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How I went about building this app — the logic behind it | How I went about building this app — the logic behind it
Rails is based on model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern, in this blog post I’m going to refer mostly to the models of the app.
To kick things off I used the rails new command to generate the app folder and some of the core rails files and directories. Running this command displays a great deal of output that tells you what rails is installing. After all, I ran bundle install as rails as created a Gemfile with some core gems.
After I ran a migration to create my first model (Pub), a database table and some attributes. With this model created, I built the functionality to create, read, update and delete a publication by creating views and controller actions.
Everything is working, now it’s time to transfer all of those editing abilities to a user.
To do this, we need to generate a User model and database. There’s a great gem out there that does this pretty well called devise. I headed to RubyGems and installed that gem being helped by the documentation. I brought a little modification to the registration fields brought by devise that didn’t include a name field. I configured the controller to allow the user to own a created pub, and give the user the ability to do anything to publication once created. And Yup!!! Everything is working fine again…
What followed after is giver users the ability to write an answer associated to a pub. For this I wanted to do the same thing by generating a model called Answer. I nested Answer under Pub in the .routes file and build the form for a new answer with respect for the nested routes. And I allowed the user to perform the same CRUD actions on an Answer.
Now comes the time to create Groups and associate Users to Groups and Groups to Users. for this purpose we’ll need a has_many :through relationship. I build this relationship using a join table called GroupMembership and bring some configurations to the User model and database to allow these configurations to work.
This is the logic on which the app is working. All along building the app I used some helpers and partials to DRY the codes I write.
Here’s the github link to the app https://github.com/RickyyCoder/language-study | https://medium.com/@ricardopaul459/how-i-went-about-building-this-app-the-logic-behind-it-39be62a8b69c | ['Ricardo Paul'] | 2019-08-22 15:58:00.597000+00:00 | ['Ruby on Rails', 'Flatiron School', 'Noukod', 'Ricardo'] |
Newsletter 22/04/2018 | Summary Asian Tour / 11k followers Twitter / Platform development
SEOUL, SHANGHAI, BEIJING, SINGAPORE…
How is it going ethichubers? Our team has been very busy for the last few days, doing networking, meeting and pitching in Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong along with RSK.
We are very excited about the positive feedback and support from very well known and very important people in the space. For sure we will harvest the fruits of this Asian tour very soon.
On the marketing field, We are redesigning the marketing plan towards the end-user / innovator in order to get key metrics that prove the future success of the platform, as for the number of local nodes, borrowers, lenders and so on. By the way, we’ve just reached 11.000 followers on Twitter!
On the other hand, the platform development starts! We are building an MVP to do the first run of crowdlending projects for a handful of communities in México. Front and backend are being developed while we do some adjustments to the smart contracts flow after what we learned from our pilot lending (https://etherscan.io/address/0xf99e42f727b256d01c87a9143412546a9296eee0). More details soon!
In a nutshell, the whole team is very motivated for the upcoming months and the results achieved. | https://medium.com/ethichub/newsletter-22-04-2018-554d1b86bd80 | [] | 2018-04-22 18:50:04.912000+00:00 | ['Newsletter', 'ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
Tonight | Lyrics
If god don’t like me strike me where I stand
Cuz the money in your wallet don’t make the man
Cuz the pain that you swallow’s never part the plan
Middle finger to tomorrow cuz here I am
Here I remain hoping that the truth doesn’t hurt
For the moment just ease the pain
Embrace the rain knowing that no matter how hard we try
We all miss the train
Maybe that’s the way life’s supposed to be
Living to impress but deaths standing close to me
Fell short of the man that I hoped to be
Tugging on the past cuz I’m tryna catch the ghost of me
Too far to see too high to crash
Searching for a purpose in an empty glass
Searching for a virgin not a piece of ass
Sipping on the bourbon from the devil’s Flask
Im telling you baby that i’m caught in the middle
Between the life that you gave me and the life behind the pistol
Don’t you worry bout tomorrow cuz tonight is a party
And we’d rather fall in love with ourselves then somebody
Perception, perfection, anything that you want just mention
Anything for a false impression like
Hey I’m looking for a woman to invest in
Call me crazy might be faded often baby want it take it
Falling lately no one makes it
Swear you made me get you naked
Make a statement let’s crack the pavement
What’s a plan to a man who told fate we’re changing
From the gutter to greatness never stay complacent
Let’s own the night let’s take what’s taken
I’m contemplating sick of waiting
Sick of sleeping while the dream’s awake
And I swear I’m leaving if nothing’s changing
Embrace the weekend if tonight’s amazing
Baby, baby, baby, baby, help me lose control
Baby, baby, baby, baby, don’t spend the night alone
Im telling you baby that i’m caught in the middle
Between the life that you gave me and the life behind the pistol
Don’t you worry bout tomorrow cuz tonight is a party
And we’d rather fall in love with ourselves then somebody | https://medium.com/livin-to-inspire/tonight-424161739a93 | [] | 2017-11-22 21:22:58.193000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Storytelling', 'Love', 'Music', 'Lyrics'] |
Shocking Research Warned of a Pandemic Decades Ago | Shocking Research Warned of a Pandemic Decades Ago
History repeats itself so why weren’t we prepared?
Red Cross volunteers fighting the influenza epidemic of 1918 (Photo Credit: Getty Images/American Red Cross)
Reality is made up of circles. The swirling tides of historical events eventually swift back to our present. The fascinating duplicity of history is that it does nothing but repeat itself. Every event, every act, and every move can be predicted. Nothing is ever original and the outlook of the 2020s is living proof.
The simple irony of life is that the more we change, the more we stay the same.
The thought of predicting the future is no longer a fantasy but rather an existing possibility. But if we’ve walked down this path before, why do we keep falling into the same pits? | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/shocking-research-warned-of-a-pandemic-decades-ago-d5e570380316 | ['Kim Mia'] | 2020-12-30 18:02:47.668000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Humanity', 'History', 'Future', 'Pandemic'] |
I Hooked up With a Guy From Tinder, and It Didn’t Go as Planned | Good ole Atlantic City, New Jersey. One city I will never forget. For many reasons but this one is by far the most memorable.
Just over two years ago I was living on the Jersey Shore after driving around the United States in my car. I needed a break, so I decided to stop in Jersey and Spend some time with some friends.
One fall weekend, I made the two and half hour drive down to Atlantic City for a weekend at a convention with one of my friends. Prior to the convention starting, I had agreed to meet up with a guy I had been talking to on Tinder for about two days.
I knew what I was doing when I signed up for Tinder. I didn’t have any expectations for how things were going to go. Not only that, but I was simply looking for fun and adventure after a very public break up I had just experienced.
Anyway, the guy I eventually met up with was working at one of the Casinos downtown AC, right down the street from the hotel we would be staying at for the convention. So it was very convenient for both of us.
We both agreed that the following would take place: I would arrive at the hotel and check-in to a room he had booked for me. I would then get ready and tie myself up on the bed and wait for him to “break-in” and take advantage of me by way of having anal sex. It was a consensual agreement.
Sounds enticing right? That’s what I was going for. Fun, enticing, and adventurous. Only it didn’t take long before things got weird. Really weird.
I arrived at the hotel, checked in, and let him know which room they put me in. He immediately responded and told me he would be up in 20 minutes. I had 20 minutes to prepare, and I was starting to get nervous.
I kept thinking, “What am I doing here? Why am I doing this? I don’t even know this person. This could be horrible.” My nerves were getting the best of me. But I got ready anyway and did was I was told because that’s who I am. I’m a total sub (submissive).
By the time I finished getting ready I had about two minutes to spare. So I laid on the bed and waited. I was shaking but there was no turning back now. And after two minutes of waiting, he entered the room promptly and did exactly what he said he was going to do.
He came in, to tighten my restraints, and didn’t speak a word to me before abruptly inserting his penis into my anus. And let’s just say, he didn’t get exactly what he was expecting out of that interaction.
Yep, you guessed it. I pooped on him. And it was super embarrassing.
The poor guy immediately got up and left. On his way out, he said “I’ll text you later.” But let’s be honest, I knew he wasn’t going to text me later. Why would he? I literally just pooped on him. I don’t blame him for leaving or for never texting me again.
I cleaned myself up, and then I started googling things like “accidents during anal”, just to see if I wasn’t alone in this. To see if someone, someone where had experienced the same thing before.
And much to my surprise, this kind of thing happens all the time. So I started to feel a little less embarrassed and decided that I wasn’t going to beat up on myself about it. I was human. I had a very human experience. Maybe not a pleasant one, but a one I could learn from nonetheless. | https://medium.com/sex-and-satire/i-hooked-up-with-a-guy-from-tinder-and-it-didnt-go-as-planned-c34c1e236dd5 | ['Penelope Banks'] | 2020-12-17 07:41:33.253000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Personal', 'Sex', 'Sexuality', 'Dating'] |
Why You’re Sad — How to Stop Being Sad | How many of us are really capable of dealing gracefully with pain, stress, anxiety, and many other negative emotions? What I want you to achieve is grace under pressure and even though it may seem like an impossible task to do, it really isn’t. There are so many other tips to share on the subject but today I will share these three things, and if you do them, believe me, your life will get better and better and you will manage to deal with life’s challenges a lot more effective and in a more graceful manner.
These are the things I have tried and they have worked for me
Sleep — “The night makes everything alright”. On a bad day, you may like to go to sleep early or you may want to take a nap if you’re not feeling mentally well. Because let’s face it, sleep helps us temporarily forget our pains and sadness and when we get up, it feels like a fresh start. Bathing — Or you may just want to freshen up. I don’t know what is it with water, but cleaning up yourself not only makes you feel cleaner and better but also diverts your mind and involves it in something else. So whenever you get back to your problems, you’ll do so feeling better and with a fresh mindset. Old memories — Take out those old albums and videotapes and look at the good memories in the past. I’m talking about happy times. The innocent times are good enough to refresh your mood. The things to notice when you’re looking at old pictures — The smile on your face. How happy everyone is. That particular event. Even if you’re crying in the pictures or videos, smile at the moment (if you were a cry baby at that time). Talk to someone — You can call up or text your friend and rant about your situation and then both of you can scold the shitty situation. Or maybe you can call up an old friend, talk about things at both of your ends, scold the situation together (that’s the most fun part) and make plans to meet (that you know deep inside will never be fulfilled).
How To Deal With Depression and Sadness | https://medium.com/@spiderkw/why-youre-sad-how-to-stop-being-sad-957120190ad1 | [] | 2020-12-11 11:35:35.310000+00:00 | ['Sad', 'Psychology', 'Mental Health', 'Sadness', 'Mental Illness'] |
The Haunted Amusement Park | You felt an icy chill lick your skin as the sense of familiarity crawled from the depths of your unconscious. You hadn’t wanted to come back as the guilt from way back then manifested itself in the form of dreams and spontaneous thoughts in your mind.
“Please… don’t leave.”
The whisper from that dreadful night was lost amongst the howling of the wind, but it was as though she spoke through a loudspeaker as those words were forever ingrained in the depths of your soul.
“We shouldn’t be here,” you said to the friend a few feet ahead.
Your friend turned and met your nervous countenance with one of sadness and guilt and said reassuringly, “Nothing is going to happen this time. We’ll be extra careful.”
“No.” The word left your lips before you had a chance to stop it. You hadn’t meant to sound as harsh as you did, but you couldn’t hide the growing fear spreading like wildfire inside. You were simply concerned for the safety of your friend and yourself.
“We’ll be in and out. I promise.”
You watched your friend smile at you and disappear behind the iron gates of the eerily quiet amusement park. Rumours of this strange and abandoned carnival had been the talk of the town as sightings of deceased children and adults had been reported to be still wandering the premises and enjoying its festivities. That alone had ignited a spark of curiosity in you and your friends at the time, and what started as a bit of teenage fun ended in horrific tragedy.
You slipped through the gates and called your friend’s name, but there was no response. When you felt the familiar chill, you folded your arms and ran deeper into the carnival.
The murmurs and whispers you heard were all reminiscent of that night, but you trod on as the farther you went, the more you began to believe that facing your guilt and fears would provide some closure. You saw your friend standing in front of a dark rollercoaster, its seats extremely tattered and safety bars in their upward positions.
Your eyes closed for a brief moment, but it only took that moment for it to all come rushing back.
“Rock…”
“Paper…”
“SCISSORS!”
There was laughter, squeals, and low hoots as the winners nudged the losers closer and closer to the eerie roller coaster.
“You promised! Losers have to do it,” one said.
“Are you chickening out?” another one chimed in.
“I’m not,” a girl said annoyingly.
Her male counterpart had already begun approaching the ride. He hopped over the few obstacles in his way and stared for a few seconds at the ripped seats.
“Five seconds,” he said, then turned to his friends, “Right?”
“I don’t want to do it,” she said sternly.
“You’ll be fine,” you said. “It’s only for five seconds.”
Your friend sighed softly, then followed the boy. The two friends looked at each other and took a seat in separate compartments of the ride.
“Pull down the lap bar,” your friend encouraged.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” you said.
“The worst thing that’ll happen is that it’ll break,” another countered.
You heard the loud creak of the safety bars coming down, which was followed by a similar sound. Your male friend sat comfortably in his seat, smiling widely at your friends. However, the other looked extremely uncomfortable as her eyes kept wandering and hands rubbing together constantly.
“Okay, five seconds is up,” you shouted.
“You got the pictures, right?” you heard a friend asked another.
“Yeah, I did. I’m posting it to Instagram right now!”
You were the first to sense that something was wrong. The boy had his lap bar up and was about to stand until an ear-splitting groan pierced the still, cold air. Your friends had stopped talking amongst themselves, their amused countenance instantly replaced with one of sheer terror as the wheels spun and spun and spun.
You didn’t know who screamed. Perhaps it was you, but that was the least of your concerns. The ride was eagerly following its designated course on its tracks and increasing in speed at an exponential rate. You felt your blood run cold as you saw the shadow of a falling figure once the rollercoaster followed the giant, impending circle.
The ride showed no signs of stopping. A loud, sickening crack rang in your eardrums. You weren’t sure if your friends had heard it, but whatever happened was confirmed once the ride came to a full stop in front of the terrified crowd.
It was as if the ride hadn’t moved at all.
Her body was beyond repair. There were multiple areas with skin completely ripped from her being, exposing the raw meat that your friend now was. Parts of her bone were exposed with dry and fresh blood trailing its surface. Her eyes had been completely rolled inwards, and her mouth hung open as if she was a vegetable.
It took a moment for you to realize that your male friend was nowhere to be seen.
“W-w-we have to get out of here.”
“Oh my God,” you heard another whisper loudly.
You felt the robust and adamant pull on your arm, but your feet stayed rooted to the spot. The image of your deceased friend was forever burned in your memory as tears came like waterworks from your red eyes.
“Let’s go… WE NEED TO GO.”
Another was screaming for an ambulance.
Your feet had just begun to move alongside your friends but had stopped when you heard a calming whisper.
“Please… don’t leave.” It had come from behind you, but there was no one behind. No one alive at least.
A familiar tune made your eyes snap open.
Laughter blended conversation and screams polluted your surroundings. You spun around in confusion as adults with children and snacks were walking in all directions. None were paying any attention to you. Your gaze landed on the active rollercoaster, it’s macabre decor exposed by the glowing lights from all directions.
“Please… don’t leave.”
You recognized the male voice.
“Stay…” a familiar female voice chimed in. “Stay… and play my game.” | https://medium.com/lit-up/the-haunted-amusement-park-b2084f61ddb3 | [] | 2019-06-09 19:43:49.123000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Horror', 'Writing', 'Thriller'] |
How to Consolidate Designs at a Fortune 500 Company | Four components + seven business units + tons of plugin applications = One Design System
At Intuit, we have seven main business units (BUs or product themes) that we design and develop for, both internally and externally. Many of these product themes all use one central design system, but a few still have their own design systems, creating conflicting components and styles across the various BUs.
My team’s goal is to combine all of the various design systems into one Intuit Design System (IDS) that is available to the entire company. My most recent project was to take four fairly different components, all used by different teams, and merge them into one unified component that all teams could access.
What is a Design System?
A design system contains various components which work a lot like building blocks; they are used together to create larger applications. A design system in our case includes a component library that follows a set of standards compiled by Intuit designers so that all components across all our applications have a familiar look and feel. These standards can include design data, such as colors, spacing, fonts, and even component functionalities. You can think of Google’s Material Design system, IBM’s Carbon Design System, and Adobe’s Spectrum design system as good examples of this.
Figure 1 — Intuit’s Strategy: One Intuit Ecosystem
How do we operate at Intuit?
At Intuit, the engineering department has committed to “Tech Bets,” or large goals that we as an engineering department want to achieve. One of these tech bets is to “Power our vision with One Intuit Services Platform.” In other words, we are trying to have one platform, with a clear Application Programming Interface (API) architecture and clean data model, as well as enabling easy setup on this new and centralized system. I work as a part of the Intuit Platform organization that aims to do just that. Specifically, I am on the Intuit Design System (IDS) team and we create components to be used across all of Intuit’s applications.
When we are creating a new component, we follow an in-depth process.
Product designers, subject matter experts, and user-experience designers conduct extensive interviews to understand how teams want to use the component in their product. User experience designers then incorporate design and usability best-practices, along with platform-specific knowledge. When teams agree on how a component should look and function, IDS designers create specifications for colors, spacing, and overall look and feel of any base component used in our applications. Those specifications then go to the software engineers (me and eight others), and we turn them into functioning components. We standardize the API to be used based on the needs of the various business units. Finally, the component goes to the internal accessibility champions for review, where they verify that all of our components comply with the needs of all users, making sure we hold ourselves to the highest standards.
What did the process look like coordinating with all these teams?
Previously, we had dozens of badge components across many feature-based applications used in all of our Intuit products, both internally and externally. This was causing code repetition, code bloat, inconsistency in usage and features, and styling nuances from every business unit, which led to an inconsistent and unpleasant experience for the users. These components had been consolidated into four main design systems, which is when I entered into the process. This was already great progress from where we started a few years ago, but there was still room for improvement.
I was given these four different implementations, each with varying degrees of use across all seven business units. All of these components had some similarities in them, and without going into too much detail, you can see in [Figure 2] that they all had some core set of features that overlapped, with a few things missing from each. That being said, it looked like the first option (the CGDS Badge) had the most features that I needed in my end product (and it was on the new tech stack I was aiming to move to), so I used it as the base for my development.
Figure 2 — Existing functionalities already existing on components
So what did we do first? We decided to throw out most of the fourth component, as it was using a very outdated tech stack and it was 100% covered in the second component. Next, we merged the first two components as they had a lot of overlap. Together, these two components end up covering about 90% of the overall functionality needed in our final component. After a few styling changes and some code refactoring (and a lot of learning the new tech stack), I had a product that was ready to be reviewed by both the design team as well as the accessibility team.
After many iterations and trying to find the optimal component that both teams would approve, we had an almost finished product. At last, the final element could be put in, which would add the needed functionality for the third component. This brought about a few interesting technical dilemmas which you can read about in the next section, but overall the process went smoothly with immediate design and accessibility approval. TLDR: We gathered all of the head designers together across all seven BUs, put them all in a meeting together, and told them “We have 90% alignment, we just need to work our way to 100%.” After some time, we achieved 98% alignment on styling and 100% alignment on the functionality. The teams agreed that the final two percent of styling differences could be resolved by allowing certain aspects (colors and icons) to be customizable through product themes.
In the end, seven different BUs, using four different badge components, are now collectively using one badge in one design system. When anyone asks for help or support, we no longer have to say “Which badge are you using? Oh no we don’t support that component. Ask another team.” Everyone now has one badge to use that is easy to support and in one main location shared with all future components.
So we went through all this effort, what were our overall improvements?
The final component has, on average, a 50% reduction in the bundle size
The final component has, on average, a 30% reduction in the number of lines of code
The final component had 100% test coverage (up from ~5%–80%)
Subcomponents are now customizable
Missing design requirements are now met
Missing functionality from each badge is now available
Better documentation
Moved to new CLI and from JavaScript to TypeScript
The new component is now strongly typed with autocomplete
Aligned seven BUs on colors, styles, & icons, configurable with product themes
The final component is accessibility compliant (only two were before)
Tech Section
Theming
So now let’s get to the interesting part, at least for us developers. What were some of the technical decisions that we made? Well for starters, did I mention we have seven business units to take into consideration, each with their own product themes? How did we take care of this?
The short answer is that we used PostCSS, and an amazing theming library called postcss-themed. The team that creates this plugin also created the CGDS (Consumer Group Design System) version of the above badge component, they are an amazing team and I greatly appreciate their help! Anyway, back to theme-ing. In each of our components we have a theme.ts file, which basically has the following this structure:
export default () => ({
businessUnit1: {
light: {
backgroundColor: BU1ColorLightTheme
},
dark: {
backgroundColor: BU1ColorDarkTheme
}
},
businessUnit2: {
// has no light or dark theme, this applies to both types
backgroundColor: BU2Color
}
…
})
And then we consume the configuration in our CSS files like this:
.some-class {
Background-color: @theme backgroundColor;
...
}
Postcss-themed, using PostCSS, looks for the @theme tag, and then substitutes the required variable based on our provided object! It works amazingly well to keep our CSS clean and readable, without worrying about adding too many classes and conditions in our code.
Improved Code Quality
A big part of moving to our new Tech stack was to improve overall code quality. Let’s start with the new design-system-cli created by one of our Intuit teams (the CGDS team). It creates a design system, or a project that will plug into our design system, within minutes, comes with TypeScript, CSS, and styled-components support out of the box, outputs CJS and MJS, and there is no tooling configuration required. It is a lot like Intuit’s version of create-react-app. The new CLI has better built-in linters (eslint and stylelint), and I added the eslint plugin prettier/recommended as well as made sure our code is more readable and follows a more strict visual guideline. We moved to a 1 file per component rule so that the code is more maintainable and easier to comprehend. The new tech stack is on TypeScript, so we have pre-compilation type checking (vs. what prop-types does with post-compilation checking), as well as autocomplete for developers also using TypeScript.
As part of this move to TypeScript, we started using base element typing, so our components extend their base elements. We use an internal library for this, so if my component wraps a <div> then that component will extend Element<'div'> which means that all of the properties a div will accept, my component will accept as well. As we are a design system, and we create many low-level components, often just extending a base HTML element, this helps significantly. We also updated the naming of a prop we pass to most of our top-level components, from: …restProps to: …html . Now the code makes it clear that HTML attributes are being passed down, plus, TypeScript helps with autocomplete more completely. Rather than just displaying our custom API, it also displays native element attributes.
For the badge component specifically, this TypeScript conversion had a neat trick to add. We had what was called a numeric badge which, if the badge was a number, it would display slightly differently. This was previously done with a prop shape="numeric" but now we can just check the typeof our value prop, and if it is a number, provide the specific styling needed.
Going Forward
Going forward, our technical section benefits will remain, as well as the bulleted list of improvements above, but the scope of impact is much larger. All the components in our new design system are well documented, fully tested, accessibility approved, company-supported components that work for all our product themes. Designers and developers can use these components with peace of mind, knowing they are well-supported and well-used components.
This was the fourth component added to our new design system, but the first component migrated with the intention of combining overlapping components (there are about 50 components across the four main design systems with significant overlap). We are intending to have a little over 30 components in the new design system (some components are still fairly product-specific, and do not need to be shared over other products). Now, we have a process to follow for future components, and a clear path going forward. | https://medium.com/@kenbigler/how-to-consolidate-designs-at-a-fortune-500-company-be6d1bd2a47b | ['Ken Bigler'] | 2020-01-31 18:42:12.780000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Intuit', 'Design Systems', 'Software Development', 'Design Thinking'] |
Christmas? 2020 | Christmas? 2020
It’s not the same, is it?
Photo by Julie Ricard on Unsplash
The starving child huddles against the wall
The tent wall, fabric that barely keeps out wind,
Or bugs who too seek a morsel to munch
Like the child who seeks a morsel to munch,
Perhaps a bug crawling in the stone and sand.
In some different place a great circle distant
She wraps an old sleeping bag around her child
Brave he is not to cry, perhaps just too weak,
The concrete holds no warmth; water starts to freeze,
The car’s been sold, money’s tight, stay warm.
“Oh, how unfair! I wanted that PS 5, not the 4
All my friends found ways, why not you?
The clothes are nice and all, but not the same,
Am I supposed to read a book for fun? Daaad?” | https://medium.com/scrittura/christmas-2020-3565646bd59d | ['Zay Pareltheon'] | 2020-12-29 16:17:07.239000+00:00 | ['Refugees', 'Poetry', 'Fairness', 'Poverty', 'Christmas'] |
Welcome to our blog | Yes, we, Exness Trading, are launching our own blog, but before we start, you might have quite reasonable questions of who we are, what we work on, and most importantly, what you will benefit from us.
This will take too much of Medium space and of your personal time to answer all these, albeit simple, questions here, so first of all let us define a person who might be interested in our products and services. He or she has an entrepreneur mindset, they are attracted by Forex and other markets, they might have heard of Exness or know a lot about this company, and they definitely want to start or already run their own brokerage business. If you recognize yourself (great!), learn more about us or keep reading; if you are not, that’s not bad too - you have even more options: learn more about us, keep reading, or find more interesting articles, which Medium is rich in.
Information provided in the blog will be divided into several categories, each of which is devoted to a particular topic. The post you are currently reading belongs to the New Features category. Here you will find useful technical information on recent updates you can take advantage of to make the product your traders use more complex and multi-functional and thus more attractive. Besides the descriptions of substantial improvements, these updates may include changes in the versions of existing services, tools, and utilities, deployments, minor modifications, bug fixes (yes, it happens), and more.
Uff…, thank you for reaching this, already the fourth, paragraph - the introduction is almost over and, as it was promised above, there is only useful and technical information ahead. So, follow me, reader: scroll down!
By the way, if you happen to find the subsequent descriptions unclear, confusing, or out of context, it is ok, since these are new additions to what is already available to our prospects and clients in the official documentation they received. Please contact us to have a consultation on what we can do for you and get a set of up-to-date documents to find our how we can do it.
Non-trading API: new Async method
The new “GET /api/async/{operation_id}/status/” method returns the status of a particular operation associated with an existing Async method (GET, POST, or PATCH). This allows finding out the cause of an issue that may occur when the Async method is executed.
The new method uses only one path parameter of operation_id (char), which is returned by the other Async methods as the operation identifier. And its successful response contains the following parameters.
“flow_status” (char): the current status of operation: “PENDING” or “PROCESSED”
“result_status_code” (integer): the result status code: 0 for “PENDING”; 200 or any other unsuccessful response code for “PROCESSED”
“result_data” (response body): the content of response body that would have been returned if the respective non-asynchronous method had been used.
Customer portal on MT server for UK
If you, being an Exness Trading B2B client registered in the UK, need liquidity for your business, you can now open an appropriate trading account in MetaTrader 5 (MT5). We will create and top up this account for you on request, and after that you will be able to serve almost any “fat” B2C customer: provide them with desired leverage, open positions, etc. | https://medium.com/exness-trading-business-unit/ext-bu-release-22-may-2019-d005ff46ae8e | ['Maxim Sokolov'] | 2019-12-05 07:38:49.407000+00:00 | ['Forex', 'New Features', 'API', 'Mt5', 'Non Trading'] |
Gender bias in California labor law must end | As of January 1, certain California first responders added PTSD to their existing list of conditions automatically presumed eligible for workers compensation. Nurses, who care for the same patient population and face significant workplace risks, have no such protections at all. We’re calling for change.
In 2008, Catherine Montgomery, a registered nurse in the psych unit at UC Irvine Medical Center, was thrown to the ground by a patient, herniating four discs in her spine. Over time, Montgomery needed back surgery. The claim for surgery to relieve her back pain was not only denied, but in the process, the hospital has hired an outside law firm to fight her claim, Montgomery has been followed by a private investigator, and her private medical records — including her OB/GYN record — were subpoenaed.
“It makes me feel discriminated against. It makes me feel like nurses don’t count,” said Montgomery, who estimates she has spent around $50,000 of her own money on pain medication and various treatments for her back. Although back pain is more common in nurses than any other profession, Montgomery may not have had to spend so much time arguing her claim — if she were only a police officer.
That’s because California law grants many public safety workers — male-dominated professions such as police officers and firefighters — “presumptive eligibility” for workers’ compensation. In other words, if the employee sustains certain injuries, like lower back pain, or contracts certain diseases, like Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the injury or illness is presumed to be job related, and the worker is automatically eligible for workers’ comp benefits.
Nurses, on the other hand, still have no presumptive eligibility at all, even though our nearly 90 percent female profession experiences many, many known hazards at work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2018, workplace hazards for registered nurses resulted in 19,790 nonfatal injuries and illnesses that required at least one day away from work. For the same year, all protective service occupations, including firefighters and police officers combined, amounted to 10,000 total.
Why the unfair treatment? Sexism. Of course, our heroic first responders and law enforcement workers deserve all the protections they have. Nurses are simply asking for parity.
If we are caring for the same patients, exposed to the same illnesses, and experiencing on-the-job injuries at even higher rates — why is our women-dominated profession not protected in the same way? Why is California, with its progressive reputation, continuing to leave nurses with no presumptive eligibility protections at all?
On Jan. 1, California firefighters and first responders even got PTSD added to their list of covered conditions, via SB 542, a bill signed into law in 2019. Yet, a recent New York Times article outlined the high rate of PTSD in nurses, with as many as one in four experiencing it.
“It is unconscionable that because nursing is a majority women’s occupation that nurses are not protected as are firefighters and police officers,” said Kathryn Donahue, a now-retired intensive care unit registered nurse in Northern California. In 2010, when Donahue was still at the bedside, she contracted the antibiotic-resistant infection MRSA at work.
ICU nurses like Donahue, whose gloves and gowns are often contaminated with MRSA, face risks similar to firefighters, whose workplaces and equipment have tested positive for MRSA. Donahue, however, had to fight with the insurance company to get her infection covered. They claimed she got MRSA from her dog.
“There is no justification for the California legislators’ sexist choice to deny presumptive eligibility to nurses,” said Donahue, “Like firefighters and police officers, nurses have a dangerous job. Hospitals are MRSA hotbeds. Nurses are hit, stabbed, and killed on the job.”
The disparity in protections for nurses is outrageous — but it’s also not for lack of trying to reform the rules. California Nurses Association has spent years demanding gender equity in presumptive eligibility, introducing legislation that is continually squashed, while male-dominated unions easily gain additional improvements. In 2019, a bill we put forward was, once again, shelved by California legislators.
“I trusted the system.” said Montgomery. “I went to work one day and got beat up, and my life was never the same. I can never get all those years back. When you have a back injury, it changes your life forever.”
Montgomery says in this era where gender disparity is taking center stage like never before, legislators need to step up.
“Do the right thing for women who give so much of their lives to helping other people,” she said. “Make a difference in this world, make a difference for women. It’s time.” | https://nnubonnie.medium.com/gender-bias-in-california-labor-law-must-end-c8bd29732ae4 | ['Bonnie Castillo'] | 2020-01-10 00:27:16.130000+00:00 | ['Sexism', 'Healthcare', 'Nurse', 'Gender Equality', 'Workers Compensation'] |
7 Must-Use Developer Tools for Increased Efficiency | Responsively App
If you ask a full-stack developer whether front-end development is harder than back-end, most of them would say yes. Personally, I would too. The reason why front-end development is so hard compared to back-end development is that it involves a lot of complex UI components.
Recreating the user interface created by the designer itself is a challenge, but moreover, with the huge number of devices and screen sizes present, the developers should make sure that their applications are responsive as well.
Modern browsers, like Chrome, have inbuilt dev tools that help you make your browser window responsive, to serve each device and screen size. But one common issue you’ll face is that you can only work with one device/screen size at a time.
The Responsively app helps you preview your website for all target devices and screen sizes in a single window, side by side. Furthermore, the interactions are mirrored. This means anything that happens on one screen, will be mirrored to the other screens as well. From screenshots to customizable layouts to element inspectors, Responsively has it all. It even comes with support for hot reloading.
This tool can be very helpful when developing websites. | https://medium.com/better-programming/7-must-use-developer-tools-for-increased-efficiency-822aeaf4dab4 | ['Mahdhi Rezvi'] | 2020-08-14 21:45:19.644000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Programming', 'Software Development', 'Web Development', 'JavaScript'] |
A Heated Winter At LAC | After 8 rounds of talks nothing concrete came out of table room.With nearly 100k troops on both side of LAC paralleling each other,It is all set for a long haul at one of the most tensed frontiers as of now.Any conclusive solution seems to be more unlikely in near future As recently stated by EAM S.Jaisankar,-it may take several years to resolve the ongoing standoff at eastern Laddakh border.Despite several efforts made at diplomatic and military level,no consensus was acheived for disengagement.PLA is continuously insisting at its point that it is Indian troops that have to start disengagement first after that they will consider it on their side.But Indian military is firmly determined to not step back from any of its strategically dominant tops if status quo of early April is not restored.
China has blocked the patrol access of Indian Troops beyond finger 4(what Chinese side considers as LAC) till finger 8(That India considers as LAC).Chinese aggression started against Indian troops in may 2020 with frequent skirmishes after PLA objected road construction in Galwan river valley.Situation became worse when on 15/16 June PLA troops attacked Indian patrol with unconventional iron rods resulting the death of 20 Indian soldiers.In retaliatory action Indian Army took PLA by shock in the end of August and beginning of September, the Chushul sector saw Indian troops occupy multiple heights along the LAC which overlook Chinese fixtures at Spanggur Gap and Spanggur Tso.Indian troops captured some strategic locations on southern part of Pangong Tso and Black top heights even beyond LAC.It gave some leverage to India to start negotiations at its own conditions.
As winter has already started at LAC long before.Temperature is dipping down to -15 and it will dip down ranging between -25 to -30 in January .it is going to be a never before LAC for both sides.India has almost parralled PLA with nearly 50,000 troops deployment and geared up for a heated winter at LAC.
Will any conclusive outcome be there after 9th round of military commander level talks in late December is remained to be seen.
(Views are purely personal.Any suggestive feedback and critical views are most welcome). | https://medium.com/@dubeyankit082/after-8-rounds-of-talks-nothing-concrete-came-out-of-table-room-with-922a8c5c7bfa | ['Ankit Dubey'] | 2020-12-14 15:37:37.874000+00:00 | ['A Heated Winter At Lac', 'International Relations'] |
Clutch Interview On SHIFT ASIA’s Client Dedication | Delivery Heroes — Morris and Kate on What Makes SHIFT ASIA Stand Out.
“QA operation has never been so efficient and speedy.” — Kate Pham, Delivery Manager, SHIFT ASIA
Founded in 2005, the SHIFT Group extended into SHIFT ASIA in 2016.
“Our mission was to offer Japan-quality software testing to the rest of APAC and the rest of the world, after we achieved the #1 share in the Japanese market,” One of the founding members and Operation Director Morris Katsunori tells us.
*Software Testing: https://clutch.co/vn/developers/testing
Our History and Learning Over The Years
Not long after its founding, Kate Pham joined the team.
“I love everything about quality assurance,” she says.
“I wanted to join a leading company in the field to help solve the testing talent shortage many businesses face. SHIFT ASIA was that leading company.”
Now, she and her coworkers spend their days making an impact on their client’s businesses with their leading talent and development expertise.
And while SHIFT ASIA is renowned for their skilled testers, that’s not the only thing that sets them apart. “We do our best to realize a customer centered approach. Many employees come from diverse cultures, which adds value to any multinational company out there,” Morris tells us.
*Quality Assurance https://www.thebalancesmb.com/definition-of-quality-assurance-2533665
What Our Customers Have To Say
It’s not just them who feels this way — our customers agree.
How do we know?
We’re featured on a leading B2B directory that ranks top providers around the world. Our customers use it to learn more about our past engagements, connect with different agencies for their business needs, and learn more about what the market has to offer.
Our high ranking on the platform is thanks to the great reviews we get on Clutch, The Manifest’s sister site. Most recently, we helped develop a custom site for an HR management firm.
Here’s a highlight:
“Their scheduling, knowledge of usability, and communication were impressive.” — Project Manager, HR Management Firm
While that’s just a snapshot, we’re always excited to hear when we’ve satisfied our customers. But as the company’s delivery heroes say, “we don’t only satisfy our customer’s needs, we offer consultation and impact assessment based on challenges unique to each customer, as well as solutions to prevent risks in the future.”
That sounds like well-rounded service to us, and according to our customers, we’re doing a good job.
*Manifest: https://themanifest.com/vn/it-services/companies#shiftasia
Contact Us Today
If you have a QA need for your project, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today.
We’d love to hear from you!
We even have an ongoing ad-hoc testing campaign which we’ve set up in an attempt to find potential customers and help businesses when things aren’t so promising.
*Contact: https://shiftasia.com/contact/
*Ad-hoc campaign: https://www.biz.shiftasia.com/
This article was written in collaboration with the world’s known review platform. Big thank you to Clutch team for conducting an interview featuring our dedication to client satisfaction. | https://medium.com/qa-moments/clutch-interview-on-shift-asias-client-dedication-ebeb2a101f6b | ['Shift Asia'] | 2020-09-03 03:02:00.210000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Clutch', 'Startup', 'Vietnam', 'Quality Assurance'] |
Tribhuwan Singh – A Budding Entrepreneur and Event Organizer | Tribhuwan Singh – A Budding Entrepreneur and Event Organizer
Over the past decade, the event management sector has the oretically progressed well. We have seen a big involvement in programmes on particular subjects. People have begun to take an interest in all sorts of activities fairly and actively, whether it is a festival, meeting, business event or marathons. Event Management has certainly become a lucrative career option.
Born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Tribhuwan Singh – a 21-year-old young and inspirational boy has already started his prominent career as an entrepreneur in the field of event organization and has successfully shown his leadership skills by organizing many events. Although Tribhuwan completed his after school studies from Bharati Vidyapeeth Pune in Computer Science, he soon realized his potential as an entrepreneur and took event organizing as a. career option. Since then, there is absolutely no looking back.
His debut event was held on 2nd September 2018 at Hard Rock Cafe and he organized his second event on 16th March 2019 The Westin (The House of Medici) which was a huge success. His third event was held at Hollapalooza Coco (Sushi & Bar) on 17th August 2019.
To talk about his upcoming events, he is all set to manage and organize an event Eve at Blu on 25th December at the Radisson blu. | https://medium.com/@avpromotions/tribhuwan-singh-a-budding-entrepreneur-and-event-organizer-5338a4d00ab8 | ['Artistiv Media'] | 2020-12-22 17:00:42.935000+00:00 | ['Event', 'Tribhuwan Singh', 'Tribhuwan', 'Party', 'India'] |
Choose your king wisely. | Letters of Exhortation
26th November 2020
Shalom and welcome to today’s "devotional letter" (an Open Heavens Devotional Review )
Our topic says
CHOOSE YOUR KING WISELY.
Authority reference;
Eccl.10.16 - Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, And your princes feast in the morning!
Eccl.10.17 - Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, And your princes feast at the proper time-- For strength and not for drunkenness!
Eccl.10.18 - Because of laziness the building decays, And through idleness of hands the house leaks. | https://medium.com/@livingletters/choose-your-king-wisely-20de6ec5b50c | ['Life Lettters'] | 2020-11-26 06:47:34.468000+00:00 | ['Letter', 'Leadership', 'Leadership Development', 'Devotional', 'King'] |
Why Mental Health Education Needs to be Required at Schools | Why Mental Health Education Needs to be Required at Schools
Three weeks. That is all the mental health education I received in my 14 years of education in my School District. I even took an extra health related class, meaning the average student only gets about. two weeks of mental health education in all of their schooling: one week being in middle school health class and one being in highschool health class.
To me, this extenuates the issue of mental health and capitalizes on the stigma that mental illness holds. How are we supposed to learn that it is important to take care of ourselves, if all we get is a week at a time worth of learning different mental illnesses?
And thus stems another problem in the system. In my experience, health classes go over the symptoms of several mental illnesses and leaves it at that. It is as if we are being told “If you have these symptoms, you are screwed and there is no hope for you.”
Why does it feel like this? It feels like this because they do not go over possible treatments for these conditions, they don’t tell you that if you have symptoms of a mental illness that there is hope and that recovery is possible.
I remember as I sat in in health class my sophomore year, we were talking about suicide. I remember we got a pamphlet with some phone numbers on it and were told to reach out if we were struggling. While there was nothing wrong with this approach, it seemed as if nobody really cared about our mental health. That our mental health was dependant on a few phone numbers that would have us talk to people we didn’t even know. It emphasized the idea that there was no support within the school.
Although my school has increased its mental health awareness through different programs, I still was shocked to hear my classmates share they didn’t even know the school had psychologists.
It was vital for my own mental health to learn that there is hope for people with mental health conditions- it was vital to learn that there was hope for my future, but never did I learn this from school. If health classes were to provide information on mental illness explaining the possible symptoms of the illness and treatments there are, I think it would save a lot of suffering. It personally took me eleven years to be diagnosed with my main diagnosis of OCD and I can’t help but wonder if I had been taught about it in school, could I have been diagnosed earlier.
In addition to additional time and education spent on mental health, I think it of great importance to have stories of survival and healing shared. To hear you are not alone in your suffering is an empowering feeling. A feeling that gives hope and security in moments that matter the most.
Schools need to start doing better because in today’s society and when dealing with the state of the world, mental health is imperative to talk about. | https://medium.com/@hansonharp11/why-mental-health-education-need-to-be-required-at-schools-a401ab6c5901 | ['Harper Hanson'] | 2020-12-27 01:19:13.113000+00:00 | ['Mental Illness', 'Mental Health Awareness', 'Mental Health Education', 'Mental Health', 'School Management System'] |
Don’t let 2021 start without a solid publishing plan. | Don’t let 2021 start without a solid publishing plan. Now is the time to gab a piece of paper and flesh-out your writing plan for next year. Don’t wait until January.
January becomes July, then November. Then your here. A year later. Wondering why your audience hasn’t grown.
Make a plan now, as the year winds-down. Look at what worked for you. Do more of that. Look at what didn’t work and do less of that.
This story may help too:
Enroll in my Free Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers | https://medium.com/the-book-mechanic/dont-let-2021-start-without-a-solid-publishing-plan-c0da819220f0 | ['August Birch'] | 2020-12-16 15:19:36.358000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Marketing', 'Money', 'Life Lessons', 'Writing'] |
Vite Bi-Weekly Report | Project Updates
Vite App
On October 29th, we released Vite iOS App v3.8.1 and Vite Android App v3.7.7. The new release fixes a number of problems and improves the stability of the App.
Fixed the bug that app crashes occasionally when scanning the QR code;
Optimized request/response speed ;
Support iPhone 12;
Fixed the problem that FaceID/TouchID cannot be turned off in the App after biometric identification is turned off in the system;
Fixed the precision of liquidity mining;
Added new function of hiding trading pairs with low liquidity/volume. The hidden trading pairs can still be accessed through the operator’s page.
ViteX Exchange
The website of ViteX Exchange (https://vitex.net/) has been updated with the following changes:
Display the APY of VX staking to facilitate users to check the annual yield of VX staking at the moment;
Display VX emittance curve and the current release progress;
Added VX dividend calculator. Users can input a number to see the estimated dividend earns on an annual/semi-annual/monthly/weekly/daily basis.
