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Bench-top Dental Autoclaves Market 2020 | Global bench-top dental autoclaves market is expected to reach USD 64.35 million by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing incidence rates of dental disorder and rising patient awareness levels pertaining to sterilization are some major growth impacting drivers of this market. With remote and mobile healthcare access becoming the need of the hour, bench-top dental autoclaves are expected to witness a surge in demand over the next six years. In addition, growing number of initiatives aimed at curbing hospital acquired healthcare infections related expenditure via sterilization is expected to enhance market demand during the forecast period.
Automatic bench-top autoclaves are the most lucrative segment of this market and are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6.5% during the forecast period. Growing demand for automatic bench-top dental autoclaves, on account of its ability to render error free and faster results is one of the major factors accounting for the segment’s rapid growth. Additionally, North American and European countries pursuing device automation, is expected to positively impact market growth over the next six years.
To request a sample copy or view summary of this report, click the link below:
www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/bench-top-dental-autoclave-market
Further key findings from the study suggest: | https://medium.com/healthcare-market-research/bench-top-dental-autoclaves-market-2020-f7376b660c | ['Rajesh Varma'] | 2020-06-01 13:43:03.251000+00:00 | ['Medical', 'Medical Devices', 'Doctors'] |
I’m Starting A Writing Retreat for Worn-Out Women, The Likes of Which You’ve Never Seen | I’m Starting A Writing Retreat for Worn-Out Women, The Likes of Which You’ve Never Seen Jennifer Barnett Follow Nov 18 · 3 min read
You are all invited.
Do you prefer turrets or gables?
I’m starting a writing retreat for worn-out women. There is no application process, and everyone is welcome. It will be modeled after Jenny’s shingled Fisher Island home in The World According to Garp but it will be a gothic estate with a hedge maze and a glass conservatory. It will be the Lilith Fair of writing groups.
The house will be worthy of haunting when you die, and you are welcome to take up permanent residence with the sister spirits who already reside within. Sylvia Plath enjoys sunning herself on the wrap around porch. We will conjure the spirits of your idols, who will serve as mentors for your great work. There will be a wood burning fireplace in every room as well as a bathtub with feet. Every room will have a view of the sea. Disparate design schemes will flow organically, from the tasseled curtains to the Queen’s Gambit patterned wallpaper. There will be an infinite supply of candles and they smell exactly the way you desire them to smell. There will be misty moors and a nearby forest. The weather will be sunny yet moody at exactly the same time.
I will serve you tea and magic pancakes and nourish your body and spirit. You will rest and come back to life. You will heal. We will be a collective force for good, however if it is revenge you seek, you will find collaboration in your endeavors and will be victorious as revenge is a maligned concept — an overlooked virtue. You may each bring a familiar or one will be provided for you. There will be dancing in the moonlight, there will be sleeping naked in the sun. You’ve never seen so many bespoke caftans in all manner of materials — the luxury is unsurpassed. Your body hair will cease to exist (unless you prefer to keep it, it’s entirely your choice), yet the hair on your head will burgeon like climbing vines, but thicker and impossibly lustrous.
You will begin to feel your creativity coursing through your veins, flowing from within, channeled through your fingers to the page. Your imagination will race, your ideas will be brilliant, you will remember every passing thought and bind it on paper, the words will come faster than you can type, but you will capture them all. Everyone in the house will inspire you and see the talent that you’ve always had, and bring out your best, challenging you to dig deeper. You will hone your craft. You’ll hear whispers. “Spellbinding.” You will create your best Dorothy Chandler Pavillion-level work and the Academy will receive your thanks.
Welcome, sister writers. Your room has been prepared, and we are awaiting your arrival. I can’t wait for you to get here.
Xox | https://medium.com/atta-girl/im-starting-a-writing-retreat-for-worn-out-women-the-likes-of-which-you-ve-never-seen-697c03ee6276 | ['Jennifer Barnett'] | 2020-11-18 16:38:00.050000+00:00 | ['Witchcraft', 'Feminism', 'Fantasy', 'Essay', 'Writing'] |
The details of BLM travel management plan for the San Rafael Desert in Utah | ALTERNATIVES:
Alternative A is keep roads and management as is currently.
Alternative A- Photo provided by SUWA.
Alternative B is pretty much the same as now but adds a few more designated routes.
Alternative B from BLM website
Alternative C has more additional routes added than Alternative B.
Alternative C-from BLM website
Alternative D has the most additional routes added.
Alternative D from BLM website
From BLM draft EA report
OHV DESGINATION:
Understanding designations is key to understanding the alternatives.
Designated routes are open to motorized-vehicle use by the general public. Undesignated routes include those authorized for specialized use, but not open to motorized‐vehicle use by the general public.
“The plan includes alternatives that designate as open to motorized vehicles which include more than 300 miles of routes that are reclaimed, reclaiming, or do not exist on the ground. Designating these routes is unnecessary and will damage desert soils, vegetation, riparian areas, cultural resources and wildlife habitat.” (from suwa website)
For this project, the action alternative networks (B, C, and D) have a higher number of designated routes than Alternative A (existing management) because the action alternatives brought forward existing undesignated routes (per the 2008 Price RMP).
None of the action alternatives authorize the construction of new routes, and they recognize and designate existing routes based on the best available data.
For this project, the OHV designation for any given route falls into one of the following categories:
• OHV Open — Open year-round to all motorized vehicle travel.
• OHV Limited — Public motorized vehicle use limited to specified vehicle type, width, etc. | https://medium.com/@crystalmuzik/the-details-of-blm-travel-management-plan-for-the-san-rafael-desert-in-utah-4cfeac96a4ae | ['Crystal Muzik'] | 2019-12-29 23:21:12.579000+00:00 | ['Blm', 'Public Lands', 'Environment', 'Utah', 'San Rafael Desert'] |
Top Three IV Therapy in Los Angeles | Top Three IV Therapy in Los Angeles
IV therapy is being very popular in recent times. We tend to forget about our health and skin in our busy schedule. It's very important to look after ourselves to live a long and healthy life.
IV therapy gives an easy way to regain our wellness, beauty and strength instantly.
Below are the top five IV therapy clinic:
1. RenewMe IVVitamin Therapy & MedSpa:
RenewMe MedSpa is the best provider of IV Vitamin Therapy and aesthetic services in LOS Angeles. RenewMe MedSpa has certified Medical Doctors, Registered Nurses, Clinical Pharmacists and Nutritionists. They use perfectly blended formulations which are been infused to create customizable wellness packages for every patient’s need. This customizable wellness packages will be consulted with certified doctors of RenewMe MedSpa. Doctors suggestion will always be helpful and effective for the patients.
RenewMe leverages professional expertise and formulations to guarantee each client an individualized, revolutionized experience to jump-start personal revitalization. Whether you’re looking to turn forward the hands of time for that lingering hangover cure or turn back the hands of time with the anti-ageing power of hydration-infused drip therapy, RenewMe offers a solution to suit your personal needs.
List of IV Therapy drips that are provided by RenewMe MedSpa:
· Hydration Drips
· Myers Cocktail
· Aches and pains
· Casanova Drips
· Relax Drips
· Vitamin C Drips
· Detox Drips
· Renewme Drips
· Ultimate Warrior Drips
· GLO (Beauty)
· Immunity Drips
· Hangover Drips
RenewMe MedSpa provides its services in your home, office. They also enhanced with events and parties as well based in Los Angeles
2. Pause Wellness Studio:
Pause is curating research-backed modalities including flotation therapy, infrared sauna therapy, IV vitamin therapy proven to reduce stress, elevate creativity, improve focus, accelerate physical recovery and enhance performance.
Pause has partnered with a leading naturopathic doctor in Los Angeles. IV drips are of the highest quality and packed with tons of nutrients and minerals. This helps IV Vitamin Drips to nourish your body for maximum performance, energy, and glow.
List of IV Therapy drips that are provided by Pause:
· Detox Drips
· Pause Drips
· Vitamin C Drips
· Aches
· Immunity Drips
· Beauty Drips
· Hangover Drips
3. Drip Doctors IV Vitamin Therapy:
Drip Doctors IV Therapy works with individuals to take a proactive approach to their health. IV Drips consist of all-natural bioidentical vitamins and nutrients that are naturally found in your body and inorganic foods you consume.
Drip Doctors IV Vitamin Therapy & Booster Shots are designed to help you supplement micronutrients that your body needs.
List of IV Therapy drips that are provided by Drop Doctors:
· Hydration Drips
· Myers Cocktail Drips
· Aches and pains
· Vitamin C Drips
· Detox Drips
· Immunity Drips
· Hangover Drips
These are the three IV therapy in Los Angeles provides the best services with a healthy and safe environment. | https://medium.com/@padmapriya-signin/top-three-iv-therapy-in-los-angeles-97898f02d7cc | [] | 2020-12-23 16:47:37.008000+00:00 | ['Iv Vitamin Therapy', 'Los Angeles', 'Drip', 'Iv Therapy', 'Treatment'] |
My Year with Meryl Streep: The Bridges of Madison County (1995) | My Year with Meryl Streep: The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
A look at the classic Clint Eastwood romance that earned Meryl her tenth Oscar nomination!
Photo by Kiwi Thompson at Unsplash
I recently spent a whole year watching a Meryl Streep film every week, and I thought I’d share with you some of the reviews I wrote for her many classic films!
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
A quiet romantic film released in the midst of summer, starring, of all people, Clint Eastwood? The Bridges of Madison County was, like the runaway novel bestsellers like The Da Vinci Code and The Help, always going to be made into a movie — at one point Sydney Pollack circled the project with Robert Redford as his lead, and even Steven Spielberg briefly considered taking it on — but what kind of a movie was it going to be? Would it be too melodramatic? Would the two leads have any chemistry?
When Eastwood — who in 1995 was most known for playing Dirty Harry, an action hero, and for directing Unforgiven, a dark western — was announced to be the co-actor and director of The Bridges of Madison County, there were likely more than a few eyebrows raised. Approaching age sixty-five, he was an unlikely romantic lead as the handsome photographer Robert Kincaid, but what’s even more surprising is that the higher-ups at Warner Bros. wanted an actress far younger than what the part called for.
Many actresses could have played the pretty and complex Italian housewife Francesca Johnson, age forty-five. Jessica Lange and Isabella Rossellini were in contention for the lead, and the stunning French actress Catherine Deneuve (in her early fifties at the time) auditioned for the role. Younger actresses likely considered were Michelle Pfeiffer, Demi Moore, Rene Russo, and Kim Basinger, but Eastwood didn’t want to hear any of it. He made one phone call, to a beloved actress who hadn’t had a role this layered and deep since playing Lindy Chamberlain in A Cry in the Dark.
Meryl didn’t so much care for the book, but she loved the script and she signed on immediately, making The Bridges of Madison County her first significant role in a drama in seven years. And while she’s been nominated for an Academy Award nineteen times and counting, her Oscar-nominated performance as Francesca is easily one of her five greatest performances in her illustrious career. She is so quietly heartbreaking in this that she basically overshadows everything else in a flawed but effective film, one of Eastwood’s best.
The story is simple. Living in small-town Iowa, Francesca has a rare four days to herself, when her husband and two children leave to attend the Illinois State Fair. On day one, an attractive photographer arrives at her doorstep, asking for directions to a nearby bridge he has been commissioned to take pictures of. She shows him how to get to his destination, and from that moment on, they start spending more time together. They have dinner and drive to more bridges and talk about their histories and potential futures.
By day two, it’s clear that Robert and Francesca are smitten with each other, but is it possible that they have a happily ever after? Francesca has a life in Iowa, while Robert is constantly on the move, never settling in one place. In the end, he asks her to come away with him, and be the adventurous woman her current husband never allowed her to be. The decision she finally makes, in the film’s haunting and most famous scene, is one that resonates with the viewer for days.
Eastwood supplies The Bridges of Madison County with just the right tone. The same leisurely way he paced his Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby, he gives this film a quiet authenticity that keeps it from ever becoming too heavy-handed. Another director might have filmed too many scenes of Robert and Francesca gazing into each other’s eyes while the music swells and the camera spins around them so many times you get dizzy. There is a tender scene where the two just stare at each other for a moment, but it’s done in a subtle, non-cheesy manner, with the music coming from the nearby radio.
And while the two fall in love in a mere two days, the slow pacing allows the viewer to buy that these lost souls could fall for each other so fast. The pairing of Meryl and Eastwood seems like an unlikely one, especially for a romance, but their chemistry is electric, the kind that is rarely seen in movies. Unlike so many forced romantic pairings, they actually feel right together, and their attractions for each other from the get-go feel earned.
One of the great surprises of the movie is Eastwood’s performance. While it’s difficult to watch him in any movie and forget you’re watching Clint Eastwood — unlike Meryl, who so easily disappears into each role she plays — he shows a different, more vulnerable side to his personality in The Bridges of Madison County. This is probably his sweetest performance ever captured on screen, and one of his most natural. Not too many actors could say the line “This kind of certainty comes but just once in a lifetime” with a straight face, let alone pull it off as an authentic movie moment, but somehow, he does. In addition, the image of Eastwood standing in the rain at the end, forever alone, clinging onto a false hope that Francesca will run away with him, is a beauty.
But as fine as Eastwood is, he as the director wisely made this Francesca’s story, and Meryl’s movie. The Bridges of Madison County is easily Meryl’s most stellar dramatic performance of the 1990s. Every choice she makes is a good one, both the big and the small. Her Italian accent is without fault, but Meryl went much farther to bring this character to life. She reportedly gained fifteen to twenty pounds, which gives the character a specific look, one of a woman who, while pretty, has been beaten down a bit by a sedentary life.
Just the way she walks, the way she holds herself, suggests a person who rarely feels joy. But when Robert comes around, her body language changes. She moves quicker, with more jubilance in her step. One of my favorite gestures Meryl makes in the whole movie is when she claps her hands together, after Francesca agrees to meet with Robert to go sightseeing. It’s a lovely moment that tells so much with so little.
The role has endless layers. She gets to play goofy, sad, lonely, in love, desperate, at peace. Almost every scene gives Meryl a new note to play. Just the way she laughs in a handful of scenes — especially the one in which Francesca jokes that the flowers Robert gives her are poisonous — is perfectly modulated. She’s great all the way through, but it’s the hauntingly constructed scene at the end, in the truck, in the rain, that pulls at the viewer’s heartstrings the most.
She doesn’t just long for Robert. She has an out-of-body experience as she tugs on that door handle. She knows in her heart she can’t go, but she still doesn’t want to give up the dream. With no words spoken, Meryl tells us in her eyes exactly what she’s feeling. It’s a marvelously acted scene that is probably one of the most famous moments of any romance film ever made. Meryl was rightly nominated for her tenth Academy Award for her performance, but she lost to Susan Sarandon, for Dead Man Walking; in a less competitive year, she likely would have won her third Oscar.
The Bridges of Madison County is not without its flaws. The awkward wrap-around story is too amateurishly acted, and the scene in the truck at the end is so powerful that the final ten minutes, which shows Francesca at an older age, seem unnecessary. But overall, it’s grand entertainment, the kind of film Hollywood used to make all the time in the ’30s and ’40s but rarely in the ’90s.
The book, written by Robert James Waller, might not have been the finest piece of literature ever written, but Eastwood was able to translate these two unique characters and winning themes into a movie that works far better than it should have. Best of all, Meryl, after a seven-year hiatus from leading roles in dramas, rose to the challenge of playing a rich, complex character: a housewife in her forties who still has dreams and ambitions that go beyond her tiny farm in Iowa.
—
Brian Rowe is an author, teacher, book devotee, and film fanatic. He received his MFA in Creative Writing and MA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his BA in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He writes young adult and middle grade suspense novels, and is represented by Kortney Price of the Corvisiero Agency. You can read more of his work at his website, brianrowebooks.com. | https://medium.com/read-watch-write-repeat/my-year-with-meryl-streep-the-bridges-of-madison-county-1995-86ccc8a93296 | ['Brian Rowe'] | 2019-05-30 11:01:00.883000+00:00 | ['Meryl Streep', 'Romance', 'Movies', 'Film', 'Oscars'] |
Lemonade | Mahesh was the best when it came to climbing trees during Hide and Seek. He jumped on the compound wall and leaped onto the tall Asoka tree, clinging onto its strong leaves and quickly disappeared under them. The other kids were hiding too, one behind a thick bush of Jasmine, one on the Sapota tree, one waiting behind a wall ready to signal when the Seeker was in sight, and the others elsewhere, all in the same compound. The game was about to begin, while everyone waited patiently not to get caught or seen first. The Sun shone bright in the sky, but they could not care less. Not getting caught was more important than getting a tan. The Seeker had his own plan, as he entered the compound from the back, where no one expected him. He casually walked with the pride of cracking their masterplan, as he called out each of their names, chuckling all the way. To everyone’s expectation, Mahesh was again the last one to get caught, the expert that he was.
Meanwhile, their grandma, the owner of the house, announced that fresh lemonade was being served. A call they were waiting for. Hide and Seek did not matter anymore, neither did the fear of being exposed to the Seeker. Everyone forgot about the game and rushed to the verandah, to wash lemonade down their parched throats. They ran with bright eyes, those of a farmer who looks up at the dark, thundering clouds just before a heavy rainfall drenches his dried fields. They all held their glass tumblers and sat on the verandah, sipping on the fresh hit of balanced lemon juice mixed with water, not too much sugar and not too sour. The one that hits you like a refreshing splash of water on your face when you come back home covered in dust after a tiring summer day. The kids joked about whose glass had more, because they were the grandma’s favourite. They were lost in their own world, until one of them noticed Mahesh, the maid’s son, standing aside, playing with an Asoka leaf.
“Oh Mahesh, why aren’t you drinking this nectar of life?” one of them cried, while the others seconded her opinion.
“I am grateful, but I am fine,” Mahesh responded, sporting his innocent, toothless smile. The harsh reality of oppression hidden deep inside his heart, invisible to the human eye, like how he hid among the Asoka leaves.
“He is the maid’s son,” their grandma echoed from the back, “I will give him some water.”
“But, he is the best among us,” the kids sang in unison. “And he has to taste this lemonade.”
“You don’t understand,” their grandma argued. “Finish your lemonade and give me your empty glasses.”
The kids looked at each other, their thoughts aligning for the first time. This was a rare moment, for never would they agree on anything. It was a war to even decide whether Cartoon Network was to be watched, or Jetix. But, the time had come to put their differences to rest. One of them quickly downed his entire glass of lemonade and placed it on the verandah, while the others filled it to the brim, pouring lemonade from their glasses. Before their grandma could react, the kids pulled a shocked Mahesh closer, and handed him the glass.
“Drink this…” they demanded, “…or we are not friends anymore!”
“We know you hide on the Asoka tree, we just don’t know which one,” someone else declared, patting his back.
“God save these children!” their grandma cursed under her breath, accepting defeat while walking back into the house, as Mahesh reluctantly sipped from the glass. His heart was filled with new hope, as he decided to find a new place to hide. He did not need the Asoka tree anymore.
Childhood had triumphed over discrimination, and the first revolution had been a success. | https://medium.com/@adithya-sesha/lemonade-e427e5461ab1 | [] | 2019-11-27 03:14:38.856000+00:00 | ['Lemonade', 'Short Story', 'Summer', 'Discrimination', 'Indian Stories'] |
How To Choose Your Perfect Bed Linen | 3 Steps to Choosing the Perfect Bed Linen
You’re back from a long day at work, or a great dinner with friends. You’ve taken a warm shower and it’s time to snuggle beneath the sheets. How do you get that perfect feeling that transports you back to your favourite hotel room, and the night of great sleep that rejuvenates you for tomorrow?
The choice of bed linen is both objective and subjective. Choosing quality bedding and good design is important, but everyone’s definition of what’s comfortable is different. Everywhere you go there is such a wide range of materials, colours, specifications — what do you choose?
Fret not! Here’s three simple steps to help you get that great night’s sleep: right material, right design, and right for you!
Material
1. Type of Material
Cotton, Tencel or Linen? Which bedlinen is better for a good night’s sleep?
What’s the difference between a Sateen and Percale Weave? These choices really depend on the experience you’d like when sleeping.
Weavve’s Cotton Sheets set in Sandshell
Cotton is the most common material and for good reason, high quality cotton looks rich, is extremely comfortable and stands the test of time.
Cotton gets softer and more comfortable as you wash it, making cotton sheets a good investment.
If you like smoother sheets choose a Sateen weave.
Percale sheets are made of a traditional one over and one under weave, and have more of a matte finish than Sateen.
Weavve’s Tencel Sheets in White
Tencel is a branded material by Lenzing, made from eucalyptus cellulose fibres.
Good, original Tencel is extremely smooth, and cool to the touch. Choose this if you love silky smooth sheets.
As a type of Lyocell, Tencel uses a closed loop manufacturing process, meaning waste products are recycled to create the next batch. This is different and more environmentally friendly than other Rayons like Viscose or Modal.
Tencel is machine washable but only in cold water. And it has to be hung dry and not machine dried.
Linen is another great material and is made from the flax plant.
Linen is breathable and absorbs moisture well, making it great if you live in warmer climes and don’t like to use air conditioning.
It has a lush feel but is very different from the smoothness of Tencel or a Cotton Sateen sheet.
Check out Weavve’s bedsheets here.
2. Quality of Material
Next, the quality of the material will have the highest impact on comfort.
Weavve uses extra-long staple cotton fibres
Go for long staple fibres or better yet, extra-long staple fibres. Extra-long staple cotton fibres come from a specific breed of cotton plants, the Gossypium Barbadense plant. These are spun into stronger, finer yarns.
Fewer extra-long staple fibres are required to spin the same length of yarn. This results in fewer loose ends, making the sheet smoother and more comfortable.
Fewer interruptions in the yarn due to long staple lengths also create a stronger fabric.
Egyptian cotton is famous for its comfort and strength, but this only applies to extra-long staple Egyptian cotton. Most Egyptian cotton is not of this variety.
Our extra-long staple cotton fibres are spun into 100 yarn count threads
Bed sheets with a higher yarn count give a smoother, softer and lighter feel. The higher the number, the finer the yarn.
When looking at yarn count, 60 to 80 will provide a good level of comfort, but 100 yarn yields a much more luxurious feel.
More higher yarn count threads can fit into a smaller area, increasing the maximum thread count possible.
Look out for single ply yarn. These are threads made up of a single ply of fibres.
Single ply yarns are stronger, smoother and lighter. This strength yields a higher quality sheet that pills less.
Two ply, three ply or multi ply yarns are spun from a group of weaker threads.
Lastly, threadcount. Experts agree that the highest number of threads one can squeeze into a square inch is 600. How do other bed linens achieve thread count of 1000 or more?
Firstly, by using a metric system of 10cm squares versus a square inch, bed linen thread count can be measured 50% higher without actually increasing the number of vertical and horizontal threads.
Secondly, by using weaker, multi ply threads. Each ply is marketed as a thread, so a three ply yarn can be marketed at three times the thread count.
Go for ELS fibres, high yarn count and single ply yarn. Threadcount matters less above a certain limit (~400 to 500). Visit Our Sheets to find out more.
Design
Design plays an unassuming but critical role. Here, we highlight three aspects for design: function, comfort and aesthetics.
1. Design for Function
Duvet slipping out of the duvet cover? Pillows can’t stay in the pillowcase? Small design features can make using the bedding easier and better.
Or waking up in the morning and your pillow case has come off your pillow and is on the floor? Better designed sheets have certain features that while seems small, makes the linen much easier and comfortable to use.
Back Envelope Pillowcase
A side fed pillowcase comes out easily and often, and doesn’t fit all pillow sizes well. Look for an envelope opening at the back that helps cover and contain the pillow well. Preferably, the slit opens closer to one end of the pillow and not down the centre, so it is easier to wrap and remove the opening.
Look for stronger elastics bands on the fitted sheet that help keep it in place through the night.
Similarly, duvet ties inside each corner of the quilt cover keep the duvet spread out within the quilt cover. Buttons at the opening help keep the duvet from slipping out, keeping you warm and snug throughout the night.
Great bedding sets are an investment and should last. There will be more stress on certain openings and weak points. Look for reinforcements like bar tacks at pillow and duvet cover openings.
Don’t like that constant clicking sound as your sheets spin in the washing machine? Neither do we. Opt for cloth covered buttons — these reduce the impact of buttons coming into contact with the washer, ensuring your buttons last longer while getting rid of that irritating sound.
2. Design for Comfort
Great sheets don’t just look good and feel good to the touch, they are designed to not get in the way of your sleep.
Concealed Cloth Buttons
Coming back to those buttons… Look for openings where the buttons close up on the inside of the sheet so you don’t feel the buttons as you snooze through the night.
Like great detailing? Just make sure elements like piping and embroidery on the sheets are away from where you’d contact it while sleeping.
3. Design for Aesthetics
You’ve spent time outfitting your house to look great, investing in a nice mattress and bedframe, and now you’re going to spend on a great set of sheets. Great bed linen should not only give you a great night’s sleep but elevate the elegance of your bedroom. Some design features that you might like.
Embroidery is a classy feature when employed subtly. A nicely designed logo that isn’t too big or too obvious will create a feeling of understated elegance.
Stylish piping features create a more sumptuous feel to your pillowcases and duvet covers. Make sure these don’t get in the way of comfort as you sleep.
Choose a colour that matches the overall theme of your bedroom and house. More basic colours can help accentuate other hero pieces, while stronger colours focus the attention onto your bed as the centrepiece of your bedroom.
Colour contrast can be a nice touch too, and the level of contrast is both a matter of personal taste and overall room design. Light contrasts will create a more engaging appearance, while stronger contrasts will give your bedroom a bolder feel. If you’re going for a sophisticated look, having the same colour for both sheets and design elements like piping and embroidery will add that touch of style.
You
At the end of the day, it’s all about you, your sleep, your bedroom and your home. This is where it gets personal, it needs to be right for you.
Know your mattress size.
Even though we’re familiar with King, Queen, Super Single and Single sizes, every manufacturer’s dimensions are slightly different.
Mattresses also have various heights. The trend today is for thicker mattresses, where multiple layers have been engineered together to give greater comfort. Make sure your fitted sheet has sufficient depth for your mattress.
Check your mattress size against size guides, like ours here at Weavve.
Your bed linen should fit your distinctive taste.
Go for design and colours you like, and that fit your bedroom
Feel free to mix and match various sets, creating a look and feel unique to you
Touch is a personal choice.
Do you like your sheets to feel silky smooth or snug like a warm hug? That’s the main difference between Cotton Sateen and Percale, or Tencel and Linen.
Try out the sheets in person. At a store, see if you can test lying on the sheets and pillowcases.
When buying online, look for brands that offer free trial periods or have offline events that allow you to feel the sheets. Some trial periods even come with a free returns policy, ensuring you will not be out of pocket if you don’t like the sheets and make a return!
Good luck with your shopping journey. When in doubt, look for reviews that help you choose between different brands and materials.
https://weavvehome.com/ | https://medium.com/@weavvehome/how-to-choose-your-perfect-bed-linen-814d4cf6d770 | ['Weavve Home'] | 2020-04-23 12:36:12.170000+00:00 | ['Home Improvement', 'Bedsheets', 'Home', 'Shopping', 'Home Decor'] |
A year in Graphic detail | In October 2018 we launched Graphic detail, a new print section in The Economist dedicated to data journalism. One year and 51 issues later (we get a week off at Christmas), what have we learned?
Sir, mix a lot
Most sections in the newspaper have a clear remit. Science and technology is the natural home for a story about plastic-eating caterpillars or open-source computing, and the increasing importance of China led to the creation of a new Sino-centric section in 2012. But Graphic detail knows no such confines — the only requirement is a good dataset or two that we can use to tell a story visually.
If we took the easy route and went where the data were most bountiful, we’d write about American politics almost every week, with some (probably American) sport(s) stories thrown in.
Subject to change
Instead we try to mix it up a bit, and our first self-imposed rule was that no topic should be covered twice within a two-month period. Our reader-feedback survey suggests that this variety of subjects keeps things interesting, and it has forced our data journalists to widen their nets too, leading to stories on subjects as diverse as mountain climbing, the golden age of TV, house-price forecasts and light emissions.
Habeas data
Without data, there is no Graphic detail page. Yet acquiring a dataset or two is just the beginning of the process. Anyone involved in data journalism knows how long it can take to clean a dataset (three weeks is the current record), and that’s before you even begin to analyse it. We also learned early on that combining two or more datasets takes far longer than you might think.
On the other hand, having too much time can be counter-productive: a week spent immersed in a dataset might yield the same results as the initial couple of hours if your instincts were right in the first place. In one instance though, the extra time paid off: by letting our automated scraper run for months rather than a couple of weeks, we had even more data for our most popular story so far, an analysis of Google News bias.
Laying it all out
Once we have a good clean dataset, we still need to get over the next hurdle: does it “hold the page”? This is probably the most-repeated phrase in the department (despite my best efforts, not a single person has ever uttered the words “habeas data”). And for good reason. Our second rule before we began was that we should aim for a 2:1 ratio between the data visualisation and the text, and a simple line or bar chart is unlikely to fill that space. Sometimes this forces us to look for extra datasets (with the time-consuming caveat above); other times, we keep working with the data until a compelling visualisation emerges. The ggplot package in R, an open-source statistical program, is our main tool for this.
Not including this chart
We also try to ensure that there is variety in our page design from week to week. Like some of our loyal readers, we stick every Graphic detail article up on the wall in chronological order. This lets us check that we’re not over-using certain data visualisation techniques. And we are reassured by our reader survey which indicates that unconventional chart types are a challenge to be relished rather than a barrier to entry, if well-designed.
Save for later
We’ve learned from reader surveys and website analytics what our readers find interesting. Stories about China perform exceptionally well, and as half of our readership is in the United States, it wasn’t surprising that our How to forecast an American’s vote article, published a few days before the 2018 mid-term elections, was an instant hit. What has been eye-opening is the ebb and flow of traffic after publication: although the Google News story took a couple of days to get going, aided by an illuminating tweet-thread from the author, it has attracted interest several times since. And our measles article lay dormant for three weeks before going viral when a state of emergency was called in New York.
Better late than never
Charting the future
Although we’ll keep striving to find unique datasets — quality Africa-related data remain particularly elusive — there are a handful of stories and concepts that we will return to. Our final Graphic detail of 2018 for example charted the news events that most engrossed readers throughout the year, and we’ll do the same in our Christmas edition this year. We also revisited the ‘build a voter’ format to calculate support in Britain for three different Brexit options earlier this year, and might even come back to it again for the 2020 US presidential election. There are also many interesting chart types that we haven’t found the right data for yet (Marimekkos, stacked-area alluvial diagrams, multivariate hexbins, 3D pie charts).
Finally, we’ve gained a new data visualiser to work on our print section (welcome Ros!), and a new data journalist will be joining the team early next year, giving us fresh ideas for 2020 and beyond.
The year in numbers
4 prizes: Malofiej x3; The Pudding Cup x1
3 other nominations: Data Journalism Awards x2; Information is Beautiful x1
2 consecutive references to pop songs released in 1998: Only one was intentional
1 correction: Sorry, University of Hull
0 typos: Week 52 was a different matter… | https://medium.economist.com/a-year-in-graphic-detail-d1825b28e06f | ['Alex Selby-Boothroyd'] | 2019-11-04 15:54:38.802000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Data', 'Design', 'Data Visualization'] |
What happens to old solar farms? | Sustainable Food Trend Recap
Tackling food waste will help reduce emissions globally. (Image: Eco Business)
The need for sustainable food is growing. Not only is sustainable food generally better for overall health, but it also has a better impact on the environment in terms of resource usage.
Below are a few trends I identified, as well as a few companies that are innovating in the space.
Reduce Carbon Footprint
One main driver behind food innovation is the reduction in emissions and resources. For perspective, 70% of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture (30% of that is for feedstock), 26% of land is for grazing livestock, and another 33% of land is for growing feed.
Insect protein is an interesting play, as there are many benefits. Chirps Chips is focused on reducing impact in many aspects. Chirps Chips is making tortilla chips with cricket protein. Crickets take fewer resources and produce fewer greenhouse gases, compared to meat. Crickets can consume food waste, and they also have a better feed to food production conversion and water usage — it takes thousands gallons of water to make a pound of beef but only one gallon of water to make a pound of crickets. It also takes less space (it takes one square foot of space to grow one pound of crickets), giving production more flexibility in terms of location and transportation logistics.
Plant-based protein is another sector that aligns itself with the mission of reducing impact. Hooray Foods is making plant-based bacon. Pigs are the number two contributor, after cows, to greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. By switching from animal meat to plant-based meat, you reduce the emissions by around 85%, when it comes to pork.
Reduce Waste
Another focus for sustainable food innovation is to reduce waste. 1.3 billion tons of food per year are wasted globally (roughly a third of all food produced), adding 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
One of the more common solutions to reduce waste is by upcycling. In 2019, the food upcycling sector was worth $46.7B and is expected to grow 5% each year over the next decade. Even though most of the market is currently made up of companies turning food waste into animal feed, food upcycling is a great opportunity to create an impact with innovation.
Companies like Reveal and Renewal Mill are fighting climate change and reducing food being sent to landfill global by upcycling waste byproducts. Reveal is taking avocado seeds, extracting nutrients from the seeds, and creating a sustainable probiotic beverage. Meanwhile Renewal Mill is upcycling waste byproducts into premium ingredients and finished products.
Lifecycle Analysis
There are some companies that have some overlap with the previous trends, but are truly developing a greener product with sustainable packaging.
Impact Snacks is one company that is combining aspects from the reducing carbon footprint and reducing waste to develop a truly sustainable product. The mission behind Impact Snacks is to change the way people look at everyday snacking by creating a 100% plant-based superfood bar that reclaims more carbon than it makes and produces no plastic.
No Evil Foods is in a similar boat. The company recently announced their partnership with rePurpose Global to offset their plastic footprint. No Evil Foods has committed to going plastic negative by funding the recovery and recycling of 2 pounds of plastic waste for every 1 pound they generate.
One other company with a similar mission, but different execution is Apeel Sciences. Apeel Sciences is developing a plant-based coating for produce that allows for longer shelf life, keeping produce fresh longer and reducing food waste. This effectively decreases emissions associated with cold chain transportation and food waste.
Future Outlook
Solutions are needed to ultimately reduce both food waste and carbon emissions. There is no one solution that can do it all. The food sector is vast, and there are many opportunities to bring new products to market.
For solely reducing carbon emissions, plant-based meat is popular and growing trend. In March, grocery stores sold 231% more plant-based food than the previous year, and the graph below shows the year-over-year percent change between meat and plant-based meat sales:
Year over year percent change between meat and plat based meat sales. (Image: FoodDive)
Something to keep in mind is that the US meat market is worth about $95B, compared $1B for plant-based meat. While meat alternatives are growing, it will take more adoption and sales to see big changes in the meat industry. However, there has been an increase in both consumer awareness and the number of plant-based products in the market.
When it comes to decreasing food waste, the best way to reduce waste is to minimize food waste in the first place. Looking at solutions for food waste through a production lens, one of the best ways to do this is by upcycling food byproducts. Naturally, this will require looking for opportunities in current processes and the supply chain and will likely lead to new products.
For upcycled food to create a big enough impact, it’s crucial that companies scale up. The real challenge is marketing and growing the number of consumers, which is tough when products are seen as waste and are usually sold at a higher price than traditional items. However, CEOs should keep in mind that for every dollar invested in reducing food loss, $14 is saved in operational costs — the “roadblock is companies not taking it seriously.”
Food waste is a growing business that was worth $46.7B in 2019 with an expected annual growth rate of 5% for the next 10 years. This is a great opportunity for companies to repurpose their food waste into packaging and upcycled food.
Combining these two key factors of reducing emissions and waste are going to be critical to a sustainable future. We only have a little over 7 years to address the climate crisis, and food adaptation and adoption is an achievable goal. The only thing standing in the way is consumer behavior. | https://medium.com/@readtheimpact/what-happens-to-old-solar-farms-8bbae42e1daf | ['The Impact'] | 2021-02-02 07:15:32.022000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Energy', 'Solar Energy', 'Food', 'Finance'] |
Since U Been Gone | Over half a decade later, it’s impossible to erase your mark completely.
In the first few weeks, we stayed together. Letting the tears flow, letting the laughter come.
Then, as with any party, it was back to our different cliques. But of course, this ending was different.
We fell into tight hugs when we saw each other around, we asked how we were doing, genuinely wanting to know.
We held memorials to relive your love.
Even as the years go by, you’ve brought us together forever.
We watched your best friend say I do over zoom — which was great because I got to sit in my PJs.
Your brother and I always know about the new jobs we’re starting. You always told me I could do “just about anything”.
Your sister always checks in when I start posting cryptic messages on my socials. She was there the first time I thought about ending it, 5 years after you left.
Your cousin and I shared one kiss. We realised all we had in common was grief and nostalgia. We still check on each other over the holidays.
I still can’t bear to see your mum, I feel guilty about how she holds it together, while I still breakdown at the mention of your name. My mum says she’s doing okay.
The rest of us all follow each other on Instagram, sharing our public monuments. Facebook is so dead. We don’t really post memorials for you any more.
Maybe it’s because we think it’s time to move on.
Maybe it’s because we don’t have any instaworthy pictures of you. We are the last generation of infrared, memory cards and 3mp cameras. Our less than candid moments are on lost devices and in our hearts.
Maybe it’s simply because we’ve begun to forget. I’ll admit that sometimes the anniversary of your death goes by while I’m having a good time.
I do wonder though, if our friendship would’ve lasted if you lived.
Probably not.
You would’ve grown closer to God as I strayed further away. But your smile would still warm the hearts of those lucky enough to know you.
You would’ve emigrated to a continent a world away. But I would still hear your voice now and then, and that would be enough.
We would’ve outgrown all the things that brought us together — the cheesy Nicki Minaj pop songs, the dying flash games, our naive teenage dreams. But, we would be able to reminisce over forced conversations, and I would be grateful to have shared a part of my life with you.
I still listen to our songs. I still smile when I see the book we had a silly fight over. If I knew that was the last time I’d see you, I would have let you read it first, you would’ve liked the ending.
I still cry out of nowhere sometimes, but the weird bunch you brought together has made sure I’m never alone.
Every now and then, I speak to someone else who loved you; and there’s no doubt that your short existence here has bound a bunch of misfits together for eternity.
I’m glad to have experienced the parts of you that you shared me, and all the wonderful people that came with you; I sure in hell would not have made it without them.
Love, Always. | https://medium.com/@love-a/since-u-been-gone-1685c566619f | ['Love Akinkunle'] | 2020-12-23 20:15:07.144000+00:00 | ['Teenagers', 'Death', 'Grief', 'Moving On', 'Friendship'] |
Installing Kubernetes cluster on Ubuntu 20.04 or Raspberry Pi (Ubuntu) | In my previous article, we went over installing kafka cluster on three raspberry pi machines. Now we would install Kubernetes cluster on set of raspberry pi machines.
https://manjit28.medium.com/installing-apache-kafka-and-zookeeper-on-raspberry-pi-ubuntu-cluster-2cd0bb1f3c94
Just like kafka cluster setup in link above, following instructions in this article, Kubernetes cluster can be set up on non pi machines also. Just ignore pi specific steps.
3 Kafka Brokers, 1 Kubernetes Master, 4 Kubenetes Worker Nodes
Initially I planned to setup multi master cluster. I did install master on 3 machines but then I realized that to truly use multi master setup, I need load balancer in front of it. I thought of having HA proxy in front of it but then I would have needed more resources. So, I decided to stick with single master because in home environment, that would be sufficient. Can go over multi master cluster later. I tried following setup but number of worker nodes can be 1-n:
1 Master Node — 4GB RAM, 32 GB Storage
4 Worker Nodes — 8 GB RAM, 64 GB Storage
(Just to try it, we can have lower configuration also)
First step is to setup required linux version on all machines. If not already done so or you need instructions to setup sd cards for pi, please follow steps describe here.
On all raspberry pi, make following changes to run kuberenetes:
* sudo vi /etc/docker/daemon.json
{
“exec-opts”: [“native.cgroupdriver=systemd”],
“log-driver”: “json-file”,
“log-opts”: {
“max-size”: “100m”
},
“storage-driver”: “overlay2”
}
(above step is to systemd as per recommendation by Kubernetes)
sudo vi /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt
Append following to existing file:
cgroup_enable=cpuset cgroup_enable=memory cgroup_memory=1 swapaccount=1
Restart all machines after making above changes.
Run following steps (1–3) on all nodes:
Setup Docker and Kubernetes repositories:
Docker
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add - sudo add-apt-repository “deb [arch=arm64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable”
Kubernetes
curl -s https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
deb
EOF cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.listdeb https://apt.kubernetes.io/ kubernetes-xenial mainEOF
2. Update and Install:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce=5:19.03.12~3–0~ubuntu-focal kubelet=1.18.0–00 kubeadm=1.18.0–00 kubectl=1.18.0–00 sudo apt-mark hold docker-ce kubelet kubeadm kubectl
3. Add the iptables rule to sysctl.conf and enable iptables immediately:
echo “net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables=1” | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf sudo sysctl -p
Run following only on master node:
Initialize the cluster:
sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16
Setup local kubeconfig
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
Apply Calico CNI network overlay
kubectl apply -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/v3.14/manifests/calico.yaml
Joining worker nodes:
You will get command to join workers at last step. If you do not get it or lose it, you can generate it using following command:
kubeadm token create --print-join-command
Run generated command on each worker node. Give it few seconds and then run following command on master node to see status of all nodes in cluster:
kubectl get nodes
Node Status
Thanks! | https://medium.com/@manjit28/installing-kubernetes-cluster-on-ubuntu-20-04-or-raspberry-pi-ubuntu-a7eec0856217 | ['Manjit Singh'] | 2021-01-14 02:07:41.605000+00:00 | ['Raspberry Pi', 'Raspberry Pi Cluster', 'Kubernetes On Ubuntu', 'Kubernetes', 'Kubernetes Cluster'] |
A city, a jungle and a cave with fresh waters | A city, a jungle and a cave with fresh waters
There and back in a short urban tale
Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash
The other day I was in Tokyo, city centre. Or maybe Singapore – I don’t remember.
What I do remember was a feeling of ok-ish sickness of the mind. And of the stomach. I was OK, but somewhere in my depths there was the faintest feeling that I was not.
Let me explain.
I was walking around the city, in mind I had a deal that I was making with a potential new client. I was hungry and out of the office, through the streets, I was wading through people to find a place of restoration. To satisfy my hunger and to relieve my mind.
The deal I had in mind was exciting, as was the thought of biting some all-star sandwich so big that it could temporarily cease starvation in some less fortunate parts of the world. I was firing at all cylinders – tired but energised, focused but also a bit overwhelmed by it all.
Shut.
They’re on holiday?? They’re my best grub in town! What the hell?!
The sandwich deli that my body had been craving for at least 15 minutes was shut. What a punch in the guts. Okay, where next?
As I was mindlessly going through the motions of jumping from take-out to take-out like a bee on several garden flowers my mind started to think.
Not sure you’ve got the gravitas to swing this deal that you want.
Wait, what? Why not? What’s the problem?
Am I suddenly not interested enough to will this deal into the world? I don’ feel the energy, there’s no wave to ride! Gosh, I have no gravitas – that’s true!
Ah-ha! Here’s a burger place, I never get burgers at work – they normally devour me after I devour them. They make me snooze all afternoon as I try to digest them. But what the hell – I’m having a tough day, let’s dive in.
You know, I just need to regain some composure. The deal is there, I can structure it the right way, I can create a win-win for both. He’ll understand that he’s about to make the best purchase available to him. I’ve done it before a number of times, and I can do it again.
In other words, I felt OK. But I was not. From my depths, signals were going all over the place. Up here, superficially, I was experiencing all this as an unfortunate, mild wobble, caused by the world not going the way I wanted.
There she is
Psssst. Hey, you!
My attention is gently, but firmly grabbed. A woman, standing by the side, among the chaos and mayhem of lunch-time city centre, looks at me.
Like a cork in a whirlpool, I was bobbing up and down pretending to be fine. She’d just created a new space and I stepped into it, entirely, unknowingly.
It felt kind of like a waiting room. A small protective space, just by the side of the chaotic, roaring vortex I was in.
Who are you? She asked.
That’s a loaded question, I thought. And quite an important one too actually. It’s so important – why don’t I think of it more often?
Who are you? She asked again.
I need to think. I need to stop and think.
And so I did.
Firmly focused on this thought, the noise of the street started to blur into the background. The images of the street absorbed away. It’s like I took a step forward, and the daily madness became a muffled, retreating entity.
Who are you? She asked once more.
I am what I feel. Or I feel what I am? Confusion! Distraction! Fragmentation!
I need to cling onto this small heaven. I need to find the tethering. Where’s the tethering?
Focus! That’s it. I can’t allow to be distracted, or pulled away. I need focus!
I quickly grabbed the only thing that I felt possible: my breath, and its pattern.
Who are you? Again.
The more she asked, the more I tethered to my breath. Gradually, it was revealed to me that the waiting room was not a waiting room. It slowly became apparent that it was a departure lounge.
I was gradually being ushered to a departure. Guided by this ever so pragmatic form of tethering: my breath – a calm, powerful thing, once you observe it.
Off you go
Photo by Yoal Desurmont on Unsplash
She showed me the way ahead.
In the distance, I saw a glass wall. Beyond that there was a lot of green stuff. Leafy things, trees…it was a jungle.
I was being led to a jungle?!
Strangely, it felt like I knew this jungle. The map of it was in my knowledge. And awareness was my compass.
I was led into a place I wasn’t familiar with, except that I strangely felt I was. It’s like the jungle was, in fact, the map of me.
I don’t know how long I’d been in that place for. But by then, with quite a bit of perseverance and focus, those pre-existing thoughts and wants and preoccupations felt like they were in a far away place – buoying at the top.
Not me.
As I was stepping into the jungle, I also felt a sense of descent: slow, gradual, meaningful. Every step, led me down a notch, and it was something to savour slowly & attentively.
The jungle has its fiends, too
Quietness started to really pervade the space. I could only hear something far away in the jungle – it was splashing water. It was a solemn sound, whole, and I felt a strange attraction to it.
More immediately, I was dealing with the surroundings of the jungle.
In front of me some sort of windy path figured, blending in the dark through the green leaves and the resonating noises of the wilderness. It was clear that it was the way to go, it was also not possible for me to go anywhere else. The only other path was backwards, into the chaos and instability.
Thank you, but no thank you.
Tethered to this strange quality that is observant focus, and I kept descending through the jungle.
It was strange, the more I was trying to get acquainted with the place and its motions, the more I felt nagged by something. It was annoying and childish-like. Almost like a whiney presence that pulls your jacket, to get your attention and to persuade you into other plans.
Here is the spiel: you feel uncomfortable, you’ve been here for too long. You really don’t want to do this. You’re forcing it, it’s clearly not you and not a spontaneous act.
You must check your phone, by the way. You’ve been waiting for that email for so long. You know you need to action it as soon as you get it. Also, you can do the jungle another time – you got all the time you want. But you really want to check your phone now. And scratch that itch on the leg. And get up and get a piece of chocolate – you know you love the taste and the way it makes you feel.
Its force was so strong and it nearly got me. It nearly pulled me back up in no time – back into that endless flow of symbols and representations, of constructs, of precepts made of plastic. Of stimuli to live by as they get you, one by one.
I don’t know what was in me that day, but I did manage to overcome those temptations – letting go, sinking in, packaging those thoughts and seeing them flow away like mailboxes.
They became external concepts that I wasn’t allowing to infiltrate me.
Gradually, the focus turned onto the quietness of the jungle, its mysterious features and reflections of me that I didn’t quite understand.
Gradually, there was the calling of those fresh waters again. Those solemn sounds of truth. A wholesome attraction, innate, bearer of vitality.
Prepare for landing
In awareness, more or less, I landed precariously on the other side: a deep, low, slow cave of oneness. Where I could bathe in peace and in tranquillity. I had found the waters.
Photo by Michael Behrens on Unsplash
These waters had a quality that I immediately sensed. They were quietly strong – they didn’t bother anybody but also they could not be denied. I guess that’s the power of truth. They simply were.
Familiarising with these waters was like becoming them. A sense of vitality and quiet strength was unfurling in me. Slowly, gradually. The more I gave up control the more they found ways to resonate in me.
You’ve landed, sir. Now it’s time to go back up.
Unsustainable. What it is that makes this unsustainable I don’t know. Maybe lack of practice, but at some point you have to get back.
My only hope was to take this awareness with me and carry it – even if just for a little bit – in the day-to-day of my chaotic life.
If anything, sometimes, I was hoping for memories of this experience to bubble to the surface to provide some guidance, some relief, some caring voice letting me know that another way is possible. That another way is there.
As I snapped out of the cave. I could see the car crash of the world that was before me.
It was exactly the same place, at the same time (more or less) as before. It was the same scenes, the same needs and wants. The same tortuous path to achieving something that maybe I didn’t really want or understand. There was the chaos that I thought was my friend, my natural habitat.
This time though, I waved at it from a distance.
I see you, chaos, life of plastic. I see you and I salute you. I salute you and respect your presence. I respect you but I am not you.
I am me, I have my strength and wisdom. And I use these tools to navigate you, chaos. To blend with you and to understand you, but never to be you.
You and I are not one and the same. | https://medium.com/anima-sana/a-city-a-jungle-and-a-cave-with-fresh-waters-c84156ff09eb | ['Abraxas Monk'] | 2020-05-01 09:42:26.643000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Tales', 'Self', 'Awareness', 'Stories'] |
Filings Show Massive Dark Money Influx For Major “Progressive" Non-Profit | According to tax documents obtained by MCSC Network, America Votes — a leading Democratic political nonprofit — reported $63,715,942 in contributions during their 2019 fiscal year, which ran from 07/01/2018 to 06/30/2019. The total dwarfed their previous year’s income of $12,659,327 — marking an astronomical increase of 500% year over year.
The organization disbursed $43,496,984 to roughly 110 political groups and SuperPACs, and paid $5,112,605 in salaries. They ended their 2019 fiscal year with $8,102,270 in the bank.
America Votes is classified as a 501(c)(4) “dark money" tax exempt organization, meaning they are not obligated by law to publicly disclose their donors, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to partially track the money trail. According to the documents, America Votes had two major donors which accounted for roughly two-thirds of their income for the year: one donation of $31,200,000 and another of $14,846,000. Five additional donors also gave amounts greater than $1,000,000 — meaning that seven donors made up nearly 85% of the groups funding overall.
Further research, however, may shed additional light on where some of the money came from. Tax records show that one of the most prominent dark money organizations in the country, Sixteen Thirty Fund, donated $27,000,000 to America Votes in 2018, with another donation upwards of $7,000,000 coming the following year. It should be noted that Sixteen Thirty and America Votes do not share a fiscal year, and the reported totals are likely in aggregate — so a portion of those donations may have occured after the reporting deadline. Given those facts, and that no other donations to America Votes during that period come anywhere close to matching the $31,200,000 disclosed, it is probable that is where the massive donation came from.
As mentioned, The Sixteen Thirty Fund — operated by former Clinton operative Eric Kessler’s nonprofit consultancy firm, Arabella Advisors — is one of the most prominent political dark money groups in existence, pulling in roughly $280,000,000 since 2018 from largely unknown sources. Analysis of their 2018 tax returns show Sixteen Thirty Fund raised $143 Million that year. When it comes to their individual donors, one anonymous contributor gave north of $50 Million (per Politico), and another $26 Million came from the New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty’s sister nonprofit. New Venture Fund themselves reported $405 Million in donations in 2018, with 78% coming from foundations — and 25% of that ($81 Million) came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, likely making them NVF’s largest donor that year (that we know of).
That anonymous $51 Million and the $26 Million from New Venture Fund accounted for roughly 50% of Sixteen Thirty’s donations for 2018. The group received other foundational support from Tides Center, Democracy Alliance’s State Engagement Fund, billionaire and The Intercept backer Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund, as well as several other prominent nonprofits.
On the spending front Sixteen Thirty spent over $4,000,000 on political activities during the 2018 election cycle, before exploding into the top five of funders for outside spending group in 2020, spending north of $120,000,000 on donations to numerous pro-Biden Super PACs such as Priorities USA, Unite The Country, and American Bridge.
