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Recap— Platform Livelihoods Report Launch | Our main takeaways from the commentary.
Guest panelists shared their insights, highlighting several other themes present in the research.
Ukulima si ushamba (farming is not a backward activity).
With youth engaging in farming, some are dedicated to rebranding farming including showcasing their work online. As more people engage in farming, the focus will be on how they can go up the value chain, beyond production to see themselves as entrepreneurs. On creating content to share with other farmers, farmer on fire shared,
I never thought I would be blogging about farming, I never saw money change hands so I never saw it like a career path. — Farmer on fire
2. How connected the owners of these platforms are with the intended users.
Global platforms coming into the local market will need to understand the local setting to ensure they are serving the user right. Through research and speaking to the people to who these platforms are intended, digital platforms can both improve on the usability and continue building guided by the market needs.
3. Beyond the convenience, platform users and workers are looking for more.
Social commerce, engagement, and social agriculture present an aspect of the need for more, especially with the younger demographic. Those using the platforms are looking beyond convenience, for more interactions.
Sellers are building communities for their products, and building empathy through constant interaction with them. Digital platforms will need to think about the functionality of communication. With this, comes the question of the relevance of the mainstream formal e-commerce platform based on the needs of this demographic.
4. Digital platforms are rigid for creators.
While platforms offer equal access, it is up to you as a creator to develop an audience. Similar to building communities through social commerce, social media offers creatives the freedom, allowing them to own audience, data, and feedback.
Creators have become experts across the value chain. Platforms are also supporting the backend work required for creating and distributing creative work. There is a skillset required to accompish these, what gap can we fill to enable creatives succeed? — Maurice Otieno
5. Existing structures for distribution present us with new challenges.
As we democratize how to get jobs, how do we protect platform workers from a tech platform? As platforms try to be mediators through the value chain, there is a need to ensure that the flow of value is not disrupted. How do we ensure stellar revenue share among all those involved?
Platforms will need to go beyond giving opportunities to addressing the vulnerabilities that this type of work involves especially around social protection. Health and safety are of the main concern, especially around mental health.
6. Digital complements the gig economy and the versatility that this entails.
As the question of unemployment takes a different turn, young people can not be boxed in one profile. We are observing trends, employed vs unemployed does not apply much, it’s now a combination of the portfolio of work. Young people redefining how they engage in the labor force, the broader issues that come with this need to be understood.
7. Formalizing the informal.
The digital economy in the western market is different as compared to what we have here. It brings professionalism and a level of infrastructure that was previously absent. With informal jobs, there is zero traceability to what most have been able to do. Digital platforms help in professionalizing these hustles and exposing invisibility. As more people engage, they can showcase and organize their work.
8. Caught up in it’s better than nothing.
As we navigate the “new normal” that is definitely not normal, we are seeing more resilience, but this poses the question of,
How much longer can we live in a precarious environment? Who is bearing the brand of rogue operators?We need to be careful on where we recommend and to whom. — Nanjira
Currently, there are no defined labor rights in the informal sector in Kenya and this exposed the lack of control to legislate how these platforms are operated locally. As policymakers go out to govern, there will be a need for all those involved are getting a better deal, platform workers included. This will be a continuous loop between policy, government, platforms, platform workers, and researchers. At the moment, community, organizing, and associations are helping. Policies will be needed to help in adapting to the times.
9. Social-cultural biases of gender still exist.
Cultural bias still exists in some sectors even when the platform worker can have the capacity to do the work, most common in logistic drivers which is commonly a man’s job. While with most of the platform work one can choose where and when to work, women need supportive environments to be there, even as they trade beyond borders.
10. Dignity and sustainability vary.
On the question of dignity and sustainability, platform workers reflect on what they have been able to achieve, what this work has exposed them to over time including learning new skills that they can use in the ever-changing market.
Who defines decent? Can I put food in the table? You can not compare, some days are better than others. You learn as you go. The definition is personal, it really is up to you”
Read the full report here: | https://medium.com/qhalahq/recap-platform-livelihoods-report-launch-b49bf324a49e | ['Tessie Waithira'] | 2021-09-17 14:42:01.702000+00:00 | ['Platform Economy', 'Gig Economy'] |
Why Your Children Are A Reflection Of You? | “The sign of great parenting is not the child’s behavior, but the parent’s behavior.” — Andy Smithson
It is widely presumed that parents hold a direct and strong influence on their child. If the child turns out well, it is all because of the parent’s sacrifice and hard work; if he turns out bad, then also it is the parent’s fault and negligence. To a large extent, this statement is correct. Parents are major influencers, however not the sole influencing agents in their child’s life. Other factors like peer relations, environment, and culture also play a role in the child’s development.
The question worth pondering is whether the child is born with this attitude or is it the outcome of his upbringing? The fact is that a child on birth acquires certain traits from his parents which influence his mode of behavior. These traits when exposed to the world through experiences, complex societal standards, and the upbringing of the child, mold into different personalities.
It is quite obvious that parents’ involvement has always had a positive impact on the behavior of their children. However, one cannot just expect it to happen overnight. One cannot wave a magic wand and turn children into who they want them to be. Just like a flower needs care and tending to blossom, a child also needs attention and effort from his parents.
To instill good behavior in children, parents must reflect on their behavior. They must adopt a positive and constructive approach to guide their children’s behavior. In their formative years, children are developing their behavior, social and emotional skills. They observe how their parents behave and replicate the same behavior. Children learn from what their parents do much more than from what they say.
Children feel supported and motivated when they have their parents back. Engaging him will make him more comfortable and will enable the parents to understand him better. His behavior will be reflected in his academic performance also. Time and again the parents need to direct him and prevent him from going off track. This does not mean that the parents have to rebuke him harshly. Instead, they can make him understand the consequences of such behavior politely yet firmly. Whenever the child performs well, appreciating, and rewarding him will motivate and encourage him to perform better every next time. But, parents must not over shower them with gifts for an average performance as this will hinder their focus and interest.
Often engrossed in their work, parents fail to spend time with their children. They must have a separate family time in their routine where they can have discussions or play games. However, they must refrain from using digital devices and other personal works at that time. This will help them to maintain a warm relationship with their children.
Sometimes, parents can even share their childhood and school life experiences with their children. This will help them to learn from their parents’ personal experiences. Parents can inspire them with stories of their achievements and teach them lessons from their failures.
Parental involvement enhances a child’s behavior and attitude in all aspects. Children who have the support of their family, are confident and motivated. They have higher self-esteem and determination. Moreover, they develop better social skills and compassionate behavior.
To summarize, parents can see their true selves through their children. They raise their children as per their own perception of how things should be, because of which they deprive them of developing their own notions. Their inner creativity and desires are suppressed. Consequently, children adopt their parent’s behavior and personality. | https://medium.com/@divyamahajan1/why-your-children-are-a-reflection-of-you-83c5e918f9da | ['Divya Mahajan'] | 2020-09-22 09:44:11.092000+00:00 | ['Parenting Tips', 'Parents', 'Counseling', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting'] |
Behind the Learning Curve | After two and a half years of absence, I am now back writing again with many stories in my pocket. And yes, I already feel like I am a different person than some years ago. Struggle and comfort shaped my resilience. Sadness and happiness sculpted my peace. It is difficult to resist the urge of telling all details of stories. However, details are not always crucial as the helicopter views will be probably more meaningful.
For me, life is a result of passing the learning curve. My curves were difficult, important, and significant in these past years, not to forget to mention the pandemic as it is undoubtedly significant to everyone. These all started when I moved abroad solely to a country I have never been to before. It is exciting, yet terrifying. Stepping out of the comfort zone has never been easy. But it is a sign of growth, which always comes with a wave of uncomfortable feeling during the process. I can keep whining over it, but instead, I picked the golden leaves and moved on.
Survive
Early Spring 2018 brought me to my first impression of blooming season. The wind breeze felt warmer, the flowers bloomed everywhere, the days were longer, although the sun was still shyly shining through the clouds. The continuous of life, I would say. The survived one would start enjoying the season’s beauty and restoring the warmth from a mad winter. But my love did not survive a season. It did not survive the storm of the cold. The distance was furiously disconnecting the warmth we have stored for so many years. Even trust and respect were no longer genuine as we expect. The words came back itself, but this time stabbed right at our chests. Never have I thought to be miserable on my knees by a betrayal in such awakening season.
Behind the cheerful blossoms, the wind breeze brings the pollen to reach out the right flowers naturally. Sometimes, it is even after the hurricane that more plant buds grow. As long as the roots attached to the ground, life will be going. I stood still, gulped all the bitter truth, and felt the massive loss of my love. I dazed for a while, losing my compass and my purpose all of a sudden. Then questioning, “why would I still exist? what is behind all of this?”. All possibilities felt so abstract. The more I think, the more I hope to change the situation, the more I lost. A vicious cycle of sadness. After all, the hurricane will be over. So does the grief. The rain has to stop to let the sunshine in, to give another chance to live. I closed the grief boxes to give myself another opportunity. To feel the remaining joyful of the season, and to forgive myself for what it was. I survived, and I learned that I’m not too fond of Spring.
Strive
Women and ambitious are often perceived as a negative perception. But, feeling ambitious is what keeps me running from time to time. The process of chasing something was incredibly satisfying, though most were exhausting. It is the source of my professional fulfilment. The closest relevancy here perhaps with cooking. I start the cooking process because the ingredients do not cook themselves. The vegetables do not cut themselves too. What if I do not find suitable and authentic herbs? Then I think about the replacement. Well fair enough, I could have just ordered the food online though. But, I would lose the striving moment where my excellence is needed to solve the problem. Of course, not in the kitchen, but a professional manner. There would be no instant way to be an expert, also the chef would not be able to achieve a Michelin star by making a signature dish with an instant curry paste. I am a chef of my career’s plate. It is my responsibility to serve the tasty dish, eventually.
Striving forward gives me an excuse to fight my anxiety. Go toward a realistic goal is the key. But gaining the key does not mean the end of the journey. Instead, the challenge just began. Studying abroad was a goal, sustaining the academic level here was more than a strive. The struggle contains constant tries, improvement after improvement, bounces back from negative feedback, and sleepless nights. It often comes along with disappointment too. There was a period when my countless job applications were denied. I started feeling down. Well, giving up or being patience were options, but sometimes the line was blurry. So, why don’t you back up a little bit and try again?
Surrender
The defence is a natural response of human being towards an attack or a threatening situation. Human beings are very clever in putting up a defence mechanism to strengthen their position or cover their views. The word ‘tired’ exposes weakness sometimes, but mind would say the opposite. I think body and spirit would agree too. Body, mind, and spirit need a break. I repeat, they need a break from constant striving and responding to the situation. ‘Stop and surrender. Let the Almighty do the rest.’ Never doubt of this quote. I learned the hard way to understand every inch of the Almighty’s graces. Being far from my homeland makes me an arrogant dwarf claiming to conquer the world. Instead, it was because of Him allowing these all happen. I surrender to Him, but I do not give up. I surrender to Him to seek upon His grace. I surrender to Him for blessings. | https://medium.com/@sekargaluh/behind-the-learning-curve-aa60a34c0822 | ['Sekar Galuh'] | 2020-12-25 01:03:11.584000+00:00 | ['Personal', 'Surrender', 'Survive', 'Strive', 'Values'] |
The Colonial Origins of Inequality in the Americas | The city of Nogales is a divided city. It is divided into two parts by a metal wall. To make things look worse, it’s a barbed wire wall, similar to the ones used in concentration camps. The northern part of the city is located in Arizona, in the district of Santa Cruz. Apart from having the above-mentioned wall on its south side, everyday life in this part of the city is largely similar to the rest of the USA. Although there is obvious discontent with the American education, health, and security system, most young people attend school and have access to health care. A high level of personal security is provided, and most importantly, the protection of the personal property is guaranteed. All these services are provided by the local administration, which, even if it is not the best in the world, still tries to meet the needs of its residents. If it does not live up to its expectations, there is an established democratic mechanism that allows the population to change government representatives.
Life on the other side of the wall is completely different. Although bearing the same name, the city south of the fence belongs to the area of Sonora, in Mexico. The area itself represents a more developed part of Mexico, yet still, the average household on this side of the wall earns only one-third of the income that families from the northern part of the city earn. The difference is not only monetary but also visible in other segments of life. In this part of the city, the life expectancy is shorter and the infant mortality rate is higher. A large number of young people do not go to school, robberies are frequent, and founding and running a company can turn into a real hell. Although all this is very obvious to the residents of Mexican Nogales, things in the city are not changing. Moreover, the city has had a change of government only once in history. In 2006, the Institutional Revolutionary Party was replaced by the National Action Party.
How is it possible for two settlements, that are practically one city, to be so different from each other? The geographical conditions are almost the same. There are no climatic differences, and there are no significant cultural differences among the population. They listen to the same music and eat the same food. Also, the story of different origins isn’t grounded, because the people there have been living together in that area for a long time, despite the changes in the borders.
What is obvious so far is that the key difference is in the state border that divides the city. The citizens of the north have access to the system of the United States of America, while the south shares the fate of the political and economic tradition of Mexico. Why have the rules that apply to northerners contributed so much to their quality of life, and how is it that the south lags behind in almost every way? The answer to that question should be sought several centuries ago when the colonization of both American continents began.
Beginning of colonization in the south
At the beginning of the 16th century, a few years after Columbus’ expedition, the first Spanish sailors arrived in South America. The territories to which they landed were soon declared the property of Spain. There they founded their first settlements. Rio de la Plata was first and then Buenos Aires. However, what they encountered was not the scenario they had hoped for. Local groups of hunter-gatherers managed to defend themselves, and thus did not allow the Spaniards to subdue them. This meant that the colonialists would have to work on their own to provide themselves with food and living conditions. However, thanks to the expeditions they sent further west, the Spanish settlers soon realized that the real wealth was exactly there, in the area that belonged to the Aztec Empire. The way in which they conquered the Aztecs, and very quickly and systematically exploited them, was a modus operandi according to which the Spanish conquerors very quickly took over the entire continent.
The conquest strategy devised by Hernan Cortes was as effective as it was simple. First, they would capture the leader of the native tribe. He would be forced, most often after cruel torture, to surrender his wealth, and then all members of the tribe would be required to pay tribute and procure food. This is how the encomienda came about. It is a name for a group of natives who were assigned to a Spaniard, called an encomendero. In addition to work, the natives were forced to pay tribute to the assigned Spaniard, and he in turn undertook the obligation to convert them to Christianity. Each new conquest meant the division of the conquered peoples according to this principle. Thus, the indigenous population across the continent fell into slavery. This cruel slave-owning system has been maintained and perfected for centuries, and its consequences are deeply felt even after it was officially abolished.
Things became even worse for the local population when large reserves of silver were discovered in the Midwest of the continent. This led to additional exploitation of the local population and to the introduction of the mita system. This system implied additional coercion in mining operations and represented the most difficult program of labor exploitation during the period of Spanish colonization. One-seventh of the population in the territory of the myth was forced to work very hard in the mines. The system was abolished only after three centuries. The situation of the natives was further aggravated by the introduction of a mandatory annual tax which was supposed to further force the population to participate in the labor market. In the end, the enslaved locals were forced to buy goods from the Spaniards at a price determined by the government.
This system of repression, which was applied where the Spanish colonialists ruled, was a network whose sole purpose was to maximize the exploitation of the local population for the sake of resources. This meant reducing the natives to a level sufficient for mere survival and reproduction, while all the value that surpassed that ended up in the hands of a small number of Spanish colonial elites.
Beginning of colonization in the north
While Spain had been accumulating vast resources and mineral wealth throughout the New World for decades, there was no prospect that England could take over its primacy as the world’s leading power. Behind it was a series of traumatic and devastating civil conflicts called the Wars of the Two Roses, and it was far behind the mighty Spanish monarchy in discovering and conquering new territories. Moreover, a large naval invasion by the Spanish Armada soon began. However, thanks to great luck, and above all very favorable weather conditions at sea, England managed to repel the invasion of the Spaniard, whose losses were significantly increased while returning home. The battle itself, in its consequences, represents one of the most significant events of the new century, which gave England much-needed self-confidence, but also space for maritime expansion.
Still far behind, and without much available territory on the new American continents, in the colonial race, England could only opt for what was left. That was North America. The fact that it was relatively accessible to English colonizers meant that this part of the American continent from the perspective of earlier colonizers, primarily Spanish, seemed useless. The population density was very low. It was not known that there were any mineral resources and the agricultural potential looked much worse compared to the warmer parts of the south. The price of agricultural goods in the later established northern colonies was up to five times cheaper than in India, and three times cheaper than in the southern colonies, which further influenced their potential to look weak.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the English colonizers, in front of the Virginia Company, founded Jamestown, their first settlement. The initial model of colonization they aspired to did not differ at all from the Spanish. Capture the chief, take everything from him, and then use him to force the population to work for the needs of the settlers. The plan was simple and already proven successful. The results were completely unexpected and unfavorable for the first English settlers.
The first obstacle is that they met with the Powhattan confederation in the immediate neighborhood. It was big enough to defend itself from uninvited guests but also unprepared for any kind of cooperation. This meant that the new neighbors lived close to each other but without any contact, with the exception of a smaller volume of trade that would help them survive the winter. The English colonialists did not yet understand that the strategy applied by Cortes and Pizarro was not possible in the north. There was no gold, and no possibility for a small number of natives to be enslaved. The company had to look for a new way for its investment to succeed. The matter was aggravated by increasingly severe winters and a small amount of food. The colony was soon desecrated. The number of members decreased from several hundred to only sixty.
A new approach has been introduced. Since it was not possible to exploit the local population, then it was necessary to force the colonialists to work. Camp-like rules were soon introduced. Every escape was punishable by death, as well as every minor form of crime and possible trafficking. This actually only made the situation worse and led to an additional drop in the number of people and a miserable mood among the rest. The company will soon realize that there is a more efficient system that would bring their project to life.
As the strategy of forcing the local population and settlers experienced a complete fiasco, the company began to provide incentives. The settlers and their families were given land and houses in which they lived and were released from contractual obligations. A general assembly was formed which gave all adult men the opportunity to influence the work of the colony and the creation of laws. That is how democracy was born in the New World.
It took Virginia more than a decade to test the model of social organization to realize that life in the north would have to be organized differently. The coming decades will lead to the full realization that economically viable communities can only be formed if the population has incentives to work, save, and invest. For centuries, English and local elites will try to violate this principle and endanger the institutions that guaranteed economic and political freedoms. Fortunately, but also with the strength of the institutions, without much success. More than a hundred years after the founding of Jamestown, all thirteen American colonies, which will later form the United States, will have a very similar system of government. The process that began in Jamestown in 1619 will reach its peak in Philadelphia in 1787 when the still valid US constitution was proclaimed.
The differences will become obvious over time
It took some time to see the first differences between the Spanish and English models. Over the next few decades, the differences will only become more apparent. One of the key crossroads happened in 1812, when, due to political changes in the Spanish monarchy itself, a constitution was passed that was supposed to abolish privileges and make freedom at least declaratively accessible to everyone. The heirs of the conquistadors did not like that at all. Pressures from Spain to give up privileges forced them to start declaring independence and thus form states that will continue to protect long-acquired benefits. Unlike the United States, which formed institutions that significantly hindered the exercise of political force, Mexico quickly became a dictatorship.
The world was changing at an unprecedented rate in the 19th century. Both the United States and Mexico will soon go through a turbulent period. The internal crisis in the United States will still be much shorter although including five years of civil war, while Mexico will change fifty-two presidents in the period from 1824 to 1867 alone, many of whom came and went to power by violence and coups. Mexico will soon lose the Alamo, Texas, and later New Mexico and Arizona.
Although the loss of territory in itself meant disaster, the enormous political turbulences had an even more devastating internal effect. They instilled great insecurity among the local population and great distrust in the state. The people of Mexico could not protect their property and thus were left without a motive for progress, putting most people in a situation to think only of mere survival. This further meant that the state coffers were largely empty, weakening the government’s chances of enforcing the law, while the vast majority of wealth belonged to the hereditary elite, which had a monopoly on economic and political developments in the country.
The United States was entering the industrial revolution at full speed, while Mexico seemed increasingly hopeless. It is the industrial revolution that will further emphasize the systemic differences between the two new states. The rapid development of new technologies has enabled the enrichment of almost everyone. As never before in history, there was a possibility that, regardless of their origin, an individual would get the opportunity to get rich on the basis of his work. In this way, the meritocratic nature of American society was further strengthened. This was made possible, among other things, by the introduction of patents, which, unlike attempts in England, were not a means of monopolization. For the first time, such a rapid rise on the knowledge-based social ladder has been made possible. Many have become very rich. The best example is Thomas Edison, who had over fifteen hundred registered patents, a significant number of which he managed to sell. More importantly, he cashed in on his talent, work and knowledge not only by selling patents but also by raising companies based on innovation. The whole process was accelerated by strong competition among banks which provided cheap funds to finance development.
In Mexico, meanwhile, everything was different. The number of banks was negligible and the money to borrow was very expensive. Property rights were violated by the expropriation and division of huge areas of land to the first-legged elite close to the president. It has significantly discouraged individuals from working to develop innovation.
With the advent of globalization in the mid-nineteenth century, unexplored areas of South and North America became more accessible than ever. Although the process of discovering new areas has led to a brutal confrontation with the local population, both in the south and in the north, the already established differences have been seen in relation to the new territories. While in the north the settlement of new territories went hand in hand with the establishment of a law that sought to protect the rights of new citizens, on the other side the conquered land, now by tradition, was granted to privileged individuals. In this way, economic growth in Mexico remained concentrated in a very small number of people without affecting standards of living.
Institutional differences continued throughout the twentieth century. Constant political unrest, crimes against the population, violent expropriations, corruption, and an unstable economic environment have become a constant for the south of the continent. In the north, the meteoric rise continued, which in just over two centuries since the establishment of institutions, led the continent to the most developed part of the world, to which people from all sides migrate.
It is obvious from this story that we continue to live in a world ruled by inequality. This fact often leads to the conclusion that this problem should be solved by redistributing the outcome of one’s work. However, if something should be concluded from this text, it is that people everywhere are more or less the same and that circumstances are something to consider in order for everyone to have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. What will always make a difference is the nature of the system in which individuals operate. What are the system’s incentives and penalties, and how equally are they applied. Small but important differences in the system over time can lead entire nations to greater wealth and a better quality of life, or they can trap them in a negative spiral of poverty, misery, and conflict.
This text is inspired by the book “Why nations fail”, from which a large part of the material was taken. I recommend the book to everyone who is interested in the origin of prosperity, but also in the way we should think if we want to eradicate poverty and all its consequences. | https://medium.com/@nedicdusan/the-colonial-origins-of-inequality-in-the-americas-6bb3ed42544f | ['Dusan Nedic'] | 2020-12-06 11:25:18.455000+00:00 | ['Humanity', 'Progress', 'Inequality', 'Macrohistory', 'American History'] |
The Advantage of Using Smart Contracts Technology in Barter Exchange | Benefits of smart contracts in barter exchange 🔥
The choice of smart contracts in modern business is obvious. Digitalization provides many conveniences and eliminates most of the problems that arise with conventional contracts.
A smart contract is a computer program that fulfills agreements signed between two or more parties, and, as a result of the fulfillment of certain conditions, certain actions take place. That is, the smart contract automatically fulfills the previously programmed conditions.
Where are the terms of the smart contract registered?
Conditions are written in the code of a program or platform that is created to solve a specific problem. The widest opportunities for launching smart contracts today is the Ethereum blockchain — a computer environment for the execution of smart contracts.
Barter and smart contracts
Combining barter and smart contracts is a very convenient and reasonable solution, since the demand and scalability of barter is increasing. The use of digital blockchain technologies makes barter transactions more convenient and reliable. Now, to carry out barter, you do not need the obligatory personal presence of a notary when concluding an agreement.
What is the benefit of using digital jurisprudence in Barter Smartplace?
The transfer of standard barter transactions to the blockchain greatly simplified their implementation and provided guaranteed protection against falsification.
All records of completed smart contract transactions are stored in the blockchain registry, which means that they cannot be changed or falsified.
The protection provided by cryptographic methods and the principles of decentralization provide storage of records in such a way that every change is visible to all participants in the system.
By bartering, traders insure themselves against a fraudulent exchange transaction. The barter trade protocol is designed so that the seller is guaranteed to receive payment, and the buyer is confident that he will receive the product or service.
In addition to exchange or sale and purchase transactions, Barter Smartplace applies smart contracts in insurance.
Using smart contracts to automate standard and similar tasks allows you to reduce the cost of services of legal, banking and other organizations, which are usually required when signing classic contracts and making mutual settlements. The move to smart contracts significantly reduces transaction and administration costs.
Also, smart contracts have a high degree of reliability, since they work on blockchain technology and the clearly established conditions of smart documents can no longer be interpreted in two ways, because they are written in the system in a programming language.
Barter Smartplace will help you get started navigating decentralized finance and provide all the convenience and benefits of barter with a legal smart contract: https://barter.company/ !
Join our telegram bot @BarterWalletBot 💌
Join the community: http://t.me/barterteam | https://medium.com/bartersmartplace/the-advantage-of-using-smart-contracts-technology-in-barter-exchange-6fe8badd172b | ['Nansy Dunne'] | 2021-03-08 11:01:34.922000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Smart Contracts', 'Exchange', 'Barter'] |
How the Culture Wars are Turning People Away From The Truth | How the Culture Wars are Turning People Away From The Truth TaraElla Follow Jul 21 · 6 min read
Welcome to a special episode of the TaraElla Report, where I will, once again, explain why I left both the Right and the Left, why I’m never going back to either side, and why you should probably join me. This episode is split into two halves, the subject of the first half will be the father of liberalism, 17th century thinker John Locke, and the subject of the second half will be Noam Chomsky.
Let’s start with Locke. Among some sections of the Right, there has been a new found fascination with Locke. Long used to worshipping another great British thinker by the name of Edmund Burke, often considered the father of conservatism, recently many on the Right seem to have swapped Burke for Locke, perhaps because the current iteration of the right doesn’t really resemble Burkean ideals of conservatism anymore. Perhaps it’s because the Right is more likely to defend free speech than traditional institutions nowadays. Anyway, recently Ben Shapiro recorded a video for Prager U titled ‘If We Lose John Locke, We Lose America’, in which he explained the basic ideas of Locke, and how America’s Founding Fathers were greatly influenced by his work.
All that was said in the video was correct. Locke’s ideas of individual liberty and equality, and the existence of natural rights that a government should not be able to take away, revolutionary back in his own time, have since come to form the political consensus of the majority of people in the West, and we are very lucky indeed for that. Shapiro is also correct that, if we do lose the ideas of John Locke, it would be very terrible, because we would be losing liberal democracy itself. Furthermore, he is also correct that the ideas of Locke are currently under attack in many parts of the West, and they must be defended at all costs. Just a few weeks ago, 150 prominent intellectuals signed a letter defending free speech and open debate published on the Harper’s Magazine website, and this was swiftly met with severe backlash. It is clear from this that the values of Locke and classical liberalism more generally are no longer guaranteed as the conensus position in Western society.
What wasn’t discussed was why Locke’s ideas are being rejected by more and more people, and how we can reverse this trend. I guess the immediate cause is the rise of critical theory and postmodern thinking, particularly thinking inspired by the dangerous ideas of 20th century thinkers like Herbert Marcuse and Michel Foucault, who saw power in everything and celebrated subjectivity over objectivity. However, given that these ideas have an increasing following, there must be a reason. There must be something that is making people abandon objectivity and commitment to truth, and embracing a power struggle worldview where defeating your enemies matter more than the truth. And I think that thing is the culture wars.
John Locke’s great ideas didn’t come out of a vacuum: he had a lifelong commitment to the truth, and as a physician he had a strong commitment towards science, including precusors to what we would now consider the scientific method and evidence based medicine. Classical liberal values are indeed the natural values of people who are committed to the truth, and principles like free speech naturally flow from that commitment. When one is instead committed more to destroying one’s enemy, one simply cannot stay true to classical liberal values like those of Locke. In that context, postmodern values would make much more sense. Which is why, conservative politicians and commetators, who are equally guilty as those on the left in pouring fuel onto the cultural war fire, and especially conservative pundits whose brand are strongly tied to ‘destroying’ those on the opposite side, should hardly have any claim to John Locke’s legacy. They are part of the cancer that is killing classical liberalism, they are not part of the solution. This is, of course, also why I have made the decision to leave both the right and the left behind, because there’s no way you can stay committed to the truth, and all that it entails, when you take a side in these culture wars. Indeed, I believe only those who refuse to participate in the left vs right fight can have any serious claim to the classical liberal heritage.
—
Welcome back to the second part of this special episode of the TaraElla Report. We’ll now leave John Locke, and move onto Noam Chomsky, one of the most respected leftist thinkers in the world today.
You would think Chomsky would be the last person to be in the bad books of a big chunk of the left, but yet this has happened. As I mentioned in Part 1, recently 150 prominent intellectuals signed a letter defending free speech and open debate, which was published on the Harper’s Magazine website. The fact that Chomsky was among them was taken as a sore disappointment among many people in what I would call the neo-New Left.
The simple fact is, Chomsky has always been a free speech absolutist, and the neo-New Left just cannot accept it. Chomsky supports free speech because, while he is a socialist, he has a strong appreciation of the foundational classical liberal ideals. Besides, he is an old-school leftist, you know, the kind of left that existed before the corruption of Marcuse and Foucault. While some leftists today, including Bernie Sanders, are still that kind of worker-first left, and I have great respect for that, many parts of the left have been overtaken by the Professional Middle Class dominated post-1968 New Left, which has an agenda for radical cultural change that most working people would be opposed to. Now, I’m not talking about ending racism or things like that. That, I totally support. What I’m talking about are the ideas of radical critical theory, ideas from thinkers like Herbert Marcuse, whose infamous 1965 essay Repressive Tolerance justified the withdrawal of free speech from certain people, and thinkers like Michel Foucault, who saw power in everything and dismissed the importance of objective truth. This agenda is hugely responsible for the mess we are in today, where people see their fellow citizens not as comrades but as enemies, and where commitment to the truth is at an all time low across the political spectrum.
As I said before, there are still many leftists today who want to bring back the worker-centered left, the left that also championed free speech unconditionally, and in both these endeavors I consider them solid allies. But these people are rarely heard among the dominant voices on the left these days. Even those voices on the left that seem to focus on material issues often end up disappointing me, because they turn out to be not that far from Marcuse and Foucault in their cultural thinking. It just shows which side of the free speech cultural divide a lot of these apparently economic, but not explicitly anti-IDPol, leftists are taking. And frankly, it worries me a lot.
Which is, of course, why I don’t identify with the Left anymore. Even as the economic woes of the West are getting worse, even as I perhaps take a more critical stance against our current economic system, I still wouldn’t identify with the Left as it currently exists, because much of the Left these days are in the grip of critical theory, and that’s not OK. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for racial and social justice, as well as economic fairness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pro-worker and pro-working families, and I am actually increasingly passionate about economic fairness. It’s just that I cannot, in my good conscience, claim to be in the same boat with the significant faction of the left that has almost fully internalized the ideas of Marcuse, Foucault, and other very problematic thinkers, and have become effectively hostile to free speech as a result. | https://medium.com/taraellas-liberal-conversation/how-the-culture-wars-are-turning-people-away-from-the-truth-3380f26e8d16 | [] | 2020-07-21 13:08:14.880000+00:00 | ['Noam Chomsky', 'Politics', 'Free Speech', 'Culture War', 'John Locke'] |
How Things Work: Azure Managed Identity and Service Principal | How Things Work: Azure Managed Identity and Service Principal
Introduction
Recently I dabbled into Azure. One of the challenges I faced was to figure out how to integrate two services, and inevitably, I ran into the concepts of managed identity and service principal. It took me a while to grasp the concepts, and I’m sharing my learning here to whoever encounters the same challenge.
After reading the article, you will understand:
How authentication using Active Directory works
what are Azure Activity Directory and Service Principal and their differences
How to use Azure libraries to programmatically authenticate with Azure Active Directory
Azure Active Directory
Azure Active Directory (AAD) is Microsoft’s cloud-based fully managed multi-tenant identity and access management service. An organisation can use it as its identity provider (IdP) to enable single sign-on (SSO) experience of applications running within or outside Azure environment. SSO brings in the benefit that when onboarding or revoking a user, his/her credentials and access permissions are centrally managed, which ensures better security and user experience.
A generic authentication workflow with an IdP is illustrated below (Please note different authentication protocols and methods will have slightly different processes from this generic workflow. See ADD supported authentication methods and authentication protocols. You can consider authentication methods and protocols as to how the communication is agreed and conducted between application, actor and IdP.):
The diagram above highlights two things:
there is no direct sensitive information (e.g. access tokens, secrets, connection strings) exchange between an actor and an application, and credentials management (e.g. create, revoke, update, rotate credentials) is centralised in one place.
Managed Identity & Service Principal
So far, we talked about using AAD to authenticate a human user. When extending this capability to Azure resources (i.e. machine, application, service, etc.), we have managed identity and service principal.
In many situations where process execution is automated, there are usually several Azure services chained in a sequence which requires authentication (e.g. allows Azure Data Factory instance to access an Azure Storage Account to process a file) and authorisation (e.g. restricted to read-only access to data from the particular path) to govern secured access. Similar to the human user authentication with AAD, a requester resource will need to
register itself in AAD (a.k.a creating a service principal),
configure the resource to know the required credentials to identify itself, and
ensure the recipient resource knows how to use the temporary token (i.e. can support receiving requests with AAD authentication).
A service principal can be created in the portal and programmatically using PowerShell. It requires permission to read and write to AAD. Once a service principal is created, a client ID would be added in ADD for role assignments (i.e. authorisation).
An Azure service that supports managed identity can have the registration and configuration done automatically behind the scene by Azure via Azure Resource Management (ARM) template. Therefore, managed identity is to enable an access requester to self identify itself and pass its temporary token along with the outbound request to a recipient resource. Managed identity can be enabled through the Identity > System assigned option in the Azure Portal. Unfortunately, there is only a small number of Azure services that support the creation of managed identity (as a requester) and a subset of Azure services that support AAD authentication (as a recipient) (see the list for detail).
Azure SDK for Authentication
The Azure Identity library can be used to authenticate with Azure services that support AAD token authentication. DefaultAzureCredential is a handy function to obtain the temporary token for most applications running in the Azure environment for both development (i.e. use user credential) and post-deployment phase (i.e. use environment variables or managed identity). It will try to authenticate via environment variables containing account information → managed identity → Visual Studio Code Azure Account extension → Azure CLI az login command → user’s system default browser interactively. An example of using DefaultAzureCredential to authenticate with Azure Storage blob (Note that Azure Storage blob supports ADD authentication):
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient default_credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
client = BlobServiceClient(account_url, credential=default_credential)
ClientSecretCredential from the Azure Identity library can be used to authenticate with Azure service using token credential (i.e. secrets) when using newer SDK libraries based on azure.core. When using older SDK libraries, use ServicePrincipalCredential from the Azure Common library. An example of using ClientSecretCredential to authenticate with Azure Data Factory using azure.identity:
from azure.common.credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials
from azure.mgmt.datafactory import DataFactoryManagementClient def main():
# Azure subscription ID
subscription_id = '<Specify your Azure Subscription ID>' # Specify your Active Directory client ID, client secret, and tenant ID
credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(client_id='<Active Directory application/client ID>', secret='<client secret>', tenant='<Active Directory tenant ID>')
adf_client = DataFactoryManagementClient(credentials, subscription_id)
The same example of using ServicePrincipalCredential from azure.common:
from azure.identity import ClientSecretCredential
from azure.mgmt.datafactory import DataFactoryManagementClient def main():
# Azure subscription ID
subscription_id = '<Specify your Azure Subscription ID>' # Specify your Active Directory client ID, client secret, and tenant ID
credentials = ClientSecretCredential(client_id='<Active Directory application/client ID>', secret='<client secret>', tenant='<Active Directory tenant ID>')
adf_client = DataFactoryManagementClient(credentials, subscription_id)
Note that using this method, a secret is required during the authentication process. This secret can be stored in a secured place such as Azure Key Vault or environment variables.
Take-Aways | https://medium.com/@fanhanmei/how-things-work-azure-managed-identity-and-service-principal-4bcc87e18c5 | ['Sarah Fan'] | 2020-12-02 04:35:07.995000+00:00 | ['Managed Identity', 'Azure', 'Service Principal', 'Authentication', 'Azure Active Directory'] |
Agile Development Frameworks | Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming, shortened to XP, is another agile framework, that is almost as complicated as it sounds by the name and I will attempt to give a brief explanation of some of the practices. Twelve core practices are described in more detail here.
In XP, everyone is apart of the whole team, which forms around a business representative known as the Customer. It is highly encouraged for all members to be co-located in one space or office. Every iteration the team delivers running, tested software to the customer, who then can use that software for any purpose, including release to end-users.
The planning game addresses two concerns in software development: predicting what will be accomplished by the next due date and determining what to do next. There are two steps in planning that help emphasize steering the product, rather than predicting exactly what is needed and how long it takes. Release Planning is a practice where the Customer presents the desired features to the programmers, and the programmers estimate their difficulty. Iteration Planning is the practice whereby the team is given direction every couple of weeks. The Customer defines what it means for a feature to be complete, and the programmers build automated tests to prove that a feature is working as expected.
One of the big things that set XP apart from death march or crunch development is the dedication to a sustainable pace: team members work overtime when it is effective, but normally work in such a way as to maximize productivity week in and week out. Crunch seldom produces quality software, though certain sectors of the tech industry have yet to really figure this out (CD Projekt, I’m looking at you). | https://medium.com/@melodysoriano/agiledevelopment-frameworks-8efd9a983507 | ['Melody Soriano'] | 2020-12-21 04:01:58.460000+00:00 | ['Extreme Programming', 'Scrum', 'Agile Development'] |
Philadelphia Eagles (4–9–1) vs. Dallas Cowboys (5–9) | Philadelphia Eagles (4–9–1) vs. Dallas Cowboys (5–9)
Photo by Larry Bridges on Unsplash
A matchup between two teams with four and five wins in Week 16 wouldn’t be an exciting matchup in a normal NFL season. However, hope knows no bounds in the NFC East Division, as a potential playoff spot is on the line while the Eagles and Cowboys face off against each other one more time.
NFC East Division Update
A team without a name is currently at the top of the NFC East division, but Washington won’t have an easy matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The Cowboys will need to win the remaining two games against the Eagles and Giants, while Washington will need to lose out if they hope to win the division with a 7–9 record.
Past Matchup Against Eagles
The Cowboys lost to the Eagles 23–9 earlier in the season, as undrafted rookie QB Ben DiNucci was forced to make his first NFL start. DiNucci proved to the entire world why he’s an undrafted QB in an ugly loss to the Eagles. However, things are much different now, as the Eagles will start Jalen Hurts at quarterback while the Cowboys will have Andy Dalton under center.
Quarterback Change in Philly
The City of Brotherly Love isn’t known for patience, as Carson Wentz was benched a couple of weeks ago in favor of rookie QB Jalen Hurts. While the Eagles fell short against the Cardinals last week, Hurts did throw for 338 yards and had 63 yards on the ground. The Cowboys defense will need to focus on limiting the Eagle's rushing attack, as stopping Hurts won’t be an easy task for a defense ranked last in the NFL against the run.
Cowboys Reach First Winning Streak of the Season
You know things aren’t going well if you wait until Week 15 to win two games in a row. Beating the Bengals and 49ers may not be much to brag about, but the Cowboys will hope to build upon this momentum for an unlikely playoff run. RB Ezekiel Elliott is also expected to return from injury, as RB Tony Pollard had 12 carries for 69 rushing yards and two touchdowns against the 49ers last week.
Prediction - Eagles 31 - Cowboys 24 | https://medium.com/dallas-cowboys-football/philadelphia-eagles-4-9-1-vs-dallas-cowboys-5-9-60969aac73e | ['Marcus Musick'] | 2020-12-26 03:25:40.197000+00:00 | ['NFL', 'Football', 'Sports', 'Dallas Cowboys', 'NFL Picks'] |
The One Piece of Writing Every Hillary Supporter Should Read | You keep hearing the same refrain from several of your friends: Bernie Sanders is America’s savior. The Facebook posts are everywhere, the tweets, the memes. You’ve heard his impassioned speeches, and, yes, they are definitely fiery and exciting. The young liberal inside you applauds when you hear him speak out for justice, and if you were twenty years old right now, perhaps you’d even be convinced. But you’re not twenty years old anymore, and you’ve seen enough in this world to know that the idealism of youth falls short when dealing with the messy reality of human beings- especially in the world of American Politics.
And so, even though Hillary isn’t as exciting as Bernie, you begin to realize her message is much more sober: slow change for the better, much in the manner of Barack Obama. It may not be as flashy, but it’s definitely more certain, and in 4 or 8 years, moving forward a little will be better than moving nowhere fast. As the weeks go by and the Bernie supporters get louder, your faith in Hillary’s no-nonsense speeches grows stronger; your tolerance for drinking that Bernie kool-aid gets weaker. A revolution? Really? Besides, what could be more revolutionary than finally having a woman in the White House? Isn’t that, in itself, about as revolutionary as it gets?
If you identify with some, or all, of this point of view, you’re not alone. In an election that is bringing out some very ugly sides of humanity, Hillary Clinton is probably our best bet for sanity right now. This is no time for experimenting with Democracy; if ever we need to keep things on an even keel, it’s now.
All of the above would be true, except for the fact that it is very, very, very much untrue. But, wait- before you turn away from these words in frustration, thinking the last thing you need to read is another anti-Hillary rant, allow yourself to play devil’s advocate for just a couple of minutes longer. After all, if Hillary is the wiser choice, then nothing you can read below will change that irrevocable fact. But if the facts reflect a much different truth- if, in fact, they completely contradict the above argument- don’t you owe it to yourself to at least consider them? If only to better understand your opposition? Is the election simply about picking a team and rooting for them loudly until the season ends, or is actually about finding the best method to improve your country? If it’s the latter, read on. These are just words on paper, after all- you can choose to disagree with them and never have to worry about anyone’s opinion of you, nor damage a friendship because of political differences. They’re just words.
Why Not Hillary?
We’ll get to scrutinizing Bernie’s ideas and examining his criticisms, but let’s begin with Hillary. Will she bring about slow, but positive change in small ways? The best way to predict the future is to study the past. In 1986, Sam Walton, Wal-Mart’s founder, made Hillary the only female member in a board of 15. The move was clearly political: Hillary was married to Bill, who was then the governor of Arkansas, Wal-Mart’s corporate home. Putting Hillary on his board would help appease criticisms that Wal-Mart was a good ol’ boys club (which is still very much true,) and having the governor’s wife working for you made dealing with government regulations much less problematic. But that’s Sam Walton’s angle. What about Hillary? Did she manage to do anything good while she was there?
Remember, in 1986, Wal-Mart was not a household name, but it was about to become one. By 1990, sales had quadrupled over the five previous years, and by 1992, the year Hillary left Wal-Mart to become First Lady, none other than George Bush Sr. himself had awarded Sam Walton the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his financial empire’s success. With Bill Clinton now leading our country, the 90’s saw an unprecedented transformation in the workplace, as low-wage, part-time, benefit-free jobs became more and more common, spearheaded by Wal-Mart’s proud anti-union stance. In her six-year tenure as board member, Hillary Clinton never spoke out once about fair union practices or any of the related issues the Wal-Mart board must have discussed during her tenure. To be fair, there is some evidence that she managed to make small headway with improving women’s roles within the Wal-Mart organization and advocating for some environmentally-friendly practices, but neither of these issues threatened Wal-Mart’s wallet. Still, one could argue that Hillary was doing what she claims to be doing now: playing the game in order to fight the good fight in small ways wherever she can. Is this a good strategy? Does it yield results?
This is an incredibly important point to consider, because a lot of Hillary’s support comes from people who believe it is a good strategy given the reality of our surroundings. But Hillary’s record is unequivocally clear: the times she’s actually fought for something in her career are strikingly few, and within those, the battles she picked were far from the battles that needed to be fought. Her days at Wal-Mart underscore this point clearly. It’s impossible to stress just how much Wal-Mart’s practices have changed our workforce’s landscape for the worse; for working-class Americans, “normal” went from having a lifetime job with a decent pension, a health plan, and quite often a labor union that protected those benefits to working two part-time minimum wage jobs with no benefits and, most definitely, no labor union whatsoever. Let me repeat that: after Americans had spent most of the 20th Century creating a country where people could get an honest wage for an honest day’s work, Wal-Mart, with the help of our government, almost single-handedly destroyed it. The company’s directors have gone on record repeatedly lambasting the very idea of a union; if ever there was a battle for Hillary to pick, it was this one, about preserving a system that served as the backbone to generations of working Americans. By avoiding the one battle she was in a singular position to fight, Hillary Clinton silently supported the erosion of our middle class.
That’s not just liberal hype: things change for the better or the worse not because of magical, unforeseeable reasons but because of specific decisions made by specific individuals who have the power to do so. Our responsibility as citizens is to elect a leader whom we can trust to make the right decisions- and if they can’t do that, they can’t do their job. It’s especially ironic when you realize that the people Hillary get the most credit for advocating- America’s women- have been especially damaged by Wal-Mart’s practices. Today, 72% of Wal-Mart’s cashiers are women; google “wal-mart labor practices” and you’ll receive endless news stories of the abysmal treatment these women workers have received. 8 cents out of every U.S. dollar is spent at Wal-Mart, and 90% of us live within 15 minutes of one of its stores- yet, despite Hillary’s attempts to downplay her Wal-Mart ties, Billionaire Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton was one of the top donors of Hillary’s recent “Ready for Hillary” Super PAC. In other words, you can’t just chalk her Wal-Mart involvement up to the folly of youth. Hillary is still very much working for Wal-Mart today.
So even if we are to believe that Hillary is sincere about her “work within the system” strategy, the question remains: at what point does this approach become part of the problem? How many times can you sleep with the enemy before you’re indistinguishable from the enemy? It’s a question each person needs to answer for her/him self. While we all understand that government is an imperfect entity, it’s imperative that we, as Americans, keep our values and goals as a nation clear, and be as objective as possible when analyzing our current situation. You cannot deny that Wall Street loves her, or that Goldman Sachs- the same company that got caught masterminding the biggest financial scam we’ve had in 80 years- has wooed Hillary with the vigor of a rich high school boyfriend (literally: they’ve donated half a million bucks to her foundation, and another half a million to her wallet as payment for two speeches. Count ’em: two speeches.) And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For many of us, Hillary’s lifelong affair with the exact people who are trying to rob America blind is no mere coincidence- it’s a fact too gigantic to ignore or argue away.
And yet, you might already be completely aware of all these facts, yet fail to find it problematic enough to abandon her. If so, allow me to get to the heart of the disagreement: The Economy.
Economics 101
The rift begins and ends with the economy. To understand why Bernie supporters are so fervently anti-Hillary, one needs a genuine understanding of our Economic past and present. Here’s a quick, but accurate-as-these-things-go version: while the tension between rich and poor has always existed, America was, in general terms anyway, doing pretty well at keeping things fairly even for everyone until Vietnam, Watergate, and the formation of OPEC turned our prosperous golden dream into a polluted, rundown mess. Of course, “everyone” means “white people” (and specifically “white males,”) but that’s a different (albeit important) story altogether.
In terms of taking care of the populace it cared about, America’s strong economic health after World War II is an uncontroversial fact.[i]
Now listen to how this economic prosperity came about: the 3-hit-combo of the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the Depression, and the War gave Americans the motivation to band together in a rare display of social solidarity. That’s right, democratic socialism at it’s best. The Wall Street Crash of ’29 was the result of a bubble, artificially inflated by a market that chose to believe its own hype rather than reality, combined with a loosening of financial regulations- pretty much the same thing that happened in 2008. This financial collapse set Americans on a desperate call for Hope and Change, a call answered by our beloved Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who tried one crazy, untested, heavily-criticized, but often effective program after another (more commonly known as his New Deal.) One of his changes, 1933’s Glass-Steagall Act, split investment banks and commercial banks into two separate entities, making it impossible for your local bank to take your savings and gamble it on high-risk money-making schemes. Glass-Steagall was one of the wisest regulations America has ever given itself, a perfect way to prevent fallible humans from giving into the temptation of easy money, forcing bankers to stick to sound investments that benefit the public good. This wasn’t communism; capitalists were still free to gamble for high stakes- just not with your money.
If you understand the wisdom in that law, you’ll understand why Bill Clinton’s repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 was the reverse: one of the dumbest, most destructive moves America has made in recent years. It single-handedly opened the door to the Housing Crisis of 2008, by allowing Wall Street to once again use your soundly-invested bank money in its get-rich-quick schemes, all of which led to a zillion foreclosures and the destruction of many, many livelihoods in this country. Eight years later, a lot of us are still paying the price.
Now, is any of this Hillary’s fault? Well, no, not directly. But the economic philosophy that guided Wal-Mart into destroying small businesses while offering poorly paid jobs, which is the same philosophy guiding Bill Clinton’s hand into repealing Glass-Steagall, has a name: neo-liberalism, which has nothing to do with being liberal, and everything to do with having unshakeable faith in the idea that a free market with no governmental supervision whatsoever yields the best results. It’s a philosophy brought to life by Chicago economist Milton Friedman, an economic adviser to both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. And that’s where our trouble really begins: Reagan, as you may or may not realize, began taking a sledgehammer to all those regulations that had kept this country working so well since the depression. Many Democrats have no problem acknowledging this, yet they stumble with the next step: Bill Clinton, beloved king of the 90’s, expanded what Reagan had done to new heights (or lows, actually.) Not just with the aforementioned repeal of Glass-Steagall, but with NAFTA- the Trade Agreement that allowed American Corporations to ditch their U.S. factories and set up shop in Mexico at a fraction of the price, thereby managing to completely mess up the economies of two countries at the same time. Mexico lost a lot of its economic capital but was prevented from doing anything about it, while the U.S. lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. It was a lose-lose situation for everyone except the few that got rich off the deal.
