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Change food Habits to fight COVID-19, Suggestions from two Indian scientists of DST Ministry | Change food Habits to fight COVID-19, Suggestions from two Indian scientists of DST Ministry Vijaythakurx Jul 19, 2020·6 min read
In wake of COVID-19 pandemic, foods you eat plays a great role in improving immunity, which is a must to fight a disease which hardly has anyprescribed treatment, vaccine and therapeutic recommendations.
See what two senior scientists from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has to say on eating habits during COVID-19. Their recommendations and guidelines are based on the ancient healing system of India-Ayurveda.
(A) Maximum use of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pulses, wholegrain foods, unsaturated oils;; and stop eating junk and sugary food. Apart from food, guidelines also recommend physical exercises, meditation and adequate sleep, and good exposure to sunlight.
(B) Limits the intake soda, salt, sugar and trans fats (take rock salts, jaggery or honey and unsaturated fats instead), & Stop Eating junk and sugary food.
© Apart from food, guidelines also recommend physical exercises, meditation and adequate sleep, and good exposure to sunlight.
In fact even governments of most countries and several authorised international health agencies like the World Health Organisation, the British Dietetic Association and the UD Food and Administration has stressed on these guidelines though without referring Indian healing system-Ayurveda (आयुर्वेदा ).
According to the two Indian scientists, Jyoti Sharma S.K. Varshney, senior scientists from the Department of Science and Technology of India, who have done an in-depth study of Ayurveda for curing people, Indian ancient healing system stands on four pillars
3) Achar ( conduct of individual with the external world) 4) Vichar (mental health) .
In ancient healing system of India, food is like a medicine that can recuperate an individual by establishing the connection between elements of life, food, and body. Individuals’ temperament, physical and emotional states can be determined and regulated by their food choices, quantities, and lifestyle.
It is well known that there is a close relationship among genes, environment, food, and emotional factors that lead to a bidirectional vicious cycle of mood, food, and lifestyle diseases.
Ayurveda recommends the intervention of healthy lifestyles, meditation, pranayama, adequate sleep, and Satvik food to live a healthy, peaceful life and fight against various diseases including COVID-19.
The scientists claimed that proper food selection and dietary schedule help to maintain holistic health with a calm mind. BhagwadGitaand Yoga Shastras divided food into three types based on their qualities (termed as gunas).
They are
(A) Sathva (satoguna), Good to take. A Satvik diet is meant to include foods and eating habits that are natural, vital and energy-containing and provides calmness, purity and promote longevity, intelligence, strength, health and delight. Examples of Satvik food items are fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains, cereals, nuts and seeds, low-fat milk and milk products, pure fruit juices, and cooked food that is consumed within 3–4 hours of cooking,
(B) Rajasa (rajoguna): Avoidable. A Rajasic diet, the mode of passion, is one that is overly spicy, hot, or fried with pungent, sour, and salty taste. Rajasic food possesses attributes of negativity, passion, and restlessness. Examples of Rajasic food is caffeinated drinks (like coffee, fizzy soft drinks, tea), sugary foods (chocolate, cake, biscuits, chips, etc), or spicy food. As these foods are rich in glucose, they may provide immediate energy but eventually destroys the mind-body equilibrium, feeding the body at the expense of the mind.
© Thamasa (tamoguna) (Should not take): A Tamsik diet, the mode of ignorance, is one that consists of overcooked, stale, fast, reheated, microwaved, or frozen food; dead food such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs; alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs of addiction. Tamsik foods are hard to digest and gift inertia, dullness, and induce sleep. All these are an important cause of obesity, diabetes, heart, and liver disease.
Rajasic and Tamsik foods, available as processed and junk foods, are full of carbohydrates, sugar, and trans-fat in high proportions. The combination of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar has become a primary choice of food industries as a sweetener due to its better shelf-life, more palatability and competitive price. This resulted in an additional 30% increase in overall sweetener intake and inability to regulate the hormones insulin and leptin and to inhibit the production of ghrelin, all factors that are known to affect the satiety centre in our brain, regulate blood glucose levels and appetite. Fast foods and fried foods like French fries, doughnuts, cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, and stick margarines are made up by using hydrogenated or artificial trans-fats (or trans-fatty acids) which meets their food processing needs, easy to use, inexpensive and can be used many times in the commercial fryers. High sugar, high-fat and animal protein diets lead to disruption in the regulation of blood glucose levels, fat build-up in the liver, high uric acid concentrations reduced kidney function and increase in arteriolar thickening, and fat deposition.
Food rich in Prana (Life-Force):
It is a combination of carbohydrates, fats, rich in dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants with a limited amount of sugar, salt and oil, and no animal fat. It can be digested easily and utilize the six tastes in Ayurveda (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent). Satvik food with recommended physical exercise, adequate rest, and a positive mindset is a source of energy and can reduce the risk of high body mass index, coronary artery disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis. Satvik food is pure, natural, strong, wise, and full of energy to provide calmness and peace to the mind, thereby resulting in longevity of life in an individual.
Some food articles like onion, garlic, asafoetida, caffeinated tea, and coffee; fried, spicy, high in sugar, and junk foods induce restlessness, lethargy, and sleep. Food like garlic and onion may be good as medicine but not for daily consumption. The daily consumption of food, which stimulates the nervous system, may lower the possibilities of experiencing life.
Self Care Guidelines for COVID-19: Self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and boosting immunity include herbal tea and decoction (Kadha) made from Tulsi, Dalchini, Kalimirch, Shunthi (Dry Ginger) and Munakka (Raisin) with jaggery and/or fresh lemon juice to enhance the taste as immunity promoting measures against COVID-19.
The Guidelines of AYUSH Ministry also asked to cold, frozen, and heavy foods, which is a clear indication to avoid Rajasic and Tamsik food. It asked people to take appropriate rest, timely sleep, exposure to sunlight, and practice of Yogasana and Pranayama so as to balance our body, mind, and lifestyle.
At a time when COVID 19 is spreading exponentially, the AYUSH Ministry has recommended that in this time of uncertainties and non-availability of treatment, it is important to remain healthy and peaceful. Good food with other recommendations, as explained in the above table, would help in building up our immunity as well as burst the stress while combating against COVID-19.
Fibrous food in the form of raw or freshly cooked colourful vegetables and fruits (good sources of vitamins A, C and E, as well as antioxidants, folate, and fibre
Refined, processed grain foods (white pasta and rice, and white bread), deep-frozen foods
Unsalted nuts and seeds (like pumpkin, sunflower, and flax). They are great sources of vitamin E, niacin, riboflavin, protein, healthy fat, antioxidants, and fibre.
Snacks that are high in salt and sugar (cookies, samosa, cakes, and chocolate); pickles, jams
Unsaturated fats (e.g., found in fish, avocado, nuts, olive oil, soy, canola, sunflower and corn oils). The fat intake is recommended less than 30% of total energy intake, of which no more than 10% should come from saturated fat.
Soft drinks or sodas and other drinks that are high in sugar (e.g., packed fruit juices; fruit juice concentrates and syrups; flavoured milks and water; energy and sports drinks; and yogurt drinks, caffeinated tea, coffee, ready-to-drink tea, and coffee
Coriander (Dhaniya), turmeric (contain ), fenugreek ( ), tulsi (Basil), cumin (jeera), fennel (sonph), cloves, black pepper ( Kalimirch, contain , cinnamon (dalchini), ginger and curry leaves.
Rock salt (l imit salt intake to 5 grams (equivalent to a teaspoon) a day. | https://medium.com/@vijaythakurx/change-food-habits-to-fight-covid-19-suggestions-from-two-indian-scientists-of-dst-ministry-ed39dd79c100 | [] | 2020-07-19 10:05:42.594000+00:00 | ['Ayurvedic Treatment', 'Covid 19', 'Ayush', 'Indian Scientist', 'Corona'] |
XGBoost, Light GBM and CatBoost | XGBoost, Light GBM and CatBoost
Photo by Kirill Nechmonya on Unsplash
When developing a Machine Learning Model, Data Scientists and Data Engineers often apply the algorithm they believe to be the most efficient, hoping for fast performance and accurate predictions, without much thought on how well it caters to the problem at hand. However, it is important to choose the correct algorithm considering the nature of the problem, variability, complexity of the features, and processing limitations as this will lead to better options and improved results. This article discusses popular boosting algorithms, their construction, and their functionality when applied to a large data set.
What are Boosting Algorithms?
In simple terms, ‘Boosting’ is an approach that combines multiple base models into a standalone composite model. When more simple base models (which are called weak models or weak learners) are constructed, the composite model becomes a stronger predictor or a stronger learner. Boosting trains weak learners sequentially, each improving its predecessor. The strong learner is called an ‘ensembled model’ in Boosting Algorithms.
When combining weak learners, the average/weighted average or the error function of the previous weak learner is used to correct the next iteration of learning. Boosting focuses on the misclassified rules or high error resulting rules by proceeding weak rules. When more weights are provided, the data points to incorrect classifications in previous weak models. In the test phase, each model is evaluated based on the test error of each weak model and the prediction is weighted for voting. Boosting methods helps to decrease the bias of this prediction.
Figure: The process of Boosting
In the Machine Learning world, gradient boosting is used for regression, classification, and ranking problems. There are two main elements in this process:
I. Creation of the base learner (weak learner)
Decision trees are used as the weak learner in gradient boosting algorithms. The creation of weak learners is constrained within specific parameters such as maximum number of layers, splits, or leaf nodes, etc.
II. Calculating the loss function
In each iteration, the new model gradually tries to minimize the loss function while maximizing the accuracy estimation of the response variable. The loss function can be customized based on the requirement, but it needs to be a ‘differentiable’ to be additive.
When outliers present in the data sets are not pre-treated, those data points will carry larger residuals than non-outliers, so gradient boosting will help minimize this deviation.
Comparison of Boosting Algorithms; XGBoost, Light GBM and CatBoost
XGBoost
The most sought-after algorithm at Machine Learning competitions, XGBoost was released in 2014. It is a highly scalable, portable, and distributed Gradient Boosting library that provides parallel tree boosting to solve many Data Science problems fast and accurately. The few unique features of XGBoost algorithm are:
· Sparsity aware split finding mechanism
Potential causes for sparsity in a data set include missing values, frequent zero or null entries (common in most surveys), and methods used in feature engineering such as label encoding and one hot encoding. It is important for the algorithm to be aware of these sparsity patterns. In each tree node, XGBoost adds a default direction. That is, when a value is missing in the sparce matrix, this instance is classified to the default split node direction. Note: once the pattern is learnt, the model handles all sparce data instances in a unique way.
· Weighted quantile sketch
Here, weighted data are considered to be ‘weighted quantiles’. Especially in a large data set with many data points, a high processing power is required to traverse all the data points and learn their patterns. This obstacle is typically overcome through quantile distribution sketches, which are based on representative sample of original data. The quantile distribution sketches will provide the same statistical characteristics for each sampled quantile sketch relative to the original quantiles. These quantiles can be of equal weights or unequal weights.
These quantile sketches are the crucial components that aid the algorithm to find split points. Most existing tree-based algorithms can find split points when the data points are of equal weights using a quantile sketch algorithm. However, they are ill-equipped to handle weighted data, unlike XGBoost which has a distributed weighted quantile sketch algorithm to effectively handle it.
· Regularization
This helps define the minimum gain so when a split occurs, and is vital in preventing overfitting. A minimum loss reduction is required to make further partitions on a leaf node of the tree. This concept leads the model to avoid building complex trees which causes the model to memorize patterns instead of learning.
· Using Memory blocks for Parallel Learning
Tree algorithms spend the bulk of the training time sorting the data points in order, which might be time consuming when the data frames are of massive sizes. The special design of memory blocks helps to overcome this problem as it facilitates their easy storage in distributed machines. This enables reuse of the block data layout in subsequent iterations instead of computing it again. This feature is useful for split finding as well.
It must be noted that XGBoost does not have an inbuilt method of handling categorical variables. Therefore, the user needs to perform categorical feature encoding for the model by way of label encoding, one hot encoding, etc.
Light GBM
LightGBM (Light Gradient Boosting Machine) is a free and open source distributed gradient boosting framework for machine learning developed by Microsoft in 2016 with the following advantages:
i. Faster training speed and higher efficiency.
ii. Lower memory usage.
iii. Better accuracy.
iv. Support of parallel, distributed, and GPU learning.
v. Capable of handling large-scale data.
Conventional GBDT (Gradient Boosting Decision Trees) have major limitations in increasing computational complexity proportional to the number of features and data points, as the design of the algorithm forces all the data instances to be scanned for every feature to estimate the information gain of all possible split points. To tackle this challenge, two novel techniques have been implemented in LightGBM:
· Gradient-Based One-Side Sampling (GOSS) — Focus on number of data points
Different gradients play different roles when computing the information gained in a decision tree. Data instances with larger gradients contribute more to the information gained and vice versa. Therefore, the best approach to train a model is to keep instances with large gradients and cut out the small gradients when sampling the data set. This will achieve higher accuracy in the information gained than down-sampling a data set using a purely uniform random sampling technique. This treatment is useful if the data set has a large range of information gained across data points which is generally the case with large data sets.
· Exclusive Feature Bundling (EFB) — Focus on number of features
Bundling many features together depends on the sparsity of model features. Although there are many features, they might have been generated through a process of one-hot encoding or a similar transformation which makes them exclusive. In other words, features rarely take nonzero values simultaneously. Such exclusive features can be bundled to reduce the feature set through a lossless approach.
Catboost
This is based on gradient boosting and developed by Yandex researchers in 2017. This algorithm focuses on categorical features in a data set, which gave it the name ‘CatBoost’. As categorical features have a discrete set of categories, a popular technique to handle them in boosted trees is one hot encoding, where a new binary feature is added to the existing feature in each category. However, with high cardinality features, this technique may lead to an infeasibly large number of features.
· Ordered boosting and ordered TS (Target Statistics)
The Catboost Algorithm has an ordering principal that stops target leakage and outperforms other gradient boosting techniques. In this algorithm, ordered target statistics encoding is developed from target mean encoding. Ordered boosting removes the prediction shift problem which is resulted from a difference in the distribution of train and test data sets.
Features with fewer categories use one-hot encoding. The maximum number of categories for one-hot encoding can be controlled by the one_hot_max_size parameter. For the remaining categorical columns, CatBoost uses an efficient method of encoding, similar to mean encoding but with an additional mechanism aimed at reducing overfitting.
If the data set is significantly biased with the number of categorical features, the ‘explainability’ of the model should also be biased with tunable categorical features relative to the numerical features, which leads to the algorithm to provide promising results.
Comparison
Empirical Evidence of a Regression Problem: A Case Study
A beverage company with a footprint throughout its operating region is interested in understanding how sales at each outlet can be influenced via the promotions they offer, and how these promotions impact their sales uplift. When solving this business problem, an issue arises in comparing sales if the company doesn’t run promotions and sales if there are promotions. If this is possible, the incremental sales can be derived from the findings which lead the company to evaluate the ROI (Return on Investment) of their promotion schemes to better align them in the future.
But comparing the pre and post promotion periods is not easy as it seems. It is possible if the company had pre promotion periods for the same target customer sets, but realistically this is not possible with long-standing companies as it has run similar promotions targeting the same customer base for years to keep them satisfied.
Although most large companies release promotions on a regular basis, there can be a segment of customers that are rarely touched by them due to low potential sales, being new customers, or the irregular nature of running the promotions. Sometimes the customers who receive promotions will not follow through on all but only for a few selected items. The final goal is to predict the baseline sales (no promotion sales) for all different types of beverages on offer.
Data set
Assume that the data set available in this case study has a large volume, leaving room to evaluate the finer points of the three algorithms discussed above. The total data points are approximately 1.5 million records spanning several months and 30 engineered features (25 numeric attributes and 5 categorical attributes). These final features are the best features obtained through a PCA (Principal Component Analysis) exercise which can best explain the final sales of the problem. These features comprised of sales features, promotion features, beverage product attributes, and location features.
Since the problem demands predicting a continuous variable, its required to use Regressors such as XGBoost, CatBoost and LightGBM. To generate comparable results, similar hyper parameter values have been applied for these algorithms. The model evaluation metric used is MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error). The experimental environment is Azure Databricks with a runtime version of 7.3 LTS ML (includes Apache Spark 3.0.1, Scala 2.12). Further this was configured with one driver node of 32GB memory/4 cores and ten worker nodes of 14GB memory/4 cores.
Results
In terms of accuracy, both XGBoost and CatBoost exhibit similar performances and can provide an average accuracy closer to 80%. The MAPE of LightGBM is noticeably lower than the rest. But accuracy might not be the single criteria that should be considered when selecting an algorithm.
The speed of performance is determined by the complexity of the data set and the model parameters that the model will be based on. The hyper parameters configured in this experiment and used to train the model are 6000 trees, maximum depth of tress being 16 and with a learning rate of 0.25.
The fastest algorithm is LightGBM and the XGBoost is far behind the average training speed and is 2X times slower in this scenario.
Summary
Written by Nadeesha Ekanayake, Senior Data Scientist. | https://medium.com/octave-john-keells-group/xgboost-light-gbm-and-catboost-a-comparison-of-decision-tree-algorithms-and-applications-to-a-f1d2d376d89c | ['Octave - John Keells Group'] | 2021-09-17 04:12:58.659000+00:00 | ['Decision Tree', 'Lightgbm', 'Xgboost', 'Data Science', 'Catboost'] |
A.I., Coyotes, and Liberals | DDIntel | DDIntel newsletter for the week of September 21
DDI Writer Highlights
To potentially be featured in DDI Intel and on Datadriveninvestor.com, please submit with this form.
By Amit Garg
Since covid hit the US six months ago VCs and entrepreneurs worldwide have had to adapt to the new reality of doing deals without meeting in person. Building trust is the challenge…
By Vuk Janosevic
TikTok usage has skyrocketed during the pandemic, with roughly 800 million users around the world using the platform to share content. Unfortunately, that entertainment comes at a significant cost, as TikTok is being investigated by numerous governments around the world for unauthorized data usage and violation of privacy laws.
By Tal Perry
The last five years have been revolutionary for the field of natural language processing. We went from glorified ctrl-f to a machine that can write programs for us based on natural language descriptions. While the web is full of amazing technical demos, applications of NLP to the world of finance have been less vocalized.
By Maddalena Bearzi
In our attempt to put nature in order, a versatile animal teaches us an essential lesson.
By Nagaraj S Murthy
In any machine learning problem, the goal of our neural network is to do well on the new unseen data, training a deep learning model helps to achieve this goal. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/a-i-coyotes-and-liberals-ddintel-2bd2ff2640a0 | ['Justin Chan'] | 2020-09-21 14:00:34.016000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Fintech', 'Technology', 'Startup', 'Blockchain'] |
Realize the 6 Easy Ways to Avoid Delta Baggage Fees | Delta Airlines is massively notable for both business and outing explorers. The association is arranged in Atlanta, Georgia, nonetheless, it benefits districts all through the planet, from Canada to Australia to Central America.
Delta positions itself as a predominant carrier, offering more comfort and excess than spending plan-friendly carriers. In light of everything, you won’t routinely get benefits like free packs as you do on Southwest; taking everything into account, you’ll for the most part need to pay a cost for each sack your check. Delta Flights Baggage Fees are not exactly different carriers.
In any case, there are a couple of techniques for getting around Deltaairlines’ costs. This is the thing that you need to know.
What is Delta Airlines’ things technique?
Exactly when you Fly on Cheap Tickets Delta, you’re allowed one carry-on and something individual to no detriment. Using those stuff settlements mindfully can help you with getting a decent arrangement on taking care of sacks.
Convenient packs and individual things
Your lightweight things can’t outperform 45 direct sneaks in united length, width, and height, including handles and wheels. Delta Flights Baggage Policy has specific restrictions as per which you need to convey your sacks on your flight. All things considered, your pack should be 22 inches x 14 inches x 9 inches or more unassuming. Convenient things don’t have a weight limit, other than at the air terminals underneath:
Singapore, Singapore — Changi International Airport (SIN): 15 pounds
Changi International Airport (SIN): 15 pounds Beijing — Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) Civil Aviation
Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC): 22 pounds
22 pounds Shanghai — Pudong International Airport (PVG): 22 pounds
Individual things join handbags, diaper packs, camera sacks, PCs, things of near size. Just guarantee they fit in the overhead canister or under the seat before you.
On the off chance that you’re going with children or someone with unprecedented necessities, this is your big chance to shine. Phenomenal things like carriages, kid seats, wheelchairs, reinforces, and assistive contraptions don’t consider a carry-on or individual thing, so you can get them on the plane to your various things.
Taken care of sacks
Concerning your dealt with sacks, your costs rely upon your pack’s weight, your target, and the number of packs you’re conveying.
For local excursions in North America Cheap Flights, on the off chance that you’re going to the essential hotel, you’ll usually pay $30 for your first checked pack that weighs under 50 pounds and $40 for your second checked sack that weighs under 50 pounds. Stuff ought not to outperform 62 inches when all of you out the length, width, and height.
Worldwide outings to regions outside of the United States have more component things charged. A takeoff from the U.S. to Europe, for example, offers one checked pack for nothing, notwithstanding, the ensuing sack will cost you $100. Assuming you fly from the U.S. to the Caribbean, Bermuda, or Ecuador, regardless, you’ll be charged only $40 for that ensuing sack. A third checked sack can cost you $200 or more, dependent upon your space. You can see how much your stuff will cost for your impending timetable on the Delta.com site.
You can process up to 10 sacks for every voyager on flights worked by Delta or Delta Airlines Shuttle and up to four on Delta Connection carrier flights. Regardless, if you travel with different pieces of stuff, Delta will not be able to oblige all of your stuff on one flight. Taking everything into account, it very well may be continued on the accompanying available Book Delta flight.
If you have oversize stuff or bounty things, you may have to pay extra checked pack charges. You’ll have to pay an extra cost for every limitation you outperform the extent that weight, size, and sum. For example, a plenitude pack that is more than 50 pounds will have an extra checked sack charge and an overweight cost.
The best technique to avoid Delta things costs
While Delta charges cost for your handled packs, there are ways around paying that extra cost. Coming up next are six distinct ways you can get a good deal on Cheap Delta Tickets staff costs.
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If you routinely fly with Delta Tickets, consider seeking after the Delta SkyMiles immovably program. It’s permitted to join, and you’ll gain miles you can use toward future trips — notwithstanding you can secure SkyMiles Medallion status levels and get benefits like seat upgrades and free dealt with stuff.
To meet all prerequisites for nothing-handled sacks, you need to get Silver Medallion status. At the point when you achieve that level, you’ll have your first glance at the pack for nothing. Up to eight of your sidekicks will in like manner have a free glance at the sack. Insignia people get Silver status when they procure 25,000 Medallion Qualification Miles and $3,000 Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) or an MQD Waiver.
At the point when you seek after SkyMiles, just enter your part number into your reservation when you book a flight. Dependent upon the Cheap Delta flight, you could procure up to five miles for each $1 spent on your ticket.
3. Buy a remarkable ticket
Expecting you want more legroom and comfort, it could justify the sumptuous use to buy a business class or five-star ticket. Overhauling your Delta airfare may moreover qualify you in vain handled packs, helping offset the extra cost.
Delta Premium Select explorers have two free ganders at Saks measuring a restriction of 50 pounds. Best in class and Delta One voyagers can invite two-took care of sacks to no detriment, as much as 70 pounds each.
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Dynamic military assists people with canning meet all necessities in vain handled sacks. On the off chance that you’re on military orders, you get up to five free-took care of sacks.
For military staff going during the singular time, you get up to two free-took care of sacks on the off chance that you’re flying key economy, guideline hotel, or Delta Comfort. If you’re flying with each accessible convenience, Book delta Flights One, or Delta Premium Select, you get up to three free handled sacks measuring 70 pounds each.
To qualify, you should show a real military ID to Delta staff at registration.
5. Get a Delta Skymiles charge card
Assuming you travel routinely and need free things and various benefits, seeking a Delta-checked Visa can be a smart decision. You can secure significant honors for your development and get free updates. You’ll have to take a gander at the changed Delta card benefits so you can pick the best transporter Visa for you.
6. Use a general travel card
On the off chance that you like to glance around instead of staying devoted to one carrier, a more versatile travel rewards card may be an ideal decision over a Delta Mastercard. The most perfect travel Mastercards offer significant benefits that can help you with having free glances at Saks, for instance, carrier credits and point moves. Furthermore, you can as often as possible procure additional miles from your enjoying to help with propelling offset the cost of development and your prizes aren’t restricted to a single aircraft.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve, for example, offers a $300 yearly travel credit. Use your card to pay for development costs, including stuff charges, and you’ll get up to $300 as an attestation credit to reimburse you. You can moreover recuperate your prizes through the Chase Ultimate Rewards program to book Delta flights and get half more for your core interests. Additionally, if you wind up expecting to fly another transporter, Chase has an extensive once-over of accessories you can move your concentrations to.
Regardless of assuming your stuff is lost or you are not getting it you can contact Cheap Delta Flights Lost and Found Baggage Support. | https://medium.com/@deltaairlines293/realize-the-6-easy-ways-to-avoid-delta-baggage-fees-7e89bba2bc54 | [] | 2021-12-21 12:18:45.114000+00:00 | ['Booking', 'Travel', 'Airlines', 'Tickets'] |
Elon Musk could ‘break internet’ and BUY Bitcoin in ‘$1 trillion favour’ to shareholders | ELON Musk has sparked wild speculation after asking whether he could turn all of Tesla’s balance sheet into the digital currency Bitcoin.
The billionaire US entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has recently tweeted multiple times about Bitcoin. The digital currency has attracted interest over the years due to its significant yet volatile rise in price.
On Sunday, Mr Musk was approached on Twitter by Bitcoin proponent and MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor.
Mr Saylor advised the Tesla CEO to buy a significant amount of Bitcoin, claiming it could earn billions for Tesla’s shareholders.
He also claimed other major US firms on the S&P 500 stock market index could follow suit and boost Bitcoin’s value further.
Mr Saylor told Mr Musk: “If you want to do your shareholders a $100 billion favour, convert the Tesla balance sheet from USD to BTC.
“Other firms on the S&P 500 would follow your lead and in time it would grow to become a $1 trillion favour.”
Mr Musk responded by asking the Bitcoin enthusiast whether transactions on such a scale are “even possible”.
Mr Saylor claimed they were and offered to “share my playbook with you offline — from one rocket scientist to another”.
One analyst commented the “internet will break” if Tesla followed the advice.
Both Tesla and Bitcoin have surged to recent highs in terms of their market value recently.
Tesla — an electric car company — has seen its share prices climb by over 730 percent this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It reached a new high on Friday, with prices closing at $695 per share. It brings the firm’s market cap to over $658 billion.
Bitcoin has also hit new highs in recent days and is valued at $23,630.48 per coin at the time of writing.
Its total market cap is just over $439 billion. Analysts say anyone who has owned a Bitcoin in the past 12 months will have seen a profit of over 240 percent.
However, the digital currency has also faced criticism over its tendency to fluctuate wildly in price.
It approached the $20,000 mark towards the end of 2017, but by late 2018 was worth well under $3,500.
Brian Armstrong, chief executive of Bitcoin trading platform Coinbase, has warned potential investors about the risks of getting involved in the currency amid its current price surge.
He said in a blog post last week: “While it’s great to see market rallies and see news organizations turn attention to this emerging asset class in a new way, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to understand that investing in crypto is not without risk.
“Crypto can be a volatile asset class. Often more so than the types of traditional financial instruments that most investors are used to.
“For example, this means that the market can move in either direction much faster than equity markets.”
source: Forexified
https://forexified.com/ | https://medium.com/@alenavorontsova/elon-musk-could-break-internet-and-buy-bitcoin-in-1-trillion-favour-to-shareholders-a826b09660a3 | ['Alena Vorontsova'] | 2020-12-22 13:00:07.087000+00:00 | ['Elon Musk', 'Bitcoin', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Tesla'] |
Predicting Infidelity from Precise Personality Sub-Traits | Predicting Infidelity from Precise Personality Sub-Traits
Photo by Wesley Balten on Unsplash
According to data reviewed by C.J.J. van Zyl, author of a study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (2021), the most common reason for breakups and divorce is infidelity. Betrayal wreaks the greatest damage on trust, striking love at its roots, undoing years of time spent building relationship, and casting a shadow on the future of shared satisfaction. While many couples weather the injury, many succumb.
Prior research shows that some factors protect against infidelity[1], while others make it more likely[2]. In addition, while for many couples, infidelity is a relationship-ending event, for other couples hidden — and sometimes openly secret infidelity — may help stabilize relationships.
The unfaithful personality
Given the crucial importance of trust in any relationship, and the need for exclusivity in monogamous relationships — which remain the most common in spite of a rise in mutually open relationships as a function of “less restrictive” sociosexuality— researchers naturally have taken a keen interest in understanding what personality traits may increase or decrease the likelihood of infidelity.
Van Zyl notes that the majority of research has looked at personality traits. In addition to the “dark triad” (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy), the Five Factor Model (FFM) or “Big 5” (OCEAN: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) have been studies with infidelity.
There are consistent associations between infidelity and each of the Big 5 traits. For example, people who cheat in romantic relationships score higher on Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Extraversion. They score lower on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. However, van Zyl reports, some work has shown different findings for Openness and Extraversion. There is more than meets the eye.
From traits to facets
Facets tell a more nuanced story. While work on personality traits is informative, what many do not realize is that each personality traits is made of sub-traits, called facets Each trait has six facets. For example, Neuroticism is composed of Anxiety, Angry Hostility, Depression, Self-Consciousness, Impulsiveness and Vulnerability (the full facet list is below for the scale used in this study[3]).
The facet level also shows where different personality models overlap and contrast with one another. For example, neurotic impulsivity and hostility are features of psychopathy, part of the dark triad. Yet, not all neurotic people are psychopathic, and some features of neuroticism, such as self-consciousness, may contrast with psychopathy. Correlations with broad brushstroke personality traits are therefore misleading where facets are likely more precise. This is true for personality research in general, and not just with infidelity.
In order to look in more detail at personality correlates of infidelity, van Zyl conducted a study of 685 young adults in a university setting, the majority women (79.2 percent) as part of a larger study on risky behavior. Self-report measures included the Basic Traits Inventory for personality and demographics. Participants were asked about infidelity, how many times had they ever cheated in a romantic partner in their lifetime, coded into “yes” or “no” for purposes of this study. Both traits and facets were analyzed using Bayesian inference, leveraging “fuzzy logic” to discern data patterns.
Findings
On the macro level, Openness and Extraversion were associated with a higher chance of lifetime infidelity, while Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism were associated with a lower chance. These results line up with prior findings, with areas of consistency and inconsistency in which Big 5 traits go along with infidelity and which do not. In this case, Neuroticism had a small positive association with infidelity.
The facet analysis told a more interesting story, however, getting at the underlying predictors of infidelity. In descending order, the strongest facets associated with infidelity were Extroversion’s facet Ascendance (aka Assertiveness, social boldness), and to a much smaller extent Excitement Seeking; the Duty facet of Conscientiousness, increasing faithfulness; and the Affective (emotional) Instability facet of Neuroticism, associated with increased cheating risk. Other facets had weak or absent correlations.
How not to get cheated on?
This data is preliminary yet intriguing. There are limitations. First, this is a younger age group, predominantly women. However, at least in this study, controlling for age, gender and other demographic factors did not change which traits and facets predicted infidelity. Furthermore, as a pilot study, infidelity was measured with one basic question, and analyzed as a Yes or No outcome rather than looking at degrees of infidelity over a large span of relationships.
Duration of relationship was also not reported, but as the average age hovered around early 20s, relationship durations are shorter, type of relationship is less mature, and personality characteristics are for younger people. While personality is generally stable over the lifespan, some traits do change with time. Classic research (2017), for example, found that conscientiousness and agreeableness increase with age. This could change the infidelity landscape with age.
Regardless, looking at personality on the level of facets is an important step toward a more refined understanding of how personality interacts with decisions and behavior. Personality traits aren’t accurate predictors. For example, Assertiveness is the biggest infidelity risk factor for extraverts. Yet not all extraverts are high on assertiveness, so being extraverted is OK in the absence of specific risks.
Likewise for neuroticism, being neurotic overall does not appear to be the issue, but being emotionally unstable is a problem because feelings may shift suddenly for positive to negative, for example, temporarily weakening feelings which keep people from dalliance. For conscientiousness, a less dutiful partner, which relates to ethics and morality, potentially overlapping with dark traits, is more of a risk.
Short of assessing personality at the beginning of a relationship to ID potential cheaters before it’s too late to easily uncouple — bear in mind that research (2017) shows that a prior history of infidelity predicts future risk, and people who have been cheated on are more likely to be cheated on again.
If you know that you are attracted to some of the same traits making romantic choices prone to infidelity, especially if it has happened before, it is critical to slow down, strongly consider taking a break from dating and figure out what the attraction is to people who have more risky personality facets. History does not have to repeat, but tends to do so if unchecked.
Learn more about personality, and personality change
How To Polish Your Personality
Doorknob Comments Podcast: Personality Talks
Footnotes
1. Infidelity Protective Factors
Moral Standards
Effects on the Children
Fear of Remaining Alone
Effects on Other People (Especially the Extramarital Sex Partner)
2. Infidelity Warning Signs
Low relationship commitment.
Declining sexual and relationship satisfaction.
Specific personality traits (e.g., avoidant attachment style; extroversion, neuroticism, and lower agreeableness, in terms of the “Big 5” personality traits).
Permissive attitudes about sex/infidelity.
Being in a social context which approves of infidelity.
3. Big 5 Traits and Facets
Openness to Experience: Aesthetic, Ideas, Action, Values, Imagination
Conscientiousness: Effort, Order, Duty, Prudence, Self-Discipline
Extraversion: Ascendance, Liveliness, Positive Affect, Gregariousness, Excitement Seeking
Agreeableness: Straightforwardness, Compliance, Prosocial, Modesty, Tendermindeness
Neuroticism: Affective Instability, Depression, Self-Consciousness, Anxiety
A related list of Big 5 traits and facets
This post (“Our Blog Post”) is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained through Our Blog Post. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice, or other content. We are not responsible and will not be held liable for third party comments on Our Blog Post. Any user comment on Our Blog Post that in our sole discretion restricts or inhibits any other user from using or enjoying Our Blog Post is prohibited and may be reported to Medium.com. Grant H. Brenner. All rights reserved. Originally published on Psychology Today, ExperiMentations. | https://medium.com/@granthbrennermd/predicting-infidelity-from-precise-personality-sub-traits-bdc71ffdd1e2 | ['Grant H Brenner'] | 2021-03-06 18:58:29.199000+00:00 | ['Marriage', 'Breakups', 'Infidelity', 'Relationships', 'Personality'] |
Practice What You Seek | Are you Committed to Practicing?
Do you place value in the art of practicing a skill inorder to perfect an action?
Have you considered the benefit of applying a practiced approach toward shifting your mindset and manifesting your deepest desires?
Here’s the Thing…a heightened state of awareness is not a random occurrence.
A heightened state of awareness is a choice reflected in the intentional practices of those who seek to grow, to heal and to achieve.
As we embrace the holiday season, remember to Practice the Art of Mindulness:
A. Center your thoughts and create a safe space within your Be-ing to envision and embrace what you desire most…
B. Avail your gifts and talents as opportunities to GLOW beyond your comfortzone(s)…
C. Meditate (take time to reflect in silence) on the experiences that you have encountered along your Authentic Journey, without judgement or criticism…
D. Affirm your Greatness…make a list of 5–10 “I Am” Statements to celebrate the FULL-ness of your Authentic Magic…
(ex. I Am a Black, Magic Unicorn Queen)
As Members of the Wellness Tribe aka Wellness Warriors, you know the power of practice as it pertains to cosigning the success of others and availing yourself for their WIN…now offer that intentional practice for Self.
Show up Committed…Put in that Practice…Trust the Process.
— Namaste | https://medium.com/@coachnamasteready/practice-what-you-seek-1e286b4bc7bc | ['Monique J. Aka Coach Namaste-Ready'] | 2020-12-12 18:04:44.326000+00:00 | ['Authentic', 'Practice', 'Power', 'Purpose', 'Commitment'] |
From Solutions to Problems | One thing to remember is that “Big A” Agile doesn’t create great products alone. When I say to build a framework, I am certainly not suggesting that you simply adopt Scrum and be done with it. Agility, if anything, has led to a breakdown in how we approach problems. Somewhere along the way we stopped caring about the discovery and started focusing on delivery, because “working software” is better than nothing. Maybe some of us never cared about the discovery, to begin with.
The “working software is better than nothing” principle is true, but also inherently flawed because it fails to mention the critical work before a single line of code is written. The key takeaway here is that “working software” is only valid if it’s solving a problem for someone. Finding the balance for the right amount of discovery versus delivery is both an art and a science.
Personally, I doubt copying a single framework “by the book” works in most organizations. I think it’s important to utilize principles and philosophies from different schools of thought throughout your product discovery and delivery process. You may research and test using Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Scrum, XP — but in the end, you will likely end up with elements of each of these in your framework.
Next, we’ll walk through the high-level stages of iterative discovery.
Understanding is always a good first step
So, you have a structure, now what? Successful problem solving comes down to empathy and framing — and this is often a good place to start. You may already have some level of understanding of where to focus your efforts. But if not, what are the inputs or events that will trigger the discovery exercise?
Typically, these can vary based on your organization’s maturity and what channels are available for your customers to voice their feedback. Here are some good places to begin:
Trending requests by customers and prospects to your Sales and Success teams.
Ideas sourced from a user group, community, or customer forum.
Common RFx questions or requirements from prospects.
Help-desk and support ticket data about common challenges.
Post-mortem analysis of lost prospects and/or churned customers.
Continuous feedback via surveys like NPS.
With information like this available, you can begin to focus your discovery. A non-trivial amount of time should be spent in front of customers and users, listening to their challenges, and framing them in a way that’s consumable for your stakeholders.
If you come from a circle that deals with traditional “projects”, you may think this sounds synonymous with big planning upfront. You’re both right and wrong. This isn’t a typical “plan”, but failing to plan is often planning to fail. There should be some level of strategic thought put into the problems you choose to tackle, and this data simply helps with your prioritization.
Lost in Translation
Keeping in mind the initial channels of input we’ve covered above, you may need to do some translation. Because our user community isn’t exposed to our discovery process 100% of the time — customers and other stakeholders may have become accustomed to making demands. That’s why we often hear things like “build X” or “design feature that does Y” rather than “help me solve challenge Z”.
This is also because customers are great at imagining what they think they want — but really bad at actually knowing what they need. Herein lies the incredibly important step of problem validation. I won’t get into the tactical details, but problem validation can be summed up as translating inputs like “build X” into well-defined and clearly articulated problems, which are validated with the same people who suggested them. And I can’t stress the importance of actual human interaction with your user base through customer interviews, not simply sending out a mass survey.
Take a moment to reflect on your own language as well; this is also important. The terminology used to describe your work, and to describe how you work, can heavily influence the success of the work itself. You’ll want to ensure that when you are customer-facing and trying to validate a problem, that the message you’re sharing resonates across various audiences.
I’ve found writing a glossary to be a useful exercise. You can use this as a tool for translating your product vernacular into simple terms that your customers and other stakeholders will understand — a lingua franca for problem-solving if you will.
There are many ways to generate a good idea
We have a well-defined problem that’s been validated with a segment of the market. So how might we help alleviate this problem? We’re at a level of understanding where we can confidently begin to dial in on potential solutions. And that exact question is actually a great one to pose when kicking off your ideation phase.
Regardless of whether or not you have access to a design team to back you up, I find there are two very different and equally good ways to come up with ideas for solutions. You should aim to exercise a combination of both. The first is done completely alone, or with a very small group. In this method, you can deeply focus on what you know already about the problem, and write various ideas that you come up with.
The second method is to leverage a larger, more diverse set of stakeholders in order to collaboratively bring ideas to the table. This method can take the shape of a facilitated workshop or an informal discussion between colleagues. Either way, different perspectives will shed light on things you may not have picked up in your discovery, and others’ previous experiences will generally strengthen the group’s ideas. It also allows you to see what assumptions are made by those who are not intimately familiar with the problem space.
Being the more creative and fluid phase of the overall discovery journey, I don’t believe there is necessarily a “right or wrong way” to approach ideation. I do not think it matters which method is used first, as long as you’re not doing all the work yourself. The input from others will help validate your ideas, and their ideas will challenge yours in a healthy way. This may even lead you to circle back to a previous stage.
Ideation can and sometimes should be an iterative sub-process
Finally, is good to keep a finger on the pulse of your discovery process. Even during a creative process like ideation, it doesn’t hurt to continually ask a few other key questions to yourself throughout this phase, in order to keep yourself from veering too far off target. | https://medium.com/swlh/from-solutions-to-problems-5c5bc09a4e1c | ['Ryan S.'] | 2020-07-14 23:39:39.004000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Startup', 'Technology', 'Product Management', 'UX'] |
Harmonic Oscillator Using Perturbation Theory | 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/modern-physics/harmonic-oscillator-using-perturbation-theory-c57f46b92f5f | ['Benjamin Obi Tayo Ph.D.'] | 2020-12-27 04:53:24.246000+00:00 | ['Perturbation Theory', 'Quantum Mechanics', 'Physics', 'Education', 'Harmonic Oscillator'] |
A Guide to Buy Twitch Channel Views — the Dos and Don’ts | Acknowledged to be one of the top sources of Internet traffic in North America, Twitch helps in fan engagement by users across the globe, primarily through real-time gameplay. However, with over 2 million broadcasting accounts, it can be extremely difficult if you go solo to make a mark and ensure that your content stands out in the crowd. Fortunately, there is a way out. If you buy Twitch channel views, you attract engagement and attention from authentic viewers, thereby increasing the ranking of your content.
But do not start on the wrong foot. While there are a lot of third-party sites where you can buy Twitch viewers, the quality of most is so bad that you will only damage the reputation of your channel. You should only align yourself with a company that can provide high-quality Twitch viewers.
Why should you buy Twitch channel views?
When you want to make a great impression on people who are checking your streaming, you should buy Twitch channel views. It is because you will get the social proof and positive endorsement that your account badly needs. Top companies can give a leg-up to your account via their Twitch followers. With high-quality viewers engaging with your streams, new entrants that come to your channel will be straightaway impressed with your content. More views mean a higher viewing rate and you have the chance to go viral in no time.
Your reach too will increase exponentially when you buy Twitch channel views. It is not difficult to pinpoint the right places from where to get quality viewers as they will be featured on the trending pages. Do not take shortcuts to get viewership for your channel. The use of bots to get viewership is illegal on Twitch. You might get a lot of viewers but the standard will be very poor. It means a bad retention rate as viewers will stop watching your channel after some time. Nobody wants to be associated with a spammy channel that wants to get ahead by unfair means.
Attributes of sites to buy Twitch channel views
How can you tell the difference between sites that are out to make a quick buck and one where you will really gain from superior viewers? Here are some attributes to look out for.
· Quick delivery: Be realistic about what third-party sites can offer. If you want to buy Twitch channel views in small numbers, you will get almost instant delivery. But it might take a couple of days to get delivery from large companies. Make sure that they mention the delivery schedule in advance.
· Refund guarantee: Good sites offer a refund guarantee if they cannot deliver what you expected.
· High retention rate: Excellent Twitch viewers will have a high retention rate and will stick around to watch more of your streams in the future.
· Customer support: Top companies offer excellent customer support.
Follow these guidelines to buy Twitch channel views and you cannot go wrong. | https://medium.com/@stefanmikalson/a-guide-to-buy-twitch-channel-views-the-dos-and-donts-6e29a8076dfc | ['Stefan Mikalson'] | 2021-06-17 09:39:02.194000+00:00 | ['Twitch'] |
A Right Royal Roasting | A small Kingdom somewhere in medieval Europe, oppressed under the reign of corrupt King “George the Grunter.”
Crash! Bang! Wallop!
The crash came from another crystal wine goblet bouncing over the edge of the feasting table and crashing to the stone floor. The bang was produced by the massive serving platter’s lid, jumping up a good six inches before banging back down, in place. The wallop was the sound of the King’s wobbly hips walloping into the servant girl’s bare arse cheeks, as he bent her over the table and took her from behind.
At the opposite end of the table, the Queen sat dressed in all her finery. She also wore her “I am not amused” expression. An ugly woman, even in royal regalia and makeup. She lifted her plate and glass clear of the seismic vibrations that threatened to send them flying with every thrust her husband delivered to the poor wench.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake George, will you finish already! What happened to that one-minute dip I got from your wick on our wedding night?” She yelled over the dented dishes and scattered serving spoons.
“Is this going to go on through dessert? It’s jelly tonight; I fear the wobbling will make me seasick. Do you even have that small sausage of yours in one of her holes? Or are you hopelessly humping her arse crack?”
Another piece of cutlery jumped clear of the ruckus and flew towards one of the royal dogs lounging in front of the hearth, coming close to skewering the canine’s testicles.
“Nearly….there.” The King grunted, all squinty eyed and red-faced as he tried to overcome the drooping effects of a dozen goblets of wine. His rotund belly kept getting in the way, making his drunken efforts even more inept.
“Well thank God for that, is all I can say,” the Queen took a sip of her wine and smacked her thin lips, “if you take much longer the wretched waif will drown, seeing as how she’s ended up face down in your soup. Although I should think she’d find drowning a blessed relief!”
A bubbling, burbling sound confirmed the Queen’s observation. The serving girl, skirts pushed up over her back and face sunk halfway into a deep bowl, coughed gouts of beetroot soup across the table and took a gasping breath to replace the liquid with far more useful oxygen. All the while being jiggered in the privates by a semi-flaccid royal penis.
The Queen, contrary to her last statement, had more to say.
“I don’t see why you always feel the need to undertake this depressing display of feckless fucking during our dinner. Can we not feast in peace at least one night a week?”
“Oomph!!” The King found release with one last thrust and raised his double chin to the roof in triumph and relief. When his pleasure and his porcine grunting had subsided, he mounted his usual weak defence, with much less conviction than he’d displayed when mounting the staff.
“I couldn’t help it; she showed me her tits when she served the bread.” He lamented, withdrawing his royal sword from the girl. Or at least that’s what he liked to call it. Right now, it looked more like a royal thimble.
The King delivered a hearty smack to the bare buttocks in front of him. The serving girl took that as her cue to stand up, straighten her skirts and perform a half respectable curtsey. Soup dribbled from her face and streaked her messy blonde hair. The King’s paltry climax dribbled down her throbbing thighs.
“Will that be all your highness?” She enquired in a tone that suggested the course she had just served him was the roast duck, now splattered down her front, not the “pussy du jour” he had devoured.
The King was making a half-hearted attempt to straighten his dining robes, covering up the shrunken royal member and searching the debris on the table for the last of the wine. “Yes, that will be all… err…. Anna isn’t it?” He dismissed her, and she limped away to the kitchens.
“And anyway,” he declared to his Queen, “it’s not like you can control yourself. The fire is going out because you’ve had that page under the table since the entrée.”
The ornate hearth set into one wall of the feasting hall did only harbour glowing embers by now. Two hunting dogs had been edging closer to it as the warmth diminished. The Queen returned her plate and goblet to the now still surface of the table and lifted the tablecloth to check on proceedings down below.
“Yes well, I have to seek my own treats, given that you can no longer serve me any. At least I’m not making little Tim here spit the second course halfway across the room!” She reached down and tapped the head of the small rag-clothed boy that knelt between her open legs. A cherubic face looked up for approval, nose and chin rubbed red raw from wet friction.
“Back to work young man,” the Queen admonished, pushing the page boy’s head back down. She scooted her bottom forward on the chair to smother him with a face full of flange. Tim’s head set about a rhythmic bobbing motion as he took up his licking again.
“Damnation, you deviant bitch,” the King declared as if it was a royal pronouncement. “That lad is so small I fear we may lose him up that mammoth minge of yours.”
The Queen was unruffled. “A tongue is a tongue my Royal Uselessness, and the younger tongues can lick faster.”
The King drained the wine and searched for the bell to summon more. “Anyway, you’re the one that needs to finish,” he grumbled, “so the little blighter can put more wood on the fire before it goes as cold and miserable as your southern regions!” And with that, he let out an almighty belch.
Grabbing a roast duck’s leg from one of the surviving dishes, he lifted his end of the tablecloth and lobbed it down to the long-suffering boy underneath.
“Here lad, shove that up her while you’re at it. That should hurry things along. She loves a good duck fucking!” The King bellowed with laughter, rocking back on his chair.
Too far back.
The chair and King crashed down onto the hewn stone floor. His skull cracked, and his laugh cut abruptly short. A shocked intake of winded breath would be his last. The two dogs raised their heads at this new commotion but were not loyal enough to bother with a closer inspection. Licking their own balls seemed far more important.
The Queen was also too busy to worry, having just felt Tim penetrate her with the piece of poultry. She gripped the sides of her chair and presented her lower lips to consume two delightful dishes; leg of duck and face of boy. He too would have difficulty breathing. But he needn’t have worried; he’d done his job well.
As the King was going, the Queen was coming.
All concern for her husband’s wellbeing disappeared in her moment of climax, if there had been any concern at all. Transfixed, trembling thighs clamping shut against the boy’s ears, her ugly head thrown back, emitting a long guttural moan.
Such was her indulgence; she did not notice a dishevelled Anna return to the room, this time from behind her. Nor did she flinch until after the sharp carving knife sliced through her exposed, wrinkled, neck.
Against all the laws of chronology, the Queen came as she went.
Arterial blood spurted across the table, achieving the same distance the soup had from the other end. The two red stains met in the middle.
Anna helped young Tim up from under the table, and the two of them stood there in their dirty rags, staring at the expired monarchs. The fat King, stone-cold dead, still seated in his upturned chair. His robes were open, revealing under his belly a shrivelled dick looking more like one of the pickles fallen from the table. It lay on its side, as if in surrender.