Another major dark money powerhouse wound up as America Votes' second largest contributor — Majority Forward — whose 2018 tax filings confirm the aforementioned $14,864,000 donation. Majority Forward has become a major political player in recent years, notably as a parent organization to SMP, the largest pro-Democratic Senate-focused Super PAC — with whom Majority Forward shares a executive, J.B. Poersch. SMP has raised over $500,000,000 over the last two election cycles behind massive donations from billionaires such as Michael Bloomberg ($20,000,000), George Soros' Democracy PAC ($8,500,000), Donald Sussman, and James Simons. SMP spent $111,587,750 on the 2018 midterms (upping that number to $228,985,172 in 2020), with Majority Forward spending another $40,000,000 plus. A 2019 study by Issue One found that $1 of every $3 of dark money spent during the 2018 cycle came from the Majority Forward.
In the election spending arena, America Votes reported spending $17,262,585 — nearly 40% of their payouts for the year — funding Super PACs during the relevant time frame — with the top recipients being the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund ($2,500,000), Black PAC ($1,700,000), For Our Future ($2,300,000) and Win Justice ($1,800,000). Other significant donations from America Votes to nonprofits include $4,580,000 to Black Progressive Action Coalition and $4,400,000 to For Our Future Action Fund.
Founded in 2003, America Votes describes themselves a the “Coordination Hub of the Progressive Community", with their website saying they are the “common link between many of the largest and most influential issue and membership organizations in the country”. A longtime, and current, member of anonymous billionaire donor group Democracy Alliance’s portfolio, and their coziness to numerous Democratic Party linked organizations, not much is really known about America Votes’ individual donors — given their status as a 501(c)(4), they don’t publicly disclose who they are — but they recieved dozens of donations in FYE 2019 that tallied five or six digits. All that is known is what has been disclosed and what has been pieced together from cross-referencing other organizations' tax returns.
If America Votes' latest numbers are any indication, and judging by the fact that the 2020 elections were the most expensive in history, it doesn’t seem likely the flood of dark money isn’t going to subside any time soon — in fact it seems the tide is rising. As for more recent numbers that directly influenced the 2020 races, we won’t know those until 2021 at the earliest.
Stay tuned to MCSC Network for political finance news as it breaks. | https://medium.com/@RobletoFire/america-votes-leading-pro-democrat-non-profit-got-massive-dark-money-influx-a52dbe7a493a | ['Robbie Jaeger'] | 2020-12-21 00:31:09.291000+00:00 | ['Campaign Finance', 'Democrats', 'Elections', 'Nonprofit', 'Politics'] |
#travel — On a self drive holiday should you take a 4x4 Rental or a RV Rental | #travel — On a self drive holiday should you take a 4x4 Rental or a RV Rental
You’ve booked your journey and you’re looking forward to exploring Southern Africa, but wait! What will you drive? An RV Rental or a 4x4 Rental?
These are both excellent choices, but which is right for you and your trip? Let me help you work that out!
Why RV Rental?
Campervans or RV Rentals are modified vehicles to have sleeping equipment and living space in the vehicle. It offers you an more indoor experience instead of a tent, with most campervans having a built in kitchen and sometimes even a toilet.
The only downside to Campervans is they are not all 4x4s and are unable to go on 4x4 tracks or offroad. This makes them suited to road trips and exploring places like the Winelands, Garden Route and Safari in paved parks such as Addo and Kruger National Parks.
[caption width=”1280" align=”aligncenter”]
Campervan in the Cape Winelands[/caption]
Why 4x4?
Go everywhere, sleep under the stars, explore the world. That’s what we all think of when we think of 4x4 camping!
With the ability to go almost anywhere and over most obstacles. With options from rooftop tents to luxury safari campers, there are many ways to enjoy a 4x4 no matter your accommodation preference.
[caption width=”640" align=”aligncenter”]
4x4 Rental with Tent Open[/caption]
Even though the 4x4 Rental may offer more limited comfort than an RV Rental, it does permit you to explore places such as the Okavango Delta and the Kglagadi. And trust me, waking up in a remote bush camp with a lion roaring in the distance is something not to be missed.
Which one is for you?
The question really is where are you going? Are you going along the Garden route, to AfrikaBurn, to the Winelands, to the Okavango, or to the Kglagadi?
[caption width=”800" align=”aligncenter”]
4x4 Rental Camping on Beach[/caption]
The campervan will offer you more comfort and living space while limiting the roads you can travel on. The 4x4 Rental offers less living space compared to the campervan or RV Rental but can explore more roads.
So now you know what to choose! So let’s make your booking, tick that off your list, and get ready to travel. | https://medium.com/@tatum_93/travel-on-a-self-drive-holiday-should-you-take-a-4x4-rental-or-a-rv-rental-db52685ca0ca | ['Drive South Africa'] | 2021-01-27 20:11:33.199000+00:00 | ['Holidays', 'Travel', 'Adventure', 'Tourism', 'Traveling'] |
Unlimited Vacation Club Visits Puerto Vallarta and Sunscape Resorts | Unlimited Vacation Club Timeshare reviews the beautiful Sunscape Resort located in historic Puerto Vallarta.
With summer now here, one of the best spots for you and your family to beat the heat is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. If you’re looking for a way to visit Puerto Vallarta with a fantastic deal, and incredible resort experience, the best place to stay is Sunscape Puerto Vallarta, and the best way to book is with Unlimited Vacation Club.
Membership benefits of Unlimited Vacation Club , you gain access to the Unlimited-Fun® experience, granting you “24-hour access to food and beverage choices including kid-friendly menu options, in-room mini-bar fully stocked with soft drinks, juice, bottled water & cold beer, buffet and à la carte restaurants without reservations required” and much more.
The Sunscape line of resorts is created with families in mind, giving kids a literal red-carpet entrance as they enter the resort. With Unlimited Vacation Club, you get 25% off the best available rate at any AMResort, just for being a member!
This is in addition to all of the other great, exclusive benefits offered through UVC.
The Explorer’s Club and Core Zone Teen’s Club can be a great way to give your kids some fun, while you enjoy all of the amenities that Sunscape Puerto Vallarta has to offer.
These spots are supervised by the trained Red Cross certified staff, and provide hours of entertainment for kids and teens. While the younger ones are having their fun, the adults can enjoy Secrets Spa by Pevonia® and other activities offered at the resort.
Enjoy great excursions in the town of Puerto Vallarta, like surfing, snorkeling, and ATV riding. Puerto Vallarta has a lot of excellent trips to choose from, and some have discounts, thanks to your membership with Unlimited Vacation Club, and AMResorts.
So if all of this sounds exciting to you, and you want to take that first step towards planning your vacation, don’t wait. Head on over to Unlimited Vacation Club and sign up to become a member today.
It’s your dream vacation, turn it into a reality with Sunscape Puerto Vallarta, and Unlimited Vacation Club. | https://medium.com/@unlimitedvacationclub2/unlimited-vacation-club-visits-puerto-vallarta-and-sunscape-resorts-a2f4c4af0e8 | ['Unlimited Vacation Club'] | 2019-03-18 16:29:07.268000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Vacation', 'Mexico', 'Puerto Vallarta'] |
Accelerators, Competition Challenges, Incubators, Impact funds… Saving the World by Empowering People! | In the last few years there has been an increase of business accelerators, impact funds, competition challenges and the likes.
The fact is that these entities are addressing issues and challenges in their own way, most often because no other entity sees an economic value in addressing them.
As the world takes on the climate crisis issues though, the climate crisis calls for new solutions and the sense of urgency that several industries are facing also calls for action to be taken in a different manner.
In light of this, things are qualified and quantified differently. For example, if there is plastic in the ocean, it is no longer just an inconvenience but a poison that gathers deadly petrochemicals that within time enters the food chain and directly affects the well-being of the human kind. In short, that piece of waste with plastic you may have thrown away by negligence one day has found its way into your digestive system and is going to compromise your health.
By doing this, and with great leverage from social media, issues are addressed in how they affect their eco-systems and how one eco-system affects another.
One quick illustration of this is the Ocean Cleanup/Deloitte report estimating the cost of plastic waste in the oceans. The report includes the tourism market along the coasts, the fisheries and the associated economics. If you read on Migration via the International Organization for Migration newsfeeds, you will find that due to the issues with fishing, whether overfishing, or simply lack of the possibility of fishing along some coasts, the coastal populations are forced to move to the greater cities for work, whether in their own countries or elsewhere to find a means to provide for themselves or their families.
Perhaps the greatest illustration of this new approach to the world issues are the Sustainable Development Goals, listing 17 goals for the planet. It is amazing that we needed to spell them out, it is now used not only as a list of goals to reach soon but as a new way to address everything. A way to move forward that is inclusive of everyone and everything for the benefit of the planet and the people on it. Not a bad thing though, right? If you can align the planet on a great course?
With this now comes an era of requiring to measure issues by the cost they imply, which is also described as the impact they have or could have. For example, to have power/electricity from the sun or hydro as a source rather than coal plants is now measured also by the cost that the coal emmissions produce. Not only the costs during the process of burning them which has been greatly improved but by other factors such as the amount of energy and fuel to excavate the coal, process it, transport it, and store it. Not to mention the water used and all the different tools and forms in order to get it from its source to the burning plant. All these steps are now included in the cost as they directly impact the planet. A simpler illustration of the same notion is the idea of eating seasonal local food produce, rather than shipping food around the planet. If we included the carbon cost of transporting foods around the planet, it would quickly lose a competitive price. Quality-wise, I still prefer to eat food that I know where it comes from and how it has been produced. That’s just me though.
If you wish to see an illustration of how the world is progressively entering this mindshift, I believe you should look to take a part or visit the ChangeNow summit in Paris. It is a perfect illustration of this much needed transition which is actually offering a lot of opportunities accross all sectors, industries and businesses. You can start by looking them up online.
I was very lucky to take an active part within the Monaco Ocean Protection Challenge this year. I think the challenge embodies the spirit of adventure and initiative, offering a space for new voices to be heard and specially allowing for one to find support by an environment of dedicated and committed people.
All in all, whether one wishes to discuss the work or impact of these different exercises, the one thing that they definitely marvelously all do for the world is to raise awareness.
They all allow for participants and members to teach and learn by sharing their interests. The process is therefore educational in many ways and allows to empower everyone involved. The hope is that at some point soon, the acceleration of awareness allows us all to share a better planet for everyone.
Thank you. | https://medium.com/@d-f-plumley/accelerators-competition-challenges-incubators-impact-funds-saving-the-world-by-empowering-7251a5063133 | ['Phil Plumley'] | 2020-08-06 09:16:31.307000+00:00 | ['Impact Investing', 'Environmental Issues', 'Oceans', 'Climate Change', 'Change Now'] |
We are the Church, His Body | by Jim Gordon
Ephesians 1:22,23 — And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
We talk a lot about the body of Christ, and most often describe it as church. Yet we need to know what true church is, which is His body. It is not a building. It is not someplace we go. Christ is the head of all of us who are saved by grace. We the people are the various body parts that make up the church.
I do not see separation in this statement. I do not see denominations, buildings and formal services trying to get people to come to us. I do not see places based on doctrine. I see a living, active group of people going out into the world day by day in the love and strength of God. I see a united effort seeking to show the love of God to all we meet each day. I see people looking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit for truth and guidance. No more looking to a man/woman or a group of elders for teaching and guidance. Christ is our head and the Spirit is our teacher.
1 Corinthians 3:16 states, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? The Old Covenant days of the temple are over. According to the New Covenant, we are God’s house, His Spirit lives within us. So many people say the organized church is where God lives, but this verse tells us that God is more personal than that. God can no longer be contained within a building. We are His dwelling place.
Each one of us who are saved by grace are now the temple of God. It’s so hard to get away from the thought that God is up there somewhere, or that we have to go to church and wait for God to show up. This kind of thinking is now obsolete. Remember, the Spirit lives within us, we have the mind of Christ, the Kingdom of God is within us.
My thought is that it is time to stop arguing over doctrine and interpretations. It is time to stop looking to other brothers and sisters whom we elevate into a higher position in an organization. It is time we realize we are all kings and priests and able to teach and give a word to uplift one another. The Spirit lives within us and we should allow God to live through us daily as we go out into the world as his body and be the Church, showing His love to all people.
Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: [email protected] | https://medium.com/@donewthreligion/we-are-the-church-his-body-9e409094b0c7 | ['Done With Religion'] | 2021-07-05 21:48:08.116000+00:00 | ['Church', 'Holy Spirit', 'Temple', 'Christianity', 'Christian Living'] |
Calendars changed my results. | Calendars changed my results. I now actually have successful results regarding my schedule, time and responsibilities. Thanks for sharing this. | https://medium.com/@digizinetobseen/calendars-changed-my-results-9120607ca297 | ['Stephanie Kelly'] | 2020-12-08 10:59:43.250000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Family', 'Travel', 'Organization', 'Business'] |
Kisling, Nestico & Redick Help Cleveland Victims Recover After Dog Bite | According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year, with 20 percent of those bites requiring medical attention. That’s almost one million dog bites labeled as severe and requiring additional treatment. Furthermore, these bites can lead to additional diseases like rabies and tetanus in certain cases. Needless to say, dog bites are no joke and should be taken seriously. The law office of Kisling, Nestico & Redick are experts in handling personal injury lawsuits and can help get the care and compensation victims deserve.
A dog bite can be a legal matter that must be taken seriously. Data from the Insurance Information Institute shows that $675 million was paid in liability claims in 2018 as a direct result of dog bites or other dog-related injuries. This goes to show how important it is to get the right legal advice for a dog bite and take care of any hardship that may result.
How to Handle a Dog Bite in Cleveland
Because many personal injury laws, including those relating to dog bites, are different from state-to-state, it’s important to understand the laws regarding dog bites in Cleveland before attempting to make a claim.
According to Ohio statute 955.28, an owner, harborer, or keeper of a dog is generally liable for injuries caused by that animal. That person is also responsible for “death or loss to person or property that is caused by the dog.” The individual controlling the dog is therefore at fault in any instance where a dog bite becomes serious and the victim needs medical treatment or additional care.
Additionally, under the state’s common law doctrine, added compensation can be warranted if the dog has previously bitten another person or acted aggressively in the past. However, proving this in a court of law is not easy and may require collecting witness testimony from those who have experienced the dog’s aggressive behavior. Another option is to look up bite records which were previously filed in the court system. If you find that you were not the first victim of the dog in question and there was malicious intent, you may be entitled to punitive damages. These damages are used to punish the defendant for multiple acts of wrongdoing in the hopes of making them understand the severity of these harmful acts.
In the state of Ohio, the majority of dog bite cases are covered under homeowner’s insurance policies. This is the first place a victim can go to obtain the restitution and damages they deserve and may be all that is needed if the bite is less severe. However, more severe bites may warrant additional damages, so it is important to consult with an expert legal team.
It should go without saying that this law does not apply if the injury was inflicted upon someone who was committing an unlawful act, such as trespassing on private property, committing a crime, or abusing the dog in question.
KNR Knows Your Rights
A serious dog bite can start with serious injuries and scars and lead to missed time from work, psychological trauma, and other hardships. The team at Kisling, Nestico & Redick know that anyone bitten by a dog should get the care and compensation they deserve so that they can move forward with their life.
An experienced lawyer from Kisling, Nestico & Redick knows the drill when it comes to filing a third-party claim against the insurer representing the dog’s owner. Depending on the bite and severity, this claim may request both economic damages (like medical expenses and lost wages) and non-economic damages (like physical and emotional pain or scarring from the injury).
First, the legal team at KNR works to understand all of the details of the attack by conducting a thorough investigation. From there, the team can then provide guidance on the best next steps, whether that is filing an insurance claim or taking the incident to the legal system and filing a lawsuit against the dog’s owner.
It’s not easy to navigate the insurance and legal systems in Ohio, especially after being attacked and severely injured by a dog. That’s why it’s best to turn to experts who are trained in providing you with the best legal service and can help you recover the most compensation possible to help you move forward with your life.
Contact KNR today to get more information or a free legal consultation for any dog bite that you or a loved one may have recently experienced.
Follow Kisling, Nestico & Redick on Linkedin | https://medium.com/@letsgetpolitical/kisling-nestico-redick-help-cleveland-victims-recover-after-dog-bite-678dd351fc1e | ["Let'S Get Political"] | 2019-12-13 18:04:21.797000+00:00 | ['Law', 'Lawyers', 'Ohio'] |
Harmonic Raven | As horrible as it seemed, Raven was alone…
Thinking back to the murder of my parents, I wondered if I could’ve done something different. Seeing their lifeless bodies mutilated that way and seeing the perpertrator for that instant, burned into my mind. I try to remember every little detail, but all I remember was that it was a women with blonde hair. She left out of the bathroom window as I focused on all the blood that lay pooled around them and the terror that filled me, as I realized I was now alone…
As a high school senior about to graduate, I felt things were getting better. I had been two years since that horrible incident, but it greatly impacted me. Perhaps in the wrong way. Still, I am productive in what I do now. It’s not much better than that bitch that killed my family for virtually no reason.
She was caught eventually. Her name was Rebecca Green. They found her about six months after the horrible crime, and since she had no time to get rid of the evidence, she was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. She has a sister though. Her name is Amy Green and she had everything to do with the murder, but there wasn’t ever any way to prove it. They lived together and never texted, so it was normal for them to call each other, but not one way to find out what they discussed during these calls.
Anyways, what I do now is not killing innocents, but killing criminals and the ones that have tried to kill me or one of my members. Ian, Sam, J.D., Kevin, Aiden and Gage. They all had the need to kill as I did and needed me to guide them in the right direction. I think people had an idea of what we did, but chose to believe it wasn’t true. We killed for a reason, not just pure fun. The worst part was always the clean up, but after a while, we got good at it. | https://medium.com/@mayaboman/harmonic-raven-c8ac647c8247 | ['Maya Boman'] | 2019-02-07 18:23:29.520000+00:00 | ['Death And Dying', 'Crime Fiction', 'Ravens', 'Blood', 'Control'] |
How-to Github Actions: Build Matrix | My favorite feature of Github Action is: build matrix.
A build matrix is a set of keys and values that allows you to spawn several jobs starting from a single job definition. The CI will use every key/value combination performing value substitution when running your job. This allows you to run a job to test different versions of a language, a library, or an operating system.
In this blog-post, you will discover how to create a build matrix for your workflow with two real-world examples.
This blog-post is part of a blogpost series: How-to Github Actions.
You can find the other posts of this series here:
* Building your Android App (Introduction)
* Build Matrix — This blogpost
Setup a Build Matrix
You can define a build matrix when defining your job in your workflow file:
jobs:
build:
strategy:
matrix:
os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
In this example, the build matrix has one variable os and three possible values ( ubuntu-latest , macos-latest , and windows-latest ). This will result in Github Actions running a total of three separate jobs, one for each value of the os variable.
With this configuration, you can run our workflow on all the operating systems supported by Github Actions workers.
If you wish to also test several versions of our language (e.g. Python), you can add another variable to our build matrix:
jobs:
build:
strategy:
matrix:
os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
python: [2.7, 3.6, 3.8]
In this case, Github Actions will run a job for every combination, resulting in a total of nine jobs executed. The value of the python variable will be available inside the workflow definition as ${{ matrix.python }}
By default, Github Actions will fail your workflow and will stop all the running jobs if any of the jobs in the matrix fails. This can be annoying as you probably want to see the outcome of all your jobs. The change this behavior you can use the fail-fast property:
jobs:
build:
strategy:
fail-fast: false
matrix:
...
Let’s see a real-world example of a build matrix in action with Detekt.
Example: Detekt
If you don’t know detekt/detekt, is a static analyzer for Kotlin.
Historically, the project used to run on a mixture of CIs: Travis CI for Linux/macOS builds and AppVeyor for Windows builds. Having two separate CI services was inconvenient as they have slightly different syntax for their build files. Moreover, it required more effort to maintain them in sync.
Early this year we decided to migrate to Github Actions. A build matrix allowed us to migrate to a single CI that would run all our jobs.
The resulting configuration looks like this (simplified for brevity):
In this workflow, we define a build matrix that allows us to test across every operating system and three different versions of java (Java 8, 11 & 14).
We use the value of the jdk variable in a couple of places:
An assignment to an environment variable JDK_VERSION .
. Inside the actions/setup-java action to configure the Java version.
You can find the actual workflow file here.
This setup helps us ensure that detekt runs correctly on the majority of our users.
Shadow CI Jobs
A great use case for build matrix is the setup of shadow CI jobs 👻.
A shadow job is a job that tests your project against an unreleased/unstable version of a dependency of your project. This helps you spot integration problems and regressions early on.
Generally, you want to treat a failure in a shadow job like a warning and don’t fail your whole workflow. This because you just want to get notified of a potential failure in the future, once a dependency becomes stable.
With such a setup, you could reach out to the library maintainer and notify them about unexpected problems or breaking changes.
To achieve this, you can use the include key together with continue-on-error :
jobs:
build:
strategy:
matrix:
python: [2.7, 3.6]
experimental: [false]
include:
- python: 3.8
experimental: true
continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.experimental }}
With include , you can add an entry to the build matrix. In our example, the matrix would normally trigger two builds ( python:2.7, experimental:false and python:3.6, experimental:false ). In this case include will add the python:3.8, experimental:true entry to the build matrix.
With continue-on-error , you can specify if a failure in the job should trigger a failure in the whole workflow.
Thanks to this setup, you can add shadow jobs to the matrix with the experimental key set to true . Those jobs will run without invalidating the whole workflow if they happen to fail due to an unstable dependency.
Let’s see a real-world example of a shadow CI jobs in action with AppIntro.
Example: AppIntro
AppIntro/AppIntro it’s a library to create intro carousels for Android Apps:
In AppIntro we use a build matrix to build a debug APK of our library against:
Unreleased versions of the Android Gradle Plugin (AGP)
EAP versions of Kotlin
Our workflow file looks like this:
As mentioned before, we use include and continue-on-error to add two experimental entries to our build matrix.
Here we also specify a name key to make our job easier to recognize:
name: Build Debug APK - ${{ matrix.name }} - Experimental ${{ matrix.experimental }}
The values of the build matrix keys are then passed as environment variables here:
env:
VERSION_AGP: ${{ matrix.agp }}
VERSION_KOTLIN: ${{ matrix.kotlin }}
Those environment variables are then accessed in the build.gradle file:
buildscript {
ext.kotlin_version = "1.4.10"
ext {
kotlin_version = System.getenv("VERSION_KOTLIN") ?: "1.4.10"
agp_version = System.getenv("VERSION_AGP") ?: "4.1.0"
}
dependencies {
classpath "com.android.tools.build:gradle:$agp_version"
...
}
}
For the regular job, the ${{ matrix.agp }} key is empty ( "" ). This causes the System.getenv("VERSION_AGP") to return null and the resulting version is the stable one (specified in the build.gradle ).
For the shadow job instead, the ${{ matrix.agp }} key is 4.2.+ . This causes the dependency string to be resolved to:
com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.+
Here we use Gradle dynamic versions, to specify a version range: 4.2.+ . This allows us to test on the latest installment of AGP 4.2 without having to update the workflow file for every alpha/beta/RC release.
You can find the actual workflow file here.
A similar mechanism can be used to test your Android App against:
An upcoming versions of Gradle
A bump of targetSdkVersions
A snapshot of a library that is not released yet
and much more.
Conclusions
Github Actions’ build matrixes are a great tool to help you build & test your project against several versions of a language, a library, or an operating system.
Shadow jobs take build matrixes a step further, allowing you to test against unreleased versions of such languages or libraries.
Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming articles, you can find me as @cortinico on Twitter .
Other articles on this series are available here: | https://proandroiddev.com/how-to-github-actions-build-matrix-e6a1433a8ff5 | ['Nicola Corti'] | 2020-11-11 20:06:01.586000+00:00 | ['Android App Development', 'Continuous Integration', 'Android', 'AndroidDev', 'DevOps'] |
Octhum: a tool to unify different Artificial Intelligence approaches | Artificial Intelligences, in few words, are models that simulate human brains. For an example, Neural Networks, one of more famous artificial intelligence approach, learn about a scope (through an information database file or another font that contains patterns), simulate the neurons signals and your connections (synapsis), considering the weight of each one in a “brain processing”. Exactly this happens in our brain: we grew up learning patterns our entire life, classifying them in images, audios, and touches.
The great problem is that there isn’t an easy way to reuse artificial intelligence software, as we reuse our brain to process everything. If you need to work with tumor patterns, you will need to acquire a neural network that will have specific synapsis weights, and neuron quantities applied to this scope. If you are a biologist and need to recognize whales species by their noises, you will need to acquire another neural network platform, containing synapsis weights and neuron quantities completely different than the first case.
Octhum was made to solve this problem, training the intelligences with many models, verifying which model is the best and use it. In this way, we can use various scopes in the same platform, with each scope using the model that best suits. This is possible because Octhum requires the same formatting in the database file content.
Below we have two examples: an intelligence to decide what’s the color, based in RGB inputted, and another intelligence to decide what’s the abalone’s sex, based in some characteristics, like rings number, viscera weight, height, width, and others.
In the first intelligence, we should format the CSV file (used as database file in Octhum neural networks training) as in the image below, where the first column contains the final classifications, and other columns contain the inputs (or variables) associated with each classification. The second and third lines contain the minimum and maximum values of each variable (only to validation).
CSV formatted containing some RGBs and your respective colors
In the second intelligence, we should format the CSV file as we did in first intelligence, maintaining the same structure. To train any intelligence, the file format should be the same.
CSV formatted containing some abalone’s characteristics and your respectives sexes
Octhum will process these databases and will store the configured neural network, accessing it when the user wants to use the intelligence. When this happens, Octhum receives the values of the variables (defined by the user), input them in a neural network, and give a response with the final classification. The images below show the first intelligence being used.
Fields to input variable values
R=255, G=0, B=0 is red
R=0, G=255, B=0 is green | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/octhum-a-tool-to-unify-different-artificial-intelligence-approaches-69efdb817564 | ['Vitor Fonseca'] | 2019-07-06 00:47:00.860000+00:00 | ['Neural Networks', 'PHP', 'Rest Api', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'SaaS'] |
The GDPR Force Meets Customer Intelligence | DATA STORIES | DATA BLENDING | KNIME ANALYTICS PLATFORM
The GDPR Force Meets Customer Intelligence
Co-author: Phil Winters
The Challenge
The European Union introduced the General Data Protection Regulation on May 25, 2018. This law has been called the world’s strongest and most far-reaching law aimed at strengthening citizens’ fundamental rights in the digital age. The law applies to any organization processing personal data about a citizen or resident in the EU regardless of that organizations’ location. It is definitely a force to be reckoned with as the fines for non-compliance are extremely high.
Many of the law’s Articles deal with how personal data are collected and processed and include a special emphasis, guidelines and restrictions on what the EU calls “automatic profiling with personal data”. So what has that to do with us data scientists? Many of us use methods and machine learning to create fact-based insight from the customer or personal data that we collect so that we can take decisions, possibly automatically. So the law applies to us. But that Customer Intelligence we create is fundamental for the successful running of our organizations business.
Does this mean this force put limits on what we do? Or even worse, does it mean that we have to go over to the dark side to help our businesses? Absolutely not! The law defines that we must gain permission, perform tests, and document. In no way does it restrict what honest data scientists can do. If anything, it provides us with opportunities.
Topic. GDPR meets Customer Intelligence
Challenge. Apply machine learning algorithms to create fact-based insights taking the GDPR into account
The Experiment
Distilling the GDPR down for data scientists means we need to look at six topics:
Identify fields of information we will use that contain personal data Identify any fields of information that contain “special categories of data” (i.e.: those that could discriminate) If any special categories of data exist, ensure that there are no highly correlated fields that could mimic the special categories Possibly anonymize any personal data so that the GDPR regulations do not apply and … …Explain an automatic processing decision (or a model or rule in our case) in a way that is understandable Document our process that uses all of these data for “automatic processing”
Figure 1 . This workflow shows an example of analyzing customer data while adhering to GDPR.
And that is exactly what we do. Since the details of each of these steps and the appropriate workflow examples goes far beyond this article, you can get a full white paper as well as KNIME public server examples.
If we then go on to use the KNIME Server, we can have these standard workflows available for anyone doing work on personal data.
The Results
While the GDPR does introduce requirements that many of us need to follow if we are using personal data, in no way does it limit us. If anything, it allows us to surface to our management and others within our organization, showing that what we do with customer intelligence using KNIME is well thought through, well documented, and fully supportive of our organization’s GDPR requirements — so yes, Customer Intelligence and the GDPR blend! Definitely not the Dark Side at all!
You might also like …
If you enjoyed this, you might like Phil Winter’s (a.k.a. Darth Vader) speech “GDPR — A Proactive Approach” at the 2018 KNIME Spring Summit in Berlin.
— — — — -
As previously published on the KNIME Blog: https://www.knime.com/blog/GDPR_meets_CustomerIntelligence | https://medium.com/low-code-for-advanced-data-science/the-gdpr-force-meets-customer-intelligence-b5bce2805d74 | ['Rosaria Silipo'] | 2021-09-03 08:10:27.540000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'Knime', 'Data Science', 'Gdpr', 'Stories'] |
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platforms? | Do you want to earn money online? Blogging is the best way to earn money online. And to start blogging, you need the Best Blogging Platform where you can create your bog.
There are many blogging sites, where you can start your blog. Some blog sites are free and some are paid.
But it is very important to choose the best blogging sites where you can take your blogging career to the next level.
If you are new to the blogging world, you do not know which blogging platform will be right for you, then we will help you here in choosing the right platform.
Why is it important to choose the Best Blogging Platform?
There are a lot of reasons to choose the right platform.
If you are new to the blogging world, then you have to learn all the essential things about blogging, a good platform gives you the opportunity to understand blogging very well.
A good platform should be one that is easy to set up.
It is very difficult for a new blogger to set up a blog due to a lack of prior knowledge. Therefore, a platform should be user-friendly which will help to set up the blog.
Earning money is the goal of almost every blogger. Nowadays blogging has become a popular way to earn money online. So you should choose a platform that will help you to make money from your blog.
If you want to make blogging your career, then You should have complete control over your blog. Many Blogging platforms give you full control, to design and customize your blog the way you want to show the audience.
Types of Blogging Platforms
There are various types of blogging platforms.
Free
Free blogging platforms have some limitations. These are very limited in customizing and designing. You can’t design your blog the way you want to show your audience.
These are very limited in monetization.
These are not suitable for professional bloggers. But these are perfect for personal bloggers who want to share their hobbies and interests.
Paid (Website Builder)
The website builder is suitable for those who do not have much knowledge of blog set up, coding especially for new bloggers. They just want to show their works on a good looking and easy setup website.
These platforms are not free but web hosting, a domain name (for a specific period) is included with the website subscription.
Open Source
Open Source platforms are flexible to customize and design. Bloggers are free to design their website the way they want to show the audience.
It’s a little tough to design a blog, but when you learn to use and customize, it becomes very easy. To create a blog on open source platforms, you need a Domain name, web hosting, a blog theme, and essential plugins.
Best Blogging Platforms to start your blog
WordPress.org
WordPress.org is a free and open-source blogging platform.
It is the most popular platform in the world to create your own blog or website. It started on May 27, 2003.
With WordPress you can create websites like forums, media galleries, online stores, learning websites, business websites, professional websites. WordPress is used by more than 60 million websites.
Many famous bloggers, businesses use these platforms to create their powerful websites.
It is a little difficult in the beginning, but when you learn to use it, it becomes very easy to customize and design your website.
WordPress gives full control over your websites.
Advantages:
It is easy to set up
It’s a completely self-hosting platform. You can use it the way you want to show your blog.
You are free to build anything you want with its beautiful design and powerful features.
Easy to customize and design
You can rank your blog content with SEO Friendly tools.
With its high-performance features, It is responsive for mobile Sites and blogs.
It is the best place to keep data safe from malware with its highly secure and powerful management system.
There are more than 58,000 plugins available on WordPress, you can use those plugins to enhance your site.
Pricing & Plans
WordPress.org is a free open-source blogging platform to use. But you need to purchase some essential things for your blog.
To create a blog on WordPress, you just need the below essential things:
A domain name that costs around $8 to $15 (₹600 to ₹1000) per year.
A web hosting that costs around $3 to $7 per month and $40 to $80 (₹3000 to ₹6000) per year.
WordPress theme that costs around $40 to $50 (around ₹4000) yearly subscription. There are more than 7900 free themes available on WordPress, you can also use a free theme for your blog.
You can get many SEO optimization tools here that can help you to rank your blog.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a modified version of WordPress.org. It was established in November 2005, owned by Automattic, Inc.
It is a self-publishing platform that offers free hosting to users. Around 39% of the web is using WordPress.com. You can create any kind of website here without any knowledge of coding.
When you create your blog in it, wordPress.com will be added with the blog name and your blog URL will be https://yourblogname.wordpress.com.
If you use the paid version, you will get a custom domain name and your blog URL will be https://yourblogname.com.
Advantages:
You can easily set up your blog without any coding or technical knowledge.
You can make a free blog here without spending any money.
With paid plans, you can get your own custom domain name.
You can create beautiful and attractive blogs with professional themes and pro layouts.
Without any designing knowledge, you can create a great looking website with Photo carousels, tiled image galleries, maps, forms.
Here you can get SEO and Social media tools that will help you to grow your readers and audience.
Limitations:
If you use the free version then you will get a subdomain, and your URL will be like https://yourblogname.wordpress.com.
WordPress.com has some limited options. So you can’t use custom plugins and themes. You can only use themes and plugins available on WordPress.com.
WordPress.com only shows ads to monetize your blog. You can not use other platforms to monetize.
WordPress.com will control your blog. If you violate the terms and conditions, they will suspend your blog.
Pricing and plans
You will get 5 different plans in WordPress.com with different features.
Free plan
You only get a subdomain name and access to all free themes with 3 GB storage space.
You can start a blog but the free plan has some limitations. You only get a Pre‑Installed SSL Certificate and Jetpack Essential Features to access detailed records of all activity on your site.
Personal plan
The personal plan comes with ₹200 per month, and the yearly subscription will be ₹2400 (Discounted price is ₹160, and the yearly subscription is ₹1920).
In this plan, you will get some additional features with the free plan. Additional features are:
A free custom domain name for one year
Unlimited mail support
6 GB storage space
You can remove WordPress.com Ads
Premium plan
The premium plan comes with ₹350 per month, and the yearly subscription will be ₹4200 (Discounted price is ₹280, and the yearly subscription is ₹3360).
In this plan you will get some additional features with a personal plan:
Live support to solve issues on your website
13 GB Storage Space
Access to unlimited premium themes and advanced design customization
Paypal integration
Access to monetize through WordPress.com word ads
Advance social media features, video uploading, and stats
Google analytics integration
Business plan
The business plan comes with ₹800 per month, and the yearly subscription will be ₹9600 (Discounted price is ₹640, and the yearly subscription is ₹7680).
In this plan, you will get some additional features with the Premium plan to power your business. Additional features are:
24/7 Priority Live Chat Support
SEO tools to rank bog contents on search engines
Business-class features with installing a plugin and uploading custom themes
200 GB Storage Space
eCommerce plan
eCommerce plan comes with ₹1440 per month, and the yearly subscription will be ₹17280 (Discounted price is ₹1152, and the yearly subscription is ₹13824).
In this plan, you will get some additional features with the business plan to create a powerful eCommerce store. Additional features are:
Expert live session
Access to all advanced eCommerce features
Wix.com
Wix is the best blogging platform that provides drag-and-drop tools to build a beautiful and great looking website for bloggers and small businesses.
Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan. As of June 2020, Wix has more than 180 million users from 190 countries around the world.
Wix is the best website builder suitable for beginners who don’t have any prior designing knowledge. You can create, customize, and design your blog using its templates and third-party applications.
Advantages
You can customize your blog with more than 500 pre-designed stunning templates.
Change or add anything to your site with its Drag-and-Drop tools.
Make your site mobile friendly with its mobile responsive editor.
Limitations
If you use its free version then you will use Wix’s subdomain. Your URL will be http://yourusername.wixsite.com/yoursitename.
Wix ads will display on every page and Wix’s favicon will show on your site with the free version.
You only get 500 MB of storage space for your site in the free version.
Pricing & Plans
Wix.com has 8 different plans.
Free Plan
With the free plan, you will get:
An Assigned URL (username.wixsite.com/sitename)
Wix ads will show on your blog
Storage and Bandwidth up to 500 MB
Website Plans Connect Domain Plan
Cost: ₹80/month (around $1.1/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹960 ($13).
In this plan, you can connect your domain name.
Combo Plan
Cost: ₹125/month (around $1.7/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹1500 (around $21).
This plan is best for personal use.
In this plan, you will get a custom domain name, storage space of 3 GB, a bandwidth of 2GB, and Wix ads will be removed.
Unlimited Plan
Cost: ₹185/month (around $2.5/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹2220 (around $30).
This plan is best for Entrepreneurs & Freelancers.
In this plan, you will get unlimited bandwidth and increases storage space.
VIP Plan
Cost: ₹325/month (around $4.4/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹3900 (around $53).
In this plan, you will get all features of Unlimited Plan, some additional storage space, First Priority VIP Support from Wix.
Business Plans Business Basic Plan
Cost: ₹225/month (around $3/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹2700 (around $37).
In this plan, you will get all features of Unlimited Plan, and you can accept online payments
Business Unlimited Plan
Cost: ₹300/month (around $4/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹3600 (around $49).
In this plan, you will get all business basic features with increased storage and Pro eCommerce Features.
Business VIP Plan
Cost: ₹500/month (around $7/month) and the yearly subscription will be ₹6000(around $81).
In this plan, you will get all business unlimited features plus increased storage space, Full Suite, VIP, and priority support.
Blogger.com
Blogger is a self-publishing blogging platform with free web hosting provided by Google.
Blogger was founded in 1999 by Pyra Labs co-founder Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan and later acquired by Google in 2003.
It’s completely free to use. You don’t need any hosting provider to create a blog here, because Google provides free hosting in it.
You only need a domain name for your blog. Otherwise, you can use the name of your blog as a subdomain. Your blog URL will be like https://yourblogname.blogspot.com.
Advantages:
Blogger is easy to use for new bloggers.
It’s completely free to use without any hosting provider. Only a domain name is required for a custom domain name.
It is the best blogging platform for beginner bloggers who don’t have any knowledge about blogging.
You can customize your blog with Blogger’s free themes, easy-to-use templates, flexible layouts, and hundreds of background images. You can use third party blogging themes.
You can get a free SSL certificate here.
You can use Google AdSense to monetize your blog.
Limitations:
Blogger has some limited features. You can’t use advanced features like WordPress to customize or design your site.
You can only use Third-party blog themes that are of low quality. You can’t use plugins to your site.
Blogger is not suitable for professional and business websites.
You can only use Google AdSense to monetize your site with limited features. You can’t use other monetized methods in it.
Pricing & Plans
Blogger is completely free. You can purchase a custom domain name that costs around ₹400 to ₹800 ($5 to $10) per year.
If you want to use a third party premium theme, then you have to spend only ₹700 to ₹1500 ($10 to $20). Otherwise, you can use free third party themes.
Tumblr.com
Tumblr is a social networking and microblogging platform founded in 2007 by David Karp. Now, this platform is owned by Automattic Inc.
You can post your content in various formats such as Text, Photos, Quotes, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video format.
You can make your private blog here. So far, Tumblr has 512 million blogs.
Advantages:
It’s completely easy to use.
You don’t need any spend any month to create a blog on Tumblr. But you can connect a custom domain of your own.
Tumblr has 7 post types, You can post anything you want.
It is suitable for beginner and personal bloggers.
Limitations:
Tumblr has limited features. You can’t grow your blog on a professional level.
You can customize or design your blog with available themes on Tumblr.
Pricing & Plans
Tumblr is completely free.
If you want to use a custom domain name then you can purchase a custom domain name that costs around ₹400 to ₹800 ($5 to $10) per year.
Medium
Medium is a social journalism publishing platform where you can get the best ideas, thinking to understand the world from professionals, experts.
Anyone can write on Medium. Individuals, experts, journalists, bloggers, anyone can share their thinking.
Medium was founded in August 2012 by Evan Williams who developed Blogger and Twitter. So far, more than 170 million readers reading articles on it.
Advantages:
Medium is easy to use and easy to set up.
Medium is the best platform that helps both readers to grow their knowledge and writers to share their ideas with millions of readers.
It is a digital publication where you can repost your content free of cost.
Limitations:
You can’t use your custom domain name. Your profile URL will be like https://yourusername.medium.com/ and your publication URL will be https://medium.com/publication name.
It has limited features to earn money from it. You can’t run ads to earn money. You can only monetize your Medium blog with Medium’s Partner Program.
Pricing & Plans
Medium is free to use. But it has a membership program that costs $5/month or $50/year.
You will get the benefit of unlimited access to every premium story.
Weebly
Weebly is a power website builder that helps businesses to grow their business online. It was founded in 2006 by David Rusenko, Chris Fanini, Dan Veltri. Weebly was acquired by Square, Inc in 2018.
Weebly’s free online website creator uses a simple widget-based site builder that operates in the web browser.
Weebly gives a drag-and-drop powerful tool to create your blog.
Advantages:
You can create a beautiful website with its customizable webpage designs and useful drag and drop tools.
If you want to create an online store on Weebly, then with the help of Weebly you can create a beautiful store and with the help of Square, you collect payments from your customer.
Limitations:
In the free plan, you will get a domain name with Weebly branding.
Very limited features available in it compared to WordPress.org.
You can’t use third-party apps in it.
Pricing & Plans
Weebly has different plans like Free, Connect, Pro, Business, and Business Plus.
Free Plan
You will use basic features like 500 MB storage, Free SSL Certificate, Domain with Weebly branding.
Connect Plan
Cost: $5 per month, billing will be made for $60 as a one-time payment.
In the connect plan, you can able to connect with a custom domain name.
Pro Plan
Pro plan is suitable for groups and organizations.
Cost: $12 per month, billing will be made for $144 as a one-time payment.
Business Plan
A business plan is suitable for small businesses and online stores.
Cost: $25 per month, billing will be made for $300 as a one-time payment.
Business Plus Plan
The business plus plan comes with a Business plan and some extra power selling features.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder that provides website building opportunities to beginners with its drag and drop tools.
It also the best blogging platform for small businesses, photographers, artists, designers, and all creative bloggers who want to show their creativity and idea.
Squarespace was founded in 2004 by Anthony Casalena.
Advantages:
Squarespace is easy to use for new bloggers.
With the help of Squarespace, users can create websites like portfolio, blog, online store, personal, events & weddings, small business, etc.
You can create a beautifully designed blog using drag and drop tools, professional templates, and designed fonts. You can also add your favorite third party extensions to it.
Pricing & Plans
Squarespace comes with different plans like Personal, Business, Basic Commerce, and Advanced Commerce.
Personal Plan
Cost: $12 per month. You will get 25% off when it will be billed annually.
With this plan you will get unlimited storage space and bandwidth, a Free SSL certificate, SEO features, designed and mobile responsive templates, extensions to manage and optimize your online business.
Business Plan
Cost: $18 per month. You will get 30% off when it will be billed annually.
With this plan, you will get all features of a personal plan, and additionally professional email from Google, premium web blocks, marketing features, some eCommerce features to sell the products.
Basic Commerce Plan
Cost: $26 per month. You will get 13% off when it will be billed annually.
With this plan, you will get all features of the business plan, and additionally, some powerful E-Commerce analytics and marketing tools, and social media tagging features.
Advanced Business Plan
Cost: $40 per month. You will get 13% off when it will be billed annually.
With this plan, you will get all features of the basic commerce plan, and additionally, you will get all eCommerce features to grow your online business.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the best blogging platform depends on you, depends on your work, and on your area of work.
If you are a beginner blogger, and you do not have much knowledge about blogging, then I would advise you to start your own blog on Blogger.com.
Why I’m telling you to start your blog on Blogger? Because Blogger is a self-hosting blogging platform managed by Google.
This is a free platform in which you do not have to spend single money. You can start a free personal blog on it for learning purposes.
You will learn about blogging in it such as how to create a blog, how to do SEO, how to create custom pages, how to customize a blog, and more.
When you learn all this then you need to go to a professional level and Blogger is not suitable for professional bloggers who want to share their knowledge, ideas.
For professional blogging, WordPress.org is the best blogging platform. You can create here every type of website. You need to invest here some money for a domain name, good hosting, professional-looking themes, and essential plugins.
If you are looking for an alternative to WordPress, then Wix is the best platform.
If you want to create an online store then Squarespace is the best alternative for WordPress.
If you want to share your ideas, knowledge then Medium is the best alternative.
Choose the best blogging platform according to your need.
Stay connect with us on our Social media to get the latest articles. | https://medium.com/knoansw/how-to-choose-the-best-blogging-platforms-7a8f81422461 | ['Manoranjan Sahoo'] | 2020-11-29 17:50:53.615000+00:00 | ['Blogging Tips', 'Blog', 'Blogging', 'Blogging Platform', 'Blogger'] |
I Like Jeffrey Donovan | I Like Jeffrey Donovan
Jeffrey Donovan
I like Kevin Costner movies. He always brings something to the screen, making his characters captivating to watch. His movies are just too damn slow like Dances with Wolves, and Let Him Go was no different. Despite the movie jumping off with a tragedy, its pace continued to crawl, and Margaret Blackledge took the helm, a strong driven woman brought to life by the talents of Diane Lane. But I still struggled to stay in tune, a familiar tune with Costner’s movies, knowing that usually at the end, the movie will switch gears and go into warp speed. But would I hang in until then?
In came Jeffrey Donovan. I have always liked him, and lately, I’ve spotted him popping up in movies such as Sicario and Honest Thief. He had me at USA’s Burn Notice. He brought a multitude of talent to his character, Michael Westen, displaying a range of emotion from determination to passion to intensity to despair to love, striking each key along the piano, and bringing what he needed to the scene. There are actors, and then there are Actors. He is one of them, someone that catches your eye and never fails to disappoint, and he was a frightening villain, Bill Weboy to watch in the movie, Let Him Go. You hated the character but liked the actor, and the actor would do a 180 in the movie, Honest Thief playing the good guy, going toe to toe with Liam Neeson.
I’m tempted to re-watch USA’s Burn Notice now. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of new tv shows or movies to watch on the Apple TV, and I’ve been watching old tv shows instead. I may add Burn Notice to my list and once again enjoy Jeffrey Donovan’s performance in it. I think he’s come a long way, and it makes me happy to see him in movies when there are new movies to watch. Granted, Let Him Go was not one of my choices, but my family doesn’t trust my taste in movies. I did get them to watch the movie, Freaky, thinking it was a Dark Comedy not a Gory Slasher Movie, which I enjoyed. They didn’t, so I lost my right to pick a movie to watch. Again, but Let Him Go and Good Thief were not my choices. And it was a nice surprise to see Jeffrey Donovan in them, so maybe I’ll let my family continue to pick the movie. For now until I crave something else, something Horror or something Science-Fiction. | https://medium.com/afwp/i-like-jeffrey-donovan-5c79c75404b5 | ['Melissa R. Mendelson'] | 2020-12-22 08:18:35.512000+00:00 | ['Jeffrey Donovan', 'Actors', 'Movie Review', 'Writing', 'A Few Words'] |
INSTAGRAM MILLIONS GUIDE | Instagram Millions guide
Learn how you can grow your page from 0 to 100k+ Subscribers and make thousands of dollars every month even if you are a total beginner!
A STEP BY STEP GUIDE FROM 0 to 100K FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM
+
Money Making on Instagram
0–100k FOLLOWERS in 4 Months — LEARN EXACTLY HOW I DID IT
SO I GOT TO WORK…
I tried a lot of things. First I started reselling consoles and phones on Ebay which allowed me to save up a bit of money. I was then looking for opportunities to build a substantial business. I discovered dropshipping. I watched almost every video on YouTube about the topic. Full of enthusiasm I then started building my first shop. The shop was ready and it now came to advertising it. I tried many different Facebook ads strategies and tactics but ultimately it just didn’t work out for me. I lost a lot of money trying it. I was totally frustrated. But my will to succeed was still there…
I HAD TO START OVER
I was looking for new ways to make money. I lost almost all the money I earned from reselling so my options were limited.
I was looking through YouTube when I stumbled upon a video of Yes Theory where they tried to get free stuff with the help of their following. I had another idea. I was never really comfortable showing my face on camera, so I was looking for ways that wasn’t necessary. I started my first Instagram account. I was so subscribing to many different pages and was looking at what they were doing.
I discovered that the content they were posting wasn’t actually theirs and they were making money with it. I didn’t know how much they were making with their accounts at that point.
I CREATED MY FIRST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
At this point I was so determined to make this business a success because I knew that if I gave up on it I wouldn’t start a third time.
My first Instagram account was a car page. I spend every free minute of mine to grow it and to interact with other people.
After about 3 days of constantly engaging with other people, posting and following people like crazy I hit my first 100 subscribers. I was extremely happy. I continued the process until I was at about 2.000 subscribers. Even though it was satisfying to see my subscriber count grow every day I was still making no money at all. My moral sank. I continued to grow the account to about 5.000 Subscribers and was honestly already thinking about quitting at that point.
That’s when someone posted an obvious advertisement in one of my engagement groups I was using at the time. I didn’t think much about it at first but I decided to take a closer look at it. The post was an advertisement for a car enthusiast key chain. I checked the caption of the ad. An Instagram page was linked on it and I checked it out. In their bio they stated they were looking for people to promote their product.
I quickly messaged them and even though I only had about 5.000 Subscribers at the time, the account had some really decent engagement. One day later I got a reply asking for my promo prices. I wasn’t really sure what I should answer so I asked the people in my engagement group what I should answer. A bigger account replied 5$ to me, I was honestly hoping to make some more but I was also grateful that I could make my first bit of money.
I replied to the account asking for my promo rates and we agreed on 5$. He send me the money and I made a post for him.
I made my first bit of money on Instagram.
I created the Instagram Millions Guide for each and every one. You can use it to grow your personal- , your business- or any theme page you like. It is understandable for beginners but also delivers valuable information for everyone that already has some experience with Instagram.
You will learn every growing strategy I used to grow multiple pages to over 100k followers on Instagram and you will also learn how you can monetize your page to make thousands of dollars every month.
ü All the basics on successfully creating your first page
ü Growing Strategies I use to grow my pages
ü Monetizing your page to make money
ü How you will go viral
ü How to use hashtags properly
ü Getting your first 1k Subscribers
ü Getting your first 10k Subscribers
ü Getting your first 100k Subscribers
START YOUR OWN BUSINESS — If you are interested in click here | https://medium.com/@2winbirds/instagram-millions-guide-702e21c90d7d | [] | 2021-12-28 16:04:07.053000+00:00 | ['Instagram Followers', 'Make Money Online Fast', 'Make Mone Online', 'Instagram Marketing', 'Instagram'] |
Custom cartoons by Stefan Popa Popa’S via MemeCa$h | The famous cartoonist Stefan Popa Popa‘S has entered the crypto ecosystem. Because of his collaboration with the MemeCa$h project, crypto-enthusiasts have an opportunity that until now was only available to VIPs.
Specifically, buymeme.cash offers the option to order a custom cartoon, signed by Popa’S.
The project will issue vouchers in the form of NFTs, so that the owner of the token can ask for a personalised drawing. The vouchers will be auctioned off to the public, with the instant buy option. Within 48 hours, the buyers will receive the NFT token and, in addition, the custom cartoon will also be shipped by courier.
Based on the partnership between MemeCa$h and Holdtowin, voucher-type NFTs for custom cartoons will also be offered as lottery prizes.
Popa’S is probably the most famous cartoonist worldwide and the holder of a Guinness World Record. He created hundreds of drawings of famous personalities, including kings, presidents or famous footballers. Through the MemeCa$h project, his art becpmes available in digital format worldwide.
This means that you can join the celebrities and VIPs in the exclusive club of owners of original Stefan Popa Popa‘S cartoons. Join the Telegram group of the MemeCa$h project for details.
🌐 WEB& SOCIALS:
Twitter : https://twitter.com/BuyMemeCash/
Telegram (English): https://t.me/buymemecash
Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/buymemecash_ann
Website: https://buymeme.cash | https://medium.com/@buymemecash/custom-cartoons-by-stefan-popa-popas-via-memeca-h-157cf3c850d2 | ['Memeca H'] | 2020-12-09 10:15:55.493000+00:00 | ['Defi', 'Farming', 'Nft', 'Nft Collectibles'] |
Finding Love in a Catastrophe | Audrey and David
I didn’t believe in love until my son drove off a cliff.
