhlas ahmed gave his consent to do that.Rahim bought the amount and handed over to his dad and told his father,"Dad, here is the money and i want you to donate it through your hand. Like the days you taught me in my childhood." The eyes of akhlas ahmed filled with the tears of happiness. Akhlas ahmed was proud of his son and his upbringing.
This is how the cycle of our life works. We learn from our parents and reflect it through our actions in the long run. The way we are going to raise, that way we are gonna shine and it is the way of life.
This here is our piece de resistance. To promote engagement and a little self-branding, we have come up with an initiative that we simply called Featured. And we are very excited about this portion of the magazine.
Every week, one talented author will have the opportunity to contribute a piece for the magazine while showcasing one of their best posts. The willing writers will have a chance to add a few words about any topic they choose and be a 25% beneficiary of the magazine.
The first step is, you have to decide whether you want to get featured or not. Once you've made up your mind, you have to apply by submitting one of your articles from last week. We have a wiggle room for quality content if they are older than seven days. Choose the piece you deem to be your best work for the week, as this will play a significant role in you getting featured or not.
There will be a two-day period to submit your application. It must be submitted by dropping a link to your post in the #Featured-Magazine channel on the BDCommunity Discord Server. One author will be chosen randomly from all the submissions. The featured author for the week will be announced during the weekly voice meeting. They will then have two days for writing a piece and submit.
The author who gets featured in the weekly magazine will be set as a 25% beneficiary, meaning 25% of the magazine's liquid payout will go to the featured author.
Do not forget to join our next weekly hangout at Friday 10 pm GMT +6
@notacinephile
@deepu7
@minhajulmredul