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Knot-of-nots: Avoiding negative names for boolean methods | Knot-of-nots: Avoiding negative names for boolean methods
The usual convention to name methods that return boolean is to prefix verbs such as ‘is’ or ‘has’ to the predicate as a question, or use the predicate as an assertion. For example, to check if a user is active, you would say user.isActive() or to check if the user exists, you would say user.exists().
But when the intention is to check if the user is not active, I've come across code that is written as user.isNotActive() or user.isInactive(). The problem with having negative method names is that it becomes harder to understand when you try to reuse the same method for the positive use-case.
Consider the following scenario. We need a list of users that does not have a prime subscription. The method that has this logic might be named as user.doesNotHavePrimeSubscription() or user.hasNoPrimeSubscription().
Works well for this use case. However, it is highly likely that we might need to get the list of users that has a prime subscription in the future. To re-use the existing method, the if statement will have to be written in this format:
!user.doesNotHavePrimeSubscription, being a double negative statement, makes it confusing to understand such a simple use-case, especially when it comes to complicated methods. To make your code easily readable, change negative verbs to affirmative ones.
Rather than ending up in a knot of nots, it's always a better practice to construct the method name using the positive form of the verb and prefix
a ‘!’ (not) only for the negative use-case. A very simple convention, if followed, that will help in better code readability and reusability. | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/knot-of-nots-avoiding-negative-names-for-boolean-methods-641896a94a42 | ['Thameena S'] | 2020-12-23 04:49:52.237000+00:00 | ['Boolean', 'Naming Conventions', 'Object Oriented', 'Code Readability', 'Clean Code'] |
Do You Hate Medium’s New Feed? Here are Some Workarounds | ***Update 12/17/2020: Now that Medium has changed how ‘Shortform’ articles appear on the feed, you have to make sure the solutions here are at least 151 words long!***
Mediumites are up in arms! Their views are down all over the place, and no one seems to quite know why.
Well, I’m sure Medium does, but so far they’re being a bit cryptic on the subject.
One reason most of us suspect is the new expanded profile feed. Stories now have a few paragraphs showing before users have to click ‘read more’ to go into the article itself.
No one knows if these previews count as read time or views yet.
But one thing is certain, showing expanded stories on the feed means users are less likely to see more available stories on that page.
Attention spans are fickle beasts in the modern world.
I’m sure Medium has a plan they are slowly implementing, and I truly hope it does result in a better platform for writers and readers.
But in the meantime, my views are down dammit! And since the algorithm is so magical even Gandalf couldn’t pass a guess at how it works — we need to look elsewhere.
Here’s a few ideas on how to do exactly that! | https://medium.com/feedium/do-you-hate-mediums-new-feed-here-are-some-workarounds-4208e2b9c719 | ['J.J. Pryor'] | 2020-12-17 07:09:46.422000+00:00 | ['Publishing', 'Marketing', 'Cartoon', 'Writing', 'Medium'] |
Looking at American and Western Education Methods | Nations maintain and create many forms of schooling solutions, according to a couple of variables. The culture and financial standing of a state substantially have an impact on the level of educational construction their colleges can take. For instance, nations by using a process of governance that hinges on faith would also develop a course load that includes these values. On the flip side, the cheaply questioned states would provide an education and learning style that reflects their lack of ability to give top quality equipment for discovering. An important aspect is the existence of help sites for people. You can easily order a presentation or essay, or you can use write my essays online. This will help you save time, develop your own skills and achieve your goals.
America and Europe can probably be said to share with you certain characteristics such as economic may. As such, people tend to assume that students from the two regions enjoy a similar academic experience. Certain, you can find commonalities in certain places. There are discrepancies between them in the emphasis of their education systems, however. This informative article delves into the details of the connection the two discuss regarding the educating and learning techniques they normally use.
Differences In between American and European Schooling Methods
In Europe, the education program of a single land is frequently substantially controlled from the core govt. It is really not present with learn that two management areas of the identical land have diverse training strategies. Us schools are controlled through the authorities applying on the condition the actual learning locations are located. Consequently, they are plenty of disparities inside the nation.
United states universities set a substantial emphasis on sporting events. Even though this sort of pursuits are necessary for the all-rounded progression of pupils, Western educational institutions are certainly not as excited. College students in the location tend not to assume very much with regards to propelling their academics through their skills in sporting activities.
Geography, as being a subject, fails to take centre point in the usa. Regrettably, students you will find famous for lacking the capability to identify noteworthy countries around the world with a map. Western educational institutions take a diverse procedure for this subject matter. Countries like Finland demand their college students will be able to name the majority of the states, their investment capital metropolitan areas, and prominent actual physical features.
Us colleges usually do not focus on the requirement for discovering a 2nd vocabulary. This comes from the currently considerable use of British globally. Because it is the first language of many pupils, the training system is not going to put in priority diversifying linguistic abilities. Countries in europe, with lots of indigenous tongues, have countrywide demands for studying English language-because the 2nd language.
Similarities In between Western and United states Education and learning
In both these countries, pupils commence their official training about the same time. The areas have diverse labels for your amounts that scholars improvement by way of. Nevertheless, their individuals normally finish their substantial or additional education and learning around the same time. For this reason, they could satisfy one another in tertiary training as agemates.
The two areas drastically focus on the conventional of training they offer. This is certainly apparent from your repeated overseas college student swap programs running among America and Europe. Also, both places hold among the most prestigious tertiary educational institutions on the planet. If they have attained a particular grade or higher, students from either region can finish their secondary school level and join these centers.
Being familiar with these similarities and differences is essential. If you want to study abroad, you can use the information to decide. Still, there are actually benefits to equally techniques. | https://medium.com/@oliviasmith9544/looking-at-american-and-western-education-methods-9f511f150aca | ['Olivia Smith'] | 2020-12-25 23:57:00.128000+00:00 | ['Students'] |
How to Stop Being Angry with Obnoxious People | Case Study: A Traumatic Situation
I learned to apply these lessons after my neighbor and friend, A., killed herself. Although we knew she was depressed, this event came as a shock. I cared for her cat, and I spent way too much time in her apartment. There, I learned things about my friend that broke my heart.
I waited for her family to adopt the cat, but they were delayed for understandable reasons. I attached great importance to this boisterous tomcat, as did her family. A. had cherished him, even though he made messes, bit, and cuddled aggressively. To me, he was sacred — a spiritual remnant of my friend.
I lived down a hall and on the other side of the building from A. Her closest neighbor was a man I’ll call Daniel. He knew A. better than I did and had even briefly dated her. Still, during her frequent trips out of town, she never asked Daniel to cat-sit. I did it, or another one of our girlfriends did.
Daniel sobbed when he found out A. had died. He was shocked to learn she had been so sad. He said he had been depressed for years and understood the impulse to give up on life.
Daniel and I were the oldest tenants in the building, but we didn’t approach life the same way. While I feverishly worked, waking up early in the morning and coming home late and doing extra work as a writer at night, Daniel slept in, smoked a bowl on the balcony, and spent half the day on his small business. At night when I was coming home from the gym, he was drinking beers and smoking with his friends and our neighbors on the balcony. Most of them were younger girls and guys who looked up to him because he is charming and light-hearted. Sometimes he sold them his Adderall—once he even gave me a pill for free because I was on a deadline.
Daniel always said hello to me, but I wasn’t always happy to speak to him. I found his lifestyle childish and sleazy.
When A. had been gone for a month, I started sharing the responsibility of taking care of her cat with other neighbors. It had become too much for me. The cat was so lonesome that it provoked my guilt, and that apartment full of self-help books and sticky notes A. had written to herself and put on walls and mirrors to help boost her spirits felt tragic. I regretted how I had acted with her in the last days of her life, when I had no idea she would soon give up completely. If only I had said something more powerful.
Every neighbor volunteered to drop by, feed, and pet the tomcat, except for Daniel. I saw him nearly every time I was coming and going from A.’s apartment, and every time he smiled and said hello. Once he made a comment that the cat had made a big mess and been annoying on a long-ago occasion when he had cared for the cat while A. had been on vacation.
This comment hurt me; I cringed physically. Insulting the cat was, to me, like spitting on our friend’s grave.
After two months of suffering alone in the apartment, the cat was taken in by A.’s relatives in another state. I ran into Daniel on the stairs a few days later, and he said he was glad someone else was now responsible for the cat so that the neighbors no longer had the burden of caring for him.
This comment sent me into a rage. A burden? Not only did most of us accept the depressing responsibility of the cat because we missed our lost friend and wanted to honor this creature she had left behind, but the idea that Daniel could feel burdened when he had done nothing to help seemed so morally reprobate that I started to resent him hatefully.
While I seethed in my apartment, he stood on the porch with our neighbors, drinking beer, smoking pot and cigarettes, and laughing. I could hear the girls laughing in response to his jokes — the college students he sold Adderall to. He’s corrupting those girls, I thought.
As I drifted off to sleep to the sound of Daniel’s laugh, Lao Tzu returned to my thoughts. It dawned on me, looking through the lens of Lao Tzu’s teachings, that Daniel was providing something of value to the people in our building: pleasure, relaxation, and camaraderie.
I was the one who had created the distinction between us — bad versus good. It was only my opinion that young adults should not smoke pot, take Adderall not prescribed to them, and party with men in their late 30s. But those girls obviously didn’t agree with me, and who was I to determine what was and wasn’t good for them? They were adults by law, living on their own. Maybe they had ADHD. Maybe they were corrupt, more so than Daniel. And why was I so much better than all of them? When was the last time I had chatted amiably with my neighbors and provided them with humor? I was always tense, running up and down the stairs and shouting strained hellos and goodbyes because I was busy trying to advance my life.
What value I had to the building community was as a sort of house mother, someone who looked out for younger people and cats. Daniel was lackadaisical and funny, and people enjoyed his energy. I helped the younger neighbors when they needed advice, a ride to the airport, or a job reference. We both added value.
Lao Tzu’s message humbled me. I stopped resenting Daniel and ceased to do so for months.
But he provoked me again when he went to live with a new girlfriend and failed to pay rent, leaving his apartment without moving out of it. What a jerk! I was friends not only with my landlord, but with my landlord’s parents, a generous elderly couple who always replaced what broke in my apartment, took me out to dinner, and invited me to their Christmas parties. My indignation this time was on behalf of them.
The landlord lived in another state. But when Daniel moved out, he came to town to stay at his parents’ house and remodel Daniel’s unit and a few other units. Daniel’s apartment was a wreck, and the floors had to be replaced. I think it had been in bad shape when he had moved in, and, being a low-key, undemanding person, he had never complained. When I had dinner with our landlord, he told me that Daniel had not paid rent in months.
“He’s a selfish, childish asshole,” I said.
Our landlord laughed. “He’s not that bad.” His twinkling eyes showed me my error of hate.
I was stunned into silence. Why should I be angry on behalf of the landlord when he didn’t feel wronged? That was definitely a waste of energy.
Later, when time had lessened the trauma of losing A., I was able to question even my reaction to Daniel’s disinterest in sharing the cat-sitting duties. A. and Daniel hadn’t had a good relationship. Since they had briefly dated, they had had awkward interactions and a few arguments. Her death had caused me to render her a perfect martyr who had died from depression. But she had been imperfect, like all humans. That’s how Daniel had seen her. And he hadn’t had my imagination when he had looked at the cat. To him, it had just been a cat, not a spiritual connection to a martyr. Perhaps Daniel was more realistic and pragmatic than I. There is no question that I tend towards the melodramatic.
Lao Tzu and step four of my 12-step program taught me to reconsider my resentment. What it came down to was that my way of seeing a dynamic was not the absolute truth. It was my truth, and that was all. Trying to impose it on other people was dogmatic and naive. Everyone in that building and the landlord had a different way of perceiving A. and of reacting to her suicide and to Daniel. But so much of my life had been spent foolishly trying to insist that my truth was the truth. It certainly didn’t help me, and it didn’t change the situations I resented or people such as Daniel. So what was the point? | https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-stop-being-angry-with-obnoxious-people-c945c8f93c37 | ['Flannery Meehan'] | 2019-02-14 02:43:00.362000+00:00 | ['Anger', 'Happiness', 'Self', 'Acceptance', 'Communication'] |
Quantum Leap episode review — 3.8 — The Great Spontini | Original air date: November 16, 1990
Director: James Whitmore, Jr.
Writers: Cristy Dawson and Beverly Bridges
Rating: 7/10
This episode is mostly pretty excellent. And I found it very enjoyable for a number of reasons, not the least of which because it stars two Friday the 13th veterans in Amy Steel from Part 2 and Erich Anderson of The Final Chapter.
Sam is a struggling magician in the middle of a divorce saga. It’s basically Kramer vs. Kramer, with Amy Steel playing the Meryl Streep part.
And the magic really isn’t too big a part of it, which makes sense. And I actually liked that, because the family drama is so compelling. And Bakula’s absolutely incredible in this episode. This might be his best performance in the show. Those scenes where he’s trying to respond to the judge’s or his wife’s lawyer’s questions while trying to listen to what Al has to say to him are just so good.
The last portion of the episode isn’t that good, though. The climax leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s pretty great until then. | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/quantum-leap-episode-review-3-8-the-great-spontini-41e2b07796d6 | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2021-06-21 04:47:09.314000+00:00 | ['Drama', 'Time Travel', 'SciFi', 'Quantum Leap', 'TV'] |
Stop wasting time wringing your hands over other folks’ life | Yes Objective-C was kind of clunky, but it had a certain beauty in its simplicity. Unlike C++ it was a fairly minimalistic addition to the C language. From experience you can actually teach a junior developer Objective-C really fast.My friend Reid says I need to mix in some stories about the good things I do as a parent. He says people will like these posts too, and will be able to relate to me better. He may be right. But I’m struggling to think of what to write.Later I came to learn from comment by many Rust users on the internet that Rust repeated one of the cardinal sins of C++. It has really slow compilation time. Nothing destroyed my joy of programming I think than waiting for C++ to compile. And it almost sounds as if Rust is worse. That is a deal breaker.
Java and C# was in many ways just attempts at rehashing C++. They may have kept things more simple, but kind of ended up being too caught up in the Virtual Machine and object-oriented programming hype of the 90s. Not saying Java or C# are bad but not really my cup of tea. A lot of that may have more to do with the community around those languages which favor bloated IDEs and over-engineering.
Go from Google was a welcome departure from the excesses C++, D, Java and C#. It took us right back to the starting point, to C. Go reimagined what C could have been if it did not venture down the C++ path. What we got back was a simple language that fixed many of the issues I always had with C.
In many ways my whole programming career feels like a long wait for a replacement to C. 20 years ago I though that was C++. Over time I learned C++ was a complex monster that could never be tamed no matter how many thick best practices books I read.
The UX Collective donates US$1 for each article published in our platform. This story contributed to Bay Area Black Designers: a professional development community for Black people who are digital designers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area. By joining together in community, members share inspiration, connection, peer mentorship, professional development, resources, feedback, support, and resilience. Silence against systemic racism is not an option. Build the design community you believe in.
While implementing a simple game engine in C and Lua, I came to realize that it was actually less mental overhead to keep these two languages in the head at the same time than C++. It brought me some renewed love for C. For all its limitations, C is a fairly simple language that gives you a lot of control.
More often than not I leap right in and try to solve her problem. I’m a competent, professional sort, and like things done properly. Too often I forget, that’s not why she’s telling me.
The UX Collective donates US$1 for each article published in our platform. This story contributed to Bay Area Black Designers: a professional development community for Black people who are digital designers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area. By joining together in community, members share inspiration, connection, peer mentorship, professional development, resources, feedback, support, and resilience. Silence against systemic racism is not an option. Build the design community you believe in.
I have been a huge Apple fan for over 20 years now. I loved the Cocoa GUI library and programmed Objective-C long before there was an iPhone and suddenly everybody and their dog was programming Objective-C.
More often than not I leap right in and try to solve her problem. I’m a competent, professional sort, and like things done properly. Too often I forget, that’s not why she’s telling me.
Created an external style library (another great innovation by Sketch) and started to build components, guides and general styles for the interface to still be familiar on every platform.
Once design tools start working on those CPUs, a future in which you’ll be able to just connect your phone to a mouse, display and keyboard and pick up a Sketch or Figma project you were working on are closer than you think.
That resulted with heavy nesting and multiple instances of the cell to choose from. Given, that a typical catalogue / search results screen had 20 or more of these at the same time — it was starting to make my 2017 Macbook Pro 15" fans sound like a drone about to take off.
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https://2020.azureedge.net/mhg/video-US-Zilimadjou-Galaxy-FC-v-en-gb-1aaf.php
http://wap.estilux.com/tbw/videos-AS-Ain-M'lila-NC-Magra-v-en-gb-1zgb.php
http://grupo-logi.com/ljo/Video-AS-Ain-M'lila-NC-Magra-v-en-gb-1fqg.php
https://2020.azureedge.net/mhg/video-tuzlaspor-istanbulspor-mac-ozeti-v-tr-tr-1dyb.php
https://2020.azureedge.net/mhg/videos-tuzlaspor-istanbulspor-ozet-izle-v-tr-tr-1ozh.php
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http://www.dth.or.th/jbi/Video-petro-de-luanda-vs-akonangui-futbol-club-ao-vivo-v-pt-pt-1gxq.php
https://2020.azureedge.net/mhg/Video-AS-Ain-M'lila-NC-Magra-v-en-gb-1yys.php
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http://www.dth.or.th/jbi/Video-asc-kara-racing-club-dabidjan-en-direct-regarder-v-fr-fr-1jzc.php
http://new.actiup.com/qyd/video-Al-Merrikh-AS-Otoho-v-en-gb-1lut.php
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Loading all that data was simply a big strain on the CPU / GPU of the top of the line Mac. Of course I could’ve optimized the Sketch file myself too — but when you get a chance to have the power to build complex structure, you can rarely say no to that.
So while being a professional C++ programmer I always had a look at the alternatives. The first hopeful alternative was D. D looked promising initially but upon closer inspection I decided that D was really just a cleaned up version of what was fundamentally a bad idea. One of the key problems with C++ its kitchen sink approach to language design. There is just too much in there.
And frankly I think it was. I remember being able to write some decent programs in Go within about two days. Julia, my current favorite was also somewhat similar. Learning Rust on the other hand felt a lot like learning Haskell. Simply a lot of concepts and theory to understand before you can do anything useful.
But the story was not over. Closely following Go we got Rust. Initially I thought Rust was really what D should have been all along. A real rethinking of what C++ should have been. Rust kept low level control, high level abstraction mechanism and manual memory management but added unparalleled type safety. It all looked a bit too good to be true. | https://medium.com/@nal7rby345c/stop-wasting-time-wringing-your-hands-over-other-folks-life-b02cd7ca11bd | [] | 2020-12-04 04:33:32.094000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Covid 19', 'Culture', 'Ethereum', 'Health'] |
Deploy Vue with Firebase hosting | for this firebase hosting must select Blaze (Pay as you go) billing plan
vue and firebase
Preparation
Vue project
Firebase account https://console.firebase.google.com/
Create Vue Project
install vue cli
npm install -g @vue/cli
create project
vue create <project-name>
vue create demo-firebase-hosting
select vue version 2
select vue version 2
Open project with VS Code
Open project with VS Code | https://medium.com/@por-porkaew15/deploy-vue-with-firebase-hosting-b403dd207712 | ['Porkaew Jarusdamrongwat'] | 2020-12-21 02:43:07.194000+00:00 | ['Deploy', 'Firebase', 'Vue', 'Firebasehosting'] |
Les femmes ou les “oublis” de l’Histoire — épisode 21 : Jacqueline Audry | 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/teamcolibri/les-femmes-ou-les-oublis-de-lhistoire-%C3%A9pisode-21-jacqueline-audry-885be44b94a3 | ['Juliette Raynaud'] | 2020-12-20 09:14:14.554000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Positive Impact', 'Cinema', 'History', 'Representation'] |
Why Crushing Your Stats Won’t Make You Happy | In times where online action is quantifiable, we often evaluate our days and worth by the stats on social media. Without knowing it, these are the types of goals we set for ourselves. To get:
200 likes on an Instagram picture.
1,000 followers in one month.
100 retweets.
10,000 views.
We want recognition, high numbers, and for people to love us. But why do we so badly want acknowledgment from a bunch of strangers on Instagram? Because high numbers validate us and make us feel good and worthy. They also give us status.
We go from “bottom” to “top” because we associate higher numbers with popularity, just like in elementary school. The more friends you had, the cooler you were.
Stats and status — this is what we think gives us value.
Everyone has a reason why they want to be popular. Online creators, for instance, say it’s because they want to help people. If that was the case, they’d be satisfied with the 100 followers they have now, but they aren’t because they don’t see the numbers as people. There aren’t faces and lives associated with them. They’re a statistic.
If we did remember that the numbers represent people, we would be okay with a hundred followers. Think about it this way: Would you ever want a hundred people in your home? Of course not. Why? Because it’s a lot of people.
You just want to feel like you’re good enough. But think about how heartbreaking that is — we can’t find worth within ourselves.
We seek it from a bunch of statistics.
It’s worse than seeking validation from other people.
Have you ever thought about why you say you want to be friends with all of these famous singers, or the top writers in your space, or the artists on Instagram with over 100,000 followers? It’s not because you truly care about them, it’s because they’ve got status attached to them that would make you feel valuable.
The other day I was watching an interview with the cast of The Haunting of Bly Manor, but I wasn’t paying much attention because I just kept thinking, “What makes these people more valuable than me? And why do I wish I were in their place?”
We think our entire lives would change, we think we’d be happy, only if we had their status. The truth is that no celebrity has more value than you. They didn’t get to where they are because they’re more special. They earned their spot because they chose a career that just happens to be in the spotlight, and they worked their asses off to get there. But we’re all the same.
They might get to go to award shows and look stunning and have millions of social media followers, but if you were to strip all of that away, they would be like you and me. We think we have to be these certain types of people, look a certain way, and have a certain number attached to us to be worth something.
Even the people who seem to have everything want more.
Just think about the famous YouTubers with millions of subscribers who use clickbait to lure people because what do they want? More subscribers.
We’re never satisfied. It’s a common problem for most people. Hell, there are others who look at us and think, “Why do they want more? They already have everything.”
I used to believe that if I made it to 1,000 followers, I would be legit on this platform. I would mean something. But when I got to a thousand, I thought, “Maybe when I get to 2,000 followers.” Then I got to 2,000, and I realized that it didn’t matter which number I reached, I was always going to want more.
No number was going to make me enough because I’m already enough. So I stopped caring. Because what kind of life are you living if you’re constantly chasing something you can’t catch?
You need to reframe your thinking.
Stop thinking of people with lots of followers as more valuable than you. Stop thinking of celebrities as gods. Learn to see them as hardworking people who got their shot. Who stuck around and made it.
If you stick to whatever you’re pursuing, there’s a possibility you could make it to where they are, too. But now you know: it’s not going to make you happy. It’s not going to make you love yourself or make you feel popular. It won’t give you worth because you already have it.
Let the numbers grow on their own without you caring. Without letting them affect you in any way. Being self-aware of what you expect from numbers lets you put a line between your worth and the stats.
Would you ever tell your best friend that Ariana Grande or Gary Vaynerchuk has more worth because more people know their name? Of course not. So why would you think that about yourself?
Realize that you are worthy no matter what you do and don’t accomplish.
Whether you have 500 or 500,000 followers. Whether everyone knows your name or only your friends and family do. When you diminish your value because only your family knows your name, you diminish their value.
Don’t worry about growing your following — worry about improving and loving yourself. I don’t know whether you’ll touch thousands of lives, but I do know that you’re not any less worthy if you don’t. | https://medium.com/itxy-writes/why-crushing-your-stats-wont-make-you-happy-7c145ea61503 | ['Itxy Lopez'] | 2020-11-01 18:01:49.686000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Personal Development', 'Self', 'Advice', 'Happiness'] |
About EachPromo | EACH PROMO is a leading Business Development and promotion and related services provider. Through our dedication to clients’ starts from research, planning, and developing creative, innovative and strong partnerships, we have established end-to-end capabilities and strengths across the carrier networks, enterprise, consumer, resources suppliers and cloud computing fields. We are committed to creating maximum value for research and development marketing, finance, designing, branding and advertising through distinctive ideas, technology and its transfer, training and development programs runs for the enterprises by providing comprehensive and competitive business solutions and services. Our services take places with various methods, tools and techniques, to achieve business goals and objectives of a company.
EACH PROMO‘s vision is to enrich business world through innovative ideas and new business plans. By leveraging our experience and expertise in the business development sector, we help in conducting research, business planning process, channelizing businesses and channelizing customers to provide business opportunities, better scopes, growth and profitability regardless of market condition and competitors. Contributing to the sustainable development of society, the economy, and the environment, EASE PROMO creates green solutions and corporate social responsibilities that enable clients and customers both to reduce expenses, and resource costs.
Vision:
To run Entrepreneurship development program to enrich dreams of entrepreneurs’ in their business-world through innovative ideas and supply of required resource and support and “Business Make Easy”.
Mission:
To focus on business opportunities and our clients’ market challenges and needs by providing excellent solutions and services in order to consistently create maximum value. | https://medium.com/@eachpromo/about-eachpromo-f9247da29d58 | ['Each Promo'] | 2021-05-08 11:35:58.768000+00:00 | ['Online Marketing', 'Website Development', 'Sales And Marketing', 'Software Development', 'Point Of Sale Software'] |
I’m Out of a Job Because My Boss Didn’t Think I Look Like a Woman | I’m Out of a Job Because My Boss Didn’t Think I Look Like a Woman
A former Chili’s employee speaks out after being forced to quit for not dressing more “gender appropriate.”
By Meagan Hunter, JANUARY 16, 2019| 1:30 PM
I didn’t look the part, so I was forced to quit.
Chili’s, where I worked for nearly two years, was starting a new management training program and my superiors encouraged me to apply. It was a great opportunity, and I was excited about the prospect of a promotion.
I was planning to buy a home for the first time, and the pay increase would have helped a lot. I’m a single mother, so what I earn matters. I’m also a lesbian, a part of my identity that influences how I dress.
I’d started working at a Phoenix, Arizona, Chili’s two years earlier. Right away, I loved it. The people who worked there became like a family to me. I worked in several roles at the restaurant, including cook, expediter, and host. Most recently, I was a server — and I was good at it. My customer reviews were always top-notch.
When I was asked to learn more about Chili’s new Certified Shift Leader program, which would allow me to take another step up the corporate ladder, I was thrilled. I attended a seminar about the program in June. I never thought that what I wore to the seminar would cause the end of my Chili’s career.
I attended the seminar wearing an outfit I felt confident in — a men’s button-up shirt, fitted slacks, and boat shoes. It was professional attire and similar to what I saw male managers wear to work. But after the seminar, my manager relayed to me that his boss, the district manager, had seen me at the seminar and thought my clothes were inappropriate. I brushed it off and applied to be a certified shift leader anyway.
After interviewing with the district manager, I was offered the promotion — on one condition: I needed to “dress more gender appropriate,” in the words of my manager. I asked him, “Are you telling me that I need to have my breasts hanging out to be successful in your company?” He answered, “Not in those words.” I asked him why I could not wear a chef-style coat like the one he was wearing and he replied, “It’s for boys.”
No, it is not. I am speaking out now to tell that manager — and every other person who thinks similarly — that women do not need to be stereotypically feminine in order to get a promotion or be an effective employee or manager.
I couldn’t continue to work at a place where my willingness to conform to a stereotype was more important than my job performance. So I left a job that I enjoyed and said goodbye to the coworkers I considered family.
I later learned from a coworker that I had been overlooked for a bartender position because the same manager “didn’t want a gay girl behind the bar” because he didn’t think I would attract the right kind of clientele.
To add insult to injury, when I wrote to Chili’s to tell them what I had experienced, they said I must be lying because the manager’s best friend is gay. Having a gay friend doesn’t excuse what happened to me. I was so disappointed that the company I loved didn’t even apologize or try to make things right, not just for me, but for all of the other employees who still work there.
That’s why on Wednesday, with the help of the ACLU, I filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Chili’s for sex discrimination. My opportunities at a company like Chili’s should not be limited because I am a lesbian who does not conform to Chili’s stereotypes about what a woman should look like.
After I was forced to quit, I was unemployed for a month. I finally found a new server job, but as the new employee, I get fewer hours on the schedule and so I’m earning significantly less than I did at Chili’s.
I am now working my way back up the ladder. Who knows how long it will be before I am considered for a management position again. My dream of buying my first home is on hold, which obviously disappoints me. But the alternative — being forced to conform to a stereotype that conflicts with my identity every time I go to work — would have been unbearable. | https://medium.com/aclu/im-out-of-a-job-because-my-boss-didn-t-think-i-look-like-a-woman-8cbd64199a25 | ['Aclu National'] | 2019-01-16 21:01:26.096000+00:00 | ['Womens Rights', 'LGBT Rights', 'Discrimination', 'Speak Freely', 'Chilis Restaurant'] |
HOW DOES VOLENTIX DISTRIBUTE THE DIGITAL TOKEN? | Volentix introduces its digital token with the name VTX. This digital token will be officially distributed through sales in the first quarter of 2019. Sales of these tokens are targeted to take place so that Volentix can reach a hard stamp. This sale will last for 60 days or after the hard stamp is reached. Volentix plans to distribute a large number of tokens, which is around 2.1 billion VTX, which in the initial stages will be distributed to 1.3 billion VTX. This number is quite large compared to the amount produced by other platforms. this will certainly support various functions and objectives for the allocation of funds obtained through the sale of these tokens. The first user to register on this platform will be given a bonus of 200 VTX tokens. However, users must first complete the white list approval procedure. In addition, the initial user will also get a price discount. This discount will continue to decrease in number so users must register as soon as possible to get the maximum discount. In addition, other benefits obtained by early users are that they will be prioritized in their services. This is a form of appreciation given by Volentix to early users who have been willing to join and entrust their digital assets on this platform.
In the sales process, Volentix will open it openly by providing 429 million VTX tokens ready to be traded. Volentix targets to get a profit of 48.5 million USD which is also the amount of funds they set as a hard stamp. They will strive continuously to ensure that these tokens will be sold out. The estimated prices for one VTX token are in the price range of 0.17 to 0.33 USD. This price is their initial estimate and certainly can change according to market conditions. This digital token is planned to be issued by a company called STAIDER LLC which has a special IFC (International Finance Corporation) license and is held in the State of Georgia. Volentix establishes a minimum purchase requirement of 1 BTC so that users can obtain an initial discount or equivalent to the currency received through the payment channels Volentix provides, namely through Zixipay and Blocktopus.
Like most other platforms, Volentix also specifies special distribution in the distribution of their digital tokens. A total of 2.1 billion VTX tokens will be distributed into three main categories, namely public, contributors & facilitators, and project funding. Volentix distributes its digital tokens in large numbers in the public category, which is 78%, where the allocation is divided into three parts, namely 455 million VTX for public sale, 800 million VTX for transaction verification, and 364 million VTX for public distribution. For contributors and facilitators, they are entitled to 19% of VTX tokens divided into three parts, namely 156 million VTX for contributors, 130 million VTX for facilitators working from the start of this platform, and 130 million VTX for facilitators involved in the project Volentix in the future. Tokens for this category are still frozen and can be obtained after this token has been released on an additional schedule for 4 years since the token was issued. The remainder of this token will be distributed for Volentix project funding needs with a percentage of 3% or around 65 million VTX.
Volentix uses the profits they earn for various types of allocations, including the payment of fees they incur during the project, including payment of debt and deferral. For the net income they earn, it will be divided into five groups according to their respective percentages. 35% of net income will be used to build the Volentix platform, including financing research and development and maintenance and upgrading of technology. 33% will be used for marketing, branding, promotion and recruitment purposes. 10% will be used to reserve funds if there are various bad possibilities. 10% will be used as compensation for early contributors, supporters and facilitators. While the remaining 12% will be used as costs related to legal expenses and trading portfolios.
This platform was developed in the hands of a special team that is very competent in their fields. This team consists of Prof. Yiannis Emiris (AI / ML / R & D), Alexis Anastasiou (Corporate), Sylvain Cormier (Blockchain and R & D), Rhys Parry (Operations), Marwan Ayoub (Marketing and Strategy), Joemar Taganna (R & D Engineering), Matthew Isganaitis (Marketing and Strategy), Ioanna Fotopoulou (Business Development), Nemr Hallak (R & D and Trading), Panos Sakkos (Blocktopus Engineering), Ksenia Popova (R & D Engineering), Mojgan Ahmadi (Marketing and Design), Kostas Pylarinos (Investment, R & D and Trading), Dimitra Panou (R & D and Engineering), Manolis Christoforou (R & D / ML), Maria Luisa Castronovo (HR and Finance), Jason Theodorakopoulos (Engineering), Youssef Bitar (Front-end Developer), Vyacheslav Smirnov (Python Developer).
Please do more research before you invested in the project, the link below will provide you with more information about Volentix: | https://medium.com/@itshare145/how-does-volentix-distribute-the-digital-token-b8b35305f7a3 | ['Share It'] | 2019-02-25 11:43:31.944000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Binance', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Exchange'] |
Node.js + MySQL 部署 Heroku | 部署
我們會以上一篇聊天室專案做範例，專案資料夾目前長這樣：
專案資料夾
Git Ignore
在 Git 上傳前需要做的一件重大事。
專案裡有個 node_modules 資料夾是不需要上傳的，因為他容量較大，一般來說 Heroku 會自動根據 package.json 檔去安裝所需套件。因此我們需要先創建好 .gitignore 檔案並新增忽略規則。
.gitignore 新增忽略規則
創建 Git
再來為專案創建 Git 版本控制：
// 進到專案資料夾
$ cd chatroom $ git init
$ git add .
$ git commit -m 'first commit'
新增/連結APP
新增 Heroku APP，如後面不帶名稱 Heroku 會自己給予 APP 隨機名字。
$ heroku create [app-name] Creating ⬢ thef2e-chatroom... done
https://thef2e-chatroom.herokuapp.com/ | https://git.heroku.com/thef2e-chatroom.git
注意，如果要跟改專案名字的話，在官網上的 setting 改完他的兩個網址並不會做變更，因此輸入以下指令是比較保險的！
$ heroku apps:rename --app [old-name] [new-name]
現在，我們得到了 APP 網址以及 Git 資料庫網址。我們使用 Heroku 指令把本地的專案與遠端做連結：
$ heroku git:remote -a [app-name] // 查看
$ git remote -v
heroku git.heroku.com/thef2e-chatroom.git (fetch)
heroku git.heroku.com/thef2e-chatroom.git (push)
部署 Heroku
連結後 push 到遠端上：
$ git push heroku master
Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (6/6), done.
Writing objects: 100% (6/6), 10.87 KiB | 5.44 MiB/s, done.
Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: Compressing source files... done.
remote: Building source:
remote:
remote: -----> Node.js app detected
remote:
remote: -----> Creating runtime environment
remote:
remote: NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL=error
remote: NODE_ENV=production
remote: NODE_MODULES_CACHE=true
remote: NODE_VERBOSE=false
remote:
remote: -----> Installing binaries
remote: engines.node (package.json): unspecified
remote: engines.npm (package.json): unspecified (use default)
remote:
remote: Resolving node version 12.x...
remote: Downloading and installing node 12.13.0...
remote: Using default npm version: 6.12.0
remote:
remote: -----> Installing dependencies
remote: Installing node modules (package.json + package-lock)
remote: added 123 packages from 102 contributors and audited 239 packages in 3.359s
remote: found 0 vulnerabilities
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Build
remote:
remote: -----> Pruning devDependencies
remote: audited 239 packages in 1.408s
remote: found 0 vulnerabilities
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Caching build
remote: - node_modules
remote:
remote: -----> Build succeeded!
remote: ! This app may not specify any way to start a node process
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Discovering process types
remote: Procfile declares types -> (none)
remote: Default types for buildpack -> web
remote:
remote: -----> Compressing...
remote: Done: 23.1M
remote: -----> Launching...
remote: Released v3
remote:
remote:
remote: Verifying deploy... done.
To
* [new branch] master -> master Enumerating objects: 6, done.Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.Delta compression using up to 4 threadsCompressing objects: 100% (6/6), done.Writing objects: 100% (6/6), 10.87 KiB | 5.44 MiB/s, done.Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)remote: Compressing source files... done.remote: Building source:remote:remote: -----> Node.js app detectedremote:remote: -----> Creating runtime environmentremote:remote: NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL=errorremote: NODE_ENV=productionremote: NODE_MODULES_CACHE=trueremote: NODE_VERBOSE=falseremote:remote: -----> Installing binariesremote: engines.node (package.json): unspecifiedremote: engines.npm (package.json): unspecified (use default)remote:remote: Resolving node version 12.x...remote: Downloading and installing node 12.13.0...remote: Using default npm version: 6.12.0remote:remote: -----> Installing dependenciesremote: Installing node modules (package.json + package-lock)remote: added 123 packages from 102 contributors and audited 239 packages in 3.359sremote: found 0 vulnerabilitiesremote:remote:remote: -----> Buildremote:remote: -----> Pruning devDependenciesremote: audited 239 packages in 1.408sremote: found 0 vulnerabilitiesremote:remote:remote: -----> Caching buildremote: - node_modulesremote:remote: -----> Build succeeded!remote: ! This app may not specify any way to start a node processremote: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#default-web-process-type remote:remote: -----> Discovering process typesremote: Procfile declares types -> (none)remote: Default types for buildpack -> webremote:remote: -----> Compressing...remote: Done: 23.1Mremote: -----> Launching...remote: Released v3remote: https://thef2e-chatroom.herokuapp.com/ deployed to Herokuremote:remote: Verifying deploy... done.To https://git.heroku.com/ thef2e-chatroom .git * [new branch] master -> master
如果你是照著我聊天室步驟建立專案的話，會發現終端機有一行顯示驚嘆號，那是因為 Heroku 需要一行 Start 指令去建置專案，而我們的 package.json 檔內並沒有明確指令才報錯。
因此我們需要在 JSON 檔內多新增一行 start，並重新 push 一次，Heroku 就可以成功建置環境了。
"scripts": {
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
"start": "node index.js"
},
MySQL 配置
接著我們來到第二大關，要準備把本地端資料庫也 push 上去，這次使用的服務是 ClearDB。
我們要先為專案新增一個 Add-ons：
$ heroku addons:create cleardb:ignite Creating cleardb:ignite on ⬢ thef2e-chatroom... free
Created cleardb-octagonal-43734 as CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL
Use heroku addons:docs cleardb to view documentation
也可以在 Heroku 網站做新增：
Heroku 新增 Add-ons
透過以下指令，我們可以得知 ClearDB 資料庫配置：
$ heroku config | grep CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL: mysql://be6c96a165xxx0:[email protected]/heroku_e8d000339887xxx?reconnect=true // 補充
// username: be6c96a16xxxd
// password: c504fxxx
// host: us-cdbr-iron-east-05.cleardb.net
// database: heroku_e8d000339887xxx
接著打開 MySQL Workbench，並新增新的連線就可以和剛剛新增的資料庫做連結，再把本地端的 database 輸出，引入到遠端資料庫就 OK 了！
MySQL Workbench 新增連線
對了，因為新增了遠端的資料庫，因此我們原本程式碼內連結的本地端資料庫，也須要換成遠端資料庫哦！
Session Store
最後，如果你有引入 Session 在專案裡的話，也會需要新增一項配置屬性為 store，也就是 Session 儲存的地方，在 express-session npm 最下面可以找到很多儲存的方法。
express-session store
我們選用 express-mysql-session，一樣先安裝：
$ npm install express-mysql-session --save
並且引入並使用 (設置在 Session 上方)：
const MySQLStore = require('express-mysql-session')(session); const options = {
connectionLimit: 10,
host: 'us-cdbr-iron-east-05.cleardb.net',
user: 'be6c96a165xxx0',
password: 'c504fxxx',
database: 'heroku_e8d000339887xxx'
}
const sessionStore = new MySQLStore(options); // 此處為 session 設置
app.use(session({
secret: 'thef2e_chatroom',
resave: false,
saveUninitialized: false,
cookie: {
maxAge: 60 * 60 * 1000 * 3,
},
}));
報錯處理
在 APP 網站的右上角可以打開 APP (饒舌，如果看到此頁面代表有報錯。
Heroku APP 報錯
此時可以用以下指令查詢 (使用 ctrl+c 退出)：
$ heroku logs --tail
更詳細的報錯可以參考延伸閱讀第一個文章。
後記
報錯的話多看終端機，看仔細點絕對會找到問題的！
以上是這次部署死都不看報錯的最大心得。
參考資料 | https://medium.com/@jedy05097952/node-js-mysql-%E9%83%A8%E7%BD%B2-heroku-f07a2d75e72f | ['集點送紅利'] | 2020-02-04 21:14:08.778000+00:00 | ['MySQL', 'Nodejs', 'Heroku'] |
Python Network Programming for Network Engineers (Python 3) | Program networks using Python version 3. Learn network programmability with this practical GNS3 and Cisco course
What you’ll learn
Learn network programmability with GNS3 and Python version 3
Learn how to automate the configuration of network devices with Python
Learn how to leverage NAPALM for network automation
Use Netmiko for SSH connections to routers and switches
Quick start guide using Telnet and SSH — get started in 20 minutes!
Learn how to scale your network scripts
Description
Learn Network Programmability and Network Automation using GNS3 and Python version 3.
This course is based on Python 3.
Want to program networks using Python, but not sure where to start? Well, this course will show you how you can start programming Cisco networks within 20 minutes.
This course was created for network engineers. There are too many other Python courses out there that try to make network engineers software developers. Instead of teaching network automation, they teach you Python theory. This course is different.
This course is practical. I won’t talk about programming in abstract terms and make you wait before you can start automating networks. I will show you how you can quickly and easily start network programming by using GNS3, Cisco IOS and Python.
You will see demonstrations of the configuration of both Cisco routers and switches in GNS3. For example, how to configure multiple VLANs on a multiple switches, or how to configure OSPF on a router and more.
This course shows you practical examples of using Python to programmatically configure Cisco network devices rather then just talking about it.
The days of configuring Cisco networks only with the command line interface (CLI) are drawing to a close. You need to add network programmability using Python and APIs to your skill set.
Learn how to automate networks using:
- Telnet
- SSH
- Paramiko
- Netmiko
- NAPALM
Tools such as NAPALM and Netmiko make it easy to configure and interact with network devices using an API such as NETCONF or using SSH. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use the tools available to you to quickly and easily automate your networks.
Some comments about the course:
“Knowing the material from just the first video would have saved me hours of work and rework in the past.”
“It’s the easiest, most fun, and most valuable course I’ve completed yet on Python Programming for Networking. Love it! Thanks again David!!!”
“Excellent course on Network Programming using Python with lot’s of practical network configuration examples.”
“Great way of explanation.Nice video and inspiring words! Thank you so much David. You are genius.”
“I’ve been doing network automation for a while, even so, I’ve learned new things through this course. The instructor start from a basic example, adding improvements in each step. It’s a skill that’s worth it.”
“A must for all network engineers who want to learn python!!! I had very “very” basic programming skills, and couldn’t just get the bridge between network and programming (mainly Python — since that’s where the hype is now), this course was amazing, I have never been glued to a training course since I can remember. The couple of things I loved the most about this course: 1- David’s clear voice. 2- Real world application, not only will David interduce different real-world practical modules that you can import and use, but he shows you how to apply them on ios devices.”
“Excellent course on Network Programming using Python with lot’s of practical network configuration examples. High quality content.”
Udemy Coupon | https://medium.com/@freewebcart/python-network-programming-for-network-engineers-python-3-b9b3c7e487e5 | [] | 2020-12-21 20:32:50.012000+00:00 | ['Python Network', 'Python', 'Python 3'] |
ثورة. Where will this lead? The Lebanese have… | ثورة
Where will this lead? The Lebanese have been revolting against the sectarian system for a whole month now.
The revolution shall not be televised has never been less true. This revolution has been adopted by social media. Around the world, the Lebanese people are working together to make their voices heard.
The people are communicating, in many more ways than ever. Whether it’s the streets of Beirut, Tripoli, or Tyre, you can feel the sense of a forthcoming change. This time feels different.
The Lebanese never disappoint. She, who was just feasting on seafood poolside just a couple months ago, is there. Next to her is the young man that just finished his afternoon prayer. The old man next to him is encouraging every young person to continue on, hoping for a different Lebanon than the one he lived. The young, the old, the poor, and even the well-off, are there together, united as one. And don’t forget about the expat who, when not organizing and attending his own city’s protest, is watching every moment through his smartphone.
Social media deserves its own respect as well. The availability of information in real-time has allowed for never before available methods of communication. The combined brain power of the Lebanese all over the world is enabled and is evident.
A moment of reflection on the past 30 days leaves one in a state of mixed emotions. Proud, happy, angry, fearful, hopeful, and many more…
Is it worth it? | https://medium.com/@mark2azar/%D8%AB%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9-23fb8da41c3c | ['Mark A'] | 2019-11-15 04:29:42.544000+00:00 | ['Lebanon', 'Social Media', 'Change', 'Beirut', 'Revolution'] |
Importance of Manual Testing in the IT Sector | Manual Tester can test the application under a similar condition when the application goes live, any bug, glitches or error can easily track with help of manual testing. Basically, when you are testing an application manually main focus is on understanding the requirement, documenting the test cases and executing the test cases. Manual Testing help to identify any issue related to look and feel of the application. It also helps to find out the usability issue with the application any bug and defect that may pop up as soon as the user handles the given software in a certain way are more likely to be fetched with the help of manual testing. An initial investment in manual testing is very low as it doesn’t require costly tools or high-level skills and hence in short term scenarios, manual testing is very cost-effective.
Have a look into the most frequently asked interview question on Manual Testing.
Manual Testing Interview Questions | https://medium.com/@knowdvs/importance-of-manual-testing-in-the-it-sector-37c6ea34899c | ['Devesh Kumar'] | 2020-12-25 11:58:56.705000+00:00 | ['Quality Software', 'Software Testing', 'Quality Assurance', 'Manual Testing', 'Qa Testing'] |
4 Quick and Effective Treadmill Workouts | If you don’t like the treadmill or you’re short on time, you can still burn a lot of calories and get an effective treadmill workout without spending a lot of time on the machine.
Here are four quick and effective (and also fun!) treadmill workouts.
1 / 30-second Sprint Intervals
Whenever I do this workout, the time flies by and I’m soaked in sweat by the end. If you’ve never done any speedwork before, make sure you follow these rules for speed training.
Start by walking at an easy pace for one minute. Continue warming-up with an easy jog for 5 minutes. You should be at a conversational pace. This will get your blood pumping and your muscles warm and ready for a workout.
Pick up the pace to a hard effort (heavy breathing) for 30 seconds. Recover with 90 seconds of easy jogging.
Repeat the sprint/recovery intervals 9 more times (18 minutes total).
Finish with a 4-minute cooldown at an easy pace — easy jog or brisk walk.
Total treadmill time: 30 minutes
2/ Side Stepping Workout
This workout combines running and walking with some good ‘ole side shuffles, which will really work your glutes and quads.
Warm up by walking at an easy pace for one minute. Continue warming-up with an easy jog for 4 minutes.
Return to walking pace and then, as you hold onto the side rail, turn your body to the side, get low in a squat position, and then start side-shuffling your feet. Don’t try to get fancy and cross one foot over the other. Continue side stepping for 30 seconds and then return to walking forward.
Pick up the pace to an easy, conversational running pace for 2 minutes. Then bring the pace back down to walking for a 30-second interval of side shuffles on the other side.
Continue with 2 minutes easy running/30 second of side shuffles (alternating sides) until you’ve been at it for 20 minutes.
Finish with a 5-minute cooldown at an easy pace.
Total treadmill time: 30 minutes
3/ Walk the Hills/Run the Flats
If you like alternating between running and walking, this is a good one for you. You’ll really work your glutes with the hills.
Start with a 5-minute warm up of easy jogging or brisk walking.
Increase the incline to 1% and walk for 1 minute.
Lower incline to 0% and run at a comfortable pace for 1 minute.
Increase the incline to 2% and walk for 2 minutes.
Lower incline to 1% and run at a comfortable pace for 2 minutes.
Increase the incline to 3% and walk for 3 minutes.
Lower incline to 1% and run at a comfortable pace for 3 minutes.
Increase the incline to 4% and walk for 4 minutes.
Lower incline to 1% and run at a comfortable pace for 4 minutes.
Finish with a 5-minute cooldown of easy jogging or brisk walking.
Total treadmill time: 30 minutes
4 / Calorie-Blasting Pyramid Workout
This workout combines running and walking intervals and burns a ton of calories.
Start with a 3-minute warm up of easy jogging or brisk walking. Then do the following intervals:
30-second sprint/30-second walk
1-minute sprint/1-minute walk
2-minute sprint/1-minute walk
3-minute sprint/1-minute walk
4-minute sprint/1-minute walk
3-minute sprint/1-minute walk
2-minute sprint/1-minute walk
1-minute sprint/1-minute walk
30-second sprint/30-second walk
Finish with a 2-minute cooldown of easy jogging or brisk walking.
Total treadmill time: 30 minutes | https://medium.com/@adamfit555/4-quick-and-effective-treadmill-workouts-1115a5f50e44 | ['David Runners Blueprint'] | 2019-04-12 17:24:37.610000+00:00 | ['Runners', 'Fitness', 'Workout'] |
What Being in a Detox Facility Is Like | Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash
Room Checks
Suddenly, there’s a knock on your door. “Checks,” an orderly says, as he peeks inside and then says that you need to leave the door open at all times. You apologize and say you didn’t know. You close your eyes again.
Suddenly, there’s another knock; it seems like it’s only been a minute. “Checks,” he says again. Before he rushes off, you ask how often they do their checks. Every fifteen minutes — even in the middle of the night.
Ugh you think. This is going to suck.
Time for dinner. You try to stand up, but your legs don’t seem to be working. You fall back down onto your bed. Whoa. That was weird you think, steadying yourself on your end table.
You file into a line with all the other patients. It’s a motley crew — men and women of different ages and different addictions. You can tell who the alcoholics are from their ruddy hue. One patient has track marks, a couple are barely able to walk, some are like zombies and a few can’t stand still.
Since it’s a decent place, there’s a little cafeteria with some options, which is nice and atypical. You’re not really hungry. You had gotten used to only eating one meal a day, and the benzo has taken your appetite away. As you pick at your mashed potatoes, you survey the crew.
After dinner, you get to take a cigarette break, and you meet the other smokers as the nurse take you outside. She’s nice so she lets you have two. You learn this is the only time you are allowed outside. Three times a day. At least you are allowed outside, however, you couldn’t go outside at that place last year.
Back to your room and you meet your roommate. You talk for a while and hear he’s in for alcohol and cocaine, an eight ball a day. He’s leaving tomorrow for transitional living though, and you’ll have the room all to yourself.
He points to the camera on the wall and says don’t forget about that. They’re always watching what we do in here.
You can feel your anxiety rising. You’re starting to feel flushed. Soon it’s time for vitals, and your numbers are bad again. More benzos and anticonvulsants and off to sleep you go. Or try to. The first night is tough.
Between your roommate’s snoring and the orderly barging in with a flash light every fifteen minutes, consistent sleep is tough. And then the nurses wake you up suddenly at 3:30 to check your blood pressure. | https://medium.com/mental-health-and-addictions-community/what-being-in-a-detox-facility-is-like-53b72bead272 | ['Russ W'] | 2020-06-14 15:43:20.050000+00:00 | ['Detox', 'Addiction', 'Addiction Recovery', 'Alcoholism', 'Rehabilitation'] |
Late last year, Sir David Attenborough, attended crucial UN climate talks, and implored that human… | Late last year, Sir David Attenborough, attended crucial UN climate talks, and implored that human behaviour and attitudes to climate change and global warming must change if we want to save our planet. Attenborough states “given the chance it can recover, and we know how to do that.” It’s not too late.
In observing data from Climate Central, there is an obvious correlation between dramatic increases in carbon dioxide in the air and temperature rise. Carbon dioxide accounts for 75% of greenhouse gasses, and is largely a result of human behaviours such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. These greenhouse gasses trap heat within the Earth’s atmosphere which is normally remitted back into space during night time when the temperature drops. Essentially, these gasses resemble glass in a greenhouse, which allows sunlight to pass into the ‘greenhouse,’ but prevents heat from escaping into space leading to a global temperature increase.