We must pause now to repeat this point: Bill Clinton was a Democrat, yet his actions were, in many ways, identical to those of Reagan. Yes, they disagreed on some social issues, and you’d probably rather have a beer with Bill than Ron, but on economic matters, which is the foundation of everything else, they were virtually identical. That’s the thing about neo-liberalism: it doesn’t care what party is in charge. Its only real allegiance is to the goal of maximum profit. When Clinton apologists accuse Sanders of having a “one-note platform,” this is what they’re referring to- the fact that Bernie is always bringing things back to economics. But if you understand American History, and hell, World History, you realize that it is pretty much all about economics. For better or for worse, money- aka power in a concentrated form- drives people to do everything: from improving their education system to starting wars to saving or destroying the environment to creating classes of citizens based on skin tone or sexual organs. If you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find that the reason why anybody has done anything in our history boils down to this drive for taking as much power for yourself as possible, which by necessity means taking as much power away from others as possible.
When you start examining Hillary Clinton under this light, you realize that she, like her husband, is right in the center of this seemingly unstoppable neo-liberal machine. It’s not just because she’s married to Bill, although you have to be incredibly naïve to deny that they have the same friends, hobnob with the same power brokers, and are funded by the same people who subscribe to the neo-liberal agenda. Can anyone honestly claim that these relations do not influence her decisions? Her track records as well, as both Senator and Secretary of State, have always, unequivocally gone along with neo-liberal policies. When Bush lied to us about those Weapons of Mass Destruction, Congress and the media both readily accepted his war proposal despite being given a government report that cast doubt onto that claim. But most Senators didn’t bother to read it, yet voted for war anyway. Why would Congress choose to start such a reckless war with so little proof? The sad answer, if you don’t know, is that there were plenty of government contracts waiting to be awarded to private American companies like Dick Cheney’s Halliburton, which overcharged the U.S. government $88 million in a mere four months in the name of rebuilding Iraq, which, incidentally, it never did. Voting to invade Iraq was an irresponsible and cowardly Congressional decision destroying the lives of thousands of civilians, sowing the seeds for future terrorists (read: ISIS) and rendering the Iraqi economy dysfunctional even today- yet our Congresspeople still claim they didn’t know any better. That’s the neo-liberal machine in full swing, fully powered by Democrats and Republicans alike. Did Hillary Clinton vote for the invasion of Iraq? Yes, she did. Did Bernie Sanders vote for the invasion of Iraq? No, he didn’t.
I say that not to rub it in Hillary supporters’ faces, but because you see this vital difference between our candidates time and time again. You can take potshots at Bernie’s age or his idealism, but the fact is, the man’s record is spotless. In a career field where politicians are almost expected to lie, cheat and steal, Bernie has sincerely maintained his integrity for decades, constantly supporting issues that weren’t popular at the time but are now vindicated, like fighting for racial equality alongside Martin Luther King. This fundamental difference is what disqualifies Hillary Clinton from any kind of pro-Hillary argument. Assuming you care about the people you share this country with, you have to accept the facts for what they are: Hillary Clinton works for the neo-liberal system, and the neo-liberal system works for itself. Without it, she would never have been able to run in 2008 or 2016- literally, because neo-liberal corporations fully funded her campaign. Republicans may hate having Democratic presidents, but their whining is hypocritical; between Wall Street, Big Oil and the Military Industrial Complex, the last 36 years have all proceeded down one long neo-liberal road, with Republicans and Democrats hand-in-hand.
A Broken System?
Now, if your view is that the system is working just fine for everyone, I’m probably not convincing you of anything. Unfortunately for your view, fewer and fewer people agree. As globalization sweeps the planet and your expensive iPhones continue to be made by Chinese workers working 72 hour weeks at a tiny fraction of your salary, as Flint residents get lead-filled water while Nestle gets to bottle their bustling water business for free from nearby Great Lake aquifers, as rent prices continue to skyrocket while salaries stagnate, as colleges become the biggest money-making scam around and students convert themselves to eternal wage-slaves by taking out criminally-high loans, and as Barack Obama prepares to deliver us the Trans-Pacific Partnership (another “free trade” agreement that makes NAFTA seem like the kiddie trial version) more and more Americans are hitting rock bottom.
If you’re not one of them, thank your lucky stars- but don’t fool yourself. The reason you can allow your mind to even consider Hillary is that your life isn’t in the same spot as those of millions of Americans- because if it was, you’d be angry and frustrated too. Consider this: this is not the first time Donald Trump has attempted a presidential bid. It’s just that usually, everyone ignores him and he fizzles away, only to come back screaming for attention years later. So what’s different this time around? Did Americans all of a sudden become more racist? It’s an appealing argument to a liberal, but show me the data that supports it. Though racism is alive and well, it has always been alive and well in our country. What is different is the amount of desperate people living in the U.S. today, people who have been burned by the blanket “corporations are supposed to make money!” ideology of the Free Market. The Tea Party, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump on the right, the Seattle WTO protests, Occupy Wall Street and Bernie Sanders on the left: the one thing all of these have in common is that they are expressions of American frustration, beyond anything we would have imagined 20 years ago… and yet, here we are.
This shouldn’t be surprising, really- every single empire in the history of mankind has gone through the same cycle, which always ends up in some kind of revolution. To think America is somehow going to be the exception is foolish; we are bound to experience one in our lifetime. The question is, what kind of revolution do you prefer? Bernie’s peaceful revolution, looking to take place within Washington? Trump’s ideological war on Women, Islam and Mexicans, not to mention anyone else he feels like targeting? Or perhaps something closer to Bastille Day, where folks grab their NRA-protected guns and burn everything they see down? That’s the thing middle-of-the-road Democrats need to realize: all these angry people to the left and right of you are not going away. And if Hillary does become president, they’re just going to increase in number, the way they did during the last 8 years of Obama’s presidency. Right now, you have the Bernie option. In eight years, it’s very likely that you won’t- and the amount of frustrated Americans angered by sixteen straight years of Democratic Presidents who have failed to affect any significant change could easily result in a new president that would make Trump look like a pretty decent guy the way he makes Bush look like a pretty decent guy.
At some point, we’re going to have to turn away from our embrace of the free-market love affair our last five presidents have been having. Yes, corporations are supposed to make money, but not at the expense of every living thing- that’s why we need a balanced economy that allows for both private enterprise to grow and the government to apply brakes as needed. That’s exactly what we used to have, before the last 36 years slowly ripped it to shreds. We’ve lost that precious balance, as anyone whose town has been destroyed by fracking or whose job has been shipped to India can tell you. That’s why, when Hillary refuses to clearly criticize any of these issues, people correctly call her out. This isn’t one you can chalk under “we have to play the game and hope for small, positive changes” because our planet literally cannot afford small, positive changes. We don’t have the time, and people are living in unacceptable situations because of it. It’s not just fracking- the environment is a ticking time bomb, and if Hillary truly continues Obama’s legacy, which is exactly what she’s claiming she’ll do, that time bomb’s fuse will be used up. That’s not environmentalist hyperbole, that’s the hard-scientific-data conclusion given by every single legitimate scientist working today. And yet, despite heat records being broken almost every day and the sea level rising even faster than we expected, Washington continues to do absolutely nothing. With this in mind, supporting Hillary’s “slow, incremental change” plan isn’t just naïve, it’s downright criminal.
What About Bernie?
But let’s put aside that alarmist talk for now and focus on Bernie. Let’s pretend America has all the time in the world to improve, and examine Bernie’s promises of unicorns and rainbows. Can this pigheaded socialist really accomplish anything in the realpolitik landscape inside of the Beltway?
Again, we must turn to history for the answer. Here’s another brief excerpt: after we became the U.S. of A. our economy struggled for a while to find its footing. One thing that helped it do so (in the South, anyway) was the invention of the cotton gin in the 1790’s, which made cotton a cheap and popular commodity, which made slave ownership a very profitable and attractive thing. Fast forward to the Civil War, which found the North printing lots of new money to buy much-needed war materials. This demand made a few people incredibly rich incredibly quickly, and after the war, they stayed rich- giving them unprecedented power in an American economy that had never experienced such disparity in wealth. In other words, we didn’t have many regulations in place because there had never been anyone rich and powerful enough to regulate.
For the next few decades, people with names like Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Mellon and Rockefeller became so powerful with their monopolies, they could literally boss Washington around. If people attempted a labor strike, they commandeered the U.S. Army. If congressmen or state governments tried to regulate them, they would make sure those people did not get reelected. Thus, Congress switched from serving the voters to serving the oligarchs. Is this starting to sound familiar?
And just like our economic system today, the system back then went out of balance and began to crumble. The 99% of the late 19th century was also feeling the burn- the burn of long hours, low wages, and a complete lack of job safety regulations, unions, and infrastructure. This scenario wasn’t just the natural result of the free market: just like today, the American Government was writing laws that gave large corporations unfair advantages. In 1886, the Supreme Court declared corporations were “a legal person,” and, as such, had a constitutional right to make money even when it came in conflict with state laws. In other words, corporations trumped local laws; a neo-liberal principle decades before the term existed. In 1890, New Jersey allowed corporations to own stock in other corporations- a common and accepted practice today, but totally unheard of back then. This allowed corporations to grow at an unprecedented rate… and so on. The corruption was so rampant, U.S. President Rutherford Hayes actually publicly declared the following: “this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations.”
Let’s pause again to think about that: things were so bad, our own president was fully admitting that corporations were the ones in charge. If Bernie Sanders had run for president then, who would have believed his ridiculous claims that he could clean up Washington? Everyone knew the system was broken beyond repair; such promises were either hopelessly naïve or outright lies.
And yet, that was the basic scenario over a century ago when we actually did get a “Bernie Sanders” as president, except he was a Republican by the name of Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy was as progressive as they came, full of fire and anger against the people that had turned his country into a monopoly. The Hillary supporters of 1900 would have scoffed at his rhetoric, yet Roosevelt’s eight years succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations, as he used his position as president to break up corporate monopolies and protect huge chunks of American land from being developed. Everything Hillary Clinton supporters are claiming Sanders will never achieve was achieved under very similar circumstances a century ago, for one very simple but powerful reason: there were finally enough fed up Americans to back Roosevelt up, and that made Congress more afraid of the public than of the rich oligarchs whose pocket they were in. For the first (and almost only) time in our country’s history, Democracy actually worked, but only because people wanted it to work. Muckrakers like Upton Sinclair exposed the hidden underbelly of industrial America with books like The Jungle, shocking the public out of its slumber and inciting the country into becoming active participants in our political process. We’re going through a similar muckraking awakening now with the advent of the internet, which has allowed our society to break free from the stranglehold that corporate-owned news sources like CNN and The New York Times have long held. This is the tool that has allowed a minor Senator from Vermont with no corporate backing to catapult onto the front stage, and if we’re ever going to witness any real change in our country, the internet will be the hammer that brings it about.
And so the answer is a resounding “yes”. Yes, Bernie Sanders can actually make a difference, yes, history proves it to be possible, and yes, it’s only going to happen if you want it to happen, because if we don’t show our Congresspeople we mean business, they’ll remain more scared of Monsanto and Mobil than they will of you. This isn’t just idealistic rhetoric talking, it’s history and fact. Look it up if you don’t believe me- in fact, please look it up, and learn the history of the country you’ve inherited. The philosophy of “working within the system” is a myth- especially when the system is so entrenched and widespread. Anyone who starts off with good intentions gets sucked into its orbit and spat out four or eight years later completely defeated. Look at Barack Obama: hope and change he promised, but despite his wonderful speeches, his economic (Wall Street, TPP, bailouts) environmental (Climate Change Summits) and military (Afghanistan, drones) records are pretty abysmal. I’m not saying he’s a bad man; I’m saying his strategy of compromise has gotten us nowhere, and he started out with all the positive energy of the American Public behind him.
That’s why Wall Street is pouring as much money as they’re allowed into Clinton’s campaign. A Hillary presidency is a safe presidency- safe, at least, for those for whom the system works. Yes, from a personality standpoint, Trump wins the award for biggest asshole, but that doesn’t make a Clinton victory that much more appealing. In the end, a victory for either of them will still make things worse in this country. With Donald, you arrive at worse quickly; with Hillary, worse takes a little more time. Is this really the best we can do as a nation?
Paying For It
And yes, universal health care, free college tuition and other important social benefits are not just possible, but essential. Bill Clinton’s own Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich- a Washington insider with the kind of experience Hillary supporters praise- has not only publicly claimed his support for Sanders’ plan, he thinks we can- and should- go even further. Again, Sanders’ plan is not magic socialist fairy dust, it’s actually right in line with the kind of action two of our greatest presidents took when facing a similar problems in America. And how do we pay for such wild promises as free college tuition? It’s really quite simple if you look at America’s budgets between World War II and Ronald Reagan. For example: in 1946, a single male who made $5,000 a year (the average single male only made $1,100 a year, by comparison) paid $700- or 14%- in income tax. That’s pretty low, right? But if you made $200,000 a year, you paid $148,000 in taxes- basically 75% of your income. In fact, from the 50’s through the 70’s, the top income tax bracket never went below 70%, and often hovered at a whopping 90%. Today, the top income tax rate (if you make a million dollars or more) is a mere 27.4%- and that’s for reported earned income. The IRS has introduced plenty of loopholes and tax shelters to lower the amount of income the rich must declare- not to mention, a lot of the money the rich make is from dividends, and those are taxed at a mere 15%. In other words, the rich today pay a fraction of the taxes they paid during the time America was at its most prosperous.
What does all this boring tax talk mean? Simply this: the rich used to give us back a LOT more money than they do today. That money is what allowed America build a strong network of public schools and state colleges; it’s what gave us highways, social security, and countless programs that Americans benefited from between WWII and Ronald Reagan. This idea was not controversial; conservative right-wingers and rich CEO’s alike understood, inherently, that paying those high taxes was part of the social contract. Giving most of your earned money back to the government was not considered “socialist,” and this at a time when our fear of Communism was at its highest. The truth was, even with those high taxes, rich people were still plenty rich, and they knew it.
Bernie Sanders’ economic plans don’t bring us anywhere near the rates of that golden time period; they merely take us a couple of small steps back in that direction. To implement his plans, America doesn’t have to drink his magic kool-aid, and (depending on your income) you probably won’t even have to pay more in taxes, because the richest 1% will carry most of the financial burden easily and still keep more of their income than their grandparents did, year after year. When Hillary Clinton plays the part of the realistic pragmatist, she is playing pretend. The statistics I just quoted don’t come from a secret archive only I have access to; this is public knowledge, and it certainly is known by Wall Street and Washington. After all, they’re the ones that spent the last 40 years rewriting the rules.
I know Bernie fans can get pretty passionate, and even obnoxious. It can make you want to vote for anyone BUT Bernie. I’m hoping you can look past that for a moment and understand why those people are loud and passionate. They’re angry- for all the reasons you just read. They’re excited, too, because for the first time in their lives, someone on TV is admitting what we all knew but no one wanted to say. Not just that- this guy is offering practical, working solutions to our biggest problems. If the rich contribute more, we can provide better education for more people- more under-served people like all our minorities trapped in a cycle of poverty. More educated people means less ignorance, less crime, fewer people choosing welfare because now they have legitimate job options. You want to see racism go away? Start by giving young people more possibilities with their lives, and see how a more educated generation will go beyond the thug-life stereotypes too many of our cops are wired to expect from them. Reinstating the financial regulations we used to have means less gambling by Wall Street with your money, and actual penalties if they get caught doing so. A universal health care system means a gigantic reduction in costs for not just you as an individual but small business owners all over the country, who can now use that money to invest in their business better, or afford that raise you’ve been asking for. Combine a better education with a smarter health care system and you’ll get a country eating better and exercising, thereby reducing health care costs even more. And so on- we live in an interconnected world where everything affects everything else. Fixing our economic system doesn’t solve every single problem, but it does provide the breathing room for people to solve the rest of our issues with a clearer head. It is a very important step number one.
Are You Experienced?
“Experience” has been a big selling point for Hillary Clinton, and perhaps it’s a big selling point for you as well. Which is logical, since experiencing things makes you wiser- usually. So let us ignore all the other criticisms we’ve been discussing about Hillary Clinton, and just focus on experience. Let us compare how much experience working in Washington other famous Democrats had before reaching the White House:
John F. Kennedy: 14 years in Congress
Barack Obama: 4 years in Congress
Hillary Clinton: 8 years Senator, 4 years Secretary of State
Bernie Sanders: 26 years in Congress
Yes, Bernie has double the experience of not only his opponent, but of the most famous Democratic president of the 20th Century, and six times that of Obama. Do with that what you will. This is a good moment to point out that, from a conventional point of view, Hillary is as qualified to be president as Reagan or anyone after him. In terms of competence and the ability to deal with this high-pressure job, there’s no doubt she can handle herself as well as Bush #1, and definitely better than Bush #2 or even her own husband. Any sexist attitudes that claim otherwise are wrong, and I will completely defend her abilities in this arena. But those skills, while important, merely describe competence, not integrity or wisdom. I’m sure her four years as Secretary of State gave her a lot of insight on things, but look at what she actually accomplished with that position: convincing Obama to trounce into Libya and assassinate Qaddafi (same thing we did in Iraq, basically) which only served to transform the country into an incapacitated mess and an incubator for terrorists. ISIS is thriving because of what we did to Libya. Even the incredibly-pro-Hillary corporate rag called The New York Times published an exposé on this story; they painted her in the best light possible, but the facts are pretty damning.
Yes, I would love to finally see a woman run this country. Yes, it would be an important milestone and let’s hope it happens someday soon. But people are first and foremost individuals, not historical symbols. Putting a person like Hillary Clinton in charge just so you can check something off America’s progressive bucket list is not just a bad move- it’s a dangerous move. I could point out every poll and statistic out there predicting that Americans will most likely never elect Hillary, and that Sanders has a better chance than she does at beating any Republican- but that’s not the point. If Hillary were a woman with integrity, a woman who really did have the compassion and focus she has never shown, I wouldn’t care what the polls said about her electability- I would back her until the end. Instead, I fear that a Hillary victory will actually set feminism back several decades- for once her tenure is over, too many frustrated people will unfairly say “a woman president? Never again.”
Which is too bad, because if anyone deserves to be president more than Bernie Sanders, it just might be Elizabeth Warren, another senator with the experience, intelligence, and moral fortitude the position of president demands. But Hillary doesn’t deserve your vote. She doesn’t care about you- she never has. Her lack of compassion for people is a constant throughout her career- not just evident in her actions, but in her interviews and dealings with average people. If this recent clip of a young, frustrated black woman being blown off by Hillary doesn’t bother you, what will?
It’s the combination of all these factors that makes Bernie Sanders fans so annoyingly excited. He is compassionate, he does have integrity, he does have sound ideas and economically feasible plans. The facts are there, for your sake and mine, and personally, they have made me excited about politics for the first time in my four decades of existence. It’s not because I think Sanders will usher in a utopia, or solve all the world’s problems. It’s because finally, the Change that Barack promised us is getting closer to becoming a reality. Whether or not it comes in the form of a Donald Trump, a Bernie Sanders, or a chaotic, violent parade of rifles and torches, none of us know yet- but change is coming for sure. You know what version I prefer. The question is, what about you?
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[i] Pretty much all the American History summarized in this essay can easily be found in Michael Goodwin and Dan Burr’s Economix, which does the amazing job of consolidating a huge stack of history and economics texts into a single, readable narrative. I owe Michael a big thanks (and apology) for doing the homework I liberally pilfered. The book’s extensive bibliography will more than satisfy your need to know more, if you want to know more. | https://byrslf.co/the-one-piece-of-writing-every-hillary-supporter-should-read-6ded898f9613 | ['Memo Salazar'] | 2016-04-15 13:09:40.151000+00:00 | ['Hillary Clinton', '2016 Election', 'Bernie Sanders'] |
How Hot is a Lightsaber? | How Hot is a Lightsaber?
And other lightsaber physics
Welp. Star Wars Episode IX came and went, bringing with it a stark and definitive closure to the paths of our newest heroes and heroines in the beloved saga. Though the acting, cinematography, and special effects are largely praised as some of the greatest to yet graze the franchise, the plot of the third installment of the sequel trilogy has no doubt ignited heavy debates among fans of all ages, perhaps polarizing the Star Wars fandom more than any film before it. It’s hard to peruse through even a handful of movie reviews on Medium without encountering someone’s unique take on the multi billion dollar series that has ushered in an entirely new generation of fans. Despite the massive array of differing opinions on the eleven renowned films, there is one thing that all fans of Star Wars can agree on: lightsabers are really, really cool.
Or should I have said “hot”? Extremely hot, to be precise! Hot enough, in fact, to slice right through Darth Maul in a fraction of a second, and cauterize the bisection completely. Hot enough to carve through solid metal blast doors, stronger than steel and thicker than trees. Hot enough to chop stone pillars, metal coolant pipes, and enormous boulders with as much ease as sliding a hot knife through warm butter. Pretty much anything that a lightsaber touches is immediately converted to a molten liquid or a charred crisp, and when one lightsaber clashes with another, a flash ensues that is so bright that it momentarily saturates one’s entire field of vision. So yes, in addendum, lightsabers are really, really hot!
Qui Gon slicing through a blast door in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
Star Wars may have taken place in a galaxy far, far away, but we are still led to presume this galaxy does indeed exist somewhere in our universe. This means that all of the technology depicted in the many films should still abide by our known laws of science and physics. So, keeping all that in mind, how hot would the lightsabers depicted in the films actually need to be to do what they do? To answer this question, let’s first take a look at how the Star Wars canon describes the functionality of a lightsaber. From Wookiepedia:
Lightsabers consisted of a plasma blade, powered by a kyber crystal, that was emitted from a usually metal hilt that could be shut off at will.
There is some other pseudo-scientific discussion about power cells, modulation circuits, and energy gates, but this basic description tells us two important things: 1) That a lightsaber blade is made of plasma i.e. superheated atomic material, and 2) That they have a single power source — a “kyber crystal” — which presumably fits snugly within the lightsaber’s hilt. Unless the kyber crystal is somehow harnessing power from an external source (such as Casimir or Zero-Point energy), a kyber crystal can be thought of as an extremely advanced and powerful battery, with enough juice to power the lightsaber whenever active.
In order to gauge a rough order-of-magnitude estimate for the temperature of a lightsaber, we need an example of one slicing through something pretty thick that we also know the material properties of. This isn’t as easy as it sounds — probably 99% of all saber slices in the franchise are that of crates, pipes, or doors with ambiguous compositions, or people’s limbs, neither of which make a very good test of determining a lightsaber’s power output. However, there is one fantastic scene in Star Wars Ep. VIII where Rey slices through a stone while training with Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To, providing us a pristine example of the true power of a Star Wars lightsaber.
Rey slices through a stone while training on Ahch-To; one of the few instances where a lightsaber is used in the franchise to cut something that’s physical properties are known!
In the scene, Rey is testing her skills with the Jedi weapon, swinging it within centimeters of the tall, weathered stone, only to pull it back to reset the exercise. She repeats the drill several times before finally losing her restraint and driving the lightsaber clean through the solid stone, sending the top half careening down the mountainside. Beautiful and symbolic as the scene was, it’s also a gold mine for calculating a lightsaber’s power. Not only is the stone made of a material with predictable physical traits, but we also gain some valuable insight on the size of the cross section that is sliced, as well as the amount of time that it took to completely liquify the rock within the cross section. These tidbits will turn out to be valuable assets in determining the lightsaber’s power output, and thus its temperature.
Most silicate stones have melting points between 700⁰ C, and 1300⁰ C. For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume that Rey’s lightsaber must heat up and liquify the material along the cross section to a temperature of 1000⁰ C (the same as the melting point of basalt). The energy required to melt a substance, however, is more than just increasing its temperature to its melting point; additional energy (called latent heat of fusion) is required to actually turn that 1000⁰ C solid material into 1000⁰ liquid material. For example, picture an ice cube sitting on your counter. The temperature of solid ice can never exceed 0⁰ C, yet it still takes several minutes of sitting on your counter absorbing heat in your ~21⁰ C kitchen in order to melt it into its liquid state. This means that we will need two additional factors to calculate our lightsaber temperature — the specific heat of stone (as the solid stone heats up to 1000⁰ C), and the latent heat of fusion of stone (as the stone changes to a liquid state).
A phase change diagram for water. Note that the temperature of the water does not change during the melting/freezing phase, nor during the boiling/condensing phase, due to the added energy going towards changing the state of the water instead of increasing its temperature.
Clearly, heating 1 gram of rock from room temperature to a molten liquid requires less energy than doing the same for 1 kilogram of rock. In order to estimate a lightsaber’s heat output, we will need to determine the volume (and thus the mass) of rock which is being liquified. We can probably roughly estimate the cross section of Rey’s slice from the scene in the movie, but this does not determine the volume of material that is liquified. To obtain this, we must be able to estimate the height of Rey’s cut. Logic would tell us that the height of the cross section is probably about the same as the thickness of the lightsaber itself, so what is the thickness of a lightsaber blade? Lightsabers have been depicted in many thicknesses throughout the franchise. In the originals, they were extremely thin, sometimes completely disappearing when viewed edge-on. By the time of the prequels and beyond, lightsabers took on a thicker, more sword-like appearance. Because our example takes root in the sequel trilogy, I will use an estimated thickness of perhaps 3 centimeters.
A diagram I made in MS Word (lol) showing the volume of material liquified by the lightsaber as a function of cross-sectional area and height of the slice, the latter of which is roughly the same as the thickness of a lightsaber’s blade itself.
We now have enough information to determine how much energy it takes to liquify the cross sectional slice from Rey’s lightsaber, but we still need one more factor to determine how much power Rey’s lightsaber is radiating. If the lightsaber itself were 1000⁰ C, it could theoretically liquify the entire cross section, but it would take it an infinite amount of time to do so. The hotter the blade is, the faster it will be able to slice through the rock. By carefully timing the scene from the beginning of slice to the end, we can determine the amount of time Rey spends bisecting the stone, which will then allow us to reverse-calculate the amount of thermal power radiating from the lightsaber’s blade. By assuming that this power is uniformly radiated from the surface area of the lightsaber, we can finally tabulate the temperature of the weapon. For those interested in all the math:
Hahahahaha damn.
Boasting a power output greater than some nuclear powerplants, the nearly 1-Giggawatt lightsaber would flare at a temperature hotter than the surfaces of most of the stars in our universe. To keep the lightsaber ignited for a mere 20 minute duel, the kyber crystal within the lightsaber’s hilt would have to yield an energy density of about 1,670 Gigaojoules per liter — akin to the volume energy density of a plutonium fission reactor! Peaking at emission wavelengths in the UV spectrum, an object of this temperature would likely appear bright purple to the naked eye, not dissimilar to the lightsaber of Mace Windu.
Is Mace Windu’s lightsaber the most visually accurate lightsaber?
However, anyone holding such a lightsaber would actually burst into flames. This is because the autoignition temperature of biological material would be in the range of combustion even out to a distance of more than a football field away just from the radiative heat of the lightsaber’s blade! Now clearly Jedi and Sith aren’t bursting into flames while dueling, so something else must be at play here. My theory: the pseudo-scientific “energy gates” touched on in Wookiepedia are actually extremely advanced fields of some sort, designed to contain the superheated plasma and *most* (I’ll come back to this) of the radiation from escaping the blade while not in contact with anything solid. The energy from a lightsaber is only released when that field is interrupted by a solid object or another blade, and only the surface area of the lightsaber that is actually slicing or colliding is releasing energy. The rest of the saber’s energy gate field remains intact to protect the user from succumbing to 3rd degree burns. This theory would also explain why a lightsaber collision generates a momentary blinding flash, since a split second of Gigawatt-level power is released during each clash.
Since this hypothetical field would block *most* of the radiation from getting through, the energy storage demands of the kyber crystal are actually much less stringent than what I previously estimated. It would still require Gigawatt levels of peak power in order to slice rock and metal, but since this power is only required during short bursts, energy from the kyber crystal would only be draining sporadically, instead of continuously. With the same energy density listed previously, a lightsaber could last weeks or even months of duals before a change of kyber crystal would be required — much more believable to be done offscreen than every 20 minutes. Finally (I said I would come back to it), a Jedi or Sith could perhaps adjust the energy gate to tweak the amount and frequency of allowed radiation that gets through the field in order to customize the color of their lightsaber blade, allowing for any saber color under the sun(s).
So yeah, in conclusion, I guess lightsabers are pretty cool… erm, well… hot! Thanks for reading! | https://medium.com/our-space/how-hot-is-a-lightsaber-8a5db6499fa9 | ['Brandon Weigel'] | 2020-02-25 15:49:48.075000+00:00 | ['Science Fiction', 'Star Wars', 'Physics', 'Space', 'Science'] |
How much should you invest in “customer understanding” for new products and services? | With that, here are some ways to invent in uncovering those unknowns:
Go straight into design and development.
Wait, didn’t I just say not to do this? We generally don’t recommend this, but if you have the ability to launch your MVP with little or no investment due to: you already have the systems in place, the solution is extremely simple to produce — or you have an unlimited amount of funding and success is less important in the near term — in these cases you can “pivot” as you launch and learn to help find your audience and the right set of features and functionally.
Pros: Less up-front work, faster to launch.
Less up-front work, faster to launch. Cons: High chance of failure due to not involving users in the process, potential to head in the wrong direction and never find your audience. General high risk of failure.
User Experience Design + Validation.
Using subject matter experts and other stakeholders, create a design prototype of key features and flows, and use this “prototype” to felicitate conservations with potential customers and validation testing to determine a mix of value and usability. This method, like the previous can only get you so far. It usually won’t redirect if your way off-course, and it’s really more about making the best version of your idea vs. determining if your idea is the right one.
Pro: Lowest costs while still interacting with users. Design work will can be used in development.
Lowest costs while still interacting with users. Design work will can be used in development. Cons: Not as good at determining value, or other opportunities, more focused on usability of product.
KANO Study / Value Testing.
Using a method for determining value, we’ll show potential users representative screens and designs and ask intentional questions to gauge value. This helps prioritize what people want out of your product or service. We’ve used this a number of times at projekt202 with great success. Again, more for prioritizing features and functionally from predisposed ideas vs. determining if the idea is generally the right one.
Pros: Helps with feature prioritization, gets early feedback on designs, helps organizations develop MVPs.
Helps with feature prioritization, gets early feedback on designs, helps organizations develop MVPs. Cons: This is not true “in context” research, will still need to build out more detailed designs.
Experience Strategy.
This is a way to get a full picture of your users and uncover the most unknowns. What they’re doing today, what additional systems are they using, and what are the most important pain points and opportunities. This will include: in-person observations, journey maps, personas, etc… This can be used with current users or potential users, and be focused in on one product or service, an entire multi-channel experience, or even has the ability to generate entire unexplored areas to serve new or current customers.
Pros: Best way to define a full product strategy, including: market size, user needs, prioritization, building user empathy, etc…
Best way to define a full product strategy, including: market size, user needs, prioritization, building user empathy, etc… Cons: Due to the in-person nature of qualitative customer understanding, and general thoroughness, this is the longest program to run.
When running Experience Strategy programs I’ve never been underwhelmed of the data that’s brought back, and how it sets a north start for teams. Groups I’ve worked with are usually surprised, and it really opens up not only their eyes, but a path towards really innovating and creating that great customer experience we’re all trying to deliver.
I find that every book, article, and post about product development talks about: “Customers Matter”, “Focus on your customers”, “Improve your customer experience”, “Find the jobs to be done” — but they don’t really talk about the investment, time, and teams needed to do that work. They do talk about the value of design and improved CX, but skim on how to get there.
So which path should you choose to uncover your unknowns?
As mentioned above the overall investment is usually the main driver. If you’re working on a multi-year program or something core to your business or mission, chances are you’ll want to mitigate the risk of potential failure and the overall cost — to do this, you need a crisp, clear picture of your users and how they’ll use (or not use) your product or service. If this is a shorter, lower cost program to get to launch or MVP — then you can take more risks, and you can go ahead and just get something out there to see if it will stick.
Without sounding like a broken record, there really is no substitute for meaningful interactions with the people that will be potentially using the product and service you’re looking to build to help shape and guide that product in the right direction. As User Experience Designers we need to remind product teams that unknowns can be known with a little time and effort — and it’s worth the investment. | https://uxdesign.cc/how-much-should-you-invest-in-customer-understanding-for-new-products-and-services-69e2b4ae46ac | ['Jeremy Johnson'] | 2020-04-23 21:45:43.771000+00:00 | ['Product Discovery', 'Product Development', 'User Experience', 'Startup', 'Customer Experience'] |
Description versus Prescription — and other Ethics Confusions | Exponential advances in technology are vastly improving our lives. Sadly, at the same time, lack of progress in moral theory is undermining this bonanza — in fact threatening our very survival.
There are many reasons for ethics’ stagnation — the following I consider prime suspects:
Lack of definition of the terms used.
Confusion caused by the deeply ingrained idea of ‘duty ethics’.
The misconception that (prescriptive) morality cannot be approached rationally, scientifically.
The almost universal lack of distinction between descriptive and prescriptive ethics (what is vs. what is desirable).
This essay focuses the last issue; others are covered in more detail elsewhere.
Definition: Morality is a set of principles that characterize behavior as right or wrong — good or bad. Ethics is the study of morality.
Principles are generalized rules — they have a wider range of applicability.
Morality comprises a number of principles, that may or may not combine to form a system. In reality, moral codes range from being arbitrary collections of contradictory rules, to evolved social customs, to explicit comprehensive integrated philosophies.
‘Behavior’ judged by a moral code may include thoughts and beliefs (‘Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife’).
Morality usually applies to human action, but is sometimes expanded to include organizations and (intelligent) machines.
Lastly, there is the crucial meta-ethical issue of what right and wrong are measured against — the meaning of ‘good’.
(My definition encompasses many interpretations and approaches that I regard as highly unworkable or undesirable.)
The Good — There are two basic views:
Consequentialist/ Teleological — The belief that things can only be judged as good (or bad) in relation to some end, goal, or standard — e.g. ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number’, ‘perpetuation of the human race’, ‘furthering evolution’, ‘individual flourishing’.
Deontological/ Duty ethics — Good with a capital ‘G’. The belief that things can be good for no further reason or purpose — ‘good in themselves’, ‘good for goodness’ sake’, ‘because we should — we have a duty’. Naturally, as soon as a reason is offered of why we should have a duty to something or someone, then such morality is re-classified consequentialist.
Duty ethics undermines reason. It represents an age-old mechanism of social control — be it in the name of paternalism or tyranny. It leverages our infantile conditioning of ‘because I say so’. Any rational or scientific discourse must ultimately specify some standard or goal by which the actual or projected effectiveness of a moral code can be judged. Addressing the questions ‘Good for whom?’ and ‘Good to what end?’ are cornerstones of moral theory.
Description versus Prescription — Before I comment on the possibility of ‘ethics as a science’, I need to introduce the core issue of this paper: the crucial difference between principles that describe or explain behavior, and those that guide or prescribe. Fields such as sociology and evolutionary ethics concern themselves with what is, while moral philosophy addresses what ought to be. (Naturally, to the extent that what ought to be depends on the nature of things, including what is possible — like identifying limits of human adaptability — prescriptive morality too concerns itself with is)
As mentioned before, what ought to be — what is desirable — really consists of two fundamentally different issues: Firstly, the meta-ethical point of what we regard as good — our standard or goal. Secondly, identifying or discovering the set of principles we should adopt if we want to optimize our chances of attaining our goal. The rules or principles can be as mindless as citing ‘the will of some god’, as simplistic as ‘the golden rule’, as complex as a utilitarian happiness calculus, or as integrated and comprehensive as an Objectivist morality.
I believe that much discourse on ethics is largely wasted because these distinctions are not made. Worse, debaters frequently talk past each other being totally unaware of the issues. Confusion reigns supreme as purpose, motivation, and methods of discovery (implicit or explicit) may differ substantially.
Ethics as Science — Over the centuries epistemology has discovered certain universal methods of optimizing the acquisition of reliable knowledge — any kind of knowledge. Ethical knowledge is no exception. The most fundamental method is the use of logic to integrate numerous empirical observations. Inductive premises and deductive conclusions can then further be validated through consistency testing, experiments, and further observations. Our system of knowledge aims to be coherent (integrated and non-contradictory) and to correspond with reality. This approach is also called rationality — with science representing a specialization.
Almost everyone would agree that this is essentially the correct way to deal with descriptive ethics. However, many (if not most!) people allege that prescriptive ethics is different — that there are some transcendent, non-rational means of knowing right from wrong, or that for some (unspecified) reason logic does not apply. Suffice to say that I vehemently disagree with this view.
Even (or especially) the most value-laden and potentially subjective area of ethics — meta-ethics — requires reason. I do not know of any conclusive argument that demonstrates the existence of a single, ultimate interpretation of good which applies to everyone. It seems to be a tricky, unresolved debate whether long-term happiness, flourishing, or overall health/ well-being (what I call Optimal Living) are the most meaningful goals for a personal morality. However, rationality can certainly help us clarify these issues. It can identify harmful, unworkable or contradictory goals — and especially those that are firmly entrenched in society (such as blind obedience to some cause).
All ethical fields must be based on what is. They must take specific facts of a reality as a starting point. Descriptive ethics may go beyond that to formulate general theories of human conduct — what motivate us, and why we behave the way we do. These theories may be based on genetic, environmental/ social, or mental/ abstract factors. Most theories claim to have predictive power.
A rational prescriptive ethic — as opposed to an arbitrary set of commands — comprises the marriage of a specific meta-ethical goal with a system of behavioral principles aimed at achieving it (- or at least getting close to it). Such systems are inherently predictive.
Choice — While it may be argued (unsuccessfully, I contend) that descriptive ethics does not require humans to have freedom of choice, prescriptive ethics, on the other hand, directly implies an ability to choose actions. It makes no sense to talk about ‘should do’’ if there are no option open to us. In order to speculate about what is best for us we need to either accept the reality of volition, some more limited freedom to choose, or at the very least, assume that the ‘illusion of freewill’ is utterly pervasive (I take compatibilism to offer the most coherent position).
A rejection of choice manifests itself in the fact that most (descriptive) moral theories fall in the nature/ nurture camp — our genes and/ or our environment ‘made us do it’. Only a few philosophers have elevated the debate to include the cognitive dimension: deliberate individual choice of value and behavior. While much of what we do can be explained at the lower level, a more comprehensive account must be formulated at a higher level of abstraction — such as values, thoughts, choices, etc. It is strange that while most researchers are happy with environmental explanations, they reject cognitive ones — even though both ultimately reduce to material causes.
(BTW, it is debatable whether ‘evolutionary ethics’ shouldn’t be considered an oxymoron. Ethics, as a branch of philosophy, has traditionally concerned itself with ‘ought’, in clear contradiction to the choice-less determinism of evolution.)
Scope — Moral inquiry cover both group as well as individual behavior. While the former is important and serves as a foundation to politics & law, the latter is really the more fundamental issue: societies are made up of individuals. Descriptive ethics often relies heavily on statistics to describe morality, however, no explanation is complete without taking individual thought and action into account.
Prescriptive ethics on the other hand, totally relies on being able to influence the individual — it is the individual who has to change in order for any shared goal to be attained. In addition, if human flourishing is the goal of an ethic, then how can we possibly determine what will make for a society of happy or successful humans, if we don’t address achieving this in the individual? It is unfortunate that many people mistakenly believe that there is a necessary dichotomy between what is good for the individual and what is good for the group (again, see my essay).
In addition to defining the personal vs. group focus, there are two other important dimension to scope: Firstly, how general or specific a given description or prescription is — whether it is at the level of principles, virtues, and character traits, or at the level of specific rules, situational deliberation, and utilitarian calculus. Secondly, there is selection of a time-horizon — addressing short-term vs. long-term consequences, costs and benefits.
Summary — Any constructive exploration of morality — be it human, organizational, or machine — has to be explicit about the following: Definition of all important terms. Whether it is descriptive or prescriptive. What means of knowledge acquisition is employed (reason/ scientific method, or feeling/ intuition, etc.). On prescriptive ethics discussions, both the standard of good (goal) needs to be defined, and the issue of choice/ freewill must be addressed. In addition, individual vs. group focus, and the moral principles’ level of generality and time-horizon should be made explicit.
PETER VOSS, 25 JUL 00 | https://medium.com/@petervoss/de-scription-versus-pre-scription-and-other-ethical-confusions-b506f2377d42 | ['Peter Voss'] | 2020-06-14 00:26:03.431000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Ethics', 'Morality', 'Science', 'Rationality'] |
Between Good and Evil | From the subatomic level to the most sophisticated human societies, everything consists of two basic, yet opposite elements. We define one of them as positive and the other one as negative. For example, we define the electric charge in a proton as positive and the one that is in the electron as negative. We define light as positive and darkness as negative, growth as positive and decay as negative, birth as positive and death as negative, and we define love as positive and hate as negative. We also attribute value to our definitions: We regard the positive as good, and the negative as bad.
If, for example, we do not accept that there are both Democrats and Republicans in society, we will never grow above the political rift. Instead of generating a higher and more advanced reality that includes both views, we will sink into the rift until bloodshed erupts.
But life does not consist of static states, but of cycles. Generation and degeneration are intertwined, and we would not have one without the other. Therefore, neither of them is good nor bad. We would not have love if we did not have hate, so which of them is good and which is bad? In a cycle, just as in a wheel, everything moves through all the possible positions; nothing has an absolute, unchanging value; it all depends on its position in the cycle.
Now, imagine what would happen if we removed one item from a pair of opposite elements. What would happen to the day if there were no night? What would happen to life if there were no death? Only when we have both do we have a complete and functioning system. If we have a balanced number of protons and electrons, we have a complete atom. If we have a balanced number of animals in an area, we have a stable and healthy ecosystem.
As things evolve, they tilt and sway, and each time, a different aspect takes charge until it gives it up in favor of the opposite element. When they reach a more or less stable balance, it is a sign that the system has completed its construction and a new system has begun to evolve on top of it. This is why evolution goes from the simpler to the more complex, and why human society has evolved from smaller and simpler societies to larger and more complex ones.
The same pattern permeates all of creation; the tilt from positive to negative is the engine of reality. It never stops; when it reaches stability, it engenders a new level where the tilting process starts all over again until the new level reaches harmony and stability once more, but only in order to develop another level, higher still.
Human societies go through the exact same process as the rest of reality. The previous century demonstrated the extremes that humanity can reach. My teacher’s father, Baal HaSulam, who wrote about this as early as the 1950s, already noted, “Humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as with Germany, or to the extreme left, as with Russia, but not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened the malady and agony.” Like all of reality, human society had to go through extremes, but it also has to find its balance, where extremes exist in mutual support and move on to the next level of development.
This is our current point in time. We have tried our best to ordain the most fanatic extremes, but they all gave way (as they should) to their opposites, which in turn collapsed, as well. Now we have all of the extremes existing simultaneously, and it is time for them to complement one another just as atoms, seasons, and all animals do.
However, this is where humankind’s uniqueness comes into play: In all of nature, the tilting and subsequent harmony happen on their own, through nature’s inherent forces. Humankind is different. We already exist concurrently, but we resist this idea and still strive to cancel one another. In order to create the healthy balance that can engender the next level of development, we must be conscious of the process, agree to coexistence with our opposite, accept our mutual dependence, and that without the other side, we will not develop.
Moreover, we have to agree to it on every level. We must go through that process of recognition in matters of gender, race, culture, opinions, and anything that pertains to human existence. If, for example, we do not accept that there are both Democrats and Republicans in society, we will never grow above the political rift. Instead of generating a higher and more advanced reality that includes both views, we will sink into the rift until bloodshed erupts.
Worse yet, it doesn’t matter how much blood we shed, we will still not be able to eliminate the other side since nature has created it, just as it created us. If, by chance, one side does destroy the other, the “triumphant” side will disappear, as well, since its opposite will no longer exist. We will stop advancing, nature will recreate that situation all over again, and we will ultimately have to accept that both sides must exist and complement one another.
Only then will the higher level emerge. When we accept that both opposites are mandatory, we will rise to the next level of development. This is the secret of evolution. | https://medium.com/@michaellaitman/between-good-and-evil-8b375811ff4e | ['Michael Laitman'] | 2021-03-21 18:14:41.320000+00:00 | ['Humanity', 'Evil', 'Democrats', 'Morality', 'Republicans'] |
Cool Drawing Ideas With Pencil Sketch Drawing | But not only that, what counts is what you can do with a pencil, how you use it.
And to make it even more difficult: which pencils also depends on the way you draw. If you like great contrasts, you will benefit more from soft pencils, for example.
There is no definitive method.
Some realistic portrait artists or draughtsman only use soft pencils with ideas drawing. And still, others have the five-pencil method. But no method is the method.
What can you do?
For convenience, you can divide all portraits into 2 categories:
With soft pencils, soft means more graphite (a pencil is a graphite and clay) so that you can make a darker Gray than with a hard pencil. (hard pencils contain more clay and less graphite)
Whether a portrait drawing succeeds does not depend on the type of pencil, but also on what you can do with pencils
Which pencils are the best to draw a portrait with when you start?
More is less. A whole drawing box is beautiful, for on the table or something. But certainly, at the beginning: not necessary. I made almost all portraits on this website with 3 to 4 pencils and charcoal.
This composition is good for all portrait drawings. I use soft pencils and charcoal for a portrait drawing with more contrast. Wherein I definitely mix charcoal in the eyes, the parting between the upper and lower lip, and the nostrils.
Depending on the exposure of the portrait drawing, if there are really dark areas, I also put on the skin with an undercoat of charcoal.
If you are going to draw portraits, don’t take too many pencils
As humans drawing tutorial for beginners, we look at a photo differently than a drawing. By taking a lot of pencils, would you copy exactly what you see, the result is that it does not seem realistic.
It also makes sense: 3 to 4 pencils are easier to combine than a whole pile. Moreover: if you make 10 squares of 5 × 5 cm and you color in each surface with a graphite pencil from H to 9B, you will see that the differences between them are not really great.
And if you take 3 or 4 pencils: with a feather you can also draw at least 3 to 4 tone values in addition to those pencils.
Grab a B or 2B for the lines of a portrait drawing
Suppose you have a beautiful drawing like the one below, just to take an example. But sometimes when you put the drawing aside and pick it up later, you come to the conclusion that you are just wrong.
Sketch for a portrait drawing with a B pencil
That is why it is better to make a line drawing for a portrait with a soft pencil, B or 2B. Then you don’t even have to erase the wrong lines. When you draw over it, you will not see it anymore.
Another advantage is that those ‘wrong’ lines give you the direction for the right one.
Which brand
All portraits on this website are drawn with Derwent pencils. The hard grades have a thin pin of 2.2 mm. Which is better for detail work. The soft pencils have a marker that is slightly thicker. Namely 3.5 mm, which gives you more coverage with the graphite on paper.
The lead of the Derwent Graphic pencil is made from Cumberland graphite by the Cumberland Pencil Company. Incidentally, the original graphite mine has long been closed because it is cheaper to get the same type from Korea or Sri Lanka.
Difference pencil and charcoal
Pencils consist of graphite and clay. (And the wood with the clay/graphite marker in it.) The more graphite, the softer the pencil. (the B series) And of course vice versa, more clay makes a harder pencil. (the H series) With these pencils, you will never get further than dark Gray.
Real very dark blacks cannot do without charcoal. The particles that makeup charcoal is more irregular in shape than those of graphite. (grainy, although I discovered, it also differs per brand)
When light falls on parts drawn with charcoal, it is scattered in all directions. Hence, it does not have that reflective shine that you see with a pencil. (graphite is actually a lubricant hence the shine)
Example of a portrait with a graphite pencil, charcoal, and eraser. You see what lifelike results you can achieve with these three.
If you mix charcoal and graphite pencil, it is important that you take the right order: first charcoal and then with a pencil over it. The other way around does not work. Due to the structure of the charcoal, it will not stick when you draw it over a graphite pencil.
That’s why, as you see in the example of the drawing above, it’s best to draw the darkest areas with charcoal first.
Charcoal pencils
You may have already seen that successful draughtsman and artists all use charcoal. That is of course not for nothing.
A problem that occurs frequently is Gray / drab portraits. As a result of which there is less depth, less 3-dimensional feeling. And so, they seem less ‘real’.
The portrait below contains a lot of charcoal. As in the hair but also in the shadows between the fingers. By ‘mixing’ the charcoal with a 4B pencil you can create beautiful feather effects with an eraser and tissue.
You shouldn’t take mixing too literally; it goes like this: first you draw what should be black with a layer of charcoal. Then you go over it again with the 3B or 4B pencil. Then you have a beautiful black layer that you can also easily feather. Feathering charcoal alone is more difficult with soft materials such as cotton wool. Due to the coarse structure of the charcoal.
Above an example of a portrait drawing in which charcoal and eraser play a leading role. Drawn on 50 x 70 cm 360 grams acrylic paper.
Draw better on the smooth side of the paper
I made all the portrait 3d drawing on this website on Canson 160 grams white drawing paper, 360 grams acrylic, or Strathmore 400.
And then on the back, the smooth side. When you buy paper with a structure, it is useful to make sure that the structure helps you.
Too much structure in the paper ensures that the white of the paper can still be seen in the dark shadows.
And that’s just not what you want. You see in the picture a portrait that I drew in 2012
Keep your drawing clean
You may already know this when you draw, that graphite, and especially charcoal, easily streaks on your hands and on your paper. You can easily prevent this by putting a tissue or toilet paper under your hand if you are drawing and need support on the drawing.
You also have drawing gloves in different types.
Handy prevents unnecessary staining. The disadvantage sometimes, they are warm.
Conclusion
Then this is the answer to the question: “Which pencils do you use for a portrait drawing?”
· Soft pencils for the skin like 3B and 4B. Is there a lot of sunlight on the face you draw? Then I often choose F and 2b for the shadows.
Charcoal pencil for black areas such as the pupil of the eye and hair
If a portrait drawing has great contrasts, which depends on the lighting of your sample photo or the model you are drawing from, then also use charcoal.
Only then do you really get black in the shadows, which gives drawings a lot more depth, at least the illusion, of course, but that makes them seem more realistic. For real black, you also have special pencils such as the Derwent Onyx.
And then you also have special pencils and materials. With which you can draw incredibly realistic effects. Sometimes in the blink of an eye. | https://medium.com/@maheennaveed450/cool-drawing-ideas-with-pencil-sketch-drawing-eaa5735cce63 | ['Maheen Naveed'] | 2020-11-24 07:32:24.016000+00:00 | ['Drawing', 'Cool Drawing Idea', 'Pencil Sketch', 'How To Draw', 'Art'] |
Five Ways to Improve Follow-Through | People can struggle with follow-through and inconsistency for many reasons. They can range from mental health issues to overwhelm, a lack of motivation, or even an issue with their organizational style. Some people either take on too much or don’t know how to finish everything they’ve said yes to which can result in broken trust between individuals. When one doesn’t finish a project or promises in a relationship it can also impact the mental health of the unfinisher who is constantly “letting people down” when their original intent was to be helpful. Here are five tips to begin to finish what you started.