The Queen had assumed Anna’s previous face-down position in her plate, the last pumps of blood from her neck pooling across the table. Her arse somehow clung to the edge of the wooden chair. But poultry fat and royal pussy juice had slickened the silver birch, and the chair slipped out from under her. Broad buttocks hit the floor with a wet thump, and her body keeled over backwards, legs spread as if in childbirth.
Anna leaned forward and reached down into the sodden thicket between the Queen’s legs. With a tug, like an expert midwife, she facilitated the delivery of a lone leg. It produced a slurping, sucking sound as the corpse reluctantly released it.
“Congratulations, it’s a duck!” she declared, then passed the leg to Tim who took a well-earned bite, grinned up at her, and spoke through his mouthful.
“Waste not, want not, right?”
Anna giggled and tousled his hair.
“Let’s find that jelly. I think there’ll be plenty to go around now.”
Holding hands, they wandered back to the kitchens to deliver the good news. | https://medium.com/tales-from-the-asylum/a-right-royal-roasting-a826ffed379b | ['Davi Mai'] | 2020-12-30 23:52:31.183000+00:00 | ['Erotica', 'Medieval'] |
Using SwiftLint and Danger for Swift Best Practices | This post is originally appeared in Swift Post, available in here.
Apple’s Swift is becoming more and more popular amongst the developer community. Most of us already started adapting our projects to this folk. While adopting, we may not be as careful as we should be as Swift is a very flexible language and it’s really easy to misuse it. Especially coming from an Objective-C culture, applying best practices becomes really important.
After reading Swifty Tips from Göksel, I realized a couple of his tips can be checked automatically with SwiftLint. Also, we’re lazy people and we tend to forget to check our code before merging to master. Just in here, Danger comes to the stage with shiny clothes and points out we’re doing something dangerous.
Sounds interesting..🤔 But what are these tools, actually?
SwiftLint 💪
SwiftLint is an open source tool to enforce Swift style and conventions. It is developed by Realm. You can set your coding style rules and force them during development. SwiftLint has a command line tool, Xcode plugin, AppCode and Atom integration. So, it always fits your development environment. It’ll show you warnings and/or errors if you violate the linting rules.
You can take a look at setup guide and tutorial from here. After installation, you’ll have some rules by default. For example, it warns when you use private IBOutlet or force unwrapping in optionals.
Let’s take a look Göksel’s tips. He says, “Never use implicitly unwrap optionals”. SwiftLint provides this by default exactly how he describes. SwiftLint will warn you when you implicitly unwrap an optional except if it’s IBOutlet. The other one is “Avoiding _ misuse”. SwiftLint is smart enough to point out when you’re not using your bound optionals.
if let _ = Foo.optionalValue { } // Trigers a warning
if case .some(let _) = self {} // Triggers a warning
if foo() { let _ = bar() } // Not triggers a warning
if foo() { _ = bar() } // Not triggers a warning
In addition to applying best practices individually, we want to make the codebase consistent. Make it easier to apply custom rules. These rules should fit best practices, though. Configuring linting is handled from the .swiftlint.yml file. This file sits in project’s main path. We can enable, disable or write custom rules in this YML file. Let’s take a look at some examples.
First things first, writing a big function is generally a bad sign. If your function is getting bigger, it means that you should split the responsibility. Add following code piece to your .swiftlint.yml file. This warns developers to have functions less than 200 lines. If programmer reaches 300, SwiftLint generates an error. Remember, you can ignore warnings but not errors. 😉
function_body_length:
- 200 # warning
- 300 # error
Almost every project has dependencies or code pieces that are not possible to change. These code pieces should not be linted at all. For example, if a project uses CocoaPods as dependency manager, it’ll have Pods folder which keeps all dependency files. We need to exclude this folder from the linting process. As you can see below, it’s so easy.
excluded:
- Pods
Either company guidelines or developer working in the project has a coding style. SwiftLint helps newcomers to adopt to these styles during onboarding process.
As you saw from examples, what gives the extra boost to SwiftLint is flexibility. Sometimes you have to break the rules in special lines or files. These situations handled in SwiftLint with special comments. You can use the followings to adjust rules in these cases.
Add this comment to disable the rule in the file:
//swiftlint:disable rule_name
Add this comment to disable the rule in the following line:
//swiftlint:disable:next rule_name
Add this comment to disable the rule in the previous line:
//swiftlint:disable:previous rule_name
You can get the list of all rules by running swiftlint rules command in terminal. 😏
Finally, we finalized our rules and now we can code in peace. But even some cases, you have to be more careful than just applying your linting rules. This is where Danger comes into place.
P.S.: You can find my predefined .swiftlint.yml file in here 😉.
Danger ⚡️
Every project/piece of code has its own specific flow. When the project grows, maintaining and adding new features become harder. Error prone increases. Having coding guidelines and applying best practices are generally not enough. We are human, we make mistakes. Danger can catch basic errors and let us think the harder problems. For example, it can catch common typos or generated file changes that you shouldn’t change by yourself. It can also force you to write tests if you write more than 20 lines of code. The rules are in your hands as same as SwiftLint.
Danger is a Ruby gem which runs in CI during pull request/merge request process. It leaves messages, comments or even fails your CI build when your rules are violated. Danger can run on several CI tools and can chat on GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab.
Danger can leave messages, warnings, errors on the PR/MR. Source: danger.systems
You can follow setup guide in here to install Danger to your CI process. Danger applies the rules from a Ruby script written in Dangerfile. Let’s have a look what we can do in there.
For single responsibility and easier code review, developers shouldn’t open big pull requests. If a pull request has more than 600 lines of code, there should be a warning to split the pull request. Danger can provide this with a single line of configuration:
warn "Big PR, consider splitting into smaller" if git.lines_of_code > 600
What else? If you’re working with the Test-After development process, you can easily forget to write tests. On the other hand, there should be automated way for “You forgot to add tests” comments. In general, if you change more than 20 lines of code, you should write tests. The number of lines depends on your decision, but you got the idea. Let’s take a look how we can achieve this with Danger:
## Let's check if there are any changes in the project folder
has_app_changes = !git.modified_files.grep(/ProjectName/).empty? ## Then, we should check if tests are updated
has_test_changes = !git.modified_files.grep(/ProjectNameTests/).empty? ## Finally, let's combine them and put extra condition
## for changed number of lines of code
if has_app_changes && !has_test_changes && git.lines_of_code > 20
fail("Tests were not updated", sticky: false)
end
Danger is suitable for every kind of project. It provides a broad range of configurations to several languages by plugins. In Swift case, Ash Furrow developed a plugin for SwiftLint. Thanks to this plugin, we can have SwiftLint warnings as inline comments in the pull request. You can see installation guide here. After installation, you’ll need to add one of the following lines to end of your Dangerfile.
swiftlint.lint_files
swiftlint.lint_files inline_mode: true
Dangerfile ensures your development guidelines applied to your code. It makes you more confident. In the long run, warnings teach you to be more careful. There is a reference guide in here to give you more detailed view of Danger’s capabilities.
Note: You don’t have to configure CI. It’s possible to run Danger on your local machine with danger local command.
Thanks to Eren’s response, if danger local command doesn’t run across the last open PR, you can always use following command:
danger pr https://YOUR_PR_URL --dangerfile=YOUR_DANGERFILE_PATH
P.S.: You can find my predefined Dangerfile in here 😉.
Bonus: SwiftLint with Git Hook
If you’re working with different text editors or IDEs which SwiftLint doesn’t support, you can only use command line tools to lint your code. This is an extra step and it’s easy to forget. Good thing, we can automate this. Hook feature in Git is another place to automate things. Basically, Git hooks are scripts where Git executes before or after events such as commit, push, and receive. We can run SwiftLint in one of these scripts. Personally, I’m using SwiftLint in the pre-commit hook while I’m writing Swift in Sublime Text.
P.S.: You can find my full pre-commit hook in here 😉. If you want to use the same, just place the file above under .git/hooks folder inside your project. (You’ll see sample hook scripts in there. Place it among them.) You can also use as a different hook. You can take a look at the list of available hooks and more information in here.
The End 😌
Let Danger and SwiftLint handle the trivial stuff for you. From now on, you can skip basic problems and focus on more complicated things during code review. SwiftLint and Danger ensure that everything is in place as you want. Wanna try? | https://medium.com/developermind/using-swiftlint-and-danger-for-swift-best-practices-48432e4e268a | ['Candost Dağdeviren'] | 2017-10-26 06:49:41.454000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Software Development', 'Apple', 'Best Practices', 'Swift'] |
An Application of Causal Inference | Image via pixabay
Introduction
In this article, we will apply causal inference techniques to a dataset collected for the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP). Researchers instructed trained personnel to provide comprehensive, high-quality childcare to remedy problems of low-birth-weight, premature infants. By providing this early intervention, researchers hoped that there would be a causal effect on children’s cognitive test scores.
The goal of this article will be to estimate this causal effect, thus determining whether this intervention had a causal effect on children’s cognitive test scores.
Technical Overview
This dataset does not represent a randomized controlled trial in which treatments were randomly assigned, so there may be confounders between the treatment and outcome. Fortunately, the dataset provides us with 26 features, which may be potential confounders. We will assume that these are the only confounders in the experiment for the sake of this application.
The dataset comprises of a column X (the treatment variable), a column Y (the outcome), and columns Z-0, Z-1, …, Z-25 (feature variables). X is a binary random variable that is labeled 1 if the patient was treated, and 0 otherwise. Y is a continuous random variable the indicates the children’s cognitive test score. Z-0, Z-1, …, Z-25 are a mix continuous and binary random variables that may confound X and Y, and indicate certain features such as the mother’s age, whether or not she smokes, etc.
Recall that when our feature variables (confounders) are continuous, we can use Inverse Propensity Score Weighting (IPSW) to estimate the causal effect of the treatment variable on the outcome variable. We can estimate this as:
With mathematical manipulation, this estimate can be expressed as:
Only if e(Z=z) is not equal to 0, for all z. We can approximate a learned model e(Z) by leveraging a machine learning technique, such as logistic regression, by fitting the features Z to the treatment variable X.
Programming
First, we want to import relevant libraries and get the data. I highly recommend Jupyter Notebook in Python for this task.
Now, let’s estimate e(Z) by fitting the feature variables to the treatment variable X, using a logistic regression model.
We’re almost done! Now we need to write code to estimate the treatment effect using our data samples.
If we call this function with the correct parameters, the estimated treatment effect would be 3.5. What does this mean? Since this estimate of the treatment effect is positive, it indicates that the treatment had a beneficial effect on cognitive test scores. In other words, the treatment has a causal effect on children’s cognitive test scores.
Recall that we assumed the only confounders were those listed in the data. Our inferences are not a guaranteed solution, there may be other confounders not directly measured, or unobserved confounders researchers are not aware of that may influence the total causal of effect of the treatment on the outcome. However, this result still provides useful insights to researchers in the study and is aligned with the study’s assumptions. One can plausibly infer that the treatment will help improve low-birth-weight, premature infants’ cognitive test scores compared to no treatment.
Future Application
In this article, we applied an IPSW estimator to understand causality in a study. Many causal inference studies are not as simple as this one — there may be many variables that researchers want to explore to understand which of them have causal effects on an outcome. For an appropriate study, we could carefully extrapolate this application, in addition to proper causal inference techniques, to build a causal story. After reading my previous article and this one, try applying the technical and conceptual framework of causality to datasets here! | https://medium.com/swlh/an-application-of-causal-inference-3ae2629f8f58 | ['Andy Mandrell'] | 2020-06-14 03:01:52.470000+00:00 | ['Causality', 'Data Science', 'Statistics'] |
What Works for Achieve Fitness Co-Founders Lauren & Jason Pak: Establishing Authority With Standout Social Media Content | The Nitty Gritty
How Lauren and Jason Pak, cofounders of Achieve Fitness, use their Instagram to educate and inspire their audience — and why they chose Instagram as Achieve Fitness’ main marketing platform
What their weekly social media schedule looks like and how they plan, create, and edit that content
How the first four years of business helped the duo master the day-to-day operations and why they now feel confident to delegate to team members
What their strategy for hiring new team members looks like and how they infuse empathy and kindness into everything they do, including weekly team meetings
Lauren and Jason Pak are the co-founders of Achieve Fitness, a gym based in Boston, Massachusetts. While personal fitness is what they do, their why is even more compelling. This husband-wife team set out to change the industry: they want to make the fitness industry a more approachable and positive place to be.
While the pair got into personal training by accident in 2007, their approach to growing their business is anything but accidental. They’re extremely intentional about their core values and building that into everything they do at Achieve Fitness, from planning and creating Instagram posts to hiring new coaches.
Listen to the entire episode to hear more from the Paks and definitely check out their 5 Year Business Anniversary video on YouTube to see their story in action.
We release new episodes of What Works every week. Subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode.
Translating your core values into your social media content
“It’s our mission not just to change our gym and our area but we really want to change the way that the fitness industry approaches helping people. We felt like, especially on social media, a lot of what happens is trainers trying to show off what they could do in order to impress other people. What was actually happening was they were intimidating other people.” — Lauren Pak
Lauren and Jason were frustrated by the fitness industry. To them, it felt unapproachable and inaccessible — and they saw that same theme extend to social media. The majority of posts that they saw were trainers showing off — and in a way, they felt, making fitness intimidating for others.
When it came to crafting their own social media presence, they decided to do things differently and made it easier for people to feel that being healthy and fit was possible for them.
“We really had to take a step back and say: are we doing this for other coaches? Or are we doing this to make a positive impact on the industry? That means we need to simplify things and make it much more approachable and much more accessible,” Jason said.
Planning a weekly social media strategy
“We’re spending about 15–20 hours on social media creation so it’s pretty much a part-time job. We were only recently able to get involved with it since we were able to develop a really strong team at the gym.” — Jason Pak
For the first four years of business, Jason and Lauren were deep into the day-to-day necessities. But now that they’ve hired out some of those responsibilities, they have more time to translate their vision into Instagram content that attracts a worldwide audience. You can see their entire Instagram feed by clicking here.
At the heart of what they post is the desire to educate people. They schedule in a weekly meeting where they plan the content for the week, including taking photos and videos. Then, they post videos and demos, with a focus on proper form, like how to improve their pull ups or deadlift without hurting their back.
But they don’t just show how to do exercises properly — they also write a long description. “It doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong if you’re doing it this way,” Lauren says, “it’s just that you can tweak it to be better, you can improve your form, and you can hopefully not injure yourself with this type of movement if you do it this way instead.”
Infusing your values during hiring and developing a team
“Our interviews are not: what was your degree, what is your experience with coaching, because we know we have the experience to be able to teach them those things. The questions are more about: who are you as a person? Do you align with our core values? Are you going to be a positive, friendly face when somebody walks in the door? Are you going to be inclusive, supportive person? Those are the questions that we ask in different ways to get a really good sense of who they are at their core so that we know they’re going to be a good fit for the team.” — Lauren Pak
As you’ve read, Lauren and Jason care deeply about helping others. That core value is embedded in everything they do down to how they hire team members. As Lauren shares, they aren’t worried about hiring experienced coaches: instead, they want to find kind people who fit their company ethos and mission.
Today, the Achieve Fitness team consists of four full-time coaches, an office manager, two part-time coaches, and four front desk and Shake bar enthusiasts. And they don’t only hire according to their values — they also develop their team in the same way.
For example, every team meeting begins with feel-good moments from the week. “The first thing is never going to be: here what we need to do better because our numbers are down. It’s more like: what happened this week that made you feel really good?”
And every team meeting ends with a team high five. Together with their team, Jason and Lauren are transforming their local community for the better through their gym, hand in hand.
Hear more from Lauren and Jason Pak on this episode of What Works. | https://medium.com/help-yourself/what-works-for-achieve-fitness-co-founders-lauren-jason-pak-establishing-authority-with-f9c1d323fd5d | ['Tara Mcmullin'] | 2018-06-19 16:23:33.461000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Fitness', 'Small Business', 'Social Media'] |
8 Essential Food Groups To Eat Everyday | 8 Essential Food Groups To Eat Everyday
Lead an optimal life with these nutrient-rich whole foods
1 — Whole Grains: Buckwheat, oats, rye, teff, wild & brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, quinoa, millet, amaranth, barley
With benefits of leaving you full and satiated through healthy carbohydrates, provide a great deal of fiber; promoting a healthy growth of good gut bacteria and regular bowel movements. Provide fatty acids, vitamins, mineral and phytochemicals. Anti-inflammatory while lowering risk for heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer
2 — Beans & Legumes: Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, soybeans, fava beans, lima beans, lentils, edamame
Provide a great deal of low-fat, high protein options. Loaded with zinc, iron, vitamins, minerals, magnesium, antioxidants, nutrients, folate and potassium. Naturally free from cholesterol and sodium with adequate levels of fiber and resistant starch making them optimal for removing toxins, regular bowel movements, lowering blood sugar levels and reducing cholesterol
3 — Berries: Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes, cranberries, currents, acai, barberries, goji, kumquats
Powerful antiaging and antioxidant properties. Protect against cancer, boost the immune system, and raise HDL cholesterol and lower blood pressure therefor lowering the risk for cardiovascular disease
4 — Other Fruits: Apples, bananas, peaches, mangos, pineapple, papaya, citrus fruits, melons, pear, plums, apricots, lychees, clementine’s, kiwi, dried figs, pomegranate
High in fiber and contain hundreds of nutrients that support your bodies functioning. Contain polyphenol phytonutrients that are bound to the fiber and released for absorption in your gut. Provide DNA repair and help with immune function
5 — Cruciferous Vegetables: Broccoli, radishes, cabbage, collard greens, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, artichokes, arugula, kale, bok choy, mustard greens, turnip greens
Micronutrient dense and powerful anticancer foods by preventing DNA damage by defending against pathogens and pollutants with its sulforaphane properties. They can help with lymphoma, boost liver detox enzymes, target breast cancer stem cells, reduce the risk for prostate cancer, help protect your brain and eyesight, reduce nasal allergy inflammation, manage type 2 diabetes and help treat autism
6 — Leafy Greens: Watercress, swiss chard, spinach, romaine, beet greens, collard greens, turnip greens
Protection against chronic disease, stroke and heart attacks. They are filled with antioxidants, fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals and disease-fighting phytochemicals. They have chlorophyll which blocks DNA damage in human cells exposed to carcinogens and can help regenerate molecule CoQ10 which is an antioxidant that your body can begin to create on its own with adequate consumption of chlorophyll
7 — Non-starchy Vegetables: Artichokes, zucchini, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, green beans, onions, eggplants, celery, asparagus, beets, bell peppers, corn, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, nori, asparagus, okra, potatoes, pumpkin, sea vegetables, snap peas, squash, yams, tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, celery
Antioxidant-rich, immune-supporting, anti-inflammatory and anticancer foods. Provides a variety of vitamins, phytonutrients and fiber
8 — Nuts & Seeds: Almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashew, chia seeds, hazelnut, flax seeds, hemp seeds, macadamia, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachio
Contains essential Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants Daily consumption can add a few years to your life; reduces heart disease and diabetes Boost metabolism and decrease cholesterol levels
Create new dishes with friends and family and have fun while feeding yourself to longevity! | https://medium.com/@chelsea-robidoux/8-essential-food-groups-to-eat-everyday-40c9efdbabf9 | ['Chelsea Robidoux'] | 2020-12-23 02:42:47.816000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Vegan', 'Food', 'Body', 'Nutrition'] |
Instagram 101 — How to Gain Your First 1000 Followers | How to gain engaging followers then?
Well, I have some bad news for you - you have to put some work into it and it won’t happen overnight.
First, you have to answer some questions. What niche is your content going to be in? Is it photography, travel, business, fashion, beauty, pets, health & fitness… Which are the top pages in this niche and what kind of content are they posting?
What is your target audience? Who is going to gain something out of your content? You have to post different content, whether your audience is teenagers, entrepreneurs, pet-owners, stay at home parents, or digital nomads. What are their interests and what kind of content do they engage with?
After answering those questions you will be able to pick out better-targeted content for your page.
Be passionate about the things you post. Otherwise, you will get bored and will give up before seeing results.
You need good quality photos. Learn to do some editing. You don’t even need a computer for that. There are countless apps for your phone that give pretty good results.
You need to give your followers something valuable. Don’t just post something to achieve your posts per week goal.
Use relevant hashtags and write a good caption. It can be a personal story or interesting information about the subject of your photo. This is your chance to communicate with your audience. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/instagram-101-how-to-gain-your-first-1000-followers-9166eeff302a | ['Nikki Petrova'] | 2020-12-29 18:32:55.272000+00:00 | ['Content', 'Marketing', 'Content Marketing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Instagram'] |
Public-School Funding Benefits All of US | Like most of us, I am guilty of consuming podcasts that I already agree with. I was listening to Pitchfork Economics, nodding along, when the guest, New Jersey state governor Phil Murphy, started talking about property taxes and funding public schools. He described what he considers legitimate complaints about property taxes in his state, of which 53% goes into their public school system. Then he described a retired couple, shopping for a home, as not having a horse in the race, as if the education of children in their community was completely separate from their own quality of life, which could be diminished by high property taxes.
Governor Phil Murphy and people with that complaint are dangerously wrong. We all have a horse in this race. Whether you have children currently attending public schools or not, you are still sharing a community with kids who do. How well they are educated will directly affect all of us — publicly-educated people get older, make decisions, and become leaders.
This argument extends to the plight of our class system. It appears the 1% believe their money can insulate them from the rest of us and our problems, but they are foolish to think that will last much longer. | https://medium.com/@joysvoice/public-school-funding-benefitsall-of-us-2eeee96c9272 | ['Joy Anne'] | 2020-12-28 20:36:05.120000+00:00 | ['Class Systems', 'Property Taxes', 'Public Schools', 'Inequality'] |
Religious Freedom 101 | Teach your kids the basics during the holidays.
Let’s be honest. Religious freedom isn’t top of mind for any kid right now (or adult, for that matter). But if you can subtly weave the subject into daily conversations, you’ll be doing your kids an enormous favor. Once the 2020 nightmare is over, equality, human rights, and decency will (hopefully) become a priority again.
Randomly offer nuggets of information about religious equality by discussing your own family’s religion (if you have one), all religions’ common denominator (hope), and the importance of respecting others. Keep it simple.
Discuss your family’s religious traditions
Before talking about other religions, your child must understand their own family’s religious background. Share your family’s religious history as part of the fabric of your family.
When you broach the subject, make your child feel like you’re sharing special information with them. The goal is to help them feel pride in their own faith, first, so they can connect that feeling to friends and family who worship a different religion.
Does your family have any religious rituals? Traditional ones? New ones? Kids love to talk about things their family does together.
After you have helped your child feel a sense of pride about your own family’s religious traditions, be sure to mention that other families most likely have their own religious traditions that give them the same kind of warm feeling.
Offer a ‘religious equality’ simple definition
Here’s a definition of religious equality you can offer that’s easy to understand:
‘Religious equality means treating all people who have different religious beliefs with kindness and respect.’
By providing a simple explanation, you’re not only giving your child an easy-to-process definition, but you’re also giving them confidence in their ability to understand a complicated subject. Confidence is key here. You want to get them interested in the subject.
This is a good time to offer a personal scenario. Kids seem to absorb information most efficiently when related to a personal story told by their parent(s). Maybe you talked with a friend and misspoke about a certain religion without knowing it was their faith? Describe how you felt. Anything else?
Sharing your own feelings is a good way to emphasize that just because someone follows a different religious faith with unique traditions does not make them bad. Just different.
Explain the common threads of worldwide religions
Now that you’ve offered a simple definition of religious equality provide a way to connect all religions. The goal is to teach children that all religions are equally worthy of kindness and respect, not just the one that’s most popular.
Even though the way that individual religions celebrate their faith (e.g., holidays, food, clothing, music, etc.) might be different, all religions share the same basic principles. The common threads of all worldwide religions are ‘hope’ and ‘love.’
Connect this concept to how your family feels when they do their own rituals together. Is there anything your family does to express hope and love for each other after a ritual? Hugs? Gift-giving? Food? Talking about life’s blessings? The future? It can be anything.
Hopefully, the idea of a ‘common thread’ will make it easier for your child to fully digest the importance of religious freedom.
However, while discussing common religious principles, keep in mind that if you try to convince your child that all religions are the same without acknowledging individual differences, you’re giving them a reason to distrust anything else you say about the subject. Your child is likely quite aware that religions can be very unique, so trying to convince them they’re not different is a losing battle.
Finally, the truth is that every family has their own way of celebrating holidays and parenting styles vary among households. Whether your family is strongly religious or decidedly not religious, when your kids exit your front door, they’ll be growing up in a diverse world with people who have a variety of religious beliefs. Take time to teach them the basics now.
Please note: This article offers talking points to consider only. Of course you know your child best. | https://medium.com/modern-parent/religious-freedom-101-12a9f0dfa82a | ['Trish Allison'] | 2020-12-19 16:14:26.803000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Kids', 'Religious Freedom', 'Holidays', 'Parenting'] |
How UX can enhance search strategy | We may think of search as this thing pose a question to — and then, via a mystical process —answers materialize, like a digital Magic 8 Ball. The reality is that search is complex. UX designers with an understanding of information architecture and user behavior can be important voices in search strategy. In the following, I’ll touch briefly on best practices and share my experience designing search UI for business intelligence dashboards and engineering applications.
Search strategy
Before you start prototyping, it’s good to ask a few questions about feasibility and business goals. Search is one of those things that has hidden overhead so it’s helpful to learn about constraints before demoing something that can’t be executed technically. Also, sometimes business customers may not have a detailed idea of how the proposed search should function. In that case, the strategic work may become a burden on the dev team, or, alternatively, a piece of non-functional UI will roam free in the wild.
When it comes to search strategy, Nadya Tsech suggests considering user needs: understanding when they use search, how they form queries, and what they expect to find. Peter Morville and Jeffery Callender also suggest isolating the who, what, when and where of search behavior. In other words, align your strategy with context. For example, Jeremiah Lam shares a couple of interesting observations about AirBnB’s search experience. AirBnB’s search doesn’t have strict naming conventions because content is user-generated (lots of variance in vocabulary) so there’s more emphasis on relevance than precise keyword matching. The UI also allows the user to filter specific attributes like price, location and date available.
A similar approach is dynamic search. Dynamic search works well when there is a lot of results and you don’t want to burden the user with specificity. Netflix’s search functionality is an example of dynamic search. There are a finite amount of shows and movies to select and Netflix has complete control of metadata and architecture (prerequisites for an effective dynamic search). Amazon is hybrid of user-generated content (seller listings) and a fair amount enterprise control. Amazon utilizes pre-filtered categories (Prime Video, Amazon Music, ect.) which is a flavor of faceted search.
In old school search terms, federated search is when the query returns info from all databases and repos associated with a product at once. Faceted search is breaking up the pile of the searchable stuff into predefined categories. Federated search can be more thorough but may result in slower performance or less relevant results. Faceted search can make for a more efficient experience, however, the strategists involved need to ensure that the categories reflect reality and make sense to end-users. Insularity may result in category errors. (Faceted strategies provide an opportunity for UX to validate taxonomies via card sorting exercises or other methods.)
UI Best Practices
When you agree on the high-level strategy: faceted, federated, dynamic, filtered, ect. you can start to think about how the user will interact with search either through UI, voice or gesture. There are quite a few best practice lists floating around, but I like how Dawson Beggs offers succinct advice on things a lot of designers take for granted. For example, use a magnifying glass icon for search. This may seem like a no-brainer, but dev teams often work at breakneck pace during Sprints and may implement canned front-end templates without pattern libraries or usage guidelines. (You might see the ‘Send’ paper airplane used interchangeably instead, these things definitely happen.) Be explicit about search patterns and make everyone’s life easier.
Other tips include making the search easy to find, styling the input fields as obvious input fields, using help text to set input expectations, and providing a submit button (unless your search is dynamic). If you design an auto-complete dropdown, consider visually distinguishing different types of search results (image file vs. webpage, ect.). For the results, regardless if they are an SERP in a browser or an answer from a voice assistant, do what you need to do to ensure that the functionality is aligned with expectations of the end-user. Check in, make note, and iterate.
Search for business intelligence and engineering applications
In general, the said best practices work well for most search experiences. However, there are special considerations for search on data-dense products such as business intelligence dashboards and engineering applications. Many of these tools are enterprise facing and based on industry specific parameters. Users may input queries in Boolean stings or natural language questions. Lookups based on keywords, values, and thresholds related to manufacturing process include:
product serial numbers
dates specific to production: offline, online, months-in-service
repair codes
diagnostic status: pass, fail, first pass yield
manufacturing locations
associated business units
IDs for specific processes, tools, or robots
vendors and suppliers
key phrases in warranty claims
If you’re designing a stand-alone app you have a lot freedom to design a search UI to set up users for success. In my experience stand-alone apps that do well tend to have UI that follow these guidelines:
Keep the keyword or search variable persistent to reduce cognitive load. (Remind user what they searched for, and keep it on screen until the user searches something else.) Capturing frequent searches or last searched items and making them visible/accessible to a user is a nice affordance as well.
Map terms to a controlled vocabulary. For example the value “ZZ123456” can be paired with a parameter name of serial number, truck, vehicle, product, or unit. What you call things in the UI can be adjusted for usability.
Effective pagination is really important because displaying legible data tables with limited screen real estate is a real challenge.
If you’re not designing a stand-alone app, you’re probably using a platform such as Power BI, Alteryx, Cognos, Tableau, Azure Devops, ect. Search functionality constraints may vary but product teams can still ensure proper implementation by consulting with UX and architecture experts. These platforms are also really powerful and you can use them in conjunction with different data annotation methods to visualize machine learning insights.
Emerging tech also opens the door for different ways to search. For example, instead of relying on image metadata, computational models can learn, over time, to identity pixel content via neural network image processing. However, a lot of this tech is beyond the grasp of teams that lack the resources to house and maintain the volume of data required. In the meantime, UX designers can add value by working alongside architects and analysts to craft robust search experiences that align technical feasibility and user needs.
Bottom line: it’s really important that your search actually works because it can make or break user perception of your product.
Search can create frustration within a few clicks or it can lead to enriching exploration. With search we have mountains of data at our fingertips, but what I find most interesting about search, is that it’s really about people. It’s an inherently social feature. Our search queries tell a lot about us, they are windows of intent. Because of this intimacy, we have an also ethical duty to take privacy into consideration. That concern for ethics also extends in the way we design our algorithms and data blends — because when we provide results to a query, we are in a way, curating reality. That’s a huge responsibility that product teams should take seriously, and something that we should demand as users.
For further reading: | https://uxdesign.cc/how-ux-can-enhance-search-strategy-20b1bf08469b | ['Melissa Shavlik'] | 2020-01-10 00:49:32.720000+00:00 | ['Search', 'Design Process', 'UI', 'Design', 'UX'] |
An Approach for a Hyper Local, Crowd Sourced, Data Driven Chat Bot for COVID | An Approach for a Hyper Local, Crowd Sourced, Data Driven Chat Bot for COVID Rajan Manickavasagam Follow Aug 11 · 5 min read
Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic has captured everyone’s attention and impacted our daily lives since the past few months. It is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future too, as we learn to navigate around it.
Several organizations and volunteers globally have created various kinds of dashboards, databases, etc. so that information is available to everyone. Some of them are:
COVID-19 database by Johns Hopkins: https://github.com/CSSEGISandData/COVID-19
COVID-19 India dashboards: https://github.com/covid19india/covid19india-react
COVID-19 India clusters: https://github.com/someshkar/covid19india-cluster
WHO app: https://github.com/WorldHealthOrganization/app
COVID-19 time series data: https://github.com/pomber/covid19
And many others
Approach
From the various open source applications already created for COVID, came my inspiration too, for a chat bot. The idea is to empower local communities with data and insights so that they are better informed as they go about their daily tasks and routine. This might help people assess the “risk” where:
Some of them have to go to an office or public place for work
Children are going to schools/parks
People are heading out for chores/outdoors
And similar scenarios
Concept
Governments, NGOs, businesses and health officials all over the world are taking several initiatives to keep people safe. However, it is imperative that local communities also take steps to safeguard themselves. The idea is to create a chat bot that is set up and maintained by each local community, like a ham radio movement.
Such chat bots could provide both quantitative and qualitative data to the users. This chat bot could act as a digital sentinel for each local community. So, let’s call them DISCO (Distributed Information Sentinels for COvid) chat bots. Each of these DISCO bots will be maintained by each community.
Technology
The first step is to gather the relevant data. This can be done on a Google Spreadsheet, as it allows multiple people to update the sheet at the same time. In the example here, data from the Aarogya Setu app is used to capture the COVID-positive cases and at-risk cases for a given location. A sample spreadsheet is here. This is the kind of “quantitative” data that the DISCO bot could provide.
Often, many people have queries regarding the pandemic. An FAQ conversation model can be built that can also be integrated into the DISCO bot. A sample is provided here. This is the kind of qualitative data the DISCO bot could provide.
Next, we need a host computer to run the bot. It could be a desktop, laptop, server, Cloud or even a Raspberry Pi. This bot would download the above spreadsheet regularly and keep a local cache (for quicker responses to user queries). My copy of the DISCO bot for the local community is running on my Raspberry Pi 3 that has been idle for years.
Lastly, the community can use Telegram chat app on a compatible device to interact with the bot. Scroll below for the demos on how to set up and use the DISCO bot.
Drivers and Goals
The following drivers and goals have driven the design and implementation of this chat bot:
Local
Yet Global
Community/Volunteer Driven
Accessible
Simple and Cheap
Local
As we have seen so far, each community can set up their own little ‘database’ in the form of a Google spreadsheet. The idea is not to have a global or even a national instance of the chat bot, but for each community/locality/suburb to maintain one for themselves.
With many countries and communities in various stages of lockdown at some time or the other, many people — professionals, students, elderly and children (basically everyone) are home-bound most of the time. Hopefully, this idea motivates people to reuse this chat bot and build something similar for their local communities. This way, people can learn/share some knowledge on technology and help their communities at the same time.
Yet Global
Largely, people are limiting their travel and daily routines to their immediate and nearby areas. This approach can be adopted by communities and organizations around the world.
Use cases for this bot could be residential communities, educational institutions, workplaces (where remote working is not possible), etc.
Community/Volunteer Driven
The two key stakeholders for this chat bot are volunteers:
Data Volunteers: Their responsibility is not just to enter/maintain the data, but to also ensure that the data is “as true” as possible. Data volunteers are kind of playing the role of citizen journalists. One of the “journalistic ethics” is to have a story/lead/data verified by at least 2 independent sources. This is the reason for the Google spreadsheet to have 2 columns: “Data Source Verified By (1): and “Data Source Verified By (2)”. It is also important to ensure that the data maintained is sufficiently protected and privacy maintained. For more details, please refer to Reuters Handbook.
Their responsibility is not just to enter/maintain the data, but to also ensure that the data is “as true” as possible. Data volunteers are kind of playing the role of citizen journalists. One of the “journalistic ethics” is to have a story/lead/data verified by at least 2 independent sources. This is the reason for the Google spreadsheet to have 2 columns: “Data Source Verified By (1): and “Data Source Verified By (2)”. It is also important to ensure that the data maintained is sufficiently protected and privacy maintained. For more details, please refer to Reuters Handbook. Technology Volunteers: Their responsibility is to set up and run the chat bot. The source code and installation instructions are available here at Github.
Accessible
Creating chat bots using Telegram APIs is incredibly simple. Also, Telegram provides various free chat clients across all devices and form factors — web, desktop, mobile and tablet apps.
Unless someone is on a “feature phone”, virtually anyone in the world should be able to access their respective local COVID chat bot over a data connection (mobile or broadband or Wi-Fi) from a device of their choosing.
Simple and Cheap
Simplicity here has 4 connotations:
Simple to maintain the data
Simple and light-weight to set up and run the chat bot
Simple and actionable insights
Simple for anyone to use the chat bot
All the technologies used in this chat bot are either free or open source or cheap to buy.
Chat Bot in Action
Step 1: Updating data in a Google spreadsheet
Step 2: Training a sample FAQ for the chat bot
https://youtu.be/IWphF4t34Pk
Step 3: Downloading Google spreadsheet to a local file cache and running the chat bot on a Raspberry Pi
https://youtu.be/ft0uEUycBXc
Step 4: Testing an alpha version of the chat bot in the Telegram Web app
https://youtu.be/CPXuFHfRNLk
Step 5: Testing the current version of the chat bot in Telegram app for iPhone
How to set up your own Bot
The source code and installation instructions are available here at Github. Feel free to customize to your requirements. You can set up and run a bot for your local community/organization. It should take roughly 1–2 hours to set it all up from scratch.
Summary
In the example videos above, the health and contact tracing application from the Indian central/federal government — Aarogya Setu (rough English translation — Bridge to your Health) has been used to manually collect anonymous data over a period of a few weeks, for the location where I live.
Take care and stay safe. | https://medium.com/engineered-publicis-sapient/an-approach-for-a-hyper-local-crowd-sourced-data-driven-chat-bot-for-covid-f994d6723731 | ['Rajan Manickavasagam'] | 2020-08-11 05:10:04.365000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Data', 'Chatbots', 'Engineering', 'Technology'] |
Bicycles Market Global Industry Demand, Innovative, And Forecast2027 | Research Nester released a report titled “Global Bicycles Market: Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2027” which delivers detailed overview of the global bicycles market in terms of market segmentation by product type, demography, end user, distribution channel and by region.
Further, for the in-depth analysis, the report encompasses the industry growth drivers, restraints, supply and demand risk, market attractiveness, BPS analysis and Porter’s five force model.
The global bicycles market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 4.5% over the forecast period (2020–2027), owing to growing health and fitness related awareness among individuals which are encouraging the adoption of bicycles as an alternative environmental friendly alternative.
Download Sample of This Strategic Report @ https://www.researchnester.com/sample-request-2009
The increase in emission of harmful pollutants such as carbon-monoxide and other pollutants has led to an alarming increase in illnesses among individuals such as cancer and other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases affecting human lives. The usage of trucks have led to emission of carbon-monoxide and other pollutants. Respiratory and cardiac diseases, including cancer are some of the common illnesses that are on the rise, owing to high levels of pollution taking place in urban areas. Moreover, traffic congestion due to the growing number of vehicles entering the market have led to higher consumption of fuel that has caused increasing expenditure for individuals coupled with poisonous gases being emitted in the air. All these factors have encouraged the individuals to adopt environment friendly vehicles such as bicycles for covering short distances without causing any pollution which is helping them to stay fit and healthy owing to physical exertion through bicycle movements.
However, the use of bicycles suffer from some limitations such as the time taken to travel unlike fuel based vehicles that can travel faster, inability to travel smoothly in extreme weather conditions especially during excessive heat and monsoon periods. Moreover, they are not suited for long distance travel on a regular basis and they are unsafe and can be easily stolen as compared to four wheeler vehicles due to their light weight.
The global bicycles market is segmented into product type, demography, end user and distribution channel, out of which the men segment falling under demography segment is anticipated to hold the largest market share, owing to growing number of men preferring use of bicycles for short distance travel, as it is simple to use, free from noise pollution and helps in saving costs for individuals. Additionally, introduction of bike sharing system has helped the individuals to adopt bicycles for covering short distance travel, owing to growing number of smartphone users who can unlock the bicycle using their app and ride on these bicycles for their short distance travel and cheaper mode of transport available to individuals, as compared to traditional fuel based vehicles.
This report also provides the existing competitive scenario of some of the key players of the global bicycles market which includes company profiling of key companies such as Accell Group N.V. (AMS: ACCEL), Dorel Industries, Inc. (TSE: DII.B), Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TPE: 9921), Merida Industry Co. Ltd. (TPE: 9914), Trek Bicycle Corporation, Derby Cycle AG, Atlas Cycles (Haryana) Ltd. (NSE: ATLASCYCLE), Avon Cycles Ltd., Tube Investments of India Ltd. (NSE: TIINDIA) and Zhonglu Co. Ltd. (SHA: 600818). The outlining enfolds key information of the companies which encompasses business overview, products and services, key financials and recent news and developments. On the whole, the report depicts detailed overview of the global bicycles market that is expected to help industry consultants, equipment manufacturers, existing players searching for expansion opportunities, new players searching possibilities and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to the ongoing and expected trends in the future.
Request a Sample Copy of Concerned Market Report @ https://www.researchnester.com/sample-request-2009
About Research Nester
Research Nester is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties. | https://medium.com/@marketinsight/bicycles-market-global-industry-demand-innovative-and-forecast2027-790f2c781a8a | ['Jorden Sid'] | 2021-07-06 13:44:12.085000+00:00 | ['Press Release', 'Bicycles'] |
อยากประสบความสำเร็จในการทำงานต้องทำยังไง ? | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/donuts-bangkok-family/%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B3%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%87%E0%B8%88%E0%B9%83%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B3%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%95%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B3%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%87-66b510e570a1 | ['Benrisa Thammakuntharee'] | 2018-11-16 09:34:42.303000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Success', 'Team'] |
Minimalism: The Things I Want More Of | Photo Credit: Daniel Pohl
When I started my journey into minimalism earlier this year, I tore my life apart. Everything in it came under extreme scrutiny. Every item and every responsibility sat in an interrogation room across the table from me.
“Tell me Facebook, what value are you bringing to my life? Please stop showing me ads and answer the question.”
“Thank you 17 coffee mugs for taking a break from sitting in the cabinet. Can any of you give me a good reason why there’s so many of you? That’s what I thought”.
“Zip up hoodie, according to my records, I haven’t worn you for 2 years. How do you justify taking up closet space without adding value to my life?”
Not much made it through the investigation process. Most of it ended up shipped off, donated, or deleted. Now, I live a life based on the concept of “Be more with less.” Less stuff, less stress, and fewer distractions. What do I want more of?
I was transfixed on one half of the equation. My focus over the first year of my minimalist journey was on the things I wanted to subtract from my life. As I head into my second year, I have started shifting focus to the things I want to add. The positive aspects that I want my time and focus going toward.
Going into the new year, these are the things I’ll be giving my focus to.
More Meaningful Relationships: “Love people and use things. The opposite never works”. My main focus going into the new year is to grow more meaningful relationships. Connecting more with the people in my life and creating new relationships along the way. I will also beware of relationships that hinder my process. Only those new relationships that bring value to my life will be the ones allowed to stay.
More New Experiences: Yesterday, my friends and I sat in Boston Coffee House in Deland Fl, and tried an Irish Eyes R’Smilin latte. It’s espresso, steamed milk, Irish creme, and vanilla served in a handcrafted mug. The mixture of a warm drink and the warm old-world setting was an experience in itself. Going into the new year, I plan on finding new experiences big and small to share with others.
More Nature: I believe everyone can use more nature in their life. Nature has the power to heal us as we walk its paths. This isn’t some metaphysical hippie notion. Studies have shown that being in nature, or even just seeing natural scenes, reduces stress. It helps to lower your blood pressure and muscle tension. Going into the new year, I’ll be seeking more natural areas to explore and explore more often.
More Community: According to the documentary “Happy”, one of the keys to a happy life is community. Going into the new year, I’ll be looking for new ways to foster that community. I will be looking for new volunteer opportunities, events to attend, and public gatherings. Naturally, Covid will add some caution to this, but there are ways to be safe and still connect.
More Spirituality: Spirituality is an interesting term because everyone defines it differently. I can’t say what rests beneath the skin. There are some actions and practices that enlighten me. Meditation, time in nature, time spent helping others, all things that, if the soul exists, nourish it. I want to focus more time and energy on these practices.
I’ve rid my world of many things that were holding me back. It’s time now to fill it with people and experiences that will fullfill me. Minimalism is just as much adding intently to your life as it is decluttering it. As you declutter your life, you’ll start reshaping it as well. You’ll find fulfil | https://medium.com/@beardedminimalist/minimalism-the-things-i-want-more-of-26f438d92af1 | ['Daniel Pohl'] | 2020-12-26 16:34:44.032000+00:00 | ['Minimalism', 'Declutter', 'Happiness', 'Life Lessons', 'Mental Health'] |
Alaska’s Fast and Furious | By the end of July it’s time to return south. These feisty fliers follow the mountain route out of the state, taking advantage of the later blooming alpine flowers of the Rockies. All along their looped journey, they pick up pollen from flowers and transfer it to others, helping the plants to reproduce.
A scientist shows pollen coating the beak of a female rufous hummingbird before releasing it. 📷 Leah Eskelin/USFWS
Studying the spectacular
With their rapid movement, large migration, and tiny bodies, rufous hummingbirds present a unique challenge for scientists to study. While the range and population of rufous hummingbirds in Alaska is growing, there is so much we don’t know about how they live. What trees in Alaska do they prefer to nest in? Where are they migrating from exactly? How many hummingbirds successfully complete their winter migration and return to Alaska each year?
To start to answer these questions, scientists such as Kate McGlaughlin with the Alaska Hummingbird Project and Todd Eskelin at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge prepare for years to handle these small creatures. For example, Todd had banded 25,000 to 30,000 birds before learning to handle a delicate hummingbird. There are only three hummingbird banders in the state. | https://medium.com/usfws/alaskas-fast-and-furious-3c9a62e64b5d | ['U.S.Fish Wildlife Alaska'] | 2021-06-28 17:43:49.961000+00:00 | ['Hummingbird', 'Flowers', 'Pollinators', 'Birds', 'Conservation'] |
Purpose-driven prototyping | Purpose-driven prototyping
Good prototypes accelerate decisions
Understanding means touching
As a child, we all heard the following sentence a thousand times “Look with your eyes — not with your hands!” Children want to touch everything with their hands in order to understand it.
We adults are not much different — we also want to understand and it helps us if we can really touch the object, “touch” the situation or the product that is in the focus of a discussion. We are thrilled when we can hold a future product in our hands or click through software that does not yet exist.
After all, innovation means nothing more than imagining the future. We try to determine which product or service will be desirable in the future. Yet it is so difficult to develop a common understanding because the future is not tangible.
This is where prototyping helps:
Prototypes make the future tangible.
Prototypes — the monster with the 1000 names
Probably no other term in the field of innovation causes as much controversy and disappointment as prototypes. I try to avoid the term “prototype” wherever I can, because I’ve already experienced the following or a similar situation far too often:
Innovator to boss: “Look, I have built a prototype to make my idea more tangible. Look here, press here, experience there…great, right?”
Boss: “OK, interesting, but why does the prototype still have the wrong color or why does this error message appear and why is the size still not right and…”.
Innovator: “Well, it’s still a prototype! It’s not yet perfect!”
Boss: “Yes, but I would have expected from a prototype to be able to do all of this.”
And then the discussion starts on the adequate functions and limits of a prototype. No matter how the discussion ends, it will leave two disappointed people behind.
So why is that? The answer is simple:
There is no universal definition of prototype
(I will reveal my favorite definition of prototype below, but this too has no claim to universality).
If a user research talks about “a prototype”, he or she will think of a quickly assembled model made of cardboard and adhesive tape, which allows you to visualize first ideas and iteratively anticipate customer needs.
In contrast somebody from the automotive industry will immediately recite the definition “form, fit, function” (for a prototype the size, the connections to the surrounding system and the function must be given, otherwise it is not worthy of the title “prototype”). What a potential for disappointment if they work together in a project!
What is a prototype?
One way out of the dilemma is to think about the purpose of prototypes. No matter whether they are called prototype, functional model, mock-up, design pattern, breadboard, vertical slice, tactile pattern, proof of concept, proof of principle, MVP or whatever (no wonder we were talking about the “monster with 1000 names” earlier).
The purpose of prototypes is to answer questions.
Somewhere in the innovation process we will always encounter questions, and often a prototype (or more generally an “unfinished system “) helps us to answer that question.
Instead of getting involved in hours of discussions on which of the 1000 we should choose, I’ve started to ask: “Which question do we want to answer with the prototype?” And suddenly a very constructive, solution-oriented discussion takes place. All of a sudden we have to agree as a team, whether we want to answer questions about customer needs (in which case a cardboard prototype will probably suffice) or about technical functions or performance or, or, or, or…
My favorite definition of prototype is
“The unifying decision making tool”
At first glance, this sounds very abstract, but it sums things up: We repeatedly reach a point in the innovation process that requires a decision. Deciding means to answer a question.
So, we first agree on a question, then we agree on what prototype and what test will help us to answer the question, then we build and test the prototype, and then we decide and move forward in unity.
This is one of the great advantages of well made prototypes:
Prototypes accelerate decisions.
Prototypes look different depending on the question
If prototypes are tools to answer questions, it is in the nature of things that there are as many different prototypes as there are different questions.
Let me just briefly point out an example: Along the innovation process we have to answer the three basic questions:
Does the innovation meet a customer need? (Desirability)
Is it technically feasible? (Feasibility)
Is it economically sustainable? (Viability)
A prototype that tests the desirability will replicate the product only as far as necessary to lead the user into the decision situation where he or she can decide whether the product is attractive for him or her. (This could be a fake website, a flyer, of a product that does not yet exist, a play that puts the customer in a certain situation etc).
A prototype that tests the feasibility will reproduce the technical function that we consider most critical. There is no user interface or other clutter, just this one technical function.
Last but not least a prototype that tests the viability will summarize the key financial data in a business case. It will allow us to make a statement about the economic attractiveness, first roughly and then more and more sophisticated.
In summary, each phase of innovation and each discipline has its own type of prototype.
Prototypes can be created anytime and anywhere
Among other things, innovation thrives on speed and on making fast and good decisions. If you want to make fast and good decisions, get into the habit of regularly building prototypes.
I recommend the following procedure: First, define the core question (because we saw above: “Prototypes answer questions”). Then give yourself or your team a time budget (e.g. 2 days or 2 weeks or 2 months or 2 minutes) and then ask:
“Which prototype can we build in 2 days that will help us to get ahead on this question?”