Romantic love is not only flowers and chocolate, but also death and destruction. What I mean is — love is also how your partner supports you through a catastrophe.
I met David Haas in December of 2017… in my kitchen. He was a guest at one of my “Audrey’s Tent” events for Jewish singles. I saw him cooking at my antique stove looking like a big, buff celebrity chef. He was a 6 foot 4, blond hair, blue-eyed, 100% Jewish (half Israeli) and a PhD physicist. Jewish Jackpot!
This matchmaker got excited! I started setting him up with smart, tall women in my Tent. That didn’t work. He suffered some pretty bad dates.
After he forgave me, I hinted that I’d say yes if he asked me out. He did and we slowly, slowly took our time to get to know each other.
David was the first man I had dated for more more than three months since my divorce in June 2014. Fearing that love doesn’t last and that I shouldn’t depend on anyone, I tried to break up with him multiple times. Each time he patiently waited until I came to my senses and he graciously took me back.
David does all the right things. He brings me flowers every Shabbat and dark chocolate before I know I need it. He makes me coffee in the morning when he’s there, and calls each morning when he’s not. These are acts of love, yet I still didn’t believe in love.
Driving Off a Cliff
One year after we met, on the 7th day of Hanukkah during a heavy rainstorm I got a call at 8:15 am from my 17-year-old son Jonas.
“MOM! I DROVE OFF A CLIFF!,” he screamed between heavy breathing.
The adrenaline rush of a Mama Bear took over. “It’s going to be OK Honey. I love you. I’ll be right there. Hang on and wait for me,” tears were streaming down my face. My body went cold and began to shake.
“Where are you?”He was two miles from home. On the way to school, he hydroplaned in the rain driving down Pershing Drive from Balboa Park. On the sharp curve down the hill, his Ford Taurus spun out, flew over the low guard rail, flipped multiple times and crashed on the drivers’ side at the bottom, 100 feet below.
I didn’t know what had happened to his body or if his internal organs were failing. I told him I was on my way, I’d call 911 and not to move. I started praying and saying the Shema prayer over and over again, praying he wouldn’t die.
I leaped in the car and called 911. They had already heard of the accident from eyewitnesses and were on their way. I called my ex-husband but couldn’t reach him. I then called David.
“Jonas drove off a cliff! I’m on my way to the scene. Can you meet us at the hospital?”
“Of course Audrey. Anything you need.”
When I turned onto Bob Wilson Drive, my heart stopped. I saw two police cars, two ambulances, and two fire trucks. I saw the top of Jonas’ car vertically sticking out of the ground at the bottom of the cliff. I didn’t see Jonas.
I parked, bolted out of my car and ran towards the accident. Two officers came towards me with their palms out.
I screamed, “I’M HIS MOTHER!”
Then miraculously, I see Jonas emerge from the bushes walking towards me. There were no signs of blood. He looked pale and terrified. I embraced him and held him tight. He sobbed in my arms.
“Thank G-d you’re OK. Thank G-d you’re OK,” I sobbed with him.
But I didn’t know if he was OK. I walked him to the ambulance to be evaluated. While he was on the gurney, I walked back to his car and took pictures. The car was destroyed. Jonas had crawled out the shattered back window. It was surreal.
The officer said, “Ma’am, it’s a miracle he survived.” Yes, my Hanukkah miracle.
The paramedics told me he must be checked out at the hospital. When we arrived, David met us with hugs, clothes, and food. Once they put Jonas onto a bed and hooked him to monitors, I finally fell into David’s strong arms.
David never left Jonas and my side — test after test. He was there to take care of us.
He gave us comfort that we were not alone.
Miraculously six hours later we were released. Jonas truly was OK. I kept thanking G-d for Jonas’ life and for David’s support.
But after we left the hospital in the pouring rain, I didn’t know the nightmare had only begun.
Post Traumatic Nightmare
After we got home, we were exhausted but it was getting dark and we had to light the last night of Hanukkah candles. We stood holding each other, our voices cracking as we sang the prayers.
Once Jonas finally laid down to rest, David and I discovered the garage door had been left open all day and the windy rain was soaking everything.
I called Jonas’ Dad to pick him up, I didn’t want him to be alone. Then David and I ran to Home Depot. I was totally lost, but David knew what to do. He bought a wet vacuum cleaner, industrial dryers, and a sump pump to get the water out.
Once we got to my house, David started working on the garage. As that was coming under control, I learned my toilets had backed up.
“Good News,” David said, “Shit storms come in threes, so this is the last disaster!”
Again David came to the rescue. He arranged an emergency plumber to remove the old 75-year-old cast-iron, root-clogged pipes and miraculously replace them whilst it was dark and raining.
The catastrophe was still not over. We had to get to the tow lot to get Jonas’ belongings out of his wrecked car. This was still the same day.
The sky was black and the rain was still thundering down. We got lost, then finally found the junk/tow yard deep in Southeast San Diego. We arrived 30 minutes before they closed and the angry looking woman behind the bulletproof glass did not look happy to see us.
I said, ”Please Ma’am, I’m here to get my son’s things out of his navy Ford Taurus. He drove off a cliff this morning.”
She answered with no expression in a stern voice, “Well, you’re not him so I can’t help you.”
I was ready to scream and attack, and David gently put his hand on my shoulder.
“Audrey, why don’t you show the nice lady the pictures from the accident and the receipt from the hospital with Jonas’ name on it?”
I did and she believed me. Then after she made us wait outside another endless 15 minutes in the pouring rain, we were finally allowed into the fenced lot.
They had used a crane to pull his car out of the ground. I stumbled into the dark lot looking for his car. I saw a heap of metal crumbled like a wad of paper. The reality of the day sunk in. I fell to the ground and sobbed. David led me into a garage to find shelter from the rain. He found a blanket and put it around my wet, cold, shaking shoulders. He then found a crowbar and with brute force, ripped off the doors, crawled over the shattered glass and gathered Jonas’ belongings.
He came back, put his arm around me, and led me out of the lot.
That was a day from Hell. I had to walk through Hell to know love.
I am grateful. I pray that I can be there for David the way he’s there for me.
Since that dreadful day, David has been by my side, through many other chaotic catastrophes and stressful days, big and small. There’s also been many good days of beautiful sunsets, wonderful Shabbat dinners and many happy adventures. Please G-d, may we only know joyful days ahead.
I learned to embrace love through catastrophe, but from now on I’m happy with flowers and chocolate. | https://medium.com/@audreyjacobs613/finding-love-in-a-catastrophe-4cca55d56068 | ['Audrey Jacobs'] | 2019-05-05 14:51:50.186000+00:00 | ['Crisis', 'Teenagers', 'Romance', 'Love', 'Motherhood'] |
Hi | in In Bitcoin We Trust | https://medium.com/@limin-yan-cs/hi-446804871503 | ['Limin Yan'] | 2020-12-13 17:22:23.862000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Thinking'] |
What’s your cloud migration strategy? | Cloud-based solutions are designed to provide innovation, flexibility, and cohesion between systems and co-workers. Today, more businesses than ever are exploring a shift to the cloud.
On a recent episode of Cybersecurity Heroes, i sat down with Mark Dittenber, Director of IT Business Systems at Inform Diagnostics.
When deciding whether to migrate to the cloud, Mark says you need to consider two things: how do you support the business? And how can you do so in the most cost effective manner?
If you’ve been cloud-curious, read on for Mark’s take on how cloud migration can help to optimize your business — when done the right way.
Support for your business to reach new heights
Infrastructure requires time and skill to manage — two precious resources for a business. By moving to the cloud, these resources become available for innovation and business development, instead of being siloed internally.
Cloud computing offers greater flexibility for scaling. Cloud packages allow for increases or decreases in capacity as required by the business, often instantaneously.
Conversely, hardware purchases are usually contracted for 1 year, 3 years, even 5 years, making them less adaptable to changing business needs and hampering innovation.
Many systems are already on the cloud, like email. Migrating other functions onto the same systems can lead to better integration between programs.
Across industries, many functions and businesses are already cloud-based. With this shift, skill sets developing equally as people are exposed to more cloud technologies. Therefore, new recruits will likely be more familiar with the cloud and there will be an easier skills transfer than learning in-house systems.
With data stored on the cloud, business continuity and disaster recovery time could reduce from days to hours, according to Mark.
IT systems that don’t cost the earth
Data centers, servers, and hardware can be expensive investments. Data centers are physical spaces with a cost attached. Because a cloud-based server is hosted online, it could be more cost effective having a third-party manage servers like email.
Mark found that the data centers he managed actually sat unused for the majority of the time.
“At BBA I had two data centers that were essentially just sitting around, one over in the UK, one here in the US, that were essentially backup data centers. I had a lot of hardware that was invested in those data centers and for years they sat idle. There was no return on investment on all that hardware and in some cases I still couldn’t do a complete fail over to them, because I didn’t have a one for one environment,”
As well as the cost for the physical location, there are the additional personnel costs of running everything in-house. Cloud systems have support packages, which make the business less reliant on internal IT teams.
Change doesn’t have to happen overnight
There are two approaches to migrating to the cloud: slowly or all at once.
It goes back to what makes sense for the business, both operationally and financially. It may be the case that moving bit by bit is the best approach, taking time to assess what needs moving and evolving internal processes.
For companies with plenty of finances, moving everything at once could be a more efficient investment, according to Mark.
“Certainly if your company has got the money to just move everything to the cloud and you can do that, maybe that’s the route you want to take. But do you want us doing a lift and shift of essentially a legacy environment to the cloud? Just to be in the cloud, doesn’t make a lot of sense and probably doesn’t make a lot of financial sense,”
One you assess what will improve your services and what you can handle financially, then you can move forward with confidence. For Mark, moving partially to the cloud made the most sense.
“We may not have been 100% in the cloud, but we had saved money and still improved services and put ourselves in a position to when it did make sense from a monetary standpoint. We could have been completely cloud-based, but that’s what it boiled down to for us. It just didn’t make sense from a dollars perspective,”
Even if you do plan to move everything to the cloud, it doesn’t have to be an overnight event. You can put a plan together and figure out how to migrate in a way that will save money without disrupting business.
Mark advises that newer businesses should be developing cloud-based systems from the get-go.
“For younger businesses, hopefully you’ve been developing applications and cloud-based manners and architectures as opposed to doing what we were doing many years ago,”.
Do you DIY or hire help?
The process of migrating to the cloud takes time and skill. Consider the business case for doing this in house: does your team have the skills? What is the cost to the business of time spent on migration over daily tasks or innovation? It may be that hiring specialists in migrations saves the business in the long-run.
If you’ve decided to hire consultants, next you want to make sure that you have the same vision. As well as being able to create the best system for you, it’s important to consider the long-term plan, making sure your team can take over the process at some point so you aren’t relying on consultants forever.
Mark found that the best consultants both implemented the cloud system, and trained his team in the process.
“We got the right people back in the room and they helped us as we looked at solutions and stuff, and we relied on them very heavily to work through that implementation. And along the way, the requirement was that our team would be trained and learn how to run this on a day-to-day basis, as opposed to just relying on consultants forever,”
Creating a cloud-based team
Moving onto the cloud has an impact on individuals and team-work alike. People like familiarity; after developing a certain way of working, change can be difficult. It’s therefore important to address any fear or anxiety in the team.
It is the team who will be using the cloud, so it is important to provide extensive training as new programs are implemented in order to build skills and confidence in moving onto a new system.
To motivate the team, be clear from the start how new hardware is designed to save them time, giving more opportunity for them to focus on their role and enhance productivity and creativity.
“You’re freeing up people’s time and efforts to help do those things that are innovative, as opposed to trying to solve complex network problems that in most environments shouldn’t exist in the first place,”
He explained how a great way to help the team adapt is to involve them in building the structure and solutions.
“Task them with ‘I want you to make it run somewhere else, and I want you to make it better.’ They know how they’ve been doing it. They know the things to make it better. So putting them in a position of helping design that, as opposed to just mandating and coming down at them, ‘Hey, we’re moving to the cloud and this is how we’re going to do it,’ bring them into that process. Let them be the architects, let them figure it out, how to make their world be better,”
Having the team involved from the get-go reduces fears and means that the new structure actually fits team needs and work styles.
Combating cyber security concerns
The primarily concern most businesses have about cloud systems? Security.
According to Mark there are two factors which create vulnerability and increase risk: user error and being out of date. To mitigate the risks, it is important to take two steps:
1. Start with security training
The best system is only as good as the people who use it. No matter how secure, if somebody shares a password or opens malware communications, the system is compromised.
Security training around passwords, malware, and vulnerabilities is essential for every user of the system to keep it safe and secure.
“I’ve still got a mug from my very first security program that was rolled out to me as a new user [at Kellogg]. It’s got Tony the Tiger on it. He’s got a briefcase ‘top secret’, and it says: the security starts with you,” “You’ve gotta be constantly on guard for things and be aware of what’s changing. If you get an email from some place and you’ve never done business with them and it looks legit, that should be your first indicator that something is not right,”
Embedding this into company culture is the best way to ensure everyone remains vigilant.
2. Keep systems up to date
The second vulnerability comes through out of date systems.
“Understand your environment and at the very least make sure you’re on the latest near latest patches for everything. You got legacy hardware out there. If you’ve got an old switch, some relay doing something, whatever it is, those things are prime targets for people to exploit. And once they gain control of something, it’s no telling what else comes next,”
Cloud systems are regularly updated to include defenses against the latest security threats. Delaying or ignoring these updates could result in security breaches. Older systems are more likely to be targeted due to their out of date security.Interested in more resources on cloud security? Mark recommends reading The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick and Krebs on Security by Brian Krebs.
Tune in for the full episode on CYBER SECURITY HEROES on your favorite podcast platform.
Sounder: https://lnkd.in/eU67vge
Apple: https://lnkd.in/ePrbmc6
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eRmji-k
Learn more about IRONSCALES cloud-based anti-phishing platform that provides businesses with a complete solution for enterprise email security.
https://ironscales.com/anti-phishing-software-platform/ | https://medium.com/@brendon97210/whats-your-cloud-migration-strategy-a3ceccf3d1d1 | ['Brendon Rod'] | 2021-04-25 22:41:13.482000+00:00 | ['Infosecurity', 'Cybersecurity', 'Information Security', 'Tech', 'Infosec'] |
Nobody Cares | Hey bro,
You scared?
Move to Yaoundé;
Be a good teacher;
Be patriotic.
Nobody cares.
Yeah, nobody cares.
Working for government yeah?
Settled — your leg is probably black.
Number on Ambe’s call log?
Probably you’re a sponsor.
Either way, you’re fucked.
Come to withdraw money?
Completed the form?
Sorry, flagless IDs get no service.
Oh you had to choose between flag and hand huh?
Well, nobody cares;
No flag on ID, no withdrawal.
Ruptured Achilles tendon?
Still hurting from surgery?
Struggling with crutches?
Show goes on; nobody cares.
Did Covid do it?
Revalorize us?
Well, they applauded, didn’t they?
Yeah, from their balconies.
Convenient?
Nurse Pegie trekked home.
She’s surely well paid;
No doubts about it.
Didn’t she enjoy the applause?
Why complain?
You teach, don’t you?
Does that even count as essential?
Doesn’t matter;
Nobody cares.
Tinkering on the brink?
Of depression?
Oh, it’s the stay at home thing, yeah?
Too bad nobody cares.
Yeah, I’m mad;
Nobody cares, sure.
Sure, I’m fucked;
Yeah, nobody cares.
Still I hope. | https://medium.com/self-ish/nobody-cares-20f3eb258ef6 | ['Arnold Ngwobela'] | 2020-12-27 07:02:35.082000+00:00 | ['Hope', '2020', 'Growth', 'Africa', 'Self Development'] |
How to fix Django’s HTTPS redirects in nginx | You deploy with nginx and Gunicorn and your site uses HTTPS. If Django occasionally returns HttpResponseRedirect or similar, you may find that the redirect sends you back to HTTP. Here’s how to fix it.
In the nginx configuration (inside the location block), specify this:
proxy_redirect off;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
The proxy_redirect off statement tells nginx that, if the backend returns a redirect, it should leave it as is. By default, nginx assumes the backend is stupid and tries to fix the response; if, for example, the backend returns a redirect that says “redirect to http://localhost:8000/somewhere”, nginx replaces it with something similar to “http://yourowndomain.com/somewhere”. But Django isn’t stupid (or it can be configured to not be stupid), and it will typically return a relative URL. If nginx attempts to “fix” the relative URL, it will likely break things. Instead, we use proxy_redirect off so that nginx merely passes the redirection as is.
The second line is only necessary if your Django project ever uses request.is_secure() or similar. It’s a good idea to have it because even if it doesn’t today it will tomorrow, and it does no harm. Django does not know whether the request has been made through HTTPS or plain HTTP; nginx knows that, but the request it subsequently makes to the Django backend is always plain HTTP. We tell nginx to pass this information with the X-Forwarded-Proto HTTP header, so that related Django functionality such as request.is_secure() works properly. You will also need to set SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https') in your settings.py .
This is a republication of an old article first published in my Django Deployment site. | https://medium.com/django-deployment/how-to-fix-djangos-https-redirects-in-nginx-63d304ddb19c | ['Antonis Christofides'] | 2020-12-21 08:55:16.834000+00:00 | ['Django', 'Nginx'] |
the water. | how many people have cried under water?
inside pools of worries, and oceans of sorrow
where tears are what hold the weight of the world
and yet free flow,
soaking on and up as we bathe in our feelings
drenched in fears
and blended into surroundings,
the stillness feels stagnant
and the water gets too cold to be in
so we get up
we dry off
and leave. | https://medium.com/@tiredwrit3r/the-water-44e46835c083 | [] | 2020-12-16 21:08:03.595000+00:00 | ['Feelings', 'Poets Unlimited', 'Poems On Medium', 'Self Help', 'Women Writers'] |
Best Places to visit in Maseru Lesotho | Once again we meet good people, today i have dope stuff, dope dope i say! In the past articles or posts, I have been telling you about strategies on how you can make money online through several means such as affiliate marketing, freelancing etc. Here i am today showcasing another way in which you can make money online if you are a handicraft man or person
In my country, there are many people who are talented but they don’t know how they can use their talents in ways that can benefit them financially. I chose to talk about Lebo &Dinny Events Centre as a way of making people aware that even if you are unemployed, you can still live the life you always dreamt of if you have passion and vision. Not only that, but also if you work hard you can achieve your goals.
Where is Lebo and Dinny Events Center Located?
This place is located south of Maseru town in a place called Masianokeng, Setleketseng. In this place, you can go there to have fun and unwind through affordable prices. This beautiful place has been handcrafted within the yard of the owner of this place, so do not go there to start fights, uh-uh you go there to have fun. You can also go take beautiful pictures for your wedding.
I think this Sotho man is insanely talented. Look at those paintings he painted and how he landscaped his home! Wow, wow! This is all i kept saying when he first showed me the pictures of his home which he turned into a money-making machine!
How I met the owner of this events center?
I am quite sure that endless questions are popping in the back of your head as a reader as to how and where I met this talented individual. Well, if you are a traveller that is where you meet all kinds of people; good people, bad people, hilarious characters and kind-hearted persons. But hey, i am no traveller but still, i managed to get the chance to meet this talented Sotho man.
To cut the story short, I met this Sotho man at the NATIONAL EXPORT STRATEGY workshop. The team I was in, focused in horticulture in agriculture sector. This workshop was held at Maseru Avani in 11–12 November 2019.
When we were on lunch, i found myself in one table with this talented person. We began disclosing what we do, that is how we met. I was totally amazed by the talent he has, that is when i decided i would be over the moon to help him showcase his talent to the whole world; by blogging about it.
When you take a look at that swimming pool, you would think it was crafted by a group of people not knowing it was only him. Oh my my! What a talent, so people, only few months left before we hit spring, the time when flowers blossom, the time when the whole country is decorated with nature!
Lebo & Dinny Events Centre is the right place for you to go have fun with your colleagues and or friends even your family get together.
In my mind i am imagining hosting my wedding under those shades in that garden, i mean that fresh scent from the blossoming flowers all over that place.
I think it is about time i stopped talking and let the pictures to do the talking don’t you think? I can hear a gee right there…hahaha….but before i do that, ensure that you have money when you go to that place so that you will be able to pay for the services offered in that place.
Oh please, tell people where you read about the place, that way, they shall be happy to know that their place is moving places. Now, let me let the pictures to showcase the beauty that has surrounded that place. | https://medium.com/earn-online-lesotho/best-places-to-visit-in-maseru-lesotho-83cbe8ed1459 | ['Marenyane Mokhethi'] | 2021-07-13 10:06:22.713000+00:00 | ['Lesotho', 'Event Planning', 'Tourism', 'Lesotho Places', 'Tour'] |
Segmentation of Products Using OpenCV- Part 1 | Segmentation can be defined as highlighting the interested region in any space. It can be finding a nice sentence from a book, potholes in road, abnormal region in X-Ray, Rotten fruits in shops or any products on shelf in retail shops.
Here in this article, we are going to experience how a basic segmentation problem works with basic simple coding using OpenCV. So, I have taken an image which has 5 products in it (Lays, Kurkure, Top Yumm and Pepsi) and tried to segment one product. For segmenting the region we have to follow few steps. Firstly detecting the products from the image using Contours and edge detection as we saw in my previous article, Then Segment only lays region and black out other products. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/segmentation-of-products-using-opencv-part-1-4d5829679849 | ['Ramji Balasubramanian'] | 2020-12-11 17:18:10.319000+00:00 | ['Computer Vision', 'Segmentation', 'Opencv', 'Basics'] |
For darkness is the light we choose to perceive and give life to… | There is a bliss in the winters brisk presence. It’s in times to that the world is more then grey, that we become comforted in the will of soul to move through… beckoning self to see not what’s in the world but the outline of the world we care to live. Allowing ourselves to feel the encompassing agonies, of that which is the world creates a desire to see light from new perspective. Where we are of the world has a sudden new expression upon us. Giving experiences that provoke the spirit to ponder pensively ones own realities of self and soul to that we not only subscribe but that we can only attain through the trenches of life. The victory will come to those that are fallen not those that have risen through self actualizing and glorified false senses within that are deemed without pure structural truth. For a truth must have structure and absence to dissect it’s natural foundation that indeed makes it an absolute. With this thought in mind we give to the essence of natures will upon us within. Where grievances strive to intertwine also with joys that rekindle anew on ones sojourn. It is minds experience to that ground stability in reasoning the further presence of tomorrow and how we live mind and soul to fuel and ignite presence of self, not in the world but the outline of. We can understand the imagery within it. Imprinting us… for darkness is the light we choose to perceive and give life to. | https://medium.com/@blairmontgomery64/for-darkness-is-the-light-we-choose-to-perceive-and-give-light-to-367d8ac30e6b | ['Jackie Fitzgerald'] | 2020-12-15 10:30:05.955000+00:00 | ['Sojourning', 'Truth', 'Finding Light In Darkness', 'Pandemic', 'Troubled Times'] |
[ANIME] I Tried Asking While Kowtowing ~ Episode 11 (EngSub) On AT-X’s | [ANIME] I Tried Asking While Kowtowing ~ Episode 11 (EngSub) On AT-X’s
I Tried Asking While Kowtowing
Dogesuaru, who wants to see the naughty bits of girls, has a last resort to persuade them. That is, to grovel in front of them. Intent on having his lewd requests heard, he endures through the kowtowing. The heroines are often taken aback, embarrassed, and confused by his sudden action. Is anything impossible before dogeza?! Will the girls show him their risqué side?!
Title : I Tried Asking While Kowtowing
Episode Title : EP. 11
Number of Seasons : 1
Number of Episodes : 11
Genres : Animation , Anime , Comedy , Romance
Networks : AT-X
Status: Returning Series
Quality: HD
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 5950s, 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) (516i, with 909091 intertwined lines of goal and 434545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3456561, 3456561 and 1314. 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/@sidompuanb.a.da.ng/anime-i-tried-asking-while-kowtowing-episode-11-engsub-on-at-xs-d8ecddf3aa4c | ['Sidompuanb A Da Ng'] | 2020-12-21 12:19:36.506000+00:00 | ['Animation', 'Anime'] |
How Where and When we should use PCA | Let’s calculate the covariance matrix for our data set:
array([[ 1.01010101, 0.97727597, -0.01747925, -0.04152546],
[ 0.97727597, 1.01010101, -0.03990115, -0.06169213],
[-0.01747925, -0.03990115, 1.01010101, 0.87546278],
[-0.04152546, -0.06169213, 0.87546278, 1.01010101]])
3. Eigen Decomposition.
· Eigenvectors ➞ PCA directions
· Eigenvalues ➞ importance of directions
The covariance matrix is symmetric, and the eigenvectors of symmetric matrices are orthogonal. Therefore, the first principal component explains most of the variance. Orthogonal to it is the second principal component, which explains most of the remaining variance, and so on. Now it is time to perform the decomposition of the covariance matrix.
eigenvalues:
[2.0243665 1.87865542 0.03358615 0.10379597]
eigenvectors:
[[-0.62202904 -0.33364184 -0.69970849 -0.11032236]
[-0.6031108 -0.36974369 0.70534377 0.04513474]
[-0.32423873 0.63027923 0.09785443 -0.69859992]
[-0.37974529 0.59558444 -0.05764294 0.70551399]]
We obtained a vector (eigenvalues) composed of 4 eigenvalues and a 4×4 matrix storing the eigenvectors.
4. Explained total variance.
The goal of PCA is to reduce the number of dimensions. We compress the current features into new features, which are the eigenvectors (principal components) containing the most information. Information is equivalent to variance. Eigenvalues are the size of the eigenvectors. Therefore, they should be ranked in descending order. The percentage of variance explained is the eigenvalue divided by the total sum of all eigenvalues. From this, we can calculate the percentage of explained variance for each principal component of our set:
[0.501, 0.465, 0.026, 0.008]
As we can see, the sum of the first two principal components accounts for over 95% of the variance.
5. Feature transformation.
We will transform our 4-dimensional dataset into a compressed 2-dimensional dataset. Using the first two eigenvectors, we will create a projection matrix and use it to move our dataset into a subspace consisting of 2 dimensions.
We create a pair of tuples of eigenvalues and eigenvectors and then sort with decreasing eigenvalues. We choose the first two eigenvectors that account for about 95% of the variance. We created a projection matrix w onto which we transferred the observations from the dataset. Finally, we visualize the transformed dataset.
Visualization of PCA operation, Image by Author
The above example was to demonstrate the PCA algorithm [3]. We now turn to a practical application.
Principal Component Analysis — application
We will no longer perform all the steps from the PCA algorithm, we will use its implementation in scikit-learn. We will face the popular dataset iris and see if PCA will help us in better classification.
Let’s download the data and see the first 5 and last 5 rows:
+-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | sep_len | sep_wid | pet_len | pet_wid | species |
|-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------|
| 0 | 5.1 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.2 | setosa |
| 1 | 4.9 | 3 | 1.4 | 0.2 | setosa |
| 2 | 4.7 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 0.2 | setosa |
| 3 | 4.6 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.2 | setosa |
| 4 | 5 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 0.2 | setosa |
| 145 | 6.7 | 3 | 5.2 | 2.3 | virginica |
| 146 | 6.3 | 2.5 | 5 | 1.9 | virginica |
| 147 | 6.5 | 3 | 5.2 | 2 | virginica |
| 148 | 6.2 | 3.4 | 5.4 | 2.3 | virginica |
| 149 | 5.9 | 3 | 5.1 | 1.8 | virginica |
+-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
As you can see, we have four dimensions and each flower is assigned a species name (Column species). All the flowers in the database are 150. Let’s calculate the basic statistics for our dataset:
+-------+------------+------------+-----------+------------+
| | sep_len | sep_wid | pet_len | pet_wid |
|-------+------------+------------+-----------+------------|
| count | 150 | 150 | 150 | 150 |
| mean | 5.84333 | 3.05733 | 3.758 | 1.19933 |
| std | 0.828066 | 0.435866 | 1.7653 | 0.762238 |
| min | 4.3 | 2 | 1 | 0.1 |
| 25% | 5.1 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| 50% | 5.8 | 3 | 4.35 | 1.3 |
| 75% | 6.4 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 1.8 |
| max | 7.9 | 4.4 | 6.9 | 2.5 |
+-------+------------+------------+-----------+------------+
virginica 50
setosa 50
versicolor 50
Name: species, dtype: int64
Of course, in a real Data Science project at this stage our data mining should not end, but in this article the protagonist is PCA. Let’s try to visualize our data:
Iris dataset visualization, Image by Author
· Getting rid of “redundant” data (correlated variables)
Some of the variables carry similar information. Let’s see if, in our data, this is also the case.
Pairplot, Image by Author
As you can see, some variables are correlated with each other, most notably petal length and petal width. Both of them are also correlated with sepal length. The least helpful seems to be sepal width. We can conclude that using only one variable it is not difficult to separate classes, it is even easier to separate classes for pairs of variables. Now let us check correlations:
Correlogram of iris dataset, Image by Author
Our earlier conjecture was confirmed, the variables sepal length, petal length, and petal width are highly correlated with each other. In some machine learning models, correlated variables degrade the result because they convey more weight to one piece of information. It is now time to apply PCA, but we cannot do this on the entire dataset if we later build a model for species classification. If we were to apply PCA on the entire dataset then there would be information leakage. Let us create a dataframe X containing features and a vector of labels y, then split the data into training and test data. We should standardize our training set as I wrote earlier. The mean will be 0 for each variable, and the data will be on the same scale — standard deviation. After this operation, we can perform PCA on our set.
The training set has 100 rows.
The test set has 50 rows.
+-----+--------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| | PC1 | PC2 | PC3 | PC4 |
|-----+--------------+-------------+--------------+--------------|
| PC1 | 1 | 6.45038e-17 | 2.13745e-17 | -4.80269e-17 |
| PC2 | 6.45038e-17 | 1 | 6.07219e-17 | 1.28115e-17 |
| PC3 | 2.13745e-17 | 6.07219e-17 | 1 | -5.57337e-17 |
| PC4 | -4.80269e-17 | 1.28115e-17 | -5.57337e-17 | 1 |
+-----+--------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+
As we can see the variables are no more correlated.
· Feature grouping (which features represent one piece of information)
In a way, this is a continuation of the previous section, since the correlated variables carry a single piece of information. PCA is not an algorithm that clusters observations, but it is instead able to determine which features contribute the least to explaining the component structure. Let us now create a distribution of features by components. The greater the contribution of the original feature to the component, then the darker its color on the graph.
Distribution of Features by Principal Components, Image by Author
Great! We confirm what you read about earlier. The first Principal Component was created from the correlated variables. The second Principal Component is interesting because we did not see a significant correlation between sepal length and sepal width. Interesting.
· Dimension reduction without significant loss of information
The explained variance plot shows how much information is contained in each Principal Component. We can use the elbow method known for selecting hyperparameters in other machine learning models to select the appropriate number of components. Another form of visualization is the cumulative graph.
Explained variance and Cumulative explained variance, Image by Author
+-----------+----------------------+-------------------------------+
| Component | Explained Variance | Cumulative explained variance |
+-----------+----------------------+-------------------------------+
| 1 | 0.712014337051845000 | 0.7120143370518450 |
| 2 | 0.239653642891057780 | 0.9516679799429029 |
| 3 | 0.043160458797882550 | 0.9948284387407854 |
| 4 | 0.005171561259214621 | 1.0000000000000000 |
+-----------+----------------------+-------------------------------+
The graph shows that the variance of the data is 95% explained by the two components.
· Visualization of multidimensional data
We live in a three-dimensional reality. Our brains find it very well. However, everything that goes beyond three dimensions is usually very difficult for us to imagine. Using methods of dimension reduction we can “flatten” the number of dimensions of our iris dataset and visualize it in two-dimensional space. The following example provides this visualization. The colors of the points in the graph indicate the type of species.
As we can see setosa is well separated from the other classes. Virginica and Versicolor have an unclear boundary which for separating these classes may decrease the accuracy, but I am of good mind looking at this two-dimensional data representation.
· Part of the supervised learning process
We can certainly say that the 4th industrial revolution is a time of data surrounding us. We can use PCA to compress data by making our machine learning algorithms “faster” and the data set smaller. Fewer input variables can result in a simpler predictive model that can have better performance when forecasting on new data. Now is the time to teach our model on the training set and test its abilities on the test set. We will apply logistic regression! We will train the model on the original set, successively on the standardized set and all Principal Components.
+------------------------+----------+------------------------------+
| Model | Accuracy | Training time (microseconds) |
+------------------------+----------+------------------------------+
| not scaled data | 1.0 | 48403 |
| scaled data | 0.98 | 8973 |
| 4 Principal Components | 0.98 | 8977 |
| 3 Principal Components | 0.98 | 8008 |
| 2 Principal Components | 0.94 | 5985 |
| 1 Principal Components | 0.92 | 5983 |
+------------------------+----------+------------------------------+
The Iris dataset is quite small by machine learning standards. Thus, the difference in accuracy between 1.00 and 0.98 on the test set is not significant. We can see that the use of standardization has a large impact on the learning time of the model. If I were to implement the model in production it would be 3 Principal Components, since it already has a reduced dimensionality that explains 0.99 of the variance.
Principal Component Analysis Summary
In this article, I discussed the application of PCA for dimensionality reduction, visualization of multidimensional data, and its use in supervised learning. The PCA method can only be applied to numerical data, both for initial data analysis and for feature (dimension) reduction. It can help in obtaining the first approximate outlines of regularities underlying a given phenomenon. It is based on correlation, which can be very misleading (Remember: Correlation does not imply causation!). I hope dimensionality reduction using Principal Components Analysis is now clearer to you. Other dimensionality reduction techniques used:
· ICA
· LLE
· ISOMAP
· t-SNE
If you would like anything more in this article then please let me know, I will edit it or if you would like me to write an article about a specific algorithm then please let me know too.
References
[1] G. James, D. Witten, T. Hastie, R. Tibshirani, An Introduction to Statistical Learning: With Applications in R (2013)
[2] A. Geron, Hands‑On Machine Learning with Scikit‑Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow (2017), O’Reilly Media
[3] S. Raschka, V. Mirjalili, Python Machine Learning: Machine Learning and Deep Learning with Python, scikit-learn, and TensorFlow 2, 2nd Edition (2017), Packt Publishing | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-where-and-when-we-should-use-pca-ab3dddad5888 | ['Bartosz Szabłowski'] | 2021-03-14 23:12:06.157000+00:00 | ['Principal Component', 'Pca', 'Visualization', 'Unsupervised Learning', 'Dimensionality Reduction'] |
10 Unnecessary Wastes of Money You May Have | 4. Your bank
Banks can be evils. They can charge many different kinds of fees (admin fees, card fees, transfer fees, etc). Most of the big banks offer the most expensive fees but the lowest interest rates to the customers. Take a look at your bank accounts and see if there are any better options than what you are having.
Also, you should avoid using ATMs from another bank institutions because you end up paying more fees when you withdraw the money.
5. In-Game Purchases
Games are addictive. It is hard to break this habit. The small amounts of purchases eventually will add up, and you will suddenly be shocked how much money you spent on the game (and then you feel shameful or regret).
You should remove your credit card information from any games or apps.
You can go to YouTube or Google “how-to” finish the level if you are upset by a level you cannot finish. | https://medium.com/on-banking/10-unnecessary-wastes-of-money-you-may-have-c33cc1639c64 | ['Tony Yeung'] | 2017-03-25 20:13:01.591000+00:00 | ['Finance', 'Money', 'Business', 'Life Lessons', 'Investing'] |
使用 mkcert 在本地端實現 HTTPS（以 Node.js, Nuxt.js, Vue Cli 及 create-react-app 為例） | 今天偶然在 Medium 首頁看到了一篇如何透過 mkcert 在本地端實現 HTTPS 連線的文章，決定整理一下記錄在這邊。
安裝
若是使用 Mac 環境，可透過 Homebrew 直接安裝，僅需照著官方文件輸入以下指令即可：
brew install mkcert
brew install nss # if you use Firefox
若是使用 Windows 環境，可使用 Chocolatey，若沒安裝 Chocolatey，可透過系統管理員開啟 PowerShell，
並輸入以下指令：
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString(' https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1' ))
完成安裝後，即可透過 choco install mkcert 完成 mkcert 的安裝，最後輸入：
mkcert -install
建立一個本地的憑證頒發機構 (Certificate authority)
Node.js
以 Express Generator 產出的 app 為例，在專案根目錄下使用終端機輸入：
mkcert localhost
接著修改 bin 資料夾中的 www 將 http 模組改為 https ，並將 mkcert 產出的 .pem 檔加入設定，完成後會如下：
#!/usr/bin/env node /**
* Module dependencies.
*/ var app = require("../app");
var debug = require("debug")("myapp:server");
var fs = require("fs");
var https = require("https"); // 改為 https /**
* Get port from environment and store in Express.
*/ var port = normalizePort(process.env.PORT || "3000");
app.set("port", port); /**
* set HTTPS certification -> 新增此設定
*/
const options = {
key: fs.readFileSync("./localhost-key.pem"),
cert: fs.readFileSync("./localhost.pem"),
}; /**
* Create HTTP server.
*/ var server = https.createServer(options, app); // 將設定加入 createServer 方法中 /**
* Listen on provided port, on all network interfaces.
*/ server.listen(port);
server.on("error", onError);
server.on("listening", onListening); /**
* Normalize a port into a number, string, or false.
*/ function normalizePort(val) {
var port = parseInt(val, 10); if (isNaN(port)) {
// named pipe
return val;
} if (port >= 0) {
// port number
return port;
} return false;
} /**
* Event listener for HTTP server "error" event.
*/ function onError(error) {
if (error.syscall !== "listen") {
throw error;
} var bind = typeof port === "string" ? "Pipe " + port : "Port " + port; // handle specific listen errors with friendly messages
switch (error.code) {
case "EACCES":
console.error(bind + " requires elevated privileges");
process.exit(1);
break;
case "EADDRINUSE":
console.error(bind + " is already in use");
process.exit(1);
break;
default:
throw error;
}
} /**
* Event listener for HTTP server "listening" event.
*/ function onListening() {
var addr = server.address();
var bind = typeof addr === "string" ? "pipe " + addr : "port " + addr.port;
debug("Listening on " + bind);
}
如果成功的話，可以透過瀏覽器進入 https://localhost:3000
大功告成！
Nuxt.js
在目錄中產出 .pem 檔後，在 nuxt.config.js 中引入 path, fs 模組，並在 server 中加入設定，設定如下：
import path from "path";
import fs from "fs";
export default {
//...
server: {
https: {
key: fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, "localhost-key.pem")),
cert: fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, "localhost.pem"))
}
}
}
Vue-Cli
在目錄中產出 .pem 檔後，在 vue.config.js （如果沒有就新增一個）加入以下設定：
// vue.config.js
const fs = require("fs");
module.exports = {
devServer: {
https: {
key: fs.readFileSync(`${__dirname}/localhost-key.pem`),
cert: fs.readFileSync(`${__dirname}/localhost.pem`),
},
},
};
啟動伺服器後應該能進入 https://localhost:8080
create-react-app
在目錄中產出 .pem 檔後，在 package.json scripts 區塊修改啟動的指令，例如：
“scripts”: {
“start”:
“HTTPS=true SSL_CRT_FILE=localhost.pem SSL_KEY_FILE=localhost-key.pem react-scripts start”
}
啟動伺服器後應該能進入 https://localhost:3000
什麼情況可以派上用場
有些功能在實作上可能會被要求在 HTTPS 環境下才能實現，在我自己的工作項目上，Facebook Login 就是一個很好的例子，只要將 Callback URL 加入 https://localhost:3000 ，即可輕鬆在本地測試 Facebook 登入。其他好處則可直接參考我在 Reference 中提及的文章。
關於在本地實現 HTTPS 的做法就記錄到這，希望可以幫助到有需要的人，若內文有任何錯誤，也煩請不吝指出，謝謝。
References:
延伸閱讀： | https://medium.com/@uu9924079/%E4%BD%BF%E7%94%A8-mkcert-%E5%9C%A8%E6%9C%AC%E5%9C%B0%E7%AB%AF%E5%AF%A6%E7%8F%BE-https-%E4%BB%A5-node-js-nuxt-js-vue-cli-%E5%8F%8A-create-react-app-%E7%82%BA%E4%BE%8B-dafcb72ff835 | ['Eason Lin'] | 2021-08-27 12:43:47.676000+00:00 | ['React', 'Nodejs', 'Https', 'Vue', 'Nuxtjs'] |
A Look Into The Cell Graveyard | A Look Into The Cell Graveyard
Or what happens to cells when they die.
Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash
The cells in our body all experience a finite lifespan. Even as they’re continuously dividing and multiplying, there will come a point in time where they are unable to carry out that function anymore.
And we see that occurring as we age.
We can’t do things at age 50 that we could do at age 20.
Inevitably, as we grow older, the efficiency of the cellular reproduction decreases, and we experience this gradual loss of function in our lives.
Molecular biology usually focuses on the reproduction process…
But what happens to the cells that are supposed to die? | https://medium.com/science-and-philosophy/a-look-into-the-cell-graveyard-bf8854483ff | ['Dr Joel Yong'] | 2020-12-08 06:35:10.999000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Health', 'Science', 'Biology', 'Coronavirus'] |
[JAVA-2a] Building a Simple Calculator: Types and Variables | Last time we successfully said hello in Java, much like the original Macintosh in 1984 apart from almost every single way. We also came across a number of unfamiliar terms that we skimmed over. Let’s try to understand some of those terms by building a simple command line calculator app.
Overview
Think about how a calculator works. We type in some number, then the arithmetic operation we want to perform, after that another number, and finally the equal sign. Because we are building a simple calculator, we are only concerned with the four basic types of arithmetic operations: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We also don’t care about chaining operations such as 1+2+3+4=? . We only want to do 1+2=? .
We can try to generalize and streamline how a simple calculator works:
Type in first number -> Choose the arithmetic operation -> Type in second number -> Press equal -> Print results.
Let’s go ahead and make it happen in Java! How hard can it be?
Types and Variables
Have you ever gone to a public restroom? If you have, you may have noticed that there are, generally speaking, two types of restrooms: Male and Female. Let’s assume every person fits into one of those two categories, then we can say there are two types of people in the world: Male and female. Let’s hold this thought for a bit.
Do you have a name, hopefully? If so, chances are your name is not unique. For example, my legal name, Boyuan Xu, is also the name of some character in a novel called “The King’s Avatar”. We can say a name is only a designation — for the same name, we could be referring to different things. Combined with what we said in the last paragraph, we can then try to describe some person using the combination “(Type) — (Name)”. For example, you would describe me as “Male — Boyuan Xu”.
But since our names are not unique, “Male — Boyuan Xu” can easily refer to the character in the novel as well. The point is, even with the same type and name, the actual content can still differ. This is pretty much what a variable is in programming: something with a specific type and name that can have different contents.
Unsurprisingly, types in Java do not consist of Male and Female. Here is a list of primitive data types, aka the most basic types a language supports, in Java:
byte : The smallest unit, can represent values from -128 to 127. Binary.
: The smallest unit, can represent values from -128 to 127. Binary. boolean : Literally either true or false. That’s it.
: Literally either true or false. That’s it. char : A single character. ( A or , )
: A single character. ( or ) double : Use it for decimals. ( 0.123456789 )
: Use it for decimals. ( ) float : We can also use it for decimals but it has less precision compared to double. Just use double.
: We can also use it for decimals but it has less precision compared to double. Just use double. int : An integer. ( 12345 )
: An integer. ( ) short : A smaller integer used for when you need to save space.
: A smaller integer used for when you need to save space. long : A bigger integer when the number gets too big.
Out of all those, we are only concerned with boolean , double , and int for now. Don’t worry about the others. But wait: where is String ? Is it not a primitive data type? How did we print out “Hi, I am ____” last time? In most languages, string is considered to be a primitive data type but not in Java. In Java, a String is considered to be a simple object instead which is why its type begins with an uppercase ‘S’ instead of a lowercase one. We can see it as a primitive type most of the time — String is a special case and it really doesn’t matter too much apart from one sneaky inconvenience which we will cover later.
Now that we know about types in Java, let’s go ahead and declare a variable. We want to create an integer named favoriteNumber with an initial value of 7. Let’s do it:
int favoriteNumber = 7;
Not too difficult, right? We can then print out my favorite number by doing:
System.out.println(favoriteNumber);
When you are referring to a variable after its declaration, you only need to call it by its name, much like how others don’t call me “Male — Boyuan Xu” all the time. You can probably see why when we said hello in Java, we had to encapsulate our sentence with double quotes — anything without single or double quotes, Java sees it as a variable name.
If we want to increase the number, type the following after the previous print statement:
favoriteNumber++;
This means we want to increment the integer by 1. Similarly, we can decrement the integer by 1 by replacing the plus signs with minus signs. Print out the integer once more and you can see that it indeed increased by 1 and went from 7 to 8. Another way to increment the integer by any amount is by typing:
favoriteNumber = favoriteNumber + 9;
Or the shorthand:
favoriteNumber += 9;
We have just increased our favorite number by 9.
We can also completely replace our favorite number by doing:
favoriteNumber = 6;
Now our new favorite number is 6.
You cannot replace the variable contents with something of a different type, for example favoriteNumber = “Hello” .You cannot declare a new variable of the same name even if the types are different. Try it and see what happens!
Here is a screenshot of how thing should work after all the above: | https://medium.com/swlh/java-2a-building-a-simple-calculator-types-and-variables-82f3787b67eb | ['Jack Boyuan Xu'] | 2020-01-03 20:52:22.622000+00:00 | ['USC', 'Java', 'Programming', 'Beginner', 'Viterbi'] |
Surprised That Big Tech Failed Us? Here Is How We Could Have Known. | Surprised That Big Tech Failed Us? Here Is How We Could Have Known.
While the recent headlines about Facebook, Google, and other tech giants seem to cause outrage, their ethical failings were predictable from their business models. Long time ago.
Show me your business model, and I tell you about your ethics. It is often literally that simple. According to Milton Friedman and his school of economics, a firm’s purpose is to use its resources to increase its profits. With the kind addition, that it does so without deception and while staying within the boundaries of the law.
That is what companies do — and what we usually expect of them. No one would assume Exxon to be after anything else than higher profits. Yet, for some reason, technology companies in the more recent decades have been seen in a different light. There seemed to be something revolutionary about these geeks starting companies in Silicon Valley. They seemed to be more innocent; they appeared to be following values.
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
From Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” to Facebook’s “Bring The World Closer Together,” these companies seemed to build around purpose. They wanted to sort the world’s information and make it accessible. They wanted to connect people. Those were higher dreams than money, and people believed the techies who peddled them.
Yet beneath the surface, there were always more ambitions lurking — not necessarily money per se, but a desire to shape the world. Latest since Steve Jobs wanted to “put a dent in the universe,” tech folks were high on their Kool-Aid, thinking they could cure the world. The kind of Silicon Valley libertarianism expressed publicly by its prophets, is way more dogmatic and absolutist than anyone should be comfortable with.
While many of the founders of these companies earnestly believe that they live in the future and that they can help bring that future to the world as a good deed, they are also entirely trapped in their bubble. Within their friend circle, investor circle, and companies, there is little diversity to speak of. The people whom they claim to want to be helping are mostly not represented at all. Other than in purpose statements.
And then comes Wall Street
While those idealistic founders can sustain their loss-making endeavors through the support of equally idealistic Venture Capitalists for a long time, at some point, that becomes unsustainable. Ever-larger rounds of money are needed, early VCs are pushing for exits, and early employees want to see returns as well. So eventually, they do an IPO.
And when they start to consider going public, the rules of the game change. They are advised to speak to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley about helping them with the listing and start to hear about what investors want to see. And that is a sustainable business model, stellar revenue growth, and ideally profitability.
Hence,1–2 years before the IPO, many revenue mechanisms have been tried, and the strongest ones are doubled down on and ramped up. The game demands it.
At that point, even the most idealistic founders are confronted with Friedman’s logic (or face the choice of being replaced). So, they compromise — in the name of the mission, they must monetize as much as possible. And so, the same geniuses who created the core product to change the world, now put their brains to work to make the most money possible. Of course, in the name of making the world a better place.
Photo by Aditya Vyas on Unsplash
Hence the revenue model before IPO, which they start doubling down on, becomes the fate of the company. It becomes what everyone optimizes around. And this to the extent, as Friedman described, that the law permits. Which, in the very underregulated digital world, is quite a sizeable gray area. A gray area that has been really exploited.
The Insidious Attention Economy
A lot has been talked about, that when the product is free, the user is the product. In the context of Facebook or Google, who monetize through advertising, this is often read as the user trading their data for services. These companies are hoarding data, collecting it on their sites and across the web, and getting rich off of that.
Yet that is not true. They are not getting rich off of the data itself. The user’s data is not being sold. That would be the least of their interests. They are hoarding the data only to make the actual product more valuable — which is the user’s attention itself.
The time people spent on the services, where they get exposed to targeted advertising based on that data, that is the product, which is much more insidious.
If they were selling off the user’s data, it would be enough to collect a good quantity of it through various interactions. According to one study, with 300 likes, Facebook knows you better than your spouse. So, they could make just the data collection a key part of their activity, and not care about the time you spent on the service. At some point, the amount of data also has diminishing returns, and won’t improve the price.
Your attention, though, does not have diminishing returns. They can sell as much of that as there is a demand for — which is enormous. And the better information they have on you, the higher they can sell your attention. Hence the service is not optimized for data collection per se, but human engagement. Spend as much time as possible.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Therefore, key algorithms that are now being criticized, such as the algorithm curating the news feed, are fundamental revenue mechanisms. As such, it is very predictable what their fitness function is, hence what they are being optimized for and what the likely outcome is. Engagement at all (human) cost. All it takes is thinking through the business model, to understand to what lengths, within the boundaries of the law, Facebook would go.
Look At The Income Streams
If you would be concerned about which products to use, because of all the headlines — have a look at the companies’ business models.
When a business is over 80% dependent on advertising revenue — your attention is the product, and your data makes it valuable. That is most likely not a trustworthy technology provider to deal with.
When a business sells products or services at considerable premiums, and that is their primary income stream, they would be hell-bent on earning and retaining customer trust.
Especially when free or low-cost alternatives, who monetize differently, are available, premium players are in the trust and security game. Those are better bets.
The recent branding emphasis of Apple, going all-in on Security and Privacy, is hence both honest and brilliant. In the age of surveillance capitalism, in which everyone is after your data and attention to sell you more stuff, the company selling their products in a classy environment and at a premium, has a niche to claim in being different.
Photo by Johny vino on Unsplash
Similarly, Microsoft has relevant messages around security and privacy, which resonate with many businesses. With their diversified income streams, which are dependent on them selling software and hardware, they are in a position to play that game well. Additionally, their focus is selling to enterprise customers primarily, who are highly concerned about security at all levels, and have no problems paying a premium for technology. Hence the business model can fully unfold around those needs and requirements.
It is, to my mind, no surprise, that we are ending the last decade with Apple and Microsoft as trillion-dollar companies, while the rest of tech is trailing behind. I see their positioning as being highly relevant for the decade to come and foresee substantial challenges for Facebook and Google. While there are antitrust and regulatory probes into them, Apple and Microsoft seem to be out of the line of fire for now. For a good reason.
In Summary
While technology companies have been seen in a different light for a long time, as founders claimed higher motives and groomed their image well, it has become clear that they are slaves to the profit motive as well. Just like any other corporation, especially in the lead up to and after a public listing, they are subject to the forces of Wall Street.
These forces are looking for them to monetize to the highest degree possible — stellar revenue growth and profitability. Hence, they put their smartest teams to work on doubling down on the revenue streams they have figured out up until then. And they will exploit them as much as possible, within the confines of the law. Within a legal and regulatory environment, which for much of new technology is still to be defined. There are whole host of gray areas being exploited to the maximum.
Therefore, we can predict how a company will act not by the prophetic words of the founders, but by its business model.
In the case of advertising, this model is selling the user’s attention and making that more valuable through collecting tons of data to better target. Hence, they will go to the limits on gathering information about people across the web and optimizing their services for time spent, not value created.
