As Bitcoin approaches its 10 years anniversary, the worlds first and most successful cryptocurrency is still a mystery to many people in the market. Even as Bitcoin has made its way into the vocabulary of the masses, the average person still wonders how does Bitcoin work and what makes this computer money so valuable?

The crypto market continues to expand to new heights. Every week new blockchains, tokens, coins, and exchanges enter the market. Each of these products provides users with a valuable service. However, all of these technologies owe a nod of appreciation to the worlds original cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

Per Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoins anonymous creator, Bitcoin is a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Lets examine this statement in depth to really grasp exactly what Nakamoto states here. Firstly, he states Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network.

Bitcoin Whitepaper

Peer-to-peer transactions are direct transactions. A great example of this style of transaction is when you hand cash to someone. When you hand your neighbor $5 cash, that is a direct transaction. There was no intermediary involved. There was no account validation, or central bank approving your transaction. You acted freely.

Now look at the same transaction, but this time you pay with your debit card or a payment App. While it may appear as if the funds instantly transfer from your account to theirs, this is hardly the case. Your payment begins a long arduous journey that can take days.

First, your payment order checks with both banks to make sure that the accounts are valid and that there are funds in your account to send. Then your payment action is sent to a major payment processing firm. In most instances, this is Visa or MasterCard.

Next, your funds bounce around 30+ intermediaries before reaching their destination around 3 days later. Thats why when you refund Debit or Credit transactions it takes days to show up in your account.

All of these steps add more time to your transactions. Additionally, each intermediary and verification process tacks on a fee for their services. On top of all of these concerns, your transaction still must go through the regulatory channels. If for some reason, there is a discrepancy between your government and the persons government you want to send a payment to, you will find it impossible to send these funds.

Bitcoin Trading Analysis via CoinMarketCapBitcoin Trading Analysis via CoinMarketCap

The reason behind all of these intermediaries is simple, the current financial system is centralized. In a centralized system, there is one central organization, such as a bank or government that holds all the power. They hold your funds, they approve your transactions, and they decide when to issue more currency. Youre just along for the ride.

In a decentralized network, you remain in control of your assets until the exact moment that they arrive at their destination. When you send Bitcoin from your wallet to another persons wallet, there are no intermediaries between your payment and its destination.

As such, there is no third-party to approve or deny your transactions. The entire process occurs in a peer-to-peer fashion. Its the same as handing someone digital cash. Basically, you regain control over your finances using a decentralized system.

At first, the concept of decentralization can seem a bit awkward to comprehend. However, a quick glimpse into the market and you will see other decentralized systems hard at work. A perfect example of a decentralized system that you are more than likely familiar with is torrent streaming services.

BitTorrent Token

When you go to a torrent streaming website, you probably ask yourself how do these platforms remain open, even though they offer products that they dont have licenses to offer? The answer is simple, they utilize decentralization to prevent censorship. Heres how decentralization is used in this scenario to bring you all your favorite early releases and new music for free.

Websites like BitTorrent dont actually provide you with any content. In reality, they just provide a location for people to meet up and exchange data freely, whatever that data may be. Now, granted, in most cases its music or movies, but it could be anything from political messages to actual value, such as cryptocurrencies.

Because these websites only provide a location for people to meet and exchange data, they are much more difficult to close than a centralized website that offered you these downloads directly. In essence, these streaming websites have done nothing wrong.

The same concepts can be put to use in the financial sector. Though the integration of decentralization, it becomes impossible to censor, edit, or block payments on the blockchain. In this way, Bitcoin represents an ideological shift towards more financial freedom and decoupling of government from currency.

To understand Bitcoin, you first need to take a look at some of the core technologies that make this marvelous coin function. As you now know, decentralized networks are censorship-resistant. There are also a variety of different types of decentralized networks. Bitcoin relies on a blockchain network to provide you with these freedoms.

A blockchain is a decentralized network that utilizes blocks of transactions to create a complete chain of events from the initiation of the network. In Bitcoins blockchain network, there are thousands of transaction validators known as miners or nodes. Importantly, every node validates every transaction on the blockchain but not every node receives a reward.

These miners compete against each other via a complicated mathematical equation. The node that gets the question correct first gets to add the next block of transactions to the blockchain. They receive a reward for their efforts. Today, the reward is set at 6.5 BTC.

