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Caution: What if a user sends XinFin Main-net token XDC to XDCE address? | Caution: What if a user sends XinFin Main-net token XDC to XDCE address?
Learn how to recover tokens, in case XDC tokens are sent to XDCE address.
XinFin Network mainnet coin XDC and ERC20 token XDCE create confusion between new community members. This guide will help to understand the difference between XDC and XDCE. Regularly few users send their XDC to XDCE wallet and vice versa, this article will help those users to recover the tokens that were sent to different wallets by mistake.
Differences between XDC and XDCE.
XDC (XinFin Digital Contracts) is a mainnet coin with a consensus algorithm of XinFin Delegated proof of stake (XDPoS). XinFin mainnet coin XDC was live on 1 June 2019 and acts as a settlement mechanism for DApps built on the XinFin Hybrid Blockchain. The XDC token address will start with xdc, for example, xdc0x167na90knnsjadbjkbj…
XinFin Network mainnet coins can be stored on various wallets such as XinFin Andriod Wallet, XinPay, Web wallet, Copper Custodian wallet, Guarda Wallet.
XDCE is an Ethereum token (ERC20) with a consensus algorithm of Proof of Work (POW) that gives the token holder flexibility to get benefit from the Ethereum Network’s various utilities DApps. XDCE is compatible with all decentralized exchanges and has a presence in liquidity markets and supports XDC liquidity. The token address of XDCE starts with 0x, for example, 0x12hgsjdkj45knjxb…
On the Ethereum network user always creates a wallet with Keystore or with mnemonic phase and stores their Eth or ERC-20 tokens on a wallet. XDCE can be stored on any ERC-20 Compatible wallet or hardware wallet. But it’s mandatory to take the back up of keys.
How to recover XDC that was sent to the ERC20 wallet?
If the user has sent their XDC token to any ERC-20 wallet address, it can be easily recovered. Users need to log in with the same Keystore, Privatekey or mnemonic phase to XinFin Original web wallet at https://wallet.xinfin.network after login with the ERC-20 keys user will find their XDC token on XinFin web wallet.
Users can also download a mobile wallet or extension wallet (XinPay) and log in with the ERC-20 keys and recover their XDC tokens.
Smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum network can be easily ported to XinFin Network. Bounty worth 10000 USD is applied to the users porting from Ethereum Network to XinFin Network.
Reference articles for the port to XinFin Network.
Visual Reference for the port to XinFin Network.
About XinFin
XinFin is an open-source enterprise-ready Hybrid Blockchain for Global Trade and Finance. It combines the power of public and private Blockchains with interoperable smart contracts. XinFin is fully EVM compatible. For more information on XinFin, please visit www.xinfin.org or learn more about XinFin in this video.
Follow XinFin on:
Twitter: @XinFin_Official
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xinfin/
Telegram: https://t.me/xinfintalk
Slack: https://launchpass.com/xinfin-public | https://medium.com/xinfin/caution-what-if-a-user-sends-xinfin-main-net-token-xdc-to-xdce-address-8301791ca7d1 | ['Xinfin Xdc Hybrid Blockchain Network'] | 2020-08-11 03:43:50.629000+00:00 | ['Xdc', 'Token', 'Xinfin', 'Xdce', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Diversity And Inclusion Is A Value For CyberSecurity, For The Whole Business, And For Society | Redefining Security With Kurt John, Siemens USA | There are entire groups of people who can become effective cybersecurity resources if trained correctly and given the opportunity. Unfortunately, for many, this is not the case. Why?
Why aren’t more people from various backgrounds given a shot to succeed? Why do organizations tend to stick to hiring models that are based on “prove that you can by showing us that you already have” vs. “if you can demonstrate a passion, a desire, and the ability to think critically, we’re ready to give this a shot?” — that’s a good question!
“One of the best risk assessors that I’ve come across had zero background in cyber; he was an accountant. My predecessor had the foresight: he basically said, ‘Hey, I think you are a great critical thinker, a great literal thinker; how about you join the cyber team.’ When [the then-account] said he didn’t know anything about cyber, [my predecessor] said, ‘it doesn’t matter.’ I inherited him and he is phenomenal.” — Kurt John
Suppose we can engage with diverse individuals who can be identified as possessing the types of qualities that we are looking for and offer the education and training necessary to become skilled cybersecurity professionals. That would be the optimal way to develop a workforce that could finally put cybersecurity program leaders in a strong position.
It shouldn’t come as a piece of unheard news by now that diversity makes all kinds of teams, products, services, and companies more valuable and profitable. In many cases, the value can even extend well beyond the individual and the business.
“We can do two things, actually. We can get the type of talent we need for cybersecurity. And we could really move the needle for groups of people who historically have not had access to the same type of socioeconomic opportunities as others.” — Kurt John | https://medium.com/itspmagazine/diversity-and-inclusion-is-a-value-for-cybersecurity-for-the-whole-business-and-for-society-3d74b17c5741 | ['Itspmagazine Podcast'] | 2020-12-18 16:04:26.313000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Cybersecurity', 'Diversity', 'Education', 'Inclusion'] |
DR. STAN MEIBURG JOINS THE WAKE FOREST SUSTAINABILITY GRADUATE PROGRAM | WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY, you’re basically asking a question about the future of the planet. For somebody who’s thinking, “Gosh, do I want to work in this area?” My response basically is that you get to get up and go to work every day and think that something I am doing is helping to save the planet. How cool is that?
I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I ended up in environmental protection almost by accident. I worked at the EPA for 39 years, from November of 1977 through January of 2017 — with a very short interval of about five months in the middle when I thought I was retired.
I started in the Carter Administration and went all the way through the Obama Administration. A lot of presidents. When I first came into the EPA, I was really really fortunate. I fell into the hands of some outstanding mentors. And I’d like to be able to work with students in that way as well.
The reason I wanted to take on this role with the Sustainability Graduate Program at Wake Forest is that it fulfills what really was my ambition the first time that I retired. That is, to help train the next generation of environmental professionals.
It is an interesting experience to come back to Wake Forest after 40 years away. Even though the campus is a lot bigger — there are many more facilities here than there were when I was an undergraduate — it still has the same feeling it had. The same feeling and collegiality. People greeting each other as you walk by on the quad.
My ambition is to help train the next generation of environmental professionals.
We are still in the early stages of this journey. Both at the University and in a larger sense in society. Thinking about what sustainability really needs. For students who are coming in now — what a great opportunity to take your gifts and skills and apply them to this great challenge. Sustainability is the challenge that is going to influence everything that occurs for humanity over the next 50 years. | https://medium.com/the-sustainability-graduate-programs/dr-stan-meiburg-joins-the-wake-forest-sustainability-graduate-program-103f9bf91029 | ['Wake Forest Mas'] | 2019-05-26 03:24:06.472000+00:00 | ['Epa', 'Academia', 'Wake Forest University', 'Sustainability', 'Higher Education'] |
Thinking Citizen Blog — Who is Ron DeSantis? And Why Is He the Republican 2024 Frontrunner? | Thinking Citizen Blog — Who is Ron DeSantis? And Why Is He the Republican 2024 Frontrunner? John Muresianu Apr 25·3 min read
Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day
Today’s Topic: Who is Ron DeSantis? And Why Is He the Republican 2024 Frontrunner?
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 42, is the youngest governor in the United States. He was elected by a margin of only 34,000 votes in 2018. He had previously served as a US Congressman, representing Florida’s 6th district from 2013 to 2018. A conservative, he was a founding member of the “Freedom Caucus.” Prior to his election to the House he served in the US Navy in the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) from 2004 to 2010. He holds degrees from Yale (BA, 2001), and Harvard Law (JD, 2005). The latest poll shows DeSantis to be the Republican 2024 frontrunner — at 22% versus Ted Cruz at 18% and Nikki Haley at 10%.Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: FROM JOKE TO FRONTRUNNER
1. “Last year DeSantis was supposed to be the governor who was doing everything wrong on Covid-19, like refusing to impose a mask mandate, while Andrew Cuomo was the governor supposedly doing everything right. “Florida Man Leads His State to the Morgue” was the title of one especially sneering piece in the New Republic.” (Brett Stephens, NYT).
2. “Except that Florida, the state with the second-highest percentage of elderly people (20.5%) has a fatality rate of 158 for every 100,000 residents as against New York’s 260, with DeSantis focusing on protecting nursing homes while Cuomo did the opposite.” (Ditto)
3. “Florida also got school openings right, despite the New Republic having likened his approach to the pandemic to a “death march.” (Ditto)
THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE COVID-19 POLICY DIFFERENTIAL
1. “Employment declined by 4.6% in Florida in 2020, compared with 8% in California and 10.4% in New York.” (Wall Street Journal, third link)
2. “Leisure and hospitality jobs fell 15% in Florida versus 30% in California and 39% in New York.” (ditto)
3. “Florida’s freedom has drawn people and economic activity to the state. It ranked third among “U-Haul Migration Growth States” for one-way rentals.” (ditto)
NB: “According to Census Bureau data, Florida’s per capita business formation between April 2020 and January 2021 was twice has high as California’s and 75% higher than New York’s.” (ditto)
ABORTION, GUN CONTROL, EDUCATION, FOREIGN POLICY
1. A Roman Catholic, DeSantis opposes abortion and gets a “0” rating from the Human Rights Campaign (the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the US).
2. Strongly against gun control, he gets an A+ rating from the NRA.
3. He is for local control of education and has opposed federal initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act.
NB: Staunchly pro-Israel, he was opposed to the Iran Deal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/opinion/ron-desantis-2024.html
Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz lead 2024 Republican polling if Donald Trump doesn’t run
https://www.wsj.com/articles/vindication-for-ron-desantis-11614986751
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_DeSantis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Florida_gubernatorial_election
Here is a link to the last three years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to political process or campaign strategy or 2020 candidate selection or anything else for that matter.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day or change their thinking. Or to consolidate in your own memory something worth remembering that might otherwise be lost. Or to clarify or deepen your own understanding of something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought. | https://medium.com/@john-muresianu/thinking-citizen-blog-who-is-ron-desantis-and-why-is-he-the-republican-2024-frontrunner-817063a0b022 | ['John Muresianu'] | 2021-04-25 15:08:20.761000+00:00 | ['Ron Desantis', 'Thinking Citizen Blog', 'Politics', 'USA', 'Florida'] |
Guide to Genetic Testing | There are thousands of genetic tests available in the United States today. You may have wondered what they actually are and which test, if any, is right for you. In this guide, we’ll review the basics.
By Betsy Swope
Have you started to see the seasonal ads and promotions yet for genetic testing? ‘Give your family the gift of personalized genetic insights.’ Did this spark your interest in genetic testing and make you wonder what it’s all about? With the popularity of genetic testing, it’s probably a question you’ve asked yourself, especially if you’re new to the concept of genetic testing. What actually is genetic testing, and is genetic testing right for me?
What is genetic testing anyway?
Genetic testing involves analyzing a sample (such as blood, saliva, or cells from a cheek swab) to identify changes in chromosomes or genes. There are thousands of genetic tests available in the United States today. Traditionally, genetic testing was only recommended and ordered by your doctor, but that’s changing. These medical-grade genetic tests are performed through diagnostic laboratories subject to strict regulation to make sure their tests are accurate and that their limitations are clear. Below are a number of medical-grade tests that may be ordered for different reasons:
Diagnostic testing: used to confirm or rule-out a diagnosis, such as sickle cell disease, Down syndrome, or cystic fibrosis.
used to confirm or rule-out a diagnosis, such as sickle cell disease, Down syndrome, or cystic fibrosis. Presymptomatic and predictive testing: for healthy individuals or before someone shows symptoms, such as breast cancer or certain forms of heart disease.
for healthy individuals or before someone shows symptoms, such as breast cancer or certain forms of heart disease. Pharmacogenetic testing: may help determine what medication and dosage will be most effective and beneficial for you to treat a particular condition or disease.
may help determine what medication and dosage will be most effective and beneficial for you to treat a particular condition or disease. Carrier screening : for any individual or couple who is planning to have children and would like to understand risks for genetic conditions in their offspring.
for any individual or couple who is planning to have children and would like to understand risks for genetic conditions in their offspring. Prenatal testing: during pregnancy, genetic screening tests can determine if there is a higher chance of certain conditions in the baby. Other tests, known as prenatal diagnostic tests, can determine if the genetic condition is present or not in the baby.
during pregnancy, genetic screening tests can determine if there is a higher chance of certain conditions in the baby. Other tests, known as prenatal diagnostic tests, can determine if the genetic condition is present or not in the baby. Newborn screening: newborns are tested for certain genetic and metabolic changes that cause specific conditions, such as phenylketonuria (PKU), and treatment can begin right away.
Medical-grade vs. direct-to-consumer tests
Direct-to-consumer tests, on the other hand, are typically advertised to the general public and can be independently ordered through websites, with samples collected at home, and results received a few weeks later. Most of these tests determine your ancestry or certain traits, although some can detect inherited health risks as well. Although these tests can provide you with some interesting information, such as your ability to taste cilantro or exactly what part of the world your ancestors are from, it’s reasonable to approach the decision on whether to reveal genetic health information with some caution. These tests do not undergo the same regulation as the medical-grade tests described above.
🛍️Shop Fertility Products ⟶
Why would someone pursue genetic testing?
Some people are just curious about their genetics and want to learn as much as they can about their traits and may pursue this testing on their own. Other people pursue genetic testing based on the recommendations from their doctor. They may need to use genetic testing to confirm a diagnosis of symptoms that they have in order to guide treatment or management, or provide information to family members so that they can be aware of their own risks to inherit the condition. Additionally, genetic testing can help individuals and couples understand their own risks for passing on certain genetic conditions to their children.
Should I pursue genetic testing as I plan to build my family?
If you are thinking about getting pregnant, you can find out if you and your partner carry inherited conditions that could affect your future family. Genetic carrier screening can tell you if you carry a genetic change that could increase your risk of having a child with a genetic condition. Many of us are carriers of inherited conditions and simply don’t know it because we show no symptoms. Additionally, about eight in ten individuals who are carriers of a genetic condition have no known family history. It is also important to know as much as possible about your family history, specifically as it relates to birth defects or genetic syndromes, because this information can help determine what genetic test is right for you.
Once a couple finds out that they are at risk to have children with a genetic disorder, they can learn about all of their options. It is best to learn about your genetic risks before you get pregnant, as some reproductive options are only available before pregnancy.
It is best to learn about your genetic risks before you get pregnant, as some reproductive options are only available before pregnancy.
Genetic testing is always optional. Some people choose to undergo genetic carrier testing because they would like to better understand their risks before undergoing a pregnancy. They may consider alternative approaches if they find out there is an increased chance. Other people may decline this testing, as the information may not impact their decision-making and may only cause them undue worry.
What’s the best way to get genetic testing done?
One way to undergo genetic testing is to talk to your doctor at your next office visit. Most genetic testing needs to be ordered by a provider who can manage your results and guide your care. But what if you aren’t going to your doctor as regularly right now or won’t be returning for another year? There are a number of ways to access information on genetic testing and to have genetic testing ordered. Virtual telemedicine visits are now more readily available, and there are companies that employ genetic specialists to guide you in your options. Additionally, since many genetic tests can be performed through a saliva sample or cheek swab, many samples can be conveniently collected while you are at home following your telemedicine consultation.
If this all seems very exciting, but confusing and overwhelming — or you have some questions or just aren’t sure if genetic testing is right for you — you may benefit from seeking a consultation
with a genetic specialist. A genetic counselor is a medical professional who can guide you through the complex information about your testing options and chances of having a child with a genetic condition, which empowers you to make an informed choice and decide what’s right for you and your family.
Want to learn more about Natalist? Head to natalist.com now.
If you have questions about genetic testing, or are interested in speaking with a genetic counselor, you can schedule a session with Genome Medical online, or by calling (877) 688–0992.Betsy Swope, MS, CGC, is Genome Medical’s reproductive service lead. She is a board-certified genetic counselor with more than 17 years of experience. She has worked at the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina and Progenity, Inc. | https://medium.com/@natalist/guide-to-genetic-testing-ffa1cbea23a6 | [] | 2021-01-23 20:05:21.649000+00:00 | ['Reproductive Health', 'Parenting', 'Genetic Testing', 'Genetics', 'Pregnancy'] |
Rachel Bitecofer: The 2020 election will be hyper-partisan, and that makes it quite predictable. And that’s good news for Democrats. | Rachel Bitecofer: The 2020 election will be hyper-partisan, and that makes it quite predictable. And that’s good news for Democrats. Thomas Wood Jul 2, 2019·2 min read
I was so impressed with this analysis that I signed up for Bitecofer’s newsletter. Her argument in a nutshell: 2020 is going to be a hyper-partisan election, so (absent some outlier events) it is quite predictable. (RTWT.) 1/6
https://tinyurl.com/y6kf7who
Bitcofer’s analysis is basically the one I arrived at in a thread on 8 Nov 2017, after the Ds’ big win in the suburbs in the VA gubernatorial. 3/6
Thomas Wood 🌊 on Twitter“(THREAD) Here’s a way to look at US politics now (in the era of Trump) in one image.”https://tinyurl.com/y2jg59nf
My argument then, and Bitecofer’s now is: If you polarize and divide the country, make sure you end up with the bigger half of the china when it breaks (my way of putting it, not hers). 4/6
If Rs had run as divisive a campaign as Trump’s in 2016 ten or twenty years ago (à la Pat Buchanan), it might have worked. But given massive, decades-long demographic and cultural changes, it’s too late for Rs now. They don’t have the numbers. 5/6
That has been my strong, unwavering intuition since a couple of months after the 2016 election — and the November 2017 gubernatorial in VA and the 2018 elections confirmed it. But Bitcover is a statistician who has run the numbers. 6/6 | https://medium.com/@twoodiac/rachel-bitecofer-the-2020-election-will-be-hyper-partisan-and-that-makes-it-quite-predictable-6063bdadf586 | ['Thomas Wood'] | 2019-07-03 22:29:35.872000+00:00 | ['2010 Election', 'Democrats', '2016 Election', 'Republicans'] |
Introducing Ponder — Taking the Misery Out of Dating | Dating in today’s world sucks. Admit it, it’s a miserable experience. If you happen upon someone that you are truly compatible with and an honest relationship starts, you are ecstatic. Why? Because it is so rare to experience. It’s like winning the lottery.
Ponder aims to change this. We aim to take the misery out of dating.
Before I explain how Ponder works and why we believe it is such a better experience, let’s quickly look at the evolution of dating and why current ways of meeting someone are so flawed.
Pre-Internet Era: The Age of Rejection and Shame
From the age of the cave to roughly the year 2000, there were two primary ways of meeting someone to date: you were either “set up” by a mutual acquaintance or you broached the dating subject with someone you already had a reason to meet (like someone at school, work, etc.).
These approaches carried the human race for a long time and their successes were reliant on human intuition and its ability to determine compatibility. Fundamentally, being able to determine what makes one specific person compatible with another specific person is really important and if you can utilize it to make initial introductions it goes a long way towards making the experience enjoyable. Unfortunately it suffered from a scale problem.
Until the age of the Internet, we all tended to swim in relatively small pools of potentially compatible people. This forced us or our designated matchmakers to often compromise on compatibility. And what happens when one person compromises more than the other? Rejection. And what happens when you get rejected by someone that you either have a mutual acquaintance with or you tend to see often because you share an environment? Shame.
Rejection and shame are devastating emotions. The fear alone of possibly experiencing them tends to hold people back from even trying to date. It’s no wonder that the phrase “set up” has such a negative connotation.
Online Dating Era: Ripoffs & Expanding Expectations
The advent of online dating (Match and JDate were some of the earliest dating sites that are still around today) aimed to solve this “small pool” problem. In some ways it did. Dating websites allow people to search or be matched to others they never would have met without the scale of the Internet. In addition, because initial interactions are online, and relatively anonymous, the misery of rejection and shame diminishes. However, these websites, as businesses, need to charge people to swim in the pool, and they do so using a subscription model.
The issue with such a model is that it forces people to pay on the faith that they will meet someone. Given this, people react in two ways. Either they approach it passively and wait from someone to contact them. When this doesn’t happen, they leave the site feeling ripped off (another form of misery). Alternatively they take a very active approach (to get their money’s worth) and they either spam the rest of the community (creating misery for others) or take dates with every suggested match, which in turn gives rise to the “grass must be greener with the next date” syndrome and yet another, new form of misery.
Mobile App Dating Era: Power Creeps
In 2014, there began to appear a flurry of new dating platforms built for mobile devices that have taken a slightly different approach, helping to eliminate some of the misery-inducing aspects of dating, but like their predecessors, creating new forms of misery in the process. With the integration of mutual match, where both parties have to agree to communicate (a technology brought to the market by Tinder but actually originally developed by JDate) these dating apps are able to reduce both the spamming and initial rejection problems. They also have done away with the traditional subscription revenue model and instead have adopted a ‘freemium’ model. By allowing users to enter the pool for free they not only have developed a much bigger pool but they’ve developed an experience where if you never find a date, you at least don’t feel ripped off.
Unfortunately, the ‘freemium’ models’ paid features tend to cater toward power users and as a result the platforms end up focusing their attention towards these types of people. But if you, as a single, are looking for a committed relationship, and you have to spend your time on a platform that is incentivized to please serial daters, you are jumping into a pool where compatibility is naturally compromised. In this case however, it is not rejection and shame that you tend to experience but distrust and heartache.
The Ponder Era: Bringing Community and Performance to Dating
Recognizing this evolution in dating and the various forms of misery it has generated, we sought to create something completely different. Our aim is to:
Bring human intuition and interaction back into the introduction phase of dating to help generate intuitive, compatibility-driven matches but do so at scale. Maintain a sense of anonymity so that feelings of rejection and shame are all but eliminated. Build a revenue model that allows users to only pay when they succeed in meeting someone they actually want to meet, thus eliminating spam, creeps and aligning the platform’s incentives with those of the entire user base. Create an environment where people are not just in it for themselves but where they can contribute to other members’ success, thus developing a positively reinforcing community.
And thus Ponder was born.
Every match on Ponder is generated by another human being. This means as a single person you are able to match other members of the community together. Alternatively, you don’t even need to be single to be on the platform and you can simply take part in the community as a matchmaker. | https://medium.com/theponderapp/introducing-ponder-taking-the-misery-out-of-dating-f3f22e8a9ef1 | [] | 2018-02-05 22:39:20.023000+00:00 | ['Dating', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Altcoins', 'Token Sale'] |
How to build a dashboard with Bootstrap 4 from scratch (Part 1) | In previous articles we reviewed Plotly’s Dash Framework, learned to build scatter plots and create a map visualization. This time we will summarize our knowledge and put all the pieces together to design a dashboard layout using the Bootstrap 4 grid system.
To facilitate the development, we’ll refer to the dash-bootstrap-components library. This is a great tool that integrates Bootstrap in Dash, allowing us to write web pages in pure Python, and add any Bootstrap components and styling.
Draft Layout
Before we begin coding it’s crucial to have a plan of our app, a rough layout that would help us to see the big picture and quickly modify the structure. We used draw.io to make a dashboard draft, this application enables to create diagrams, graphs, flowcharts, and forms at the click of a button. The dashboard will be built according to this template:
Like the dashboard itself, the top header will be colored in gold and white, the main colors of Untappd. Just below the header, there is a section with breweries, which includes a scatter plot and a control panel. And at the bottom of the page, there will be a map showing beverage rating across the regions of Russia.
All right, let’s get started, first create a new python file with the name application.py. The file will store all the front end components of the dashboard, and create a new directory named assets. The directory structure should be similar:
- application.py
- assets/
|-- typography.css
|-- header.css
|-- custom-script.js
|-- image.png
Then we import the libraries and initialize our application:
import dash
import dash_bootstrap_components as dbc
import dash_html_components as html
import dash_core_components as dcc
import pandas as pd
from get_ratio_scatter_plot import get_plot
from get_russian_map import get_map
from clickhouse_driver import Client
from dash.dependencies import Input, Output standard_BS = dbc.themes.BOOTSTRAP
app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=[standard_BS])
Main parameters of the app:
__name__ — to enable access to static elements stored in the assets folder (such as images, CSS and JS files)
external_stylesheets — external CSS styling, here we are using a standard Bootstrap theme, however you can create your own theme or use any of the availables ones.
Hook up a few more things to work with local files and connect to the Clickhouse Database:
app.scripts.config.serve_locally = True
app.css.config.serve_locally = True client = Client(host='ec2-3-16-148-63.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com',
user='default',
password='',
port='9000',
database='default')
Add a palette of colors:
colors = ['#ffcc00',
'#f5f2e8',
'#f8f3e3',
'#ffffff',
]
Creating a layout
All the dashboard elements will be placed within a Bootstrap container, which is in the <div> block:
- app
|-- div
|-- container
|-- logo&header
|-- container
|-- div
|-- controls&scatter
|-- map app.layout = html.Div(
[
dbc.Container( < header>
dbc.Container(
html.Div(
[
< body >
],
),
fluid=False, style={'max-width': '1300px'},
),
],
style={'background-color': colors[1], 'font-family': 'Proxima Nova Bold'},
)
Here we set a fixed container width, background color, and font style of the page that is stored in typography.css in the assets folder. Let’s take a closer look at the first element in the div block, that’s the top header with the Untappd logo:
logo = html.Img(src=app.get_asset_url('logo.png'),
style={'width': "128px", 'height': "128px",
}, className='inline-image')
and the header:
header = html.H3("Russian breweries stats from Untappd", style={'text-transform': "uppercase"})
We used Bootstrap Forms to position these two elements on the same level.
logo_and_header = dbc.FormGroup(
[
logo,
html.Div(
[
header
],
className="p-5"
)
],
className='form-row',
)
The class name ‘p-5’ allows to increase padding and vertically align the title while specifying ‘form-row’ as the form class name we put the logo and header in one row. At this point, the top header should look the following:
Now we need to center the elements and add some colors. Create a separate container that will take one row. Specify ‘d-flex justify-content-center’ in the className to achieve the same output.
dbc.Container(
dbc.Row(
[
dbc.Col(
html.Div(
logo_and_header,
),
),
],
style={'max-height': '128px',
'color': 'white',
} ),
className='d-flex justify-content-center',
style={'max-width': '100%',
'background-color': colors[0]},
),
And now the top header is done:
We’re approaching the main part, create the next Bootstrap Container and add a subheading:
dbc.Container(
html.Div(
[
html.Br(),
html.H5("Breweries", style={'text-align':'center', 'text-transform': 'uppercase'}),
html.Hr(), # horizontal break
The main body will consist of Bootstrap Cards, they can provide a structured layout of all parts, giving each element a clear border and saving the white space. Create the next element, a control panel with sliders:
slider_day_values = [1, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100]
slider_top_breweries_values = [5, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200] controls = dbc.Card(
[
dbc.CardBody(
[
dbc.FormGroup(
[
dbc.Label("Time Period", style={'text-align': 'center', 'font-size': '100%', 'text-transform': 'uppercase'}),
dcc.Slider(
id='slider-day',
min=1,
max=100,
step=10,
value=100,
marks={i: i for i in slider_day_values}
),
], style={'text-align': 'center'}
),
dbc.FormGroup(
[
dbc.Label("Number of breweries", style={'text-align': 'center', 'font-size': '100%', 'text-transform': 'uppercase'}),
dcc.Slider(
id='slider-top-breweries',
min=5,
max=200,
step=5,
value=200,
marks={i: i for i in slider_top_breweries_values}
),
], style={'text-align': 'center'}
),
],
)
],
style={'height': '32.7rem', 'background-color': colors[3]}
)
The control panel consists of two sliders that can be used to change the view on the scatter, they are positioned one below the other in a Bootstrap Form. The sliders were put inside the dbc.CardBody block, other elements will be added in the same way. It allows to eliminate alignment problem and achieve clear borders. By default, the sliders are painted in blue, but we can easily customize them by changing the properties of the class in sliders.css. Add the control panel with the scatter plot as follows:
dbc.Row(
[
dbc.Col(controls, width={"size": 4,
"order": 'first',
"offset": 0},
),
dbc.Col(dbc.Card(
[
dbc.CardBody(
[
html.H6("The ratio between the number of reviews and the average brewery rating",
className="card-title",
style={'text-transform': 'uppercase'}),
dcc.Graph(id='ratio-scatter-plot'),
],
),
],
style={'background-color': colors[2], 'text-align':'center'}
),
md=8),
],
align="start",
justify='center',
),
html.Br(),
And at the bottom of the page we will position the map:
html.H5("Venues and Regions", style={'text-align':'center', 'text-transform': 'uppercase',}),
html.Hr(), # horizontal break
dbc.Row(
[
dbc.Col(
dbc.Card(
[
dbc.CardBody(
[
html.H6("Average beer rating across regions",
className="card-title",
style={'text-transform': 'uppercase'},
),
dcc.Graph(figure=get_map())
],
),
],
style={'background-color': colors[2], 'text-align': 'center'}
),
md=12),
]
),
html.Br(),
Callbacks in Dash
Callback functions allow making dashboard elements interactive through the Input and Output properties of a particular component.
@app.callback(
Output('ratio-scatter-plot', 'figure'),
[Input('slider-day', 'value'),
Input('slider-top-breweries', 'value'),
]
)
def get_scatter_plots(n_days=100, top_n=200):
if n_days == 100 and top_n == 200:
df = pd.read_csv('data/ratio_scatter_plot.csv')
return get_plot(n_days, top_n, df)
else:
return get_plot(n_days, top_n)
In this example, our inputs are the “value” properties of the components that have the ids “slider-day’” and “slider-top-breweries”. Our output is the “children” property of the component with the id “ratio-scatter-plot”. When the input values are changed, the decorator function will be called automatically and the output on the scatter is updated. Learn more about callbacks from the examples in the docs.
It’s worth noting, that the scatter plot may not be displayed correctly when the page is loaded. To avoid this scenario we need to specify its initial state and produce a scatter plot from the saved CSV file stored in the data folder. Then, when changing the slider values, all data will be taken directly from the Clickhouse tables.
Add a few more lines responsible for deployment and our app is ready to run:
application = app.server if __name__ == '__main__':
application.run(debug=True, port=8000)
Next, we need to deploy our app to AWS BeansTalk and the first part of our Bootstrap Dashboard is completed! | https://medium.com/left-join/how-to-build-a-dashboard-with-bootstrap-4-from-scratch-part-1-92a8d8cbc173 | ['Ilya Bondarev'] | 2020-09-17 13:21:35.174000+00:00 | ['Bootstrap', 'Untappd', 'Leftjoin', 'Dash', 'Plotly'] |
Atlanta Botanical Garden: Garden Lights Holiday Nights | A peek into Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Garden Lights, Holiday Nights in Atlanta which runs until Jan 16th! Share with a friend who would love this! 😍 Press play and watch for details on how you can visit and a map of the event! Should I post a longer video of this? #YouTubeShorts #Shorts I’m late to the party for Vlogmas 2020 but I’m here! Thanks for watching be sure to subscribe. For more things to do in Atlanta, check out this article https://www.workhardtravelwell.com/day-trip-to-atlanta/ Thanks for stopping by! Subscribe Now and turn on notifications! http://bit.ly/whtwy | https://medium.com/@workhardtravelwell/atlanta-botanical-garden-garden-lights-holiday-nights-1a0b387dbf89 | ['Kim H.'] | 2020-12-27 19:49:22.052000+00:00 | ['Atlanta Botanical Garden', 'Atlanta', 'Christmas Lights', 'YouTube'] |
Disease name and their Japanese alternative : | Disease name and their Japanese alternative :
1 kaze 風邪 かぜ a cold
2 infuruenza インフルエンザ influenza
3 haien 肺炎 はいえん pneumonia
4 kikanshi-en 気管支炎 きかんしえん bronchitis
5 seki せき cough
6 zensoku 喘息 ぜんそく asthma
7 hai-kekkaku 肺結核 はいけっかく tuberculosis (t.b.)
8 koo-ketsuatsu 高尾血圧 こおけつあつ high blood pressure
9 Toonyoo-byoo 糖尿病 とうにょうびょう diabetes
10 geri 下痢 げり diarrhea
11 jinzoo-byoo 腎臓病 じんぞうびょう kidney trouble
12 tei-ketsuatsu 低血圧 ていけつあつ low blood pressure
13 Shinzoo-byoo 心臓病 しんぞうびょう heart disease
14 shinzoo-mahi 心臓麻痺 しんぞうまひ heart attack
15 kanen 肝炎 かんえん hepatitis
16 moochoo-en 盲腸炎 もうちょうえん appendicitis
17 rin-byoo 淋病 りんびょう gonorrhea
18 hifu-byoo 皮膚病 ひふびょう skin disease
19 fumin-shoo 不眠症 ふみんしょう insomnia
20 gan 癌 がん cancer
21 mararia マラリア malaria
22 dengu-netsu デング熱 でんぐねつ dengue fever
23 korera コレラ cholera
24 zutsuu 頭痛 ずつう headache
25 fukutsuu 腹痛 ふくつう stomachache
26 mushiba 虫歯 むしば toothache
27 hashika 麻疹 はしか measles
28 kossetsu 骨折 こっせつ fracture
29 hakike 吐き気 はきけ vomiting
30 keiren 痙攣 けいれん cramp
31 odeki おでき boil
32 mahi 麻痺 まひ paralyzed
33 benpi 便秘 べんぴ constipation
頑張ってください! | https://medium.com/@kmanasi/disease-name-and-their-japanese-alternative-d0a269152dbf | ['Manasi Kulkarni-Lele'] | 2020-07-24 15:21:40.357000+00:00 | ['Translation', '日本語', 'Disease', 'Japanese'] |
Coinpaprika Release — Independent Source of Crypto Data | After continuous strive to have independent data, now we can say that we are fully autonomous from other services!
What does it mean?
Data from 176 exchanges is imported and stored into our servers without any 3rd party members. With that integration we can bring you data straight from the places where the trades take place.
is imported and stored into our servers without any 3rd party members. With that integration we can bring you data straight from the places where the trades take place. Prices, charts, volume and other numeric values are waged and counted independently from other services. Previously we helped ourself with data from external sources, which sometimes resulted in showing wrong prices. (And we were not aware of it). From now, it won’t happen again.
from other services. Previously we helped ourself with data from external sources, which sometimes resulted in showing wrong prices. (And we were not aware of it). From now, it won’t happen again. Data refreshes now faster, as we serve you 265 ticks on average per 1 second, which is around 16 000 ticks per 1 minute . Simply speaking, we refresh info about 16 000 prices on different pairs, every minute.
. Simply speaking, we refresh info about 16 000 prices on different pairs, every minute. Prices are more stable and reliable as they are calculated in consideration with every single market. With that in mind, no strange and unconfirmed deviations from the price will occur.
as they are calculated in consideration with every single market. With that in mind, no strange and unconfirmed deviations from the price will occur. We have built tools to detect outliners and anomalies. We are constantly monitoring prices, we even created a publicly available dashboard to show the difference that our independent system made — coin price listing with comparison to other websites! You can check it here!
We are very proud that this day finally came, as working on our own data means we have more space to introduce even more intriguing charts, more interesting correlations, and many new features in future!
Check it now on coinpaprika.com!
Once again we would like to shout out that Coinpaprika is fully independent - we don’t relay on cmc data, as many other platforms do. | https://medium.com/coinpaprika/coinpaprika-release-independent-source-of-crypto-data-5f027af00dbe | [] | 2018-08-30 16:37:24.846000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Data'] |
15 most important concepts that every JavaScript Programmer must know. | We will be covering basic concept every JavaScript programmer must know and master this.
1. IIFE
IFEE (Immediately Invoked Function Expression) is a JavaScript function that executes when it is defined.
(() => {
console.log(“Hello World”);
})()
This might look quite confusing at first but actually, the pattern is very simple.
Normally JavaScript functions can be created either through a function declaration or a function expression. A function declaration is a normal way of creating a named function.
A function created in the context of an expression is also a function expression. The key thing about JavaScript expressions is that they return values.
In both cases above the return value of the expression is the function.
That means that if we want to invoke the function expression right away we just need to tackle a couple of parentheses on the end. This brings us back to the first bit of code we looked at:
(() => {
var greet = "Welcome All";
console.log(greet); // Welcome All
})() console.log(greet); // Error: greet is not defined
The primary reason to use an IIFE is to obtain data privacy. Because JavaScript’s var scopes variables to their containing function, any variables declared within the IIFE cannot be accessed by the outside world.
2. Understanding Scope
Scope is the accessibility of variables, functions, and objects in some particular part of your code during runtime. In other words, scope determines the visibility of variables and other resources in areas of your code.
As per the above definition of scope. So, the point in limiting the visibility if variables and not having everything available everywhere in your code.
The Scope can be defined in two ways,
Global Scope
Local Scope
var name = "Anto" // global scope const greet = () => {
console.log(`Hello ${name}`) // Hello Anto
} greet();
Above code, name variable is the global scope and it can be accessed anywhere inside the function,
const greet = () => {
var name = "Anto" // local scope
console.log(`Hello ${name}`) // Hello Anto
} greet(); console.log(name) // name is not undefined
In scope level variables in JavaScript ES6 has updated hoisting variable let, var, const type check with that, In order to learn the scope, you need to understand hoisting also.
3. JavaScript Closures
A closure is the combination of a function and the lexical environment within which that function was declared.
A closure is an inner function that has access to the outer variables and functions — scope chain. The closure has three scope chains: it has access to its own scope (variables defined between its curly brackets), it has access to the outer function’s variables, and it has access to the global variables.
var globalVariable = "I am a Global variable"; const greetWith = (greet) => {
return (name) => {
console.log(globalVariable); // "I am a Global variable"
console.log(`${greet} ${name}`); // Hello Anto
}
} const greet = greetWith("Hello"); // returns a Function greet("Anto");
In the above code, We have an outer function greetWith() which returns a function that takes a name as an argument.
The scope of the variable greet is accessible inside the inner function, even after the outer function is returned.
4. Hoisting:
Hoisting is a JavaScript mechanism where variables and function declarations are moved to the top of their scope before code execution.
This mechanism is called hoisting,
console.log(variable); // undefined const variable = "Hoisting"
actually, JavaScript has hoisted the variable declaration. This is what the code above looks like to the interpreter
var variable; console.log(variable) variable = "Hoist";
JavaScript only hoists declarations, not initialization.
Inevitably, this means that no matter where functions and variables are declared, they are moved to the top of their scope regardless of whether their scope is global or local.
so this also match for a variable of function-level scope also hoisted
But, This is not the case with keywords like let and const in JavaScript(ES6)
Before we start, to be noted is the fact that variables declared with the keyword let are block-scoped and not function scoped. That’s significant, but it shouldn’t trouble us here. Briefly, however, it just means that the variable’s scope is bound to the block in which it is declared and not the function in which it is declared.
Let’s start by looking at the let keyword’s behavior.
console.log(variable);
// ReferenceError: Cannot access 'hoist' before initialization let variable
Like before, for the var keyword, we expect the output of the log to be undefined . However, since the es6 let doesn’t take kindly on us using undeclared variables, the interpreter explicitly spits out a Reference error.
This ensures that we always declare our variables first.
However, we still have to be careful here. An implementation like the following will result in an output of undefined instead of a Reference error .
let variable;
console.log(variable); //undefined variable = 'Hoisted'
Hence, to err on the side of caution, we should declare then assign our variables to a value before using them.
5. The Module Pattern
In JavaScript, a module is a small unit of independent, reusable code. Modules are the foundation of many JavaScript design patterns and are critically necessary when building any non-trivial JavaScript-based application.
JavaScript module export as the value rather than define a type, as JavaScript JavaScript module can export an object, Modules that export a string containing an HTML template or a CSS stylesheet are also common.
JavaScript doesn’t have private keywords but we can achieve private methods and properties using closures.
const app = (() => {
`use strict` var _myPrivateProp = "secret"; const _privateMethod = () => {
console.log(_myPrivateProp);
} return {
publicMethod: () => {
_myPrivateProp();
}
} })(); app.publicMethod(); // secret
app._myPrivateProp; // undefined
app._myPrivateProp(); // TypeError
these modules can have exported to the other JS files using the export keyword,
export default app;
modules can import to another JS file
import app from "./app.js";
Why do we need to use a Module?
There are a lot of benefits to using modules in favor of a sprawling,
some are,
maintainability reusability Namespacing
6. Currying:
Currying is a technique of evaluating the function with multiple arguments, into a sequence of functions with a single argument.
In other words, when a function, instead of taking all arguments at one time, takes the first one and return a new function that takes the second one and returns a new function which takes the third one, and so forth until all arguments have been fulfilled.
For better understanding,
// ES5
function concat(str1) {
return function(str2) {
return function(str3) {
console.log(`${str1} ${str2} ${str3}`);
}
}
} //ES6
const concat = (str1) => (str2) => (str3) => {
console.log(`${str1} ${str2} ${str3}`);
} concat("JavaScript")("For")("Life"); output: "JavaScript For Life"
this currying achieving through closures, so above program variables str1, str2 private properties of the parent function
Why Useful Currying?
Mainly It helps to create a higher-order function. It is extremely helpful in event handling.
7. Memoization:
Memoization is a programming technique that attempts to increase a function’s performance by caching its previously computed results. Because JavaScript objects behave like associative arrays, they are ideal candidates to act as caches. Each time a memoized function is called, its parameters are used to index the cache. If the data is present, then it can be returned, without executing the entire function. However, if the data is not cached, then the function is executed, and the result is added to the cache.
The function is an integral part of the programming, they help to modularity and reusable to our code, as per the above definition memoization is an optimizing our code
const apiService = () => {
let cache = {};
const fetchDataById = async (id) => {
if(id in cache) {
return cache[id];
}
const response = await fetch("https://www.mock.com/"+ id);
const data = JSON.parse(await response.json());
cache[id] = data;
return data;
}
} const service = apiService(); // data fetched from server
service.fetchDataById(1).then(data => console.log(data)) // data from cache
service.fetchDataById(1).then(data => console.log(data))
8. The apply, call, and bind methods:
In traditionally JS have object, Properties, and methods, so each object has properties and methods.
In JavaScript, we can do some magic using call, apply, bind methods,
Consider the above image Object1 can have its own Properties and Object2 can have its own property, so we can write a common method for these objects and use within that using call/apply/bind method. I hope you now you can understand why call/apply/bind method using.
let’s look at the difference and code for the Call/Apply/Bind method
1.Call method:
consider below code, obj have the property of num, using call method we can bound obj to add function,
var obj = {
n1: 1
} function add(n2, n3, n4) {
return this.n1 + n2 + n3 + n4;
} // Call
console.log(add.call(obj, 3, 4, 5)); // 10 // Apply
console.log(add.apply(obj, [2, 3, 4])); // 10 // Bind
const bonded = add.bind(obj); console.log(bonded(3, 4, 5)); // 10
2.Apply Method
The same way the Apply method also works but the only difference is using the apply method the passing arguments could be an array, refer to the below code.
3.Bind Method:
bind method returns a method instance instead of result value, after that need to execute a bound method with arguments.
In the above Code simply explain how to use the call/Apply/Bind method with an argument.
9. JavaScript Prototype
Let me explain the various way of creating objects in JavaScript. One of the ways to create objects in JavaScript is the constructor function. Consider the below constructor function:
function FoodItem(name, type) {
this.name = name;
this.type = type; this.getDetails = function() {
return this.name+" is a "+this.type;
}
} const FerreroRocher = new FoodItem("Ferrero Rocher", "Chocolate");
const Cake = new FoodItem("Giant Twix Cheesecake", "Dessert"); console.log(FerreroRocher.getDetails);
// Ferrero Rocher is a Chocolate console.log(Cake.getDetails);
// Giant Twix Cheesecake is a Dessert
In the above example, we are creating two objects FerreroRocher, Cake using a constructor. In JavaScript, every object has its own methods and properties. In our example, two objects have two instances of the constructor function getDetails() . It doesn’t make sense to have a copy of getDetails doing the same thing.
Instead of using a copy of instances, we are going to use the prototype property of a constructor function.
Prototype
When an object is created in JavaScript, the JavaScript engine adds a __proto__ property to the newly created object which is called dunder proto . dunder proto or __proto__ points to the prototype object of the constructor function.
function FoodItem(name, type) {
this.name = name;
this.type = type;
} FoodItem.prototype.getDetails = function() {
return this.name+" is a "+this.type;
} const FerreroRocher = new FoodItem("Ferrero Rocher", "Chocolate"); console.log(FerreroRocher.getDetails);
// Ferrero Rocher is a Chocolate
The FerreroRocher object, which is created using the Bike constructor function, has a dunder proto or __proto__ property which points to the prototype object of the constructor function FoodItem .
In the below code, both FerreroRocher it's dunder proto or __proto__ property and FerreroRocher.prototype property is equal. Let’s check if they point at the same location using === operator.
console.log(FerreroRocher.__proto__ === FoodItem.prototype) // true
So using prototype property, how many objects are created functions are loaded into memory only once and we can override functions if required.
10. JavaScript(ES6) Class
JavaScript classes, introduced in ES6, are primarily syntactical sugar over JavaScript’s existing prototype-based inheritance. The class syntax does not introduce a new object-oriented inheritance model to JavaScript. In early ES5 using function expression.
existing Prototype based inheritance:
function FoodItem(name, type) {
this.name = name;
this.type = type;
} FoodItem.prototype.getDetails = function() {
return this.name+" is a "+this.type;
} const FerreroRocher = new FoodItem("Ferrero Rocher", "Chocolate");
ES6
class FoodItem {
constructor(name, type) {
this.name = name;
this.type = type;
} getDetails() {
return this.name+" is a "+this.type;
}
}
Benefits of Using class
Convenient, self-contained syntax.
A single, canonical way to emulate classes in JavaScript. Prior to ES6, there were several competing implementations in popular libraries.
More familiar to people from a class-based language background.
11. Polymorphism in JavaScript:
Polymorphism is one of the tenets of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). It is the practice of designing objects to share behaviors and to be able to override shared behaviors with specific ones. Polymorphism takes advantage of inheritance in order to make this happen.
let’s look at the sample code for an override a function in JavaScript
function User(name) {
this.name = name;
} User.prototype.getName = function() {
return this.name;
} const Anto = User("anto"); console.log(Anto.getName); // anto //override
User.prototype.getName = function() {
return this.name.toUpperCase();
} console.log(Anto.getName); // Anto
In the above simple program prototype-based method for a User, the constructor function has to override by another prototype function to return the Name as uppercase.
So we can override a function in different Scope, and also possible for method overloading, JS doesn’t have method overloading native but still, we can achieve.
Still few concepts are in oops, which are all are Method overloading, Abstraction, Inheritance in JavaScript.
12. Asynchronous Js :
In JavaScript Synchronous and asynchronous are code execution Pattern,
In JavaScript Code Execution done In two separate ways:
Browser JS Engine (popular V8 JS Engine) NodeJs V8 Engine
Browser JS Engine parse Html file and executes JavaScript by three patterns,
synchronous Asynchronous defer
index.html<script src='index.js'> //default Synchronous<script async src='index.js'> //parse as
Asynchronously<script defer src='index.js'> //parse as deferred
while browser JS Engine parsing HTML file if <Script > tag occurs means there will be blocking, so how it gets execute JavaScript Code for that above three patterns.
If synchronous <script > tag occurs, JS engine will download the code and execute that code and after that only parsing the below HTML code, generally Synchronous is a blocking script execution. If Asynchronous <script async> tag occurs, while downloading the code JS engine will parse the HTML, and once If JS code gets downloaded pause the parsing and back into the JS Code Execution, generally Asynchronous is a Non-blocking script execution. If the Asynchronous <script defer> tag occurs, JS Engine will parse all HTML code and after that only executes the JS Code.
13. Callback Function:
A reference to executable code, or a piece of executable code, that is passed as an argument to other code.
From the above definition, the callback function is a function passed into another function as an argument, which is then invoked inside the outer function to complete some kind of routine or action.
const greet(callback) => {
const name = prompt("Enter your name"); // Anto
callback(name);
} greet((name) => {
console.log("Hello " + name); // Hello Anto
}
In the above program, the function is passed as an argument to the greet function, so I hope now you can understand callback in JavaScript.
14. Understand Promises :
The Promise object represents the eventual completion (or failure) of an asynchronous operation, and its resulting value.
A promise represents the result of the asynchronous function. Promises can be used to avoid chaining callbacks. In JavaScript,
so whenever JavaScript Code Execute as Asynchronously, need to handle an operation as one of the ways would be using promises.
Promises, have been around quite a while and are defined by a spec called Promise/A+. ES6 has adopted this spec for its Promise implementation; but there are other Promise libraries out there such as Q, Bluebird, RSVP, and others that adhere to this spec and offer other features on top of it.
A Promise is in one of these states:
pending: initial state, neither fulfilled nor rejected.
resolved: meaning that the operation completed successfully.
rejected: meaning that the operation failed.
const promise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
try {
const result = someComplexOperation();
resolve(result);
} catch(error) {
reject(error.message);
}
}); promise.then(result => {
console.log(result); // [result data]
}).catch(error => {
console.log(error);
})
consider above code for a sample promise assume like doing some complex Operation as asynchronously, In that promise Object arguments as two function resolve and reject,
whenever we execute that promise using .then() and .catch() as callback function In order to get resolve or reject values
15. Async & Await:
Babel now supporting async/await out of the box, and ES2016 (or ES7) just around the corner, async & await basically just syntactic sugar on top of Promises, these two keywords alone should make writing asynchronous code in Node much more bearable.
In JavaScript Asynchronous pattern handled in various versions,
ES5 -> Callback ES6 -> Promise ES7 -> async & await
However, what a lot of people may have missed is that the entire foundation for async/await is promises. In fact, every async function you write will return a promise, and every single thing you await will ordinarily be a promise.
const doSomething = async () => {
try {
const result = await someComplexOperation();
console.log(result);
} catch(error) {
console.log(error);
}
}
Above code for a simple async & await,
Good, async/await is a great syntactic improvement for both nodejs and browser programmers. Comparing to Promises, it is a shortcut to reach the same destination. It helps the developer to implement functional programming in JavaScript, and increases the code readability, making JavaScript more enjoyable.
In order to understand about Async&Await, you just need to understand promises.
In Async & Await lot more stuff there, Just play around with it.
conclusion:
As far, In this Post, we have covered many important concepts in JavaScript and got Introduction to it. Generally for each concept just provided a sample code in order to understand the concepts.
Here JavaScript API cheatsheet for the front end developer
http://overapi.com/javascript,
So, you can get a lot more stuff and play around with each and every concept.
I had just gone through the Introduction in all concepts, so If you had any queries Just Ask in the response section.
Thanks for Reading!… | https://medium.com/@codewithanto/15-most-important-concepts-that-every-javascript-programmer-must-know-e0f0f04db3e0 | ['Antony Raj'] | 2020-12-19 15:01:25.713000+00:00 | ['Javascript Tips', 'JavaScript', 'Es6 Js', 'Javascript Development', 'ES6'] |
Many gates through which to enter | Many gates through which to enter
The church needs to offer people multiple environments to explore and express faith
Listening to the RobCast on Monday, I enjoyed hearing the insights of Rabbi Joel Nickerson from a Jewish community in Los Angeles called Temple Isaiah. After finishing the podcast, I went to their website and loved this introduction I found there:
Temple Isaiah is a kehilla kedoshah, a sacred community, with many gates through which to enter. We welcome you through the gate of Shabbat and Holidays. We welcome you through the gate of Torah and Lifelong Learning. We welcome you through the gate of Social Action. We welcome you through the gates of Volunteerism and Leadership Development. Come in, and make yourself at home.
The idea of ‘many gates through which to enter’ resonated strongly with me. It reminded me of one of the mantras we have at my own faith community here in Sheffield:
Mosaic exists to create multiple environments for people to explore and express faith.
There isn’t one right way for people to explore and express their faith. There isn’t one gate that will be the right gate for everyone into any spiritual community.
Church has often functioned with a one-size-fits-all approach. A weekly Sunday service is still the way of most churches and the expectation is that that one weekly service is what everyone will need. It’s the only gate; the only environment.
But the truth is that there are as many paths towards God as there are people on this planet. That doesn’t means there aren’t points of convergence, and it certainly doesn’t mean that our life journey is an individualistic pursuit. We need community. We can’t make alone.
Sadly, many churches have ended up pushing people away. Their rigid structures and one gate offerings have left people feeling that church isn’t a place for them to explore and express faith. This is tragic.