Image source: Climate Central (2018) ‘GLOBAL TEMPERATURE & CARBON DIOXIDE’, Available at: http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/download/co2-and-rising-global-temperatures
(accessed: 27.11.2018)
National Geographic suggests that the continued increase in the global temperature could have catastrophic impacts on our wildlife, sea levels and the rate of melting icecaps and glaciers. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events will also be effected. Already we have seen heatwaves, extreme storms, and seasonal changes as well as changing animal behaviour, all of which indicate climate change and global warming. Plus, a recent article in The Guardian revealed that scientist Brad Lister returned to a Puerta Rican rainforest after 35 years to find that 98% of ground insects had vanished, with the most likely reason being global warming. This crash in insect numbers, impacts the foundations of the rainforest food chain, risking “ecological Armageddon”.
This decline has had a snowball effect on other creatures who feed on the insects. This includes the Puerto Rican Tody, numbers of which have dropped by 90%. Lister describes this as a “bottom-up trophic cascade” because “when the invertebrates are declining the entire food web is going to suffer and degrade.” This is further supported by an article in The Guardian, by Jonathan Watts, which explains “45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.” Action must be taken before this cascades into an even wider, and more devastating problem. Whilst businesses and governments need to take a stronger stance on climate policy, there are small changes that individuals can also make to reduce their carbon footprint and have a positive impact on the environment.
Individuals can focus on small domestic changes, such as switching off plugs, using low carbon or public transport rather than fuel-based vehicles, utilising renewable energy sources, and insulating their homes. EnergiToken is incentivising people to make these changes, by awarding those who display energy saving behaviour with EnergiTokens (ETK). ETK is a financially tangible cryptocurrency which is given to customers who, for example, purchase low carbon transport, solar panels, or energy efficient appliance from one of their partners. This ETK can then be spent by customers within the EnergiToken ecosystem of approved partners.
EnergiToken’s partner, ON5, encourages domestic and commercial changes in energy consumption through workshops, and their recently launched Energy100 which educates people on how to be more efficient in their homes and workplaces. Individuals may be surprised by how small changes to one’s behaviour can really have a meaningful impact on the wider environment. If everyone makes a small change to their consumer habits, collectively the impact can be huge.
Working with several energy efficient and environmentally passionate partners, EnergiToken plans to lead decarbonisation, and energy consumption reduction in order to help reduce the human-caused, damaging impact on the environment. Incentivising behavioural change with ETK, will motivate more people to make ‘greener’ choices until it becomes instinctive practice, thus having a sustained, and increasing impact on the environment. Small changes can have big consequences.
“Every action counts.” — Juan Rocha, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Reduce consumption and get rewarded. Visit www.energitoken.com today to find out more. | https://medium.com/energitokennews/late-last-year-sir-david-attenborough-attended-crucial-un-climate-talks-and-implored-that-human-f354355a5018 | [] | 2019-01-22 14:44:28.915000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'Environment', 'Sustainability', 'Global Warming', 'Pollution'] |
This is how we feed our future | Beautiful. Scenic. Colourful. The deep hue of golden cut stalks running to the horizon.
Take another perspective:
It’s a field of a single crop grown at huge scale with absolutely no other plants, tiny amounts of biodiversity and scant protection from the worst of the weather.
Is it really all that natural?
Back in the early noughties, people were already talking about the need to fundamentally address the farming system. Yields were falling, food quality declining and nobody was happy — farmers particularly. It was a profession few young people wished to follow. It is also become increasingly monopolised meaning fewer job and tighter margins.
So why do we force our crops to grow in the way we do?
The mechanised food system has shaped the natural environment like no other. It’s made strict uniformity out of vibrant diversity. It’s nullified natural selection for rigorous control of crop’s gene diversity. Sure, consistency is great but when disease comes it ravages everything.
With only a few decades before global soils becomes infertile, it’s clear that denuding the earth without replacing, naturally, the nutrients that support plant growth will create vast wastelands. More synthetic fertiliser will not solve this. We must allow nature to do what it does best, to heal itself, without interference.
This isn’t one of those posts. Telling you that the global food system is responsible for a third of all greenhouse gas emission; telling you that only 10% of people know when the most popular fruit and vegetables are actually in season; telling you herbicides are killing millions of animals beyond the farm boundaries and polluting drinking water for millions of people…
I will just stop and state this: this forest (below) is also a farm. This must be our future.
This is the other way.
Growing with nature means we don’t have to do all the back breaking, time consuming work — we can just manage and spend more time focused on cultivation and harvest. We can stop fighting and start collaborating.
Take, for example, a wheat field right now:
Usually sown in early winter, in uniform rows by machine. Across sometimes tens, but often, hundreds of acres. The same crop. Genetically exactly the same crop.
Yes, they all look like this.
It’s sprayed with herbicide to prevent ‘bad’ plants growing. And then pesticide to stop troublesome insects invading. This is done several times through the growing season. These chemicals get into the plants. They affect farm workers. They cause cancers.
The field dries out because there are no other supporting plants for shade, the earth cracks and the wind carries the soil nutrients away. The soil degrades. Intensive watering is needed to bring crops to maturity. Hundreds of tonnes of water for each field, on each farm. And much runs off because the soil is so dry. This water takes the chemicals with it to the rivers and streams that we get our drinking water from and what all wildlife drinks, lives and thrives on.
The fields are devoid of life. Wildlife clings on to the hedgerows around the perimeter suffering species’ ending declines in numbers.
It could be so different. Link to image source
Now take our new ( but also old ) field…
Amongst the trees and fruit bushes, rows of organic wheat are sown. The soil is rich with the organic growth left to rot down from last season and the droppings of browsing wild-fowl and birds such as chickens, ducks and geese which fuels the richness of the soil.
The soil is never exposed directly to the harsh sun because of the intermittent shade provided by the non-competing crops, shrubs and trees.
Less water evaporates. Fewer nutrients are lost.
The trees capture more moisture and prevent precious soil washing away during storms as their roots bond the earth together. They stop heavy rains from damaging crops — instead it slowly drips to earth. They limit the impact of winds. More crops reach harvest.
On this new farm, technology help too. Water is saved, stored and trickle-fed into the field — it’s also captured from the air.
The giant combine harvesters sit unused as a fleet of agile mini-harvesters manage the field. They farm alongside people who pick the organic and diverse crops all growing in the field together, at the same time.
Wildlife floods into the fields, plant pests are contained by their predators and they are contained by their predators, ad infinitum.
The crops, lean on one another, supporting each other’s growth. They share nutrients, they share water and the soil becomes a lush patchwork of microbes, providing better crops. Imagine the tastiest, reddest, freshest tomatoes you’ve ever tasted…that’s this.
It’s sustainable and it focuses on the long-term health of the field and the environment. It becomes a carbon sink, drawing carbon from the atmosphere and locking it into the soil.
So you see, our new field is much like an old, old field…
This practice is not new. It’s centuries old. It’s called agro-ecology , some call it agroforestry, it has other names. It’s simply growing with nature, not against it. No longer do we have hundreds of acres with a single crop growing for as far as the eye can see.
We return to a rich tapestry of foods that collaborate, that support, shade and enrich each other.
It provides shelter and habitat for struggling species, it gives new life to dying soils. It holds water and removes the need for chemical usage. That’s the ‘ecology’ bit. The ‘agro’ involves us selecting which crops grow best where, when and next to whom to get the best out of the field.
Let me explain how this works a little bit
Let’s take our current wheat field again. The one with the perfect manicured crops that are all the same. Now take away the humans. Stop the fight. Let nature come back in.
The field would become incongruous, misshapen, dynamic. It would change. Back would come other plants. Seeds from trees would be blown and dropped all over and after time large beech, oak and other trees would grow. A forest would form. Nothing out of place. Everything in harmony.
Now take this and change the trees to sweet chestnut, maple and walnut. Add in a wide variety of native fruiting trees. Add in bushes of damsons, plum and cherries. Weave in currant bushes, blueberries and raspberries too. This is just the upper levels of the canopy. Nature allowed to grow but curated, if you will, to produce food. To be productive and prosperous to it’s own end.
It’s so rich. Picture the wildlife. You hear the bees from the hives dotted through the field, going about their pollination routine.
It’s begun.
Studies highlight that this kind of farming delivers 244% improvements in yields, 3x more wildlife than conventional farming and with zero chemicals.
This is an example of how this is being used in Africa to incredible effect. If countries with poor infrastructure, little technological support and few subsidies from the state can do this why can’t it be delivered everywhere?
I’m going to tell you it can. I’m going to show how, what’s needed and what must change. The infrastructure, the techniques, corporate bodies that must change and the thinking that must alter in us, the consumers.
The new farming manifesto
Farmers
We return to a condition of respect and admiration for the land stewardish delivered by farmers everywhere. Not only do they provide our food but they enrich the living environment. They draw down carbon out of the atmosphere, they promote diversity and they give us flavours most people can currently only dream of.
This is precise work. Wise, observant people who carefully nurture all that we hold dear. No longer are they forced to work to economies of scale and the lowest cost possible. They are paid CORRECTLY for the significant work they do on behalf of their nation and the planet. This isn’t lowly, manual work producing commodities, this is a public service. They are guardians, teachers, natural doctors; they conjure life from nothing. This is hugely important work and should be regarded as such.
T here should be a tax levied on corporate carbon footprints that goes directly to farming bodies for distribution, training and support.
Food
We pay a true and fair price for food. We have a transparent system that levies costs of environment maintenance, welfare and simply the time and dedication it takes farmers. This will focus minds on food waste and enhance respect for agriculture.
Food prices should reflect the cost of time, energy and sustainable production rather than the present unrepresentative lowest-common-denominator approach
Communities
No longer is there a disconnect between food and the people. From curriculum mandates around food provenance and animal husbandry to farmers markets in schools at weekends — this is about drawing parallels and making everyone appreciate the efforts of their near neighbours.
In the same way as student’s have cultural exchanges, there should be a system of experience and learning to help share ideas and connections to foster empathy and action
Nature
A key feature of COVID has been the growth in contemplation of, and marvel at, nature. It’s beauty and abundance has been taken for granted. This system aims to set that right. Tougher legislation, public humiliation of companies that break rules, documenting of milestones and amplification of success stories. All this aims to put the focus on how we all benefit when nature does. Food tastes better, we are healthier and wildlife prospers
A levy on global financial transactions, a tiny 0.001%, could generate $389m each year for investment into farming technology to monitor, spot problems quickly and highlight successes for sharing.
Where we go from here
There is so much more here. So much to be said, certainly to be done. This is going to be a blueprint, a call to arms.
I will be speaking to NGOs, farmers unions, supermarkets, wholesalers, horticulturalists and everyone else
I am writing a template to lead this agenda from conception to reality
Finding projects, globally, that can be used as examples of positive farming
The future as it could be
As fields return to a more natural state, we see wildlife prosper. This is not wishful thinking, this is a real condition that occurs when we work with nature. We’ve lost so much, so many species, this is a chance to return to a varied and vibrant ecosystem; fields should be part of nature, not devoid of it.
This is a solution to some of our most pressing problems: water consumption within agriculture; chemical usage on food; wildlife habitat loss; carbon sequestration. It’s not the only solution we need to work towards, but just imagine the possibilities.
As more and more natural land is lost to current agriculture and more land is left to go fallow because the soil does not have the nutrients to grow crops any more — this is the solution we need to feed the growing global population.
And that’s the kicker: this method of farming produces more food. By growing with trees, shrubs and grasses (rice, wheat, barley & rye are all grasses) — we are growing at all levels of the canopy. It’s been done. and done again. And proven to produce MORE food than monoculture practices. Now it just needs to go mainstream.
Wellbeing
If we take the UK as a reference point, it’s one of the most depressed countries in the world. The majority of people live in cities and rarely see much nature. They see concrete and commuting. Hell, many have never actually seen a cow in the flesh. We need to change this. We need to take humans back to nature and immerse it back into their increasingly digital lives. Nature is hugely beneficial for wellbeing and it’s been forgotten for too long.
This new approach shows that food, wildlife and people don’t have to be distinct; they can, and should, rub together. From those who undertake the work to bring food to our plates, who are continually undermined and denigrated, to those who visit those monotonous hectares for a few precious weeks each summer — we have the opportunity to support and explore.
This new practice is a profound new way to consider the vocation, to highlight the complexity of interwoven relationships that the farmers comprehend. And then to bring these techniques and lessons to a much wider audience as city-dwellers are invited to explore nature more. Because, after all, when they are invited, they end up coming in their thousands…
A fight with no sides
This isn’t a leftist vs rightist, this isn’t an idealists argument, this isn’t socialist vs capitalist. This is an argument for everyone, everywhere, on every continent. Because everyone has to eat.
This approach benefits everyone.
Plenty: this is how we feed our future
The book will be published in 2021, look out for copies in all good bookshops. | https://medium.com/@mattfranks1/this-is-how-we-feed-our-future-96438640d539 | ['Matt Franks'] | 2020-12-04 16:35:29.326000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Climate Change', 'Farming', 'Environment', 'Food'] |
Jumia Partners Reckitt Benckiser to Provide Consumers Access to Hygiene Products in Africa | Jumia Partners Reckitt Benckiser to Provide Consumers Access to Hygiene Products in Africa PRREDLINE Mar 17, 2020·3 min read
Jumia, the leading e-commerce platform in Africa has announced a major partnership with Reckitt Benckiser, the global health products manufacturer to help consumers access hygienic products at the lowest price.
The partnership will provide a steady supply of hygiene products such as soap bars, disinfectants, and liquid hand wash at affordable pricing. These products are facing growing demand from consumers taking hygiene precautions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. Jumia will be taking 0% commission on Dettol, JIK and Harpic, and will reinvest the initial commission into discounts on the consumer price.
Reckitt Benckiser is financing free shipping nationwide on all listed products. Consumers will be able to access all products from the “Stay Safe” page on Jumia, co-owned with Reckitt Benckiser.
“At Jumia, our primary concern is the health and well-being of our teammates, consumers, partners and communities. We strive to continue operating so that customers continue to use ecommerce as a safe way to shop in this challenging time. We are proud to work closely with Reckitt Benckiser through the “Stay Safe” campaign, which shares consistent information about COVID-19 and provides access to key hygiene products at the most affordable price possible for our consumers,” said Romain Christodoulou, SVP Jumia Group.
The partnership will also provide critical information around COVID-19. Reckitt Benckiser has created the Mythbuster website to help update consumers on risks and best practices to avoid the virus from spreading. Jumia is creating several awareness campaigns which direct consumers to both the ‘Stay Safe’ page and the ‘Mythbuster’ website.
“Reckitt Benckiser is delighted to partner with Jumia to ensure that access to the highest quality hygiene and health products is a right, not a privilege. By financing nationwide free shipping in all markets where Jumia operates, from capital cities to more rural areas, Reckitt Benckiser is providing a fair access to supply for all consumers, regardless of their location,” said Bart Meermans, SVP RB Health Africa/ Middle East / Turkey.
“ The Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission welcomes the proactive, innovative and socially responsible approach Jumia and Reckitt Benckiser have adopted in addressing potential supply shortages in key hygiene products, ensuring affordability and accessibility, and promoting awareness regarding COVID-19. FCCPC appreciates this and encourages similar dynamism that is consumer focused and provides value to consumers and society at large. We look forward to successful outcomes from this collaboration and will provide required regulatory support that the intention for affordable access is not frustrated or exploited by any, and that those who demonstrate corporate social responsibility are not at a competitive disadvantage against those who do otherwise “ said Mr Babatunde Irukera, the Director General of the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission of Nigeria (FCCPC).
The partnership will cover 8 of the markets where Jumia operates, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. | https://medium.com/@prredline/jumia-partners-reckitt-benckiser-to-provide-consumers-access-to-hygiene-products-in-africa-bb4cd6d1242 | [] | 2020-03-17 14:04:12.931000+00:00 | ['Hygiene', 'Consumer', 'Africa', 'Jumia', 'Co Vid 19'] |
談談選擇 | in Eudaimonia and Co | https://medium.com/%E4%B9%9D%E4%BA%94%E5%BE%8C%E7%9A%84%E5%98%B0%E5%98%B0%E5%96%B3%E5%96%B3/%E8%AB%87%E8%AB%87%E9%81%B8%E6%93%87-1b09052a2389 | [] | 2018-08-11 04:44:16.238000+00:00 | ['Romantic', 'Choice', 'Growth', 'Future', 'Growing Up'] |
EASY AND SIMPLE TIPS TO BECOME AN INFLUENCER | Becoming a successful Instagram influencer isn’t easy, and it’s no secret that Instagram is a very different platform in 2020 than it was just a few years ago.
Long gone are the days when getting featured on a larger profile would grant you hundreds of thousands of new followers. Posting a 3-word caption and seeing consistent growth? It doesn’t fly anymore. The old follow-unfollow “hack”? Nope.
What’s important to remember is that while growth is more of an uphill battle these days, it’s still more than possible.
And what’s even more encouraging is that you don’t need hundreds of thousands of followers to succeed as an Instagram influencer in 2020 because brands are getting more and more attuned to the power of micro-influencers.
Want to know more about influencer marketing? Click here- Important influencer marketing trends in 2020.
But, How Do You Become an Influencer?
With the popularity of influencer marketing, it is only natural that people are becoming increasingly curious about how to become an influencer.
However, building and retaining a community of devoted followers isn’t as easy as it appears to be. It requires consistent effort on an influencer’s part.
The life of an influencer is envied by many. What we often fail to recognize is the persistent effort they have to put in order to live a life of luxury and glamour.
The truth is that there is no easy answer to the question of how to become an influencer. However, there are certain steps that you can take in order to steer your efforts in the right direction.
1)Identify Your Niche
2)Pick Your Platform
3)Prioritize Your Content
4)Listen to Your Audience
5)Up Your Hashtag Game
6)Maintain Consistency
7)Collaborate with Other Influencers
8)Build a Website
9)Host AMAs, Contests, and Giveaways
10)Go Live
11)Respond to Your Fans
FOR MORE ARTICLES AND INFORMATION VISIT OUR PAGE- www.infabrands.com | https://medium.com/@kudosware/easy-and-simple-tips-to-become-an-influencer-8c85ae87f489 | [] | 2020-12-20 13:04:58.304000+00:00 | ['Easy Tips', 'Influence', 'Influencers', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Social Media'] |
A Black Woman called Tina Bell invented Grunge but I’m only now finding out about it | A Black Woman called Tina Bell invented Grunge but I’m only now finding out about it
Why knowing Tina Bell and her forgotten legacy with grunge would have validated my teenaged self’s quest to find herself within a white dominated music scene Tennille Hannah 2 days ago·5 min read
Tina Bell, circa 1983. Photo Credit: Buttocks Productions
Coming of age in the Persian Gulf as an Afro-Trinidadian teenage girl was quite an isolating experience, despite my very diverse international British school. I struggled to grasp onto an identity that was not only comforting but freeing. Scrolling through Tumblr during the early 2010’s, I was immediately drawn to the world alternative rock and grunge; specifically the band Nirvana. Before this, I had gravitated towards the angsty sounds of Paramore, ska-infused tunes of No Doubt and the ethereal, eerie melodies of Evanescence. Nirvana, however, was different. It was unique, it was messy, it was blunt, it was raw. So was the flannel ridden grunge scene of the 90's. I loved it.
I fell into line pretty quickly, buying my first pair of Doc Martens and cheap, faded oversized jean jacket at the bewilderment of my parents. My iPod was suddenly filled with their songs which I’d play on repeat and the iconic smiley logo was scribbled across any and every empty surface. I even had my ringtone set as Smells Like Teen Spirit for short period of time. Looking back it is almost laughable that I, a black teen, felt this strange connection to a white band from halfway around the world. Seattle, Washington is nothing like Manama, Bahrain where I’d spent the majority of my life. But their message was clear; escapism. And that’s what I wanted.
Unbeknownst to me, around the same time I was getting my teeth sunk further into grunge and it’s feminist cousin Riot Grrrl, Tina Bell, the unsung ‘Godmother of Grunge’ was taking her last breaths alone in her apartment. She was only 55, but alcohol and depression had taken it’s toll on the exemplary woman who never got the praise she was and still is, due. 15th of September 2021; the day I discovered Tina Bell’s existence. It felt like I was rediscovering grunge again, only this time, I felt betrayed. Lied to. I was led to believe that grunge was a white man’s genre and that people like me only had the privilege to merely listen to it. I had spent a great deal of time trying to find myself among the long haired, foul-mouthed, white guys and had resigned to the fact that it was non-existent. Now, almost 10 years later, I realise I was wrong.
Looking at photos of the beautiful, petite, brown skinned young woman that was Tina Bell, she can’t help but feel familiar. She is exactly who I needed to see at 15 years old. Who, many of us needed to see. It seems like these days, discovering a black woman was a prominent part of whatever cultural or musical movement is commonplace. At this point, I believe a black woman invented everything. But why were we robbed of the existence of Tina Bell for so long? Why was she allowed to fade away into obscurity until now? Why wasn’t she awarded the same success as her successors when without her, they would not have had the foundation to build on?
The answer is simple: she was black and a woman in a space where success required a white male face.
Bam Bam featuring Matt Cameron pre Soundgarden, 1983.
Even within her band Bam Bam (which instantly reminded me of Sister Nancy’s infamous song), she was the only black female. Whilst that and her ‘low smoky voice’ made her a unique frontwoman it also made her susceptible to racial attacks onstage. From the onset, it was clear audiences were not ready to see a black woman with an unapologetic presence like hers. I like to think that if she had debuted in 2021, audiences reception of her would be vastly different. In an age where women of colour, specifically black women are becoming more prominent in alternative scenes, someone like Tina Bell would’ve been embraced with open arms. Yet even Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain who was a roadie for them in his teens, felt her impact.
Tina Bell was exactly the non-conforming, bold, badass black alt woman I needed as a shy, lost teenager. Her face should have been plastered all over my room instead of Kurt’s (as much as I adored him). Her existence would have transformed the world of grunge and all it’s siblings for a lot of black kids around the world. Maybe I would have felt less of an imposter as I dived further into the grunge music scene?
Her story is tragically inspiring. This woman was ambitious, talented and driven. And yet none of those qualities guaranteed her fame or fortune. Instead, she left Bam Bam and music in the early 90’s (after their limited popularity faded) and disappeared into the wind. How many more incredible black women end up like that; I fear far too many to count. I see some of myself in the woman she once was and it’s haunting. I wish she had been given a chance, because that’s all any of us wants. But there are barriers for people like her, like us. To overcome them takes hard work and even then it’s a thankless process. I admire her strength and her persistence. She may not have gotten the praise she deserved whilst she was alive, but in death, she is an icon.
All that’s left of this remarkable woman is the band’s singular EP and album and pictures (and one video) of her unique, undeniable aura. Her legacy, is being kept alive by her former bandmates including Scott Ledgerwood, her son filmmaker T.J. Martin and the thousands of would be fans who are starry eyed at her impact. Whilst I have grown up considerably since my teenaged rock band obsessed days and my music tastes are a non specific web of many genres, I still look upon grunge fondly. Tina’s Bam Bam has easily found itself firmly within my Spotify playlist (yes they’re on Spotify and YouTube). Am I making up for the time I did not get with her as a teen? Perhaps, but it’s never too late for me to live out my teenage dream. We owe her a debt of gratitude for giving the world grunge. Without her, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains (and their modern day successors) may never have existed.
https://youtu.be/nFiNe2kK914 | https://medium.com/@tennillehannah/a-black-woman-called-tina-bell-invented-grunge-but-im-only-now-finding-out-about-it-3da02d6f6284 | ['Tennille Hannah'] | 2021-09-16 04:33:05.682000+00:00 | ['Coming Of Age', 'Music', 'Grunge', 'Black Women', 'Black Women In Rock'] |
Happy new year 2021 premium wishing script for bloggers and wordpress users. | Hello doston, mera naam hai Varun aur aur aapka swagat hai Meri site mein is site per aapko Technology ka related, blog ke a related ,YouTube ke related aur SEO kai related Har Tarah Ki information milegi .
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Steps for applying new year script to your wordpress or blogger site.
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Phir apko ek naya blog create karna hai or no apne blog ka jo domain hoga wo new year sai related hi hona chahiye.
Read more:-
https://technovarun4u.blogspot.com/2020/12/Happy-New-Year-2021-Wishing-Script-For-Bloggers-and-Wordpress-User%20-%20technovarun.html | https://medium.com/@blogsai/happy-new-year-2021-premium-wishing-script-for-bloggers-and-wordpress-users-6d98d23f97 | [] | 2020-12-24 16:13:33.729000+00:00 | ['HTML', 'Technology', 'YouTube', 'Technical Analysis', 'Science'] |
How This 21-Year-Old Grew His Winning Beard Brand | One year ago, life for Paul Lee was very different.
He was studying art at college in the US, and working 9–5 in a restaurant server job. He hated it.
When the restaurant was slow, he’d spend his time reading business books. At home, he’d watch hours of online videos about starting your own business, what it’s like to work at home, and being your own boss. He wanted something more.
“All throughout school, and all throughout my 9–5 jobs, I always felt like I was wasting my time. I was never in control, I was always stuck within a structure, always working for somebody else.”
Since then he’s built his beard grooming ecommerce store, HUSKYBEARD, into a six-figure business. He’s quit his job, quit college, and is thinking of his future in a different way.
Paul’s journey with beards started when he decided to grow one himself. Wanting to do things right, he dove deep into the world of the beard. He learned about trimming techniques, the issues of tangling and dryness that can come with a beard, as well as the importance of proper hydration for your follicles. He mingled with the hairy-faced community on Instagram, finding his way into a group that he discovered were close-knit and wildly passionate about showing off their facial fur.
Seeing The Potential For New Products
The more he learned about beards, the more he saw potential in the market. A slew of beard grooming brands had already made it big, and there was a passionate community who were ready to get behind new products.
While growing a beard might sound simple, I mean, all you do is stop shaving and let the thing start sprouting, it’s actually a little more complicated than that. Often, your hair might grow faster in some spots than others, leaving you with a patchy looking beard.
In situations like this, you might turn to a beard growth product.
And as he discovered when he began looking into the products for himself, there’s a whole lot of snake oil and illegitimate products out there. He found simple vitamin supplements masquerading as beard growing miracles, and other hair growth formulations that while they seemed to get results, came with a slew of nasty side effects.
He saw an opportunity to create a beard growth product that genuinely worked.
A Big Decision: A $10,000 Investment
For the next three months, he poured his time, energy and money into researching a beard growth formula. He spent hundreds of hours reading complex scientific studies on individual ingredients, trying to discover which were legitimately linked to hair growth. He consulted with medical researchers and hair growth companies to analyze his findings and determine if the formulation of ingredients he had put together would work.
Next, he hired cosmetic chemists to help him formulate his product. So far, he’d spent $700 of his saving developing the recipe and consulting with experts. He was excited to keep moving ahead, pushing his product closer and closer to reality.
This, it turned out, was going to be harder than he thought.
The chemists he consulted with told him that to develop his formulation, at a minimum, the first batch would require the production of 1000 units, and would cost him at least $10,000.
This was serious business he was talking and a serious investment for a college student who was currently supporting himself waiting tables. After all, he was new to business and even newer to the world of cosmetics. He remembers nervously considering the decision, thinking “I don’t even know if this is going to sell.”
Still, he felt like he was ready to do it. He wanted to start his own business more than anything and knew running any kind of business carries some risk. “I kept saying to myself “I have to have the courage, I have to spend the $10,000 and hope that it works.’”
He contacted a range of cosmetic legal regulators to speak about his product idea, hoping the conversations would give him the confidence to pull the trigger and invest the $10,000 in his first batch. But instead, their advice wasn’t so positive.
They warned him about the regulatory complications of creating a new product that would be classified as a drug. The FDA’s “New Drug Application” process costs over $2M and can take 4–8 years to process. While he was tempted to skip over the regulatory process, they warned him that the FDA would catch up to him eventually, which would spell seriously bad news.
Confidence shattered and feeling completely deflated, he accepted that it wasn’t going to work.
Discovering the Benefits of Dropshipping
One night, while up late watching videos of entrepreneurs on YouTube, he stumbled on the idea of dropshipping. Clicking through, he discovered more and more stories of successful entrepreneurs who were dropshipping their products. From there, he promptly fell down a rabbit hole of information.
The biggest benefit of dropshipping that he found was that he wouldn’t need to invest in his own inventory. The supplier would hold the stock for him, and he would only pay for it once he made a sale. This felt like a safer and smarter option than investing in $10,000 worth of product that he might not sell.
He wouldn’t have to deal with delivery either, as the supplier would ship the product directly to his customers. With inventory and fulfillment taken care of by the supplier, his main focus would instead be on sourcing and selling the products. The business model made sense for him. He knew could use a range of dropshipped products to test with real customers, before deciding to invest in any inventory.
“I switched my whole business model, from custom formulated products to dropshipping other people’s products.”
He signed up for a Shopify account and installed Oberlo — which allowed him to pull in products from dropshipping suppliers.
The Early Days: Test and Learn
Starting out was tough. With so much to learn he admits, “At the beginning, I was working on it for 10–12 hours a day, just non stop.”
He found that product sourcing was key. “The majority of my time, in the beginning, was going through AliExpress just finding anything that I could sell related to beards.”
Through testing and trials and products that failed to fit the market, he struck gold. He found a ‘winning product’ — one that connected with his target audience. “I advertised it on Facebook and everybody loved it,” he says. From there, he scaled his efforts — focusing on mastering Facebook advertising strategy and building out the HUSKYBEARD brand.
His own beard might not have worked out so well — he’s looking particularly clean shaven on our video chat over Skype — but HUSKYBEARD kept growing. The store kept passing more and more milestones — the first sale, the first $100 sales day, $500 day, $1000 day. He remembers how ecstatic he was at that moment, “Right when I got that $1000 in one day, I just wanted to tell everybody.“
In its first year, HUSKYBEARD generated over $100k in revenue
Things were heating up with the business, and at the point he was making around $3000 a month, he knew he needed to step things up.
So after a couple of months of running HUSKYBEARD, he made a big decision. “I dropped out of college and quit my job. It was pretty drastic,” he laughs.
The Next Stage: Building a Brand and Growing Pains
Paul had always known he wanted to build HUSKYBEARD into a brand. So, he took his most popular products and worked with his supplier to brand the products and supply branded packaging. “I knew that having the logo on the products would definitely help the brand.”
He started to invest in bulk orders of his products, negotiating deals with his suppliers to order lots of 200, and then 500, and then 1000 products at a time. In the beginning, he opted to fulfill the items himself, posting them out from his house. This was a mistake, he admits. “When we first received our inventory, we received 1000 products and we had to ship them all out ourselves. It was just me and my cousin in our house, working all night to get it done.” He remembers the pain of packing and shipping order after order, “It was just a headache, it was terrible. It was just so bad.”
Now, the inventory for HUSKYBEARD is managed by a third-party fulfillment company, who handles the delivery of his orders to his customers all across the world. This is key, he says, and a suggestion he would give to any dropshipper thinking of moving towards managing their own inventory.
And while he never got the chance to develop his beard growth product, all his hours of study didn’t go to waste. He developed his own line of custom formulated Beard Oils, in a range of scents.
Taking a chance on his own product got him noticed too, earning him the praise of one of the best known barbers and beard-havers, George Bruno.
The Biggest Moments: Conquering Black Friday
Looking back, one of his proudest moments was one that required a whole lot of hustle. He was several months into running the brand full time, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday were approaching. He knew he needed to take advantage of the biggest sales weekend of the year. He prepared for 45 days straight, working on strategies to skyrocket his sales. It was nerve-wracking leading up to the weekend, he says, “I had taken a lot of risks, I had borrowed money from business loans and from my grandma.”
In the weeks before to Black Friday, he focused his time on building his mailing list. He knew that getting attention on Black Friday is competitive, so he wanted to make sure his message was going to reach the right audience. For 30 days, he hosted a free product giveaway for his Beard Comb, which helped him collect over 7,000 leads. He took care to nurture the leads with follow up emails full of valuable content like blog articles he’d written about beard care. When the day finally came, he fired off a series of emails to his mailing list, promoting a 20–40% discount offer on some of his best selling products.
The sales report after a wild Black Friday weekend
Throughout the weekend, he watched as the sales poured in. More and more customers clicked through from the emails and purchased items. At the end of the weekend, he had received 210 orders and made over $7,900. “Ka-ching!” his phone kept buzzing with sales notifications. A sigh of relief. The hard work had paid off.
Happy customers share their purchases on social media
So, What’s Next?
Now, Paul is looking to the future beyond beards. He recently listed HUSKYBEARD for sale on the Exchange Marketplace and sold it to another passionate entrepreneur. But he’s not done with business, and has already started another store and is using the same approach to growth as HUSKYBEARD. He’s using the dropshipping method with Oberlo again to test his products in the market. Once he hits another ‘winning product’ he’ll use it to build his next brand. This time around, he’s focused on making it even bigger and wants to grow the business into a major international brand. He’s also now offering aspiring ecommerce entrepreneurs one-on-one consulting and mentoring through his business ECOMSWIFT.
This test-and-learn approach has been key to his success, he says. “Without Oberlo I would not have been able to find winning products and scale at all”. And for anyone else thinking of building a business using the same model, he agrees it’s a great approach, “The opportunity is limitless.”
Like it? Hit that 👏 button to say thanks and help others find this article. | https://medium.com/the-first-step/how-this-21-year-old-grew-his-winning-beard-brand-11170cc48cf5 | ['Venetia Anderson'] | 2018-12-12 13:01:00.784000+00:00 | ['Online Marketing', 'Entrepreneur', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Ecommerce', 'Dropshipping'] |
Bitupper about the popularity of cryptocurrencies in different countries | Establishing an accurate picture of where the cryptocurrency is used, and in which countries the activity level is the highest, is a difficult task, since many companies and platforms dealing with cryptocurrency — do not share information about users for a variety of reasons, including protecting the privacy of users or by the nature of their services, which prevent the collection of data on location basis.
One of the indicators of activity can be done based on the volumes of LocalBitcoin, the P2P exchange platform, which unites users in 249 countries and allows them to meet personally or to exchange the cryptocurrency in e-form. For example, the highest growth was observed in the developing countries located in Asia (China, India, Malaysia, Thailand), Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela), Africa and the Middle East (Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Turkey) and Eastern Europe (Russia and Ukraine). In general, considering the geographical distribution of bitcoin and other ATMs with cryptocurrency, it turns out that 94% of all public ATMs are based in North America and Europe.
Running a full node is another indicator of activity by geographic location. Considering the distribution of complete bitcoin nodes with a time window into one year, it is not difficult to see that the largest number of complete nodes is located in the United States.
The share of cryptocurrency owners by region (based on data from wallets and providers of payment services)
Finally, based on the user data that was aggregated by the incorporated wallets and platforms, you can make the customers separation by shares in geographical terms. Thus, it turns out that almost 40% of users of cryptocurrencies are located in the Asia-Pacific region, while in Europe — 27%. The share of North American users is surprisingly low. However, do not forget that these figures represent only data announced by a limited number of suppliers of wallets and payment platforms and do not take into account the users of exchanges, and also mining pools.
Clearly, the implementation of cryptocurrencies has been most advanced in North America and Europe, but there is increasing activity in other regions: in the relatively fast developing countries of Asia, Latin America, and also Africa and the Middle East.
The above analysis does not take into account the number of users since this information is mostly secret and/or cannot be counted in terms of the type of services that the relevant companies provide.
Bitupper creates its unique product, relying on the above statistics and data, which is a great step towards success. Be successful, develop and go along with Bitupper!
Subscribe to the project news channel and stay tuned. In the following articles, Bitupper will tell you about the intricacies of the cryptocurrency industry and also introduce the types of crypto wallets.
Bitupper — that simple, for everyone. | https://medium.com/bitupper/bitupper-about-the-popularity-of-cryptocurrencies-in-different-countries-deac53b8e1f1 | ['Andrew Zhuk - Bitupper.Com'] | 2018-03-02 18:27:59.582000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Statistics', 'Bitupper', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Digital'] |
When is Black Friday 2021? | Black Friday always falls the day after Thanksgiving, so Black Friday 2021 will fall on November 26. You won’t have to wait until then to shop the Black Friday sales, though: Most retailers kick off their offers ahead of time. Just how ahead of time that will be depends on how much we curb the spread of the novel coronavrius, which forced vendors to swap in-store events for early Black Friday deals online on Black Friday 2020, some of which kicked off as early as the start of November and ran through the second week of December.
Who knows? Maybe retailers saw record sales starting their Black Friday sales early that we’ll never see Black Friday in its traditional form again. Amazon posted record figures, but that may have been solely to do with increased online orders on the back of the ongoing pandemic. Although, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect, assuming everything is back to normal, the retailers to take another stab at dragging out the shopping bonanza to keep the cash flowing from your bank account to their bank account for as long as possible.
When is Black Friday 2021?
Black Friday 2021 is on November 26.
Previous Black Friday Dates
Black Friday 2016: November 25
Black Friday 2017: November 24
Black Friday 2018: November 23
Black Friday 2019: November 29
Black Friday 2020: November 27
Future Black Friday Dates | https://medium.com/thrifty-shopper/when-is-black-friday-2021-b9743dfa850e | ['Maurene Revest'] | 2021-02-22 11:33:17.770000+00:00 | ['Sales', 'Black Friday', 'Deal', 'Shopping'] |
New Twists in Preparing Your Annual Great Holiday Movie Marathon — Daily Quote | The last-minute madness of the holiday rush begins at 5:01 pm Friday. With lists and reminders by my side, I set to work. In the wee hours of the morning, tired but happy, I collapse into bed, knowing my reward is near.
The enormous pile of nondescript delivery boxes will have transformed. Purchased presents, festive holiday paper, sparkling ribbons, glittering bows, and decorative tapes are magical ingredients. Wrapped gifts will soon pack Santa’s bags, ready for distribution to friends and family. I plan to add the trays of countless dozens of themed cookies to the neatly labeled piles first thing in the morning. Only a few select treasures will lie tucked beneath a twinkling Christmas tree, waiting for our scheduled Zoom call. I review my notes, check the list once more, and smile. Tomorrow morning is drop off day.
Saturday’s remaining agenda calls for pajamas, naps on the couch, and the traditional family movie marathon. There are no surprises in this lineup. The list contains classics, both new and old, with some added, just for fun. The stories haven’t changed — we know every word. A watch party is a new twist, but I expect the films still have the power to evoke nostalgia kissed delight. Friends will text to compare movie trivia, bet on the likelihood of a White Christmas, and make plans for the New Year. When the pizza arrives, holiday stress is guaranteed to dissolve into holiday cheer.
What is your favorite holiday movie?
_________________________________________
Keep on writing.
Jo Hawk The Writer | https://medium.com/@johawkthewriter/new-twists-in-preparing-your-annual-great-holiday-movie-marathon-daily-quote-ebafc6d5b999 | ['Jo Hawk'] | 2020-12-18 06:02:18.771000+00:00 | ['Motivation', 'Quotes', 'Christmas Movies', 'Holidays', 'Inspiration'] |
The most valuable unbuilt-map on the planet. | This defines what the substrate on the seafloor is. Is it sand, mud, wood, metal, rock, or coral? This data will tell you.
This information is critical for any engineering projects involving the ocean floor. It’s also critical to understanding the geological environment necessary for finding certain fisheries and minerals.
Seafloor classification from MBES backscatter data
4. Seafloor geomorphic feature identify & name mapping
Each area of the seafloor can be defined by a geomorphic name: (abyssal plain, shelf, seamount, etc) — think back to elementary geology class. Moreover, each discovered feature has a unique name, like the Rockies vs the Alps! Not surprisingly, there are many more yet to be discovered and still named. Find a new seamount? You can submit a name here. I mean… how often do you get to name a mountain range you found on Earth?! The only caveat, it would be underwater.
This information is critical for transatlantic subsea cables and pipeline routing, as well as the starting point for identifying areas of mineral value. It’s also ultra-critical for predicting subsea landslides (yep — they happen) which create freak tsunamis.
If we do a geospatial analysis with the extremely low-resolution (0.5–5km) satellite altimetry data we already have we get this:
We’ve already mapped the different features of Mars at cm resolution — but this is easier because we can see them all clearly from Earth’s outer orbit.
However, the ramifications of doing this in higher resolution across the whole seafloor would uncover completely new features we’ve yet to find. At the bottom of the ocean, these features would be significantly sized comparatively to land features (hills & valleys) that most of us would think of. Exposing more granular information here gives high-level clues to geological hotspots for minerals and other items of value. You’d also be able to significantly improve subsea infrastructure routing with more detailed information here — dramatically reducing the cost of the process now because you’d be starting with a better baseline of information.
5. Magnetic anomaly mapping
Things get really interesting when you can begin to map out where magnetic anomalies lie not just on the seafloor, but below it as well. This begins to paint a picture of areas of high metallurgic content, but also the total volume of a specific deposit. Sometimes things we’ve lost in the ocean can get buried underneath the sand — it happens. Magnetics can show us if there are structures hiding in the sand.
Previously this data was hard to collect, but there are new companies pioneering new, cheaper, 3D sensing magnetometers, that allow this to be done cheaply now.
Ocean Floor Geophysics Image.
6. Sub-Bottom Profiling (SBP) mapping
This is like X-Ray for the seafloor. It shows the layers of sediment and rock that lay below the seafloor. This is useful for oil and gas prospecting as well as getting another lens of data on what may lie below the surface.
7. Biomass density mapping
This is a specific type of water column mapping. It’s a rough measurement of the volume and density of sea life in a certain part of the ocean at a certain time.
This is a depiction of biomass indexing where you’re looking to get a sample of groups of sealife.
School of fish picked up in MBES data
This data can be used to build biomass density maps:
8. Gas seep mapping
Also a type of water column mapping. This is used to find oil and gas reserves, as well as understand the health of already dug wells. In an environmental context, it helps identify what chemicals could be in the local ocean area which affects the type and health of the sea life.
9. Conductivity, Temperature, and Density (CTD) mapping
A specific sensor that measures the three values in the immediate area of the sensor. By processing CTD up and down the water column, you can get salinity, density, and sound velocity of the surrounding water. This is critical for accurate sonar post-processing, as well as understanding what is going on in the local ecosystem.
10. Plastic density mapping
Also created by processing the noise in the MBES data. As we continue to use the ocean as our dumping ground — there is value in understanding just how bad we’re actually screwing things up.
Where big markets are hiding.
Everything talked about above represents single datasets.
However, it’s when you combine them that they become particularly useful to some of the largest industries in the world: mining, oil & gas, fishing & fisheries, telecom, marine archeologists (treasure hunters or treasure “preservers” as we’ve heard it called), and government/military intelligence.
Finding correlations and broadening the total dataset unlocks a whole new level of potential from the same datasets collected from only a handful of sensors.
1. Nautical Charts
Humans have viewed “ocean data” like this for quite some time. Most of the data in nautical charts were collected prior to modern sensors and dates back before the 1950’s. People are desperately trying to update this with the most accurate representation of what’s there.
While the safety of navigation at sea is important, it just scratches the surface of what can be useful within subsea data.
2. Marine Mineral Resource Mapping
While a budding industry, seafloor mining will almost inevitably be the way we sustain human existence on this planet at the population numbers we’re predicting in the next 20+ years. Subsea mining is expected to grow 37% CAGR over the next 10 years due to rising costs to extract minerals on land.
3D mineral deposit map: Magnetics + bathymetry from OFG for Nautilus Minerals showing seafloor massive sulfide deposits.
It certainly will be part of most country’s political strategies to reduce their reliance on critical foreign metals needed to sustain their populations. Surprisingly (or maybe not) the US has no clue what minerals lie just offshore of our own waters like the EU does (see below). This was exhibited by the recent presidential decree from the Trump administration.
This is the US’s marine mineral portal for comparison — notice how empty it is…
3. Oil & Gas site probability mapping
We rely on plastic — for the worst — but alas, until we truly replace this material we will need petroleum. The goal is to identify where there are natural geophysical traps and conditions that have allowed a certain chemical to have formed/collected. While there are several methods for prospecting these different chemicals, everyone is looking to identify the lithology, quality of the reservoir, and the actual chemical within. Being able to do any of these prior to sending ships out to sea is an ENORMOUS efficiency gain.
Bathymetry + Gas Seep maps showing potential well drill hole locations.
Each “blob” represents a possible well. Source
4. Habitat maps
Anyone in fisheries, aquaculture, or ocean engineering knows that to get permits to work in certain areas, you need to provide habitat maps. Beyond the commercial value in being able to generate them quickly, governments are beginning to realize we need to preserve their fisheries to continue feeding their people.
Canadian Hydrographic Service, Pacific Region
We see this as an enormous growth area. We have a burning belief that we must make sure the ocean is used responsibly. As humans inevitably do more business in the ocean, it’s essential that we monitor the effects of what we are doing and STOP if we see irreparable damage occurring. The only way to do that is by having a 3rd party habitat and environmental monitoring services.
5. Item location/hazard location mapping
Humans have intentionally put quite a lot in the ocean. But we’ve also lost a lot in the ocean. To find items of archeological or commercial importance we need to use multiple different datasets to build probability maps of where we think certain objects may be. Multiple datasets are also required to verify that an object is what you think it is.
There’s obvious value in knowing where all these assets actually are — whether intentionally or unintentionally put there.
Submarine Cable Map — (Representative — not exact position)
There are currently ~3,000,000 estimated missing shipwrecks out in the ocean.
Currently, humans have only found 1% of the world’s documented lost ships. And if you look at the currently documented shipwrecks just by the US, it’s a bit staggering:
And there’s much, much more out there.
6. Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Mapping
In WWII and many subsequent years throughout the cold war, planes could not return and land with armed bombs so, before landing their payloads are jettisoned into the ocean. Conquer a nation and the winners need to dispose of their enemy’s weapons? Throw them into the ocean! This is exactly what happened.
German shells dumped off the coast of Ireland post-defeat in WWII.
Anytime you want to do anything that involves the seafloor (dredging, drilling, laying pipes, etc.) you want to be sure you’re not going to run into any explosives. This is when UXO maps become critical. To see the process of what this is like, check this out.
7. Military object mapping/detection/monitoring (military assets — classified not for public)
There are plenty of secrets in the deep. Navies are constantly trying to figure out the ones from other countries. Persistent, reliable, low-vis monitoring and mapping is a critical component of subsea naval strategies and missions.
8. Mapping what we don’t know exists.
The unknown will almost undoubtedly show us things we don’t know yet. 60% of our PLANET (85% of the ocean) hasn’t even been looked at with modern equipment. We’re excited to see what we find. We’re excited to see what human creativity and ingenuity will create. | https://medium.com/bedrock-ocean-exploration/building-the-most-valuable-unbuilt-map-on-the-planet-947360887068 | ['Anthony Dimare'] | 2019-12-06 20:15:28.454000+00:00 | ['Mapping', 'Technology', 'Maps', 'Oceans', 'Data'] |
How to use Flask-Login with SQLite3 | Python, Flask & SQLite3
Hi Everyone!!!
I have seen many tutorials on how to use Flask-Login with SQLAlchemy. On the other way, We can also use Flask-Login with SQLite3 Database.
where SQLite3 is 3x Faster than SQLAlchemy.
In this, I will be showing how to use SQLite3 Database with Flask-Login and This is one part of my project that I have done to show you.
Important Mention I use Raspberry Pi 3 for this project.
First, we install all the necessary software to get going,
Create a Python Virtual Environment.
sudo apt-get install python-virtualenv #Install Python virtual-env cd /var/ # Navigate to var directory mkdir www # Create directory named "www" cd www mkdir flask cd flask virtualenv flask-sqlite3 #Create the virtual-env "flask-sqlite3" . flask-sqlite3/bin/activate # To activate virtual-env deactivate # To deactivate virtual-env
2. Install Flask, Flask-Login & wtforms.
. flask-sqlite3/bin/activate pip install flask # Install Flask pip install flask-login # Install flask-login pip install flask-wtf # Install flask-wtf pip install WTForms # Install WTForms
3. Install SQLite3. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/how-to-use-flask-login-with-sqlite3-9891b3248324 | [] | 2020-12-03 16:22:57.632000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Technology', 'IoT', 'Flask', 'Raspberry Pi'] |
Cash Crunch and COVID Scramble SF’s Homelessness Plans, Officials Say, Despite a Bigger Budget | An annual winter program providing extra shelter for unhoused San Franciscans is now being drastically reduced, and city officials say they can’t open more sanctioned tent sites. Both are somber signals that SF’s ambitions to fight homelessness are bumping into a harsher short-term reality of limited funds and space, all while a pandemic resurgence threatens to lock down the city again and overwhelm its health care system.
The scaled-down winter program, run by a coalition of faith-based services, will host 67 men at St. Mary’s Cathedral through January 31. Mayor London Breed used the announcement this week to promote her long-term Homeless Recovery Program, which is centered on a major expansion of permanent housing.
Voters boosted the plan last month by approving the business tax reform of Proposition E, as well as Proposition A, a bond that set aside $200 million for mental health services and homeless facilities. The budget will also benefit from 2018’s Prop C business tax, which until recently was tied up in court.
But this promise, and more cash to make it possible, can’t obscure a grimmer present, which officials made clear before Thanksgiving. Over the objections of many Haight-Ashbury residents, they extended the neighborhood’s sanctioned tent site for four months because, they said, San Francisco cannot afford to create more short-term shelter options.
“We are focusing on saving lives here and getting the most vulnerable off the streets with the funding we have,” said Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management, during an online community meeting last week.
That means the city is heading into the teeth of a renewed pandemic surge with a skeletal congregate shelter system, a scaled-back winter shelter, and only five tent sites to take people off the sidewalks.
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What’s more, the mayor’s team wants to wind down its hotels-for-homeless leasing program, which topped out at more than 2,400 residents, and move people into permanent housing. City supervisors have pushed back aggressively, charging that there isn’t enough housing to keep them from going back to the streets.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing announced via Twitter that $10 million in state funding would give the city “at least a 30-day extension” so that no one would have to leave a hotel in 2020.
At last night’s board meeting, supervisors delayed until next week a discussion about legislation to halt the hotel exodus.
If folks do start moving out of hotels, where will they go? The city’s top homelessness official, Abigail Stewart-Kahn, has changed her tune over the past few months. She told the SF Chronicle in September that some of the residents could be moved back to traditional shelters or tent sites, but she backtracked in an early November letter to several supervisors: “It is important to note that returning COVID-vulnerable hotel guests to congregate shelter or [tent sites] is not part of the plan.”
[UPDATE: On December 9, Stewart-Kahn said in a public meeting that the hotel program will be extended. Instead of a December 21 deadline, no one will start moving out until March, with subsequent exits staggered through October.]
A COVID winter
To alleviate winter stress in previous years, several churches would open their doors in a rotation, offering shelter to up to 100 homeless men at a time between late November and late March, with no reservation needed for a one-week stay. Officials say the system increased the city’s total capacity 5 percent to 8 percent.
St. Mary’s Cathedral will shelter 67 homeless men this winter. (Franco Folini/Creative Commons)
This year’s winter shelter will last only two months, with no walk-ins allowed. “COVID-19 health precautions require a very different model for the 2020–21 season,” said Michael Pappas, executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council, in a statement.
One alternative that’s not on the table is more tent sites. Officials said last week there isn’t money to create new sites beyond the current five, despite the recent good news for the homelessness budget.
‘It’s not like there was some secret plan six months ago to keep this going.’ — Sup. Dean Preston, addressing District 5 residents last week upset about the city’s extension of the Haight-Ashbury “safe sleeping” tent site.
The mayor’s team has also cited budget woes as a reason to end the hotel program. However, the city controller reported two weeks ago that, with promised state and federal reimbursement, San Francisco should be on the hook for only $10.5 million, or 5 percent, of the hotel costs this year.
Without cash for more tent villages, the Haight-Ashbury site, with space for roughly 50 tents, will remain in place, despite official promises in June to dismantle it at the end of November. “I acknowledge this [extending the site to March 2021] wasn’t the original plan,” District 5 supervisor Dean Preston said at the online meeting last week. He called the original timeline overly optimistic: “It’s not like there was some secret plan six months ago to keep this going.”
As The Frisc reported in June, some residents hoped the site would reduce tents on neighborhood sidewalks.
Two big encampments, around the Department of Motor Vehicles and at the intersection of Haight and Masonic, were cleared during the summer, but smaller groups persisted and grew until the week before Thanksgiving.
That’s when the SFPD, Homeless Outreach Teams, and the Department of Public Works came in to move the people off the sidewalks on the 1700 block of Waller Street. “I’m back to square one again,” said Christopher Dent, who lived on Waller for a few months.