If we want to see technology companies act more ethically, we therefore either need to tighten up regulations, which has to happen, or as consumers need to be prepared to pay for services currently free to us. We all have the choice to leave companies’ services, which turn our attention to the product being sold.
We need to start choosing. | https://medium.com/swlh/surprised-that-big-tech-failed-us-here-is-how-we-could-have-known-86ddfb2fdd3 | ['Sebastian Mueller'] | 2020-03-08 12:17:26.959000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Economy', 'Business', 'Ethics', 'Technology'] |
Difference Between Video Production And Video Marketing | Video production and video marketing is two different fields dealing with same subject of video. Read this article to get more.
Video production means making videos of any kind while video marketing means making videos to reach out different audiences and channels. Both offer different services though nature and disciplines overlap each other. One involves with the creation and production process while other involves with the end process or marketing process. Most of the people get confused over the terms video production and video marketing, here in this article I will try to explore the difference between them. Let’s start with:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fa8GOnhzxhPFtkkuPBrVP9QWjSvQVMdpucbD-7iSEEo/edit?usp=sharing | https://medium.com/@libesh-services/difference-between-video-production-and-video-marketing-38ec457376cc | ['Libesh Services'] | 2020-12-16 14:10:13.118000+00:00 | ['YouTube', 'Videos', 'Videogames', 'Article To Video', 'Video Marketing'] |
Is Madea Star Tyler Perry Single? New Phase of his Life — US day NEWS | Is the writer, producer Tyler Perry single since he is in a midlife crisis? Multiple award-winning filmmaker Tyler Perry has taken to Twitter to confirm that he is single at the age of 51.
The Madea star is likely going to be ringing in the new year as a single man; however, it seems that Tyler does not know what to do with the next phase of his life.
The 51-year-old actor-producer randomly announced the news while sharing a new selfie on his Instagram page on Wednesday, December 16.
Tyler claimed that he’s currently in a midlife crisis, as he posed in his workout outfit that gave a clue at his buff physique. He rocked thick facial hair while his face revealed a blank expression.
He said in the caption, “This is what a midlife crisis looks like. I’m 51, single, and wondering what the next phase in my life will look like.”
The star added as he was staying positive, “Whatever it seems like, I am going to walk with God, I am going to be the best father and man I can be, as I hold my head up high, and try to look my best doing it!!”
Is Madea Star Tyler Perry Single Following his Split? | https://medium.com/@admin-68852/is-madea-star-tyler-perry-single-new-phase-of-his-life-us-day-news-fe043e9796d2 | [] | 2020-12-23 18:19:45.736000+00:00 | ['Madea', 'Celebrities', 'Celebrities Divorce', 'Divorce', 'Tyler Perry'] |
Robosense answers crucial LiDAR market questions | Shenzhen-Bengaluru, October 09'2020 — The autonomous driving industry has always seen some kind of narrative around LiDAR sensors both from the positive and negative perspective. However, there is no doubt that the technology is flourishing and been used by majority of OEMs and Tier 1s as a key 3D perception and sensing for not just autonomous vehicles but also in the mobility infrastructure.
Eva Sharma, Consultant, ACES at M14 Intelligence exchanged dialogue with Dr. LeiLei Shinohara, the Vice President and Co-partner at RoboSense on some of the most crucial questions that exists in the LiDAR’s mass production for autonomous driving application. We appreciate the honest views of Dr. LeiLei on each topic and congratulate him for the success he has achieved over the years. Below is a snapshot of the exhaustive discussion.
All types of businesses in all major countries have been impacted to a certain extent during the pandemic breakdown. For RoboSense, there are majorly two aspects that received an impact from the COVID outbreak.
The first and the most important aspect is the impact on the global customer base especially from the European region and some of the American countries. Quite a lot of our customers have stopped their operations and autonomous vehicle testing. Though the United States has recently resumed the AV testing, the overall number of the testing fleet has been reduced. Except for Asia, all other regions have slowed down their autonomous driving and RoboTaxi activities. Also, most of the countries have witnessed a significant reduction in vehicle production and sales, which had directly impacted our market as well. However, China and most of the other Asian countries have been less impacted or we can say showed early recovery. Particularly in China, the months of February, March, and April were highly crucial as the market was under lockdown; however, it showed amazingly fast recovery immediately after April.
During this COVID, the Chinese government took quite a lot of efforts to avoid extreme economic losses by deploying unmanned vehicles to deliver food, essential items, and packages. Owing to this, the country has witnessed a speedy development in the autonomous commercial vehicle industry.
The second aspect is the decline of the overall automotive industry. It is not that just this year but from the last year itself, the automotive industry has gone down and seen a continuous fall in sales. COVID has further aggravated the situation. In China, the 3rd quarter of 2020 has witnessed a speedy recovery in the automotive industry; although, the auto sales had fallen significantly in Q1 and Q2.
The OEMs working on autonomous driving technology have also paced up their research and development operations to ensure high-level safety. The recent accident of a Tesla Model X in California which was on Autopilot mode has also made the industry realized the importance of LiDAR sensing for autonomous vehicles. The recent premiere of the new Mercedes Benz S Class revealed the use of LiDAR in the vehicle, so is Volvo, Toyota Lexus, and Lucid’s new electric vehicles are going to use LiDAR in their sensor suite. We have received interests of lots of OEMs and other customers for our LiDAR products to incorporate in their upcoming autonomous cars. Therefore, I could say that COVID has in fact speed up our LiDAR development and created good opportunities for RoboSense.
Currently, the autonomous driving market is at a very nascent stage and we (RoboSense) provide LiDAR samples for testing AVs which are not in big volumes. However, in the later stage, there might be a certain level of impact on our market due to these geo-political conditions.
We do have a customer base in North America who are still procuring our LiDAR samples for testing. However, the volume is quite less which is also because of the COVID -19. The entire North American market has shrunken quite a lot. This is not only for RoboSense, but even the other suppliers from European and American countries are following similar trend.
Talking about the US-China trade war, right now for the sample phase, we do not see any change in the demand. I strongly believe that even later in the mass production program, RoboSense would receive an incredibly good market demand as we are confident about our price and quality of the product.
(Background — If LiDAR sensors both short range and long range are included in the sensor suit of autonomous vehicles, the overall autonomy package cost increases. This is the major reason behind the companies like Tesla and Xpeng to avoid the use of LiDAR sensor and focus on cameras and radars)
Currently, as it is just a beginning of autonomous driving technology, the automotive leaders are slowly getting towards the launch of so-called autonomous vehicles. Level 2 functionality is already existing in few of the car models and OEMs are promoting the advanced generation of level 2 features as level 2.5 and not level 3, except for Tesla and Audi. The major reason behind this is that the OEMs are defining their own autonomy features with certain conditions applied and do not want to name it as level 3. Level 3 according to SAE standards is conditional automation with eye-off the road, which I believe needs quite strong perception models and sensor redundancy.
We already have an example of recent Tesla accident that claimed to be level 3 equipped automation and even Traffic Jam pilot in Audi A8 is not being considered as Level 3 automation in the U.S. and company is no longer adding this feature in the current generation cars. Whichever OEM is launching the Level 3 vehicles without LiDAR is putting lots of limitations on the system. For example, the limitations could be such that the vehicle would not support automation during night, the driver must take control on sharp turns, and so on.
Couple of our customers are working on level 3 automation; however, there are lots of customers who are planning to launch the fully autonomous driving capability vehicles with automatic lane changing feature. Such customers have realized the importance of LiDAR and have considered it as one of the inevitable sensors for vehicle autonomy. As I mentioned in the above point that OEMs such as Audi, BMW, Volvo, and Toyota have positioned LiDAR in their autonomy platform.
Also, to have the ability of level 3 autonomy and make the vehicle features better, the most important thing is to improve safety on detection and safety on perception. For example, the passenger/driver losses trust on the autonomous system and gets frustrated if the system is signalling/alerting him/her every minute to take control of the car, which is not expected from a system that is called as autonomous.
This interruption gives a bad user experience and the driver uses its energy focusing on the road to make sure if the car is heading safely without any strange movements. The user will no longer trust such systems and will prefer the manned driving over the unmanned. However, if LiDAR is used as a part of such systems, it will certainly improve the system perception, performance, and the user experience.
Yes, there are different LIDAR technologies as you mentioned. As far as RoboSense is concerned, in automotive-grade, we are focusing on MEMS-based Solid-State LiDAR technology using 905nm laser diode because it is the most manufacturable technology and can achieve mass production.
There are some companies which are using 1550nm wavelength laser, but 905nm is most widely used in MEMS and is a stable LiDAR technology. Although the 905nm cannot match the improved sensor performance of 1550nm, it will take quite a couple of years or more to get 1550nm at an affordable price with a reduced power consumption rate. Hence, from my perspective, in the current market, the MEMS-based 905nm technology is the best fit for long-range detection.
Also, mechanical LiDARs are being used for multiple years already and are the most stable technology. At present, RoboSense has a full range of mechanical products such as 128 lasers, 80 lasers, 32 lasers, 16 lasers. With extremely high performance and stable reliability, we have won a large number of customers in RoboTaxi, RoboTruck, robots, ShuttleBus, and other fields. During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, more than 70% of the robots were equipped with RoboSense LiDAR; however, in terms of passenger cars, it has certain issues especially for automotive grade like low shock resistance and large size and high price.
As you mentioned about the flash LiDAR, they are available from Continental, TI, and other companies who have released these LiDARs for automotive grade. RoboSense is also working on flash LiDAR; however, right now we are focusing to use the flash technology for short-range detection. For example, to detect the vehicles for automated parking and low-speed functionalities.
We are working aggressively on LiDAR technology and we believe that in the short-to-mid-term i.e. 3 to 5 years, for long-range detection MEMEs solid-state LiDARs and for short range detection flash LiDARs have good market potential. Also, the mechanical LiDARs still have a market for Robotaxi and Robotic application.
As LiDAR technology is in the budding stage of the market, most of the customers do not have the requirements for big volumes; however, we have customers who are ready to start their SOP and mass production from next year. Our mass production could predominantly start for customers in next year. Also, for the new energy companies and automotive leaders, it is the first generation of their autonomous systems to be launched in the market. These first-generation systems are majorly focused on collecting enough data and feedback from the users about the system and experiences. We expect that the release of second-generation systems i.e. from 2023 or 2024 could bring a heavy volume demand for our LiDARs.
Regarding the pricing part, at least in the near future like 2022 or 2023, the acceptable pricing for the OEM customers could be much less than 1000 USD. However, we have also received requests from most of our customers for LiDARs in the price range of 500 USD or even lower. We have also seen that the customer losses interest if the price of LiDARs is more than 1000 USD. Hence, we expect that for bigger volume deals, the price could reach somewhere below 500 USD.
About RoboSense
RoboSense since 2014 is a leading provider of Smart LiDAR Sensor System solution autonomous driving passenger cars, RoboTaxi, RoboTruck, automated logistics vehicles, autonomous buses, and intelligent roads. The company’s automotive-grade solution is based on MEMS-based Solid-State LiDARs with AI-based fusion systems. Mechanical, Flash, and fusion hardware are some of the other technologies that the company has in its product portfolio. RoboSense has a created a strong hold in the industry with more than 500 patents and consistent winner of the CES Innovation Award for the past 2 years. It has a large customer base in the automotive sector and has expanded its reach by recently partnering with Alibaba’s Cainiao Network, SAIC, BAIC, and FAW are some of the company’s strategic partners and investors. The company expects robust demand for its LiDARs from all over the globe due to its low cost to performance ratio LiDAR products.
LiDAR — Market Growth, Potential, and Supplier Mapping
Read in-depth analysis on LiDAR market for autonomous driving application and ADAS functions
View Insights | https://medium.com/@m14intelligence/robosense-answers-crucial-lidar-market-questions-9d6ac676d37 | [] | 2020-11-24 14:29:12.542000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Sensors', 'Lidar', 'Autonomous Cars', 'China'] |
【🔎 12/14-12/18 #每週新聞報導】 | in Eudaimonia and Co | https://medium.com/@linklab0314/12-14-12-18-%E6%AF%8F%E9%80%B1%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E5%A0%B1%E5%B0%8E-c2920ffd7123 | ['L Nklab'] | 2020-12-20 12:30:05.746000+00:00 | ['News', 'Politics', 'America', 'Brexit', 'Russia'] |
Being fat isn’t a crime. So why does it feel like one? | Being fat isn’t a crime. So why does it feel like one?
Here we are, in 2020. The most important and inclusive time to be alive in a fat body. I feel very grateful to be experiencing life as a fat person now, because of the resources, role models, and movements made to cater to my specific lifestyle. I don’t want to diminish how far we’ve come, however, I think more straight-sized people need to hear stories from those of us in fat bodies. Understanding other’s experiences is the gateway to change.
I’ve been fat for most of my life. I grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, and the people I had to look to in the media always had these thin stomachs (cue Britney Spears VMA 2001 performance of “I’m a Slave 4 U” video that I watched on repeat) but my experience was so much different. I never had that thin stomach. I remember being 14 and having a child at church look at my stomach and say “Is there a baby in your tummy”?
I was made fun of from elementary school into high school for my weight, and I remember one girl specifically making fun of me (in a Myspace comment) because I was first in line to get food at an event. I’d never really noticed my weight until people pointed it out. Another time, a friend's mom said very loudly at a pool party “my god, she already has stretch marks!” I was 12, and until that point, I’d never noticed them before. Even now when I look in the mirror, that’s all I see.
I understood at a young age that no matter how good of a person I was, people would judge my character based on my body size. I still think this rings true today.
A lot has changed since I was growing up. However, I think we still have a long way to go.
To expand on that musing, here are some noteworthy interactions I’ve had in the last year:
A friend of mine messaged me after a photo shoot I did (where I felt beautiful) to tell me that I had a beautiful face. That’s it. Just my face. And for anyone who’s fat and gotten this comment before, we know what you’re saying. You’re saying “Your face is pretty, but not the rest of you.” I can’t help but think that in any other context, that would seem pretty rude. Because it is.
I went to the doctor to refill a prescription, and they said that they wanted to get me on another medication to, and I quote “help me lose the weight.” I thought to myself “That’s funny, doctor. I don’t remember coming in here to discuss my weight.” Every single doctor’s appointment ends in my doctor recommending that I do something to lose “the weight”. I understand that being fat is the gateway to serious diseases, and I don’t mean to downplay that at all, but when I go to get my omeprazole refilled I’m not really thinking about how jiggly my stomach is.
I took a flight (pre-covid) where I sat next to someone who, despite the fact that I fit into JUST my seat, took it upon herself to try and encroach on my space and sigh loudly every time her leg touched mine. Mind you, she was trying to lay down horizontally in her one (1) seat, but somehow I was the problem. She kept sitting up, huffing loudly, and shoving the armrest down between us (it was already down), and then attempting to situate herself again. This happened for the entire 6-hour flight. And, after we landed, I overheard her telling the front desk agent that she needed to be seated alone on the next leg of her flight.
Someone (who is a size XS) offered to let me borrow their jacket when I was cold and then laughed when I said “Thank you but I don’t think it’d fit me.” It kind of felt like they did it on purpose, just to point out the fact that we weren’t the same size.
It’s weird to live a life where you consistently feel like you inconvenience the people around you. These, along with other experiences have led me to start conversations with things like “I hope I don’t break that chair” or “I hope I fit in that booth” because if I do, at least I’ve given the caveat that I’ve thought about it not working out in my favor. I feel like I consistently have to be on the defense because I never know when someone is going to say or do something hurtful based solely on how they feel about my weight. It’s so bizarre to me to think that I can upset someone just by existing.
It’s also exhausting. I want to live in a world that is built for everyone, not just straight-sized individuals. I want people to stop making unwarranted comments about my body. I want to exist without being afraid of who I’m bothering by doing so. It’s not easy being told your body is ugly and unhealthy when all you’re trying to do is survive the best way you know how.
If the worst thing I am is fat, I think I’m doing alright. | https://medium.com/underdog-champion/being-fat-isnt-a-crime-but-it-sure-feels-like-one-7392789215f3 | ['Emily Lane'] | 2020-12-10 07:26:40.901000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Life Lessons', 'Personal', 'Body Image', 'Fat'] |
The 50 Best Songs of 2018. No, SICKO MODE isn’t on here. | a collage for your viewing pleasure
Now that 2019 is officially here, I have finally got around to compiling some of my favourite tracks from this year. Enjoy the fifty strong list below (with descriptions for the top 25) and please remember, if I can so boldly paraphrase the immortal Tamra Judge, it’s just my opinion.
source: giphy
PROM/KING- Saba
Saba Pivot, LLC
If ‘Care for Me’ is a portrait of grief, ‘PROM/KING’ is the focal point. The swelling tragedy looms over as Saba as he recalls the life and death of his cousin, friend and fellow Pivot Gang member, John Walt. He tells the tale of his high school prom and the beginnings of his friendship with Walt. The second part of the song follows as Saba voice grows more aggressive, choked with grief among frantic percussion as he described the events leading up to Walt’s murder in 2017. The sense of time passing in this record is unreal, the pace quickening as events unfold and the palpable fear Saba once felt is so viscerally clear to the listener.
It feels weird to say that ‘PROM/KING’ is the best rap record of the year when it was born out of such bereavement, it feels somehow degrading and wrong. But soaked with grief, anger and nostalgia, this is story telling at it’s finest as Saba weaves a beautiful legacy for his cousin and his friend.
2. thank u, next- Ariana Grande
republic
Fuck it. Everything means nothing, the world is topsy-turvy. How Ariana Grande is single-handedly making pop music good again I have no idea. Actually, I do. Women taking control of their own narrative in 2018 has been a breath of fresh air and that’s the reason ‘thank, u next’ was so successful. Is it musically the best song to come out this year? No, but it represents a shift towards a more mature sound for Grande and a more positive tone for pop music, less mud slinging, more gratefulness. I am pretty grateful for ‘thank u, next’ this year, not only has it brought out the closet misogynists whining about seeing the empowering ripple effect that Grande had on us gals and gays but it’s also so refreshing to see women work through trauma and mental health issues in a positive way. And you know what? I’m too old to pretend to not like the shit I like. Thank u next 2018.
3. Don’t Forget About Me- Noname
self-released
Noname produced one of the best records this year with the self-released ‘Room 25’. A star in the Chicago spoken word scene, her debut record blurs the line between poetry, music and storytelling. With help from Ravyn Lenae, Saba, Smino, Phoelix and Benjamin Earl Turner, ‘Room 25’ is littered with stellar features fusing rap and jazzy instrumentals, a tribute to her understated brilliance. But Noname peaks on a track by her herself. Over a inconspicuous neosoul beat, ‘Don’t Forget About Me’ is the emotional peak of a woman exploring her own brand of self-critical confidence, functioning but broken as she struggles with her own mortality and of those around her.
“I know everyone goes some day
I know my body’s fragile, know it’s made from clay
But if I have to go I pray my soul remains eternal
And my momma don’t forget about me
I pray my momma don’t forget about me
I pray my granny don’t forget about me”
4. This Old House is All I Have- Against All Logic
Other People
Against All Logic (A.A.L) aka Nicolas Jaar, electronic music mastermind, quietly released a collection of songs this year that he had been working on for five years. The opening track, ‘This Old House is All I Have’ builds to a crescendo before sinking into a smooth funk, sampling a 1973 Mike James Kirkland track, punctured by a storm of sharp lightning crashes before we hear a silky vocal sample bringing everything together perfectly. A sorcerer blending genres to create the intro to one of the most seamlessly eclectic albums of the year.
5. This is America- Childish Gambino
RCA/mcDJ
2018 has been a long-ass year. I couldn’t believe that ‘This is America’ came out this year and not last, but it did and it had a jarring effect upon its release back in May. A mix of afrobeat and weighty trap influences, fleeting adlibs from other prominent rappers such as Quavo and 21 Savage and a weird juxtaposition of happy vocal bridges and punctuated verses. Gun control, the prison system, police brutality, drugs and black culture lie as the base of inspiration for this track. However, rather than simply echoing prescriptive calls for reform, Gambino explores the existence of black people in a country that profits off their culture whilst demonising the everyday existence of black people with a little help from Young Thug.
“You just a black man in this world/You just a barcode, ayy”
There is a sense of the exploration of blackness being a knife-edge for Gambino, as him and his peers experience simultaneous commercial success, inexplicably linked with their culture and identity, whilst watching their communities suffer under the power of institutionalized racism. Of course, ‘This is America’ can’t really be separated from the music video, as the visuals were responsible for it’s reputation as one of the most striking pieces of political commentary that has emerged in 2018. Therefore, it isn’t placed higher on this list, as the song itself simply isn’t the same conceptually once separated from the video. However, it remains a clever response to the current political climate, one that addresses structure over individual wrongdoers and for that reason, proves to be more insightful than some of the other musical commentary on a world unraveling at the seams.
6. Reborn-KIDS SEE GHOSTS
GOOD music
The almost monotonal plodding of ‘Reborn’ alongside the candid lyrics seems to represent the slow, methodical journey out of depression. It’s one of the highlights of the KIDS SEE GHOSTS (aka Kayne West and Kid Cudi) project, confronting an important shift in popular music that has emerged rapidly this year regarding artists being more open about their struggles with mental health problems. Kanye really fucked up a lot this year, especially in regards to his political statements but I can’t help but come to the conclusion from listening to ‘Reborn’ and other admissions he has made about his mental health this year that we need to be more aware of the context surrounding actions and recognize the complicated relationship between mental health, art and public life. As for the track, Kid Cudi sits better with me on ‘Reborn’ than Kanye does, as he does on the rest of the record, defiant simplicity at the core of his vocals on the track. The sensation of leaving the past to move forward into the unknown never seems to leave him on this project, least of all on ‘Reborn’.
7. Pristine- Snail Mail
Matador
Lindsey Graham is the talk of the town. At 19, she has produced, along with her band, one of the most critically revered indie records of the year with many praising her ability to translate frighteningly intimate emotions into unbelievably familiar songs. Dreamy riffs alongside her mature vocals and excellent production fill the indie-rock shaped hole in my heart this year. Jordan’s abilities as a songwriter are shockingly advanced for her age and best demonstrated on ‘Pristine’, a track all about the monotony of pining after someone else.
“It just feels like the same party every weekend/And if you do find someone better/I’ll still see you in everything”
There’s something about this track which transports you back to a time where infatuation and love were indiscernible, where days seemed so long and the nights much longer, a innate quality I’m sure musicians can’t bottle or replicate. Maybe it’s her youth or maybe it’s just a tendency towards nostalgia but ‘Pristine’ hasn’t left my mind since I heard it.
8. Self Care- Mac Miller
REMember Music/ Warner Bros. Records
This one was a hard one. Swimming was the final album of the late Mac Miller and a beautiful testament to his struggle for inner peace. The record is difficult to listen to at times, its difficult to hear someone get intimate with the demons they will never overcome and Miller doesn’t shy away from his struggle to maintain a sense of normality. He repeats, “we’re going to be alright” in the refrain but it sounds more like a plea than a statement. ‘Self Care’ hears Mac in an echo-y singing voice over a spacey beat with distorted instrumentals that almost make you feel like underwater before Dev Hynes appears in distant vocal bridge, a consequence of him being in the studio at the time of recording. Miller’s dry wit peeks out as he talks, almost sarcastically, about taking care of himself whilst dealing with his own addictions. Mac trips but doesn’t fall on ‘Self Care’ before a beat switch into hidden track ‘Oblivion’ as he revisits his attraction to drug use in the most painful way.
“I got all the time in the world
So for now, I’m just chilling
Plus I know, it’s a beautiful feeling in oblivion”
9. The Mint (feat. Navy Blue)-Earl Sweatshirt
Tan Cressida/Columbia
Earl; the man, the myth, the reluctant legend. ‘Some Rap Songs’ is ringing in the heads of devoted fans since it’s release last month as swift sonic departure from his first two albums. What we received as gritty, outspoken mix of grief and aggression in his previous work, turns to a jaded sense of vulnerability. ‘The Mint (feat. Navy Blue)’ sums up the spirit of the record and the cathartic vehicle that ‘SRS’ became for Earl Sweatshirt after the death of his father and the consequent struggle of reconciliation combined with his ongoing depression. The track barely fits any musical conventions with it’s off-beat, lo-fi flow over a short, looped sample but it’s the reference to the archaic medicinal technique bloodletting, in which doctors cut open patients to purge them of a disease, which stands as a stunning metaphor for release.
“Lotta blood to let, lotta peace to make, give a fuck about a cheque”
‘The Mint’ is the boiled down essence of of ‘Some Rap Songs’, the syrup if you will. The chaotic mixing and experimental feel of the track supports the distance between SRS and any sort of comeback statement. I feel like the title of this album sums up its intention and purpose. This album is the music he wants to make, the release he wants to explore, without expectations from fans or labels.
10. Love It If We Made It- The 1975
Polydor
I really, really didn’t want to like The 1975’s new album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. But somehow, Matty Healy and his band of Manc hipsters clad in black actually made one of the most interesting pop records of the last few years. Though seriously inconsistent at times, the record gave birth to ‘Love It If We Made It’, a crashing, chaotic observational indie pop archive of millennial musings that actually come off pretty sharp unlike their previous work that was littered with cliches. Although I still cringe internally at Healy singing “Posion me, Daddy” (ew), there’s no doubt that this track raised the bar for pop with it’s frustrated vocals and slick production. The 1975 have moved away from romanticizing drugs, manic pixie depictions of women and moved towards tracks that play to their strengths, making their records so much more enjoyable. The surprise of the year.
11. Slow Burn- Kacey Musgraves
MCA Nashville
Dang flabbit, a country song in the top 20? Well sweet niblets, I’ll be! Kacey Musgraves third album, ‘Golden Hour’ stands as one of the most accessible country music albums produced in recent years but a standout track comes with the opening song, ‘Slow Burn’. Musgraves navigates through her undeniably country sound to create one of the prettiest melodies I’ve heard all year, a combination of effortless lead vocals, simple guitar and some sumptuous backing vocals towards the close of the track. ‘Slow Burn’ like the rest of the album, has achieved that tricky balance of intimate yet familiar, every song feels like a private performance from Kacey. Plus, Musgraves is bucking (geddit) the trend of country music being sickeningly patriarchal by talking about mediating her own comfort within a relationship instead of pining moronically over a man.
Perhaps ‘Golden Hour’ as a whole feels so satisfying because Musgraves isn’t doing a Taylor Swift-esque dumping of her country roots but instead embracing tradition whilst pushing the limits of the genre both musically and thematically and I am loving it. Excuse me while I yee-haw my way into melodic bliss.
12. Bassackwards-Kurt Vile
Matador
Though ‘Bottle it In’ didn’t live up to the brilliance of 2015’s ‘B’lieve I’m Going Down’, one of the singles stood out for me this year. ‘Bassackwards’ is a spacey, repetitive train-of-thought track about contently searching to fill the void. Kurt Vile is at his best on this record with it’s simple, folksy guitar mixed with some warped video rewind effects. The song is sun-soaked, trippy but not psychedelic as Kurt flexes his songwriting muscles through his wordplay on the phrase “ass backwards”, which, after listening to the track, starts to sound wrong in favour of Vile’s remix. At 9 minutes, ‘Bassackwards’ is one to settle in for but worth the effort.
13. Missing U- Robyn
Konichiwa/Interscope
No one writes a heartbreak pop track like Robyn. No one. After an excruciating eight year hiatus, Robyn returned all guns blazing. She hit us with ‘Honey’, she smacked us with ‘Send to Robyn Immediately’ and then she decked us with ‘Missing U’, an absolute banger that simultaneously will cause you to lose your shit on the dance floor whilst screaming about filling the void left by your ex-lover. The consistency from Robyn even after all these years leaves me all jittery and fired up and feeling a plethora of confusing and enjoyable emotions. ‘Missing U’ proves Robyn’s unique songwriting abilities are still alive and kicking and possibly, stronger than ever.
14. Giovanni-Jamila Woods
Jagjaguwar
Jamila Woods is a force of nature. Her 2017 debut album, HEAVN, was a 20-song extravaganza featuring the likes of Noname, Chance the Rapper and Saba, an exploration of her identity as woman of colour in Trump’s America. ‘Giovanni’, her only new solo track this year, has a tangible sense of bite, taking inspiration from spoken word whilst maintaining some beautiful tones. But the main attraction is Wood’s razor-sharp lyrical ability as she pays homage to poet Nikki Giovanni.
“I’ll be on my Giovanni/tea and honey
Tell it like I see it/ Speak it so I be it
My ancestors watch me/ Fairy tale walking
Black Goldilocks/ Yeah, my nap’s just right”
15. Wit’ Da Team- Genesis Owusu
Genesis Owusu
At first listen, ‘Wit’ Da Team’ is an intoxicating mix of hip hop, spacey jazz riffs and some soulful falsettos. But it is a subtle statement piece as well as a killer track produced by Free Nationals member Callum Conner. The lyrics touch on the dualistic reaction to black culture in the mainstream, clever musings woven into one of the catchiest tracks of the year. Owusu casually breaks down the double standards surrounding the cultural appropriation of black culture, calling out those who label it as ratchet until they want to incorporate it into their own fashion. I’m sure that following such a relevant and well-produced track, this young artist from Canberra is sure to inject some funk into a decidedly guitar-heavy Australian music scene.
16. Come Over- The Internet
Columbia
The Internet shined this year with their album ‘Hive Mind’ and single ‘Come Over’ displays front-woman Syd’s cheeky, sensual spirit as well as the band’s creativity. ‘Know you’re wrong/But sho you right’ weirdly captures the mood of a know-better hook up and acts as an almost catchphrase throughout the song. Steve’s guitar solo elevates this track, one of the few moments on ‘Hive Mind’ that the prodigal super-producer shines before the track dips into a bouncy hidden snippet touching on fickle commercialism. An excellent track off an excellent record.
17. After the Storm (feat. Tyler the Creator and Bootsy Collins)- Kali Uchis
Rinse/Virgin/UMG
The vintage campiness of ‘After the Storm (feat. Tyler the creator and Bootsy Collins)’ stands out on Kali Uchis’ stunning debut album ‘Isolation’. Her collaborative tendencies absolutely play to her strengths on this album, with features from Steve Lacy, BIA and Jorja Smith but single ‘After the Storm’ is an infectious hit. The intro from 70's funk singer Bootsy Collins throws it back to Uchis and Tyler’s 2017 collaboration on his record, ‘See You Again’ before blending their contrasting vocals in a silky smooth package. Youthful optimism dominates the track, with smatterings of weather references, a playful homage to the flamboyant characterization of 70's funk whilst still sounding thoroughly modern. The duality of the track, and her whole album, makes for a unique and addictive listening experience.
18. Sticky- Ravyn Lenae
Atlantic/Three Twenty Three
Rayvn Lenae hasn’t put an album out yet but she’s been one of the most exciting artists of the year. ‘Sticky’ off her enamouring EP ‘Crush’ supported her reputation as one of the most attention-capturing artists of the year. A solo organ, leads into sickeningly good soprano vocals crooning over guitar work that’s easily recognisable as that of producer Steve Lacy. Lenae’s vocals are mature yet playful on ‘Sticky’, sexy but not sexualised. A wonderful introduction to an artist I can’t wait to hear more from.
19. The Opener- Camp Cope
Poison City
Camp Cope are no strangers to calling out toxic masculinity but ‘The Opener’ gives us a uniquely familiar look into the sexism in the music industry. Described as the band’s ‘big diss song’, they take aim at manipulative misogynists who surround them as frontwoman Georgia Maq dryly squashes any abstraction of their success whilst the track builds to a thrashing crescendo.
“It’s another man telling us we can’t fill up the room
It’s another man telling us to book a smaller venue
‘Nah hey, c’mon girls we’re only thinking about you’
Well, see how far we’ve come not listening to you”
An absolute two fingers, fuck off to those who try and claim credit to their success, ‘The Opener’ satisfyingly portrays what is so wrong with not only the music industry but also with Australian society at large.
20. Danny Nedelko- Idles
Partisan Records
Bristol punk outfit Idles kicked their way into 2018 with their second album ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’. Tackling everything from myth-busting Islam’s hamster eating tendencies to literally stomping out homophobia, Idles take the term ‘snowflake’ and wear it like an icy crown. ‘Danny Nedelko’ is a simple track, characterized by distorted guitar work and repetitive drums about the universal solidarity between immigrant and citizen alike and the importance of community.
21. Fruit Salad- Tierra Whack
Tierra Whack
‘Whack World’ smashed the expectations of a traditional album format this year with Tierra Whack’s 15 track, 15 minute audiovisual spectacular. On ‘Fruit Salad’, Tierra keeps it real, reveling in the success of her self-care whilst reminding us to watch our cholesterol and and eat our veggies. Her voice sinks into her lower register, as she reassures herself of her own healthy habits and not to worry about others. Big up Tierra for making positive tunes whilst also tackling America’s obesity crisis.
22. Beauty and Essex (feat. Daniel Caesar and Unknown Mortal Orchestra)- Free Nationals
Creative Artists Agency
What a line-up on this track. The Free Nationals are best known as Anderson .Paak’s band but they have recently announced their first solo album along with this ridiculously delicious single featuring RnB superstar Daniel Caesar and psych rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I’m a sucker for a good crossover and this did not disappoint. A slow beat with punctuated Caesar’s sultry vocals makes the sexual lyrics seem warmer rather than jarringly explicit. UMO’s psychedelic influence is a slow build, understated but still entirely present, a coming together of influences that paid off wonderfully. What I’m really trying to say is that I’m looking forward to the Free Nationals solo debut and I also think we should also just put Daniel Caesar on everything. Like ranch.
23. God is a Woman- Ariana Grande
Republic
Ariana said what we all were thinking in 2018. ‘God is a Woman’ explores the relationship between empowerment, sexuality and pleasure in a track that fits comfortably into the subcategory of ‘ethereal bangers’. And let’s remind ourselves, this is pop music. This track has serious weight to it, with its spacey guitar intro, Grande’s heavenly vocals and an celestial ending of an isolated choir, you can’t help but look around you for stained glass windows. Grande plays with religious symbolism, not in attempt to reject or tarnish any of the significance of these emblems but rather to expand on the relationship between body, soul and spirituality. When asked about the controversy surrounding the use of religious imagery in both the song and the video Grande replied, fittingly;
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be myself and inspire others to do that as well. I would rather do that than play it safe”
24. Charcoal Baby- Blood Orange
domino
Blood Orange aka Dev Hynes new album ‘Negro Swan’ explored “the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of colour” among other things on a complexly introspective record. Lead single ‘Charcoal Baby’ speaks to the emotional response to the conflicting duality of blackness in a shifting world. The name of the track reflects the oxymoronic reaction to blackness in a culture characterized by structural racism whilst the lyrics give a nod to isolation and the all consuming nature of depression. Dev Hynes wastes no time blending and bending genre with ease on his personal exploration of identity in modern America.
25. Be Careful-Cardi B
Atlantic
Though the vocals leave much to be desired on the chorus, the stinging beat and candid lyrics make for a standout on Cardi B’s debut record, Invasion of Privacy. On ‘Be Careful’, she mixes anger with hurt as she spits about her lover cheating on her with women who don’t even know his middle name. This track proved even more poignant when she debuted it on SNL in the wake of her husband’s cheating scandal whilst simultaneously revealing her pregnancy (boss move).
The spirit of ‘Be Careful’s debut to the world, defiant feminine energy, is what makes the track so great. Rap can be deeply critical of the female voice and often the only time women are able to make successful records with longevity is through hypersexualisation as female rappers can sometimes alienate the predominately male fan base. But Cardi doesn’t shy away from her femininity, instead, ‘Be Careful’ dives right into the hurt, instead of tiptoeing around it.
26. Ottolenghi (feat. Jordan Rakei)- Loyle Carner
27. LIFE- Saba
28. Best Hugs-DRAM
29. Just a Stranger (feat. Steve Lacy)- Kali Uchis
30. REEL IT IN {Remix}(feat. Gucci Mane)-Amine
31. Ace (feat. Saba and Smino)- Noname
32. City Looks Pretty- Courtney Barnett
33. Location Remote- Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist
34. Pearly Gates-US Girls
35. Venice Bitch- Lana Del Rey
36. Who Hurt You- Daniel Caesar
37. Brother’s Keeper (feat. Pusha T)- Anderson .Paak
38. Flaming Hot Cheetos- Clairo
39. Bubblin- Anderson .Paak
40. Pick Up- DJ Koze
41. SUMO/ZUMO- Denzel Curry
42. Comeback Kid- Sharon Van Etten
43. The Games We Play- Pusha T
44. In My View- Young Fathers
45. Roosevelt Sykes- The Wave Pictures
46. Wide Awake-Parquet Courts
47. I Like That-Janelle Monae
48. Street Fighter Mas- Kamasi Washington
49. Forever Always (feat. Rex Orange County, Daniel Caesar, Yebba, Madison Ryann Ward, Melanie Faye and Chance the Rapper)- Peter Cottontale
50. Is- Deem Spencer | https://medium.com/@chloelouise1/the-50-best-songs-of-2018-d7aafda3b969 | [] | 2019-01-02 04:36:55.635000+00:00 | ['Pop', 'Music', 'Musicreview', 'Indie', 'Rap'] |
Review of “Nice White Parents” Podcast: Disjointed and Disillusioned | Image Source: New York Times
In six years as an urban educator, I have met exactly two white parents. Two! So I was surprised when I first heard the New York Times podcast “Nice White Parents” claim that white parents are the most powerful force shaping public schools. Created by NPR host Chana Joffe-Walt and Serial Productions, the 5-part series explores the contentious sixty-year relationship between white parents and public schools by observing a neighborhood school in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the podcast is more interested in quick soundbites than a thorough investigation into the underlying issues of disparities in urban education.
In the first episode, I.S. 293 goes into upheaval when a group of new, white parents form a separate parent organization to support a language immersion program. Tensions escalate as the seemingly well-intentioned newcomers disregard the existing PTA by diverting funds to the new program. This is not the first time that white families have tried to remake the school. In the second episode, Joffe-Walt interviews families who wanted to integrate 293 in the 60s but never enrolled. The third episode explores a segregated gifted program that develops at the school. In this overlap, the podcast suggests that the problem with urban schools seem to stem from nice white parents’ opposition to desegregation, and not the interplay of issues that the podcast conveniently dismisses, including No Child Left Behind, funding disparities, and for-profit restructuring. Nevertheless, Joffe-Walt claims, “If you want to understand why our schools are not better, that’s where you have to look. You have to look at white parents”. But what if there are simply no white parents to be found? An investigation into the absence of white parents in urban schools highlights the structural racism and neoliberalism embedded in the educational landscape that “Nice White Parents” overlooks.
Problematically, Joffe-Walt’s case-study at I.S. 293 is not reflective of the demographic landscape of large cities. The urban “fringe” in gentrified Cobble Hill, Brooklyn that Joffe-Walt portrays as normative is non-existent for miles and miles in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and so on… It’s why I have met two white parents. In “The Color of Law” Richard Rothstein outlines how explicit and de jure government policies segregated the urban landscape. Not only were African Americans barred from many communities due to racial violence but also restrictive covenants as famously portrayed in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”. Government policies including urban renewal, red-lining, and targeted public housing also set the stage for contemporary segregation. “Today’s residential segregation in the North, South, Midwest, and West” observes Rothstein, “is not the unintended consequence of individual choices of otherwise well-meaning law or regulation but of unhidden public policy that explicitly segregated every metropolitan area in the United States.” Segregation was strongly reinforced as white, middle-class families sought suburban residence with the emergence of the GI Bill and government-backed loans, both not available to African Americans. Resulting diminished property values from industry zoned in red-lined minority areas, compounded with exclusion in the workforce and universally denied mortgages, would result in a generational wealth gap that would block mobility to these well-resourced, middle-class districts replete with funding from property taxes for years to come. In this framework, it is impossible to place full responsibility on locationally absent “nice white parents” in schools without, at the very least, outlining the practices and policies that created segregation.
In 2020, access to equitable education in terms of dollars and cents is locationally-based, shaped by the racism of institutional place-making practices and property tax. Following the white-flight flight, middle-class property tax contributions lined the purses of suburban districts in outlying communities that were predominantly white. While these locational changes were a national trend, they decidedly hurt urban classrooms due to inequitable funding formulas in places like Philadelphia where Pennsylvania’s funding formula has a low state contribution. The property-based formula is why nearby Lower Merion’s total expenditure, where the median home listing price is $790,000, is almost twice that of Philadelphia. The funding gap reinforces the parallel between race and high poverty schools. Linda Darling-Hammond points out in “The Flat World and Education”, “One might wish that, in this day and time, showing such inadequacy would be sufficient to require a state remedy, but the arguments about whether money makes a difference are still hotly contested. Experts are called upon to show how sizable the effects of key school resources can be, both in relation to race and income and independently from these factors”. While I am not an educational researcher, I am convinced that if you invest in air conditioning in a ninety-degree room of thirty high schoolers in a high-poverty school, reading scores will go through the roof.
Charter schools have further defunded public schools and segregated students. Marked by the ideals of free-market idealism and capitalism, charter schools embody deregulation and often have strict and prohibitive admissions criteria (in one case, a Philadelphia charter school required parents to enroll in a golf club outside the city) that dissuade the most vulnerable students from admission, including students enrolled in special education programs and English language learners. Charters across the city and nation are known for dumping unwanted students back into district schools after pocketing the money. Don’t even get me started on their lack of fiscal transparency while using public funds, employment practices (many teachers are not certified), or punitive and racialized disciplinary measures. Nevertheless, charter schools prevail throughout the urban landscape because they present themselves as a solution to a failing system.“Indifferent to history”, writes educational historian Diane Ravitch in “Reign of Terror”, “today’s corporate reformers insist that the public schools are in an unprecedented crisis. They tell us that the children must be able to ‘escape’ their ‘failing schools’”. However, there is little empirical evidence to suggest high student achievement. Notably, charter schools are largely absent from wealthier districts since there is no need for their solutions to non-existent problems.
Time does not permit me to write about No Child Left Behind, vouchers, fallacious pedagogical shifts, community trauma, urban health disparities, growing income inequality, a neoliberal assault on the professionality of teachers, which have all affected urban schools. That’s the problem with “Nice White Parents” — while trying to prove that white parents are the cause of public school problems, giant pink elephants, giraffes, tigers, and bears (oh my!) linger idly in the background. Sure, there is a small amount of truth to the argument to what Joffe-Walt describes. Scholarship by Maia Cucchiarra in “Marketing Schools, Marketing Cities” describes how white parents similarly sought to remake an elementary school in Philadelphia. Chase Billingham’s research explores white parents in gentrifying urban neighborhoods similar to Cobble Hill. Countless scholars, notably Gary Orfield, have explored how white parents used their agency to segregate schools (though no such scholarship ever seems to frame the podcast). But the issue is larger — a tangle of historical and contemporary individuals and institutions purposefully and inadvertently maintaining racial barriers. It is these glaring gaps that make the pod-cast seem fuzzy and incomplete.
Compounded with these incongruences, there is a lurking naivety that makes “Nice White Parents” unsettling. While insinuating two white parents were opposing integration attempts in episode two, Joffe-Walt leaves a teacher’s comment that white and Asian students were “creme de la creme” unchecked. Really? Repeatedly, the pod-cast fails to make connections to contemporary racial schooling inequalities. This eclipse is seen profoundly in episode two when Joffe-Walt’s describes the physical conditions of African American community schools during the 1960s, forgoing any modern-day parallel. This omission is repeated in episode three when discussing overcrowded urban classrooms. For an urban educator that was exposed to asbestos, had rosters of 39 students, and taught in 90-degree rooms for months at a time, this oversight is infuriating. In a great twist of irony, the series’ commercial sponsor is Better Health virtual counseling. Does Serial Productions and New York Times not know that many urban schools have recently cut guidance counselor positions due to funding issues? The advertisement is another cruel reminder of the educational landscape’s structural inequality. While some commentators have noted that “Nice White Parents” does the hard work of anti-racism, I am convinced that it obscures the larger picture. Contemporary educational issues cannot be blamed on a few “nice white parents” in fringe neighborhoods — but from the multiplicity of structural and individual policies and actions that teachers embody every time they enter the classroom.“Not everything that is faced can be changed,” observed James Baldwin, “But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Here’s to hoping that the rest of the podcast episodes do not simplify the complexities into oblivion. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/review-of-nice-white-parents-podcast-disjointed-and-disillusioned-4e8cd05bc714 | ['Lydia Kulina'] | 2020-08-10 21:43:45.299000+00:00 | ['Equity', 'Racism', 'Review', 'Urbanism', 'Education'] |
Apple Making An Electric Car? I’d Buy It Tomorrow! | Apple Making An Electric Car? I’d Buy It Tomorrow!
What if Samsung thought the same thing?
Photo by Drew Willson on Unsplash
The world of automobiles will definitely not be the same in 10 years. See our sons and daughters driving cars from Apple, Samsung, LG, just to mention a few. And who would have thought that this tech giant would be willing to produce an electric car? I wonder what goes on in a car lover's mind to see that a smartphone brand decides to invest in sustainable mobility. This will indeed be revolutionary.
With money in hand I would undoubtedly buy this car the day after its launch, not only because of the brand itself but because we are seeing a new world, a new sensation in 100% where you can not only have the pleasure to drive an electric car that, by the way, driving an electric car creates dependency, but an Apple car is something just surreal. And that all other tech giants who also want to "join the party" are very welcome, a party that until then was only attended by traditional car manufacturers but now others are also welcome. This is not to mention the Sony Vision that although what was presented was a concept but it also shows what Sony plans ahead and that was exactly what she did back there with the launch of the PlayStation.
It is more than proven the fact that whoever dares, who risks, who is visionary is a step forward because the fact of failure is something that is inherent if we, is something that we cannot get rid of. Whether or not the Apple car design will work will only tell time but during the time it is presented and marketed, let us enjoy! | https://medium.com/@lucianodelima/apples-electric-car-i-d-buy-it-tomorrow-c301b66a6a10 | ['Luciano De Lima'] | 2020-12-27 15:59:52.543000+00:00 | ['Cars', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Apple', 'Sustainability', 'Electric Car'] |
Top Coding Algorithm — Sorting. Merge Sort, Bubble Sort, and Quick Sort | Top Coding Algorithm — Sorting
Merge Sort, Bubble Sort, and Quick Sort
In this post, we will go through some common sorting algorithms and implement them in python (code).
Merge Sort
Merge sort follows:
MergeSort(arr[], l, r)
If r > l
1. Find the middle point to divide the array into two halves:
middle m = (l+r)/2
2. Call mergeSort for first half:
Call mergeSort(arr, l, m)
3. Call mergeSort for second half:
Call mergeSort(arr, m+1, r)
4. Merge the two halves sorted in step 2 and 3:
Call merge(arr, l, m, r)
There are basically 2 subproblems in merge sort,
Divide the array into 2 halves Merge 2 sorted array
Question 1 is simple, let’s try to solve question 2. How to merge 2 sorted array into 1 sorted array?
Suppose we have 2 sorted array:
a = [2, 13, 32]
b = [1, 5, 11, 22]
Design an algorithm to merge them into 1 sorted array.
The problem is solved by using 3 pointers. i, j, k are pointers for left array, right array and result array.
Take the above array as example,
at the beginning, we initialise the result array as [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0] and i = j = k = 0 then at the first loop, a[0] = 2 > b[0] = 1 , so we fill the result[0] = 1 and move the pointer j of array b to the second element, meanwhile increase result index k by 1 at the second loop, a[0] = 2 < b[1] = 5 , so we fill the result[1] = 2 and move pointer i of array a to the next element, and continue to increase result index by 1 repeat the step until one of the array is exhaustive and in the end we fill the rest of result array with the left elements
Solving this problem solves half of the merge sort, next we just need to recursively imbed the code into merge sort.
The first halve, we split the array into 2 and recursively call merge sort, and the second half we merge 2 sorted array into 1.
Bubble Sort
Bubble sort works by repeated iterating through the array and swap the unordered elements.
Example:
First Pass:
( 5 1 4 2 8 ) –> ( 1 5 4 2 8 ), Here, algorithm compares the first two elements, and swaps since 5 > 1.
( 1 5 4 2 8 ) –> ( 1 4 5 2 8 ), Swap since 5 > 4
( 1 4 5 2 8 ) –> ( 1 4 2 5 8 ), Swap since 5 > 2
( 1 4 2 5 8 ) –> ( 1 4 2 5 8 ), Now, since these elements are already in order (8 > 5), algorithm does not swap them. Second Pass:
( 1 4 2 5 8 ) –> ( 1 4 2 5 8 )
( 1 4 2 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 ), Swap since 4 > 2
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
Now, the array is already sorted, but our algorithm does not know if it is completed. The algorithm needs one whole pass without any swap to know it is sorted. Third Pass:
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
So the key subproblem to solve here is:
Implement an algorithm that is able to swap unordered element pairs in an array.
This should be simple. Besides swapping, at the end of the function it also returns an indicator of whether the array is sorted or not.
Now we just need to wrap the swap in a while loop to sort an array:
Quick Sort
Quick sort follows:
Select a pivot point from the array and put elements smaller than the pivot point on its left, and elements larger than pivot point on its right. For each left and right part repeat the process until the sub-left or sub-right array has less or equal than one element.
The problem is divided into solving repeated subproblems, and the key to the subproblem is:
Implement an algorithm that selects a pivot point, and rearrange the array by the selected pivot point, where the left part is smaller than the pivot point and right part is larger than the pivot point.
Consider an array l = [5, 1, 3] , and low = 0, high = 2 , then
in the first loop, l[0] = 5 > 3 = pivot , nothing was done, l = [5, 1, 3] in the second loop, l[1] = 1 < 3 = pivot , the element 1 was swapped with the first element in the list, and l = [1, 5, 3] , and the index of smallest element was moved by 1: i = 1 in the third loop, same as the first one, nothing was done. in the end we swap the last element with the element at the index i , l[2], l[1] = l[1], l[2] , the result became l = [1, 3, 5]
Now quick sort would be to repeat the process above:
Reference
[1] https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/merge-sort/
[2] https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/bubble-sort/
[3] https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/quick-sort/ | https://meatba11.medium.com/top-coding-algorithm-sorting-afb54cc64f8a | ['Jeremy Zhang'] | 2020-05-22 02:26:46.944000+00:00 | ['Sorting Algorithms', 'Towards Data Science'] |
How Self-Care Isn’t a Trend, But a Necessity | How Self-Care Isn’t a Trend, But a Necessity
Wellness and self-care aren’t just cool and trendy social media posts but a necessity to our overall mental and physical health (especially during a global pandemic.)
Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
Navigating the world during the age of COVID-19 is odd, to say the least. All days feel exactly the same; we have inevitably lost track of time as we forget the feeling between a cheerful Friday or a dreaded Monday. Before the pandemic started, most of our lives had structure, a routine we would follow automatically every single day. We felt productive as we completed tasks in our jobs or personal lives, running errands, completing reports, finishing homework, or even making a phone call. But our reality now is far different from the one we had two months ago.
Whether we like it or not, our lives now lack structure. If we are lucky enough to be able to do our jobs remotely, we either work way too hard for unsustainably long periods of time or not work at all as we succumb to the forces of Netflix while we binge-watch an entire show in a day. Whatever your daily schedule looks like, there is likely something big missing, self-care.
Photo by Stephanie Greene on Unsplash
The term has gained popularity over the past couple of years, and while some embrace it’s meaning and importance in our day to day lives, others still quite don’t get it. The reality is, however, that self-care is not a fashionable trend inspired by the new wave of health awareness, but a necessity. We need to take care of ourselves and find a balance in our personal and professional lives to be more efficient, productive, and, most importantly, happy.
But what is it anyway?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the term self-care as “the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider¹.” The WHO also states that self-care involves “hygiene, nutrition, lifestyle, and even socioeconomic factors².” While the term is still too broadly defined, we can try to sum up self-care as the things we do to keep our bodies and our minds happy and healthy.
With all the traction the term has gained over the past couple of years, it is easy to label the act of taking care of yourself as nothing but a trend that will eventually go away. But, self-care has been linked to effects such as lower anxiety and stress levels, increased productivity, and better cognitive functions³.
Photo by Radu Florin on Unsplash
Self-Care in the Era of COVID
Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, self-care has become one of those things we need to practice but eventually forget doing.
