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2020 Dem Presidential Nominees are Shaping Up, and Here Comes Hill… | Hillary Clinton 2020
Read the original article by Wes Kohler at: https://www.trigtent.com/usa/2020-dem-presidential-nominees-are-shaping-and-here-comes-hill%E2%80%A6
With yesterday’s informal announcement by a former advisor of Hillary Clinton that she will once again be running for the top office in American politics in 2020, the picture of the upcoming roster of presidential hopefuls for the Democrat Party just got a bit more interesting.
Longtime Clinton advisor Mark Penn, who wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, left little to uncertainty. One wouldn’t need to read past the title of the opinion piece to comprehend the crux of his argument, which is steeped in certainty: ‘Hillary Will Run Again’. According to Penn, the 2020 version of Clinton, aka Hillary Clinton 4.0, will be a reincarnation of the unabashedly left-leaning ‘firebrand’ the nation came to know in the 90s.
‘Get ready for Hillary Clinton 4.0. More than 30 years in the making, this new version of Mrs. Clinton, when she runs for president in 2020, will come full circle — back to the universal-health-care-promoting progressive firebrand of 1994.’ (Wall Street Journal)
Penn accurately points out that Hillary Clinton 2.0 was the most successful iteration of Hillary Clinton, a seeming moderate who manned a roost in the Senate as a representative of the state of New York from 2001 until 2009, when she decided to throw her hat in the ring as president. That version of Hillary espoused the virtues of heterosexual marriage, unequivocal support for Israel, and hardline policies against the Khomeini regime in Iran. Hillary Clinton 3.0 would move further left, imitating the likes of Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama while embracing her knack for chameleonic transformation, if only on the outside. In 2016, America unequivocally rejected this version of Hillary Clinton, issuing an indictment far harsher than their decision to go with Barack Obama in 2008.
But, according to Penn, Hillary Clinton 4.0 will double down on the platform and policies of Hillary 3.0, banking that the nation will, finally, choose to vote for the first female president in its history out of, if all else fails, resentment for Donald Trump. Penn paints this version of Hillary Clinton, presidential hopeful robbed and scorned, in an optimistic light.
‘Expect Hillary 4.0 to come out swinging. She has decisively to win those Iowa caucus-goers who have never warmed up to her. They will see her now as strong, partisan, left-leaning and all-Democrat — the one with the guts, experience and steely-eyed determination to defeat Mr. Trump. She has had two years to go over what she did wrong and how to take him on again.’
But early returns aren’t promising. Despite Penn’s claims that Clinton has a 75% approval rating among Democrats, it’s difficult to argue that Clinton’s act hasn’t worn thin, even on the side of the aisle with which she identifies. In a rare show of unity, pundits representing both sides of the political spectrum are seemingly in agreement: Hillary running in 2020 is not a good idea. Not for the Democratic Party, and not for the country. CNN Politics’ Chris Cilliza responded to the announcement with an article as plainly titled as Penn’s: ‘Here’s why Hillary Clinton 4.0 is a terrible idea’.
While Penn advises readers not to ‘pay much attention to the “I won’t run” declarations’, an examination of Clinton’s recent statements beg an unavoidable response: what “I won’t run” declarations?
In an interview with CNN in late October, Clinton made no bones about it: she still wants to be president. One would guess that she’s not going to wait until 2025 to once again pursue that wish.
“Well I’d like to be president. I think, hopefully, when we have a Democrat in the Oval Office in January of 2021, there’s going to be so much work to be done. I mean we have confused everybody in the world, including ourselves. We have confused our friends and our enemies. They have no idea what the United States stands for, what we’re likely to do, what we think is important, so the work would be work that I feel very well prepared for having been at the Senate for eight years, having been a diplomat in the State Department, and it’s just going to be a lot of heavy lifting.” (CNN)
The Penn op-ed seems like nothing more than a primer for the country: Hillary will be on your television screens, in the headlines, and on your ballots in 2020. Start to consider that this Hillary Clinton is different. This Hillary Clinton has learned her lessons. This Hillary Clinton genuinely means what she says, and this time, she’s scandal free. This Hillary Clinton could be the first female president, could avenge all of the wrongs — the homophobia, Islamophobia, Mexi-phobia, Mueller-phobia, pick a phobia — that have been perpetrated under the current administration.
Really, this time it will be different. This is a new Hillary, a hip Hillary, a presidential Hillary. Hillary 4.0, as she’s now being referred to.
And, just when Pocahontas was starting to think it was her year…. | https://medium.com/@trigtent/2020-dem-presidential-nominees-are-shaping-up-and-here-comes-hill-a26d38dd4c21 | [] | 2018-11-28 21:07:35.941000+00:00 | ['Hillary Clinton', '2020', 'Politics', 'Elections', 'News'] |
Rockin’ On the Roll | I was stopping at Phoenix
but there was much too light
you felt alright
but I was sticking to my side
I was into my sightings…
Do you really know what you’re looking for?
Do you really know what you’re struggling for?
I was stopping in Memphis
but I had spent too much
to feel your touch
I wonder if I’ll ever get to the point
when I’ll be taking my time
I’ll do my best to be fine
whatever it means,
I’ll be right there
Do you really know what you’re looking for?
Do you really know what you’re struggling for?
I bet you’d like to know.
We’re the same as we grow old. | https://medium.com/music-voices/rockin-on-the-roll-1175ca43ff2e | ['Matt Youth'] | 2020-09-19 14:00:53.121000+00:00 | ['Music Voices', 'Music', 'Lyrics', 'Poetry', 'Love'] |
Dr. Ehsan Pourshirazi Talks About How Botox is Revolutionizing The Dentistry World | Whenever you think about Botox, Most of you visualize some Gen-Xer getting Botox Treatments to rejuvenate and maintain their youthful skin. Worldwide, Botox is the most popular and widely used compound in cosmetic procedures. And as medical scientists do more research on the compound uses they believe Botox would also be a big thing in the dentistry world.
Dr. Ehsan Pourshirazi
Primarily, Botox is used to repair Facial aesthetics, but it can also be beneficial in treating high lip lines for patients who are facing problems adjusting to their new dentures. Botox is derived from a bacterium, clostridium botulinum that can be found in a variety of natural substances. This protein helps in relaxing the muscles and reducing wrinkles in your skin. According to Dr. Ehsan Pourshirazi, Botox treatments are really helpful in treating dental conditions including temporomandibular joint disorder, high lip lines, bruxism, and many more. But you’ll need regular Botox treatments to maintain the benefits of them as the treatment lasts only temporarily.
High Lip Lines: High lip lines are a condition where the majority of the gum above your teeth is exposed while you smile. This condition can be treated by Botox as it helps in relaxing your lip muscles and gives you an aesthetic smile line. The entire process is unintrusive and very popular as it can be completed within 10 minutes, costs way less, and provides a more immediate form of treatment.
TMJ and Teeth Grinding: Temporomandibular joint problem which is also called “TMJ” occurs when the muscles become tense with stress. This causes a lot of pain and discomfort during talking, chewing, and other movements of the jaw. Botox can help in relaxing those TMJ muscles and joints and provide the person relief from extreme pain and discomfort.
Bruxism: Most people these days suffer from anxiety and stress and some of them develop the habit of grinding their teeth during sleep. A constant headache or sore jaw are some of the symptoms of bruxism. It can cause many jaw problems and damaged teeth if the problem persists for the long term. Medical scientists have discovered that shots of Botox injected into the chewing muscles may help in blocking the signals that usually trigger the grinding and clenching.
Enhancing and Reshaping your Smile: The benefits of having a confident and aesthetic smile are enormous; it can be a significant factor in one’s personality. But most of us don’t have that aesthetic smile, fortunately for them, Botox is a great solution. Botox injections between the lip and the skin cause the orbicularis muscles to relax, which softens lip lines and greatly improves a person’s smile.
Adjusting to New Dentures: When a person will wear his new dentures, their muscles might feel strained as they usually have different patterns and functional demands which often results in a lot of discomforts and pain too. Botox could be used to relieve facial pain and discomfort that arises from most dental treatments. Most Dentists recommend Botox to help patients adjust their dentures if they are experiencing a large or unusual amount of discomfort.
Even though Botox has been administered mostly by plastic surgeons and dermatologists. It’s slowly revolutionizing the dentistry world too, many pioneering doctors like Ehsan Pourshirazi believe that sooner Botox will be one of the best and most affordable options to provide a variety of patients the best care they deserve. | https://medium.com/@ehsanpourshirazi/dr-ehsan-pourshirazi-talks-about-how-botox-is-revolutionizing-the-dentistry-world-f5f25ddda0ca | ['Ehsan Pourshirazi'] | 2021-12-20 13:30:19.581000+00:00 | ['Dental Clinic', 'Dentistry', 'Drehsanpourshirazi', 'Ehsan Pourshirazi', 'Dental Implants'] |
Gradient Descent, the key for ML algorithms? | Views expressed by the author are his own and done in his personal capacity. These are no way representative and/or reflective of the organization he is associated with.
Background
As part of the machine learning journey, we typically start with linear regression and gradually get onto the concept of the cost function, and the challenge starts from here to get the cost function optimized. Though we can do a trial and error for a small set of data elements, it becomes unviable as we start increasing the data.
To address this optimization problem, we have a technique and theory associated called “Gradient Descent” which will come in handy in getting the cost function minimized. Gradient Descent is not limited to linear regression but can be extended to logistic regression and further to neural networks also.
You may be wondering on why we need to learn all these stuff when we can find built-in function to deal with it directly? Good question, and it is always good to have some insights into the internal workings of it as it may help in visualizing the problems better and thus can help in our modeling for all the complex problems or scenarios tomorrow. Also, this gives an opportunity to peep into the libraries used such that the same can be leveraged for other problems at hand. So having a solid foundation on how things work is always a recommended approach in dealing with complex topics. Another point to remember is the built-in functions are limited to some specific languages but it is not consistently available in all. With the ground set now on the background, let’s jump onto the details.
Gradient Descent — Overview
As the problem is to optimize the cost function, let’s start from there
For a given hypothesis
The cost function can be written as
i=1 to m where m is the no. of sample data points. This is also called as Mean square Error.
Let’s initialize some values to theta0 and theta1 and start computing J(ɵ0, ɵ1), we can arrive at the convergence (with J, the cost function getting to minimum) after some iterations of trial and error, and it can turn out to be an inefficient approach as we start increasing the no. of data points, also this may lead to higher costs overall.
What are the alternatives to get to the minimum value of our cost function with limited steps? The Gradient Descent algorithm comes to the rescue here and helps us in arriving at the optimum value of cost function with minimal steps, thus it helps in concluding on the best fit for a given equation from the many possible opportunities.
To get a better intuition on this, let’s plot a graph with all the data points, assuming that the graph plotted has many troughs, there can be multiple local minimums possible but there can be always only one global minimum. Can we ever reach the global minimum or do we need to settle down with local minimum is something we can review in the subsequent paragraphs, okay?
If the data when plotted transforms into a convex shape, like a bowl shape, with small ridges sideways and a big trough, then we can make incremental improvements progressing step by step. Every step takes us closer to the bottom of the trough, and when we come to a stage where there is no further improvement possible, then we can conclude that the global minimum has arrived. Though we have an interim local minimum, they being very small and not have any impact on the overall direction of the curve, we are bound to reach the global minimum.
To keep it simple, the graph is plotted with only one value
If the data is not getting us a pure convex shape, then it can have a lot of ups and downs which are more or close to equal in their depth leaving the options open for arriving at the global minimum. How is that we can conclude that we arrived at the global minimum? We can either take a brute force approach trying all such possibilities to arrive at the final one, or we can restrict the trials to a few random ones prior to finalizing on the global minimum. Keeping in view of the costs associated, in majority cases, it will be concluded at the first encounter of the global minimum.
In the diagram shown below, we may need to compromise on the global minimum which is easily accessible or has to go through the tedious process of getting to the actual one.
To keep it simple, the graph is plotted with only one theta value
Though we can easily explain this visually picking a graph, the real challenge will be to understand the logic behind the scenes. Let’s get to that by going through the flow step by step.
Implementation
First thing we need to understand on this journey is about finding Slope, this can be easy for a line picking two points and putting it in the formula (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) but how can we find the slope of a curve where we may need to work with a single point instead of two. On a side note, the slope will help in identifying the rate at which the value of y changes with respect to each change in x.
There are multiple ways of handling this like assuming a couple of points closer to the point in the subject and going with the regular formula in calculating the slope, keep in mind that this may not be accurate but can come close to the actual. The other way or the preferred way to approach this is to find the derivative of the function and substitute the point in context. We may need to adopt partial derivatives if working with multiple features.
In the function mentioned above, there are two variables ɵ0, ɵ1 hence we need to use partial derivatives approach keeping one of them as constant while dealing with the other.
α is the learning rate, it helps in deciding the size of the steps to be taken in transitioning towards the convergence.
Fixed size steps may overshoot the global minimum hence the steps have to be gradually brought down as we start approaching the minimum, this can be easily achieved by the slope which can be computed at every step, thus the steps can be adjusted based on the slope hence it gets minimized as we reach close to the convergence.
There may be some questions on where to start with respect to the learning rate and the number of iterations.
We typically can start small say 10 or 50 iterations with a learning rate of 0.01.
Play around with the learning rate first by increasing, decreasing it. We can stop playing around with this as soon as we see a constant decreasing trend which is leading to a minimum cost.
From here, we can fix the learning rate and play around with no. of iterations to arrive at the minimum cost possible.
The other way to arrive at the minimum cost is to get to the point where the slope becomes zero or comes close to zero.
Programming Logic
Coming to the programming language implementation, there is no standard built-in function in Python but Tensorflow has one which abstract the complete implementation details from the user. To keep it neutral, let’s put some pseudo code which can be translated into any programming language based on the user choice.
Review the cost value adjusting the values of learning rate and no. of iterations until the convergence has arrived.
Challenges
This algorithm has a couple of issues to be careful while working on it.
The algorithm may never converge, this is quite possible if the incremental steps taken are big such that it crosses the global minimum without getting onto the convergence path
If the steps are slow, it may get converged but will take more steps so this is either not advisable
What we need is a balanced approach in picking the learning rate such that it will neither take more time nor gets us into a non-converged state.
Variants of Gradient Descent
The Gradient Descent will be arrived considering all the training data available, however, this is going to be time-consuming as the computation in each step has to include all the data set resulting in higher costs. There are some variants in the form of Stochastic and Mini Batch versions which takes a subset of the data than working on the full training set. The difference between the two is that the Stochastic picks only a single data point whereas Mini batch version takes a subset of data points. In both cases, the global minimum can be achieved but the path it takes may look little rough and ad-hoc.
Final Comments
As learned from the above details, Gradient Descent is one of the key concepts in Machine learning and is applicable to various algorithms.
As ML is spreading its wings into all the important aspects of our day to day to lives, the precision is going to be the key, and if we don’t get the things right, the impact will be high on some of these sensitive applications — be it self-driving cars or medical diagnosis, etc. Overall Gradient Descent will not only help in optimizing the costs but helps in ensuring better accuracy which is the need of the hour with machines taking over the control. Agree? | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/gradient-descent-the-key-for-ml-algorithms-d84ad511937e | ['Sharath T'] | 2019-01-22 14:00:40.053000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Cost Function', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Optimization', 'Gradient Descent'] |
The Polish Tango | Hitler’s invasion of Poland started World War II, but Stalin’s changed the country forever.
On September first, 1939, Hitler’s army crossed Germany’s eastern border and entered Poland, an invasive act of aggression that marks the official beginning of World War II. The invasion and subsequent occupation by German forces would become internationally well-known during the conflict and following its end. But the Germans weren’t alone.
Sixteen days after the German invasion started, the Soviet Union, Poland’s gargantuan neighbor to the East, followed suit, the motherland emulating the fatherland. The Red Army that rapidly canvassed Poland included some four thousand tanks and an aerial presence that dwarfed the Nazis’ own. The Soviet front marched forward until its troops met the Germans in the middle of the country, at which point both sides… stopped and continued about their business. The two were in cahoots.
Just one week before the Nazi German army began its march into Poland, the German foreign minister, Joachim Ribbentrop, flew to Moscow to meet with his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov (the spicy beverage namesake). There, the two put together a non-aggression plan: you don’t fuck with me, I don’t fuck with you. Also, minor detail, we’re going to carve up Poland and digest each half whole. And we’re not going to tell anyone, because that would ruin the surprise.
Again, the German invasion is pretty well-known. Hitler’s motivation for the capture of his second-largest neighbor was the same as his motivation to systematically gobble up every territory within spitting distance of the fatherland; lebensraum (living space), the weird concept that Germans were too cooped up inside Germany and needed a little bit of Poland to stretch their legs.
Officially, the German invasion was a response to a false-flag operation involving bullshit Polish soldiers (actually SS officers in Polish uniforms — sneaky!) who attacked a German radio station and played mean messages. Unimaginable — like having the gall to broadcast Chocolate Rain on Chicago police frequencies. The Nazis even left a trail of dead prisoners dressed up like German soldiers to seal the deal. This story’s not repeated often today, since it’s overshadowed a little bit by our knowledge of lebensraum and a lot bit by the fact that it’s all bullshit. According to The Atlantic, regarding the operation, Hitler himself said “Its credibility doesn’t matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth.” More on that later.
Meanwhile, in the East, the Russian narrative on their invasion wasn’t much different. Officially, they were there on an aid mission to the region’s ethnic minorities. In the words of army big boss Commisar Kozhevnikov in the Soviet military newspaper, “the Red Army stretched out the hand of fraternal assistance to the workers of Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia freeing them forever from social and national bondage.” Nothing says freedom like intense and long-lasting military occupation. Even after the war, the Soviet Union refused to admit that it had conquered or annexed Polish territory. They were just trying to be nice.
For most areas of the world, the idea of two unrelated and largely ideologically-opposed countries collaborating to completely destroy the existence of another nation is inconceivabile — Germany lost territory after each of the World Wars, but it didn’t disappear. For Poland, though, this wasn’t even the first time it had happened.
The First Time it Happened
In 1772, four years before the invention of America, the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian Empires decided to put aside their differences and collaborate on a group project: stealing pieces of Poland while she wasn’t looking. The three drew up an agreement and promptly attacked, pressuring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to recognize the tripartite landgrab. Against the wishes of its people, Poland complied, having given up over a quarter of its territory.
Twenty years later, Poland decided it had grown up and was going to be a strong new country, complete with a new liberal constitution. The country’s conservatives disagreed, but they didn’t want to act on their disagreement themselves — they didn’t need to, they had a friend who was a lot bigger and stronger than they were. The conservatives gathered and wrote to Russia, asking their neighbor to intervene and replace the sexy young constitution with the old one. Russia, still hungry for a piece of Poland pie, readied its sticks and guns and rushed to the border, where they found a similarly land-lusting Prussia ready to join in. The two occupied the country and forced Poland to concede another set of territories, over forty percent of its land pre-1772.
Poland was angry; the two concessions together left her with significantly less than half the land she’d come with. In response, an insurgency rose up within Poland against the occupying powers. Unfortunately for the Polish partisans, the occupiers were a lot bigger and stronger.
Not interested in dealing with further Polishness, Russia and Prussia agreed this time to completely digest the remainder of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and, as a gesture of nicety and goodwill, they invited their friend Austria to join in the feast. On October 24, 1795, the three powers formally deleted Poland from the map.
When I first read about the partitions of Poland, I assumed they were a weird blip on the historical radar, a short slice of European history. To my surprise, they were not that. Poland resurfaced briefly as a Napoleonic client state in 1807, a status transferred briefly to the Austrians between 1815 and 1816. Exempting that historical hiccup, though, Poland’s erasure lasted from 1795 to the end of World War I in 1918. Over a century without Poland based on the whim of three buds.
Naturally, when Poland finally reappeared in 1918, its neighbors were a bit miffed at having lost their Polands (its neighbors here being Russia and Germany — the Austrian Empire was obliterated (but still not erased) after World War I). Prussia and the Russian Empire came together to destroy Poland in 1795, and in 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union played their fun little game a second time.
The Second Time
If anything speaks to the unique space Poland had in the mind of European despots, it’s the treatment it received each time it was invaded. While most territories under German and Russian occupation during World War II were simply occupied militarily or replaced with friendly puppet governments, Poland was torn apart wholesale. For the Nazis, most of the occupied Polish territory became the General Government, an integral piece of the German Reich. In the Soviet Union, Eastern Poland (known sometimes as the Kresy) was sliced up and implanted onto the Soviet Republics of Belarus and Ukraine. No more Poland! 🙂
As the war raged throughout Europe, Poland continued to play unwilling host to the worst atrocities of the Nazi regime. It was occupied Poland where the Nazi SS and Einsatzgruppen began the systematic murder of civilian Jews and other minority groups that we now know as the Holocaust. Many of the earliest concentration camps and Jewish ghettos were established in Poland. Each of the six facilities officially designated as “extermination camps”, including Auschwitz, were built on Polish soil.
German occupation is estimated to have led to the deaths of one in five Poles, including ninety percent of the country’s Jews. Of the Jewish people who died in the Holocaust, as many as half may have been Polish citizens.
The Eastern Front
In June of 1941, Hitler’s armies pushed past the agreed-upon dividing line and invaded the Soviet Union in the surprise attack known as Operation Barbarossa. What the Germans had hoped would be a rapid victory turned into a slow and costly winter counteroffensive that, alongside American involvement post-Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, would eventually turn the tide of the war against the Axis Powers.
Less than four years later, in spring of 1945, the Soviet Union and her western allies met in a warm embrace in Berlin, officially ending the war in Europe. At a series of conferences held all over the world, the “Big Three” allied leaders, America’s Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United Kingdom’s Winston Churchill, and the Soviet Union’s Josef Stalin (choose your fighter) would come together to make big decisions regarding the fate of Europe and the rest of the post-war world.
Germany, as the loser, would be required to relinquish its hold on the territories it had invaded and occupied, including western Poland. The Soviet Union, rebranded as heroes and co-victors, would be allowed to keep their piece of Poland as a souvenir.
Feeling generous, Stalin pitched Poland a deal: they could have some extra land to make up for the cities and fields Stalin had stolen, but there’s a tiny catch: it’s not Soviet land, it’s German. Like, German German, not occupied Poland. All of the cities are German. The people who live there speak German.
I’m sure it’ll be no problem. The other allies agree with Stalin — this is a good idea and a solid plan. So, between 1945 and 1950, between twelve and fourteen million ethnic Germans were forcibly removed from their homes in what Historian R. M. Douglas claims may have been the “largest single movement of population in human history”.
This part of the story comes with a lot of asterisks. First, it’s important to remember that the people who are being removed from their homes and forced to move somewhere unfamiliar are not, by and large, Nazi Party members — they’re German civilians. Second, it’s possible to recognize that forcing Germans out of their homes is a bad thing while still acknowledging that the crimes committed by Germany and the Nazi regime were some of the worst atrocities the world has ever seen.
In the effort to move twelve to fourteen million people from one place to another, the allied military authorities in charge of the population exchange felt it was important to have central locations to gather and keep people while they were waiting to be moved, somewhere they could concentrate the Germans. But where? Did you guess the Nazi concentration camps? You’re right! The occupying allied forces repurposed the old, drab, concentration camps of the Holocaust with updated cute concentration camps for a different ethnic group.
Using old concentration camps as new concentration camps is… clearly suboptimal, but I should probably make the distinction that the allies weren’t explicitly attempting to exterminate the Germans — this was about moving them somewhere else, which is a far cry from the final solution. All the same, deaths caused by military negligence and carelessness are still deaths, and scholars estimate that between 473,000 and one million people died in the population transfer. At least tens of thousands of those who stayed in the concentration camps were used as a source of allied forced labor, a page right out of the Nazis’ depressing playbook.
Overall, by the time it was over, atop the massive pile of the dead, Germany was left with the largest homeless population in the industrialized world, and many of those ethnic Germans who were moved to Germany now found themselves destitute and impoverished, including Oskar Schindler, the famed listmaker who saved 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust.
In 1946, the Nuremberg Trials were underway, designed to punish the Germans who contributed to massive amounts of death and suffering during the Holocaust and World War II and definitively determine the rules of war. In the documents published after the trials’ end, the judges wrote that “deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population” constituted “crimes against humanity”. Some 500 miles away, British philosopher Bertrand Russell asked “Are mass deportations crimes when committed by our enemies during war and justifiable measures of social adjustment when carried out by our allies in times of peace?”
Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Soviet Union celebrates both the end of the war and having definitively secured their portion of Poland, a massive division of a country taken by military force in concert with the Germans. At the war’s end, Germany’s invasion of Poland was condemned, but why? If we’re to believe it’s because it was wrong and unlawful, the Soviet invasion surely should have been reversed as well; theirs was hardly unlike the Germans’, they weren’t on their way to fight the most brutal regime in modern European history, rather they had partnered with them to split someone else’s territory.
Here, the simplest answer is probably the most accurate; the Soviet Union got to keep the territory because they went on to win the war, regardless of the steps they had taken prior to their involvement in it. In the coming decades, Stalin’s plan to push Poland west worked out for him, serving to economically damage Germany in the years to come and to prevent any possibility of Poland and Germany working together against Russia’s interests. By the looks of it, teaming up with the Nazis was a net positive. They were the victors, and to the victors went the spoils.
The New Poland
Today, Poland is still marked by the territorial transfer that followed one of its most traumatic eras. Much as hundred-million year old plankton and the legacy of slavery have a lasting effect on politics in the United States, the significantly more recent movement of borders has lasting political consequences in Poland. The part of the country that once belonged to Germany is mostly rid of its former occupants, but the people who live on the soil they occupied vote differently than their peers in the Poland that always ways, so much so that the border between the two is still clearly identifiable on recent election maps. The same can’t be said about neighboring Belarus, who retains a sizable piece of the former Kresy, but that may be less a marker of cultural unity and more about how the country is, in practice, the last of Europe’s authoritarian dictatorships.
I’m not going to delve into why the borders of 1945 continue to influence the politics of 2020. To do that, I’d have to learn, and I already made you read this far. What’s more important is that we recognize the impressive staying power of history; two invasions and a victory seventy-five years ago determined a border that still stands today and seems likely to stay that way going into the near future. The legacy of the brutal population transfers that occurred three-quarters of a century ago continue to burn bright.
History isn’t just what happened a long time ago, it’s how what happened then continues to impact people who are living now. Josef Stalin died in 1953, and Hitler died alongside the German war effort in 1945, but the Poland they built together still stands, seventy five years after they shaped it. | https://medium.com/@bengrapevine/the-polish-tango-c4e852a6bbc8 | ['Ben Grapevine'] | 2021-03-26 00:15:21.897000+00:00 | ['Poland', 'Hitler', 'Stalin', 'World War II', 'Geography'] |
The 6 Biggest Meteorites Found On Earth | The 6 Biggest Meteorites Found On Earth
Rocks from outer space had been visiting earth since the beginning of times.
Image credit: American Museum of Natural History, published in the New York Times, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Although the one and only Chicxulub Impactor (11–81 kilometres in diameter) that wiped out the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago, hold the record for the biggest ever meteorite to ever hit the earth, it is neither the first nor the last of such visits.
Some were lucky enough to survive the journey into our atmosphere and made the earth their home while some just evaporated creating spectacular shooting stars, and of course, there are others who skim past the earth! Among these alien rocks, there are pretty big ones weighing as much as dozens of grownup elephants!
And these are the 5 largest, burnished and strangest looking meteorites that were lucky enough to enter the earth, obviously since the Chicxulub impactor. Enjoy! | https://medium.com/an-idea/the-6-biggest-meteorites-found-on-earth-98ad44580fba | ['Jayani Randika'] | 2020-11-27 02:54:02.089000+00:00 | ['Aliens', 'Asteroids', 'Meteor', 'History', 'Space'] |
TOP 3 WAYS TO PREVENT DIABETES | On my blog, you will find fitness and healthy lifestyle topics. I love fitness freak people and I love to share my experiences with my blog. | https://medium.com/@himanshunimavat-hn/top-3-ways-to-prevent-diabetes-47d8acd56c94 | ['Himanshu Nimavat'] | 2020-12-22 13:33:56.949000+00:00 | ['Trending Topic', 'Trending', 'Helath', 'Diabetes', 'Healthy Lifestyle'] |
A slave to social media? | The explosion of social media has always been a hot discussion among professionals, in terms of opportunities and impacts it can potentially bring. No doubt, the current pandemic has encouraged even more social media usage as a mean of communicating with others from home. The word ‘ use ‘ is not to be underestimated. In fact, communicating is one, getting attention is another.
Referring to a recent article published by The Telegraph, there is a pressing concern over the upsurge of narcissism among young people. Accordingly, people are ‘ being taught to place more importance on themselves than on other people.’
We often think others are looking at us. The truth is, others are busy looking at themselves too.
Social media tool that is simply used for keeping circle of connection posted on recent happenings has today evolved into something more fancy. This is also supported by various invention of applications that enhance and animate content, making stories unusually captivating. Popularity matters and it has a direct correlation with impression and engagement levels, ie: number of views, likes, comments, and followers are highly relevant. Likability is no longer as difficult to predict as used-to-be secret admirers or in-person gestures that can be time and effort consuming. Instead, rating of likability is just a click away at fingertips, at times overriding privacy concern.
Today, likability is an open-book where instant gratification can be felt within split second by the content creator and its audience, a feeling that may not be present in the offline world.
Being adored is a pleasant feeling — who doesn’t want to be adored? Alas, hunger to be adored can become an addiction. In particular, one can become obsessed over how he or she looks due to desperation in forming the perfect impression, to the extent of losing originality. At times, photographs, videos, and stories shared may have been filtered with advanced application, sugarcoated, or far from reality, all to gain increased likability and popularity. The idea of using social media in keeping circle of connection updated on recent happenings may no longer be what it seems. Rather, the information can be too far reaching, unreal, overly perfect, and create an illusion of competition to connecting peers, leading to formation of an even more self-focused and judgemental society. So much effort for a pleasant feeling?
If you think you’re a star, I think I am too.
So much work and hours are wasted on gadgets, catching moments to impress others, doing silly stunts, and most of all perfecting originality. Could the loss of time be better utilised for in-person interaction, a way to brushing up face-to-face social skills?
Do you care keeping track of your friends’ updates? Are you truly enjoying your moments as depicted?
Or you’ve been caught a slave to social media?
Photo by Prateek Katyal
Thoughts and reflections flow through mind — unfiltered, unspoken. Writing helps to express the unspoken, expands imagination beyond what I can possibly imagine. Follow my blog for you are my only source of encouragement and inspiration. | https://medium.com/@framesoflifeblog/a-slave-to-social-media-45a5206c7569 | ['Frames Of Life Blog'] | 2020-12-27 12:11:29.312000+00:00 | ['Reflection', 'Communication', 'Thoughts', 'Narcissism', 'Social Media'] |
#GenderJustCourts — Female Infanticide: CEHAT & Ors. Vs. Union of India | Written by Shradha Thapliyal
This post is part of a series that seeks to explore judgements relating to gender justice and equality in the Indian Courts. As a common law system, we know that it is the combination of legislation passed in parliament and interpretations made by judges that make up the laws that affect women and girls across India. We hope this series provides an insight into how past cases might impact future ones.
The CEHAT case is a 2003 landmark judgement that criminalizes the practice of sex-determination at a prenatal stage itself in order to eradicate female infanticide. It is an important judgment that focuses on how the mere enactment of law is not the solution, and the judgment highlights how implementation and execution are equally important.
Background of the case
The case was filed in the form of a Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution against the Union of India due to the alarming decline in sex ratio in the 2001 census. Three petitioners (Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Theme, research centre of Anusandhan Trust based in Pune and Mumbai; Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM) based in Pune and Maharashtra; Dr. Sabu M. Georges, who had done extensive research in the field), concerned about the implementation of the Act, moved the Union of India to Court for effective implementation and execution of the provisions of the previously enacted Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, which had failed to effectuate its goals of preventing female feticide.
Highlights of the case
The judgment narrates the efforts of the government made in a course of three years from the day of filing of the petition in order to implement the enacted law, to monitor the various medical institutions involved in the practice, and eventually eradicate the practice of female feticide. The parliament enacted the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 (PNDT Act) which came into force on January 1st, 1996. The act was renamed as Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 post amendment in February 2003, six months before this judgement was delivered. Despite being enacted, neither the State Governments nor the Central Government took appropriate actions for its implementation. The petitioners filed a class action suit to direct the government to issue appropriate and effective orders so as to actualise the intentions of the Act. The court in these years has acted as a monitoring authority for effective implementation of the Act.
The journey of three years:
On 4th May 2001 the courts directed the Central Government to immediately start spreading awareness about the consequences of the practice and also to conclude meetings every 60 days with “vigour and zeal” to monitor the efforts of various states. The Central Supervisory Board (CSB) that was a body constituted under the Act, in addition to spreading awareness and meet every 6 months to review and monitor the implementation of the Act, was directed to keep a track of technological advancement in the field to amend the Act as required. The States and Union Territories, in addition to spreading awareness, were directed to appoint “Appropriate Authorities” as mandated by the Act which reports to the CSB every quarter. The Appropriate Authorities, in addition to furnishing quarterly reports to the CSB, were directed to take immediate criminal action against offenders found violating the provisions of the Act.
The Court had set the next date of hearing on July 30th 2001, however, since various States and Union Territories failed to comply with the order, the next order was passed on September 19th 2001. The court again warned the States and Union Territories to effectively comply with the mandates of the Act and also clarified to the Appropriate Authorities that it was empowered to take criminal action against violators.
On 7th November 2001, the Court directed the formation of the National Committee (National Monitoring and Implementation Committee — NMIC) to monitor the implementation of the Act.
On 11th December 2001, the Court directed certain States to disclose names of members of Appropriate Authorities. It also clarified that ultrasound machines would only be given to properly registered clinics.
The Act was renamed on March 31st 2003 in order to clarify the firm stand against the practice of sex determination before birth.
The present judgment directs the Government to comply with the Act in every manner and with immediate effect. It emphasises on efforts that have to be taken by the Government to spread awareness about the practice along with proper functioning of the system involved. Quarterly reports and records of meetings were mandated to be made public. It also directed the continuation of the National Monitoring and Implementation Committee, till the Act was properly implemented throughout the territory.
Towards Gender Justice? Maybe!
The judgment presents a rather harsh reality of the Indian Society. The court observed that various states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, despite doing well economically, were ranked amongst the lowest under sex-ratio.
It is unfortunate that it took a formal judicial decision to safeguard a human right so fundamental to society, which also portrays an abysmal condition of various practices against females. The Court was not ignorant in acknowledging the graveness of the practice and the real picture it painted of the condition of female justice. It is, however, commendable that after the petition was concluded, active efforts were taken by the Government to spread awareness about the practice and to check the implementation of the Act.
The National Monitoring and Implementation Committee is still in existence and keeps a check on the compliance of the Act. It can be debated whether the existence of the temporary Committee even after 15 years of passing of the judgement shows the real picture of the efforts of the government. The NMIC was constituted as a temporary institution to monitor the implementation of the Act and survives till today. It also highlights how the mentality of the Indian Society might not have become as progressive as it was expected by the Court in 2003. The 2011 census, however, shows an upward trend in the sex ratio: 943 females per 1000 males in comparison to the 2001 census that stood at 933 females.
Implications of the case
The Court in this case acted as a monitoring authority over the Government with respect to the PNDT Act. It was harsh in pointing to the inability of the Government at the Centre and State level, to implement an important legislation as well as the reality of the Indian mindset towards Girls. The Court acknowledged that the declining sex ratio shows that females were still considered a burden by the society despite having several laws for protection of female rights. The court also observed that dowry can be an important reason for families to abandon responsibility of female child, and although there was an anti-dowry legislation in place, it too, in fact was ineffective.
In 2018, we cannot be sure how the landmark judgement changed the course of gender justice in India. The 2011 census although shows an upward trend in sex-ratio, but numbers can never be a firm foundation for surety. 2011 census also concludes a huge rise in overall population of the country. However, it can be safely concluded that prima facie the general public is aware of the consequences of sex determination practices and the society has been sensitised about the issue. Many Hospitals now carry disclaimers mentioning that they do not indulge in practice of sex-determination tests. As far as complete eradication of practice is concerned, or a better picture in the various gender index, it is safe to conclude that it is still a long journey that the Indian Society, as a whole, has to endure.
*Shradha Thapliyal is a Masters student at Azim Premji University and a Research Assistant at One Future Collective. A graduate of Dr. RML National Law University, Lucknow, she is currently specialising in Law and Development, and has a keen interest in specific field studies of social issues presently concerning the Indian Society. | https://medium.com/strategic-advocacy-for-human-rights/genderjustcourts-female-infanticide-cehat-ors-vs-union-of-india-154e2d603ff3 | [] | 2018-04-28 13:57:56.373000+00:00 | ['India', 'Gender Justice'] |
Why Can’t I Change A Lightbulb? | Blog
Why Can’t I Change A Lightbulb?
I’ve always disliked the odd-jobs that come with owning a house.
Why?
Well, for a start, I’m not at all handy. Sure, I know the basics. Hammers. Nails. Screws. Those are pretty self-explanatory.
But beyond that? Nothing.
I don’t know anything about drywall. Wiring? No clue. Plumbing? Please.
If something even remotely complicated breaks or does something odd, it’s time to call a professional.
I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t want to learn how to fix it. I just want it fixed — by someone who knows what they’re doing.
That’s why my recent run-in with lightbulbs has left me stunned — and a bit demoralized.
You see, I thought I understood lightbulbs. They were simple. Screw one in, and you had light.
Sometimes, they would die. No problem, just buy a new one. Screw that one in, and you had light again.
Recently, I’ve come to realize this process is now too complicated for me. I had several lightbulbs stop working on a dimmable light fixture. So I ordered new *dimmable* LED bulbs from Amazon.
They arrived. I unscrewed the old bulbs. I screwed in the new bulbs — six in all. Four worked, two didn’t.
So I looked up why that would happen. Here are some of the possible problems I was told to investigate:
“Check that your bulb wattage (adjusted for LED to Halogen to Incandescent conversion) matches the fixture wattage.”
“Check your fixture for wiring anomalies — loose wires, short circuits, wiring component mismatches.”
“Are any heavy-duty appliances running on the same circuit as the fixture in question?”
“Check the Wi-Fi connectivity of your bulbs to ascertain whether they are communicating with your (or your neighbor’s) smart-home functionality.”
Ok, for the first one, I have no idea. I never really understood wattage to begin with. But throw in a request for me to do a ‘conversion’? Nope, not happening. Now I just assume everything is a 60-watt bulb and hope for the best.
Numbers two and three are waaay beyond my abilities.
Number four is absurd. I have enough problems connecting my laptop to Wi-Fi. Forget connecting lightbulbs.
So, I am forced to draw a very unpleasant conclusion: I now need an electrician to change a lightbulb. | https://medium.com/laughing-stock/why-cant-i-change-a-lightbulb-f72c34b870b | ['Jl Matthews'] | 2020-12-01 01:52:14.973000+00:00 | ['Home Improvement', 'Lighting', 'Electronics', 'Life', 'Blog'] |
The Woman They Turned Away | This is The Story… of how one woman’s demons almost killed her. It’s how she faced a destroyer that would devour all… and lived to tell the tale. Along the way, she managed to create many of technologies that we use on a daily basis.
And now… onto The Story
She awoke with the worst hangover of her life.
As she blinked her eyes, the strange world around her came into focus. Her back ached from the bench she had been sleeping on. She must have blacked out last night. The concrete room was freezing, her head throbbed as she sat up. Strangers lay on the benches opposite to her, and beyond them, she looked out past the iron bars.
Damn it, she thought.
She had been arrested and thrown in the drunk tank. Again.
The concrete prison around her swayed back and forth. The fact that she was still drunk was keeping the worst of the hangover at bay. The rest of the day would be hell.
She wondered if this was the third or fourth time this had happened? It didn’t matter. She talked to the cell guards. They knew her by name. She called a friend. They bailed her out and tried to talk to her, but she brushed them off.
At home, she poured herself a coffee with a shot of whiskey. Outside her window, she watched the river. On good days, she stared at it for too long. On bad days, she thought about drowning herself. On one of the worst days, she had tried. But at the last moment before she let the water fill her lungs, something had stopped her. And in a burst of energy that came out of nowhere, she surfaced, sputtering and coughing for air. She drug herself up on the bank, cursing, and sobbing.
Snow began falling silently outside. She finished her coffee and poured another. Her friends, family, and colleagues all made their attempts to chastise her or to help, but they had no idea what was at stake. As she glared out the window at the river, she laughed to herself. They couldn’t even fathom the magnitude of what was happening in the world right now. Only a few of her colleagues could. And she could barely talk to them about it.
There had to be more people out there she thought. Those who understood what was going on, that although the war was “over” the real war was just beginning. This time nuclear weapons were on the table, along with God knows what other kinds of horrors the Reds were building.
It was the winter of 1949, and by some outward appearances, people thought she was successful. A handful of her colleagues considered her an eccentric genius. She was a military officer who just landed an executive role at a successful technology startup.
The truth was, she 43 years old, and her life was unraveling. The stresses of her work, the post traumatic stress from the war, and her knowledge of the kind of risks that her young country faced were overwhelming. The demons in her mind haunted her, and she had become an alcoholic. Some weekends she would end up in jail, and some nights she would get blackout drunk at home.
Today, it was noon, and the open whiskey bottle was within arms reach. Suicidal thoughts remerged, and she shuddered as she looked out at the river in the snow. The water was cold enough to make the end come quickly.
Thirty-six years before, she was a seven-year-old girl, staring at her alarm clock.
“Hmm.. how do you work?” she wondered.
She looked over the alarm clock, and the question wouldn’t go away.
So she decided to answer it. Sneaking into the kitchen, she grabbed a screwdriver and disassembled it. Then another… and another.
Soon her family’s home in New York City brimmed with disassembled and partially assembled machines.
Her mother was unimpressed with the mess, but the little girl wanted to understand machinery. Like the gears in the clocks she loved, the gears in her mind were already spinning.
That hunger for knowledge helped speed her through school. Her quest for answers lead her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics at Vassar College. To further speed up her learning, she taught classes as an assistant professor. After she graduated, her hunger for knowledge still wasn’t satisfied, so she earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Yale.
But having knowledge was not enough for her. She wanted to share what she had learned. She wanted to improve other lives. But where should she focus?
First, she looked at her own family history. Her great-grandfather had been an Admiral in the US Navy during the Civil War, and the idea was appealing to her. Somewhere out there, someone needed her talents — she was sure of it. The call to adventure was beckoning.
The newly minted Ph.D. received an offer to teach math at Vassar College. She accepted, the money was good, and she got to spend her time reading and doing applied mathematics. Life was good.
Unbeknownst to her, the greatest challenge of her entire generation was approaching. She had no idea what was coming, and neither did the rest of America.
When Pearl Harbor struck, the woman was floored.
Soon the news was filled with terror. The axis powers continued to invade sovereign nations. Great Britain declared war. Soon America came to her aid.
Suddenly, great American minds were in the highest demand. The future of the free world hung in the balance.
Military recruiting messages filled the airwaves and papers. The young doctor of mathematics saw them and answered the call. Hundreds of men she knew signed up one day, and were gone the next, and she knew she had to help.
Her marriage had recently failed, and the tales she heard about Pearl Harbor were tormenting her. She needed to act now. She tried to enlist in the Navy, expecting an instant approval. Instead, she got a “NO”. The worst part was, the “no” was based on everything about herself that she couldn’t change. They said that at 5'6" she was too short. At 105 pounds, she was too underweight. And although she had invested in her education and learning, they told her she was too old to enlist at 37 years old. They asked what was she thinking? She was nearly two decades older than most new recruits!
But one reason they told her “no” irritated her more than any other.
They told her she was overqualified. The recruiters suggested that she go back to her safe teaching job at Vassar. Students and soldiers needed to learn mathematics, and somebody needed to teach them.
She listened to it all politely, but decided that all the no’s were just the starting point of the negotiation.
So, she kept trying to join the Navy.
Finally, she caught a break and The US Navy Reserves accepted her. Vassar College reluctantly granted her a leave of absence from teaching. She was still 15 pounds underweight, and had to sign a waiver, but she was in. With her right hand raised, she swore into the US Navy Reserve.
Her Navy basic training was thrilling. She was out in the real world, and preparing to face one of the most evil and depraved enemies humanity had ever faced.
In training, she applied the passion that got her past all the no’s. It worked, and in June 1944, she graduated at the top of her class. Her duty station was the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University.
There, she met her mentor, a computer scientist named Howard Aiken. The man was gifted and instantly recognized that the woman in front of him was too. The two bonded while working on Aiken’s Mark I computer. The Mark I was a 51-foot-long, electromechanical machine.
It was an engineering miracle of its time. The Mark I would take calculations that used to take months, and finish them in hours.
The woman and the other operators watched, guarded, and cared for the machine around the clock. At night, they would fall asleep by the machine, ready to wake up at a moment’s notice to fix its problems.
Resources were scarce, and they did everything they could to keep the machine running 24 hours a day, even if it meant siphoning resources from other parts of campus. One evening, Aiken caught the woman and another employee removing an entire carton of graph paper from an Army supply room on campus. She recalls him saying, “‘Well you better leave one pack. The Army may not be able to count, but they can tell the difference between none and some.’”
Soon, the woman and Aiken were pushing the Mark I to its limits. They co-authored three papers on the Mark I and created entirely new ways to utilize it. She hoped this would be enough to take her from the Navy Reserves to the full-time Navy. When she applied again, she got a “no”. She was 38, and now she was far too old based on the rules.
At that same time, Vassar College made her an offer for a full-time, professorship. It was tempting. To the shock of her family and friends, she turned the offer down. She stayed in the reserves and continued to work at the Harvard Computation Lab for the next six years. She would be the first to coin the phrase “computer bug” after discovering that a moth had flown into their machine and was causing it to malfunction.
Although she knew how important her work was with solving critical military problems, she had discovered how her work was used. It was used in the atomic bomb explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The knowledge of her part in it was overwhelming, something that she couldn’t face sober.
A few times, she would find herself in jail from being drunk in public, waiting to be bailed out by her coworkers and friends.
Her ability to face the truth about how her work was used had led her directly to the moment in her kitchen, the snow falling outside, while she stared outside at the river where she tried to drown herself.
As she looked out the window, tears streamed down her face. She wasn’t going to let the lure of an easy out distract her any longer. She grabbed the whiskey bottle and dumped it down the sink. In a daze, she stumbled over to the cabinet and dumped the bottle of vodka down the sink. That was the last of it.
She thought about all her journals and notes scattered around the old house she rented. They contained page after page of ideas, inventions, and designs for new kinds of computers and systems. Maybe those weren’t hallucinations, she thought. She went to bed early that night. That was one of the last days she ever drank.
Soon after, the war ended, and so did her contract with Harvard Lab. It was a relief. She was free from working on the machines of death. Now, she could work on the machines of creation.
She was onto the next opportunity. Two pioneers of computing named Presper Eckert and John Mauchly were doing the unthinkable. They were starting a company and they wanted her to join them. The little startup soon became Remington Rand. The woman became the Senior Mathematician on the team developing a new kind of computer called the UNIVAC I.
It only took a few months until she became the director of the entire project. She developed the project into a salable product. When they launched the UNIVAC I in 1950, it was the first large-scale computer on the market.
But first doesn’t always mean best. The machine was riddled with problems, and the woman wasn’t going to stand for it. She would not allow a machine to dictate to her what it would and would not do. She would create a way to command it.
But before she could command it, she first had to learn how to speak to it. And that required an entirely new programming language. Up until this point, most of programming was done with numbers. She wanted to command the machine with letters and language.
Everyone around her brushed the ideas aside. People told her it was impossible. But like every experience that came before, she knew that “no” was just the starting point.
She decided that machines could take language commands, and she was going to make them. For three years, she tinkered, at every step she heard about how she was foolish for wasting her time. Lucky for us, she kept going.
The first breakthrough was a paper she wrote. In it, she proposed the culmination of her research, a “compiler,” program. This compiler program would convert English into machine code.
Now, by presenting her ideas in a paper with proofs, people took notice. Soon she had a team working for her, and they helped make her vision a reality. Their new program was aptly named “A Compiler”.
The “A Compiler” was a breakthrough. It took human language and converted it into machine code. Now, humans could command machines like never before. Later, she would look back on it and say that:
“It’s much easier for most people to write an English statement than it is to use symbols. So, I decided data processors ought to be able to write their programs in English, and the computers would translate them into machine code.”
That was the beginning of COBOL, a computer language for data processors.
If you haven’t heard of COBOL before, you probably see it every day, as it still runs 95% of ATMs.
As she went, she became obsessed with automating every manual process she could. Many people in her industry warned her she would make their industry obsolete. But she knew that automating the grunt work was essential to rising to new, better, and bolder challenges.
A few decades later, in the 1970s, she began pressuring those she knew at the Defense Department. They needed to start innovating, and fast. At the time, they were reliant on one massive computing system. She politely informed them of the dangers and proposed a simple approach. They needed a system of small, distributed computers. With this in place, every person in the department could be granted access to a single repository of information.
All along the way, she kept serving in the Navy Reserves. Several times she was forced into retirement because of her age. But because of her competence, skills, and imagination, the Navy always tried to recall her back to active duty. She retired as a Commander at age 60 and 64. Then she got called back and promoted to Captain at age 65. Then they tried to push her out, so she went and got special approval from Congress to remain on duty after mandatory retirement.
That woman that was the definition of perseverance was Grace Hopper.
In 1985, at nearly 80 years old, Grace Hopper became one of the Navy’s first female Admirals. She had risen to the highest ranks of the same organization that first said she was too small and too old.
Her great-grandfather had done it, and now she had too. Moreover, she left a string of inventions, papers, students, and successful computer companies in her wake.
But she still wasn’t done. And she still wouldn’t retire.
During the last five years of her life, Hopper continued to consult with major corporations. Each time she was hired, she insisted on going through the same formal interview process as everyone else.
As she traveled the United States, wearing her official Navy dress, she handed out this valuable piece of wisdom:
“The most important thing I’ve accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, ‘Do you think we can do this?’ I say, ‘Try it.’ And I back ’em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get older and I stir ’em up at intervals so they don’t forget to take chances.”
Grace Hopper’s life is a testament to curiosity, and a fierce determination to create value in the world.
It all started as a child when she looked at that clock and wondered,
“How does this work?”
As a girl, she sought to answer that question.
As an adult in her forties she would summon the courage to keep going by asking another question…
“What if I cared for myself better and kept going?”
Grace Hopper answered both questions in the affirmative. Although she held one of the highest ranks in the Navy, she had the spirit of a pirate. It’s that union of opposites that’s required to become an original. She ushered in a new age of computing, programming, and opportunity for millions of people all around the world.
What if we all dared to ask, “How does this work?” What if, no matter what personal struggles we’re facing, we summoned the courage to care for ourselves better and keep going?
That’s her story, what’s yours going to be? | https://medium.com/the-mission/the-woman-they-turned-away-c7ecee62f6b3 | [] | 2018-04-17 18:52:26.024000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'History', 'Podcast', 'Womenwhoinspire', 'Military'] |
A song for my grandma (s) | One of the largest mass lynchings in American history was of eleven Italians in New Orleans in 1891 John M Parker helped organize the lynch mob, and in 1911 was elected as governor of Louisiana. He described Italians as “just a little worse than the Negro, being if anything filthier in their habits, lawless, and treacherous”.
Anti-Italianism or Italophobia is important to this day and the history and origin of it, due to also how Italians are still seen or portrayed not just in the movies. But for discrimination, they face and have and still face. For example, I was describing someone I love and mentioned his skin was tan and his hair was slick like the way King Solomon described his beloved in the song of songs. This person also in the campaign office I was working for said, “what is he?” I said he was Sicilian. She then said, “Is he in the mob/mafia?” I paused and all the stereotypes of my father being a drug dealer came to the surface because he had foreign luxury cars. I started to get defensive nonverbally and I had never had to defend Italy or Sicily before to anyone. I felt she was burning my soul, she went to the gut also each word she said was a kick to it. My grandma (s) were from Italy also. I ran through so many actions I could carry out. While I thought why should she know one of my grandmas owned and ran a bar, to further America’s obsession and stereotypes of Italians and the mob. I then wanted to cry because so what if my grandma’s bar was a scene out of Goodfellas each night and day I did not know that for sure and no one unless they were a patron, knew that, and it is really no one's business to this day. I am proud of my grandma as a woman owning a business that is why I bring it up. So what my other grandma showed me how to cook and gave me blankets that reminded me why Milan, Italy is the capital of fashion. I wanted to run out of the office because defeating her was like dealing negatively with the boys who said my dad was a drug dealer. There was a whole world of them judging. Which what my grandmas’ would not want me to do, judge anyone. For they never judged me with all my mistakes. The point was that my Italian grandmas respected god and the bible so I went there to begin being calm again. I just asked the person if they read the bible, they did not say anything. I told her she should, but I was not a saint-just looking for my Solomon. | https://medium.com/@lostgirl22/a-song-for-my-grandma-s-51ef73397fe | ['Uzomah Ugwu'] | 2020-12-21 19:20:32.553000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Italy', 'Grandma', 'Italian American', 'Racism'] |
RL — Trust Region Policy Optimization (TRPO) Explained | Modified from source
Policy Gradient methods (PG) are popular in reinforcement learning (RL). The basic principle uses gradient ascent to follow policies with the steepest increase in rewards. However, the first-order optimizer is not very accurate for curved areas. We can get overconfidence and make bad moves that ruin the progress of the training. TRPO is one of the most quoted papers in addressing this issue. However, TRPO is often explained without the proper introduction of the basic concepts. In Part 1 here, we will focus on the challenges of PG and introduce three basic concepts: MM algorithm, trust region, and importance sampling. But if you are comfortable with these concepts already, scroll down to the end for Part 2 in detailing TRPO.
Challenges of Policy Gradient Methods (PG)
In RL, we optimize a policy θ for the maximum expected discounted rewards. Nevertheless, there are a few challenges that hurt PG performance.
First, PG computes the steepest ascent direction for the rewards (policy gradient g) and update the policy towards that direction.
However, this method uses the first-order derivative and approximates the surface to be flat. If the surface has high curvature, we can make horrible moves.
Modified from source
Too large of a step leads to a disaster. But, if the step is too small, the model learns too slow. Picture the reward function as the mountain above. If the new policy goes too far, it takes actions that may be an inch too far and fall off from the cliff. As we resume the exploration, we start from a poorly performing state with a locally bad policy. The performance collapses and will take a long time if ever, to recover.
Second, it is very hard to have a proper learning rate in RL. Let’s assume the learning rate is specifically tuned for the yellow spot above. This area is relatively flat so this learning rate should be higher than average for a nice learning speed. But one bad move, we fall down the cliff to the red spot. The gradient at the red dot is high and the current learning rate will trigger an exploding policy update. Since the learning rate is not sensitive to the terrain, PG suffers from convergence problem badly.
Third, should we constraint the policy changes so we don’t make too aggressive moves? In fact, this is what TRPO does. It limits the parameter changes that are sensitive to the terrain. But providing this solution is not obvious. We adjust the policy by low-level model parameters. To restrict the policy change, what are the corresponding threshold for the model parameters? How can we translate the change in the policy space to the model parameter space?
Fourth, we sample the whole trajectory for just one policy update. We cannot update the policy on every time step.
Why? Visualize the policy model as a net. Increasing the probability of π(s) at one point pull the neighboring points up also. The states within a trajectory are similar, in particular when they are represented by raw pixels. If we upgrade the policy in every time step, we effectively pull the net up multiple times at similar spots. The changes reinforce and magnify each other and make the training very sensitive and unstable.
Consider there may be hundreds or thousands steps in a trajectory, one update for each trajectory is not sample efficient. PG needs over 10 million or more training time steps for toy experiments. For real-life simulation in robotics, this is too expensive.
So let summarizes the challenges of PG technically:
Large policy change destroys training,
Cannot map changes between policy and parameter space easily,
Improper learning rate causes vanishing or exploding gradient, and
Poor sample efficiency.
In a hindsight, we want to limit the policy changes, and better, any change should guarantee improvement in rewards. We need a better and more accurate optimization method to produce better policies.
To understand TRPO, it will be better off to discuss three key concepts first.
Minorize-Maximization MM algorithm
Can we guarantee that any policy updates always improve the expected rewards? Seems far fetching but it is theoretically possible. The MM algorithm achieves this iteratively by maximizing a lower bound function (the blue line below) approximating the expected reward locally.
Modified from source
Let’s get into more details. We start with an initial policy guess. We find a lower bound M that approximate the expected reward η locally at the current guess. We locate the optimal point for M and use it as the next guess. We approximate a lower bound again and repeat the iteration. Eventually, our guess will converge to the optimal policy. To make this work, M should be easier to optimize than η. As a preview, M is a quadratic equation
but in the vector form:
It is a convex function and well studied on how to optimize it.
Why does the MM algorithm converge to the optimal policy? If M is a lower bound, it will never cross the red line η. But let hypothesis the expected reward for the new policy is lower in η. Then the blue line must cross η (the right side figure below) and contradict that it is a lower bound.
Modified from source
Since we have finite policies, as we keep the iteration, it will lead us to a local or a global optimal policy.
Now we find the magic we want.
By optimizing a lower bound function approximating η locally, it guarantees policy improvement every time and lead us to the optimal policy eventually.
Trust region
There are two major optimization methods: line search and trust region. Gradient descent is a line search. We determine the descending direction first and then take a step towards that direction.