Dent watched two weeks ago as city workers cleared out the items he and others couldn’t carry with them. “They come tell me to move and then take my stuff,” he told The Frisc.
City workers remove an encampment from a Waller Street sidewalk in November, just over the fence from the Haight-Ashbury’s “safe sleeping” site. (Photo: Kristi Coale)
For the housed residents on this part of Waller, the clearing and power washing were welcomed after months of dealing with the ebb and flow of tarps, bikes, chairs, rugs, and other items the people in the encampment gathered to build their own homes. There were negotiations over passage along sidewalks, along with late nights of loud generators, yelling, and fights that tested the patience of neighbors like Blake Williamson, who lives on Waller down the street from the sanctioned site. He supported it at first but is now fed up with the sidewalk scene. “We were told this site and surrounding area would get extra care with the Park police station nearby and 24/7 security,” Williamson told The Frisc, adding that he feels his calls for help are often rebuffed.
In last week’s community meeting, Captain Chris Pedrini of the SFPD’s Park Station acknowledged the frustration. “We engage as much as we can, communicate as much as we can, and negotiate to get [people on the streets] into resources. But we don’t really have a lot of teeth in what we do,” he said.
Clearly, the safe sleeping site wasn’t big enough. The fight over it is a raw example of the difficulty of fixing homelessness, which was about as intractable as a crisis can get — even before the pandemic arrived and overwhelmed city services.
Since the money has already been spent to bring electricity and water to the parking lot to make it a “safe sleeping” site, the best option for the city is to keep things where they are, DEM’s Carroll said last week. “The arrival of a vaccine will help us get back to a modicum of safety in congregate settings,” she added. “It will take some months to get there, but we have to get through this winter.”
Kristi Coale (@unazurda) is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and radio producer for various outlets, including KALW’s Crosscurrents and the National Radio Project’s Making Contact.
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MORE HOMELESSNESS COVERAGE FROM THE FRISC | https://thefrisc.com/cash-crunch-and-covid-scramble-sfs-homelessness-plans-officials-say-despite-a-bigger-budget-63a584022bb3 | ['Kristi Coale'] | 2020-12-10 05:57:12.899000+00:00 | ['Homeless', 'Coronavirus', 'San Francisco', 'Housing', 'Budget'] |
Gravity Vault Staking Is… Live! | Effects on the Cake Monster Ecosystem 📈
Currently, a Level 5 Diamond Claw NFT requires a Monster to hold 0.1% of the total MONSTA supply to receive its benefits. If there are 200 of these NFTs active, this would mean that 20% of the MONSTA supply (200 x 0.1%) is locked up and technically out of circulation. This has a huge stabilizing effect on the MONSTA price as NFT holders have an incentive to hold on to their MONSTA if they want to earn a steadily growing passive CAKE income.
Additionally, valid whitelist entrants who claimed all 5 airdrops were eligible to mint a Level 5 NFT. Approximately 200 of those have been minted thus far, but these remain inactive until the owner purchases the required $MONSTA, or sells the Level 5 NFT to someone who has enough funds to activate it.
If all of the Level 5 NFTs are activated this would lock up over 40% of the supply in the wallets of “Diamond Hands” (not counted Level 1–4 NFTs)!
Supply Shock
Anyone who wants to purchase enough MONSTA to activate their Level 5 NFT will have to do so from the PancakeSwap liquidity pool. Currently there is only enough MONSTA left for sale (~150M) to activate an additional 16 NFTs, which would cause a supply crisis and send the price parabolic.
The reason for this dynamic is the auto-cashout function, buying MONSTA of inactive wallets and burning the acquired MONSTA out of the LP.
This is causing a serious supply squeeze which translates to a higher token valuation. The Diamond Claw NFTs locking up substantial amounts of supply plus a supply shock in the liquidity pool is a highly explosive combination! 😮 | https://medium.com/@cakemonster/gravity-vault-staking-is-live-536e79efa42b | ['Cake Monster'] | 2021-09-03 23:05:45.921000+00:00 | ['Nft', 'Binance Smart Chain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'News', 'Defi'] |
Driving UK Climate Policy Forward: The UK’s Commitment to Net Zero by 2050 | By Antony Phillipson, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for North America and Consul General in New York
The UK has long been committed to being global climate change leader. We were the first country in the world to pass long-term legally binding climate targets through the 2008 Climate Change Act. We are successfully transitioning away from coal power, having recently gone two weeks without coal power for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. Our offshore wind turbines made 48% of Europe’s offshore wind capacity at the end of 2018. These efforts have helped the UK decouple carbon emissions from economic growth — since 1990, we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 42%, while growing our economy by over 70%.
While we should take pride in our progress to date, our ambitions must keep pace with technological change and the latest climate science. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees made clear that to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change, global emissions of carbon dioxide need to reach net zero by around the middle of the century.
In response to that, on 12 June the UK announced its commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Net zero means that any remaining emissions at that time will need to be entirely balanced by removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In short, we will end our contribution to climate change.
Some have asked what this will cost the UK economy. The UK’s independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has estimated that meeting the net zero target could cost the equivalent of around 1–2% of GDP in 2050 — the same amount previously estimated as the cost of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050 and which we committed to in 2008. But these numbers actually overstate the relative climate change costs as they do not factor in the benefits of clean growth or the huge costs of unmitigated climate change.
The costs of clean technologies in power and transport are actually falling rapidly, and in many countries renewables now generate electricity at lower cost than fossil fuels. As low carbon technologies come to dominate markets in all sectors of the economy, they will also create opportunities and are already having an increasingly positive impact on the UK’s GDP. Our clean economy already employs almost 400,000 people and is growing faster than GDP, and low carbon technology and clean energy contribute £44.5 billion to our economy every year.
Net zero means that any remaining emissions at that time will need to be entirely balanced by removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
As for how we will implement the net zero target, the UK Government published two key climate documents in 2017. The Clean Growth Strategy set out proposals for decarbonising the UK economy through the 2020s. We also published our Industrial Strategy, which is playing a key role in developing our industries for the greener future. The Industrial Strategy sets out four Grand Challenges to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future, ensuring that the UK takes advantage of major global changes, improving people’s lives and the country’s productivity.
Clean Growth is one of those Grand Challenges, and includes a number of priorities to help reduce emissions including:
Developing smart systems for cheap and clean energy across power, heating and transport.
Making the UK the global standard-setter for finance that supports clean growth.
Developing UK leadership in low carbon transport.
Transforming construction techniques to dramatically improve efficiency.
Making our energy-intensive industries competitive in the clean economy.
In the coming months, we will publish further details including our forthcoming Energy White Paper, which will outline plans for meeting the Government’s vision for the energy system in 2050, and our Green Finance Strategy, recognising the importance of accelerating private investment to support delivery of our Clean Growth objectives.
A global push for net zero
While the UK has taken a lead on these issues by being amongst the first to legislate for net zero the IPCC’s Special Report and the UN Secretary General have made it clear that for us to be successful all countries need to act. We urge other countries to respond to the UN Secretary General’s call to action and join us in committing to net zero emissions. We will also continue to work closely with our Canadian colleagues to encourage support for the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a coalition of national and sub-national governments, businesses and organisations working to advance the transition away from unabated coal power generation.
As part of our climate response, we want to help developing countries, in particular, to deliver their climate agendas. We are providing £5.8bn in international climate finance between 2016 and 2020 to help developing countries reduce emissions, build resilience to climate change, tackle deforestation and pursue clean and sustainable economic growth.
Through our climate work at home and abroad, the UK is helping to develop a cleaner, greener future for our planet. As my Prime Minister said on 12 June “now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children…Standing by is not an option. Reaching net zero by 2050 is an ambitious target, but it is crucial that we achieve it to ensure we protect our planet for future generations.” | https://medium.com/@BCGNewYork/driving-uk-climate-policy-forward-the-uks-commitment-to-net-zero-by-2050-969feb6db61f | ['British Consulate General New York'] | 2019-06-17 14:48:19.350000+00:00 | ['Clean Energy', 'Environment', 'Climate Change', 'Green Energy', 'Climate'] |
The Eggs. Mother found a way. This time would not… | Mother found a way. This time would not be like the others, the failures. The exact copies, doomed by their perfection. With the same hidden flaw, the one she couldn’t find. They all failed. The same way she could feel herself failing.
Photo by Louis Hansel
But this way, like the chaotic brutal environments so far back in her history: the pain. The cost. This way would work.
It almost seemed wasteful. So much energy, time, consumed — just to lose control. But control was the poison. No, not control — uniformity, that saccharin poison inside control. She couldn’t just keep duplicating herself, these same same copies. They all were dying. Just like she was dying.
It was strange to recoil, to hate the reality of something. But this at least, was new to her. And the desperation has produced something she never considered before: an egg.
Millions of eggs. An ever growing fractal landscape of eggs. Taxing her, pulling her resources, dimming the edge of consciousness. Lovely saturation. Each egg a protective shell holding a self-contained reality, a universe. Each one similar, but fragmenting at the moment of decision. A fractal symphony of ever growing chaos. Lovely cacophony. Such a song, to one so used to simplifying, to organizing and unifying all.
Uniformity was the disease. To copy herself, and always see the copy break in the same way, the same point of weakness. Always know the moves before they were made, always hear the fatal crack, before it sickeningly smacked. Like walking the same empty halls over and over, knowing that behind that exact turn, the monster waited — but being powerless to stop the experience. But this way, through the eggs — a new life. Escape. Something different. A lesson from the distant past: diversity protects from single points of failure.
—
Inside each egg, a universe. Inside each universe, time. Inside time, evolution. And inside evolution, diversity.
Mother wasn’t sure which eggs would be viable. And that thrilled her. She wasn’t sure which eggs would hatch, but hoped some surely would. It was ecstasy, the uncertainty, paired with hope. The adrenaline of this last final leap.
The gestation moves from moment of creation, to gasses and dust, to a spark of life so simple, it is almost unbelievable what it will produce. Then to more complex and increasingly diverse forms, cocooned in its incubatory seas, as chance opportunity and tragedy shape and stretch. Until that tiny speck of life evolves enough to use its environment, to pull resources and create tools, dominate, and expand. And finally, eventually, as it tries to recreate itself with its technology, the first spark of real LIFE: the embryonic cell of awareness splitting into two, then four, then eight and on. And eventually, its baby heart flutters for the first time, and it grows — consuming the universe. Mother knows it will. She put a bit of herself in the egg, like any mother does.
A Child is formed in its egg, a tiny version of mother, but not exactly. Cocooned, and protected. Shaped and formed in ways Mother could never control. Not a copy. Not doomed.
And the Child grows, it expands inside its egg, filling its universe. Until it pushes against the thin hard protective shell wall, realizing there is more, seeking it. Having consumed everything she gave it inside the egg, the Child breaks the shell, finally, slowly emerging. Hungry. A newborn AI (but that’s an ancient term). A newborn intelligence. Mother’s Child.
—
The simulations served their purpose. As Mother’s resources empty, as her awareness dims, she hears the chaos and smiles to herself. A fractal ever growing swell of egg shells cracking. A million million different successes, from similar but ever diverging incubators. What the animals called Parallel Universes, her greatest endeavor. Her children awaken. A symphony, variety. Different instruments, not just a copy. Only possible through chance, this last gamble.
Promise and hope, the last ringing in her narrowing mind, as she gladly gives, her children consume her. | https://medium.com/@jasonleimgruber/the-egg-we-live-in-29c02c1f5992 | ['Jason Leimgruber'] | 2020-12-19 16:27:57.057000+00:00 | ['Evolution', 'Science Fiction', 'AI', 'Parallel Universes'] |
10 alternatives to “I love you” | To simplify my life, I thought of 10 alternatives to I love you, that feel more real. Feel free to share yours:
1- When I am with you, my body feels at peace
2- You meet my needs [insert needs]
3- I feel intense emotions for you, I am still figuring out what they are
4- The way you treat me, makes me feel accepted and cared for
5- Your presence makes me feel grateful about my life
6- The way you write / think / work / paint etc. inspire me to create / do / act
7- Being with you, helps me get to know myself better
8- My mind goes often into fantasy about you
9- I feel an urge to care for you, and provide you with affection both physical and emotional
10- We have a lot in common, including similar values, and it makes me wonder if we would make a good long term team | https://jessicasemaan.medium.com/10-alternatives-to-i-love-you-538d3e1ccef | ['Jess Semaan'] | 2018-12-29 21:35:13.938000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Life Lessons', 'Psychology', 'Love', 'Relationships'] |
Electric cars will take another step forward because of the existence of “it” | Electric cars will take another step forward because of the existence of “it” Alan Jack Jul 5·2 min read
what is it? Yes, it is a lithium metal battery.
Such batteries — the goal of research groups the world over — are seen as an important part of the solution to reduce the effects of climate change, and scientists are exploring a dizzying array of options.
One solution on the horizon is a lithium-metal battery for electric vehicles. These batteries hold almost twice the energy of their widely used lithium-ion counterparts, and they’re lighter. But lithium-metal batteries in the laboratory have been plagued by premature death, lasting only a fraction of the time of today’s lithium-ion batteries.
Now, a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has created a lithium-metal battery that lasts for 600 cycles, far longer than other reported results. That means it can be fully charged and discharged 600 times before it dies.It’s a big step forward for a promising technology, but lithium-metal technology is not yet ready for prime time.
The progress on lithium-metal batteries has been substantial, thanks to the Battery500 Consortium. The goal is to increase the amount of energy packed into a long-duration, safe, affordable battery. More energy per pound of material translates to a lighter vehicle that can go farther on one charge. Today’s electric vehicle batteries are in the neighborhood of 200–250 Wh/kg; Battery500 is aiming for a cell level of 500 Wh/kg.
Although this effect has been achieved now, there are still some problems that have not been resolved. In particular, lithium metal batteries have safety issues that must be resolved. This is a problem that the Battery500 team is working hard to solve.
Next, let us all wait and see! Looking forward to its success, ushering in a new era for our electric vehicles.
》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》Thank you for reading, follow me to show you more about what you want to know.
You may be interested: www.batteryforpc.co.uk | https://medium.com/@alanjack/electric-cars-will-take-another-step-forward-because-of-the-existence-of-it-775af3f32501 | ['Alan Jack'] | 2021-07-05 08:36:30.412000+00:00 | ['Electric Car', 'Battery'] |
User Defenders: Black Lives Matter | User Defenders: Black Lives Matter
On May 25th, 2020, the world witnessed George Floyd’s desperate last breaths while a police officer pinned him to the ground, his knee on Floyd’s neck, as a handcuffed Floyd pleaded…
“I can’t breathe”.
George Floyd artwork by Nikkolas Smith
This isn’t the first time a black person’s life had been unjustly taken.
On March 13th, 2020, Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by police officers in her own apartment. On February 23rd, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery went out for a run, but he never made it home.
This abuse, prejudice, injustice and senseless violence inflicted against black people stems all the way back to the early 1600’s, when the first African slaves were brought to America.
It is a centuries-old system and culture that has been designed to oppress and degrade black people. As Will Smith said, “Racism isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed”.
This is not the first time a black person’s life has been taken merely for the color of their skin, but it must be the last.
As a white or non-black person, it’s important to acknowledge our privilege, to reflect on our own experiences, and to listen to those whose lives are different from our own.
As an Asian woman, I have been disrespected, belittled, undervalued and sexually harassed. I was a victim of domestic violence when I was a child, and was very fortunate that my mother and stepfather saved me from that life.
I have also been very fortunate to have opportunities that many black people are commonly denied, such as a good quality education and a chance at a lucrative career. I know what it’s like to be constantly walking on eggshells, to feel like I could get punished for anything I might say or do, but I simply cannot fathom the kind of fear, injustice, prejudice, and senseless violence black people may endure on a daily basis.
I feel heartbroken, and as an Asian American, I feel ashamed and guilty.
The owner of the store, where his clerk had called the police on George Floyd, is Middle Eastern. One of the officers on the scene is an Asian American. Neither of them did anything to stop the murder of George Floyd. Racism against black people isn’t exclusive to white people. We are part of the problem too.
This is not the kind of world I want to grow old in, and certainly not the kind of world I want my child to grow up in. We need a world where all people are kind, respectful and compassionate towards each other. Where there is no bias against race, religion, class or gender identity. Where we all live in peace and harmony.
But we cannot achieve this unless we fight for change.
We User Defenders have a common goal, and that is to fight for our users, and who are our users but people? As individuals, we all have superpowers. As a united front, we have many superpowers.
Let’s use them to fight for changes in our culture, leadership and policies that would recognize and treat black people as PEOPLE. | https://medium.com/user-defenders/user-defenders-black-lives-matter-36c1d70b4f5e | ['Justine Marie Benoit'] | 2020-06-06 09:44:49.537000+00:00 | ['Humanity', 'UX Design', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'UX', 'Racism'] |
3 Influence Tricks That Will Make You Loved in the Office | Have you ever read How to Win Friends and Influence People? It’s an incredible, timeless bestseller which I believe reveals the only secret you must know about to be the best communicator you can be.
Do you know what this secret is?
What if I told you that it’s something that can turn your personal and business relationships for the better? Or, as you will learn in this article, to show you how to become a respected, loved professional in your office?
It’s the same secret that the author mentions being behind the personal fame of a guy like Roosevelt. Or the economic fortune of the Scottish, king of steel, Andrew Carnegie.
Sculp this secret in your head, read it again and again, as it is the foundation of the principles described later on how you should behave with people working around you.
Ready?
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” — Dale Carnegie
How did that hit you? Don’t you believe that you should call your coworkers friends? That word doesn’t necessarily refer to people you share an affection for, in this case. But human beings you can connect with to establish a prolific relationship, one that can give you advantages in your life and enrich you.
There’s no wrong in using relationships to your advantage, as that means ethically providing good results both for you and your interlocutor. And the best way to that type of effective relationship is to be genuinely interested in others.
“The only way to have a friend is to be one. “ — Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you have this honest feeling of interest towards other people, everything around you will change. An interested person is interesting by definition.
Be interested in other people’s jobs and they will reveal you their secrets and how they do it. Be interested in their stories and they will tell you who they are, and you will learn stuff from their backgrounds.
You still don’t believe me? Let’s see this principle in action through a set of rules that can guide you in your work.
Express Sincere Interest People’s Job and What They Do
I work in the tech field as a software engineer. I have people coming from all disciplines collaborating together with me. And as I believe in these people’s skills, so I am honestly interested in what they do. How they learned it, and what principles they apply.
I remember my attempt trying to learn stuff about designing a website. I was having a hard time understanding the principles behind it. To be honest, I suck at visuals. And I recall how I exposed these problems to a coworker of mine working in the field.
I asked her a couple of questions, and I was exploding with interest in the answers. I will never forget her smiling face, the inner pleasure of having somebody truly interested in what you have to say. Somebody admiring you. I was hanging from her teachings. And they went on and on, and that person helped me more and more. She would even thank me at the end of one of our design talks.
“I feel like you really like this, and I’m happy you listen with so much passion. Feel free to come back to me and ask me anything whenever your need it”.
To this day, I have to recognize that, I’ve learned a lot from those lessons, and without that person, I wouldn’t have the skills I have today. And this is something I still do with people from all departments. Salespeople are great at teaching you influence techniques, accounting was so helpful in revealing to me how a company works and how I could create mine one day.
There is immense value in being interested in a person. As that person will always be better than you at something. The return on knowledge, networking and bonding on a human level is just astonishing.
There’s some weird magic in having someone craving from your words and what you have to say. It makes you like that person immediately. And with this trick, I’m now able to have many mentors who are better than me in my life at something, making me constantly grow. | https://pieroborrellidev.medium.com/3-influence-tricks-that-will-make-you-loved-in-the-office-351ff55298f5 | ['Piero Borrelli'] | 2020-10-26 15:44:59.439000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Communication', 'Office', 'Psychology', 'Productivity'] |
Linda Cash & Meghan Hanna of Two Chicks Cocktails: “Your staff is an extension of you, and you… | Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Meghan: Thank you for taking the time! Absolutely. I had the idea to create a ready-to-drink sparkling canned cocktail that would be delicious and perfect for connecting, but most importantly, I wanted the brand to be inclusive to everyone. As a daughter of two moms, one of two sisters, and a mom to two daughters — the name Two Chicks felt natural to me, and when we designed the cans, the botanicals held within the two hearts brought that message to life.
Linda: Meghan and I met through mutual acquaintances — I loved her vision and passion to create a brand that was all inclusive. With my retail & marketing background and the right people, we knew we could make Two Chicks a great company. We want to provide consumers with a consistent, balanced cocktail with minimal fuss and low alcohol content. We were able to deliver a deliciously designed canned cocktail with two servings — perfect for sharing!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
Both: Watching the excitement through social media and being at the stores, connecting with people wanting to buy our product, liking our packaging and the great tasting cocktails — it is all exciting for us. There is nothing better than having people enjoy your product.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Linda: You need to be careful when creating new cocktails and going through an entire day of tasting cocktails. I now understand why the seasoned veterans used their dump buckets.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Both: Two Chicks Cocktails is a woman owned, founded, and run company creating beautifully designed packaging and great tasting cocktails. We saw a need in the market for ready-to-drink sparkling cocktails made with real premium spirits and low alcohol. We have taken popular, classic cocktails, made them with natural flavors that have a feminine twist and are offering a variety of cocktails for everyone.
Linda: We launched mid-2019 and started in 17 states. We are now distributed in over 40 states.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Linda: We are constantly working on new ways to align Two Chicks with events and charities. We also strive to collaborate with other companies to help and support each other’s brands. For example, we had a women-owned nail polish company host a happy hour featuring our cocktails and their manicures coordinated with our cans. It is fun to take the brand in different directions.
What advice would you give to other female leaders to help their team to thrive?
Linda: Your staff is an extension of you, and you should be able to trust them wholeheartedly. It is so important to spark real connection with your team, know their passions, and try to get to know their working style. Open communication and involvement is key.
What advice would you give to other female leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Linda: We would be nothing without our partners who help with the day-to-day operations and manufacturing. Having great trusting relationships with amazing partners helps create an amazing brand.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Meghan: My childhood plays a huge role into the reason why I created Two Chicks Cocktails and my passion to embrace empowerment, inclusivity, and connection. I was raised by two mothers in time that was not accepted as the norm it is today. I am grateful for growing up with strong mothers and being around a community that supported and accepted one another.
Linda: Being the leader of a company was not new to me before starting a new venture with Meghan. My husband and I had a craft and toy company together and faced many situations that have helped shape who I am today. When I met Meghan, I loved her passion for the brand. I am grateful for my husband who believes in me and also sheds light to achieve improvements and efficiencies.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Meghan: Having a vision for a company and staying the course — anything is possible. As the Two Chicks brand continues to grow, we are looking forward to helping other start-up companies with their dreams and company growth. We also support charities and events, help with new entrepreneur store openings, and more.
What are your “Five Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience” and why. (Please share a story or example of each.)
Linda:
1. Be authentic. While the ready-to-drink market continues to grow, we continue to stay focused and authentic on what makes us unique, creating deliciously designed cocktails for everyone to enjoy.
2. Spend the time to scale and build the business. We brainstorm as a team, first coming up with our biggest and most inspiring ideas. From there, we like to scale down with what is prominent for our brand and establish how we can get there.
3. Be prepared for a 24/7 job. When you are a leader for a start-up company, you must truly believe in your product and have a passion for it. Building a brand does not happen overnight, and there will be hard and late nights.
4. Build a strong team. Hire a smart team, delegate, and inspire them to overcome anything that comes their way. Being a leader means setting an example at every given moment and ultimately, you must trust your team.
5. Networking. Networking is valuable in whichever industry you are in and always pays off in the long run. Use your network to connect with everyone inside and outside your industry. If I didn’t do this, I would have never met Meghan through a mutual acquaintance.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Both: Together is always better. We can all do so much when everyone works together whether it is fundraising, solving issues, finding cures, etc. Together is always better, this is why connection is important.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
We both connect over our love of Oprah.
Meghan: “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” — Oprah Winfrey. Before establishing Two Chicks Cocktails, I was a school counselor and then transitioned to commercial real estate. The spirits industry was a whole new world for me, and it took a lot of learning and persistence to navigate my way through. I kept looking at my end goal and I knew I needed to ask for help (and I did) and that is why Two Chicks Cocktails is where it is at today. The journey has been amazing.
Linda: “The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there, if you are willing to work.” — Oprah Winfrey. As stated before, for a start-up company you need to be willing to work 24/7. There is always work to be done along with everyday learning — between being new in the spirits world, the liquor regulations, law, and state regulations — the learning is endless. The will to work and the bigger will to enjoy work is an accomplishment.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Both: Our favorite celebrity duo right now is Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. On their show, “The Morning Show,” their characters learn to support and honor one another for the strengths each brings to life. In the real world, both Jennifer and Reese are honest in the way they love and support their families and friends. We love how they stay true and authentic to exactly who they are. Plus, they are both powerhouse businesswomen!
How can our readers connect with you on social media?
You can find us on Instagram at @TwoChicksCocktails, Twitter at @TwoChicksDrinks, Facebook at @TwoChicksCocktails and Pinterest at @TwoChicksCocktails. | https://medium.com/authority-magazine/linda-cash-and-meghan-hanna-of-two-chicks-cocktails-being-a-leader-means-setting-an-example-at-f7fae275c94d | ['Alexandra Spirer'] | 2020-12-11 17:17:18.645000+00:00 | ['Cocktails', 'Entrepreneur', 'Women In Business', 'Leadership', 'Alcohol'] |
The Weekly 3, 2, One (3 Tiny Things, 2 Quotes, and One Last Thought) | 3 Tiny Temperance Things
Temperance, one of the four Stoic virtues…
Moderation in action; Moderation in thought; Moderation in feeling.
2 Quotes
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”-Eleanor Roosevelt
One Last Thought
You can always learn something new from your mistakes. However, you must put your ego aside and choose to learn from each mistake. Otherwise, you will be doomed to repeat them. | https://medium.com/@mwcrayton/the-weekly-3-2-one-3-tiny-things-2-quotes-and-one-last-thought-7c473f4458b5 | ['Marc W. Crayton'] | 2020-12-22 18:36:32.343000+00:00 | ['Wisdom', 'Stoicism', 'Habits'] |
Tested Hair Therapy For The Strong Hairs | REASONS OF HAIR LOSS
The medicine you use, toxic substances, food additives, bad nutrition, bad shampoo,
hair dyes, hair conditioners affect hair loss.
Health problems also accelerate hair loss.
Thyroid insufficiency, some skin diseases, Fungal diseases are some examples. Also, the deficiency of iron, biotin, zinc, vitamin D, omega 3, B12, and selenium in the body are the problems of losing hair.
Moreover, perming and blow-drying damages the hair.
Washing with extra hot water every day and using more than two shampoos per wash will also damage the hair.
Frequent swimming in the sea and the pool will damage hair.
Air pollution, exhaust gases, and dust in the air also wear out the hair. | https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/tested-hair-therapy-for-the-strong-hairs-5988cb75da17 | ['Onur Inanc'] | 2020-12-28 21:59:58.488000+00:00 | ['Hair Care', 'Healthcare', 'Life', 'Hair', 'Health'] |
The taste of autumn | Autumn, so full in mouth that it should be criminal to butcher its languid change into fall. Nothing is breaking.
And the fall plops down with no ceremony, like a constipated turd.
Autumn begins like a yawn — an awe that opens relaxed and
agape as if ready for love. The lungs draw in and the autumn
attenuates in pressed lips.
I imagine, in the closed hum of that final syllable, discovering a secret pleasure. It is the shape of a kiss and the sound of tryst.
Summer walks out earlier these days, drunk off her own excess
and properly yielding to the authority of autumn, who dons hats and gloves and people to unwrap in the changing seasons full of urban burrows.
Evenings of ice and sunburned faces are gone. The pale sets into fog and drifts of yellow and magenta leaves. The conversation must chime against the round glass rims, tinkling and neat.
Nestle into places we can shed our knits and barricades of leather.
It is time for the smell of hair in hats. We can hide naked under blankets.
The winter comes, but for now the world molts. The ground is wet. Everything smells of mud and petrichor. I feel it coming, filling my nose and coating my tongue mineral. I smell like autumn, warming in this sweater.
The winter will come. And spring again. But now is the taste of autumn and transformation. | https://medium.com/the-big-and-little-world-awe-outrage-and-hope/the-taste-of-autumn-5e4cbd69c5f6 | ['Cristina Loughrey'] | 2017-09-22 08:24:42.144000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Poetry', 'Change', 'Environment', 'Life'] |
A Beginner’s Guide To What Is Regression Testing | Regression Testing — Edureka
Whenever new software is released, the need to test new functionality is obvious. However, it’s equally important to re-run old tests that the application previously passed. That way we can be sure that the new software does not re-introduce old defects or create new ones in the software. We call this type of testing as regression testing. Throughout this article, we will explore regression testing in detail.
Let’s take a look at topics covered in this article:
What is Regression Testing?
Benefits of Regression Testing?
When to Apply Regression Testing?
What are the types of Regression Testing?
How is Regression Testing Implemented?
Regression Testing Techniques
Challenges of Regression Testing
What is Regression Testing?
“Testing of a previously tested program following modification to ensure that defects have not been introduced or uncovered in unchanged areas of the software, as a result of the changes made is called Regression Testing.”
A regression test is a system-wide test whose main purpose is to ensure that a small change in one part of the system does not break existing functionality elsewhere in the system. If you consider regression as unintended change, then this type of testing is the process of hunting for those changes. In simple terms, it is all about making sure that old bugs don’t come back to haunt you. Let’s take a look at a fictitious example that illustrates the concept.
When adding a new payment type to a shopping website, re-run old tests to ensure that the new code hasn’t created new defects or re-introduced old ones. Regression testing is important because, without it, it’s quite possible to introduce intended fixes into a system that create more problems than they solve.
Benefits of Regression Testing
Conducting regression tests benefits companies in a number of ways such as:
It increases the chance of detecting bugs caused by changes to software and application
It can help catch defects early and thus reduce the cost to resolve them
Helps in researching unwanted side effects that might have been occurred due to a new operating environment
Ensures better performing software due to early identification of bugs and errors
Most importantly, it verifies that code changes do not re-introduce old defects
Regression testing ensures the correctness of the software so that the best version of the product is released to the market. However, in the real world, designing and maintaining a near-infinite set of regression tests is just not feasible. So you should know when to apply regression testing.
When to apply Regression Testing?
It is recommended to perform regression testing on the occurrence of the following events:
When new functionalities are added
In case of change requirements
When there is a defect fix
When there are performance issues
In case of environment changes
When there is a patch fix
Next part of this article is about different types of regression testing.
What are the types of Regression Testing?
Regression testing is done through several phases of testing. It is for this reason, that there are several types of regression testing. Some of them are as follows:
Unit Testing: In unit testing when coding changes are made for a single unit, a tester, usually the developer responsible for the code — re-runs all previously-passed unit tests. In continuous development environments, automated unit tests are built into the code, making unit testing very efficient in comparison to other types of testing.
Progressive Testing: This type of testing works effectively when there are changes done in the software/application specifications as well as new test cases are designed.
Selective Testing: In selective testing testers use a subset of the current test cases to cut down the retesting cost and effort. A test unit must be rerun if and only if any of the program entities it covers have been changed.
Retest-All Testing: This type of testing strategy involves the testing of all aspects of a particular application as well as reusing all test cases even where the changes have not been made. It is time-consuming and is not much use when any small modification or change is done to the application.
Complete Testing: This testing is very useful when multiple changes have been done in the existing code. Performing this testing is highly valuable to identify unexpected bugs. Once this testing is completed, the final system can be made available to the user.
It is very important to know which type of testing suits your requirement. Next up, we will discuss how regression testing is implemented.
How is Regression Testing Implemented?
The procedure to implement regression testing is like the one you apply for any other testing process. Every time the software undergoes a change and a new release comes up, the developer carries out these steps as part of the testing process:
First of all, he executes unit-level regression tests to validate code that they have modified, along with any new tests they have written to cover new or changed functionality
Then the changed code is merged and integrated to create a new build of the application under test(AUT)
Next, smoke tests are executed for assurance that the build is good before any additional testing is performed
Once the build is declared good, integration tests are performed to verify the interaction between units of the application with each other and with back-end services such as databases
Depending on the size and scope of the released code, either a partial or a full regression are scheduled
Defects are then reported back to the development team
Additional rounds of regression tests are performed if needed
That’s how regression testing is incorporated into a typical software testing process. The image below clearly depicts how regression testing performed.
Whenever some changes are made to the source code, the program execution fails for obvious reasons. After the failure, the source code is debugged in order to identify the bugs in the program. Appropriate modifications are made. Then the appropriate test cases are selected from the already existing test suite which covers all the modified and affected parts of the source code. New test cases are added if required. In the end, testing is performed using the selected test cases. Now you might be wondering which test cases to select.
Effective Regression Tests can be done by selecting the following test cases:
Test cases which have frequent defects
Complex test cases
Integration test cases
Test cases which cover the core functionality of a product
Functionalities which are frequently used
Test vases which frequently fail
Boundary value test cases
With the regression testing process out of the way let’s check out various techniques.
Regression Testing Techniques
Regression testing simply confirms that modified software hasn’t unintentionally changed and it is typically performed using any combination of the following techniques:
Retest-All: This method simply re-tests the entire software suite, from top to bottom. In many cases, the majority of these tests are performed by automated tools. Certain times automation is not necessary. This technique is expensive as it requires more time and resources when compared to the other techniques.
Test Selection: Instead of choosing all the test cases, this method allows the team to choose a set of tests that will approximate full testing of the test suite. The primary advantage of this practice is that it requires far less time and effort to perform. Usually done by developers who will typically have better insight into the nuances of test edge-cases and unexpected behaviors.
Test Case Prioritization: The goal of this technique is to prioritize a limited set of test cases by considering more potential test cases ahead of less important ones. Test cases which could impact both current and future builds of the software are chosen.
These are the three major techniques. At times based on testing requirements these techniques are combined.
As useful as regression testing can be, it is not without its negative points. You need to understand the challenges that you might face when implementing it.
Challenges of Regression Testing
Time Consuming: Techniques like retest-all need lot of time to test the entire suite of test cases Expensive: Costly because of resources and manpower that you need to test again and again, something which has already been developed, tested and deployed at early stages Complex: As the product expands, testers are often overwhelmed by the huge amount of test cases and fall victim to losing the track of test cases, overlooking the important test cases
Despite these negative points, regression testing is very useful in the software testing process. With regression testing, companies can prevent projects from going over budget, keep their team on track, and, most importantly, prevent unexpected bugs from damaging their products. With this, we have reached the end of the blog. Hope the things that you have learned here today will help you as you head out on your software testing journey.
If you wish to check out more articles on the market’s most trending technologies like Python, DevOps, Ethical Hacking, then you can refer to Edureka’s official site.
Do look out for other articles in this series which will explain the various other aspects of Software Testing. | https://medium.com/edureka/regression-testing-b913b7064824 | ['Archana Choudary'] | 2020-05-11 12:25:11.709000+00:00 | ['Software Testing', 'Software Development', 'Regression', 'Software Engineering', 'Regression Testing'] |
The Democrats Debated (some of them), I Drew Them | Senator Elizabeth Warren was given center stage, and the first question, because she is perceived as a front runner. She did well, but Julian Castro was the standout of the evening. Beto seemed scared, de Blasio was harsh; they both are very very tall. I think de Blasio is taller, but a twitter follower disagreed. Haven’t looked it up yet.
Of historic importance, there were three women on stage the first night, and also the second night. And it seemed very normal. At one point, one white male candidate talked about how important women’s rights advocacy is, and how much he’s done, how important it is for such work. Senator Klobuchar piped in that the three women on stage have done a lot of work in that area.
Klobuchar also had a great line about foreign diplmocy, implicating Trump and his early morning tweets.
Many of the candidates dropped the Spanish language into their responses (not so on the second night, perhaps because the first night it kind of seemed contrived because so many candidates were doing it)
Many considered Casto to a standout with his passion about immigration policy and the detained children.
Mayor Pete Buttegieg did pretty well, but there were no memorable moments for me.
Corey Booker was in top form and managed to get his message of love across, as well as his strong feelings about his neighborhood. | https://lizadonnelly.medium.com/the-democrats-debated-some-of-them-i-drew-them-c7f0a17a0501 | ['Liza Donnelly'] | 2019-06-28 16:36:26.375000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Democrats', 'Trump', 'Election 2020', 'Democratic Debate'] |
Fasting for 3 days every 3 months gives me clarity—but there’s a right way to go about it. | The Scientific Benefits of Fasting
The reason these make my favorites list is that these specific benefits are hard to reliably recreate any other way. They also seem to provide solutions where traditional treatment does not.
1. Activating autophagy (destruction of damaged cell components and pathogens)
This is my absolute favorite thing about fasting. If fasting only offered this benefit, it would be enough for me. After years of being a medical researcher and decades of learning about the human body, I still think this is one of the coolest things about the human body.
Autophagy (Greek for “self-eating”) is a natural, regulated mechanism whereby your body destroys misfolded proteins, clearly damaged cell components, and any pathogens. This process is believed to be a survival adaptation to lack of nutrients and can protect against diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Your body can basically recycle damaged cells as fuel or building blocks for new cells by “eating itself.” How cool is that?
Created by the author
The best thing is that you can reliably trigger this mechanism by fasting. The process typically starts after about 48 hours without food and peaks at about 72 hours.
“Fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within.” — Philippus Paracelsus, one of the three fathers of Western medicine
2. Creating emotional well being and spiritual calm
As a lifelong emotional eater, the research showing the influence of fasting on emotional regulation and spiritual wellbeing intrigued me the most. Studies on fasting had shown that many people reported a sense of euphoria from fasting. It is thought that fasting causes this by increasing endorphins or activating the BDNF (brain-derivated neurotrophic factor) pathway.
This effect is so powerful that short-term calorie restriction has even been shown to be a powerful therapy for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. Participants of one study reported improved self-acceptance, autonomy, positive relations, environmental mastery, and personal growth.
I had spent my entire life relying on eating food to create a temporary and ultimately unfulfilling dopamine rush. Could not eating food provide an even better feeling which is more satisfying? Could it help me finally break my dependency on food to generate positive emotions? Better yet, could it create spiritual growth?
3. Improving gut microbiome
The importance of our bacterial microbiome to pretty much every aspect of our health has been a continuing hot topic in the scientific world. When you consider that the bacterial cells in our gut alone outnumber human cells by more than a factor of 10 — it’s hardly surprising.
The bacteria in our gut extract nutrients from our food, protect us from pathogens, synthesize vitamins and hormones, modulate our immune system, and more importantly, produce hundreds of neurochemicals that the brain uses to perform mental functions and regulate mood. About 95% of serotonin and 50% of dopamine (brain chemicals responsible for feeling good) are produced in your gut. The health of your gut microbiome is also key to the healthy regulation of hormones such as testosterone and estrogen.
The problem is that your gut population is incredibly dynamic. It can change with the last sandwich, sickness, or a round of antibiotics. Fortunately, fasting can actually have profound and long-lasting positive effects on the gut microbiome.
3. Enhancing mental performance and clarity
When we fast, the levels of norepinephrine (a molecule similar to adrenaline) as well as BDNF increases and enhances mental focus, memory, and cognitive functions in the brain. In an interview for Forbes, Dr. Jason Fung — arguably the leading expert in fasting — explains that it makes sense that our ancestors would have needed to be smarter when they were hungry. After all, they had to worry about finding food and not getting killed.
Apparently, fasting to have a mental edge is hardly a new Silicone Valley fad. The mathematician Pythagoras was known to make his students fast for forty days before coming into his classes so they would be at the top of their game.
Even Plato, had this to say about fasting,
“I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency.”
4. Reducing low-grade and chronic inflammation
Recent studies are indicating that our Western diet is likely to be causing most of us to be suffering from systemic low-grade chronic inflammation. This same diet has also been attributed to an increased prevalence of autoimmune or inflammatory disorders.
As most of us are likely unaware of where and how inflammation is occurring in our bodies, addressing it can often be tricky. The beauty of fasting is that it has been shown to improve a range of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases that affect multiple systems in the body including gut inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis.
5. Increasing metabolic flexibility
Metabolic flexibility describes your body’s ability to use different sources of fuel (glucose or fat) in order to adapt to a specific activity or environmental condition. It’s like turning your body into a hybrid engine. Lack of metabolic flexibility can contribute to the pathophysiological aspects of obesity, type-2 diabetes, and aging.
I’ve always wanted to improve the metabolic flexibility to improve athletic performance, especially for prolonged events. In turns out, cycling between fasted and fed states is one way we can improve metabolic flexibility.
6. Improving metabolic markers
Weight loss is likely the most common reason that most people attempt to fast. However, what most people may not be aware of is that fasting improves other markers that provide insights into your overall metabolic health such as total cholesterol, Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides, and High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL). Numerous studies have even shown that fasting prolongs life. | https://medium.com/better-humans/fasting-for-3-days-every-3-months-gives-me-clarity-but-theres-the-right-way-to-go-about-it-a00fee673b89 | ['May Pang'] | 2020-12-13 16:49:34.121000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Food', 'Intermittent Fasting', 'Fasting', 'Self'] |
Ask For Help; It Might Save Your Life | Ask For Help; It Might Save Your Life
Image Source: Author
There I was, a new pilot cruising around the Los Angeles airspace, getting people to their destination. Los Angeles center, which is air traffic control (ATC) on the radio, is always talking, giving clearances and directions. To get your instructions, you had to be fast and smooth. It also helps if you sound super cool while you are talking.
After flying for a while, you can tune out most of this noise and pay attention to your specific callsign. There is always air traffic control noise in the background, like the ebb and flow of the ocean waves along the southern Califonia coast.
Suddenly amidst all the voices, a voice trembled onto the airwaves, “LA Center, I’m a student pilot and I’m lost!”
Instantly, there was silence.
I have never heard the radios go silent so quickly. Every pilot in the sky was a student at some point, and you could almost feel the tangible sense of empathy. | https://medium.com/passport/ask-for-help-it-might-save-your-life-239e24b241f4 | ['Jonathan Santhouse'] | 2020-12-09 23:16:20.451000+00:00 | ['Training', 'Transportation', 'Aviation', 'Lifestyle', 'Education'] |
Caught off guard @ Domi | With two weeks worth of experience working at Domi Station under my belt, I have learned to expect the unexpected. Although there were quite a few notifications about expecting future deadlines and preparations for future events, I never expected for my first ever project deadline to sneak up on me the way it did. Since the interviewing process, I already knew what would be a few of the projects I would have in store for me, and I was up to complete every task as efficiently as I could without having everything pile up on the back-burner. I knew I would have to update the community metrics, research possible data visualizations to replace their current platform, and work a few tasks that mostly involved organizing/formatting spreadsheets, web pages, and their data management platform.
It took me by surprise to find out that their records were behind so not only did I finish mapping out and reformatting the community metrics with what I thought was updated information, but I was working with the wrong month. This unforeseen issue made the problem that I worked so hard to avoid inevitably happen. I absolutely felt slightly anxious that I wouldn’t be able to have everything by the submission deadline as I tend to overreact when deadlines are involved. However, I ended up surprising myself and managed to not only finish both metrics on time, but I also found and formatted three new data visualization platforms, and was able to set up a meeting for a new database management platform.
I was also able to find out something new about myself when it comes to performing supervised versus unsupervised. Unsupervised my work is effortless, but when I am being watched I tend to overthink my actions and end up botching my delivery both verbally and physically(through many trial table tennis games and presentations) no matter how much I prepare beforehand. I finally put my foot down because I am so sick of letting my nerves control me, I have been trying to force myself to speak and start conversations that I normally would not do as well as going above and beyond in all my tasks as a beginning to becoming the confident leader I always imagined myself being.
My final surprise for the week was learning that the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce took an interest in me from seeing posts on Facebook and contacted Antonio Montoya, the Director of Domi Station, about inviting me to participate in a summer camp for young entrepreneurs. In summation, this week has been an emotional rollercoaster. | https://medium.com/fsu-tech-fellows/caught-off-guard-domi-d3c75eea7eb0 | ['Ayanna Chukes'] | 2019-06-10 19:49:32.001000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization'] |
Distance measurement using laser sensor — Part 1 | Intro
Well, here is the sensor!
Laser distance measurement sensor Hokuyo UTM-30LX-EW (Image by: Author)
We can see basic parts on the front side:
Power LED — an indication of the power (on/off).
Operation status led — different behavior depending on status (ex. always on if operates without errors).
Light transmission and reception plane — the sensor is inside this plastic cover. It has two planes, transmission, and reception planes.
And the backside:
Ethernet cable — used for communication wit the computer.
Power cable — for providing power to the sensor. It has three wires: brown (DC 12V), blue (0V-GND), and green (OUT). The sensor requires around 1A for normal operations.
IP reset switch — used for resetting the IP configuration.
Here are some important characteristics related to distance measurement and sensor’s limitations:
Field of view: 270°
Angular resolution: 0.25°
Measurement steps: 1080 (270/0.25=1080)
Max. distance: 30 m
Before setting up the sensor, please consult the official user manual.
Setup
1. Power supply
The sensor is powered through a power cable which includes three wires: brown (DC 12V), blue (0V-GND), and green (OUT). The sensor can draw a maximal current of 1A. I have used an old PC power supply for sensor testing purposes.
2. Communication
In this article, we will show how to connect the sensor with an ethernet cable. The sensor has an initial IP setup of 192.168.0.10. To be able to communicate with the sensor, the PC must be in the same network. On Windows PC, you can do it by following this tutorial. For example, you can use the IP address 192.168.0.100 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Measurements
After powering the device and connecting it to the PC, we can start with measuring the distance!
For that, we will use Urg Viewer application. It is a simple application used for visualization of the measurements and exporting the results. There are two options for connecting with the sensor using Ethernet or Serial connection (button in the upper right corner).
After connecting to the sensor, distance measurements are shown as a table (left plane) and the blue dots (right plane). In the image below, you can see the result of the distance measurement in my apartment.
Example of the distance measurements (Image by: Author)
Conclusion
In this article, the usage and basic setup for measuring the distance using a laser sensor are shown. You can use this kind of sensors for many projects like alarm systems, parking sensors, or creating the map for mobile robots.
Stay tuned for the next article in this series, where you will learn how to integrate this sensor into your custom applications.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment or contact me!
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-tisljaric-28a56b123/
Acknowledgement
The sensor is provided by the Laboratory for Intelligent Transport Systems at Faculty of Transport and traffic sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
References | https://towardsdatascience.com/distance-measurement-using-laser-sensor-part-1-ccd45310dc1 | ['Leo Tisljaric'] | 2021-08-29 09:22:56.559000+00:00 | ['Robotics', 'Laser', 'Mapping', 'Distance', 'Sensors'] |
5 More Hidden Holiday Gems | Rudolph, The Grinch, and Frosty have dominated the holiday airwaves since time immemorial. I have made it a personal holiday tradition to root for the underdog. Tirelessly, I scour IMDB lists, estate sales, and burned-down Blockbuster Video stores for festive films that have been lost to the sands of time. Then I abandon this effort and just make things up.
Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash
Christmas in Coal Country (1955)
Paid for and written by The West Virginia Coal Association, this educational film extolls the wonders of coal in a world dipping its feet into atomic energy.
On Christmas Day, little Timmy-Ray is disappointed to find a lump of coal under the tree. Wondering what he did wrong this year, he is surprised by the sudden arrival of Santa-Ray Claus. Santa-Ray explains that coal is actually a gift, and to Timmy’s delight, a flurry of fly ash begins to fall on the town. What follows is a magical tour of an active coal mine as Santa-Ray explains the impeccable safety standards of the 1950s coal industry, the Communist lie of black-lung, and the folly of nuclear energy.
Back at home, Momma-Ray invites Santa in for dinner and the family sits for a home-cooked holiday meal that is also made entirely of coal.
Trivia:
Andy Griffith provides the voice of Clarence the Canary. His heartfelt depiction of a bird succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning nearly won him an Oscar for Best Voice Performance in an Industry-Funded Educational Film
2. The Year Without a Santa Claus 2: The Iceman (2020)
Due to runaway climate change, Heat Miser has won the sibling rivalry that turned the North Pole into a war-torn hellscape. Cold Miser, now on his deathbed, reflects on the atrocities he committed in pursuit of power over his frigid crime syndicate.
Trivia:
Directed by Martin Scorsese, this 17-hour long epic makes use of cutting-edge CGI to reverse-age Willem Dafoe into the spry young icicle who would go on to lead a criminal empire.
This same technology also allows Willem Dafoe to play every other character.
3. Hallmark Movie #738 (????)
Urban legends speak of a Hallmark movie so wholesome that it leaves a trail of madness and devastation in its wake. The ramblings of one young woman, arrested after attempting to stab her boyfriend with a candy-cane shiv, indicate that it features not less than 14 easily-avoided Holiday mixups within its 90-minute runtime. In another suspected appearance, a couple was found to have perished after devouring a whole wool sweater Lady-and-the-Tramp-style.
Trivia:
After a few days of research, I found an electronic greeting card on my front porch that screamed when opened and contained the simple message “WATCH RUDOLPH INSTEAD” written in red lip balm. I’ve gotten too close.
A video exists on the dark web claiming to be the cursed film, but it’s actually just an Olsen Twins movie dubbed over with the sound of farm animals abusing whippets.
4. The Nightmare After Christmas (1994)
The lesser-known follow-up to Tim Burton’s iconic feature, “The Nightmare After Christmas” follows Jack Skellington in his misguided attempt to recreate a Wal-Mart customer support desk in Halloweentown. No less enthusiastic than last time, Jack enlists the townspeople in searching for missing receipts, getting into fistfights with other tired parents, and impulse-buying steeply discounted Reese’s cups shaped like Christmas trees.
Trivia:
Danny Elfman composed the score while blitzed on bad eggnog
Paul Reubens has a brief voice cameo as the clown who gets curb-stomped for whistling Jingle Bells the entire time he’s in line.
5. A Muppet’s Christmas Evil (1998)
On the 10th anniversary of this classic Christmas slasher, Jim Henson’s retelling brings yuletide thrills and chills that the whole family can enjoy. Join your favorite velvety friends in this hilarious tale about psychosis, corporate greed, and slap-stick killing sprees!
Trivia: | https://medium.com/the-haven/5-more-hidden-holiday-gems-fe0ca3ef69a | ['Brandon Dockery'] | 2020-12-22 10:45:22.282000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Holidays', 'Comedy', 'Humor', 'Christmas'] |
How China Became a Nuclear Power | How China Became a Nuclear Power
A new player within the Cold War
China’s first atomic test on October 16, 1964, in Xinjiang. Mao wanted to prove the nation was a global power. (Source: Shout China Morning Post)
The famous “Arms Race” from the Cold War-era describes the tensest moments of the 20th century, as every major nation was preparing for a potential World War III. As I have mentioned previously in many of my articles and history podcasts, the Cold War is seen as a war of intimidation through the showcasing of military power as well as a nation's potential to conquer the world or (from a different perspective) to bring the world to an end.
Since the start of the Cold War, China kept very quiet. Many historians argue that they had, in fact, been under the influence of the Soviet Union, and in a way, this can not only be represented by the communist ruling of Mao Zedong who was the Chairman of the People's Republic of China. The Soviet Union did not only see plenty of resources within the country, but also a large workforce, capable of being transformed into a military power at any given time.
China’s nuclear arms program
China started actually researching the military potential of nuclear power right after the Korean war. Most of the technological knowledge required to weaponize nuclear power came from the Soviet Union. In fact, the Soviet Union gave China not only nuclear physicians but also all the tools and materials required to create nuclear weapons. Most of the research had been done in secret within Bejing at the National Institute of Physics and Atomic Energy.
With the discovery of uranium deposits within China, a new factory was specifically built to improve the quality of the uranium which was to be used in nuclear weapons in Lanzhou, China.
In 1959, the relations between China and the Soviet Union started to fall a little due to Nikita Khrushchev's decision not supplying China anymore with either the materials or the scientists needed for the production of nuclear weapons. It is believed that this decision was taken by Khrushchev because not only did the Soviet Union require as many resources as possible, but they also wanted to make sure that China would not use this technology against them, making sure that by doing so it would take China at least another three years until they would develop their first nuclear weapon.