Bitcoin Consensus Mechanism SHA-256 Blockchain Technology

The mathematical equation, known as SHA-256 is so difficult that your computer examines it and decides its better to make educated guesses rather than attempt to calculate the equation directly. This guesswork is what drives up the processing on your computer, which, in turn, drives up mining costs.

When you hear that someone has a Bitcoin mining rig, this simply means that they have a specially built computer processor tailored to the SHA-256 algorithm. These devices, known as Application Specific Integrated Chips (ASIC) miners are thousands of times more accurate at guessing the SHA-256 algorithms answer.

The cool thing about Bitcoin is that its not purely mathematical. There is a true psychological approach behind its nature. For example, the larger the Bitcoin network, the more secure it becomes, and the higher the value of BTC. Also, the higher the market value of Bitcoin, the more miners in the market.

As the value of Bitcoin rises, the SHA-256 algorithm adjusts accordingly. These adjustments ensure that the mining rewards get paid out around every ten minutes. These rewards are vital to the Bitcoin network for two main reasons. Firstly, this strategy incentivizes nodes to continue validating transactions.

Secondly, these rewards are the only time that new BTC enters the market. There will only ever be a total of 21 million BTC available to the world. The difficulty adjustment and mining rewards system of BTC ensures that these BTC enter the market in a concise and predictable manner.

Bitcoin Mining Rig How Does Bitcoin Work?

Now lets compare this sound mathematical process to that of the Central Bankers today. In the centralized financial system, the issuance of currency is done at a whim. Just recently, the US government issued trillions in currency into the market as a part of the Covid-19 stimulus package. However, these funds are sure to disrupt the delicate supply-and-demand balance. Consequently, inflation is sure to come soon.

The world needs Bitcoin now more than ever. Bitcoin represents a real danger to the centralized markets because, for the first time in history, it provides the world with a secure digital alternative to the fiat systems in place. Unlike its predecessor, gold, Bitcoin is available to the entire world and requires very little overhead in terms of security.

Now, lets compare gold and Bitcoin for a second to see why cryptocurrencies are the future reserve currencies of the world. Firstly, its important to acknowledge that gold did and still serves an important purpose in the market as a safe-haven for investors. Gold is extremely stable and universally accepted.

The problems with gold are systemic. For one, gold only functions as a reserve currency. You couldnt use gold for day-to-day micro-transactions. Imagine going to your local grocery store and chipping off some gold to pay for your items, not realistic in 2020 at all.

Additionally, gold isnt an asset that you can readily get your hands on. Sure there are tons of gold investors today, but what do they really own? If your gold isnt in a safe located on your property, you really just own a piece of paper that states you own gold. Sadly, in times of great economic strife, gold owners learn this lesson the hard way. Really, for any reason, your gold can be taken.

A perfect example of gold investors coming to terms with reality occurred in the 1930s in the US. During this time, the government of Franklin D Roosevelt seized all the citizens gold bullion and coins via Executive Order 6102. The order forced all citizens to sell their gold to the governmentat well belowmarket rates. Those that refused had their gold confiscated.

Bitcoin holders never have to worry about this scenario. You hold your Bitcoin directly, not just a note of ownership. Bitcoin relies on a pair of cryptographic keys to keep your holdings safe. The public key is what you give people so they can send you BTC, whereas the private key is how you access your wallet. You must never give your private key out to anyone.

As you already learned, the decentralized nature of Bitcoins network is set up in a way that it would be impossible for governments to stop it. Additionally, the security keys also prevent overreaching governments from snagging your hard-earned BTC whenever they deem it necessary.

Bitcoin functions as both a currency and a store of value. You can HODL your BTC and enjoy the appreciation, or you can trade or spend your Bitcoin with impunity. This unique currency affords investors the flexibility of cash, the convenience of digital transactions, and the value storage capabilities of gold.

The future for Bitcoin looks bright. The network is larger and more secure. Also, more people know about this revolutionary protocol than ever. The worlds first crypto also gained some new functionality recently via the Lightning Network.

After the crypto craze of 2017, it became evident that BTCs scaling issues needed resolution. The network traffic reached a point that BTC was unable to fulfill one of its primary roles. It was unable to function as a peer-to-peer cash system due to extreme volatility, delayed transaction times, and huge fees.

Luckily, developers have since corrected many of these issues via updates and other developments. The Lightning Network is one of these developments that continue to garner attention in the market. The Lightning Network is an off-chain protocol that relies on private payment channels to reduce network congestion.