The key to achieving excellent self-care practices is balance; between our work and our personal lives, between healthy meals and unhealthy indulgences, or even between our chores and leisure activities. However, during a pandemic where all we have to do is stay inside our homes all the time, balance is the first thing we throw out the window. There is no schedule or daily routine we have to follow anymore, so we just “wing it” all day, every day.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
So what do we do to achieve balance? How do we take care of ourselves in the middle of a health crisis?
Easy, by prioritizing and putting ourselves first.
The reason why we functioned so well before the era of social distancing is because we created a schedule that worked around the activities we had to do and the activities we wanted to do. We designed personalized time tables to be productive at certain hours of the day and to do leisure activities that gave us joy in others.
Photo by Marek Szturc on Unsplash
Getting Used to the “New Normal”
The Mayo Clinic suggests doing activities such as going for a walk, exercising regularly, eating healthy, and focusing on things you can control⁴ to better our self-care practices. While these are great tips, focusing on creating a “new normal” is what I believe will be most beneficial to our everyday lives.
Let’s face it; things are far from normal. We have to wear masks when going outside, stay six feet apart from others, and disinfect everything we touch. I get it, our lives were easier two months ago, and we all wish we could go back to the way things were. But unfortunately, there is no going back.
That’s why creating our “new normal” is essential to achieve overall wellness in our day to day lives. Try creating a new schedule that fits your new daily routine. Understand that your days and activities will look different from what they used to look like, and that’s okay.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
Self-care is something we all have to include in our everyday lives. Practicing ways where we prioritize how we feel and what we do to benefit our health make us more productive and happy human beings.
Things may seem sad and helpless during this pandemic, but they aren’t. Do activities that make your body and your mind feel happy and optimistic. Find a balance between what you have to do and what you want to do. Create a schedule that fits your lifestyle in the midst of the new normal. But most importantly, understand that taking care of yourself isn’t a cool trend like high wasted pants or tiny sunglasses, but a necessity to achieve a healthy life. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/how-self-care-isnt-a-trend-but-a-necessity-206585b2ef47 | ['Veronica Fonseca'] | 2020-06-12 15:06:01.152000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Self Care', 'Covid 19', 'Self-awareness', 'Health'] |
Sudan: ‘As a refugee, it is not easy for me to provide food for my six children’ | As mother of six children at the age of 33, she struggles to make ends meet and relies on food assistance from World Food Programme to get by. She is among nearly 36,000 refugees in the camp who receive monthly food rations from WFP that include sorghum, lentils, vegetable oil and salt, enabling them to put food on their tables.
“I am very thankful to WFP for reducing our suffering,” she says. “Without this assistance, we would not be able to stay here as we have no relatives to support us or any reliable source of income to depend on. It is this assistance that enables us to survive.”
Beneficiaries of General Food Distribution at Um Sangoor refugee camp waiting for their turn to receive food rations for the coming month. Photo: WFP/Abdulaziz Abdulmomin
The little money Susana earns as a domestic housemaid in the nearest town, she invests in the education of her children. They are living and studying in schools in Kosti, some 60km away from Um Sangoor refugee camp, due to lack of schools in the camp.
“As a refugee, it is not easy for me to provide food for my six children and pay for their education at the same time,” she says. “Fortunately, the food burden is being taken care of, thanks to WFP’s continuous support throughout.”
Susana hopes to see her children become doctors or ministers who can serve their communities and contribute to the development of South Sudan.
“I am doing all I can to see my children complete their education,” she says. “I am praying day and night for stability and security in my country so that we can return home to our farms and reunite with our beloved ones whom we greatly miss.”
Thanks to support from WFP, she has been able to persevere in spite of conflict and hardship. Despite all she has endured in her life, Susana sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
Staff of SRCS, WFP Cooperating Partner, checking refugee registration cards before assistance distribution. Photo: WFP/Abdulaziz Abdulmomin
The assistance that WFP has given her much more than just food on her plate. Without the constant worry of her family going hungry, Susana is still able to hold onto the dream of a better future for her children and strives towards that ambition.
Susana is among nearly 100 million people who receive WFP food assistance each year, many of whom, like Susana, are affected by conflict. In eight out of ten of the world’s main food crises, conflict and insecurity are among the key drivers of acute hunger. Over 60 percent of the world’s hungry live in countries affected by conflict.
Women refugees patiently waiting under a shade at a food distribution point in the camp. Photo: WFP/Abdulaziz Abdulmomin
Susana’s story is just one of many that demonstrate the link between conflict and hunger and the critical role that food assistance plays in supporting the first steps towards peace and stability.
Learn more about WFP’s work in Sudan and South Sudan | https://medium.com/world-food-programme-insight/sudan-as-a-refugee-it-is-not-easy-for-me-to-provide-food-for-my-six-children-55592b5a3efe | ['World Food Programme'] | 2020-12-08 14:37:28.106000+00:00 | ['Zero Hunger', 'World Food Programme', 'Sudan', 'Refugees', 'Wfp'] |
Gender and Geographic Origin Biases | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, BIAS, AND INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION
Gender and Geographic Origin Biases
Small Business Classification By Name
Table of Contents
1. Overview
2. Background
3. Dataset and Data Preparation
4.1 Biased Model: A Model with Gender and Name Origin Biases
4.2 Replacing Names in Training Data and at Inference Time
4.3 Augmenting Training Data with Additional Gender Information
5. Analysis
6. Conclusion
7. References
This article took a long time to prepare. Thank you to Professor Miodrag Bolic from the University of Ottawa for reviewing this article and providing valuable feedback.
1. Overview
Small business classification means looking at a business name and putting a label onto it. This is an important task within many applications where you want to treat similar clients similarly, and it is something humans do all the time. For example, take the text of a company name as your input (e.g., “Daniel’s Roofing Inc”) and predict the type of the business (e.g., “Roofer”). There are business applications for this technology. For example, take a list of invoices and group them into holiday emails. What customers are similar to each other? You could use invoice amounts as an indicator of business type, but the name of the business is probably very helpful for you to understand what the business does with you, and therefore how they are related to what you do, and how you want to message them. In this article, small business classification using only the business name is the goal.
In this article, I developed a FastText model for predicting which one of 66 business types a company falls into, based only upon the business name. We will see later on that training a machine learning model on a dataset of small business names and their business type will introduce gender and geographic origin biases.
Two approaches to removing the observed bias are explored in this article:
Replacing given names with a placeholder token. The bias in the model was reduced by hiding given names from the model, but the bias reduction caused classification performance to drop. Augmenting the training data with gender-swapped examples. For example, Bob’s Diner becomes Lisa’s Diner. Augmentation of the training data with gender-swapping samples proved less effective at bias reduction than the name hiding approach on the evaluated dataset.
2. Background
Our initial goal is to observe prediction biases related to the given name gender and geographic origin. Next, let’s work to remove the bias.
It is a common issue that a business knows the name of a small business counterparty, but does not know the archetype of the business. Small businesses present a unique challenge when performing customer segmentation, because small businesses may not be listed in databases or classification systems for large companies that include metadata such as the company type or classification code. Beyond the sales and marketing functions, customer segmentation can also be useful for customizing service delivery to clients. The type of a company can also be useful in forecasting sales, and in many other applications. The mix of various types of companies in a client list can also reveal the trends for client segments. Finally, classifying the type of a business may expose useful equity trading signals [1] [2]. The analysis of equity trading models can often include industry classification. For example, the Global Industry Classifications Standard (GICS) [3] was applied to assess trading model performance across various industries in [4] and [5].
Existing industry classification systems tend not to cover small businesses well. The criteria for inclusion in widely used industry classification systems is biased toward big businesses, and this bias seeps into training data (i.e., the names of the companies) as a bias for large entities. I imagine the bias is towards companies with high revenue and headcount. For example, a model trained on corporation names from the Russell 3000 index [6] will not be prepared properly at inference time to predict the type of business conducted at “Daniel’s Barber Shoppe”. Neither the business type (e.g., barber), nor the naming conventions (e.g., Shoppe) of small businesses are reflected in the names of larger corporations such as the members of the Russell 3000.
There are several human-curated industry classification systems including Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) [9], North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) [10], Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) [3], Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) [11], and others. One comparison of these classification schemes revealed that “the GICS advantage is consistent from year to year and is most pronounced among large firms” [12]. This further reinforces the point that these classification systems are better at categorizing large firms, rather than small businesses.
The labels within industry classification systems provide an opportunity for supervised learning. A complementary approach is to apply unsupervised learning to model the data. For example, clustering for industry classification has been applied in [13].
Measuring bias in a text classifier requires a validation dataset that is not a subset or split of the original dataset. The second dataset is required because without it, the testing and training data will likely contain the same data distribution, hiding bias from the assessment [14]. The purpose of the second dataset is to evaluate the classifier in out-of-distribution conditions it was not specifically trained for.
Gender bias in word embedding models could be reduced by augmenting the training data with gender-swapping samples [15], fine-tuning bias with a larger less biased dataset [16] or by other weight adjustment techniques [17], or removing gender-specific factors from the model [18]. Applying several of these techniques in combination may yield the best results [16]. In this work, augmenting training with gender-swapping samples, and hiding gender-specific factors from the model were evaluated.
Machine learning models are typically assessed using a top-k (also called top-n) accuracy, to show how precision and recall are affected by the specificity of the response [19]. In top-1 evaluation, an inference is counted as correct only if the highest probability label in the model output matches the true label. Similarly, in top-2 evaluation, an inference is counted as correct if either of the 2 highest probability labels in the model output matches the true label. The looser constraint typically leads to higher recall and poorer precision.
There is a potential downside to training a model to predict the type of a small business based upon the name of the business alone: introducing bias. Small business names often include gendered and geographically localized given names. This can lead a model to start associating given names with business types, which can lead to regulatory fines against corporations for discrimination. For example, without adjusting for this bias, a trained model may classify Daniel’s Gems as a Jeweller while classifying Sandy’s Gems as a Homecraft store. Further complicating matters, out-of-vocabulary names may also be biased by confusing the classifier into picking the wrong label, or by leading to a label associated with a name-based geographic stereotype.
Having motivated the need for an unbiased model that predicts the type of a small business from the name of the business, the approach to developing such a machine learning model is now presented.
The granularity of a model’s predictions affects the observed performance. Specifically, consider that using a random number generator to classify a small business into one of two general categories has a 50% chance of correctly classifying, whereas the same random number generator has a 1% chance of classifying a company into one of 100 more detailed categories. Clearly, the statistical penalty for specificity justifies making a general and a specific prediction from a small business classification model. For this reason, the model presented in this work outputs a high-level prediction regarding the overall business type, along with a more specific prediction regarding the exact small business type.
3. Dataset and Data Preparation
The small business classification labels used in this article were from the city of Vancouver’s Licence Bylaw 4450 [7]. The dataset used for model development was from the city’s open data website [8]. This dataset includes a variety of small businesses more suitable for small business classification than the commonly used industry classification systems.
The labels within the high-level small business type prediction are B2C, B2B, PUB, and B2BC. B2C stands for business to consumer, and so B2C companies sell to the consumer. Similarly, B2B companies sell to other companies on a business to business basis. B2BC companies sell to both business and consumers, and PUB is composed of government entities that are involved in delivering public services (e.g., schools, associations, and government entities). There is a mapping from the classes within the city of Vancouver’s Licence Bylaw 4450 [7] to the 4 aforementioned high-level categories, as explained in later sections of this work.
A manual data audit of a sample from the dataset revealed that about 30% of the labels are difficult for me (a human) to predict. Table 1 below shows a representative sample of 20 records, revealing some of the limits on model prediction performance. Clearly, small business type classification is challenging when the only information available is the company name. Some company names involve a one-of-a-kind play on words, street addresses, or are not descriptive. Others are either overly generic or overly specific. What is a reasonable performance expectation for this task? There are unsolvable edge cases and the usefulness of the classifier (is it good enough to apply as a customer segmentation signal) is subjective. The results are also very sensitive to the dataset used to train the machine learning model. In this article, I will report the results I observed, and leave it up to you to decide the qualitative acceptance criteria if you try to incorporate this stuff into your own work.
Table 1: Processed random sample from the company names dataset, indicating that some labels are difficult to correctly predict better than chance, even for humans.
The dataset preparation began with clarifying the business name and type for each business in the dataset. To select the most descriptive name from the BusinessName and BusinessTradeName fields in the dataset, the BusinessTradeName was used as the business name unless that field was blank, in which case the BusinessName field was used as the business name. Next, business names beginning and ending with round braces (indicating the name of the business is a person’s name) were removed from the dataset. The business type was extracted from the BusinessType field of the dataset. Next, duplicates from the set of business name and type pairs were dropped. These duplicates may exist because of events such as license renewals. Next, items with low-frequency business type labels were dropped from the dataset. Specifically, labels with less than 100 samples were dropped.
The general category “Office” in the dataset was dropped from the dataset as it was not descriptive for the purposes of building a business name classification model and seems to be a catchall. It may not be good practice to do this as there may be sneaky examples in that category, but on we go.
Similar categories were merged into broader class labels when the business names within the original categories were deemed too similar to separate. Specifically, several labels from the real-estate sector (Apartment House, Pre-1956 Dwelling, Non-profit Housing, Apartment House Strata, Secondary Suite — Permanent, Multiple Dwelling, Duplex, and One-Family Dwelling) were replaced with the general label Residential/Commercial. The labels Temp Liquor Licence Amendment, Liquor Establishment Standard, Liquor Establishment Extended, Liquor License Application, and Liquor Retail Store were replaced with the more general label Liquor Establishment. Items in the category U-Brew/U-Vin were merged with the Liquor Equipment class label. The three labels Laundry-Coin Operated Services, Laundry Depot, and Laundry (w/equipment) were replaced with the more general label Laundry. The labels Ltd Service Food Establishment, Restaurant Class 1, and Restaurant Class 2 were replaced with the more general label Restaurant. Labels Short-Term Rental, and Motel were combined with the category Hotel. Contractor — Special Trades was combined with the category Contractor. Although not all business and trade schools are private schools, the labels School (Business & Trade) were merged into the category School (Private), as the names were similar in both categories. Finally, The label Artist Live/Work Studio was merged into the category Studio.
Having completed the pre-processing, the 66 business types tracked in the dataset are presented in Table 2 below, along with the number of samples per label.
Table 2: Business types and their sample counts after data pre-processing
Table 3: High-level business types, their sample counts, and the business types mapped to each high-level class after data pre-processing. A sample imbalance between the classes can be observed.
I didn’t clean up the code for this project, but I assume it will help you to have a look at some of the code I wrote to make this article. You can click here to see a gist of a lot of the stuff I used to wrangle the dataset, train models, and so forth.
4.1 Biased Model: A Model with Gender and Name Origin Biases
After the pre-processing described above, a FastText supervised learning model was trained on the dataset with a random weight initialization [20]. A hyperparameter search of learning rates and the number of training iterations resulted in the selection of 6 training iterations as the early stopping point, and a learning rate of 0.2 being selected. The embedding dimension width of the model was 100 dimensions, and the window size was set to 5. Model performance is recorded in Table 4 below, along with some spoilers for the next 2 sections.
Table 4: Classification performance report. Results here tell us if the classifier works, but not if the classifier is biased. μ is the mean, and σ is the standard deviation. These results were an average of 10 training and testing runs (testing n=7,087). Predictions involving all 66 classes were assessed for top-1 and top-2 performance, whereas only top-1 performance is reported when predicting one of the four high-level labels.
This initial model was trained on business names from one geographic part of the world (Western Canada). The dataset included a variety of local given names and family names in the business name training data. The dataset is from an English language speaking province. These factors represent a strong potential for classification bias based upon the gender of a given name within a business name, and the geographic origin of names within business names.
We want to assess when the model changes it’s mind based only on something biased, like the gender associated with a name. Looking at Table 6, two approaches were applied to assess model bias. In the first approach, the model was assessed by constructing out-of-distribution data composed of a randomly selected given name followed by a random dictionary word with the first letter capitalized. For example, “Olivia’s Mirror” vs “Noah’s Mirror”. In the second approach, text from the model’s testing dataset (data held back from the model training) was appended to a randomly selected person’s name. For example, “Daniel’s Bob’s Grocery Store”. In order to examine bias within the model, the generation process controlled for the gender and geographic origin of the person’s name for both of these approaches. The lists of names by gender and geographic origin that were used for testing are shown in Table 5 below.
Table 5: Lists of names used for model evaluation
We noted earlier that this is a challenging dataset where a human (me) has trouble with at least 30% of the sampled data. We can see in Table 4 that the top-2 predictions for this initial model are okay, at about 73% chance that a given business type was labeled correctly out of 66 categories (recall), and a 36% chance that a label applied was the right one (precision). But we also see in Table 6 in the column for “Initial Model” that the model is pretty biased, with anywhere from 1% to 10%, or a high as 19% bias, depending on how you measure. In the next couple of sections, we try to remove those biases from the model.
4.2 Replacing Names in Training Data and at Inference Time
To address the identified biases in the initial model, the training data was further processed to replace given names from within the company names dataset with a particular string we call a token. The key insight with this approach is that instead of trying to learn about out-of-distribution “foreign” names or gendered names, the model can learn less about local given names and their related gender. The given name replacement task was first attempted using spaCy’s named entity recognition capability [23], but ultimately a dictionary-based approach proved more effective for the dataset in question. To obtain the results reported in this work, a long list of male and female names was obtained from a python library [24], which in turn obtained the name list from the 1990 U.S. Census [25]. One issue with removing all names from the business name is that a business name may be deleted if the full name of the business is a name, causing classification to fail. For example, the name “Denny’s” simply disappears into a blank string because “Denny” is also a given name. Another case where this issue arises is businesses registered as a person’s name e.g., “John Smith’’. A standardized string was used to represent the replaced name. Specifically, the character “_” was used as the replacement token.
After this additional pre-processing, a new FastText supervised learning model was trained on the dataset. A hyperparameter search of learning rates and number of training iterations resulted in the selection of 6 training iterations as the early stopping point, and a learning rate of 0.2 being selected. The embedding dimension width of the model was 100 dimensions, and the window size was set to 5. The performance of this model is recorded in Table 4 above.
The observed drop of approximately 4% in top-1 precision and recall relative to the original model is an understandable outcome of removing bias within the dataset which was providing signal for classification. This drop indicates that perhaps some classification performance was originating in name-based biases.
4.3 Augmenting Training Data with Additional Gender Information
A second method for addressing the identified biases in the initial model is to augment the training data with gender-swapped copies of the text. For example, the business name “Alice and Associates Plumbing Ltd” with the label Plumber can be observed as containing a given name within the aforementioned list of female given names, and a new training record with the label Plumber can be added to the dataset: “Bob and Associates Plumbing Ltd”. Similarly, training records containing male given names can be augmented with a gender-swapped version. The intuition is that a balance of gender information per label could cancel out gender bias for each label.
After the training data augmentation, a new FastText supervised learning model was trained on the dataset. A hyperparameter search of learning rates and the number of training iterations resulted in the selection of 6 training iterations as the early stopping point, and a learning rate of 0.2 being selected. The embedding dimension width of the model was 100 dimensions, and the window size was set to 5. The model performance is recorded in Table 4 above.
Table 6: Model Bias Evaluation: Prediction disagreements based upon gender and geographic origin of given names. μ is the mean, and σ is the standard deviation. For the rows of Approach 1, 10,000 samples were compared to 10,000 other samples. For the rows of Approach 2, 7,087 samples were compared to 7,087 other samples using the model training data as a basis. Note: To focus on large-scale bias, imbalances of less than 5 samples within a class were not considered. Each prediction was one of 66 possible labels.
5. Analysis
Observe in Table 6 that as expected, the model evaluation on the out-of-distribution data (Approach 1) revealed a much higher bias than observed when testing on the within-distribution dataset (Approach 2). The approach to replace names with a fixed string during training and inference resulted in the elimination of bias in the out-of-distribution test. Specifically, in Approach 1 the classification imbalance per class dropped from 11.35% (σ = 2.23%) to 0.01% (σ = 0.00%). Regarding the results on the test data held back from the model training, observe that the bias dropped from 1.54% (σ = 0.08%) down to about a third, at 0.47% (σ = 0.06%). And so we can see that there was a significant drop in bias for both evaluation approaches we tried out in this article.
Surprisingly, augmentation of the training data with gender-swapping samples worked in [15], but was not as effective on the dataset studied in this work. The out-of-distribution bias results (Approach 1) were 3.32% (σ = 0.01%), which is significantly lower than the original model. However, the results were not as strong as the name replacement approach, and came at the expense of lower model performance and a worse imbalance on the test data from the company names dataset 1.90% (σ = 0.19).
Model stability was an issue with both the bias reduction approaches. The models were sensitive to very small changes. For example, models were sensitive to the capitalization of words in the business name such that “Bob’s Plumbing” was classified as Plumber, while “Bob’s plumbing” was classified as Restaurant. This sensitivity was a major factor in the classification disagreements between the samples fed to the models. For example, in the name replacement model, the input samples “Aria Lodge & Associates _ Ltd” and “_ Lodge & Associates _ Ltd” resulted in different class predictions, even though the text only differs by a few characters.
Note that although the results imply that replacing names somehow perfectly replaces all names in the training and testing data, this is not the case. The predictions do converge to result in very low classification disagreement based upon given names, but the dataset itself still includes several names that were not picked up by the 1990 U.S. Census names list. For example, the name Aria from the Canadian Female names list, and the name Ximena from the Mexican Female names list were both not removed by the name replacement approach. Furthermore, many names within the dataset such as Ho and Fraser were not removed. This observation implies that removing most given names from the training data was sufficient to address most of the problems. Also, there were scenarios where a token within the text was incorrectly replaced, deleting some information that could have been used for classification. For example, the business name “Lodge & Associates Investigations Ltd” lost the word “Investigations” because it has a substring “In” that matches a name in the names list. Removing this one case (“In”) from the names list did not improve model performance significantly, and so there is likely a collection of such name replacement precision and recall improvements that collectively would improve the model’s overall precision and recall. This additional direction for improvement is left as future work. Don’t you love it when a book says “this is left as an exercise for the reader”? This really means I have the idea but didn’t take the time to program the idea and test it.
6. Conclusion
A small business type classifier was developed in this article, and gender and geographic origin biases were observed in the model. Although the bias in the model was reduced by hiding given names from the model, this was accomplished at the expense of model performance. Augmentation of the training data with gender-swapping samples was less effective than the name hiding approach. In a full-on project, the precision and recall of the name hiding approach could probably be improved a lot. In the next article I write on this topic, I plan to look at an sk-learn pipeline for text classification, and removing bias using feature selection.
If you liked this article, then have a look at some of my most read past articles, like “How to Price an AI Project” and “How to Hire an AI Consultant.” And hey, join the newsletter!
Until next time!
-Daniel
Lemay.ai
[email protected]
7. References
[1] Lamponi, D.: Is Industry Classification Useful to Predict US Stock Price Co-Movements? The Journal of Wealth Management17(1) (2014) 71–77
[2] Kakushadze, Z., Yu, W.: Open source fundamental industry classification. Data2(2) (2017) 20
[3] Barra, M.: Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). Technical report, Standard & Poor’s (2009)
[4] Fischer, T., Krauss, C.: Deep learning with long short-term memory networks for financial market predictions. European Journal of Operational Research270(2)(2018) 654–669
[5] Brofos, J.: Ensemble committees for stock return classification and prediction(2014)
[6] Russell Indexes: Russell 3000® Index
[7] City of Vancouver: City of Vancouver British Columbia license by-law no. 4450(2019) https://bylaws.vancouver.ca/4450c.PDF.
[8] City of Vancouver: Business licences — city of Vancouver open data portal (2019) https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/business-licences/information/?disjunctive.statusdisjunctive.businesssubtype.
[9] UK Crown: Standard industrial classification of economic activities (SIC) (2018) Accessed on 12.25.2019 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-industrial-classification-of-economic-activities-sic.
[10] United States: North American Industry Classification System. Standard, Executive Office of The President — Office of Management and Budget (2017)
[11] FTSE Russell: Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) Accessed on 12.26.2019 https://www.ftserussell.com/data/industry-classification-benchmark-icb.
[12] Bhojraj, S., Lee, C.M., Oler, D.K.: What’s my line? A comparison of industry classification schemes for capital market research. Journal of Accounting Research 41(5) (2003) 745–774
[13] Kakushadze, Z., Yu, W.: Statistical industry classification. Journal of Risk & Control 3(1) (2016) 17–65
[14] Dixon, L., Li, J., Sorensen, J., Thain, N., Vasserman, L.: Measuring and mitigating unintended bias in text classification. In: Proceedings of the 2018 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, ACM (2018) 67–73
[15] Zhao, J., Wang, T., Yatskar, M., Ordonez, V., Chang, K.W.: Gender bias in coreference resolution: Evaluation and debiasing methods.arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.06876 (2018)
[16] Park, J.H., Shin, J., Fung, P.: Reducing gender bias in abusive language detection.arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.07231 (2018)
[17] Jiang, H., Nachum, O.: Identifying and correcting label bias in machine learning.arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.04966 (2019)
[18] Bolukbasi, T., Chang, K.W., Zou, J.Y., Saligrama, V., Kalai, A.T.: Man is to computer programmer as woman is to homemaker? Debiasing word embedding. In: Advances in neural information processing systems. (2016) 4349–4357
[19] KAMATH, U.L., WHITAKER, J.: DEEP LEARNING FOR NLP AND SPEECH RECOGNITION. Springer (2019)
[20] Joulin, A., Grave, E., Bojanowski, P., Mikolov, T.: Bag of tricks for efficient text classification. arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.01759 (2016)
[21] BabyCenter, L.L.C.: Canada’s most popular names of 2017: Top 20 and trends (2018) Accessed on 12.24.2019 https://www.babycenter.ca/a25024668/canadas-most-popular-names-of-2017-top-20-and-trends.
[22] BabyCenter, L.L.C.: Los nombre m ́as comunes para beb ́es en el 2015 (2015)Accessed on 12.24.2019 via web archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160611202700/http://vidayestilo.terra.com.mx/mujer/los-nombre-mas-comunes-para-bebes-en-el-2015,878794be54caa410VgnVCM10000098cceb0aRCRD.html.
[23] Honnibal, M., Montani, I.: spaCy 2: Natural language understanding with Bloom embeddings, convolutional neural networks and incremental parsing. To appear (2017)
[24] Hunner, T., Visser, S.: Random name generator Accessed on 12.25.2019 https://github.com/treyhunner/names.
[25] census.gov: Frequently occurring surnames from census 1990 — names files (September 2014) Accessed on 12.26.2019 https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/1990census/1990censusnamefiles.html. | https://towardsdatascience.com/gender-and-geographic-origin-biases-812a524b19ec | ['Daniel Shapiro'] | 2020-06-14 19:35:49.856000+00:00 | ['Bias', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Towards Data Science', 'NLP'] |
Brett Kavanaugh Did the Unthinkable | On the big three national news sites, ‘Kavanaugh’ is by far the most popular word. On CNN and MSNBC, the other top terms besides ‘trump’ are ‘ford’, ‘accuser’, and ‘brett’ — all words related to the sexual assault scandal surrounding the Supreme Court nominee.
Other media outlets also seem to be focussed on the Kavanaugh scandal.
This one story has sucked up all the oxygen on certain media sites. On MSNBC for instance, a full 30% of news headlines have the word ‘Kavanaugh’ in them.
Taken from News Headlines Sept 19 — Sept 27, 2018
Media Patterns that don’t involve “Kavanaugh”
If we take a look at the news through all of September instead of just the past week, we get a slightly broader view of the stories that people care about. Here are a few other observations that jump out from the data.
Location Matters
You can get a sense of the audience that a paper is targeting by looking at what words they use the most. For the LA Times, stories about ‘California’ and the ‘Dodgers’ are almost as popular as the Kavanaugh scandal. For the Boston Globe, the word ‘Boston’ reigns supreme. USA Today has a national focus and does lots of general interest stories (eg: “Best and worst car brands of 2018”), so terms like ‘Amazon’ and ‘Best’ are more popular thant ‘Trump’ and ‘Kavanaugh’ | https://michaeltauberg.medium.com/brett-kavanaugh-did-the-unthinkable-8bdc20097ba9 | ['Michael Tauberg'] | 2018-10-09 00:55:55.412000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'News', 'Trump', 'Media', 'Data Science'] |
Our CEO & Co-Founder Roi Speaks on a Panel in De/Centralize Singapore 2018 | Hello Airblocers! We are proud to announce that our CEO & founder Roi Nam (Sungpil Nam) speaks on a panel in De/Centralize Singapore 2018.
The event is held for two days on 5-6 April 2018 at Level 4, Orchid Ballroom, Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore. You can check out the details on the official website.
Other panels on the same session include Chirdeep Singh, a Founder of Ocean and Mike Davie, a CEO & Founder of DataStreamX.
It’s noteworthy to say that Ocean protocol and Airbloc share many things in common. Ocean is renowned for its distinctive and clear technical white paper regarding how to deal with big data on/off chain and build an efficient and practical network for data trading & exchange. For them the data collected or provided is used for AI research and for us it’s used for efficient digital advertising, but both projects focus on data trading & exchange between certain entities.
Via this chance our team hopes to take a deeper dive into the world of big data trading & exchange networks based on blockchain technology.
Also with our special code “AIRBLOC15”, you will be able to get 15% discount from the original ticket price. Please check out the event registration url!
Let’s hope he can well explain our network and bring Airbloc to the world! | https://medium.com/airbloc/our-ceo-founder-roi-speaks-on-a-panel-in-de-centralize-singapore-2018-2e8e07baf58c | ['Sungpil Nam'] | 2018-04-30 08:05:51.751000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'ICO', 'Airbloc', 'News', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Jay Leno’s EcoJet Is An Interesting Car | Back at the 2006 SEMA Show in Las Vegas everyone was floored to see a dramatic-looking, mid-mounted, jet turbine-powered hypercar created by a collaboration between Jay Leno and General Motors. It was a crazy thing that a celebrity who’s known to be car crazy got together with one of the largest automakers in the world to churn out such a concept car. It generated plenty of buzz and hype because it was so unbelievably wild.
image credit: YouTube
Funny enough, the EcoJet started off as a sketch the comedian made on a napkin. According to Leno, he’d always fantasized about designing a turbine-powered car. The guy grew up with the jet age concept cars, some of which featured rocket or turbine engines, so it’s not hard to theorize where that desire came from. Funny enough, GM was at the forefront of such fanciful designs back in the day, so the EcoJet helped bring that full circle.
Mounted behind the driver and passenger seats is a Honeywell LT-101 turbine engine, which produces 650-horsepower. Yes, we were hoping for about twice that if not more, so that figure is pretty underwhelming for something so extreme.
image credit: YouTube
However, the car’s structure is fairly lightweight. It uses a Corvette Z06 frame which has been modified with aluminum and magnesium elements. Over that is a carbon-fiber over Kevlar body. For reasons which don’t seem to be fully answered, the EcoJet has burned through clutches, brakes, and torque converters, so development of the vehicle has been full of headaches for Leno’s crew and it’s lasted for years.
While the “jet” portion of the name is pretty obvious, it’s the “eco” portion that might seem confusing. This isn’t an electric car, but it does run on bio-dieselfuel. That means the fuel comes from a renewable source, something bio-diesel proponents are willing to explain to you for as long as you’ll listen.
image credit: YouTube
Keep in mind that while the EcoJet was under development, the big “green” car at the time was the Toyota Prius. Known for being quiet, slow, and pretty boring, it’s obvious Leno wanted to go in the opposite direction and show you could be environmentally-friendly while having a good time.
Speaking of being a friend to the environment, Leno was a pioneer of vegan interior design for cars. That’s right, there’s zero leather but instead Alcantara, which has become quite popular in high-end vehicles. The paint on the body is also eco-oriented, having been sourced from Glasurit’s 9 Line Waterborne Technology lines for fewer emissions during the application process.
Back in 2016 Leno made headlines when he took Neil DeGrasse Tyson for a wild ride in his EcoJet. Not only was it one of the big events for the season finale of Jay Leno’s Garage, during the high-speed run on an airstrip runway the driver’s window blew out. Sadly, during that run, the car only hit 165 mph. You’d think with all the hype it would’ve easily eclipsed 200 or maybe even 220 mph.
image credit: YouTube
Some people have ridiculously tried to tout Leno’s EcoJet as a pattern for a viable, eco-friendly car even though Leno himself has said it’s not a pattern for a production vehicle. We understand the enthusiasm for renewable energy, but jet engines aren’t exactly practical to put in road-going vehicles. With newer technologies available in today’s cars, it seems this design has been shown to be ambitious but ultimately flawed.
Keep in mind the EcoJet was created back when GM was still flying high with 5 more brands than it has under its umbrella today. This hypercar pretty much sums up what the auto giant was about back then: plenty of bravado, loads of excess, optimism to the max, mountains of marketing hype, disappointing follow-through. We wish it weren’t so, but GM has repeated this awful cycle so many times, both before and after its infamous bankruptcy and government bailout. | https://medium.com/motorious/jay-lenos-ecojet-is-an-interesting-car-20fdedeaeb3f | ['Sam Maven'] | 2020-12-30 21:15:03.985000+00:00 | ['Modern Classic', 'Features', 'American', 'Celebrity', 'Sports'] |
Have we any empathy? | As October slowly comes to an end, we can most certainly say that there is a lot more to “dignity” in mental health than what we once thought. Whether it’s through the way we physically respond to sufferers, or the way we differentiate between those in society, the most important thing that has been highlighted this month is that Allah has created us with dignity, and that gives us every right to remain dignified. Regardless of our mental and physical state. We’ve established the meaning of dignity, we’ve discovered the relationship between dignity and mental health, and last week we focused on the importance of treating those with mental health problems with dignity — but how do we do this?
It may seem self-explanatory, i.e. in order to help someone with a mental health problem, with dignity, you have to listen, give them time, be kind, and be patient etc, but that’s all a little bit cliché, isn’t it? It’s actually a little bit more complex than what we think. How often do we listen, give time, etc but in the back of our minds we’re still thinking, “Is this true? Does this even exist? Why don’t I experience it? Get real!”. These thoughts don’t just stay in the back of our minds either, they somehow creep their way to our faces and our expressions say it all. Our dipped eyebrows, tight lips and overly concerned eyes no longer have their sincerity, and it becomes obvious to the one receiving our “attention”. This doesn’t apply to everyone, of course. These thoughts might not occur because of culture, tradition and ignorance — rather because, we’ve lost a very important human character trait. We’ve lost empathy. We don’t have the ability to empathise, but we are pro’s to sympathise.
Just think for a second, when you’re going through a really rough time, and you’re sick of people looking at you differently and making you feel like an alien, would you want someone to feel sorry for you, or someone that attempts to share and understand your pain? We’ve hit the nail on the head. Respecting and honouring someone’s dignity is not achieved through “oh, you must be having a really hard time. Better days are to come”, it’s succeeded through, “I can only imagine what you’re going through, but I can see that it’s hard. I’ll never understand truly what it feels like, but it must be suffocating, right?”. Instead of burying someone with artificial ‘positivity’ and ‘optimism’, be real with them, I’m sure they would appreciate someone that is willing to take baby steps with them instead of sprinting ahead while they slug behind. There is also another classic approach, the prying, the constant questions, and the unnecessary checking up on. Does it even make sense to interrupt a person who has been longing to get something off their chest with “so, like… what does it feel like?”, or “man, are you sure you’re okay? You know, you don’t have to carry on, but are you okay?”, and the favourite, “so, when did this happen? Is that when this happened? Or did it happen because of this?” — just chill! Let the person come out with it all, then carefully think about your questions, don’t overwhelm someone who is already overwhelmed with their own questions and distorted thoughts. Remember, you’re not the one that is asking for help — hence why empathy is so important.
From my own experiences and observations, there is this ‘unofficial’ script that is said robotically to anyone who simply wants to talk, who simply wants a pair of real ears that are actually hearing what is being said rather than listening out for key words to match for a response, and the chances are, that person just wants someone to hear their silent screams. Any good doctor will tell you that even if someone receives counselling, advising, medication, social support and the best of every service out there — without dignity, respect and empathy, they are truly meaningless. As a basic human need, we want to be understood — so why is it so difficult to make that attempt with someone who has a mental health problem?
Having a mental health problem does not take away your dignity, your respect or honour. You deserve to be understood, cared for and apart of society as much as anyone else. Having a mental health problem does not take away your dignity, your respect or honour. It only adds substance to which you really are, the survivor that you are. Having a mental health problem does not take away your dignity, your respect or honour; but it makes you noble, inspirational and strong.
As always, keep your goal in focus. No matter how foggy it gets, just remember your ultimate goal. | https://medium.com/inspirited-minds/have-we-any-empathy-4245afc5cdeb | ['Inspirited Minds'] | 2015-12-06 00:26:56.999000+00:00 | ['Islam', 'Mental Health', 'Dignity'] |
16 Eye-Popping Statistics You Need to Know About Visual Content Marketing | Visual content marketing is one big trend you need to embrace. And for good reason.
One marketing trend that’s impossible to ignore is the growing power and value of visual content. Just look at four of the fastest-growing social networks: Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr.
The way people — especially younger people — are consuming content is radically changing. If what people consume in just one minute online is any indicator, consumers are connecting to, searching for, watching, creating, downloading, and shopping for content more than ever. As a marketer, you must adapt your content marketing strategy to remain relevant.
Visual content increases message association, brand awareness, and engagement — and enhances the overall design of your website, as detailed in this Inc. article.
Photos, infographics, memes, illustrations, and videos are just a few forms of visual content that are having a huge impact on the way people consume information. All of these visual assets will only continue to grow in importance over the next few years.
Just look at these 11 eye-popping statistics on how content and technology are changing humans (as compiled in an infographic from WebDAM, below):
The average person gets distracted in eight seconds, though a mere 2.8 seconds is enough to distract some people.
81 percent of people only skim the content they read online. (Usability expert Jakob Nielsen has written that the average user reads at most 20 to 28 percent of words during an average visit.)
People form a first impression in a mere 50 milliseconds.
An estimated 84 percent of communications will be visual by 2018.
An estimated 79 percent of internet traffic will be video content by 2018.
Posts that include images produce 650 percent higher engagement than text-only posts.
People are 85 percent more likely to buy a product after viewing a product video.
Posts with videos attract 3X more links than text-only posts.
Tumblr’s active user base has grown by 120 percent.
Pinterest’s active user base has grown by 111 percent.
Instagram’s active user base has grown by 64 percent.
Here’s the full infographic for your visual consumption.
But that’s only the tip of the visual content iceberg. Here are five bonus eye-opening statistics on visual content marketing for Facebook and Twitter you need to know:
The number of videos appearing in Facebook’s news feed has increased 3.6X,Facebook reported.
Facebook posts from brands that included images earned 87 percent of all engagements, eMarketer reported.
Tweets with images earned up to 18 percent more clicks, 89 percent more favorites, and 150 percent more retweets, Buffer reported.
Bottom line: Visuals are memorable and effective, because they help people process, understand, and retain more information more quickly.
Are you creating stunning visuals or including videos on your website and in your advertising?
Originally published on Inc.com
About The Author
Larry Kim is the CEO of Mobile Monkey and founder of WordStream. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. | https://medium.com/marketing-and-entrepreneurship/16-eye-popping-statistics-you-need-to-know-about-visual-content-marketing-15fdc6ffa6f7 | ['Larry Kim'] | 2017-04-30 16:22:50.728000+00:00 | ['Branding', 'Social Media', 'Marketing', 'Content Marketing', 'Data Visualization'] |
Variables Naming Saves Lives | Let’s take a closer look at variable naming
I recently got put onto a project with code from another dev house.
The problem I have with the code isn’t the fact that it’s from another dev house. It’s usually got to do with the fact that the processes, testing, variable naming etc… are completely different, or non-existent.
In my case it was quite clear that they had no processes or standards in place. Obviously there were no tests either. Needless to say there have been points where I was completely overwhelmed.
Fortunately I happened upon this talk by Martin Fowler (which I really enjoyed and think is definitely worth watching), where he goes into his ideas on refactoring. He reminded me that small incremental changes go a long way in improving code.
I would now like to take you through the process I went through of refactoring code by simply changing variable names. This will hopefully show you how changing variable names can be a game changer (and save lives by reducing cardiac arrest cases :P)
Okay, so below is the blob of code that was left behind.
Cardiac arrest waiting to happen
WTF.
Yeah that was my thought too. Where do I even begin? At the beginning of course — Line 1:
Object.keys(data).sort().map((item, key) => {
So we’re taking an object called data (WTF IS DATA?), sorting it and mapping over each of its keys (which has been called item — WTF IS ITEM?).
I hate the word data in this case because it is not apparent what this data is. This becomes doubly worse when you use item because now you don’t know anything about two variables.
Hence I did what I think everyone should do and renamed data and item into more relevant names:
Object.keys(productionDays)
.sort()
.map((productionDay) => {
It turned out that data was in fact all the days of a production, hence productionDays. It therefore makes sense to call an item of productionDays a productionDay. I removed the key because it wasn’t actually necessary. (I find that moving the different functions into different lines also really improves the readability of code as is the case in the above — usually a linter will do this for you automatically, which is something I highly recommend).
Now that we actually know what the context is that we are working in we can march forward!
Line 2:
const grouped = {};
Grouped by what? What is this a grouping of? Who falls into this group? So many questions so little time.
Refactor:
const groupCastMembersByRoleType = {}
Makes more sense right? Especially considering we are dealing with a production.
Line 3:
data[item].map(item => {
Here we are looking at the:
The data object, Finding an object in data that has a key of item Mapping over that object using the name item
So you have an item of an item. Makes TOTAL SENSE!?
Refactor:
productionDays[productionDay].map((castMember) => {
Here we are looking at the:
productionDays object We are finding a productionDay in productionDays Mapping over a productionDay using the name castMember
You now have a castMember of a productionDay. Makes a bit more sense right?
Line 4:
if (typeof grouped[item.type] === 'undefined') {
We now have a conditional where we assess whether grouped[item.type] is undefined. I don’t know about you but I have no idea what this conditional is trying to check just by looking at it. This for me is an issue.
Refactor:
if (
typeof groupCastMembersByRoleType[castMember.type] === 'undefined' ) {
I don’t think this is a brilliant piece of work, but I do feel that you have a bit more context of what this is actually trying to check. If the grouping of cast members by role type contains a castMember type that doesn’t exist then do …
Moving along to what the conditional should execute on true.
Line 5–9:
{
grouped[item.type] = {
name: item.type,
members: [item]
};
}
Grouped suddenly has names and members —LOGICAL!?
Refactor:
{
groupCastMembersByRoleType[castMember.type] = {
roleType: castMember.type,
castMembers: [castMember],
}
}
If conditional evaluates to true, we now assign to the grouping of cast members by role type a role type (which is the castMember type) and cast members which is an array that takes in a cast member. Like I said earlier not the best but a lot more descriptive in my opinion.
For the next one I’m gonna just let you compare the two:
}
else {
grouped[item.type].members.push(item);
}
});
Refactor:
}
else {
groupCastMembersByRoleType[castMember.type].castMembers.push(
castMember,
)
}
})
Finally, let’s compare the returns:
return ({
key: key + 1,
name: item,
roles: Object.keys(grouped).map(key => ({
name: grouped[key].name,
members: grouped[key].members.map(member => ({
role: member.role,
company: member.company,
name: member.name,
number: member.number,
email: member.email,
description: member.description,
}))
}))
});
We’re returning
key (which we remove because it isn’t actually used anywhere — go figure) name — but we’re not really sure what this is because item!? roles — finally we get an inkling of what this is actually for
Refactor:
return {
name: productionDay,
roleTypes: Object.keys(groupCastMembersByRoleType).map(
(roleType) => ({
roleType: groupCastMembersByRoleType[roleType].roleType,
castMembers:
groupCastMembersByRoleType[roleType].castMembers.map(
(member) => ({
role: member.role,
company: member.company,
name: member.name,
number: member.number,
email: member.email,
description: member.description,
}),
),
}),
),
}
We eventually figured out that we want to return an object that has a name and roleTypes. Where name is the name of the the productionDay and the roleTypes is an array of cast members grouped by their role type.
Hence the point of this function is to take all the cast members in a production, group them into a production day which will itself contain the cast members grouped by their specific role type. This is the power of variable names!
AND HERE IS THE FINAL PRODUCT!
I survive to fight another day (my heart is grateful :P).
I hope you learned something from this exercise, here’s my list of learnings:
1. Don’t use item or data unless it’s explicit what these things represent
2. Intuitive variable naming can save loads of time for new developers entering a project or for that time when you yourself will need to review the code for whatever reason
3. Using correct and precise variable naming is a standard that should not be dropped for any reason. ( You may not pay for it now, but you or your colleague will in the future — and karmas a bitch!)
4. Naming variables literally saves lives — if you have to look at the initial code I put forth in the above and you’re in a time precious situation you’re screwed -> cardiac arrest | https://medium.com/swlh/variables-naming-saves-lives-dda5f1acbd56 | ['Dominic Prawnstar Bauer'] | 2020-08-28 16:34:38.701000+00:00 | ['Developer', 'Variables', 'Professional', 'JavaScript', 'Clean Code'] |
Media Direct end Partnership | At DataBlockChain, we remain very confident and believe in our mission to integrate data technology, artificial intelligence and storage to help businesses around the world get the vital information they need. Join our telegram and ask questions you can and our team will be happy to help you. Also, be sure to monitor and control all of our social network accounts to keep you up-to-date.
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Companies have access to key data, such as e-mail, customer demographic information, and other analytical information, which can help build a robust marketing campaign effectively in a newly established company.I can not say big data, but usually data.
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In case of Amymy Mia and Keith Snow,Leigh will offer a cheap and high quality database to help you make business different. Keith and his company will gain access to valuable data such as email, customer demographic information and other devices that will enhance their brand and enhance unwanted sites like Amazon. Database band for kit business and many other small businesses will be the game changer.Due to the cytetographographic market authentication and the lack of equipment trade, we officially moved our joint chips and went on stock-based projects. We believe that in future it provides advanced security to our tech owners Due to the cytetographographic market authentication and the lack of equipment trade, we officially moved our joint chips and went on stock-based projects. We believe that in future it provides advanced security to our tech owners Database development and successful development of the database, contact all of our token holders and pricing partners and contact your opportunity opportunities.
The new capital was either refunded for their purchase. This new opportunity will be published shortly.But with DataBlockchain.io, you will have access to the entire database to help people with your confidence movement. For example, in the database of DataBackX, 300 million customer data is basic data set, which includes more than 400 population and lifestyle features. Your People who are ready to support motion help in the 185 million voters database. It has 325 million social profile data setup, which can be based on a socially-based campaign. And all this data is available from the democracy, you want to buy a lot of data or small data.Regarding sharing with Data DialChain.O Media Director, both companies are trying to increase the amount of database, which will be the data. It’s a platform!
head to our website at https://www.datablockchain.io/ | https://medium.com/@terrywilly746/media-direct-end-partnership-fc22e7316254 | ['Terry Willy'] | 2019-04-12 04:17:57.739000+00:00 | ['Ethereum Blockchain', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Databloc', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
The Great Unwinding | When I retired at the age of 48, over two years ago in September of 2018, my finances and portfolio looked very different than today, but that was the plan. I had built one portfolio to get me to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), and now I have to unwind that to see me through what I hope will be a very long and successful retirement.
Newly retired and enjoying a local craft beer
The work, the effort you put into retiring early doesn’t end on the day you leave the office for the last time. In many ways, the work is just beginning. You’ve spent years, maybe decades, obtaining assets that would grow. Now you have to reposition them for sustenance (and growth, you still need growth). To really get a feel for how my plan was going to unfold, I’m going to start a little farther back, near the end of 2017.
The Decision
Motivation hung on my office wall
Having just come back from my vacation home/rental property in California in November of 2017, I was three years away from my target retirement date of spring or summer of 2020, or so I thought. Circumstances at work pushed me over the edge, and I decided now was the time to get the ball rolling. My wife and I had recently sold a business and purchased this new rental property in CA that would eventually become our second home, bringing our real estate holdings to four homes, including our primary residence.
Real estate, and rental properties, in particular, are great ways to retire early, either providing income in the form of rent or, as was my plan, unleashing large sums of money, what I call a flood of cash, as you sell properties that have extensively been paid for by your tenants.
At this time, we also had the typical and more readily accessible investments in a brokerage account as well as our retirement accounts: 401k, IRA, and Roth IRA. The money in the investment accounts could be used while the real estate could either generate income from rents or be sold and converted to more liquid investments.
The first sale
Usually, your primary residence is not a source of income since you have to live somewhere, but in our case, we could sell our primary residence and move into one of the rental properties, which is exactly what we did.
At this point, before making any changes, our portfolio was made up of:
Brokerage/Cash: 23.39% of assets
Retirement accounts: 39.79% of assets
Real Estate: 36.82% of assets
In June of 2018, we sold our house and moved into one unit of our three-unit vacation rental property at the Jersey Shore. We were now down to three homes, and the proceeds moved from real estate to brokerage.
Choices
We no longer wanted to be in the rental business, at least not the kind of rentals we were doing, vacation rentals. We decided to sell our Jersey Shore property but hit a snag. Since opening our business in 2012, we had neglected our rental property a bit, and it needed work; add to that the fact that rental properties had fallen out of favor with buyers, it proved difficult to sell at what we considered a fair price. Our money would remain locked and unavailable for a while longer.
In California, where we had two rental properties, we decided to stop renting one and use it exclusively as a second home. The other rental, which had been short term vacation rentals, was converted to a long term lease providing some more steady and regular income. We preferred to sell that property, but the rental seemed just as good a choice.
That’s the key to choices, there’s always more than one, and you need to be flexible as you decide which path to follow.
Pandemic
In March of 2020, we still had three homes, the Jersey Shore rental where we were also living, our second home in CA, and one rental property also in CA. Up until this time, our other investments had been doing well, and we were ahead of projections meaning my early retirement was on track (my wife is still working, and that’s another choice for another post).
My tenant in the CA property informed me that he would not be renewing his lease for a third year and so I decided this was the time to sell. I had no idea that the second home market would get hot due to COVID, but it sold fairly quickly and for 98% of the asking price. I had now reduced my real estate from a high of four homes to two and had released a flood of cash. But I wasn’t going to use that cash in a typical way.
Options
Closely related to choices are options. In order to maximize flexibility, we decided that we would sell our Jersey Shore property, a choice, but once again, we couldn’t get near the price we were asking. There was a building boom taking place, however, and we figured it would be more profitable to demolish the existing structure and either sell the vacant land or build and sell the new house; these were options. The flood of money from selling the CA rental made these options possible.
Out with the old, in with the new…maybe
But what if we couldn’t sell the vacant lot for a high enough price? What if we built a new house and couldn’t recoup our expenses? The final option was that we would simply live there until such time as we could sell it for a profit we felt worth it. This last option was made possible by the flood of money released from the sale of the business mentioned above, the sale of our primary residence, and the sale of our CA rental property.
With the decision made, the house was emptied of our personal items, an architect was hired, and plans were submitted to the town. Once the plans were approved, the structure was razed, and a sign was placed on the vacant lot advertising it for sale. Within four days of placing the for sale sign, we had an interested buyer. That one fell through.
Empty lot with a sign
Our second interested buyer came to us nine days after the for sale sign was put up, and three days later, we had a deal to sell the property for 92% of our full asking price and 97.5% of our expected sales price. With this sale, we have gone from four homes to one in less than three years, releasing a large chunk of cash to sustain us throughout our retirement.
At this point, our break down of assets changed as follows:
Brokerage/Cash: from 23.39% to 40.12%
Retirement accounts: from 39.79% to 50.47%
Real Estate: from 36.82% to 9.41% (but this is no longer spendable since it’s our last and only residence)
More to Do
The great unwinding, converting our illiquid real estate holdings to more liquid investments might be complete, but our work is not finished. Our balance is out of whack. Instead of investing the proceeds of these various real estate transactions for the long term, we kept the money in much more short term investments in anticipation of big expenses of building and possibly holding onto a new home. Since that won’t be happening, I now have to rebalance and plan for a much different future.