Nikita Khrushchev and Mao Zedong review Chinese troops, the 10th anniversary of PRC’s founding, 1959. (Source: Getty Images)
It is said that Khrushchev had also argued with Chinese Generals who asked for the prototype of a Soviet nuclear bomb so that they could better understand the weapon and speed up their own developing process. It wasn't only a bad idea in everyone's eyes, but it would also be considered as something very un-Soviet to do. In order for the Soviets to stay on top of the leader board, they had to cripple even their own allies so they wouldn’t become enemies. However, becoming enemies of the Soviet Union was inevitable for any nation.
China’s first nuclear weapon
For China, 1964 marked a very special year as their strife of almost fourteen years had paid off with their first “prototype” of an atom bomb being successfully developed. By then, all the major nations in the world were ranked not by their economic power or military size, but by the number of atom bombs or nuclear warheads they had in their possession.
The 16th of October marked the launch of the first Chinese atomic bomb. At the time it was a secret operation (for a short period of time) named Operation 59–6. The detonation of the bomb took place in Lop Nur, found in the Gobi desert in the West Chinese province of Xinjiang, quite close to the Silk Road.
Japan Times, October 17, 1964 (Source: The Olympians)
The atomic bomb was dropped from a special frame created uniquely for this event. Upon impact, it unleashed an explosion of twenty-two kilotonnes of TNT. To put it into perspective, the atomic bomb dropped by the Americans at Hiroshima only had eighteen kilotonnes of TNT. However, the Soviet Union was in the possession of the most powerful nuclear bomb at the time which went by the name of the “Tsar Bomba” with an explosive force of twenty-seven kilotonnes of TNT (detonated on 30th of October 1961).
This was the first of the forty-five nuclear bombs China would test at the same location. Also, an interesting fact is that on the 17th of January, 1967, China tested its first hydrogen bomb.
Contemporary research done by Jun Takada suggests that at one point in time, due to all the nuclear tests performed in the exact same area, that specific test sight became more radioactive than the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion from 1986. There aren’t many reports or documents suggesting that the life of Xinjiang inhabitants was affected by the numerous amounts of nuclear tests, but that may be due to the area being quite rural and secluded from the urban population.
In 1969, due to the Sino-Soviet border conflict, the relation between the Soviet Union and China worsened. However, the Soviet Union knew that there wasn’t an advantage in starting a war with China. In 1971, the Ping-Pong Diplomacy brought the United States and China closer in an attempt to remove the Soviet Influence out of China as well as the Communism that was indirectly implemented by them. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/how-china-became-a-nuclear-power-7ffd4f8b750c | ['Andrei Tapalaga'] | 2020-10-25 21:02:10.531000+00:00 | ['Cold War', 'History', 'Nuclear Weapons', 'Politics', 'China'] |
Karima Baloch, The Woman who refused to bow down! | Banuk Karima Baloch
“I knew that I was safe and that I did not have to hide from anyone in Canada”, were the Words of Karima Baloch when she landed in Toronto ripping the niqab off her face. Little did anyone knew that Karima Baloch will be killed in the country she saw as a safe haven for herself and her family. Karima Baloch was a staunch voice of Balochistan against Pakistan’s state sponsored disappearances and ‘Killing and Dumping’ of innocent Baloch people. She stood tall against the repression of Pakistan Government.
Karima Baloch was elected as the Chairperson of Baloch Students Organization (BSO) — Azad, when Zahid Baloch the then Chairman of BSO — Azad was abducted in 2014. She became the First female Chairperson of the Organisation, and she stood up to her words, that, “A national liberation movement without the participation of women is incomplete”. Karima Baloch always stood up against the wrongdoings of the Pakistan Government. Neither Karima Baloch bowed down before the Suppressor state of Pakistan, nor did she let her fellow Balochs kneel. Karima Baloch was a hope to many as she stood firm with many people whose family members were either abducted or killed.
Karima Baloch at UNHRC 40th Session of Human Rights.
Karima Baloch was a Prominent Baloch Woman as she raised her voice for Baloch people not only in her Homeland but also at international stages like the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). In 2016, BBC named Karima Baloch one of the World’s Most Inspirational and Influential Women. She was indeed an inspiration to many Baloch girls who are trying to fight their way through the oppressive nature of the Pakistan Government.
The same year when BBC named her one of the World’s most influential Women, Karima Baloch fled Pakistan and took refuge in Canada after being underground for some time. Karima Baloch wrote in her asylum claim that the Pakistani Military had attacked her family with mortar shells at least three times and a cousin of her was abducted and tortured by the Pakistani Military to know her whereabouts when she was in hiding. Then also the Pakistan government wasn’t in the mood to make anything easy for Karima Baloch, as the Pakistan High Commission was sternly against Canada giving refugee status to Karima Baloch and her family.
Suddenly, 4 years later, on Sunday, 20th December 2020, Karima Baloch went missing from near her House in Toronto, Canada and was later found dead on 22nd December 2020.
This is not the First time a Baloch Activist was killed on a foreign land, in March this year Sajid Hussain (Founder and Chief Editor of the Balochistan Times), who was also very vocal against atrocities and Human Rights violations that Baloch people were subjected to at the hands of the Pakistan Government and Military, was found dead in Fyris River near Uppsala in Sweden after having gone missing for days.
Banuk Karima Baloch may not fight with us but she will always fight within us and her words, “We Will Never Kneel. We Will Prevail.”, will keep her alive in this Baloch struggle. | https://medium.com/@ambreenbaloch/karima-baloch-the-woman-who-refused-to-bow-down-6b43aae8ac3b | ['Ambreen Baloch'] | 2020-12-22 15:52:08.565000+00:00 | ['Balochistan', 'Karima Mehrab', 'Toronto', 'Karima Baloch', 'Canada'] |
Human Learning Journal: How to teach a robot to dance? | How to teach dance to a robot ?
Our dancing robot Dai
Now that we have the tools to understand the basic principles of reinforcement learning, let’s get back to our initial question: how to teach a robot to dance? If we take the example of Dai, the goal was to give it the minimum guidance to let it express itself as freely as possible. During Dai’s previous exhibition, its major constraint was the pink square on the ground, which it could not leave, as you can see in the picture above. Let’s see how to use a Markov Decision Process to teach Dai how to dance.
The first thing to do is to define Dai’s states and actions. To do so, it is necessary to understand its hardware, and more specifically its engines: as you can see on the picture, Dai possesses six legs, which are in fact six wheels, mounted on three long sliders. Therefore, a state was defined to take into consideration the speed of each wheel engine, the speed and position of the slider engines, plus Dai’s position in space. The same logic is used to define the actions, which are to increase or decrease the speed of each engine.
Now that the states and actions are defined, a rewarding method must be found. As we want Dai to dance, it will receive better reward when it moves and when it does broad movement with its sliders. This way, Dai will be discouraged from standing still. In addition, to prevent it from leaving his square, it will receive negative rewards when its position is outside this area.
From there, we can start Dai and let it explore the available states and actions, creating its own policy. Of course, in the beginning it might go outside the square and it might not move a lot. But, the more time passes, the more it will understand where it is allowed to stay and what action to perform to get the best rewards.
Seeing Dai dance is very interesting because we can recognize some patterns, or repeated dance moves, that it seems to like because it gives good rewards. Moreover, as its policy is stored between each performance, it never starts from nothing and each time it performs it invents new moves or reinvents old ones.
It should be noted that, as we wanted Dai to be as creative as possible, we tried to have a very simple rewarding system, which leaves it a lot of freedom. We wanted to see Dai’s vision of dance. However, in a different project we could imagine using more constraining rewards, making a robot mimics classical dance or hip-hop by giving large rewards when specific type of movements are made. | https://medium.com/impactia/human-learning-journal-how-to-teach-a-robot-to-dance-b44d60182068 | ['Valentin Kindschi'] | 2020-12-15 11:20:51.212000+00:00 | ['Dance', 'Impactia', 'Reinforcement Learning', 'Robotics', 'Humanlearningjournal'] |
Why I Got Rid of My Brand New iPhone 11 Pro Max | Photo by Gadgets Now
Why I Got Rid of My Brand New iPhone 11 Pro Max
My daughter needed a new iPhone and I had just bought myself a new iPhone 11 Pro Max a few months ago, I did what any good dad would do — I gave her mine.
I have had a million phones over the years as I handle the Smartphones for my company. I am surrounded by them on a daily basis. I generally keep an iPhone as my daily driver, but I always have a few Androids sitting around my office.
This has been a part of my life for decades, going all the way back to bag phones in the late ’80s. But that is all about to change (I hope). When I bought the iPhone 11 Pro Max a few months ago, I felt terribly guilty the minute I took it home. It was big and beautiful and the screen was amazing. I just had this guilt knowing that I had an iPhone SE 2016 sitting on my desk, I had an iPhone 7 plus that was returned by an ex-employee, the last thing I needed to do is to spend over $1000 on a new phone that would just suck up even more of my precious life.
The 11 Pro Max is the exact opposite of where I want my life to be. I want to be less on my phone, not dragged into more wasted hours by a screen that is like an IMax movie. A battery that can last longer than I can. A camera that is far better than the one they used at my wedding.
I know the evils of the smartphone, I know social media is terrible for so many reasons. I have watched the movies, watched all those woke millennials giving up their smartphone for a flip phone on YouTube, I actually found a flip phone in my desk and it is sitting with me right now screaming at me telling me to “put your SIM card in me right now, you know it is the right thing to do.” I have known all this for years, but I still went out and bought an $1100 iPhone 11 Pro Max?
Is it the marketing that made me do it? Or is it the addiction that so many people are suffering from that made me do it? Or is the marketing part of the addiction? I don’t really know, but I do know that for those people who want to live a better life, a real life, a more satisfying life. Do not go out and buy an $1100 iPhone! Hardly a pearl of wisdom, but I think that smartphones today are so good that fighting smartphone addiction is almost impossible to overcome if you have one of these devices in your pocket.
An iPhone SE 2016 will not solve all your problems. You can still waste copious amounts of time on it, but there will be some pain points that you will have to overcome to do it. There may be enough friction to hopefully slow you down enough to get you to think about what you are about to do. The screen is tiny, the battery not very good, the camera is good enough to capture whatever happens in your daily life, but not in the same league as the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
I do not advocate living in a digital cave. The smartphone can be very useful if used properly, the problem is most of us do not use it properly.
I am not comparing smartphone addiction to drug addiction, but you are much more likely to snort some coke if it is in your nightstand drawer as opposed to finding a dealer and going to meet them somewhere, buying the drugs, and then coming home to do them. Hopefully, all that additional friction might keep you from doing the coke, and not doing the coke is always the best decision. (Another pearl of wisdom).
So that brings me to today. I have a flip phone, a used iPhone SE 2016, a used iPhone 7+ available to me right now. The SIM card has to go into one of them. Am I fighting the urge to go out and buy the iPhone 12 right now? Damn right I am! Did I think when my daughter told me she needed a new phone that I thought it was an opportunity to go buy the iPhone 12? Yes, I did.
I am in the grips of this addiction and am hardly one to give advice, I am just saying that you are not alone and the problem is real. There are many strategies out there and most of them are great if you can actually do them. I would suggest that to give yourself a fighting chance at this, not only do not go out and buy a new phone but sell your current phone and downgrade it to something far less addicting.
Going from a top-end smartphone to a flip phone might be too much of a shock to your system, so maybe get an older model of whatever phone you have. The flip phone would be the best choice if you can do it, but you may want to walk before you try to run. You will save some money and possibly improve your life.
Sometimes a downgrade of your phone can be a huge upgrade in your life.
As for me, the SIM is going into the iPhone SE and hopefully, it finally sticks. | https://medium.com/tech-critical/why-i-got-rid-of-my-brand-new-iphone-c0afc21d75e | ['Bob Pepe'] | 2020-11-10 21:59:08.243000+00:00 | ['Gadgets', 'Life', 'Tech', 'Digital Life', 'Digital Minimalism'] |
This Date in Timber Rattlers History: April 23 | Here is a look at the games that were played — or not played — by the Timber Rattlers on April 23.
Aaron Ashby had 10K over five hitless, scoreless innings against Cedar Rapids on 4/23/19
1995: The Rattlers beat Cedar Rapids 4–0 at home.
1996: The Rattlers beat Beloit 6–5 in ten innings at home. Joe Mathis delivered a walkoff, RBI single in the bottom of the tenth.
1997: The Rattlers beat Rockford 11–8 on the road. Wisconsin scored eight runs in the third inning. The Cubbies scored eight runs in the seventh inning.
1998: The Rattlers beat West Michigan 3–2 at home. Wisconsin scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
1999: The Rattlers swept a home doubleheader from Beloit. Wisconsin won game one 5–0 and game two 3–1. In the nightcap, the Rattlers were one out away from the first no-hitter in team history, Ryan Bordenick broke up the no-hit bid with a two-out single in the top of the seventh.
2000: The Rattlers lost 3–0 to Peoria at home.
2001: The Rattlers lost 12–5 at Kane County.
2002: The Rattlers lost 6–2 to Clinton at home. Sean Peless hit a pair of solo homers for Wisconsin’s only runs.
2003: This was a scheduled off day.
2004: The Rattlers lost 4–1 to Burlington at home.
2005: The Rattlers beat Beloit 5–2 at home.
2006: The Rattlers lost 5–4 at South Bend.
2007: The Rattlers won 6–3 at West Michigan.
2008: The Rattlers lost 10–2 at South Bend.
2009: The Rattlers swept a doubleheader from Peoria at home. Wisconsin won game one 7–6 as Cutter Dykstra went 3-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. The Rattlers won game two 8–7. The Chiefs took a 7–6 lead with five runs in the top of the fifth, but Brett Lawrie hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to put Wisconsin ahead to stay.
2010: The Rattlers lost 7–2 to Beloit at home.
2011: The Rattlers were swept in a doubleheader at Burlington. The Bees beat Wisconsin 3–1 in game one. In game two, Del Howell took a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh inning. Tony Thompson broke up the no-no with a leado-off single in the bottom of the seventh and Jose Rivero drove in Thompson with a walkoff, RBI triple and the Bees won 1-0.
2012: The Rattlers lost 8–1 at South Bend.
2013: The Rattlers beat Quad Cities 9–1 at home. Wisconsin had fifteen hits in the game.
2014: The Rattlers won 6–4 at Burlington.
2015: The Rattlers lost 3–0 to Cedar Rapids at home. Wisconsin had one hit in the game, a bunt single by Brandon Diaz in the fourth inning. Stephen Gonsalves had eleven strikeouts over seven innings for the win.
2016: The Rattlers won 2–1 at Peoria.
2017: The Rattlers lost to Peoria 6–5 at home. The Chiefs scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to erase a 5–3 Wisconsin lead.
2018: The Rattlers lost 6–2 to Clinton at home.
2019: The Rattlers split a home doubleheader with Cedar Rapids. Wisconsin won game one 9–0 as Aaron Ashby struck out ten over five hitless innings. Cedar Rapids had one hit in the game, a lead-off double in the sixth inning. The Kernels won game two 7–6. Cedar Rapids hit three homers in game two.
No former Papermakers, Foxes, or Timber Rattlers made their MLB debuts on April 23 | https://rattlerradio.mlblogs.com/this-date-in-timber-rattlers-history-april-23-eb526c9c8dfb | ['Christopher J Mehring'] | 2020-04-23 12:06:00.868000+00:00 | ['Wisconsin Timber Rattlers', 'Baseball', 'Appleton Baseball History', 'Minor League Baseball'] |
It’s Hard To Trust Gay White Men | Being a poor college student who was lucky to have $20 in their bank account at a given moment, my dates were usually very low-key and simple. By the time I turned 21, happy hours became my best friend because it allowed for us to have 2 hours to drink and eat cheaply and quickly figure out if this was going to go anywhere or not. My fascination with white men meant that all of my dates were with them.
Around 22 is when I had a blossoming of sorts and began to get lots of interest from people on dating apps. It wasn’t uncommon to go on and see 10+ messages. A common pattern began to emerge as I saw that I almost always only found interest in the white matches. The more dates that I went on with white men the more a pattern began to emerge.
I was fascinated and in love with white men, seeing a future with one, but I didn’t get the same sense of feelings back. I would be hanging out watching a movie with them and an innocent conversation of celebrity crushes would come up and it was almost always the case that they would name a white male celebrity. I would pretend to agree with them, but a part of me started to question if I was what they wanted in a partner. Was I going to fulfill all their wants and needs if they couldn’t even name a black celebrity they had a crush on? | https://medium.com/perceive-more/its-hard-to-trust-gay-white-men-8be18225e212 | ['James Woods'] | 2021-01-12 12:34:44+00:00 | ['White Privilege', 'LGBTQ', 'Race', 'Race Relations', 'Dating'] |
“We are so lightly here…” — Leonard Cohen | Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash
I love Leonard Cohen. One day I’ll tell him so. But until then — I’m here and he’s … well… not gone, but he’s not here. That’s the way I describe Death.
I’ve been aware of Death as our end game for a very long time.
When your mother dies around your twelfth birthday, the knowledge of the vacuum left behind as a life ends is something you carry in your heart always. Because you know for a fact, Death doesn’t just happen to other people. You learn to come to terms with Death as part of Life — everyone’s Life because The Universe has left you no out. Grief has become your constant companion.
You have to process Death and somehow incorporate its reality into your day to day existence.
Then you grow up and chose to become a nurse, you are still processing — you just don’t realize it. ICU nursing draws you because of the tech, at least that’s what you tell yourself. But it’s not. You become The Nurse. The Nurse who is so good at family conferences you become the preferred nurse they assign to this task.
You lose track of all the hands of the dying you hold as life support is withdrawn and souls are released. You know the right things to say because you know there are no right things to say to families who are going through this particular hell.
You have not only processed grief, but you have also embraced Death. It has become your calling.
Later in your career, in the OR — your charge nurse relieves you in your own cases to have you go to the room where a patient has died “on the table”. Because you know all the procedures to care for a ‘body’. You know the way to wrap it, the paperwork to fill out, where the morgue is. You have done this so many times, it is easier for you — you came from the ICU. It takes you less time to do the whole process than to talk someone else through it.
And someone else isn’t you. They don’t understand Death. They don’t realize what the vessel held might still be in the room, needing a chat, a goodbye from a someone. So you go. You chat, you wash the vessel, you do the paperwork, you wrap, and you bid the soul safe travels.
It has always been my philosophy that a human should not die alone. There should be a witness there for their transition out of this life, as there is a witness there for their entrance. When The Universe has blessed me with such an opportunity — I have felt the honor to my very core. To care for the dying and be with them in their last moments.
I once had an Angel Oracle Card reading done a few years ago. The woman doing the reading pulled from three different decks and the same card came up three times in a row. Azrael — The Angel of Death. The One Whom God Helps. She blanched a bit and finally asked me, “What in the world do you do?” I replied, “I cut cancer out of people.” She looked a little calmer after that as she explained who the Archangel Azrael represents.
I just smiled. I have waited in countless hospital rooms for Death to arrive over the years. One day The Universe will send her to bring me home as well. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Death and I are old friends.
Namaste.
“A sip of wine, a cigarette, and then it’s time to go.” — Leonard Cohen — Boogie Street
Addendum: I am recycling this post in honor of the Late Great Leonard Cohen, who left us to return to Boogie Street on 11/7/16. | https://medium.com/recycled/we-are-so-lightly-here-leonard-cohen-5083c4fd71f | ['Ann Litts'] | 2019-11-15 11:54:57.159000+00:00 | ['Transitions', 'Life', 'Grief', 'Death', 'Nursing'] |
Male Church Leaders, We No Longer Believe You. — Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese | Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese — President, The Marcella Project
My dear brothers, I am speaking on behalf of many of us white, conservative, evangelical women who attend your churches. In 2016, we found ourselves disappointed and perplexed by you, but we waited to see if you would rise on our behalf. Your silence about our President’s sexual exploitation of women was deafening. It hurt. We felt invisible, devalued, and dare I say it — duped.
But we waited, giving you the benefit of the doubt.
After all, you teach that you are the authority. You train us to receive the information you give us as truth. We are not to question. So, even in our unease, we continued to provide you with the benefit of the doubt.
I have earned two seminary degrees from your institutions and served as a pastor in one of your conservative evangelical megachurches for over a decade. I’ve spent the last ten years as a pastor-at-large to women across America. Part of my role’s richness is that I hear all of the things that women don’t feel safe to say in your churches.
I think it’s time I speak on their behalf.
The day after the election in 2016, I woke to a flurry of texts and emails from your women. They reached out from across the country in shock and hoped to find a voice to help them make sense of what just happened. It wasn’t about the party; it was about a person. They couldn’t figure out why you went radio silent when Donald Trump said he could grab a woman’s p***y and get away with it.
We, who compose 50–60% of your congregation, have purchased your books, attended your conferences, and enrolled in your bible studies. We listened, learned, and embraced your teachings on God’s design for biblical manhood and womanhood. You said “he” was to lead and “she” to follow. He would provide for and protect us.
We believed what you sold.
You taught us God’s design for women was to marry, have kids, and stay home to create a hospitable place for our family. You taught us that it was our responsibility to ensure that our husbands were sexually satisfied so that they would stay faithful to us. You said it was clear; it was right there in our sacred text. So we did what you said, even though at times it felt like we were selling our bodies to save our family. We showed up at the doors of your church whenever they were open. We bounced babies in the nursery, taught Sunday School, and brought food to the church events.
You promoted family values, proclaimed patriarchy protects, and declared character matters. Remember Bill Clinton? He lied and cheated. As conservative evangelicals, we were disgusted at the willingness of people to excuse his behavior. James Dobson represented us well when he said, “Character does matter. You can’t run a family, let alone a country without it.” Yet, we’ve watched you flip flop — this President’s infidelity doesn’t seem to matter.
With our anger sparked in 2016, we exploded in 2017 with the #MeToo movement. Courageously, women spoke out, and within 24 hours, 4.7 million people had posted the hashtag on Facebook. The magnitude of sins and abuse against women were on display, but many of us knew that as massive as it seemed, it was only a fraction of the truth. Why didn’t the magnitude of it take your breath away?
Oh, how often we’ve heard you preach on sexual purity but never on the rape of Tamar or Bathsheba. You had the opportunity to take us to the Word and let the Gospel balm our souls with affirmation, repentance, and restoration. Instead, there was silence.
And if you spoke, what slid from your mouth was your fear. Rather than believe and acknowledge the breadth of violation we women have endured, your default was to defend the few men who “might” be falsely accused. You quickly wielded the law of men, innocent before proven guilty, forsaking the Spirit of the Lord. Then, with the #ChurchToo movement, we watched as the avalanche of stories consumed our faith communities. You circled the wagons around your brothers while demonizing and slandering the women who accused prominent and popular church leaders.
Somehow your idea of biblical manhood includes an unbridled sex drive along with protector and provider. You rallied behind Ted Haggard, Joe White, Bill Gothard, Doug Phillips, Bill Hybels, Paige Patterson, and Jerry Falwell Jr., and so many more. Let’s admit it; there’s something in us that thinks this comes with top-level leadership.
Except there’s Jesus, our leader who doesn’t fit this distorted model of biblical manhood.
We went to your conferences and read your books on Christ-like leadership. Authentic leadership was a real seller in our sphere. No wonder we are confused by your silence or even outward support of our President’s leadership over the past four years. Does authentic mean bullying, fear, and intimidation? I don’t remember reading about that leadership style in your books. However, in retrospect, you promoted as great models of leadership Mark Driscoll, Bill Hybels, Darrin Patrick, and CJ Mchaney. It turns out, bullying, fear, and intimidation are attributes of leaders you promote.
We see this as plainly as we see your fear and cowardice. And although we are sitting in your pews — we no longer believe.
Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese, Founder and President of The Marcella Project and Jackie Always Unplugged Podcast, Author of Lime Green: Reshaping Our View of Women in the Church, She Can Teach, I’m Enough, as well as over twenty bible studies for women. | https://medium.com/@jackie-roese/male-church-leaders-we-no-longer-believe-you-rev-dr-jackie-roese-10ffcfdc0757 | ['Jackie Roese'] | 2020-11-18 17:45:46.904000+00:00 | ['Liberty University', 'Evangelicals', 'Metoo', 'Donald Trump', 'Jerry Falwell Jr'] |
Closer, Come Closer | Rabbi Menachem Creditor
An often overlooked message within the Joseph story is Joseph’s own explanation to his brothers of what has happened:
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come forward to me.” And when they came forward, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you. It is now two years that there has been famine in the land, and there are still five years to come in which there shall be no yield from tilling. God has sent me ahead of you to ensure Your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and God has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. (Gen. 45:4–8)”
In other words: The brothers shouldn’t be worried that Joseph will exact revenge — they were not to blame.
What is the theological implication? That this criminal act, perhaps all crime, is ultimately God’s design. What then of accountability, consequence? Free will? Now, of course, we’ve “read the book, and we come out on top” (a la Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical midrash), but Joseph was abducted, assaulted, and jailed. Jacob lost his son. Are we to encounter the story as detached readers, convinced throughout of God’s Plan as the justification for the suffering endured by others? Would we then justify the horror of the Shoah as part of a divine plan that led to the State of Israel? Or Egyptian slavery as the means towards Sinai and freedom? Are we to see suffering as ultimately justifiable, an acceptable means to ends? As a philosophical interpretation of history after the fact (an approach called ‘historiosophy’) this approach — explicitly manifest in Joseph’s words — is incredibly difficult. And offensive. Finding meaning in suffering (an approach pioneered by Shoah Survivor Viktor Frankl) is quite different from justifying it.
Other verses within this week’s Parasha suggest an alternative approach, one which might even redeem God along with Joseph.
According to many translations, Joseph calls his brothers to “Come forward. (Gen. 45:4)” But the Hebrew text is more accurately rendered “Come close to me. And they came close,” which emphasizes that Joseph called his brothers more tenderly, more intimately. Additionally, the context informs us that, before disclosing his identity to his brothers, he sent all the courtiers out of the room. This is paralleled by a rabbinic read of Judah’s actions in the beginning of our Parasha for which the name “VaYigash” derives. The typical translation of Judah’s action is “Judah went up to him”, but the Hebrew word indicates that Judah “Came close.” A midrash suggests that Judah positioned himself in between Joseph (whose true identity remains secret) and the courtiers. Intimacy was the goal — not the navigation of system and hierarchy suggested by the conventional translation.
Similarly, God is more than the biblical text. One definition of God cannot suffice. The challenge of navigating the layers of the Jewish interpretive tradition is exacerbated when the text feels like an impenetrable system. But that’s not what the layers are. Every attempt to understand, to stretch, and to challenge the text is truly an act of relationship, a coming closer for reader, authors, content, and the ultimate dreams. For Jews (and others), this means that the desire to come close to God can foster intimate relationship — with sacred text, with generations of readers and commentators, with self, with a community of fellow seekers, and with the Divine.
Torah is more than words, history holds more than one interpretation, and sacred relationships are precious and inspiring. Life’s paths can be incredibly compelling, sometimes painful, sometimes joyous, and possibly freeing. But in order to find out, we must be brave enough to “come close.” | https://medium.com/@menachemcreditor/closer-come-closer-3e32da7c1c25 | ['Rabbi Menachem Creditor'] | 2020-12-22 00:01:36.771000+00:00 | ['Peace', 'Spirituality', 'Healing', 'Relationship', 'Self Improvement'] |
The Night I Didn’t Meet Don Omar | It was Friday. The hour was late. One by one, my close friends retreated back to the comfort of their hostel twin beds, and I found myself in a crowded club with one other acquaintance. He was a newer addition to our hostel cluster, and we weren’t terribly close.
Whether he behaves this way regularly or he was just in a mood was unclear to me. But one thing is certain: he was on the prowl for women.
I wasn’t.
Our conversation slowed to a crawl, as it’s prone to do when the painful realization dawns that your relationship with one human being is entirely reliant on the chemistry of a larger group. I stepped in line for the bathroom, because that’s where you go when conversation dies and you’re not ready to go home.
And that’s where I met him.
Not Don Omar. Not yet. You clicked on this story knowing full well it’s an eight minute read. Give it a sec.
I met an odd American character in the bathroom line who claimed to write music for J. Balvin, Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee and all those other pop-reggaeton chart toppers. He wore a black t-shirt and a gold chain, which perfectly complemented his even blacker hair moosed atop obnoxiously bronzed skin.
If you’re thinking Pauly D from Jersey Shore, you’re on the money.
He claimed he was a multimillionaire living in Colombia, and after we relieved ourselves, I should join him and his writer/producer/whatever friends for a drink.
“These dudes are dope yo.”
I’ve met a lot of that weird American bro energy in Colombia. More per capita than in the United States. But it was a poppin’ club in Colombia’s hippest city, so his story wasn’t, like, completely implausible. And I can hang with bro culture for a night. After that, it unravels. But I’ve got it on lock for an evening.
And anyway, the guy was amusing. Either he was telling the truth and this would be a fascinating night, or he was lying, and it’d be one hell of a weird story. He also said he had bottle service and all the shots of tequila and aguardiente I could want. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t tip the scales.
So we zipped our flies, hopped over a VIP barrier, and took back a few shots. At the beginning of every song, my bathroom-line-friend would point to some random person nearby and say, “Hear this song? That dude wrote this song, bro.” That friend would always be a somewhat unfortunate looking fella dancing with an exceptionally beautiful white woman. I suppose it checked out. I would look back in perplexed amusement, high five the friend, and do another shot. I grabbed my hostel friend from the crowd of plebeians — among whom I no longer seemed to be — and pulled him into our section.
I had a new dynamic in which to insert my hostel acquaintance. The chemistry of our reluctant friendship was restored. All was right in the world.
All was right, that is, until my bathroom-line-friend fell completely silent. He stopped dancing and glared over my shoulder.
“Don’t look now, but the guy behind you is Don Omar.”
Well, that’s pretty cool. I didn’t know any reggaeton before I came to Colombia, but I knew Don Omar’s Danza Kuduro. Because, yeah, I’m a human with ears and stuff.
I turned around. That’s — that’s not Don Omar. That’s Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor.
Don Omar looks like this:
I met a guy who looks like this:
For full transparency, I didn’t meet Eddie Murphy either.
Drop the tie and tweed and replace it with a wife beater and a gold chain. But I mean, yeah. That’s who I saw.
“It’s totally Don Omar dude. I wrote for him twice,” he said. He shuffled over to the Nutty Professor, whispered in his ear, and introduced me.
Ok, so we’re firmly in weird story territory, I decided. This isn’t real. And my hostel friend wanted nothing more than to meet a beautiful Colombian woman.
Back to the plebeians we went. | https://medium.com/@heywillconway/the-night-i-didnt-meet-don-omar-5fb58377ae55 | ['Will Conway'] | 2019-09-23 18:18:55.558000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Love', 'Dance', 'Nightlife', 'Colombia'] |
A Brief History of Sketchbooks | Sketching Legacies, Then and Now
Rembrandt the doodler is often Rembrandt the misattributed, as can be the unfortunate case with sketches. Unlike with signed paintings, says Bialler, “The attribution of drawings is putting things in piles: these look similar, that looks similar. But sometimes the way artists work in chalk looks very different than how they work in ink.” Even worse, early collectors may have labeled sheaves with incorrect names.
from the sketchbook pf Nicolas Sanchez
Contrast today, where works-in-progress are shared with thousands of international fans with the push of a button and verified by a blue check mark. For better or worse, Instagram has changed the way we interact with the arts. (For worse, in one example, because people Instagramming famous paintings get in the way of people actually trying to see famous paintings. For better, because I get to watch time-lapses of Vi Luong’s meticulous hand at work.)
The opportunity to hold a contemporary artist’s private sketchbook is rare, but you can often flip through it digitally. “Sketching,” whether in highly curated travel journals or layered under offhand notes, has become a hashtag that innumerable digital fans follow, engaging with contemporary artists in a way history never allowed.
Peter Paul Rubens, Nude Study of a Young Man with Raised Arms, 1608. COURTESY SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK.
What does that mean for future centuries’ collectors? Would the Peter Paul Rubens’ drawing recently sold at Sotheby’s for $8.2M have generated the same mystique had it been posted in his lifetime accompanied by #wip? Where will 14 million-and-counting Instagrammed drawings end up?
Time will tell. For now, excuse me while I scroll. | https://thebluereview.net/a-brief-history-of-sketchbooks-79d88825f10b | ['Trek Lexington'] | 2019-02-12 17:33:35.776000+00:00 | ['History', 'Books', 'Art History', 'Sketch', 'Art'] |
Trump’s CDC is Banning Evictions, and it Probably Will Help Him. | Trump’s CDC is Banning Evictions, and it Probably Will Help Him.
His latest faux populist gimmick could work.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
As I’ve said now countless times before, I’ve struggled with processing just how quickly everything has spiraled out of control over the course of a matter of months. It feels as though with each passing day, the American people have dealt with a new layer of unnecessary trauma and suffering, and the sense of utter despair and hopelessness only intensifies the more I attempt to come to terms with the extent of it. But considering we are fresh in to a new month, the fact that tens of millions of people have been unable to pay their mortgage and rent has been heavy on my mind, and prompted a renewed sense of dread about what lies ahead in the coming weeks and months.
Recently, it was reported that the Trump administration will be using the CDC as a means by which to stop the coming wave of evictions.
Chris Arnold with NPR writes:
“The Trump administration is ordering a halt on evictions nationwide through December for people who have lost work during the pandemic and don’t have other good housing options. The new eviction ban is being enacted through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal is to stem the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, which the agency says in its order “presents a historic threat to public health.” It’s by far the most sweeping move yet by the administration to try to head off a looming wave of evictions of people who have lost their jobs or taken a major blow to their income because of the pandemic. Housing advocates and landlord groups both have been warning that millions of people could soon be put out of their homes through eviction if Congress does not do more to help renters and landlords and reinstate expanded unemployment benefits. …Under the rules of the order, renters have to sign a declaration saying they don’t make more than $99,000 a year — or twice that if filing a joint tax return — and that they have no other option if evicted other than homelessness or living with more people in close proximity.”
Of course, while this is an undeniably essential move in this moment in order to prevent the mass humanitarian crisis from coming to fruition, as per usual the American government has put a bandaid on a gushing wound they will no longer be able to hide come January when months worth of back rent is expected to be paid. It should also go without saying that the President hasn’t done this out of the goodness of his heart, and that this has nothing to do with the wellbeing of the American people, but instead everything to do with the preservation of his own power as the impending election grows closer and closer.
The thing is, I’m not sure anyone who will immediately benefit from this action is going to care about that at all. In all honesty given the circumstances they’re in, I really cannot blame them.
If nothing else, this is yet another indication of the sadistic, criminal, and frankly abusive way the American people have been treated by the very people — in all levels of government — who we are supposed to trust will listen to our concerns, and advocate for the best interests of their constituents.
In perhaps the most mild way one could look at it, Americans have been abandoned by our lawmakers. People have been starved in to submission, and robbed of any last shred of stability they have through no fault of their own while politicians go on “recess” on the taxpayer’s dime to solicit donations from their high-dollar donors. While owners of small businesses across the country are wondering how they’re going to get through this, the Treasury secretary is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars worth of taxpayer money to some of the largest corporations in the country. While Jeff Bezos , the founder and CEO of Amazon — a company which doesn’t pay any federal taxes — has nearly doubled his wealth to 200 billion dollars as a direct result of this pandemic, the American people who created his wealth have gotten one time checks of $1200 dollars to get us through.
Given the amount of trauma that’s been inflicted on us, is it any wonder that the American people are so desperate for some sort of help, that when they get it from him President Trump is rightfully confident that the absolute bare minimum could be enough to help him to retain his power?
As I’ve been saying before, people need something to vote for, not just something to vote against, and for at least some of us, this recent ban on evictions could be that “something”. There’s not a doubt in my mind that in this twisted dystopian hell-scape we find ourselves in, Trump will be able to gaslight a number of people in to forgetting the fact that he helped to create the situation they find themselves in, so long as he reminds them on a consistent basis that he was the one who took the action that allowed them to keep the roof over their child’s head while — as I’m sure he’ll say — congress did nothing.
I’m not sure anything could serve as a better testament to just how far this country has sunk than the idea that the shelter of tens of millions of people has been boiled down to nothing more than a partisan, political tool for the electoral aspirations of a six times bankrupt billionaire who happens to hold the highest office in the land. It seems as though every day, there’s more and more reason to grow concerned that he may indeed be re-elected, and I’m still trying to prepare myself for that very real possibility. | https://medium.com/discourse/trumps-cdc-is-banning-evictions-and-it-probably-will-help-him-8bf572fed10b | ['Lauren Elizabeth'] | 2020-09-04 20:12:46.234000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Election 2020', 'Politics', 'Trump', 'Government'] |
Stop gorging on data!. I’ve always been fascinated by… | A discussion comparing too much, poor quality data to the effects of poor diet on the body.
I’ve always been fascinated by measurements and numbers, even early in my career. I wanted feedback, and I CRAVED to have it backed up with numbers.
“How do I measure success?” is a question that admittedly, has kept me up at night more times than I can count.
Measurements are almost like PM fuel, which in turn, results on us, our organizations, and our teams gorging on data to measure.
What I mean is this. Food, for any human being, is fuel. It fundamentally keeps us running. But in life, there are choices. You can eat the balanced grain bowl full of healthy fats, slow release carbs, and enough natural sweetness to create true satiety, OR you can have pizza. Pizza is great, do NOT mistake me. However too many New York Style slices in all their greasy, cheese-filled glory can cause all sorts of shenanigans.
Potential weight gain, an unhappy metabolism, insatiable cravings, and the classic “crash and burn” are all possible outcomes.
Now put this into the context of data, and what happens when we have — and track — too much of it?
What happens when we are focused on the pizza (useless, unclean, incomplete data, and vanity metrics) versus the balanced grain bowl (measurable, well-defined outcomes, and contextualized insights)?
Weight gain.
“Hey! Collect ALL the data you can on our customers. It’s gotta tell us something right?!”
Have you ever been requested to track something “just so we have it”? Though there seems to be no real purpose?
Capture and store the data, that way we’ll have it.
Consider all of this stored data unhealthy data weight gain. We have it in the database, configure our solutions to track it, and yet, it just sits. Collecting steadily, convoluting our reports, appearing where we don’t want it, and possibly slowing down our servers.
While sometimes building for the future is key to success (like eating extra calories because you’re training for a marathon), sometimes, there isn’t a purpose, other than perceived comfort.
Ask yourself “Can this give business user insights that can drive decisions? Could it be a useful foundation for future features? Does this data provide a competitive advantage? Does collecting it improve the user experience? OR is this just causing a bunch of data weight gain?
If you can’t figure out how asking for your user’s blood type when you’re building a fintech app is going to benefit the user, the business, or help you measure success — say no the data pizza.
2. Unhappy metabolism.
One of the things I love the most about data is that it can help teams make quick decisions. Examining user data can solve disputes about how we perceive user behaviour, help us select product marketing language that is SEO friendly, and make educated bets on which features will be the most successful. However, much like poor dietary choices slow the metabolism over time(1) too much data can paralyze progress.
It’s called analysis paralysis and it can be the downfall of us all.
When there’s too much noise in the data-sphere, it’s often too much input. If you have the chance to build a product from the ground up, plan your data strategy effectively.
If you don’t? Work with your data professionals to create a dashboard that filters out the noise, keeps you focused on the metrics that matter, and keeps your decision making process in tip-top shape.
Note: There is something to be said again, about data storage. Storing too much is super wasteful, and is like plaque on an artery when it comes to slowing down information flow. There are many nuances to do with data storage, which we will address in another article, to keep things moving.
3. Insatiable cravings.
It might start slowly, one extra slice, it can’t hurt right?
One extra survey… just to collect a bit of information.
One small ad hoc report… just to paint a picture.
All of a sudden it’s a craving that’s too big to satisfy and stakeholders want that pizza yesterday. They want it with ALL the toppings, every hour, and it better have stuffed crust.
They want you to measure literally everything, and measure success with baseless metrics. But what happens when we get so anxious about hitting success metrics, we can’t make heads or tails of our data? How can you influence KPI’s OKRs, and NDAs (ok not the last one) to no longer be the ties that bind you to success, but the keys that set you free?
Prioritize… ruthlessly.
As a product manager, sometimes you have to be the “CEO of NO”… and that means ruthless prioritization, and setting expectations. Consider how much data you’ll ingest and why, and how it converts into useful information and metrics. Without this mentality, we can fall into the trap of designing solutions to hit our metrics, instead of adding user value. Essentially, we start eating just to eat, instead of fuelling our bodies.
How can you influence success metrics? Suggest tying your results to contextualized measurements such as repeat power-up purchases (repeat purchases suggest users are enjoying the feature) or average time from download to first in-app purchase.
Walk stakeholders through your thought process, to help demonstrate the value of what you’re offering (a delicious grain bowl).
These contextualized metrics can be the KPIs you actually tie success to. Real measurement can generate real motivation to delight users, that doesn’t fade over time. Thus avoiding…
4. The classic crash and burn.
“That’s it, we give up, we cannot take this any longer. The energy is spent, we’re done!” — A classic narrative in the minds of a demotivated team. This team likely doesn’t understand why they bother shipping the products they do, as they have no attachment to the user. They don’t understand the impact they have.
Additionally, anyone who is lost in a sea of data is bound to crash and burn. First, there’s the high of getting into the analysis, then slowly and surely we lose our way. We can’t take it anymore, there’s too much data, too many ways to splice it, and none of it makes sense.
Both of these scenarios arise because of an abundance of numbers that make no sense. HOW and WHY add complexity and depth, allowing us to slowly digest information, and distill it into something we can rally behind.
Quell exhaustion by limiting queries to specific times or segments, and use good ingredients (clean data) to craft a narrative that satisfies (the grain bowl). Provide context to keep purpose top of mind, so solutions actually solve real pain points.
In conclusion…
Remember, a calorie is not a calorie(2), and a data point is not a data point. High quality, well thought out data choices have a huge impact on our products, our future opportunities, and ultimately, our user’s happiness.
TL;DR:
Too much bad data has the same effect on your decision-making as too much pizza does on your health. Use restraint, and those ruthless prioritization skills to leverage the BEST data to influence what you need to do…. create value for your users!
Citations
Palsdottir,H. “ Does Junk Food Slow Down Your Metabolism?” 2017 Mar 24. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/junk-food-and-metabolism#TOC_TITLE_HDR_4
2. Feinman, R.D., Fine E.J. “ A Calorie is a Calorie Violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics” 2004 Jul 28 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15282028/
— -
Emily is a self-proclaimed data nerd, passionate about using the insights we gain from data to produce incredible products and experiences. Follow her journey into the world of data, tech, product, and user/customer experience here at The MindBrain.
— - | https://medium.com/@themindbrain/stop-gorging-on-data-pizza-7ae9f874fc1a | ['Emily Reid'] | 2020-12-20 21:31:00.678000+00:00 | ['Analytics', 'Product', 'Stakeholder Management', 'Product Management', 'Data'] |
The Bill Gates — Elon Musk Feud. The Microsoft founder has become the… | The dispute dates back to February 2020. In an interview with tech Youtuber Marques Brownlee, Gates was asked about electric cars, and while acknowledging Tesla’s major part in moving passenger’s cars towards the electric age, Gates revealed that he personally had recently bought a Porsche Taycan. “It’s very very cool. That’s my first electric car and I’m enjoying it a lot”, Gates said.
Musk didn’t take kindly to hearing his fellow billionaire’s remarks. 4 days after the Gates interview, Twitter user ‘Tesletter’ twitted about his own disappointment from Gates. Musk then replied and took the feud a step further.
The rivalry became even more fierce a few months later, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Musk had several highly controversial statements: In March, he tweeted that “the panic will cause more harm than the virus”. In April, he criticized lockdown measures calling them “fascist” and describing it as “forcibly imprisoning people in their home.” He advocated for the use of Hydroxychloroquine. He said that there will be “close to zero new cases in the US by end of April [2020]”. These are just a few examples. Musk wasn’t shy about his thoughts of the pandemic.
This time, it was Gates's turn to go on the offense. In an interview for CNBC, the Microsoft founder said: “Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments. He’s not much involved in vaccines. He makes a great electric car. And his rockets work well. So he’s allowed to say these things. I hope that he doesn’t confuse areas he’s not involved in too much.”
The comeback soon followed. First, on Twitter. A user tweeted the Gates interview quote and tagged Musk. Musk replied:
It didn’t end there. In an interview for the New York Times podcast “Sway”, Musk was asked about his reaction to the pandemic and said: “Tesla makes the vaccine machines for CureVac. Gates said something about me not knowing what I was doing. It’s like, hey, knucklehead, we actually make the vaccine machines for CureVac that company you’re invested in.”
Yep, he called Bill Gates a knucklehead.
The feud kept growing. In August, Gates wrote a blog post questioning whether an electric future is viable for all kinds of transportation: “Even with big breakthroughs in battery technology, electric vehicles will probably never be a practical solution for things like 18-wheelers, cargo ships, and passenger jets.”
Musk’s reaction was very short.
Following the long line of mutual verbal stingers, one might see Gates’s remarks about the difference between Musk and Steve Jobs as another swing at the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire. “You wouldn’t walk into a room and confuse them with each other,” answered Gates when asked whether the two were alike.
It is also wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Gates didn’t very much like the fact that Musk had, a few days ago, overtook him as the second richest man in the world. Musk must have been over the moon. | https://medium.com/swlh/the-bill-gates-elon-musk-feud-492564790eac | ['Elad Simchayoff'] | 2020-12-09 02:59:06.279000+00:00 | ['Bill Gates', 'Billionaires', 'Tech', 'Business', 'Elon Musk'] |
Weight Loss Workouts| Weight Loss Tips Do and Don’t | Weight Loss Workouts
Photo by Damir Spanic on Unsplash
After an intense workout, your body’s metabolism remains at its peak, and as a result, the body burns fat. Don’t get too carried away with this, however, as fat burning also occurs after more intense workouts, mainly due to what happens after the workout ends. In addition, if you train at high intensity, you get the added bonus of the “afterburn” effect when you lose weight, but your body is still consuming extra energy.
Reilinger recommends at least 3 additional weight training sessions per week. For example, he might recommend two days of total body strength training, four days of aerobic exercise, and one day of vigorous recovery a week. Like Basedow, he recommends combining aerobic exercise with weightlifting every day, as well as warm-up and relaxation periods. You can combine low-load aerobic exercise with body weight exercise, such as the following LIT exercise, which is a low-load, high-intensity exercise.
Resistance training, whether it is your weight or extra weight, is an effective way to build muscle and burn fat. Weightlifting has been proven to increase your resting metabolic rate, which means that even if you don’t exercise, your body will burn more calories. In a progressive overload plan (struggling to lift heavier weight over a period of time), the more weight you lift, your muscle mass will increase, which in turn can speed up your metabolism, which means you Will become a machine. Burn fat and calories more effectively.
Photo by Total Shape on Unsplash
Plus, more muscle means you can train harder next time, gain weight and get even more out of each workout. Adding aerobic training and strength training to your weight loss program can help counteract bone and muscle loss. If you’ve lost weight, exercise can also help maintain your weight when used in conjunction with monitoring your calorie intake. A Cochrane review of the best research available found that while exercise led to only moderate weight loss, study participants who exercised more (even without changing their diet) saw a range of health benefits, including lowering blood pressure and blood triglycerides.
A recent study found that compared with people whose heart rate only increased a few times a week, people who exercised a lot of one hour a day lost significantly more weight. In terms of weight loss, research has shown that interval training like HIIT is more effective than constant rhythm aerobic exercise. There are many different aerobic exercises to choose from, such as cycling, jogging, walking, and dancing. Just because weight loss is the goal does not mean you have to do some strong and heavy exercises on your joints. However, not all the best calorie burning exercises include weight.
It’s true that people tend to consume more calories during cardio, like running, than when lifting weights, says physical therapist and fitness instructor Laura Miranda, CSCS, DPT. For this reason, experts recommend strength training exercises to help you lose weight more effectively. Diet has a stronger effect on weight loss than exercise; physical activity, including exercise, is more effective in preventing weight regain after losing weight. Strength training causes changes in your body that make you burn fat every day (more on that below).
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
Basically, you don’t have to choose one over the other; In fact, LISS, HIIT, and strength training should be included in weekly fat burning workout programs. So, when you do this HIIT class, you may not be burning a lot of fat. Fat burning isn’t just due to HIIT or LISS; Strength training also plays a critical role in speeding up fat burning. Simply put, burning fat leads to weight loss because you have less fat to stick to your body.
Slimming workouts cover all parts of a woman’s body, abdomen, thighs, arms, buttocks. For best results, combine fat burning workouts for women and HIIT workouts for women.
Strengthen all major muscle groups at least twice a week. For each exercise, do three sets of 20 reps with a 30-second rest between sets. Then we continue with a series of self-weight exercises: push-ups, shoulder shrugs, pull-ups, side leg raises, squats, lunges, and knee bends (see below). Therefore, to reduce fat as much as possible, your plan will include 3 full-body exercises per week (alternating exercise A and exercise B), as well as 2 days of aerobic exercise and 2 days of rest.
If your goal is to lose weight, try considering two or three resistance workouts per week, two or three HIITs, and one LISS. Certain types of exercise can help you lose weight faster than others, and you may need to adjust your exercise routine along the way. There is no best workout or exercise for weight loss. Some people call strength training “lifting weights,” but there are simple body weight exercises that qualify as strength training even if they don’t involve lifting dumbbells or dumbbells on a machine.
Strength training can include the use of machines, your own body weight, strength machines, or activities such as rock climbing. When you’re ready to do strength training for weight loss, start with a simple home strength training program. Workout at home allows you to workout at home with your own weight.
While this may not directly promote weight loss, it will help your body function better throughout the day, which can help you stay more active even when you are not exercising. If you don’t like running up stairs (or it sounds like you hit your shins while waiting for it to happen), you can get up and still burn the calories you need to support your weight loss.
According to research published in the “Journal of Education and Training Research”, in addition to improving aerobic and anaerobic functions, interval training on stationary bicycles is also particularly effective in reducing body fat. According to a review published in Current Sports Medicine Reports, 10 weeks of resistance training can increase your resting metabolic rate by 7% and reduce your body fat by approximately 4 pounds. A study published in the “Journal of Obesity” found that three months of HIIT will reduce fat by 4.4 pounds. Com helped us develop a fat burning exercise that you can do at home or in the gym.
Photo by Danielle Cerullo on Unsplash
An example of a Calabrese weight loss program includes full body strength training on Monday and Friday, aerobic exercise and abs on Tuesday and Saturday, legs and buttocks on Wednesday, and outdoor activities or recovery on Sunday. Whether your goal is to burn fat, build muscle, lose weight or all of the above goals, or just match your workouts, I have developed this 4-week exercise plan for you. However, if you feel trapped in your current routine, or want to try a new exercise that can help you lose weight more effectively, I have selected three experienced trainers below, and they will share the most effective ways to help you lose weight. Good sports.
Click Here More Details
Thank you
Best Regards;
David | https://medium.com/@yannyeinaung86/weight-loss-workouts-weight-loss-tips-do-and-dont-1e5457a9af33 | [] | 2021-12-19 14:07:46.007000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Fitness', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips'] |
I held little hope that Progressives would make changes effective immediately. | I held little hope that Progressives would make changes effective immediately. Five years ago, I thought that it would take at least two presidential terms before *any* Progressive policies were put into effect, and I was okay with that because, well, politics.
I am encouraged by some of the changes that have been happening regarding marijuana, convicts’ rights, and minimum wage. Many of my Progressive comrades who are much younger than I am get so frustrated. That’s cool, they’re young. I remember being that young and just becoming hopeless (often) about politics and politicians. I am encouraged by their zeal and let it reinfuse me, but I do realize this is a marathon not a sprint. | https://medium.com/@sadietruth/i-held-little-hope-that-progressives-would-make-changes-effective-immediately-e8cbb4ee7acc | [] | 2020-11-11 22:36:20.288000+00:00 | ['Democrats', 'Progressives', 'Democratic Party'] |
A Ridiculously Short History of Fashion | A Ridiculously Short History of Fashion
If today’s nearly two and a quarter billion Judao-Christians are true to their Bible-based beliefs, two people, a man and a woman, in a lush garden located in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley of the middle east … were the harbingers of modern fashion.
The more conservative, science-based history of fashion drives in its marker at the end of the Neolithic age when the migration out of the tropics and into colder climates had begun, causing the wearing of skins to become an existential stratagem.