Additionally, the Lighting Network provides BTC with some new functionality such as the ability to utilize smart contracts and oracles. Oracles are off-chain sensors that can trigger on-chain events such as smart contracts.

Today, Bitcoin is a household name. Amazingly, Nakamotos single coin inspired a digital revolution in the market. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies now available to investors. While many of these platforms improve upon Bitcoins core design, none can match Bitcoins network strength and overall community support. For this reason, Bitcoin continues to reign as the king of cryptocurrencies.

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Investing In Kava - Everything You Need to Know - Securities.io

When I go to the doctor, they ask what I do, and when I tell them, they start complaining to me about the software at the hospital. I love this, because I hate going to the doctor, and it gives us something to talk about besides my blood pressure.

This is a pattern in my life: When I'm asking at the library reference desk, chatting with the construction contractor with her iPad, or applying for a loan at the bank, I just peer over their shoulder a bit while they're answering a questionnot so much to be intrusiveand give a low little whistle at the mess on their screens. And out pours a litany of wasted hours and bug reports. Now I've made a friend.

Good software makes work easier, but bad software brings us together into a family. I love bad software, which is most of it. Friends text me screenshots of terrible procurement systems, knowing that I will immediately text back, BANANACAKES. I'll even watch videos of bad software. There are tons on YouTube, where people demo enterprise resource-planning systems and the like. These videos fill me with a sort of yearning, like when you step inside some old frigate they've turned into a museum.

Best I can tell, the bad software sweepstakes has been won (or lost) by climate change folks. One night I decided to go see what climate models actually are. Turns out they're often massive batch jobs that run on supercomputers and spit out numbers. No buttons to click, no spinny globes or toggle switches. They're artifacts from the deep, mainframe world of computing. When you hear about a climate model predicting awful Earth stuff, they're talking about hundreds of Fortran files, with comments at the top like The subroutines in this file determine the potential temperature at which seawater freezes. They're not meant to be run by any random nerd on a home computer.

This doesn't mean they're inaccurate. They're very accurate. As code goes, the models are amazing, because they're attempts to understand the entire, actual Earth via programming. All the ocean currents, all the ice and rain, all the soil and light. And if you feel smart, reading a few pages of climate model code will fix you up tout suite. If you, too, would like to know exactly how little you know about the machinery of the natural world, go on GitHub and look through the Modular Ocean Model 6, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce. Only America would make the weather report to money.

The software people get amazing tools that let them build amazing apps, and the climate people get lots of Fortran. This is one of the weirdest puzzles of this industry.

Every industry or discipline has its signature software. Climate has big batch climate models. Sales has the CRM, hence Salesforce. Doctors have those awful health care records systems; social scientists use SPSS or SAS or R; financial types plug everything into Excel. There are big platforms that help people do all kinds of work. But you know what blows them away? Software for making software. The software industry's software is so, so good (not that people don't complain). Just take a look at the modern IDE (integrated development environment), the programs programmers use to program more programs. The biggest are made by tech giants: Xcode (Apple) and Visual Studio (Microsoft) and Android Studio (Google), for example. I love to mock software, and yeah, these programs are huge and sprawling, but when I open these tools I feel like a medieval stonemason dragged into midtown Manhattan and left to stare at the skyscrapers. My mouth hangs open and my chisel falls from my sandstone-roughened hands.

In an IDE you drag buttons around to make the scaffolding for your apps. You type a few letters and the software guides your hand and finishes your thoughts, showing you functions inside of functions and letting you pick the right one for the task. Ultimately you click a little triangle (like Play on a music player) and it builds the app. I never get over it. And they give it away for free, so that people use it to make more software, which is why all the real estate in New York City is worth around a trillion and a half bucks, and Apple, which takes its famous 30 percent cut in the App Store, is worth $2 trillion. Of course, that's a down payment when you consider what we're going to pay to mitigate climate change.

Excerpt from:
The Power and Paradox of Bad Software - WIRED

There is a huge demand for programming languages right now. And also in the future. Do not know where to start? Confused?

Do not worry. Here are some of the programming languages you can learn and enhance your skills in them.

Developed by Guido van Rossum in 1990, Python is most popular and in-demand programming language right now. It is a dynamic, user-friendly and an open source programming language. Plus, it is easy to learn and code. Also, it has GUI support and has extensible features. Above all, it supports Object Oriented Programming (OOP) concepts.