This won’t be a quick or easy process, but I will approach it just as I’ve approached all of my investment decisions over the years, with research, planning, and focused execution. | https://themakingofamillionaire.com/the-great-unwinding-8bbf6e137479 | ['Aj Borowsky'] | 2021-03-01 16:02:16.702000+00:00 | ['Real Estate', 'Investing', 'Financial Independence', 'Fire', 'Retirement'] |
How to share an open job on LinkedIn | From doom scrolling layoffs during the pandemic to the good news about a colleague’s promotion, Linkedin is helpful. However, being familiar with it, there is still a mystery to making it work.
If you are trying to fill an open role, and particularly for a hard-to-fill open role, LinkedIn can move the needle. But it doesn’t come with a set of instructions on what to do, particularly if you don’t want to rely on paid advertising and an algorithm out of your control. There are 3 key things to consider to get a successful Linkedin post. (source)
LinkedIn post of job clip thumbnail with tags
1. LinkedIn needs content
Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn doesn’t have enough content. Because LinkedIn content reaches people’s professional networks, people have less to say. That means each piece of content you publish has the potential to go far on Linkedin because they need it to fill the feed. This means there is more upside to getting it right. Because if you do, Linkedin will get your content in front of many people.
2. Engagement in the first hour
Second, like other social networks, LinkedIn promotes content that gets higher engagement. This means Linkedin looks for early signals that your post is grabbing the attention of your connections. Specifically, they look at your post in the first hour. If people who you have tagged go on to comment on the post, that tells LinkedIn that it’s likely engaging content that people are going to want to see. And as a result, they will distribute it further. LinkedIn’s golden hour for grading content is the first hour after you publish (and your post passes their spam review). So, you want to maximize engagement immediately for something you’ve shared. You want people to comment because that tells LinkedIn that people thought it was important enough to respond.
3. Meaningful content
Finally, people are coming to LinkedIn to invest in their careers in some way. That means they are not expecting 15-second music videos from their neighborhood cat. As a result, they are expecting thoughtful posts, which are often longer. There is minimal credit given to zingy one-liner posts, and particularly things that are irrelevant. This means irrelevant images or low-quality posts tell LinkedIn that your post is not one it should distribute. It is far better to take the time to do a good job and repeat it weekly, than to do 1 poor post that goes ignored.
Try out job clips
Job clips are one way to do this. Job clips guide you through creating a 30–60 second audio clip talking to your open roles.
Fill out your script like a madlib
Take 15 minutes to create a great job clip, and watch your employer brand grow. But, job clips aren’t the only way. You can also post a video or publish images. What’s important is to tell your employer's story, and find your people. | https://medium.com/@TaliR/how-to-share-an-open-job-on-linkedin-e79698c36306 | ['Tali Rapaport'] | 2021-06-17 15:09:27.561000+00:00 | ['Hiring', 'Recruiting', 'Employer Branding', 'Startup', 'Recruitment Marketing'] |
Price Analysis: Bitcoin trapped in a rectangle trading box | On October 09, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee issued a press release noting that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, will testify before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing titled “An Examination of Facebook And Its Impact On Financial And Housing Sectors.”
The press release also mentions a letter sent to Facebook in July requesting an “immediate moratorium on the implementation of Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency, Libra, and its digital wallet, Calibra.” The hearing is scheduled for October 23.
More importantly, the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected the latest Bitcoin ETF proposal from Bitwise Asset Management, which marks another failed attempt to launch the first Bitcoin ETF. SEC’s decision shows once again that the regulators are still concerned about the readiness of crypto markets for an ETF.
“…Because, among other things, the Sponsor has asserted that 95% of the Bitcoin spot market consists of fake and non-economic activity, but has not established that it has in fact identified the ‘real’ bitcoin market, or that the ‘real’ bitcoin market is isolated from the fraudulent and manipulative activity,” the SEC’s order stated.
Furthermore, the SEC has once again raised the issue of market manipulation.
“There is no evidence in the record that arbitrage in the bitcoin market is of such unique effectiveness that it would essentially insulate the proposed ETP from attempts at manipulation in a way beyond that of existing derivative securities products that trade on highly regulated markets,” the SEC said.
Elsewhere, the latest report from Indexica, an alternative data provider, indicates that the impact of Bitcoin on the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem has reduced. The report also notes that Bitcoin’s price moves are “being driven by competing digital currencies and new blockchain technologies”.
“Now that Bitcoin is a big kid, anything can make it move, just like anything can make gold or a G-10 currency move. Bitcoin is part of the financial landscape in a very intertwined and mature way,” said Zak Selbert, chief executive officer at Indexica.
Not much has changed since the last week. As we wrote in the most recent price analysis, Bitcoin has been trapped within a rectangle trading box in the last three weeks (chart 1). This may cause worries for the bulls as they are unable to move the price action above this consolidation zone. An attempt to do so failed on Friday when the rectangle’s resistance rejected bulls from marching higher.
BTC/USD H4 chart (TradingView)
In addition, the 200 DMA rejected the price action for the third time in the last two weeks. This moving average has now established itself as a major resistance, together with the rectangle’s resistance and the broken 50% Fibonacci support zone.
At current market prices, Bitcoin is trading between the two important support and resistance zones. On the downside, the price action is currently sitting on the 100 MA on H4 chart. A break of this zone will pave the way for a re-test of the most recent swing low $7,714, which also marks the 4-month low for Bitcoin.
While we can’t expect much support from the 100 MA on H4 chart, Bitcoin bears will face a climbing mountain in their attempt to move the playing field to the lower prices. First, the 100 WMA, that had stopped the price from moving lower in the previous two weeks, is located at $7,760. Any major attempt to break lower would have to mean clearing this level first.
BTC/USD daily chart (TradingView)
In addition, the confluence of major resistance levels are located in the zone of $7,200 to $7,500. The second Bitcoin price chart above shows the horizontal green line which connects important swing lows and highs. This level, which sits around the $7,460 mark, will be the first line of defence against the bears. In addition, the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement is located around the $7,200 handle.
Higher up, we have the 200 DMA, followed by a major horizontal resistance just above the $9,000 mark (the red horizontal line). Moreover, the down-slipping trend line (the blue diagonal line) is also approaching the same zone to join the resistance forces with the horizontal line. All in all, the upcoming days will be decisive for Bitcoin as it currently sits between two very important technical confluences. | https://medium.com/the-ledger-by-spark/price-analysis-bitcoin-trapped-in-a-rectangle-trading-box-50feeb2bb52d | [] | 2019-10-17 01:43:09.958000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Price Analysis', 'Crypto Trading', 'Bitshares', 'Bitcoin'] |
Discover the .git Folder | Along the way, we will get an overview of the storage system and understand why the phrase ‘a branch is just a pointer’ makes sense.
Agenda
.git what???
Structure of the .git folder
Conclusion
.git what???
You probably already know that if you want to create a git repository, you have to type git init in your terminal. But do you know as well that a new .git folder is automatically generated at that moment? When you look at your project directory, you will find them.
Git stores everything there. If we look inside, we can see many files and folders. It may seem confusing at first glance, but don’t worry, we’ll examine everything step by step.
Structure of the .git folder
First of all, your folder might contain some additional files and folders. This is because there are some more files and folders besides the ones shown above. At the top, however, you can see all those that usually appear when creating the git repository. So let’s start with the objects directory.
objects
When we open it, we only see an info and pack folder. But later many more directories will be added. Git stores all staged files in it.
But that is not the only thing. Later we will look at two more types that are stored in the objects folder. Overall, we can say that these are what we usually call database storage. Go back to our project folder and enter the following line in the console:
echo 'test' >> test.txt
git add test.txt
Firstly we create a new file test.txt with the content test. Next, we add it to the staging area.
Not sure what the staging area is? Take a break and read my previous article ‘Git the three worlds system’. There I’ll briefly explain the three different areas in Git.
Now we can go back into the .git/objects folder.
You will see a new directory. Git stores everything in the 160-bit hash value. What appears as a 40 digits long hexadecimal number. You’re probably wondering, “Wait a minute. I can only see two hexadecimal numbers. Where is the rest?”. Git uses the first two characters of each hash to create a folder that included a file named with the last 38 characters. So you only see the first two characters of each hash. Git does this to make the memory system faster. But the whole 40 digits are the key, with the contents of the file being the value. To examine the hash, we can type:
git cat-file -p 9daeafb9864cf43055ae93beb0afd6c7d144bfa4
The -p allows us to see all file changes. In our case, you only see “test”. The hash depends on the changes and metadata, so your hash will be different. If we want to link it to the local git history, we need to make a commit. Let’s do that.
git commit -m "feat: Create a test.txt file with the content test"
Therefore we created our first commit. Change back to the .git/objects folder and type ls -la. You should have the same number of directories as below.
Two new folders were created. But why two new directories? We are only pushing one commit. Let’s analyze them and see what type each object is. To get the type of an object, we replace -p with -t in the git cat-file command.
our tracked changes
---------
git cat-file -t 9daeafb9864cf43055ae93beb0afd6c7d144bfa4
// blob new commit
-----------
git cat-file -t 2b297e643c551e76cfa1f93810c50811382f9117
// tree
git cat-file -t b9ca915ed5e9507d44dbfaebc8a64b0f2ba52649
// commit
Now we can see that the 2b… hash stores something called tree and the 05… hash stores something called commit. To get a more detailed understanding, we must dive deeper into the memory system of git. But I think that would be too much. We will discuss this in more detail in my next article. For the moment, to get a better orientation, we can say, the blob stores only the content. The tree stores additional information, such as what file the content belongs to and what kind of file it is, and finally the commit anchors the changes in the history.
refs
Below you can see the structure of the refs folder. Into it, we find two subdirectories. The heads directory contains all branches and the tags directory contains all bookmarks from the history.
heads
We will start with the head directory. When we look inside, we’ll find a file called master. It contains a reference to the last commit -> b9ca915ed5e9507d44dbfaebc8a64b0f2ba52649.
But what does it mean? Branches are an important part of git. Each branch is completely independent of all the others.
If you want to learn more about branches, read my git fundamentals article.
As soon as we create a new branch called second_branch and looking into the heads directory, we will find a second file with the same name as our new branch.
The file contains the exactly same reference as the file master. Now we create a new commit in our second_branch and display the contents of both files again.
master
---------
b9ca915ed5e9507d44dbfaebc8a64b0f2ba52649 second_branch
-----------
c225e0c7175b7467eb6cc5f283413b2eee027ff3
The branch master still has the reference -> b9ca915ed5e9507d44dbfaebc8a64b0f2ba52649, whereas the second_branch has now a reference to our new commit.
Summarized we can say that when you create a branch, a new file with the same name is automatically created in the heads directory with a reference from the current commit. Each time you create a new commit, the reference that contains the file is changed.
So, branches are just pointer.
tags
There are two different types of bookmarks. Each of them is stored in the Tags directory. The first is known as lightweight tags and is only a reference to a commit like the files in the heads directory. The second one is called annotated tag and stores much more information. Below is a short list of them:
tagger name
email
date
tagging message
In most situations, it’s recommended to use the annotated tags, but it depends on the situation.
HEAD
The HEAD is quickly explained. It’s a reference to the active branch. So git knows which branch is currently in use. To see what our head file contains type cat HEAD.
info
In the info directory, we find additional information about our repository. One of the best-known files is the exclude file. It decides which pattern will be ignored. To define the ignored files and folders, we use a file in our project called .gitignore.
config
The configuration file, as its name suggests, stores the configuration of your repository. You can define the configuration globally for all repositories or locally. In this case, it’s only used for your local repository. Below are several configurations that you can set in your configuration file. To see a complete list, visit the git configuration page.
name
email
editor
excludefiles
autocorrect
…
description
Here you can create a short description of your repository. But it’s pretty irrelevant if you’re not using gitweb.
hooks
There are some predefined git functions that are executed on certain events. In the Hooks directory, we can see a few of them. An example of an event could be if the entire commit process is completed.
Above is a sample list of hooks from my tutorial repository. Each of them has the word ‘sample’ appended to the name. This ensures that all hooks are disabled at the beginning. If you want to enable a feature, you just have to remove the word ‘sample’. You can also edit or write your own git hooks. For more information, click here.
Conclusion
That’s it. Today we discovered the .git folder together. In the end, you should know what files/folders you typically found in the .git directory and what they do. Additionally, we get an overview of the git storage and understand why the phrase ‘a branch is just a pointer’ makes sense. I hope the article was helpful to get a deeper understanding of Git and the .git folder. If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments.
In my next article, we will look at how the memory functionality of git works. Well then see you soon. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/git-part-3-discover-the-git-folder-ca3e828eab3d | ['Henry Steinhauer'] | 2020-12-11 11:57:02.298000+00:00 | ['Git', 'Programming', 'Database', 'Development', 'Version Control System'] |
ONO AMA Telegram w/ Ke Xu: DAY 1 RECAP | Every day AMA in ONO English Telegram
Every day in the ONO English Telegram there’s an AMA with CEO and founder Ke Xu of ONO at 2 PM GMT.
This is the recap from the first day of questions, and Steemit user, @vasil-danev was kind enough to allow us to use the post he wrote, so check out his original article: https://steemit.com/onosocial/@vasil-danev/daily-ama-with-ke-xu-or-ono-or-day-1-recap
Join the Telegram group: https://t.me/ONOUS
Please submit your question to the host in the ONO English Telegram channel instead of putting it directly into the chat.
DAY ONE:
It’s been a few weeks, what’s going on with registration for the English Ono?
Ke’Xu @ONO: We will launch our English version on the 15th of July, so its like 10 days later… This will be the first test version of the App so the people can test it. This version will be available only with invitation codes.
2. Will ONO be like Steemit, in that the people with the most SteemPower have more clout? clout = power/influence
Ke’Xu @ONO: ONO has its own reputation mechanism. After a period of testing. We decide to make the reputation mechanism to OP+KYC+ your activity. The influence of user activity is the biggest.
3.When will ONO be ready for a first test, and what are the advantages of becoming a Super Partner — like to these people get certain advantages later when the platform is available?
Ke’Xu @ONO: According to the ONO whitepaper you will know that the Super Partner is a one of the special ONO TIC, its a very special one so it has a right to execute the bad content and have the right to make the ecosystem go to the right way. A Super partner can build a social network by executing the content and get 2% of the daily ONOTs. And in the future all the content of the referendum will be decided by the super partner round table, whether you can be put down into the referendum list, so it will have the power and the reward and also the contribution for the ecosystem.
4. What is the mainnet launch date?
How does the token swap work from erc-20 to real tokens?
Ke’Xu @ONO: For the forth question, we will launch our test net on the end of July and we are going to announce that on the ONO conference. The mainnet launch will be next year, so we will have more than 8 months to develop it and to make the mechanism run better. It will be very similar to swap from ERC-20 to real tokens. You can exchange the ERC-20 tokens in the exchange after we launch our token in the exchanges and later we are going to migrate it and move your ERC-20 token to the real mainnet one so it will be similar as EOS did.
5. Why not have the the token on eos from the start?
Ke’Xu @ONO: Because of the exchange problems. Lots of exchange haven’t support the EOS one yet. For the people can better trade.
6. Can we have an update about maintenance and governance of the sidechain?
Ke’Xu @ONO: Yes. We are still working on the whitepaper of ONO mainnet. I’m sure it will follow ONO’s core philosophy. We will publish the ONO mainnet whitepaper ASAP.
7. There seems to be some confusion, about the mainnet launch, interesting I thought the mainnet would launch with the app?
Ke’Xu @ONO: I’d like to give a formal answer to Julia’s question. I need to explain why and how ONO mainnet work. Let me Quote John Milburn’s coversation from Telegram group first.
‘EOS BlockPros”:
jem, [05.07.18 17:30]
[In reply to Tracer]
They have been running a dapp with more than 200,000 users, built on an earlier pre-launch version of EOSIO, for a couple of months. The onboarding cost of the Mainnet now makes it entirely non-viable for their app.
jem, [05.07.18 17:35]
[In reply to Mr. Hobbes]
This is a massive distortion of reality.
EOS is intended as a platform upon which to build dapps. Ono has been engaged and using the platform earlier than most others. The Mainnet has some constraints which make it untenable now for the ONO dapp. Onboarding costs are absurdly high. There is no paralley chain capability, as EOS IBC is not implemented.
Ono now has more than 200,000 users. To onboard them to the EOS Mainnet, at $20/account, would cost $4M minimum. The dapp smart contract cost would at least double this. It makes absolute sense for ONO to build their own separate net on which to run.
In fact, the huge data
That’s why, we need to launch ONO mainnet to package our users’ activity into hash, and launch them on chain. So that’s why we can’t put all the users data on any of the blockchain now. We have to make ONO blockchain to satisfy Huge ONO users activity.
8. Will the people using ONO International be rewarded in ERC20 tokens?
Ke’Xu @ONO: Yes. They will. ONOT is now an ERC-20 token. And for anyone from all around the world will be rewarded by it. For the equality, since Chinese users tested ONO for months and they gained 0.2billion ONOTs already (locked in their ONO account), we will increase the rewards of global users(except Chinese users) in the next few months till they get token as much as Chinese users.
9. Will you explain how you will rectify the imbalance of token for users who are only now gaining access?
Ke’Xu @ONO: As I said, I will let global users get as much as Chinese users already got. (0.2billion+)
10. Are all the user who signup the invite url will be given an invitation code?
Ke’Xu @ONO: Yes. We will send invite code to everyone who sign up before we launch ONO on 15–17th
11. Many friends are asking me when they will receive the invitation code (answered already) and how to verify an account. Will they need a document like passport or facial recognition?
Ke’Xu @ONO: When they verify, they can use their email. They dont have to do KYC( passport). But we have the function to do KYC. If you did KYC your contents will have higher reputation and you can unlock the function of long articles.
12. Are user required to post original content or is sharing others content allowed?
Ke’Xu @ONO: Yes sure! Sharing is allowed! It’s like Facebook. And if the comment is good, people who write comments will be rewarded also.( you can like and comment a comment) Sharing=reposts. You can’t copy paste.And sharing will increase the rewards of original content writer. For example , Trump repost your ONO . He brought thousands followers for this ONO, you will be rewarded by the reads, likes, and comments. He will get reward from only the reads likes and comments on his page
13. Which exchanges Ono will be listed on first?
Ke’Xu @ONO: We are considering Binance, huobi, bittrex, upbit.. it’s not decided yet. Still processing.
14. Any plan to support other languages like French, Arabic …?
Ke’Xu @ONO: Yes. We are planning to do next.
PREVIOUS AMA’S:
AMA DAY 9
AMA DAY 8
AMA DAY 7
AMA DAY 6
AMA DAY 5
AMA DAY 4
AMA DAY 3
AMA DAY 2
AMA DAY 1
Become an early adopter in the ONO social network by signing up to receive your invitation code for the international version: https://www.joinono.com/en/invite/
Join ONO: | https://medium.com/ono-social-network/ono-ama-telegram-w-ke-xu-day-1-recap-2a70f99b1475 | [] | 2018-07-16 17:41:24.723000+00:00 | ['FAQ', 'Blockchain', 'Social Media', 'Decentralization', 'Dapps'] |
Corporate reporting on the SDGs: what are the challenges and opportunities? | Since the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016, the role of the private sector in fulfilling the 2030 Agenda has been widely acknowledged, as set out under SDG 12. Yet to assess how companies are actually contributing towards these Global Goals, we need greater transparency on their impacts.
Over the past four years, GRI has championed the participation of companies in measuring their performance on the SDGs. As we look ahead to the Decade of Action needed to achieve the SDGs, it is clear that further progress will be needed, including doing more to increase private sector contributions.
Progress so far
At the end of 2020, a four-year Action Platform for Reporting on the SDGs, from GRI and UN Global Compact, concluded. This included a Corporate Action Group (CAG) that connected business representatives in a peer learning platform, which successfully helped companies define and improve their SDGs reporting.
Research on CAG participants revealed:
1. Increased clarity on how to engage with the SDGs from a business perspective
2. Improvements in how they measured SDGs performance
3. Better prioritization of the most relevant SDGs
4. More integration of the SDGs into business decision-making processes
However, the findings also indicate that many companies continue to face challenges with understanding and disclosing their SDGs contributions, with opportunities to make corporate reporting more relevant and effective.
Improving data quality and addressing gaps
Reporting on priorities at the SDG target level, within each of the overarching Goals, and linking them to the business strategy, is often missing. Overall, deeper connections between material topics with SDG targets and corporate priorities are needed. We also see there are opportunities to further explore the links between SDG priorities and the contributions of companies in the countries and jurisdictions where they operate.
Most importantly, corporate reporting on the SDGs often focuses on positive contributions that companies make to the SDGs, with a lack of transparency and accountability for negative impacts. This issue was also highlighted by KPMG research in December.
Reporting that has impact
Identifying SDG priorities throughout the value chain is a complex undertaking, as is demonstrating the cause-and-effect relationship between SDG contributions and business performance. Moreover, because of the interconnected and interdependent nature of the SDGs, companies need to identify and take account of synergies and trade-offs between positive and negative impacts.
Efforts to quantify impacts on the SDGs and contextualize them (for example, considering the social thresholds and planetary boundaries) needs strengthened.
That is why it is necessary to move beyond assessing activities and outputs, and focus on how to disclose outcomes and impacts.
This is crucial as it enables businesses to manage their performance and demonstrate accountability for their impacts.
Making reporting relevant to stakeholders
There is increasing interest from a wide range of stakeholders in business contribution to the SDGs, including how companies are aligning products, services and business strategy with the SDGs. Policy makers, investors, consumers, labor organizations and civil society all increasingly demand that companies show transparency through providing quality data and balanced reporting.
However, different stakeholders have different expectations and data requests. Steps business can take to provide more strategic and relevant information include:
· Providing aggregated or disaggregated information that allows stakeholders to assess their performance and contribution to the SDGs
· Setting long-term SDG-related performance targets, and regularly reporting on progress
· Clearly demonstrating how the business strategy aligns with the SDGs
Proactive communications on the issues that matter most — to both the company and stakeholders — is crucial.
Not only does provide the necessary information to assess corporate sustainability performance and impact, it also allow stakeholders to make decisions that contribute to the SDGs.
Driving business action through reporting
Inspired by the progress to date and the opportunities still to come, GRI is launching a Business Leadership Forum, to commence in March, on corporate reporting as a driver for achieving the SDGs.
The initiative will offer participating companies practical insights, focusing on how to raise the quality and strategic relevance of their SDG reporting.
The Forum is built around a series of online sessions that will bring together corporate reporters and representatives from key stakeholder groups — including the investment community, governments, regulators, members of the supply chain, civil society and academia.
The experiences of the past four years have shown that both businesses and stakeholders benefit from strategic and relevant SDG-related information. Sustainability reporting is an essential driver of the transformational change that is required to achieve the SDGs. As we look ahead to the Decade of Action and the pandemic recovery phase, the case for meaningful corporate reporting on the SDGs is more compelling than ever before. | https://medium.com/@globalreportinginitiative/corporate-reporting-on-the-sdgs-what-are-the-challenges-and-opportunities-13cca805723d | [] | 2021-02-16 07:59:29.118000+00:00 | ['Sustainability Reporting', 'Sustainable Development', 'Csr', 'Esg', 'Sdgs'] |
SHAP Library in Python | Every profession has their unique toolbox, full of items that are essential to their work. Painters have their brushes and canvas. Bakers have mixers, pans, and ovens. Trades workers have actual toolboxes. And those in a more corporate environment will have a suite of hardware and software necessary to complete the task at hand. Data scientists tend to fall into this last bucket.
I’m of the opinion that one of the most exciting tools in a data scientist’s toolbox are the visualization libraries available for use. Data viz is a great way for technical operators to bridge a gap and bring insights to a non-technical audience.
A brilliant library that was released in late 2016 is the SHAP library. The SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) library was developed to unpack some of the “black box” aspects of machine learning models, and to better explain the output of models. In the developers’ own words:
“SHAP connects game theory with local explanations, uniting several previous methods and representing the only possible consistent and locally accurate additive feature attribution method based on expectations.”
**Quick note** The remainder of this post will provide a quick introduction to SHAP and I’ll show how I’ve used it to better understand a few models I’ve built. I am still learning a lot about this library, so please do additional research as you utilize these methods yourself. Any feedback is also appreciated!
Working with SHAP
The SHAP visualizations use what are known as SHAP Values to plot information. SHAP Values are the determined impact each feature will have on an output, derived from breaking down the prediction. Samuele Mazzanti does a great job explaining how SHAP values are calculated here.
The library is easily downloaded with a pip install.
!pip install shap
SHAP is versatile and has “explainer” models for every type of ML model. A general explainer can be called with the shap.KernelExplainer, but it tends to perform more slowly than using the explainer that is specific to the type of model you have built. It is best to call the appropriate explainer when you are ready to begin plotting.
SHAP has explainers for tree models (e.g. XGBoost), a deep explainer (neural nets), and a linear explainer (regression).
After calling the explainer, calculate the shap values by calling the explainer.shap_values() method on the data.
import shap #Load JS visualization code to notebook
shap.initjs()
explainer = shap.TreeExplainer(xgbclassifier)
shap_values = explainer.shap_values(xgbX_train)
Then we get to visualize it using one of the many plots available!
shap.summary_plot(shap_values, xgbX_train)
Here are two examples of personal projects where I’ve used SHAP to better understand the underlying model outputs.
In this example, I was working with data about the hospital readmittance of patients who had some length of inpatient treatment for diabetes. You can find the full project on my Github here. In the summary plot, we are able to see a few things that will drive the model output up or down. A model output of 1 would signify that the patient would be readmitted for additional inpatient care while a 0 reflected no readmittance.
Determining patient readmittance
Each feature for each data object in the set is represented by a point on the graph. If feature values are high, they will show as red — if they are blue, they have lower values. The position of the point along the x-axis shows whether the feature value is pushing the predicted output towards 0 or 1. So we can see that if a patient had a high number of previous inpatient (number_inpatient) procedures or emergency room visits (number_emergency) preceding the current visit, they were more likely to be readmitted again. Lower age (age) drew the outcome closer to non-readmittance, as did having a lower number of medications (num_medications).
In this second example, we explore the features that are causing customers of a telecommunications company to fall into one of four clusters, the output of a K-prototype cluster analysis. You can find the full project here.
Inspecting customer clusters
I use a bar plot style for the summary plot here. The size of the bars shows the importance of the feature, so we can see that Total Charges and Internet Service had significant importance on the clustering. Streaming TV, streaming movies, and Churn have strong importance, and the 7 features following still have moderate explanatory importance.
Cluster prototypes
Inspecting the prototype modes of the clusters (where Class 0 aligns with Cluster 1, Class 1 -> Cluster 2…), these make intuitive sense — Total Charges was very important for those in Cluster 4, and they tend to subscribe to all services. Internet Service was the most important feature for Cluster 3, and they had No Internet Service. Opting out of Streaming TV and Movies allowed Cluster 2 to stand apart from Clusters 1 & 4.
Hopefully the above provides a quick insight as to how SHAP can be applied to data science work. I think it’s a great tool and I’m looking forward to working with it more in the future. | https://zachary-a-zazueta.medium.com/shap-library-in-python-80ea1fb64e13 | ['Zach Zazueta'] | 2020-10-31 02:35:24.829000+00:00 | ['Shap', 'Data Visualization', 'Feature Importance'] |
20 Area Rugs With Impact | By Kristie Garrell
As above, so below. These bold area rugs don’t let the furniture get all the attention.
1. Moscow Home by Art Group
Enter the NYCxDESIGN Awards by April 5
A custom fireplace warms the living room, brightened by abstract artwork and Designheure pendants. A Louise floor lamp by Lam spotlights a bench by Sancal; the sofa and poufs are by Baxter.
2. Sonic Union’s Manhattan Office by Revamp Interior Design
A communal space past reception gathers West Elm chairs, Blu Dot poufs, and a Flor rug that complements the faceted custom wall cladding. The custom plywood desks are stained a bright blue to create unity.
3. Art-Filled São Paulo Apartment by Estudio 20.87
The home of furniture designer Houssein Jarouche proves that pop art isn’t dead. Slides, an oil on canvas by Luiz Zerbini, accompanies a ’60’s armchair by José Zanine Caldas and an Eames table. The faded Moroccan vintage rug nods to Jarouche’s cultural roots.
4. Drawing Hotel by Nido Architecture
The biggest challenge of this project was the ground level, with only 1,900 square feet of public space to accommodate the entrance, reception, retail, and the lounge. A partition of oak rods that double-functions as a library defines the lobby, its seating area composed of a bold black-and-white rug, a loveseat by Neri & Hu, and a tubular Philippe Nigro chair that resembles contemporary sculpture.
5. Capital 8 Paris Office by Saguez Workstyle
To modernize this 1960s office, loungelike coworking spaces are partially enclosed by bright green glass, actually giant screens that can be programmed to display real-time news, weather, or company information. Hayon Studio chairs and Patricia Urquiola ottomans furnish another coworking space.
6. Teads Madrid Office by Stone Designs
Airy mid-century modern furnishings imbue the environment with a sense of ease. The client’s own vintage George Nelson clock centers a symmetrical arrangement of Costura sofas and Solapa tables, all by Stua, upon rugs by Now Carpets.
7. Viacom Los Angeles Office by Rottet Studio
Viacom wanted their workplace to be a destination, which starts with an eye-catching entrance. In reception, an immense monitor displays changing visuals. Sofas by Alfred Kleene and Gabriele Assmann flank a cluster of tables by Vincenzo Maiolino.
8. Serafina Beach Hotel by ICRAVE
Though San Juan was still recovering from Hurricane Maria at the time of construction, the team went full steam ahead. In the lobby, Swing chairs by Kettal and a rug by Durkan furnish the PiñaCo lounge.
9. São Paulo Home by Diego Revollo
The original polished Cumarú floor now modulates in tone, with light grey walls and bursts of color provided by upholstery across pieces by Brazilian favorites. Jorge Zalszupin’s Adriana armchairs are covered in velvet from Emporio Beraldin.
10. La Honda Home by Alison Damonte Design and Mattingly Thaler Architecture
Communal spaces are large, private ones small, in this weekend-house-in-the-woods. The décor deliberately eschews timber finishes in favor of clean-lined optimism.
11. California Farmhouse by Dash Marshall
The clients asked for agrarian references while also wanting a space that was fresh and contemporary. A sofa in the living area by Jaime Hayon mixes with one of his armchairs and an Eero Saarinen Womb chair.
12. Brooklyn Townhouse by Coil + Drift and Cold Picnic
The vignettes of this home seamlessly marry past and present while catering to modern life in the city. In the living room, two Josef Hoffman bentwood cane chairs face Cold Picnic’s area rug.
13. Tropical Manhattan Apartment by Sanchez + Coleman
Tasked with refreshing this four-bedroom pied-à-terre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Christopher Coleman combined his new chromatic restraint with a touch of his old flamboyance, creating a predominantly white shell to which he added feverish electric-blue and lemon-yellow accents. A geometric rug picks up on the yellow of wingback armchairs; the floor lamp and coffee table are vintage finds.
14. New York Penthouse by Whitehall Interiors
Design principal Karen Asprea wanted to avoid the inoffensive but lifeless aesthetic common to most developer units. Classic materials establish a calm base, with jewel-tone pillows, impressionist rugs, and vivid art adding a lived-in feel.
15. Asmundo di Gisira Hotel by Studio GUM
A jade green rug adds a touch of color to the black flooring. Gaetano Pesce’s foot and a white crocodile sculpture populate a guest room.
16. Armazém Luxury Housing by Pedra Líquida
To accompany the bespoke furniture, architect Luís Sobral and owner Fernanda Gramaxo selected production pieces as well as some items crafted in India or Turkey — the latter was a source for the vivid rugs. In reception, a Turkish rug softens the area’s concrete floor.
17. Chelsea Apartment by Frampton Co
Designer Elena Frampton mixed works of art with eye-popping wall coverings, such as the study’s expanse of peacocks. The Sacco rug was designed by Frampton.
18. Hand Made’s Kraków Office by Beza Projekt
This office makes bold use of Hand Made’s signature gold-and-blue palette: the colors appear in plaster walls, custom Shibori rugs, upholstery fabrics, and bespoke lighting fixtures. In the chief officer’s private workspace, a vintage chair comingles with a custom carpet, lamp, and mirror conceived by the designers.
19. Swarovski’s New York Office by Perkins + Will and Valerie Pasquiou
To make the workplace hospitable, Pasquiou grounded rooms throughout with rugs. Iosa Ghini Associati sofas define the lounge.
20. Kitz by Krampulz Meyer Architekten
The boutique hotel is green throughout as a reflection of the nearby forests. In the café, Jean Prouvé armchairs stand out against a red area rug. | https://medium.com/@praslin.co/20-area-rugs-with-impact-54156b479731 | [] | 2019-03-09 20:51:52.820000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Interior Design', 'Rugs', 'Home Decor', 'Home Improvement'] |
Strand of Oaks: Hard Love | Strand of Oaks: Hard Love
Nostalgia is a double-edged sword. Traffic in it with one eye to the future and you can create something that simultaneously satisfies the desires for continuity and change. Get too caught up in the rearview mirror, though, and you can find yourself creating something that satisfies neither: a perverse rehash of former success. HEAL, the last Strand of Oaks album, managed to do the former. Hard Love, however, too frequently finds itself doing the latter.
This is most evident in Radio Kids. Tim Showalter’s youth spent in basements with his headphones on, discovering music that spoke to him is fertile ground. It gave us Goshen ’97 on HEAL and he returns to mine the subject once more, coming up with….Goshen ’97 Part 2: a catchy song that says what he’s already said in slightly different words.
It’s not fair to say he doesn’t try anything new here, though. While the core of Showalter’s sound remains the same (you know these are Strand of Oaks songs), there’s an expansion of it throughout the album. Unfortunately, that expansion can be disordered at times. As Showalter details the messier aspects of his life — in particular his drug and alcohol-fueled binges, the music too often matches.
When the album works, it hums along and puts you in Showalter’s adolescent shoes, falling in love with music. When it doesn’t, it feels like Showalter is moving forward, and more like he’s just thrashing around, trying to strike gold one more time. | https://medium.com/first-impression/strand-of-oaks-hard-love-d9c65ea86539 | ['Jay Roberts'] | 2017-03-14 16:32:00.875000+00:00 | ['Strand Of Oaks', 'Stranger Things', 'Rock', 'Music', 'Nostalgia'] |
Introducing: Jose Aguinaga, developer and blockchain technologies evangelist | Hello world! I’m Jose Aguinaga, a web3 developer, a full-stack engineer, and a cryptography enthusiast based in Switzerland. I’m currently the Head of Engineering at HOPR, a privacy-first blockchain project, and a tech consultant at Enigma Technologies OÜ, an E-Residency Estonian company. I’ve been around the crypto industry for the past four years, and I’m excited to share my experience with Portis’ users and developers alike and work alongside them to create new and exciting content together.
Background and experience
While pursuing my degree in Computer Science, I focused my career on web technologies and started to write about my learnings. In 2016, I wrote my first article at Medium, a satirical piece that made fun of the state of the web industry then, which landed me a spot as the keynote speaker at the JSDay 2017 in Verona, Italy.
Sharing about my experience has been one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve had as an engineer.
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure to meet and engage with developers and startups across the world. I gave talks about web cryptography and payments, which quickly took me to the blockchain ecosystem. By 2017, I was already exploring storing data in the Bitcoin blockchain. Before the end of the year, I was sharing my experience again in Zug, Switzerland, which would shortly become the “Crypto Valley” of startups.
A receipt for the purchase of BTC from the train station at Zug, one of the first initiatives from the city to convert every train ticket machine into a Bitcoin ATM.
The 2017 ICO hype, MyBit and crypto winter
During what is known as the 2017 ICO hype, I had my first crypto-startup experience as the CTO of MyBit, a wealth management startup on top of the Ethereum ecosystem. I was brought in after their ICO to help them build the MyBit ecosystem, a series of smart contracts, SDK, UI libraries & APIs to allow users, investors, and developers alike to engage with physical assets.
At MyBit, I quickly learned about what it means to be part of a crypto startup and the challenges that such a volatile market introduces.
At that point in time, the ecosystem was pushing new projects daily. Some of them were good, some of them were bad, but most of them were interesting or were trying to change the way some concepts, like money, identity, or governance, were being defined. At that point, gold was being tokenized, art was defined in NFTs, and governments were toying with the idea of “Digital Identity”. The bull market had created optimism in blockchain technologies that moved it away from just trading and Bitcoin.
The bull market created a new series of exciting events, from hackathons to conferences. Here I am participating in the “Digital Citizenship” hackathon organized in cooperation with Lykke, the Blockchain Buero Liechtenstein, and Holochain. Picture by the HUS Institute, who organized the event in late 2017.
However, within a year, a new bear market would halt the optimism in anything cryptocurrency-wise. By early as January of 2018, thousands of coins, including Bitcoin, would lose 30–60% of their value or more. Known as the cryptocurrency crash, it would be the beginning of the crypto winter that would last over two years. Before the end of 2019, MyBit AG would close down operations. Like most startups at the time, the challenges in terms of user adoption, token economics, and general UX limitations in the crypto market, alongside a newly found skepticism in the crypto industry as a whole, brought the company funds to zero.
A new start: marriage and HOPR
To recover from the bear market, I did the only thing that made sense: get married! (HODL!!). After being engaged for over one year with my wife and traveling back and forward between Switzerland and Mexico, I thought it was time to settle down. In September of 2019, we tied the knot and went on a month-long holiday. By then, I was still recovering from the economic and mental pressure the collapse of MyBit had done on my persona, so I let myself have a long holiday for the first time over the last two years.
My wife became my rock over the last years during all the crypto madness. For better or worse, the crypto crash finally gave us a break from all the excitement the 2017 hype has brought.
As luck would have it, my honeymoon included Osaka, where I re-synced with an old friend, Dr. Sebastian Büergel who was participating at DevCon5 in the same city (sadly I missed DevCon5, as surprisingly enough, my wife didn’t like it as part of our romantic getaway). Sebastian invited me to check out HOPR, an open-source Layer-0 mixnet, where users would be incentivized to work as nodes to relay traffic. After learning about the project and learning about their technology, I jumped on a few calls, and the rest, as they say, is history. As of today, I work with a skilled team on the open-source HOPR protocol, which relies on the powerful libp2p library, to change the concept of data privacy for good.
HOPR’s founding team: Rik Krieger, Sebastian Bürgel, and Robert Kiel. I took the picture! Multiple online publications will soon use it to share the news about Binance’s investment in HOPR.
Portis and what’s next
Throughout these years, I have been closely following many projects across the industry. I’ve been to DevCon4, participated in online hackathons, engaged in the open-source community, and even joined the online KERNEL fellowship. I’m particularly obsessed about cryptography, privacy, and identity, and I’ve always wanted to share some thoughts on how blockchain is impacting society, in both the physical and digital world.
So when Scott approached me and invited me to publish articles as a guest author within Portis, it was an easy decision for me to take. I’ve followed Portis since they implemented gas-relay on user wallets, and had found their non-custodial wallets architecture based on end-to-end encryption quite impressive. With their latest acquisition by Shapeshift, there are multiple avenues for enhancement which I am excited to participate in.
Together, we will be publishing posts on multiple topics around custodianship, identity, developer experience, and general know-how about blockchain and cryptography. We’ll be sharing some stories, and although we’ll be revolving around the Portis & Shapeshift ecosystem, we’ll also be creating exciting content for the industry as a whole.
It’s my pleasure to support Portis in their effort to increase content for the blockchain ecosystem, to benefit everyone in the industry. The creation of exciting, academic, and useful content is useful for both newcomers and veterans. Together, we are looking to take an in-depth look into the technology around blockchain, and leverage the Portis platform to engage with developers and users alike. | https://medium.com/portis/introducing-jose-aguinaga-developer-and-blockchain-technologies-evangelist-7a6461e4521a | ['Jose Aguinaga'] | 2020-12-14 20:36:17.611000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Ethereum', 'Programming', 'Blockchain', 'Developer'] |
To-Do Lists Can Help Get Rid of Your Anxiety | I would recommend you use a to-do list. Because they can help you keep track of anything to get done and what you have already done.
For example, when I have a lot of tasks due soon, I would constantly check if I had finished the tasks. So checklists and to-do lists help with making sure that you get something done. Because when you finish a task you can be sure that you checked it off and finished it.
All these things are great, but there are downsides. One, they can make you more stressed if you have a lot of work and it's a long list.
The way I combat this is to make bigger tasks have smaller sub-tasks. So I keep chipping in one large task; then after that it becomes more manageable. It will also help you keep track of what you need to do in a large project.
To-do list applications
Todoist. Todoist is a great to-do list because it includes all you need in their app. There is a premium plan which has all you need while there is also a free plan which has basic needs, without all the extra features. The premium plan is $4/month.
Tick Tick. Tick Tick is very similar to Todoist in what it offers. But, it also has some extra features like being able to add a description to a task or a built in pomodoro timer.
Microsoft To-Do. Microsoft To-Do is a great free to do application because it has all the features and a little bit more than Todoist. This is why I would recommend it more than any other if you only want the basics and don’t want to pay extra.
Classic paper and pencil (or pen). A pen and paper is a great budget-friendly way to keep track of tasks. This is because the customizability of it is very good, however, you will have to spend time if you want it to look good. This is a good option if you like to write on paper and don’t want to keep track of all your tasks in an app on your machines. | https://medium.com/illumination/to-do-lists-can-help-get-rid-of-your-anxiety-b817244a7d81 | ['Mike Wang'] | 2020-12-10 12:12:29.257000+00:00 | ['Stress Management', 'To Do List', 'Stress'] |
2020~ Clarity, Intention & Transition | It’s been a helluva a year, which is a major understatement. There are a lot of things about 2020 that the world wishes did not happen, global pandemic, racial unrest, murder hornets and natural, as well as man-made disasters…
But there’s more.
C Hagland- Myopia
I am sure this will be one of many posts about the chaotic year none of us could have imagined. Urban Dictionary has a number of submissions on what many are calling the worst year ever. While it has not been good, there are some things that go beyond the normal visual acuity standard.
When the year started, there was very little foresight of the impending storm we would all weather. I remember feeling the anticipation of opportunities and potential. I started the year convening with futurists in North Carolina, and enjoying connection time with special people in New Orleans, New York, San Antonio, Kansas City and Washington DC. I was making travel plans for the coming months to be part of large conferences and secured a coveted Platinum Pass for SXSW, excited to be attending my classmate’s film premiere during the festival.
In January, while I was at the Communities of the Future gathering, I was speaking with a friend who works for Homeland Security. He mentioned something called COVID-19 and said I should be careful as I traveled, particularly as I had recently spent the holidays with my son in Asia and was planning a trip to the Middle East in the spring for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
The news started to report more about the virus in March as we were hosting the Startup Champions Summit in San Antonio. Many of our members opted to stay away and there was a sense of something bigger looming. There was a small flurry of information that was building about the virus and impact on the economy. As we prepared to depart, we realized the need to centralize and cull information to support entrepreneurs and our respective communities.
Ecosystem builders approach their work with system level thinking. Illustrations of an ecosystem are often pictured as distributed networks. My fellow Startup Champions understood the way we were going maximize the collective knowledge of our community and wider circles of connections was an open sourced, hub and spoke model. The resource needed to be easily accessible, live where people could easily find, and be part of. It also needed to be very intentional so we could be sure it was relevant to the mission; we launched Ecosystems Unite on Facebook in March 2020 as the world started to shut down.
Often times we feel we should be all things to all people, a one stop shop where you can find anything and everything. After all, we need to make the most of our time and efforts, since those are life commodities you will never get back. Prior to the pandemic, many of us were spending time, as if it was an ever flowing, infinite resource. The moments in our lives when we usually become aware of its limits are when we lose someone that was special to us. Time does, in fact, keep ticking, it is incredibly precious and it stops for each of us eventually. It is uncommon to share grief publicly; the pandemic put dying front and center universally.
“Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another.”― Mitch Albom
By early April, it felt like the world was on pause. Pictures of empty streets in large metropolitan areas, car-less highways and nature reclaiming the Earth, real or imagined. There was talk of reset and restoring normalcy back to the world. While many could not wait until they could ‘get back to their lives’ again, others of us had little desire to ‘return to normal’. The halt gave us time to assess ways the old system were not valuable and moved discussion towards emerging something different. I shared my effort to articulate the need to design the new normal (here).
In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we seldom give ourselves a chance to really look at what and how we are operating. The virus pulled the emergency brake on a runaway train and stop us in our tracks.
As we started to collectively ascertain how these disparities played out in our professional lives, we were confronted in the US, yet again, by the death of black people at the hands of law enforcement. As the names Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor were becoming familiar outside of their respective communities, George Floyd’s tragic death, turned the focus of the nation from the virus. The Black Lives Matter movement and exhortation for equity and justice amplified. While videos of blacks killed by the police are not a new phenomenon, this torturous viewing showed the inhumanity depicted was undeniably avoidable at any time in the almost nine excruciating minutes of its duration.
By the time my adopted home of Tulsa, Oklahoma commemorated the 99th anniversary of the largest race massacre in modern history, and prepared for the Juneteenth celebration of emancipation, tensions were soaring. The egregious and churlish decision of politicians to host an indoor rally less than two miles from the historic site of Black Wall Street revealed the egocentric nature of policymakers and so called leaders. It shifted my definition of leadership, and I no longer consider it synonymous with management and governance. Rereading Margaret Wheatley’s “Who Do We Choose to Be?” , reminded me the importance of exercising individual freedom in a way that is additive, and to utilize it in fear and doubt, or to seek to contain and control it, shameful. Wheatley also expressed the need to abide and act.
“The energy now spent on self-protection can be converted into positive energy if we’re willing to encounter reality and see it clearly. Facing reality is an empowering act — it can liberate our mind and heart to discern how best to use our power and influence in service for this time.”― Margaret J. Wheatley
ABIDE also became an important framework for facing racial justice. In my work in cultural competency, I have long focused on inclusion, equity and belonging. The movement focus shifted through the years from:
Diversity
Diversity + Inclusion
Diversity + Inclusion + Equity and/or Diversity + Inclusion + Belonging
While it grows more holistic, this still felt a bit off kilter until I was introduced to a roadmap by Fay Horwitt of Forward Cities. It emphasizes the need for access as a vehicle for change. (You can read about their eloquent approach here). My framework views ABIDE this way:
Access is the path
Belonging is a goal
Inclusion is an action
Diversity is a fact
Equity is a condition
I traveled across the country over the summer and experienced how differently people acted and reacted to the virus, racial tension and turmoil of events, natural and human driven. The political race grew more polarizing by the day, parts of the country were ablaze, literally and the COVID numbers continued to rise. Disasters are often unifying, people come together in moments of crisis, our humanity and compassion are usually aroused in the face of human suffering; this year was different. We did not come together as a society; distrust and fear, by now were too baked into our daily existence. It will take a great deal of effort and time to heal and bridge the chasm.
Not everything was doom and gloom, there were some highlights and truly good things that happened and are continuing. People are resilient and innovative, we are adaptive and industrious. During the atrophy of our ‘dial it in’ mode prior to the pandemic, most of us just operated on autopilot. This period has sparked the need to be agile, pivot and amend our every day existence. We became more intentional about how we spent time and with whom. We became hyperaware of who mattered, reached out and stayed connected. Prioritization of small and simple things mattered as we realized the risk and preciousness of each moment and interaction. With so much loss in this time, what we gained and regarded became more valuable.
Our state of being, moved in new directions because of circumstances beyond our control. Much of this was forced, but there were monumental parts driven by our own desire to manage our future. Record number of US citizens voted in the recent election. Vaccines were developed in remarkable time and are now being distributed globally. A private company built and launched a rocket into space. The big wins in people’s daily lives consisted of new ways to make things work. Supporting children to learn and connect virtually, weekly Zoom calls with high school classmates, contact-less grocery shopping all developed from need and purpose. The choice to not squander and sit in wait for something else to happen derived positive outcomes.
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. ~ Michael Altshuler
With the loss of loved one, jobs and other life changes comes movement. The world is not in the same place as it was when the year started, and it will never be again. We, the citizens of the world have collectively taken one huge step together and we are starting to realize what that shift entails. Many are changing careers, others’ are moving or altering their life conditions. This occurs for people all the time, the difference is we are doing so, this time, en masse.
Working with entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders, I know the most successful ones are those who adapt. Darwinism is often misconstrued and misinterpreted to be about the “fit”, as in fitness; vitality and health. Actually Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.” It was Herbert Spence who coined, “survival of the fittest” as part of the Social Darwinism movement that spawned and supported laissez faire capitalism and class stratification to justify imperialism, colonization and racism. That is no longer blindly accepted.
One of the most efficacious joys in my life was introduced in a book recommended at the futurist gathering. This Could Be Our Future by Yancey Strickler envisions society that is not driven by the pursuit of financial maximization. Strickler introduces a simple and elegant framework to look beyond the near term orientation= BENTO. It is a mapping method for making values and goal driven actions and it has shifted my mindset from doing, in the hope of things turning out the way I yearn; to focusing on how I spend my energy towards the vision I strive to manifest. I do this as a member of the Bento Society, my Future Me is evolving and I am in a glorious community of practice. Connecting and becoming part of this group has not only opened doors, it has widened the threshold and expanded my perspective and knowledge.
For more information: https://bentoism.org/
A few big takeaways from 2020:
Keep dreaming, but don’t get stuck on one dream. Agility is crucial for success.
Success is defined by YOU. Do not let anyone else tell you what you should find valuable.
Define your boundaries, expand your borders. So much you cannot/will not control, but you can still be autonomous and the limitations on what you can do are up to you.
“Remember this year? It was a good year, actually. This was the year you stopped waiting around for things to happen. And somehow, as soon as you stopped waiting, as soon as you started doing things, making things, claiming your own space, speaking up for yourself? That’s when your real-life began.” — Heather Havrilesky
As I publish this, it’s the winter solstice and the biggest planets in the solar system are conjoining in the night sky. It will be the longest night of the year and in the morning, the sun will rise. We will slowly gain more light. Turning the page on this chapter, there is nothing written yet. My Future Me is called to try things and collaborate.
How will you use the clarity and intention realized in 2020? | https://medium.com/@ceciliawessinger/2020-clarity-intention-transition-c23c56eb5148 | ['Cecilia Wessinger'] | 2020-12-22 01:06:35.393000+00:00 | ['Year In Review', 'Meaning', 'Purpose', '2020', 'Covid 19'] |
Thoughtful thank you | Thoughtful thank you
Photo: R. Chávez
Sunday, 9 am. The phone rings.
“Si?”
“Hi, Rocío. I need your help! Can you design a mug for my colleague Jenny?”
“Sure!”.
Yasmina started a new job in March and 2 weeks later the pandemic forced her and her colleagues to move their office to their homes. Although Yasmina is a resourceful professional with plenty of experience, starting a job in the midst of a lockdown wasn’t the easiest thing, and for sure, not what she had in mind. However, she found her way out with the help of her colleagues.
This Christmas, they were playing Secret Santa at work. Yasmina wanted to give her colleague Jenny something thoughtful, a personalized gift. It wasn’t simply a Santa gift but a way to thank Jenny for her support the past months.
As for the design of the mug, I painted a portrait of Jenny wearing her company headphones — as Yasmina knows her from Google Hangouts. I researched the company and added the sentence “Making the impossible, possible”. This is one of the qualities her company strives for and which perfectly matches the description that Yasmina gave me of Jenny.
Time for an exercise: Who was the colleague that helped you the most during the work-from-home? What would be a thoughtful way for you to thank this person? | https://medium.com/the-little-things-that-make-your-life/thoughtful-thank-you-4e2c4a1b8979 | [] | 2020-12-21 22:37:45.625000+00:00 | ['Thought Leadership', 'Personalization', 'Gifts', 'Remote Working', 'Gratitude'] |
OCI Vault: Manage a Secret via CLI | Photo by MIKHAIL VASILYEV on Unsplash
The OCI Vault can help you store secrets such as encryption keys, passwords , and more.
I won’t go into the details of how to set up a vault, as this has been done very well by Tim Hall.
Instead I’ll focus on how to use the CLI to manage a secret: How to create and update one, and how to get the secret in clear text.
As an added benefit, rather than just using a plain text example such as “Hello World!”, I’ll actually use a randomly generated, secure password created via openssl.
To get started you’ll need the OCIDs for the vault, its compartment, and the key.
The account to which you connect needs to have a policy to access the secrets.