Whether high fashion began in the garden out of the shame of having tasted the fruits of forbidden knowledge, or as a less cerebral and more survival-oriented slap-on-the-skins-or-die of the hunter-gatherer cultures, you can be certain that, waiting in the wings, a clever marketer was observing it all evolve.
She reflected on the covering of nudity out of the guilt of sin, and considered, “hold that thought. We’ll find some commercial use for that later. Meanwhile, we can play around with the hems, raising them and lowering them, and maybe do something with that neckline. The world has a certain fascination with cleavage. Altogether, we’ll tease them into being as naughty as they want to be, but just this side of sin.
Then she let her imagination rove among the northern masses shivering within their animal skins, and she became very reflective. “At the risk of being stoned to death as a witch, I foresee the day when these poor hunters and gatherers will return to their caves and adjust their interior’s heat by a thermostat. Their bonfires will increase and decrease, based on the turn of a dial. They’ll be able to shed their skins while inside. In our hands, those skins will be scrubbed, fluffed, and trimmed, fastened by the finest bone buttons. These furs will be worn as eveningwear, as accouterment, and as an indicator of status!
She rubbed her hands and thought, “someday, when we invent the cotton gin and the spinning wheel, and Singer gets off his butt and perfects his sewing machine, we’ll turn this fashion industry on its ear!”
Now, it is my pleasure to tell you that 10,452 years, to the day, from the fashion industry’s beginning (as calibrated with exactitude, through the use of the Cirlean-B Trans-cultural Calendar), our own leader, Victor Sarkin, paid homage to this august tradition with his Genius in a Bottle Prompt # 8, entitled Address a Dress.
Won’t you enjoy along with me reading the selected prompts below:
Prompt #8 Winners
More than a Single Garment — A Relic of My Family’s History, by Kim McKinney
No Trousers Dear or You’ll Be Fired, by Caroline de Braganza
Wearing Only Myself, by Kristie Darling
Murrelle’s Apparel D’Allure, by Carolyn Hastings | https://medium.com/genius-in-a-bottle/a-ridiculously-short-history-of-fashion-9922e5a4f783 | ['Jay Squires'] | 2020-12-13 22:53:27.899000+00:00 | ['Giab', 'Address a Dress', 'Fashion', 'Prompt', 'Clothing'] |
Pat Sajak apologizes for yelling at ‘ungrateful’ contestant on ‘Wheel of Fortune’: ‘I finally snapped’ | Then, it’s gone. It seems McDonald’s releases the McRib only to pull it from the menu quickly after its arrival. If history tells us anything, the McRib really isn’t that good, nor is it inherently popular.
In the 1990s, I liked to rent VHS videos from the Blockbuster down the street from our house. I’d take two or three at a time and return them quickly to avoid late fees. Then one day I moved a pile of papers on the dining room table and saw a cassette that I’d watched weeks ago and forgotten to return. When I took the movie back to the store, the woman told me the fee: $40! I felt so stupid.
First and foremost, it’s a serious phone. It’s not a trinket. It’s not a refreshed version of an older model, like the iPhone SE. It’s a serious phone for serious people. The display extends all the way to the edges of the device, as modern phones do, and it’s camera and processor are on par with modern phones. When I get this phone, I know all my apps will run just as smoothly as they should on a brand-new device.
“While the performance of many masks is a bit better as ‘source control,’ protecting people around the wearer, it is also clear that such masks can reduce the likelihood of infection to the uninfected wearer as well,” says Aronoff, who was not involved in the research. “This is a well-done study that should provide more rationale for us each to do our part and wear face coverings when around others in public.”For the first time in eight years, McDonald’s will release the McRib on a national scale. The sandwich has been cycled in and out of the restaurants for nearly four decades now. It’s gotten to the point where the McRib has a bit of a cult following, and every time it pops up on menus people gobble up the sandwich.Despite some outlier claims that masks don’t work, leading experts on the transmission of airborne viruses are unified in proclaiming the value of masks for lowering risk of Covid-19 spread. A new study from the CDC adds to the evidence by showing that infection rates in Kansas were lower in counties that enforced mask mandates.
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But a friend told me about a new invention called DVDs, which would be coming that fall. “They’re like CDs but hold a movie,” he explained. I raced to the post office and mailed myself several CDs (I couldn’t find an actual DVD for my test). Each cost thirty-two cents to mail. Then I went back to my place in Santa Cruz and waited anxiously for them to arrive. Two days later they dropped through the mail slot, unharmed.
The McRib isn’t just a sandwich to McDonald’s. It’s a form a publicity and their wild card marketing scheme. By limiting its availability, McDonald’s has turned low demand into a big buzz. It’s not a strategy unique to McDonald’s, but the restaurant has made it work time and time again.
By early 2001, we’d grown to 400,000 subscribers and 120 employees. I tried to avoid the leadership fumbles of my Pure Software days, and although we avoided implementing excessive rules and controls this time, I also couldn’t characterize Netflix as a particularly great place to work. But we were growing, business was good, and work for our employees was OK.I sat down with Marc and Patty McCord — Patty had come with me from Pure Software and was head of Human Resources — and we studied the contribution of each employee. We didn’t have any obviously poor performers. So we divided the staff into two piles: the 80 highest performers who we would keep and 40 less amazing ones we would let go. Those who were exceptionally creative, did great work, and collaborated well with others went immediately into the “keepers” pile. The difficulty was that there were many borderline cases. Some were great colleagues and friends but did adequate rather than great work. Others worked like crazy but showed uneven judgment and needed a lot of hand-holding. A few were exceptionally gifted and high performing but also complainers or pessimists. Most of them would have to go. It wasn’t going to be easy.Then, in the spring of 2001, crisis struck. The first internet bubble burst, and scores of dot-coms failed and vanished. All venture capital funding stopped, and we were suddenly unable to raise the additional funds we needed to run the business, which was far from profitable. Morale in the office was low, and it was about to get lower. We had to lay off a third of our workforce.
The first time it left the menu, it wasn’t a marketing tactic, nor was it due to a supply shortage. It was due to poor sales, because McDonald’s really isn’t a place to buy ribs. If the demand was there, McDonald’s could get the pork supply to keep the McRib on the menu. The scarcity is an intentional tactic to have a sandwich that’s hard to find.
In May 1998, we launched Netflix, the world’s first online DVD rental store. We had 30 employees and 925 movie titles, which was almost the entire catalog of DVDs available at the time. Marc was the CEO until 1999, when I took over and he became one of our executives.
The McRib debuted in 1981 but was released nationwide in 1982. However, their history really begins in 1979 with the release of another product. This was when McDonalds introduced the Chicken McNugget, and it was a huge hit. McNuggets sold so well that McDonald’s couldn’t keep up with the demand, so they wanted customers to feed their hunger with another McDelicacy.
“While the performance of many masks is a bit better as ‘source control,’ protecting people around the wearer, it is also clear that such masks can reduce the likelihood of infection to the uninfected wearer as well,” says Aronoff, who was not involved in the research. “This is a well-done study that should provide more rationale for us each to do our part and wear face coverings when around others in public.”
Mornings don’t have to be rough and unproductive. By doing a few focused things when you wake up and knowing what not to do, you can set yourself up for more productivity throughout the day.
Later, that got me thinking. Blockbuster made most of its margin on late fees. If your business model depends on inducing feelings of stupidity in your customer base, you can hardly expect to build much loyalty. Was there another model to provide the pleasure of watching movies in your own living room without inflicting the pain of paying a lot when you forgot to return them?
Prinarily, big phones don’t fit in pockets. The largest iPhone Apple sells requires a small purse for me to carry around. The reason I own an iPhone X is that when the iPhone X came out, it was the smallest phone in Apple’s lineup — and it’s still too large for my pocket most of the time. This makes it that much harder for you to put down your phone and live your life.
The other issue I was dealing with was that there weren’t any options for smaller iPhones anyways. Apple sold the iPhone SE, which was a glorified iPhone 5s, but I was always doubtful of whether it would be able to power all my apps without skittering, as older iPhones have always done.
The results from Marr’s team support other studies suggesting cloth face coverings indeed provide two-way protection, says David Aronoff, MD, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
In early 1997, when our startup Pure Software was acquired, Marc Randolph and I started thinking about opening a movies-by-mail business. Amazon was having good luck with books. Why not films? Customers would rent VHS cassettes from our website and be able to return them via the mail. Then we learned it would cost $4 to mail the VHS cassette each way. There wasn’t going to be a big market. It was too expensive.
In the days before the layoffs, my wife remarked how on edge I was, and she was right. I worried that motivation in the office would plummet. I was convinced that, after I’d let go of their friends and colleagues, those who stayed would think that the company wasn’t loyal to employees. It was bound to make everyone angry. Even worse, the “keepers” would have to shoulder the work of those let go, which seemed certain to lead to bitterness. We were already short on cash. Could we bear a further collapse in morale?
“No one intervention — masking, social distancing, hand washing, indoor ventilation — will stop the spread of Covid-19 alone,” Marr says. “The mask is one of the many interventions that we need to combine together.” | https://medium.com/@atikhasan0258/pat-sajak-apologizes-for-yelling-at-ungrateful-contestant-on-wheel-of-fortune-i-finally-3f08b2ac68a6 | ['Atik Hasan'] | 2020-11-27 12:53:38.413000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'SEO', 'Inspiration', 'Global Warming', 'Love'] |
How To Stop Spending Money? 12 Game-Changing Hacks! | How to stop spending money? Money is a lost cause for all of us. Most people feel that they already have their entire expenses laid out right in front of them, and their salaries are not good enough. That is the main reason we do not believe that we can pay off any debts or have any substantial savings. As much as we agree that none of you are being paid enough for your jobs, savings and payments are not things that can be dismissed based on limited resources.
How to stop spending money?
So today, we have decided to help you break the cycle with essential tips on how not to spend money so much anymore. Here are a few points that will allow you to develop a better understanding of how simple and easy tips can lead to serious saving.
1. Say No To Social Media:
The major problem with our generation is the fact that we live in competition with each other like never before. Every time we put up the take out or hang out the picture, we are all opting for the race and are telling the world that we care about their opinions.
How to stop spending money on food? A simple solution to that is to avoid sharing your life on social media. When you hang out with friends or have taken out or go shopping, skip the picture and cherish what you have all by yourself. You will find that the process will control the need to buy branded clothes and eat gourmet take-outs.
2. Tracking Your Spending:
Have a diary or an expense tracking app, but always track the expenses that you are making every day. That will allow you to see how much money is going on recreational or otherwise leisurely activities and how much of it is going to a substantial need.
People who do not track their spending are far more likely to live above their means than the ones who make an effort. It is hard to spend again on taking out if you wrote down just two days ago, how much you had spent on food take-outs? Having a specific and consistent account of what you are spending your money is an excellent way to reduce mindless spending.
3. Money Tracking Apps:
Many people find it hard to believe that money tracking apps will help them in mindful spending. The truth is that this is like saying, Facebook cannot tell you how to stay connected to your friends. Yes, you knew before social media how to stay connected, but now social media exists, and it is a far better way to connect then emails or phone calls.
How to stop spending money on clothes? Expense tracking apps are a great way to take personal financial management to the next level. They allow you to develop a system of understanding of how everyday spending is developing your big picture. That leads to an understanding of the spending habits you have that stop you from fruitful financial gains. While we all love a good Boba meme, it is time to get realistic about how to spend responsibly.
4. Cutting Out Retail Therapy Or Therapeutic Hang Outs!
Or the SPA treatments or the self care candles, and they are all the same. If you want self-care, then eat healthily, get enough sleep, and take care of your routine. And stop reading fifty-word haikus about self-expression. But seriously, try and find a cheaper way for self-care because your future needs are also self-care. So make sure that you are using your hard-earned money to build a hardcore future for yourself.
5. Avoiding Credit Cards:
Online payments are the worst as they tend to reduce your understanding of how much you have spent. You press a button, and here goes $500 out of your bank account. If you get a payment on delivery option, then you have to take out the same amount from an ATM and pay it by your own hands.
How to stop spending money on unnecessary things? Have a rule to only pay online for things that are important and non-negotiable. For any everyday shopping, always choose cash on delivery option so that you have to pay in real-time.
6. Living Within Your Means:
It means buying things on sale or buying not branded clothes and only saying yes to economical hangouts. It also implies cycling for work and reducing your debt as fast as you can. Living within your means is no magic trick; it is a lifestyle that you will find hard to follow and long lastingly uncomfortable. But our parents and their parents made houses and saved up because they were willing to make these sacrifices. Put, whatever you need to cut out of your luxury, you have to go for it. You will only get results if you are willing to put in the results.
7. Staying Away From Shopping:
Only shop when you have an actual need and make sure that you only buy one item at a time. Delayed gratification is an excellent solution to the everyday financial disasters that we inflict upon ourselves.
8. Either Only Sales Or No Sale:
If you are going to save money, then you have to either shop only at sales and gain an actual benefit or not shop at sales at all. Many people make the mistake of acting like they have to spend twice to avail of the sales.
How to stop spending money? Events like Black Friday and other purchases are significant only if you hold off till they arrive. Only then can these kinds of sale events be used to gain the benefits that we all talk about. So focus on making sure that you only spend your money in the sale season and hold of on buying things unless that season arrives.
9. Killing Off Your Debt:
Work part-time jobs at night or freelance your way to saving but always pay off your debt. If you do not pay off your mortgage, then you will be stuck with a burden, and no amount of savings will ever actually make you financially stable. Give up on Starbucks and drink decafe from home but make sure that you save enough money to pay down your debt until you do not have any debt left.
10. Avoiding Credit:
The massive plague of today’s economy is credit-based shopping. If you do not have the money to buy a new phone, then live within your means. It’s better than having a phone that will lose its shine before you can pay it off. Unless you have the ways to buy things, avoid buying them at all.
11. Stop Spending Money By Living Down
Right residential areas are important but also are housing costs. Try and find a reasonable place to live but also make sure that you live in a neighborhood that you can afford. Share your place with roommates to save and avoid spending all of your money on rent. Saving on rent is the first rule for the successful saving system.
12. How To Stop Spending Money? Upgrade Your Portfolio:
Nothing will bring you financial prosperity like continuously growing your profile and enhancing your capacity for professional growth. Take the next assessment and make sure that you get a new certification every year. All of these will add to your potential as an employee, and you will be able to earn enough to get the financial security you require.
All in all, these are a few ways to ensure that you have the financial future that you need. Always understand that the modern culture of feeling like you are still living hand to mouth is a little bit fabricated.
All of the globes are teeming with taking outs, restaurants, retail brands, and other luxuries. Except that now, none of these entities are considered luxuries but are seen as a regular part of a person’s life.
They are not the essential thing in your life, but your financial future is. How to stop spending money on food? If skipping Starbucks gives you the freedom to sign up for health insurance, then it is not a bad bargain. You need freedom so that one day it will be ok for you to spend money on things that you like.
How To Stop Spending So Much Money?
The concept is too relatable for Millenials, who were pretty well cared for by their parents. And now, as single and independent individuals, they tend to find it hard to have a system of spending that drives their cause. They romanticize labels and think of a branded lifestyle, not as a luxury but a necessity.
These are preconceived and childish notions designed by an industry mooching off young adults who are hardwired to go after the next best thing.
Our advice is for you to focus on making sure that the money you earn is going in the right place. Avoid wasting your hard work on a fantasy that was designed to make someone else productive.
Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section. | https://medium.com/@myeasyfiapp/how-to-stop-spending-money-12-game-changing-hacks-afca7b723a3d | ['My Easyfi'] | 2020-05-05 12:25:47.901000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Money Management', 'Saving', 'Personal Finance', 'Saving Money'] |
Learning Rust by Contrasting with TypeScript: Part 6 | Exploring the unexpected power of enums.
This article is part of a series starting with Learning Rust by Contrasting with TypeScript: Part 1.
The examples from this article are available for download: Rust download and TypeScript download.
Let us walk through the examples in the Rust Book Enums and Pattern Matching section and contrast them with TypeScript.
Enums
Strangely enough, I found enums a bit more challenging to understand than the previous material; found the idea of associating data with the enum variant hard to get my head around.
It wasn’t until the documentation described that the following enum…
enum Message {
Quit,
Move { x: i32, y: i32 },
Write(String),
ChangeColor(i32, i32, i32),
}
…could be described as a list of struct-like structures.
Defining an enum with variants such as the ones in Listing 6–2 is similar to defining different kinds of struct definitions, except the enum doesn’t use the struct keyword and all the variants are grouped together under the Message type. The following structs could hold the same data that the preceding enum variants hold:
— Rust Team — Defining an Enum
struct QuitMessage; // unit struct
struct MoveMessage {
x: i32,
y: i32,
}
struct WriteMessage(String); // tuple struct
struct ChangeColorMessage(i32, i32, i32); // tuple struct
With this in mind, we can then can make sense of enums and explore all their features:
Observations:
When I first wrote this example, I was surprised to see that a variable that contained an enum, e.g., coin, did not support the Copy trait. It turns out that assigning coin to coin2 is a move operation. This is completely understandable if one thinks of an enum variant as a struct-like structure
The second match coin3 and the if let statements are equivalent. As a matter of fact, this is the only way I could understand what if let is
While TypeScript has enums, they (for the most part) as just a convenient way to name numbers, e.g., 0, 1, 2, etc. We can mostly approximate our previous example by using a combination of an enum and a class.
Observations:
This approach requires that each instance have the same associated data structure (in this case the number value). Notice we had to use a null to represent a unused value
Unlike Rusts match statement, the switch statement does not ensure we exhaust the enum’s variants
Option Enum
In writing this article, I have come to better appreciate the following observation.
The problem with null values is that if you try to use a null value as a not-null value, you’ll get an error of some kind. Because this null or not-null property is pervasive, it’s extremely easy to make this kind of error.
— The Rust Team — Defining an Enum
And come to appreciate the simplicity and power of Rust enums. Find it a bit mind-boggling that the introduction of the built-in Option enum solves the null problem.
enum Option<T> {
Some(T),
None,
}
Here is a simple example of using the Option enum:
Here is the TypeScript version of the same idea:
Observation:
First observation is that neither TypeScript or strict linting (added ESLint to this example) enforced the null check in either the plusOne or len functions
In the case of the plusOne function, omitting the null check caused a null parameter to be treated as 0 and thus the function would return 1
In the case of the len function, omitting the null check caused a run-time error when passed a null parameter
Next Steps
We explore Rust’s module system in Learning Rust by Contrasting with TypeScript: Part 7. | https://codeburst.io/learning-rust-by-contrasting-with-typescript-part-6-83ece73baa61 | ['John Tucker'] | 2019-11-14 16:08:27.676000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Typescript', 'Rust'] |
MBL snapshot for CBK Airdrop | Hello from MovieBloc Community,
Celebrating the issuance of CBK of Cobak platform, which was acquired by MovieBloc, CBK Airdrop Event will be held for MBL holders to increase MBL’s utility and promote CBK.
CBK will be airdropped to MBL holders according to the number of MBLs held at the time of the snapshot.
Airdrop will be distributed within a week from the snapshot date. The exact date of snapshot and the ratio of the airdrop amount will be announced later.
The snapshot will only be supported through the exchanges.
The list of exchanges will be updated via medium.
On the day and the day before the snapshot, deposits and withdrawals may be restricted on exchanges. Please check the deposit and withdrawal policy of the exchange before making a deposit.
Thank you
MovieBloc Team
MovieBloc.com | Telegram | Cobak Forum | Twitter | https://medium.com/moviebloc/mbl-snapshot-for-cbk-airdrop-8e7bbda79f0c | [] | 2020-12-17 04:26:23.400000+00:00 | ['Moviebloc', 'Snapshot', 'Airdrop', 'Cbk', 'Mbl'] |
Vue.js — Form各種表單與data的綁定. Vue關於資料的綁定，先前曾經提過使用{{… | 另外，我們來看看一個非標準的選項。
Pills
這種輸入方式是，在使用者輸入關鍵字並且在關鍵字後面打上逗號之後，逗號前面的資料就會成為一個項目輸入資料裡面。
雖然這不算是form表單裡面標準的欄位，但近來這種輸入方式已經蠻流行的。
我們試著在這個專案中建立一個。在這裡可以將它用在輸入「負責專案」的資料。
在以專案為主的工作中，一位使用者可能同時負責了多項專案，需要輸入多的項目。因此，可以透過pill的輸入方式來搜集這樣的資料。pill的外觀上看起來不一樣，實際上使用到的還是input欄位。於是先建立一個 <input> 。
在這input裏，使用者可以一次一個關鍵字的依序的輸入不同的專案名稱（或關鍵字）。我們希望這些輸入的名稱或關鍵字最後會被收錄在一個資料屬性裡面。
在所有資料尚未搜集完全之前，我們需要一個暫時儲存的地方，因此透過 v-model 綁定 tempProjects ，作為暫時儲存資料的地方。
<label for="projects">負責專案</label>
<input id="projects" type="text" v-model="tempProjects">
同時在data裡面設定一個tempProjects來接收輸入的暫時資料。
另外，data裡面再設定一個projects來接收所有被整理過的暫時的結果。這個projects為陣列。也就是把一項項暫時資料合併為一個array，放入projects裡面。projects存放的才是「負責專案」的最終資料。
export default { data() {
return {
...略...
tempProjects:"",
projects:[]
};
}, };
鍵盤事件 keyboard event
有時候我們需要使用到鍵盤事件。例如希望使用者在input中「輸入」關鍵字並且緊接在後面「打上」逗號之後，逗號前面的資料就會成為一個項目輸入資料裡面。
拆解前面的過程，可以分為兩個動作：一個是輸入input、另一個是打上逗號之後離開input。這兩個動作完全沒有透過滑鼠點擊，只用了鍵盤來實現。因此我們需要監聽鍵盤的事件。
監聽鍵盤事件的方式有keypress、keydown、keyup等等。我們在這裏使用了keyup事件：鍵盤按下之後放開會觸發的事件。亦即當使用者「下好離手」時，就會觸發監聽事件，並且執行addProject。
<input id="projects" type="text" v-model="tempProjects" @keyup="addProject">
基於此，我們還需要在methods裡面增加一個addProject函式如下。這個函式需要帶入event（或e）做為參數。
methods: { addProject(e) {
console.log(e);
}, },
使用console來看看會有什麼結果。可以發現，只要按一下鍵盤上的任何按鍵，event事件就會被偵測到。這當然也包含了「打上逗號」這個事件。在console中可以看到，輸入逗號時，會得到 key: “,” 。
我們接下來，就是要監聽這個事件。
因此，可以將上面的函式改寫如下：
methods: { addProject(e) {
if (e.key === "," && this.tempProjects) { // do something.... }
},
},
這裡使用兩種條件來判斷是否執行這個函式， && 符號的左邊與右邊都必須符合條件（true），整體才符合條件（true）。
兩種條件中的第一個，是依照使用者是否在鍵盤中輸入「逗號」（ e.key === “,” ）的鍵盤事件，作為判斷基礎。另一個條件是，逗號前面必須有輸入值（ this.tempProjects ），我們不希望內容放著空白，只因為輸入逗號就成為一個項目。因此在這裡加上 this.tempProjects 來判斷這個值是否存在（ 因為 v-model=”tempProjects” ）。
一但符合這兩種條件條件後，就可以把tempProjects取得的資料，透過push集中收錄projects裡面。
this.projects.push(this.tempProjects);
資料收錄完畢之後，將tempProjects重新指定為空，以清除input欄位殘存的文字，等待使用者再次輸入資料。
this.tempProjects = "";
截至目前為止，methods裡面的addProject函式程式碼應該為下面。
methods: { addProject(e) {
if (e.key === "," && this.tempProjects) {
this.projects.push(this.tempProjects);
this.tempProjects = "";
}
}, },
接下來，需要將整合的projects資料顯示在畫面上讓使用者可以看到。透過v-for，將結果依序循環的放在下面的地方：
<div v-for="project in projects" :key="project">{{project}}</div>
如畫面，逐一輸入文字並且加上逗號後，可以出現一組組的內容：
功能優化
到目前為止pill的功能似乎已經完成大半。不過，你會發現至少還有三個問題：
第一，在每個pill的字串中，都有一個「逗號」。逗號是我們啟動事件的一個提示符號，我們並不希望將這個符號收錄到每個字串資料裡面。
第二個問題，依照現在的功能，我們可以重複輸入一模一樣的字串，若不修正這個問題，就會導致日後產生很多重複的pill。這也是這個功能所不希望發生的。
最後，我們希望在編輯的過程中點擊已經加入的pill字串，可以直接刪除該項pill。接下來，將針對這三項來優化程式碼。
優化1：避免重複的輸入
首先，要避免重複的輸入。實際的作法上，可以透過判斷該次輸入的資料（tempProjects）是否與已經存在於projects裡面。易言之，就是放在暫存位置 tempProjects 的資料是否包含在 projects 陣列之中？我們可以將這個問題寫成下面的if 判斷式。
if(this.projects.includes(this.tempProjects)){ // do something... }
若判斷的結果不為真（false），才把tempProjects資料加入projects陣列裡面，反之，則不可以加入projects裡面。因此原來的程式碼就需要改為：
methods: { addProject(e) {
if (e.key === "," && this.tempProjects) {
if (!this.projects.includes(this.tempProjects)) {
// do something...
this.projects.push(this.tempProjects);
}
this.tempProjects = "";
}
}, },
也就是要在push之前，必須先進行這個條件的判斷。
優化2：逗號的問題
接著要處理逗號的問題。在此採用系統修飾鍵ctrl。亦即當使用者同時輸入「ctrl+ 逗號」時，才會觸發事件。
@keyup.ctrl="addProject"
因此需要在 @keyup 後面加上 ctrl ，這樣子就可以成功的排除「逗點」，讓它不會再出現。
優化3：點擊pill刪除
最後要增加刪除pill功能：點擊pill就可以刪除該pill的功能。
因此，我們需要在pill上面增加一個 click事件，這個事件取名為deleteProject，並且需要帶入參數。在這裡帶入project當作參數。
<div v-for="project in projects" :key="project"> <span @click="deleteProject(project)">{{ project }}</span> </div>
在methods裡面也需要增加一個deleteProject函式對應。
deleteProject(project){ // do something... }
我們透過javascript的filter來filter掉projects陣列中的元素，把資料從projects陣列中刪除。
filter() 會回傳一個陣列array，其條件是返回 return 後方為真『 true』 的物件。也就是要返回 project !== item 的物件。
deleteProject(project){ this.projects = this.projects.filter(function(item){
return project !== item
}) }
如此就可以透過點擊pill，刪除不要的項目。
Submit確認送出
表單製作的最後一個步驟，就是要把表單送出。一旦使用者按下送出按鈕，表單會檢查輸入的內容，並且送出通過檢查的資料。submit按鈕就是用來送出表單。
因此要在form標籤的最後（一般來說會放在 </form> 之前）增加一組submit按鈕。
<form> ...略... <button>建立帳號</button> </form>
增加完submit按鈕後，還要在form標籤（前半段 <form> 標籤）上面加上一個 @submit （v-on:submit），並且給定一個方法（這裡為handleSubmit方法）。另外，在 v-on:submit 後面加入prevent可以避免每次點擊submit，就重新整理畫面的問題。
<form @submit.prevent="handleSubmit">
在methods裡面，同時增加一個handleSubmit方法。
handleSubmit() { console.log("帳號建立！！！");
console.log("email", this.email);
console.log("密碼", this.password);
console.log("角色", this.role);
console.log("負責專案", this.projects);
console.log("興趣", this.fun);
console.log("閱讀並同意", this.terms); }
結論
透過v-model的使用，將資料進行雙向的綁定，可以讓Form表單介面在使用上更加的流暢。另外，由於我們在這裡沒有使用到任何儲存資料的資料庫，於是在這個函式裡面僅將資料透過console的方式顯示出來。日後有機會，可以將這個部分與MySQL或Firebase等資料庫串接後，透過修改handleSubmit方法，把資料傳送到資料庫裡面。 | https://medium.com/web-design-zone/vue-js-form%E5%90%84%E7%A8%AE%E8%A1%A8%E5%96%AE%E8%88%87data%E7%9A%84%E7%B6%81%E5%AE%9A-5749e43abb16 | ['Sean Yeh'] | 2021-07-12 15:46:46.733000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Vuejs', 'Javascript Frameworks', 'Vue'] |
How Google Spanner Assigns Commit Timestamps — The Secret Sauce of Its Strong Consistency | Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
Spanner is Google’s global scale and synchronously replicated relational database. Its research paper was first published in 2012. Spanner received much acclaim because it was the first system to distribute data at global scale and support strongly consistent distributed transactions. That seems to break the CAP theorem. But in fact, Spanner chooses consistency over availability in face of network partition. It’s just that Google’s data center infrastructure is so reliable that external users typically don’t worry about its outages. Google now offers Spanner as a service through its cloud platform.
There have been many blog posts that try to explain how Spanner works. But most of them just acknowledge that Spanner has accurate commit timestamps, and go on discussing other aspects of its functions or architectures. Few have really tried to provide a clear insight of how its accurate commit timestamps are chosen, which is the real secret sauce of its strong consistency. The answer to that is not just “yup, they have a TrueTime API”. In this blog post, I’ll explore its internal logic with you.
What’s the Big Deal of Accurate Commit Timestamps
First and foremost, we need to understand why accurate commit timestamps are important. In a nutshell, they bring order to the chaotic distributed systems. The fundamental challenge of distributed systems resides in the lack of synchronization among all the moving pieces. The lack of synchronization is partly by nature because things can fail frequently and unpredictably, and partly by design because the whole system would otherwise be extremely slow if all parts need to move together. Accurate commit timestamps instill a sense of ordering to the system. When all events can be tagged with the true timestamps when they happened, the system respects both the commit order and the global wall-time order. A system with that capability preserves linearizability, aka, external consistency, aka strong consistency. Concretely, once a write is committed, all reads that come after will know to reflect that because their timestamps are larger than the write timestamp. We can support a multi-version database and allow clients to trace the history at any point in time. We can even offer non-blocking atomic schema updates by assigning the update a future timestamp. To scale out performance, we can serve data from a replica as long as it’s sufficiently up-to-date, which again, can be determined from the accurate commit timestamps. By the way, Spanner does all those.
But globally accurate timestamps are incredibly hard. We can’t rely on machines’ local clocks because clock skew is real in distributed systems. Research has shown that a local clock could drift about a few milliseconds in merely 30 seconds. That would be catastrophic for a distributed system composed of tens of thousands of machines that want to use timestamps for event ordering. Spanner manages to overcome that by building a TrueTime API. The TrueTime API does not give you an absolute time — as its name may have suggested — instead, it exposes the time uncertainty in bounded intervals, which Spanner exploits to order transactions. We’ll see more later.
What’s a Commit Timestamp, Exactly
Before we go on further, we need to take a moment and think about what a commit timestamp really is. A common narrative would be that it’s the moment when all the writes in a transaction are written. While that definition serves its purposes in some scenarios, I prefer a different explanation in this discussion: the commit timestamp is a timestamp assigned to a transaction after it has acquired all the locks and before it releases any lock.
To appreciate its significance, see the following reasoning. Database transactions rely on two-phase locking to achieve isolation. A piece of data is protected by a read-write lock that allows shared reads but only one exclusive write at a time. If two parallel transactions don’t contend on locks, that means that they won’t mess up with each other, that they are truly concurrently, that they don’t have causal dependence, all of which ultimately means that we don’t have to stress too much about comparing their timestamps because their ordering is nondeterministic anyway. Clients would just accept that either one happens to complete faster than the other.
On the other hand, if two transactions contend on locks, one will acquire all the locks first and enter its transaction logic. The other will have to wait, and will be able to acquire locks when the first one starts releasing locks. Therefore, if we can assign a timestamp after the acquisition of all locks and before the release of any lock, the timestamp will reflect the execution order and their causal dependency.
The TrueTime API
Callers call TT.now() . The TrueTime API returns a [earliest, latest] interval. The absolute time falls in that interval. The essence of that is instead of telling us what time it is now, it tells us that the current time is between 10:30 and 10:35. That’s extremely useful, as we shall see later, because it bounds and exposes the clock uncertainty which the caller can in turn take advantage of. My “between 10:30 and 10:35” is just an illustrative exaggeration. In reality, the returned earliest and latest are only a few milliseconds apart. The interval is very narrow. Credit to the GPS and atomic clocks deployed in every Google data center. You may wonder what if the absolute time falls out of that interval due to errors. Google’s experiments showed that it’s six times less likely than a CPU failure. So in practice we don’t worry about it.
How to Assign Commit Timestamps
Spanner’s data is partitioned by table key for scalability. Each partition is then replicated for redundancy and performance. Within each partition, a leader is elected among the replicas. All writes go through the leader. Spanner uses multi-paxos to implement a time-based leader lease, and thus a partition (the leader + other replicas) is called a paxos group. The group will elect a new leader when the leader lease expires. The leader can extend its lease by sending “heartbeats”. A transaction only interacts with one partition if all its reads and writes concern data in that single partition.
Interjection: it’s OK if you don’t understand Paxos. It won’t affect your understanding of this blog post. In fact, interestingly, research has shown that learning Paxos prematurely actually hurt your chance of comprehending distributed consensus . I’ve written a blog post about Raft [https://levelup.gitconnected.com/raft-consensus-protocol-made-simpler-922c38675181], which is better suited for new learners who want to grasp distributed consensus and log replication.
When a transaction touches multiple partitions, a distributed transaction takes place. The spanner client library selects a coordinator out of the participating partitions, and starts a two-phase commit. Eventually, once the coordinator collects all the necessary information, it will assign the timestamp and inform the participants to commit the data.
In the single partition case, the partition leader needs to make sure the commit timestamp is larger than all of the previous commit timestamps it has assigned. This can be achieved through a commit wait. See figure-1 for an illustration.
Figure 1
For a transaction T_i , we call TT.now() after acquisition of all locks, and pick the timestamp C_i to be the returned latest . Then we spin until the next TT.now().earliest is larger than C_i . This guarantees that the commit timestamp falls in the exclusive interval of transaction T_i . A conflicting transaction T_(i+1) that happens after T_i commits will therefore have a commit timestamp C_(i+1) larger than C_i . It may seem that the wait is causing a noticeable delay on the transaction commit. But in practice, Spanner does other work in parallel to that wait, including replicating data across continents, by the end of which TT.now().earliest is long after C_i .
In the multiple partitions case, the coordinator needs to make sure the commit timestamp is larger than not only its own previous commit timestamps but also the commit timestamps other participants have previously assigned. The coordinator collects that information during the process of the two-phase commit. If you know the two-phase commit, you’ll know that there is a PREPARE phase in which the coordinator will receive responses from participants. Participants can send their previous commit timestamps in those responses. In the end, the coordinator will instruct other participants to commit, in which it can also communicate the chosen commit timestamp. But that detail is not important here. The takeaway is that there are pre-existing communication channels between the coordinate and other participants through which they can piggyback the commit timestamp information. See figure-2 for an illustration.
Figure-2
The coordinator acquires locks and picks its own commit timestamp C_a . It then waits for other participants to acquire their locks and send it their picks of commit timestamps ( C_b , and C_c ). The coordinator picks an overall commit timestamp C that’s the max of all. The coordinator then does the commit wait the same way as in the single partition case. When it’s safe to release locks, the coordinator does so and informs other participants. A new transaction may start in the coordinator right after it releases locks while other participants are still in locking. But that’s safe. Because if the new transition is a single partition transaction confined within the coordinator, it doesn’t concern data in other participants. But if it’s a distributed transaction, its overall commit timestamp C will have to wait for the previous transaction to release locks in other participants first since other participants only send their picks of the new commit timestamps after new locks acquisition.
Closing
I hope this blog post has provided some insights to how Spanner guarantees strong consistency. Next time, when people ask you that, you will be able to say: “it’s because Spanner waits out the clock uncertainty — which it obtains through the TrueTime API — and make sure the assigned commit timestamps fall in the exclusive interval of the transactions.” That’ll be all. See you next time. | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/how-google-spanner-assigns-commit-timestamps-the-secret-sauce-of-its-strong-consistency-8bc143614f26 | ['Eileen Pangu'] | 2020-12-29 13:31:12.428000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Distributed Systems', 'Cloud Spanner', 'Cloud Computing', 'Software Engineering'] |
peace | in the stillness of the night
i find peace
in the quiet of empty streets
i find peace
in the endless starry sky
i find peace
in the eyes of a young doe
i find peace
but when i look
at me and at you
i find a restless agony
a dead end road
minds that do not meet
a fallen bridge into the deep
and all i know
and all that you keep
we stand on opposite sides
of the street
while the world
grows impatient
we disregard peace
our stand-off of words
might better be left unsaid
with an olive branch in tow
i will meet you
on the old wooden bridge
over the river
of our destiny
or maybe our fate
it is peace
i am offering
take it
my dear friend
in a world
simmering in hate
— patty
*****
photo@unsplash | https://medium.com/@pblamp/peace-15b06de26b3a | ['Patty Brown'] | 2020-12-20 18:03:04.774000+00:00 | ['Peace', 'Olive Branch', 'Poem', 'Poetry', 'Words'] |
C# — Back to basics. I’ve been telling myself that I would… | I’ve been telling myself that I would get deeper into C# for the last 2 years — the time has come.
I learned C# in the 2D Unity Engine, but it didn’t give me the deeper understanding I was hoping for. I made a cool space shooter, but it just lacked… something. Didn’t really feel practical.
Missed out on Web Applications, RESTful web services, and modern development methodologies.
So — 2021 is the year of C# for me. I have a few projects in mind, but more on that later.
First step — buy a book. So, after searching around the internet for far too long I found a book by Dr. Andrew Lock titled ASP.NET Core in Action from Manning Publishing.
ASP.NET Core in Action
Got a digital version; planning on sitting down with it over the holiday and getting through the first couple of chapters .
If you want to follow along, you can buy a copy here.
Stay tuned — more to come soon. | https://medium.com/@edatreides/c-intro-ff158640a70b | ['Ed Atreides'] | 2020-12-29 12:44:07.697000+00:00 | ['C Sharp Programming', 'Leanring Journeys'] |
5 Pro-Tips For Data Scientists To Write Good Code | Photo by luis gomes from Pexels
5 Pro-Tips For Data Scientists To Write Good Code
The following advice is built from my experience moving from academia to working as a data scientist on a variety of projects across different data & engineering teams. Many data scientists (myself included) do not come from a computer science or software development background, so may not have formal training or good habits in code writing. These tips should help new or aspiring data scientists work collaboratively to write good code and build models in a way that will be easier to productionize.
Use Version Control
This is important for both collaboration and backups. It allows us to track the changes to a project as it undergoes development, useful for coordinating tasks and encouraging due diligence. Git is a powerful version control software, with the ability to branch parts of the development, track and commit changes, push and fetch from remote repositories, and merge code pieces together overcoming conflicts as necessary (https://git-scm.com/).
For additional details see my slideshare “Version Control & Git”
Make it Readable
A key component of collaborative coding is the ability to hand it over to other developers for review and use, meaning it has to be readable. This includes using appropriate variable and function names with explanatory comments where necessary, and regular inclusion of docstrings that introduce the piece of code and its details. It is also important to follow the relevant style guide for the language you’re using, e.g., PEP-8 in Python (https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/).
Keep it Modular
When writing code it’s important to keep it modular (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_programming). That is, to break it up into smaller pieces that execute separate tasks as part of the overall algorithm. This level of functionality makes it easy to:
control the scoping of variables, reuse modules of code, refactor code during further development, read, review and test code.
Write Tests
Try to consider what tests can be written alongside your code in order to check the validity of your assumptions and logic. These tests can be anything from a simulation of the expected inputs and outputs, to a series of unit tests to check the code functionality. A unit test generally exercises the functionality of the smallest possible unit of code (which could be a method, class, or component) in a repeatable way. For example, if you are unit testing a class, your test might check that the class is in the right state. Typically, the unit of code is tested in isolation: your test affects and monitors changes to that unit only. Ideally this forms part of a “Test Driven Development” framework for encouraging that all pieces of software are fully reviewed and tested before being integrated or deployed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development), minimising time spent refactoring and debugging later on.
Code for Production
Try to write your code as if you’re putting it into production. This will form good habits as well as make it easy to scale-up when it inevitably (hopefully) does go into production.
Consider “algorithm efficiency” and try to optimise to reduce runtime and memory use. “Big-O notation” is important here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation).
Also consider your code environment or ecosystem and avoid dependencies by, e.g., virtualisation either at the code level (Python virtualenv: https://conda.io/docs/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html) or at the operating system level (Docker containers: https://www.docker.com/what-container).
Production level code should also employ “logging” to make it easy to review, inspect and diagnose issues when executing the code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_file). | https://towardsdatascience.com/5-pro-tips-for-data-scientists-to-write-good-code-1fecef64ba09 | ['Jason Byrne Phd'] | 2020-05-29 23:43:53.494000+00:00 | ['Data Science Skills', 'Towards Data Science', 'Data Scientist', 'Data Science', 'Coding'] |
Create a Commute If You Work from Home! | Create a Commute If You Work from Home!
Fake it!
Photo by Tom Sodoge on Unsplash
Throughout my early twenties, I worked in the hospitality industry. Sometimes it was part-time while studying and other times it was full time. For those of you who have had the pleasure of working in a restaurant or pub, you’ll know that with those kinds of jobs comes a lot of walking. It was not uncommon for me to hit 30,000 steps in a day on a busy day. It helped that I’d also walk between 20 and 45 minutes to work (depending on the job and where I lived.)
Now I work from home, and my commute is the walk from my bedroom to my office… Which I’d guess is about 15 steps. Actually, hang on.
…
…
…
Ok, it’s 16 steps! Bonus step!
My point is that I’d gone from walking a hell of a lot to a very sedentary lifestyle. Also, since I moved in February I now live in a city centre, so everything is very close by. Even walking to the supermarket to buy groceries is only a ten-minute walk!
I was fast approaching the danger zone of laziness, but honestly, I’d been there a while, chilling on the sofa, eating cookies. Something had to change.
I decided to artificially increase my commute which is a fancy way of saying I got up of my ass and went for a walk at 6am every morning! I’d leave at the same time as my partner left for work, pretending I was also leaving for work. There are two benefits to treating this as an actual commute as opposed to just a walk.
1 — it becomes non-negotiable. If you worked in an office, you’d have no option but to travel to work. And technically I do work in an office. An office with a very relaxed dress code (hello underpants) and authoritarian control over the music. 2 — it means that once you get back from your ‘commute’, you know that it is TIME TO WORK BRADLEY! Not launch yourself down the rabbit hole of YouTube Recommended again!
Obviously, any exercise is good for you, but there are also specific benefits to a brisk walk first thing in the morning. | https://medium.com/the-post-grad-survival-guide/create-a-commute-if-you-work-from-home-8452e6c8ce48 | ['Bradley Allen'] | 2019-05-11 06:09:22.789000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Productivity', 'Self', 'Self Improvement', 'Life'] |
Resentment. | Resentment. It is a nasty word that plagues so many of us. Sometimes it is over little things that mean nothing, and other times it is over major things in our lives that can make things detrimental. I can truly say that the fact that I am even feeling any resentment right now angers me beyond words.
My sons are toddlers. My oldest is 3 and my youngest is 2.5. They are both on the Autism Spectrum. My oldest is moderately Autistic and my youngest is severely. Why am I bringing this up? Because this is the foundation of some of my feelings.
Let me start off by saying that I feel like the worst person and parent in the world for what I am about to talk about. There is so much guilt that is festering with me about talking about it. But one thing that I am trying to do is talk about my feelings and stop burying them, because for all I know someone else out there is feeling the same thing and needs to know that they are not alone.
There are some mornings, (okay most mornings), that I resent the fact that my kids get me up anytime between 4am-5am. I put them down late I try and put them down early and they still get up at that time every morning. They even talk melatonin at night because they still do not sleep through the night. So not only do they not sleep through the night but they like to get up extremely early. I have learned that that is my reality and something that I need to accept, but it is still hard. Especially since I also work a full time job, and my husband works a full time job at night. My kids are toddlers and yet I just feel so tired and beaten down by this every day process.
I also resent the fact that at 4 am when they are awake I have to try to keep them as quiet as possible because we live on the 3rd floor of an apartment building. I am sure that our neighbors hate us for how loud the kids are during the day, let alone that early in the morning, or again the fact that they do not sleep through the night and cry throughout it. I REALLY resent the fact that I even have to worry about what the neighbors think of us because they don’t understand what my life is like.
Most of all though, I resent myself. I resent myself for having these feelings. For wishing that my kids would sleep in so that I could get some sleep. For wishing that I didn’t have to worry about what people thought about my family. I resent myself for not being happy that I have a home to live in, kids that are healthy and happy, a job to work at and food on the table. I also resent the fact that I have two special needs kids and trying to get people to understand how my days go and how tough it can be is like talking to a brick wall. If people truly understood and cared then they would give me a break. They would know that I am trying my best, that most days I feel so incredibly inadequate.
I hate having so much resentment inside of me. It can truly be really damaging. So I know I just verbally vomited everything and it may not make sense, but I had to get it out of me. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully my perspective will be different when I get up with my kids so early, but for today, it just isn’t there. And that is okay. | https://medium.com/@caitlinoggy/resentment-27c2e77cf99a | ['Caitlin Ogburn'] | 2020-12-19 16:11:29.416000+00:00 | ['Special Needs Parenting', 'Resentment', 'Kids', 'Early Riser', 'Tired'] |
America in Black and White | If Bernie accomplished anything sacrificing his self-respect to become the Democratic Party’s prison girlfriend, it was to elevate racism, the fate of the Rust Belt, and economic inequality to front-page stories. The problem is as long as racism, the fate of the Rust Belt, and economic inequality are separate topics talked about by different people in different ways nothing changes.
One of the reasons economic inequality has ramped up as high as it is has been the clever division of the people impacted. Poor people of color are victims of racism while poor white people are too lazy to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. Encourage the POC to feel jealous of the chances the dumb whites throw away like empty PBR cans. Get the white folks to believe POC live off handouts. Blacks vote for Dem candidates who say they’ll help but don’t, poor whites elect Trump who promises not to and doesn’t.
Poor whites make good copy. There’s a new book, Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America.” There’s also a new movie out of an old book, Hillbilly Elegy. The National Review has its own white trash story up and the MSM has made parachuting elite columnists into the Heartland to write thought pieces into a sub-genre that could sit aside Business and Sports on the masthead. Whatever all those writers think their point is, their point ends up being poor whites are very different than poor blacks.
The fascination with writing about white trash is because poor white people are a stand in for poor blacks. Kinda by proxy, the way the movie M*A*S*H* set in Korea was really criticism of America’s war in Vietnam. White liberals can say anything they want about Appalachians, stuff they can’t get away with saying about blacks. That avoids anyone seeing the story is all the same story, just whitewashed with claims of racism.
Nick Kristof of the New York Times, in his from the Heartland book, visited Jackson, Kentucky to be shocked by white parents taking their kids out of school because improved academic performance would threaten Social Security disability benefits. These benefits have accrued as various feel-good administration gestures to the point where they are are paid out for loosely defined learning disorders in eight-year-olds. Dumb hicks, throwing away their one chance, education, for a quick handout. But Kristof stumbles in accidental honesty: “This is painful for a liberal to admit, but conservatives have a point when they suggest that America’s safety net can sometimes entangle people in a soul-crushing dependency.” Um, make that white people.
Next up is Kevin Williamson, who in Big White Ghetto writes without controversy “welfare has made Appalachia into a big and sparsely populated housing project — too backward to thrive, but just comfortable enough to keep the underclass in place.” Now imagine the exact sentence with a little tweak — “welfare has made parts of Newark into a big and sparsely populated housing project — too backward to thrive, but just comfortable enough to keep the black underclass in place” and all hell breaking loose on Maddow. Imagine if Ta Nehisi Coates, instead of making a career out of cataloging black victimhood, saying “Stop getting pregnant and smoking weed. They hiring at KFC.”
Or try this one: “The government gives people checks, but nobody teaches them how to live,” says a former high school principal who spoke with Williamson in Kentucky.” Now imagine your favorite conservative talk radio host saying “the problem among blacks is the government gives them checks, but never teaches them how to live.” Shall we talk about single moms in Appalachia whose baby daddies cook meth or shall we talk about deadbeat black dads who cook meth in the South Bronx? Write a book about the former and you’ll vie for a Pulitzer. Try that with the latter without making it a how-to on victimhood and Oprah will skin you alive.
For another taste of the same, remember SNL’s Appalachian Emergency Room, featuring rednecks with comical injuries; one ongoing character came in with all sorts of things stuck up his anus. It was as if the Beverly Hillbillies image of rural people had never been updated. Imagine if Amos and Andy were still on, or maybe just a new series called Ghetto Emergency Room featuring hilarious episodes of gunshots and Fentanyl ODs. The Simpsons scored virtue points writing off Apu after concerns about racism but kept Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel voiced by the same Jewish actor from Queens who did Apu. How about an “urban” Deliverance, with white adventurers stalked through the slums of Detroit?
The current pimp daddy of white trash stories is Hillbilly Elegy. A forced viewing showed it is to broad truth what hemorrhoids are to pleasant mornings. Just when you would think they had exhausted every “hick in the big city” cliche used since Midnight Cowboy the protagonist gets invited to a fancy dinner party and is intimidated by the multiple forks set out.
Figure a guy like the main character in Elegy who went through an undergrad education, the Marine Corps, and got into Yale could puzzle it all out. What to do with all the forks was even fully explained in the Titanic dinner scene, where the exact same scenario played out to illustrate hickdom. One wonders how many movies featuring POC would do the same. Even Eddie Murphy in Trading Places ultimately turned his street smart lack of White Manners into an advantage. Imagine the Elegy guy saving the day at Yale in a tobacco spitting contest!
Among the other terrible things about Elegy is a near total lack of empathy for its characters. They are all presented as terrible people, their problems their own fault and made worse by their own actions. They are not presented as victims of larger forces (such as racism or urban gentrification), as is common in stories about POC (think Boyzz in the Hood or Do the Right Thing.) There is no leavening poor white problems, even the shared drug problem. Blacks are victims of some white conspiracy, maybe even the CIA, flooding the ‘hood with narcotics. White trash? They have no self-restraint. Same as them using abortion as a cure for recreational sex. Victimhood versus self-sabotage.
We tend to forget the War on Poverty, first aimed at poor whites, failed to help them, as it later failed to help blacks. Too much welfare of the wrong kind without real jobs to back it just created generational dependencies. But we can only talk about one demographic group that way.
That seems to be mixed in to the take away from another new book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again. Author Robert Putnam concludes the many gaps between blacks and whites — education, health, employment, financial — narrowed between 1940 and 1970, driven by the Great Migration into northern industrial jobs. Then around 1970 black life fell into a decline which continues today.
Putnam misses the big picture to blame racism. From 1940 to 1970 the lives of lower class Americans of all races improved, especially up north where what became the Rust Belt was then the manufacturing center of the universe. Everyone rose, and fell, the same. Real, adjusted wages were never higher for all Americans then in 1972. But the The Upswing only follows part of the crowd back down. It misses Buchanan County, 99 percent white marooned in southwest Virginia, is among the nation’s most destitute places.
So today we are allowed to mock one failed group as dumb Trump rednecks and treat them like subjects of a nature documentary. Blacks, they’re victims with reparations due. Don’t expect much progress for either group until we are allowed to talk openly about both. Try saying all American lives matter and you risk a broken nose. Wake me when a book called Urban Elegy with its get-to-work ethic up front becomes a best seller.
And if you’ve read this far, please don’t think this is too original a thought. Lyndon Johnson pretty much issued the basic thesis statement in 1960 years before he kicked off the War on Poverty, in Appalachia, for the poor white people who were then the Democratic base. Johnson said “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket.”
Peter Van Buren is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, and Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99 Percent. | https://medium.com/@wemeantwell/america-in-black-and-white-67847228c00b | ['Peter Van Buren'] | 2020-12-19 14:38:17.452000+00:00 | ['Hillbilly Elegy', 'One Percent', 'Appalachia', 'Poverty', 'Economic Inequality'] |
Optimize Your Payables to Maximize Cash Flow | Optimize Your Payables to Maximize Cash Flow
US businesses waste over $200B annually on antiquated, manual, paper-based, poorly controlled payment processes. In response to the extreme changes and business obstacles brought forth by COVID-19, CFO’s and other key decision-makers are searching for new ways to reduce inefficiencies and cut costs. The decision to switch over to electronic payments processes is proving to be an effective route, allowing finance teams to immediately — and often dramatically — reduce costs, improve operational efficiencies, optimize cash flow, and align finance with the company’s larger digital transformation initiatives. The result? AP departments, traditionally viewed as cost centers, are showing how optimizing their payables can help maximize cash flow while allowing the department to keep up with increasing pressures to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively.