Don’t make the mistake of asking “Can we build a prototype and what does it look like?”. If you do, you run the risk of falling into the perfectionist trap. A prototype can always be over-perfected. Yet the goal of a prototype is to take the best possible decisions as quickly as possible.
If you stick to a limited budget, you will notice how you and your team will gain practice in sharpening questions and building result-oriented prototypes.
Attention: Do not fall in love with your prototype!
There is a lot of heart and soul in a prototype. The idea matures while building the prototype and with it the team’s identification. But beware: don’t fall in love with your prototype! The goal of the prototype is to bring about decisions and the decision can be “This is a bad idea!” If you are in love with the prototype, you will try to defend the idea instead of accepting the result of the test.
3 secrets for successful prototyping
The following 3 tips will help you to build successful prototypes.
1. clarify the question
What is the central question in the project that I have to clarify?
What characteristics must my prototype have to answer this question and what can I leave away? (Prototypes live from focus and simplification)
2. limit the budget
Give yourself and your team a reasonable but clearly limited time and money budget. This keeps you focused and promotes creativity, how to quickly come up with good answers.
3. let your prototypes die with dignity
Build and test the prototype, take the decision and then let your prototype depart with dignity. This helps you not to fall in love with prototypes or make them too perfectionistic.
Purpose-driven prototyping — what it is all about
Prototypes have a “purpose”: They help answer questions by making the future tangible and speeding up decisions. So: define the question, build an appropriate prototype, test it, decide and move on. The prototype has made the future tangible for a short time, but now it’s time to move on. | https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/purpose-driven-prototyping-42725289c587 | ['Thomas Siegrist'] | 2020-12-15 05:46:14.476000+00:00 | ['Prototyping', 'Design Thinking', 'Innovation'] |
Aquaman 2 Becomes Depp and Heard’s Latest Battleground | Here’s the strange thing though. The source of their anger is not her actual abuse of Depp. That is very rarely the focus of the tweets. Most focus on just two things.
#metoo and #believeallwomen
Here’s the real source of the anger. It’s from women that feel Amber Heard has compromised their movement and set back the cause of women who do really suffer abuse. If she has lied, then by implication, all other women may have lied.
The #metoo movement has gone quiet, probably hoping to simply ride out this one and trying to disassociate themselves from Heard. The problem is though, that won’t change the facts. Heard is a woman who claimed she was abused and she has lied.
Worse probably, is that she did this knowingly, all too well aware of the reach and influence her stardom affords her. She abused her position to punish and humiliate Depp, as publicly as she could.
Whatever happens to her now is not really of importance. Her actions have very possibly destroyed her career and that is probably, justly deserved.
What is more important here, is that we learn as a society from this whole debacle. Will we? I doubt it. It would mean acknowledging a few hard facts, quite a few of which are politically incorrect.
Sex doesn’t matter
For starters, a woman’s word should not be accepted as the gospel truth, simply because she is a woman. That is complete nonsense and in itself sexist. Women can and do lie. It happens all the time.
The reverse, of course, is also true. Her words should not be questioned simply because she is a woman. Neither should a man’s.
Any statement, unless supported by evidence, should be taken as conjecture. No matter the sex of the person expressing it. No evidence, no fact. No public burning of the accused on the pyre of public opinion.
Back the hell down and wait. Time has a way of exposing the truth. Ask Amber Heard.
What about #metoo for men?
Men also experience abuse at the hands of their wives and partners. Not often, but far more frequently than you would think. If we do not learn to restrain our inclination to judge and cast stones, movements like #metoo become simple platforms for persecution without trial.
Amber Heard was arrested in 2009 for abusing a former domestic partner, Tasya Van Ree. When she released her article in 2018 no effort was made to counter the allegations or to in fact check their validly. Why would anyone doubt her? Well, there’s an excellent reason right there. Ask Van Ree. Facts don’t lie, people do.
A must equal B
This is the other general content of tweets and public outcry over the couple. Based along the lines of, ‘Well if you did x to Depp, are you now going to do the same to Heard?’
These questions are generally aimed by both men and women at activist groups that came out in support of Heard in 2018. #metoo being a perfect example.
For the most part, they are using the incident to score political points, and whilst some people genuinely are interested in the answers, it’s a really small minority, and no answers are likely to be forthcoming.
As we’ve all seen, to speak up or speak out risks the wrath of the crowd. Those pitchforks poke first and ask questions later.
and the real victims?
Women and men alike, that need help, that need to be heard, struggle to do so. Their voices are drowned out by politicised movements and paparazzi scandals.
Perhaps the time has come to move away from these things and focus on real issues. On helping people who are in desperate need of it.
I’ve just written another article on the back of this, suggesting how we might begin to undo the #MeToo movement and what should replace it. | https://medium.com/lighterside/aquaman-2-becomes-depp-and-heards-latest-battleground-6b97c047ca52 | ['Robert Turner'] | 2020-02-12 09:33:37.102000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Domestic Violence', 'Entertainment', 'Johnny Depp', 'Amber Heard'] |
HOPE IT GETS EASIER? | Don’t we all?
But sometimes it doesn’t feel like it will?
But don’t we get better at getting through?
Because isn’t that part of the journey? | https://medium.com/@prof-mitch/dont-we-all-e5640b2a105f | ['Mitch Goldfarb'] | 2020-12-24 12:06:57.671000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Truth', 'Success', 'Inspiration', 'Mindfulness'] |
Top 5 Ways To Visualize Net Promoter Score | Net Promoter Score is a standard way to measure if customers like your company or product. It lets them rate you on a 1–10 scale of how likely you would be to recommend it to a friend. 0–6 are detractors 7–8 are passives and 9–10 are promoters. Detractors count as -1, passives are 0, and promoters are +1. You add the ratings together and then divide by the total number of ratings. You then multiply the number by 100.
This provides a simple -100 to +100 number, however, there are many different ways to visualize Net Promoter Scores to understand the data. Your choice on how to visualize should depend on the specific aspects of your NPS that you want to emphasize.
Let’s explore the most common and most effective ways to visualize NPS:
Single Value
Single value charts can clearly summarize a NPS Score. You could also use these to show counts or percentages of Promoters, Passives, and Detractors within the NPS score.
Seeing the breakdown of the categories with NPS lets you focus on which group you want to target to increase your company or product’s rating.
2. Stacked Bar
Stacked bar charts are popular because they visualize the three groups that compose NPS. The group breakdown can be shown as total or percentage. However, it can be hard to determine the NPS and differentiate between groups if they are close in size.
It often makes sense to have both the stacked bar chart and single value chart for easy understanding.
3. Line Chart
Line charts can display NPS over time to expose trends over time. However, a line chart does not capture which groups within the NPS score are affecting the changes. So while the whole score might move it is unclear which of the promoters, passives, or detractors scores are moving the NPS score.
It is common to plot NPS line charts on a -100 to +100 y-axis since that is the full range of potential values.
4. Bar + Line Chart
Bar + Line charts can combine the previous two visualizations. It shows how this data has changed over time in more depth. We can ignore the Passives since the NPS score is the difference between the Promoter % and Detractor % of total respondents. We can effectively show how the percentage of Promoters and Detractors are affecting the overall NPS score.
Alternatively, we can create the plot with a 100% stacked bar chart to make it clear how passives affect the NPS score as well:
5. Pie charts
Pie charts are sometimes used but not recommended. While you might tell if NPS is positive or negative by comparing the promoter slice to the detractor slice, it is harder than the stacked bar chart to tell where the final NPS is. It is not a traditional composition use case so be careful using this chart type.
Segment NPS
Viewing the overall NPS score is a good measure for how well the company, product, or service is liked overall but it can hide important insights in the data. You should always segment your data in different ways to see if groups differ from the overall statistic.
The most common ways to segment NPS include:
company size
country
user persona
These can expose for which groups your product is working great for and which ones it isn’t. Without breaking down NPS by groups, you might think that everyone is having the same experience with your product. Let’s look at a quick example of segmenting by company size using single value charts.
Here we can see we are doing pretty well for small companies but not so well for medium to large size companies.
Importance of Visualizing NPS
Visualizing Net Promoter Score lets you see the composition of the final score. This is important because the distribution of detractors, passives, and promoters can be wildly different and produce the same score. For instance getting a NPS of 5 is very different when it’s based off of a {10–75–15} split vs. a {40–15–45} split! One has way more promoters and detractors than the other.
Seeing this split gives you a more holistic viewpoint into your customer’s recommendation preferences and brand or product advocacy. You can look into this even deeper and look at the distribution of numbers inside the buckets. Let’s examine the two sets of splits again that both have an NPS of 5.
First let’s look at how the 10% Detractors, 75% Passives, and 15% Promoters might be distributed across the ratings they could have given:
In this example, there are a lot of people about to become passive or promoters. Our product might be doing very well, but we just need to understand the 6s and 8s a bit more to move them up.
Now let’s look at how 40% Detractors 15% Passives and 45% Promoters might be distributed:
Here, we have people about to go the opposite direction and move into a more negative group. Promoters are barely not passives and passives are barely not detractors. In addition, our detractors really hate the product. This would mean we might need to rethink large amounts of our offering or who we are targeting.
Summary
Visualize NPS in different ways to understand the distribution of promoters, passives, and detractors. This will help you make more informed decisions on improving your company’s score. We recommend using a bar and line chart to get a detailed view how each of the categories is affecting the NPS score over time.
About Flatlogic
At Flatlogic we develop web & mobile templates. We are listed among Top 20 Web Development companies from Belarus and Lithuania. During the last years, we have successfully completed more than 50 big projects for small startups and large enterprises.
Flatlogic templates
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Here is a short video about Flatlogic templates, web development services, and an affiliate program. | https://medium.com/flatlogic/top-5-ways-to-visualize-net-promoter-score-2a0c896787ea | ['Anastasia Ovchinnikova'] | 2021-03-19 11:54:53.404000+00:00 | ['Frontend', 'Visualization', 'Webdev', 'Charts'] |
Supplying Assets to the Compound Protocol | Supplying Assets to the Compound Protocol
The Compound Protocol is a series of interest rate markets running on the Ethereum blockchain. When users and applications supply an asset to the Compound Protocol, they begin earning a variable interest rate instantly. Interest accrues every Ethereum block (currently ~13 seconds), and users can withdraw their principal plus interest anytime.
Under the hood, users are contributing their assets to a large pool of liquidity (a “market”) that is available for other users to borrow, and they share in the interest that borrowers pay back to the pool.
When users supply assets, they receive cTokens from Compound in exchange. cTokens are ERC20 tokens that can be redeemed for their underlying assets at any time. As interest accrues to the assets supplied, cTokens are redeemable at an exchange rate (relative to the underlying asset) that constantly increases over time, based on the rate of interest earned by the underlying asset.
Non-technical users can interact with the Compound Protocol using an interface like Argent, Coinbase Wallet, or app.compound.finance; developers can create their own applications that interact with Compound’s smart contracts.
In this guide, we’re going to walk through supplying assets via Web3.js JSON RPC and via proxy smart contracts that live on the blockchain. These are two methods in which developers can write software to utilize the Compound Protocol.
There are examples in JavaScript and also Solidity.
Table of Contents for This Guide
If you are new to Ethereum, we suggest that you start by Setting up your Development Environment for Ethereum.
All of the code referenced in this guide can be found in this GitHub Repository: Quick Start: Supplying Assets to the Compound Protocol.
To copy the repository to your computer, run this on the command line after you’ve installed git:
git clone [email protected]:compound-developers/compound-supply-examples.git
Compound Markets
The Compound Protocol enables developers to build innovative products on DeFi. So far, we’ve seen crypto wallets equipped with savings APRs, a no-loss lottery system, an interest-earning system for donation income, and more.
The smart contracts that power the protocol are deployed to the Ethereum blockchain. This means that at the time of this guide’s writing, the only types of assets that Compound can support are Ether and ERC-20 tokens.
The currently supported assets are listed here https://compound.finance/markets. Based on the different implementation of Ether (ETH) and ERC-20 tokens, we have to utilize two similar processes:
The ETH supply method
The ERC20 token supply method
Like mentioned earlier, when someone supplies an asset to the protocol, they are given cTokens in exchange. The method for getting cETH is different from the method for getting cDAI, cUNI, or any other cToken for an ERC-20 asset. We’ll run through code examples and explanations for the two different asset supply methods.
When supplying Ether to the Compound protocol, an application can send ETH directly to the payable mint function in the cEther contract. Following that mint, cEther is minted for the wallet or contract that invoked the mint function. Remember that if you are calling this function from another smart contract, that contract needs a payable function in order to receive ETH when you redeem the cTokens later.
The operation is slightly different for cERC20 tokens. In order to mint cERC20 tokens, the invoking wallet or contract needs to first call the approve function on the underlying token’s contract. All ERC20 token contracts have an approve function.
The approval needs to indicate that the corresponding cToken contract is permitted to take up to the specified amount from the sender address. Subsequently, when the mint function is invoked, the cToken contract retrieves the indicated amount of underlying tokens from the sender address, based on the prior approve call.
Example code for each method (JS and Solidity) is available, open source, in the GitHub Repository linked above.
Connecting to the Ethereum Network
You will need to use the contract address for the particular network that you’re developing on; start by identifying the contract address for each network in the Docs. In this guide, we’ll create a fork of Mainnet, which will run on our localhost; copy the Mainnet addresses.
If you want to use a public test net (like Ropsten, Göerli, Kovan, or Rinkeby), make an Infura account at https://infura.io/ to get your API key. If you are using your own localhost test net, or the production mainnet, we will also use Infura.
If you are not hosting your own Ethereum node to access the blockchain, make an Infura account before continuing.
For more on connecting to a public Ethereum network, see the instructions in Setting up your Development Environment for Ethereum.
Supplying to the Compound Protocol on a Localhost Network
To run an Ethereum local test net on your machine, we will fork the Main network (a.k.a Homestead or Mainnet). This means that you can interact with the production smart contracts in a test environment. No real ETH will be used and no modifications to the production blockchain will occur. If you haven’t already, install Node.js. Click here to install the LTS of Node.js and NPM.
Let’s install all of the dependencies required by the project.
cd compound-supply-examples/
npm install
npm install -g npx ## or for yarn fans:
## yarn install
## yarn add global npx
This will install all of the dependencies listed in the package.json file, as well as a CLI tool called npx.
Run this command in a second command line window before you start running the code referenced later in this guide. The command spins up a test Ethereum blockchain on your localhost. It also seeds your localhost account with ERC20 tokens referenced at the top of the script file. Be sure to add your Infura project ID and Ethereum mnemonic as environment variables beforehand.
## Set environment variables for the script to use export MAINNET_PROVIDER_URL="https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/<YOUR INFURA PROJECT ID HERE>" export DEV_ETH_MNEMONIC="clutch captain shoe salt awake harvest setup primary inmate ugly among become" ## Runs the Hardhat node locally
## Also seeds your first mnemonic account with test Ether and ERC20s node ./scripts/run-localhost-fork.js
The script that we are running uses Hardhat to run an Ethereum node locally which has a fork of the history of Ethereum Mainnet. We have test Ether and test ERC-20 tokens that are seeded in the first account of the development mnemonic. Wait for the script logs to appear before continuing.
Running a hardhat localhost fork of mainnet at http://localhost:8545 Impersonating address on localhost... 0x5d3a536E4D6DbD6114cc1Ead35777bAB948E3643
Impersonating address on localhost... 0x35a18000230da775cac24873d00ff85bccded550
Impersonating address on localhost... 0x39AA39c021dfbaE8faC545936693aC917d5E7563
Local test account successfully seeded with DAI
Local test account successfully seeded with UNI
Local test account successfully seeded with USDC
DAI amount in first localhost account wallet: 100
UNI amount in first localhost account wallet: 10
USDC amount in first localhost account wallet: 100 Ready to test locally! To exit, hold Ctrl+C.
To change the types of ERC-20 assets provided to the account, uncomment the lines in the amounts object near the top of the run-localhost-fork.js script.
Supplying to Compound on a Public Network
If you are supplying to the protocol on the Mainnet, Ropsten, Göerli, Kovan, or Rinkeby, you should have already located and copied the Compound contract address for that network (see how above). You’ll need it for later.
You also should have collected some ETH for that network by purchasing/mining (Main), or a test net’s faucet (all the others). This is not necessary when using a localhost fork.
For example, here is Ropsten’s faucet https://faucet.ropsten.be/. You can send yourself 1 ETH every 24 hours from a single IP address. This is test ETH that is only applicable to the Ropsten test network.
Next, copy and safely store your wallet’s private key. Don’t do this if you are only testing on your localhost. The private key is used to sign transactions that are sent on the Ethereum network. The purpose of this is to certify that the transaction was created and submitted by a unique wallet.
If you are using MetaMask for your Ethereum wallet, open the menu, click the 3 dots on the right, Account Details, Export Private Key, and input your MetaMask password. This will reveal your private key. Keep it safe! Copy this value and save it for later.
It is a best practice to store a test key like this as an environment variable on your local machine. When a key is stored as an environment variable, it can be referenced in code files by a variable name, instead of explicitly with a string. This promotes code cleanliness, and reduces the risk of exposing your secret.
Again, if you are only testing smart contracts on your localhost Hardhat node today, don’t get your MetaMask private key. We’ll rely on a private key that comes from your environment variable mnemonic (see instructions above).
How to Supply ETH to Compound via Web3.js
Supplying Ether (ETH) to the Compound Protocol is as easy as calling the “mint” function in the Compound cEther smart contract. The “mint” function transfers ETH to the Compound contract address, and mints cETH tokens. The cETH tokens are transferred to the wallet of the supplier.
Remember that the amount of ETH that can be exchanged for cETH increases every Ethereum block, which is about every 13 seconds. There is no minimum or maximum amount of time that suppliers need to keep their asset in the protocol. See the varying exchange rate for each cToken by clicking on one at https://compound.finance/markets.
For more information on cToken concepts see the cToken documentation.
In order to call the mint function, you need to first:
Have ETH in your Ethereum wallet.
Find your Ethereum wallet’s private key.
Connect to the network via Infura API key (see above section Connecting to the Ethereum Network)
There are several programming languages that have Ethereum Web3 libraries, but the most popular at the time of this guide’s writing is JavaScript.
We’ll be using Node.js JavaScript to call the mint function. The following code snippets are from this Node.js file in the supplying assets guide GitHub Repository. Web browser JavaScript is nearly identical to these code examples.
Let’s import Web3.js, and initialize the Web3 object. It’s pointing to our localhost’s Hardhat node, which has 10000 test ETH in each of the test wallets. We get the same test wallet addresses every time we run a Hardhat node with the mnemonic environment variable (from the Connecting to the Ethereum Network section).
If you are using a public network (Ropsten, Kovan, etc.), make sure your wallet has ETH, and that you have your wallet private key stored as an environment variable. Also, have your Infura API key ready if you are deploying to a public test net.
Replace the HTTP provider URL in the Web3 declaration line with the appropriate network’s provider if you are not using the Hardhat test environment.
Next, we’ll add our wallet’s private key as a variable. It’s a best practice to access this as an environment variable.
If you are writing web browser JavaScript instead of Node.js, you can add the user’s private key to the Web3 object by using the ethereum.enable() command. Here is the alternative code snippet.
Next we’ll make some variables for the contract address and the contract ABI. The contract addresses are posted on this page: https://compound.finance/docs#networks. Remember to use the mainnet address if you are testing with Hardhat locally. The ABI is the same regardless of the Ethereum network that we are using.
The next section of code is where the magic happens. The first call in the main function supplies our ETH to the protocol by calling the mint function, which mints cETH. The cETH is transferred to our wallet address.
The three subsequent function calls are not necessary, but they are here for illustration. The first method calls a getter function in the Compound contract that shows how much underlying ETH our cToken balance entitles us to. The second function shows our wallet’s cToken balance. The third function gets the current exchange rate of cETH to ETH.
Our code sends 1 ETH to the contract, and gives our wallet cETH. The ratio of cETH to ETH should be in the ballpark of 50 to 1. Remember that the exchange rate of underlying to cToken increases over time.
Lastly, after the supply operation is complete, we’ll redeem our cTokens. This is what a user or application will do when they want to withdraw their crypto asset from the Compound protocol.
The first method, redeem, redeems based on the cToken amount passed to the function call.
The second method, redeemUnderlying, which is commented out, redeems ETH based on the amount passed to the function call.
Finally, we execute the main function and declare an error handler.
Here is the command for running the script from the root directory of the project:
node ./examples-js/web3-js/supply-eth.js
Script example output:
How to Supply a Supported ERC20 Token to Compound via Solidity
The following will run through an example of adding an ERC20 token to the Compound protocol using Solidity smart contracts. The full Solidity file can be found in the project GitHub repository.
Here’s an overview of supplying a token to the Compound Protocol with Solidity:
Prerequisites
Get some ETH into your own Ethereum wallet by purchasing/mining (or faucets on test nets). This will be used for gas costs. If you’re using Hardhat on localhost, you’re ready.
Get some ERC20 token, in this case Dai. If you are working in the production environment, purchase some Dai for your Ethereum wallet. If you are working with a Hardhat test blockchain locally, your test wallet will receive some Dai when you run the run-localhost-fork.js script.
script. Get the address of the ERC20 contract.
Get the address of the Compound cToken contract. See Dai on this page: https://compound.finance/docs#networks.
Order of Operations
You transfer Dai from your wallet to your custom contract. This is not done in Solidity, but instead with Web3.js and JSON RPC.
Dai from your wallet to your custom contract. This is not done in Solidity, but instead with Web3.js and JSON RPC. You call your custom contract’s function for supplying to the Compound Protocol.
Your custom contract’s function calls the approve function from the original ERC20 token contract. This allows an amount of the token to be withdrawn by cToken from your custom contract’s token balance.
Your custom contract’s function calls the mint function in the Compound cToken contract.
function in the Compound cToken contract. Finally, we call your custom contract’s function for redeeming, to get the ERC20 token back.
Let’s get started. First we’ll walk through the code in our Solidity file, MyContracts.sol.
We added contract interfaces. The first is for our ERC20 token contract, and the second is for Compound’s corresponding cToken contract.
We’ll be able to call the production versions of the 3rd party contracts using these definitions. We need to initialize them with the production address of the deployed contracts, which we pass to each of the functions in MyContract.
The first function in MyContract allows the caller to supply an ERC20 token to the Compound Protocol. We will need to pass the underlying contract address, the cToken contract address, and the number of tokens we want to supply.
The function first creates references to the production instances of Dai and cDAI contracts using our interface definitions.
Then the function logs the exchange rate and the supply rate. These calls are not necessary for supplying. They are there for illustration. You can see the amounts in the “events” output later in JavaScript.
Next, our function approves the transfer of ERC20 token from our contract’s address to Compound’s cToken contract using the approve method.
Finally, our contract calls the cToken contract mint function. This supplies some Dai to the protocol, and gives our custom contract a balance of cDAI.
After we have supplied some Dai, we can redeem it at any time. The following function shows how we can accomplish that in Solidity.
The redeemCErc20Tokens function allows the caller to redeem based on the amount of underlying or the amount of cTokens. This is indicated by calling the function with a boolean for redeem type; True for cToken, and false for underlying amount.
If there is an error with redeeming, the error code is logged using MyLog. Error codes for cToken contracts are described in the documentation.
Now that we have our code written, let’s run it!
Compiling
Hardhat has compilation as a simple command in the development environment. The compiler settings are configured in the hardhat.config.js file in the root directory of the project. Run the following command to compile the Solidity smart contracts in the contracts folder.
npx hardhat compile
Deploying
Once you have deployed your contract, the script will log the new MyContract address.
npx hardhat run ./scripts/deploy.js --network localhost Deploying contracts with the account: 0xa0df350d2637096571F7A701CBc1C5fdE30dF76A
Account balance: 10000000000000000000000
MyContract address: 0x0Bb909b7c3817F8fB7188e8fbaA2763028956E30
Copy this and save it for later. We’ll need it to call the smart contract’s function to supply Dai to Compound.
Executing
The Web3.js code that will invoke our custom smart contract can be found in the examples-solidity/ folder. Let’s run through the Web3.js supply-erc20.js script.
First, the script makes a Web3 object and points it to the blockchain network that we want to use to supply to Compound.
Next, we make a reference to our Ethereum wallet private key. This should be a wallet that has some ETH (for gas) and also Dai (to supply to Compound). Our script’s main function first transfers Dai from our wallet to MyContract.
Next, we make some references to MyContract, the Dai contract, and also the Compound cDAI contract.
Remember, the cToken contract addresses and ABIs can be found here: https://compound.finance/docs#networks, and MyContract’s address was logged when we deployed the contract.
Finally, we call our main function, which first transfers Dai from our wallet to MyContract.
Next we call the supplyErc20ToCompound function in MyContract, which sends 10 Dai to Compound in exchange for cDAI.
The next 2 function calls are not necessary for supplying. They illustrate how to get the balance of underlying ERC20 asset in the protocol and the amount of cTokens that MyContract now holds.
Lastly we call the redeemCErc20Tokens function in MyContract to redeem the cDAI for Dai. The example utilizes the redeem method by passing a cToken amount. Under that, there is a redeem underlying amount example, which is commented out.
Now we’re ready to run!
If you are running this on a public network, you’ll need to acquire Dai for that network.
To execute the script, navigate to the project root directory and run:
node ./examples-solidity/web3-js/supply-erc20.js
If successful, the output of the script will show something like this:
Remember that this code will work with any of the ERC20 tokens that Compound supports. You will need to swap in the corresponding ERC20 token contract address and ABI into the JavaScript. | https://medium.com/compound-finance/supplying-assets-to-the-compound-protocol-ec2cf5df5aa | ['Adam Bavosa'] | 2021-10-13 23:09:18.064000+00:00 | ['Web3', 'Compound', 'Ethereum Development', 'Solidity Tutorial', 'Ethereum'] |
How I Got 4 Data Science Offers and Doubled my Income 2 Months after being Laid Off | Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash
Introduction
During this unprecedented time with the pandemic, many are finding their careers affected. This includes some of the most talented data scientists with which I have ever worked. Having shared my personal experience with some close friends to help them find a new job after being laid off, I thought it worth sharing publicly. After all, this touches more than me and my friends. Any data scientist who was laid off due to the pandemic or who is actively looking for a data science position can find something here to which they can relate, and which I hope will ultimately offer hope in your job search.
So if you’ve ever been stuck — in getting interviews, in interview preparation, in negotiation, anything — I’ve been there, and I want to help.
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You can reach out to me here if you think I might be able to make your journey easier in any way! Here’s my story. I hope you find some useful tips and encouragement within it.
Getting Laid off
In December of 2018, I was informed by my manager that I was to be laid off in January 2019. Three months before, the VP of Engineering of my then startup company had written a letter to our head of People Success. This letter explained why I was one of the top performers in the company and advocated for an increase in my salary. This helped me get a 33% increase in my salary. I was naturally feeling motivated and eager to crack the next milestone on an important project. The company’s future and my own looked bright. It was during this moment of success that I was told that I was impacted by the company-wise cost-cutting initiative. I was let go on January 15th.
To be forced to start looking for a new job was daunting, to say the least. After browsing the data science job openings on the market, I soon realized my knowledge gap. What I was doing at the B2B startup (a mix of entry-level data engineering and machine learning) was simply irrelevant to many of the job requirements out there, such as product sense, SQL, stats, and more. I knew the basics but was unsure how to fill the gap towards more advanced skills.
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However, even that issue seemed secondary to more pressing questions, such as how do I even get an interview? I had a mere 1.5 years of work experience with a startup, and I lacked any statistics or computer science-related degree. More questions soon followed. What if I cannot find a job before I lose my visa status? What if the economy takes a downturn before I can find a new job? Despite my fears, there was little choice. I had to find a new job.
Preparing for the Search
In the face of what felt like an overwhelming task, I needed some information to decide my next steps. After doing some research, I realized that more than half of the data science positions on the market were product-driven positions (‘product analytics’), and the rest were either modeling or data engineering oriented positions. I also noted that positions other than product analytics tended to have higher requirements. For example, most modeling positions required a PhD degree, and engineering positions required a computer science background. Clearly, the requirements for different tracks varied widely, so it followed that preparation for each would differ as well.
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With this knowledge in hand, I made an important decision: preparing for all tracks would be both overwhelming and most likely less effective. I would need to focus on one. I choose product analytics because, based on my background and experience, there was a higher chance that I could get interviews on this track. Of course, not everyone in data science has my exact background and experience, so below I have summarized the general requirements for three categories of data science positions at big companies. Understanding this basic breakdown saved me a lot of time, and I trust it will prove useful for others looking for a job in data science. I will add, however, that for small startups it’s possible that the interview will be less structured and require more of a mixture of all three.
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Product Analytics (~70% on the market)
Requirements: practical experience launching products; strong business acumen; advanced SQL skills
Examples: Data Scientist, Analytics at Airbnb; Data Scientist at Lyft; Data Scientist at Facebook; Product Analyst at Google
Modeling (~20% on the market)
Requirements: knowledge of machine learning (not only how to use it but also the underlying math and theory); strong coding ability
Examples: Data Scientist, Algorithms at Lyft; Data Scientist, Algorithms at Airbnb; Applied Scientist at Amazon; Research Scientist at Facebook
Data Engineering (~10% on the market)
Requirements: end to end data scientists with data engineering skills; knowledge of distributed systems; MapReduce and Spark; practical experience working with Spark; strong coding ability
Examples: Data Scientist, Foundation at Airbnb; Data Scientist at some startups
In light of my own experience, the rest of this post is strongly tailored towards those preparing for positions in product analytics. Come back later to check out my post on preparation for a data engineering position.
The Job Search Begins
The very first thing I did once I knew I was going to be laid off was to apply widely and aggressively to other jobs. I used all the job boards I knew including GlassDoor, Indeed and LinkedIn. I also asked everyone I knew for referrals. However, since it was almost at the end of the year, I did not receive any responses until January 2019.
Asking for referrals proved to be much more effective than applying by myself. Out of about 50 raw applications, I only got 3 interviews, but out of 18 referrals, I got 7 interviews. Overall, it was becoming obvious that I was not considered a strong candidate in this market.
The Interview: Overview
While the structure of interviews was different for each company, there was a general outline that most companies followed:
A recruiter initial phone call
1 or 2 rounds of technical phone screen (TPS) or a take-home assignment
A 4 ~ 5-hour onsite interview, typically includes 3 ~ 4 rounds of technical interviews and a behavioral interview with hiring managers
Around half of the companies (4/10) that I’ve interviewed with had a take-home assignment before or instead of a TPS. Take-home assignments consumed a lot of energy. Typically, an 8-hour take-home assignment caused me to need at least half a day to rest after submission. Because of this, I did my best to schedule the interview accordingly. There were no interviews the morning after my take-home assignment. Simply being aware of the basic structure can go a long way in making you feel more at ease and able to cope with the process of finding a new job.
Before the Interview
Going into my interviews, every opportunity was critical to me. Although I was aware that some people learn by interviewing, becoming better after many interviews, and typically obtaining offers for the last few companies with which they interview, I did not feel I could take this approach. When I graduated in 2017, I only received 4 interviews out of 500 raw applications. I was not expecting to get many more in 2019. Thus, my plan was to be fully prepared for each interview I got. I would let no opportunity go to waste.
One benefit of being laid off was that I could study full time for the interview. Each day I structured what I studied, focusing on two or three things per day. No more. From previous interviews, I had learned that a deep understanding allows you to give more thorough answers during interviews. It especially helps to have a depth of knowledge in an interview situation when you tend to be more nervous and anxious than usual. That is not the time when you want to try faking things.
As I describe my own experience, I can’t help thinking of a common misconception I often hear: it’s not possible to gain the knowledge on product/experimentation without real experience. I firmly disagree. I did not have any prior experience in product or A/B testing, but I believed that those skills could be gained by reading, listening, thinking, and summarizing. After all, this is the same way we were taught things in school. Actually, as I get to know more senior data scientists I continue to learn that this method is common, even for people with years of experience. What you will be interviewed on may not be related to what you were doing at all, but you can gain the knowledge you need in ways other than job experience.
Here are the basics of what you can expect. Typically, product and SQL questions were asked during a TPS. Onsite interviews included a few rounds of questions, including product sense, SQL, stats, modeling, behavior, and maybe a presentation. The next few subsections summarize the most useful resources (all freely available) I used when preparing for interviews. In general, GlassDoor was a good source to get a sense of company-specific problems. Once I saw those problems, I understood both what the company needed and where my gaps were in fulfilling those needs. I was then able to develop a plan to fill those gaps.
Preparation for Specific Subjects
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
The following six subsections are how I prepared for the specific content that comes up in interviews for the product analytics track. In explaining my own preparation, I hope to make the path smoother for those who come after me.
Product Sense
Working as a data scientist at a startup, I was mainly responsible for developing and deploying machine learning models and writing spark jobs. Thus, I barely gained any product knowledge. When I saw some real interview questions on GlassDoor, such as “how to measure success?” or “how to validate the new feature by current users’ behaviors?”, I had utterly no idea how to approach such questions. At the time, they seemed far too abstract and open-ended.
To learn product sense I resorted to the basic read and summarize strategy, using the resources listed below. All this reading helped me build up my product knowledge. As a result, I came up with a structured way (my own ‘framework’) to answer any type of product questions. I then put my knowledge and framework to the test with that all essential to learning any skill: practice. I wrote out answers to questions involving product sense. I said my answers out loud (even recording myself with my phone), and used the recordings to finetune my answers. Soon I could not only fake it for an interview, I actually knew my stuff.
Resources:
SQL
The first time I took a SQL TPS I failed, and it was with a company in which I was very interested. Clearly, something needed to change. I needed to, once again, practice, and so I spent time grinding SQL questions. Eventually, I was able to complete in a day, questions that had previously taken me an entire week. Practice makes perfect!
Resources:
Statistics and Probability
To prepare for these kinds of questions, I brushed up on elementary statistics and probability and did some coding exercises. While this may seem overwhelming (there is a lot of content for both topics), the interview questions for a product data scientist were never hard. The resources below are a great way to review.
Resources:
Khan Academy has an introductory Statistics and Probability course which covers the very basics of both.
This Online Stat Book covers all the basic statistical inference.
Harvard has a Statistics 110: Probability course which is an introductory course on probability with practical problems. If you prefer reading than listening, PennState has an Introduction to Probability Theory course with many examples.
I also coded through 10 days of statistics on HackRank to solidify my understanding.
Sometimes, A/B testing questions were asked during a stats interview. Udacity has a great course to cover the basics of A/B testing and Exp Platform has a more concise tutorial on the topic.
Machine Learning
Without a CS degree, I went into the job search with limited machine knowledge. I had taken some courses during my previous job, and I reviewed my notes from these to prep for interviews. However, even though modeling questions are getting more and more frequent nowadays, the interview questions for a product data scientist mainly geared toward how to apply those models rather than the underlying math and theories. Still here are some helpful resources to bump up your machine learning skills before the interview time.
Resources:
Presentation
Some companies required candidates to either present the take-home assignment or a project of which they are most proud. Still, other companies asked about the most impactful project during behavioral interviews. However, no matter what the form the key is to make your presentation interesting and challenging.
That sounds great, but how do you do that? My main recommendation is to think through all the details, such as high-level goals and success metrics to ETL to modeling implementation details, to deployment, monitoring, and improvement. The little things add up to make a great presentation rather than one big idea. Here are a few questions worth rethinking to help reach your ideal presentation:
What were the goal and the success metric of the project?
How do you decide to launch the project?
How do you know whether customers are benefiting from this project? By how much?
How do you test it out? How to design your A/B test?
What was the biggest challenge?
When presenting a project, you want to engage the audience. To make my presentations interesting, I often share interesting findings and the biggest challenges of the project. But the best way to make sure you are engaging is practice. Practice and practice out loud. I practiced presenting to my family to ensure my grasp of the material and ease of communication. If you can engage the people you know, an interviewer, who is required to listen, doesn’t stand a chance.
Behavioral Question
While it is easy to get caught up in preparing for the technical interview questions, don’t forget that the behavioral questions are equally important. All companies I’ve interviewed with had at least 1 round of behavior interviews during the onsite portions. These questions typically fall into these three categories:
Why us? / what do you value most in a job?
Introduce yourself / Why are you leaving your current job?
The biggest success/failure/challenge in your career. Other versions: Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict or you’ve had to convince your manager or a PM on something.
Behavioral questions are very important for data scientists. So be prepared! Understanding a company’s mission and core values helps answer questions in the first group. Questions like 2 and 3 can be answered by telling a story — 3 stories were enough to answer all behavioral questions. Make sure you’ve got a few good stories on hand when you walk in for an interview. Similar to product questions, I practiced a lot by saying it out loud, recording, and listening to then fine-tune my answers. Hearing a story is the best way to make sure it works.
The Secret to Getting 100% Onsite-to-Offer Rate
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
The night before an onsite interview was typically a stressful, hectic night. I always tried to cram in more technical knowledge while simultaneously reviewing my statistics notes and thinking of my framework to answer a product question. Of course, as we all learned in school, none of that was incredibly useful. The results were largely determined due to the amount of preparation before not a single night of cramming. So preparation is important, but there are some rules you can follow the day of to make sure your interview is a success.
Always clarify questions before answering. Ensure that you understand what you are being asked by repeating back the question in your own words. It’s a red flag if you answer the questions without clarifying it. Organize the answer for all questions. Write down your thought process with bullet points. This shows the interviewers that you have a systematic way to approach a problem and helps interviewers to write a review for you later. Don’t panic when you don’t know the answer. It’s okay if you are not familiar with the domain. In such cases, you could start by making a few assumptions, but make sure to communicate that you are making assumptions and ask whether they are reasonable. Sometimes it’s totally fine to ask for more time. What if you cannot think of any answer and your brain went blank? Talk about an experience you have that is related to the question. Attitude matters. Companies are looking for someone who is willing to listen and who can embrace different opinions. You want to show that you are someone with whom it is easy to work. Be humble and respectful. Listen and clarify. Bring your positive energy to the room, and do your best to have a good conversation. Research the company. Get familiar with its products. Ask yourself how to improve the products and what metrics can be used to measure the success of those products. It’s also helpful to understand what data scientists do at each company by reading their blogs. Doing this kind of research leads to deeper and ultimately better conversations in interviews.
Using these rules, this was the feedback I got from onsite interviews:
Very structured way to answer product questions
Presentation is very organized, well thought out
Showed deep interest in our products and offered valuable ideas on improvements
Negotiation
After receiving verbal offers, the next step was to work with recruiters to finalize the numbers. There’s only one rule here that I stick with — ALWAYS negotiate. But how?
Haseeb Qureshi has a very helpful guide on negotiating a job offer (with scripts!) which I followed religiously during my offer negotiation phase. Every single rule was so true. I negotiated with all companies that gave me an offer. The average increase for offers was 15%, and the highest offer was, in total value, increased by 25%. Negotiating works, so don’t be afraid to try it!
Takeaways
LOTS of practice is the key. Failure is part of life and a part of job searching. Don’t take it too seriously. Find a way to destress that works for you.
Overview
After losing 11 pounds and lots of cries and screaming (job hunting is stressful and it is okay to admit that), I finally got 4 offers within 2 months of being laid off. 3 of those offers were from companies that I have never dreamed of joining: Twitter, Lyft, and Airbnb (where I ultimately joined) and another offer from a healthcare startup. By the end of two frenzied months, I had received a total of 10 interviews, 4 onsite interviews, and 4 job offers, giving me a 40% TPS-to-onsite rate and 100% onsite-to-offer rate.
Image by Emma Ding | Timeline from being laid off to joining my dream company
I was so lucky that I got lots of support and help from family and friends after being laid off, which was critical to landing a job at my dream company. It was difficult. Ironically looking for a job is also a lot of work, but everything was worth it.
I wrote this blog because I know how overwhelmed I was. There is so much to prepare for interviews. I hope this post has made things clearer for other data specialists out there in need of work, and if you want more advice feel free to contact me here. I am grateful to now be working in a great job, and I would be happy to help you get there too!
Update (10/1/2020)
Since I published this post three weeks ago, I got hundreds of questions on data science interviews. So I decided to make a series of videos to help you land your dream data science job. Check my YouTube channel if you are interested! | https://medium.com/@amirudin-iim1979/how-i-got-4-data-science-offers-and-doubled-my-income-2-months-after-being-laid-off-6e5c10ae53e7 | ['Amirudin Iim'] | 2020-12-27 06:05:46.766000+00:00 | ['Interview Preparation', 'Editors Pick', 'Interview Process', 'Data Science Interview', 'Data Science'] |
Nvidia Announces New Chips Designed For Mining Ethereum As The Cryptocurrency Hits Record Highs | Nvidia Announces New Chips Designed For Mining Ethereum As The Cryptocurrency Hits Record Highs Digital Times Africa Feb 23·2 min read
Nvidia on Thursday announced it will release a new series of semiconductors specifically for mining ether, the second-largest digital cryptocurrency.
The new chip type is called CMP, or Cryptocurrency Mining Processor. The first cards will go on sale in March, an Nvidia spokesperson said.
Ether mining is a process in which computers solve complicated math programs to help the Ethereum cryptocurrency network run. In exchange, miners get ether, the digital coin that runs on the Ethereum network. Ether hit a record high on Thursday, up over 160% year-to-date to over $1,914.
Ether’s mining algorithms run best on graphics cards, which is the kind of chip that Nvidia is known for. Miners often buy several graphics cards and put them in a single machine to maximize their return.
Last fall, Nvidia released a new series of graphics cards marketed at PC gamers that have been consistently selling out. The semiconductor industry is also facing a shortage across the board.
Thursday’s announcement suggests that at least some of the demand for Nvidia’s chips came from cryptocurrency miners, not just gamers.
″CMP products — which don’t do graphics — are sold through authorized partners and optimized for the best mining performance and efficiency,” Matt Wuebbling, head of GeForce marketing at Nvidia wrote in a blog post.
Nvidia said that the latest chip in its gaming graphics cards series, the RTX 3060, would be modified when it’s released later this year so it won’t mine ether effectively. Cards that have already been sold, like the RTX 3070 or RTX 3080, do not have the same limitations, the Nvidia representative said.
“RTX 3060 software drivers are designed to detect specific attributes of the Ethereum cryptocurrency mining algorithm, and limit the hash rate, or cryptocurrency mining efficiency, by around 50 percent,” Nvidia’s said in a blog post.
Graphics cards were first developed to enable high-definition computer games but they’re increasingly essential for new technologies like artificial intelligence. Their usefulness in mining ether isn’t new, either — in 2017, Nvidia said it made hundreds of millions of dollars per quarter selling chips to cryptocurrency miners.
“Cryptocurrency and blockchain are here to stay. The market need for it is going to grow, and over time it will become quite large,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in 2017.
PC gaming is also growing strongly. Consumer spending on PC gaming hardware was up 62% in 2020, according to an NPD Group estimate. A graphics card is often the most expensive part of a gaming PC.
Source: CNBC | https://medium.com/@digitaltimes-2020/nvidia-announces-new-chips-designed-for-mining-ethereum-as-the-cryptocurrency-hits-record-highs-ac49a9af6cd1 | ['Digital Times Africa'] | 2021-02-23 12:30:41.433000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Nvidia', 'Technology News', 'Technology'] |
Welcome to Amazon Sidewalk! Now here’s how to turn it off | Amazon Echo users received an email just before Thanksgiving about a new feature coming to their smart speakers: Amazon Sidewalk, a shared neighborhood networking protocol that allows devices such as motion detectors and pet trackers to connect to the internet even when they’re out of Wi-Fi range.
Mentioned in this article Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Read TechHive's reviewSee it It’s a nifty idea, and with enough Echo speakers and Ring devices (some of Amazon’s Ring cameras work with Sidewalk, too) working together as Sidewalk bridges, you could have a low-power, long-range Sidewalk network that spans an entire neighborhood.
But Amazon’s vaguely worded email soft-pedals a key issue when it comes to Sidewalk functionality on your Echo and Ring devices: rather than being an opt-in feature, it’s opt-out, meaning that unless you actively turn off Sidewalk support, it’ll be enabled by default. (An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to TechHive that Sidewalk will, indeed, be an opt-out feature.)
[ Further reading: The best smart speakers and digital assistants ]“Sidewalk is coming to your Echo device later this year” the email reads, “but you can disable this feature at any time from the Amazon Alexa app.”
Sidewalk is opt-out, not opt-inNow, this sentence didn’t set off alarm bells in my head when I first read it; after all, “later this year” sounds comfortably far off in the future, right?
Of course, if you stop and think for a second, you realize that there’s barely a month left in 2020 (thank goodness), and “it’s coming” means that it—Sidewalk—is, in fact, coming to your Echo device, unless you do something about it.
What exactly are the consequences of having Sidewalk running on your Echo and Ring devices? Will doing so allow strangers with Sidewalk-enabled gadgets a free ride on your home internet connection? And what are the benefits of keeping Sidewalk turned on?
Sidewalk, privacy, and youFor its part, Amazon promises a raft of security measures designed to protect both the owners of Sidewalk bridges as well as passersby with devices that can connect to Sidewalk.
Mentioned in this article Ring Mailbox Sensor + Bridge (Starter Kit) See it Data that travels on Sidewalk networks is secured by three levels of encryption, Amazon says, while one-way hashing keys, cryptographic algorithms, and rotating device IDs help to “minimize” the data of Sidewalk users. In other words, those who connect to your Sidewalk bridge won’t be able to see you or your data, and you won’t see them. (Amazon has an entire whitepaper devoted to Sidewalk security.)
Amazon also promises that nearby Sidewalk users won’t unduly sap your internet connection, with Sidewalk only using a maximum of 80Kbps of bandwidth at any given time and no more than 500MB of total monthly data. Now, 500MB isn’t nothing, particularly for those with home data caps, but as Amazon points out, it’s only equivalent to about 10 minutes of HD video streaming.
There are good things about Sidewalk, tooLet’s not forget that a Sidewalk network in your neighborhood could also offer plenty of enticing benefits. Thanks to Sidewalk, you could (for example) get alerts from a motion sensor on the edge of your property—including the Ring Mailbox Sensor we recently reviewed—even if it’s out of Wi-Fi range. It would also make it much easier to track down missing items that you’ve tagged with a Tile tracker, which will be among the first third-party devices that can connect to Sidewalk networks.
Still, should Amazon have adopted an opt-in policy for Sidewalk rather than an opt-out one? Well, yeah, particularly given the privacy controversies that have dogged Echo and Ring devices over the past couple of years. And while I can see why Amazon thought going the opt-out way would give Sidewalk a running start, it also makes for an unfortunate—and avoidable—privacy stumble right out of the gate.
How to disable Sidewalk on Echo, Ring devicesShould you decide to opt out of Sidewalk participation, it’s a piece of cake with just a few steps that will impact all your connected Echo and Ring devices.
Open the Alexa app, tap More > Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk. If you want to turn off Sidewalk support completely, toggle off the Amazon Sidewalk setting, and you’re done. Another option is to allow Sidewalk but disable Community Finding, a feature that lets the owners of Sidewalk-enabled trackers to pinpoint their lost devices or pets. Amazon promises that the Community Finding feature will only let users see an “approximate” location, and that location data won’t reveal any personal information. Still, if you wish, you can go ahead and turn Community Finding off. 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/@ken30098774/welcome-to-amazon-sidewalk-now-heres-how-to-turn-it-off-9cb27928bb2e | [] | 2020-12-24 11:40:50.386000+00:00 | ['Lighting', 'Surveillance', 'Gear', 'Music'] |
1947, India — | Midway,
Hair that was once braided
Has been parted into two
Midway, bridal vermillion spews.
Meandering in memory of:
Scathed roots
Tresses forced to bid farewell
Homeless, bald lands
Overnight refugees
The unremembered fallen strands.
A solitary brown smeared, scattered into hues
Unveils an abscess called no man’s land
Tired of brimming with stale hatred
It is only time before it ruptures
Into a cataract of fresh sanguine, metallic vermillion. | https://medium.com/@tanvi2620/1947-india-c7c139b6b73d | ['Tanvi Solapurkar'] | 2020-12-15 09:21:34.717000+00:00 | ['Opinion Piece', 'Poetry Writing', 'Poetry', 'Poetry On Medium', 'India'] |
The Democrats’ Moveable Feast | Photo by Michelle Henderson at Unsplash
The peregrinations of silly season are upon us and it looks like half of the Democratic Party is out there racking up frequent flyer miles. After all, it’s only a year until the election in November of 2020….oops, I guess it’s a little over a year but our government is in a place that encourages a hurry-up. So, perhaps, we could have an election before we close the Canadian border and declare war on Mexico….or was that close the Mexican border and declare war on Canada? I forget. Somebody call Putin and let me know what the orders are.
The Republican side is pretty quiet. The party that teamed up with the establishment Democrats to break the Dixiecrat filibuster and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the party that created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Indian Civil Rights Act, the party that presided over the demise of the Soviet Union and left a KGB agent named Vladimir Putin so butt hurt he seeks revenge to this day — that party is gone with the windbags. In its place, there is only Donald John Trump. His close friends call him The Donald. Both of them.
The Democrats are scampering to every boondock in Iowa, scarfing up pork dishes of such peculiarity as to tempt some people to convert to Islam so they would not have to partake…but the pols eat it and smile. My Republican cousin Ray Sixkiller said there’s no truth to the rumor that a political event in New Hampshire served up lobster ice cream with a maple syrup topping just to see if the Democratic candidates would eat it. No baby is safe from being Joe Bidened in Nevada as the pols try to make nice with the unions that have the casinos organized without being photographed at the craps table.
There are so many of them and they keep moving around so fast. Decisions, decisions.
I felt the Bern last election and I still have the coffee cup to prove it. Bernie Sanders had a monthly contribution from my credit union account, which is something I don’t do lightly since I’ve been a retired geezer on a fixed income. But as long as Bernie had a fighting chance, it seemed the patriotic thing to do and I am remembering the days before Donald Trump rendered “patriot” a synonym for “schmuck.”