Recent Milestones
Over 2.5 Million VITE Have Been Burned
As of Oct 26, a total of 25,119,585 VITE have been burned. Here are the major sources of burns:
Token issuance fees on the Vite chain Trading fees on ViteX Fees for creating invitation code on ViteX Listing fees on ViteX
Vite Developer Bounty Launch
The Vite Labs foundation will publish new developer bounty tasks from time to time, and provide rewards in VITE. The goal is to encourage our global community to partake in developing the Vite ecosystem.
The first bounty is related to a search function for full nodes. Click below for more details!
ViteX Exchange
On October 20, liquidity mining for the HTR/BTC trading pair received a 3x reward boost. Traders that make HTR/BTC resting orders will receive three times the VX reward as they would normally get.
On October 28, ViteX API package underwent a significant upgrade that increased the quota for API usage as an incentive to attract and retain liquidity from quantitative market makers.
ViteX to Suspend Display for Certain Trading Pairs
The ViteX team is always looking to provide users with a better trading experience and protect the rights and interests of investors. As such, we recently worked with operators to limit the display of certain trading pairs. In general, operators should monitor activeness of projects after their listings. When an operator sees that a project is no longer actively developing, it should suspend the display of relevant trading pairs for such project.
Note that since ViteX is a decentralized exchange, the trading pairs still live on the Vite chain. The ViteX team is merely making changes to the user interface to disable the display of these trading pairs. Therefore, undisplayed trading pairs are not “delisted.” Users may access them via either a third-party community-built website, or entering URLs on vite.net (example: https://x.vite.net/trade?symbol=XYZ-000_ABC-000). Also, since users custody their own tokens (Vite-wrapped), the security of these assets are not affected.
ViteX Data
Activities
Chinese Community AMA
On October 21, Vite CPO Blackey Hou ran a livestream AMA in the Chinese community.
The replay: https://www.yizhibo.com/l/qS2-rqEvsnU4uR9A.html
The Blockchain Debate Podcast
Vite COO Richard Yan hosted a new episode on ”The Blockchain Debate Podcast.“ The topic was security/performance tradeoff of Zero Knowledge Rollup vs Optimistic Rollup, with John Adler (co-founder of Lazy Ledger and Fuel Labs) debating Alex Gluchowski (co-founder of Matter Labs). James Prestwich, co-founder of the cross-chain solutions company Summa co-hosted. Rollups are a class of second-layer scalability solutions used by certain public blockchains.
Via this podcast, Vite Labs team interacts with thinkers and pioneers in the global blockchain ecosystem.
Past episodes may be found here: https://blockdebate.buzzsprout.com
You are welcome to follow the Twitter account of Richard and the podcast at: Twitter.com/gentso09 / Twitter.com/blockdebate
Futurist Conference
Vite COO Richard was invited by the Futurist Conference to partake in a discussion about blockchain scalability in November, to be joined by the CEOs of Solana and Mina (previously Coda). | https://medium.com/vitelabs/vite-bi-weekly-report-f2b3b561d71a | ['Vite Editor'] | 2020-11-04 01:30:42.359000+00:00 | ['Project Updates', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Vite'] |
VJ Loop | Blue Waterfall Zooming Grid | This blog takes the broadest conception of sound design possible including visual effects because audio likes video. Over 90,000 views annually.
Follow | https://medium.com/sound-and-design/vj-loop-waterfallgrid-16b6efdbdab5 | ["Michael 'Myk Eff' Filimowicz"] | 2020-12-29 02:29:28.390000+00:00 | ['EDM', 'Creativity', 'Design', 'Flair', 'Art'] |
Are You Sisters? | I remember the first time I held her hand in public. Not where we were, how it felt. The headlines were full of the Rebecca Wight murder. Wight and her girlfriend had been camping in the woods. Another camper met them on the trail and, when he learned they were lesbians, he stalked them and then shot them 8 times, severely injuring Brenner and killing Wight. He was convicted for his crimes, not before his lawyer introduced the defense of “gay panic”. In 1988, when the murders occurred, it was admissible in court to claim the panic of being exposed to homosexual behavior could create a legitimate, violent response.
I remember the act of courage it felt like, to reach over in a public mall in Orem, UT, and touch my fingers to her fingers. I remember forcing myself not to look around and see if people were looking as our hands slid from touching to entwined. I remember the simple, sweet feeling of her palm against my palm. And my racing heart, inspired by the first rush of romance and the background awareness of possible violence. Was I creating gay panic with my fingers caressing her fingers?
Other headlines, like Sakia Gunn and Matthew Shepherd’s murders, furthered a belief of unexpected violence. Friends of mine, told me stories of being teens and playing “smear the queer” with their friends. (A game where several boys would chase one boy and then kind of beat on him.) They hadn’t known what it meant and felt pretty awful about it. And where did they get the idea? Kids learn these things. In 1992, Colorado passed Amendment 2. The only place in the country where it became legal to discriminate against LGBT people. A psychologist, Glenda Russell, studied the impact and eventually wrote Voted Out. She learned minority groups show signs of PTSD when their basic human rights are voted on. That doesn’t surprise me. I felt constantly under siege.
Flashback to 1999. I put gay bumper stickers on my car, hopeful I wouldn’t find my tires slashed because of it. We moved to Tacoma, WA and bought wedding rings. We probably paid more for them than we should have, we were both so delighted when the salesperson commented we were a cute couple. She worked Borders and I ran the Rainbow Center, Tacoma’s LGBT Center. We decided to be out, as much as possible, to stand for those who couldn’t be out. I volunteered with the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington and appeared on television and debated in public across the state. We were interviewed by the local paper, twice. We got married in Canada when it became legal and had it spread across the front page of the paper. And still, when she was stuck on the freeway in a snowstorm and I had to call the highway patrol, I told them my sister was trapped. I didn’t want our gayness to delay her possible rescue. And I believed it might.
I didn’t wonder if I was safe. I knew I wasn’t. When 9/11 struck and the country reacted with panic and fear, I realized the rest of the population was having a moment of experiencing what I felt when I held my girlfriend’s hand in public. I didn’t feel less safe after 9/11, I felt less alone in knowing I wasn’t.
We have come far. We have achieved social equality and legal equality in many areas. I don’t fear for my life when I hold a woman’s hand in public any more, most of the time. And, on Feb 10, I sat and listened to Orlando, a poem about the 2016 massacre of LGBT people at a nightclub in Florida. It reminds me however far we have come, we have farther to go. | https://medium.com/@bicurean/are-you-sister-5a2b2b8df954 | [] | 2020-11-26 06:33:18.759000+00:00 | ['LGBT', 'Wife', 'Lesbian', 'Love', 'Gay'] |
Purchasing Jewelry online is an excellent choice Read Why | Almost all women and girls like to wear jewelry because jewelry is the best ornament to beautify them. But does one know which is the best website for you to urge your best designer jewelry? As far as concerned, there’s nothing more exciting to get jewelry online with a singular design, and you’ve got many choices to choose jewelry during this online world.
exotic fashion jewelry online
Without the emergence of online shopping, every female has got to leave their home and walk an extended thanks to reaching shopping malls so as to shop for their favorite jewelry. it’s really annoying when it rains or during the cold winter. and each woman must spend tons of her time selecting their desired jewelry. the rationale is that retail stores usually have a little stock of jewelry and a tiny low range of jewelry. so as to shop for their desired jewelry, they need to steer into as many retail stores as possible.
Jewelry, as we all know, is sold very expensively at actual stores. However, when people look for jewelry online, they will really reduce your expense on jewelry through some effective ways. for instance, because the competition among online jewelry business is extremely fierce, online retailers are forced to form a reduction on their jewelry. Therefore, there’s no wonder that they will find jewelry at thirty percent rates.
you can choose zevarking for luxurious exotic jewelry which is also suited your budget they provide you FREE shipping | Worldwide Shipping |Best Material| COD available for shopping visit our website: www.zevarking.com | https://medium.com/@zevarkingindia/purchasing-jewelry-online-is-an-excellent-choice-read-why-b64cb6a2c710 | [] | 2020-12-19 08:17:56.895000+00:00 | ['Online Shopping', 'Earrings', 'Bracelets', 'Fashion', 'Jewelry'] |
Prefect — Getting Started with Parallel Computation | Creating a Python environment
Your machine may already have Python installed, but in general it is not a good idea to alter your system’s default Python installation. Instead, you should use a virtual environment manager to prevent corrupting your base environment.
The Anaconda distribution allows you to set up Python environments that are easy to manage and can help ensure you have all the necessary packages and installs required to run your code in a managed environment.
Download the distribution for your operating system from here (note that you can instead install Miniconda for the conda CLI alone) Once installed, confirm the default Python package is using the distribution that came with Anaconda
>> which python
/Users/<username>/opt/anaconda3/bin/python
3. Create a conda environment with a Python version we currently support (3.6+)
>> conda create -n prefectenv python=3.7
4. Activate the conda environment
>> conda activate prefectenv
Lastly, we need to set up your conda environment with the open source Prefect package. This command will install Prefect along with the necessary packages required to run Prefect code:
>> conda install -c conda-forge prefect
Writing and Running your first Flow
You can execute your Python code with Prefect Cloud, Prefect Server or running locally on your machine. For the purposes of this post, I am going to show you how to run locally with flow.run() which requires no additional setup or configuration.
Copy the following code into a file named example_flow.py
import prefect
from prefect import task, Flow
import datetime
import random
from time import sleep
from prefect.triggers import manual_only @task
def inc(x):
sleep(random.random() / 10)
return x + 1 @task
def dec(x):
sleep(random.random() / 10)
return x — 1 @task
def add(x, y):
sleep(random.random() / 10)
return x + y @task(name=”sum”)
def list_sum(arr):
logger = prefect.context.get("logger") logger.info(f"total sum : {sum(arr)}")
return sum(arr) with Flow(“getting-started-example”) as flow:
incs = inc.map(x=range(10))
decs = dec.map(x=range(10))
adds = add.map(incs, decs)
total = list_sum(adds) flow.run()
2. Run the file above and observe the tasks happening all in your terminal by watching the logger statements.
>> python example_flow.py
3. In the example above the tasks are executed sequentially. I mentioned in my opening paragraph that Prefect can easily give you parallelism in your Python code. We can easily achieve this now by adding two lines of code and modifying one other!
# Please note, because we are running this on our local machine
# we are using the LocalDaskExecutor. There is also a DaskExecutor
# that can be used to distribute the tasks across multiple
# machines. This is a more advanced use case that is beyond
# the scope of this blog post. # import the line below at the top of your file
from prefect.engine.executors import LocalDaskExecutor .... # in the last two lines, add the new executor and modify
# flow.run to use said executor
executor = LocalDaskExecutor()
flow.run(executor=executor)
What you’re observing and benefiting from here is parallelism made readily available by Prefect. This is simply achieved by adding task decorators to your Python code whilst using the Dask executor. That’s all it takes.
For the next part of this Getting Started series, I am going to show you how you can visualize this in the Prefect UI. | https://medium.com/the-prefect-blog/getting-started-with-parallel-computation-60da4850f0 | [] | 2020-11-10 19:53:52.999000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Data Engineering', 'Tutorial', 'Parallel Computing', 'Workflow'] |
3 Reasons A Ford F-150 Is The Best Truck To Survive The 2020 New England Winter | Long gone are the days when you could walk into a car dealership, shout ‘I want a truck,’ and expect to see that brand’s ‘signature truck’. If you were to do that in the last decade, you’d probably get the nearest car dealer to give you a funny stare, followed by a comment similar to: ‘Yeah, why else would you come to a Ford dealership for, bub?’ For many, there came a sense of comfortability knowing that a brand put so much trust into a single truck. Nowadays though, most brands are spreading their truck line as thin as their cars! This leads to a lack of trust due to companies choosing to sell truck lines, not truck dependability. Like a chef with too many options on the menu, it’s difficult to be known for one good dish when you have too many to choose from. However, unlike a chef’s world, car lines are forged through decades, not years. Such accountability comes from trusting a name for 45+ years, which Ford has done with its F-150 line.
For a lot of people, there is something genuine missing in a dealership that can’t place their trust in a single machine. Thankfully, there is a truck brand out there that plans to satisfy your craving for comfort…by overpowering the competition. Literally.
Of course, I’m talking about Ford’s F-150. And below I’ll discuss its multiple engine options, cab sizes, and an unmatched towing capacity, making this the truck to handle all your needs for the bitter New England winter
When It Comes To Plowing, The Ford F-150 Is First-Rate
Don’t get me wrong, other trucks such as the Ford Ranger have some great qualities, but plowing isn’t what they’re known for. I often ask my customers how big their plow jobs are, which is the definitive question for most buyers. If you have a small homestead, or an even smaller driveway, the Ford Ranger is perfect! However, for anything bigger than half a basketball court, the half-ton Ford F-150s are entirely different beasts. Over the last few years, Ford Motor Corp discovered buyers were using their Ford F-150s as utility trucks due to their stability, durability, and tow-strength. This means people were also discovering the strength these trucks possessed in plowing snow and/or debris. It soon became a HUGE draw for New Englanders. Because of this, over the last three years, Ford has been perfecting its 5.0L V8 engine, allowing your truck to keep its tow & pull strength ratio all without any cost from your maneuverability!
That being said, The F-150 line was never built specifically as a plow truck, so this is nothing more than a flex of all its abilities at once, to show its versatility. The Ford F-150 is a personal-use vehicle when it comes to plowing, which companies such as Fisher Snow Plows have noticed. Over the years, they’ve crafted more high-end, low-weight plows to help extend the plowing life of these utility knives on wheels. If you’re starting a plowing business, you’ll want to START by looking at the Ford F-250’s, which I will be discussing in an upcoming article. As for personal use goes, can another truck get by with being plow, tow, AND family truck? Eh, possibly, depending on how small the driveway is. Can the Ford F-150 do all this? With a 5.0L V8 engine, you’re only scratching the surface of what this truck can do!
2. Sometimes, Size Does Matter
A Ford F-150 is an excellent companion for any outdoor job, which runs aplenty in New England, especially during the frosty winter months. That being said, a midsize truck, (take a Ford Ranger for an example), might get the job done…around the house. However, when you’re out in the wilderness, getting tossed around by unearthed rocks or gnarled roots, all while towing your equipment to the job site, you’ll want to know you won’t lose maneuverability with all that weight. This makes the common New Englander’s ‘tool of choice’ a full-sized Ford F-150. After decades of being tried and tested, the Ford F150’s tow strength has proven it won’t diminish, even as it’s towing the max payload of a staggering 11,300 lbs! On top of that, you’ll have a comfortable 62.8 cubic feet of cargo space, assuring that if your trailer doesn’t have room, the bed well. The reason for this comes from the Ford F150’s ability to call upon its engine and/or electricity for more power, when needed. It’s this fusion of towing strength and carrying capacity that has come to be something New Englanders rely upon in the snow-bound, wooded backcountry. The added option of a 66–96 inch truck bed means Ford’s F-150 comes with the expectation of wanting to see a long, hard day’s work.
The style and durability of truck beds for the Ford F-150 speaks to its expectation or workload. It comes with the versatility of a Supercab, Supercrew, or simply your Regular cab size configuration. This offers your single truck to be useful for everything from a personal work vehicle to a multiple job site workhorse.
3. The Ford F-150 Offers Enough Engine Designs To Fit Each Of Your Specific Needs
Some of you might think this part belongs in the previous section, but the horsepower versatility options balanced with its torque output deserves its own chapter, much less its own category in a blogger’s article. That being said, I’ll do my best.
This is usually the section where many people tend to favor the Ford Ranger…at first. That’s because its only engine option is a 2.3L Ecoboost, giving this truck a height of 270 Horsepower. The reason this type of truck is only good for a small day-job is because eventually, even with the reliability of a Ford Ranger, its maneuverability is still sacrificed. But for Ford’s F-150, you not only have 3 options for your Ecoboost engine (a 2.7L 325 Horsepower with 400 lbs of torque, a 3.5 L option, offering or 375 Horsepower with 470 lbs of torque, or you can go all-in with the 3.5 L Output Ecoboost which can see 450 Horsepower, and can crank out up to about 510 pounds of torque!) You also have the lighter-weight 3.3L V6 engine, offering you further control over power output. But probably the biggest workhorse of an engine is the 3.0L Powerstroke V6 Turbo Diesel. Built by Ford and its partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën, this is known as the ‘Lion’s Engine’ for a reason. That’s because this bad boy brings 440 lbs of torque to the party, offering a balance of steer control and towing capacity that was unheard of until 2018! Since then, it’s been declared: first diesel engine in a half-ton truck, which meant it had a lot to live up to.
To make sure it’s impact landed with an exclamation point, its versatility was met with a promise of up to 30 mpg on the highway and 22 in the city. This meant Ford could help adjust your engine to a single job site deep in the woods of New Hampshire’s White Mountains all the way to multiple worksites across the city of Portland, or the state of Maine itself!
A Final Note
So, if you’re considering which truck you’ll buy next, don’t stress, you’re in the same predicament as many buyers, but thankfully there’s a few easy questions to help solve your problem. Do you need a workhorse for bad weather or rough terrain? Do you need a reliable, start-up company truck in the city? Or is it simply to help the family enjoy outdoor activities when you go camping in the green mountains of Vermont? Either way, the Ford F-150’s option and versatility from truck beds, engines, to cab sizes has all the answers for you. It all comes down to what you see yourself doing with it.
And if you’re still not sure of which truck you’d like to consider, or you’d like to know how sitting in a Ford F-150 feels in comparison to another truck, feel free to email me here and I can be sure to help you meet all your truck buying needs. You can also check out my website, gather a few more questions, and message me here, or on Instagram @ ‘Kyleisfordfocused’. Check out my ‘Vehicle of The Day’ too and get a special bonus upon purchase! | https://medium.com/@kylesfordfocused/3-reasons-a-ford-f-150-is-the-best-truck-to-survive-the-2020-new-england-winter-25f7aca1f6f7 | ['Kyle Newton'] | 2020-12-19 20:54:08.182000+00:00 | ['Vehicles', 'Ford', 'Vehicle Maintenance', 'Ford F150', 'Self Help'] |
Vinod Khosla to finance hospitals to procure oxygen supplies in the wake of the country’s ongoing Covid crisis | Vinod Khosla to finance hospitals to procure oxygen supplies in the wake of the country’s ongoing Covid crisis Daily Times India Apr 25·2 min read
Vinod Khosla to finance hospitals to procure oxygen supplies in the wake of the country’s ongoing Covid crisis
Vinod Khosla, one of Silicon Valley’s most well-known Indian Americans, said on Twitter that he wanted to finance hospitals to procure oxygen supplies in the wake of the country’s ongoing Covid crisis.
I’m willing to fund hospitals in India that need funding to import bulk planeloads of oxygen or supplies into India… https://t.co/wH8RSrrT3D
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) 1619292076000
The startup and investor ecosystems have banded together to provide a variety of services and assistance in combating the second wave of infection that has devastated Indian cities. Infected patients have been gasping for air due to a shortage of oxygen, as hospital capacity has been reached, causing them to turn down patient admissions.
Prominent investors and entrepreneurs have used social media to pledge support and donate to hospitals and organizations in need.
Sangita Reddy, joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals Group, described Khosla’s message as “generous and timely” after it went viral on Twitter. “We run two medical college hospitals that are largely private, and most of our hospitals have free wards. I’ll contact you. “Time is of the essence,” read Reddy’s post.
Khosla then followed up with a tweet telling one of the people that he had already contributed to the cause. | https://medium.com/@inddailytimes/vinod-khosla-to-finance-hospitals-to-procure-oxygen-supplies-in-the-wake-of-the-countrys-ongoing-ce24e0603928 | ['Daily Times India'] | 2021-04-25 15:14:02.039000+00:00 | ['Reddy', 'Khoslaventures', 'Indianhospitals', 'Investor', 'Oxygen'] |
Did Walt Disney create Mickey Mouse? | Did Walt Disney create Mickey Mouse in the 1928 short, Steamboat Willie? Mickey Mouse was created by Ubbe Eert “Ub” Iwerks. Although he is considered a cocreator, Walt stated Ub created the famous Disney character. Ub even animated Mickey Mouse’s first official cartoon, Steamboat Willie.
Ub was forgotten because he was simply too shy to promote himself. I say that Steamboat Willie was Mickey Mouse’s official debut because the character first appeared in Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho several months prior. These animated shorts didn’t do well because Mickey came across as a jerk rather than the lovable character we know him as today. Disney heavily revised the character for Steamboat Willie and Mickey’s legacy was born.
So, it turns out that the understanding that Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse is — well, not entirely true… | https://medium.com/curious-facts/true-walt-disney-created-mickey-mouse-in-the-1928-short-steamboat-willie-392c5865a187 | ['Jacob Vandersluys'] | 2020-12-30 14:59:59.035000+00:00 | ['History', 'Disney', 'Facts', 'Life'] |
Counteracting bias of digital engineers working on physical products | Counteracting bias of digital engineers working on physical products
Shifting from digital engineering to manufacturing of physical products is not something to attempt without further consideration and methodology. Hence, the following text points out 8 common paths and bias for project managers and staffing personal to consider and pre-empt:
Underoptimization of structures: Prototypes and first versions might suffer from design and material errors causing additional costs or reduced user experience.
Volatility of structures: Structures might contain volatile components, causing instability or low reliability in uncontrolled environments.
Complexity of structures: Structures might contain too many parts or nonoptimized interiors causing user and manufacturing issues.
Expense of manufacturing: First versions are unlikely to be optimized for mass manufacturing or efficient production.
Trademark and design infringements: Prototypes and first versions are likely to infringe design and trademark licenses.
Mathematical estimations: Digital Engineers might prefer creating a product with estimations, rather than calculating or formulating precise equations.
Isolated components: Components and modules might be wrongly optimized towards high isolation and independence.
Definitive Hardware: Hardware optimizations might remain unexplored for a significant amount of time.
Not sure how to adjust your team under consideration of above bias? I’ll explore your options with you.
You can reach me by mail or with https://cobblevision.company.site | https://medium.com/@Mark.Schuette/counteracting-bias-of-digital-engineers-working-on-physical-products-16234deb3113 | ['Mark Christoph Schütte'] | 2020-12-26 22:20:28.043000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Product Management', 'Staffing', 'Portfolio', 'Product Design'] |
THE GREAT PROBLEM OF HAIRCUT IN ANGOLAN INSTITUTIONS🇦🇴 | THE GREAT PROBLEM OF HAIRCUT IN ANGOLAN INSTITUTIONS Unfortunately, in Angola, a country located in the southern part of the African continent, there is still a sad prejudice.
"Inheritance" left by the former colony of Portugal, the country became independent on 11-11-1975.
We gained a certain political independence through a lot of bloodshed in the struggle against Portuguese colonialism, but unfortunately we still haven't gotten rid of the cultural colonialism that is in our heads to the point where we hate our own black body and try to imitate the white body of the European. We are equal in the diversity we have to assert and we cannot expect other ethnic groups to do this for us. The affirmation of the black-African identity is a sine qua non for us to reach the peak of our self-esteem. Enough of imitating others and being ourselves with our natural hair.
<< See ? He has his hair as he does, but he is a member of the Jury for Masters and Doctorates. The hair doesn't spoil anything.
So Dear Directors and Ladies Heads of Schools in the band - messing with the hair of kids and girls only shows your sickly index of alienation and coloniality reproducers.
The hair doesn't spoil anything!>>
(Text by Isaac Paxe)
THE GREAT PROBLEM OF HAIRCUT IN ANGOLAN INSTITUTIONS🇦🇴 | https://medium.com/@donalehandromr/the-great-problem-of-haircut-in-angolan-institutions-e901db54ec9f | ['Don Alehandro'] | 2021-12-16 00:19:41.645000+00:00 | ['Hair', 'Haircuts For Men', 'Africa', 'Preconceito', 'Angola'] |
There is no “there” to get to | It feels like in society there is this end goal of being happy and so we must compete and race to get “there”.
But there is no got “there” or constant state. Life will forever contain ups and downs and things will always change.
There is no I “made it”
I graduated school didn’t feel anything really. Then I graduated university and found a job and still was like? Where is that feeling?
And I realized there is no I “made it”. There will always be more to learn and more work to do and I will never finish. The goal isn’t to finish. It’s to live.
There is no end “point”
I thought there would be a definitive point where I “made it” and finally got “there”.
But there is no end “point”. Life is a path without a real end point — it’s leads us places and then leads us somewhere else. And actually we don’t have to reach that point in order to have a meaningful, beautiful, and whole life.
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot for the past few days and I thought it would be great to put my thoughts into words and add a reminder to it — stop waiting, stop holding your breath and enjoy the present moment.
Let me know how this lands with you! | https://medium.com/@natashasniehirova/there-is-no-there-to-get-to-d12cbf5a4e0f | ['Natasha Sniehirova'] | 2020-12-19 15:54:26.709000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Thoughts', 'Opinion', 'Experience', 'Advice'] |
So what’s up with interaction?? | Interaction has been seen as a quality novel and unique to new media art. A lot of the time, though, it feels more reactive than interactive. Sure, it might persuade us to give it a certain kind of input, but I still feel that the human has the power over it. In other words, I don’t feel that the machine is affecting us to the degree that we are affecting them. I’ve found some artworks and research where the machine literally moves the human though, and in this blog post, I want to talk a little bit about them, and what they do for the whole “interaction” paradigm.
One such piece is by the Japanese research group Digital Nature Group. Their system “Stimulated Percussions” assists the user in learning how to play percussive instruments by using electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) to flex arm and leg muscles in time with music (https://youtu.be/DzOUvWwjDo4). It helps the user learn complex rhythms “with their body”, without having to spend the time getting it wrong over and over. The system literally moves the user’s body, unlike many other artworks that purport to be interactive. Not only that, it poses fundamental questions about cognition, computation and the body. Here, the human isn’t the one that’s “doing the thinking”. Through electrical input, the user realises that learning does not just happen in the mind; we think and learn with our bodies. The machine contracts the user’s muscles involuntarily, making apparent the objecthood of the human body; a machine can make us move, just as much we can move them. In this way, through interaction and the change of power relation therein, this system problematises the perceived dualities between the body and the mind, and the human and the machine.
Another, perhaps more expressive and humorous, example, is “Face Visualizer” by Daito Manabe (https://youtu.be/YxdlYFCp5Ic). Also using EMS, this time attached to the artist’s facial muscles, “visualises” music by sending pulses in time with music. “Interactive” artworks that take the human face as an input is abundant, but this piece flips the equation. This time, your face is the output. Needless to say, it also performs similar kind of problematisations as the piece above.
Computers are not “just tools”. They make us as much as we make them, and push us to see the world, and our position therein, differently. New media art is a site in which this can be foregrounded; these pieces are condensed enactments of our interactions (and intra-actions) with the techno-scientific paradigm at large.
References
Daito Manabe. (2008). “Face Visualizer”, “Face Instrument”. http://www.daito.ws/en/work/smiles.html
Ayaka Ebisu, Satoshi Hashizume, Kenta Suzuki, Akira Ishii, Mose Sakashita, Yoichi Ochiai. (2016) “Building a Feedback Loop between Electrical Stimulation and Percussion Learning”. https://digitalnature.slis.tsukuba.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/StimulatedPercussions_preprint.pdf | https://medium.com/@rag.keita.ikeda/so-whats-up-with-interaction-f9dd149f7226 | ['Keita Ikeda'] | 2019-04-01 21:30:20.140000+00:00 | ['Interaction', 'Interaction Design'] |
How to use Ropsten with MetaMask and connect with Arche V1.1 Eros? | How to use Ropsten with MetaMask and connect with Arche V1.1 Eros? Arche Jun 6·2 min read
A step-by-step guide to using a crypto wallet & gateway MetaMask with the Ropsten Test Network (ETH Test Network) to Arche V1.1 Eros.
This guide will set you up on the Ethereum Test Network (Ropsten) so that you may interact with the Arche protocol using the Metamask plugin. This guide will also teach you how to get FREE ETH (Ether)on the Ropsten test network as your testing gas fee.
Step One: Download Metamask
Download the Chrome Extension Metamask to create and manage your wallet from: https://metamask.io/
Step Two: Setting Up Metamask
Once the chrome extension has been downloaded you need to set up your wallet by following this guideline:
1. Creating a new password for the wallet.
2. Backing up the seed phrases.
3. Note down your wallet address.
4. Connect to Ropsten Test Network.
Step Three: Connect your Wallet with Arche V1.1 Eros Test Network
( The test network address will be announced by June 6th EDT 11 PM)
Step Four: How to obtain Ether from Ropsten Test Network?
1. Click “ Buy”
2. Click “ Get Ether”
3. Click “ request 1 ether from faucet”
4. Check the Ether in your wallet
That’s all from today's learning! Keep learning and one day you will be incredible! Thank you for your time! | https://medium.com/@archenetwork/how-to-use-ropsten-with-metamask-and-connect-with-arche-v1-1-eros-48be365b4e04 | [] | 2021-06-06 15:08:34.493000+00:00 | ['Learning And Development', 'Etherum', 'Test Network', 'Bitcoin', 'Defi'] |
Bones, Oil, and Saints: How Holiness worked in pre-modern Europe | Bones, Oil, and Saints: How Holiness worked in pre-modern Europe
Introduction
In 1640, a teenage girl, Angelella Cozzolino returned home from a visit with her father, Nicola, to a local shrine with a miraculous oil, that when placed in front of images of the Virgin Mary, refilled itself and healed ill individuals through its application.[1]
Word of this spectacular substance rapidly spread throughout the town. Members of both the laity and clergy came to seek the aid of this therapeutic oil. Later, Angelella began to have visions and mystical experiences of a certain “saint” Ampollone (who was not actually a saint), who told her where she could find his bones and the bones of several other saints.
She instructed people to dig nearby the house, and soon they found many bones, another miraculous event. Thus, an ordinary family of laborers became the center of a devotional sensation.
Angelella was just one member of the Cozzolino family, a family that was involved in a complicated, wide-ranging case of false sanctity, or pretense of holiness, tried by the Neapolitan Inquisition in 1641. This case involved many relatives of the Cozzolino family and most of the local clergy and population in Resina, a town south of Naples.
How did a poor family, with very little social standing, come to dominate the religious life of their town? What role did gender play in this process? This case is a valuable window into the on the ground experiences of ordinary Catholics in pre-modern Italy.
Modern day Naples, the closest city and site of Catholic power to Resina
The Cozzolino family’s story began when Angelella and her father, Nicola, traveled on a pilgrimage from their town of Resina to a Marian shrine at Monte Vergine. There, a monk gave them a container with oil from the lamp on the altar.
The pair returned home and placed the container in their home in front of four images of the Virgin of Santa Maria a Pugliano. If they removed oil from its container, it would miraculously be full again by the next morning. The oil healed people of leg pain, kidney problems, and blindness, among other maladies.
These miracles quickly attracted attention from neighbors; when the parish priest, Francesco Antonio Scognamiglio, got word of the portentous substance, he took the oil and almost of all of the paintings and locked them away in the parish church.
Soon, the oil began emanating from the painting that remained in the house. The priest returned the items to the Cozzolino home, but then made everyone leave and locked up the house. Later, Angelella, the daughter, began feeling physically ill and had several out of body experiences, in which she engaged in visionary conversations with a certain St. Ampollone. Ampollone told her where he and several of his saintly compatriots were buried.
Eventually, residents of Resina found some bones, which Angelella identified as belonging to various non-canonized saints. Shortly afterward, this parish priest, Francesco Scognamiglio, traveled to the Inquisition tribunal in Naples to denounce the Cozzolino family and the trial began.[2]
Female Word of Mouth
The question of how exactly news of the miracles at the Cozzolino home spread is one that looms over the trial.
Often, witnesses do not explain who told them about the oil or Angelella, usually only vaguely referring to a rumor they heard. Yet, at the margins of witness testimony, we see that women in the community primarily disseminated the information.
When someone specific is mentioned as talking publicly about the home and the events within it, it is almost always a woman. Once, when Angelella came out of a vision, she found herself surrounded by women, including such relatives as Aunt Laura, Maria Cozzolino, and Martia de Madonna.[3]
The female side of the Cozzolino family was frequently in the home and involved in looking after Angelella, giving them privileged access to knowledge of what happened within the house. Many witnesses remark on Angelella’s mother, Apollonia, and her role in discussing these events.
Angelella recounts that her mother was frequently outside the house, talking with other women. Apollonia even admits that for about a month and a half she stood outside for four hours a day, talking with women.[4]
Another female Cozzolino relative commented more generally on the marked presence of women in the home. When Angelella was inside, female relatives and female neighbors, in particular, would either enter and visit with Angelella, or stand outside and talk.[5] In this case, women served as diffusers of local knowledge in impactful ways.
Female word of mouth was highly important in non-urban areas such as Resina. These women’s willingness to discuss and promote the holy individual’s behaviors seems to have been widespread and likely a critical factor in the growth of the Cozzolino shrine.
Space
The Cozzolino case is a productive opportunity to examine the interplay between holiness and space.
Over the course of the trial, the domestic space, the small one-room house of the Cozzolino family, became the spiritual center of the community in Resina, displacing the parish church. This ordinary living space became sacralized through several processes. Angelella and Nicola brought the oil from the shrine at Monte Vergine into their home, where it began to exhibit miraculous properties.
The healing qualities of the oil soon turned the home into a religious shrine in its own right. Almost every witness remarks, unprompted by the Inquisitors, how the house was overflowing with people. Witnesses consistently describe the home as hosting a “crowd,” or being “almost totally full.”[6] Even at night, the house was always open to visitors.
Eventually, news of the miraculous oil spread so widely that a possessed woman from Torre dello Greco, the next town over, came to seek a bit of the healing oil for herself. Although the domestic space in early modern Europe is often conceptualized as “private,” one witness testimony demonstrates the highly public nature of the home.
Sabbetella Guadino, a member of the Cozzoino clan, recounts that after the priest took the oil container and most of the images into the parish church, she stayed inside, looking at the remaining image. She recounts, “I saw that two streams of oil were coming from the head below the crown of that image and I went outside and called Angelella and her father and said, ‘The Madonna has granted you the grace that the oil flows from the crown of the Madonna,’ and so Angelella and her father entered inside and they kneeled and it moved them to tears and all three yelled loudly and at that sound the mother…and other people filled the house.” [7]
The border between private and public space seems to be rather non-existent in this case; the home appears to have always been open to those seeking to witness the portentous events for themselves. The Cozzolino home served as a space for community members and neighbors to gather, witness, and discuss miracles.
Angelella’s behavior also increasingly sacralized the home and made it a religious center for the town. Angelella had several series of visions of Ampollone. These mystical episodes almost always happened within the family home, rather than the parish church or other sacred spaces.
Even when she went to the parish church to go to mass or confess, these ecstatic experiences did not occur. Angelella’s mystical experiences further attracted visitors to the house. Angelella recounts that after one vision, “I returned to myself and found many people around me…Aunt Laura, Maria Cozzolino, Maria de Madonna, and others were present.”[8]
Additionally, the information contained in these visions made the house a site of relics and a source of holy power. After the young girl had visions of Ampollone, she told people where to dig in order to find his and other saints’ bones. After two days of digging, a group of men found the bones near the house.[9] Thus, not only did the mystical identifier of the relics live in the house, but the house itself produced the relics.
The profound sacrality that this home came to possess, through images, relics, and visionaries, suggests the high level of integration between domestic and religious space in the pre-modern Italian South. In this trial, the Cozzolino home combined physical proximity, with many of the family members under one roof and the home located near the parish church, with a gathering space to observe the spiritual gifts of a living visionary, the miraculous refilling and healing of holy oil, and the discovery of relics of saints’ bones.
This space provided consistent, intimate, and unimpeded access to the sacred and became a major spiritual center in Resina.
Conclusion
In the town of Resina, people saw holiness as so pervasive it made sense to them that all of these elements, visions, bones, relics, oil, paintings, and miracles, would be combined together.
Here, holiness was easily and quickly transferable. The miraculous oil traveled from Monte Vergine to the Cozzolino home, where its sacrality further manifested itself in the paintings, Angelella, Ampollone, and the bones. The witnesses, in this case, do not explicitly refer to the methods of transmission for this sacral power but is evident that the quality of an object or a person could easily shift from ordinary and quotidian to powerful and miraculous.
This trial reads as a dizzying array of shrines, images, miracles, and saints that reveals just how ever-present and accessible fonts of holiness were in ordinary Catholic’s minds. This trial helps us understand the worldview of a type of person; although it is much different from ours, it is still important to comprehend.
In Italy in the 1600s, people could find holiness and the power of God in any place, at any time, and through any person. Over time, a teenage girl, some oil, and a painting made an ordinary home into a major shrine and religious center for an entire town; for its population, holiness was pervasive, powerful, and transferable. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/bones-oil-and-saints-how-holiness-worked-in-pre-modern-europe-be4c3d5e3e87 | ['Mary Andino'] | 2020-11-23 15:22:57.776000+00:00 | ['Italy', 'Religion', 'History', 'Catholicism'] |
Protein Bars Store | Protein bars are a famous nibble food intended to be a wellspring of nutrition. people appreciate them since they’re an easy and simple method to add protein and different nutrition to a busy lifestyle.
Given the wide types of protein bars available in the shops, it’s imperative to realize that not all protein bars are made equivalent.
That’s why I’m sharing the protein bars which are really good for our health.
For more details click the link below | https://medium.com/@naveensasi27/built-protein-bars-store-14ea6148be12 | ['Naveen Sasidharan'] | 2020-12-26 06:22:44.023000+00:00 | ['Fitness', 'Protein', 'Health', 'USA', 'Nutrition'] |
Building a Next-day shipping engine for your business with WareIQ | As increasing consumer demand accelerates e-commerce growth, the logistics of getting orders to customers becomes more complicated — especially with the novel coronavirus impacting entire supply chains.
Despite the uncertain times (or more so during this time), one thing remains unchanged; the customer’s need for fast delivery. Popularized by Amazon, same-day and next-day delivery has become the default expectation today. In fact, studies by PwC & Accenture reveal that:
61% of consumers are willing to pay more for 1-day shipping speed and 40% of customers prefer to shop from stores that offer 2-day shipping.
More than (51%) half of retailers offer same-day delivery and 65% plan to offer it within two years.
Fast shipping is no longer a good-to-have but rather a necessity for e-commerce businesses to survive. Amazon has built a supply chain that can deliver most products within 2-day (and high moving goods the same day). They optimize every part of the fulfilment value chain to achieve these timelines. But can other e-commerce sellers provide the same experience without Amazon-level resources?
Yes, they can.
How?
To optimize the fulfilment cycle, we must first understand the ‘Click to Door’ journey — all the different stages and destinations an order goes through before it reaches your customer.
Click to Door journey
What does it take for an order to reach your customer? Let’s take a look.
Pack & Ship: The journey starts with your warehouse, where the order has to be packed and labeled. This could typically take 1–2 days depending on order volume and your warehouse’s manpower productivity.
First Mile Delivery: The order is collected from your warehouse by a courier partner and shipped to the distribution center. Typically, the pick-up schedule is once a day if the warehouse is located in the metros. In case of larger order volumes, courier partners can also schedule multiple pick-ups every day.
Mid Mile Delivery: This stage involves the transfer from one hub to another. All collected parcels are aggregated based on to and fro zones and moved together. The mid mile process, typically, takes one day.
Local Sorting Center: Once the order reaches the delivery target zone hub, it is passed to the local sorting center based on the area of delivery. This typically takes anywhere from half a day to two days.
Last Mile Delivery: Finally, the order is picked up from the sorting center and aggregated with multiple orders going to the same pin code and assigned to a delivery boy.
The entire process is inherently long and relies on the productivity of your distribution partners and the partnership that you have with them. Inefficiencies in either of these stages can lead to significant delays and unhappy customers, i.e. lost revenue for your business.
How can you optimize the process?
To build an efficient shipping engine, your logistics network must be efficient. This incorporates a mix of partners, resources, and best practices designed to help you optimise.
Schedule multiple pickups in a day Store goods in distributed warehouses close to your demand Partner with same-day delivery partners
While you can implement the above processes yourself, it may require a lot of initial investment and stretch your capacities. A good alternative would be to partner with companies that offer logistics support. This is where we come in. Modern logistics partners such as WareIQ unifies network, technology, and expertise to offer end-to-end fulfilment services allowing you to focus on your core business and not worry about logistics.
With WareIQ you get:
The ability to store inventory in several of the fulfilment centers so you don’t have to manage your own warehouse(s)
Robust technology that tracks your inventory and orders and offers advanced analytics
The e-commerce logistics expertise needed to improve your supply chain
Bulk discounts and ability to reduce your delivery times and shipping costs
Many growing e-commerce businesses like Kama Ayurveda, Wingreens Farms, Sangeetha Mobiles, and Organic Riot partner with WareIQ to offer next-day shipping. WareIQ helps you shorten your orders’ click to door journey and make the entire process more efficient
With WareIQ’s infrastructure and technology, you can ship 90% of orders across India within 2 days. Such delivery timelines translate to not only cheaper logistics costs but an elevated customer experience, resulting in higher conversions and lower cart abandonment.
Supercharge your fulfillment with WareIQ now, contact our team. | https://medium.com/@wareiq/building-a-next-day-shipping-engine-for-your-business-with-wareiq-2721ff2e4508 | [] | 2020-12-16 04:46:39.197000+00:00 | ['Direct To Consumer', 'Supply Chain', 'Amazon', 'India', 'Logistics'] |
Nodejs -express framework- v.2 | You don't need Game of Thrones, or House of Cards, when you have Turkish politics. | https://medium.com/@alitalipsever/nodejs-express-framework-v-2-9987af401fb7 | ['Alitalip Sever'] | 2020-12-16 02:04:38.017000+00:00 | ['Web', 'HTML', 'Nodejs', 'CSS', 'Expressjs'] |
How to use Notion Note-taking Application for Research — One Zero Blog | Why Notion?
Recently, I have started using a beautiful app called Notion. Yes, you guessed it, this is a note-taking app and I really like the flexibility this application offers. From the past 3 years, I have been an Evernote user but I did not like the rigid folder structure where one could only able to create a sub-level notebook. I believe Evernote is still good for many users because it is mature and well developed but the Notion application is one step ahead of every other competitor.
I am a Transportation System Engineering Ph.D. student at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (Department of Civil Engineering). I work in the field of pedestrian safety. Those who are in the academic field definitely knew about the headache of managing literature. If your literature is not well managed it could cause a big headache during article or thesis write-up.
Now, in the era of digital note-taking, there are plenty of candidate apps you could find on the internet. I recently started using Notion for managing my research work. So let me demonstrate how you could also manage your literature/research smoothly.
This is my Notion Home Page.
My Notion’s Home Page
Note: Notion is free for students and educators. You just need to sign-up using an academic email address.
Creating a New Page
Let’s start with the Notion. Everything in Notion is a block even if it is a text or image. There is no drop-down menu but you could call the menu using a forward slash “/”. For creating a new page just select page from the forward-slash menu and it will create a blank page.