Python has many applications and a huge scope in the IT industry. Some of its amazing capabilities can be seen in the field of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Web Development.

The client-side programming language, JavaScript is a must for every web developer ever. It is used for creating responsive and interactive pages. Also, some of the well-known websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc, use JavaScript to create their interactive web pages. Furthermore, it is popular for its wide array of frameworks and is used by many programmers.

Moreover, there are many applications of JS. Mobile app development, Back-end development and Browser game development are some of the many examples.

Owned by Oracle Corporation, Java is one of the most old and versatile programming languages. The language is a general-purpose programming language and widely supports Object-Oriented Programming concepts. It has been maintaining its popularity for the last 10 to 15 years. It shall definitely continue to do so in the future too.

Moreover, Java developers are sought after by many companies. It is a portable, easy-to-learn and secure.

Big Data, Web Development and Mobile App Development are some of the fields in which Java is widely applied.

Designed by Google, Go programming language is efficient, convenient to use and also provides cross platform support. Right now you might not see many people babbling about Go like they do about Java or Python. Yet, it is one of those languages which will have a huge demand in the near future. So if you learn it right now, you might find it handy afterwards. Some important features of Golang include in-built currency and platform compatibility.

Go is mostly used in Internet of Things, Distributed Systems and Big Data.

Used to develop iOS applications, Swift is becoming rapidly popular. Backed by Apple, it is inter-operable with objective C and is very fast in contrast to other programming languages. Also, the code sharing and the process is faster in both front-end and back-end development.

We can scale cloud services and develop mobile and desktop applications using Swift.

There are many more choices available to you out there in the world. Try these out and feel free to explore other options too!

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Best 5 programming languages to learn in 2020 for every confused beginner ever - Stanford Arts Review

Java developers with a taste for adventure can now get their hands on the latest open source implementation of the Java Platform Standard Edition, OpenJDK 15. The release includes new security and productivity functionalities and provides users with some preview features so they can kick the tires before finalisation.

One of these preliminary features are the so-called sealed classes, which allow class authors to restrict which other classes may extend or implement the class in question. The addition is meant to provide a more declarative way than access modifiers to restrict the use of a superclass and help with future pattern matching efforts.

Pattern matching is still a hot topic in Java circles, though the only effort visible in OpenJDK 15 is a new preview of pattern-matching for instanceof, which was first introduced in JDK 14. Other features included for feedback are reworked records classes, a kind of transparent carrier for immutable data fitted with data-driven methods such as equals, and an improved API to access foreign memory outside the Java heap.

Devs who like their features stable can take a look at the newly added Edwards-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm for cryptographic signatures, and hidden classes. The latter is a replacement of sorts for the sun.misc.Unsafe::defineAnonymousClass and aims to give framework creators a way of defining classes that cannot be linked against or discovered by other classes.

Meanwhile low-latency garbage collector ZGC got its final seal of approval and is now ready for production along with low-pause-time garbage collector Shenandoah, and multi-line string literal text blocks.

With the release of OpenJDK 15, the platform said goodbye to field java.management.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.CREDENTIAL_TYPES, and constructors java.lang.invoke.ConstantBootstraps. and java.lang.reflect.Modifier.. Other than that JavaScript engine Nashorn was removed and the java.rmi.activation package as well as biased locking were deprecated.

Java 15 will be supported until March 2021. Those whod prefer jumping on a version that will be looked after for a longer time will have to wait until next year, since this is when long term support version 17 is planned to land.

In the meantime, work on OpenJDK 16 is in full swing. After having moved the codebase to GitHub and switching to Git for version control, the team is now focusing on internal improvements and a couple of new features. These include a first version of an incubator module for expressing vector computations, and elastic metaspace to reduce HotSpot class-metadatas notorious memory usage. The final result will supersede Java 15 in March 2021.

Java is a programming language which made its first public appearance in 1995. The project was started at Sun Microsystems, which was acquired by Oracle in 2010. 25 years in, Java has made itself at home in the top 5 of most popular programming languages in various analyst lists.

Despite being an open source project, Oracle still provides most of the OpenJDK contributions as director Java SE product management Sharat Chander points out in an announcement blog. Other committing organisations include Red Hat, SAP, Arm, and Amazon. OpenJDK 15 is also the first version that saw Microsoft adding to the codebase, which is at least noteworthy, given the companys at times rocky, lawsuit-involving history with Java.