A primary election as a coronation never seemed to me a good idea and it became obvious long before the race was over that the fix was in for Hillary Clinton. The emails the Russians so thoughtfully provided had no impact on me because they contained no surprises.
Actually, Bernie was my second choice. My first choice was Larry Lessig. It would take a long time to explain in detail why I was willing to forgive Lessig for being a Harvard law professor and support his run for president, so I’ll refer you to his book, Republic, Lost.
The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 dates the rise of the modern nation-state as the primary form of human social organization, which might be why Pope Innocent X wrote that it was “null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all time.” Did I mention that the Westphalian agreements, by recognizing the authority of secular governments, substantially undercut religious authorities as king makers?
While it is clear to me that nation-states are no longer the dominant social organization— transnational corporations are — I have no idea what date the historians will pick for the beginning of the end for nation-states. I just know that Lessig had an idea for getting back our bought government and he was derailed by the Democratic National Committee, which changed the rules to keep him off the debate stage after he complied with the rules as they stood when he launched his campaign.
Whether the DNC acted to protect corporate hegemony or Clintonian hegemony does not matter. For my purposes here, I simply want to observe that the fix was in for Hillary Clinton and Lessig was a casualty before Sen. Sanders.
The extent to which the skullduggery of the Democratic Primary set up the defeat of one of the best qualified candidates for president in recent history by the small hands down least qualified candidate is open for debate. I don’t care to debate it.
Trump was not qualified by education or experience to be president, so the only hope for the country was that he would, if elected, keep stealing to a minimum and hire competent people. He has done neither.
The results of that election constrain me to admit that not everyone knew that the real estate development and major construction businesses in New York and New Jersey have been mobbed up for generations, or that the Italian mob has been losing ground to the Russian mob since the demise of the Soviet Union.
At first, I held out some hope that enough light would be shined on Trump’s business dealings by reporters doing normal digging in public records. I had not reckoned with the status of The Trump Organization — private and closely held. The disclosures required of publicly traded corporations did not exist.
Still, when Trump released the customary ten years of tax returns, there should be enough clues for investigative reporters to go to town. Mitt Romney had put a serious dent in the custom, but the resulting public outcry tore loose some tax data, so perhaps Trump would not want to deal with the grief that fell on Romney over tax returns.
No such luck. Trump may have refused to release his tax returns because they would show The Trump Organization is mobbed up. Or because they would show that he was not, as he claimed, a billionaire. Or because they would show that he is stingy, if the fact that the foundation bearing his name has never given away a dime of Trump’s money were not enough proof that he’s stingy. Or that he does not pay taxes as a percentage of his income at a rate equal to the rates ordinary middle class Americans are accustomed to paying.
His reason may have been one of those things or a combination of several, but I am confident his reason was not that ten years of his tax returns are “under audit.” Because the reason he gives is such a transparent lie, all of these speculations are perfectly fair. Trump can end the speculations whenever he wishes by making the same disclosure we demand of other candidates for president.
Except Bernie Sanders.
The last time Bernie ran, he withstood the pressure for a good long time…or, not exactly. He just kept saying he was going to do it and then didn’t until finally coming up with his 2014 return, still available on line.
This time, he says the problem is that his wife has to do all the work of digging up the forms since their $200,000 plus income leaves them too penurious to hire it done. And they haven’t been able to put together their own tax files since the last election why? He might as well have said the last ten years of his taxes, except 2014, are under audit.
Having speculated on Trump’s evasion, let me try Bernie’s.
There is something Bernie does not want to confront just yet. He still needs time to get his story straight, and he wants to get past the Iowa caucuses, where he’s put in enough work he’d better be leading, and the New Hampshire primary, which is in his back yard. That should make him the delegate leader when he drops the bad news.
One possibility is that just like Trump does not have enough money to match his public persona, Bernie has too much. Perhaps Bernie’s schedule A would show him to be a skinflint, although it’s hard to picture being more so than Trump. Maybe his schedule D would show him trading in some stock that he’d as soon not acknowledge.
As you can see from my speculations, I expect embarrassing rather than disqualifying. Not releasing his tax returns at all would be disqualifying.
So, do I still feel the Bern? You bet I do. I don’t regret my contributions to Sanders and I doubt there will be anything in his tax returns that will make me regret them. However, he has a lot more competition this time, including two other candidates to whom I’ve contributed in the past.
In spite of my geezerdom, I hesitate to elect another geezer when that’s not necessary to get a combination of good intentions and competence. There are several candidates that represent generational change, and I do hope if one of the geezers is nominated, he or she has sense enough to put a young pup on the ticket and shovel plenty of work to the VP if elected.
I note that if we have a birth certificate controversy this time, it won’t be over place of birth — the issue will be age. I’ve got potato salad in my fridge older than some of these candidates.
After the first flurry of delegate selection — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, and the Superest of Tuesdays with ten states picking — including big dogs California and Texas — the herd should be considerably thinned. Maybe enough to have a debate in only one night.
By then, we will have seen Bernie’s tax returns and he ought to have stopped blushing over whatever it is he’d rather we not see. I don’t know if I will vote in the Texas primary. On one hand, I’m an independent now and have been since 2008. On the other, it’s an open primary and that’s where the action is.
Even if I have yet to pick a dog in this fight, I do care. I care so much I miss my Newsweek job and find myself wishing I could get paid to traipse around Iowa. I expect by Super Tuesday I’ll care even more. The Donald has that effect on me. | https://steverussell-9575.medium.com/the-democrats-moveable-feast-65ec8783b7cd | ['Steve Russell'] | 2019-04-07 06:11:00.930000+00:00 | ['Democrats', 'Democratic Primary', 'Donald Trump', 'Politics', 'Bernie Sanders'] |
Importance of Having a Portfolio and How to Create One! | What Is A Portfolio?
A portfolio is an exhibition of revealing what you decide to write on your resume and talk about in an interview. It works on the “show and not just tell” policy, which promotes your expertise to speak for itself.
And when you are in a creative field, it is a must! However, no matter what profession you might be in today’s time, it’s always a great idea to have a portfolio.
What’s Inside A Portfolio?
A portfolio helps your potential employer/client/prospect decide if you are the right person for the job or not. Your portfolio needs to have a detailed introduction of who you are, what are your skills, and what services you can offer. It is exactly like a folder of all your original work, referrals, certificates or diplomas, and even feedback and testimonials. It backs you up with proof of great prior exposure and increases the chances of attracting quality work your way.
What Are The Professions That Demand Portfolios?
A portfolio is a great marketing tool that can help you land your dream job! So if you happen to be in any of these below-mentioned specializations, it’s only your portfolio that can make a deal or simply break it!
- Graphic Designing
— UI/UX Designing
— Animations and VFX
— Video Editing
— Content Writing
— Copywriting
— Architecture
— Modelling
— Make-up Artist
— Art
— Photography
— Coder/Programmer
— Cooking/Baking
Wh at Is The Importance Of Having A Portfolio?
Remember, a portfolio is an extension to your resume or CV which means it isn’t a replacement of those documents. A CV/resume and a cover letter are as crucial as your professional portfolio.
But a portfolio helps showcase your skills in real-time. It instantly proves as evidence of the work you have previously done and the clients you have worked with. It not only is to impress your clients but it helps you keep a track of your achievements. You can keep adding your accomplishments into the folder and make it look more appealing.
How To Create A Portfolio?
It does not matter if you wish to have a physical portfolio or an online portfolio. However, in the era of digitization when everything is easily accessible and digital, it’s always better to have an online presence out there.
It not only makes it transparent for others to have a look at your work instantly at the click of a button. You also do not have to worry about carrying a physical portfolio everytime you appear for an interview.
And to get started there are a lot of websites that provide great free templates for portfolios. These are extremely user friendly and highly customizable. You can choose every major and minor element as per your likes. To name a few we have- wordpress.com, wix.com, canva.com, weebly.com which offers a variety of options to choose from.
Now let’s look at three simple steps to creating your very first professional portfolio!
Step-1: Create A Folder
Have a folder ready on your laptop with all the necessary content you need your portfolio to consist of. It can be your resume/cv, logo, testimonials, samples of your work, about me write-up, contact details, etc. This exercise can be helpful because once you actually get started with building your portfolio, you can have access to all these documents without wasting much time looking for them.
Step-2: Select A Uniform Design
While creating your portfolio make sure the user experience remains uniform throughout. Follow the same colour palettes, text, fonts to make it look related and connected. Keep the consistency alive. If you wish to use a picture of your own as a logo, make sure it’s professional enough. Also, stick to the same picture for a long time as it’s equivalent to a logo of a brand which cannot be changed often.
Step-3: Finalize Everything
Try making your own gifs, posters, and every piece of content that goes in the document. It will reflect your authenticity and will give the clients the confidence to work with you. Go hit that upload button when you place the elements exactly where it belongs!
So there you go, now you have a purpose and the steps to finally have a professional portfolio in place.
Don’t delay it further, go ahead and get started!
Also, do sign up at www.fuzia.com to read more such career-oriented articles! | https://medium.com/@pr-26909/importance-of-having-a-portfolio-and-how-to-create-one-b81fbb07916f | [] | 2020-12-15 11:30:55.200000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Career Advice', 'Portfolio Management', 'Portfolio', 'Career Development'] |
How are we doing? | Proposing a well-being dashboard.
The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States
In 1788 “We the People of the United States”, set out “…to…promote the general Welfare [and]…establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” How well are we doing?
Businesses use dashboards to manage their key performance indicators. What key performance indicators would guide us toward improving the “general Welfare”? How can we make the well-being of the people visible and actionable? What would a well-being dashboard look like?
Well-being refers to experiencing positive conditions — in short, exploring the question “How are you doing?” Related concepts include eudaimonia, happiness, flourishing, quality of life, contentment, and meaningful life. Well-being is diminished by suffering and increased by flourishing. Many factors contribute to or detract from well-being. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes an ordering of factors related to human needs. This suggests many factors related to well-being that can be observed, measured, managed, and improved.
A dashboard based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs could be designed and built by estimating where each person is now living on the hierarchy. This could be done using survey instruments — directly asking each person what they have and what they lack — or by using a variety of surrogates measures for each need. Beginning with physiological needs, identifying the people who lack clean air, clean water, sufficient food, sanitation, along with basic clothing and shelter highlights those who are in most need of assistance. This includes the homeless along with the hungry and thirsty, and those exposed to air or water pollution.
Safety needs are next on the hierarchy. This includes personal, financial, and emotional security, along with good health and freedom from accidents and illness. Measures of crime rates, poverty rates, direct subjective measures of fear and anxiety, access to health care, disease rates, and the many causes of premature death, including accidents, occupational fatalities, violent crime, diseases, tobacco use, lifestyle risks, addictions, and suicide are safety-related key performance indicators.
After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third level of human needs is interpersonal and involves opportunities for social belonging. These needs include friendships, intimacy, and family. Measures of divorce rates, foster care rates, domestic violence, and subjective measures of contented relationships and community are social belonging-related key performance indicators.
The higher levels of the hierarchy represent a transition from survival into thriving and flourishing. Progress indicators include education levels, employment satisfaction, cultural opportunities, creative expression, achievement of various being-values, along with flourishing, fitness, healthfulness, and mental health.
Models other than Maslow’s hierarchy could be used to design a dashboard. These might include an enumeration of what matters, measuring progress in addressing the grand challenges, and preserving human rights, world-wide.
It will be important to measure and report on positive outcomes, perhaps called “flourishing” and negative outcomes, perhaps called “deficiencies” or “suffering”. Also, it will be important to measure and report on overall achievements, median achievements, and especially the status of those least well off among us. Data aggregated at the global, national, state, regional, and local levels is important for addressing problems at the most actionable level.
The dashboard can become the focus of an on-going conversation exploring vital questions such as “What is well-being?”, “How can well-being be accurately measured?”, “Do we have priorities other than well-being?”, “How do we fairly represent future generations?”, and “Who’s well-being is important?”. This dialogue can help us continue progress toward a stronger democracy that better serves we the people.
A prototype national well-being dashboard
Such a dashboard could have a national focus, while allowing drill down to examine data at the regional, state, county, and local levels. Opportunities for both public and private solutions will become visible. Attention to human rights, worldwide, will provide some global perspective. We can exchange ideas with other nations that are working to improve well-being.
The idea of using well-being to guide government policy and improve operations is gaining acceptance around the world. The philosophy of Gross National Happiness guides the government of Bhutan, and their constitution instituted a Gross National Happiness Index in 2008. In 2011, the UN General Assembly passed a Resolution “Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development” calling happiness a “fundamental human goal” and urging member nations to measure happiness and well-being. The “World Happiness Report” is now an annual publication of the United Nations.
The United Kingdom uses a national well-being dashboard to monitor and report accepted and trusted measures for various areas of life that matter most to the UK public. The UK measures societal and personal well-being looking beyond the measures of production, to areas such as health, relationships, education and skills, what the people do, where the people live, personal finances, and the environment. New Zealand uses a living standards framework dashboard to inform advice to Ministers on priorities for improving well-being.
The Social Progress Imperative is a nonprofit agency that creates and publishes the Social Progress Index. The SPI measures the well-being of a society by observing social and environmental outcomes directly rather than through economic factors. These factors include wellness (including health, shelter and sanitation), equality, inclusion, sustainability and personal freedom and safety. The United States ranks 28th out of the 163 countries indexed in 2020.
Identifying the well-being of the people as the objective of government allows us to use various quality management approaches to continuously improve government policies and operations.
Recognizing that reality is our common ground, each of us could refer to this reliable information base and use this to inform or assess policy proposals. With such a dashboard in place, the policy task then becomes “propose and carry out polices that advance well-being”.
We routinely use dashboards to inform our decisions as we drive our cars, fly airplanes, and run our businesses. Let’s create a dashboard that highlights the well-being of we the people. | https://medium.com/@lelandbeaumont/how-are-we-doing-b89940268fec | ['Leland Beaumont'] | 2020-12-03 20:46:35.929000+00:00 | ['Transpartisan', 'Governance', 'Dashboard Design', 'Wellbeing', 'Unification'] |
5 Ultimate Tips for Social Media Marketing | Social media is a vast platform with an increasing number of public activities daily worldwide. I think today almost every individual knows about the most driven forces of the internet i.e., social media.
According to Statista.com, in 2019 the estimated number of social media users was 2.95 billion. Quite a huge number, right?
But this is not all, the expected rise in the number of people is estimated to almost 3.43 billion in 2023. The more people there are, the more opportunities there will be for social media marketing. This will become a prime factor for marketers to reach millions of unique people to offer services, articles, products, etc.
Social media marketing is an ever-growing, ever-changing sector, but several core elements will help you ensure a steady foundation for your social media ventures.
To help you succeed in your social media marketing journey, the ultimate tips are listed below from the #1 Web marketing Amazon bestseller Ebook of 2015–500 Social Media Marketing Tips by Andrew McCarthy.
Along with these five strategies, some bonus tips are also present to help you take your social media marketing journey to the next level.
1. Add your social profile to your email signature
Think about how many emails you send per day. Now imagine that each email you send is a chance for someone new to find out about your social media profiles.
Attach your social media URLs to your email signature along with a ‘Like Us’ call to action, and a reason why people should visit and ‘like’ your page. e.g., “Like us on Facebook for exclusive vouchers and discount codes!”.
2. Blog about your social profile and give reasons to follow
Photo by Tim Bennett on Unsplash
If you have a company blog, why not create posts specifically to promote your social media presence?
Give your readers 5 interesting reasons why they should ‘Like’ your fan pages in a blog post- e.g., exclusive offers, news to their feeds, sneak peeks at upcoming products.
Don’t beg them to like you; just give reasons why they’ll benefit and watch the like box numbers tickle upwards.
3. Promote your social media profiles in the actual world
Photo by dole777 on Unsplash
Anywhere you display your social media URLs there is free advertising for you.
Just think about how many people would see a car bumper sticker with your Facebook address on, or a sign in the office or store window asking visitors to follow you on Twitter.
Also, combine offline and online by letting the people you meet in real life know about your social profiles, by getting their URLs printed on your business cards, letterheads, etc.
4. Ask distinct sets of followers to like your other profiles
Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
If a person follows you on one social network, chances are wonderful that they will want to follow you on another too.
For example, give some interesting reasons to ask your Twitter followers why they should join your Facebook community, much as in the example of blog post promotion mentioned above.
A tweet might read, “Great discussion about our newest garden tool range happening right now — get involved! http://www.facebook.com/yourfacebookpage.” Besides, don’t be afraid to promote your social profile once in a while.
Unlike the approach above, here you simply point to your page with a message along the line of “Enjoying our tweets? Why not join us on Facebook too? Click here http://www.facebook.com/yourfacebookpage.” Create and save three or four different variations of this message, so you don’t repeat the same tweet over and over.
5. Ask your email list to like your social profiles.
Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash
Got an email marketing list? Consider sending a dedicated email asking your subscribers to follow or like you on social networks — again with compelling reasons why they definitely should do that.
Whenever you send out future messages to them, include links to your social profiles underneath the key message. | https://medium.com/the-lucky-freelancer/5-ultimate-tips-for-social-media-marketing-ab4b53efed47 | ['Ayush Gour'] | 2020-07-10 00:35:08.402000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Social Media', 'Business', 'Marketing'] |
“I like writing books. | “I like writing books. I’d rather be at home with my wife. I can write, take a break, come out, have a glass of tea, give my wife a kiss, and go back in and write some more. It’s not so bad. I am really lucky.”
— Gene Wilder | https://medium.com/a-moment-in-history/i-like-writing-books-96bac049daf3 | ['Roman Mikhail'] | 2020-12-10 18:49:59.259000+00:00 | ['Nonfiction', 'Biography', 'Writing'] |
You Don’t Need a Budget, You Just Need These Two Accounts | Have you ever heard of the “see food” diet? I like to joke that sometimes that’s my diet: I see food and I eat it! The best way for people like me to stick to a plan to eat more nutritiously is to just have the foods I want to eat more of in sight, while limiting the junk food, right?
Well, I also use the “see money” budget to manage my cash flow, and I think a lot of people do this as well, mostly unintentionally: I see money and I spend it. That’s why the only money I keep in my spending account is money that I can afford to spend on discretionary stuff like sushi, wine, cat toys and spa pedicures, while money that I need for things like veterinary expenses, car problems and groceries is separated out.
The same principle applies when it comes to sticking to any type of spending or savings plan — if you want to spend less money so that you have enough set aside to pay for things that come up, for people on the “see money” budget, the best way to do that is to get it out of your sight.
The reason that most budgeting and savings intentions fail is not because you suck at money. It’s that too often we try to eyeball whether we can afford to splurge on stuff, which often happens right before pay day — we see that we actually have some wiggle room in our checking account and we know it’s about to be replenished, so we go ahead and spend it, only to find that we need that extra money when something else comes up after pay day and all the money is already allocated to other priorities.
One idea I had to combat this issue, which is often what leads to credit card debt that can easily get out of hand, is to fund two specific accounts each paycheck:
Account 1: The ‘Oh, sh*t!’ account
This account is for things like, “Oh sh*t! I just dropped my phone and I need a new screen” ($90) or ,”Oh crap! I have a flat tire and I need a tow” ($100) or a common one in my house, “Oh NO! The cat has a mystery illness and needs all of the tests” ($500). In order to make sure you have enough money set aside to cover these things, take a look back at the last several months for all the things like this that made you say, “Oh sh*t!”
Then just set up an online savings account (you can find the ones that pay the highest interest with no fees at www.bankrate.com) and have the amount put directly in from your paycheck or set up an automatic transfer each month. For me, that’s $50 per pay or $100 per month, which seems to be the average cost of “oh sh*t!” This account is for everyday life things that truly make you just say, “oh sh*t,” that you couldn’t have predicted, so if an “oh sh*t” moment turns out to be something you have to now spend ongoing (like the cat’s mystery illness requires prescription food at $50 a bag), make sure you adjust your spending account plans as well.
Account 2: The ‘treat yourself’ account
Most people I talk to would say that dining out/ordering in is one of the areas that they tend to bleed money (I feel that in a way that literally gives me high blood pressure) and it’s one area they’d like to cut back so they go to extremes and swear if off cold turkey, but that never works. It’s unrealistic to think that you’re going to skip going out for several months just so that you can build up a savings account or save for retirement, so why not have an amount of money set aside so you can still be mindful, but not be overly anal about tracking. This works great for days when you’re like, “I really don’t feel like cooking tonight,” as you’re pulling up the Tock app or when your bestie texts for emergency drinks to talk through a work issue — the goal is to give yourself grace and wiggle room, while also placing limits that are more painless than having to track each penny.
Maybe this account can be used for salon pedicures or a personal training session at the gym — whatever it is that you’d like to limit, but not totally give up in order to buckle down on other goals. We all need a treat every once in awhile, no matter how tight our budget. Having a separate account with, say, $25 going in each paycheck, allows you to do that without going overboard.
What these accounts aren’t for
Note that these accounts are different from your emergency fund, which is there to pay your bills in case your income goes away — actual emergencies, which does not include a last-minute shower gift that you forgot about til the day of the shower. These accounts are also not there to pay for things that you can plan ahead for, such as holidays, vacation travel or ongoing care like hair cuts and childcare. I get into that strategy in this post.
Finding what works for you
The thing about cash management is that there are lots of different ways to do it, some more involved than others. If you’ve tried other methods and still struggle to plan adequately for your life spending, try this method. For me, figuring out this part about money is just as much about hacking yourself and your habits as it is about willpower and control. Keep tweaking it til you’ve found a way that works, allowing you to more effortlessly work toward other goals. | https://medium.com/an-idea/you-dont-need-a-budget-you-just-need-these-two-accounts-26350f88fa87 | ['Kelley C. Long'] | 2020-10-14 12:23:59.665000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Financial Freedom'] |
Why “Sunk Costs” still sink people? | Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash
It is quite common that people still make bad decisions because they cannot let go of “Sunk costs”.
I am the living example. I still feel very very bad due to my career set back this year. Sometimes, the feeling was so strong that it shows on my face and affects my efficiency in getting things done.
Another well-known scenario is as follows: if you bought a movie ticket to a bad movie, will you just leave half way?
I do not know about you, but I probably won’t…haha
Photo by Natasya Chen on Unsplash
So the problem here is why we just cannot let go of the “Sunk Costs” and move on, even though we know we should logically.
It would be lazy to just say “Knowing is oceans apart from doing” (I will do an entry on that later).
So I really thought about the “why”. And I now think there might be two reasons that are deeply linked to our nature as a human being.
1. Fear of losses
Compared to the same amount of gains, the emotions triggered by losses are twice as much.
That means the joy we get from gaining 1000 dollars is only half of the suffering we get from losing the same amount of money.
So people hate and fear losses.
“Sunk costs” are gone by definition.
But if we turn away from it, it would mean that it is really “lost” and becomes actual “losses”. This is obviously just some mental games. It is lost already.
2. Fear of being proven wrong
I struggled a bit between “Fear of being proven wrong” and “Fear of being wrong”.
I decided to use the former.
Maybe people are ok to be wrong and preferably correct themselves “quietly”. “Quietly” means that they do not even realize it themselves. This way, no explicit emotions are triggered.
However, “being proven wrong” represents a logical and conscious conclusion, which will trigger emotions.
So people are more afraid of “being proven wrong”.
And making a conscious decision to give up the “Sunk Costs” proves people wrong, even if that is the right decision to make for themselves.
These two “fears” are closely and deeply linked to our human nature. They are hard to defy and thus “Sunk Costs” are hard to let go.
However, there are ways in which we can maximize our chances of success.
Photo by Stillness InMotion on Unsplash
1.Understand “Sunk Costs” are not costs
Costs are forward looking.
Costs are something you need to give up moving forward.
“Sunk Costs” were incurred in the past. We do not need to give up anything going forward.
So “Sunk Costs” are not costs.
To make the right decision, we need to consider the real costs, which leads us to the second point.
2.Consider the “Opportunity Costs”
“Opportunity Costs” are the real costs.
It is the value of the best alternative we have to give up by making a decision.
If we decide to join a company, we are giving up the growth and wealth brought to us by other companies;
If we decide to marry someone and spend the rest of our lives with him/her, we are giving up the companionship of anyone else in the world;
If we decide to watch a movie tonight, we are giving up the joy and influence of any other movies.
So this is what will make a meaningful distinction to our lives going forward.
Hope we all make as many good decisions in our lives! | https://medium.com/@tminds/why-sunk-costs-still-sink-people-c2209b3ec437 | ['T Minds'] | 2020-12-15 09:52:05.716000+00:00 | ['Decision Making', 'Opportunity Cost', 'Sunk Costs', 'Life'] |
Manage Talent — Not Time, and Other Tips From a Team Leader | Manage Talent — Not Time, and Other Tips From a Team Leader
I started working at Accurat as a data visualization designer back in 2013, when we were about ten people gathered around one big desk and most projects were all hands on deck. As the company grew and we took on more clients — and bigger ones — I took on a leadership role in the design department. And since last summer, I’ve been the proud captain of the fabulous, fearsome Team Pirati: a crew of designers and developers, all with unique expertise and experience.
As someone trained in design — a field where individuality is king — I’ve always approached team leadership with curiosity. Here are ten things I’ve learned in adjusting to the role.
1. Observe and listen.
“Observant” might not be the first word that springs to mind when you think of positive leadership traits. But being attentive is crucial to understanding people’s strengths and weaknesses, and this information will help you make better decisions about how to involve people in projects. For example: Some teammates may thrive in the strategic and concept phase, while others are happiest when they’re spending hours refining a UI detail. Personal aptitudes should factor into how you assign responsibilities.
To observe, though, is not always enough. It limits your knowledge to what’s visible. Someone might be very good at a certain type of task but eager to explore something new. How would you know that, unless you ask? Schedule one–on–one meetings to get a better understanding of peoples’ long–term goals and ambitions. These chats are also an invaluable opportunity to gather honest feedback and discover potential problems before they arise.
2. Show appreciation.
A healthy workplace is one where people feel appreciated. When you’re working under a tight deadline, though, it can be easy to take phenomenal work for granted. That’s why it’s important to voice praise, especially when a project wraps. Always reserve a few moments to congratulate a team, and make sure to articulate exactly why an achievement is commendable. Did they work against the clock to deliver a product in record turnaround time? Did they stay calm and collected while juggling responsibilities? Make sure to also share any positive notes from outside sources — i.e. client contacts — that you may have forgotten to mention while you were hyper–focused on delivery.
3. Manage talent—not time.
I’ve borrowed this one from an article by Know Your Team (thanks for sharing, Mariano!)
It’s impossible to have total control over every project your team tackles, so you need to be able to trust your teammates enough to delegate. To build that trust, you must understand and accept that there are different ways of doing things. Plus, it’s in your (and your manager’s) best interest to foster unique talents. As precious as time is, specialized skills are even harder to come by.
The secret to effective delegation is avoiding micromanagement. Don’t try to plan out activities from start to finish. Set goals and let people find their own ways to achieve them. At first, people may ask for a little extra guidance. But over time, they’ll become more autonomous. This is how you nurture leadership within your team.
4. Share knowledge, early and often.
When you’re leading a project, you know the budget, expectations, constraints, strategic outcomes, etc. Keep in mind that you may be the only person on the team who has all of this information from the outset. To facilitate everyone’s best work, you should share as many details as possible, as soon as possible.
Here’s my checklist for transferring knowledge during kickoff:
Give your team access to the signed contract and a project brief.
Organize a formal, internal kick-off meeting.
Provide your team with a project roadmap that includes deadlines and milestones.
Create shared resources and working files (and make sure they’re well–organized and easy to find!).
Invite your team to meetings and introduce them to clients.
Ask teammates often if they feel up–to–speed.
The more people know about a project’s scope and purpose, the more they’ll be able to contribute on a conceptual level, rather than just fulfilling a series of tasks.
5. Learn to ask yourself, “Why not?”
Designers are encouraged to hone a signature style to distinguish themselves in the field. Developers, on the other hand, always seem to be sharing knowledge and working collaboratively. For this reason, it can be difficult for designers like me to resist thinking: “I would have done this differently.” In managing designers and developers, I’ve learned how to temper my instincts.
It’s a team leader’s responsibility to create an environment wherein people feel comfortable expressing themselves. So, next time you’re reviewing work and someone comes up with an idea different from what you had in mind, ask yourself “Why not?” instead of “Why?”
6. Project management ≠ people management.
When you manage a project, the worst things that can happen include missing a deadline, going over budget, and/or delivering a low–quality product. But the stakes are even higher when dealing with people. At some point, an obligation is fulfilled and a project ends. Your colleagues will be around for much longer.
As a leader, your behavior has an outsized effect on people — their feelings, their attitudes, and their perceptions of the company as a whole. It’s important to keep that at the forefront of your mind, especially when client–related tasks seem extra urgent. Always be respectful and supportive. In the long run, you’re contributing to a more positive work environment and better outcomes across the board.
7. Criticism doesn’t have to be awkward.
So, what to do when you’re presented with work that’s just not up to par? What you must not do is to simply say that you don’t like it, and ask teammates to come back with something better without giving ample feedback.
It’s not just a right — it’s a duty to critique the work of your team members. It bears repeating: Your feedback will be seriously—so put it gently! If a project seems to be heading in the wrong direction, try to understand why. A good leader knows how to turn a situation that could be difficult or discouraging into an opportunity for reflection. The process of designing an alternative solution can serve to restore strength and confidence to the entire team.
8. Look one step ahead.
A leader should always keep one eye trained on the present and the other on the future. From the moment a task is assigned, you should have a sense of how it will progress so that you can provide guidance and answer questions when they inevitably arise.
Thinking this way will likely lead you to be extra careful each time you make a decision, knowing how it could potentially impact progress. It’s tricky, sort of like maneuvering a sailboat: You can set everything up correctly, but you’ll always need to be prepared for unpredictable winds.
9. Be humble.
Years ago, when I was leaving for a long period abroad as an Erasmus student, I received a letter to wish me good luck from a friend of my mother. The letter ended with a simple statement: “Learn what you can, teach what you can.” My mother’s friend wasn’t just encouraging me to take in everything that I could — he was suggesting that I could also give something back to the places I traveled. I think this is true for just about every situation you encounter in life.
As a leader, you might think of your role as a teacher rather than a student, but in fact it’s a two–way street. At times in the past, I’ve felt it was my responsibility to have all the answers. But I’ve learned that the best results usually come from sharing possible solutions and asking for opinions. Your team is a resource: Place your faith in them, and you’ll learn something new every day.
10. You’re not alone.
Being a leader is a tough responsibility and it can be stressful. People rely on you for planning and technical support, reviews and suggestions, requests and complaints, and so on and so forth. Moreover, the ultimate responsibility of the client’s satisfaction lands on you.
To make decisions and give timely directions might be hard in those moments when your mind is a mess (among Pirati, we say “brased:” an Italo–English variation on “braised” or “cooked”). It happens to everyone, and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help. In these crisis moments, you can turn to your team to help you rearrange roles and responsibilities. Remember: You’re a leader, but you’re not alone. | https://medium.com/accurat-in-sight/manage-talent-not-time-and-other-tips-from-a-team-leader-971f4f532b60 | ['Marco Bernardi'] | 2021-06-17 04:07:37.254000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Data Visualization', 'Dataviz', 'Design', 'Leadership'] |
Respond to “I Can’t Tell if You’re Male or Female” with These Two Words | Being told that one cannot tell if you’re a girl/woman or a boy/man is certainly not a universal experience. For those of us who do endure it more than once, or even regularly, it can bring up reactions and emotions including but not limited to:
neutrality
frustration
disgust
amusement
shame
confusion
exasperation
excitement
If you couldn’t tell, this isn’t an exhaustive list. There are countless ways to react when someone makes this ignorant statement, all depending on one’s gender identity, expression, the way they want to be perceived, and more.
It also depends on context — in certain situations and places, it can be downright dangerous to have someone question your gender. Other times, someone who may not fall into a binary gender category might be a bit pleased.
While I have had a range of reactions when faced with this unsolicited observation, one of the most flippant and jarring times happened to me while I was at a gas station. An attendant approached me and said, “I’m curious about something.” Oh, no. Here we go.
“Are you a man, or a woman? Because you sound like a man, but you look like a woman.”
Astounded, I mumbled something along the lines of “I don’t care.” He went on to say how his best friend “chopped her boobs off” and started calling “herself” ‘X’ name when “she” used to be called ‘Z’ name, and how it was really weird because he had known “her” since they were kids, but he had nothing against transgender people.
I was just there to put gas in my car. | https://medium.com/@transtherapist/respond-to-i-cant-tell-if-you-re-male-or-female-with-these-two-words-8999114f253 | ['The Transgender Therapist'] | 2020-12-13 00:08:44.091000+00:00 | ['Advice and Opinion', 'LGBTQ', 'Transgender', 'Creative Non Fiction', 'Narrative'] |
Emotional Intelligence and Leadership go Hand in Hand | Emotional Intelligence (E.Q.) helps teams work better together, and creates exceptional managers. So is there enough E.Q. in your leadership style?
There are some roles for which Emotional Intelligence is an absolute must — school teachers, therapists, doctors and nurses, even journalists.
But it’s becoming increasingly obvious that high E.Q. is a common characteristic of the world’s greatest leaders, too.
Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), Barack Obama (former US president), and Jacinda Ardern (current New Zealand Prime Minister) have all spoken out about the importance of having empathy when working with — and managing — others.
So what is it about emotionally intelligent people that makes them fantastic, and successful, managers? And how can we all take a leaf from their book, to become more emotionally intelligent colleagues and leaders ourselves?
And are there any downsides to showing empathy when you’re the one in control?
Understanding Emotional Intelligence and empathy: it’s not about wearing your heart on your sleeve
To better understand how Emotional Intelligence and empathy can make a person easier to work with, and for, it’s helpful to look at the argument from the other direction — what is someone like when they lack these characteristics?
Low emotional intelligence is defined by an inability to perceive other people’s emotions, as well as your own. It’s also associated with unfeeling behaviors — acting in ways that either disregard consideration for those around you, or that actively go against the group’s common good.
This may manifest itself as being argumentative, making important and impulsive decisions (without input from other people), not listening, passing blame, or having emotional outbursts.
Would you like to work with that person?
How about working for that person?
Definitely not.
Absence of Emotional Intelligence and empathy makes someone almost impossible to partner with. Any scope for collaboration goes out the window, and if the goal is fostering psychological safety in the workplace, then that would be severely lacking as well.
Of course, the same could be said at the other end of the extreme. When an employee is overly emotional — perhaps they struggle to take feedback, worry too much about the quality of their input, and struggle to move on from mistakes — then this can be detrimental to a team as well.
But here’s where a crucial distinction needs to be made: being empathetic, and exhibiting Emotional Intelligence, is not the same as being fragile or vulnerable.
To use that much-cited Jacinda Ardern quote:
“It takes courage and strength to be empathetic, and I’m very proudly an empathetic and compassionate leader.”
And high Emotional Intelligence (or E.Q. / Emotional Quotient, as it’s often called) isn’t a female-only trait either — although there is evidence to suggest that these strengths come easier to women than men.
Both male and female leaders can be empathetic — it’s a learned skill, after all.
But why should we try?
When a leader shows Emotional Intelligence, everyone benefits
Harvard Business School breaks Emotional Intelligence down into four key behaviors:
Self-awareness: understanding your strengths and weaknesses, recognizing your emotions and how they impact others.
understanding your strengths and weaknesses, recognizing your emotions and how they impact others. Self-management: how well you can manage your emotions — rash, impulsive (and overly emotional) responses can cause relationships to fracture, and others to pick up on the vibe you’re giving out.
how well you can manage your emotions — rash, impulsive (and overly emotional) responses can cause relationships to fracture, and others to pick up on the vibe you’re giving out. Social awareness: our emotions affect other people, and self aware individuals can read the dynamics in a room or group, interpreting how other people are feeling, too.
our emotions affect other people, and self aware individuals can read the dynamics in a room or group, interpreting how other people are feeling, too. Relationship management: humans are social creatures, and the success of society relies on relationships being properly managed. Of course, in a professional context this becomes even more important — not just for internal relationships, external ones as well.
Seeing Emotional Intelligence laid out like this, it’s really no surprise that great leaders have E.Q nailed. But let’s take a look at some numbers to back the concept up.
Emotional Intelligence strengthens leadership performance
Emotionally Intelligent leaders — specifically those who master empathy — perform 40% higher in coaching, engaging others, and decision-making.
And in a slightly less recent but still incredibly meaningful study from 1982, 81% of the competencies that distinguished outstanding managers from adequate ones were related to emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence helps create better teams
Of course, working with a high-performing leader brings a long list of benefits for the team. When emotionally intelligent managers lead by example, they help create a culture of empathy and understanding. This, in turn, trains and develops less senior colleagues to strengthen their E.Q.
As Daniel Golman, business psychologist and author of many books on the topic of Emotional Intelligence at work, says:
“In teamwork, emotional intelligence is the crucial social lubricant, providing the capacity to settle disputes well, brainstorm creatively, and work harmoniously. This is all the more true for great team leaders. It turns out that team members who scored higher on the ECI, a test of emotional and social competencies, were most likely to emerge as the natural leaders.”
Eventually, the entire organization is running on Emotional Intelligence — creating the right environment for innovation, collaborative communication, greater engagement and, ultimately, increased competitive advantage.
In this way, E.Q. can deliver a boost for business, too.
Emotional Intelligence impacts the bottom line (both directly and indirectly)
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
Leaders are often in the position of selling the company to other people — whether that’s during recruitment drives, or when trying to build up the client roster. With heightened E.Q., leaders can interpret what others are thinking and feeling far more accurately. They can flex their pitch; responding to questions and doubts before they’ve even been raised.
This is evidenced time and time again in sales teams. And, at L’Oréal, salespeople with high emotional intelligence out performed their peers by $91,370 each in just one year, creating an additional $2.5 million revenue.
Indirectly, E.Q. helps protect the bottom line by increasing retention rates — sometimes by staggering amounts. In one study, employees were 400% less likely to leave a job if their manager exhibited high E.Q.
Conversely, research from Georgetown University found that 63% of employees waste time by avoiding their low-EQ leader.
Knowing that businesses can waste millions of dollars on lost productivity and recruitment each year, the profit-driving value of a highly engaged, emotionally intelligent, workforce suddenly becomes very exciting indeed.
So we know how Emotional Intelligence and leadership go hand in hand. But what happens if E.Q doesn’t come all that naturally to you as a leader — are you a lost cause?
Far from it.
As we touched on before, E.Q. — empathy, self-awareness, acute social skills, etc — can be learned. Here’s how…
Emotional Intelligence is a learned skill — here’s 4 ways to increase yours…
Emotionally intelligent individuals regard self-development as an opportunity to be better at what they do. They believe that skills and abilities can be learned over time.
So, no matter whether you’re already rating high on the E.Q. spectrum or you feel you’ve got a way to go, these following four activities will support you in your journey.
Ask for feedback (and embrace it non-defensively)
Before we can take steps forward, we need to know where we are today. That’s why your first piece of E.Q. homework is to ask for feedback from your team.
Sure, it’s never easy to open yourself up to constructive criticism — some of us even find praise hard to swallow! But if you can drum up the courage required, there’s so, so much to gain.
Not only will you be hearing from those whose opinions matter most — the people you lead — but receiving even negative feedback is a fantastic way to develop the skills required for E.Q. Emotionally intelligent leaders can take critical remarks (and kind words!) and see them for what they are: direction.
If your team is calling out for you to consider their needs in team decisions, or to ask for their updates before setting deadlines, then you’ve got a clear route for development ahead. Similarly, if your team feels you’re already exhibiting many of the traits of empathetic leadership, then you know you should keep doing more of the same.
2. Be mindful of your emotional impact on others
Chances are, you won’t become a highly empathetic leader overnight. Developing E.Q takes time, and — if you’re doing it right — it’s a never-ending process.
But you can start assessing your impact on others right away.
How does the mood change in a room when you deliver a piece of disappointing news? If you come into work in a good mood, does it rub off on other people? What about if you’ve got caught in traffic, then split your coffee down you, and rushed into the team meeting in a huff?
There’s a delicate dichotomy between being honest, authentic and open with your teams and allowing your own mood to shift the mood of the group.
That’s why mindfulness is often associated with emotionally intelligent leadership. Unless the team would benefit from ‘catching’ your emotion — maybe you’ve got great sales results to share, or you want to galvanize them into action with a healthy dose of “here’s what our competitors have been up to…” — then give yourself a moment to get your emotions in check before you speak up.
As we said at the outset, there’s a crucial difference between being emotional and being emotionally intelligent. The clue’s in the name: E.Q. requires you to be smart with what you say and how you influence other people.
If you can listen to, manage, and then put aside your own emotional response to a situation, then you’ll be able to make emotionally intelligent and empathetic decisions that are still right for the business.
An overly emotional leader may let their anger or upset get the better of them. But you wouldn’t.
3. Use 1-to-1 to build empathy and really get to know your colleagues
If you really want to connect with the people you lead, there’s nothing better than a 1-to-1 conversation. Take away the group dynamics, and you’re able to have meaningful conversations about personal and professional development, without fear of what other people might think.
What’s more, by showing employees that you care what they think and feel, you can increase their engagement, satisfaction and productivity levels, too.
Armed with personal insight on each team member, you’ll be able to manage the team’s workload in a way that works for everyone. You’ll know that Rebecca needs to develop her client relationships, and that John needs to clock off early twice a week to pick his kids up from school — and you can organize accordingly.
Empathic leaders understand that their team works as whole, but is made up of individual needs, backgrounds, and skill sets coming together. Pan out to consider the sum, but don’t forget to look after the parts, too.
4. Never stop learning — always adopt a “growth mindset”
An emotionally intelligent leader’s work is never done — sorry!
And while we don’t mean you need to work weekends and evenings, you should always be in a “growth mindset”; ready to improve upon the skills you’ve developed already, and to nurture others to do the same.
As we’ve seen, E.Q. can be transformational for a business in all manner of ways. So, the sky’s the limit — if you choose to see it that way. | https://medium.com/duuoo-io/emotional-intelligence-and-leadership-go-hand-in-hand-f03c230e57e3 | ['Michael Sica-Lieber'] | 2020-09-09 10:45:15.523000+00:00 | ['Leadership Development', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Leadership'] |
BitcoiNote Gateway Service Step 2: Preparing PuTTY and WinSCP | BitcoiNote Gateway Service Step 2: Preparing PuTTY and WinSCP
1. Navigate to www.putty.org and click ‘here’.
2. Select “putty-64bit-0.71-installer.msi”. Wait for the download to complete and open the downloaded file to start the installer.
3. Follow the steps in the installer to install PuTTY.
4. Navigate to https://winscp.net/eng/download.php and select “Download WinSCP”.
5. Follow the steps of the installer to install WinSCP.
6. Open PuTTYgen from the start menu.
7. Click Conversions -> Import Key.
8. Select the pem file that you downloaded from AWS before.
9. Click “Save private key”, specify a filename and click “Save” to save the new ppk file.
10. Open WinSCP from the Start menu.
11. Make sure protocol is set to “SFTP".
12. Fill out the following details:
- “host name” (or IP if you didn’t set up a domain name).
- “username” ubuntu .
- “password”; leave this blank.
13. Click "Advanced" and select "SSH" -> "Authentication" and click the "..." button. Select the ppk file that you just created.
14. Click “OK” and then “Login”.
You completed step 2! Next steps:
Back to: Getting started | https://medium.com/@bitcoinote/bitcoinote-gateway-service-step-2-preparing-putty-and-winscp-efabcb7eab65 | [] | 2019-05-17 20:04:36.238000+00:00 | ['Windows'] |
ENGSUB — Fatale :: [2020] | A married man is tricked into a murder scheme by a female police detective.
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Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie.
It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see Fatale more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe.
Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6.
It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually.
(Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria:
“Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”).
I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially.
I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on.
Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around.
Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward
If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine
Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie
Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem
My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong.
Fatale is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale.
The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with Fatale. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘Fataleis’! (LOL);
the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “Fatale” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv!
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “Fatale”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of Fatale and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.)
As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: Fatale’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that Fatale invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan.
Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie.
The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan.
Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well.
In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition.
Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement.
(4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores.
At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting.
The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level.
If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance.
I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch.
I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with Fatale. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). After nearly three hours, I came away from Fatale not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash.
Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. Fatale is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces.
This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. Fatale is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison.
I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, Fatale at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard | https://medium.com/@watch-fatale-2020-online/watch-hd-1080p-fatale-full-2020-full-m-o-v-i-e-s-online-b3c1ce249c5c | ['Watch Fatale Online'] | 2020-12-15 07:40:57.016000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Thriller'] |
Speaker I Admire — Mel Robbins, The Most booked Female Speaker In The World | “What energizes you naturally expands your possibilities. It’s exciting, and maybe scary, and that doesn’t matter.” “What energized me today won’t necessarily energize me next week”
Says Mel Robbins in a video interview where she talks about the misunderstanding of passion; here is the link to this video:
According to her own website’s introduction, Mel Robbins is the most booked female speaker in the world. She is an American lawyer, television host, author, and motivational speaker. Her TEDx Talk on “ How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over” has over 10 million views across 37 countries.
The first time I heard about her was when I listened to her audible book called “Take Control of Your Life” from the Amazon Audible app. In that book, she interviewed people from all walks of life across the US, listened to their stories and struggles, and helped them to figure out how to get unstuck and move forward.
The reason why she is one of the speakers that I admire this much is because of the way she responded to those interviewees was full of compassion and understanding, and yet the suggestions she made were solid and affirmative. During those talks, she acknowledged people’s pains, resonated with their emotions, and provided actionable steps to motivate listeners like me. | https://medium.com/@farryhsu/speaker-i-admire-mel-robbins-the-most-booked-female-speaker-in-the-world-114d433be649 | ['Farry As A Digital Nomad'] | 2021-12-24 02:07:50.620000+00:00 | ['Audiobooks', 'Public Speaking', 'Mel Robbins', 'Interview Tips'] |
ETP Omni Channel POS Software in Thailand [2020]| Best Omnichannel POS Solution for Retailers to drives Sales and manage Transactions | Introduction to ETP Omnichannel POS Software
The growing privatization and emergence of Global markets have changed the entire face of the retail business. It has made it imperative to give utmost attention to the needs of the customers and influence their purchase decision. Today, the retail business is much more than just selling a product. It includes everything right from the customer touchpoints, marketing gimmicks, retail experience, point of sale, customer management, inventory management and much more. It is more about channelizing one’s resources and making an impact.
Retail POS (Point of sale) plays a significant role. It not only smoothens the check out procedure but also has a good impact on customer perception about the retail brand as well.
Retail POS software such as ETP Omni Channel POS software is one of the most preferred retail POS solutions due to its simplified interface, advanced tools and impeccable data collection capabilities. It is embedded with state of art features that helps to better manage sales transactions, promotion activities, loyalty management and much more.
Here are some of the major benefits of incorporating ETP Omni Channel POS Software
● Customer Insights
In order to understand the customers, it is essential to know their likes, dislikes, preferences, priorities, influencers and much more. Customer insights can play a major role in understanding consumer behaviour and drafting meticulous strategies to drive more sales.
Omni Channel Point of sale software helps to comprehend various aspects of consumer behaviour and analyse their purchase pattern as well. It helps to collect and cumulate various data of customers and use various analytical tools to generate various reports using varied channels such as mobile, retail experience, feedback, website, interaction and much more. It allows retailers to integrate all the possible channels and media mix to better know the target audience.
● Improve Sales
One of the greatest benefits of POS solutions such as ETP Omni Channel POS is its positive impact on the overall sales of a retail business as well. POS solution assists to draft cohesive marketing and in-store promotional strategies that can attract more customers, generate their interest, influence their decision and boost sales as well.
● Build a brand
Building a brand in this highly volatile market is very crucial. It can be one of the major distinguishers and can place your retail on a pedestal. Omni Channel POS surely helps to build a strong brand by organizing various retail operations, functions, inventory management systems, communication systems etc. It can streamline Point of Sale and as well makes it easy for retailers to manage sales volume.
● Enhance productivity
Omni Channel POS Software allows retail stores to associate themselves with an array of modern tools and technologically advanced features that can provide them access to the wide base of information. This information can be used to draft comprehensive promotional strategies and attract more customers. Apart from access to information Retail POS software also facilitates disseminating information to the employees, store staff and encourage loyalty building.
The Key Takeaway
Incorporating flawless and advanced ETP Omni Channel retail POS can work wonders for your retail outlet by amplifying its growth and strengthening its system. After all, the retail business is all about organizing your store and influencing your customers with efficient and precise POS. | https://medium.com/@ak-akshaytrivedi9/etp-omni-channel-pos-software-in-thailand-2020-best-omnichannel-pos-solution-for-retailers-to-42cc767aa942 | ['Akshay Trivedi'] | 2020-12-16 05:58:19.398000+00:00 | ['Pos Software', 'Retail', 'Point Of Sale', 'Retail Pos Software', 'Pos System'] |
Come Home | Photo by Kipras Štreimikis on Unsplash
He has a ginger beard
And freckles to boot
I kiss him
Freckles and all
My lips part
Softly — gently
Hands behind my back,
untying my apron
Dinner’s ready!
I am June Cleaver
Or Lucy
His jaw clenches
He has to leave
His wife is calling
And I’m alone again | https://medium.com/the-friday-fix/come-home-7d4290ceb6b9 | ['Lorissa Sapien'] | 2020-06-29 04:23:03.947000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Poetry', 'Love', 'Flash Fiction', 'Microfiction'] |
Creating a chart assembly line with react-chartjs-2 | Our Challenge
The challenge was to create a generic component that could manage any kind of graphic and that would be simple enough to be maintained and reused over time. In addition to this, we needed a graphics library that could mount different types of graphics with the same data structure received from the backend. This condition was of the utmost importance and was the determining factor when choosing the library for the task.