Forward Slash “/” Menu
This is an example of a blank page, where you could add a meaningful title, an icon or a cover.
Empty Page
Creating an Inline Table
Once you create a page, you can create a table by calling table inline using the forward-slash “/”. The table contains a name, tags and files field by default. Here is a gif of how to create an inline table.
Generating an Inline Table
You could add more field based on your requirement. It could be text, number, select/multi-select option, date, person, files and many more.
Column Type Selection Menu
Here you can see, I have customized my master literature table. You could add as many as rows or columns you want as per your requirement.
Master Literature Table
One thing to note that in the first column “Article Title”, each row contains a notion page which you can open to write about the literature review in detail. You could include study objective, location of the study, primary findings and many more.
Opening Article 1 for Detailed Review Write-up
Here you can see I have opened the Article 1 as separate page for further editing.
Article 1. Full page view
Next, you can edit the page in more detail for detailed record keeping. Here, you can see I have added details about the study location, Model used and Outcomes.
Article 1 page’s body
Creating a Linked Database
One of the best features of Notion is that you can create sub-table using linked database feature. For example, I have created a master literature table and tagged each journal with meaningful keywords (see the above figure’s Tags column). I could call this table from any new page and filter out the table articles based on keywords/tags.
Say, you planned to write an article regarding worldwide road accidents statistics. Earlier, during the literature review, you had tagged all your accident-related articles (read) in the master literature table. So, rather skimming through your 100 of literature you entered in the master literature table. You could create a new page in Notion and call your master literature table there and filter out articles based on your keywords/tags. In this way, one could create separate study tables on different pages using a linked database.
The obvious question would be why not filtering and reading out from our master literature table. This could be one option but very traditional. By using old fashioned tricks you could not leverage the potential of linked database.
The main advantage of having a linked database table inside a new page is that once you start reading more papers and start updating your master literature table, your linked database also automatically update itself if you tag it with specific keywords.
For example, say in future I start reading more accident-related literature and added them to my master literature table with accident keyword, then it would also reflect inside other pages where I have linked that master literature table with accident filter. Isn’t it awesome?
Here, I have added a small video clip to illustrate, how you could create a linked database.
Creating a Linked Database
For demonstration purpose, I have created two linked database page. One for New Reads and another for Pedestrian Accidents Stats.
Pages with Linked Database
Let’s open the accidents stats linked database table, see below Table (a). You can see, there is an arrow on the top left side, indicating that the table is linked to the original literature table using a linked database feature. Now, if I add another article to my master literature table with “accident” tag then this article will appear to Pedestrian Accident stats table too and vice-versa.
Table (a). Accident Stats Linked Database
Table (b). New Reads (future read) Linked Database
Note: You can create a linked database based on any column. Here in my case I can create a linked database based on journal priority type, say only five stars journals (most important reads).
Lined Database based on Priority Filtering (Five Start Journals Only)
Code Embedding
The next feature that I like the most is code embedding. Notion supports code embedding for a significant number of programming languages. As a researcher, I have to develop plots and models using R and Python. So, this feature helps me manage and search embedded codes.
To add code just call the forward-slash “/” menu and type code. This will create an empty code block.
Calling code block
Empty code block (R default in my case)
To change it to another language, just click the bottom right side arrow. This will pop up options for different languages.
Here you can see popular languages like R, Python, Ruby and PHP.
In the figure below I have presented an example of R code embedded inside notion’s block.
R programming GGPLOT code
Here is a video from Notion’s YouTube channel on advanced features. Here you could learn about
Database
Database views
Adding content to databases with templates
Connecting databases with relation & rollup
Linking Databases to create advance dashboards
There are plenty of features available in the Notion that would make your research work smooth and hassle-free.
Notion offers:
Ready to use templates
Table of content
To-do list
Numbered and toggled list
Quote
Callout (for highlight or message)
Link to page (linking one page to another)
Reminder
Emoji
Inline Equation
Different table view (Board, Gallery, List and Calendar)
Audio, image and video upload
Web-bookmark
Embedding (Pdfs, Google map, Google drive, Tweet, Github Gist and many more)
Math equation (like latex)
Mentioning page inside a write-up
Here, I have shown only two major features i.e., the linked database and code embedding that I personally enjoy most. You could explore more watching Notion for beginners YouTube videos.
I hope this would help.
* Read more by visiting my personal blog website: https://onezero.blog/
If you learned something new and liked this article, say 👋 / follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Github. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-use-notion-for-research-6003ed8cc07b | ['Rahul Raoniar'] | 2020-09-19 16:15:13.209000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Productivity', 'Research', 'Notion', 'Notetaking'] |
FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) のセグメントデータを BigQuery からインポートする | Customer Engineer at Google Cloud Japan. All stories are in my opinion. | https://medium.com/@swacchi/fcm-import-bq-7cf89cd1e4b4 | ['Yuki Suwa'] | 2020-12-05 01:56:36.393000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Bigquery', 'Firebase', 'iOS', 'Firebase Cloud Messaging'] |
Life of every YOU-TH in a Nutshell! | Life of every YOU-TH in a Nutshell!
So this is my first time writing, why have I decided to write?
Let me tell you upfront I am not a writer or a reader just one of The YOU-TH confused with life and looking for purpose and wanting to put forward thoughts in my head outloud.
So every child starting from his tender age is always told study hard finish school and your all set to get into a good college and then a good job and finally it’s all fun.
but the fun fact is there is no fun and there is no end to this journey, every man has ambitions and passion per say but I dont see people with any. They seem just like a societal defined strategy to keep people in check to me.
Some people are happy earning money, some travelling and some struggle to earn bread why the disparity? Why is rice precious for some and plenty for few?
Well I suppose these thoughts have crossed many people but wait only for a few and only in times when they are sad or may be when they feel betrayed and some socially driven who feel the inequality and respond to people while other’s just live their life like it be.
Well I suppose some people respond to such feelings try to make a change. Yey!! sounds fun? But let me tell you it’s like a game which looks cool but hard to win without some cheat codes. You might succeed or may be not, just because your intentions are right you don’t always get the result.
So you think to yourself why bother? And live a lie ignoring what seems unfair and illogical whilst pursuing material satisfaction and societal norms.
Did all the above just seems like what you have faced at some point? Let me tell you! Everyone has thought of it, your not alone.
So will you try to be the change or will you live a lie only YOU and your THought can decide. | https://medium.com/@gahan.narayan93/life-of-every-you-th-in-a-nutshell-e7d0d2b023af | ['Wandering Soul'] | 2020-11-27 17:04:24.423000+00:00 | ['Ambition', 'Society', 'Inequality'] |
BAY RIDGE NYC: 2019 NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE | History of Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is tucked away in the southwest corner of Brooklyn between Sunset Park and Dyker Heights. The neighborhood was once a summer getaway for Manhattanites in the early 19th century. It was rural until the current subway lines were installed around the turn of the century.
With increased access to the area, people flooded in and a period of rapid growth began. This new development brought multi-family homes and apartments to the neighborhood, but many single-family homes with driveways and yards still dot the landscape.
The neighborhood’s most iconic feature, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, was completed in 1964 and connects Brooklyn to Staten Island.
The Vibe of Bay Ridge
Like other Brooklyn neighborhoods, Bay Ridge can be described as a small town within NYC. What sets this neighborhood apart is its close-knit, community-oriented spirit — almost 100 community organizations exist in Bay Ridge!
Scenic waterside walks and quick access to parks encourage locals to enjoy the outdoors and to slow down from the pace of the city. Long-standing local businesses operate along Third and Fifth Avenue, giving the area a lived-in and unique feel.
Unique Features of Bay Ridge
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is visible from almost everywhere in the neighborhood and stands as a dramatic backdrop to the calm streets here.
The bridge connects Brooklyn to Staten Island, and although you can’t walk across the bridge, you can walk nearby in Shore Park. Shore Park runs the entire length of Bay Ridge and offers a space for residents to relax, bring their dogs, or to enjoy the sunset over the bridge.
Things To Do in Bay Ridge
Residents of Bay Ridge have ample opportunity to enjoy life at a slower pace than the rest of the city. You could fill a day with walks through historic brownstone blocks, watching one of the many local parades, or browsing the Bay Ridge Greenmarket. We narrowed down our list to a few quintessential Bay Ridge activities.
Narrows Botanical Gardens : New York City’s largest all-volunteer gardening organization, the Gardens is a stunning display of native plant and animal life. We recommend visiting the rose garden, the willow grove, and the turtle sanctuary on a quiet weekend morning.
: New York City’s largest all-volunteer gardening organization, the Gardens is a stunning display of native plant and animal life. We recommend visiting the rose garden, the willow grove, and the turtle sanctuary on a quiet weekend morning. 69th Street Pier : Also known as the American Veterans Memorial Pier, the 69th Street Pier is a local favorite for fishers. Enjoy the views of the Verrazano Bridge and Manhattan skyline as you take it slow and relax.
: Also known as the American Veterans Memorial Pier, the 69th Street Pier is a local favorite for fishers. Enjoy the views of the Verrazano Bridge and Manhattan skyline as you take it slow and relax. Third and Fifth Avenue: These two avenues are the commercial centers of Bay Ridge. Here you’ll find local boutiques, toy stores, art shops, cafes, and bars, as well as quick access to convenient chain stores.
Top Food Choices in Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is bursting with cuisines from around the world, reflecting its own multicultural history. There is something for everyone in this neighborhood packed with options. Here are some of our favorites.
Tanoreen : A true favorite of locals, this Middle Eastern restaurant is run by a mother and daughter team who bring years of home cooking experience to their Bay Ridge neighbors.
: A true favorite of locals, this Middle Eastern restaurant is run by a mother and daughter team who bring years of home cooking experience to their Bay Ridge neighbors. Gino’s Restaurant : Gino’s has been a cornerstone of Bay Ridge nightlife since it opened in 1964. Always lively and friendly, this classic casual Italian restaurant serves up generous portions for a reasonable price.
: Gino’s has been a cornerstone of Bay Ridge nightlife since it opened in 1964. Always lively and friendly, this classic casual Italian restaurant serves up generous portions for a reasonable price. Elia: Be prepared to have the best Greek food you’ve had in NYC at this traditional yet innovative spot. Plenty of outdoor seating in the tranquil garden deck will transport you out of the city.
Top Three Things We Love About Bay Ridge
Community: Residents of Bay Ridge take pride in their community and want the best for their neighborhood. Small Town Feel: If you’re ready to slip away from the commotion of the city, Bay Ridge is a top choice for you. Waterfront: All of Bay Ridge is moments away from the peaceful Narrows waterfront and adjacent parks where you can enjoy stunning sunsets.
Looking to buy a home in Bay Ridge? Triplemint’s expert NYC real estate agents can help you find the perfect Brooklyn apartment for sale! Contact us to get started. | https://medium.com/triplemint-nyc/bay-ridge-nyc-2019-neighborhood-guide-2b3acff9c4ae | [] | 2019-10-17 17:11:08.344000+00:00 | ['Bay Ridge', 'Travel', 'Nyc Real Estate', 'Brooklyn', 'NYC'] |
Beyond delight; the memorable experience framework | Your company probably has some product strategy documents with gleefully optimistic headings like “deliver an incredible customer experience,” “inspire customers,” or “delight in unexpected ways”. You probably haven’t a clue what these aspirational statements mean in practice, but they sound so uplifting!
One thing that’s clear: good, functional UX isn’t enough these days. To be successful, the experience must be memorable and emotionally engaging for the customer.
In theory, if you get this right, users will tell everyone they know about the amazing product they discovered, waxing lyrical about how more efficient they’ve become since they started using your product, or how the product has irrevocably changed the way we live (or book travel, or work, or share photos). Strava, Duolingo, Instagram, all have that memorable quality, and sit at the top of their respective market category.
On the product team side, everyone seems to have a different definition of what “memorable” means in a product context, which can often result in a prescriptive formula of cute animations and witty customer support emails. On the one hand, these elements can certainly delight the user and add to the personality of the brand. But to be truly effective and stand out from the competition, these delightful elements need to be ingredients that contribute to the big picture in a strategic way.
Why? Engagement will increase customer loyalty, which will lead to long-lasting relationships between the user and company, and ultimately, greater revenue.
Products that acknowledge emotion and enhance well-being without breaking trust will stand out. — Pamela Pavliscak
At Officevibe, we use the memorable experience framework (Miro template provided at the end) to bring the design vision and emotional design requirements to life.
The opportunity
In my opinion, the trickiest UX challenges offer the best opportunities. Officevibe is a digital platform that aims to bring out the best in teams; creating a space for real talk between team members, improving one-on-one meetings and helping managers become better leaders. For us, the biggest challenge-slash-opportunity was the onboarding experience.
Most product onboarding processes have just one aim: to train a user on the tool. For example, Asana shows users how to create projects and tasks, but it doesn’t guide them towards becoming effective project managers.
By contrast, Officevibe doesn’t just attempt to create competent users of the tool, it actually tries to teach users how to get better at their jobs from day one.
When I saw how users considered their Officevibe score a measure of their own performance it became clear to me that accompanying users through their transformation could create a truly engaging and differentiated user experience.
What is a memorable experience? Quick answer: It’s not delight.
Memorable is defined as something worth remembering, especially something special or unusual. It’s an experience that involves anticipation, emotional involvement, altered perceptions of time and involves a process of doing and undergoing.
In UX, delight sits at the top of the pyramid, but is usually just a topcoat applied to a functional experience. Things that tend to sit in this category include helpful/sassy microcopy, subtle animations, and relevant images, making it feel personable, approachable, and fun. Delight is sweet as candy, with many empty calories.
An experience that is memorable, however, places the users’ objectives at its core.
Aarron Walter’s Hierarchy of User Needs
From the customer’s perspective, functional and reliable experiences are expected and taken for granted. Delivering them will not result in satisfaction, but when they are missing, it will lead to instant rage. You probably won’t brag how clean a hotel room is to your friends, but if it’s dirty, that will likely be the first thing you’ll complain about.
Delightful elements are just that: delightful. They will inevitably lose their appeal over time and will come to be expected. It’s why it’s best to leave them at the periphery of the experience for aspects we see once, like the sign up page, empty states or error messages.
A memorable experience is a step above a delightful one. It enhances the sense of meaning, connection, and wellbeing in people. It’s not about the UI, but the user.
A transformative UX for the transformation economy
Users today are constantly growing and evolving every moment of every day. They’re learning a new language on Duolingo, fighting their anxiety with Headspace or becoming jogging legends on Strava.
This is called the Transformation economy — an economy where experiences are elevated from mere enjoyment to actual personal transformation. It’s the natural evolution from the Experience economy, in which customers seek enjoyable experiences over products.
According to Jasmine Bina’s Medium story, brands can create a new brand model if they speak to customers who aspire to that kind of change.
If you had to take a second look at what truly defines us as consumers, it’s clear that we are experimenting, testing, pushing, changing, discovering, formulating, creating and effecting. […] All of these new labels indicate a state of becoming.
The memorable experience framework strongly supports that sense of transformation. | https://uxdesign.cc/beyond-delight-the-memorable-experience-framework-249e08a4fdc6 | ['Audree Lapierre'] | 2021-09-14 10:52:31.852000+00:00 | ['Framework', 'Product Design', 'Design', 'Usability', 'UX'] |
Why the Term “Comic Book Movie” Has to Go Away | A fan of comic books and movies talks about why the term merging the two is misused and borderline insulting.
Credit: Warner Bros.
September 7, 2019: Joker is announced as the winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It is a momentous occasions, as it’s the first time a superhero (or, in this case, superhero-adjacent) film has won the top prize at a major festival, where such movies are usually given out-of-competition slots (as was the case with Logan at the 2017 Berlinale and X-Men: The Last Stand at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival).
At the customary press conference after the awards ceremony, the jury is asked about the choice of bestowing the Golden Lion upon a “comic book movie”. Jury member Paolo Virzì, a famed Italian writer-director, responds with the following phrase: “It is so much more than a comic book movie.”
He is, of course, absolutely correct, in that Todd Phillips’ film eschews the classic good vs. evil narrative and goes a bit deeper. By the director’s own admission, it’s a blend of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy by way of Gotham City.
And yet, the use of that term is also indicative of a bastardization of that notion. In fairness, Virzì was actually using the Italian term cinecomic, which usually refers exclusively to (American) superhero films and not comic book adaptations as whole (the Italian word for the artform in general is fumetto).
But it’s a word that has taken on a life of its own, much like the English “comic book movie” which should technically mean one thing but has become synonymous with people wearing tights and capes. It does the movies no favors, and even less so for comic books.
Credit: The Walt Disney Company
The first bothersome thing about the term is that it’s pretty much the only one of its kind. No one calls Gone with the Wind and The Godfather “book movies”. No one uses “videogame movies” to categorize the likes of Sonic the Hedgehogand Resident Evil. And no one refers to Mission: Impossible and Star Trek as “TV show movies”. Only comic book adaptations (well, a specific subset) are labeled in such a manner, a choice that comes across as a tad elitist.
This is, of course, nothing new: back in August 2012, Variety asked a member of the Academy if The Dark Knight Rises was in a position to pull a Return of the King at the Oscars, to mark the monumental achievement of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
The interviewee’s answer was this: “At the end of the day, the Academy always looks at the source. [Peter] Jackson’s film came from a piece of literature. This came from a comic book.” The film ended up receiving zero nominations, the only installment in the trilogy to do so.
The Dark Knight Rises — Official Trailer #3 [HD]
At that point, Heath Ledger’s posthumous win for Supporting Actor in 2009 was an outlier, in that comic book adaptations generally received technical nominations and little else. Prior to Ledger, only three other actors had been nominated for such films: Al Pacino for Dick Tracy, Paul Newman for Road to Perdition and William Hurt for A History of Violence. How did they slip past what appears to be a certain snobbery vis-à-vis the source material?
The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, Vol. 1. Credit: IDW Publishing
Well, for one thing, all three films are variations on one of the most long-lived and celebrated American genres, the gangster film. Additionally, two out of three sidestepped the issue by having “based on a graphic novel” in the credits (in fact, A History of Violence even received a nomination for the screenplay). Basically, they were sold as adaptations of material that one would consider respectable, because of the word “novel” being part of it.
Things have changed, to a degree, with Black Panther and Joker scoring major nominations and wins in consecutive years, but the snobbery persists in some quarters. Todd Phillips drew some ire from comic book fans when he described his film in the following terms during an interview with The Wrap, citing his pitch to Joaquin Phoenix: “Look at this as a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film.”
He does have a point about Hollywood’s modus operandi, but the “real movie” remark is not that far removed from when someone describes their genre film as “not really a horror movie”.
The second bothersome thing about “comic book movie” is that, in the US at least, it’s used solely for superhero films, thus reducing an entire artform to stories about people in colorful outfits fighting other people who wear similar attire.
It’s a major disservice to countless non-superhero adaptations, such as American Splendor, Fritz the Cat, The Death of Stalin, Old Boy, Persepolis and Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color.
Such reductionism also reinforces the elitist notion that comic books are aimed exclusively at younger people and devoid of any value as proper literature.
The anonymous Academy member who preemptively dismissed The Dark Knight Rises as not worthy of attention might want to look up Maus (which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992), or take a gander at some of the reprints published by Fantagraphics Books: The Complete Peanuts boasts introductions by the likes of Jonathan Franzen and Barack Obama, while George Lucas describes the work of Disney cartoonist Carl Barks as “a priceless part of our literary heritage”.
The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 12. Credit: Fantagraphics Books.
With all that in mind, it is arguably time to put the term “comic book movie” to rest, and try something very simple when Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, The Suicide Squad and other upcoming superhero films eventually hit our screens: just call them “movies”. They may be good, bad or anything in between, but at the end of the day they’re just movies. | https://medium.com/writing-for-your-life/why-the-term-comic-book-movie-has-to-go-away-2c1af74316a8 | ['Max Borg'] | 2020-11-25 17:32:19.655000+00:00 | ['Superheroes', 'Comic Books', 'Comic Book Movies', 'Film'] |
How to Register in Dakuce ICO? | In this article we are going to explain you how to register to DAKUCE ICO.
Note: You need to clear your Desktop and mobile phones cache, cookies, and history for better result.
Registration steps:
Step -1
First of all, access our website https://dakuce.com and click on the REGISTER button. You will be redirected to our login page https://dakuce.com/register
How to Register Dakuce ICO?
Step — 2
A registration form will be displayed which will require you to enter your email-id, Username and password.
Step — 3
When entering the email, the user should see to it that a valid and working email-id has been entered.
Step — 4
The Username and Password to be entered should fulfill the requirements of the company’s criteria.
Step — 5
Once you click on Register, a confirmation mail will be sent to the email-id mentioned in the registration form.
Step — 6
In case the mail doesn’t appear in the inbox, please check your spam inbox.
Step — 7
Once the account is confirmed through mail, you are free to login.
Step — 8
As soon as you login, a pop-up will appear asking you to enable 2FA (Two factor Authentication).
Step — 9
To enable Authentication, the user will be required to install Google Authenticator on their personal smartphones through Google Playstore or through App store and then follow the steps as mentioned.
Step — 10
After installing the app, the app will ask the user to create account either by scanning the QR code or by entering a provided key.
Step — 11
Here the option for scanning QR code has to be selected.
Step — 12
Once the code is scanned, a backup key will appear which will have to be noted down manually by the user.
Step — 13
The next step will require the user to enter the key that was manually noted down along with the 2FA code on the mobile screen.
Step — 14
Once these details are entered and then confirmed, you have successfully enabled Google Authenticator. | https://medium.com/dakucecom/how-to-register-dakuce-ico-5f0921b7727c | ['Dakuce Cryptocurrency Exchange'] | 2018-06-13 06:32:26.530000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Dakuceexchange', 'Register Dakuce Ico'] |
The Beauty of Authenticity and Being Real | As we approach the Christmas season, we are aware that a number of countries and cities are still in full or partial lock down. We wouldn’t be doing ourselves any favors if we say that we’re doing OK, when in reality we are not. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought up a number of uncertainties, challenges and radical changes globally never foreseen before. The press and media are increasingly reporting on the toll of lockdown on people’s mental health and how people are struggling to cope. There is no shame in admitting our struggles first to ourselves. Being transparent and honest with ourselves is the first step to recovery in my opinion. Let’s remove the stigma and the shame today. There is innate strength and courage when we are upfront and honest with ourselves about our struggles. We are humans after all -aren’t we?
The fact that you are reading this blog, tells me that you are an Overcomer, and that you are more than a Conqueror. You will finish this year strong. You have a hope and a future.
No matter what struggles you have faced this year, no matter the battles you have fought during this season, you, my friend are a Warrior. You got up today — didn’t you.. You are reading this blog. Just by you being here is a victory and a win itself. Don’t you agree? You showed up for you and you showed up for your loved ones. Celebrate your wins, however minuscule.
My hope and prayer is that if you are struggling that you will reach out to a family member, or a close friend, or even the Samaritans. There is beauty and strength in being real.
Let me conclude by saying that there is ONE who truly knows what we are going through now. God understands our struggles. He only asks that we come to Him in prayer, where will be treated with kindness and where we can find help in our time of need.
“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, Therefore let us approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need” — Hebrews, 4:15–16 | https://medium.com/@menchoosingsafety/the-beauty-of-authenticity-and-being-real-c3789217d56e | ['Joana G - Men Choosing Safety'] | 2020-12-12 11:52:37.272000+00:00 | ['Suicide', 'Mental Health', 'Men', 'Hope'] |
There is Huge Consumer Demand for More Games Like Among Us | There is Huge Consumer Demand for More Games Like Among Us
Games like Among Us and Fall Guys are like social virtual board games. And people are obsessed!
I was watching Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first stream on Twitch today and thought to myself, “How cool is it that a US politician is using a gaming platform to get out the vote?” She ended up peaking “at 435,000 viewers around the time of her first match,” according to Twitch, becoming one of the platform’s biggest broadcasters.
AOC owes a major part of that success to the game’s immense popularity. Among Us is a game of “teamwork and betrayal” for 4–10 players. Through deceit, setting up others, and trying not to act suspicious, players are put in a situation where they have to root out an imposter. It features players as twinkie-like space aliens that run around trying to complete simple tasks and avoiding being killed.
Among Us + Fall Guys
As of writing this article on October 21, 2020, Among Us is the top broadcasted game on Twitch. It’s Twitch viewership numbers hit “4.1 million hours watched” as of July 2020. It is one of the top-selling games on Steam this year as well. For a game that started as a small indie game in 2018, it’s rise to popularity is quite an impressive feat.
Another game that’s become popular this year is Fall Guys. Fall Guys is a battle royale game that pits players in a free-for-all against each other in a race to the finish. It also features players as twinkie-like characters in customizable outfits. (What’s up with the twinkie-shaped characters in video games?)
Source: Twinkies — Flickr
In my mind, Among Us and Fall Guys reminds me of a virtual version of a good board game or party game. They’re both social games too, perfect to play with friends and family. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/is-there-a-market-need-for-games-like-among-us-eac55864f5bc | ['Quy Ma'] | 2020-10-23 07:01:52.664000+00:00 | ['Among Us', 'Product Design', 'Board Games', 'Innovation', 'Gaming'] |
Do I Need To Tell You I’m Using A Bot? | Screenshot of “Amy”, calendaring bot, interacting with someone to schedule a meeting.
So, I recently started using Amy Ingram to help book my meetings and manage my calendar.
The thing is, “she” is a bot. She’s not human. She’s a program and she’s wicked efficient and managing all the things to harangue my calendar into submission.
The problem? I’m having a hard time acting like she’s human. Because she’s a bot. So it’s awkward for me to say “Amy” or “she” all the time.
The flip-side, if I reveal she’s a program, then it’s even more awkward to say “it” rather than “she”.
But here’s the rub — Do I have an obligation to reveal to you that I am using a bot to transact this arrangement for a meeting? Would you be offended?
And by the way, she can also chase down phone numbers, give directions to meetings and book/cancel items from the calendar. She knows I like a small buffer between meetings and wont crowd me. She knows my favorite meeting places if I am grabbing coffee with someone and can suggest those automagically to the person I am meeting. If I prefer meeting by hangouts or skype, she handles that with the ease of a master scheduling whiz.
Today, I learned that if someone emails saying they can talk at 3pm tomorrow, I can just forward that to Amy saying “please book this meeting” and she will jump in and arrange all the things.
ALL. THE. THINGS.
Next step? Hey Amy, please write a snarky blog post about how things are going in my scheduling world these days and post to Medium. Thanks. | https://medium.com/connected-well/do-i-need-to-tell-you-im-using-a-bot-9ef085837755 | ['Robert Merrill'] | 2016-06-02 17:59:48.520000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Get NordVPN discount coupon from the WheezyWaiter | This man needs no introduction — WheezyWaiter is an American vlogger, musician and video producer. Craig Benzine is behind this well known YouTube channel that is a bit shy of hitting that 1 million subscribers. Craig created this channel when he was working as a waiter and tried to make ends meet, hence the channel name. Craig began making parodies, sketches, vlogs about his daily life and so on. Soon, he landed a video producer job. WheezyWaiter is all about entertainment, but he does discuss serious topics like online security. Right now Craig is offering a NordVPN discount — this way you will become anonymous and secure online, so grab the deal while you can.
How to get the NordVPN discount from the Wheezy Waiter?
Click on the link below:
70% NordVPN discount from Wheezy Waiter
The moment you click on the link, you will be redirected to NordVPN’s website. In the pricing section, you will see the discount coupon already applied, so now you can grab that 3-year deal with a 70% discount.
What NordVPN has to offer?
It’s a user-friendly application with more than 5000+ servers in 60+ countries. You can use the servers for torrenting, streaming and just browsing the web securely.
Never heard of Wheezy Waiter?
Craig Benzine first started a channel called “sambonejr” with his friends. He co-starred in multiple videos that were for entertainment. He also created an album and a movie under the name of Ozark Cousins with his friends. What is interesting, you can hear the sample of the album in WheezyWaiter’s background. As mentioned before, Craig created the channel WheezyWaiter when he was working as a waiter and most of his early videos are about his job struggles, though later they became lighthearted and comedic.
Craig isn’t the only YouTuber who chose NordVPN for online security — True Geordie and Bricky recommend this VPN service provider as well.
Why NordVPN?
Easy to use. Just a few clicks an you’re already in a different virtual location, connect to more than 60+ countries across the world in just one click.
No data logging. NordVPN never logs your data or monitors your online activities, what you do online is secure, private and known only to you. As the VPN is based in Panama, a country with no mandatory data retention laws, it can easily keep up with its strict no logs policy.
No data or bandwidth limits. You can watch your favorite TV shows and movies to your heart’s content because there are no data or bandwidth caps. Meaning you can torrent or stream without any limits.
Customer support is available 24/7. If you are in need of guidance, you can easily contact customer support via email or live chat. They will do their best to help you with your queries.
Adblocker. The CyberSec feature will block those annoying and pesky ads, all the while redirecting you and not letting you access malicious websites.
More features. Kill switch that kills your Internet connection in case you accidentally disconnect, P2P servers for torrenting, access to most popular streaming websites and more. | https://medium.com/@ascerdonsnoah/wheezy-waiter-nordvpn-discount-fa529bd863a3 | ['Noah Ascerdon'] | 2020-03-30 14:49:49.453000+00:00 | ['Cybersecurity', 'Discount', 'Deal', 'Coupon', 'VPN'] |
We can be like Milk and Coffee Flower and bee Under this beautiful sky We can be like Fruit and tree. | We can be like
Milk and Coffee
Flower and bee
Under this beautiful sky
We can be like
Fruit and tree. | https://medium.com/@abadoni2000/we-can-be-like-milk-and-coffee-flower-and-bee-under-this-beautiful-sky-we-can-be-like-fruit-and-728180ccd636 | ['Ankit Badoni'] | 2020-12-19 04:49:39.628000+00:00 | ['Poems', 'Writing', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry', 'English'] |
25 Inspirational Quotes That Will Change Your Life | 25 Inspirational Quotes That Will Change Your Life
Quotes are those little reminders that we all need now and then Abdulkadir Follow Dec 25, 2020 · 6 min read
photo by Jeremy Beadle from Unsplash
In this article, I decided to share the top world inspirational quotes that will motivate you to achieve your goals.
Here is a beautiful collection of inspiration quote:
“I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.” — Unknow.
Never dwell in the past for what has happened, what is gone can never be brought back, rather focus on the present to create a better future. take every moment to create a better tomorrow.
2. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” — Joshua J. Marine
Facing obstacles is what really gives meaning and concurring them is what makes life to be fun, be ready to take up challenges and you will know what life is really is. life without challenge is just living in a dump yard.
3. “One of the most important keys to success is having the discipline to do what you know you should do, even when you don't feel like doing it.” — Unknown.
To be successful, you have to stick to your daily routine on your way to success. success doesn't just happen overnight, it takes a lot of work and adhering to your set principles.
4. “Good things come to those who wait… greater things come to those who get off their ass and do anything to make it happen.” — Unknown
Success comes to those who strive, consistent, and patient in pursuing their goals. great achievement doesn't just occur overnight it's a one-time step after another.
5. “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.” — Denis Waitley's
Happiness is not what you look for, it's what you create. create your happiness where you are and with people surrounding you. make every moment to be a good memory for you and the people surrounding you and you see the happiness you are searching for.
6. “Go where you are celebrated — not tolerated. If they can’t see the real value of you, it’s time for a new start.” — Unknown
Every human wants to be praised not debased, walk with people who value your presence and appreciate what you offer. not all people tend to know how valuable you are like yourself, never belittle yourself for those who don't see the value in you.
7. Don't be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone.. — Andy Biersack
Believe it or not, not all people see things the ways you do, people will always try to convince and confuse you. hold your ground as long as you know you are on the right track. don't be afraid to stand n your words.
8. “I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. It's because of them I’m doing it myself.” — Albert Einstein
Never gets mad at those who failed to help you, they are simply teaching you how you can live without them. instead of being mad, rather build your self to be self-dependent than to seek their help.
9. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” — Steve Jobs
If you don't love what you are doing now, there is no chance you will succeed in it. do what you love, develop a passion for it and you will find it easier to succeed in it.
10. “When you say “It’s hard”, it actually means “I’m not strong enough to fight for it”. Stop saying it's hard. Think positive!” — Unknown
The word you utter has in great impact on what you do, never say you can't, see the possibility of succeeding in what you do not the obstacle. be an optimist always.
11. “Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” — Jack Canfield
If you don't give it a try, you will never know what you can do. never worry about the failure, its fear keeps you from achieving noting, rather take the steps, and if you fail, you learn how to avoid failure next time.
12. “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” — Farrah Gray
Think big and have had goals. have your own dream to be self-dependent. if you don't work toward your own goals, you will end up helping someone achieves theirs.
13. “The only thing that stands between you and your dream is the will to try and the belief that it is actually possible.” — Joel Brown
If you don't take steps toward your goals, they become mere words. don't be afraid to pursue what you are trying to achieving. be courageous and you will see yourself soaring.
14. “Self-confidence is the most attractive quality a person can have. how can anyone see how awesome you are if you can’t see it yourself?” — Unknown
If you cant have confidence in yourself and what you do how will others do, build your self-confidence. if you are confident in yourself, there is a %90 chance that you will achieve your goals.
15. “We learn something from everyone who passes through our lives... Some lessons are painful, some are painless.. but, all are priceless.” — Unknown
Every individual that you meet in life leaves a mark on your life, some may be good and some may be bad, but you learn from it all and it becomes part of your history.
16. “Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.” — Larry Winget
If you don't have plans, you are likely to live your life the way it comes. planning helps keeps you on track and to chase the kind of life you wanna live.
17. “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” — Carl Bard
We all have our past which can not be changed, but it's not too late to start afresh now.
18. “Just remember there is someone out there that is more than happy with less than what you have.” — Unknown
Always be contented with what you have, there are people out there that don't have half of what you possess and are happier with it.
19. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill
Always see opportunities in what you do and you will succeed, a pessimistic mindset kills dreams faster than bullets.
20 “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” — Will Rogers
Yesterday is gone, start today afresh and makes it to be productive, for yesterday can't be changed.
21. “Great things never came from comfort zones.” — Neil Strauss
To achieve your dreams, you have to leave your comfort zone to pursue dreams.
22. “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
One single failure in life, doesn't mean total failure, take it as a lesson to avoid the nest failure
23. “Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.” — Les Brown
Always strive for what is great, and if you fail in achieving it, it worth be a total failure you are not starting from scratch.
24. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”- Mark Twain
Do not procrastinate, this will deal with your success, the best time is to start right now.
25. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” — Les Brown
If you don't take responsibility to make your life better now, no one will help you with it.
Which of the quote motivate you more, let know in the comment section below. | https://medium.com/illumination/50-inspirational-quotes-that-will-change-your-life-1f332d47149 | [] | 2020-12-25 14:56:32.181000+00:00 | ['Motivation', 'Quotes', 'Life Lessons', 'Success', 'Inspiration'] |
What Christmas Means To Me As A Former Believer | That’s how Christmas has always been depicted to people living in Asia who have never had the chance to experience Christmas in countries where it snows and you can actually do all of that.
Growing up, my family never celebrated Christmas because we didn’t believe in it. We didn’t believe it actually celebrated the birth of Jesus because Jesus wasn’t born in December and my dad always called the tradition of Santa Claus with the presents under the Christmas tree as pagan believes. How does that correlate with what the celebration is supposed to be about?
So, I never celebrated Christmas as a young kid.
Not once.
Of course, living in South East Asia where December is usually the month of monsoon when we get thunderstorms and flash floods on an almost daily basis instead of snow, the mood for Christmas wasn’t always there.
But I longed to experience what I’ve always seen on TV.
Especially after watching Home Alone and the character of Macaulay Culkin (Kevin McCallister) was shown having some nice hot milk and cookies the night before he pulled off one of the most memorable scenes in movie history by defending his home from a bunch of burglars.
However, not only was I in a country where I could never experience snow, but I was also in a family that would never celebrate Christmas.
Fast forward a few decades later and here I am, getting ready to celebrate Christmas with my family for the 6th year and this time, not as a Christian but someone who wants to just enjoy the festive season with his family and loved ones.
So, how does one celebrate a Christian celebration without being one?
Easy, you just celebrate it as a family gathering.
For the second year in a row, my house has a Christmas tree up, nicely decorated and with presents underneath it, all wrapped up and just waiting to be opened up by its rightful owner.
Christmas for me is now much more meaningful as a former believer.
Mainly because I celebrate it with my family for reasons that I believe is much more personal and meaningful to me.
I celebrate it not because of Santa or presents (although we do get presents for each other just for the fun of it) but because of the occasion of getting together and being with one another. I celebrate it not because it celebrates the birth of Jesus but because of the true meaning of what Christmas is supposed to be about — celebrating love.
I love how people can suddenly put aside their differences during Christmas because it’s the time for love and forgiveness.
Why can’t that be celebrated every single day?
But because it’s so hard for people to do that on a daily basis, they do it during Christmas and I’ll take that.
Christmas for me is the time when people can just come together despite their differences. That in itself is magical and it’s the season for magic and happiness.
I’ve heard and seen stories of families getting back together because of Christmas, how some parents who have not seen their children for years, finally got the chance during Christmas. That for me is worth celebrating. And if Christmas brings about that, I’m celebrating it.
Back then, I couldn’t celebrate it because my parents taught us that it was a pagan celebration and that God didn’t like it.
For some reason, they knew what God was thinking.
I don’t blame them, I really don’t. They were just teaching their children about something that they too had very limited understanding about.
Which for me is what a lot of religious people have — limited understanding of their own religion.
They understand what they WANT to understand.
And they can’t take or accept the opinion of others, especially if it differs from their own.
So, for my parents (especially my dad) who were like that, they were very adamant that Christmas could not be celebrated. Their take was that, just because everyone does it, does not make it right. They were so sure of what they believed in, they were so sure that they were in the right, that they thought we were the ‘chosen’ ones.
And we had to uphold the ‘truth’ no matter what.
Well, for me, the truth is really unknown because our understanding is very limited and there are just so much out there that we don’t know about. All I know is that everyone has the right to believe in what they want to believe and not force their beliefs on others.
That’s why I can celebrate anything I want now as long as I’m doing it for reasons that are right for me.
Being able to finally celebrate something that I’ve always wanted to celebrate since I was young, even if it’s for different reasons now, is something that I’m extremely grateful for.
I still don’t believe in the reasons for Christmas, I don’t. I still find it strange that the birth of Christ is celebrated with a tree, presents and a fat man in a red jumper suit delivering presents all over the world in a sledge pulled by flying reindeers.
It’s always been silly for me and it will continue to be silly for me.
But that doesn’t mean that those who DO believe in it are wrong for doing so. It’s what gives them hope and as long as it doesn’t hurt others, that’s fine.
Christmas has always been a special celebration for Christians.
It’s ironic how it’s become special for me, now that I’m no longer a believer. But it is and I can now say it’s a meaningful celebration for me and my family.
Merry Christmas, everyone. | https://medium.com/narrative/what-christmas-means-to-me-as-a-former-believer-5bcd275ad1e8 | ['Benny Lim'] | 2019-12-21 08:26:16.850000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Christmas', 'Faith', 'Life', 'Religion'] |
MoonDeFi is a protocol on Ethereum for swapping ERC20 tokens without the need for buyers and… | MoonDeFi is a protocol on Ethereum for swapping ERC20 tokens without the need for buyers and sellers to create demand. It does this via an equation that automatically sets and balances the value depending on how much demand there is. Unlike most exchanges that charge fees, MoonDeFi was designed with a very low fee structure. | https://medium.com/@sadaqat03444930001/moondefi-is-a-protocol-on-ethereum-for-swapping-erc20-tokens-without-the-need-for-buyers-and-1f663cf5602f | ['Mianvicky'] | 2020-12-14 17:01:04.121000+00:00 | ['Moon', 'Moondefi', 'Defi'] |
How to detect a user’s preferred color scheme in JavaScript | CSS media query ‘ prefers-color-scheme' draft
There is a CSS media queries draft level 5 where prefers-color-scheme is specified. It is meant to detect if the user has requested the system to use a light or dark color theme.
This sounds like something we can work with! We need to stay up to date with any changes to the draft, though, as it might change at any time since it’s just a… draft. The prefers-color-scheme query can have three different values: light , dark , and no-preference .
Web browser support as of March 2019
The current browser support is very limited, and it’s not available in any of the stable releases of any vendor. We can only enjoy this in Safari Technology Preview of version 12.1 and in Firefox 67.0a1. What’s great is that there are binaries that do support it, so we can work with it and try it out in web browsers. For current browser support, check out https://caniuse.com/#search=prefers-color-scheme.
Why CSS only detection isn’t enough
The common approach I’ve seen so far is to use a CSS only approach and override CSS rules for certain classes when a media query is matched.
Something like this:
As this works fine for many use cases, there are styling techniques that do not use CSS in a way like this. If styled-components is used for theming, for example, then a JS object is replaced when the theme is changed.
Having access to the preferred scheme is also useful for analytics and more predictable CSS overrides as well as more fine-grained control over which elements should be themed and not.
Initial JS approach
I’ve learned in the past that you can do media query detection by setting the CSS content of an element to a value if a media query is matched. This is definitely a hack, but it works!
Something like this:
So when a user loads the CSS and the media query matches one of the above color schemes, the content property value of the html element is set to either ‘light’ or ‘dark’.
The question then is, how do we read the content value of the html element?
We can use window.getComputedStyle, like this:
And this works fine! This approach is fine for a one-time read, but it’s not reactive and automatically updates when the user changes their system color scheme. To be updated, a page reload is needed (or have the above read done at an interval).
Reactive JS approach
How can we know when the user changes the system color scheme? Are there any events we can listen to?
Yes there are!
There is window.matchMedia available in modern web browsers.
What’s great with matchMedia is that we can attach a listener to it that will be called anytime the match changes.
The listener will be called with an object containing the information if the media query started matching or if it stopped matching. With this info, we can skip the CSS altogether and just work with JS.
This approach works really well in the supported web browsers and just opts out if window.matchMedia isn't supported.
React hook
Since we are using React in neo4j-browser, I wrote this as a custom React hook to make it easy to re-use in all of our apps and fit into the React system.
It’s a bit more code than in the first short proof-of-concept. We have better error detection and we also remove the event listeners when the hook un-mounts.
In our use case, the users can choose to override the autodetected scheme with something else (we offer an outlined theme for example, often used when doing presentations).
And then use it like this in the application layer:
The last part depends on how theming is made in your application. In the example above, the theme data object is passed into a context provider that makes this object available throughout the whole React application.
End result
Here’s a gif with the end result, and as you can see, it’s instant.
Final thoughts
This was a fun experiment made during a so-called “Lab Day” we have in the UX team at Neo4j. The early stages of the spec and (therefore) the lack of browser support does not justify this to make it into any product yet. But support might come sooner than later.
And besides, we do ship some Electron-based products and there is an electron.systemPreferences.isDarkMode() available there...
About the author
Oskar Hane is a team lead / senior engineer at Neo4j.
He works on multiple of Neo4j:s end-user applications and code libraries and have authored two tech books.