Modified from Source
In the trust region, we determine the maximum step size that we want to explore and then we locate the optimal point within this trust region. Let’s start with an initial maximum step size δ as the radius of the trust region (the yellow circle).
m is our approximation to the original objective function f. Our objective now is finding the optimal point for m within the radius δ. We repeat the process iteratively until reaching the peak.
To control the learning speed better, we can be expanded or shrink δ in runtime according to the curvature of the surface. In the traditional trust region method, since we approximate the objective function f with m, one possibility is to shrink the trust region if m is a poor approximator of f at the optimal point. On the contrary, if the approximation is good, we expand it. But calculating f may not be simple in RL. Alternatively, we can shrink the region if the divergence of the new and current policy is getting large (or vice versa). For example, in order not to get overconfidence, we can shrink the trust region if the policy is changing too much.
Importance sampling
Importance sampling calculates the expected value of f(x) where x has a data distribution p.
In importance sampling, we offer the choice of not sampling the value of f(x) from p. Instead, we sample data from q and use the probability ratio between p and q to recalibrate the result.
In PG, we use the current policy to compute the policy gradient.
So whenever the policy is changed, we collect new samples. Old samples are not reusable. So PG has poor sample efficiency. With importance sampling, our objective can be rewritten and we can use samples from an old policy to calculate the policy gradient.
But there is one caveat, the estimation using q,
has a variance of
If the P(x)/Q(x) ratio is high, the variance of the estimation may explode. So if two policies are very different from each other, the variance (a.k.a. error) can be very high. Therefore, we cannot use old samples for too long. We still need to resample trajectory pretty frequently using the current policy (say every 4 iterations).
Objective function using importance sampling
Let’s go into details of applying the importance sampling concept in PG. The equations in the Policy Gradient PG methods are:
We can reverse this derivative and define the objective function as (for illustration simplicity, γ is often set to 1):
This can be expressed as importance sampling (IS) also:
As shown below, the derivatives for both objective functions are the same. i.e. they have the same optimal solution.
The presence of two policies in the optimization objective presents us with a formal way to restrict the policy change. This is a key foundation of many advance Policy Gradient methods. Also, it can produce a way for us to evaluate possible policies before we commit the change.
Now, we finish the three basic concepts we need for our discussion and ready for the last part for TRPO.
For those that what to look into the articles in this Deep Reinforcement Learning Series. | https://jonathan-hui.medium.com/rl-trust-region-policy-optimization-trpo-explained-a6ee04eeeee9 | ['Jonathan Hui'] | 2018-10-21 21:48:43.844000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning'] |
Helping local shops survive and thrive during the COVID-19 crisis | Helping local shops survive and thrive during the COVID-19 crisis
Using Gatsby, Google Sheets, Material-UI and Netlify to build a directory of small businesses with special offers during the quarantine
www.compraaospequenos.pt
Marzee Labs has partnered with Menos Hub and has just launched a web platform with a directory of small businesses in Portugal trying to survive the current COVID-19 crisis — compraaospequenos.pt. We’ve used Gatsby, Google Sheets, Material-UI and Netlify to build it and we are making the code available on GitHub so anyone around the world can use it to create their local network of shops.
No one was expecting this. COVID-19 took us all by surprise. More than posing a threat to the health and life of a hundred thousand people, this health crisis is having a major impact on the global economy.
Social isolation measures imposed by governments all over the world are directly impacting local businesses. Governments are trying to help as much as they can both companies and individuals with specific measures.
In this scenario, small businesses and independent workers are the ones that are suffering the most, struggling to survive during these tough times. This is a reality in many countries but with different scales. In the case of Portugal, “small businesses correspond to 90% of the companies in Portugal” says João Duarte, the founder of Menos Hub.
With this in mind, the initiative Menos Hub — that works directly with small businesses in Portugal — has created the movement #compraaospequenos (#buyfromsmallbusinesses). The movement started as a Google Spreadsheet with a list of small businesses and independent workers that have special offers during the quarantine trying to survive the current crisis.
Menos is doing more than that and has been helping those local small businesses to reinvent their offer and thus make it through the quarantine period.
Looking to support the movement, Marzee Labs reached out to Menos team and offered to build a web platform by making the directory more visually appealing and, most importantly, facilitating its use, so the movement reaches more businesses and people.
It was 2 weeks ago that we had the first meeting with them and we are happy to be launching the first Minimum Viable Product (MVP) version today. The chosen approach was to work with what was already in place (Google Sheets) and make the best use of Open Source technologies to have a website live as fast as possible and within our reduced resources.
From the start, we knew that the best way of building a fast and secure website was by using the JAMstack approach. Since Menos Hub was already using Google Sheets, we’ve decided to continue using it as the website’s database.
We needed a Static Site Generator to build the website pages and we’ve chosen to use Gatsby. First of all, Gatsby is very easy and quick to set up, and most importantly it allows you to easily fetch data from any source to build the website’s content. In addition to that, our in-house team has a liking for React and we thought it made sense to choose a React-based Static Site Generator stack.
Once we had Gatsby ready and the API integration with Google Sheets working we had to implement the filtering for the directory of shops in the platform. After some research, we’ve decided to use itemsjs, a free search engine in javascript, created to perform a fast search on small JSON datasets.
For the front-end implementation, and having in mind that we had a limited time frame to launch the website, we decided to integrate Material-UI to make it easier to style all the website’s components from the buttons to the filters.
Last but not least, we got support from our friends at Netlify that are offering an extension of their free services for people working in solutions for the current COVID-19 crisis. We must say, though, that Netlify was always our choice of CDN even before they confirmed their support. A big part of the websites we build is using Netlify services.
We are very happy with the result — compraaospequenos.pt — and we are ready to start the second phase and further expand this platform. If you are looking to implement something similar or if you are interested in contributing to our current platform, you can find the repository available here.
We are looking forward to seeing this spreading the world.
Stay safe and buy from small businesses. | https://medium.com/marzeelabs/helping-local-shops-survive-and-thrive-during-the-covid-19-crisis-d8936b0d8d27 | ['Ana Rossetto'] | 2020-04-08 14:17:51.996000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Shopping', 'Jamstack', 'Google Sheets', 'Gatsbyjs'] |
Augmented Reality -Effect on brand loyalty and revenue | AUGMENTED REALITY -EFFECT ON BRAND LOYALTY AND REVENUE
What is brand loyalty? Brand loyalty is the tendency of consumers to continuously purchase one brand’s products over another. Consumer behavior patterns demonstrate that consumers will continue to buy products from a company that has fostered a trusting relationship which in turn leads to a ton of revenue being generated by the company. Hold that thought.
Augmented reality is an interactive 3D experience that combines a view of the real world with computer-generated elements. What this means is that AR can figure in a number of ways how to manipulate the world in front of the viewer, either through AR goggles that combine a view of the immediate surroundings with computer graphics, or on a smartphone display that does the same thing using the phone’s camera.
So how does brands incorporating use of AR in their marketing increaase brand loyalty and revenue. As I stated in my opening paragraph, brand loyalty and increase in revenue are mutually exclusive, loyal customers are retained customers — not only are the happy to repeat purchases but they happily spread the word about a brand and acquire new customers for the brand (incresed revenue for the business).
ASOS plc is a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer. The company was founded in 2000 in London, primarily aimed at young adults. Looking at their target audience, innovation is an important currency when dealing with this particular audience as that is the only way to retain them.
If your offering is always better, you don’t have loyal customers, you have smart ones. Don’t brag about how loyal your customers are when you’re the cheapest or you have clearly dominated some key element of what the market demands. That’s not loyalty. That’s something else. Loyal customers understand that there’s almost alwayssomething better out there, but they’re not so interested in looking. — Seth Godin
Asos struggles with exessive return rates which cuts into their profit, not that the company would necessarily classify it as such (offering a generous returns policy boosts customer satisfaction, after all) but handling reverse logistics and unwanted product is an expensive proposition for any business, and online return rates for clothing and accessories can be as high as 40 percent. In 2019 ASOS got on board with AR by launching an experimental AR feature called Virtual Catwalk, which is designed to help app users visualise 100 Asos Design products. This in itselt does not assuage the brand of reduced rate of returns, but what it does is bring the item to life in a way that is far more effective than a photograph or online video. By bringing the model (and product) into the space of the user, the online shopping experience becomes much more immersive and engaging.
How has this helped increase brand loyalty for Asos when it does not redcues returns of merchandise by customers? Seth Godin believes that brands does not have to be bigger and better to gain customer’s loyalty, sometimes all they have to do is reinforce the good feeling people get when they’re being loyal. Asos incorporating the cat walking startegy in their marketing startegy shows they are adapting to modern technology that sends a signal of innovation to their target market and also shows that they are looking to resolve the issue of high returns for customers — this tells customers that they are being thought of by the brand and that in itself builds trust.
Between 2019 that the AR feature was launched and July 2020 ASOS reported a strong growth, with sales up 10% to more that £1 billion. It has also seen its customer base rise by 16% to 23 million.
Rewarding loyalty for loyalty’s sake–not by paying people for sticking it out so the offering ends up being more attractive–is not an obvious path, but it’s a worthwhile one. Tell a story that appeals to loyalists. Treat different customers differently, and reserve your highest level of respect for those that stand by you -Seth Godin. | https://medium.com/marketing-management-and-strategy-importance-to/augmented-reality-effect-on-brand-loyalty-and-revenue-686152dc126d | ['Adeolu Mayungbe'] | 2020-12-06 18:57:31.808000+00:00 | ['Revenue', 'Brand Loyalty', 'AR', 'Profit'] |
Knowledge Update | Knowledge Update
Thursday, August 23, 2018
It’s been an exciting few weeks for the Knowledge team!
Development of the Knowledge Ecosystem has continued to grow with the official release of the Knowledge Account v1.0. KNW Tokens will be live for trading on LATOKEN exchange on August 29th, Knowledge’s first supported exchange listing.
The KnowledgeBot BETA Pilot Program has continued to swell to an audience network of 300,000 Telegram users, across over a dozen blockchain focused Telegram groups and channels. Official announcement of the KnowledgeBot BETA Pilot is slated for this upcoming week. TriviaSpar is soon to be KNW Token integrated, enabling players to earn the KNW Token as a reward for their engagement in the app.
Knowledge Account v1.0 is Live! 5 KNW Token sign up reward.
The Knowledge Account v1.0 is launching with all the functionality outlined in our overview guide, including the Knowledge Score ALPHA, Knowledge Rewards and the Knowledge Profile.
To register for a Knowledge Account, and earn a 5 KNW token sign up reward, follow this link: https://account.knowledge.io/sign-up/
Read the full Knowledge Account v1.0 Release Announcement: https://medium.com/knowledgeio/knowledge-account-v1-0-is-live-5-knw-sign-up-reward-af9b428d8ec2
LATOKEN Lists Knowledge (KNW), Trading Opens August 29th
KNW TOKEN will soon be available for trading on LATOKEN exchange. LATOKEN is a rapidly growing crypto exchange focusing on liquidity for new tokens.
We are excited about this partnership, and look forward to the next step of LATOKEN’s support for KNW.
August 24–27 — KNW Token deposits will open on LATOKEN
August 29 — KNW Token trading goes live on LATOKEN
Don’t have an LATOKEN account? Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2PfFWIN
The KnowledgeBot BETA Pilot, Official Announcement Coming Soon
The KnowledgeBot is currently serving over 20 quizzes daily, across over a dozen groups, to over 300,000 Telegram users. With over 6,000 questions answered thus far, the KnowledgeBot has proved to be a highly engaging social media tool, and highly stable as it’s been scaled to hundreds of thousands of users in less than 2 months of the pilot program beginning. Due to the initial success of the KnowledgeBot BETA Pilot, a new initiative has been launched by Knowledge and will be announced next week along with the KnowledgeBot. | https://medium.com/knowledgeio/knowledge-update-a352befd583b | [] | 2018-08-23 21:18:20.421000+00:00 | ['Knw Token', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Knw'] |
The Next Step For African Universities, Reflection From Innovation Promotion Program at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology. | The Changing Role of Universities
Universities are some of the oldest and most conservatives institutions in the world. Started as the center of knowledge shared by a person called Master. The priority focus of a university was to offer education until that role evolved and research started to be included as part of the core objective, and the role of a Master moved to a Lecturer. Not until recently, universities started to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship as part of their core objectives while encouraging lecturers to be more open-minded to explore new knowledge and experiences since knowledge is no longer centered around a single person or institution but rather scattered everywhere.
The birth of third-generation universities sees the role of an academic lecturer moving from a lecturer to a Coach. Someone who pushes students to think critically, collaboratively, and creatively and to communicate well (the 4Cs) on issues affecting the society while offering solutions through new innovative ideas and entrepreneurial approaches. The changing role of universities has been influenced by a number of reasons including; The rise of academic entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary research, globalization, the fourth industrial revolution and related technologies, Government demands and output financing, technology-based economic growth in the knowledge-based economy, corporate research and the opportunities offered by collaboration with industry.
Even though academic institutions across the world have been evolving to embrace these changes institutions in Africa still lags behind operating in the old traditional model. Few universities are trying to catch-up but most of them struggle to find practical ways to adapt to these changes in our own local context and relevancy. The key question remains, what are the best approaches to transform an African university to meet these changing local, regional, and global dynamics? The increase of the youth population, the formation of new jobs that require new skills and talents, existing and emerging global crises such as COVID19 and Climate Change, and socio-economic pressure will push African universities to their limits.
Towards The Fourth Generation Universities
Towards Realizing 3GU in Africa Academic Institutions
Our first session at NMAIST reflected on the realization of the third generation universities in Africa. We reflected on what works and what doesn’t. While NM-AIST is among the few open-minded academic institutions in Africa which embrace different innovation and industry linkage interventions there was something that needs to be done to move the institution to a full-fledge 3GU. This is also true to many of the African institutions, more needs to be done to encourage university-industry collaboration, university-community collaboration, academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer, and research commercialization. NM-AIST is taking the right direction in establishing programs that will encourage further collaboration between the university — the industry — and the community. From the session, the feeling was more needs to be done to empower people (staff and management) to attain skills and experience that can further accelerate that. There is a need to encourage a change of strategies (process) and attitudes (people) if we are to realize the 3GU in Africa effectively.
Design For Good, University Solving Problems
How can we get the students to understand the process of solving problems and coming up with great ideas? That was a key question that shaped our second session with NM-AIST. While there is some energy and drive from students and staff to come up with ideas, researches, and projects but the gap between them and the actual needs is very wide. Students struggle to come up with solutions rather they replicate existing projects and researches just to get academic qualifications.
For our universities in Africa to stay relevant with our communities they need to address real problems hence design thinking. Using tools such as Ideo Human-Centered Design and Principles for Digital Development. Ideas and solutions that emerged from these tools are shaped to address real needs by taking into consideration most of the important factors in identifying and solving a problem. For students and staff to come up with ideas that are desirable, feasible, and viable there is a need to do rapid testing and engagement with the users (industry or community) hence the need for the lean-approach. During our session at NMAIST, the tools were adopted and piloted to see how they can be used in real life to assess the relevance of the solutions.
The biggest achievement of our universities in Africa will be the capability them addressing grassroots problems facing our hyperlocal communities. Offering solutions to some of the most complex issues facing our society today. Most importantly through design thinking, the created solutions should be reliable, affordable, and sustainable. One of the tools we adopted for this session was Gianmarco Marinello’s Social Innovation Framework. Trying to understand problems at the grassroots level and link them to practical solutions.
Gianmarco Marinello’s Social Innovation Framework
Academic Entrepreneurship
Academic entrepreneurship is not a new concept. Universities have been embracing in-campus entrepreneurship in different ways including; hosting incubators, starting and supporting spin-offs, conducting summer programs (accelerators), establishing entrepreneurship centers, etc. Some universities have been extremely successful in this and they have been attributed to the success of some of the large companies emerging in their ecosystems. Universities such as Stanford University, Aalto University, Tsinghua University, and others seem to be at the core of both academic and entrepreneurial excellence in their ecosystems.
The key question during our third session was how can we foster academic entrepreneurship in African universities? What is the best approach that can work in our context using readily available resources? Are in-campus incubators and entrepreneurship centers the solution? if yes, how do we measure their success? If no, what are other approaches that can be adopted? We looked at the concept of Spin-Offs and what needs to be done to have successful Spin-Offs emerging from the university. We looked at three key issues; governance, process, and context.
Nurturing Successful Spin-Offs
Incubators Versus Accelerators, what works for African universities? There was a discussion during the session at NMAIST whether short-term programs 6 months max or long-term support programs up to 3 years are more practical to support academic entrepreneurs in Africa. We never reached a conclusion but we collectively agreed both are needed depending on the circumstances. What was very is the fact that people should be allowed to fail (or succeed) fast so that more people will have the chance to explore and test their ideas and projects. Also, the need to have a competitive program, structured support, a stronger ecosystem, and a clear exit for businesses supported in academic setup.
Student as an Entrepreneur
To coach an entrepreneur, you need smart entrepreneurial tools. At NM-AIST we explored Lean Canvas and Business Model Canvas as tools to help students shape their ideas into something commercially viable. The staff as coaches they learned to use the tools to assess the viability of the ideas and the value proposition certain solutions will have to the potential users or customers. The exercise was very useful especially for staff without a business background. Business Model Canvas is a great tool for quick observation of the viability of an idea as well as in giving practical feedback to an innovator or entrepreneur from the business perspective.
University at The Core of The Ecosystem
The last session was about the innovation ecosystem and how can we get African universities to be at the core of the ecosystem. Currently, innovation hubs and labs are the ones looking to spearhead the innovation ecosystem in Africa. Acting as conveners working with different parts of the ecosystem; investors, entrepreneurs (innovators), academic institutions (and research firms), governments, etc. Can this role be played by the university? Universities in matured ecosystems drive the innovation agenda and coordinate strategic partnerships and collaborations between different players in the ecosystem.
From the session, at NMAIST we looked at the role of Nelson Mandela as an Institution in building a stronger innovation ecosystem in Arusha by looking at different players and their roles and on how strategic collaborations can be formed with them through the institution.
This is the beginning of a new era for African universities. We remain optimistic about the future.
Appreciation
The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
The CENIT@EA Team.
This report has been prepared by | https://medium.com/sahara-ventures/the-next-step-for-african-universities-reflection-from-innovation-promotion-program-at-nelson-43dea9516e63 | ['Jumanne Rajabu Mtambalike'] | 2020-12-24 19:51:21.643000+00:00 | ['University', 'Technology Transfer', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Africa', 'Innovation'] |
It’s a Wage Shortage not a Labor Shortage | It’s a Wage Shortage not a Labor Shortage
Oftentimes, life feels like one giant, swift kick to the nuts. And then, right at the moment you pick yourself back up and shake off the agonizing pain with a series of slow, deliberate breaths and straighten yourself to full height, life comes along and plants another one right in the ‘nads. After more than a year of having their doors shuttered by a global pandemic and hanging on by a tenuous thread of financial viability, many restaurants were chomping at the bit to finally reopen once dining regulations were rolled back and they were once again able to operate at full capacity. Ah, but fate is a cruel, cruel mistress, and God has one hell of a sense of humor. Despite eager crowds anxious to go to out to eat and drink in public again, bars and restaurants have been thwarted from cashing in on that pent up demand by a source few people could have foreseen: worker shortages.
When national employment statistics hit their peak of 14.8% in April of 2020, with claimants numbering more than 25 million, few could have predicted the worker shortages that have predominated many parts of the United States since many retail and service-centered businesses began re-opening this past Spring. Walk through your local urban corridor, and you will see many restaurants and bars advertising for workers, and many of these service-oriented establishments or retail sector businesses have been operating on reduced hours for months now. These places want to be open, but they simply cannot find enough employees to fully staff their operations, and consumers, eager to get out and spend once again, are beginning to see the impact.
So just how is it that we have come to be so nationally understaffed? Even though the national unemployment rate has fallen dramatically since the height of the pandemic, clocking in at 5.8% for the month of May, that rate is still 2.5% higher than the 3.3% unemployment rate for February 2020 right before the pandemic began. Moreover, May 2021’s 5.8% rate is still higher than any non-pandemic month since 2014. And yet, despite those lower unemployment numbers in the years from 2014–2020, suggesting there would have been fewer employees available for hire, we weren’t experiencing anything like the worker shortages we are currently seeing. In other words, the workers are out there; they just aren’t taking the jobs.
A significant factor in all of this, of course, has been the extension and supplementation of unemployment benefits on both a state and federal level. As part of the immense Covid bailout package, Biden and the Democrats sent every American a check for $1400 and lengthened unemployment benefits eligibility for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. This included many folks in the service industry, who were hit hardest by the ravaging impacts of the pandemic, especially those who worked in bars and restaurants. For months, many of these folks survived and fed their families only due to these expanded benefits. But now those jobs are coming back and many of them aren’t so eager to go rushing back to work. So why?
Now many of you on the conservative side of the aisle will point to these circumstances and suggest that these people are entitlement-takers, that this is just further evidence of how government unemployment programs only encourage reliance on the government rather than the self-sufficiency of a job, but I am going to contend that it is demonstrative instead of an entirely different factor altogether. If these folks are eschewing gainful employment in favor of remaining on unemployment, this is not indicative that unemployment benefits have been made far too lucrative as Tucker Carlson would have you believe, but rather that the pay at the jobs they are being offered is just that shitty. Before you go waving the flag of government entitlements as the problem, do you know how much the average unemployment check is? Yeah about $320/week or about $16k/year. How about you go try to live on that….
If you make a concerted calculation and arrive at the conclusion that you are better off not taking a job and instead living on the paltry allowances of unemployment, that is one crappy-paying job. But that is the place we find ourselves in for failure to pass a reasonable increase in the federal minimum wage to $15/hour. Because employees in some states are allowed to make as little as $7.25/hour, or less than $15k/year for a 40-hour work week, sitting on your ass and getting handed a check from the government that is actually slightly more than that suddenly seems like a damn good idea. You can’t blame the workers who aren’t taking these jobs. We have to place the blame squarely on the employers who are offering them too little.
In a recent newspaper article, I read the comments of Vail Resorts belly aching that they couldn’t find enough bus drivers at $13.50/hour and were thus “forced” to shut down a number of shuttle options for guests at their resorts. Have you seen the cost of living in the mountains these days? College kids are paying $1600/month in rent to live 6 to a room, so how in hell do you expect a bus driver to support a family of two? The math just doesn’t add up, and workers are finally in a position of strength to demand a living wage. The expanded unemployment benefits of the pandemic relief package have not only helped many Americans stay afloat during the shutdowns, they have also helped to shift the supply and demand dynamics of hiring economics and buttressed workers’ bargaining power, essentially getting from many employers what should have been granted to them by a more respectable federal minimum wage.
If you walk down to my local Target or Starbucks right now, they both have signs advertising that they are hiring at a starting wage of $16/hour. And they both have decent benefits too. As a response, Vail Resorts begrudgingly upped their driver pay to a whopping $13.75, but that just isn’t going to get it done, now is it? Who is going to drive a bus of of overly-entitled tourists instead of making about $100 more per week pouring lattes and frappuccinos? That’s just basic good ol’ American free-market, supply-side economics, baby! But for once, it’s working for the benefit of the American worker.
Yes, this may mean increased costs for consumers, but if you have enough money to be spending on bars, restaurants or other service-industry providers, you can afford to spend a little more to allow the people who work there to have a living wage. We are, after all, talking about people at the bottom rungs of the earnings ladder versus those with the discretionary income to spend in the service sector. Businesses that can offer a reasonable wage to their employees and still weather the current economic environment will survive, and those that can’t, well, they won’t. Isn’t that the very heart of free-market capitalism? American workers have been kicked in the nuts long enough.
Steven Craig is the author of the best-selling novel WAITING FOR TODAY, as well as numerous published poems, short stories, and dramatic works. Read his blog TRUTH: In 1000 Words or Lessevery THURSDAY at www.waitingfortoday.com | https://medium.com/@stevencraig8888/its-a-wage-shortage-not-a-labor-shortage-c1908cdf2ed | ['Steven Craig'] | 2021-07-15 12:31:07.163000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Life', 'Economics', 'Labor', 'Life Lessons'] |
The New Features in Android Jetpack Fragment | The picture is provided by Unsplash
As a matter of fact, a fragment is a reusable class that implements a portion of an activity in Android development. Fragments can be able to provide modularity and reusability into your activity’s UI by allowing you to separate the UI into discrete pieces. Furthermore, Android Jetpack has been announced by Google recently as a set of libraries, tools, and guidance for modern Android development. This article will discuss some advanced features and improvements in using fragments, which have been designed by Google for Android developers.
Introduction and Overview
As we know, fragments were introduced in Android Honeycomb API level 11 as micro activities. Basically, a fragment is a reusable class, which implements a portion of an activity. A Fragment usually defines a part of a user interface. Fragments have to be embedded in activities; they cannot run independently of activities. Therefore, fragments can be able to provide modularity and reusability into your activity’s UI by allowing you to divide the UI into discrete pieces. Activities are an ideal place to put global elements around your app’s user interface like navigation drawer. In contrast, fragments are appropriate for handling the UI of a single screen or portion of a screen. For instance, assume an Android app that reacts to different screen sizes. On larger screens, the Android app should display a static navigation drawer and a list in a grid layout. On smaller screens, the app should show a bottom navigation bar and a list in a linear layout. So, the question would be what is the best approach in this case? By utilizing fragments, the activity is responsible for showing the correct navigation UI while the fragment displays the list with the appropriate layout. In short, separating your UI into fragments makes it easier to modify your activity’s appearance at runtime. When your Android activity is in the STARTED lifecycle state or higher, fragments could be added, replaced, or removed. In fact, you can be able to maintain a history of these changes in a back stack, which is handled by the activity. One of the significant point in utilizing fragments in practice is that you can use multiple instances of the same fragment class in the same activity, in multiple activities, or even as a child of another fragment. This means you should just only support a fragment with the necessary logic to handle its own UI. In other words, you should avoid depending on or manipulating one fragment from another.
Additionally, Android Jetpack has been announced by Google recently as a set of libraries, tools, and guidance for modern Android development. Currently, there are four categories for using Jetpack, which includes: Architecture, UI, Behavior, and Foundation. It means that some Android Jetpack libraries, such as Navigation, BottomNavigationView , and ViewPager2 , are designed to work with fragments much more efficiently. As a result, in the following sections this essay will consider some new features and improvements in using fragments that have been implemented by Google for Android developers.
Sharing and communicating among fragments
To respond to user events properly, or to share state information, you typically require to have channels of communication between an activity and its fragments or between two or more fragments. To maintain fragments self-contained, you should not have fragments communicate directly with other fragments or with its host activity. The Fragment library offers two main choices for communication: a shared ViewModel and the Fragment Result API. It is obvious that the recommended approach is based on the situation. All in all, to share persistent data with any custom APIs, you should use a ViewModel. ViewModel objects can store and manage UI data. Also, for a one-time result with data that could be placed in a Bundle , you should use the Fragment Result API. Here, we will discuss the ViewModel approach that is provided by Android Jetpack. Assume a common case of split-view fragments, where you have a fragment in which the user chooses an item from a list and another fragment shows the contents of the selected item. In this example, the owner activity must bind the two together, and both fragments must manage the scenario where the other fragment is not yet created or visible as well. So, the code can be written as follows:
class SharedViewModel : ViewModel() {
val selected = MutableLiveData<Item>()
fun select(item: Item) {
selected.value = item
}
}
class MasterFragment : Fragment() {
private lateinit var itemSelector: Selector
private val model: SharedViewModel by activityViewModels()
override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)
itemSelector.setOnClickListener { item ->
// Updating the UI...
}
}
}
class DetailFragment : Fragment() { private val model: SharedViewModel by activityViewModels()
override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)
model.selected.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer<Item> { item ->
// Updating the UI...
})
}
}
In fact, these fragments can share a ViewModel by using their activity scope to manage this communication. When the fragments each get the ViewModelProvider , they receive the same SharedViewModel instance that is scoped to this activity. There are some advantages can be mentioned in this approach. First of all, the activity does not require to know and react anything toward this communication at all. Second, if one of the fragments destroys, the another one keeps working as usual. Finally, each fragment has its own lifecycle. So, it is not affected by another one.
ViewModel and Navigation Graph
Initially, Android Jetpack’s Navigation component provides you to implement navigation, from simple button clicks to more complicated patterns, such as app bars and the navigation drawer. To be more specific, the Navigation component is a collection of libraries, a plug-in, and tooling, which simplifies Android navigation. In short, the Navigation component includes three key parts: Navigation graph, NavHost, and NavController. Navigation graph is an XML resource, which contains all navigation-related information in one centralized location. This includes all of the individual content areas within your app, called destinations. Thus, if you are using the Navigation library, you can scope a ViewModel to the lifecycle of a destination's NavBackStackEntry . For instance, the ViewModel could be scoped to the NavBackStackEntry for the ListFragment:
class ListFragment: Fragment() {
private val viewModel: ListViewModel by navGraphViewModels(R.id.list_fragment)
override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
viewModel.filteredList.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { item ->
// Updating the list UI
}
}
}
Fragment Manager and Navigation library
FragmentManager is the main class that is responsible for accomplishing tasks on your app's fragments, such as adding, removing, replacing, and adding them to the back stack. However, Google has recommended using the Navigation library to handle your Android app’s navigation as it was indicated. This framework offers some best practices for working effectively with fragments, the back stack, and the fragment manager. Probably, you will never face with FragmentManager directly if you are using the Jetpack Navigation library. Any Android app using fragments is using FragmentManager at some level; therefore, it would be vital to understand it completely and how it works for Android developers.
Testing fragments
Recently, Google has announced AndroidX Test. It brings testing as an essential part of Jetpack. Google include some of the existing libraries that you have used before, some new APIs, full Kotlin support, which allows you to write proper and concise tests. It is available on and off device. Furthermore, to set up the conditions for performing tests on fragments, the AndroidX library supports the FragmentScenario class to build fragments and change their Lifecycle.State . FragmentScenario has two main methods for launching fragments in tests as follows: 1. launchInContainer(): for testing a fragment's user interface. 2. launch(): for testing without the fragment's user interface. After selecting one of these options, you can assess information about its UI elements using Espresso UI tests. In general, to use FragmentScenario, you should define the fragment testing artifact in your Android app's build.gradle as follows:
dependencies {
def fragment_version = "1.2.5"
debugImplementation "androidx.fragment:fragment-testing:$fragment_version"
}
Additionally, if your fragments have some dependencies, you can be able tp provide test versions of these dependencies by providing a custom FragmentFactory to the launchInContainer() or launch() methods. The reason is that your fragment should not be dependent on a specific parent activity or fragment for testing. Also, you should not build a fragment’s view hierarchy unless the fragment is visible to the real user.
In your Android app’s UI tests, it is typically sufficient to launch the fragment under test, and start testing it from RESUMED state. However, you might also assess the fragment's behavior as it transitions from one lifecycle state to another one. To accomplish this goal, you should call moveToState() . This method supports other states.
FragmentContainerView
FragmentContainerView is a customized Layout, which has been designed for Fragments. It extends FrameLayout. So, it can manage Fragment Transactions, and it has additional features to coordinate with fragment behavior as well. In short, unlike other ViewGroups, it just only accepts Fragment Views. It also supports the <fragment> attributes, and offers more Fragment transactions flexibility.
<androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="@+id/fragment_container_view"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
</androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView>
Besides, this container gave us the opportunity to address some animation issues, specifically an issue with z-ordering of Fragments. As a result, fragments using exit animations are drawn before all others for FragmentContainerView. This helps that exiting Fragments do not appear on top of the view.
Future works
Google has indicated that has some plans for improving fragments in various aspects. For example, they has suggested multiple back stack. This will allow saving and restoring a whole stack of fragments without losing state instead of having just single stack option. Additionally, they are panning to create a better API for startActivityForResult() and for passing a result to another fragment.
In conclusion
A Fragment usually defines a part of a user interface. Fragments must be embedded in activities; they cannot run independently of activities. Therefore, fragments can be able to provide modularity and reusability into your activity’s UI by allowing you to divide the UI into discrete pieces. This article discussed some new features and enhancements in using fragments for Android developers. | https://medium.com/kayvan-kaseb/using-android-jetpack-fragment-7e64285fbe88 | ['Kayvan Kaseb'] | 2020-12-05 05:04:24.934000+00:00 | ['Android Apps', 'Android', 'Fragments', 'Android Jetpack', 'Android App Development'] |
Data, driving the Fintech superpowers of today | Off late, “Fintech” has been and remains to be a buzzword. It is transcending beyond traditional banking and financial services, encompassing online wallets, crypto, crowdfunding, asset management, and pretty much every other activity that includes a financial transaction. Thereby competing directly and fiercely with traditional financing giants and their methods.
No wonder, the global investment in Fintech has, therefore, exploded in recent years.
This Fintech boom is driven primarily by the availability of technologies like Big Data, Machine Learning, AI, Data Science, and Blockchain.
The one common factor driving these technologies? DATA
Now, we’ve previously spoken about living in a data deluge. Here we will talk about how Fintech’s leverage this data deluge or “alternate data” to augment conventional data sources to build robust solutions delivering valuable intelligence.
Applications of Web data in Fintech:
Performance monitoring:
Website traffic, product pricing, product reviews, and inventory data available on e-commerce websites is extracted to understand how the company is doing in terms of growth. Apart from that the job postings, hiring trends, increasing or decreasing workforce size, company’s ratings on employer review sites, brand mentions on forums, and social media are extracted for more robust fundamental analysis. Sentiment analysis is then performed to gauge overall sentiment and feel good, inside and outside the organization.
Trend analysis:
Buzz words aside, for venture capital firms to make intelligent and informed investments and to maintain a better portfolio allocation. They need to understand the technology trends over a while, be confident of the technology stack used by companies, and combine the two to make sound investment decisions.
An important part of this analysis is the overall trends data gathered from tech portals, blogs from influential consulting organizations, posts on Reddit, competitions on Kaggle, and GitHub. Alongside the data collected from company websites, job postings, and yet again, social media posts and blogs — text mining and NLP (Natural Language Processing) techniques are applied on these data sets to match the trending topics and the way they change. Investors are then not solely relying on seemingly fascinating pitch decks but hard facts.
Financial ratings:
Rating agencies heavily monitor and extract data from the web for the companies they are tracking in their reports. This data primarily includes the public data on the company sites, their social media posts, media coverage, including brand mention and recognition, overall company activity, including hiring and layoffs.
While extracting data in real-time, this use case also requires sophisticated yet lightweight NLP and text analysis models to extract intelligence, intent, and sentiments from high volume and high-speed data being sourced.
Regulatory compliance:
It is paramount for companies to comply with regulatory requirements. Hence, for companies providing business consultation, advisory, audit, and risk mitigation services, they must crawl government sites and news outlets to stay updated with new policies being discussed and implemented. To not only advise organizations but equally importantly, be able to monitor the overall business, social, and economic impact of new regulations and guidelines, being implemented by governments.
Risk Assessment:
Some business owners would risk having customers. Whether or not they can pay their bills can become somewhat of an afterthought for several businesses seeking aggressive growth. Until a lack of payment from customers becomes a cash-flow problem for their company. Assessing the financial risk of each customer upfront can help avoid this problem. Being proactive and not reactive is key.
Some of the insights that can easily be gathered from the web are: searching for your potential client’s website. Look at the Google Street View of the company’s address to see if their location makes sense based on their industry and size. You may also want to consider looking for feedback from other companies that have done business with them, and blog or social media reviews from their customers. The overall trend of the industry they operate in.
Then, of course, things like credit reports and bank credit references can be asked for further due diligence. Well again, this exercise need not be restricted to new customers you’re onboarding but should be extended to new business development when your sales teams are seeking new customers. Equipped with this information, they’d know exactly where to go/not go looking for prospects. Making your overall sales cycle a lot more effective and productive.
Customer Journey:
Transcending from a communication platform, social media today, is a customer experience platform. Organizations engage in “Social listening” to find and contribute to conversations about them by seeking out brand mentions, specific keywords or phrases, and comments. A study by Gartner found that companies that do not respond to social media messages face up to a 15% increase in customer churn. Furthermore, an American Express study found that 83% of consumers abandon a purchase due to a poor customer service experience on social media.
The key benefits of social listening are:
1. An increase in the average spend per customer. A study by Bain & Co. found that customers spend between 20% to 40% more with the company when companies connect with customers on social media.
2. Reduced operational costs. A study by Brand Watch found that customer service requests handled via social media channels cost up to 12 times cheaper than handling the same requests by phone.
3. Solid competitive edge. Research by Social Media Marketing University found that 76% of brands do not participate in social listening. And of the brands that do participate, only 38% respond to their customers. The 24% that do engage with customers on social channels have a distinct advantage and enviable customer connection.
Through social listening, you can increase revenue, earn higher customer satisfaction rates, and reduce customer support costs — everything you need to grow a business successfully.
By listening to conversations, companies can participate, educate, and build relationships with prospects and customers.
With so much to be achieved from web data, sourcing it reliably and at scale remains to be technically challenging and resource-intensive. What companies need is a technically adept partner with the know-how and the tools to build and execute data scrapers. To demonstrate instant ROIs and benefits for the organizations.
Get in touch today, to get your web data requirements sorted! | https://medium.com/webgrinder/data-driving-the-fintech-superpowers-of-today-3042bda35b6 | [] | 2020-05-06 09:34:31.914000+00:00 | ['Web Data', 'Data Science', 'Web Data Scraper', 'Fintech', 'Data Scraping'] |
Will We Have Vintage Gadgets In The Future? | Nostalgia is not as good as it used to be. 😬 Each generation talks about the “good ole days” and how life was simpler, better; even the toys were so much simpler and more fun back then. Then technology kicked in — what’s up next?
From manual to mechanical; kinetic to electronic; analog to digital; calculator to a personal computer; telephone to the Internet — “real” reality to virtual and augmented versions, human intelligence to artificial intelligence — and everything in between, and beyond.
Lately, each generation has found itself in the middle of some technological transformation. In the past 70 years, this has happened more often, and it has affected our society and personal everyday life in much more profound and significant ways.
In the 80s, many exceptional transformations took place — we could consider it the portal that brought us in direct contact with the modern digital technology age. Faster than any past transformation before, our work, family, friends, and personal lives changed in front of our own eyes and opened the way to an unstoppable and constant change. Moore’s law can give an idea of the magnitude here, but it may miss the full extent of today’s technological evolution.
We start the conversation today by looking back at the many electronic gadgets, our first electronic games, Walkman’s, digital watches, and the first computers of our younger age. Then we try to understand what made them so unique and so magical to have captured our attention at the time; in many cases, they actually shaped our future professional lives.
Will the young generations of today look back at a smartphone the same way we look at a VHS player back then? What made that technology so unique? What makes vintage electronics and gadgets still capture our attention and the desire to bring those back into our lives even today. Maybe even more than ever.
This is where technology and life meet, but we promise that these conversations will not stop here. We do not know where they will go, but if you stay tuned, you will know when we do. | https://medium.com/itspmagazine/will-we-have-vintage-gadgets-in-the-future-f4125b301527 | ['Itspmagazine Podcast'] | 2020-12-08 23:56:47.555000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology', 'Vintage', 'Internet', 'Nostalgia'] |
Kotlin vs Java: reasons to switch from Java to Kotlin today | written by Bernardo do Amaral Teodosio, developer at Wavy;
In mid-2016 we, as Android developers, were already eyeing the Kotlin language. At Movile Group, and at Wavy, we have innovation in our DNA, and as soon as the opportunity arose to start using the new language, we decided to do so.
If you don’t know Kotlin yet, a brief description I usually use when I talk about it is:
A concise, static typing programming language created by JetBrains and which is in constant development. It is fully interoperable with Java and also allows the creation of web and native applications.
The Kotlin language was created by JetBrains, which is the same company that created the best IDEs currently on the market, such as: PHPStorm, CLion, PyCharm and IntelliJ, which is also the basis of Android Studio, Google’s official IDE for application development Android.
Today’s article is about Kotlin vs Java. I’ll give you x reasons why you should switch from Java to Kotlin today. If you are interested in the subject, read on!
Java interoperability
Kotlin being 100% interoperable with Java means you can start using it as soon as you want, in an existing Java project (be it a server or an Android application), without the need to migrate any code, and without having to wait the opportunity for a new project to start using the language.
You can insert the Kotlin code into an existing project today, call it from Java code, and vice versa, and you will have no problem with that. This is a good reason to give language a try.
Officially supported by Google
In 2016, when we started using Kotlin in our projects, Google had not yet officially commented on the use of the language for Android development.
However, as we have a culture of testing and learning fast, this silence was not an impediment — a fact that we are proud of today.
Since the official announcement by Google on the support of the Kotlin language for Android development, at Google I / O 2017, the number of Android applications written partially or entirely in Kotlin is growing, which means that more and more developers on the market are making use of it.
As of Android Studio 3.0, support for the Kotlin language was added natively in the IDE, making it even easier to develop applications using it.
Simple, concise and low-verb syntax
Kotlin has a simple and concise syntax. Codes written in this language have better readability than equivalent codes written in Java.
Below are three different ways to write a simple function that adds two numbers together.
fun sum(a: Int, b: Int): Int {
return a + b
} fun sum2(a: Int, b: Int) = a + b public class JavaTests {
public static int sum(final int a, final int b) {
return a + b;
}
}
The first 2 examples are written in Kotlin, while the third is written in Java.
We can see that the Kotlin code, in addition to being more readable, is also much less verbose. We don’t need to create a class to do a simple function, as in Java.
Furthermore, it goes without saying that the parameters are final in Kotlin. They already are, by default — which is another very positive point in the language, which encourages immutability.
Oh, and another wonder: semicolons are optional!
class KotlinClass(private val firstAttribute: String,
private val secondAttribute: Int) {
private var mutableIntAttribute = 0
private var mutableStringAttribute = "Hi!"
} class KotlinClass(private val firstAttribute: String,
private val secondAttribute: Int) {
private var mutableIntAttribute = 0
private var mutableStringAttribute = "Hi!"
}
As explained in the examples above, the Java class constructor, which does nothing but initialize the class attributes with the values of the parameters provided, was rewritten in Kotlin in a much simpler way, just after the class name.
Everything in parentheses after the name of the Kotlin class are properties of the class, initialized from its primary constructor parameters.
Data classes
At some point, you have certainly had to make classes that simply serve to represent a set of data in the form of a model, and nothing more. They are the famous Models / POJOs classes.
Generally, these classes have nothing special, just a few attributes: a constructor that initializes them, getters and setters methods, and sometimes override the equals (), hashcode () and toString () methods.
Although simple, in Java they tend to get very large due to the verbosity of the language.
Below is an example of a class that represents a user in Java:
public class JavaUser {
private String id;
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private int age;
public JavaUser(final String id, final String firstName, final String lastName, final int age) {
this.id = id;
this.firstName = firstName;
this.lastName = lastName;
this.age = age;
}
public String getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(final String id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getFirstName() {
return firstName;
}
public void setFirstName(final String firstName) {
this.firstName = firstName;
}
public String getLastName() {
return lastName;
}
public void setLastName(final String lastName) {
this.lastName = lastName;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(final int age) {
this.age = age;
}
@Override
public boolean equals(final Object o) {
if (this == o) return true;
if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
final JavaUser javaUser = (JavaUser) o;
if (age != javaUser.age) return false;
if (id != null ? !id.equals(javaUser.id) : javaUser.id != null) return false;
if (firstName != null ? !firstName.equals(javaUser.firstName) : javaUser.firstName != null) return false;
return lastName != null ? lastName.equals(javaUser.lastName) : javaUser.lastName == null;
}
@Override
public int hashCode() {
int result = id != null ? id.hashCode() : 0;
result = 31 * result + (firstName != null ? firstName.hashCode() : 0);
result = 31 * result + (lastName != null ? lastName.hashCode() : 0);
result = 31 * result + age;
return result;
}
@Override
public String toString() {
return "JavaUser{" +
"id='" + id + '\'' +
", firstName='" + firstName + '\'' +
", lastName='" + lastName + '\'' +
", age=" + age +
'}';
}
}
Kotlin has a special type of classes that can be used especially for these cases. These are called data classes.
Using this functionality, the equivalent Kotlin code can be seen below:
data class KotlinUser(var id: String,
var firstName: String,
var lastName: String,
var age: Int)
As we can see, the class written in Kotlin is much simpler, faster to write and also simpler to read, since it is not filled with unnecessary code that hinders reading.
By default, data classes already have a useful implementation of equals (), hashCode () and toString (), which use the properties defined in the class constructor as parameters, so it is not necessary to re-implement these methods.
In addition, data classes also have a copy () method, which is used to create copies of an instance by changing only certain attributes.
Suppose, for example, that you want to create a new user, with the same attributes as an existing user, but only changing the age. It is simple to do this using this method:
fun newUser(newAge: Int, oldUser: KotlinUser): KotlinUser {
return oldUser.copy(age = newAge)
}
Null safety
If you are a Java programmer, you may have seen the following line on your monitor:
java.lang.NullPointerException
The so famous and feared NullPointerException, which occurs when we try to call a method, access an attribute or do something like that in a null instance, that is, using a reference that points nowhere, is probably the most common exception — and also the most annoying — when it comes to Java.
Worse still, it occurs at run time — which means that the execution of your application can be interrupted when this exception is thrown, severely harming its users.
With Java 8, the concept of Optionals came into the language, which helps to avoid the number of occurrences of this exception.
However, if you are an Android developer, you know how difficult it is to use features from newer versions of Java in applications.
Due to the limitations of the system versions, in order to be able to use new Java features in older versions of Android, we need to look for compatibility alternatives, such as Retrolambda.
Using Kotlin, we don’t have to worry about that. The language differentiates references that can be null from those that cannot be, according to the defined type.
If you define a type as being “non-null”, then the language guarantees, at compile time, that null values will not be assigned to the reference of the non-null type.
// example 1
var notNull: String = "Hi!"
// example 2
var nullableAttempt: String = null // compile time error
// example 3
var nullable: String? = null // optional type must be used
// example 4
var inferredType = "Inferred type here is String, non null"
In the first example, we have a reference of type String, explicitly declared. This reference cannot receive null values.
In the second example, we have a reference of type String, also explicitly declared. When trying to assign the value null to this reference, we get a compilation error, since the reference is of type String and not String? (the presence of the interrogation indicates a type that can receive null values).
In the third example, we have a reference of type String ?, nullable, which can receive null values.
In the fourth example, we have a reference of type String, not explicitly declared, but which is inferred by the compiler from the value assigned to the variable.
// example function
fun getLengthPlusThree(string: String): Int {
return string.length + 3
}
// test 1
fun testGetLength(): Boolean {
val expectedResult = 6
val length = getLengthPlusThree(string = null) // compile time error
return expectedResult == length
}
// test 2
fun testGetLength2(anotherString: String?): Boolean {
val expectedLength = 4
val length = getLengthPlusThree(string = anotherString) // compile time error
return expectedLength == length
}
// test 3
fun testGetLength3(testString: String?): Boolean {
val expectedLength = 4
// if is an expression that can be used as a return
return if (testString != null) {
expectedLength == getLengthPlusThree(testString)
} else {
false
}
}
In the tests above, we see some examples of the functionality in use. We initially have an example function, getLengthPlusThree (), which returns the length of a string (received by parameter) plus three.
Note that the string received by parameter is non-null, which means that it is impossible to call this function by passing a null string as a parameter.
In the first test, we tried to call the function by directly passing a null string as a parameter. As expected, we received a compile-time error.
In the second test, we try to call the function by passing a nullable string as a parameter. Again, we have a compilation error.
Although we don’t know what the value of the anotherString parameter is, we do know that it can be null. Because of this possibility, the getLengthPlusThree () function cannot be called.
In the third test, we use an if to test the received parameter value. After ensuring that the parameter is not null, we can normally call the getLengthPlusThree () function, as there is no longer any possibility that the value of the passed parameter is null.
In these examples, we can also notice two other interesting features of the language.
The first of these is the naming of parameters. In tests 1 and 2, when calling the getLengthPlusThree () function, we explain the name of the function’s string parameter when calling it.
Although optional, this feature makes the code more readable — especially when calling functions with parameters of the boolean type.
The second feature is the return of the if expression. In Kotlin, we can use the if (and also other constructs) as a function return.
Extension functions
The famous Utils classes, any reasonably large Java project contains at least one: StringUtils, FileUtils, AndroidUtils. It is very likely that you have already used or even created one, at least once.
In general, Utils classes are created to group methods that perform certain operations on objects of the same type.
A FileUtils class, for example, would be full of static methods, which take a File as a parameter, and perform a certain operation with this file.
Such classes, although functional (they are, in fact, useful), are usually composed of verbose code, and consequently more laborious to read and write.
Kotlin has a feature that solves the problem of the Utils classes and makes the code more simple, readable and beautiful.
In addition, it also facilitates its maintenance: the Extension Functions. Basically, Kotlin provides the ability to add functionality to an existing class, without having to inherit it for this.
fun String.suffixedWithAmazing(): String {
return this + " is amazing!"
}
In the example above, we created a function that extends the String class. Now, we can call this function on any string, as in the example below:
fun testExtension() {
println("Kotlin".suffixedWithAmazing()) // prints "Kotlin is amazing!"
}
If the function is used in a file other than the one in which it was declared, it is necessary to import it.
Now consider the example below, in which an Extension Function was created to calculate the size in megabytes of a file.
Instead of creating a FileUtils class to do this, we can write it in the following format, in Kotlin:
private const val BYTES_TO_MEGABYTES_CONVERTER = 1000000.0
fun File.sizeInMegaBytes(): Double {
return this.length() / BYTES_TO_MEGABYTES_CONVERTER
}
fun testExtensionFunction(vararg files: File) {
files.forEach { file -> println(file.sizeInMegaBytes()) }
}
The vararg keyword indicates that the number of files that the method will receive as a parameter is undefined (variable number of arguments).
If you develop Android, you’ve probably used Glide or Picasso, famous libraries for uploading images.
We can use Extension Functions to create an abstraction around these libraries which, in addition to making the code smaller and much more readable, also facilitates an eventual replacement of libraries.
The example below illustrates this situation:
fun ImageView.load(url: String) {
Glide.with(this.context).load(url).into(this)
}
private fun displayImageTest(imageView: ImageView) {
imageView.load("https://kotlinisreallyawesome.org/kotlin.png")
}
Higher order functions and streams
Kotlin supports high-order functions. It is possible to use functions like types and parameters, and even return functions from a function.
With this functionality, a wide range of possibilities for functional programming using Kotlin is open.
But, not only for this reason, it is possible to create a much cleaner, concise and simple code, using high-order functions than in Java, which only (partially) introduced this functionality from Java 8.
If you use RxJava for Android development, you probably also use some additional library to use lambdas, as this functionality was only introduced in Java 8, and is fundamental to the functioning of RxJava.
Using Kotlin, no additional library is needed, as the language natively supports this functionality.
In addition, the language also has streams and operators for streams, extremely useful features that were only introduced in Java 8.
Below is an example of Kotlin code that uses high-order streams and functions:
import java.util.concurrent.Future
import kotlin.concurrent.thread
data class FetchOrderResult(val success: Boolean)
fun testStreams(orderCallback: (FetchOrderResult) -> Unit) {
val bigSmokeOrder = listOf(
"I want two number nines",
"a number nine large",
"a number six with extra dip",
"a number seven",
"two number forty-five",
"one with cheese",
"and a large soda")
val lightBigSmokeOrder = bigSmokeOrder
.filter { it.contains("nine") }
.filter { line -> !line.contains("large") }
.map { it.toUpperCase() }
lightBigSmokeOrder.forEach { println(it) }
lightBigSmokeOrder.forEach(::println) // same thing as above
thread {
val order = fetchOrder(orderList = lightBigSmokeOrder).get()
orderCallback(order)
}
}
fun fetchOrder(orderList: List<String>): Future<FetchOrderResult> {
TODO() // do something with orderList and create a FetchOrderResult
}
The testStreams () function builds a list of items for an order, filters them based on certain criteria and then sends the order, in a new thread, invoking the fetchOrder () function.
When this is completed, the function invokes orderCallback (), the callback with the order’s response. Note that orderCallback () is a function that was passed as a parameter to the initial testStreams () function.
Take a chance
You may have noticed that when it comes to Kotlin vs. Java, Kotlin wins. In addition to all these reasons and in addition to your productivity increasing a lot, it is fun to program in Kotlin.
It’s fun not having to write a bunch of boilerplate to do something simple, discovering a new way of programming and not getting stuck in a certain version of the language and failing to try new features because of that.
The world spins, time passes and we are not obliged to continue in the past. Take a chance on something new and try Kotlin.
In this and this link you can find parts of a live in which I participated, talking about how we use the language at Movile.
Below, a presentation I made at Kotlin Night Campinas, an event that took place in 2017, in which I had the opportunity to talk a little about the language. The audio of the presentations of the event can be found here. | https://medium.com/wavy-engineering/kotlin-vs-java-reasons-to-switch-from-java-to-kotlin-today-4703548e0d04 | ['Wavy Global'] | 2020-10-26 13:16:19.403000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Innovation', 'Kotlin', 'Java'] |
Religious Fatalism and the Politics of Change | Oppressor versus Oppressed
Jesus Christ Superstar follows two main characters: Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot. Both characters are Jews living in Roman-occupied Palestine in what we now call the 1st Century AD. Depending on how you were raised, you may view the Roman Empire as a force of progress or a force of terror. It is true, Rome was able to connect far-reaching parts of Europe and the Mediterranean to one another, stretching from London to Alexandria. They built elaborate governmental buildings, bathhouses, and stadiums. Useful technologies were disseminated much easier, and medical advances too. But on the flip side came oppression, slaughter, war, rape, and pillaging… in the name of power and wealth and sometimes even in the name of peace.
The Jews under the Roman empire had special privileges. They didn’t have to pray to the Roman state gods: Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Saturn, and the like. They were allowed to worship in their own Temple and celebrate Jewish festivities.
At the time of Jesus’ life, however, tensions were increasing. Rome was anxious that the Jews of Palestine would try to revolt, cause trouble, try to get away from their grip. Rome sent large groups of soldiers to Jerusalem around Jewish holidays, such as Passover, to ensure no one ‘got smart’ and try to inspire a Jewish revolt. It would be inconvenient for Rome to deal with, but at the end of the day, they would have no problem razing their Holy city and enslaving the lot of Jews. So long as they knew their place, Rome would let them be.
Jesus and the Disciples at the Last Supper. Telegraph.co.uk
It is along this tension that Jesus Christ Superstar thrives. The musical opens with a song from the perspective of Judas, called Heaven on their Minds. You can watch the clip from the film here and read the lyrics here.
In many ways, this song indicates the beginning of the end for Judas. It is at this point that he now realizes that Jesus has become a superstar, a larger than life celebrity that surely will catch the eyes of Rome. He is afraid of all this could mean.
Perhaps some will not see him as a wise, charismatic sage but instead, confuse him for being God himself. Perhaps the man Judas loves will get killed at the hands of the state. Perhaps the world will forget all the good things Jesus had done in his life, and remember him instead as a mere political insurgent — the man who destroyed Jerusalem and brought the Jews back into foreign bondage. Judas is torn between wanting to keep the peace, caring for the least privileged, and his deep love and admiration for Jesus.
The relationship between Jesus and Judas provides us with two alternate histories. In the first, Judas turns Jesus in, Jesus falls into the hands of the state, is crucified, and becomes seen as a deity himself. In another, Judas does not assist, Jesus lives on, preaches, and dies. Is he remembered?
This is not a simple, oppressor versus oppressed relationship. There are nuances within both groups, revealing that all the characters in this world are fully human, not merely caricatures.
Fully Human
“Why I should die?
Would I be more noticed than I ever was before?
Would the things I’ve said and done matter any more?” — Jesus, Gethsemane
After watching the film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, I realized that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is built on caricature versions of each Biblical figure. Joseph is an innocent kid. Joseph’s brothers are scheming and unaware. Jacob is gullible. Potiphar is a chump. Potiphar’s wife is the embodiment of lust and evil. For the kind of play that Joseph is, it is perfect. It’s fun loving, whimsical, full of bright colors, and containing songs like Joseph’s Coat, which straight out make me laugh today.
I expected the exact same thing out of Jesus Christ Superstar. Instead, I found a really pointed exploration of how each of these Biblical figures would act, think, and move as the events of 33AD went down. For example…
PETER
“I had to do it, don’t you see?
Or else they’d go for me”
Peter denies Jesus because he fears the movement will die if he turns himself in. Also, he’s just afraid for his life in a way he’s never been before. It’s the first time the threat of persecution becomes real to him. Peter’s Denial.
MARY MAGDALENE
“Yet, If he said he loved me
I’d be lost; I’d be frightened
I couldn’t cope”
Mary Magdalene wrestles with the male-female relationship she has with Jesus, unsure how to love him correctly. She craves acceptance from someone as perfect as she images Jesus to be, but at the same time has a deep fear of commitment. I Don’t Know How to Love Him.
JESUS
The character of Jesus, at times, revels in his love and support. He unapologetically accepts the attention of the women who follow him, touching him, rubbing his skin (Everything’s Alright). Jesus also has a genuine desire to help people. He believes he can heal those who believe in him. But no matter how much he tries to spread himself, he understands that his time is running out, leaving less of himself to give in the first place.