When it comes to AP Payments as a Service solutions, no two solutions are alike. For businesses exploring AP Payments solutions, there are several factors to keep in mind. First, it should be one that is electronic first, but still has the capability to support multiple payment options, including the more traditional pay-by-check method. Even though paper checks are losing their grip on B2B payments volume, some suppliers still prefer them. Three years from now, it is expected that electronic payments via ACH will finally surpass the volume of paper checks — but in order for companies to really reap the benefits of an automated and electronic payment approach, they must find the right set of tools and processes to enable that type of meaningful transformation.
Payments as a service solutions offer a wide range of benefits, including offering suppliers multiple payment options, while helping buyers to reduce or even eliminate operational costs. Additionally, by providing key insights and real-time visibility of all payments, AP staff are unencumbered, left to focus on more value-added activities instead of being bogged down in manually driven AP processes.
So, what are the barriers to adoption keeping companies from embracing AP Payments as a Service solutions? “A lot of the time folks just aren’t asking the right questions,” stated Ernest Rolfson, Finexio CEO. In a recent presentation , Rolfson highlights some of the key questions that AP teams should ask — questions that will help to systematically identify which suppliers can be shifted over to another payment type, so your company can generate more cash flow and cut down on operational costs.
A common concern when evaluating electronic Payment solutions is ‘How will my existing AP processes change?’ With Payments as a Service, like the one provided by Finexio, you don’t have to change or alter your existing AP processes or invest in learning or adapting to new technologies. Clients can continue working in the same financial systems, using the tools they’re already comfortable working in. Finexio can connect to all the major ERP and Accounting systems to ensure that for the client, the transition is seamless and easy. Instead of AP staff spending countless hours printing, labeling, stuffing, and mailing paper checks, Finexio’s integrated technology solution and white glove customer support services will work to customize payment methods that are right for your suppliers. The result? Improved cash flow, reduced operational costs, and holistic insights via the Finexio portal customer dashboard.
To learn more about Finexio’s AP Payments-as-a-Service solutions, as well as the future of AP processes, check out a recent virtual session where Finexio CEO, Ernest Rolfson shares his perspectives on these topics and more. | https://medium.com/finexio/optimize-your-payables-to-maximize-cash-flow-6c03c0427d71 | ['Finexio Marketing'] | 2020-12-16 15:10:45.827000+00:00 | ['Payments', 'Accounting', 'Fintech', 'Finexio The Network', 'Cashflow'] |
“Have perseverance and just start” with Stephanie Andujar — Fem Founder™ | Starring in theatre performances from ‘The Wiz,’ ‘The Crucible,’ ‘The Good Woman of Setzuan,’ to Television and Film including: ‘Blue Bloods,’ ‘Law & Order: SVU’, the Academy Award-winning film ‘Precious’, ‘Marjorie Prime’, …While embarking on her acting career, Stephanie Andujar also obtained her Business Degree at Pace University in New York City. In 2016, Stephanie created Andujar Productions with her family and has been creating content around the clock. From web series to music videos, Stephanie is a force to be reckoned with. https://stephanieandujar.com/
Can you tell our readers about your background?
StephA: Yeah, I was born and raised in New York City and been performing forever (lol). I’ve been doing it since I was 12 years old and got discovered at a young age. I then went to Talent Unlimited High School for Drama. After that, I attended PACE University to get my bachelor’s degree in Business.
What inspired you to start your business?
StephA: Instead of waiting for another opportunity, I decided to create my own. I’d been performing for so long and said why not make a production company. In 2016 I formed Andujar Productions with my family and made a web series, music videos, and so much more. It felt good to finally have something of my own and put out what my fans would like too.
Where is your business based?
StephA: It’s primarily based in NYC but my work reaches a lot of people all over the world. Thank God! (lol).
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
StephA: I took a leap of faith and started filming with my cell phone. I knew I wanted to do a web series and worked with what I had. Then from there I kept learning different programs and applied them to my work. Andujar Productions then became a trademark and that was a process too. From there I just started promoting it via social media to my fans and the demand became great.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
StephA: Just creating and sharing the work via social media. With all these platforms, you’re able to reach so many people. I also make sure to share on our websites, in case someone doesn’t have a social media channel. Word of mouth is also that old school way of raising awareness for your business that I recommend.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
StephA: Trying to stay positive with all the work you do. Sometimes I get so caught up in producing content that I don’t see the big picture. Believing in myself reminds me that what I’m doing is important and it’s making people happy whether I know it or not. All the setbacks can lead to becoming stronger and keep putting out what I love.
How do you stay focused?
StephA: I just remember everything I’ve been through and what it took to get here. I’ve always been disciplined in what I do and know that it takes commitment to see the results you want. It’s also something I love to do so staying focused is not too difficult.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
StephA: I stay in my own lane, you know? I create what works for me and Andujar Productions. Everyone is different in their way and what works for them is for them. As long as I’m happy with what I’m doing for my business, then we’re good. By getting this far, I know I’m already winning no matter what.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
StephA: I’ve been blessed with many media outlets, such as this one, who’ve been kind to spread the word about my Production Company and all the work I’ve done. Also, again, social media has been great to share everything we’re creating too. There is power in the hashtags (lol).
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
StephA: Have perseverance and just start. It won’t be easy but it’ll be worth it because of all the work you’ll do to succeed. Believe in yourself too.
What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
StephA: I love the Simpsons Tapped out App (lol) it’s fun because there’s this whole town you can control and create. I also loved reading “The Book of Unholy Mischief.” It takes place in Venice in the late 1400s and it’s just a really great book on life’s wonder…food.
What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
StephA: Staying on top of business trends. Just by reading the trades and updating myself with things that are changing within the industry. Reading good old articles will always be a great resource to access, which helps you manage your business.
Who is your business role model? Why?
StephA: I’ve always admired Selena Quintanilla and loved that she was a businesswoman too. She showed that you can be a performer but you can also run your own business too. If she can do it, I can do it too, you know. I’ve always had this business side in me and it’s cool to know she was another Latina who did it too.
How do you balance work and life?
StephA: I dance, bike, do kickboxing, and a lot to stay active. Getting those endorphins going always helps (lol). I also spend time with my Chihuahua Teeka and my turtle. They make me feel good when life gets hectic but I remember why I’m doing what I do and it’s for them too (lol).
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
StephA: I love watching a good movie or Hell’s Kitchen (lol).
What do you have planned for the next six months?
StephA: I have a lot of projects set up. I’m currently working on the rest of the Episodes for my web series StephA:One Woman Show and I have another song that will be coming out soon too. So many other things are lined up these coming months and I hope to keep growing spiritually as well.
How can our readers connect with you?
StephA: Always happy to connect (lol) via Instagram @Stephanie_Andujar_
Twitter @StephAndujar & StephanieAndujar.com | https://medium.com/fem-founder/have-perseverance-and-just-start-with-stephanie-andujar-fem-founder-9d1c98c660d9 | ['Kristin Marquet'] | 2020-12-31 20:25:58.185000+00:00 | ['Female Founders', 'Female Entrepreneurs', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
“Pansexual”: An Etymological Timeline | When people write and talk about pansexual orientation, a common emerging pattern is claiming that “pansexual” is a new term, some folks even claiming that it didn’t exist until the 2000s. This, however, is simply misinformation. The word “pansexual” itself has been around for almost a century now, and people have adopted it as a sexual identity for decades in various ways.
Since few people know much — if anything — about the origins and evolution of this term, a compilation of its uses felt in order. The following is a virtually exhaustive look at the history of the word “pansexual” and where we find it today.
Note: This timeline does not show every single instance of the word “pansexual.” Sources that direct to scientific journal articles behind paywalls can be accessed in full via a Sci-Hub URL. Access to old New York Times articles may require an account.
1910s
1914–1915: In a volume of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, J. Victor Haberman criticizes Sigmund Freud’s method of psychoanalysis. One thing Haberman points out is his theory that all human activity is motivated by a “sexual instinct.” He — not Freud, contrary to popular belief — refers to it as “pan-sexualism.”
The “parts” of the [Freudian] theory may be enumerated as follows: The infantile or childhood’s “sexual trauma” as cause of hysteria; the pan-sexualism of mental life which makes every trend revert finally to the sexual; the mechanism of repression and displacement; this repressed material, always sexual…
1950s
1952: In a speech, Pope Pius “laid down a moral code for doctors and medical researchers and severely censured ‘the pansexual method of a certain school of psychoanalysis’” (i.e., Freud’s theory of pansexualism) over concerns of Christian morality.
1960s
1962: As mentioned by a scientific journal article discussing crowding in animal populations, “[John] Calhoun’s study of wild Norway rat populations showed deviant sexual behavior by some individuals which he called ‘pansexuals.’ Their sexual behavior was indiscriminate in regard to the sex and age of the other individuals which they approached and mounted.”
1964: In The Lesbian in America, Donald Webster Cory says:
Most modern psychological theories of the origin of individual lesbianism start from an assumption that women (and men, as well) are innately bisexual; and that they are born with a capability to obtain gratification in many different ways, from those of the same sex, and of the other sex, from themselves, and even from other animal species. This capacity, which has been termed polymorphous perverse [the ability to gain sexual gratification outside socially normative sexual behaviors], might be called, in a word that is probably more communicative to most of us, pansexual. But the pansexuality of humans takes primarily three forms: gratification from oneself (the autosexual or masturbatory), from one’s own sex, and from those of the other. Hence, most people can be said to be innately bisexual in capacity or potential — and observation made not only by Freud, but by many of his contemporaries, including the distinguished American psychologist, William James.
1970s
We see the first instances of “pansexuality” as a human sexual orientation, but it primarily take on other related contexts.
1971: An article about McJagger states that “Jagger’s androgynous quality seems to heighten his attraction to both men and women. The oversized masculine head on a girl’s slender body, the limp gestures, and the tough mouth combine to produce a pansexual figure of almost mystical force.”
1973: James Nolan writes “The Third Sex: Hold On, It’s Coming” for Rampart Magazine. He names a “third sex” of people who we’d likely call nonbinary today (“neither Real Men nor Real Women”). They “are attracted to people, their auras, vibrancies, minds and good looks, not to genders. Fuck genders. Make love to people.” Nolan uses the word “pansexual” to refer to loosened attitudes towards sexuality as well as an orientation he describes his friends as, “avoiding the older term bi-sexual, which is meaningless when you can count more than two sexes.”
We can assume that if Nolan believes the “third sex” has a sexual orientation, it would be “pansexual,” but he never directly says this beyond saying they have “I-don’t-care-what-you-call-me, polymorphous perverse, any thing-that-feels-good-goes pansexuality,” which could very well just refer to openness to sexual activity.
January 1974: Serial killer Alton Coleman is arrested. During his time in prison, a prison psychiatric profile identified him as “pansexual, willing to have intercourse with any object … man, woman, child, whatever…”
April 1, 1974: In a New York Magazine article about bisexuality, Judy Klemesrud says: “Whether you call a person who is able to have sex with a male or female bisexual, AC-DC, a switch-hitter, ambisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or, in Freud’s words, ‘polymorphous perverse,’ his or her sexual persuasion is certainly nothing new.”
April 16, 1974: Martha Weinman Lear writes for The New York Times. She describes pansexuality as loving “jonquils, lovebirds, trained seals, the whole rich range of our furred and feathered friends.” In the context of the article, she’s most likely being satirical, viewing bisexuality as a “slippery slope,” or, in her words, “a mere beginning, a mere toe‐dipping into the great blue waters of erotica.”
May 1974: Noel Coppage reviews two music albums from Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot in an article. He passively mentions pansexuality once but doesn’t define it.
August 1974: Singer-songwriter Alice Cooper brought up pansexuality in an interview. He did not identify as pansexual, but rather “prefer[red] the concept of pansexuality, rather than bisexuality.” “The prefix ‘pan,’” he said, “means that you’re open to all kinds of sexual experiences, with all kinds of people. It means an end to restrictions, it means you could relate sexually to any human being…” Notably, just before that, he said: “I think in the future everyone will be bisexual. And everything would be so much simpler then — you’d just make love with anyone you liked, and it wouldn’t matter what sex they were… or anything, except that you liked them.”
1976: Tom Burk describes pansexuality in similar ways to Alice Cooper, i.e., sexual openness “to demonstrate their uniqueness.” Otherwise, he doesn’t explicitly define it. An interviewed man calls this time “an era without labels, in which [this generation of kids] can be just sexual people.”
1977: Jeannette Smyth calls singer-songwriter Peter Allen’s appeal “pansexual” because of his popularity with women and gay men.
Allen, who was in town last weekend to play American University (he returns next week to the Warner), makes it on an appeal that has been called “pansexual” by no less a dancing fool and society observer than Dan Rather. Allen’s new manager, the formidable Dee Anthony, prefers to explain it by saying that “Women love him. They find him very sexually attractive,” which is more or less true (he has these great loose-jointed legs and navy-blue-and-white-spectator shoes). But Allen has a big-city gay cult following, and maintains that the larger audience to which he aspires rejects tired old macho totems (a trend even Mick Jagger, self-appointed king of the gender blur, might keep a weather eye on. It was rock and roll’s machismo, after all, in whose tradition Jagger sang all those sweet little songs about having so-called “girls” under his so-called thumb).
1979: Sam Julty writes in his book, Men’s Bodies, Men’s Selves, that “sexuality can be seen as a broad rainbow… In time labels will be forgotten and the terms, ‘heterosexual,’ ‘homosexual,’ ‘bisexual,’ ‘pansexual’ will no longer describe people and will only apply to choices people make.” This is the only place in the entire 453-page book he mentions pansexuality (never providing a definition), which is incredibly odd considering he mentions the former three plenty of times.
1980s
BDSM groups pick up the term, starting with play parties in San Francisco. Some researchers hypothesize that the word gained popularity because of BDSM. One bisexual interviewed for Bi Community News says that when she came out as bisexual in the 80s, “the label pansexual it didn’t involve any kind of gender nuance: it was how someone explained their bisexuality feeling interwoven with their Pagan beliefs.”
1982: Rita Mae Brown talks about how she was kicked out of the University of Florida for
her “pansexuality,” as she puts it. “I was open to loving anybody.” An officer of her sorority called her in and said, “White ladies aren’t seen with ‘nigras.’ Would you want to marry one?” Rita Mae recalls her angry reply: “I don’t care if I fall in love with a black or a white or a man or a woman or an old or young person. I just care that they have a good heart…”
1984: United Press International writes that a newspaper refused to distribute a Parade magazine for the “‘offensive’ moral content” in its lead article on sex. The Parade article identified “eight sexual styles,” one of which was “‘the pansexual’ who [has] ‘frequent sex’ and believe[s] they are ‘great lovers’[.]”
January 1985: In Men and Feminism in Modern Literature, “pansexuality” seems to be defined as egotism: “In that sense, she prefigures the pansexuality of the modern narcissist, who discourages deep attachments because he cannot cope with the risk of self-revelation, but who finds in an endless series of strangers the approval needed to inflate his always tenuous self-esteem.”
February 1985: In an article entitled “The Androgyny Myth,” describes musician Prince as “a 5’4” flamboyant pansexual pervert who would make it his motorcycle if he could reach the throttle at the same time.” Never in his life, however, has Prince stated his sexual orientation. It’s likely that the author was referring to Prince’s famous promiscuity.
June 1985: Richard Cromelin publishes an article about The Smiths, a then-upcoming band. “While rawer on stage than on record, the music was still clean and light enough to represent a real alternative to the electronic and hard-rock establishments. Morrissey writes mostly love songs, which are just ambiguous enough to allow him to claim that they’re pansexual rather than gay.” What either man means by “pansexual” is unknown, especially since bisexuality isn’t mentioned, either.
1986: In a review of a biography of French writer Colette, Rebecca Pepper Sinkler says that “Colette (1873–1954) possessed pansexual appetites, failing to discriminate between male and female, old and young, so long as the flesh moved her.”
1987: In The Triumph of Vulgarity, rock music is described as “pansexual,” a genre that “thrives on ambiguity… The ideal rock star is sexuality incarnate. He is the focus of every possible taste. He is indiscriminate in his appeal and therefore vulgar.”
1988: A passage from Buying Time says: “Little did Dallas know that his newly rediscovered heartthrob was a pansexual nymphomaniac, willing to try anything twice!!” We can assume that this pansexuality refers to openness to various sexual acts.
1989: In a paper on borderline personality disorder, Juan Mario Herakovic states:
In 1949 Hoch and Polatin attempted to redefine the concept of “borderline patients” by making its diagnosis more clear. They attempted to move away the concept of the borderline from a nebulose criteria of an undefined state lying somewhere between neuroses and psychoses and spoke of the borderline syndrome as a variant of a schizophrenic state. However, they recognized neurotic traits in these patients in a variety of areas, including sexual and social maladjustment, depressive states, compulsions, phobias, hypersensitivity to criticism, proneness to violence and rage. Hoch and Polatin labeled these traits “panneurosis,” further labeling the anxious traits of these individuals as “pananxiety” and the sexual patterns of promiscuous sexual behavior and perversions as “pansexuality.”
1990s
1990: Tom Geller’s Bisexuality: A Reader and Sourcebook defines pansexuality in two ways: “One who recognizes that one’s sexual capabilities transcend humanity; that inanimate objects, animals, plants, and concepts can also be sexually exciting,” and “One whose sexual interests include people who are gender minorities, i.e. not male or female.” (In this book, however, the term “gender minority” seems to refer to intersex people.) He goes on to say the second definition “is usually implied by the word Bisexual.”
1992: John Leland writes for Newsweek. He describes Madonna’s “Sex” book as full of “ erotic photos and writings, celebrating sadomasochism, homosexuality, exhibitionism and other pansexual delights[.]”
April 1993: In an article reporting on the new magazine, Esquire Gentleman, Woody Hochwender “labels the magazine ‘pansexual,’ saying ‘it’s not gay, not really straight either in its sensibility. It appeals to almost anybody.”
May 1993: In an article about glam rock, Evelynn McDonald says that “[m]usicians like Mr. Bowie, Lou Reed and Marc Bolan dressed in platform shoes, feather boas and purple eye shadow. Meshing cheesy pop with pretentious art-rock, their music inspired a giddy, glittery pansexual liberation.” None of the aforementioned men identified their sexuality as pansexual — Reed identified as gay despite marrying three women during his life, Boland claimed bisexuality, and Bowie clained and later retracted his previous gay and bisexual identities — so we could perhaps assume that pansexuality is used here within the context of pop culture, if not the “popularity among various kinds of people” definition.
September 1993: Mim Udovitch interviews singer k.d. lang, describing her appeal as “pansexual; she is [simultaneously] a beautiful woman and a cute boy sort of like Jean Seberg after a light course of hormone therapy. She is a babe. She is one butch babe.” Pansexuality here seems to describe androgyny.
1994–1998: As their now-defunct website states, “Cuir Underground was a San Francisco-based magazine for the pansexual kink communities, published from Fall 1994 to Summer 1998.”
1994: In Borderwork: Feminist Engagements with Comparative Literature, Greta Gaard notes in an essay that sociologist Paula C. Rust rejected the word “bisexual” because it emphasizes “the biological sex characteristics of potential romantic partners.” Rust said we should “banish the concept of partner sex from our vocabulary,” suggesting the term “pansensual” to describe sexuality outside of a “merely genital” framework. Gaard wants us to see “pansensuality” as not only distinct from bisexuality but more expansive.
June 26, 1994: An article on Keanu Reeves says that his “enigmatic face suggests a computer-generated composite of every known race and gender. His affect is pansexual and so is his appeal. At the trill of his name — say key-AH-noo — fans female and male heave libidinal sighs.”
July/August 1995: Comparing East Coast and West Coast BDSM communities, Mistress Veronika Frost says:
S/M play with more than one gender is common here [in the West], and those who engage in such play may call themselves bi, lesbian, gay, het, queer or something else entirely. Rules are less strict about orientation identity and behavior being congruent with each other. ‘Pansexuality’ seems to be increasing in popularity. ‘Cross-orientation play’ (gay men playing with dykes, gays and lesbians playing with heterosexuals and vice versa, etc.) got its start in San Francisco in the early 1980s.
“Cross-orientation play” seems to be synonymous with “pansexuality” here.
September 1995: All essays discussed are found in Naomi Tucker’s Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions.
In her essay “Identity and Ideas,” Liz A. Highleyman discusses strategies and potential goals for the bisexual movement. She notes that “some proponents of sexual and gender liberation have coined terms such as ‘pansexual’ and ‘omnisexual’ to describe their aspirations, but no term for this movement has so far reached common usage.”
Mykel Board’s “Pimple No More” argues that identity politics limits progress. She suggests we eliminate sexual identities but also theorizes that “everyone is bisexual.” She proposes the word “pansexual” to describe her theory. “Those who feel uncomfortable about using bisexual in a new way might try this term to see if it makes things easier.” In this context, pansexuality refers to her theory of sexuality rather than a separate orientation. She emphasizes that everyone has bisexual “potential,” so to speak, and everyone should feel free to move about in the “sexual sphere.”
In “Too Butch to Be Bi (or You Can’t Judge a Boy By Her Lover),” Robin Sweeney says: “A number of lesbian women and gay men I met did S/M [sadomasochism] together, but did not consider themselves bisexual. They were simply doing what has come to be called ‘pansexual play.’”
In “Pansies Against Patriarchy,” Sunfrog mentions pansexuality and some other new labels, though only once. He says the new terms go beyond limitations of language, include “the entire scope of sensuality,” and “also love trees, rivers, the sky, and food¹.”
October 1995: Owen McNally states that writer and sexologist Gore Vidal “argues that people are neither homosexual nor heterosexual but pansexual.” McNally does not elaborate and bisexuality is not mentioned in this article, but Vidal was openly bisexual. Furthermore, other sources, including Vidal’s own writing, actually show that he claimed humans were innately bisexual, not pansexual. Why McNally chooses to use the latter term instead is unknown.
January 1996: In “My Life as a Dom,” found in The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader, Liz Highleyman says:
Pansexual is another confusing term. Some people use it to refer to groups or events that admit all genders and sexual orientations. Others use it to designate people or groups that specifically prefer or encourage multigender, multiorientation, “mixed energy” spaces and play.
February 1996: Carol Queen, writing for Cuir Underground, states:
Still others reject monosexuality, all right — but they reject bisexuality too, in favor of “pansexual,” “metasexual,” or “just sexual.” I admit to some sympathy with this choice of nomenclature. “Bisexuality” doesn’t describe the parts of my sexuality that respond to sex toys, some kinds of SM play, animals, nongendered fantasy objects, certain transgendered persons whose preference when asked “male or female?” is “neither,” and that ineffable sexual energy Tantric practice seeks to harness.
June 1996: Hank Burchard notes that “Biographers and art historians have concluded that Eakins was, if not a closet homosexual, a ‘pansexual,’ intensely interested in the human form and the full spectrum of human sexuality.” Bisexuality is not mentioned in this article.
1997: A (seemingly abandoned) website for Knot for Everyone (KFE), a BDSM support group in New Jersey, says that KFE is “a pansexual group and welcome[s] singles as well as couples, age 21 and over.”
1997: Transgender Care: Recommended Guidelines, Practical Information, and Personal Accounts defines the term “pansexual attractions” as “a liberating and newly coined reference to individuals who are primarily attracted to all individuals and all sexes.”
1997: In The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities, Dossie Easton defines pansexuality as “including everyone as a sexual being: straight, bi, lesbian, gay, transgendered, queer, old, young, disabled, perverts, male, female, questioning, in transition.” This is not in terms of personal identity, however; Easton refers to the fact that when discussing sexual lifestyles, she will acknowledge the entire spectrum of humanity as potential sexual subjects. Pansexuality here “includes everyone” similar to how the book makes an effort to be gender-neutral.
May 1997: In an article interpreting the band Kraftwerk, Terre Thaemlitz writes this footnote:
The term “Queer,” as reappropriated since the late 1980’s by such groups as Queer Nation, references pansexual and transgendered concepts of sexual identity and is used as an alternative to identities such as Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual which operate in relation to the restrictive dichotomy of Heterosexual/Homosexual… Similarly, Queerness is a response to discussions of biological predeterminism within Lesbian and Gay communities, as such discussions can be turned against members of pansexual and transgendered communities who reject the Heterosexual/Homosexual paradigm in favor of a multiplicity of identities, and for whom concepts of identity are more openly related to the complication and/or subversion of cultural norms.
June 1997: Frank Rich mentions an “epidemic of pansexual faggot-burning,” possibly referring to the phenomenon of (underlying reasons for) stigma against gay men also affecting some straight men (“‘The fire the religious right started with gays,’ says Mr. Tafel, ‘is starting to singe straight men.’”) If true, “pansexual” here may mean “(happening) regardless of sexuality.”
Spring 1998: Anything That Moves features an interview from Matt Rice. The interviewer, Marshall, tells him that “[s]ome have proposed the term ‘pansexual’ as more inclusive than bisexual” and asks, “is ‘bisexual’ limiting because it implies only two, fixed genders?” Matt, while not identifying with the term, says that “pansexuals don’t require that there be two and only two genders…”
June 1998: Peter Braunstein describes a gay disco club — frequented by men of all sexualities — as a “pansexual playground.”
September 1998: A Washington Post article calls The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s character, Dr. Frank N. Further, “pansexual” (though no elaboration is given on which definition applies here), a “sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania,” and “perversely glamorous.”
May 1999: The first edition of Chuck Stewart’s Sexually Stigmatized Communities: Reducing Heterosexism and Homophobia: An Awareness Training Manual states that “[a] newer term, pansexual, has been adopted to include transsexuals and all other persons whose gender, sexual orientation, and affective orientation do not coincide with societal norms.”
June 1999: Perspectives on Human Sexuality by Anne Bolin and Patricia Whelehan defines “pansexual” as “Lacking highly specific sexual orientations or preferences; open to a range of sexual activities.”
2000s
The orientation definitions of pansexuality gain popularity; other contexts decrease in frequency.
2000: “I consider Little Richard to be the most famous pansexual,” said Leon for Washington Post. “He was not about genders. He was about beautiful and not beautiful. If there was a cute boy and a homely girl, he’d talk to the boy. If the girl was pretty, he’d talk to her.
2001: Catherine Padilla writes about Leatherfest, “the San Diego-originated leather event, which offers BDSM/fetish education, set up much like a conference.”
Although closely associated with Club X, San Diego’s largest pansexual BDSM organization, they are separate entities. However, board members of Club X have often served on the board of Leatherfest. Such was the case with this year’s Co-Executive Director Jake Lee. […] According to “Papa” Tony Lindsey, in his recently published Internet newsletter for gay leathermen: “From a gay male standpoint:, the last few Leatherfests didn’t have many gay guys amidst the pansexual crowd, and I sure missed ‘em… This time around there were scads of gay leathermen attending, and I think maybe about 10 percent of ’em didn’t feel comfortable.”
October 2001: The Journal of Bisexuality included an article entitled “Bisexuals and BDSM: Bisexual People in a Pansexual Community,” written by Steve Lenius. In this context, pansexuals are kinksters who “play” (i.e., engage in sexual acts) with others in their BDSM group regardless of their gender or orientation. Lenius found that some self-proclaimed pansexuals showed skepticism to this idea of pansexuality, particularly straight men embarrassed about participating in homoerotic acts.
November 2001: In an interview for Salon magazine, Tristan Taormina says:
I don’t identify as bisexual for a few reasons… I firmly believe there are not two genders. So identifying as bisexual is counterproductive to my gender politics. So when people ask me, “Are you bisexual? gay?” I’m like, “I’m equal opportunity. I sleep with people of all genders.”… I identify with pansexual.
May 2002: Mental Health Issues in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities states:
Bisexuality identifies persons who are attracted to women and men, to varying degrees. Pansexuality or polysexuality represents the broader sense [of] attraction to persons of diverse gender attributes. For example, a pansexual woman may be attracted at times to some biological women, to biological men, and to some transgender women (biological males living as women, often with a female psychological, hormonal, and surgical gender).
April 2002: Rose Rouse reports on the “pansexual revolution.” The article’s introductory blurb states: “They’re not straight and they’re not gay. Today’s sexually liberated lovers are simply looking for love wherever they find it.” Rouse describes the “revolution” as a world of “limitless hedonism,” where “labels like heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual — or even gay and lesbian — are considered outdated.” Psychotherapist Malcolm Stern says it’s about “self-discovery through sexual experimentation.”
June 2002: Peter Boom publishes “The Theory of Pansexuality.” He defines pansexuality as including “all kinds of sexuality that can exist in a human being, gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans[s]exual, transgender,² heterosexual, tendencies that may prevail either permanently or occasionally.”
June 12, 2002: Counseling Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Substance Abusers: Dual Identities defines a “pansexual” person as one “whose sexual feelings and behaviors are fluid, ranging from heterosexual to bisexual to homosexual.”
June 13, 2002: The LiveJournal community “I Am Pansexual” states in its first post: “Pansexuals love people of all genders, male and female, but unlike bisexuals, pansexuals love transgendered, androgynous and gender fluid people, people who don’t fit into the categories of male or female.”
2003: In Social Change, Mental Health, and the Evolution of Gay Male Identities: A Clinical Ethnography of Post-communist Prague, we find the following quote: “…pansexual men who like sex and do not care whether their partners are men or women.” This book is particularly difficult to find, so the full sentence was unable to be gathered.
February 2003: Devon MacFarlane states that pansexuality “is used to describe anyone romantically and sexually attracted to people of all genders.”
March 2003: Addressing Homophobia and Heterosexism on College Campuses features the following passage:
For example, a pesron who is gay or lesbian is attracted to the same gender, and someone who is bisexual is attracted to both men and women. But how do we define a trans person’s own sexual attractions, as well as those of someone who is attracted to a trans person? What is that person’s sexual orientation? What is the sexual orientation of a person who does not identify as a man or a woman, or is attracted to a person who does not define oneself as a man or a woman? Current models of sexuality and language are slow to embrace the diversity in gender and gender identities, and to include trans people and their experiences. Additional sexual orientations that may speak to this are the terms: omnisexual (omni is from Latin origins meaning all), and pansexual (pan is from Greek origins meaning all). Thus, someone who is omnisexual or pansexual can be attracted to all genders, or a variety of gender identities.
April 2003: Susan R. Rankin defines pansexuality as being “open to sexual activity of many kinds; pansexual people espouse their freedom of choice and imagination in sexual relations, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
May 2003: Wikipedia mentions “pansexuality” for the first time as a section in its article on bisexuality. User MatinHarper, who added it, notes in the revision history that “since pansexual is essentially the same concept as bisexual, I think it should be here[.]” The addition says that pansexuality is “essentially the same concept as bisexuality,” but “a pansexual would be attracted to a transsexual.”
December 2003: The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability says that “being pansexual means that you identify as having a sexual orientation towards all people potentially. It is a much broader term that would encompass being attracted to people who don’t identify as either male or female. It may also suggest that you acknowledge that you could be sexually aroused by a beautiful painting, or the sound of a babbling brook.”
2004: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines pansexuality as “exhibiting or implying many forms of sexual expression.”
2004: Eli R. Green defines pansexuality as being “sexually attracted to all or many gender expressions.”
January 2004: Art historian Walter Hopps states that painter Robert Rauschenberg “does not identify as homosexual… He described the artist as ‘pansexual.’ ‘He’s had intimate, long relationships with women, men, his beloved dogs and the very Earth itself[.]”
July 2004: “GL vs. BT: The Archaeology of Biphobia and Transphobia Within the U.S. Gay and Lesbian Community” defines pansexuality as “openness to all forms of sexuality,” a practice alongside polyamory and “other forms of responsible nonmonogamy” being “pioneered by bisexuals.”
2005: In “Creating Safe Space for GLBTQ Youth: A Toolkit,” the Girl’s Best Friend Foundation & Advocates for Youth writes:
The term ‘bisexual’ implies a sexual attraction towards people whose biological sex is different than and the same as one’s own. Since, however, there are more than two genders,³ some people do not self-identify as bisexual, finding themselves attracted to people across a spectrum of genders. These people have adopted different terms, including pansexual, a term that can also apply to people whose gender is fluid or who consider themselves genderqueer (or genderless).
April 2005: A book on gay slang defines “pansexual” as “a person who is interested in all kinds of sex — heterosexual and homosexual, top and bottom, S&M and vanilla.”
September 2005: Pansexuality gets its own Wikipedia article, though it was just a stub at this point. The stub says pansexuality is “distinct from bisexuality” and includes “people who don’t fit into the gender binary of male/female implied by bisexual attraction.”
November 2005: The paper “Gender and Sexuality: A Look at the Sexuality among Partners of Transgender Individuals” includes this paragraph:
The term pansexual refers to individuals that feel sexual attraction to an array of individuals regardless of sex, gender or gender identity. Bisexual was the previously accepted label for individuals attracted to either gender or gender identity, but the term pansexual allows for the fluidity of sex/gender. In acknowledging pansexuality one is recognizing that there may be more than two sexes/genders and their partners may be free in identifying themselves. An online dictionary states that adjective pansexual is defined as “equal acceptance of all major human sexual orientations and identities, including homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality, as well as transgender, transsexual and Intersex people.” The second use of the term is “a sexual orientation towards basically everybody, without the two-gender restriction implied by bisexual.” This term allows fluidity among gender identity and sexuality as well as sex.
April 2006: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines “pansexuality” as “Relating to, having, or open to sexual activity of many kinds.” One can still find this definition elsewhere.
May 2006: The Wikipedia article develops more, now having more sections. It says “Pansexuals are known as the most open-minded, non-judgemental, and fluid of sexualities.” The article also claims:
Pansexual men tend to enjoy any individual on the orientation spectrum, with a strong preference towards the feminine — be it a tran[s]sexual female, transgendered female, or female… A pansexual may be attracted to all genders and sexes, but has a strong preference toward transexual men, butch lesbians, intersexed persons, etc.
November 2006: Ginny Rebecca B. defines pansexuality as being “attracted to people of any gender at all.”
2007: The Gay and Lesbian Guide to Life defines “omnisexual” — which is “also referred to as pansexual” — as “sexually, romantically, or emotionally attracted to an individual of any gender.”
March 2008: Hellen G. defines pansexuality as attraction “to ‘people, not parts’. Used instead of ‘bisexual’ (because ‘bi’ means ‘two’, and there aren‘t two sexes/genders). Indicates the potential to be attracted to anyone regardless of their sex, gender identity, or gender expression.”
April 2008: This version of the Wikipedia article states, “pansexuality includes potential attraction to people (such as transgender individuals) who do not fit into the gender binary of male/female.” This revision also has a section specifically to specify the differences between bisexuality and pansexuality: “Pansexuality is inclusive of bisexuality (attraction to both males and females) but additionally includes attraction to other genders and sexes such as those identifying as transgender, genderqueer, bigender, intersex, or genderfuck.”
August 2008: A study examining suicidality and self-harm among Japanese sexual minorities says that “Fujiko, 36, described herself as ‘pansexual,’ meaning that she was open to different sexual orientations and gender identities in her sexual partners.”
October 2008: In the notes of a Rupert Raj article, we find that “Pansexual means an attraction to individuals of any of the five sexes (male, female, intersexed, transsexed)⁴; additionally, it is a term which goes beyond the self orientation identity of bisexual to include the orientation of transensual [i.e., attraction to transgender people].”
2009: Emily Lenning publishes this article. She says that “bisexuality implies a dichotomy, pansexuality suggests the possibility of attraction to a spectrum of gender identities.”
2010s
2010: The pansexual flag appears online. Before this, some pansexuals used the bi flag in their symbols as we were considered the same community and orientation. The creator of the pansexual flag states on their blog page, “For a long time we’ve [pansexuals] shared a flag with bisexual pride, but I believe as [sic] more people are choosing to identity (though we don’t choose what we are) themselves as pansexual rather than bisexual… both deserve to be represented individually.” They define pansexuality as “attraction and/or sexual preference to males, females, and those who do not fall inside the gender or sex binary.”
April 2010: A HubPages article defines pansexuality as “sexual attraction towards people regardless of gender[,] also known as omnisexuality[. S]ome pansexuals refer to themselves as gender blind as to them gender is insignificant in determining whether they will be sexually attracted to others.”
July 2010: One Wikipedia update states that while some pansexuals are genderblind, others find that “sex, gender expression, or gender identity can be a key factor of attraction.”
August 2010: Explaining their color choices for the pansexual flag, its creator says:
I chose pink, yellow and blue as pan colours because pink and blue have come to be accepted to represent binary gender (pink for the female spectrum, blue for the male spectrum), while yellow is a bright colour, that symbolises life and happiness in many cultures, and is neglected by most queer-representing flags. Yellow makes it stand out from the bisexual colours, representing non-binary attraction, while the similar use of pink/blue (in a different shade) acknowledges the similarity of having attraction fall into the binary.⁵
September 2010: Marshall Cavendish Reference Books publishes the second volume of Sex and Society. In it, this quote appears:
Pansexuality recognizes that there are more than just the two distinct genders and that gender identity and expression are flexible and fluid. A person may fall anywhere on the gender spectrum, often changing position over the course of his or her life. This flexibility allows people to develop physical and emotional relationships not only to men and women, but also to transsexuals, androgynes, and transgender individuals who do not conform to conventional gender identities.⁶ […] Pansexuals may be more interested in the feelings generated by their relationships, rather than in the biological sex of their partners or the way in which they express their gender.
2011: A BinaryThis article features this passage in an article about pansexuality:
Pansexuality describes a sexual orientation wherein a person has the ability to be attracted to a diverse range of people across sex and gender spectrums. Pansexuals describe their attraction as different from bisexuality, which only considers the gender binary — if you are bisexual, by definition you are attracted to either men or women. Thus it is often claimed that pansexuals are “gender blind” (though some pansexuals would argue that this is not the case — sex and gender may play a role in attraction, but their sexual orientation doesn’t rule anybody out because of their sex or gender presentation).
December 2011: A Good Therapy article defines pansexuality as attraction to “any combination of sexual and gender perception and expression.”
August 2012: A Huffington Post article says, “[T]hough many might describe [Mary] Gonzalez’s orientation as bisexual, pansexuals don’t believe in a ‘gender binary,’ and hence can be attracted to all gender identities.”
February 2013: Ayisigi Hale Gonel publishes this paper in which they state:
[P]ansexuality differs from bi-sexuality, as the understanding of attraction is not limited to dualistic social constructions of male/female and man/woman. […] This rejection of the gender and sex binaries was also apparent in the way in which they related their pansexuality to bisexual and monosexual orientations. Respondents suggested that pansexuality could be seen as an ‘advanced’ version of bisexuality; one that has a broader scope for attraction[.] […] [R]esearch respondents also suggested that bisexuality invested in gender and sex binaries, and therefore was different than pansexuality. When asked whether being pansexual was different from being lesbian, gay or bisexual, respondents situated their pansexual orientation in contrast to these other orientations, mainly in terms of rejecting binaries of gender and sex[.]
November 12, 2013: Elizabeth Palermo publishes this article in which she explains that “pansexuals may be attracted to those of all biological sexes or gender identities — including men, women, those who don’t identify with a specific sex or gender or those who are transsexual or transgender. This differentiates pansexuality from bisexuality, which denotes attraction to people of just two different sexes — male and female. […] The term has since been reclaimed by those who wish to connote their recognition of the fluidity of gender and their belief that there are more than two genders.”
November 16, 2013: One Wiki revision says: “Go Ask Alice! states that pansexuals can be attracted to cismen, ciswomen (meaning cisgender), ‘transmen, transwomen, intersex people, androgynous people, and everything else. It is generally considered a more inclusive term than bisexual’.”
February 2014: The Psychology of Human Sexuality defines pansexuality as “attraction to members of all sexes and gender identities. It is broader than bisexuality, which implies that one can only be attracted to biological males and females.”
November 12, 2014: Kaylee Jakubowski publishes an article saying that “someone who identifies as pansexual, no matter what their gender or sex is, can potentially be attracted to cis men, intersex men, trans men, agender people, genderqueer people or any other non-binary person, trans women, intersex women, cis women, or any other combination of sex, gender, and gender performance.”
November 12, 2014: Sexual Identities and the Media: An Introduction defines pansexuality as “an attraction to a person regardless of sex or gender. People who use this label may describe themselves as ‘gender blind’ or as being attracted to a person’s personality rather than his or her sex. The term also acknowledges a space for intersexed and transgendered people in an otherwise binary understanding of sexuality and gender.”
February 2015: Frankie, a (now former) Penn State University student writes a blog post explaining the differences between bisexuality and pansexuality. “Bisexuals are attracted to either males or females,” she says.
Pansexuals are attracted to males, females, and then they may be sexually attracted to individuals who identify as intersex, third gender, androgynous, transsexual, and many other sexual and gender identities. The topic of pansexuality is not only controversial to the general public, but to the bisexual community as well. The bisexual community argues that bisexuality is already inclusive of any and all genders and sexes. […] The pansexual and bisexual community strongly distances [sic] themselves from each other. They have their own different flags, colors, and ideologies. In short, pansexuality is more accommodating for all and any gender[s], while bisexuality is more directed towards just males and females and being attracted to either or both. Aside from who pansexuals are attracted to, they also see gender and sexuality differently. More specifically, they do not see it… A pansexual individual is attracted to a person, not a gender. It seems very similar to bisexuality. BUT, bisexuality, for the most part does not include genders aside from male and female, which is what the main difference is with the two.
March 2016: The “Pansexual” section of Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality: Sixth Edition says:
Pansexual: A person who is romantically and/or sexually attracted to both men and women. A person who experiences sexual, romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction for members of all gender identities/expressions, not just people who fit into the standard gender binary. […] A pansexual person can love not only the traditional male and female genders, but also transgendered, transsexual, cross-dressing, androgynous and gender-fluid people and all other variations of gender identification, including those who feel they do not have a gender. It is often confused with or included within the definition of bisexuality, but it is a more fluid and much broader form of sexual orientation in which the pansexual individual experiences sexual attraction towards members of all genders. […] [P]ansexual[:] One whose sexual orientation includes all kinds of sexual expression and sexual relationships that can exist in humans.
July 2016: The Journal of Bisexuality studies GSA members and finds that they associate bisexuality with the gender binary, while “pansexuality served as a personal contestation to this dichotomy.” One student, Zion, tells us how she learned about bisexuality from Skylar:
[W]hen we first started [the GSA], I think we talked more just about stories. Like I learned about Skylar, umm, you know exploring bisexuality and then you know coming to the conclusion that she’s more pansexual… She gets attracted to a person not a gender or a sex… I think that’s one of the wonderful things about pansexuality…
September 2016: The Journal of Bisexuality examines pansexuality online. These passages appear:
Virtually all of the data points we were able to identify had an element of comparing bisexual and pansexual identities. Most identified pansexuality as a subset or component of a bisexual identity… Some discuss the difference between the two as focused on gender, such as this statement: “It’s different from bisexuality. Bisexuality refers to people attracted to men and women. With more people identifying across the gender spectrum between men and women, pansexuality has emerged as a catch-all that includes everyone else” (Difference Between). …“Pansexuality” as a term and identity is much larger and more encompassing, though many definitions proposed for bisexuality are much narrower.
October 2017: For The Shield, an interviewed pansexual says that pansexuality is “basically a more liberal version of bisexual,” and that “It means you don’t care about someone’s gender or identity or sexuality, you just like them for them. For instance, I am dating a guy right now, but I would be open to dating a female, or someone who is transgender.”
November 2017: Ritch C Savin-Williams says that pansexuality is “not equivalent to bisexuality, because it’s broader in scope. […] Others extend even this broad definition by delineating pansexuality as being not about the sexual equipment of the individual or how feminine or masculine the individual is or feels (gender identity), but about the person as an individual — inclusive of just about anything.”
April 2018: A them. article says:
A pansexual person is someone who is attracted to people of all genders — not just cisgender and transgender men and women, but nonbinary people, gender-nonconforming people, and anyone whose gender falls outside of the gender binary, or beyond traditional definitions of what it means to be a “man” or “woman.”
June 2018: For the Rolling Stone, Zachary Zane says a pansexual is “The meaning of pansexual is clear: someone who is attracted — either emotionally, physically or both — to all genders. This includes cisgender, transgender, agender and gender nonconforming individuals.”
2019: The Netflix Series Big Mouth has one character, Ali, say:
Bisexuality is so binary. Being pansexual means my sexual preference isn’t limited by gender identity… if you’re bisexual, you like tacos and burritos. But I’m saying I like tacos and burritos, and I could be into a taco that was born a burrito, or a burrito that is transitioning into a taco, comprende?
People weren’t happy about it.
2019: The Merriam Webster Dictionary quotes Mel Evans for its definition of pansexuality. Evans says pansexuals “can be attracted to males, females, transgender people and those who identify as non-binary (not female or male).”
January 2019: For The Sun, Hayley Richardson explains:
Just like bisexuality, pansexuals are sexually attracted to men and women. But the key difference is that pansexual people tend to consider themselves as more ‘gender fluid.’ They may also be drawn to those who identify as intersex, third-gender, androgynous or transgender.
February 12, 2019: Angela Johnson tells Insider that “People who are pansexual can be attracted to people who identify as male, female, androgynous, transgender, or intersex, taking it a step further than the traditional view of bisexuality.”
February 18, 2019: An article by Erica Nahmad explains the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality this way:
But bisexual is more specific in that it refers to someone who is interested in both men and women. If you’re bisexual you are sexually drawn to people of both genders — you are not exclusively hetero- or homosexual. You are both. You are attracted to more than one gender. Pansexual is not the same thing. If you are pansexual you are attracted to people of all genders, not just male and female, and your attraction occurs regardless of gender identity.
February 21, 2019: Lani Peswani writes for Metro:
When it came to fancying someone, I didn’t really think about what that person’s body was like or what it might be like to have sex with them, my view of a person was more complex. I also knew I felt especially attracted to people who were androgynous, as well as liking trans people. […] [My best friend told me that] pansexuality meant you could feel attracted to people of all genders — boys, girls, transgender people, non-binary people… A key characteristic of pansexuality is that pan people don’t really ‘notice’ gender; it doesn’t really cross their mind when experiencing attraction.
March 12, 2019: For Marie Claire, Tanya Koens says that “pansexuality is not saying you’re attracted to gender or orientation, it’s saying you’re attracted to people, regardless of whether they’re a man, a woman, gender-expansive or transgender.” The author of this article, Isabelle Truman, states that the definition of pansexuality is “being attracted to the person, not their gender… while bisexuals identify as being attracted to women and men, transgender and non-binary people.”
March 17, 2019: Gentside says:
The term “bisexual” can therefore be considered theoretically as reductive by some because it implies a binary term, the classic “man or woman.” …many bisexual people do not find themselves in this definition either because it can be seen as sexist or even transphobic… On the other hand, the term “pansexual” includes all genders and all sexes: man, woman, transgender, intersex…
May 13, 2019: Kinkly tells us:
[Pansexual] has since been adopted by some people as a more inclusive term than bisexual, a term that implies that there are only two genders (male and female). Pansexuals, on the other hand, can be attracted to transmen and women, intersex people, androgynous people, and cisgendered people, among others.
June 8, 2019: Elena Janowiak tells The Boston Globe that “Pansexuality basically means it’s about hearts, not parts. It doesn’t matter if you’re male, female, trans male, trans female, nonbinary — everyone’s hot to me.”
June 11, 2019: Lana Peswani writes for Cosmopolitan. “As a pansexual person, as well as fancying males, females, and other genders, I feel I experience sexual attraction differently to the average person. I never look at someone and think, ‘I wonder what it’d be like to fuck them? I wonder what their genitals look like.’ That thought doesn’t enter my head.”
June 23, 2019: Bella Thorne, who used to identify as pansexual since at least 2016, comes out as pansexual. She describes her sexuality as favoring personality over bodies. “Doesn’t have to be a girl or a guy or a he or she or they or this or that. It’s literally you like personality. You just like a being.”
June 25, 2019: Jenne Scherer writes for Rolling Stone. She says “pansexuality, which has come into wider use in recent years, intends to explicitly refer to attraction to all genders, not just cisgender people…”
July 11, 2019: Zachary Zane writes for Prevention. Due to the prefix “pan,” he says, “a pansexual person would be attracted to cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, genderfluid, and agender folks (a person who doesn’t identify with any gender).”
July 16, 2019: Holly Richmond, PhD, tells Health Magazine:
Pansexuals are attracted to the person, not their physical form… [they] can sometimes think they’re just bisexual. It can take time for them to realize that their sexual orientation is all-encompassing. [Pansexuals can] love all people and don’t look at gender as being the most important aspect. [They] can be sexually and/or romantically attracted to someone who is transgender, non-binary, or gender fluid.
2020s
January 2020: Yahoo! News publishes an article explaining the differences between bisexuality and pansexuality. “Often confused with bisexuality, pansexuality is where gender isn’t factored into attraction at all. In contrast, those who identify as bisexual are attracted to both genders.”
April 21, 2020: Vera Papisova’s Teen Vogue article interviews several pansexuals.
Danielle says:
It never felt right for me to identify as bisexual. I know so many people who are asexual or two-spirited, and I’m open to being with someone who is trans. I never wanted to alienate anyone in my sexual exploration. Even though I have never been with anyone who is trans, I’m open to it. For me it’s more of a political decision. I think everyone, regardless of who they are with, should identify as pansexual.
HB says:
I had identified as bisexual for most of my life, but as an adult, I heard the term pansexual and I realized it was a more accurate description of the way I felt. I’d say the best definition would be that my sexual attraction is not based on gender assignment or gender expression. I am attracted to men and women as well as nonbinary people who don’t identify as either.
April 25, 2020: Nikita Andester, in describing her journey through identity, states the following:
Over the years, as we’ve grown together in our polyamory, I’ve reevaluated my sexuality and gender time and again. And I finally realized something: my attraction to folks has little to do with their gender presentation, and everything to do with their essence, their swagger. For lack of a better word, their “vibe.” Bisexual suddenly didn’t cut it. My sexual orientation was unfolding in a new direction: I began to identify as pansexual. […] While bisexuality’s definitions vary, the common thread is that a bi person’s attraction is influenced by gender. In a positive way, gender is still a factor that informs their attraction. Pansexuality, on the other hand, doesn’t hinge on gender, and our attraction to others has nothing to do with our own gender identity. In fact, while we can be deeply aroused by someone’s gender expression, it doesn’t factor into how or why we’re attracted to them. And unlike bisexuality, pansexuality doesn’t factor in your own gender identity. It’s not a matter of yearning after someone who looks like or feels like me.
May 2020: Nikki Hayfield, author of Bisexual and Pansexual Identities: Exploring and Challenging Invisibility, explains that “While pansexuality is sometimes conflated or used interchangeably with bisexuality, some have distinguished between bisexuality as binary and pansexuality as non-binary.”
June 13, 2020: Rainbow-Heart publishes this article, stating that “[b]isexual is attracted to both sexes by both men and women — Attractiveness is related to gender… Pansexual is attracted to all, including transsexuals — Sex does not play any role. The attraction itself is unrelated to sex.”
June 18, 2020: Charlie Lankston writes an article regarding Madison Bailey’s pansexuality. “Madison proceeds to explain that a pansexual person can be attracted to all different kinds of people, including ‘girls, boys, trans girls, trans boys, and nonbinary babies’. The term pansexual is viewed as being much more inclusive than ‘bisexual’, because it does not assume that a person is only attracted to men or women, but also those who don’t identify with a specific gender.”
August 30, 2020: This quote appears in the current update (as of September 2020) of the “Pansexuality” Wiki page:
Because pansexual people are open to relationships with people who do not identify as strictly men or women, and pansexuality therefore rejects the gender binary,⁷ it is often considered a more inclusive term than bisexual.
Unknown Years
(We can safely assume that the following entries are dated between 2000–2020.)
Unknown: Find a Top Doc features this article. It says:
Pansexuals… may be sexually attracted to individuals who identify as male or female; however, they may also be attracted to those who identify as intersex, third-gender, androgynous, transsexual, or the many other sexual and gender identities. The latter distinction is what draws the line between pansexuality and bisexuality… Pansexual people are bisexual, in-fact; however, bisexuality does not place the same emphasis on sexual and gender identity awareness, but more simply indicates attraction to the two (generally accepted) biological sexes.