Only take what you can handle
You have only one plate to fit all your life’s goodies. This isn’t a buffet where you can take a second plate to fit a little more on. There isn’t a plate for your personal activities and one for your professional. There is one. Therefore, understanding what you have on your plate and being cognizant of what you allow to be put on is imperative for finishing tasks. In fact, the more you are careful about what you take on, the more likely you are to be able to put more effort into fewer tasks and do them awesomely than get yourself into a situation where you need to hurry through what you have taken on, or worse, not finish them altogether.
So, how do you decide what to take on? Find your purpose and passions in both your personal and professional life. Once you’ve discovered what they are, use them as a filter for what gets your attention. If it doesn’t fit your purpose, decide if it’s really necessary for you to do. Not only will using purpose and passion as a lens for what gets your attention important because it will help filter out important tasks, but you are also more likely to finish a project or activity that you feel passionate about and fills your cup (instead of your plate).
Create boundaries
Boundaries are guidelines we create for how we want to treat ourselves and others. Healthy boundaries will create opportunities for our time to be spent on what it is we need to get done. They will also help us continue to value ourselves and our time. For example, if we tend to not follow-through on our tasks or opportunities because of procrastination, we could create a boundary that addresses our desire to not be put in the position of feeling anxiety because we don’t begin working on our tasks soon enough. We need to value our minds and our bodies enough to get working on a project soon enough that we don’t put ourselves through the mental anguish that can come with waiting until the last second to get something done.
Healthy boundaries can also help us figure out what gets put onto our plate by ourselves and others. If there are unhealthy boundaries created with a family member who is always asking for over-the-top favors, for example, that can be time that is taken up that creates a situation where you’re not following through on tasks or promises you’ve made to other people. Unhealthy boundaries can cause us to put aside important pieces of our lives in order to make someone else happy resulting, ultimately, in a lack of follow-through.
Break big deals into manageable pieces
You’ve taken on a huge responsibility and don’t know how you’re ever going to finish it. You will be more likely to move forward if you break it to manageable chunks that can be quick wins. Although this sounds like something your boss might say when taking on a large professional project, it can also work for your personal life. Think, for example, about the desire to fit more self-care into your daily schedule. First, pick one self-care activity that takes less than 10 minutes and schedule it into a time that you feel most motivated. Do this for one week. At the end of that week, you have had several quick wins. You’ve earned your badge for finishing one day. Then you created a streak by doing it multiple days in a row. Finally, you managed to fit self-care in every day for a week and BAM! You’ve had three quick wins that will motivate you moving forward.
I’ve also used this tactic when I have put too much onto my plate and it activates my anxiety. Sometimes, that means that I put what I’m doing on my calendar from hour to hour. Each hour I add a manageable piece to what needs to get done and each hour I end up with a quick win. At the end of the day I’m able to look back at everything I accomplished in spite of my anxiety.
Accountability buddy
Some people find having an accountability partner invaluable when they need to get a task accomplished and are struggling with follow-through. While I find this tends to be a popular trend with weight-loss (think Weight Watchers meetings) it can work for anything that you feel you may struggle to finish. Choose someone who understands the struggle of the task you’re undertaking so they can show the appropriate amount of empathy when you’re walking the line of dropping the ball. Some people prefer an accountability partner that will show them tough love and some prefer a partner that gives them a hug for motivation. Be sure the person meets your needs for motivation and allow them to help you move forward through completion.
Make follow-through a habit
Our brains will want to continue to do what we do the most. It has no moral compass for the way it creates connections. I often use the analogy of a tennis swing. If you practice a terrible tennis swing your brain doesn’t stop the connection and say, “Whoa, that’s a freaking horrible tennis swing. There’s no way I’m remembering that.” Nope. Your brain is like, “Ohhh, so that’s how we’re playing tennis now. Awesome. Got it.” And the more you practice that terrible swing the more your brain and body remember it. There are a lot of pieces of our lives that get connected in our brains because we continue to do it. Positivity — or negativity — for example. Practicing gratitude. Completing tasks and follow-through. If you want to create more opportunities for successful follow-through one way is to make it a habit. Simply do it. Discover how amazing it feels to finish what you started successfully and know that you actually followed-through to see it happen. Watch the faces of the people around you as they realize what you did.
Consistency and follow-through are one way that you can create and maintain trust between yourself and the personal or professional people in your life. If this is missing, people will wonder if you have the ability to finish tasks and they will lose faith in your ability to care enough to get the job done. With practice and small changes, you do have the ability to improve your follow-through. | https://medium.com/@mandyfroehlichedu/five-ways-to-improve-follow-through-12ade84e5523 | ['Mandy Froehlich'] | 2020-12-16 22:35:07.755000+00:00 | ['Consistency', 'Boundaries', 'Mental Health', 'Trust', 'Follow Through'] |
Smart Contract Software Developer in Chennai 2021–9870635001|Nadcab Technology | Direct Whatsapp- https://bit.ly/2op0VQr
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What is Smart Contract Software Developer?
Blockchain Smart Contract Software Developer is a virtual contract built using a blockchain platform for stability and privacy purposes. This smart contract can be concluded between two parties without the intervention of a third party, and the terms and conditions are drawn up according to the authority. Once these terms and conditions are met, funds are automatically transferred from one party to another. Smart contract data is stored on the ledger to enhance security. These enticing qualities not only make smart contracts stand out from the box but also garnered attention from various industries.
Nadcab Technology, a leading smart contract, provides a comprehensive range of smart contract development, security audit services, and solutions based on customer requirements. Complete blockchain smart contract development services architecture and code-based evaluation to ensure the security of smart contracts. Our team of experienced developers has the expertise to develop all types of smart contracts across a variety of blockchain platforms including Ethereum, Hyperledger, EOS, and Corda, as well as languages like Solidity, Golang Vyper, Truffle, and more.
Smart contract Software Developer
Why use Smart Contracts to Build Blockchain Applications?
One of the most important features of blockchain technology is its decentralized nature. This means that the information is shared by all parties in the network. Therefore, no intermediaries or intermediaries are required to facilitate operations. This feature is especially useful because it saves one from the possibility of hacking and fraudulent activity. Blockchain technology is feature-rich and provides a fast, inexpensive, and efficient mode of trading. Therefore, most organizations in the government and banking sectors are starting to adopt this top-notch technology.
Smart Contract Development Process
Of course, let’s look at the blockchain documentation from the developer’s point of view. This is not a tutorial on how to develop blockchain smart contract development services, but general information to understand the step-by-step operation. You can also use this guide to choose the right technician for your project.
Plan
Just as investigating to understand the project’s goals, developers conduct their own investigations to gather up-to-date information about smart contracts for similar purposes. The code is open source and changes daily. That’s why keeping track of the news is very important.
Development
You already know what security means on the blockchain, so give the developer time to get all the details of the smart contract right and set all the nuts and bolts in the right place.
Testing
They say that off-the-shelf smart contracts are like spacecraft. Once fired, there is no way to reverse it. As we know in web development, all bugs are temporary and can be handled quickly by experienced technicians. Blockchain Smart Contract Software Developer is not the same. It cannot be changed upon request. The final product should be fully armed and ready to respond to malware attacks. This is the main reason there is so much talk about the security of smart contracts. Initially, the developer checks the product through the local blockchain.
Deploy to Testnet
Testnet is another level of protection for smart contracts. Here, the developer can double-check everything and see if the contract is ready or not while playing with real cryptocurrencies. For Ethereum, this is a principle that can be used by a team hired by Robstens or Rinke by. Here the developer works with Testnet Ethernet. You can get it for free on the platform.
Deploy to Production
The blockchain smart contract development services should only be activated after all necessary verifications have been completed. If the developer needs more time for testing, it’s okay. This can help reduce gray hair later. When everything is ready, the contract is deployed to production. It is the last step in this procedure
Advantages of Smart Contract Development
Independent
When a smart contract is implemented on a blockchain network, it runs constantly and automatically as scheduled events occur.
Security
The secure and consistent execution of smart contracts is provided by the decentralized nature and consensus algorithm of the blockchain network. Neither party can change the smart contract once it is deployed on the blockchain.
Efficiency
Blockchain Smart Contract Software Developer allows inefficient parties to be excluded from the supply chain. Transactions are executed automatically without further approval from the smart contract party.
How does Smart Contract Development Work?
Smart contracts work in a very simple and fair process. It mainly follows three steps:
· In the first step, the contract is written in code for several parties and published on the blockchain platform.
· Second, events are triggered by contract execution.
· In this case, the contract is executed.
Upon completion of the process, both parties will receive funds, tokens or assets as promised. If the conditional protocol is not met, the smart contract returns the product to its owner. In addition, the smart contract ledger stores complete details and impose immutable functionality. In other words, once the data is saved, no one can change/change it.
To create an ICO blockchain smart contract development services you will need:
ICO Contract Subject: The software needed access to goods, services, etc. to lock or unlock automatically.
Digital Signature: All participants of the contract must sign a digital signature with a private key.
Contract Terms: A sequence of actions required to execute a smart contract. In addition, all participants must sign. | https://medium.com/@pubgmobilesports730/smart-contract-software-developer-in-chennai-2021-9870635001-nadcab-technology-1fbb52963ec4 | ['Pubg Mobile Sports'] | 2020-12-24 11:53:21.387000+00:00 | ['Smartcontract', 'Smart', 'Smart Contract Software'] |
Transit Protocol and What We Do | Multimodal Travel with Transit Protocol
There are over 4 billion people living in urban cities globally today. The urban population is projected to grow to 6.419 billion by the year 2050 and 1.5 million people are added to the global urban population every week. And all these urban people need to commute to work or study everyday. That’s over 265 billions trips made in a year!
Getting around is annoying though, as there are multiple applications for each and every service… Large companies have been built in the US and Europe for navigation services. But commuters are still facing challenges everyday commuting, from unreliable arrival times to having to search and pay for each individual mode of transport to having no insight of the journey status and multimodal connecting information.
Transportation is a two-sided marketplace, and on the flip side of commuter are the various transport operators and mobility service providers. These transport operators, especially those owned by city governments want to provide better service to their customers (the commuters) but are hamstrung by various challenges. These challenges ranges from lack of investments to talent acquisitions and the lack of operational efficiencies resulting from technology laggard issues.
So if you were to design something smarter, what would it look like? Get to where you want on time without having to worry about buying a ticket, what mode of transport to take and or worst still getting lost…
TransitLink is transforming mass transit to provide urban commuters with a seamless commuting experience everyday, bringing every mode of transport together into one single app that integrates transport options from different providers (such as buses and train), and handling the full experience from journey planning to payments and dynamic journey adjustments.
This could not be done 5 years ago as customer expectations were low. But a perfect storm of critical success factors is fuelling the rise of mobility services now. Internet giants like Uber, Didi and Tencent have trained consumers to expect better service. Digital payment companies like Alipay and WeChat Pay have also made it easier for consumers to use their phones to pay and collect money. At the same time, many governments have embraced technology in a huge manner and made smart city initiatives a priority. Millions of dollars of grants and incentives were given out to make smart cities a reality.
TransitLink was founded in May 2017 to provide payment solutions to the mass transit industry. We work with city transport companies in China to put in place the infrastructure to accept QR code and contactless payment on buses and metro stations. We help to transform these city transport companies and adopt internet technologies and strategies to serve commuters better, while allowing users of Alipay, WeChat Pay, Unionpay and the like to pay bus or metro fares with their mobile wallets.
The company has signed more than 150 cities in China as of end Q1 2019 for exclusive partnership rights to install and operate their mobile payment infrastructure on buses and metro stations, covering a population base of over 120 million people. 40 cities have been launched at the end of Q1 2019. The rest of the cities are due to launch throughout the year.
Transitlink is forecasted to sign exclusive agreements with over 400 city transport operators in 2019, bringing the total to almost 500 cities under the TransitLink ecosystem and serving a population base of more than 260 million people. Over 82,000 payment terminals will be deployed in buses and metro stations by the end of 2019.
Transit Protocol is the blockchain platform of TransitLink. It is a multi-modal transport protocol built on the blockchain. We provide the common language for the “internet of mobility” and help redefine how people access, pay for and use transport in their everyday lives. This protocol or “set of rules” enables the aggregation of different mobility services into one platform, allowing multiple stakeholders in the mobility ecosystem to interact in a common language and working together to provide awesome service to urban commuters using the Transit Protocol platform.
The commuter is the centre of our universe… We have built a consumer-centric mobile application around a urban person’s daily journey commuting to work or school. The commuter is able to plan, search, book, pay and do many other post-journey tasks in-app. Commuters can now enjoy a frictionless journey and travel seamlessly across all modes of transport with worrying about how to get to destination or where to change transport modes. It’s all taken care of now with the TransitLink mobile application developed by Transit Protocol.
Other than the day to day intra-city travels, commuters in one city can also use the same mobile application and the same user account registered in his/her home city for travels to other parts of the country, or even in other countries. This account roaming service is part of the Transit Protocol service. The same service that the commuter is used to will be made available in the other cities and countries operating within the Transit Protocol platform.
Besides the commuters, the other stakeholders in the Transit Protocol platform can benefit greatly from the platform. City governments can use the traffic data generated from the platform as insights into the actual traffic situation as it happens, and aid in the real-time traffic management and planning for future infrastructure.
The private mobility service providers and public transport operators can now work together on a common platform and not view each other as competitors but partners with a common purpose of serving the customers better. This mindset shift to a multimodal model helps transport operators to redefine itself as “mobility” and focuses on the customer instead of just a product to the customer. This is more so in resolving the first mile and last mile connectivity which has always been a huge pain point amongst commuters.
The world is now ready for some radical changes in the mass transit industry, and commuters are yelling for better service and user experience. The time is now, and Transit Protocol is changing the way we commute in this internet age… | https://medium.com/@transitprotocol/transit-protocol-and-what-we-do-b7b431a6c1fa | ['Transit Protocol'] | 2019-06-10 08:41:35.015000+00:00 | ['Blockchain Application', 'Transportation', 'Multimodal', 'Mass Transit', 'Smart Transportation'] |
Resume Keywords — What, Why, and How | So you customized your resume as per the job description. You made your resume look appealing, but just when you thought that this was enough to get you that interview call — SNAP! There was a delay in finding your RESUME. Or worse, your resume never made it to the hiring manager’s table.But wait, how did that happen? Because you put in every last drop of effort into writing an interview-ready resume!
Well, what if I say, you missed out on something really important that could have got you noticed.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind, when I say, KEYWORDS? SEO pops up in your mind, doesn’t it? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is what connects people to you. And It is SEO that will help your resume rank high when search engines are looking for relevant resumes. Well, logically it is pretty much the same thing. And Resume Keywords are vital to get your resume to the hiring manager.
This will not only get you that interview call you have been waiting for, but you could also be the winner of the Best Resume Contest. Send in your resume soon. But before that, let’s break down the resume keywords process further, to help you understand it’s importance and how to go about it.
What are Resume Keywords?
Every job you apply to is different, and that’s the reason you should customize your resume accordingly. You need to show the hiring manager that your resume is aligned to the job description. You are the best fit for the job you have applied to. But what will really make your resume stand out is, using keywords in your resume.
What are keywords exactly?
Keywords are specific words or phrases. It could be a skill or anything specific the hiring manager is looking for in the right candidate. You can find these relevant words or phrases in the company’s ‘About section’ or in the job description (usually the latter). And for that, you need to study the job description carefully.
Why are Keywords Important?
What’s the point in putting in effort into writing an interview-ready resume when your resume doesn’t even reach the hiring manager? You send across your resume to a few companies, but all you receive is an automated response saying, ‘We have received your application, and appreciate your interest in our company. We are reviewing applications currently and will reach out to you soon.’
Now, there would be tons of applications for a particular job opening, and so the six seconds that the hiring manager puts into scanning each resume is important for you. While the hiring manager is observing a couple of things on your resume, they are simultaneously searching for resume keywords. Also, most of the companies use an ATS (Application Tracking System) to shortlist resumes. The resume keywords are fed in and the ATS picks up resumes accordingly.
And this is why it’s very important to mention keywords throughout your resume. Be it a hiring manager or application tracking system, keywords are going to get your resume noticed.
As mentioned previously, keywords could be a specific skill or anything particular the hiring manager is looking for in the candidate. So, go through the job description carefully and look for resume action words.
Also, you should be mindful of the keywords/action words you use. For example, if you are looking for a job in tech then it would make sense to include specific words related to the job applying criteria in the tech field. Let’s say you are applying for a job in tech, then including specific keywords like SQL, Java, or Developer would make it a lot easier to track your resume. Being specific here makes more sense.
How to Include Keywords on Your Resume?
Now that you know what keywords are and why including them in your resume is important, the next question is — How do you use them? While it is important to use keywords throughout your resume, it’s equally important to avoid stuffing your resume with keywords to the extent that it doesn’t look appealing to the eye of the hiring manager.
The idea is to get your resume noticed. So it would make sense to use the keywords evenly throughout your resume, and not repeatedly include it in one part of your resume. Just make sure your resume has the keywords distributed evenly and mentioned at places where it would make perfect sense and not the other way around.
Now that you know what, why and how resume keywords are used, write/rewrite your resume with relevant keywords. And while you send it across to hiring managers, don’t forget to send it to us first, because you could be the one to meet your Dream Company. Not just that, you will also be the lucky one to get mentored by an industry expert. | https://medium.com/@madhusandya35/resume-keywords-what-why-and-how-3bed7d51fc13 | ['Madhu Sandya'] | 2019-06-17 15:53:39.180000+00:00 | ['Resume'] |
a bike shop | a bike shop
a poem about some bicycles with higher ambitions
.
on unseen wire, tires hang
like fallen halos with no shine
a wish to return to rubber tree
far removed from roads of duty
.
below frames jockey for daylight
after months of hibernating
awakened by fruity bird songs
in vogue with the blossoms of spring
.
a smell of latex aftershave
clings to walls dense with biker tales
the near miss, that perfect gear shift
meeting of man and half-machine
.
each with a dream of open road
miles of roads happy to assist
pushed by breath as gravity resists
each one a world unseen, asleep
. | https://haikulovebites.medium.com/a-bike-shop-18f41c709e4f | ['Haiku Love Bites'] | 2020-01-02 09:53:44.798000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Sports', 'Health', 'Cycling', 'Life'] |
Using Market Intelligence to Add Value to Businesses | photo credit- William iven from unsplash
Market Intelligence provides businesses the added advantage of knowledge for moving forward. The information on market trends, government policies, news updates, customer behaviors, competitive intelligence reports, product/ service development, competitive insights, and almost every other conceivable topic is available at the click of a mouse due to the empowerment of the Internet. The sources are limitless- search engines, online libraries, company websites, news websites…the list goes on.
But as there are always two sides to the coin, another side points out that gathering market intelligence is pain strikingly difficult in the wide space of the internet. Then, how do you decide which information to trust if the sources of information are plentiful?
Gathering market intelligence
The sources to gather market intelligence depend on the objectives of one’s business. The range of market and competitive intelligence sources can be limited to a category but in the end, the internet has no limitations and so does relevant updates. The hyperactive market is updated every second with new insight and the market intelligence that reaches the first getter always gives an elevated advantage. So, the manual research of market intelligence through the internet is ruled out because of the wide scope of information it captures. Organizations, therefore, use a market intelligence system that cuts the high cost and time of the organization and gives quality updates of the market and competitive intelligence with an easy-to-extract taxonomic structure.
Now that we have discussed how to gather market intelligence, let us move on to how to make the best use out of this market intelligence.
3 most important ways to use market intelligence
Designing the roadmap
One very obvious use of market intelligence for organizations is to get enough knowledge and information about the industry, customers, competitors for planning the future of the organization. The strategies of different teams like sales, marketing, and procurement are dependent on such insights extracted from market intelligence. This step helps leaders and strategists design a roadmap for the organization by analyzing the current and even historic market trends and patterns of the industry.
2. Positioning yourself differently
When you are keeping up with the happenings around you, you get the opportunity to discover your industry customers in better ways and learn more about their leanings and choices. Every business needs to build its uniqueness in the market full of copies. But doing that would not be possible if you wouldn’t know how other brands and your competitors are projecting themselves or their products and services in the same market. Hence, market intelligence helps you conduct a competitive landscape analysis and gives you the best space to learn from other peoples’ experiences.
3. Connecting with customers
Every customer is a different use-case but in an industry, their demands could be put under the same umbrella. Market intelligence helps organizations in understanding the behavior of the customers. If one uses it backward, this market intelligence can also be used to trigger sales conversations — be it through marketing events, sales calls, or content marketing for building a competitive edge different from others in the industry.
Conclusions
Organizations are leaning towards accepting and acknowledging the importance of market intelligence to drive the growth of their businesses. This has become easier with the automation of the market intelligence system that saves time and cost significantly for different teams of the organization. Therefore, market intelligence when used wisely is adept in bringing additional value to your business operations, and hence, leading organizations find it logical to invest in the market and competitive landscape for boosting their business growth. | https://medium.com/@natsharichardsonc/using-market-intelligence-to-add-value-to-businesses-3ca387e489f6 | ['Natasha Richardson'] | 2020-12-18 11:55:59.122000+00:00 | ['Market Intelligence', 'Competitive Intelligence', 'Business Intelligence', 'Business', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Official Announcement: We are now in Shenzhen | It is with great pleasure and much pride that we announce the formal establishment of RedBlock Inc. in Shenzhen, China!
That’s right. We at RedBlock can now officially call the city of Shenzhen our home. Although we are a global company, we took great care when choosing where we wanted to establish ourselves, so we want to give a bit of background to this amazing city and what makes it the perfect place for RedBlock.
A trailblazing city, it comes as no surprise that Shenzhen is taking the lead when it comes to fintech, having had the distinction of being the test city for the Chinese digital yuan, with an official digital yuan app available and fintech innovation platform in the works.
Since President Xi Jinping came out in support of blockchain technology in 2019, blockchain-related stocks have gained substantial momentum, as indicated by the growth of the SZSE (Shenzhen Stock Exchange) Blockchain 50 Index’s trading volume (from bitcoin.com).
President Xi has also said that blockchain capabilities need to be expanded and improved upon, citing their applications towards industries such as smart cities, transportation, energy and food safety, to name a few. (from ledgerinsights.com)
Shenzhen received praise from President Xi when he visited the city in October for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of its designation as a Special Economic Zone. Shenzhen’s development, trailblazing, and subsequent reception of praise is all due to, and will benefit from, its inclusion in the plan to make the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area a hub for technology and finance.
And this plan is not a forthcoming one. Earlier this year, China Guangfa Bank launched its successful pilot payment settlement system built on the blockchain for the purpose of lowering economic borders. And they are not alone, either, as the People’s Bank of China is also developing its own blockchain-based trading platform, joining China Construction Bank as it rolls out the second version of its own blockchain platform. With Shenzhen’s backdrop of blockchain application development, we are perfectly positioned, especially considering our strong presence in the APAC region.
All of this makes the team here at RedBlock proud to call Shenzhen, a city thriving with innovation and possibility, our home. We believe that blockchain technology can be leveraged to improve the investing and capital raising processes, thus bringing greater speed to the development of a myriad of industries and infrastructures.
We are committed to being a leader in blockchain technology’s story of increasing efficiency and lowering the barrier-of-entry when it comes to global capital markets. So, what better place to do that than in Shenzhen? | https://medium.com/@redblock/official-announcement-we-are-now-in-shenzhen-f0330f6518a4 | [] | 2020-11-10 20:02:21.891000+00:00 | ['Shenzhen', 'Blockchain Startup', 'Tokenization', 'Digital Asset', 'Capital Markets'] |
Noise cancellation with Python and Fourier Transform | Noise cancellation with Python and Fourier Transform
Here’s how to use a very simple tool like Fourier Transform to obtain efficient noise cancellation, with few lines of code. Piero Paialunga Sep 5·6 min read
Modelling the noise is a really hard task. And I’m not even trying to argue with that. As a physicist, I deal with noise all the times, and it is not easy to capture it, model it, or deal with it in general.
For this reason, a lot of complex, smart, and efficient methods have been developed during the years. With the technological progresses that computer have experienced during the years, great performances of Machine (Deep) Learning de-noising algorithms have been obtained. While these methods permit to obtain incredible results, sometimes very simple approaches based on extremely reasonable and general considerations can be used to solve the noise cancellation problem with excellent results.
An important example of this concept is the Fourier de-noising approach.
1. The theory
Let’s say you have a signal that, mathematically speaking, can be considered as a function from a real space to a real number:
I generated this image using this tool
The idea of the Fourier transform is to study this signal in another domain.
More specifically, the domain that you use is the frequency domain, thus obtaining:
I generated this image using this tool
So what does it mean? And why is it so important?
Well, the idea is that you can decompose your signal as a discrete sum (or a continuous sum i.e. an integral) of sines and cosines, considered with their specific amplitudes.
Let’s make it easier. Let’s pretend that you have this signal:
Image generated by me using Python
That means that your signal is y:
I generated this image using this tool
Now, as this signal is just a sine, we will have that, in the Fourier space, it looks like this:
Image generated by me using Python
And we have 1 as the frequency of the sine is 1 (think of the signal as y=sin(omega x).
This is obtained with a reversible function that is the fast Fourier transform. You can easily go back to the original function using the inverse fast Fourier transform.
So why are we talking about noise cancellation?
A safe (and general) assumption is that the noise can survive at all the frequencies, while your signal is limited in the frequency spectrum (namely band-limited) and has only certain specific non-null frequencies that characterize it.
Let’s say that you have a noisy sine function like this one:
Image generated by me using Python
The frequency spectrum is this one:
Image generated by me using Python
And while you can see the peak at omega=1, everything else is just noise.
A general assumption that has to be done is that the signal and the noise are non-correlated, and that, even if your signal is noisy, the “non-noise” part of the signal is dominant.
So the main idea is to find the real signal frequencies and to obtain a reconstructed signal by using the important frequencies of the signal only. The “non relevant frequencies”, which are going to be found using the correlation values, will be set to 0.
I know it all sounds confusing, but I really think that it will be far more clear after a practical example. So follow me!
2. The Dataset
In order to do all the analysis that we’ll make, we’ll need these libraries:
I downloaded the data from here. It is a time-series, that is the perfect example of what we need:
We can decide whatever feature we want. I analyzed the “Close” one for no specific reason, so feel free to repeat the same process on another feature!
3. Data Pre-Processing
The first main problem we see is that we don’t have an equally sampled time space. For example, we have the first date that is the first day of April (2015–04–01), the second one that is the second day of April (2015–04–02) and the third one that is the sixth day (2015–04–06).
We can solve this problem by considering a continuous time space and adding the values related to the closest day available.
In practice you do this with these lines of code and, as you can see, the two time-series (the real one and the artificial) are essentially the same:
The second problem is that Fourier analysis works well only for stationary data and we can clearly see that this time series is increasing during the years.
We are fixing this using a bit of Machine Learning. In particular, we will use Polynomial Regression to find the best-fit polynomial function that fits the data. Then we will remove this line and obtain the stationary time-series:
Here is how we’ll do it:
4. Denoising Algorithm
Let’s get the Fourier transform and plot the amplitude:
Ok, so the idea is to filter it. We are cutting out all the frequencies below a certain level. This level is set by using the maximum amplitude as a reference value. For example, you can drop all the frequencies below 0.7 times the maximum amplitude.
This is an example of how it works.
If we inverse transform each filtered Fourier transforms we get the following results:
And here’s all the functions that you can use the filter the data based on a certain threshold:
So the thing that we can do now to get the optimal threshold is to look at the correlation between the original signal and the difference between the original signal and the reconstructed one. If the correlation is high, that means that we are still missing something from the original signal. Otherwise, as the signal should not be correlated to the noise, we can assume that we are just deleting the noise, that is what we want to do.
Here is what we can get:
And here is the correlation (correlation value and p-value) at different value of threshold:
Thus, we find that the optimal threshold is 0.004 times the Maximum Value!
Here is the result!
They seem very similar, and in fact, we’ve been really conservative! That means that we really do not want to cancel important information of the signal, even if it means that we may not delete all the noise.
Another thing we can do is to relax this threshold. This will surely reduce more noise, but it will probably cut something important out of the signal as well.
Final Considerations
This blog post wants to show that sometimes good old fashioned methods could still help you solving problems without using crazy fast GPU and advanced Deep Learning algorithms.
Of course you may have problems with more specific kind of noise and it could be way harder than the one explained in this post. Anyway, in a general case when you don’t really know the problem and you are just exploring it, Fourier denoising method could be a really good starting point for your research!
I really hoped you liked it! Feel free to write here: [email protected]
Thank you so much and see you soon! | https://towardsdatascience.com/noise-cancellation-with-python-and-fourier-transform-97303314aa71 | ['Piero Paialunga'] | 2021-09-05 16:19:49.214000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Noise', 'Time Series Analysis', 'Python', 'Signal'] |
Your Child is not your Messenger! (by: Dr. Anne Brown PhD, RNCS) | One would think after going through a difficult, and many times nasty divorce from a contentious (narcissistic, borderline, psychopathic, or sociopathic for example) partner he/she might be done with you and want to move on. You will probably find this will not be the case especially if there are children involved. One reason is the issue of control. This type of personality likes to control everything and with a divorce there is a loss of control. Someone must emotionally pay for the pain of the divorce and the loss of control and who better than the ex. And the one area the CP (contentious partner) still has access to his/her ex is the vulnerable, innocent children. As I have said in a previous article it is imperative you parent collaterally if you are in this situation. Here is one area of vulnerability for you and your child and tactics and understanding to help both of you.
Messenger
Using your child as a messenger is inappropriate parenting, damaging to the child, and probably not easily proven or prosecuted by the courts. Children know when they are being interrogated and most usually figure out it is dangerous territory for them. When a child gives information to the CP, the information will be twisted and turned around to alienate the child from his other innocent parent. I have seen brilliant creative ways children work to decline being messengers. Boys can be particularly great at one word answers, zoning out, not remembering. Girls are more inclined to “chit chat” so interrogation can be particularly challenging to them. That being said I have seen girls masterfully pretend they had a terrible time when the opposite was true. However, they know if they say they had a great time the CP will have to say horrible things about the other parent. Whatever you notice on your child’s call to the other parent (without being nosy) support and understand what your child is attempting to do-Stay out of trouble. Remember when you gave your ex too much information how you got into trouble. If there is a particularly triggering event to your ex or an event your child doesn’t know how to present to the CP send a robotic email with the breakdown, the solution and the child is safe. E.G. We had a hurricane this weekend, we are safe, we have discussed and all is well. Remember the breakdown, the solution, and the child is safe. If a child is strong enough he/she may be able to say Dad said he told you what happened, I am tired and don’t want to discuss it. If he can’t that is fine he will know the CP has the information. Remember how difficult it was for you to negotiate the waters of giving information to someone who will use it against you.
I personally believe one probable cause of eating disorders (often with girls) is internalizing the conflict of a divorce. When a child is fed negative information about a parent she loves and feels good with, it becomes a conflict. The child fears abandonment, becomes compliant and internalizes the conflict. Your Mom is a bad person “but it doesn’t feel that way for me”; your Dad is a bad person, “but I like being with him” are dilemmas a child shouldn’t have to negotiate. To make matters worse, the alienation is more covert “really your Mom bought you “that”; “your Dad really took you “there”? This is parental alienation syndrome and as I said before difficult to prove and prosecute but oh so damaging to an already vulnerable child. Sadly, many children have to endure this from the time of the divorce until they can leave home. Sadly, some will continue to be the messenger and have to listen to the covert hostile messages.
Can you start to imagine the breakdowns that come from interrogating a vulnerable child to be the messenger? A child learns that questions aren’t safe, telling about one’s day may not be safe, discussing your weekend/vacation may not be safe because the child has to measure his/her responses and most tragic is the damage done to the child’s relationship to the other parent.
Depending on the age of your child and the types of conversations you can have, you CAN help your child deal with this challenge.
1. First observe and understand what is going on.
2. Give your child safe words to use when describing his weekend to the CP. We got a lot of reading/homework done, we ate, we went to the park, and we slept.
3. Intervene and protect if at all possible. (Getting engaged and remarried are FYI’s you might want to send via robotic email.)
4. Don’t personalize when your child has to downplay the fun he/she had with you.
5. Remember the tactics you used and share them with your child age appropriately.
6. Tell your child if the other parent wants to know something to call you. Your ex won’t, but it might stop the interrogation.
Make sharing a fun event in your house. “Remember when we were swimming and the big wave came and we both rode it in. You did such a great job.” Be excited and validating not angry and critical. Laugh and be upbeat about the things you do. Give your child a positive time at your home and eventually they will make distinctions about where they feel safe and the anger they experience with the other parent is not their problem. Understanding what an interrogated child is going through, offering age appropriate tools to your child, protecting your child when possible, not personalizing your child’s coping skills, and letting your child use you when he/she can, are all ways to empower both of you to deal with this toxic behavior.
“Every time an alienating parent tells a child how horrible the other parent is; that parent also tells the child that half of him/her is horrible. “
This article originally appeared at DivorceForce & re-published on Backbone Power.
© 2019 Dr. Anne Brown; Psychotherapist, Speaker, and Author of Backbone Power The Science of Saying No. Permission needed for any form of reproduction.
Let’s connect! Visit my website and follow me on Twitter @scienceofno; Facebook: Backbonepower The Science of Saying No and Instagram.
Take control of your life! Know how and when to say no to requests. Check out new release: “Backbone Power The Science of Saying No updated and abridged Audiobook” narrated by Dr. Anne Brown, the author herself. Do the exercises and see results! Click here. | https://medium.com/@annebrown-66638/your-child-is-not-your-messenger-by-dr-anne-brown-phd-rncs-4ab5ee146573 | ['Dr. Anne Brown'] | 2019-09-24 06:45:35.936000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Parenting Advice', 'Divorce', 'Children Rights', 'Parents'] |
The Wind | The Wind
We never see the source of the wind
It blows in from nowhere
Be it a gentle breeze or gale force
It can be biting and cold
Or a warm breeze
Jimi Hendrix asked
“Will the wind ever remember
the names it has blown in the past?”
Then he told us
“The Wind Cries Mary” | https://medium.com/blueinsight/the-wind-3a61c9a14fe4 | ['Victoria Ponte'] | 2020-12-17 15:08:10.443000+00:00 | ['Wind', 'Poetry', 'Weather', 'Blue Insights', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
CARLA on Ubuntu 20.04 with Docker | Today, CARLA is compatible with Ubuntu 18.04 but not with the 20.04 version yet. In this document, we run CARLA in a docker image and run python scripts using Carla’s PythonAPI on our machine.
This document has originally been written with the CARLA version 0.9.10 on Ubuntu 20.04. Updated for CARLA 0.9.11.
At the end of this article, a script to set up a CARLA dev environment automatically is available.
Docker
Here, we just have to load the docker made by the CARLA teams from the Docker Hub. However, to use CARLA in Docker, you will have to install Nvidia-docker-2 which instructions are available here. Afterwards, you just need to run:
docker pull carlasim/carla:latest
If you require the version tested with this document :
docker pull carlasim/carla:0.9.10.1
Open the container
Now we just have to open the container and run a bash from it.
Container’s parameters
To enable all the required features, we need to set some parameters :
Ports used : 2000 to 2002 -p 2000-2002:2000-2002
Runtime: nvidia --runtime=nvidia
GPUs used: all --gpus all
Create a terminal and read the inputs -ti
Display:
Redirect the display stream: -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY
Redirect the X11 pipeline: -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix (Share the X11 folder in a volume)
Final command to run
Finally, the command to run the container is as follow :
docker run \
-p 2000-2002:2000-2002 \
--runtime=nvidia \
--gpus all \
-e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
-it \
carlasim/carla \
bash
You should be entering into the bash of the CARLA and your terminal may look like :
carla@45a52fa744e1:~$
We will need the container’s ID for later (for me, it is 45a52fa744e1), so you can copy it ( Ctrl + Shift + C ).
Note : To close it, you can use the shortcut Ctrl + D or the command exit .
Setting up the local environment
Grabbing the egg
Within the docker image, the CARLA teams give yon an egg file. If you look in the container, you will find it in ~/PythonAPI/carla/dist and for me it looks like ~/PythonAPI/carla/dist/carla-0.9.10-py3.7-linux-x86_64.egg . Thus, we are going to copy the PythonAPI folder on the host file system.
Here, we will need the container’s ID we found in the last section. If you closed the container before keeping it, you can get it back with the command.
$ docker ps -a CONTAINER ID 45a52fa744e1
IMAGE carlasim/carla
COMMAND "bash"
CREATED About an hour ago
STATUS Exited (0) About a minute ago
PORTS
NAMES crazy_jackson
....
Note: I reordered the output for better readability.
Now we can use the following command template to export the PythonAPI folder :
docker cp <container id>:<src path> <dst path>
In my case :
docker cp 45a52fa744e1:/home/carla/PythonAPI ~/Documents/
We can now move to the PythonAPI on our host machine : cd ~/Documents/PythonAPI/ .
Python 3.7
You certainly noticed the mention py3.7 in the egg file name. It means we need to use the py3.7version 3.7 of python (3.8 doesn’t work).
To install that version we can add the following PPA :
add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
And then install Python 3.7 :
sudo apt-get install python3.7
As well as pip3:
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
We will also need to set up a virtual environment and hence need virtualenv through pip3.
pip install virtualenv
Now we have to set up the virtual environment in the folder PythonAPI. In the PythonAPI directory (for me ~/Documents/PythonAPI/ )
virtualenv --python=/usr/bin/python3.7 venv
We now need to install numpy and pygame
source venv/bin/activate
pip3 --version #it should display (python 3.7)
pip3 install pygame numpy
deactivate
You are now all set to run CARLA and a script to spawn 80 cars in the environment!
Run CARLA Script
We need two terminals (I expect you closed the previous one we created).
Terminal 1:
In this terminal, we will run CARLA and get a graphical interface.
You can run CARLA from the container :
Run CARLA in the Docker container
You may not need the graphical interface and can deal with an “headless mode”. in that case run the following command:
Run CARLA in headless mode from the Docker container
At this step, you should have a window with an environment but there is no car or anything yet. Unless you run in headless mode
Terminal 2:
In this terminal, we will run the scripts to spawn our 80 cars.
Move to the PythonAPI directory: cd ~/Documents/PythonAPI Enter in the python virtual environment : source venv/bin/activate Move to the examples scripts folder : cd ./examples/ Run the script: ./spawn_npc.py -n 80
If you go back to the CARLA window, you can see some animation now!
UPDATE: Use the script to setup automatically any version of CARLA
First you have to install the required stuff as explained earlier:
Install Nvidia-docker-2 which instructions are available here. Install Python 3.7:
add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt-get install python3.7
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
pip install virtualenv
You are now all set, you can copy the script in a shell file and run it. It will create a folder (CARLA_X.X.X) with everything required in the folder where you ran the script.
Grab the CARLA image, setup everything.
It will pull the CARLA image at the version you wish. To change version, just modify the line 2.
After running the script you can run the simulator with one of the script created ( runCARLA.sh or runCARLA-Headless.sh ) to instantiate the simulator. In a second terminal, navigate to the PythonAPI folder to run an example:
source venv/bin/activate
cd ./examples
./spawn_npc.py -n 80
Here you are, everything is working if vehicles are moving in your CARLA window.
Bibliography
Instructions from : Carla Documentation
More info on a GitHub answer | https://medium.com/@antc2lt/carla-on-ubuntu-20-04-with-docker-5c2ccdfe2f71 | ['Antoine Caillot'] | 2021-02-02 10:46:19.228000+00:00 | ['Carla', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Ubuntu', 'Python', 'Docker'] |
Thoughts on design & collaboration | Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
In new products and services, we, designers, aspire to create lasting value, only to find that in many cases
services struggle to create a long-lasting effect,
our intellectual outputs quickly become irrelevant,
our solutions are forgotten as soon as they are implemented, and
our engagement in collaborative projects with our customers and stakeholders does not result in long-term commitments.
While there are excellent examples of successful projects, the track record of impactful change by design does not seem to achieve the standards that designers would want.
“Organizations seem to invent but not innovating”
We subscribe to the message about user-driven co-creation and collaboration as the primary drivers of design thinking and creativity in combination with reflective reframing, divergence-convergence, future orientation, conclude from observations, and empathize.
In an effort to find potential methods and solutions that may not be readily visible in our initial level of understanding. Design Thinking is an iterative method in which we aim to understand the consumer, question assumptions, and redefine issues. At the same time, a solution-based approach to solving problems is given by Design Thinking. As well as a series of hands-on approaches, it is a way of thinking and working.
Designers also have a strong inner desire to make consumers happy, solve consumer and society issues, resolve humanity’s problems, and make the world a better place, as they feel they have the skills and instruments to do so. Service design tools, for example, are used to orchestrate brand touchpoints, optimize customer experience, and deliver variety, ease, and differentiation.
Service design is a method in which designers develop sustainable solutions and optimum interactions for both clients and any service providers participating in specific contexts. Designers divide services into parts and adapt fine-tuned solutions based on actors, location and other variables to meet the needs of all users.
Design thinking is involved in a collaborative and participatory process that can produce new concepts, experiences, and ideologies for politics and communities.
Designers may begin by researching and challenging the real meaning behind a specific project self-reflectively. We should aim to be associated with a sense of greater common meaning and a relationship with our own personal values. We need to evaluate if short-term or long-term performance metrics are the correct ones to measure the success of the design.
It's up to us to decide whether we are aligned to our design process or do we design to align.
Collaboration makes us better designers!!
Design becomes a shared value mediator and the medium by which shared value is produced and communicated. It is a joint quest — however, established — for collective success.
We need a conducive ecosystem where collaborative work is more successful and more effective than work structured around the concepts of business transactions. The default relationship tends to be based on the transaction of the business and that creating cooperation involves enabling environments.
Collaboration is the most challenging part of the design process. It brings people to work together and encourage innovation. It is a great facilitation tool that helps to get the best ideas on the table by engaging with different perspectives from different stakeholders.
A favourable ecosystem leading to a good design system would result to an increased consistency and quality making all the stakeholders adhere to and derive easily from the system. | https://medium.com/@nehaa0809/thoughts-on-design-collaboration-75b415dcb78 | [] | 2020-12-22 17:03:09.754000+00:00 | ['Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Design Teams', 'Collaboration Design', 'Design Systems'] |
Elon Musk, Space Travel and Electric Cars during Environmental Collapse | The spirit of what we need but not the execution.
When reading Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, it is interesting to see how disaster capitalism played out in the early 2000s. The buyout of communities ravaged by natural disasters to establish beach fronts and new developments.
As we live through the intensification of wealth inequality (wealth of the super-rich has risen to $10.2 trillion and OECD government deficits rose from $47 trillion in 2019 to $52.7 trillion), it is hard to escape the notion of living through a global disruption underpinned by disaster capitalism or more poignantly, a “hunger games economy”.
It is these thoughts that came up when I encountered the Guardian article detailing the extreme asymmetrical use of flight and flying internationally with the global wealthy (1%) contributing 50% of the all emissions from commercial aviation.
What jumped out from the report was that the usage by the superwealthy utilizing their own 747s, and 737s can result in carbon dioxide outputs of up to 7500 tons per year nearly 1500 times the average output of a “world citizen” on flights for the rich alone.
Buried in the report was mention of the further intensification of energy use due to space tourism. This led me to re-examine the benefits of new-age rockets touted by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, billionaires who have grown tired of earthly concerns.
Given that estimates have each SpaceX launch as generating nearly 400 tons of carbon dioxide with nearly 100 tons per person for a Crew Dragonflight. This represents travel at similar per capita level to the most consumptive private air travel. Hence if millions of the wealthy and privileged are to make space and Mars their new holiday homes, the earth will suffer.
Space tourism and conquest is an insidious idea that demonstrates the power of capitalism to find purchase within disaster: the notion that we can consume our way to a better future.
No doubt that the greening of transport is necessary, a la overhyped Tesla, and that more durable space services, SpaceX and Starlink, are important. Nonetheless, at a time where human-made mass outweighs that of every terrestrial and marine species, every incremental extraction of earth resources, especially by the wealthiest, will mean less for conservation, less for future generations.
That the dreams of our generation including driverless electric cars will at best emit one third the emissions of normal petrol cars and leave behind a half of air pollution is a demonstration that we are moving into more of the same : “bad but better”. Especially true where a declining rich world population pushes western corporations to pursue fast growing developing countries and their resources.
It is telling that embodied within the same white older man is both a desire to provide emission reducing electric cars and pursuing the elevation of fossil fuel emission through space flight and Mars travel (ostensibly only for human survival). This true even as he leaves behind a Wall-E inspired dystopia of human made garbage.
Our dreams need to change away from greener consumptive patterns that are ultimately world affirming (and continue to drive resource consumption) towards a true world revolution in human life that brings us in closer harmony to nature.
Instead of driverless electric cars for all, we need better urban planning that drives up population density and enables the strengths of the most powerful invention in personal mobility: the bicycle. As Covid has shown us traffic clogged cities make us unhealthy, polluted and unhappy. We need more services, and friends closer within our environments to enable more of the social interactions we hope to return to. Instead of more Model X SUVs, a class of car that will leave a lot of air pollution and has been part of the second largest contributor to carbon dioxide emission since 2010 (SUVs), we need the uptake and proliferation of more boring buses. Rather than trips to far away planets and celestial bodies, or running away to the edge of space to escape the scarred human canvas on earth, we would all prefer and sourly need more forests, and natural habitats .
It also interesting how the grand visions of a self sustaining civilization on Mars intersects with questions of child rearing and social policy to help women and families thrive on Earth.
Very successful, wealthy earth bound societies like Japan and most of the developed rich world are struggling with crafting feminist policies to maintain stable population levels. Surely good family policies and more research and development into birth in space will be essential if any of these lofty goals of extra-terrestrial colonization are to be accomplished. Since for the foreseeable future women will give birth to children on earth or beyond, why not spare some billions to helping their earthly journey’s easier.
Notwithstanding, it is hard to imagine the machismo and grandeur of today’s billionaire class stepping up for good family policy, bicycles, or urban planning. These are not sexy and are actually boring due to their lack of consumption. They will require the creation of truly Boring companies, NGOs, and governments that soberly and assuredly attempt to steer our behaviors and governments away from disaster.
Most importantly it is necessary that the nuances of climate mitigation or even planet colonization doesn’t sell. | https://medium.com/@richard-ouma/elon-musk-space-travel-and-electric-cars-during-environmental-collapse-e3f86fb1c471 | ['Ritchard Ouma'] | 2020-12-21 21:57:11.405000+00:00 | ['Spacex', 'Elon Musk', 'Feminism', 'Environmental Issues', 'Tesla'] |
Death Rates Compared in Italy, Spain, and Canada — March and April | Death Rates in March 2020
Italy, Spain, and Canada have different populations so to be able to evenly compare the countries statistical data, the stats need to be per capita. This allows all the data to be based off of their own population to be compared to others.
Figure 1: Italy Death Rates in March
The x axis represents the day of the month and the y axis represents the death rate as a percentage. For example a y axis value of 0.1 means the death rate is 10%. The individual data points are the death rates for each individual day. The blue line is an approximation of the death rates throughout the month of March. The death rate is calculated by the total deaths divided by the total cases for each day. The line is on a pretty steep incline indicating that the death rate is getting significantly worse each day. Some criterium that plays a role in this result is that Italy is a very densely populated country, there is a large population over the age of 65 and some of the norms in Italy is to hug and kiss when greeting one another. Because of the many factors that contribute to the spread of COVID-19 while also having a large percentage of the population being at risk, the result is having a high death rate. This linear regression model (blue line) indicates that on average each day, the death rate rises by 0.413%.
Figure 2: Spain Death Rates in March
Spain is very similar to Italy in many aspects. The main criterium that has a direct influence of cases and deaths are that the country has a high population density, large senior populations, and physically affectionate societal norms. The x and y axis’ are the same as Italy for easy comparison. The green line is a linear regression used to show on average how much the death rate rises per day. The slope is just about as steep as the linear regression for Italy which makes sense because they are very similar countries. Every day for the month of March, on average the death rate rises approximately 0.413%. This is the same average to Italy which directly correlates to them being similar.
Figure 3: Canada Death Rates in March
Once again, the x and y axis’ are the same as the previous two plots to allow for easy observations. Right away you can notice that the slope is much smaller compared to Italy and Spain. On top of that, the y axis is going up in smaller increments which means the slope is even less than you would imagine from the plots with Italy and Spain. There are many zero-valued data points here which initially looks like an error in the data but in reality it is accurate and should be left in the plot. This is because Italy and Spain began to have lots of cases and deaths from COVID-19 while Canada was only starting to have cases appear. Italy and Spain were further along on their timeline compared to Canada. Each day on average, the death rate for Canada rose by 0.059% in March. | https://medium.com/@js270143/death-rates-compared-in-italy-spain-and-canada-march-and-april-d02417a6ed12 | ['Jasper De Bie'] | 2020-05-20 01:31:47.259000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Spain', 'Italy', 'Canada', 'Death Rate'] |
USDC Reserve Attestation Report from Grant Thornton LLP — August 2019 | Today, Circle released the latest attestation report on US dollar reserves backing USDC issued by independent accounting firm, Grant Thornton LLP. The report states that as of August 31, 2019 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time:
USD Coin (“USDC”) tokens issued and outstanding = 453,785,690 USDC
US Dollars held in custody accounts = $453,848,516
As of the Report Date and Time, the issued and outstanding USDC tokens do not exceed the balance of the US Dollars held in custody accounts
You can read the full report here. Grant Thornton LLP will provide USDC attestation reports on Circle’s USDC reserves on a monthly basis. | https://medium.com/circle-blog/usdc-reserve-attestation-report-from-grant-thornton-llp-august-2019-3771d6255267 | ['Circle Team'] | 2019-09-16 20:56:51.080000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Investing', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Stable Coin'] |
Importance of calculating churn rate in sales | Churn rate is one of the most important metrics that a company with recurring payment customers can calculate, and is most often expressed as a percentage of subscribers that have canceled their recurring payment plans.
Churn rate is a critically important metric for companies whose customers pay on a recurring basis like SaaS or other subscription-based companies. Churn can be powered by a number of factors, and even small month-on-month increases in churn percentage can be ruinous to planning, so understanding what churn is and how to analyze it is important.