The Temple/The Lepers brings the audience into the existential horror of this concept, where toward the end the infirmed envelope Christ. He feels he cannot escape and anxiously cries out, “There’s too little of me; don’t crowd me! Heal yourselves!”
The masterpiece of the musical, Gethsemane, dedicates over five minutes the humanity of Jesus. Jesus cries out, unsure who even began the whole ministry: himself or God. If he chooses to believe that he caused all of this to happen, he is left in bitter despair and hopelessness.
Though if he chooses to believe that all these acts are orchestrated, he can find the courage to drink ‘His cup of poison’ and suffer the death he knows will come soon. The question of free-will will be discussed again later on.
JUDAS
Judas is not the one-dimensional betrayer of Jesus. He feels an overwhelming need to act, to challenge the frivolous actions of those around him (such as Mary using oil for Jesus instead of selling it and giving to the poor), to care for the least privileged, even if it meant betraying his great love: Jesus Christ. No song in the musical better illustrates the complexity of Judas than Damned For All Time.
Judas has approached the Pharisees to try to do something about the movement, which he sees will inevitably end in the destruction of his home. He feels Jesus’ message is going in the wrong direction, based on the events of the first half of the musical. He repetitively tells us, “I have no thought at all about my own reward, I really didn’t come here of my own accord,” when he is negotiating with the Pharisees, Jesus’ sworn enemies.
The listener is left to wonder why Judas would go through this hassle if he’s not interested in any award. Even stranger, Judas admits his powerlessness in this situation, as if it was not his decision to betray Jesus.
To the point of tears, on the ground, we transition to Blood Money, where Judas is given his iconic silver shekels, a symbol of betrayal. Profit over people, perhaps the greatest person there ever was.
But… Judas hates wealth. He must be coerced into taking the silver only by convincing himself he can give it to the poor. He doesn’t align with the Pharisees or their mission at all. He loves Jesus, so much so that he spends his last sane thoughts speaking of how much he loves him.
“When he’s cold and dead, will he let me be? Does he love me too? Does he care for me?” — Judas, Judas’ Death
Like Mary, he wants to be accepted in spite of what appears to be his choices out of free will. If all the characters in the play are fully human, then indeed, Judas would have betrayed Jesus in a very transactional, worldly sense. But it is when the narrative is spiritualized, when it becomes Jesus’ destiny to die upon the cross, that it becomes troubling to assign blame to Judas. Didn’t someone have to turn him in? Didn’t someone have to arrest him, try him, kill him?
“Our ideals die around us, all because of you And now the saddest cut of all: Someone has to turn you in Like a common criminal, like a wounded animal” — Judas, The Last Supper
Free-Will
Pontius Pilate, like Judas, is a crucial link in the arrest, trial, and execution of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. But beyond revealing Pilate as man, perhaps one that even tries to set Jesus free, Andrew Lloyd Webber goes one step further and uses Pilate as an unlikely prophetic vessel.
In one of my favorite songs from the musical, Pilate’s Dream, we meet Pilate far before he ever becomes a critical player in the narrative. Here, Pilate has a dream that reveals the rest of Jesus’s life, death, and the unfolding history of Christianity until modern times.
“Then I saw thousands of millions Crying for this man And then I heard them mentioning my name And leaving me the blame”
This very short, eerie song serves three functions. First, it affirms that this musical will play out as we expect. Jesus will be betrayed. He will be killed. His legacy will then go on to found the Christian movement which will become a major world religion.
Second, the song encourages the viewer to ask themselves whether or not any of these characters have free-will in the context of Jesus’ story, if he is, indeed, the Messiah. No matter what Pilate does in his life, he will always have to try Jesus. No matter what, he will be hated merely for existing.
Finally, if we are to believe that Pilate exists within a spiritual framework that pre-ordained the events of Jesus’ life, the viewer must accept that Pilate was animated as much by God as even Jesus was. Pilate receives visions of the future, being affirmatively told that the events of his dream must happen directly by God. There is no other way.
Just as all the actors in the film play a part, Pilate must play the part of the Roman, ruthless establishment that love must overthrow. There cannot be an oppressor without an oppressed, no hope without fear.
Unanswerable Questions
“Why’d you choose such a backward time and such a strange land? If you’d come today, you would have reached a whole nation Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication Don’t you get me wrong — I only wanna know” — Judas, Superstar
Though viewers, like me, left Jesus Christ Superstar with fresh perspectives on the relationships between Rome and the Jews, Jesus and Judas, and the like, the rock opera ends by leaving many questions unanswered.
In a surprise reappearance of Judas (perhaps now an angel, rewarded for carrying out his end of God’s deal or a haunting memory in Jesus’ mind), Judas begs these questions before Jesus’ carries his cross:
“Tell me what you think about your friends at the top Who’d you think, besides yourself, was the pick of the crop? Buddha, was he where it’s at? Is he where you are? Could Mohamed move a mountain, or was that just PR? Did you mean to die like that? Was that a mistake, or Did you know your messy death would be a record-breaker? Don’t you get me wrong — I only wanna know”
Jesus provides no answers to Judas, just as he remained silent in the face of Pilate’s earlier interrogation in the musical. Jesus accepts the life he has lives as he lived it.
Upon the cross, the final words of the musical are uttered by Jesus:
“God forgive them — they don’t know what they’re doing Who is my mother? Where is my mother? My God, my God, why have you forgotten me? I’m thirsty It is finished Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit”
As someone with a pronounced interest in the historical criticism of the Bible, this choice by Andrew Lloyd Webber strangely excited me. Instead of trying to select which version of Jesus’ last words he wanted to use, he actually used all of them. Yes, each of the Gospels of the New Testaments provides different ‘last words’ from Jesus, revealing different aspects of his nature in earthly death.
We cannot know what the last words of Jesus actually were. It’s impossible, and even the versions of events many consider infallible tell us very different accounts of the moments leading up to Jesus’ death. Perhaps, in combining each of Jesus’ last words, Webber reminders the viewer that Jesus, in principle, is a construction of versions of him we identity with, versions we co-create daily. Much like celebrities who are consumed by a fan-lore that paints an alternate reality of who one is, Jesus becomes the sum of those who tell his stories later on.
Jesus Christ Superstar ends without a resurrection. We are left with a melody titled John Nineteen Forty-One, of which the verse reads:
“At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.” John 19:41 NIV
From this point on, we are responsible for determining Jesus’ story because, well, Jesus is no longer in it. He has died. What will the viewer do with his metaphorical body? Will we move his body to the tomb? Will we believe that his body rose up? Will we flee Jerusalem, trying to protect ourselves, as his own apostles did? Will we consider Israel safe from insurgence? Will we write about him? Will we create films about it? Sing songs of him? | https://medium.com/interfaith-now/religious-fatalism-and-the-politics-of-change-25a4c79083f8 | ['Allison J. Van Tilborgh'] | 2020-06-26 16:42:49.654000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Spirituality', 'Film', 'Music', 'Religion'] |
evangelicals on both the right and the left who believe that politics is an essential work of evangelical faith. | Evangelicalism in America is nearing extinction due to the movement’s devotion to politics at the expense of its original calling to share the gospel, according to Mark Galli, former editor-in-chief of Christianity Today.
“The evangelicalism that transformed the world is, for all practical purposes, dying if not already dead,” Galli said during the “Conversations that Matter” webinar hosted by Baptist News Global Oct. 8. He spoke with BNG Executive Director and Publisher Mark Wingfield in an hour-long webinar that is available for viewing on BNG’s YouTube channel.
Image for post
Ever since I was a little boy, I have only ever wanted to be a Doctor. It was all I ever dreamed of. I shadowed my uncle multiple times, who is an Emergency Medicine physician. I signed up to be a model for resident physicians, training on how to deal with crisis situations. I even worked one summer during high school cleaning colonoscopes.
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Medicine was all I ever wanted to do, and I was determined to do all that it took to become a Doctor.
When I applied to Medical School, the odds were against me. I was told flat out by my “advisor” that I was not going to get in, that my application was too weak, and so many others were much more qualified. I paid that “advisor” no mind, applying during the Fall of 1994.
I only got one interview in February 1995, and I was placed on the waiting list in March. I then forgot about Medical School and focused on getting through my last semester in college.
My uncle, the Emergency Medicine physician, harrassed me to call the Medical School and find out the status of my application.
“I’m not going to get in,” I told him.
“Just call them,” he replied calmly.
So, two days later, I called the Medical School to find out my status on the waiting list. The woman on the phone sounded confused.
“We sent your acceptance letter last week.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I told her I never received the letter because it turns out they sent it to the wrong address. I corrected the address on file, and before we hung up, I confirmed:
“So, I’ve been accepted?”
“Uh huh.”
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
They only keep the slot open for two weeks before awarding it to someone else, and a week had already gone by unbeknownst to me. I could have ignored my uncle’s pleas to call the school and find out. I could have forgotten to make the call that literally changed the trajectory of my entire life.
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
It is a very hard to time be a physician right now, especially one who is working in the ICU — on the very front lines of the war against COVID-19. We see the absolute worst of the worst, and the scale of death and destruction is unlike anything I or any of my colleagues have ever seen.
Every day, we literally risk our very lives to care for the sickest of the sick with this horrific illness. We are facing PPE shortages, and in a recent statement, the Critical Care Societies Collaborative said,
Widespread and ongoing use of contingency measures to preserve PPE supplies places our healthcare workforce at unconscionable risk.
Over 1,300 healthcare workers have died from COVID-19. The situation is dire, and this second wave is way, way, way worse than the first. And we haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet. We haven’t had Christmas yet. It’s going to get really bad before it gets better.
And yet, I say again: there, but for the grace of God, go I.
There is a great deal of fear that comes with caring for patients with COVID-19. That’s what makes this pandemic so much worse. I confess that COVID made me think about leaving bedside practice. But the call to that bedside was way too strong. I can’t leave because I am so grateful to be here in the first place, being given the honor of caring for the sick at their most vulnerable.
Have I had bad days? Absolutely. Is it really hard work, both physically and mentally exhausting? Of course. Is this the best way to make money? Hell no.
But I’ve never forgotten how it felt yearning — and praying so hard — to get into medical school. I’ve never forgotten the thrill of getting my lab coat on the first day of school. I’ve never forgotten how badly I wanted this career. Others joke about “living the dream.” I am truly living my dream, and I am so grateful to God for it.
A spiritual teacher of mine told me that those who are in the service of a sick person are in God’s Transcendent Mercy until they finish their service. This gave me such great comfort, especially in the darkest days of the Spring when the COVID was all around us. The Winter is going to be so much darker, and I will need that Transcendent Mercy more than ever.
And yet, I think back to that morning in May 1995 when I made that fateful call to the medical school. There was nothing in particular that made me make the call. I was bored, in fact, and I figured I would humor my uncle and call the school. I truly believed my “advisor’s” words that I was not going to get in.
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
And so I will try my hardest to be the best physician I can be; to come to work each day with a smile; to do all that I can to help those entrusted to my care. It is the very least I can do, and it is the only way I can show gratitude to the Lord — Who has given me the honor of including me in the privileged few who are called to care for His children.
I could have forgotten to make that call in May 1995. I am so very grateful to the Lord our God that He reminded me otherwise.
Now semi-retired, Galli served 20 years at Christianity Today and is the author of a new book, When Did We Start Forgetting God: The Root of the Evangelical Crisis and Hope for the Future.
While he has identified at times as Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Anglican and recently becoming Roman Catholic, Galli said he has remained true to his evangelical upbringing that emphasized evangelism and spiritual renewal.
“I am an evangelical Catholic,” he said.
Galli spoke on an array of other topics including the culture war divisions between Americans, the polities that divide churches, and how dialogue may help pastors and others hurdle those barriers.
That editorial
But he hit on a very high-profile topic, too: his December 2019 Christianity Today editorial describing President Donald Trump as morally unfit to hold office and arguing for his removal. It was published during the Congressional impeachment hearings.
“He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud,” Galli wrote. “His Twitter feed alone — with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies and slanders — is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”
The piece generated severe backlash from the right, including from the president himself. The viciousness of responses often was hard to bear, Galli said.
The one possible thing he would redo, he said, is the headline — “Trump Should Be Removed from Office” — that placed the emphasis on politics, when it was faith that motivated his position, Galli explained. “I was making moral arguments to fellow evangelicals. But it sounded like a political comment.”
The editorial was not, as some claimed, an effort to back Trump’s opponent in the 2020 election. It’s just that Trump has “such deeply flawed moral character” that he needs to leave office, Galli said.
Trump has “such deeply flawed moral character” that he needs to leave office.
He has no quarrel with conservative evangelicals who acknowledge Trump’s flaws but still vote for him because he lines up on issues important to them, Galli said.
There were certainly plenty of those in 2016, according to a pre-election Pew survey that Christianity Today published titled, “Most Evangelicals Will Vote Trump, But Not for Trump.”
Rather than citing issues like abortion, religious freedom and support for Israel as rationale for voting Trump, white evangelicals were much more concerned about the economy four years ago, Galli recalled. “I get it. I disagree with their choice, but I respect their wrestling.”
On the other hand, he said he does not understand those evangelicals who refuse to criticize Trump on moral grounds, who believe liberals need some shaking up and describe the president in messianic terms.
He recalled an anecdote about a pro-Trump Christian describing the president as sitting “at the right hand of the Father” and said of this ideology: “That’s idolatry, clearly and simply.”
Demise of evangelicalism
To explain the demise of evangelicalism, Galli cited the legacy of Billy Graham, who even in advanced age preached to invite men and women of all races and cultures to Christ. “He was the glue that held evangelicalism together for many years,” Galli said.
“An unfortunate symbol of what evangelicalism has become is epitomized by his son, Franklin,” he continued. “Franklin stands for evangelicals on both the right and the left who believe that politics is an essential work of evangelical faith.”
“Franklin (Graham) stands for evangelicals on both the right and the left who believe that politics is an essential work of evangelical faith.”
One symbol of that politicization is an organization called Evangelicals for Trump.
“In describing themselves in that way, they have become just another political interest group, taking the great name ‘evangelical,’ with all its theological and doctrinal and gospel history and meaning and putting it in the service of a political candidate,” Galli asserted.
And from his vantage point, the news is no better from the evangelical left.
“What’s really troubling to me is that instead of decrying this coopting of the term ‘evangelical’ for political gain, the evangelical left has only mirrored this tragic move when they recently formed a group called Evangelicals for Joe Biden.”
Evangelical groups that focus almost solely on social justice and cultural change, instead of sharing the gospel, are contributing to the decline, too, he said.
“As a result, we’ve started to let the agenda of the world determine the agenda of the church, and we’ve sidelined evangelism and church renewal as the result.”
Galli said he noticed this trend during the hiring process at Christianity Today beginning in the 1990s. Candidates overwhelmingly were interested in cultural analysis, and perhaps one in 10 story ideas pitched was about evangelistic outreach.
For the most part, he added, the lack of interest in that founding mission of faith sharing exists across the board.
“I am going to go so far as to say that our fascination with social amelioration, and political activism, has watered down the evangelical faith to the point that it looks little different than mainline Christianity,” he said.
“We’ve forgotten that the genius of evangelical faith was its singular focus: spiritual renewal. ‘You must be born again’ was preached to individuals and to whole churches and denominations, from George Whitefield, John Wesley, to Charles Finney, to Dwight Moody to Billy Graham. It was preached in the First and Second Great Awakenings, it was preached by the circuit riders, and at local Baptist revivals every year or many times a year.”
Yet, that message is not being preached much nowadays, and there will be consequences, he said. “Evangelicals today no longer have a laser focus on evangelism and spiritual renewal. As a result, I believe they will fade away as will the very term.”
Who will the Lord raise up?
But Galli predicted the mission of evangelism will continue, possibly under a different name.
“In every generation, the Lord raises up some Christians to whom he gives the charism of evangelism and spiritual renewal. What they will be called in the future, I don’t know.”
“In every generation, the Lord raises up some Christians to whom he gives the charism of evangelism and spiritual renewal. What they will be called in the future, I don’t know.”
Citing the tradition of various orders within Roman Catholicism — Benedictines, Franciscans, Jesuits and so forth — he suggested one way to reclaim evangelicalism is for those called to evangelism to rise up as a holy order across the church universal.
With some portion of the church focused on evangelism, then Christians can be involved in the public square, love their neighbors and work for social and political justice, he added. “Christians should not run away from culture but dash right into the middle of it and do whatever it takes to show forth the righteousness of God.”
Friendship amid differences
Galli explained that he’s developed these insights partly in becoming Catholic, which has provided a different vantage point from which to view evangelicalism and the wider church.
Regarding Christian unity, he said: “I don’t know if there is a reason for us to be apart, but it’s hard to get together because no one is willing to give up anything. For example, talking to a Methodist and a Presbyterian reveals little difference, “but Methodists don’t want to give up their bishops and Presbyterians don’t want to submit to bishops.”
Divisions within congregations, especially politically driven ones, must be addressed delicately, Galli said, suggesting pastors preach on the Bible from the pulpit and speak with parishioners aside from their sermons about politics.
But he acknowledged that even the Bible has been politicized in the current climate.
“Unfortunately, everything is perceived as political,” he said. “We just have to remind ourselves there are more important things than politics.”
Former Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia lived that approach, he said. They did not let ideological differences prevent a friendship.
“That is something American leaders ought to be promoting,” he concluded. | https://medium.com/@0anis-nurul40h/evangelicalism-in-america-is-nearing-extinction-due-to-the-movements-devotion-to-politics-at-the-d8e30ec4381a | ['Anis Nurulh'] | 2020-12-08 16:06:20.120000+00:00 | ['Freelance', 'Sports', 'Social Media', 'Life'] |
The Colour of Nuclear Nightmares (YouTube video review) | If our nuclear nightmares ever come true, will we see events in the most garish, brightest colours we could have ever imagined? If so, this animated video of nuclear global annihilation facts might be a foretaste of how things are going to look — at least colour-wise anyway.
The producers of this video, the ‘Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell’ YouTube channel, purport to tell us what could happen if all the 15,000 nuclear weapons currently on earth were to be used at the same time — a pleasant thought as you savour your Sunday lunch I know; however, the way the video explains this is through the medium of cartoons. And when I say cartoons, I’m not talking about the classic Da Vinci style sketches of antiquity but the boldest, brightest purple, blue, green and yellow shapes that flit around the screen making all kinds of dazzling visual magic.
Thankfully, there is some humour in the video to contain our feeling of desperation while listening to the horrific information the narrator pumps out at the rate of 30 fpm (facts per minute). It is engaging but also exhausting — my only real criticism of this animation. This video is worth a second, third and fourth watch because there is so much going on that you are sure to have missed some details either in the pictures or the voiceover on the first go around. The cartoon characters are basic 2D representational shapes drawn in an easy-to-understand manner. It’s just the colours — oh the colours, oh my eyes!
I love the little touches like Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer trying to balance on the mountaintop, the Empire State Building constructed of sticks of TNT, a friendly bird being vaporized and that well-known, yellow, plastic bath duck shown as a future archaeological find.
I still can’t quite get to grips with what I think about someone describing the death of the human race and the transformation of the planet’s existence as we know it accompanied by the kind of pictures that look like they were made by an Angry Birds video game designer on acid. It made me nauseous but at the same time, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the jaunty graphics (birds looking through periscopes and birds wearing spacesuits are entertaining and cute even if they are studying whether the nuclear fallout has reduced to an acceptable level).
This video’s clear aim at education using raw data rather than any particular form of proselytizing should be understood by YouTube viewers of all ages and if younger people are more drawn towards cartoons, it can only be a good thing to help them understand the importance of the monstrous mushroom-cloud weapons within our midst.
You may be thinking that this will be a depressing watch and tempted not to view this video but that would be a mistake. It may be incongruous to mix the end of the world with cheery cartoons in the way these producers do but that makes it all the more memorable. Even if you think it will make you worry far too much and lose sleep thinking about the consequences of some lunatic with a big button, and possibly another one with an even bigger button, you should view it and tell others about it too. The education of us all on this topic is a necessary evil.
VERDICT: Take into your nuclear bunker and view but probably avoid the popcorn.
ou | https://medium.com/@neilldehaan/the-colour-of-nuclear-nightmares-youtube-video-review-5d8a1070b61c | ['Neill Dehaan'] | 2020-12-25 05:31:32.472000+00:00 | ['Review', 'Nuclear', 'YouTube', 'Kurzgesagt'] |
Getting away from it all: my paid sabbatical to Vietnam | I’m passionate about talent management and culture. My objective is to make Osedea the best workplace for our team.
Follow | https://medium.com/osedea/getting-away-from-it-all-my-paid-sabbatical-to-vietnam-f154bde871ba | ['Ivana Markovic'] | 2020-09-09 14:13:33.420000+00:00 | ['Benefits', 'Sabbatical', 'Talent Management', 'HR', 'Culture'] |
To Have Known Harmony | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/chalkboard/to-have-known-harmony-b873033ce228 | ['Samantha Lazar'] | 2020-12-26 02:02:10.277000+00:00 | ['One Line', 'Music', 'Poetry', 'Love', 'Life'] |
I don’t encounter a lot of people who believe big & popular con-theories, but when I do, I’ve… | I don’t encounter a lot of people who believe big & popular con-theories, but when I do, I’ve noticed, they seem to find my incredulity to be evidence that they are enlightened while I’m still “in the dark.”*
*I hate, I mean, I totally H8! deploying the term Dark & its synonyms as markers of evil or anything other than absence of light in physics. So, tongue sotto sotto voce in cheek.
Beside the influences you mention, there are also widespread “misconceptions” which, when exposed factually, assist an individual’s or group’s inclination to dismiss or accept ideas that comport with factual stuff. Eg, once a Black American has learned about the tons of elisions in the national historical narrative, it gets easier, apparently, to accept some inaccurate storylines: another That Proves It (so just shrug), like with pharma — Tuskeegee — and other “medical research” that’s basically another German atrocity. How does one prove “ok that was disgusting but this time I’m not lying?” I tend to reject conspiracy theories, and yet from reading real American history, what do you expect?
I’m not xtian, so sometimes, when attempting to persuade somebody that they need to make informed second- and third-look evals, I have recommended that they read The Historical Jesus, and also get a real idea of just how an anti-establishment Talmud student, in an academy with Hillel, might look at things, at that time.
Needless to say… | https://medium.com/@zalel/i-dont-encounter-a-lot-of-people-who-believe-big-popular-con-theories-but-when-i-do-i-ve-281647445918 | ['Nicky Mccatty'] | 2020-10-27 09:53:56.817000+00:00 | ['TV', 'History', 'Conspiracy', 'American', 'Christian'] |
Assignment Post 3. Pay Attention, Mr. President, Your… | Pay Attention, Mr. President, Your Party’s Future Depends on It
Photo by twinsfisch on Unsplash
Mr. President, the choice is clear: learn from the recent political history of California or watch as your administration and your party falls into the ash heap of history.
We’d like to direct you to a recent interview our Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom gave describing the effects your current policies will have on the future of your party. We want to emphasize that the problems of ignoring the wishes of California voters (reflective of the needs of the Americans nationwide you need to pay attention to) will not only affect your party’s future but your immediate presidency and any chance you have at reelection in 2020.
You’d be well served to study the history of California’s political party apparatus. This state was once the home of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. It was a swing state or one capable of voting for either party depending on the Presidential election. That was before Republican Governor Pete Wilson — a Governor who, much like yourself, alienated entire populations of the country and ultimately destroyed any hope of the Republican Party remaining a viable power in the years to come.
Look at what has happened since Pete Wilson’s crackdown on immigration in the 1990s. His decision to appeal to white Californians has led to a political climate in which the last Republican to hold statewide office was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eight years ago! Let us remind you in case you’ve forgotten that Arnold was hardly a right winder but a chief critic of yourself since you entered office.
Do you want your party and your administration to go the way of California’s Republican Party? A party so pathetic that it could not muster enough votes in the most recent Senate elections to make a Republican eligible in the general election? That’s right, the highest Republican vote getter had less votes the second place Democratic primary finisher. That should give you some idea of just how badly the Republican Party has fallen here and what will become of your already decreasing popularity should you not reverse course and pay attention to the desires of the people of California. We are representative of the views of left of center Americans you need to gain the support of. Our compassionate views on immigration will either be adopted by your administration or you will suffer inevitable destruction at the hands of a coming majority-minority country. Do not say your weren’t warned. The people of California are waiting. | https://medium.com/@gbobrin1/assignment-3-c76828b4173c | ['Californians For A Voice'] | 2019-06-17 21:43:01.953000+00:00 | ['2016 Election'] |
The Northmen | The Mantle is a serialized fantasy story. More about it here Table of contents
The fallen star had gouged a channel into the earth miles long and so deep the sun couldn’t find the bottom. Even so buried, its carcass rose above the low hills like the ill-shaped crown of a god emerging from the black depths of the earth.
It was massive, as Simeon thought stars must be, but otherwise was all wrong, black and irregularly shaped and pocked. Dead. Whatever light it once held seemingly had been burnt up in its fiery descent. Nothing remained of its luminescent beauty. It was all rather disappointing.
They lay on their bellies atop a rise to the south. Simeon squinted into the old man’s looking glass, a clever bit of copper tubing that extended to three feet, capped with glass on either end. At its full length, the glass peeled away the distance until it seemed Simeon stood only a dozen paces from the star and the men camped in its shadow.
“How many are they,” the old man said.
Simeon took his time in answering, sweeping the glass over the squat tents, the mounts tied to hitching posts, the wagons piled with furs and barrels and small chunks of black rock. “Seven.”
“Describe them.”
They were fair-skinned and thickly bearded, long hair unfurling in the wind like pale banners. They wore white and gray furs over hardened leather and carried long hafted axes. “Large men in fur and leather.”
“Have they shaggy garrons?”
Simeon studied the horses, squat, thick-legged creatures with boots of thick fur and stringy manes. “Yes.”
“Northmen, then.” The old man’s tone was neutral. These were not Raiders, nor simple bandits, but something else. “The star must’ve drawn them down from the mountains.”
“They are trying to mine it.” In the time Simeon had been watching, he’d already seen one Northman break his axe on the star. “They are using a hammer and chisel but it doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Nor will it. Have they any stone in their wagons?”
“Not much. Small rocks.”
“The detritus of the impact.” The old man fell into the sort of silence that indicated deep thought.
Simeon studied the Northmen curiously. He had only ever seen Raiders and bandits, and, aside from the encounter at the bridge, only at a careful distance. For all their wild and unkempt appearance, the Northmen seemed to possess a certain nobility to their bearing, a purpose beyond mere plunder and pain. They stood talking while two of their number hammered at the star, and broke into laughter when one of the men threw his hammer away in disgust and sprawled onto the ground. One of them rushed over with a curved tankard and thrust it into the exhausted man’s hands, and helped him sit up to drink.
“They seem friendly,” Simeon said.
“To their own, mayhap. We can expect no warm welcome.”
“At least they aren’t Raiders.”
“Yes.”
“What shall we do?” Simeon looked at the old man.
“Given how little of the star they’ve collected, and that they still work at mining what no metal can break, I surmise that these northerners are only lately arrived. If not for that misfortune at the bridge, we would’ve beaten them here and been away with our prize. Alas.”
He squinted uselessly at men he could not see. “Who knows how long they will try to work the star before turning north again. Whatever it is, it is too long. We haven’t the food to wait them out.” With a heavy grunt, he pushed himself to a sitting position and flung his hand out.
Simeon helped him stand. “Do you mean to ensorcel them?”
“Not unless we have no other recourse. No, we will treat with them and ascertain their purpose and speed them on their way. If Luck is with us, we’ll come away with our prize and full bellies in the bargain.”
The collision of earth and sky had filled the shattered plain with loose rock, boulders the size of houses, and everything in between. They were most of the day crossing, and the sun was slipping past the horizon by the time they were within naked sight of the camp.
The Northmen stood waiting, their labors forgotten. They were arraigned in a loose line and had donned leather helms woven with horsehair and round wooden shields. They carried axes and spears with forked ends.
The old man walked boldly forward, quarterstaff striking the ground rhythmically. Simeon had little choice but to follow. He very much wished for Indomitable just then.
“Mind me well,” the old man said without looking in Simeon’s direction. “Say nothing. Be ever vigilant.”
When they were within two dozen paces, the man centering the Northmen stepped forward. He stood half a head taller than the rest and was wrapped in white fur. “That’s far enough, lowlander.” For all his size, his voice was soft and carried with it the promise of song.
The old man stopped. “It is rare to find mountain folk south of the Jagged Edge.”
“Stars do not fall from heaven every day.” Blue eyes shifted to Simeon and held there. “You are mystics.”
It felt as though the comment had been directed to him, but Simeon knew better than to speak up. He looked away, studying the other men. They were universally large, gripping their weapons and scowling, but Simeon didn’t fear them outright as he had the bandits; highwaymen and their ilk didn’t stop to talk.
“We are learned men, seeking knowledge. Nothing more.”
White teeth muscled aside his beard as he grinned without humor. “Even in the north we have heard stories of your learning. Some of us wanted to fall upon you with blade before you could use your fell powers.”
The threat hung between them like fog clinging to a graveyard.
“It is fortunate you did not.”
He blinked, the grin fading. “We have no quarrel with you, mystic.”
“Nor us with you. I will not believe that Fate has sent a prophet such as this,” he waved a hand at the fallen star, “solely that we might spill one another’s blood.”
The Northman inclined his chin as he considered the dead star. “Your words ring true.”
A man with three pale scars slashed across his face said something in a foreign tongue. The tall Northman cut him off with a sharp glance.
“The sun is low and my belly empty.” He hooked his axe over his shoulder. “We shall have a fire, and a feast, and horns of winter mead, that we might palaver as of old.”
The old man bent at the waist. “We humbly accept your gracious offer.”
The Northman crossed over. “I am Staal son of Halada,” he said, offering his hand. “The Snowcat. Voice of the Spring. Avalanche Breaker. The Howling Tempest.”
The old man smiled weakly. “I have lost my name to age, alas, along with whatever titles I’ve accrued. You may name me however you wish.”
Staal frowned heavily at this; when he relinquished the old man’s grip, he cradled his arm to his chest. “What of you boy? Have you a name?”
Simeon was very mindful of the old man’s warnings about the power of names, and he didn’t believe his master had truly forgotten his own. Taken together, he knew how he ought to respond. But it seemed rude to withhold his name when Staal had so willingly given his own, and anyway Simeon had always wanted to share his name and be called by it. “I am Simeon. I don’t know my parents and I have earned no titles.”
Staal smiled and gripped Simeon’s elbow in one massive hand. “In time, I’ve no doubt. Well met, Simeon.” He strode away, shouting instructions to his men in their tongue.
The old man glared at Simeon. “It seems I was wrong to believe you ready. If you cannot follow even the simplest instructions, how can you possibly expect to wield the Art?”
Stung by the rebuke, Simeon looked away. “I am ready, master.”
“Bah. Make yourself useful and help those men. But keep your mouth shut, hmm? I may yet salvage our end here but only if you aren’t undermining my every effort.” He wacked Simeon across the backside with the end of his staff. “Get going.”
Simeon hurried into the camp and helped gather wood for the fire. He sat beside it once it was burning pleasantly and watched a pair of Northmen butcher and clean a scrawny goat. It was hung over the flames on an iron spit and began sizzling nearly at once.
Someone thrust an ivory drinking horn into his hands, foamy liquid sloshing over the rim. By instinct, Simeon looked toward the old man for permission. His master was standing outside the camp amid the long shadows of dusk, with his eyes closed and one hand braced against the star as though trying to commune with it. Oblivious to the Northmen’s long looks. Indifferent to Simeon.
A stocky Northman with a coppery beard and a matching braid plopped down beside Simeon. He took a long drink from his own horn and smacked his lips with a grateful sigh.
Simeon sipped. The mead was strong but fresh, tasting faintly of sage and berries. “Thank you for the drink.”
“Think nothing of it.” He offered his hand. “I am Cordo, son of Kan. The Burning Bear.”
Simeon glanced toward the old man. “I am Simeon.” | https://medium.com/themantle/the-northmen-915e673d7520 | ['Eric Pierce'] | 2020-12-10 17:34:19.476000+00:00 | ['Science Fiction', 'Themantle', 'Writing', 'Fantasy', 'Fiction'] |
Mengadopsi ide-ide besar yang paling potensial ke dalam sebuah storyboard | Come up with a game plan before creating something
Follow | https://medium.com/penggiat-desain/membuat-flow-63b364a8f771 | ['Rizki Mardita'] | 2020-12-24 04:41:20.491000+00:00 | ['Storyboard', 'UI', 'Prototype', 'Flow', 'UX'] |
Selecting for Kindness | I’m too dumb to be a Real Scientist, but have always challenged myself with personal social experiments. It’s how I test my values or study other people & I’ve done it all my life, from the time I chose to stop shaving at 15, to embracing the uncertainty of the road as a “digital nomad” three years ago. I’ve gone through massive shifts in perspective & lifestyles over the last 16 years, but my most meaningful choice was a small, simple one: selecting my company based on Kindness.
I used to value honesty above everything else, having been raised by brutally honest working class parents & eventually working in industries where feelings were seen as a weakness. But “logic vs feelings” has always been an irrational dichotomy because everyone contains both & feels their feelings are logical & their logic is devoid of emotion. Humans are silly creatures.
I also used to pride myself in finding smarter & stranger rooms. Cue the eye rolling, I know. But smart people can be cruel. Cruelty & arrogance have got to be the worst personality traits no matter how intelligent someone is — don’t get me started on “geniuses” either. The more geniuses I met, the less impressed I was, unless they were also Kind.
My obsession with Total Honesty honestly made me miserable. I sat with those Harsh Truths & internalized a lot of things that seemed true but weren’t. Or were true & weren’t useful. Oftentimes my most cynical predictions were correct, but there’s no joy in being correct about shitty things. Being Technically Correct yet alone is no victory.
Depressive Realism
I also struggle with clinical depression, which paints a more realistic view of reality that isn’t super helpful when one needs the motivation you get from higher self esteem. Depressive realism might make you right, but it won’t make you happy.
By 2016, I was more depressed than I’d ever been. So many things in my life had fallen apart & I couldn’t see a way forward. Each day felt like something to merely survive. I lost the ability to imagine a long term future as I had during other low points. Everything I used to care about didn’t matter, even politics, which I had been (unhealthily) obsessed with my whole life.
I was a ghost in my own life & the tough love approach I always had towards my stumbles no longer worked. There were no bootstraps left to pull up.
My fixation with ethics & politics had made me more ideologically rigid than expected. I had to disentangle myself from the toxic political worlds I was in. So, I hit the reset button, or rather, my brain did it for me during a painful dissociative episode that erased a lot of data. This extremely frustrating, stress-induced experience forced me to re-evaluate everything I believed. With the help of some friends & family, I was able to get back on my feet, but I had to find healthier social outlets.
Midway through 2016, I made the conscious decision to connect with others based on Kindness instead of how funny, honest, or smart they were. My core relationships didn’t change much, but I deprioritized labels entirely in favor of…well, Vibes. Vibes are counter to a lot of belief systems I’d held, not at all scientific, but very useful in sorting out who is truly Kind over who is Nice.
Kindness vs Niceness
Kindness is not the same as niceness — being nice is a performative gesture for others. Niceness resembles Kindness. Anyone can be nice: appearing to do & say the right things at the right time, but a lot of otherwise nice people won’t really be there for you when shit really hits the fan. There are traumas one can go through that alienate the nice people in their lives because the nice people don’t want to look at another person falling apart. Or get covered in shit.
Kindness is a deeper gentleness that yields when necessary, but sometimes counters social niceties. Not-so-nice appearing people can be quite kind. Kindness is the ability to sit with those who are suffering instead of running away — it’s rooted in empathy not sympathy. Kindness means putting aside ego to directly help someone because it’s the right thing to do, not because someone has the right views on [insert opinion/belief here].
Kindness sometimes means getting burned by others, but getting right back up & doing it again because Fuck ’Em, you’re not defined by what they do. Sometimes you are defined by what you won’t or don’t do.
A statue isn’t built from the ground up — it’s chiseled out of a block of marble — and I often wonder if we aren’t likewise shaped by the qualities we lack, outlined by the empty space where the marble used to be. I’ll be sitting on a train. I’ll be lying awake in bed. I’ll be watching a movie; I’ll be laughing. And then, all of a sudden, I’ll be struck by the paralyzing truth: It’s not what we do that makes us who we are. It’s what we don’t do that defines us. Bob-Waksberg, Raphael. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory (p. 60).
We all look away to a degree because we have to to survive, but whatever people believe are political solutions to social problems will be useless if they ignore that most people don’t want to look at suffering & are okay with whatever measures need to be taken to remove it from their view. This results in cold social services & the deeper problems we’re seeing under the pandemic, but the problems have been there all along due to a historically anti-human, cruel hierarchy of priorities. Comparisons to other countries will rob you of any joy one could have under this distinctly ‘Merican capitalist system. It’s becoming harder for people to look away.
The broader lack of both empathy & sympathy often comes from reactions to trauma — some people get kinder under hardship, but many people don’t. We’re seeing reactionary terror management on a massive scale this year as it’s been shocking who has chosen to fight back against cruelty, who has viciously attacked the suffering, or who simply tries to keep looking away.
No one tells you that you’re too difficult to talk to or look at when things are severe. Mostly, you start to hear nothing. Silence settles in around you & can abandon you with your own thoughts. Or, people talk to you in very delicate tones. The gradients of concern in the way someone asks, “Are you okay?” can be disturbing.
People worrying about you is embarrassing if you’re a type that has prided yourself on being so tough for so long. Asking for help is even harder — it’s been more humiliating to me to ask for assistance when I’ve needed it than all the embarrassing things I’ve done as a result of flailing while trying to do things completely on my own.
Being kind to yourself is one of the hardest skills to learn & also means setting aside ego. I still struggle with self love & it’s nigh impossible to not crack a joke as I write this, but practicing Kindness for others has helped. Kindness is an action not only a value & actions reveal character better than all the proper rhetoric.
The Kind people were the ones who stuck around & kept reaching out even when things got quiet on my end. They didn’t say, “Let me know if you need help,” they said, “Here’s how I can help, take it or leave it, no judgment.” These were folks who had been there & knew what it felt like to be in a hole with seemingly no way out.
Kind people don’t fall along expected metrics. My Trump voting landlord allowed me to go off lease without fear of eviction after a family tragedy uprooted everything in 2017. People who claimed to have the same values as me disappeared or even became hostile when I refused certain labels that no longer fit or boxed me in.
Who helps you when you’re at your lowest is surprising & the correct labels mean very little when it comes down to who you can count on. You don’t have to sacrifice honesty for Kindness either — those who care can find a way to be real with you without being an asshole.
By allowing myself to be surprised & receptive to Kindness rather than Brutal Total Honesty, I was able to heal from a lot of trauma. In every crisis, the only thing that matters is who shows up.
The Broader Implications
We’re seeing this deeply powerful showing up on a global scale right now. People have had to find out the hard way who matters in their lives — who has their back when things get quiet regardless of political beliefs or all of the ways disinformation warps minds. Political beliefs have affected what people prioritize in this specific crisis & it’s been shocking how low some have stooped, but equally revealing who has not allowed themselves to fall into a selfish, cruel, petty nihilism.
“Fuck You I’ve Got Mine” is a 14 year old boy’s desperate, sad attempt to organize the chaos in his life, not something to base an economic system on.
Selecting for Kindness has enriched every part of my life. It’s helped me clarify my goals & manage my time based on which people choose me.
I know the “truth” of how meaningless everything is & I’m bored by it.
It’s easy to become hardened by hardship. I’ve let it happen before & it’s the default state of many people when faced with certain circumstances. I don’t even blame people for taking the default route — we’re all struggling with outdated programming that kicks in unexpectedly.
But what separates the resilient long term is choosing empathy when the worst parts of you are telling you to choose cruelty. You have to fight for Kindness.
As the year has progressed down an increasingly catastrophic, dystopian path I feel strangely prepared (despite in no way being materially prepared HAHA). It’s not that I don’t have my bad days where I rage about how selfish & petty people are acting, but because I made the choice to seek out allies who prioritize & practice Kindness, I am faring relatively well. I’ve also let go of those who would rather engage in human sacrifice than be slightly inconvenienced. Who & what matters have become even clearer as this virus takes so much away.
And I can remind myself that even those who chose cruelty can become better if they decide to one day make the harder choice for Kindness. My Trump supporting landlord withdrew her support for the aspiring dictator shortly after he took office because she was horrified by the cruelty exhibited by his administration & followers. She chose Kindness over cruelty because she correctly foresaw it as the true divide years before it became painfully clear how far some are willing to go to signal disvirtue.
It sounds too simple to be true & maybe it is, but I don’t care. I was wrong about Honesty being more important than Kindness & I’m glad I was wrong. If my own life has been made so significantly better by applying this experiment, I imagine how much better the world would be if more people elevated Kindness above other priorities, or at least chose their company with the virtue in mind.
The Kind people I’ve found have inspired enough faith to be able to imagine the future again & I wish that for everyone who grapples with the mindkiller of depression. I don’t know how to make people care about those other than themselves & part of me thinks it isn’t possible. So instead of banging my head against the wall trying to get people to Give A Damn, I intentionally sought out people who already do, Bigly. It made this Hell Year a hell of a lot easier.
My deepest appreciation in 2020 is for the Kind Folks who retained their Kindness during one of the largest, longest, demoralizing tests of empathy-driven values in recent history. It’s not over by a long shot.
As we head to another year of extreme suffering caused by callousness & cruelty, I hope to retain some softness by the end of it. I can’t say I’m as Kind as I wish I was, but have found peace in the chaos of this year through my Kind friends who didn’t let tragedy turn them into tyrants. | https://medium.com/@mklords/selecting-for-kindness-9de692b08685 | ['Mk Lords'] | 2020-12-23 00:39:10.716000+00:00 | ['Values', 'Kindness', 'Personal Development', 'Social Change', 'Depression'] |
Spotlight : JunKiyoshi | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/neort-jp/spotlight-junkiyoshi-c35f1a436477 | [] | 2020-12-18 10:07:40.594000+00:00 | ['Neort', 'Artist', 'Digital Art', 'Art', 'Startup'] |
3 ways to break your music in 2021 | 2) Here are the types of singles you should be creating and working
So we covered why singles are your best bet, so cool, but what kind of singles should you be dropping? Let’s go through it. You should have your: Lead Single, Follow Up Single, The Remix, and unreleased track.
Let’s start with your lead single. So all that money you were about to put into that studio time to record that full project, yeah scratch that. Put into your lead single. This should be mixed and mastered and get some dope cover art designed. This will get you a better chance of landing on playlists and taking the guesswork out of which song to promote. I know all your songs are amazing, we know, still choose the one that you know if your heart of hearts will work better than the rest. The other ones, put in a drive for later. Make sure you get a radio edit version cut as well and get that song distributed and promoted. This will give fans and influencers something to put into their daily lives and shareable content.
So bet, you released your amazing lead single, what now? Well similar to our first section you, say it with me, “FEED THE STREETS”. That’s right, that second song that you were choosing between well let’s make that your follow up single. Even better let’s make sure you drop that within the same 2 to 3 weeks of you releasing your lead single. And to be perfectly honest, if you have the ability, you should record a brand new single based on the feedback from the lead single. I know you are an artist but end of the day you are making music for your fans, lean in. Or if you are really feeling risky, release a follow up that sounds a bit different from your first, show your new fans your artistry. And what’s beautiful about releasing singles and not projects, if people don’t seem to love it like your other releases, well you didn’t spend months or even a year creating and releasing it, you can come and release another single next week.
Ok, so the remix, if you look at a lot of the more successful artists recently, they got a hot lead single then went to a DJ, Electronic artist, producer or another musician to add a little razzle dazzle to it. What happens is people either love it or hate it and then go listen to the original to compare. Double up. Each person touching the remix has their own fanbase and gives you additional content to (you know what I’m going to say)… FEED THE STREETS! So make sure you make a “stem” track so you can collab with fellow musicians and make some magic happen.
Lastly, this will segway nicely into our next topic around content, but stop holding on to those studio sessions or that song that isn’t quite perfect yet, release your unofficial releases. If you don’t want the song to be permanently out, there are a ton of ways to make these temporary releases through IG Reels, Stories, Tiktok, Triller etc. that all will just provide your fans with music to be held over until our next official release. This will get your fans to see a peek behind the curtain and truly become a fan of you and not just your music.
3) Create music videos or better yet have someone else do it
Ok, we are finally to our last section. Distributing your singles isn’t enough, you need visuals. Videos are probably the way people digest content the most nowadays and you have a ton of ways to do this. You have Youtube where you can do the music video, lyric video, live performances or studio sessions. Additionally you can put all of that content on social as well.
But you’re busy right? Well you don’t have to create each of your own videos, there are tools that can help. Breakr is a huge one. You can hire influencers on a range of different platforms to create content to your song that both of you can promote, while you leverage as official releases to create potentially viral content such as skits, contents, challenges and dance videos.
Without a doubt you should be creating multiple pieces of content for each release and always be looking to have your fans know that they are not alone and other people love your music as well. As you drop those videos, make sure you engage with EVERY user that comments, likes and messages, good and bad. It will only make them feel like they are officially on your team. | https://medium.com/@musicbreakr/3-ways-to-break-your-music-in-2021-f8d086cd3beb | ['Dan Ware'] | 2021-01-04 22:27:55.724000+00:00 | ['Music Business', 'Hip Hop', 'Emerging Artists', 'Music', 'Música'] |
Surviving Long Haul Travel With Kids Ages Zero to Two | Surviving Long Haul Travel With Kids Ages Zero to Two
First hand tips from taking 13 long haul flights with my son in his first 2 years of life Lemons & Lemonade Apr 11, 2019·5 min read
Travelling with kids is by no means an easy venture and if life was straightforward and simple, I’d personally avoid travelling out of a country with a kid until they’re at least five years old. However, studying and living across continents from my husband, travel restrictions (resident alien woes), larger family reunions and somehow my son was on a long-haul flight every other month since he was 3 months old.
80 percent of these trips happened while he was under 1, as soon as he became a toddler, we quickly learned our lessons and drastically reduced how frequently we got on a flight with him if we didn’t absolutely have to.
The first time we got on a plane together I was naturally nervous and did a ton of research- the summary of which was- have your milk-filled breast or bottle handy, always. How I miss those early days- being able to silence a newborn a lot of the time with a boob or bottle.
While it’s unlikely that you can completely avoid loud crying on a long flight, you can be better prepared at anticipating and managing them. Here are some tips, categorized by age group, for parents who w̶a̶n̶t̶ need to travel with kids on long haul flights. These tips will be focused on how to best survive on the flight
· 0- 6 months- many parents generally agree that this is the best time to get on a long-haul flight with any child. At this age all most babies do is eat and sleep. A little entertainment and they are tired enough to eat and sleep again. Breast or bottle in their mouths and they are happy as a bunny. Another plus at this age for babies who are only fed breast milk or formula, is a near odour-free poop. Take advantage of this because this is when the feeding to poop ratio is also highest- stay in your seat and make a quick diaper change rather than “excuse me-ing” your way to the bathroom at least 4 times- damn window/middle seats!
· 6 to 12 months- introducing solids increases the propensity for a stinky diaper. However, bowel movements are now fewer and ideally, you shouldn’t need to go to the airplane bathroom more than once. I maintain that pee diapers should be changed on seat.
Bassinet hooks to the wall leaving your hands free for some time
Downside of this stage is- little ones have started to move more; crawl, roll and are more restless than newborns. They start becoming a hassle to carry on your legs on long flights. Ask if a bassinet is available (unlikely on low cost airlines), this will save you a great deal, especially now that they nap for 2–3 hour stretches. Even better, when you can, try to time your flight to align with their nighttime sleep; for kids who now sleep through the night, your flight can be a breeze. On low cost flights, your best bet is to find the perfect angle for the baby and DO NOT attempt to move for the duration of their sleep, do so at your own peril (the babies on the plane go wahh wahh wahh)
· 12- 24 months — snacks are the equivalent of bottle or breast in mouth for toddlers. While many parents swear by unlimited snacks (oh, please have a ton of options!), I find that toddlers are better at regulating their eating and can thus get bored of snacks quickly. Also, you don’t want to pack on high sugar snacks as there’s no space for a hyper kid to run around on a plane especially not with the many seat belt alerts.
Somewhere in this age range, I’d say at about the 15-month mark, kids are now able to express fear and anxiety. Boarding a plane may be scary for them. I always suggest showing them pictures and videos of the outside and inside of a plane, talk to them about it several weeks and days leading up to the travel. It helps ease their anxiety and makes for a better flight.
Also, at this age, little ones need so much more entertaining. I dedicate my entire rucksack to toys, books and snacks. We didn’t let our son watch TV until he was about 13 months old and since then it’s been for 30 minutes a day. The first trip since the rule, I was foolish to think we could follow it and best to say, a constrained toddler who couldn’t move about got bored very quickly with his books and toys and had no interest in food. I was at my wits end and ended up letting him watch stuff on my phone for over an hour. I felt like I had failed myself. Jokes. Now I know better. My inability to be flexible when it was necessary caused me and my son unnecessary stress. The conditions were different, the solutions needed to be as well.
General tips for any age
· Think “efficiency” at all times. Pack efficiently, check in most of your luggage and take on just one carry on luggage- I recommend a rucksack- it’s smarter and easier to manage in emergency situations than a sling over shoulder diaper bag.
· Use a baby carrier when you can. In the Unites States and a few other countries, parents are allowed to go through security without taking the baby off (this is a major plus especially when the baby is sleeping), some other countries are not as generous. Still, I think a baby carrier is more manageable than a push chair- probably because I always snatch up any opportunity to be close to my baby.
Traditional baby carrier when all else fails
· Ask the airline for as many concessions as possible, you will be surprised how many there are for people flying with babies.
I like to think of my son as a super-duper trooper. Travelled 11 long haul flights in his first year of life. It has been quite the experience.
Good luck flying with those kiddos! | https://medium.com/@phdwithababy/long-haul-travel-logistics-with-kids-ages-zero-to-two-90eed97070b | ['Lemons'] | 2019-04-24 20:09:19.316000+00:00 | ['Baby', 'Traveling With Kids', 'Phd Student', 'Parenting', 'Long Distance Marriage'] |
Cruel Talk About Negligence: | Every human being tries to be happy in different ways some may be happy, some may not, But everyone is made of flesh and blood, everyone has a lot of passion, They are happy to be able to control their emotions, And I’m inside a web of emotions called emotion, I’m dissatisfied with being tied up collecting emotions while thinking about you. A mountain is equal to misery, Right at night, the emotion turns into colorless tears, Not all suffering is injured.
But the mind burns because of the suffering, At one point it became like a hard rock.
David Hum said, “The best thing to do is ignore someone,” and Einstein said, “Those who are weak take revenge, those who are strong forgive and those who are wise can be avoided.”
Anurag Prakash Roy said, “It is more difficult to ignore than to hate because you cannot find your own existence.”
However, at least I didn’t go down without explaining myself at first, but the word negligence can instantly end a great relationship.
A relationship that has been built with so much care over so many years can be broken by two days of neglect. The word is really deadly horrible.
You just have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people. You can never ignore people if you remember how much damage this little negligence can cause.
Learn to take care of others without neglecting them, but you will never be neglected.
I am still waiting for your way after thousands of neglects, you just look back once. You neglected me, and I love the sea. When nature tells you to be careless, realize how much more terrible negligence can be than death!
I will only say at the end — all negligence will end one day after my death, You’ll be fine I’ll be fine too The only difference, You will be in someone else’s chest and I will be in the grave, your negligence will be mixed in my blood.
Be well !!!!!!!!
Thanks
Saif | https://medium.com/@saifislambd/cruel-talk-about-negligence-31095d68a6e9 | ['Saiful Islam'] | 2021-08-23 16:55:12.446000+00:00 | ['LinkedIn', 'Twitter', 'Writing Life', 'Google', 'Facebook'] |
The Psychological Challenge of Changing Systemic Racism | With reluctance, a few thoughts on this long overdue movement to deliver on the promise of fairness and equality across racial (and other demographic) lines.
If you don’t create space for people to present their nuanced views you won’t hear about them. And you’ll think there is more support for an issue then in actuality. And on back porches, in small gatherings, on private phone calls, people will whisper what they really think…and you’ll never know.
Real lasting change that is more about action and less about the social media post of the day requires several rounds of 360 degree perspective taking. Not of like minded ilk but the people that disagree with you.
Words of wisdom on how to disagree effectively from Daniel Dennett:
1. You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way. 2. You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement). 3. You should mention anything you have learned from your target. 4. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
It is not a Utopian ideal, it is pragmatic. Do you want someone to be receptive to your message and be an ally? Or do you want to alienate them so that they say all the right things in public and undermine the cause when outside of your purview?
It’s difficult.
It’s emotional.
Don’t be fooled by a bunch of individuals and organizations expressing platitudes as a sleight of hand trick (hoping they don’t have to do heavy lifting and the spotlight moves to the next fellow human). If people and organizations feel compelled to do something you get compliance. But do you want compliance or conversion?
My hope is that people intentionally leave their echo chambers and try to understand the barriers that prevented your ideologically distinct citizens from doing anything before March 2020. My hope is people pass the marshmallow test and show the perseverance and psychological flexibility required over the next year (years). Let’s see what people do once the workplaces and schools reopen and there are more daily (seemingly pressing) distractions.
It will take more than the already converted. Caveat emptor to those that alienate instead of integrate.
MLK Jr knew this in 1955:
How could I make a speech that would be militant enough to keep my people aroused to positive action and yet moderate enough to keep this fervor within controllable and Christian bounds? I knew that many of the Negro people were victims of bitterness that could easily rise to flood proportions. What could I say to keep them courageous and prepared for positive action and yet devoid of hate and resentment? Could the militant and the moderate be combined in a single speech?
Don’t lose sight of the end game. It’s not how many likes and support comments you get. It’s social change.
How many people have you persuaded to action that sat on the sidelines or actively obstructed these goals in the past? Is it larger than the number of people you pushed away (many of whom will be too afraid to say as much)?
How often did you try to understand someone’s vantage point and areas of concern, so you can meet them where they are and work with them? Is it larger than the number of people you silenced and shamed? What do you think happens to the people you unfriend and block and write off — do you think they just disappear and come back enlightened with the views and actions you’d like them to have?
What exactly did you do to improve an actual persons life? Now and in the future.
It’s not hashtags.
It’s not memes.
To fix society let’s do our best to strategically work with potential partners who for whatever reason don’t see the world the same way (life history, background, ideology, etc). Know their story, show interest in their story, and there is a chance to make real headway.
NOTE: only comment below if you have good faith and intentions. I’m not interested in the perverse pleasures of trolls and baiting.
P.S. I had this thought today — for every news organization and platform giving the mic to a person of color I want them to answer this first — why didn’t you invite them on an occasion that did not have to do with their skin color? Especially if they are a musician author poet director c-suite or known for their exceptional work? Same goes for my field of psychology — why are you only now giving keynote slots to a person of color when they published scientific research for years and carried a different perspective than you for a lifetime? Dive into the hard stuff and don’t paint it over with window dressing.
Dr. Todd B. Kashdan is a Professor of Psychology who leads The Well-Being Laboratory at George Mason University. Dr. Kashdan is the author of several books including Curious? and The Upside of Your Dark Side. | https://medium.com/@toddkashdan/the-psychological-challenge-of-changing-systemic-racism-7bb2fc419e5c | ['Todd Kashdan'] | 2020-06-16 16:08:50.751000+00:00 | ['Activism', 'Democrats', 'Racism', 'Republicans'] |
Crystal Ball Analysis — 2020 Election | Crystal Ball Analysis — 2020 Election
DEMS: It’s a Biden v. Sanders race — Warren, Harris or Buttigieg votes guarantee superdelegates select on 2nd ballot! GOP: Trump might not be nominee! Michael Weddle Apr 12, 2019·21 min read
6/14/19 UPDATE — Biden:
6/11/19 UPDATE — Warren:
6/6/19 UPDATE — Gowdy-Weld instead of Trump-Pence?
5/10/19 UPDATE:
I mostly dissect the Democrats. With this update, however, I’m gonna speculate on the GOPwinger side, and also mention Libertarian and Green possibilities.
Republicans
The way I see it, Trump — while dancing to avoid a potential financial corruption indictment — has two options for getting re-elected:
First, he could become a full-blown war president since history shows no US president has ever lost re-election during a time of war.
Second, he could viciously and relentlessly attack Democrats over the failed and questionable Russiagate investigation, stay out of war and somewhat attempt to posture himself to the center. Trump is a renown chameleon shapeshifter and he could try to rebrand himself into a Jack Kennedy-type for his second term.
By perpetually blasting Democrats and throwing out right wing fish here and there, he could keep away primary opponents. Yes, Bill Weld has announced but he won’t affect Trump’s chances. If Trump mostly plays it down the middle and strays away from extremism this would make him less impeachable. Somewhere along the line, to keep the Rust Belt, he’d definitely have to throw a very big fish to labor.
Importantly, by keeping America out of war he could pick up less-than-secure Democrats and Independents who’d become angry with Democrats for screwing over Bernie Sanders a second time. I think Trump political operatives are banking that the DNC will again screw Sanders.
So barring an indictment, Trump will be there. Unless, of course, he makes a deal ‘for the good of the nation” and decides not to run in order to avoid an indictment against him or his family.