See more here:
What's that smell? OpenJDK 15 lands with hidden classes, more garbage collection DEVCLASS - DevClass

ExploreButler County social services agencies to ask for levy renewals while aiding during coronavirus

It is based on understanding the rules of how many people we can have, it has to be authorized by each persons care manager and then we have to run the numbers based on what their funding source is, to see if weve got enough money to pay for each day of service, Schnabl said. And then if the person doesnt come one day because theyre feeling sick, then we take a loss that day.

Plus, they dont really know what their client base is. During the past six months, some of the seniors might have died or moved into nursing homes because without the positive stimulation of participating in our programming, they needed other alternatives.

The Council on Aging for Southwest Ohio spent some of its federal CARES money hiring a contractor to visit senior centers and help them become compliant, according to Randy Quisenberry, manager of procurement and provider services.

The contractor met with Central Connections in Middletown last week, and Executive Director Monica Smith said it wont be opening to the 800 clients who use the center until she gets that report back.

The hard part is we understand, we know that this has been a social gathering and for the emotional and social wellness of our seniors and even the physical, we understand how important it is to be back in action and open our doors, she said. But at the same time we have to keep everyone safe.

These are the only two senior centers in the county since the Activity Center was shut down in West Chester Twp. Smith said there was limited senior programming at the Booker T. Washington Community Center in Hamilton but that had to be halted because the center is also used by children. They have continued to provide packaged meals to Hamilton seniors.

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Butler County senior centers can open today, but will they? - Hamilton Journal News

LOS ANGELES, Sept.21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Registration to Cetera's [emailprotected] is live for all Cetera-affiliated financial professionals, branch offices, investors and families. The virtual experience, which will stream Tuesdays and Thursdays between October 6-22, is designed for advisors, by advisors, and incorporates the best of educational and experiential elements from Cetera's annual award-winning1 conference, Connect.

Michael Zuna, Cetera's Chief Marketing Officer, said, "Cetera's network has a unique sense of community and it was really important to cater this experience to the entire network. We completely reimagined this as a unique streaming experience that's modeled more like how we consume content than taking a live event into a virtual meeting room. The format and programming reflect Cetera's ability to meet our audience where they are by enabling them to create a personalized streaming experience that speaks to their unique goals and viewing preferences. Also, new, we have opened many sessions to our financial professional's families and their investors. I'll be tuning in to programs from our fund managers and financial professionals' peer-to-peer sessions focused on driving growth through marketing."

Attendees can select sessions based on their business goals and community interests, including tax planning, banking, ensemble practices, branch offices, entrepreneurs and support staff. The format is optimized for professionals working from home with entertainment, screen breaks, family fun and elements for physical, mental and professional wellbeing.

In addition to an exciting closing presentation from a former U.S. President, live and on-demand programming will feature inspirational segments from the Honorable Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. senator and ambassador; and Medal of Honor Recipient, Colonel Jack Jacobs. Guests have access to professional continuing education opportunities with high-caliber industry experts and engaging entertainment, including a behind-the-scenes look at TaylorMade's exclusive training facility, The Kingdom; Season 15 Hell's Kitchen winner, Chef Ariel Malone "cooking with the family"; home organization and renovation tips from an HGTV host; and more.

Financial streaming includes Fund Manager sessions with 80% focused on business growth and more than 30% offering continuing education credits; and programming from the Cetera home office featuring peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

Angela Brill, president and financial advisor of Prosperity Advisors, who is a member of [emailprotected]'s advisory board said, "Cetera has curated sessions to reflect topics that drive growth for our practices and are top-of-mind for the investors we serve. We place significant value in professional development so with no travel limitations, we're looking forward to the entire Prosperity team, as well as our families and clients joining the experience for the first time."

Visit cetera.com/connect-at-home for more information about the experience. Registration is by invitation only.

1 Cetera's Connect conference was awarded a 2019 silver Stevie award at the 18th Annual American Business Awards

About Cetera Financial GroupCetera Financial Group (Cetera) is a leading financial advice firm. It empowers the delivery of an Advice-Centric Experience to individuals, families and businesses across the country through independent financial advisors as well as trusted tax professionals and banks and credit unions. It's headquartered at 200 N. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 1200 El Segundo, CA 90245-5670.

Comprehensive services include: wealth management solutions, retirement plan solutions, advisory services, practice management support, innovative technology, marketing guidance, regulatory support, and market research.

"Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), Cetera Financial Specialists LLC, and First Allied Securities, Inc. All firms are members FINRA / SIPC.