There is so much wisdom contained within the Church. There is thousands of years of mystical wisdom locked up in its sacred Book and ancient traditions. It would be a tragedy for this to be wasted.
That is why my hope is for more and more communities of faith to rise up who will create many gates for people to enter through and multiple environments for people to explore and express faith.
Important as they can be, we need more than Sunday services. We need more than Bible studies. We need more than meetings.
What we need is countless multifaceted, living, breathing communities that bring together both contemplation and action. Faith and works. Prayer and deeds. Churches need to be places of empowerment, education, transformation, community, prayer, and activism. We need to cultivate all manner of different ways in which we embody these values that will find resonance for different types of people.
As someone who has been part of a church experimenting with trying to build this type of community for ten years, I can tell you it isn’t easy. But the world doesn’t need more cookie cutter churches. It’s needs organic, life-giving communities of faith that are raw and messy and real.
And for all of us, if we are to become the fully alive humans we were designed to be, we will need to do it together. Whether it’s formally as part of an official faith community, or informally with people around us who share our desire to explore and express faith, we need to find others to journey with. | https://medium.com/future-faith/many-gates-through-which-to-enter-bbd696de36bf | ['Sam Radford'] | 2016-06-07 15:07:18.650000+00:00 | ['Church', 'Christianity', 'Faith'] |
Getting started with Pytest | Step 1: Creating a simple python function. This is the function we are going to be testing. This can be any function that gives a specific return value or an output of sorts. You can replace this function with the one you are currently working on so that you can get started with pytest right alongside our tutorial.
def add(first: int, second: int) -> int:
return first + second
We have saved this file as “calc.py” . Note that conventionally, the code being tested and the code that does the test must be separated. Ideally, we store the testing code in a folder named “tests”, which contains the testing code for each of the modules we have in different files.
Step 2: Creating a function to test add
from calc import add
def test_add():
result = add(5, 6)
assert result == 11
This is a test upon the function “add” that we created earlier. You can replace it with the respective function and module names if yours are different. This file is a test specifically on the module “calc” and is stored separately in the folder “tests”. It is a convention to have different test files for different modules. We can name this file to be “test_calc.py”. Here, the test only verifies or asserts, that the result of the function add(5,6) is 11. This is not much of a test, as it doesn’t verify the result for the different input types that may go into the “add” function. But this will do for now.
Step 3: Running pytest
You can run the test by using the following command.
pytest test_calc.py
In case there are any difficulties stating there exists no such module, you may run:
export PYTHONPATH="$PYTHONPATH:."
pytest test_calc.py
You will get the following output.
collected 1 item
test_calc.py . [100%]
================ 1 passed in 0.04s ================
The test we wrote for the function “add” did just one thing: it verified that the result of add(5,6) is 11. As such, the “add” function obediently returns the right value for the right kind of input. But this is not strictly the use case of a test. A test is used to evaluate how a function will respond if the inputs given are not desirable or not what the developer had in mind.
Step 4: Checking whether the test fails
A true test upon the “add” function would be something along these lines:
from calc import add
def test_add():
result = add(5, 6)
assert result == 11
assert add("hello","bye") == (False, "This function requires only integral or float arguments")
A real test ensures that there are no inconsistent software failures in any possible conditions that may occur. With such a design in mind, our function, apart from calculating the sum, must also handle such mistakes and unpredictability. Running the test would result in the following:
collected 1 item tests/test_calc.py F [100%] ================== FAILURES ===========================
___________________ test_add ________________________ def test_add():
result = add(5,6)
assert result == 11
> assert add("hello", "bye") == (False, "This function requires only\
integral or float arguments")
E AssertionError: assert 'hellobye' == (False, 'This function requires only integral or float arguments')
E + where 'hellobye' = add('hello', 'bye') tests/test_calc.py:6: AssertionError
================== short test summary info =====================
FAILED tests/test_calc.py::test_add - AssertionError: assert 'hellobye' == (False, 'This func...
===================== 1 failed in 0.52s =========================
We can see that the function “add” clearly cannot handle all kinds of arguments smoothly. This is, of course just one dimension of software testing. We have not provided anyway as to handle such failures and errors, and we will see them in the next article.
As of now, we hope you’ve gained some insight into what software testing actually involves and why it is used as extensively as it is used today. Stay tuned for more on Software testing with pytest.
For more examples and code, visit us: https://gitlab.com/tutorials-from-scratch/pytest-tutorial.
We are, yours truly, Tutorials From Scratch.
Authors : | https://medium.com/tutorials-from-scratch/getting-started-with-pytest-a2ed1825f1bb | ['A A Aswathy'] | 2020-12-13 06:10:55.847000+00:00 | ['Unit Testing', 'Introduction', 'Pytest', 'Python'] |
[隨手記] — 有資料，要找些 Insight，我們可以從何開始？ | 通常 Mentor 或 Bosses 花了高成本找了 Data 相關的人、建立資料的基礎建設，在這種成本壓力之下通常能看見些產出(ROI)！
這時候就會被這個問題追殺：
mine the data and tell me something interesting ? | https://medium.com/shenglin-series-stories/%E9%9A%A8%E6%89%8B%E8%A8%98-%E6%9C%89%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99-%E8%A6%81%E6%89%BE%E4%BA%9B-insight-%E6%88%91%E5%80%91%E5%8F%AF%E4%BB%A5%E5%BE%9E%E4%BD%95%E9%96%8B%E5%A7%8B-7191a14298ca | ['Sheng Lin'] | 2017-07-12 07:39:35.052000+00:00 | ['Eda', 'Insights', 'Data', 'Data Science'] |
What are your business resolutions for 2021? | So, it’s that time of year where we start to think about what has passed (and it has been a year for sure!) and make our plans for the year ahead. We might have a new year’s resolution or two, we may develop a vision board, or maybe set ourselves a challenge to complete.
But how many of us take the same approach with our business?
Having worked in big businesses for the past 20 years, developing an annual plan was part of the routine. And when I set up sunday skies I adapted this process for my own business.
As a small business why do I need a business plan?
You learn more about your business — what has worked, what hasn’t, who your ideal client is and how you meet their needs best It provides clarity and focus on the actions you need to take It helps you to prioritise your time within the business It guides your promotional and marketing activities It identifies what support you might require
How does it work?
My ‘reflect and reset workbook’ guides you through the planning process.
Firstly, it asks you to consider what has happened in your business over the past year. This is important, not only to recognise your achievements (and there will be some I promise!) but to help you to identify where things might need to be changed or developed over the coming year.
Then we get all intentional for 2021. The ‘reset’ section helps you to outline your big vision for the year ahead, then in three-monthly segments you break this down into measurable goals and key actions. You will also consider what support you might need and what your contingency plan might look like. The more specific you can be, the easier you will find it.
Your business plan isn’t something to complete once and forget about. It should be a live document that you regularly review. And its ok if you need to amend your plan as the year progresses — things happen; by having a plan it will help to more easily identify what is and isn’t working and you can take action more quickly.
Get your FREE ‘reflect and reset’ workbook here. I’d love to know what you think of it.
And if you want to get even more intentional with your business next year take a look at my ‘build your brand’ package. | https://medium.com/@lee-sundayskies/what-are-your-business-resolutions-for-2021-a7ef1792c27d | ['Lee Griffith'] | 2020-12-22 18:32:52.894000+00:00 | ['Business Development', 'Small Business', 'Business Planning', 'Business Strategy', 'Business Coaching'] |
Enabling Data-Driven Decisions | The Financial Times has always relied on facts and data to deliver the highest-quality journalism to our readers. The data-driven culture has always been part of the company values. Therefore how we manage our data internally within the organization is very important to us.
Fundamental to this is to have a dedicated central platform for telemetry and data management as part of our FT Core technology group. This is a group that is part of FT Product & Technology, owning three of the central technology platforms. They are powering up our customer-facing products spanning content publishing, content metadata, paywall, and analytics data.
My team is responsible for the Data Platform. This is the platform for telemetry and analytics data and our mission is to deliver reliable data with high quality in a timely manner to the internal users and teams at the FT to enable decision making and new product development.
We have a very big and diverse group of direct users and indirect consumers using and benefiting from the valuable data our platform collects and stores.
Financial Times board members — for strategic and tactical decision making.
— for strategic and tactical decision making. Marketing teams — for campaign design and planning to acquire and retain subscribers.
— for campaign design and planning to acquire and retain subscribers. Editorial teams — for monitoring the performance and the readership for the articles and content they produce.
— for monitoring the performance and the readership for the articles and content they produce. Advertising teams — for identifying sell/target subscribers groups for different products.
— for identifying sell/target subscribers groups for different products. Our Product teams — to design better products for the FT readers and drive personalization to help to acquire and retain them.
— to design better products for the FT readers and drive personalization to help to acquire and retain them. Analytics, Business Intelligence, Contact Strategy, and Data Science teams are among the main direct users of the Data Platform, using the data to conduct analysis, build dashboards and reports, and train models that are then widely used across the FT.
Let’s review several use cases for the data delivered by the FT Core Data Platform.
Power up Analytics
At Financial Times we use a variety of business metrics to better understand the impact and the opportunities for future growth. Some of them are around engagement. It is absolutely essential to understand how engaged our readers are. We do that by using a metric called RFV (Recency, Frequency, and Volume).
And what we are looking at is for every single reader:
When did they last come to our site? — this is recency
How often do they come in any given time period? — this is frequency
How much content do our customers read when they come to our site? — this is volume
Based on RFV we can determine the score of engagement for every single reader.
Power up Retention
As well as a user’s current level of engagement, it is useful to know who may be about to become engaged or disengaged. The Data Science team at the FT is developing and training RFV predictive models to identify individual and corporate subscribers that are moving from engaged to disengaged over the next 4 weeks and vice versa. Based on the results provided by these propensity models our Customer Care team is able to contact the readers that are likely to disengage and in many cases, successfully retain them.
Envoy is an internal decision engine used across our customer-facing product line and helping in building smarter products. This engine uses the results from the same models to consistently target predicted to disengage subscribers by offering personalized newsletters and predicting the next best action for them. This is another example of the data-driven culture at the FT. And the raw data comes entirely from the Data Platform.
Power up New Product development
FT.com is offering relevant content based on personal preferences
When new readers subscribe to FT.com, they provide information about the industry they are involved in. We store it as part of our arrangement models within the Abstraction Layer. It is further used for enabling a variety of convenient features like personalized topic recommendations as part of the subscriber’s personal myFT feed page. This is helping our readers by saving their time in finding relevant content based on personal preferences.
Power up Internal Tools
The performance of the best read ever article at FT.com
Lantern is an internal monitoring tool powered by data from the Data Platform. It is an editorial focussed tool that provides analytics for the content Financial Times is publishing. It is used by Editorial teams to monitor the performance of the content they are producing. The main metric used is Quality Reads which is calculated within the Streams Layer of the Data Platform and further provided for consumption to Lantern with minimal latency.
How do we support all these different use cases?
Streaming the data into the Data Lake and further flowing downstream to the consumers
We ingest clickstream data for the usage tracked at the web sites and the mobile apps for the digital version of Financial Times titles. That data is streamed nearly real-time via the Data Platform Stream Layer for further data processing. In addition to FT products usage data, we also ingest data from internal and external data vendors, for example, our internal platform managing the subscribers’ membership, the platform for the content our journalists are publishing with its metadata; as well as some external systems like Zuora for payments and Salesforce for corporate subscribers contracts.
All the data is stored with minimal latency within the Data Platform Data Lake and further used for building the Abstraction Layer where we generate valuable data models providing insights to the business departments. Clear and well-established data contracts provide those insights to the Analytics Layer where multiple audited metrics are calculated and ready to be used by the internal business departments. The same insights feed the generation of a variety of data science models.
Democratizing the data
All the way from Streams through Data Lake to Analytics Layer through Abstraction the Data Platform ensures data is highly secured, validated, and with the highest data quality. We ensure that the insights we are generating are not revealing any personally identifiable information and thus are ready to be democratized and widely used for decision making and ready to drive growth.
To ensure data democratization we provide tools for better visibility and understanding of the data along with some self-service enablement for easy data access and the ability for building new data workflows easily. We are constantly working on extending the platform with new capabilities to enable the rising demand for data, be able to generate more and more valuable insights and power up machine learning and various dashboards as part of business intelligence.
How are we building the Data Platform?
The mechanics for governing the streams, the lake, and the flows
The FT Data Platform lives entirely in the Cloud. We are building it using AWS managed services by preference as we are reducing the operational cost significantly.
Our big project now is to consolidate all our Stream Layer services to ingest new data via AWS MSK with Spark jobs and Apache AirFlow for the workflows orchestration. Currently, we are using Kinesis streams, SNS and SQS but our research shows that with the newly proposed approach we will have better scalability and more effective cost management.
Our data is landing and stored in the Data Lake. Now we are working on standardizing the formats by using the Parquet in S3 where it will be available for reading via Redshift Spectrum. Our Abstraction and Analytics Layers reside in the main Enterprise Data Warehouse using Redshift. For virtualizing the variety of underlying formats and data stores we plan to use Presto service. As an initial evaluation, we plan to use our own deployment of Presto within AWS (aka “Vanilla” Presto). Long term if we prove that the concept works for us we may migrate to some of the managed Presto services.
As a foundation of the platform, we are moving now from EC2 and ECS to EKS. We anticipate this migration will increase the platform’s scalability and operational cost-effectiveness significantly. For the data lineage, we are planning to try Apache Atlas. For monitoring and observing the system’s health, we will continue relying on Grafana, Splunk, and our internal monitoring platforms BizOps and Heimdall. For monitoring the data quality and automating this process across the internal FT systems, we built and integrated within the platform a homegrown Data Quality Metrics Checks framework.
How are we enabling the data to be consumed?
Execution Environment for Data Workflows
For enabling our tech teams to easily build new workflows, and our product teams to do product discovery and development more effectively, we recently developed a new capability. We named it internally E2 which stands for Execution Environment but relates nicely with Euler’s number. It is a processing engine for different algorithms like Data Science Models and Machine learning on top of the data we have in our Data Lake. Our ambition is to support scalable workflows written in a variety of programming technologies like R, Python, Java, and Spark.
We will continue sharing our adventures and challenges in building our core platforms using the latest technology trends. Stay tuned and if you recognize our mission as yours consider joining us in this exciting journey! | https://medium.com/ft-product-technology/enabling-data-driven-decisions-564359b79788 | ['Elena Georgieva'] | 2020-05-18 11:25:52.890000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Data Platforms', 'Financial Times'] |
The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver | The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver
Myfather died of alcoholic liver cirrhosis four years ago. It came as a surprise to all of us, even though it was clear he had a severe drinking problem for decades. It was especially surprising to me, as a former nurse and a recovering alcoholic. You would think I’d know more about liver problems and alcohol use than the average person. But the truth is, in the months before his death, I had no idea my father’s liver was struggling at all. Most people know about cirrhosis, but few people know how a liver goes from early damage to end-stage liver cirrhosis.
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The combination of my father’s death and my personal background lit a fire in me to know more. He was admitted to the hospital on June 24, 2016, and he died on July 18. Only 24 days passed between the first sign there was a problem and his subsequent death.
Now, hearing that he was in end-stage cirrhosis didn’t surprise me, given his heavy drinking. What did surprise me was that he’d visited several doctors and specialists in the months before his death, and no one knew his liver was struggling either.
So what happened? Does end-stage liver cirrhosis really sneak up that fast? Were there other signs that would have alerted someone to his failing liver?
As for why the doctors and specialists didn’t know what was happening, that mystery resolved reasonably quickly. The plain truth is that alcoholics rarely divulge the amount and frequency of their drinking to their doctors. This was the case for my dad. He had many health issues that he was trying to solve, but he protected his drinking habit fiercely. So he refused to spill the beans, even when it mattered.
The problem is that liver damage has numerous multifaceted symptoms that are confusing and associated with many other illnesses. Unless a doctor knows that the patient is an alcoholic, they may not know how to interpret what’s happening until it’s too late.
As he was dying, my father told me that he didn’t think to tell the doctors how much he was drinking. He said it was as if he blanked out and “forgot” to mention it. As crazy as that sounds, this strange “forgetting” is a common part of the alcoholic mindset. It may also be due to the metabolic and physical changes of cirrhosis itself.
There are many signs of liver problems, but oddly, none seem to point to the liver at first. And in fact, many of the first signs of liver damage occur in other parts of the body. Knowing these signs may help educate alcoholics and their families if they want to understand their risk of developing liver cirrhosis.
Liver damage has numerous multifaceted symptoms that are confusing and associated with many other illnesses. Unless a doctor knows that the patient is an alcoholic, they may not know how to interpret what’s happening until it’s too late.
Digestive signs
The liver plays a huge part in our digestive process. It filters out all toxins from food as well as helping to break down fats and glucose.
When a liver starts to slow down due to significant damage, it will reduce its digestive work. Instead, it will divert its energy toward vital functions like metabolizing medications and filtering toxins.
This means that symptoms like bloating, nausea, vomiting, gas, and diarrhea will start to increase. Over time, eating becomes more challenging. In the later stages of liver cirrhosis, toxins that can’t be filtered out begin to build in the bloodstream, which causes more nausea.
Cognitive signs
Although confusion and brain fog happen in end-stage liver cirrhosis, they can also be early signs.
The liver is responsible for filtering dangerous substances in the blood. It also helps regulate hormones, blood glucose, and vitamin absorption. In the early stages of liver damage, these processes can be interrupted. Inevitably, this affects our brain and nervous system.
This means that early liver problems can make you feel tired, confused, slow, and foggy. You may have some memory issues as well.
Neuromuscular signs
The liver stores vitamins required for the functioning of many organs and systems in the body — one of them is vitamin B1 or thiamine. A deficiency in this particular vitamin has been documented in many alcoholics with or without liver damage.
Unfortunately, alcohol inhibits the absorption of thiamine in the intestine. Over time, as the liver becomes damaged, it can no longer store thiamine in enough quantities. Thiamine deficiency is responsible for many neurological issues in people with alcoholism.
Symptoms of thiamine deficiency range from mild to severe and include things like: confusion, mental fog, lack of balance, pain and numbness in hands and feet, muscle weakness, rapid heart rate, digestive problems, flushing, and involuntary eye movements.
Thiamine deficiency happens in almost every alcoholic who consumes frequent and large amounts of alcohol. And if thiamine deficiency due to alcoholism is discovered, you can be sure the liver is suffering damage at the same time.
Many of the first signs of liver damage occur in other parts of the body.
Vascular signs
All alcohol consumption can lead to blood vessel dilation, causing flushing in the face and hands. Over time, this can cause damage leading to permanent redness in the face. Although many alcoholics have rosacea or spider-like veins on their faces, this is often benign.
However, spider angiomas are different from rosacea or spiderlike veins. They’re circular and have a central point called a spider nevus that is darker than the rest of the lesion. Spider angiomas are a sign of liver disease and can be present in the early stages. They often progress to more extensive and more numerous lesions.
Spider angiomas are caused by increased estrogen levels in the blood. When the liver becomes damaged, it can’t properly metabolize estrogens, which causes them to build up in the body.
Many women who are pregnant or taking birth control pills may have a few spider angiomas. However, in alcoholic liver disease, these lesions are often more frequent and accompanied by red palms and varicose veins in the esophagus.
These are a few of the main signs of alcoholic liver damage that happen outside of the liver. It’s important to know this because most of us have no idea how the liver functions and how it communicates distress.
The liver itself doesn’t show signs like pain or swelling in the early stages of liver damage. This contrasts with other organs like the heart or stomach, where any damage will emit pain or symptoms directly from these organs.
What happens with liver damage is that its many diverse functions become interrupted, causing symptoms in other parts of the body. This may explain why most people never think they have a problem with their liver.
Unfortunately, patients with alcoholism are rarely educated about these issues. This is because they often don’t reveal their drinking, to begin with. And even if they do, the symptoms are widespread and complex, which makes patient education challenging.
My goal in writing articles like this is to help educate regular people about alcoholic liver disease to understand their health and make better decisions.
It’s hard to say if my father would have changed his drinking habits if he knew more about his vague and complicated symptoms. But I think having proper education would have certainly helped him understand his risks and health problems better. | https://medium.com/@haolbrrokaurther/the-first-signs-of-alcoholic-liver-damage-are-not-in-the-liver-c07a3fd2f9a7 | [] | 2020-12-19 13:03:46.834000+00:00 | ['Addiction', 'Health', 'Body', 'Alcohol', 'Mental Health'] |
Why should students intern at a startup? | Photo by Sung Shin on Unsplash
What do students think of first when summer internships come to mind? A fancy summer at a consulting or banking firm? Highly-regarded lab-based research? When weighing the options, it’s easy to gravitate toward big-names. For some, the stressful search for an internship can start as early as the academic year itself and won’t settle until the placement is secured. For others, internships are not a top priority at all.
I’m a medical student (not one of those who are no longer interested in clinical work!) and in the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to work with CeraCare, a health-tech start-up transforming the care sector. Reflecting on it, I realised that such an experience can bring value to any student in any field.
I’d love to see more STEM and medical students considering interning at start-ups. Even if we never become entrepreneurs ourselves, one day, we may need to work with them to bring our ideas to the world.
#1 Discover
Still in the search for your passion? Maybe there are some interests that you couldn’t fully explore during your degree? Or maybe you are pretty set on your career pathway but never actually had a chance to experience what it will look like? A start-up internship can offer you the exposure necessary to answer those important questions. You may even discover some new interests or be presented with new challenges to test your passions and determination. If you find that entrepreneurship or business are not for you, that’s an answer too!
#2 Learn
Think about what you really want to gain from your internship. Shouldn’t it be all about gaining new skills and knowledge? At start-ups, you can develop your soft skills and learn more about project management, marketing, operations, negotiation… It’s up to you to decide which skills you want to develop and it may be worthwhile focusing on those that you don’t feel confident about just yet.
#3 Own
You get the opportunity to have real responsibility and to finally apply your skills in practice. Due to the smaller scale and nature of start-ups, you may be exposed to more strategic projects and have a real impact on bringing value to the business. You may be even hired to fill in a specific gap in their workforce! Your ideas and considerations will be taken seriously. Although it may feel like a lot of pressure, it’s actually your time to shine, overcome your fears, and own something!
#4 Adapt
Another benefit of internships at start-ups is their flexibility. It probably doesn’t have to be a three-month-long commitment and you may not have to be in your final year. During your internship, you could have a chance to work with different teams. This will give you a sense of what different parts of a business actually do, but may also feel uncertain and stressful, especially if different teams have different objectives. Such experience will equip you with skills applicable in every discipline.
#5 Network
You can establish long-lasting relationships. Start-ups usually have very diverse teams and employees may have experience from various industries — great opportunity to grow your network. Although it may feel intimidating at first, you will quickly realise that you can bring a new perspective and that your insights can be really valuable.
#6 Fun!
Lastly, it’s going to be fun! Start-ups are usually very committed to their mission, thus you will meet loads of passionate and inspiring people. They also put a lot of emphasis on culture, so expect fun social activities. Navigating socials with your new colleagues and bosses may also pose some challenges, especially for introverts, however, it means you will have yet another opportunity to learn and grown.
By Paulina Cecula, Former Unbox Campus Director at Imperial College London | https://medium.com/@unboxtalent/why-should-students-intern-at-a-startup-20f33cde8ae7 | [] | 2020-12-24 16:06:22.203000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Internships', 'Talent', 'Students', 'Education'] |
The Uber and Lyft question Parksen solves | Just recently, Uber and Lyft both started on news because of the traffic and parking issues that they created in downtown Plymouth in the USA. It has raised safety concerns as well as cost and future transportation optimization. When the businesses are going well with Uber and Lyft, the downside of it shows.
Moreover, Uber and Lyft drivers can be seen stopped on a street and looking at their GPS to figure out where they are supposed to pick up their customers. This causes traffic jams on the street, and might endanger drivers and passengers lives.
Another issue that caused indirectly by the Uber and Lyft services, is that some motorists would use city’s parking decks or surface-level parking spaces, then leave their vehicles overnight by catching an Uber or Lyft ride home.
Uber, Lift and other similar providers need a solution like Parksen
PARKSEN’S SOLUTION HELP TO DROP PARKING ISSUES
Parksen’s solution could solve these parking issues for both Uber, Lyft and other competitors. First of all, with our platform solution, we could help to find out parking spaces that are not being used yet, and inform the ride-hailing services businesses to utilize it. So, instead of being stuck in the downtown areas, the professional drivers could easily find space to park and have appointments with their clients.
Second, Parksen could also help the motorcyclists to find better parking spaces for themselves. The reason they park their vehicles in the parking spaces overnight, is because they don’t want to drive under the influence or tiered after a long day. It’s better to do so. On the other hand drivers have to find parking spaces around the restaurant and bar area. Moreover local governments have to learn it and provide extended solutions, that we at Parksen help design and solve.
Some of the cities prohibits vehicles in the city parking spaces from 3 to 5 a.m., but if the drivers notify the police department in advance, there is still possibility to park overnight. What a smart parking app like Parksen could do to solve this issue is to creatively think for the government how to manage the overnight parking.
With the smart app and our backend platform, Parksen will be able to bridge the needs of municipalities with the business owners, Uber and Lyft drivers as well as all other drivers. This way we make our parking smarter, our cities better and fully connecting all services in a bundle that benefits everyone. | https://medium.com/@parksen/the-uber-and-lyft-question-parksen-solves-3549e22ae9c6 | [] | 2018-12-06 10:17:42.105000+00:00 | ['Uber', 'Smart', 'Smart Parking', 'Smart Cities', 'Shared Economy'] |
Parsing 18 billion JSON lines with Go | At my employer Tjek we recently decided to rebuild our event pipeline and move it to Google BigQuery to reduce complexity in the stack and to remove some services that were no longer maintainable.
BigQuery offers a bunch of nice tools for querying and visualizing our data, which would enable a number of our internal teams to work directly with the data & share it with customers without having to make a request to the engineering department.
The new service that would replace the old http service was easy to write, but then came the question of moving the historic data into BigQuery.
To migrate the old data, we had to backfill our entire dataset, accumulated over the last 10 years, into BigQuery and this is the story of how it was done.
Flashback
The platform this was done on has been described in a earlier post
Also the build pipeline for the above platform is described here
State of Flux
The old event pipeline is a beast in itself, it consisted of multiple services written in Erlang and was backed by a Kafka cluster & a Citus Postgress cluster
a http server that would receive events from our clients and publish it to a dirty events topic.
a deduplication service consuming the dirty events topic publishing the new events in a clean events topic
a backup service consuming the clean events topic and storing them in S3.
a database service consuming the clean events topic and inserting them into a Postgres cluster.
This meant that the events I needed to load into BigQuery was either in S3 or Kafka waiting to be written to the backups
The Enemy Within
One of the first obstacles I ran into was that BigQuery does not allow punctuations in the field names of the JSON you are loading.
The second problem was it required the data that was going to be loaded had been pre sorted based on the destination tables.
The backups & Kafka topic contains 11 different event types mixed with each other.
This meant every single line of JSON we had in both Kafka & S3 needed to be transformed before being loaded into BigQuery…
Tomorrow Is Yesterday
Remember the backup service? It reads X number of events from the Kafka topic, saves the offset it has consumed up to, then gzip’s it all and ships it to S3.
The current setting was 100k events per topic partition and there was 32 partitions for the topic meaning there would likely be around ~3M events in the clean Kafka topic waiting to be backed up.
To get the events from Kafka I figured I would just stop our backup service to to have a stable offset to start consuming from and just pass the data back through the same JSON parser I just used for the event backup files
Learning curve
Downloading some gzipped files and doing something to the content doesn’t sound to bad so off I went
We had at the time ~37k files, totalling ~800GB gzipped JSON from a period of roughly 10 years back in time that all needed to be transformed.
Some years ago something similar was done by a previous colleague when we moved to Citus. At that time the software used required 50 copies running and almost a whole week to complete.
I wanted this to be doable within reasonable time so I wouldn’t have to wait days for the results, “Bash + AWS cli + jq” was out of the question. It needed to be fast and scaleable to process multiple files at a time
The backup files we had was Kafka centred and not designed around the event format.
The Kafka topic had 32 partitions and for each there would be a file that could contain up to 11 different event types and on an average the event timestamps would range between 4–6 days in each file.
000.00000000000000000000–00000000000000999999.jsonl.gz
000.00000000000001000000–00000000000001999999.jsonl.gz
000.00000000000002000000–00000000000002999999.jsonl.gz
000.00000000000003000000–00000000000003999999.jsonl.gz
000.00000000000004000000–00000000000004999999.jsonl.gz
…
031.00000000000566000000–00000000000566099999.jsonl.gz
I started writing a tool in Go that would run workers that download backup files and processed them in parallel and then sorted the output to different folders and files depending on event type and backup file origin.
Historically the backup files had been written with 1M intervals meaning there could be weeks of data per file for the early years and opening 32 of them in parallel trying to write the output to different files proved to be to much
IO access would spike through the roof and everything would grind to a stop as it was writing several thousands of files at the same time when running many workers
I figured I somehow needed to process the files concurrently while serialising the disk writes to fewer larger files, that should go easier on the underlying storage and let me control the resources better
I decided to go on the following file format (hive inspired naming).
/data/type=%d/event-YYYY-MM-DD.jsonl.gz
this would produce a file per day and event type.
I created a Go package I call Multiwriter to help me do this.
You feed the Multiwriter filenames and a io.Reader that you want to be persisted to disk.
The Multiwriter then uses a LRU cache to hold file handles for the most recent files written to. It also uses a semaphore channel to prevent more than X writes at the same time.
I also changed the input order of the files, instead of reading them numerically sorted from S3 I would sort the files into slices based on what partition they belong to and consume the files “horizontally” across the partitions.
000.00000000000000000000–00000000000000999999.jsonl.gz
001.00000000000000000000–00000000000000999999.jsonl.gz
002.00000000000000000000–00000000000000999999.jsonl.gz
…
031.00000000000000000000–00000000000000999999.jsonl.gz
then start over on partition 0 and increase the offset
000.00000000000001000000–00000000000001999999.jsonl.gz
001.00000000000001000000–00000000000001999999.jsonl.gz
002.00000000000001000000–00000000000001999999.jsonl.gz
…
031.00000000000001000000–00000000000001999999.jsonl.gz
…
With 32 worker I would in theory be replaying the Kafka stream as it was written and I would also have less open files at the same time as the files it would be parsing contains largely the same dates compared to traversing the whole file list “vertically”
Internally the flow of data in the even processor looked like this
Someone to Watch Over Me
During the first trial runs of the parser it took almost 6 hours to parse all the backups, remember JSON is very expensive to decode and encode and the standard JSON package heavily relies on Reflection.
I had seen packages promising to be much faster than the stock one and decided to give json-iterator a shot as it claimed to be 100% drop in replacement.
It also has a “fastest” setting which does not sort the field names in the output which can save you even further cpu cycles
Day of Honour
Running the backup parser was done on a 36 core machine in AWS.
Fly baby fly
Once the files was all parsed the next problem arose. Uploading these would take “ages” as the CLI clients to upload files to S3 only uploads a file at a time.
I wrote a function in my parser that would spawn upload workers and use the AWS SDK Go to upload 15 files at a time concurrently cutting down the transfer time to a mere half hour.
From here it was just a matter of creating the transfer jobs in BigQuery and watch it run & wait
In all, 18 315 948 132 events was parsed, rewritten & uploaded in about 4 hours.
Removing the half hour for uploading it means the tool transformed about 87.2 million events per minute
I hope you enjoyed reading about my little JSON adventure. If you have any questions feel free to comment! :)
Tjek is on the lookout for another dedicated DevOps engineer. If you love Cloud, Kubernetes, Linux & Docker and want to work in a flexible working environment checkout the position here
Notes
By JSON lines I am referring to JSONL.
Also called newline-delimited JSON (NDJSON)
Example: | https://itnext.io/parsing-18-billion-lines-json-with-go-738be6ee5ed2 | [] | 2019-12-10 15:51:34.824000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Json', 'Bigquery', 'Golang'] |
Bizzabo: The Events Company with a Culture that Eats Strategy for Breakfast | Bizzabo is an all-in-one platform to create and manage in-person, hybrid and virtual professional events.
Over the last nine years, Bizzabo has grown into the category leader, powering mega conferences for brands like Amazon, Salesforce, Bloomberg and Uber. But of course, when COVID rolled around in March, many industries froze in their tracks, especially those dealing with large gatherings of tens of thousands of people.
That could have been the end of Bizzabo’s business. Like so many other companies in the events space, it would have been easy for them to make cutbacks, play it safe and try ride out the storm. Instead, Bizzabo rose to the challenge, as their co-founder and CEO Eran Ben-Shushan says,
“COVID was yet another leap in our company’s evolution.”
Eran walked us through Bizzabo’s steps to not only survive but thrive during these trying times. First, Bizzabo put what he calls a ‘blanket of love’ on their existing customers who were going through hell as they scrambled to cancel events that they had spent endless time and resources on. Only after Bizzabo secured their existing customers did they look forward- operationalizing working remotely and beginning to forecast the new reality in the event space.
By the 25th of March, only weeks after COVID hit, Bizzabo had launched a fully integrated, native virtual offering for events. This new offering exploded. Since then, the company has grown by 25 new employees and finished quarters with sales triple any previous milestone.
We asked how Bizzabo managed this feat: transitioning the business model to the nascent world of virtual events in such a short period, something Eran aptly described was like “building an airplane as you take off.”
Simply put, Bizzabo always put an emphasis on work culture, “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Eran insists.
F2 Venture Capital Managing Partner and Bizzabo seed investor Barak Rabinowitz remembers his journey with Bizzabo:
“when I met the founders ten years ago, they were already talking about building a strong culture. I thought they were a bit idealistic to focus on it so early. Fast forward to today and I am convinced their culture enabled them to ride this Covid wave to success.”
Screenshot| Bizzabo
The company started with this mindset, when co-founders Eran, Alon Alroy and Boaz Katz started tinkering behind Alon’s parent’s house in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Rather than order in, the founders made it a ritual to take chances cooking, “we would throw darts and whoever lost would clean the dishes,” chuckles Eran.
Then came the “beer test” which was described as the criteria for their very first hires. “Would we enjoy having a chat over a beer with them? Only if the answer was yes would we make the hire.”
From the intuitive culture fused in those early days, came the systematic culture the company is known for today.
Now every new hire does a series of meetings discussing Bizzabo’s mission and values to ensure the company culture isn’t just written on a poster but is something that each team member lives by.
And it doesn’t stop there. Every year Bizzabo decides on a value that is the ‘theme of the year’. Throughout the year, the whole company works to better themselves and optimize that specific value. This level of importance placed on culture and inner growth is incredibly rare and unique for early stage companies.
When their full team was working in the office, the positive energy in the air and sense of comradery was palpable. But even while working remotely, the founders have kept an emphasis on team connectivity in novel ways.
And the culture is palpable. Just one look at their Glassdoor ratings shows a company loved by its team members. From Bizzabo’s inception until now, reviews echo the same theme of “Bizzabo prid[ing] itself on being a BizzaFamily with the attributes of a professional sports team at the same time” and having a “positive, friendly and fun yet results driven culture which is ingrained in the day-to-day employee experience.”
Screenshot| Bizzabo
It is their shared values and emphasis on a healthy company culture that sailed them through the COVID storm.
It is the bond between team members, and the willingness to fight not only for your survival, but for your co-worker’s survival, that allowed Bizzabo to face COVID head-on and be the first company to create flawless virtual and hybrid events for millions of people using their platform when going to events, and rehire their employees back from furlough (and then quickly hire new employees to propel growth.)
Today Bizzabo is viewed as the industry leader and authority on how to run virtual, in-person, and hybrid events in a post-COVID era, with a very real culture that will continue to ensure their success. | https://medium.com/f2-capital/bizzabo-the-events-company-with-a-culture-that-eats-strategy-for-breakfast-85a889a39718 | ['Yaffa Abadi'] | 2020-12-07 11:25:06.771000+00:00 | ['Funding', 'News', 'Startup Culture', 'Covid 19', 'Venture Capital'] |
We must have a ‘green new normal’ [Bangkok Post — May 20, 2020] | We must have a ‘green new normal’ [Bangkok Post — May 20, 2020]
Many wild animals have been seen in the open during the lockdown period. A serow takes a rest at Dieo Dai Cliff in Khao Yai National Park, which is situated mostly in Nakhon Ratchasima. (Photo courtesy of Khao Yai National Park)
Should an optimist seek any positive outcome from the Covid-19 crisis, it would not be too surprising if the answer steered towards the favourable effect on the environment.
China, the world’s biggest polluter, saw its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions falling more than 18% between February and March alone and particulate matter (PM) declining by 35%. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a lung-effecting gas produced during combustion, fell by 60% in the US, Europe and China.
Moreover, posts of clean canals in Italy or images of the spotting of rare, wild animals have erupted on social media.
Such figures underscore the environmental analyst Lester Brown’s hypothesis of a “stressed relationship” between the economy and the earth’s natural system. When the economy blooms, the ecosystem fails and tragedies such as the death of plastic-ingesting dugongs become ubiquitous. On the other hand, the interim triumph of the ecosystem today flourishes at the expense of the crumbling economy.
Today, as the “new normal” approaches and the country is in a steady process of reviving and resetting the economy, we must not allow this “stressed relationship” to return.
This post Covid-19 world could play out in two potential scenarios.
The first scenario we could see is the abrupt resumption of the “economy first, all things (including the environment) later” mentality in which the transient environmental gains dissipate as pollution kicks back rapidly. Further, many argue that not only would emissions rekindled to pre-coronavirus levels, but they would surge higher than before. This is the “revenge pollution” phenomenon and in China, between 2008 and 2013, there is a precedent for it.
In response to the global financial crisis in 2008, the Chinese government launched a $586 billion stimulus package which focused on large-scale infrastructure projects. It led to years of Chinese industries galloping through their activities and, consequently, their emissions rates leapt. This culminated in the infamous smog or “air-pocalypse” in urban centres, namely Beijing, in the winter of 2012–13.
The second scenario is where we study the Chinese precedent to avoid this “revenge pollution”, as well as prepare to turn the pandemic into an opportunity. As the economy restarts with new norms and rules, allowing the impossible to become possible, it is the best time for the green agenda to be included and incorporated into the national agenda. In this scenario, the “new normal” is also the “green new normal”.
Reaching the “green new normal” can be achieved under the concept of 3As: Ascension, Assimilation and Acceleration.
Ascension: There is no doubt that the trend towards the green economy will proliferate globally and Thailand must jump on the bandwagon. It is of utmost importance that we ascend to be a global leader in certain compartments of this green economy. We need to be bold and bet on an industry where we enjoy comparative advantage.
While the solar photovoltaic (PV) panel industry is an attractive option due to its ever-increasing popularity, our capacity, from the number of specialised workforce personnel to the supply of domestic raw materials, eg silicon, must be assessed.
Thorough consideration should be given to the bio-economy industry that boasts the trinity of bioenergy, biochemicals and biopharmaceuticals.
Our comparative advantage goes no further than the fact that we possess the raw materials essential for this industry. We are the third-largest producer of palm oil, the fourth-largest producer and second-largest exporter of sugar, as well as contributing over half of the world’s cassava supply.
While there are existing incentives from the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), such as exemptions from corporate tax (five to eight years) and import duty, as well as commitments towards research and development, further initiatives can be taken. Stimulating the demand for end products is mandatory to bolster market competitiveness and attrac- tiveness.
This includes increasing the feed-in tariff rate for biogas, currently at 5.35 baht/kWh compared to 6.85 baht/kWh for solar and 6.06 baht/kWh for wind, further subsidising compostable plastics to make them price competitive with traditional polymers, as well as vigorously promoting high-value-added products (HVA) such as “phase-change material” (PCM), which are derived from palm oil and can be used as building materials.
Assimilation: The post Covid-19 “new normal” may also be a fitting time for certain reforms in governance. The satisfactory displays of many provinces’ approaches to the pandemic may increase calls for further decentralisation. It is vital for the green agenda not to miss the bus.
An initiative that should be thrust into these reforms is “green budgeting”, which is to assimilate environmental considerations into fiscal frameworks. This could be through directly linking each ministry’s commitments to the green agenda, quantifiable by the amount of emissions saved, to the appropriations of budget. Simply, the more emissions avoided from the policies, the more money that would be received. This is akin to the concept of the already-existing Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), set up to promote gender equality.
Acceleration: This is the most obvious and resides in the department of “easier said than done”. It is to recognise the urgency of our environmental problems and acknowledge the need for an accelerator in progressing towards clean and sustainable development.
A “carrot and stick” approach may be suitable. While Thailand is not shy of the “carrot”, or the encouragement of clean energy, with the Power Development Plan (PDP) neatly laying out a roadmap for the government’s support of renewable energy, we are quite deficient in the “stick”, or forestalling polluting sources.
A serious assessment of the carbon tax, a market-correcting and behaviour-changing tool, is necessary and is to apply to both large and small producers. Polluters have had a “free ride” for far too long from not fully paying their true costs.
The post-Covid-19 “new normal” presents a unique opportunity for the emergence of new ways and ideas, and for smart adaptations. It is also an opportunity to “right the wrong”, which in this case is easing and synergising the “stressed relationship” between the economy and ecology.
With bold, innovative, and effective policies by both the government and private sector, the persistent clashes between them of yesteryear can be averted and they can prosper together, side by side. | https://medium.com/@vikitsreth/we-must-have-a-green-new-normal-bangkok-post-f977ac90f26b | ['Pornphrom Vikitsreth'] | 2020-12-24 05:02:04.732000+00:00 | ['Thailand', 'New Normal', 'Green Energy', 'Environment', 'Environmental Issues'] |
31 Best Web Safe Fonts | 31 Best Web Safe Fonts
Let’s jump right into it.
31 Best Web Safe Fonts
1. Arial
Arial
Arial is a classic sans serif font, suitable for both paragraphs and headlines. It’s long been a staple in web design. Although in recent years, it’s often used as a fallback in a font stack, rather than as the main font-family.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Arial, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif.
2. Baskerville
Baskerville
Baskerville is a relatively thick serif font, originally developed as a typeface by John Baskerville in 1750. The design is well-balanced, using a mix of thick and thin strokes to soften the hard edges of a typical serif typeface. It’s well supported by newer Apple and Microsoft OS versions.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Baskerville, Baskerville Old Face, Garamond, Times New Roman, serif
3. Bodoni MT / Bodoni 72
Bodoni MT / Bodoni 72
Bodoni MT is a serif font, like Times New Roman, more suitable for paragraph text than headlines for most websites. Bodoni MT is available by default with Microsoft 10 and some older versions. Bodoni 72 is included with macOS Sierra and newer versions.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Bodoni MT, Bodoni 72, Didot, Didot LT STD, Hoefler Text, Garamond, Times New Roman, serif
4. Calibri
Calibri
Calibri is Microsoft’s standard sans serif font and has been since its release with Microsoft Office 2007. It has a soft, modern look, with rounded edges to elevate the typical sans serif feel, making it more warm than robotic.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Calibri, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif
5. Calisto MT
Calisto MT
Calisto MT is a serif font with slightly softer and less pronounced serifs than most similar typefaces. It’s a standard Microsoft font, included with most newer versions of Windows. The macOS or iOS equivalent is the Bookman Old Style font.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Calisto MT, Bookman Old Style, Bookman, Goudy Old Style, Garamond, Hoefler Text, Bitstream Charter, Georgia, serif
6. Cambria
Cambria
Cambria is an even softer serif font, with, in many cases, barely noticeable serifs even for capital letters. This gives it a more modern feel and also maintains a high level of readability on screens.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif
7. Candara
Candara
Candara is a sans serif font. It’s part of Microsoft’s ClearType font collection. The macOS and iOS equivalent is Optima Regular. The uneven stroke weights make it feel a bit less modern and corporate than other sans serif fonts.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Candara, Calibri, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif
8. Century Gothic
Century Gothic
Century Gothic is a geometric sans serif font, with a very clean and balanced look. It’s a great font for the web, especially for headings and subheadings. It was originally designed to compete with the font Futura. It’s included with most Microsoft and Apple operating systems.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Century Gothic, Century Gothic, Apple Gothic, sans-serif
9. Consolas
Consolas
Consolas is a sans serif font with a unique approach to design. All characters have the same width, which is why it uses serifs only for the letter “I” and the lowercase “l”. It’s part of the ClearType collection.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Consolas, Monaco, monospace
10. Copperplate Gothic
Copperplate Gothic
Copperplate Gothic is a gothic-inspired font, with slight glyphic serifs on certain letters. As it’s inspired by gothic runes, there’s no lowercase font available.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Copperplate, Copperplate Gothic Light, fantasy
11. Courier New
Courier New
Courier New is a monospaced slab serif font, with much thinner regular text than most other serif and sans serif fonts. It has almost perfect coverage by both Microsoft and Apple on both computers and mobile devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Courier New, Courier, Lucida Sans Typewriter, Lucida Typewriter, monospace
12. Dejavu Sans
Dejavu Sans
Dejavu Sans is a sans serif font with clean, straight lines, almost a throwback to the classic sans fonts like Arial and Verdana.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Dejavu Sans, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif
13. Didot
Didot
Didot is a font inspired by the original Didot typefaces, used by 19th-century French printing business, the Didot family. It’s an Apple mainstay, supported by the majority of their OS and devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Didot, Didot LT STD, Hoefler Text, Garamond, Calisto MT, Times New Roman, serif
14. Franklin Gothic
Franklin Gothic
Franklin Gothic is a sans serif font with unusually thick letters, almost as if the bold version of another font. The original typeface was developed in the early 20th century by American Type Founders. It’s a good font choice for headlines, but might not be a great choice for body text.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Franklin Gothic, Arial Bold
15. Garamond
Garamond
Garamond is a serif font, inspired by typefaces made by the 16th-century Parisian engraver, Claude Garamond. It has softer, rounder edges than some of the more standard serif fonts, like Times New Roman. Modern versions of Microsoft and Apple OS include their own versions of the Garamond font.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Garamond, Baskerville, Baskerville Old Face, Hoefler Text, Times New Roman, serif
16. Georgia
Georgia
A close relative of Garamond, Georgia is another serif font with mostly rounded edges and a fairly warm feel. It was developed for Microsoft in 1996 and is still one of the most widespread MS fonts. It’s supported by virtually all Windows and macOS versions.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif
17. Gill Sans
Gill Sans
Gill Sans is a sans serif font, with sharp, clean lines that give it a modern look. It’s not ideal for paragraph text out of the box, because of its lack of contrast between letters, and close spacing. But as you can see in the example text, it makes a great-looking headline. Most iOS, macOS, and Windows-powered devices support it.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Gill Sans, Gill Sans MT, Calibri, sans-serif
18. Goudy Old Style
Goudy Old Style
Goudy Old Style is a soft old-style serif font, with strong serifs and an old-fashioned look and feel. The periods are diamond-shaped rather than the regular perfect, round circles of most serif fonts. It’s included with most newer versions of Windows.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Goudy Old Style, Garamond, Big Caslon, Times New Roman, serif
19. Helvetica
Helvetica
Helvetica is perhaps the most famous font of all time, and definitely one of the only fonts to have its own dedicated documentary. It’s a modern sans serif font, inspired by other modern Swiss and German fonts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Rather than a soft, rounded, and warm design, it’s balanced and focused on clean lines and shapes. This makes it one of the few fonts suitable for both body copy and headlines. All Apple devices include Helvetica fonts, while Microsoft defaults to Arial, its MS equivalent.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif
20. Impact
Impact
Impact is a realist sans-serif font, with a very thick bolded look as its default for all text, capital, and lowercase alike. The boldness makes it stand out from regular text and makes it perfect for headlines or CTAs (calls to action), but it’s not ideal for body copy.
It was part of the original core fonts for the web package in 1998. It’s still widely included and supported by both Apple and Windows computers and phones to this day.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Impact, Charcoal, Helvetica Inserat, Bitstream Vera Sans Bold, Arial Black, sans serif
21. Lucida Bright
Lucida Bright
Lucida Bright is the serif font in Microsoft’s line of Lucida fonts, developed for MS in 1991. One of the things that makes it stand out is the use of more square, sturdier serifs, for example on the capital “T” and “L”. It’s included by default in most newer versions of Windows, whereas macOS typically only includes the sans serif font Lucida Grande, making Georgia a logical fallback font.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Lucida Bright, Georgia, serif
22. Lucida Sans
Lucida Sans
Lucida Sans is a clean-cut humanist sans serif font, designed specifically to complement the serif fonts in the Lucida line. There’s a greater variation in the stroke weight than with the cleaner sans fonts like Helvetica or Arial. This makes it feel a bit less futuristic or robotic, and more playful. Out of the box, it’s a great font for headlines and CTAs.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Lucida Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif
23. Microsoft Sans Serif
Microsoft Sans Serif
Microsoft Sans Serif is a sans serif font first introduced with Windows 2000. It’s the successor to the MS Sans Serif font, which was also known as Helv (short for Helvetica). It’s inspired by and based on Helvetica, the leading sans serif typeface in modern times.
It’s a clean font with even stroke weight, leading to a clean, professional look. Perfect for headlines and corporate websites. It was included as one of the original fonts for the web and is still standard for all Microsoft devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: MS Sans Serif, sans-serif
24. Optima
Optima
Optima is a humanist sans serif font, with varying stroke weight and varying symmetry. This makes it look almost done by hand, which combats the typical mass-produced feel of a sans serif font. It’s one of the standard Apple sans serif fonts and supported by most iOS and macOS devices. The Microsoft equivalent is Segoe.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Optima, Segoe, Segoe UI, Candara, Calibri, Arial, sans-serif
25. Palatino
Palatino
Palatino is another old-style serif and would feel right at home in any online newspaper or magazine. But it’s less uniform than something like a Georgia or Times New Roman, with varying stroke weights and shapes.
The design approach helps to soften sharp letters like k, l, x, y, and z. It’s also slightly bolder than other serif fonts. These two factors help it feel a bit warmer. Palatino is included with the majority of Windows and Apple devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Palatino LT STD, Book Antiqua, Georgia, serif
26. Perpetua
Perpetua
Perpetua is a serif font with a unique design, originally created by English sculptor Eric Gill. There’s a sharp contrast in the stroke weight, for example, look at the lowercase “e” or the number “3”. This gives the font a creative, almost playful quality. It’s typically a Windows font, but Baskerville, a close relative, is standard on most Apple devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Perpetua, Baskerville, Big Caslon, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif
27. Rockwell
Rockwell
Rockwell is a square or slab serif font with very bold, nearly monoweight lettering. It’s suitable for headlines or CTAs, but the added font-weight isn’t great for body text. It’s included in most newer versions of MS Windows.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Rockwell, Courier Bold, Courier, Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif
28. Segoe UI
Segoe UI
Segoe UI is the leading sans serif font of the Segoe font family. Microsoft not only uses it in many applications but also in various marketing materials for its products.
It’s a modern font, with symmetrical letters and little variation in stroke weight. The font isn’t included with Apple computers, but the equivalent Helvetica Neue is similar in look and feel.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Segoe UI, Frutiger, Dejavu Sans, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif
29. Tahoma
Tahoma
Tahoma is another Microsoft-developed sans serif font. It has slightly bolder letters than Segoe UI and uses square dots for its lowercase letters, periods, and other marks.
It’s a clean, uniform font, and wouldn’t feel out of place in content or headings. It’s included in all Microsoft devices, and virtually all Apple devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Segoe, sans-serif
30. Trebuchet MS
Trebuchet MS
Trebuchet MS is another sans serif font developed by Microsoft. It was one of the original fonts included in the core fonts for the web package by Microsoft. It’s still supported by virtually all Microsoft and Apple devices. The letters are slimmer than many other sans serif fonts, making it an option for paragraphs and body text.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Sans, sans-serif
31. Verdana
Verdana
Verdana, a clean sans serif font, is another Microsoft staple that’s been around since 1996. The stroke weight is fairly low for a sans serif, leading to slim, easy to read letters. You can use it for both paragraph text and headlines without issue. It’s supported by virtually all Apple and Windows devices.