Libertarians and Greens
Last time around Gary Johnson proved an inept campaigner. It was so bad this time around Bill Weld, his running mate, is now running as a Republican. Traditionally, since the Koch Brother money began sifting into Libertarian coiffeurs, Libertarians have mostly sided with Republicans for nearly a half-century, mostly due to economic issues. Most anti-war Democrats have been put to pasture by the party and Democrats won’t touch the drug war, two issues very important to Libertarians.
The Democrats are already mistreating Bernie. Will he jump ship this time when he didn’t the last time? Probably not. However, of all of the 22 announced Democrats the candidate getting the least respect from the Democrats is Tulsi Gabbard who is renown for making stands on principle. This was especially proven when she resigned her DNC vice-chair position when she discovered the DNC was screwing over Sanders. Never mind not polling well, she’s often left out of the polls. She must be miffed!
Could she jump ship to head either the Libertarian or Green Party ticket? Ron Paul just recently made admirable comments about her. Could he be luring her to become a Libertarian? Also, The Greens do not have any candidate of notable distinction. Could Tulsi become a Green? Given the way Democrats have treated her, no one could blame her for taking such an action.
But the true wildcard in the 2020 presidential race no matter the political party? That’d be the greatest Whiz-Kid candidate of ‘em all, perhaps ever: Andrew Yang. Yang who bills himself as a Libertarian-Liberal has carved a new niche in modern-day politics. He’s also proven he’s got remarkably futuristic ideas which hold a very strong appeal to young voters.
Yang has been making a claim there is no left and no right, there is only forward. He unquestionably will become a growing force that not only require widespread recognition but his ideas will demand it. Already he’s drawn several thousand people to his speeches in LA, San Francisco, Seattle and Detroit. Presently, he’s in New Hampshire where he attended Phillips Exeter Academy. So he knows the roads of NH and could actually become the Jimmy Carter of 2020, a surprise out of nowhere.
Keep an eye on him — he’s full of solutions!
But Yang is also very progressive. Like Bernie in 2016, Yang brings to the table lots of very good ideas that seem to fit well with our evolving technological society. He’s perhaps the only candidate campaigning with an emphasis on math! Obama once gave him a national award for his entrepreneurship vision.
But the problem for Yang will be the same problem Bernie and Tulsi have encountered. The Democratic leadership these days gives the finger to candidates who come forward with progressive ideas. Like Hillary Clinton before him, Joe Biden is now the recipient of the DNC inside-beltway donor politics fake Barack Obama Rose Garden-like politics. No matter how good Yang is, he too — unless he runs away with the Democratic nomination — will likely become DNC-shunned! So also will Marianne Williamson.
Sanders, Gabbard, Yang and Marianne Williamson and Mike Gravel represent the outsider progressives in the Democratic race. So the question becomes: Could either of these candidates also have appeal to top either the Libertarian or Green Party tickets, as each of them represent the ideas and solutions to bring us nicely into tomorrow?
You may not know this yet, but eventually you might be telling yourself that a a presidential ticket comprised of any combination of these four candidates has tremendous appeal, especially when this compared to the same-old politics we’ve always seen.
Back to The Democrats
All indicators are the Democratic leadership, like in 2016, will prefer politics by pedigree. The leadership, which brings with it a wave of super delegates, is now backing Biden very much like Clinton. Could it become again, like it was in 2016, that the voting machines get to do the voting instead of the people?
https://medium.com/@m_weddle/democratic-party-leadership-fails-b58e31d31503
5/6/19 UPDATE — Sanders:
5/3/19 UPDATE:
Prediction: I predict a very strong GOPwinger counter-attack on Democrats over Russiagate will be forthcoming. This will especially concern the investigative process, which very possibly could politically damage Obama-Biden-Clinton-type insiders.
Here’s the irony. The more this happens, the stronger becomes Bernie Sanders who was and continues free of the entire Russiagate controversy. Bernie was even so kind as to forgive Clinton over her email snafu. Instead he wanted to concentrate on issues. That’s what Bernie does: He concentrates on issues important to people, not corporations!
Thus, a stringent GOP counter-attack against the party insiders could mean the clean Bernie will become the Democratic nominee in 2020. He’ll go on to defeat any Republican, especially Trump! Americans are thoroughly sickened of the saspibullsash and want sound governance which only Bernie Sanders will deliver.
Voter Registration Tracking:
Gallup’ Monthly Tracking Voter Registrations for April
Democrats = 26%
Independents = 44%
Republicans = 27%
Given the horror of Trump, Democrats should be way-way ahead. I think these poor numbers for Democrats reflect the DNC’s penchant to continue with insider hanky-panky, Biden as an example!
As Hillary Clinton discovered, Democrats can’t win by manipulating the Democratic primaries and going into the general election with Democratic votes only!
Do a Facebook search and go to virtually any of the Facebook Democratic Party-sponsored pages. You’ll discover a notable absence of any pro-Bernie Sanders information. The sites are pushing party Beltway Insider candidates only, Biden now the prominent example.
There is a reason why Independent voters now register with the Gallup tracking at 44%. The electorate still wants an outsider in the White House! The electorate wants people-centric over corporate-centric members in congress. Americans are sick of America’s oligarchy!
The DNC continues its errant ways by expanding closed primary states which won’t allow Independent voter participation. This represents party control, to control the process. It doesn’t represent at all the required and necessary expansion of the party. The DNC is also convincing caucus states — which Bernie won handily in 2016 — to convert to primaries.
The schedule of key primaries have been moved forward to Super Tuesday in order to help assure no candidate — especially with Bernie as the front runner — will have enough delegates to win on the 1st ballot. This will enable the super delegates to come in on the 2nd ballot and choose the nominee — a prescription for disaster!
It is vitally important that Democrats form a United Front behind Bernie Sanders so he can achieve a 1st ballot victory! This will guarantee the defeat of Trump & the down-ballot GOPwingers!
4/23/19 UPDATE:
4/19/19 UPDATE:
It appears like Joe Biden is going to jump into the race next week. He will be the oligarch’s last 2020 hope for the Democratic side, given that Harris, O’Rourke, Buttilieg and even Warren (still a party player), to some extent, have failed.
I’m betting Biden — a three-time losing presidential attemptee— won’t catch on, that too much baggage will weigh him down. If this proves true, I see the following happening:
I’m not yet willing to bet the ranch on this yet, but I’m sensing some break- through among traditional Democratic party strategists. It appears release of the Mueller Report guarantees only more agony for Democrats who’ve been hardcore on Russiagate.
The Mueller Report demonstrates the potential for a riff such that Trump potentially may have gained very strong counter-attacking capability against perceived elite Democrats (the bacon-wrapped scallop Democrats, not the working class fried clam Democrats). They might also be starting to realize that nobody but Sanders will win the crucial Rust Belt. But more than anything, Bernie is a clean machine who managed to stay out of the 2016 goggle-de-gook, that Bernie doesn’t run in the mud … he runs in the sunshine, with a proven record and advocating what voters really want.
Buttilieg? Yet another non-lasting media phenom who attracts white donor money, is spawned from the intelligence community (nobody like this these days), is stained by working at oligarch consultancy McKinsey and he has a record of destroying minority-owned neighborhoods. Yup, Mayor Pete’s wings will see a very short flight.
Biden? Biden is nothing but a memory of more Clinton and Trump. Beyond the reaches Me-Too controversy, Joe’s got some Ukrainian baggage that’ll come back to bite him. Voters won’t like the Joe or Hillary proposition … and, yes, they are one and the same when comes to the eyes of a hungry electorate really wanting an outsider that’ll govern for working people (hello Rust Belt!).
Kamala, who they thought would take California (now voting on Super Tuesday) votes from Bernie, and Beto, who they thought would take youth votes from Bernie? Their respective stars have already diminished. They won’t grab as many of Bernie’s votes as originally thought. Warren? A party loyalist also trying to nurture the next young Kennedy, Warren is only in the race — with no chance of winning — to try and home spin some of Bernie’s “Home Field Advantage” in New Hampshire and severely diminish his take of Massachusetts votes on Super Tuesday. Her national appointment will mean the young Kennedy will get her senate seat. This is traditionally how Democrats groom and pedigree their candidates.
Best thing the Democratic strategists can do is give up on their plan to use 2nd ballot super delegates to deny the nomination to Bernie who’ll finish with the most pledged delegates but perhaps maybe not enough to get over the top on the 1st ballot, this due to the crowded field.
This much we know. Bernie will come into the convention with the most votes. To deny him the nomination will, this time, destroy the party — it was only fractured in 2016! It would also ruin the Democratic chances of having a strong hand with designating congressional redistricting which will happen based on the 2020 census. The one and most crucial election needing to be won, aside from the presidency, is congress after the 10-year census cycle!
To guarantee beating Trump and having strong enough coat-tails to take Congress in 2020 the strategists are gonna have to give up on the dreaded scheme that nobody wants.
They should encourage most of the anti-Bernie straw candidates to withdraw from the race and they should make the Democratic closed primaries open primaries in order to draw in the most possible Independent voters (Bernie drew 7 of 10 Independents in 2016) into the party.
Finally, again a reminder of where America has been and where it needs to go:
4/12/19 UPDATE:
A few things for this update. Looks like any Democrat capable of taking even a few votes away from progressive Bernie Sanders is A-OK with the Clinton-controlled DNC war room where DNC strategy is spawned.
The plan is to create two or three major candidates capable of going the distance against Sanders thus forcing a deadlock on the first ballot and denying him the nomination outright. The super delegates then will come in and make the pick. I assure you whoever that second ballot winner will be assuredly will be oligarch-friendly!
Joe Biden
Biden has major deficiencies going against Trump. The Clinton-David Brock strategists will attempt to shape Biden’s Me-Too deficiencies with those of Trump and Bill Clinton thus turning Me-Too into So What! That may or may not work. Biden is also a proven loser in races for national office, three times losing his bid for the presidency and once placing 5th in the Iowa Caucus. In simple bubba terms, Biden just don’t got no mo-mo!
But Biden has a larger substantially more haunting problem. Voters who’ve long been sickened by a long line of Bushes and Clintons and sickened that Trump claimed he was an outsider but has governed only for billionaires. They are sick of that crap! Hillary Clinton was a Wall Street senator but Biden’s been a senator from the state where the Wall Street corporations incorporate due to tax and regulatory reasons. In simple bubba terms, voters ain’t gonna want that!
And then there’s this problem for Biden, a problem proving Biden is just like the rest of ‘em:
The hopes for Beto O’Rourke are seeming fading, however, they are trying to keep him alive as a potential VP candidate (hello Texas!) should a woman become the nominee. The insider operatives are doing their best to keep Kamala Harris viable for California on Super Tuesday and throughout The South, this to help prevent Bernie from getting “I was once chained to a black women during the Civil Rights Movement” votes from black voters who are a strong demographic base in the South. Meanwhile, Liz Warren from Massachusetts will help steal Bernie’s “Home Field Advantage” in New Hampshire.
It appears like they’re manufacturing Indianapolis Mayor Pete Buttigieg as a back-up to Biden in case Biden falters and because Beto didn’t catch on. But this won’t work because voters will eventually discover Buttigieg is not as home grown as he’s pretends. He’s actually a strict capitalist which is the last thing Democrats really need to attract Independent voters for winning the presidency.
Take note: It is impossible shed the image of being an “elite” by being a “capitalist!” Voters are all on the Internet now, and 85% now have smartphones!
The only way to defeat Trump and win both the House and Senate is to become the complete antidote to Trump and the GOPwingers. Democrats — and especially the people — do not win when Democrats act or pretend to be like Republicans! The below chart shows the consequence to this:
We Need a United Front Behind Bernie Sanders!
Be Skeptical of Early Primary Polling
I’d be skeptical of any presidential poll using a 50/50 sampling of cellphones vs. landline for it interviews, or any poll reliant upon a majority of landlines
It’s well known that Bernie Sanders leads all candidates among the younger voters. By conducting 50% cell phone and 50% landline polls the results likely get skewed towards the more centrist candidates as Bernie support fades among the elder voters..
“Wireless-only rate for those aged 18 to 24 is 64.2 percent; for those 35 to 44 it was 63.9 percent; for those 45 to 64 it was 47.1 percent; and for those 65 and older it was 23.9 percent — January 2018.”
3/1/19 UPDATE:
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, an HRC superdelegate supporter, has joined the race to solely focus on climate change issues. This will effectively dilute Bernie Sanders votes from environmentalists in Iowa and NH.
Liz Warren is performing a similar straw candidacy role for the New Hampshire primary. Warren has no reason to be in this race, other than to siphon off Bernie Sanders voters in New Hampshire. By using a competing “Home Field Advantage” strategy, Warren, from Massachusetts, will hobnob with NH’s centrist national female politicians in order to take votes away from Bernie.
Interesting sidebar: In the 2016 race, Sanders showed the amazing courtesy of allowing Warren to make her decision to run before he announced his candidacy. Had she decided to run, he would not have announced. Warren, who has now risen into the comfortable role of a political insider, shows no desire to return the political courtesy to Bernie.
Hot Tip: Lots of free bacon-wrapped scallops will be dished out courtesy of the donors and NH party insiders who support the Warren campaign! Reminder: Just ’cause you take her scallops does not mean you have to vote for her — lol!
As noted below, Kamala Harris will play the important role of siphoning off minority voters who otherwise would support Sanders due to his strong stances on economics and imbalances within America’s criminal justice system. The Harris Effect will initially take place in South Carolina, scheduled as the fourth state to vote. Her candidacy will also play an enormous role on Super Tuesday which not only includes several southern states but also California which has moved its primary forward. Also, Warren will try to stick around in order to prevent Sanders from winning Massachusetts, which also votes on Super Tuesday.
Also noteworthy, is Clinton’s campaign chairman, Robby Mook, has been appointed to head the House Majority PAC. This influential position will enable Mook to use a bully pulpit, and re-election funding, to prevent Democratic congressmen and women from endorsing Sanders. Clinton political operatives also control the DNC chair and committee as well as the DNC war room.
All things considers, greater are now the chances for DC political operatives to select their own puppet, either by a late midstream ‘shining white knight’ entrant into the race, or by guaranteeing a brokered convention whereby the super delegates can select the nominee on the 2nd ballot. The object of the Beltway insiders is to prevent Bernie from running away with the nomination start to finish.
Stay tuned!
2/15/19 UPDATE:
Sanders will soon announce. Gabbard will eventually drop out and endorse him after NH. Meanwhile, it’s important to have her voice out there. I don’t like any of the others. Of the others, Warren will also drop out after NH but only after she’s diluted the Sanders vote in the NH primary (double Home Field Advantage).
My hope is after New Hampshire, Sanders and Gabbard will announce they are the team for president and vice president. Bernie will need an edge with what will be thrown against him. Breaking tradition and announcing Gabbard as his VP pick early in the race will distinct the importance and necessity of a pro-peace and labor ticket. Bernie can hammer away at domestic policy and Tulsi can emphasize foreign policy.
Longshot possibility: Once on the campaign trail Tulsi could get fired up and become a prolific speaker, something I see now as her weak point. If she spends a good amount of time reviewing, analyzing and adopting Jesse Jackson/Bernie Sanders speeches and starts delivering some barn-burners, she could become an unstoppable force. If this happens, then Bernie could become the VP choice. Remember, America is still wanting the first female president and an outsider who will break from traditional politics. Tulsi has both attributes.
Most of the others will drop after NH, leaving Harris who is in it for two reasons: a) the VP slot; and, b) to dilute Sanders southern minority support, something he didn’t have last time around because the media blackout prevented him from becoming well-known during the early southern primaries, all of which were all front-loaded on Clinton’s behalf in the DNC scheduling process. Possibility Eric Holder might come in to also grab some southern votes away from Sanders.
Harris will get the lionshare of early super delegate endorsements, enough to make it seem like she has mo-mo againsts Sanders. But most of the supers will hold back in wait for Biden. Biden will be coy, however, likely declining to run in the early going but then come into the race in time for Super Tuesday where California will now vote early.
When and if Biden announces, super delegates will get behind him. He’ll see himself as the great white knight coming in to save the party. This will create a three-way split for the long haul — Sanders, Harris and Biden. They’ll trudge into a contested convention with a three-way split of delegates, thus deadlocking the convention. Then the super delegates, on the second ballot, will select the nominee.<<<
Original Post
Democrats Have Learned Nothing! Will We See A Karl Rove-Like/Media-Induced Political Strategy Prevail Among Democrats in 2020? You Bet!
The political operatives, members of the lobbyist/consultant class functioning on behalf of America’s Oligarch Enrichment Project will likely show the following plan:
First, super-delegates will move as a herd in action and with early public statements and endorsements. The DNC will encourage as many caucus states as possible to become primary states and will try to keep lots of closed primaries whereby Independent voters can not participate.
Second, using deep-deep media connections, downgrade in every way conceivable the Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard candidacies. Their respective candidacies will be tagged with distorted political operative talking points, challenges to their loyalty, challenges to their ballot status and getting tagged as political products of the Russians.
Third, there will become a loud ruckus within the party to deny Sanders a place on the Democratic ballot unless he publicly forsakes his Independent status. This decision rests solely within the power of DNC chairman, Tom Perez. Fabricated pressure will mount on this.
Fourth, muddy the waters by flooding the Democratic primary with seemingly younger than Sanders faix-progressives politicians like Warren, Harris, Booker, Gillibran, Castro, et. al. In Beto O’Rourke’s case they’ve been rebranding him from his moderate voting record into that of a young Kennedyesque image of great appeal. The leadership of the party is hellbent and determined to dilute as many Sanders votes as possible.
Fifth, hope early voting produces no clear favorite. The door then opens for the centrist savior Democrat — Biden or perhaps Clinton again (phew!) — to enter the race and steal it with full media thunder. Next, one of the younger faux progressive aspirants will get rewarded with either the VP nod or a high cabinet appointment, i.e., a stepping stone to keep their future presidential hopes alive.
Sixth, keep the waters so muddied throughout the entire primary-caucus process that the super delegates will get to pick the nominee on a second convention ballot. Oh, what a wonderful big tent for the you-know-who’ll- they’ll-pick! America’s oligarchs will, once again, will aim to get their puppet very well politically strung.
Of course, everybody playing this faux presidential primary game will ultimately get rewarded by becoming a better millionaire, or a position higher in power. The incentives for the Bernie vote-diluting candidates is so strong it’s only waiting for sufficient media manipulation, i.e., the slant.
The game now is well understood. Everybody knows how the Clintons went from being middle-upper class to garnishing a wealth factor of over 200 million dollars, just from their careers in public service. Right now, the insincere Democratic candidates are in it for money and power only!
Let’s hope Bernie and Tulsi create a united front for true progressives and the centrist faux-progressives get vanquished.
The 2020 GOPwinger Primary
The GOP after decades of playing with evil finally cinched their deal with the devil by creating Donald Trump. If Trump survives his first term and is clean enough to run for a second, there will be no significant primary challenge to him and he will continue to rule GOPwingerism and Mike Pence will continue to play the Charlie Daniels ‘Deal With The Devil’ second fiddle.
I don’t think RussiaGate holds any substance to take Trump down. I’ve been suspect about this ever since the Russian narrative was dreamed up in the Clinton Campaign back room. But Trump’s modside connections, his numerous dirty business deals (will his IRS statements ever come through?) and soiled and dirty linen could cause him to lose the respect of the nation, perhaps his presidency. So we might not see Trump in 2020.
Should this happen, Pence will make the standard bearer claim. Kasich, Walker, Cruz and many of the previous GOPwinger horses will likely again enter the fray. Maybe even another Bush will jump in. Nonetheless, neither will hold the charisma and influence needed to become president. But there is one potential candidate who could jump in and take the whole kit and kaboodle: former South Carolina GOP congressman, Trey Gowdy.
Gowdy is a threat. Repeat: Gowdy is a threat! Gowdy automatically will be able to claim outsider status because he boastfully condemned politics as it is played, quit Congress and made his decision well before the so-called “Blue Wave” was heydayed. Gowdy also happens to be an extraordinary orator. The guy can think on his feet, is able to deliver a great speech (even if you don’t believe what he’s saying) and he’d be the best of all possible GOPwinger debaters. Perhaps the only master debater among the whole sorry lot of ‘em!
Gowdy first came into the public eye when he chaired the Benghazi hearings. From those hearings Hillary Clinton held her own and did well getting past them, even making it seem like Gowdy was barking up the wrong tree.
Turns out he was. But not for the reasons Clinton was alleging. Gowdy barked up the wrong tree because it was later discovered Benghazi was in fact a CIA outpost, not a US embassy consulate. Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh later exposed how the outpost served as a staging area for the ratline of Gaddafi’s Libyan weaponry smuggled out of Libya through Turkey into Syria, ultimately arming Al Qaeda/ISIS. In presidential politics, Gowdy could present a coup-fourré.
Anyway, with Trump out, look for Gowdy in as he’d become the GOPwingers best card for 2020. Odds are, however, Trump will still be in as it’s very hard to get a president out of office. Either way America’s oligarchs, as always, will have their puppet from the GOPwinger side. Trump, in fact, has made them lots of money!
Conclusion
Democrats need to stop fooling themselves and present their best candidate. That candidate is Bernie Sanders, who also has strong appeal among Independent voters who comprise the larger body of the electorate. Despite all odds against him in 2016 he erased Clinton’s 60% point lead and managed to pull off a highly respectable campaign while also condemning big money in politics. He has already proven he’s willing to take on the system, an attribute voters not only appreciate but genuinely want.
As noted from the chart above, political control in America has been right wing politics ever since JFK was shot. The last good Democrat was George Mcgovern. But party leaders, under the stewardship of the Clintons, abandoned the workers and moved the party more in line with Wall Street. Obama, in effect, with his CitiGroup-appointed presidential cabinet, had become a caretaker president in wait for the next line of Bush-Clinton.
Trump, if he’s managed to accomplish anything positive, at least put a stop to Bush-Clinton monarchical line.. But Trump is not a true outsider like Sanders. Trump feeds the oligarchy; Sanders does not! In American politics money traditionally pulls the puppet strings. This is precisely why another campaign of Bernie Sanders remains needed breaths of fresh air!
Be wise and build a united front now behind the only honest, wise and genuine political candidate: Bernie Sanders! | https://medium.com/@m-weddle/my-crystal-ball-for-2020-election-7f096b6ada78 | ['Michael Weddle'] | 2019-10-29 15:27:33.063000+00:00 | ['2016 Election', 'Politics', '2020 Election', 'Democrats', 'Defeat Trump'] |
About Me — Carla Sharpe. Here I am. | Here I am.
The words that have always caused butterflies in my stomach are “Let’s go around the room and everyone introduce themselves.” I’d rather poke pencils in my eyes than introduce myself…well, not really…but you get the drift.
So here we are…here I am.
I live in beautiful North Carolina with my husband and two cats (both of whom think they are dying of hunger 99.9% of the time).
I love hiking, reading, traveling, wildlife, and, in general, all things nature. I’m typically not an inside kinda girl…I prefer to be outside (except in frigid winter) and especially in the warm weather months on our patio, sipping a glass of wine, and listening to some tunes.
We have regular visitors in the back yard each evening: several deer, 2 skunks, 1 raccoon, and 1 opossum with a bad leg. Yes, they are all named. The deer get apples and corn up in the woods and the others are scavengers under my bird feeders where they may luckily find a few extra seeds strewn about and perhaps some grapes or banana slices. (How did that get there? Ahem).
While I love writing, I share that love with painting so I don’t turn out blog posts as frequently as most other Medium writers. There will definitely not be much money made from either and that’s perfectly fine with me so I’ll just continue to work as a hairdresser until I die! Seriously, it’s difficult to fit everything I want to do in a day when working full-time.
original painting by the author
There’s always more about me but we’ll save that for another day so as not to bore you too much.
Thanks for sitting through my chatter and so very nice to meet new friends :) | https://medium.com/about-me-stories/about-me-carla-sharpe-e2a40f6cbc6a | ['Carla Sharpe'] | 2020-12-21 13:02:43.297000+00:00 | ['About Me'] |
Apple Should Bring Back The iPod Classic In 2021 | Apple Should Bring Back The iPod Classic In 2021
Photo by insung yoon on Unsplash
Since the iPod’s twentieth anniversary is coming up in October 2021, Apple should consider updating their iPod Classic line. There are plenty of music lovers who still hold on to their old iPods and would love to upgrade if a new release was available for purchase. There are a few upgrades and features that nostalgists would love to see, should Apple choose to release a new iPod Classic.
Keep the click wheel
When Apple released the 7th and final generation iPod Nano, I was quite disappointed. It reminded me of a knockoff iPod Touch usually found in claw machines at Walmart.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Although the device is beautiful, it loses touch with the original design of the iPod. Using the click wheel to look for music was unique, similar to rewinding a VHS tape or using your flip phone to record your favorite song from the radio and making it your ringtone.
There is nostalgia when using the click wheel, which bonds you to your music. Using a touch screen nowadays is commonplace as we use touch screens all day, every day. Touch screens may be more convenient, but it doesn’t have that same feeling. Keeping the click wheel in a rerelease of the iPod Classic would make users fall in love with their music again.
If Apple releases and updates the iPod Classic for its twentieth anniversary, keeping the click wheel is necessary to stand out among a diverse market of touch screen capable devices.
Add flash storage
The last iPod Classic to be released, which was discontinued in 2014, still used a hard disk drive. Hard disk drives, which use magnets, aren’t meant to last long term. A hard drive can last between five to eight years, meaning any iPod Classic purchased in 2014 has likely given up or is about to.
Some people have disassembled old iPods and modified them to use SD cards as flash storage, but this requires a person willing to disassemble and reassemble their iPod. Most people are not tech-savvy, so doing this is out of the question for them.
Apple needs to provide flash storage to its iPod Classic line, the same storage used in iPhones and iPads, for the iPod Classic to last far longer than its predecessors.
Remove the headphone jack?
This one is still a gray area. Some people still use a headphone jack in 2020, and this will likely continue in 2021. A headphone jack is a solution for people who use their iPods while driving in non-Bluetooth capable vehicles.
Meanwhile, some audiophiles use headphones that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars; for them, Bluetooth isn’t as crisp as using a wired connection. If Apple provides a headphone jack, they’d be satisfying a decent size of the market.
However, for most users, providing a headphone jack would not be needed. Many Apple users have already moved away from wired headphones by purchasing AirPods or Beats, both owned by Apple. A headphone jack would go unused by a majority of their fanbase. Instead, Apple could use the space that would’ve gone to the headphone jack to provide better battery life.
Add Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity
The addition of Bluetooth is a no brainer. As previously mentioned, most users have moved away from wired headphones. Apple would need to make their iPod Classic compatible with AirPods and Beats to satisfy most users.
People would question the addition of Wi-Fi to an iPod. After all, why would a device meant for listening to music need internet connectivity?
However, the Apple Watch is a perfect example. Users should be able to download music onto their device by syncing it to their iPhone or iPad. Whether the user uploads their iTunes music, Spotify playlists, or their favorite Podcasts, users should be able to upload their music quickly and efficiently. That way, they can listen to music while using their phone for other purposes. And on that note…
Kill the iTunes connectivity requirement
Seriously. We shouldn’t have to connect our iPods to our computers to upload music anymore. That is so 2007.
Call it the iPod Classic Edition
Unless the marketing team can come up with a better name, Apple should keep it simple and memorable. It sounds much better than calling it the iPod Retro, iPod Classic Retro, or the iPod Classic X.
Conclusion
Whether Apple considers releasing an update to the iPod Classic line is yet to be determined, although it is unlikely. However, if Apple decides to release a twentieth-anniversary edition, these are upgrades and features needed for the iPod Classic line to succeed that nostalgists would love when they upgrade. | https://medium.com/macoclock/apple-should-bring-back-the-ipod-classic-in-2021-bb46b3da8cc9 | ['Aj Krow'] | 2020-12-27 11:11:12.536000+00:00 | ['Gadgets', 'Design', 'Music', 'Apple', 'Technology'] |
Jenkins with Docker | This tutorial is can help developer or devops for manage deployment with docker architecture.
Pull jenkins lts via docker :
docker pull jenkins/jenkins:lts
Create network for jenkins :
docker network create jenkins-net
Run jenkins with docker run :
docker run -u root -d -p 8080:8080 -p 50001:50001 -e JENKINS_SLAVE_AGENT_PORT=50001 -e PLUGINS_FORCE_UPGRADE=true -e TRY_UPGRADE_IF_NO_MARKER=true -v jenkins-volume:/var/jenkins_home -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v $(which docker):$(which docker) — network jenkins-net — name jenkins jenkins/jenkins:lts
You can forward jenkins port, example you need jenkins is running with port 49001 :
docker run -u root -d -p 49001:8080 -p 50001:50001 -e JENKINS_SLAVE_AGENT_PORT=50001 -e PLUGINS_FORCE_UPGRADE=true -e TRY_UPGRADE_IF_NO_MARKER=true -v jenkins-volume:/var/jenkins_home -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v $(which docker):$(which docker) — network jenkins-net — name jenkins jenkins/jenkins:lts
Checking ip jenkins with command :
docker inspect jenkins
You can see ip address jenkins, example output :
“Networks”: {
“jenkins-net”: {
“IPAMConfig”: null,
“Links”: null,
“Aliases”: [
“1ba699c4273e”
],
“NetworkID”: “75ab5620daffd569d731e1bc5e91dd4c0079ccb87175aea09be1bd8428bfaf14”,
“EndpointID”: “569a8c924919ddfaf043c216a5e70644c5742d00c33c7a3c1f529a87d7ab076d”,
“Gateway”: “172.19.0.1”,
“IPAddress”: “172.19.0.2”,
“IPPrefixLen”: 16,
“IPv6Gateway”: “”,
“GlobalIPv6Address”: “”,
“GlobalIPv6PrefixLen”: 0,
“MacAddress”: “02:42:ac:13:00:02”,
“DriverOpts”: null
}
}
You can access jenkins via browser with url :
172.19.0.1:49001 or localhost:49001
In first installation, you need key to insert on page, you can open container jenkins and get key with step :
docker exec -it jenkins bash cat /var/jenkins_home/secrets/initialAdminPassword
After you insert key, you can install suggest plugin first on jenkins page.
Next step you can setup user account login jenkins.
Thanks. | https://medium.com/@ciptaageungmahdiar/jenkins-with-docker-b1807418b76 | ['Cipta Ageung Mahdiar'] | 2019-11-14 01:04:25.419000+00:00 | ['Docker', 'Jenkins', 'Installation'] |
Ditching my MacBook Pro on Business Trips for an iPad Pro+Raspberry Pi | The Steps
Setup Raspberry Pi Connecting over USB-C Install Python, Jupyter notebooks, and other stuff Preparing an exFAT external drive (optional) Play!
Setting up the Raspberry Pi 🥧
To get started I bought my Raspberry Pi (version 4) on Amazon along with an microSD card, USB-C cable, and nice minimal aluminum enclosure. I also bought a USB-C hub so I could connect the Raspberry Pi to my iPad and charge at the same time. Setup was pretty easy, I just connected the microSD to my desktop computer, downloaded the Raspberry Pi Imager, and used it to choose the Raspberry Pi OS Lite image (since I didn’t need a full desktop).
After the card was setup, I went ahead and remounted it on my desktop. This gave me access to the /boot partition. I used the guide from Ben Hardill to setup networking over the USB-C port on the Raspberry Pi. I needed to do two key things to make this work: 1) create an empty file named “ssh” in the boot partition (this ensures that ssh is active on boot) and 2) when I put the card in the Raspberry Pi and booted for the first time, I made sure I plugged in ethernet so I’d have a way to reach the Raspberry Pi. By connecting the ethernet port to my network, I was able to ssh to the Raspberry Pi to complete the setup in Ben’s guide. That allowed me to continue the configuration using the raspi-config as well. For example, I setup WiFi so the Raspberry Pi will connect to my home wifi when available (I just have to plug it into any USB-C charger and I can use it without a direct connection to my iPad). I also changed the default password too, something that’s important since it’s now on my wifi network. I didn’t have a micro HDMI to HDMI cable available so being able to do all of this configuration over an SSH connection was great!
raspi-config
Connecting Over USB-C
At this point all the setup was done and I shutdown the Raspberry Pi (sudo poweroff) and unplugged it from ethernet. I then plugged in my USB-C hub to my iPad, connected it to power and the Raspberry Pi over it’s USB-C cable, and it promptly booted. You can see in Tech Craft’s video it shows up as a Ethernet device:
The USB-C ethernet config in the iPad’s System Settings
So my iPad has an IP address of 10.55.0.5 on this self-contained network. You can probably see where this is going, I can now ssh to Raspberry Pi using this network (if you’re connecing over wifi you’re going to need to figure out what IP address it gets from your home network, most routers let you see the devices on the network, look for “raspberry”). I use Blink, an absolutely fantastic SSH client for iOS. Totally worth the price, I can’t recommend it enough!
So the moment of truth, I open up Blink and type:
blink> ssh [email protected]
And I’m in!
Installing Stuff
At this point I’ve got a working Raspberry Pi happily connected to my iPad! This is where Tech Craft and Ben’s instructions leave me and I pick up with my own configuration.
Mosh
The first thing I really love to install on a new Linux box/VM is Mosh. This nifty little tool works on top of SSH and ensures flakey connections are stable and can be automatically reconnected if they drop. It’s super robust, you can put your iPad to sleep and, hours later, resume the connection automatically to your remote VM/Linux host. Really nifty! Of course, it’s not really required here since I’m connecting over a USB-C cable. But still, why not! On my Raspberry Pi:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt install mosh
To test this, here’s how I connected via Mosh instead of ssh from my Blink session:
blink> mosh [email protected]
Now I can put my iPad to sleep when I need to and when I switch back to Blink my connection is automatically restored.
Git, Python3, and Jupyter Notebooks
These days I don’t really code in large, shared projects. Really I do light prototyping, hacking, some shell and Python scripts, and Jupyter Notebooks mainly. So my development needs on my Rapsberry Pi are very modest.
I’ll start with Git, Python, some Python libraries, and some dev tools. I mosh’d to my Raspberry Pi and used apt to install:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt install git tmux python3-numpy python3-pandas python3-sklearn python3-matplotlib python3-seaborn python3-jupyter-core python3-pip python3-notebook jupyter
Conda
On my desktop I use Anaconda (and the bundled conda command) to setup distinct Python environments for every script I work with. This really helps compartmentalize things in case a given script has different requirements than another project. But it doesn’t exactly look well supported on the Raspberry Pi. Seems like there’s miniconda, which looks like it was last updated in 2015, and berryconda, which is no longer being updated. Still, I went ahead and installed miniconda, I found Data Addict’s guide extremely useful here.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ wget http://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-armv7l.sh pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo md5sum Miniconda3-latest-Linux-armv7l.sh # this should be a01cbe45755d576c2bb9833859cf9fd7 pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo /bin/bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-armv7l.sh
The miniconda installer will ask where you want to install conda to, like Data Addict’s guide, I used /home/pi/miniconda3. I then made sure the bin directory was added to the pi user’s path and that the miniconda directory was owned by pi:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo chown -R pi:pi miniconda3
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ echo 'export PATH="/home/pi/miniconda3/bin:$PATH"' >> /home/pi/.bashrc
So this provides Python 3.4.3 but to get 3.5 and 3.6 I had to use berryconda (again, this makes me nervous since it’s no longer maintained):
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ conda config --add channels rpi
Anyway, I’m now able to create a self-contained conda environment and use that for Python script development:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ conda create --name py366 python=3.6.6
And to activate the environment I do:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ source activate py366
I can go crazy at this point and install whatever I want with pip, ensuring I’m not going to break another Python dependency for another tool or script.
Docker
No development environment would be complete without Docker. Again, I’m following the guide by Data Addict which uses the install script from Docker Inc.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sh get-docker.sh
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo usermod -aG docker pi
I had to reboot after the usermod command above to get everything to work. I was then able to run the following command which showed everything was working correctly:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ docker run hello-world
Preparing an exFAT external drive
I had a SanDisk USB-C hard drive and I wanted to format this as exFAT so I could use it on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. I needed to install the exFAT utils to get this to work, see this tutorial from PyMyLifeUp:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get install exfat-fuse exfat-utils
I then looked for the device the Raspberry Pi used for the hard drive when I plugged it into the USB port on the Pi.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 1.8T 0 disk
└─sda1 8:1 0 1.8T 0 part
mmcblk0 179:0 0 366.8G 0 disk
├─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 256M 0 part /boot
└─mmcblk0p2 179:2 0 366.6G 0 part /
And from that info I was able to format the hard drive:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo mkfs.exfat /dev/sda1
mkexfatfs 1.3.0
Creating... done.
Flushing... done.
File system created successfully.
It should be automatically mounted when plugged in but, if it’s not, the tutorial above has instructions on mounting and also adding to the /etc/fstab file that allows you to easily mount in the future. Key command is ‘sudo blkid’ to get the drive’s ID which you can then put in an fstab line like this one (replace the UUID with what you got from blkid):
UUID="0E13-5B5D" /media/exfat exfat defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000,nofail,noauto 0 0
And then I just mounted using the command:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo mount /media/exfat
Play!
At this point, I can finally try out my little development environment. I’m going to spin up a Jupyter Notebook server and run a basic notebook that’s used in several tutorials online.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ jupyter notebook --ip 10.55.0.1
This will print a URL to connect to, I then opened http://10.55.0.1:8888… using the URL that was printed and was able to use Jupyter Notebook to create a new notebook. I then used code snippets from an online tutorial to test out the various libraries I installed earlier. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the link to this tutorial but you can see below I was able to run through it and things like matplotlib and numpy worked as expected! | https://medium.com/@briandoconnor/ditching-my-macbook-pro-on-business-trips-for-an-ipad-pro-raspberry-pi-79988b5dc78d | ["Brian O'Connor"] | 2020-12-27 04:29:26.752000+00:00 | ['iPad', 'Linux', 'Bioinformatics', 'Science', 'Raspberry Pi'] |
Censorship & Hollywood | I never understood what the concept of a writer’s voice is, it sounds like a lazy attempt to not deal with baggage from the past.
In college, I took a course on the history of the gulag in Soviet history. A ghastly prison system that jailed leftists, freethinkers, and anyone who disagreed with the Soviet regime. I remember learning one tactic the KGB did was they would tell two stories at the same time, to confuse the subject. That is it? That is what caused the Cold War, seriously? Just study Middlemarch you can learn all you need to know about hypocrisy, wealth, and the illusions of love and friendship among people.
The greatest comedy of errors for our age was the resurgence of the Tipper Gore school of thought that Russian disinformation toppled our democracy. Democracy for who? Censorship with all of its past pearl clutching discourse never existed for those at the bottom. The old talks of civility and “honesty” sound similar to the missionary rhetoric of 19th century civilizing missions that suggested that one must be chaste and pure and remain quiet as a means to speak truth. Disinformation has muddied those waters.
Those pearls of liberal resistance fell to the ground when Donald J Trump entered the oval office. Though leftists like myself never clutched pearls, I meditated with my mala beads, a tool for meditation.
I argued for years our democracy was a endless mythology when George Bush Jr. had his brother the former governor of Florida grift a second term for the presidency. Also, what about the election in Georgia from fellow writer Stacey Abrams? I will never forget about that tragedy turned to hope either.
The ways in which language can either heal or harm is finally seeing its day of reckoning. Why people communicate the they way do is being examined to understand why people say the things the say.
This examination is going to be incredibly vital as the ongoing noise about disinformation between the US and Russia continues on. Its the oligarchs, people. At this point, any competent teacher regardless of the subject has built into their lessons how to combat disinformation.
Studying Middlemarch with a class of Black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander and Arab Americans while I was majoring in English at California State University, Los Angeles should be the future of higher education regardless of setting.
Strange, we all grew-up in different regions but we all shared similar traumas of not feeling as if we were worthy of being in the classroom seat despite the fact that we all worked in dead-end jobs to get us to that seat. What is wrong with society? Our cohort mirrored what every writer’s room should look like Hollywood.
Our biggest champion in the department was a former Hollywood writer who wrote for the television show, The Sopranos. An older returning student, he helped many of us find confidence in our writing. He said any of us could be in a writer’s room — Hollywood chooses actively to ignore state school kids because they know we are trained to challenge the mythologies of the Western canon.
Our teachers assigned us the canon of British literature because Cal State Los Angeles is the hub for Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and is also the home of the first Chicano Studies Department in the country. The curriculum in the humanities centers self-discovery through text & data interpretation as an act of liberation.
My entire education prepared me to not only endure but, to survive every single ongoing cable news scandal of the Trump years — from the pearl clutching of the liberal resistors to the frightening nightmares of journalists being harmed by police brutality. These ideas will continue on in the dawn of the Biden years. But, I hope there will not to be a repeat of the Obama years were our foreign policy was a battle between war hawks and idealists. If there is, I will not make the same mistake I made then, being scared of my own power and truth. I’ll essay through my frustrations.
As the world turns, I’ll continue to wait for the train station to open as I run in the hills listening to “Torn” and laughing at how angsty I was in my younger years. The perfect sky isn’t torn. I’m not late either, I arrived at my destination. I am exactly were I am supposed to be, home. I guess the fortune teller was right, unconditional love began the minute I returned home. I found it within. I just need to keep writing my journey uncensored & unafraid. | https://medium.com/@ltambara/censorship-hollywood-ac55f6c16a39 | ['Lucy Keiko Tambara'] | 2020-12-22 21:22:10.135000+00:00 | ['California', 'Literature', 'Politics', 'Film Criticism'] |
Why Being Angry In The Age of Trump Is Deadly | Image: what’s up.co.nz
Why Being Angry In The Age of Trump Is Deadly
I need to save myself, fast!
Yes, it’s about Donald Trump, and the trappings that come with managing a hostile climate that breeds ill-will towards assigned enemies, representing the utter devastation of Black lives.
And of course it didn’t take a maniacal president with a penchant for radicalizing White terrorists for anyone of us to be fully aware of the real and present danger that police brutality exacts, or to comprehend the traitorous levy of a woefully biased judicial system.
But when your existence is an alarm clock that goes off every hour on the hour without any reprieve, due to the mechanisms of high-priced platforms that were built for this season of chaos, on the scale that enables the validation of evilness from the highest office in the land — there’s the threat of slowly but surely lose your shit.
Aside from the growing and unreasonable habit of tracking Twitter accounts belonging to enemies of the state with roaring clap backs that weirdly lighten the burden of discontent, there’s also the overall feeling of emotional and physical fatigue.
Getting older is a blessing but it’s also the brutal lesson in how some things will never change. You can only control so much. And even when you give all you’ve got, the outcome won’t match that investment. You keep trying to embrace daily reminders of how your best days are still ahead, but that’s a challenging task when the demise of another year is at hand.
You do the best you can to keep your head up.
As a writer, I find solace in the words that I create with the discipline that has helped to inspire other genres of expression, thereby opening up a whole new world that needed arousal.
But the mental disease of unrelenting despair that’s briefly alleviated with the Buddhist chants and CBD tinctures is a personal pain that has to be addressed accordingly sooner rather than later. And while I was planning on seriously exploring options for therapy in the new year, the awfulness of today frightens me into going with the “sooner” route.
The tense conservation that morning with my mother has become a frequent interaction that transpires from accumulated years of eventfulness. The good, the bad, the ugly and uglier starts demanding the attention that was delayed. And since the next decade looms with the danger of what unfinished business can deliver, it’s healthy to clean house when you can.
All I wanted was to head to the gym before the brisk walk to the shopping plaza to pick up necessary items. Visiting my parents in their neck of the woods is daunting when you’re not driving. As a longtime resident of New York City, I was accustomed to trekking or jogging everywhere with the least amount of obstacles.
But those privileges aren’ transferable to the rest of the country because drivers always have the right of way, which explains why it takes forever to cross the street. And when the light does change, you must run to make that small window and avoid getting hit.
The lack of sidewalks is also a bummer, and the apartment complex where my parents live tried to rectify that issue by carving out a slab that can barely fit a full-sized adult.
I noticed that as I made my way out of the entrance and towards the busy street to wait for the light. As I stood watching the cars go by, the feelings of irritation were settled in my sight. You think a lot when you’re at that age where everything is just as big a deal as you fear.
As I made my way down the hilly part after crossing the street, I was at least able to note that it was a gorgeous fall day. The two Black girls with their Chick-fil-A bags had joined my procession and walked ahead of me, and because their casual pace didn’t gel with my speed, I decided to step down from the fashioned sidewalk and come to street level.
After living in cities that traditionally devalue the safety of anything walking, I’ve been trained not to assume that drivers give a damn. This means keeping close to the curb when I’m close to to the street. And so I made sure to stay within the confines of the painted slab that indicated I was far enough away from the slow moving vehicles.
Suddenly there was a startlingly loud horn from behind and the car drove forward with the irate driver yelling that I was on the sidewalk.
The two Black girls immediately commented on the driver’s rudeness, and their reaction keyed into my shock and resentment, especially when I knew that he was being an asshole for the fuck of it. I definitely wasn’t the moving object purposely blocking his view.
The burning anger was intensified by the fact that he was a White male, and coupled with the Black girls echoing and confirming the obvious hostility, I was inspired to flip the bastard off.
His advantage was being able to drive off, while I kept walking in the same direction.
I knew I was on a mission even before I could stop myself.
The sweltering inferno had devoured me in seconds, and the only way to cool off was to let it all out. He parked where I could get to him, and as he got out of his car, and I got a glimpse of his gym attire, for some reason, there was even more fury breathing out of me.
I stood in the middle of the parking area and gave him the finger again, which encouraged his curses, and motivated me to say something that I’ve never said before, at least not on a Saturday morning, in a family friendly shopping center.
I won’t say exactly what it was because I’m too mortified, but it was in reference to his race.
As soon as the words fell out, I found the cold chill that I thought would make me feel better.
By the time I returned to myself, my whole body was covered in sweat and I was shaking uncontrollably. Getting that angry has happened before, but it was usually regulated to the discipline of saving my energy for those who deserve it, instead of bonafide idiots.
The fact that I wasn’t willing to just keep it moving, and insisted on hunting my prey, for the duty of letting him know why he was a piece of shit, which had more to do with the color of skin, was an unnerving realization that shook me to the core.
First off, I could’ve gotten blasted away by this dude, and the authorities would blame me for my murder based on bystanders, who would readily attest to how the enraged Black woman forced the burly White guy to defend himself.
And then there’s the glaring evidence of how the internalized data from the “summer of hate” when White folks were calling the cops on Black folks, occupying the spaces that belong to every human, must’ve stuck around for the manifestations that you don’t see coming.
We think we’re okay.
As long as the daily rituals are fulfilled without disruptions , there’s no incentive for check-ins, just to re-affirm that we’re not stealthily falling apart at the seams.
I’m not regretful for the first “fuck you,” but I hate that it escalated to the point where I became unrecognizable.
At the same time, I’m willing to give myself a break, as a Black woman, who can’t afford to act out like her White counterparts without strong the likelihood that I could be arrested or worse.
But most importantly, it’s apparent that I have to proactively seek the self-care that will keep me centered and protected in the knowledge of how I’m too precious to resort to street fights with grown adult males, who have won even before the gauntlet opens.
I am most certainly angry, and this disposition retains the heat that explodes before I can duck for cover.
I don’t want to be the Black woman who downplayed how those temperatures can rise just in time for the encounters that will turn a mid-morning stroll into the journey that won’t bring me back, for reasons that weren’t worth the gamble.
Everything is about race, it always has been.
I was convinced the White guy who sternly blew that horn at me, did so as a way to embarrass and demean, and since it was blatantly unprovoked, it instinctively felt like a racist attack.
Maybe I was wrong to rush to that conclusion, but either way, I shouldn’t have invited more shit to the pile with that confrontation. And I absolutely shouldn’t have said what I said because I know better.
There are things I have to change and probably scrub away from my calendar of activities in order to prepare for the bigger assignment of tending to the exposed nerves, that are so much more entangled than I could’ve imagined.
These times are not ordinary or livable, and while we do our best to navigate through the terrain of lawlessness with the tools of disengagement, the falsehood of our mental state only buckles when real life drives though — fast and furious.
What happened makes it’s clear that drastic adjustments must be made.
Once I re-entered the complex after the mess, and made my way down the driveway to the apartments, paying extra attention to the painted stain of a sidewalk, I walked past a lovely young Black woman, who gave me the most amazing smile, which I happily reciprocated
Only then did the hot tears stream down.
Yeah, I have to save myself, fast! | https://nilegirl.medium.com/why-being-angry-in-the-age-of-trump-is-deadly-4aee5f7c887d | ['Ezinne Ukoha'] | 2019-10-21 16:42:38.739000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Therapy', 'Race', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Social Media'] |
Creating a More Rigorous Belief Filter | The communization of mass information delivery has led to radical changes in public discourse. The internet has allowed everyday people (like me) to be able to communicate their ideas through the same medium as traditional institutions of information and news. There is no doubt that there are many immediate benefits to this arrangement, as the movement of grassroots journalists and internet personalities has grown tremendously. Yet, beneath the mass growth of interconnectivity are extremely adverse mechanisms that undermine stable public discourse, disseminate false and misleading information, and sow division and polarization between groups.
In traditional modes of information warfare, centralized entities restrict the type of information consumed. This sort of repression can be seen in particularly extremist cults or governments that seek to starve their patrons of information that could divert their mindset from reinforcing the power of the central authority. A specific example of this phenomenon is the internet firewall in China, which blocks a number of websites including Google, Youtube, Facebook, and Wikipedia. By restricting the citizenry’s ability to discover and share new information the Chinese government is more easily able to set the narrative surrounding historical or current events; guiding the general discourse of Chinese society.
While information suppression is particularly repressive, its negative effects pale in comparison to the main antagonist of this article: information flooding. The United States may not be subject to rigorous internet firewalls that block the dissemination of information, yet it is subject to the exact opposite problem. Instead of a central authority governing the flow of information, the US is subject to the over flooding of information from millions of internet “sources,” undermining concrete belief and sowing division over the mere nature of reality.
The medium in which internet information is served ambiguates the differences between legitimate and illegitimate sources. Since both are presented on the same platform in similar ways, it becomes increasingly difficult for people to differentiate between truth and untruth. To induce people into believing you on the internet, one only requires the appearance of credibility, and even that has been subject to lower and lower scrutiny. This is particularly aggravated given the ability for people to use technology to fabricate documents, pictures, and videos. Lowering the barrier of necessary credibility has legitimized online pundits of all types that would otherwise have enjoyed no platform at all. And, as the power of these internet personalities and pundits grows, it's fairly reasonable to perceive the phenomena of institutional rebellion as correlated.
The general perception of news outlets has decreased considerably in recent years. Since 1976, trust in news outlets has decreased from 72% to just 40% of American people. That is a particularly sharp decline in trust in less than a 50 year period. And, as the popularity of major news outlets wanes, internet pundits have proved a particularly useful replacement. Irrespective of misinformation, an additional negative effect of the mass switch from major news to online pundits is the polarization of public discourse. Online pundits are held to a much lower level of scrutiny in comparison to those on major news outlets. This allows online pundits greater flexibility in their presentation of opinions and choice of topics; opening the door for misleading or fabricated assertions with little threat of deplatforming (less they engage in egregious misinformation or hate speech [see Alex jones]).
Simultaneous to one’s simple interest in an online pundit is the ensuing echo chamber created by data-oriented content algorithms. These algorithms, designed by platforms like Google, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and other big tech giants, were created with one goal in mind: retain users. The algorithm assumes that, when you watch a video or series of videos, you will want to view videos like the ones you have watched in the future. If one’s interest is in bicycles or car repairs this may seem particularly handy, yet, if one's interest lies in outlandish conspiracy theories, they may end up being served increasingly extremist media, leading to radicalization and inadvertent consumption of misinformation.
Given these conditions, it's clear that one can easily construct an insulated echo chamber that serves to reaffirm one’s preexisting beliefs and remove all media that may dissent or undermine those beliefs. All of these factors together greatly threaten people’s ability to think critically about the positions and beliefs they purport. A person should certainly be concerned about the reality of their beliefs and be open to testing them against hard evidence, logic, and reasoning. Yet, when the internet cultivates an environment that can lead one to not only engage with misinformation but also insulation from dissenting opinions, we arrive at a problem that has considerable implications on the functioning of society as a whole.
Misinformation and insulation stunt critical thought. The mere awareness of fake information could even be used to mislabel and discredit credible sources of information. The platform of the internet greatly inhibits the population’s ability to discern truth and creates divisions that undermine realities once considered infallible. What is clear is that each person must undertake a duty to construct a rigorous and apolitical filter for their beliefs.
Allowing the wrong information or beliefs to pervade your mind space can vastly alter your perception of reality and understanding of the world. The internet’s distinct talent of radicalization augments the danger of allowing adverse beliefs to enter your lexicon of truths; as accepting one belief can induce further radicalization and acceptance of misinformation. It’s important now more than ever to understand the exact mechanisms that lead you to coopt certain beliefs or opinions you consume online or even in regular life.
There are several questions one asks themselves when presented with a media piece of opinion:
Does this make sense? Does this come from a credible source? Is this corroborated by other sources and/or evidence? Do I agree with this or does it reinforce my worldview?
Increasingly, it seems as though people are using the fourth question to guide their decision-making process as to what is or is not truth. In my opinion, this has much to do with the insulated echo chambers created by content algorithms. Lacking dissenting opinions, people are becoming more and more sensitive to information adverse to their worldview, oftentimes causing them to search for or misinterpret information that assists them in clinging to their preexisting beliefs. This phenomenon is known as confirmation bias. Generally, it is understood that confirmation bias is a natural reaction for people faced with information that disproves their worldview; tapping into our innate instinct to avoid cognitive dissonance (the state of having opposing beliefs).
Irrespective of the cause, it's important to override the natural instinct of confirmation bias to create a more rigorous and tested lexicon of beliefs. When examining something as truthful or credible, it's much more important to test the first three questions as opposed to the last. And, in my opinion, we should eliminate the fourth question completely when objectively examining the legitimacy of a claim or belief. The fact of the matter is, it is irrelevant to the nature of reality as to if a piece of information agrees or disagrees with your worldview.
What is important is that:
The information is logically sound and realistic; it lacks outlandish claims or claims without substantial evidence. The information is from a source that is credible and does not habitually disseminate false information. The information is corroborated by multiple credible sources as defined above.
Without the institutional barriers that once prevented the mass spread of disinformation, it becomes everyone’s personal duty to weed out false or misleading information from being coopted and spread. Each person is responsible for constructing their own rigorous belief filter to cultivate a stable discourse and reestablish a more complete collection of agreed-upon truths. We as a society cannot allow the greatest invention of mankind to be the very thing that desecrates our ability to operate as a society. The internet is one of the greatest enablers in the world, as a functionally unlimited amount of information is available at your fingertips, yet not all information is created equal.
Recognize the sanctity of your lexicon of beliefs and safeguard it with a rigorous and systematic filter for misinformation; the very fate of our republic may depend on it. | https://medium.com/@derekmeegan/creating-a-more-rigorous-belief-filter-99fe9913a71c | ['Derek Meegan'] | 2020-12-09 21:12:27.073000+00:00 | ['Sociology', 'Politics', 'Information Technology', 'Misinformation', 'Internet'] |
[Paper] VGGNet for COVID-19 Detection (Biomedical Image Classification) | [Paper] VGGNet for COVID-19 Detection (Biomedical Image Classification)
Left: X-Ray, Middle: CT Scan, Right: Ultrasound
In this story, COVID-19 Detection Through Transfer Learning Using Multimodal Imaging Data (VVGNet for COVID-19), is briefly presented. In this paper:
Broncho vascular thickening in the lesion, and traction bronchiectasis are visible during absorption stage, automatic diagnosis is possible.
Various classification models are tested , such as VGG16/VGG19, ResNet-50, Inception-v3, Xception, Inception-ResNet-v2, DenseNet, and NASNet-Large, for COVID-19 detection.
, such as VGG16/VGG19, ResNet-50, Inception-v3, Xception, Inception-ResNet-v2, DenseNet, and NASNet-Large, for COVID-19 detection. It is found that VGGNet has the most stable performance across different multimodal datasets including Ultrasound, X-ray and CT scan.
has the across different multimodal datasets including Ultrasound, X-ray and CT scan. The aim is to provide over-stressed medical professionals a second pair of eyes through intelligent deep learning image classication models, providing an automated “second reading’’ to clinicians, assisting in the diagnosis and criticality assessment.
This is a paper in 2020 IEEE ACCESS where IEEE ACCESS is an open access journal with high impact factor of 3.745. (Sik-Ho Tsang @ Medium) | https://medium.com/swlh/paper-vggnet-for-covid-19-detection-biomedical-image-classification-db411de2f013 | ['Sik-Ho Tsang'] | 2020-11-03 06:38:48.386000+00:00 | ['Image Classification', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Convolutional Network', 'Deep Learning', 'Covid 19'] |
New year, new president | New year, new president
On Nov. 3, 2020, United States citizens cast their votes for the next president. Though this election is like no other, as voter turnout hit an all-time high and people could cast their votes by mail, early in-person or on Election Day.
On Nov. 7, Democratic candidate Joe Biden had surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, making him the new president-elect of the United States. With Donald Trump out of office and Biden in, people in the U.S. can expect to see a few changes.
Trump Challenges Results
Even with the announcement of Biden winning the 2020 presidential election, current President Donald Trump has refused to concede and has claimed that Biden won due to voter fraud. The Trump campaign has even gone as far as to file over 30 lawsuits across six swing states. Out of these lawsuits, at least 25 have been denied, dismissed, settled or withdrawn according to an article by NBC.
Even with the attempts to prove that there was voter fraud and that the Democratic party won through unlawful ways, Trump’s chances of winning these suits and maintaining his position of president are slim to none.