Just follow these steps and you’ll become a chart ninja!
Select the best library
After a long search, I finally chose the react-chartjs-2 library because it fits my needs almost perfectly. This library is a wrapper of chartjs that has a complete documentation and a large community behind it. It generates easy-to-understand graphics with nice animations without being overwhelming, and in general it is quite customizable.
If you want to check out the basic ways to use this library I recommend that you read this post. Here I will talk about the more complex features of the library.
To mount a graph with react-chartjs-2 we will need a structure similar to this one.
Create a generic Component
After choosing the library it was time to create the generic component. This component receives the props `type` for the type of graphic, `data` that has the graphic information, `width` and `height`. The `options` key includes other customizable stuff like tooltips, labels, axes, and more.
Next, I will specify the GRAPH_TYPES constant and optionsByGraphic function because they are important in the component.
Graph Types
In this constant I defined the types of graphs that we use. Here we match the type sent from the backend with the type that we want to show.
In the future if we want to add a new type of graphic we can just add it here.
Customize the options for Graphic
The react-chartjs-2’s components receive the `options` prop, where we can specify different configuration options like axes, tooltips, labels and legends on the graphics. For this reason we create a optionsForGraphic function to return the configurations according to the type of each graphic.
Well, now let’s take a look at the horizontalGraphicOptions function which returns the key ‘options’ for each graphic. For the ‘tooltips’ key we need to create a different one for each graphic type. For this we create a graphicTooltips function that receives the graphic id and returns the proper tooltip object . We do this because we have two graphics with the same type that need different ‘tooltips’. This is why we use the id of each graphic and not just the type. | https://medium.com/wolox/creating-a-chart-assembly-line-with-react-chartjs-2-7f0b07fd53e5 | ['Nicolás Lobruno'] | 2019-09-09 15:43:25.661000+00:00 | ['React Charts', 'React', 'JavaScript', 'Charts', 'Software Development'] |
Blockchain Report — 12/6/2018. Summary: Cryptocurrency Scammers Get… | Summary: Cryptocurrency Scammers Get $78,000 In Under Three Months In Singapore; Cryptocurrency Bear Market Is Forcing Ethereum Co-Founder To Restructure His Company; Ethereum Classic Dev Team Shuts Down
Watch: Latest Episode of Blockchain Report on YouTube
Cryptocurrency Scammers Get $78,000 In Under Three Months In Singapore
According to The Next Web, Singapore citizens have lost $78,000 to cryptocurrency scams in the past three months. This is based on information discovered by Singapore authorities, who uncovered a series of fraudulent cryptocurrency marketing campaigns.
In the marketing campaigns, people claim that they’ve earned massive returns on their Bitcoin investment in fake companies. These marketing campaigns convinced Singaporeans to send cash to these fake companies, in which they did not receive anything in return. These fraudulent campaigns used Singapore celebrities to increase the credibility of the claims.
Despite the blatant scam, it appears that Singapore authorities will not be able to do much to stop this. Currently, Singapore does not have any regulations on the cryptocurrency industry. This means that they cannot enforce any rules to protect investors, because there are no rules to enforce in the first place.
Cryptocurrency Bear Market Is Forcing Ethereum Co-Founder To Restructure His Company
According to Forbes, the fall in prices for the cryptocurrency market has forced several different blockchain and cryptocurrency companies to rethink their long-term strategy. One such person who is restructuring their company is Joseph Lubin, the co-founder of Ethereum and chief executive of ConsenSys.
ConsenSys is an firm that develops applications on top of Ethereum. The company is now reorganizing into “ConsenSys 2.0”, as Lubin calls it, and will focus on efficiency, accountability, and attention to revenue. Underperforming projects in ConsenSys will be removed. Lubin says of the restructuring:
“We must retain, and in some cases regain, the lean and gritty startup mindset that made us who we are… We now find ourselves occupying a very competitive universe. We must recognize that what got us here will probably not get us there, wherever ‘there’ is.”
Ethereum Classic Dev Team Shuts Down
According to CCN, a major Ethereum Classic development team known as ETCDEV is shutting down. ETCDEV initially launched in 2016. Igor Artamonov, the founder and CTO of ETCDEV, stated on Twitter that due to a lack of funds the team will have to shut down. The public note stated:
“As is publicly known, we have struggled with funding our operation in the last few weeks…This was partially due to the market crash, combined with a cash crunch in the company.”
The Twitter account for Ethereum Classic stepped in, and stated that just because ETCDEV was shutting down does not mean that all development for Ethereum Classic was halting. In a tweet, Ethereum Classic stated:
“Ethereum Classic is not ETCDEV Ethereum Classic is IOHK, ETC Co-op, ETC Labs, ETCDEV, and a litany of volunteers. Keep Calm, and Build On.”
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- Telegram 💬: https://t.me/blockchainreportnews | https://medium.com/blockchain-report/blockchain-report-12-6-2018-4a64584ed80c | ['Christopher Durr'] | 2018-12-06 07:49:35.035000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'News', 'Investing', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
You very well point out the real problems designers faced these days but if designers don’t post… | You very well point out the real problems designers faced these days but if designers don’t post their professional work somewhere or don't talk about those projects then how they get a job in the first place. switch one job to another its kind of trend and if you don’t have any project in your portfolio or any case study then what you show to an employer when they ask to guide me through one of your project? I have my portfolio and I post my work without asking anyone because I didn't come across any written document that says you can't post company projects online. read their contracts carefully if there is no written proof then it's fine (only for product-based companies) for the service-based company take the idea and your solution change the visual style in your time and make your portfolio this way no one has right to ask you why you post this online because at first thought someone is designer they only think about aesthetic layer of the product not technical layer under the hood. | https://medium.com/@iamakshayvinchurkar/you-very-well-point-out-the-real-problems-designers-faced-these-days-but-if-designers-dont-post-64da37d9681b | ['Akshay V.'] | 2020-01-14 05:07:48.215000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Problem', 'Designer', 'Solution', 'UX'] |
[Cryptography] DAG vs Blockchain | 2018–01–28 22:45 GMT+03:00 Ersin Taskin wrote:
Pow, pos, dpos, etc. all have the same problem when it comes to security. When you are in the ocean, you cannot anchor to something made of or convertible to water. If you anchor to an iceberg, the attackers just melt it. In a financial system you cannot anchor to anything made of or convertible to money. Pos, pow, etc suffer because stake is made of money, electricity is convertible to money. So all the cryptocurrencies are vulnerable to a super-rational attack involving enough stake/power. I call this the AR Theorem (Anchorlessness-Robustness) in my paper. I show that you cannot achieve both Anchorlessness and Robustness at the same time. I define Robustness with components like efficiency, super-rational attack resilience, etc. Funnily, we have an anchorage that we amazingly ignore. An anchorage you cannot buy, bribe, corrupt. An anchorage that everybody on this list trust. An anchorage that can be used to randomly create and use secret keys that secures the system. It is right there next to us. We just don’t see it because we don’t raise our heads. And we keep paying an amazingly huge technical debt to get vulnerable and poor systems:) This is a manifestation of the importance of skepticism, the fuel of science. Zero tolerance to fanaticism. We, the scientists, should never give up being skeptical about the things that we believe the most. That is the essence of paradigm shifts, which brought humanity here, whose frequency needs to increase. | https://medium.com/crypto-mails/cryptography-dag-vs-blockchain-f4bb4d4590c2 | ['Ersin Taşkın'] | 2018-03-07 10:29:48.726000+00:00 | ['Distributed Ledgers', 'Distributed Systems', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
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🦋 TELEVISION 🦋
(TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 191s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 1950s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[1] during the 1915s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 150s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (531i, with 909093 intertwined lines of goal and 434545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3451513, 3451513 and 3334. Since 115, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, HBO Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 113, 39% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[3] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 1990s. Most TV sets sold during the 150s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-115s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 115s.[1][3][8] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 3.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 115s.[9]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 150s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 150s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 115s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
🦋 OVERVIEW 🦋
A subgenre that joins the sentiment type with parody, zeroing in on at least two people since they find and endeavor to deal with their sentimental love, attractions to each other. The cliché plot line follows the “kid gets-young lady”, “kid loses-young lady”, “kid gets young lady back once more” grouping. Normally, there are multitudinous variations to this plot (and new curves, for example, switching the sex parts in the story), and far of the by and large happy parody lies in the social cooperations and sexual strain between your characters, who every now and again either won’t concede they are pulled in to each other or must deal with others’ interfering inside their issues.
Regularly carefully thought as an artistic sort or structure, however utilized it is additionally found in the realistic and performing expressions. In parody, human or individual indecencies, indiscretions, misuses, or deficiencies are composed to rebuff by methods for scorn, disparagement, vaudeville, incongruity, or different strategies, preferably with the plan to impact an aftereffect of progress. Parody is by and large intended to be interesting, yet its motivation isn’t generally humor as an assault on something the essayist objects to, utilizing mind. A typical, nearly characterizing highlight of parody is its solid vein of incongruity or mockery, yet spoof, vaudeville, distortion, juxtaposition, correlation, similarity, and risqué statement all regularly show up in ironical discourse and composing. The key point, is that “in parody, incongruity is aggressor.” This “assailant incongruity” (or mockery) frequently claims to favor (or if nothing else acknowledge as common) the very things the humorist really wishes to assault.
In the wake of calling Zed and his Blackblood confidants to spare Power Book II: Ghost, Talon winds up sold out by her own sort and battles to accommodate her human companions and her Blackblood legacy. With the satanic Lu Qiri giving the muscle to uphold Zed’s ground breaking strategy, Power Book II: Ghost’s human occupants are subjugated as excavators looking for a baffling substance to illuminate a dull conundrum. As Talon finds more about her lost family from Yavalla, she should sort out the certainties from the falsehoods, and explain the riddle of her legacy and an overlooked force, before the world becomes subjugated to another force that could devour each living being.
Claw is the solitary overcomer of a race called Blackbloods. A long time after her whole town is annihilated by a pack of merciless hired soldiers, Talon goes to an untamed post on the edge of the enlightened world, as she tracks the huggers of her family. On her excursion to this station, Talon finds she has a strange heavenly force that she should figure out how to control so as to spare herself, and guard the world against an over the top strict tyrant. | https://medium.com/@gdanielle/power-book-ii-ghost-season-1-eps-9-full-series-s1-ep9-26a0723ce875 | [] | 2020-12-26 06:27:20.095000+00:00 | ['Drama', 'Startup', 'Crime', 'TV Series'] |
How Whole Foods Market Became a Shopping Phenomenon | Grocery shopping has never been more entertaining, and the idea of purchasing free-trade coffee beans and cruelty-free organic eggs is now more appealing than it ever was before. Almost everyone who lives in either America, Canada, or the United Kingdom must have heard of mega-chain supermarket Whole Foods Market. Originating from Austin, Texas in 1980, Whole Foods today claims to be “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store”.[1] Its main mission is to set excellent standards in the field of food retailers, valuing the quality of food, satisfaction of customers, team growth, all the while protecting the environment.[2] This essay will examine why grocery shopping at Whole Foods is appealing by looking at their core values, marketing strategy, and advertisements, as well as associating them with ideas of representation and the simulacra.
Without doubt, consumerism plays the biggest role in the long-lasting hype of Whole Foods. Whole Foods is an experienced economy, which means that customers shopping at Whole Foods are also buying the experience of it. Therefore, what drives the customers to keep returning is the atmosphere of the store and the impression that it leaves for the shoppers, no longer the products that they are actually selling. In reference to B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore’s book “Welcome to the Experience Economy”, “commodities are fungible, goods tangible, services intangible, and experiences memorable.” By using commodities, goods, and services together as a stage and prop, Pine and Gilmore suggest that it creates a memorable event, because economic offerings hold external values to the buyer, however, experiences personally engage towards each individual differently, whether it be emotional or intellectual,[3] and this adds more value for the company.
Prepared foods and salad bar section in Whole Foods Market, where one can customize their own meals (accessed from wholefoodsmarket.com).
Apart from this, not only does Whole Foods engage personally with their customers, they also engage the five human senses, which enhances and makes the experience more memorable. In each one of their stores, Whole Foods have sections where they sell fresh, ready to eat foods, along with fresh-from-the-oven bakery goods, with open-view kitchens to make sure that customers are able to see and hear the chefs in action. Whole Foods also sell all kinds of cuisines, ranging from Japanese to Italian, which accommodate to customers of different cultural cuisine preferences. In the prepared food section, customers are given the freedom to take however much warm foods that they wish, and they are allowed to mix and match their own salads. Additionally, they offer vegetarian and vegan options, which gives the positive impression that each customer is able to personalize their own foods and groceries. In other words, Whole Foods is selling the tangible and ephemeral; a sense of identity and lifestyle.
Essentially, this desired image of a person who values labor justice, environmental sustainability, and health consciousness is the identity. In Berger’s own words, “Images were first made to conjure up the appearances of something that was absent,” signifying that the image could outlast what it represented, the same way an identity could outlast the image. The image is also a manifestation of how one appears to oneself and to others.[4] Additionally, Whole Foods attract customers who are conscious of their individuality and embraces this image. Evidently, based on data company Factual in 2018, customers who shop at Whole Foods are 154% more likely to earn more than $200,000, which is considered to be above the average annual salary in the United States. This highlights that in spite of the ideologies and values that are being promoted, shopping at Whole Foods has become a mechanism which legitimatizes the financial and racial hierarchies in modern society. As validation, Josée Johnston and Michelle Szabo studied Whole Foods’s customers by interviewing a number of them in Toronto. They have written that the majority of their interviewees were “affluent, educated, and White”, highlighting that although their household incomes vary, they generally fall above average in terms of social standing.
Furthermore, Whole Foods have a way with words. Throughout the grocery store, phrases like “Supporting organic farmers since 1980”, and “We seek out & promote organically grown foods” are printed largely,[5] constantly reminding the shoppers of the core values that they are encouraging. Apart from this, the company’s motto is “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”[6] which is suggesting the customers that by purchasing fair-trade and organic products, buyers are essentially able to feel “whole” and make their environment better, and this is further emphasized through their use of advertisement. With the help of advertisements, customers are completely seduced by the image of an ethical and healthy lifestyle. In this case, it is not service or goods that sells more when it comes to Whole Foods, but it is rather the image that makes the most profit.
Inside a Whole Foods Market store in Kensington, London, showing its phrases placed around the store (accessed from https://www.timeout.com/london/shopping/whole-foods-market)
Whole Foods advertisement (accessed from adage.com).
In reference to John Berger’s idea that seeing comes before words,[7] visual advertising is fundamental in presenting the values and images that Whole Foods are portraying. In Figure 3, an image of neat rows of a paddy field, with a farmer in the center of the ad and the caption “The highest standards weren’t available, so we created them.” This advertisement displays Whole Foods supposed values of supporting local producers and selecting only the highest quality groceries. However, it is important to realize that the advertisement is not showing images of the products that are sold, instead it is displaying the image that Whole Foods’s organic produces come straight from the clean fields in farms, and that Whole Foods is superior when it comes to the quality of foods. Therefore, viewers are seduced only by the image of an ethical and healthy lifestyle, which shopping at Whole Foods contributes to, resulting to being drawn to a “simulated” version of reality, or as Jean Baudrillard claims, a state of hyperreality.[8]
According to Baudrillard, a hyperreality is defined as “the meticulous reduplication of the real, through another reproductive medium, such as in photography,” which emphasizes on the significance of advertisements and media. Hyperrealism is the “reality for its own sake” which fetishizes what is lost.[9] Baudrillard also writes that reality is often replaced by hyperreality, in which the ideas of the real is no longer signified, and only the simulacrum is signified. Simulacrum, in this case, is the “image, representation, or a reproduction of the concrete other.”[10] Thus, this virtual and hyper-realistic simulacra is Whole Foods’s marketing strategy which enforces the social identity that is being sold.
Additionally, the strategy is enhanced and manifested in how the products are presented. For instance, most will find Whole Foods’s butchers having bloodless aprons, which gives the impression that they have clean work stations, in turn creating the image of cleaner meats. In Johnston and Szabo’s study, they have found that cleanliness and tidiness are significant reasons why customers prefer Whole Foods as opposed to other grocery stores.[11] Nonetheless, the butcher’s bloodless station disconnects the customers from the violent nature of butchering meat itself, because then it would make customers feel uneasy and ironically, self-conscious of the brutality. Supporting this, interviewees have said that shopping at Whole Foods is comfortable, and that the store itself is aesthetically pleasing.[12] Therefore, natural and organic products are sold for the image opposing its reality, as dirt is a feature of nature itself. This indicates the very fact of the simulacra, and that the customers are living in a hyperreality, as some customers have even said that going to Whole Foods has become a sort of “escape” from the hustle and bustle of daily life, or perhaps as a distraction from reality.
Although it seems that only the simulacra of identity is operating in Whole Foods, there are plenty that manage with one another. Whole Foods’s advertisement, website, social media, and stores function alongside the simulacrum. These simulacrum work in the way that it transforms what is real into the desired hyperreality, as well as contributing to the Experience Economy. In this case, customers do not even need to enter the store to experience what they are selling, which is not the supposedly organic products, but rather the identity and the image that is tied to the products. The long-lasting sensation built from Whole Foods can be explained profoundly using concepts of the Experience Economy, the notion of image and representation, as well as Baudrillard’s simulacrum and hyperreality. With this, although it might seem that Whole Foods’ main business is only to sell organic and natural product, with deeper insight, an image of a desired social identity can also be seen lying behind it.
NOTES:
[1] “Company Info,” Whole Foods Market, https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info
[2] “Our Core Values,” Whole Foods Market, https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/core-values
[3] B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore, Welcome to the Experience Economy, Harvard Business Review Press, 1998.
[4] John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin Books, 2008): 10
[5] “Whole Foods Market,” TimeOut, 26 October, 2016.
[6] Pauline Meyer, “Whole Foods Market’s Vision Statement, Mission Statement,” Panmore Institute, 31 January, 2017.
[7] John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin Books, 2008): 7.
[8] Ryszard W. Wolny, “Hyperreality and Simulacrum: Jean Baudrillard and European Postmodernism,” European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 3, no. 3 (2017): 76
[9] Jean Baudrillard, “The Hyper-realism of Simulation” in Art in Theory 1900–2000, edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003: 1018.
[10] Wolny, “Hyperreality and Simulacrum: Jean Baudrillard and European Postmodernism,” 77.
[11] Joseé Johnston, and Michelle Szabo. “Reflexivity and the Whole Foods Market Consumer: The Lived Experience of Shopping for Change.” Agriculture and Human Values 28, no. 3 (2011): 306–307. | https://medium.com/@priscindra/critical-analysis-of-whole-foods-market-a-shopping-phenomenon-64d472902037 | ['Priscilla Indrayadi'] | 2020-12-30 04:43:23.874000+00:00 | ['Shopping', 'Analysis', 'Whole Foods', 'Culture', 'Whole Foods Market'] |
Packers And Movers In Kanjurmarg | Packers And Movers In Kanjurmarg
We are beyond compare when it comes to packing and moving your goods.
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If you need any services related to Superstar Packers and Movers Kanjumarg, just contact us at [email protected] and/or Call Us: +91 932001 9001 and send it to us. You will receive an instant quote and estimate regarding your shifting needs. Hire the services from our movers and packers Mumbai Company and experience the hassle-free shifting to a new location like never before.
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We offer a full line of house packing and moving services. We customize our services to fit your moving needs whether you are moving a few large items or entire house. Household shifting task may happen inside the city/inside the state/inside the country, yet estimating your budget and try to obtain budgetary services from the service providers can be an intelligent idea. Security is must and so you should also make ensure with the supporters of household shifting. The faster things done, the quicker you get started with your new life in your new place.
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Whether your company has grown and must move to bigger premises or you sipmly need to organize internal office moves, we offer office moving services customized. Only when goods are loaded into the trucks in comfortable manner, it can be ready for the next element of process. Well-organized team members of packers and movers will able to participate while both loading and unloading processes happen. Staff members with physical fitness and stamina are given in a right manner of process so that they can tackle the situation cleverly.
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Super Star International Packer & Movers also Provide Storage facilites based on your need. Whether you need short term storage or long term, your goods will remain safe and clean. It is a hazardous interaction among your articles will lead many unexpected breakages, so transporter with sound knowledge are able to handle your possessions while it gets loaded into the trucks. Proper fit will give comfortable to goods which will never result any harm to it while fast moving of cargo. Goods are loaded into the trucks in comfortable manner.
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We also provide limited professional Car Carrier services to our clients to meet their moving needs such as Car Shifting etc. Surface of car carrier services may seem like perfect, but it may not be worthwhile, you will not find it until you have worked out. Personalized cargo services are mandatory on some cases. You may not wish to get full services from the transporters except car carrier services, in such cases you can able to save money and it will be more useful for you to face the situation based on your perception. | https://medium.com/@kjeetendra888/packers-and-movers-in-kanjurmarg-c2d0cc0c229 | ['Common Services'] | 2019-11-15 11:35:22.793000+00:00 | ['Logistics'] |
What to Do When Your Loved Ones Don’t Support Your Art | What to Do When Your Loved Ones Don’t Support Your Art
Don’t try to hire them for a job they don’t want.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
The Pain is Real
One of the hardest things about being a writer or any kind of creative is when the people we care about don’t support us. When those who are closest to us snub or poo-poo our creative efforts, it hurts — a lot.
I have plenty of people in my life who cheer me on as I pursue my passion for writing. For that, I’m grateful. However, there are some people I expected to be in my corner who aren’t having it. Not even a little bit.
This has been a source of hurt for me for three years since I’ve started writing again. I’ve been working through this rejection and making strides in coming to terms with it. Until this week, that is.
I got a notification that someone close to me who rarely interacts with my blog’s Facebook page commented. I was so excited. When I opened the notification to read it, it was to point out there was a typo in my post.
Wow. Really?
You never support anything else I do, but you take the time to point out a typo?
Nope. Just nope.
At first, I responded with a good-natured reply after fixing my typo. I even used a smiley emoji, though I wasn’t feeling smiley. Upon further reflection, I deleted the comment and my reply. Why? Because I don’t need people embarrassing me on a platform I’ve worked hard to create.
It wasn’t about the typo. I make them from time to time. We all do. It was that this person’s only effort to reply to my work was to point out a mistake. The plus side is it spurred me to write this article. So there’s that.
How to Respond
Maybe you’re in the same boat. Maybe there are people you would love to have support you who just aren’t that into what you’re doing. Maybe you have people who ignore you or point out your typos. Yeah, it stinks.
I have some good news and a bit of advice. They aren’t your people when it comes to your creative pursuits. Don’t try to hire them for a job they don’t want. I’ve known this for a while, but today’s public typo comment struck that old nerve.
When these things happen, here’s how we can choose to respond.
DON’T RESPOND — You aren’t obligated to justify yourself and your art to anyone. Not even those close to you. If others don’t share your enthusiasm, don’t waste time worrying about it like I have in the past (or this week). Keep creating. Know that you are good enough without their support. You can and will succeed without their help. APPROACH THEM — If you feel strongly enough and believe saying something would help (in my case I knew it would not), say something. In a non-defensive way, call or sit the person down and share how important what you are doing is to you. No texting, no emails — voice contact only. Let the person know that his or her lack of support hurts. It could be that those who aren’t supporting you simply don’t realize how you feel. FIND YOUR TRIBE — The best people for supporting creative people are other creative people. Join a local writers’ or artists’ group. Find online groups to connect with other creatives. Even if you have the support of those you care about, other artists will support you in a special way that your loved ones cannot. We are a quirky, caring, supportive bunch. THANK YOUR SUPPORTERS — Remember to thank those who care about what you are doing. My husband is the absolute best. He is endlessly encouraging and loving. I know I am fortunate that the person closest to me in all the world supports me. Not everyone has this kind of support. I thank him and others for believing in me because it’s only right to acknowledge their kindness.
Be a Cheerleader
The best response to negativity is positivity. Please don’t get me wrong. This is grueling work. Avoiding a claws-out confrontation is not easy when you feel hurt. This is especially true when you are passionate about your work. Let the naysayers do their thing and find someone to encourage instead.
If you know how it feels to be overlooked or snubbed by those you care about, make sure you don’t do the same. Acknowledge those who are working hard to create something. Read their writing. Buy their art. Go to their concerts. Share their work with others by social media or word of mouth.
I’ve gotten into an online critique group with two other women and it has been wonderful. I met them through an online writers’ group. We have never met but have been critiquing each other’s work and cheering each other on.
A couple of years ago, I started a small local writers’ group and meet with them monthly. We are strengthened and encouraged by our time together. As the proverb says, iron sharpens iron.
Becoming a member of Medium and giving support through claps, comments, and highlights is a great way to be a cheerleader. In doing so, you are helping other writers make money as well. What could be better?
Take heart. Not everyone is going to love what you are doing. Not everyone will understand and acknowledge your passion. Choose wisely in how you respond and above all, don’t stop creating. The world needs your art. | https://medium.com/swlh/what-to-do-when-your-loved-ones-dont-support-your-art-856cdc842f5 | ['Tracy Gerhardt-Cooper'] | 2019-06-16 23:11:06.279000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Creativity', 'Life Lessons', 'Writing', 'Self Improvement'] |
My Christmas Wonderland | Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Year’s to all my friends here on Medium and around the world.
Many of these decorations were my mother’s, I am so hopelessly proud to still feel her elegance around me when I display them. | https://medium.com/chance-encounters/my-christmas-wonderland-93bd72e1fcbd | ['R Tsambounieri Talarantas'] | 2020-12-29 01:00:56.551000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Holidays', 'Photos', 'Chance Encounters', 'Memories'] |
Shutdown to Restart- Reframing the business | Photo by Bret Kavanaugh on Unsplash
About 60+ days into the lockdown- depending on where you live and work business and governments are opening or getting ready to open. Seems like the shutdown came out of nowhere and lot of time has been spent for organizations on prepping infrastructure & operations to support work from home, setting up policies, procedures to be effective and efficient and trying to adjust . So as result here we are (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/most-workers-say-wfh-can-succeed-4842284/)
The restart and road back to the new normal, hybrid work mode will not suddenly appear but rather needs to be planned and executed while acknowledging that there needs to be adjustment along the way. So the question is what could the playbook look like and how will it unfold. The reopening will require a reframing of the business. There are many factors that will feed into this new framework such as risk, health, safety, regulations, resilience , work type, digital, criticality, prioritization, economic impact and more. The framework will broadly need to apply to how work is conducted and specifically how processes across all functions from sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution, research, information technology, finance & HR etc will need to change.
The framework will need to examine the nature and method of work, new regulations that may apply, the organization of work space, how it should be used, who comes work combined with health and safety checks from temperature checks to testing. This leads into work type — physical, knowledge based, high touch, low touch etc. leading into what work can and should be performed remotely, work that can be automated/digitized and scaled securely while maintaining for collaboration and effectiveness. Within each function, there is an opportunity and need to rethink all business processes of the organization across the board.
Some examples that come to mind, sales and marketing processes have become more online & remote than ever. In an environment where travel will be drastically reduced or localized, the process can be redesigned with more of customer pull while integrating digital influence, relationship building and engagement into it. Another example that comes to fore front is supply chain processes will need to redesigned from more of risk and resilency perspective, which means manufacturing and distribution lines will need to be realigned for health and safety along with production schedules. The other addition is ensuring supply chains can be brought on and off line to accomodate for health and political considerations. If work from home is a new reality that talent evaluation, acquisition and management probably will need to reorganized around talent and less around proximity to work location as a pre-requsite for employment.
As this new framework comes into play, it is important to consider changes required for reopening day one, to changes that will evolve and become a permanent fixture in the new organization. | https://medium.com/@navin.maganti/shutdown-to-restart-reframing-the-business-51cd86bcc997 | ['Navin Maganti'] | 2020-05-15 15:46:00.738000+00:00 | ['Enterprise', 'Business Process', 'Future Of Work', 'Framework', 'Organization'] |
My Experience as a Speaker in Angular-Up, Tel Aviv 🎤 & Excursion to Jerusalem 🕍 [Vlog] | Hello beautiful people, in this article I’ll describe my last 4–5 days traveling in Israel and attending as a speaker Angular-Up, a tech conference focusing on Angular. While we progress I’ll share what I did (tech and non-tech wise) as well as some new experiences.
Let the journey begin…
P.S. If you are not feeling like reading, watch the vlog 😉.
Day 0 — Saturday 🏡
On Saturday I was in my hometown preparing for the upcoming trip. The previous day I had done a PCR test (although I’m double vaccinated 💉 it was required by Israel’s regulations), so I was simply waiting for the negative results. That morning I went to exchange some money from Euro to Shekel as it would be easier for my transactions… and by night, I had the negative results from the PCR test and my suitcase done.
Day 1 — Greece to Israel ✈
The next day my flight was at 7.30AM, guess what time I went to the airport?! 5.30AM. I had a feeling that I was missing something from my papers. To give you some context, there is a lot of bureaucracy to flight to Israel. A lot of papers need to be done. Thankfully, for these papers, I had the help of the organizers.
Anyway, I went for the check-in, and they told me I was missing a paper, I said to them “that’s impossible I have double-checked everything”, they insisted that I was missing one of the papers…so they wouldn’t allow me to check-in. A local resident (from Israel), came to help me as I started to panic. She told me that a paper should have been sent to me automatically but in my case, it hadn’t. After that, I was trying to find the paper or to re-do the procedure to take it. I literally needed more than 90min to find it… so it was time for the airplane to depart and I hadn’t even gone through the security check…
I was panicking… I was about to quit.
I run with my laptop open to the check-in to present the paper as I didn’t even have the time to shut it down and pass the paper on my phone… They accepted the paper and I started running! 🏃♀️
I finally caught my flight. I was now relieved and even sitting in business class for the first time!
As soon as I reached Tel Aviv’s airport I had to do another PCR test inside the airport. Although there were many passengers the procedure was quick.
After the test, I took a cab and arrived at the hotel. Now, this is another story, a story I’m not proud off 😅, I couldn’t find the entrance of the hotel… It was a block of buildings and all them had the same address, so I had no idea how I was supposed to find the entrance of my hotel… Long story short, after 30min walking with my suitcase up and down, I found it.
The receptionist was very friendly and answered all my questions. That afternoon I visited the mall to buy a SIM card, I walked a bit in the city, arrived back at the hotel, worked for a couple of hours, refreshed myself and went to sleep.
Day 2: Tel Aviv, Conference: Angular Up 💻🎤
The next morning I woke up early, before going to the conference I worked for a couple of hours, eat breakfast and hit the Tel Aviv streets! 😎
I reached the conference venue at 9.30AM. Everything was very well organized. I met the main organizers, Nur and Assaph from the EventHandler and many awesome speakers from Israel or abroad. I had lovely chats with them, we shared experiences about tech and life. During the lunch break, I took the opportunity to walk around the city, see a few sightseeing and return back to the venue. In the afternoon, there was a closing ceremony with gifts for the participants of the conference. As soon as the ceremony finished, one of the organizers accompanied me to the hospital as I had to make another PCR test (for my returning flight). During the evening the organizers and the speakers had a lovely dinner and cocktails at a beautiful outdoor space.
Day 3: Excursion to Jerusalem 🕍
The next day one of the organizers and a few of the speakers (including myself!) went on a private tour in Jerusalem. I don’t want to write to much about it as I simply would like to encourage you all to visit that place. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, your culture, or your religion; there is something for everyone. Just wear comfortable shoes and prepare your camera!
That was my last day in Tel Aviv. My flight was at 10.30AM, I arrived at the airport at 7.30AM, yes, 3h earlier and trust me, I needed the whole 3h even if I had a fast-track ticket (the advantages of business class, thank you Eventhandler 🥰). The security check lasted hours… they searched everything in an incredibly detailed way… and they were asking weird questions in the passport check… 🙄
Usually, I like to stroll around the duty-free shops, but this time I didn’t have time for that.
I boarded the plane, I had a nice flight. I returned back home, rested for a bit and then worked until late evening.
Conclusion and future plans 🔮
I had a lovely time at the conference, meeting new people and exchanging ideas! I’m looking forward to traveling more and gaining new knowledge on a technical and personal level. I believe these two are connected. When we grow in one area it’s easier to grow in the other one too.
If everything goes according to the plan, you’ll see more vlogs and similar articles in the upcoming weeks!
Where would you like to travel? At which conference would you love to go?
The Vlog ⬇ | https://medium.com/@eleftheriabatsou/my-experience-as-a-speaker-in-angular-up-tel-aviv-excursion-to-jerusalem-vlog-392269a78390 | ['Eleftheria Batsou'] | 2021-11-17 11:29:19.351000+00:00 | ['Public Speaking', 'Work And Travel', 'Public Relations', 'Conference', 'Developer Stories'] |
A Quick Guide to Understanding SEO | Dec 1, 2020
Written By MJ Renner
Photo by henry perks on Unsplash
SEO or Search Engine Optimization may seem elusive but can actually be a simple, invaluable tool for building online platforms if utilized effectively. SEO is what affects the visibility of websites or web pages in the unpaid results of a search engine. Knowing how this works and how to optimize the search engine can help in driving traffic to your site.
Whether through Google, which has the largest search engine traffic there is, or other browsers, the results being populated are intended to be relevant, quality information for the person searching.
Relevance can be determined by any number of things but there are straightforward answers like how people are interacting with your site, its loading speed, and the types of content, just to name a few.
These things may be overwhelming without a plan with which to tackle the different elements of strengthening your site but developing a strategy to handle some of the different forms of optimization overtime can help.
Specific Elements to Consider
Know what people are searching for when they come to your website, optimizing title tags can allow people to find your content easier. Additionally, researching the search volume of certain key words can direct you in what to include for your own landing pages.
Developing content is also a necessary step for effectively growing a website. Consistent additions show search engines that you are actively engaging with the backend of your site. Providing a variety of pieces for your site whether that is articles of varying lengths, video, or other unique design elements is another opportunity to diversify the resources people see when they visit while boosting your SEO.
Meta descriptions are an important component of the pages you are developing because it may not be seen on the site itself but it acts as copy for advertisements and may sometimes be displayed in the search results. Something that is well written might draw people to actually click on your website when they read the information below the page title.
If the site is not user friendly, that can also work against the content you are creating or other techniques you might be trying to boost SEO. Slow load times on images that are too large or embedded links which are expired will work against the work you are doing so regularly site maintenance plays a vital role in this process.
Types of Searches
Oftentimes people may be trying to discover more information about a specific topic or thing, are looking to purchase a service or product, or are looking for a certain website. Informational, transactional, and navigational searches are what most commonly show up in search engines. Understanding how your content fits into these topics is a good start for developing a plan for your own business.
A general understanding of SEO and a knowledge of how your website fits into the types of searches people are making allows for a plan that can yield greater success and higher levels of traffic overtime. | https://medium.com/@nomadendeavors/a-quick-guide-to-understanding-seo-dff152fe9bcf | ['Nomad Endeavors'] | 2020-12-22 04:11:54.423000+00:00 | ['Seo Tips', 'Web', 'Seo Training', 'Traffic Optimization', 'SEO'] |
5 Things I’ve Learned Posting a Data Viz Everyday in the First Half of 2020 | In 2020, I set out with a goal to post a cool data visualization to my Instagram every day. The goal was to be personally inspired by all your amazing data viz and then pass it along, to inspire others. I also wanted to learn and understand all the different techniques, charts, and ways to displaying data.
Six months later, I’ve scoured through, analyzed, and posted over 182 different data visualizations. What have I learned?
1) Data visuals are everywhere, if you are looking for them
Because I started this quest to post one data visualization everyday, I started looking for them. And guess what? They’re everywhere in the wild. It was super easy to find them. It seems like every app, website, and company has a “stats” page for you now days. Just open up your phone, do any of these pages look familiar to you?
Top Left to Bottom Right: Google Analytics, iRobot Roomba, Medium, Instagram, Apple Health, Apple Screen Time
Data viz is becoming a part of our daily lives. We are constantly seeing graphs and interpreting their meaning. With the rise of big data, there must be an equal rise in data visualization making and understanding. Data unvisualized remains relatively useless. We saw this to be extremely true with Corona Virus news. The media was constantly sharing the John Hopkin’s Dashboard or John Burn-Murdoch’s country tracker. Data is most easily digestible for humans through visual display.
I thought it might be hard to find something worth sharing everyday, but turns out, it’s more harder deciding what to share! Google searches, Instagram, FlowingData.com, Tableau Public, Twitter, Reddit, Data Viz Society, ect have made it very easy to find aesthetic, information rich charts.
2) People really like maps
Maps are powerful in data visualization for two fold. One, they portray multiple dimensions extremely well in a familiar fashion that everyone understands. Two, they allow viewers to relate the data. It lets users relate to the data by saying, “Oh, I live here…this is where my mom lives…oh, and man, look at what’s happening where Johnny lives.” It allows data to be personable.
For example, I’m currently playing Animal Crossing on my Nintendo Switch. It’s a lot of fun, but more importantly, it is incredibly therapeutic and relaxing. I made this map via Google Trends data and Flourish to show what states are most interested in the game. The results? The West Coast loves it! Oregon? Really likes it! Does your state like Animal Crossing?
Animal Crossing search map from my Instagram
3) People are amazed by animated data viz
Animations are fun, interesting, and informative. In the digital age, video is king. Turning a graph into a video proves for an engaged audience.
Take this silly animated chart I made about how successful Netflix originals are as a function of days after they were released. This little graph got over 170,000 view on TikTok (personal record)! It also proved to be one of my most viewed, liked, and saved Instagram posts. Sound on for the full experience 😉
Netflix Original Comparison (made via Flourish, data via Google Trends)
4) People enjoy dark mode
While the debates between dark and light mode rave on, I’m a huge fan of dark mode. The tiger king animation is dark screen and big fan favorite…but what about others? Do people seem to like graphs with a darker background, or the cleaner white?
While I don’t have any concrete analysis on this, I have my own empirical evidence suggesting dark mode is at least more likable on Instagram.
Insights from my Instagram
This screenshot shows my top liked posts on Instagram. Eight out of my top ten have been dark mode. Correlation or causation? I don’t have the statistical tests to prove it, but I believe. Dark mode for the win!
This is interesting as most data visualization tools start with a white background as a default. Is there evidence that starting with a dark background could make your visual more interesting?
Note that point two in this article holds valid here; five out of the top ten are maps.
5) People are intrigued by polar charts
Polar charts are often frowned upon by the data professional ensemble, but it seems like the public really enjoys them.
This amazing chart of sentiment analysis in the bible got people really intrigued:
Read OpenBible.Info’s Post about Making This
So did these plots from Google News Lab exploring The Rhythm of Food.
Kale’s Rhythm (Good News Lab)
I think people in general think circles are pretty aesthetic. I also think charts and graphs are usually predominantly thought of as rectangular. The geometry change is fun and is easy to understand, while remaining impactful
Half Way To Go
While the past 182.5 days have been awesome, I’m excited for the next 182.5. There are still themes to explore, tools to learn about, and a lot of data viz to slobber over and be inspired by.
Please join me on this journey! Send me some of your own data visualizations. Come be inspired by others’ work. Let’s learn together! | https://towardsdatascience.com/5-things-ive-learned-posting-a-data-viz-everyday-in-the-first-half-of-2020-1ef6f4b892d2 | ['Avery Smith'] | 2020-07-13 13:22:08.025000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Graph', 'Inspiration', 'Instagram', 'Charts'] |
I No Longer Worship Celebrities | I No Longer Worship Celebrities
Photo by Gordon Cowie on Unsplash
All influence is immoral — immoral from the scientific point of view.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
If this year has shown us anything, it has shown us two things which are we spend entirely too much time focusing on the affairs of people with money and status, and also that we give them too much credit for being spokespeople for their audience. From Desi Banks to Kevin Hart, we see over and over the danger of viewing people as more than what they are. Instead of judging entertainers on the merit of their ability in a craft, we instead focus on their responses to various issues that they haven’t shown an ability to handle and when they fail it crushes us.
Seeing how Talib Kweli went out this year on Twitter helped drive home that point to me. Here was someone who I had listened to for the better part of a decade and a half, and now here he was obliterating his legacy with a Twitter squabble over a minor issue. His lyrical ability is unquestioned and in some aspects so is his commitment to hip-hop, but his track record of respecting and treating others with respect is abysmal. He’s not the first nor the last person to disappoint us with his actions, but then again what gives me the right to hold him accountable to me? Who gave me or anyone else the right to judge him for his personal choices? Most of all,
As a man growing and embracing my personal candor, I am seeing just how convoluted my own words and actions are. On my best day, I am a fearless advocate for justice and free speech and on my worst a cynical and myopic man peddling generalizations. If I had an elevated platform, I too would be one post away from a hero and another from a villain. I’m not attempting to make excuses for people with paid publicists and handlers. I however acknowledge that anyone can look foolish when they operate out of their depth of field.
Often we look for celebs, some of whom are entertainers to speak for our interests to absolve us of responsibility when we could instead look to politicians who receive enormous amounts of money to do that work. What a world we live in where we expect people with limited education to speak eloquently on sensitive issues better than the people who represent our country on a global scale? What an imbalance! So Joe Biden and his love of Strom Thurmond is not up for critique but a singer or rapper with less savvy is? That is the crux of it though.
So as every day passes and I see another headline of a faux pas by a celebrity online, I don’t react as much. I don’t hold them on a high pedestal and I don’t expect them to represent my views even when I looked at their art to do so at one point. I’ve grown old enough to see them as supremely talented in one aspect but complex. They can be intelligent enough to know what to say and arrogant enough to speak stupidly or the inverse. They can mean well and not know where to start. So while I may cringe at their statements, in the grand scheme of things they occupy the same place in my life as they always have. | https://medium.com/@solomonhillf/i-no-longer-worship-celebrities-bbfea71a6c20 | ['Solomon Hillfleet'] | 2020-12-14 18:53:19.947000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Entertainment', 'Social Justice', 'Celebrity', 'Music'] |
Design Thinking for Startups | Okay, we all know about “BHAPs” — Big Hairy Audacious Problems — but I think we could all afford to be more up on “BHEPs” — Big Hairy Embarrassing Problems! Here’s a perfect example of a BHEP: 85% of Startups fail within their first three years, and this is within the U.S., one of the most innovative and opportunity-rich countries in the world! Why is this the case?
To address this question, we want to bring in some of the missing links that contribute to a strong startup community and also help decrease this high rate of failure; missing links that come from the design studio perspective. At Sundberg-Ferar here in Detroit, we work very closely with our local startup community, and it’s this perspective that lets us see first-hand some common problems that we’ll try to address here.
1. Undercapitalization for Startup Product Design & Development
The number one problem that causes this embarrassingly high rate of failure is still undercapitalization. While an independent industrial design studio like us can’t help directly with that, we can always help connect you with some VCs, incubators, or accelerators who might help you this way. Budget is always a concern, but there are still creative ways to stretch your dollar, and that’s where we can help in finding a feasible way to work with your team.
2. Misunderstanding Design Thinking & Product Design for Startups
This second big problem is product design itself, which we’ll be tackling it in this article.
But before that, I just want to give you some background on where we’re coming from in our thinking here at Sundberg-Ferar. Our studio has been working with big and small companies alike across categories since 1934. Not only do we design objects for many different types of companies, our work across categories also allows us to cross-pollinate and cross-reference the patterns in human behavior, the trends we see, and the ideas we see emerging between categories. We bring all this cross-category insight to bear on the designs we create for you. We also design products in all levels of innovation from incremental innovations to radical innovations — and again, we do this for big companies and small companies too. Just because you’re a startup doesn’t mean your product can’t be a radical innovation. Many of the disruptive products we’re seeing in the world today are actually from startups! Learn more about Sundberg-Ferar and our philosophy.
1. What is Industrial Design?
Now, it could be that some of you haven’t been introduced to the definition of Industrial Design yet. Yes, if you’ve heard that we make things beautiful, it’s true. Whether in mobility or a consumer product or a component, it always ends up being beautiful when we work on it. However, we actually start with solving the right problem beautifully. The beauty is always part of it, but it’s really a natural result of the human-centric process of designing a product which looks first at the ease of use, ergonomics of use, usability, efficacy and layering all those aspects of the product together. We’ve talked a lot about the unique role of “beauty” in industrial design in this other article (Beauty : The Beast in Industrial Design) which you can take a look at. Design is not just styling. Styling is a component of design.
Let’s look at the general landscape of how an industrial design studio, like us, looks at things. Check out the image above. On the right side of this spectrum, you have aspects of the process like designing, engineering, model-making, prototyping and all the steps that “make it happen” for your product. On the left side of the spectrum, though, you see how we start. No matter what, we always begin with understanding the primary need to solve and understanding the business plan in yours or your team’s mind.
2. Pitfalls to avoid in getting from Idea to Product
Now, back to the topic at hand: Design Thinking. No matter what, as a startup, you start with an idea. Then over a couple of years (give or take) you become established. Then, if all goes well, you’ll most likely go into vertical expansion and create a portfolio of products — because profit is made at the portfolio level, not just from a single product. That’s a natural progression of maturing as a company. Then you’ll grow into adjacent categories as you engage your evolving ecosystem and the peripheral, analogous aspects of your products.
Any big company you can think of, Lego, Apple, Carhart, Yeti and beyond — as successful and huge as they are today — all started in the small business or startup world with nothing but some strong values and ideals and an idea to bring them to life.
Understanding the Method to the Madness: That’s why we do what we do in product development right? We have an idea and we want to use it to solve problems for the world! However, you just have to understand that there is a very deliberate and rigorous cadence to the process of getting from idea to product. There’s a series of stepping stones that will get you there, but you have to trust the process:
First, there’s the idea that you start with. It could be just yours, or it could be a father/son team or a husband/wife team. Second, you have to prove it out and get the idea out of your head and onto the paper. If it’s going to finally be used in the world of 3D, you have to get it into a 3D manifestation or proof-of-concept and actually get it in from of people — friends, family or partners. Now’s the part where money really comes into it — the elephant in the room that we have to deal with sooner or later. That money might come from a kick-starter campaign or grants from your local incubator or small business association. Then you finally get into stage B, C and beyond. The main thing is understanding how to think about this process to get from idea to product.
Know where you are in the process: Very often we see a startup who, practically, is still on the left side of the spectrum that we looked at, so they’re very early in the process, yet they’re already spending time thinking about all the details of the production stage! Yes, it’s nice to have all that figured out, but it doesn’t help your thinking when your idea is still early in the process. In fact, it stymies your thinking because you’re already discounting possibilities and avenues for your idea based on manufacturing feasibility alone. You definitely have to think about design for manufacturing, but that comes later in the process. If you think that way at the beginning, you’re throwing out possibilities that are full of potential. There will be inevitable feasibility issues to tackle and bridges to cross, but let’s keep those extremely production-oriented considerations like rib thickness, draft angles, or sink marks in that later stage where they belong.
3. Not Minimum-Viable-Product but Minimum-Viable-Experience
Before that comes the conceptual stage where you’re still presenting your idea to family, friend, or investors. Again, in the conceptual stage, all the issues just mentioned don’t need to be solved yet. You can simply have a look-alike or work-alike model that can still be presented at an investment convention or local competition. Your product or idea doesn’t have to be designed for economies of scale at that point.
But even before that, the first thing to look at is not even creating your MVP (minimum viable product). Even the idea of MVP includes the idea of the product, and limits your thinking to physical features and functionality. What you should really be focusing on first is your MVE, the Minimum Viable Experience!
You shouldn’t think of just selling a product — if you are, you might already be losing the game. If you really want to get at the experiential, aspirational, emotional needs, pain points, and desires of users in a given ecosystem, you should be asking yourself what would be that Minimum Viable Experience. Demonstrating the MVE can be done simply using low-fidelity models, storyboards, simulations, or enacting. No matter what, you have to understand how to start developing your idea instead of immediately getting hampered in your thinking because you talked to a supplier and they said you need to order a minimum volume of 150,000 products, or some other barrier. Tackling those kinds of hurdles in the first stages will stop anyone in their tracks! You absolutely still need to have a flavor of the production processes, but that shouldn’t pigeon-hole your thinking and creativity in developing your idea and the MVE.
4. Get Guidance
Take a look at this image. Right in the center is you and your idea, and then you have to start evolving your idea and get the confidence of your family and friends. I say this because no matter what, you have to put some of your own skin and money in the game, and your friends and family can often be an asset in that area, and they can also make a buck off of you in return. Then you start presenting your product to investors and get funding. Next you can get into soft tooling and batch production. Finally you can manufacture the product at scale. So there is a rhythm and cadence to when you start bringing the more detailed miniscule elements into your idea in the product development process.
This is also how an Industrial Design studio, like Sundberg-Ferar or any other good design studio, would help in working with you and guiding you through that cadence and journey from idea to manufacturable product. It’s nice to have that end vision and expansive idea of your idea and what you want your product experience to be, but you also have to have a way to reach back into the present and know what can be done in the next 3-month span to get your product to the next level given your current timeline and budget.
5. Love Your Vision More than Your Product.
The next thing we need to talk about may seem obvious: Everyone is in love with their product. Of course they are. That’s what makes them passionate about it, and as a startup, that passion is great to have. In fact, you need it! Look at Shark Tank for example. In order to pitch a great product, you have to believe in it and have that passion! BUT. While it’s nice to have your product, or “your baby”, keep in mind that “there is only one beautiful baby in the world, and every mother has it”. It’s the same with products, and as an industrial design studio, we try to help our clients realize this. Every inventor has a product that’s his/her baby, and often they just can’t let go. We are not saying that you have to let it go. But we would encourage you to park it in your “idea parking lot” for a minute, and together we can go do some basic collective-wisdom-based design research, and get other ideas so that you have a group of 5 or 6 ideas in the parking lot. Then you can take the subjectivity away and create an emotional scorecard — (we’ll talk more about that later) — to vet all the ideas, and determine which one should go forward. We also talk more about design research for startups in this article: Startup Success Hinges on Design Research.