Follow Oskar on twitter: @oskarhane | https://medium.com/free-code-camp/how-to-detect-a-users-preferred-color-scheme-in-javascript-ec8ee514f1ef | ['Oskar Hane'] | 2019-04-08 06:57:54.828000+00:00 | ['Neo4j', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'CSS', 'UX'] |
Getting Started With Flask-RESTful API And Deploying to Heroku | Introduction
Let’s get started with some basic topics that we should know before diving into the coding and deploying section.
What is Flask?
Flask is a simple and powerful micro web framework. It is mostly used for creating APIs in Python. Flask depends on the Jinja template engine and the Werkzeug WSGI toolkit. The “micro” in micro web framework means Flask aims to keep the core simple but extensible.
Flask does not include a database abstraction layer, form validation or anything else where different libraries already exist that can handle that. Instead, Flask supports extensions to add such functionality to your application as if it was implemented in Flask itself. Numerous extensions provide database integration, form validation, upload handling, various open authentication technologies, and more. Flask may be “micro”, but it’s ready for production use on a variety of needs. You can check the official Flask documentation here.
What is an API?
API stand for Application Programming Interface. It provides a software interface or acts as an intermediary which allows two applications to talk to each other. For Example: When we login to Facebook, the Facebook-app calls an User Authentication API which verifies our Facebook account is valid or not and gives us access to our respective user accounts. For Flask-API, We can get started from its official documentation given here.
What is an Flask-RESTful? Flask-RESTful is an extension to Flask for building REST APIs. You can check its official documentation here.
Source: FlaskRESTful official documentation
What is an REST API?
REST stands for “Representational State Transfer”. It is a set of rules(or design pattern) that developers follow when they create their API.
A RESTful API uses commands to obtain resources.These resources can be Text Files, Html Pages, Images, Videos or Dynamic Business Data. REST Server simply provides access to resources and REST client accesses and modifies the resources. The state of a resource at any given timestamp is called a resource representation and the API calls are stateless.
A RESTful API uses existing HTTP methodologies for operations , such as:
GET to retrieve a resource;
PUT to change the state of or update a resource, which can be an object, file or block;
POST to create that resource; and
DELETE to remove it.
Example
Now, After the basic introduction, Let’s get started with the coding section.
Lets create a directory named flask-restful-heroku . Then, in this directory, create a virtual environment named venv.
$ virtualenv venv
Activate the created virtual environment.
$ source ./venv/bin/activate
Now, Install Flask and Flask-RESTful.
$ pip install Flask
$ pip install flask-restful
We will use gunicorn for server.
$ pip install gunicorn
Create a file named main.py in the project directory. The directory will look like this:
Copy the code below to main.py . It is a minimal Flask-RESTful API.
Save the file main.py and run it using your python interpreter.
$ python main.py
It will look as below.
To run the file using WSGI server, first stop the flask app by pressing CTRL+C.
Then, create a file named wsgi.py on the project directory. The directory will look like this:
Now, copy the code below to wsgi.py . We are making the file ready to run with WSGI server.
Then, run the file using WSGI server.
$ flask run
Then, follow the URL by CTRL+Click on url. You will be redirected to a new tab on your default browser to the url. You will get following output in your browser.
Here, it will be easy for us if the flask is running on debug mode. so, the changes are automatically implemented.So, stop the production server with CTRL+C and again run the file main.py using python interpreter. Follow the URL by CTRL+Click on url. You will be redirected to a new tab on your default browser to the url. You will get the same output as above.
from flask import Flask, jsonify
from flask_restful import Resource, Api
Here, we have imported the required libraries Flask, jsonify, Resource and Api. ‘jsonify’ is used to convert Python dict structures to json format.
app = Flask(__name__)
api = Api(app)
First, We have initialized and flask app. Then, we have assigned the flask app as an api.
class HelloWorld(Resource):
def get(self):
return {'hello': 'world'}
HelloWorld is a class which acts as an api resource. The function get acts as get request. If we have to deal with post request, we can create a function named post and do post request inside that function. As HelloWorld is an api resource, its function acts as different types of api requests.
api.add_resource(HelloWorld, '/')
This line adds HelloWorld as an resource with url ‘/’ for the api.
if __name__ == '__main__':
app.run(debug=True)
Every Python module has it’s __name__ defined and if this is ‘__main__’, it implies that the module is being run standalone by the user and we can do corresponding appropriate actions. And it also means that if the current file-name is equals to the main file-name then run the app.
The syntax debug=True runs the file in debugging mode where the change on code is automatically changed to the server.
Lets modify main.py . First delete HelloWorld class and create a class with class-name status which returns response of status of api as:
class status(Resource):
def get(self):
try:
return {'data': 'Api running'}
except(error):
return {'data': error}
It simply provides the status information of the api.
Then create another class with class-name Sum, which returns the sum of provided two numbers through get request as:
class Sum(Resource):
def get(self, a, b):
return jsonify({'data': a+b})
Now, lets add them as resource with assigned urls.
api.add_resource(status,'/') api.add_resource(Sum,'/add/<int:a>,<int:b>')
We will remove debug=true in main.py as we are now going for the production and deployment in Heroku.
There is a concept of Cross-Origin in case of APIs’ . It means that even if we have developed our API with python, Other origins(languages like Javascript, React) can also access our API. So, we will also import CORS and assign our app as an CORS app.
Install the flask-cors as:
$ pip install Flask-Cors
Finally, our main.py will look like the following:
We have our wsgi.py as it is.
Deplyoing to Heroku
Before deplyoing to Heroku, We have to have some additional files.
Add a file named Procfile with inner contents:
web: gunicorn main:app
It means the app is an web application which runs on gunicorn server and main is our app.
Create another file named runtime.txt with inner contents:
python-3.7.3
Which is the python version I am currently using.
Now, on the terminal type:
pip freeze > requirements.txt
It will create a requirements.txt file with the needed requirements for this app. Open the requirements.txt file and you can see the requirements specified as shown in the following figure.
Our final file directory will look like this:
Install the Heroku CLI and follow the commands stepwise.
$ heroku login
Follow the procedures and login .
Now, lets create a new heroku app named flask-heroku1. Give your unique app name.
heroku create flask-heroku1 --buildpack heroku/python
You can check your heroku dashboard whether above code worked or not.
Here, we have specified buildpack as python because our app is in Python. And during deployment heroku builds our app according to Python buildpack.
$ git init
If you don’t have git installed then first install git and continue.
$ git add .
This command stands all changed files as changes. Now, we commit to our local git repository we have just initialized.
$ git commit -m "Flask-Restful-Heroku api"
Sometimes, our heroku create-app doesnot set remote origin. So, we have to add remote origin as:
$ heroku git:remote -a flask-heroku1p
Finally, deploy to heroku as:
$ git push heroku master
Then you can see the deployment process as:
Requirements on requirements.txt are being installed using pip
The deployment is completed . My api is hosted at:
https://flask-heroku1p.herokuapp.com/
It gives:
get request output of root url of api
I will get the sum of two numbers by entering the following url:
https://flask-heroku1p.herokuapp.com/add/3,5
It gives:
get request output of sum of 3 and 5
References: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/flask-restful-api-with-heroku-da1ecf3e04b | ['Samir Khanal'] | 2021-01-19 16:13:04.159000+00:00 | ['Flask', 'Flask Restful', 'Python', 'Python Flask', 'Heroku'] |
Data ingestion is (almost) a solved problem | Data ingestion is (almost) a solved problem
Photo by Heye Jensen on Unsplash
Ask anyone who has been involved in a data related job over the past 10–15 years what is the most boring task they would rather avoid, and chances are many would answer ‘data ingestion’.
Everyone would like to have data ready to be analysed. Sure, data cleaning and pre-processing is also another good candidate to avoid, but there is something uniquely annoying in the feeling of spending time purely on replicating data, without supposedly adding any value to it. In a sense at least data cleaning gives that sense of purpose of ‘putting your house in order’.
Yet, data ingestion is a fundamental task, and, until some time ago, you had to work on a combination of API calls, CSV get requests, web-hooks, incremental loads rules, streaming services and ODBC connections just to replicate external data into your data warehouse or local system.
I’ve faced lots of these challenges myself over the past years, which is why I was particularly excited when in my last project I had the chance to explore in detail how data ingestion tools have transformed this space.
There are two data ingestion tools that I am going to review here:
When a data ingestion tool is suitable?
The ideal scenario of using a data ingestion tool is when:
You have a data warehouse and want to enrich it with new data sources
You do not need real-time synchronisation
Your sources are within a relatively large set of standard pre-defined databases or SaaS tools (lists here and here)
Your source data is already structured in a relational format or in simple JSON structures
Your data pipeline requirements fit an ELT approach (Extract-Load-Transform), rather than an ETL one
The ELT requirement is a crucial one here. While, I would argue, ELT vs ETL is often down to individual preference, there are scenarios where it is preferable to transform data before ingestion, for example if lots of data cleaning, transformation or filtering is required before ingestion, to avoid un-necessary complicated processing after the data has already been loaded into the DB.
When this approach is NOT suitable?
While the above use cases cover a vast range of use cases, as exclusion of points above, they won’t cover cases where:
You need to have a real-time replication
You have unstructured or heavily nested JSON source data
You have unsupported technologies as data source systems or data warehouse
You want to transform your source data before ingestion
Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash
Now let’s compare the two tools on a number of key dimensions.
Replication methods
An obvious advantage of using a data ingestion tool is that it will handle incremental uploads for you. If you have small enough data sources that can be replicated in full every day, of course you don’t need to worry too much about this point.
Generally speaking, both Fivetran and Stitch Data perform log-based replications, that is, they access source systems change-logs to consume the incremental changes in the data, and replicate them downstream. This is something that happens under the hood, so you don’t have to worry about that, apart from making sure your source systems have change-logs enabled.
The other point to consider is whether your data has a primary key. You obviously want to have a primary key, because this is the only way the tools can recognize that an existing record has been updated. If not, they might insert a new copy of the record each time it is modified, which is obviously an undesired behaviour.
Fivetran here is a bit more sophisticated in that it generates a synthetic primary key even when source tables have none.
Stitch Data on the other hand resorts to an append-only replication method when no primary key is present at source, as it explains in its documentation.
From my experience, in most practical cases you will deal with sources that have a primary key (and if you have control on the source databases, you need to make sure the source tables have one).
However, there are situations where this is not the case, a notable example I have encountered is the Stitch Data Mixpanel integration, which lacks a primary key. In this case, the same record can sometimes be inserted multiple times, which means you have to dedupe it at destination, for example by taking a unique combination of some fields (such as event_type, user_distinct_id, page_url and timestamp).
This is far from ideal, but should not generate too much trouble as long as you are careful with your queries to consume the data.
Handling JSON data sources
JSON data sources can in general be a pain to handle, but how much of a pain would depend on the actual data model and the tools used.
This scenario is commonly found if you have a NoSql data source such as MongoDB, but would also apply if you have a relational data source with some JSON fields, such as in a Postgres database.
The most critical case here is if you have source tables (ie collections), that are truly unstructured, that is, they contain a high number of different fields each. This could be the case, for example, if each object represents a book and its fields represent the chapter names. Chances are that the chapter names would be different for each book. Cases like this would not match well the JSON-to-relational mapping, and, both with Fivetran and Stitch Data, you would find your destination tables having as many columns as there are unique fields in the source collection. This is not only impractical, but it would also throw an error above a certain threshold, as for example Postgres has a limit of 1600 columns per table.
If instead you have a limited number of unique fields in each collection (say, up to a few hundreds at the very most), the behaviour would change depending on the tools:
Fivetran will map each JSON field at source to a JSON field at destination, as long as the destination DB handles dictionary-type structures
Stitch Data will do the same, but only for a limited set of destinations, such as Snowflake, but for example not with Postgres. This is quite annoying as Postgres natively handles JSON fields. More details on this are explained here, and you also need to bear in mind that this would also affect your row count for pricing (more on that later).
In summary, there is not any magic that a tool can do if you have truly unstructured source data, however, if you do have some structure, under certain conditions these tools will allow to preserve the dictionary-like format in the destination database.
Tables and field selection
Both Fivetran and Stitch Data allow to only import certain tables from a source schema, but Stitch Data here also offers the advantage of being able to selectively import only chosen fields, which can be a useful advantage if you have tables with lots of fields, and particularly if some of these fields contain nested JSON that could complicate the target structure.
Row count and charging methods
On this point, Fivetran and Stitch Data have two different approaches:
Fivetran charges on Unique monthly rows updated
Stitch Data on overall monthly rows updated (that is, the same row can be counted multiple times)
How does this matter? If your source stream is mainly a sequence of new records appended, this won’t make it much difference, but if your source systems tend to frequently update the same records over and over, Fivetran here can offer an advantage of more clear and predictable pricing.
Another point to be very careful here is about historical backfills and table schema changes. If you have for example a large table and you add one additional column to it and populate it for all the history, both systems will spot these changes and will update the full records history, even if you might not be genuinely interested in that additional field. This could generate quite high unexpected charges for both tools.
Pricing
Based on the charging methods described above, it’s not exactly possible to compare like for like the two tools, however, in a common scenario where the vast majority of source changes are actually new inserts, Stitch Data proves to be significantly cheaper than Fivetran.
As an example, as of today:
Stitch Data has a pricing plan that starts at $100/month for 5M modified rows a month, with a month-by-month commitment and 10 integrations sources. The next level is $180 for 10M rows.
Fivetran pricing is a bit more obscure, and you need to navigate through their documentation pages a bit to properly understand it. In summary, it practically starts at $1000–1500 a month for 1M unique rows updated a month, but it then increases more gently for higher consumption volumes.
Replication frequency
The replication frequency that you can set-up will depend both on the tool used and the source system. Fivetran claims a lower limit of 5 minutes, Stitch Data for most sources has a lower limit of 30 minutes, however some sources allow a lower value, but you need to be careful in general not to overlap between two subsequent runs.
Your replication frequency will also affect the number of rows modified, which would particularly affect Stitch Data pricing.
Transformation capabilities
Let’s remember we are talking about ingestion, not data transformation, so it’s not surprising that neither of these tools have a focus on data transformation capabilities.
However, Fivetran also offers integration with dbt (data build tool) and Stitch Data is part of the Talend family, traditionally a big player in the ETL domain.
However, there are no obvious advantages in using their sister data transformation tools, so that part can be genuinely decoupled from ingestion.
Outcome
Both Fivetran and Stitch Data are great tools for data ingestion. Which one fits the bill would depend on the actual use cases and needs.
Fivetran has in some way more complex replication capabilities, but this also comes with an increased cost.
Stitch Data is a great entry-level tool, which can also handle replication at scale for a number of standard scenarios.
Fivetran pricing is quite steep at the beginning, but can become more justifiable if you have very high ingestion volumes (eg billions unique rows a month), and can also offer more predictability due to its unique rows pricing model. | https://towardsdatascience.com/data-ingestion-is-almost-a-solved-problem-4ef35efff0ee | ['Gianluca Gindro'] | 2020-12-28 19:33:20.232000+00:00 | ['Database', 'Data Engineering', 'Data Science', 'Data'] |
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How to Become a Stress Management Ninja during COVID-19 | There are many reasons why you may be experiencing stress because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on how you cope with challenging situations, you may be experiencing:
Emotional Reactions — Feeling fearful, anxious, distressed, anxious, sad, and/or uncertain.
— Feeling fearful, anxious, distressed, anxious, sad, and/or uncertain. Mental Reactions — Disbelief about the current situation, loss of concentration, fearful thoughts, confusion, distressing dreams, and/or forgetfulness.
— Disbelief about the current situation, loss of concentration, fearful thoughts, confusion, distressing dreams, and/or forgetfulness. Physical Reactions — Feeling numb, headaches, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and/or nausea.
— Feeling numb, headaches, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and/or nausea. Behavioural Reactions — Feeling disconnected, withdrawn, or vigilant. You may also experience an increased consumption of food, alcohol, or medication to cope with your feelings.
Are any of these reactions familiar to you? What causes you to feel the most distress? Do you find you are more emotionally, mentally, physically, or behaviourally reactive? Take a moment to jot down some of your reactions to the pandemic. Notice if they fall more into one category than another.
Writing down how you’re feeling and what is happening in your body is important to managing your stress level. Often, when we feel stressed, we know that something feels “off” or not quite right, but we don’t understand why we feel so unsettled. This can cause us to try to ignore the feeling, or push it out of our minds.
As we become more aware of what is happening in our bodies and minds, we can create a healthy distance between ourselves and our stress. Checking in can help us realize, hey, that’s a negative thought, or hey, that’s a pit in my stomach. Instead of trying to push those feelings aside, we can be present with them, acknowledge them, and accept them because we ARE going through a challenging time. As we engage in the process of acknowledging those “very real” thoughts or feelings, they tend to actually decrease in intensity.
Try it Out
Say I feel an uncomfortable sensation in my stomach right now (insert sensation you are currently experiencing to join in on this exercise). Instead of not thinking about it, pushing it down, ignoring it, or whatever you want to call the process of not acknowledging it, sit there with it. It will be uncomfortable at first, yes. Do your best to stay with it. Notice it. Try breathing ‘into’ it. Feel that actually, it’s okay that that feeling is there. You can even give it permission to be there. Observe that as you let it be, as you ‘surrender’ to that feeling, it gradually goes away.
Of course, life, even life two minutes from now, will make it pop up again. And, it will probably pop up frequently for you if you consider yourself quite ‘stressed’ these days. But that’s okay. Each time a signal comes into your body, the signal that something is not quite right, take a moment to pause, and do what you just did in the example.
This kind of training will help you connect your mind to your body, and vice versa. It’s almost like one part of you is your body, and one part is your mind, and often, the mind does not think it’s valuable to listen to the body. But it is, because your body is part of you, and it is telling you something. So go ahead, give it a try. With time and repetition, it will become almost second nature to do this for yourself. And you will see the benefits in your body, your mood, your reactivity, your behaviours and your felt emotions.
Are you looking for resources during COVID-19?
Start This Year Stronger Together! Access free, in-app health coaching and expert programs about COVID-19. Connect with peer-to-peer support while helping improve the quality of care for people in Canada who are parenting during COVID-19 or for those who are COVID-19 survivors and long haulers. By joining our Stronger Together community, you’ll have virtual health support in the palm of your hand this winter while learning more about what you can do to improve your health and wellness. Follow along with daily discussions, Q&A with experts, peer insights and take part in a personalized program just for you! Spots are limited so join here now! | https://medium.com/@curatiome/how-to-become-a-stress-management-ninja-during-covid-19-b7becf001ef9 | [] | 2021-01-22 16:04:14.287000+00:00 | ['Parenting Advice', 'Stress', 'Parenting', 'Stress Management'] |
How to stake EOS via proxy and get 2% — 4% per year | EOS supports staking using special proxies, but not every user can run them. This requires an impressive amount of investment and technical knowledge. But there is an alternative: you can vote for a proxy to stake EOS tokens.
Everstake has launched its proxy, users can vote for it and receive 2% — 4% per annum in EOS. Today we will tell you how to stake EOS via the Everstake proxy in the mobile wallet My EOS Wallet.
How to create a wallet
My EOS Wallet is a simple mobile wallet where users can store, transfer and stake EOS. The wallet was developed by the Attic Lab team. Private keys are always stored on the user’s device, and the login can be protected with a PIN code, which makes the wallet secure. Let’s see how to register an EOS account using this wallet.
1. Download and install my EOS Wallet on your device. The crypto wallet is available for iOS and Android.
2. Launch your wallet. Slides will appear on the main screen that will introduce the user to My EOS Wallet. You can skip them.
3. if you don’t have an EOS account yet, register it by clicking “Register account”.
4. Select the account type and give it a name. The name must consist of exactly 12 a-z characters and numbers from 1 to 5. Enter a name and check for availability by clicking “Check”.
Disclaimer. In order for the account to work, you need to buy computing power. But if you are registering an account for the first time, Attic Lab is ready to provide you with CPU and NET resources — 4KB RAM and 0.2 delegated EOS.
You also need a promo code. Enter it in the appropriate field — this is a mandatory step. You can request it from the person who invited you or get the promo code from AtticLab Support. Then click “Create”. If you check the “Specify” box, your private and public keys will be displayed. You can save them immediately, but this is also an optional step. However, by storing your private keys in a safe place, you will prevent possible loss of funds and will be able to restore access to your wallet if your phone breaks, disappears, or is stolen.
5. Set the password to encrypt your wallet and click “Confirm”. Without it, hackers will not be able to access your funds, even if they manage to steal your wallet files.
Then enter the password again, and click “Confirm” again.
If everything went well and you received a message about success, then your EOS account is ready to work. Congratulations! Now you can proceed to staking, but first, you need to top up your wallet with tokens.
How to stake EOS using My EOS Wallet
1. Go to your account in the “Voting” section, where you can delegate coins.
3. Select the “Proxy” option and enter the name of the proxy to which you want to stake the EOS cryptocurrency — everstakeone
4. Enter your wallet password to confirm the transaction.
5. Done! You have delegated your EOS coins and will receive 2% — 4% annually with everyday accrual. If everything’s fine, you will see the following message:
You will start receiving rewards as soon as the block producers confirm your transaction. This usually takes no more than a minute.
Subscribe to Everstake social media to keep up to date with important events. There you will also find useful guides on staking promising cryptocurrencies.
***
Website
Medium
Twitter
Telegram
Facebook
Reddit | https://medium.com/everstake/how-to-stake-eos-via-proxy-and-get-2-4-per-year-e4e13e00afe8 | [] | 2020-11-17 14:11:07.895000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Eos', 'Staking Guide', 'Staking', 'Crypto'] |
Drawer Animation in Flutter | First lets take a look at the project structure before adding animations:
home_form.dart
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Stack(
children: [
// Works as Drawer
Scaffold(
backgroundColor: const Color(0xff22a6b3),
body:const DrawerData(),
),
// Works as Main Screen
Scaffold(
backgroundColor:Colors.white,
appBar: PreferredSize(
preferredSize: Size.fromHeight(200),
child: Container(
color: const Color(0xffee5253),
child: Padding(
padding: const EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(12, 24, 12, 12),
child: Column(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.start,
children: [
IconButton(
icon: Icon(Icons.menu),
),
Padding(
padding: const EdgeInsets.only(top: 24,bottom: 12),
child: Text('Welcome',style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.headline4,),
),
const Text('Improve your language skill
by selecting one of the following languages',
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 17,
fontStyle: FontStyle.italic
),)
],
),
),
),
),
body: const DummyData(),
) ],
);
}
We have a Stack with two child, the first one works as the drawer and the second one works as the main page. Without the animation and movement we can only see the second child on screen:
And the result we want is something like this:
In order to achieve this goal we should:
Make main screen smaller.
Move the main screen to the right.
Create a smooth transition.
Make main screen smaller
Transform is a widget that applies a transformation before painting its child, you can find more about this widget in here. So lets wrap our main content with a Transform widget:
Stack(
children: [
Scaffold(
backgroundColor: const Color(0xff22a6b3),
body:const DrawerData(),
),
Transform(
transform: Matrix4.identity()
..scale(0.6),
alignment: Alignment.center,
child: Scaffold(),
)
],
);
The transform is the matrix to transform the child during painting and by using scale we made the child 60% of the real size, if you want to find out more about 4D Matrix take a look at this codemagic post. Now our app must look like this:
flutter drawer animation
Move the main screen to the right
Moving the screen is not a hard task, with the help of previously created Tranform widget we move our child widget:
final rightSlide = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width * 0.6;
... transform: Matrix4.identity()
..translate(rightSlide)
..scale(0.6),
We should consider that changing the order of the transform value may change the result
And the current state of the app:
Create a smooth transition
To make a smooth transition to the right side of the screen we need AnimationController , it’s a class to handle animations like:
Play an animation forward or in reverse, or stop an animation.
Set the animation to a specific value.
Define the upperBound and lowerBound values of an animation.
Create a fling animation effect using a physics simulation.
To handle duration and vsync we also need to use a Mixin :
class _HomeFormState extends State<HomeForm>
with SingleTickerProviderStateMixin { AnimationController _animationController;
@override
void initState() {
super.initState();
_animationController =
AnimationController(vsync: this, duration: Duration(milliseconds: 300));
} @override
void dispose() {
_animationController.dispose();
super.dispose();
}
vsync allows us to mute, slow or fast forward our animations.
We also need a method to handle the open/close animation:
_toggleAnimation() {
_animationController.isDismissed
? _animationController.forward()
: _animationController.reverse();
}
Where:
Forward: Starts running this animation forwards (towards the end).
Reverse: Starts running this animation in reverse (towards the beginning).
Now all we need is wrap our Stack with a AnimatedBuilder and change the scale and translate value with the _animationController related value, so:
return AnimatedBuilder(
animation: _animationController,
builder: (context,child){
// Related Scale and Translate values
double slide = rightSlide*_animationController.value;
double scale = 1-(_animationController.value*0.3);
return Stack(
children: [
Scaffold(
backgroundColor: const Color(0xff22a6b3),
body:const DrawerData(),
),
Transform(
transform: Matrix4.identity()
..translate(slide)
..scale(scale),
alignment: Alignment.center,
child: Scaffold(),
)
],
);
},
);
We also change the drawer menu icon with an AnimatedIcon for a better UI design:
IconButton(
onPressed: ()=>_toggleAnimation(),
icon: AnimatedIcon(
icon: AnimatedIcons.menu_close,
progress: _animationController,
),
)
And that’s all we need for a smooth transition:
You can find the final code on Github! | https://medium.com/swlh/drawer-animation-in-flutter-750a29ed3e99 | ['Payam Asefi'] | 2020-11-06 08:19:16.655000+00:00 | ['Flutter Ui', 'Flutter Widget', 'Flutter Animation', 'Flutter'] |
Why You Should Make This Adaptation of French Onion Soup | Afew things: 1) It’s formally snowy enough in my reality that I need to begin discussing hot soup. Apologies, Phoenix. 2) Notwithstanding the feature, I don’t have anything against French onion soup, from a certain point of view.
What I am against is that most of eateries that serve this dish, or used to, when we could go to cafés, would have you accept that its most significant part is a bit of toast covered in gooey cheddar. In the event that that were the case it should be designated “open-face bread nacho with onion sauce” or something similarly in reverse.
There’s nothing amiss with a fresh bread garnish and melty Gruyère (nothing by any means!), however as a rule, the genuine soup some portion of onion soup is somewhat of a bit of hindsight (too sweet, not tasty enough, essentially a setback, particularly after you’ve dispatched of the messy bread part).
Along these lines, here’s my rendition, which organizes pulling however much flavor as could reasonably be expected out of the title character: onions. Perhaps the explanation that meh French onion soup stays reasonable is that making a decent form yourself is a cycle that can’t be hurried. Appropriately caramelizing onions takes effectively 60 minutes; sort of no chance to get around it. What’s more, hand crafted stock, in case you’re going that course, requires significant investment as well. Meat stock is exemplary for this soup, however I regularly favor a rich vegetable stock with a couple of dried mushrooms added to the blend.
Whichever you pick, if your onions are profoundly cooked and your stock is brimming with flavor, your soup will be great. Adequate that you can even pull off avoiding the bread and cheddar, regardless of whether that would be unpatriotic.
http://isra.org/esn2/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen001.html
http://isra.org/esn2/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen002.html
http://isra.org/esn2/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen003.html
http://isra.org/esn2/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen004.html
http://isra.org/esn2/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen005.html
http://isra.org/esn2/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-001.html
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http://isra.org/esn2/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-004.html
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https://www.handgunner.be/tunx/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen001.html
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https://www.handgunner.be/tunx/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-001.html
https://www.handgunner.be/tunx/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-002.html
https://www.handgunner.be/tunx/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-003.html
https://www.handgunner.be/tunx/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-004.html
https://www.handgunner.be/tunx/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-005.html
http://trob.be/bkk/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen001.html
http://trob.be/bkk/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen002.html
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http://trob.be/bkk/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen004.html
http://trob.be/bkk/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen005.html
http://trob.be/bkk/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-001.html
http://trob.be/bkk/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-002.html
http://trob.be/bkk/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-003.html
http://trob.be/bkk/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-004.html
http://trob.be/bkk/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-005.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen001.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen002.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen003.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen004.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen005.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-001.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-002.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-003.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-004.html
http://www.italkero.com/fudz/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-005.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen001.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen002.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen003.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen004.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/Videos-Ethias-v-Cross-Essen005.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-001.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-002.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-003.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-004.html
https://www.recreatievezeevisserij.be/vmr01/video-ethias-v-cross-robotland-fr-005.html
http://isra.org/nus/video-Ethias-v-Cross-be-01.html
http://isra.org/nus/video-Ethias-v-Cross-be-02.html
http://isra.org/nus/video-Ethias-v-Cross-be-03.html
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http://trob.be/ufo/video-Ethias-v-Cross-be-01.html
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http://trob.be/ufo/video-Ethias-v-Cross-fr-01.html
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http://trob.be/ufo/video-Ethias-v-Cross-fr-03.html
http://trob.be/ufo/video-Ethias-v-Cross-fr-04.html
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https://www.fareva.com/fus/video-Ethias-v-Cross-be-01.html
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http://bvdkhaugiang.com/vbf/video-Ethias-v-Cross-be-01.html
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Onion Soup
Makes: 4 servings. Time: About an hour.
Ingredients
4 large onions, peeled
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
5 cups vegetable stock or water
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme or a pinch dried
2 or 3 sprigs fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons cognac or other brandy (optional)
Salt and pepper
4 My Kind of Croutons, made with bread slices and butter (optional)
1 cup grated Parmesan, Gruyère, or Emmental cheese (optional)
Instructions
1. Halve the onions top to bottom and slice them as thinly as you can manage. Put the butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and beginning to brown, 30 to 45 minutes. Adjust the heat so they slowly turn into a melting mass and don’t brown too fast. Don’t rush.
2. Heat the oven to 400°F if you’re using the croutons and cheese. Add the stock, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently. Add the thyme, parsley, and bay leaf and the cognac if you’re using it, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens a bit, about 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and herb sprigs. (At this point, you can refrigerate the soup, covered, for up to 2 days; reheat before proceeding.)
3. If you’re using the croutons and cheese, put 4 ovenproof bowls in a roasting pan or on a sturdy cookie sheet. Put a crouton in each bowl, ladle over the soup, and top with cheese. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese. Serve immediately. | https://medium.com/@msbadhon11/why-you-should-make-this-adaptation-of-french-onion-soup-601a2861e32d | [] | 2020-12-22 11:03:06.369000+00:00 | ['Recipe', 'French Onion Soup', 'Food', 'Health'] |
‘Sex, Drugs And Rock N Roll’ — A Comparative Essay On ‘Rocketman’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ | ‘Rocketman’ (2019) and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (2018) are remarkably similar films in many ways. Both focus around gay icons — Elton John and Freddie Mercury respectively — who were at their musical prime in the 1970s and 1980s and both play out with bombastic musical numbers.
But one similarity that I haven’t seen a lot of media outlets acknowledge is how both films documented the protagonists’ hedonistic lifestyles. At their most indulgent, John and Mercury were living out the ‘Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll’ lifestyle.
The ultimate paths these two men ended up on could not be more different however –John eventually went to rehab in 1990 and remains sober to this day, whereas Mercury contracted HIV and sadly died in 1991 at the age of 45.
I thought it was interesting that both films, which in all other senses were complimentary in their portrayal of the artists, were brutally raw in their depictions of the depths of hedonism. Sir Elton, having the privilege to be alive to see his life-story brought to the big screen, insisted on the inclusion of such scenes — “I haven’t led a PG-13 rated life. I didn’t want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a bit of both during the 70s and 80s.” (1)
The films use dark lighting to illustrate the ‘fall from grace’, as they show the protagonists falling into a lifestyle of promiscuity and reckless drug taking. Watching it in the theatres, I couldn’t help feeling like I’d entered an alternative universe as the seedy underbelly of the 1970s music world was being unravelled before the eyes of the audience.
But for many, these scenes aren’t disconcerting. That’s what they live for — that’s a great weekend by some accounts. Some gay men live and breathe the ‘Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll’ lifestyle, to an extent that their straight counterparts may find surprising.
According to statistics from the LGBT Foundation, 34% of gay and bisexual men binge drink once a week, compared to 19% of men in general. (2) Binge drinking is defined in the UK as more than 8 units of alcohol in a single session — roughly the equivalent of four pints of beer, lager or cider.
Drug use among LGBT people is seven times higher than the general population, with cannabis and poppers being particularly prevalent among those surveyed. And this is without even going into ‘Chem-Sex’.
Statistics on sexual promiscuity are just as jarring. Gay men are vastly over-represented in diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases. They were 25% of new STD infections in London and made up 9 in 10 syphilis diagnoses and 7 in 10 gonorrhoea diagnoses. (3)
The reckless living generally associated with the bygone era of the 1970s is a reality for a great number of gay men. A 2014 survey by 56 Dean Street, a sexual health clinic in London, found that 65% of the men surveyed reported having four or more sex partners per bender, and 45% of them shared needles. (4)
It’s a reality many of us don’t feel comfortable talking about. There’s likely a fear that doing so far plays into the hands of the religious right, and justifies their claims that gays need ‘salvation’ or ‘redemption’.
But not having a conversation can have devastating consequences.
My hope is that the stories of Freddie Mercury and Elton John can help open up the conversation, and the recent films will aid the conversation in getting off the ground.
The foundation for this soul-searching was laid with the publication of Matthew Todd’s fantastic book Straight Jacket. This book dives into the nitty-gritty of the burdens represented disproportionately amongst the gay community — risky sexual behaviour, eating disorders, drug use, alcoholism. Elton himself endorsed the book, claiming “This is an essential read for every gay person.”
I thoroughly agree.
Sir Elton certainly hasn’t been shy about discussing the excesses of his younger year. He acknowledges that he was very fortunate to avoid catching HIV, telling the International Aids Conference in 2012 that, “I should be dead — six foot under in a wooden box. I should have contracted HIV in the 1980s and died in the 1990s, just like Freddie Mercury…” (5)
It’s through his stint in rehab in 1990 that Sir Elton set himself on the path to recovery, establishing the Elton John AIDS Foundation along the way. Since 1992, the Foundation has raised over $400 million to support HIV related programs in fifty-five countries. This includes funding prevention, treatment, education and global health initiatives.
If ever there was a person who used his — for lack of a better word — privilege to better the world, it’s Sir Elton John. He survived the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s, when all too many gay men faced the grim prospect of a HIV diagnosis — and in those days, it truly was a death sentence.
Thankfully, most gay men who are diagnosed with HIV or any assortment of sexually transmitted diseases will have medication on hand to sustain their life. But that does not mean the potential dangers should be taken lightly.
For gay men — often written off as party animals — happiness is made to seem elusive, whether it be through familial rejection, bullying or various vices throughout the community. But Elton John’s road to recovery is proof that this does not have to be the case.
Much like how he described ‘Straight Jacket’ as a book every gay person should read, I will describe ‘Rocketman’ as a film that every gay person should watch.
1) https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/may/26/elton-john-in-my-own-words-exclusive-my-life-and-making-rocketman
2) https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lgbt-media/Files/87413329-79fc-4390-853e-a27f3ef5cf5c/Part%2520of%2520the%2520Picture%25207.pdf
3) https://www.letsgetchecked.com/articles/highest-rate-of-stis-in-the-uk/
4) Matthew Todd, Straight Jacket (London: Bantam Press, 2016) p. 194.
5) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jul/24/elton-john-speech-aids-conference | https://medium.com/@ben-oliverthompson/sex-drugs-and-ro-ck-n-roll-a-comparative-essay-on-rocketman-and-bohemian-rhapsody-a9c566679476 | ['Ben Thompson'] | 2020-12-17 20:38:55.846000+00:00 | ['Bohemian Rhapsody', 'Gay', 'Elton John', 'Rocketman', 'Freddie Mercury'] |
TREOS announces Token Conversion Event (TCE) • August 1st, 2019 | July 14th, 2019
It is our absolute pleasure to announce that TREOS has achieved a monumental milestone. Our GCR to TRO Token Conversion Event (TCE) will commence August 1st, 2019.
The TREOS Origin (TRO) TCE is available to the public and forms an instrumental part of our strategy to distribute our tokens to as many people as possible to fuel our platform.
When the TREOS project was first conceived, the intention was to use the publicly known cryptocurrency, GCR (Global Currency Reserve) as the fuel token for the project. As the TREOS ecosystem evolved, it became clear that the network behind the GCR coin lacked both the development capability and the necessary support needed for growth. This combined with the release of blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Cardano, NEM, and EOSIO meant the GCR coin could not provide an adequate foundation for TREOS on which to build its platform.
The choice made after much consideration was to begin developing on the EOS blockchain, which has led to greater developments and the deployment of our first TREOS utility token, TREOS Origin (TRO). These tokens hold a stable price to facilitate e-commerce use cases, encourage transparency, and can be easily updated upon community consensus as the technological landscape progresses.
We have been working diligently to remain within the regulatory guidelines of the MFSA (Malta Financial Services Authority), communicating closely with our VFAA authorities and legal teams. Through this collaboration, we are able to present to everyone what we feel is a fully transparent and appealing opportunity to benefit all who participate. The idea of TRO and its deployment in a not-for-profit TCE was formulated to provide GCR token holders with the opportunity to participate in the Conversion Event which would, in turn, allow them the ability to access the TREOS ecosystem. After the 60-day Token Conversion Event concludes, any TRO tokens remaining will be designated to be distributed via Giveaway or the Bounty Program to the TREOS community through remunerations and rewards.
All GCR coins used to acquire TRO will be distributed into numerous public cold storage wallets with access (private keys) destroyed, technically removing the GCR from circulation.
Event Details: (TL:DR)
When? Aug 1, 2019
What? Token Conversion Event, GCR:TRO 1:1 “conversion”
Where do I buy GCR? You can buy GCR now on Yobit or Cryptobridge
https://yobit.net/en/trade/GCR/BTC
https://crypto-bridge.org
As stated above, the GCR coin is a coin that lacked the necessary infrastructure for expansion. After being delisted by Bittrex, CCEX, and Coinpayments, the only available exchanges are the two above. There are no plans for further listings after the completion of the Token Conversion Event. This is possibly the final option and use case for the GCR coin before all support is discontinued.
How long do I have? The TCE will last 60 days, ending Sep 29 2019
How do I convert my GCR? Sign up to be a merchant or consumer at treos.io where you can deposit your GCR and convert to TRO in the wallet section. You must convert your GCR to TRO manually as you will need to agree to the terms and conditions of the TCE. Step-by-step instructions will be made available to all community members, both crypto beginners, and experts.
What is the value of TRO? All TREOS tokens are anchored to values of gold. The TRO token is anchored to the stable value of 1g of gold (currently $45 USD).
How do I sell my TRO? You will be able to sell your TRO in our new economy through the TREOS Fuel Store. TRO acquired by the GCR conversion event can only be sold through the fuel store via the “TRO UBI wallet”. Customers who are interested in buying items on the marketplace platform will purchase your TRO using other cryptocurrencies in the store (BTC, ETH, LTC, etc).
This seems too good to be true! This TCE is a vital part of fueling our economy and we are depending on our Community to help. As a GCR holder, you are the catalyst to many components of functionality within the ecosystem. Without the opportunity to convert GCR to TRO, we would not have the ability for users to buy and sell items, making your participation in this event essential. We believe in freedom of success and TREOS wants everyone to be able to benefit from our efforts.
What are the risks? Having the opportunity for our users to purchase GCR as an open market coin on an exchange minimises risk due to the fact they are able to buy and sell as they see fit. One item to note would be that if TCE (Token Conversion Event) participants do not convert their GCR coins before the 60-day period concludes, they then lose the opportunity of gains in an improved utility token with updated infrastructure and network capabilities. TREOS is not affiliated with GCR coin in any way and does not manage its blockchain.
*Full Terms & Conditions will be available upon commencement of the TCE. This opportunity should not be considered financial advice. You do not need to partake in the TREOS TCE to use the TREOS Marketplace and Ecosystem.
Join us on our social channels! | https://medium.com/@TreosOfficial/treos-announces-token-conversion-event-tce-august-1st-2019-4399653f8ad0 | [] | 2019-07-14 13:01:03.785000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Marketplaces', 'Gold', 'Bitcoin'] |
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS? | World peace? Love?
A Super Soaker?
Why not all three?
Hope Santa’s good to you!
Merry Christmas! | https://medium.com/@prof-mitch/what-do-you-want-for-christmas-5c9803189d06 | ['Mitch Goldfarb'] | 2020-12-25 12:26:26.053000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Truth', 'Success', 'Inspiration', 'Mindfulness'] |
The Power of Glitter Tears | The Power of Glitter Tears
Shining out, fabulously, in the face of uncertainty
Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash
Washington, D.C., is not known for being a city where people take fashion risks. When it comes to clothes, it’s more of a strait-laced, buttoned-up place. Look around and you’ll see busy professionals wearing carefully curated navy blues, blacks and grays.
But we do sometimes love to let our hair down and live beyond our relentless ambition in how we dress at certain social events. A masquerade ball is one such occasion.
When a friend of mine announced he was throwing a black tie masquerade ball the Saturday after Halloween, I got excited. The weeks leading up to Halloween had been a nightmare for me —a maintenance issue in my apartment had turned my place upside down and led to some crazy expenses. Some unexpected crises at my job had left me exhausted and worried about my future. A man I had been seeing who traveled a lot for work had put our relationship on the back burner due to our incompatible schedules, leaving my ego a little bruised. A night of dancing and feeling fancy was just what I needed.
Questioning my self-worth
But worrying about my budget gave me pause. I couldn’t justify spending money on renting a new gown after losing so much of my monthly income to dealing with apartment maintenance issues. I was on a mission to aggressively pay off credit card debt, and buying a new dress wasn’t going to help me reach my goal any faster.
I also felt a little intimidated about going to a ball by myself. I’m pretty comfortable flying solo in D.C., but as I get older, sometimes I’m intimidated by all the professionals here who are outrageously successful doing glamorous, change-the-world things.
But this was an invitation to enjoy cocktails and conversation with creative movers and shakers at a beautiful home in an undisclosed part of town, a location that would be mysteriously revealed with a password provided by the host. This was opportunity for an adventure. I knew if I missed the party, I would regret it.
Transforming yourself, in whatever way you can, feels magic.
So I decided to be my own fairy god mother and pull together an amazing outfit using what I had on hand.
My first step was to evaluate what I already owned and see if I could use it to create a new look. I remembered there was an old teal cocktail dress in the back of my closet that brought out the green in my eyes. It was a killer gown with shirring that hugged my curves and made me feel like Jessica Rabbit. The last time I had worn it, the bartender making my drink toasted me before handing my cocktail to me and said, “Here’s to that dress.” I wasn’t sure if it was over-the-top fancy, but maybe I could glam it up with some other accessories.
As I dug deeper into my closet, I also discovered a forgotten pair of black patent leather Colin Stuart pumps with stacked heels. I hadn’t worn them since I was in my 30s and carefully slipped them on to attempt a few dance moves in my apartment while my cat watched me curiously. I realized I could still move around in them without falling over. Huzzah!
What about finding a mask, a crucial completion to the entire ensemble? And how could I make an old gown from years ago otherworldly and elegant, in the spirit of a masquerade ball just a few nights shy of Halloween?