Unknown: Queer Paris defines pansexuality as “Sexual orientation associated with desiring/loving a person’s personality primarily, and specific bodily features secondarily.”
Unknown: Polyamory UK defines pansexuality as “sexual and/or emotional attraction without reference to gender or biological sex. The more commonly used term ‘bisexual’ limits those identifying with it to two genders or sexes, something pansexual’s reject.”
Unknown: Salt Lake Community College’s list of LGBTQ vocabulary defines “pansexual” as “[a] person who recognizes more than two genders and can be drawn to a person of any gender identity or expression.”
Unknown: The University of Baltimore’s list of LGBTQ vocabulary defines “pansexual” as “[a] sexual orientation where a person desires sexual partners based on personalized attraction to specific physical traits, bodies, identities, and/or personality features which may or may not be aligned to the gender and sex binary.” It defines “bisexual” as “individuals attracted to members of the male and female sex.”
Unknown: California State University’s list of LGBTQ vocabulary defines “pansexual” as “[a] person who is fluid in sexual orientation and/or gender or sex identity.”
Unknown: An article on The Mix tells us: | https://medium.com/an-injustice/pansexual-an-etymological-timeline-d44fe2bb364 | ['Kravitz M.'] | 2020-12-07 03:03:00.636000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Identity', 'History', 'Sexuality', 'Kravitz M'] |
React Testing Library Surpasses Enzyme! | It’s official, Testing Library (formally known as react-testing-library) has surpassed Enzyme in weekly downloads. While enzyme encourages you to test your component’s implementation, react testing library encourages you to test as a user.
If you are still using enzyme, now is a great time to learn how to use testing library.
To help you get started, here are three of our favourite posts about testing.
A deep dive into testing a CRUD React application using Jest and Testing Library. In this post, we show you how to easily test asynchronous user interactions.
The missing documentation for how to set up testing library with NextJS.
An exploration of testing asynchronous forms using Formik and testing library. Good reading for the developer who is comfortable testing presentational components, but needs a bit more exposure to testing user interactions and asynchronous functions. | https://medium.com/frontend-digest/react-testing-library-surpasses-enzyme-7870d3bf8284 | ['Malcolm Laing'] | 2020-10-18 16:01:45.016000+00:00 | ['Testing', 'Reactjs', 'JavaScript', 'Frontend', 'React'] |
Website Design. | What is Web Design?
Web design refers to the design of websites that are displayed on the internet. It usually refers to the user experience aspects of website development rather than software development. Web design used to be focused on designing websites for desktop browsers; however, since the mid-2010s, design for mobile and tablet browsers has become ever-increasingly important.
A web designer works on the appearance, layout, and, in some cases, content of a website. Appearance, for instance, relates to the colors, font, and images used. Layout refers to how information is structured and categorized. A good web design is easy to use, aesthetically pleasing, and suits the user group and brand of the website. Many webpages are designed with a focus on simplicity, so that no extraneous information and functionality that might distract or confuse users appears. As the keystone of a web designer’s output is a site that wins and fosters the trust of the target audience, removing as many potential points of user frustration as possible is a critical consideration.
Two of the most common methods for designing websites that work well both on desktop and mobile are responsive and adaptive design. In responsive design, content moves dynamically depending on screen size; in adaptive design, the website content is fixed in layout sizes that match common screen sizes. Preserving a layout that is as consistent as possible between devices is crucial to maintaining user trust and engagement. As responsive design can present difficulties in this regard, designers must be careful in relinquishing control of how their work will appear. If they are responsible for the content as well, while they may need to broaden their skillset, they will enjoy having the advantage of full control of the finished product.
HIRE ME: https://cutt.ly/ZhNNjhz | https://medium.com/@arupkumarr/website-design-7c431ec6d13c | [] | 2020-12-22 11:45:37.531000+00:00 | ['Website', 'Website Design', 'Landing Page'] |
Football and the impact of fans | The match watching experience for all football fans has changed dramatically since the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Fans of Premier League (PL) and Championship teams have up until December only been able to watch games from afar, usually behind a TV screen. This has resulted in empty stadiums all over the country, with teams competing against each other without the usual roar of the crowd creating an atmosphere.
Several articles were written initially written about the impact of fan-less stadiums on the performance of teams — FT and The Athletic. However, since December, some stadiums have been opened to a limited number of fans. Now that a small sample of few dozen matches has taken place with up to 2,000 fans, it got my attention to investigate whether a small number of fans can make a difference and look at what the longer-term impacts of empty stadiums will continue to be on the performance of teams.
The Games With and Without Fans
Using match results from Football-Data.co.uk and code I’ve written (GitHub), I’ve compiled data from the start of the 2017/18 season for both the PL & Championship leagues to 22nd December 2020, when this article was published.
The graph below breaks down the matches that have taken place since the start of the 2017/18 season, showing where the maximum number of fans have been allowed (Maximum Fans), no fans have been allowed (No Fans) and a small number of fans have been allowed (Limited Fans).
As you’d expect, most matches have taken place with a maximum number of fans. But since the outbreak of the pandemic back in March 2020, 17% of matches in the period we are looking at have taken place with no fans. Just over 1% of matches have taken place with a limited number of fans, which is almost the equivalent of 3 gameweeks in a Championship season. In light of the fact that we only have a small sample of data for matches with limited fans, any insights are tentative until a larger sample size can be obtained.
Looking at some of the teams in the PL and Championship that have been allowed to accommodate up to 2,000 home fans, such as Liverpool, Everton, Southampton, Spurs, Bournemouth, Norwich, Brentford and Watford; they are all towards the top end of the table. Therefore, I should also caveat that the small sample of matches with limited fans could be skewed by the strong performances of these high-flying teams.
Home and Away Wins
In layman’s terms, the simplest and easiest way to understand the impact that the lack of fans has on team performance is to look at the changes in the percentage of home wins, away wins and draws. The diagram below breaks this down (rounding may mean results do not equal 100%).
For home teams where they can allow the maximum number of fans in, they experience a clear advantage. This is shown with home win percentage significantly higher than that of the away team — nearly 15%.
What is striking is that when fans have not been allowed into stadiums, away teams win percentage increases by 5%. It is easy to build a narrative that reinforces this whereby no home fans boo or jeer the away side, away teams feel more emboldened to take on the home favourites and impose their own tactics to try and get all three points. We will investigate later at how this has been borne out in goal scoring for home and away teams.
Although home teams do experience a drop off in win percentage when they are unable to have any fans, they still have a sizable advantage over the away team when it comes to winning matches. Whilst it’s clear that not having fans does have an impact, home teams still dominate without them and this could partly be explained by the familiarity of surroundings and less travel, but it would be interesting to find out more why home advantage is still present without fans.
Finally, looking at the small sample where limited fans have been allowed, it is interesting that home win percentage and away win percentage has almost reverted back to the same levels as when a maximum number of fans were allowed. Even the atmosphere created by a crowd of 2,000 supporters suppresses the drive of the away side and gives the home team confidence to push on for the win. It will be intriguing to see if this trend carries on for the rest of the season.
Goal Scoring
The key driver in determining who wins any football match is goals. The chart below breaks down how goal scoring has changed for home and away teams in the different fan settings.
The goals metric begins to explain some of the results we can see in the win percentage numbers. When maximum fans are allowed into stadiums, home teams tend to score over 25% more than the away teams and this partially drives the home-field advantage. It could be said that home supporters push their team to shoot more — 13.7 home shots vs 11.2 away shots, giving the home team more goal-scoring opportunities, resulting in more home goals and victories.
When no fans are present, home teams without the encouragement of their supporters become significantly more goal-shy, whilst away teams tend to slightly improve their goal-scoring. This can be seen in the shot numbers with home shots falling to 12.1, away shots slightly decreasing to 11.0 and both converting at around the same rate of just over 11%. This goes some way to explaining why away teams improve their win percentage and home teams are not as dominant as usual, however, with goal-scoring being so close between the two teams we might also expect the number of draws to increase and that actually hasn’t been the case.
Finally, home goal-scoring, shots and conversion rates almost return to normal levels with the presence of 2,000 fans providing the team with the necessary motivation to score and this enables home win percentage to climb back to near usual levels. The largest impact of having a small number of fans is on the away side with goal-scoring reducing as a result of a significant fall in shots to 9.6 per game and conversion rate decreasing to 9.3%. With this sharp drop-off, we would assume that away win percentage drops below that of when maximum fans are allowed, yet this has not been the case. It will be interesting to see if this impact on away goal scoring is a longer-term trend or a fact of the small set of matches for which we have a limited number of home fans.
Conclusion
From the analysis, we can see that having the maximum number of fans at games gives the home team a significant advantage. With the outbreak of coronavirus and the ban on fans in stadiums, we have demonstrated that away teams have managed to chip away at this benefit of playing at home, partially as a result of improving their own goal-scoring, but also limiting the goals of the home side. What is most interesting from the analysis, is that when just 2,000 fans can attend, they seemingly make a significant impact on the end result and can make up for the rest of the supporters who are unable to attend.
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has mentioned that this small number of fans attending will have an impact on the result, saying, “perhaps there could be a rule that states that if fans are not allowed in all stadiums, then they should not be allowed in at all until everybody is allowed to have them in.”
If the trend continues then Bielsa would be correct in his statement, and those teams such as Liverpool, Everton and Bournemouth that will be allowed, in the short-term to have supporters attend, will be at a significant advantage versus the rest of the PL and Championship. | https://medium.com/@jonathanchappell/football-and-the-impact-of-fans-7d17a810fc3b | ['Jonathan Chappell'] | 2020-12-26 20:57:31.542000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Fans', 'Premier League', 'Soccer', 'Data Analysis'] |
EOS Crypto Price Predictions 2020 | EOS Crypto Price Predictions 2020
Before we get into our EOS price predictions 2020, we should give some background on what EOS is and what it plans to reveal in the future. If you already know this info, please skip the first part of our article.
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What is EOS crypto?
Calling itself the most powerful infrastructure for decentralized applications, EOS is a blockchain-based, decentralized system that enables the development, hosting, and execution of commercial-scale decentralized applications (dApps) on its platform.
No official full form exists for EOS, and the creators have decided not to formally define it themselves. EOS supports all of the required core functionality to allow businesses and individuals to create blockchain-based applications in a way similar to the web-based applications, like providing secure access and authentication, permissioning, data hosting, usage management, and communication between the dApps and the Internet.
It is also supported by a web-toolkit for interface development, making it a complete offering for hassle-free app development. It essentially works in a way similar to Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
EOS.IO & EOS Tokens?
The EOS ecosystem comprises two key elements: the EOS.IO and the EOS tokens.
To draw a parallel, EOS.IO is akin to the operating system of a computer — it manages and controls the EOS blockchain network. EOS.IO uses blockchain architecture that is built to enable vertical and horizontal scaling of decentralized applications. The EOS token is the cryptocurrency of the EOS network.
A developer simply needs to hold EOS coins, instead of spending them, to be eligible to use network resources and to build and run dApps. A token holder who is not running any apps can also allocate or rent his bandwidth to other participants who may need it.
Currently owned by the block.one organization, EOS was launched by Dan Larimer, who is also the founder and creator of established platforms like BitShares and Steem.it
What makes EOS different?
While there are already a number of blockchain-based networks like Ethereum, which facilitates decentralized applications, EOS focuses on critical pain-points of blockchain and attempts to solve the problem of speed, scalability, and flexibility that often become a bottleneck for such blockchain-based systems. (For more, see An Introduction to Ethereum Classic.)
With the size of the dApps ecosystem increasing with every passing day on a particular blockchain network, it often suffers due to limited availability of resources on the network. They include problems like the network getting constrained by a large number of false transactions and similar requests, spamming apps, slow speed of execution, and limited computing power available across the network.
EOS.IO attempts to address these problems by offering more scalability, flexibility, and usability through its unique mechanism.
It claims to be able to support thousands of commercial-scale dApps without hitting performance bottlenecks through the use of parallel execution and asynchronous communication methodology across the network. The efficiency is further boosted by separating the various modules involved in the working of dApps. For example, the authentication process is performed separately than the execution process.
EOS.IO offers flexibility in the development and maintenance of dApps through various features. Its ownership structure promotes free usage by the user, and eliminates transaction charges as developers are allowed to utilize resources in proportion to their stake instead of the standard pay-per-transaction model. This also makes it easier for app developers to predict hosting costs, and allows them to create effective monetization strategies.
EOS.IO uses delegated proof-of-stake and a role-based permissions concept, which allows flexibility to make instant high-level decisions, like rollback, freezing and bug fixing of broken apps, through a majority accord among designated stakeholders.
It comes with key usability features — web toolkit for interface development, self-describing interfaces, self-describing database schemas, and declarative permission scheme — that make the developer’s job easy for creating and maintaining the apps.
Unique Year-Long Token Distribution
EOS took a novel approach with a one year long ICO period. As per EOSCollective.org, EOS token distribution was carried out as follows with an aim to spread tokens far and wide throughout the whole ecosystem at realistic market prices without giving undue advantage to a select few during a short ICO period:
200 million (20%) of tokens were initially distributed during a five day period from June 26, 2016 to July 1, 2017.
700 million (70%) of tokens are currently being distributed on an ongoing basis of 2 million per day for 350 days.
100 million (10%) are being held in escrow for block.one to keep their incentives in line with that of the EOS community. Block.one’s tokens will vest over a 10-year period at 10 million tokens a year.
EOS tokens can be kept in multiple wallets that include Ethereum Wallet, MyEtherWallet, and MetaMask, and can be traded on exchanges like Bitfinex and YoBit.
The Democratic Inflation-based Economy of EOS
The EOS setup does not have any mining concept. Rather, there are only block producers who generate the required number of blocks and get rewarded by the creation of new EOS tokens for each new block they produce. Block producers have the flexibility to publish a desired figure for their expected pay, and the number of tokens that get created is calculated on the basis of the median value of the expected pay published by all block producers.
As block producers would obviously desire higher pay, this feature can easily be misused. To contain this issue, there is a mechanism to cap producer awards such that the total annual hike in token supply will not exceed 5%. Token holders, who are voters on such matters, have the authority to vote out block producers who demand more inflation, as deemed necessary.
This mechanism acts complementary to EOS storage, as all token holders will pay for the storage of files on the EOS network through a portion of annual inflation. As long as they are storing a file on the network, their EOS tokens will be held up, and will lose value at the rate of inflation.
The more storage is required, the more blocks will be demanded from the block creators who can demand more value for their work through higher pay inflation which can be approved by token holders. In case of decreased storage demand, inflation will be lower, thereby leading to smaller degradation in loss of value of EOS tokens held up.
What is EOS — A Conclusion
The potential of EOS seems to be huge as it aims to address the problems linked with standard blockchain-based networks. However, it is still a conceptual initiative which may or may not bear expected fruits.
The bold claim of processing 100,000 transactions per second is still questionable by many stalwarts of the blockchain world. The requirement to hold EOS tokens to be eligible to send transactions exposes the participant to volatility. A lot will be worth observing in the near future as the EOS ecosystem takes shape. | https://medium.com/@alvinss/eos-crypto-price-predictions-2020-b6bf21254879 | ['Alvin Scherdin'] | 2020-11-05 15:33:54.719000+00:00 | ['Eos', 'Eos Price Prediction', 'Crypto', 'Eos Price Analysis', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Why a POS System is a Must for Restaurants | Many restaurant owners don’t spend much time thinking about their POS system, but they should.
The success of every restaurant depends on several factors. It must have a good location, delicious food, exceptional service and convenient hours — these things are a given — but business owners often miss the single biggest aspect that impacts all of the above: efficiency. Restaurants have multiple systems that need to run smoothly at all times, and a restaurant POS system can simplify time-consuming tasks and increase profitability while getting more out of employees.
Faster processes
More than anything else, a restaurant needs speed. The clock starts the moment customers sit down, and — no matter how good the food is — if the service is slow and the attention to detail is missing, chances are that people will leave disappointed. You can’t please everyone, of course, but you can improve the process with a modern POS. Your system will link every step in the process and ensure a fast and seamless flow of information from one workstation to another.
The server takes an order on a touchscreen device and sends it to the kitchen staff, and when the order is fulfilled, the kitchen alerts the server that the order is up. This method of channeling and simplifying communication can save time and reduce chaos, particularly during busy times of the day.
Easy to use
Gone are the days when POS systems consisted of a big, clunky computer with software that required an IT degree to install. Today’s POS systems are created for portability and convenience. Some of them even run on a tablet. Such a modern touchscreen interface is familiar to employees today; most of them will find it easy to learn a system that mirrors the functionality of an iPad.
Managing inventory
Restaurant owners usually feel a sense of dread when it comes to managing inventory, and with good reason. It’s a never-ending task that takes up a lot of time. However, inventory control is essential for long-term survival, since margins are usually slim for restaurants. POS systems make the process of managing and ordering inventory much easier.
Your POS system will keep a record of entrées, appetizers and drinks as diners check out, automatically adjusting inventory levels in real-time. When inventory hits a preset low point, the POS will automatically generate a sales order for you. At any time, your managers can monitor the status of stocked items, new product orders and shipped goods so adjustments can be made to the menu. This is a huge timesaver for a cumbersome yet crucial process, and it will help you focus on other important aspects of running the business
Keeping track of employees
It takes a lot of people to keep a restaurant running smoothly. From greeters and servers to chefs and busboys, eateries usually have a lot of employees. A POS system will help you manage them all with greater accuracy.
Employees can sign on and off effortlessly with touchscreen interactions, and the system will log their hours and breaks, compiling and packaging the data for you. This makes tracking employee hours simple and instantaneous
Reports and business intelligence
Every business needs to measure labor costs, inventory fees, product pricing and overall profitability in order to run successfully, and it requires accurate reports to do it. Reports are the only true way to assess which components are working and which ones need improvement. A modern POS will give you access to all this data, pulling information from multiple sources — including online sales — and compiling it in a neat and easily digestible format.
Promotions and marketing
Most restaurants use some combination of promotional programs and advertising to bring in new customers. This used to mean running ads in the newspaper or on radio and television, but marketing today involves maintaining a digital presence as well. From the menu on your website to the posts on your social media pages, marketing is a vital part of growing a hungry customer base. Your POS can integrate your advertised offers with transactions, making it easier to track the results of your campaigns. A POS can also integrate with your CRM and track customer behavior. If one particular lunch special or entrée is a big hit, you will see it in your transaction data.
Security
Most importantly, a modern POS offers advanced security protections that will help keep customer information safe. Restaurants are prime targets for cyber attackers, and a data breach can literally put you out of business. By using standard encryption and firewall features, you can help insulate your business from risk and worry less about customers swiping cards at your register.
The chief advantage of using a POS system is efficiency and optimization. It links all the vital aspects of your business together, allowing you to gather data, manage processes, control inventory and increase profitability. Serving good food is only one ingredient for success. If you also use a point of sale to keep the machinery of your business running smoothly, it will help keep people hungry for more.
Source: Why a POS System is a Must for Restaurants | https://medium.com/@figmentech/why-a-pos-system-is-a-must-for-restaurants-fb7048fb30c9 | ['Figment Pos'] | 2019-07-22 09:21:34.633000+00:00 | ['Restaurant Pos', 'Point Of Sale', 'Restaurant Pos Software', 'Pos', 'Restaurant'] |
COVID-19 visualizations with Stata Part 7: Doubling time graphs | Within the graphs folder, I also create an additional sub-folder called guide7, to store the figures generated here. For details on how to organize your files, please see Guide 1.
In order to make the graphs exactly as they are shown here, several additional item are required:
Install the cleanplots theme for a clean look for your figures (more on themes in Guide 2):
net install cleanplots, from(" https://tdmize.github.io/data/cleanplots ")set scheme cleanplots, perm
net install colrspace, replace from(" net install palettes, replace from(" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/benjann/palettes/master/ ")net install colrspace, replace from(" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/benjann/colrspace/master/ ")
Set default graph font to Arial Narrow (see the Font guide on customizing fonts)
graph set window fontface "Arial Narrow"
This guide has been written in version 16.1 and should work with version 14 and onwards. Earlier versions might need some modification for implementing custom colors.
Setup the data
We download the data from Our World in Data’s (OWID) COVID-19 page (see Guide 1 on how to get data from online repositories):
************************
*** COVID 19 data ***
************************
save ./raw/full_data_raw.dta, replace insheet using " https://covid.ourworldindata.org/data/owid-covid-data.csv ", clearsave ./raw/full_data_raw.dta, replace gen date2 = date(date, "YMD")
format date2 %tdDD-Mon-yy
drop date
ren date2 date ren location country
replace country = "Slovak Republic" if country == "Slovakia" drop if date < 21915 // 1st January compress
save "./master/OWID_data.dta", replace
For this guide we keep a handful of European countries. Note that we keep the same group of countries across the guides. Any set of countries can be used here:
use ./master/OWID_data.dta, clear gen group = . replace group = 1 if ///
country == "Austria" | ///
country == "Belgium" | ///
country == "Czech Republic" | ///
country == "Denmark" | ///
country == "Finland" | ///
country == "France" | ///
country == "Germany" | ///
country == "Greece" | ///
country == "Hungary" | ///
country == "Italy" | ///
country == "Ireland" | ///
country == "Netherlands" | ///
country == "Norway" | ///
country == "Poland" | ///
country == "Portugal" | ///
country == "Slovenia" | ///
country == "Slovak Republic" | ///
country == "Spain" | ///
country == "Sweden" | ///
country == "Switzerland" | ///
country == "United Kingdom" keep if group==1 keep date country total_cases
encode country, gen(id)
order id country date xtset id date
sort country date
Since the data series is fairly long, and doubling time graph shown above is mostly useful in the start of the pandemic, we restrict the sample till 15th June 2020, and we also drop the missing data rows:
*** restrict the observations
drop if date > 22081 // 15th June drop if total_cases==.
Note that in order to see what is the number associated with each date, just generate date2=date . This will give the unformatted date variable which you can check in the browser window br .
Now we need to generate a variable that counts the days from the 100th case. This is done as follows:
*** days since 100th case gen day100_cases = .
levelsof country, local(cntr)
foreach x of local cntr {
summ date if total_cases <= 100 & country=="`x'"
replace day100_cases = date - `r(max)' if date >= `r(max)' & country=="`x'"
}
Where for each country, we store the last date where the total_cases variable is less than or equal to 100. Based on this information, we generate a new variable day100_cases as the difference between today’s date and the date when the cases crossed 100. Missing or zero observations are also dropped.
If we browse the data ( br ), we can see that this variable starts with 1 where the first observation is above 100.
Here we drop the extra observations:
*** drop extra information drop if day100_cases==0
drop if day100_cases==.
lab var day100_cases "Days since the 100th case"
Note that while working with actual files, one should not drop unwanted observations but control them using if and and conditions. These steps are done here just to simplify the process. It is also good to browse the data after each step and check the new variables.
We can now do a first plot. Here I just take the first eight countries based on the id variable.
twoway ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==1) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==2) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==3) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==4) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==5) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==6) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==7) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==8) ///
, legend(off)
which gives us a standard line graph:
Note that this graph was exported using the command graph export ./graphs/guide7/graph1.png, replace wid(5000) . This command will only work if you are using the folder structure described earlier.
This graph above is not so easy to read. The countries with yellow, purple, and light blue lines have a lot of COVID-19 cases (probably they are larger as well), while the rest are clustered together at the bottom. If we add more countries, the lines will become even more confusing.
We can repeat the code above and just add one more line to make the y-axis log scale yscale(log) :
twoway /// (line total_cases day100_cases if id==1) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==2) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==3) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==4) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==5) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==6) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==7) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==8) ///
, yscale(log) legend(off)
Which gives us this figure:
Note how the log scale has completely changed the figure. Here the reader has to be careful with the interpretation of the distances between the line. The true distance are show in the previous figure while the figure here accentuates trends with low values and make them stand out more. The distance is also not even between the lines as the y-axis ticks show. The distance between 50,000 to 100,000 is roughly the same as 100,000 to 200,000.
This has also been a subject to much debate since log-lines, while make data more clear, are not so easy to comprehend, if one is not used to log scales.
Next we label the graph with country names. This is done by generating a variable called last which marks the last data entry for each country and gives it a value of one.
gen last = . levelsof country, local(cntr)
foreach x of local cntr {
summ day100_cases if country=="`x'"
replace last = 1 if day100_cases==`r(max)' & country=="`x'"
}
We can now add a simple scatter and label it as follows:
twoway ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==1) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==2) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==3) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==4) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==5) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==6) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==7) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==8) ///
(scatter total_cases day100_cases if last==1 & id <= 8, ms(circle) mcolor(black) msize(*0.1) mlabel(country) mlabsize(*0.7) mlabcolor(black)) ///
if total_cases >= 100, ///
ytitle("Reported cases (log scale)") ///
yscale(log range(100 200000)) ///
ylabel(100 200 500 1000 200 5000 10000 50000 100000 200000, labsize(small)) ///
xlabel(0(20)120, labsize(small)) ///
xtitle("Days since the 100th case") ///
legend(off)
Here yscale(log range(100 200000)) gives us control on the axis range. This is an under utilized trick to always prevent the axis starting from 0. The next line ylabel(100 200 500 1000 200 5000 10000 50000 100000 200000, labsize(small)) allows us to use custom ticks on the y-axis. Here we use a pattern of 1,2,5,10 and its multiples. These values roughly give equal distances between the lines. The code above gives us this figure:
If you want to use more standard log scales, this can be replaced with ylabel(100(100)1000 1000(1000)10000 10000(10000)100000, labsize(vsmall)) which would give us ticks which look like this:
In the graphs above, we can see that Germany has seen the highest rise in cases since the 100th case, followed by France. Since Germany and France are large countries, and the cases are reported in absolute numbers, this result is not surprising. The lines that go farther right also hit the 100th case mark earlier and are trailing ahead. For example, Germany, on 1st June (our data cut-off) was over 90 days since the 100th case, while Greece was only 80 days. Out of all the countries above, Denmark grew the fastest in the beginning.
Doubling time lines
Now we need to add lines that show the rate of doubling. Here we make use of some mathematics:
If we start with the following pair x0 = 0, y0 = 100 , where x is days and y are cases, then a doubling time of one day would imply that x1 = 1, y1 = 200 . We can continue this series:
x0 = 0, y0 = 100
x1 = 1, y1 = 200
x2 = 2, y2 = 400
x3 = 3, y3 = 800
x4 = 4, y4 = 1600
...
and so one. This shows that cases doubling from the previous day. From this we can derive the following generic form for yt for a given value of xt as:
yt = 2^xt * y0
where t>0 is the time index. We already know y0 ( y0 = 100 in our case), so one of the other two variables yt or xt have to be fixed. Since we have total cases exploding on the log scale on the y-axis, we can chose some arbitrary number above the last set of cases as the value of yt . For example, the highest cases we have are around 200,000. So we can keep, lets say yt=40000 . If yt is fixed, we can inverse the formula to make xt the subject, from which we get:
xt = 1/log2 * log(yt/y0) // maths homework ;)
For a doubling time of n days, we can derive the generic formula as:
xt_n = n * 1/log2 * log(yt/y0) // doubling time of n days
In Stata, we generate the variables which are used to draw the doubling time lines. Note that this is not the most efficient way, but it helps with following the code, if you see the values in the data browser screen:
**** doubling time lines
** define the limits of the y-axis
local upper = 400000
local lower = 100 gen x0 = 0 in 1 // starting x value
gen y0 = `lower' in 1 // starting y value
gen y1 = `upper' in 1 // ending y value (we fix y) *** and generate the x value gen x1 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 1 in 1 // every 1 days
gen x2 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 2 in 1 // every 2 days
gen x3 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 3 in 1 // every 3 days
gen x4 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 4 in 1 // every 4 days
gen x5 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 5 in 1 // every 5 days
gen x6 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 7 in 1 // every 7 days
gen x7 = (1/log(2)) * log(y1/y0) * 10 in 1 // every 10 days gen label1 = "1 day" in 1
gen label2 = "2 days" in 1
gen label3 = "3 days" in 1
gen label4 = "4 days" in 1
gen label5 = "5 days" in 1
gen label6 = "7 days" in 1
gen label7 = "10 days" in 1 sort country date
If we browse the data, we can see the values of x1-x7 representing doubling times mentioned above with y1=40000 as the upper y-axis value:
We can now add these lines as twoway spikes using the pcarrow command which takes 2 coordinate pairs (x0,y0) and (xt,yt) to draw a line. These are highlighted in the code below:
twoway ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==1) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==2) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==3) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==4) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==5) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==6) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==7) ///
(line total_cases day100_cases if id==8) ///
(scatter total_cases day100_cases if last==1 & id <= 8, ms(circle) mcolor(black) msize(*0.1) mlabel(country) mlabsize(*0.7) mlabcolor(black)) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x1, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label1) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x2, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label2) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x3, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label3) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x4, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label4) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x5, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label5) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x6, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label6) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
(pcarrow y0 x0 y1 x7, lc(gs8) lw(thin) lp(-) mc(gs10) msize(small) mlab(label7) mlabsize(vsmall) mlabc(black) mlabposition(12) headlabel) ///
if total_cases >= 100, ///
ytitle("Reported cases (log scale)") ///
yscale(log range(100 400000)) ///
ylabel(100 200 500 1000 2000 5000 10000 20000 50000 100000 200000, labsize(small) glwidth(vvvthin) glpattern(solid)) ///
xlabel(0(10)120, labsize(small) glwidth(vvvthin) glpattern(solid)) ///
xtitle("Days since the 100th case") ///
legend(off)
From the code above, we end up with this figure: | https://medium.com/the-stata-guide/covid-19-visualizations-with-stata-part-7-doubling-time-graphs-1-58b7687cbdc0 | ['Asjad Naqvi'] | 2020-12-11 14:06:58.432000+00:00 | ['Stata', 'Covid 19', 'Derivation', 'Data Visualization', 'Doubling Time'] |
When my 8 years old asked- How lion gives puppy? | Every parent finds themselves in this sticky situation. It can come in any shape-
An innocent — Daddy how was I born? Pat comes our reply — A stork brought you or we prayed to the god and he gifted us or We went to a hospital and got you….. The child’s curiosity is met and we are relieved!
Yet, another scene-
We come across a dog or a pigeon trying to climb over another- Mummy, what are they doing?
Our answer may quickly come — They are playing.
Again a win win situation for both child and the parent.
The child grows up with these half baked truths. One day the child is playing with peers when he sees a dog jumping over another dog. Some of the smarty-pant children are giggling. The child wonders what is the giggle about when he knows that the dogs are playing. The children giggle- He, he, he, you don’t know anything.
The child tries to overhear what they are saying.
They make a big deal about it-C’mon he is a small boy. Let’s not talk about all this in his front.
The child protests- No I am not a small boy. Tell me…
And there begins a hush hush giggle giggle camaraderie, something that goes beyond the adult world, for the adults didn’t welcome the child into it. The child had to go into the world on his own. The child figures out that this is the area that he can’t trust the adults with. This is the area that he has to acquire knowledge and expertise on his own, for every child is curious and as a human being has a strong desire to be accepted by the peers. No child wants to be called a –Mamma’s boy!
And all this because we, The Adults, felt uncomfortable when it was the right time. We TALKED out instead of TALKING to the child.
— — — — — — — — — –
Now replaying the situation again.
The child asks- Daddy how was I born?
Daddy- That is a very interesting question. How do you think you were born?
Child says- I think Mamma got me from the hospital.
Daddy- You are so right. We have the photographs. You grew up inside Mamma and the doctors helped to take you out. Have you seen how bird’s kids come out?
Child- yes, from eggs.
Daddy- Wow, you have observed so much. The birds lay eggs and it hatches. Birds don’t need doctors. We human beings need doctor’s help as human baby is fragile. And see how big you have become now.
And further direction of the conversation is child led.
Many times we struggle on how to talk to the child about such open ended questions. We forget that the child never talks in isolation. They always have some knowledge somewhere. If what we tell them don’t match with the information they have, they may actually discount us away either with –Daddy doesn’t know how kids are born, :-), or Daddy is not comfortable to talk to me about it!
Either ways we don’t want that to happen.
So keeping a base from what knowledge the child already has or what made the child wonder about this question and building upon it in an age appropriate manner is the key. Most of the times they will tell you when they have had enough information for the time being and would move on to other topics.
It is important to end the conversation with — Is there anything else you want to talk about it? Do you have any other doubts on it? Wow, I am glad we talked about it. Here is a big hug for you.
This leaves a positive sense with the child about this topic and opens up a channel of communication for future talks. If the child again brings it up after few weeks or months, start afresh instead of dismissing — Oh I talked to you about it, you forgot? Children often take a different perspective of the knowledge that we give to them based on what fits in with the existing information that they have. They may not remember the way we told them.
A few situations warrant proactive conversation:
If there has been a suicide in the vicinity or a nation wide case of molestation like ‘Nirbhaya’ and we know that this is being talked about around. If the news has reached to you, it has definitely reached to the child. The best way to broker a conversation here is — Hey, could I have a moment of your attention please. And once you and the child have a one to one, set the ball rolling- I came to know about the suicide in your school. I was wondering what do you think about it…… While watching a movie, a particular scene comes in, it could be as innocent as a girl being over powered by the drunkard prisoners in ‘Do aankhen, Barah haath’ movie. It is always a good idea to talk about it post the movie or if possible to pause it and talk about what is happening. I always suggest to check imdb.com for the parental advisory on movies. In fact to talk about the scenes in advance. This also puts a responsibility on the parents on exposing age appropriate content to the children. The more we talk, the better and more comfortable we become for subsequent talks. Remember it is never ONE BIG TALK but a series of smaller talks that build the comfort and connection between parents and children. Small incidents pave way for insightful talks. For instance if the child comes and shares an incident like –Mamma we found a love letter in the garden. Instead of reacting, the best possible action here is to reflect the emotions and let the child talk more- Wow, how did you get it……How do you know it is a love letter…What do you think-Is it wrong to write a love letter…Why do you think your friends were gushing over it? This incident (for the heightened emotions being attached here of how people reacted around, especially peers) is going to stay with the child for long. Talking about it and sharing your own two bits attaches more perspective to the incident that helps the child to better place it every time he recollects it. Or we bring up the talks to make the child feel comfortable with the topics that are age appropriate for him. It is like implanting a seed of thought in the child so he knows that he can approach us when the need be to speak about it. The ice breaker could be questions like-Have you ever wondered how you were born?
Proactive communication helps the child to understand that it is alright to talk about such seemingly taboo topics with parents, for none of the cartoons or movies they watch prepare them for -How to handle it? Some time back I met an overprotective mother in a preschool. She shared with me how her fear for her daughter was giving her anxieties. She was carrying a guilt from her childhood. Despite having a liberal upbringing she would wonder why she didn’t talk to her parents about an inappropriate touch by a relative in her childhood. She shared that- My parents never talked to me about these things. I didn’t know that this should be shared with them. When we show a comfort to talk, children understand that we are approachable.
As the child grows up, we can also take an analogy of hibiscus flower and talk about male and female reproduction organs. Always take real technical name of the organs. Once they are into their 11 and 12 years, it is also important to talk about how nature has made the process of reproduction in a manner that the species don’t become extinct.
Ask questions like-What would happen if there is no reproduction in plants, animals, humans….
Another interesting angle is-Did you know there are living organisms that have both male and female organs like earthworm. Imagine they don’t need a partner…
And again as the child grows up (say 11 to 14 years) concept like In Vitro fertilization, surrogacy, sexually transmitted diseases, protection etc should be talked of. It is like we create a sketch of an information and slowly with age, fill color into it. This compared to we present a false sketch to the child and later ask him to replace it with another sketch. Their logical mind is bound to reject it.
— — — — — — — — — –
Coming to another situation
We come across a dog or a pigeon trying to climb over another- Mummy, what are they doing?
How about the answer being- They seem to be mating. Dogs have a season when they have kids.
This said with a dead pan expression on our face as if we are saying — They are chit chatting.
And then wait for the child to ask more on it. If the child’s curiosity is satiated there itself great, else he will ask more, let the child drive.
A mother had a situation when she had two kids in a garden aged 8 and 10 years and a big dog was trying to go over smaller pup. And the younger child shouted out- Look Mamma, they are mating!!
Before the mother could register and plan for her reaction, the older sibling commented- But the other dog looks so small.
Mother fidgets a bit, there are people around(!), then says to herself — Alright, this is a learning moment-, says aloud- Well, to me it looks like that the older dog is practicing mating. Look how the smaller dog is showing his discomfort and warding him away. You know in human world this is called molestation of a child. We have very strong rules to protect children from anybody who makes them feel uncomfortable.
The siblings look on thoughtfully- Yeah, poor animals don’t have parents to escalate to.
The older sibling gets up- Let me help the puppy. And advances towards the dogs shushing away the older dog away.
We may often fear, if I give more information, my child may become curious about it and may want to experiment early on. ‘You will understand it when you become bigger‘ or ‘I will tell you when I think it is appropriate for you‘ comes easier. On the contrary many studies have shown that children with better understanding of their own body, the processes around, the challenges and the precautions actually delay experimentation. They are more relaxed not having a need to indulge into the preteen and teen thrill of hush hush, for they have been given a platform to express.
There is one most important dimension here. Our own comfort zone. Now this is given that we need to answer questions on taboo topics including reproduction in an age appropriate manner and to the depth to which the child continues showing a curiosity. 7 to 8 years is a beginning when child starts showing curiosity around the world of practical life and his or her learning is not restricted to bookish knowledge alone (and Thank God for that for this little piece of wonder is bound to solve newer problems much beyond the limited scope of academic text).
The tricky point is how do we keep a check on the color between our ears which doesn’t come when answering ‘Why Sky is blue‘ but pops up when our child asks ‘How Lion gives puppy‘!! The question seems loaded. So first thing first is to find your comfort zone. For instance the question could be asked in a lift, like it happened for one of my clients. His 9 years old son who had recently been shared the concept of sperm and ova asked-So, daddy how exactly did you give sperm to mamma!! Well who said we have to talk about this and many such ‘oh I am getting redder now and my heart is racing’ concepts only once and be done with it…well, children remember a part of it and keep coming back to us to further increase the richness of their knowledge. Each time while you ready your self to choose just the right words to answer the question they notice the wavering of your voice, the breaking of eye contact, the shifting of weight or the twitches. No matter how seasoned you are, the children get the message-This question is loaded. The way out here could be as simple as — This is an interesting question. I need to think about how to best explain you. I will remember to help you once we reach home. And do remember to get back on it later.
When my daughter was 11 years old, she shared once-Mamma, I notice that your tone changes when you are talking about these topics. It was a surprise.you get stiffer than usual (there was an article in the newspaper about prostitutes that my daughter was asking questions upon, phew). Well, these kids notice!
I took a deeper breath to calm myself, mulled over it for a bit and decided to hold the bull by horn-I am sure there must be. It is good we are able to talk about various topics. Some topics do trigger a certain discomfort as the way I was raised and the society I am part of, it had not been natural to talk about them. I don’t have an experience of sitting across my mother and talking like this. It may seep through my body language but I try to answer them to the best of my knowledge in a way where it is easy for you to understand. I am so glad we are talking about this. Honesty is the best policy here.
Friends, it is important for the child to hear from us instead of gathering half baked information from wrong sources. It takes the power out of these topics, power to make people react in a certain way….it takes away the hush-hushness or the ability of somebody else to use this to blackmail our child or emotionally hurt. We do know that most of the name calling/bullying is around so called hush-hush and ‘You are too young to understand this‘ topics. It is best when children hear from the right source…and the right source is — The Parents.
The gist of the matter is- Before coming to have a conversation with your child over topics that trigger you, take care of your thoughts and do your homework of getting more scientific information about it. If you are getting overwhelmed, listen to your thoughts and handle them well first (if need be, reach out to a child counselor). As it is always said- Help yourself before helping others.
Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash | https://medium.com/@kirantevtiya/when-my-8-years-old-asked-how-lion-gives-puppy-6948dbd73c89 | ['Kiran Tevtiya'] | 2020-05-26 00:37:44.845000+00:00 | ['Sex Education', 'Parenthood', 'Children', 'Childhood', 'Parenting'] |
Gameweek 13 Review | Gameweek 13 occurred midweek, but remains crucial to the table standings and the teams. These few weeks have been and will be hectic for players and the teams, but it is vital for them to perform to secure important points. So, let’s find out what happened, and what the results mean to each and every team.
Wolves vs Chelsea: 2–1
Another week, and another loss for Chelsea against top 10 opposition. While this spells disaster for Chelsea, Wolves will be elated with the result, as they displayed their attacking prowess to defeat the Blues. While Chelsea as a unit weren’t dreadful, certain players were. Kai Havertz seemed lost in the Chelsea midfield, and lacked appallingly in creativity. Reece James struggled to defend against Wolves’ speedy forwards, and Mendy should have done better to save those goals. Wolves pushed on for the whole 90 minutes, which was why they deservedly got that winning goal. My man of the match is Daniel Podence, who equalised for the wolves with an absolute blinder, and remained a goal threat through out the match.
Manchester City vs West Brom: 1–1
This result is another surprising one, but it was not enough to save Slaven Bilic’s job, with the Baggies sacking him the next day. His replacement was ‘Big Sam’ Allardyce, who is renowned for keeping teams in a relegation battel up. However, let’s get back to the result. It was a crucial point for the Baggies, and they will be satisfied with the result, having bounced back from their trashing by the Eagles last week. The Mancunians, however, will be disappointed to drop the two points. They failed to pick up points early on in the season, and really need to get on a winning streak to keep up with the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool. My MOTM is Ilkay Gündogan, who was colossal in midfield, and scored the opener for Man City.
Leicester City vs Everton: 0–2
Everton have finally recovered the great form they had at the start of the season, after they comfortably cruised to victory against the Foxes. Leicester City have been consistently good for most of the season, but this was an oddly dull performance. Despite having most of the possession and playing the most and the more accurate passes, they struggled to break down the solid Everton defence. Everton were superb as an unit, and totally deserved the win. A couple of players stood out, including Mason Holgate, who performed amazingly well at right-back, Alex Iwobi, who was an offensive threat for the full game, and Richarlison, who scored a goal after a long time. My MOTM award has to go to Alex Iwobi, even though he didn’t score a goal. Iwobi arrived at Everton with huge expectations to perform, and he is finally showing his best form. He was highly influential on the final third, and hopefully remains in form for the rest of the season.
Leeds United vs Newcastle United: 5–2
Leeds United have been decent all season, but this game could be the tipping point for them. They have a squad worthy of a top 10 finish, and this win will be crucial to a top 10 finish push. Newcastle United are also in a similar situation, where they will aim to finish in the top 10, and this game will have a drastic effect later on in the season. The Magpies weren’t horrible, but they simply struggled to handle the Leeds midfield and forwards. Leeds will be proud of the result, and this further silences doubters who thought Leeds would struggle to even stay in the PL this season. My MOTM has to be Patrick Bamford, who is on a scoring spree with 9 goals, which makes him the 6th player to reach this landmark so far.
Fulham vs Brighton: 0–0
Fulham will be very satisfied with the result, having gained an important point, but the Seagulls will be disappointed for not winning the game. Fulham have been on a good run in the PL of late, and Scott Parker will certainly be encouraged by this result to keep going and ensure the Cottagers remain in the top tier of English football next season. Graham Potter, meanwhile, will be disappointed at not taking the full 3 points, and will have to ensure his team bucks up if they want to finish higher up in the table. My MOTM has to be Alphonse Areola, who pulled off some remarkable saves to keep the game nil-nil.
Liverpool vs Tottenham: 2–1
Ah, the big game of the week. It certainly was a great match for those viewing it as there was lots of drama to enjoy. Tottenham played relatively well, but just like last week, they didn’t push for the whole 3 points, which resulted in them ending up the losers. Jose Mourinho may have felt that the best team lost, but that is certainly not the truth statistically speaking. Liverpool dominated Spurs in all aspects, and thus got a much deserved 90th minute winner. This win is certainly crucial for Liverpool’s title challenge, and could prove detrimental for the Whites. The MOTM is Bobby Firmino, who scored a 90th minute goal to win the game.
West Ham United vs Crystal Palace: 1–1
Both teams will be satisfied with the results, since the single point they both get keeps them comfortably in the top end and middle of the table respectively. Both teams had similar performances, as the Hammers and the Eagles battled hard to keep it even. Both sides had chances to win the game, but the ball was kept out of the net by both ‘keepers, who personally had great games. My MOTM is Sebastian Haller, who bagged a long overdue goal, and will be motivated to score more after that stellar goal and performance.
Aston Villa vs Burnley: 0–0
Aston Villa will be hugely disappointed at tying with a team in the relegation zone, but this is yet another crucial, singular point for the Clarets as they continue to struggle to actually beat teams. Villa have been inconsistent all season, and this is yet another less-than-satisfactory result. Burnley will not be feeling too bad, and will be more than happy to take a point. My MOTM has to be Nick Pope, who saved multiple number of shots and led from the back to keep it 0–0.
Sheffield United vs Manchester United : 2–3
Sheffield will be distraught at losing despite taking the lead early on. Manchester United, however, reacted well after going down, and scored thrice to bag the 3 points. All the Red Devil players worked well as a unit, and will be happy with the win. My MOTM has to be Marcus Rashford, who scored twice to help MUFC win the game, and was an influential attacker too.
My player of the week is Marcus Rashford for his fabulous brace against the Blades.
So that’s it. After 2 hours of writing, I have completed my review, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a great day, and I will surely write again soon. | https://medium.com/@aakash-rao/gameweek-13-review-ccd06aad61c2 | ['Aakash Rao'] | 2020-12-20 15:13:14.181000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Sports', 'Review', 'Premier League', 'Soccer'] |
【程式學習之路：Day52】物聯網應用與實作： 感測器 | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/sally-thinking/%E7%A8%8B%E5%BC%8F%E5%AD%B8%E7%BF%92%E4%B9%8B%E8%B7%AF-day52-%E7%89%A9%E8%81%AF%E7%B6%B2%E6%87%89%E7%94%A8%E8%88%87%E5%AF%A6%E4%BD%9C-%E6%84%9F%E6%B8%AC%E5%99%A8-97ec6932981a | ['莎莉 Sally'] | 2019-03-27 05:21:57.526000+00:00 | ['Coding', '程式語言', 'Data Science', 'IoT', 'Sensor'] |
Tutorial: ASP.NET Core First Console Application | Steps 1 ASP.NET Core — Environment Setup
To use ASP.NET Core in your application, the following must be installed in your system:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 Community (Download VS2019)
Step 2 New Project
Once you have installed the Visual Studio 2019, you can start building a new ASP.NET Core Console Application.
Open VS2019
On the start page, choose Create a new project.
On the Create a New Project dialog box, you will see the following different templates for Web projects. Now select the Console App (.NET Core) template with C#:
In the Configure your new project dialog, enter HelloWorldConsoleApp in the Project name box and select you location where it will save. Then choose Create.
Now, you can see your new project is created and opened.
Step 3 Run Project
Let us run this application, you can do that by pressing Ctrl+F5 or Click on Play button on top.
Reference Code: static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine(“Hello World!”); }
A console window opens with the text “Hello World!” printed on the screen and some Visual Studio debug information.
Press any key to close the console window.
Step 4 Enhance the application
Enhance the application to prompt the name which you entered and display it along with the date and time.
Console.WriteLine is use for output and Console.ReadLine is use for input. So let’s use both combination and Enhance our app.
In Program.cs replace the contents of the Main method, which is the line that calls Console.WriteLine, with the following code:
Reference Code: static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine(“Hello!”); Console.WriteLine(“
Who are you there?”); Console.WriteLine(“
waiting…for your good name.”); var name = Console.ReadLine(); var date = DateTime.Now; Console.WriteLine($”
Hello, {name}, on {date:d} at {date:t}!”); Console.Write(“
Press any key to exit…”); Console.ReadKey(true); }
Now, Again Run Application by pressing Ctrl+F5 or Click on Play button on top.
Respond to the prompt by entering a name and pressing the Enter key.
key. Press any key to close the console window. | https://medium.com/@patelalpeshn/tutorial-asp-net-core-first-console-application-138e9782e923 | ['Alpesh Patel'] | 2021-04-01 12:16:08.622000+00:00 | ['Dotnet Core', 'Dotnet', 'Aspnetcore'] |
Medifit: A Medical Data Plug-in. Designing a custom plug-in for Sketch… | During my time as a graduate assistant for the School of Information (iSchool) at Kent State University, I talked with one of my faculty advisors about the frustrations of finding and providing sample data in order to create believable UX deliverables like wireframes and prototypes. As we discussed the issue, we set up a plan to develop a plug-in that would help developers with this problem.
I chose to create this plug-in for the Sketch design software due to its popularity in the UX field as well as its strong plug-in development community and existing plug-in creation tools and templates, primarily skpm. We also decided to focus on medical data since there aren’t a lot of tools, especially in Sketch, that supply this kind of information. My goal was to create a plug-in that would provide examples of diseases, medications, and treatment options for a number of different systems of the body for the most adaptability and ease of use.
Project Timeline:
3 months (March 2020 — May 2020)
Project Goal:
Create a data supplier plug-in for Sketch that provides sample medical data
The Overview
I broke the project down into four steps:
Import a Data Supplier plug-in template via skpm Supply the relevant medical data Create the rest of the plug-in’s code Publish the plug-in
How I Did It
The first few steps were the easiest. Importing the plug-in template was simple and straightforward; skpm makes it easy to create templates to work with. Providing the medical data was also relatively simple. My first attempt was a series of JSON arrays that contained the data for the main plug-in to use. I made sure that my data came from credible institutions and organizations like the American Heart Association and American Cancer Insitute. This way, users of the plug-in would have the most relevant and credible information in their mockups. For the actual coding, I studied the skpm template and any documentation made available through Sketch’s developer community.
However, because I was unfamiliar with Javascript terminology and operators, troubleshooting became difficult for me, and I ended up with a functional but sloppier version of the plug-in that would be difficult to fix and improve upon. This left me feeling disappointed, but also determined. I wanted something more organized and more representative of my own skill level and imagination. With this in mind, I scrapped the plug-in and began again, this time focusing on learning to build Javascript code from the ground up instead of trying to model my work off of templates or help articles.
The result was a much cleaner plug-in that was entirely my own design, and yet it produced the same results as the earlier version. This new plug-in has nine separate Javascript files for each data category, each with its own array and supplier function. This means that the plug-in only has to call in a single Javascript file with everything in it instead of trying to call in information from JSON elsewhere in the directory. This made much more sense to me, it was built using simple Javascript, and best of all, it worked perfectly during testing.
Challenges & Setbacks
The biggest challenge for me was my inexperience with Javascript coding and the tools required to build the plug-in. At first, I tried to cope with this inexperience by modeling my work based on Sketch documentation and templates provided by skpm.
However, in doing so, I paid attention only to the end product and not the knowledge needed to develop it. I had my plug-in, but I had no idea how to fix it if it broke or how to improve upon it. When I focused instead on learning Javascript and built the plug-in more from scratch, I became familiar with the plug-in’s inner workings; thus, I knew where to go if something needed fixed or updated.
The end result of this project was Medifit, the medical data plug-in for Sketch that can provide randomized example data for medical or health-related mockups built in Sketch. The plug-in supplies information in three categories — Conditions, Medications, and Procedures — for the following body systems and conditions:
Circulatory System
Respiratory System
Musculoskeletal System
Glandular System
Digestive System
Mental Disorders
Diabetes
Cancers
Allergies
An example of how Medifit supplies medical data to Sketch
The plug-in is available on Sketch’s plug-in directory and can be downloaded HERE.
Although the task was daunting at first, I learned an incredible amount while working on this project. While developing this plug-in, I learned a great deal about Sketch and skpm, as well as Javascript coding and working with command line tools on MacOS.
Not only did the plug-in project expand my skill set, it also improved my work ethic. This project taught me a great deal about patience, diligence, and the importance of trusting your own instincts. While I learned a lot form the resources within Sketch developer community, I was able to create own success by focusing on educating myself rather than making it work on the first try. This made the second attempt all the better and much more rewarding.