Recommended Font Stack
Font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif
Web Safe Cursive Fonts
If you want to use a web safe cursive font, you don’t have too many options to choose from. Specifically:
Segoe script
Rage
Script MT
Snell Roundhand
Lucida Handwriting
There aren’t any cursive fonts that are universally supported across Apple and Microsoft devices. You should consider that using a cursive font for your body text may not be a great idea, as readability is a huge part of website usability.
You should always use highly readable text for your paragraphs otherwise visitors with impaired vision will have a hard time reading the text on your site. This can lead to high bounce rates and a general lack of engagement with your content.
Web Safe Sans Serif Fonts
Sans means “without” in French, so sans serif essentially means “without serif”. A serif is a line or stroke added to a longer stroke in a letter. For example, the small vertical lines under the top stroke in a capital “T”, common in newspaper or magazine headlines. Sans serif fonts are the most common and popular on the web, so you have a lot of options to choose from:
Arial
Calibri
Candara
Century Gothic
Consolas
Dejavu Sans
Franklin Gothic
Gill Sans
Helvetica
Lucida Sans
MS Sans Serif
Neue Helvetica
Optima
Segoe UI
Tahoma
Trebuchet MS
Verdana
If you liked this piece why not check out some of my other pieces here. | https://medium.com/@everythingcj/31-best-web-safe-fonts-8cfa1d837357 | ['Everything Cj'] | 2021-02-06 22:11:12.806000+00:00 | ['Web', 'Safe', 'Şans', 'Google', 'Fonts'] |
LTX: THE MOST TIMELY & NEEDED TECH CONFERENCE IN THE U.S. | Our Latinx community is incredibly powerful. More than that, we’re integral to the ever-changing landscape of the United States, and in turn, to the changing landscape of the tech world. So why shouldn’t we be at the forefront of the industry? We should, and that’s why across 10 cities across the country we’ve worked to meet the community where they are at, led by local Latinx leaders in partnership with Techstars Startup Weekend Programs.
We wanted to be proactive in bringing to life dynamic startup programs tailored for local Latinx community in cities like Boston, New York, and Los Angeles with passionate members of the local community looking to break into the tech startup world. We wanted to go beyond the typical “diversity problem panel” discussion and focus on ACTION. Through hands on learning over 3 days partnered with established Latinx mentors who understand the value of our people, participants learned by DOING. These Latinx in Tech activations are only the beginning in helping our community move beyond being consumers to makers and owners. To continue the personal and technical skill growth beyond the 3 days, this November we are hosting a first of its kind conference in Oakland, a bridge away from Silicon Valley, with the sole goal of empowering Latinx product managers, developers, marketers, entrepreneurs, and other budding techies to achieve their dreams.
Consequently, Latinx in Tech Summit — LTX 2018 — (and events like it that are geared toward bolstering communities of color in tech) will prove to be one of the most timely and important tech conferences in the U.S., because it can bridge the gap between an incredibly powerful force mired in a huge diversity issue with the motivated, tech-savvy people perfectly positioned to solve it. Together with the perspectives of participants like Derrick Reyes, Annette Gonzalez, Jonathan Vasquez, and Nerma Albertorio — Startup Weekend: Latinx event participants and organizers from across the country — we can actually prove it.
THE MOST TIMELY & NEEDED TECH CONFERENCE IN THE U.S. — A PROOF IN 3 PARTS
1) The Latinx community is critical in navigating, and ultimately solving, the tech industry’s diversity dilemma:
Jonathan, Annette, Nerma, and Derrick each explained that spaces like those created at their respective startup weekends are unfortunately rare.
“I just had never been in a space that was both tech and Latinx people-focused at the same time, and I thought it would be really cool to go in and see what was going on,” Derrick, an NYU graduate school alum who now is in coding school said, thinking back to his very first startup weekend in New York two years ago.
“A long time ago, I felt that — still feel that — there are not that many spaces for Latinxs to get exposed to a startup in a way that they could really launch an idea,” Jonathan, a tech consultant and one of the Startup Weekend: Boston organizers, told me. “When I moved to Boston last year, I made a personal goal to host an event that would get us to the Latinx community.”
“I’ve been in business a long time,” Nerma, founder and executive director of Centro para Emprendedores based of Puerto Rico, said. “I’ve never seen anything like Startup Weekend, have you?”
Unlike Derrick and Jonathan, Annette did not have as much background in tech and was new to the community fostered at Startup Weekend: Philadelphia.
“I live in Brooklyn — we don’t have that opportunity, we don’t have resources like this where I’m able to be in the same room with all the mentors,” Annette said. “Just being able to literally have them in the room with me for as long as possible, and pick their brain, and ask them 100 questions to get the business just right — it was really different.”
Our community, like many Black & Brown communities, has been historically deprived of equal access to opportunity in schools, in universities, and in the workplace. But as the needs of our nation continue to outweigh the capacity of the homogeneous tech outfits that respond to it, that problem will only get worse.
“If you think about it, in the year 2050, our numbers are going to double from 56M to 106M as a whole,” Annette told me when I asked what she thinks she means to the larger tech world. (The Pew Research Center’s updated projection for the 2050 Latinx US population confirms her hypothesis.) “But that’s saying there’s going to be more kids, not more adults, right? If we’re not working together as a community to develop more opportunity for the youth, then what do we have?”
It is imperative that we understand our challenges as we will change depending on who lives among us. So too, must the strategies, tools, and technologies we use to topple those challenges.
2) LTX 2018 can foster the environment needed to recruit the talent the industry so desperately needs:
We now know that the tech industry has a serious problem cultivating and retaining young, diverse talent, specifically in the Latinx community. We also know that there are hundreds of billions of dollars at stake for tech companies ready to take the necessary steps forward to continue to grow healthily and responsibly to serve a constantly adapting world. We even know that 47% of all millennials, the oft-bemoaned generation that more importantly will constitute the majority of the world’s workforce for the next few decades, actually want to work in a diverse workplace.
LTX 2018 bridges that gap, as already evidenced by the success of the Startup Weekend events like the one Annette attended.
“Off the bat, I know what startup weekend is, but the word “tech” and “Techstars”… I was a little bit intimidated,” she said. “I’ve never done this before and [didn’t] know what to expect. But because it was Latinx, and my brand is heavily focused in the Latinx community, and I am Latina, and there aren’t many resources for Latinx, I decided you know what, why not, right?”
Annette, by her own admission, would not have shown up at all had she not felt as though her identity as a Latina was respected and welcomed. There are millions of people like her who simply need an opportunity to meet the right mentors and make the right connections to realize their potential in tech. We desperately need all of them.
Derrick is the newly minted CEO and co-founder of Queerly Health, an app that would provide affordable and accessible care to members of the LGBTQ community. He had the formal training to feel comfortable in the tech startup space, even at his first weekend, but explained that he was somewhat apprehensive about pitching this idea, worrying it wasn’t geared enough toward the Latinx community until someone matter-of-factly changed his mind.
“By virtue of being Latinx, whatever I decided would be fine, but I also decided that whatever I pitched, if this wasn’t the space, I would make it so,” he said. “But I also spoke to Carolina Huaranca of Kapor Capital and she said, ‘Well, it’s Latinx, so that encompasses the queer and Trans community.’”
Derrick’s idea was allowed the space it needed to breathe and grow, despite his trepidation. The diversity found at Startup Weekends in New York (or Philadelphia, or Boston, or Puerto Rico or the 6 other cities, or at LTX 2018 here in Oakland) demands we acknowledge that the Latinx community necessarily contains the LGBTQ community, and vice-versa. It would be disastrous if the innovations that come from the people navigating their intersectionality were ignored, or worse still, abandoned because its creator believed that it would be viewed as out of place.
In some cases, it is necessary to go the extra mile to recruit talent from places not typically considered or often overlooked. Nerma explained how life following Hurricane María in Puerto Rico forced them to cast a wider net when recruiting Startup Weekend participants.
“It was amazing this year because for the first time we had even more people participating,” she said. “Previously, we’d seen more students or people who are going into tech more easily, and this year we’ve been receiving more adults… and so they were working through the process and very participatory and they were not different [from those with more experience], which was amazing.”
Annette, Derrick, Nerma, and Jonathan have the skill and work ethic to succeed despite the roadblocks, but it is unequivocally clear that the status quo delays their success, and in turn delays American innovation as a whole. LTX 2018 is uniquely positioned to turn the tide in a time at which we cannot afford to wait to change.
3) The issues tech is *here* to solve in our larger world cannot come about without the full engagement of the Latinx community. Tech needs the Latinx community to be impactful. :
“I know that a lot of us just don’t even go to healthcare services period, and sometimes years at a time, because we’ve experienced some sort of discrimination, or had to teach the providers what to do, or were just flat out barred from going,” Derrick said. “And also the LGBTQ community is distributed across the country. It’s such a big undertaking, aggregating the community in order to even use it.”
Derrick’s response is powerful and important for this proof. Organizing people is extremely difficult. It takes care and consideration for the community, as Jonathan explained, to even coordinate the optimal time to host an event. It’s practically impossible to do if you aren’t even looking to collaborate with these communities in the first place. If tech stays overwhelmingly white and male, and as long as there remain unpatched leaks in the pipeline, identity-blind solutions to infuse the sector with more talent will always and repeatedly fail. The concerns of the marginalized cannot be sufficiently addressed by the people who pushed those concerns and the people who harbor them to those very margins.
And for people like Annette, once she ascends to where she wants to be, she feels an obligation to give back to her Latinx community in Brooklyn, something that is simply not typical of the average tech corporation.
“I am not a representation of a disadvantaged community, I’m actually part of it and I just made a way for myself like so many before me and so many like me, we just make ways for ourselves,” she said. “But there are so many kids who don’t know how to do these things, and it’s still not as accessible. If we want these things, these resources, we have to have a friend like Delilah Dee, we have to know where to look for these things. I want to go back to the Latinx community, where we’re constantly being overlooked.”
With the tools, mentorship, and opportunity customarily given only to a select group of people, the participants of the various Startup Weekend Latinx in Tech events across the country and those who will soon arrive at LTX 2018 in the Bay Area have the power and political influence, if exercised, to change the world for the better.
For Nerma and the other members of the Startup Weekend ecosystem in Puerto Rico, the further development of tech entrepreneurs in the Latinx community — on the island specifically — is a matter of self-reliance and survival in the wake of Hurricane María and a shamefully insufficient recovery response from the federal government.
“After the hurricane, Maria, we decided to use Startup Weekend as our startup research too,” Nerma told me. “So that’s why we are organizing across the island, these events are ones that we think with the Kapor Center that are very, very important… to expose our participants to be active in the tech ecosystem.”
We need the Latinx community to be fully represented in the tech sector as designers, builders, and not just consumers. LTX 2018 is a representation of community designing for community — where we bring in the tech space and necessary resources on our terms — with the community outreach and cultural connection to propel the tech industry to a more innovative, more ethical and responsible future. Join us this November 1 & 2 and make sure you’re part of the needed redefining of the tech industry on the community terms. | https://medium.com/kapor-the-bridge/most-timely-needed-tech-conference-in-the-u-s-a-proof-in-3-parts-b33b9cbb40c5 | ['Lili Gangas'] | 2018-10-30 05:09:36.075000+00:00 | ['Latinx', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Community'] |
Turning Global Supply Chain Challenges Into Smart Ship Solutions | Turning Global Supply Chain Challenges Into Smart Ship Solutions
With companies and governments increasingly pricing operational excellence, climate mitigation, and inventory resilience into their supply chain strategies, BCGDV and maritime services leader MISC Group are poised to revolutionize the international shipping industry with deep tech. BCG Digital Ventures Follow Aug 12 · 4 min read
By Sid Shah, Harnish Jani, BCG Digital Ventures and Zarif Munir, BCG
After falling dramatically in Q2 2020 during the global pandemic, global trade has rebounded strongly and recorded a full-year drop of only 8%, well on the way to reaching 2019 levels again by 2022–2023. But while demand is back, global supply chains have been greatly disrupted by a lack of structural self-sufficiency, ever-increasing climate concerns, and supply/demand mismatches.
BCGDV’s 2020 co-investment with international shipping line MISC in three game-changing ventures in marine safety, emissions efficiency, and digitalized inventory management is setting up the shipping trade — which lags in innovation compared to other industries — to achieve the supply chain of the future.
Reflecting on the transformational power of strategically applying digital and deep tech like AI, ML, and IIoT to create massive operational efficiencies across the shipping value chain in a way that has never been done before, Managing Director & Partner and Global Leader of BCGDV’s Energy Practice Sid Shah commented:
“With 90% of the world’s goods transported by ships, and considering the fragmented attempts at innovation, we believe these investments are going to be absolutely transformative to the maritime industry, as well as to industries such as mining, energy, and industrial goods.”
All three separate ventures are based in Singapore, a critical hub for BCGDV that was recently placed at the top of the IMD World Competitive Center’s ranking in digital competitiveness. We foresee them being key drivers for the smart ship, which leverages automation and assistive technologies to ensure safety, environmental sustainability, and efficiency.
SOL-X: Redefining Maritime Safety
As an industry-first Safety 4.0 company centered on human factors, SOL-X combines deep industry knowledge with IIoT and predictive AI to improve safety and compliance outcomes, increase operational productivity, and enhance crew well-being. With 66% of maritime incidents caused by human error, SAFEVUE.ai, the company’s flagship solution, addresses the core of human factors by combining the Control of Work with crew well-being data to deliver near real-time safety intelligence on the edge. SOL-X recently signed a multiyear fleetwide agreement to partner with Eaglestar and meet the maritime industry’s ever-increasing demands for operational and safety excellence.
Chord X: Advancing Ship Management
Maritime data analytics company Chord X employs sensors, data integration and analytics, machine learning, and human experts to achieve operational and emission efficiency in large maritime assets. It measures emission footprints to support regulatory reporting compliance, enabling increased oversight over carbon tax with greater accuracy than current methods. And the company’s offerings will soon expand to combine analytics with other data sources and a wider range of propulsion fuel types to provide predictive insights for maritime asset operators to weigh decisions, take corrective actions, and optimize performance. Chord X achieves reduced operating expenditures, enhanced reliability, and cleaner combustion.
Spares CNX: Reinventing the Shipping Supply Chain
Automated inventory management solution Spares CNX tracks the life cycle of spare parts on shore and across the fleet. PROPELLER Ship uses RFID, QR, and other imaging technologies to monitor the location and consumption of spares via a tablet that interacts with pre-tagged spare parts, ensuring the capture and dissemination of accurate and complete information. The accompanying AI-driven analytics platform, PROPELLER Shore, empowers managers and procurement officers with insights and recommendations for stock level optimization, rebalancing, and forward bulk procurement. Spares CNX addresses inventory inaccuracies that cost the global shipping industry up to $2 billion annually, and it is building capabilities to address frictions around FIFO, consumable goods, onshore warehouse partner integrations, and other areas.
“The challenges faced by the shipping industry brought about by the global COVID-19 pandemic have forced us to rethink our approaches and operational practices,” added Mr. Yee Yang Chien, President/Group CEO of MISC. “We must be bold in exploring the endless opportunities to further improve operational excellence in various areas including safety and process efficiency.”
Supply chain resilience goes beyond raising inventory levels: companies should build capabilities to absorb disruptions and recover quickly. Leveraging digital tools and deep tech can protect against near-term volatility by adding scenario planning and supply chain transparency. | https://medium.com/bcg-digital-ventures/turning-global-supply-chain-challenges-into-smart-ship-solutions-4aabaece9f22 | ['Bcg Digital Ventures'] | 2021-08-16 15:01:32.573000+00:00 | ['Shipping', 'Innovation', 'Maritime', 'AI', 'Venture'] |
Courtroom conflicts: ‘Inherit the Wind’ and ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ | These two stories have more in common than their blurbs might suggest. Both widely regarded courtroom dramas, Inherit the Wind (1960) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) are semi-histories — heavily fictionalised retellings of the Scopes Monkey Trial and the Nuremberg Judges’ Trial, respectively. They share a director in Stanley Kramer and feature a large cast of diverse and vibrant personalities fuelled by fundamentally incompatible ideologies and motives. Yet, what makes these films such a perfect duology is not their similarities, but their differences.
In many ways, the films seem to sit in perfect contention with one another. Inherit the Wind is an undoubtedly biased account of the debate between science and religion, although not without good reason. It is filled with vitriol for blind believers who would rather put innocents to the sword than turn it upon themselves and cut out their own hypocrisy. It is not that Bert Cates is innocent as far as the law is concerned — he is absolutely guilty of breaking the law — but that the law itself is so ridiculous to contemporary and present audiences that the law seems an injustice in itself; that such a law was ever allowed to exist in the first place is a permanent blemish on the history of human progress.
While Judgment at Nuremberg views the atrocities of the Third Reich with equal, if not greater, revulsion than Inherit the Wind condemns the anti-intellectualism of the Bible Belt, it is not so easy to locate the culprit here. The greatest proponents of murder, torture and genocide were long dead by the time of the Judges’ Trial — Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and Bormann were among those who committed suicide at the end of the Second World War, rather than face defeat at the hands of the Allies. Defence attorney Hans Rolfe (Maxmilian Schell) in this fictionalised version of the Judges’ Trial objects to the whole thing — in his view, it is not only the four defendants but the “whole of the German people (who) are on trial.” He argues that the “whole world is as responsible for Hitler as Germany” because of its failure to intervene before 1939, as well as the active participation in such events the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Soviet Union) and profiteering from German rearmament (United States).
Hillsboro gleefully attends a sermon in ‘Inherit the Wind.’ Bert’s girlfriend, Rachel (Donna Anderson) ponders the effect of their zeal on the fairness of the trial
Together, the films do not simply portray their own, contained on-screen debates — they form a debate against one another. Inherit the Wind opens with a grand and optimistic flourish of rhetoric that, if nothing else, suggests that truth and justice would be attainable if only a few more people were willing to listen, really listen, and to open their minds. In Judgment…, this rhetoric has all but failed; it is too easy for people to turn a blind eye even to genocide when there is profit to be made through it. (One needs only to look at the present-day Hong Kong and Uighur crises and the indifference of Western corporations to see this effect for themselves.) Col. Lawson and Hans Rolfe articulate two juxtaposing philosophies of responsibility that seems to have no answer — yet the tragedy that has led them there is so great that an answer simply must be found.
Still, Judgment… is optimistic about the enduring nature of truth. Ernst Janning, upon whom much of the film’s focus falls, reverses his vow of silence in the courtroom, declaring, “I am going to tell them the truth. I am going to tell them the truth if the whole world conspires against it.” He understands well the precedent his confessions will set, as well as the verdict that will surely be declared against him. Unlike the stubborn, ill-educated Hillsboro townspeople, Janning is willing to examine himself and his actions — condemning himself if needs be — in order to help the truth break free into the world. He sees himself as a martyr, insisting that he “never knew” the reforms of the Third Reich would lead to the Holocaust. Even if his motives are ulterior, he stands tall above his peers by breaking the cycle of self-serving lies that plague Hillsboro and postwar Germany alike.
This aspect of putting oneself in the gallows for the sake of the higher good is key to the films’ allusions to McCarthyism. Inherit the Wind is a highly critical allegory of McCarthyism and mob mentality in general; it explores how fundamentalist communities reject knowledge and justice in favour of purity and uniformity, even going as far as to cast out dissenting members their families if necessary. Creationist ideas are not only an existential crutch employed by the Hillsboro citizens to stave off fears of their own mortality, but also one which these citizens guard zealously as a source of power, refusing to permit their children to hear of any views to the contrary for fear of how it may affect the town’s traditions. (Of course, nobody in court wants to hear whether Cates’ students want to learn about evolution.) The Hillsboro community is not a thinking people — linking back to the song played over the film’s opening scene, “that old-time religion is good enough for (them)” and that spells the end of the discussion. They have no intention of even considering whether Darwinism can provide them with answers about life, humanity or history.
Hillsboro protests against atheism and freedom of speech in ‘Inherit the Wind’
Judgment… is not directly concerned with McCarthyism, but the excuse of supporting the Nazi regime on the grounds that it removed the “economic threat” of German communists does come up in the courtroom. If Inherit the Wind is a direct allegory of McCarthyism, then Judgment… could be viewed as demonstrating the aftermath of allowing mob-mentality to grip a community. Though the film does not conclude with a strong conviction for either prosecution or defence, if Judgment… concludes anything at all, it is that politics must not be permitted to devolve into a false dichotomy that tries to justify one terrible regime as a means to avoid another. Janning’s confessions break away from this cycle: he welcomes prosecution as a means of atonement for years of refusing to stand up to the Nazi regime.
The differing focal theme of each film is represented by the choice of protagonist. The lead role in both films is played by Spencer Tracy, although his two characters could not be more unalike. In Inherit the Wind, Tracy plays the defence attorney, Henry Drummond, a highly controversial champion of atheism who views Cates’ small-town case as the perfect opportunity to shine a light on the ridiculous, anti-intellectual laws stifling the American education system. Drummond is headstrong to a fault, but he needs to be; equally wilful and merciless is the prosecuting attorney, staunch creationist and three-times Presidential candidate Matthew Brady (Fredric March). Their conflict is the primary source of the film’s tension.
Mrs Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich) and Judge Haywood discuss the effect his trial will have on the whole of Germany in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’
In Judgment…, however, Tracy plays not a lawyer, but the chief judge presiding over the case. His character, by the name of Dan Haywood, is more measured, a virtue that is reflected in the tone of the film: Judgment… is allowed to be much more doubtful and meditative than Inherit the Wind because of its choice of protagonist.
Judgment… is not a biased film — the debate at its core is not of the immorality of genocide, but over who must be held responsible for allowing it to happen. It doesn’t have a ‘bad guy’ who must be outwitted for the sake of progress and rationalism — as Rolfe points out, everyone fills that role to some small degree for their failure to oppose the Third Reich — at least until it became convenient for them. While both films are meritorious, Judgment… is a truly superlative achievement because of its thoughtful approach to the debate. Yet it is improved, not hindered, by its contrast with films which make us want to believe that morality can always be as dichotomous as in Inherit the Wind. Even when a verdict is ultimately reached in this fictionalised Judges’ Trial, it is not a unanimous decision. In spite of Janning’s insistence that the truth must prevail, it appears that it might elude humanity forever. | https://medium.com/double-bill/inherit-the-wind-judgment-at-nuremberg-double-bill-9775a3f096cd | ['A. A. Birdsall'] | 2019-12-14 17:56:58.191000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Germany', 'Film', 'History'] |
Sentiment analysis by using Twitter data | Sentiment analysis (a.k.a opinion mining) is the automated process of identifying and extracting the subjective information that underlies a text. This can be either an opinion, a judgment, or a feeling about a particular topic or subject. The most common type of sentiment analysis is called ‘polarity detection’ and involves classifying a statement as ‘positive’, ‘negative’, or ‘neutral’.
For example, let’s take this sentence: “I don’t find the app useful: it’s really slow and constantly crashing”. A sentiment analysis model would automatically tag this as Negative.
steps:
Gather Twitter Data Prepare Your Data Create A Sentiment Analysis Model Visualize Your Results
In this section, we’ll explain each of these stages and provide tools for both coders and non-coders so you can get started with sentiment analysis right away.
1. Gathering Twitter Data
It’s important that your data is representative of what you’re trying to find out because you’ll use it to:
Train your sentiment analysis model
Test how your model performs on Twitter data
Dataset link :
2. Prepare Your Data
Code link :
model links:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WMen1r0M-K45gN1-QmBQh2-C6NSt9jbZ/view?usp=sharing
3. Create a Twitter Sentiment Analysis Model | https://medium.com/@sachin.kumar.katageri/sentiment-analysis-by-using-twitter-data-9d1e01da146 | ['Sachin Katageri'] | 2020-09-22 15:20:25.625000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Sentiment Analysis', 'Twitter', 'Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
This Year Make a New Year Resolution to Get Back in Shape | Every year people make new resolutions before starting their new year. This year challenge yourself and get back in shape by following some useful tips.
Due to COVID, companies started work from home and as a result, many employees become obese. If you are also suffering from the same problem then you are at the right place.
Here are some tips which you can follow to stay healthy while working from home.
Schedule your exercise
First of all, you need to stick to your routines that must include regular exercise. Whether it can be an early morning or evening workout.
Go Digital
There are various videos available on youtube related to different workouts at home. Do check them and get your fitness back.
Take a break after every hour
Being sedentary for a long time is not good for your health. It can cause many problems like heart diseases, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Eat only healthy snacks
These snacks boost your energy and you will feel active throughout the day
Drink plenty of water
Staying hydrated is essential for the functioning of the body. Drink at least 10- 12 glasses of water daily. You can keep a water bottle at your desk and drink a glass of water every hour.
Do you have any other tips to stay active while working from home? Share with us in the comment section! | https://medium.com/@3fsfunfashionnfood/this-year-make-a-new-year-resolution-to-get-back-in-shape-44207e0dd0f5 | [] | 2020-12-25 12:39:28.732000+00:00 | ['A New Year Resolution', 'Get Back In Shape', 'Fitness Goals', 'New Year Resolution'] |
How a Video Game Helped Me Connect With My Daughter | Connor, one of one Detroit: Become Human’s three three protagonists — Image Source: YouTube
I gave Detroit: Become Human to my teenage daughter this past Christmas and the minute she started playing the game, I was hooked. Sitting beside her on the couch, with a half-read book forgotten on my lap, I stared at the TV, fixated.
I watched my daughter play the game over the course of months, until she reached one of its many conclusions. Now, I’m watching her play it again.
I didn’t pick up the controller once, didn’t even fully understand how gameplay worked, but none of that mattered. I was completely riveted by the three main characters and their stories, rooting for all of them from the very beginning.
A belated review
Detroit: Become Human was released one year ago and by then, Quantic Dreams had already released Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls (note to self: order both games today).
The game is reminiscent of a big budget film. The graphics are astounding and the acting superb. I was mesmerized (to the point of distraction) by the careful details in every shot during the first few days of watching my daughter play. The script Is also solid and well-written. Detroit author David Cage has stated that the script is about 2000 pages and took a year to write and a year to film.
My daughter isn’t a huge gamer. She’d always played video games with her older sister, but when her sister died in 2017 after a protracted battle with cancer, our PS4 and Wii consoles sat untouched for nearly two years.
Thus, it was with some trepidation that I turned on both consoles during a particularly miserable week of winter weather here in New York. My daughter mentioned she wanted to play Splatoon on the Wii (confession: I love Splatoon. I’m also terrible at it). She’d been watching her favorite YouTubers play video games and had started getting the itch to play again.
After playing Splatoon for a couple of weeks, my daughter asked for several new PS4 games for Christmas. Detroit: Become Human was at the top of her list.I didn’t know anything about the game except what she’d told me. The name gave nothing away. She showed me the trailer and I was so impressed I watched a TED talk by David Cage, the game’s creator. At this point, I think I wanted to play the game more than she did.
Choice and consequence
In Detroit: Become Human, the story is more than just scaffolding for the game play. In fact, I’d say it’s the other way around. The game play furthers the story. Each decision you make, from each of the three characters’ perspective, leads to a potentially different (and irreversible) consequence.
The stakes are high. This is an important point because it’s precisely what kept me, as an observer, interested in continuing to watch the game as my daughter played.
At the start of the game, we’re presented with our first choice — Image Source: YouTube
The truly seductive power of Detroit is that consequences change depending on the decisions you make.
“Big deal,” I said to my daughter. “Isn’t that the case with literally every video game ever invented?”
“Not really,” she said. “Most games seem like they’re giving you a choice, but no matter what option you pick, the outcome is the same — you die or don’t die. In this game, every major decision you make gives you a different outcome.”
Case in point: Detroit opens with a scene that acts as a sort of mini-game within the game, illustrating what my brilliant and technologically-savvy daughter was trying to explain to a nongamer like myself — your choices lead to outcomes that cannot be undone.
The first scene opens with Connor, an android who has been sent to diffuse a volatile situation. A service android has become deviant, turning against his owners and taking the child he was programmed to protect and care for as a hostage.
In the context of the game, deviancy in androids is equivalent to humanity. An android becomes deviant when it starts acting with free will, and not necessarily in the best interest of the humans it’s been purchased to serve.
In this first scene, it’s clear that the fate of the deviant android is inconsequential to Connor. Players are given the option to troubleshoot the scene of the crime prior to Connor’s confrontation with the deviant.
This added context is intended to help inform how you interact with the deviant. Should Connor be reassuring? Accusatory? Understanding? The deviant reacts differently depending on Connor’s approach, and this directly influences the outcome of the scene.
I don’t want to give anything away, but all outcomes are not favorable for the hostage or for Connor.
Illustration of one of Detroit’s branching storylines — Image source: Game Trailer
“My favorite part about the game,” my daughter told me, “is that it feels like your decisions actually matter. A lot of other games trick you into thinking that you’re doing one thing, but if you watch game plays every ending is exactly the same or things are slightly different, the character still dies, but in a slightly different way.”
The characters change
I love character-driven stories. As a writer and storyteller, I pay attention to characterization in movies, books, and, yes, even video games.
Of course, video games traditionally lack character development. Spending too much time on a character’s backstory tends to take away from game play. But Detroit dispenses with this paradigm and that’s another reason the game was so compelling to me as a nongamer.
My daughter, who is arguably much more at home in the modern gaming environment than I am, also enjoyed this aspect of the game.
On her second round of playing, as we accompanied Connor on his mission to save the hostage girl from her deviant caretaker, I made an offhand comment, something like, “I guess the purpose of this first scene is just to act as a demo for game play. It doesn’t really further the story.”
My daughter replied, “That’s not true. This scene shows how heartless Connor is since he shoots one of his own kind in the beginning, but it’s also good because it shows the first deviant, establishing the whole idea behind the game.”
Her observation clarifies one of the game’s key triumphs — the storyline and the characters are essential to the gameplay.
Great storytelling helps you suspend reality
Kara, one Detroit’s three three protagonists — Image source: YouTube
Detroit: Become Human has managed to successfully bridge two different worlds — it is a video game that is also a riveting work of fiction. The game immerses players (and observers) into the lives of its three main characters who, right from the start, are more than just avatars moving mindlessly through a pre-set gaming environment.
There’s real context behind each character’s story. They change and grow (or not), they make good choices or they make terrible mistakes. In each case, their actions have real consequences for the peripheral characters they meet throughout the game.
Throughout the entire arc of the story, the game continued to provide opportunities for a variety of discussions between my daughter and me — what does it mean to be human? Are the androids truly slaves? In some cases, like in matters of life or death, are certain unpleasant choices justified?
It was interesting for me to see what prompted my daughter’s decisions, and kind of gratifying when she admitted that she wanted all of the characters to have what she deemed, “the best possible ending.” (yay! she’s not a sociopath!)
She turned 15 in April and finished the game that same month. In the final scene, she made a decision for one of the characters that had devastating consequences for the human population in the city of Detroit.
We were both heartbroken, but this prompted further discussion about the nature of her decision and if it was even possible for all storylines to have a good ending. We both know that in real life, that definitely isn’t the case.
In addition to having an excellent plot, Detroit: Become Human is also a successful video game with its accompanying frustration, adrenaline-fueled victories and driving, addictive need to finish the game. This is where it transcends anything I’ve ever seen before. It is something entirely new. It gives the player real control over how the story ends.
The sense of control, of knowing that an action you choose for a character can significantly impact not only the story arc, but the gameplay itself, is what makes Detroit so powerful.
Markus, one Detroit’s three three protagonists — Image source: YouTube
Great stories allow you to suspend reality, for a time, regardless of the method that’s being used to tell them — books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, plays, and now video games all have the power to do this.
But video games like Detroit: Become Human may have an advantage over books, TV, and movies because they allow you to become part of the story — even if you’re not actively playing.
Detroit: Become Human became a way for me to connect with my daughter, to live in her world for a little while. This was a gift I didn’t expect. Now, just like any other gamer, I’m highly anticipating the release of the next Quantic Dreams game, though I’m not sure how it could possibly top this one. | https://jacquelinedooley.medium.com/how-a-video-game-helped-me-connect-with-my-daughter-4446a6f3954f | ['Jacqueline Dooley'] | 2019-09-28 20:33:24.160000+00:00 | ['Videogames', 'Parenting', 'Family', 'Gaming', 'Entertainment'] |
Blockchains 101: VECHAIN | Blockchain applied to Supply Chain
Introduction
VeChain (Tickers: VET & VTHO) is a Blockchain Network applied to disrupt the supply chain industry by providing transparency and reducing friction of existing supply chains management models.
VeChain was Founded in China by Sunny Lu and Jay Zhang in 2015 and did an ICO for its VEN (ERC20) token in September 2017, raising $20 million worth of ETH.
VeChain Logo
In 2018 the token was migrated from Ethereum to VeChain dedicated blockchain and VEN token rebranded VET.
Description
The VeChain platform aims principally at serving business customers to help them process their dataflow and improve their supply chain processes via the use of Decentralized Ledger Technology (Blockchain) with progressive integrating Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities.
VeChain has a substantial existing customer base among established companies and applies a form of “Blockchain as a Service” (BaaS) model.
The VeChain platform operates a Proof of Authority Consensus algorithm with “Authority Masternodes” mostly controlled by Enterprise clients as entry requirements are high (Full KYC, 25M VETs as collateral, enterprise grade servers).
VeChain Authority Masternodes Infrastructure
VeChain governance is managed through a Steering Committee elected by VET stakeholders at regular intervals of time via the non-profit VeChain Foundation.
Supply model
VeChain relies on a double token system: VeChainThor (VET) and VeChain Thor Energy (VTHO). VET is used to provide value to smart contracts on its blockchain while VTHO is the underlying energy (or gas) used to power transactions and actions on the network with the following characteristics:.
VTHO are automatically generated in any address containing VET at the speed of 5x10–8 VTHO / VET / block (10s)
in any address containing VET at the speed of 5x10–8 VTHO / VET / block (10s) 70% of VTHO paid in each transaction is destroyed and 30% awarded to the Authority Masternode Operator.
VeChain Ecosystem
Storage and wallets:
Besides being available in most popular hot wallets such as Trust Wallet, Cobo Wallet, Atomic Wallet, Arkane Wallet, MySafeWallet, Guarda or Exodus
Official VET wallets:
Technical specificities:
Type: Native Coin + Gas Token
Native Coin + Gas Token Total Supply: NI
NI Consensus: Proof of Authority (PoA)
Proof of Authority (PoA) Encryption algo: VRF
VRF Privacy: Low
Low Blocktime: 10 seconds
10 seconds Blocksize: NI
Smart contracts: yes
yes Transactions per seconds (TPS): 165 TPS (low)
165 TPS (low) Coding languages: multiple
multiple Open source: Yes
Documentation:
TradingBull.io
Telegram community: https://t.me/TradingBull_DA | https://medium.com/@tradingbull/blockchains-101-vechain-43b900fcdfa6 | [] | 2020-12-22 10:02:49.640000+00:00 | ['Vet Vtho', 'Supply Chain', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Vechain'] |
Land of the Midnight Sun | Trippin’ Roads, Rails, and Mountain Trails
Episode 10, August 1969
After waiting impatiently at the Anchorage airport, Charlie arrived in her crate. She was glad to see me, but, as I expected — boy was she ever pissed! She always scolded me when I left her for any period of time but this was something else. My canine friend started to whine and bark, weaving back and forth at my feet.
Before she created too much of a disturbance, I said, “This way, Charlie,” as I sprinted towards the terminal doors, knowing she wouldn’t carry on while running. Once outside, she went back to her ranting and raving for several minutes. When she calmed down, I told her to relieve herself, then stored the dog crate at the airport for a monthly fee of five bucks.
Outside, Albert and I found a convenient spot to raise our thumbs.
It took two rides and twice as many hours to cover the 150 miles to the end of the paved road. The bartender at the Talkeetna Inn told us, “The train will stop here next to the inn in about two hours. You must be going to see Marvin. Chase is only a remote phone booth for the railroad, about ten miles up the line. There’s a trail there to Marvin and Nina’s cabin.”
Starved, after not eating since our flight, we walked to a metal Quonset hut with a crude “RESTAURANT” sign tacked on the door. The eatery was empty except for the waitress. After studying the menu, we ordered cheeseburgers. I had brought limited funds because I wanted to earn my way home. “Three-and-a-half bucks!” I complained to Albert. “The food’s really expensive up here. I’ve never paid over 49¢ for a burger.”
“Three fifty? That’s a small fortune.”
“I hope we won’t starve.”
The waitress overheard our conversation and said, “No need to worry. No one around here is going to let you starve.”
Her words made me feel better and the burger turned out to be delicious.
We were sitting outside the inn when the train pulled into town. It consisted of a boxy black engine, several passenger cars, an open boxcar, and a caboose. The conductor motioned for us to come up the steps of the boxcar. Once we were on the train, he told us, “Your dog will have to stay in the baggage car. You can tie her to one of those straps over there. Where are you gents heading?”
Albert said, “We need to go to Chase.”
“That’ll be our first stop. Just come back here when we slow down.”
“Charlie, you stay here. I’ll be back in a little while.” I patted her on the head, thanked the conductor, and walked to the adjoining passenger car.
The train departed, and ten minutes later it began slowing down. In the baggage car, the conductor was on the phone with the engineer, telling him where to stop. And standing there was Marvin — as if he knew we were coming. Damn! We can’t do our harmonica “Hog Fence” sneak-up.
Actually, he was waiting for a delivery of roofing paper and shingle material. The conductor slid twelve rolls over to the edge as Marvin tossed them onto the ground.
“Hey, Marvin. How you doing, man?” Albert called out.
Marvin’s face lit up with surprise. “What the shit are you butt-heads doing up here?”
I told him, “We heard some wacko was building a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Him being slightly deranged, we thought we should come up here and help.”
I’d already freed Charlie, so we stepped down from the train and helped Marvin stack the rolls back from the tracks. He threw a roll over each shoulder and said, “Grab one. We can get the rest tomorrow.”
We followed him down a rough trail for about a half-mile to a lake. He held up his left hand with pride. A third of his little finger was missing. “My dog, Pee, got in a fight with a mutt that was half-wolf. I tried to break them up and got my pinky bit off.”
Albert said, “Shit, that must have hurt.”
“Not as much as you’d think. Now it’s a little sensitive to the cold. I want to trap a mole and make a moleskin coat for it.”
We hiked along the shore of the lake to a tall A-frame log house with plywood sheets on the roof.
“Hey, Nina.”
“Hi, Albert. What a surprise! Guess you got my letter.” She gave him a hug, then moved on to me. Charlie and their German Sheppard, Pee, were refreshing their relationship.
I looked at the cabin. “Wow, this is some house!”
“Come on in. Let me show you around,” Nina said, sharing her pride.
I could see the foundation was made of long logs on tree stumps cut a few feet above the ground. We stepped up through the door-frame onto a wood plank floor. The floor was about eighteen feet wide and thirty feet long. But the apex of the plywood roof was at least thirty feet above.
I looked up in disbelief. “It’s so tall!”
“Yeah,” Marvin said. “I drew the plans on a newspaper when I was drunk as a skunk at the inn. Someday I’ll put a loft way up there.”
“Well, you won’t have to worry about snow piling up. It’s really steep.”
“Yeah, that’s a plus. We’ll get plenty of snow here in the winter. Come on. Let’s go to our temporary living shelter.”
A short distance away, we came to a wood frame covered with heavy clear plastic. We ducked inside the tiny space, which housed a small wood stove in one corner — and just enough floor-space for all of us to sleep. Nina cooked rice and beans, and we sat around jawing until the sun went down. I hadn’t slept in two days, so it didn’t take long to enter dreamland.
* * * * *
The next morning I used the outhouse, which lacked a door. Instead, it offered a magnificent view of the woods, including a thick stand of vivid red, yellow, and orange foliage that Marvin called fire-weed. I had to admit, it was the most scenic dump I ever took.
After breakfast, we hiked to the tracks and carried the roofing materials back to the cabin. It took two trips, and afterward, Marvin declared it enough work for one day. So we goofed off by the lake.
“I love this place,” said Marvin. “I feel so free up here. Nobody’s around to bug me. If I want to see people, I just flag down the train and I’m in Talkeetna. My truck’s there, and it’s only a few hours to Anchorage if I need any big city stuff.
“The people up here are really cool too. Most feel like me. They don’t want to be fucked with. They just want to be free. And people help each other. I’ve never been treated so well. It’s really cool.”
Marvin swatted at a pesky fly and continued, “I think they learned it from the Eskimos. Hell, they always took care of a visitor. If you came to an Eskimo’s home, he not only shared his food and offered you a bed to sleep on, but also gave you his wife to sleep with for the night. Isn’t that neat? That’s the way it should be! It would be great if everybody was like that.”
“Sounds pretty good to me,” I had to admit — as long as it was cool with the wife!
The next day we took turns nailing roofing paper on the cabin. There were only two hammers, but we kept busy. A rope was anchored to a tree on the opposite side of the building and then strung over the house around one person’s waist. It was the only way we could work on the steep roof. A second person would work the rope, giving slack when needed, while the third worker nailed lower parts of the roof. We’d switch off from time to time, and we managed to complete the task by dinner time.
A rest day followed, and Marvin and I canoed on the lake. It was larger than I’d thought, beautiful, and serene. The surface was smooth as glass, reflecting forest and fire-weed. A pair of loons swam alongside us. Marvin said, “We named the lake ‘Our Lake.’ These loons have been here all summer. You’ll probably hear their call before you leave. It’s something else.”
Later that evening, I stepped away from the house to take a long piss, during which I heard the vibrating call of the loon.
The high-pitched, penetrating sound coupled with the cool forest air left me grateful to be alive.
To be continued …
Watch for the next installment of my true-life adventures from the ’60s. To receive chapters delivered directly to your email box, sign up here. All released episodes of Trippin’ are available here.
If you haven’t already read the first book in the Hippie Adventurer Series, the award-winning Groovin’: Horses, Hopes, and Slippery Slopes, you can find it on Amazon and Audible.
“If you enjoy what you read, please share it with your friends!” | https://medium.com/trippin-roads-rails-and-mountain-trails/land-of-the-midnight-sun-67464add3ccb | ['Rich Israel'] | 2019-06-09 15:21:21.708000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Hippies', 'Short Story', 'Adventure', 'Memoir'] |
Best Hosting Provider for Your Website | I will tell you the best hosting provider for Your Website?
I know one of the Best hosting providers is Bluehost.
Bluehost is a recognized brand name in bargain web hosting. By doing a large volume of business they’re able to offer steep price discounts.
In addition to offering a full range of web hosting services, Bluehost provides marketing training, SEO services, social media marketing, content creation, graphic design services, email, domain names, and local business listings to grow traffic.
Bluehost caters to everyone: from beginning bloggers to established e-commerce and more.
The company provides you with more than what you can normally expect from bargain-priced hosting plans.
Here are the top Bluehost features:
The company provides you with more than what you can normally expect from bargain-priced hosting plans.
Here are the top Bluehost features:
1.Easy-to-use, customized cPanel
2. Dozens of site tool add-ons
3. Free site builders
4. Free domain-specific email addresses
5. 99.99% uptime
6. Technology to support fast page load times
7. Cloudflare integration (speeds your site loading)
8. Free SSL certificate
9. Above-average security features.
Grow Your Business With Thousands of Apps
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Why Bluehost is the best option for Your Website?
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Bluehost caters to everyone: from beginning bloggers to established e-commerce and more. | https://medium.com/@mohitssmal1995/best-hosting-provider-for-your-website-1eb413000001 | ['Mohit Shri Shri Mal'] | 2021-05-03 11:00:37.450000+00:00 | ['Website', 'Web Hosting Review', 'Website Design', 'Web Hosting Services', 'Web Hosting Company'] |
Thonhon Chonlathee (Thai Drama 2020) Episode 6 「ENGSUB」 (GMM25’s Thai Drama Romance) | Episode 6 | A university student named Chonlatee secretly has a crush on his childhood friend Tonhon since he was a kid. Sadly, Tonhon is confirmed straight several times and is even homophobic.
Watch On ►► http://dadangkoprol.dplaytv.net/series/385623/1/6
Watch Thonhon Chonlathee Season 1 Episode 6 [Full’Episode] GMM25
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TELEVISION 👾
(TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 5910s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 5Season 00s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[5] during the 5960s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 1000s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (53i, with 909091 intertwined lines of goal and 444545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3456561, 3456561 and 174. Since 1050, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, Starz Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 1053, 19% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[1] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 5990s. Most TV sets sold during the 1000s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-1050s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 1050s.[6][1][5] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 1.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 1050s.[9]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 1000s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 1000s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 1050s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
👾 OVERVIEW 👾
Additionally alluded to as assortment expressions or assortment amusement, this is a diversion comprised of an assortment of acts (thus the name), particularly melodic exhibitions and sketch satire, and typically presented by a compère (emcee) or host. Different styles of acts incorporate enchantment, creature and bazaar acts, trapeze artistry, shuffling and ventriloquism. Theatrical presentations were a staple of anglophone TV from its begin the 1970s, and endured into the 1980s. In a few components of the world, assortment TV stays famous and broad.
The adventures (from Icelandic adventure, plural sögur) are tales about old Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking journeys, about relocation to Iceland, and of fights between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, for the most part in Iceland. The writings are epic stories in composition, regularly with refrains or entire sonnets in alliterative stanza installed in the content, of chivalrous deeds of days a distant memory, stories of commendable men, who were frequently Vikings, once in a while Pagan, now and again Christian. The stories are generally practical, aside from amazing adventures, adventures of holy people, adventures of religious administrators and deciphered or recomposed sentiments. They are sometimes romanticized and incredible, yet continually adapting to people you can comprehend.
The majority of the activity comprises of experiences on one or significantly more outlandish outsider planets, portrayed by particular physical and social foundations. Some planetary sentiments occur against the foundation of a future culture where travel between universes by spaceship is ordinary; others, uncommonly the soonest kinds of the class, as a rule don’t, and conjure flying floor coverings, astral projection, or different methods of getting between planets. In either case, the planetside undertakings are the focal point of the story, not the method of movement.
Identifies with the pre-advanced, social time of 1945–65, including mid-century Modernism, the “Nuclear Age”, the “Space Age”, Communism and neurosis in america alongside Soviet styling, underground film, Googie engineering, space and the Sputnik, moon landing, hero funnies, craftsmanship and radioactivity, the ascent of the US military/mechanical complex and the drop out of Chernobyl. Socialist simple atompunk can be an extreme lost world. The Fallout arrangement of PC games is a fabulous case of atompunk. | https://medium.com/@d-a-dangkop-r-ol-07/thonhon-chonlathee-thai-drama-2020-episode-6-engsub-gmm25s-thai-drama-romance-8ee55a9ceab | ['Lina J. Herron'] | 2020-12-18 13:00:13.725000+00:00 | ['Romance', 'Drama', 'Gay'] |
Tip of the Hat | photo from history.com
I’m a baseball girl at heart.
Before you roll your eyes and stifle a yawn, let me say that I’ve heard the complaints: it’s a sloooow game. It’s a fifteen-minutes-of-action-crammed-into-a-three-hour-game game. A game where you can’t score on defense. A game that gets stopped if it rains. A game of waiting. A game of mind games. A game played in a park by grown men wearing caps where the object is to be safe at home (according to George Carlin). A game where you keep playing until someone wins, dammit! No clock, no timeouts where everyone leaves the field, no hurry-up offense, no sudden death, no penalty kicks, no stalling.
I like all that. I like the one-on-one of the pitcher and batter. I like a sweetly turned double play. I like the choreography of players moving to back up the play — knowing where they’ll go for each pitch. I like the conversation I imagine going on between batter and catcher, between catcher and umpire. I like the ridiculous set of signs executed by the third base coach to tell the thirty-million-dollar-a-year batter whether to bunt or hit away. I like the boldness of a double steal, a suicide squeeze. I like the infield fly rule. I like the lightning-like reflexes of a third baseman leaping to snag a line drive headed for the left-field corner. I like a right-fielder with an arm throwing out the runner at home. I like a catcher who blocks the plate, takes the hit and hangs onto the ball. I loathe batters pretending they’ve been hit by a pitch.
My team has always been the Minnesota Twins. They were the soundtrack to my summers back in the sixties, when Bob Allison, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, and Harmon Killebrew graced the base paths of the old Met Stadium (long since torn down and replaced by the Mall of America). There were some dark years, but the magic returned in 1987, the year they went from Worst to First and won their first World Series with Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, and Frankie “Sweet Music” Viola. The Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals that year, and to this day I worry that a waitress in St. Louis who wasn’t even born in 1987 might spit in my soup if she finds out I’m from Minnesota. Deep down, I know she doesn’t care. But after all these years, I still do.
My husband is from Baltimore and grew up with the Orioles. Years ago, when we lived in the Des Moines area, I surprised him with a trip to a small baseball museum in western Iowa where Brooks Robinson was visiting and signing autographs. He got almost ten minutes with his childhood hero, one of the greatest third basemen of all time. He asked Robinson if he realized at the time how brilliantly he was playing in the 1970 World Series — the one actually nicknamed “the Brooks Robinson World Series” — and Robinson laughed and said that all he could think about was that he’d made an error the first time he touched the ball in that series. My 40-something husband grinned like a kid all the way home. That autographed 8 x 10 still graces a shelf in his office, right next to pictures of me and our children. I don’t begrudge him that. He still cares.
When people ask me why I care, I tell them my favorite baseball story of all time, which I heard Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, tell Terry Gross on NPR:
About twenty years ago, Jamie Moyer was a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, facing a young gun with the Oakland A’s known for his “plate discipline.” He was patient as a hitter. He didn’t strike out a lot. He didn’t flail at pitches outside the strike zone. If the pitcher’s job is to fool the batter — what pitch will it be? The slider? Big slow curveball? Screaming fastball? Up and in? Low and away? — the hitter’s job is to see as many pitches as possible and then, of course, get on base. The pitcher’s goal is to get the batter to swing and miss. But a good hitter can at least make contact, even just foul it off, no matter what the pitch.
In this particular at-bat, the kid had seen six or seven pitches, and had run the count full. Moyer stepped off the mound, walked halfway to the plate, and said something to the batter. After the game, a reporter asked the batter what Moyer had said. The kid laughed. “He said, ‘tell me what you want, and I’ll throw it.’”
I love that story.
I know baseball is no longer “America’s game.” It no longer gleams with the wholesomeness of Mom and apple pie. After all the scandals: the ill-advised gambling by players and the performance-enhancing drugs and the suspicious substances on a pitcher’s glove and the sign-stealing so the batter knows what pitch is coming. After the bench-clearing brawls when a pitcher plunks a batter with a 90-mph fastball because the guy who batted before him hit a home run. After all the players ejected from a game for kicking dirt and making derogatory remarks about an umpire’s parentage…
After all that, I love when a batter who has just struck out gives the pitcher a smile and a thumbs-up: Good pitch. You got me. When the guy nearly to second base on his home run trot sees the center-fielder leap nearly over the fence to catch the ball and deny that home run, and gives the fielder a tip of the hat and a bit of applause as he heads back to the dugout: Great catch. And here a pitcher, having dueled a hitter to a standoff, essentially saying “Nice at-bat. I can’t seem to fool you. I concede this battle. Let’s move the game along.”
It gives me hope for the rest of us. For the conflicts in which we all engage at work and at play and in our relationships. For our political struggles and our disparate world views. The stakes may well be higher, but maybe there’s still room for listening and considering and — maybe — offering a tip of the hat: “You make a good point. I’m going to give you this one. Let’s move the game along.” | https://medium.com/@kfglassman/tip-of-the-hat-b691a6cc4ffc | ['Kimberly Faith Glassman'] | 2021-08-27 22:07:49.766000+00:00 | ['Sports', 'Civility And Respect', 'Baseball'] |
Smoking. Does it really matter? | Why do people smoke?
Everyone around the world knows the adverse effects of smoking, then the question really is why do they smoke?
The scientific reason can be because cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin and cigarettes are available at stores, so no one’s going to question them. The more time you spend on smoking the harder it becomes to quit, the same follows for other nicotine products.
Most of the deaths are not of people who are direct-smokers, but of non-smokers, due to second-hand smoke. What I mean here by second-hand smoke is that they were exposed to the smoke of cigarettes somewhere.
Why doesn't the government ban tobacco?
The main reason why the government doesn't ban tobacco is that they generate lots of revenue for the government and ban on tobacco may have effects on the people related to tobacco cultivation or production.
On November 2, 2002, the supreme court-ordered ban on smoking cigarettes in public places, because they pose serious damage to the health of non-smokers.