On Dec. 14, electors of the electoral college will cast their ballots for president and vice president. Then, on Jan. 6, 2021, the vote count is finalized, and the results are certified.
Though it is still unclear as to when Trump will concede to Biden, or if he even will, it will not have any impact as to who is in office in January.
Melinda Kovacs, associate professor of political science at Missouri Western State University, says that despite conceding not being required by law, it is important for democracy.
“Conceding is not required by law, nor is it what makes the results official. However, conceding is tremendously important for democracy: democracy is a system with a peaceful transfer of power and legitimacy is conferred by symbolic acts like conceding,” Kovacs said.
With all this being said, it is almost certain that Biden will be the next president and with that comes change.
COVID-19 under Biden
One of the biggest events of 2020 is the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic affected people worldwide, though it first really hit the U.S. back in March. Now, nearing the end of the year, cases and deaths are still on the rise and the virus affects the country.
With the U.S. rising to the top of the charts based on cases and deaths when compared to the rest of the world, many have critiqued the Trump administration’s response to the virus.
Now, with cases skyrocketing around the country, many are waiting and expecting the Biden administration to do more.
Jonathan Euchner, an assistant professor in political science, thinks Biden has to do something different, just because what Trump has and has not done has failed.
“Maybe expand testing, maybe a mask mandate, maybe some additional money out of Congress for COVID,” Euchner said. “I think Biden will just set a different tone, science will be back in charge, you’ll have press conferences, they’ll ask questions.”
Ed Taylor, another political science professor at MWSU, expects a better coordinated national response to the pandemic.
“This could include a nationwide mask mandate, strategies for distribution and disbursement of FDA-approved vaccines, hopefully, financial relief for Americans (including extending unemployment benefits, loans to business, student loan relief among other things),” Taylor said.
Though he is not in office yet, Biden has already begun working on a plan for COVID-19.
“Biden already assembled well-respected doctors to serve as his advisors and as his response team. It is striking that many on President Trump’s COVID task force are not health care experts. So the Biden response will certainly be more expertise-centered. Biden also seems much more ready to impose nationwide mask ordinances,” Kovacs said.
Though mask mandates, testing and vaccines seem to be the first things that come to mind when thinking about COVID-19, money and financial relief, as mentioned by Euchner and Taylor, are also important aspects when discussing responses to the pandemic.
Back in late March, Trump signed into law a $2 trillion stimulus package for COVID-19 relief. Married couples earning up to $150,000 would get $2,400 plus $500 per child, while individuals making up to $75,000 in annual gross income would get $1,200 plus $500 per child.
Euchner believes that another relief bill will come with Biden’s presidency, as many will push for one.
“I think there will be a lot of pressure to approve another bill and provide relief for people that have lost jobs or had some kind of hardship,” Euchner said. “And they’ll borrow money because no one wants to raise taxes.”
Like with the handling of the virus in assembling a team to deal with all the physical health aspects, Biden is already ahead and urging Congress to pass a second relief package.
Healthcare under Biden
Another hot topic when discussing political candidates is healthcare. For most, especially college-aged people, Biden’s policies and stance on healthcare will benefit them.
Mike Luce, a campaigns specialist for the Dover Group, brings up Biden’s past with the Affordable Care Act.
“Part of Biden’s legacy was helping pass the Affordable Care Act as vice president,” Luce said. “And I think we will see him attempt to improve it as president.”
Like Luce, Kovacs mentions Biden’s start with the ACA and what this means for college students, as they will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance.
“Biden was present at the birth of Obamacare / Affordable Care Act and he will revive it, I am sure, once he is president. I believe he will revive the option for young folks to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are 26. I say ‘revive’ because there are ongoing efforts still by the Trump administration to get rid of the ACA,” Kovacs said.
Euchner also noted the attempts to overturn the ACA, and says that a Biden presidency means that the Supreme Court will likely not overturn the ACA.
Student Loans under Biden
Another relevant issue to college students is that of student loans. Biden has brought up the possibility of forgiving a certain amount of student loans.
Though nothing is set in stone yet, students could see $50,000 of their student loans erased at some point during Biden’s presidency.
“With a Republican-controlled Senate, very little can be done. However, I have seen Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer encourage Biden to forgive everyone’s first $50,000 of student loans via executive order,” Nathan Scott, Missouri Western’s SGA president said.
In addition to student loan forgiveness, Biden has discussed making some college free, depending on circumstances.
“In terms of financial aid, Biden has vowed to forgive some student debt, to make community colleges free and also make four-year institutions free to students whose families make less than a certain amount of money a year,” Kovacs said. “Overall Biden seems much more committed than Trump to making college and higher ed, in general, more affordable and that should qualify as good news for college students.”
Taxes under Biden
One last topic often talked about in politics is that of taxes, but this will likely have a very minimal impact on students and most people residing in the U.S.
Scott brings up Biden’s tax plan to increase taxes on those who make more than $400,000 annually.
“Many college students barely make enough to be taxed, so it’s unlikely that these increases would affect a majority of students,” Scott said. “We may see the price of common items such as gas go up which might have the biggest impact on students.”
Overall, Biden’s tax plan will not be of much concern to Americans, as most do not make anywhere near that amount.
First Female Vice President
It is clear that Biden’s presidency will bring about change, but Kamala’s Harris’ vice presidency is also very important. Being the first woman vice president is a very historical and significant moment in United States history.
Latyoa Muhammad, the multicultural education director at MWSU, discusses how Kamala Harris’ vice presidency will encourage and empower others.
“In higher education we talk about how when students see leaders that look like them they are more successful and they can see themselves in those individuals. I think the same goes for the leaders in our country. When we see ourselves in the leadership of our nation it encourages us to continue achieving our goals whatever they may be,” Muhammad said. “It tells us and our girls that anything is possible. We must have diversity in these positions so women can aspire to be in those same positions so people see them and hear them.”
As for what Harris’ vice presidency means for the future of women in politics, Muhammad hopes that this means we will continue to see an increase of women in power.
“I hope this means we will continue to see more women in these roles. Kamala’s presidency will empower other women to see themselves there. It also changes the narrative certain people in our society have about women especially women of color in our country,” Muhammad said. “Sometimes the narrative won’t change for certain people and that is sad but I am hoping people see that when you add diverse perspectives different solutions are brought forth that people may not have thought of because of their lived experiences.” | https://medium.com/@abraddy/new-year-new-president-b12afffa6c42 | ['Alyssa Braddy'] | 2020-11-25 02:51:36.220000+00:00 | ['Biden', '2020', 'Kamala Harris', 'Covid 19', 'President'] |
Over the past 48 hours I have proposed this idea to the CEO Bal | Unlike previous space vehicles intended for astronauts, Skylab had a freezer and refrigerator, a convenience no other vehicle offered. The Daily Menu food supply is based on the types of food storage conditions:
The countermeasures based on prebiotic and probiotics supplements are being intensively researched for their suitability and effectiveness in astronauts during long-term space missions. However, this area is still in its infancy and many questions remain to be answered — particularly, regarding the persistence of the efficacy of probiotics and/or prebiotics under microgravity conditions.After ‘faith in God,’ the appropriate responses turned out to be progressively assorted and intriguing. Here are a portion of the top reactions among passionate Christians when gotten some information about the things that are basic to their Christian character:
The requirements and dangers of spaceflight make it basic that probiotics are painstakingly chosen dependent on their strain-explicit advantages, dosages, conveyance instruments, and significance to almost certainly group conditions preceding assessment in space explorers.
Something very similar ended up loosen, which really had a fairly vivid logo and symbol, yet the shadings were quieted. The new upgrade, as in this whole pattern was tied in with pushing the immersion as high as could reasonably be expected.
An ongoing overview by Pew Research requested that ardent Christians recognize the mentalities and practices that they accepted were basic to being a Christian. Of course, 97% said that “confidence in God” was basic to Christian confidence.
After all the great mixes are spent and the immersion can’t get any higher, the stunt should cross a line. Perhaps they’ll even rethink terrible, to make sure they can fool our eyes into seeing them.
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On the off chance that you obscure every one of those symbols, you’ll see that it’s in a real sense difficult to recognize a large portion of them from the pack. They’re all pretty comparative masses, generally comprising of similar four tones.
Readiness contrasts dependent on the food type. A few nourishments can be eaten in their common structures, for example, brownies and organic product. Different nourishments require adding water, for example, macaroni and cheddar or spaghetti. The broiler is utilized for warming nourishments to the correct serving temperature in space. There are no fridges in space, so space food must be put away and arranged appropriately to evade deterioration, particularly on longer missions.
The shaved area started to vanish from the congregation additional time as Catholicism experienced changes after some time. Difficulties like the Crusade wars, Martin Luther’s Reformation, the thirty-year war, and the Industrial Revolution brought social changes inside the congregation. Hundreds of years after Gregorio VII’s presentation of the required shaved area, numerous priests deserted the hair style. In 1972, Pope VI prohibited the shaved area hair style for any priests inside the Catholic Church, proclaiming the finish of the 900-year-old hair style.
The viability of prebiotic fiber to create calming SCFAs will be reliant on the status of the space explorer’s microbiome (presence/types/levels of fiber fermenters). Exactness microbiome adjustment with discrete dietary prebiotic fiber structures that advance the creation of SCFAs with mitigating potential might be of critical advantage to future space missions.When all that starts appearing to be identical, we wind up battling to locate the correct symbol — once more. So we’re starting over. We need to invest in much more mental energy to discover what we’re looking for.The tonsure started to vanish from the congregation extra time as Catholicism experienced changes over the long haul. Difficulties like the Crusade wars, Martin Luther’s Reformation, the thirty-year war, and the Industrial Revolution brought social changes inside the congregation. Hundreds of years after Gregorio VII’s presentation of the obligatory shaved area, numerous priests deserted the hair style. In 1972, Pope VI prohibited the shaved area hair style for any priests inside the Catholic Church, proclaiming the finish of the 900-year-old hair style.
Preceding bundling, food is brisk frozen and afterward positioned into a vacuum chamber. The vacuum eliminates all dampness from the food. They are then bundled while still in the vacuum chamber. Freeze-drying gives nourishments that will safeguard their sustenance and taste characteristics inconclusively. They are very light and reduced and require no refrigeration.
Clearly this pattern is just accellerating. On the off chance that Google is utilizing conflicting tones now, at that point the following enormous thing will be terrible, conflicting inclinations. Here are two or three models. | https://medium.com/@doidstrou664/over-the-past-48-hours-i-have-proposed-this-idea-to-the-ceo-bal-218bf0a96 | [] | 2020-12-03 20:08:02.430000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Mental Health', 'Music', 'CEO', 'Education'] |
Automate Application Monitoring with Slack | Automate Application Monitoring with Slack
A tutorial to build an alerting Slack bot using Python, Apache Airflow and AWS Elasticsearch Carlton Marshall II Follow Sep 8 · 12 min read
Application monitoring plays a key role in maintaining a robust application and ensuring a positive, uninterrupted experience for customers. While application monitoring comes in many different shapes and sizes, some strategies are proven to be more effective than others. A Slack bot is a great tool to use for teams to monitor the health, performance and availability of their application. After all, where are the developers and other members of the team always active and logged on during the day? Slack.
This facet of workplace culture makes Slack the perfect candidate to send alerts for application monitoring. Slack has already retained the attention of the development team. This fact can be leveraged to send intelligent, meaningful alerts about the team’s application which can be acted on quickly and effectively. In this blog post, I will cover the basics of how to create a Slack bot that will monitor your application using Python, Apache Airflow and Elasticsearch.
My experience as a TDP working on Slack bots at Capital One
I’m a Senior Associate Software Engineer here at Capital One in the Technology Development Program. The Technology Development Program — also known as TDP — is a two-year rotational program for recent computer science graduates. As part of the program, associates are embedded into full time agile development teams to work on various projects across the enterprise. A day in the life of a TDP associate might include attending the team’s daily standup meeting, implementing a new application feature, attending an executive speaker event during lunch, and then deploying that feature into production before the day is over! At the end of year one in the program, associates rotate to a new team in order to pick up new skills, expand their professional network, and work with new technologies. Many TDPs also chose to go above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities by getting involved with recruiting efforts or mentorship initiatives such as CODERS, which is a Capital One program designed to inspire the next generation of technologists. During my two-year experience in the TDP, I took advantage of a leadership opportunity called the TDP Council. The TDP Council is an associate-elected committee of TDP leaders tasked with organizing networking and engagement events for the entire 1,000+ member class.
My current team develops and maintains a web application which is used by leadership to view metrics about the technology that powers our associates each and every day. On this web application — built using Python, Angular, Apache Airflow and AWS — users can find metrics about hardware compliance, vulnerability findings, and internal software application usage data. My team also uses a Slack bot to monitor our application. When data is missing from our Elasticsearch database, our Slack bot is triggered and sends a message to our team’s Slack channel. This alert message indicates which datasets are missing, and from which region or environment. I also developed an enhanced version of this Slack bot which calculates the percentage change in size of our Elasticsearch indices from day-to-day. These alerts are sent if a particular index grows or shrinks in size more than a set threshold amount compared to a 30-day average. This indicates to our team that there could be a data duplication issue or a partial data deletion issue. These alerts empower our development team to investigate and fix the data issues before customers are impacted.
Understanding the different types of application monitoring
Before getting into the technical implementation steps for an alerting Slack bot, we must understand what the different types of application monitoring are, and why they are so important.
At the end of the day, our job as engineers is to deliver a great user experience for our users. This includes an intuitive user interface, a holistic user experience, and an application that is fast and highly available — meaning very low downtime and latency. Let’s take, for example, a banking web application that allows users to view account information. A development team might be interested in monitoring various aspects of this application to ensure it’s delivering value for customers on a consistent basis. These application monitoring categories might include:
Uptime and Downtim e — The development team might monitor the uptime and downtime of the application, which refers to how often the banking website is up and running.
e — The development team might monitor the uptime and downtime of the application, which refers to how often the banking website is up and running. Performance — The development team might monitor the performance of the application, which refers to how quickly users’ requests about their accounts are returned.
— The development team might monitor the performance of the application, which refers to how quickly users’ requests about their accounts are returned. Missing Dat a — The development team might monitor for missing data in the application which refers to customer account data that has been lost, deleted or corrupted.
a — The development team might monitor for missing data in the application which refers to customer account data that has been lost, deleted or corrupted. General Logs — The development team might monitor general logs from the application which refers to the tracking of all user activity.
— The development team might monitor general logs from the application which refers to the tracking of all user activity. Unusual Activity — The development team might monitor unusual account activity on the application which might be a sign of a security breach.
All of these are examples of some of the most common aspects of an application that a development team would want to monitor. If these aspects of an application go unchecked, the results could be catastrophic. Continuing with the example of the banking web application, here are some things that would go wrong:
Uptime and Downtime — If the banking application is down for too long, customers won’t have access to their accounts and won’t be able to make transfers or view balances.
— If the banking application is down for too long, customers won’t have access to their accounts and won’t be able to make transfers or view balances. Performance — If the banking application is too slow, customers might become frustrated and the bank’s customer service line could become overwhelmed. Or worse, customers might take their business elsewhere.
— If the banking application is too slow, customers might become frustrated and the bank’s customer service line could become overwhelmed. Or worse, customers might take their business elsewhere. Missing Data — If a customer notices missing data in their bank account, this could have serious implications for the bank, and the bank’s brand could be severely damaged if this is a widespread issue.
— If a customer notices missing data in their bank account, this could have serious implications for the bank, and the bank’s brand could be severely damaged if this is a widespread issue. General Logs — If logs are not properly kept about user behaviour while using the banking application, this could have legal and ethical risks. While the bank would want to keep logs for auditing purposes, they must also keep in mind consumer privacy.
— If logs are not properly kept about user behaviour while using the banking application, this could have legal and ethical risks. While the bank would want to keep logs for auditing purposes, they must also keep in mind consumer privacy. Unusual Activity — If the banking application does not have mechanisms in-place to monitor for and detect nefarious activity, then this activity could be allowed to happen on the bank’s watch.
Clearly, application monitoring is an absolutely vital aspect of building and maintaining a robust application. In this tutorial, we will uncover how to set up a Slack bot that monitors an application and sends an alert message if missing data is detected.
Tutorial for building a Slack bot using Apache Airflow and Python
My team uses a tech stack for our web application that consists of Apache Airflow, Python, Angular and Elasticsearch. And, of course, all of this is deployed into Amazon Web Services — also known as AWS — in order to be highly scalable, available and resilient. Although Capital One is a bank, we operate much like a tech company and have already exited all of our data centers and have went all-in on cloud computing and AWS,
Apache Airflow is an open-source workflow management platform which we use to define batch processes to extract, transform, and load data into an Elasticsearch cluster. Elasticsearch is a NoSQL database and uses a concept known as indices, which is the largest unit of data in Elasticsearch. Indices are logical partitions of documents (JSON objects) and can be compared to a database in the world of relational databases. Airflow presents a concept known as a DAG, or Directed Acyclic Graph, which is essentially a workflow or collection of tasks that you want to run which is defined in a Python script. Our team has numerous DAGs that run throughout the day, extracting data from different sources, transforming this data into the proper format, and then loading it into Elasticsearch so that our web application can consume it. Sometimes these DAGs, or workflows, fail for various reasons. In response to this, our team developed a DAG which checks for the existence of all our different data indices in Elasticsearch. If data is missing, an alert is triggered which sends a message to our team’s Slack channel using a Slack bot.
Let’s now dive into the steps for creating a Slack bot using Apache Airflow and Python, to send an alert when data is missing from an Elasticsearch database. This tutorial assumes that you have already set up and deployed an instance of Apache Airflow and are now ready to start developing new DAGs.
Step 1 — File Structure
For this example, here is what our directory structure will look like. We have one file called send_slack_alert.py which contains the code and business logic for sending our alert messages to Slack. The file slack_alert_dag.py contains the code for the pipeline definition. slack_alert_dag.py will ultimately be interpreted into a DAG on the Apache Airflow user interface and send_slack_alert.py will be the code that is executed during the workflow.
.
├── Slack Bot Project
└── src
├── send_slack_alert.py
└── slack_alert_dag.py
Step 2 — Setting up the DAG
"""Airflow DAG to run the missing index Slack alert process."""
from datetime import datetime
from datetime import timedelta
from airflow import DAG
from airflow.models import Variable
from airflow.operators.bash import BashOperator
script_dir = Variable.get("script_dir")
default_args = {
"retries": 1,
"start_date": datetime(2020, 1, 19),
"retry_delay": timedelta(minutes=5),
}
# 4:00 PM EST
schedule = "0 20 * * *"
dag = DAG(
"slack_alert_example",
default_args=default_args,
catchup=False,
schedule_interval=schedule,
)
slack_alert = """
python {{ params.script_dir }}/send_slack_alert.py
"""
t1 = BashOperator(
task_id="slack_alert",
bash_command=slack_alert,
dag=dag,
params={
"script_dir": script_dir,
},
)
Here in the slack_alert_dag.py file there is code which contains the pipeline definition for our DAG. This code defines the structure and behavior of our DAG which will ultimately send out our Slack alerts during the workflow.
First, we declare a variable script_dir that contains the directory of our script once Apache Airflow has been deployed. Airflow variables are a generic way to store and retrieve metadata within Airflow, and can be updated using the user interface, with code or with the command line interface.
that contains the directory of our script once Apache Airflow has been deployed. Airflow variables are a generic way to store and retrieve metadata within Airflow, and can be updated using the user interface, with code or with the command line interface. Second, I have declared some arguments for the DAG, such as how many times it should retry, when the DAG should initially start, and how long the DAG should wait between retries. These arguments are assigned to the default_args variable.
variable. Third, I declare the schedule for the DAG and assign this to the schedule variable. I want the DAG to run at 4:00pm EST every day. The time is in cron notation and it is based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
for the DAG and assign this to the schedule variable. I want the DAG to run at 4:00pm EST every day. The time is in cron notation and it is based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Fourth, I define some characteristics of the DAG such as its name, schedule, and default arguments and assign this to the dag variable.
variable. Fifth, t1 refers to the first task that will be executed in this workflow. When the DAG runs, it will run the bash script defined by the slack_alert variable which will run our Python code to send Slack alerts for any missing data from Elasticsearch.
Step 3 — Writing the code to send Slack alerts
def main():
generate_missing_index_alerts()
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
Now that we have written the code that defines our DAG which will run in Apache Airflow, we now must write the code that will actually send out the Slack alerts for application monitoring purposes. Here is our main function, the entry point to our program. When the DAG workflow kicks off, this Python code will be executed. The main function of the program calls generate_missing_index_alerts() which contains the business logic for the program.
def generate_missing_index_alerts():
"""
Generates Slack alerts for missing Elasticsearch indices.
"""
indices_to_check = [
"accounts_index",
"users_index",
"employees_index"
]
elasticsearch_url = 'https://my-elasticsearch-url.us-east-1.es.amazonaws.com/_cat/indices?s=index'
# Query Elasticsearch URL for string of all indices that exist.
elasticsearch_indices = str(urlopen(elasticsearch_url).read())
# Generate a list of any indices which are missing from Elasticsearch.
missing_indices = generate_missing_indices(indices_to_check, elasticsearch_indices)
# If there are missing indices in the Elasticsearch instance.
if missing_indices:
alert_message = f"Alert! The following indices are missing from Elasticsearch:
"
# For each missing index.
for missing_index in missing_indices:
# Add the index name to the alert message.
alert_message += f"`{missing_index}`
"
# Send the alert message to Slack.
send_slack_alert(alert_message)
The generate_missing_index_alerts() function is the core of our program to send out Slack alerts. First, the code queries the URL for our Elasticsearch instance to retrieve all available indices and assigns this data to the elasticsearch_indices variable. Next, the generate_missing_indices() function is called which will return a list of indices which are missing from our Elasticsearch instance.
We are passing in a list of three indices to check for in the generate_missing_indices() function:
accounts_index users_index employees_index
These are three sample indices that should exist in our Elasticsearch instance. Once we have gathered a list of all of the missing indices from our Elasticsearch instance, we can send out a Slack alert!
def generate_missing_indices(indices_list: list, elasticsearch_indices: str) -> list:
"""
Returns list of indices which are missing from Elasticsearch.
:param indices_list: List of indices to check for existence.
:param elasticsearch_indices: String of all existing Elasticsearch indices.
:return: List of missing indices from Elasticsearch.
"""
list_of_missing_indicies = []
# For each index that should exist.
for index in indices_list:
# If the index does not exist in Elasticsearch.
if index not in elasticsearch_indices:
# Add this index to the list of missing indices.
list_of_missing_indicies.append(index)
return list_of_missing_indicies
Here we can see the code for the generate_missing_indices() function that generates a list of missing indices from our Elasticsearch instance. Given a list of indices that we expect to exist, and a list of indices that currently exist, this function will return a list of all missing indices. Once we have this list of missing Elasticsearch indices we can send out an alerting message for them.
def send_slack_alert(message: str):
"""
Sends alert messages to Slack for any missing Elasticsearch indices.
:param message: Message to be sent to Slack channel.
"""
slack_message = {
"channel": "#my_teams_channel",
"username": "My Slack Bot",
"text": message
}
# Messages sent to this webhook will be sent to the Slack channel
# which has been configured.
slack_webhook = "https://hooks.slack.com/services/my-webhook"
# Send a POST request to the Slack webhook, which will send the message
# to the configured Slack channel.
requests.post(
slack_webhook, json.dumps(slack_message).encode("utf-8")
)
Here we can see code that finally sends out our Slack alerts. Given a message to send out, this function uses the requests Python library to send out an HTTP POST request to the Slack webhook. The Slack webhook can be configured on your Slack dashboard. When messages are posted to this webhook URL, Slack will post the messages to the Slack channel of your choosing that you have configured.
Step 4 — Testing that the application monitoring alerts have been sent!
Now that we have implemented all of our code, we can see that a Slack alert message has been sent by our Slack bot! It appears that in our example, the accounts_index index is missing from Elasticsearch. Thanks to our Slack bot we were able to identify and fix this issue before customers were impacted.
Conclusion
Application monitoring plays a critical role in maintaining a robust application, as I have described. There are many aspects of an application that an agile development team might be interested in monitoring. These include monitoring downtime, performance, missing data, general logs and unusual activity. If any of these aspects of an application go unmonitored, chaos could ensue for the end user of that application. Thus, systems must be put in place by the development team to alert on these items early and often. A great strategy to accomplish this is to create a Slack bot that sends monitoring alerts about the application to the team’s Slack channel. Team members are already logged into Slack throughout the day communicating with colleagues. By interweaving smart, actionable and informative application monitoring alerts into existing Slack channels, the development team can act them in a timely manner. In this tutorial I explained how to set up one such application monitoring Slack bot using Python, Apache Airflow and Elasticsearch. However, the principles that I have laid out can be applied to almost any tech stack or application. The responsibilities of a development team in an enterprise setting are constantly growing. It would be advantageous for the team to put measures in place to automate as much as possible. By setting up a Slack bot that monitors the application 24-hours per day, the development team is able to save time and work on the truly interesting tasks. But, once the alerting Slack bot detects an anomaly about the application, the development team can be notified immediately and jump into action to fix the issue. | https://medium.com/capital-one-tech/automate-application-monitoring-with-slack-9e4e498652a3 | ['Carlton Marshall Ii'] | 2021-09-08 14:48:02.083000+00:00 | ['Application Monitoring', 'Slack', 'Python', 'AWS', 'Apache Airflow'] |
What it’s like to eat at one of the best restaurants in the world? | We humans always have been fascinated by awe-inspiring experiences. Since ancients times, explorers and artists had found worthy the risk of entry to new fields with the hope of discovering something. With the past of time and the advances in science and technologies, they are less external experiences that can generate genuine awe in us. Basically, nothing impresses us, nothing gets us out of our comfort zone. We believe we just can google everything.
That informational arrogance comes with a dangerous dark side: the laziness to expand our perception. Travel, technology and food are some of the few areas we are delivering using to experience more awe in our lives, defined as the emotion that arises when one encounters something so strikingly vast that it provokes a need to update one’s mental schemas (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). What Neil deGrasse Tyson calls the cosmic perspective, where we see the big picture, and we are reset, we are transformed. It forces to re-accommodate our mental models of the world in order to assimilate the experience.
A study out of Stanford University on the subject of awe found that regular incidences in which we experience awe leave in us increased feelings of compassion, empathy, altruism and general well-being. In other words, getting your mind blown is good for you.
In 2014, I made a research about how a small restaurant on the remote costa brava in Spain was named 5 times the best restaurant in the world and Ferran Adria one of the most influential chefs have ever existed. After going deep into El Bulli’s creative process, I found fascinating how they applied the concepts of lean startups, design thinking, user experience and agile way before those concepts exist in IT, to build the legacy of this iconic restaurant. I made a short talk at the CanUX that year titled How El Bulli turned dining into an experience. After the talk, one of the most common questions I got was: “What it’s like to eat at El Bulli?” Unfortunately, I could not respond to that question because the restaurant has closed in 2011.
Just after El Bulli closed, Ferran’s brother, Albert Adria and former creative director, opened a new restaurant in Barcelona named Tickets: initially planned as a traditional tapas restaurant, but after El Bulli fans quickly set the expectations, Tickets pivot to Avant-Garde Cuisine and start it raise to the top. Albert Adria was named The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2015 and Tickets one of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2018. You can see more details on the Netflix series Chef’s Table: S05 E04. (highly recommend)
This fall, after years of wondering me, I have the chance to finally response the original question: What it’s like to eat at one of the best restaurants in the world?
But before the food experience, let me share some facts about avant-garde restaurants:
Get a table at Tickets is not easy. Mark Zuckerberg and Lionel Messi are some of their famous visitors. It not impossible difficult as it was for El Bulli, but required 3 or 4 months to book in advance. We were extremely lucky to arrive without a reservation and get the help of Albert Adria itself to find a table. Maybe I’ll share how I made that happen in another post.
Once you are at the table, you can choose to order your plates from the menu but that will limit the experience to your knowledge of the Avant-Garde Cuisine. We choose for the degustation menu selected by the waitress based on our preferences and allergies.
Be ready to stay and eat for at least 3 hours. Portions are small, often you ended with one or two bites but you will try a large number of dishes and desserts.
You will feel a weird sensation of being fool by the food, but you will love it.
This is not a regular price dinner. You don’t have to take a second mortgage to pay for it but count with a bill x3 to x4 more expensive than a regular fancy dinner. We can debate about the ROI of this, but sometimes we pay for expensive food that is basically garbage or for example, in Singapore, we pay only $3 for a Michelin star dish at the legendary Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice. All is relative of how it makes you feel at the end.
Back to Tickets, the decoration resembles the time of Circus and Willy Wonka, with lights and colorful posters | https://solanojuan.medium.com/what-its-like-to-eat-at-one-of-the-best-restaurants-in-the-world-3bd05b7b60e6 | ['J. P. Solano'] | 2019-01-24 16:56:22.021000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Foodies', 'UX', 'Inspiration', 'Food'] |
Pollution in Washington, DC: An examination of how the media has polluted our minds for stagnant change | Pollution in Washington, DC: An examination of how the media has polluted our minds for stagnant change
Kenneth Gergen’s The Saturated Self, warned humans about the rise of technology and its ability to possibly saturate the mind of human beings. This extreme “saturation” is a result of too many influences from the mass media, creating uncertainty in the psyche of American citizens. The concept goes by the name of “multiphrenia” and is exactly what America today is experiencing.
Before I start with how multiphrenia is impacting our society, I have a couple questions for the reader. How did you find this article? Did you click on the ad I paid for on Snapchat Stories? Did the big pop-up on your laptop screen bother you until you clicked this link? Or, none of the above? You found it out of general curiosity for how multiphrenia is impacting political participation in the District of Columbia. Sure.
So, why is examining the media important to understanding the minds of the masses? The answer is quite simple: there are trillions of new sources and news companies that make a profit based off of the clicks of the average American looking to feel satisfied with their knowledge on recent events. They track our likes dislikes, they track what movie we just saw, they track who we are. They know what we want to hear and how we want to hear it. For brief clarification, by “they” I mean the FBI agent hiding behind our computer screen. There is no thrill about learning something new about somebody because all of our facts can be found on our Tinder page or Instagram handle (by the way, mine is @alennazweiback feel free to subscribe to my content).
You probably already know about this stuff. You tell yourself you will take a cleanse from social media but you say that while taking a buzzfeed quiz on what Christmas sweater you should wear to your ex-girlfriend’s Friendsgiving. It’s okay, I understand, it’s not your fault. It’s the media’s. I am not being sarcastic.
The Environmentalist movement began to pick up speed in the District in the 1970’s. After World War II, the rise of technology posed a dramatic threat to environmental stability. New highways, housing developments, and airports enhanced the use of chemical waste in the air, leading to public concern regarding the protection of our Earth. In “The Environmental Movement” by Sam Hays, credits the increase in public attention to the idea of aesthetics. Hays states that “much of the initial interest concerned aesthetics; smoke made cities unattractive, and raw sewage floating in streams, such as the Potomac River in Washington, DC, was both unsightly and offensive to human smell.” Although concerns at first were almost superficial, the idea of the once beautiful Potomac River being destroyed by sewage absorbed the public’s attention. In July of 1970, the Gladwin Hill Special for The New York Times updated the public on the District of Columbia Water Quality Administration report on the Potomac saying that “‘[Sewage] sludge deposits have blanketed fish spawning grounds and destroyed the bottom aquatic life on which fish feed. Along the margins of the estuary sludge deposits have released obnoxious odors when uncovered by ebb tide. Floating sludge masses, lifted by gases of decomposition, add to other debris on the water’s surface.’” The general public became increasingly more concerned about the current state of their environment, and the popular demands lead to legislation.
The Potomac River as of 2017.
Musician and activist, Pete Seeger, is amongst the general public who contributed to the masses concern for the environment. In the late 1960’s, Seeger and some friends built a replica of a sloop, a 106 foot long vessel that is known as the forerunner of the Environmentalist Movement. People all over the nation would listen for the group of men that traveled in this boat, who hoped to bring people closer to the issue of Pollution. The New York Times did a special interview on one of Seeger’s stops where Seeger explains his method saying “‘we’ve sailed for a year now up and down the river showing people what the river used to be, how it’s polluted now and what it can be,’ Mr. Seeger said, ‘but now we’re going to Washington because the problems of the American rivers can’t be solved by people like me who live on them. Only the Federal Government has the power to enact and enforce the laws that are needed.’”
The Clearwater Sloop celebrating in 2008.
It seems as though Peter Seeger’s request for the Federal Government to take control of the issue worked. Over the next two decades, the representatives both locally and domestically enforced new ideas to help counter pollution. The District of Columbia Water Pollution Control Act of 1984 and the Hazardous Waste Management Act of 1984 were the first big legislation of its kind to help address the issue of pollution. The Water Pollution Control Act of 1984 was created to counter the issue of water pollution in the District restore aquatic life in District waters for aesthetic enjoyment, for recreation, and for industry. The Hazardous Waste Management Act focused on the amount of hazardous waste was being released from companies operating on the riverbank, and offered fines against them if they went above a certain Hazardous levels.
Pollution Protests all over the nation pressured legislation.
This spurred great improvements regarding the wicked problem of pollution. By the 2000s, the District of Columbia passed over 10 bills of legislation to further the research and improvement of pollution in the Potomac. The District of Columbia Oil Liability Trust Fund, the District of Columbia Underground Storage Tank Fund, and the District of Columbia Water Pollution Control Contingency Plan are examples of a few that created optimism within the District. These bills sparked a major domino effect of political participation. More people began to notice the prominence of the issue and that our representatives were taking this seriously.
It did not last. Since 2010, only two solutions have been proposed about the issue that really should not be an issue anymore. One of which isn’t exactly a “solution” but more of an awareness factor. The DC Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant was a machine that would help the filtering of polluted water. The Potomac Riverkeeper Network hosts multiple events to aware awareness for pollution in the Potomac. Essentially, the Potomac Riverkeeper does what the Clearwater did.
Annual river cleanup hosted by the Potomac Riverkeeper Network.
Recently, a Potomac River coal plant was cited for illegal storage of toxic coal by the Department of Water and Power in Maryland. If you look it up, only one article will cover the news of it. No fine was cited against the company, despite its violations against the law. The sound of active citizens on social media is dead silent.
Within the last decade, there have been no solutions proposed and pollution in the Potomac has increased. Why is that happening? Why is the media not covering it? Why are people not getting involved? The answer is simple: if A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C. If people get their knowledge from the news, and the news does not cover issues like this, then the people will have no knowledge about this and not enforce push back on their politicians.
So what do we do moving forward? How do we fix this problem of the media affecting how we advocate change? I think I know the answer: we pollute the Potomac by throwing away our phones. Maybe then, people will start to notice the overflow of sewage and dead aquatic life that floats on the Potomac while they scream for the mercy of their iphone 10. | https://medium.com/hope-in-the-dark/pollution-in-washington-dc-an-examination-of-how-the-media-has-polluted-our-minds-for-stagnant-fba7a9c13319 | ['Alenna Zweiback'] | 2019-11-14 16:35:49.822000+00:00 | ['Environmentalism', 'Washington DC', 'Pollution', 'Environment', 'Potomac River'] |
Stoicism and Working from Home | Our (post-)modern world prided itself on having overcome plagues like those which horrified many of us in our high-school history classes. The last two centuries have also seen the widespread separation of the home from the workplace, and the spread of dedicated educational institutions for our kids.
With 2020’s hindsight, however, we can now see that many of us were a bit too hasty in assuming that all this progress was irreversible. In ways most of us couldn’t have imagined, the world has since been widely ‘locked down’ by a pandemic that has now killed several million human beings. Lockdowns continue in many countries in April 2021.
People in cities almost everywhere have been asked, even legally required, to work and stay at home, except under strict conditions. Many of us have become teachers to our children, in ways for which we have had no formal training.
Bedrooms have become classrooms, dining rooms offices, and our computers windows out upon the world, as well as meeting rooms, cafes and social clubs.
Many of the barriers have broken down which allowed us to keep public and private, work and home lives, business and pleasure compartmentalized. These barriers had (and have) psychological, as well as social importance. They enable us to retire from work into privacy, and return rejuvenated from time alone or with loved ones to the ardors of work.
Their removal has hence created many new potential stressors. Many relationships have been strained, and homes have been broken. In many ways, coronavirus has just made more extreme the wider tendency that social media, mobile devices, and the rapid spread of the internet have been visiting on us for two decades.
Yet, even the most extroverted person has a need, and ideally a right, to a space into which they can withdraw, if not Marcus Aurelius’ inner citadel, or Michel de Montaigne’s back room of the shop. We all need to adapt to our changing technological and work conditions, so we can make them work for us.
Stoicism is a philosophy designed to help us best deal with whatever fortune throws our way. It can furnish helpful advice, in the new worlds of working at home, and on tech, that Covid has brought in its wake.
1. apply the dichotomy of control
From go to woe in Stoic practical philosophy, there is the dichotomy of control. This is the principle with which the philosopher Epictetus famously opens his Manual (Encheiridion 1):
Some things are in our control and others are not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, public office, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions. The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, in the power of others
None of us individually chose Covid. Few of us have our hands on the levers of power to choose lockdown, or its lifting. To struggle against the realities of a pandemic, by imagining that it is somehow unreal is to engage in wishful thinking. It is also to deny the real losses and sufferings of many millions, including many of the most vulnerable in our communities, in ways which skirt being deeply inhumane.
If it helps, think of mask-wearing and the many inconveniences of working from home as an act of self-sacrifice to help combat a lethal foe. Far from being a sign of weakness or cowardice, in this light, staying home is a noble thing, an act of strength and of service.
2. eutaxia, dividing your time and unifying your attention
One value of spatially separating work and the home has been that most people could give undivided attention to their work, at one place, and to leisure and the people we love, everywhere else. This spatial separation is now impossible for many. So, we must create it virtually, by exercising the Stoic virtue of eutaxia, good ordering.
Lockdown doesn’t mean we can’t still set aside places within the home which can be separated from shared spaces — if only by a door. Some of us have sheds or pods we can convert to home offices. This is a prudent move.
As for our time and capacity to pay attention, Zeus (read: our nature) has given us sovereign control over that. The problem for many people is that they now have too much control over their time, without the supervision of others around them in a shared workspace. We have had all to become our own bosses, in some ways.
Set aside time to plan therefore each day and, where possible, each week. Separate in advance times of the days when you will work, and when not. Inform your loved ones, including your kids, when these times will be. So they can shape their expectations around this schedule.
Such scheduling in advance seems so obvious as to be trivial. (Most workplaces will have meetings and internal deadlines which also give people good starts.) But premeditation in different forms is a definitively Stoic practice. And working from home, with others, means that when we don’t plan and subdivide our time, we see the costs a lot more quickly.
We then find ourselves working whilst parrying the kids, or juggling domestic tasks. In such a situation, we don’t pay undivided attention to our home lives— since we are half on the computers. But we don’t pay undivided attention to our work either. This is a situation which builds stress, frustration, and potential discord, if we then blame our loved ones for our inability to keep up with work.
With preplanning and forewarning, such triggers can be avoided.
3. when you knock off, turn off all work apps & devices
When you knock off, you need to knock off, even if you don’t hop in the car or on the train for a commute. Log out of your work computer, if you have one. Log out of the work email on your phone, if you have it on. Put the device aside until the morning, if it is a work-owned device.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Make a vow to yourself that you will only look at work emails during dedicated hours, or answer work calls when you are on the clock. This is an application of the virtue of justice, giving to each their due. Most of us are not paid to be 24 hours on call. Doctors and health specialists typically receive extra allowances for making themselves available in this way.
You also owe your family and loved ones your nonwork time. You owe yourself your leisure time. Think of this as being just to yourself.
If we find ourselves always feeling open to being contacted and called upon, this creates a sense of unease and scatteredness — what the Roman texts call stultitia. Clients, partners, students can wait until 8:30 am to receive our replies. If anything is really urgent, there will be special channels of communication which enable such emergencies to be addressed.
So, when you knock off, turn your work devices, and the work part of yourself, off.
4. leave (possible) anger with the sender
We cannot control what others think. Nor what they think of us. Many people out there have standards and values we don’t share. They evaluate us using those standards in ways that can surprise us, and strike us as unjust, foolish, or even malign.
Stoicism doesn’t deny any of this. On the contrary. Readers will know Marcus Aurelius’ morning practice, in the very first thought of Meditations II, 1:
Emails, with all of their conveniences, have not diminished the ways people can judge and misunderstand each other, and argue.
When we receive an email (or a text-only message on social media), we receive just words on a screen. We don’t have access to the expression or body language of the sender. We don’t hear their tone. We can’t ask them to clarify anything they’ve written, which we’ve found ambiguous or potentially unsettling.
All this means, as Donald Robertson has discussed, that we are much more likely to read something awry than if we were chatting face to face. (Plato already picked up on some of these issues, with writing, as far back as his Phaedrus). Anything we write to others, meanwhile, presents the same challenges for them.
So, what should we do from a Stoic perspective when, sitting at home in the study, with the kids next door, someone emails us something we find hostile or unfair?
Marcus’ morning premeditation from Meditations II, 1 should be close to your mind in these moments. This type of thing is as old as human beings, and as young as each new day. It is happening to millions of people right now, and at every moment.
For a start, don’t respond straight away:
We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth. Let not our ears be easily lent to calumnious talk …” (Seneca, On Anger II, 24)
Apply the dichotomy of control ((1) above), and realize that all you have control over is how you respond. Recall that this person will have only said what they thought was rightful, however unbalanced we find their views.
Recall also that the email medium is limited, in ways we have said. Acknowledge that you may therefore be interpreting this email incorrectly.
Recall also Epictetus’ wonderful little metaphor of the two handles of any situation. One handle will lead you to assent to the idea that you have been harmed (‘this person is unbearable …’ etc.), and lead to forms of distress, as well as an angry response which will probably make things worse. The other handle will not (‘whatever s/he might say, it is in my power to respond with patience …’).
Try putting the best possible spin on the words that initially trouble you. As Seneca suggests in On Anger, even try setting up a mock advocate for the sender in your head, presenting them in the best light:
We ought, therefore, to plead the cause of the absent against ourselves, and to keep our anger in abeyance: for a punishment which has been postponed may yet be inflicted, but when once inflicted cannot be recalled. (Seneca, On Anger II, 22)
Remember also that, before you reply, the person reading your email is in the same boat, in terms of possible misconstruals of your words. So, if there is anything you feel you need to say, which might be construed as itself problematic, exercise caution.
Consider emailing and asking the person to chat by zoom or telephone. This will enable you to ask and answer, clarify and correct, and for your colleague to make their position clearer.
5. exercise good companionship (eusunallaxia)
Wherever there are enough people, even (or especially) in online groups, there is almost always rumor-mongering and gossip— see again Marcus’s Meditations II, 1. The virtuality of working from home might reduce this in many ways. But it creates other media for it. Also, where disquiet or ‘toxicity’ is being spread around, we can now take it direct into our homes.
The Stoic lists of virtues include, under justice, the specific excellence of eusunallaxia, good companionship. This is the knowledge of how to relate to others without blame. Under moderation, the Stoics include the confirming virtue of aidēmosyne, a sense of honor in how we treat others.
If someone relates to you something ‘bad’ about a third party, always respond with caution. If they are in distress, comfort them. Advise (or, where your role makes this appropriate, assist) them to follow available procedures in your workplace for redress.
But do not immediately share their perspective or their pathos. Empathize that they are feeling distress, but don’t become angered or grieved yourself.
Remember that you have only one person’s hearsay at this point. Recall also that the third party being negatively presented will have their side of any story. The allegations about them might be unfair, or motivated by any number of ignoble intentions. So, to accept the first account you hear, without hearing the others’ side(s) of things, is unjust, and a breech of good companionship towards the impugned.
Recall also the basic principle of the rule of law: that everyone deserves the presumption of innocence, even when they have in fact acted poorly, and the right to defend their actions.
A Stoic can’t rightly stand by and let injustices and nastiness transpire. But we should also recognize that each person has a different role in any institution. However much people might want us to take sides in disputes, it usually isn’t our rightful place to do so, only to assist in treating everyone justly.
If there are emails about such divisive subjects that must be attended to, and which threaten to create stress you might carry with you into your home life, apply the scheduling advice (2). Make a time to read these emails when your attention is undivided, and when you can reflect coolly on how to respond.
If you find yourself going over such situations in your head, again set aside a time to think things over and decide on a course of action, perhaps writing things down to clarify your deliberations. Until and outside of that time, remind yourself as many times as you need to, that these things can wait.
6. remember that all this too will pass
There are gains in time many of us have won in Covid, by not working away from home. For many of us, up to 2–3 hours a day commuting is freed. But as we’ve seen, we now have extra weights on our shoulders, in trying to find and maintain a balance between our different public and private roles.
Those of us with younger families will know firsthand that some days, it becomes impossible to do a full scheduled days’ work, without placing an inordinate caring (and teaching) weight on our partners’ shoulders.
It is worthwhile then to consciously reappraise our expectations, for as long as Covid lasts — in consultation with our loved ones, and our workplace. Prioritizing what needs to be done, and deprioritizing what is less imperative, is sane and sage in these circumstances.
To measure your achievements and shape your expectations by pre-Covid standards may be needlessly setting yourself up for heightened anxieties and disappointments.
Finally, we all should remember that, truly, even pandemics pass. They have in history, and will soon enough tomorrow. Societies will return to a post-Covid-normal, even if many of us continue to work a good deal more from home than pre-2020.
In the meanwhile, we can all take Marcus’ words as another daily Stoic touchstone: | https://medium.com/stoicism-philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/stoicism-and-working-from-home-b0ac74984084 | ['Matthew Sharpe'] | 2021-04-10 00:34:01.992000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Pandemic', 'Working From Home', 'Stoicism', 'Philosophy'] |
What is GIS? A simplified explanation. | TL;DR — A Geographic Information System is an information system that specializes in the storage, retrieval and display of location data.
A GIS retrieves and displays information since the data contains location.
The standard definition of Geographic Information System (GIS) has been written for those who are conversant with GIS for years. This definition does not translate well to laypeople who simply want to know the meaning of the term and don’t seem to find one. Even seasoned GIS professionals fail to sufficiently explain the acronym to general audiences they interact with. Here’s an attempt hoping to provide the required clarity.
Information Systems
To understand the term Geographic Information System, drop the word Geographic and focus on ‘Information System’. An information system is a generic term to describe any system that manages information. An email service such as Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo, can be considered an Information System. This system stores emails, and upon request presents it as information to the user in rows of a table with functions to manage (compose, delete, reply, etc.) the emails. It can be said that an email service or email application is an information system specialized for emails.
Another example of information systems are travel booking websites such as Skyscanner, Expedia, Trivago and others. These information systems specialize in the retrieval of airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships etc. — providing the capability to use the information for a booking. In-fact almost all sites, platforms, apps and software can be imagined as Information Systems that specializes in a certain type or class of data.
And so, the GIS is just that, an Information System that specializes in managing Geographic data.
What is Geographic data?
The Geographic part of the term GIS represents locations in the form of coordinates — a pair of numeric values¹ that are also known as ‘latitude, longitude’ or ‘x,y’. The information system accesses stored coordinates and presents the data as an image drawn on the screen. The coordinates almost always represents locations on earth², which is why the term Geographic is used to describe these information systems. The result of rendering coordinates on a screen is a map that provides a differing perspective to the data available to organizations and people. It is important to mention here that GIS is a lot more than accessing coordinates and presenting a map, but this specific and unique mapping ability categorizes a software³ to be a GIS. | https://medium.com/spatial-information/what-is-gis-a-simplified-explanation-ef990ba7872d | ['Thomas Mathew'] | 2020-09-27 13:26:30.084000+00:00 | ['GIS', 'Location', 'Maps', 'Data', 'Spatial'] |
Can Net Neutrality and Decentralization be the Answer to the Attack on the Internet? | Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
The internet is under attack. All around the world, governments and mega corporations are launching legislation and changes that put the very idea of a free and open internet at risk. Let’s take a look at the who, why, what, where and how this attack is shaping up and what it means to you, as a normal netizen.
Who really controls traffic on the internet?
This threat to the net is not a new development. Back in the early days of the net, we used the ping and traceroute commands to diagnose website traffic problems. We soon noticed that every data packet from every site was passing through routers owned and operated by a tiny handful of telcos at some point in their journey through internet space.
These choke points were a cause for concern among those of us who were the net nerds of the time. We knew how easy it would be for a hacker to bring large segments of the internet to a dead stop merely by attacking these main routers. We also knew the true power of the internet wasn’t in the hands of the users, but rather held by a tiny group of mammoth communications companies. They too could turn the internet for the entire world on and off at a whim, or slow it down with the flip of a switch.
Fast forward to today. While there have been improvements to the security surrounding the router checkpoints of the net, the same tiny group of communications companies with a few additions such as some large cable providers still controls the traffic on the net.
Why is it dangerous for internet accessibility to be held by so few companies?
There are three somewhat obvious reasons for the current system of internet accessibility being held by so few.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
1. Security risks
The main routers and cables, especially the Atlantic underwater cable, are prime targets for hackers, terrorists and even governments. Hackers can hold telcos and major internet entities like Google, Amazon, and Facebook hostage. Bring down the cable or routing chokepoints and you can bring billion dollar entities to their knees.
An unfriendly government could easily use similar tactics to bring the armed forces and central government of even the biggest countries to a grinding halt. It has been said that the next major war will not be fought on a battlefield, but rather in cyberspace. Malicious actors could take down the power grid and interfere with the delivery of other utilities such as water and gas, disrupt vital communications, even cause transportation chaos in everything from traffic and rail signals to air traffic control systems simply by compromising specific routers.
2. Lack of competition
With so few competitors, the consumer is at the mercy of the service provider. In many parts of the world, rural areas and at times entire countries have only one internet provider. With no competition, the telcos have no reason to improve service through upgraded equipment and innovation.
Pricing can be set at whatever the market will bear. Net neutrality — meaning every site is equal, with no one having a surcharge for faster delivery of data — can be ignored. Consumers can be forced into a tiered system of access, with unlimited access to all the sites on the net becoming a thing of the past. Company websites that are in high demand by consumers such as streaming services or social media can be charged a premium to have their product delivered to the customer at high speed, while smaller online sites can have their bandwidth throttled resulting in slow site loading and delivery.
When you’re the only game in town, the consumer and the supplier have zero options to price, availability and speed of data delivery.
3. Government control
When only a few companies control access, it becomes ridiculously easy for a government to control what their population will see on the net. Blocking specific sites, or turning off all access to the online world becomes easy when you only have a handful of providers to handle. Surveillance of internet users can also be easily accomplished when the access providers are controlled by government entities.
Governments can also force those providers to show only government approved material, and government propaganda.
Where is the Net Under Attack?
Control of the internet has been and continues to be under attack all over the world. Countries such as Ethiopia, North Korea and Cuba heavily censor and surveil internet activity.
China limits some world wide sites from having access to the Chinese people. While this could be seen as government censorship, it also allows Chinese sites that compete with those world wide sites to have a captive audience made up of the 1 billion plus Chinese population. By using their power to control the internet, China can keep out anything they don’t want their people to see or hear from world news to foreign competitors for Chinese consumer dollars.
Anti net neutrality laws and policies have been implemented in several countries such as Portugal and most recently the United States. Other countries without net neutrality enforcement include Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and Slovenia. For some, like the United States, these policies were put in place at the behest of the major telcos, for others, the government itself is using these policies and practices to control what their people can access online.
How Can Decentralization Help Safeguard the Internet?
The decentralized blockchain is the answer to several of the problems plaguing the conventional internet. Dcenternet, or Dnet is one of the leaders in decentralized blockchain platforms that can help free the net from the monopolies and governments that now control the conventional internet.
Physical decentralization of all data means data is secure from all third party prying or attempts to edit or change that data. Decentralization also means that no one entity can throttle the speed of the data streams. With companies like Anuvys pioneering an Operating System built on Dnet, we now have a native blockchain OS, which opens the door to unlimited apps, programs and websites running on a platform free from monopolies, government and third party interference, and data stream throttling.
As Naval Ravikant said in his epic series of tweets on blockchain,
Today’s networks are run by “kings, corporations, aristocracies, and mobs.” “And the Rulers of these networks [are] the most powerful people in society.”
Thanks to innovators like Dcenternet and Anuvys, autocratic governments, tech and telecom monopolies will no longer be the most powerful people in internet society. The internet will one again belong to the people who use it, fulfilling the vision of the original developers of the world wide web.
Welcome to the new world of a blockchain enabled internet. | https://medium.com/wespostdotcom/can-net-neutrality-and-decentralization-be-the-answer-to-the-attack-on-the-internet-5589ab844d25 | ['Kay Leclerc'] | 2018-07-20 18:32:17.119000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Net Neutrality', 'Technology', 'Dcenternet', 'Cybersecurity'] |
How Debt Creates Money? | In this short article we will discover an interesting concept that I recently came across about how banks work and how debt creates wealth? This article will be useful for everyone except for true saints. Many of you might already know this concept better so please feel free to share your knowledge in the comment section.
Let’s begin :)
Are you seeing a lot of money floating around, and thinking how people are becoming so rich?
It is because everyone is in debt!
A country’s economy goes up when more citizens are in debt. It goes down as people start paying off their debt.
People fulfill their needs and desires with the money they make. And even when they don’t have such amount, they loan it out from bank.
Dive deep in!
Every bank has something called Cash reserved ratio. Which is nothing but the amount of money that a bank has to keep as savings so that they can not loan it out.
If a bank has 10% Cash reserved ratio. It means that they can loan out 90% of the cash you deposit in it.
Now Let’s say you deposit 1 million rupees in bank A which has a 10% cash reserved ratio. it will loan out 900,000 rs to others and keep your 100,000 in your savings.
Hope you understood the cash reserved ratio.
The bank will give you 6–7% interest on the money you deposit and it will take 10–11% interest on the money it loans out.
A lot of people think that it is the only way bank creates money. NO
Let’s see how?
Banks know of your desires and needs. So they give you special offers on loans. They encourage you to loan out money from them and fulfill your desires and needs.
From your 1 million rs, Bank A has loaned out 900,000 rs to some person. The same person will go and buy a car. He will deposit the amount in the bank which holds a bank account of the car company.
Let’s say the bank is Bank B.
Now Bank B will loan out 90% of the 900,000 rs which is 810,000 to some other person who will again deposit it in some other bank. This process will keep happening and banks will keep circulating the cash.
Now if you see carefully, the 1 million that you deposited has become a little lesser than 2 million only after two circulations.
It has been reported that if bank’s cash reserved ratio is 10% then 1 million will become 1 crore in a span of 10 years.
Now you know the reason why digital currency is being supported in countries. So that banks can have all your money and make more money out of it.
All the transactions that you make are mostly digital. The money that you receive in your bank account are now digital. So basically you don’t receive money, it is your bank who is receiving all the money.
What happens when People start paying off the debt?
Recession!
Recession is a period when the business and industry of a country is not being successful. When the economy goes down and all the small and short businesses fails.
Recession is also like a storm. It clears all the little and small businesses. they all fail and go bankrupt. Only the big and quality companies remain alive.
When recession happens in a country, The country’s central bank decreases the interest rates on loan. So they promote people to loan more money.
When people are in debt, the country’s wealth increases.
:)
END
Thanks for reading! If you know more about this concept and recession please share in the comment section. | https://medium.com/@manikaransingh/how-debt-creates-money-3085bafd8166 | ['Mani Karan Singh'] | 2021-07-15 16:53:32.025000+00:00 | ['Wealth', 'Recession', 'Banks', 'Money', 'Debt'] |
10 things to do for young people starting their career (John C. Maxwell) | The below is a summary of an episode from the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast.
As the end of 2020 is almost here, it’s a great time to stop & reflect. For new graduates starting their careers, or have recently commenced, the below 10 points may seem simple, yet they are incredibly powerful. My suggestion to making this practical is by starting with your personal definition of success & setting up a structure for personally growing everyday.
Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash
1. Every day grow personally. Growing has to be done intentionally with a clear plan. We need to grow ourselves in the areas of our strengths rather than weaknesses, as you can move your strengths to great strengths whilst a weakness can never be a great strength.
A helpful tool to identify strengths is strengths finder. Once you identify areas to grow in, the 3E model may help in scheduling learning everyday.
2. Ask questions. Situations can intimidate us or because we sometimes don’t humble ourselves & want to appear knowledgable. Specially when there is so much we do not know at a young age, asking the right questions can help us get there faster, smarter & easier.
I would suggest that great questions are even so more important than great answers. Harvard Business Review article & John C. Maxwell’s Good Leaders Ask Great Questions book are useful places to start on improving your questions.
No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.
Charles Steinmetz.
3. Develop your personal definition of success. Tying definition of success to goals is a huge mistake. Get away from position, titles and numbers. Success is higher, bigger, much deeper than that. Maxwell’s example of his personal success: knowing my purpose in my life, growing to my potential & sowing seeds that benefit others. Everything that he does in his life is gauged against that definition.
What’s your personal definition of success? It should be yours, not anyone else's. What matters to you the most?