After searching online, I rounded up and purchased a few artful and affordable accessories to complete my look: giant peacock feather earrings with turquoise streaks that complemented the dress perfectly, some over-the-elbow electric blue gloves that were sophisticated but whimsical, all affordably under $20. But still nothing to playfully cover part of my face. There were countless lace masks online when I searched under the category of “masquerade” that had a whisper of fairy tale elegance. But they didn’t quite speak to me.
I tend to a be messy creator who is a bit on the unscripted side. I like random ingredients haphazardly thrown together in my recipes, jotted-down notes in my composition notebooks, swaths of watercolor spilling across my canvases with no structure in mind.
Suddenly more than anything, I wanted to create my own mask. A homemade masterpiece that would turn me into a fearless, sparkling siren, a force of nature out for the night and up for anything.
I searched for Halloween makeup on Amazon and found a tiny pot of aquamarine glitter and sequins traditionally used for body painting. I would adorn my eyes with jewel-like accents like the kids on HBO’s dark teen drama “Euphoria,” who wore their hearts on their sleeves and their fearless individuality on their faces with vivid eye makeup.
The night of the party arrived, after a long week that had left me exhausted. Sipping coffee, I stood in front of the mirror, smearing glue you use to attach fake eyelashes around my eyes, not sure what I was doing and how it would look. Prying off the top of the plastic container of glitter and sequins had caused them to rain down into my bathroom sink and all over the floor.
At first I cursed the chaos of it all and my uncertainty about the evening ahead of me. I was flying solo, feeling every minute of being over 40. Then I squared my shoulders and stared at my anxious expression in the mirror. Things were getting messy, and I was just going to go with it.
I scooped up a finger’s worth of sequins the color of seaglass and pressed them into the glue, watching a mosaic of underwater color forming around my eyes. I stepped back to observe how my sparkling eye art paired with my long wavy red hair. Something akin to punk rock mermaid glamour was happening, and I liked it.
Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs” was playing in the background. | https://medium.com/bride-in-reverse/the-power-of-glitter-tears-ab30feb4cba5 | ['Becca Bycott'] | 2019-11-20 20:55:11.793000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Dc', 'Fashion', 'Personal Development', 'Self'] |
article for youtube | YouTube Increases Ads but Not All Content Creators Will Be Paid
YouTube will show ads on more videos, but not necessarily pay the video creator or content creator every piece of it.
So far the company shares ad revenue with video creators who are registered in the partnership scheme, when displaying ads before or during their content.
This means that YouTube will not share revenue from these ads with video creators. This policy also means viewers will see more ads across the site.
The company says the YouTube Partner Program is something that should be implemented, and is only available for channels that have more than 1,000 subscribers and have logged up to 4,000 watch hours a year.
However, the partner application process can take more than a month, as applications are queued for manual review by humans.
YouTube says channels that are not in the program will not “receive a share of the ad revenue” although their creators will have the opportunity to apply for YPP as usual if they meet the eligibility requirements.
This policy has drawn a lot of criticism from several YouTubers or content creators. There are those who accuse the company of moving the goalposts in the advertising policy, others say this is YouTube’s effort to encourage viewers to pay for premium ad-free products that are charged Rp.225 thousand per month.
It seems difficult to force more ads on users. However this policy may have some negative effects, especially for users who cannot afford YT’s premium services, wrote one user on the help forum.
Despite criticism, Stokel-Walker assessed that YouTube will still be a popular site and the company will not change this policy.
The number of creators trying to get popular on YouTube means that there are always others willing to replace those who are unhappy with the policy and want to leave, he said. | https://medium.com/@a2012algria/article-for-youtube-1be3395069ac | [] | 2020-12-11 06:48:14.231000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'Share', 'Technews', 'Tecnology'] |
Page One: ‘The Hateful Eight’ (2015) | Written by Quentin Tarantino
The movie version of the opening:
Reminder: Quentin Tarantino wrote the script with him directing it, thus, with all the camera angles and “we see” jargon, it reads more like a production draft. Moreover… it’s Quentin Tarantino and he can write the script any which way he wants including little asides like: the black man, not the three white guys.
While there are no rules about such things, there has been a movement the last few decades toward a more literary style of screenwriting, i.e., no camera shots, directing jargon, the screenplay reading more like a story, not a shooting script.
Which is to say if you’re a fan of Quentin Tarantino… and you read his scripts… and you think you can write your script just like him… I strongly advise you don’t follow that path.
Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.
For more Page One posts, go here.
You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory. | https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/page-one-the-hateful-eight-2015-8b682334dd5a | ['Scott Myers'] | 2020-12-24 12:02:54.548000+00:00 | ['Cinema', 'Film', 'Screenwriting', 'Movies', 'Screenplay'] |
Catholic to Catholic: Why Joe Biden is the true pro-life candidate | I.
I was an altar boy at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church, in Hicksville, Long Island, NY, starting in the fifth grade. I also attended the parochial school there through eighth grade and was very proud of how well I knew all the rules about being Catholic: The Seven Sacraments. The Six Holydays of Obligation. The Three Theological Virtues. The Six Laws of the Church. I had a particular fascination with the Six Laws of the Church. These told us unambiguously what we had to do and how we had to act to be a good Catholic, and violating any of them would be a Mortal Sin. Unless forgiven in the sacrament of Penance, a Mortal Sin would send us straight to Hell upon death.
Since St. Ignatius was a big parish and had about 10 Masses every Sunday, I was frequently on the altar in the Sunday rotation. For convenience, my mom would attend the Mass I was serving and bring my younger brothers and sister with us. One year, as we entered Lent, I noticed that my mother had not been receiving Communion at Sunday Mass. A few weeks before Easter I asked her about it, and she said that she usually forgot not to eat something before Mass so she couldn’t receive. Okay, I thought, but Church Law #4 was starting to weigh on me, “It is the obligation of every Catholic to receive the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter Season, that is, the time between the First Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday.” It began to dawn on me that my mom had not received Communion during the Easter Season, and time was running out!
I started to keep track. Palm Sunday came and went. Palms yes, Communion no. Easter? Bonnets and chocolate bunnies, but no Eucharist. The post-Easter Sundays marched on, and mom still had not received. Ascension Thursday. No. Pentecost Sunday. No! Finally, her last chance: Trinity Sunday.
I was serving on the altar that day. I went through the motions of bringing the priest water, wine, and hosts, washing his hands in preparation for the Consecration, ringing the bells at the elevation of the Body and Blood, but my mind was on my mom. I kept glancing at her, sitting in the front row, off to the right, thinking of how I did not want her to go to Hell. Sure, she could go to Confession later, but why take the chance? What if we were in a car accident on the way home, and we all got killed? She would be sucked into Hades, and I would never see her again, for all Eternity.
And yes, I am Irish Catholic.
When the priest finished the Canon, I went and did the only thing I could do, what, I felt, any kid would do to save his mother from the fires of Hell. I slipped into the sacristy, snuck out into the church, and tiptoed up to my mom in the first pew. Words cannot describe the look of astonishment on her face as I said to her in a fierce whisper, “You have GOT to receive Communion today!” Astonishment quickly became embarrassment and anger as she hissed, “Kenneth Arthur, get back up on the altar right now.” “But mom…” I implored. “NOW!” she growled through clenched teeth. I did, trailed by the whispers and giggles of my siblings. Did she receive, much to my relief? Or did she sit there, and lecture me later about her reasons being her reasons? I’ll come back to that.
I am very lucky to have grown up in the Church in the 1960’s in the immediate post-Vatican II period. This was a time of renewal and change, of introspection and discernment, of being challenged by the Church and by God to look within to ask, who do you want me to be, Lord? Although St. Ignatius was a parish in a white middle class suburb of Long Island, we were taught that God calls us to reach out to the poor, the sick, the hungry, the outcast. This call resonated deeply within me.
At the same time, I also saw the world beyond Hicksville, NY, through The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. Most importantly, as I watched the civil rights movement blossom in the South, I saw African-Americans being attacked, beaten, and jailed, and I couldn’t believe that people were being treated this way because of the way they were born, the color of their skin. While this might have seemed so very far from the white middle-class suburb where I was growing up, at this point in my life, I was just beginning to realize that there were things about me, about the way I was born, that, if people found out about them, I knew I would be treated the same way. I began to understand, then, what it was to be an outcast.
Discerning my path in life over years and through my personal experience and my religious faith, I finally accepted that my calling was to became a pediatrician, to take care of the most vulnerable, children, and to spend my life and my career in poor communities caring for those who were also outcasts.
I am not a recovering Catholic. I am not an ex-Catholic. I am, for better or worse, a Catholic, and I really cannot see that ever changing. I am also gay. I always have been, I always will be, and I am who God intended me to be. As you can imagine, that makes being Catholic…well, complex. But then being Catholic has always been — or should always be — complex.
For me, then, being Catholic and being gay are not opposing forces pulling me apart but synergistic energies that call me to a single purpose.
The Institutional Church, of course, does not always see it that way. Members of the Hierarchy have called me “intrinsically disordered,” and that’s when they’re being kind of nice. But that’s the thing: The Body of Christ has always been about so much more than a bunch of old guys in black and scarlet robes.
A couple of years ago I had an epiphany at Mass one day at College Church at Saint Louis University. It was during a period in my life when — because of some new, astoundingly hurtful statement out of Rome about gay people — I was really questioning whether I still could call the Church my home. At this particular Mass, the Old Testament readings included one from Exodus: the story of God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. The second one was from Leviticus. I can’t remember what that one was about, but since Leviticus is like the Ten Commandments on steroids — it comprises about 500 “Thou Shalt Nots” about things like shellfish and when NOT to have sex — I know that it was telling us not to do a lot of things.
The Gospel reading, however, was from Matthew 22. Jesus is asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment?” Jesus replies, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Well, as a Catholic and as a pediatrician, I thought: That’s interesting. I had been taught in those Religion classes at St. Ignatius — where I learned the Six Laws of the Church — that, before the birth of Jesus, God treated His people as a father treats His children. Viewed in that context, the Old Testament God is not unlike a father who has to tell His kids what to do and not do, whether it makes sense to them or not. His people, like young children, are in what the Jean Piaget, the famed Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development, called the Realm of Concrete Operations. Kids at this stage are unable to think ahead to the long-term consequences of their actions so parents have to give them very concrete instructions. As a parent, you know how often you have had to say to your kids, “DON’T stick your finger in a light socket! DON’T run out in traffic! DON’T jump off the roof! Why? Because I SAID SO!”
But what happens when your kids get older? You can actually have conversations with them. You can reason with them. You can teach them to look into their heart. If they come to you with a dilemma to ask what they should do, you can turn it back to them and say, “What do YOU think you should do?” and if you raised them right, if you taught them consistently by holding yourself to the moral and ethical precepts you espoused, then they will give you the answer that you would have given them. They have now entered Piaget’s Realm of Formal Operations where they can make decisions based on a consciousness of long-term consequences and a deep sense of empathy.
Jesus, then, is the fulfillment of God’s Covenant to bring His people to maturity. This maturity and wisdom is what Jesus is appealing to in his reply. He is saying that if, in your dealings with others, you honor that which created you and you act toward others as you would have them act toward you, you have become the person I hoped you would be.
One of the other things that I was taught at Saint Ignatius is that Divine Truth is revealed to every member of the Body of Christ equally if we are open to it. Jesus tells us this in Matthew. So what I have experienced as love and intimacy, seeing the face of God in the person I love and who has loved me, is as revelatory of God’s grace as the latest encyclical from the Pope. I have received so much from the Church, but I have also given so much to the Church. So as difficult, as complex as it is sometimes for me to be Catholic, I cannot imagine not being a Catholic. But of course, I also cannot imagine the Catholic Church without me in it.
One more thing: As a pediatrician and medical school professor, I spend a good part of my days teaching residents and medical students how to be doctors. They have spent a great deal of time and energy reading, memorizing, and learning rules, numbers, and concepts. My job is to reinforce their learning but also to give them a real-life context. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a student give me a presentation of a patient complete with history, labs, and X-ray findings leading to an assessment and plan of care, and yet when I ask, “So how does the patient look?” I get a blank stare. “I haven’t had a chance to look at her.” “Okay,” I say, “let’s go do that.” Once we do that, in a good number of cases, the assessment and plan no longer make sense. All the chart data in the world cannot substitute for the richness of actually looking at the patient.
Which brings me back to my mother, her decision not to receive Communion that day, and my fear of Eternal Damnation for her. When I was up on that altar, having checked off “No Communion” on her heavenly scorecard week after week, I never looked at HER. I never considered that a just and loving God never would send this woman who had lived this life and made these sacrifices to Hell on a technicality. Back then, I thought as a child, I spoke as a child. I just knew the Laws, and that was all that mattered. But as Jesus said, laws are made for Man, not Man for the law.
II.
I tell you this very long story because being Catholic and being a citizen in this country should not be simple. It should not simply be a matter of having somewhere to look stuff up and turning off our mind and our heart.
I have written about many things on this blog, but one thing I have avoided is the subject of abortion. I have not spoken about it because I have felt that others could speak with more authority on it. Yet, because of where I have stood on issues of public health, racial and LGBTQ equity, and social justice, I feel that people have made assumptions about where I stand on this issue.
Well, it’s complicated.
Whenever a human egg is fertilized, it possesses all the unique genetic information it will need to live up to a century as a thinking, feeling human being. Once gone, that being will never be duplicated in the history of all creation.
Does that make this entity a human being in actuality or only in potential? That, of course, has been the question for centuries. Where one lands on answering that question will determine whether one views abortion as a morally acceptable procedure or not.
As such, I cannot call myself Pro-Choice with capital letters.
However, I cannot position myself in the capitalized Pro-Life camp either, especially not as exemplified by the contemporary Republican Party and the current president.
My feeling on the matter are largely expressed in the “seamless garment” philosophy of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. In the November 2008 article, “Twenty-Five Years Later: Cardinal Bernardin’s Consistent Ethic of Life” in “Health Progress,” Ron Hamel writes:
“On Dec. 6, 1983, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, in a lecture at Fordham University, first articulated what he referred to as the ‘consistent ethic of life.’ …in light of the sacredness of human life and human dignity, Bernardin believed profoundly that life issues, broadly understood, are of one piece (a ‘seamless garment’). They are interrelated. In other words, if one is committed to ‘preserving life’ (opposing abortion, euthanasia, [the death penalty, nuclear proliferation, war, the environment], and the like), one should also be committed to ‘enhancing life.’ …As Bernardin said: ‘Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker…Because of its central importance to human dignity … I have felt a special responsibility to devote a considerable amount of attention to health care at both the local and national levels.’”
So I have a question for those call themselves Pro-Life, especially those who support Donald Trump and the Republican Party because they call themselves Pro-Life. I have heard that many follow along because this is so overwhelmingly important, despite all their atrocities toward immigrants, the poor, the handicapped, those who are non-white and non-Christian, those who cannot find a job, feed their families, care for their sick, and keep a roof over their heads.
My question: Are you truly Pro-Life, or are you merely Anti-Abortion and Pro-Birth?
Even before Trump, the Republican Party has consistently worked to weaken protections for those who need help. At federal and state levels, the GOP, practically to a person, have opposed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare for All, Medicaid Expansion, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, the program is designed to help needy families achieve self-sufficiency), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, a food-based safety net program also known as Food Stamps).
If you are truly Pro-Life, shouldn’t these things be at least as important to you as the availability of abortion? And shouldn’t the reasons why women choose to have abortions be of interest to you?
I ask this because a major study by the Guttmacher Institute found that:
“The reasons most frequently cited were that having a child would interfere with a woman’s education, work or ability to care for dependents (74%); that she could not afford a baby now (73%); and that she did not want to be a single mother or was having relationship problems (48%). Nearly four in 10 women said they had completed their childbearing, and almost one-third were not ready to have a child. Fewer than 1% said their parents’ or partners’ desire for them to have an abortion was the most important reason. Younger women often reported that they were unprepared for the transition to motherhood, while older women regularly cited their responsibility to dependents. The decision to have an abortion is typically motivated by multiple, diverse and interrelated reasons. The themes of responsibility to others and resource limitations, such as financial constraints and lack of partner support, recurred throughout the study.”
A significant number of women, then, choose abortion because of economic factors as well as relational problems. Yet the Republican Party continues to make life more precarious for those with few means to begin with and to restrict curricula in schools that deal frankly with human sexual relationships, the very resources that might allow more women the economic and emotional space to consider having a baby.
And of course, there is pregnancy prevention. You can’t have an abortion if you are not pregnant. Yet the Trump administration and the GOP continue to be relentless in their desire to abolish the Affordable Care Act, even though the ACA has been one of the greatest drivers of drastically reducing numbers of abortions in this country in the past decade, not just in states where abortion is restricted but also where it is more freely available. As reported by the Guttmacher Institute:
“Because both abortions and births declined, it is clear that there were fewer pregnancies overall in the United States in 2017 than in 2011. The big question is why. One possible contributing factor is contraceptive access and use. Since 2011, contraception has become more accessible, as most private health insurance plans are now required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to cover contraceptives without out-of-pocket costs. In addition, thanks to expansions in Medicaid and private insurance coverage under the ACA, the proportion of women aged 15–44 nationwide who were uninsured dropped more than 40% between 2013 and 2017.”
III.
So what can we do? What should we do? I can, of course, only answer for myself:
· I can recognize that abortion is a procedure and a reality that has been part of human society and experience across time and cultures since the beginning of our existence as a sentient species.
· I can decline to participate in it personally and professionally.
· I can embrace the fact that scholars of various faiths have discussed this question and come to very different conclusions on the ethics and morality of it for centuries.
· I can accept that the decision to have an abortion is a deeply personal one that I cannot judge in another.
· I can understand that legislation and adjudication to outlaw this procedure will not result in its eradication and will only result in increasing harm to women who are seeking to terminate pregnancies.
Above all, I can work, not just as a Catholic, but as a human being and as a healer, to create a just, equitable society where every person has access to quality health care, everyone’s personhood is respected and celebrated, every child is valued, every person has the opportunity for education, housing, nourishment, safety, and love. I can work — as I have tried to for over 40 years — to be small-letters pro-life and to weave a seamless garment to promote human dignity.
And so, Catholic to Catholic, I urge you to vote for Joe Biden for president and for every Democrat on your ballot. Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party have cynically, hypocritically, and unambiguously abdicated their moral responsibility to our nation and have used the label of “Pro-Life” as a fig leaf to cover their profound undermining of American civil society while Democrats have just as consistently worked tirelessly for economic opportunity, racial justice, and social equity.
If one party embodies Bernardin’s “consistent ethic of life,” it is the Democrats. And if one presidential hopeful is the true pro-life candidate, it is Joe Biden. | https://medium.com/@kenhaller/catholic-to-catholic-why-joe-biden-is-the-true-pro-life-candidate-580f5974ba36 | ['Ken Haller'] | 2020-11-04 15:55:56.317000+00:00 | ['Biden', 'Catholic', 'Abortion', 'Trump', 'Pro Life'] |
World’s Most Famous Graphic Designers as Number #1 | Nortonis Designer (Best graphic designer) | Are you interested to Order your design’s? Make order or contact Nortonis through his social media platform instagram.com/nortonis_design
As a visual fashioner, I can reveal to you something on the spot, a first thing without flickering… .the visual computerization measure is an undeniable irritation. From the visual originator’s perspective, this is what it would appear that.
Customer meets the visual creator to examine expand plans to showcase, publicize, or advance their items. Possibly, quite possibly’s the customer (needs) the visual architect to ‘redo’ the entire picture and character of the customer organization. The customer gets all advertised up about the potential mullah that will fold into their financial balance. Visual Designer hyperventilates and salivates at the envisioned sum on the receipt
Visual Designer proposes a few ideas and thoughts. The customer says that it’s not EXACTLY what they had at the top of the priority list and requests that the visual planner thinks of more thoughts. For the visual architect, this resembles being given a truly gigantic automatic rifle to simply fire around in obscurity, wanting to hit the objective straightaway, you get what I mean?
The cycle gets delayed. Visual originator gets disappointed in light of the fact that customer can’t administer of his thought since he doesn’t Have the foggiest idea what he needs yet knows it just when he sees it.
Customer counsels others in the organization and an entire bundle of individuals gets tossed into the image with their own thoughts and proposition.
Visual fashioner and customer plunk down in a limp store of snared tissue, not realizing what to do now since months have been squandered trying a lot. Presently, we start from the very beginning once more…
Are you interested to Order your design’s? Make order or contact Nortonis through his social media platform instagram.com/nortonis_design
Understanding what you need directly from the beginning is significant. On the off chance that you have no clue about what it is that you need to accomplish with your new showcasing stuff, plunk down with your staff BEFORE you get the visual architect to accomplish any work. Presently, this is a significant point, thus, allowed me to state it once more….CONSULT WITH YOUR PEOPLE BEFORE YOU GET YOUR GRAPHIC DESIGNER TO DO ANY WORK!
Next, get everything down on paper. Regardless of whether you have no aim of passing that bit of archive to the visual originator, in any event, you have a more clear vision of what you need. At that point address your visual originator to investigate thoughts and potential changes to your unique thought.
When the visual communication measure has started, single out the individuals you talk with care. An excessive number of cooks DO ruin the stock! Just individuals who can and SHOULD settle on or help settle on the choice should be counseled at this very point as expected.
Notwithstanding, as any customer will let you know, the visual fashioner has an immense and significant part in guaranteeing that they comprehend the customer’s guidelines, steps up to the plate, and investigate and investigate different thoughts. At the point when the customer mentions to the visual architect what he/she needs from their new promoting stuff, it’s not unchangeable. The visual architect SHOULD introduce his/her own thoughts as another option. If not, what’s the utilization of the visual architect? Why not simply get an administrative or the secretary to simply figure out how to utilize the proper projects/virtual products and concoct something that the customer needs?
Being a visual planner is a genuine annoyance… .and working with a visual architect is additionally a cut in the backside yet by the day’s end… when you see that your work and every one of those dissatisfactions brings about a crushing success free Articles, you can kick back and appreciate your (and your customer’s craftsmanship) over a cup of cappuccino.
Is it accurate to say that you are prepared to enlist somebody to plan your logo, securities, or craftsmanship for your site? Indeed, here’s the data you need to get the best outcomes from recruiting your first (or your first fruitful) visual architect. To guarantee that we start on the same wavelength, a visual originator plans your showcasing materials — the print-and web-prepared craftsmanship which is then gone over to a printer or coded for the web for the ultimate result.
To guarantee that we start on the same wavelength, a visual planner plans your promoting materials — the print-and web-prepared craftsmanship which is then gone over to a printer or coded for the web for the ultimate result. A portion of their vocabularies can be unfamiliar to you, and their cycles may not be recognizable by the same token. We’ll address that and more with these strategies.
This exhortation gives you the fundamentals for employing the ideal individual for this basic undertaking. The more qualified the architect, and the better the match between you and your originator will prompt all the more engaging last plans. the more expert you and your business will look.
Are you interested to Order your design’s? Make order or contact Nortonis through his social media platform instagram.com/nortonis_design
1. Take a gander at their work tests. Numerous fashioners offer an arrangement of tests either on their site, by email as a PDF, or in a printed copy design. At the point when you survey these, search for an overall plan style that you like, not really whether they have heaps of involvement inside your specific industry. Indeed, the profound experience inside the industry isn’t really the best thing when you need a planner to put a new visual turn on your business and your issues.
2. Ensure they’ve really accomplished the work in their portfolio. This is particularly evident in case you’re assessing configuration organizations or firms. Ensure that the planners who are as yet on staff made the work that you truly respect.
Where this can become possibly the most important factor with solo originators is if the portfolio isn’t clear about their association in the advancement of all the plan components. For instance, in the event that they’re demonstrating a pamphlet plan or a site in their portfolio, yet you love the logo; ensure that they made the logo prior to recruiting them.
What’s more, ask what the customer’s contribution in the plan of that logo is-if the customer went to the planner with a sketch of the logo previously made, at that point, the logo may not be reproducible by the originator or firm alone.
3. Converse with the architect. Having a real discussion with them can truly help for two reasons:
To ensure you can discuss well with one another. In the event that you each have fundamentally the same styles of correspondence, levels of energy, or eagerness about the task, at that point the venture will in all likelihood run easily (or has an incredible potential for progress). Additionally, ensure that you each comprehend what the other is stating having comparative definitions for ideas is incredibly useful. At the point when you don’t get something, pose inquiries! To check whether you two “gel” together. You’ll be working intently, so ensure that you get along! On the off chance that you don’t care for their characters or the other way around, at that point, the relationship will doubtlessly get stressed and troublesome. 4. Audit their abilities. This turns out to be particularly significant in case you’re employing a website specialist to ensure the architect is able to furnish you with all the specialized segments you’ll require. For instance, web coding, structures coding, HTML bulletin incorporation, and Search Engine Optimization are altogether fairly specialized fields that not everything architects can convey. Ensure you’ll have the option to get what you need.
5. Check their references. In the event that you truly like a specific task in their portfolio, check whether you can get that customer’s contact data. In any case, if the originator can’t deliver it, that is not really the most noticeably awful sign-perhaps the customer inclines toward that their contact data be kept hidden. Or then again they’ve moved, and haven’t advised the fashioner how to connect with them. Be available to reasons why they will be unable to outfit a specific reference.
6. Find out about their cycles. Discover how they intend to execute the work that you’d prefer to have done. Ask what the creator needs you to do, what you’ll be approached to audit and support, how choices are made, and how they’re made last. Ensure your creator can direct you through the planning cycle, giving all the data you’ll require en route.
7. Check their pivot time for answering to messages, sending cites, and bringing calls back. Ensure that it’s in accordance with the pivot time that you expect all through the undertaking. Pivot time here can likewise demonstrate the fashioner’s degree of energy about your task. In any case, if it’s somewhat moderate, ensure they weren’t out of their office at gatherings for the afternoon or tied up in another cutoff time comprehend that they’re an independent venture also, and the way that they’re occupied is presumably an indication of how powerful they are for their customers!
8. Survey the rights that they’re offering to you. Ensure that you have the copyright and propagation rights that you need. Think as far into the future as conceivable you need to ensure that you’ll have what you need as your business develops. You would prefer not to need to return to your planner and re-arrange your privileges in a couple of years!
9. You might be enticed to request some example plans for your particular venture. This is known as work on “spec” (theory) — having a fashioner accomplish work without an assurance of getting the venture. While architects can comprehend your feelings of dread imagine a scenario where you don’t care for the logo we create, consider the possibility that we don’t “get” what you need, imagine a scenario where.
Requesting that a planner chip away at spec isn’t exceptionally reasonable. The first round of plans on any undertaking is the most tedious to make it regularly comprises of exploring your organization and your rivals, conceptualizing on the innovative side, and producing first thoughts. You wouldn’t request that a specialist analyze you prior to paying for his time, and afterward offer to pay him on the off chance that you like the finding it’s not any more reason to do as such with an originator.
10. Ensure that you’ll get the expectations you anticipate. A few planners don’t plan to remember last records for their expectations to you-in the event that you need to have the first documents conveyed to you alongside printed guarantee or the last documents transferred to your web worker, ensure the architect realizes that in advance. It might change the estimating.
In the event that you need to have the option to alter the last documents, ensure that the planner can convey the records to you such that you can alter them. Understand that, contingent upon the product that you have, this may either restrict the plan or be incomprehensible, yet you most likely won’t get the documents in the particular organization you need except if you inquire!
What’s more, in the event that you imagine having your last documents in a specific organization, for example, having your letterhead in Microsoft Word-make certain to request that. Numerous planners don’t consider Word records to be essential for a standard arrangement of expectations.
11. Have a sensible timetable and check the fashioner’s turnaround time. Distribute enough an ideal opportunity for your task to be finished surge occupations never end up being on a par with they could be if enough time were designated. A normal logo venture takes weeks, not days!
Additionally, be certain that they have the time accessible in their timetable to finish your venture on your course of events. Check for impending excursions, and whether they work nights and ends of the week if your course of events requires that.
12. Ensure that you’re both clear about amendments. Numerous fashioners remember a set number of corrections for their venture bundles. Ensure that you comprehend what comprises an update, the number of you’ll get, and what happens once they’re totally spent.
13. Get it recorded as a hard copy. An agreement can help to spread out desires for the task on both your end and the designers. When you have an agreement from your architect, make a point to peruse it cautiously it will regularly state precisely the thing you will escape the task, how you’re required to pay for plans, what you’re paying for, and how to escape the agreement (in the event that you need to drop the undertaking in any capacity whatsoever). Also, on the off chance that it doesn’t make things understood, approach the originator to expound for you.
Following these means gives you all of the foundation data you require for ideal outcomes while employing a planner. Use them as a kind of perspective when you survey planner’s sites, meet with wellbeing Fitness Articles, or meeting your expected architect. Understanding the cycle and expected result does ponder for a smooth change from thoughts to the real world.
tags: Become a Graphic Designer, Graphic Design Courses, Graphic Design, Learn Graphic Design, Designer, Nortonis designer
Nortonis is a freelance with all types of graphic design's, a designer who works from home. He designs apparel and premium items at linktr.ee/nortonisdesign
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Published: kennmoore | https://medium.com/@kenn4moore/worlds-most-famous-graphic-designers-as-number-1-nortonis-designer-best-graphic-designer-e24e08b06ebb | [] | 2020-12-17 12:38:51.761000+00:00 | ['Logo Design', 'Designer', 'Nortonis', 'Graphic Design', 'Best Graphic Design'] |
Shifting SRE Left with Keptn | Shifting SRE Left with Keptn
Keptn’s Lighthouse Service is at the center of analyzing SLIs and SLOs as part of delivery Andreas Grabner Follow Apr 1 · 6 min read
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is a concept that has been present in the IT community for over a decade, and it’s an idea that has helped many companies improve their operations in production to make their infrastructure code more reliable and scalable.
By developing the open-source software keptn, we are proposing the idea of taking SRE concepts and shifting them further left into delivery while simultaneously answering the question: How can you ensure delivering code that complies to every standard you set, test it in every stage but without slowing you down with manual work?
What is Site Reliability Engineering?
Before we talk about the keptn approach, let’s have a short refresher on what Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) actually is.
SRE is a well-known buzzword coined in 2003 by Google VP of Engineering Ben Treynor Sloss. It describes the idea of “applying the principles of software engineering, which are used to create highly reliable and scalable software, to the operations and infrastructure processes”. This approach helps maintain large systems with the help of infrastructure code that for system admins is more scalable and sustainable.
The two main concepts of SRE models are standardization and automatization. You take over the tasks that are usually done manually by the operations team and automate them based on certain standards. Its goal is to turn traditional monolithic operations into something that is more flexible and reliable for cloud-native or microservices-based software.
At the base of SRE we have three main concepts, SLIs, SLOs and SLAs, which build upon each other:
Service Level Indicators (SLI)
These are measurable metrics that can be used as a base for an evaluation.
Example: Error rate of Login requests.
Service Level Objectives (SLO)
These are binding targets for SLIs (what the value of an SLI should be to be considered successful).
Example: Login Error Rate must be less than 20% over a 30-day period.
Service Level Agreements (SLA)
These are business agreements between consumer and provider typically based on an SLO.
Example: Logins must be reliable & fast (Error Rate, Response Time, Throughput) 99% within a 30-day window.
In short: SLIs drive SLOs which inform SLAs
SRE in practice
Many companies have already put the SRE approach in place in production. We have seen this happening with Dynatrace clients who defined SLIs in production using the Dynatrace monitoring tool. This approach has delivered great results because it makes sure that the production maintains the standards set by the company.
However, we have also seen that setting standards only for production may cause deployments to slow down. Sometimes code is deployed from dev to staging without issues but is blocked in production because it does not meet the same requirements.
Furthermore, in a traditional pipeline, there always comes a stage where you run many types of tests, like performance, functional, monitoring, etc. But at this stage, these results either need to be analyzed manually or you need to build your own tools for it. And this slows down the pipeline even more.
Shifting SRE left with keptn
If we take the concept of SRE and evaluate SLOs already in every pipeline run, build or commit done in dev and staging environments, we can make sure that only code is deployed that complies with your standards. But this can only work if we fully automate those checks.
This is what keptn proposes to do with the core service Lighthouse a.k.a. Quality Gates.
But before we talk about this in more detail, let’s quickly talk about what keptn is and does.
With our open-source software project keptn we strive to simplify the traditional delivery pipeline and make it more manageable for cloud-based software.
A traditional delivery pipeline is often made up of lots of interdependent code that is hard to maintain and update. Because they have high interdependencies, traditional pipelines are bulky, resist change and slow down delivery. This is what makes us believe that they will become your next legacy-code challenge.
Keptn breaks up the pipeline into smaller phases: micro-pipelines (just like breaking up monoliths into microservices). Each phase is encapsulated in itself and communicates with other phases through interfaces in the form of events. There is a start event that contains the necessary data to execute the phase and an end event that represents the result of the phase.
Keptn separates process from tool definition and connects both via events
The keptn approach is to use a publish-subscribe mechanism, which allows you to subscribe to the relevant event types you need in the pipeline. The events that are sent control the workflow and how the events are processed controls the tooling.
This makes it easy to add and remove tools in your pipeline. There are no hardcoded integrations: the tool provides the functionality, and you can trigger it through an event. Once you set up a project, you need to define your pipeline in what we call a “shipyard” file that is saved in keptn’s internal git repository.
Here is an example:
A three stage delivery pipeline with embedded SRE validation expressed as a Keptn Shipyard file
As you can see, we defined a delivery process with dev, staging and prod stages, and for each stage we also defined what should happen. In “staging”, for example, we defined an automatic approval strategy, we run performance tests and the deployment strategy is “blue-green”.
Keptn will automatically create for every stage a git branch based on what is defined in this YAML file. And now the previously mentioned Lighthouse service comes into play.
Just like in shipyard.yaml, you define certain metrics in SLI and SLO YAML files against which data should be evaluated. Here is an example of what these SLI and SLO files may look like:
SLIs defined per SLI Provider as YAML
SLI Provider specific queries, e.g: Dynatrace Metrics Query
Service Level Indicators define how to query metrics from a specific SLI data source
SLOs defined on Keptn Service Level as YAML
List of objectives with fixed or relative pass & warn criteria
Sevice Level Objectives (SLOs) are data source independent and express your overall objective
The Lighthouse reaches out to your preferred monitoring platform through an event (right now we have integrations for Dynatrace, Prometheus, Neoload, Wayfront — but you can develop any integration you want or need) and returns the data for a particular timeframe.
Keptn looks at this data, evaluates it against the metrics, gives points and then sums up a total score based on the total number of SLIs and normalizes it between 0 and 100%.
Keptn can pull in data from any SLI Provider and calculated a total SLO score
Keptn comes with pre-configured SLIs and SLOs, but you can further configure them yourself either through a YAML file or through a dashboard. | https://medium.com/dynatrace-engineering/shifting-sre-left-with-keptn-f14c3f4973aa | ['Andreas Grabner'] | 2021-04-01 06:01:07.102000+00:00 | ['Sre', 'Continuous Delivery', 'Keptn', 'Open Source', 'Software Development'] |
What Is Urbanization? | By: Austin Harris and Reid Belew
Urbanization is the ongoing phenomenon of people moving from rural settings to urban centers. The term is not restricted to simply the movement itself, it also refers to the field of study that researches it. Encapsulated within urbanization is a more specific area of focus — urban growth — which is how urban centers are growing and developing in light of urbanization.
In early human history, forming groups amongst ourselves proved to be the most beneficial living arrangement after the invention and discovery of agriculture. Before the normalization of agriculture, humans were primarily nomadic. When we discovered and invented agriculture, humans didn’t have to travel and continue hunting and gathering. Permanent establishments were built, and humans stayed together — more hands on the farm meant more food, and more food meant a greater chance to live.
Many settlements would be established along a river or in areas of high amounts of natural resources, which was useful for farming. As these closely-distanced, smaller settlements grew and combined, they slowly became one large settlement.
Thus, the first iterations of the modern city were born. The ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk, founded in 4500 BCE, in considered by some to be the first city. Uruk was built on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq. At its height, scholars estimate Uruk had between 50–80,000 people.
As history has marched onward, so too has the increase in population. After the onset of agriculture, industrialization further pulled people off the farm and into the factory. As the world became more industrialized, it also became more centered in urban areas. In 2007, the world passed a significant milestone: over 50% of the world’s population lived in urban areas for the first time. At the time of writing, 55% of the world lives in urban areas, and most projections anticipate over 2/3rds of the world doing the same by 2050. To see these projections, visit Our World In Data here.
This rapid, exponential increase of people in these areas brings with it significant challenges. Naturally, there will be increases in air, water, soil, and noise pollution, traffic, population density, hospital and medical care acuity, and much more. Each of these individual increases brings with it many layers of ramifications that must be handled proactively.
Take for example traffic congestion. Very likely, increases in traffic and vehicles on the road will result in more time spent on commutes, which takes away the free time of citizens, lowering quality of life, however incremental and seemingly insignificant that amount of time is. More time spent commuting will result in increased carbon emissions, furthering the effects of climate change. Emergency vehicles will more commonly face difficulties traveling to and from emergency sites. More traffic accidents will occur, which means an increased demand for those emergency services. Roadways will deteriorate much faster, which could result in small tax increases for a city’s citizens, having an effect on real wages. Considering the individual, these issues don’t resonate as pressing or urgent. However, at city-scale, these individual instances combine to create large problems.
Cities are complex, intertwined machines, and as one aspect of a city changes and morphs, all of the pieces change as well. The development and utilization of smart cities aims to mitigate, understand, and manage changes stemming from urbanization. | https://medium.com/center-for-urban-informatics-and-progress/what-is-urbanization-e1de1d9e73a6 | ['Reid Belew'] | 2020-06-05 15:33:20.426000+00:00 | ['Urbanization', 'Cities', 'Mobility', 'Smart Cities'] |
Building Map-Based Web Application using Nuxt and Mapbox | Nuxt Installation and Project Set-up
The following steps are explained in more detail in NuxtJs documentation. I will be showing every option that I choose for this project.
Step 1: Create a directory
Create a new directory and get into.
mkdir <project-name> cd <project-name>
Step 2: Create package.json file
Every project needs a package.json file to start nuxt . Copy this JSON into your package.json and save before running npm install:
{ "name": "my-app",
"scripts": {
"dev": "nuxt"
}
}
Step 3: Install Nuxt
Use the following command to install Nuxt.
npm install —-save nuxt
Nuxt Installation — Succes
Step 4: Create Nuxt Project
The Nuxt.js team has created scaffolding tool create-nuxt-app as mentioned in NuxtJS documentation, Make sure you have npx installed ( npx is shipped by default since NPM 5.2.0 ).
npx create-nuxt-app <project-name>
It will ask you some questions about UI framework choice, linting tools, rendering mode, etc.
In this project, I will use Vuetify UI Framework and Axios for API Consumption.
Step 5: Run the app in Development Mode
npm run dev
It will use 3000 as the default port
Step 6: Open the page
Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser, then you’ll be welcomed by the default screen of this Nuxt app. (it’s already dark mode by default)
Step 7: Remove default layout
To remove the default page, open default.vue file inside layout folder, remove everything and put only the following code:
<template> <v-app dark> <nuxt /> </v-app> </template>
Step 8: Create map.vue file inside /page directory
This step will create a new page called map. Simply create map.vue file inside /page directory, The framework reads all the files inside this directory and creates the application router. bravo
If you open http://localhost:3000/map, it will show the page below:
Mapbox Installation
Step 1: Install Mapbox GL JS
I use this npm package for this project.
npm install —-save mapbox-gl
Step 2: Import the package
Import the package to the map.vue file by put it inside the script tag before the Vue instance.
import mapboxgl from 'mapbox-gl'
Step 3: Adding Mapbox access token
We have to use a valid Mapbox access token in order to use any Mapbox’s features & tools. We can store it in component data.
Step 4: Adding a Map container
Create an element with id. In this example, I will use id="map"
<div id=”map”></div>
Step 5: Initialize a Map
In this step, I will create a method called createMap() . This method containing an Initialization of a new mapbox-gl instance and stored it in a component data called map , so it will be assignable in other component options by using this.map .
Make sure to call the createMap() method inside the mounted() hook so that Mapbox injecting the map into the container element after the page is already rendered.
Step 5: Adding CSS to Map Container
Just to make it full screen, add following CSS to the Map Container:
#map{ width:100%; height:100vh; }
You’re set up! Enjoy the game.
See you next week. Thank you. | https://medium.com/@brahmaputra1996/building-map-based-web-application-using-nuxt-and-mapbox-ba758eaa8594 | ['Brahma Putra'] | 2020-03-03 13:21:15.020000+00:00 | ['Mapbox', 'Nuxt', 'Vue', 'GIS', 'Front End Development'] |
Google Tests Larger URL in SERPs | A good testing strategy is an integral part of improving every website, and Google is always testing something new. Whether it is the color of the background behind AdWords ads, or a recent test to change the color of their black top navigation bar, Google continues to investigate which tweaks can help users find the results they are looking for as quickly as possible.
I just spotted what looks to be one of the current tests Google is performing. The green color remains the same at hex color #093, but the font size has increased from 13px to 16px.
Google has certainly tested other elements of the URL before, but this seems to be one of the first times they have increased the size of this critical page element. For example, Google does show enhanced URLs in organic results for those who markup their breadcrumbs with Schema.org or other rich snippets.
This could benefit larger brands with recognizable domain names, and I wonder how the increased URL size will impact CTR of paid AdWords ads compared to organic results. | https://medium.com/jordan-silton/google-tests-larger-url-in-serps-8a3ea501903c | ['Jordan Silton'] | 2016-04-29 01:34:01.096000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'Google', 'Testing'] |
New Stripes for Zebras Unite | Cooperate on the future we want. Create a fund. Go to camp.
This great image was made for Zebras Unite by Sarah Nason https://sarahnason.myportfolio.com/
We honor Valentine’s Day each year with a major update. It’s because this work to create a better future for values-aligned founders is fueled by a fierce love and urgency for connection.
In 2016 we were broken-hearted, unable to find the right match between the companies we were creating and startup culture’s status quo. We sent the bat signal for others who also felt alone. In 2017 we articulated the ethos for the kind of companies and world we were eager to create. We hosted the first ever convening, DazzleCon. In 2018 we shared the joy and relief of finding kindred Zebras who have since built chapters all over the world. In 2019, others began talking about Zebras in earnest (in the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review, Non-Profit Quarterly, PC Magazine and The New Yorker, among others). We raised some funding, partnered with Village Capital, and set about building a new type of organization. [If you are new to all things zebra, you might enjoy this short history of Zebras Unite].
Before we jump into the exciting developments and announcements for 2020, first: some reflections.
We’ve learned some hard lessons this last year. Many of you have asked: what is Zebras Unite up to? How can I plug in? What are the next steps for building this community and momentum?
We’ve struggled to answer these questions. We found ourselves trying to do too much, with too few resources, and in an unintentionally centralized way. We’re on year four of a small group of people doing this work on nights and weekends, managing our own zebra companies, families, and lives. Meanwhile, the culture we wish to change has only intensified since we first started.