Calculating and monitoring customer churn is important because it is far cheaper to retain customers than to acquire new ones. Studies have shown that selling to existing customers is easier than selling to new prospects. Other researches also reported that repeat customers spend more than new ones.
Churn can either be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary churn happens when customers decide to cut their subscription on their own. Involuntary churn occurs when a subscription is canceled even if customers don’t want to. Due to the popularity of subscription business models, it’s critical for many businesses to understand where, how, and why their customers may be churning.
Churn isn’t simple and straightforward. A wide variety of factors come into play — and it differs for each set of users.
But common sources of churn include things like:
Cost
Poor user experience
Lack of features
Competitor products
Lost value perception of the app
Depending on the industry, product, company, and every other element you can think of, there are many different ways to decrease churn. There are a few simple things you can do to ensure your churn rate stays low.
Be competitive
Ask for feedback
Invest in your best customers
Seamless onboarding process
Churn is not only important for monitoring performance but also serves as an integral metric in forecasting and future budgeting decisions, as it can serve as a proxy for the probability of customers and revenue canceling in the future.
Follow Futwork for more learnings and content on sales and running your sales teams. | https://medium.com/futwork/importance-of-calculating-churn-rate-in-sales-f5b108c25ed | [] | 2020-12-16 07:09:01.969000+00:00 | ['Churn', 'Churn Rate', 'Future Of Work'] |
Breathe out | Breathe out
Title：Breathe out
Artist: Albeswood
Project: Breathe out
Creating Date: 2015
Medium: Photography
Materials: Chromogenic print
Size: 59×33×1.57in、150×84×4cm
Quantity: Unique（One of a kind piece, created by the artist.）
Signature: Hand-signed by artist, Signed on verso.
Photographer: Albeswood
Keywords: #art #photography #artwork #prints #artist #minimalism #digitalart #wallpaper #gray #gradual #psychological #contemporaryart #creative #zen #abstract #visualart
Independent artist Albeswood , By using minimalist visual forms in this series of art works , To express the zen wisdoms that people show in daily life . He is good at expressing oriental minimalist aesthetics，And there are various forms of artistic works . The theme of most works of art is related to the inner state of the Orientals，Whether it is the “ gradual gray “ that the audience sees from the work , or his unique perspective on daily life . The audience can feel the author’s artistic creation process by observing the details of the works , Or reflect on yourself in your daily life .
In his decades of artistic creation , Initially he used graphic to express minimalist aesthetics , Then it evolved to interpret “ Zen in life “ in artistic creation . The theme of creation has evolved from pursuing various ideas of the past to focusing on things in daily life . In a recent series of works , He did not deliberately express his opinion , Instead , it objectively presents the “ existential relationship “ between the subject and the observer . On this point , he explained : “There is always a distance between us and what we see , A few centimeters or hundreds of meters apart . There is always a substance between them , that is air . I hope the audience can feel the air in my work . “
He uses a minimalist art form to create a zen atmosphere , Let the audience feel the emotion when the author creates . Although this series of vivid artworks looks very concise , it is full of deep emotions . Minimalism is not the purpose of artistic creation , but to filter out redundant interference in works through minimalism , so that the “ gradual gray “ between subject and object emerges . Let people feel the existence of “ air “ in the works . The “ air “ here can be understood as : artistic conception , atmosphere , etc . This is also one of the ways in which Orientals feels things through artistic conception and conduct vipassana .
You can keep track of the artist’s work on instagram , And check out all the other works on his website .
Artist Website: https://albeswood.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albeswoodart
Email: [email protected]
All images © Albeswood | https://medium.com/@albeswood/breathe-out-9248d19140dc | [] | 2020-12-22 14:44:55.932000+00:00 | ['Artist', 'Prints', 'Artwork', 'Art', 'Photography'] |
KOTLIN vs JAVA — Which One Is Better For Android App Development? | Kotlin vs Java war; this will help businesses choose the best between Kotlin and Java technology for Android app development.
KOTLIN vs JAVA — Which One Is Better For Android App Development?
Here, Kotlin vs Java parameters are mentioned, those will help your business choose the best programming language for Android app development.
Developing Android applications is a fabulous option to attain success in your business, but along with that picking up the best programming language is the real challenge. In the market “n” numbers of technologies are there and choosing the best among them is like searching for the needle in the grass.
Here I will talk about only two trending technologies that are Kotlin and Java. Well, these two technologies are very famous for Android app development, but the difficulty arises when businesses need to choose anyone between Kotlin and Java. Just because of this startup, SMEs and even large enterprises met with several queries remain in their mind until its development such as:
Which is better: Kotlin vs Java for Android Development
Is Java technology faster than Kotlin?
Java or Kotlin for building leading business applications in 2021?
Can we use Kotlin and Java at the same time?
Which technology is easier: Kotlin or Java?
Never Ending List…
Picking the best for Android app development is a difficult task; however, it can be simplified by making a comparison between both Java and Kotlin. Let’s view who will win the Kotlin vs Java war.
Kotlin vs Java War Begins
In order to begin the war, it is crucial to know the vital factors of Kotlin and Java; that’s why firstly I will give technologies overview. Well, knowing about the technologies and choosing the best is just not enough, as to handle the Android app development process efficiently, it is really important to hire Android app developers from the top software outsourcing company.
Kotlin Overview
Kotlin is a more advanced programming language inspired by Java; it is an enhanced version of it with so many supplementary features. Kotlin is clean, comparatively easy, and includes fewer formalities and rules related to Java and other technologies.
Why Choose Kotlin?
827 organizations are using Kotlin in their tech stacks. (Stackshare) Kotlin is an open-source tool with 34.1K GitHub stars. Pinterest, Evernote, Twitter are the most popular apps using Kotlin.
Pros
Code penned in Kotlin is much smaller than the code written in Java. Less code means fewer bugs.
Kotlin Application Deployment is quicker to assemble and prevent applications from expanding size.
Kotlin script can be utilized to align projects in Android Studio for auto-completion.
Kotlin assembles the code to a bytecode that can be executed in the JVM.
Cons
It has a small support community compared with Java. Additionally, it has fewer libraries.
Kotlin resembles weak patterns, and code readability becomes quite hard to read and understand.
Kotlin has a steep learning curve.
Fewer Kotlin programmers are available in the market. So, finding an experienced one is difficult.
Java Overview
Java is the object-oriented programming language built by Sun Microsystems. It is the native language allowed to build any program and supports Android, Windows, and Linux.
Why Choose Java?
9465 organizations are utilizing Java in their tech stacks. Java is an open-source tool with 32.5K GitHub stars. Spotify, Twitter, Google and more are very famous apps using Java.
Pros
Java can work on any device, server or operating system
This programming language can easily create modular applications and reuse the parts.
While examining Kotlin vs Java performance, Java is simple to use, compiling, and making debugging.
Java several libraries are managed by trusted organizations like Google, Apache, and others.
Cons
The syntax that Java uses is complicated compared with other languages like C + or Python.
With Java, it is difficult to access some content that may be inappropriate with the devices being used.
In Java test-driven development, more code writing is required and carries a higher risk of programming errors and bugs.
Java is slower compared with other programming languages.
Java vs Kotlin: Which One Is Best Kotlin or Java?
Advantages of using Kotlin over Java and Java over Kotlin will help in analyzing the result of Kotlin vs Java war.
Advantage of using Kotlin over Java
Source: Google
Kotlin is a one-stop language for all application development. It supports lots of IDEs, Android Studio, in comparison with Java.
Nullability is the major issue faced by Java programmers. But if I talk about Kotlin, then it can address nullability issues by placing null right in its type system.
In Kotlin shorter codes are written; this decreases the chances of creating bugs. Whereas in Java, long codes are used, that’s why the bug causing rate gets higher.
Benefits of using Java over Kotlin
Source: Google
In Kotlin, there is a steep learning curve. It's extremely compact syntax and that’s why it requires some learning upfront.
Kotlin presents a slower compilation speed than Java in several cases.
The Kotlin community is still growing and learning, so it is hard to find problems to answer.
Android Studio few features like auto-complete and compilation run slower in Kotlin in comparison to Java.
Kotlin vs Java: Comparison Between Kotlin and Java
The comparison between Java and Kotlin (Java vs Kotlin) will help businesses in choosing the best technology for Android app development. Both whether it is Java or Kotlin includes multiple features and sometimes it is quite difficult for normal users to make correct use of it and to resolve such things you can hire Kotlin app developers or hire Java app developers from the top Android app development company.
What Java has that Kotlin does not?
Checked Exceptions
Examination of short programs leads to the conclusion that wanting exception specifications could improve developer productivity and code quality. But experience with extensive software projects suggests a mixed result; this decreases productivity and code quality.
Kotlin does not include checked exceptions. There are reasons for this, but here I discussed a simple example.
The following example is of JDK implemented by StringBuilder class: What does this signature say? It says that all time I add a string to something (a StringBuilder is sort of a log, a console, etc.) and have to catch those IOExceptions. Why? Because it might be performing IO and it results in this sort of code all across the place:
Coding Image Source: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/exceptions.html
This is no good but can be corrected using Java.
Primitive type arrays
Kotlin has specialized classes to express arrays of primitive types (means Kotlin does not have direct functionality of primitive types arrays) without boxing overhead: ByteArray, IntArray, ShortArray, and more. These classes have no inheritance connection to the Array class. Each of them also has a similar factory function:
Coding Image Source: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/basic-types.html
Wildcard Types
This is the most complex part of the Java type system. The wildcard type in Java controls the type safety of the use of generic types. It can be employed in variable declarations and instantiations as well as in method definitions.
Kotlin does not include any of the Wildcard Types. Apart from this Kotlin does not include Static members, Ternary-operator a ? b:c.
What Kotlin has that Java does not?
Extensions
Kotlin allows you to extend a class with new functionality without using design patterns like Decorator. This is achieved via special codes called extensions; this mechanism is called extension function. For example, Kotlin developers can write new functions for a class from a third-party library that developers can’t change.
2. Null Safety
The most common mesh in many programming languages, including Java, is that obtaining a member of a null reference result in a null reference exception.
Whereas, Kotlin’s type system is intended to exclude Null Pointer Exceptions from our code. Android chiefly relies on Null to describe the absence of a value, but it can simply destroy an application. Kotlin efficiently resolves this obstacle by adding inbuilt null safety.
3. Range expressions
Kotlin allows you to produce ranges of values utilizing the rangeTo() function from the kotlin.ranges package and its operator form … Ordinarily, rangeTo() is complemented by in or !in functions.
Image Source: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/ranges.html
Data Classes
We often create classes whose chief purpose is to hold data. In such a class, some usual functionality and utility functions are mechanically obtainable from the data. In Kotlin, this is known as data class and is labeled as data:
Image Source: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/data-classes.html
Kotlin also includes Lambda expressions + Inline functions, Smart casts, String templates, Properties, Primary constructors, First-class delegation, Singletons, Declaration-site variance & Type projections, and more features.
Kotlin vs Java Comparison Table
Ending Words: Who Took The Crown?
By observing different parameters of Java and Kotlin, I found Kotlin leading the Kotlin vs Java race. This is so because Kotlin interworks with Java and presents incremental modification of code and excellent type systems to Java.
In order to make the right use of Kotlin in Android app development hire Kotlin developers from a reputed Android app development company. This will help the startups, SMEs and large enterprises get reliable app development solutions and meet the business goal in less time frame. | https://medium.com/quick-code/kotlin-vs-java-which-one-is-better-for-android-app-development-3b4322cdb407 | ['Amyra Sheldon'] | 2020-12-21 23:54:58.113000+00:00 | ['Kotlin Vs Java', 'Hire Java Programmers', 'Hire Java Developer', 'Hire Kotlin Developer', 'Kotlin And Java'] |
The Case for Voting “No” on CA Prop 22 | So, What’s in the Sausage?
In July 2020, the National Employment Law Project and Partnership for Working Families produced a 31-page analysis of Prop 22 called “Rigging the Gig” and a 2-page brief called “Top 10 Ways Proposition 22 Hurts Workers and Communities,” found here and here. In their estimation, Prop 22 “would close off decades of protective labor and anti-discrimination laws in California for their workers. The initiative…would grant app-based transportation and delivery companies a complete exemption from AB5, freeing them from complying with California’s labor laws (which they have flouted since their founding) and signaling that corporations can establish a permanent class of unprotected workers.” (On October 13, they released a four-page addendum titled “Prop 22 Rolls Back Rights for Women” which provides an expanded look at how Prop 22 will reduce protections for women both as passengers and drivers, found here).
Prop 22 would strip or severely diminish app-based rideshare and delivery drivers of our right to a minimum wage, overtime, expense reimbursement, healthcare, sick leave, workers comp, safety regulations, anti-discrimination, and the right to organize. But, it will still allow the companies to use us workers like employees because of the way they control us.
Let’s have a look at the earnings and healthcare aspects of Prop 22. Prop 22 eliminates basic workplace benefits and replaces them with a new, lower “earnings guarantee” and a “healthcare subsidy” payment designed to save companies from footing the bill for the expenses they would otherwise have under current law.
The “earnings guarantee” of pay would be equal to 120% of the minimum wage (that would be $15.60 in 2021 when the California minimum wage will be $13), but drivers would only be paid for “engaged time.” “Engaged” means “from when an app-based driver accepts a rideshare request or delivery request to when the app-based driver completes that rideshare request or delivery request.” Drivers would not be paid for time waiting for a ride request. Since part of the company’s business model is to saturate some areas with an oversupply of drivers, wait times can consume large parts of every hour a driver is on the road, including spending 30–45 minutes in the driver queue at Los Angeles International Airport.
“Per-mile compensation for vehicle expenses” under Prop 22 would be 30 cents per “engaged mile” until the end of 2021 and “adjusted annually to reflect any increase in inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Again, if drivers are in a densely populated urban area that is saturated with other drivers and have few places to stop legally, like downtown Los Angeles on a weekday, drivers may find themselves constantly on the move with no fare or order to pick up and deliver. They will not be compensated for miles driven without a rider or delivery to pick up, even though they are waiting for the company to send them work.
Under current law, however, workers must be reimbursed for mileage at the standard IRS mileage reimbursement rate, which for 2020 is calculated at 57.5 cents per mile and isn’t restricted to “engaged miles” when calculating reimbursement.
Drivers also know from experience that the companies will not compensate us for downtime caused by the need to stop work to clean after a messy trip, to file an emergency report in the app, or to respond to a company error or false complaint against us that has caused a loss of income, a suspension, or wrongful termination.
UC Berkeley Labor Center’s wage assessment of the ballot initiative found that “after considering the multiple loopholes in the initiative, the pay guarantee estimate for Uber and Lyft drivers is actually to be the equivalent of a wage of $5.64 per hour.” The authors say, “Not paying for [logged in but not “engaged”] time would be the equivalent of a fast food restaurant or retail store saying they will only pay the cashier when a customer is at the counter. We have labor and employment laws precisely to protect workers from [this] kind of exploitation.” Prop 22 means workers would have to work longer shifts just to earn a living wage — putting in more than 40 hours a week with no overtime pay.
UC Berkeley Labor Center
Let’s look at this the way a driver like me does — basic. How much will I get paid for a fare from LAX to San Clemente at night? A quick “ask Google” and it’s 65 miles to San Clemente and one hour in no traffic. I know from experience that an Uber X fare like this pays out at roughly $52. (Pretty lousy for the distance).
The exact fare I’d get paid would be $51.65, because the Uber X fare in Los Angeles is at a rate of $0.60/mi and $0.21/min (or $12.60/hr) for the time when a passenger is on board.
If Prop 22 passes and it’s now 2021, that same fare would pay me at a rate of $0.30/“engaged mile” and $15.60/“engaged hour” (or $0.26/“engaged minute”). Again, “engaged time” is from when I accept a ride request until I drop off the passenger.
Now, I work mostly at LAX. Under Prop 22’s new queue system, I would find more money lying on the ground than what I’d get paid to drive into the passenger pick-up zone during Prop 22 “engaged time.” But, for the sake of this exercise, let’s say I would travel about one mile from the holding lot and it would take about 10 minutes until I had my passenger on board if someone’s waiting at the curb. At Prop 22 rates, that part pays $2.90. The part where I have a passenger on board and drive all the way to San Clemente at Prop 22 rates? That pays $35.10. So the total payout for the same ride from LAX to San Clemente at Prop 22 rates is $38 or $13.60 less than current Uber X rates.
Under current law, drivers have the right to be compensated for all on-the-clock time, reimbursed for work-related mileage at more than double the Prop 22 rate, and reimbursed for work related expenses. As employees, we have the right to organize and negotiate a contract for better than the bare minimum.
credit: Ben Valdez, Rideshare Drivers United
The Healthcare Subsidy and Racial Justice
If Prop 22 passes, the app companies would replace health insurance coverage with their smaller “healthcare subsidy” payments designed to save the companies money at the expense of their workers’ health and safety. After sifting through the convoluted language of Prop 22 on this health benefit, we find that the companies have defined the maximum subsidy that any one of them will pay a worker as just 82% of “the average statewide monthly premium for an individual … for a Covered California bronze health insurance plan.”
So, what does that mean and how do I get it? In short: who knows and good luck!
That’s actually a serious answer.
Covered California is where you shop for “Obamacare”. The lowest costing insurance plans are in the “bronze” tier where you find plans with the lowest premiums, but highest deductibles and the least coverage. There are 12 bronze plans, but who you are and where you live can have a dramatic effect on what your premium is. So, how do you figure out the average for the whole state across 12 bronze plans? Someone at Covered California needs to figure it out because Prop 22 is going to require them to publish it. Until then, we don’t know what we’re voting for.
Otherwise, there are two subsidy tiers you have to work for to earn: either 41% of that bronze average, or 82% of that bronze average. Which one you earn depends on whether you maintain an average of at least 15 “engaged hours” or at least 25 “engaged hours” of work, per week, for 3 months, respectively. If you miss both you could get nothing. All of these are paid to you quarterly. You can earn a subsidy from more than one company, but there is no provision for combining hours from them to reach 15 hours or 25 hours of “engaged time”.
The other conditions are: you must get and provide proof of your own insurance with you listed as the policyholder (not necessarily through Covered California, apparently), it cannot be sponsored by an employer, and it can’t be Medicare or Medicaid.
[I’m thinking of the part-time retirees who will be paid less for their work but get no health benefit in return. Remember how much less I would make on that fare to San Clemente under Prop 22?]
The authors of “Rigging the Gig” found “as recent studies (funded by the industry) have indicated, drivers spend as much as 37 percent of their time logged into a transportation app, but without a passenger.” This means that most drivers would have to log an extra 37% more time on the app — more than 39 hours per week — to qualify for the top tier benefit of 82%.
NELP & Partnership for Working Families “Rigging the Gig”
So, you will have committed yourself to paying for an insurance plan that they will help you pay for if you work enough hours (many of them unpaid), but you have to pay for it yourself until you get your quarterly payment from them — if there is one. God help you if you decide to go on vacation/your car breaks down for a few days/you have a family emergency or you get injured and are unable to work. Not only will you have no paid vacation, reimbursement for repair expenses, or bereavement leave or sick leave, you could also lose your premium assistance, not for just one month but a whole quarter.
Looking at Prop 22’s “healthcare subsidy” as an experienced rideshare driver, I immediately see another big problem. I’m used to Uber’s and Lyft’s performance-based bonus incentives, and I’m also used to circumstances beyond my control causing me to miss them. I still remember being out driving at 3 a.m. on a Monday needing just two more L.A. fares before 4 a.m. to score a big bonus, and then catching one deep into Orange County. Or worse, knowing that I did earn a bonus, but someone at a call center refused to give it to me over a location discrepancy between the map display in the app and their GPS records. So, now we’re going to play that game with my healthcare? Right. I stopped chasing bonuses a long time ago because they are unpredictable and unreliable as a source of income.
This is Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates’ idea of healthcare. Cross your fingers and take your best shot. These are not rules for a new program they are rolling out. This is what they are trying to put into law. Their message: “If you want a stable healthcare subsidy, try a taxpayer-funded one from Covered California.”
If you’ve ever heard the term “portable benefits”, this is what that will look like for employees who get dropped from employee status to a category such as the one that Prop 22 will create, sometimes called a “dependent worker.”
This is the future of work.
Keep all of that in mind as you read ahead.
The COVID-19 crisis has made conspicuous the injustice communities of color and immigrants face when it comes to healthcare, especially for app-based rideshare and food delivery workers who are a majority of that workforce. In a May 2018 report released by the UCLA Labor Center, of the 260 rideshare drivers UCLA surveyed from around Los Angeles, 38% were Latino, 23% were Black, and 35% were foreign-born. Two years later, a description of the app-based workforce in San Francisco emerged in a study published by UC Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation. In their survey of 643 app-based workers, 29% were Asian, 23% were Hispanic, 12% were Black, 13% identified as multiracial or other, and 56% were foreign born.
The Centers for Disease Control finds that COVID-19 is taking a greater toll on those communities because they have less access to healthcare, sick leave, safe work environments, and workers compensation. California, unfortunately, is a potential case study. In a July 15th article, the Los Angeles Times published an analysis of statewide data finding that “for every 100,000 Latino residents, 767 have tested positive. The Black community has also been hit particularly hard: for every 100,000 Black residents, 396 have tested positive. By comparison, 261 of every 100,000 white residents have confirmed infections.” L.A. County officials were quoted as saying, “The underlying reasons why communities of color are disproportionately impacted by worse outcomes of COVID is also related to longstanding structural and systemic issues, including racism and historical disinvestments, that L.A. County is working to address and mitigate amidst this pandemic.”
In California, rideshare and delivery workers actually do have a right to healthcare, sick leave, safe work environments, and workers compensation under current California law. They also have protections against discrimination. The problem is, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates are trying to evade their responsibilities to these workers. A “Yes” vote on Prop 22 will help them accomplish that.
Meanwhile, drivers who are not eligible for unemployment benefits or still need to work and continue to drive have been forced to risk their health and that of their families in order to make a living. That is a choice that no worker should have to make. Rideshare Drivers United lost one of our own activists in San Diego to COVID-19 in this way, and 28 other members reported having been sick in an internal poll. Even though COVID-19 prompted Uber and Lyft to offer some compensation for active drivers diagnosed with COVID-19, the funds were less than what workers comp would have paid, were voluntary, and were difficult to actually receive. It was under threat of a judge’s pen that the companies took steps to improve their response.
Early in the crisis the companies had been slow to provide drivers with protective equipment needed during the pandemic, including face masks, sanitizer, disinfectant, and barriers between drivers and passengers. The situation would be much different if the companies would follow the law.
Photo credit: Ben Valdez, RDU / art: Vecteezy.com
Unemployment
The COVID-19 crisis has shown just how critical unemployment insurance is to app-based rideshare drivers and delivery workers. Since early this year, the vast majority of rideshare drivers have been put out of work due to the steep drop in demand for their services and the health risks associated with continuing to drive. Thanks to current law, California drivers were able to access state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits despite Uber and Lyft refusing to acknowledge their workers as employees and comply with their responsibilities under the law.
In a press release following the California Attorney General’s filing of a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft for refusing to cease misclassifying their workers as independent contractors, the AG said, “The companies deny that their drivers are entitled to state unemployment insurance, as well as state-mandated paid sick leave and other employee benefits. The companies are thereby shirking their obligations to their workforce and shifting the burden onto drivers and taxpayers at a time when they are most vulnerable.”
Shortly after the COVID-19 crisis began, it became apparent to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., that a package of rescue legislation was necessary and should provide money to people who were put out of work. At that time, Khosrowshahi lobbied Congress to provide some kind of relief to his rideshare and delivery workers. Ultimately this would come in the form of what is known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a federally funded form of unemployment insurance designed to get money to non-employee workers who lost their income as fast as possible.
The PUA unemployment benefit Khosrowshahi lobbied so hard to “get” for his rideshare and delivery workers is calculated on a worker’s net income, whereas in California the unemployment insurance (UI) benefit is calculated on gross earnings. Since app-based rideshare and delivery drivers have such high expenses (that the companies are supposed to reimburse drivers for but don’t) our net income is much lower than our gross earnings. This means that our federal PUA benefit would be much smaller than our state UI benefit.
Like California, other states have laws allowing their labor departments to independently make a determination of a worker’s classification for the purpose of administering unemployment benefits. So, after having been hit with a bill from the New Jersey labor department for $630 million in unpaid unemployment taxes in November, Khosrowshahi’s lobbying efforts at the beginning of the COVID crisis were likely opportunistic. He certainly anticipated a tsunami of COVID-related UI liabilities from numerous states headed Uber’s way and looked for a way to — you guessed it — deflect that wave to taxpayers instead.
If rideshare drivers and app-based delivery workers applied for the fast, federal, taxpayer-backed PUA benefit and not the state, employer-backed UI benefit, this would help get Uber off the hook for not paying into state UI funds, even though Khosrowshahi knew it meant his workers in states like California would get a lot less money. That didn’t work in New York or, ultimately, in California where Rideshare Drivers United not only worked to help thousands of drivers navigate California’s overwhelmed unemployment insurance system to get their state UI benefits, but also engaged with labor advocates to cajole the state labor department into reforms. | https://medium.com/groundgamela/the-case-for-voting-no-on-ca-prop-22-a64d25b2828d | ['Keith F. Eberl'] | 2020-11-01 23:37:33.689000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Prop 22', 'Lyft', 'Labor', 'Uber'] |
Mr. President, You Did This to Yourself | (Pixabay)
Read the original version of this story, published here.
It’s February 2020. President Donald Trump has been impeached by the United States House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate. The dangers of the coronavirus are only a vague whisper heard by few. President Trump’s reëlection chances are looking good. The economy is strong, the S&P 500 was at record highs. The year, no, the decade, appeared to be starting off extremely well. Joe Biden was the Democratic front-runner, but he had yet to secure his nomination. It was pretty clear he was the perfect example of the establishment: old, white, and a politician with decades of experience.
President Trump had little in his way. The chants of “Four More Years” emanating from the GOP during his State of the Union address in February seemed to be a prophesy. The Democrats held onto the House, but in every other manner, appeared to be dividing themselves.
But now, it’s nearly 2 weeks after the electoral college met to vote on December 14th, which officially (mostly, considering Congress still needs to count the votes in early January) declared Joe Biden as the President-elect. Still, the President continues to declare fowl-play, accusing Biden of using voter fraud to ‘steal’ the election from him. Perhaps if a person was not aware of the events between that February State of the Union and November 3rd, they might believe that Trump’s lose was impossible, because, quite frankly, it was.
But those events did happen, and Trump’s failure in the election was due to one person: Trump himself.
Many might point out the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for the President’s downfall. But this position may be ill-founded. In fact, Trump was presented with the perfect opportunity to garner support. Much like the Great Depression and World War II, both disasters of which allowed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be portrayed as a triümphant hero, the coronavirus outbreak gave Trump the opportunity to “save” the country. However, Trump failed to portray himself this way.
By refusing to avidly support masks, he gave news organizations easy stories. Yes, he didn’t necessarily need to wear a mask. He, and all of his staff were tested several times a week. However, by not wearing a mask, he made mask-wearing political. Supporters were portrayed by news media as ignorant, people who couldn’t care any less about other people’s health. If President Trump had instead praised mask-wearing before it was too late, perhaps mask-wearing wouldn’t have been such a taboo topic.
President Trump also allowed the media to focus on him. Instead of shifting the spotlight onto how the individual state governors handled the virus, he sparred with journalists in press briefings.
And this continued into the Black Lives Matter protests and riots that filled the summer. Trump took the ‘Law and Order’ position, but he allowed the media to portray him as an authoritarian and brutal dictator. He tear-gassed protestors for a photo in front of a church, he used charged language when describing protestors and rioters. None of these things did anything but drive voters away.
Very few people voted for Biden because they like Biden. He’s an old, exhausted career politician who has historically done lickety-split, even so when compared to legislation passed versus time spent as a public servant. His campaign even framed Biden vs. Trump as the “Battle for the Soul of the Nation.” Biden wasn’t the ideal choice, everybody knew that. But he was the alternative.
Instead, much like 2016, people voted against Trump. Trump gave people every reason not to vote for him. He acted unpresidential, he attacked his political opponents unlike anybody else, and he embarrassed the United States, at least from the position of a Democrat.
In terms of supporting the conservative agenda, Trump has been a very good president. But in terms of presenting himself as a reliable figure, he has not.
During the debates, he confirmed everything his opponents believed about them, and gave them audio clips for their commercials. His comments on the Proud Boys, although they appeared to be well intentioned, gave activists the opportunity to frame him as a white supremacist, whether he is or not.
Trump has historically shifted blame to others. The Congress, the bureaucracies, his opponents, his foreign adversaries. Some of these were made correctly, some of them were not. But if there is one instigator for the failure of his reëlection, for ruining his perfect opportunity to serve four more years, for letting the media take advantage of him, and for allowing the Democrats to portray Biden as the savior, that instigator, is Trump himself. | https://medium.com/the-uncomanor/mr-president-you-did-this-to-yourself-e1b712ce17b6 | ['Gabe Sullivan'] | 2020-12-27 00:42:22.080000+00:00 | ['Joe Biden', 'Opinion', 'Donald Trump', 'Election 2020', 'Politics'] |
Drawing for Discovery | Every designer who has completed a degree in product design can share stories about the volume of sketching he or she had to do to become capable of quickly visualizing something on paper so that others can understand the vision. For most people, this is not an easy skill to develop and requires considerable time* to produce. Some students show a natural proficiency for product sketching, while others have to wrestle considerably to learn this skill. (I’m one of these people.) The time required to learn to draw well in the field of product design is likely an outcome of a few variables: individual spatial/visual intelligence; ability to focus; the state of development and efficiency of the individual’s pre-frontal cortex—the “processing” area; and the degree which muscle “memory” has been developed through the repetitive behavior of sketching rapidly. The likelihood that some part(s) of this concert will need improvement is high for pretty much everyone.
The professional need for developing the skill of product sketching is to communicate clearly to others. As an individual designer or a design team moves through the process, ideas evolve from abstract to concise, with the fidelity of the idea(s) increasing along the way. Strong design teams facilitate time and space for both personal and collective concept generating sketching sessions.
However, how one draws personally to generate ideas is another matter. There’s a danger in drawing overly formal during this stage, especially if the individual’s drawing skills for team communication are well developed because those more refined techniques will tend to become the default style. The purpose of personal concept generation sketching isn’t to communicate, but rather to discover.
Drawing for discovery is different from drawing for communication. It requires allowing your subconscious to guide the pen and turning off the analytic, judgmental parts of your brain. This isn’t necessarily easy to do, especially if you’ve developed the skills necessary for drawing for group-based communication well.
Japanese Architect Sou Fujimoto is a master of drawing for discovery. The 2016 published collection from one of his personal sketchbooks, Sou Fujimoto: Sketchbook, is a meditative journey through this style of sketching. The gestural scribblings document fuzzy ideas, inarticulable insights, and loose notes for some projects that have materialized and some that haven’t, yet. In the red ink sketches, nothing is overly committed to or even fully understood. The sketches often appear ghostly. Very few instances of written notes appear with the sketches explaining what they are. Whether the sketches led to action isn’t important; materialization of the idea is secondary to the process of discovering the idea itself. Fujimoto describes this process as a “dialogue with himself.¹” Expanding, he describes sketching as a phenomenon where,
The lines are never certain, never knowing where the next will lead to. Never knowing, but continuing to draw. And for this very reason, there is always an opportunity for something new. From the infinite dialogues of the brain, eyes, hand, paper, and space, new architecture is born.¹’ — Sou Fujimoto | https://colorandstory.medium.com/drawing-for-discovery-7e47ae6943da | ['Christopher Scott'] | 2020-12-03 01:32:55.888000+00:00 | ['Industrial Design', 'Design Process', 'Design', 'Sketching', 'Product Design'] |
Dietitians share their most hated foods, from deli meat and energy drinks to red wine | By Gabby Landsverk
Most of us realize by now that health experts will recommend we eat more kale than cupcakes in our typical daily diet.
But surprisingly, fast food and sweets aren’t the most pressing issues for nutrition professionals. Many are more worried about that second bottle of wine with dinner, telling ourselves it’s for the “Mediterranean diet.”
That came to light in a recent, popular post on Reddit asking dietitians to give their expert opinion on which foods are overall worst for health.
Alcohol, preserved meats, processed snacks, and energy drinks were the four major culprits that dietitians said can derail healthy eating.
And while we all know it’s not healthy to binge on beer and hot dogs, the experts said you’d be surprised how these things sneak onto plates, even of “healthy” people, from deli meats in your lunch sandwich to a packaged granola bar or a whisky or glasses of wine to wind down.
Most things, in moderation, aren’t going to harm your health too much. But here’s why the experts argue you may want to be wary of including too many of these in your regular eating routine.
Even red wine can be bad for you, despite some favorable research
By far the most common response from dietitians in the thread was alcohol.
Ethanol, or the active ingredient in beer, wine, and liquor that gives us a buzz, is a known carcinogen, and also increases the risk of cancer and stroke.
The more you drink, the more harmful alcohol is likely to be, irritating the tissues, causing inflammation, and releasing chemical by-products as your liver works to metabolize the ethanol.
Evidence is mixed on whether moderate drinking (no more than a glass or two a day) might be OK. Some studies find it can still be harmful, while other research suggests is there could be a small health benefits to an occasional tipple.
“The human body is such a complex machine, and there are so many factors,” wrote one student dietitian. “The problem is that alcohol is also a carcinogen, so obviously you don’t want to start drinking for the benefits [if you don’t already.]”
However, experts were particularly frustrated by how the general population often seems unaware of alcohol’s links to cancer and other illnesses.
“A lot of my patients perk up when I talk to them about the Mediterranean Diet largely for this reason. Their face falls quite quickly after I tell them that it doesn’t give them license to binge drink beer and brandy, however,” wrote one dietitian from Wisconsin, a state with high levels of binge-drinking.
While red wine does include some polyphenols with healthful properties, it’s important to consume in moderation — or find those healthy polyphenols in foods like grapes, berries, apples, tea, coffee, and certain vegetables.
Processed meats, like deli slices, are consistently linked to health risks
Another popular dietary culprit for dietitians is processed meat. Anything that’s cured, smoked, or salted falls into this category, from hot dogs, brats, and chorizo to ham, bacon, and deli meats.
Regularly consuming these foods is associated with risk of heart disease, as they tend to be high in saturated fat and cholesterol. They’re also linked to a higher risk of several types of cancer. Nitrates, the chemical additives that give processed meat their appealing color and flavor, are the main cause of the health risks, according to research.
Even foods that are labeled “nitrate-free” may contain similar forms of these preservatives, so experts recommended limiting how much processed meat you consume in your everyday diet.
Trans fats are banned, but can still show up in old processed foods
Also on the list of dietitians’ most-hated foods are products containing trans fats. Trans fatty acids, or trans fats for short, are found in manufactured processed foods such as pastries and snacks, to help improve flavor and texture and keep them shelf-stable.
But there’s extensive research showing trans fats are bad for physical and cognitive health, linked to dementia, heart disease, and stroke.
The FDA banned trans fats in the United States in 2018, so companies are no longer allowed to make foods that contain them, however, they may still be present in the food supplies as products manufactured before that ban. To avoid them, be wary of foods containing hydrogenated vegetable oil, a common source of trans fats.
Energy drinks can contain unhealthy amounts of caffeine and sweeteners
One dietitian noted on Reddit took aim at energy drinks, which can cause health issues in children and teens.
Coffee and tea are considered safe and good for you in moderation, with a natural dose of healthy antioxidants. However, caffeine in other forms can pose health risks.
Energy drinks loaded with sugar, artificial sweeteners, other additives, and excessive amounts of caffeine can worsen anxiety, lead to jitters or nausea, and cause a rapid heart rate and difficulty catching your breath. It may also disrupt your sleep.
For this reason, the Mayo Clinic recommends limiting caffeine intake to no more than 400 milligrams a day for adults (children and teens should avoid it).
No single food will make or break your health
Another common refrain from dietitians is that, while some foods are worse for your health than others, the most important factor in a healthy diet is balanced patterns of eating over time.
The foods you do include in your diet are just as important as the ones you limit.
Eating a lot of processed foods can mean you simply don’t have enough space on your plate for nutrient-rich options such as fruits, veggies, and whole grains. If you prioritize vitamins and minerals in your diet, in the form of whole foods, you then don’t have to completely eliminate some favorite “unhealthy” foods.
“Eating one salad or going on a juice cleanse for a weekend isn’t gonna make you healthy, eating some crazy shit like deep fried butter once isn’t gonna kill you. Keep healthy habits in the long run and you’ll be fine,” wrote one dietitian in training.
For more great stories, visit Insider’s homepage. | https://medium.com/insider/dietitians-share-their-most-hated-foods-from-deli-meat-and-energy-drinks-to-red-wine-71343092d047 | [] | 2020-12-26 19:02:18.757000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Science', 'Dietitian', 'Red Wine', 'Nutrition'] |
The White Men Who Threaten Me With Their Own Suicide | The emails started coming in 2018, the same year my book So You Want to Talk About Race came out. They would usually arrive after I had posted an article on race or gender, but sometimes they would appear at random. I still remember the first one, which shook me.
“I know you think I should kill myself because I voted for Donald Trump, because I’m white, because I’m a male, so I’m just going to, since that is the only ethical conclusion.”
The email listed the various hardships the sender had endured. Poverty, mental illness, discrimination. But none of that mattered, because I had shown him that the problem was that he was a white man and he should die. And so his death would be on my hands.
“I’m going to kill myself because that’s exactly what you want and will make you happy and I will teach you a lesson when the whole world learns about it.”
The email continued, describing how he was going to kill himself (with a Glock that he kept at home) and reiterating that it would be my fault. He then ended with a racist tirade, calling me a “worthless monkey bitch.”
I have received many violent emails from white men over the years, but I sat with this one for a while. I tried to process what I was reading and tried to figure out what I should or could do about it. In the end, I placed it in the same folder as all the death and rape threats.
A few weeks later I received another email from a different sender. The message, with slight wording differences, was essentially the same. This white man was going to kill himself and I was to blame. A few days later I got a similar message via Twitter messenger. A few days after that, another email.
They wanted me to know that the only option available to address white male patriarchy was either to maintain the status quo that was making us all miserable, or death.
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As the threats of suicide piled up, I began to see a coordinated campaign to harass me, and as disturbing as it was, it was also sadly fascinating in what it revealed. These men were trying to terrorize me with what they saw as the only logical conclusion to my anti-racist, feminist work: the mass suicide of white men. They wanted me to know that they saw my work to end violent misogyny and white supremacy, and they saw that it was a threat, not only to their norms and their status but to their very lives.
These men wanted me to know that they were miserable, they felt screwed over, and they felt demonized. They wanted me to know that the only option available to address white male patriarchy was either to maintain the status quo that was making us all miserable, or death. They wanted me to know that they were not capable of growth or change and that any attempts to bring about that growth or change would end them.
Nobody is more pessimistic about white men than white men.
Iam the mother of two boys. Two beautiful young men who were born as beautiful babies full of endless possibility. It was shocking to watch how quickly the patriarchy came to claim my sweet little boys. They weren’t even in preschool before I had to battle a world that wanted to take everything that was soft and kind and generous about them and turn those traits into hardness, cruelty, and dominance. I watched my older son, who had the most brilliant smile I have ever seen, struggle under the weight of being repeatedly told by society that his loving, open nature was a weakness.
The teenage brain can be a very dangerous place. As young people grow and get ready for adulthood, their world is rapidly changing — as are their hormones. A great day is often the best day of their life and a bad day is often the worst. And if you ask a teen how they are doing on a bad day, if they are willing to talk to you at all, you may hear that every day they’ve ever had is bad, and every day they will ever have will be bad. Teenagers often have difficulty projecting themselves into a different, better future. It can be a very scary time, and the consequences can be very real.
I could have lost my son, the driving force of my heart and soul, to this despair. I’m forever grateful that part of him wanted to live, and that part decided to reach out for help.
It has been years since that terrifying time for my family. We worked with some great therapists, spent a lot of time healing together, and my son grew out of his hardest phase. Not all families are so lucky. Sometimes there is no intervention that can save our children from the claws of anxiety and depression. It has only been in the last two years or so that I’ve been able to relax somewhat — feeling confident that we made it through the worst of it, that I was going to see my baby grow into a man.
Then, early in the morning on August 14, 2019 — two weeks from my son’s 18th birthday — I got a call from the King County, Washington sheriff’s office that there had been a report of shots fired at my house. I was across the country, getting ready to head home from a conference. We do not own any guns, and my son doesn’t have any friends who own guns, so I knew there was a strong chance this was a hoax. But what if. They were going to send officers to my home.
What if?
I sent a neighbor to go knock on the door, then on my son’s window. My son had been sound asleep, unharmed. But the police had received a call from someone pretending to be my son and stating that he had killed two people in the house. They were going to send an armed response. To my home, where my son was alone and barely awake and very confused.
What if we had fought so hard to save my son only to lose him because an angry white man decided to send armed cops to our house at six a.m.?
When I read the emails I receive from white men threatening suicide, I read them as someone who knows what the despair of suicidal thoughts looks like. And when I look at the threats and harassment that I and so many women and people of color have received from angry white men, I know what that despair looks like when it’s mixed with the entitlement and bitter disappointment of white male mediocrity.
I don’t know if the men who emailed me were actually considering suicide; I doubt they were. I think they were just having some sick, twisted version of fun. But when I look at white male identity in America, I see it all. I see the desperation, the disappointment, the despair, the rage.
I can only imagine how desolately lonely it must feel to only be able to relate to other human beings through conquer and competition.
White male identity is in a very dark place. White men have been told that they should be fulfilled, happy, successful, and powerful, and they are not. They are missing something vital — an intrinsic sense of self that is not tied to how much power or success they can hold over others — and that hole is eating away at them. I can only imagine how desolately lonely it must feel to only be able to relate to other human beings through conquer and competition. The love, admiration, belonging, and fulfillment they have been promised will never come — it cannot exist for you when your success is tied to the subjugation of those around you. These white men are filled with anger, sadness, and fear over what they do not have, what they believe has been stolen from them. And they look at where they are now, and they cannot imagine anything different. As miserable as they are, they are convinced that no other option exists for them. It is either this, or death: ours or theirs.
I don’t want this for white men. I don’t want it for any of us. When we look at the history of white male identity in this country, it becomes clear that we are only stuck in these cycles of reactionary violence and oppression because we have not tried anything new. We have become convinced that there is only one way for white men to be. We are afraid to imagine something better.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | https://medium.com/@gandiji/the-white-men-who-threaten-me-with-their-own-suicide-330f2680b42f | [] | 2020-12-02 16:56:13.148000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Vacation', 'Politics', 'Sports', 'News'] |
Randomly wired neural networks and state-of-the-art accuracy? Yes it works. | In an effort to discover even more powerful networks, Google AI’s research team developed a technique for having an algorithm search for good networks. This is known as Neural Architecture Search (NAS).
Neural Architecture Search
NAS is an algorithm that searches for the best neural network architecture. Most of the NAS algorithms work quite similarly.
Start off by defining a set of “building blocks” that can possibly be used for our network. Then try training a network by putting together different combinations of those blocks. Through this trial and error, the NAS algorithm will eventually figure out which blocks and which configurations work best.
As it turns out, this method works quite well and achieves state-of-the-art accuracy. It discovers some pretty peculiar looking architectures too, as you can see from the official paper below:
NASNet blocks discovered by the NAS algorithm. Source
The great thing about NAS is that we get to see some neural net architectures that we might otherwise not have looked for at all.
It does however come with its own limitations. Since we’re sampling from a fixed set of blocks, we won’t ever discover any new blocks. It’s the same case with the skip connections: NASNet only allows for a skip connection across 1 downsampling level, but what if other types of connections might work?
Facebook’s AI Research team took a new stab at NAS by trying out randomly wired neural networks. The intuition was that if the general idea of architecture search worked well for the fixed blocks and connections, perhaps running it with a much wider search space (i.e random connections) will lead to some unexplored configurations.
Randomly Wired Neural Networks
Since the authors of the paper wanted to focus specifically on the wiring i.e the connections of the neural networks, they make a few restrictions on the network structure:
The input is always an image of size 224x224
The blocks are always a ReLU-Conv-BatchNorm triplet. The convolution in the triplet is always a 3x3 separable convolution from Xception.
The aggregation of multiple tensors (for example when fusing a skip connection with other tensors) is always done in the same way — via weighted sum. These weights are learnable and always positive.
The stages of the network always remain the same. The general CNN structure of a multiple convolution blocks, followed by downsampling, repeated over and over until a final softmax classifier, has become standard in state-of-the-art network designs. This paradigm is also taken in these research experiments.
General structure of state-of-the-art CNNs, also adapted for this research. Source
An input size of 224x224 is quite standard in ImageNet competitions — the ImageNet dataset was used for benchmarking against other handcrafted networks as well as NAS-generated networks. The triplet block of ReLU-Conv-BatchNorm is also common and has been extensively proven to deliver state-of-the-art results when repeated throughout deep CNNs.
The way the tensors are aggregated is a small twist. Most state-of-the-art networks do a direct addition or concatenation without weights — but it’s a minor addition that shouldn’t affect performance too drastically. The staged design of CNNs shown in the table above has also become a go-to network structure used in ResNets, DenseNets, and NASNets.
Notice how this isn’t an entirely a “randomised neural network”. There’s no randomisation from complete scratch. Instead, a single component of the CNN design, namely the wiring, is explored while the other components remain fixed.
This is a significant point that the authors really tried to send home with the reader. We’re not yet doing completely randomised neural networks. But we are beginning to do some deep exploration of the component search space — one step at a time.
With these constraints set in place various classical random graph models were used to generate the random wiring of the networks.
And by random, I mean random.
Some of the randomly wired networks. Source
Randomised Networks open the gates of Deep Learning Exploration
The significance of this research lies in its main exploratory idea: expand the search space of NAS algorithms to find new, better network designs. While researchers have discovered some great designs on their own, it’s not practically feasible to go through the entire search space manually.
This also extends to another point: if we are expanding our search space, we’ll need an algorithm, in this case our network generator, to be really good at searching. It has to know what to look for or at the very least have some tendency to move towards it by design, much like optimisation algorithms like gradient descent work.
Architecture Search is the next frontier for Deep Learning research. It allows us to use an algorithm, rather than trial and error, to discover optimal architectures.
For now, it makes sense to fix some network components while searching for others (in this case wiring). This simplifies the problem to something bite-sized, easier to handle. NAS algorithms should have some degree of randomisation, since that’s the only way we can discover truly novel architectures.
The next step will of course be further expanding the search space and random nature of our search algorithms. That means expanding to more and more components of the network until the whole thing is designed algorithmically.
What happens when we let NAS go loose? Does it select non-square convolutions like 2x4? Does it propose to use feedback loops? Does the network become more simple or more complicated?
Neural Architecture Search presents an exciting new field of research. The hope is that letting a search algorithm loose becomes a way of using randomization to our advantage, discovering creative and never before thought of architectures. | https://towardsdatascience.com/randomly-wired-neural-networks-and-state-of-the-art-accuracy-yes-it-works-9fb3cedc8059 | ['George Seif'] | 2019-10-16 11:07:52.273000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Education', 'Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology'] |
How What’s New Can Inspire Your Storytelling | Tool Proliferation
For reasons that are past my understanding, people are always so obsessed with *gear* in filmmaking. In my opinion, the much harder thing to grasp, learn and put into practice is the creative process, but no one ever asks about that. In our breakout, our friend Ernie mentioned that he was noticing a lot of people had tool paralysis when it came to all the ways you can tell a digital story. But like filmmaking, I’m with Ernie in thinking I’m not sure that’s the most effective thing to be worrying about.
I imagine Ernie would agree (feel free to yell at me in the comments if not) — our rule of thumb is
A lways find the story first
Or at least the kernel of the story. Then the dearth of tech tools at your fingertips becomes an advantage — you have the luxury to choose the one that best serves how you’ll tell that particular story.
The podcast I created and co-host, Take Me To Coffee, literally began with me trying to figure out a way to make up for the fact that it was not humanly possible to have coffee with every single person that asked me to sit down with them for mentorship. We played around with it as a weekly Facebook live show. But ultimately, we didn’t feel that tool served “the story” well enough. One thing led to another, and it became a podcast. I went looking for a tool that would allow our brilliant guests to collect questions from their fans — VideoAsk, bingo. Then I went looking for a tool to allow us to record remotely 100% of the time, as so many of our guests are internet-based entrepreneurs. Zencastr! Huzzah! And you know what — there are probably other great tools out there, but these do what I need and so they are just fine for now. | https://medium.com/@JessicaRyanNYLA/how-whats-new-can-inspire-your-storytelling-fa714b90a4e0 | ['Jessica Ryan'] | 2020-08-10 15:37:31.841000+00:00 | ['Csr', 'Nonprofit', 'Social Impact', 'Covid-19', 'Storytelling'] |
SOSV Climate Tech 100 Startups value grows by 44% in 5 months | SOSV Climate Tech 100 Startups value grows by 44% in 5 months Benjamin Joffe Follow Sep 14 · 3 min read
On Earth Day, April 22, 2021, SOSV published its SOSV Climate Tech 100 list, a collection of the top climate tech companies in our portfolio. The list was notable because the companies up to that point had raised $1.85 billion from investors (including $89 million from SOSV), and had a market cap in aggregate of $5.65 billion.
Techcrunch reported on those numbers and commented that SOSV’s “planetary health’ mission was “paying off.” We subsequently published detailed analyses of the list’s founders and investors, and we announced an Oct. 20–21 event called the SOSV Climate Tech Summit, aimed at helping the climate ecosystem move faster.
Now it’s nearly five months later, and the Climate Tech 100 list financials are due for an update. Thanks to the strength of the companies on the list as well as a powerful surge in climate tech venture investing, the financials for the 100 have taken a big step forward.
The SOSV Climate Tech 100 aggregate value has jumped from $5.7 billion to over $8.1 billion, an increase of 44%.
Total investment in the 100 increased $508 million to reach $2.36 billion, an increase of nearly 28%.
SOSV topped off its investments with $13.8M to reach $103 million, an increase of 15.5%.
25 startups on the list raised new funding. The largest contributors to the jump in valuation were major raises at NotCo, Formlabs, and R-Zero.