4. Make failure your friend by learning from it. Looking at failure as another opportunity to learn and grow. When we fail, we either learn from it or run away from it and disassociate ourselves from it. We think failure is the opposite of success, when actually it is an ingredient of success. Failure helps us become a better person. It’s part of success. | https://medium.com/@samuelphilipos/10-things-to-do-for-young-people-starting-their-career-john-c-maxwell-971b714b9786 | ['Sam Philipos'] | 2020-12-20 11:08:28.422000+00:00 | ['Failure', 'Careers', 'Success', 'Growth', 'Young Professionals'] |
How to Convert ODS to JPG in Node.JS | File conversion is a huge bummer, isn’t it? Each format has so many specific nuances and trying to code around these can quickly eat up an afternoon. There is a much easier method to accomplish this that will not waste any of your time at all. I’m going to demonstrate for you how to use an API to solve this problem once and for all.
Let’s begin with installation.
"dependencies": {
"cloudmersive-convert-api-client": "^2.4.8"
}
Next comes our API function call:
var CloudmersiveConvertApiClient = require('cloudmersive-convert-api-client'); var defaultClient = CloudmersiveConvertApiClient.ApiClient.instance; // Configure API key authorization: Apikey var Apikey = defaultClient.authentications['Apikey']; Apikey.apiKey = 'YOUR API KEY'; // Uncomment the following line to set a prefix for the API key, e.g. "Token" (defaults to null) //Apikey.apiKeyPrefix = 'Token'; var apiInstance = new CloudmersiveConvertApiClient.ConvertDocumentApi(); var inputFile = "/path/to/file"; // File | Input file to perform the operation on. var opts = { 'quality': 56 // Number | Optional; Set the JPEG quality level; lowest quality is 1 (highest compression), highest quality (lowest compression) is 100; recommended value is 75. Default value is 75. }; var callback = function(error, data, response) { if (error) { console.error(error); } else { console.log('API called successfully. Returned data: ' + data); } }; apiInstance.convertDocumentOdsToJpg(inputFile, opts, callback);
The API is going to do all the hard work for us, returning our converted array of JPGs as raw byte arrays for maximum convenience. Easy. | https://cloudmersive.medium.com/how-to-convert-keynote-ods-to-jpg-in-node-js-c3cc08c82a85 | [] | 2020-07-01 23:20:28.393000+00:00 | ['Ods', 'Nodejs', 'Convert', 'Keynote', 'Jpg'] |
How migration is fuelling the outstanding rise of cricket in Germany | How migration is fuelling the outstanding rise of cricket in Germany
Point out the game of cricket to most Europeans and their eyes glaze over with confusion.
Probably the most English of video games is little recognized in continental Europe.
However that might all be about to alter amid the outstanding and unlikely rise of Germany”s nationwide crew.
They made historical past just lately by making it via to the ultimate stage of qualifying for a significant match — subsequent yr’s T20 World Cup, which is ready to begin in Australia subsequent October. Heading into their remaining sport in opposition to Italy, Germany knew that in the event that they averted a thrashing they had been more likely to progress. And despite the fact that they misplaced the match — by only one run — it was sufficient to take them via.
“It’s a fully wonderful feeling. It’s historic for German cricket,” says Venkat Ganesan, the crew’s captain.
“There have been some wonderful scenes. All people was pumped and leaping with pleasure once we knew that we had certified. It was good.”
The crew will now be part of 15 different international locations within the world qualifiers, to be held early subsequent yr, the place they may compete for one of many remaining 4 spots within the 2022 match.
Plucky underdogs
Regardless of the euphoria of constructing it via to the ultimate stage of qualifiers for the primary time, these concerned with the crew are staying grounded.
“We now have to be practical and say that we’ll be enjoying in opposition to a few of the finest groups on the earth who’ve a price range that’s in all probability 50 occasions larger than ours,” stated Brian Mantle, the CEO of the German Cricket Federation (DCB). “So we’re going into the match as a giant underdog.”
However, Mantle says the qualifiers will present German cricket with the chance to win way over only a spot in subsequent yr’s World Cup.
“Most individuals don’t know that Germany performs cricket. These video games shall be broadcast in all places — on Sky Sports activities in England, on Star Sports activities in India — so individuals will see that there’s a German cricket crew. They’ll be shocked, however it’s our job then to clearly make an impression. That doesn’t essentially imply qualifying for the World Cup, however by performing effectively, enjoying effectively, profitable a few video games and perhaps springing a shock or two.”
From the basement to the brink
The achievement marks one other step within the outstanding rise of German cricket, which in recent times has gone from the cricketing doldrums to the brink of world cup qualification.
And whereas it’d shock many who Germany even has a nationwide crew, the array of expertise inside its ranks is maybe extra stunning.
In an indication of his cricketing credentials, Ganesan, who moved to Germany from Chennai in India to take up a job in an IT firm in 2012, performed each junior and senior consultant cricket for his residence state of Tamil Nadu, and alongside the best way referred to as Indian internationals Ravi Ashwin and Dinesh Kartik — absolute superstars of the sport — his teammates.
The crew additionally contains South African-born Dieter Klein, who performs professionally for English county cricket aspect Leicestershire, Michael Richardson, who loved a decade-long profession with English aspect Durham, and Talha Khan, who performed junior consultant cricket in his native Pakistan.
Including to this, the crew is led by coach Steven Knox, a former Scottish worldwide cricketer, whose professionalism has been credited by gamers and directors alike as key to the aspect’s speedy progress in recent times.
Though the crew has a really worldwide flavour, Mantle — himself an Englishman — says the gamers all have robust hyperlinks to Germany.
“A few of them had been born right here, a few of them realized their cricket right here, and a few of them have moved to Germany, made Germany their residence and lived right here for a number of years. So each single a kind of gamers has a robust connection to Germany,” he says.
Germany’s cricketing explosion
The rise of German cricket isn’t simply restricted to the nationwide crew, nevertheless. Lately the sport has skilled a grassroots explosion to develop into the nation’s fastest-growing crew sport — even when lots of people in Germany nonetheless wouldn’t know their foolish mid-ons from their googlies!
There are round 6,000 registered gamers throughout 370 groups nationwide, up from simply 70 groups 5 years in the past. However even this doesn’t present the complete image: the DCB estimates that when unregistered gamers in unofficial competitions are taken into consideration, the true variety of cricketers within the nation stands at round 15,000–16,000.
Though the overwhelming majority are males, there has additionally been a growth within the girls’s sport, which now boasts round 200 gamers throughout 15 groups nationwide.
The primary issue behind this has been the rise in individuals transferring to Germany from the cricket-mad international locations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka over the previous decade.
Particularly, 2015 was a key second for the game, when an estimated 180,000 Afghans sought asylum in Germany. Given that almost all had been males below the age of 30, many had been eager to search out someplace to have a success — and so they actually made their presence felt.
“The season began in April. I performed my first sport after which, sadly, received injured, so I used to be out for a month,” remembers Khan, who performs for the Karlsruhe Cougars. “However after I got here again to coaching, hastily we had like 16 or 17 gamers. Earlier than we had virtually none as a result of quite a lot of gamers lived far-off and barely got here to coaching. It simply modified in a matter of months.”
The arrival of so many eager Afghan cricketers turned German cricket on its head: earlier than, there typically weren’t sufficient gamers to fill a crew; however all of a sudden, many golf equipment had been confronted with the prospect of not having sufficient groups for all of the gamers.
“It truly created just a few small issues, as a result of we solely had one crew and all of them wished to play,” says Khan. “However it additionally gave us all a push, as a result of quite a lot of these youngsters had been good and younger.”
The state of affairs was a far cry from when Khan first arrived in Germany in 2012 to check for a Grasp’s diploma — along with his thoughts effectively and really targeted on the books moderately than the bat and ball.
“I got here to Germany not anticipating to play cricket. I didn’t even deliver my equipment bag, I didn’t know individuals performed cricket in Germany,” he says.
Nonetheless, after coming throughout a Fb group run by cricketers he jumped on the likelihood to have a success.
“I nonetheless bear in mind, it was February and there was snow in all places. I couldn’t even see the pitch,” he laughs. “It didn’t really feel very skilled on the time. It was very small, and there weren’t many gamers.”
Breaking down obstacles
The varied nature of the German cricket fraternity has highlighted the function that the game can play in serving to new arrivals construct a way of group and keep hyperlinks with residence.
“It helps construct a connection to the tradition the place you’re from as a result of the general public are from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan. So once you come to cricket, it feels such as you’re again residence once more,” says Khan.
He additionally notes that it’s been a fantastic software for overcoming a few of the extra frequent stereotypes and prejudices that folks might develop of their residence international locations.
“There’s quite a lot of political stress between international locations like Pakistan, India and Afghanistan and there’s quite a lot of destructive propaganda, however individuals by no means hear in regards to the constructive tales. They by no means hear in regards to the people on the opposite aspect, who’re just about the identical as us,” he says.
“Whenever you’re enjoying cricket, quite a lot of the time you neglect that we’re all from completely different international locations. That sort of provides us a pleasant sense of unity and breaks via obstacles that wouldn’t have been damaged if we had have stayed in our respective international locations.”
And it’s precisely this worldwide Mischung that Mantle hopes will assist in the future set up cricket inside mainstream German society.
“Take into consideration how cricket has developed. The Indians and Pakistanis play cricket as a result of the English taught them cricket. Then the Pakistanis taught cricket to the Afghans. And the Afghans have now migrated to Germany, and now they’re instructing cricket to the Germans.
That’s the one method that a sport can truly develop: by having individuals transfer round and instructing individuals. It’s prefer it’s come full circle: it’s gone from the UK to Asia and now it’s Asian individuals bringing it again to Europe.”
Each weekday, Uncovering Europe brings you a European story that goes past the headlines. Obtain the Euronews app to get a each day alert for this and different breaking information notifications. It is out there on Apple and Android units. | https://medium.com/@mucheap/how-migration-is-fuelling-the-outstanding-rise-of-cricket-in-germany-89d095a9717e | ['Mucheap', 'All-In-One Market'] | 2021-10-30 16:13:46.936000+00:00 | ['Cricket', 'Germany', 'Migrants', 'Sport'] |
The Science of Simulation and Shopping | The Science of Simulation and Shopping
Exploring the brand opportunities in simulation gaming with behavioural science.
The Sims 4
If I calculated the amount of time I spent playing The Sims as a child and put a salary on it, I’d be deep in the millions. The Sims was my guilty pleasure, and once I became immersed in my virtual world with my virtual family I’d get lost in the game for hours. I had every expansion pack, my Sims went to university, they went on holiday, they had pets, they even became celebrities…you could say my Sims were living a better life than me.
While practising social distancing I’ve been feeling more nostalgic than ever, I haven’t spent this much time at home with my family since I was a child and I’ve found myself playing games again. 2 games in particular; Animal Crossing and The Sims 4, and the 2 games both have something in common, simulation. My liking for simulation games has many explanations, but in this article we will look at it from an anthropological perspective.
In the words of a Amber Case “We are all cyborgs”
Cyborg anthropology is uniquely applicable to gaming because the study of personhood extends to the digital realm and illustrates the human relationship with technology as an extension of the self. Technosocial advancements such as simulation games can be seen as tools that facilitate an extension of our mental selves, essentially allowing an individual to have a digitally enhanced second identity. It’s important to note that this is what we do when we play games like Sims, that allow you to create the perfect life in a virtual world that is not bound by physical world restrictions such as time. In a pandemic, this angle provides an explanation of why many have turned to simulation games that allow them to be mentally present in another realm, although physically restricted. Escapism.
Many qualities of the virtual gaming world make it the perfect place for profitable ventures to thrive, the desire to enhance the self and the blurring of boundaries between physical and digital space create hyperlife immersive environments. At a glance of Second Life, a simulation game with a real currency and where real in-game business’ are operating, users are getting married, buying properties and investing real time, emotions and money into this transactional virtual world.
That’s how real it can get.
Fendi x Wechat Game
So back to marketing, how can brands see gaming as an opportunity?
Advergames are for promotional purposes and work by increasing brand love through entertainment value, the gamer may then reciprocate by spending money on their products or in the game. A few brands have already seen opportunity in the digital space and have dabbled into advergaming, adding an extra touchpoint to their multichannel lifestyle strategy e.g. Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Hermes and Fendi x Wechat. On the other hand, In-game advertising utilises product placement in the virtual world of existing games, this usually takes the form of a collaboration. In-game advertising has been the most prominent tactic we have seen in the pandemic period and more recently brands are joining the virtual worlds and establishing branded spaces. | https://medium.com/swlh/the-science-of-simulation-and-shopping-c13d9ce33d58 | ['Precious Osoba'] | 2020-07-14 12:57:25.185000+00:00 | ['Anthropology', 'Marketing', 'Branding', 'Gaming', 'Shopping'] |
Control your page design in different screen sizes using media queries | You finally got your webpage looking exactly the way you want. But… you know people have different devices, right? I mean, your site will look great in any screen size, RIGHT?
TLDR; Section 1 explains how it works, Section 2 explains the syntax and Section 3 shows the code.
If your answer is anything other than a resounding yes, you’re in the right place. Learn more about media queries, a neat and easy way to make your website look precisely as you want for any screen size of your choice.
This is what we’ll create together in this example: as the screen changes sizes, the layout changes too.
Step 1: Understand how it works
Short and sweet: media queries change the styling of your page according to the screen size you specify. Besides, whatever CSS you have already rolling in your code will act as the default for your media queries. So no need to repeat yourself, nor to refactor code later on: in your media queries, just write the changes you want to apply.
Step 2: Understand the syntax
@media only screen and (min-width: 768px) { /* your style */ }
Simpy put, this means that any any screen with 768 px or greater width will show the style added inside the curly brackets. This code overwrites the “default” code line established before.
If you’re curious about the dirty details, keep reading. Otherwise, just jump to the next section.
@media is a CSS rule that injects different styles for different media devices;
is a CSS rule that injects different styles for different media devices; only is a key that you can use if you want to hide the styles from other, less common browsers;
is a key that you can use if you want to hide the styles from other, less common browsers; screen defines the media as “screen” — it could be print, for example. If you want your fonts to be sans serif in screen and serif in print, now you know what to do.
defines the media as “screen” — it could be print, for example. If you want your fonts to be sans serif in screen and serif in print, now you know what to do. min-width is the property that defines the media type minimum width, meaning that any screen size with the specified width (or larger) will behave as defined by the media query. You could also use max-width, which has the opposite meaning, if that works better for you. See a complete list of further options here.
Step 3: Code!
So here is the code. The HTML is as bland as it could be:
Because all the magic happens in our CSS:
In body and #imgContainer we defined that the default for our page will be a pink background with a banana image right in the center. We also defined a little transition for them and a size for the image container.
Then, we decided that screen sizes with 420px or greater will show a blue background with a pineapple image instead. We’re also using Flexbox ❤, which is very helpful when creating responsive pages. (If you never heard of it, check this introduction to Flexbox written by my friend Rhys).
To check if you changes work, open your dev tools (Ctrl+Shift+I in Chrome) and click the device icon:
It will open your page in a special view, where you can check how any webpage looks like in a device of pretty much any size. To cancel this view, click again the device icon.
How easy was that? Ready to complete the whole design now?
So, there you go, time to unleash your creativity! You can change backgrounds, fonts, the whole layout, pretty much anything! And if you need some reference to most popular screen sizes, check here. They’ve even included sizes for wearables :) | https://medium.com/@manumagalhaes/control-your-page-design-in-different-screen-sizes-using-media-queries-925ccb42e857 | ['Manu Magalhães'] | 2019-04-13 03:04:20.439000+00:00 | ['Front End Development', 'Media Queries', 'CSS', 'Codingbootcamp'] |
Three New Year’s Resolutions for Plan Sponsors to Consider | By Neal Ringquist, Executive Vice President, Chief Sales Officer
In January, Alight Solutions released 2020 Hot Topics in Retirement & Financial Wellbeing, a survey of 130 plan sponsors employing 5.5 million workers and highlighting key trends among plan sponsors, including expanding financial wellbeing programs, increasing efforts to help participants bridge the gap between working and retiring, and strengthening programs to locate missing participants.
Just as the trends identified in the Alight survey were influenced by initiatives committed to in the 4th quarter of last year, sponsors are now applying finishing touches to 2021 tactical initiatives that will help drive improvements to their plans and boost the retirement outcomes for plan participants.
Here are three 2021 “resolutions” that we believe fit nicely with the trends identified in the Alight survey.
Resolution #1: End Automatic Cash-Outs: Sponsors are permitted to automatically cash out accounts with less than $1,000 which have been left behind by former participants, and most do so — almost 90% of plan sponsors have a policy to cash out terminated-participant balances which are below $1,000, according to the latest Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans.
While permitted, the practice sends a very bad message. Sponsors have an obligation as fiduciaries to make decisions that are in participants’ best interests, and automatically cashing out small, stranded accounts seriously harms the retirement prospects for the holders of those accounts — especially if their contact details are out-of-date, and as a result, they don’t receive the check or related notices in the mail.
Industry research indicates that, counter to prevailing practices, participants do care about small accounts they leave behind in former-employer plans. In Boston Research Technologies CEO Warren Cormier’s recently published white paper, Making the Right Choice the Easiest Choice: Eliminating Friction and Leaks in America’s Defined Contribution System, 91% of the participants in a 401(k) plan with a large healthcare services provider who received a notice indicating they could have their safe harbor IRA rolled into their active accounts in the plan gave their consent to the roll-in and even paid a small fee to have their savings transported to their active accounts.
In fact, over half of the accounts rolled in were less than $1,000. These rolled-in IRA accounts were originally funded through a mandatory distribution from a former-employer plan, rather than automatically cashed out by the healthcare services provider’s plan. The study demonstrates that, when given an easy way to do so, participants would prefer to keep these balances in the retirement system moving forward with them as they change jobs.
Resolution #2: Offer an Assisted Roll-In Service as Part of a Financial Wellness Program: With industry research showing pent-up demand among participants for a comprehensive roll-in solution for their prior employer 401(k) accounts, sponsors should fulfill their fiduciary duty by offering consolidation/roll-in assistance as part of their financial wellness programs, particularly for new hires.
A groundbreaking May 2015 study by Warren Cormier, Portability and the Mobile Workforce, indicated overwhelming interest by participants in an assisted roll-in program, where 93% of the survey respondents viewed an assisted roll-in program as a good or excellent benefit.
Besides representing a great benefit to participants, a resolution to offer roll-ins is easy for sponsors to implement. According to the PSCA Annual Survey referenced earlier, 97.2% of defined contribution plans already allow roll-ins from other plans. With the vast majority of sponsors not having to make any changes to their plans in order to offer roll-in assistance, all they must do is to actively promote their plans as desirable destinations for consolidated retirement savings — calling attention to the investment options and other benefits that they and their record-keepers can provide participants.
Financial wellness is tough to measure, but the results of a roll-in program are easy to quantify — and use as a concrete metric to play up the performance and health of a plan for participants and the retirement services industry. Sponsors that need help with processing and managing roll-ins or who wish to improve their roll-in program results can choose to engage a roll-in service provider.
Resolution #3: Pilot a Distribution Assistance Program: The flip side of a roll-in program is a facilitated roll-out program.
When changing jobs, participants typically receive a termination notice outlining their options for the retirement account (leave it in the plan, cash out, roll it to an IRA, roll it to a new employer plan), often accompanied by a distribution form. Most participants take the easiest paths — cashing out or leaving the balance behind — as neither decision involves the headache of processing contribution forms for an IRA or the new employer plan. Unfortunately, cashing out wreaks havoc on retirement outcomes, while leaving balances behind involves the headache of keeping address information up to date — many don’t, driving the missing participant fiduciary problem for the plan sponsor.
One solution is to provide newly terminated participants access to an independent fiduciary to help them with the fiduciary decision. Add to that a transaction program that allows the participant to easily implement the decision. That combination can be implemented at no cost to the sponsor, very little cost to the participant, and will mitigate fiduciary risk by reducing missing participants and lowering cashouts.
Finally, a facilitated roll-out program can assist participants who are at or near retirement with the transition to retirement income, by offering annuity purchase options.
Such a distribution assistance program can be easily implemented on a pilot basis.
Make 2021 Better by Facilitating Portability
Initiatives that facilitate portability are the hot new trend for plan sponsors, since they not only reduce fiduciary risk but make significant, quantifiable contributions to employee financial wellness programs by preserving retirement savings.
As the old saying goes, there’s always room for improvement. This is true for plan sponsors as well as individuals, and these small but eminently do-able resolutions will yield huge benefits for both in 2021. | https://medium.com/@rchconsolidate/three-new-years-resolutions-for-plan-sponsors-to-consider-b178713bc239 | ['Retirement Clearinghouse'] | 2020-12-03 17:05:24.618000+00:00 | ['New Years Resolutions', '401kplans', '401k Rollover', 'Cash Out', 'Retirement'] |
On Anti-Asian Hate Crimes: Who Is Our Real Enemy? | Photo Credit: Isabella Chen
This article was translated into Japanese, thanks to Michi Yoshikawa and Sumire.
In recent weeks, there have been over 20 attacks on Asian businesses and people, mostly elders, with little to no coverage from the mainstream news outlets. Videos documenting such attacks have been circulating, mostly through individual social media accounts of Asian activists, celebrities, and journalists (thank you Amanda Nguyen, Dion Lim, Dr. Kiona, Daniel Dae Kim, Benny Luo, Lisa Ling, and Daniel Wu for being among the first public figures to use your platform to mobilize others). They show a 91-year-old Chinese man being shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown on Sunday, January 31st, just two days before an 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was pushed and killed in San Francisco, and multiple accounts of robberies targeting Asian-owned businesses in Chinatowns. In New York, a 61-year-old Filipino man was slashed across the face from ear to ear on Feb 3rd, and on the same day, a 70-year-old Asian woman was assaulted and robbed in Oakland.
Between March and August of 2020, Stop AAPI Hate received over 2,583 reports of anti-Asian hate crimes nationwide, and these incidents go grossly underreported. The alarming jobless rate of Asian Americans and the high Covid-19 mortality rate among Pacific Islanders, that is double that of white and other Asian people, continue to be left out of mainstream narratives when discussing the disproportionate economic and health impacts of the pandemic on people of color.
The Model Minority Myth running deep in the American psyche is the problematic portrayal of Asians as a monolithic group of quiet, hard-working, politically silent, and therefore “well-behaved” immigrants, which was created in the 60s to position Asians in opposition to the Black community, whose social justice activism was seen as a national threat to the status quo of white supremacy. Over the years, this politically motivated and fundamentally anti-Black myth has successfully achieved its purpose of driving a wedge between Asians and other people of color groups in America, while simultaneously erasing, making invisible, and even delegitimizing Asian communities’ real-life struggles by using the economic success of the few to defend the centuries-old unjust systems rooted in white supremacy, anti-Blackness, capitalism, and colonialism.
This wedge continues to be driven even deeper today, where, to my dismay, many of the recent attacks against Asian elders were perpetrated by Black individuals, and the myriad intra- and inter-community reactions have once again exposed the historical and ongoing tension between the Asian and Black American communities.
Today in reaction to the series of attacks on our elders, many enraged Asians are calling for the immediate arrest of the perpetrators of violence while demanding the most punitive charges be made. “Send a message,” they say. And I have to wonder, “Weren’t we just demanding we defund the police in solidarity with Black Lives Matter?”
When asked to support the amplification effort and denounce the heinous attacks on Asians, some Black people criticize the anti-Blackness still prevalent in the Asian community. “Asians are anti-Black.” “Asians never show up for us.” “It’s Black History Month.” And to that I wonder, “So will you watch us die?”
And the cycle continues. We fight anti-Asian racism with anti-Black rhetoric and tactics, and anti-Asian racism goes unnoticed, or worse justified, in part due to the deep-seated and understandable resentment towards our community, which undeniably has more work to do to eradicate anti-Blackness, and whose perceived proximity to whiteness is aided through the perpetual and blatant erasure of our historical and present-day solidarity work with other marginalized communities.
Some might say the 1992 Los Angeles uprising marked the pinnacle of the tension between the two communities, where the two groups found themselves facing each other in physical opposition in Koreatown, each fighting for justice, dignity, and survival of their kin. The site of the protest was no coincidence, given it marked the place where Soon Ja Du, a Korean American liquor store owner, shot and killed Latasha Harlins just a year prior, a 15-year-old Black girl who Du believed attempted to steal a bottle of orange juice. There was a righteous public outrage when Du was sentenced to merely five years of probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine, and again when the sentencing decision was unanimously upheld in an appeal about a week before the uprising began. When all four white police officers who brutalized Rodney King were acquitted, the Black community and its allies rose up and swarmed the streets to express their grief and fury, and Koreatown was one of its righteous battlegrounds. University of Southern California estimates that more than 1,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed during the uprising, which stretched for nearly a week from April 29 to May 4, 1992, and more than 60 people died, with more than 2,000 injured. About half of the estimated $1 billion in damage was sustained by over 2,300 Korean-owned mom-and-pop shops, leaving enduring economic and emotional trauma that many are yet to fully recover from. While the LAPD stationed themselves to protect richer white suburbs, Korean business owners, panicked by the reality of having been abandoned by the government, screamed for help while watching their American dreams burn to the ground, while others armed themselves to defend their only means for survival, pointing their guns at Black and brown faces. “Nothing in my life indicated I was a secondary citizen until the LA riots. The LAPD powers that be decided to protect the ‘haves’ and the Korean community did not have any political voice or power. They left us to burn,” Chang Lee, a Korean American business owner recalled in an interview with CNN. Despite both communities being victims of unjust and racist systems, many believed their opponent to be the traumatized faces in front of them, not the systems of white supremacy that had failed both communities.
Today, white supremacy is in action again, pitting our communities against each other and banking on our collective amnesia about the conditions that have birthed the violence — the government’s utter failure to create any semblance of financial safety for the most marginalized in the midst of a pandemic; systemic racism permeating every nook and cranny of our medical system that bar access to adequate care for the most vulnerable frontline workers, most of whom are Black and brown (don’t forget, brown includes some AAPI folks, too); and the institutional robbery committed against the public while corporate billionaires became multi-billionaires off a game only they are allowed to play. All of these unjust and exploitative conditions have led to such scarcity among the already marginalized, and our two traumatized communities, once again, find ourselves with our fists up ready to battle for survival, this time in Chinatown.
White supremacy wants us to remember the unhealed wounds we inflicted on each other, historical and ongoing anti-Blackness in the Asian community and anti-Asian incidents perpetrated by Black individuals, but not the stories of solidarity that have existed in equal measure, but are somehow left out of our history books and media coverage. In the aftermath of the LA uprising, volunteers from all racial groups showed up to rebuild Koreatown: “One by one,” said Lee, “neighbors came out to help. They were Black, Korean, and Latino. 30 people. They gave me hope. They are my community. And it’s time again to stay bound together these next four years.” Despite our “mutual ignorance,” as activist Helen Zia once described, we have been showing up for each other. And I’m not talking about the performative gestures of posting black squares and BLM hashtags; I’m talking about the work of our ancestors like Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, and Larry Itliong who worked alongside the Black Panthers in the 60s, to the Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of Black, Latinx, and Asian student organizations that sustained one of the longest student strikes in the U.S. that resulted in the creation of Ethnic Studies, to the present-day coalitionary organizing to mobilize voters in Georgia, push for prison reform and abolishment, and defund and demilitarize the police… the work has been ongoing, with or without the mainstream consciousness or participation, and it is our duty to remember and uplift these stories to seed healing and change.
And truthfully, I am exhausted. I am exhausted by the continued violence against my people and especially our elders, who remind me of my 92 year old grandpa who passed away after fighting for Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonization and then against U.S. imperialism in our homeland, who cannot seem to find refuge anywhere in their lifetime. I am exhausted by the continued silence and delayed motions from the mainstream media outlets committed to upholding white supremacy through erasing our struggles while magnifying the myth of the model minority that puts a target on our backs. I am exhausted trying to hold both the trauma and pain of my community and steering us all away from the trap of anti-Blackness as the weapon of choice to fight our oppression. I am exhausted by the blatant dismissal and erasure of Asian and Black solidarity work that’s been ongoing for decades, and having to justify our ask for the bare minimum acknowledgement of our crisis without being asked to show receipts. I’m exhausted by the internalized oppression of some Asian people who would rather have us die in silence than be confronted by the truth of our positionality as still being oppressed and not-yet-quite-white despite some’s economic success, who would rather appeal to those who want to see us behaving politely rather than politically. And finally, I am torn inside by the incredible difficulty of asking our traumatized families to imagine solutions beyond policing, to redefine accountability and justice beyond the confines of the American legal system that criminalize Black and brown bodies for profit, while also advocating for their healing and immediate relief.
The only way out of the vicious cycle of violence we continue to find ourselves in is through deep, unrelenting, and principled inter-community solidarity. As Asians, we must interrogate the conditions and narratives we find ourselves in and remember in our core that white supremacy is not our savior. We have an opportunity to reclaim our narratives — and our identity — by being loud, angry, political, defiant, and in lock-step with the Black community to keep our communities safe while denouncing systems that have never protected us.
In light of these complexities, here is how everyone can help:
Acknowledge, amplify, and denounce the ongoing anti-Asian hate crimes. Say it in your own words. Say this is not okay. Say you condemn it. Say you believe it is wrong. Say it personally and organizationally. Make space for our pain because there is always enough space for all of us — all of our pain, healing, and liberation can coexist without diminishing the other. Interrupt anti-Asian racism and anti-Black racism. Neither is okay, in any context. When you see Asians being called “chinks” “dog eaters” “disease spreaders” “dirty” or otherwise blamed for the violence we are experiencing — please shut it down. And when non-Black folks, even if they are Asians who are hurting right now, engage in anti-Blackness by saying “Black people are criminals,” “Black people are dangerous” — please call that out, too. We must be principled in our anger and channel it to dismantling the real enemy: white supremacy culture that creates the either/or binary and scarcity mindset that has left us fighting each other for the scraps. Interrupt generalizations: If someone says, “Asians are anti-Black,” say “Anti-Blackness is a pervasive issue within the Asian community and many Asians have been working within their own community to address and challenge this. Have you been following their work?” If someone says, “Black people hate Asians,” say, “Your generalization of an entire community based on a few examples is harmful. There are plenty of Black people fighting in solidarity with Asian people right now. Do you know them?” Interrupt the active and persistent erasure of Black and Asian solidarity work. When Black people say “Asians never show up for us,” or when Asian people say, “Black people don’t care about us,” talk about how throughout history, our solidarity work has been erased deliberately and intentionally by our education system and the media to worsen the divide. We need to amplify these examples of solidarity to heal and build trust together. Invest in community-based interventions. Contrary to what some may believe, enhancing our contact with the police is not a long-term solution that will keep our community safe. Despite its 2-block proximity to the Oakland Police Department, Oakland Chinatown is not “safe”as evidenced by the increased attacks against its residents and businesses. Just in December, Christian Hall, a 19-year old Asian teen in Pennsylvania, was shot by the state police while having a mental health crisis. Asians are among the fastest growing undocumented populations in the U.S., and those who fear deportation and criminalization will not be safe in the presence of more police. Even when the police are called, our incidents rarely get documented correctly or acted upon with a sense of urgency. Neighborhoods with heavy police presence are not safer. Neighborhoods with access to quality medical and mental health care, financial support, food and shelter, education, are. Rather than calling for more policing, FBI surveillance, and funneling money towards the deeply racist criminalization system that seeks to uphold white supremacy, invest time, money, and energy into creating and supporting community-based interventions that seek to keep all of us safe.
I know many within my community disagree with me on my approach to justice and accountability that do away with government sanctioned law enforcement. I’ve received plenty of messages of dissent and anger that mistake my message as yet another way to make our pain small, rolling over and turning the other cheek to continue to be abused. But I’m reeling with anger, too. I’m in pain, and I want justice, too.
A few years ago, my Korean mom, who only knows to smile when someone looks at her, was held at gunpoint, robbed, and punched in the head by a Black man in San Francisco. She did not want me to worry, so before calling me, she called the police. Beyond filing a routine report, they did not offer any material support that could help her heal from the trauma. She was left to her own devices to figure out how to process her physical and emotional trauma, earn back the rent money she had lost, and protect herself against identity theft. Thinking about that night, and seeing the ongoing violent attacks on other Asian elders, I wake up wailing from the pain, even desiring to inflict physical harm on these perpetrators who remind me of what happened to my sweet mother. But what I’m trying to tend to is the undeniable, fierce, and aggressive love I have for my people that is stronger than my desire for punishment for those who harmed us. That more than I want to hurt them back, I want to keep our people safe. Not just now, but for good.
As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez recently remarked, “Accountability is not about revenge. It’s about safety.” These different community interventions are not a “weaker” form of accountability and justice — they are part of the most sustainable and holistic solutions to transforming the root causes that continue the cycle of violence among marginalized communities. And countless local organizations and activists on the ground have been modeling for us to follow their lead: Oakland Chinatown Coalition, a coalition of 20 different Chinatown nonprofits, associations, and individuals, swiftly brought together a diverse group of volunteers to engage in dialogue and actions to keep Oakland Chinatown safe, creating community-powered and survivor-centered programs like the Senior Survivor Program and collaborating with individuals like Jacob Azevedo to organize volunteers to stroll the neighborhood and accompany elders. Stop AAPI Hate has been gathering hate incident reports independent of law enforcement, using online forms accessible in 10+ different Asian languages to encourage more diverse participation and ensure we have disaggregated data that does not flatten our different lived experiences under the Asian American umbrella. There is a coalition of organizations helping to fundraise to rebuild the Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay which suffered a devastating fire, preventing it from providing its usual 40,000 meals a month to its most vulnerable populations, and other organizations are fundraising and distributing funds to provide care for Asian elders who were assaulted. I am seeing many Bay Area based, Black-led organizations publicly denouncing anti-Asian hate crimes while supporting community-based solutions that will keep all local communities safer.
I’m still a student of Transformative Justice, a different approach to justice that seeks to address violence without causing more violence, and one that does not rely on punitive and carceral consequences that white supremacy has taught us to associate accountability with. I hope many more will join me in learning and practicing it, and amplify and direct resources to community leaders like Mia Mingus, adrienne marie brown, Shira Hassan, Mariame Kaba, and more, who have been teaching and spreading critical knowledge for years in different social justice spaces.
The collective and intergenerational trauma Asians hold is vast and painfully deep. The erasure and silence around our struggles, from both our own community and our allies, only deepen the wound while widening the gap between us and other marginalized communities. At a time when multiple traumas are converging and so much suffering simultaneously witnessed, we need cross-community solidarity more than ever to fight for our collective healing and liberation from all forms of violence. | https://medium.com/awaken-blog/on-anti-asian-hate-crimes-who-is-our-real-enemy-207ee7354926 | ['Michelle Mijung Kim'] | 2021-03-03 23:23:31.518000+00:00 | ['Racism', 'Politics', 'Asian American', 'Social Justice', 'Diversity'] |
Prove Trump’s conspiracy theory right: Use mail-in ballots | Prove Trump’s conspiracy theory right: Use mail-in ballots
United States Postal Service overlooked in $2 trillion stimulus package was not an accident
Photo credit: Pope Moysuh/Unsplash
Update on April 16, 2020: Exactly what I did not want to happen did indeed happen to an Election Judge. On April 1, 2020, a Chicago Election Judge (17th Ward) died from coronavirus 15 days after he worked a South Side polling place on Election Day. Rest in peace to Revall Burke.
Imagine being $11 billion in debt, and a company says they’ll allow you the flexibility to borrow up to $10 billion more from the federal government. If you do so, now you’re $21 billion in debt because debt forgiveness was not even a thought in their minds. Even during emergencies, you’re on your own. That appears to be what’s happening with the United States Postal Service, which was not included in the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
Donald Trump — who African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians all voted in much larger numbers against him ever making it to the White House (74 percent) — is more concerned about whether a Republican can stay in the White House versus protecting mail carriers.
Now we could all argue that the postal service was already in trouble due to the popularity of instant messaging, text messaging, e-mail and other smartphone technology. It happens. The odds of someone receiving a handwritten letter in cursive have dwindled down considerably, although we cannot sleep on the Hallmark customer who is determined to keep the tradition going.
But what stands out in the argument against debt forgiveness for the postal service isn’t that part. It’s what the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) denier in the White House took issue with in an original version of the stimulus package: the GOP is picking an argument with mail-in voting.
According to the man in the White House — who believes his Facebook following and his past of banging models matters as much as the infection rate of 277,205 people in the United States (6,593 who died) and 1,051,635 worldwide — if mail-in voting becomes the norm, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
Photo credit: ArtTower/Pixabay
That’s right. Donald Trump is more concerned about whether a Republican can stay in the White House versus protecting mail carriers, getting essential goods that need to be received by U.S. recipients, and a safe way to vote that helps voters stay in social isolation. Unfortunately, this may not be surprising to the 74 percent of 2016 voters who voted against him: African-American men (82 percent); African-American women (94 percent); Latino men (63 percent); Latino women (69 percent); and other minority groups, including Asians (61 percent). But it should certainly be a wake-up call to his supporters.
You know where else minorities tend to be employed in large numbers? At the post office. But oddly enough, Trump’s decision doesn’t even back up his voter base. White men (62 percent) and white women (52 percent) who voted for Trump in large numbers aren’t even protected under his decision to put voters and mail carriers at financial and health risks. According to Deloitte’s Data USA, of the 330K in the postal service workforce, 67.9 percent of postal service mail carriers are white. Additionally, 193K of the workforce is male. (The second most common race or ethnicity are black — 19.9 percent.)
Considering he is still convinced that voter fraud is a rampant problem — never mind the amount of people who just flat-out refuse to voluntarily vote — he has really convinced himself that people voting from the privacy of their homes will make sure that the GOP will be dismantled. However, according to Business Insider, “evidence about non-voters doesn’t support Trump’s assertion that higher voter turnout would automatically benefit Democrats.”
And while the youth (ages 18 to 29) and people who have not earned a high-school diploma get picked on as being non-voters (some of which is justifiably true), there’s another concern that the Mexico Border Builder is more than likely worried about. Time reports that 5.8 million Hispanics will be eligible to vote in 2020 compared to 5.2 million in 2016. According to Time, “That’s a nearly 2 percentage point increase when accounting for overall population growth.”
It’s not hard to believe that the last thing Trump would want is a bunch of fresh, new voters to have the ability to safely vote from the comfort of their homes — without being more distracted by social isolation, cloth face masks and staying six feet away from the next voter. Somehow though, he keeps overlooking that he’s putting his own MAGA supporters at risk of spreading or being infected by COVID-19 while standing in long lines for in-person voting. Unlike him, COVID-19 discriminates against no one.
As long as this mentality of COVID-19 deniers are the main ones who are willing to show up to the polls, he knows he’ll win. But if state government hands over mail-in ballots to those who were paying attention to Li Wenliang in December 2019, Trump knows he’s at a disadvantage. And if you, the voter, are already pondering about why the rest of the United States doesn’t run their election seasons as mail-in only states the way Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah already have been doing, Trump already thinks you’re the kind of “crazy” voters he described on “Fox & Friends.”
While there are limited options for those who are now unemployed, underemployed or desperately seeking employment with essential retailers who are hiring in droves after COVID-19 hit the U.S., there is one $0.00 thing that all voters can do when it comes to their election seasons. Try as best as you possibly can to participate in mail-in voting during your primary election season and/or during Election Day 2020. If ever there was a time to not ignore your right to vote and to stay safe in social isolation, this is it. And if you ignore another election season altogether and believe “it doesn’t do anything,” understand that you will be a part of the problem if Trump is re-elected. If you’ve got time (and money) to binge-watch “Tiger King” or Instagram Battles with songwriters and producers, you’ve definitely got time to fill in a few circles on a ballot! | https://medium.com/i-do-see-color/prove-trumps-conspiracy-theory-right-use-mail-in-ballots-7870f96dcc36 | ['Shamontiel L. Vaughn'] | 2020-04-16 18:50:59.976000+00:00 | ['Post Office', 'Covid 19', 'Election 2020', 'Coronavirus', 'Stimulus Package'] |
Being Good News | Being Good News
photo by Laura Seaman on Unsplash.com
Love, may we be someone’s good news today!
Dear One,
I am writing to remind you of things you already know. There is always good news in Love. When you take your eyes off of the perceived problem and focus on Love, you gain clarity of vision. Dwelling on painful issues doesn’t solve them, it only intensifies their influence. If you obsess on the storm, you will get swept away by the relentless waves.
Blessed Jesus preached a message of peace. He was empowered by Love and went about doing good and healing the oppressed, for Love was with him.
What is your intention for today? Release the commentary of your misery, and join the work of Jesus, doing good and offering the healing balm of compassion to those who are oppressed. The good news is that Love is with you, too, empowering you to be a messenger of peace. Your own healing comes as you allow yourself to be a conduit for good.
Remember, this moment is an opportunity to connect to Love, and therefore, to live into the fullness of who you are.
As always, do what best awakens you to love,
Your Inner Wisdom | https://medium.com/advent-reflections/being-good-news-d3624b7899b3 | ['Ani Vidrine'] | 2020-12-12 14:40:58.041000+00:00 | ['Compassion', 'Christianity', 'Advent', 'Love', 'Hope'] |
Improving Search with Natural Language Processing and Deep Learning | Whenever one of his models goes live in production, Markus Ludwig, a senior data scientist at Scout24, gets a little nervous. “It feels a bit like sending your kid off to its first day of school,” he says with a smile. This time the stakes are even higher because the new feature changes the way people can search on AutoScout24. Markus has been heavily involved in all phases of this project — from inception to release. The new search feature is aimed at enabling users to find cars using natural language and marks the third consumer-facing product powered by a machine learning model that he built. The other two are Price Estimation and Recommendations.
Price Estimation enables several features that help users assess the value of a car
Recommendations help users discover listings they might otherwise not have found
Markus’ love for machine learning started fifteen years ago when he took his first courses on neural networks and artificial intelligence as a student at the University of Zurich. Over time, he grew more and more fascinated by the possibilities of systems that learn from data. After using neural networks to model financial options in his graduate thesis, he decided to pursue a PhD to dive deeper into machine learning.
Now, as a data scientist at Scout24, he builds models and APIs that power search and discovery. Following his work at Scout24 means learning about the importance of AI within the company. Like with any other product at Scout24, it’s the consumers’ needs that drive innovations, and it’s the consumers who push data scientists like him to think outside the box.
Markus Ludwig, Senior Data Scientist at Scout24, in the company’s Munich office
The story of the new search feature, internally dubbed `AI Search`, started back in fall 2018 with a discovery workshop of the Consumer Experience Engagement Squad. The idea was to offer a more intuitive and seamless experience by enabling users to search using natural language. “Ideally, they can just type in what they’re looking for,” Markus says, “and we automatically select the right filters and keywords.”
A few weeks later, a first prototype built for a company-internal hackathon showcased the potential of an alternative search entry. Markus credits this initial demo with getting buy-in for an exploration of how machine learning could be used to understand text.
Machine learning is quite different from traditional programming. Instead of having a software engineer who understands the problem tell the computer step by step exactly what to do, a data scientist shows the computer lots of examples of inputs along with desired outputs so it can learn the mapping. To some extent that also means trading in human domain expertise for data that, hopefully, contains useful patterns.
The Price Estimation model, for example, is trained on data from millions of offers on AutoScout24, and learns how properties such as make, model, mileage and equipment influence prices. The same holds true for the Recommender system, which extracts patterns about listing similarity from millions of click events. The beauty of such systems is that they capture what users consider to be important, and that they can automatically adapt to changes.
The AI Search project, however, was special. In the past, Markus had worked with images, events and structured data but never with text. It was also a completely new product and being involved from the very start with the possibility to shape how the final feature looks and behaves was something that he was very excited about. Following the hackathon, Markus started to think about how the recent breakthroughs in natural language processing could be used to power the new search feature.
After considering several approaches to going from text to listings he realized that the task could be framed as machine translation. The idea was to directly translate user input into AutoScout24 URLs that can be processed with the existing search stack. By automatically mapping relevant parts of the input to either filters or keywords, this approach essentially combines structured search and keyword search. Users can now type in ‘RS6 Performance Panorama 2018’ and the system will select ‘Audi’ as make, ‘RS6’ as model, ‘Performance’ as keyword, ‘panorama roof’ as equipment and ‘2018’ as the earliest registration date.
“This, in turn, raised the question of where to obtain data that would allow a model to learn the desired responses,” Markus recalls. “We wanted a system that can gracefully handle synonyms and typos, understand numeric comparisons and ignore irrelevant inputs.” Then one evening, while commuting home from work, he had another idea: “Would it be possible to generate training data based on simple rules to bootstrap an initial model and later refine it using real user queries?”
In order to validate his ideas, he went on to train a first model. He also built an API that could handle queries for price, mileage and power in addition to filters such as make, model and location. This system worked well enough to convince Maximilian Stöckl to greenlight a first user-facing test. As product manager for the Engagement Web Team, Max is responsible for the core search funnel and aims to continuously improve the user experience on AutoScout24. With this new opportunity to search for listings, Max and the team hope to help more users find a car that fits them.
Max and Markus discussing their project
A few months later the first version went live. That initial test, however, was not designed to gauge interest in the feature but to gather more training data for the machine learning model. “We needed to expose the system to the variety in natural language including synonyms, abbreviations, and typos,” Markus explains.
As they watched the first searches stream in, Max and Markus realized that there would be no shortage of interesting queries for the model to learn from. Free from the constraints of dropdown menus and filters, users started to look for old police cars, fire trucks and rare BMWs from the 80s. On the other hand, the queries contained a lot of typos. This clearly indicated that providing some guidance for common queries would be beneficial, and they decided to add autocomplete to the list of user interface improvements.
Since re-training the model with new data, several A/B tests have shown that AI Search helps users find what they are looking for faster. The API has also been refined and can now efficiently serve production traffic. Overall, user engagement with the feature indicates that it adds value to the existing search.
Markus, who is the father of a five-month-old baby girl, is proud of what the system can already do but also excited for what’s still to come. The model builds on state-of-the-art research from Google Brain, and he hopes that it will eventually learn to map inputs that don’t have a direct correspondence to filters. Maybe it will start translating ‘sports car’ to ‘coupé with two seats over 150 horsepower’ or learn how the meaning of ‘cheap’ differs depending on the car brand. “It’s going to be interesting to see how it changes and evolves over time,” he says.
For now, Max and Markus will keep a close eye on the system and how users interact with it. Together with the Engagement Web Team they just released the feature in Germany. The next steps involve further tweaks to the user interface and the model. After that, they will tackle the rollout in other countries and on mobile apps.
The new search entry on the AutoScout24 homepage
Example queries and results on mobile web
Markus considers himself lucky that he can currently work on the entire machine learning stack, from conception and modelling to deploying and monitoring in production but knows that the future will bring more specialized roles. These changes are also visible at Scout24 with the recent introduction of an AI Platform team. He also thinks that the company will inevitably make use of more off-the-shelf solutions offered by cloud providers. Nevertheless, he believes that data science has a bright future as there is no substitute for understanding both the business needs, and the potential and limitations of the available data and modelling approaches. | https://medium.com/scout24-engineering/improving-search-with-natural-language-processing-and-deep-learning-2167c62a26f7 | [] | 2019-10-11 13:18:14.214000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'NLP', 'Neural Networks', 'Deep Learning'] |
Project Euler — Problem 81 Solution | Project Euler — Problem 81 Solution
Problem
In the 5 by 5 matrix below, the minimal path sum from the top left to the bottom right, by only moving to the right and down, is indicated in bold red and is equal to 2427.
Find the minimal path sum, in matrix.txt (right click and ‘Save Link/Target As…’), a 31K text file containing a 80 by 80 matrix, from the top left to the bottom right by only moving right and down.
Solution
I took a similar approach to the one I used for problem 18 and iteratively work out what’s the shortest path sum leading up to each of the cells in the matrix.
Considering that a brute force approach will need to walk through the 80 x 80 matrix a total of 92045125813734238026462263037378063990076729140 times…so that’s clearly not an option! So instead, for each cell (x, y) in the matrix, we consider the two possibilities:
the path has traversed down from cell (x-1, y) the path has traversed right from cell (x, y-1)
the shortest path sum from top left to (x, y), let’s call it sps(x, y) will be equal to the lesser of sps(x-1, y) + (x, y) and sps(x, y-1) + (x, y). Obviously there are some special cases, such as when x = 0 and when y = 0, as you can see the different handling in the match pattern. | https://medium.com/theburningmonk-com/project-euler-problem-81-solution-ef44f6426b47 | ['Yan Cui'] | 2017-07-03 20:56:19.658000+00:00 | ['Functional Programming', 'Project Euler Solutions', 'Programming'] |
STRESS: | STRESS:
Being stressed is one of the most horrible things you can face during your day, that’s why every body is scouting how to over come it.
What causes stress?
How stress influences us mentally and physically?
And what’s the best way to get rid of it?
1-Stress origins :
The main cause that leads to be stressed (in your studies, exams, job apply,..)is that something is not under your control and you are scared of, so you loose your self-confidence, and you start thinking negatively. For example :
“I’m applying to a job in a sort of restaurants as a chef. I’m really familiar and talented at making salty dishes, but when it comes to pastry, I’m less creative”.
Like that your brain will automatically build a huge fair of pastry, and even if you are good at it, you will fail at getting that job because you convinced your self with that idea of failure.
The second cause is focusing on the others not yourself. A lot of people try to imitate successful and famous people projects, but it ends by being broken and disappointed.
Doing a lot of different things at the same time also ends up by not successing at anything the way that you expected;you don’t have to be perfect at every side because it’s IMPOSSIBLE.
2-Stress consequences:
Being always stressed has bad effects on your body and mentally too;
>You start loosing hair, getting sick, loosing huge weight… And it also influences your skin (it becomes pale, darker,…)
>The most dangerous side is the mental one:stress leads to have a bunch of negative thoughts the whole time, and it takes all of your creativity from you, and in some advanced cases, it even leads to suicide, creating new bad habits like doing drugs, drinking a lot of alcohol,…
>Overthinking
3-The magical solution:
The magical solution is between your bare hands:
*Face your fears and think positively, and every time you are in a complicated situation, think that it could be worse, and that’s not the end.
*Start doing some enjoyable activities like outdoor ones, sports,..
*Ask for help at need:if you are facing problems, feel free to ask your loved and trusted ones for help.
*if you feel like your case is complicated and you can’t handle it anymore, the best thing you can do is to consult a a therapist as soon as possible before you get worse.
That’s all for me thank you for you attention, I hope you find these points interesting, and don’t forget that you are always good enough. | https://medium.com/@abdessamadbariz3/stress-5a1915dcf24 | [] | 2020-12-18 13:21:54.558000+00:00 | ['Stress', 'Stress Management'] |
Education Will Never Be the Same | Technology
With the ever more sophisticated technology, we are seeing countless human jobs being automated by robots. A staggering 50% of today’s labor can be expected to become automated by 2055.
As artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and 3D printing transform the reality of the present workforce, the concepts that we learn in school will shift drastically.
As tech fields become more widespread, creativity, problem-solving, and analytical thinking will lie at the forefront of education. And the traditional classroom will have changed extravagantly.
No longer will students be passive listeners submitted to the instruction of the educator. Why?
With virtually unlimited information at the touch of our fingertips, traditional teaching will become overshadowed by a simple Google search. Memorization and regurgitation of facts will become ancient history.
Now, I know what you may be wondering, what does this mean for educators? Are they doomed? Of course not!
Instead, the role of instructors will change. They will become mentors, guiding their students towards an active approach to their learning.
Changes to Traditional Instruction
Infographic from Science Island showing the mechanics behind the flipped classroom approach.
The flipped classroom will take center stage, where students will be expected to cover the basics of a given topic on their own before class. This sort of ‘homework first’ scenario will demand students to explore the class material on their own time and come to class prepared to explore the topics more deeply through projects and activities. What this classroom structure will do is create an environment where the students’ natural curiosity and creativity are piqued. Hands-on activities will provide students the avenues to utilize the knowledge they have studied prior to class in order to come up with creative solutions to problems. A holistic approach to learning will replace the segregated-by-subject learning we see today.
We will be seeing an interdisciplinary approach (or “phenomenon-based learning”) to educating students, one which blurs the line among seemingly disparate subjects.
For instance, a study of climate change will consist of a holistic survey of the phenomenon — one that takes into account the historical, social, and environmental parameters of the issue. A multiple-choice exam on the topic of climate change will be replaced by an open-ended field project that shows the instructor what skills the student has mastered and how the student can apply the acquired knowledge in the real world.
that shows the instructor what skills the student has mastered and in the real world. Likewise, fields that were once seen as distinct disciplines, such as technology and sociology, will become increasingly intertwined. Various science and technological problems will benefit from a social outlook to find solutions that are both rational and ethical.
Crucial to this holistic learning style will be collaboration. With all the strides that are being made in AI, human creativity, intuition, judgment, empathy, leadership, and communication are among the several skills that no robot can replace. School curricula will have to change to accommodate the growth of these skills.
Photo Credit to Erhan Astam. Robots are powerful but human skills like judgment, creativity, and empathy will never be replaced by AI.
Here are the changes that I surmise will translate within the education system:
Small, 20-person, seminar-based classes will replace 300-person lectures.
will replace 300-person lectures. Lectures will give way to project-based learning , where collaboration will replace individual learning.
, where Classes will no longer benefit from being major-restricted . Everyone’s unique expertise will become significant to a successful learning experience.
. Everyone’s unique expertise will become significant to a successful learning experience. The modes of testing students’ knowledge will change from mere regurgitation of information to an application of the material learned.
learned. The digitalization of skills such as writing, grading, proofreading, and calculating will ensure that educators teach students how to become technologically literate.
Infographic from Magnify Learning showing the various components of project-based learning.
The Role of MOOCs
Massive online open course (MOOC) providers, such as Quze, are gaining unprecedented potential as more institutions take advantage of offering online courses. By embracing skill-based learning in virtually any domain imaginable, MOOCs play a crucial role in making students active participants in their learning.
While online courses and online degrees, today, are deemed inferior to classes and degrees acquired in the brick-and-mortar school, the frontier is changing. The education industry, basically unchanged for centuries now, will start to reflect the digitalization that is occurring in the world around us. | https://medium.com/educate-pub/education-will-never-be-the-same-e1e0ca937c92 | ['Ewelina Adamczak'] | 2021-03-13 06:34:29.043000+00:00 | ['Education Reform', 'Classroom', 'Education'] |
Best Funny Happy New Year Wishes 2021 | No holiday is celebrated with such a scale and joy as the New Year! Every year we make wishes, believe in good things, and hope that everything will be better than yesterday. And laughter, as you know, is the best assistant in all matters! That is why we have written funny happy new year wishes for you! The upcoming 2021 is the Year of the Ox, so the congratulations were not done without the symbol of the year!
Send our poems to friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and everyone, everyone, everyone! And let a laugh on the eve of the holiday knock on everyone!
Latest Funny Happy New Year Wishes
May New Year’s Eve, Santa Claus,
Imperceptibly make his way under the tree,
And leave a whole cart of gifts,
Health, happiness, let him not press on money,
A couple of golden bags with good luck,
A couple of bags with joy and miracle,
Well, the bag, the one that is the largest,
Let it be immense with love!
Heart Touching Funny Happy New Year Wishes
Two twenties are like the eyes of a
Curious animal.
They seem rounder than a thousand
And two — for sure. | https://medium.com/@sophiajohn4346/best-funny-happy-new-year-wishes-2021-9ce6cb4bec97 | ['Sophia John'] | 2020-12-18 09:55:55.449000+00:00 | ['New Year', 'Happy New Year', 'New Year Wishes', 'New Year Resolution'] |
Rebels Without A Caucus | There is a good reason congresspeople are elected to represent a single district, not occupy a political position.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at the Women’s March on NYC 2019. (photo: Dimitri Rodriguez)
The world is full of suffering and injustice.
(If you haven’t noticed this yet, I apologize. But I bet you have.)
Most people get through their lives, in the more affluent areas of the world anyway, by trying their utmost not to think about it.
Others harden themselves to it. They hide behind an angry wall of uncaring, in mortal terror that if they let in even the slightest bit of compassion for suffering and injustice, it will tear them apart, limb from limb; like trying to drink from a fire hose.
They are right to think so; it will.
In still other places, where suffering and injustice are more pronounced, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. A struggle for survival leaves little time for the type of navel-gazing contemplation required to wrap a human mind around the magnitude of suffering in the world.
Luckily for all of us, we share the world with yet another type of person: The one who sees that the world is full of suffering and injustice, is able to rise above the suffering and injustice they have faced in their own life situation; and they endeavor to do something about it.
These people have learned something important, likely the hard way- by opening a door of compassion they found themselves then unable to close; on the victims of sex trafficking, or the desperate plight of the homeless and mentally ill in America, or children with special needs, or animal rights, or racially biased sentencing in the criminal justice system.
They do what they do because they know an important truth:
Once the magnitude of suffering and injustice in the world finishes tearing you apart, it puts you back together again, much stronger.
Like a vein of pure gold can make a broken plate better than new, more beautiful according to Japanese aesthetics, the new vein of compassion is a sort of super power. You cry, yes; then the tears dry and you keep working.
You find in yourself a well of compassion that never runs dry, never stops driving you to do whatever you can to help alleviate the suffering and injustice in the world. Even if you try to get out, it pulls you back in.
You do the work of compassion knowing that others must finish it, perhaps those not even born yet. You do it knowing you likely will not live to see the end. You do it when they laugh at you, when they fight you, when they ignore you. You do it again when they join you, and you must welcome them into the ranks, forgiving all the laughing, fighting and ignoring.