We see that with each day, the Zebra ethos and brand grows more relevant and urgent. The world is noticing. Zebras around the world have expanded their footprint and serve their local founder and investor communities. Take our friends in Germany, who are promoting a New Mittelstand, purposeful small and medium sized business as the new foundation for economic development; our friends in Scotland, who are running regular lunch labs to shape the economic future of their country post-Brexit; and individuals and groups organizing meetups and chapters from Melbourne to Minnesota, and from Toronto to Tokyo, to name but a few.
These are exactly the kinds of activities the world needs more of, and that we want to support. In 2020, we’re creating the structures to do so. We’ve been deep in legal complexity, developing a framework that is aligned with the future we all envision: one that’s co-operative, decentralized, and provides room for necessary ambiguity.
This work has been possible thanks to collaboration with so many of you, who have helped us find aligned and innovative lawyers, funders, and movement builders. This is essential, difficult work to design a structure where no perfect one exists to support the multi-dimensional, emergent nature of this endeavor.
Zebras Unite’s Success is YOUR Success: Creating a Co-Op
For the last year we’ve searched for an appropriate corporate form for Zebras Unite that would serve our purpose and values, and help us become a resilient, scalable movement. Would we become a US-registered nonprofit organization and plead for grants and donations? Would we become a Delaware C-Corp and pivot to software (joking!)? The message we kept hearing from so many of you was loud and clear: you want to build this movement WITH US, where the organization’s success is YOUR success. And so: Zebras Unite will officially become a COOPERATIVE later this spring.
What is the benefit of a cooperative? Well, it means that members will own shares of Zebras Unite. As we grow, you get dividends. This aligns incentives, decentralizes and democratizes decision making, and is an inclusive structure that allows everyone to join the journey.
Filling a Capital Gap for Founders of a Different Stripe: Launching the Zebra Fund
We also heard that you are in urgent need of capital. We have been working, together with Village Capital, to develop a taxonomy of the diverse suite of innovative capital instruments that are emerging and that are providing alternatives to venture. We are working with a group of inclusive loan funds on creating shared infrastructure for mobilizing services and capital for underserved communities in the US. We found ourselves in conversations with potential investors to buy Meetup, and developed a roadmap for turning this and other distressed unicorn assets into examples of “exiting to community”. We partnered with Wefunder and Indie.vc to experiment with referrals for Zebra companies. And we helped shape the content for a number of gatherings on innovative, inclusive capital.
All this has brought home to us the need to create our own capital, and so we’re in the process of creating a Zebra fund, managed by the co-op’s first commercial venture, Zebras Unite Capital, a joint venture with SecondMuse Capital. We are partnering with SecondMuse Capital, a leader in the application of blended capital to develop inclusive and sustainable economies, because of their track record and aligned values. Zebras Unite Capital will be an inclusive, integrated investment company helping solve the startup capital problem by creating a distributed infrastructure for raising and deploying capital to startups, with an initial focus on underrepresented founders. The fund will offer both affordable debt and equity. As we invest in Zebra co-op members, profits are returned to the co-op, and its members.
We’ll have more to say about the fund later this spring, and have been so inspired by the work of capital innovators like Adobe Capital, Collab Capital, Founders First Capital, Indie.vc, Purpose, Wefunder, Village Capital, and so many others working to increase the range of options available to founders. We look forward to working in partnership with these and other aligned investors to advance the innovative, inclusive capital ecosystem that benefits founders of all different stripes.
Finally, we’ll also have a non-profit organization that will continue to provide education and awareness around the business culture we wish to see, one that advances the ideas that have drawn so many of you to the movement: cooperation, collaboration, sustainability, and multi-stakeholder prosperity. We can think of no better time to advance and explore these ideas, in light of last year’s announcement by Business Roundtable that fundamentally redefined the purpose of a corporation.
Building the Future We Want, Together: Come to DazzleCamp!
Between May 19–22, 2020, we’re gathering at DazzleCamp, outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a one-of-a-kind gathering, convening a diverse group of entrepreneurs, investors, and operators around business, capital, community, and culture. And the attendees? In addition to working with us to design the co-op and fund, you’ll be invited to be the first, early Zebra co-op Members.
We’re looking for people who want to build this next phase of Zebras Unite together. The ideal DazzleCampers are:
Post-revenue founders that align with the Zebras Unite ethos and are looking for more aligned capital, corporate structure, and culture;
Zebra-aligned or Zebra-curious investors looking at new ways to deploy capital;
Zebra service providers, thinkers and doers who can help us practically apply the ideas to new capital funding and corporate structures, as well as be a resource to zebra-identifying entrepreneurs;
Active participants eager to co-create the event experience with all of us; and
Diverse in terms of geography, demographics and sectors, coming from across the world.
DazzleCamp won’t have many “sages on the stage” and keynote presentations. Instead, this will be a dynamic, interactive, strategic gathering with a variety of programming.
If you’re interested in building the future of Zebras Unite and the future of business, together, go to DazzleCamp and tell us a little bit about yourself, and how you would like to contribute to the event, to make it useful, purposeful and delightful for everyone.
Every week between now and DazzleCamp, we’ll be profiling one of our Camp partners or chapters who are pushing change forward and will be bringing their solutions to the group.
Whether you join us in May or not, we know we cannot build this new future alone. Find us online, and join our mailing list to stay tuned for more regular updates on the co-op, the fund, and the educational opportunities.
DAZZLE ON!
PS: The next global Zebra gathering will be outside the US. We’re already looking for chapters and others who’ll step up to host the next gathering in ’21 or ’22. Reach out! | https://medium.com/zebras-unite/new-stripes-for-zebras-unite-1f22352b401b | ['Jennifer', 'Mara', 'Astrid'] | 2020-02-18 20:53:47.101000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Cooperatives', 'Zebrasunite'] |
The Mint of King Cnut | News is just in that the mint of a very important, historic sovereign nation has just hired a company in a separate nation to help it launch its own “Blockchain not Bitcoin” attempt to ride the Bitcoin wave. This is extraordinary in several ways, and allows a general principle to be explored.
First off, this mint doesn't understand how Bitcoin works. That is clear. They've made the common error of believing what computer illiterates in well regarded newspapers mistakenly repeat verbatim about Bitcoin; that you can have “Blockchain without Bitcoin”. And this is only the first of their many errors in this project.
Even if their technical and economic assumptions were correct, there is no way that their private money system can beat the market. The Russians and the Chinese will never accept domination of a global e-money by a single foreign nation coded by a second party. They will at a minimum, launch their own central bank AltC0in, or more likely, settle on Bitcoin as the civilized global standard. These people have made the fundamental error of thinking that they can beat the market. It is the same error the Americans made thinking that everyone would use CDMA instead of GSM.
This new money will never be international. No one will trust a system that requires advance permission from and which is controlled by a government to use it, that can exclude any actor based on arbitrary rules of a hostile government when Bitcoin is available. There is no logical reason to trust anyone when Bitcoin exists; any system that is tainted by the requirement of trust is inferior to Bitcoin, and will make rational actors choose Bitcoin over those other, broken systems every time.
There are other problems with this new project, some of which will be of concern to the State. With a software simulation of money, the company providing the service is the mint, with absolute control over the money and its operation, not the mint. In order to be the mint, you must directly control the levers of the machinery, you cannot outsource that control to other men, and certainly never to men from a foreign country; these foreigners de facto control everything if no one in the mint can understand how anything works. They seem to have forgotten what the word “Sovereign” means.
If you’re going to outsource the creation of a new e-money, and cede control over its development to foreigners, why not go all the way and give it to the global experts: Bitcoin Core? You get all the benefits of the hundreds of developers working on Bitcoin, and access to the global Bitcoin network, its first mover advantage, huge ecosystem and its network effects. You are already willing to give up control, so you may as well give it up for something and not for nothing.
Computer Illiteracy
This is another example of the global Computer Literacy Crisis, where the aparatchicks don’t understand how anything works, and are rendered helpless, delegating all responsibility to software developers who are now one of the top global powers on Earth as a class. We saw this with government departments around the globe accepting Microsoft Windows as “the standard” for decades, with the late realization that this gives control (and back-door NSA espionage access) to a foreign company. Much better to use Linux that belongs to no one, is transparent and infinitely more secure and controllable. Just like Bitcoin.
For 7 years I've been talking about the book “Good Money” by George Selgin.
If your are interested in Bitcoin and why “private Blockchain” is junk, you should read this book. What is fascinating about this news of a sovereign mint hiring a foreign company to create a system for them is that the private money vs State money is turned on its head in the Bitcoin era.
In the 1700s button makers switched to minting coins for private use, because the Royal Mint couldn't supply the demand for small change. Now, government mints are turning to bespoke “Blockchain not Bitcoin Tokens” while Bitcoin becomes the sovereign money of the world. The picture is entirely reversed; the state is minting private money to fill an (imaginary) need while Bitcoin is the money everyone uses but has trouble getting a hold of. Azteco is a service that aims to solve that problem.
Like many projects with no hope of traction because they are fundamentally flawed, this new platform has put its software up on GitHub, hoping to attract developers to work on it for free. This will not happen. First of all, the number of developers with the skill to hack cryptocurrencies in C is extremely small, and all of them are working on Bitcoin. They're all doing so mostly without compensation, for the good of society, just like Linux kernel developers do. There is no way you are going to persuade these ethical men to stop working on Bitcoin and to devote that time to a bogus “permissioned ledger” project run by a company on behalf of a nation state.
Bitcoin devs simply aren't going to split their limited time between projects like Corda or any anti-Bitcoin project. And of course, Corda has conceded defeat and given up on “making blockchains programmable” an other fanciful hand-waving nonsense.
“GitHub Open Source” isn't a magic wand that will cause men to flock to your repo and software to be written for you for nothing, and no, you can’t hire developers to do this work either; there are none available. Developers at this skill, experience and knowledge level are an extremely rare breed, and they are all working on Bitcoin, and will never contract to work on unethical software, for any amount of money.
Every year the State wastes time on vanity projects they can’t even understand, Bitcoin grows, spreads and strengthens. The number of new, fundamental features coming to Bitcoin is not matched by any other project, and how these will synergise is anyone’s guess. Schnorr signatures are one example of space savings and efficiency that will impact all users.
From The Elements Project, new features coming to Bitcoin https://elementsproject.org/elements/ SegWit will activate, on Litecoin first and then Bitcoin. Then everything will change.
Every software project has a use case. The developers are eager to make their case so they can gain users. When they won’t make the case clearly, something is very wrong. There is no use case for a sovereign nation to launch its own alt coin that is inferior to Bitcoin. Its like launching a new mobile phone network standard; no manufacturer is going to incorporate another set of protocols, chips, transceiver and antennae into its phone to accommodate you, and yet, this is exactly what these people believe they can do with Bitcoin. All rational nation State actors are now running to embrace and profit from the inevitable domination by Bitcoin and not betting against it.
We can be sure of this. No “permissioned”, “BlockChain”, alt-coin reality denying project launched by a Nation State that has outsourced development of its software to a private company in a foreign land can ever hope to outperform Bitcoin on any level. Incredibly, the lessons of the doomed and fundamentally flawed Canadian “Mint Chip” have not been learned yet. This is a good thing, believe it or not. The longer Bitcoin’s enemies think they can reinvent the wheel and beat Bitcoin, the better it is for Bitcoin. By the time they figure all of this out, it will be too late. In fact, it already is too late.
KYC/AML is dying
There has been some very good news on the Bitcoin perception front. Another judge, this time in of all jurisdictions, New York, has ruled that Bitcoin is not Money.
I wrote about this several times previously.
Any business in Bitcoin, if it is run by competent men, should now destroy their “compliance” data and stop all KYC/AML work immediately. They can rely on these two judgements as pretext, and if any prosecutor or three letter agency wants to take them to court, they should accept the challenge, because they will win.
Coinbase, for example, has been asked for a database dump of all their customers who transferred Bitcoin from 2013 to 2015. They are going to fight this in court, and it may cost them millions to defend this outrageous attack. Instead of going to court to defend handing over customer data, Coinbase should permanently destroy the data, and fight in court to prove Bitcoin is not money, and not subject to any law any more than Linden Labs “Linden Dollars” are.
Doing this, they will forever be unable to hand over data they don’t have, and will not be asked for it again. They will streamline their service, and increase their profitability. Or burn rate. Either way, the way out of their current problems is to embrace these two judgements and amplify them so that the entire industry is both protected and relieved of onerous administrative burdens simultaneously.
Stopping KYC/AML will increase on ramp speeds, increase profits, increase Bitcoin throughput and midwife “The Transformation”. You are already in a fight with the State, who are using your own data against you; data that you did not have to collect in the first place, that you volunteered to collect, expecting a pat on the head. Doing this will also turn you from an unethical company into an ethical one. Its a no brainer.
For the Lulz
Finally, for some lulz. People love predicting the collapse of things. Its like a perverted spectator sport, where you’re betting on which gladiator is going to die first. Y2K hysteria Twitter and even the internet have been predicted to “collapse” and these predictions failed. We all remember Clifford Stoll. No surprise then, when people pop up to predict that Bitcoin will have a “complete and total collapse” for no given reason whatsoever.
What we can see emerging is the fact that the vast majority of men have reached their intellectual limit in 2017. Most of the things are incomprehensible to them. Bitcoin is one of those most things. As time goes on, this problem is going to get much worse. Its like the familiar tale of Artificial Intelligence making new versions of itself that man has no capacity to understand.
The problem isn't that people don’t understand new technology. This has always been true since man started forging steel, and of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The problem is that these ignorant people insist on forcing other people who do understand the new tools, to conform to their mistaken ideas of how they should work with them and present it to the market.
Bitcoin has been suffering this for a few years now, but with the recent court decisions, Japanese “Legitimization” (remember when everyone kept saying “legitimacy” is what Bitcoin needs? Now its “adoption” and “Scale”) and increase market penetration through great services like Local Bitcoins, it is now clear that Bitcoin will win. No matter what you want.
Last Word
Finally, some good news. Samson Mow, notorious milliner, Bitcoin thinker, expert analyst, conference organizer, East West bridger, Ubisoft expander, organizer of the “Scaling Bitcoin” event and meme manipulator extraordinary, has just been hired by Blockstream.
Not Samson Mow, but something else..something…very very…odd.
Normally hirings of this sort would not be worth comment, but this one is given what is under discussion in this piece. Some were calling for this very useful man to be fired over his very amusing tweets and totally accurate analysis. This is not good thinking.
Because people conflated Bitcoin with money, there is an underlying assumption that the men involved in Bitcoin must emulate the behaviour of stuffy, stiff, humourless bankers. Nothing could be further from the truth. We know that Bitcoin is not money and in properly designed businesses, no one needs to be trusted; Bitcoin itself is the infallible guarantor. All the social signals that men used to use to assess trust (ties, logos, and all the trappings of banking) have been replaced with software. This leaves people behind the levers to “let it all hang out” and be totally honest, because the software is what you trust, not the men who wrote it. This is another benefit of Bitcoin, that is slowly starting to emerge.
The people stuck in the 20th Century are the same ones who never encrypted their email and think that Bitcoin is for buying Starbucks on chain. They're the ones doing the speech policing, and calling internet culture “toxic”. Samson Mow being hired is an explicit rejection of these wrong ideas; he is being hired because he merits the job, and nothing else. Bitcoin is not about illusions, it is about MATHEMATICAL FACTS. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-mint-of-king-cnut-a5f001770ea1 | [] | 2017-07-19 09:57:07.230000+00:00 | ['Banking', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Royal Mint'] |
Grab the 4-star Eufy RoboVac 30C robot vacuum for just $180 | in The New York Times | https://medium.com/@russell85012040/grab-the-4-star-eufy-robovac-30c-robot-vacuum-for-just-180-f4a122f72902 | [] | 2020-12-25 00:22:54.077000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Tvs', 'Surveillance', 'Chromecast'] |
Do Marketers Dream of Artificial Intelligence? | Mad Men v.s. Math Men
© nanuvision / Adobe Stock
Today, the breed of Mad Men like Don Draper, whose mad genius once ruled the advertising world, is being dethroned by the emerging crop of Math Men, who specialize in utilizing data science and algorithms to harvest consumer insights. The technology that emerged in the past two decades has provided the perfect soil for the Math Men to thrive. Don is getting more and more depressed, as he can foresee a future where creative geniuses like him will exit the stage and disappear in the wave of history. But is that so? Has this transformed digital era forced the traditional Mad Men into extinction?
Jim Lecinski, a former VP at Google and current Medill IMC Professor, believes that we are still too early to assert whether AI is going to transform the existing marketing world entirely: “Big-budget brands like Nike, IKEA and Sephora are pioneering AI for marketing, but most advertisers don’t have their resources, so they’re focusing on more immediate marketing efforts.”
It is inevitable that today’s marketing decisions are more geared toward data collection due to the increasing demand for 1-on-1 personalized marketing. As companies today are relentlessly collecting consumer data, it is essential for AI to step in to extract insights and continuously learn from past trends. However, a talented marketing team is irreplaceable.
As Lecinski stated: “Success requires a combination, a partnership of humans AND machines.” The utilization of AI and machine learning can only be effective if deployed by a talented, sophisticated marketing team that can come up with a rock-solid marketing strategy to acquire, retain, grow its customer relationships, and promote customer advocacy.
In the well-known science fiction masterpiece Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Phillip K. Dicks depicted a world where artificial intelligence has gained empathy and lived like human beings. As we look at the world 60 years after the book was written, this dream does not seem to be so far-fetched. Artificial intelligence technologies are aggressively taking over the marketing world and getting access to brands, both big and small.
It would be an appropriate time to start dreaming big and asking where AI will lead us to in the future. The marketers of the new generation should not categorize themselves in either the “Mad Men” or the “Math Men” faction. | https://medium.com/jimc-2021/do-marketers-dream-of-artificial-intelligence-b3ef2a476733 | ['Journal Of Integrated Marketing Communications'] | 2020-12-31 22:03:55.700000+00:00 | ['Digital Transformation', 'Digital Marketing', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'AI'] |
How to Install/Reinstall Kano OS for Raspberry Pi. | Has your Computer Kit run into an issue and needs Kano OS (operating system) to be reinstalled? Do you want to install Kano OS to use with another Pi? It’s quick and easy to do!
You will need:
Memory card with black adapter
Desktop/laptop computer with a memory card reader
An Internet connection
Please note: While most Kano OS apps sync online with your Kano World profile, some files are saved locally, such as LibreOffice documents. Reinstalling Kano OS onto your memory card will delete any local files you have saved in your file system. Please back up these local files using Google Drive, which is located in the Kano OS app drawer, or by putting them onto a USB Thumb Drive prior to following the steps below.
Step 1
We’ll use a program called Etcher to write Kano OS to the memory card. You will need to download and install Etcher. Please ensure you have the authorization to do so.
Download Etcher from here.
The website will automatically choose the right version of Etcher to install on your computer.
Once Etcher is downloaded, open the program and follow the on-screen instructions to install and run it.
Step 2
Next, you’ll need to check which kit you have. Check out the below list to make sure you download the correct Kano OS image file for your Computer Kit:
Kano OS Image File
Compatible Computer Kit
Raspberry Pi 3 with a 16GB memory card
for the Computer Kit Touch
Raspberry Pi 3 with a 8GB memory card for the Computer Kit Complete and Computer Kit Sold February 2016 OnwardRaspberry Pi 2 with a 8GB memory card
for the Computer Kit Sold Before February 2016
Raspberry Pi 1 with a 8GB memory card for the Original Computer Kit
Not sure which Raspberry Pi or SD card you have? Click here!
The Kano OS image file is quite a big file, so don’t worry if it takes some time to download. If you’re not sure what Raspberry Pi you have, you can quickly check this by looking at the white text written on the green Raspberry Pi board (the brain of your computer!)
Step 3
Take the small memory card (microSD Card) out of the Raspberry Pi of your Computer Kit. It can be found on the underside of the Raspberry Pi.
Slide the small memory card into the black adapter that came with your Computer Kit. It should then look something like this:
Slot the card into your computer’s memory card reader.
Side note: If Etcher is telling you that your SD Card is locked or protected, make sure the small slider on the left side of your adapter is in the “up” position. You can find more information on this in this article here.
Step 4
Open the Etcher program you installed a little earlier on. Click “Flash from file”.
Select the file you downloaded and click “Open”.
Step 5
Etcher should automatically detect your memory card and select it. If not, please click the “Select target” button and select your card. If Etcher has chosen the wrong one, click the “Change” button to select the correct card. The card should show that it’s size is 15.93 GB or 7.9 GB depending on your memory card’s size.
Make sure you have selected the right drive! If you have any other storage devices plugged into your computer, you could accidentally wipe them. We recommend removing all other storage devices before continuing.
Step 6
You’re ready to go! Click the “Flash” button to get things started. The computer may need your permission to access the memory card.
Step 7
The computer is now doing all the hard work. It usually takes between 10–20 minutes to install and validate the new operating system, so go and make yourself a well-deserved cup of tea!
Step 8
That’s it! Once you see the “Flash Complete!” message, take the memory card out of your laptop, remove the black adapter, and put the micro card back inside your Computer Kit. You now have the latest Kano OS!
Didn’t quite work for you? No problem — let us know and we’d be happy to help! | https://medium.com/@teamkano/how-to-install-reinstall-kano-os-for-raspberry-pi-8bf6e2edcd5d | [] | 2020-12-10 10:12:43.811000+00:00 | ['Raspberry Pi', 'Technology', 'Software', 'Kano Computing', 'Coding'] |
The line of their lives — the first ski descent of Aoraki/Mount Cook | By Joe Harrison
A version of this story was originally published in the 2011 edition of New Zealand Skier.
Under a clear cool spring night on the 15th of November in 1982, Geoff Wayatt and John Belennerhassett left the confines of their warm sleeping bags inside Plateau Hut, clicked into their bindings and starting skinning across the Grand Plateau by torchlight. It was 3.30am, conditions were perfect and John and Geoff had been lucky enough to score the only three clear weather days in the last two months. By 6.30am the sun was already rising above the East Coast and working its way up the Tasman Glacier. Skis were replaced with crampons at the bottom of the Linda Shelf; the touring had finished for now and the technical climbing was about to begin.
Aoraki/Mount Cook is a mountaineer’s kind of mountain, you won’t find a chair lift or rental shop here, just getting to the base of the peak itself requires a full day of hiking or a short helicopter ride. At 3,754 metres, its huge and intimidating faces are filled with glaciers, seracs and ice cliffs. Normal skiers would not dream of carving turns into such a formidable giant, but then men like Geoff Wayatt and John Belennerhassett are not what you would call normal skiers.
As early as 1893 climbers were using skis and skins to access the mountains surrounding New Zealand’s highest peak. Before global warming gave the glaciers a good thaw and made access much more difficult, guests at the Hermitage Hotel would even go on ski day trips on the Tasman Glacier. The 1930s saw skiers armed with skins starting to cross the Southern Alps on ten-day trips. As the years progressed, skiers started moving into the higher mountains, testing their skills on their wooden skis and leather boots. By the time the 1980s rolled around, Aoraki/Mount Cook still remand unskied but its time as a virgin peak was running out.
Climbing Mount Cook was nothing new for Geoff who, as a qualified mountain guide, had climbed the peak a number of times. John was in unfamiliar territory. Not only had John never climbed Mount Cook, he had very limited mountaineering experience. Unlike Geoff who was by definition a true mountaineer, John was more a skier who could climb when he had to.
While the rest of the world spent the 1970s undergoing the social revolution, a different kind of change was happening in the mountains of France, called “l’extreme du ski” or extreme skiing. Skiers like Patrick Vallencant and Jean-Maric Boivin were doing the unthinkable, making turns on 50 degree slopes that were regarded as climbing routes not ski lines. While l’extreme du ski may have started in France, it soon arrived in New Zealand as Kiwi mountain guides who had witnessed this ski revolution first hand in Chamonix started skiing steep lines in the Southern Alps after returning home.
After five hours of solid climbing in excellent conditions, John and Geoff finally reached the summit of Mount Cook at 11.30am. The weather had continued to hold and they enjoyed a crystal clear view of the Main Divide from the highest point in Aotearoa. “My overriding thought at the summit was ‘don’t drop a ski’”, recounts Geoff twenty-nine years later from his home in Wanaka. After cutting a small ledge in the summit slope to work in, the pair swapped crampons for skis. The rope with which they had climbed to the summit stayed attached to their harnesses. While the green ice on the summit had gone with the warm weather, the snow remained hard and icy and a fall here would be fatal. Geoff had led the climb up the mountain, but it was John, the skier, who made the first ‘on belay’ turns on the summit off Mount Cook. Geoff recalls: “I can remember the horrible chattering sound John’s skis made on the ice at the summit, the first pitch was very committing but we were motivated, confident and happy with it.”
Backcountry skiing has been growing in popularity in recent years to the point that you can now see touring bindings in most lift lines in New Zealand. The back bowls of our ski resorts have turned into popular destinations for Kiwi skiers willing to earn their turns away from the crowds. While most outdoor shops today stock lightweight skis, sticky skins and comfortable touring boots, these modern tools simply did not exist in 1982. Geoff’s skis for the Mount Cook mission were 200cm long Dynamic VR 27 racing skis (skis which now sit in the DOC office at Mt Cook) — they were made to win medals at the Olympics but Geoff was claiming first descents with them — and a normal pair of Scott ski boots.
With the first 100m of steep ice “skating” over, John and Geoff were happy to see the snow improve as they moved onto the middle icecap. The rope connecting them was packed away and at last they were able to enjoy the skiing. “It was one of the few times that the whole flow thing was going and its was just incredible,” Geoff remembers.
While the ski-movie stars may jump out of helicopters and blitz a steep powdery Alaskan line in minutes if not seconds, ski mountaineers take their time; often they are skiing exposed hard icy lines that require precision turns. Many lines involve an abseil (or three) over ice cliffs that can’t be skied, so skiing lines on mountains like Mount Cook doesn’t take minutes, it takes hours.
After navigating a gully above the exposed summit rocks, Geoff and John continued left of the rocks and made smooth creamy turns down the lower section of the mountain until they reached the flatter Linda Glacier. By 4pm the pair were back where they started at Plateau Hut, with a summit and first descent in the bag. But the day was not over yet. Geoff and John had not only set their sights on the first descent but also on claiming the longest ski run in New Zealand. They still had to get over to Glacier Dome, ski to the edge of Tasman Glacier and walk out to Ball Hut road. In total it took the pair a monster 19 hours to ski from the summit of Mount Cook to the lakes of the Tasman Glacier and set a new record of 2545m skied in a single day.
Since Geoff and John’s first descent of the North Face in 1982, Mount Cook has been skied numerous times by a number of Kiwi characters. Before his death on K2 in 1995, Bruce Grant not only skied the peak by a similar route to the first descent but then went back to paraglide off the summit.
In recent years skiers have been keeping the alpinist spirit alive with new routes. Kiwi freeskier Todd Windle teamed up with Axel Naglich (Austria) and Baptiste Blanc (France) in 2004 to ski a first descent down the West Ridge into the North West Couloir of Mt Cook after waiting for two weeks at Empress Hut for perfect conditions. In 2008 skier John Mletschnig and snowboarder Alwin Heller came close to bagging the first descent via the East Ridge but were unable to ski the top 100m due to thick ice on the summit.
Today the last true unskied line on Mount Cook is to be found on the infamous southeast Caroline Face. First climbed in 1970 by John Glasgow and Peter Gough, whipping local media into a frenzy, this 6000ft monster is a maze of broken glaciers and hanging snow fields that seem to be constantly roaring with avalanches. Some of the world’s best ski mountaineers have been turning up in the last ten years hoping they will be the first to claim one of the last great ski descents in the Southern Hemisphere, but so far the mountain has sent them all home empty-handed.
Nothing really changed for Geoff Wayatt and John Belennerhassett after their epic mission. Geoff kept working as a mountain guide (he is still guiding today at the age of 65) and went on to bag another first descent on Mount Tutoko in Fiordland with his son Chris. John now works as a manager of an IT company. While their names are written in the history books of Aoraki/Mount Cook, many Kiwis have never heard of these two skiers. But then they never did it for the TV cameras. They simply wanted to see if it could be done and ended up bagging the line of their lives.
2020 UPDATE: Since this article was written in early 2011, a number of notable ski and snowboard descends have been made on Aoraki/Mount Cook, these include but are not limited to: the first complete ski descent of the East Face in 2013 by Tyrone Low, Niki Begg, Magnus Kastengren and Andreas Fransson and the first ski descent of the Caroline Face in 2017 by Enrico Mosetti, Ben Briggs and Tom Grant. | https://medium.com/@joeharrison_44475/the-line-of-there-lives-skiing-mt-cook-the-1982-first-descent-d60f6539ec8e | ['Joe Harrison'] | 2020-05-09 20:35:59.724000+00:00 | ['Mountaineering', 'Ski', 'New Zealand', 'Skitouring', 'Mt Cook National Park'] |
The MTA loses six billion dollars a year and nobody cares | Photo from 2005 NYC Transit Strike
New York City is the center of capitalism and financial markets, however, hiding underneath the towering skyscrapers is an organization that defies the free market forces by siphoning off increasing amounts of city and state taxpayer dollars. This organization is the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA), which loses on average more than $6 billion per year dating back to 2009. If the MTA were a company in a functioning free market, it would have filed bankruptcy and restructured a decade ago. Instead, the city and state increase taxpayer subsidies and debt year after year, while acquiescing to union demands, resulting in one of the highest costing, least productive transit systems in the world.
The MTA’s cost of labor is greater than all its total revenue
The average salary of an MTA employee is nearly $90,000
Salaries, benefits, and retirement at the MTA are out of control. In 2015, the MTA spent $9.85b on employee salaries, retirement, and post-employment benefits. This is one billion dollars more than the $8.4b in total revenue the MTA collected. Before paying any other business expenses, the MTA is already losing money.
An analysis of MTA salary data on seethroughny.net, excluding salaries below the lowest contractual union wage, shows that out of 62,507 MTA employees, the average 2015 salary was $89,779. The vast majority of these employees are bus operators, train conductors, station agents, maintenance personnel, and cleaners. Analysis conducted on 2010 salaries of bus/rail operators and maintenance personnel shows that MTA salaries range from 18% to 60% higher than other US metro systems (i.e. Chicago, SF, LA, Miami) with very few exceptions.
The MTA spent over $876m on overtime in 2015
Because the MTA Bus Company did not provide its overtime accounting, total overtime in 2015 is actually greater than $876m. This number is even more egregious when you consider that only a subset of roles is responsible for the vast majority of overtime due to union constraints and inflexible work rules that will be detailed in a later section. Exhibit 1 below shows that in 2015, there were three hourly employees who worked so much overtime they grossed a higher salary than the MTA Chairman, Thomas Prendergast.
Exhibit 1: Top 4 Salaries at MTA in 2015
The $876m overtime bill in 2015 represented 15% of payroll, which is nearly double the 8% benchmark of average private nonfarm manufacturing overtime tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2010 when the MTA’s total overtime bill was $560m, or 13% of payroll, the MTA vowed to crack down, however the overtime issues have only been exasperated.
High absenteeism drives more overtime
Truancy resulting in last minute scheduling is a large driver of overtime at the MTA. Over a quarter of MTA employees use more than 15 sick days per year. This is in addition to the 20 annual vacation days employees receive after three years of service. Employees also receive their birthday as a holiday.
There’s a certain percentage of employees who take the mental health day. They wake up and say ‘I don’t feel like working today.’ Thomas Prendergast, Current MTA Chairman
Excessive usage and abuse of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is another driver of unplanned absences. Once an employee is approved under the act, he or she may take up to 60 unplanned/unpaid sick days per year. FMLA usage is not periodically reported by the MTA, however is 2010 it was revealed to be at 9% in the bus division and 20% in the Staten Island bus division.
MTA employees do not have a “Cadillac” health plan, it’s a Porsche
The MTA’s health and dental coverage is among the best of all comparable US transit systems and corporations. MTA employees pay 2% of their gross pay, excluding overtime, for health insurance. While the cost for an individual employee is in-line with the US average, the contribution for a family is significantly subsidized as seen in Exhibit 2 below. After paying the 2% salary contribution for insurance, MTA employees pay virtually nothing for any medical services for the entire family, with the exception of a $15 co-pay. Comparatively, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has a deducible and 10% co-insurance, and the Los Angeles MTA has a very small deductible, but 20% co-insurance.
Exhibit 2: Comparison US metro health coverage vs US national average
Not to be outdone by the MTA’s health insurance plan, the MTA’s dental plan is even better. Employees pay no premium and the plan covers 100% of all procedures including crowns, root canals, and surgery up to $1,800 per person per year, and full orthodontics for 24 months.
When adding in the cost of health and dental insurance premiums, the average salary of an MTA employee exceeds $100,000, without even considering pension costs.
Unfunded pension and post-employment benefit liabilities pose a substantial future risk
Exhibit 3: MTA 2015 operating revenue and expenses (in millions)
While employee salaries and wages are the highest operating expense, pension (retirement), and other post-employment benefits are increasing at an even faster pace. Since 2009, pension and other post-employment benefits have increased at an annual rate of 4.4% and 6.4% respectively.
In the current state, the MTA is able to cover these costs with subsidies from the state and city government. However, in the future, either subsidies will be drastically increased resulting in higher taxes, or fares will increase faster than inflation. As of November 2014, the MTA had a $17.8b unfunded liability for post-employment benefits, and then reallocated and suspended future contributions to the reserve in order to pay for the new union labor agreement. There are also several underfunded pensions, including the LIRR pension that had a funding level of 26.8 percent as of Jan. 1, 2012. An 80 percent level is considered optimal for funds to be able to pay future claims.
Inflexible and inefficient union work rules cost the MTA billions of dollars per year
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has a rich history, starting with its founding during the Great Depression when the private transit companies were abusing the nations dire situation, which consisted of underpaying, overworking, and mistreating their employees. Today many of these issues have been rendered moot thanks to increased transparency in the work place, government protections combined with an accessible justice system, and a wide variety of available jobs. Over the years, the union has grown in power with its ability to shutdown the city of New York, resulting in capitulation by management and the city and a plethora of work rules that stifle productivity.
Cost of construction for the MTA is 2–7x more expensive than any comparable subway system in the world
The extension of the 7 line from Times Square to the Javits Center cost $1.6 billion per mile. It would be the most expensive in the world if not for the first phase of the Second Avenue subway, which is estimated to cost $2.7 billion per mile of new tunnel. Compare this to the cost of other new tunnels worldwide in London, Tokyo, Berlin, and Paris, which cost respectively $700m, $560m, $400m, and $368m per mile. What is this discrepancy attributed to? According to Michael Horodniceanu, president of the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital construction division: “work rules.” Citing the example of the city’s revered sandhogs, he said the MTA employs 25 people for tunnel-boring machine work that Spain does with nine.
Pay raises for union employees are stipulated by collective bargaining agreements, not performance, and union employees reach maximum pay after five years
By structuring pay raises based on tenure, capping after five years, union employees are not incentivized to work any harder than a level just above what would result in termination. The average tenure of an MTA employee is 13.8 years, far above the national median of 4.6, which demonstrates how “good” of a job this is. In the past, the MTA attempted to tie pay to performance, but the union rejected it. This generalization does not apply to all employees as some want to progress to higher roles.
The MTA cannot decrease the number of conductors per train
The concept of excessive conductors is a multi-faceted issue that has present and future implications. Currently, the LIRR has conductors that punch every riders ticket. This process became obsolete last century from the use of turnstiles or the honor system along with heavy fines for dodgers, as in Europe. Also, there are several train lines, such as the L, that have an advanced driving system requiring only one operator. In 2005, the MTA removed the second conductor from the L, but the union forced the MTA to bring the second conductor back. For 11 years, taxpayers have paid for someone who does absolutely nothing on the L train.
The future ramifications are more drastic. Around the world, over 15 subway systems have at least one fully automated line, including systems in Malaysia and the Philippines. The MTA currently has approximately 7,000 train conductors and operators being paid an average salary of $100,000 including benefits. If the MTA were to invest in driverless trains, they would save $700m annually, not including future pension and post-employment costs.
Union rules require overtime for work over eight hours per shift
Overtime for shifts over eight hours is a significant contributor to the nearly $1b overtime bill the MTA had last year. There are a significant number of professions that allow, if not require, work days over eight hours (e.g. medical professionals, truck drivers, construction workers, call service reps, EMTs, ect.) and do not pay overtime unless the employee exceeds 80 hours over two weeks. Due to the nature of transit and overnight maintenance, 12 hour shifts are required for many jobs at the MTA. | https://medium.com/@johnnyknocke/the-mta-loses-six-billion-dollars-a-year-and-nobody-cares-d0d23093b2d8 | ['Johnny Knocke'] | 2020-08-14 14:34:17.785000+00:00 | ['NYC', 'Public Transit', 'Transportation', 'Mta', 'New York'] |
FlutterDesktop and C | Call C library from FlutterDesktop MacOS
How to call c library from FlutterDesktop (MacOS)?Hmm….
All in one Flutter resource: https://flatteredwithflutter.com/flutterdesktop-and-c/
FlutterDesktop and C
Begin…
Level: Intermediate
Pre-Requisite: Install package FFI
This article assumes that the reader has knowledge about FFI. In case not, check this.
We will cover briefly about
Creating C Library Integrate C Library in Flutter MacOS Call from Flutter MacOS
Note: We won’t be explaining in-depth about Dart FFI as there are good articles dedicated to it.
FlutterDesktop and C
Creating C Library
Every complicated thing starts with a basic thing. Let’s create a simple C library (Hello World)
Introducing CMake and makefile
Creating a c library involves a bunch of commands, either you can use those or you can utilize CMake.
FlutterDesktop and C | CMake
As per the documentation
CMake is an extensible, open-source system that manages the build process in an operating system and in a compiler-independent manner.
Install CMake using
brew install cmake
CMake uses a text file named CMakeLists.txt, in the home directory of the software package, to specify the actions that are necessary to set up the software. The user begins the build process by moving to the home directory and typing
cmake .
CMake will carry out a configuration process, after which a traditional Makefile will be created in the home directory. The software process is then completed by typing | https://medium.com/flutter-community/flutterdesktop-and-c-7cd2e0106bd8 | ['Aseem Wangoo'] | 2020-12-30 02:39:15.981000+00:00 | ['Dart', 'Flutter', 'C', 'Programming', 'Software Development'] |
BAM! Stalking The Wild & Captivating Poem In 2019… | “A memorized poem, or a line or two, becomes part internal jewelry and part life-saving skill, like knowing how to put a mugger in an arm-lock or the best way to cut open a mango without slicing your hand.” –Mark Yakich
Startled, stunned, surprised… stopped in midair by a poem! I never tire of that feeling and I especially love seeing others stealthfully confronted by a powerful piece of language. I’ve delighted in seeing so many people over the years, who have been deeply moved by just the right poem at the just the right moment in their life. People plunged into states of sublime captivation. Transfixed by simple sequences of words read or spoken. It can happen slowly over time or quickly in an instant. BAM! I crave the experience.
Yes, of course, these feelings art provides are subjective. And our taste and appetites for language will differ. We are not machines after all. But still, over the years, I’ve noticed certain portable principles that can be quite helpful for spotting and even seeking out this kind of language, if we care and if we dare!
Working one-on-one, in classrooms and with audiences I’ve discovered that when a captivating poem grabs us, we can feel as if the poem were coming from inside our own body. Suddenly we know things we didn’t know we knew. We see old things new. We develop new hungers, quests, and questions. Questions derived from the poems that begin to burn in the back of our minds, demanding answers.
Captivating poems, like serious jokes, often give us that jolt of surprise on the way to delighting and informing us. They help us remember who we are. They catch us being real. They grab us by our unconscious beliefs and assumptions, holding them up to the light, asking is this who we really are? Here’s how they roll in 3 powerful ways:
1.) First, they give us uncommon access to our interior selves. Captivating poems shine their light on critical beliefs and assumptions, often dipping into our unconscious realms where our mind reflects and makes up the world. It’s these very perspectives about the way we and the world are that so often become our blind spots. The right poem lights up our interior. It allows us the sheer joy, delight and sometimes shock of the instantaneous ah-ha moment!
2.) Second, after providing access to the truth of our interior selves, a captivating poem can then support us in reassessing what we may want to be true instead. It allows us to identify the kinds of beliefs, assumptions, and values we may want and need to adopt in order to realize a new perspective and ultimately actualize our larger dreams and visions.
3.) Third, after the critical steps of providing access and helping us reassess, a captivating poem can commence in helping us take one critical step at a time in order to actually change our selves and our lives.
Think of this as the “ARC” (Access | Reassess | Change) of a captivating poem. I first noticed this process years ago. I was away from home, weary from a long stressful drive, sitting in a historic public hall in a California hill town. That night I would hear and feel the full weight of words I had never experienced before. These are just some of the words I heard that night that changed the ARC of my own life.
My heart rouses / thinking to bring you news / of something / that concerns you / and concerns many men. Look at / what passes for the new. / You will not find it there but in / despised poems. / It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.
Hearing these words, I thought who could say such an absurd thing? Who could assign poetry this kind of critical and central role in our lives? Are you kidding I said to myself? Poetry? To say I was skeptical is a massive understatement.
But still, I couldn’t deny my interest and surprise at hearing these few strange lines from a much longer poem called Asphodel, That Greeny Flower, by poet, William Carlos Williams. I could not deny that something had been touched inside me. I could not deny that my perceptions, beliefs, and assumptions about the power of language had been exposed to something very new, which would forever alter them.
Soon to follow the change of my perceptions and beliefs was my heart and then my feet. Since that time, poetry has remained a passion for all these 25 plus years. Why? Because of its strange, exciting, surprising and yes, the captivating powers.
And again, it’s true there is a unique subjective experience at the heart of any captivating poem. Perhaps the Williams poem that blew me away all those years ago, is only mildly compelling to you, or perhaps not at all.
Still, my experience working with thousands of people by now and with an untold number of poems is that most people (if they’re exposed to the right poems) will find their own captivating lines. And on that subject, it’s important to realize that many captivating poems are not poems at all, at least not in a formal sense. In this, I agree with poet, William Stafford that a poem can be any language read or heard that causes us to stop what we are doing and simply pay attention.
So for example, try out any of these few brief lines below for yourself. Some are poem excerpts others are aphorisms. Of course, when it comes to poetry, we often need a full dose of the entire poem. But still I want to offer you some brief nibbles. Will these words captivate you? I don’t know. They may feel subtle at first, then sink in deeper over time. I hope they send you searching for the whole poem. No need to force anything, other than simply reading and being ready for what naturally occurs. It may help their impact if you read the quoted lines slowly and out loud.
Let the beauty we love be what we do. (When Rumi speaks, where do you go?)
Not seen, because not looked for / But heard, half-heard, in the stillness/ Between two waves of the sea./ Quick now, here, now, always / A condition of complete simplicity/ (Costing not less than everything) (What is complete simplicity? We don’t know exactly, but it sure seems appealing at times. For me, T.S. Eliot is describing something in these few lines that I’ve never been able to shake.)
Don’t give it away… give it back. (Yes, the subject is wealth. When I first read this aphorism by poet, William Stafford, it definitely captured my attention. Have we entered the last stages of our current economic system? Eight people now have the equivalent wealth of the bottom half of the planet’s population. Is that sustainable? Might we look to fairness to help us design our economy?)