NotCo is a food technology company that uses AI to create new food formulations for animal-based product replacements like milk, mayonnaise and more. They raised $235 million in a round led by Tiger Global. NotCo graduated from SOSV’s IndieBio and is the program’s first unicorn.
Formlabs is a pioneer in 3D printing and has been growing steadily, developing new products, materials and market opportunities. It raised $150M in a Softbank-led round.
R-Zero provides UV-based disinfection systems for buildings that dramatically reduces the use of chemical disinfectants. It raised $41.5M in a round led by World Innovation Lab. R-Zero graduated from SOSV’s hard tech program HAX.
Aside from those three frontrunners, SOSV’s food and ag portfolio continued to grow quickly, and manufacturing-related startups picked up momentum as well. The Climate Tech sector in 2021 overall has been on a tear, with more money invested in more startups than ever, about $16b across close to 250 venture deals in 1H2021, according to research from Climate Tech VC.
We look forward to watching all the companies in the climate tech category continue to grow strongly in the months ahead. Please join us at the virtual (and free) SOSV Climate Tech Summit to hear from the top investors and founders across the ecosystem who are working hard to make a difference for our planet’s well-being. | https://medium.com/sosv/sosv-climate-tech-100-startups-value-grows-by-44-in-5-months-45d50662efd7 | ['Benjamin Joffe'] | 2021-09-14 15:02:45.081000+00:00 | ['Green Energy', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Climate Change', 'Climatetech', 'Cleantech'] |
How to Take a Massive Leap Forward in Your Writing Through One Simple Exercise | As a historian of alternative spirituality, I strive to understand people who lived by unusual and sometimes misunderstood ideas. I study figures, from occultists to Satanists to positive-thinkers, whose inner lights, depending on your perspective, can seem bizarre, brilliant or some mixture of the two. Navigating this unsettled terrain requires a balance of respect and critical judgment.
In finding my voice as a historical writer, I benefited years ago from an exercise that I am convinced can help anyone to write and express a point of view more clearly and persuasively.
This simple and revelatory exercise came to me from an MacArthur-winning essayist and social critic. First, identify a piece of critical writing that you admire — perhaps an essay, article or review — but above all, something that captures the vitality and discrimination that you would like to bring to the page. Then, recopy it by hand.
The act of copying a piece by hand — not on a device— reveals the innards and guts of what the writer is doing. Writing with pencil and paper compels you to become mentally and even physically involved in dissecting the work. You gain new perspective on how the writer says things, how he uses examples and evidence, how each word maximizes his meaning, and how he either discloses details or saves them for later.
One piece that I have personally used in this exercise is a complex yet straightforward obituary of the controversial writer and explorer Heinrich Harrer, written by New York Times reporter Douglas Martin.
Harrer, who died in 2006, was a complicated and disturbing man. As a friend of the Dalai Lama’s and the author of the 1953 memoir Seven Years in Tibet, Harrer helped open the Western world to a realization of Tibetan culture and its endangerment under Chinese rule. Several years before Harrer’s death, however, it came to light that the Austrian mountaineer had enlisted in the Nazi storm troopers in 1933 — while they were still illegal in Austria — and five years later joined Hitler’s SS. Harrer insisted that he committed no atrocities and wore his Nazi uniform only once, on his wedding day. The author’s conflicting roles — as storm trooper and the chronicler of a threatened culture — were hauntingly asymmetrical.
Martin’s obituary handled the matter with remarkable grace and effectiveness, featuring one of the best opening sentences I know in any journalistic profile:
Heinrich Harrer, a swashbuckling explorer who told of his magical life of conquering the world’s highest peaks and tutoring the young Dalai Lama when Tibet seemed as exotic as Mars, only to have news of his Nazi past mar his final years, died Jan 7 in Friesach, Austria.
In copying Martin’s piece, I could see his diplomacy of tone (not one histrionic word), his use of dramatic yet graspable imagery (“exotic as Mars”), and his fearlessness of the long sentences necessary to capture the switchbacks of Harrer’s career.
There is a brilliance in a good writer’s word choices that no exercise can fully capture. But writing, like musical composition, is dissectible so that its connective joints and tissues can be seen.
I used this exercise to analyze a piece of sports writing about the All-Star pitcher Barry Zito, whose training regimen included spiritual and motivational exercises (topics of deep interest to me). The 2003 New York Times article, “A Pitcher Outside the Curve“ by Jack Curry, displayed the freedom of the writer’s choices. Curry eschewed a linear framework and bounced from topic to topic, but always with sound transitions and conjoining thoughts. The writer trusted his associative instincts.
Hand-copying Curry’s article gave me a sense of how to structure a piece according to my own affinities and priorities. In fact, a profile I wrote about Zito in 2003, shortly after discovering the Curry piece, reinvigorated my own passion for writing — and led me to focus on metaphysical history, which resulted in my first two books, Occult America (Bantam, 2009) and One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life (Crown, 2014), and several beyond.
I used this exercise more recently with a different kind of writing. I recopied an advertisement from 1965 in which the ad man David Ogilvy argued for the virtues of Reader’s Digest. Ogilvy had perfected a form of copy-writing that is little-seen today: full-page, essay-length ads.
These broadsides, sometimes bylined but often not, were a familiar presence in the glossy magazines of the 1960s and ’70s, expounding on the merits of Volkswagen Beetles, Hathaway Shirts, Guinness Stout — and, in Ogilvy’s hands, Reader’s Digest. As a pioneer of the essay format, Ogilvy insisted on two qualities in such ads: 1) they supply research-driven, factual information and 2) they demonstrate stylistic excellence. Ogilvy excelled on both counts. The ad man was a master of honorable persuasion, unlike his more manipulative contemporary Edward Bernays.
Ogilvy’s essay is reprinted in his book Ogilvy on Advertising, a work I recommend not only to writers but especially to book editors (a field in which I worked for nearly thirty years). It is a master class in how to write excellent flap and backcover copy, one of the few remaining forms of the essay-length advertisement that Ogilvy pioneered. Anyone who thinks that flap copy isn’t advertising doesn’t belong in publishing.
Ogilvy’s defense of Reader’s Digest demonstrates how to support your claims with honest framing of the opposing side’s position and with calmly stated counter-specifics. (Imagine that in today’s world.) A typical passage reads:
Some highbrows may look down their noses at The Digest, charging it with superficiality and over-simplification. There is a modicum of justice in this charge; you can learn more about the Congo if you read about it in Foreign Affairs Quarterly, and you can learn more about Abraham Lincoln in Carl Sandburg’s books about him. But have you time?
I believe Ogilvy’s work should be studied today by anyone engaged in any form of written communication, whether artistic or advertising-oriented — and the two forms overlap more often than commonly thought. Earlier I mentioned flap copy. This is also true for fundraising appeals, grant applications, book proposals, and exhibition catalogues.
Finally, the overall aim of this writing exercise is not to be imitative. It is to strengthen your own voice and methods. By dissecting how good writers make their way through a topic you will recognize certain things that you’re already doing — and that may require improving — and other things that you’re not doing. Determining how an effective writer assembles his or her work— by dissecting and reassembling that work — opens you to a new world of possibilities.
(An earlier version of this essay appeared in HuffPost.) | https://mitch-horowitz-nyc.medium.com/how-to-take-a-massive-leap-forward-in-your-writing-through-one-simple-exercise-4424fb806463 | ['Mitch Horowitz'] | 2020-12-27 17:11:08.014000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Writing', 'Publishing', 'Books', 'Writing Tips'] |
Productivity & Procrastination | Illustrated by Maitreyee Kalaskar
2020 started out very different for me & I guess for all of us — January was far too long. January felt like a year of its own & still felt like I didn’t accomplish anything. A lot of my projects were continued & many of my clients came back, which I am super grateful for. I’ve been an Independent designer & illustrator since 2018 & it has been a great journey so far but this freedom comes at a cost. Being solo means there is really no one to keep you accountable.
I can be crazy productive for hours & can slack off at the next moment. Being an independent creative or a freelancer gives me huge advantage freedom, I can schedule my own meetings at my own leisure, pick which work I want to do first & if I can go get a coffee in a cafe. I started taking advantage of it & slacked off more & worked less, but in the end, I love my work — I missed it & I felt useless.
Mental Health! Yes, it suffers the most here. For me Productivity & Procrastination go hand in hand it’s just the matter of which gets the most time. I have kept myself accountable for so long & I felt the need for something that can do it for me. I have found great friends along the way who has done that job for me & I really felt blessed. BUT is it really their job to do so?
I recently checked my mobile’s most-used apps, and I was shocked!
What my stats showed me - How much time I spent on Social Media!
How can someone keep themselves accountable?
Mute all notification alerts (even vibration alerts) If you have a light blink alert for notifications, I suggest you switch that off too. Start using Do Not Disturb. (It’s the Best) Just putting my phone into it’s most minimalistic mode made me productive at that second.
Making your phone work for you & not the other way around is so important. Blocking apps for your laptop:
Yes! I started using a Chrome extension called Cold Turkey. It blocks the sites that I am addicted to for example YouTube. I can tell it to block it for an hour & it will do so. Once I block it, I cannot unblock it manually, the app will do it on its own after an hour or the timings you set for it. There are many such other applications that you can use for you to stop using certain websites during your work period.
I have come across these two methods for now but If both of these doesn’t work, you may give this responsibility to a close friend. I have also put up on my Instagram stories that keep me accountable for posting an illustration or an article. A friend of mine posted it to his story by tagging more people, which gave me a sense of pressure which I needed at the time.
I also find that having good time management can help too. Apps & planners can help you immensely in this matter. I wrote an article on my blog regarding which apps have helped me the most in 2019! Go check it here: Apps to Organize your Digital Space in 2020
Your phone is not a bad thing, it can help you out if you allow it to. In today’s world, Social Media make or break careers & to use it right can take time. But how much is too much depends on person to person. Let’s hope I can bring it down a bit. I wish you good luck if you are trying to keep your phone’s use to its minimum.
If you like this post, share it with your friends. Don’t hesitate to say Hi to me here:
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behance.net/Maitreyee_kal | https://medium.com/@maitreyee_kal/productivity-procrastination-f6b15a665018 | ['Maitreyee Kalaskar'] | 2020-02-10 16:09:17.420000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Illustration', 'Graphic Design', 'Design', 'Procrastination'] |
How to ensure effective supplier feedback in procurement | Difrent | How to ensure effective supplier feedback in procurement
Image of a handshake Photo credit.
“That supplier was really good at the beginning.” “Suppliers are the enemy.” “We don’t like them.” “They are out to get as much money out of us as possible.”
This is not the view shared by all buyers, but I know from experience there is often a battle between buyer and supplier, and this battle is through a lack of trust; a wariness that a supplier is there to squeeze as much money out of an organisation whilst delivering as little as possible against the contract.
It is a shame when situations do get to this stage, but I often feel this is why a buyer is reluctant, scared, or simply not willing to provide feedback to a supplier following the award of a contract.
I love people, and I love talking to people, so interaction with a supplier is already within my sweet spot. I’m all up for engaging in the pre-procurement stage, during the procurement, and post-award, so you could say the whole process. I’m not proud, and not afraid to admit I don’t know everything. In order to improve my knowledge, I will spend time with suppliers, understand their product and how they can help the organisation I’m supporting get the right quality at the right price, at the right time.
However, there is often a reluctance from a buyer to engage with suppliers, to be open and honest with them, and this is especially true when it comes to providing supplier feedback.
At this stage, I’d like to remind myself and those reading this, that embedded into public sector procurement is the idea of being open, fair, and transparent. If a buyer is not engaging with suppliers in an effective way, then how can it be all of those things; open, fair and transparent?
There are obviously varying degrees of openness, but a buyer who is not engaging and speaking to a supplier could be perceived as being closed and withholding information. Is this fair then? Well of course it isn’t. Be open with a supplier and you will get a better response.
It’s like me telling one of my daughters where we keep the pens so she can do her homework, and not her sister. It provides an obvious advantage and disadvantage to both, thus I don’t think I need to answer whether it is transparent — of course, it isn’t.
I want to focus on supplier feedback, specifically at the end of the tender process. You’ve gone to market, you’ve got a load of responses, you’ve scored them individually, you’ve moderated, you may, or may not have had a supplier beauty parade, (sorry supplier presentation), and you’re ready to award.
You go through the suppliers’ scores, and the feedback you’ve duly got from the scorers, and you write the corresponding letters to the relevant suppliers.
Public Contract Regulations (PCR) 2015 is very clear what you should include in this document. Provision 86 — Notice of decisions to award a contract or conclude a framework agreement — states:
“…a contracting authority shall send to each candidate and tenderer a notice communicating its decision to award the contract or conclude the framework agreement. Content of notices Where it is to be sent to a tenderer, the notice…shall include- a) the criteria for the award of the contract; b) the reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful tender, the score (if any) obtained by- (i)the tenderer which is to receive the notice; and (ii)the tenderer- (aa)to be awarded the contract, or (bb)to become a party to the framework agreement…
x(c)the name of the tenderer-
(i)to be awarded the contract, or (ii)to become a party to the framework agreement; and”
This is all very legalese and technical speak, but in reality folks, this clearly states what a buyer should provide to a supplier. I have edited this a tiny bit, and haven’t included the whole provision, but this should be the exemplar all buyers are looking to achieve. In a previous blog I spoke about agile procurement and how it is nothing new, but a standard of procurement which all professional buyers should strive to reach. This is the minimum standard when providing feedback to suppliers on how well they did. This is not something to aspire to, but something which should form part of your day to day process.
I would stress that all buyers should go one further, and this will scare a lot of them; talk through the feedback and meet (in a post-COVID world) with them.
Suppliers really do appreciate it.
In recent procurements that Difrent have supported the British Psychological Society in, we have provided feedback to suppliers in the form of a letter, and also offered the chance to talk through the feedback. Not all suppliers took us up on that offer, but the ones which did were generally the suppliers who showed a genuine interest in the opportunity and were keen to improve.
Apart from the thanks we got, everyone one of them would say “thank you so much for doing this, we never normally get this level of feedback.” This makes me embarrassed as a member of the Procurement industry.
I just assumed (because it was instilled in me from day one) that all buying organisations give constructive feedback; simply treating others as you’d like to be treated.
It would appear not, and I have a call to action for my Procurement comrades — you should offer this.
Yes it is scary, yes it will take you out of your comfort zone, but it is the right thing to do.
It shows the value you put in a supplier relationship and it will encourage those suppliers to bid again in the future.
Now, I can hear Procurement professionals everywhere shouting, “but how can you document this?”, “what if we say something which we’re not supposed to say.” These, and others, are valid concerns and questions.
My response is for you to document everything. Make notes of the conversations. Share the truth of the reasons as to why the successful organisation got the score they got; and why the unsuccessful organisation got the score they got. Revert back to PCR and focus on the relative advantages of the successful tender. If the process has been followed correctly, and the scorers have provided pukka feedback against their scores, and you have made the relevant recording of this rationale in your moderation, then there will be no problems.
In summary; my tips to ensure supplier feedback happens and is effective are:
1) Record everything — keep records of tender submissions so you can speak to a supplier’s responses if need be
2) Feedback — ensure that all stakeholders who are scoring the submissions understand the process, understand how to score, and provide all their feedback when they provide their scores
3) Moderated feedback — when you run the moderation session to achieve a single score for each question, ensure that the reasons for that score are recorded, as this will help you with the relative advantages of the winning bid
4) Be positive and be true — there is nothing wrong, or scary even, in providing feedback to suppliers. Stick to the truth and be confident that you are providing feedback based on the process and this can only help suppliers in the future
And finally, we should all be at a stage whereby this is a standard form of the Procurement process, not something which is a surprise to suppliers and definitely not something we are striving to reach.
I will be the first to admit that it can be scary.
The first time I did it I was petrified.
But I followed the advice of this blog, and I had support from my manager and learned colleagues.
Trust me, this will make you a better procurement professional and your suppliers will like you more.
After all, who doesn’t like to know that they are doing better? | https://medium.com/@difrent/how-to-ensure-effective-supplier-feedback-in-procurement-difrent-1e684c3c76be | [] | 2020-12-11 20:32:34.477000+00:00 | ['Tenders', 'Procurement Management', 'Feedback', 'Procurement', 'Suppliers'] |
Migrating from Oracle 2 Snowflake: Part 4 | This blog is in continuation of my previous blog Migrating from Oracle 2 Snowflake: Part 3, I would like to continue sharing further my experience migrating from Oracle to Snowflake.
Note: This is more to give an idea on what challenges one can face during Oracle to Snowflake migration. All suggestion & expression are my own, and it had no relation with my employer(past / present).
Now that we if you are following my previous 3 blogs now you had clear approach how we want to approach for Object & Data Migration.
Now it's time to set up our application flow for day to day processing. Since our application is depending on file incoming from source system on various interval, we are loosely couple from our source application. Even if we don't process incoming file for a couple of days, we can survive as we are not customer facing active application, rather our data are more used to make decision.
As we had proposed, the new architecture using Azure blog and Snowflake snowpipe for all incremental load. We created an input folder with event hub setup. On snowflake end we created Snowpipe which is listening to storage event trigger. We set up the file format, external stage, blob security and ready to ingest data the moment our ETL (Python) put something on Azure blob. Earlier PERL script was more used for file processing and SP calling as business logic was kept inside Oracle database. While migrating to Snowflake, we leverage the PYTHON programming language to push the business logic from database to ETL layer. As anyway, we are utilizing this logic via ETL layer, so we are not facing any difference in behavior.
All our code changes are part of Azure Repo GIT and all our CI/CD was set up using Azure Pipelines.
On Go live day, we put freeze on existing application processing, we already converted the table DDL beforehand and get this deployed in Snowflake using Azure pipelines. Mass data was loaded using our native approach. Data Validation was kicked off post data load. Once data is validated, we scheduled our ETL(Python) scripts to start ingesting data from source path and push that down to Azure blob storage.
And the magic started and thing started working as we had planned.
Now, this may feel simple when I am writing this blog or while you are reading this blog, but it is always challenging to segregate the required steps and keep in correct sequence. I must appreciate my team for working hard on this and helped me to deliver this program.
Hope this blog help you to get insight on how we can migrate from Oracle to Snowflake. Feel free to ask a question in the comment section if you have any doubts regarding this. Give a clap if you like the blog. Stay connected to see many more such cool stuff. Thanks for your support.
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References:- | https://medium.com/@rajivgupta780184/migrating-from-oracle-2-snowflake-part-4-997de45a3ec9 | ['Rajiv Gupta'] | 2021-07-10 11:39:00.415000+00:00 | ['Oracle', 'Guides And Tutorials', 'Snowflake', 'Migration', 'Snow'] |
Exchase project, A good projects to end 2020 | At the end of 2020, there are many new projects released and as usual, they all look the same. Almost 70% of the projects released this month are Defi projects, I’m tired of seeing them. But from the many new projects released this month, I see a different project. The project was Exchase.io, a pretty strange Fintech project. The project focuses on the financial sector, especially on Crypto Trading. What makes it a bit strange is that these projects look like Defi but they are not Defi projects.
Exchase is registered and licensed. They have permission to operate as a general company. So they are not one of financial decentralization. They comply with the rules and surely they will become the authority that fully governs their platform. Even though there is no decentralization, doesn’t mean it is not transparent. This is the function of blockchain technology. Exchase still respects anonymity, but they will still abide by the rules. This aims so that their companies can establish partners with mainstream companies.
Then what makes exchase look like Defi?
On exchase platform, you can trade spot, margin, futures, or become anonymous by using DEX. you can trade Crypto or forex freely on the exchase platform. Or if you need funds, you can borrow them on the exchase platform with your crypto as the guarantee. You can also use exchase to pay for services or goods at merchants that work together with exchase.
With the help of smartcontrac, all this can be done easily. Exchase platforms already support android and iOS smartphones, they can also be accessed through the website. This means exchase can be accessed from various devices. Coupled with an easy-to-understand interface and support from different languages around the world makes their platform looks perfect.
As I said earlier, users later will be able to pay for services and goods. all this can be done because exchase will issue debit cards. This card has different limits depending on the user’s transactions on the Exchase platform.
Another advantage of exchase platforms is the speed at which they process transactions. They guarantee that their platform is capable of processing Exchase capable of processing about 2 million requests per second. According to exchase’s team of analysts, it is optimal to ensure high transaction processing speeds without the need to deploy additional capacity that will end up idle.
Everything above is all good, but without good security, it’s all meaningless. That’s why exchase is committed to creating a safe platform. they create special encrypted storage places to store Assets and their users’ data. And periodically conduct tests to ensure their platform is safe. With security systems that are constantly updated over time, they are confident they can minimize the potential for hacking.
Arguably Exchase is a great platform, they have everything the crypto community needs right now. With this integrated platform, they are one step ahead of the existing fintech platforms today.
Exchase can read the situation, the founders and developers of this project as if they can read the crypto market situation for next year. They released their platform at the right time. at a time when bitcoin, ethereum, and other altcoins are on the rise. The market is on bull and this makes the situation a little better for new projects. So they have an added hope of success.
Then do I recommend the project?
I think it’s up to you how you deal with it. If you’re tired of projects that look the same, trying new things like the Exchase project isn’t a bad thing. And I think if exchase can attract as many users as possible and their platform has at least liquidity above 50 million maybe this can be a profitable investment. Imagine if the volume of transactions on their platform was so high, this could be a new force in the crypto market.
That’s all my assessment of the exchase project, this project is indeed promising as long as the development team focuses on their development and promotion on target.
For those of you who are interested in this project, you can go to their website, or have a live discussion with the dev and people who are interested in this project their telegram group. I will include the link below. | https://medium.com/@rinaldipedia-com/exchase-project-a-good-projects-to-end-2020-1064204d6d4e | ['Septiani Rinaldia'] | 2020-12-23 14:47:43.284000+00:00 | ['Altcoins', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Exchange', 'Fintech'] |
What are Q-Q plots? | In real-world scenarios for data analysis, one of the most important parts is to draw conclusions from the available data. As data collection can be a very costly affair a lot of times, trying to fit the available handful data points as a part of a well known and analyzed distribution can be an effective method to apply pre-defined inferences.
One such method to check whether the available dataset follows a distribution is plotting Quartile-Quartile Plot, popularly known as Q-Q plots. For the ease of understanding, the following explanation will check whether the data available is Normally distributed or not.
Steps to plot a Q-Q graph
The first step towards determining if the data follows Normal Distribution or not is computing the percentiles.
Consider we have a set X with the following data points:
The first step is to make a list sorted in ascending order for the values of x as:
After we arranged the list of all the data points in an ascending ordered list, we need to compute the percentile values for the above list and obtain percentile values for the same(in this scenario, we took 100 percentile values).
Now, we need to get a set which is Normally Distributed (for the sake of this example) as follows and compute the percentiles for this list similar to the set X.
such that the mean for this distribution is 0 and the variance is 1.
We have obtained the list of 100 values for both the sets(ordered X percentiles and theoretical quantiles from Y). Considering the first list as the list of x coordinates and the second as y coordinate, we will plot these points on a graph. This graph is known as Q-Q graph.
Drawing Inference
If the points plotted on the graph lie on a straight line, then we can easily conclude that both the sets of data have similar distribution (In this case we can say that X is Normally Distributed)
Limitation
One of the major limitations for this method is that we need to have huge data points, as making a conclusion on fewer data would not be a wise decision.
Conclusion
This concept can be extended to test any data by replacing the Y set with the desired distribution. The recognition of the distribution can be very useful for drawing already studied inferences about the data. | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/what-are-q-q-plots-9c85a0bd7a14 | ['Prafful Mishra'] | 2019-05-24 07:03:26.944000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Mathematics', 'Statistics', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Data Visualization'] |
The Dying Breaths of Toxic Masculinity: We Can Do Better For Our Children | The Dying Breaths of Toxic Masculinity: We Can Do Better For Our Children Alexandria Savage Mar 11·6 min read
A situation happened to my son several weeks ago and I have spent much time since then processing, reflecting, asking questions, and discussing it with others, as well as talking through it with my son so that he understands what happened. Not to convince me that I was right or validate my feelings, but I was truly curious if this was a normal or accepted attitude in other households. I also want to be clear that in sharing this my intention is to spark conversation and discussion, perhaps let us all reflect a little on the things we come to believe as “normal” in society. I am not sharing this to shame or belittle anyone, or to say that my viewpoint is the only valid one out there.
My son is five years old and has always been a child in touch with his emotions. I have never discouraged this; in fact, I have done quite the opposite. I grew up in a family environment where we were not encouraged to share our feelings, were not encouraged to discuss things that were too controversial lest we ruffle some feathers or “upset” someone. I remember what it felt like in the heavy silence of those moments and I always wondered why it was so much easier for some people to pretend they didn’t feel anything, to pretend like nothing bothers them and go on with their daily life with their “heads in the sand.”
For this reason (amongst others I am sure), I was not too popular in my family back then and many times, I am still not. I am unafraid to question traditions or call out problematic behavior, even my own.
So, a few weeks back, it was bedtime for my son. He listens to classical music at bedtime to help him relax and calm. This particular night, moments after leaving his room I hear him sobbing. I am on the phone with his Stepmom at the time and I sit down on his bed, we both talk to him and try to figure out what is going on. What he was upset about though, is not the point here so I will not get into that.
Seeing the level of upset he was, my son’s Stepmom goes to grab his Dad from the next room over and he sits down in front of the phone on FaceTime, I am not prepared for the words that come out of his mouth: “First of all, you need to sit down and man up right now.”
I was instantly every emotion; I was shocked, aghast, confused (did I hear what I think I just heard?), and positively ENRAGED.
Immediately, I launched into a counterattack. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??!!!?!! DID YOU REALLY JUST TELL OUR FIVE-YEAR-OLD SON TO “MAN UP”???!!!!!????!!!!
The insensitivity of it, the dismissiveness; I was livid.
It wasn’t until later after the flames of rage had calmed and I was able to think a little more critically, that I realized this isn’t simply a problem I’m having with my co-parent. This is a byproduct of the toxic masculinity that has plagued our society, our families, and our men for centuries. This is the attitude that suggests having emotions, a normal and necessary human function, is not only wrong for boys and men but that it is wrong because it is somehow feminine. The phrase “man up” suggests that men are not meant to have emotions or at the very least, that they aren’t to express them.
I know I can’t speak for everyone in this, but I think it is safe to say that most of us have at least once, seen the consequences of this attitude play out in less than savory ways: that angry drunk guy at the bar who has to be thrown out because he becomes belligerent after one too many, the abusive spouse who was never made to feel safe as a child and explodes in rage as an adult, the man who hasn’t spoken to his son for years over a disagreement because he is too proud or stubborn to be the one that “folds.”
These men were not born ashamed of their feelings, our society and the toxic beliefs of ultimate masculinity have done this. They were not taught how to work through and regulate their emotions. For them, the damage has been done, and unless they are able to realize this and seek out therapy to work through the harmful belief system, not much will change.
What we can do though, is learn from this and do better for our children. From my conversations with other parents, mental health advocates, and community friends, here are some of the points I would like to share with you about why the belief that boys and men should not show their emotions can be damaging to your child, as well as your relationship with them.
When your child is confiding in you or trusting you with their feelings, the last thing you want to do is say something that invalidates their feelings and leaves them wondering if something is wrong with them or the way they reacted. This can really degrade the trust between you and your child over time, especially as they get older and their problems become more emotional. (Hello, teenagers!)
2. Simply put, treating children with respect teaches them respect.
3. You are losing a teachable moment, and wasting a chance at not only increasing their emotional intelligence but yours too
4. Emotions are normal. Emotions are normal. Emotions are normal.
5. When kids (or anyone) are upset, they need love and support, not scolding or shaming, regardless of the intention.
6. Believing that emotions are bad or negative breeds shame and encourages children to hold their feelings in, something that can have astronomical effects on their adult lives, careers, and relationships. Many people out of touch with their own emotions struggle with substance abuse, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, anger problems, difficulties with intimacy, and more.
These are only a few examples, I know there are countless ways this way of thinking has damaged our society, but the one thing I think we can agree on is that it can end with us.
We know better. We can choose better.
On that note, I have a few book recommendations to add on for anyone interested in reading further. Again, I know there are so many books on parenting. These are a few I have read myself that came highly praised by other parents and professionals in my circle.
The 5 Love Languages of Children, Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell
The Whole-Brain Child, Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., & Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
Parenting With Love And Logic, Foster Cline & Jim Fay
Brain Stages: How To Raise Smart, Confident Kids And Have Fun Doing It, Patricia Wilkinson & Jaqueline Frischknect, Ph.D. | https://medium.com/@TheMidwestMystic/the-dying-breaths-of-toxic-masculinity-we-can-do-better-for-our-children-519ba7482542 | ['Alexandria Savage'] | 2021-03-11 15:18:58.937000+00:00 | ['Positive Psychology', 'Toxic Masculinity', 'Positive Parenting', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting'] |
The Unexpected Life | Photo by Zoriana Stakhniv on Unsplash
Later, he slowly rubbed her name from his wedding ring, and later, he left his ring off forever because he found a fancy word, “mutual divorce.” She was left in shock for days because all these years she stayed with him with the hope that he would change and they will get a happy life.
Now she hears the separation words from him. He gradually separated his family from her as a result. Soon she realized he has cooked up a strong story to portray her very bad so that no one would bad mouth about him. She lost even her family due to his made-up tale because, in his stories, she was a stubborn, selfless person and cheating on him.
He turned into a furious animal day by day with physical and verbal abuse, accusing her of affairs. All these were more than she could bear. Her son held every time she thought of leaving him. “He will live without a father.” That thought had her into Joseph until her thirteen-year-old son told her;
“He doesn’t even deserve your tears. Why are you still sticking on to him.”
But she couldn’t leave him for some reason that even she couldn’t understand. She wrote every burden from her heart into papers and sent them to me. Every time I opened her letters, I always had a heavy heart. All she wanted was to live a happy life with peace, a simple life with three of them.
“Hopeless, helpless, walking dead robot,” was how she explained herself to me the last time I saw her.
Later, I did not receive any letter from her for an extended period may be for more than six months. And suddenly, I got a call from her, but I ignored it because I was involved in my kid’s examination periods. I was going to talk to her later, which turned into never. Soon after three or four weeks, I got the news,
“Bella has died, and it was a suicide!” I was in shock for a moment.
I couldn’t believe my ears. I called everyone to know what has happened. And I got the answer, a small fever resulted in finding out her son suffering from Leukaemia, and he had only a few days left. He was the only hope for her, and she lived only for her son. She couldn’t take the news of her son being sick.
She decided to end her life before her son because she thought she couldn’t see him leaving her. Her last moments in the world were briefed into drug overdose.
I came to know this from the previous letter I received from her after a few weeks from her demise. I couldn’t complete the letter because I regret the very moment I ignored her call. I could have helped her in living or made any changes to her. If I have picked up her call, I might have her now. I don’t know.
All these regretting thoughts haunt me still now. On the other hand, Joseph has started a new life. Being a widower who a lost a son has gained a lot of sympathies and a new life.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
It’s been two years since her demise. But the missed call from her, that I ignored is my nightmare. What if I was her only hope? What if I could have saved her. All I hope now is may God grand her heaven and join her with her son for a happy life in heaven. | https://medium.com/the-virago/the-unexpected-life-99a1467b97ae | ['Eternal Sunshine'] | 2020-09-22 13:43:25.115000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Suicide', 'Mental Health', 'Abuse', 'Nonfiction'] |
Vue Ecosystem | What Is Vue?
Vue is a progressive framework for building user interfaces. It is designed from the ground, and can easily be a library and a framework depending on your goals. It consists of a core library that focuses on the view layer and an ecosystem of supporting libraries. Vue was created by Evan You. He created Vue as a progressive JavaScript framework and a performant alternative to Angular.
Vue took the best features of other libraries such as two-way data binding & directives from Angular, virtual DOM implementation, templating syntax from React. Besides, the setup is quite simple. These factors make using Vue.js very comfortable. Seems like it has the purpose to become a JavaScript framework of choice.
State Of Vue:
Vue continues to grow in popularity and is rapidly being adopted by many developers, and Vue.js tools are popping up everywhere. This is not without reason: Vue’s shallow learning curve, clear functionality-driven structure, and excellent documentation make it easy for novices to pick it up, and for more experienced developers to make a switch from other frameworks like React or Angular.
As you can see in the states, VueJS is in 2nd place with 16.4% amongst the top 5 most wanted web frameworks. It is gaining huge popularity.
Recently, its popularity on GitHub (~ 181k stars) and npm registry (~1,925,903 weekly downloads) have reached the point where it has crossed React and Angular by a fair margin. Also, It is used by big companies such as Gitlab, Alibaba, Xiaomi, Adobe, Euronews, Nintendo, Grammarly, Codeship, Behance, and many more.
In comparison to React and Angular, where Facebook and Google back their frameworks respectively and are entirely responsible for the development of their framework, Vue is truly a rising gem in the open-source software (OSS) community without any big corporation setting its agenda.
Vue Ecosystem:
Vue has come a long way from where it started to become a full-fledged framework.
If you are working with Vue, sooner or later you’ll get to use some fundamental tools and libraries which stand out from the crowd. Using them will level up your work scenario, and help you develop Vue based project with ease.
It has a rich ecosystem of official core libraries, great developer tooling support, a galaxy of third party plugins, developer tutorials, and a matured ecosystem of related VueJS UI Component Libraries and frameworks, such as Vuetify, BootstrapVue, Element, Quasar, and many more which you may want to pick and choose based on the needs of your application.
Some of the core Vue libraries:
It is the official router for Vue.js. It makes building Single Page Applications with Vue.js more simple.
Vuex is a state management pattern + library for Vue.js applications. It serves as a centralized store for all the components in an application, with rules ensuring that the state can only be mutated in a predictable fashion.
It is a loader that allows you to make Vue components in a format called Single-File Components (SFCs). The combination of webpack and Vue-loader gives you a modern, flexible, and extremely powerful front-end workflow for authoring Vue.js applications.
Vue-server-renderer facilitates the building of isomorphic or universal JavaScript applications that runs both on the server and client-side where the majority of the application code is shared.
It is the official unit testing utility library for Vue.js.
It is a Browser dev tools extension for debugging Vue.js applications.
Vue Component Library
Vuetify is a Vue UI Library with beautifully handcrafted Components using the Material Design specification. It consists of UI guidelines for shapes, cards, interactions, depth effects such as shadows and lights, and more. Furthermore, there is no need for design skills required, as everything you need to create amazing applications is at your fingertips.
You can check Materio Vuetify Vuejs Admin Dashboard Template. It is the latest most developer-friendly 🤘🏻 & highly customizable✨ Admin Dashboard Template based on Vuetify.
Besides, the highest industry standards are considered to bring you one of the best Vuetify admin templates that are not just fast 🚀 and easy to use, but highly scalable.
Features:
Enables beauty for graphically challenged devs
Wide range of components and active development
Easy integration
New age components
Not tied to jQuery
Bootstrap Vue uses Bootstrap components with Vue. It helps you to build responsive, mobile-first projects. It is a combination of Vue.js and the world’s most popular front-end CSS library, Bootstrap. Bootstrap Vue is a tool in the Front-End Frameworks category of a tech stack. BootstrapVue brings the power of Bootstrap to Vue. It makes all Bootstrap elements, such as rows, columns, and cards, available as Vue components.
You can check Vuexy Vuejs Admin Template for instance which is made using Bootstrap Vue. Vuexy is the most developer-friendly, highly customizable, and multipurpose admin template that also comes with Angular, React, HTML+Laravel, Vue+Laravel versions as well. You can make awesome web apps using this template.
Bootstrap Vue Features:
Easily themable
ARIA Accessibility out of the box
Active development
Not tied to jQuery
Customizable via SASS variables
Element is a Vue 2.0 based component library for developers, designers, and product managers, with a set of design resources. It is a tool in the Cross-Platform Desktop Development category of a tech stack. Besides, it is build to be used for Web and Desktop apps.
Quasar is a high-performance Material Design component suite with builders for SPA, SSR, PWA, Mobile (Cordova & Capacitor), Desktop (Electron), and Browser extensions. This allows you as a web developer to quickly create responsive websites/apps in many flavors. It is focused on following Material 2.0.
Features:
Performance-focused framework
Provides built-in SSR (Server-side Rendered App) support
PWAs (Progressive Web App)
BEX (Browser Extension)
Mobile Apps (Android, iOS) through Cordova or Capacitor
Conclusion:
So, here we discussed Vue Ecosystem. There are core Vue library and component library which are very helpful while working with VueJS.
We hope you find this article insightful. Feedbacks are welcome. So, do tell us if we missed out any. | https://medium.com/js-dojo/vue-ecosystem-979773a9bf54 | [] | 2021-08-20 14:37:38.752000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Web Developer', 'Vuejs', 'Vue', 'Web App Development'] |
Genome Assembly — The Holy Grail of Genome Analysis | Genome Assembly — The Holy Grail of Genome Analysis
Assembling the 2019 novel coronavirus genome
The 2019 novel coronavirus or coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has threatened the entire world at present. Scientists are working day and night to understand the origin of COVID-19. You may have heard the news recently that the complete genome of COVID-19 has been published. How did scientists figure out the complete genome of COVID-19? In this article, I will explain how we can do this.
Genome
A genome is considered as all the genetic material, including all the genes of an organism. The genome contains all the information of an organism that is required to build and maintain it.
Sequencing
How can we read the information present in the genome? This is where sequencing comes into action. Assuming you have read my previous article on DNA analysis, you know that sequencing is used to determine the sequence of individual genes, full chromosomes or entire genomes of an organism.
Fig 1. A PacBio sequencing machine. PacBio is a third-generation sequencing technology which produces long reads. Image by KENNETH RODRIGUES from Pixabay (CC0)
Special machines, known as sequencing machines are used to extract short random sequences from the genome we are interested in. Current sequencing technologies cannot read the whole genome at once. It reads small pieces of mean length between 50–300 bases (next-generation sequencing/short reads) or 10,000-20,000 bases (third-generation sequencing/ long reads), depending on the technology used. These short pieces are called reads.
If you want to know more details about how viral genomes are sequenced from clinical samples, you can read the following articles.
Genome Assembly
Once we have small pieces of the genome, we have to combine (assemble) them together based on their overlap information and build the complete genome. This process is called assembly. Assembly is like solving a jigsaw puzzle. Special software tools called assemblers are used to assemble these reads according to how they overlap, in order to generate continuous strings called contigs. These contigs can be the whole genome itself, or parts of the genome (as shown in Figure 2).
Fig 2. Sequencing and assembly
Assemblers are divided into two categories as,
De novo assemblers: assemble without the use of reference genomes (E.g.: SPAdes, SGA, MEGAHIT, Velvet, Canu and Flye). Reference guided assemblers: assemble by mapping sequences to reference genomes
Two Main Types of Assemblers
Two main types of assemblers can be found across bioinformatics literature. The first type is the overlap-layout-consenses (OLC) method. In OLC method, first, we determine all the overlaps between the reads. Then we layout all the reads and overlaps in the form of a graph. Finally, we identify the consensus sequence. SGA is a popular tool based on the OLC method.
The second type of assembler is the de Bruijn graph (DBG) method [2]. Rather than using the complete reads as they are, the DBG method breaks reads into shorter fragments called k-mers (with length k) and then build a de Bruijn graph using all the k-mers. Finally, the genome sequences are inferred based on the de Bruijn graph. SPAdes is a popular assembler which is based on the DBG method.
What can go wrong in Genome Assembly?
Genomes contain patterns of nucleic acids that occur many times across the genome. These structures are called repeats. These repeats can complicate the assembly process and result in ambiguities.
We cannot guarantee that the sequencing machine can produce reads covering the entire genome. The sequencing machine may miss some parts of the genome and there won’t be reads covering that region. This will affect the assembly process and those missed regions will not be present in the final assembly.
Genome assemblers should address these challenges and try to minimise the errors caused during assembly.
How to Evaluate Assemblies?
Evaluation of assemblies is very important as we have to decide whether the resulting assembly meets the standards. One of the well-known and most commonly used assembly evaluation tools is QUAST. Listed below are some criteria used to evaluate assemblies.
N50: minimum contig length that is required to cover 50% of the total length of the assembly.
minimum contig length that is required to cover 50% of the total length of the assembly. L50: number of contigs that are longer than N50
number of contigs that are longer than N50 NG50: minimum contig length that is required to cover 50% of the length of the reference genome
minimum contig length that is required to cover 50% of the length of the reference genome LG50: number of contigs that are longer than NG50
number of contigs that are longer than NG50 NA50: minimum length of aligned blocks that are required to cover 50% of the total length of the assembly
minimum length of aligned blocks that are required to cover 50% of the total length of the assembly LA50: number of contigs that are longer than NA50
number of contigs that are longer than NA50 Genome fraction (%): percentage of bases that align to the reference genome
Getting Hands Dirty
Let’s get started with the experiments. I will be using the assembler SPAdes to assemble reads obtained from sequencing patient samples. SPAdes makes use of next-generation sequencing reads. You can download QUAST freely as well. You can get the code and binaries from the relevant homepages (which I have provided as links) and run these tools.
Type in the following commands and verify whether the tools are working correctly.
<your_path_to>/SPAdes-3.13.1/bin/spades.py -h
<your_path_to>/quast-5.0.2/quast.py -h
Download the data
I assume you know how to download data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NBCI). If not, you can refer to this link.
The reads for our experiments can be downloaded from NCBI with NCBI accession number SRX7636886. You can download the run SRR10971381 which contains reads obtained from an Illumina MiniSeq run. Make sure to download the data in FASTQ format. The downloaded file can be found as sra_data.fastq.gz . You can extract the FASTQ file using gunzip.
After extracting, you can run the following bash command to count the number of reads in our dataset. You will see there are 56,565,928 reads.
grep '^@' sra_data.fastq | wc -l
You can download the publicly available COVID-19 complete genome[3] from NCBI with GenBank accession number MN908947. You will see a file in FASTA format. This will be our reference genome. Note that we have renamed it to MN908947.fasta .
Assemble
Let’s assemble the reads of COVID-19. Run the following command to assemble the reads using SPAdes. You can provide the compressed .gz file to SPAdes directly.
<your_path_to>/SPAdes-3.13.1/bin/spades.py --12 sra_data.fastq.gz -o Output -t 8
Here we have used the general SPAdes assembler as a demonstration to this article. However, since the reads dataset consists of RNA-Seq data (read more about RNA from my previous article), it is better to use the --rna option in SPAdes.
In the Output folder, you can see a file named contigs.fasta which contains our final assembled contigs.
Evaluating the Assembly Results
Run QUAST on the assemblies using the following command.
<your_path_to>/quast-5.0.2/quast.py Output/contigs.fasta-l SPAdes_assembly -r MN908947.fasta -o quastResult
Viewing the Evaluation Result
Once QUAST has finished, you can go into the quastResult folder and view the evaluation results. You can view the QUAST report by opening the file report.html in your web browser. You can see a report similar to the one shown in Figure 3. You can click on “Extended report” for more information such as NG50 and LG50. | https://towardsdatascience.com/genome-assembly-the-holy-grail-of-genome-analysis-fae8fc9ef09c | ['Vijini Mallawaarachchi'] | 2020-03-04 06:03:08.726000+00:00 | ['Dna', 'Biology', 'Data Science', 'Science', 'Bioinformatics'] |
What is Azure App Service Plan? | Azure App service(in short): Azure PaaS service is the platform that handles infrastructure so developers can focus on the core web apps and services. It provides enterprise grade security and compliance.
The apps including Web Apps, API Apps, Mobile Apps or Function Apps(optional) runs in an App Service plan. It defines a set of compute resources for a web app to run. More than one app can be configured to run on the same computing resources in the same App Service plan.
When you create an App Service plan in a certain region (for eg: central US), a set of compute resources is created for that plan in that region. Each App Service plan defines:
Region (West US, East US, etc.)
Number of VM instances
Size of VM instances (Small, Medium, Large)
Pricing tier (Free, Shared, Basic, Standard, Premium, PremiumV2, PremiumV3, Isolated)
The App Service features\services can differ with the pricing tier of an App Service plan. There are a few categories of pricing tiers:
Shared compute (Free and Shared, the two base tiers): The tiers allocate CPU quotas to each app that runs on the shared resources. The resources cannot scale out. It run an app on the same Azure VM where apps from other customers is also running. This tier is used for development and testing purpose.
The tiers allocate CPU quotas to each app that runs on the shared resources. The resources cannot scale out. It run an app on the same Azure VM where apps from other customers is also running. This tier is used for development and testing purpose. Dedicated compute(Basic, Standard, Premium, PremiumV2, and PremiumV3 tiers): More VM instances are available for scale-out with higher tier number. It run apps on dedicated Azure VMs. Only apps in the same App Service plan share the same compute resources.
More VM instances are available for scale-out with higher tier number. It run apps on dedicated Azure VMs. Only apps in the same App Service plan share the same compute resources. Isolated compute: This tier runs dedicated Azure VMs on dedicated Azure Virtual Networks. It provides network isolation on top of compute isolation to your apps. It provides the maximum scale-out capabilities.
Each tier also provides a specific subset of App Service features. For each tier feature detail refer the below link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/app-service/windows/
Features of App Services
Custom Domains in Settings
2.TLS/SSL Certificates for making secure connections
3. Autoscaling:
For scale up, change app service plan. For scale out, increase number of VM instances.
3. In auto scale for scale out, various rules can be implemented according to schedules and metrices
4. Deployment Slots
For deploying a new production build, deployment slots can be used. On using a Standard App Service Plan tier or better , the new app can be deployed to a staging environment. On validating the changes and performing smoke tests, whenever its ready it can swap your staging and production slots. The swap operation also warms up the necessary worker instances to match your production scale, thus eliminating downtime. For setting deployment slot refer :https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/deploy-staging-slots
If the project has designated branches for testing, QA, and staging, then each of those branches should be continuously deployed to a staging slot (known as the Gitflow Design).Refer the link:https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow
Continuous deployment enables swapping into production instead of deploying to production. It prevents downtime and allows to rollback the changes by swapping again. The production branch (often master) should be deployed onto a non-production slot. When you are ready to release the base branch, swap it into the production slot.
Azure DevOps can also be used for Continuous deployment to Azure app service.
5. Backups:
Required the standard or Premium App service Plan
2. Backups can be up to 10 GB of app and database content.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/manage-backup
6. Traffic Manager integration
App service can be integrated with Traffic manger if Azure Traffic Manager is used for load balancing traffic to azure app service. The App Service app can be accessed using <traffic-manager-endpoint>.trafficmanager.net. The custom domain name, such as www.contoso.com can be assigned to App Service app in order to provide a more recognizable domain name for your users.
7.Application Insights
Application insights can be used to monitor app services to provide the alerts ,display details on power BI, perform further steps by calling REST API
Diagnostic settings can also be enables to track the logs of app services and display it in Azure Monitor. | https://medium.com/@ishmeetk10/what-is-azure-app-service-plan-fb2870574f0d | ['Ishmeet Kaur'] | 2020-11-18 14:58:44.211000+00:00 | ['Deployment', 'Azure Administrator', 'App Service', 'Azure App Service'] |
On Overnight Successes and Self Made Entrepreneurs | I’ ve always liked the iceberg analogy.
Simply stated, an iceberg is more than what you see above the water’s surface. In fact, the majority of an iceberg’s mass is underwater and the rest is left to the imagination.
Over the last few months, I’ve been taking interviews and talking to close friends about where I’ve been spending my time and where I’d like to spend more of my time. During the Covid-19 lockdown (which honestly has not ceased in our household), I’ve put a concerted effort into self-education and introspection. I’ve read more books in the last year than I have in the previous 5 years. I’ve done more personal research on new topics (including ones I don’t agree with) and organized my thoughts and research into a knowledge base that I add to every day (thank you Notion!). That said, regardless of what topics and areas I end up digging into, I have a focal point for my search. Right now, it’s urban upgrade — the intersection between our cities, climate change, and technology.
I believe it’s important to have a focal point because it helps answer easy questions, eliminates self-doubt, and guides us to the right answer or affirmation when we hit roadblocks. This is not a mission statement or a vision statement, think of it as a seed or a node that you can build on to eventually create a mission statement.
Solo ADU Series by Bay Modular
When I started Bay Modular in 2018, I wanted to help fix the homelessness issue that was running rampant (and still is) in Oakland. It seemed like every week, a new camp of tents was sprouting up under overpasses or behind Home Depot and other big-box department stores. The juxtaposition between proliferating homelessness and cutting-edge skyscrapers was an image of my city that I cringed watching.
Although Bay Modular today is a prefab ADU company that builds affordable backyard homes, it didn’t start that way. I started the business as a project to create affordable, hospitable, and humane individual housing accommodations for the unhoused. The goal was to replace the TuffShed phase of homeless housing that was growing in Oakland, which has left many actual residents wanting, even as policymakers cheer.
My focal point: Homelessness, affordability, and transitional spaces
The hypothesis: Can we manufacture small footprint, individual accommodations for a homeless population that any homeowner would be proud to put on their property?
Over time, as it became clear Oakland was doubling down on their TuffShed initiative, I abandoned the local and state funding approach and narrowed it further.
Focal point refined: New homelessness, preventing the transition into homelessness for low-income households and low earners
The new hypothesis: Can we boost housing stock by modifying prefabricated structures to jumpstart the manufacturing process?
V0
In 2018, I took that focal point and started researching prefabricated structures. Tapping into my construction background and learning from my family’s network of general construction, I learned about SIPs panels, prefab building kits (the likes of Sears, now Amazon), CLT panels, and eventually modular (specifically volumetric modular, not kit-of-parts).
My search landed on ISO shipping containers — a controversial topic that is both beloved and hated by industry experts, architecture students, and homeowners. Although much has been written, designed, and even deployed in the container home world, I sought to use the containers as a building material rather than a self-contained structure.
My first iteration stripped down the container to its bare assets and followed a similar path to those you might find on Pinterest. | https://medium.com/@georgedyjr/on-overnight-successes-and-self-made-entrepreneurs-174bf0c498e8 | ['George Dy'] | 2021-08-02 22:59:38.397000+00:00 | ['Construction', 'Manufacturing', 'Housing', 'Success', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Bitcoin-ETF: What Happened And Possible Consequence | It’s been several weeks since Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) postponed the decision about launching the bitcoin-ETF. The decision will be made by Thursday, August 23. Nevertheless, the special source of CFTC magazine stated that the positive decision will be made with 90% probability until September 21.