From 1975, inscribing the packets with a statutory warning- ‘ cigarette smoking is injurious to health’ was made mandatory by the government.
According to WHO, If we increase 10% tax on the tobacco then there will be a 5% reduction in smoking in high-income countries and around 10% reduction in medium to low-income countries.
In conclusion, the government may not ban tobacco directly because of the effect on the life of tobacco cultivators and production workers. But they try to implement every measure possible to reduce the usage of tobacco. At last, It depends on the attitude of smokers, Even if the cigarettes were banned they will find a way or other to consume them. As a smoker, people have to think about what their life is going towards and what good does it make to their families. | https://medium.com/@mabasheer/smoking-does-it-really-matter-68cbea65cc3c | [] | 2020-12-21 04:06:23.703000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Tobacco', 'Lifestyle', 'Smoking', 'Public Health'] |
Future facing vocations | I’ve been thinking about how the education system — formal and informal — needs to seriously rethink how to prepare young people for an increasingly uncertain future. It’s been clear for a long time that the Earth crisis should be a major driver for some essential shifts in education, training and vocational pathways. The view is starting to sharpen up.
The zoonotic pandemic, as a symptom of Earth crisis, has come as an incredibly disruptive driver this year, creating an opportunity to review our frames of normal. For example, if we can and must work from home why don’t we always? If the normal ways for people to earn a crust are interrupted shouldn’t we have a Universal Basic Income?
There are lots of opportunities to rethink coming up. Climate breakdown is like a monstrous tortoise compared to the tiny hare of Covid-19. On top of these two global chaos-catalysts, we in the UK are going through the uncertainties of Brexit.
Work will change. The unemployment rate has risen this year, with big losses in high street retail, hospitality and office services, all the things that rely on people going to work into centres. Brexit is likely to cause many 1000s of job losses on top of that. And then as impacts of climate breakdown unfold, there will be more economic challenges, physical limitations to travel, and workplaces may be damaged (e.g. by floods or storms).
But, also, there will always be work to do as long as the limits of the Earth aren’t so completely and utterly breached. Things, beings and places will need to be mended, preserved, fed, made, grown, exchanged and transported. And this is precisely where we need to apply our imagination. Articles about the future of work are full of the assumption that digital technologies and automation are the only drivers of change worth speculating on, but we need to widen the frame.
Some of the roles of the future will seem as quirky as some of these roles from 140 years ago. Certainly, Disinfector of Railways is coming back due to the pandemic. And Sampler of Drugs (being paid for drug trials) is fairly common. But some of the others, or at least their names, seem unimaginable.
So, what do I imagine? Projecting into the future has to include a cold extrapolation from the current crises as well as imagining alternative and more optimistic scenarios. Realistically, I don’t think the (UK) education, training and work system will transition smoothly and responsively. It’s more likely, given how the system is structured now, that it will continue to operate within its mindset that individual success contributing to economic growth is the goal of education. It will continue to react to the environmental shocks created by the breakdown of that very same system, without being able to change the overall system.
With optimistic glasses on, the most beneficial future roles will emerge by younger people themselves proactively responding to changing and chaotic situations, being aware of the need to stop the harm and change the big system from extractive to regenerative. This has to come with a caveat that the environment is already in such a critical state that the worst case scenarios are currently the most likely.
It is possible for education and employers to help the most beneficial future roles to emerge, if they can free up learners and workers to respond, and to encourage them to play active roles, to value care over productivity, to solve complex problems and learn as they go. The more this can be enabled, the more that young people will find their purpose and carve out identities for their future life paths. These identities may not be within fixed pathways such as business, medicine or science, but in combinations of them or alternative versions of them.
Educationalists and employers have a moral duty to enable this re-thinking and to open up new possible pathways for children who will grow up in the next decade or two. The futurist Alex Steffen accuses the fossil fuel lobby of “predatory delay”, stealing from future generations to delay climate action for their own short-term profit.
The young people who have a chance of thriving into maturity in a crisis-hit world will be those helped now to develop capacities such as:
Systems thinking (problem solving in complexity, holistic thinking)
Personal resilience (which I prefer to think of as bouncy rather than gritty)
Positive deviancy (copying models of people trying unconventional. experimental ways to adapt and survive)
Ecological understanding (knowledge gained through education and experience of biodiversity and Earth systems, but also a wider awareness of interconnectedness e.g. knowing that humans are nature)
Empathy (including bio-empathy)
Futures literacy (being anticipatory, deft at imagining scenarios)
Spatial and Data intelligence (core skills needed for decision making and innovating with technology)
And underpinning and enabling all of these are Creativity — practising imagination, curiosity, experimentation, expression and collaboration.
The existential threat to future generations should drive all decision-making, and so young people should be involved in genuine ways and empowered to contribute to system change to sustain life on the planet. This means, at root, helping them to develop all these capacities to be adaptive system changers, and giving them agency to reject the status quo.
For more, see this piece on Eco-capacities on Reconnection | https://medium.com/@bridgetmck/future-facing-vocations-a851c2314714 | [] | 2021-03-02 11:45:42.015000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Futures', 'Skills', 'Future Work', 'Education'] |
Discover How The Foods You’re Eating Every Day Are Making Your Fat Cells SICK … | Discover How The Foods You’re Eating Every Day Are Making Your Fat Cells SICK … Saad Dec 19, 2021·8 min read
Making it IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight , while also damaging your joints, disrupting your hormones, rapidly aging your skin, and even leading to Diabetes.
Which means if you’ve been struggling to lose weight , whether it’s months, days, or even years, then please pay close attention to the article below because you’re going to discover it’s NOT your fault …
sound insane ?
Please do yourself a favor and take 2-minutes out of your busy day to read this very important health article…
by Mike Geary, aka ‘The Nutrition Watchdog’
Certified Nutrition Specialist, Best-Selling Author
December 19, 2021
How did you feel when you woke up this morning?
Were you refreshed and able to jump out of bed…
…or did it take a while to force yourself up and out of bed, after being rudely shaken out of your slumber by that stupid alarm clock buzz, buzz, buzzing in your ear?
Did your body feel “young” and energetic as you got up, or…
…Were you achy and groggy from another restless night’s sleep?
When you looked yourself in the mirror, did you see a fresh, young face, or…
…Did you stagger into the bathroom, ankles and knees creaking , hunched over from back pain and tightness, and see an old version of yourself staring back through the mirror ? With bags under your eyes, dry & graying hair, wrinkled & dry skin?
When you looked down as you got dressed did you see a fit, lean, and healthy body, or…
… Did you see an ever-growing stomach, soft, “flabby” fat, and a body that’s become weak, tired and soft?
What goes through your mind as you look at yourself?
Are you happy with the way you look and feel, or…
… Are you frustrated by your life , with your lack of health, and with your inability to lose weight and keep it off ?
Do you mumble to yourself, “What the hell? How did I get to look and feel like this? ”
Are you at ease and peaceful, or stressed as you get ready for your day?
Do you have to drink multiple cups of coffee before you can even think about being productive and nice?
Do you drink more throughout the day, or even worse, use energy drinks and soda, because you have wild energy swings where you go from feeling good and energetic… to crashing and feeling like you need a nap?
Do you get winded easy? Lose your breath after you’ve gone up a flight of stairs, or as you rush out the door to your car?
How’s your digestion? Do you have comfortable bowel movements, or is your life all about digestive issues like constipation, bloating, bouts of diarrhea, and indigestion?
How many times have you promised yourself you were going to lose weight, and maybe even did, but then put it all back on… and more?
How many times in the last couple years have you started a “diet” or workout program? Once, twice, 10 times?
How do your failures make you feel?
If you and I were sitting face-to-face, and I asked you point blank, after all you just read, “How do you feel?” What would you say?
Look, weight gain, and weight loss, are serious concerns of yours, and I get it…
… but these other issues are also very serious:
Joint pain, muscle weakness, digestive issues, “old” skin and hair, stubborn belly fat, zero energy, and an addiction to carbohydrates…
… and they’re ALL connected.
You may be thinking this all sounds crazy, but let me ask you this…
How many of the following are you currently struggling with?
Stubborn belly fat that will NOT go awa y, regardless of the diets you try
y, regardless of the diets you try Painful or uncomfortable bloating (especially after eating meals)
Fat gain in strange places (chest in men, belly in ladies, for example)
(chest in men, belly in ladies, for example) Painful joints
Digestive issues (IBS, gas, stomach discomfort, constipation and/or diarrhea)
(IBS, gas, stomach discomfort, constipation and/or diarrhea) Dry, aging skin & hair (looking older than you really are…)
Energy swings (low energy before eating, high after… then crash)
(low energy before eating, high after… then crash) Constant craving of carbohydrates
Trouble sleeping (can’t fall asleep and/or stay asleep)
(can’t fall asleep and/or stay asleep) Moody and irritable if you get too hungry
Indigestion
Your gut & stubborn belly fat…
There is growing evidence showing the connection between a “leaky” gut and issues such as weight gain, thyroid problems, Type-2 Diabetes, a lack of energy, digestion problems (constipation, bloating, gas, diarrhea, indigestion, etc.).
Basically, your gut works like this…
Your entire digestive system, from your mouth to your hind end, is one long tube that’s actually outside your body… even though it’s inside.
This long tube has very strong barriers that keep toxic substances OUT of your body, and when these barriers are damaged, as in the case of leaky gut, then food particles and toxins that are not supposed to make it into your blood stream and lymph system, are there, which then makes organs like your liver have to work double time to get rid of this toxicity.
This heavy workload then makes your liver get sluggish and bogged down (imagine yourself having to do the job of 10 people in half the time and how that would make you feel)…
When your liver gets sluggish it makes it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to burn fat, because that’s where your fat gets processed…
… but it all starts in your gut.
Your intestines have small hair-like features that line their walls that help shuttle food along, aid in digestion, and help shuttle nutrients from your digestive system into your bloodstream to be used by your body.
Unfortunately the foods you eat, including many foods falsely labeled as “healthy”, as well as too much stress, a lack of sleep, too much alcohol, a lack of Vitamin D, and more can damage this delicate system…
… Causing toxins to be “leaked” into your body, leading to weight gain, an inability to LOSE weight, achy joints, constipation, bloating, rapidly aging skin, zero energy, hormone problems, etc
Here’s Your Simple Fat Loss Solution…
So how do you repair your damaged digestive system and start melting away your embarrassing belly fat , while also increasing your energy, & fighting joint pain?
The simplest way is to get rid of the foods you now KNOW are damaging your system.
Second, add “fermentable fibers” to your diet, which are also called prebiotics (sweet potato, yam, yucca, etc.) and eat a lot of fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, and certain types of yogurt (but most yogurts found in your grocery store are simply milk with sugar and are NOT healthy) You can also supplement with probiotics, but make sure to start slow and build up.
Third, better manage your stress through better sleep patterns, exercise, and breathing techniques. Stress is known to damage your gut , so the better you handle it, the healthier your gut will be.
Fourth, start adding Turmeric to your diet, either with supplements or sprinkling the spice on your food. Turmeric aids your liver in flushing out the toxic substances that have been building there due to your damaged gut. It also fights dangerous inflammation
But, most importantly, you should get rid of those “health foods” causing you all those problems, and start consuming the ACTUAL foods that help you BURN stubborn belly fat , fix your hormones, fight against Diabetes, and help you look and feel YEARS younger…
Which is why I’ve teamed up with expert nutrition researcher, Catherine Ebeling, and we’ve co-authored this new program for you:
The Fat Burning Kitchen
Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine
Inside this brand new manual, you’ll discover:
The true secret to making calorie-counting obsolete … this is the same principle that will automatically eliminate your cravings and control your appetite permanently (it’s the same reason that I personally haven’t had a real “craving” in at least 7 years) — pg 1–2
… this is the same principle that will automatically eliminate your cravings and control your appetite permanently (it’s the same reason that I personally haven’t had a real “craving” in at least 7 years) — pg 1–2 The truth about polyunsaturated fats (omega-6’s and omega-3’s) that most food companies don’t want you to know — pg.18
Which protein bars or energy bars are actually candy bars in disguise and which bars are actually good for you — pg.50
The real deal on saturated fat and cholesterol, and why they are essential in your diet — pg.59 (Without enough saturated fats and cholesterol in your diet, you can actually HARM your hormone balance)
— pg.59 (Without enough saturated fats and cholesterol in your diet, you can actually HARM your hormone balance) The “whole grain” deception and why whole grain crackers, breads, and cereals are packing more bodyfat on you — pg.9
Why that skim milk may not be so good for you after all, and the dirty truth about homogenized milk too — pg.29
The one time when tilapia and salmon are NOT health foods (plus the best alternatives) — pg.36
A healthy fat-burning burger option? Yes — pg.60
option? Yes — pg.60 Why soymilk, tofu, and veggie burgers could be increasing your belly fat — pg.41
Are sports drinks stifling your fat-burning and making you AGE faster? — pg.46
The ONLY truly healthy options for sweeteners … even non-caloric sweeteners — pg.83
… even non-caloric sweeteners — pg.83 A surprisingly healthy fat in some animal products that actually helps you burn fat & build muscle (it even helps to fight cancer) — pg.60
(it even helps to fight cancer) — pg.60 Why egg whites are actually WORSE for you than whole eggs — pg.65
Do diet sodas and other diet drinks hurt your fat loss efforts? — pg.22
Is whole milk actually better for you than skim milk? There’s more to the story — pg.67
actually better for you than skim milk? There’s more to the story — pg.67 A type of saturated fat that actually helps to stimulate your metabolism — pg. 112
The one time when delicious creamy chocolate can even help to prevent your sweet tooth cravings (It even helps improve your blood pressure too!) — pg.88
can even help to prevent your sweet tooth cravings (It even helps improve your blood pressure too!) — pg.88 Does green tea or oolong tea really increase your metabolism and help fat loss? The truth — pg.90
Which fruits & veggies are okay to choose non-organic — pg.94
…and TONS more secrets to help you permanently transform your diet to force your body to burn fat more effectively, while also preventing diabetes.
But you must click the right here within the next week if you want to get the special rate of only $10 , because once this week ends, this offer disappears…
… so act NOW and click here to get your special price of only $10. | https://medium.com/@s.almoousa/discover-how-the-foods-youre-eating-every-day-are-making-your-fat-cells-sick-19475b36acfc | [] | 2021-12-19 23:15:19.390000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'How To Lose Weight', 'How To Lose Weight Fast', 'Fat Burning Foods', 'Lose Weight'] |
Successful Coaching Leads to Great Results | Here at the-Coaching Blog-run by Gerard O’Donovan, our aim is to constantly bring value to those seeking to improve their lives. Therefore we have a policy of publishing articles and materials by guest authors whom we value and appreciate. Today’s guest author is Gary R. Gasaway (USA).
Most successful organisations consist of managers that have great coaching abilities. These managers are considered great coaches because they can motivate, inspire, influence, overcome obstacles, transform risks into rewards, vision into realities, and values into actions. In other words, they use teamwork to lead their people to great results. But before teamwork, there is team building. One must come before the other. For successful teamwork, effective team building must take place.
Let me define teamwork verses team building:
Teamwork is the ability of two or more individuals to work together towards a common vision or goal.
Team building is the foundation that creates teamwork through effective communication, trust, encouragement, mutual respect, enthusiasm, flexibility, positive attitude, and recognising the diversity of individual talents required to accomplish peak performance.
In other words, successful coaches know they must build a team before teamwork to achieve. As a coach, your job includes evaluating the different talents and skills of all your team members and then using each person’s unique strengths to the advantage of the entire team. At the same time, you are expected to motivate and inspire team members and help them stay on track toward achieving team goals.
Successful coaches have abilities to produce achievement in others. They keep the team focused while building members’ confidence, commitment, and trust in themselves and each other. By following enhanced coaching techniques, they can become a better leader and simultaneously assist their team members to reach peak performance.
Coaches are paid to achieve results. To accomplish that, they have at their disposal three resources: time, finances, and people. Since time and finances are limited resources, that only leaves people. Each one of the team members offers untapped experience, strengths, and talents. The key is learning how to tap into each resource and make the best use of each resource.
Let me explain each resource and its importance to the coach:
YOUR TIME
True leadership means getting things done through others. It’s your job to lead your team as a coach. You must depend on your team members to perform. If you try to do too much of the work yourself or if you think only you can do it right, then you’re cheating yourself and your team. Furthermore, the team’s results will suffer because you are spending precious time performing routine tasks that your team members should do.
YOUR FINANCES
Your pay is a direct result of how well your team members perform — not specifically what you do. Because your team members actually do the work, they are responsible for the team’s results and ultimately, your pay.
YOUR TEAM MEMBERS
Your people are the unlimited resource. It’s a fact that you need your team members more than they need you. Your job is to lead. Because your time is limited — you cannot conceivably do everything. You need everyone’s help to achieve the team’s goals. Have faith in your team to reach the goals you set.
Using all three resources effectively will lead you and your team to great results.
To create team building, a great coach encourages collaboration. They understand that members of a team working collaboratively with one another can achieve more than working independently. Working in a team building environment allows for effective communication, resolving conflict, direction, focus, setting unified goals, and structure. Coaches realise that in most cases, the use of teamwork leads to desirable performance improvements such as: peak productivity, effectiveness, and higher quality.
Here are (12) components of team building to transform into successful teamwork:
Listen to the other team members first, then decide how to respond — this builds trust & mutual respect. Recognise that everyone has an opinion about almost everything — this builds open communication. Acknowledge differences of opinion — this builds flexibility and support for one another. Use effective conflict resolution methods — this builds team confidence to overcome obstacles. Anticipate and adapt to changes — this builds initiative, desire, and a willingness to accept new challenges. Act and communicate in a positive manner — this builds a positive environment. When in doubt about anything, seek clarification — this builds complete understanding. Assumptions are risky; make them only when you have to — this builds commitment to high standards. Clarify where your responsibility stops and starts, and how it fits with that of other team members — this builds purpose and clear roles. Update team members who need to know what you know — this builds a sense of community. If you have an issue or point of disagreement with a team member, tell them, not others — this builds honesty, integrity, and trust. Use a strong sense of collective power — this builds synergistic harmony and enthusiasm.
THE BEST TEAMS ARE BUILT!
It is clear that true high performing teams are built on a foundation of valued components, including: communication, trust, encouragement, mutual respect, enthusiasm, flexibility, positive attitude, and recognising the diversity of individual talents required to accomplish peak performance.
Think of these same components as ingredients of a recipe. If one ingredient is missing or if you measure too much or too little of an ingredient, your results will not be successful. It is with the right combination of these ‘ingredients’ and the correct ‘measurements’ that are the keys to successful results in building teamwork.
If the coach takes the necessary time to get to know and understand all their team members — more importantly, learn what motivates them, they will be well on their way to personal and professional achievement and successfully coaching their team to great results.
About Gary R. Gasaway
Gary R. Gasaway is an author, keynote speaker, trainer, and a certified professional life coach
As a retired manager from Southern California Edison, Gary used his natural talent for coaching and became a “corporate coach.” He has previously published: The Coach’s Chronicles — A Journey Through Life’s Trials and Triumphs and The Coach’s Chronicles II — It’s Your Story! Start Writing it! Gary’s third book: The Coach’s Chronicles — Everything Matters will be released in the fall of 2017.
Gary has a Bachelor of Science degree in Organisational Management and a Master of Science in Leadership and Management. Gary is the founder and owner of Conflict Coaching Solutions
Read more here and don’t forget to subscribe to get free coaching reports to my coaching blog site: https://www.coaching-blog.com/successful-coaching-leads-to-great-results/
Please visit our site and subscribe to get a free edition of our coaching magazine: http://www.international-coaching-news.net/ | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/successful-coaching-leads-to-great-results-3e6847d84ba7 | [] | 2019-02-06 14:16:18.340000+00:00 | ['Coaching', 'Results', 'Executive Coaching', 'Successful', 'Leadership'] |
The Force | Fast Access Blockchain’s scheduled hard fork will include the complete network capabilities outlined in our Whitepaper.
What is “The Force”?
“The Force” is a planned hard fork of the Foundation Chain of the Fast Access Blockchain. We are currently ahead of the development schedule. It will be introduced in two phases:
Phase 1: Basic Edition, end of August 2018/beginning of September 2018.
Specific features will be deployed to meet user and market needs, prepare the network for listing on our new exchanges, and provide better security features against 51% attacks. This version does not have all the design elements of the white paper.
Phase 2: Full Implementation, Test version October 2018, Main net version end of 2018
Will include all features outlined in the whitepaper
“The Force” was announced on March 28, 2018 by Founder and President of the FAB Foundation, Paul Liu.
A hard fork as it relates to blockchain technology, is a massive change to the protocol that makes previously valid blocks invalid (or vice versa) and creates a new protocol version. During a hard fork, nodes (or users) need to upgrade to the latest version of the protocol software.
During “The Force” hard fork, the forked chain will inherit all the data on the original chain and become the main chain of the network.
Why is it important?
The design laid out in the FAB whitepaper is specific in features to enable a decentralized platform for global enterprise-level applications.
Legacy blockchain networks have low transaction throughput and high transaction costs making them ill suited for large-scale application uses.
“The Force” will solve these big problems that prevent blockchain networks from being mass adopted by both businesses and individuals alike.
“The Force” will introduce scalabilty to the network, providing to 1 million transactions per second for quick payment settlements and data transfers.
Additionally, it will make blockchain development more accessible by introducing a development layer that makes blockchain application development and onboarding quick and easy for businesses of all sizes to create decentralized applications.
Finally, it introduces powerful features such as:
interoperability with other blockchain networks such as Ethereum or NEM, allowing for cross chain transactions of cryptocurrency and data
with other blockchain networks such as Ethereum or NEM, allowing for cross chain transactions of cryptocurrency and data more than 1 million gigabytes of data storage
What technical innovations will “The Force” bring?
Currently there is no blockchain that is secure, decentralized and scalable. Some blockchains are quite secure and decentralized while lacking scalability, while other new innovators in the space have scalability and security features while lacking true decentralization (ex. the use of a limited number of validators). This is the main problem all blockchain projects are trying to solve.
Fast Access Blockchain has solved this problem through several unique innovations introduced in “The Force”. The fork will inherit all the data on the original Foundation Chain, which carries all the security features of the Bitcoin blockchain but will add Annex Chains, SCAR, KanBan and CCUA functions that were laid out in the whitepaper.
Annex Chains are similar to side chains and will carry a large number of transactions for a specific business use case, such as for an exchange, e-commerce transactions, supply-chain automation, an Internet-of-Things platform or a medical platform. There will be several thousand Annex Chains which will bare the transaction load, creating scalability.
Smart Contract Address Router (SCAR) is a unique account issued by a smart contract that executes transactions between the Annex Chains and Foundation Chain.
KanBan is designed to provide real-time updates and querying capabilities for the Annex-chain transactions in a global context without significantly increasing the burden on the Foundation Blockchain. It is a special module designed to prevent double-spending attacks and maintains decentralization across the network. Annex Chains are unable to be created to defraud users because Kanban validates all transactions.
The Cross Chain Unified Address (CCUA) protocol provides a convenient means for implementing transaction verification and simplifying the management of cross chain transactions. In fact, the CCUA is not limited to the FAB system only. It can be used as a universal cross-chain address protocol, adapted to any blockchains, for the implementation of generalized management for decentralized transactions. At this time, a new coin will be released.
How will “The Force” affect my Fabcoin?
During Phase 2 of “The Force”, a new coin will be created and be the official coin of the FAB project. Current coin holders will receive the same amount of the new coin as they currently hold of Fabcoin at that time. Details on the process will be released in the near future.
The new coin will be compatible with all the functions of the network.
How can I get more details?
Interested users and developers who intend to use the FAB network for their applications can simultaneously participate in the development of the Force along with their application. We encourage everyone to contact the team for more information. The convergence of wisdom and expertise will lead to success!
Email us at [email protected] or join our telegram at
or visit our developer Slack at
You can also see our codebase on github | https://medium.com/fast-access-blockchain/the-force-749fa40d5b3 | ['Fab Info'] | 2018-08-13 15:10:51.156000+00:00 | ['Articles', 'Blockchain', 'Development', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Updates'] |
Chemical Process Control - Optimizing Manufacturing with Industrial IoT | In chemical manufacturing, we must look at the process both in detail and holistically, in order to identify inefficiencies. By analyzing production disturbances through the use of process-based machine learning, we have the opportunity to reach new levels of chemical process control.
What is a “production disturbance”?
The significance of the term “production disturbance” (PD) varies since every manufacturing facility has a unique operational structure, raw materials supply, machine configuration, and production environment.
For the sake of this discussion, a production disturbance is any unintentional event in the chemical production process that leads to process inefficiencies, unplanned stoppages, rework, or scrap, for example:
Valve leakages
Head pressure drops in pumps
Lubricant issues, e.g. frothing
Inconsistent bearing temperatures
It’s important that PDs are defined specifically on the basis of individual machines, processes, and manufacturing environments.
Reducing production disturbances — The paradox of preventive maintenance
For many years, one of the most championed best practices in asset maintenance was preventive maintenance. The idea of preventive maintenance is to preempt and avoid malfunction or production disturbances by performing scheduled asset maintenance regularly.
It has since been discovered that preventive maintenance can be inefficient in a number of ways, leading to:
Redundant planned downtime (up to 40% of preventive maintenance costs are spent on assets with negligible failure impact.)
Secondary damage to equipment — caused by invasive inspections
Premature/untimely equipment replacement
Materials waste — lubricants, oils, coolants etc.
An inflated inventory of spare parts
These cost factors are part of what has led manufacturers to Industry 4.0, and more specifically, from preventive to predictive maintenance.
Is predictive maintenance the answer?
Predictive maintenance is without a doubt a game changer. It’s a much welcomed improvement over previous maintenance strategies, and is fast gaining recognition as the new best practice for leading maintenance operations.
Predictive maintenance is focused at preventing mechanical failure in specific assets. However, production disturbances are not necessarily asset failures.
In fact, disturbances are more often the result of process failures such as irregular cooling in a tank (the disturbing factor) that’s yielding high pressure in a pump (the disturbance), for example.
This calls for a broad-scope examination of the chemical production process and its production parameters. A narrow focus on individual asset behaviors leaves the production process context out of the equation.
Predictive maintenance is not a -one-size-fits-all solution. Not accounting for the context of the process will lead to too many false-positives and a flood of alerts that don’t provide insight and harm the credibility of the system.
And what about maximizing OEE?
Another well-known methodology for production optimization is by closely monitoring Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE).
OEE is calculated using the formula:
Availability X Performance X Quality = OEE
The method was developed by Seiichi Nakajima in the 1960s as a means to maximize availability, performance, and quality — and in doing so, minimizing production disturbances.
OEE is a bottom-up approach that gives operators and technicians “ownership” of their assigned processes with the goal of minimizing the Six Big Losses:
The downside of the approach is that for complex facilities such as the ones in chemical processing, this formula can be too broad.
For example, the formula represents each of the components equally. This can be countered using weighted variables, but that can lead to overproduction and manipulations to the formula that don’t necessarily improve production throughput.
The solution: predict and prevent process disturbances
Focusing solely on deploying predictive maintenance or increasing the OEE percentage can lead to sub-optimization. The impact of individual sub-processes on the performance of the entire system needs to be evaluated at depth.
This leads us to the core concept behind “chemical process control”:
Using automated root cause analysis, predictive analytics, and what-if simulation to predict and prevent process disturbances that impact production throughput.
Shifting the focus to the process
While an individual pump, motor, or filter might malfunction, it is often an instability in the chemical production process — a process disturbance — which has led to the failure. In other words, the process disturbance is the root cause for the asset failure.
To tackle this complex problem, we need to account for relationships between production parameters across all stages of the manufacturing process.
Using process-based machine learning, we can uncover relationships that would otherwise be impossible to detect:
The production plant is precisely modeled to include all the production lines, physical assets, manufacturing stages, and the product flows through the process. Production context is added through feature engineering — critical for closing the gap between the real-world manufacturing environment and data representations. Once the data is contextualized, machine learning algorithms such as Random Forest, XGBoost, Hidden Markov, and Directed Acyclic Graph can be used to form predictions. The data has been analysed by the ML algorithms within the context of the entire manufacturing process. This results in accurate predictions regarding quality levels, maintenance, and the supply chain. Personnel and management receive actionable predictions with supporting root causes in time to improve the performance of the production process.
Chemical Process Control — Optimization through AI
By using machine learning algorithms that take into account the process, we get focused and contextual predictive alerts. This is a huge opportunity for chemical process optimization since data is relatively well collected and stored in this sector already.
Leveraging this data with process-based AI means being able to pinpoint the root cause of process disturbances with extreme accuracy, and predict failures before they have the chance to affect production.
This article was taken from the Seebo website. To read more content by Seebo, visit: https://blog.seebo.com/ | https://medium.com/@AllyBenoliel/chemical-process-control-optimizing-manufacturing-with-industrial-iot-5c9ed5e1865b | ['Ally Benoliel'] | 2019-03-06 13:34:18.800000+00:00 | ['Manufacturing', 'Industrialiot', 'Machine Learning', 'Smart Factory', 'Industry 4 0'] |
Developing A Growth Mindset. | Growth Mindsets are very important for an entrepreneur, so in this regard how to develop it Amal give us something called ‘AMAL TOTKEY’. These are:
1. Self-talk.
2. Get out of your comfort zone.
3. Create new habits.
4. Ask people help
5. Fake it till you make it.
I personally found these tips very interesting and very helpful.i think these tips can lead anybody from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
The main takeaways of these points are faith on yourself and struggle like Kam Kam Kam and khudi you need to learn something everyday and every second.
My favourite tip among them is ‘Fake it till you make it' which I have started implementing already with this one I have started implementing the self talk and create new habits and will also work on the remaining too.
I thing I can develop a growth mindset following these tips and working on my habits, communication skills and last but not the least khudi and Kam Kam Kam. | https://medium.com/@salahuddin.khan166/developing-a-growth-mindset-8d32235cef73 | ['Salahuddin Khan'] | 2020-12-24 02:52:19.497000+00:00 | ['Growth Mindset', 'Communication', 'Skills', 'Mindset', 'Growth'] |
Stellar Moment | Welcome to Lit Up -The Land of Little Tales. Here you can read and submit short stories, flash fiction, poetry - in brief, your own legend. We're starting little. But that's how all big stories begin.
Follow | https://medium.com/lit-up/stellar-moment-8b6b9fab9272 | ['Pamela Edwards'] | 2018-06-15 13:43:01.072000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Mindful', 'Summer Reading', 'Time Travel', 'Meditation'] |
Medical Tourism — Malaysia. Malaysia is quickly becoming a leader… | Malaysia is quickly becoming a leader in medical tourism. Md. Bipul Nazir, Managing Director of H Healthcare Berhad is at the forefront of medical tourism. H Healthcare Berhad will soon have over 300 clinics and 30 medical centers catering to offering health screenings, procedures and treatments to tourists. Tourists can enjoy the rich culture, delectable foods and beautiful accommodations while receiving excellent medical care.
In terms of capturing medical tourism, Malaysia has spent the past few years becoming one of the best destinations of healthcare service providers. There are many facilities where tourists can find English speaking doctors and nurses. Tourists can make an appointment with a specialist by simply walking into the hospital.
Malaysia offers quality healthcare that is just as good as what is offered in Singapore, at a better price. Many of the nurses and doctors in Singapore are Malaysian so tourists can expect the same quality services from the medical system in Malaysia. When people come to Malaysia for medical tourism they get quality healthcare for a value.
Tourists have many options for different packages and services to choose from. Various service providers offer unique holiday experiences paired with their services. Executive health screenings are one of the most popular services sought in Malaysia.
The Malaysian health care system offers comprehensive screenings that tourists and foreigners trust. Malaysian doctors use high technology medical equipment when screening and they pay close attention to the patient’s medical histories. The doctors teams of doctors that make decisions regarding diagnosis and treatment.
The government is invested in developing medical tourism in Malaysia as well. Government officials pay a lot of attention and put a lot of effort in supporting the medical tourism industry and making it into the industry it is today.
Mr. Nazir feels that H Healthcare Berhad plays an important role in growing Malaysia’s medical tourism industry. They are expanding to offer specialized, executive facilities with one-stop services while still offering convenience and value. H Healthcare Berhad is focusing on really understanding the needs of the patients and providing a satisfying experience. | https://medium.com/@eacoo/medical-tourism-malaysia-d5402c846908 | [] | 2021-07-07 08:51:43.884000+00:00 | ['Medical', 'Malaysia', 'Tourism', 'Healthcare', 'Healthy Lifestyle'] |
Using Room Database | Android Jetpack in Android Apps | Android Jetpack is a collection of Android software components to make it easier for you to develop great Android apps.
They will help you to
Follow best practices
Free you from writing boilerplate code.
Simplify complex tasks, so you can focus on the code you care about.
Now let’s talk about Room
The Room persistence library it is an abstraction layer over SQLite.
The room is an ORM (object relational mapper) for SQLite database in Android. It is part of the Architecture Components released by Google.
Room is now considered as a better approach for data persistence than SQLiteDatabase. It makes it easier to work with SQLiteDatabase objects in your app, decreasing the amount of boilerplate code and verifying SQL queries at compile time.
Why use Room?
Compile-time verification of SQL queries. each @Query and @Entity is checked at the compile time, that preserves your app from crash issues at runtime and not only it checks the only syntax, but also missing tables.
Boilerplate code
Easily integrated with other Architecture components (like LiveData)
Room vs SQLite
Room is an ORM, Object Relational Mapping library. In other words, Room will map our database objects to Java objects. Room provides an abstraction layer over SQLite to allow fluent database access while harnessing the full power of SQLite.
Difference between SQLite and Room persistence library:-
In the case of SQLite, There is no compile-time verification of raw SQLite queries. But in Room, there is SQL validation at compile time.
You need to use lots of boilerplate code to convert between SQL queries and Java data objects. But, Room maps our database objects to Java Object without boilerplate code.
As your schema changes, you need to update the affected SQL queries manually. Room solves this problem.
Room is built to work with LiveData and RxJava for data observation, while SQLite does not.
Components of Room DB:
Room has three main components of Room DB :
Entity
Dao
Database
Entity:
Represents a table within the database.Room creates a table for each class that has @Entity annotation, the fields in the class correspond to columns in the table. Therefore, the entity classes tend to be small model classes that don’t contain any logic.
Entities annotations
Before we get started with modeling our entities, we need to know some useful annotations and their attributes.
@Entity — every model class with this annotation will have a mapping table in DB
foreignKeys — names of foreign keys
indices — list of indicates on the table
primaryKeys — names of entity primary keys
tableName
@PrimaryKey — as its name indicates, this annotation points the primary key of the entity. autoGenerate — if set to true, then SQLite will be generating a unique id for the column
@PrimaryKey(autoGenerate = true)
@ColumnInfo — allows specifying custom information about column
@ColumnInfo(name = “column_name”)
@Ignore — field will not be persisted by Room
@Embeded — nested fields can be referenced directly in the SQL queries.
2. Dao
DAOs are responsible for defining the methods that access the database. In the initial SQLite, we use the Cursor objects. With Room, we don’t need all the Cursor related code and can simply define our queries using annotations in the Dao class.
3. Database
Contains the database holder and serves as the main access point for the underlying connection to your app’s persisted, relational data.
To create a database we need to define an abstract class that extends RoomDatabase . This class is annotated with @Database , lists the entities contained in the database, and the DAOs which access them.
The class that’s annotated with @Database should satisfy the following conditions:
Be an abstract class that extends RoomDatabase .
. Include the list of entities associated with the database within the annotation.
Contain an abstract method that has 0 arguments and returns the class that is annotated with @Dao .
At runtime, you can acquire an instance of Database by calling Room.databaseBuilder() or Room.inMemoryDatabaseBuilder() .
Alright! So far so good!! Let’s implement it with an example.
Step 1: Create a new project in Android Studio with empty activity.
Step 2: Add dependencies
allprojects {repositories {jcenter()maven { url ‘https://maven.google.com' }}}
And then add below dependencies to app/build.gradle file:
implementation ‘android.arch.persistence.room:runtime:1.1.1’annotationProcessor ‘android.arch.persistence.room:compiler:1.1.1’
Step 3: Create a Model Class
Now, let’s create an Entity called Person.
It is must to declare one field as primary key. You need to annotate a field with @PrimaryKey with attribute autoGenerate by default it is false
The class is annotated with @Entity and name of the table.
@Entity(tableName = “person”) public class Person { @PrimaryKey(autoGenerate = true) private int id; @ColumnInfo(name = “name”) String name; @ColumnInfo(name = “email”) String email; @ColumnInfo(name = “age”) private int age; public int getId() { return id; } public void setId(int id) { this.id = id; } public String getName() { return name; } public void setName(String name) { this.name = name; } public String getEmail() { return email; } public void setEmail(String email) { this.email = email; } public int getAge() { return age; } public void setAge(int age) { this.age = age; } }
Step 4: Create Data Access Objects (DAOs)
DAOs are responsible for defining the methods that access the database.
To create a DAO we need to create an interface and annotated with @Dao.
- There are four annotations @Query, @Insert, @Update, @Delete to perform CRUD operations. @Query annotation is used to perform read operation on the database.
@Dao public interface PersonDao { @Query(“SELECT * FROM person”) List<Person> getAll(); @Query(“SELECT * FROM person where name LIKE :firstName “) Person findByName(String firstName); @Query(“SELECT COUNT(*) from person”) int countUsers(); @Insert void insertAll(Person… users); @Delete void delete(Person user); }
Step 5: Create the database
To create a database we need to define an abstract class that extends RoomDatabase . This class is annotated with @Database , lists the entities contained in the database, and the DAOs which access them.
@Database(entities = {Person.class},version = 1) public abstract class AppDatabase extends RoomDatabase{ private static AppDatabase INSTANCE; public abstract PersonDao personDao(); public static AppDatabase getAppDatabase(Context context) { if (INSTANCE == null) { INSTANCE = Room.databaseBuilder(context.getApplicationContext(), AppDatabase.class, “person-database”) // allow queries on the main thread. // Don’t do this on a real app! See PersistenceBasicSample for an example. // .allowMainThreadQueries() .build(); } return INSTANCE; } public static void destroyInstance() { INSTANCE = null; } }
Step 6: Managing Data
To manage the data, first of all, we need to create an instance of the database.
then we can insert delete and update the database.
Make sure all the operation should execute on a different thread.
public class GetDataAsyc { private static final String TAG = GetDataAsyc.class.getName(); public static void populateAsync(@NonNull final AppDatabase db) { PopulateDbAsync task = new PopulateDbAsync(db); task.execute(); } public static void populateSync(@NonNull final AppDatabase db) { populateWithTestData(db); } private static Person addUser(final AppDatabase db, Person user) { db.personDao().insertAll(user); return user; } private static void populateWithTestData(AppDatabase db) { Person user = new Person(); user.setName(“Jekson1”); user.setEmail(“[email protected]”); user.setAge(28); addUser(db, user); List<Person> userList = db.personDao().getAll(); Log.d(GetDataAsyc.TAG, “Rows Count: “ + db.personDao().countUsers()); Log.d(GetDataAsyc.TAG, “Rows Count Name: “ + db.personDao().findByName(“Jekson”).getName()); for (int i = 0; i < userList.size(); i++) { Log.d(GetDataAsyc.TAG, “Rows Name: “ + userList.get(i).getName()); } } private static class PopulateDbAsync extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> { private final AppDatabase mDb; PopulateDbAsync(AppDatabase db) { mDb = db; } @Override protected Void doInBackground(final Void… params) { populateWithTestData(mDb); return null; } } }
Step 7: Finally you get your code run using Activity as
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity { @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); GetDataAsyc.populateAsync(AppDatabase.getAppDatabase(this));
That it for Room. I hope you liked that post.
Happy learning! Stay home, stay safe. | https://medium.com/swlh/using-room-database-android-jetpack-in-android-apps-dc8526517b6a | ['Krupa Desai'] | 2020-12-07 14:28:38.474000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Android Architecture', 'Android Jetpack', 'Room', 'AndroidDev'] |
Where The Heck is Hawkeye : 9 Conspiracy Theories | “Everyone answers to someone.” In this theory, Marvel’s biggest twist to date involves the beloved Hawkeye being revealed not only as a traitor — he’s Thanos’ boss, making him responsible for every bad thing that’s happened! Being mind-wiped in Avengers 1? An act. House arrest? A clever excuse to avoid having to be put in an awkward situation of fighting his underling. After all, do we ever see him fight Thanos? No, no we don’t.
So how did this partnership come about? Well, obviously Hawkeye wants to reset the Earth. Maybe he’s tired of having the limelight taken away by the more popular Avengers. Maybe his kids are being bullied at school. Or maybe he’s just pure evil.
And guess which two Marvel characters are mostly purple? That’s right. Purple is the color of villainy in comics. Galactus. Magneto. Green Goblin. Mysterio. Kang. And that’s just the Marvel ones. They’re present in DC comics as well, and just about every Disney villain wears it.
Of course, he’s not in this film, but he’s probably in a cut post-credits sequence, sitting in a chair saying, “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
6. Infinity War is Hawkeye’s dream.
Should NOT have eaten that sandwich.
The story of Infinity War is really unbelievable if you think about it. Iron Man in space. Hulk not being able to use his powers. Talking trees and raccoons. The Spider-Man and Black Panther franchises seemingly going up in smoke. It’s very likely that Hawkeye, already traumatized from the events of Civil War, ate a sandwich (he’s been shown to enjoy Mediterranean pita-based meals) before bed and is now just having terrible nightmares as a result, where the worst possible scenarios happen to each of his friends. This would explain the bizarre and unexpected deaths in the film.
But would this mean every film until Avengers 4 (when he wakes up) is also a dream?
7. Clint Barton is not in the film…but the directors found a loophole by including a “hawk eye”.
Hawk Eye
There are certainly birds in the film, and certainly some of those are hawks, and certainly those hawks have at least one eye.
Sneaky one, Russos.
8. Hawkeye was in the film, but Loki has brainwashed us to remember otherwise.
Fooled Again!
This theory requires one to suspend their disbelief quite a bit more than usual, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Hawkeye did play a big role in Infinity War…we just don’t remember it because we’ve been brainwashed by the God of Mischief.
“But didn’t Loki die?” you ask. It certainly looked that way, but that’s exactly what he would want us to think. He pretty much fakes his death in every Avengers film he’s in! If you see a character die, you automatically assume they cannot be responsible for further events in the film. Loki could very well be responsible from erasing Hawkeye from our memories. He just overlooked the poster…his big mistake.
Mind stone or not, we’ve seen Loki control minds before. In fact, how do we know that anything that happened in any of the movies actually happened? Or anything in our life…..????
9. Hawkeye got to the reality stone first, and created a fake reality stone for Thanos. Therefore, everything in the movie is an illusion created by Hawkeye!
wen ur a mad titan but get played by the guy with arrows
That’s right. Hawkeye Inception’d Thanos by getting the reality stone first and fooling the Mad Titan into believing he was succeeding in his quest.
In reality, Hawkeye the Avengers are all watching Thanos run around aimlessly while they enjoy popcorn and shawarma. | https://medium.com/cinenation-show/where-the-hawk-is-hawkeye-9-conspiracy-theories-ddc99fce9c49 | ['Daniel L'] | 2018-11-09 18:03:56.040000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Marvel', 'Conspiracy Theories', 'Comics', 'Film'] |
Today’s schools should prepare their students on how to sustain financially in the world now. To what amount do you accept or differ with this statement? | Today’s schools should prepare their students on how to sustain financially in the world now. To what amount do you accept or differ with this statement? Harish K Dec 7, 2020·2 min read
In schools, learners learn to analyse books, calculate using mathematics and understand how the human body works. Still, often students are ignorant and incompetent after graduation when confronting real life. Therefore claimed that schools should train their students on how to sustain financially in the world.
Many administrators believe that a school is assumed to teach students in subjects that they will most apparently not convene post-graduation again so that tutors can develop open-minded and well-informed individuals. At the same time, schools demonstrated that should impart skills that would be relevant in everyday life. Mathematics, for instance, is thought to not only deliver fundamental mathematics skills but also develop reasoning to students. Still, schools thought to prepare the students for their lives following school. Currently, this object couldn’t meet, as frequently students are inadequate to handle their finances sensibly and hence can often face vital problems. Institutions that teach learners how to sustain financially could improve this.
This critical shift in the faith of education is questionable to take place soon, as the education practice has been in business for too long to replaced. Also, a variation of this measure would be expensive, as teachers would have to equipped and a program for this potential subject would have to design. Yet, in a few countries, for example, Germany, a community subject is available in which politics and finances have discussed, which allows students from Germany in a better position to deal with finances in their lives.
To end, coaching school students in financial elements would be very beneficial. Adding new content to the program would require a significant sum of money, but the whole community will get profited from students who prepared for adult life. | https://medium.com/@harishkmadras/todays-schools-should-prepare-their-students-on-how-to-sustain-financially-in-the-world-now-5de670c9b867 | ['Harish K'] | 2020-12-07 12:13:07.216000+00:00 | ['Financial Planning', 'Society', 'Teaching', 'Education Reform', 'Schooling Education'] |
Best smart speakers for the price | Great eaters and great sleepers are incapable of anything else that is great (Henry IV) | https://medium.com/@amanda72997271/best-smart-speakers-for-the-price-60df3d61c1b1 | [] | 2020-12-24 18:42:03.095000+00:00 | ['Audio', 'Entertainment', 'Home Tech'] |
long stems make awful arcs | Long stems make awful arcs when heads inhale,
Invert, and strive to earth with its stern pursed
Simple lips and tempting tan breast well versed
And content in curves running head to tail.
Many gardeners do not choose to veil
Inspecting eyes. Oh, where they may have nursed
Growing decline, they quickly think the worst,
Leap forward, and prune the round plants which fail.
In the center of reflecting tables,
Or on the sunny edges of curtained sills
Roses rooted in urns spire toward gables
And wilt to moist folds despite plant food pills;
Then they are pressed thin in books of fables
Or preserved in freezers filled with stark chills. | https://medium.com/poets-unlimited/long-stems-make-awful-arcs-28de91547631 | ['T L Oberman'] | 2018-01-06 00:08:16.568000+00:00 | ['Confusion', 'Love', 'Poetry', 'Sonnet', 'Acrostic'] |
Building Iconhub: Dari Figma ke HTML Dengan Tailwind CSS | 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://blog.javan.co.id/building-iconhub-dari-figma-ke-html-dengan-tailwind-css-aacc7157fa57 | ['Bayu Hendra Winata'] | 2020-11-21 00:54:12.133000+00:00 | ['Prototyping', 'Tailwind Css', 'Figma'] |
Dreams of a doubter | If you would your lens, you would realise you already have what you thought you was missing
~gentle whispers of love to me
Everyday she stared out of the window
Admiring the birds of the sky
Marvelling what it would be like
To fly up between the clouds
All the time she spent wondering
She was never once aware
That she too was given wings
If only she would believe | https://medium.com/@sharonwritesministry/dreams-of-a-doubter-c80144377243 | ['Sharon Writes'] | 2020-12-22 21:07:15.761000+00:00 | ['Freedom', 'Believe', 'Flying', 'Dream', 'Peace'] |
Setup Django with Postgres.app on macOS for Django tutorials | Prerequisite: Python3 installed. Open up your terminal and verify that python is installed:
$ python --version Python 3.7.8
If python is not recognized, install python from python.org.
Install django like so:
python -m pip install Django
Start a basic django project:
django-admin startproject mysite
Or, if django-admin doesn’t work, you can use:
python -m django startproject mysite
Next I’m going to install postgres on macos — https://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/ there are a few options, but today I’m installing Postgres.app.
Download PostgresApp from https://postgresapp.com/downloads.html:
Drop it into your applications:
Open the app:
Click “Initialize” and view the databases — I’m going to use the garrettsweeney database below:
Configure path to use the command line tools:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d &&
echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/postgresapp
Head over to your mysite/settings.py and find the # Database section. Update it to look like this, but update name and user to match your db:
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
'NAME': 'garrettsweeney',
'USER': 'garrettsweeney',
'PASSWORD': '',
'HOST': 'localhost'
}
}
Note! You’ll probably want to move these secret values out of the settings.py when you configure to an actual backend.
Make sure you have postgres installed (I installed with brew install postgres) and then install psycopg2:
pip install psycopg2-binary
Now you should be able to migrate:
python manage.py migrate
And it should be successful, output something like this:
Garretts-MacBook-Pro:mysite garrettsweeney$ python manage.py migrate
Operations to perform:
Apply all migrations: admin, auth, contenttypes, sessions
Running migrations:
Applying contenttypes.0001_initial... OK
Applying auth.0001_initial... OK
Applying admin.0001_initial... OK
Applying admin.0002_logentry_remove_auto_add... OK
Applying admin.0003_logentry_add_action_flag_choices... OK
Applying contenttypes.0002_remove_content_type_name... OK
Applying auth.0002_alter_permission_name_max_length... OK
Applying auth.0003_alter_user_email_max_length... OK
Applying auth.0004_alter_user_username_opts... OK
Applying auth.0005_alter_user_last_login_null... OK
Applying auth.0006_require_contenttypes_0002... OK
Applying auth.0007_alter_validators_add_error_messages... OK
Applying auth.0008_alter_user_username_max_length... OK
Applying auth.0009_alter_user_last_name_max_length... OK
Applying auth.0010_alter_group_name_max_length... OK
Applying auth.0011_update_proxy_permissions... OK
Applying auth.0012_alter_user_first_name_max_length... OK
Applying sessions.0001_initial... OK
Head back over to the postgres app and double click your db.
A terminal should open. Running \dt will list the newly created relations!
And you’re set! Continue on with the terminal — https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/intro/tutorial02/. | https://medium.com/cloud-tidbits/setup-django-with-postgres-app-on-macos-for-django-tutorials-22ed4dabfaf4 | ['Garrett Sweeney'] | 2020-12-11 04:18:35.892000+00:00 | ['Postgres', 'Tutorial', 'Postgresql', 'Django', 'Macos'] |
Exercise Doesn't Have to Hurt | The Biggest Myths About Exercise
A physical therapist addresses misconceptions around intensity, soreness, and pain
Photo: adamkaz/Getty Images
“No pain, no gain” might be the worst phrase ever uttered in the gym. Asking the question, “Is it soreness or pain?” is a close second. At the end of the day, both pain and soreness are unpleasant. Attempting to delineate between the two is meaningless for most of us. For trained people who are highly attuned to each response their body has after exercise, sure, they can tell the difference. For everyone else, any kind of discomfort is typically a deterrent to continue making treks to the gym or lacing up running shoes.
Pain is not necessary to obtain benefits from exercise. Though exercise does need to be challenging, as our bodies adapt when they are pushed, pain doesn’t have to be part of the equation.
Physical activity vs. exercise
Physical activity and exercise come in many forms. I use the term “physical activity” with intention, as the term “exercise” may trigger negative memories. Perhaps the last time someone exercised, or “worked out,” they experienced extreme soreness, injury, or simply hated it. This negativity is likely exacerbated if the person does not care about sports or athletic competition.
Negativity toward exercise poses a challenge to trainers, coaches, and physical therapists, as exercise is at the heart of our programs and treatments. I speak from experience as a doctor of physical therapy and orthopedic certified specialist. Without exercise, people cannot access many of the physiologic changes they seek. We can’t facilitate muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth), or enhance VO2 max (endurance) exclusively through positive thoughts, sleep, and diet. Healthy lifestyle changes certainly play a part, but without the stimulus induced through moderate and high-intensity physical activity, we rapidly approach a dead end.
Intensity and enjoyment matter
Here are exercise frequency and intensity recommendations from some of the leading health organizations:
American Heart Association: 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week
American College of Sports Medicine: 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise plus 2–3 sessions of strength training
Centers for Disease Control: 150–300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, or 75–150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination. Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week
My primary takeaway from these recommendations is their focus on level of exercise intensity. They don’t specify frequency or mode of activity — but instead allow the individual to design a program that meets a necessary threshold. Note the use of the words moderate and vigorous. Unless you are severely deconditioned or suffer from intermittent claudication, a cramping leg pain that develops when walking due to inadequate blood flow, a 30-minute leisurely walk does not count toward your weekly exercise threshold. Yes, a walk around the neighborhood is certainly better than nothing — but to reap all possible benefits of exercise, it is far from sufficient.