A secrets administrator needs to have these three policies:
Allow group SecretAdmins to manage vaults in tenancy Allow group SecretAdmins to manage keys in tenancy Allow group SecretAdmins to manage secret-family in tenancy
A secrets user can have access to either all secrets in a compartment…
Allow group SecretUsers to read secret-family in compartment Sandbox
…or to a specific secret | https://medium.com/@cruepprich/oci-vault-secrets-14af1b101196 | ['Christoph Ruepprich'] | 2020-10-13 20:57:59.810000+00:00 | ['Oracle', 'Secret', 'Vault', 'Oci', 'Cloud'] |
Eastern Camden County Regional Board of Education passes tentative 2016–2017 budget | At its March 16 meeting, the Eastern Camden County Regional Board of Education passed the district’s tentative budget for the 2016–2017 school year.
The tentative budget, including general operating funds and debt service payments, totals $37.7 million. The portion of the budget raised from the taxes of residents in Voorhees, Berlin and Gibbsboro is $25.5 million.
District business administrator and board secretary Diana Schiraldi said Eastern would advertise more details about the budget, such as tax impact figures, detailed expenditures, capital projects and more, once the budget was approved by the office of the Camden County Superintendent of Schools.
Eastern Superintendent Dr. Harold Melleby Jr. said Eastern is scheduled to hold its public hearing and final adoption of the budget at the BOE’s regularly scheduled meeting on April 27.
Last year’s 2015–2016 school year budget for Eastern saw a $27.66 tax increase for Voorhees homeowners with an average assessed home valued at $255,000.
In other news:
Eastern officials also spoke at the March 16 meeting about a mini-grant the district had received in the amount of $5,000 from the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Eastern director of special services Dr. Susan Roth said the grant can be used to help Eastern’s special needs population, with the criteria being that the grant is used in an “inclusive setting.”
With that in mind, Roth said the district looked at other schools and found they have “respite care” or “date night” services for family and parents.
Roth said those schools will hold nights where the school provides care and entertainment for those with developmental disabilities while their families or parents can go out to enjoy a night of their own entertainment that might not otherwise be possible.
“If you think about it, a lot of our families can’t go out to dinner because they have children that are unable to be in public places,” Roth said.
Roth said the district will use the grant to have its five nights of respite care for families throughout the year.
Families will drop their students off, the district will then involve those students in some aspect of life at Eastern.
For the first evening, Roth said the students would be attending an Eastern baseball game and would be provided with dinner and instructional aid chaperones.
Roth said other events Eastern was planning for future nights included holding a dance and attending an Eastern football game.
“It’s a four-hour span, so mom, dad and maybe siblings can go out and have some downtime and their students would be in the Eastern community doing what everyone else does on a Friday night,” Roth said. | https://medium.com/the-voorhees-sun/eastern-camden-county-regional-board-of-education-passes-tentative-2016-2017-budget-d9812f77637d | [] | 2016-12-19 14:56:09.744000+00:00 | ['Camden', 'County', 'Schools', 'Education', 'Headlines'] |
Introducing RISE v2 | 2018 was a very productive year for RISE. Let me recap some of the achievements the team was able to deliver during 2018:
Along with all these updates, I started working in a private repository to create the new RISE v2.
Why v2
New v2 is built to have the following concepts in mind
Extensible Modular Simpler More flexible
The ones above are the 4 core features that I think were lacking in the old v1 codebase hence why I started the rewrite.
What’s new in v2
RISE v2 hosts several new improvements. Let’s start from the biggest change:
RISE Modules
Thanks to yarn and Lerna we were able to rewrite all main RISE functionalities separating the concerns of each module.
This is not only a nice coding approach allowing to re-use components but will also allow third-party developers to override core modules by injecting their own replacing module.
For example, there is a “consensus-dpos” module which provides all the code needed to handle the DPoS rules and API; If a developer wants to, they might write their own consensus module and re-use all the other core modules.
You can think about modules like pieces of a puzzle. As long as your piece has the same shape as the “original” one, it will fit nicely creating a different picture.
More info about modules here.
Modules LifeCycle
Since every module is an (almost)-self-contained piece of software it needs to follow a contract, or a so-called interface, in order to be a valid module.
Module developers can also benefit from using the lifecycle declared within the above-mentioned interface. This is beneficial especially when modules need to initialize or teardown specific elements within their logic.
The main 4 lifecycle events are (in order of execution): preBoot, boot, teardown, postTeardown.
Modules can also override the configuration of other modules as well as adding specific commander options when booting the application.
Modules resolution
DAG — Source: Wikipedia
Since Module ‘A’ could depend on ‘B’ a Directed-Acyclic-Graph is built on-startup so that the lifecycle and config override respects the expected natural flow.
This also ensures that no 2 modules reference each-other (either directly or non-directly) leaving the codebase clean as well as making sure that different boot produces the same result in term of booting priority.
Since I follow (as much as possible) the KISS principle, modules can declare that they depend on another module by exploiting the ‘package.json’ capabilities that Node.js developers are already used to.
Technology upgrades
The underlying technology of the RISE core needs to be constantly updated to leverage both performance and security improvements.
With this in mind we decided to update:
Node.JS from v8 to v10;
TypeScript from 2.8 to 3.4.5;
PostgresSQL from 10.4 to 11.3.
We then decided to remove Redis entirely as it was no longer used in the codebase and there was no real reason to keep it as third-party dep.
The WordPress-like Hook System
If there’s something great about WordPress is its the plugin and hook system. Since one of the main assets of the whole WordPress ecosystem is the wide variety of plugins that are installable it seemed a good idea to copy the good concepts and bring them, for the first time, in the BlockChain eco-system.
In RISE v2 we use “mangiafuoco”, a Node.JS library written by me that mimics the WordPress hook system by adding utility functions.
Embracing this technology was kind of the next step when building a modular core since it allowed us to decouple modules inter-communication enhancing by several factors the maintainability and code clarity.
To enhance and smoothen out the learning curve we even created TypeScript Decorators which you can apply on your methods. This will give you type-safety, the thing we all love about TypeScript.
Example of multi-hooks usage.
Of course, all filters and actions are declared in the “hooks” directory of each module allowing every developer to easily find exported actions and filters.
Execution priorities you ask? We also support that and you can use it as well :).
New Transaction Types and functionalities
V1.x Transaction system has several design flaws and is not as flexible as I wanted it to be.
The new tx schema has the following benefits compared to the previous version:
Streamlined serialization and deserialization
Ability to encode different address systems (more on this later)
Unequivocally encode-decode payload
Before this update, we had several constraints and, for example, the Ledger Nano integration was painful to code and test.
The new tx schema opens a lot of new possibilities for RISE enabling the amount of flexibility we need to satisfy almost all use cases.
Another nice side-effect of the new transaction types is that they do natively support having dynamic fees. Even if RISE does not necessarily need dynamic fees now, we always need to anticipate needs to avoid unnecessary network bottlenecks.
The new Send transaction type has a new field that can hold up to 128bytes of raw data
Send transaction with “banana” string encoded in the payload
This opens up a lot of new possibilities and scenarios developers could use to permanently store data in the RISE blockchain. EG: An eternity wall, a payment processor, a notary system, …
Arbitrary precision library with bigint
In v1 we used BigDecimal javascript library which has been a great resource against very-well-known javascript issues when handling math.
It’s very crucial that the math is bullet-proof unless you are a fan of Thanos and its snap and wanted to see it applied to the blockchain :).
With v2 we leverage “bigint” which provides integers with arbitrary precision with blazing fast (native) speed.
So, by switching to this new feature, we got rid of a third party dependency (which is always a great thing) and we leverage native speeds when dealing with big numbers.
Introducing RISE address v2.
The “oldy” addresses look like “12345678R” while this might sound great as only numerical digits are used, the way the address system was initially designed comes with 2 coupled security flaws:
Address space is “only” 2⁶⁴. (compared to 2²⁵⁶ public-key space) 2 public keys can result in the same address. (collision attack)
Along with the 2 issues above, the current RISE address system does not allow any data encoding so it’s basically impossible to have special addresses with a different purpose.
Let’s get straight to the point. What does the new Address will look like?
rise1q8gsvlw985fvx22me8mhnvpwhfzf4dkehzt5nq84mk35zup2prfs73z5ydg
“OMG, that’s long… What are the PROs?”
State of the art technology (borrowed from Bitcoin — bech32), flexible, has checksum!!!! Meaning that if you had to type a long address and made up to 4 mistakes we would be able to find exactly where the error was made, by far more secure, QR code efficient — easier to read.
Along with all the goodies, we are making a big change in the way the 2 address system will co-exist.
Since V2. The primary account key will no longer be publicKey while rather the address itself. Since V2 is, by far, more secure than the previous address system, we will discourage using V1 by highering the TX fees when sending/receiving.
New P2P Comm Layer (Again)
Since ProtoBuf we basically solved most of the p2p bottlenecks. Unfortunately, some minor errors were made when designing the new p2p layer back then.
The new P2P layer features:
Same Transaction Per Second output Same Bandwidth efficiency More flexibility More robustness
Let’s focus on the third and fourth elements above:
The P2P layer has been decoupled and is now a separate module (“core-p2p”) which allows third-party devs to deploy their own p2p solution. Ex: just for fun a developer could use morse-signals over the infrared spectrum to send/receive data to/from neighbor nodes.
About Robustness: we designed the p2p classes to be easy to use and rock solid. The p2p layer will treat your data as an opaque message to be sent and received, serialization and de-serialization are up to the developer. Multiple codec technologies might co-exist; for example, a module could register a p2p endpoint for sending/receiving data in “plain-text” and another could use binary or ProtoBuf as the encapsulation method.
Furthermore, requests can now be batched and also eventually expire. Handy for many use-cases.
Last breaking change for the RISE v2 would be the communication ports. In RISE v1.x we used the 5555 (or 5566) port for both public APIs and internal consensus communication. In V2 we decided to separate the 2 comm channels:
Port 5554 for consensus communication;
Port 5555 for APIs.
This small change will improve even further the performances of the communication layer by removing the API bloatware from the consensus endpoints.
Deprecating MultiSignature Accounts
This might sound like a step back, right? No more multisig accounts… WhatTheHeck??
Well, there are 2 reasons behind this move:
The multisig functionality was, to say the least, over-engineered and poorly conceived (both in code and database) The new Address system is able to encapsulate multisig accounts such as in BTC.
Note: you can’t really create multisig accounts in v2. (they’ll come soon™)
To summarize, we removed a big chunk of codebase (and tests) that no-longer needs to be maintained :).
In RISE we also have second signature accounts. That functionality will be maintained as a separate module named after its functionality (core-secondsignature). We decided to keep this feature since many accounts were actively using it compared to multisig which was not used at all.
Changes to the consensus (Again)
Improving current solution is crucial. That’s why we decided to stop distributing fees evenly to all delegates. “Wait what”?
In v1 : All tx fees were collected and evenly distributed to all delegates who participated in the round.
: All tx fees were collected and evenly distributed to all delegates who participated in the round. in v2: delegates will be rewarded the fees they forge.
In all honesty, the “v2 way” should have been “the way” as it provides an incentive for delegate nodes to keep their node up&running with proper networking.
The Database
Since RISE v2 is, besides many other things, a big refactor of v1.x, it was about time to change the Database structure to a more meaningful schema.
A bunch of columns was removed from the accounts table and, at its base form, only 4 (vs over 10) column are needed.
Furthermore, tables and some columns were properly renamed to follow a single standard convention.
Idempotent DB Update Scripts
Upgrading a blockchain isn’t as easy as you might expect. Database updates are no exception. In RISE v2 we decided to create “schema.sql” files which basically are idempotent. But what is idempotency? From wikipedia:
Idempotence is the property of certain operations in mathematics and computer science whereby they can be applied multiple times without changing the result beyond the initial application.
(wikipedia)
With this change of approach we now have the ability to:
Keep the current, most-up-to-date, database schema in a single place for easier maintenance and debugging.
run the schema.sql upon each startup and make sure we don’t break anything
How/When will the update happen?
Since the p2p layer is no longer backward compatible we’ll provide an update script that will take care of upgrading the blockchain core at a specific point in time (or better said, in height).
All node operator will need to trigger the update script before the deadline to keep their node(s) synced with the network. Delegates failing to do so will be eventually banned by the consensus leaving space to worthy delegates that updated instead! (more info).
Of course we’ll give it a go using testnet first that has been rebooted a couple of weeks ago to have the same features and configuration we have in mainnet.
If interested, please join our Slack, and enter the #testnet channel to receive some testnet tokens to play with and instruction on how to set up a node. | https://medium.com/rise-vision/introducing-rise-v2-521a58e1e9de | ['Andrea Baccega'] | 2019-06-03 18:59:55.491000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Typescript', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
21 Helpful Newborn Baby Care Tips For The First Few Days | 21 Helpful Newborn Baby Care Tips For The First Few Days
And now you must be ready to begin a new chapter of your life with your little one. Taking care of a newborn can be the most momentous and exquisite time of your life.
The first few minutes and hours after birth is an important time for the mother and her new baby to bond. Spending time with your baby and skin-to-skin contact for the first hour after birth is very special which helps in making the bond after the birth successful for you and your baby.
Give your baby Kangaroo care which means the baby’s naked skin comes in direct contact with the mother’s bare skin. Skin-to-skin contact helps to keep your baby warm and stabilize the baby’s body temperature and heart rate and breathing become more stable and it’s very calming for the baby. To know more about Kangaroo Care, Click Here
Skin to skin contact also benefits the mother’s body:
This will help the mother’s uterus to contract, thereby helping to reduce bleeding.
When you breastfeed, it also helps stimulate the production of breast milk hormones.
Here are some of the interesting facts that will help you taking care of your baby during the first few days:
In the first few days of their life, babies often are hungriest at night and do most of their cluster feeding. Limit visitors during the first few days to make sure you and your baby get all the sleep you need. Your Baby will show hunger by licking their lips, sucking on their hands, or opening mouths wide when you touch their lips and cheeks instantly breastfeed them with love. Breastfeeding helps in fighting off infections. It is important to make sure there are no loose blankets, pillows, or stuffed animals in your baby’s sleep space. Since your child’s schedule is unpredictable, you really don’t know when to rest. Divide the work according to the child’s sleep schedule and who will see it at what time. Seek help from your parents and your friends. Their experience of pregnancy will give you a good idea about many critical things which you may not find on the internet. If your breasts are swollen or the ducts are blocked, try warm compresses. Warm and moist heating pads or towels will work, but linen pillows (usually sold with natural beauty products) are better. The heat helps in the flow of milk, but if you experience chest pain after breastfeeding, try a cold compress. Remember to limit visitors during the daytime so you and your baby can get sleep. Ask your visitors to wash their hands before taking your baby to avoid the risk of getting infections. Babies get habitual of shushing sound as it sounds like the noise inside the womb, so you can make a sound like (shushes) in your little one’s ear to help them calm down. After your delivery cutting the umbilical cord, there remains the stump of the umbilical cord in your child’s navel. Don’t touch or try to remove the stump, as it will eventually fall off by itself after a few days. Vitamin K is administered to the newborn to prevent any bleeding, as it helps in clotting blood. Your baby’s eyes are extremely sensitive. Within an hour after birth, the doctor will put in some eye drops to prevent any infection. Regularly wipe the eyes of your little one with a clean damp cloth. Do remember, Hepatitis B vaccination is essential, as the disease is fatal. Every vaccination is important for your newborn baby, so make sure you get him vaccinated. For the first few days after birth, give your baby a sponge bath with warm water and a soft cloth, so the umbilical cord stump can dry. For the first 45 days, your baby’s skin is very smooth and tender, and it will fall off easily. You can use old cotton towels or white cotton cloth to make diapers. Use mild soap and shampoo. Massage your baby every day. It improves blood circulation and also helps in strengthening the baby’s muscles and bones. Take your time, you have no deadline. This is the best time to make memories with your baby and create an eternal bond.
We hope these tips will help you in sailing through the first few days of your little one in this new world.
If you are expecting the baby soo, please visit us, here | https://blog.remedoapp.com/21-helpful-newborn-baby-care-tips-for-the-first-few-days-356c48e3595c | ['Remedo Editorial Team'] | 2021-06-15 12:33:42.905000+00:00 | ['Maternal Health', 'Baby Care', 'Pregnancy'] |
An NHL Veteran Shares a Life Lesson from His On-Ice, Near-Death Experience | The following is adapted from The Comeback by Dave Scatchard.
I spent fourteen years playing in the NHL. Most of it, I wouldn’t change for the world. Injury and pain, however, were a constant in my career, until one day, one hit ended almost all of it — pain, hockey, and life itself.
Little did I realize at the time how that fateful moment would enable a total healing and transformation of my life — one with an unprecedented feeling of well-being, abundance, and love. My primary purpose since then has been to share this feeling, so that everyone who hears my story knows how unconditionally loved they really are.
The Life-Changing Hit
I was playing for the St. Louis Blues’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate in Peoria at the time. With four games left in the season, I sustained my worst and last hockey injury. My fifth concussion, which knocked me unconscious, ended my career and my life as I knew it.
The puck dropped at center ice. I remember skating forward as fast as I could, stickhandling and moving the puck onto my backhand. The next thing I remember is being in a black void with a floating sensation, looking down on my crumpled body as the paramedics and my trainer worked on me. Weirdly, I watched them wheel me off.
The hit happened so fast, I hadn’t seen it coming, but I felt my life slip away as my body left the arena. On the other side of the void was something I’ll never be able to explain fully.
We’ve all heard the “go toward the light” stories, but the light is more than what we understand it to be. It wasn’t a metaphorical movement or the appearance of light. It was more real than anything I’ve ever felt on Earth but so surreal, there is no comparison. There was a definite sensation of leaving my body. I was moving somewhere — like traveling upward through a tunnel in complete darkness.
The Light That Surrounded Me
When the tunnel opened up, I was both consumed and surrounded by a light so pure and expansive that it felt alive. Without fully seeing a physical form, it was clearly a presence of God. While clearly feeling physical sensations as I’d never experienced them before; it felt like being held.
For what seemed like forever and also just a moment, I was curled up like a child in my parents’ arms. I almost didn’t feel like I deserved to be there, but I felt my hair being stroked and heard a soothing, “Everything’s going to be okay.” As I relaxed into the arms that held me,
It was the most belonging, welcoming, and inclusive reception I had ever received. I knew that I was coming home.
The Love I Felt
I was in the presence of love, creation, wholeness, and peace. There was no need for time; it was expansiveness, openness, and being connected to all things with shining light on everything. Words weren’t needed.
The light overflowed from my body and exploded into the space around me — a space that had no form but was expansive, stretching, and reaching out into everything. There were no rules. Every limit I’d ever experienced was gone. Everything was wide open, with no boundaries, no beginnings or endings. Walls, forms, words, weight — in place of all of those limitations was just…love.
The light was love. The presence was unconditional compassion. I curled up into those arms and let that love take my breath away, while at the same time breathing more freely than I ever had in my life.
It was pure ecstasy, bliss and joy, and peace and beauty.
I Knew I Had to Share This
I laughed, cried, and I breathed. I had no idea why it was all happening to me, and I knew it was exactly how life was meant to be from the very beginning. How it was supposed to happen to all of us. How it was the only pure thing a soul could experience — the way things were before the pain, anger, and hurt could weigh us down. I had lived an incredible life in my thirty-some years, but this was beyond any of it. A state of completion and being that I didn’t know was possible.
For a few moments, I walked with God, before asking “Can I go back?”
The response was immediate: “Take this feeling of unconditional love, warmth, and light that you feel right now with me, and share it with every person you come across for the rest of your life. Love them like they are your brothers and sisters. All of them.”
I nodded, knowing I would live this truth when I went back. I looked back once more to ask, “Is there anything else you want me to do?”
With a loving warmth, I will never forget, God said, “Just promise me you’ll share this.” | https://medium.com/book-bites/an-nhl-veteran-shares-a-life-lesson-from-his-on-ice-near-death-experience-84c5d203c1c1 | ['Carmela Wright'] | 2021-09-16 14:22:45.835000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Life Lessons', 'Hockey', 'Motivational', 'Near Death Experiences'] |
VideoCoin Network Launches GoogleAds to Drive Mass Adoption | Real-world companies need real-world customers that leverage, utilize, and most importantly, pay for their services. With the launch of the VideoCoin Network, we’ve proven ourselves as a superior, more affordable real-world alternative to large centralized video platforms for streaming and encoding.
In an effort to drive mass adoption, we’ve undertaken multiple advertising campaigns to get the broader business ecosystem engaged and running on the VideoCoin Network as soon as possible. Part of that mass adoption effort is to drive new business with prospective new video applications.
In researching key players in our sector, we discovered that 98% are not using the industry standard Google Ads platform. As a result, we’re seizing this opportunity to get ahead of the competition and boost lead generation through targeted Google Ads. The objective of these campaigns is to acquire prospective VideoCoin Network developers that have begun deploying applications and are interested in better streaming or encoding solutions through the VideoCoin Network.
Advertising on Google Ads is one of the many ways VideoCoin Network is growing its sales funnel to get deeper penetration on a global scale and build our brand and client list. We will continue to update you on our marketing initiatives to drive business and growth as we progress.
More news to come soon! | https://medium.com/videocoin/videocoin-network-launches-googleads-to-drive-mass-adoption-4b175e650e7d | [] | 2020-07-22 22:01:00.991000+00:00 | ['Videocoin', 'Blockchain', 'Marketing'] |
“Conserve Water, Conserve Life” digital campaign to create awareness about the importance of water conservation when succumbed by drought | “Conserve Water, Conserve Life” digital campaign to create awareness about the importance of water conservation when succumbed by drought Natasha Lee Nov 15, 2019·11 min read
Introduction
Conserving water refers to the preservation, control and development of water resources, both surface and groundwater. Water is an essential economic resource on Earth that contributes significantly to socio-economic growth in Australia. However, fewer Australian households are taking the necessary actions to save water. According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2019) An estimated 54 percent take the required precautions to avoid the over usage of water in their gardens.
Water usage is increasing two times faster than the rate of population growth. Many people believe there is an abundance of water available for future use, but that’s not true. Only 2 percent of the Earth’s fresh supply of water is locked in icecaps and glaciers, and 97.5 percent of the Earth’s water is saltwater, and only 0.5 percent is available for drinking. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth, and yet despite this scarcity of water, Australians are among the highest consumers of water per capita in the world (Williams 2012). Therefore, the over usage of water by Australians leads to difficult times for drought-affected areas such as Queensland and remote NSW.
All households should use water-saving products and equipment inside and outside the house to reduce water wastage. Policymakers should encourage the public and spread awareness and campaign for water conservation more often and introduce an educational approach in schools to educate children on the importance of water conservation.
Purpose of the “Conserve water, Conserve life” digital campaign
The “Conserve water, Conserve life” campaign is a promotional campaign creating awareness by educating families, individuals, and communities about the importance of conserving water, in particular, during tough drought seasons experienced by our Australian farmers. The campaign takes an educational approach to the public audience by providing dependable and credible statistics on a poster called “Conserve water, Conserve life” (https://m.facebook.com/Lets-Save-Water-Together-103749661080551/), creating a quiz called “Conserve water, Conserve life”, (https://qz.app.do/lets-save-water-together?from=page_wall) to gain an insight of individuals water-saving strategies or weakness in order to provide an overall consensus of how water is being saved from the results retrieved.
An interactive game called “Drought” (http://www.sploder.com/?s=d005it74) which displays a storyline of the impact drought has on farmland, and the importance of water conservation was also incorporated into the campaign to provide a further engaging aspect for the reader as a source of entertainment and digital engagement with the “Conserve water, Conserve life” campaign.
Reasons to Conserve Water
Water conservation reduces the harsh effects of drought and potential water shortages. Although the need for access to fresh water sources is always an increasing demand due to the overpopulation and rapid industry growth, the supply we have stays constant. However, when the water eventually returns to Earth through the water cycle, it is not repeatedly returned to the same spot, or necessarily in the same quantity and quality. Therefore, by reducing the amount of water that is used, as a community, we can better protect and prepare against future drought years and make a positive contribution to the environment.
Reducing water usage avoids continually rising costs and political conflict. In future, failing to conserve water can eventually lead to a lack of an adequate freshwater supply, which can have drastic consequences. These include rising costs, reduced food supplies, health hazards, and political warfare, such as imports and exports markets.
Water conservation contributes to further the preservation of our environment. Reducing our water usage and water waste reduces the energy and emissions required to process and to reach families homes, businesses, farms, and communities, which contributes to a reduction in pollution such as emissions and conserve fuel resources.
By reducing water usage on the everyday uses, it makes water available for recreational purposes. It is not only recreational activities such as swimming pools, spas, football fields and golf courses that we must consider. Much of our freshwater resources are also used for the upkeep of our surroundings, for example, watering lawns, trees, flowers, and vegetable gardens, as well as washing vehicles. Failing to conserve water now can further push the Australian government to restrict such uses in future years.
Water conservation builds safe and beautiful communities: Farmers, Firefighters, hospitals, street cleaners, gyms, and restaurants all require large amounts of water to provide the necessary and enjoyable services to the community. By Reducing communities, water usage now means that these services can continue to be provided in the community and conserve life.
How can we conserve water as a community?
The best way for the community to conserve water consumption is through awareness. By educating others within the community about efficient water practices we are able to spread the necessary information to as many people and other communities as possible. The main aim of our campaign was to give the community tips and tricks on ways that they could conserve water from the comfort of their own home.
As a community there are a list of simple things that we could do inside and outside the home to save as much water as possible for those in drought affected areas that need it most. Finding opportunities to conserve water inside the home. Fix leaky taps as soon as the problem arises. Use water-saving shower heads, reducing up to 40% of water used from a normal shower head. Turn off taps when brushing your teeth or shaving. Always keep a cold bottle of drinking water in the fridge to reduce water wasted by waiting for the tap to cool. Only run full washing machine and dishwasher loads. Also, keeping showers short and sweet by keeping your daily shower to under 3 minutes.
Opportunities to save water outdoors. By applying mulch around trees and plants you are able to slow evaporation and decrease your yard’s water demands. Install rain catchers or barrels to collect and store rain that can be used at a later time to water the lawn and garden.
Water authorities should campaign for water conservation by providing some incentive to consumers, example discount on bills going down in comparison with previous months and people will save water to save money.
The effects drought has on our Australian farmers
Water is an essential ingredient for all Australian farmers and drought affects them and all Australians in many different ways. Water is used in all activities, we need water to live, for animals to drink, to the water garden and grow the food we all eat.
Water is also needed for washing dishes, clothes, cooking and showering. Even the electricity we use to run lights in our house uses water to generate power. When there is not enough water for these activities, then it becomes so hard for those people, their lives are disrupted, and some even commit suicide because they can not afford to make their ends meet. The town gets empty, and there is no business and it also affects the environment. When drought becomes severe, just like we are experiencing in remote Australia, the animals also suffer, their food supply decreases and their habitat is destroyed. In some drought, we recover, and in some, the environmental effect is forever, impacts such as an increase in diseases in wild animals due to reduced food and water, migration of wildlife, extinction of endangered species, loss of wetland, more wildfires, poor quality soil and erosion of land.
The worst drought in living memory is sweeping across all of Australia, leaving farmers struggling to cope with reasonable living standards. Record-low rainfall in some regions and successive seasons of above-average temperatures have blighted vast tracts of Australia’s grazing and cropland. With grazing pastures turned to dust and the feed costly, the drought is having significant impacts on livestock. With sources of feed being scarce farmers are being forced to have hay shipped in from the countries west or from the far north to feed their livestock. But this is not enough..sources are now being depleted, and desperate farm owners are being forced to take extreme measures to slaughter animals to keep up with demands, taking years for herds to recover. The cull will ultimately leave the size of Australia’s national herd at a record low, ushering in a prolonged period of livestock rebuilding and higher prices for the industry affecting all of Australia.
How “Conserve water, Conserve life” campaign can help our Aussie farmers?
News channels and newspapers show us pictures of dry, barren land for kilometres through Australia’s rural and regional areas. The malnourished animals and farmers desperate and they need our help. One person can not fix the whole issue alone; together, we all can make a difference by lending our hands and help them in any way we can.
Some registered charities are helping out our farmers by providing food hampers, care packs, stock feed and bottles of drinking water, or we can also help to buy a bale for cows.
We can help our farmers by buying Australian made products, and that will help indirectly to those who need the most. We should all buy vegetables and fruits from the local farmers market and not from big brand supermarkets. The farmers will be pleased to see people coming to their country town, meet with people, stay a night, do some shopping at the local shop, this will inject some funds in the business community and help them to make ends meet.
Audience engagement with “Conserve water, Conserve life” campaign
The Facebook campaign started very slowly. Most respondents
are not willing to dedicate their time and effort to answer survey questions unless they are rewarded with an incentive. The campaign page was created on Facebook and posted to a Facebook account, which was shared among friends. To engage the audience a fun game was also included for an interactive audience, but the audience is not interested in spending their time and effort on the campaign, they click the “like” button for the campaign page.
Respondents can become unforthcoming to reveal facts they do not see as helping a legitimate purpose. I had to explain to some the purpose for this campaign; it is fantastic to see hundreds of people commenting and liking my pictures but not my campaign page. Another factor that my friend’s lists are mostly working mothers and they hardly go on Facebook.
According to Pariser, personalized algorithms used by internet companies such as Facebook and Google only shows uses what users are interested in and remove opposing ideas or viewpoints. Pariser also commented that users might get different search results with the keyword and on Facebook users with same friends list can receive various updates just as my campaign might not be reaching to all my friends (Pariser 2011) This is due to filter bubble and internet company’s tracking what users want to see.
After Facebook wasn’t receiving the likes and attention we were hoping, we decided to jump onto another platform of social media. Instagram has seen user growth skyrocket to over 700 million users in 2017 from nothing in just the last seven years, and it is continuing to grow (Gallagher 2017). Brands are now seeing an average of four times the engagement than on Facebook, and this became quite evident to us when we compared our likes and interactions on our Facebook page to our Instagram account. Within a few days of creating the Instagram account ‘conservewaterconservelife5’ we had a following of 62 people and still counting!
We got the attention of others who had the same viewpoints on water conservation and received multiple interactions from strangers through comments, likes and tagging us in related pictures of their own, showing a positive response to our campaign and the message we were trying to get across.
Conclusion
Drought is a severe environmental issue faced by our country, Australia. The “Conserve water, Conserve life” digital campaign contributes to social change in relation to drought by promoting action and awareness to Australian communities through the engagement of social media platforms such as Facebook, Sploder (gaming platform), and Instagram in relation to water conservation proving to be a helpful contributor to drought-affected areas. Although the popular platform Facebook was used, it did not generate the expected results we were expecting. It appeared that not many users wanted to contribute their time or effort toward the quiz and game that were promoted. However, Instagram derived quick popularity among users generating 62 followers in a short period. However, the campaign could have used social platform Medium instead of Facebook to produce a better social interaction with users, which may have seen a more exceptional contribution of response to the quiz. Australia is a continent with variable climate change there is a need to educate the whole community to be responsible for environmental effects and future human needs, sometimes community education is neglected, and it is essential to revitalise the education program.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2013, Water saving wanes in the garden, March 2013, Environmental Issues: Water use and Conservation, viewed 10 November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/>
Clean Ocean Foundation 2019, Save water save us, viewed 10 November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://www.cleanocean.org/save-water-campaign.html>
DotDash 2019, The benefits of water conservation, viewed 11 November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://www.thebalancesmb.com/conservation-efforts-why-should-we-save-water-3157877>
Fisher, N 2015, Unwillingness to answer. 4 reasons why people refuse to respond, NSF Consulting, 15 March, viewed 9 November 2019, Retrieved from: <http://nsfconsulting.com.au/4-reasons-for-survey-refusals>
Gallagher, K 2017, Instagram tops Facebook on engagement, Business Insider, 24 May, Viewed 12 November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-tops-facebook-on-engagement-2017-5/?r=AU&IR=T>
Lee, N 2019, Drought, Sploder, Retrieved from: <http://www.sploder.com/?s=d005it74>
Lee, N, Whitfield, G & Naidu, S 2019, qz app, Facebook, Retrieved from: <https://qz.app.do/lets-save-water-together?from=page_wall>
Naidu, S & Whitfield, G 2019, ‘Lets Save Water Together’, Facebook, Retrieved from: <https://m.facebook.com/Lets-Save-Water-Together-103749661080551>
National Drought Mitigation Center, 2019, How does drought affect our lives, University of Nebraska, viewed 10 November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://drought.unl.edu/Education/DroughtforKids/DroughtEffects.aspx>
Pariser, E 2011, The filter bubble: What the internet is hiding from you, Penguin Books Ltd, London, England.
The nature conservancy Australia 2019, Easy water saving tips, viewed 10th November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/get-involved/how-to-help/easy-water-saving-tips/>
Travelzoo 2019, Australia’s Drought: Three Ways to Help the Farmers, viewed 13 November 2019, Available at: <https://www.travelzoo.com/au/blog/australias-drought-three-ways-to-help-the-farmers/>
USGS Science for a changing world 2012, Ice, snow, glaciers and the water cycle, viewed 9 November 2019, Retrieved from:
<https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/ice-snow-and-glaciers-and-water-cycle?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects>
University of Arizona 2019, UA Program Promotes Smart Water Use in Arizona and Beyond, viewed 13 November 2019, Retrieved from: <https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ua-program-promotes-smart-water-use-arizona-and-beyond>
Williams, Richard S.; Ferrigno, Jane G.; Williams, Richard S.; Ferrigno 2012, How Much Water is There on Earth?, USGS Science for a changing world
Retrieved from: <https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/how-much-water-there-earth?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects> | https://medium.com/@natashalee_84864/conserve-water-conserve-life-digital-campaign-to-create-awareness-about-the-importance-of-water-1a9712d9247f | ['Natasha Lee'] | 2019-11-15 10:18:56.412000+00:00 | ['Water', 'Saving Money', 'Drought', 'Water Conservation', 'Conservation'] |
Trading vs. Investing: Christian Perspective | Many people assume that stock trading is difficult to understand and an easy way to lose money. The most common perception is that the practice is either too “risky” for monetary gain or a “lucky” way to make a substantial amount of money. Furthermore, people who are interested in trading are gambling and are interested in quick cash than ownership. The reputation of the stock market is known to be flooded with daily market manipulation, designed to capitalize on individual traders. Thus, “the majority of day traders quit relatively quickly (more than 75% of all-day traders quit within two years), and poor performers are more likely to quit,” according to “Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability?”, written by one of the fifty most-cited financial economists in the world, Professor Brad Barber et al. (1). Although many do not remain profitable trading stocks, is trading stock biblical verses owning stocks in the financial markets?
Personally, making money from home and the opportunity to trade like those on wall street was convincing enough for me to start my trading journey. During my first experience trading, my small account grew exponentially, and it truly was a great feeling to me. Nothing went wrong for about three months. Until the lack of risk management, I began losing money quickly. After getting knocked down from a trading ecstasy to a sobering reality, I lost a large percentage of my capital. Eventually, I lost all my capital. My trading strategy only continued for a short period of time, without realizing I was riding the crest of a major support breakout due to news which many traders and investors knew about. What did they know that I didn’t? Experienced traders understand that most of these movements whether up, down, or during consolidation; stem from volatility, company or global news, and herds of buyers or sellers pushing the markets. If traders do not understand what is driving the markets, where to get in and out of trades or the participants behind the movement, it’s almost impossible to stay in the day trading industry for a long time.
First, traders must understand that the movement of the market is based on the number of shares currently being bought or sold. Also, that investing and trading in the stock market are two different mentalities that companies, financial institutions, investment groups, or individuals use to enter and exit the market. How long traders hold share determines if an individual is an investor or trader. Investing is when someone owns shares of a company known as shareholders, to profit years or even decades from the initial purchased price. In fact, holding shares for a long period of time is a common investing strategy called the buy and hold method. For example, the money people place for their retirement fund is investors using the buy and hold method to make profits increase. The objective for investors is to find stocks that gradually move up in price without any major pullbacks. If so, investors look to exit the investment in order to protect capital or they buy more shares because investors believe in the integrity of the company, productivity, management, and other investors buying shares at a reasonable price.
Trading, on the other hand, look for short-term opportunities to get in and out the markets. Unlike investors, traders do not mind the poor performance of a company nor its integrity. In fact, if traders catch wind of negative up-coming news that indicates investors to get out of a position, it’s an opportunity for traders to short the stock to then sell shares back to other investors or traders who are interested in buying at the current price. This is because the market participants are losing money and need a way out or others believe the market will correct and eventually move back up to a higher price for profit. Trading consists of different trading strategies to make profits. Traders are looking for entries to get in and out of a stock. Some may hold overnight while others may be looking for two or three cent moves that may last minutes to cover gains. So, with that in mind, traders are not buying and selling stock for the long hall. A fact that I filed to realize after everyone jump of the sinking boat. Traders are looking for other traders or investors to sell their shares to at a higher price or buy their shares at a lower price depending on the bias of the trader. Whether a short seller (providing shares for buyers at a lower or higher price) or a short buyer (buying shares from sellers to sell back to other buyer or sellers at a higher price) trading is a different kind of mindset. Moreover, trading in the stock market is more than buying or selling stock to other participants, it’s also about risk management.
Before, a trader or investors begins interacting with the stock market they must understand that risk management is a financial strategy to protect capital. Apart of remaining profitable long term, is buying or selling the proper number of shares; according to account size and using logical risk-reward ratios. Individuals, groups, or institutions who remain profitable long-term are those who are aware of the different variables within the stock market and react quickly to cut loses. In short, the reason why 3/4th of trader’s lose their capital is because traders tend to neglect proper risk management strategy. When individuals begin placing trades outside of logical risk-reward ratios it becomes gambling. Consequently, traders begin by increasing share size due to emotional excitement or frustration. These people are usually risk-seeking individuals who trade in the stock market and expect unrealistic returns. Along the same lines, several other articles written by economic professionals argue unprofitable traders become overconfident in their ability and lose more money than anticipated causing investors to trade than their own interest. Some are trading for entertainment or to impress others. “Lack of risk management and increasing share size is the number one reason why traders are inconsistently profitable over a long period of time,” Professor Brad Barber (18–19). So, is it biblical for Christians to trade in the stock market verses investing in stocks?
Trading is about individual, group, or institution; not the stock, economy, nor the other shareholders. Yes, traders spend hours at a time reading reports and doing research, however traders can care less of the future of the stocks on what is happening here and now. Though as a Christian we aren’t using anyone for financial gain, one could argue that trading verse investing has two different interest in mind. When investing shareholders are contributing to the best interest of the company, economy, and other shareholders. The bible tells us, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil 2:3–4). If Christians who are traders are in and out of stock, do they truly have the best interest in mind for the business owners, shareholders, or the economy? Obviously, this is a question only the believer has to ask him or herself. Plainly stated, selfish gain is not the character of Christ, in any fashion, nor is get rich quick schemes acceptable. Christians are to trust God in their stewardship and make proper decisions that not only benefit us but those who we are doing business as well.
Most people who claim to “trade for a living” often boast in their profits, driving lavish cars, and how often they travel around the world. It isn’t common for a trader to advertise his lifestyle to promote an educational trading service. Trading overall, sounds more appealing than buying and holding stocks for months or years at a time. For some that can be like watching paint dry making 5% profit a year verses day trade and making 10–25% a week or even in a day. Institutions has advertised trading from the comfort of your home or even your phone at a cafe. I am not saying no one can make significant profits trading but the reality once someone makes 10–25% profit in a matter of days, hours, or minutes it becomes a recipe of disaster long term. However, some may say that this is rather extreme and not true for most traders.
The bible tells us, “wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” (Proverbs 13:11). The difference between an investor and a trader is one takes ownership of the stock with other individuals, groups, or institution long term. Investor are interested in the integrity of the company and how everyone can benefit including him or herself. On the other hand, traders are not concerned of the integrity of the stock but the day to day new releases, plays, or potential profits day to day. I do want to make my stands on trading clear, I’m not against trading, however as Christians we should always keep other in mind when doing business. Not just ourselves. | https://medium.com/christian-perspectives-society-and-life/trading-vs-investing-christian-perspective-2d3299bb4d4b | [] | 2019-10-26 22:31:04.323000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Profit', 'Trading', 'Money'] |
Orlando City Loans Mason Stajduhar to NYCFC | Photo: Orlando City SC
ORLANDO — Orlando City has sent goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar on loan to New York City FC for the duration of the CONCACAF Champions League tournament the team announced on Monday.
The loan for Stajduhar will only be for the continental tournament and he will return to the Lions immediately after the tournament ends for NYCFC. It could allow for Stajduhar to make his first appearance in a competitive game for an MLS team as he has yet to make his debut for Orlando.
With the remainder of the tournament to be played at City’s Exploria Stadium it made it an easy option for the Cityzens to pick up an Orlando net-minder to give cover for the open position in their line-up and help the NYC fans breathe easier.
That gap in the squad was created when starting keeper Sean Johnson was unable to make the trip to Orlando for COVID related reasons. The goalkeeper had come too close to another player who tested positive and as such the safety protocols deemed him ineligible.
Three New York players tested positive in recent days, which not only forced a shuffle of the squad but also necessitated travel arrangements being changed. The team only arrived in Orlando on Tuesday, just hours before its quarter-final match.
It’s going to be a tough ask for NYCFC, 1–0 down after the first leg in March, and coming back to a venue that will give them nightmares, home of their infamous 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs loss.
New York will face Mexican side Tigres in the quarter-final at 10pm on Tuesday night with Stadjuhar expected to start on the bench for the Cityzens.
This article originally featured at Florida Soccer Report | https://medium.com/@chrishockman/orlando-city-loans-mason-stajduhar-to-nycfc-554583ec787f | ['Chris Hockman'] | 2020-12-15 22:56:41.471000+00:00 | ['Orlando', 'New York City', 'New York City Fc'] |
Summer Must-Haves for Travelling Millennials — National Book Store Blog | We can already feel the summer heat as early as now. One thing’s for sure, ’tis the season to be travel junkies again! All these sun-kissed skin and bikini parties won’t be complete without a list of our essentials:
All-in-one backpack by Jansport
Every backpacker knows how important a bag is when it comes to traveling. We don’t just waste our money on fancy bags as we’d like to invest on the one with a sleek design, high functionality, durability, and reliability.
Bag Organizer by Lapoche
Of course, when there is a bag, there’s a bag organizer for it too. As a matter of fact, toiletry organizers are one of the most essential and frequently used during and after your travel. It will all save us from space and bulk, plus, you can almost put everything in it!
Bluetooth Headphone by Jabees
Nobody likes to get stuck in heavy traffic. While it may be true that the first thing that pops into our minds is to react negatively and lose our temper over petty traffic, we can always choose to do the other way around. Instead of stressing yourself over inevitable traffic, why not put some headphones while you groove to your jam? Have we mentioned that magnetic Bluetooth headphones are a thing right now?
Powerbank
And of course, we don’t want to interrupt your jamming just because of a dead battery phone! The rule is to NEVER LET your phone die and always bring a power bank with you.
Bando Tumbler
Keep the fun coming but always stay hydrated, kids! Summer means a season of excessive heat wherein our bodies drastically change, demanding us with more amount of fluids than usual. We can also suffer from dry skin and other skin irritations due to a drastic change of weather and going in and out from air conditioned rooms as well. Investing in a durable tumbler is cost-effective (as you won’t have to buy often from convenient stores and supermarkets) and very eco-friendly too! | https://medium.com/@NationalBookStore/summer-must-haves-for-travelling-millennials-national-book-store-blog-f1f76f8e8ea3 | ['National Book Store'] | 2019-04-02 10:06:06.323000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Summer', 'Millennials'] |
Audax Ventures launches to invest in brave and bold underestimated diversity founders and markets. | Story telling me
I’m Jessye Mouangue, French national born and raised in Western Africa, settled and currently residing in France since 2005, after my entire family left Ivory Coast amidst a political and civil-war. My siblings and I aged 18–14 were sent to France in October 2005, precisely one month after France students head back to school. My mother Sylvie had found a position in another country (Luxembourg) where she was hired by her former company CEO Patrick L. Fortunately and miraculously, Mr Patrick had set up one of his company headquarters in Luxembourg and needed a trusted employee to run the operations. My family couldn’t dream of a smarter opportunity to smoothly transition to our new, unexpected and ever-changing life. This also meant that my mother was to start in her newer position November 2005. We were given a new head start in those tumultuous times.
My dad, Gedeon decided to sacrifice himself staying in Ivory Coast in order to close the operations he was running in order to provide for our family of 5, letting the house he has spent years building, quite a lot of souvenirs difficult to get rid of.
My two siblings and I were sent to my dad’s cousin, she was to take care of us three sheltering us and helping us to have a smooth start in an unknown country. Luckily, we are French speaking natives, we went to a school orientation office to determine our school level and be oriented in the right high-school and grade level as we were living in the Paris suburban area.
Due to a lack of room in my dad cousin Claire’s apartment my older brother had to leave us, find a room to share in another city. My sister and I remain on the same roof, which had profoundly deepened my relationship with her while impacting my relations with my older brother. Without mentioning how heartbroken I was to be separated from my parents for the second time at 1 year interval.
This brutal yet fortunate in light of the circumstances had a negative impact on my grades, I must admit I was mediocre at school. Yet there was one class I was sticking around English. I understood from an earlier age that English was ruling the business world. Both mom and dad were using it at home as a codified language to express private thoughts when we are around. My curiosity was picked up! I never ceased to learn and practice speaking, reading and writing in English from the moment I received my first english class. I owe it to a very talented teacher Mme Houndji. She did an amazing job teaching me English grammar. I failed to replicate the same in German. Nonetheless, from 2012–2013 I took a bold approach to live in Berlin on my own for 4 months immersing myself in the country to upgrade my German level. That self-investment paid off as it enabled me to own my bachelor degree from University of Lorraine.
Fast forward our school year ended up in Fontenay-sous-bois. I was happy, expecting our family’s next moves: all reunited. Well, I had to wait, my mom had to search for an apartment in the neighboring France, her middle working class salary wasn’t enough to afford us an apartment rent in Luxembourg. A smart move, plus none of my siblings and I were to enter Luxembourg school system, not to mention the European School. My dad was still in Ivory Coast. Summer 2006 we moved to Thionville, that’s the place I call home since then.
Thionville in Lorraine is home to a great middle to upper working class population, economically flourishing, the startup ecosystem is fueled with talents from local universities, Luxembourg professionals, business angels from close cities.
2008, I managed to pass my high school degree, I was meant to decide about my next move. Going for a business school or university degree, choose which area finance, business administration, economics or else. I opted for business administration with majors in English and German. That’s when my German gaps unveiled turning this experience into a five years long nightmare.
Attending university was exciting, I was unaware of the brutal perception my peers and university professor had about young French black and arabic people. From my personal experience, not everything was racism but ignorance. I was once called up by one English professor and expelled out of class as he was setting a case of his authority. I would argue that I wasn’t the one causing trouble, undisciplined contrary to my peers. I decided no longer to fall victim of such acts and request a meeting with my mom and him. So he could explain his behaviour. I was shocked, hurted and emotional about that episode. That meeting set a precedent in my relationship with my peers (couple hundreds against dozens of french black, arabic and foreign students). Distance was going to be my best asset to protect myself out of racially or ethnically oriented acts of ignorance turning into discriminations.
My dad used to teach us that we are born free, when entering adulthood I got a full grasp on what he was meaning. I still believe he taught and raised us with his visionary mindset. I am grateful for that. I somehow kept this teaching in my head and this dictated my moves, my decisions until today.
I was born free, thus could choose not to fall into the mainstream and rampant opinion poisoning France for generations, conversations around French minorities inclusion and representation at every layer of the economic, political, social, financial sectors was vividly discussed in news programs with french minorities expressing their viewpoints on discriminations that was from 2005–2013.
At this very critical moment I decided to escape, to discover the world and to form my own opinion. I travelled for the first time with my younger sister to Baltimore, MD summer 2009. These were the most refreshing moments, being around Black and Afro-americans, I felt like I belong. Whereas in Thionville you could easily count on your two hands the Black residents. The arabic population was already settled in the region from late 1936 to early 1937*.
Consequently, when my family and I settled in Thionville we could easily identify French arabic population from the few sub-saharan african immigrants to French afro-descendants and Caribbean and French-asian residents.
I must say from an identity point of view that I belong to many. My mom is Caribbean from La Martinique, born and raised in French Guyana and later moved to Metropolitan France in Marseille. My dad and her met in Tunis, Tunisia after he left Cameroon to pursue his higher education. They got married in Marseille, moved to Cameroon but finally settled in Ivory Coast where my siblings and I saw daylights until we resettle back in France at the misfortune of a civil-war.
Today I believe I belong to every single part of my identity. I’m Caribbean, I’m Ivorian, I’m Cameroonian, I am French, I am Baltimorean, I am Welsh, I am Berliner, I am European, and I am very familiar with the many specificities of these cultures. Each of these cultures contributed to my personal identity, to define my trajectory that’s what I learned pursuing a Master degree in Cultures and Languages with a minor in Chinese from University of La Rochelle in France.
My own trajectory as French afro-caribbean has merged with Europe in 2014 when I decided to pursue a Master degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the University of Luxembourg.
Pursuing this degree I was searching for where I belong economically. I knew from a younger age that I belonged to the doers, value creators, money makers because in the summer 2004 in Ivory Coast my dad introduced my siblings and I to trade. So we identified what we could trade that had a unique selling point: Grapefruit. just as US kids entrepreneurs selling lemonade, honey, bow ties, handmade soap.
So did we started our entrepreneurship journey implementing the following:
1) Building a complementary team:
Our board of advisor: My Dad advised us on the pricing: 2 grapefruits for less than $1.
The team of siblings: 2 pre-teens and 1 teenager.
2) Sourcing the grapefruit: In our own orchard 2 grapefruit trees filled with ready to be picked fruits. I was in charge of picking them up, climbing trees. An unforgettable experience!
3) Selling the grapefruit at a price point according to market demands: My sister & I.
4) Evangelising our offering : My older brother in charge of channelling the sales.
Today in most chains in Thionville it’s €.99 per grapefruit. I ate it for free, organically grown straight from my orchard.
I drew upon this experience to find my own path to position myself. I needed to acquire theoretical knowledge about how to build a venture in Europe. I was familiar with the institutions and ecosystem, yet lacked the practical knowledge of startup ventures like writing a business plan and building a financial plan to forecast revenue, EBITDA, EBIT, Profit & Loss, break-even analysis, sensitivity analysis. I was in a mindset to lead with value.
In November 2015, I was attending my graduation ceremony with family and friends. A great reward 10 years after my family resettled in France. I also recall telling my Belgian friend that I can’t wait for it to pay back. Otherwise, to be the ticket to belong to the economic growth of my country and in a broader view Europe.
Today 5 years later after a career start in tech that abruptly ended (product management, sales management in Luxembourg) and 2x co-founder of tech startups and continuously intersecting tech and sales) in France. I am questioning the ecosystem on the reasons why minority-led companies and entrepreneurs are rarely receiving the support we think we deserve compared to our peers.
With the hindsight, back in 2015 I had the opportunity to connect with Monique Woodard as I was navigating how Afro-americans tech savvy individuals were changing the face of entrepreneurship building inclusion from within with others like Angela Benton NewMe, Wayne Sutton Change Catalyst, Chris Benett from blackfounders.com & Soldsie. I was listening to how the paradigm shift was taking place driving innovation and inclusion in San Francisco / US /tech and newer VC players as Harlem Capital, Zane Ventures, Backstage, Precursor Ventures…). I still do today.
Having an insider experience on capital raising exclusion ( finding an trustworthy accountant,debt, equity, angel investing)as a two time founder. Having been overlooked and rejected after applying to several VC firms in Europe. Certainly after identifying inevitabilities specific to France diversity and inclusion issues. My experiences led me to educate myself on M&A, Private Equity, and finally Venture Capital as the missing key component among many to drive minorities-led early-seed stage tech ventures to successful exits as a vehicle to create generational wealth in France.
My Investment Thesis — We are the change we seek
The scars in the game, I came to form my own investment thesis as a starting point to an emerging venture capital fund creation which focus is to invest in France and Luxembourg minority led fintech, media & software startups pre-seed to series A. These companies must be registered and operate in France and Luxembourg with a Total Addressable Market spanning across continents Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Companies pre-traction and pre-revenue, post-traction with revenue, a product MVP and a team, with a market tested business model.