It might sound strange, but this news pushed the bitcoin price up, and also triggered a buzz around this topic not only among crypto traders and enthusiasts but also among institutional investors. Here are some graphics that illustrates the positive correlation between BTC price and the buzz around Bitcoin-ETF:
The rise in Bitcoin’s price can be compared with the increase in requests for «bitcoin-ETF»
The dynamics of Bitcoin price
Dynamics of requests for “bitcoin ETF” (Google Trends Data)
Breaking down «Bitcoin-ETF»
To begin with, ETF stands for “exchange-traded fund” and describes a kind of investment fund where the price of assets like gold, stocks and oil can be tracked. These assets can then be traded on exchanges, just like conventional stocks. What this means is that investors have the option of buying and selling their holdings in this exchange-traded funds to other investors via the stock exchange.
Therefore, a Bitcoin ETF is one where the underlying asset is Bitcoin. This means that when you purchase Bitcoin ETF, you’re purchasing the cryptocurrency, albeit indirectly. This is because you’re holding the Bitcoin ETF in your portfolio and this ETF tracks the real-time price of Bitcoin. Therefore, the difference is that when you invest in Bitcoin ETF, you have the luxury of trading Bitcoins without the struggles of buying and storing it.
In order to better understand the idea of Bitcoin-ETF let’s consider an example. The asset management company «Bitwise Asset Management» suggests creating the ETF that will have the basis in the form of the index «HOLD 10». This index will include BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, XLM, LTC, DASH, ZEC, XMR and ETC. By that way, this financial instrument is not limited to one cryptocurrency and quickly adapts to the market.
Possible consequence if Bitcoin-ETF is on market
Generally speaking, the creation of Bitcoin-ETF will make the investments in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies much easier and safer. The Bitcoin itself will became more legitimate mean of storing capital. This already causes interest of institutional investors, who had previously thought about investing in cryptocurrencies, but who were afraid of the high volatility of such assets. Thus, their positive expectations, fueled by SEC statements, increase the price of BTC during the whole previous weeks.
Nevertheless, the emergence of ETF funds will not only have positive consequences. The holder of coins and tokens will not be an investor, but an exchange fund, so the success of investing will depend on fund’s portfolio managers, regulators actions, etc. Thus, bitcoin will become exposed to counterparty risk, which will reduce consumer protection | https://medium.com/storiqa/bitcoin-etf-what-happened-and-possible-consequence-4696c0080658 | [] | 2018-08-22 13:30:47.190000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Etf', 'SEC', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Altcoins'] |
Be Smart: Change Your Choice. We don’t have to wait for Quantum… | Hmm. Quantum mechanics. Weird like magic and complicated. Is there anything weird like magic that is less complicated so we can all use it right now — without understanding quantum mechanics? Yes. Yes there is.
The road to the weird thing started with …
An introduction to Quantum Computing where we did some basic operations on real equipment amazed me! The event demonstrated we are already harnessing quantum effects to solve logical problems.
Quantum effects produce statistically coherent results almost instantaneously in ways that seem impossible from a natural human experience perspective. The strange statistical behavior of very small things is now, in machines, answering questions of our choosing.
And this got me wondering if there are some exotic statistical facts right in our faces that we can use to solve real life logical questions now, today, this minute, without using this rare and complex esoteric lab equipment and without having to do math.
And then I remembered the disgusting irrational truth which is the Monty Hall problem. This thing is offensive.
Monty Hall and Arguing with a PhD in Statistics
So about a dozen years ago a brilliant professional engineer and professor of statistics, George Michelov, who I had the privilege to work with on software projects asked me over lunch to answer the Monty Hall problem. I did not remember hearing about it before that day. A good description is on a wikipedia page dedicated to the topic and I’ll copy it here …
Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say №1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say №3, which has a goat. He then says to you, “Do you want to pick door №2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?
I answered wrong.
The right answer IS ALWAYS CHANGE YOUR INITIAL CHOICE. Let me explain how this works: CHANGE YOUR INITIAL CHOICE AFTER THE HOST SHOWS YOU WHICH OF THE REMAINING DOORS HAS A GOAT.
I could not believe that answer even when George explained it to me. Seemed like a number trick; a trick I was not seeing. So that night I wrote a simulation to prove that answer could not be right. The simulation told me I was wrong too. George and the program were right and my brain could not wrap around it.
If you are unfamiliar with this problem and are a smart thinking person then THIS ANSWER MAY MAKE NO SENSE. THERE IS NO WAY THE UNIVERSE WORKS LIKE THAT. However, it does.
Is this magic?
Yes. Okay, not really. It is math applied to the science of statistics. This math lights up a path that is normally hidden from us. Read the wiki page if you want to study and understand the most popular probabilistic explanation that your first choice had a ⅓ chance of being right and changing your choice gave you a ⅔ chance of being right. Crazy. Yes. So is quantum mechanics. Both are real whether you believe in them and work to understand them or not. Real.
And this choice change advantage applies for any number of choices from three to just shy of infinity.
So what, I’m not on a game show.
Yes you are. Except on this game show there are a nearly infinite number of doors and you are asked to choose doors probably EVERY DAY. Possibly MANY TIMES EVERY DAY. Life is complex.
So, what do we learn from the crazy choice insight exposed by the Monty Hall problem?
Don’t stay the course in dynamic situations. Open a different door when life, your host, shows you a bad door after you already chose a door and have not yet opened it. Give yourself that edge.
What is a Dynamic Situation?
Well, much of real life is about dynamic situations. According to Stephanie Borgert (see her terrific book “The Complexity Trap” published 2017), working with people, depending on people, is the definition of a complex dynamic situation. The Learning for Sustainability website has a pretty good explanation on the distinction between complex and complicated and I’ll copy part of their explanation for a complex system here:
complex systems are based on relationships, and their properties of self-organisation, interconnections and evolution. Research into complex systems demonstrates that they cannot be understood solely by simple or complicated approaches to evidence, policy, planning and management.
Dynamic situations are complex systems and no amount of sweat and intellect will produce a complete plan of action with as much chance of success as well thought out action and discovery iterations. The study of complexity teaches us that step by step decision making, as facts are discovered, is the best way forward.
And how does the Monty Hall insight apply to complex business and life situations? I see it like this …
When we decide yesterday what we will do tomorrow and we refuse to reconsider that choice we are cheating ourselves of an advantage. The odds are against us having made the wisest choice yesterday before our host, life, showed us a few new things today.
There is a significant nuance here beyond just being “agile” in our approaches to problem solving and solution engineering. That nuance is that for seemingly equal choices, it is important that we pick a new choice from the remaining set sometimes for no other reason than we know from the math that it will give us a better chance at winning that car.
So, change my mind all the time?
No, not every choice situation fits the Monty Hall problem. The Monty Hall insight applies to situations where you don’t have inside knowledge to THE right answer. The insight applies when there are several choices that for us, in our moment, appear of equal value. The magic edge applies to complex situations.
Taking advantage of the edge looks something like this …
You are taking an educated guess at the best way forward (make a choice) Afterward, circumstances reveal specific other choices that were bad (goats) Now, apply the insight and CHANGE your original choice to pick from the set of equivalently rational choices still available. (looking for that car)
In the software domain, where I spend most of my time, these scenarios avail themselves often. We plan, because that’s the smart thing to do; and then by the time we are about to invest in building a new thing we have generally learned that some earlier possibilities no longer look as shiny as before. Should we re-evaluate the next step at that point? The math says yes.
The Practical Take Away: Maybe this is already happening
I believe these opportunities to pick a better door present themselves organically when people are working together, collaborating on activities.
The re-evaluation of doors chosen probably happens naturally in productively meshing groups; in part just because different people bring different ideas and safe environments encourage them to speak up and share them. Authentic energized conversations lead to better choice opportunities.
And better outcomes depend on us changing our minds. Actively looking for and finding the opportunities to change our choices — and then changing our choices because we want that edge. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/be-smart-change-your-choices-dbad8db94360 | ['Frank Font'] | 2020-09-23 20:37:43.222000+00:00 | ['Management', 'People', 'Planning', 'Science', 'Complexity'] |
The Best Title Sequences Of All Time | If you know me then you know I’m a fan of tv series (who isn’t) especially during this lockdown I think we can all agree that our love for Netflix has only grown. I ended up watching a handful of new series this year and decided to cumulate a list of my favorite title sequences and songs of some of my favorite series.
On number one we have Game of thrones a global favorite, we can all agree. The title sequence for Game of Thrones is a classic with one of the most remarkable animations and beautiful music. The music which was created especially for the series was composed by Rami Djawadi. The composers were asked to avoid violins and flutes as it was overused in fictional series, which is what makes this theme more special and unique.
2. With Wynonna Earp’s marvelous theme song second on my list, the show itself is rather underrated with characters such as Doc Holliday brought back to life in a spectacular screenplay. The theme song is the song, Tell that devil sung by Jill Andrews is the only song that would suit the show best. The title sequence itself is a little too cliche for my liking but the theme song surely won me over. Something that I love about the show is the music theme which was maintained through all five seasons.
3. Third on my list is the title sequence to Orange is the new black, highlighting everything about the series with a beautiful theme song it had to be mentioned. The series itself making groundbreaking epiphanies while highlighting the legal struggles women face in prisons. The theme song being you’ve got time by Regina Spektor suits the show best and maintains its theme.
4. On number 4 we have Hunter x Hunter the only anime on my list. With a hearty animation expressing every character and their emotions with a song you can’t help singing along to Hunter X Hunter makes it to 4th place. It’s a rather classic in the world of anime as it was released all they way back in 2011. But the beauty of this show is that its technology and animation is everlasting and still relevant in 2020.
5. On number 5 we have the Netflix series released last year, The witcher. With a marvelous ballad tune (which goes perfectly with the show) guiding us into the addictive series. I don’t know about you but I sure binged this series quick. The witcher originally being a book series written by Andrzej Sapkowski. It is also a video game. The theme song is a ballad composed just for the series that won many hearts, including mine.
With the witcher, I will be concluding my list of the best title sequences i have come to witness. I hope I got some of your favorite shows, and if not do give these a watch! they are utterly worth it. | https://medium.com/@diyanarayan0508/the-5-best-title-sequences-of-all-time-26fad6693814 | ['Diya Narayan'] | 2020-11-17 14:01:10.986000+00:00 | ['Game of Thrones', 'Netflix', 'Wynonna Earp', 'The Witcher', 'Hunter X Hunter'] |
CI/CD Pipeline with Cloud Build and Composer (with Terraform) | Hey
Sometimes I use some Google tutorial to do some training. But I like to automate (yes, I know you know!). So, let's talk about CI/CD for data processing in GCP. I'm going to use this tutorial:
In summary:
This tutorial describes how to set up a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline for processing data by implementing CI/CD methods with managed products on Google Cloud. Data scientists and analysts can adapt the methodologies from CI/CD practices to help to ensure high quality, maintainability, and adaptability of the data processes and workflows.
Looks good, huh? We will use 5 things here:
Terraform — The tutorial it's a hands-on, but I will "transpose" to Terraform. 🤓 Cloud Build — Similar to Jenkins, where we will create the pipelines, triggers, … Cloud Composer — It's a managed Apache Airflow in GCP. We will use to define the steps of the workflow, like start the data processing, test and check results. Dataflow to run a job in Apache Beam as sample. There's also Cloud Source Repositories, that is the "GitHub" from Google (but reeeeeeaaaly far away from GitHub).
All the code can be found here: CI/CD Repository
First thing, we need to have a user with "Owner" permission in some folder (I will not create this in root level, there's a way to create in some specific folder. And I know Owner is not the best way to grant permission, but this is for test purposes). You can get the list of folders in GCP with this command:
gcloud resource-manager folders list — organization=<Your Org ID>
Cool! Now update the terraform.tfvars file (I'm using Terraform 0.13.6 version) in bootstrap folder. File is really simple!
From here, please note that this is a PAID test. Some resources will charge you, so remember to delete the project when finish. :)
Run the Terraform steps:
terraform init
terraform plan (Good to review, right?)
terraform apply
You should see something like this:
Plan: 54 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
The apply process should take 30 minutes. Just go get some coffee.
The output should return this:
Take note of Cloudbuild project and csr_repo.id.
You should be ready to go! If you go to Cloud build, you will see 2 triggers:
Composer is now created also:
Let's test our plan trigger. So, just to understand, everything that you commit that is not "master" branch, will execute the plan trigger. Let's see. First let's clone the CSR repository (go outside of our code that you cloned before):
gcloud source repos clone gcp-cicd — project=<CloudBuild Project ID>
Now change to a different branch (I will use plan) and copy everything inside source-code from our previous repo inside this one (change the command accordling your actual path).
git checkout -b plan
cp -rf ../gcp-cicd-terraform/source-code/* .
git add -A
git commit -m "First Commit"
git push -set-upstream origin plan
If you check your Cloudbuild page, you will see the plan started:
If you open you can see all steps and information:
In AirFlow UI, you can see DAG information:
And DataFlow the Job Graph:
So, what happened? This:
A developer commits code changes to the Cloud Source Repositories. Code changes trigger a test build in Cloud Build. Cloud Build builds the self-executing JAR file and deploys it to the test JAR bucket on Cloud Storage. Cloud Build deploys the test files to the test-file buckets on Cloud Storage. Cloud Build sets the variable in Cloud Composer to reference the newly deployed JAR file. Cloud Build tests the data-processing workflow Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and deploys it to the Cloud Composer bucket on Cloud Storage. The workflow DAG file is deployed to Cloud Composer. Cloud Build triggers the newly deployed data-processing workflow to run.
Cool, our process is now working in plan/test!! Now we can just apply to prod pipeline!
For this article, I will do a manual deployment to production by running the Cloud Build production deployment build. The production deployment build follows these steps:
Copy the WordCount JAR file from the test bucket to the production bucket. Set the Cloud Composer variables for the production workflow to point to the newly promoted JAR file. Deploy the production workflow DAG definition on the Cloud Composer environment and running the workflow.
There's some wayt to automate this steps with Cloud Function or even during plan pipeline, but the idea here is just to understand a simple way. So, first thing, we need to get the name JAR filename to update or trigger. Let's use gcloud command:
gcloud composer environments run <COMPOSER_ENV_NAME> \
--location <COMPOSER_REGION> variables -- \
--get dataflow_jar_file_test 2>&1 | grep -i '.jar'
Now that we have this, let's change the Apply trigger this value. Go to Cloudbuild and edit the apply trigger (change the "_DATAFLOW_JAR_FILE_LATEST" to the result before):
Now let's run the trigger (just run):
Let's check:
Now we have the DAG deployed to Composer. You can see if you go to AirFlow UI:
Let's just run the job. In AirFlow UI, just click on "Trigger Dag"
Now you can go to Dataflow and check the job:
And that's it! You have now a CICD pipeline that you can use for data processing, or any other model of process.
To destroy the resources, simple: just go inside the bootstrap folder and run:
terraform destroy
I hope you like this! As always, feel free to reach me, provide feedbacks, anythin!!
Stay safe, folks! | https://medium.com/marcelo-marques/ci-cd-pipeline-with-cloud-build-and-composer-with-terraform-379a05a4ca09 | ['Marcelo Marques'] | 2021-04-25 17:30:28.103000+00:00 | ['Gcp', 'Technology', 'Ci Cd Pipeline', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Terraform'] |
Welcome to the Sustenance Network | Sustenance token is a cryptocurrency that will serve as a payment method and guarantor between users. This token will serve as a tool for the agro-industrial market, allowing users of the agro exchange platform to execute transactions in the agricultural sector. Sustenance token is based on smart contract technology and was created to develop a positive reputation of a credit platform on the Binance ecosystem. The goal of the Sustenance network is to make transactions as fast, transparent, and secure as possible.
Our Mission
To provide multiple utilities for Sustenance Token holders and make it a native asset that is interoperable across the agricultural technology ecosystem.
Our Vision
To make a community as strong so that Sustenance Token becomes a buzzword in agricultural technology.
How We Help
We’ve created a platform that helps investors gain long-term financial achievements, make a social impact, and participate in making the global space more conducive by improving agricultural technology. | https://medium.com/@sustenancetoken/welcome-to-the-sustenance-network-5edb91db49b9 | ['Sustenance Token'] | 2021-12-31 01:18:06.789000+00:00 | ['Sustenability', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Sustenance', 'Defi', 'Bsc'] |
Alumni Spotlight: Alice Michira | Mentor, Imarisha Mentoring programme, Kenya.
“Mentoring has impacted how I perceive and interact with people. Initially I would impose my expectations on people I work with and interact with but this has changed and has allowed me to accept and allow people to set their own expectations then I act as a sounding board, and accountability partner. With this experience I have identified ways to clearly stipulate the goals for my team, and let them break it down and take them forward in their own way. Allowing others to be free with their execution, using their own creativity as long as the goal is met — that freedom of thought has really been relieving for me.” Alice Michira.
Because the mentoring relationship is focused on developing the mentee, it’s easy to assume that mentors do not get much value outside giving back through these relationships. While mentoring does indeed give the mentor an opportunity to share their life experiences and knowledge for the benefit, and growth of others, it similarly provides a platform for mutual learning for both mentee, and mentor.
The mentoring relationship is a two-way learning relationship, and as Alice Michira shares, it’s given her an opportunity to reflect on her personal leadership journey as a mentor engaged in the Imarisha mentoring programme delivered in Kenya.
“I joined the Imarisha mentoring programme to give back and support entrepreneurs. I support various mentoring initiatives, it’s part of what we do within our organisation, we give back to the community to ensure that we positively impact entrepreneurs.
Coming from a coaching background, there were things I needed to learn. While there are overlaps in techniques and some similarities, the approaches are quite different, and this programme helped me to clarify that. The mentor training was critical because it defined the expectations in a mentoring relationship and what mentoring really is. Learning to let go and let the mentee move on with their own process, enabling them to make their own decision is something that I picked up from the mentor training. I have also used this skill in my coaching practice, to become a support system. It gives a sense of independence and ownership to the mentee instead of making them reliant on you every time they want to make a decision. It’s quite relieving and fulfilling in itself,” shares Alice.
As mentors work to frame their mentee’s mindset through powerful questioning, they similarly get to reflect and continuously develop their mindset. “Mentoring has impacted how I perceive things and my expectations of others. Initially I used to have expectations from people I work, and interact with. With this experience I have learnt to clearly stipulate the goals for my team, and let people break it down and take the tasks forward in their own way so long as the objectives are met and our values are not compromised. Allowing others to be free with their execution, using their own creativity as long as the goal is met — that freedom of thought has really been rewarding for me.”
Indeed, there is a sense of satisfaction that comes with positively supporting the growth of another. While a mentor provides guidance and perspective, they get to witness the mentee take-off, develop and grow in their craft, and personally.
“I’m happy to witness transformation in my mentee and see him commit to his own goals. During the Covid period, I saw him adapt and as a result tremendously scale his business to new markets this year and double his turnover. He has taken charge of his goals, set new ones that were much bigger and hold himself accountable for his growth.”
The Imarisha mentoring programme was an awesome opportunity to meet amazing humans from fellow mentors, and mentees, to the Mowgli Mentoring team. It was an eye-opening experience in terms of how you structure yourself and go about life. It created the impetus to do more, and be more. It encouraged me be to be more present and offer myself to others.” | https://medium.com/mowgli-alumni-spotlight/alumni-spotlight-alice-michira-ee4148b372d3 | ['Mowgli Mentoring'] | 2020-12-18 05:40:31.032000+00:00 | ['Mentoring', 'Leadership Development', 'Mentorship'] |
Help for you (un)becoming quest — Day Nine of 40+8 | breathe in | breathe out
+
Question
Whose light has touched your life?
+
Pull a card from the deck of
Affirmations for Your (Un)Becoming Quest
Each Friday, we’re drawing a
card from the deck of
Affirmations for Your (Un)Becoming Quest
These cards are being created and designed by Rye Mohler.
Thanks, Rye!
Here is your card for today along with some instruction:
Instructions
Your card
Ask yourself
Who can I share my needs with
and what can I ask for this week?
Mantra
I have the courage to ask for help.
I’m not alone on my quest of (un)becoming.
+
If you ever find yourself stuck,
in fear for the future
in shame and isolation
in the delusion of having to make it on your own,
blow on that still burning ember deep within.
Stoke up the courage to ask for help.
And let that other in your life
help you keep the fire going for awhile.
You are not alone on this quest.
There is power in together.
There is Enough in together.
May you have beloved community in your life.
And may their light nurture yours
especially in your time of need.
+
Logion 24
His students said to him,
“Take us to the place where you are,
since we are required to seek after it.”
He answered them,
“Whoever has an ear for this
should listen carefully.
Light shines out from the center
of a being of light
and illuminates the whole cosmos.
Whoever fails to become light
is a source of darkness.”
+ | https://medium.com/intertwine/help-for-you-un-becoming-quest-day-nine-of-40-8-9070f3063e04 | ['Mike Rusert'] | 2021-02-26 06:18:02.894000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Care', 'Community', 'Cards', 'Lent'] |
Supporting Manhood Function Through Yoga | With yoga schools and classes available practically everywhere in the country, there’s no excuse for any person interested in yoga not to dive right in. And men who are interested in maintaining their male organ health might want to investigate a little downward-facing dog or warrior positions. Yes, practicing yoga can be a good way to support good manhood function — and that’s something every man values.
An ancient practice
Yoga has been around for centuries, although only in recent decades has it become so widely available in western cultures. Originating in ancient India, yoga actually encompasses a range of mental, physical and spiritual practices. But when a person refers to yoga today, they generally are talking about a form of physical exercise that incorporates meditation and other mental components into it. As opposed to working out with weights at the gym, yoga is more of a low impact form of exercise — although it can also provide a real work-out when required.
Although there is more to yoga than this, most people associate yoga essentially with exercises that emphasize attaining and holding specially designed poses.
The manhood connection
And how can yoga benefit manhood function? One way is through the potential boosting of male hormone.
Male hormone, as most men know, is a key component of manhood function. Higher levels of male hormone are generally associated with greater muscle mass and tone, stronger bones, increased energy, better cardiac health, a strong sensual drive and healthy firmness. So maintaining appropriate levels of male hormone is important for a man.
Some studies have indicated that regular yoga practice can help increase or maintain male hormone levels. This becomes especially important as men age, as the natural aging process typically includes some diminishment of male hormone.
How does yoga help?
Yoga is thought to help with male hormone production in several ways.
- De-stressing. One of the major benefits associated with yoga is the lowering of stress levels. Most people come out of a yoga session feeling significantly more relaxed. Consistent practice of yoga helps a person experience that relaxed feeling for a longer period of time and to be able to draw on it more effectively in stressful situations. This is key because stress triggers cortisol production, which in turn lowers male hormone production.
- Sleeping better. People who regularly engage in yoga tend to sleep better, and not only on nights when they’ve had a yoga class. Sleep deprivation is also associated with decreases in male hormone (and with increases in stress). In addition, being physically tired can have an impact on the sensual drive and ability to obtain and maintain tumescence.
- Weight issues. Regular yoga participation can help a man to lose weight, which not only makes him feel and look better — it also gets his male hormone working up again. Men who are a healthy weight are also less likely to have blood pressure and cardiac issues, which again can have an impact on member function and health.
In addition, many yoga poses exercise parts of the body that can be of benefit to a man during coupling. For example, yoga can help provide flexibility in the pelvis, increase arm strength for greater upper body support during missionary and similar positions, and develop breathing in a way that promotes better stamina.
p.s. Start Your Yoga Practice with the best yoga teachers of the world capital of Yoga — Rishikesh. Online LIVE & Interactive — Start Your 3-day Free Trial | https://medium.com/nada-yoga-school/supporting-manhood-function-through-yoga-6da3cf5869a6 | ['Nada Yoga School'] | 2020-12-27 10:24:28.700000+00:00 | ['Yoga', 'Yoga For Stress', 'Yoga For Men', 'Meditation'] |
Integrating Custom Machine Learning Models With Salesforce | This post originally appeared on the Atrium blog. Authored by Saket Chaturvedi.
Machine learning problems can be divided broadly into two sections:
Supervised. With supervised learning, we know what we want to predict. Specifically, we know what the target variable is. Unsupervised. With unsupervised learning, we don’t know what we want to predict. Specifically, we are working with raw data and do not have a specific target variable identified or available.
There are many use cases, such as customer segmentation, that require different sets of algorithms in order to reach the recommendations and insights the model can provide. This could be dependent on combining models for clustering and regression or classification, and then integrating with Salesforce to design a robust solution, catering to various use cases in the industry.
Do we always need an autoML tool to implement these solutions? No. Let’s go over a scenario in which customers can implement a machine learning solution and integrate it back into Salesforce to get the predictions and take actions:
We want to use a clustering algorithm to identify the potential high valued customers based on their buying behavior and spend to create a customer segmentation feature and show the predicted customer segment to our salesforce users.
What is Heroku? How does it work with Salesforce?
Heroku is a cloud-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) that provides support on various open source programming languages. Open source is to Heroku as Apex and Lightning are to Salesforce. It allows developers to build, run, and scale applications seamlessly.
To interact with Salesforce, Heroku provides an integration service called Heroku Connect, which provides a bi-directional data synchronization between Salesforce and Heroku PostgresSQL.
3 Components That Will be Leveraged in the Implementation of the Solution
Heroku Connect
It allows for a bi-directional data sync between Salesforce objects and Heroku Postgres. It can be easily configured with the Heroku account and provides a point-and-click interface for the configuration.
Heroku Postgres
This is the cloud Database as a Service for Heroku. It is based on PostgreSQL, an open source database.
Heroku Platform
We can understand the Heroku platform as the place where the code runs. It provides you with virtual containers (aka dynos) that run the apps, which can be written in a variety of programming languages. Scalability can be achieved by just increasing the number of dynos that the app can use for execution.
High-Level Architecture
The above architecture leverages Heroku Connect for the bi-directional sync between Salesforce and Heroku Postgres to obtain the data and write back any updates to the Salesforce objects.
Here are a few points regarding the architectural components:
Postgres holds the Salesforce data in relational tables and creates custom tables to hold the intermediate results. In other words, Postgres works as a data source as well as a staging layer.
holds the Salesforce data in relational tables and creates custom tables to hold the intermediate results. In other words, Postgres works as a data source as well as a staging layer. Python is used for data transformation, feature engineering and model training and prediction tasks.
is used for data transformation, feature engineering and model training and prediction tasks. Heroku provides the platform to host the Python scripts and the execution of the related code.
A Step-by-Step Approach to Solving Our Problem from Earlier
Getting back to the problem we stated earlier:
We want to use a clustering algorithm to identify the potential high valued customers based on their buying behavior and spend to create a customer segmentation feature and show the predicted customer segment to the Salesforce users.
Here is a step-by-step approach to leverage the above architecture to solve the problem:
Step 1: Identify the Data to Support the Solution
In our problem, the data comes from a data store that houses customer data for buying behavior, purchase history, and demographic details. We will leverage this data to train a clustering model that helps us in segmenting the customers.
To view the results in Salesforce, we would need to create the field on the opportunity object that would store the clustering results.
Step 2: Set Up Heroku Connect and Postgres
Assuming there is a Heroku account already set up, configure Heroku Connect for the data sync with the Salesforce org. The configuration is all point and click and the detailed steps for configuration can be accessed here.
Configure a Postgres database to be used with your Heroku app for the data sync. The sync should be set up as bi-directional for the object you want to write the predictions. This would be the opportunity object.
Step 3: Data Manipulation, Cleansing, Feature Engineering, and Modeling
With the initial setup complete for the data sync and writeback, start with the code. We will use Python for the data extraction from Postgres, data manipulation, model training, and predictions.
As we want to perform customer segmentation using clustering, we will use the K-means clustering algorithm to identify where a customer belongs. K-means clustering tries to find centroids and assigns the data points which are nearest to the centroids to the same group. Here, centroids are an imaginary or real location that are the center of a cluster or group. The process is iterative and stops when either we find the optimized centroids or when the defined iterations have completed.
Python provides several libraries to complete the required tasks:
Numpy — scientific computations
— scientific computations Pandas — read/write datasets
— read/write datasets Sklearn — machine learning library
Numpy and Pandas will take care of any data computations and manipulations required for the task and creating data to train the clustering algorithm.
For training and predictions we will leverage Sklearn. Once the model is trained, we extract it in the form of a pickle file. A pickle file, in simple terms, is a byte stream representation of your object. To use it again, you perform the inverse operation.
Step 4: Deploy the Code to Heroku and Schedule Jobs for Execution of Scripts
After creating all the scripts for extraction, data wrangling, feature engineering, and model training, deploy the code to Heroku. Here, for simplicity’s sake, we will use GitHub as our code repository. Heroku provides direct integration with Git for code deployment.
The Heroku scheduler will run the prediction scripts at the defined intervals to extract the data from Postgres, perform predictions, and update the Postgres tables. The predictions will be written back to Salesforce objects using the Heroku Connect sync we set up in the first step.
Does the Use Case End Here?
No. The predictions can be leveraged in two ways:
Show it on the Salesforce records and let the user take an action. Use the output in Einstein Discovery to predict another result.
Here, let us expand the use case from just predicting the cluster or customer segment to using that segment as a feature in a customer retention model. This customer retention model predicts which customers are going to churn and uses the customer segment as a feature.
This way, the solution expands to just using a custom machine learning model to using the custom machine learning model with Salesforce Einstein to create a robust solution that can cater to a multitude of business problems. Moreover, Salesforce Einstein works with the custom model and provides recommendations as to how the results can be improved further, and insights on the reasons behind the prediction output.
Is This Better Than Using an AutoML Tool?
There is no definitive answer to this question. The solutions can be implemented by leveraging programming languages, such as Python, that give you freedom to implement the solution customized totally to the customer’s requirements.
However, this does come at a cost of maintaining the code base, hyperparameter tuning, model selection, complete testing cycles, bug fixes, deployments, etc. AutoML tools help you by reducing the headache of everything so that you can focus on problem solving. So both of the methods have their pros and cons and customers can choose to use what fits best to their situation.
Where Else Can It Help?
Machine learning projects are not just about getting predictions and creating stories. The data is not always clean as much as we want it to be. This approach allows implementation of:
Customized data cleansing techniques
Missing value analysis and imputation
Feature selection methods like forward and backward selection
Ability to select from a variety of machine learning algorithms
This can also allow the customers to test if their business requires a complete makeover using AI by implementing a small solution first, before investing in a full-fledged solution or any tool to do the work.
What Do You Recommend to Orchestrate and Coordinate All These Activities?
While this architecture can provide significant value to your CRM users, getting it set up and orchestrated to run seamlessly can be a challenge. Additionally, you may have multiple scenarios where you need AI recommendations, and building out point-to-point solutions for each can become burdensome and difficult to maintain.
We recommend a centralized orchestration layer, such as our Machine Learning Model Broker service, to streamline the user experience and provide users with the insights to improve AI adoption — focused on augmenting the CRM experience with best-of-breed machine learning solutions.
Get Help Implementing a Custom Machine Learning Model and Integrating It With Salesforce
Here we ran through a simple framework on how we can implement a custom machine learning model and integrate it with Salesforce using Heroku. This framework can be used with other PaaS solutions which provide the capability of hosting your code and can be integrated with Salesforce.
Learn more about the services Atrium provides and how we can help you see success with different machine learning use cases. | https://medium.com/@atriumai/integrating-custom-machine-learning-models-with-salesforce-6807ad798f41 | [] | 2020-12-02 14:39:11.102000+00:00 | ['Salesforce', 'Heroku', 'Machine Learning'] |
Tutorial 👉 From Sketch to Xcode — the no code way | Create your project folder
Now for keeping this tutorial user-friendly lets create a new folder in Finder and call it something that keeps it easy to separate when copying files, I will call mine sketch-ios-project 😺 💪You can call your folder whatever you find suit.
This will be our project folder where we will install all the goodies that are needed to do this no code dark magic. No worries, as I promised, you will not be writing a single line of code. Just installing packages. That is not coding.
Before the next step go get yourself a big hot cup of your favorite brew, mine is ☕You’ll need it trust me.
Installing the Cordova CLI
Now open up your favorite Mac app — the mighty Terminal app 🤖 👍
Loved and dreaded — the Terminal is mighty indeed
To install just copy this snippet and hit ↩︎Enter
sudo npm install -g cordova
This ensures you install Cordova globally on your computer machine, which is a good thing. Make sure you have installed Node.js first or the above step will not work.
You will also need to enter your computers password upon installation, it actually does not type out your keyboard strokes, it still works. Hit ↩︎ Enter again.
You should see things getting installed. It takes a while, just be patient. Stretch your legs, look out the window. Eat a snack.
Back yet? Cool lets continue with our adventure.
Create the app
Now that we have installed Cordova it’s time for the really fun stuff — installing the Cordova boilerplate iOS app that we will replace with our own content, the Sketch2React HTML export created in Sketch.
Now in Finder go to your newly created folder called sketch-ios-project and drag it onto the Visual Studio Code app icon. I have mine in the Mac Dock. It will probably look like this:
This is how it looks inside Visual Studio Code, it’s empty right now, since we haven’t installed anything to our local project folder.
The neat thing about using Visual Studio Code is that it has a built-in Terminal which makes it super easy to download and install all the necessary packages onto your project folder. Which is how you should build things. Just ask your developers they will nod their heads in agreement.
In Visual Studio Code go to 👉 Terminal 👉 New Terminal. It should look like this:
You know that you are in the right file directory when you see the folder name in the Terminal
Now make sure you are in the Terminal, add this snippet and hit ↩︎Enter
cordova create Sketch-iOS
It should look like this:
Again, you could call your app whatever you want, just make sure not to use any blank spaces and/or uncommon characters. Keep it simple, use English.
Add your platform
In our case, since I don’t own an Android device I’m only going to add the iOS platform.
cordova platform add ios
I ran into a little problem, it said that I wasn’t inside the correct directory. The correct directory in our case is:
cd Sketch-iOS
Quick fix for directory problems
Just drag and drop the autogenerated folder, in my case it’s called Sketch-iOS since I ran that installation command in the step above, to Visual Studio Code again, and you’ll be in the correct directory (cd).
Change the app name
Now what you’re going to do next will feel a bit contradictory but trust me, it’s better to do this here and now than later. By default, Cordova creates an app called HelloCordova. We don’t want our app to have that name, right? To change this inside Xcode is a mess, trust me.
Go to the file called config.xml and change the name like this:
Here’s where you change the app name
Then hit up a New Terminal in Visual Studio Code and type and hit ↩︎Enter
cd Sketch-iOS
This makes sure you are in the correct place
Now that we have changed the name in the config.xml file we’re going to do a neat trick. Uninstall and reinstall the iOS platform. That will change the app name everywhere it needs to be changed, and you have spared yourself many headaches.
So just copy this snippet and hit ↩︎Enter
cordova platform remove ios
Now it should look like this:
We have now removed the iOS app
Here’s for the magical part that renames everything for us:
cordova platform add ios
Tada! Our new name is everywhere it needs to be — smoooooooth
Let’s copy some files into Cordova
Now comes the part where we’re going to take all the great autogenerated HTML files from Sketch2React and copy/replace the autogenerated HTML files that Cordova has created for us.
We want our HTML, not the boilerplate files right? You find these files in the www folder that Cordova just created for you.
This is the www folder, the one we’re going to go 🍌with
The easiest way to do this is to open up two different Finder windows, one with the Sketch2React HTML and one with the files created by Cordova, and have them beside each other.
These steps are best explained with video so here we go:
The most important bits
Make sure you rename the default folder created by Cordova from img to images
This makes sure the Sketch2React HTML finds the images, pretty crucial 😺
Copy all the .html files to the root folder of www
Delete the files inside the css and js folders and replace them with the ones from Sketch2React
This is how it looks after I have copied all the files from the Sketch2React HTML export to the autogenerated folder structure of Cordova
That’s it now let’s build the entire project and see if all these dark magic things actually worked. Let’s jump back to Visual Studio Code and open up a new terminal window, or reuse the one we had before if it’s still open.
Copy this snippet and hit ↩︎Enter
cordova build ios
In my case it gives me an error:
xcodebuild: Command failed with exit code 1 Error output:
xcode-select: error: tool 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode, but active developer directory '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools' is a command line tools instance
Just ignore this, it actually works anyway, don’t ask me why, I truly don’t care 🤣
Then copy this snippet and hit ↩︎Enter
cordova run ios
Now let’s open up Xcode and see this with our own amazed eyes what we just have created. | https://medium.com/sketch-app-sources/tutorial-from-sketch-to-xcode-the-no-code-way-f6859dc9f2b7 | ['Juan Maguid'] | 2021-04-30 14:00:19.001000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Android', 'Xcode', 'Sketch', 'Handoff'] |
CSS Logical Properties Are the Future of the Web & I18N | I can’t remember how many years ago it was, but during my first interview for a Frontend position, I was asked to sketch out the CSS box model. I outlined the margins, borders, and padding and even denoted each side with its physical description–left, right, top and bottom.
I had committed that model to memory, and have never really reconsidered it since. It never occurred to me that something so fundamental could change. Yet here I am, writing an article to tell you that it, in fact, has.
Enter Logical Properties
Properties like top and left are physical in nature. They describe the specific side of an element, and stay attached to that physical location no matter how that element may render. Whereas, logical properties describe locations of an element based on the content flow, like start and end .
Why is this important?
If we’re going to adjust our fundamental approach to writing and visualizing CSS, it’s fair to ask why.
The web has firmly shifted into an expectation of responsive, user-friendly sites and products. That fluidity has allowed the platform to scale at tremendous rates, and has fully altered entire markets and industries.
But in the pursuit of supporting more and more devices, what happens if one of those devices isn’t in English? Or French? Or any other language that flows from top to bottom, left to right?
Building inclusive products doesn’t mean supporting devices, but supporting the people using them.
Looking at Hebrew specifically, a language written and read from right to left, there’re plenty of styling challenges in handling this minor variation. Instances of text-align: left would need to be conditionally updated to text-align: right or an entirely separate set of styles is loaded, essentially creating a second unique version of the site or product.
What happens then with Japanese, where text flows from top to bottom, and content from right to left? Or Mongolian where the text flows the same, but the content is flipped to flow left to right?
Previously, elements were positioned with CSS physically into place where content would start or end with properties like bottom , left , right , and top . Then depending on the specific use case or situation, like Hebrew, reposition everything again.
This is where CSS Logical Properties shine. When writing text-align: left , it’s likely because the text should be positioned where the content is expected to start. Only, as mentioned, content doesn’t always start at the left. So what would be ideal is something like text-align: start to ensure our content is aligned with its expected starting point.
And that’s exactly what CSS Logical Properties do.
Logical Approach
We’re likely familiar with how the web is broken into two main axes– X and Y. While this hasn’t changed, the naming conventions have.
The horizontal, X-axis becomes the inline-axis, while the vertical, Y-axis becomes the block-axis. But before breaking down individual property comparisons, let’s dig a little deeper into understanding the inline and block axes and how they relate to this shift to logical properties.
Logical Axes
The inline and block axes determine the content and document flow of a page. Each axis, though, and their corresponding flow, can be set using two CSS properties — direction and writing-mode .
Inline Axis (direction)
The direction property affects the inline axis. This property can be used to set the flow (or direction) of text, columns, and horizontal overflow from left to right or, like in the case of Arabic or Hebrew, right to left.
direction: rtl | ltr
Block Axis (writing-mode)
The writing-mode property affects the block axis. This property can be used to set the flow of block-level containers either horizontally or, like in the case of Japanese, vertically.
writing-mode: horizontal-tb | vertical-lr | vertical-rl
The three keyword values shown here represent:
horizontal-tb : Horizontal, top to bottom
: Horizontal, top to bottom vertical-lr : Vertical, left to right
: Vertical, left to right vertical-rl : Vertical, right to left
What happens to the axes when direction or writing-mode are set?
Logical properties will replace styles like text-align: left with text-align: start . This is because, when defining the direction property, the start and end points of the inline axis are set.
In Latin languages, setting direction: ltr will define the start of the inline axis to the left. Whereas, in a language like Hebrew, direction: rtl will define the start of the inline axis to the right.
Aligning content with text-align: start will align the text to the start of the inline axis, relative to its direction value.
How the direction property affects the inline axis flow
The block axis is where changes to the page can become dramatic. It’s one thing to define the direction of the content flow, but another to define the flow of block content and containers with writing-mode .
For this, maybe it’ll help to show the graphic first. | https://medium.com/swlh/css-logical-properties-are-the-future-of-the-web-i18n-c7d554c6dd72 | ['Daniel Yuschick'] | 2021-01-20 00:08:44.729000+00:00 | ['I18n', 'Front End Development', 'Accessibility', 'CSS', 'Web Development'] |
I kind of like this world | In middle school one day, my homeroom class played this icebreaker wherein we wrote facts about ourselves on sheets of paper threw them around the room, picked one up, and decided who wrote what. What did I write on mine?
I kind of like this world.
The thing is, nobody could quite figure out who’s paper mine was. It was such a weird thing to write during years of social clichés and academic endeavors, but I still wrote it. And I was being honest.
I do kind of like this world. I like how much bigger it is than me. I like how it can be strange and mundane simultaneously. I love how it embodies the epitome of originality: things always change. I like how it’s a whirlwind of confusing matter clashing into dependable fact.
I like how it’s mine. My world is different from your world. I like my world.
When I’m doing the most arduous tasks, I like how my world can shift on its axis and mess-up interpretation. I like how my world is so keen on reminding me that everything I chose to feel is because I have chosen to feel. I like how the world trips me, makes me fall down, so that I can learn to work with gravity to stand up again.
I like how it presents the most beautiful things hidden behind the most intricate puzzles.
I like the world because it’s the most brutally honest force in my life. It’s criticism. It’s a blunt truth. It’s overwhelming. And I have to learn how to manage that.
I like this world because it can be mean. I like how it takes things away and gives something back . I like how it teaches you things in the most unconventional, unfavorable ways. I like how it nudges you until you’re standing in mid-air waiting to freefall and then decides to give you a parachute only to have it ripped to pieces when it is released. I like how it gives you control and also the ability to believe you don’t have it.
Photo by Adnanta Raharja on Unsplash
I love how it’s all in my head.
Because everything is.
I’m writing this because in times of drought you must conjure up the oasis. In times of hardship, I must have a reason to look at the wonderful and not everything wrong about the wonderful. In life, to live, you have to give yourself reason to.
For me, I just kind of like this world. And that’s enough. That is enough fuel to keep on trekking despite the rough landscape and back-aching topography. I can live with it. I can live with it. | https://medium.com/@noredlaclisa/i-kind-of-like-this-world-c2e29f6cefa0 | [] | 2020-02-20 16:14:36.882000+00:00 | ['Motivation', 'Life', 'Perception', 'Hardship'] |
Webinar: 3 Ways a Tablet Can Energize Your Digital Teaching @khanacademy @wacom @TeachWithKhan | I am excited to share the recorded version of my webinar, hosted by Khan Academy & Wacom. In this webinar, I focus on the following topics:
You can catch the recording on YouTube here:
Here are the session slides, with many more resources to click and dig deeper into the solution that will work best for you based on tools you are already using in your classroom. | https://medium.com/@staceyroshan/webinar-3-ways-a-tablet-can-energize-your-digital-teaching-khanacademy-wacom-teachwithkhan-fb21bc6fa9c5 | ['Stacey Roshan'] | 2020-12-16 22:32:22.285000+00:00 | ['Flipped Classroom', 'Edtech', 'Remote Learning', 'Education'] |
The Pre-Liminal State of the Home Front Versus the Liminal State of the War Front | There is a clear divide between the war front and the home front in Erich M. Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. In the novel, the war front is a world of gruesome terror and perpetual death. On the other hand, the home front is a world that exists removed from the most serious effects of the war. If the war front represents a liminal world with shifting territorial lines and new replacements for dying men, then the home front represents a pre-liminal world, which fails to understand the real effects of war for those living on the front. The front lines exist in the in-between state of death and survival. The home front continues manifesting the nationalistic attitudes that led Germany to war in the first place. Remarque establishes the differences between the liminality of the war front against the pre-liminal state at the home front by constructing a home front removed from and detached from the bloody affairs of the front line.
The pre-liminal world, before the Great War, was awash in a fervent nationalism that pushed Germany forward into war and continued at the home front during the war. Ambitious historical notions of ever-expansionist empires, such as Europe had seen for generations, fed the views of the Germans. The young were led by their teachers and parents to join up and sacrifice for the fatherland. The narrator explains: “Kantorek had been our schoolmaster… During drill-time Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding, to the District Commandant and volunteered” (Remarque 10, 11). The home front demonstrated the continued pre-liminal attitude even after World War I had dragged on for years. Although the home front suffers, its residents are far removed from the atrocities of the front lines. People in the home front piece together the stories of the war as a mental exercise, not a physical one. Therefore, they revert constantly to the pre-liminal notion of war as a national good.
In is interesting to note, the ones contemplating war as a mental exercise at home were mostly women. Philip Thody in his essay “The Civilian at Home” explains, “most civilians, after all, are women” (90). Therefore, although they can, to some extent, imagine what is happening at the front, they failed to understand the trauma the young men faced in the war front. When the narrator returns home he hears his sister’s voice and becomes “powerless.” He states, “I can do nothing, I struggle to make myself laugh, to speak, but no word comes, and so I stand on the steps, miserable, helpless, paralyzed, and against my will the tears run down my cheeks” (Remarque 57, 58). However, notice the sister’s immediate reply to Paul’s reaction, “my sister comes back and says: ‘Why, what is the matter?’” (Remarque 158). There can be many issues at play here, but the sister’s lack of comprehension of the narrator’s consternation upon his return to the safety that the home front represents allows us to see the disconnect between those at the home front versus those at the war front. In fact, because most women had never been to the front or experienced the horror of dismembered bodies, blood, and gore they could probably not understand the men’s state of mind coming home from the war front.
While at the home front privations, such as food shortages and rationing were taking place, however, the mentality had not shifted from a pre-liminal state to the liminal state the soldiers were facing at the war front. As we have seen the pre-liminal state consisted of an ardent nationalist sentiment. When the narrator returns, he can see that this has not changed. People are still looking at the war from the perspective of Germany’s standing in the world. Speaking about morale at the home front Thody states, “in Germany in myth, it was the collapse of morale on the home front which led to defeat in the First World War” (89). As Thody points out it was a myth that the lack of moral on the home front caused the German defeat. In the novel, Remarque demonstrates the home front’s morale was well and upbeat when the narrator returns as evidenced by his shock and consternation.
The first indication of the pre-liminal state demonstrated at home was his sister’s welcome, but it was quickly followed by his mother’s illness and a stern major he meets another day. His mother’s illness reminds the narrator that there are troubles outside the war and not brought in by the war. Paul’s mother has cancer, but she is also ready to help spur her son on patriotically. She is ready with a “jar of preserved whortleberries” that the narrator would later enjoy with his friends at the front (Remarque 159). On the other hand, the Major is preoccupied with command structures and salutes which have a tendency to disappear in the front lines. He states, “you think you can bring your front-line manners here, what?… Thank God, we have discipline here!” (Remarque 163). The Major’s focus on decorum and form shows how disconnected he is from the gruesome action on the front lines. Again, the pre-liminal state revolves around patriotism and a prewar world and not the reality of the ongoing war.
The home front assists the war effort but it is separated by social and economic difference. Heike Weber explains, “female effort…called upon women to contribute to the war through resource-saving housekeeping, and, more specifically, through the separation, collection and donation of any potentially reusable waste” (372). At home, the war affected its people by reorganizing the economy but the character’s family were not displaced or suffered other major privations. At the front, the war is a contribution of lives. The war front is shaped by death. From the narrator’s sister to Kontarak, those at home are worried about issues that were important before the war and probably would be after but not the liminal state of the war with its struggle between survival and not much more. At home, they live in general safety. Their fears are more closely connected to a pre-liminal war existence than the shifting and ongoing processes of war.
On the front lines home, safety, and rank disappear behind the liminal nature of the fighting and death. Remarque pointedly writes, “the terror of the front sinks deep down when we turn our back upon” (140). The war front is about basic survival. The soldiers exist in a liminal state of fighting and surviving. The lines move this way and that but the war continues. They are stuck between what is (war) and what will be (post-war life). The narrator explains, “We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war” (Remarque 87, 88). The war represents a state of in-between for these young men who cannot move on with their lives. For the young men fighting the war, the home front becomes a thing of the distant past and future that gets drowned out by the explosions of the social impasse of the shells.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque makes clearly makes the differences between the war front and the home front. Teachers, parents, and students interpreted their duty as supporting the nation through fervid patriotism, which taken as a whole represents the pre-liminal state of the home front. However, once at the front, patriotism melts away under the reality of war and those at the front are then thrust into a liminal state. The at the front experience the pre-liminal state. The narrator recounts how he enthusiastically joined the war. However, the harsh reality of death, toil, and sickness does away with the pre-liminal state and allows the soldiers at the front to pass onto the liminal state found in the front lines. They await the post-liminal, which would be demarcated by the end of the war. However, those on the home front never pass the pre-liminal state because they are removed physically from the worst of the war. | https://medium.com/literary-analyses/the-pre-liminal-state-of-the-home-front-versus-the-liminal-state-of-the-war-front-d5e17b7ce355 | ['J. Garcia'] | 2016-09-26 11:49:10.384000+00:00 | ['WIB History', 'Literature', 'War', 'Literary Criticism'] |
Making ‘True Blue’ | Making ‘True Blue’
How we integrated story, illustration, and design to create an internet public art project.
A few years ago, I received an email from my friend David Cohen, “I’ve had an idea for a book for a while. I thought I’d send it to you because I sure as hell am never going to write it.” David went on to present a thought experiment: What if your future was determined by the color of your eyes?
Now, I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you start writing books, your friends will start sending you ideas. Strangers too. You’ll get very good at letting people down easy. After all, you have your own dreams to bring to life.
But David’s premise stuck with me, lurking in the shadows of my subconscious and rearing its head when I least suspected. It would visit me as I took the dog on a walk or did the dishes. It made me think of my opa whose entire family was murdered by the Nazis and my oma who risked her life every day to fight in the Dutch Resistance. Every time the idea resurfaced, it took on weight and texture, building up creative momentum until I had no choice but to write it.
True Blue became a story about being true to yourself even when the world turns against you, a story about standing up instead of standing by, a story about finding the courage to stop caring what other people think.
When True Blue was originally published on Kindle, readers started reaching out to say what it meant to them and share their own stories, many of which were profoundly moving. It made me wonder whether there might be a way to let True Blue grow beyond its four thousand words of prose. What could it mean to tell a story in a format optimized for its content, to use illustration and web design to further the narrative, to make the entire project, and the creative process behind it, a piece of public art on the internet?