Pain is not necessary to obtain benefits from exercise.
Here’s why: Low and even borderline moderate-intensity exercise does not markedly change the collagen content of connective tissue, which is necessary for healing and recovery from exercise. To achieve the net growth of targeted connective tissue, our bodies require high-intensity loading, such as squats or jumping exercises (plyometrics). Similarly, when attempting to develop strength or power, high intensity activity is necessary.
A quick refresher: Strength is the maximal force we can generate; it is necessary for tasks such as getting up from the floor (function) or deadlifting (performance). Power, on the other hand, is the speed at which we can generate force — it is necessary to catch yourself if you trip over a step (function) and when dunking a basketball (performance). Someone who is deconditioned, either because of a medical condition or lack of exercise, will see rapid changes in both, but this is mostly a “nowhere to go but up” phenomenon. The improvements in strength and power are primarily neural adaptations and will quickly plateau if the exercise intensity remains low. Further improvements require high intensity, such as performing weight training exercises near maximal effort.
If someone is deconditioned and decides to start walking for 20 minutes a day, that is a step in the right direction, but not enough. It is a starting point that should be built upon. Intensity can be increased through difficulty (walking faster or along a route with more hills) or duration.
People often imagine exercise as a regimented, challenging, and sometimes painful experience — but this does not have to be the case. One of the reasons CrossFit is so successful is that members join a community that supports one another. The exercises are challenging but the variety is high, they can be scaled to each individual, and the community can even foster an atmosphere of enjoyment.
Exercise can improve power and balance to reduce fall risks, enhance cognition and memory, improve healing times for tissue injury, dampen pain severity and sensitivity, and combat depression and anxiety. While consistent movement and activity can offer some of the listed health benefits, people require consistent moderate and vigorous intensity to achieve them all.
Understanding soreness
Delayed onset muscle soreness — also known as DOMS — is the prototypical soreness experienced after exercise. Not all people experience DOMS in the same way. Some, myself included, relish the feeling of extreme soreness following a workout, and welcome the subsequent two days of waddling about. Others view soreness as a sign their pain is worsening, and look to medication to eradicate it, and perhaps avoid future exercise. This is an understandable response. Soreness is uncomfortable and makes movement more challenging. When we are in pain, soreness can worsen the overall experience.
One way to mitigate this is to help our body become familiar with a given activity. The repeated bout effect is a protective response in which our body has a blunted inflammatory response following activity we are familiar with. Take squats as an example. If you have skipped these for six months, you are likely to waddle for 3–4 days and avoid all stairs following a squat session. You will notice, however, the severity and duration of the soreness wane with subsequent leg workouts, even as intensity climbs.
Find an activity that doesn’t feel like exercise but still challenges your body. Walks in the park are great for mental health and are a starting point for physical changes, but eventually you need to challenge your body.
Instead of gritting through, or worse, avoiding activity altogether, here are a few strategies to decrease the frequency and severity of DOMS.
Slowly increase activity
Increase the activity of movements you are used to first. For example, if your exercise is primarily neighborhood walks, increase your walking speed and duration before jumping on a bike. If you want to lift weights, start with light weights and low resistance bands during basic movements.
Start with slow-moving or stationary/isometric exercises (think wall sits)
Gradually increase intensity over multiple sessions, not within sessions.
Stretching does not work
Your recovery will also be impacted by your overall health. Diet, sleep, and stress can all influence how well you perform and recover from exercise. If you are getting ready to start a new exercise program or a physical therapy plan of care, ensure that your sleep and nutrition are prioritized.
At the end of the day, if you maintain a consistent physical activity regimen, you will experience DOMS less frequently and at a lower intensity. Keep in mind, if you do experience pain or soreness (which might be the same thing), that does not mean damage has occurred. Research is clear that pain does not equate damage. Pain is a complex phenomenon, and one of the worst things we can do for it is to stop moving. Movement is the best medicine.
The problem with “no pain, no gain”
It is surprising to many that exercise can have a pain reduction, or analgesic, effect. Our bodies possess a highly efficient endogenous pain inhibiting system which adapts to exercise.
Exercise and conditioned pain modulation use similar mechanisms. Exercise leads to modulation of nervous system function with enhanced inhibition and reduced excitation of pathways responsible for the pain experience. This comes with a large asterisk: People who suffer from chronic pain have a loss of condition pain modulation. They experience the opposite effect because of a lack of inhibition and increased excitability of neuronal pathways. This leaves us with a conundrum. Though exercise can elicit a hypoalgesic effect, the people in the greatest need of the hypoalgesic effect possess a faulty pain-reducing mechanism. As with minimizing DOMS, patience is the name of the game here. A gradual increase in intensity, which is centrally regulated and relative to the individual, will reduce the increase in excitability.
So what does this all mean for you?
Research shows that our motivation, interest, and enthusiasm toward exercise can influence both the likelihood of sticking with the exercise program and the amount of success you experience. If you hate running, don’t run. There are many alternatives available to you: Biking, swimming, hiking, lifting weights, tennis, and yoga are all great options. Find an activity that doesn’t feel like exercise but still challenges your body. Walks in the park are great for mental health and are a starting point for physical changes, but eventually you need to challenge your body. Build up the activity gradually, ignore the “no pain, no gain” advice, and find the exercise that is right for you. | https://elemental.medium.com/why-some-people-are-wary-of-the-term-exercise-8ba09b74cb21 | ['Zachary Walston'] | 2020-11-02 14:14:30.349000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Fitness', 'Physical Therapy', 'Exercise', 'Body'] |
What exactly does TOP mainnet mapping mean for TOP ecosystem? | In 2021, the development of blockchain is in full swing, and the explosion of the digital economy makes traditional giants pile into the blockchain industry.
TOP Chain, the public blockchain infrastructure underpinning the entire decentralized ecosystem, also gradually completes its metamorphosis in this era wave, the mainnet was launched, the mainnet was upgraded, and mining was opened… Every step taken is a milestone for the improvement and ecological development of TOP Chain.
Recently, TOP mainnet will officially launch mapping, which will be another milestone in the development history of TOP Chain, and will lay a solid foundation for the later migration of various applications.
The mainnet generally refers to the public chain, and the public chain represents the infrastructure of a project. The launch of the mainnet means that this infrastructure is completed and can be used by developers in the network, while the mapping of the mainnet means the migration of the token, which is closely related to the interests of all users.
TOP Chain team has developed TOP Chain after a long time of exploration and verification, while mapping is the beginning of the complete embodiment of the value of TOP and will add more usage scenarios for TOP.
After the completion of the TOP mainnet mapping, users can truly enjoy a public chain with low cost and good experience, but without paying expensive ETH gas fees, which can stimulate voters and miners to participate in TOP mainnet mining. Meanwhile, the super high TPS of TOP Chain and its powerful support for real mass business will also start to manifest gradually.
Later on, the Dingtone App, which has more than 100 million global users, will also gradually migrate to TOP Chain, which will bring real applications and massive real users.
With the strong support of real applications and users, TOP Chain will surely attract more third-party developers to develop various DApps and further expand the scale of TOP ecosystem.
Secondly, mainnet mapping is also a big advantage for project tokens.
As we all know, the development cycle of blockchain mainnet is relatively long and very much tests the economic and technical ability of the team. Many public chain teams are just rubbing the heat and packaging through false propaganda, but actually have no plan to develop the mainnet at all. These coins are turned into air coins and become a playground for speculators.
And for the team that really sinks their teeth into the technology development, once the mainnet mapping is achieved, it’s major good news for the token price. Project tokens are backed by value and the token price will be boosted to some extent. In particular, the continuous accumulation of real applications and users gives the project tokens a value backing that can significantly increase the token price.
Finally, the successful mapping of the mainnet can also enhance users’ sense of belonging.
Especially after the mapping is completed, the address of TOP token will be changed from an Ethernet address to an address with the characteristics of TOP mainnet. This change of public chain address may seem minute, but it is more like a symbol of identity, bringing TOP users a more intimate sense of belonging. This improvement of user experience is an important intangible asset for TOP.
The mainnet mapping of TOP Chain will surely bring a lot of significant benefits to TOP, accelerate TOP ecological prosperity and start a new journey! | https://medium.com/top-network/what-exactly-does-top-mainnet-mapping-mean-for-top-ecosystem-d9d3466ea8e4 | ['Top Network Official Account'] | 2021-05-21 07:54:08.472000+00:00 | ['Top Mainnet', 'Mapping', 'Latest News'] |
Genesis Diagnostics | Genesis Diagnostics is full service clinical, toxicology, reference laboratory headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that is redefining diagnostic service provision in the medical field. Our Satellite offices are located in India (Genesis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.) and United Kingdom (Genesis Scientific).
Genesis Diagnostics ofiice
Through excellence in revenue cycle services, laboratory testing, service, research, and development, Genesis’ mission is to continually improve patient care. | https://medium.com/@genesisdxlab/genesis-diagnostics-e1d3a48fc4cd | ['Genesis Diagnostics'] | 2020-12-18 19:44:59.961000+00:00 | ['United States', 'Revenue Cycle Management', 'Genetic Testing', 'USA', 'Diagnostic Centre'] |
Who Am I | Photo by Joren Aranas on Unsplash
A Caricature of sorts
Who Am I
Who has this Society turned me into,
A caricature of sorts,
A cynic who turns away from her dreams,
The Romantic that still dreams of true love
A Lost Soul
A withered woman
A millennial who dreams of a future just outside her grasp.
The Future drifts further away As sickness spreads worldwide,
Lockdown after Lockdown,
The Neverending doors being closed,
Angry family members,
stressed out children,
Anxiety turning into,
obsessive cleaning,
Days of cleaning,
Organizing,
Tidying up
what I can,
Avoiding the things I can’t control,
The fears of a Neverending Pandemic,
Friends and Co-workers,
so far away,
The City I love outside my grasp,
Cousins,
Family members, I have to stay away from,
Safety only in common circles,
Masks, Masks,
Everywhere,
Weeks of hiding in my room,
The first time I’ve carved out a place for myself,
My writing cave,
Away from prying eyes,
My domain covered in, Water,
The fridge rejecting my father,
WILL THIS PANDEMIC EVER END? | https://medium.com/writers-blokke/who-am-i-ba500aa32495 | ['Nicole Maharaj'] | 2020-12-23 09:40:11.118000+00:00 | ['Poetry Writing', 'Love Yourself', 'Poetry', 'Personal Development', 'Lifestyle'] |
Day 812: Trump says ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’ despite wailing ‘I love WikiLeaks’ nonstop in 2016 | Day 812: Trump says ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’ despite wailing ‘I love WikiLeaks’ nonstop in 2016 TrumpTimer Apr 12, 2019·2 min read
WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, was arrested after being holed up in an Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years. He initially took refuge there to avoid being extradited to Sweden for a sexual assault case. Ecuador removed his haven of protection and ousted him on Thursday.
However, he now faces U.S. conspiracy charges related to leaked classified documents.
That leaves Donald Trump in a precarious situation. He proclaimed non-stop — at least 141 times in October 2016 alone — during the presidential campaign that he “loved WikiLeaks” and what they were doing as it related to publishing damaging information related to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
WikiLeaks — considered by many in the intelligence community to be a Russian tool — even communicated directly with members of Trump’s campaign staff, including son Donald, Jr.
Thursday, Trump seemed to get amnesia about his numerous statements and praises about WikiLeaks. When asked by a reporter if he still loved the organization, he responded, “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing.”
Videos, tweets and transcripts don’t lie: WikiLeaks very much was Trump’s thing in 2016.
Many of Trump’s biggest fans would like to pretend that the WikiLeaks make-out fest never happened too.
In just two years, Fox News host Sean Hannity went from inviting Julian Assange to fill in for him on his radio show to scrubbing all references to the WikiLeaks founder from his Twitter.
812 days in, 650 to go | https://medium.com/@trumptimer/day-812-trump-says-i-know-nothing-about-wikileaks-despite-wailing-i-love-wikileaks-4e5d27b5e1ab | [] | 2019-04-12 02:56:39.601000+00:00 | ['Donald Trump', '2016 Election', 'Politics', 'News', 'Wikileaks'] |
My experience with Google UX design certificate | I Finished today the UX design course 1 of 7 for Google UX Design Professional Certificate, and the experience was amazing. Everything about this User Experience (UX) Design course split into 4 weeks was perfect and very well structured, for me this course provides a good start in UX design, learning from key frameworks in the field to how to craft a UX portfolio.
I Know the Internet tells us we need to learn new tools, languages and frameworks to stay relevant, 🤯 but trust me if I tell you this first of a series of seven courses will equip you with the skills needed to apply to entry-level and also high-level jobs in user experience design, even for Non-English native speakers like me (I’m trying to do my best to avoid typos and grammar errors, so please don’t kill me if you found more than one 😊), this course offer captions (Not Translate) and visual elements and resources to help to understand the whole process and topics.
The following are but not limited to the key topics from my experience that are most prominent. | https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/my-experience-in-google-ux-design-certificate-course-1-of-7-169228ce91ed | ['Jose Hurtado'] | 2021-06-02 04:42:14.947000+00:00 | ['Google', 'Leanring', 'UX Design', 'User Experience', 'Certification'] |
Don’t bury the lead | A data scientist often drowns in information. Like a miner sifting for gold, we seek nuggets of insight. But what if nobody ever told you what was insightful?
It’s easy to go to the hills to look for gold and decide whether you found it. But if I told you to go to the hills to come back with something good, what would I get?
“Here’s the pinecone you wanted, sir.” “Oh that’s useless. I don’t want that. Get me something good. Really good. Not that.”
Was this exchange a wasted effort? Not entirely. Often we come out of a data exploration with pinecones, not knowing what was expected of us. But sometimes the adage, “I know it when I see it” applies to our stakeholders.
It’s rather inefficient to fetch and return with something, just to iterate slowly and learn you’re not getting what they’re looking for. One person described this once to me as asking a blind man to solve a Rubik’s cube. “Is it solved yet? No? Let me try again…”
How can we overcome this dilemma?
If they have no idea what they want, but they want you to create value, don’t waste your time. Go get a variety of pinecones, rocks, and bugs. See what sticks. Be variable. Rapidly iterate. Don’t optimize which pinecone is best. Don’t get stuck.
Or, a better place to start would be to discover burning questions. Problems that they have. Imagine you had the data they need. Then go see if you can find that data. (Seek the gold.)
It’s easy to bury the lead when you don’t know what the lead is. But if you know what they don’t know, start there. If they don’t know what they don’t know, feel it out. Experiment. Collect data. | https://medium.com/@bryangwhiting/dont-bury-the-lead-d03dbb5c1895 | ['Bryan Whiting'] | 2020-12-18 23:55:31.664000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Analysis Paralysis', 'Analysis'] |
New research findings could give pediatric brain tumors a one-two punch | New research findings could give pediatric brain tumors a one-two punch
Cancerous tumors cause disease in two ways: they grow and spread. But a new immune therapy approach may be able to target both problems simultaneously.
By Erin Digitale
At their most dangerous, cancerous tumors cause disease in two ways: they grow and spread. New research published today in Nature Communications shows that, in a severe childhood brain cancer called medulloblastoma, a single signaling pathway underlies the tumor’s ability to do both. The pathway may be a good target for new cancer treatments.
Medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain tumor, begins growing in a brain region called the cerebellum and sometimes spreads to the spinal cord. New treatments are badly needed because the current approach — surgery, followed by radiation and high doses of chemotherapy — has severe side effects, researcher Suzana Kahn, PhD, told me.
“For a child with a developing brain, radiation and chemotherapy often result in permanent cognitive and physical disabilities,” said Kahn, lead author of the new study. She was a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Stanford’s Irv Weissman, MD, when the research was done. And although surgery, radiation and chemo can vanquish the primary tumors in some patients, no treatments exist to target the cancer’s advance to the spinal cord.
In an effort to change that, Kahn and colleagues at several institutions studied signaling pathways suspected of helping the cancer metastasize. One pathway, controlled by a protein known as Notch 1, played a much more powerful role than they expected.
“Notch 1 was just amazing,” Kahn said. “We found out that not only is the Notch 1 signaling pathway responsible for advancement of the primary tumor in the cerebellum, it’s also driving metastases of this tumor to the spinal cord. This is the first evidence that unifies metastases and self-renewal in pediatric brain tumors along the same molecular path.”
Notch 1 sticks out from the cancer cells’ surfaces, particularly on medulloblastoma stem cells, which are especially potent drivers of the tumor’s growth. When it binds certain signals from outside the cells, Notch 1 activates a process that makes the cells less likely to stick to their neighbors — and more likely to move to the spine to form new tumors.
In mice implanted with human medulloblastoma tumors, the researchers were able to slow the progress of the tumors by giving an antibody that sticks to Notch 1 and blocks its ability to respond to other signals. “In this case, we’re not using the antibody to target the cancer cells for destruction; they’re just being used to block the downstream pathway,” Kahn said. Administering the blocking antibody slowed tumor progression and lengthened the survival time of the mice in the study.
The researchers are filing a patent for the use of the antibody in medulloblastoma therapy and are in the early stages of planning a clinical trial in humans. They hope their work will lead to safer and more powerful medulloblastoma therapies.
“It’s absolutely feasible to try in people,” Kahn said.
Photo by Kayla Harris | https://medium.com/scope-stanford-medicine/new-research-findings-could-give-pediatric-brain-tumors-a-one-two-punch-ce546a94afdf | ['Stanford Medicine'] | 2018-10-08 23:13:55.479000+00:00 | ['Cancer', 'Research', 'Biomedical Research', 'Stanford Scope', 'Pediatrics'] |
18 Tips For Writing JavaScript Code Like A Hero | During my years of programming, I always prioritized the way to write the code, not only so that it is clean but also because it helps the speed of processing and it is faster to write it.
It is not the same to write 1000 lines of code than 300, this helps a lot to the program or script that we are doing.
You have to be very careful when programming, because in large projects having “dirty” code can be a serious problem.
Many programmers criticize the JavaScript language for not having a standard way of working like Java or C ++ for example but the truth is that Javascript is one of the best languages that are being used in these times, some of them are Facebook and Netflix. Libraries like React among others improve Front-end performance and as for the backend, nextJs is used for greater speed, these combinations drive today’s programmers crazy.
ECMAScript v6 (Abbreviated as ES6 or ES2015) is the standard that JavaScript has followed since June 2015. Until then, the version of JS that we were using in our browsers and Node.js, in this post we will see about this
By learning the following tips you will be able to improve the way you write your code. Take your time and practice with the console to learn well.
Let's do it! 🔥
1. Use ‘const’ for the constants instead of ‘var’
Constants are variables that never change, declaring the variable this way we make sure they never change
/* Old way */
var i = 1; /* Correct */
const i = 1;
2. Use ‘let’ for the changing variables instead of ‘var’
The let statement declares a locally scoped variable with block scope, this variable will change:
/* Inadequate */
var myVal = 1;
for (var i; i < 10; i++){
myVal = 1 + i;
} /* Correct */
let myVal = 1;
for (let i; i < 10; i++){
myVal += i
}
3. Declaring Objects
Example for shortcut declaring objects:
/*
Old way
The Object() class makes an unnecessary function call
*/
const myObject = new Object(); /* Correct */
const myObject = {};
4. Declaring Arrays
Example for shortcut declaring arrays:
/*
Old way
The Array() class makes an unnecessary function call
*/
const myArray = new Array(); /* Correct */
const myArray = [];
5. Concatenate strings
Example for concatenating strings this is very helpful:
/* Old way */
const myStringToAdd = "world";
const myString = "hello " + myStringToAdd; /* Correct */
const myStringToAdd = "world";
const myString = `hello ${myStringToAdd}`;
6. Use object method shorthand
Example of useful functions in objects:
/* Inadequate */
const customObject = {
val: 1,
addVal: function () {
return customObject.val + 1;
}
} /* Correct */
const customObject = {
val: 1,
addVal(){
return customObject.val++
}
}
7. Creating the value of an Object
Example of creating a new object with value:
/* Inadequate */
const value = 1;
const myObject = {
value: value
} /* Correct */
const value = 1;
const myObject = {
value
}
8. Assign values to an Object
Example of assign object values to another object:
/* Old way */
const object1 = { val: 1, b: 2 };
let object2 = { d: 3, z: 4 };
object2.val = object1.val;
object2.b = object1.b; /* Correct */
const object1 = { val: 1, b: 2 };
const object2 = { ...object1, d: 3, z: 4 }
9. Assign a value to an Array
Example of shortcut assign a value in an array:
/* Inadequate */
const myArray = [];
myArray[myArray.length] = "hello world"; /* Correct */
const myArray = [];
myArray.push('Hello world');
10. Concatenate Arrays
Example of concatenating arrays:
/* Inadequate */
const array1 = [1,2,3,4];
const array2 = [5,6,7,8];
const array3 = array1.concat(array2); /* Correct */
const array1 = [1,2,3,4];
const array2 = [5,6,7,8];
const array3 = [...array1, ...array2]
11. Get multiple properties of an object
Example of creating a function with an object parameter:
/* Inadequate */
function getFullName(client){
return `${client.name} ${client.last_name}`;
} /* Correct */
function getFullName({name, last_name}){
return `${name} ${last_name}`;
}
12. Getting values from an object
Example to get values and create variables:
/* Inadequate */
const object1 = { a: 1 , b: 2 };
const a = object1.a;
const b = object1.b; /* Correct */
const object1 = { a: 1 , b: 2 };
const { a, b } = object1;
13. Creating functions
Example of shortcut functions with arrows:
/* Old way but good */
function myFunc() {} /* Good */
const myFunc = function() {} /* Best */
const myFunct = () => {} // IMPORTANT: In some cases it is not recommended to use these functions with arrows to avoid reading errors
14. Default values
Example of set default values in function parameters:
/* Inadequate */
const myFunct = (a, b) => {
if (!a) a = 1;
if (!b) b = 1;
return { a, b };
} /* Correct */
const myFunct = (a = 1, b = 1) => {
return { a, b };
}
15. Use ‘reduce’ Instead ‘forEach’ and ‘for’ to sum values
Example of shortcut sum of array:
/* Inadequate */
const values = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
let total = 0;
values.forEach( (n) => { total += n}) /* Inadequate */
const values = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
let total = 0;
for (let i; i < values.length; i++){
total += values[i];
} /* Correct */
const values = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
const total = values.reduce((total, num) => total + num);
16. Exist in array
/* Inadequate */
const myArray = [{a: 1}, {a: 2}, {a: 3}];
let exist = false;
myArray.forEach( item => {
if (item.a === 2) exist = true
}) /* Correct */
const myArray = [{a: 1}, {a: 2}, {a: 3}];
const exist = myArray.some( item => item.a == 2)
17. Shortcut if boolean
/* Inadequate */
const a = 1;
const b = 1;
let isTrue = false
if (a === b) {
isTrue = true
} /* Correct */
const a = 1;
const b = 1;
const isTrue = a === b
18. Shortcut if values
/* Inadequate */
const a = 5;
let b;
if (a === 5){
b = 3;
} else {
b = 2;
} /* Correct */
const a = 5;
const b = a === 5 ? 3 : 2;
Conclusion
The idea is that you review this post and you can practice how to work in a cleaner way and improve processing speed. I will be updating this post as I find new improvements
Remember if you have any questions or inquiries tell me, I would be very glad to help you. | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/18-tips-for-writing-javascript-code-like-a-hero-17ca1dc49da9 | ['Ivan C'] | 2020-12-29 18:47:51.684000+00:00 | ['Javascript Tips', 'Coding', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Web Development'] |
Why You Should Visit Africa | There are several reasons why Africa should top the list of places you need to go to. A wise man once said, “If I have ever seen magic, it has been in Africa.” — John Hemingway. If you are yet to witness the beautiful landscapes, the unending wildlife sceneries, the rich culture, live-changing history, and the magnificent landscapes; then your travel bucket list is not complete until you visit Africa. Reiteratively, we will be sharing with you some of the reasons why you need to visit Africa.
1. The People and culture.
Discover Africa’s timeless cultures. Africa’s culture is rich and very diverse. You can experience the changes when you go from one country to another or even from one city to another. However, these countries and cities also have rich cultures of theirs, thanks to the different tribes and ethnic groups that are located on the continent. You get to enjoy things such as the Art, Culture, as well as the food. One of the ways of preserving traditions and culture in Africa is through ‘Oral Literature.’ Among the most famed are the Yorubas in Nigeria, Masai in Kenya, the Zulus of South Africa, the traditionally nomadic san Bushmen, and the Owahimbas in Northern Namibia. You will also find some cosmopolitan cities in Africa. These cities include Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, Accra and more. Even though these cities are cosmopolitan, you will always get the African vibe when you visit.
2. The Hotspot for unique experiences.
If you are a thrill-seeker or you simply want to spice up your life a bit, most countries in Africa will provide you with tons of that. For instance, you can go shark cage diving and witness some of the rarest sea creatures like the great white shark which is said to be a rare shark breed in South Africa. Snorkeling in Zanzibar, Bungee jump at the Victoria Falls or visit Kruger National Park which is undoubtedly one of the largest game reserves in the world, a perfect destination for those who would love to go on a safari trip.
3. Excellent Food and Drinks.
Africa is where one finds the perfect mixture of culture and flavor. This is a place where strong Western influence is matched by outstanding delicacies. All of our foods are infused with a touch of nature, thanks to the ingredients which are fully sourced from nature. For instance, palm wine which is a traditional drink in Nigeria is sourced from the Palm Tree. Beyond this, each country in Africa has its own unique cuisine. Bunny-chow in Durban, freshly caught crayfish in Mozambique, German charcuterie and sausage in Namibia, Injira in Ethiopia, Amala in Nigeria, and Kapenta with sadza in Zimbabwe. These delicacies are some of the reasons why many travelers are visiting the continent to enjoy this delicious food and flavors.
4. Opportunity to make an impact.
In Africa, you’ll have an opportunity to make a difference. You’ll find many programs that help you give back to the community. For e.g. you can choose to work with Aramide a 20-year old and founder of Talent Mine Academy in Nigerian which is a tuition-free preparatory school for children that can not afford tuition. A program like this enables you to give back to the community and make a difference in a child’s life. Furthermore, volunteering in Africa lets you provide support for the locals and their community by giving back and making an impact on someone’s life.
5.The Amazing Landscapes.
Why not come over and experience the amazing landscapes? There are many incredible sceneries in Africa that are worth your time and every penny. Africa is top on the list with a few other countries with boasts of stunning beaches, vast savannas, as well as the beautiful mountains like the Nungwi Beach in Zanzibar, Turtle Islands in SierraLeone, Table Mountain in South Africa, The Fish River Canyon in Namibia the Gheralta Mountains in Ethiopia and more. You can also view the stunning sugar plantations, the volcanoes, and the amazing canyons. Come and explore nature’s finest, and you will definitely be thrilled.
6. Explore business opportunities.
In 2019, Africa had several investments in different sectors, according to EY Africa 2019 Africa attractiveness report. There are many opportunities in Africa that will not only generate a positive return on your investment but will also add value to people’s lives in Africa. You can take advantage of the business opportunity by focusing on solving Africa’s unique problems. From waste management to energy and transportation, Africa is a greenfield to invest with minimal competition. In addition, The 2019 Africa attractiveness report also shows economic growth in the continent as African leaders begin to change many policies and implement economic reforms in other to promote more investment in the continent. So if you are thinking of an investment opportunity or starting a business you need to consider Africa.
7. Learn about Africa history.
If you are not investing in Africa financially, educationally, or experiencing the landscapes, you can soak up Africa’s interesting history. You can discover about Nelson Mandela (Madiba), a tale of the apartheid revolution. Idi Amin, the fascinating tale of a tyrant. From the slave trade in Nigeria to the invasion by the colonials or Cape Coast in Ghana, you will discover the true history that surrounds Africa.
8. Experience nature.
The easiest way to get close to nature is by experiencing it. For instance, Maasai Mara in Kenya is one of the best places to discover nature at its fullest. from the big five to bird watching, you will get to indulge yourself in an experience of a lifetime. Bisate lodge in Rwanda is another luxurious yet eco-sensitive safari to experience nature. Africa is full of nature and you will get to experience it in an eco-friendly way because many of these natural experiences are design to sustain our environment and its natural inhabitant. It’s a fact that Africa’s unique wilderness surrounds itself with the aura that lets you experience nature in its full form. If you are interested in seeing different types of animals in a wildlife setting and more, then you should consider a trip to Africa.
There you have it, these are some of the reasons why you need to visit Africa soon. Are you ready for a life-changing experience? to understand how significant humans are, the important role humans play in helping to conserve wildlife and more importantly, to conserve nature. Not to mention the culture, food, history and the opportunity to have the adventure of a lifetime. Then take a trip to Africa to immerse yourself in an experience that you will enjoy and love.
This article was written by Millicent Okoye a skillful writer currently Living in Nigeria.
https://bookafricatravel.com/reasons-why-you-should-visit-africa/ | https://medium.com/@bookafricatravel/why-you-should-visit-africa-ce9536242028 | ['Bookafrica Travel'] | 2020-03-07 16:47:38.099000+00:00 | ['Travel Writing', 'Travel', 'Africa', 'Tours And Travels', 'Travel Tips'] |
Code Smell 47 — Diagrams. Diagrams are not code. They cannot be a… | Code Smell 47 — Diagrams
Photo by Nick Seagrave on Unsplash
Problems
Maintainability
Trash code
Code Duplication
Diagrams focus only on structure (accidental) and not behavior (essential).
Solutions
Use diagrams only to communicate ideas with other humans. Program on your favorite IDE. Thrash all diagrams. Even the ones generated from the source code. Trust your tests. They are alive and well maintained. Use Domain Driven Design technique.
Sample Code
Wrong
Right
Detection
We can remove all code annotations and forbid them by policy.
Examples
Conclusion
Designing is a contact sport. We need to prototype and learn from our running models.
Papers and JPGs don’t run. They live in the utopic world where everything works smoothly.
CASE was a very hot trend back in the 90s. No good system was developed with these tools.
Relations
More info | https://medium.com/dev-genius/code-smell-47-diagrams-b8bc7702a085 | ['Maximiliano Contieri'] | 2020-12-09 09:31:29.644000+00:00 | ['Software Design', 'Code Smells', 'Case', 'Uml', 'Clean Code'] |
PIMA Indian Diabetes Prediction | PIMA Indian Diabetes Prediction
Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body develops a resistance to insulin, a hormone which converts food into glucose. Diabetes affect many people worldwide and is normally divided into Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Both have different characteristics. This article intends to analyze and create a model on the PIMA Indian Diabetes dataset to predict if a particular observation is at a risk of developing diabetes, given the independent factors. This article contains the methods followed to create a suitable model, including EDA along with the model.
Dataset
The dataset can be found on the Kaggle website. This dataset is originally from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and can be used to predict whether a patient has diabetes based on certain diagnostic factors. Starting off, I use Python 3.3 to implement the model. It is important to perform some basic analysis to get an overall idea of the dataset.
#Importing basic packages
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
from pandas_profiling import ProfileReport #Importing the Dataset
diabetes = pd.read_csv(“diabetes.csv”)
dataset = diabetes #EDA using Pandas Profiling
file = ProfileReport(dataset)
file.to_file(output_file=’output.html’)
Pandas profiling is an efficient way to get an overall as well as in-depth information about the dataset and the variables in it. However, caution must be exercised if the dataset is very large as Pandas Profiling is time-consuming. Since the dataset has only 768 observations and 9 columns, we use this function. The output gets saved as an HTML report in the working directory.
Overview of the Dataset
We can see the basic information about the dataset such as the size, missing values, etc. On the top right, we see 8 of numerical columns and 1 Boolean column (which is our dependent variable). In the lower panel, (%) of zeros are given in every column, which will be an useful information for us later. We do not have any categorical variable as an independent variable.
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
Having observed the basic characteristics of the dataset, we now move on to observe characteristics of the variables involved in the study. Again, Pandas Profiling comes to our rescue. The same HTML report gives information on the variables.
Independent Variable: Age
Let’s have a look at Age. By having a quick look at the histogram on the top right, we can observe much of the characteristics. The variable does not follow a normal distribution as it is skewed to the right (or positively skewed). The average age is is 33 whereas the median age is 29. This further confirms our analysis (as in case of normal distribution, the mean should be approximately equal to the median). Most importantly, none of the values seem abnormal, that is, the minimum age of 21 and the maximum age of 81 are possible for the study. Let’s have a look at other variables.
Independent Variable: Blood Pressure
Doing the same for Blood Pressure, we can see that the variable can approximate to a normal distribution. However, we can not confirm that visually. We hence perform the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality. The null hypothesis (Ho) is that the data is normal.
from scipy.stats import shapiro stat, p = shapiro(dataset['BloodPressure'])
print('Statistics=%.3f, p=%.3f' % (stat, p)) Statistics=0.819, p=0.000
The p-value is less than 0.001, implying that at 5% Level of Significance (LOS) we reject our null hypothesis (Ho). Therefore, the variable does not follow a normal distribution.
Secondly, if we observe the minimum value for Blood Pressure, it is given as 0 (which is not possible). Therefore, there is incorrect information given. We have two choices now. One is to drop such observations (which results in 4.6% loss of data) or we can replace such values with median (imputing). I prefer imputing as we have a small dataset (768 observation only). Hence, every information is important.
We can simply replace the zero values by median or we can classify the variable based on outcome and then replace the two separately. The latter seems more efficient. We draw a violin graph to have a look at the behavior.
#Classifying the Blood Pressure based on class
ax = sns.violinplot(x=”Outcome”, y=”BloodPressure”, data=dataset, palette=”muted”, split=True)
We get the above graph. If we observe minutely, we can see that the box plot for 1 (Diabetic) inside the violin is a little more away from the horizontal axis than the box plot for 0 (Non Diabetic). It can be implied that diabetics seem to have a higher blood pressure than the non-diabetics. The bottom tail of the violins indicates the zero values we need to replace. We will replace the zeros for 1 with median of 1 and same for 0.
#Replacing the zero-values for Blood Pressure
df1 = dataset.loc[dataset['Outcome'] == 1]
df2 = dataset.loc[dataset['Outcome'] == 0] df1 = df1.replace({'BloodPressure':0}, np.median(df1['BloodPressure']))
df2 = df2.replace({'BloodPressure':0}, np.median(df2['BloodPressure'])) dataframe = [df1, df2]
dataset = pd.concat(dataframe)
There won’t be any zero-values in BloodPressure column post this. Let’s move to the next variable.
Independent Variable: BMI
The variable seems to be closely following the normal distribution as the mean and median are approximately equal. However, it faces the same problem as before, that is, the existence of zero-values. Let’s draw a violin plot for this variable.
We can observe that the 1 follows normal distribution, while 0 doesn’t. Also, BMI for diabetics is more than BMI for non-diabetics (can be observed using box plot). We do the same treatment for zero-values in BMI that we followed for zero-values for Blood Pressure. In this case, we can also replace by mean, however, I will stick with median. We run the same code after changing the column name. Moving on to the next variable.
Independent Variable: DiabetesPedigreeFunction
Diabetes Pedigree Function is a positively skewed variable with no zero values. We use the same violin plot to observe the characteristics.
Same hypothesis can be formed. Diabetics seem to have a higher pedigree function that the non-diabetics. Moving on to the 5th independent variable.
Independent Variable: Glucose
Analyzing Glucose, we observe the variable not following the normal distribution. We encounter zero-values in this instance as well. There are 5 such values for which treatment is required. We perform the same treatment as before, replacing by median (class-wise).
Observing the violin plot, we see a massive vertical distance between the box-plot for Diabetics and Non-Diabetics. This indicates that Glucose can be a very important variable in model-building. After treating the zero values, we move to the next variable.
Independent Variable: Insulin
As mentioned in the data dictionary available with the dataset, Insulin is the 2-Hour serum insulin (mu U/ml). The variable is positively skewed. However, the occurrence of zero-values is high in this case, making up 48.7% of the data. This data has to be imputed. We first treat these.
After treating the zero-values, we derive at this graph. We can still see 0 as the median for Insulin for Diabetics. However, for Non-Diabetics, Insulin is a little higher. It can be roughly hypothesized that Insulin for Diabetics is lower than Non-Diabetics. Moving forward to Pregnancies.
Independent Variable: Pregnancies
The variable is positively skewed with 14.5% zero values. We need not treat zero values as its not an abnormal occurrence. However, given the fact that 85.5% of the values is non-zero, we can infer that this study is done for females only. Looking at the behavior using violin plots we observe diabetic women had more pregnancies than non-diabetic.
Independent Variable: SkinThickness
Moving on to our last independent variable, we observe the same patterns as most of the previous variable. The data is positively skewed with 29.6% of zero values. After treating, we use the violin plot to observe a crude relationship.
Skin Thickness for Diabetics is more than that of Non-Diabetics.
Our Dependent Variable ‘Outcome’ takes Boolean values 0 and 1. 0 indicates non-diabetic and 1 indicates diabetic. To examine the occurrence, we use a simple bar plot
Frequency of 0 and 1 in Outcome
The imbalance in the data can be clearly seen with 0 (Non-Diabetic) being the modal class. We will treat this imbalance later in the process.
Checking for Multi collinearity
The correlation matrix below uses Pearson’s correlation coefficient to illustrate the relationship between variables. From the figure, a significant correlation can be observed between Pregnancies and Age. To further confirm, we calculate the correlation coefficient.
from scipy.stats import pearsonr corr, _ = pearsonr(dataset[‘Age’], dataset[‘Pregnancies’])
print(‘Pearsons correlation: %.3f’ % corr)
Pearsons correlation: 0.544
The correlation coefficient (r) is 0.544. By a rule of thumb, in case of an r above 0.70, multi-collinearity is expected. Hence, no significant case of multi-collinearity is observed.
Treating Outliers and Non-Normality
Outliers are extreme values existing in the dataset. It is necessary to treat outliers if a distance-based algorithm (logistic regression, SVM, etc) is applied on the dataset. Outliers do not affect a tree-based algorithm. Since we will use both distance and tree-based algorithms, we will scale our data to treat outliers. We use Standard Scaler for the process. Standard Scaler transforms the feature by subtracting the mean and dividing with the standard deviation. This way the feature also gets close to standard normal distribution with mean 0.
#Splitting the data into dependent and independent variables
Y = dataset.Outcome
x = dataset.drop(‘Outcome’, axis = 1)
columns = x.columns from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
scaler = StandardScaler()
X = scaler.fit_transform(x) data_x = pd.DataFrame(X, columns = columns)
We have scaled our X values.
Splitting the dataset into Training and Test data
We now split our processed dataset into Training and Test data. The Test data size is take to be 15% of the entire data (which means 115 observations) and the model will be trained on 653 observations.
#Splitting the data into training and test
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
x_train, x_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(data_x, Y, test_size = 0.15, random_state = 45)
Plot showing frequency of 0 and 1 in Y train
A huge imbalance can be observed in the y_train values. To overcome this problem, we use the SMOTE technique.
Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) is used to remove the imbalance in the training data by creating samples using the current data. It does not create duplicates. Remember it is always done on the Training Date and not on the original data as the Test Data should only contain real-life values and not the synthetic sample.
from imblearn.over_sampling import SMOTE smt = SMOTE() x_train, y_train = smt.fit_sample(x_train, y_train) np.bincount(y_train)
Out[74]: array([430, 430])
We now have a balanced Training data.
Our data is now prepared to fit a model
Model Fitting: Logistic Regression
The first model we fit on the training data is the Logistic Regression.
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression
logreg = LogisticRegression()
logreg.fit(x_train, y_train) y_pred = logreg.predict(x_test)
print('Accuracy of logistic regression classifier on test set: {:.2f}'.format(logreg.score(x_test, y_test))) Out[76]: Accuracy of logistic regression classifier on test set: 0.73
We get a 73% accuracy score on the test data.
print(f1_score(y_test, y_pred, average=”macro”))
print(precision_score(y_test, y_pred, average=”macro”))
print(recall_score(y_test, y_pred, average=”macro”))
0.723703419131771
0.7220530003045994
0.7263975155279503
Our Precision for the model stands at 0.722. This indicates that 72% of the time our model classified the patients in a high risk category when they actually had a high risk of getting diabetes.
The Recall/Sensitivity is 0.726, implying of 72% of the time people having actually having high risk were classified correctly by our model.
Model Fitting: Support Vector Machine (Kernel: rbf)
The first model we fit on the training data is the Support Vector Machine (SVM). SVM uses many kernels to classify the data. We use rbf/Gaussian kernel to fit the first model.
from sklearn.svm import SVC classifier_rbf = SVC(kernel = ‘rbf’)
classifier_rbf.fit(x_train, y_train) y_pred = classifier_rbf.predict(x_test) print('Accuracy of SVC (RBF) classifier on test set: {:.2f}'.format(classifier_rbf.score(x_test, y_test)))
Out[76]: Accuracy of SVC (RBF) classifier on test set: 0.75 print(f1_score(y_test, y_pred, average="macro"))
print(precision_score(y_test, y_pred, average="macro"))
print(recall_score(y_test, y_pred, average="macro"))
0.7431080565101182
0.7410256410256411
0.7481366459627329
We have an improved accuracy using SVM with rbf kernel. The model accuracy comes to 75%, with improved Precision and Recall values compared to Logistic Regression.
Model Fitting: Random Forest
We use Random Forest Classifier, with 300 trees (derived at after tuning the model) to fit a model on the data.
from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier model = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=300, bootstrap = True, max_features = ‘sqrt’) model.fit(x_train, y_train) y_pred = model.predict(x_test)
print('Accuracy of Random Forest on test set: {:.2f}'.format(model.score(x_test, y_test))) Out[95]: Accuracy of Random Forest on test set: 0.88 print(f1_score(y_test, y_pred, average="macro"))
print(precision_score(y_test, y_pred, average="macro"))
print(recall_score(y_test, y_pred, average="macro"))
0.8729264475743349
0.8762626262626263
0.8701863354037267
We get the highest accuracy for Random Forest, with the score reaching 88%. This implies, our model predicted classified correctly 88% of the times.
The Precision score stood at 0.876, implying our model correctly classified observations with high risk in the high risk category 87.6% of the times. The Recall stood at 0.870.
We also have an F1 score of 0.872. The F1 score is the harmonic mean of precision and recall. It assigns equal weight to both the metrics. However, for our analysis it is relatively more important for the model to have low false negative cases (as it will be dangerous to classify high risk patients in low risk category). Therefore, we individually look at Precision and Recall.
The figure above shows the relative importance of features and their contribution to the model. Since it was a small dataset with less columns, I didn’t use Feature Selection technique such as PCA.
Conclusion
We thus select the Random Forest Classifier as the right model due to high accuracy, precision and recall score. One reason why Random Forest Classifier showed an improved performance was because of the presence of outliers. As mentioned before, since Random Forest is not a a distance based algorithm, it is not much affected by outliers, whereas distance based algorithm such as Logistic Regression and Support Vector showed a lower performance.
Based on the feature importance:
Glucose is the most important factor in determining the onset of diabetes followed by BMI and Age. Other factors such as Diabetes Pedigree Function, Pregnancies, Blood Pressure, Skin Thickness and Insulin also contributes to the prediction.
As we can see, the results derived from Feature Importance makes sense as one of the first things that actually is monitored in high-risk patients is the Glucose level. An increased BMI might also indicate a risk of developing Type II Diabetes. Normally, especially in case of Type II Diabetes, there is a high risk of developing as the age of a person increases (given other factors).
We now come to the end of the project. I did not go in-depth of the techniques I used. However, there are some really good articles that helped me in doing the same.
As always, I welcome constructive criticism, feedback, and discussion. I can be reached on Gmail: [email protected]
References
Dataset and Data Information: https://www.kaggle.com/uciml/pima-indians-diabetes-database
Pandas Profiling: https://towardsdatascience.com/speed-up-your-exploratory-data-analysis-with-pandas-profiling-88b33dc53625
Violin Plots: https://seaborn.pydata.org/generated/seaborn.violinplot.html
Shapiro-Wilk Test for Normality: https://machinelearningmastery.com/a-gentle-introduction-to-normality-tests-in-python/
Scaling/Outlier Treatment: https://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/generated/sklearn.preprocessing.StandardScaler.html
Outlier Treatment: https://towardsdatascience.com/ways-to-detect-and-remove-the-outliers-404d16608dba
SMOTE: https://machinelearningmastery.com/smote-oversampling-for-imbalanced-classification/
Precision and Recall: https://towardsdatascience.com/beyond-accuracy-precision-and-recall-3da06bea9f6c | https://towardsdatascience.com/pima-indian-diabetes-prediction-7573698bd5fe | ['Ishan Choudhary'] | 2020-03-19 16:15:10.376000+00:00 | ['Predictive Analytics', 'Diabetes', 'Machine Learning', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Random Forest'] |
Flow coordinator pattern on steroids | Flow coordinator pattern is excellent for structuring app navigation and making code clean and reusable. However, it has some flaws too. The coordinator is not working great with native navigation and back swipes.
The goal
The goal is to modify flow coordinator so we can use it both with custom and native back action, as well as swipe back. However, it’s a necessity to maintain clean code which is easy to read, reuse and upgrade.
The problem
The major problem with UINavigationController is that clicking on the default back button, or navigating back with a swipe, pops the view controller and the coordinator is not aware of it.
There are many answers to the problem. Here are Khanlou’s and Ian MacCallum’s. The solution you are about to see is a bit different. Look all three and choose what suits you the most.
The solution concept
As you already know, controllers don’t know anything about the coordinator. They only expose an interface that informs the coordinator when navigation should happen. That means only view controllers should notify coordinator. Default back action on UINavigationController isn’t informing anyone, so that needs to change.
If you use swipe as back action problem is a bit different. You need to catch the moment when a back swipe finishes the transition, to notify the coordinator. But unlike in the previous example, the coordinator shouldn’t do the popping only action after it if needed.
Implementing the solution
Handling default back action
If we want to change default back action, we can do it by changing the controller’s navigationItem. Every controller needs to implement this. We could either do this in BaseViewController (base class for every controller in the app) or custom UINavigationController. I think a better solution is to do this in custom UINavigationController because we can also change the design of a back button and controller title.
In the dependency container (more about it here), you should call the customizeBackButtonMethod. We need to save those values as we are going to use them more than once.
We need to customize every controller. We can do it by overriding the pushViewController method because it has a pointer to the next view controller. Here you should call setupCustomBackButton method.
There we are initializing custom back button and setting an action for it. After that, you have to change the view controller’s navigationItem by setting leftBarButtonItem as the custom back button.
The last thing to do is to create action for our custom back button. Clicking on the button, we need to inform the view controller, and view controller should inform the coordinator. The best way is to use the delegation pattern. So we should create CoordinatorNavigationControllerDelegate protocol and define didSelectCustomBackAction method. Now we can define weak delegate property in CoordinatorNavigationController.
Our custom button will call actionBack when clicked. There we use the delegate property we’ve just created and call didSelectCustomBackAction method.
CoordinatorNavigationController is completed, now we have to implement CoordinatorNavigationControllerDelegate in our view controllers. Because every view controller needs to extend the delegate, we should do it in BaseViewController.
In view controller’s viewDidAppear method we should set the delegate. We have to do this in the viewDidAppear method for two reasons: only one controller at the time can be CoordinatorNavigationController’s delegate, and when navigation does go back to a controller, we need to set the delegate again. We could set it in the viewWillAppear method, but we would have a problem with the swiping back. I will address this problem later.
Example
As you can see AuthCoordinator knows about four view controllers ChooseLoginRegisterViewController, LoginViewController, RegisterViewController and TermsAndConditionsViewController. WalktroughCoordinator knows only about WalktroughViewController. In real the app example, WalktroughCoordinator wouldn’t be a child of AuthCoordinator. We need to implement this flow.
App Structure
In RegisterViewController we need to override didSelectCustomBackAction and to notify the coordinator. Then the coordinator needs to pop the view controller.
In WalktroughViewController we again need to override didSelectCustomBackAction. In WalktroughCoordinator we are poping view controller and calling finish flow. AuthCoordinator then removes WalktroughCoordinator from its childCoordinators array.
There you have it. The coordinator is now working great with the native navigation bar. Moreover, as you can see in the example, you can customize the back button. Our code is still clean and reusable. For you who want to test the solution before we start swiping back, here is code example.
Handling swipe back
First of all, we have to make a public function for enabling back swipe. We are going to do it in CoordinatorNavigationController.
Now we need to add a new method to our CoordinatorNavigationControllerDelegate protocol. We should call that method when swipe back is finished to notify the view controller that change has happened. Then the view controller needs to notify the coordinator.
Next step is to catch the moment when a back swipe is over and to call transitionBackFinished method. We should use UINavigationControllerDelegate for catching that moment. That means we have to set the delegate in the viewDidLoad method. If you have read my previous articles about the coordinator, you remember that the Router used to extend UINavigationControllerDelegate. We have to change it.
In the delegate’s method navigationControllerWillShowViewController, firstly we have to make sure that transition isn’t canceled (we could start back swipe and then decide to stay on the same controller). If it isn’t, we call transitionBackFinished method.
Note: When I was talking about setting CoordinatorNavigationControllerDelegate property in BaseViewController, I’ve mentioned that we couldn’t set it in the viewWillAppear method. The reason is that the viewWillAppear is called immediately we start swiping back. We don’t want that.
When a transition is over, we set duringPushAnimation to false — that property we use in UIGestureRecognizerDelegate methods. We don’t want to allow the user to swipe back during push animation.
If we use custom transition, we want to disable back swipe because we are not sure how is the state of UI on the previous screen. This part is optional, so change it if you want to. For more information about flow coordinator and custom transitions, you can read it here.
Example
We will use the same flow from above.
RegisterViewContoller doesn’t need to override transitionBackFinished method. Back swipe will pop RegisterViewContoller, and we don’t need to inform the coordinator about it. There is no action needed for that use case.
We show LoginViewController with the fade transition. Swipe back doesn’t work on that controller as we mentioned earlier. Even if you enabled swipe back for it, we wouldn’t need to override transitionBackFinished method for the same reasons as above.
However, in WalktroughViewController we have to. When going back from WalktroughViewController, as we mentioned earlier, AuthCoordinator removes WalktroughCoordinator from its childCoordinators array, so we have to notify the WalktroughCoordinator that swipe back occurred.
Using shouldPopViewController property in the onFinishWalktrough variable, we will determine should we pop view controller before we call finish flow.
Finally, we’ve finished! The coordinator works excellent with the native navigation bar and the swipe back action. Again, here is the code example.
Conclusion
We’ve removed some of the flow coordinators most significant flaws. On the other hand, we’ve made the pattern even more complicated. However, I think the tradeoff is good.
I hope you enjoyed this approach and found some useful ideas. If you have questions, or you see some places for improvement, please let me know.
Resources & Reading list | https://medium.com/flawless-app-stories/flow-coordinator-pattern-on-steroids-a52021e31bfe | ['Pavle Pesic'] | 2019-06-18 16:18:12.763000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Swift', 'Programming', 'iOS App Development', 'Mobile'] |
The Missing Tool to Cross-Chain Development and Interoperable Blockchains: the Chain Abstraction Layer | The Chain Abstraction Layer is a flexible, modular library for developing disintermediated solutions across different blockchains.
Multi-chain Block Explorer
In recent years, there has been an increasing divide between communities in the cryptocurrency space. There are already large divides within the Bitcoin community, and increasingly so between different chains; “third generation” blockchain communities exacerbate the situation by claiming to push both camps into obsolescence.
Certainly there are intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for concentrating on specific chains, but in order for this experiment to succeed, the community as a whole must look ahead at the larger vision of disintermediation: the removal of middlemen. Yet, there does not seem to be a community focused on bridging and combining the efforts of these different ecosystems.
With the Chain Abstraction Layer, Liquality contributors hope to catalyze a new community — one that improves tools to empower developers to continue solving real problems across different blockchains through extending the paradigm of disintermediation.
The Difficulty in Building Cross-Chain
Lacking standards and unified providers for retrieving data and signing transactions across chains, developers are left at the mercy of their own workarounds to build useful solutions. Unfortunately, the difficulty in building across blockchains induces single chain myopia, due to the duplication of efforts in areas including:
Querying and broadcasting different chains’ data
Signing across different hardware wallet providers
Deploying nodes and JSON RPC interfaces
This has led to developers’ over-reliance on a limited number of services, reintroducing single points of failure.