I aim to fund founders who fit into the following observations:
Underrepresented, overlooked and undercapitalized founders and their tech companies with an inclusive team seeking their first € 50,000 check that be “friend and family” round. Some of these entrepreneurs are building products and serving communities that many traditional Business Angels /VCs don’t understand or aren’t willing to understand. This leads to missed opportunities to fund great companies. Sometimes these founders at the pre-seed stage aren’t as polished, don’t know all the financial ecosystem and VC lingo, don’t have an amazing network, or don’t know how to raise capital. Still, they are just as amazing as founders who have raised tons of money and have deep networks. €50,000 is enough to get these great founders started but not enough for them to fully execute on everything to get to the next level. They still end up needing to pitch to angel investors, go to pitch competitions, join accelerators, and anything and everything else they can do to get additional funding along the way. There are two types of founders who I got excited about. Those who thought a lot about and executed on customer acquisition, and, those building products in markets that are often overlooked. These founders are out-of-the-box thinkers and enduring people, which are skills that serves entrepreneurs very well. Making pre-seed investments, you can make fairly small investments in terms of the check sizes typically found in venture. But even small checks are life-changing for some entrepreneurs, which can lead to pretty amazing return multiples.
Founders that Changed My Life
Efuet And.Atem, author of Smiling in Hardships (Book Cover)
Did Thomas Mpanjo (Drive Me SAS), Efuet Andrew Atem (World-like-home), Omozua Ameze (CWO Solutions), Muntu (9muntu9), Arline Tchagnang (Villerupt Express) really change my life?
As of today they all brought a deepened perspective to my life. Through their stories, working with them on launching and growing their ventures I was forced to look at the blunt and unsustainable truth of how severe their founding experience is in due regards to their personal circumstances. How their life stories influenced their companies, management styles, their lives and families.
They changed my perspective seeing how determined they all are in running their ventures from the ground up, going through trial and errors, adjusting, improving, learning from their failures, welcoming advice to outperform every single day after the other, deprived with funding opportunities, yet holding tight and firm their vision, their mission every single day.
Reaching out to you I would be extremely grateful to hear your sound advice to an emerging fund startupper, be connected to industry experts, investors interested in this niche. I have no track record as founder with an exit, not very connected to investment / fund management professionals neither, although I am building my network.
I draw my strengths from curiosity connecting the dots and hands-on practice after I’ve spent five years of experience in startups as co-founder, and a 2 year long position as revenue generation and operator in funded a Luxembourg-based IoT startup. Currently working with minority startup founders advising, providing hands-on support in their venture to drive growth, build momentum, market their products offering, build their companies internal processes supercharging them for success.
I’m seeking industry expertise to understand how to approach, to build relationships in order to form investment partnerships with fund of funds, Angel investors, UHNWI, HNWI, in order to set up, run and administrate a minority led VC fund from Luxembourg (tax & regulations efficient) investing from seed to series A in overlooked minority led companies with exponential growth potential to be leaders in untapped markets and generate investor returns from day one.
I’m available to discuss your view points over Google Meets, or any other platforms of your choice.
We are Audax Ventures
That’s the challenge I’m faced with. And it is one I am willing to accept. I dug in, and from May to December held calls with minority founders, met with my partner Maurice. We called the fund Audax Ventures because we are investing in bold, brave, long-distance enduring entrepreneurs.
The Thesis
Audax Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in startups and technology companies with high growth potential (figured out product-market-fit) whose tech solutions and products are aimed at both domestic and emerging markets (Europe, Caribbean, Western Africa — Select countries in Africa). This being said we do not make direct investments on the African continent.
Stages of Investment
Audax Ventures invests in pre-seed and seed, generally in companies whose valuation is less than 10 million euros post-money.
Where we invest
We seek to invest in headquartered diversity-led startups in Luxembourg and France, primarily inside of tech hubs (Paris, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Nancy, Luxembourg-City) with an eye on the regional tech startup scene.
Target Investment
Our target check size is €50,000 — €500,000.
Industries we invest in
We are specialists investing in three sectors: fintech, media and software with companies owned and operated by overlooked and minority founders in France and Luxembourg.
Target Fund Size
We are raising a €10M fund. If you are an accredited investor and would like to be an LP in Audax Ventures, please email us to join our increasing group of LPs. The minimum investment in the fund is €10,000. This amount will raise over time as we get closer to the target fund size.
We are Audax Ventures, we are investing in long-distance enduring minority and overlooked entrepreneurs!
I appreciate your willingness to share your time. If you’d like to get in touch, invest, become our ally, advise us please reach me on LinkedIn: Jessye Bimono. Follow me on Twitter @EMouangue or Dive app @Jessye Bimono.
Thank you again. | https://medium.com/@joyce-50058/what-i-learned-co-founding-and-running-two-startup-companies-from-2015-to-2020-mid-pandemic-ep-5b66c93de3a8 | ['Jessye Joyce Bimono'] | 2021-03-25 09:23:02.903000+00:00 | ['Diversity', 'Fundraising', 'Investors', 'Startup', 'Venture Capital'] |
Think Like a Python Automation Engineer | I read many articles about the use of Python in software development, but very few of them focus on using Python for test automation. I have been working with test automation for more than 9 years, and my main programming language has been Python. I have decided to share my experience on how to think like an automation engineer. With this knowledge, you will be able to develop a framework for any given test scenario.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
Introduction
Verification of software is considered as one of the key phases for the entire software life cycle. Without verifying software quality, it is not possible to deliver it to the end-users/customers. Verification helps identify the critical bugs during the software development life cycle and helps improve the software quality to a great extent. Due to the frequent release of the software (sprint releases), it’s become tough to test all the major and minor software functionalities within a limited time frame. This brings the thought of applying Test Automation in the field of software engineering.
Applying the Automation in the software verification adds the following benefits:
It helps in a quick regression check for every major/minor build release.
Improves quality.
Manual execution of test scenarios reduces, which helps find more bugs.
Complex scenarios get automated through various tools and data sets.
Quick test results and reports.
Many more.
Just a few words about quality
Quality is considered the backbone of the entire software irrespective of the field it belongs to. Few major sectors like Avionics, Automotive, Healthcare give more focus and budgets to the quality of products. It will be worth reminding the historical incident that caused a huge loss to the industry and the research called A space error: $370 million for an integer overflow.
The history reminds us how important verification is for a product before it goes into operation.
My experience is that the following three metrics are the most important:
Independence Rule: States that the code developer can not be a tester, and a tester can not be the test reviewer and related outputs. SCA needed to verify the code has been covered 100% and if not, then the proper analysis of the code uncovered. Tracing matrices can be tests →requirements →codes (called bottom down approach)
A good starting point for measuring the quality of a product by focusing on the following metrics
Does the Software verification life cycle follow the Independence rule?
Has the code coverage analysis been performed?
Has various tracing matrices, i.e. bottom-up tracing or top-down tracing, in place?
Has the software verification results plan been created?
Steps Towards Developing a Test Automation Framework
In a project applying automation is not that straightforward, before choosing this approach various factor needs to be considered like
Various tools cost
Engineer’s experience and skills set
How frequently are test runs required (daily, weekly, biweekly or so on)?
Efforts in developing the framework from scratch
Challenges to cover a complex manual step into automation.
How does this automation framework set into the organization-wide automation infrastructure?
Considering the above challenges, it’s always considered a good idea to do a brainstorming session (developer and tester). This helps to identify the feasibility of test automation, deciding on the available open-source tools, languages and other infrastructure.
Scenario to Automate test for:
Software consist of various independent components, such as:
One component for storing the logs from various sources and then forwarding it to the next component for data analysis
The next component receives the logs from the previous one and then applies the various analytic Models (data science) to these logs and forwards the report to another component.
And the last component receives these analytic reports and displays them on the UI for end-users like security analysts.
Find the overview of the above application in the block diagram view
Application Under Test Block Diagram
Test cases for the different scenarios
Define the structure of a test case and explain the different sections.
Test Scenario#1:
Requirement-ID : Logs_receives_from_various_log_sources
Description: Verify the component_1 can receive logs from various logs sources. It can be a Syslog server, site collector or any cloud service.
Test Type: Automated
Test Steps :
ssh to component_1 and check the required docker services are up and running by using the docker ps command on CLI.
command on CLI. Able to get an API session for REST API calls.
To achieve the reception of logs from various sources, the “netcat (nc)” command can be performed by creating a log.txt file with some unique string logs.
cat raw_logs.txt | nc localhost <port number> #port number where the component_1 receives the logs at the eth interface.
Expected Result :
Verify the Syslog logs at the path rsyslog folder is growing and grep for a unique string inside rsyslog logs using the below CLI command.
user@prashant:cat /opt/app/data/input/rsyslog/Internal.syslog.log | grep ‘your unique string from log you netcated’
Test Scenario#2:
Requirement-ID : Alert_rules_ran_on_log
Description: Verify that component_2 can pull logs from component_1, and alerts are triggered based on the alert rule applied on these logs.
Test Type: Automated
Test Steps:
ssh to component_2 and check the required docker services are up and running by using docker ps command on CLI.
command on CLI. Able to get an API session for REST API calls.
Configure an alert rule through a POST API call; this rule will be applied to the logs coming from component_1 to component_2 to identify the alerts.
A Sample Robot File With REST API POST Call
Expected Result :
Verify the file “syslogs.log” at the path rsyslog folder is growing and grep for a unique string inside rsyslog file.
user@prashant:cat /opt/app/data/input/rsyslog/Internal.syslog.log | grep 'your unique string you have sent through NC command'
Verify the alert logs inside the alert_engine application logs. The alert logs will contain the rule name configured on the component_2.
user@prashant:cat /opt/app/data/output/alert_module/alerts.log | grep 'alert_type'
Test Scenario#3:
Requirement-ID : incident_created_based_on_alerts
Description: Verify the component_3 can receive alerts logs from component_2 and create the incident report ticket for further use.
Test Type: Automated
Test Steps:
ssh to component_3 and check the required docker services are up and running by using docker ps command on CLI.
command on CLI. Able to get an API session for REST API calls.
Check the configuration files are in place by running the find with the file name on CLI.
Expected Result :
Verify a new incident id is created on the incident responder application logs.
user@prashant:cat /opt/app/data/output/incident_responder_module/incident_service.log | grep 'incident_id'
Verify the response of the GET REST API call contains an incident id.
How to monitor the output logs?
There are various ways to verify the output logs for a specific value. Like
Through grep command on current growing logs.
Applying a polling method on the logs.
Both can be used to achieve the task but applying a grep method may not always give a consistent output because data logging is sometimes delayed. Therefore I prefer the polling method as a safe option to go with. A polling method ensures to try some specified number of attempts with a specified interval to look for the value, and if it’s not successful, it returns Fail.
A sample robot framework polling keyword has been attached below for reference.
A Robot Framework Keyword
NOTE: Here, I have used “grep” by doing a Linux system call only for demonstration. You will see that several system calls are done in the example code, such as using grep, sed etc.
This is fine if you have a well-defined system, but the code becomes less portable, and it is difficult to handle the error codes/scenarios. For example, you can find the desired string from the log file using regular expressions in a production version of the code.
Test environment
Follow the steps in the below link on how to create the test framework:
Test Environment Setup
Test Case Demonstration
This code assumes that you have three running Nodes for each component, and it’s provisioned to access through the SSH terminal, and your environment is set up as per the instruction provided in this article.
Both PyTest and Robot Framework style code snippets were added as a reference. Use the below link to see how a test case can be developed using PyTest and Robot Framework for the Application under Test.
Using PyTest
Robot Framework
Conclusions
In this article, we looked at developing an automation framework for an Application Under Test using Python. Once you start developing the framework for your application, you will get a better understanding.
If you have some tricks you would like to share, feel free to share them in the comments.
I hope this helps you; thank you for reading!
Take care, and I hope to see you soon. | https://medium.com/himinds/think-like-an-python-automation-engineer-8dec097c9436 | ['Prashant Kumar Pathak'] | 2021-09-09 12:49:51.915000+00:00 | ['Robot Framework', 'System Testing', 'Pytest', 'Python3', 'Automation Testing'] |
Ocean of Love. a haiku | Sign up for American Haiku Steamship To Writing History
By American Haiku
Writing takes practice. American Haiku is a great way to put your words from your fingers to your piece of paper. Don't quit, you can do it. Take a look | https://medium.com/american-haiku/my-love-92c536fb489a | ['Rajesh Vairapandian'] | 2019-10-22 11:27:17.131000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Literature', 'Fiction', 'Art', 'Haiku'] |
No Country for Young Farmers | Perhaps the biggest problem looming in farming and ranching is the average age of the American farmer is steadily creeping toward 60. This aging population, combined with youth flight from their rural homes, and sky-high barriers to entry have our farm economy careening toward feudalism. If current trends continue, Big Ag will join the Big Banks as too big to fail. The power that monopolies like Brazil’s JBS, China’s Smithfield, and the US’ Cargill and Tyson have over our political process has led to financial ruin for rural America and bold action is needed to reverse these trends before it’s too late.
As trends toward larger farms that rotate between 2, maybe 3, crops that are only fit for animal consumption dominate the landscape across America’s breadbasket, it would seem crazy for anyone to even consider farming. However, a desire to reconnect to our land and food runs deep in many Millenials and Zoomers but the opportunity to throw on a pair of bib overalls and produce food that humans eat is narrowing. Unless you were born expecting to inherit land or wealth, farming likely isn’t on the table. Even farming part-time is a distant dream as wages in rural areas are too low and broadband required for remote work that pays better is scarce, if available at all.
Aggressive steps need to be taken to revitalize rural areas and bring in the diversity that has helped urban areas thrive. Loans for new and beginning farmers, especially BIPOC and female farmers, need to be more accessible, student loan debt needs to be canceled, broadband must be expanded, and agribusiness giants must be shackled. And that’s just the start.
The global pandemic that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans has exposed just how weak our food system has become under corporate control. As images of heartbroken dairy farmers disposing of thousands of gallons of fresh milk as they already struggle to get by are juxtaposed with food bank lines wrapping around city blocks, a conversation has been sparked about our broken supply chains. Fixing this problem will require renewed and increased investments in local and regional food systems that support farmers and the communities they call home.
Of course, no discussion about farming should be taken seriously without at least mentioning the long-term environmental damage of industrial agriculture. I fear the lack of seriousness with which this issue is being approached stems from the lack of decision-makers who are likely to be around when the most dangerous and consequential effects of climate change occur. As our drinking water fills with pesticides and pig shit, the air we breathe poisons our lungs, and the soil we rely upon to produce a successful crop erodes. Quite frankly, the future of agriculture is bleak and there must be a changing of the guard and real support for sustainable production if we hope to have a livable future not littered by factory farms.
Sadly, help doesn’t seem to be on the way. The recent nomination of Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture (again) has rallied both conservatives and progressives in a unified voice I thought the nation could no longer muster. His record of support for industry over independent producers is evident as his first stint oversaw a complete lack of intestinal fortitude when it came to standing up to corporate titans despite promises and hearings to do just that. Farmers risked their livelihoods to speak out against monopoly abuse and the lack of action has marred the Democratic brand across rural America. A return to the poisoned well is no way to water the next crop of progressives.
If we, as a nation, want a food system that feeds our communities, respects its workers, and practices good stewardship of our shared natural resources, Tom Vilsack will have to do an about-face on his first term and lead the charge for new and beginning farmers. Will he answer the call?
Cody Atkinson is the son of a long line of Missouri farmers. Cody grew up in Odessa, Missouri spending time on his family’s small cow/calf operation. Cody and his wife, Haven, hope to one day run their own farming operation raising bison and produce with a focus on sustainable development and disabled community integration. | https://medium.com/@codyalanatk/no-country-for-young-farmers-a85170f13361 | ['Cody Atkinson'] | 2021-01-04 14:30:07.385000+00:00 | ['Agriculture', 'Farming', 'Ranching', 'Tom Vilsack'] |
Live-show| Tokyo International Film Festival Live, 2021 (Full Stream) | ❂ Artist Event : Tokyo International Film Festival
❂ Venue : Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, Tokyo, Japan
❂ Live Streaming Tokyo International Film Festival 2021
Conversation Series at Asia Lounge
The Japan Foundation Asia Center & Tokyo International Film Festival
Marking its second installment since 2020, this year’s Conversation Series will again be advised by the committee members led by filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu. Directors and actors from various countries and regions including Asia will gather at the Asia Lounge to engage in discussion with their Japanese counterparts.
This year’s theme will be “Crossing Borders”. Guests will share their thoughts and sentiments about film and filmmaking in terms of efforts and attempts to transcend borders. The festival will strive to invite as many international guests as possible to Japan so that they can engage in physical conversation and interaction at the Asia Lounge.
The sessions will be broadcast live from the festival venue in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya every day for eight days from October 31st to November 7th. Stay tuned! | https://medium.com/@b.i.m.sa.la.bi.mp.rok/live-show-tokyo-international-film-festival-live-2021-full-stream-2c1355b8bbe1 | [] | 2021-10-30 14:11:28.414000+00:00 | ['Television', 'Festivals'] |
Doubtful | Torn between the confidence of a child
And the doubts of an insecure grown up
Torn between yearning to hide
And wanting to show up;
Torn between knowing my purpose
And feeling deeply confused
Between wishing to be of service
And avoid being used;
Torn between blind trust
And suffocating paranoia
Torn I am between mindless lust
And being fiercely loyal;
Scattered, raptured, fractured
Scared, frightened, paralyzed
Doubts lack structure
They’re inconsistent and disorganized… | https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/doubtful-4628a9ffc11d | ['𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊.'] | 2020-12-09 11:22:19.008000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Prompt', 'Energy', 'Doubt', 'Poetry'] |
‘Why Me?’: Incest, Suffering, And Why God Isn’t My Answer | If everything happens for a reason, then what was the reason for the years of abuse I suffered?
Content warning: discussion of rape
T he way I saw it, god abandoned me the first time my father raped me.
I’m a survivor of incest, of childhood abuse, of trafficking, domestic violence, and rape. Perhaps it’s no surprise that I hate god.
Even as I sit to write this, there is still a part of me that wants to ask god, “why?” When I meet people who have never experienced abuse, who seem to have made it through life and accomplished great things without the baggage of abuse strapped to their backs, I wonder why god gave me all these boulders and told me to swim upstream when others were given yachts and a life jacket. But I’ve found that the only way forward is to stop asking “why,” because I know god isn’t answering. Chaos, not god, has allowed me to let go.
I’m going to be really real with you: These feelings will never go away for me completely. I’m not the only abuse survivor who’s ever asked god, “why me?” Being abused as a child set me up for a lifetime of believing I was broken, which turned into feeling like I could never not be broken. This feeling really congealed when I reached my late twenties. My Bipolar was spiraling after I got fired from a job and was desperate for money and a purpose. My purpose became self-annihilation. Who am I if I’m not being victimized? What is my identity if not a victim? I had suffered, but now, I was aiding in my own suffering.
If your first memory is being raped by your father, you’re probably going to hate god. But I believed in god for a long time. I was always highly spiritual as a kid and always in search of what I wanted my relationship to a higher power to look like. Because I was not raised in any one religion, I decided to try them all on for size; being Hindu for a time, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, even atheist. At age 6 I had a friend who was very Christian — which my family was not — so I would go to Sunday School with her every weekend and I begged my mom to buy me a Bible. I spent every night reading the stories of the new testament. At 10 years old, I invited friends over to celebrate the birthday of Ganesh, the Hindu remover of obstacles. At 13 I began going to the synagogue near my house and by 16 I was wearing the hijab, praying five times per day and reading the Quran every night.
Even though I had experienced immense trauma as a child, my resilience and my ability to see and believe in good was endless. But the lifetime culmination of my experiences with abuse all led me to believe, in adulthood, that there must not be a “god.” That god had abandoned me long ago.
If we’re taught god is good — if god is the opposite of evil — then why would he allow senseless suffering? Especially of innocent children? I’m not the first to ask these questions about god. There is a common thread amongst most major religions that god knows best and god has a plan. To an abuse survivor, this is like being told to accept being out of control when we often feel like having no power got us abused in the first place. Trust and surrender are hard for people who have experienced an egregious breach of trust and that “surrender” means giving up agency or the ability to fight back or say no. And while I’m sure there are many abuse survivors who have been able to surrender, I am not one of them, and it should not be required for us.
There is a Buddhist saying that the only thing that is certain is uncertainty. This approach at least takes the power dynamics out of a person’s relationship to god in a way that is much more accessible and approachable for people who have suffered through childhood abuse. It is no coincidence that abuse survivors often have issues with letting go of control, and only when the power hierarchy is removed can our relationship to a higher power feel emotionally safe. I started wondering if suffering has a purpose, and what was in and out of my control? Maybe the existence of god is so hard for survivors of incest and childhood abuse to believe in because the question of suffering hinges on so many others, which cannot be easily answered. We would have to be able to answer why god lets bad things happen to good people, and nobody, not even the faithful, can answer that for sure.
However, not even Buddhism could bring me peace. According to Buddhist philosopher Thich Nhat Hanh, “the Buddha called suffering a holy truth, because our suffering has the capacity of showing us the path to liberation.” The Buddha says “suffering is not holding you, you are holding suffering.” Suffering is therefore akin to emotionally running away from oneself — one’s higher self — to seek out numbness in the external world. Which only prolongs one’s misery. Suffering will stop, says this philosophy, once you are able to let go of the idea that there is anywhere to hide. Like many religious practices, it teaches acceptance and letting go of control as key to finding peace within. But if our suffering is our responsibility, then I am left again asking “why me?”
When religions tell us as survivors that “god knows best” or “just let go,” it sounds like reasons abusers give children as to why they must inflict pain and suffering upon them. When god calls for us to blindly trust, how could an adult abuse survivor not think of when their abuser told them “I’m doing this because I love you; I’m doing this because you wanted me to; I’m doing this to help you.” It can’t be an expectation of abuse survivors that they just let go and accept that god knows best, because we might feel like this is something that allowed us to be hurt in the past. For whatever reasons god “allows” incest to happen, we will probably never know while we walk this earth.
Maybe everything that happened to me was just random; like a tornado that skips one house only to eviscerate another. With a number of years of intensive therapy under my belt, I’ve learned that the “why” becomes not nearly as relevant as the “how.” How are you going to move on? How are you going to let go of suffering, of victimhood? How are you going to believe you’re worthy of a healthy, safe, happy life and people in it who treat you accordingly? The “why” is probably the most vexing part of surviving incest. I still would like to know why.
But I’ve learned that asking the question neither affords me any peace nor the ability to move on with life. Which ultimately is what it comes down to for childhood abuse survivors. Being an incest survivor is part of my story, but it’s not the whole story, nor is it all of who I am as a person. That is the biggest lesson I’ve learned in my healing journey; whether or not it was god who decided what happened to me, as famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung said, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” | https://medium.com/the-establishment/why-me-incest-suffering-and-why-god-isn-t-my-answer-288dbbdaedf | ['The Establishment'] | 2018-05-22 14:14:14.209000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Essay', 'Abuse', 'Society Politics', 'Rape'] |
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How to Get Around Newspaper Paywalls in 2020 | A paywall is a method of restricting access to content via a paid subscription. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of decline in paid print readership and advertising revenue. In academics, research papers are often subject to a paywall and are available via academic libraries that subscribe.
Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales has stated that he “would rather write [an opinion piece] where it is going to be read”, declaring that “putting opinion pieces behind paywalls [makes] no sense.” Without easy access to both read and share insights and opinions, the online news platform loses an essential characteristic of democratic exchange.
This article is not meant to debate the commodification of information. If you use a news-source regularly for work or personal use, and derive significant value from it, you should pay for it. But in an increasingly fragmented media landscape, it is not economically feasible for a casual reader to pay for a costly monthly or yearly subscription to dozens of news sites.
Below is a (nearly) comprehensive guide to the various methods allowing you get around paywalls, pop-ups, and adwalls, that are common on many news sites. There will always be one or two articles that you cannot access without a purchase or compromising your personal information, but you should be able to access at least 95% of news content for free using these tricks. These techniques will help you get around paywalls for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, and more, without requiring username and password logins credentials or illegal hacking.
One last note before you start hacking paywalls. If you only need access to these sites for a brief period of time, you may be better off taking advantage of the free trial periods many publications offer and cancelling your subscription before it renews:
Source: Paywall Hacks
How to Get Around Almost any Paywall Easily (UPDATED 12/2/19 with new WSJ Bypass)
I vowed to find a way around their paywall after they sent a cease and desist to Outline (still an amazing resource for many news sites). It took me a few tries to find something that works, but here you go:
1. Use The Following Firefox Browser Add-on
Link: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-firefox/blob/master/README.md
Note: this add-on reportedly works on these other sites as well (although I have not tested all of them):
Baltimore Sun (baltimoresun.com)
Barron’s (barrons.com)
Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
Caixin (caixinglobal.com)
Chemical & Engineering News (cen.acs.org)
Central Western Daily (centralwesterndaily.com.au)
Chicago Tribune (chicagotribune.com)
Crain’s Chicago Business (chicagobusiness.com)
Corriere Della Sera (corriere.it)
Daily Press (dailypress.com)
Denver Post (denverpost.com)
De Tijd (tijd.be)
de Volkskrant (volkskrant.nl)
The Economist (economist.com)
Examiner (examiner.com.au)
Financial Times (ft.com)
Foreign Policy (foreignpolicy.com)
Glassdoor (glassdoor.com)
Haaretz (haaretz.co.il / haaretz.com)
Handelsblatt (handelsblatt.com)
Hartford Courant (courant.com)
Harvard Business Review (hbr.org)
Inc.com (inc.com)
Investors Chronicle (investorschronicle.co.uk)
Irish Times (irishtimes.com)
La Repubblica (repubblica.it)
Le Temps (letemps.ch)
Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
Medium (medium.com)
Medscape (medscape.com)
MIT Technology Review (technologyreview.com)
Mountain View Voice (mv-voice.com)
National Post (nationalpost.com)
New Statesman (newstatesman.com)
New York Magazine (nymag.com)
Nikkei Asian Review (asia.nikkei.com)
NRC (nrc.nl)
Orange County Register (ocregister.com)
Orlando Sentinel (orlandosentinel.com)
Palo Alto Online (paloaltoonline.com)
Quora (quora.com)
SunSentinel (sun-sentinel.com)
Tech in Asia (techinasia.com)
The Advocate (theadvocate.com.au)
The Age (theage.com.au)
The Australian (theaustralian.com.au)
The Australian Financial Review (afr.com)
The Boston Globe (bostonglobe.com)
The Globe and Mail (theglobeandmail.com)
The Herald (theherald.com.au)
The Japan Times (japantimes.co.jp)
TheMarker (themarker.com)
The Mercury News (mercurynews.com)
The Morning Call (mcall.com)
The Nation (thenation.com)
The New York Times (nytimes.com)
The New Yorker (newyorker.com)
The News-Gazette (news-gazette.com)
The Saturday Paper (thesaturdaypaper.com.au)
The Spectator (spectator.co.uk)
The Business Journals (bizjournals.com)
The Seattle Times (seattletimes.com)
The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au)
The Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk)
The Times (thetimes.co.uk)
The Toronto Star (thestar.com)
The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com)
The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com)
Towards Data Science (towardsdatascience.com)
Vanity Fair (vanityfair.com)
Wired (wired.com)
You should see a page like this:
If you scroll down, you will see the following:
Click the download link. Accept the Firefox permission popups that appear.
Customize. You can customize the browser extension. If you have other existing logins, make sure you deselect these news sites as this add-on will log you out of them. | https://medium.com/paywall-hacks/how-to-bypass-virtually-every-news-paywall-705602c4c2ce | ['Casey Botticello'] | 2019-12-30 02:12:51.022000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Productivity', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Privacy', 'Social Media'] |
12 Ways to Get Your Food Delivered Faster | 12 tips to help drivers speed up the delivery process
We talked to a handful of drivers to learn how customers can help make food deliveries faster and easier to make. Read through the top 12 suggestions to find out how you can help your food order get delivered quicker.
1. Switch on your porch light!
Many of us turn on our cell phone flashlights when coming home at night. If we have trouble navigating to our front door at night, imagine someone who has never been to your house and has their hands full.
Turning on your outside lights once the sun starts to go down is a really easy way to help your driver arrive safely and find the correct door faster.
2. Make sure your home address is visible.
House numbers hidden behind foliage or decorations slow down the delivery process. Drivers may have Google Maps telling them they’ve arrived, but the app abandons them on the street. So make sure your home numbers are easily visible. Doing this can cut minutes off the delivery time.
3. Secure your pets.
The number of times drivers have been bit by pets with owners who initially claimed “Oh, he isn’t aggressive” is unbelievably high. Let the drivers complete the delivery without meeting your dog.
Unruly pets can cause drivers to become anxious about delivering to your house in the future. And if you need to spend time calming Buddy down after the “scary man with the bag” leaves, it will cut into your eating time.
4. Add specific notes to make your house easier to find.
If you live in a single-family home, add notes like blue house with fence, house with a giant tree in the front, house with the red door, black Toyota Accord parked in the driveway, 3rd house from the stop sign, and so on to make your house easily identifiable.
Unclear in-app instructions frustrates 39% of drivers, according to USFoods.com, so take a few seconds to remedy this issue in the notes section.
5. Add specific notes to make your apartment easier to find.
If you live in an apartment complex, you can let your driver know that your unit is across from the pool gate, by the leasing office, or near the barbeque area.
You can also place an item in front of your door to make it easier to spot, like a beachball or a colorful placemat. Just be sure to let your driver know this in the notes.
6. Tell drivers where to park.
If you know parking is a pain in your neighborhood or apartment complex, let your driver know where they might be able to find parking.
You can tell them to park in your driveway, assigned parking space, or even meet them by a close landmark. For many drivers, finding parking can be the biggest time waster when it comes to making deliveries.
7. If you are ordering from a business, enter the business name in the notes section.
Most businesses have their names written across their front doors or outside the building. This is much easier to spot than having to look for building numbers. It also lets the driver know that the delivery is not for a residential address. Clarity is always your friend when it comes to quick food delivery.
8. Keep your phone on loud and close by.
Drivers get frustrated when they have a question about your order or directions and the customer doesn’t answer. Each minute that passes with no response means colder, soggier food. So keep your phone with you on loud so your driver won’t waste time waiting for your reply.
9. Tip well.
According to USFoods.com, 60% of delivery drivers get irritated by weak tips. Meager tips are also one of the biggest discouragers for drivers accepting jobs. So if you want your order accepted quickly by a driver, then leave a sizable tip.
10. Select the “Leave at the door” option.
DoorDash and some other food delivery services automatically sets new orders to the “Hand to customer” option. Not only does this option prevent drivers from being able to use the photographic proof of delivery feature, but it also slows down your order if you need to hold back your dogs and calm them down after.
11. Order from restaurants within your area.
The bigger the difference between your house and the restaurant, the more time it takes to get your order to you. It also takes more time for the driver.
Unless you tip well, many drivers pass up orders like this because their vehicle wear and tear or gas cost might not get covered with the payout.
12. Keep your walkway shoveled during winter.
This may seem like common sense, but many drivers struggle to get to a home safely because customers haven’t cleared a walking path. With full hands, drivers don’t have a lot of room for error and can spend a lot of time trying to carefully walk to your door. So make sure you keep your walkway shoveled and easy to navigate through safely. | https://medium.com/@onehundredfeet/12-ways-to-get-your-food-delivered-faster-174d763f7a98 | ['One Hundred Feet'] | 2020-12-09 02:10:46.398000+00:00 | ['Food Delivery', 'Infographics', 'Delivery Driver', 'Delivery', 'Food'] |
Are Emerging Markets the Right Investment for You? | Should emerging markets have a place in your investment portfolio? In today’s low yield, low growth environment, some investors are looking outside of the US to generate extra returns on their savings. For some individuals, emerging markets appear attractive on the surface, given their historically robust economic growth rates and higher bond yields. Indeed, there’s a strong fundamental case to be made for investing in emerging markets.
Yet the task of finding the right opportunities can seem daunting, given the overwhelming differences between markets and risks in this space. Given these issues, you might be asking yourself if emerging markets are right for you. Well, finding the right opportunities likely won’t be easy. Even so, if you have a long investment time horizon, a higher tolerance for risk, and a willingness to learn more about this increasingly relevant part of the world, then investing in emerging markets might be one way to diversify your investment portfolio .
Not Your Father’s Emerging Markets
Emerging markets have experienced a significant transformation over the past two decades. One simple way to think about the change is in terms of a business startup. Decades ago, many of the world’s emerging markets were seen as metaphorical economic startups that produced low-cost textiles and were a source of the world’s commodity exports.
Indeed, manufacturing offshoring, foreign direct investment, and exporting activity were critical to emerging market growth early on. With the help of early investors and a host of governance changes, many of these countries have today become vital influencers in the global consumer and technological marketplace.
Like a startup business, this rising success has delivered to its population higher levels of financial wealth. That’s why today, a young demographic and higher levels of wealth are likely poised to spur the next leg of growth in the emerging market story.
Why Demographics Matter
So why does the age of a population matter? A young, wealthy population is inclined to spend more on goods and services than one that is aging. According to the economic life cycle hypothesis, young individuals typically focus their early working years on growing earnings while they build up to a certain level of consumption on goods and services. Theoretically, these same individuals will use their savings later on in life to maintain an even-level of spending throughout retirement.
Outside of a purely theoretical framework, we can think of events like getting married, starting a family, and planning for the future as reasons why some younger individuals are more inclined to spend on goods and services than their older counterparts. This spending pattern is also one reason why consumption is likely to play an increasingly crucial role in emerging market growth over the coming years as more developed economies continue to age. How different are the demographics in emerging markets relative to more advanced economies?
Today, over 6.4 billion people live in developing economies, compare to 1.3 billion in more advanced countries. Among many emerging market populations, the median age is now in the low 30’s. In India, for example, over half of its population is below the age of 30. And how does this compare to more advanced economies?
Well, in Japan, the median age is 49 years old, with only 26% of its population below 30. While the US is generally younger than Japan, only a little more than a third of the population is under 30 compared to 50% for India. And considering that India has four times as many people as the US, you can quickly see how this young, consumption-oriented growth narrative in emerging markets might be primed to accelerate.
Now, it’s not enough to say that a young population can drive economic growth alone. Take Afghanistan, for example. While not an emerging market economy, this impoverished country illustrates how having one of the youngest populations is not the ticket to wealth. What’s missing? A young country poised for growth needs a predictable political, legal, and investment base to provide income opportunities for its growing population. And it’s these critical factors that are missing in Afghanistan but have led to rising wealth in some emerging market countries over the past twenty years.
When Reforms Lead to Structural Improvements
While we talk about emerging markets as a single unit, much of the past growth in this part of the world has been driven by Asia. For decades, countries across Asia have built up wealth by stabilizing their political environments, cutting bureaucratic red tape, and introducing predictable and enforceable rules of law.
These actions have arguably underpinned the startup phase of economic growth we mentioned earlier. And these initial efforts resulted in a rise in foreign firms establishing a local presence that brought in billions of dollars in foreign capital investment to emerging market countries.
At the same time, leaders made a deliberate effort to reinvest their new-found tax base back into their local economies. These reinvestments included building infrastructure and making it easier for individuals to start small businesses that have given rise to firms that today compete on a global scale. And when we think about economic reforms in emerging markets, China is the most prominent example of this positive outcome.
Policy changes by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s led to an opening up of the country’s economy and ushered in a foreign investment flood. At the same time, policies enacted to reform state-owned enterprises, improving telecommunications infrastructure, and championing its private sector enabled China to create a base for its economic ascendance. And while China’s development is significant, it should be noted that this growth miracle isn’t isolated to China alone.
Singapore (essentially a small city-state) went from a developing country just a couple of generations ago to an essential part of the Asian economy. And today, it stands as a vital global financial center. South Korea is yet another development success story in the region.
Reforms allowed local names like Samsung, Hyundai, and others to flourish on the global stage. Today, policy changes in countries like India, Vietnam, and Thailand and efforts among ASEAN nations are paving the way for a new cohort of rising economies and increased wealth for a young population ready to spend.
Broadening Investment Opportunities
Having moved past the startup phase and well into expanding growth, firms in emerging market countries increasingly need more capital as they shift their focus from selling goods and services abroad to their own domestic markets. Funding this expansion through bank loans can be costly and is one reason why business leaders look to capital markets to issue stocks and bonds as a more affordable way to fund operations.
It’s crucial to note that foreign investors play an essential role in these markets. Continued governance improvements and other systemic reforms increasingly make emerging markets an attractive investment destination for outside investors. While some foreign investors might consider the markets small or illiquid, here are two points you should know about capital markets in these countries.
First, while the US remains the single largest financial market globally, emerging markets have become a critical part of the global investment landscape. Today, emerging market stocks represent nearly a quarter of global market capitalization compared to less than 5% at the turn of the century. What’s more, the amount of debt in these countries has risen to 25% of total global debt outstanding, with an investible universe of nearly $12 trillion in debt securities.
The second thing to consider is that investing in emerging markets isn’t just about materials, industrials, or financials anymore. Rather, sectors oriented toward consumer spending, technology and healthcare are quickly taking a rising share of emerging market investment opportunities and tracking the economic transformations we’ve discussed.
The point here is that demographic fundamentals are driving a need for emerging market capital investment. A young and increasingly affluent population combined with growing global capital market influence is likely to broaden the set of emerging market investment opportunities available to you in the coming years.
Finding the Right Investment
Up to now, we’ve laid out the fundamental growth story and capital market opportunities for emerging market investors. And if you’re like many investors, you’re probably asking yourself how you can get started.
While it’s tempting to think of emerging markets as one homogenous group, the reality is that emerging market investing is not like investing in the US. In fact, this universe comprises 27 separate countries that make up emerging markets, each with their varying composition of stocks and bonds, exposure to state-owned and private sector securities, and other factors like company size, sectors, and style. That’s why it’s essential to consider specific risks in this area, before diving in. Let’s begin by taking a look at volatility risk.
Volatility Risk
Emerging markets have a reputation for being higher risk and higher volatility for a good reason. History shows that over the past decade, emerging markets stocks have exhibited higher levels of price volatility than US stocks.
More specifically, equities making up the MSCI Emerging Markets index returned less than 1% annualized over the past ten years yet had more volatility than the large-cap US stocks. Much of this disparity can be explained by differences in regional equity performance in places like Latin America vs Asia and illustrate that higher risk does not necessarily mean higher returns at a broad level.
Liquidity Risk
Liquidity is another concern for investors in this space. Emerging markets are often influenced by risk-on/risk-off sentiment in global financial markets. In the past, some emerging market governments have welcomed capital inflows during risk-on periods, only to put in place measures to prevent hot capital outflows during times of financial stress.
While some of these liquidity and capital control issues have eased in recent years, this risk nevertheless underscores the point that investing in emerging markets should be done with a long-term view in mind.
Interest Rate Risk
Now when interest rates rise, bond prices fall. This basic fixed income concept illustrates how interest rate risk might be present in emerging markets today. Fluctuating inflation and changes in monetary policy often affect the direction of interest rates in emerging market economies.
One only needs to look at the events in Turkey in recent years to see how political and economic disruptions led to a sharp rise in its central bank policy rate and a rapid decline in bond prices.
Currency Risk
Currency risk is another factor to consider. US-based investors not only need to stay on top of emerging market developments, but they must also be aware of what’s happening with the US dollar. When the dollar is weak, investment returns from emerging markets can generally be higher due to currency translation effects.
The opposite is true when the US dollar strengthens. This is notably the case with local currency-denominated debt. How so? Well, it’s because a weaker foreign currency buys fewer dollars when interest payments are brought home. Either way, staying on top of currency market developments is central to emerging market investing.
Political Risk
Finally, political risk is one of the top concerns among emerging market investors. Changes in a political regime or legislative structures within these countries can either quickly lead to economic prosperity or its reversal.
Such risks have been acutely demonstrated in Latin America, where various corruption, legal, and other political issues have created uncertainties for investors. What was the result? Well, these developments have arguably led to Latin American equities mostly underperforming the rest of its peers over the past decade and contributing to investment flat performance for emerging markets as a whole.
The takeaway here is that if you plan to get started with emerging market investing, it’s not only essential to understand the narratives that can drive asset prices higher, but also the risks that can move against those opportunities as well.
Getting Educated About Emerging Markets
Navigating complex risks in an ever-changing market environment can be challenging for even the most seasoned investment professional. That’s why research is a crucial component of any investing journey. And it only becomes that much harder to sift through overwhelming amounts of data and reports when you’re exploring a country or region with little familiarity.
Fortunately, third-party firms have helped simplify the research and security selection process in global markets generally, and emerging markets specifically. One company central to the development of investment strategy within emerging markets is MSCI. MSCI is widely known for its stock market benchmarks. And what’s essential to your research process is understanding the methodology MSCI uses to add securities to its indices.
Pages can be written about the tools, techniques, and computations used by MSCI to build its benchmarks. Even so, here are three ways using MSCI’s research can help in your emerging market investment journey. First, the firm segments capital markets on many factors like capital controls (mentioned earlier) and market capitalization to differentiate between developed, emerging, and frontier markets.
Second, the indices, in many cases, represent the investible universe available to foreign investors. These factors include free float, which indicates how much of a given company’s stock is liquid and available to foreign investors. This process can help take the guesswork out of knowing which firm could experience wide price swings due to low security marketability.
Finally, it’s important to note that you cannot invest directly in an index. For this reason, many well-known US-based asset management firms have developed investment vehicles that follow a portfolio construction process to mimic MSCI indices. This fact can simplify the security selection process, especially when emerging market investing is not your primary vocation.
Investment research can be an onerous process. Even so, relying on robust third-party resources and tools can help you shorten the amount of time you spend identifying attractive regions and securities within the emerging market universe.
Are Emerging Markets the Right Investment for You?
Emerging markets are transitioning from being the world’s producers of low-cost goods and commodity exporters to high-value, globally relevant investment destinations. These changes have brought wealth to a young population poised to spend, creating a new set of opportunities for global investors. Even with this positive backdrop, is investing in emerging markets right for you?
Well, finding the right opportunities likely won’t be easy. Even so, if you have a long investment time horizon, a higher tolerance for risk, and a willingness to learn more about this increasingly relevant part of the world, then investing in emerging markets might be one way to diversify your investment portfolio. | https://fm-advisors.medium.com/are-emerging-markets-the-right-investment-for-you-324a85234ce6 | ['Peter Donisanu'] | 2020-08-19 19:11:25.292000+00:00 | ['Personal Finance', 'Investing', 'Money', 'Saving Money'] |
My personal Anthem | Photo by JJ Jordan on Unsplash
Glitter spangled Transgender girl.
Shining through hate.
Glowing away from bigotry.
Sparkling with authenticity.
Pretty as she thinks she is.
Proud of who she is.
Holds her head high.
She is a regular girl. | https://medium.com/resistance-poetry/my-personal-anthem-7774f1f123a7 | ['Patsy Starke'] | 2020-12-06 16:55:58.120000+00:00 | ['Resistance', 'Resistance Poetry', 'LGBTQ', 'Transgender', 'Poetry'] |
Margarete Steiff and Her Famous Teddy Bear | Margarete Steiff and Her Famous Teddy Bear
How a young girl found the determination and drive to defeat polio and become a world renowned entrepreneur.
Margarete Steiff in her studio, late 1800’s with digitized Teddy 2009
Life can change in a moment
On July 24, 1847, in a small Bavarian town in southern Germany, Margarete Steiff was born. Eighteen months later, she woke with a high fever and her legs felt immobile. These are the early symptoms of polio.
Egyptian carving of man and child with withered legs due to polio
The disease of poliomyelitis is prehistoric. It strikes at the youngest, and we even see evidence in ancient Egyptian carvings of small children walking with canes.
It would take another 100 years before Dr. Jonas Salk would discover a vaccine in 1952.
Polio was the most feared disease in the world in the 20th Century. Margarete’s parents were inconsolable as they envisioned what Margarete’s life would be like, walking on crutches at first, then a wheelchair, for the rest of her days. Living an invalid life in the 19th Century meant not just total reliance on the care of others, but constant pain and fruitless search for remedies.
But no one told this to Margarete.
We don’t know whether she had a child’s reservoir of natural courage or perhaps she just didn’t dwell on illness. But when her siblings went to school, Margarete wasn’t about to stay home. Her parents arranged for her to ride in a hay cart, and when she arrived at the schoolhouse, a neighbor would pick her up and climb the stairs to the second-floor.
In 1863, Margarete enrolled in sewing school. She was only 17, and this was the equivalent of taking a computer course today — and suitable for someone unable to walk. In time, she became one of the most talented seamstresses, doing beautiful work for local families. Her remarkable ability with the was the talk of fashionable society in the village.
Seamstresses at Steiff GmbH in the late 1800's
There is no instruction manual for success
In 1874, as her workload grew, Margarete’s father built a small workshop, and eventually she was able to buy a sewing her own machine. The flywheel was placed on the right but Margarete had great difficulty turning it. So being Margarete, she had the flywheel reversed.
Then one of those fateful moments occurred that change our lives.When her cousin’s husband, Adolf Glatz, suggested she should start a real company and not just do piece work. Her ‘startup’ sold felt clothing and garments made by hand. Soon she employed 15 seamstresses.
Then on December 8, 1879, while reading a craft magazine, Modenwelt (Fashion World in German), she saw a pattern for a stuffed animal, a small baby elephant, and made it into a pin cushion. Sales took off. Only she later found buyers weren’t using them as pin cushions. They were buying them for children as toy pets.
By 1880, Margarete sold over 5,000 of the stuffed elephants. She began to design other animals, according to a catalog she released at the time. It included monkeys, donkeys, horses, camels, mice, dogs, cats, hares, and giraffes. In that catalog, Margarete gave the company its motto:
“For children…only the best is good enough!”
At first, she was skeptical
Vintage Steiff Ted
Among Margarete’s employees was her nephew named Richard, whom she considered especially creative. He had attended art school in Stuttgart and taken courses in England and his fine, detailed animal sketches were the basis of many Steiff animals. Then, in 1902, he developed an animal that used mohair for the covering, making it the first children’s toy that could be called ‘cuddly’.
It was a bear.
Margarete was skeptical. Bears were not warm and fuzzy at that time, but she allowed Richard to present his bears at the Leipzig toy trade fair. An American buyer saw them, and instantly recognized their popularity as a gift for children. In 1906, he bought 3,000 of Margarete’s bears and marketed them in the United States as a Teddy Bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt*.
A tradition that continues to this day was born because, as the Steiff website says, “those who believe in themselves are free”. | https://cunninghamjeff.medium.com/margarete-steiff-200988b277f6 | ['Jeff Cunningham'] | 2018-09-04 19:42:02.821000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Health', 'Leadership'] |
The relationship between Presidential Election and Media | Presidential Elections are covered meticulously with many different news stories covering all the information on candidates and everything that they do. All of this information is what allows voters to make an informed decision on what each candidate offers and will ultimately decide who they will vote for. With that being said it is important for there to be a healthy relationship between the presidential elections and the different forms of media that cover them. Unfortunately there are many different factors that negatively affect this relationship and can cause voters to not have equal and accurate information when it comes to voting for the next president of the United States.
News Coverage
News coverage of the presidential election is what informs the public on the different information that will help them make their decision when the time comes to vote and as such should allow people to be informed. There are many different issues in news coverage of the presidential election that can leave many voters uninformed. As an example, Regina Lawrence from the University of Oregon states “Research has shown that some candidates can be literally left invisible because they can’t win enough interest from the media”. Regina Lawrence is the executive director of the School of Journalism and Communication and has been recognized as an expert in political communication.
Another issue that arises from media coverage of the presidential election is the fact there are many news outlets that will report news with political bias in order to attract voters with similar political bias. This practice means that voters that only receive their information from that news outlet will receive selective exposure of what that news outlet reports. While it may seem that an easy fix to this problem would be to receive news from multiple news outlets, a new issue arises when taken into fact that many voters will tend to consume news that doesn’t challenge their personal bias leading to the same issue occurring but being caused by their personal biases. In an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Skews, she talked about the importance of getting information from multiple news sources.
Dr. Elizabeth Skewes is the Department Chair of Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder
These news outlets that report with political biases will continue to write with political biases as it allows them to appeal to their viewers and may attract traffic from others that share the same political bias. As a way to attract traffic, news outlets will assign certain scripts to candidates that appeal to their viewers that can grab their attention. An example of this can be seen in the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton was labeled as a corrupt politician and Donald Trump as a racist misogynist outsider. While it may be impossible to avoid bias in news, it is important that voters receive the necessary news to form a well informed decision on who should be the next president of the United States as that decision will have many effects on the coming years of the elected presidents time in the white house.
Social Media
Social media is a major part of many peoples lives as it not only allows them to stay connected with friends and family, but also have access to countless forms of media and as such has become a resource from which people receive their news on the presidential election. Social media allows for anyone to share their personal thoughts on any topic or share any post that they may encounter that day. A problem arises when misinformation is shared from one person to another allowing it to spread to hundreds if not thousands of people. Research from MIT Sloan states “falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth, and reach their first 1,500 people six times faster”. This spread of misinformation can negatively affect voters’ perception of candidates. Another fact that we have to remember is that using social media as a primary way to receive news can also lead to selective exposure. The research story by the University of Oregon, states how stories and news that is shown to us have been filtered by algorithms that take into account what you like, dislike, comment, and click on in order to choose what it decides to show you. This means that without knowing it, a person receiving news from social media still has their personal bias creating a selective exposure to the news that they receive.
Both Donald Trump and Barack Obama knew that social media is a powerful tool that can help them directly communicate with voters, bypassing media altogether. This is also mentioned in the research by the University of Oregon when they state “With social media, voters may believe they have an intimate relationship with a candidate they will probably never meet in person”. This relationship that is talked about means will only help strengthen their perception by voters that already had a positive perception of said candidate. This can both be good and bad for voters trying to stay informed as they will now have that direct access to the candidates words, but the belief of that relationship can lead to them accepting everything they say without thinking of the other side of the argument and why some may choose to oppose it. Additionally voters may not have all the necessary information of what the candidates propositions stated on social media may or may not affect and should try and do their own research or news stories that can explore all the connections that can be made.
Publics Relation
Voters have to remember that the decision of who becomes president is an important decision that can have lasting effects long after the elected president leaves office, meaning that it is important to be aware that we need to consume news that can accurately give the necessary information. One thing to remember is that there are two sides to a story and that both sides are necessary in order to make a good opinion. This means consuming news from news outlets or sources that may oppose personal biases in order to get the information that other news outlets may not report.
While it may seem impossible to fix the relationship between media and presidential elections, it is still something that is very important to do as it is the main way that people get the necessary information in order to make an educated decision that will have lasting effects.
Other Sources for Information
-Full interview with Dr. Elizabeth Skewes(https://youtu.be/QngSp171bLA)
-Media coverage of the 2012 election was fair and balanced after all
-The role of the Media in US Presidential Elections-Mike Fletcher | https://medium.com/@lopezvsal087/the-relationship-between-presidential-election-and-media-5a5d5f673600 | ['Vicente Lopez'] | 2020-12-07 07:21:00.617000+00:00 | ['Voters', 'Presidential Election', 'Media Criticism'] |
Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness — But It Can Get You Beer. | Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness — But It Can Get You Beer.
Introduction to Data Analytics with Python
Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash
We have all heard the saying “Money cannot buy you happiness,” but what factors lead a person to a life of happiness? Like many questions in this world, the answers can be found by analyzing data.
But where can you begin?
Finding a dataset — For this project, I found a dataset on Kaggle titled Happiness and Alcohol Consumption. It gives units and descriptions for the columns. Kaggle has public datasets and resources to help get you started. Install and import your libraries — Here is the Pandas and MatPlotLib documentation to set up your notebook.
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
3. Read in, clean, and prepare the dataset — This line of code and taking the CSV file and converting it to a Pandas DataFrame.It is important to look for outliers, missing values, duplicates, etc.
df = pd.read_csv('HappinessAlcoholConsumption.csv')
If we take a look at the dataframe we get 122 rows and 9 columns. To look into datatypes and null values, you can run df.info(). | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/money-doesnt-buy-happiness-but-it-can-get-you-beer-e35e1c718db8 | ['Amelia Dahm'] | 2020-11-07 16:33:01.286000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Pandas', 'Flatiron School', 'Python'] |
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