Individuals affiliated with Cetera firms are either Registered Representatives who offer only brokerage services and receive transaction-based compensation (commissions), Investment Adviser Representatives who offer only investment advisory services and receive fees based on assets, or both Registered Representatives and Investment Adviser Representatives, who can offer both types of services.

SOURCE Cetera Financial Group

http://cetera.com

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Cetera's New Streaming Experience, Connect@Home Now Open for Registration to all Cetera-Affiliated Audiences - PRNewswire

Our editors have compiled this directory of the best data storytelling books based on Amazon user reviews, rating, and ability to add business value.

There are loads of free resources available online (such as Solutions Reviews Data Analytics Software Buyers Guide, visual comparison matrix, and best practices section) and those are great, but sometimes its best to do things the old fashioned way. There are few resources that can match the in-depth, comprehensive detail of one of the best data storytelling books.

The editors at Solutions Review have done much of the work for you, curating this comprehensive directory of the best data storytelling books on Amazon. Titles have been selected based on the total number and quality of reader user reviews and ability to add business value. Each of the books listed in the first section of this compilation have met a minimum criteria of 15 reviews and a 4-star-or-better ranking.

Below you will find a library of titles from recognized industry analysts, experienced practitioners, and subject matter experts spanning the depths of data visualization all the way to data science. This compilation includes publications for practitioners of all skill levels.

Storytelling with Datateaches you the fundamentals of data visualization and how to communicate effectively with data. Youll discover the power of storytelling and the way to make data a pivotal point in your story. The lessons in this illuminative text are grounded in theory, but made accessible through numerous real-world examplesready for immediate application to your next graph or presentation. Together, the lessons in this book will help you turn your data into high impact visual stories that stick with your audience.

Effective Data Storytellingwill teach you the essential skills necessary to communicate your insights through persuasive and memorable data stories. Narratives are more powerful than raw statistics, more enduring than pretty charts. When done correctly, data stories can influence decisions and drive change. Most other books focus only on data visualization while neglecting the powerful narrative and psychological aspects of telling stories with data. Author Brent Dykes shows you how to take the three central elements of data storytellingdata, narrative, and visualsand combine them for maximum effectiveness.

This is not a book. It is a one-of-a-kind immersive learning experience through which you can becomeor teach others to bea powerful data storyteller. Lets practice!helps you build confidence and credibility to create graphs and visualizations that make sense and weave them into action-inspiring stories. Expanding upon best sellerstorytelling with datas foundational lessons,Lets practice!delivers fresh content, a plethora of new examples, and over 100 hands-on exercises. Author and data storytelling maven Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic guides you along the path to hone core skills and become a well-practiced data communicator.

DataStoryteaches you the most effective ways to turn your data into narratives that blend the power of language, numbers, and graphics. This book is not about visualizing data, there are plenty of books covering that. Instead, youll learn how to transform numbers into narratives to drive action. Nancy Duarte is one of the preeminent storytellers in American business and the acclaimed author ofSlide:ology,Resonate, and theHBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations comes this book that will help you transform numbers into narratives.

In this book, you will learn by example how to visualize the fascinating topics of gender equality, inclusion, solar energy and bias. You will also learn, What is the role of a narrative in a graphic; The foundations of visual narratives and what is the relationship between data, information and knowledge. The authors (a Kaggle master, a Bloomberg ex bureau chief and a psychology professor) bring together concepts of Data Science, Design Thinking and Strategy to take the reader on a journey where the destination is nothing less than great visual storytelling.

Presenting Data Effectively,Second EditionbyStephanie D. H. Evergreen shows readers how to make the research results presented in reports, slideshows, dashboards, posters, and data visualizations more interesting, engaging, and impactful. The book guides students, researchers, evaluators, and non-profit workersanyone reporting data to an outside audiencethrough design choices in four primary areas: graphics, text, color, and arrangement. TheSecond Edition features an improved layout with larger screenshots, a review of the recent literature on data visualization, and input from a panel of graphic design experts.

Practical SQL is an approachable and fast-paced guide to SQL (Structured Query Language), the standard programming language for defining, organizing, and exploring data in relational databases. The book focuses on using SQL to find the story your data tells, with the popular open-source database PostgreSQL and the pgAdmin interface as its primary tools. Youll first cover the fundamentals of databases and the SQL language, then build skills by analyzing data from the U.S. Census and other federal and state government agencies. With exercises and real-world examples in each chapter, this book will teach even those who have never programmed before all the tools necessary to build powerful databases and access information quickly and efficiently.