More than just loving your product, you have to love your overall vision, which includes your business model and your own reason for existence. For example, apart from just making money, what is your uniqueness? What is the compelling part of what you do that will make people go out of their way or change their behavior patterns to buy and experience your product? You have to love your business plan and you have to love the end experiential problem you’re solving. The actual definition of the product or its architecture or embodiment can change.
Sometimes when we’re talking to startups, they invoke the famous quote by Charles Eames, “Design is in the details.” Yes. That’s absolutely true. But before you get into the details, make sure your fundamental product architecture is good. It’s not just about using the right materials and textures and packaging. Apple’s packaging is amazing, but they succeed because their product is good. Focus on the primary needs you’re trying to solve and then build the details around it. Too often, startups focus on solving for one tiny corner of the entire picture. You do need to solve those details, but there’s a rhyme and reason to when you address them.
Understanding this “emotional mountain” below is as applicable for big enterprise companies as it is for small companies and startups. As humans, we all want ideal experiences, and we buy products because we believe they offer an emotional or experiential benefit to us. That ideal experience gets broken down into the attributes, features and technology of a product. The way that is done in a product can always change. That’s where an Industrial Design studio might help in showing you a better configuration or arrangement for your product and its attributes. The top part of the mountain; the experience you’re going after; that won’t change. That’s your baby and your vision. That’s your MVE and that’s what carries the love you want to spread. We want to help you achieve that. But the mechanism for delivering that vision in a product might change in the course of the development process. That’s where understanding the experiential problems you want to solve becomes the main element in your vision rather than the physical embodiment of your product. Just to be clear I’m using “physicality” as an example because it’s easy to understand, but it also translates for service design and other kinds of non-physical products. The point is: Love your vision, not the product.
6. Find your tribe that believes in your vision
Just as we know that no product can be designed in isolation, the same thing goes for partnerships. I mentioned involving family and friends earlier, but that’s not just from a financial perspective. It’s also always good to socialize your idea and what you want to accomplish with different parameters. For example, take a second and compare the difference in cultures between say, the Silicon Valley, and the Midwest Rust Belt area. It’s always good to socialize your idea in different cultural environments to see their reactions and how it’s perceived from their vantage point. They might shoot it down, or they might hand you a cheque, but the more partners you can get in the earlier stages, the better. Eventually, you’ll have to actually work with a supply chain, but right now you can at least talk about it with all the different parts of the creative supply chain to see what people think of your idea.
Maybe you’re thinking “how can I share my idea when I don’t have a patent or anything”? It’s a valid question, and there are ways to do this, but for now we’re going to save the IP discussion for another article. Yes, there’s always the issue of protecting yourself from the IP perspective, but it’s good to have your own groupies following you who believe in your idea and are ready to buy it when it comes out. This isn’t simply generating sympathy votes. You’re actually listening to and understanding the way these people are looking at it. “The designer is not the user”. Even though you most likely have experience in the same category as your idea — for example if you’re a sports coach you might be developing a training tool product — but you have to understand how to collect partners who believe in and can help inform that experience you’re trying to achieve.
7. Don’t start with an exit Strategy.
Sometimes, we have immersion sessions with startups, and they’re perfectly on target to solve the right problem in their ecosystem with a good product, but they’re already saying “I just want to get my product to a level where I can sell it off, or license it out”. There are all kinds of exit strategies which are good to understand, and which eventually have to be taken into account in your business plan. Later in my design career, I myself got my Executive MBA at Michigan State University, and they train us day in and day out in the business world to think about exit strategies. However, we encourage startups not to go into it with an exit strategy as their main motivation. You want to be in it to really solve a unique problem, or seek out a real opportunity that you believe in! It can’t be just to make a quick buck by selling to a VC. It has to be motivated by a passion to solve a real need that exists in our culture and ecosystem today.
8. Consider and Establish Your Emotional Score.
There are many kinds of scorecards that accelerators, incubators and design houses use to help guide startups. However, you shouldn’t live and die by only one scorecard. There are a million different ways we’ve seen startups evaluate their product, especially for getting grants — the technology score, the job-creation metrics of the product, how it makes use of local manufacturing companies — you name it!
However, there’s another kind of scorecard that our studio brings to the table: The Emotional Score. Remember the emotional mountain? These are the aspects that the Emotional Score looks at. For example, what’s the emotional aspirational experience your product delivers? How does it add joy to people’s lives?
Some products that score the highest on the Emotional scale aren’t even the smart or technologically complex products we see coming from many startups. Some of the most amazingly “emotionally smart” products are still analog! We hear the industries narrative over and over that products must include sensors, a battery, an app, or some kind of connectivity in order to be considered smart. Some accelerators are even creating grants for the poor startups who have products that don’t have some earth-shattering technology in them. No! If the product solves a problem in its category seamlessly and intuitively, that’s the score we should be using. We firmly believe that this emotional score is a good indicator of how your product will succeed in the market.
9. Stop Trying to be all things to all people. Be Something to Someone.
If you’re an energizer bunny like me, you probably start immediately thinking of all the problems your product can solve and you’ll try to solve it all with one universal product. Before you try to do that, take a pause. It’s important to realize that all of those problems you want to solve can also be solved by another product — maybe another one of yours, or someone else’s. You can not be all things to all people. If you do try to make a product that everyone loves, what you’ll end up with is just a product that nobody hates. Sometimes your MVE must be very focused, and you have to choose one category, one persona, and one goal to solve for. You have to be frugal, not going beyond what you’ve chosen to do — especially in the startup world where time and money are so vital.
However, once you occupy that ecosystem, then you can solve for more. Then you can create other products in the same ecosystem with the understanding of what pain points each one solves, and how all of them will work in tandem within an ecosystem. Start with one product, and then expand your portfolio in that category or even in adjacent categories eventually too.
10. Money
Another big issue that startups have to think about, and which we’ve already alluded to is cash. Yes, no matter what, you need some kind of cash investment to develop a product design. But keep the big picture in mind. Whatever investment you need to make a product design still pales in comparison with the cash needed for the manufacturing process, tooling, logistics & distribution, or retail and dealing with “the man”, Amazon. The entire roadmap represents a huge commitment. Often, we get startups coming to us saying concerning things like “I’m going to mortgage my house in order to pay for this prototype [or these design concepts]”. Sure, you can do that, and it might cover this stage, but what about all the stages that are still to come? We don’t want to just take your money and give you an amazing product, all the while knowing that there’s no financially feasible way for you to get the rest of the way to market and make a return on your investment. That’s why we love to work with startups who have at least a decent idea of a business plan that will carry them through this entire process (and not leave them destitute)! A startup needs to have an understanding of how their product will finally be used from the outset. Because, yes, we can make you an amazing product, but we also need to know what this product is worth to you, and how you’re going to use it to get to the next steps in your journey. If we know that your next step is to put your product on Kickstarter, or to bring it to a matchmaking event, or to pitch it to C-stage investors etc., we can work with you to make sure the product achieves that goal for you.
11. Product = Brand Promise
Finally, your product is going to be the most authentic “vessel” of your brand promise. The good news for you, as a startup is that you’re not already tied to some larger brand that you have to accommodate. You have the freedom to build a product and a promise from scratch. Today, selling based on brand name alone is no longer the authentic story. Your brand promise must be embodied in your product itself. In some ways, being a startup with a brand that’s unknown to the world at first is not a bad thing. Why? Because this way, it’s your product itself that will be the vanguard of your brand, demonstrate its benefits and build its name. You have a blank sheet to build on! Use it! You alone have the power to design and develop your authentic product; a product that delivers the ideal user experience where your passion lies!
Got questions, or want to talk with us about a project you’re working on?
Drop us a note at [email protected] ! | https://medium.com/@sundberg-ferar/design-thinking-for-startups-27bf2246bd1a | [] | 2020-12-02 14:46:20.987000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Design Thinking', 'Product Development', 'Tips And Tricks', 'Product Design'] |
Cat Lee Joins Maveron’s Investment Team as Partner | Cat Lee Joins Maveron’s Investment Team as Partner
A letter from our co-founder, Dan Levitan
credit: Michael Clemens
The saying, “you’re only as good as the company you keep” is a refrain I think about a lot. I’m incredibly proud of the team we’re building at Maveron and the founders we back. They are an exceptional group of people — both in their potential to create extraordinary things and as people who lead with heart — so adding a new Maveron team member is always a big decision. The alchemy of our team is something special. My mentor, Coach K, asked me years ago, “Do you love your team?” and that question has become one of my guiding principles in building our firm.
Today, I am excited to share the news that Cat Lee is Maveron’s newest Partner.
Cat’s early days in engineering at Lockheed Martin, followed by her experience from 2007–2011 at Google and Facebook, followed by her six-year tenure at Pinterest where she started as Head of Product Growth and grew into Head of Culture, gives her a unique perspective on how dynamic, thriving companies operate and has enhanced her ability to envision where consumer technology is heading. Cat knows how to build products and we’re convinced this experience is a great foundation for investing in and helping build consumer brands.
Cat’s values are aligned with ours and completely focused on prioritizing the people we back and winning the right way. She is wicked smart, a life-long learner, funny, and kind. She has a great smile! You’ll hear more from Cat in the coming weeks about what she’s interested in and her perspective as a consumer-focused investor. You can reach her at [email protected]. I encourage you to read her post on Medium about joining the firm. She’s also on Twitter and Instagram.
Over Maveron’s history, we have always had a female partner. That shouldn’t be remarkable, but in our industry — and tech broadly — it’s quite rare and something I am very proud of. As consumer investors, we know that diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, and culture gives us an edge in understanding consumer trends and attracting the best founders. That said, diversity for diversity’s sake has never been our goal. Hiring is about finding the right person who makes us better. After a rigorous interview process, we are thankful for the referrals we received and the talented candidates we’ve met. Special thanks to Aileen Lee, at All Raise, for introducing us to Cat.
Our culture embraces diverse perspectives because we are, in all seriousness, looking to change the world. Building a team that is culturally diverse, values candor, and collectively pushes each of us to get better every day has always been my vision for Maveron. I’m confident we embody this vision today and we will continue to develop and add to the team in the future to keep raising the bar. One of our values is to be unapologetically non-normal, something we also seek in the founders we back. One example of how we do things differently? In 2018, 70% of the companies Maveron backed had a female CEO which is extraordinary in an industry where according to TechCrunch, in 2017 only 17% of startups had a female founder. Cat’s addition to the team, Anarghya Vardhana’s promotion to Partner, and hiring Natalie Dillon as Senior Associate last year makes our investment team 50% men and 50% women — also generally unheard of in our industry. This balance ensures that our investment opportunities are sourced from an array of networks and that our decision-making comes from having unique, complimentary voices around the investment team table — both now and in the years to come.
We’ve set big goals for 2019 and all of us — Anarghya, David, Natalie, Jason, Cat, Pete, Elise, and I — are excited to be off to a running start. You’ll find us in coffee shops and at startups in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and beyond meeting with founders of the next great consumer brands. Reach out if you have a big idea to change our lives for the better. Onward!
Warmly, Dan | https://medium.com/@maveron/cat-lee-joins-maverons-investment-team-as-partner-bb84d1316c95 | [] | 2019-01-10 21:51:04.531000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Consumer', 'Venture Capital'] |
The H-45 Battleship Concept | The H-45 Battleship Concept
Another behemoth designed by Hitler
Pixel art of the H-45 Battleship concept
After the loss of the Bismarck German battleship which was the pride o the German army, Hitler became very furious and wanted to start the design of Fuhrer class battleships that would make the Yamato Japanese battleship a joke. Sadly the picture you see above is the only thing I could find to show what the H-45 could have looked like (sorry for the small resolution).
An interpretation of the H-45 Concept
Hitler was in love with huge weapons that are just ridiculous and ineffective because of the number of resources it takes to actually use them. A good example would be the Maus tank which had the thickest armor at the time, however, because it was so big and heavy the engine would use as much fuel as 10 king tigers to actually move 1km in distance.
Not only that but because of the heavyweight, it could only do a top speed of 15kmh so it would be better off as a turret in battle. The tank was built but never used because even the Germans realized (after production) it’s ineffectiveness in combat.
Copy of the original blueprints of the H-45 Battleship
The blueprint that you have above is to show the comparison of what is considered a large battleship (the Bismarck) versus the H-45 or Fuhrer class battleship. We are talking about a battleship that is 3 times larger by far and just gunned to the teeth.
The armament that was presented to be on the H-45 is just scary for someone that does understand the power of naval armament. The main guns of the battleships are 8 x 800mm Gustav siege guns! The largest that has ever been implemented on a battleship in the second world war was of 460mm on the Yamato and that was a devastating ship that has survived a fight against 5 destroyers at the same time.
The secondary armament of the H-45 would have been as follows:
12 x 9.45/73 (240mm) long-range anti-aircraft guns
24 x 5.04/60 (128mm) anti-aircraft guns
light armament 55mm Gerat 58 and 30mm anti-aircraft guns (number not specified)
Bismarck 1940
The Bismarck was a middle-rank battleship that had the armor of 320mm and the main guns of 380mm which for 1940 was something you would want to stay away from. This is so that you get a better understanding of the Fuhrer class battleship.
The H-45 was planned to be 606 meters long, beam 91 meters wide and the draft 16.75 meters wide. The Bismarck was only 241 meters long. The armor that was planned to be on the H-45 was all-around 410mm thick steel which with all the armament would bring the ship at a staggering 700,000 tones!
The weight distribution would have been as follows:
Armament: 16,425 tons = 2.9%
Armor: 158,660 tons = 28.3%
Machinery: 11,931 tons = 2.1%
Hull, fittings & equipment: 274,955 tons = 49.1%
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 97,307 tons = 17.4%
Representation of other naval crafts and an aircraft to the H-45 concept
Now I know that you will aks what kind of monster eating diesel would be required to push such a weight? What was planned was a 480,000 shp (shaft horsepower) powered by 8 shafts producing 372,000 kW. The maximum speed was approximated to 28 knots.
It is imperative to remember that this is a stupid concept that was made up by Hitler which had no naval engineering skills. Just as all of his monstrosities it probably would have been able to build it, however, not only the number of resources required to build it would have made it inefficient but also the fuel consumptions and the number of men required to run the battleship. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-h-45-battleship-concept-6766ae63cb29 | ['Andrei Tapalaga'] | 2019-10-25 21:54:23.318000+00:00 | ['WIB History', 'Hitler', 'War', 'History', 'Naval History'] |
5 Ways in Which Data Can Help Make Better Energy Procurement Decisions | The role of an Energy Procurement Manager is becoming more diverse and complex. We discuss how getting energy data directly from the source of production can help an Energy Procurement Manager achieve their goals. Access to energy data is key to meeting renewable energy targets whilst keeping energy costs down.
The role of a corporate energy procurement manager has changed over the years. Traditionally, the role would’ve been more straightforward — having responsibility for signing contracts with energy suppliers, risk-managing commodity prices, and managing the overall energy budget. The role has evolved since then, with renewable energy purchasing also becoming a core part of the job.
As renewable energy purchasing is a complex field with many different options such as Renewable Energy Certificates and Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s), it can be difficult for a procurement manager to make informed decisions. To combat this, it’s becoming ever more important to have real-time access to high-quality energy data. There are many ways to get energy data but having a direct feed from the generation source ensures quick access and high-levels of integrity and reliability.
5 benefits of getting energy data direct from the source
For an energy procurement manager, getting renewable energy generation data directly from the source has many benefits. Accuracy and reliability are obvious examples — once data starts to pass through the hands of different teams, suppliers etc. it can start to lose reliability. In some cases, energy managers can’t even access their entire set of data, due to third parties bottlenecks. But there are many other examples that are directly relevant to an energy procurement manager and should make his/her job easier.
1.
Tracking Share of Renewable Energy — Energy Procurement Managers will typically take direction from senior leadership within a company on the high-level renewable energy targets. He/She will need oversight of progress towards targets to ensure the purchasing strategy is aligned to this. Direct access to renewable energy generation data will give an energy procurement manager real-time visibility of a company’s renewable energy share and how it compares to targets.
2.
Forecasting RE Certificate Shortfalls — A procurement manager will need to purchase renewable energy that aligns with company targets on an ongoing basis. This can be difficult to manage as both power consumption and power generation can be variable on an annual basis. Take the example of a traditional style as-generated PPA. A low wind year or operational issues would lead to lower wind power generated and therefore lower amount of renewable certificates. This would need to be compensated with a market purchase of certificates. Direct access to generation data would allow the buyer to easily forecast shortfalls in renewables certificates and position the buying strategy appropriately.
3.
Invoice & Contract Validation — Once an energy contract or PPA is signed with a supplier, it would be great to forget about the contract until it’s up for renewal again. Unfortunately, this is not possible. Billing errors are common in the energy sector so good oversight is needed to avoid overcharging/undercharging of energy costs. Taking a PPA as an example, getting data directly from the energy generator can allow the buyer to easily estimate the monthly invoice. This can be then cross-referenced with the actual invoice to easily identify errors in the billing.
4.
Assess Matching Effectiveness of PPA’s — “Hourly matching” is the concept of matching power consumed in real-time with renewable energy produced in the exact same hour. This method has the potential to be the gold standard for impactful green procurement, and has Google as one of its early adopters.These companies are already participating in an industry-led, non-profit initiative to create a standard for hourly energy certificates, Energy Tag.
Find out the other benefits in the full article | https://medium.com/@flexi-dao/5-ways-in-which-data-can-help-make-better-energy-procurement-decisions-f02e3bf5e911 | [] | 2020-12-18 07:32:47.346000+00:00 | ['Energy', 'Renewable Energy', 'Energy Transition', 'Energysourcing', 'Ppas'] |
TOP 20 Inspirational Motivational Quotes To Inspire You To Greatness | TOP 20 Inspirational Motivational Quotes To Inspire You To Greatness TechGuru Jun 17·6 min read
Inspirational quotes and motivational sayings have an amazing ability to change the way we feel about life. This is why I find them so interesting and crucial on our paths to success.
So what’s their secret?
You see, the way you think and feel about yourself, including your beliefs and expectations about what is possible for you, determines everything that happens to you.
When you change the quality of your thinking, you change the quality of your life, sometimes instantly. Just as positive words can make someone smile or a well-timed humorous quote can make someone laugh, our thoughts react to the world in real-time.
You have complete control over only one thing in the universe — your thinking — and that’s where motivational quotes come in!
You can decide what you are going to think in any given situation. Your thoughts and feelings determine your actions and determine the results you get. It all starts with your thoughts — and I have found that inspirational words are a quick way to retune your thinking.
Try keeping a few uplifting excerpts or positive proclamations on hand. If you ever notice your energy or your spirit begin to drop, simply recite an inspirational and uplifting quote to quickly boost your mood.
Here are my favorite inspirational quotes about life:
1) “The Best Way To Get Started Is To Quit Talking And Begin Doing.” — Walt Disney
This straight-to-business quote comes from the man who created the happiest place on earth — and a multibillion-dollar empire
2) “The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.” — Winston Churchill
When it comes to success quotes by famous people, Winston Churchill’s inspirational words of wisdom always make the list
3) “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today.” — Will Rogers
Will Rogers was an American actor, cowboy, columnist and social commentator who believed in keeping forward momentum
4) “You Learn More From Failure Than From Success. Don’t Let It Stop You. Failure Builds Character.” — Unknown
When you replace ‘lose’ with ‘learn’ in your vocabulary, the thought of failure becomes less daunting and lets you focus on growth.
5) “It’s Not Whether You Get Knocked Down, It’s Whether You Get Up.” — Inspirational Quote By Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi was an American football hero who’s uplifting words frequently make it onto Top 10 Inspirational Quotes lists
6) “If You Are Working On Something That You Really Care About, You Don’t Have To Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You.” — Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs truly captured some of the wisdom of life in this statement. Do that which you are passionate about and your work will feel effortless.
7) “People Who Are Crazy Enough To Think They Can Change The World, Are The Ones Who Do.” — Rob Siltanen
I believe this is one of the best quotes to live by because it reminds me to think without limits and never doubt my wildest thoughts.
8) “Failure Will Never Overtake Me If My Determination To Succeed Is Strong Enough.” — Og Mandino
There’s a special place in my heart for these inspirational words. They remind me of my unwavering determination to become a motivational speaker.
9) “Entrepreneurs Are Great At Dealing With Uncertainty And Also Very Good At Minimizing Risk. That’s The Classic Entrepreneur.” — Mohnish Pabrai
This line always puts a smile on my face because it alludes to the excitement of not knowing what to expect but seeing a possible life-changing outcome.
10) “We May Encounter Many Defeats But We Must Not Be Defeated.” — Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was one of the top civil rights activists and embraced a spirit of positive thinking and sheer determination
11) “Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply. Wishing Is Not Enough; We Must Do.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
This piece of wisdom is one of my favorite quotes for students. It reminds us to apply what we learn and take action toward success, rather than waiting and hoping.
12) “Imagine Your Life Is Perfect In Every Respect; What Would It Look Like?” — Brian Tracy
The exercise mentioned in this excerpt of my personal development philosophy is one of the keys to gaining clarity for what you really want in life. Start with a clear vision of your ideal life and happiness, then work backward to achieve it.
13) “We Generate Fears While We Sit. We Overcome Them By Action.” — Dr. Henry Link
I love this pairing of quotation and image (below). Before we act, our imaginations often run wild, but when we move forward we often find the path ahead far less daunting than the horrifying version we had created in our minds.
14) “Whether You Think You Can Or Think You Can’t, You’re Right.” — Quote By Henry Ford
Truly a quote to live by, the American captain of industry, Henry Ford, made this proclamation while reflecting on his life. He is still one of the wealthiest figures of the modern period. Ford also said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
15) “Security Is Mostly A Superstition. Life Is Either A Daring Adventure Or Nothing.” — Life Quote By Helen Keller
Helen Keller is the author of this thought-provoking quote about life. I love her adventurous spirit and all or nothing attitude!
16) “The Man Who Has Confidence In Himself Gains The Confidence Of Others.” — Hasidic Proverb
In this powerful Hasidic proverb, we learn an ancient truth that still holds up in modern times. The power of self-confidence is just as strong today as it was a long time ago. You can still change the thoughts of others by changing your thoughts about yourself.
17) “The Only Limit To Our Realization Of Tomorrow Will Be Our Doubts Of Today.” — Motivational Quote By Franklin D. Roosevelt
F.D.R. famously alluded to the impact positive thinking can have on the world, stating that our doubts, or our self-limiting beliefs, were the only restraints on the possibilities of the future.
18) “Creativity Is Intelligence Having Fun.” — Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein authored this encouraging and uplifting quote. In just five words, he captured the essence of his intellectual philosophy and inspired others to embrace the creative process.
19) “What You Lack In Talent Can Be Made Up With Desire, Hustle And Giving 110% All The Time.” — Don Zimmer
Professional baseball player and coach, Don Zimmer dedicated 65 years to the sport. The wisdom he left behind implies that will power and dedication are just as important as ability. Again, alluding to the concept that success is formed in the mind before it is manifested in reality.
20) “Do What You Can With All You Have, Wherever You Are.” — Theodore Roosevelt
At number twenty, we have one of the most famous quotes about life by Teddy Roosevelt, who served as President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. A true optimist, he believed in the value of always giving it your all, no matter what you have or where you are. | https://medium.com/@techguysfdc/56-inspirational-motivational-quotes-to-inspire-you-to-greatness-a0b3efbd6e1d | [] | 2021-07-02 14:22:05.514000+00:00 | ['Motivational Quotes', 'Success', 'Motivational Speaker', 'Motivational', 'Motivation'] |
C# Generics For Python Developers | Image by Author
One of the more difficult features to understand in statically typed languages like Java and C# is Generics. This is especially true for folks whose experience is mostly with dynamically typed languages like Javascript, Python, Ruby and PHP. The first time you encounter generics is almost certainly an instance of a generic collection like List<string> .
In this post I’ll start with an example of how dynamically typed languages handle collections. Then, I’ll show how some collections in statically typed languages are very similar. And finally, I will show how Generic collections can help catch mistakes at compile-time instead of run-time.
Collections in Python
In Python if we want a list of strings it looks like this:
myStrings = ["a", "b", "c"]
If we want a list of objects of some user-defined type it looks like this:
All the items in each of the lists above happen to contain the same type of item, and often that is what you want. However, Python itself does nothing to enforce this. It is perfectly happy for you to do this:
ArrayList in C#
C# 1 didn’t have Generics, but of course it still had collections. One example is ArrayList (Note: the example does several other things that are not valid C# 1). Using ArrayList looks a lot like using a Python list:
Wait, that works? I thought C# was statically typed?
It does work and it is statically typed. ArrayList is a collection of object instances. We are passing in Contact instances, but every class in C# implicitly inherits from object . And if a class inherits from a base class, it can be used anywhere the base class can be used. A Contact is an object .
As a side note, 42 and false are not classes but they get implicitly "boxed" into instances of System.Int32 and System.Boolean respectively which are classes and therefore are object s.
When we access the members of the collection, they are all just object instances, so we only have access to the members of the object class (at least without casting).
So this compiles and runs:
But this fails to compile:
Why? Because object does not have a property Name , and the contact variable in the loop is statically typed as an object .
As another side note, just because I used var instead of explicitly writing the type name doesn't change the fact that the variable is statically typed. var just means we don't have to write out the type in scenarios where the compiler can infer it from the code.
A similar error in Python
The equivalent loop in Python will also fail, but at run-time. It will actually not fail until after the 1st item in the list has already been printed successfully.
Compile-time errors versus Run-time errors
The difference between failing at compile-time and run-time may not initially seem like a big deal, especially with this trivial example. However, in a larger project, it makes a big difference. If this list is intended to be a list of only contacts, there may be an obscure piece of code somewhere that sometimes puts the wrong type of value into the list. With only run-time checks, problems like this can be very difficult to track down. The exception isn’t thrown until it is accessed, and that may occur long after the offending item was placed there. This delay can make it difficult to track down the buggy code that put the item there.
In C#, this mistake gets caught immediately before the code can even run. If you are using a good IDE the problem will get caught as you type it.
However, with ArrayList the compiler errors are generated when we try to treat the items we pull out of the collection as Contact instances, not when we try to put a different type in. This makes sense because we know ArrayList holds object items, but how can we prevent items other than Contact s from ever getting in to the list?
We will get to that soon, but first let’s answer another question: We know we put Contact items in so how do we get them out?
Getting our Contacts back
The only way to get access to the Contact properties of the items we get out of ArrayList is to cast them. Here is an example:
In this example, if the actual run-time type of the item is not a Contact , we will get an InvalidCastException thrown at run-time. For our example list, the exception will be thrown when the first non- Contact item is encountered.
This is exactly the same behavior as the Python list. We are really not getting much benefit from static typing!
So, there are two main problems with ArrayList :
There is no enforcement that the objects we put in are of a particular type. When we pull the items out of the collection we have to cast them to get back the type we put in. This means catching errors at run-time, not compile-time.
A strongly typed ArrayList wrapper
If we want compile-time enforcement that an ArrayList only contains items of a particular type we can write a wrapper class. A simple example would be:
The cast is still there, but since the only way to add items to the list is through the Add method that only accepts Contact items, we can be confident that the cast will always succeed at runtime.
If we use that class to encapsulate our ArrayList then the compiler can prevent the wrong type of item from being inserted:
In the following example, when we loop over the wrapper we are able to access the Name property because the indexer returns a Contact .
(Note that the fact that this loop does not use foreach is not important, that is just a side-effect of me keeping the example class simple by not implementing IEnumerable<T> )
This gives you a type-safe collection, but imagine writing (and testing) that boilerplate code for every different type you wanted a collection for. I also used the modern C# 7 => ("expression bodied member") syntax to make that more concise, so it would have been even worse back in the C# 1 days!
Generics To The Rescue!
Essentially, generics make the C# compiler and the Common Language Runtime (CLR) work together to generate all that boilerplate code that was necessary for the type-safe solution so you don’t have to! Of course the code it generates will be more efficient and it doesn’t really wrap ArrayList . Also, note that when I say it "generates code" I mean that it is generated on the fly, it is not code that you will see as C# source code in your project.
Using a generic list looks like this:
And you can foreach over it because it implements IEnumerable<T> :
Implementing your own generic collection
In order to demonstrate what a generic implementation looks like, let’s see what our ArrayList wrapper would look like with Generics. Of course, you wouldn’t really use this code (because you’d just use List<T> ), but this is a good example of what a generic class looks like.
Since the class is generic, we put the type parameter on the class name. In this case we named the type parameter T . You can technically name it anything you like, but it is idiomatic to give type parameters names that begin with T . You can see that everywhere the type Contact appeared in the original is replaced with T . The actual type that gets "plugged in" for all those T s is determined when you create an instance of the generic type and supply the type parameter.
Summary
Writing type safe code allows errors to be caught earlier in the development cycle at compile time instead of runtime.
Non-generic collections in C# ( ArrayList ) can behave very much like collections in Python.
) can behave very much like collections in Python. Non-generic type safe collections are possible to write, but doing so requires a lot of boilerplate code.
Generics make it simple to write type-safe code that stores objects in collections without writing repetitive boilerplate code.
Further Reading
Classes are not the only thing that can be generic either, interfaces, methods a and delegates can be generic as well. Discussing these is beyond the scope of this post, but if you want to learn more about this or generics in general, I’d recommend reading through the Generics section in Microsoft’s C# Programming Guide. | https://medium.com/@jonkuhn-dev/c-generics-for-python-developers-a772ed8e029d | ['Jon Kuhn'] | 2021-01-02 16:18:05.438000+00:00 | ['C Sharp Programming', 'Generics', 'Generic Programming', 'Programming'] |
Money problems during COVID-19 lockdown? Make money from YouTube | Money problems during COVID-19 lockdown? Make money from YouTube
Greetings! Like most people, my cash flow was negatively impacted during lockdown. After some research, I came across some nice AND VERY QUICK, EASY ways to make money from watching YouTube videos. I’m talking hundreds of dollars per day!
My easiest came from the following: making-money-from-watching-videos. Here’s a few steps below:
Step 1: Find a topic and a relevant YouTube video like this one.
Step 2: On a separate tab, sign up to this site. It’s absolutely free and you can link it to your existing or new Gmail account. Below is a snapshot of what this site will pay you for every view
Step 3: Copy the YouTube video link and shorten it on your recently created account. Now you have to find a place to promote it
Step 4: Find and register on an affiliate marketing site like this one.
Step 5: Once you have registered, find a product similar to the topic/video whose link you have just shortened.
Step 6: Click on the product to get a promoter link. On some sites, you may need to be given permission to promote, other sites are instant.
Step 7: Create a Google Sites page (under your existing or new Gmail account). This gives you your own webpage on which you can promote write articles, add images, add affiliate links, etc.
Step 8: Find a Google article most relevant to the topic (same topic as YouTube video and product from affiliate marketing site). Copy & paste (with necessary credits of course) and edit at will, it’s your site.
Step 9: Publish your site and also promote on platforms like this one!
See how easy it is? With this article, video and product, there is information shared to empower someone, and also make nice money on the side. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
More detailed breakdown and references on my Google site (https://sites.google.com/view/lockdown-hustle/home)
Regards and all the best! | https://medium.com/@malishitrading/money-problems-during-covid-19-lockdown-make-money-from-youtube-f6fcfba20642 | ['Andre Eastwood'] | 2020-10-07 11:11:03.552000+00:00 | ['Earn Money Online', 'Make Money Online', 'Easy Money', 'Hustle', 'Financial Freedom'] |
A Love Tale | I want to delve into your corners,
to live inside your binds.
I long to feel the sensation of
your edges, trace along your spine.
To live a thousand lives with you,
and travel back through time.
Find the rhythm of each word
page by page
line by line | https://medium.com/literally-literary/a-love-tale-c4c9b845f602 | ['Jess Kaisk'] | 2017-03-31 18:42:07.355000+00:00 | ['Literally Literary', 'Stories', 'Bibliophile', 'Poetry', 'Books'] |
翻訳絵本の企画と広報から知る、女性に響くデザイン。～千倉書房～ | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/fraze-craze/%E3%81%82%E3%82%89%E3%82%86%E3%82%8B%E4%BA%BA%E3%82%92%E3%81%A4%E3%81%AA%E3%81%92%E3%82%8B%E7%B5%B5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E3%83%87%E3%82%B6%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF-ff8d4fafff70 | ['いしまるあきこ', 'Akiko Ishimaru'] | 2017-04-18 07:54:54.107000+00:00 | ['Editing', 'Japanese', 'Picture Books', '日本語'] |
6 Words Of Encouragement You Should Say On A Daily Basis | We select our initial words off the top of our mind based on our emotions. The words we speak on a daily basis can carry immense weight, especially if you have a willing ear. If you’re wanting to make a difference in someone’s life, then carefully choose the words you say.
If you’re in a position of influence, there are certain words of encouragement you need to say everyday.
This could be your significant other, close friends or family, employees and colleagues, and everyone else you care about.
If you happen to have a crowd gathered who needs to listen to you, that doesn’t mean you’re smarter or more knowledgeable than them.
So always weight and appreciate your words, always back up and justify all your statements, and have valid reasons for your decisions.
Always be ready to give a reason for these words of action, verify everything you do with sense and logic, and never from a position of authority or arrogance.
When taking the time to explain your decisions, especially if they’re controversial, what doing so does is it opens up those words for discussion or criticism, while giving you options for future improvement.
Words To Say On A Daily Basis
1.) — Always Say You’re Welcome — Think about the last time you gave someone a well thought out gift, and the recipient appeared ungrateful and awkward. The reaction took away from the giving.
The same can happen once someone thanks you, or are complimenting or praising you some how. Make sure you acknowledge them by saying “You’re Welcome.”
Don’t spoil the moment for them in their time of gratitude.
Even if the spotlight makes you feel uneasy, make eye contact and sincerely say, “You’re Welcome.” Make it all about the other person.
2.) — Admit You Were Wrong — We all make mistakes and have poor judgement on occasion. So whenever you’re in the wrong or there’s a chance you’re wrong, admit it by saying you were wrong, you made a mistake.
What happens once you admit to your mistake is you’ll earn respect rather than losing it.
3.) — Say You’re Sorry — We humans are never perfect and we know when we aren’t, yet it’s our ego which stops us from admitting we made a mistake. We then attempt to cover it up somehow or hope no one noticed.
We all have things we always need to apologize for, which includes our actions, words, omissions, failing to step up or step in. We fail to show support or respect, all things we should be sorry for.
So the quick easy fix is just to say you’re sorry, but never follow up the apology by adding a disclaimer such as, “I was really upset because…” or any other statement which places the blame back on someone else.
Just say you’re sorry, be genuine and mean it. Say why you’re sorry while taking all the blame it’s your fault, even if it’s partially your fault. No less, no more. What you’re doing is making a fresh start.
4.) — Tell Someone They Are Awesome — No one ever gets the proper or enough praise that they deserve. So pick someone, anyone, even a person you don’t like, who continuously does or did something well and say to them, “Wow, that was excellent how you…”
Go back in time to the past on what someone did, and say, “It was great how you handled that problem last month…” Doing so can have just as much impact right now, as it would have back then.
Giving out praise is a gift which costs absolutely nothing to the giver, but is priceless for the recipient. So begin praising. Those who are around you will appreciate and love you for it, and you’ll also like yourself more for doing so.
5.) — Let Me Help You — The majority of people think asking for help is a sign of weakness. So because of this, most will hesitate to ask for anything. Everyone at one time or another however needs a bit of assistance from someone.
If you see someone in need, avoid saying, “Is there anything I can help you with?” as what most will instinctively say back to you is, “No thanks.”
Instead, chose to be more specific. Find something you can be helpful at by saying, “I have a few moments, can I help you finish this?”
Make your offer in a way which feels more collaborative and not patronizing or gratuitous. Then actually be prepared to help.
6.) — Will You Be Able To Show Me — There’s a saying that advice is temporary but knowledge is forever. Knowing exactly what to do helps, but knowing precisely how or why can mean everything.
When you ask someone to be shown or taught, then several things will happen. What you’re doing is implicitly showing your respect to that person that’s giving the advice.
You’re showing that you trust their experience, skill, or knowledge, and then you get to assess the value of the advice given. Never ask for their input, but rather ask to be trained, taught, or shown.
At Times Just Say Nothing
There are times the best thing is to just say nothing. This especially if you’re frustrated, upset, or angry, just let it pass and look forward to a better day.
You may think that venting will make you feel better, but that’s rarely the case. It makes you look entitled and needy instead.
Results will always come and go, but feelings lasts forever. Once you criticize someone, especially in a group setting, it may appear they’ll get over it eventually, but deep inside the scar remains.
So before you , consider how they’ll think and feel before you evaluate whether what you’re about to say makes objective sense.
You can recover from a mistake which is made because of inaccurate or faulty projections, but not from the damage you inflicted on someone’s self-esteem.
So make sure you remain silent until you know exactly what you should be mindfully saying, and know exactly what affect your words will have. | https://medium.com/@mkawashima/6-words-of-encouragement-you-should-say-on-a-daily-basis-bf2243c64e12 | ['Review On'] | 2020-12-10 19:19:43.893000+00:00 | ['Speaking', 'Words', 'Leadership', 'Encouragement', 'Gratitude'] |
Hedgehog Markets: Mainnet is Coming | Are you a fan of prediction markets for sports and crypto but don’t want exposure to any of the downside? Then the Hedgehog Markets No-Loss Competitions are for you!
That’s right fellow hedgehogs, our first six No-Loss Competitions will offer prediction markets on National Football League (NFL) games, English Premier League (EPL) games, and crypto market data points.
How Will It Work?
We will initially offer two staking levels to enter a No-Loss Competition: $100 and $1000. For example, we will offer an NFL-themed competition that requires staking $100 USDC to play and an identical (but standalone) NFL competition that requires staking $1000 USDC to play. You can enter multiple competitions, but you can only participate once per competition. All users will start with the same amount of Game Tokens upon entering a competition.
The best part: you will always get back your original USDC stake at the end of the competition, regardless of your performance! To learn more about how No-Loss Competitions work, check out our Mainnet Sneak Peak article or this twitter thread.
To add to the excitement and celebrate this special moment with our community, our Mainnet Launch No-Loss Competitions will award over $100,000 USDC in prizes. In these first six competitions on mainnet, users will have a chance to win a share of $5,000 in prizes for each $100 USDC competition and a share of $30,000 in prizes for each $1000 USDC competition.
How Do I Win Prizes?!
When a competition ends, the top performing participants split the prize pool. This is based on participants’ competition ROI; the total Game Tokens each participant has won by correctly predicting event market outcomes, divided by the starting Game Token balance. All participants get back the original amount of USDC they staked, but the top players for each competition will also get a share of the prize pool.
Bring on the Competitions!
NFL Competitions (Weeks 3–5)
The Events included in these competitions will cover the scheduled NFL games for Weeks 3–5; each Event will contain a Main Market (Ex. “Will the home team win the game?”) and Secondary Markets (Ex. “Will a safety be scored at any point during the game?”). These competitions will kick off with the Panthers vs Texans on Thursday, September 23rd at 8:20PM and end with the Colts vs Ravens game on October 11th at 8:15PM. For example:
Event: Panthers vs. Texans Sept. 23rd 8:20 pm EST
Main Market: Will the home team win?
Will the home team win? Secondary Market: Will the home team score first?
Will the home team score first? Secondary Market: Will both teams score in the first quarter?
Will both teams score in the first quarter? Secondary Market: Will the total match points be more than 33?
Will the total match points be more than 33? Secondary Market: Will there be a safety at any point during the game?
Will there be a safety at any point during the game? Secondary Market: Will both teams score in the 4th quarter?
Will both teams score in the 4th quarter? Secondary Market: Will a quarterback score a touchdown?
The remainder of Events will be the rest of the games for weeks 3–5 and will follow the same structure. | https://medium.com/@hedgehog-markets/hedgehog-markets-mainnet-is-coming-1f3818907887 | ['Hedgehog Markets'] | 2021-09-15 17:23:37.399000+00:00 | ['Games', 'Decentralized', 'Prediction Markets', 'Blockchain', 'Defi'] |
Go Ahead — “Paint My Day!”. A (funny) nightmare before Christmas… | Painting my day
“My body is a canvas on which to paint the day,” I used to say while scouring thrift stores to create outfits to match whatever role I felt like playing: corporate girl, PTA mom, Dakini. These days I tend to reach for my “going to the computer clothes” — ultra-comfortable versions of jammies/workout clothes. I do, however, still think in terms of “painting my day.” But now I do so in planning the perfect healthy meal to match the mood and anti-inflammatory dietary restrictions of the day.
So here I was the other day painting my day from an essentially Paleo palette — not that I am a perfect Paleo princess, more of a would-be grain-free girl–but you get the gist. Anyway, Jay was about to head out on a business trip later that evening and I wanted to send with him a treat — Sweet Potato Bread.
The rest of that day got busy as I was not only “painting my day” with the new Sweet Potato Bread recipe, but also planning to actually paint various parts of the house while he was away: the stairwell, a bedroom, the kitchen ceiling. Plus we hoped to get some exercise prior to his flight.
I ran through the day in my head and determined we’d still have time to rock climb before he had to leave for his 5 pm flight. I could run into El Cajon to pick up the paint supplies after he left. I should be home in time for dinner, a show and a long hot bath — the perfect cap to a busy day.
I arrived back home after dark, hungry and tired, anticipating a piece of that Sweet Potato Bread. I hurried out of the van grabbing all my supplies at once, so to avoid having to go back. I grunted carrying my awkward heavy load made up of several cans of paint, rollers, brushes, other painting supplies, milk and eggs, a new shirt. I managed to open the courtyard gate door with one hand.
Tail a waggin’, paint goes a flyin’
Gypsy, our golden lab/retriever/hound dog mutt, ran up to greet me circling my feet, smiling, and wagging like crazy as I fumbled for my keys to open the front door. I couldn’t find the keys and set my parcels on the bistro table next to the front door for a moment. Gypsy came around in front of me angling to get in the house first and then it happened.
With one particularly robust and happy wag of her tail she knocked the leg of the wrought iron bistro table and everything went flying. As if in slow motion I turned and watched in disbelief as the can of white paint fell, bounced off the little step and exploded open, spraying paint all over the porous cement courtyard like a Pollack painting but with enough left over to leave a eighth-inch deep puddle right in the middle.
“Ah, Ah, AAAAHHHHH,” I cried, shaking my hands and hopping up and down, panting frantically, but otherwise paralyzed and unable to think. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” my little girl brain screamed eyes opened wide.
“Think think think!” my adult brain screamed.
Gypsy looked at me head cocked and started to head away from the front door and TOWARD THE PUDDLE.
“No! Gypsy, No!” I snapped, new neurons firing.
A calm centered voice tells me what to do
Then, in the midst of the chaos and frenetic worry, a calm centered voice took over: “No time to think, just do” and the next steps presented themselves:
1) Get Gypsy out of here
2) Put packages inside
3) Take off clothes/shoes
4) Start cleaning
Inside my head a little clock began ticking. How long does it take paint to soak into concrete? Tick tick tick.
Small worried voices compete for attention
I opened the front door and shoved Gypsy inside, threw the packages in behind her, then stepped through myself, tore off my clothes and raced to the kitchen, grabbing a metal spatula, a bowl, a bucket of water and a scrub brush. Small voices inside me competed for attention. Are you sure you should use the kitchen spatula? Hey that’s a bowl we eat out of! But a louder voice said “No time to worry!” tick tick tick.
Like a madwoman, naked and mumbling to myself, I began scooping the paint into the bowl. Every so often I’d race back into the kitchen and dump the bowl out down the drain, where another voice would point out “Hey you can’t put that stuff down the drain.” The commanding voice would counter “No time!” tick tick tick.
My dog listens to me for the first time ever
Gypsy tried to follow me back out the door, sensing my upset.
“No Gypsy!” I yelled panicking, imaging white footprints throughout the house. I summoned an act of faith and added pointing to the far side of the living room “Go sit over there!” And a part of me watched in amazement when she trotted over to the far corner of the living room and lay down, not moving further. For, despite her sweet nature Gypsy has never once listened to any of my commands before.
Scooping and dumping
For the next twenty minutes or so, I madly scooped and dumped, scooped and dumped. Finally, the bulk of the puddle was gone. I sat back on my heels surveying the disaster.
The only thing that came to mind was “Crap!” (Followed very closely by “sure glad Jay’s not here . . . “)
The epicenter
The paint splatters which had spread in a 10-foot circle from what I thought of as the “epicenter” had begun to dry.
“Oh my god, oh my god — this is disastrous. You’ll never be able to clean this up! You are doomed.” My brain shrieked.
But another voice came in too, saying calmly, “Just get water–lots of water.”
The naked truth
I began running out the courtyard for the hose. “Wait!” brain screamed. “You are naked.”
I paused momentarily; brushed paint splattered hair out of my mouth and quickly weighed the odds. It’s dark, I reasoned and ran bouncing out the gate toward the back of the house to grab the hose.
The hose wasn’t there.
“Crap. Crap. Crap. Now you are really toasted. This is taking too much time. The paint is setting in. May as well just give up,” the adult brain muttered nastily. “What are we going to do?” the little girl fussed.
“Stop panicking,” my inner Zen coach advised. “Just keep cleaning.”
Then, I remembered I’d dragged the hose down to the Manzanita by the street. Yep. I was still naked.
Tick tick tick.
I ran back in the house, Gypsy perked up. I gave her a fierce look and she dropped her chin again. I grabbed my jacket and headed out to the street huffing and puffing, bare legs pumping, but breasts and butt covered at least. I dragged the hose up to the house and attached the spray nozzle.
Tick tick tick
Things get worse
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered throwing my jacket back in the house and closing the door. I turned on the sprayer aiming it at the epicenter. Immediately the paint began spreading everywhere and even though I knew it was coming, I gasped as half my courtyard turned white and the river of white paint flooded the entryway. Then as if things couldn’t get worse it pooled up against a cement lip blocking the flow from one section of the courtyard to another and keeping it from leaving the courtyard.
I had reached now what I think of as the “pea soup” phase of a project (as in pea soup fog) — a stage where everything has suddenly gotten worse and you can’t conceive of how to move forward.
Inner Zen coach to the rescue
“Nothing is wrong. Everything’s okay,” inner Zen coach soothed.
“Are you kidding? No it’s not!” brain screamed. “You’ve just ruined our courtyard — probably ruined our house. It’s going to cost thousands to re-paint the whole courtyard. You’ll probably have to take out all the plants.”
I whimpered a little wondering, “how am I going to tell Jay?”
“Just keep cleaning. Just keep cleaning,” Zen coach said brightly in a little singsong voice like Dory in Nemo. Then added, “and grab a broom.”
I raced downstairs to get the street broom to sweep the paint river over the cement lip and into the palm tree planters.
“Crap. Crap. Crap. Now you’ve killed the plants too,” brain screamed.
“You are doing great,” coach encouraged. “Use lots of water. Plants will be fine.”
The puddle is gone but chicken pox remains
I proceeded to spray, sweep and scrub vigorously. When at last the river dissipated and all the spots that could be scrubbed and sprayed clean were gone, I stopped to survey the remaining mess. The bulk of the paint was gone, but there were still splatters everywhere and these had soaked in deep enough that no amount of water pressure could get them up.
My beautiful hacienda courtyard looked like it had chicken pox. Despite all the hard work, it was still a veritable disaster.
“You are such a Klutz! You really have destroyed the courtyard. What were you thinking?’ Self-hate screamed, followed by a whiny little “and I’m exhausted! I can’t go on.”
“Don’t even go there,” Zen coach urged. “You are doing great! Now go get the stainless steel wire toothbrush. We will tackle this one paint splatter at a time.”
Finding the “zone”
The unexpected kind words and “we” voice encouraged me. I found the steel toothbrush and knelt on my hands and knees to begin scrubbing the 10-foot paint splatter circle with a 1½-inch steel wire brush. A calm one-pointed focus prevailed. There was suddenly no waffling. I wasn’t going anywhere. I wasn’t quitting. I wasn’t panicking. My mind went blank. I tackled the next spot and the next. Some came up easily others were stubborn.
My back was sore, my knees were bruised, my arms ached, and I was getting cold, but it didn’t matter anymore, instead, strangely I began to enjoy the task. As each little splatter disintegrated under my pointed attention, I relaxed more. And eventually the scales tipped and I realized I’d made it through the daunting “pea soup phase.”
As I scrubbed the vestiges of the last splatter away more than two hours after the disaster began, a quick self-inventory told me I was physically exhausted (remember I had rock-climbed earlier), hungry, still naked, alone and covered in paint splatters, but I was also . . . happy.
I walked back in the house, grabbed a piece of the Sweet Potato Bread baked earlier that day, caught sight of myself in a reflection, sat down, and found myself chuckling, for it reminded me of another childhood memory involving peas–but that’s another story. Suffice it to say, it seems disaster and chaos not only make the best life lessons but also the best stories.
As I tucked myself into bed that night, I thought about a daily precept we like to say about how every moment really is an opportunity for spiritual practice . . . and, I mused, more than likely fodder for a good chuckle down the road. | https://medium.com/scribe/go-ahead-paint-my-day-e6fda104428f | ['Marijke Mccandless'] | 2020-12-19 15:09:19.027000+00:00 | ['Anxiety', 'Storytelling', 'Life Lessons', 'Mindfulness', 'Painting'] |
Write For Us | Write For Us
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We look forward to hearing from you! | https://medium.com/weekly-webtips/write-for-us-f5f50816afa0 | ['Ferenc Almasi'] | 2020-11-04 14:10:50.396000+00:00 | ['Front End Development', 'Web Development', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'JavaScript'] |
Presenting on Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud and Looker at the UK Oracle User Group Analytics Modernisation Forum, 8th October 2019 | Presenting on Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud and Looker at the UK Oracle User Group Analytics Modernisation Forum, 8th October 2019 Mark Rittman Follow Sep 9, 2019 · 3 min read
Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse Cloud (ADWC) brings elastic-scaling, easy cloud provisioning and Exadata performance improvements to Oracle Data Warehousing customers, making this new Oracle Database Cloud technology an ideal database storage and compute layer to work with the next-generation Looker Data Platform.