Stand still. The forest knows / Where you are. You must let it find you. (These last 14 words of David Wagoner’s famous poem called Lost, has forever made different my experience inside any forest. Let’s add “word bathing” to our “forest bathing.”)
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, / in secret, between the shadow and the soul. (Do these words by Pablo Neruda upend any of your habits or beliefs? These words make me want to experience that secret place with my sweetheart.)
For it is important that awake people be awake, / or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; (After reading this quote from William Stafford’s famous poem called A Ritual To Read For Each Other, it is awfully hard not to take seriously our responsibility to all our fellow citizens. We must stay awake ourselves and do our best to help others stay awake as well. Now in 2019 more than ever!)
Writing a poem is easy, like swimming into a fish trap. Analyzing a poem is hard, like swimming out of a fish trap. (William Stafford said this and I believe it. Any of us can feel at home with language, either writing or reading it, if we simply respond as we naturally will and forget about any need or “shoulds” concerning analysis or the correct and prescribed reaction.)
Yes, of course, I hope you’ve been captivated by some of the words you have found here. I hope a little opening has happened for you. I hope one of these little ditties caused you to lean back, look inside yourself and wonder about something real. Yes, I hope you felt a little BAM! | https://medium.com/@dale_70655/bam-stalking-the-wild-captivating-poem-in-2019-4dc870a47ee2 | ['Dale Biron'] | 2019-01-02 02:49:37.436000+00:00 | ['Growth Hacking', 'Poet', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Growth', 'Self-awareness'] |
27 Best Email Marketing Practices to Follow [Email Marketing Tools Included] | We all know, one of the most popular digital marketing tactics is Email Marketing, which is still popular because of its usefulness and positive impact on the audience. Maybe, we don’t pay that much attention towards it as it was used to get in the past, but it’s also true that it has not lost its impact. There is nothing like email marketing if you want more leads and better prospects for your brand as a large customer base. To get this marketing done right, a marketer needs to invest in the right automation tools and an email database of the targeted audience. And Most Important, the result-driven email marketing strategy should be crafted first. You will see the detailed information about the best email marketing practices and the tools needed to run successful email marketing campaigns.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a simple procedure where a brand or business owner sends emails to people from their targeted client base to notify them about the offerings and brand services. The effective marketing strategy aims to convert the audience into loyal customers through engaging email marketing.
Why Email Marketing is Important?
Email marketing does have its value and will always have even among the new-age digital marketing techniques. But why it is so important?
The email is one of the most used electronic communication networks
Email is still among the most used communication networks. Nearly 99% of the people have an active email and use their emails for communication with others. Hence, this network is wide and allows you to reach thousands of people easily.
Email is still among the most used communication networks. Nearly have an active email and use their emails for communication with others. Hence, this network is wide and allows you to reach thousands of people easily. You get your customised database
Another benefit is that you can make a specialised list of the contact you need to use for marketing. The list remains with you and will not be suspended. So you can always connect to people who you need to connect.
Another benefit is that you can make a specialised list of the contact you need to use for marketing. The list remains with you and will not be suspended. So you can always connect to people who you need to connect. An email has a better conversion rate
Email marketing has a higher . People often consider emails from a particular brand before making any decision about buying any product or services. The 440% ROI of email marketing is enough for any business to reach new heights. It can effectively convert your viewers into loyal clients who will make purchases from your brand multiple times.
The main benefit and effect lie with the techniques you use for email marketing. If you want the best results with email marketing, make sure to follow these 27 Email Marketing Tips -
Email Marketing Best Practices
Do not purchase email lists in bulk
The first tip is to avoid buying bulk email lists for email marketing. If you connect with people who you have purchased from a provider, you may not get a healthy email marketing ROI. The ROI can be extremely low in such cases. So, avoid buying email lists in bulk. After the implementation of General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, you need the consent of a recipient before you send them an email for marketing purposes. The bulk list does not offer consent. Hence, the best way is to open the lead with your previously contacted emails and subscriber list.
Avoid using “No’ Reply” is email as a sense
It is better if you do not use “No-reply” in the email of your sender during email marketing. The “No-reply” function prevents interested customers from connecting to you and does not offer any positive engagement. On the other hand, it also does not allow the uninterested recipient to unsubscribe your mail. The “CAN-SPAM” rule is on the rise, and more and more brands are allowing their recipients to reply to them with the same thread. Additionally, people and viewers tend to prefer emails that come from a first name instead of bearing a business name. It is because such emails have a better approach and a better rate of positive reactions.
Optimise the emails preview list
Always try to optimise the preview list of any email you are sending to any potential audience. Having the preview text may look unprofessional to the recipient, and they might not be interested in optimising the email themselves for viewing the image or graphic. Hence, try to get an optimised email which automatically shows graphics, images etc. when the recipient opens the mail.
Include an email signature
Try always to include an email signature that comes with all the details of your brand and has a unique brand identity. The email is being sent to a targeted audience from a band, nor an individual. The branding is very important. Instead of a brand logo, try to incorporate a personal signature so that it gets a more human-like approach. The receiver appreciates such signatures because people tend to appreciate individual efforts. Mproebr, they respond in a positive way when they realise the email comes with a personal touch from an individual instead of being a regular automated mail.
Clean your mailing list regularly
Always make sure to clean your mail list regularly to keep it updated. Not all receipts will respond positively. So having an updated email list allows you to check the positive engagement rate and also allows you to have a list that comes with only the emails of your subscribers and existing clients.
Hence, if no recipient shows positive engagement for a long time, remove them and make a list crisp and effective.
Keep the main message and call-to-action above the fold
It is better if you keep features like the call-to-action or CTA in the message above the fold. If you keep it below the fold, more than 70% of recipients will not notice the feature and will not revert. So, it is better to place such features in such a range that is gets displayed instantly.
Personalise the email greeting
Instead of using conventional and general greeting messages, try to use a personalised greeting message. The mails which come with personalised greetings and the first name of the recipient gets more privilege. It is because it adds a personal touch in the mail and instantly grabs the reader’s attention for a further positive engagement.
Keep your email 500–650 pixels wide
It is better to use an optimised template for email which is accessible from any device like a smartphone, a PC or a tab. The 500–650 pixel size is ideal. Suppose you opt for larger pixel size. In that case, the reader may need to scroll horizontally to read the full message, and they might not be interested in doing so. But, using an optimised pixel size offers them the whole message, and they can read it more conveniently.
A/B Testing on Emails
It is better to get regular A/B testing done for your email lists and email marketing campaign. If your marketing campaign does not offer you better business prospects using the split test can improve the marketing a lot. The test uses a simple technique to find the best practice.
In the case of the A/B Test, your recipients are divided into two lists- A and B. The people from the list “A” receive the regular email. On the other hand, people from list “B” get a newsletter with a new design. This test is used to determine how people respond to your newsletters and which design is best for getting better click-through rates.
Manage your Brand Theme on emails
Effective branding is necessary for successful email marketing. Without proper brand identity, your email marketing may not offer the desired results. The best way to give your email marketing brand identity is to opt for a brand logo. Try to choose the same logo that you use for your brand identification. Placing the logo in the upper left side is the best way to grab eyeballs of your recipient. It reminds them of your brand and also makes the email look more consistent.
Use incentives to increase email open rates
The email open rate is the main Parameter of success in case of email marketing. So if you want to increase this open rate to 50%, it is better to offer some freebies. The incentives or small giveaways are enough to attract your customers. Such small offerings are a lucrative offer to any buyer, and they might even return to your business for repeated purchases.
But you have to opt for “less is more” motto. If you overwhelm the potential buyers with so many emails for buying and savings code, they might lose interest. Hence, best is to offer seasonal giveaways or incentives to first time buyers.
Allow recipients to subscribe to your newsletter
The best way is to allow your email recipients to subscribe for your email. They might not subscribe even after reading the mail. So, try to grab their attention by placing a subscription button inside your email, which is easily visible. It should be placed in such a way that it does not become the main focus point.
Write concise subject lines
The subject of the email you send to choose for marketing purposes is also important. The concise and meaningful subject line of 30–50 characters (with spaces) is the best choice. Such lines can compel your recipient to read the mail. Moreover, concise subject lines allow the readers to grasp the main message of the mail easily.
Use auto-responders for opt-ins
For those who opt-in for your newsletter and become a subscriber, auto-response works like an appreciation. It is because auto-response appreciates their efforts and also welcomes them as a subscriber and potential buyer. So, always invest in auto-response replies to anyone who subscribes. You can send the response after one day or even seven days after the recipient registers for your newsletter.
Additionally, try to include a bonus reward inside the auto-response or other informative content to reward the new subscriber. It can increase their interest in your brands.
Closely tie emails to landing pages
Your email needs to resemble the landing page of your brand. Mimicking the headline style and the content nature creates a uniform brand identity in front of the reader. You can design both your landing page and emails, so they look strikingly similar.
For more information, you can use tracking tools to check, which more effective- is the email or the landing page. This will help you to send what the clients demand.
Schedule Smart
Well, you have to send the email in a time when your customer will most likely be interested in reading it. The time usually depends on the customer base. But, you can use smart research methods and available data to make an accurate guess about the right time.
According to reports, the best time is to send emails on Tuesdays at 10 am. This time may change according to your business. But, smart scheduling and coscheduling often allow you to reach people in a better way.
Develop a Cadence
Developing a cadence is another smart technique for effective email marketing. However, the larger section of emails depending on what your users and subscribers do (subscribing, opt-in activities), having a time table sure helps. You can design a calendar to send your emails for various purposes- newsletters, incentives, promotional messages etc. Try to plan to send emails from any announcement related to the new product release in advance. Advance preparation always helps. On the other hand, opt for scheduled emails during festive seasons to offer savings and discount codes to your regular clients.
Give People Options
Giving your recipients options is another effective tp. You may not be able to guess the recipient’s activities correctly. But giving those options allows you to have proved guesses about what one can do after receiving the email.
Some try to include options that a reader can choose from after reading the mail.
Never Miss “From …” Sender Name
You should always include the sender name in a proper format in your every mail. Missing the “From…” section can make your email appear shabby, less interesting and of course mechanical. People tend to get attracted to the mail if it comes from a person. Hence, try to include the name of any responsible employee instead of using your brand name.
The pre-header which displays the preview text is also important. If you forget to set the pre-header, it may make the email less organised.
Continue reading the full list of well-crafted email marketing strategies and automation tools… | https://medium.com/@krishaweb/27-best-email-marketing-practices-to-follow-email-marketing-tools-included-2a48a8ab87b | [] | 2020-12-14 07:38:38.127000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Branding', 'Email Marketing', 'Marketing Automation', 'Email Marketing Tips'] |
Keto Bombs #5 — Metabolism and Weight Loss | A common misconception shared by many people nowadays is that you cannot lose weight fast without gaining it back. That is partly true.
On the ketogenic diet, though, that need not be the case. The latest research shows that you have some beneficial changes happen to your metabolism once you lose weight on the ketogenic diet and that you do not gain weight back quite as fast as if you were on a standard calorie-restricted diet.
Water Weight
The first few pounds you lose on keto will be water weight. As we’ve said before, you hold glycogen in your muscles.
glycogen — the stored form of carbohydrates
The moment you stop eating carbohydrates, your body starts burning through all the glycogen and does not replenish it. Said glycogen holds water, a lot of it! (1g glycogen contains ~3.7g water)
This is why when you first start a keto diet you very quickly lose 1–2kg of weight.
Fast Weight Loss
It is widely known that the ketogenic diet is very effective at weight loss. There is a meta-analysis study that inspected 13 studies for long-term weight loss and compared the results of the ketogenic diet versus a low-fat diet.
5 studies of which showed that the ketogenic diet had significant more long-term weight loss, while the rest showed equal.
Which diet provides more lasting benefits?
Resting Metabolic Rate
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) — the minimum amount of energy your body requires to function.
The RMR of a person depends on both genetic factors (some people have a faster metabolism), age, hormone balance, exercise activity and muscle mass.
It amounts to over 75% of the calories you burn in a day.
Normally, when you lose a lot of weight very fast your RMR drops as well. Your metabolism adapts to your new weight. This is why the yo-yo effect is so widespread — your metabolism is now slower yet your eating habits have not necessarily adapted to the change in expenditure.
Some diets have re-feed windows where you try to ramp up your metabolism back up just because of this effect.
Keto Metabolism
On Keto, your resting metabolic rate does not decrease! Your metabolism does not slow down when losing weight.
A recent study examined the RMR of obese patients that underwent a very low calorie ketogenic diet, losing 20kg in four months and found that all 20 subject had none to very little change in their resting metabolic rate!
Normally, when you reduce your calories your body starts breaking down protein for energy. When you lose muscle, your metabolic rate naturally goes down.
The ketogenic diet is more protective against this muscle breakdown process during energy restricted periods.
Said simply, when in a ketogenic state, your body preserves more muscle. Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) has been found to reduce leucine (amino-acid) oxidation by up to 41%! | https://medium.com/sugar-free-zone/keto-bombs-5-your-metabolism-on-keto-ca6b5643a1f1 | ['Stanislav Kozlovski'] | 2019-11-06 16:12:42.074000+00:00 | ['Nutrition', 'Ketogenic Diet', 'Weight Loss', 'Biohacking', 'Bodybuilding'] |
Why you should start small | Why you should start small
Photo by Matt Duncan on Unsplash
In a time where everyone is talking about Big Data, Data Science, Machine Learning and how you can build up new data driven products or even dream about to create a new unicorn — often you just need some simple dashboard skills.
One thing ahead
When you have a lot of customer data and your business is for example an big online shop you will definitely have a high chance of using machine learning and other related fields to develop better decision models, predict customer churns and have preciser forecasts. The latter is also for financial and controlling departments an interesting topic. Companies in the field of IoT will need Big Data technologies to handle the vast amount of data — no question about it — but you should not dream about all these interesting use cases if you don’t have the capabilities for it.
Reasons for starting small
There are many possible reasons for this circumstance:
You just don’t have enough or interesting data and/or systems.
You don’t have a use case (You should never do Data Science just because everyone is doing so).
You don’t have done your homework — e.g. maybe your company should first care about technical debts (stable data integration, a solid and scalable analytic platform, build up data science know how, etc. — read here more about it)
In this case you should think of simpler but still interesting and useful applications that you can approach with your data.
How to get started
Often all you need is a dashboard tool. A few great examples for such tools, that are also free are:
Google Data Studio or Google Sheets
Power BI Desktop
QlikSense Desktop
Dashboard with Data Studio — Image by Author
In addition, you will need an idea how to visualize data in a way that is preserved as simple, correct and intuitive.
I just had an experience where a bubble chart helped the management to understand the data way faster and to use it for important management decisions. So what I wanna say is that you should not dream to big if you just don’t have the possibilities (yet). Even small amounts of data and just simple dashboards technics can lead to significant insights. My advice: Get started with one of the tools listed above and work with your data.
A great book I can recommend is: Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business from Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic and this blog about Google Data Studio.
For people who are already experienced with programming you might use tools like Jupyter Notebook to visualize your data. You can start right away with your browser at: https://jupyter.org/try.
Conclusion
I hope this brief article will help you to get started with working with your data and dreaming not to big (yet). In certain businesses especially small to medium sized ones you maybe will never need Data Science, Big Data and co. But even visualizing small amounts of data in a nice dashboard also can lead to better business decisions and interested readers.
Sources and Further Readings | https://towardsdatascience.com/opinion-sometimes-all-you-need-is-a-bubble-chart-dont-just-dream-work-with-your-data-477b173b23c8 | [] | 2021-01-10 15:10:48.406000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Big Data', 'Power Bi', 'Google Data Studio', 'Jupyter Notebook'] |
ugChain Weekly Report(Jul.16th~Jul.22th) | Technical Progress:
Improve the technical documentation of the public blockchain design.
Analyze UGTick-Chain consensus algorithm : Tick-Block’s data structure analysis, demonstrates the optimized Tick-Block data structure and size.Adjusts the Tick-Block size for transmission testing.
Application Progress:
Virtual asset module: implements background management and APP functions such as management, creation, setting, modification, and shutdown of the asset management module.
Third-party application: complete the management configuration function for third-party applications on the APP.
Event report: complete asset chaining and notify the background, players can view assets by themselves.
ugChain Events:
ugChain COO Peter was invited to participate in the Blockchain Partners Summit blockchain Conference held in Seoul, South Korea.With the theme of “New Model, Leading the Future”, Blockchain Partners Summit aims to analyze and exchange trends in the blockchain industry, technological innovations and policies that influence the development of the blockchain industry.
More info
Official Website
Telegram
Twitter
Facebook
Medium
Reddit
Whitepaper
Coinmarketcap | https://medium.com/ugchain-publication/ugchain-weekly-report-jul-16th-jul-22th-474df57374c7 | [] | 2018-07-28 06:59:01.954000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Ugchain', 'UGC'] |
Does Blacking Out Forgive? | Photo by Maru Lombardo on Unsplash
Does Blacking Out Forgive?
And so it goes…
You black out. Your memory fails you, purely from the lack of new information being able to properly be saved into your long-term memory. You awaken with a pounding head and no recollection of what happened throughout the night prior to this morn.
I wake up with blood colored stains atop my overalls. Or is it wine? Vomit?
You may have a flashback or two. Were you dancing? Perhaps you got in a fight and now have a broken, blood-crusted nose. You feel like shit, physically and also, very quite possibly (probably, more like) mentally and emotionally and perhaps spiritually? This isn’t you. At least, you thought it wasn’t you. But you simply can’t remember. As if blacking out is simple. Forgive yourself, you say. Breathe, you say. But you can’t. You can’t remember a damn thing, and you won’t be settled until you find out just how bad you were.
I also remember flashing lights — I think. And maybe handcuffs?
You want to call your friends to ask what the fuck happened just last night, for you clearly can’t remember. But first, you run to the window to see if you were at least coherent enough to have called an Uber last night. Phone a friend: was that an option? Or did you drive?
I want to call my friends and ask them everything. They’d know, right?
Sure enough, you car is out front of your home, looking like a death mobile but also looking like a sentencing to jail. DUI, baby. DUI, baby. DUI, baby. These words haunt you as your try to recall something from last night. Anything from last night. Fucking. Anything. ANYTHING. Come on, memory. Wrack your mind more, you think. Come on, come on, comeon.
I have to pee. And puke. But that toilet in the corner of my cell looks wretched.
You call your friends, asking how much of an asshole you were last night. Why is my nose bloodied? you ask. Why did you let me drive? Why the fuck do I have blood on my jeans? What time did we leave? Where did we end up? The questions seem to never end, yet none of their answers give you any clarity. Their answers aren’t pieces to the whole puzzle, for the puzzle was thrown out the second you chugged that last beer. That last beer that was a tall. That last beer that was ten drinks to their six. That last beer that set you apart from others in terms of memory capabilities. That last beer that could have changed your life in the blink of an eye.
A woman enters, checking my vitals. All okay, she says. Okay?! Alive, at any rate.
And so it goes. Your blacked out. You had way too many drinks for your body to safely metabolize, preventing new memories to be stashed away for a rainy day, even if that rainy day is literally 12 hours later, in the AM the next day. Even if that rainy day wound you up in jail for a DUI. Even if that rainy day forced you into submission to enter a plea bargain that you aren’t an alcoholic. But are you? You begin to wonder. To question. To take a step back to reflect upon your life.
You black out at least once a week. You drive drunk or buzzed or even black-out more than you’d like. Maybe even more than you’d think. Maybe even more than you remember…
You could have killed someone. That blood from your nose? It wasn’t someone else’s. It was yours. But it easily could have been from someone else. Those feelings of yearning to remember anything from that night? It dissipates, sure, but it doesn’t make you remember anything more. Anything less. It just is.
And so it goes…
You blacked out. I blacked out.
Is it forgivable? you wonder. I wonder.
Abso-fucking-lutely.
Did you learn a lesson? I hope so. Did I learn a lesson? Fuck yes. Did you hurt anyone? Just your ego, I’d assume. Did I hurt anyone? Myself. My friends. My family. My wallet. My car. My life, temporarily. Did you self-evaluate? Maybe for a day. Did I self-evaluate? I couldn’t stop. Did you change your behaviors? For a week, sure. Did I change my behaviors? At first, by force. But now? By choice.
Everything is a choice. You choose to drink yourself into an oblivion. Or is black hole a more appropriate term here? You choose to drive home or call a friend. You choose to stop after one night in jail. You choose to keep drinking, even if the court tells you to abstain, refrain, reflect.
the choice is always yours
Will you keep driving drunk, praying to the God you don’t believe in to save you from ever hurting anyone, in case you ever black-out again? Or will you let jail change you, lest you become a shadow of your peers? Or will you change right now, telling yourself to stop drinking so damn much and refusing to drive even after just one?
The. Choice. Is. Yours.
It always is.
But if you slip-up and make an unsafe decision, remember this:
It is okay! You are okay! Don’t let this wreck your life even if it wrecked your car and finances and plans and so on. Don’t let this overwhelm your brain into a frenzied panic, morphing your fun memories into tainted ones. Don’t let this torment you until you resist all types of fun.
Life forgives. Others forgive. You too can forgive… yourself. | https://medium.com/@nataliesfelicities/does-blacking-out-forgive-500a0e25cd17 | ['Natalie Jeanne Maddy'] | 2020-11-21 16:36:34.183000+00:00 | ['Learning', 'Dui', 'Memories', 'Drinking', 'Forgiveness'] |
Write For Pythoneers | We Are Always Ready For Supporters and Content Writers
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Pythoneers is the newest publication on medium. It is a publication based on Python Programming and Things That You Can Do With Python. We Accept a Variety of Topics.
Topics We Are Interested In
Machine Learning
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Programming Tips and Tricks
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How to Submit an Article With Pythoneers
Leave a Response Below. we will add you as a writer. Follow these instructions to submit a story. https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/213904978-Add-draft-or-post-to-publication We will review and lightly edit your story. If it meets our criteria, we will publish it. | https://medium.com/pythoneers/write-for-pythoneers-b365f4ee60f2 | ['Abhay Parashar'] | 2020-12-23 14:00:52.792000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Pythoneers'] |
Joe Biden Launches New Initiative For Trans Youth And I Was Torn Over It | Someone reached out to me a few weeks ago asking me to contribute my story to Joe Biden’s new campaign “As You Are” to raise visibility of the young Trans community and curb the disproportionate suicide rates among trans youth.
There is no question that this is a deeply important program; One which I have no doubt will save many lives. It’s also vital for young trans identifying people across the spectrum to hear and share their stories with the rest of the world. Beyond that, during these times wherein trans people are trying to thrive in an increasingly hostile political climate, it is critical that we hear from someone, like Biden, in a position of power and influence who stands in support of LGBTQ youth.
I read through the information that I was directed to and as excited as I was about the opportunity to contribute, I suddenly took great pause. The words: “…far too many LGBTQ people — especially those under 25 — still face rejection from the people closest to them.” I watched the videos of parents, celebrities and young people on the side of the web page as they offered words of support or encouragement as they emphasized the importance of family and community acceptance for young members of the community. They want to hear from Parents, Teachers, even allies to help ensure a brighter future for young LGBTQ people in America.
Inexplicably, I felt this pang of sadness. I know the statistics regarding suicide, homelessness and murder that plague my community very well- enough to know that this initiative is one long overdue. I needed this when I was younger- I need this now… except, I understand I’m not the intended recipient. For me, specifically, as I hovered my mouse over those text windows, I wondered what I would tell my younger self.
What did I need to hear, but never had the opportunity. Things no one ever said.
I sat for a good 45 minutes staring at the page. Kids today, they have things most of us never did. Social media giving them access to a broader, international community of people like themselves. Resources, information, trans pop idols, TIME magazine covers, documentaries, reality shows (Thanks, Lifetime and Jazz Jennings) school alliance clubs, young adult books with Trans protagonists…
… and while I certainly don’t think it’s easier to be Trans now than it was back in 2000, when I finally acknowledged my status, it certainly feels like we’ve made enough progress just to make it easier for one to simply get their bearings or have a firmer grasp on what this journey means and what challenges they’ll face.
I didn’t have that. Maybe you didn’t either.
And it occurred to me, with a great heaviness, that I, along with an entire generation of trans identifying people have fallen through the cracks. While it’s so important to focus on youth and be the beacon of light they need to navigate lifes tumultuous waters of self acceptance and discovery, there are people- 30 years old, 40, 50- even 70… who no one is speaking to or on behalf of. My generation was the last to be universally ignored to placate cigender anxieties. Despite being on the cusp of something greater that we would see during the Obama era- such as The President and his Vice President lighting up the white house in Pride colors, we who came before are treated as if we never were. As if the state of being Transgender is somehow new, and only those 25 and younger are at risk for daring to live in their truth.
It’s difficult to put into words, but I’ll draw a crude parallel for you, dear readers. In the film The Last Unicorn, based on the best-selling novel by Peter S. Beagle, there is a character; A middle aged woman named Molly Grue. She was visibly disheveled, her clothes tattered, her face worn with lines indicating time had not been kind to her. When she sees the Unicorn for the first time, she weeps aloud, not with joy but with sorrow, even anger. Here is that encounter:
As grateful as I am to Joe Biden and all those founders of outreach programs, resource providers, healthcare advocates and community staples that centralize their focus on improving the quality of life for Trans youth, another side of me wondered, perhaps selfishly, “Where have you been? Where were you when I was young, twenty years ago, ten years ago… before I became this…”
And then I questioned, again, perhaps selfishly, “Where are you now? Now that I am not 25?”
I find solace in knowing we have seen such a cultural shift that people like Joe Biden are working diligently to prevent youth of today and all those who come after from being subject to the systemic ostracizing, the bullying and abuse borne from ignorance. An ignorance that results, inevitably in the self-imposed alienation, the crippling myriad of social anxieties, depression and suicidal ideation that so many of us dealt with alone not so long ago. We are guilty only of being the “befores.” It is only a single generation ago that transgender “Youth” became anybody's priority… from this moment and withering backward through time, every era, every decade before, we were simply lost children.
And what we became, those of us who survived despite all odds, are a consequence of that. Those of us who have managed to learn to love ourselves or find some acceptance in the world did so in spite of everyone else telling us we never should or never would. Some of us, today, have a weathered face or graying hair and still we endure the same plight that youth face… except many of us have been without a family for years. Many of us have been fired, evicted, tortured by administrative policies which render us feeling subhuman. We, too, still suffer the inability to process the fact that legislators in 16 states want to make it illegal for us to use a public bathroom that doesn’t align with our genitals- and even send us to jail if we do so. Most of us, as adults, suffer PTSD as a result of unbearably cruel and inhumane treatment we experienced as children. We, too, were that youth one day.
Of course we want to stop that from happening to anyone else… but as we suffered neglect from leaders of this nation in the past and extremely limited access to any sense of community, visibility or education, many of us who are not 25 are still suffering… and we don’t have anyone creating more broad initiatives to include us in their efforts. We were, and remain, forgotten. It’s as if trans activism is now in fashion, thankfully. But, it seems to apply only to the latest generation of young folks. Many of whom ultimately have greater reach, a more promising future, an increased chance to achieve their fullest potential while not having to reach beyond their grasp to find a strong system of support and acceptance thanks to a rising tide of social awareness. We have seen expanded involvement in schools and colleges much in thanks to liberal youth who refused to be indoctrinated into hate- even Trans Prom Kings and Queens. We’ve witnessed an ever increasing standard of inclusion. Trans youth today experience a radically different world than even their slightly older counterparts. Just 15 years ago, advocacy groups on college campuses that included Trans people were almost unheard of. Now they are commonplace.
I believe it is the responsibility of the Trans community to guide our youth. To embrace them; To teach them what life was like at the dawn of the new millennium, just 18 years ago. It was, for us who were young teens then, a world they would not recognize. Just as most young gay men and women cannot ever imagine, no matter how many television programs, plays produced or books written on the AIDS epidemic and the inconceivable toll it took on the entire community in the 80’s and 90's, Trans youth today have no relationship with what it was like to be Trans when there was no actress Laverne Cox, High fashion models Carmen Carrera and Laith Ashley, Trans politicians like Danica Roem or Christine Hallquist. There were no movies like Tangerine or The Danish Girl or out and proud Trans musicians like Kim Petras.
There was a before. We are that before. We are still here. We are still in need of acknowledgement, normalization in society and even equal justice in a system whose track record is to throw us in prisons by birth gender to be raped or physically assaulted without consideration to the consequences on our person. We, of all ages, still see mainstream conservatives leveraging religion to strip us, not only of our rights, but our dignities. We wake up to this reality every day… yet there is no initiative to help us cope with the devastating effects that our history has had on us while young Trans folks still have the chance to create their history, but equipped with better tools.
Indeed, trans youth need us. They deserve better than we had. They deserve to have their humanity valued and their existence acknowledged by the mainstream public- not only by government leaders, but by those of us who came before. It is our obligation to protect them from having to pay the price we paid for the right to live in our own skin and without shame.
The problem is, so many from just the generation before who didn’t have a Joe Biden never got to that place themselves. We’re still struggling- even moreso under the discriminatory acts and redaction of protective rights committed by the current government. The youth of our community are not the only ones in need of support. Those of us who came before them need someone to build us a bridge over the chasm between the complete absence of regard for our lives that we experienced and this movement to save the younger members of this community today. I don’t understand why we in our 30’s, 40’s and older are being separated and watching modern day activists turn their backs on us… again.
Maybe they see their efforts to save the youth as recompense for allowing us to lose ours.
But we’re still here. Many of us still experiencing the psychological and emotional aftermath of the neglect that we want to save the children from today.
I told Joe Biden my story. You should, too. If we don’t tell our stories, I don’t care how old you are or how badly it hurts, when you’re gone, no one else can. You have a responsibility to yourself to be a reflection of the world as it was during your journey. Your chapter is necessary. Our experiences are not history until they’re happening no more… and not to anyone else.
I support Joe Biden. I support him so that my dark history is not some other innocent child’s future. | https://phaylen.medium.com/joe-biden-launches-new-initiative-for-trans-youth-and-i-was-torn-over-it-2a120df8c99d | ['Phaylen Fairchild'] | 2018-09-12 15:21:54.490000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Transgender', 'LGBTQ', 'Social Media', 'Politics'] |
Are You Ready For NFT Marketplace Development On Polygon? — Overview, Benefits, And Features. | Ever wondered if emotions can hold a price? But NFT’s made that possible! That’s the exclusiveness of this digital asset. Whether tangible or intangible, existent or non-existent objective, NFT can establish a unique address and value to them. In crux, the characteristics and apathy that it exhibits among all its assets have led to more outstanding results and popularity in a wider space.
The evolution of NFT is a fascinating tale of how it began as pixelated punk and the advancements that led to its Metaverse. It can now work on any object and be deployed on any platform. NFTs are becoming increasingly polymorphic as time and technology advance. Polygon NFT marketplace is one among the efficient legends.
Let’s soak into the benefits of NFT marketplace development on Polygon without any delay.
What is Polygon blockchain?
The Ethereum blockchain network remains one of the best in the crypto world and is perhaps why every new token aspires to be part of the Ethereum network. One such reason for the trustworthiness and legacy of the network is its reliability and network stability. Nonetheless, scalability is a major concern for Ethereum. As a solution, Ethereum introduced its layer two protocol, Polygon NFT, which is similar to the blockchain but cannot be called one. Experts refer to it as a side chain.
Polygon was initially known as Matic NFT. The Matic NFT marketplace aims to connect and develop Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. Matic seeks to create an ecosystem where users can leverage the various features offered by the Ethereum platform. Matic NFT later became Polygon. So, with an advantage of scalability at its core, how to build an NFT marketplace on Polygon?
How to build an NFT marketplace on Polygon?
Crypto marketplaces sprang up profusely due to the massive increase in NFTs. Due to its reputation as a blockchain network verified by Ethereum, Polygon took an active role in creating the Matic NFT marketplace. Having introduced the Matic NFT marketplace, let’s review how one can go about it. By providing security and reliability, the platform allows businesses to stand out. It will enable them to launch their NFT marketplaces with ease. It is also possible for users to customize the final product precisely to their needs.
Typical NFT marketplaces let users buy, sell, and view digital assets. Users can purchase assets at a fixed price or bid at an auction on this platform. An NFT marketplace on Polygon works in a similar context but on a secured technology with easy accessibility and multi-chain compatibility.
So if your objective is to build an NFT marketplace development on Polygon, then you need a Node.js app and a framework. Many NFT software solutions provide professional developers and customized support from a highly motivated staff if you are not a coding expert. It helps an NFT enthusiast, newbie, or an existing NFT business leverage developers to create a platform to build real-world applications. Although it is a time-consuming project that involves much effort from the developer and the user side, it is a straightforward way to get started with an NFT Marketplace — Polygon blockchain.
Despite how complex the process sounds, it is still not a hard rock to drill. Before worrying about cracking it all, the benefits could push you to make that next move.
Benefits of NFT marketplace development on Polygon
User-Interface: As an NFT marketplace platform owner, you can provide the best UX possible. Meaning, you’ll end up with a great product once the Polygon NFT platform is complete.
Layer two solutions: You can dramatically speed up daily transactions with high scalability.
High-security protocols: Each transaction on the platform is ensured high-level encryption.
Decentralized architecture: A complete transparency to the users on the Matic NFT marketplace.
Efficacy: NFT marketplace utilizes the Ethereum blockchain and adds functionality by assisting it.
Affordable Gas Fee: Gas fees for the NFT transaction amount are low compared to the other platforms.
Wouldn’t that be the best NFT marketplace development platform if it offers an efficacious, decentralized, highly secured, layer two solution user interface? Now that we have outlined the benefits, let’s rundown the Matic NFT marketplace development features.
The features of the NFT marketplace on Polygon
Scalability: Ability to perform multiple rapid and hassle-free transactions.
Ethereum-compatibility: Allows Ethereum-compatible blockchains to interact and reduce restrictions to utilize Ethereum’s ecosystem fully.
Sovereignty: Integrates with the Ethereum network to offer sovereign blockchains with multi-chain capabilities, ensuring thousands of exchanges per second.
Security: A pool of validators uses algorithms to enable secured transactions.
Modularity: Enjoy an extensible, customizable, and upgraded platform. Eliminate system breakdown by enabling multiple levels of configuration.
Interoperability: Polygon chains can communicate with other blockchain networks using Matic.
So, why start with a Matic NFT marketplace?
Polygon is the industry’s leader in NFT Marketplace development based on Matic. A solution that meets all the requirements for NFTs. Technological advances require innovative solutions to current issues., and Polygon blockchain holds those features and expertise to meet that demand.
So, Why Matic NFT marketplace? That’s because,
Matic network provides multiple tools,
Reduce transaction costs
Enhances transaction speed in blockchain networks
It is a process that makes any platform a viable part of dApps.
Users can stake assets and earn some rewards on the polygon network
Before mass adoption can even begin, it slows volume stabilization issues
And an incredible user interface.
To conclude, the Polygon blockchain is the most popular platform for trading non-fungible tokens on the NFT marketplace. The features and benefits make it a suitable and sustainable platform for developing a marketplace. Hence, if you’re a business seeking an opportunity to create Polygon NFT marketplace solutions, then wait no more! You’re just a few steps away from creating a user base and helping them reach great heights in the digital sphere. Need more engulfing information on NFTs, marketplaces, and NFT market caps? Sign-up today on bitsCrunch’s information hub — Unleash NFTs!
bitsCrunch also has a wide range of tools that can help NFT users to detect digital art forgery, identify wash trading, and find the true value of NFT assets. We’re referring to NFT ecosystem guardians — Crunch Da Vinci, Sour, & Liquify. Need to have a worthy NFT experience? — Get in touch with bitsCrunch today. | https://medium.com/@bitscrunch/are-you-ready-for-nft-marketplace-development-on-polygon-overview-benefits-and-features-7ed9f6627302 | ['Bitscrunch - The Nft Ecosystem Guardians'] | 2022-01-03 10:52:06.523000+00:00 | ['Polygon', 'Polygon Nft Marketplace', 'Nft Marketplace', 'Polygon Network', 'Polygon Matic'] |
Importance of the Interactive System Design | Interactive design is a user-oriented field of study that focuses on meaningful communication of media through cyclical and collaborative processes between people and technology. Successful interactive designs have simple, clearly defined goals, a strong purpose, and an intuitive screen interface.
Design rules for interactive systems
1)Principles of Learnability
The ease with which new users can begin effective interaction and achieve maximal performance.
Predictability
support for the user to determine the effect of future action based on past interaction history. Predictability means that interaction design should set accurate expectations about what will happen before the user taps, swipes, or clicks on something.
Synthesizability
support for the user to assess the effect of past operations on the current state. Immediate honesty and eventual honesty are two aspects of synthesizability. These concepts usually apply to the ability of the interactive system to provide the user with measurable and informative notification of changes in the operating state of the system.
Familiarity
The familiarity principle is concerned with the ability of an interactive system to allow a user to map prior experiences, either real-world or gained from interaction with other systems, onto the features of a new system. The extent to which a user’s knowledge and experience in other real-world or computer-based domains can be applied when interacting with a new system.
Generalizability
This theory of interactive design offers support for users to expand knowledge of particular experiences to new, but similar circumstances within and across applications.
Consistency
Consistency is important for fostering generalizability and is perhaps one of the most commonly used design concepts in the design of user interfaces. There should always be clear use of labels and icons and the same icons and labels should be used.
2)Principles of Flexibility
Consider a setting with multiple demand classes that are served by a set of resources. When each resource is limited to serving only one demand class, we can often have a situation where some resources are under-utilized and idle, while others are over-utilized and not able to meet the demand. One tactic for dealing with this situation is to make each resource more flexible so that it can serve more than one demand class. But how much flexibility should each resource have and what is the best way to deploy flexibility across the resources? This chapter shows that when done right, limited flexibility can provide almost the same level of benefits as complete flexibility.
Dialog initiative
The dialog is said to be machine preemptive when the scheme regulates the dialog flow. Conversely, the dialog is said to be preemptive for the user when the flow is managed by the user.
Multi-threading
A thread may be considered a part of a dialog within a user interface that allows a task to be completed. Multi-threading provides support for several tasks to be performed at once within an interface.
Task migratability
Task migration requires transferring responsibility between the user and the system for the execution of tasks. One clear example of this is a computerized spell checker.
Substitutivity
Substitutivity offers users alternative ways of specifying input or viewing output. For example, a drawing package may allow the start and end coordinates of a line to be specified, conversely, the same system may allow the line to be drawn first, and the system indicates the endpoint coordinates.
Customizability
The user interface should be able to support individual preferences. For example, standard control bars in MS Word can be changed as needed.
3)Principles of Robustness
The level of support provided the user in determining successful achievement and assessment of goal-directed behavior.
Observability
The ability of the user to evaluate the internal state of the system from its perceivable representation.
Recoverability
The ability of the user to take corrective action once an error has been recognized.
Responsiveness
How the user perceives the rate of communication with the system.
Task conformance
The degree to which system services support all of the user’s tasks.
4)Standards and Guideline for Interactive systems
Set by national or international bodies to ensure compliance by a large community of designer’s standards require sound underlying theory and slowly changing technology. Hardware standards more common than software with high authority and low level of detail. ISO 9241 defines usability as effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users accomplish tasks.
5)8 Golden Rules of Interface Design
Ben Shneiderman (born August 21, 1947) is an American computer scientist and professor at the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab. His work is comparable to other contemporary design thinkers like Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen. In his popular book “Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction”, Shneiderman reveals his eight golden rules of interface design:
Strive for consistency by utilizing familiar icons, colors, menu hierarchy, call-to-actions, and user flows when designing similar situations and sequence of actions. Standardizing the way information is conveyed ensures users are able to apply knowledge from one click to another; without the need to learn new representations for the same actions. Consistency plays an important role by helping users become familiar with the digital landscape of your product so they can achieve their goals more easily.
by utilizing familiar icons, colors, menu hierarchy, call-to-actions, and user flows when designing similar situations and sequence of actions. Standardizing the way information is conveyed ensures users are able to apply knowledge from one click to another; without the need to learn new representations for the same actions. Consistency plays an important role by helping users become familiar with the digital landscape of your product so they can achieve their goals more easily. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts. With increased use comes the demand for quicker methods of completing tasks. For example, both Windows and Mac provide users with keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting, so as the user becomes more experienced, they can navigate and operate the user interface more quickly and effortlessly.
With increased use comes the demand for quicker methods of completing tasks. For example, both Windows and Mac provide users with keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting, so as the user becomes more experienced, they can navigate and operate the user interface more quickly and effortlessly. Offer informative feedback. The user should know where they are at and what is going on at all times. For every action, there should be appropriate, human-readable feedback within a reasonable amount of time. A good example of applying this would be to indicate to the user where they are at in the process when working through a multi-page questionnaire. A bad example we often see is when an error message shows an error code instead of a human-readable and meaningful message.
The user should know where they are at and what is going on at all times. For every action, there should be appropriate, human-readable feedback within a reasonable amount of time. A good example of applying this would be to indicate to the user where they are at in the process when working through a multi-page questionnaire. A bad example we often see is when an error message shows an error code instead of a human-readable and meaningful message. Design dialogue to yield closure. Don’t keep your users guessing. Tell them what their action has led them to. For example, users would appreciate a “Thank You” message and a proof of purchase receipt when they’ve completed an online purchase.
Don’t keep your users guessing. Tell them what their action has led them to. For example, users would appreciate a “Thank You” message and a proof of purchase receipt when they’ve completed an online purchase. Offer simple error handling. No one likes to be told they’re wrong, especially your users. Systems should be designed to be as fool-proof as possible, but when unavoidable errors occur, ensure users are provided with simple, intuitive step-by-step instructions to solve the problem as quickly and painlessly as possible. For example, flag the text fields where the users forgot to provide input in an online form.
No one likes to be told they’re wrong, especially your users. Systems should be designed to be as fool-proof as possible, but when unavoidable errors occur, ensure users are provided with simple, intuitive step-by-step instructions to solve the problem as quickly and painlessly as possible. For example, flag the text fields where the users forgot to provide input in an online form. Permit easy reversal of actions. Designers should aim to offer users obvious ways to reverse their actions. These reversals should be permitted at various points whether it occurs after a single action, a data entry or a whole sequence of actions.
Designers should aim to offer users obvious ways to reverse their actions. These reversals should be permitted at various points whether it occurs after a single action, a data entry or a whole sequence of actions. Support internal locus of control. Allow your users to be the initiators of actions. Give users the sense that they are in full control of events occurring in the digital space. Earn their trust as you design the system to behave as they expect.
Allow your users to be the initiators of actions. Give users the sense that they are in full control of events occurring in the digital space. Earn their trust as you design the system to behave as they expect. Reduce short-term memory load. Human attention is limited and we are only capable of maintaining around five items in our short-term memory at one time. Therefore, interfaces should be as simple as possible with proper information hierarchy and choosing recognition over recall. Recognizing something is always easier than recall because recognition involves perceiving cues that help us reach into our vast memory and allowing relevant information to surface.