The Chain Abstraction Layer
The Chain Abstraction Layer (CAL) is a flexible, modular library that currently allows developers to easily query and broadcast to multiple chains through a single interface. By normalizing data returned from the different chains, it simplifies the development process.
The Chain Abstraction Layer can be applied in a range of use cases, including:
Open Source Block Explorers
In-Browser Cross-Chain Interfaces for Software and Hardware Wallets
Multi-Token Payments for Decentralized Applications
Decentralized, Disintermediated Exchanges and Atomic Swaps
To understand how the CAL normalizes data obtained from both chains, observe how the call to getBlockByNumber functions on both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Now that both chains have been setup, developers can run bitcoin.getBlockByNumber even though it is not natively supported by a JSON RPC call to Bitcoin Core. bitcoin.getBlockByNumber(1).then((result) => {console.log(result)}) outputs:
{
number: 1,
hash: '46b6...c350',
timestamp: 1526989363,
difficulty: '4.656542373906925e-10',
size: 262,
parentHash: '0f91...2206',
nonce: 0,
confirmations: 1562,
strippedsize: 226,
weight: 940,
version: 536870912,
versionHex: '20000000',
merkleroot: 'e12b...46e0',
tx: [ 'e12b...46e0' ],
time: 1526989363,
mediantime: 1526989363,
bits: '207fffff',
chainwork: '0000...0004',
previousblockhash: '0f91...2206',
nextblockhash: '0f65...5a1d',
height: 1,
transactions: [ 'e12b...46e0' ]
}
And as expected, developers can also run the exact same command on Ethereum where eth_getBlockByNumber is a built-in JSON RPC call. ethereum.getBlockByNumber(1).then((result) => {console.log(result)}) outputs:
{
number: '1',
hash: 'c7fd...2465',
timestamp: '5b8c7418',
difficulty: '0',
size: '03e8',
parentHash: 'b114...c0c0',
nonce: '0000000000000000',
mixHash: '1010...1010',
sha3Uncles: '1dcc...9347',
logsBloom: '0000...0000',
transactionsRoot: '56e8...b421',
stateRoot: '8cdd...6476',
receiptsRoot: '56e8...b421',
miner: '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
totalDifficulty: '0',
extraData: '00',
gasLimit: '6691b7',
gasUsed: '043bd6',
transactions: [ '2ac6...1dd2' ],
uncles: []
}
As you might have noticed from the outputs, the CAL has already taken care of some normalization. Some normalized fields include:
number
hash
timestamp
difficulty
size
parentHash
nonce
With the CAL, the process for retrieving block information from both Bitcoin and Ethereum has been greatly simplified.
Block Explorer Tutorial: The Chain Abstraction Layer Applied
Provided below are example workflows of developing a multi-chain block explorer with React, both without and with the Chain Abstraction Layer.
Without CAL
For this purpose of this tutorial, it is assumed that the developer has MetaMask installed, as well as an instance of bitcoind with regtest.
Using bitcoin-cli, developers can query the Bitcoin node by first calling getblockhash(blockNumber) , then by calling getblock(blockHash) :
bitcoin-cli getblockhash 2 > 0f658f45d25e532aeeb75f84ecfae977cb71ae435890d4e26e6b58e168555a1d bitcoin-cli getblock 0f658f45d...8555a1d > {
"hash": "0f658f...555a1d",
"confirmations": 1662,
"strippedsize": 226,
"size": 262,
"weight": 940,
"height": 2,
"version": 536870912,
"versionHex": "20000000",
"merkleroot": "2cce42...5ad963",
"tx": [
"2cce42...5ad963"
],
"time": 1526989364,
"mediantime": 1526989363,
"nonce": 0,
"bits": "207fffff",
"difficulty": 4.656542373906925e-10,
"chainwork": "000000...000006",
"previousblockhash": "46b6ef...d0c350",
"nextblockhash": "5d3ccb...51595c"
}
Now onto Ethereum — using web3 provided by MetaMask, developers can query block data by calling web3.eth.getBlock(blockHashOrBlockNumber, callback) , which will return the following data:
{
"number": 3,
"hash": "0xef95f2...e34b46",
"parentHash": "0x2302e1...af9c88",
"nonce": "0xfb6e1a62d119228b",
"sha3Uncles": "0x1dcc4d...d49347",
"logsBloom": "0x000000...000000",
"transactionsRoot": "0x3a1b03...415bee",
"stateRoot": "0xf11331...515bcb",
"miner": "0x8888f1f195afa192cfee860698584c030f4c9db1",
"difficulty": BigNumber,
"totalDifficulty": BigNumber,
"size": 616,
"extraData": "0x",
"gasLimit": 3141592,
"gasUsed": 21662,
"timestamp": 1429287689,
"transactions": [
"0x9fc764...836d8b"
],
"uncles": []
}
From the outputs above, it is clear that many of the values returned are similar, but not normalized. For example, it takes two calls to get block info on Bitcoin — to display the proper data, implementing this functionality into a multi-blockchain explorer would require multiple if statements for each subsequent chain, like so:
Though this if statement workaround may suffice for two chains, any subsequent chains would also require duplicate efforts of data normalization.
With CAL
Using the Chain Abstraction Layer, this process is simplified through the normalization of commonalities:
bitcoin.getBlockByNumber(1).then((result) => {console.log(result)})
{
hash: '46b6...c350',
size: 262,
nonce: 0,
difficulty: '4.656542373906925e-10',
number: 1,
timestamp: 1526989363,
parentHash: '0f91...2206',
transactions: [ 'e12b...46e0' ],
...
}
ethereum.getBlockByNumber(1).then((result) => {console.log(result)})
{
hash: '0xc7fd...2465',
number: '0x1',
parentHash: '0xb114...c0c0',
nonce: '0x0000000000000000',
difficulty: '0x0',
size: '0x03e8',
timestamp: undefined,
transactions: [ '0x2ac6...1dd2' ],
...
}
Through the CAL, the following common fields have been normalized in the outputs:
number
hash
timestamp
difficulty
size
parentHash
nonce
By including these common fields, developers can easily create a multi-blockchain explorer. Furthermore, the CAL enables easy integration of multiple providers, such as Ledger and MetaMask; here is a comparison between implementing a Ledger provider for Web3 vs CAL.
In the Web3 example, it is possible to setup both a signing and RPC Sub-provider using a Ledger Wallet Sub-provider, but requires some setup. Additionally, notice how all calls are RPC calls made directly to the node.
Using the CAL, providers can be easily added to a client, and calls to nodes are normalized cross-chain.
This allows developers to:
Switch providers easily
Remove code bloat
Call functions without specifying chains
Access personal nodes vs. use intermediated services
Empowering Cross-chain Decentralization & Disintermediation
A few weeks ago, $13.5 million in Ether was stolen from Bancor. But isn’t Bancor a decentralized exchange, meaning that it can’t be hacked? The truth is, Bancor may be built on top of a decentralized platform, but it is not disintermediated.
Line 6 of Bancor’s Converter contract shows that there is an owner for the entire contract.
This means that many function calls within the contract such as issuance, destruction, and disablement of transfer functions have a central point of failure — Bancor, the owner of the contract. Ironically, the same vulnerability that enabled the hack against Bancor contracts, also enabled the Bancor team to stop the bleeding by disabling the transfer of tokens.
Owned contracts like Bancor’s highlight vulnerabilities brought about by intermediation. If Bancor had designed the contracts without owners, kill switches, or admin privileges to enable free and open exchange, then Bancor would have never been hacked.
With the CAL, developers are free to use and extend disintermediated atomic swap functionality, which can empower users with just-in-time, peer-to-peer exchange, with no chance of a hack.
How to Move Forward
The Chain Abstraction Layer provides the missing piece of the puzzle for developers looking to create cross-chain solutions to address the pain-points of intermediation.
In the coming weeks, Liquality contributors will release a React UI component library to accompany the CAL, addressing everything from Address Input to Wallet Display.
Critical to reenabling the fundamental human right to transact, the necessary atomic swap components (like hash time locked contracts) can be found in the CAL, enabling developers to create disintermediated exchange functionality.
Ultimately, developers have the choice to either:
Address the painpoints brought about by trusted systems and enable peer-to-peer transactions by removing themselves out of the equation; or
Reincarnate intermediation and lose the benefits of consensus-based networks
The choice is yours.
If you’d like to try out the CAL and get involved with the free software project, explore the Liquality Github repo and Telegram channel. | https://medium.com/liquality/the-missing-tool-to-cross-chain-development-2ebfe898efa1 | [] | 2020-10-13 22:35:18.199000+00:00 | ['Disintermediation', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Decentralization'] |
Do you enjoy sunbathing? | Day 004 #100daysofqanda2
Photo by Edgar Chaparro on Unsplash
My relationship with the Sun remains complicated. I appreciate the sunshine on a cool Spring day, sure.
When it comes to sweltering heat on a Summer’s afternoon… let’s just say I’m not a fan. Not even a little bit.
I didn’t hit the DNA jackpot regarding the possibility of lying on a beach without melting like a caramel flavoured ice cream on a wafer cone.
What can I say?
If I don’t plaster myself with sunscreen my skin will resemble an overcooked marshmallow at a campfire.
I get dizzy if I wander too much in the sun. Even with a hat on? Yes, even with a hat on.
Basically, I’m built for the tundra, not the tropics. Not that I live there. I’m in a four-season climate, thank you very much. There’s always a silver lining, I suppose.
Anyway, I feel like I’m rambling. So, no. Sunbathing is not on the list of things I enjoy.
How about you?
Love ya and take care!
If you want to answer the question please do so in a comment.
Thank you very much for reading! Hit me up on Twitter or Instagram with your answer. | https://medium.com/@piart33/do-you-enjoy-sunbathing-c81679cc59b8 | [] | 2019-04-05 16:58:21.832000+00:00 | ['Ice Cream', 'Writing', 'Questions', 'Thoughts And Feelings', 'Summer'] |
My honest UX case study on OfferUp | Overview
OfferUp is the largest mobile marketplace in the US. People can buy and sell locally easily. The app is known to be a community based sales platform that allows users to list and sell items directly on the app. Similar to Craigslist or eBay, sellers can create their own descriptions of the product, name their price, and interact with interested buyers. While known for marketing its use to local buyers and sellers.
Several things differentiate the app from other similar eCommerce platforms. One perk is the built-in camera feature (Fig 1.2) which allows for easy uploading of product photos. OfferUp also integrates a peer-to-peer rating system which motivates better user behavior, keeping security and transparency as top priorities. When a buyer makes an offer on an item and the seller accepts, OfferUp prompts the users to find a public location for the exchange and warns against sharing personal numbers or emails.
Context
My Role
Sole UX/UI designer
Who I work with
Product manager, UX researchers, Content strategist, Engineers, Data analyst, Customer experience team
About OfferUp
Largest mobile marketplace in the US
280+ employees
4.8 stars / 3.5M ratings in App Store, 5 stars / 1M+ ratings in Google Play
Challenge: Improve the App Experience
The high-level goals are:
examine metrics, user flow and usability in regards to search results and item discoverability then point out some issues. Monitor metrics and improve completion rate
Metrics
As a C2C product, there are 4 metrics we are looking at:
Acceptance rate, decline rate, expiration rate Completion rate Engagement rate Retention rate
Design principles
Simple and easy
Trust and safety
Process
1. Understand
Metrics
NPS survey
Competitor analysis
2. Design
Design sprint
Sketch
Prototyping
3. Research
Surveys
Usability studies
A/B testings
4. Evaluate & repeat
Launch features incrementally
Concerns.
Concern 1
Difficult to determine the shelf-life of an item.
Explanation
Search results can be filtered using several different criteria: newest, closest, price low to high, and price high to low (Fig 2.1). The default setting is to sort results from newest to oldest. This is useful for these garage-sale type of listings since they typically are unique and have only 1 “in-stock,” not to mention it is also preferred by most users (see Appendix A).
However, it is unclear while browsing how long items have been listed or if the user selling the item is active. Some listings are weeks or months old which raises the question of if the listing is still relevant.
To demonstrate this point, pictured below are the search results for ‘metal trash can’ filtered newest to oldest (Fig 2.2). In the second row is an item that is already 3 months old (Fig 2.3). With 60% of people expecting top search results to be new as of that week and 100% agreeing that knowing the date is helpful, stating this information up-front could be beneficial for users (see Appendix A). | https://medium.com/@zehcyriac/my-honest-ux-case-study-on-offerup-47004270e193 | ['Cyriac Ndo Zeh'] | 2020-07-20 13:30:21.285000+00:00 | ['Marketplaces', 'UX Research', 'UX Design', 'Offerup', 'Ux Case Study'] |
Cajun Red Beans with Chicken and Spicy Sausage | Cajun Red Beans with Chicken and Spicy Sausage
Get a Taste of the Bayou with this Classic Dish
This is a personal favourite of mine, and one which has long been a staple around my house. The smell of the beans cooking will likely bring your neighbours knocking with mouths watering. The beans have a nice undercurrent of smokiness and spice, without being overpowering.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of dried kidney beans
2 chicken thighs, approx. 1 cup of chicken
2 spicy smoked sausage (Andouille or hot chorizo), approx. 1 cup of sausage.
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 green capsicum (bell pepper), minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 celery stalks, minced
4 Tbs parsley, minced
2 Tbs dried Cajun spice (preferably homemade)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 FRESH Bay Leaf (do NOT used DRIED)
4 Tbs olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
Steps
Wash your dried kidney beans, then soak them overnight (up to 24 hrs) in 6 cups of cold water. They will expand in size as they absorb the water.
Beans soaked overnight and ready to cook
Meanwhile, bake or grill the chicken thighs until done, approx. 20–30 mins at medium-high heat. They don’t need to be completely done (as you’ll see below). Dice the chicken into bite-sized bits
Dice the spicy smoked sausage into bite-size bits.
Our chicken and spicy smoked sausage
In a large pan or skillet, add the olive oil at medium heat. Add the diced onion, garlic, parsley, and celery, and cook until softened, approx. 3 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
In a pot or slow cooker (I prefer a slow cooker on its highest setting, as the slow cooking is more controlled and doesn’t require me to check up on the food as often), add all the ingredients and cook until done, about 2–4 hours.
All of our ingredients in the pot / slow cooker
The beans should be tender, with no crunchiness or toughness. If they are still even a little tough, cook them longer. You do NOT want the gas and/or stomach pains which accompany under-cooked beans.
At the end, increase the heat to high, to reduce and thicken the remaining broth, approx. 5 minutes. Make sure NOT to cook down all the broth, just reduce and thicken what is already there.
Serve over white rice (or not, if you’re keto), sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, and offer hot sauce for those who want it.
Yum. | https://medium.com/low-carb-food-of-the-gods/cajun-red-beans-with-chicken-and-spicy-sausage-737c06aa2975 | ['Christopher Laine'] | 2019-11-09 05:11:45.786000+00:00 | ['Dinner', 'Cooking', 'Keto', 'Recipe', 'Food'] |
If You’re Feeling Stagnant in Your Therapy, Don’t Give up Yet | Why you stagnate
William Doherty, professor and therapist, compares getting stuck with what he calls “Groundhog Day therapy”. Though the therapy continues, everything seems to stay the same.
1. You’ve overcome a big hurdle
When I first addressed my concerns about feeling stuck, my therapist wasn’t surprised at all. The number of hurdles we had overcome in the first year was huge.
At the end of it, I was exhausted. And although things were looking up, I didn’t necessarily feel any better.
She proceeded to tell me what I was experiencing was more than common. To get to the bottom of your problems therapy will have to take a lot from you. When progress that used to be tangible slows down, it can feel like failing.
2. You’re not comfortable with your therapist (anymore)
Trust is not only hard, but you also have to nurture it.
Lacking trust could very well stem from misunderstandings. It’s important to speak up on such right away, to make sure the feeling doesn’t get worse. At the end of the day, your therapist is a human being and though they are professionals as well, they won’t always say the “right” thing.
Therapy will not always be comfortable. In fact, the most uncomfortable parts of therapy are the ones that attain the most progress.
But sometimes being uncomfortable is your gut telling you something is off. You might have outgrown your therapist.
Tamara Stevens, a licensed Psychological associate, differentiates between signs of progress and signs of stagnation in therapy.
According to her research progressing therapy will lead to healthier choices, fewer symptoms, or bettered self-confidence. Stagnant therapy causes no progress, little connection with your therapist, unclear goals, or lack of commitment.
So if you feel like your therapy was progressing at some point and only feels stagnant at this moment, the unease might be a defense mechanism to not dig deeper.
“Usually safety is over-valued when failure is over-feared. If a person is stagnating, it is probably because risk is seen as terrifying.” — Richard B. Grose
3. You’re afraid to dig deeper
After you’ve overcome many hurdles and feel better, you might want to stop right there. But in therapy, you often have to dig deeper to get to underlying patterns that cause those problems.
You’ll always have to keep pushing and get out of your comfort zone, which can be a scary place. Especially when you’re afraid of reoccurring symptoms. And something you have to be aware of when beginning therapy is that your symptoms will probably worsen before they get better.
My therapist made me aware of the fact this might happen. But actually slipping still felt wrong and like it wasn’t the direction things should take.
If you’re the type of person that wants to be in control, your mind can be very convincing when it comes to continuing down a path that seems uncomfortable or even hurtful.
Nobody voluntarily wants to be in a bad mental space, but it might need to get worse before it can get better. | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/if-youre-feeling-stagnant-in-your-therapy-don-t-give-up-yet-457bfe6c4a9 | ['Carine Ru'] | 2020-12-19 05:19:51.355000+00:00 | ['Therapy', 'Mental Health', 'Mental Health Treatment', 'Psychology', 'Self-awareness'] |
Jeu-concours : Fais moi peur ! 🎃 | in Both Sides of the Table | https://medium.com/le-blog-pinterest-france/jeu-concours-fais-moi-peur-6b2ecd5482ff | ['Pinterest France'] | 2018-10-29 12:57:14.693000+00:00 | ['Pinterest Marketing', 'Halloween', 'Campaign', 'Pinterest', 'France'] |
Seattle Airbnb Exploratory Data Analysis | In this Blog we can look at Seattle airbnb data listings and using CRISP-DM process to analyze the data.
CRISP-DM (Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining) consists of:
1) Business Understanding
2) Data Understanding
3) Data Preparation/ Wrangling
4) Data Modeling
5) Data Evaluation
6) Deployment
Detailed analysis with all required codes, data sets is posted in my github repository.
The Dataset describes the types of accommodations along with the amenities in Seattle, WA with an average review scores.
This project provides you the answers for the below questions of interest.
What are the most common amenities?
What are the features that attracts the guests most for renting a property?
What are the attributes associated with the price of a listing?
· What is the impact on price if the property is close to downtown?
Question- 1: “What are the most common amenities?”
This listing provides various different kinds of amenities. Some of them are common and some are available only in this property.
In the below chart, you can see the most common amenities and least common amenities.
The most common amenities in Seattle listings are:
· Internet
· Kitchen
· Heating
· Smoke Detector
The least common amenities in Seattle listings are:
· Indoor Fireplace
· Hangers
· Elevators in Building
· Other pet(s)
Question- 2: “What are the features that attracts the guests most for renting a property?”
Some Unique features of listing are the types of rooms and the different kinds of amenities available will attract the guests to rent this property.
Types of rooms are shown as per the below chart.
You can also see that in next 30 days nearly half of the bookings for Home/apt are full. Whereas private rooms and shared rooms are less booked, assuming that they are less popular compared to Home/apts.
In the next 30 days period, 80% of “Tent” listings are full. So there is interest in renting tents, but this could be seasonal too. There are only 5 tent listings available so this could be a second reason why Tents seem to be popular.
The most popular property type with high number of listings is “Apartment”. Nearly half of them are full in the next 30 days period.
According to the table above, having a Washer/Dryer increases the booking rate for next 30 days more than 15%. Also having a kitchen and allowing pets are good ideas for increasing the popularity for a listing.
It looks like having a pool or serving breakfast does not help a listing to be preferred, probably because of the increased price with these amenities.
Question- 3: “what are the attributes associated with the price of a listing?”
Using Linear Regress model to estimate will give us the best results on price listing, as the model has an r-squared value around 0.62 which is not very successful.
Here are the top 15 most influential features of the model:
Average boat listing price is more than 282 USD whereas an average listing has a price of 128 USD per night. So property_type_boat has a significant effect on price of listing.
In the above table, positive coefs increase the price whereas negative coefs have a negative effect on price, so they lower the price of the listing.
Question- 4: “What is the impact on price if it is be close to downtown?”
The distance is calculated by Coefficient feature. Each listing’s distance to Downtown. After training the model, the coefficient for this new feature is in the table below:
The ‘distance_from_downtown’ feature has a negative effect on price. As the distance from downtown increases, the price of listing decreases.
Example: For one kilometer additional distance from downtown, the price of listing decrease around 3 USD.
Regards,
Tara Devi
References
Github: https://github.com/Tara889/Airbnb-seattle-Exploratory-data-analysis.git | https://medium.com/@nakshatra1988/seattle-airbnb-exploratory-data-analysis-995d9d676cc3 | ['Tara Devi'] | 2021-08-16 14:38:06.241000+00:00 | ['Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
Tradition | In order to keep the tradition of posting one blog a day, I am going to write about tradition towards the end of my day today.
Of course, I have only started this “tradition” since 2 days ago. It is a bit far-fetched to call it a true tradition. After all, it is like how this Gold & Jade Restaurant calling out their “Famous Beijing Duck” as a NEW RESTAURANT. I guess they must have earned their fame in some other lifetime before this new life.
For me, I truely want to keep up with this tradition (to blog about something once a day). It is a very meaningful retrospective and reflection time for me, as the Agile / Test & Learn lifestyle that I am truly embracing.
If I want to leave a legacy for something, or like how that Beijing Duck was put, famous for something as a new born person, I would choose to demonstrate my Agile life by living day in day out with the Agile mindset and philosophy. Will spend a bit more time to log these ideas and examples here. | https://medium.com/ng-sze-hin-stories/tradition-8b092e84fb07 | ['Leonard Ng'] | 2018-08-03 12:55:03.587000+00:00 | ['Lean', 'Agile', 'Restaurant', 'Lifestyle', 'Product Management'] |
OPTin: We got Microsoft investment and We Provide Richer Data for Advertisers than Google | OPTin Network, an ad network space, can provide much rich data and feedback for advertisers than Google.
“We also aggregate data by sites, so the advertisers can choose what site can give them the right kind of engagement, the qualified traffic.” said Michael Sheng, Founder and Managing Partner of OPTin Network.
OPTin has a panel of half million users, they collect not only their browser information, but also what they are watching on TV. Audio recognition on their phone can get that information. All of OPTin’s technology is actually open source. So people can check OPTin never get their names, or address, just behavior. OPTin also has the partnership with offline stores. For example, if you saw a coin ad, did you buy a coin at Walmart or Target afterward. OPTin does the whole end to end tracking of ROI for advertising. | https://medium.com/boosto/optin-we-got-microsoft-investment-and-we-provide-richer-data-for-advertisers-than-google-cc96516f27b1 | ['Crypto Influence'] | 2018-09-11 20:27:30.381000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneur', 'Social Media', 'Interview', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
Easy Initializers #XcodeExplore | We can create initializer in 2 steps instead of writing all those boring repeated codes:
click on class name + cmd
2. Click on Generate Memberwise Initializer and here we have it:
Xcode is smart enough to differentiate between stored and computed properties. While writing unit tests for Codables this is very handy and saves time.
have fun ;) | https://medium.com/@alirza-eram/easy-initializers-xcodeexplore-ba502257b359 | ['Alireza Eram'] | 2020-12-13 08:16:04.446000+00:00 | ['Initializer', 'Swift Programming', 'Xcode', 'Decodable', 'Swift'] |
Hair La Vie Clinical Formula : How To Achieve Happy, Healthy Hair Growth ! | Hair boom is seen from the very early degree of one’s development. The most obvious segment of human hair is the Hair La Vie Clinical Formula increase on the pinnacle, which grows longer than other mammals. The absence of hair growth on the top is called as alopecia, that’s commonly called baldness. other elements of the human frame also represent extraordinary sorts of hair. From the very early youth level onwards, hair increase covers the entire human frame no matter sex except in the lips, the nipples, the soles of toes, the hand hands and positive outside genital areas like the scar tissue and the navel.
The solidity of hair increase varies from person to man or woman. The enhancement of the male hormones due to puberty causes conversion of hair boom in specific parts of the frame. the speed of hair increase and its weight additionally will increase. however, one-of-a-kind areas reply with special stages of hair boom. The pubic place is in truth the maximum responsive which reflects the hair increase at a totally early stage.
increasing hair increase on girls follows sure the male pattern which are known as hirsutism. An intense and abnormal hair increase on the frame of each the sexes is named as hypertrichosis. beautiful and quicker hair increase calls for most appropriate shipping of oxygen and nutrients from the circulatory machine to the hair follicle. however without the specified nutrients, amino acids, protein, and nutrients hair can also lack maximum fullness, energy and the vibrancy one preference.
More attractive and faster hair growth wishes most suitable release of oxygen and vitamins to the Hair La Vie Clinical Formula Price follicle from the circulatory machine. venture of hair vitamins are the quality way towards faster hair growth. Hair vitamins assist inside the hair increase and also in the strengthening of the hair. proper amount of sleep additionally results in quicker hair boom. Hair programs which are in particular evolved will complements for quicker hair boom, makes one’s hair healthful and offers all of the important elements for brief developing, more potent, greater splendid hair. Hair formulas have been designed for folks who wish to have best hair and faster hair increase.
first-rate, healthful and rapid hair comes from inside.
but unwanted hair boom in exclusive components of the body may be indifferent with the use of hair inhibitors. Hair boom inhibitors are to be had inside the marketplace each within the shape of spray and lotion. Many hair growth inhibitors commonly sluggish down the growth of undesirable hair and so it’s far considered as a super substitute to shaving. Hair growth inhibitors are typically applied to the pores that are opened. Hair growth inhibitors consequently need to be massaged over the open pores till it reaches the root from wherein the hair grows.
Hair growth inhibitor as a consequence prevents, eliminates and slows down the growth of unwanted hair. Hair increase inhibitors additionally make the similarly boom of hair first-rate and less visible. ordinary use of hair boom inhibitors is relevant for distinct types of pores and skin as it’s far formulated for all skin types. Hair increase inhibitors are endorsed to be applied liberally where there may be the boom of undesirable hair. appropriate effects may be maintained by way of repeating the use for in addition packages of hair growth inhibitors. To recognise extra Hair La Vie Clinical Formula on-line go to right here https://supplementdose.com/ | https://medium.com/@hairlavieclinicalformula/hair-la-vie-clinical-formula-how-to-achieve-happy-healthy-hair-growth-36c549b93576 | [] | 2019-10-16 10:52:40.678000+00:00 | ['Hair'] |
End U.S. Support for the War in Yemen | The war in Yemen is said to be the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster, with 6,800 Yemeni civilians killed, 10,700 wounded, and 14 million on the brink of suffering from the world’s worst famine in 100 years. As the Arab world’s poorest nation, Yemen has suffered three long years of war fought between supporters of the Yemeni government and the Houthis, with the government backed by powerful countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United States, France, and England, and the Houthis supported by Iran.
The United States, England, and France remain complicit in the war crimes led by Saudi Arabia by supplying weapons and intel to a coalition of Arab nations formed by Saudi Arabia. This Arab coalition includes Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Senegal, Egypt, and Bahrain, and has deployed military troops and executed air attacks in Yemen against the Houthis. Half of the Yemeni civilian casualties were due to coalition air strikes led by the Saudis. Combatting these efforts, Iran is believed to be deploying military aid and weapons to support the Houthis.
As war continues and the death toll increases, innocent Yemeni civilians continue to be victims of human rights violations and suffer from lack of life-saving medicine and food. Innocent Yemeni children have paid the price of this unnecessary war, as 400,000 children under the age of five now suffer from severe acute malnutrition. More than 8 million civilians are at risk of starvation, and 17 million Yemenis do not know where they will get their next meal from. In fact, many regions controlled by Houthis prevent Yemenis from receiving much needed supplies sent by international aid organizations. More than three million Yemenis have fled for their lives to other safer regions within Yemen, and 280,000 are seeking asylum in nearby countries. Those who remain in Yemen continue to suffer from inadequate healthcare, scarcity of food, and shelter as a result of the blockade that began in 2015.
The toll is now at 40,000 casualties, and it is estimated that one child dies every 10 minutes as a result of the extreme hunger and disease in Yemen. The number of casualties is expected to increase, due to the continuing blockade on Yemen’s northern ports of entry which prevents humanitarian organizations from providing life-saving, urgent access to food and medical treatment for malnutrition suffered by thousands of children.
While deployed to Afghanistan, I witnessed firsthand the tragic effects that war has on the most vulnerable and innocent in society: women and children. During my yearlong deployment, I led humanitarian convoy missions to refugee camps, women’s shelters, and children’s orphanages, only to leave heartbroken and helpless by the pain and suffering these innocent civilians had to live through. As I was sometimes the only woman on these missions, many of the Afghan women at the refugee camps ran to me, pouring their hearts out, sharing their stories, and begging for aid for their children. At one refugee camp, a woman gently threw medical paperwork in my face, begging for us to find medical care for her child, who was born with a form of leprosy after being born on the dirt floor of their make-shift refugee tent. All we had brought were bags of food and some toys, yet these children were in need of so much more. Instead of feeling like we had actually made a difference, I always left the refugee camps feeling like we had only put a band-aid on a bullet wound, realizing that our food and supplies would only last the families for another couple of days and wouldn’t even address the much needed medical attention to the women and children.
This year, for the first time in our nation’s history, the U.S. Senate has resurrected the War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 by voting to advance a resolution to finally end military support for the horrific, unnecessary war in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States.
The war in Yemen is yet another shameful reminder of how history continues to repeat itself, and it seems as if little has been learned from past atrocities. While the pocketbooks of war mongers who benefit from unending conflict continue to grow, so do the number of deaths of innocent women and children. As I witnessed in Afghanistan, the pain and suffering, starvation, and lack of medical attention in Yemen disproportionately affect women and children, the voiceless and most vulnerable of society — and, all of it is preventable. It is crucial that we urge our elected officials to pass the resolution to terminate U.S. funding of weapons and intel to the Saudi government, used to inflict suffering on innocent Yemeni people. This is a tragedy and will be looked back on as a shameful time in our nation’s history.
Christina Prejean is a U.S. Air Force veteran and served in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She and her husband are California Attorneys and have represented military sexual assault victims and Central American asylum seekers. Prejean is a member of Truman National Security Project’s Defense Council. She is the proud dog-mom of Bella, who she rescued while stationed in Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Prejean is a feminist, and equal rights, animal rights, and civil rights activist. She is bilingual in Spanish and has a passion for backpacking the world; recently returning back to the Middle East for the first time since her deployment, backpacking through Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco. Join her on social media, @MotionToRoam. | https://medium.com/truman-doctrine-blog/end-u-s-support-for-the-war-in-yemen-3ee616f27d2c | ['Truman Project'] | 2018-12-06 20:44:12.489000+00:00 | ['Democracy And Rule Of Law', 'Yemen', 'Diplomacy And Alliances'] |
Why is there music in Film | Music is a curious thing. Ask a million people what music means to them and you’ll probably get a million different answers. This is largely due to the fact that music subconsciously triggers our memory. Understanding how music relates to memory is crucial to understanding why filmmakers rely on music to help tell their story.
“There are different kinds of memory, including explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory is a deliberate, conscious retrieval of the past, often posed by questions like: where was I that summer? Who was I travelling with? Implicit memory is more a reactive, unintentional form of memory.”
When someone hears a piece of music their memory is involuntarily triggered.
Think about that for a second.
Every audience member can have a different response, recall a different memory, to every piece of music they hear.
This idea alone will give you a sense of how powerful music is in film, and why it is so important to interpret the wishes of your director correctly. This is also why directors can get nervous working with composers. This is also why directors continually work with the same composers.
As you can imagine, everyone will have a different opinion about why music is in film. But it all comes down to the same idea: music in film is used to evoke an implicit, subconscious response in the viewer to support the story being told. What I’ve found is that if I want to trigger a specific emotion then I have to find a sound or register that is associated with the emotion I wish to evoke.
When you come right down to it… we are all animals and are susceptible to being controlled by conditioned responses. For example: if you hear a loud, sharp noise there is a good chance you’ll jump. If you hear a low, sustained, slow moving sound (think low cellos playing whole notes)) you might feel a little anxious. If those low tones have a rhythmic pulse (think Jaws) your anxiety will increase. When you match those sounds with an image the response is heightened. Or, if an inappropriate sonic convention is applied, the meaning of the scene can be changed. This can mean a drama can become a comedy. A comedy can become serious or scary and on and on . The thing is: every story or film is different which can make writing appropriate music a minefield with few markers to guide you. Knowing how to identify those markers will determine your success or failure as a film composer. Therefore, it is important to understand that there are two parts to film music. There is the intuitive, emotional reaction (right brain) and the analytical (left brain).
Never forget: music in film is a tool that is used to manipulate an audience’s emotional response.
The challenge for the film composer is to match the convention that evokes a specific emotional response or reaction with the specific need of the story.
Sign up for “Crib Notes”- a free resource and community for composers to learn more about film music, compositional techniques and more. Sign up here. | https://medium.com/@chrisboardmanmediagroup/why-is-there-music-in-film-bcd26b12b416 | ['Christopher Boardman'] | 2020-12-16 22:15:32.156000+00:00 | ['Film Music', 'Filmmaking', 'Film', 'Creative Process', 'Film Music Composer'] |
Review: DRN — Dilated Residual Networks (Image Classification & Semantic Segmentation) | Review: DRN — Dilated Residual Networks (Image Classification & Semantic Segmentation)
Using Dilated Convolution, Improved ResNet, for Image Classification, Image Localization & Semantic Segmentation
In this story, DRN (Dilated Residual Networks), from Princeton University and Intel Labs, is reviewed. After publishing DilatedNet in 2016 ICML for semantic segmentation, authors invented the DRN which can improve not only semantic segmentation, but also image classification, without increasing the model’s depth or complexity. It is published in 2017 CVPR with over 100 citations. (Sik-Ho Tsang @ Medium) | https://towardsdatascience.com/review-drn-dilated-residual-networks-image-classification-semantic-segmentation-d527e1a8fb5 | ['Sik-Ho Tsang'] | 2019-03-20 16:07:37.825000+00:00 | ['Image Classification', 'Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Semantic Segmentation', 'Machine Learning'] |
Here’s How We’re Killing Innovation In America | Throughout America’s history, technological innovation has been key to security and prosperity. Whether it was through entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Thomas Watson, or government programs like the Manhattan Project, the Apollo Program and the Human Genome Project, The United States has been on the cutting edge.
Today, as we enter a new era of innovation, America remains at the forefront of scientific discoveries in advanced areas such as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, new computing architectures and materials science. Continued investment in science, both public and private, provides the “seed corn” for continued dominance in the 21st century.
Still, scientific advancement is not enough. We need entrepreneurs to start companies and mid-level technicians and engineers to implement technologies. The truth is that America’s human capital is being hollowed out and that’s becoming a serious problem that we need to address. Once we lose our competitive edge, we might never get it back.
1. Food Insecurity
Awhile back I was speaking to a group of community college administrators and I asked them what their biggest challenge was. I was shocked when every single one of them told me that it was food insecurity. Apparently, it is the number one reason that kids drop out. Only about 20% of students at community colleges earn a degree.
I was even more surprised that there are similar trends at four-year institutions. In fact, a recent study found that about half of all college students struggle with food insecurity. This number becomes even harder to stomach when you consider that there is also an unprecedented construction boom on college campuses.
So colleges are spending billions to build fancy dorms and rec centers while half of their students don’t have enough to eat. Is it any wonder that they are dropping out? In Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O’Neil points out that much of university spending is driven by college rankings like those published by US News & World Report. Maybe a “food insecurity index” should be included?
Any way you look at it, we are undermining a significant portion of our most ambitious young people because we can’t provide them with enough to eat. How can we expect to win the future when kids are dropping out of school to get a meal?
2. Tuition And Student Loans
One of the most important factors that led to American technological and economic dominance has been our commitment to higher education. The Morrill Acts in the 19th century created land grant universities that trained students in agriculture and engineering in every state. Later, the G.I. Bill helped an entire generation go to college and became the basis for a new era of prosperity.
This commitment to education made America the most educated country in the world. More recently, however, we’ve fallen to fifth among OECD countries for post-secondary education. This hasn’t been because less Americans are going to college, in fact, more people go to college today than in 2000. It’s just that the rest of the world is moving faster than we are.
A big factor in our decline has been tuition, which has risen from an average of $15,160 in 1988 to 34,740 in 2018. Not surprisingly, student debt is exploding. It has nearly tripled in the last decade. In fact student debt has become so onerous that it now takes about 20 years to pay off four years for college and even more to pursue a graduate degree.
So the bright young people who we don’t starve we are condemning to decades of what is essentially indentured servitude. That’s no way to run an entrepreneurial economy. In fact, a study done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that student debt has a measurable negative impact on new business creation.
3. A Broken Healthcare System
There has long been a political debate about whether health care is a right or not and there are certainly moral issues that deserve attention. When I travel internationally, it is not uncommon for people to comment on how barbaric they find our healthcare system, where the uninsured die from treatable diseases and many go bankrupt due to medical costs.
Leaving the moral concerns aside though, our healthcare system represents a huge economic burden. Consider that in the US healthcare expenditures account for roughly 18% of GDP. Most countries in the OECD spend roughly half that. To add insult to injury, healthcare outcomes in the US are generally worse than the OECD average. In fact, the CDC reports that life expectancy is actually declining in America.
Think about trying to run a business that not only produces an inferior product, but also gives up 9 points of margin due to higher costs. Clearly that’s untenable. A study in the Journal of Health Economics also found that, much like student debt, concerns about health insurance inhibits entrepreneurship.
It’s important to note that each of these are uniquely American problems. No other developed country has the same issues with healthcare or student debt. While food insecurity is an issue in some developed countries, it is far more severe in the US. All of this represents a significant competitive disadvantage.
There’s Plenty Of People At The Bottom
Far too often, we see innovation as strictly a matter of startup companies and R&D labs. So we invest in science and entrepreneurship programs to fuel technology. Yet while those things are surely important, they don’t drive advancement by themselves. We need normal, everyday people to make the most out of their potential.
As I explained in Mapping Innovation, developing breakthrough technologies is a process of discovery, engineering and transformation. The transformational part is often overlooked, because it relies not on a single entrepreneur or company, but on an ecosystem to support it. That takes networks of firms working together, each forming a piece of the overall puzzle.
Most of these companies are not household names. They supply components, implement solutions, create complementary goods and so on. Many are small businesses. We need not only geniuses to create the future, but also technicians, consultants and service providers.
In 1959 the physicist Richard Feynman gave a famous talk titled There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom to alert the scientific community to the possibilities of nanotechnology. I think the same can be said of innovation in America today. Our most valuable resource is our human capital. If we can’t feed, educate and nurture that talent, our future will not be bright.
There’s plenty of people at the bottom with almost limitless potential to increase our national capacity for prosperity, security and well being. Yet instead of empowering them, we undermining them and, in doing so, assuring our own decline. | https://greg-satell.medium.com/heres-how-we-re-killing-innovation-in-america-4e95afbde498 | ['Greg Satell'] | 2019-05-26 13:04:17.242000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Education'] |
Introduction to RegEx | As a developer you have probably already worked with Regular Expressions. If you’re like me and didn’t need them too often, you probably googled them up more than you wrote them yourself.
So today I’d like to go through the basics of Regex and show you how to build regular expressions and how to write them yourself.
If you haven’t had anything to do with this topic before, this post is still for you, of course. Regular Expressions are a way to check strings against a certain pattern, for example if it is alphanumeric or contains only uppercase letters. Regular expressions are supported by many different programming languages, so you don’t have to learn that again with different syntax.
I’d like to recommend the website regex101.com, where you can test your Regular Expressions and see the individual components in detail.
Anchor
Regex offers two symbols to mark the start (^) and the end ($) of a string. This makes the following patterns possible:
^Hello — Matches any string starting with “Hello”
World$ — Matches any string ending with “World”
Hello World — Matches any string containing “Hello World”
^Hello World$ — Matches exactly the string “Hello World”
Upper and lower case letters must always be respected!
OR operator
Next, you can specify more precisely what characters you want to consider valid. Use the square brackets and place all of the allowed characters within them.
A[BC] — match for any string containing an A followed by a B or C
^[AEIOU]$ — match for each string that consists only of one capitalized vowel
[A-Z] — match for each string containing an uppercase letter
As you can see, the curly bracket always refers to only one sign. For example, if you want to check a string with exactly 5 characters to see if it is alphanumeric, the following spelling is a bit cumbersome:
^[A-Za-z0–9][A-Za-z0–9][A-Za-z0–9][A-Za-z0–9][A-Za-z0–9]$
Quantifier
With quantifiers you can limit the number of possible occurrences. There are the following possibilities:
* Zero or more
+ One or more
? Zero or one
{} Explicit quantity
Applied concretely, the whole thing can look like this:
ABC* — match for each string containing AB, followed by none or more C
ABC+ — match for each string containing AB, followed by at least one C
ABC? — Match for any string that contains AB and follows a C or no C
ABC{3} — match for each string containing AB followed by “CCC”
ABC{3,} — Match for each string containing AB followed by 3 or more C
ABC{3,6} — match for each string containing AB followed by 3,4, 5 or 6 C
If you want to apply the quantifier to more than one character, you can parenthesize the respective ones, the quantifier will then refer to their contents: AB(CD){3} — Match for each string containing AB and following CD 3 times thereafter. If you want to use a character that has a special meaning in Regex (for example *), you can mark it in your expression with an escape character (backslash, ).
Classes
In my example above, I already used “A-Za-z0–9” to check if a text is alphanumeric. Classes provide a way to check groups of characters more easily. The following classifications are available:
\d — Matches a digit
\w — Matches alphanumeric characters and underscores
\s — Matches Whitespace (incl. Tabs & Linebreaks)
. — Matches any character
You can capitalize any of the classes to negate their meaning.
Flags
RegEx expressions are usually found within two slashes. After the closing slash, the scope of the pattern is defined, whereby the following options are available:
g — (Global) No return after the first match. The search for the pattern continues after the find
i — (Insensitive) Not case-sensitive when testing according to a sample
m — (Multiline) ^ and $ denote start and end of a line instead of the whole text
Advanced functions
To put it briefly: There are several additional options for defining regular expressions. Since I would like to limit this article to the basics, I will not go into the topic in detail here, but will show some practical examples. But if you are interested in the topic, I have some keywords for your own research:
grouping, named groups & capturing
bracket expressions
lazy matching
However, you will also come across other topics during the search, but in my opinion the basics are sufficient for the time being. You can go into depth as soon as you really need it, otherwise it is very likely that you forget the theory before you get an opportunity to apply it.
Practical examples
Finally, here are a few examples that cover the most common requirements. Of course, you can find almost anything, like formatting credit card or phone numbers by a quick google search. But now you should be able to write something like that up all by your self.
Alphabetical (Upper- and Lowercase):
^[a-zA-Z]*$
E-Mails:
^([a-zA-Z0-9._%-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4})*$
URLs:
^(https?:\/\/)?([\da-z\.-]+)\.([a-z\.]{2,6})([\/\w \.-]*)*\/?$
Dates (MM/DD/YYYY, 20th & 21st century): | https://jurtzmarcel.medium.com/introduction-to-regex-4232b365f8cd | ['Marcel Jurtz'] | 2019-02-26 07:39:22.986000+00:00 | ['Software', 'Regex', 'Programming', 'Development', 'Tools'] |
“Anecdata” — What’s Really Driving VC Investment Decisions | If you’re a venture investor, you do a lot of diligence work to ferret out promising companies. No doubt you look at lots of data to judge these potential investments — but are probably also considering anecdotal evidence of a company’s strengths or weaknesses, like reports from friends or chatter on the Internet.
But maybe you should also think about a new category of information in these situations: what I call “anecdata”.
Indeed, I’ve found that when you collect enough anecdotal evidence about a company’s technology, you have something more solid and helpful than isolated stories: anecdata. Anecdata is the aggregation of all these anecdotal experiences and stories, which you can then use to identify larger trends and draw general conclusions about the opportunity at hand. While you shouldn’t make an investment decision solely on the basis of anecdata, the idea does talk to reality: individuals that work on the investment team at venture firms are human beings and are as susceptible to cognitive biases as anyone else.
While loads of granular spreadsheets with tons of usage/cohort/financial data is great when evaluating investments, investors are also swayed by the firsthand impressions of trusted sources within their network. Many entrepreneurs overlook this fact and pitch their companies solely by relying on the story the data is telling, instead of also emphasizing the individual stories their customers are telling.
I remember evaluating a consumer fin-tech business that threw off tons of data showing loads of reasons why we shouldn’t participate in the financing round (e.g. negative unit economics and unclear revenue-growth trajectory). But when I downloaded the company’s app, I had such a delightful experience that I bullied people in my network to use the service and give me feedback. I also collected stories from users I met in passing at various meetings and events. Ultimately this anecdata presented an extremely compelling argument that led us to invest in the company.
While I wasn’t part of this particular deal, there might have been a similar dynamic at VC firm Lightspeed when investor Barry Eggers first discovered the Snapchat app because his teenage daughter and her friends were so absorbed with it.
I think this all offers some real lessons for entrepreneurs. To ensure that a potential investor gets the right impression of your company — and is not just relying on data to evaluate it — I would recommend that you:
— Line up customers that will be happy to talk to investors and give their story as to why they picked your product and how they use it;
— Be proactive and offer to talk to people in the investor’s network and pitch your product;
— Once an investor introduces you to someone in their network, follow up quickly and make sure they have a delightful experience with your team / platform.
You never know — all these interactions could produce enough anecdotes to create some very valuable anecdata, and lead to an investment in your company.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Disclaimer: These views are my own, not those of Battery Ventures, and nothing here should be construed as investment advice. | https://medium.com/@aaronrinberg/anecdata-whats-really-driving-vc-investment-decisions-67726c222e8b | ['Aaron Rinberg'] | 2019-09-09 13:01:01.252000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Excel', 'Analysis', 'Venture Capital'] |
Why Bitcoin Cloud Mining is still Profitable? | Mining Vs Buying Bitcoin
Buying Bitcoin directly is extremely risky as the prices historically have been highly volatile, and fluctuations could result in significant losses for investors, moreover, you need to overcome human weaknesses in finding the perfect selling time, it is difficult to make a right decision.
Compared to buying on the Exchange, the cost of cloud mining is often not obvious and often considered as a long term investment, it is easier to HODL during the rollercoaster ride market time.
When the prices going UP
Cloud mining investoers can share the benefits that bull market brings and the yield is only slightly lower than the buying.
When the prices going DOWN
During the bear market, the miners will shut down some mining rigs that would cause a decline in difficulty, which means the investors are able to mine more coins (approximately 2–3 times than normal), compensating most of the the losses incurred due to prices decreasing. If you HODL the coins until the next bull market cycle, you would most likely earn higher profits.
Historical ROI of Bitcoin Cloud Mining
Cloud Mining Annual ROI
ROI in 2015
At the beginning of 2015, if you purchased an Anteminer S3 with $282 for 1.421Th/s hashpower, assuming that the electricty cost was $0.0465 per kwh, in other words, $0.89 per day. If you sell the mined bitcoin everyday at 8 am, you will get a total revenue of $743.84 by the end of the year, that is 164% of yield.
ROI in 2016
At the beginning of 2016, let us suppose that you can purchase an ANteminer 1Th/s hashpower 300W/T against $218, the electricy cost is the same: $0.0465 per kwh, if you sell the mined coins everyday, your total revenue will be $270 and residual value of $87.21. The total ROI would be 63.86%.
ROI in 2017
The year of 2017 is special, as the ROI was 870%.
ROI in 2018
As of the press time, we estimate a ROI of 46%.
Conclusion
As you can see that the average annual ROI over the past 4 years is around 280%, which is more profitable than most of the investment products available on the market. | https://medium.com/hash-pro-cloud-mining-official-blog/why-bitcoin-cloud-mining-is-still-profitable-a6b6a62f3db5 | ['Hash.Pro Cloud Mining'] | 2018-12-28 10:12:27.839000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin'] |
Insider’s Guide To Forex Trading | Insider's Guide To Forex Trading
Discover All Of The Insider Techniques That
The Pros Are Using With Great Success
What the Stock Market is All About
In any business or moneymaking venture, preparation and
foreknowledge are the keys to success. Without this sort of
insight, the attempt to make a profitable financial decision
can only end in disaster and failure, regardless of your level
of motivation and determination or the amount of money
you plan to invest.
In the stock market, this rule applies to the nth degree, as
you are investing your own money in what could be
considered a high-risk wager, and you are playing with fire if
you do not have at least a general background knowledge of
how it functions. Since having a background in any area is
helpful in guiding you down a path in that particular region,
the more solid your basis of investment knowledge is, the
more likely you are to profit from any attempt to trade on
the open market.
In many ways, trading on the stock market can be
compared to driving – you do not have to be an expert to
get behind the wheel of a car, though you are expected to
have some previous knowledge about basic traffic laws,
including moving violations, safety regulations, and other
legal vehicular infractions, which are learned through either
specific study and coursework or even through some form of
simple exposure (such as the years you have spent riding
with your parents and others who have driven for years).
You should be able to comprehend the basic tools used to
navigate a car (where the brake pedal is located versus the
gas, and how to use the rearview mirror, for example), even
if you have never touched a steering wheel.
The same is true in entering the world of the stock market.
While you do not have to know all the terminology (you will
not be short-selling or determining your own long and short
positions at first, so you do not have to understand these
references completely, though you should be aware of
them), you should certainly be versed in the basic
The functionality of trading stocks, bonds, securities, and other
commodities. And just like someone who is behind the
wheel of a car and getting ready to touch the gas pedal for
the first time, you should start with caution and work
your way in slowly. A first-time driver will first set the
mirrors to his or her liking, then put the car in gear,
look for any interfering traffic, and ease onto the gas pedal,
never flooring it and testing the engine coming out of the
gate on the first attempt. Likewise, when you select your
first investment, you should choose something stable with
little fluctuation and not invest a large sum of money on this
first venture.
When a person is learning to drive, he or she will be
accompanied by another more experienced individual
and can assist them in making better driving decisions and
offering corrections that will aid in learning to handle the car
more efficiently. In the stock market, there are
stockbrokers and other experts who can give you input and
advice to help you in building your knowledge of the
commodities in which you are interested, essentially
“steering” you toward better stock market buying and selling
decisions.
You could spend hours and hours researching the stock
market and its functionality, learning how to become
involved in the trade and who to contact to get in the game,
especially if your interest lies in the Foreign Exchange
Market, which goes far beyond the level of complication of
the domestic stock market. However, in this book, you will
find all the basic information you need to get started down
the path to trading success. All of the leg work and tough
research has been done for you, collecting the data and
knowledge into one source from which you can gain enough
insight to make you a successful trader on the open market.
All you have to do is read to gain knowledge and
wisdom, step by step that will bring you to a heady level of
success. In this ebook, you will find all such helpful
information, all brought together in one single source for
ease of reference.
To gain more knowledge about FOREX trading click here
How Investment Works
Any time you are going to be putting your money into a
fund; it is a good idea to start by understanding what you
are buying into. The stock market is a complicated entity,
and doing minimal business in trading requires a fair amount
of basic knowledge, as well as the understanding and
acceptance of the high-risk factor. The more you know in
advance regarding the functionality of the system, the less
likely it is that you will take a heavy hit, ending in devastating loss.
First of all and probably most important in the trading
business, you should understand what stocks are.
When you buy or sell a stock on the open market, you
should keep in mind that you are dealing with real objects,
not pieces of paper; you are buying and selling real parts of
a particular company, its product, or some other various
commodity.
Owning a “share” means that you have bought into
the company or product involved and become a partial
owner of that commodity. Of course, you could be one of
millions of shareholders, as most companies and products
are broken into minute pieces of the whole, but you are still
considered an investor in that company or product until you
sell your shares.
Think of it as paying for a tank of gas in the car that your
parents bought for you to drive. You may have even bought
the oil filter that has been put on the car, and you may feel
that this investment makes you part owner. However, when
you look at the overall cost of the car, you have before
contributed very little to that amount. However, as long as
you continue to invest in the gas for the car and take care of
the maintenance needs, you can claim part ownership of the
car.