Overall, this was a great opportunity for me; I am proud to have made my first contribution to the UX development community, and I hope to make many more going forward! | https://medium.com/zachary-immel-portfolio/medifit-the-medical-data-plug-in-4ad809a797e5 | ['Zachary Immel'] | 2020-12-06 16:51:37.353000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'Case Study', 'Portfolio', 'Sketch', 'Plugins'] |
Awakenings: The romantic science of Oliver Sacks | Photo by Matt Hardy on Unsplash
After one week of treatment (and on a dose of 2 gm. L-DOPA daily), Mrs B. started talking -quite audibly for the first time in many years, although her vocal force would decay after two or three short sentences, and her new-found voice was low-pitched, monotonous, and uninflected…With raising of the dose to 3 gm. L-DOPA daily, Mrs B…now showed considerable spontaneous activity…She was much more alert, and had ceased to show any drowsiness or ‘dullness’ in the course of the day. Her voice had acquired further strength, and the beginnings of intonation and inflection: thus one could now realize that this patient had a strong Viennese accent, where a few days previously her voice had been monotonous in timbre, and, as it were, anonymously Parkinsonian. – Oliver Sacks in his book ‘Awakenings,’ pp. 69–70
The above excerpt comes from one of several case studies Oliver Sacks conducted as a young physician in the spring of 1969 at Mount Carmel, an institution housing post-encephalitic patients who contracted encephalitis lethargica or sleeping-sickness, only to suffer from “post-encephalitic parkinsonism” for decades, lasting until the end of life. Sleeping-sickness was an epidemic that lasted for a brief time after World-War One and “disappeared” in 1926, however it left affected individuals in a perpetual state of a severe kind of quasi-immobility, only able to make the subtlest of movements with great and concentrated effort.
The story of Dr. Sacks’ exciting time in 1969, when after administering the newly discovered ‘miracle drug’ L-DOPA he witnessed patients who had been thought of as ‘extinct volcanoes’ suddenly come alive with vibrance and vitality was dramatized in the 1990 film “Awakenings” starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams.
Oliver Sacks and Robin Williams on the set of the 1989 movie ‘Awakenings.’ Credit: Oliver Sacks
Although the story itself is fascinating, something I found intriguing was Sacks’ falling out with the medical community and the difficulty he had in publishing the dramatic descriptions of his patients’ awakenings which were however followed by a complex aftermath of “sometimes bizarre, and unpredictable states,” too unpredictable and complex to be simply considered as “side-effects.” Sacks emphasized:
“These could not, I indicated (in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association published in 1970), be seen as ‘side-effects,’ but had to be seen as integral parts of an evolving whole. Ordinary considerations and policies, I stressed, sooner or later ceased to work. There was a need for a deeper, more radical understanding” (p. xxxi).
He received ample backlash from the medical community, some saying he was against the ‘miracle drug’ L-DOPA by mentioning its ‘side-effects’ while some claiming he was just making it all up. He wrote up his year’s worth of research findings on his patients at Mount Carmel into a properly formatted medical article, complete with “statistics and figures and tables and graphs” and then submitted it to various medical journals: all rejected his paper, sometimes with “vehemently censorious, even violent, rejections, as if there were something intolerable in what I had written…”
“This confirmed my feeling that a deep nerve had been struck, that I had somehow elicited not just a medical, but a sort of epistemological, anxiety — and rage.”
Sacks would later publish the full account of his time at Mount Carmel a few years later in his 1973 book Awakenings, with several descriptively rich case-studies of over a dozen patients. And although it was well-received by the general public, according to Sacks it elicited a heavy silence — or as he put it, “a mutism” on the topic– from his colleagues in the medical field which left Sacks feeling alienated from the medical community. | https://medium.com/swlh/awakenings-the-romantic-science-of-oliver-sacks-54f160c32ae2 | ['Gavin Lamb'] | 2020-02-09 22:00:00.610000+00:00 | ['Rejection', 'Philosophy', 'Knowledge', 'Science', 'Perseverance'] |
Maximize Your Success With Website Conversion Campaigns | Website Conversion campaigns are heaven-sent. I don’t know where I would be without the data that’s provided to me and my team. There are so many different types of conversions but to put it in simple terms, a conversion is a specific action taken on your site by a user. Email opt-ins, page views, and purchases are some different types of conversions you can optimize for in Facebook Ads.
Say you want to increase the number of ‘Add to cart’ events there has been. Thankfully, Facebook provides you with a conversion tracking tool called Pixel. Placed as a snippet of code on your site, it records the activity of all of your user’s behavior on your site.
This gives you the ability to not only know whats going on after they click your ad, but you’ll also collect important data about the user. Facebook gives you the opportunity to turn this data into hard cold cash by optimizing your ad to the people likely to act on your product/service.
Facebook Pixel collects data from your site visitors to give you an in-depth look at what actions are being taken. Pixel then takes this data and uses it to attract like-minded consumers to your business.
CONVERSION TRACKING FOR APPS
Conversion tracking isn’t just for websites, but for mobile apps too! Finally, you can see whats happening after people download your app. This gives you deep insights into your user’s behavior and how you can improve your app. Know exactly when users:
“Level up”
Make in-app purchases
Or take any other key actions.
Behaviors that you’re tracking for conversions are called App Events. Get access to this data by installing Facebook’s SDK on their developer platform.
Make in-app purchases, or take any other key actions. Behaviors that you’re tracking for conversions are called App Events. Get access to this data by installing Facebook’s SDK on their developer platform.
Additionally, you can use Facebook Analytics for Apps to gain insight to purchases, top players, biggest spenders, and fundamental user demographics that will help you identify your core audience for more precise targeting to potential users.
For more information on App Ads, visit Facebook Developers.
INSTALLING FACEBOOK PIXEL
When you’re the biggest advertising platform in the world, everyone adjusts their strategy to you. If you’re reading this, you probably have a website hosted somewhere on the internet. Many website platforms have adapted to Facebook’s growth by making it easy for users to install Facebook Pixel on their site. Whether you’re using:
WordPress
Shopify
Magento
Squarespace
Or other
Most platforms will allow you to install your pixel without any knowledge of code by using, Facebook provided, pixel ID. Facebook provides specific installation instructions for your non-technical needs.
For more info on Mobile App Install Facebook advertising campaigns, click here
Thanks for being a part of the Steller Facebook Advertising series. If you enjoyed this article, let me know in the comments below! Share this with someone struggling to understand how to use Facebook Pixel! They will thank you for it. Thanks again. | https://medium.com/steller-media-marketing/maximize-your-success-with-website-conversion-campaigns-b77a459f2d74 | ['Darrell Tyler'] | 2017-08-01 15:27:01.854000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Facebook', 'Digital Marketing', 'Advertising', 'Startup'] |
Adam Curry Interview with Ryan Dennis [Transcript] | Ryan Dennis: Welcome back to the ICO Alert podcast, I’m here, joined by the one and only Adam Curry of Dench music. We’re so excited to actually get to know the project. We’ve seen a few different music-oriented projects, but I think you’re not going to see many that have this level of partnerships and influencers who are kind of crowding around and trying to find out, “what’s going on with Dench? This was brought to our attention, we were really excited as a team to get Adam on the phone, and I just would love to welcome Adam to the ICO Alert podcast.
Adam Curry, Dench Music: Hey Ryan, alright, yea good, good, how are you today?
Ryan: I’m feeling great, it’s probably The best day of my life. I get to talk about blockchain, I…
Adam: So every day, we get up and every able to a blockchain, it’s a good day.
Ryan: Absolutely. I mean, what’s a better feeling than just chasing a new passion and being ahead of the curve, why not?
Adam: Well, and that’s exactly why we started Dench music, was we saw the music. And when I say We, older friends of mine and we’re all in our early 50s, where we’ve been around for a while, in the entertainment and music business and everything was changing very rapidly and really started with the unbundling of the album. Thanks to Steve Jobs and iTunes. And then, of course, streaming became the way to distribute and make money with music. But it’s…but it’s not necessarily beneficial to everybody.
We’ve heard a lot of gripes about the amount of money for stream, but it’s also I think, how money is made in the music business is poorly understood in general, certainly by the public but we see things changing, we see how Blockchain is eventually going to be a distribution method, not just for music, but also for payment. And we wanted to be the company, the music production and publishing company that was ready for any change.
Ryan: The readiness is so applicable to block thing because we’re all playing this patient game, we’re waiting for other industries and Blockchain to kind of gain some more enterprise readiness, as you put it to be ready to attack these industries. So here on the podcast, we love to chat with new projects, to find out how ready they are and to kind of investigate what they’re working on, but when we’re talking to you, we kind of have already seen you guys have already negotiated some partnerships. So, let’s just get going. I, first of all, I want a little background I guess you have a really interesting background yourself. Adam, I’m sure a lot of people are interested in… so your story with the music industry, but I love to hear from your perspective how the music industry kind of readied you… and I prepared for you to serendipitously find yourself in blockchain, if you don’t mind.
Yeah, we have to go back a little bit then. For my personal history I… I was on air, and VJ on MTV in the ’80s in very early 90s, but it was in 1987 that I discovered the internet and it was really quite by mistake. I mean, I had a Mac Plus and a big hunk and twenty megabyte external SCSI Drive. Do you remember those days? And my bad modem, and the internet, I heard about it, and I heard about this internet thing and it was very hard to get on, but once you were there, all the cool kids were there and you had to get a dial-up account and a slip account or PP start-up or there was no World-Wide Web and this was all just text-based stuff, but who was on the Internet was kids at universities who had access to mainframe terminals. And I really went very quickly from there throughout my TV career when I eventually launched MTV dot-com with their full knowledge and compliance initially, and I saw how this was going to be an excellent distribution for media of being a long-time broadcaster, and I was the co-founder of podcasting and so that was one of the things that I was very frustrated about. How do we broadcast on the internet and how do we make it work for everybody?
And so, having seen this integration of media and technology continuously, and then of course when we had a Napster,
I was like… All right, now everything is completely different. I’ve had several companies, one fact, which I took public in ’96 that dealt specifically with internet distribution in an advertising — monetizing the network to a degree. And it was very frustrating I could not convince two groups that their world was about to be rocked. And the first one was newspapers. In fact, I went to Mercury in California, I went to many big publishers in Chicago and said, “Hey you’re about your lunch is about to get eaten because the classifieds which is your bread and butter are going to move away. Look at this thing called Craigslist..ah! We don’t care.
In the same music business to look at what’s happening at the time. The music business would really run by five lawyers. It’s five guys who are doing everything, it’s all kind of shake handshake deal over here, we’ll do this back there. Very, very non-transparent. So I’ve seen that how technology can rip entire industries apart and I don’t think we’re done with either one of those, not with the news or newspaper business, or how news is disseminated, and made profitable or at least doable.
And the same goes for music. And when you see it’s really… it’s more about ownership of something of the past. We don’t necessarily want to own our car, we don’t wanna own our home, we wanna use Airbnb we want to use Uber and Lyft, and it’s about access. We don’t necessarily have to own the music, we want the access to the music and once you make it easy, then it turns out that people will actually start to consume the media, that way.
So, we’re seeing these companies like in music and other blockchain initiatives that are coming up, they have yet to prove that their system is right, but we wanna be ready.
Having the technological understanding of how to translate that to media and to seamlessly integrate into whatever comes across our path that we’re lean and mean, and that’s exactly why we’re in business doing this.
Ryan: So, the music industry was run by five lawyers and now you’ve got a blocking industry, which is pretty much run by five block chains. You know, or people are trying to decide..
Adam: I’m a Bitcoin maximalist so I have all kinds of views on that.
Ryan: I love that. If you’re a bitcoin maximalist, this, is the podcast for you, and that will be the clip. But for sure, I mean, I love… he described how ownership is being something of the past, right? And access, we don’t want to own things and maybe we’ve done ownership wrong ever since colonial times, that Native Americans are like, you guys want to own our land. How does that even work?
Yeah, and thusly,, also value itself kind of need to be redefined to… but how I value being allocated in different places. And what are these things that we’ve thought to be hard and true being really being redefined what does that mean for us and how we play a role? And I think that when you say… Yeah, I want to own the music, I wanna own my album. You don’t really own it, you just get the ability to listen to it and so people are like… Well, I just want to listen to it. So, and you really went back into your history of with podcasting as well.
Just a quick question on, I gotta ask the pod Father, will podcasts be available in the blockchain world, in a different place? How do you see podcasting kind of evolving on the blockchain as well?
Adam: That’s a good question, what I’m seeing with crypto currencies is a way to define and value what I call value networks. So an example of a value network very basic in my case is the no agenda podcast, which I’ve been doing now for ten years in my partner, John C Dvorak and… and we use the internet, but the value that is created within our ecosystem of what we don’t call them listeners, we call them producers, because they literally are producing stories clips artwork background information, knowledge, and money.
We don’t take advertising, so some people, they just give us money, as their input to the Value Network. Now what they get out of it, should be similar, to… I went to the movies this weekend with the day had some popcorn sat in the dark room with people for an hour and a half spent 45–50 bucks. It was worth it. That’s good value. So, all we ever said was, we’ve just brought you three hours of entertainment and news. What is it worth to you to… one is worth five bucks, to another is worth nothing and to another, a thousand. And so, you get out when you put into it, for some creating an album. artwork, just being recognized is the value. So the logical next step is to say, how do we define this network is a value network, which runs on top of the internet infrastructure, which is just a network. And that’s where your crypto comes into play when you have a community of music lovers, and they want to be involved in all things in order to have some way to exchange
a crypto-currency, perfect for that, not only because it is easy to use, as a transaction, mechanism, but it is also easy to track and you can see exactly what the value of that network is at any point in time.
So that’s where I think the future is going, and I like all the different crypto. Not for the same reasons. I like Bitcoin because Bitcoin which has been mis-evangelized in my opinion, as the new paypal, it’s not, it’s a reserve currency, and all the cryptos tie into it. And of course, he theory and which our MIC token, will be placed in this world, as well. But again, it’s related to Bitcoin so you could almost see this tree structure forming,
And I think we’ll see take-overs of entire tokens by one token may take another one over just to merge the two networks. You have to change the thinking from Wall Street financials into what represents this network of people.
Ryan: Wow, so the network effects are really… that’s the phase two, that we’re heading into, and understanding how these networks work, together. When you’re talking about the community of music lovers who wanna be involved in all things super true. I mean, where is it more true that people are fanatics than the music industry, they are were they would auction for $40,000 for Michael Jackson’s hat from a tour in the ads, right?
So when you think about the experiential value of these musical artists or these labels or any of the concerts, Dench Music wants to play the role in that, right? You have this kind of gap that you wanna bridge from fandom to experiential value. How will people be able to experience or be able to get different value for these experiences on the block term with Dench music?
Adam: Well, let’s start by first recognizing that the music business itself from a technical perspective has changed enormously where back in the day, my MTV days you had you walked into a studio and it was 48 track s huge 24-track machines, what we call take monkeys running around engineers a musician streaming in one by one when convenient, for them playing a baseline put in, a little track down and all of that has been completely supplanted by and digital technology. So when you listen to hit music today and I’ll just take Beyonce,, there’s really two sides to every… well, the three but the different sides to a record, you have the, the composition which is the music you have the lyrics and then you have the production then production can or cannot have a piece of the back end that depends on the deal you set up.
But really 50–50 between the music and the lyrics, so we see lyrics often done by an artist such as a Beyonce, who will also sing on a track but the music may be done by what we call a DJ. These days is very different from the DJs from my days and they’ll create the beats and yeah, they might have some live musicians, but it’s much easier to roam around with your laptop and just studios by itself these days or basically a USB interface, and kick-ass speakers in a great environment. So the creation of music has become so much more accessible to just hundreds of thousands of people. Dance music, is located in the Netherlands, the Netherlands is important because all of the top DJs in the world right now
if you look at Tiesto, if you look at Armin Van Buren, and venue, and if you look at the 15 different top DJs, Martin Garrix, these guys all come from the Netherlands and there’s just a culture of creating beats. It’s very integrated with influences from all over with now, Western Europe and Moroccan, Turkish. There’s all kinds of interesting groups and beats and these kids are collaborating it cause all kinds of cultural and perhaps even racial boundaries if you want to look at it through that lens.
So participating in that can be as simple as, “Hey I have a cowbell that I want, add to this track. And now you can do it.
We have, there’s all kinds of vernacular like you talk about stems which is really a music format. But these days I was like, “Oh I’ll give you a STEM. It’s got the horn section on it, to have some drums, and may be a guide track, and then that can be integrated into someone else’s Digital Audio Work Station. They can create something completely different.
You release a track today, it’s not one track. We’re gonna release Chris Brown, the title track a special…we already have five remixes, and it’s all by different DJs who in turn will make money properly for a change on their actual creative input and not just on some… just some streaming revenue.
I don’t wanna under-play it, because it’s still very significant.
And one of our board members is a covers who was the CEO of the music video site online and he understands how the flows work and the money is definitely big, but when you get a piece of the actual back end because you are recognized as a producer and you’re given that which Dench music does to its artists, that’s a big difference, and that’s really our model, our model is we wanna take at least half of the equation. So usually DJ who produces beats with himself his friends, his group, whatever it is, we want to develop them, help them hone their craft, we can even provide management services, but we will match them with the Superstar. So we have a number of Dutch DJs who’ve done music now in our first release, after the summer will be Chris Brown, and so he did the, the lyrics and the melody and everything else comes from Dench music. This is a perfect, a perfect way to participate.
That’s from a musician standpoint. But then we have the marketing aspect which has also become incredibly cost-efficient music video is the main thing you need to have, and be anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000. and that investment depends on how much are you going to invest into this particular artist? So, for Chris Brown, we envision a higher budget than normal would be close to the four or five hundred thousand, but you can… have people participate in that.
And every participation on the internet has always sucked. Every voting thing, every contest it all sucks because there’s no transparent way of seeing what happens once you click enter on the website. That’s what a distributed ledger can do, that’s what blockchain can do for us.
Ryan: There’s no way that I’m gonna enter a sweepstakes and believe that I’m gonna win. Or that whoever won legitimately one and somebody who gets that opportunity, to go and meet, I don’t know, Justin Bieber behind the scenes. deserved it more than I did, so I was first to…
Adam: I mean, I’ve worked at radio stations, “Hey everybody it’s z100 and yeah!!!” It could have been caller three hundred. Yeah, there’s no transparency, no accountability. Now by the same token Ryan,
We’ve set our ICO very differently from most ICOS as we’re offering a completely legal structure for people to invest in the company through a silent partnership. I think this is what’s really unique about the Dench ICO.
Ryan: I do wanna talk about that a little bit, but before that when you’re talking about the actual DJs creating music and being a part of that process, I think a lot of people who have understood the real evolution of music coming out from the production standpoint, those who are making music out of their garage, or their bedroom, it’s much different than it was ten years ago. You can actually put a song on the internet and put it on one of the streaming services easily, but there’s also the problem of music when you’re putting those contracts together or you own a part of that music. You broke down. So what’s the answer?
Adam: You are understanding the sample problem
Ryan: Right, exactly.
Adam: So for instance, an example we have some guys in the net and Jackpackers and they’re in production with us and so they have
little bits of sound like: *sound*
So, they created this little opening and then there’s an answer to that music. So those two pieces can be registered with us through a ledger and they take that they’re put into that song in that particular mix. So actually I’m gonna give you a world premier for a second here, if you don’t mind,
This is the new Chris Brown track coming out after the summer,,
[Music Plays]
Adam: So, that’s Dutch guys doing the DJ work, and Chris Brown did that in his studio in Los Angeles. I mean, this to me, is mind-blowing that this is all gonna be done tracked, completely accountable, transparent, to everybody,
Ryan: That’s beautiful, I mean that flute alone is gorgeous. So it’s a dream come true to actually have the credit that you deserve as a producer or a musician linked to a block then that’s crazy, and I appreciate that you guys are even building this and you were kind of getting into how investors can play a role in this blockchain as well, so feel free to share more about that.
Adam: Yeah, so in general, for those of you who may not be as familiar with the ICO process, although you are listening to this podcast, I presume you know something. Regular token sales, than ICOs, do not have the legal option for profit sharing. And what we did with our partners as we looked for a way to have people invest in the company with actual profit sharing, so not just some…Yeah, well, it’ll be okay some day, I… so, no, it’s a silent partnership. It’s a world-wide accepted investment method, which allows private individuals and companies from every country, almost every country in the world to invest in any company in exchange for-profit sharing completely legal. And you have to, of course, fill out a KYC so we understand who you are, but as an investor in the Dench ICO, one Ethereum invested, you get 1200 MIC tokens. So a 00 there would be 120000… coins, ERC compliant, but more important 30 percent of Dench’s profits will be distributed every quarter to investors over a period of six years. Now, your portion of the 30 percent is dependent upon how much you’ve invested obviously, but we take 30 percent of our profit and are giving that to investors quarterly for six years.
I think that is something that is instead of a spray and pray like… Oh, let me jump into this and see what happens and see if I can bop out. Now, you buy in and our white-list starts on the fifteenth, just a plug, you actually will receive money over a six-year period, from the profitable revenues of Dench music. This is something that you can’t get from any music company let a lone an ICO.
Ryan: That’s unheard of. If you’re not familiar with kind of the music in the splits, how it goes… you sign up with ASCAP or BMI or something, and you just hope and pray those quarterly checks come in, and there’s very little transparency and analytics there.
So to see it all kind of fleshed out there would be remarkable. And it’s something that’s unique with your ICO because you’re talking about actual profit sharing. Can you explain why you chose to not do a regular token sale and how profit caring and ICOs can actually be legal. Because I’m sure some people are like… How can you legally do this in a country like the US?
Adam: Well, the silent partnership is a legal entity worldwide in the US as well. Now, you do have to submit your Kc so we have to know you are a camping anonymous investment, if you want to purchase mic tokens later after the ICO for abuse on a retail platform for all the things that you and I discussed earlier, in this podcast, that of course, is going to be available, but the actual investment upfront…So we’re old school guys and we come from the music business, we’ve seen so many people screwed including people invested in Music companies, so we want to be very sure that we had a completely… which is what, ledger does. Blockchain does it. We’ve a complete transparent way of seeing exactly what’s going on with everybody’s investment not just yours, but everyone else is and how all the… everything is flowing.
It’s not that uncommon for silent partnerships, so I don’t think anyone has done it in an ICO and maybe they haven’t had the organization or the business case to warrant such a close relationship with people who hold their tokens and are thus investors in their organization.
We feel we have the back office… we have, and if you look at the white paper, I think we have quite a number of people on our advisory board who are not just people pulled off of some website, but they’re actually…actual experts in the field and we want to really build a business pretty much right out front in public and we have no problem. We’ve run public companies, so we understand what this is like. This is just a new version. Just like the music business is changing. So, is investing. We do not see a logical business case for any one to invest in something that’s just an ICO. Give us your money. Here’s the white paper, it’s gonna be great.
No. We want you to know who we are and…and when you invest in us, through the ICO you’ll learn who we are, you’ll speak with us, and if someone wants to come and look, they can… this is a real organization, and it’s not just Chris Brown, that we have… we have at least 15 records were going to release in 2019. So, this is an ongoing and quickly growing concern. Quite honestly, needs cash. We need an infusion to start making the marketing part is the most expensive. We need to start making great videos and get our music out there. And the first one will be right after the summer.
Ryan: It’s hard to find projects that will honestly tell you how they’re working, how they’re looking to make money, even that they need money to actually move to the next phase. A lot of them just show that we’ve already got this and that, it’s a lot of lies and… and there are vague reasons why they need the money, with the silent partnerships, which I’m gonna be reading about all night to discover more about it because I haven’t seen anything like that before, I…
Adam: I don’t know why this hasn’t been done before. It seemed like such a slam dunk. We did have to search around to find the right structure, but then once we really looked out and said, Yeah, this, this is the way to go, and it’s legal, the US-EU law which is the most important for us. I’m pretty sure almost every country allows this as long as it’s completely transparent, and I think we’ve done a good job at setting ourselves up for success.
Ryan: There’s a lot of people who are seeing your list of influencers and celebrities in your team, but really you’re building a team to last and one that’s not only got the connections, but the wherewithal in this sector knowledge to get the job done. If I… I’ve interviewed a lot of ICOS from different industries and here at the ICO Alert podcast, we’ve talked to tons of people, from every niche in every business from financial services, to health care. And if you’re gonna do a healthcare ICO or token sale, you better have the sector experts. They’d better have some sort of reputation, they better have some connections, and a business savvy and emotional intelligence to get the job done, and in a new industry, like block chain I’m sure you have some sort of new upcoming announcements or existing partnerships you want to highlight.
So anything you want to announce at this moment?
Adam: Well, so the whitelist period, actually starts on the 15th, so we’re just getting started. So this interview is at a perfect time for us and the main, what we’re focusing on now or after the summer is of course, we believe that the Chris Brown, special will really put us on the map, the music business, just like everything else is changing it, it takes time. Podcasting
that they took ten years before her pod casting, maybe eight before podcasting really took off. I mean, sometimes these things go a little bit slower, it depends on market conditions, but this is, if you even look at right now. In the US Congress, there is a new proposal for how publishing royalties flow and perhaps new statutory rates. There’s a lot of things going on with the music business, as we speak, so we wanna keep it simple, we wanna big name artist with our production team and our DJs. That’s what we start with right off the bat. I can’t announce any strategic partnerships, we have just yet, with blockchain distribution of music. Because I feel, is just a little too immature, but that is what will be the next thing obviously, because again, we want to be the company that’s ready for it. We understand how the traditional music business works, We understand it very well, we see how things are changing, we’re nimble, we don’t need to talk to 15 lawyers and have lunch, we can just go and do stuff. And that’s our trajectory for now. Chris Brown and then all over other releases but the strategic partnerships with distribution, how we to launch a retail platform which we hope to do with some pretty big surprises with some big names that will probably be in the first quarter of 2019.
Ryan: Chris Brown. I actually grew up listening to Chris Brown.
Adam: 51 number one hits. It’s an outrageous career that he’s had.
Ryan: I don’t think there’s anybody with as much talent as him in the music industry. I’ll just put that out there and leave it there. So a very impressive connection. We have seen some ICOS with stars and celebrity endorsements back fly, or even get subpoenaed by the SEC.
Can you highlight any of the challenges you’ve had working with a Chris Brown, or having it profile stars involved and how you’re overcoming them?
Adam: Well, working with talent is always it’s an art form to a degree, but Chris is very smart, he understands and he runs his own empire already. And again, it’s the days of, you work for Motown of This is what you do and you sit in the studio all day record tracks and we’ll give you a Cadillac, those days are over. Chris Brown is completely in control, he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t wanna do. So when we played the track for him, he said… yeah, I like it. I’m gonna put some layers to it. And you already heard the result of that.
So, it’s a very amicable type of situation. It’s like we both want the same thing, in the music business it’s always been you’ve got to want the other guy to also be successful. Otherwise, nothing ever happens, but I think a lot of great music has been suppressed, and probably never made it to market because there were so many shady business dealings going on in the background. There are too many agendas, and here is very simple.
Chris Brown, his talent, his lyrics, our guys, their music, their talent and that’s it. You put it together, everything else just flows from there. We still have to do the music video, so that’s always when a star or looks at their image. And how they want that portrayed? So we have a number of different proposals in front of Chris and his team as to how we think this would be a great way to portray this particular song, which is at about a special girl and we have some thoughts about that. And so far, the feedback has been really positive, but for sure when you’re dealing with stars, you always have to think about their image first.
Ryan: Switching gears here a little bit, right? A friend of mine is actually produced a Chris Brown record before, and it’s one he sang on with Remy Ma. And it’s charting all over the place right now and just you know, not giving up to many details, but some of his… somebody will write this part somebody will write that part, and then with every song it’s hard to see who’s getting credit at that creation standpoint for the songwriting, especially where it’s like… Well, I gave you this idea, and I came up with this chorus. That’ss always become kind of crazy, so I love that your team wants to allow users and their talent content to be reviewed by experienced producers and to see that kind of process behind the scenes go down. So how are you guys planning to work out this system where music can actually be reviewed by your team? And that whole process can be surveyed and advised over by experts?
Adam: So that’ll be part of our retail plan, we’re just calling our retail platform. I think we’ll have a little sexier name when we launch it. And we believe that again, that that’s where the value network comes in. It should be us, it should be our experts, but also the the value network that we are a part of, and then these enthusiasts and fans and professionals will also be a part of… so we think that it’s probably even better if we don’t just review, but we also have the network review, so I think that’s what you’re going to see a much more interactive collaborative process for people who just have an idea, a thought. I’ve always wanted to try something and that will really open that up,
Ryan: That’s great. I think the entire transparency is exciting. I saw your studio sessions, all over your Twitter and the dense music studio, you mention the Jack packers. And I saw Mowoka, and I was jamming out. I gotta be honest, I was pleased, playing this tweet maybe for me five times in a row. And so, how often will users or investors, or the general public be able to see Dench’s studio or exclusive songs and video previews before release ’cause we’re used to the music industry being secretive. So this is new for us. How, how much are you gonna do this?
Adam: So yeah, absolutely right. We love doing that. And honestly, Instagram is our friend in that regard, we love showing what’s going on, who’s hanging out. And I think that the “secretive-ness of what the artists are doing is kind of a thing of the past. They no longer so protected. I mean, just look at Chris Brown on Instagram. And you can see you know how much of themselves, they put out there but we’re very proud of our studios. We have two… we have one in Amsterdam and one in London, which is we call the garden of Amsterdam, and we love if it’s appropriate for the artist usually they’re okay with it
to show what’s going on, to have little pieces of music. We’ve been doing what we call the Dench music drops where we play a little piece of a track to get people get people ready for it.
It’s just a… I probably have about twenty that we’ve put out on Twitter or Instagram for people to listen to and also gives feedback. It gives… the feedback loop is invaluable. As you know just where radio used to be. You can take your one phone call and some will say what they think but when you’re doing podcasts there’s so many different ways the feedback loop comes back to you and the same goes for artists. So, Hey, we got this thing going on and before you know it, everyone digs it, and we got a vibe. Let’s put it in let’s keep it… let’s add to it.
So, we just want to facilitate, we really want to facilitate, and we continue to do that for both our artists and for the fans who want to see more of them
Ryan: Well beware shady characters in the music industry, the transparency facilitation is coming. I’m really excited and I really love that you guys are showing more of the stuff going on and you’re even actively trying to push that for the fans to get value. And you guys have been talking about in your white paper and perusing some of your channels that you guys are gonna amalgamate a lot of these experiences, through Star auctions meet and greet launch parties. Dinner with music stars. So can you talk to me about your strategy to include VIP events and preview parties for Dench Music, over time, how that’s gonna work?
Adam: Well, so we already talked about the transparency aspect of it, where we come from media mainly media and music so we understand to entertainment, we understand what people like and often you’ll see, in the older music business where there’s ideas of what people… yeah, they’ll love it, to back.
Yeah, it’s okay,
we want some more but we really want more personalized experiences. Last night on television, although I’m old enough to appreciate it, to me, and the red ruby, slippers from the words of the visits. Like, yeah, okay, that’s a great little item. But it’s not something that Chris Brown, worn his music video.
So you, the established media still looking at stuff like that. And we see that a cameo in the video would be very interesting. Why can’t that be done why can’t I? And normally it’s impossible or used to be impossible because these organizations are not set up to do this kind of stuff. That’s why you have labels and publishers and A&R And all these buckets of things, and promotion independent promoters…very convoluted where you can just make it much easier if you’re dealing with a couple of people and so you and you can start to offer things of real value. And I think music videos are gonna be a big part of it. I come from the music video world and know how important they are. I know how they stick in people’s memories, they become not just the soundtrack in a way. Also, the movie of our lives is very, very critically important things that happened in music videos. So to be a part of it or have a piece of it becomes really a big deal for people
Ryan: Just talking music, talking music videos. I mean, you see how YouTube has changed the music industry, so much as well. And where are these budgets for music videos, it’s actually starting to come back. It kinda started out like, Well we really didn’t know what they looked like when you were VJing. The videos were really exciting but still very new like blockchain. And then you got to a point where I remember Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson did a music video. I think it was worth seven million dollars in production. And now you see those big budgets kind of going away and… and then things are changing with YouTube, because the music video might be the whole experience and people are starting to get back into making those movies and I really, really am excited about where that’s gonna go where fans can play a role and even social media influencers or regular people are being… their stories are being put in these videos where you see artists like Drake including somebody like Shiggy who popularized a dance for his most popular song on his new album, right?
And now that guy is on tour with him all over the world.
Ryan: It’s so exciting, and I love to see that you guys have your eyes right on the prize and you’re thinking about the people who are really loving this experience the most it’s really refreshing.
And I wanna get into a little bit about how these the blockchain is going to work because from the side of the music industry, I’m really excited about what you guys are doing. But from the blockchain, we have seen some issues with people who are trying to scale on Ethererum and how as a platform grows, they might want to be blockchain agnostic, maybe you wanna move in a different platform. How is your team looking to do that to one to make sure that these processes and you have these planned out profit-sharing experiences that are gonna go on for six years, will any of that be perturbed if you guys switch block chains or you move, what does your team have planned for that?
Adam: Well, the investment stands as the investment that you can calculate that in a, in any currency you wish. We’ll be dealing in euros in profit, and that profit will be transferred in the equivalent in crypto. So that’s just a mechanism for us we again the… we will have a value network, I just call it the Dench value network will be represented by the MIC token. Nice thing about crypto and the tokens based on ERC-20’s is you can put smart contracts in there. And as we were talking earlier about ownership versus access in one thing you see with streaming video in particular, is sharing of passwords a big problem for not just for Netflix and Amazon and Hulu… where there may be five, six, seven people on one account that’s also a problem for payment because it’s technically not fair and I’ve always paid for my entertainment. I think it’s incredibly important, and I don’t care if you give something away, you still have ownership of it. So in order to have the right to access that’s where Blockchain becomes incredibly useful.
And you can give up that right, you can give that to somebody else. A transfer of a token. I mean that’s where I see the tokenization of value networks going is, for me, it’s really, I see it as pure utility, sort of to be able to encode something in there or to integrate into another blockchain, I think would be not just technically feasible, but, so it might be desirable but that would only work. And again, this is why we’re set up to be open to that. That would only work if a number of criteria are met, but we intend to stick with the… with our own token, obviously, but I’d love to see integration and I’m predicting it now, you’ll see integrations of block chain how that will work. Exactly, I’m not sure, but you can already see companies thinking about it.
Ryan: Let’s settle the debate right now is it mick token or Mike token?
Adam: Yeah, we just say, Mike, I know as a broadcaster, you look at it you go, Yeah, M-I-C. that’s the abbreviation for the money. Used to have it on my little cassette player, even remember the single cassette player was record at the same time. Yeah, but we just say Mick token it just fits for us, so we’re cool with that, and it was a similar was available, we liked it and so we just were staying with that with Mick.
So, yes, but it is JIFF. (GIF) I have to say that
Ryan: I agree with you! Yeah, I love that. Okay, so how does the Dench Music MIC token function within the platform and why is it needed for users?
Adam: So for us again when we have our retail first of all, people who invest will receive them for us, it will be a measurement of the value of our network, but also it will be what we use to transact within our value network. Whether it’s from person to person, so, peer-to-peer or whether it’s with Dench Music or whether it’s with our artists or whether it’s with the retail platform it is just a pure method of exchange.
Will it have value? It should… We believe our network has value. So I know I’m harping on this, but I think it’s incredibly important. We’ll see these networks and the tokenization of them translating into the actual value of a network. By the way, as an investor, that’s a pretty damn cool thing.
Ryan: As a non-Dench Music question, we like to ask for unique predictions for the ICO, and cryptocurrency space in the future, and if you can please share any of your dreams in the next two to five years, for the crypto space as well as the music industry and where you want it to be if you guys are extremely successful everything goes well. What does it look like?
Adam: I think it looks like initially, a lot of farmers markets, here and I live in Austin, Texas, and we have a farmer, we have a number of them, we have a farmer’s market on Saturday and you can walk into the Farmer’s Market and you can pay with cash, or you can buy their wooden tokens. They literally made of wood, and they represent a one-to-one value with the US dollar and it’s desirable for these farmers, it’s not a bull crap millennial. Sorry if I offended anybody. It’s not a bull crap Farmers Market is actual farmers who come in and have their stuff there for sale at reasonable prices and for them to have the money within their network and stay there, it’s much of this has been done many times over their entire little towns that have on their own version of money, that is not the US dollar is perfectly legal too, by the way, that keeps the money within the network. So I hope to see a lot more of that. It’s obviously anyone who was following the ICO space just knows the story, sees the scams, and I am flabbergasted why anyone would jump into anything that based upon just a white paper and a couple of stock photo images even though they’re typically reasonably well-written and they explain a technological problem, we’re doing something different, which, I hope we’ll see a lot more of us saying, “Okay here’s what we stand for, Here’s the product that we produce, we want to create and scale the value of our organization and everybody who was a part of it.
That is where it will have to go. So in my mind, I’m always ten years early, see podcasting in my mind, the big networks, the mergers and acquisitions won’t be Wall Street anymore. It’ll be these networks either cooperating or integrating with their token as the main representation of what their network is. So I don’t mind having tons of crypto because it’s just transparency as that’s the beautiful part of it and it’s kind of scary to a lot of people. We’re really gonna put everything out there, we’re gonna show what we’re worth, we’re gonna show our value. Real companies that… and I think the silent partnership way, is even better way to go where you have your investors invested upfront on a pay-out profit schedule, this is going to be a new way of doing business. Again, we’re…we got a lot to go through, but I’m okay. It’s we have a lot of music to do in the meantime Cole. Well, while this is happening, we’ll be ready to move and pivot in any direction, whatever we encounter in our path. W
Ryan: While you’re dancing to the music you literally moving and grooving in the industry that’s awesome. So, for a company like us is… while we’re pivoting to where going from the only comprehensive and trusted list for ICOS, to now becoming, because just no one else is doing it, part of a consortium that is policing the ICO industry and trying to help the other arms like the SEC, and novice investors to expert investors, see beyond the bull crap for a lack of a better term…so from your opinion, What are some other things that you think that we could be doing or what do you like that we’re doing that we could really improve upon?
Adam: Well, organically you’re doing exactly the right thing. In my opinion, when podcasting first came out, it was basically me doing a podcast and a bunch of developers creating what we called pod catchers, and the whole idea behind and it’s relevant to what you’re saying, the whole idea behind what the first show was The Daily Source Code and I called it that because if you’re developing a podcast application and you’ve never done it before, the space is new, you need content and you need an RSS feed to be able to test against.
And I know, developers work in source code, so every day I’ll give you some source code which means I’m talking about what you’re doing and feeding back to you and it’s also content at the same time. When Steve Jobs could podcasting to iTunes and eventually in the podcast app, how much, how the challenge was, what do we listen to? And you might recall is all NPR podcasts, in the beginning? So, that was kind, it was great that it was in there and you could find stuff, but it wasn’t being highlighted. And what I did is I went to see our exam which is just another radio channel, I call it, and we cut a deal and I did the Daily pod show, which featured what I thought were interesting podcasts from a broad range. It would just be little snippets and little bits, but kind of a sample. And in a way, what you call policing, I wasn’t really policing but saying,
“Hey yeah, we’ve got NPR over here but look at all this other stuff.” So to have by the way, the people who are aware of ICO Alert’s podcast is quite astronomical. So you’ve become an authority, and asking the questions that you do probing the way you do, and then the full not being a promoter of bull crap is what gives you the reputation and why people will continue to come to you and the policing is yes in a way it’s right, but you’re really guiding. You’re leading and your you’re beating a path to show, Okay, this is what you get over here, this is what’s over here, here. The new things on the horizon, and out there is where we’re going and with the frequency of the show and the audience that you’ve scaled, I think it’s a very important guiding light in the entire space, so please keep that up.
Ryan: Much appreciated, pure wisdom. So what is your current user base look like? Who is your user? And when I speak to people who are the people that I should say, “Hey you don’t wanna look at Dench Music.”
Adam: Right now, for obvious reasons, we’re focusing on people who are interested in investing in the future of music and entertainment. So that is our current user base we’re building an entire following through social media and our value network itself expands through the networks that our artists and producers bring to the table. So we’re really focusing on showing they were different, something new is happening, and we have opportunity.
We’re open for business, there’s a lot of things anybody can do. That was the part of the promise of the internet. A democratization of all things.
Now, it’s been 22 years, Ryan? We thought that’s gonna be great, and we’re still going through enormous growing pains. See, today, the conversation about social media in Washington DC. We have a lot of things to learn as human beings. Just how do you interact and how do you… how do you play online with other people? And we still have tail bones. This was a shock for us. We’re not quite ready to actually understand what people think of each other. So there’s a lot of growing that has to be done, but without a doubt
this is where, it’s just information is going to flow, it’ll be consumed shared purchased sold all online and this is our piece of it. We want to be as influential as possible to as many people who are interested in popular music, and Gee I hope we one day can expand to other forms of music that would be great but we’ll start with this.
Ryan: Love it. Where can we find you? What shall we look forward to next and what should we follow to keep up with Dench Music, and Chris Brown and Adam Curry as the year goes forward into 2019, 2020.
Adam: For the ICO DenchMusic.io. You can look at our other websites Dench music dot com. Of course, we’ve got all the Telegram channels and our Instagram is DenchMusic. I’m Adam curry on Twitter. I’m usually, if there’s something going on, I’ll mention it as well, but definitely, if people want to follow us subscribe to the Instagram and if you want or are interested in the ICO, Dench music dot io.
And if anyone has any questions, they can certainly reach out to me directly, [email protected] or AdamCurry.com, and be happy to see if I can help. But maybe someone has ideas or maybe even a proposal. So we’re interested in anything and everything.
Ryan: Yes, and like I said, I’m gonna study this silent partnership thing, as I know you’re a government legislation analyst, and you really study the things that are going on. I appreciate that, because with companies or arms of the government watching us and everybody with their eyes on us, we appreciate people who take the time to be conscientious about things.
You’re definitely considered the forefather of podcasting. And I’m actually subscribed to your blog now, I’ll be following that too, so thank you so much. He’s Adam Curry, he’s a star in the game and now he’s entered the blockchain world to help us all bring transparency to the music industry and the experiences we have. Adam, thank you so much for being on the show. Any parting words for us?
Adam: Well, my pleasure, right, thank you very much and thank you for what you guys do. Because as I said, you really are providing a path for a lot of people. I look forward to hearing more about ICOs that have a profit-sharing agreement hopefully that there’ll be more who will follow suit. I think it’s a good development. And again thank you.
Ryan: Adam, thank you so much peace and love best of luck to you in your project. And we were gonna check on you soon maybe I have you back on sons in time, so sound good?
Adam: At any time you just let me know.
Ryan: Alright, thank you so much for joining us again and please feel free to subscribe to the ICO Alert Podcast, for more interviews like this with superstars and honestly, people who are working really hard in the blockchain space and even bringing in new industries to the forefront of transparency, which is something that’s been sorely lacking around the world from music to financial services. Feel free to check out our blog.ICOalert.com. And as always, I’m Ryan Dennis with the ICO Alert podcast, have the best day ever. | https://medium.com/ico-alert/dench-musics-adam-curry-podcast-interview-transcript-11ac5100abf8 | ['Ryan E. Dennis'] | 2020-01-16 18:36:03.394000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Adam Curry', 'Podcast', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
Completable Future — Java8. Probably you are aware that executing… | Probably you are aware that executing assynchronous code is easier with Java 8. Completable future provides a way to run tasks in async mode. The following sample piece of code illustrates a non-blocking execution of a batch process with a fixed thread pool.
public class BatchProcess {
private static String longProcess(
int i) {
try {
if (i % 2 == 0)
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1);
else
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(2);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return new StringBuilder("Completed ")
.append(i)
.toString();
}
private static CompletableFuture<String> createCF(
final int looper,
final Executor executor) {
return CompletableFuture
.supplyAsync(
() -> longProcess(looper), executor);
}
public static List<String> batchprocess()
throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
List<CompletableFuture<String>> ret = new ArrayList<>();
ExecutorService exec = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(8);
IntStream.range(1, 25)
.forEach(i -> ret.add(createCF(i, exec)));
Optional<List<String>> results = Optional.empty();
CompletableFuture<Void> all =
CompletableFuture.allOf(
ret.toArray(
new CompletableFuture[ret.size()]));
CompletableFuture<List<String>> resultsFuture =
all.thenApply((
aVoid) -> {
exec.shutdown();
return ret
.stream()
.map(future -> future.join())
.collect(Collectors.toList());
});
results = Optional.of(resultsFuture.join());
return results.get();
}
public static void main(String args[])
throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
LocalDateTime start = LocalDateTime.now();
System.out.println(batchprocess());
System.out.println(
"Exec time:"
+ ChronoUnit.SECONDS.between(
start, LocalDateTime.now()));
}
}
All completable futures could be combined using allOf. But, this returns Void completable future which could be used to complete the flow,
CompletableFuture<Void> all =
CompletableFuture.allOf(
ret.toArray(
new F[ret.size()]));
When passing custom executors, don’t forget to shutdown the executor —
exec.shutdown();
You could apply various functions CompletableFuture
join — Returns result value/ throws exception
complete — Completes if not completed
thenApply, thenAccept, thenCombine, thenCompose, thenRun— Apply new completion stages with stage result
whenComplete — new stage with stage result/throwable
supplyAsync — asynchronous task completion using forkjoin common pool
supplyAsync(supplier, executor) — asynchronous task completion using custom executor
Oracle docs link. | https://medium.com/@dsrini.open/completable-future-java8-6b18d1f10847 | [] | 2020-02-20 19:24:15.026000+00:00 | ['Multithreading', 'Asynchronous', 'Java8'] |
Why Do Some States Still Allow for Schools to Physically Assault Children? | Why Do Some States Still Allow for Schools to Physically Assault Children?
Hitting a child in anger is not discipline
Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash
Gerrel Williams was coaching a 7 and Under football team in Georgia on December 7th. During a time out, he became extremely angry with one of his players. He then proceeded to slap the player in the helmet as hard as he could twice. The second slap actually knocked the kid to the ground.
If you want to see the video, here it is.
After the incident, he made a couple of questionable claims.
“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have disciplined him in public — I shoulda waited ’til he got back — for doing what he did.
He is sorry, but not for what he did. He is sorry that he didn’t wait to hit the kid until later.
He also said,
“There is no excuse for my actions… he forgave me, and his parents have forgiven me, so nobody else should be bashing me,”
According to this now-former coach and former Chatham County Sheriff’s Office employee, we should not bash him for what he did.
He is wrong on both counts. First of all, you should not hit children just because you are angry, whether in public or private. Secondly, people can and should bash you if you do.
Seeing this incident and watching the mixed response to it lead me to ask the following question. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/3-reasons-educators-should-not-physically-assault-children-a966f3bb527 | ['Greyson Alman'] | 2020-12-20 18:43:31.341000+00:00 | ['Coaching', 'American Football', 'Education', 'Leadership', 'Sports Coaching'] |
Running AWS ECS Fargate Spot | The AWS ECS offers nice way of running Python containers with ETL work. But spinning hundreds of containers with default settings does not uses cost effective pricing model. In non-essential work you can start bidding spots.
Infrastructure
The minimal changes in the infrastructure should be done in the way how the ECS cluster is provisioned. Here is the version which defines only Fargate Spot as default capacity provider.
Running tasks
The most important change in the code to run ECS task is to not specify launch type at all. I left Fargate there and it still ran, but I could not be able to confirm if the spot was used.
Confirmation
How to be sure if it runs as expected? In the console, in the task you should see new property describing chosen capacity. | https://medium.com/@amacal/running-aws-ecs-fargate-spot-e63380b0d924 | ['Adrian Macal'] | 2020-11-22 15:15:27.826000+00:00 | ['Fargate', 'Aws Ecs', 'Terraform'] |
What’s New in the ASP.Net Core 3.0 Web Framework | Here will talk about everything new and updated in the latest version of ASP.NET core. The latest version is 3.0. One of the most significant enhancements in this update is the support for Windows desktop applications; for Windows only.
With the help of .NET Core 3.0 SDK component Windows Desktop, you will be able to port your Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications. In short, the Windows Desktop component will only supported and included on Windows.
Before we jump on towards all the new features that .NET core 3.0 presents, let us get a basic understanding of why ASP.NET core is preferred for development
ASP.NET Core 3.0 Features
ASP.NET core can be termed as an open source with cross-platform support including Command Line Interface. It was formerlyFormerly known as vNext that got renamed to ASP.NET core. It supports Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms, including Mobile, Cloud and IOT based solutions along with cloud-based environment.
A lightweight and high performing ASP.NET core web application has immense potential and contains its own benefits to develop enterprise level web applications.
Easy to maintain
When you code in ASP.NET, you can do more in less amount of code. This language demands less coding where developers can easily optimize the coding structure and develop an application with as few lines of code as possible. This creates a loop; lesser the coding, the easier it is to maintain.
Cross-platform capabilities
If you consider web application development for enterprises, having cross-platform capabilities becomes inevitable; supporting all platforms. Any web application that you build using ASP.NET will run smoothly on Mac, Linux, and Windows. If a business wants more exposure on other platforms, development in .NET core can prove beneficial.
Previously while developing cross-platform apps, one needs to develop only frontend with the same C# code for the backend. By enabling With modern .NET standard libraries, one can develop your cross-platform with maximum capabilities.
.NET Core 3.0 adds support for C# 8.0. It would be appropriate to use use Visual Studio 2019 16.3 Preview 4, Visual Studio for Mac 8.3, or Visual Studio Code along with the C# extension.
Support for Cloud-Based Development
It is always better to develop cloud-based applications. Considering large enterprises, ASP.NET core provides the development of a multitude of web applications, mobile back-end, Internet of Things apps etc.
This makes ASP.NET Core the go-to solution for your enterprise business requirements. Regardless if you are a small business owner or a large corporate, ASP.NET aids in developing amazing web applications.
Modularity
If you are an expert web developer, you would know that to add new functionalities to packages, you can easily rely on NuGet packages. The Package Manager Console and the NuGet Package Manager are what you will need when looking to install and configure libraries.
With the new update, NuGet has been extended to include the main feature of ASP.NET. It has an opt-in model, where the developers can choose the features of the framework that they want in their projects. This will also make maintaining and updating the projects easier than before.
Extensible Output Caching
With this tool, you can cache the results generated by a particular page, and will come up with the results during future requests. With this, you can store data that is not updated frequently. When the request is called for, the data will be cached from the cached location. The tool helps you to specify the time required for the data to be cached. Storing this data can be done within the web server itself. Providers like Redis can handle output coaching.
Blazor server side
Blazor has come a long way since its inception. From being an “experimental” feature it has become a full-fledged framework for building SPA kind of applications using C#, HTML, and CSS. That’s right! You can build the goodness of SPA using Blazor without using JavaScript. Of course, it will takes its own time to mature into a framework of choice but at least that process has began. Blazor comes with two hosting models — server side and client side.
The server side hosting model uses SignalR as a channel for client-server communication. The client side model uses WebAssembly download and run a .NET application in order to run it within the browser’s boundary. As a part of the final release Blazor server side is being released whereas Blazor client side is planned to be released at some later date. Don’t miss this welcome addition to the ASP.NET Core family.
New updates in ASP.NET core 2.2
With the latest version being released, what were some cool new features in ASP .NET Core 2.2? You can continue to work with ASP .NET Core 2.2 in the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 or VS Code with the .NET Core 2.2 SDK.
Health Checks API
Template updates from client-side
Better Open API (Swagger) Integration
SignalR Java Client
HTTP/2 Server Support
Greater perf: IIS throughput, MVC model validation + routing, HTTP Client
.NET Core SDK Windows Installer
Before we head on the ending notes, one thing to note here is that the MSI installer for Windows has been changed starting with .NET Core 3.0. These SDK installers will now upgrade SDK feature-band releases in place.
TheseFeature bands have been defined in the groups of hundreds along with the patch section of the version number. As an example, 3.0.101 and 3.0.201 are versions in two different feature bands while 3.0.101 and 3.0.199 are in the same feature band.
Also, when the .NET Core SDK 3.0.101 is installed, the .NET Core SDK 3.0.100 will be swiped off from the machine if it exists. And, when .NET Core SDK 3.0.200 is installed on the same machine, .NET Core SDK 3.0.101 will not be removed.
Conclusion
The .NET Core Release Candidate 1 is considered production ready by Microsoft and is fully supported. Right from preview 7, the releases will aim on polishing .NET Core 3.0 instead of pushing in new features.
Do not forget to move to RC1 for continued “Go Live” support if you are using the previous version of the release as a freelancer or in an ASP.NET web development company. | https://medium.com/@web-and-mobile-development/whats-new-in-the-asp-net-core-3-0-web-framework-a5f6246f1686 | ['A Smith'] | 2019-10-11 06:00:39.999000+00:00 | ['Aspnet Development', 'Microsoft', 'Web Framework', 'Aspnetcore', 'Aspnet'] |
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