Our use of Oracle ADWC on client projects was profiled in an article in Forbes last year and we’ve spoken at events such as Oracle Open World and the UK Oracle User Group on the agility that Oracle ADWC brings to enterprises that had previously only been possible at small tech startups.
“How A Big Business Can Use An Autonomous Database To Move Like A Startup” — Forbes.com
But it’s no use bringing agility to your data warehousing platform if your analytics are still stuck in the old, monolithic era when projects take months or years to complete rather than just a few weeks and your developers are forced to work together by sharing binary repository files in Dropbox with version numbers appended to the file name … a process I know all too well having written the book on it back in 2012.
Looker brings a truly modern and agile software and content development approach to business analytics taking concepts such as the business semantic model, single version of the truth and metadata-driven native SQL generation and updating it for today’s multi-cloud, speed-of-thought analytics tool users.
Familiar … and yet modern, modular and agile : Looker Data Platform
If you’re an Oracle Database or Applications user and you’re interested in how Looker Data Platform can make your analytics truly agile and enable your multi-cloud strategy, I’m speaking on this topic at the UK Oracle User Group Analytics Modernisation Summit in London on Tuesday, 8th October 2019.
Presenting on big data and analytics modernisation at UKOUG Tech’17, Birmingham
In “Democratise your Oracle Data Analytics using Oracle ADWC and Looker Data Platform” I’ll outline the key features of Looker in the context of traditional ways of developing BI content on-top of Oracle database source data and highlight key areas in which Looker leverages Oracle ADWC and Oracle 18c/19c database features.
I’ll also show how Looker can work across multiple cloud providers without lock-in or extensive configuration, and explain how Looker development really does deliver on the promise of agile development and rapid time-to-value.
Until then, you can find out more about our data analytics, data engineering and data strategy services for Oracle, Looker, Snowflake and Google Cloud Platform customers on our company website, or contact me at [email protected] to find out more now. | https://medium.com/mark-rittman/presenting-on-oracle-autonomous-data-warehouse-cloud-and-looker-at-the-uk-oracle-user-group-f4f7a7605b6b | ['Mark Rittman'] | 2019-09-09 17:09:26.475000+00:00 | ['Looker', 'Oracle Autonomous', 'Analytics', 'Oracle Database Cloud', 'Oracle Database'] |
POODL — Frequently asked questions #1 | 2. Where do you get the statistics and facts about $POODL?
If you want to see the amount of holders, burnt token, Market Cap and other facts, we recommend 2 different websites:
Dextools
Dextools not only shows you important data about $POODL (Note: The amount of holders on Dextools is not accurate, go to Etherscan for the right number) but also has an integrated chart where you can see the movement of the token and let’s you do your own technical analysis. The site also shows you the most recent trade history.
Etherscan
On Etherscan you can view the contract of the POODL Token, the amount of wallets holding it and every transaction ever done with it.
You can also see the total supply of token in circulation. If you substract them from the 100,000,000,000,000 initial token, you get the amount of token that are already burnt. There is no address, the contract burns the token automatically. So, right now nearly 10,5% of total supply are already burnt!
https://etherscan.io/token/0x56a980328aee33aabb540a02e002c8323326bf36
3. How do I know $POODL isn’t a rug pull?
The fact that we have passed an audit by Techrate shows that our contract is safe. There is no malicious code allowing anyone to mint new token or scam the investors in any way. Regarding the fear big holders could dump their stashes all at once and tank the price, let us ensure you that this is no real risk. First of all, it is perfectly normal that a coin or token with a small MC like ours has some bigger investors, especially in the meme sphere. Other token like $HOGE had big whales in the beginning as well and $DOGE still has a wallet holding more than 25% of all coins! In that aspect, POODL is nothing special and we will most likely see a more and more even distribution in the future. It is also worth noting that many of the bigger holders are either admins of the team or heavily involved in the project. Without their donations we wouldn’t have raised the money for WhiteBit! This also means they want to see the project succeed like everyone else in the community.
4. What happened to the original dev?
We are not sure. As far as we know he didn’t want to go further with the project, told everyone they should sell, sold himself and left. We tried to get in contact with him, without success. But $POODL loves his new owners and does not need the old one!
5. What happens after the locked liquidity gets unlocked in 40 days?
Simple, we plan to update the liquidity lock before it expires.
6. When will $POODL be listed on WhiteBit?
The process of integrating $POODL into WhiteBit began today! How long this process will take is not up to us but we are confident that we will be listed on the exchange later this or early next week!
7. What exchanges are you planning to be on?
Right now, we are solely focusing on finishing the WhiteBit listing. After that happened, we will evaluate our options and go from there.
8. What’s the marketing plan for $POODL right now?
The first step in marketing will be a broader social media campaign including known influencers and other personalities that have a demographic of crypto enthusiasts or similar. The community had many different and equally awesome ideas regarding marketing and there also have already been multiple requests for cooperation with $POODL, so stay tuned!
9. What is the long term vision for POODL?
For a glimpse into $POODL’s future, you can check the Road Map on the website! There are many things in development: Meme contests, charity donations, NFTs, official merch, more listings! But after all, the main goal is to grow the community, create memes and have fun together!
10. When lambo? | https://medium.com/@poodl-token/poodl-faq-1-6511288da6e2 | ['Poodl Token'] | 2021-03-22 17:11:45.812000+00:00 | ['Ethereum Blockchain', 'FAQ', 'Poodl', 'Memes', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Tip of the Day: From “meh” to AAA in Unity | As with everything in Unity, elevating your mediocre looking game into a very good looking game is always a straight forward action.
Objective: Post Processing Basics
Before you start adding amazing post processing your game you need to make sure that you have it installed(it usually is, but always double check). Go to the “package manager / Packages: In Unity or Unity registry” and make sure Post Processing is installed
Post Processing Installed
After this, there are 3 essential steps you must make.
A. Add a post processing volume to an empty gameObject. Add a “Post Processing Volume” to it. For now check “Is Global” in order to make it work on your whole scene (you have the possibility to make the volume specific to a certain area) and then add a profile.
B. Create a new Layer and call is Post Processing Layer for example and assign it to the post processing volume you have created.
Post Processing Layer
C. On your main camera, add a Post Processing Layer component, assign the trigger to this main camera and choose the Post Processing Layer you have created above.
Now the magic starts. On the Post Processing Volume gameObject you created you can start adding the graphics effects and manipulate them to your liking.
Graphics Effects
A quick look at how these can affect the feel and look your game.
Post Processing On / Off
Later we will take a look into the Universal Render PipeLine and the High Definition Render PipeLine in Unity that are even more powerful than the built-in Post Processing. | https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/tip-of-the-day-from-meh-to-aaa-in-unity-5f99286746dc | ['Mohamed Hijazi'] | 2021-04-04 01:28:12.364000+00:00 | ['Post Processing', 'Graphics', 'Gamedev', 'Tip Of The Day', 'Unity'] |
Opening Jupyter Notebook From Any Desired Location | I ntroduction
Jupyter notebooks have become the preferred workspace for the majority of Python data scientists. Jupyter is an open-source project that supports interactive data science and scientific computing across programming languages. The very name Jupyter derived from the three core programming languages it supports viz. Julia, Python, and R. The name is also a homage to Galileo’s notebooks that records the discovery of the moons of Jupiter.
The very name Jupyter derived from the three core programming languages it supports viz. Julia, Python, and R.
Jupyter Notebook can be installed using either pip(Python Package Installer) or Anaconda Individual Edition. Once installed you can run the Jupyter Notebook via Terminal(Linux/Mac), Command Prompt(Windows), or Anaconda Prompt by typing ‘jupyter notebook’.
jupyter notebook
The Jupyter Notebook runs from the start-up location based on the operating system the user is using. Hence the user will only be able to save the code in the start-up location. This is a great drawback. Don’t get disheartened as there are several ways to overcome this flaw of the Jupyter Notebook. Most of the tweaks are a bit complicated. Rest assured, as we will be discussing the simplest solution.
The start-up location for Linux, macOS, and Windows are shown below:
Linux(Ubuntu 20.04)
The start-up location in Linux(Ubuntu):
macOS 10.14: Mojave
The start-up location in macOS:
Windows 10
The start-up location in Windows 10:
The Simple Solution to Open from the Desired Location
Linux(Ubuntu)
Go to the desired directory and right-click to select ‘Open in Terminal’:
In the Terminal, type ‘jupyter notebook’:
macOS
Open the desired location using Finder and right-click to select ‘New Terminal at Folder’:
In the Terminal, type ‘jupyter notebook’(as in Linux):
Windows
The solution in Windows is a bit different from Linux and macOS. Open the desired location in Windows File Explorer, copy the desired location from the address bar of Windows File Explorer. Alt + D goes to the address bar and Ctrl + C copies the location.
Now open the Anaconda Prompt and type the following command:
cd D:\desired location
Somehow, the Anaconda Prompt returns to the original location. Enter ‘d:’ and the prompt will reach your desired location(as shown in the image below). Note that you must enter the drive letter of your desired location(C: for C:\ drive-the primary partition).
Afterward, type ‘jupyter notebook’ and the Jupyter Notebook will be opened.
Note that the Jupyter Notebook’s home page does not list anything if the folder is empty.
Once a Python3 notebook is created, the home page will list the files.
To install Jupyter Notebook for different environments, refer to my blog here:
Hope this will help you in getting things done using Jupyter Notebook in a location of your choice. Happy Coding!!! | https://iambipin.medium.com/opening-jupyter-notebook-from-any-location-7d2c66fdd940 | ['Bipin P.'] | 2020-11-24 10:44:55.126000+00:00 | ['Tips And Tricks', 'Jupyter', 'Data Science', 'Jupyter Notebook'] |
Why the Powerful Passion for Pot Plants? | Millennials are at the vanguard of today’s trend for indoor greenery. I find my inner twenty-something and join them…
You’re never alone with a pot plant. Picture courtesy of Pixabay.
A few months ago I was walking around Florence’s Santo Spirito Sunday market. I ignored the tempting array of artisan stalls boasting handmade olive oil soap, family-produced honey, brightly-coloured ceramic fish and egg cups in the shape of the Duomo. Instead, I was fixated on a small display of weird-looking plants. They hung in the air as if by magic — green leaves sprouting from various sized balls of moss invisibly criss-crossed with string. I asked the price of a small one. Fifteen euros seemed very reasonable for this little alien being and so I handed over the cash and took possession of a Kokedama which I carefully transported home, holding it by its string, as pleased as if I had just bought a lost Caravaggio.
We are surrounded by birds and animals and trees and fields and flowers and — yes — green. We miss it terribly when in Florence
Living two thirds of the year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world sounds — and indeed is — amazing. I married the Anglican vicar of Florence two years ago and we live “above the shop” in a fourth-floor apartment in an early sixteenth-century palazzo. We (mainly I) commute between this Renaissance gem and our country home, a somewhat bohemian farmhouse in an unknown valley in Tuscany called the Casentino. It is, to use a very common phrase here immersa nel verde, often badly translated as “immersed in the green”. You get the idea, I’m sure. We are surrounded by birds and animals and trees and fields and flowers and — yes — green. We miss it terribly when in Florence, which although it has a park and some green spaces here and there, is basically not a particularly nature-filled city.
I have therefore filled the apartment with houseplants. I have searched out ones that can tolerate a lot of shade, because our palazzo is almost within touching distance of the one opposite and although dramatic and oh-so-Italian, it is very dark during the day. To counteract this almost troglodyte existence, we’ve installed a daylight bulb, which is on almost all the time. I have placed the precious plants on those windowsills that get the most light.
My houseplant collection on a dark windowsill — one of the downsides of palazzo life! Photo: Fiona Lister
In researching how to care for my exotic new arrival, I discovered that I had unwittingly joined a growing movement, (yes, aware of the pun), led by Millennials, which has at its core a powerful passion for the once humble houseplant. This trend appears to have started in the USA, whose indoor plant sales have doubled in the last three years to $1.7 billion according to the National Gardening Association.
There is a huge disconnect between people and nature. No wonder they long for some greenery in their offices and homes.
I was fascinated by this. I remember when I was of Millennial age (roughly between 22 and 37) houseplants were something your parents had, often suspended in some kind of odd macramé holder in the bathroom window. Cheese plants and spider plants were particularly popular as I recall. Oh, and cacti. As a late-twenty/ early-thirty something, I could barely look after myself never mind a collection of houseplants, unless they happened to double up as hangover cures.
I was baffled by this Generation Y behaviour and had to find out more about this yearning for houseplants.
About 90 percent of today’s bright young things spend a mind-boggling 22 hours a day indoors, according to the 2019 Garden Media Trend Report. (And as most of that time is spent in front of screens, it truly does boggle the mind.) There is a huge disconnect between people and nature. No wonder they long for some greenery in their offices and homes.
Millennials are marrying later, renting more and are often not having children until they are older. They may not be allowed a pet in their rental accommodation, or are charged a premium for having a furry or feathered companion. The very human need to nurture and take care of something is transferred to plants. That makes sense too.
Instagram, Pinterest and other vision-led social media glorify simple living in uncluttered space, the glamorous and clean interiors softened by an avalanche of greenery. There are string gardens, bonsai collections, terrariums and living walls to covet and copy. Influencers like NY houseplant-delivery company The Sill have hundreds of thousands of online followers, their constant Millennial anxiety soothed by learning there are plants even the most hapless urban gardener can’t kill.
The Seventies revival and love of all things retro means that macramé is now “a thing” again. I have succumbed to this too and bought an over-priced string holder for the country house, which has reminded me of why I never liked them in the first place as they are hard to water, easy to forget and get in the way when you open windows. Still, I am on trend, which is important and worth whacking my head on a swinging spider plant every now and again.
My Italian “Wilson” Photo: Fiona Cameron Lister
I place my Kokedama on its hook. I have learned that Kokedama is Japanese for moss ball, that it needs regular plunging, and that it has something to do with propping up bonsai trees. I just like its mad, jaunty look in our smart Florence apartment. It reminds me of Wilson, the character Tom Hanks draws on the basketball in Castaway.
I water my motley crew of green friends, feeling more middle-aged than cool, and my heart goes out to the poor, nature-starved, digitally-addicted Millennials trying to find love, and a modicum of sanity, among the pot plants. | https://fcameronlister.medium.com/why-the-powerful-passion-for-pot-plants-7eaed113d080 | ['Fiona Cameron Lister'] | 2019-06-26 16:50:26.948000+00:00 | ['This Happened To Me', 'Millennials', 'Lifestyle', 'Plants', 'Trends'] |
Staked Joins as a Supernode to Support Staking on V SYSTEMS | January 9 — With more than 95 million of VSYS coins leased for staking, Staked has officially become one of the supernodes on the V SYSTEMS mainnet today.
Backed by two of the biggest blockchain investment firms Coinbase and Pantera, Staked is a well-validated staking-as-a-service company in the US that provides its users with the technical infrastructure for staking services — investors can reliably and securely compound their digital assets by participating in the validation process of proof of stake (PoS) blockchains.
We believe the Staked team will further leverage its network to grow VSYS’ influence in the overseas markets and attract more institutional investors to join the ecosystem.
Powered by the pioneering Supernode Proof of Stake consensus, VSYS was announced as the TOP 5 staking coins on Staked last year, with an average annual return on investment (ROI) of over 17% and a total of US$200 million by value locked in staking. VSYS coin holders can easily participate in block validation and get minting rewards without building nodes.
View the lastest supernode rank list for more details.
About V SYSTEMS
V SYSTEMS is a general purpose blockchain database for decentralized applications. Led by Chief Architect Sunny King, the V SYSTEMS blockchain has implemented his new innovative consensus algorithm — Supernode Proof of Stake (SPoS). V SYSTEMS aims to deliver decentralized database cloud technology that is scalable and durable, with high finality, performance and the highest resistance to 51% attacks.
The network is operated as a cloud platform that can support efficient and agile development of a vast variety of applications, including but not limited to decentralized finance applications (DeFi), entertainment, social media, tokenization, dapp deployment and many more.
About Staked
Staked helps investors reliably and securely compound their crypto by 5% — 100% annually through staking and lending. Staked runs validation nodes for proof-of-stake currencies and offers access to on- and off-chain lending options that provide an annualized yield of in-kind currency. Staked’s investors include Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, ParaFi Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Fabric Ventures, Global Brain, and other leading crypto investors. | https://medium.com/vsystems/staked-joins-as-a-supernode-to-support-staking-on-v-systems-cb4b6bc2b860 | ['V Systems'] | 2020-01-10 03:27:53.882000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Blockchain', 'News'] |
My Medium Income Has Declined by 75 Percent. Thank God for Income Streams. | For the first time in over a year, my Medium income has fallen. It hasn’t just fallen, it’s fallen off a cliff.
Let me show you.
Photo: Author
Now, I’m not complaining. I want to make that very clear. I know very well that most writers on Medium don’t make nearly $2100 a month. And the amount of money I earned in November and December was crazy.
I know how fortunate I am.
But what you’re looking at there is a 75 percent decline over five months.
And I have a feeling that if I’m seeing that kind of shift in my income, you might be as well. So I figured it might be worth talking about. And I also think this is a perfect opportunity to talk about why income streams are so important.
Writing is a job, but Medium is not your employer.
They don’t owe me or you or anyone else stability of income. They don’t promise any sort of base rate of pay or a promise that if you do the work, they’ll do their part and fill up your bank account.
In other words, Medium is too volatile to count on for stability and certainly should not be your sole source of income.
I have theories about why my income has declined. And there are a couple of things I know for sure.
Here’s what I know for sure:
I went on vacation in November and while I wrote, I only wrote one post a day, which was the first time I wrote so little in a solid year. My income didn’t slip in November, but you can see that it did in December. But it stayed high enough that I just kept writing one post a day, rather than two or three like I had been prior to November.
Medium stopped showing a handful of evergreen posts to new readers in February. I had a core collection of about 10 posts that for months Medium shared widely and they made up the bulk of my income. The reason my income slipped so much from January through March is because those posts made less and less money, and finally now in April are not among my top performing posts at all anymore. (I’m on track to earn $1500 or so in April, so the slide continues.)
In March I didn’t even write once a day. In fact there was a whole week where I didn’t write anything at all. I was focused on other income streams and since Medium wasn’t paying well, it lost it’s position as my top-of-mind work.
I have no more control over how much money I’m making this month than I did over how much I made in November. In other words, I didn’t do anything special to make nearly $10,000 in November and I haven’t made any major mistake in April. There are SO MANY things about writing on Medium that are outside of our control.
I believe that what’s sustaining my income right now is the fact that I wrote so much last year and the year before that. I have more than 3000 posts on Medium. Those posts continue to earn some money month-over-month. If I had less of a backlog, I would absolutely be earning less money.
Here’s what I suspect:
I think that Medium has shifted away from evergreen posts in favor of much more timely, in-the-moment posts that deal with coronavirus, remote working, and what’s happening in the world today. This is a response to the crisis the world is living through right now. As a result, my pillar posts have stopped performing all together.
I think there have probably been algorithm changes or something at Medium that affected me adversely. I literally have no idea what these might be, but I know from other writers that we all experienced drops in stats and pay at the same time in mid-February.
I have a feeling that with way more time on their hands and a sudden need for money, there are way more people writing on Medium right now than normal. Which means that the money that’s available to pay is is spread thinner.
I don’t think that the decline in my income is permanent. I suspect that at some point my income will come back up somewhat.
What I’m Doing About It
In March I slipped into the habit of only writing on Medium when I had something I wanted to say to Ninja Writers. In other words, for the first time in a long time, I stopped seeing it as my job.
I’m big on experiments. I love them. So, I’ve decided in April I’m going to experiment with writing more again — being a little more deliberate about it — and see what kind of impact that has on my bottom line. If for no other reason than I’ll be able to report back on it to you.
So, my goal in April is to write twice a day. One of those posts is a series that I know for sure won’t ever be curated — because Medium doesn’t curate series — but that will be easy and fun for me to write. And the other post will be deeper and designed to be curated (Most of the time. This post won’t be curated because it’s about Medium.)
So far in April I’m averaging about $50 a day income, which is a $1500 pay check. That’s a good size decline from last month’s $2100. I want to see if I can nudge that back up. And also? I want to see if writing more often actually does increase my pay at all.
Why I’m Not Panicked
I won’t say that I’m particularly happy with the decline in my Medium income. Who would be? I didn’t expect the amount of money I was making in November to stick forever, but I also did not expect to slide down to making less money than I have in more than a year.
I’m not panicked, though, and here’s why: Medium is only one income stream.
There are other income streams that are part of my writing business that I can focus on to fill the gap. I’ve taken on more coaching clients in the last two months. I didn’t have time for that when I was writing on Medium so much. And I won’t have time to write as much as I was, now that I’m spending time working with those coaching clients.
But those clients have filled the gap left by my volatile Medium income.
I’ve also designed a new program for my membership community, which will help me to bolster that income stream some. And I hope will keep it a little more stable in a crazy time.
I also really think that it will help my writing community.
I’m Super Excited About That New Program
I’m calling it the Working Writer Program. The core of it is a six-month class designed to help writers figure out what their own, personal writing business looks like. And then write a business plan that they can actually implement.
People who participate will come away with a solid plan and a community of writers who are excited for their success.
Rather than sell that program, I’ve just included it in Ninja Writers Club. It starts on April 19th and will run every Sunday at noon EST for six months. (Followed by three more smaller classes to fill out the year — including one about building an email list.)
You can find out more here.
My own business plan and vision for what being a working writer looks like for me has absolutely helped me to shift gears as what was my main source of income not long ago has entered a steep period of decline.
Bottom Line
If you’re goal is to be a full-time, working writer it is not a great idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
If you do, you run the risk of falling victim to things that are entirely outside your control. Like changes to someone else’s business that affect your own income.
Income streams are important and every single writer can develop them. There’s no better time than now to start thinking about what that looks like for you. | https://medium.com/the-write-brain/my-medium-income-has-declined-by-75-percent-thank-god-for-income-streams-8c04cb3adb23 | ['Shaunta Grimes'] | 2020-04-06 13:45:58.059000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Writing', 'Creativity', 'Productivity', 'Money'] |
MapTiler Desktop Next Generation | We designed the MapTiler Desktop to be the most user-friendly geodata processing tool. For the upcoming version, we are asking you, the community of users, to give us your feedback.
The vision
Since the very beginning, MapTiler Desktop was created to help turn files into zoomable maps. The simple user interface allows everyone, even creative people with no technical background, to process anything you drop into it — and create map layers and overlays on existing world maps.
Being the most user-friendly geodata processing tool for converting maps-data into a web and mobile-ready form.
Assigning location information to images or plans was always easy — with visual georeferencing — or powerful with other methods available for power users.
Raster tiles were recently complemented with vector tiles rendering functionality.
This all is the “good old stuff” we want to keep and improve. But what should be added next?
Make MapTiler Desktop more visual & interactive
One of the biggest news will be an ability to preview geodata files on your computer before you start to render.
Any kind of data can be viewed, including raster TIFF/GeoTIFF, MrSID, ECW, JPEG2000/GeoJP2, Erdas HFA, NOAA BSB/KAP, Ozi Explorer OZF2/OZFx3, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF with RGB color model, or vector GeoPDF, ESRI Shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, KML, and GPX.
The new version of MapTiler Desktop will also allow preview input files before rendering.
Interaction redesigned from the ground-up
The most visible improvement will be the brand new UI. The idea is to keep the simplicity and preserve workflows you are used to. We welcome your feedback on the functionality you are using the most — to make it even more visible.
All design elements, including icons, will be unified to respect the look&feel of our website and other products.
Brand new UX for vector tiles rendering
Rendering of vector tiles, which was added quite recently, will get a brand new well-thought-out interface. This UX will be started from scratch and allow much more functionality.
New dialogs for the main functionality
The navigation will be more clear because each step of the rendering wizard will have its name displayed in the top right corner.
Together with the navigation, the terminology will be adjusted, e.g. input files vs output files, input coordinate system vs output coordinate system, …
Powered by new components
The upcoming version of MapTiler Desktop will use the latest system components.
The graphical user interface will be written in Qt5, which uses a faster WebKit rendering engine. The newest WebKit also allows visual georeferencing using any modern web map service, including Google Maps.
Qt5 adds new possibilities and is available on all modern systems, including Windows 10, macOS 10.15, and Ubuntu 20.04.
Help us improve — give your feedback
To build the “most user-friendly geodata processing tool for converting data”, we need your feedback!
Check the roadmap, decide what to build next, and vote on submitted ideas! | https://medium.com/maptiler/maptiler-desktop-next-generation-ab84f50865b3 | [] | 2020-09-07 11:32:59.352000+00:00 | ['Maptiler', 'Maps', 'Georeference', 'Gdal', 'Qt'] |
It’s scary to start, but here I am. EN/ES | My name is Sima, I want to teach you what I learned in the past couple of years.
Three years ago, I left the comforts and the security of my house in Uruguay to embark in an adventure in the world. Today I live in Barcelona — after going through 15 countries and more than 50 cities — working online, living every day as I want and being true to myself. In this time, I grew exponentially, changing my mentality and vision and reaching a potential I had not imagined before.
I realized that I am passionate about inspiring and helping others understand their goals and follow them. With the support of my tools and coaching techniques, I would love to see how you reach your potential and you become the person you want to be while following your dreams.
Every day is an opportunity to become better, to grow and give back. This is your chance to shine brighter.
🇪🇸 Da miedo empezar, pero acá estoy.
Mi nombre es Sima y quiero enseñarte lo que aprendí el último par de años.
Tres años atras deje las comodidades y seguridad de mi casa en Uruguay para embarcarme en una aventura en el mundo. Hoy vivo en Barcelona -después de pasar por 15 países y más de 50 ciudades- trabajando online, viviendo cada día como quiero y siendo fiel a mi misma. En este tiempo pude crecer exponencialmente cambiando mi mindset y visión y asi alcancé un potencial que no hubiera imaginado antes.
Me dí cuenta que me apasiona inspirar y ayudar a otros a entender sus metas y seguirlas. Con el apoyo de mis herramientas y técnicas de coaching me encantaría ver cómo alcanzas tu potencial y te convertís en la persona que queres ser siguiendo tus sueños.
Cada día es una nueva oportunidad para mejorar, crecer y dar. Esta es tu chance de shine brighter!
¿Te unís al cambio?
| https://medium.com/@theoriginalshine/its-scary-to-start-but-here-i-am-en-es-8ea5605e3969 | ['Sima Shine'] | 2019-05-27 19:00:53.068000+00:00 | ['First Post', 'Coach', 'Self Development', 'Personal Growth', 'Spanish'] |
THE 6 STEPS TO CREATING A GREAT STORYLINE FOR YOUR GAME | Credits: wikihow
To create a great game, one does not need to create a great storyline. Plenty of today’s top games do well without a storyline. Some can even be said to be better because of its absence.
Even if the game has a story, and it is a terrible one, the game can become a success, if the gameplay is good. But a game with terrible gameplay, even if it has the greatest storyline, may not achieve success.
But storylines are crucial elements for games belonging to certain genres. For instance, a large reason why games in the RPG genre have ardent followers is because of the interesting narratives these games usually have.
Storylines, however, are now becoming common in other genres as well. Casual games, a genre of games where storylines are non-existent, are popping up with interesting storylines.
Because storylines, can enhance the gameplay experience. When blended with the right gameplay elements, they can take games to a better level. The key is to prioritize gameplay, and then blend it with the storyline in a seamless way.
Creating a game in this manner, however, is no easy task. It requires a careful process.
Below we are outlining a 6-step process you can follow to create the storyline for your game:
1. Outline the Main Plot Points
The game’s story outline must contain all the major plot points the game’s narrative contains. The beginning, the middle, the end, all must be carefully plotted during this stage.
The storytelling can either be linear or non-linear. If required, the game can also have multiple endings, which change according to the decisions made in-game by each player.
Outlining the major points in this way helps game writers get a direction as to where the whole story should lead. Without doing a major outline, the storyline may end up in a haphazard way. And the developers may only realize it, when it’s too late.
2. The Type of Game
The second step is to define what genre the game will belong to. Because the same plot points can be created in multiple genres. So, it is paramount that the genre of the game, be decided prior hand. Deciding the genre prior hand will also allow developers to find the game’s target audience.
The game need not adhere to the conventions of a single genre. Instead, it can be a combination of multiple genres. For instance, if you think your storyline would fit better with a first-person shooter with RPG elements in it, then by all means, go for it.
During this stage, writers can work better when they work alongside designers. The genre can help the designers come up with the right game mechanics to combine with the game’s narrative.
3. Worldbuilding
A game’s setting is as important as the main plot itself. Without the right setting, the player won’t be immersed in the game’s storyline, and in most instances, the gameplay as well.
The game’s setting must have its own unique feel to it, a good geography, lore, history, language, etc. All this will make the place feel real to the player when they are playing the game.
The setting will also largely be based on the game’s genre. For an RPG game, the ideal setting is usually a fantasy world. This world will be full of myths, prophecies, creatures, and powerful beings.
4. The Main Characters
A great game’s storyline will contain the right number of important characters.
Chief among them is the protagonist/ protagonists. This main character/ characters must be well fleshed out. They must have unique character traits.
Then comes the antagonist/ antagonists. The antagonist/ antagonists like the protagonists, should be well fleshed out. Many make the mistake of making them one dimensional. Instead, developers can benefit from creating well-fleshed out antagonists.
Other characters that will be part of the main storyline include characters like major NPCs. Usually these are companions of either the protagonists or antagonists.
5. Write the Main Story
The main story will be the expansion on the outline that the writer has initially prepared. It will expand upon all the major plot points mentioned there. This will be expanded into scenes, gameplay moments, dialogues, and cut scenes, to create an overall great narrative.
The setting and characters will also be incorporated into this. The two of them are crucial elements in the game’s overall storyline.
6. Additional Details
Most games supplement the main storyline, with additional quests. These will give the players more chance to enjoy the game they have fallen in love with.
These additional quests however must be carefully created. If improperly created, they can subtract from the game experience rather than add to it.
Another additional detail that you can add are minor NPCs.
Conclusion
A good story can be a great addition to the right game. It can make the game more immersive and hence enjoyable. And to certain players for whom narrative is important, the right game with the right story is the magical combination.
The key to create a storyline that users will love is by following a careful and detailed process like the one above.
The best way to do this, however, is with a team of good game designers and writers. A good team will be able to create storylines that blend seamlessly with the gameplay. They will also create interesting plot points, unforgettable characters, and immersive setting, which will enthrall anyone who loves story-driven games. | https://medium.com/@juegostudio/the-6-steps-to-creating-a-great-storyline-for-your-game-410010d622e8 | ['Juego Studio'] | 2020-12-24 07:13:34.835000+00:00 | ['Game Design', 'Games', 'Game Development'] |
The Beginning | The Beginning
Weekly Letters -01
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Starting late last year, I’ve been taking a closer look at the cryptocurrency (aka crypto) landscape. Given the nine years I’ve spent running an algorithmic hedge fund, I’m naturally drawn to the dynamics of crypto trading…...
by Gary Basin
This is the second part in a series of beginner tutorials on integrating physical devices with the IOTA protocol. In this tutorial we are going to recreate the project from the first tutorial replacing hard wiring with WiFi communication….
by Hugo Gregersen
Blockchain technology has come a long way since Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white-paper. People have since realised the potential of this technology and have found use cases for blockchain in so many different fields…..
by Stanly Johnson
One of the most prominent (and complicated) stablecoin projects in the ecosystem. Maker has great backing from Polychain Capital, Andreesson Horowitz, and others…...
by Michael Bogan
Do you want to earn crypto too? Do you already use an app on your iPhone which is connected to the blockchain? Read on and find my top-ten picks and be amazed what’s already out there…..
by Bert Bosman
In How Blockchains and Decentralized ID Solutions Flip the Switch on Privacy, I explored decentralized identity (DID) and Web3, comparing 3 unique DID approaches to interoperability…..
by Alex Broudy
You probably have heard of or read in newspapers the words cryptocurrency or utility token when it comes to describing types of digital assets. Cryptocurrency implies desire to function as a currency…..
by Joel Camacho
We have well categorized Coinmonks stories so you can navigate through them easily and read your favourite stories. If you like Coinmonks stories Join us on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram where you can interact with us and get latest updates.
That’s it for now, send me ❤️, until next time 😄.
— Gaurav Agrawal | https://medium.com/coinmonks/the-beginning-7ab72bb1c746 | ['Gaurav Agrawal'] | 2018-08-13 16:04:43.313000+00:00 | ['Newsletter', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Coinmonks', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
How to Train an mT5 Model for Translation With Simple Transformers | mT5 is a multilingual Transformer model pre-trained on a dataset (mC4) containing text from 101 different languages. The architecture of the mT5 model (based on T5) is designed to support any Natural Language Processing task (classification, NER, question answering, etc.) by reframing the required task as a sequence-to-sequence task.
In other words — text goes in, and text comes out. For example, in a classification task, the input to the model can be the text sequence to be classified, and the output from the model will be the class label for the sequence. For translation, this is even more straight forward. The text that goes in is in one language, and the text that comes out is in another.
Considering the multilingual capabilities of mT5 and the suitability of the sequence-to-sequence format for language translation, let’s see how we can fine-tune an mT5 model for machine translation. For this article, we’ll be training a translation model to translate between Sinhalese (my native language!) and English. It’s quite challenging to train good translation models for low-resource languages like Sinhalese because of, well, the low availability of resources (training data). Hopefully, the multilingual pre-training on a huge dataset (which includes Sinhalese, although not a lot of it) will help the mT5 model compensate for inadequate training data in the form of direct Sinhalese-English (and vice versa) sequences.
We’ll be using the Simple Transformers library (built on the Huggingface Transformers library) to train the mT5 model. The training and testing data will be obtained from The Tatoeba Translation Challenge. The graphs and charts are generated from Weights & Biases, which is supported natively in Simple Transformers for experiment tracking and hyperparameter optimization.
Note: You can find all the code in this article in the examples/t5/mt5_translation directory (link) of the Simple Transformers Github repo.
Outline
Installing Simple Transformers Downloading a dataset for translation Training the model Evaluating the model — Calculating the BLEU score Wrap up
Setup
You can find the most up-to-date installation instructions in the Simple Transformers documentation.
1. Install Anaconda or Miniconda Package Manager from here.
2. Create a new virtual environment and install packages.
conda create -n st python pandas tqdm sacrebleu
conda activate st
3. If using CUDA:
conda install pytorch>=1.6 cudatoolkit=10.2 -c pytorch
else:
conda install pytorch cpuonly -c pytorch
4. Install simple transformers.
pip install simpletransformers
Data Preparation
The training and test can be obtained from the Tatoeba Translation Challenge data page. You’ll also find datasets for a whole host of other languages there (including Sindarin, a language spoken by Elves in The Lord of the Rings 😀).
If you want to try training a translation model for another language, you can download the dataset for that language instead of Sinhalese. All the other steps in this article apply to any language dataset.
If you are too lazy to search for the dataset, here’s the direct link. 😜
Download the (compressed) translation dataset and extract the archive. Extract the train.trg.gz and train.src.gz archives (yes, the training data is in archives inside archives). Check whether you have the train.trg, train.src, test.trg, test.src files in the data/eng-sin/ directory. (If not, it’s probably easiest to move the files to this location as the code examples will assume that these files can be found here)
Now, let’s build the tsv files that we will use to train and test our mT5 model.
Running the code above will write the two files, train.tsv and eval.tsv , to the data/ directory.
Model Training
Once we have the data files, we are ready to start training the model.
First, we’ll import the necessary stuff and set up logging.
Next, we set up our training and evaluation data.
Here, we remove the prefix values from the datasets because we expect the model to infer the required task based on the input. If the input is in English, then it should be translated to Sinhalese. If it’s in Sinhalese, then it should be translated to English. The model shouldn’t need a prefix to figure this out after the training!
You can use a prefix value to tell an mT5 (or T5) to perform a specific task. This is quite useful to train a model which can perform multiple tasks, as shown in the article below.
Sidenote on GPU memory usage
The amount of GPU memory required to train a Transformer model depends on many different factors (maximum sequence length, number of layers, number of attention heads, size of the hidden dimensions, size of the vocabulary, etc.). Out of these, the maximum sequence length of the model is one of the most significant.
For the self-attention mechanisms used in the mT5 model, the memory requirement grows quadratically with the input sequence length (O(n²) space complexity). I.e., When the sequence length doubles, the memory required quadruples.
Also, mT5 has a much larger vocabulary than T5 (~250,000 tokens to ~32,000 tokens), contributing to mT5 being quite punishing in terms of GPU memory required.
The takeaway from all this is that the number of tokens we can input to the model (the maximum sequence length) comes at a hefty premium. Based on this, it’s wasteful to use even a small number of tokens on the prefix if the model can do without.
Now, let’s get back to training the model!
Here, we specify how we want the model to be set up and initialize the pre-trained mT5 model according to model_args .
I’m using a maximum sequence length ( max_seq_length ) of 96 and a train/eval batch sizes of 20. Generally, larger batch sizes mean better GPU utilization, and therefore, shorter training times. As mentioned earlier, longer sequences require more GPU memory, which means smaller batch sizes and longer training times. The maximum sequence length of 96 allows the model to work with reasonably long text (typically a few sentences) while also keeping the training time practical.
Note that you may need to tweak these values to train the model on your own GPU. If you run out of GPU memory (CUDA memory error), try reducing the batch sizes and/or the maximum sequence length.
If you want to try the fine-tuned model, you can find it here on the Huggingface model hub.
Now, to run the training, we just need to call the train_model() method.
As easy as that! The fine-tuned model will be saved to the outputs directory at the end of the training (see docs for more info on model saving).
With these settings, the model took a little over 10 hours to complete the training on an RTX 3090 (24 GB VRAM).
Time taken for training — by author
I probably could have gotten away with slightly larger batch sizes (as you can see below), but I didn’t want to run the risk of the training crashing as I was running this overnight!
GPU memory usage during training — by author
Playing it safe with a batch size of 20 meant that the GPU was not fully utilized, but, 80%-ish is not bad!
GPU utilization (cores) — by author
Visualizing Training Progress
Setting the wandb_project value in model_args tells Simple Transformers to log the training progress to Weights & Biases automatically. You can find all the logged data for this experiment here.
Training loss
Graph of training loss — by author
Evaluation loss
Graph of evaluation loss — by author
The actual loss values here don’t tell us too much, but the fact that they are decreasing does mean that the model is learning!
In fact, it appears as though the model has not yet converged as the evaluation loss is still decreasing. Training for another epoch or two might very well improve the model performance, but, that would take another 10 or 20 hours!
To try out the fine-tuned model in a web-based GUI (Streamlit app), use the terminal command simple-viewer .
Evaluating the Model
The standard metric used to evaluate and compare machine translation models is the BLEU score, specifically, the BLEU scheme used by the annual Conference on Machine Translation (WMT). The SacreBLEU library can be used to calculate this score.
For more information on the BLEU score, please refer to this paper by Matt Post.
Since The Tatoeba Challenge also provides the BLEU scores for the benchmark translation models, we can easily compare our model to the benchmark model.
Now, let’s load our fine-tuned model and see how it stacks up!
We import the necessary stuff (note the sacrebleu library) and initialize the model just as we did for training, except that we load the fine-tuned model from outputs/ rather than the pre-trained model.
We also set some parameters for generating text (decoding) with the model. Here, the max_length is the maximum length for the output from the model rather than the input.
If you’d like to learn more about the decoding process, please refer to the decoding algorithms section in this article and this excellent notebook by Huggingface.
Next, we’ll prepare the data for evaluation.
Here, we load the evaluation data and prepare separate lists of inputs and true translations (for English to Sinhalese and vice versa).
With the model and evaluation data loaded and ready, we can go ahead and do the translations. With Simple Transformers, we just call model.predict() with the input data. Then, we use the sacrebleu tool to calculate the BLEU score.
The sacrebleu library should be installed in your virtual environment if you followed the setup instructions. If not, you can install it with pip install sacrebleu .
Running this gives us the following scores (rounded off):
English to Sinhalese: 10.3
Sinhalese to English: 24.4
Both these scores improve upon the scores posted by the translation model in the Tatoeba Challenge!
Wrapping Up
The mT5 model does an excellent job of translating between Sinhalese and English, despite the limited training data availability.
mT5 outperforms the scores posted in the Tatoeba Challange. However, it should be noted that the benchmark model in the challenge is trained on several other languages in addition to Sinhalese and English. In addition, the mT5 model requires significantly more compute resources to train and to use. On the other hand, the mT5 model has the potential to improve upon the current scores with more training.
Finally, you can find the fine-tuned model on the Huggingface model hub here. You can use it directly with Simple Transformers as shown below. | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-train-an-mt5-model-for-translation-with-simple-transformers-30ba5fa66c5f | ['Thilina Rajapakse'] | 2021-01-04 14:16:47.911000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Naturallanguageprocessing', 'Translation'] |
Your Song | Here is another poem about the wonder of women: | https://medium.com/@freshreceptive/your-song-7b09b6311b06 | ['Fresh Receptive'] | 2020-11-02 06:45:33.870000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Womens Health', 'Metoo', 'Poetry', 'Women'] |
Pangborn Development Site III | An ongoing, sneak peak at work under way building out the next facilities at Pangborn
The latest progress as Pangborn goes full-steam ahead…
MARCH 28TH
Progress continues at Giga-Watt’s Pangborn location. The PUD has been working along with our crane operators to place the large lament polls that will be able to supply the site with high capacity power lines needed for our site and substation.
The poles were finished being placed in their permanent home and the next phase is running the lines and routing them to our site.
Concrete trucks are onsite paving the way for 3 more pods and the substation.
Excavators and other heavy machinery are moving dirt for roadways and drainage ditches for the site.
MARCH 21ST
Giga-Watt’s deployment team has been very busy supplying another pod with miners readying them for deployment at Pangborn.
Our team is moving right behind our contractors and getting each pod equipped with racks, PDU’s, and network gear to prepare for the numerous incoming miners. Two pods have been loaded completely with gear and a third has just finished with PDU’s and will be ready for miners and PSU’s this week.
Our construction crews and electricians have been working tirelessly to stay ahead of our deployment teams. They have got five future pods excavated, footings laid, and are ready for the pad’s to be poured. We have four more pods being framed that will soon be ready for fans, racks and gear.
Poles and holes are being dug to pave the way for the future of the site. We are moving the poles into position today and on Tuesday next week the PUD will bring their crane in to put the poles in place.
As always, we have been working closely with all partners, contractors and the Douglas County PUD to make sure all safety measures, construction and development continue to go as planned.
MARCH 13TH
On Tuesday Douglas County PUD will be onsite with Giga-Watt. We are continuing to push ahead and have been installing racks, switches, PDU’s, and lastly,miners.
We began installation of 4 more pods this week and hard hats will continue to be a common theme as all of the contractors and the PUD develop the site for final deployment. | https://medium.com/gigawatt/pangborn-development-site-iii-457d155d31e9 | ['Giga Watt'] | 2018-03-28 23:03:18.563000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Cryptomining', 'Gigawatt', 'Mining'] |
Linear Regression in Python Scikit Learn | Linear Regression in Python Scikit Learn
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sb
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression
Import Dataset
Dataset=sb.load_dataset('tips')
print(Dataset) total_bill tip sex smoker day time size
0 16.99 1.01 Female No Sun Dinner 2
1 10.34 1.66 Male No Sun Dinner 3
2 21.01 3.50 Male No Sun Dinner 3
3 23.68 3.31 Male No Sun Dinner 2
4 24.59 3.61 Female No Sun Dinner 4
.. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
239 29.03 5.92 Male No Sat Dinner 3
240 27.18 2.00 Female Yes Sat Dinner 2
241 22.67 2.00 Male Yes Sat Dinner 2
242 17.82 1.75 Male No Sat Dinner 2
243 18.78 3.00 Female No Thur Dinner 2
[244 rows x 7 columns]
Observe Dataset
Dataset.plot(x='total_bill',y='tip',style='o')
plt.show()
Prepare Data
x = np.array(Dataset['total_bill']).reshape(-1,1)
y = np.array(Dataset['tip']).reshape(-1,1)
Split Train and Test
Put 1/3 to train data set and 2/3 to test data set
xTrain, xTest, yTrain, yTest = train_test_split(x, y, test_size = 1/3, random_state = 0)
Observe Test Data set
plt.title('Tips and Bills_test')
plt.xlabel('total_bill_test')
plt.ylabel('tip_test')
plt.scatter(xTrain,yTrain)
plt.show()
Observe Train Data set
plt.title('Tips and Bills_train')
plt.xlabel('total_bill_train')
plt.ylabel('tip_train')
plt.scatter(xTrain,yTrain)
plt.show()
Train Dataset / Find the best linear function
lreg=LinearRegression()
lreg.fit(xTrain,yTrain) LinearRegression()
Compare Predicted Function with Trained Data
plt.scatter(xTrain, yTrain, color = 'red')
plt.plot(xTrain, lreg.predict(xTrain), color = 'blue')
plt.title('Train vs Predicted')
plt.xlabel('total_bill')
plt.ylabel('tip')
plt.show()
Compare Predicted Function with Trained Data
plt.scatter(xTest, yTest, color = 'red')
plt.plot(xTest, lreg.predict(xTest), color = 'blue')
plt.title('Test vs Predicted')
plt.xlabel('total_bill')
plt.ylabel('tip')
plt.show() | https://medium.com/@mashkarharis/linear-regression-in-python-scikit-learn-526b57a11a09 | ['Mohomed Ashkar Haris'] | 2020-11-27 15:48:17.910000+00:00 | ['Linear', 'Regression', 'Scikitlearn', 'Python', 'Sklearn'] |
Python for FPL(!) Data Analytics | Python for FPL(!) Data Analytics
Using Python and Matplotlib to perform Fantasy Football Data Analysis and Visualisation
author’s graph
Introduction
There are two reasons for this piece: (1) I wanted to teach myself some Data Analysis and Visualisation techniques using Python; and (2) I need to arrest my Fantasy Football team’s slide down several leaderboards. But first, credit to David Allen for the helpful guide on accessing the Fantasy Premier League API, which can be found here.
To begin, we need to set-up our notebook to use Pandas and Matplotlib (I’m using Jupyter for this), and connect to the Fantasy Premier League API to access the data needed for the analysis.
#Notebook Config
import requests
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
%matplotlib inline
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.style.use('ggplot')
url = '
r = requests.get(url)
json = r.json() #API Set-Upurl = ' https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/bootstrap-static/' r = requests.get(url)json = r.json()
Then, we can set up our Pandas DataFrames (think data tables) which will be queried for valuable insights — hopefully. Each DataFrame (_df) we create relates to a JSON data structure accessible via the FPL API. For a full list of these, run json.keys(). We’re interested in ‘elements’ (player data), ‘element_types’ (positional references), and ‘teams’.
elements_df = pd.DataFrame(json['elements'])
element_types_df = pd.DataFrame(json['element_types'])
teams_df = pd.DataFrame(json['teams'])
By default, elements_df contains a number of columns we aren’t interested in right now (for an overview of each DataFrame, see David’s article). I’ve created a new DataFrame — main_df — with columns I might want to use.
main_df = elements_df[['web_name','first_name','team','element_type','now_cost','selected_by_percent','transfers_in','transfers_out','form','event_points','total_points','bonus','points_per_game','value_season','minutes','goals_scored','assists','ict_index','clean_sheets','saves']]
It’s important to note that elements_df uses keys to reference things such as a player’s position and team. For example, in column ‘element_type’, a value of “1” = goalkeeper, and in column ‘team’ a value of “1” = Arsenal. These are references to the two other DataFrames we created (element_types_df, and teams_df)
If we preview element_types_df, we’ll see that each ‘id’ number here corresponds to a position: | https://towardsdatascience.com/python-for-fpl-data-analytics-dadb414ccefd | ['Charlie Byatt'] | 2020-10-16 18:20:34.390000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Data Analysis', 'Matplotlib', 'Data Visualization', 'Football'] |
Market Analysis December 23, 2020 | - Asian securities are giving up profits after President Donald Trump said he asked Congress to amend the pandemic aid law passed earlier this week. Chinese stocks rose on Wednesday, fueled by gains in electric vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, as investors believe policymakers will avoid sudden policy tightening by 2021 to support the economy’s recovery from the slump caused by the pandemic.
- US stock futures fell in overnight trading on Tuesday after President Donald Trump expressed concern about a new Covid-19 aid package that could delay the spread of funds to struggling Americans. The Dow slipped 110 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively
Europe became the first region in the world to pass 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, as a new variant of the coronavirus found in Britain threatens the region’s precautionary measures to curb the pandemic
- Dollars rose in Tuesday’s trading session in a thin trading range, as concerns about the coronavirus variant raging through the UK, causing a ‘lockdown’, dampening market optimism about a US stimulus bill passed by congress overnight.
- Risk appetite took a hit, as US stocks fell except for the Nasdaq, and the U.S. Treasuries are stronger. Currencies linked to a higher risk appetite such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars were also lower against the greenback
- Oil fell in early trading on Wednesday after industry data showed US crude stockpiles rose last week, defying expectations for a fall, and US President Donald Trump rattled markets by threatening not to sign the long-awaited COVID-19 aid bill
- EIA’s crude oil inventory report will be released Wednesday
- US jobless claims, durable goods, personal income data comes Wednesday
- US bonds and stock trading and markets in other parts of the world will be closed on Thursday morning for the Christmas holiday. Most of the global markets are closed on Friday.
Dollar Maintain Strengthening Momentum?