The Truthful Artis an introduction to quantitative thinking and statistical and cartographical representation written specifically for journalists and designers. A follow-up toThe Functional Art, it goes into the specifics of how to create functional charts, maps, and graphs. Readers will learn what kind of statistical charts exist and how to use them correctly; what maps are with an introduction to cartography terms and techniques; the basics of maps including how to create locator maps and how to understand basic cartographical terms such as projection, scale, symbolization, etc.; and the main kinds of thematic maps (choropleth, isopleth, proportional symbol, etc.) and how to use them.

Research shows that visual information is more quickly and easily understood, and much more likely to be remembered. This innovative book presents the design process and the best softwaret ools for creating infographics that communicate. Including a special section on how to construct the increasingly popular infographic resume, the book offers graphic designers, marketers,and business professionals vital information on the most effective ways to present data. WithCool Infographics, youll learn to createinfographics to successfully reach your target audience and tell clear stories with your data.

Timothy is Solutions Review's Senior Editor. He is a recognized thought leader and influencer in enterprise BI and data analytics. Timothy has been named a top global business journalist by Richtopia. Scoop? First initial, last name at solutionsreview dot com.

The rest is here:
The 9 Best Data Storytelling Books Based on Real User Reviews - Solutions Review

Commentary: Yes, governments should open source their custom code. But more than that is needed.

Image: lucky-photographer, Getty Images/iStockphoto

For Drupal (and Acquia) founder Dries Buytaert, "the default [in government] should be 'developed with public money, make it public code.'" That is, if a government is paying for software to be created, that software should be available under an open source license. While he acknowledged there might be exceptions (e.g., for military applications, as I've called out), his suggestion makes sense.

Years ago I argued that government mandates of open source made no sense. I still feel that way. Governments (and enterprises) should use whatever software best enables them to get work done. Increasingly, that software will be open source. But when good open source alternatives don't yet exist, it makes no sense to mandate the use of suboptimal software.

But software that governments create? There's no compelling citizen-focused reason for closing it off. Instead, there are many reasons to open it up.

SEE:How to build a successful developer career (free PDF)(TechRepublic)

This topic of why countries should embrace open source is an easy argument to make. As Buytaert pointed out, if public money pays for the code to be developed, why wouldn't that code be available to the public (except, as mentioned, in the case of sensitive military software)?

Some countries have already gone this route. As I detailed in 2016, Bulgaria is one of them. A few years later, Bulgaria has been preparing its own national source code repository, based on Git (as required by law: "administrative authorities shall use public storage and control systems for the source code and technical documentation for development, upgrading or deployment of information systems or electronic services").

This is a significant step toward greater transparency. However, it's not enough.

SEE: Open source can thrive in a recession says Drupal creator Dries Buytaert (TechRepublic)

As much as I understand Bulgaria's desire to build its own source code repository, there's even greater need for governments to collaborate on code beyond their borders. Think about it: Governments tend to do the same things, like collecting taxes, issuing parking tickets, etc. Currently, each government builds (or buys) software to tackle these tasks. Obscene quantities of custom code are created each year by government organizations operating in silos.

Why isn't the city of Bogota sharing software with London, which shares software with Lagos, which shares software with Pocatello (that's in Idaho, by the way)?

As IBM president (and former Red Hat CEO) Jim Whitehurst said way back in 2009, "The waste in IT software development is extraordinary....Ultimately, for open source to provide value to all of our customers worldwide, we need to get our customers not only as users of open source products but truly engaged in open source and taking part in the development community." This is particularly true in government, where there isn't even the competitive pressure (e.g., Bogota doesn't compete with Pocatello) that might prevent large financial institutions from collaborating (though even they partner on open source).

So, yes, we need governments to open source the software they pay to have built, to Buytaert's point. But we also need those same governments to share that code beyond their borders, thereby driving greater innovation at lower cost for their citizens.

Disclosure: I work for AWS but the views expressed herein are mine, not those of my employer.

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Excerpt from:

Open source: Why governments need to go further - TechRepublic

Starting next month, all new source code repositories created on GitHub will be named "main" instead of "master" as part of the company's effort to remove unnecessary references to slavery and replace them with more inclusive terms.

GitHub repositories are where users and companies store and synchronize their source code projects.