So I wrote David an email of my own that expanded this question into a proposal, and he offered to support the experiment with a small grant. | https://eliotpeper.medium.com/making-true-blue-f66a538d0ea5 | ['Eliot Peper'] | 2019-03-10 15:02:08.261000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Creative Process', 'Creativity', 'Design', 'Fiction'] |
Introduction to Video Object Detection | Limitations of Still-image Object Detector
Before we dive deep into these papers, we need to first understand what limitations still-image object detectors have and how we can leverage our knowledge to extend current frameworks to videos.
First, simply applying image detectors to videos would introduce unaffordable computational cost by running models for each frame in videos.
The accuracy is also affected by motion blur, video defocus, and rare poses that only appear in videos but seldom observed in still images.
So, we want to design a new framework or extend current frameworks for video object detection task. | https://gl2675.medium.com/introduction-to-video-object-detection-7181cdf95aed | ['Guandong Liu'] | 2020-11-29 02:05:18.197000+00:00 | ['Computer Vision', 'Deep Learning', 'Video Object Detection'] |
Jeff Erickson’s book on algorithms | I’d started to get bored of leetcode. I could not bring myself to solve another leetcode problem. After all, it did not serve any higher purpose. I wanted something else to occupy my mind — that is when I came across Jeff Erickson’s book on Algorithms : https://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/#book
It absolutely blew my mind! This book is clearer and better written than any other algorithm book out there! So friends and algorithm enthusiasts — let’s solve the exercises!
I will be starting a new series of posts on the book — I’m open to discussions and working together while solving the exercises! Let me know! | https://medium.com/@algorithmexplorer/jeff-ericksons-book-on-algorithms-23cced2f514c | ['Sweta Barman'] | 2020-12-16 22:03:01.013000+00:00 | ['Leetcode', 'Algorithms', 'Coding Interviews'] |
Moen completes its whole-home water security portfolio with the Flo by Moen Smart Sump Pump Monitor | Moen completes its whole-home water security portfolio with the Flo by Moen Smart Sump Pump Monitor Rosemary Jan 27·2 min read
Moen acquired a majority stake in smart water valve startup Flo in in 2020. With its recently announced Flo by Moen Smart Sump Pump Monitor, the company now offers a full range of smart home products designed to detect and prevent water damage, one of the most common—and most costly—calamities a homeowner can suffer.
Mentioned in this article Flo by Moen Smart Water Detector Read TechHive's reviewSee it The sump pump monitor analyzes your sump pump’s operation for signs of potential issues, continuously measuring water levels, temperature, and humidity, and watching for power loss, leaks, and performance issues. It can be used in conjunction with the Flo by Moen Smart Water Shutoff and/or the Flo by Moen Smart Water Detector, or it can be deployed on its own.
[ Further reading: The best home water leak detectors ]A sump pump is a submersible device typically installed in the lowest area of a home, such as its basement. If you live in an area subject to excessive rain or snow, water from the oversaturated soil surrounding it could collect in that low spot and eventually cause a flood. A float mechanism connected to the sump pump will trigger it to turn on and evacuate that water.
Michael Brown / IDG The sump pump monitor comes with a Flo by Moen Smart Water Detector that can be placed near the pump, but outside the crock to detect leaks. This one is set the drain pan of a water heater.
Moen’s device is equipped with two sensors to ensure your sump pump is operating correctly. A water-level sensor placed in the sump pump crock—a perforated metal or plastic basket set in the floor to collect groundwater seepage—monitors the water level in real time and will alert the homeowner if the pump is not working efficiently or if there’s a danger of flooding.
A stand-alone leak-sensing disc gets placed near the pump in an area where water should never be, possibly from a leaky water heater, washing machine, or other appliance. This second sensor will also send an alert if water is detected in that area, and it will alert you to freezing conditions that could lead to frozen pipes and high humidity levels that could promote mold growth.
The sump pump itself gets plugged into a Wi-Fi-enabled smart outlet. This device will monitor the pump’s performance over time, and it will send an alert if your power goes out. An onboard alarm will sound if the Monitor loses its connection to your Wi-Fi network.
Moen hasn’t released pricing or availability information, but we’ll update this story when we get it. You can also stay tuned for an in-depth hands-on review.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@rosemar72811951/moen-completes-its-whole-home-water-security-portfolio-with-the-flo-by-moen-smart-sump-pump-2f960c0f22ef | [] | 2021-01-27 20:06:18.335000+00:00 | ['Deals', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Services', 'Gear'] |
All About iOS Animations (Part 1) | Implementing Show Button:
We will do the following things on tap of dotButton —
We will animate top , middle and bottom view from right to left side. We will rotate out dotButton , decrease its alpha from 1 to 0, and finally hide it. We will un-hide, rotate and increase alpha with the crossButton placed on top of dotButton .
Add a target function to dotButton like below:
@objc func onTapOfDotButton() {
showOptions()
}
Now, let’s implement the showOptions function. Implement the following code:
Let’s understand the points mentioned above.
//1 We unhide the crossButton which has an alpha of 0 at this point.
//2 We have an animateKeyframes method which will produce the animation of 0.5 seconds and with 0 delay.
//3 we add our first set of chained animations via the addKeyframe method. Let’s look at its parameters:
withRelativeStartTime : We gave it to 0/0.5 , this is the way of saying this internal animation should start just at the beginning of the total duration of animation we have.
relativeDuration : We gave it 0.3/0.5 , this is the way of saying that to what extend our block should animate with respect to the total time available with us.
animations : Inside this block, we transformed our bottomView to its initial position (to what we gave constraints, fixing it to bottom right).
//4 & //5 We followed the same steps as what we did for bottomView explained in step //3 . The only change is in //4 startTime is 0.1/0.5 and //5 startTime is 0.2/0.5 which gives a delay of 0.1 seconds for both the views to animate, thus helping to create the desired effect. | https://medium.com/better-programming/all-about-ios-animations-part-1-d49a021527 | ['Arjun Baru'] | 2020-12-10 08:56:21.968000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'iOS', 'Swift', 'UX', 'Programming'] |
TechRebels é finalista no IT Blog Awards 2020 da Cisco | 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/techrebels/techrebels-finalist-it-blog-awards-2020-cisco-588255b979e9 | ['Giuliano Barros'] | 2020-12-17 20:37:26.535000+00:00 | ['Cisco', 'Infrastructure', 'It', 'Techrebels'] |
I’m doing my part | Photo by Museums Victoria
Life goes by like a hurricane, with occasional moments of joy and sadness, which stand out in an ocean of tedious routine. Without taking too much risk, we avoid conflicts and embrace the comfort of choices that are socially accepted, which can make life a little monotonous, but increases the chance of reaching retirement well. Perhaps that is the sole purpose of most people, a good retirement.
Unlike a career and the university we dream of, the friends we would like to have and the places we would do anything to get to know, we are suffocated by jobs that pay the bills. That’s because, in fact, we are not really willing to “do everything”. At least, nothing that is risky.
A job that pays the bills is precisely what keeps us from moving forward and trying new things. It is not what we want, but it is safe, perhaps guaranteed and comfortable. Above all, a job is always charged with the feeling that we are doing our part. Because that is what society expects of us, that we are not unemployed, a cost for the collective.
However mediocre work on a production line, office or store counter is, you are doing your part because you are making money. Continuing with this job is the most comfortable and socially accepted decision, almost like marrying the first person who smiles back, for fear of never having an altar photo album.
Living costs money, and any decision that does not involve earning it is risky. Especially when it comes to a low-income family, without assets and inheritances. Which also explains why the wealthy are more likely to achieve a profession where they feel fulfilled.
Rich people don’t have the burden of paying bills, but that doesn’t mean they are free to contribute to society. That is why heirs of fortunes call themselves entrepreneurs or investors, even if the only occupation they have is to buy, sell or make investments with the help of trained professionals. They are considered socialites, philanthropists or protectors of animals, but never, unoccupied. In common, professions that have no bosses, time requirements and not even the need to be really profitable.
For the rest, as long as they have a job, there is no need to pursue greater goals. With a job we are already doing our part and it does not make sense to take chances and strive to achieve uncertain professional fulfillment. In fact, those who take such risks are seen as irresponsible. They are those who give up everything that is right for the chance to have a small business, or worse, to pursue an artistic career.
For society, personal goals matter as long as you are financially successful. Then you become an exception to the rule, the one who managed to achieve your dream and still meet the demand of society. Until you were successful, you were a bad example, because you lived a bohemian life, performing in bars for change or spending your days painting pictures. From the moment you are recognized, and perhaps gain some fame, society overestimates your effort and turns you into a hero. An example of what is possible, although not recommended. After all, if you succeeded, it is because you are a genius. It is because your effort is above average and most would never succeed anyway.
Maybe you really are a genius or have tried harder than average, but that shouldn’t make you an example. On the contrary, if the only path to personal success depends on genius or superhuman dedication, then the error is not in those who are unable to meet this requirement, but in the society that makes it necessary.
Society discriminates against personal fulfillment, as a way of safeguarding those who will never achieve. So everyone can count on a consolation prize for being obedient and not stealing too much attention for themselves, certain that taking risks is not good for the collective. Thus, we subvert the concept of success and simplify personal fulfillment for something that everyone can achieve, including those who will spend their entire lives in a job that pays the bills: money.
Real estate, cars, travel and everything else money can buy have become the symbols of personal success. It doesn’t matter whether you study, discover, develop skills or strive to build and design new things. Even those who are successful in their personal searches are not valued if this is not reflected in financial achievements. The important thing is to have purchasing power, preferably, that you can expose to society with clothes and travel photos. Consumption systematically overlaps or is associated with personal achievements.
In the modern world of jobs that pay the bills, creators and thinkers are overwhelmed by the mass of consumers, for the benefit, not the economy, as their defenders guarantee, but only a few entrepreneurs, manufacturers and traders. All who get rich supported by the current model.
Since the specialization of work, which arose with living in complex societies, through agriculture and industry, all human development has resulted in the creation of better occupations for some and worse for many. In order for society to deal with such large differences in treatment, it was necessary to improve palliative care. Religions, which have always fulfilled the role of alleviating existential issues, have also started to alleviate the harshness of life, with promises of eternal happiness and progression in the next plans.
The modern world we live in is the next stage, when human progress expands access to information, which eventually becomes knowledge. Religions are no longer enough, because those who have the worst jobs do not accept waiting for the next life anymore, or even believe in it.
Cinema, games and all different forms of leisure and entertainment expand rapidly as an alternative to minimally alleviate the reality of not belonging to privileged groups, without having to threaten them. At the top of palliative care, consumption offers immediate comfort to the effort exerted, which is confused with achievement, alienating the majority in favor of society itself.
We are zombies, because the society we shape does not need creative and cultured minds, it needs workers to keep the organism functioning. All because the development model requires mediocre jobs. All because we do not prioritize our efforts to formulate and implement a new development model.
The system does not matter, it is a human invention, like all others. It can change. What has no turning back are the people who waste their lives every day with mediocre occupations. | https://medium.com/vallenspach/im-doing-my-part-1e7946128d93 | ['Victor Allenspach'] | 2020-09-22 21:01:02.502000+00:00 | ['Capitalism', 'Jobs', 'Consumerism', 'Self Improvement', 'Religion'] |
Womanhood & High School | By: Jamiana Akinjo
Today, I walked down the hallway with one of my male buddies. I had a pass and he just so happened not to, but who got stopped? I, the female specimen, got stopped in the hallway with a pass! I got questioned on my whereabouts, asked if the pass was really legit. My friend got skipped by and told to have a nice day.
I go to a predominantly black school where females are constantly put down. Authorities catch a boy and a girl flirting, well, “the girl shouldn’t flirt with boys.” Authorities catch a girl in a tank top, “you shouldn’t wear that because boys don’t have self control.” I was told I am not allowed to wear ripped jeans without having leggings under them, but an undershirt is excused. I am told that I can’t show my shoulder because boys are going through changes and that might affect them.
I am tired of shaping my life around a male’s hormones, or behavior. I too am going through changes and yet I’m told to bottle it up and “act like a lady.” Why can’t I be a lady while showing my shoulder? Why am I being taught to cater to “my man” and make sure I keep him? My great aunt told me to get in the kitchen and learn to cook so that I find a man. I’m told to not try to go away for college because I have to stay close to home and help. I’m a young woman who sees these things happening in my everyday life. I’m sick of it and I’m pretty sure other young women are as well. 2017 is coming to a closing and trust me, we women are coming to change the nature of society. | https://medium.com/energy-convertors/womanhood-high-school-dbdc1af8810 | ['Energy Convertors'] | 2018-03-07 23:31:05.076000+00:00 | ['Student Voice', 'Student Agency', 'Feminism', 'Equity', 'Black Feminism'] |
Why You Should Send Your Next Email Newsletter to Fewer People | Why You Should Send Your Next Email Newsletter to Fewer People
And the exact steps to remove those who won’t open anyway
Photo by Matthew Fournier on Unsplash
Grow an email list.
That’s common advice here on Medium, and it’s good advice for a reason.
Email is a direct and easy way to communicate with your audience.
I see a lot of email campaigns in my day job working for one of the largest email service providers. Our users send billions of emails every month.
The biggest mistake I see our users making with their email campaigns is also one of the easiest to fix. Read on for a step-by-step guide on how to fix it.
You’re spamming people
Some of your subscribers are no longer interested in your emails. Maybe they’ve maximized all of the value you can provide them. Perhaps their interests and priorities have changed, or they’ve moved on to a new hobby.
That’s ok, you can’t please everyone. Desperately holding onto uninterested subscribers hurts your newsletter.
Inbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo care a lot about how users interact with your emails. It’s in their best interest to protect users from spam, and they’re ruthless about it. They’ve built complicated algorithms to detect spam and make sure it never reaches the inbox.
Gmail now prompts users to unsubscribe from emails they haven’t opened recently.
Image source: Mailjet
All that hard work building your subscriber list goes right out the window if the emails never make it to the inbox.
Respect your subscribers
On average there are 111 billion commercial emails sent every day. Your newsletter is just one email of hundreds that your subscribers receive every day.
You can easily tell which subscribers are still interested in your emails based on their engagement. Here are some positive engagement signals in the eyes of Gmail and Yahoo:
Opening your email
Clicking a link from your email
Replying
Forwarding your email to a friend
The average open rate is about 21%, and the average click rate is about 2.6%, according to Mailchimp.
Take a look at your most recent campaign and see how you compare.
Your secret weapon
Remove unengaged users from your email list.
It may seem heartbreaking to remove someone from your email list. You worked hard for that subscriber! Why take them out of your email list?
Inbox providers have a very low tolerance for spam. A spam rate below 0.1% is considered normal.
That means for every 1000 emails you send, only one can be marked as spam. Anything above that is too high in their eyes.
Once you get flagged with a high spam rate it’s very difficult to fix your reputation, so avoid it all costs.
My suggestion: remove users who haven’t opened your emails in 3 months.
Here’s exactly how to do that
Below is a 7-step guide for archiving unengaged users from Mailchimp. If you use another provider like Sendgrid, SendinBlue, or Mailjet, those links will take you to their specific guides.
Login to Mailchimp and navigate to Audience at the top. Select the audience you want to modify, then click View Contacts on the right. Next, click into Manage contacts above your contact list, then select Segments. Create a new segment for Campaign Activity that matches anyone who did not open all campaigns in the last 3 months. Click Preview Segment, then hit the arrow at the top of the list next to Email Address, and select all. Click Actions, then Remove contacts. Don’t worry, Mailchimp will ask you to confirm on the next page. You’ll actually be archiving them instead. Click Archive. This maintains their stats but prevents them from receiving your emails again. Later, you can build a re-engagement campaign to get them interested again! That’s it! I included a screenshot below of what your segment should look like.
Your segment should look like this. Screenshot by the author.
What do you have to lose?
Test it out and see what happens.
Set a reminder to periodically clean out your email list. Your unengaged users will thank you, and inbox providers will look at you more favorably too.
You just increased the chance of your future emails landing in the inbox. | https://medium.com/better-marketing/why-you-should-send-your-next-email-newsletter-to-fewer-people-d79eb2601dde | ['Nick Lafferty'] | 2020-01-30 01:23:43.493000+00:00 | ['Email', 'Newsletter', 'Marketing', 'Email Marketing', 'Technology'] |
Why We All Need Design-led Content Marketing | Ever since marketing has become a buzzword and a key to getting many customers, human psychology has been dissected and carefully laid out so as to understand how brands can hook onto its no-longer-complex behaviour. As such, certain things, like how visuals can attract people and get stamped into memories more than what texts alone can do, is no longer something to gasp at.
A study in 2019 by Neilsen and Taboola highlighted that the human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds.
While 4 seconds might sound pretty insignificant, if we try to recall how many feeds we see in a continuous scroll in just 4 seconds, it may not sound small at all. Right?
Imagine your brand message, or say your marketing ad, is one of these many feeds that your customer is scrolling through. What are the chances that they will resist the urge of their thumb to push the feeds upward, and will stop at your ad and read it wide-eyed?
WordStream says that the average CTR (click-through rate) for all display networks is 0.46%.
Yes, so, that puts the odds of a customer interacting your ad at less than 0.5%. Wow! That’s really tiny.
So, does that mean that your ad will lie in some dark corner of the marketing world, and go totally unnoticed? Not if you don’t want it to.
The sad part is that even though many people have, over the years, painstakingly researched the intricacies of customer behaviour, wrote thousands of pages of results and guidelines, and suggested the optimum ways to grab customer loyalty, most brands fail to even acknowledge these efforts. As a result, they miss out on the tricks to make their ads stand out in the crowd.
We have listed 5 reasons why your, my and everybody’s brand should adopt design as a tactic to enhance marketing and hence consumer engagement. Let’s get started! | https://uxplanet.org/why-we-all-need-design-led-content-marketing-f6b7ddc04487 | ['Design Studio'] | 2020-11-16 08:37:08.283000+00:00 | ['Design Led Marketing', 'Design', 'Brand Strategy', 'Content Marketing', 'Marketing'] |
Not As Easy As ABC | Not As Easy As ABC
A review of Judith Flanders’ unconventional history of alphabetical order, *A Place For Everything*
When I was in high school, one of my favorite things to do was to come up with “unanswerable” questions. I thought they were unanswerable because no one had Google at their fingertips quite yet, and high schoolers’ internet searching skills were and still are truly hideous. One of those questions was “Which came first, the color ‘orange’ or the fruit ‘orange’? (It turns out the fruit was named first in English.) The other one, which is a little bit more unanswerable but I still never bothered to do an internet search for: “Why is the alphabet in the order that it is, and who decided it?” Well, that’s a big reason why I picked up Judith Flanders’ new book, A Place For Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order. As you can imagine if you think of how little sourcing there would be for such a historical query, that is not exactly what the book is about (although I did get an answer to that question in my interview with Flanders). However, the book is a wonderful example of great microhistory, following the development and use of alphabetical order over time and place.
You may be thinking, like me, that alphabetical order is pretty natural and doesn’t require a lot of development. It probably just happened naturally. But at some point, you had to learn how to put things (or find things) in alphabetical order, and it probably didn’t come very naturally at first. Most likely, someone taught you how it worked. Alphabetical order’s need for development becomes clear in an excerpt from Giovanni Balbi’s Catholicon (a compendium of grammar) where he explains in minute detail how Balbi uses alphabetical order. Flanders explains:
Balbi’s long explanation brings into focus the work that goes into dictionaries, which, when we use them, seem straightforward, as though the dictionary maker has simply had to perform a mechanical task: Ab before Ac, and so on. For while alphabetical order is the most useful tool to find a word in a dictionary that has so far been devised, it is by no means the easiest tool to create a dictionary. Grouping words by type (slang, or technical words, or fields of knowledge), or by entry size (words like “go” and “run,” which require lengthy definitions and have a large number of meanings), or grammatically (verbs, nouns, adjectives) are all far easier for the dictionary writer to implement. In addition, endless decisions are required to alphabetize usefully. Where do abbreviations get placed? — does DIY go under “di,” or under “do” for “do it yourself ’? What about compound or hyphenated words? Post / Postilion / Post office, or Post / Post office / Postilion? What about words that have no letters, like 9/11? What happens to words with accents? Are those letters treated as though there is no accent, or are they ordered as though the accented letter is a separate entity? Alphabetization is easier to use than to produce, as Balbi’s explanation made clear.
In other portions of the book, Flanders also notes that absolute alphabetical order was not exclusively used until relatively recently, meaning that putting “Nesbitt” before “Nathan” would be just as correct as vice versa. It’s only later that there is a correct way to order “Nash” and “Nathan”, much less “Nat”, “Nathan” and “Nathaniel”.
Most of Flanders’ published work explores the Victorian era, so it is impressive that she delves deep into almost 5000 years of history all over the world with seeming ease. She even refuses to make the ultra-common mistake of starting the story of the development of printing with Johannes Gutenberg, choosing instead to trace the origins of movable type in China through its spread and modification in Korea before Gutenberg stole ideas from about fifteen different people to develop the movable type printing press. It’s details like this that give me confidence in a historian’s process, and Flanders exhibits fitness for that confidence throughout the book.
Alphabetical order, like any technology, had its detractors. Devotees to various faiths considered it a vice and a shortcut to the more meaningful memorization of locations and even ideas. Flanders relays a get-off-my-lawn-style rant against “kids these days” who used alphabetization:
The barrister Abraham Fraunce (c. 1559 — c. 1592/3), whose greater fame was as a poet under the patronage of Philip Sidney, trumpeted his discontent in an I-had-to-learn-the-hard-way-so-you-youngsters-should-too outburst: “I could heartily wish the whole body of our law to be rather logically ordered, than by alphabetical breviaries torn and dismembered. If any man say it cannot be . . . then I do not so much envy his great wisdom, as pity his rustical education, who had rather eat acorns with hogs, than breed [bread] with men, and prefer the loathsome tossing of an A.B.C. abridgement, before the lightsome perusing of a methodical coherence of the whole common law.”
In other ways, however, the use of alphabetical order does legitimately mark “a transition in worldview”. That seems so silly to say of what seems to most a benign innovation, but by the time you reach this point in A Place For Everything, you will see that alphabetization is not a neutral conduit. Flanders writes:
Just as the spread of alphabetically organized dictionaries and indexes had indicated a shift from seeing words purely as meaning to seeing them as a series of letters, so too the arrival of alphabetically ordered encyclopedias indicated a shift from seeing the world as a hierarchical, ordered place, explicable and comprehensible if only a person knew enough, to seeing it as a random series of events and people and places.
You may, like me, find that change in worldview nauseating. I would hate for my students to think world history is a “random series of events and people and places”. I would rather my students see it as “explicable and comprehensible if only a person knew enough”. But then again, that’s why I don’t arrange my world history class in alphabetical order. Doing so would be silly. And that’s where Flanders is spot on in her evaluation of the merits or demerits of alphabetization:
Alphabetical order is a means, not an end in itself. It is a system that permits us to organize large quantities of information, and to make it available to others whom we do not know, and who have no information regarding the people or ideas or intentions of those who originally produced and arranged it. There continue to be many ways of organizing, storing, and retrieving information, sometimes in the same way it originated, sometimes in a way that transforms it. Linnaeus’s taxonomy, and the periodic tables, are naming and classifying systems. The Dewey decimal system classifies, but does not name. Most museum exhibits are organizing, classifying, and displaying systems. Maps are displaying and also transforming systems, as are graphs and pie and bar charts. The importance is not the method, but a method, any method. “The human mind works by internalizing such arbitrary and useful tools, as a kind of grid onto which knowledge can be arranged, and from which it can be retrieved,” wrote the novelist A. S. Byatt. We think, therefore we sort.
In any sorting decision, there are going to be better and worse means of ordering. Some social scientists have provided evidence that the alphabetization of student names is discriminatory. In some cases, like a dictionary or encyclopedia, it may be the proper sorting technique. The key is to find a sorting means that helps you meet your ends. (You didn’t think a review of a book about alphabetical order could get this serious, did you?)
Flanders’ A Place For Everything is skilled in its job of telling a unique history through a means that is both interesting and historically sound. If such quirks of history enrapture you, I would heartily recommend this book. And if you haven’t already, check out my interview with Judith Flanders for more about how she came to the topic, the process of writing history, and more.
I received a review copy of A Place For Everything courtesy of Basic Books and NetGalley, but my opinions are my own. | https://medium.com/park-recommendations/not-as-easy-as-abc-6bfce7244f63 | ['Jason Park'] | 2020-10-19 10:25:01.733000+00:00 | ['History', 'Nonfiction', 'Microhistory', 'Books', 'Reading'] |
Will India Really be facing “WATER CRISES”!?? | Conclude Yourself how big the problem is if so!!
Demand in the country is projected to very soon overtake the availability of water. In some regions of the country, it has already happened. The rapid increase in population, urbanization, and industrialization has led to a significant increase in water requirements. In the next decade, the demand for water is expected to grow by 20 percent, fuelled primarily by the industrial requirements which are projected to double from 23.2 trillion liters at present to 47 trillion liters. Domestic demand is expected to grow by 40 percent from 41 to 55 trillion litters while irrigation will require only 14 percent more ten years hence, 592 trillion litters up from 517 trillion litters currently.
(m3/yr)
India’s land area can be divided into 19 major river basins. The per-capita water resource availability of these basins varies from a low of 240 m3 in the Sabarmati basin to a high of 17,000 m3 in the Brahmaputra basin, while water withdrawals vary from 243 m3 in the Meghna basin to 1,670 m3 in the Indus basin.
India receives an average of 4,000 billion cubic meters of rainfall every year. Unfortunately, only 48% of rainfall ends up in India’s rivers. Due to lack of storage and crumbling infrastructure, only 18% can be utilized. The average annual rainfall in the country is 1170 mm with a wide range between 100 mm in desert areas of Rajasthan to 10000 mm in Cherapunji. The total available sweet water in the country is 4000 billion m3 per annum. Out of this, over 1047 billion m3 water is lost due to evaporation, transpiration, and runoff, reducing the available water to 1953 billion m3 and the usable water to 1123 billion m3. | https://medium.com/@akshitkh47612/will-india-really-be-facing-water-crises-5d51fce01073 | [] | 2020-12-26 12:37:13.294000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Water Crisis', 'Data Analytics', 'Water Crisis In India', 'Awareness'] |
Tech Employees Disagree With Their Companies on BLM | Tech Employees Disagree With Their Companies on BLM
Nearly 1/3 of Facebook staff members aren’t satisfied with the company’s response
Photo by AJ Colores on Unsplash
According to a new survey of tech professionals from data company Blind, a significant number of tech professionals at major companies disagree with their company’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement. More troubling, a large number also feel that they can’t discuss their perspectives openly at work.
The survey revealed that 30% of Facebook employees disagree or strongly disagree with their company’s stance on Black Lives Matter and the death of George Floyd, as do 20% at Microsoft. More than half (56%) of Facebook staff members don’t feel comfortable raising their opinions on the situation to colleagues, and the same goes for 49% of people working at Google.
This is a surprising result, especially for Google. The company usually prides itself on encouraging lively discussion and debate among its staff, using a network of Google-only private chat rooms and affinity groups. These groups often shape the company’s policies.
When Google considered inking a deal with the Department of Defense to use its AI capabilities to analyze drone footage, staff members quickly organized using these internal groups and shut the efforts down. In an infamous case, a Googler also published an allegedly sexist memo on the company’s internal websites, which led to a backlash from other staff members who felt no qualms about speaking up.
So it’s uncharacteristic for Googlers to feel they have to be reserved about a political and social movement, especially one that seems to fit relatively directly into Google’s “Don’t be Evil” ethos. It’s also unclear why Googlers felt uncomfortable. The company may feel that politically, it can’t comment as directly on the movement as it does on other issues. As a search engine that controls much of the world’s information, Google may feel that it has to remain neutral, even on important movements like #BLM. That’s a liability for a company with socially engaged staff members, and some may be feeling the impact of restrictions on their ability to take a strong stance.
Encouragingly, a majority (62%) of African-American staff members agree with their company’s BLM stance and response. But at the same time, only 10% of Black and 20% of Latino staff members felt that their ethnicity was represented in the upper management of their tech company, versus 76% of white respondents. And nearly half of Google and Facebook employees of any ethnicity say that their personal values are represented by upper management.
Diversity in tech is a challenging and important issue. Tech companies are clearly still navigating the best ways to respond to movements like Black Lives Matter, and how to find their own role in advancing these causes. Blind’s survey shows that they’re making progress, but have more work to do on this front.
But even more importantly than their response to the movement, tech companies need to integrate diversity more directly into the core of the operations. Responding to a movement is one thing — ensuring representation at the upper echelons of a company is another. Tech should continue to evaluate its response to BLM, but should also consider diversity more broadly and continue working towards more inclusivity and representation of people of all ethnicities on boards and in leadership positions. | https://tomsmith585.medium.com/tech-employees-disagree-with-their-companies-on-blm-2207b9b4c4b3 | ['Thomas Smith'] | 2020-06-10 14:23:53.221000+00:00 | ['Google', 'Tech', 'Facebook', 'Diversity', 'Black Lives Matter'] |
A love letter to Beirut, Paris and beyond from Sri Lanka | We don’t choose which part of the world we are born into. It’s not a decision we get to make until we are years out of utero. And sometimes this decision may be already made for us; if you end up becoming a refugee and have to take an unsafe boat and be in the mercy of the hands of smugglers, because
But whatever the reason may be, humans like you and I are strong, we are courageous and we wait it out until enough is enough.
They (neuroscience research) say that humans are the only creatures who are able to empathize with other fellow humans because of the cognitive functions bestowed in our grey matter. We have evolved, or being made this way — which ever truth you believe in, to be able to feel the pain of another human’s struggle, to be able to rejoice in joy of another human’s triumph, and this is to me is truly what makes us human even when we are miles away from them and just watching events unfold through a TV screen or a twitter feed. Today was an excellent example of this cognitive phenomena. A massacre in Paris, a car bomb in Beirut, an earthquake in Japan, and countless other attacks where we humans have given into aggression (which is controlled by a very primitive part of the brain, and not one where higher cognitive functions such as analysis or thought processing and social responsibility take place) makes me wonder if we are turning the evolutionary clock backwards and becoming less human. But the good news is that the neuroscience is in our favour, we can be trained to be more peaceful, to be more compassionate, and to be kind. And this is what we need to prime on.
So let me tell you a story of this science in action. I was born in Sri Lanka, a country that has a written history dating back 2500 years. A country that has embraced the philosophy of Buddhism for millennia. It was known by Marco Polo centuries ago as “undoubtedly one of the finest islands of its size in the world” and by Sir Arthur C. Clarke who said that “The island of Ceylon (former name) is a small universe. It contains as many variations of culture, scenery, and climate as some countries a dozen its size.” So what could possibly go wrong on this paradise island, right? But after centuries of colonization by the Portuguese, Dutch and then the British (who undoubtedly added vibrance to the mosaic of culture and heritage we have in Sri Lanka today), also came the downside of colonialism and an era of “divide and conquer”. This political culture alongside numerous bad and questionable policy decisions on part of the existing leadership at the time and the state of civil dismal, led to a 30 year old civil war, which only ended when I turned 18.
So I was part of a generation that was born and raised during a war, and although I may not have lived on the frontline, the effects of this mass atrocity of three decades will forever be part of my childhood. Living in the cosmopolitan capital city of Colombo didn’t mean I was safe, so I know what it is like to go to school every day and not know if I would make it back home safe, or if my parents would get back in one piece from work. The common occurrence of suicide bombs (especially since those responsible invented the suicide vest itself) in urban areas made me grow up to have what I call a “bomb sound reflex”, which is why even today if I hear a loud bomb-like sound, my first instinct makes me question if it was a bomb.
The first time I witnessed the catastrophical effect of this type of bloodshed was when I was five and in kindergarten. My nanny and driver picked me up from a scene of a horror movie; what looked like to me at that time the largest traffic jam of cars and people filled in red blood stains on their clothes that I had seen. That day, my headmistress lost her husband in this bomb that blew up the Central Bank and the World Trade Centre in my capital city. So humans from America, I know what 9/11 must have been like for you; we had our World Trade Centre also torn apart. Many years and explosions later, when I was Prefect in senior school (the student leadership that in-charge of the discipline of the school, much like in Harry Potter), I had to deal with, what is to date was the most challenging leadership role I have had to ever encounter. As the country was in a very volatile position of ending the civil war through military means, so was the use of innocent civilians as human shields in the war zone and those out of the war zone as collateral damage. And therefore being given training on how to act during a bomb or explosion was something we were taught even as Prefects in school, and checking the bags of students as they entered school every morning for anything suspicious became a routine procedure. But much like fire alarms and drills, you always wish you never had to use what you learned on how to deal with it because you didn’t want it to ever happen. But one day it did, there was a loud explosion, a suicide attack targeting a high ranking official, and myself together with my fellow Prefects had to follow what we were taught, and more importantly keep my classmates calm and safe until the chaos ceased.
So I may not have been in Paris with you or in Beirut or in Baghdad or wherever else your dignity was shattered through fear, and you may not have had the training I was given on how to deal with such a situation, but if you came out of this experience stronger than you were before, I salute you. There comes a day when these type of conflicts see their natural demise or an intervention that does the same job, and until then you need to be hopeful but never hateful.
Sri Lanka is and will always be the beautiful island I grew up in, regardless of which ever part of the world I decide to ever reside in the future. And even when time and again, we occasionally have to deal the distress of people driving wedges among communities; may it be through a political agenda or otherwise, I will always voice my opinion on how we need to stick together as that stunning mosaic — as serendipity. Because our differences make us beautiful and our similarities make us one, and both in conjunction is an unstoppable formula for success in every facet of life and development. So if you’re a peacemaker, never give up on that role because the world needs more of you.
So myself, together with millions of others around the world who believe in peace over conflict, love over hate, and kindness above all are with you every step of the way as you put your life back together. Let me just tell you that it is in our biology to grow stronger and more resilient after every adversity, so as it is for a bone to grow back to be much stronger after a fracture. If you don’t trust me on that, just google how bone remodelling works, and you will get your answer.
So today and tomorrow and until our days are numbered as inhabitants of this planet we call home; a planet we are renting from nature and must thus not destroy, I hope you remember two songs, “We Are The World” (not just je suis paris but nous sommes le monde) and “We Are Family”. Because every life matters, whether it is reported in the media or not, or whether Facebook decides to have a “Marked Safe” feature for a specific catastrophe or not. Because if you cut any of us open, you will see the same red blood flowing through our veins — it’s biology. And don’t let society or anyone else tell you otherwise. I hope the results of the recent events don’t shut your doors to those who may not even have what you have, a home. I hope it only strengthens you to open your doors wider to create an army of kindness. Like the way countless Sri Lankans opened their doors to strangers and friends who were targeted because of race, ethnicity, political beliefs or as a result of any other human-made social construct.
Choose love. In war, choose love. In despair, choose love. When the good and bad becomes relative concepts and appear to be grey, choose love. When you don’t know whom to blame about the magnitude of atrocities around you, choose love.
This is my love letter to you, and I hope it will open your heart to transcend borders and reinvigorate what humanity is all about.
Ayubowan. Wannakkam. Assalamu alaikum. These are all just different ways we say, may peace be with you and good vibes all the way.
From where there’s sunshine 365 days (aka Sri Lanka),
Love only,
SJ | https://medium.com/@sarahjameel/a-love-letter-to-beirut-paris-and-beyond-from-sri-lanka-629eb757bc7e | ['Sarah Jameel'] | 2015-11-16 02:09:15.656000+00:00 | ['Peace', 'Sri Lanka', 'Paris'] |
How Internet of Things(IoT) is Changing Web Development Processes? | Nowadays, in the IT sector, there is a major growth of “Buzz words” like ‘IoT’, ’Big Data’, ‘Machine Learning’ and ‘AI’. All those words look very simple but believe me each one of them has depth concepts behind them. So, all of you wonder what is the meaning of ‘IoT’? Basically, ‘IoT’ is an acronym for ‘Internet of Things’.
What is IoT?
According to Wikipedia, “The Internet of things is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware, these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled”. In short, a huge network of things which can communicate with each other via the internet.
Why We Require Web Development?
There is no wonder that Web Development is seating on top of all other fields of the Internet. There is a good reason behind this, most apps and software need a a‘ backend’ to communicate which plays a very crucial role for any piece of software because without a ‘backend’ that software is useless. So, they just need to rely on Web Development.
IoT: The Real Game Changer
Now, this statement can be truer, the Internet of Things technology not just impact consumers but it even affects the IoT solution providers. It changes software development on many levels, also web development. These complex IoT networks set some new challenges for the web developers both in regard to both the front as well as back-ends.
Where does Web Development stand in the era of IoT?
To understand how IoT and web development are related to each other, you first need to understand the fact that the network of the connected devices relies on web servers. Data that is obtained from sensors is stored in the cloud. With the help of advanced messaging protocols, communication between the devices takes place, and the user interface helps other users in interacting with the connected devices.
Apart from that, a number of IoT devices can display web content, like User Interfaces on laptops, TVs, smart applications, wearables, and industrial monitors. A few of them are even able to search the web via browsers, like we have Amazon’s Echo with the virtual assistant, Alexa. This way, it is clear that web development is a vital aspect of IoT projects.
How IoT can Change Web Development Processes?
Now every person who owns a smartphone must have experienced IoT at one point in time or the other. In fact, it is very much possible that in coming times the businesses enterprises would begin to use a combination of wireless technologies and sensors, to satisfy their customers and take their enterprises towards success. On the part of customers, they would also begin using IoT to avail personalized & customized products & services. Using sensors and analytics, people would be able to track their health and control home appliances. Similarly, in the era of web development, IoT can contribute to shaping the future efficiently and effectively.
However, there are a number of firms that are still unbeknown to the usage of IoT as it lies somewhere on the expensive side. Also, with most new technologies being advanced with the Internet of Things, it is vital for web developers to learn about the same and be knowledgeable of it.
Complex Web Development
The process of web development and designing is going to be a lot more complex with the Internet of Things, as then the users are going to primarily use front-end interface to communicate with devices that are being operated with IoT, such as cameras, sensors, and other of smart devices. Numerous websites may also require the complex capability to communicate with back-end databases that are able to store personalized data that can be obtained from IoT devices. This way the page loads quickly and there is no delay in transmission timing in the web development. In coming times, requirements would help web developers in using a powerful language that not only helps to build a dynamic front-end interface but also allows the user to communicate with IoT devices in the back-end.
IoT Devises that Display the Web
Several web developers are unaware of the fact that there are many devices that are able to display web content in front of people. So, here let’s find about them.
Personal Assistants: Yes, this is the new trend in the world of computing, i.e. smart voice assistant, like we have Amazon Echo’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri. In a home, these assistants come useful operating all appliances and also do small tasks, say ‘Set Alarms’, and more. Using IoT, the web would be able to access bots that are helpful in reading information rather than display it visually.
Smartwatches: Now the displays that smartwatches have are really too tiny and they come in a wide range of colors and screen resolutions. Android Watch does have a web browser for the Android Wear, however, the Apple Watch doesn’t have one yet. Now in coming times, there could be a smartwatch that supports multiple web browsers.
Computing Devices(with the small displays): Now, devices, like Raspberry Pis have smaller screens and can well display web content. Here, the context of content can be in the form of web-based device control pages, web pages, and the local dashboard-style web displays.
The practices in front-end development on the web don’t have to adapt in ways in order to suit IoT & other technology advancements. Still, if they do not, then the web would segment into something that can then only be used on desktops and mobiles. This way, it is clear that IoT is a massive breakthrough in the web development era.
Making lives a lot easier: The proliferation of IoT has opened many opportunities to businesses to create useful and innovative applications, which would in a way help in making people’s lives easier. Even though more and more companies are integrating IoT development in their workings, but owing to its high cost, many web development firms find it difficult to use IoT with fragile devices.
As of now, organizations are making efforts to enhance their communication and to remove security flaws, thus to prevent seamless integrations. This way, one would not be restricted to using embedded C, as there are several other web tools & technology tools available to use. So, what needs to be considered while creating a new web design with IoT integration?
Below, we have mentioned a few of the techniques that should be considered while developing interactive solutions having IoT interactions.
Speed Measurability: As it comes to a traditional website, all requests are analyzed by a web server. However, in the case of IoT, it has changed the whole scenario, as here the data is transmitted to cloud & connected devices and they allow the users to efficiently communicate.
Privacy & Security: One common drawback of IoT or the associated solutions is that they offer a way to hackers. Like, if a hacker succeeds in cracking web-connected patterns, then others can also easily crack them. Thus, to maintain security, it is important that designers adopt strict design practices. This, after all, is the responsibility of web developers to integrate the security feature to ensure the security of IoT-based app.
Power Management: Speaking of IoT devices, what first comes in mind, is certainly battery-powered instruments and wireless operations. For this, fully-fledged power management is essential. After all, those heavy programs running in the backend, do drain the huge battery and this leads to less user communication. This is why the new layout must be designed for minimizing excess power use.
Strong Back-End: It is important that communication between users & IoT devices is very clear. This can be attained by formed with robust back-end design architecture. Each of the devices has several capabilities, data, and commands that operate just according to the inclinations of users. A quality backend receives and transmits data, and it helps the users in communicating with the device in a seamless way.
Intuitive UI: For an IoT application, it is vital to have a clean, fast, and interactive layout. A web designer must work on the latest web design practices, however, ensure that design inclusions are meaningful and should support rational workflow. Also keep in mind that the new IoT-based design must be compatible with mobiles, so that smart users can benefit from it.
Lastly, Considering all of the aspects discussed above, the Internet of Things (IoT) tends to be the real game-changer in the era of technology. It has arrived at a time when users were actually looking for a technology that would add to their convenience. This way, it received a warm welcome upon its arrival from the users as well as the business organizations.
We, OneClick IT Consultancy, develop IoT applications. Let’s discuss your requirement if you have one and see the opportunity of working together on this. | https://medium.com/@oneclickitconsultancy/how-internet-of-things-iot-is-changing-web-development-processes-afa12021ce8c | ['Oneclick It Consultancy'] | 2020-12-08 11:54:09.375000+00:00 | ['IoT', 'Web App Development', 'Internet of Things', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Web Applications'] |
Black Coffee and Open Roads | My mornings start with a damp cloth wiping sleep from the mirror image of a borrowed face. A stretch and crackle of aching bones. A fidgety impatience that I did not steal. And then the coffee is brewed. I have inherited the desire for three cups before alertness. I sit and stare into the distance with my index finger resting at the corner of my mouth. I am reminded that I didn’t steal that stance either.
My daddy drove millions of miles. Coffee mug bouncing in the cupholder. It always felt like he was millions of miles away. Traveling the unpaved roads of his mind. Every bump in the pavement reminded him of a story and he’d laugh at length before telling you why. For someone who was always on the run, I never understood why he wouldn’t use travel mugs.
The smell of coffee reminds me of visiting my dad in the morning. The cup, an internal pool of darkness, bitter enough to prove his manhood. I had to bring my own milk to splash in. He’d hoped one day I’d be strong enough to drink my coffee black. Iced coffee may as well have been ice cream. The last time I saw him he was on his way to get ice cream. A sweet gesture for a life that fought being devoured by the bitterness of the era that raised him.
I was a freshly fallen autumn leaf, just 18 years old when Daddy held my hand through the equinox of losing my mother. Coffee with cream and sugar was nothing more than a dirtied mug of spoiled milk. We rode on the small highway to my hometown. I look just like my mother and act just like my father. Two mugs of immeasurable grief caused the coffee to get cold as we argued over the appropriateness of a song I’d chosen for her funeral.
And now “Autumn Leaves” and “Highway to Heaven” and “1000 miles Away” and “Daddy’s Home” are among the songs that make up the medley playing on my unpaved roads. Radio blaring over memories. I drive like the black coffee is next to me, splashing up then back down into the mug, expert navigation like I’ve been here before. | https://medium.com/@lesliedrose/black-coffee-and-open-roads-d4023ba62e01 | ['Leslie D. Rose'] | 2020-12-17 20:16:26.075000+00:00 | ['Funerals', 'Orphans', 'Coffee', 'Mommy', 'Daddy'] |
Apa aplikasi favorit kamu? | Login * Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing… | https://medium.com/@septianafaza/apa-aplikasi-favorit-kamu-48c2247105e4 | ['Septiana Faza'] | 2020-12-27 23:43:17.321000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'UX Research', 'UX', 'Ux Strategy', 'Application'] |
Sweetviz: Automated EDA in Python | Sweetviz: Automated EDA in Python
Exploratory Data Analysis using the Sweetviz python library
Exploratory Data Analysis is a process where we tend to analyze the dataset and summarize the main characteristics of the dataset often using visual methods. EDA is really important because if you are not familiar with the dataset you are working on, then you won’t be able to infer something from that data. However, EDA generally takes a lot of time.
But, what if I told you that python can automate the process of EDA with the help of some libraries? Won’t it make your work easier? So let’s start learning about Automated EDA.
In this article, we will work on Automating EDA using Sweetviz. It is a python library that generates beautiful, high-density visualizations to start your EDA. Let us explore Sweetviz in detail.
Installing Sweetviz
Like any other python library, we can install Sweetviz by using the pip install command given below.
pip install sweetviz
Analyzing Dataset
In this article, I have used an advertising dataset contains 4 attributes and 200 rows. First, we need to load the using pandas.
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('Advertising.csv')
Advertising dataset.
Sweetviz has a function named Analyze() which analyzes the whole dataset and provides a detailed report with visualization.
Let’s Analyze our dataset using the command given below.
# importing sweetviz
import sweetviz as sv #analyzing the dataset
advert_report = sv.analyze(df) #display the report
advert_report.show_html('Advertising.html')
EDA Report
And here we go, as you can see above our EDA report is ready and contains a lot of information for all the attributes. It’s easy to understand and is prepared in just 3 lines of code.
Other than this Sweetviz can also be used to visualize the comparison of test and train data. For comparison let us divide this data into 2 parts, first 100 rows for train dataset and rest 100 rows for the test dataset.
Compare() function of Sweetviz is used for comparison of the dataset. The commands given below will create and compare our test and train dataset.
df1 = sv.compare(df[100:], df[:100])
df1.show_html('Compare.html')
Comparison Analysis using sweetviz
Other than this there are many more functions that Sweetviz provides for that you can go through this.
So what do you think about this beautiful library? Go ahead try this and mention your experiences in the response section.
There are some other libraries that automate the EDA process one of which is Pandas Profiling which I have explained earlier in an article given below.
Before You Go
Thanks for reading! If you want to get in touch with me, feel free to reach me on [email protected] or my LinkedIn Profile. You can also view the code and data I have used here in my Github. | https://towardsdatascience.com/sweetviz-automated-eda-in-python-a97e4cabacde | ['Himanshu Sharma'] | 2020-07-06 21:42:12.043000+00:00 | ['Eda', 'Data Analysis', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization'] |
Hifz “Ibn Kathir” 1.2 | It’s been quite a while since I last wrote about Hifz. It has been a very busy month for us. We’ve been trying to iron out a slew of bugs that just creeped into our app. But Alhamdulillah, the app is pretty stable.
What’s new?
Here’s what we have been working on so far:
Guided Memorisation
Double tap to start Guided Memorisation
One of the many requests that we receive is a guide on how to memorise. With Guided Memorisation, we will highlight only one aya and grey out everything else. Double tap to start Guided Memorisation. You read that one aya and repeat until you have memorised it. Then you double tap to move to the next aya. You’ll then read and memorise the second aya. Once you have memorised that, double tap again. This time you’ll be asked to repeat aya 1 and 2. Then you double tap to move to the third aya. Before you realise it, you’ll be done with your Daily Lesson.
iPad Support
Another request is to support the iPad so that you get to read the Quran on a bigger screen — about the size of the regular printed Quran.
Progress Sync
Now that we support the iPad, you may want to start memorising in the morning with it. But during the day, it might be easier to revise on your iPhone, since you always have it with you in your pocket. Well now you can. Your progress will be synced in the background so that you are always up-to-date with your memorisation plan.
And we’ve got one more thing…
Email Sign up
The number one request we’ve received is to enable people without Facebook to sign up. So with 1.2, you can now sign up to Hifz using your email. What are you waiting for? Start memorising now! | https://medium.com/twentyeight-labs/hifz-ibn-kathir-1-2-3ca821ec3b4a | ['Azizi Khalid'] | 2016-08-05 04:08:59.504000+00:00 | ['Islam', 'Quran'] |
Uncovering Intel in FinCEN Suspicious Activity Data | As Paul Manafort’s recent troubles demonstrate, records of suspicious financial activity can be instrumental to an investigation. Prior to his indictment, the FBI was reportedly looking into 13 suspicious wire transfers that were submitted to the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). While use of such data by the FBI is commonplace for investigation into a number of crimes such as money laundering, tax fraud, and even terrorism, it is largely underutilized among the private sector. This data, in aggregate, is incredibly useful to the very financial institutions that are required to submit it to FinCEN.
The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 — requiring financial institutions (FIs) to file a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) on any transaction that meets a number of criteria or red flags — created an opportunity for FIs to use their data for a greater good to help law enforcement develop leads and identify nefarious actors in financial crime.
This act also created an opportunity for FIs to benefit from one another’s investigative work (and resulting data).
Now is the time for FIs to analyze and act on that data.
In an effort to create more transparency, FinCEN has made the past six years worth of records publicly available via its website. This data makes it possible for financial institutions to gain a better view of the industry as whole — to find reassurance in the important work they are already doing and insight into particular areas they should be monitoring.
The challenge for FIs is no longer accessing this key data, rather it’s carving out time to analyze all of it in a meaningful manner. Despite the volume of available SAR data, a cursory search of the data on the FinCEN site isn’t likely to yield immediate actionable insight. It does, however, yield great potential.
This trove of information can provide valuable intel to FIs if analyzed the right way.
In the past, FinCEN published quarterly reports that provided an analysis of SAR trends and highlighted particular types of suspicious activity. The reports drew insights from changes in the number of filings of “pre-coded” suspicious activities in FinCEN’s filing submission form and from the analysis of raw SAR narratives (which are not publicly available).
However, FinCEN stopped publishing the quarterly reports after implementing its interactive SAR stats tool. While the interactive tool does allow users to generate slightly more granular data, the summary statistics FinCEN now publishes annually don’t include the insights that were especially valuable to financial institutions.
Fortunately, with access to the data, there is still much intel to be uncovered.