The USD Index last Tuesday closed at 90,546 levels and in the early Asian trading session, this Monday opened at 90,525 levels. The euro fell to the 1.2151 area and closed around 1.2186. The pound fell to the 1.3302 area and closed at the 1.3399 area. Aussie fell to the 0.7515 area and closed in the 0.7551 area. Yen reached the 103.72 area and closed at the 103.50 area. The Swiss Franc reached the 0.8902 area and closed in the 0.8876 area, Tuesday, December 22, 2020. The currency market showed quite a narrow trade in the currency market last Tuesday, the number of equities that decreased because the holiday season had started and the ‘risk-on’ that was running was indeed less profitable. for risky currencies, and USD strengthens, if things like this continue until next week, the initial session of the year will be different, if the overbought area is maintained then a major correction can occur, but if until the end of this year session is closed with a wider trading range then correction for the USD will be seen.
Symbol
Technical Analysis
Trend
Buy Levels
Sell Levels
EURUSD
Steady weakness below 1.2202 could be the initial signal for further euro consolidation to test the support at 1.2162 1.2128 and 1.2035. A steady gain above the 1.2205 level could be the start of a strengthening euro rally to test 1.2260–1.2280 resistance.
DOWN
1.2120–1.2070
Cutloss : 1.2030
1.2190–1.2235
Cutloss : 1.2270
USDJPY
Consolidation will return to test the 103.49 level, rise above this level has the potential to weaken to the 103.95 and 104.30 levels. Steady gain below the 103.35 level will trigger a rally at the 103 and 102.55 levels
UP
103.35–102.95
Cutloss : 102.55
103.90–104.35
Cutloss : 104.65
GBPUSD
Steady weakness below the 1.3385 level can again push the pound to weaken to 1.3310, 1.3295 and 1.3186 levels. Steady gain above the 1.3430 level will be the initial signal for the pound’s strengthening rally at 1.3540–1.36 levels.
DOWN
1.3235–1.3180
Cutloss : 1.3150
1.3420–1.3470
Cutloss : 1.3505
AUDUSD
A steady weakening below the 0.7559 level could trigger a test of the support at 0.7495 and 0.7437–0.7414. Stable strengthening above the level of 0.76 will again support the bullish trend targeting a rally at the levels of 0.7650–0.7680.
DOWN
0.7490–0.7440
Cut loss: 0.7400
0.7560–0.7605
Cut loss: 0.7635
USDCHF
Consolidation can still continue for the swiss franc with a stable weakening target to 0.8910 and a resistance test of 0.8938 to 0.8980. Steady gain below the 0.8866 level could trigger a rally at the 0.8800 and 0.8760 levels.
UP
0.8866–0.8815
Cut loss : 0.8780
0.8938–0.8980
Cut loss 0.9015
GOLD
Steady weakness below 1871 and 1855 levels could push gold back down to 1805 levels. Steady gains above 1871 and 1881 levels could again support gold’s strengthening rally to test resistance levels 1898, 1912 and 1930
DOWN
1845–1825
1871–1885
SILVER
Steady weakness below 25.60 level will continue to test support 24.60 / 24.20. A steady decline below the 24.70 level will again be the initial signal for a bearish trend rally for silver. Strengthening above the 27.90 level will provide the signal for a further rally to the 32.60 level.
CONSOLIDATION
24.40–23.00
25.30–27.50
US OIL
A steady decline below the level of 46.40 could signal a bearish trend for oil and test support levels of 44.75 and 42.90. A steady gain above the 47.90 level will trigger a rally up to the 49–52 level.
CONSOLIDATION
44.40–42.90
46.70–47.50
SP500
SP500 will again test the strong support 3660 which can trigger consolidation at levels 3615 and 3555. Levels 3745–3795 are still the focus of SP500 resistance price
CONSOLIDATION
3610–3570
3700–3750
Dow Jones
The steady decline below the level to the level of 29945 will continue the consolidation of Dow Jones at the levels of 29580 and 29180. The strengthening of the Dow will still focus on the 30375, 30440 and 30560 levels.
CONSOLIDATION
29500–29200
29950–30130
Nasdaq
Stable weakness below 12670 and 12490 will trigger consolidation to target levels 12420, and 12280. A steady gain above the 12750 level will maintain the nasdaq’s bullish momentum for a test of resistance 12830 and 12936
CONSOLIDATION
12340–12160
12745–12810
Hangseng
Stable weakening below the 26150 level can again trigger a test of strong support at 25940 and 25550. A steady gain above the 26445 level will still maintain the bullish momentum Hangseng to re-test the resistance 26750
DOWN
25940–25550
26270–26380 | https://medium.com/@soegeefuturesbroker/market-analysis-december-23-2020-99a4b376db43 | [] | 2020-12-23 07:23:22.004000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Market Analysis Reports', 'Market Analysis', 'Stocks', 'Stock Market'] |
Do pacifiers interfere with breastfeeding success? | The use of pacifiers is an ancient practice, but often becomes a point of debate between parents and professionals. The research of Dr Alejandro Gustavo Jenik, a paediatrician at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina, aims to explore the relationships between pacifier use and breastfeeding. His current research is investigating the impact of early introduction of pacifiers on breastfeeding prevalence and duration.
Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), is the leading cause of death in the developed world for infants aged one month to one year of age. Recent SIDS rates vary across high-income countries (2012–2014), ranging from 0.05 deaths per 1,000 live births in Sweden to 0.39 per 1,000 live births in the U.S. SUID is defined as the sudden, unexpected death of infants when subsequent investigations fail to demonstrate a definite cause of death. Other causes of SUID must be considered and excluded before a diagnosis of SIDS can be established.
Dr Alejandro Gustavo Jenik is a paediatrician based in the Neonatal Department at the Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires. His research into SIDS has included investigating pacifier use in relation to breastfeeding.
Dr Jenik works alongside Dr Nestor Vain, who contributed to the design and discussion of the study. Dr Peter Weiss MSc, PhD, CChem, FRSC, MRSH (now deceased) was Dr Jenik´s mentor in regards pacifiers. Dr Weiss is considered to be one of the leading authorities on infant feeding and use of pacifiers, especially in relation to the clinical effects on babies and young children. Dr Weiss’s interest also included the possible effects of chemicals used in the production of baby products. All the colleagues belonging to the Department of Neonatology of the Hospital Italiano had a collaborative attitude towards this study, which allowed it to be recognised internationally.
Pacifiers and breastfeeding success
The real debate over pacifiers has been whether its use interferes with the establishment and duration of breastfeeding. Lactation consultants believe that use of pacifiers interferes with breastfeeding and significantly decreases duration of lactation, but Dr Jenik did not believe this to be the case. Evidence to the contrary includes a randomised controlled trial developed in Argentina. The objective was to evaluate whether the recommendation to offer a pacifier once lactation was well established reduced the prevalence or duration of lactation. The population included 1023 mothers highly motivated to breastfeed whose newborns regained birth weight by 15 days. Mothers were randomly assigned to one of two groups: offering a pacifier, and not a offering pacifier. The offering group received a package containing six silicone pacifiers, supplied by MAM Babyartikel Gesmbh (www.mambay.com/professionals) and not sold in Argentina. The study demonstrated that when mothers are determined to breastfeed for more than three months and they are successfully breastfeeding at two weeks, the advice to use or not to use a pacifier does not affect breastfeeding.
Dr Alejandro Gustavo Jenik explores the relationships between pacifier use and breastfeeding.
Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative
The ‘Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding’ declaration was established following a meeting between international health organisations to help governments support breastfeeding and published at a joint WHO/UNICEF Statement in 1989. Step 9 of the statement recommends total avoidance of artificial teats or pacifiers for breastfeeding infants. The declaration was mandatory at hospitals certified as ‘Baby Friendly Hospitals’ by UNICEF. When the ‘Ten Steps’ were developed in 1989, there was no epidemiological evidence showing that pacifier use was detrimental to breastfeeding. The first observational study which concluded that pacifiers are causally associated with weaning was published in The Lancet in 1993. The investigation regarding pacifier and breastfeeding continued. Whilst many observational studies have demonstrated a negative association between pacifier use and breastfeeding duration, observational studies cannot be used to determine whether the pacifier is the single cause of breastfeeding cessation or is simply a marker of breastfeeding difficulties.
Sudden unexpected infant death, including sudden infant death syndrome, is the leading cause of death in the developed world for infants aged one month to one year of age.
Results from four randomised controlled trials revealed no difference in breastfeeding outcomes at different types of pacifier interventions. The Jenik Study from Argentina (n=1021) and the Kramer study from Canada (n=281) were included in the Cochrane review.
The topic of step 9 has been updated (2018) according to evidence-based medicine guidelines:
“Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers”, a phrase which neither encourages nor condemns the use of pacifiers alongside breastfeeding. This modification is a paradigm shift that allows families to make informed decisions on the use or avoidance of pacifiers.
Pacifiers and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
A landmark study carried out in 1993 first showed the connection between SIDS and pacifiers, specifically, the reduced risk of SIDS if a pacifier had been used. This was supported by eleven further case-control studies (which compare a treatment or intervention group with a group which have not received the treatment). These studies showed that risk of SIDS was reduced by approximately 50% if a pacifier was used. Additional meta-analyses, which analyse the results of multiple studies, also reached the same conclusion.
The reduced risk of SIDS appeared to be greater when pacifiers were used in infants with adverse sleep conditions, such as those who sleep prone or on their side, as well as those who co-sleep with a mother who smoked. Leading on from this, one study showed that the protective effect of pacifiers was mainly confined to those who shared a bed with parents or siblings. Interestingly, the use of a pacifier at the onset of sleep appeared protective, even if the pacifier falls out of the mouth after the infant falls asleep.
The way in which a pacifier can reduce the risk of SIDS is still unclear but there are numerous mechanisms proposed that contribute to the reduced risk. These include improved autonomic control and preventing the infant from rolling over into the prone position. They also help to maintain upper airway patency, increase blood pressure during sleep and induce a forward movement of the jaw which may facilitate breathing.
This study is important as it encourages lactation consultants and international agencies to re-examine their staunch position on discouraging the use of pacifiers.
Conclusions of the Jenik group study
The results of Dr Jenik’s study showed that at three months, 85.8% of infants in the pacifier group and 86.2% of infants in the non-pacifier group were being exclusively breastfed. Furthermore, the recommendation to offer a pacifier did not produce a significant decrease in the frequency of exclusive breastfeeding, the prevalence of breastfeeding at any age, or the duration of lactation.
Mothers who are motivated to breastfeed their infants should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding pacifier use.
Although the use of pacifiers is not routinely included in government and health agency guidelines, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that it may be beneficial to consider offering a pacifier at naptime and bedtime, once breastfeeding is well established. This is part of their “Recommendations to Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” document.
This study is therefore important as it encourages lactation consultants and international agencies to re-examine their staunch position on discouraging the use of pacifiers, due to adverse effect on breastfeeding. It paves the way for physicians, nurses and healthcare staff to continue supporting breastfeeding without needing to avoid the use of pacifiers; an intervention that has been clearly demonstrated to reduce the risk of SIDS.
Interestingly, the use of a pacifier at the onset of sleep is shown to be protective, even if the pacifier falls out of the mouth after the infant falls asleep.
The missing answers: When is it safe to introduce pacifier to the breastfed baby
Evidence is particularly lacking to guide advice regarding pacifier use in the earliest days for infants born at full term. The conclusions of a Cochrane study suggest that the introduction of pacifiers at 14 days or later has no detrimental effect on breastfeeding, but there is less evidence exploring the impact of pacifier use from birth. Studies on the risks and benefits of pacifiers are hampered by the issue of reverse causality. For example, does pacifier use have an adverse effect on breastfeeding, or it is a marker for breast feeding or weaning difficulties? It is this evidence gap that Dr Jenik hopes to fill.
More research is still needed to define whether pacifier use has any impact on early feeding and weaning. To begin to answer this question, Dr Jenik and colleagues plan to undertake another study to assess the impact of offering a pacifier on breastfeeding during these first days of life.
How are pacifiers protective in the sleep environment?
One recent study suggests that pacifiers lower the auditory arousal threshold. They may provide a mechanical barrier to rolling over into the prone position. Sucking on a pacifier keeps the tongue forward maintaining upper airway patency. An infant who is soothed by a pacifier may not move as often during sleep, thus limiting the chance of becoming covered by blankets. It has also been suggested that pacifier use could lead to slight carbon dioxide retention and increase the respiratory drive.
Personal Response
Do you think there are other, as yet unidentified, factors which link pacifier use and reduced risk of SIDS; for example, social or environmental influences?
The studies demonstrate a trend towards increased protection when pacifiers are used in an adverse sleeping environment, such as in a prone or side sleep position, sleeping with a mother who smoked, or sleeping on soft bedding. A recent study that sampled a large number of African American, low-income women found that 73% of mothers had received no advice from a physician related to pacifier use during sleep.
Article References
Jenik, A.G., Vain, N.E, Gorstein, A.N. & Jacobi, N.E. (2009). Does the Recommendation to Use a Pacifier Influence the Prevalence of Breastfeeding? The Journal of Pediatrics. 155(3):350–4.e1 | https://medium.com/@researchoutreach/do-pacifiers-interfere-with-breastfeeding-success-759bfee188f2 | ['Research Outreach'] | 2021-01-16 13:04:00.116000+00:00 | ['Argentina', 'Sids', 'Pacifier', 'Breast Feeding', 'Pacifier Use'] |
Honey, how do I ‘boost my immunity’? | Are you among those losing sleep over being betrayed by Dabur in fortifying your immune shield? Or are you part of the group that never bothered with home remedies and feel vindicated by the CSE ‘honeytrap’? Let me help you: it does not matter.
Sure, selling something by claiming what it isn’t goes against basic human and business principles. But losing sleep over sugar-syrup-laden honey is missing the wood for the trees. Or, in corporate terms, it is like claiming credit for a business deal where you changed the font style of a footnote in one of the appendix slides.
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary diligence
If there is one takeout you must have, it is this: our immune system is far too complicated to be influenced by the sticky hands of one food item. Also, any time someone tells you something ‘boosts your immune system’, be cautious. Not suspicious of its composition, but cautious like you would of someone promising to double your investment when the prime lending rate is, say, 15%. It will help you appreciate both these points if I took you on a brief tour of our immune system. | https://medium.com/@iqbal-singh/honey-how-do-i-boost-my-immunity-5128d15a0cb | ['Iqbal Singh'] | 2020-12-14 07:48:46.961000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Corporate Culture', 'Immunity Boosters', 'Health'] |
A Rogue’s Tale | If you’re anything like me, you’ll have some traditions that are very personal. I’m not talking about anything serious like a faith or a yearly reunion of friends; more like the way you tie your shoes or a favourite bath soap. For me, it’s a certain holiday I take every summer, to a run down seaside down, a sleazy sports arena, and a three day journey on the ritziest train imaginable. I’m talking of course about Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.
Nintendo have long struggled to overcome an image of being overly childish. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being family-friendly, but the games industry’s key audience is one with a masculinity so fragile it would shatter into dust at the sight of the colour pink, so producing a console shaped like a cutesy purple lunchbox with dinky little discs (also handily ruling out DVD playback) did nothing to help. As such, despite some brilliant titles released between 2001 and 2003, by the time of Paper Mario’s sequel in 2004 the GameCube was in dire straits, Nintendo’s sales held up only by the Xbox’s xenophobically-induced unpopularity in Japan, and the unstoppable steamroller of the Game Boy Advance.
Necessity, as any bong-constructing stoner will know, is the mother of invention, and as a result of throwing a lot of ideas at the wall, the mid-2000s were a golden age of off-the-wall ideas gracing Nintendo, from the inherent novelty of their dual-screened handheld (released around the same time) to Zelda’s about-face from the cel-shaded lightheartedness of Wind Waker towards the dark realism of Twilight Princess.
Perhaps that explains the relative anarchy of The Thousand Year Door. In the first Paper Mario, released in the pre-9/11 afterglow of the Clinton presidency, there is a good injection of humour, but it accompanies a fluffy storybook version of the classic Mario story: Princess kidnapped, find stars, defeat Bowser. By the time of TTYD, the days of cynical internet weirdness had firmly taken hold, so we instead encounter a dilapidated post-industrial town riddled with crime and in the midst of a mob war, the princess is kidnapped by a race of aliens trying to revive an ancient demon from a base on the moon, while Bowser, bumbles his way through the world, bemused by his status as an also-ran antagonist and always two steps behind the heroes.
Bowser is just one example of the game’s penchant for self-parody. Sprinkled throughout Mario’s journey are appearances from Luigi, who pops in for breaks during his parallel adventures in the Waffle Kingdom, which are never shown but instead relayed to us by less-than-impressed companions.
Instead of the typical array of Mario levels with an environmental theme, we are instead (after an admittedly dry castle stage and an oblique Pikmin parody) treated to a series of increasingly inventive set of stages, from Mario’s career as a professional wrestler to wry takes on horror and pirate stories, and onto the best of the bunch, a three day Agatha Christie mystery with Mario at the centre, featuring ghosts, fake identities, an abandoned desert station, a family of wealthy Bob-ombs, and a yummy, sticky fate.
While the deliberately blocky pop-up book visual style is set up for visual gags, there’s a lot of love put into atmosphere building, with the Riverside Station, an otherwise small and inconsequential area, a particular joy, with its limited use of music and smattering of ragged old posters contributing to a unique and creepy air. If you have the chance, I recommend taking a poke around some of the stages using the excellent noclip.website to see the love and effort put into it.
While the five-game Paper Mario series has experimented with gameplay styles over its various iterations, The Thousand Year Door strikes the best balance between player interactivity, with a complex battle system which moves at enough of a pace and includes enough player interaction (via timing puzzles and context sensitive button prompts) to keep turn-based combat interesting.
Where Paper Mario established this system, The Thousand Year Door builds on it, adding more special moves, badges and attack types and reaching what is commonly considered the series’ peak. While I don’t disparage the third game, Super Paper Mario, as much as some for its return to a simplistic platforming style, it’s hard to deny that the subsequent games, based on sticker and card-based combat styles, were sluggish and dull at best.
This was Paper Mario when Nintendo needed it as a roll of the dice to save a dying console. It failed, but produced a gloriously irreverent, off the wall game that is far more memorable than the boilerplate Paper Mario who has populated the far more lifeless Sticker Star and Color Splash (and the less said about Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, the better).
It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since Mario, Goombella and co. returned to give the GameCube the best game of its five short years. But if you’ve been itching for some classic RPG gameplay with a hilarious twist, you could do worse than giving it another look. | https://robin-cg.medium.com/a-rogues-tale-29636306b909 | ['Robin Wilde'] | 2019-10-06 21:48:54.652000+00:00 | ['Nintendo', 'Videogames', 'Review', 'Mario', 'Retro Gaming'] |
The Empire Feeds Off The Republic | Regardless of who resides in the White House at any given time, Washington’s duplicitous genocidal wars continue unabated while the public look on seemingly helpless to stop them. In the view of Norton, this depressing state of affairs is symptomatic of the fact that the US and many of its allies are authoritarian oligarchies whose overriding purpose is to suppress democratic human agency.
The democracy illusion
Formal democracies, according to Norton, are shepherded, not according to the democratic needs of the electorate, but in the interests of malevolent national security states’, their intelligence agencies and police forces. The notion that the system is free and democratic and that human agency is an integral part of it, is an illusion. As Norton acknowledges, the reality is human agency actually goes to the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Defence Intelligence Agency.
Authoritarian nation states’ that use the cover of democracy to systematically suppress the democratic aspirations of the mass of working class people through violence, are in reality agents of the billionaire oligarch class. These oligarchs control, and thus benefit, from the system, which explains why their wealth continues to grow.
“As long as we are blinded by the illusions that underpin the system, we’re going to continue to buy into the same propaganda that we were fed during the first Cold War and now during the new Cold War. But the more we’re able to puncture that myth and wake up to the reality, then we can actually fight for creating a new system”, says Norton.
Historically embedded
The problem is that structural inequality beneficial to the elites is historically embedded. In the context of the US constitution, for example, the ruling class denied minorities and women not only equal rights, but their humanity. Indigenous people’s were also targeted in the worst genocide in human history which resulted in over 100 million dead. In monarchical Britain, royal family members supported and met with Adolf Hitler because they saw Nazi Germany as a force that would help save them from the threat of Bolshevism, as they saw it.
What this illustrates is that the way the system functions is concomitant to empires which are created to dominate the entire planet. In the context of the US, for instance, the majority of revenue spent by the government does not go to administer domestic affairs but to fund 800 military bases and the waging of dozens of wars around the world, both conventional and unconventional. Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are just three examples in the middle east. But the US, through AFRICOM has special operations forces operating on almost every single country in Africa and its military bases span every continent.
Feeding off the republic
So the reality is that the US is not only not a democratic system, it was never set out to be a democratic system. It’s an empire. As US scholar Michael Parenti says, “the empire feeds off the republic.” That was equally true for the Roman Empire as it was true for the British Empire whose systems were created to oppress mainly poor, working class and ethnic minority communities.
The oppression continues to this day. For example, in the US, a form of slave labour exists among the country’s disproportionately poor, black and Latino prison inmates. Slavery has been reinstituted in the US prison system, allowed for by an amendment to the constitution that technically abolished chattel slavery. The elites within Western capitalist societies understand that the poorest and weakest, domestically, as well as competing geopolitical powers, internationally, have to be scapegoated for the failures of a neoliberal system at the point of collapse.
Creating bogeymen
In order to maintain stability at home, the elite powers deem it necessary to create enemy ‘bogeymen’ abroad which explains the Russiagate propaganda concocted by the Western political and media establishments, as well as the negative stereotypes of Russian’s in movies and TV shows. “The reality is that the US empire wants to have its cake and eat it, too”, says Norton.
The journalist adds:
“The US empire sees any potential loss of control of a country as an attack on the infallibility, as it sees it, of its empire and its position as unipolar hegemon. Russiagate has helped convince many liberal and left-leaning progressive Americans that in order to oppose the Republican Party, they have to support more war with any country that is seen as an ally of Russia.”
With neoliberal-based societies further hamstrung by politically-motivated responses to Covid-19, the situation looks bleak for millions of working people. Norton argues that the overseeing by the Biden administration of rising unemployment and homelessness is commensurate to the situation in the 1930s which gave rise to not only fascism in Europe, but also to white supremacist terrorist movements like the KKK in the United States.
New nuclear arms race?
The election of Biden has also exacerbated the prospect of a new nuclear arms race. The role nuclear weapons played in interlinking the Wests anti-Putin rhetoric with the media backlash in response to Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to nuclear weapons, was a very important factor in bolstering US exceptionalism in the context of empire.
Norton highlights the hypocrisy that lies at the heart of US-UK foreign policy in this area:
“Rich nations in the global north that have hundreds and thousands of nuclear warheads deign to tell independent countries in the global south that they can’t even consider the possibility of creating a nuclear energy programme”, says Norton.
By denying their official enemies access to nuclear weapons afforded to themselves, the Western imperialist powers are able to command undue geopolitical leverage which effectively allows them to impose mediaeval sanctions and overthrow governments almost at will. This has been demonstrated, most notably, in independent, post-colonial Iraq and Libya.
Watch the full episode now | https://medium.com/@renegadeinc/the-empire-feeds-off-the-republic-803228fb02bc | ['Renegade Inc.'] | 2021-04-09 08:02:51.366000+00:00 | ['Biden', 'Neoliberalism', 'Propaganda', 'Inequality', 'War'] |
Online — The Bachelorette (16x13) Season 16 Episode 13 Full Eps [on ABC] HD 720p | New Episode — The Bachelorette Season 16 Episode 13 (Full Episode) Top Show
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🦋 TELEVISION 🦋
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In 113, 39% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[3] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 1990s. Most TV sets sold during the 150s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-115s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 115s.[1][3][8] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 3.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 115s.[9]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 150s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 150s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 115s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
🦋 OVERVIEW 🦋
A subgenre that joins the sentiment type with parody, zeroing in on at least two people since they find and endeavor to deal with their sentimental love, attractions to each other. The cliché plot line follows the “kid gets-young lady”, “kid loses-young lady”, “kid gets young lady back once more” grouping. Normally, there are multitudinous variations to this plot (and new curves, for example, switching the sex parts in the story), and far of the by and large happy parody lies in the social cooperations and sexual strain between your characters, who every now and again either won’t concede they are pulled in to each other or must deal with others’ interfering inside their issues.
Regularly carefully thought as an artistic sort or structure, however utilized it is additionally found in the realistic and performing expressions. In parody, human or individual indecencies, indiscretions, misuses, or deficiencies are composed to rebuff by methods for scorn, disparagement, vaudeville, incongruity, or different strategies, preferably with the plan to impact an aftereffect of progress. Parody is by and large intended to be interesting, yet its motivation isn’t generally humor as an assault on something the essayist objects to, utilizing mind. A typical, nearly characterizing highlight of parody is its solid vein of incongruity or mockery, yet spoof, vaudeville, distortion, juxtaposition, correlation, similarity, and risqué statement all regularly show up in ironical discourse and composing. The key point, is that “in parody, incongruity is aggressor.” This “assailant incongruity” (or mockery) frequently claims to favor (or if nothing else acknowledge as common) the very things the humorist really wishes to assault.
In the wake of calling Zed and his Blackblood confidants to spare The Bachelorette, Talon winds up sold out by her own sort and battles to accommodate her human companions and her Blackblood legacy. With the satanic Lu Qiri giving the muscle to uphold Zed’s ground breaking strategy, The Bachelorette’s human occupants are subjugated as excavators looking for a baffling substance to illuminate a dull conundrum. As Talon finds more about her lost family from Yavalla, she should sort out the certainties from the falsehoods, and explain the riddle of her legacy and an overlooked force, before the world becomes subjugated to another force that could devour each living being.
Claw is the solitary overcomer of a race called Blackbloods. A long time after her whole town is annihilated by a pack of merciless hired soldiers, Talon goes to an untamed post on the edge of the enlightened world, as she tracks the huggers of her family. On her excursion to this station, Talon finds she has a strange heavenly force that she should figure out how to control so as to spare herself, and guard the world against an over the top strict tyrant. | https://medium.com/@federicof-37744/the-bachelorette-series-16-episode-13-2020-week-13-on-abc-229a3f44bc0f | [] | 2020-12-22 02:30:59.682000+00:00 | ['TV Series', 'Startup', 'TV Shows', 'Reality'] |
Every Transition Is Different | Gender Transition
Every Transition Is Different
The transgender experience has common threads — but is unique to each individual
Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash
In the transgender social groups around here, there's a joke that's as worn as button-fly jeans from the 90s. It goes something like this:
Q — What’s the difference between a crossdresser and a transsexual?
A — About two years.
That joke still gets airtime — Ace of Base style — even now. Like their song The Sign, it just won't go away.
Like a Bra Clasp That Digs Into Your Back
Let me tell you why I find that joke as grating as a bra where the cloth has worn off the clasps that hold it closed.
My three reasons in ascending order:
I hate the word crossdresser.
I hate that the joke assumes that everyone follows the same path on the same timeline.
I hate that the joke reinforces the idea that visible transitioning is like a badge of belonging in a lot of trans circles.
Are You Trans Enough to Be Here?
Are you somehow less trans if you’re in the granny lane of the grand transition highway? If you’re stuck in the breakdown lane?
No, of course not.
You’re not just a crossdresser, or an admirer. Unless you are. And that’s fine too, if that’s the case.
But, it’s just the assumptions, the dismissals, the need to categorize everything…that drives people away, underground, alone.
Don’t we get enough of that in regular society?
Humans — transgender people included — like to fit things into pretty little boxes. Apparently, it’s wired into our brains. But, seriously, can we stop rating how trans we are based on what we wear, how we look, and the transness of our social media content?
Trans and Privilege
Sometimes, how trans we are is really a function of how much privilege we have.
The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) conducted by the National Center
for Transgender Equality asked over 27,000 transgender and nonbinary people about their trans experiences.
One-quarter of respondents reported that they had insurance issues when they sought care as transgender individuals — either for gender transition itself, or for routine care, just because they were transgender.
Over half (55%) couldn’t get coverage for transition-related surgery.
And, in 2015, the economy was booming for many, and we didn’t have these Great Depression-levels of unemployment and job insecurity.
…That’s not even getting into the fact that many people who identify as transgender don’t want transition-related surgery:
Among transgender women, while nearly half have had hair removal and nearly the other half want it, these numbers drop off sharply for procedures like silicone injections and tracheal shaves.
Similarly, for transgender men, while well over 95% seek or have had chest surgery and over 70% seek or want hysterectomies, these numbers drop off sharply for bottom-related surgeries.
Surgery isn’t for everyone, and isn’t available to everyone, even if they’re just as transgender as everyone else.
Loaded Question
So, what is the difference between a crossdresser and a transsexual? Here’s a lame, but true answer: it depends.
The answer depends on a lot of things we can’t know just by looking at someone, and falling prey to that base human instinct of assigning people and things into categories, neat boxes.
Maybe the difference is about privilege, money, fear, or just time and effort. Who knows? But, maybe, in the end, we should just let people decide for themselves how trans they are.
And stop challenging them. | https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/every-transition-is-different-871aff9fa96 | ['Arabelle J.'] | 2020-05-02 22:26:01.993000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Transitioning', 'Transgender'] |
Unlocking Innovators and Breaking The Mold with Tony Michuda | Skot Waldron:
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How do you start a company without having a ton of experience and do it in a way during COVID that is still successful? Well, you do it by getting the right people behind you, the right people onboard, having a good vision, a mission, and values that people can believe in, and having them also be something that’s really important. Tony expresses what that is in this interview. And I think it’s really, really, really important. I don’t think enough people allow their employees to be this thing. And that’s what’s so, so important. Tony talks a lot about different ways to break the mold. And that’s what’s really important to understand when building a company, when growing a company, or when being part of a company is that you can’t always do everything the same way over and over, and over again and expect different results. We’ve got to think of ways to do things differently that allow us to grow and allow us to be who we’re designed to be. So, in this next interview, that’s what I want you to listen to. I hope you enjoy this, and let’s get going.
Welcome to another episode of Unlocked. This is the Unlocked COVID edition, where your host, Skot, has some COVID recovery going on. So, I’m going to go ahead and excuse myself, my voice, and maybe some clearing of the throat while we do this interview. But Tony Michuda is with us today, and he is a young, thriving entrepreneur in the world of health care. And maybe it’s timely that we’re talking right now because you’re on the front lines of COVID and doing the things that you’re doing right now. So, give us a queek… A queek. Give us a quick intro about what you’re doing in the world of COVID right now.
Tony Michuda:
Awesome. Thanks for having me, first of all, Skot. I appreciate it. And props to you for powering through today on the COVID front. Glad to hear you’re feeling better. Yeah, it is timely because our company, InHealth Management Group and InHealth Life Sciences are an innovative healthcare delivery method through all things laboratory and healthcare. We originally started in our industry to be able to help tackle the opiate crisis through our high-complexity toxicology. And this was a way to just help patients and physicians really drive value closer and closer to the actual encounter versus traditional methods where they’re outsourcing to a third-party laboratory. And this really helped us enable this approach in healthcare towards more of a value-based strategy of really centralizing healthcare towards what they’re focused.
Then all of a sudden, COVID hit, and like pretty much every business in the world, I think, we had to adapt, and we had to adjust. And fortunately for us, Dr. Deborah Kyle, who is our laboratory director, she’s a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant scientist who help develop some of these technologies, and approaches, and methods in saliva-based COVID testing. And through our partnerships, we’ve been able to develop this method we call SalivirDetect, which is a saliva-based COVID test, still through the PCR traditional method. So, instead of a nasal pharyngeal swab that you’re used to seeing, we do that through a saliva-based test. This enabled us to do a couple of things. We could save a tremendous amount of PPE for providers and physicians, creating an ability for them to interact with the patients safely and be able to hand a patient a test tube they can self-administer.
Our laboratory turnaround times are as good, if not better, than most of what you’re experiencing around the country. And then, mostly, just improving the process because our laboratory test is actually a non-reagent-based test. So, it’s been enabling providers, healthcare systems, medical groups, and even employers. We’ve been working with churches, doing a lot with the drive-through clinics. So, we’ve had quite a lot of different things that we’ve had to adapt to in our industry. And as COVID goes, it’s been just every day is a new day, and we’re trying to just do the best we can to provide the best care.
SKOT WALDRON:
You’re a young guy that has brought on the help of some experienced professionals in your world. Your business model’s a little bit different too. Instead of working from the bottom up, just plow on through doing the kind of grunt work that it’s going to take to get into these big hospital systems or to talk to these other individuals about what they need to do to give you a chance, right? Why should anybody give you a chance? Tell me about your approach to this whole getting into business, and also, how do you shape what you’re currently doing in order to make sure that people do give you the chance?
TONY MICHUDA:
Well, I think the biggest thing is, is when you’re in healthcare as a young entrepreneur like myself, fortunately, we have the experienced people to really help us deliver the high-complexity science, but it’s really getting that message across to big systems to enact big change. If you’re going to change healthcare for the better, you have to do it in scale. It’s very difficult to try to do it on a one-to-one basis across the country. So, for us, our biggest credit, I think, to our success is really driving the why message behind what we do.
And this really goes parallel to our organization for our people as well in their day-to-day lives and in trying to serve the communities that we serve. We’re a national company, so we’re spread and coast to coast. And I think that the thing that’s been incredible for us is just our mission to improve access, availability, and affordability of healthcare has really helped us motivate a lot of large decision-makers in healthcare to move forward with some things that are a little bit outside their comfort zone. Because something like healthcare that’s so big in our country, it’s hard to motivate people to change.
But I think when you focus on the why versus the what, it’s been a big message. And that goes all the way back to my days at university. I was fortunate to work under some mentors that were saying, “Here’s the way that business is, and how do we really motivate people to change?” And that’s really through, what are we doing and how do we live our lives on mission? And then, how does the business encompass that? So, for us, it’s been a true testament to the lifeblood of who we are in motivating people and especially within our organization, but then, bringing that out into the communities we serve.
SKOT WALDRON:
You spoke about your purpose, your why, your vision, mission values. Tell me about those and why they are so central to what you’re doing right now.
TONY MICHUDA:
Well, I think what’s really important is as a young company, we can’t go out, and break the bank, and bringing people under our wing. And so, you really have to find people that believe what you believe. And I’m a big supporter of, I’m sure you’ve heard of Simon Sinek, Start With Why. And that really hit me in one of my classes in business class, in college, when I was at Notre Dame. One of my business classes introduced that concept and had us study the methods behind Simon’s approach. And then, as I started reading about organizations and diving into what they do, I realized the ones that do enact the biggest change probably are because they’re motivating people under the same mission, vision, values. And when people believe what you believe, it’s really important, as an organization, to be able to let people have the method to their own madness, not micromanage, but then, be able to drive that mission forward.
So, for us, I always pose the question to our people every single day of, who are you and who do you want to become? And I think that’s really important for people to understand in their organization because there’s a way to conduct business every single day that’s parallel to what you believe. And a lot of our people in our organization are very, very, very dedicated to improving healthcare because they want to see healthcare become something that’s available to everyone. And that’s not something that you can govern. We really believe that that’s something you can innovate and you can inspire. And so, that’s how we’ve had the biggest impact for a lot of people through our organization, especially during a crisis of COVID. There’s just so much chaos every single day, and to try to manage every single one of our people in our organization every single day, is that would be a task in and of itself.
And as things are constantly adapting and changing, we have to rely on our people to make some authoritative decisions in their own marketplaces. And I think it’s really important that as long as people are on that brand and on that mission and understanding what our end goal is as an organization to improve healthcare for all of us, it’s amazing to see how well a young organization can thrive in something as chaotic and complex as healthcare. And then, you throw COVID into the mix, and it’s been pretty incredible to watch. I’m really proud of our people.
SKOT WALDRON:
Because you talk about not being a babysitter.
TONY MICHUDA:
No.
SKOT WALDRON:
Right? You mentioned that in our little pre-call here. And what is interesting is when you mentioned you’re a young guy. You don’t have 30 years of managerial experience behind you with coming in to manage a company, and manage a team, and to manage people, let alone a startup, right? This is not something where it’s like, “Hey, it’s already rolling. It’s already got its thing going. And now, you just have to be the people manager.” This is something where you’re building things on all fronts and really trying to understand what to do to get people behind you to move forward because you don’t have time to mess around with a lot of the day-to-day people stuff. Right? So, the overarching strategy is get people that believe what you believe, and they will follow. And they will blaze their own trails that are in line with the trails that you’re blazing yourself as a company to make sure you’re also achieving the same goal. Right?
TONY MICHUDA:
Absolutely. I think since graduating college and getting into the working world and trying to find my own career path, I wasn’t somebody who wanted to jump into healthcare. I just knew I wanted to make the world a better place. I think as individuals, we’re always trying to find who we are and what we believe. And I think that that’s so paramount to just business in general, nowadays, especially my generation. I think everybody’s looking for something that supports what they believe, and that’s becoming more and more important than versus compensation packages because I think that’s what really motivates people and gets them out of bed every day. I think that throughout my life and my professional career, I found a lot of success in… They talk about thinking outside the box. In my life, there is no box. It’s really thinking about how do we enact the biggest change? And not being afraid of change and embracing it.
I think that that’s a lot of who we are as a healthcare organization. We’ve seen the success as individuals, myself and my business partners included, but then, from our day-to-day operations type people, our people in the lab, they’re not afraid to embrace change. And I think during COVID, that is why we just hit the ground running, when we realized that we had opportunities to contribute to this fight, to be on the front lines running testing across the country, and be able to really serve. And I think that service is a huge part of who we are. I think when everybody’s under that banner, they’re not worried about how many hours they’re putting in, how much they’re being paid because that stuff will come. But when you’re motivated and you believe what you’re doing, the rest of the trivial stuff doesn’t matter so much. And I’ve really seen our team come together through that.
SKOT WALDRON:
You talk about every person that comes to work with you is an innovator and that mindset of what that takes. Why is that so important?
TONY MICHUDA:
Well, because I think innovation isn’t just… I think people think about innovators, and they think of an Elon Musk, or a Steve Jobs, or Mark Cuban, or Richard Branson. You don’t have to go to the moon to be an innovator. You don’t have to try to change every car on the road to be an innovator. You can be an innovator in your small day-to-day approaches to things. We’ve had tremendous people in our laboratory that have just said, “Hey, in order to process more samples, I think we can do this better by using robotics.” Or, “I think we can do this better by monitoring those robotics through a camera technology that’s using AI to find how we can improve our process flow.” And stuff like that in the day-to-day then really trickles down into our ability to serve more patients, which during our fight with COVID, has been just so important with… There’s been more stories than I can count of people telling me they’ve been turned away because there’s not enough testing, or they’ve been turned away because they can’t handle the volume and the demand for testing.
So, you think about one instance where one individual steps outside of their comfort zone because they believe in innovation, they believe in what we believe is always challenging that status quo, and that trickles down into our ability to maybe test two times more than we could the day before. Or we could get an extra run in to be able to test COVID, and that might be 96 more tests that get done that day that could avoid the next day results where a person might test positive, and you’re avoiding an encounter with a family member, a loved one, a friend, a relative. So, I think that that’s where innovation, in and of itself, then all of a sudden, it snowballs into this bigger impact down the road. So, it could be stuff as simple as thinking outside the box of where we want to go for our COVID testing.
Yes, we’re in healthcare. Yes, we work with big systems. But working with different church groups and saying, “Hey, how do we help people when they’re trying to bring employees back?” Churches have big parking lots. One of our team members was like, “Hey, why can’t we use that to serve the community? Because they’re not going to church in some communities right now because of social distancing and different requirements through the phases of COVID, and why don’t we utilize that resource?” And I saw that immediately snowball into a meeting, which led to the possibility for us to test thousands of people a week. So, it’s that culture of, as the leader in our organization, myself and my business partner, we’ve got a lot of great ideas, but we also have a lot of responsibilities to keep moving the business forward and making sure that we have cashflow to increase our throughput if we need more equipment, working on the day-to-day with large health systems and strategize how we can make the biggest change.
So, having people in our organization that embrace that innovative side of who they are in our culture, our mission, our vision, our value creates little moments like that, that snowball into big impact. That’s why I just continually drive that message forward because I’ve seen it reap the rewards time and time again. And it’s really exciting to watch. And it’s great to see someone’s small idea turn into a big impact because that’s really what makes a company like ours so successful.
SKOT WALDRON:
What’s the biggest problem that current leadership in any industry, you would feel, has right now when it comes to leading younger individuals? Anybody in that place, whether they’re just coming out of college, maybe they’re around your age, around 30 years old or so, and coming into the workspace, or being part of something. What’s the biggest problem that you see in the world of leadership right now?
TONY MICHUDA:
It goes back to what I said, just being afraid of change. I think that organizations across all fronts, and I’ll use healthcare for example. You have these big bureaucratic systems that have a lot of decision-makers that need to weigh in. And sometimes, you need… We’ll have 10, 20 people in a room, and they need to make sure everybody’s in the room, make sure everybody hears what’s going on, and then, they meet. And before you know it, it’s six months to a year goes by before any decision actually is made. I’m not saying that you need to recklessly jump into opportunities that are trying to move an industry forward. But I think you need to have a lot of faith in people to be able to have a little bit more autonomy over what they’re doing.
I’ve seen it time and time again with different friends and different organizations where these are brilliant people, and they’ve got great ideas, and they try to bring those ideas to the decision makers, and it either falls on deaf ears, or it gets lost in the shuffle. And I think that creating mechanisms that really cultures and support just really radical, new ideas that want to change industries for the better is really where industries need to go. Our organization is trying to be a testament to that exact belief that, let everyone be innovators. Let everyone realize that no idea too big or too small is not worth the discussion. With that comes the responsibility of being able to understand what’s worth the squeeze, what juice is worth the squeeze because sometimes, companies will have a million great ideas, but nothing ever gets accomplished.
So, I think there’s a bit of balance that you have to find, and I think that’s a cool character trait of our organization, as well, is we’ve got 30, 40-year healthcare leaders who know the big industries. They know some of the pitfalls of trying to get certain things done. So, they’re able to take our really innovative people and find that middle ground because you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew or you don’t want to run head-first into a great idea before you run through beta testing and really make sure that these ideas are something that are practical. Because I think that’s the hard part is really finding that balance. So, it’s how do you motivate, how do you communicate? But then, also, how do you prioritize what makes the biggest impact for the organization, and what’s even possible at the time?
Because we’ve got a lot of great ideas, but when something like COVID hits the global healthcare market, we need to reshuffle our priorities and figure out, okay, well, how do we take some of those ideas and apply them? And how do we make sure that we don’t forget about good ideas? And then, once things… I don’t think we’re ever going back to normal, so to speak, but I think how do we eventually then bring those back into our core competencies? So, I think it’s just this constant evolution, this constant change, I think you have to embrace it. It’s not something to fear, but it’s also not something to follow blindly. So, I think that’s really important.
SKOT WALDRON:
That’s really smart. Let your people be innovators. Let them have a voice because there’s gold in there, but also, balance it out with reality, balance it out with the experience of the people that have been there that have the knowledge of what’s there to marry the two and create practical solutions that are also trying to break the mold.
TONY MICHUDA:
Absolutely. I think part of it is having that diversity in your organization is so important because it gives you diverse perspectives, but then, also gives you diverse experience because I think my generation was sort of the start of it. We had dial-up still, and I can’t wait to explain that to our future generations that are coming in out of college. Because they probably have never experienced something like a flip phone or the three-button texting. But the instant gratification generation is coming, and they’ve got a lot of great ideas, but we also need to marry that with practicality, and we also need to understand that it takes time and patience. Our business took years to get our first win. We had a lot of great ideas, and we were really disruptive, but the patience part, I am extremely grateful for some of my more experienced colleagues and co-founder for saying, “Hey, Tony, we got great ideas, but we got to just let this thing fall into its own.”
Because I was very impatient. I’m like, “We got all these great ideas. I want to get moving. I want to change the world.” But it’s like, hey, there’s steps to this process. And I think that all those unique perspectives, it’s really helped me grow as a leader. I’m not perfect. I’ve got a lot of great ideas, and I’ve got a lot of methods to my madness. I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum, but with that comes the ability to listen, and I think that’s important as well. You need to embrace that culture of change. You need to embrace that culture of speaking up. But then, as leaders, it’s our responsibility to listen, but also, to encourage our teams to listen to each other. Because I think that that’s where these ideas start to really form. And then, you can figure out what really is applicable and what’s practical.
SKOT WALDRON:
Right on, Tony. Good stuff, man. What can people do to find out more about you, about more what’s going on here? Is there some contact info you like to put out there that’s easy for people?
TONY MICHUDA:
Yeah. I’m on LinkedIn, so I’m always open to interacting and discussing with people. I think with COVID, unfortunately, a lot of people have rushed into LinkedIn. And so, I’m sure all of us have experienced that our inboxes have been flooded with people who have ideas and opportunities. So, I’m trying to keep up with that as best as I can. So, if you want to reach out to me through LinkedIn, I promise I’ll get back to you. But also, just our website and just understanding more of who we are and what we do. And then, also, just reaching out to me directly through… You can go to our website and reach out to our inquiry portal. We have an 800 number that goes to one of my inboxes that I can answer.
Obviously, you don’t want to give out cell phones to the general public, and then, have phones ringing off the hook. But there’s more than a million ways to reach out to us. And obviously, through you, as people want to talk more. We’re so dedicated to inspiring change in healthcare, but just also in our world because I think that we all want to live this life in good health, AKA InHealth. Any change that we can inspire is for the better, and we just want to live our lives on mission with other great-minded people that are just really dedicated to bringing unity and making the world a better place.
SKOT WALDRON:
Good words to end this thing. I really appreciate you, Tony, and good luck on everything you’re doing. COVID stuff is not going away, as you can see. I’m evidence number one that we’ve got more of this coming. So, I hope you guys are able to make a real impact and change people’s lives for the better. As you can tell, Tony has a lot of wisdom within that young mind of his. There’s a lot that goes into listening to people, a lot that goes into trusting people, a lot that goes into marrying that innovation, that we’re a new startup, we’re doing our thing, and also, the wisdom of the experience and the people that have been there for a long time and letting them do their jobs. There’s a lot that goes into starting this company. And he is so excited and passionate about having a vision, and a mission, and values that people can get behind, and letting them do their jobs, letting them be innovators, letting them push the mold, and break it, and do the things that are going to allow their company to excel.
He understands he’s got good ideas, right? He’s been there. He’s built this company. But it’s also about letting other people be the innovators that they are designed to be. I’m super grateful for Tony, wish him the best of luck in everything he’s doing. If you want to find out more, you can go to my website at skotwaldron.com. There’s another interviews are there. I’ve got some freebies for you at that website as well. You can go to my YouTube channel. Please subscribe, like, share this with other people, and let’s get the word out about these great people doing great stuff. Okay. Well, I hope you have an awesome day, and I will talk to you next time.
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The post Unlocking Innovators and Breaking The Mold with Tony Michuda appeared first on Build a brand worth following. . | https://medium.com/thoughts-of-a-brand-strategist/unlocking-innovators-and-breaking-the-mold-with-tony-michuda-45d5f7ec909b | ['Skot Waldron'] | 2020-12-23 16:23:15.282000+00:00 | ['Company Culture'] |
Binance Introduces Sub-Account Support | Binance is thrilled to announce the launch of our long-anticipated sub-account feature, which brings improved managerial control and asset audit tools to institutional account holders.
Take control of your corporate trading strategy
At Binance, we strive to fulfill the needs of our users and to constantly improve the user experience. The ability to have sub accounts was one of our most-requested features — we have been working on this functionality and are happy to now offer this to our institutional accounts.
This upgrade will serve entities looking to set up multiple trading accounts within one organization and control access on an account level. The original/main account has sole control over the movement of assets within the accounts as well as the ability to set permissions and grant different access levels for up to 200 sub accounts. API users will be pleased to know that each sub account will have its own set of API limits, enabling them to trade with more freedom and at a higher capacity.
Security is a core principle of our firm, and this principle also underlies the design of this new feature. Account login information has been properly subdivided to maximize security and minimize risk.
The VIP tiers will be calculated on an aggregate basis, and corresponding discounts will be applied to all sub accounts.
Here’s a table summarizing the difference between a master account and a sub account.
The full scope of the master account dashboard
The brand-new dashboard panel now has comprehensive balance reporting. We have also added navigational features and filters. It’s broken down into five tabs:
Account Management
Asset Management
Order Management
Transfer History
Login History
From the Account Management tab, users have the ability to create new sub accounts as well as modify the “working” status, ownership, and security information (passwords, 2FA reset) of the existing ones. Users can create new sub accounts by clicking the Create Sub Account button on the upper right side of the dashboard. If necessary, sub accounts can also be frozen/unfrozen here.
Overall token inventory can be observed in Asset Management tab. This section allows master accounts to transfer funds between linked sub accounts instantaneously at zero cost. Just click on the Transfer button at the top right corner of the screen or the In and Out buttons next to each sub account to initiate a transfer.
The Order Management tab shows information about current Open Orders, Order History and Trade History. Users are able to filter this information by a number of different options such as by sub account, traded pair, or time period.
The Transfer History tab lets users know about when assets are transferred, and the parties involved in such transactions. Meanwhile, the Login History tab logs the details of each login session made by sub accounts.
The new sub-account feature is just one of the several enhancements we offer for our corporate accounts. Register for a Binance account today and try our industry-leading trading experience for your organization. For more information on corporate accounts, reach out to us at [email protected].
The new sub-account feature is available to corporate users and individuals with VIP 3 tier (or higher) accounts. Please navigate to the “User Account” to try it out and check out our FAQ to learn more. | https://medium.com/binanceexchange/binance-introduces-sub-account-support-d7bf2f95e28c | [] | 2018-12-11 08:56:38.381000+00:00 | ['Binance', 'Corporate', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
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