Because the value of a company and its products or services
can fluctuate continuously, the value of the stocks you hold
will not be the same from day to day and can sometimes
even change hourly. When the price per share drops and is
considered low, it is an ideal time to purchase. This is the
least expensive way to begin your trading venture, and
working with a stockbroker will allow you to gain more
information as to what stocks are ripe for the purchase at
any given time.
In doing so, you become a stockholder, and the value of
your holdings will fluctuate from day today. Your gamble
(and hope!) is that the value of the company or product in
which you have invested will increase or rebound from the
low price at which you made your purchase. This is the goal
of all traders and means that your stock will become more
valuable.
As the value of your securities increases, so does your net
worth. When the price of the stock in your possession
reaches a high point, it is time to sell, making a profit on
your original investment. Ideally, you will always sell your
holdings for a reasonably higher price than the purchase
amount and should never sell when the current value of the
stock is below your initial purchase price. It is important to
make sure that you do not purposely take a net loss because
there are plenty of occasions when you could be forced to
take a loss.
For example, if you purchase shares of a company at twenty
dollars each, you should never sell them for eighteen dollars
apiece. If possible, you want to hold off until they are each
worth perhaps forty dollars, in essence doubling your
money. Of course, this is just an example, and not all
stocks will ever double in value, but the illustration is
meaningful.
There are other, more complex ways to invest in the stock
market. However, much like learning to ride a bicycle, you
do not want to make your first attempt without training
Wheels.
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Making Decisions In The Beginning
Let us return to driving as a reference. When you first start
driving, you will not enter the highway and take the car at
speeds of sixty and seventy miles per hour. Instead, you
will stay in residential areas or at least on the access road,
where there is less pressure to maintain such a high speed.
In the stock market, you will also want to stay away from
any expensive stocks or extremely volatile investments until
you have become extremely comfortable with the process of
trading.
There are small investment opportunities referred to as
“penny stocks”, which will help you try out your sea legs and
get a feel for how the stock market works prior to investing
large sums of money and risking a big financial loss. These
particular stocks cost pennies or small-dollar
amounts and typically only fluctuate fractions of a cent on
any given day, making them extremely safe for those just
starting.
Once you get the hang of it and can better judge the market
trends, you can comfortably move on to more complicated
and adventurous areas of the market. It is like removing
the training wheels from your bicycle or entering the
freeway the first time at an hour of the day when there is no
traffic to contend with.
Be aware that, just like you may fall off your bike once or
twice and end up with some scrapes and bruises, you may
The lost money in investment here and there. This is very
typical, and investing in the stock market is a lot like
gambling. In poker, you cannot expect to win every hand,
and the same is true in the world of investments. Learning
to watch the market trends, though, is similar to watching
other cars as you join traffic and determining the correct
speed and proximity to other cars for optimal safety. Such
diligent study can help you improve your statistics drastically
in a short time.
Stock Market Trends
Understanding stock market trends can make your job of
earning money in the market much simpler. In contrast, if
you know little or nothing about these trends can cause
serious loss.
Bulls And Bears
As you dig deeper into the market and learn more about the
way it functions, you will begin to hear certain terms about
marketing trends that seem to be repeated over and over
again. Market trends are variable and volatile, both on a
daily basis and over extended periods. In the past,
for example, the United States has had devastating stock
market crashes, but due to the freedom of a capitalist
society, the American economy has always eventually
rebound.
What does it mean for the market or a particular stock to
rebound? Assuming that the value of a company or its stock
has plummeted to a level that seems unrecoverable, leaving
it practically worthless, it may feel as though that company
is in danger of bankruptcy and falling off the scope of the
free trade markets altogether. All of a sudden, however, the
founder of that company may introduce a new product over
which consumers go wild. Everyone wants one, and this
product may be in short supply upon its introduction,
causing a race to the department store shelves.
When such a move occurs, the law of supply and demand
will take over, making the company valuable once again.
The stock price for that company’s shares will recover, and
the resulting gain in value would be considered a rebound –
a return to the original status (or better) before the
devastating loss.
The market trends either up or down, and there are specific
references to strong changes in the market values that you
may frequently hear. If several different areas of the
The market is in a steep downward slide, with values dropping
rapidly (perhaps even ten or twenty per cent in a few days),
it is referred to as a bear market. You can remember this
reference as though you are in the extremely dangerous
position of being chased by a bear – if you are in possession
of several stocks or other commodities worth a goodly sum,
you have a serious chance of losing a great deal of value
that could translate to a loss of net worth should you choose
to sell, and it can be a similar, very dangerous situation.
Your best bet in these cases is to either sell before prices
drop below your original purchase price or hold onto the
shares until the market rebounds. However, when the bear
market reaches a low point, it can be an ideal time to get
into the game, as it is rare for prices to drop below this
point. Then, if you patiently await the recovery or rebound
of the market, you can make a great deal of money from a
bear market. These options will be discussed in more depth
in later chapters.
At the same time, a bull market is a strong general upward
trend for many stocks. You might compare this to the
running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, every year. You are
safer if you are indoors when the running occurs, and by the
same token, if you own stock during a bull market, you are
in a prime position to increase your net worth and sell your
shares, making a great deal of money. This is another idea
That will be further explored in greater detail further on in this
Ebook.
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The Market Outlook
By taking note of various changes in the status of different
available stock options, you will learn how to spot early
market trends, giving you a clue to the future of a particular
commodity and this can only add to your chances for
profitability. Prediction is a big part of the game when
working in the stock market, since you can never be
completely certain in what direction the market will swing at
any given time.
However, you can make an educated guess, much the same
The way a meteorologist forecasts the weather. While he or she
is not right 100% of the time, the forecast is usually quite
close to the actual outcome of the weather because the
meteorologist is a scientist who has studied weather trends
and can pick out details that assist in making that educated
guess. With a little time and seasoning, you can attain the
The same level of experience and intuition within the stock
market.
Once you have become more comfortable functioning in the
The same world as the stockbrokers and day traders, and you
feel confident (or at least less nervous or awkward) making
such important financial decisions, you may decide to make
your move toward the Foreign Exchange Market (more
commonly-known as Forex), and the goal of this book is to
prepare you to operate within the boundaries of this more
complex entity. Next, we will discuss some of the properties
of Forex and how much more complex this stock market
The entity can be a standard domestic market.
The Foreign Exchange Market is incredibly volatile, and there
are a lot more factors to consider when placing an order on
this market than on a domestic market. The following
The chapter is an introduction to the exciting and somewhat
The scary world of the Foreign Exchange Market, or Forex.
An Introduction to Forex
Forex is the nickname for the Foreign Exchange Market. In
the United States, there are several branches of the stock
market, each with its name. For instance, some
stocks trade on the Dow Jones, others on Nasdaq. Of
course, all stock market transactions in the United States
take place on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In
other countries the same is true. There may be one or more
distinct markets.
However, international trade takes place on the market
termed the Foreign Exchange Market or Forex. Several
countries across the world in almost every time zone
participate in trade on Forex, with multiple currencies being
utilized and stocks and commodities from all participating
countries being offered for trade. Because there are so
many nations and time zones involved, Forex does not
function as a “business day” entity like most domestic stock
markets. It remains open for trade 24 hours a day, 5 days a
week.
Of course, these additional hours increase the risk factor
intensely for those of us who are human and obviously
cannot monitor our investments 24 hours a day. This means
that the value of your holdings could potentially plummet
overnight, while you sleep, because other countries are still
trading while you are in a dream world. Again, it is like a
car – there are many moving pieces under the hood, and
just because you cannot see them does not mean they are
not functioning.
This is one reason for several safety options, like limit
orders, which we will discuss later. This is also why it is
strongly recommended that your first attempts to make
money on the stock market are not transactions that take
place within the Foreign Exchange Market but on a standard
nine-to-five domestic trading market. In our car analogy,
this would be comparable to having asked someone who has
never driven or even changed the oil in a car to rebuild the
engine.
Forex Functionality
While the functionality of Forex is the same as a domestic
stock exchange, the commodities and prices are more
volatile, and there are additional factors to take into
considerations besides the typical risks associated with a
domestic market. You will have to contend with not only the
value of your stocks and your currency but also the foreign
currencies involved in any trades or exchanges on Forex, as
well as the inconsistencies of values of particular goods and
services across international borders. It is like driving a car
with a standard transmission as opposed to an automatic.
On the domestic front, the work is mostly done for you, and
all you have to do is navigate, much like an automatic
transmission. However, shifting gears is quite similar to
having to constantly take part in the currency conversion. It
can be distracting, and it certainly complicates the act of
driving.
Because the financial situation of many countries is not as
secure as that of the United States, this can pose a
The formidable problem in determining where to invest your
money and what to expect next in the international market.
Knowing what countries and currencies are involved in Forex
can assist you by allowing you to more closely monitor the
The financial situation in the nations with which you will be
interacting.
The History Of Forex
When foreign trade began, it was not an international trade
market. It was borne out of the Bretton Woods agreement
in 1944, which set forth that foreign currencies would be
fixed against the dollar, which was valued at $35 per ounce
of gold. This precedent was first put into practice in 1967
when a bank in Chicago refused to fund a loan to a professor
in the sterling pound. Of course, he intended to sell the
currency, which he felt was priced too high against the
dollar, then buy it back later when the value had declined,
turning a quick profit.
After 1971, when the dollar was no longer convertible to
gold and the domestic market was stronger, the Bretton
Woods agreement was abandoned, and the currency
conversion process became more variable. This allowed for
a stronger backing in the foreign markets and the United
States and Europe began a strong trade relationship. In the
In the 1980s, the market hours and usage was extended through
the use of computers and technology to include the Asian
time zones as well. At this time, foreign exchange equalled
about $70 billion a day. Today, about twenty years later,
the trade level has skyrocketed, with trade equaling close to
$1.5 trillion daily.
Originally, trading across international lines was more
difficult, with several different currencies involved across
Europe. Though the major players in the European market
were deeply involved in and veterans of international trade
by the time other markets joined in, there were more
currencies to keep track of – the franc, the pound, the lira,
and many more – than was reasonable. With the birth of
the European Union in 1992, the wheels were set in motion
to create a single currency that would be used across most
of Europe, and the Euro was finally established and put into
circulation in 1999.
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Forex Today
While some countries have still not accepted the currency as
their own (such as Britain, which still uses the sterling pound),
the process of currency conversion has been simplified
without the large number of various currencies that were
previously dealt with. Instead of dozens of currencies, the
main countries trade in five – U.S. dollars, Australian dollars,
British pounds sterling, the Euro, and the Japanese Yen.
Today, the Foreign Exchange Market is international and
worldwide. The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a
week, to accommodate all of the time zones for all of the
major players. These now include most of Europe, the
The United States, and Asian markets, especially Japan. Even
Australia has joined the international trading markets, and
since such nations are halfway around the world from some
of the other top players, time zones obviously must be taken
into consideration.
Another completely separate but perhaps more important
concern with trading in Forex is understanding how trade
works in multiple currencies. How can you compare the
value of stock across international lines if the values are
expressed in two separate, non-equivalent currencies? And
how do you measure gains and losses when the conversion rate
is constantly changing?
Understanding Currency Conversion
When you begin trading on Forex, you have to learn how to
convert currencies and note the difference in values, as well
as how currencies are exchanged between international
lines. This means studying not only domestic market trends
and currency values but also those of foreign markets.
Working With Multiple Currencies
Since Forex is the Foreign Exchange Market, you obviously
cannot expect everyone within the market to trade in the U.S.
dollars (and why not, you might ask? – but remember that
not everyone covets the U.S. dollar). With so many
variables and volatile currencies being exchanged, how can
you know a good buy or sell when you see one without
complete awareness of the value of foreign currency?
The first step is to find a source that will give you a basic
idea of the current exchange rate between your domestic
currency and the foreign currency in question. You should
do this as a base listing for any currency that with which you
might become involved. Of course, this will not be
consistent down to the cent or fraction of a particular
currency throughout an entire business day, but at least you
will have your starting point from which to begin, almost like
North on a compass. Such sources can be found all over the
Internet, as well as through many brokers, both online and
in person.
Currency Expression
It is also good to understand how
currency conversion is expressed. The comparison is usually
made in a ratio known as the cross-rate. In this
configuration, the two currencies are listed in an XXX/YYY
ratio, with the XXX position referred to as the base currency.
The base currency is usually expressed as a whole number,
while the YYY position is expressed as the decimal that most
closely matches the based currency rate. It is sort of like
making reference to miles per gallon or rotations per minute
on a car – a direct comparison of one to the other in the
form of a ratio.
The smallest fraction, or decimal, in which a currency can be
traded, is called a pip and this is usually the degree to which
a cross-rate is expressed. For example, if the British pound
sterling can be traded in thousandths, the currency will be
expressed to the third decimal place. The U.S. dollar is
often expressed to the hundredth of a cent (the fourth
decimal place).
In one cross-rate expression example, one U.S. dollar may
be equivalent to 117.456 Japanese yen. This ratio would be
expressed as 1.000/117.456. The base currency is almost
always expressed as a single unit (as in one-dollar as
opposed to ten dollars), and frequently that unit of
measurement is the U.S. dollar. Since the whole number
value (or big figure, as it is referred to) of the secondary
currency, or the currency in the YYY position in terms of
conversion changes so infrequently, often only the decimal
The portion of the number is mentioned in the Foreign Exchange
Market.
Therefore, in the ratio above, you may hear that the yen is
trading at .456, with no mention at all of the 117 whole yen
that is shown in the ratio. This is because the exchange rate
may vary from 117.456 to 117.423, but not to 119.024.
Experiencing a change in the big figure – the whole number
ahead of the decimal – unless it was only because the
The number was already within a few thousandths, would
represent much too large a shift in value for a single trading
period and would be a rare occurrence that could cause the
entire market to make a drastic swing in one direction or the
other.
The most common currencies found in Forex are the U.S.
dollar, the British pound sterling, the Euro, the Japanese
yen, and the Australian dollar. In the past, there would
have been many more currencies to keep track of (such as
the franc, the lira, or the Deutschmark). However, with the
consolidation of most of the European market trading on
Forex to the Euro, many currencies have been eliminated,
making a trade on Forex for other lands less complicated.
If you purchase a commodity in a particular currency, and
that currency’s value falls against the U.S. dollar, you can
make money by selling that same commodity in
dollars. The same is true in reverse should the value of a
foreign currency increase against a U.S. dollar. Of course,
you can only take advantage of such a situation should the
commodity be traded in both currencies and both markets in
question. We will discuss this process, as well as other ways
to take advantage of the Foreign Exchange Market (like
arbitrage) in more depth in future chapters.
Once you can discern a base value of each particular
currency and its conversion rate against others traded on
Forex, you will be able to more closely monitor the change in
currency conversion, including its inconsistency and
volatility. Such ideas will not seem so “foreign”, and you will
be caught up and knowledgeable right along with the pros.
Then, you will need to learn how to read, understand, and
ultimately interpret additional market trends
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Forex Trending
Following charts, listening to the advice of market analysts
and chartists, and learning to make educated predictions
yourself will help you keep track of various marketing
trends. The next chapter will explain more about using the
statistics that are published to forecast the next move on
the stock market. Will it be a clear, calm day with little
activity, or is there a storm brewing with winds of change
and uncertainty? How can you tell what will happen with
your holdings the following day or even further into the
future?
Simply learning to read market trends can remove a lot of
natural apprehension and uncertainty for beginning traders.
Sometimes the best first step to entering the market to watch shows about it or read the financial sections of
the newspaper that detail the trends and expected
outcomes. The following chapter will explain more about
how to interpret the statistics and basic trends.
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Understanding Statistics
You have now become somewhat familiar with how the stock
market works, and you understand to a point what is
involved in trading on the Foreign Exchange Market. Now,
you would like to know how to gauge market trends in order
to profit from your business ventures on the open market.
We are no longer discussing penny stocks and playground
games. You want the real goods.
The name of the game is statistics, and the first rule is that
you must be aware there is no such thing as a sure thing on
the stock market. While you can never be 100% sure at any
given time of the next move that will be made on the market
as a whole, being able to read statistics and interpret them
will place you ahead of the pack in regards to “guessing”
what will happen next?
Investing is a lot like gambling. If you can keep track of the
cards that have already been played, you are more
informed, statistically, regarding what is likely to be dealt
next, meaning you can place abet with greater insight than
someone who has no clue what has already been played.
With the open market, if you have information as to what
has already occurred over the past few days, months, or
even years, you are again placed in a better position to
more logically conclude what will happen next. You simply
learn the pattern and follow it to the end, reaping the
financial rewards.
Charts And Chartists
Wait, did you think you were going to have to research and
map out the market’s past all by yourself? Of course not!
Some people get paid to do that sort of work. They
monitor the market hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and
yearly so that they can provide big-time traders with the
same knowledge mentioned before. The more an
investment company knows about the market, the more
money it can make. The same is true for stockbrokers.
They make money when you make money, and they want to
do the best they can to make sure that you make intelligent
decisions.
The best part of this is that you have access to the same
information as these VIP clients. Chartists, who are
essentially market analysts that publish their findings in
easy to read charts, produce what is referred to as a
candlestick chart. These charts are a combination
of a line graph and a bar graph that shows the trend of
various stocks, indexes, or other interests over a specified
period. Therefore, you can easily determine if the
The commodity is on an uptrend or if it is taking a downturn,
when the last major change occurred, and how long it is
predicted that the stock or bond will continue on the current
path.
You can find information on most commodities and
their market trends for years in the past, and some even all
the way back to their introduction to the open market.
Using this information can help you decide whether it is a
good idea to buy or sell the stocks or securities in which you
have interest, or if it is better to hold off for a peak in the
market trend.
Understanding Market Trends
Understandably, as economies vary, the value of various
commodities can change. This is because, when an
economy is strong and flourishing, a nation is wealthier and
has more purchasing power. Along with that power comes a
higher value for the items purchased. In other words, if
people have more money to spend and are spending a
greater amount of that money at Walmart stores, the value
of the stock at Walmart is going to multiply at a considerable
rate. Therefore, stockholders become wealthier in terms of
assets, simply because the shoppers are driving the market
with their purchasing power. When stockholders are
wealthy, and the value of their holdings is on the rise, they
continue to purchase stock, which again, pumps the
economy. A strong upward trend in the stock market is an
excellent sign for any economy.
However, some things negatively affect the market, causing stock values to plummet. For
example, warfare rarely has a positive effect on the stock
market. On September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked
the World Trade Center in New York City, the economy of
the United States took a huge dive, and the nation was
threatened with a depression. Some analysts were sure that
it would never properly recover. The same thing typically
happens any time there is an attack or act of war within a
nation. However, the critics proved to be wrong, and the
United States proceeded to rebound or recover from a bad
downtrend, vigorously. This quick recovery
occurred mostly because the people of the United States
continued to push and spend, forcing money and wealth
back into the economy. In watching the reaction of the
stock market, you can learn to read trends based on world
events.
Oil prices commonly affect the stock market, as well.
Especially on the Foreign Exchange Market, you will find
trends vary depending on many current events. You will
also note that, over time, the principal value (or face value)
of a currency may purposely be revised by a nation in terms
of currency conversion. This is referred to as devaluation,
which will be discussed in greater detail in the next paragraph
Chapter 6: Forex Volatility and
Market Expectation
Volatility, or the tendency for fluctuation that can affect your
earnings within the stock market are typical within a
domestic market but even more evident and much stronger
on the Foreign Exchange Market. What factors affect the
value of the currency on Forex, and is there any way to control
this?
Devaluation And Revaluation
As mentioned in the previous chapter, devaluation refers to
the purposeful decline in the value of a currency concerning
other currencies as charged by a government entity. For
example, if the U. S. dollar is worth ten units of a foreign
currency that is then devalued by ten per cent, the U. S.
The dollar is now equivalent to only nine units of the foreign
currency. This makes any items purchased in the foreign
currency more expensive for those trading in U. S. dollars,
as the exchange rate is lowered. It also makes items in the
foreign country less expensive to trade in U. S. dollars.
An opposite change in value can also occur, raising the value
of the foreign currency. This is referred to as revaluation.
While it may seem that purposely adjusting the value of a
nation’s currency is “cheating”, or taking unfair
advantage by making foreign products cheaper to purchase
and increasing the value of exports, there are regulations in
place to prevent the manipulation of exchange rates for such
purposes. The charter of the IMF (International Monetary
Fund) assists in prohibiting such occurrences and enforcing
the policy.
There are ways in which you can take advantage of
devaluation and revaluation, which will be discussed later
on. However, what happens when the value of a foreign
currency changes due to market fluctuation rather than
purposeful reductions or increases by a federal government
or federal bank? What effect do appreciation and
depreciation have on the stock market?
Appreciation And Depreciation
Depreciation can be easily related to the life of a car. As
soon as you drive a new car off the lot, the value is almost
cut in half. This is extreme depreciation. However, over the
next few years, the car continues to lose value at a more
gradual pace. This is considered to be depreciation as well.
Currency appreciation and depreciation are changes in the
value of the currency that is driven by market forces rather
than by government mandate. For example, in an attempt
to repay certain loans, in 1998 the Central Bank of Russia
announced the coming devaluation of the ruble. The
exchange rate, which was currently six rubles per the U.S.
dollar, would over some time change to 9.5 rubles per
dollar, effectively a depreciation of 34%.
However, before the change, there was a widespread panic
within the former Communist nation, and the value of the
The ruble dropped due to many people in Russia opting to trade
in their securities before maturity. In a single day,
following the announcement, the Russian ruble was
depreciated by an amazing 25%.
The same sort of crisis occurred in the 1920s with the crash
of the U.S. stock market. At that time, a nationwide panic
set in, and people rushed to the banks to withdraw cash that
was not available or to trade in securities and stock options
that were not matured. In running to the bank, people
caused the crash rather than escaped it.
On the flip side of the coin, too fast of an appreciation sets
up a country for inflation or an increase in the retail value of
products sold to the public based on currency valuation.
While inflation is bound to occur, it can be minimally
tempered through the use of the currency valuation.
Appreciation can be related to a vehicle as well. Often, men
enjoy taking old cars and restoring them to their original
beauty. In doing so; they drastically increase the value of
the vehicle or appreciate it.
The ever-changing rates of currency conversion and volatility
of the market create an inherent market risk, or a day to
day potential to experience a loss due to fluctuation in
securities prices. There is no way to diversify this type of
risk, as it is always going to affect investment to a certain
degree. However, some risk can be offset by particular
types of investments or ways of investing that are more
secure or protected.
We will take a look at long and short positions, short selling,
stop orders, and other ways to protect your investments
from drastic loss in additional chapters. These options
include the ability to preset your purchase or sell price for a
specific commodity, as well as using various predetermine
order levels to place orders and complete transactions.
Of course, do not delude yourself into thinking that you can
rid yourself of all possible risk factors on the market. There
is always a cloud hanging over your head waiting to burst,
and all it takes is one little pinprick. You must always
exercise caution, though the idea of playing the stock
market entails danger and excitement inherently. The next
chapter will help you get a grasp on reality and what is
involved in balancing your risk factor with a grounding in
reality; your ego with your id.
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Aspects Of The Trade
You are now versed in the functionality of the stock market
and have decided that you are willing to accept the risk
factors involved. However, you want to know everything
you can about balancing that risk with intelligent investment
options. How can you be sure that the risks you take are
more likely to be rewarding in the long run than destructive?
Long and Short
One of the most important parts of making money on the
The stock market is to determine your position. The long
The position is the purchasing position – you are about
to take on a long-term commitment for ownership of some
stock, security, or other traded commodity. The short
position, by contrast, is the selling position – you are shortly
going to dispose of the same sort of ownership and any
responsibility toward it.
The best time to take up the long position is when stock
prices are low. This will get you into the market at a
reasonable price and increase your chances for profitability
as new offerings go up in price and older investment options
recover or rebound. As others take the long position
and purchase at the same time you do, this will actually
drive the value of securities up through the standard rule of
supply and demand, causing the beginning of what could be
a bull market.
You may equate this with the end of the month at a car
dealership. The prices tend to drop on any cars left on the
lot for sale, and the dealer is more often willing to bargain
because he or she wants less inventory on the lot. Likewise,
when stock prices are low, some will panic and dump all of
their holdings at these low prices, thinking that their shares
will never recover the value. This can only be of assistance
to you.
When prices are high, it is likely time to turn around and sell
your shares to bring in a profit, not losing anything on
unrealized gain (profit that cannot be counted in a liquid
assets or cash because it is still invested in a volatile stock
option). You should never sell for a price that is below your
cost, as this brings negative equity and loss of funds. You
should always sell for the greatest amount of profit that you
feel is safe.
In other words, if you buy a security at fifteen dollars per
share, and it quickly rises to twenty-five dollars per share,
you may very well feel that it could hit thirty dollars per
share within a week. However, you must determine if you
are willing to risk losing your already secured earnings of ten
dollars per share to wait that long, should the price actually
fall, so you may decide to sell at the current high price.
Market-Makers And Selling Short
What if the stock values are up incredibly high, but you did
not get in on that particular commodity and own no shares?
Your first step should be to visit a market-maker or to make
a deal with a broker for a short sell. A market-maker is
a stockbroker who purchases keeps a certain
amount of shares of several securities or stocks on hand,
which are purchased during a time when the market rates
are low.
The firm will then turn around and sell those shares to an
The individual at that low price, regardless of the market rate, in
effect making its market (thus the name). The
The individual who purchases from the firm can immediately sell
the commodities on the open market at market rate (which
is higher), making an incredible amount of profit in a short
period.
A short sell is another option for a quick profit. In this
scenario, you will borrow a particular number of shares from
a stockbroker to sell when the market value is high. Your
job is to then wait for the stock price to go down, purchase
the same quantity of stock, and return the holdings to the
broker, keeping the profit from the sale, minus the broker
fees.
The way that a car dealer works with trade-ins is very
similar. They will purchase the car from you at a very low
price, then turn around and sell it on the lot for a high-profit
margin.
One of the most positive aspects of a short sell is that you
never actually take possession of the stock, meaning that
you are never in a position to lose money. Because you
have sold shares for a high price, you have already profited,
and in the worst-case scenario, the particular stocks will not
drop in price. Rather than return the stocks to the broker
from whom they were borrowed, you can simply payback
the amount for which they were originally purchased, along
with the premium.
How can you be sure that you will not overshoot the best
price options or miss a good rate because you are
unavailable to place a buy order or sell order with your
broker? Is there a way to set limits on your trades? Next,
we will discuss ways to protect your investments and limit
your risk factors.
Risk Management
One of the most important aspects of protecting your
investments is balancing your risks with reassurances.
There are several ways to do this, and we will discuss those
in this chapter.
Limit Orders And Balancing Risks
A limit order is a standing amount at which you have agreed
to buy or sell a particular security or other commodities. For
instance, you have designated to your stockbroker that you
will not sell X Security until its value reaches a minimum
value of Y dollars. At the same time, you will not purchase
the same X Security if it exceeds a value of Z. Setting limits
for the price you pay for a particular security, as well as the
The price you will accept to sell it protects you and your
investment in several ways.
First of all, you are maximizing your gains, but mostly, you
are avoiding loss. Any loss that occurs with limit orders will
always be an unrealized loss or a loss that is not measurable in
liquid assets or cash. In other words, until you sell the stock
and reap the net loss, it will not affect your net worth. Since
you have set a limit that does not allow your commodities to
be sold for less than the original cost, you cannot possibly
have a loss in your net worth. At the same time, you are
also assuring at least a certain amount of profit by setting
your sell point high enough to reap that particular profit.
Another way to protect your assets is to hedge. This means
that you create and sell a futures contract stating that, when
your shares reach a certain value in the future, you will sell
your holdings at this predetermined price. When that price
is reached, the order will be processed and the transaction
completed. Of course, if you ever change your mind about a
limit that you have set, you can place a stop order with your
broker, which designates that you no longer wish to trade at
the specified dollar amount.
You can also buy on margin. This is very similar to short
selling, but instead of borrowing stocks to sell, you are
essentially borrowing money to purchase stocks on your own
when the market value is down. Then, when the value of
the securities you have purchased rises and you can
sell for a profit, you repay the loan and keep the excess
from the sell, minus the broker fees. Of course, all dealings
with a stockbroker incur a premium or fee for services
rendered, and it is nearly impossible to trade without a
broker or broker service. However, online services are often
less expensive than live agents, but you can research to
determine what your best option is.
How Do I Handle a Whipsaw?
No, we are not referring to anything in the garage, the
bedroom, or a country band. A whipsaw is a market trend
that defies the odds. It can be thought of as the “fender
bender”. Despite how careful you are as you learn to drive a
car and become coordinated, sometimes you cannot do
anything to avoid being rear-ended.
Whipsaw is a term for what happens when everything points
toward a specific direction in the market trend, causing you to
buy (if it looks as though prices are going to rise) or sell (if it
seems they are about to fall), then the opposite effect
occurs.
For example, if you purchase a security at five dollars per
share because the stock seems to have fallen as far as it can
go and appears to be starting an upward trend, then
unexpectedly, the stock plummets to one dollar per share,
this is considered a whipsaw effect. If this happens to you,
as it surely will if you play the market long enough, the best
The thing to do is wait it out. The stock will do one of two things
– it will either dissolve entirely, and the company will go
bankrupt (this is what you do not want to happen), or it will
rebound, and you can opt to wait for a chance to turn a
profit or you can get out as soon as the purchase rate is
reached.
Whipsaws are not the end of the world, and no one can
expect to gain with every stock market purchase. However,
if you find that you are involved in several of these
instances, you should seriously reconsider your investment
options. You may be reading the signs incorrectly, or you
could be picking bad stocks. You should seek advice for any
future investments you expect to make before purchasing
any further stocks or securities.
Another way to overturn a bad investment like this is to
proceed with an offset transaction – a purchase or sell that
offsets the loss of a previous transaction. You could either
purchase additional stock in the same company at the lower
price if you expect it to recover, or you can opt for another
The hot commodity that is about to explode in price, either of
which will help you offset your loss. You could also sell
shares of a security in which you have a large amount of
unrealized gain – again that cannot be measured in liquid
assets or cash due to an increase in value of stock and security
holdings – to replace the lost cash value.
All of these are viable options to recover a loss but waiting
for the share value to rebound is always the first choice. It
avoids the loss of funds already invested, retains the option
to pursue profit, and reduces the risk of further investment
into the market.
As you grow and learn about these various options, you will
need to feel more comfortable when surrounded by financial
gurus and geeks who speak what sounds like gibberish,
muttering words you have never heard left and right. The
Some commodities areBuzz Words
Now that you know a little more about the stock market,
and you have decided to try your hand at investment, you
should be more concerned with understanding the jargon
you will hear on the trading room floor. Although you
probably will not find yourself amid a group of screaming
stockbrokers on Wall Street (and these days, most of the
trading is done by computer anyway), knowing that learning
to talk the talk is part of walking the walk.
Margins, Spreads, And Other Condiments
Okay, so it is margins, not margarines, but it sounds very
similar. To understand the stock market, especially
on Forex, you need to speak not a language meant for
common communication, but the language of trade. For
instance, when you think of a margin, for many this means a
variable – like the “margin of error” in a statistic.
However, in trade, it refers to the sum of money borrowed
from a broker to purchase stocks when the market
is on a downtrend. Then, when the value begins its next
upswing, you sell the stock at the higher price, pay back the
margin (along with the premium accrued), and retain the
profit.
When you buy on margin, the money lent by the stockbroker
is referred to as a margin account. The margin account is
provisionally based on the value of the stock. Occasionally, if
the value of the stocks purchased should drop too low for
the safety margin set forth by the broker, the agent will
request that more money be deposited into the margin
account to make up for the loss. This is referred to as a margin
call.
In some trades, the market value does not come into play.
For instance, a forward trade is set up between two
individuals or two companies outside the open market. It
involves a process of negotiation and an eventual
compromise in price. There is usually a bid made – the offer
to buy a commodity at a certain price – and an asking price
or offer – the price for which the other business entity is
willing to sell the securities or other holdings. The difference
between these two purchase numbers is referred to as the
spread.
If the spread cannot be narrowed and eventually closed, no
deal can be made. This agreed-upon price is called the
forward price, and all details involved in the trade process
when this type of transaction takes place are detailed in a
contract and referred to as forwarding points. Usually, the
The forward price is outlined as available for a particular date,
and should the transaction not be completed on this date
(referred to as the transaction date), then the trade must be
renegotiated.
Jobbers, Yards, And Other “Brit” Terms
One of the major foreign markets that Americans trading on
Forex will encounter is that of the British. While several
other terms relating to the stock market will be similar
because of the common language, there are some specific
terms that are very different in the British trading
vocabulary.
For example, in the United States, stockbrokers who hold
onto securities purchased at low prices for
selling them to clients in a higher-priced market (so that the
The client can turn around and resell them for the profit on the
open market) are called market-makers. However, in
Britain, this type of investor is simply referred to as a
“jobber”.
Another term you will want to be familiar with is “yard”.
This does not refer to a green patch of land, a measurement
in inches, or even 36 of something. The term is used about the quantity of currency rather than value and is
equivalent to one million units of the currency in question.
In other words, you can have a yard of dollars or a yard of
yen, and though it is the same quantity of bills, coins, or
whatever physical currency is used, it is not necessarily
equivalent in value.
In Britain, they do not use the Euro, and they do not use the
U.S. dollar. They have chosen to still use the pound
sterling, a currency that has been used in the country for
hundreds of years. However, Britain is currently on a path
to make the conversion to the Euro within the next five
Years.
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Open And Shut
In the stock market, there are various types of orders that
can be placed to help protect you from making a bad
investment or to limit the amount you pay for a certain
security or another commodity. For instance, if you have
made a bad investment and do not want to reinvest in a
particular security, you should sell all shares of that stock,
regardless of taking on a small loss. This action is referred
to as closing a position. On the contrary, if you are doing
well with your investment, you might participate in a
rollover, simply reinvesting any earnings in additional shares
of the stock or security.
An open order is exactly what it sounds like, meaning that
the order remains pending until it is either executed by your
stockbroker or cancelled by you as the client. A stop order
would cancel any pending orders you have placed with your
stockbroker. You also have options like One Cancels the
Other Orders. These allow you to have interest in several
commodities, leaving orders with your stockbroker to buy all
of them, should they drop to a certain price. Then, should
one of those reach this preset low price, your stockbroker
will follow your direction and invest your money in that
particular security, followed by a cancellation of all additional
orders.
When a broker gives you an estimate on the price for a
particular stock or commodity, it is considered a quote. A
quote is never completely accurate and is usually referred to
as a spot price, as the value of a security can change within
a few seconds. However, it is as close to accurate as can be
expected. When you put in an order, the broker then
processes the fill, or completion, of that order. The actual
value at which the trade is completed is called the fill price.
The completion of a trade or purchase, referred to as a
settlement, can also be called the execution of a transaction
or realization of an order. As you see, there are a lot of
terms to take into consideration, and we have not even
begun to consider terms used in some of the tougher areas
of the market.
Next, we will consider some specialized, more complex
trading options that you can use on Forex to take advantage
of the volatility of the market and the constantly varying
exchange rates.
Expert Trading Options
After spending a lot of time buying and trading on both
domestic and foreign markets, you will find that the process
becomes easier and almost intuitive. You no longer have to
work so hard to determine currency conversion or find the
next big explosive commodity. It will be like second nature
for you.
What, then, becomes the next big challenge for someone
trading on the open market? What keeps things from
becoming monotonous and boring? First of all, there is
always something new and different happening on the
Foreign Exchange Market. Remember, it operates 24 hours
a day, and you never know what you will find when you
wake up in the morning. However, there are various ways
that you can take advantage of the variance in currency
conversion and a lag in time between markets that can
affect trading values.
Arbitrage
There are some commodities that are traded in multiple
currencies on multiple markets on Forex. Although
computers have made worldwide communication almost
lightning-fast these days, all of these markets can trade
together with fairly equivalent values for the securities
shared across currencies.
However, the system is not perfect, and the value may rise
or fall in one country and currency before the same change
in value reaching across another border. Seasoned traders
have learned to take advantage of this lag in the market
trending by using a process called arbitrage. In this
transaction, you purchase the particular stock or security on
the market with a lower price while simultaneously selling
the same in a market where the value is higher. The
process is a bit complex, so we will use an example. Let’s
say that one U.S. dollar is equivalent to .5 British pounds,
meaning that everything is going to be twice as expensive in
British pounds.
Now, let’s take a look at the price of a stock that is traded
on both markets. If they were equivalent, then the stock
would trade for two dollars in the United States and one
pound in Britain. However, if something happens and the
stock value drops in Britain, it is six hours ahead of the
United States, and this drop may not hit the American
market immediately.
If the value of the stock drops in Britain to .8 pounds, the
purchase price is now below that of the price in dollars due
to the currency conversion. In this case, arbitrage would
take place when you bought shares of the stock in on the
British market in pounds and sold it on the U.S. market in
dollars, benefiting from the slow communication of the fall in
The value of the stock. In effect, you will make $.40 per stock.
The volatility of Currency Conversion
Another way to take advantage of the ever-shifting value of
each currency is to trade based on the changing
rates. What exactly does this involve? You must closely
watch the changing conversion rates. When a currency
conversion rate changes drastically, it is time to make a
move. This is very similar to arbitrage, but the area is much
riskier due to high volatility. For instance, if you have
purchased stock in the scenario above on the U.S. market
for two dollars a share, and suddenly the British pound gains
value, dropping to a conversion of only half a pound for
every two dollars, you would want to sell your shares on the
British market because the value of a pound is higher and
now has greater purchasing power.
One piece of advice to keep in mind, though, is that it is best
to immediately dispose of all liquid assets in foreign
currency, usually on the same day. This is referred to as
tomorrow next because it takes two to three business days
for foreign currency to be delivered, and by exchanging the
currency for value in stocks on the same business day, you
avoid having to take delivery of the currency altogether.
Other Trading
Options
Besides the expert options described above, there are other
nontraditional ways to make money on the stock market. In
considering these options, however, you should consider
making a career trading stocks and securities. Some
types of trading are simply not for the faint of heart, and
that means you must have a complete motivation and an
adventurous spirit to take part in these areas of the market.
The chances of taking a giant hit and experiencing a great
loss are multiplied.
Day Trading
Day traders take on some of the greatest market risks of all.
Because day traders work with investments that change
drastically within hours, they are by nature playing in the
lion’s den. These stocks are extremely volatile, and for
most, day trading is a quick way to lose a great deal of
money. It is difficult to make a great deal of cash in this
manner, and it is even more difficult to forecast the outcome
of these day trade stock options. You cannot be certain of
the overnight position (the net value at which a stockbroker
or day trader will open the following morning).
And in Forex, there is little room for day trading, as the
The market never shuts down during the workweek. In these
cases, the day trader has to set a time limit for him- or
herself to get out, selling all shares, so that he or she can
sleep soundly while the world spins round and start the next
day fresh.
Day trading is very dangerous and is not recommended to
newcomers. It is not recommended at all, and
most people who partake of this volatile part of the industry
are extremely seasoned in trading on the open market, do
not consider the risk factors carefully enough before
entering this branch of the market, or have enough money
that they simply wish to try this form of investment and do
not care if they lose a goodly sum.
Secondary Markets
Secondary markets are interesting in that they are created
by the government to help redistribute money that is used
for loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two of the major
corporations from which stocks are purchased on a
secondary market.
Here is how it works. When a person purchases a home, he
or she requests a loan from the bank, usually for about
eighty per cent of the cost of the house. This is granted, and
the house is purchased by the bank for the individual or
family, who begins to pay off the loan to the bank.
Meanwhile, to assure that money is available at that bank
for the next person who needs a mortgage loan, Fannie Mae
or Freddie Mac, two entities originally established by the
United States government, will purchase the loan from the
bank. Therefore, the money is returned to the bank for use
in the future.
What do these agencies then do with the deficit they have
acquired? They sell it. On the secondary market, they
break up the loan into shares that are backed by the
The mortgage itself and sell those shares, recovering the money
from investors. Eventually, those securities mature,
probably about the same time that the original loan is paid
off to the bank, and the investors reap the benefits of their
investment with the interest earned.
Another way to take advantage of a volatile international
The stock market is to make a swap. This is the exchange of
securities or bds to take advantage of lower
interest rates. For example, if a business entity in Britain is
in possession of one security, and another in Japan is in
possession of different security, the two commodities may
be beneficially traded or sold to each other to save
on the interest rates, if the currently held bond or security is
kept at a lower interest rate in the opposing market.
For example, let’s say one business owns a
bond “A” that is paying out only two per cent interest in its
current market and another is holding bonds “B” in its
market at three per cent interest. If bond A is actually
paying out three per cent on the foreign market, and bond B
can be cashed in for four per cent on the first market, both
parties can make more money on the trade of bonds. They
can mutually benefit from a sale of the securities to each
other due to a gain of more interest.
If that seems confusing, then perhaps a swap is not in your
near future. This is more often processed between
businesses on the foreign market rather than individual
parties, though with the correct broker, it could be
accomplished. However, should you work the deal, you
need know little except that you are looking at a higher
profit margin than previously and your broker will take care
of the rest.
If you determine that you should have stock options as a
business, you will probably decide to hire a fulltime
consultant for all your financial needs, including the handling
of your shareholdings. When businesses are large
enough and present a strong enough trading presence within
the market, especially on Forex, you will find that there are
entire departments dedicated to maintenance on the stock
Options.
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In Review
After shovelling through piles of information and taking in so
much knowledge, you probably feel like you are swimming in
terminology and cannot remember just where to begin. The
best way to retain knowledge is through repetition, and
having a quick reference guide is never a bad idea, either.
The following pages are a brief overview of the in-depth
discussions in this book, allowing you to quickly reference a
topic in a bind.
The Basic Trade
A share is a holding of a company that varies in value based
on the desire or need for that particular company’s goods or
services. As a shareholder, your net worth increases and
decreases based on taking a short position (selling) when
values are high and a long position (buying) when prices are
low. As long as the stock or security is in your possession,
the change in value is considered unrealized gain or loss
because you cannot measure it in liquid assets (cash).
When most commodities traded on the market are on a
strong upward trend for some time, this is referred to
as a bull market. Should value take a sharp downward
swing and continue on that path, it is called a bear market.
If no such trend is recognized, and the value of stocks and
securities is fairly even, this is referred to as flat.
The Foreign Exchange Market
The Foreign Exchange Market is the stock exchange on
which several different countries across several different
time zones trade their domestic and international
commodities in various currencies. Currency is the
denomination or monetary division used in a particular land
(such as the U.S. dollar or the Euro). When multiple
currencies are in use, they are typically expressed as a ratio
called a cross-rate that shows the amount of a second
currency that is equivalent to the first listed. Determining
what the equivalent is would be referred to as currency
conversion.
Several countries in Europe, which have now consolidated
their currencies to agree on the Euro (since 1999) trade on
Forex, as it is called for short. Britain, which to this point
has opted to continue using the pound sterling, also takes
part in international trade, as well as the United States,
Japan, and Australia. Each of these countries utilizes its
currency for standard trading purposes, with options for
investment in foreign currencies. Determining whether or
not this is worthwhile depends on the currency conversion
rate.
The value of a nation’s currency is determined by its
government and federal bank (the Federal Reserve, better
known as the FED, is the federal bank of the United States).
Purposeful change in the rate of conversion by a government
is referred to as valuation – devaluation is taking value and
strength from the currency, and revaluation adds strength
and purchase power to the currency. If the same change to
the rate of conversion occurs naturally through events and
the volatility of the market is then called appreciation and
depreciation.
Careers In The Market
Without the assistance of professionals, it is nearly
impossible to trade on the open market. Market analysts
track trends in the stock market that affect the value of
shareholdings. They use such information and basic history
to help predict the outcome of different aspects of the
market in the future.
Other individuals, referred to as chartists, create charts and
graphs that interpret all the data – various numbers,
statistics, percentages, etc – into an easy to read candlestick
The chart that tracks the trends of specific commodities on the
market.
A stockbroker is an individual or a company that assists you
in making your investments. A broker can aid you in
making smart financial decisions, helping you track and
place your orders, and following trends in the market.
A market-maker does the same job as a stockbroker, with
the exception that this individual or company retains an
investment in a particular variety of securities and bonds
that can be sold in short order to a client for a lower price so
that the client can make money by immediately selling the
same shares at the higher market price.
Other individuals can assist with loans, allowing you to buy
on margin. This involves the opposite approach – borrowing
money to purchase a stock or security that is at a low
The market value so that the client can later resell the
The commodity at a higher price.
Protecting Your Investments
There are several ways to protect your investments. By
placing limit orders, you guarantee to the best of your ability
that you will not lose money on the market and virtually
guarantee at least a minimal profit. However, if you change
your mind about those limits, you can always place a stop | https://medium.com/@saravanans301074/insiders-guide-to-forex-trading-6d2e10849a9c | ['Saravanan Shanmugam'] | 2021-04-09 09:24:23.211000+00:00 | ['Forex Traders', 'Forex Brokers', 'Forex Trading', 'Forex', 'Forex Signals'] |
10 Places To Search for Design Inspiration | One way or another, we’ve all found ourselves somewhere in the time and space of the internet looking for inspiration, whether it be writing, illustration, web design, home decor, or any other type of industry and art.
The world wide web has given us many excellent tools that help us every day, in many different ways. When it comes to Design, we can find numerous different platforms where creators from all around the world can share their creations with others and showcase their work.
I love looking for different styles and seeing people’s unique creations to get inspired for my work and learn more about the possibilities of various tools, per example.
Like me, I know many others who like to browse for this type of content, so I’ve decided to compile a list of some of the places I usually use.
Behance
Behance Homepage (Source)
Behance is a classic, and probably one of the first places that every designer learns about. Maybe by being so popular, it offers such a wide variety of projects and creators.
And apart from the browsing feature, there’s also the possibility to search for job offers and freelance opportunities.
Muzly Inspiration
Muzli’s landing page when opening a new tab
This one is a Chrome Extension that you can easily add to Google Chrome browser. After activating Muzli, every time you open a new tab, you are greeted with a page full of design creations.
The great thing about Muzli is that it changes every day and you can browse through different categories, as well as see what things are trending around the world.
Awwwards
Awwwards Homepage (Source)
At Awwwards, you’ll find projects not only from individual creators (like designers and developers) but also agencies. They have a wide variety of categories and evaluate websites based on different factors.
This evaluating system grants the content with awards like “Site of the Day” or “Mobile of the Week” so the content you see is always changing throughout the days.
Typographic Posters
Typographic Posters Homepage (Source)
Typographic Posters is the perfect place for lovers of typography, posters and editorial art. You can find a vast array of projects that use lettering in creative and different ways and multiple media pieces.
Baubauhaus
Baubauhaus Homepage (Source)
From illustration work to graphic/visual design, typography, editorial and others, Bauhaus is a platform where you can find many different types of work.
Their website allows you to browse through a specific category, such as photography or illustration, or through the most popular creations of a particular period (day, week, month).
Httpster
Httpster Homepage (Source)
At Httpster, you can find Web Design related inspiration. It features creations from different creators globally, and you can browse throughout different months to identify trends and time based highlighted projects.
Identity Designed
Identity Designed Homepage (Source)
Not so directly related to Web/Graphic Design, in Identity Designed, you’ll find great branding inspiration. You can find multiple examples that you can click to discover more about with better details, images and descriptions.
It’s great to find more in-depth content and explanations behind the designs we find.
Dribbble
Dribbble Homepage (Source)
This is one of my favourites, as I find myself browsing Dribbble many times, even if it’s just in my free time. It’s possible to browse through different categories of art (like Web Design, Photography, Illustration and others) or search for a specific keyword and then refine through them.
I also find it useful to see animation content and examples.
One Page Love
One Page Love Homepage (Source)
One Page Love was one of the best places I found when I started to study Front End Development. It showcases different types of one-page websites and layouts.
Pinterest
Pinterest Homepage (Source)
As we all probably already know, Pinterest is the home of imagery inspiration. By searching any keywords, you’ll get endless browsing options, and you can always adjust what your searching for to get better results, more aligned with what you’re looking for. | https://uxplanet.org/10-places-to-search-for-design-inspiration-75a9be9e47be | ['Inês Bernardino'] | 2020-12-10 10:47:10.116000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Web Design', 'Visual Design', 'UX', 'Inspiration'] |
Lying Down | A Poem
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
I love it
when my limbs relax
under the softness of the mattress
to see the blades of the ceiling fan
smother into a compound of ivory
till the white blinds me
and I find rivulets of tears
soaking the mattress tugged over my lifeless corpse
Silence is truly deafening
and what seems tranquil to others
may not be for me
as I cower over the thought
of listening to my own palpitations
beating in rhythm to
the soft jazz
you’re dancing to with someone else.
Maybe I'm letting my train of thoughts
unwind to wrap me in
a serpentine rope;
strangle me by the throat
till my cheeks turn purple
But besides the pills of melatonin
lies a pair of pillows
untouched —
somehow my bed seems
more spacious today. | https://medium.com/blueinsight/lying-down-401a5014f1d5 | ['Daniel A. Teo'] | 2020-12-15 13:53:22.532000+00:00 | ['Blue Insights', 'Poem', 'Prose', 'Image', 'Poetry'] |
The BioShock That Wasn’t | The BioShock That Wasn’t
Hidden nuggets from the original pitch document
I love BioShock. It has one of the best — perhaps the best — twist in video game history. The series is notorious for the indelible marks it leaves on the human psyche. Few games have compelling stories, let alone at the business end of a shotgun. Masterful combat coupled with a gripping narrative set in morose environments remains a recipe for success, just as it was in 2007. But a pitch document from 2002 reveals that BioShock was a very different game from the one that hit consoles and PCs five years later.
This isn’t a knock on how the game turned out, because it was incredible. It’s merely an exercise to see what could have been, as well as possibly shedding some light on what the next BioShock game could be.
Source: Irrational Games Archive.
It’s interesting to see that the document mentions Carlos Cuello, a different protagonist altogether minus the underwater city backdrop that would become instantly recognizable to gamers: Rapture. There’s plenty of stuff here that would eventually find its way into other shooters and features that would revitalize the genre even in 2020. Fortunately, a good deal of the facets mentioned so kindly make an appearance in the game, some in full force and others in spirit. Here’s the side of BioShock that never saw the light of day; for better or worse.
An entirely different setting
“What is the measure of a man?
Is it the hands and feet?
The eyes and ears?
Or is it the Holy Spirit that animates him?
If the body is lost, but the soul is saved, is that anything less than a victory?” - excerpt from Irrational Games’ BioShock pitch document
A remote island. A religious cult. A princess in a cultists’ castle.
BioShock’s initial setting doesn’t sound like the most intriguing premise you’ve been to until you take into consideration that this is an Irrational Games title. The pitch document lists audio logs (they are just as prominent in the final version of the game) that speak of untold terrors that rocked the Isla de Salvacion’s shores. Religious sermons that forced aquatic life to beach themselves on the sand à la Death Stranding and humans undergoing physiological changes that would grant them terrible power reeked of suspense and intrigue. If a document could make one shiver, you can imagine how the game could have turned out. It clearly had potential.
But would I have picked a lush island over Rapture? Certainly not. It’s a decision that I am more than happy with. The eerie depths of a submerged dystopian metropolis certainly served BioShock’s ambitions well. While I’m not saying that Irrational Games couldn’t have made a remote island just as iconic, Rapture possessed a sense of claustrophobia and unrest that few games could ever hope to capture. It served as a setting that furthered the story just as much as the narrative did. The looters and genetic horrors that populated its deserted corridors won’t leave your headspace in a hurry.
Need I remind you of the Big Daddies and the Little Sisters?
BioShock 2. Source: Irrational Games.
Story-driven multiplayer
In addition to a rock-solid single-player component, a story-driven multiplayer mode was also in the works. While details are sparse as to what it may have contained, clues can be found in the game’s sequel. BioShock 2 featured a multiplayer mode created with the help of Digital Extremes, known for their work on the Unreal titles right from the nineties. While Irrational Games had MMO-esque proposals that promised scale and grandeur, Digital Extremes wisely toned down its aspirations to keep things realistic in terms of feasibility.