Some of these peace workers who want to help redress suffering and injustice find themselves elected to office; many to the House of Representatives.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is one such; she came to Congress to fight AIDS in 1987, and famously said so on the House floor. At that time, AIDS was inflicting a great deal of suffering and injustice in Pelosi’s district, which includes San Francisco.
What sets these office-seekers apart from other types of peace-working activists, is laser focus. Each person in Congress is there to represent people in a single district; no more, no less.
Some districts are as different as night and day, isolated but enormous rural districts and cavernous urban districts sprawling three states. Many districts share the same problems; health care affordability, opioid addiction, crime. Each district also has unique problems; lack of affordable housing coupled with a rise in employment, an over-reliance on a certain industry and pollution.
Members of Congress are not elected to save the world; no one can.
Members of Congress are elected to represent the needs and alleviate suffering and injustice for a very finite group of people, to whatever small degree they can.
Which, in the Congressional body, means preserving at all times an ability to work professionally and effectively with you colleagues in Congress. To pass legislation, you must form coalitions based on common goals shared by multiple districts, like affordable healthcare.
Nothing can be accomplished alone.
Of course it is easier to sound off snarkily on Twitter than it is to pass bipartisan legislation, which will likely involve compromise. That is why Twitter has 321 million users and the House of Representatives only has 435.
Of course it's easier to rage against all the suffering and injustice in the world using 280 characters or less, to people who already agree with you, than it is to spend months hammering out a legislative compromise with people you’d rather tell to get lost, and not even get a pat on the back for your efforts.
To your side, you’ve compromised too much. To the other, not enough. No one thanks you.
On the other hand, occupying a political position is important work; many peace-working social influencers are busily using their reach to make the world a better place every day, bless em.
Occupying a political position is important during campaign season. No one cares about the paperwork. That is why people watch CNN and not C-SPAN.
But if the peace-working career you’ve chosen is Congressional Representative from your home district, you are there to help your neighbors, you are there to help improve life in your community.
Congratulations: According to Kurt Vonnegut, your community is the largest group of your fellows you can successfully serve, anyway. He might be right.
Congress is not the place to vent your frustration that the world is full of injustice and suffering. But it is a place where you can actually make a difference.
(contributing writer, Brooke Bell) | https://munrkazmir.medium.com/rebels-without-a-caucus-c6cb60c24450 | ['Dr. Munr Kazmir'] | 2019-07-15 17:26:29.479000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Republicans', 'Democrats', 'Trump', 'Election 2020'] |
Top TENGA Products Of 2020! | 2020 has been a big year for TENGA. From the 15th Anniversary we celebrated earlier this year to the release of several new products. This year saw the release of the TENGA GEO, crysta and 3 new SPINNERs to name just a few! From starting the year looking back at the previous decade we have certainly come a long way in just a year!
That being said, have any of those newer products made it into some of the best sellers of the year? Or are the longer standing products still reigning supreme? We’re going to take a look at the top 10 best selling TENGA products this year for the US, Europe and Brazil! | https://blog.tenga-global.com/top-tenga-products-of-2020-d75accacada5 | ['Sabrina Tenga'] | 2021-02-08 01:00:52.115000+00:00 | ['Brazil', 'Top 10', 'Europe', 'Tenga', 'USA'] |
Male Sexual Vulnerability | Male Sexual Vulnerability
(Image property of the author)
Sex is all about vulnerability. At its most basic, we take off our clothes — our armor — and expose the most delicate parts of ourselves to each other. When we think of our earliest ancestors on the African savanna, copulating involved putting their very lives at risk.
And that’s just the physical part. Yes, we shed layers of bodily protection to have sex, but the emotional dimension can be even more powerful than the physical. That seems to be where real connection happens.
I‘ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I’ve always considered emotional vulnerability to be about sharing feelings, about giving up the pretense that you’re invincible.
What Would James Bond Do?
But lately, I’ve come to appreciate that there is an added level of risk involved in asking for what you want in the bedroom. Sometimes what you want the most feels embarrassing or shameful.
Let’s face it: there are certain desires that fit the idealized mold of masculine identity. The basic rule of thumb for men can be summed up with the abbreviation WWJBD.
What Would James Bond Do?
I’m not talking about Daniel Craig here, or even Pierce Brosnan. As a man, if you can’t picture Sean Connery doing it, you’re in suspect territory.
Do you fantasize about having two women at once? Wonderful! A blow job in an airplane washroom? Splendid! Want to take a woman over your knee and spank her until her cheeks turn red? Delightful!
But what about the guy who is really turned on by, say, dressing up in women’s clothes. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course — nobody gets hurt — but it will probably be hard for him to find a woman to enthusiastically support that kink. Not impossible, but much harder than if his tastes were more conventional. And if he shares that fantasy with other men, he is likely to be greeted with repulsion, or worse. That’s where the shame comes in.
While my wife has some amazing lingerie, dressing up in women’s clothes just isn’t my thing. And I actually feel grateful for that. You can’t help what turns you on, but some fantasies are easier to pursue than others.
I believe there is such a thing as ‘fantasy privilege’.
Some fantasies have the force of social approval behind them, making everything easier. Some fantasies don’t. I used to hesitate before sharing my bi-curiosity with people, but I’ve discovered so many women are into it now that I don’t hold back. It somehow became cool in the last couple of years.
But this summer I unexpectedly bumped right up against ‘fantasy privilege’ when I walked into our bedroom to find my wife Kate adjusting her new strap-on.
Prior to that moment, I had spent exactly zero combined seconds in my entire life fantasizing about having a dildo in my mouth.
We are swingers, and it was a couple days before we were having our good friends Michelle and Sam over. Kate had just inserted a new, bigger dildo into the harness and she was hoping to use it on Michelle.
The gender-bending sight of her turned me on so much that I started to kiss her. She began rubbing the silicone penis against mine, and soon I was stroking it and running my fingertip over the molded opening. Kate asked me if I wanted to suck on it.
Prior to that moment, I had spent exactly zero combined seconds in my entire life fantasizing about having a dildo in my mouth. But as soon as she mentioned it, I wanted it badly. I surprised myself. It was yet another instance of the improvisational genius my wife has in sexual situations.
Even though I wanted it, I immediately felt some internal resistance. A primitive part of me was afraid she would judge me for being unmanly. Like most males, I’ve been culturally programmed since childhood to avoid appearing feminine in any way. It’s hard to overcome that, even though Kate has none of those hang-ups.
We had amazing sex afterward.
I was afraid that the thing I had unexpectedly enjoyed in private with Kate would embarrass me in front of an audience.
A few days later, when our friends came over, Kate decided to raise the stakes. As she was getting ready to penetrate Michelle with the strap-on, she walked over to where I had sat down to watch. Instead of putting lube on the dildo, she asked me to suck on it to get it wet. I froze.
At a conscious level, I knew Michelle and Sam to be open-minded, thoughtful, compassionate people. Deep down, though, I was afraid that the thing I had unexpectedly enjoyed in private with Kate would embarrass me in front of an audience.
It’s a sadly familiar feeling, the fear that the proceedings will suddenly screech to a halt as everyone processes their disgust. Party over.
I had to decide very quickly what to do. I knew if I quietly said ‘no’ that Kate wouldn’t push the issue, and the moment would pass. But another part of me didn’t want to play it safe, so I did what she asked.
And, sure enough, Michelle and Sam came right over to watch. They clearly loved it.
I, however, didn’t love it. Not this time. Yes, when we were alone, I had worried that Kate would judge me, but I was mainly carried forward on a wave of my own, spontaneous lust. In front of our friends, my consent was an act of willpower.
As awesome as Michelle and Sam are, I couldn’t just let go and enjoy. Among other things, I was worried that sucking on a dildo might be hot if I was younger, but could look all wrong for a man in his late 50’s.
Fortunately, my inner struggle had been invisible to our friends. Everyone seemed to have a good time in the bedroom. When the action wound down, we went outside to relax in the backyard and enjoy some drinks.
As we were chatting, Sam announced out of nowhere that he had a confession to make. He circled around the subject for a bit before telling us he had always felt sexually intimidated by Kate. Something about her beauty and confidence triggered feelings of inadequacy in him.
These were unfamiliar emotions for him. In his professional life, he is very successful. People look up to him. Yet with Kate, he worries about failing to perform and the shame that would result.
It was a touching moment. I never would have guessed that Sam ever experienced self-doubt, what with his big cock and his Ivy League degree. Yet there he was, actually shaking a little as he told us.
In different ways, Sam and I were both struggling to conform to a rigid ideal of masculinity. I don’t know where Sam got his from, but I’m aware that mine can be traced at least partly to watching James Bond movies as a teenager. No one told me to model myself after Ian Fleming’s fictional creation, but I’m sure part of what I wanted was his invulnerability.
But I think life is at least partly a journey to define ourselves.
It’s common in our culture to think of every obstacle to happiness as an injustice that must be eliminated. Usually, some malevolent epiphenomenon like ‘society’ or ‘the media’ is blamed. Sometimes, a hero is knocked off a pedestal.
But I think life is at least partly a journey to define ourselves. We inherit and borrow ideas when we are younger. We critique and adapt them as we get older. We not only need role models to emulate, but we need others to differentiate ourselves from.
There’s nothing wrong with being Agent 007, but I’m sure he missed out on a lot of fun. | https://medium.com/sensual-enchantment/male-sexual-vulnerability-f42972fc7ba | ['Liam Macadam'] | 2020-12-05 19:45:14.858000+00:00 | ['Sex', 'Fantasies', 'Essay', 'Vulnerability', 'Men'] |
Monitoring kubernetes with prometheus(Part-1) — 100daysoflearning | Combining DAY 11, 12 & 13
This Post is going to be interesting as I am going to talk alot about prometheus and Grafana. So recent Linuxacademy course “monitoring kubernetes with prometheus” is actually very practical course and answers for most of the questions like how to setup Prometheus for Kubernetes cluster and how to do the monitoring.
Starting off the course gives the introduction on how to setup a cluster. This is just the commands more than the explanation.Below is the list of commands copied from instructor TRAVIS this is for one master and one worker node.
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
swapoff -a
====================
vi /etc/fstab
Comment out swap
#/root/swap swap swap sw 0 0
=====================
Add the Kubernetes repo
cat << EOF > /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo
[kubernetes]
name=Kubernetes
baseurl=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/repos/kubernetes-el7-x86_64
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/yum-key.gpg https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/rpm-package-key.gpg
exclude=kube*
EOF
=================
Disable SELinux
setenforce 0
================
Permanently disable SELinux:
vi /etc/selinux/config
Change enforcing to disabled
SELINUX=disabled
================
yum install -y kubelet-1.11.3 kubeadm-1.11.3 kubectl-1.11.3 — disableexcludes=kubernetes
================
systemctl start kubelet && systemctl enable kubelet
================
cat << EOF > /etc/sysctl.d/k8s.conf
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables = 1
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables = 1
EOF
================
sysctl — system
================
Create kube-config.yml:
vi kube-config.yml
Add the following to kube-config.yml:
apiVersion: kubeadm.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind:
kubernetesVersion: “v1.11.3”
networking:
podSubnet: 10.244.0.0/16
apiServerExtraArgs:
service-node-port-range: 8000–31274
==========================
Initialize Kubernetes
kubeadm init — config kube-config.yml
==========================
Copy admin.conf to your home directory
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
==========================
Install flannel
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coreos/flannel/v0.9.1/Documentation/kube-flannel.yml
Patch flannel
==========================
vi /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-controller-manager.yaml
Add the following to kube-controller-manager.yaml:
— allocate-node-cidrs=true
— cluster-cidr=10.244.0.0/16
systemctl restart kubelet
=================
Setting up the Kubernetes Worker
Do same as the master and then below command:
kubeadmin join < MASTER_IP >:6443 — token < TOKEN > — discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:< HASH >
On the master node, test to see if the cluster was created properly.
================
Get a listing of the nodes:
kubectl get nodes
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So above should setup kubernetes cluster with one master and one worker node given that you have linux instance with centos and Docker installed.
Next we directly jump on Prometheus Architecture explaining about:
client libraries for application lever monitoring , exporters for application we don’t have source code for , now prometheus need to know how to access exporters and targets so we can do by prometheus config or service discovery :
service discover for kubernetes API
scraping a request is made to http end point and the result is parsed and sent to storage.
Next section we will setup prometheus on kubernetes cluster. This is a very practical lesson and you might not fully understand all the things as you see because you are expected to have good amount of kubernetes knowledge. So we go through the below steps (taken form the lecture itself):
A metrics namespace for our environment to live in
A ClusterRole to give Prometheus access to targets using Service Discovery
A ConfigMap map that will be used to generate the Prometheus config file
A Prometheus Deployment and Service
Kube State Metrics to get access to metrics on the Kubernetes API.
You can clone the YAML files form Github.
For all the yml files you need to do kubectl apply -f <filename>
For config file you need to add the ip’s of the master and the worker(private is fine).
you can access the prometheus dashboard at :Access Prometheus by visiting https://<MASTER_IP>:8080.
Next up we have the explanation for the prometheus configuration file which can seem too much to grasp at first but as you try to understand peacefully with open mind , things will start making sense. Everything can be linked wrt the documentation :Prometheus Configuration Documentation.
Next up we have the grafana setup from the same github repo mentioned earlier you can now move on to the grafana folder and start deploying the grafana files using same kubectl apply -f <filename>. If you have followed till now you have everything setup but you will be shown the node exporter as down now the below steps have to be performed in order to make the node exporter up (Content copied from the Lecture notes):
Create the Prometheus user:
adduser prometheus
Download Node Exporter.
========================================cd /home/prometheus
curl -LO “https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v0.16.0/node_exporter-0.16.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
tar -xvzf node_exporter-0.16.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
mv node_exporter-0.16.0.linux-amd64 node_exporter
cd node_exporter
chown prometheus:prometheus node_exporter
vi /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service
/etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service:
========================================
[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
========================================
[Service]
User=prometheus
ExecStart=/home/prometheus/node_exporter/node_exporter
========================================
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
Reload systemd:
========================================
systemctl daemon-reload
Enable the node_exporter service:
========================================
systemctl enable node_exporter.service
Start the node_exporter service:
========================================
systemctl start node_exporter.service
Add the following to config-map.yaml:
job_name: ‘node_exporter’
static_configs:
— targets: [‘<KUBER_MASTER_PRIVATE_IP>:9100’, <UBER_WORKER_PRIVATE_IP>:9100]
========================================
Do above on both master and worker. In order to have Grafana Dashboard you need to import the JSON from the link : Kubernetes Nodes Dashboard
and the grafana Dashboard will be working.
For now I am leaving here next few days I will complete this stuff and add screenshots and final steps and my feedback on the whole. Till now this course is really very practical with minimal theory so you need to be very focused to understand all the stuff.
Saiyam Pathak
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saiyam-pathak-97685a64/
https://twitter.com/SaiyamPathak | https://medium.com/linuxacademy/100daysoflearning-d1e39bea635a | ['Saiyam Pathak'] | 2019-02-22 09:27:52.839000+00:00 | ['Grafana', 'Monitoring', 'Linuxacademy', 'Prometheus', 'Kubernetes'] |
Top 5 things to consider before having tummy tuck | Tummy Tuck
Tummy tuck also referred as an abdominoplasty is a surgery, that removes the excess fat and skin and also restores the weakened muscles and leads to have a smoother abdominal area.
Most people wish to have a flat and a well toned abdomen, but sometimes exercising and dieting would help in reaching that goal. In such cases a tummy tuck helps in achieving those results through surgery. If you are considering to have a tummy tuck surgery Bangalore, then the first thing is to check whether you are good enough to undergo the surgery or not. Some common factors required for an ideal tummy tuck candidate include, a non smoker, in good health, have realistic expectations with the surgery outcome. In this article, I have listed out some of the factors that have to considered before moving forward with the decision to undergo a tummy tuck surgery.
1.Best surgeon
Let the surgery be of any type, this is the initial factor that have to be considered. It is important to choose the best plastic surgeon in Bangalore or from any of your preferred location for handling your surgery. Having a skilled and an experienced surgeon could benefit in lot of ways such as a well experienced surgeon could bring up the surgery results in its best form and also reduce the possibilities of risks to its minimum level. And it would be your surgeon who be finally deciding on whether you are a good candidate for the surgery or not.
2.Proper preparation
Generally in all types of surgeries, the patient has to take proper preparation prior to the day of surgery. Mostly during the consultation with your surgeon, he/she will provide you with all the information’s on how to prepare for the surgery. Strictly follow the instructions given by your surgeon because it would help in your surgery and the recovery period.
3.Well informed
During the initial consultation, your surgeon would help you in knowing all the information’s regarding the surgery such as the preparations required, the steps involved in the surgery, surgery risks etc. Other than this, you must have to gather all the information regarding tummy tuck as much as possible, because let it be any surgery, it is always good to be well informed on the surgery type before undergoing that surgery.
4.Ask questions
During the initial consultation with your surgeon, it is important to share all your questions with your surgeon. Some of the most common asked questions are:
Are you a board certified surgeon?
Can I see the before and after photos of your past surgeries?
Am I a good candidate for the surgery?
What all can be expected during the recovery period?
How should I prepare for the surgery?
How will you perform the surgery?
What technique will be used in the surgery?
How long will be the recovery period?
5.Stay hydrated
For all the surgeries, it is important for the patient to remain hydrated before the surgery and also after the surgery. So drink lots of water and stay hydrated. | https://medium.com/@sanajaise/top-5-things-to-consider-before-having-tummy-tuck-5bc30485e517 | ['Sana Jaise'] | 2019-01-18 08:40:43.729000+00:00 | ['Plastic Surgery', 'Beauty', 'Bangalore', 'Facts', 'Doctors'] |
What is VA Home Health Aide Care and How Do I Get It? | What even is Homemaker/HHA care?
An HHA (Home Health Aide) is someone who comes into a Veteran’s home and helps them take care of themselves and their daily activities. HHAs include trained individuals with and without certifications (CNA or MA). This training is often provided by a registered nurse, who supervises them and assesses the veteran’s care needs. HHAs can aid a veteran in a variety of their daily living tasks such as bathing, dressing, and grooming. They can also help prepare meals and perform minor house cleaning tasks. However there are some limitations on what HHAs can do for a veteran these include handling medication, anything involving cutting (hair or nails), and wound care. These tasks are often reserved for nurses only due to legal stipulations. These HHAs are provided to a veteran through a contracted organization (such as our own) and the VA either pay the company directly or in some cases will provide you reimbursement for services you paid for. The organization and the veteran or veteran’s loved one will work together to set up a schedule for HHAs to come into the home, based on the allotted hours of care the VA has recommended. There are also instances where respite care will be provided as well. This type of care gives the veteran’s primary caregiver a break to do errands or other personal tasks. These hours are often over a yearly period and can be used at the veteran’s wish, as long as they do not exceed their allotted respite hours.
Ok if I get services, what services am I eligible for?
HHA services often include helping a veteran with:
Bathing
Getting Dressed
Grooming
Meal Preparation
Feeding
Moving from place to place
Going to appointments
Using the bathroom
That’s interesting but how do I know if I am eligible for these services?
Home Health Aide services are part of a veterans VHA Standard Medical Benefits Package, therefore all that are enrolled are eligible if they meet the VA’s clinical need for the service. This is evaluated by a VA doctor who can prescribe HHA services. This often is often prescribed for veterans who are not able to take care of themselves anymore and need help doing the particular tasks mentioned above. A copay may be charged based on a veteran’s VA service-connected disability status. Service-connected disabilities are often the lead reason HHA services are prescribed but those with age-related debilities can also be eligible. So contact your veteran’s primary VA physician today. | https://medium.com/@mjlaming28/what-is-va-home-health-aide-care-and-how-do-i-get-it-4f98928ca10b | ['Matthew Laming'] | 2020-08-07 17:00:18.541000+00:00 | ['Homemaking', 'Veterans', 'Home Health Care', 'Veterans Affairs', 'Home Care'] |
If It Fitz: Tracking Illegal Parking with Machine Learning | A sight too common in NYC: a car parked on a bike lane and a cyclist forced onto traffic. For cyclists this situation can lead to dangerous environments where cyclists have lost their lives. As a cyclist myself I’ve found myself walking my bike to avoid this same scenario. But how do we quantify this problem? How can we know this is an extensive problem?
Thankfully computer scientist Alex Bell was able to train a machine learning (ML) algorithm using camera footage to track cars parked on bike and bus lanes with better accuracy. Before, the best data we had on illegal parking were reports from NYC’s 311 app, which although a good start they only capture a small percentage of illegal parking instances. By running this ML algorithm on traffic cameras we can gain a better understanding of what streets are hot beds for illegal parking. This information can help us better deploy police officers to areas with high traffic violations to mitigate their danger while we deploy better bike lanes.
However as the picture above shows, authorities and other public servants will need to meet us halfway if we are to make our cities safer for everyone. | https://medium.com/civic-analytics-2019/if-it-fitz-tracking-illegal-parking-with-machine-learning-ba6c1dd3d064 | ['Erik L'] | 2019-09-14 15:41:45.076000+00:00 | ['NYC', 'Cycling', 'Nyu Cusp', 'Signal 2', 'Machine Learning'] |
5 Secure Coding Tips in Go | Secure / Defensive coding is a deep concept. This post only aims to give a different perspective and a set of useful tools to the developers who are interested in the Go programming language .
OWASP Secure Coding Principles is a good resource to dive deep.
Compare strings on a constant time
Regular string comparison is done byte by byte. When running this code,
b := "abcd123" == "abcx123"
firstly the a runes are compared, and then the b and so on. If the comparison fails at some point, in that case on the 4th character, it just returns false immediately and does not go on any further bytes.
The longer the string, the more time spent on comparisons, and this might give a clue to the brute-force attacker. When an attacker is trying to match a hash/token with a brute force attack, she can tell how many bytes it took by looking at the time it took to get the response.
Using ConstantTimeCompare function when comparing these kind of strings, trades off a little bit performance with security.
These kind of timing attacks may also be done when searching for a table with a secret data / having a loop dependent on it etc.
Avoiding being dependent on secret data for time-taking processes might be a good practice to apply on.
Disable Directory Listing
Go’s default file server comes with directory listing open. So, when you want to serve a file, placed in a path like /some/directory/file.txt and a client sends a request to the /some/directory/ she can list the files and directories below.
https://wiki.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Periodic_Table_of_Vulnerabilities_-_Directory_Indexing
Disable directory listing if it is not a valid use case on your product.
Unindexed library and other possible middlewares for different frameworks can be easily applied to the wound :)
A very cute gopher police. Mascot of https://github.com/securego/gosec
Use Rate Limiters on APIs
DDoS and overloading bandwidth attacks can easily create throttles on applications. So limiting with a maximum number of requests per second or else is a good way to secure your application.
Uber’s Rate Limiter or a simple Limiter as a middleware are both useful. You may also want to take a loot at the time/rate source code.
Use a Security Perspective Linter
Especially coding with teams, changing code frequently creates leakes on different levels of the application. Adding linters to the CI/CD pipelines automatically can make things easier to early detection.
Static code analysis is a good start to remember security concerns when developing. Take a look at; GoSec, GoMetaLinter.
Since security is generally not the first priority when creating a program, these linters help a lot to remember important concerns.
Be Sceptical When Logging & Error Handling
When handling errors or logging programs’ default flow, be sceptical with the data being logged. Any critical information may have been logged as plaintext, especially dealing with generic panic s with recover s.
It is very easy to log sensitive data inside a struct that looks innocent. Using Stringer s for these structs or creating sensitive data remover functions may be useful to catch these things. For teams, having a checklist when doing a code review is also a good practice to prevent these kind of leaks.
Also, be careful with the use of log.Fatal it exits the program with os.Exit(1) which means, no defer statements will be executed, temporary files & directories will not be cleaned and so on. It differs from panic with these.
Awesome Go Security, Awesome Golang Security, are good resources to check on more libraries / resources.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to add any other tips on below comments :) | https://medium.com/picus-security-engineering/5-secure-coding-tips-in-go-a3e5ec23d7fd | ['Mert Akkaya'] | 2021-01-15 05:51:26.369000+00:00 | ['Secure Coding', 'Software Development', 'Go', 'Golang'] |
Wine Mom Face Masks | Sign up for Yapjaw
By Slackjaw
Yapjaw is Medium's #1 newsletter for all things humor, and we're sorry to say you'll only receive it a few times a month. Take a look | https://medium.com/slackjaw/wine-mom-face-masks-9f8356602d03 | ['Sarah James'] | 2020-11-30 17:28:12.260000+00:00 | ['Motherhood', 'Satire', 'Parenting', 'Humor', 'Wine'] |
The 3 best analytics tools for LinkedIn | View the original article: https://elementaryanalytics.com/the-3-best-analytics-tools-for-linkedin/
LinkedIn is one of the most powerful social media platforms for marketers to generate leads. So what are the best analytics tools for LinkedIn? To ensure you are getting the leads you want?
With over 500 million people, it’s a great place to put your content and have it seen by your target audience.
But with so many tools out there, how do you know which ones are worth looking into?
I’ve looked at 10 analytics tools that will help you get more from LinkedIn.
Narrowing them down to my top three favorites for generating lead-gen on the platform.
So let me take you through these 3 awesome analytics tools for LinkedIn!
What is LinkedIn and what are its benefits
LinkedIn is a social network that allows you to search for jobs, display your resume. And interact with others in the field.
LinkedIn also offers insights into hiring companies by industry, field or expertise. So even if you don’t have an open position yet it’s worth exploring anyway!
It’s free but there are some features available only on premium accounts.
Despite the professional focus. LinkedIn is quite like social networking sites like Facebook.
It’s based on connecting with friends. Or, in the case of LinkedIn, “connections”. Posting updates, sharing and liking content, and instant messaging other users.
LinkedIn also puts a professional spin on ideas you know from Facebook. Your profile becomes a resume. Complete with work experience, accomplishments, recommendations, and referrals from colleagues.
LinkedIn has its own platform and system different from other networks. Learning how to use LinkedIn is like learning how to use any other social networking site.
Yet, networking on LinkedIn is much different. You won’t find members posting cat videos or pictures of what they made for dinner.
LinkedIn is a site for professionals. So everything is aimed towards careers and business.
As you build your profile you’ll want to be professional.
LinkedIn can help you to start and grow a business.
It provides you with a way to communicate and network with other business owners. Other professionals that are interested in sharing business and industry knowledge.
LinkedIn allows you to:
Have an online resume and business card where potential clients, customers, and joint venture partners can learn about and connect with you.
Get online endorsements and recommendations for your professional abilities and character.
Get introductions to potential clients, customers, and colleagues.
Search available job postings placed on the LinkedIn website by members. While you can also search the web for jobs, through LinkedIn, the big benefit is that many job posts are exclusive to LinkedIn: They aren’t advertised elsewhere. Those postings often have a requirement that you have one or more LinkedIn recommendations. Additionally, there is a chance that someone within your LinkedIn network already works there or knows someone who does, increasing your chances for an interview.
Join various groups that align with your interests and participate in discussions. Having a group in common with another LinkedIn user is one way you can invite others to your network. Each group discussion contains its own job listings. Further, it’s a place to share your expertise and build the trust and rapport needed to cultivate new clients and customers.
Staying connected with the outside world isn’t the only benefit of LinkedIn.
Learning how to use LinkedIn and maximizing all it can offer. Provides you with strong professional connections. To boost your online reputation better than most other social networking resources.
The top 3 analytics tools for LinkedIn
1. Elementary Analytics
Elementary Analytics is one of the new kids on the block. But that doesn’t mean you should overlook it.
Not only does Elementary Analytics and analytics tool for LinkedIn company page information. It shows you data from your Facebook Page. Instagram Business account, and Twitter account.
With Elementary Analytics you can view page insights relating to impressions, views, clicks, and followers. Easily seeing how the performance over the last 30 days compares to the previous 30.
What sets it apart from a lot of other analytics tools for LinkedIn. Is that it shows you performance indicators from your website. As well as pulling data from Google search insights too.
With features such as weekly email reports. In which you can select the date and time to get the keep. Allowing you to review data each week at a time that suits you.
As well as their awesome “one-click” reporting. Which generates a comprehensive marketing report in seconds. It’s a pretty PDF that you can download and forward as needed.
⇢ Price: 14-day free trial for all plans, prices then start from £19 a month.
2. Buffer
Once you connect your LinkedIn profile to Buffer, you can automatically create posts in Buffer, and they will be posted on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Inside the analytics platform, you can easily see the reach of each post and compare comments, likes, and clicks.
⇢ Price: 14-day free trial for the pro plan and then pay $35 per month.
3. Hootsuite
Inside the dashboard, you can gain insights on metrics like shares, likes, comments, and brand mentions.
You can also get more in-depth data based on your LinkedIn company page, such as visitors, updates, and followers.
Depending on the goal you’ve set, you can track specific metrics like subscribers, visitors, or traffic.
Worth mentioned, you’re also allowed to set up filters, including time, page, and metric.
You can also view visitor demographics and gain information related to your page visitors’ location, job function, seniority, company size, and industry.
Inside the Hootsuite analytics tool, you can gain access to Brandwatch, a powerful social listening tool that enables you to discover all mentions of your company and to connect with customers interested in your brand.
⇢ Price: Starts from $19, and you can get 30 days of a free trial.
Why these three tools are the best
1. Elementary Analytics
We have already touched on some of the features of Elementary Analytics. Like the weekly email and one-click reporting.
What we like about Elementary Analytics is its Mission Statement.
“Simple, Accessible Analytics”.
It’s quick and easy to add all the stats into a dashboard or widget. It takes a couple of clicks per platform.
Elementary Analytics also takes the stress out of deciding which stats to look at.
With between 4–6 stats to review depending on which platform you are looking at. You aren’t overwhelmed by data and can see if performance is improving.
You can also set “KPI’s” against any stat in Elementary Analytics’ dashboard. Giving you an easy way to track performance.
We mentioned that you can also see website and search ranking performance stats using Elementary Analytics. Which is a huge plus and gives you a more rounded view of your digital marketing.
We love how you can create widgets to link together stats from different platforms. Again, easily giving you a rounded view of performance across your digital footprint.
Oh, and Elementary Analytics works well on mobile devices too. So you can keep on top of things on the go as well.
If you want to know more about Elementary Analytics. You can see how it works here.
2. Buffer
Buffer is and has been one of the big players in automating the posting to social media platforms for years.
Their “analyze” platform takes their years of experience. To give you a great way to review performance stats.
Their dashboard is easy to use. As with Elementary Analytics, they don’t overwhelm you with data. Giving you the key stats, if things have improved, to help you make informed decisions.
However, their reporting section is a little underwhelming.
Buffer doesn’t seem to have an easy way to link stats between different platforms.
If you already use Buffer for social media. This could be a great sidestep for you. Only if you don’t want to track website and search console stats.
3. Hootsuite
Hootsuite has also been around for what seems like an eternity (In internet terms anyway).
It has been the go-to platform for many people, businesses, and digital agencies alike.
Hootsuite’s analytics is a lot more in-depth. This is both a good and bad thing.
As I mentioned early in the blog post. There is a lot of information that Hootsuite can give you. With their filtering, you can start digging deeper if needs be.
This comes at a cost though, as you do need a lot more knowledge and experience to get the most out of their platform.
If you want to start digging deeper into your stats. Then Hootsuite may be a good choice for you.
Be prepared to learn how to do this and make sure you have a good understanding of what the data means in the first place too. Or you may get overwhelmed by all the info at your disposal.
Conclusion
With so many tools out there, how do you know which ones are worth looking into?
I’ve looked at 10 analytics tools that will help you get more from LinkedIn and narrowed them down to my top three analytics tools for LinkedIn.
Elementary Analytics is the perfect analytics tool for LinkedIn for any marketer who wants a clear picture of their marketing efforts across all channels.
You can use it as a standalone solution or in conjunction with your other favorite social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Try elementary free for 14 days now! | https://medium.com/@phughes1980/the-3-best-analytics-tools-for-linkedin-42734384cd0c | ['Phillip Hughes'] | 2021-08-17 15:27:06.798000+00:00 | ['Linkedin Automation', 'Linkedin Marketing', 'LinkedIn', 'Linkedintips'] |
The Shocking Truth Behind Dance: Dealing with Male-Imposed Ideals | The History of Ballet from a Feminist View
If you’ve ever gone to see a live performance of Classical ballet before, you will notice the essence of the work. The female dancers flutter across the stage like butterflies, barely touching the ground because of their pointe shoes.
The look is as if the dancers are floating, like fairies. The color scheme of the pieces are typically white, light colors, like a whimsical child frolicking through a meadow in their white nightgown. Notice how the men look strong, lifting the women to contribute to the flying, effortless effervescent appearance.
Men want to appear strong, and the women are “supposed” to appear light. Like a mystical, unattainable fairy. How cute.
Photo by Kazuo ota on Unsplash
The History of Pole Dancing from a Feminist View
Pole dancing originated over 800 years ago. If you recall in our history books the “Maypole Dance.” It became associated with fertility, and was meant to simulate intercourse. The dance let the men know that a woman was “ready for marriage” and usually ended with a huge feast.
Pole dancing became conjoined with “exoticism” and was a traveling show almost like a circus. It became monetized by white men in the new world by the 1920’s where women would be paid to entice customers into the tents by belly dancing or gyrating in an erotic fashion against a phallic symbol, the pole (which at that time was wooden).
Men became so drawn by the “exotic” movements of these women that they wanted to start the progression of these sideshows to placing them into bars and clubs — hence, the strip club.
Ballet and pole dancing were made to idealize the woman. To see her shape and figure up on a stage or a pole. Placing her up above everyone else. To be viewed, to be an object of the man’s gaze, looking, seeing, witnessed, and awed.
What a Feminist Has to Say About It
As a woman, I am angered. I am angered that dance had originated as a means to somehow obtain a woman. Women were used as a tool to make money off her body, her curves, because everyone wanted to pay money to see them. There are so many other things that women can be angry about. It’s even worse when they have taken over something so enjoyable to women such as dance.
On the other side of the coin, the historian in me says that I’m flattered that men want to admire us for centuries. That men want to witness us in all our beauty. Because we are that fucking beautiful. That when we were in caveman days, the women was a golden ticket to a successful and fruitful life.
It’s hard to break free of centuries of male-imposed ideals. However, there are ways that I personally do daily to really stick it to the man. Here’s how I have combated the stomach-churning thought that dance has been monetized and codified by men. | https://medium.com/write-like-a-girl/the-shocking-truth-behind-dance-dealing-with-male-imposed-ideals-26b045b97e01 | ['Molly Mccord'] | 2020-08-26 15:30:42.260000+00:00 | ['Gender', 'Women', 'Feminism', 'Dance', 'Art'] |
Americans Suck at Body Weight Maintenance | Americans Suck at Body Weight Maintenance
Pixabay Photo
One thing is abundantly clear about Americans, we are really good at gaining weight. Americans are experts on how to store body fat and push the weight limit for their height. This national phenomena is evidenced by the statistics the CDC reports; that 71% of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. With January 2021 literally days away, many of us will be considering going on a diet to drop a few pounds an inches. I am suggesting you take a new path; making small changes in your food choices, one baby step at a time.
Currently BMI (Body Mass Index) is the measure used to classify a person as overweight or obese by the medical profession. As an expert in fitness and nutrition, I will remind you that some athletes and individuals who lift weights to prepare for their occupational demands will be incorrectly classified as overweight using BMI, due to their body composition. Having a higher percentage of lean body mass and a low percentage of body fat will lead to a “false positive” classification as “overweight” and sometimes “obese” in these outlier individuals.
Now back to the majority of the population in America.
Most Americans don’t even need to calculate their BMI to tell them they are overweight or obese: they already KNOW! Telling people they are fat is not the best way to help them learn more about nutrition, physical activity and healthy food preparation. Doctors have been dispensing BMI numbers since 1998, telling any adult they see that if their BMI is “over 25” they are overweight and “over 30” means they are obese. This revelation is typically followed by a recommendation that you; that adult with too high of a BMI, should lose weight.
An actual conversation about how to lose weight never happens with the majority of doctors. Your Doc just informs you “your BMI is too high” then lets you know the solution to this problem by stating, “you need to lose weight.” Maybe you have a doctor that has knowledge to share, despite the lack of nutrition taught during medical school. Often nutrition information from your doctor is in the form of a handout and/or pamphlet, maybe a group class you can enroll in to help you make some changes to your food choices and physical activity level. I am willing to bet most people throw the papers in the trash and look on the internet for a quick fix or a new diet to try. Most people just head out to have lunch.
Why don’t you decide to take the weight management class at your local hospital? Hey, maybe you do and I have bet against you unfairly. My over 30 years of experience in nutrition counseling and fitness coaching has shown me that people don’t want to change their eating patterns and food choices. Even when someone claims to be “very motivated” to lose weight it is not an indicator that they will be successful. Most humans eat when they want; choosing food they like the taste of and that is easy to prepare. The term “Prepare” may mean that said human actually plans to “dump out the take out container onto a plate at home,” not actually turning groceries into a meal.
It goes like this; the human will think, “I am hungry, I want to eat now.” Then you will determine what you have to choose from for your next meal. Will it be the lunch you brought to work, or the food at your company cafeteria, or your favorite take-out by delivery, or going through a drive-thru/fast food restaurant. When it comes to food preparation, if you are at work you are most likely microwaving something your brought to the office or you are opting for zero-preparation food choices which are usually high calorie, large serving, highly processed options. Face it; most people eat for enjoyment, not to fuel their body. If you feel hungry, you decided to eat, choosing food that tastes great.
Next comes the reasoning, where you tell yourself why your food choices are “not that bad.” Most common is a down-playing of how often you eat the less-than-ideal food options, combined with information about how much working out you do regularly. I have a suggestion for you. Instead of relying on your memory of what you have eaten lately and how much exercise you have been getting, start tracking your food and activity. The best way to track is by downloading an app that is designed for this task! You don’t need to hire a professional to analyze your daily food intake, you can do it yourself for free. Currently I use My Fitness Pal, by Under Armour and have also used Lose It! in the past. Both apps have easy to follow directions and if you log everything you eat, drink and even just taste a bite of, you will have a clear picture of your dietary intake.
Side note: “diet” and “dietary intake” both refer to exactly what you eat and drink each day in Nutritionist language.
This enlightening view will show you how you are doing in terms of total calories consumed each day, percentages of protein, fat and carbohydrates (aka “macros”), and how well your food choices support your needs for vitamins, calcium, iron, and other micro-nutrients. The flip side is you will also learn if you are consuming too much sugar, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium with your typical food selections.
Side note: you must measure your food so that you can accurately log the number of servings you consumed of eat food item. When you don’t measure you are lying to yourself about how many calories you actually eat each day. Break out the measuring cups, measuring spoons and food scale to help you be truthful.
Congratulations on taking a step towards being honest with yourself and learning what parts of your daily food choices you can change to stop gaining weight.
And there it is… STOP Gaining Weight. That is the first goal for an overweight or obese person to embrace and work on. There is a side effect to doing this work on your eating habits, I must warn you. You may lose body fat in the process, as evidenced by better fitting clothing and some definition in your muscles. Even if your weight on the scale doesn’t drop drastically, body fat loss improves your health and increases your motivation to stay the course. Travel this new path with baby steps and small changes that add up over time, producing the outcomes you desire. | https://medium.com/@mrslesliefunk/americans-suck-at-body-weight-maintenance-1fa20b1d86fc | ['Leslie Funk'] | 2020-12-22 07:31:52.854000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Diet', 'Behavior', 'Nutrition', 'Obesity'] |
Guide To satisfying fat girls | The economy is in a very bad state and there is no indication that it will get better in the near future. People Are Looking to save Money so, I am often asked constantly, “Louie Bee, how do I satisfy a fat woman”? After so many inquiries, I finally broke down and wrote this guide for those chubby chasers. The guide consist of a checklist for before you begin, and techniques to get her off. In order to satisfy a fat girl is very hard to even for men with big equipment. However, it is not impossible if you prepare just follow these steps.
You first need to get condoms and morning-after pills. I highly recommend the Trojans “Her Pleasure” with spermicidal lubricant. Safety is always stepping one. Step two, check for cleanliness. No matter what condoms you get you to have to inspect the area and see if it looks healthy. Remember when in doubt bail out. Look at her snatch if it has some strange stuff like pimples or sores slimy stuff coming out or just smells RUN AWAY it is not worth getting sick.
In addition, she should be completely shaved do not accept any excuses. Nowadays there is no excuse for having an unkempt pussy. She should be freshly showered and smelling good. The stench will kill your dick fast. Ok, now that you have checked that, she is clean. Start kissing her get her turned on rub her breast and pinch a nipple. Lets your hands explore her body really. This will get dumpy to get wet for u.
Then take a nipple in your mouth and suck it she will squirm a little this is good. Kiss around her rolls, lift one up and lick it all while making your way down. Now that you are in front of her cunt, take your middle finger, shove it in genitally, and start massaging her inside. Take your other hand and with your thumb and forefinger rub her clit. Now if she starts to rock her hips you are doing it right. Now the decisive moment has arrived. This is what proves if you love fat women or not.
This is where I found out I did not. take both your hands and spread the lips apart start licking up and down her slit the deeper than just go for it and start eating that whale of a slut for all your worth and make her see colors. You keep doing this until she comes. Once she has, no she is not done yet you need to get her off at least two more times before for you are considered a god lol. You first have to get on top and start fucking her each girl is different.
In my case, it took me 30 minutes of constant fast pumping just to get my ex to get her nut. In fact, the missionary position is a favorite to the fat lazy bitches I come across. Doggie only works if she is lying on her stomach and the same thing applies it depends on the girl how fast for how long. In addition, gravity is your friend let her ride you cowgirl so you can play with her clit while you pump that should get her off relatively quickly.
If you follow these steps you will have no problem making a fat bitch cum, in fact, fucking a fat bitch is a great exercise. It builds stamina and is great practice for when you go out with that hot in shape chick you really want. | https://medium.com/@louiebee1/guide-to-satisfying-fat-girls-9ed1f5386f2b | ['Louie Bee'] | 2019-03-05 04:38:19.343000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Satire', 'Erotica', 'Body Positive'] |
A Discourse in Dissent: The Danger in Perpetuating False Narratives | When those in power control the stories of history, it becomes easy to weave a false narrative, weaponizing lies to their advantage.
When we look back and analyze the past, we often do so with all the knowledge we have in the present. Often new information challenges what we had once believed to be true and draws into question our identity and understanding in an unexpected way. With that said, an awareness of this hindsight phenomenon can allow us to view the present in a new light.
Hindsight is a powerful tool that we can leverage when critically thinking about the past and the present — anything from Christopher Columbus to modern, international legal battles.
Hindsight Bias
Humans relish ‘closure’ and we find comfort in order and predictability, even if it is to our own detriment. When it appears to be too easy to create a narrative, we assume that the outcome of an event must have been foreseeable and unavoidable.
Nobel Prize laureate and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman called this phenomenon ‘hindsight bias’. Kahneman explains that “What hindsight does is it blinds us to the uncertainty with which we live. That is, we always exaggerate how much certainty there is. Because after the fact, everything is explained.”
If you believe you knew the result of an event all along, you will not take the time to truly examine the complicated circumstances that led to the outcome and its aftermath. There can be an inherent danger in simplification, however, an awareness of hindsight bias can provide a critical tool in battling injustice.
Challenging the Stories of History — Several Examples in Case
The collective narrative of human history is written by those in power. Accordingly, we can easily be misled when the truth is recreated, omitted and distorted to fit a certain agenda, seducing us with false stories accepted as fact.
Was Columbus really a daring explorer who discovered the New World, or was he a plunderer responsible for the genocide of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people?
Americans idolize the Founding Fathers for creating a democratic government built on the values of equality but neglect to recognize their contribution to the perpetuation of the institution of slavery. In creating this selective narrative, Americans are also able to ignore the fact that racial discrimination is built into the foundations of the United States.
Accepting simplified narratives limit our understanding of the world today. But what happens when we are presented with new information about the past and those who are responsible for writing it? How will it affect your judgment in the present and future?
Who Controls the Narrative? Enter the Czech Republic
The most recent attempts to shape public opinion regarding New World Resources (NWR) and its subsidiary Ostravsko-karvinské doly (OKD), the largest hard coal mining company in the Czech Republic, serve as an example of how easily the public can be influenced by the media when it is being manipulated by those in power. It is imperative that the people recognize this manipulation of the facts and critically challenge those in power to protect their young democracy.
We would like to consider ourselves more aware than those who came before us, more progressive and less likely to have the fleece pulled over our eyes. But when we look closer, and especially today, we see powerful people in government and business aligning themselves with the media in a new and more dangerous way.
Often compared to American President Donald Trump and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, is the country’s second richest man according to Forbes and the owner of two of the most influential national newspapers and the country’s largest commercial national radio station.
The Paris-based watchdog organization Reporters Without Borders recently downgraded the Czech Republic eleven positions on its 2019 World Press Freedom Index — a measure of journalistic freedom — stating, “The level of concentration of media ownership has become critical since the new oligarchs began to buy daily newspapers thanks to their wealth in order to strengthen their influence.”
The country previously enjoyed one of the highest rankings, 13th overall in 2015, among former Eastern Bloc countries, representing an alarming decline in a short period of time.
Furthermore, targeted campaigns to disseminate misinformation have threatened to undermine democratic institutions across the world. Public discourse around OKD and the major players involved in a struggle over control of its assets has been distorted by growing media bias and harmful misinformation campaigns.
A privately funded Facebook campaign operating the page Zastavme zloděje (Stop the Thieves) has sponsored posts and shared thousands of false and sensational claims has been wielded against former OKD investors to damage their credibility with the public and invalidate their claims to compensation. The use of social media to lobby misinformation attacks against economic rivals is a dangerous trend taking hold in the Czech Republic.
OKD: A Case Study in Deception
The OKD is a large well-known mining company in the Czech Republic that was owned by the state before being privatized in the 1990s. In a unique arrangement, the government transferred the ownership of the company to the Czech people, making them shareholders in a private company.
After encountering financial issues five years ago, the company requested a loan from the government to maintain its essential operations. Not unlike the bail-outs of the auto and banking industries in the United States during the recession, it was deemed necessary to maintain the country’s economic stability.
Then serving as Finance Minister, Andrej Babiš, would play a central role in what would begin an ongoing saga of name-blaming, court cases and head-spinning disputes. Over the course of several years, the Czech people would be inundated with fake-news, daily name-mongering and politically motivated story-telling. But a change in discourse is proving what may be hindsight bias.
A Dysfunctional Comedy of Errors or A Coordinated Conspiracy
Under the direction of CEO Gareth Penny, OKD began to hemorrhage financially until it was forced into bankruptcy in 2016. The government quickly assigned Lee Louda, a state employee closely aligned with Minister Babiš as the liquidator for OKD’s insolvency. His appointment was not only questionable but represented a controversial conflict of interest.
If it were Louda’s job to reorganize the company in the best interest of the shareholders and creditors, why did he reject offers in excess of $20 million by private companies to purchase OKD in favor of a measly $3 million bid from state-owned Prisko?
Louda is currently ensnared in high-profile lawsuits in London and Prague over his handling of OKD’s liquidation of assets. Repeated losses in key court decisions, as well as current trials, do not appear to be supporting the previous narrative in which the shareholders were at fault for OKD’s failure. This includes a decisive judgment in the High Court of London striking down Louda’s attempts to win back money that was paid as dividends over half a decade ago.
Baruch Fischoff, a psychologist known for his research of hindsight bias in action, said, “Failure to appreciate the effects of outcome knowledge can seriously prejudice the evaluation of decisions made in the past and limit what is learned from experience.” The question for the Czech people is now that you have the knowledge, what will you do with it?
Looking back with the gift of hindsight, the government takeover of OKD — from the management of Penny as CEO to the handling of the company’s insolvency by Louda — was either a huge clusterfuck or a nicely orchestrated conspiracy. What is clear today, is that public discourse and sentiment is slowly changing and that the justice system of a new democracy may actually be working as it was meant to work.
The Fallout
The Czech government and individuals conspiring within the government have essentially stolen the OKD from the people. The theft of public money must be restored. The rightful ownership of OKD by the people must be reinstated and those who have plotted to pilfer from its shareholders must be punished and forced to compensate OKD’s legitimate investors.
The Czech Parliament has opened an investigation into the handling of OKD, but it has yet to release the final report detailing its findings. The report has been continually delayed, perhaps as an attempt by those in power to cover up the truth.
It is interesting to note that Transparency International has listed the Czech Republic as a ‘Country to Watch’ in their Corruption Perceptions Index 2018, demonstrating the failure of the country to significantly control corruption and threatening the young democracy. This pattern of deception appears to run deep within the government leadership of the Czech Republic.
The European Commission and Czech authorities have independently accused Prime Minister Babiš of violating conflict-of-interest statues related to EU subsidies and his economic interests in his company Argofert. Recently, mass protests have taken to the streets to oppose Babiš’s leadership and demand his resignation.
Nevertheless, it is largely the public who was disadvantaged when the company was stolen from its shareholders — made possible either through the misunderstanding of the situation by the media or the manipulation of the former Finance Minister and current Prime Minister Andrej Babiš who has benefitted politically and financially from the government takeover.
Take note of this case, that in several months may turn the current narrative right-side up. And while you and I may not care about the OKD, this story should serve as an important reminder of how fickle people can be, how public opinion can be manipulated to shape a legal battle and the power of hindsight in affecting the collective narrative that we believe. | https://medium.com/@PetraCervenka/a-discourse-in-dissent-the-danger-in-perpetuating-false-narratives-34c041089519 | ['Petra Cervenka'] | 2019-06-25 13:55:31.542000+00:00 | ['Okd', 'Politics', 'Babiš', 'Czech Republic', 'Corruption'] |
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Why staying at your law firm is riskier than quitting (Part 1) | I wrote this because often people ask me how I left my firm, and I suspect many others are also trying to leave but want some encouragement. I want to stress that I speak from a very specific experience — that of being disillusioned with working as a litigation associate at a big law firm — so my perspective will be limited. Many of my friends have found fulfilling ways to practice law both inside and outside of the firm setting; I admire them for that and only wish there were more of them.
Like many of you reading this, I fell into law. By that I mean I made a series of safe, unobjectionable decisions to achieve a goal I thought I wanted but didn’t actually bother to examine beforehand. Also, I was decent at most things in school but not “passionate” about any particular one. Except reading — I loved to read. And arguing with my parents — that was my second favorite hobby. Based on these two data points, my parents decided the only reasonable career choice for me was that of a lawyer.
Fine, I shrugged. I didn’t have any better ideas at the time, and this — getting into law school — gave me a goal to work toward, a next rung on the ladder. So I applied and got in.
Fast-forward three years. I graduate, pass the bar, woo! (That third year of law school was fun, wasn’t it? Like summer camp! Totallly worth the seven years I’ll spend paying it off.) I get my own office, and I have a secretary! I can’t believe they’re paying me this much — when are they going to find out I have no idea what I’m doing, and I can’t possibly be worth this much?
One year later. They’re not paying me nearly enough for this. How much longer do I have until my loans are paid off?
My second year as a law firm associate was one of the hardest years of my life. It wasn’t because my firm treated me poorly, or because my hours were overwhelming. In fact, I actually liked my firm and grew close to many of the people I worked with. Plus, I had a kick-ass assistant, one of the best at the firm.
No, I became depressed because of the sinking realization that I’d worked my whole life to end up here: to be constantly under someone else’s thumb, inefficiently fighting other people’s foolish battles in an exorbitantly expensive yet broken system that incentivizes posturing and manipulation, marking my time in 6-minute increments. Wasn’t this all I wanted? The unobjectionable future I’d marched so steadily toward? Just nine more years, and I might be up for partnership, right?
I didn’t understand why I couldn’t suck it up and keep at it with my head down like everyone else. I became joyless, listless, and withdrawn. I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, which probably didn’t help. I blamed myself for being mentally weak. I berated myself for not appreciating my own privilege — some people would kill for my job! I read self-help books. I talked to a therapist. I took cold showers. I took personality quizzes to figure out how to get my motivation back. I tried meditation, yoga. And yet, every night, I dreaded going to sleep because it meant tomorrow would only be a blink away, and that it would bring the same as yesterday. I encountered this quote by Thoreau:
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
This was the most depressing and truest thing I’d read all year, and I thought it definitely applied to me.
For those lucky enough to have found meaning and satisfaction in working at a law firm (and I do know a handful of you), you are heroes! The legal world needs more people like you. For others who feel similarly as I did, and especially for those who are too busy logging hours to be able to process how you feel when you are not working, I have three general pieces of advice:
(1) Don’t fall prey to status quo bias
I’m sure you’ve come across it, but status quo bias is the tendency for people to let things remain the way they are, even when they should rationally do something about it. Usually it’s because they’d rather put off having to make a decision, or they feel that keeping the status quo is safer than making a change. This inclination is strong even when people know the “cost” of making a change is tiny and the magnitude of the decision is huge. (For example, accepting the default 401K plan that your employer has set up for you instead of doing even minimal research to decide how to invest your retirement funds. Yup, you know who you are.)
Status quo bias is rampant in the law firm world because we are an inherently conservative bunch, and on top of that we are groomed by our environment to be even more risk-adverse. (Hell, the whole concept of case law is premised on preserving the status quo! We are trained to keep things the way they are.) Couple that with herd mentality — that of looking to the behavior of our peers for validation of our own choices — and this is a winning formula for staying at jobs that clearly make us miserable.
Yet it’s understandable: changing the status quo requires an affirmative act, while maintaining the status quo requires just a failure to act, which admittedly seems easier. However, the failure to act — an omission — is itself a decision, and it impacts your future just as much as making a change does.
If you do nothing — i.e., by spending all your waking hours simply responding to demands that others place upon you — nothing will change. Doing nothing comes in many forms, including:
Doing nothing and hoping the partner you work for is miraculously going to give you less work next year
Doing nothing and hoping that your next project will just be “better”
Doing nothing except idly browsing LinkedIn, secretly hoping that an opportunity will land in your lap
Doing nothing and feeling guilty about the lack of time you are spending with the people you love
Doing nothing while texting with your lawyer friends about how much you’re working, how much you dislike it, and how little you’re sleeping
If you do the above, your situation will get worse. And with every day that passes, it will become harder and harder to make a change. You get used to certain standards of living and spending. Or you buy a house. You have babies. You’ll feel more trapped. You’ll wonder how you could possibly take a salary cut while other people are relying on you, and you’ll have less time and energy to figure it out.
If you are unhappy now, then doing nothing will guarantee that you will continue to be unhappy. Yes, you will continue to get assigned the same work. Yes, your billable requirements will be the same, and you’ll keep working yourself to the ground chomping at the bit that is “bonus.” And yes, most likely, you will continue to work with the same people — the ones you complain about to your friends. On the other hand, if you make a change — if you take a chance on yourself — you at least increase the likelihood that you will be happier.
But here’s the kicker: even if you “fail” in your next venture, whatever it may be, you are still better off. As a risk-averse bunch, lawyers have a hard time internalizing this. Failure feels bad. It threatens your ego. But failure is progress. It means you either learned some very valuable information about yourself and about the world, or you are able to eliminate an option that is wrong for you, often both. (To learn more about this, read about growth mindset.) Either way, that is infinitely better than staying in a situation that you already know is wrong for you.
But still, you have doubts. You want reassurance that if you leave your law firm, you won’t regret it. Regret — this is ultimately your biggest fear. Listen to me: I have never in my life met anyone who regretted their decision to quit their job as a law firm associate. Never.
I do know many, many people who left, and who are now exponentially happier at their new occupations while still living in nice neighborhoods, supporting families, and even spending time with those families (!).
The transition I personally made was drastic — I switched fields entirely and became a software engineer — and I am immeasurably happier as a result. This is certainly not the only way to go about it, so I’ve tried to generalize my experience and some of the lessons I learned. Some of them will seem obvious, but you may want someone to say it to you anyway.
(2) Learn to say “no”
We are ambitious people who are deeply afraid of disappointing others. We hold ourselves to absurdly high standards and are very unforgiving when we fail to meet them. We got to where we are by being exceptional rule-followers. We are smart and capable people who desire a purpose but usually don’t have a good idea of what we really want to do. Unfortunately, these traits combined make us easily exploitable.
If you don’t set boundaries, you will always be an accessory for implementing someone else’s agenda, instead of the originator of your own. Try this: make a list of things you care about, and things you actually spend your time doing. How much do they overlap?
I know, work is consuming. Most days, when you get home from work (if you get home from work), you’re physically and emotionally exhausted. You have no energy to do anything but watch Netflix. You probably meant to go to the gym, but once again, did not.
But work is as consuming as you let it be. There are a lot of times when you could have said “no” or even “not now,” yet out of a vague sense of fear, you said yes. A partner asked you out to lunch even when you are already swamped, and you don’t want to offend him or her. Say no, politely. Your work coordinator asked for “just a couple hours help” on a research assignment. Refuse, politely. The summer associates are here, and you’re expected to make an appearance at afterwork social events. Decline, politely.
Here are some guidelines for saying “no”:
You do not need to include a reason. You could, but then you are perpetuating the belief that the firm is your warden, that it is entitled to know of your whereabouts at all times. This is not true. Your firm does not own you. Simply saying, “I won’t be available from 6–8 pm,” is sufficient. And then, do not be available from 6–8 pm!
You have to be okay with people being mildly upset with you.This is hard, but they will get over it, and so will you. If no one is ever upset with you, that should alarm you because it suggests you are consistently sweeping your own interests under the rug. Winston Churchill said, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Envision the very worst thing that will happen if you say “no” or “not now.” No, you won’t get fired. (Do you realize how much it costs to find, hire, and train someone to replace you? There is a reason they are willing to pay you tens of thousands for a referral.) But maybe a partner will yell at you. That sucks. Maybe you won’t make bonus this year. That might suck, too. But will your friends and family still love you? Will you still have a place to sleep tonight? Yes.