By default, GitHub uses the term "master" for the primary version of a source code repository. Developers make copies of the "master" on their computers into which they add their own code, and then merge the changes back into the "master" repo.

"OnOctober 1, 2020, any new repositories you create will usemainas the default branch, instead ofmaster," the company said.

Existing repositories that have "master" set as the default branch will be left as is.

"For existing repositories, renaming the default branch today causes a set of challenges," GitHub explained in asupport pagepublished earlier this month, such as having to edit settings for pull requests and modifying security policies.

"By the end of the year, we'll make it seamless for existing repositories to rename their default branch," GitHub said.

"When you rename the branch, we'll retarget your open PRs and draft releases, move your branch protection policies, and more - all automatically."

The company's move is part of a bigger trend in the tech community.

After the brutal death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year, tech companies wanted to show their support for the black community by abandoning non-inclusive terms such as master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist.

Companies and major open source projects likeMicrosoft, IBM,Twitter,Red Hat,MySQL, theLinux kernel, andOpenBSDhave agreed to make changes to their technical jargon all through the 2020 summer.

GitHub was one of the first companies to show support for such changes whenits CEO revealed in Junethat they were already looking for a replacement for "master."

The company's announcement earlier this month comes to deliver on its CEO's promise.

Furthermore, the Git project, which is the base software on which GitHub was built, has alsoannouncedsimilar plans to at least provide repository owners with the option to customize their default repository branch going forward.

Originally posted here:

GitHub to replace 'master' with 'main' starting next month - ZDNet

Microsoft is dedicated to working with the community and our customers to continuously improve and tune our platform and products to help defend against the dynamic and sophisticated threat landscape. Earlier this year, we announced that we would replace the existing software testing experience known as Microsoft Security and Risk Detection with an automated, open-source tool as the industry moved toward this model. Today, were excited to release this new tool called Project OneFuzz, an extensible fuzz testing framework for Azure. Available through GitHub as an open-source tool, the testing framework used by Microsoft Edge, Windows, and teams across Microsoft is now available to developers around the world.

Fuzz testing is a highly effective method for increasing the security and reliability of native codeit is the gold standard for finding and removing costly, exploitable security flaws. Traditionally, fuzz testing has been a double-edged sword for developers: mandated by the software-development lifecycle, highly effective in finding actionable flaws, yet very complicated to harness, execute, and extract information from. That complexity required dedicated security engineering teams to build and operate fuzz testing capabilities making it very useful but expensive. Enabling developers to perform fuzz testing shifts the discovery of vulnerabilities to earlier in the development lifecycle and simultaneously frees security engineering teams to pursue proactive work.

Microsofts goal of enabling developers to easily and continuously fuzz test their code prior to release is core to our mission of empowerment. The global release of Project OneFuzz is intended to help harden the platforms and tools that power our daily work and personal lives to make an attackers job more difficult.

Recent advancements in the compiler world, open-sourced in LLVM and pioneered by Google, have transformed the security engineering tasks involved in fuzz testing native code. What was once attachedat great expensecan now be baked into continuous build systems through:

These advances allow developers to create unit test binaries with a modern fuzzing lab compiled in: highly reliable test invocation, input generation, coverage, and error detection in a single executable. Experimental support for these features is growing in Microsofts Visual Studio. Once these test binaries can be built by a compiler, todays developers are left with the challenge of building them into a CI/CD pipeline and scaling fuzzing workloads in the cloud.

Project OneFuzz has already enabled continuous developer-driven fuzzing of Windows that has allowed Microsoft to proactively harden the Windows platform prior to shipment of the latest OS builds. With a single command line (baked into the build system!) developers can launch fuzz jobs ranging in size from a few virtual machines to thousands of cores. Project OneFuzz enables:

Project OneFuzz is available now on GitHub under an MIT license. It is updated by contributions from Microsoft Research & Security Groups across Windows and by more teams as we grow our partnership and expand fuzzing coverage across the company to continuously improve the security of all Microsoft platforms and products. Microsoft will continue to maintain and expand Project OneFuzz, releasing updates to the open-source community as they occur. Contributions from the community are welcomed. Share questions, comments, and feedback with us: fuzzing@microsoft.com

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions visit our website. Bookmark theSecurity blogto keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at@MSFTSecurityfor the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

Originally posted here:

Microsoft announces new Project OneFuzz framework, an open source developer tool to find and fix bugs at scale - Microsoft