Unfortunately, this eschewed narrative components for a shooter that lacked the poise and depth of its competitors. Poorly balanced weapons and a wonky matchmaking system buried the series’ multiplayer aspirations. BioShock Infinite tossed out its prequel’s multiplayer and instead focused on the series’ greatest strength: the campaign.
Had Irrational Games got their way with BioShock’s multiplayer element, who knows what eccentric take may have been bestowed upon us?
Escape from Tarkov’s absurd gun customization. Source: PCGamer.
Gun mods
While plenty of games today feature an insane level of gun modification (Escape from Tarkov and Loadout come to mind), I can’t think of a game that let you mix and match gun components back in 2002. The crux of the system Irrational Games intended to craft would work on bonuses and tradeoffs; a tenet not uncommon in multiplayer shooters today. Weapons would have had the ability to be modified with all sorts of unique properties, from a full-auto shotgun to a chain-lightning tazer pistol.
The document even refers to snipers that spew acid-coated rounds, magnetic grenades that could pull robots in (eerily reminded me of Halo 4), and a silent rail gun. An arsenal worthy of the game’s aspirations, no doubt. And just like the end result, the developers wanted players to know that science had its limits. Meddling with your fashionable weaponry would make them unstable in combat situations and I’d hate to be on the business end of one of these denizens of destruction.
The regular archetypes of these weapons would be scattered across BioShock’s world for players to discover, akin to most recent narrative-driven outings. The pitch mentions resources of some kind that would let one apply said gun modifications, but they weren’t specific as to whether it would involve players raking up currencies or hunting for parts. All in all, it would have certainly made for a fine addition to an already impressive game.
Portal 2. Source: Valve.
Change the world
Tinkering with the game world isn’t exactly new; games that gravitate towards puzzles have implemented such systems in the past. But while things like fog and lighting merely serve aesthetic purposes in shooters, Irrational Games steps things up. Terminals peppered across the campaign let you meddle with the weather itself. This doesn’t just cause some cool visual effects; it drastically alters the playing field as well, affecting both friend and foe.
Dabble in humidity control to raise fog that can aid stealth encounters or increase the oxygen level in an area to give your explosives an extra kick. Metal flooring can be magnetized to slow down robotic foes but drags your bullets down with them. The best part? Grenades are effectively sticky bombs now. The possibilities sound too good to be true. And they’re just getting started.
Flip gravity around, ionize the air, or flood/electrify the room. The choice is yours. But be wary: every change affects enemies differently. Robots may be impervious to some attacks while temperature changes would affect cold-blooded and warm-blooded foes differently. Amp up the heat enough and thermal security scans won’t pick you up. But cold-blooded foes get a speed boost to counter said threat. It’s a cohesive system that gels well with a game that promises unique combat situations that can be adjusted on the fly.
BioShock’s basic yet fundamental gene modification system. Source: GameStar.
Genetic modification
Among the features on this list, this is perhaps the only one that had been implemented in BioShock’s final build, albeit in a limited manner. DNA-altering substances were all the rage in Rapture, luxuries that the wealthy stowed away; buried but not forgotten. BioShock players could use Plasmid serums to modify their bodies, granting them potent abilities like hurling fireballs or whipping up electric storms. But Irrational Games had intended to take things even further: biogenetic manipulation.
The cult was to possess unorthodox tech that would let one sacrifice their humanity to turn into an enhanced killing machine. Advanced genotypes could be retrieved from terminals on the map to augment the player’s malleable human form. The genotypes specified in the document point toward aquatic traits that could radically reconstruct enemy confrontations. The crustacean genotype would have made the character a tank with a meaty hard shell in addition to a crab claw for encounters up-close. If you’d rather have echo-electrical awareness and the occasional electric attack, consider the electric eel genotype. You could level these traits up as well, letting you prepare yourself based on the encounter ahead.
Just as the other features mentioned, benefits come with flaws as well. Switching to a hydrozoan (jellyfish) genotype might grant you gelatinous and invisible skin coupled with poison on contact, but robots could still spot you with their infrared vision. It’s rather disappointing to note that this innovative take on body modification didn’t make the cut. The game’s combat could have been all the more memorable. It sounds like it could have stood toe-to-toe against CyberPunk 2077’s futuristic augmentations, a game that showed up 13 years later.
BioShock gave the world the chills back in 2007. Source: 2KGames.
Parting shot
Irrational Games struck a delicate balance between bizarre and business with their original vision for BioShock and it’s a shame that not everything made it. Considering that a new game is in the works, I hope some of these features seep into their next outing. Gizmos that let you tinker with the environment and the player’s physical self have the potential to revamp sandbox titles as we know them. And few developers can do it better than Irrational Games. I wouldn’t trade Rapture for an island even if you asked nicely.
Nonetheless, BioShock is a crowning achievement in video game design, a narrative experience every video game enthusiast must discover for themselves. The twist is one that only a video game can offer. An absolute masterclass in storytelling that merits its own article all by itself. No other medium remotely comes close to delivering what I felt when the game sprung its trap. I suggest playing it before the next one shows up.
Would you kindly? | https://medium.com/super-jump/the-bioshock-that-wasnt-3f0b19331cc3 | ['Antony Terence'] | 2020-09-13 06:17:37.193000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Gaming', 'Features', 'History', 'Culture'] |
IIT Bombay Offers C++ Programming Language Free Course on NPTEL | Indian Institute of Technology Bombay offers a free C++ programming course on National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). As we all know IIT Bombay is a top most college and in the new Education Policy Indian Government introduced programming in sixth standard. So, main purpose of this course is to provide basic programming skils and helping giving the best knowledge about C++.
This C++ free course give you in depth knowledge about concept of programming and basics of C++. This course contains several topics such as programming notations and symbols, variables and keywords, conditional statements, control flow, object oriented concepts, operators and some other important topics.
In this course you will also learn about some basic Data Structure topics such as arrays, stacks, queue, heap memory, map classes, vector, string and some Algorithm such as recursion, searching algorithms, sorting algorithms and C++ standard template library(STL). In this you will learn how to manage large programs into classes and functions.
C++ is one of the oldest programming language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup but demand of C++ in market is still at peek. C++ is a high level Object Oriented Programming language. Mostly C++ used in Game Development, GUI based applications, Database softwares and Operating Systems.
C++ free course by IIT Bombay is basically designed for undergradute students of computer science but anyone who is interested can register in this course.The course is 12 weeks long that will start from 18th January 2021 till 9th April 2021. This course is led by Prof. Abhiram G. Ranade who is highly experienced professor at IIT Bombay. | https://medium.com/@shubjai006/iit-bombay-offers-c-programming-language-free-course-on-nptel-cab5dd035c53 | [] | 2020-12-20 15:30:30.994000+00:00 | ['C Programming', 'Iit Bombay', 'Nptel', 'Game Development'] |
Infographic Blog Post- Ana Soler | Data Source: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/cbhsq-reports/NSDUHDetailedTabs2017/NSDUHDetailedTabs2017.htm#tab9-2B
Data Chart on Google Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aKPpLQgtM9KC1ZWNuBNgxwpscfHhGh9JfiPQtS4zdT4/edit?usp=sharing
The data from the chart is from a 2017 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association about different mental health services and what percentage of different ages, races/ethnicities, and genders of adolescents that responded the survey. The age groups are separated as 12–13, 14–15, and 16–17. The races/ethnicities were listed as not Hispanic or Latino, White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Two or More Races, and Hispanic or Latino.
The services were separated into 2 categories: Specialty and Non-Specialty. Those categories are separated into subcategories. For Specialty, there’s outpatient (meaning therapy that is done routinely for a specific period of time) and inpatient or residential (therapy that is a longer stay, even overnight especially from a mental hospital). For Non-Specialty, there’s education (therapy done through school or a behavioral program in an education institute), general medicine (therapy done through a family doctor of some kind), juvenile justice (therapy through a prison of some kind, like a juvenile detention center), and child welfare (therapy received in foster care).
What I got from the data is that when it comes to specialty mental health services, the percentages of whites, mixed races, and non-Hispanics are much higher than minorities like Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, and Black/African Americans. That makes sense to me because in the culture of those minorities, therapy is seen as something only for “crazy” people. It is very much a cliché in the communities, compared to whites. The thing that confused me a bit was that the highest percentage was mixed race teenagers, which is interesting. I think there should be a specific methodology to how many people did they interview were mixed race and what that the two or more races of the students are. For non-specialty, it is the opposite: minorities have a higher percentage, since those programs (schools, foster care, and prison programs) are more affordable and sometimes they aren’t something voluntary that you choose like the specialty programs are.
I also got from the age portion that the older teenagers (16–17) are more inclined to go to therapy than younger teenagers (12–15), especially with specialized services. What’s interesting is the youngest teenager group (12–13) sometimes have larger percentages when it comes to non-specialized services.
Lastly, when it comes to gender, females have a larger percentage than males and it keeps increasing as opposed to the decreasing male percentages for both specialty and non-specialty services.
All in all, the percentages are very low, with the largest percentage in the whole chart being only 20% so I can see that so little of respondents actually seek mental health services which should change because mental health in teens is a very big problem in our society especially when it comes to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, etc.
Infographics (Photos Below): | https://medium.com/fiu-news-visualization/infographic-blog-post-ana-soler-21450ab4c7cf | ['Ana Soler'] | 2020-10-03 14:04:15.542000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Infographics', 'Vic4001', 'Mental Health'] |
Architecture: Portrait of a Nation | Co-author — Chitralekha Thakur
A narrow lane opens up into a seemingly insignificant garden with some old trees abutted at the back with residential buildings. The garden exudes a screeching aura that doesn’t want to be felt, nor forgotten. At the center of the garden stands an oblong-shaped Memorial to the tragedy of 1919. What happened almost a hundred years ago has cleaved itself to the surrounding walls- thirty-six gaping bullet marks on the walls of the Jallianwala Bagh testify for the monstrosity of General Dyre; the Khoo (well) still seems to shout hundreds of pleas for mercy.
The place recites a painful incident that united innumerable people to stand together and emerge as a glorious nation. A nation whose dignity lies in temple-spires, cathedrals, and minarets alike; a face sculpted at the hands of various cultural and political scenarios; the nation of India.
A ‘nation’ is a group of people who feel a connection with each other over ‘shared history’- a common territory, similar culture, or identical ideals. These histories dwell in its buildings; their walls tell stories through time and people. Indigenous developments molded through the ethics of society give rise to an architectural language that describes the character of a place.
A diversity in characteristics arises due to variation in demography, which may thrive or fall; legacy is left by chance but accepted by choice. India has faced the brunt of invasions by many imperialists and colonizers, but that history has been assimilated now as an inseparable part of its national identity. Lutyen’s design of New Delhi placed the Viceroy’s residence and ceremonial avenue to have a generous view of its Mughal history- the Old Fort, the Jama Masjid, and the Safdarjung Tomb. Post-Independence, the Viceroy’s Residence itself was adapted as the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President’s House).
Lutyen and Baker’s Central Vista © thewire.in
When, in 1913, Lutyens and Baker introduced the ‘Garden City’ concept to the historically walled Delhi in the service of their queen, did they foresee it hosting the annual independence parade of India? Or in 1632, when Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal in the memory of his beloved queen, would he have known how the marvelous structure will become the face of modern India?
Sometimes a nation fails to realize the responsibility and the power that lies in architecture for driving it forward. In China, the authorities ignored its historical monasteries until a mass uprising incapacitated the country post World War-II. People believed the structures to be integral to their culture and deemed their destruction as damage to their identity. The United States and Iraq soon followed China’s example and dedicated substantial parts of their budget towards the preservation and reconstruction of structures that personified their history and culture. Walter Gropius’ university building in Baghdad stands as a testament to Iraq’s belief in modern ideals. It was this very nation that introduced young Zaha Hadid to Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, and Gropius and led her to revolutionize the face of modern architecture. While Iraq realized the need to establish its identity to the world and the crucial position held by architecture in the task, ignorance led Saudi Arabia to overlook the importance of architecture in its national progress, leaving it devoid of architecture’s active participation.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 ©historyextra.com
In 1851, London hosted the first World Expo, which was immortalized in Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace. The Universal Exposition of 1889 gave Paris, and the world, its most iconic romantic marvel- the Eiffel Tower. Be it Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion or Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67, the World Expos have repeatedly certified a nation’s progress in technology, industry, and education through its architecture as a reflection of their culture and identity to the world.
“Architecture synthesizes the traits of a nation and it expresses the nation’s genius as well as its cultural identity…the crisis affecting architecture in the developing countries is not less than an identity crisis”
-Mahadi Elmandjira, President (1977–81), World Future Studies Federation
Architecture is charged with the responsibility to give a concrete form to the aims of people, reflect the nation’s development, and express national consciousness in an active manner. The attempt to integrate the values of national consciousness with a structure is successful only if the people clearly see in its walls their own selves- as an individual, as a part of the society, as a proud citizen of their nation.
“When a building does not invoke in people a meaningful response, it is only a building; but when it does, then it is art.”
-P.R. Vasques at XIII World Congress of IUA
Nation-building is not a singular conscious effort, but a commemoration of the multitude of endeavors by individuals who constitute its integrity. Not just architects, but all citizens of the nation, conscious of the power of architecture can make a positive contribution towards nation-building.
Architecture is not merely a messenger of time. It has the power to influence the fate of nations, and even the world. In 2006, an ill-ventilated hospital in South Africa with overcrowded waiting areas led to the outbreak of an extensively drug-resistant TB epidemic. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder to the world of the importance of architecture: careful designing and suitable adoption of spaces have contributed to the prevention, containment, and treatment of infectious disease.
Architecture is influenced by the customs, climate, topography, and landscape of a nation. It indulges with harmony, quality, and functionality to provide beyond what is obvious to be in the vanguard of national development. This requires a heavy investment of resources such as land, energy, forests, and water which are depleting at an alarming rate. Innovations in space solutions and technology to minimize the negative impacts of buildings on the environment while enhancing efficiency are vital for the sustenance and welfare of a nation. Building structures with decreased consumption without the sacrifice of comfort and safety also contributes to the stability of the national economy.
Architects need to assume their role in the process of nation-building and thrive continuously towards expressing in their design the aspirations and beliefs of their national culture, to contribute positively to the national economy, and to seek ways to minimize the negative impact of the built on the natural environment. This needs to begin at the stage of imparting architectural education. Even in India, a nation with its fame and identity rooted in its architectural marvels, architecture is viewed as a ‘fallback option’ and the institutes still follow the outdated ‘chalk and talk’ means of imparting education.
Nation-building is a process without an end and architecture is an indispensable resource, crucial for its sustenance. A substantial contribution from architects requires them to analyze, preserve, and represent their own cultural identity in their designs. The people should also realize their responsibility and be critical of their built environment from a national perspective through the aid of new means of visualization and the ever-growing volume of articles, covering all designs ever conceived. It has become crucial for a nation to fathom that the brick for its buildings is baked from the same soil which bears the weight of its existence, its identity, its legacy. | https://medium.com/@pranjalmaheshwari8/architecture-portrait-of-a-nation-10ee8db97fc9 | ['Pranjal Maheshwari'] | 2020-12-25 03:32:21.829000+00:00 | ['Community Architecture', 'National Identity', 'Indian Architecture', 'Nation Building', 'Architecture'] |
Your Marketing Budget Just Went 10 Times Further | Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes in 1973
The game has changed.
Social media is transforming the competitive landscape. The company with the largest marketing budget does not have to be the winner. By using the power of social media, large and small companies can compete on a level playing field.
The companies that win are those displaying creativity, flexibility and a willingness to take risk. By taking advantage of social media’s reach, a marketing budget just went 10 times further. Why? Social media provides the best route to reach the largest number of customers at the lowest cost:
Facebook
Instagram
Snapchat
Over a billion people use social media on a daily basis. The typical user will be on Facebook 20 minutes per day while collectively, Snapchatters view 10 billion videos a day. By marketing through social media, businesses can meet customers on their turf.
Examples of How Video is a Great Way to Reach Customers
Perhaps the best way to get content spreading is through creative videos. Three examples of creativity, flexibility and a willingness to take risk are:
Our Blades are F***ing Great
Recently, Unilever purchased Dollar Shave Club (DSC) for $1 billion dollars. DSC’s funny video entitled “Our Blades are F***ing Great” significantly contributed to the $1 billion dollar selling price. The sharing of this video on social media kick-started the company’s growth in March 2012 and led to 12,000 subscriptions within 48 hours of the video’s launch. One hour after publishing the video, their website crashed due to heavy traffic. The video currently has over 23 million views on YouTube and “Our Blades are F***ing Great” has been the unofficial slogan of the company ever since.
How I Cut Carbs
This video labeled “How I cut carbs” has been floating around Facebook. Instead of providing a weight loss idea, someone cut pizza for 15 seconds. The title humorously misrepresented the video but attracted an audience of almost 10 million viewers with minimal production effort.
Will it Blend?
One of the most outrageous and creative video marketing examples is Will it Blend?. Blendtec started a YouTube show where they blend all sorts of things that would never be put in a blender: a rake, iPad, iPhone and even a Coke can. The founder of Blendtec mixes in dry humor with puns to to make funny videos that sell blenders. The videos prompted me to buy a Blendtec blender and I have used it almost every day for five years.
Snapchat as a Micro-Vlogging Platform
Different than Facebook and YouTube, Snapchat is a great platform for sharing micro-vlogging (short video blogging / storytelling) video content. From personal Snapchat experience, the most compelling videos are recorded by good storytellers. There are many stories and topics within every business that can be shared …a colorful situation with a customer, the production process, a response to a commonly asked question, etc.
Since every business has a story to tell, any company can share video content on Snapchat. The best storyteller at a company can share Snapchat videos that combine both creativity and content. Snapchat presents a great opportunity for companies that want a first-in advantage on a social channel.
Snapchat Presents a First-In Advantage in Any Niche
Snapchat is an incredibly powerful tool underutilized by businesses. There are barely any businesses on Snapchat. A business that goes on Snapchat now can own their niche, imagine your the reach if Snapchat expands to 200, 300 or 400 million daily active users. A company putting out great content on Snapchat for their expertise will have a large following because of the first-in advantage.
Snapchat’s Intimate Environment
Unlike Facebook, if someone does not know the other person, it is hard to find them on Snapchat. Therefore, businesses have to promote a Snapchat account on their website, other social media accounts and in other marketing. On the one hand, this makes it harder for businesses to be found.
On the other hand, since it is hard to find someone within Snapchat, a more intimate user environment has been unintentionally created. It means a lot more if someone follows a company on Snapchat than if they have “Liked” a Facebook page. A business has been invited into the close knit circle of accounts followed by that person. With Snapchat, a company will have fewer followers than “Likes” on Facebook but Snapchat followers will be “higher quality” since they have chosen to follow that business.
So go market the F*** out of Snapchat.
Facebook Advertising and Business Saturation
Facebook is saturated with businesses for good reason; it is the best social media channel right now to reach people. Facebook advertising is not over-crowded and presents a great opportunity for a business to reach customers quickly. Someone I know spent $25 dollars to boost a Facebook post, reached 2,891 people and got a lot of signups for their sports league (see this great article by Azriel Ratz on Facebook Ads). However, with Facebook’s business saturation, it can get crowded. Having a presence on Facebook is almost necessary for any company but also putting time into Snapchat could really pay off.
Own a Niche on Snapchat Before the Competition
Start paying attention to company websites and marketing material, next to the social logos will most likely not be a Snapchat ghost (the Snapchat icon). There are probably Facebook, Instagram and Twitter icons because most companies are already sold on these platforms. Before businesses crowd Snapchat, a company can get to the party and own their niche before the competition.
What is Your Idea for Viral Video Content?
It only takes one video to get a lot of people sharing a company’s content. With the three viral video examples, they are all humorous but they take different topics or stereotypes and put a twist on them. There are funny stereotypes in every industry, could a company come up with some video ideas making light of them (This funny video channel is purely dedicated to making fun of stereotypes)? What if a metal fabrication business created an amazing sculpture, would that be worth sharing? What is your idea for a viral video? | https://medium.com/tips-from-the-trenches/your-marketing-budget-just-went-10-times-further-e48e5c9e6238 | ['Clayton Carroll'] | 2017-04-14 20:32:55.462000+00:00 | ['Snapchat', 'Facebook Marketing', 'Facebook Ads', 'Digital Marketing', 'Social Media Marketing'] |
pH Meters Market Size To Reach $1.95 Billion By 2022 | Global pH meters market is expected to reach nearly USD 1,951.2 million by 2022 according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc. Key factors attributing to the market growth are introduction of technologically advanced portable and bench top pH meters, growing concerns to monitor environmental pollution and the need to regulate pH levels in various consumable products.
Increasing demand for quality control and routine testing of soil, water, food, beverage, and dairy products is driving the use of new generation pH meters with multi-parameter analysis. The new devices are improving the efficiency, accuracy, ease of usage, and cost-effectiveness, which are expected to serve as high-impact rendering drivers over the forecast period.
Increasing awareness regarding the need to regulate waste water pH in industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and other end use sectors is a key factor boosting the usage rates. pH neutralization of the waste water discharged from these industries is critical to prevent corrosion of sewage pipes and prevent leakage of harmful substances in to the land and other water bodies.
Furthermore, growing awareness about soil pH and its impact on plant nutrient absorption is a key factor boosting the soil pH analysis. Maintaining the appropriate ratio of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (N-P-K) in the soil plays an important role in improving the product yield, quality, and also improves resistance to various diseases. The shift towards scientific agricultural practices and growing demand for organic farming, soil testing, irrigational water testing, are some the key factors expected to positively reinforce market growth over the forecast period.
Click the link below:
http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ph-meter-market
Further key findings from the study suggest: | https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/ph-meters-market-5b806471fd5d | ['Gaurav Shah'] | 2020-12-24 07:32:59.284000+00:00 | ['Biotechnology', 'Pharmaceutical', 'Pollution', 'Environment', 'Medical Devices'] |
TranscribeMe Review: Can You Get Paid to Type? | Photo by Burst
It seems to be the goal of many nowadays to freelance and have home based jobs. Over the past decade, with the advances in technology, this has become more realistic than ever. However, one of the problems that is faced by many people is determining whether an opportunity is a work from home scam or not. Many TranscribeMe reviews can leave you wondering, but this one won’t.
It’s widely known that online transcription jobs can offer some of the best solutions to make money online from home every month. TranscribeMe is a company that many people look to for this purpose if they enjoy typing. You won’t be interested in this job if transcription work can become repetitive and dull at times.
While there are plenty of resources out there, it’s best to conduct your own research to see if a job is legitimate or not. Read this comprehensive TranscribeMe review to determine if TranscribeMe is an appropriate side hustle for you.
What is TranscribeMe?
TranscribeMe is simply a company that outsources transcription and translation to people interested in working from home. Those interested in transcribing audio are asked to do the following:
Listen to audio and video files
Produce text to match what they are hearing.
Each step of the process is completed right on their website.
Once you gain experience in their transcribing roles, you can apply for proofreading and editing jobs as well. All of these data entry transcribers are hired in a freelancer / independent contractor capacity.
How Does TranscribeMe Work?
First, the audio or video files are received by the TranscribeMe site moderators. The moderators will examine the audio files through advanced speech recognition software that primarily uses the Nuance engine.
Once the audio files are carefully examined, they are divided and split into sections that will depend on the overall length of the original audio file. The smaller split audio files are then posted onto the TranscribeMe job board called “Workhub,” and this is where the transcriber comes in.
All of the transcriptions are crowdsourced to humans, and it will be their job to type everything they hear as accurately as possible. Everything you listen to is played through the onsite transcription software, and once this task is complete, you submit your work.
The transcriptions you provide will be manually compared to the audio file to ensure accuracy. Once each of the split sections are transcribed, they will be combined together to match the original audio source before distributing it back to the client.
Is TranscribeMe Legit?
One factor that people cannot seem to find from most TranscribeMe reviews is just how legitimate TranscribeMe is. Online reviews seem to vary and provide different stories. However, TranscribeMe is legit.
In fact, as far as work from home companies go, TranscribeMe is possibly one of the most popular transcription companies out there due to it’s straightforward nature.
When it comes to working for TranscribeMe, there is one thing you should not underestimate — how tough transcription can be . It’s quite a tricky skill to master, so if you want to earn some cash, it’s worth honing this skill before you consider working with TranscribeMe.
If, however, you want to enhance your skills on the job, TranscribeMe is also open to working with beginners, and there are no arduous tests to pass before joining.
We couldn’t find any reviews suggesting this was a work at home scam or claims of any other scams relating to TranscribeMe for that matter.
What is the TranscribeMe Application Process?
The hiring process for TranscribeMe is a simple one, and you don’t need any prior experience or to live in a certain location. The barrier of entry is very low also because of no equipment requirements. However, you must have a high school diploma, speak and write fluently in English, have access to internet (high speed internet helps), and have fast typing skills.
Apply for the Job. The first step you need to take is to register online. You will need to fill in some basic information — there is nothing intrusive and no need to fill out work history.
TranscribeMe Overview. The next step is watching a short explanation video that will guide you through the whole application process. You’ll also learn how the transcription process works and how to navigate the TranscribeMe website.
Entrance Exam. The final step is the entrance exam. While the word “exam” may strike fear into some, this one is rather easy. You will only need to transcribe around 10 seconds of audio in five minutes and submit it once you are finished. Just be sure to review their style guides before testing to give yourself the best chance. You have three attempts to retest, if needed.
Should your transcription pass the accuracy requirements, you are accepted into the program. Then, you can start making money online each month all while working from home!
If you want to hit it out of the park, try out the best Headphones and Foot Pedals to ensure precision and typing speed.
What Does TranscribeMe Pay?
So, now that you know that TranscribeMe is legit, you may also wonder how much they pay.
There are a ton of TranscribeMe reviews out there, and every one of them says different things about what TranscribeMe pays. Well, here are the real figures!
When looking at TranscribeMe pay, you can expect 33 cents for every audio minute you transcribe . When you work basic calculations on this, you can earn up to $15-$20 per audio hour . However, if you are very accurate, there is a $2 bonus per hour that will boost your maximum earnings as a newcomer to $22.
With little to no experience and having the ability to work at home, the pay rate is fairly decent.
Please note that the industry standards say that it takes 4 minutes to transcribe 1 minute of audio. This is why it’s so important to be efficient. The more quickly you can decipher and transcribe the audio, the more you will get paid. For those who don’t know, a foot pedal may increase your audio transcription speed.
TranscribeMe does offer the occasional opportunity for special requirement files as well, which will require that you speak another language. This means that if you’re multilingual, you can potentially begin earning money above the normal rate.
You can also make more if you are able to translate medical and legal audio files due to their complexity and uncommon terminology. Legal transcription and medical transcription services also have the potential to earn extra cash.
TranscribeMe makes payments weekly via PayPal. Providing you have a minimum of $20 in your account, you can request a payment. You should know that they do not offer other payment methods at this time.
On average, you could make between $150 — $250 in extra income per month.
TranscribeMe Review: Boost Your Income as a Transcriptionist
Overall, TranscribeMe is legit and can be a great addition to your existing income as a part time job where you have a flexible work at home job. You probably would not be able to use TranscribeMe as a full time job, though. The availability of jobs would not provide a sufficient income, unlike what some TranscribeMe reviews may say.
Glassdoor gives TranscribeMe a 4.1 star overall review, among other work at home jobs.
There are many higher-paying jobs out there, or you can build up your own business.
However, if you are looking for something to add to your portfolio of work from home jobs and jobs where you work alone, TranscribeMe could be one of the better options available. It’s easy to sign up for, flexible to your schedule, and available all over the world.
Depending on your typist skills and how many words per minute you’re able to write — TranscribeMe may be a good option for a stay at home mom.
Start making extra money with TranscribeMe today!
Want to see how adding some additional income can effect your retirement age? Check out our FIRE Calculator. | https://medium.com/@howtofire/transcribeme-review-can-you-get-paid-to-type-fb7b1ef69bc4 | ['Samantha Hawrylack'] | 2019-12-30 22:44:35.038000+00:00 | ['Online Jobs From Home', 'Work From Home Mom', 'Transcription', 'Side Hustle', 'Work From Home Jobs'] |
What is the reason that causes furniture things to delay? | PHOENIX — Looking to revamp your home with new furniture pieces? Don’t expect a quick delivery.
One Valley woman shares it has been one delay after another.
“I’ve just, been decorating and trying to get everything together and want to have a little gathering,” said Savina.
She says she purchased a sectional at The Dump in Tempe almost five months ago. She says they had two of the four pieces in stock and the other two were “back-ordered” but would be delivered by mid-October.
“So of course, I put money down on that,” said Savina.
Half her sectional arrived as planned, but the other half has yet to show up.
“Now it’s been pushed back to January,” said Savina, “it really sounded like they were going to have it on time, otherwise; I probably would have just said no.”
Savina’s story is something that many people are facing right now.
There are three major reasons delaying the furniture pieces from getting to their final destination.
Demand for new items has skyrocketed. With more people at home, people wanting to redesign and make their spaces more welcoming.
Many furniture items are manufactured overseas. In fact, Vietnam is the largest exporter of furniture to the United States, and COVID-19 has unfortunately closed many factories there.
Also, hundreds of shipping containers are stuck off the coast of California, which jump started a chain reaction of delays across the country.
The average wait time for furniture was between 4 and 12 weeks, but it’s now close to 40 weeks; especially for custom items.
In Savina’s case, after we got involved, The Dump agreed to offer her a refund for all her items if they don’t arrive in January — including the pieces already in her home.
It’s important to note, in most purchase agreements, once you take delivery of furniture — even a partial delivery — there are no refunds or returns.
Some ways to avoid excessive delivery times:
Don’t order custom items — if you can find something a retailer has in stock it won’t take as long to get to your home.
Avoid ordering items that have motors or electronic parts — there could be delays if a specialized part is out of stock.
Try shopping used — There are resell stores or you can try your hand on an online marketplace.
One more piece of advice — DON’T donate, discard, or resell until the new pieces arrive. | https://medium.com/@a198blwt/what-is-the-reason-that-causes-furniture-things-to-delay-43dd3f416d3 | [] | 2021-12-11 07:57:06.093000+00:00 | ['Home', 'Virus', 'Furniture'] |
[筆記] 把玩 express-validator 在伺服器端做表單驗證 | 根據官方的文件說明：
express-validator is a set of express.js middlewares that wraps validator.js validator and sanitizer functions. | https://medium.com/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%8B%E7%9A%84%E5%8D%8A%E8%B7%AF%E5%87%BA%E5%AE%B6%E7%AD%86%E8%A8%98/%E7%AD%86%E8%A8%98-%E6%8A%8A%E7%8E%A9-express-validator-%E5%9C%A8%E4%BC%BA%E6%9C%8D%E5%99%A8%E7%AB%AF%E5%81%9A%E8%A1%A8%E5%96%AE%E9%A9%97%E8%AD%89-797342aab2d3 | ['Mike Huang'] | 2019-07-04 08:35:51.081000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Notes', 'Express Validator', 'Express', 'Backend Development'] |
Does God wink? | I’m always snapping photos of the sky because it’s always unique and sends out emotions. As if God is saying something.
Beautiful. Typically, it’s a beautiful moment you’ve never seen before. Sometimes the sky looks dark and angry. Or sad.
Yesterday, for the first time ever, I actually thought I saw God wink. Is that possible? Does God wink at us?
I was driving north on U.S. 23 (clouds in front of me) when I spotted a stunning sunshine to my right. Then it was gone. So I grabbed My iPhone, clicked on the camera app and waited for another chance.
There it was: a beautiful shining sun shooting extra burst of lighting in every direction.
So I aimed the iPhone toward the passenger window, kept driving and started clicking, noticing over the next several seconds that the sunshine would be there and then it wasn’t.
Then back.
Then gone.
Like a wink.
Eyes wide open, eyes shut, eyes wide open. | https://medium.com/catholic-way-home/does-god-wink-8c16503b0a5 | ['Joseph Serwach'] | 2020-09-11 19:07:12.263000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Spirituality', 'Poetry', 'Sun', 'Photography'] |
Defining Oneself Shouldn’t Be That Hard | Defining Oneself Shouldn’t Be That Hard
Thanks, Moana for teaching us the way.
I have a clear memory in my head that’s particularly annoying. I remember being seated on an uncomfortable chair in a big room full of people listening to a random guy speak about personal development.
I must’ve been seriously uninterested because I cannot recall anything else about that day other than this particular moment. I don’t remember why I was there, whom I was there with, what time of the day it was, nor if it was a week day or a weekend. The whole thing is a complete blank in my mind.
Except for that little thing.
The speaker must have noticed my probably intended lack of attention because he decided to approach me. My bad for sitting in the front rows, I guess. He stared at me for a moment, and then asked: “Who are you?”
“Patricio Montalvo” I answered.
“I didn’t ask for your name. I asked: ‘Who are you?’”
I tried listing things about me like my physical appearance, like my height and the color of my eyes and hair. Apparently, that still wasn’t enough. I then described my skills and hobbies, my passions, and he just kept on asking. It was frustrating.
Sadly, that’s all I remember. I don’t know what the intentions behind these constant inquiries were. I’m not even sure what was the point of it all.
At that moment, I got nothing of value out of that talk. There was no big revelation, no life-changing epiphany. I walked out confused and annoyed. It was not until later that this interaction would have an impact on me.
The Big Question
Medium has shown me enough evidence of how common it is to suddenly go “Wait, what?” about some random aspect of your life. Many times, those moments trigger interesting articles and deep reflections.
Of course, this article is a product of one of those moments. I recently started questioning aspects of my personality and my beliefs. I started writing about all of these thoughts and, suddenly, the big question struck.
“Who am I? Do I really know myself?”
I started feeling like I knew other people close to me more than I know myself. I figured that, before defining what things about myself I would like to keep or change, I should probably know myself.
It’s been a couple of years now, but probably Mr. Pedantic Speaker is grinning without knowing why. I might finally succumb into the pressure of asking myself “who are you?” until I’m content with an answer.
Realistically though, what would be an efficient way to put into words who I am, using only self-perception?
I think there are two alternatives to answer the big question; and it depends on the interest of the person asking. Practically categorizing these interests, let us say one way to answer is when someone else is asking, and the other is when asking oneself.
For the first alternative, there’s a simple solution. Realistically speaking, most of the people are not like this know-it-all speaker, so answering with a name is usually fine. If the person asking is interested in knowing more about you, they’ll probably ask about it directly.
Now, when drifting into existential awareness and asking that question to myself in an attempt to define my own identity, I’ve developed a small exercise that has given me structure.
Of course, it involves writing, so it is important to be prepared with something to write on. I find it that when writing something instead of just thinking, it’s easier to stay on track. I decided to this the vintage way: pen/pencil and a paper sheet.
Once ready, I played the song.
Moana’s Style
In Disney’s 2016 movie “Moana”, there’s one song I am particularly fond of. I remember it lit something inside of me when I first heard it. A section of the lyrics go as follow:
“
…
Who am I?
I am a girl who loves my island
I’m the girl who loves the sea
It calls me
I am the daughter of the village chief
We are descended from voyagers
Who found their way across the world
They call me
I’ve delivered us to where we are
I have journeyed farther
I am everything I’ve learned and more
…
I am Moana!”
I like listening to this song in particular every now and then. Somehow it came to mind.
This is a unique way to introduce yourself, and I love it. I’ve decided to follow Moana’s example, and designed a guide based on this song.
The structure goes as follows:
1- I started by defining what I love. I wrote about my passions and my ikigai; my reason to wake up in the morning. I wrote about the things that excite me the most.
2- Then, I wrote about where I come from, my roots. Not only about location, but about your values. I included personal beliefs and the principles I value in life.
3- I went on and listed my accomplishments. I described what makes me proud of myself. I wrote about the achievements that came through hard work and dedication. I wrote about my education and my career.
4- Next, I tweaked Moana’s formula a bit, and decided to include a section about my weaknesses. Including both external and internal factors. I considered things that don’t depend on me that bring me uncertainty or insecurity, and the things about me that I would like to change.
5- Finally, I finished off by declaring where I’m going. I wrote about the person I would like to become. I listed my goals and dreams, and named people I admired.
I decided to go all the way, and signed-off with my name, just like Moana did.
Who We Are vs Who We Want to Be
This is not the first time that I question who I am and go through an exercise like this. But it is the first time I realized that sometimes I list traits that I don’t really possess, but instead is how I would like to visualize myself.
When defining ourselves, it’s not harmful if we fall into false self-perceptions. It is very likely that our description will be biased, but I believe that’s fine. I find it very interesting who things tend to shift between a “I am” section and a “I want to be” section.
It’s Easier to Think Negative
I also often find it hard to think of multiple good traits about myself without being out weighted by the bad, and I’ve heard that’s common. It is easier to think about our weaknesses than our strengths.
When struggling with listing my personal characteristics, a good support exercise is to think about the characteristics I quickly notice about other people. If there’s a person you admire, and you know specifically why, chances are that this person has either a trait you have or that you want to have. The same goes for people you hate and bad traits.
I do believe that it is important to have a balance. I would recommend to always list as many positive traits as the negatives you can think of.
Why All of This Matters
One cannot give a solution to a problem they don’t know. The reason I started this exercise is that I wanted to know what I really want to work on improving.
When you define yourself, your values become clear. Not only do you have a satisfying answer to who you are, but you also define who you want to or can be.
In the realm of my personal life and self-perception, I firmly believe that knowledge is power. Knowing what I am, and what I want to be, always helps to clear the way. It makes big life decisions a bit easier. It is the big answer. | https://medium.com/carre4/defining-oneself-shouldnt-be-that-hard-365104c43e98 | ['Pato Montalvo'] | 2020-09-26 03:31:07.350000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Philosophy', 'Personal Growth', 'Personal Development', 'Life'] |
#Rajpurepisode5 | #Rajpurepisode5
#rajpurepisode5
#rajpur
#Rajpur
Link of previous episode: #Rajpurepisode1, rajpurepisode1, #Rajpurepisode2, #rajpurepisode2, #Rajpurepisode3, #rajpurepisode3, #Rajpurepisode4, #rajpurepisode4
#Author: #RhituparnaChakraborty
#Disclaimer: This is an original work of fiction with no relation to any person/organism living or dead. Every episode, every character is a work of imagination. Any resemblance to any person, organism, place or character is purely coincidental. There is no intention to hurt or rebuke anyone through this work. This story/episode cannot be copied, published or reproduced without the permission of the author RhituparnaChakraborty.
All of a sudden, everything went quiet and Saanchi fainted. The smell of rotten meat faded and the breeze stopped. Shivering, Sarita told Mushtaque, ‘The….the…. spirit is gone. You can go near your wife now.’ Mushtaque replied, ‘Are you serious? You really believe in spirits and all?’ Sarita said, ‘Yes, I do and I know spirits exist.’ Mushtaque went near Saanchi. She was unconscious. Sarita came with some water and sprinkled on Saanchi’s face. Saanchi mumbled, ‘Let’s go from here…..’ Mushtaque rubbed Saanchi’s forehead gently and told himself, ‘I don’t want to believe Sarita. But, then, Saanchi has never behaved this way. I have to call my boss. Something is not right.’
Mushtaque went outside and called up his boss, who is also Saanchi’s mom, Parvati. Parvati received the call.
Parvati: All Good?
Mushtaque(brushing his hair with his fingers and rubbing his forehead): No
Parvati: What is it?
Mushtaque told Parvati all that was happening.
Parvati(as cool and composed as ever): First things first. We don’t know what’s happening. Nonetheless, till we know whether it is Saanchi’s medical condition or if there is something weird really happening, we cannot fiddle with Saanchi’s mental and physical health.
Mushtaque : She is my responsibility. She will be safe.
Parvati: I am sending Sofia and Abhay. They will be there tomorrow. Also, find out all about this service apartment and the owner. Find every thing. Rest, you don’t need my permission to carry out any mission. Go ahead and do whatever you think is right. I trust you. Keep me posted though.
Mushtaque: I will.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Nihaar took out his phone. He had clicked pictures of Saanchi without Saanchi’s cognizance. He looked at her smile. That smile can brighten the darkest days. He looked at her eyes. Those eyes can bring sunshine in lives. He recalled her voice, her demeanor…. she was so kind, polite and what not. He told himself, ‘Mushtaque is a lucky man.’
Naresh Sharma knocked at the door of Nihaar’s room. Nihaar quickly put his phone aside and said, ‘Please come in.’ Naresh Sharma looked worried. He pulled a chair and sat beside Nihaar’s bed and asked, ‘So, the guests left?’ Nihaar replied, ‘No.’ Naresh Sharma looked at Nihaar bewildered and said, ‘They did not leave?’ . Nihaar shook his head gently and said, ‘No. There were some strange things happening in the house. I, Nirali, Sarita, Suresh, we were all stunned. Could not understand what was going on. Then, the lady, our guest, fractured her leg. She needed rest and hence they had to stay back.’ Naresh Sharma started sweating profusely. He took out his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away the droplets of sweat from his forehead. Nihaar looked at Naresh Sharma concerned, and said, ‘Are you okay? Shall I switch on the air conditioner?’ Naresh Sharma stammered, ‘N..no. I am fine.’ Saying that Naresh Sharma walked out of the room. Shubhangi was waiting right outside the door. She was petrified. Naresh Sharma came and sat on a chair right beside the dining table. Shubhangi rushed to the kitchen to get water. Helping him drink water, Shubhangi said trembling, ‘We thought it was over….’. Naresh rubbed his face with the palms of his hand and sighed, ‘No, it is not.’ Shubhangi said, ‘Now?’ Naresh said, ‘Can’t do anything. Because if we try and do something, truth will be out.’ Shubhangi did not say anything. She knew Naresh was right.
Mushtaque told Sarita, ‘Stay with Saanchi. Don’t budge from here, till I come.’ Sarita was scared to the spine. She said with fear and apprehension, ‘I….I will wait outside. I….I….don’t want to sit near her.’ Mushtaque understood her plight. He felt fear in Sarita’s eyes. He said, ‘That’s fine. You can wait outside. But, be there if she needs anything.’ Sarita then said, ‘Sir….I don’t know if you believe in ghosts. But, I think we should call a paranormal expert.’ Mushtaque did not know what to say here. He had never come across such cryptic circumstances. He told Sarita, ‘Give me some time. I will solve this riddle.’
Mushtaque stepped out of the house. Clad in a plain black collared T-Shirt, a pair of faded denim trousers, aviator glasses, sturdy shoes on his feet, not to forget the gun tucked in the holster underneath his shirt, Mushtaque stepped out and drove to the police headquarters. The officer in charge there greeted Mushtaque warmly. Mushtaque took of his glares, shook hands with the officer and said, ‘I need some information.’ The officer said, ‘Sure. Please come in and let me know all the details. Will pull out all the information and let you know as soon as possible.’
Sarita waited outside Saanchi’s room. Saanchi opened her eyes. She looked around. Mushtaque was not there. Saanchi called out Mushtaque weakly, ‘Mushtaque.’ Sarita heard that. Still frightened, she told Saanchi, ‘Sir, has stepped out. Do you need something?’ Saanchi said weakly, ‘Water….’ Sarita was scared. She did not want to go near Saanchi. She called Suresh. Suresh was not around. She was too scared to go near. Just then the door bell rang. Sarita went to answer the door. It was Nihaar with Nirali and Naina. Nihaar asked, ‘How is Saanchi?’ Sarita replied, ‘ She just woke up and is asking for water.’ Nirali said, ‘So, did you give her water?’ Sarita replied hesitatingly, ‘I….I…’. Nihaar interrupted, ‘So you did not give her water.’ Nirali said, ‘This is unacceptable. She is our guest.’ Nihaar rushed inside. Saanchi was lying on the bed. She looked weak. Nirali and Naina followed Nihaar. Nihaar took the water bottle, poured some water in the glass, while Nirali helped Saanchi sit. Nihaar helped Saanchi sip some water from the glass. While she drank, Nihaar kept on looking at her. Saanchi looked down at the water glass, drank all the water in a gulp. She then slowly looked at Nihaar. Suddenly, the iris and pupil of both her eyes turned white, while the sclera turned blood red. She cackled with blood dripping from her teeth. The room smelled of rotten meat again. Saanchi extended her hand and squeezed Nihaar’s neck and said in a hoarse voice, ‘You clicked pictures, didn’t you?’. Nirali, Naina and Sarita froze there……………………
Mushtaque got the details. There were some people staying in that house and one fine day, they disappeared. What had happened to them, no one knew. Abhay and Sofia will be reaching Rajpur shortly. Once they are here, it will be easy to solve this mystery. Who were those people? The Sharma family knows. There are some hidden dark secrets…… very dark……………….. | https://medium.com/@rheetuparnachakkravorty/rajpurepisode5-91bdc8ac2037 | ['Rhituparna Chakraborty'] | 2020-12-20 15:09:48.780000+00:00 | ['Series', 'Thriller', 'Fiction', 'Horror'] |
Laura Manipura | Laura Manipura
About the Author
Canva
Laura Manipura is a former librarian, currently trying to bust through the myth of the starving artist through her work on the blogging platform, Medium. As she is deeply analytical and detail-oriented, she is often called upon for editing projects. She has a gift for clarity and imagines that she would be good at writing technical manuals.
Her writing journey began with reading as a young child. Her mother has this to say, “You were always a voracious reader. When you were at the Day School, your class was often taken to the bookmobile. The other kids were amazed at the huge pile of books you checked out. You had so many that the boys had to help you carry them.”
She submitted her first story to a publisher at the age of 12 and was rewarded with a kind rejection letter. She would go on to win yearly English awards in high school. She had wanted to major in Creative Writing & English but then decided psychology would be more practical. When she graduated, she took a job as a waitress.
A few years later, she returned to school and received a master’s in Library Science. It was a good fit in many ways. To start with, there were books everywhere! Books to classify, organize, weed, and serve up vital information. Contrary to popular belief, Laura would like you to know that librarians do not sit around reading all day. Well, not why they are on the clock anyway!
Laura enjoyed teaching the students how to use the library databases and how to research and write papers. She got quite excited teaching the intricacies of keyword searching and so, was teaching SEO before SEO was a thing.
After a long dry spell, she took up writing poetry when introduced to the works of Hafiz and Rumi while attending “Praise Jam.” At praise jam, people would come together to perform music and read poetry out loud. Here, she found a voice. The shy librarian spoke. And, she found she had a knack for it. She could see how others were touched by her reading and her ego was deliciously fed. She would go home late at night and stay up late writing poetry that spoke of love, pain, and yearning.
She is currently working on a series of essays about the work of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. Always a creatrix, she is also starting a new publication to celebrate books and writers; titled From the Library. | https://medium.com/from-the-library/laura-manipura-ca3b4b09f22f | ['Laura Manipura'] | 2019-12-15 02:35:11.573000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Writing', 'Writers On Writing', 'Ftl Bio', 'Writers On Medium'] |
Petaluma proposed as Marin County Government Seat | by Robert L. Harrison
“California Ranch Scene in Marin County, 10 miles North of San Rafael” by Edward Vischer, 1860. Courtesy The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Under Mexican rule, the area now known as Marin County was part of the district of Sonoma, a large area encompassing all the lands west of the Sacramento River and north of San Francisco Bay to Oregon. Just prior to its September 9, 1850 admission to the United States, California was partitioned into counties. On February 18, 1850 a committee of the first California constitutional convention recommended 27 original California counties, including Marin. The state legislature confirmed the committee’s recommendation on April 25, 1851. Since then some 31 additional counties have been created for a total of 58 counties. Of the 27 original counties, Marin is the only one that remains as it was originally described, neither gaining nor losing land.
“Approved & Declared to Be the Official Map of the State of California: by an Act of the Legislature Passed March 25th, 1853 .” New York: Published for R.A. Eddy, Marysville, California by J.H. Colton 1854, Print. California State Library Collection.
However, the boundaries of Marin were not always considered sacrosanct. In the mid-1860s an annexation to Marin was proposed that would amend the line separating Marin and Sonoma Counties. On February 8, 1866 a bill was presented to the legislature entitled “An Act to divide the County of Sonoma, and to attach a portion thereof to the County of Marin.” The proposed new boundary between Marin and Sonoma Counties would be: As extending from the Pacific Ocean, along the Russian River to the Laguna de Santa Rosa, then to Santa Rosa Creek and east along the Creek to its source at the Napa County line.
The area proposed for annexation to Marin would approximately double the size of Marin County and reduce the area of Sonoma County by about one-third. Communities that would have been detached from Sonoma County include Petaluma, about one half of Santa Rosa, Cotati, Sebastopol, Bodega and the town of Sonoma.
The Sonoma County support for the annexation measure came mostly from the Petaluma area. From 1854 when, Santa Rosa, a mere crossroads community with fewer than ten buildings, was designated the county seat, Petaluma sought to become the custodian of the seat. As early as March 28, 1861 the Sonoma Democrat reported a petition had been submitted to the legislature: “Your Petitioners, citizens of Sonoma county….suffer great inconvenience, and are put to unnecessary expense….by the present location of the County Seat at Santa Rosa; and therefore pray your honorable body to pass a law to submit the question of location to the voters of said county, between the points of Petaluma and Santa Rosa…” Petaluma and Santa Rosa enjoyed a similar number of residents through the 1860s and 1870s and both were considerably larger than San Rafael, Marin’s county seat.
View of Petaluma looking east down Washington Street, 1857… Drawn from nature and lithographed by Kuchel & Dresel, Petaluma, 1857. Kuchel & Dresel; Britton & Rey. Courtesy California State Library.
Marin County support for the annexation came from the Tomales and San Antonio Townships, along the north county line. Citizens of northwest Marin expressed frustration with the long trek from that area to San Rafael. If the annexation was successful, an expanded Marin County opened the possibility of locating the county seat at Petaluma, a much shorter trip from Tomales. Expanding Marin County would thereby satisfy both the Marin and Sonoma supporters of the measure.
Not surprisingly, the annexation, and particularly the removal of Marin’s county seat from San Rafael, was vigorously opposed in that community. As described by the San Rafael based Marin Journal on December 2, 1865, “The object of the move [annexation] is plainly perceptible — the newly acquired portion would rule county affairs from the start, and what now constitutes Marin County would stand a dim show in obtaining any favors from the county administration should the newly acquired portion oppose it. For the people of Marin to sanction the change as proposed would be suicidal, as one end of the county would govern affairs to their own liking;…”
Map illustration courtesy Robert L. Harrison
The Healdsburg Democratic Standard reported on January 3, 1866, “The Marin Journal says nearly everybody in that county has signed the remonstrance against the annexation scheme,…” The January 20, 1866 Journal editorial described it this way: “That but a small portion of Sonoma desires the change….And in Marin, through exertions of paid agents, and obtaining of names of non-residents and those who are not entitled to vote in the matter,…present a petition containing six hundred names, while over seven hundred bona fide citizens, taxpayers and residents representing more than three-fourths of the landed property in Marin remonstrate against any such scheme…Marin county has territory enough,…for a population equal to that of Sonoma County.” Since its inception, Marin County never boasted a population equal to Sonoma County, remaining over the years about half of the size of its neighbor to the north.
On January 27, 1866 the Journal summed it up, “…we know of ‘paid agents’ and emissaries who publicly boasted in this town that if money could effect(sp.) the object of annexation, the matter was as good as settled…In the meantime the scheme will be kerflumixed, and we’ll take that skillet.”
The end of the annexation bill was described in the Sonoma Democrat on February 24, 1866 “…. the Committee upon County Boundaries, in Assembly, on Thursday [February 22, 1866], reported unanimously AGAINST Old’s bill for a division of Sonoma County.” The Journal declared: “The Mooted Question Settled.”
However, the annexation idea was not totally vanquished. The following year, in April, the Journal headed an article “The Issue at the Next Election.” The commentary read, “There is no doubt but that the issue at the next election will be the old game which was attempted to be played through two years ago — the annexation of a portion of Sonoma county to Marin, and then remove the county seat to Petaluma….There are places and room enough in Marin county for a County Seat, and men enough to build and officer it, and more are filling in daily.”
That an annexation to Marin County was never accomplished is readily apparent today. The County’s boundaries are the same today as originally authorized by the legislature in 1851. | https://medium.com/anne-t-kent-california-room-community-newsletter/petaluma-proposed-as-marin-county-government-seat-4ac2ecd48061 | ['Anne T. Kent California Room'] | 2020-11-25 22:02:48.164000+00:00 | ['Sonoma County', 'Marin County', 'Counties Of California', 'Local History', 'Government'] |
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