Saying “no” to work is very hard. Yet saying it to friends, family, and yourself is very easy. Make it the opposite. You have to train yourself to do it and to realize that things are going to be okay even when you do. Saying no allows you to carve out space, time, and energy for yourself to figure out what your next steps are, what you actually enjoy, and what your own vision for your life is. (And actually, it goes without saying that getting more sleep and spending time away from work will actually make you better at your job.)
(3) Don’t fall into these traps
Don’t buy the conventional wisdom that you need to put in 4–5 years before you’ll be taken seriously
First, ask yourself if you are saying this to excuse yourself for being lazy and doing nothing.
It is true that many companies — even ones considered progressive — look for years of experience instead of relevance of that experience. Often they may hire someone with more years of irrelevant experience than fewer years of relevant experience. This is illogical, of course. (If you are an employer or recruiter reading this, you are missing out on a huge workforce of smart, motivated people.)
But there are plenty of companies that are more sensible about this. These tend to be smaller and scrappier companies who are keen to find someone who can do the work or figure it out if need be, and they are less worried about having to justify hiring decisions to higher-ups. Seek out these companies.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can change the type of work you do at the firm
Is there a way to continue working at your firm in a capacity that you enjoy? Unlikely, but perhaps. Before you call it quits, it may be worth asking whether you can do something different or do something differently at your current firm that would enable you to keep working there but be happier. It would be a low cost way to explore something new, and the firm usually wants to try to accommodate you because it would rather retain you in any capacity than to suffer the expense of losing you altogether. You have nothing to lose, right?
But beware of promises. I don’t think work supervisors intend to deceive, but at the very least they may be overly optimistic about your chances of switching to a different project within a reasonable timeline. Litigation is a long, protracted process. Deadlines are constantly postponed. And once you’re on a case, you’re on it for the long haul, because it would be too expensive to replace you in the middle of a case. So there will always be compelling reasons to keep you on it.
But also beware that even if you are assigned to a different team or a different industry, your day-to-day work will largely remain the same. Most litigation associates I know are not bored by the what, but infuriated by the how. So switching to a different team or industry is not going to fix that. Let’s say you were doing copyright law and you think you might like environmental law instead. Maybe initially you’d be more motivated by the change in subject matter, but when that sense of novelty wears off, you are still left with the same routine: drafting complaints, propounding discovery requests, reviewing documents, researching Westlaw, and dealing with uncooperative opposing counsel.
I’m not saying not to give it a shot. But set a deadline. Reevaluate in, say, 3 months. If by then you still feel like you’re in a rut, then it’s time to make a change, regardless of what promises are made to you.
Don’t be afraid of hurting other people’s feelings
One of the hardest things about quitting was the fear that I was disappointing and hurting the people who had supported and invested in me. These included my parents, who were upset and bewildered; college professors who wrote me recommendation letters when I applied to law school; lawyer friends who I felt I was abandoning; and mentors at the firm who had stuck their necks out for me.
But, to my surprise, I learned that the people who really care about you will cheer you on in your pursuit of happiness instead of resenting you for it. You will realize this, too. | https://medium.com/@sunshineyin/why-staying-at-your-law-firm-is-riskier-than-quitting-part-1-7981580b4e38 | ['Sunshine Yin'] | 2019-06-19 22:00:04.845000+00:00 | ['Lawyers', 'Happiness', 'Law', 'Job Hunting', 'Life Lessons'] |
2020–21 Western Conference Preview | Dallas Mavericks- (43–32, 7th) Lost to Clippers in 6 games in round 1, Rick Charlisle
PG- Luka Doncic Jalen Brunson Trey Burke
SG- Josh Richardson Josh Green
SF- Tim Hardaway Jr. Wesley Iwundu Dorian Finney-Smith
PF- Kristaps Porzingis+ Maxi Kleber Dorian Finney-Smith
C- Dwight Powell Willy Cauley-Stein
It’s all Luka for possibly as long as the first half of the season. KP may not see game action until at least February so Maxi Kleber and Dorian Finney-Smith are going to get all the minutes they can handle. Dwight Powell is coming off a ruptured achilles, but if he’s full go he could blossom into an elite NBA center. J Rich and THJ can both score in bunches, but also go ice cold. With KP on the shelf it will be tough to improve on their 43 wins, but a long as Luka is healthy the Mavs will be competing every night,
Denver Nuggets- (46–27, 3rd) Lost to Lakers in WCF, Mike Malone
PG- Jamal Murray Monte Morris
SG- Gary Harris PJ Dozier
SF- Michael Porter Jr. Will Barton
PF- Paul Millsaps JaMychel Green
C- Nikola Jokic Bol Bol
The Nuggets had an amazing comeback from down 3–1 to eliminate the Clippers before getting bested by the Lakers, but it was an exciting bubble for them. Jokic is arguably a top 10 player in the NBA and Jamal Murray is electric. The departure of Jerami Grant opens the door for Michael Porter Jr. to take a big step and JaMychal Green is an upgrade from Mason Plumlee. Gary Harris had a quiet year last year and any sort of bounce back season only gives the Nuggets more options. They arent the Lakers, but they are a top team in the West.
Golden State Warriors- (15–50, 15th) Steve Kerr
PG- Steph Curry Brad Wannamaker Jordan Poole
SG/SF- Kelly Oubre Jr. Damion Lee
SF/SG- Andrew Wiggins Kent Bazemore
PF- Draymond Green Eric Paschall
C- James Looney James Wiseman Marquis Chriss
KD left town, Klay missed the entire season and Steph played 5 games. It was a serious back to reality season for the Warriors, and unfortunately this one started off with brutal news that Klay will miss this season as well. The Splash Brothers are such an incredible duo so it stinks Klay will be out once again. Steph is still one of the best players in the NBA and this season could prove to be important to his overall legacy. Can he lead GSW alongside just Draymond alone? Wiggins is a nice piece they added late last year. Kelly Oubre Jr. is a solid G/F as well. Kent Bazemore can open the floor and guys like Damion Lee and Eric Pashcall showed signs of being good role players last season. James Looney certainly isnt a top center but it could open the door for Wiseman to get early minutes. Steph will take the Warriors out of the basement, but it’ll be interesting to see how high.
Houston Rockets- (44–28, 4th) Loss to Lakers in 5 game in WCS, Stephen Silas
PG- John Wall Chris Clemons
SG- James Harden Eric Gordon
SF- Danuel House Ben McLemore
PF- PJ Tucker Caboclo/Wooten
C- Christian Wood Demarcus Cousins
The good news, John Wall looks healthy. The bad news, James Harden looks fat. The strategy of just gaining weight until a team trades you in quite a move but its looks like James Harden is fully committed to it. 4th in the West and winning a playoff series is great, but just like last year, this Rockets team doesn’t hold up against the best in the West. Harden will score in buckets, hopefully Wall is comeback player of the year candidate, Christian Wood can be a star but in the end, there’s better teams in the west.
Los Angeles Clippers- (49–23, 2nd) Loss in 7 games to Nuggets in WCS, Ty Lue
PG- Patrick Beverly Reggie Jackson
SG- Paul George Lou Williams
SF- Kawhi Leonard Nic Batum
PF- Marcus Morris Patrick Peterson
C- Serge Ibaka Ivica Zubacs
The Clippers blew a 3–1 lead to the Nuggets and players didn’t seem to have great trust in Doc. Ty Lue actually seems like a good fit to replace him. Any team with Kawhi is going to be a good team and if he can get some more help from Playoff P this year the Clippers will once again try and keep pace with the Lakers. They basically swapt Harrell for Ibaka and its never a bad thing to get a former champion and veteran and a guy who already won with Kawhi. Lou Williams is one of the best guys to have come of the bench in the league. They’re probably the second best team in the west again, but unfortunately the second still best team in LA
Los Angeles Lakers- (52–19, 1st) NBA Champions, Frank Vogel
PG- Lebron James Dennis Schroder Alex Caruso
SG- Dennis Schroder Wesley Matthews Talen Horton-Tucker
SF- KCP Markeiff Morris
PF- Anthony Davis Kyle Kuzma
C- Marc Gasol Monztrel Harell
The Lakers are going back to back. Lebron and AD are the best 1–2 combo in the league. They swapped Dwight and Javale for former NBA Champion Marc Gasol and mercenary Montrezl Harell. They added Dennis Schroder who has continued to improve year after year and will log a ton of minutes between playing next to Lebron and leading the second unit. They have jam in Markieff Morris. The Caru-show is back in town. The Lakers are the best in the league, hands down.
Memphis Grizzlies- (34–39, 9th) Taylor Jenkins
PG- Ja Morant Tyus Jones DeAnthony Melton
SG- Dillon Brooks Grayson Allen Desmond Bane
SF- Kyle Anderson Justice Winslow Xavier Tillman Sr.
PF- Jaren Jackson Jr.+ Brandon Clarke+
C- Jonas Valanciunas Geoirgi Deng
The Grizzlies are one of the most exciting young teams in the league. Outside of Ja Morant, who is only in his second year, they don’t have any superstars, but they have a solid core of players from top to bottom. They may not be ready to compete for the West, but they will once again be in the playoff mix and look to find their way into the 7–8 or 9–10 games. They’ll need to wait on JJJ to return but he and Brandon Clarke are two incredibly talented young forwards. Valanciunas is quietly a nice center. Rookies Desmond Bane and Xavier Tillman may see early action until the Grizzlies get healthy which isn’t always a bad thing. Grizzlies will be a fun team all year.
Minnesota Timberwolves- (19–45, 14th) Ryan Saunders
PG- Ricky Rubio Malik Beasley
SG- DeAngelo Russell Anthony Edwards
SF- Anthony Edwards Josh Okogie Jake Laymen
PF- Juanacho Hernangomez Rondae Hollis-Jefferson J. McDaniels
C- Karl Anthony-Towns Ed Davis Naz Reid
The Timberwolves had a rough go of it all year with KAT on the shelf for the majority of it. You hope KAT is in the right place mentally and has a nice comeback season but its tough to see them competing in the west. DeAngelo Russell is certainly an impact player to add next to KAT, and bringing back Rubio isnt terrible. It stinks to get a high draft pick but not be able to be overly excited about them. Anthony Edwards could be a fine player but he’s a big question mark and won’t necessarily help right away, They’ll improve on their 19 wins but that’s about it.
New Orleans Pelicans- (30–42, 13th) Stan Van Gundy
PG- Lonzo Ball Kira Lewis Jr.
SG- Eric Bledsoe JJ Redick
SF- Brandon Ingram Josh Hart
PF- Zion Williamson Nilcolo Melli
C- Steven Adams Jaxson Hayes
It’s no secret the Pelicans have staked their futures in Zion Williamson and in the process have stockpiled picks, and surrounded him with some decent talent. This could be the year Brandon Ingram takes a big leap, Eric Bledsoe is a step down from Jrue Holiday but still a worthy guard and Steven Adams is a center who is going to do everything no one else wants to do. Lonzo Ball has a lot to prove at point guard but will pretty much have an endless leash. Whether or not Zion is ready to carry a team just yet will determine if the Pelicans stay in the bottom of the West, or get those extra wins to move into a potential play-in for the playoffs.
Oklahoma City Thunder- (44–28, 5th) Lost R1 in 7 games to the Rockets, Marc Dagnieault
PG- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander George Hill
SG- Luguentz Dort Hamidou Diallo
SF- Trevor Ariza Kenrich Williams
PF- Darius Bazely Mike Muscala
C- Al Horford Aleksej Pokusevski
Let’s call this a transition year for the Thunder. CP3 gave them all he could last year and took the Rockets to the brink, but this year the Thunder have a totally different team that just doesn’t look like it will fare well in the West. SGA is on his way to being a star, and will have full reigns of this team and that is about the only brightspot. The Thunder could go from playoffs to last in the West.
Phoenix Suns- (34–39, 10th) Monty Williams
PG- Chris Paul Cameron Payne Jevon Carter
SG- Devin Booker Langston Galloway
SF- Mikal Bridges Etwuan Moore Abdal Nader
PF- Jae Crowder Cam Johnson Dario Saric
C- Deandre Ayton Damien James
If the Grizzlies are one of the most exciting teams in the west this year, the Suns are the other one. Winning 8 straight to end their time in the bubble and adding a bonafide leader in Chris Paul have the Suns coming into 2021 with high expectations. Devin Booker is a super star and Deandre Ayton is a monster who is going to benefit greatly from CP3. Jae Crowder adds defense. Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are nice role players. It’s tough to come into the West with high expectations because there are no bad teams in the West, but 10th place again will get the suns a chance to get into a playoff series.
Portland Trailblazers- (35–39, 8th) Beat the Lakers 1 game in R1, Terry Stotts
PG- Damian Lillard Anfernee Simons
SG- CJ McCollum Gary Trent Jr.
SF- Derrick Jones Jr. Rodney Hood
PF- Robert Covington Carmelo Anthony
C- Jusuf Nurkic Enes Kanter Harry Giles
The Blazers shocked the world….and won game 1 of the series of Lakers. In all seriousness however, the Blazers only got better to start this season. Dame and CJ can score with the best of them and no one puts a team on his back like Dame. A full season of a healthy Nurkic is the x-factor for this Blazers team though. A super talented center who really makes this team so much deeper. RoCo is an all around stat getter. And, Cornrow Melo. Blazers have to bring it every night just like the other teams fighting for the lower playoff seeds in the West, but they’ll be there.
Sacramento Kings- (31–41, 12th) Luke Walton
PG- De’Aaron Fox Cory Joseph
SG- Buddy Hield Tyrese Haliburton
SF- Harrison Barnes Jabari Parker
PF- Marvin Bagley Nemanja Beljica
C- Hassan Whiteside Richuan Holmes
There isn’t a huge reason to be overly excited about the Kings, but there also isn’t really a reason to be down on them either. De’Aaron Fox is there long term and is an amazing point guard. Whiteside and Holmes are a solid combo at center. It would be nice to see Marvin Bagley stay healthy for a full year. Buddy and Barnes are a decent SG/SF combo. Does this lineup improve on 31 wins in the tough West though? If they do, that makes them a potential playoff team, and that just doesn’t seem likely.
San Antonio Spurs- (32–39, 11th) Greg Popovich
PG- Dajuante Murray Patty Mills
SG- Derrick White+ Quinndari Witherspoon
SF- DeMare Derozan Lonnie Walker
PF- LaMarcus Aldridge Rudy Gay
C- Jacob Poeltl Tyler Zeller+
Greg Popovich is an all time great coach and that is probably why the Spurs got to 32 wins last year. It’ll probably be why they win more games than they should this year as well, but it might not be more than 30 this time around. The Spurs just the most vanilla team in the West. the Vanilla Ice Cream cone, the twitter egg, the miso soup, the rice cake of the west. Aldridge is going to continue to lose a step. Derozan just isn’t a franchise number 1. Their depths guys are okay but not great. The spurs were outside of the top 10 in the conference and will be yet again.
Utah Jazz- (44–28, 6th) Lost in R1 in game 7 to Denver, Quinn Snyder
PG- Mike Conely Nigel Williams-Goss
SG- Donovan Mitchell Jordan Clarkson
SF- Joe Ingles Elijah Hughes
PF- Bojan Bogdanovich Royce O’neale
C- Rudy Gobert Derrick Favors
The Jazz are pretty much coming with the same formula they had last year that got them 44 wins and took the Nuggets to 7 games in round 1. They lost Ricky Rubio but that isn’t necessarily a huge loss, it just gives more responsibility to Donovan Mitchell. Rudy Gobert is an elite center and one of the best defenders in the league. It is a question mark how much these two like each other however. The Jazz need more Joe Ingles this year with Rubio gone. Bojan is a more underrated player across the league. The Jazz would need to over achieve to match last year’s 44 wins, but they will be competing for a playoff slot.
PREDICTIONS:
Standings:
1st: Los Angeles Lakers 9th: Golden State Warriors
2nd: Denver Nuggets 10th: Portland Trailblazers
3rd: Los Angeles Clippers 11th: New Orleans Pelicans
4th: Utah Jazz 12th: Minnesota Timberwolves
5th: Phoenix Suns 13th: Sacramento Kings
6th: Dallas Mavericks 14th: San Antonio Spurs
7th: Memphis Grizzlies 15th: Oklahoma City Thunder
8th: Houston Rockets
Playoffs:
“7–8 Game” — Memphis Grizzlies over Houston Rockets
“9–10 Game”- Portland Trailblazers over Golden State Warriors
“8 seed game”- Portland Trailblazers over Houston Rockets
ROUND 1
Los Angeles Lakers over Portland Trailblazers in 4
Denver Nuggets over Memphis Grizzlies in 5
Los Angeles Clippers over Dallas Mavericks in 7
Utah Jazz over Phoenix Suns in 7
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Los Angeles Lakers over Utah Jazz in 5
Los Angeles Clippers over Denver Nuggets in 7
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Los Angeles Lakers over Los Angeles Clippers in 6 | https://medium.com/@scotchb/2020-21-western-conference-preview-84eb12cb073c | ['Scott B.'] | 2020-12-18 04:38:25.337000+00:00 | ['Basketball', 'Preview', 'Sports', 'Los Angeles', 'NBA'] |
Integrate HMS to Unity Game(Part II) | In the previous article we integrated Account Kit, Push Kit, Ads Kit, In App Purchase, Game Services. Now will integrate Analytics Kit, Crash Kit and Remote Config.
You can reach previous article from here.
Let’s start with Analytics Kit. | https://medium.com/huawei-developers/integrate-hms-to-unity-game-part-ii-1834b1f9b887 | [] | 2020-12-29 10:24:54.726000+00:00 | ['Huawei', 'Unity', 'Hms', 'Huawei Mobile Service', 'Game Development'] |
Finding The Right Leader: A Primer On ‘A-P’ Leadership Framework | Having spent a large portion of my career helping, running or building small to medium sized businesses, I have often had to develop simplistic tools to problem solve or coach management teams on various topics. One among them that has surfaced most frequently is the topic of leadership. I was reminded of this yet again when Adam, a CEO of a digital printing company and a close friend, recently reached out to me for a coffee meeting to get counsel on accelerating the growth of his business.
After problem solving for a bit, it was clear that Adam was in serious need of managerial talent. I asked him whether he needed an “A” or “P” type leader for his business. Looking at his “what the dickens” expression, I realized I was speaking in code, even for a software guy, and needed to expand.
As an investor, and consistent with my previous operating and advisory roles, I fundamentally believe that while mathematically we underwrite markets, products or a business model, inherently we are also underwriting the current or future team’s ability to deliver against those growth and return goals. Over the years, having made both bad and good investing decisions, one thing is clear to me that agnostic of what my math says, putting the right leaders throughout the organization, be it at executive, functional or even at project level, significantly improves the probability of getting outsized returns.
Hence, whether it’s value, growth or turnaround type investment, I evaluate the type of leadership needed within an organization and then pair it with one of two leadership styles, “A” or “P,” based on my A-P Leadership framework. Let’s break the two styles down further.
An “A” type leader gives their teams significant Autonomy allowing the use of their own methods to get the job done. This kind of leader gets energized by investing time and energy in coaching their employees driving a sense of Appreciation within their teams. Employees will find these leaders Approachable. In return for the above attributes, “A” type leaders expect a high degree of Accountability providing loads of clarity on consequences of key actions or inactions.
“P” type leaders are energized by a well-defined repeatable Process to keep their teams focused and sticking to the plan. They enjoy a high level of Predictability in their organization’s end-product and are driven by consistent and repeatable results. To that effect, they will outline a Prescriptive approach detailing tactical steps to minimize sources of ambiguity. They love using first Principles to solve problems ensuring the deliverables are always rooted in fundamentals.
Here is a deeper look at each attribute for both leadership types.
Autonomy: These leaders don’t micromanage but rather align on the end goals and are comfortable letting their teams stray from pre-defined processes to foster individual ownership and creativity to finish a job. For example, the leader of your new product innovations team probably needs this trait to be comfortable with ambiguity and to promote unconstrained creative thinking within their team.
Appreciation: Teams working for “A” leaders enjoy a high level of professional appreciation from their bosses. These leaders exhibit appreciation both in the form of commendations but also through proactive and impromptu coaching of employees on their developmental needs. Another way they show appreciation is by seeking advice from others, including junior members of their team.
Approachability: “A” type leaders try to create an environment where teams feel comfortable approaching their boss for problem solving or seeking advice without feeling judged or afraid. Given high degrees of autonomy allowed by these leaders, this attribute helps develop a self-regulated counterbalance system for their employees to seek advice as needed. This style is particularly helpful in companies with rapid growth or when you have a young team, like in a startup.
Accountability: In return for the above, “A” leaders expect a high level of accountability from their teams and use it as a key instrument to motivate and to calibrate strengths or gaps in their teams. They leave little ambiguity on the consequences of delivering or failing against set goals.
For a “P” leadership style, the attributes translate as the following:
Process: They are extremely process oriented and like to stick to tried-and-tested approaches to completing tasks. Often precise about each step, they want to ensure repeatability in the approach and outcomes. Think about a large software implementation; in that situation, you want your leader to be a process maniac to ensure timely success.
Predictability: “P” leaders enjoy having a high level of predictability and accuracy in their team’s output. They wish to avoid gray zones and work hard to minimize variances. For example, when hiring a production manager, you want a “P” leader so accurate throughputs can be achieved consistently.
Prescriptive: These folks can be extremely prescriptive and prefer to spell out each step in the process as well as the expected outcomes. If good at communicating, they leave little doubt on what, how and when their teams should deliver results. This style is essential in heads of functions such compliance or safety.
Principles: Reliance on first principles for problem solving is a key attribute of “P” leaders. It is also a way for them to measure the skills of younger or newer employees and to ensure the work product is grounded in fundamentals. For example, the head of engineering design or head of the legal team should have this trait in abundance to avoid any missteps.
When I explained all this to my friend, he still had a few questions regarding whether one style is better than the other, whether a leader can be a blend of both styles and whether he should be assessing his company’s needs for now or the future.
The above is just a framework. But I believe both styles are useful in an organization. For most people, one style is at their core; however, with tenure or changing roles and responsibilities, they may need to demonstrate traits of the other type. It is like while introverts can exhibit extroverted behaviors when needed and extroverts may need their own time and space to think, at the core, people are either introverted or extroverted. Similarly, people are primarily “A” or “P” type leaders, but with practice and awareness, some, but not all, can bounce in and out of the other as needed. Feel free to check out related articles on “A-P Leadership Framework” as part of my series on Forbes.com. This series merely begins to touch the surface of this topic and deserves more content and discussions through various channels. | https://medium.com/swlh/finding-the-right-leader-a-primer-on-a-p-leadership-framework-3d50b2611e77 | ['Rohit Bassi'] | 2019-08-21 07:56:10.413000+00:00 | ['Business', 'People', 'Finance', 'Leadership', 'Money'] |
Opening My Daughter’s Sores | Looking after myself causes pain for others.
Image credit: pxhere
Today I return to prose, having told my story with some poems. Today I’ll expand a little more, on how I open my children’s sores.
Divorce and separation
My oldest daughter is once-again not talking to me. She is upset that I have decided to start dating. Perhaps I should not have told her, but I thought to myself honesty is the best policy. I thought that if she found out by accident, it would be even more damaging. It seems some hurt and conflict in life is just unavoidable.
The crux of the hurt is that while my wife and I have not slept together since the beginning of the year, we have only been separated since June, and the divorce was only filed in July. Therefore, my daughter cannot believe that I would start dating so soon, and has accused me of wanting to date for a while and just waiting for the right timing. My wife has accused me of dating as a manifestation of an ongoing mid-life crisis, never mind that I have been faithful to her, and mostly loyal to her, for 30 years, and she is the one who walked away from the marriage and filed for divorce.
Of course, there is no logic in such arguments. It is all emotion. It is whatever feels good at the time and brings some relief to the discomfort of heartache. My wife suffered emotional trauma, and her words are the words of a person still angry, judgmental and accusatory. Every conversation is a justification of what she does. Every justification an indictment of me.
The bigger issue though, and one I hope my daughter will one day understand, is that relationships do not end when someone files for divorce. That is simply ceremony, a civically condoned way of signaling the larger community that from this day forth, two people will be parted by government sanction. Relationships die much earlier, in small and large ways.
For my wife and I, we never communicated well. There was love, there was joint sacrifice, there was support, tender moments, carefree holiday experiences, and many other decorations you would expect in a loving and caring relationship. We never learned how to fight well, and we never learned how to heel hurt from not fighting well. After 30 years, accumulated unresolved hurt was too much to overcome. When I decided my desk job no longer bought meaning to my life, it was the straw that broke my wife’s back, but the relationship was over way before then.
The relationship was over when I would get frisky on a Saturday morning, and would spend the rest of the day agitated because I was rejected. This only happened a few times, but it happened enough that it stuck in my wife’s head. The relationship was over every time I would suggest to my wife that she do something other than what she wanted, and she argued without concern for my needs that I was thinking about it all wrong. The relationship was over every time she came to bed and spent half-an-hour on Facebook instead of spending the time with me — even though I had bought to her attention how hurt I felt by this. Perhaps the relationship was over before we even met, when my Mother physically and verbally abused me when I was young, and I failed to resolve that hurt. Perhaps the relationship was over when my wife’s father called her stupid or denigrated her for having a different opinion than him.
Maybe the relationship was over when my wife’s parents were divorced — there have been three divorces on my wife’s side of the family and none on mine. It is the second divorce for my wife. My parents had a troubled marriage, passed on bad communication approaches to me, but they were chronically Catholic and would never consider divorce, though they did appear to grow closer after the children left the home. My wife’s parents were also Catholic, but the mother took the kids and left the house in the middle of the night. Who knows what mark different examples of marriage and relationship leave on children?
My wife had many endearing qualities for most of our marriage, and most people who meet her respect her as special. I am heart broken by the loss of my best friend, and I crave for a chance to get our relationship back to what it once was. That craving though denies the reality of the relationship. Two people who bought enormous baggage to the hard work of marriage, and two people that together did not have the capability to heal each other’s wounds, and created many more new wounds in the process.
All things considered, it is a small miracle that we lasted for 30 years. We should not be standing on ceremony now. It is time to take what we have learned and move on to people who have the emotional intelligence to deal with our issues. Yes, we have to work on our issues, and I can see the argument for waiting until I am “fixed” before I start dating. I’m not sure I will ever be “fixed” though, so I go forth and explore what people may be compatible with me, fingers-crossed, hope for the best.
Two steps forward,
one step back.
I propel my life outward,
so I do not spiral downward.
Yes, it is messy,
not the clean sheet esteemed.
An ordinary man who has lost his bestie,
true loneliness for the first time since my teens,
I long for the years in between.
It is not that I am blameless,
guilt-free, without regrets or shame.
It’s just that I have sat on this couch for six months or more,
and it is time, to move on from hearts broken and torn.
I am sorry for the wounds of my children and how I open their sores,
but it is time for me to get off the floor, before I turn into a corpse,
from spending days and nights ruminating on all, my own sores,
until so depressed, I take up with a whore,
or permanently exit, the main stage door. | https://third-act.medium.com/opening-my-daughters-sores-aec327743671 | ['Third Act'] | 2019-10-12 17:41:09.217000+00:00 | ['Dating', 'Divorce', 'Relationships', 'Separation', 'Family'] |
My Dear Ma. My mother is the hero of my life, well… | My Dear Ma
Our Family At Airport
My mom
Dear Reader,
Today it is my mother’s 37th happy birthday. Her name is Esha Goswami. She is my mentor and she is a teacher. I love my ma. she is great. she always is there with me on my problems, I lover her dearly. she is the best mom. When it comes to family she takes our care with all her effort. she works day and night, and sleeps so less. she just walks past opportunities to take our care. She could be a great and famous person but she choose to take our care. She left her job of teaching after my sister was about to get born, just some 3 or 5 months before. She started home tution. She is Great. she is honest and bold, I love her a lot. She loves singing, drawing, dancing and cooking. I love her a lot and a lot. If I start writing about her I am afraid I wont stop. I am afraid I cannot use words for lying, I cannot flatter. My ma is the best person i have met with. She is an HUMAN. She knows what her work is and she is the best in her trade.
I LOVE MUMMUM
Thank you. | https://medium.com/@divyosmi/my-dear-ma-aka-mummum-8272c9534f16 | ['Divyosmi Goswami'] | 2020-12-10 18:29:59.291000+00:00 | ['I Love You', 'Creative', 'Birthday', 'Mommy', 'Family'] |
Hi, Byron ! | Hi, Byron !
Thank you very much for following me in Medium. I really appreciate.
I have read one of your stories and liked it a lot. I share most of your opinions about Brexit and Europe. Probably all changes are only temporary, because History can not go backwards, but I think finally the idea of only one humanity will prevail -hopefully without too much convulsion. Nationalisms are old-fashioned -they started in1492-, and we have reached a level that we can not any further — we are all different, but we are all human beings and God’s daughters and sons.
Your project is very good. Woow ! I would like to have a job as free as yours. I will read this article again to know whether I can do something for you.
With all my heart, I wish you a lot of success as a Writer, Copywriter, and traveler.
Ah ! I follow you as well. I will be very pleased to read more and more of you writing work.
All the best.
Louisa | https://medium.com/@louisa-free/hi-byron-904fbbb70d98 | ['Louisa Oliveros'] | 2020-12-08 04:56:18.011000+00:00 | ['Brexit', 'Authoritarianism', 'Authors', 'Travel', 'Writing'] |
Lessons I Learned from Long Term Travel | PACK SMARTER
This is the most practical lesson I learned. Even after reading several blog posts from other travelers, I still overpacked. My 65L Osprey Atmos was filled to the brim and it was difficult loading and unloading into cabs, planes & trains. Laurie and I ended up sending a package home (which cost us $100 from England) with extra stuff we didn’t need. I packed extra clothes, an extra pair of sneakers and a bunch of electronics that I didn’t need and carried with me the whole trip. Don’t do that! If you like to read, buy an e-reader that allows you to have multiple books downloaded instead of carrying a bunch of books with you. Try bringing a pair of sneakers that double as trainers and also something nice to go out in. Lastly, if you like taking pictures (and you should for a long-term trip) bring 1 camera or just your smartphone. You won’t want to carry a bunch of equipment and your clothes on your back. On my last few travels I have brought one 30L bag with me. Maybe it’s too minimalist for you but you’ll realize the freedom this minimalist travel will give you. In a way it gets you to look deeper into yourself and think “What do I actually NEED?”. Once you start to think this way about travel, maybe you can start to think this way in your everyday life.
WHAT TYPE OF TRAVELER AM I?
I really learned what type of traveler I was during our 6 months overseas. In the beginning, we started off fast, bouncing around from city to city, seeing the main sites and moving on. After a few weeks of traveling this way, not only were we exhausted but we felt as if we were missing something. We felt more like tourists than travelers. Don’t get me wrong, seeing the sites is great but if that’s all you do I think you’re doing yourself a great disservice.
I find myself preferring to engage with locals and emerge myself in the culture rather than just seeing a statue or building and moving on. It was a better experience for me. I got to hear first hand how others around the world lived, what they thought about the world and the United States. It was interesting and it enhanced my experience. I’m not saying that visiting sites such as the Colosseum in Rome or The Great Wall of China weren’t amazing, but don’t let seeing the sites be the focus point of your travels. If we didn’t visit a tourist site, we were probably making great memories.
TRAVEL CHANGES YOU
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” — Miriam Beard
Traveling long-term changes you. You get to experience different cultures and see how others around the world live. I noticed many cultures who put more value on their time away from work than we do in the United States. Most people in Europe start off with 20–25 days of vacation time. That is the most I could ever achieve at my current employer and that is when I complete 25 years of service. Many local shops are closed on Sundays and many cities still have some sort of mid-day break or siesta. When we visited Buenos Aires during the holidays most places were shut down. While highly inconvenient for a traveler, I could respect the fact that they put value on spending time with family during these special holidays. I’ve started to put these lessons into practice and have spent more time with my loved ones.
Along with this also comes another change and depending on who you ask, it can be seen as a negative. Since my return I have been struggling getting back into a routine and enjoying the things I used to take pleasure in. I’m always thinking about traveling, about the next adventure, daydreaming of somewhere else. I’ve been described as being preoccupied, not present or even depressed by friends and family. I’ve been working on that, I’ve been trying to be more grateful for what I do have and not focus on what I think I’m missing out on. Some days are good, some not so good. It’s still a work in progress and I believe it’s all a part of my growing as a human being.
THE WORLD IS NOT A SCARY PLACE
“The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” — Shirley MacLaine
I can’t tell you how many times someone would tell us, “Be careful!” whenever they heard of a country we were planning to visit. I can tell those people this: There is nothing to worry about. The world is not as scary as the news would have you believe. This is not to say the world is unicorns and rainbows; you need to be cautious and aware of your surroundings, but there is no reason to be scared. In general people are more likely to want to help you than harm you. Most people are just trying to live their lives, protect and provide for their families and live a good life. When I left for this trip I thought that people were generally good and I’m happy to report back that my thoughts are true in our experience. Not once did I feel uncomfortable or fear for mine or Laurie’s well being. My advice to you? Go out there, find out for yourself and make your own opinions.
SPONTANEITY IS KEY
Being spontaneous was a key part in this trip. We’re always asked if we planned out everything ahead of time and while we did plan out the major flights before we left, everything else we left up in the air. It was actually liberating, not knowing where the day or week would take us, not knowing who I would meet or what I would see. It may sound cliche but I really felt alive, I felt as if I was really living my life the way it was meant to be lived. I have found that I’m really not a fan of having a routine, which can come into conflict with life back home and working full-time. So we try to make the most of our days off going on day-trips or weekends trip to neighboring cities. So far it’s been working like a charm.
I’M IN CHARGE OF MY LIFE
“Our lives didn’t need to be this linear, predestined path for us to blindly follow”
Lastly, this is the most important lesson from my travels. When I was younger I thought going to college, getting a job & buying a house was the only road to success in life. That’s what was ingrained in my head, have kids, send them to college, retire and then travel. That is the path I took. I always wanted to travel but how could I with two weeks (10 days) vacation, not making a lot of money and having a house that I needed to fix.
Laurie and I will always play the game of “What would you do if you won the lottery?” Traveling the world was always on the top of our lists. But we couldn’t or so we thought. After some unfortunate events in our lives and the daily grind finally taking its toll, we decided it’s enough. We didn’t need to win the lottery to travel the world, we were going to take charge of our lives and do what made us happy. Our lives didn’t need to be this linear, predestined path for us to blindly follow. This was the most freeing moment in my life and the most important lesson: Live your life, take charge, do what makes you happy.
What lessons have you learned in your travels? Let me know in the comments! | https://medium.com/@weekend2wander/lessons-i-learned-from-traveling-long-term-345c58b7da19 | ['Edgar Hernandez Iii'] | 2020-03-07 15:10:39.035000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Travel Inspiration', 'Wanderlust', 'Wander', 'Traveling'] |
Forever Dream — (Chapter 7) Spill That Texas Tea | The girl is shivering but her body is hot to the touch. And cold sweat trickles down her chest but she’s flushed red. She’s writhing in pain, weeping for some semblance of relief. With her skin patchy and pale and eyes bloodshot, she looks all the more terrifying in the evening sunset. The tall windows of the apartment they are locked in cast a sepia shadow over her squirming body, making her look like some zombie coming back to life.
Hide sits on the opposite side of the big room, arms folded, left leg crossed over the right and a cold frown atop his brows. Silently watching the scene. The sight of her in agony doesn’t affect him so much as the screams. They echo off the walls and reverberate under his skin. She continues yelling for help and crying in pain for a long time and all he does is quietly watch her. He’s supposed to help her through this but he doesn’t dare move any closer to her than he already is.
Being in the same room is already driving him nuts.
After almost an hour of constant yelling and thrashing her limbs about, the girl finally closes her eyes. By the time she had stopped her voice had turned hoarse and her pillow was drenched.
Hide moves then. Slowly pulling his legs apart, he peers over the sleeping girl before pulling out his cellphone. He speed-dials number 9 and as soon as the call connects starts to whisper angrily into it, “what the fuck is going on, Kagawa!?”
“What do you mean?” Kagawa responds, clearly unaware of all the craps he’s been through.
“She’d been screaming her lungs out all day and literally — “ he spares a look at the sleeping girl and cusses under his breath before continuing his angry whisper-rant. “She’d been screaming all fucking day practically levitating off the bed in pain and literally just shut up when she fell asleep.”
“Okay… and your point is?”
Hide pulls the phone away to stare at the offending device and angrily bites his lip threatening the device with an air punch. Sighing, he brings the phone back to his ear and whispers, “my point, Dr Kagawa, is that what the fuck is going on with her? At this rate, she might die from screaming. Or the pain. Whichever comes first.”
The sound of Kagawa walking and then closing a door comes through the phone and then the man on the other line speaks, “she’s not going to die. As long as you remember to give her the methadone injections on time. And not unless she drives you crazy with her withdrawal enough for you to wring her neck or something.”
“This isn’t funny, you filthy ass-sucker. If she dies so do you.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, she’s not dying any time soon?” Kagawa drawls over the line, Hide can almost see him rolling his eye and scratching his ear. It makes his blood boil but he bites it down. He can’t afford to lose the man now. Not now.
“So, what? Is that it then?” Hide turns around to spare a look at the girl and once again the petty emotion of sympathy makes its presence apparent in his heart. “Am I supposed to let her scream until she falls unconscious only for it to start all over again once she’s conscious again?”
“I’m open to other solutions you have, Hide?”
“This is shit. Fucking bullshit, is what this is!”
Kagawa hums in agreement then waits for a second before asking, “has she eaten anything yet?”
“No.”
Kagawa sighs and thinks for a while, during which Hide continues watching the girl’s breathing stutter every once in a while. She stops breathing for a second or two then gulps before breathing normally for a while.
“When she wakes up next, get her to eat something,” Kagawa says after a while. “She’ll probably be easier to handle once she comes to.”
“Hey, Kagawa,” Hide says, still looking at unsteadily rising and falling chest. “She keeps breathing weirdly. Like… she stops breathing and then — “
Kagawa cuts him off humming in response. “It’s probably opioid-induced apnea. The meds I gave you should help with that too.”
“Alright…” He sighs into the phone and doesn’t speak for a while before voicing his other concerns. “Hey, what do I do when she has to take a shit or piss?”
“I could send a nurse over but didn’t you say the fewer people know the better?”
Hide turns away from the girl and ruffles his hair angrily as he grits his teeth. Pulling out a cigarette from his pocket he bites down onto it and lights it holding the phone between his shoulder and ear. Kagawa doesn’t fill the silence and it eats away at him all the more.
“Gosh!” he whisper-yells into the receiver, blowing white smoke into the air as he breathes out. “I can’t believe this shit! This better be fucking worth it.”
He hangs up after that and finishes his smoke by the open window before returning back to the sofa chair on the other side of the apartment.
The girl stays asleep for a few hours before she comes to and starts screaming again. | https://medium.com/@dunyazatde/forever-dream-chapter-7-spill-that-texas-tea-2b6f12a5645e | [] | 2020-11-22 19:43:18.132000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Series', 'Forever Dream', 'Magical Realism'] |
By All That You Hold Dear! | By All That You Hold Dear!
As ‘Men of the West’ fight for protecting the Middle Earth, I wonder, why do Men of East choose the worst day for cooking Biryani and watching cricket!
Edward Said’s book ‘Orientalism’ was the first academic attempt in the western world to debunk the myth of clandestine, impoverished Eastern world.
Snake charmers, streets filled with begging children, uneducated pristine brunettes, spice-loving vegetarians, the oil supplying terrorists, wife-beating fanatics, and exotic colorful performances, this is all we have in East for what westerners care. This prejudice entwined with outright lies have dominated western literature from the times of first orientalists’ interactions with the Islamic world. Muhammad Asad’s book ‘Road to Mecca’ sheds light upon it from the perspective of a Jewish convert to Islam.
Intellectually dishonest commentaries on Quran by Schacht, Nöldeke, Blachere and Puin spoke of ridiculous misinterpretations, cherry-picked excerpts, distorted rulings, misquoted texts and white lies. Earlier seminaries where these orientalists were educated and funded are the same institutes that western world today prides itself.
These Jesuit Christians slowly indoctrinated the otherwise friendly population of European continent against its Semitic cousin for their personal gain, in some cases for the perceived service they had done to Christianity.
Gerd R. Puin, a German professor of Arabic in Saarbrücken, writes in his article in Atlantic Monthly in 1999, surprisingly after centuries of first interactions with Arab world:
My idea is that the Koran is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not all understood even at the time of Muhammad. Many of them may even be a hundred years older than Islam itself. Even within the Islamic traditions, there is a huge body of contradictory information, including a significant Christian substrate; one can derive a whole Islamic anti-history from them if one wants.
There has been a consensus even among western scholars these days on how ridiculous this assumption is. One of the best book to have tackled all the false assertions of Orientalists is Professor Mustafa Azmi’s work, ‘The History of the Qur’anic Text from Revelation to Compilation : A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments”.
In his magnum opus, Professor Azmi not only rejects allegation after allegation orientalists have concocted against collection and dissemination of Islamic texts but also provides a juxtaposition of these procedural methods with Christianity and Judaism. An Indian National with a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Cambridge, Professor Azmi currently works as Professor Emeritus at King Saud University.
Has this all been a huge misunderstanding between the west and the east or it’s a carefully choreographed clash of civilization with its roots in theology? One of the leading scholars in the western world on the Middle East is Bernard Lewis. Despite his Jewish background and inciting views on Islamic history, he categorically denied Muslim violence in crusading years.
While it’s a documented fact that unlike Christian vagabonds who ransacked Muslim population after crusade victories, Muslim armies after the recapture let them walk away and didn’t retribute the violence. It was so ravaging that Pope himself had to come out and apologize for that to Muslims.
Stanford Shaw in his book on Ottoman Empire argues that condition of minorities in Ottoman Empire was way better than they had in their own so-called countries where Isabella Ferdinand massacred Jews for not converting to Christianity subsequently expelling them to the Ottoman Empire where they lived happily.
Lord Macaulay’s speech in British Parliament in 1835 is probably a verbatim explanation of why this jingoist ambiance is necessary for public support these governments need to continue its onslaught on foreign countries to bring bank the plundered booty. After first invasions of Indian subcontinent this was his report:
I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in the country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”
Two centuries later after a crippled independence based on divide and rule, Subcontinent today is half stable countries at daggers drawn with each other. Education, jurisprudence, politics and administration all are run by same English maxims. Capital punishment under section 302 of Penal Code of Pakistan 1860 is a perfect example of this. Pakistan came into being in 1947. How on earth is Penal Code of Pakistan written in 1860?
In the wake of the recent surge in populist politics in Europe and Islamophobic rhetoric, it is no surprise that fifth columnists among the ranks of Muslims have been trained and educated for centuries.
Quilliam Foundation, a London-based think-tank, founded by Majid Nawaz, a self-proclaimed scholar and secular critic of Islam is a perfect example of it. Its relations with Gatestone Institute an Islamophobic group is an evidence example of such synergies.
RAND corporation’s report ‘Civic and Democratic Islam’ is a document that outlines the western strategy of infiltrating ranks of Muslim academia and civil society to pave the way for a secular and western revolution. It highlights religious divisions and emphasizes the importance of supporting the factions that are in line with western foreign policy.
It is both unfortunate and tragic to see Christianity join hands with Judaism in the propagation of such outrageous views about the Islamic world. Christian Science Monitor’s reports are some of the most biased reports on the Muslim world. People like Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi are being painted as if they are the epitome of Islamic ideals of a woman. Ironically this is not how western world reacted to the conversion of Lauren Booth’s conversion to Islam. | https://medium.com/minhaajmusings/by-all-that-you-hold-dear-4f183353e795 | ['Minhaaj Rehman'] | 2016-08-11 12:11:00.544000+00:00 | ['Orientalism', 'Politics', 'Islamophobia', 'Lord Of The Rings', 'Islam'] |
This Is Plato’s Most Powerful Argument Ever | This Is Plato’s Most Powerful Argument Ever
The Cave, the Sun, and the Divided Line Are Metaphors, but this Is His Neutron Bomb
Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash
Everyone laments the current polarization on political, cultural, and epidemiological issues in America and the world, but since people have different experiences in life, a certain degree of polarization is to be expected. And, it is nothing new.
The questions surrounding what we know in general, and how we know it, have proved to be polarizing since before Plato. Just as there are, broadly speaking, two general approaches to politics represented by the Democrats and the Republicans in this country, there are two general answers to questions concerning what we know and how we know it: Rationalism and empiricism.
Rationalism emphasizes certain innate mental abilities that seem to separate Homo sapiens from essentially all other known species. It posits a category of knowledge that is objective, immutable, and known a priori or before experience. The subject matter of plane geometry or much of mathematics would be examples of this kind of knowledge. We know that a triangle has three sides because of our knowledge of the nature of triangles. We know that 2+2=4 because of our knowledge of the meanings of the constituents of the equation.
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Empiricism, in contrast, emphasizes the role of experience in knowledge. We know things, according to empiricists, because we can see, hear, smell, and touch them. We know that a quarter is larger than a penny because we can set them side by side and observe the respective dimensions.
Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash
There are many nuances and complications to these two positions, but as I am a limited being, I will let these sketches stand.
What Epistemological Team Does Plato Play For?
Plato is the captain of the rationalist team. Some would name Descartes for that role, and he is a great choice, but I will stick with Plato for reasons of seniority.
Anyway, Plato is known chiefly for positing a world of Forms that serves as the perfect template from which the world we walk around in was created. He claims that the Forms are the only proper objects of knowledge. They are uncreated, immutable, indestructible, and perfect; unlike everything we see around us.
Plato writes that our “knowledge” of the objects around us does not qualify as knowledge because it changes with time and point of view. The banana, for instance, that I “know” is green today will be yellow some days hence. So, for Plato, I cannot meaningfully claim that I know that the banana is green. It is only my current opinion.
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Tastes Great, or Less Filling?
The seemingly fundamental disagreement between the rationalists and the empiricists was already old in Plato’s time, and the dialogue that he wrote about it, Theaetetus, is considered by some to be his greatest work.
The Theatetus has a very long interpolated narrative in which Socrates asks the bright young student, Theaetetus, to define “knowledge.” Theaetetus fails to satisfy Socrates with his first attempt and is invited to make a second. He answers that knowledge is sensation, and the two of them, with Theodorus, Theaetetus’ teacher, are off on a ninety-page discussion of empiricism in which Socrates offers argument after argument to dispute it.
The arguments range from the simply hilarious to some of the most profound modeling of consciousness offered perhaps to this day. I would love to review them all, but I will fast forward to the coup de grace: the neutron bomb as I call it above.
In English, we call this argument the table-turning argument, but its Greek cognomen is the peritrope, and it has applications beyond the empiricist claims that inspired it.
How Does Socrates Use the Table-Turning Argument?
Socrates tells Theaetetus that the sophist Protagoras has written a book called Truth in which he claims that man is the measure of all things and also that things are as they seem. This book, according to Socrates contains the fullest version of the empiricist theory of knowledge, and he recounts it at length for the edification of Theatetus and Theodorus.
Socrates disagrees with almost every aspect of the theory, but he considers it a matter of principle to present Protagoras’ arguments fully and in their strongest forms.
After exhaustive recounting and elenctic questioning of Theatetus, Socrates seems to have shown that empirical claims to knowledge are incorrigible to all but the individual making them; i.e., when I claim that the room is cold, no one is in a position to refute that because my real claim is “My senses tell me that the room is cold,” and I am the only one who can know that for sure.
Socrates gets Theaeteus and Theodorus to agree that empiricist claims are relative, and they are always true for the one making them. It is at this point that Socrates presents what has become known as the table-turning argument, which I will break out into individual propositions as philosophers do.
Protagoras claims that every claim is true for the one who makes it. Some people claim that Protagoras’ claim is true. Some people claim that Protagoras’ claim is not true. Ergo, Protagoras’ claim is true and not true.
The law of noncontradiction does not allow a proposition to be true and not true at the same time, so the conclusion of the argument (proposition #4 above) cannot be true. Since the argument is valid, the implication is that one or more of the premisses is false, and the argument fails.
Socrates believes that he has shown that Protagoras’ claims that man is the measure, and things are as they seem are incoherent: empiricism is self-contradictory and cannot be true.
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What Else Can the Table-Turning Argument Do?
While Plato created the table-turning argument to confute empiricist claims, it can be used to show problems with other kinds of general propositions or universal claims. Such claims are often made about God.
Many people claim, for instance, that God is omnipotent: There is nothing he cannot do. The table-turning argument can be applied thus:
God is omnipotent (God can do anything). God can make a massive rock. Ergo, God can make a rock that is so massive that He cannot lift it.
If premiss #1 is true, then premisses #2 (not technically needed in this argument) and #3 must be true. But, premiss #3 implies a dilemma: Either God cannot make a rock so massive that He cannot lift it, or he can make a rock so massive that He cannot lift it. In either case, God’s power is shown to have a limit, and premiss #1 is false: God is not omnipotent.
Another common claim about God is that He is omniscient: He knows everything. The table-turning argument can be used to refute such a claim as follows:
God is omniscient (God knows everything). That there is something that God does not know is a thing whether it be true or false. Ergo, God knows that there is something that God does not know.
The conclusion asserts a contradiction and cannot be true due to the law of noncontradiction. Since the argument is valid, there must be a problem with one of the premisses, and the better candidate is premiss #1.
One last case takes us out of the religious realm. Many people claim that, due to the presumed infinite size or duration of the universe, anything is possible.
Anything is possible (Everything is possible). That something is impossible is a thing whether it be true or false. Ergo, it is possible for something to be impossible.
As in the previous case, the conclusion asserts a contradiction and cannot be true, so the argument appears to be flawed.
Photo by Artur Tumasjan on Unsplash
Wouldn’t David Hume Call All of this Sophistry and Illusion?
Yeah; he probably would. It’s very similar to the problem facing the polarized camps in our current political and cultural conflicts: Both sides are sure that the other is talking manifest nonsense because both sides reject one or more of the basic ontological assumptions made by the other.
Well, as the great Yogi Berra once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” He also said, “It gets late early out there.” And so it does. | https://medium.com/the-academy-of-you/this-is-platos-most-powerful-argument-ever-578f52bb1696 | ['Charles Gray'] | 2020-05-25 18:09:15.731000+00:00 | ['Logic', 'Arguments', 'God', 'Plato', 'Philosophy'] |
Sorting Users In The Sitefinity Backend | Dilemma
Sitefinity has a friendly user interface for all kinds of activities. One of them is maintaining the backend users that have access to the CMS. Since version 8.x and higher, there is a bug that when users are sorted by name in the backend both in ascending or descending order, they are not sorted correctly.
Progress confirms this bug, and you can read more information about it here:
Bug 230852 see http://feedback.telerik.com/Project/153/Feedback/Details/230852
Solution
We can work around this issue by writing some custom code in our Sitefinity Web application.
Step 1. Create a custom class in your project
First, we are going to add a custom class in our project that implements the IUser interface. This way, we can adjust some of the methods that Sitefinity needs for showing and sorting users in the backend.
I’ve named my custom class SortableUsers.
Step 2. Write the implementation
When you have your class ready and implement the IUser interface, it is time to implement each method needed by the IUser interface.
Almost every method is making use of the BaseService property defined on top of the class. The GetUser() and the SearchUsers() methods need a custom implementation to get the sorting function to work correctly.
Step 3. Register our SortableUsers service
To let Sitefinity use our custom service instead of its own service, we need to register our custom service and map it to the default one. We will do this when the Sitefinity bootstrapper is initialized.
Step 4. Build your project and sort that users
When all the code is in place, you may want to build your project and check out the working solution! | https://medium.com/@danielplomp/sorting-users-in-the-sitefinity-backend-16fe33a2e088 | ['Daniel Plomp'] | 2020-12-10 21:32:51.055000+00:00 | ['Sitefinity', 'Aspnet', 'Telerik', 'Csharp', 'Sitefinity Development'] |
2018 ICO Trends: So Far, So Good | ICOs, or Initial Coin Offerings, are the exciting place where cryptocurrency and crowdfunding meets. Startups create digital tokens and sell them to the public to fund a specific future product or project. The tokens don’t represent a share of equity, which makes it different than a traditional startup investment. Instead, investors hold on to the tokens in the hopes that the project hits it big and becomes the next hot thing, driving up the value of their holdings. Their earnings then come from selling off the tokens at a higher price.
ICOs raised $11.8 billion in the first 5 months of 2018, compared to $5.5 billion raised in all of 2017, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of nearly 900 offerings listed on ICOBench.com. To break it down further, close to 500 coin offerings have raised an average of $24 million each in the first five months of 2018. Compare that to the last five months of 2017, where 300 startups raised an average of $14 million each. For better or for worse, ICOs are a powerful new tool that puts both investing and startup capital generation into the hands of the people (1).
Increased scrutiny by regulators both in the US and abroad have been the result of some pretty massive frauds and scams. ICOs continue to move ahead but are increasingly leaving out US investors or moving operations overseas to avoid SEC oversight. Even so, many companies are playing it safe and requiring investors to verify their identity through KYC/AML. The Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering process aims keeping bad actors (no, not Nicholas Cage and Kevin Costner) from using ICOs and other investment vehicles for criminal activity like washing stolen funds, paying for bribes or funding terrorism. Or worse, another Keanu Reeves movie. Enough is enough, right?
Another increasing trend is the elimination of public offerings altogether. Many startups are now only offering participation to private groups of accredited investors. This way, they can still raise hefty sums without the risk, even while major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum values continue to fall. This trend defeats the purpose of the original intent of crypto and blockchain technology: decentralization and democratization. All of this is the natural normalization process as the crypto and ICO markets find their long-term course following an explosive beginning.
So, what should you watch for as 2018 continues to develop? Within the US, a handful of states have laws in place or are currently working on bills accepting or promoting the use of Bitcoin, smart contracts, and blockchain technology (2). Many countries still view the cryptocurrency market as too small and undeveloped to require much in the way of regulation and have no immediate plans to do so. Most require KYC/AML, if anything, and focus on investor education to help individuals avoid scams. Some go as far as stating that cryptocurrency is not a legal tender in their country, but few ban its use for payment outright.
We’ll continue to watch these trends closely. One thing’s for sure — they’ll be more ICO news to come in 2018. Stay tuned!
*****
(1) Vigna, P., Shifflett, S., & Ostroff, C. (2018, July 1). What is Crypto Downturn? ICO Fundraising Surges in 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2018, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-crypto-downturn-ico-fundraising-surges-in-2018-1530466008
(2) Oelberg, E. (2018, March 10). Global Cryptocurrency Regulations by Country • CryptoToday. Retrieved July 12, 2018, from https://www.cryptotoday.io/global-cryptocurrency-regulations-by-country/ | https://medium.com/acreapp/2018-ico-trends-so-far-so-good-e23a1c92c977 | ['Meredith Davis'] | 2018-07-13 13:06:06.951000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Bitcoin', 'ICO', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto'] |
The Outpost (2020) 3x12 — Series 3 | ∎ STREAMING MEDIA ∎
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream identifies the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, instead of the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies particularly to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, music CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks satisfactory bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real-time much as live television broadcasts content over the airwaves with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio tracks interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an option to file downloading, a process where the end-user obtains the entire file for this content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The word “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
∎ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ∎
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[5][4][5][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][9][50][55][54] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[55]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[54]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 500 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[55]
∎ GOODS OF SERVICES ∎
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[5] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[4] Credit is extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower. | https://medium.com/the-outpost-the-cw-full-part/the-outpost-2020-3x12-series-3-episode-12-eng-sub-a9cc232f820 | ['B I Gs How S Tv S'] | 2020-12-26 23:08:31.123000+00:00 | ['Adventure', 'Scifi Fantasy', 'Action'] |
iDeltaProtocol Airdrop | ✅1 iDelta = 5 TRX
✅Complete all tasks and earn 100 iDelta ($16)
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👍Sent Your TRON (TRC-10) address | https://medium.com/@eddgia/ideltaprotocol-airdrop-4a9337920b0f | [] | 2020-12-22 14:00:44.391000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Airdrop', 'Defi', 'Token', 'Blockchain'] |
3 Things You Should Know About Loving a Partner Who is a Survivor | Recently, I intentionally shared some of my most vulnerable writing with a special person in my life. Shockingly enough, after I shared my trauma with this person, he responded with kindness and acceptance. I don’t know what the future holds between us, but what I do know is being honest about my trauma will give us a fighting chance.
I suppose I shouldn’t say shockingly, but to someone who’s spent the last 16 years in one unhealthy relationship or another, his reaction was a well-needed breath of fresh air.
A difference between survivors of abuse, assault, or any type of trauma is that we see, feel, and process normal situations completely differently than our peers who have not had said experiences.
So how do you communicate? How do you love a partner who is a survivor?
Without going through trauma firsthand, you’ll never fully understand the enduring and lasting effects of surviving. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have a healthy and loving relationship with a partner who has. | https://medium.com/fearless-she-wrote/3-things-you-should-know-about-loving-a-partner-who-is-a-survivor-93375b87d863 | ['Estrella Ramirez'] | 2020-08-21 17:51:13.215000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Lifestyle', 'Love', 'Self', 'Healing'] |
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