Enter Enigma, the expert in bridging data divides.
Viewing the FinCEN data holistically enables financial institutions to put their own SAR filings into the context of the industry as a whole, educate teams, and inform strategy at the highest level based on key trends.
In an effort to make that type of valuable analysis available to FIs and the public, Enigma will produce a series of reports highlighting trends and insights gleaned from FinCEN’s publicly available data on SARs. While we won’t replicate FinCEN’s previous reports exactly, as they are the only ones with access to the narrative information, we will investigate trends in locations, categories, and institutions as the data comes in each quarter.
In our first post, Trendwatching Across FinCEN’s Suspicious Activity Data, we dig into the number of filings by institution type as well as the most common types of suspicious activity for each.
FinCEN has made available key fields such as type of suspicious activity, product, instrument, and financial institution, as well as geography (state + county / metro). By understanding the other kinds of institutions that are filing activity that is categorized in the same way, FIs, at a minimum, can understand how many (and which types of) FIs are seeing similar activity.
Additionally, if FIs track this activity over time, they can view spikes or surges that may be indicative of a larger problem. This insight helps guide decision-making around if (and when) FIs should reach out to law enforcement, whether certain monitoring rules are working, whether a special targeted rule may need to be run, and ultimately, inform the optimization process of transaction monitoring.
This is precisely the type of insight we aim to generate through our upcoming analysis.
When Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the former director of FinCEN, addressed the ACAMS AML and Financial Crimes Conference last year, she offered both encouragement and warning to the gathered members — “I am grateful to see so many of our partners across the financial industry who are helping to safeguard the U.S. financial system from abuse. It is a daunting responsibility. Especially when the stakes are so high.”
When the stakes are that high, access to the data and relevant financial intelligence makes a difference. If the federal government and the financial industry are to be partners as Calvery hoped, the continued sharing of insights between private and public institutions — beyond just summary statistics — should be another.
Enigma is working to make that a reality.
___________
As we launch more regular reports, we’d love to get your feedback. Interested in a certain type of analysis? Let us know. We’re keen to gain a deeper understanding of how FIs are thinking about the SAR categories and different types of activity based on priorities.
Be sure to check out our first trend post, available on the blog now. | https://medium.com/enigma/uncovering-intel-in-fincen-suspicious-activity-data-75335310ff0d | ['Rashida Kamal'] | 2018-03-20 17:01:37.830000+00:00 | ['Regulatory Compliance', 'Open Data', 'Investigations', 'Money Laundering', 'Financial Services'] |
“At the time of our wedding, I didn’t realize that the Houmas House Plantation was previously one… | Photo: valliegurl/Getty Images
“At the time of our wedding, I didn’t realize that the Houmas House Plantation was previously one of the largest sugarcane plantations in the South and that hundreds of enslaved Black people built it and its grounds.”
That’s from an essay by Lauren Salles, who wanted to show Momentum’s readers how she came to have a big fancy plantation wedding and why now — years later — she regrets the choice of location. Plantations are big money nowadays. They remind some folks of a genteel, more civilized time when men wore suits and women wore dresses and everyone stayed in their place. The only problem is that plantation chic and those genteel memories have abusive and bloody histories. Salles dives into it in one of Momentum’s most-shared stories of the year. | https://momentum.medium.com/at-the-time-of-our-wedding-i-didnt-realize-that-the-houmas-house-plantation-was-previously-one-7c0b6853c884 | ['Momentum Blog Team'] | 2020-12-22 06:33:14.271000+00:00 | ['Plantation', 'Plantation Wedding', 'History', 'Race', 'Weddings'] |
You Don’t Squeeze Lemons Into Paper Cuts | Life is what you can live with. Somewhere inherent in that statement is the concept that life is what you make of it. The key word being You. When life hands you lemons, or in my case tedious dates and mistakenly optimistic, irreversibly awful sex, you don’t squeeze them into paper cuts, you cut them into garnishes and make some cocktails.
So when I was 32 and life handed me a gorgeous ginger 23-year-old who turned out to have unacceptable bedroom moves, I figured the only thing left to do was make some lemonade. But not before crowdsourcing a few recipes. And by that I mean, I asked my followers on this newfangled social media thing at the time called Twitter.
I had questions. Important questions, vital questions, real questions of regional security (my lady regions). I was used to dating… well, men. And let’s face it, 23-year-olds aren’t men. #sorrynotsorry
I asked the much more experienced dating community on Twitter if these young bucks came with the skill and expertise of intuitive sex wizards or if we had to train them?
The news was disheartening.
Apparently, young men are like IKEA furniture; a total steal of a deal and exactly what you need at that moment, but assembly is required and there’s often a part or two missing.
Ugh. I mean, who has that kind of time?
But then I got a lovely bit of advice. Something so easy and simple it was appalling I hadn’t thought of it. Clearly, I was not yet the genius I am today. A lovely lady on Twitter told me bluntly, “Just tell him what you want. You want foreplay, tell him you want foreplay.”
No joke. Real talk. That simple.
Not one to miss a chance for hot sex to test a theory, I texted my on-again-off-again booty call of years. The response was immediate and clear. He loved foreplay, couldn’t get enough, and thought it was incredibly sexy and a huge turn on. And just like that, my untapped tree resource sprung a leak and I was about to be drowning in maple syrup.
He came over a few nights later. And while I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details, it’s safe to say that my neighbors were well aware of my ability to stir up a good glass of lemonade.
If I hadn’t had that disastrous-left-me-desirous-of-getting-more-and-getting-it-good sex, I never would’ve crowdsourced statistics, gotten that simple yet ingenious advice, been bold and brazen and simply asked for what I wanted, and enjoyed that maple syrup like it was the last my pancakes would ever see.
So whether we’re talking about lemons into lemonade or silver linings into cocoons of happiness, the message is clear; life is what you make it, so you’d better make it good.
As for me, I went to sleep that night wrapped in sheets made of silver linings, questions answered, thirst quenched, and life happily lived with. | https://psiloveyou.xyz/you-dont-squeeze-lemons-into-paper-cuts-573bca1563be | ['Niki Marinis'] | 2020-12-28 16:29:10.068000+00:00 | ['Sex', 'Dating', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Self', 'Life Lessons'] |
MCSE certification -How much does MCSE certification cost? | The MCSE certification is never simple yet it’s not hard if you apply yourself. Hands-on is a must, doing self-research study programs will not provide you accessibility to points you require to exercise with like SQL and also IIS. The examinations are a pain but quite straightforward. If it’s going likely to provide you a guaranteed task, go for it.
This article discusses and explains to you the MCSE certification and how much does MCSE certification costs?
Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate
MCSE which represents Microsoft Certified Solutions Specialist is two of the most well-known and trusted Microsoft certifications in the field of IT.
The MCSE certification costs $150.MCSE is expert-level and also confirms your capability to collaborate with Microsoft innovations.
Microsoft uses MCSE accreditations in information administration, virtualization, efficiency, cloud innovations, and networking. If you want to advance as a Microsoft specialist, MCSE is your best bet.
In order to become licensed, a licensed MCSE needs to pass a recertification test as soon as really 3 years. The ideas of these tests resemble that of the original accreditation examination, yet they concentrate specifically on the current adjustments in products and also practices in the field.
MCSE is a Certificate level Information Technology program. During the program, prospects have introduced the complying with locations relating to Microsoft Windows NT operating system, associated desktop systems, networking, as well as Microsoft’s BackOffice web server items
Getting an MCSE certification helps you to find a job and additionally ahead in your job in various locations that include computer system customer or network assistance, network administration, database design as well as computer system systems administration.
Popular MCSE Certifications
Below are one of the most MCSE qualifications, plus vital abilities determined and also trending occupation courses for every credential.
Web Server Facilities|Shows the know-how to run a modern-day data facility, with skills in systems as well as identification management, web server virtualization, information storage space, and networking. Popular career paths for certification holders include technological support experts and cyber safety and security analyst. Desktop Computer Framework|Verifies the abilities to deploy as well as handle desktop as well as cloud-enabled gadgets, with innovative skills in information safety and security and also compliance, PC and also application virtualization, as well as remote desktop computer services (RDS). Popular occupation courses include desktop support technicians and smartphone assistance experts. Private Cloud|Demonstrates your capability to manage advanced cloud computing setups using Windows Server and also System Center. Popular career courses consist of server/systems manager, network manager as well as computer system systems designer. Company Intelligence|Verifies the competence to design, develop and also optimize business knowledge services — making use of Microsoft SQL Server — which your business can use to make smarter company choices. Popular job courses include database administrator, company intelligence analyst, and data researcher.
The average MCSE salary in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is 380,618 د.إ. or an equivalent hourly price of 183 This is 4% higher (+13,558 د.إ.) than the ordinary Microsoft licensed systems engineer (MCSE) wage in the United Arab Emirates.
To understand more MCSE certification, please click the YouTube link
About MCSE certification
The MCSE certification is accreditation to become a system engineer. They are a series of examinations that examine an individual’s expertise with different Microsoft innovations like Windows Web server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint, System Facility (SCCM) as well as Workplace 365.
Having an MCSE Accreditation will make you one of a few that really have actually taken the time to take classes as well as pass several examinations. Microsoft has actually overhauled their certification, requiring you to reveal competence, as well as several, which will call for numerous efforts to pass.
Candidates having MCSE certification can likewise collaborate with various other Microsoft experts and also potential services via listing in the MCP engagement catalog, a possession that can be made use of to connect with potential customers As an MCSE, you’ll likewise receive invitations to training sessions, conferences as well as unique occasions that help further establish your skills.
To know more about the is MCSE certification click here
Significance of MCSE certification in 2021
MCSE certification training course is primarily targeted at people desiring come to be server administrators and also who desire to manage network setup and active directory site things.
To earn an MCSE accreditation, the prospect needs to initial clear the matching MCSA examination and after that pass an extra MCSE elective test. Prospects that wish to come to be a Microsoft Licensed Solutions Specialist should opt for an identified training as well as a certification program in order to comprehend the abilities better.
As more and even more individuals go into the IT market, employers have a growing number of prospects from which to select, as well as numerous, who have experience, skills, and a record of success. That’s why Microsoft Licensed Systems Engineer (MCSE) accreditation has actually ended up being so widespread. It can raise your staff members, enhance their performance, as well as assist ensure your customers that you have actually licensed specialists on your IT team.
Training Facility in UAE: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah.
If you are looking for an MCSE certification in Dubai, Abudhabi, and Sharjah in UAE, you are reading the right article. Zabeel Institute has designed the best MCSE training.
Zabeel Institute is well known for delivering several successful batches for Tutorial MCSE certification courses every year. Zabeel ensures to help all students with all sorts of assistance for their brilliant performance in the exam.
Zabeel Institute, established in 1988, is a leading Educational and Training Institute for executives in Dubai. Zabeel Institute is by the KHDA and Ministry of Education UAE. Zabeel offers training programs to professionals from various industries like Airlines, Travel & Tourism, Engineering, Construction, Accounts & Finance, Information Technology, Logistics, Languages, and Management. Zabeel’s career-specific courses are imparted through interactive teaching techniques, state-of-the-art technology, an experienced and highly qualified faculty.
More than 32 Years of Experience in training Professional Executives
Achiever of many QUALITY AWARDS for training from 1988 till date
Qualified & Certified Trainers
Sophisticated lab with high-end machines and licensed software
Certificates attested by the Ministry of Education, UAE
Vast resource materials for reference and course materials
Free online support for further assistance
Free follow up orientation seminars & workshops
Integrated Training & Career Development Plan
Conclusion:
MCSE is among the top Microsoft Certifications as well as among the accreditations that deserve the help of a lot of factors yet largely for those who plan to develop a solid job as System engineers in the IT market.
Are you ready to explore the new world of MCSE certification? In addition and how much does MCSE certification cost? | https://medium.com/@cimaocs2019/mcse-certification-how-much-does-mcse-certification-cost-f4356a7262e5 | ['Cima Ocs Case Study'] | 2021-06-17 14:44:28.768000+00:00 | ['Mcse', 'Zabeel Institute', 'Training', 'Certification'] |
Yale New Haven Psychatric Hospital | 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/psychwardgreetingcards/yale-new-haven-psychatric-hospital-ee1aba569df5 | [] | 2020-12-15 15:41:36.619000+00:00 | ['Mental Health Awareness', 'Mental Illness', 'Mental Illness Awareness', 'Peer To Peer', 'Mental Health'] |
En Frecuencia Notebook: September 3 | En Frecuencia Notebook: September 3
Picking up the pieces from XHTVL’s tower collapse; Canal 13 gets local programming for Cancún; Puebla goes common-concession; remembering a Nuevo León broadcasting pioneer Raymie Humbert Sep 3·3 min read
Picking Up the Pieces
Some of the most impressive images this year came on Wednesday when XHTVL-TDT’s 104-meter-high tower failed in a wind storm that struck Villahermosa.
The station has continued to broadcast online, though local cable systems are not providing any backup feed. This is surprising, given that XHTVL is uplinked via satellite to feed the expansion Canal 13 transmitters with no local programming. There has not been any disruption to these stations.
Despite the wreckage, XHVA reported that there was no major damage to property. However, the director of civil defense for the municipality of Centro noted that structures of this kind are not subject to annual inspections and that it would have been inspected when it was built some time ago.
Speaking of Albavisión…
Canal 13 has managed to launch local programming in the Cancún area; however, it is subcontracting the production to another company.
“CreaTV” is the company that is providing the local programs for XHTMQR. It apparently operates a local cable channel on the Telecable system in Cancún. The programs, which are streamed by CreaTV’s own Facebook, include two daily newscasts and a local version of the Giros magazine.
One Concession to Rule them All in Puebla
Puebla’s state network, SET Televisión, has been approved for a common-concession conversion.
The concession chosen for conservation is XHPBZC-TDT, the Zacatlán transmitter; the XHPUE-TDT concession must be surrendered.
This is the worse choice in terms of band (they will be on VHF 11, not UHF 26) for new transmitters. However, the Puebla transmitter will likely not have to move despite the common-concession move, as the channel belongs to the unbuilt XHCSAI-TDT 11 (Radio Lacustre, A.C.). A common-concession conversion would allow the state to apply for new transmitters as shadows to fill the statewide coverage area in areas that are currently unserved. For context, Puebla’s FM network has eight transmitters, so there may be some substantial construction ahead.
Common-concession conversions have been approved, but never made effective, in Sonora and Nuevo León. Chiapas is the only state network to do so and follow through, and its four transmitters are on three different channels. Oaxaca was approved for a common-concession conversion in the same Pleno meeting (August 18), but no further information is available.
In this week’s virtual channels and multiprogramming lists updates, XHPBZC-TDT picked up virtual channel 16 instead of 26, as has been used in Puebla.
Remembering Gonzalo Estrada Cruz
A broadcasting pioneer in Nuevo León is being remembered today, as Gonzalo Estrada Cruz has died at the age of 101.
Estrada, born in Veracruz, moved to Monterrey at a young age and, after working as a letter carrier and street vendor, opened a clothing store. He wanted to promote his business, which led him to the idea of starting a radio station, which came on the air in 1957 as XENV (1340 AM). He later expanded with other stations — forming today’s Grupo Radio Alegría — and started the newspaper ABC in 1985. | https://medium.com/en-frecuencia/en-frecuencia-notebook-september-3-d92bf249c616 | ['Raymie Humbert'] | 2021-09-03 22:37:08.919000+00:00 | ['Mexico', 'Radio', 'Television'] |
WineShop at Home Virtual Wine Tastings Add Excitement to Holiday Celebrations | Pair your cuisine and vinos perfectly as a result of this enlightening Q & A with independent wine consultant Demetri Chrissos.
Image by WineShop at Home
The holiday season has arrived and it’s time to make merry. As you plan your joyous celebrations, doing so virtually is certainly going to be a consideration. Whether you will host an intimate soiree for a few couples or spearhead a larger event for friends, family, or colleagues, you want to have an incredible event that will be enjoyed by all.
Independent Wine Consultant Demetri Chrissos gave us great insight into hosting a virtual wine tasting. — photo credit: Becky Leigh Thompson — image courtesy of Demetri Chrissos
Enter a leading Napa Valley based winery called WineShop at Home. Selling small batch artisan wines from different global grape varietals, the company’s vinos are crafted by French winemaster Alexandre Reble. Bringing the wine tasting experience directly into your living room, the perpetually changing, exclusive selection will be a hit for your yuletide celebrations. As the host, you want to put your best foot forward. That means being informed about wines and the great cuisine that accompanies them. I reached out to independent wine consultant Demetri Chrissos and asked him to tell us about WineShop at Home as well as give us great tips on throwing virtual wine tasting holiday parties that will be the hit of the season.
Image by WineShop at Home
Why are virtual wine tastings fun?
Especially now, a virtual wine tasting is a great experience for you to gather your close friends and family for that long overdue get together you’ve been meaning to throw for ages. You can WOW your guests with your hosting skills by serving them during their guided tasting. Try new wines with your friends as a sweet surprise for a special occasion, or to start off your weekend adventure with a twist! No matter the occasion, a wine tasting adds a tasteful experience that you’ll want to do again! This is also a great way to connect with your friends and family in different places, as your invited guests can also join virtually and see what the fun is all about.
How do virtual wine tastings work for Wineshop at Home?
First you set your tasting date. You order a sampler pack for your party based on your preferences including dry, sweet, red, and white. I coach you on basic hosting “how to’s” like preparing for your guests, how to pour wine, providing suitable pairing hors d’oeuvres, and making sure everyone stays safe. Once the tasting begins, I provide some wine education. We learn how to properly identify and taste good wine vs wine that has “Turned”. I give information about WineShop at Home and our great opportunities and guide you through a full tasting of five of our artisan wines over our new favorite online meeting apps such as Zoom.
How does a wine tasting sampler work?
I recommend taking this quiz to see what type of wines you would enjoy. We have different sampler packages based on your preferences, and you can also mix and match for an “individualist” package for those that know exactly what they’d like to try. Your sampler includes five bottles of wine and a sixth “Thank You” bottle for the host to enjoy at a later date. There are great Perks that come with hosting a tasting.
Why is it important to select the perfect wine to complement our meals?
Wines have very complex tastes and textures that can complement dishes when served with the right combinations. There are some wines that you may enjoy only when paired with a particular dish, (or vice versa). When you make a proper wine selection it can accent flavors both in the glass and on the plate and create a harmonious experience like the instruments in a symphony. While tastes are subjective person to person, I can help you decide what wines you’d most likely enjoy, and we make pairing recommendations on an info card that comes with every wine that we ship, as well as provide a recipe that will create a magnificent pairing.
Which wines pair best with beef?
Rich, tannic wines pair best with high protein and fat contents such as red meat. I like Cabernets and Merlots, but you can’t go wrong with an Argentinian Malbec.
Which wines pair best with poultry?
Personally I really love our Petit Verdot with a bold flavored dish. As the Fat content decreases or with a milder style, you can try less tannic reds that are more fruit forward red such as a Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, or Zinfandel, or a fuller bodied white like a Chardonnay.
Which wines pair best with seafood?
Mild flakey fishes that have a lighter taste profile deserve a crisp fruity wine such such as a Pinot Grigio, and I am absolutely obsessed with our award winning Gewurztraminer . As your seafood becomes bolder or more fatty such as a Sea Bass, I recommend an oaked Chardonnay.
Which wines pair best with dessert?
Desserts vary in taste and complexity almost as much as wine, so you can pair a dessert with a wide variety. A crisp white would work well such as our famed Semi-Seco, or a medium bodied semi-sweet red or white. If its dark chocolate, go with a full-bodied red.
Which wines pair best with cheeses and fruits?
Quite simply, ALL wine pairs with cheeses and fruits. Milder flavors mix nicely with medium bodied wines whereas bold flavors favor bold wines. You have not lived until you try Cabernet Sauvignon with a sharp cheddar!
Which wines pair best with pork?
Again, the type of preparation matters as much as the meat, but I love a fruity full bodied Petite Sirah.
Image by WineShop at Home
You can view the varietals that Demetri suggests by visiting the company’s website. Further, you will certainly be lauded for your exceptional efforts when you break out fabulous personalized wines for your celebrations. Great choices include Personalized Cabernet & Truffles, Personalized Double Magnum, and Personalized Chardonnay and Wine Brittle. You can celebrate the season while supporting a cause too. America’s Mighty Warriors, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, receives a donation each time you purchase the Glory Cellars 2017 Napa Valley Hero’s Blend.
Image by WineShop at Home
“We live in a new age, and I think direct buying is going to be the prevailing trend in a post COVID era. I personally get my meats and veggies shipped directly to my door as well, and it has changed my lifestyle! No longer do I have to wait in lines, deciding what impulse buys to give in to. I always have the materials for perfect wine pairings and well-balanced meals,” says Chrissos.
Image by WineShop at Home
Leslie E. Royal is an author, international freelance writer, product profile expert, micro-influencer, and global travel journalist. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including: Upscale Living, ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, The Ashro Blog, FORTUNE.com, and AAA Southern Traveler. She is an Ashro Ambassador, the creator of the Leslie’s Lane consumer information blog, and author of two books: Leslie Lane The Book!: Your One Stop Internet Resource Guide to Links for Jobs, Inspiration, Discounts, FREE Stuff, Scholarships, Travel & More ( $14.95) — How to Write and Self-Publish Your Book for FREE with Amazon’s KDP: An Easy Way to Complete Your Manuscript in Seven Stress-Free Steps (Leslie’s Lane Inc.) ($9.95) Follow Leslie on Instagram and see her Amazon Author page. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/wineshop-at-home-virtual-wine-tastings-add-excitement-to-holiday-celebrations-819bb5989149 | ['Leslie E. Royal'] | 2020-11-13 19:18:41.529000+00:00 | ['Holidays', 'Party', 'Wine', 'Wine Tasting', 'Christmas'] |
The Worst Part of My Decision to End My Marriage | The Worst Part of My Decision to End My Marriage
One thing still makes me cringe when I think about it.
Photo by cottonbro via Pexels
I didn’t take my decision to end my marriage lightly. It was the most painful decision I have ever made. It’s a reckoning that ends with a thud so deep down in your heart that the sound serves only as a reminder of emptiness.
I knew, once I said the words, that my life would be incredibly different and my husband’s more so. The absence of another person in your home every day is a radical change that you can never prepare for.
I thought long and hard about what life would be like if I stayed and what it would be like if I left. The last thing I did in making my decision has stuck with me.
Before I asked my husband for a divorce I ran a complete financial analysis to ensure that I could actually afford to do it.
I went through all of our bills and looked at what I would be solely responsible for after the divorce. This included the mortgage on the house that I desperately wanted to keep as it’s been the home that my daughter has known most of her life.
I spent hours while my husband was asleep making spreadsheets with every scenario I could think of.
It’s smart and it sounds like solid financial planning to ensure that any major life decision you make is feasible in various ways. I’d have done the same with any other fork in the road I came to.
What nags at me, what makes me feel horrible, is what would I have done if I ran those numbers and it turned out divorce was not financially feasible?
Where would I be now? Would I still be in an unhappy marriage because financially it didn’t make any sense for me to end it? Would I have taken the risk anyway?
I also wonder how many people are out there that have gone through the same practice I did without having favorable results. How many people are slogging through something they know is wrong simply because ends won’t meet?
I hope I would have had the bravery and the tenacity to do what I needed to do anyway. Move forward and find the necessary solutions but I realize that the level of depression I felt at the time would have impacted my ability to do that.
Of course, the one thing I didn’t factor in was that four days after I asked for the divorce, my job would go out to bid and I would eventually lose it four months later. That was not part of my plan.
Yet, when the hammer dropped and I realized that the loss of the well paying job I had was going to have a significant impact on me, the idea of undoing what I had done never occurred to me.
That would have been easy. Simply going back to status quo with my soon-to-be ex-husband for financial reasons would have made sense financially but would only have made me miserable and prolonged the inevitable.
Life is not always ready for change at the same time we are. Life has a funny way of reminding us of that.
The first year after my divorce was difficult. The balancing of finances was hard and I was angry. I felt it was the universe getting back at me for being so cavalier with the financial safety I started out having.
I figured it out because I had to. You learn to live on less when the universe forces you to do so. You get creative fast. That necessity led me to write, something I never would have come back to had I stayed in my marriage.
I'm glad I didn’t know then what I would come to find out would happen. My happiness and my soul was worth the expense of worrying about the next job. It was worth struggling through a serious reduction in pay that came with the next job.
It taught me the value of my freedom and the ability to live my life so that I’m happy. You can’t fit that on a financial spreadsheet.
I like to think that had I known then what I know now, I would have made it work anyway. There’s always a way, it just requires us to do hard things. This applies to everything in life. The struggle isn’t the hard thing. Living a life that doesn’t feel like ours is much harder. | https://vanessatorre.medium.com/the-worst-part-of-my-decision-to-end-my-marriage-43ba6e79311c | ['Vanessa Torre'] | 2020-08-16 15:57:43.119000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Divorce', 'Money', 'Life Lessons', 'Marriage'] |
50 Fun Facts about Pakistan no one talks about | These fun facts about Pakistan will give you an accurate picture about the country — this is not just disjointed information.
Don’t expect my compilation of fun facts about Pakistan to be a cake walk for anyone.
So, let me put it out there for everyone.
Pakistan has the steepest geographical gradient of any country of the world
Starting from K-2 Chhogori Mountain in the Karakorum Range up North, Indus River flows down to pristine beaches, with zero crowd, at sea level in Sindh and Baluchistan Provinces.
Pakistan, in its Karakorum, Himalayas and Hindu Kush Mountain ranges contains 40 of the highest 50 Mountains of the world. This makes the country the real roof of the world.
The fun fact here is that Pakistan is at the confluence of the mighty mountain ranges.
Fun Facts about Pakistan: It has a large Ice reservoirs
Three of the large Ice bodies outside the polar caps are in Pakistan — the three Glaciers Baltoro, Saltoro and Biafo.
Also see
The fun fact about Pakistan here is that you can go from sweating your as* off down South to freezing cold in one hour.
Pakistan is the origin of three major religions of the World
Continue Reading… | https://medium.com/@neatgye1/50-fun-facts-about-pakistan-no-one-talks-about-a1851e0bef6d | [] | 2021-01-10 16:33:56.885000+00:00 | ['Fun', 'Funny', 'Fun Facts', 'Country', 'Pakistan'] |
How Psychopaths Act in Intimate Relationships | (Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash)
All psychopaths follow the same strategy when operating in intimate relationships. I know this strategy well because I was in a relationship with a psychopath for around four years.
I also know other women who dated and are dating psychopaths. Some of them are still abused, some of them had their lives totally destroyed. Only a few manage to break out, and the only reason that they do is covered at the end of this article.
Many people mistake normal persons for narcissists or psychopaths. Many humans these days display psychopathic traits because they believe that only inhumane behavior would allow them to survive in this cruel world.
Because of such reasoning, some people act like psychopaths, but this act is external — deep within they still have human warmth and finer feelings.
Real psychopaths can be recognized by their eyes. You may not be able to see anything different about their eyes at first (though that is possible in some too), but if you keep your attention on their eyes, you will eventually see that behind those eyes there is emptiness.
Looking at their eyes can be compared to looking at the bottomless abyss. You might even feel your spirit wanting to run away from what it sees in those dead eyes.
Their eyes look reptilian — they are as dead as the eye of a lizard. That’s, I believe, the most sure way to tell whether a person is a psychopath or not.
Another way to tell whether a person is a psychopath is to look for the predatory behavior. All psychopaths, like predators, follow specific predatory steps. For example, a spider will follow a specific way to capture its prey; so will the lion. And so will the psychopath.
The psychopaths that I know are territorial. I don’t know if it applies to all of them, but this is very likely to be the case. They will hunt for prey as lone wolves and they will have their own particular territories that belong only to them, from what I’ve observed.
The strategy that the psychopath uses to enslave a victim into an intimate relationship is as follows (though the steps may not necessarily be followed in this order):
Let me go into each stage to explain it more in detail.
The first stage: Seduce
(In this article I choose a male psychopath and a female victim as an example. Psychopaths, however, can be either male or female.)
When a psychopath first meets his victim, he will try to seduce her. He will do so by learning what kind of partner the woman desires. Psychopaths are excellent character readers, so they will quickly figure out what kind of partner the woman desires and he will become him.
Psychopaths can read people like books; through different clues they understand whether the woman prefers a submissive boyish boyfriend, or a very mature and manly partner.
At this stage of seduction the psychopath will also try to mimic the victim so that she finds him interesting and he gains her trust. It’s now well-known through such methodologies as NLP that mirroring a person’s body language, for example, helps to form a friendly tie with a stranger. Psychopaths know this without the study of NLP. It’s in their blood to mimic the victim to gain their full trust.
The psychopath will mimic the victim in many ways. For example, he might adapt a similar dress style (formal, casual, sports, seductive). He might mimic the victim’s speech patterns, smile, attitudes, body language, and he might even use a similar-smelling perfume. He may adopt victim’s values and aspirations.
What’s more, he will attract the victim through his self-confidence and good looks. Self-confident people are naturally attractive, and psychopaths know that they are found attractive because of this trait. So they will try to seduce the victim through their self-confident and daring behavior.
They might also fascinate the victim by their lifestyle which is usually extreme or dangerous in some way. For example, they might be fast bike-riders or be involved in anything else as dangerous; they seek such experiences so that they don’t feel dead within.
The second stage: Exalt and love-bomb
At this stage the psychopath will try to impress the victim to the degree that her entire focus is on him. He will try to become her personal hero, or, I might as well say, god.
He will try to make himself into her only idol; he will attempt to achieve the objective of the victim thinking mainly about him.
He will go more than an extra mile for her; he may act like a perfect selfless gentleman at this stage. He will buy her many gifts. He will tell her many compliments.
He will profess his undying love for her. He may tell that he never met such a special person before. He will spend all his free time with her and she will be his only source of focus.
This, of course, feels amazing and so the victim will indeed think that she is special for him. She’s likely at this stage to start falling in love with him. She will get addicted to his attention.
He wants her to get addicted to so much attention so that later on he could deny it.
The third stage: Bond
At this stage the psychopath will share his deepest secrets with the victim. They are likely to be no secrets at all but lies, since psychopaths are liars and they only tell the truth when they think it would be of some benefit.
The reason he discloses such “secrets” is so that the victim would disclose her secrets also, so that this would be used against her later on. He also does this to further bond with her.
Furthermore, he will try to find out her weaknesses by careful observation and indirect questions. When people share their weaknesses with others, this strengthens the relationship bond.
Another reason a psychopath would want to know the victim’s weaknesses is so that he would use them against her at a later stage to totally crush her self-confidence.
At this stage he will also try to involve her in a sexual relationship because he knows that sex deeply bonds. Psychopaths crave raw and intense experiences so sex is likely to be frequent, fierce, and maybe even violent.
The psychopath will try to get his victim addicted to having sex with him because he wants her to become addicted — he wants her to become his slave.
He might be excellent at love-making, since he is likely to have had many victims to practice on. Sex, in my opinion, is one of their greatest tools for enslavement of the victim, since most people become easily addicted to sex, and psychopaths know that very well.
At this stage the psychopath will spend a lot of time with the victim to get her total trust and so that all her doubts about him disappear. Thus, the victim will become fully trusting of the psychopath and deeply in love with him. And when this full trust and total love are achieved, the psychopath will deal the first blow.
The fourth stage: Trauma-bond
After the psychopath is certain that the victim loves him and she fully trusts him, he strikes the first blow — he either suddenly becomes indifferent, or violent, or involves her in a love triangle.
He might use any other strategy too. The main purpose of that strategy, whatever one he chooses to use, is to cause intense emotional upset or shock in a victim.
He does this because of a few reasons. First, trauma bonds the victim even more to the psychopath. This is because the victim starts associating intense feelings experienced during trauma with the person who caused it, and this creates a very strong bond.
The same scenario can be witnessed in captives who begin supporting their captors due to intense traumatization; the same can be witnessed in some rape cases where the victim becomes so attached to the rapist that she even thinks she loves him.
The second reason the psychopath uses trauma bonding is because the victim discharges intense emotional energy which he absorbs. Since he is a dead spiritual being devoid of feelings, he enjoys feeding off the intense feelings of others.
Another reason he uses trauma-bonding is to put the victim into an altered state of consciousness. The victim gets into a spellbound state because of cognitive dissonance — the brain cannot comprehend how an absolutely loving person can suddenly turn violent or indifferent.
This is incomprehensible to the human mind because humans don’t act this way. And since most victims do not know that psychopaths aren’t normal humans, this causes a sort of split in the mind which puts the person into a highly vulnerable and suggestible state.
The psychopath will use this state to further enslave the victim — he will use hypnotic speech patterns to rationalize his unpardonable behavior, and the victim, being in such an unwholesome state, is likely to believe in the psychopathic lies, getting further imbalanced and confused.
If the victim doesn’t understand the game of the psychopath, he may keep her in this trauma-bonding stage for years, until she loses her mind or is destroyed in other ways to the degree that he is no longer able to use her and therefore discards her.
I recently heard that the end goal of all psychopaths is to make their victims die in some way, and I totally agree with that.
But he won’t rush the process. He wants the energy source — he doesn’t want to kill fast. So he will let the victim recover from the shock by profusely apologizing and being exceptionally nice with her, spending all his time with her like he did in the early stages of bonding.
When the victim feels recovered and happy again, the psychopath strikes the blow again. And this trauma bonding may go on for years, until the victim is totally destroyed.
This strategy will never change, though it might take time for trauma bonding to be repeated depending on how long it takes for the victim to recover and regain her trust in the psychopath.
Should the victim decide to end the relationship, the psychopath will do everything he can to get her back. He will go through all the entrapment steps and will keep repeating them until the trust is regained.
He will love-bomb her, buy many gifts, use hypnotic language to change her mind, shed crocodile tears and promise to never do it again (whatever he did).
He will send multiple messages or will call many times. He will use such strategies every day until the victim decides to give him another chance. And then he will strengthen the bond to the degree that the victim fully trusts the psychopath so that the next trauma causes her to again discharge intense emotional energy which he will absorb.
The fifth stage: Entrap
At this stage (this can also be done earlier in the relationship) the psychopath will try to entrap the victim but will remain free himself. This can be done in many ways, depending on the circumstances.
For example, the psychopath may choose to impregnate the victim and thus the dependency/trap is created through the child. The psychopath may marry a Christian but then cheat her, and the Christian woman would be kept in the marriage because of her conviction that divorce is wrong.
The psychopath may isolate the victim from all her friends and family so that she only has him to rely on.
Basically, he will assess the victim’s circumstances and will decide what’s the best way to entrap her so that her freedom is limited yet he himself remains free.
This will allow his other pursuits to be kept secret (he is likely to have many victims as such) and will give him flexibility in seeing the victim whenever he chooses. The victim, however, might be denied such freedom.
For example, I know one Indian lady who got entrapped this way. She got sexually involved with the psychopath before marriage, and that’s a big taboo in India.
Although the woman loved him and wanted to get married to him, he didn’t share the same future plans. Instead, he told her that he could not marry her because she was one year older than him (!). So the psychopath came up with a plan to get her married to his relative. She agreed.
Now he has easy access to her at any time, because he, as a relative, can visit her home without any suspicion. She, however, cannot visit the psychopath because she’s a married woman, so she cannot go to his house.
This allows him to have multiple women and remain uncaught most of the times (since he has many women, she still ends up catching him sometimes).
He impregnated her and told her to abort the baby, and she did. When, during her pregnancy, she found out that he was again cheating her, she almost committed suicide.
She’s totally trapped, yet she continues clinging to him because she thinks she loves him. The reason she thinks so is because he got her addicted to sex, closeness, and she also associates intense emotions with him. Since she’s an uneducated village girl, she doesn’t understand the real causes of such a bond and therefore in her mind she thinks that he’s the right person for her.
He also hypnotizes her with his speech patterns. Since she doesn’t understand that he’s not like a normal human being (I tried to explain that to her but it just goes over her head), she continues hoping that he would someday fall in love with her and that he would change.
So that’s how cleverly psychopaths can entrap their victims. They are smart, and they will premeditate the best plan of action. Since they are excellent actors, their suggestions that finally entrap you may seem as though serving your best interests, but that’s never the case.
The psychopath will use different entrapment strategies on his victims depending on their circumstances. Then, like a spider, he will freely move from victim to victim within his own created net to suck out their life energy and money.
If a few victims are located close to each other, the psychopath will try to set them against each other so that they never become friends and therefore are unable to exchange information. This way the dark deeds of a psychopath may remain undetected for years.
The sixth stage: Use up
As I’ve already mentioned, the psychopath will regularly use all his victims to get their emotional and sexual energies as well as money. He will give some time for the victims to recover, and then will deplete them again.
He will do this as long as there’s anything left to benefit from his victims.
The seventh stage: Discard
Finally, when the victim is unable to be used for some reason (old age, poverty, illness), the psychopath will coldly discard her. He will do so in the most hurtful way, to deal a final, sometimes deadly, blow to the victim.
The victim, if she’s not aware of psychopathy, will never comprehend how a human being could be so cruel. Some victims will commit suicide. Some will start consuming alcohol or drugs. Others may self-destruct in other ways.
Some will recover, but will never be the same; as ghosts that haunt houses, the thoughts about the abuser will visit the victim for the rest of her life. Only very few victims fully recover, and these are the ones who have their priorities right, as you will read below.
The only way to protect yourself
The only way a victim can protect herself from total psychopathic destruction is by having her priorities right. That’s the reason the psychopath that I was in a relationship with was unable to destroy me.
He got to the stage three, and he even tried trauma-bonding me, but that didn’t work in a way that he planned. That’s because he was never number one in my life.
Psychopaths will attempt to make themselves into victims’ personal gods. They will try to appear as the most indispensable people in their lives. And when this is allowed to happen, the victims have just based their whole lives on a very shaky foundation.
When the psychopath understands this has been accomplished, he will keep traumatizing the victim until she’s totally destroyed. But if the victim refuses to make him into her idol, she may get hurt because of his inhumane behavior, but she will never be fully destroyed.
Spirituality was always number one in my life. Then came my business. And only then — my ex-partner. That’s the reason I escaped from his deadly clutches.
Yet another thing that helps to survive psychopathic abuse is the firm understanding that a psychopath is not fully human. He operates through the reptilian brain, in a predatory manner.
When you really understand that, it’s much easier to get detached from the abuser, heal, and move on. | https://medium.com/bigger-picture/how-psychopaths-act-in-intimate-relationships-75f874308548 | ['Simona Rich'] | 2019-08-12 23:48:52.774000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Psychopathy', 'Dating', 'Narcissism'] |
What Your Bed Says About Your Leadership | What Your Bed Says About Your Leadership
When I worked as a roadie I never made my bed in hotels. Sure I would pick up trash and try not to leave the room as a total disaster (something I wasn’t always effective at), but I never made my bed.
After all, I thought, they’re just going to strip the sheets anyway.
Then I noticed how it made me feel.
I noticed that when I left my room, I felt a bit sad, a bit like a slob, a bit like I don’t really care about myself or my bed.
So I started making it. No military corners or tight lines, but I’d place the pillows in a good place, pull up the comforter and fold it over.
As I sat there and looked at my bed, it felt complete.
Leadership at times is like this, it’s making a bed that someone else will simply mess up.
It’s being something and creating something in the face of that very thing being undone.
Right now as our world is going through so much, you may see this great being undone as a reason not to lead.
When in fact, it’s when we need your leadership the most. | https://medium.com/@tokumccree/what-your-bed-says-about-your-leadership-6d887ea62c58 | ['Toku Mccree'] | 2020-12-15 21:17:42.064000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Leadership Development', 'Traveling Tips', 'Leadership Coaching', 'Hotel'] |
Death of Gary Discount | They say when it comes, it happens in an instant.
I did not know how well I knew Gary until the end was near. One wonders how I have had lots of experience with Death, even though I know less than most about it.
Finding out who he was, is more interesting than my relationship with him.
It took Mike who worked for Gary. He told Mike that I would be comin to camp and how he, Gary, was directly responsible for me getting fired from Cheapie Camp.
He was invited on the last night of Camp, after the Camp Show that I had a lead in… Larry invited a bunch of us down to his car where pot was bound to be smoked. Gary was invited. Rather than come himself, he told Mike that he sent down the Camp Director instead who took us up to the Steak campfire, being thrown by Larry’s Dad, the President of Cheapie Camp, and Larry was to tell his Dad in front of the entire Camp Counselors: that Larry was smoking pot… and along with him, the three of us found by the Director were fired that last night of the Summer of 1978, that fabulous year that had me singing in Poland and Russia as well as smoking pot in the Mountains at Chepie Camp.
I did bring it up to Gary, that I heard about how I was let go. I am a true bastard. I need to know truth, even if it means I go down with the ship.
I was happy just to know what happened that night and it only took about 9 years later for me to be the Disc Jockey for the Director, Gary Discount. He was smoking pot in the Director’s Cabin and other sexual things with a Counselor he loved and left his wife for her, even though she would not leave her husband for him. In the end, he was alone, looking to me for female companionship. Not that I became that… but for some reason, I used to be hooked into a ton of things with a bunch of people who acted like they Loved me. Funny that I did not know that their acts beat mine by a lanslide.
In the end, it leads me to hear, sorry, here, no where or where I am now. | https://medium.com/@davidgross_48016/death-of-gary-discount-f7c0cb884e44 | ['David Gross Lewis'] | 2019-06-09 00:42:44.202000+00:00 | ['Marijuana'] |
Career Crossroad in the midst of COVID-19 | Career Crossroad in the midst of COVID-19
2020 is a good year! My vision for my career and my life is 2020, pun intended! 2020 is my year. A promotion that I am awaiting will be most likely confirmed and possible exciting opportunities at work is underway. Aside from career planning, back in 2019 B.C. (Before COVID-19), my travel calendar is quite booked, a trip to Japan again (an annual thing, because one can’t get enough of Japan) and a trip to the United States of America (Ah, Land of the Free!) would be one of the many highlights of my 2020. This is my year! I was ecstatic! And yet as the Bible say,
“A man’s heart plans his course but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
My career is well planned out in a way. I was picky with the companies that i work for, the industry should be formidable hence over the years, I got into a financial institution then a manufacturing company and currently for a TMC (Travel Management Company). Before I started with my latest employer, I said to my self that everyone travels, globalisation has always been a trend and surely nothing will happen to the travel industry. My track record would also show that I would always stay with my employers for a long time and that I don’t usually jump from company to another. I try to be loyal because I treat my job as a blessing. My work entails me to interact with a lot of people, as I am part of Recruitment or Talent Acquisition. In my job I get to interview, discuss job offers, speak during induction of new employees and would always remind all my candidates and new hires that – “Every job is a blessing.”
As the news of the virus bombard every news channel in the world, I began to feel bothered. “Is my job still secure?” “Will my company be affected?” And things have escalated so quickly; my worst fear became a horrid reality. My boss from the UK informed me that our local office is part of the location list for work suspension since there will be no hiring of new talents. Hiring is a cost and extremely costly so I will be in work suspension for a couple of months. I was angered about this news and bewildered. COVID-19 led me into an unexpected crossroad, wherein pathways weren’t visible, a road difficult to tread and the destination unknown. Never in my whole life did I imagine I would get furloughed and to be even furloughed in a middle of a pandemic, in the year 2020. Thoughts about my future, my career, my expenses, my life in general, is slowly crashing before me. I felt singled-out and undervalued. I have worked hard, though I’m not a perfect employee, the amount of investment I have given is immeasurable. I’m a year shy of 5 years with this company, almost half a decade.
Anyone who knows me can attest that I am a very optimistic person and that I see things as a glass that’s always full and never ever empty. I have a very positive outlook in life. “Just shun and shrug negativity” My forever mantra. #stoic From the time I learned about my situation, I was dead-stuck in mire. I seemed A-OK but my soul is distressed. My mind was crumbling. It was a freaking cycle of emotions and it seemed difficult to divulge to anyone. (All these thoughts are running my mind during the lockdown). “My situation is still better compared to other people’s woes and predicament.” I would always say this quietly in my mind to encourage myself. I was in denial. I know, at some point I have to allow myself to feel, to feel these negative emotions and actually accept the fact that I am struggling and that it’s OK to struggle. I have to accept this reality and cry out to the Lord. I need acceptance and only then I can be at peace with this situation. “This is not a dead-end, this shouldn’t end this way, and there can be a U-Turn slot along the way.”
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo
“So do I”, said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Should I allow this scenario be a mental breakthrough or will I allow myself to succumb to a mental breakdown? It’s a day-to-day mental crossroad! This is an everyday battle in my head as I was out of work, lamenting about my situation and witnessing a lot of tragedies due to COVID-19. Do I trust that the creator of heaven and earth is holding me delicately in the palm of His hand? And that He would never leave me nor forsake me, just as He promised. Well, I chose to have a mental breakthrough, have a paradigm shift. Hey, it’s as if I’m in sort of a sabbatical, anyway. I can use this time to learn new things, spend more time with lovedones, reach out and / or widen my network, take good care of my health, tell my family and partner that I love them dearly, attend webinars, finish my unread books, watch Netflix and the list could go on and on. It’s a pre-ordained pause! As Gandalf said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.” It’s an opportunity for me to be thankful and grateful, in spite of my circumstances. This scenario helped me gain peace and a better perspective. Hold on to all the promises of the Lord. People might think these are cliches but I hope these promises would inspire you, give you hope, renew your mind and remind you that there’s a Higher Being in control. He is working in the background while i wait, while I’m on detour. He is Sovereign!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Apart from these realizations, it is vital to surround myself (and yourself) with cheerleaders. My cheerleaders continued to love and support me even if I felt I was in my lowest of lows. They are a source of comfort and unconditional love. The Lord has given me a nudge to be still and know that He is God. I am still in a career crossroad but with a GPS (God Positioned Standpoint), no more trust issues, just letting go and letting GOD be GOD.
As I was writing this, Hillsong’s Still was playing in the background. Hope you were blessed one way or another.
Picture above was taken during a trip to Banff, Alberta last 2019. | https://medium.com/@loidee16/picture-taken-on-the-way-to-banff-alberta-canada-2019-ae90b6ee8d40 | ['D. Andres'] | 2020-06-10 15:58:51.080000+00:00 | ['Covid Diaries', 'Career Paths'] |
The 3-in-1 Trinity Boss | What has red hair, green skin, and won’t go away (no matter how many times you beat it?) That’s right, Boss #3 in our 2019 LEPWGBE (a mini series): The Ganondorf/Bowser/Hillary Clinton crossover that this holiday season deserves.
RE: I apologize, Mrs. Clinton — your hair and skin are aging well and certainly are not popular December colors. This is just where you fit in the miniseries.
Three’s the number we’re interested in today. There are 3 Bowser iterations in Super Mario 64 (the greatest Mario game of all time).
There are 3 iterations of Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
And, assuming this Tweet means anything, there will be a 3rd iteration of Hillary Clinton running for President.
Disclaimer: in this walkthrough entry, we are going to very purposefully skirt over the all-important Magic color wheel analysis of Mrs. Clinton’s character, as her Azorius law magic pairing of white/blue “order through knowledge and structure” is not in line with either identity of Bowser or Ganon, and we’re sticking to this trio.
Bowser is the main antagonist in Nintendo’s Mario franchise, and he’s been kidnapping the princess since 1985. He’s nothing if not persistent. Mario has beaten him in at least 13 separate titles, and his tactics aren’t changing much beyond a new wardrobe in 2018. But he’s always there, the boss you have to worry about. Fire is both one of his primary weapons and primary weaknesses — be it Mario’s fireballs or the lava pit he frequently stands over.
Ganon(dorf) came on the scene one year later, in 1986’s The Legend of Zelda. The complicated timeline that is the Zelda franchise actually puts Ganon’s origin in 2011’s The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, in the form of the Demon King Demise, who, upon defeat by Link and the Goddess Hylia, curses the 3 (three!)of them to endlessly reincarnate and fight. Demise’s reincarnations come in the form of either Ganondorf, the ambitious mortal whose power unchecked manifests as Demise’s other form: a bestial Ganon.
Ganon and Bowser share the goal of ruling the kingdom, and very often kidnap the Princess in the process. Ganondorf, the lone male of the Gerudo race, sees Hyrule and the Triforce as his right; Bowser takes what he knows he can.
Enter part 3 of our Trinity Boss. She’s persistent (see her daughter’s book about it, titled She Persisted), she’s lost her share of battles, and some would argue she believes the Presidency to be her right. She stacks up right in the framework of the repeatable boss whose character is so bound to the series that its odd when she isn’t in the game. So, if she’s our Boss, then we’ll look to her counterparts to see how we defeat her next inevitable resurgence.
Lava. I mentioned it before, but I’ll emphasize, your first attempt should always utilize fire damage if available to you. Bowser hates its range and proximity. Din’s Fire is pretty effective at dealing damage to Ganon depending on his stage of vulnerability. My bet is, for better or for worse, the political climate is, right now, too fiery for a 2-loss candidate to reasonably jump back in. Tweets or no tweets, I think our protective fire circle will do just fine.
2. Squad up. While both Bowser and Ganon have been defeated solely at the hands of Mario and Link respectively, the task is far easier when aided by Baby Mario, Luigi, Zelda, Hylia, Epona, maybe Navi. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run very likely was torched because she ran against 2 opponents: Donald Trump in the general election and Bernie Sanders in the primary, which cost her the votes of many alienated Bernie supporters. Feel the Bern.
3. Self-defeat. SO many 3’s today. Thirdly, and lastly, defeating this Boss is sort-of baked into the cake, so to speak. When you fight Bowser, the tools to beat him are there, be it the pool of lava he’s always standing over or the spike bombs that you must throw him into with calculated precision. Ganon, likewise, does himself in in a number of ways: from always opening the Sacred Realm and splitting the Triforce, thus enhancing the powers of Link and Princess Zelda to manifesting himself as Malice Incarnate to break the cycle of reincarnation but leave himself vulnerable to forever being dead. Hillary Clinton isn’t the Twitter Demagogue, but she does a lot to self-defeat via Tweeting alone. And though her list of who to blame for 2016 is long and also a book, one cannot forget her failure to campaign in Wiscosin.
Too soon? Always. | https://medium.com/@jake_hixon/the-3-in-1-trinity-boss-82ec2248d302 | ['Jake Hixon'] | 2018-11-27 10:19:41.091000+00:00 | ['Hillary Clinton', 'Zelda', 'Videogames', 'Mario', 'Politics'] |
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