6)Norman’s 7 Principles
Donald Norman, one of the most notable researchers in the field of human-computer interaction and user-centered design, provides seven key design principles to keep in mind while designing any interface. Norman’s idea is that devices, computers, and interfaces should function correctly and be intuitive and easy to use. The six principles that revolve around this idea are:
1. Use both pieces of knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head.
2. Simplify the structure of tasks.
3. Make things visible: bridge the gulfs of Execution and Evaluation.
4. Get the mappings right.
5. Exploit the power of constraints, both natural and artificial.
6. Design for error.
7. When all else fails, standardize.
Evaluation techniques for interactive system
What is evaluation?
Evaluation is a process that critically examines a program. It involves collecting and analyzing information about a program’s activities, characteristics, and outcomes. Its purpose is to make judgments about a program, to improve its effectiveness, and/or to inform programming decisions.
Goals of evaluation
1. Assess the extent of system functionality -The design of the system should allow users to more easily perform their intended tasks. This means not only making available the required features inside the system but also making it easily accessible.
2. Assess the effect of interface on the user -It’s necessary to analyze the user’s interaction experience and its effect on the user. This involves considering things such as how simple the system is to understand, its accessibility, and the satisfaction of the user with it.
3. Identify specific problems -These may be aspects of the design n which, when used in their intended context, cause unexpected results, or confusion amongst users. Both the functionality and usability of the design are related to this.
Evaluation through expert analysis
In particular, the first evaluation of a system should ideally be performed before any implementation work has started. Some methods have been proposed to evaluate interactive systems through expert analysis. These depend upon the designer, or a human factors expert, taking the design and assessing the impact that it will have upon a typical user. The basic intention is to identify any areas that are likely to cause difficulties because they violate known cognitive principles or ignore accepted empirical results. These methods can be used at any stage in the development process from a design specification, through storyboards and prototypes, to full implementations, making them flexible evaluation approaches. They are also relatively cheap since they do not require user involvement. However, they do not assess the actual use of the system, only whether or not a system upholds accepted usability principles.
The cognitive walkthrough is a usability evaluation method in which one or more evaluators work through a series of tasks and ask a set of questions from the perspective of the user. The focus of the cognitive walkthrough is on understanding the system’s learnability for new or infrequent users.
Heuristic evaluation is a process where experts use rules of thumb to measure the usability of user interfaces in independent walkthroughs and report issues. Evaluators use established heuristics (e.g., Nielsen-Molich’s) and reveal insights that can help design teams enhance product usability from early in development.
Model-based evaluation is using a model of how a human would use a proposed system to ob- tain predicted usability measures by calculation or simulation. These predictions can replace or supplement empirical measurements obtained by user testing.
Using Previous Studies in Evaluation is Experimental psychology and human-computer interaction between them possess a wealth of experimental results and empirical evidence. Some of this is specific to a particular domain, but much deals with more generic issues and applies in a variety of situations. Examples of such issues are the usability of different menu types, the recall of command names, and the choice of icons. A final approach to expert evaluation exploits this inheritance, using previous results as evidence to support (or refute) aspects of the design. It is expensive to repeat experiments continually and an expert review of relevant literature can avoid the need to do so. It should be noted that experimental results cannot be expected to hold arbitrarily across contexts. The reviewer must therefore select evidence carefully, noting the experimental design is chosen, the population of participants used, the analyses performed and the assumptions made.
Evaluation through user participation
1. Styles of evaluation -User participation in evaluation tends to occur in the later stages of development when there is at least a working prototype of the system in place. There are two types of evaluation studies; Laboratory studies (Users are taken out of their normal work environment to take part in controlled tests, often in a specialist usability laboratory) and Field studies (Takes the designer or evaluator out into the user’s work environment in order to observe the system in action).
2. Empirical methods: experimental evaluation-To support a particular claim or hypothesis, this offers empirical proof. At various levels of details, it can be used to analyze a wide variety of different issues. Also, this is one of the most powerful methods of evaluating a design or an aspect of a design is to use a controlled experiment. There are a number of factors that must be considered carefully in experimental design such as Participants, Variables tested and manipulated, Hypothesis tested, and Experimental design.
3. Observational techniques -A popular way to gather information about the actual use of a system is to observe users interacting with it. Usually, they are asked to complete a set of predetermined tasks, although, if the observation is being carried out in their place of work, they may be observed going about their normal duties. Some of the techniques used to evaluate systems by observing user behavior are; Think Aloud, Cooperative evaluation, Protocol analysis, Automated analysis, and Post-task walkthroughs.
4. Query techniques -This relies on asking the user about the interface directly. Query techniques can be useful in eliciting detail of the user’s view of a system. The advantage of such methods is that they get the user’s viewpoint directly and may reveal issues that have not been considered by the designer. There are two main types of query technique: interviews and questionnaires.
Evaluation through monitoring physiological responses
This will allow us not only to see more clearly exactly what users do when they interact with computers but also to measure how they feel. The two areas receiving the most attention to date are eye-tracking and physiological measurement.
When it comes to eye tracking, modern systems use a head-mounted camera to monitor the eye. Eye movements are believed to reflect the amount of cognitive processing a display requires. So measuring not only where people look, but also their patterns of eye movement may tell us which areas of a screen they are finding easy or difficult to understand.
The emotional response is closely tied to physiological changes. These include changes in heart rate, breathing, and skin secretions. Measuring these physiological responses may therefore be useful in determining a user’s emotional response to an interface.
Universal Design for Interactive Systems
Universal Design Principles
The 7 Principles of Universal Design were developed in 1997 by a working group of architects, product designers, engineers, and environmental design researchers, led by the late Ronald Mace in the North Carolina State University. The purpose of the Principles is to guide the design of environments, products, and communications. According to the Center for Universal Design in NCSU, the Principles “may be applied to evaluate existing designs, guide the design process and educate both designers and consumers about the characteristics of more usable products and environments.”
Equitable Use
The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities. Provide the same means of use for all users: identical whenever possible; equivalent when not. Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any users. Provisions for privacy, security, and safety should be equally available to all users. Make the design appealing to all users.
Flexibility in Use
The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. Provide choice in methods of use. Accommodate right- or left-handed access and use. Facilitate the user’s accuracy and precision. Provide adaptability to the user’s pace.
Simple and Intuitive Use
Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. Eliminate unnecessary complexity. Be consistent with user expectations and intuition. Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills. Arrange information consistent with its importance. Provide effective prompting and feedback during and after task completion.
Perceptible Information
The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities. Use different modes (pictorial, verbal, tactile) for redundant presentation of essential information. Provide adequate contrast between essential information and its surroundings. Maximize the “legibility” of essential information. Differentiate elements in ways that can be described (i.e., make it easy to give instructions or directions). Provide compatibility with a variety of techniques or devices used by people with sensory limitations.
Tolerance for Error
The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions. Arrange elements to minimize hazards and errors: most used elements, most accessible; hazardous elements eliminated, isolated, or shielded. Provide warnings of hazards and errors. Provide fail-safe features. Discourage unconscious action in tasks that require vigilance.
Low Physical Effort
The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue. Allow user to maintain a neutral body position. Use reasonable operating forces. Minimize repetitive actions. Minimize sustained physical effort.
Size and Space for Approach and Use
Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of the user’s body size, posture, or mobility. Provide a clear line of sight to important elements for any seated or standing user. Make reach to all components comfortable for any seated or standing user. Accommodate variations in hand and grip size. Provide adequate space for the use of assistive devices or personal assistance.
Multi-modal interaction
More than one mode of interaction is an important principle of universal design. Such design relies on multi-modal interaction. However, it should always be remembered that multi-modal interaction is not just about enhancing the richness of the interaction, but also about redundancy. Redundant systems provide the same information through a range of channels, so, for example, the information presented graphically is also captioned in readable text or speech, or a verbal narrative is provided with text captions. The aim is to provide at least an equivalent experience to all, regardless of their primary channel of interaction.
Sound in interface Sound is an important contributor to usability. There is experimental evidence to suggest that the addition of audio confirmation of modes, in the form of changes in keyclicks, reduces errors [237]. Video games offer further evidence since experts tend to score less well when the sound is turned off than when it is on; they pick up vital clues and information from the sound while concentrating their visual attention on different things. The dual presentation of information through sound and vision supports the universal design, by enabling access for users with visual and hearing impairments respectively. It also enables information to be accessed in poorly lit or noisy environments.
Sound is an important contributor to usability. There is experimental evidence to suggest that the addition of audio confirmation of modes, in the form of changes in keyclicks, reduces errors [237]. Video games offer further evidence since experts tend to score less well when the sound is turned off than when it is on; they pick up vital clues and information from the sound while concentrating their visual attention on different things. The dual presentation of information through sound and vision supports the universal design, by enabling access for users with visual and hearing impairments respectively. It also enables information to be accessed in poorly lit or noisy environments. Touch in the interface Touch is the only sense that can be used to both send and receive information. Although it is not yet widely used in interacting with computers, there is a significant research effort in this area and commercial applications are becoming available. The use of touch in the interface is known as haptic interaction. Haptics is a generic term relating to touch, but it can be roughly divided into two areas: cutaneous perception, which is concerned with tactile sensations through the skin; and kinesthetics, which is the perception of movement and position. Both are useful in interaction but they require different technologies.
Touch is the only sense that can be used to both send and receive information. Although it is not yet widely used in interacting with computers, there is a significant research effort in this area and commercial applications are becoming available. The use of touch in the interface is known as haptic interaction. Haptics is a generic term relating to touch, but it can be roughly divided into two areas: cutaneous perception, which is concerned with tactile sensations through the skin; and kinesthetics, which is the perception of movement and position. Both are useful in interaction but they require different technologies. Handwriting recognition Like speech, we consider handwriting to be a very natural form of communication. The idea of being able to interpret handwritten input is very appealing, and handwriting appears to offer both textual and graphical input using the same tools. There are problems associated with the use of handwriting as an input medium, however, and in this section, we shall consider these. We will first look at the mechanisms for capturing handwritten information, and then look at the problems of interpreting it
Like speech, we consider handwriting to be a very natural form of communication. The idea of being able to interpret handwritten input is very appealing, and handwriting appears to offer both textual and graphical input using the same tools. There are problems associated with the use of handwriting as an input medium, however, and in this section, we shall consider these. We will first look at the mechanisms for capturing handwritten information, and then look at the problems of interpreting it Gesture recognition Gesture is a component of human-computer interaction that has become the subject of attention in multi-modal systems. Being able to control the computer with certain movements of the hand would be advantageous in many situations where there is no possibility of typing, or when other senses are fully occupied. It could also support communication for people who have hearing loss if signing could be ‘translated’ into speech or vice versa. But, like speech, the gesture is user-dependent, subject to variation, and co-articulation. The technology for capturing gestures is expensive, using either computer vision or a special data glove.
Designing Interfaces for diversity, considering three key areas: disability, age, and culture
Interfaces are usually designed to cater to the ‘average’ user but as people are diverse, there are many factors that must be taken into account when we are trying to get closer to a universal design.
It is estimated that at least 10% of the population of every country has a disability that will affect interaction with computers so the design of software and hardware should not unnecessarily restrict the job prospects of people with disabilities. Most common sensory, physical, and cognitive impairments and the solutions for the issues they raise for interface design are as follows. | https://sunandakarunajeewa.medium.com/importance-of-the-interactive-system-design-91f00f3dadb0 | ['Sunanda Karunajeewa'] | 2020-12-27 17:21:07.189000+00:00 | ['Evaluation Techniques', 'Interactive Systems', 'Universal Design', 'Design Rule', 'Hcl'] |
How Long Should Your Story Be to Get Curated? | A Little Analysis
Assuming from Medium curation guidelines, stories are mostly curated by hand. So, does it mean that the staff only reads shorter stories? Not necessarily. Do people read such stories the most? Presumably — yes. I just have not enough data. Technically I could use a number of claps to measure a story popularity, unfortunately I’m not a member and I can’t see them through Medium paywall.
The most popular stories are around 5 minutes long. Does it mean that you should aim for that? Not at all. I believe that these stories are just the most dominant. When your thoughts flow, you don’t count the words. From my limited experience, 5 minutes may be enough to grasp a subject. But not always!
Programming has loads of tutorials which are a little longer than that. It doesn’t mean that they are less valuable — quite the opposite. I believe that this kind of stories is future-proof. An author can profit from them in the long run. It really depends on your popularity on Medium, your publication or lack thereof, and many other factors.
What really matters is that even if your story is 46 minutes long, it still may get curated. They are not abundant — yes, but you don’t stumble on such topic every other day. Just write. But remember that ultimately there’s a reason why 4 minute reads are so plentiful. I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s possible that it’s the perfect length that keeps your readers focused. | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/how-long-should-your-story-be-to-get-curated-aaf09b2ca3fc | ['Bartosz Konikiewicz'] | 2020-12-17 14:15:14.208000+00:00 | ['Statistics', 'Python', 'Meta', 'Programming', 'Ｍedium'] |
Our uniqueness becomes clear when we find our complementary role in Humanity and Nature’s system | Question from the Internet:
“If the human mind is so different and unique from one another, how can we all have the same qualities it has such as thought, imagination, etc. shouldn’t every single one of us extremely unique mental faculties and for some, even disorders?”
In our initial, instinctive form — most Human beings in right now — we are not that different from each other.
According to the inherent program Nature’s evolution installed in us, we are all, ceaselessly chasing selfish pleasures, fulfillment while try to stay away, run away from unpleasant, painful situations, states.
And in terms of our desires, we want to fulfill we all have a unique set, combination, strength from the available “animate” desires of food, sex, family; and the “social” desires of wealth, power, fame, and knowledge.
The combination of how badly, at all cost we want to fulfill those desires and in what priority, importance those desires drive us. And even in this respect, we are pretty close, after all, most of our desires are implanted into us by the surrounding environment, peer pressure. Thus in today’s global environment, with the media, marketing, “circus and bread” entertainment we are brainwashed by very similar “needs”, “values”, “goals”.
If we want to find our true uniqueness, the “root of our being”, if we want to find and fulfill our individual, irreplaceable, irrepressible role, purpose in reality, we would need to develop through a special, closed environment.
We need a methodical and purposeful environment that uses the appropriate, practical method to help us map reality’s integrated, interdependent system, help us understand the system’s developmental plan with our predetermined role in it.
Then by fulfilling that role nobody else could fulfill we would finally recognize and cherish our true individual uniqueness in most optimally serving, complementing Humanity and Nature’s system through our role in Humanity. This is when we truly become Human beings. | https://medium.com/@samechphoto/our-uniqueness-becomes-clear-when-we-find-our-complementary-role-in-humanity-and-natures-system-9c9ada094f6d | ['Zsolt Hermann'] | 2020-12-20 00:08:06.714000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Purpose', 'Goals', 'Education', 'Humanity'] |
Best tools for Sentiment Analysis — 2021 | 1. BytesView
BytesView sentiment analyzer is a powerful tool for evaluating user sentiments by analyzing complex structured and unstructured text data. It is simple to train it to support and analyze 30+ languages; all you need to do is gain access to the BytesView API and integrate it with your system.
You can easily gather text data from multiple sources (reviews, suggestions, opinions, social posts, opinions, support queries) and convert it into actionable insights to help make data-driven decisions with their sentiment analysis tool.
If you are a data analyst, this product is a must for you as you can easily analyze public sentiments, conduct market research, gauge brand reputation, and evaluate user experiences.
2. Talkwalker
Another excellent tool for sentiment analysis is Talkwalker. It claims to have the best sentiment analysis technology available, allowing it to distinguish sarcasm and other ambiguous forms of negative mentions. This tool is best used in conjunction with your social media channels because it can tell you exactly how people perceive your company’s social media accounts.
3. Clarabridge
Clarabridge is a multifaceted platform that includes customer experience management. Sentiment analysis is a component of this solution. The sentiment analysis in the tool is extremely detailed, taking into account parsing, framework, industry, and source.
4. Brandwatch
When it comes to sentiment analysis, Brandwatch is also one of my go-to analytics tools. It analyses brand sentiment, displays trends, and includes a cool feature called “image insights.” In the same way that topics can be linked with your brand’s name, the feature recognises images associated with your brand’s logo.
5. Lexalytics
Lexalytics is a business intelligence solution that analyses various types of text. Lexalytics works with social media comments, surveys, reviews, and any other type of text document. In addition to sentiment analysis, the tool performs classification, theme extraction, and intention detection, which can help users see the full context.
6. Rosette
Rosette’s sentiment analysis tool is simple to use for beginners because it uses an API to perform sentiment analysis on social media data as well as a more fine-grained analysis. Customers’ feelings, for example, when they mention a specific product, company, or person.
You can train Rosette’s sentiment analysis tool to identify up to 30 languages if you have global data.
7. Mention
Mention is a well-established social media monitoring app. Mention tracks brand mentions on major social networks, news websites, blogs, forums, and the internet. Mention sentiment analysis is included in all plans.. | https://medium.com/@rachitsingh-30342/best-tools-for-sentiment-analysis-2021-b1901067b47a | ['Rachit Singh'] | 2021-05-11 11:31:21.117000+00:00 | ['Analytics', 'Text', 'Analysis', 'Lists', 'Sentiment Analysis'] |
How to Buy and Trade $PPAY on Uniswap and Plasma.Finance | PPAY is the utility token that confers huge benefits to its users including rewards, governance rights and a multitude of utilities within the Plasma.Finance ecosystem.
First though, you need to get your hands on the tokens themselves. Here we offer a handy guide on how to buy and trade PPAY on Uniswap and Plasma.Finance to get you on the path to enjoying all that our native token has to offer.
Uniswap
From the Uniswap homepage you can click the Launch App button or go directly to the app by clicking here. Then simply connect Uniswap to a Web 3.0 wallet such as Metamask, WalletConnect, Coinbase Wallet, Fortmatic or Portis.
From the swap page on Uniswap you can then transfer any existing ERC20 tokens (ETH, USDT) into PPAY.
NOTE: No matter what token you intend to swap for PPAY you will have to have at least some ETH in your wallet to pay for gas fees.
First select the From field to select the token you wish to swap for PPAY. Then go to the To field below and select PPAY. We advise using the contract address to ensure you are swapping into the genuine PPAY token. The contract address for PPAY is:
0x054d64b73d3d8a21af3d764efd76bcaa774f3bb2
The Enter an amount button should then change to Swap. Click to proceed with the token swap. From there, your wallet should pop up and tell you the gas costs and to confirm the transaction.
Plasma.Finance
From the Plasma.Finance dashboard you will be invited to Connect to a Web 3.0 wallet such as Metamask, WalletConnect, Coinbase Wallet, Fortmatic, Portis or, of course, your PlasmaPay wallet.
On the left hand side of the screen click on the Swap tab directly below the Overview button. This will then present the token swap page.
This screen should be simple and easy to operate for anyone familiar with Uniswap.
However, unlike Uniswap if you select a token amount in the From field higher than the current balance of your wallet you will be invited to Set Max to use the maximum number currently in your wallet, or to Buy More tokens including with Credit Card, or European bank details. You simply state the amount of tokens you want and then choose Buy Now.
Here we show the process from ETH to USDT as an example.
Once you have the required amount of tokens simply click Swap and Confirm Swap to complete the transaction.
Easy.
Bringing DeFi to the Masses
As you can see, whether you use Uniswap or Plasma.Finance, getting your hands on our PPAY token could not be simpler. We invite you to join us as we make DeFi a mass movement.
Website | Whitepaper | Telegram | Twitter | Reddit | Github | https://medium.com/plasmapay/how-to-buy-and-trade-ppay-on-uniswap-and-plasma-finance-8ec4fa5ab94e | [] | 2020-12-10 20:43:23.644000+00:00 | ['Ppay', 'Uniswap'] |
On Coronavirus | I miss the mundane freedoms a lot. I miss casually running errands and stretching a revolving door of meetings across a few hours in a cafe. I miss a casual text-message “hello” leading to impromptu nighttime gatherings and memorable moments. I miss crowded river trails and the bustling city center. I miss the increasing hum from people occupying the squares as you approach, Rittenhouse and Washington West. I miss people watching. (A lot.)
The ebbs and flows of this pandemic have transcended anything else I’ve ever experienced, or even dreamed of experiencing. (I know, I’m too young to have the scope of “some people” and too isolated to have a real right to complain but…) When was the last time everyone was called on to act in a matter of “life and death?” When was the last time the best “action” the public could take was no action at all? And, will there ever be a time when humans crack the code? When will we learn how to properly relay information with the utmost integrity, accuracy, and have it received with the right impact at the right time? Maybe never.
Never before has there been such palpable sense, saturated and heavy, that we’re in this for “the long haul.” And, yet, never before have I felt such a palpable sense, warm and calming, that we’re all (consciously) in this together.
There are a lot of (metaphorical) stones that we could throw at a lot of people, every day. There’s a lot to be disappointed about. There’s a lot of frustration to air. There’s a lot of ignorance that warrants proper, wide-spread enlightenment. There’s a lot of uncertainty to unpack and certainly a lot to be scared about. But, these are fingers we need to point once the pieces are picked up; once the proper information is collected, analyzed, and applied to a cure; when we’re in sight of a clearer vision; when we’re in a different time.
The time we’re in now is a very special one. Yes. Even in the disorienting and suppressing dust and through all of the transformations across commerce and healthcare, travel, technology, and everything in between, we need to hold space and have respect for The Process. A Process that will most definitely yield uncommon and totally unexpected results, even for today. This will likely be a process that’ll deliver equivocal advances in health care, communication, commerce, technology, and government as much as it compromises our personal comforts, mundane freedoms, worldwide economy, and, yes, most importantly, many (many) human lives.
The Process, I think we’ll all come to see, will not bring with it the casual learning style we’ve grown used to. This will be the last time the majority of the world’s population assumes that anyone has anything “handled” without proof or results. This process has awakened us on an unprecedented level with a shock to the global systems and infrastructures in which we rest the safety and security of our lives, casually and unquestionably — might I add. This process has brought with it cause for serious contemplation on the purposes and powers to which we accept and deem to be necessary, “essential,” and even lawful — as a civilization.
I think we’re lo(oo)ng overdue for the shock that ice-cold-anything, be it water or reality, brings with it. I think every new round of headlines needs to be followed by a daily reminder that the dust will eventually dissipate and settle, exactly when and where it’s meant to. I think, if it’s any comfort, the transformation we’re seeing is The Universe identifying a recurring void and deciding to fill it, itself, with a sweeping, mass (eventually positive) change. I think this is meant to be a healing and growing experience, on the larger scale. I think it’s our responsibility to find and claim our space and role, within ourselves and society; to identify our interests and passions and apply them towards tackling the immediate and most-pressing issues, one-by-one. I don’t think I’ve ever felt, as sensitive as I am, a better time to lean into our innate human connection; to call on topics like fear and uncertainty, loneliness, lack-of-love (to give or receive), and deep and valid and stronger-than-ever need for a sense of belonging. There’s nowhere else or better to be, for the vast majority of people, than in those places and in those conversations; expanding our capacity for love. | https://medium.com/@curativeman/on-coronavirus-bc678c1073f9 | ['Eric Michael', 'Curative Man'] | 2020-12-08 23:56:55.145000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Letters', 'Coronavirus', 'Positive Thinking'] |
Feeling on the Outside | Feeling on the outside, I knew I was different from my Montessori peers when I was two. Feeling on the outside and failing to get in, feelings on the inside that won’t get out of my head.
I hear things louder, even when they are quiet.
I can’t understand words in songs even though I am a singer.
The pain I feel won’t tell me how badly to hurt.
My emotions are delayed and remorseful.
Making eye contact burns my eyes.
I hurt people’s feelings because I can’t feel my own.
I am broken, and nobody knows because of my mask and my innocent spirit; you would never know.
Quietly searching for the reason I’m different for 24 years, and I finally found it; I finally know that I am whole.
I didn’t want to believe it either. Autism. | https://medium.com/@aishahnyeta/feeling-on-the-outside-13dfe0de9029 | [] | 2020-12-19 22:08:15.422000+00:00 | ['Women On The Spectrum', 'Feelings', 'Autism', 'Autism Spectrum Disorder'] |
Top 11 stores we love to get lost in this May | There’s no better way to distress yourself while shopping than having all the information you need along the way. The worst thing to experience while shopping is overspending. The reality of the matter is that there are some of the instances when you will lose track of how much you are willing and able to pay for a certain product.
I bet you know how easy it is to determine a good pair of shoes but at the same time has a hard time to set a price you want for that shoe.
The good thing is that there are several ways of satisfying your shopping itch and now end up causing havoc on your budget in the process. Here are our roundup of the top 10 best stores that you should look for in May 2019.
Kohl’s
This is the first store that we are going to talk about today. Most of the people think that Kohl’s is better than having to spend a lot of your time in malls looking for products that you could otherwise get here. The last year’s shopping at Kohl’s wasn’t as admirable as many people would expect. However, in May 2019, there is a lot to expect here. The company accepts coupon codes and ends up saving you a lot of money as you shop online.
Target
Now you may end up saving up to 2.25% of your purchase with Target.com. You just have to sign up for free and shop. The company as well accepts coupon codes and for this reason you can get the best and the most reliable coupon codes to use at checkout this may. There are several ways of getting Target.com Coupon codes. One of the best ways is to keep an eye on their promotional and discount details but you can at the same time visit CouponCodeGroup.com for more coupons and other promo codes.
Forever21
This is another site that offers affordable casual wears with all the style. It is also a very user friendly online store that every shopper is running for this year. You can pick up all the trends that want to try without having to invest a lot of money. You can as well get forever21 coupon codes and other promo codes to save a fortune while shopping.
Walmart
This is an American based multinational retail corporation. It is also among the world’s top company by revenue. The company offers you a chance to get very high-quality products. They also offer all the products at a very low price. Apart from the favorable price, you also enjoy a very friendly and cooperative customer support. The company believes in offering the best services to their customers. You can just sign in for their newsletter for coupon codes.
BestBuy
Looking for the best place to shop for electronics without having to drain all your financial reserves? It is an American based company that offers some of the best electronics at affordable prices. The site offers lots of branded electronics. To save a lot on this, you can check the website for coupon codes or even visit CouponCodeGroup.com for more coupon codes and other promo cods.
2920 sleep
I bet you now want a site that will offer some of the best beddings in the market. 2920 offers some of the best products in the market at an affordable price. If for any case you want to upgrade your beddings, then you should check on this website for the best deals and offers. The good thing is that the company accepts coupon codes and hence you can actually check for the best and the most reliable 2920 sleep coupon codes on CouponCodeGroup.com.
Adam and Eve
This is another store that you should be looking for this may. The site offers some of the best adult products. You may end up getting 50% off solo toys and an easy return policy. Now you have a platform to shop some sex toys at an affordable price.
Adidas
Here is another website for you to hop for Adidas shoes, clothes and even have a chance to see and purchase some of the trends in the world at an affordable price. The site offers some of the best clothes and footwear for men, women and children. You can shop easily on their website with Adidas Coupon codes.
AdasBridal
Here is another website that you can shop for the best bridal dresses or even order custom wedding dresses this may. It is now very easy to get the best and discounted wedding dresses at the comfort of your home. It is a specialized and very committed online store selling wedding apparel and other clothes to wear on special occasions.
8Seasons
This other company offers wholesale European beads, beading supplies, jewelry findings and wholesale charms. If you are one of those people that are seeking for the best jewelry gifts for their loved ones or those people looking for cheap jewelry, then here is your one-stop shop. The good thing is that there are several ways you can save on this. You can opt to subscribe to their coupon code and you will eventually get a coupon code for your first purchase. The other alternative is to check online for 8 seasons Coupon codes.
2Fdeal
2FDeal is the short form for ‘To friend deal’ and offers the best e-cigarette products. The company was founded in 2016 and operates from Shenzhen China. The site is committed to providing affordable products to their customer’s worldwide. With the 2Fdeal coupon codes, you can save a lot of money along the way.
The above are some of the stores that you should check for in 2019. It is time for you to determine what you want the most this month and get one of these sites to purchase exactly that. Lastly, there are several ways you can save on your next purchase, and hence you should be on track every time. | https://medium.com/@couponcode944/top-11-stores-we-love-to-get-lost-in-this-may-1d580cb860f1 | ['Coupon Code'] | 2019-05-25 19:30:24.734000+00:00 | ['Coupon', 'Coupon Codes', 'Online Shopping', 'Discount Coupon Codes', 'Discount'] |
How I Refactored a (Massive) MVC iOS App? (Part 4) | Don’t forget to read part 3 before moving to this article.
So let’s finish up our refactoring process by refactoring our data source and delegate protocols.
Refactoring Table View Data Source/Delegate
As the easiest solution, what I did, was moving just the data sources in new classes. Why I didn’t move my delegate?
Because the delegate needs to talk to its data source and it can cause more complex code which is against refactoring our code. Also, the difference between delegate and data source functions is confusing. For example, the titleForHeaderInSection is in data source whereas viewForHeaderInSection is in delegate 🥵
So let’s refactor our data sources:
First, go to the File menu and choose New > File. Select Cocoa Touch Class from the list that Xcode offers you, then press Next. Make it a subclass of NSObject , give it the name “YourModelDataSource”, then click Next and Create.
Now move every data source functions to the new class, finally, it should look like something like this:
class ClinicListDataSource: NSObject, UITableViewDataSource { var clinics = [Clinic]() func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int { return clinics.count } func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell { let cell = tableView.dequeue(ListClinicTableViewCell.self, for: indexPath) as ListClinicTableViewCell let clinic = clinics[indexPath.row] let viewModel = ClinicViewModel(model: clinic) cell.setupWith(viewModel) return cell } func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, heightForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> CGFloat { return ListClinicTableViewCell.height } }
Not that we also moved our array of objects and make our class confirming the UITableViewDataSource protocol.
Now in your view controller file, the only 2 things you should do is first, declaring an instance of this data source class, e.g.:
var dataSource = ClinicListDataSource()
then replacing all the object model arrays with dataSource.arrayOfObject (E.g. clinics.removeAll() -> dataSource.clinics.removeAll())
And the second is assigning the new data source to your table view outlet like this:
self.tableView.dataSource = dataSource
Note: Don’t forget to remove the old data source from your table view if you connected it via storyboard or in the code itself.
Expand this for any controller in your app and you are DONE! 🙌
Bonus Part!
As you may see through the refactoring process bunch of crashes can happen from unexpected ways. I know that the best solution is writing tests for this situation but if you don’t have time or company doesn’t give you the needed resource to write tests (especially unit tests) I suggest you use at least one crash logger or reporter tools, whether it’s test flight built-in crash reporter or frameworks such as Instabug, Crashlytics or App Center by Microsoft. | https://medium.com/formaloo/how-i-refactored-a-massive-mvc-ios-app-part-4-1ac593cd5910 | ['Tadeh Alexani'] | 2020-05-11 05:10:22.094000+00:00 | ['Refactoring', 'Apple', 'iOS', 'Xcode', 'Swift'] |
How The Tech Industry Can Challenge Systemic Inequality From The Ground Up | Lately, the news has been flooded with stories on the lack of diversity in the tech industry.
In February, Forbes reported that the shortage of women in blockchain is impacting tech at large. Not long after, Wired published a piece on the dearth of women and minorities in tech. And around that same time, leaders from Snap, Google, and several other tech companies proposed strategies for founders, investors, and engineers to boost inclusivity in the tech space.
But the issue is more nuanced and complicated than many mainstream outlets report.
Diversity is a difficult subject to tackle because socioeconomic status can be as much of a barrier as race or gender, and it’s often overlooked.
The knowledge and wealth necessary to achieve success in tech is often limited to those of a certain economic background. Namely, those with higher education and ample internet access.
My experiences in tech and building design and planning have made one thing clear: if we want things to change, those in power need to invest resources in communities that have systematically been denied access to technology and education.
We need to spread knowledge and awareness from the ground up.
Here’s how:
Change starts by understanding the systems that hold people back.
Tech companies often focus on race and gender as the sole indicators of diversity and equality.
In my opinion, systematic socioeconomic inequality is just as important.
To the average person, “diversity” denotes people of different races and ethnicities. But a recent report by a Washington think tank suggests that economic segregation also has a major impact on the population’s equality, particularly for lower-income residents.
What’s more, equality reformers have argued that economic segregation in housing is just as harmful as explicit racial segregation. It effectually excludes large swathes of people of color from adequate housing with the law’s consent.
Personally, I’ve seen how urban planning can uphold inequality by manipulating voting districts or denying access to education. And the Fair Housing Act, which makes it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race in housing transactions, has done little to alter mortgage approvals and home values in black neighborhoods since its passage in 1968.
It’s crucial for us to understand the systems that create inequality in order to address it.
The tech industry must recognize their involvement in furthering inequality.
The biggest barrier to blockchain access is socioeconomic status. For instance, Bitcoin is uniquely concentrated among the uber-rich.
It was recently reported that most of the world’s digital currency is owned by just a couple thousand wallets. This cluster of wealth gives a select group incredible power, and in turn maintains the systematic inequality that proponents of digital currency claim it’s meant to redress.
If you’re well-off, you typically aren’t worried about your safety or how to get food on the table. You have more time and resources to go online and educate yourself about digital currency.
You’re also more likely to be formally educated, and to know people who are formally educated. You’re starting with a leg-up. In much the same way, people born in wealthy neighborhoods have access to better education and increased earning potential.
In other words, the universe of digital currency is not immune from the structures that cause inequality throughout society.
We have to find ways to connect with people of all backgrounds.
At this year’s Blockchain Week New York City, I attended a conference about using art as a tool to relate to large groups of people through social media and interactive experiences in their communities.
But the overall message also advocated for a community-level, grassroots effort to educate people about cryptocurrency.
If a bodega or taxi driver tells me they don’t take cryptocurrency, I can show them how it works and how to download a wallet. This is an easy way to get people involved. I’ve seen and heard of many instances of this happening at the ground level.
For example, after learning about Bitcoin payment from his clients, Puerto Rican Taxi company owner Jose Santana Torres became heavily involved in Puerto Rico’s emerging crypto economy. Ever since accepting his first Bitcoin payment, he’s made learning more about cryptocurrency a priority. Now, all his cabs accept Bitcoin and various other forms of digital currency.
These stories show that change must often happen from the ground up.
More people need to get involved to collectively push for a better balance.
In the past, I’ve held managerial roles in which I’ve had access to information that others lacked. Once you have this power, it’s human nature to want to hold onto it.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
I firmly believe in recognizing differences in order to overcome them, a counterpoint to America’s post-racial myth that dominated the popular imagination before Trump’s election.
Now, the seams of inequality are better exposed. If we want to change the status quo, it’s crucial to acknowledge the systems that keep society unequal, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Radical change will require investing in education and communities that have been historically and systematically disenfranchised.
Urban planning can also help reorganize communities so that residents have better access to education and professional opportunities.
We have to continue sharing information at a grassroots level and bringing more people online. While those in power need to invest in resources for those who don’t have access to or knowledge about the space, ultimately, it’s up to all of us. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/how-the-tech-industry-can-challenge-systemic-inequality-from-the-ground-up-5c46ccdaf288 | ["Jacqueline O'Neill"] | 2018-10-10 17:14:04.161000+00:00 | ['Economic Inequality', 'Diversity And Inclusion', 'Diversity In Tech', 'Socioeconomic', 'Tech'] |
What does a 2020 Christmas look like for children in low-income countries? | Christmas certainly looks different for most of the world this Christmas. With friends and family members in lockdown zones, face-to-face celebrations may be especially difficult. And for families around the globe who live in extreme poverty, celebrations will certainly look much different.
Not only will many children in low-income countries not be able to experience the joy of opening their very own brightly wrapped gift on Christmas morning, but simple luxuries like food are out of reach for many. The rubble that the pandemic has left through job loss, loss of income and even loss of loved ones has left many, especially those in poverty, without hope as the calendar reaches the 25th.
To better understand the position many children and families living in poverty are in this final month of 2020, let’s zoom in on some of the most potent realities that many have faced this year.
A snapshot of 2020’s impact on families in poverty
In 2020, we have seen the COVID-19 pandemic…
It’s not hard to see the utter devastation that COVID-19 has caused for those living in extreme poverty. But amid all of this, our hope is not absent.
As an organization that works to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name, we have so much reason to keep working, hoping and believing the best for those we serve because of the commitment to restoration we’ve seen in our supporters, global staff and local church partners.
Here are just a few reasons why we hold onto hope, even after a year like 2020.
Since the global shutdown, Compassion Canada, along with its international partners and our local church partners, has provided urgent relief to communities most impacted by the pandemic. We’ve walked alongside, wept with and stood behind those included in the statistics above. Together*, we have:
Delivered more than 7.1 million food packs to provide for the immediate needs of those on the brink of malnutrition,
to provide for the immediate needs of those on the brink of malnutrition, Given over 4.6 million hygiene kits to those who are not otherwise able to access the supplies needed to protect against COVID-19,
to those who are not otherwise able to access the supplies needed to protect against COVID-19, Assisted more than 438,000 individuals to access medical care,
individuals to access Delivered more than 254,000 cash transfers to families in need, especially those who have lost work because of the pandemic.
We also provided ongoing, long-term support for families in our care — families we have known before the pandemic and will be journeying with well after the pandemic is over. Though Compassion is not able to deliver our program to sponsored children as we would in normal times, it doesn’t mean that sponsorship has stopped.
Sponsorship during COVID-19 has enabled us to meet the very real and urgent needs of children and their families. But it also has helped enable our local partners to continue their long-term development strategy, delivering programming like income-generating workshops, providing biblical encouragement, tutoring, administering trauma counselling and so much more.
So, while the delivery model for sponsorship has been disrupted, we’re finding every possible way to ensure continuity of connection and the health and safety of each sponsored child and their family through and beyond the pandemic.
And it’s all thanks to our not-so-secret best strategy…
The Church. Yes, the Church. Compassion works exclusively with local churches who are right in the neighbourhoods and communities where we work.
We partner and work with local churches because they can best understand and respond to the contextual challenges in their communities. They are known and trusted by their neighbours and are able to reach those in the greatest need.
We also believe that the Church is the institution God empowered to carry out His work of mercy, justice and compassion. We long to enable the Church to fulfill its mission of being light and hope for those in great need. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen happening through our more than 8,000 church partners around the world for over 65 years.
So, in light of this, what does Christmas look like for children in poverty in our care this year?
It looks like doing everything we can to ensure each child feels loved and seen this Christmas. It looks like bringing Christmas to them — food, encouragement, practical needs and brightly wrapped gifts to each one, whatever it takes. Like the staff at our Compassion centre in Cha Grande, Brazil.
Normally, Compassion’s partner churches plan Christmas celebrations in their communities to bring children and their families together to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But, of course, it’s 2020, and the end of the year has not brought an end to the pandemic.
Because of COVID-19, Compassion centres including Despertando Corações Child Development Centre in Cha Grande, Brazil needed to change their Christmas plans. Since it won’t be possible to gather all the children and their families in the town square as they normally do, the centre plans to host an online concert for the families and friends of the centre.
They’ve also been working hard to prepare Christmas dinner kits and gifts for children and their families, delivering them to each of their homes. To make the deliveries even more exciting for the kids, volunteers have decorated their motorcycles with green and red ornaments and balloons!
“Despite the limitations of the pandemic, we want children and their families to be able to enjoy the beauty of Christmas and celebrate this moment at home safely. The year was very hard for everyone, but we want to show that neither Jesus nor we forget about them,” says Alessandra, the Compassion centre director.
And for children like Hérogo, their efforts have certainly paid off.
“Christmas in the centre is always very cool. It has toys, delicious food and a lot of cool games. But this year we need to stay at home because of the pandemic. It’s a little sad, but I got very happy when the centre volunteer came to my house to leave me a gift and a Christmas kit,” he says.
Along with the delivery of food and gifts, the centre also held a workshop to teach the children’s mothers to how to make a simple and delicious Christmas dinner in their homes. At the end of the training, mothers received the materials and ingredients to repeat the recipes at home and celebrate with their families. They also learned to share a Christmas devotional with their families, recalling God’s blessings.
This is what our passion for enabling children to feel known, loved and protected looks like in a pandemic, and in times of celebration. No matter what this new year brings, we will continue to walk alongside and empower the children and families in our care. We are in this for the long haul. | https://medium.com/@compassionca/what-does-a-2020-christmas-look-like-for-children-in-low-income-countries-dad97e499032 | ['Compassion Canada'] | 2020-12-21 21:33:47.418000+00:00 | ['Poverty', 'Relief', 'Children', 'Christmas', 'Covid 19'] |
Configure Hadoop and start Hadoop cluster services using Ansible Playbook. | In this article, we will configure Hadoop and start Hadoop cluster services using Ansible Playbook.
Prerequisite:
Install Python Install Ansible
What is ansible?
Ansible works by connecting to your nodes and pushing out small programs, called “Ansible modules” to them. Ansible then executes these modules (over SSH by default), and removes them when finished. Your library of modules can reside on any machine, and there are no servers, daemons, or databases required.
What is Ansible Playbook?
An Ansible playbook is an organized unit of scripts that defines work for a server configuration managed by the automation tool Ansible. Ansible is a configuration management tool that automates the configuration of multiple servers by the use of Ansible playbooks.
Everything about Hadoop:
You can check out the following links to know more about Hadoop and its configuration:
Ansible configuration file:
With a fresh installation of Ansible, like every other software, it ships with a default configuration file. This is the brain and the heart of Ansible, the file that governs the behavior of all interactions performed by the control node. Here we will set up our ansible inventory.
Ansible hosts file:
The Ansible inventory file defines the hosts and groups of hosts upon which commands, modules, and tasks in a playbook operate. The file can be in one of many formats depending on your Ansible environment and plugins. The inventory file can list individual hosts or user-defined groups of hosts.
Now that we have configured our ansible inventory and hosts file, we can ping the hosts and check whether they are connecting or not in the following way:
Namenode setup:
Run the following command to setup the Hadoop namenode using ansible-playbook
Ansible-playbook namenode.yml
(P.S: the error in task[installing jdk software] is because I have already installed jdk software in my system. And this error is being ignored so it wont effect other process)
Run the “jps” command to check whether the Hadoop namenode has started or not,
Datanode setup:
Run the following command to setup the Hadoop datanode using ansible-playbook
Ansible-playbook datanode.yml
(P.S: the error in task[installing jdk software] is because I have already installed jdk software in my system. And this error is being ignored so it wont effect other process)
Run the “jps” command to check whether the Hadoop datanode has started or not,
Access the below mentioned GitHub link to checkout the “namenode.yml” and “datanode.yml” files.
https://github.com/yashraj24/Hadoop-automation-using-ansible | https://medium.com/@yashrajblogs/configure-hadoop-and-start-hadoop-cluster-services-using-ansible-playbook-d6ee51abe065 | ['Yashraj Panda'] | 2020-12-01 07:29:15.614000+00:00 | ['Ansible', 'Automation', 'Hadoop', 'Ansible Playbook'] |
Certification | PTH created image
The class had turned up on time. Unusually the door had been wedged open. The lights were on, and a slide was being displayed on the IWB. Unfortunately, the tutor, Paul, was not around. They waited outside for what seemed an age as the college rules clearly stated that no students were allowed in unattended rooms. “Where the heck is he?” Lucy directed at all her other classmates. “This is not like him at all. I wonder what is up?” “Do you think we should break the rules and go in anyway? We could sit and discuss or make notes about the slide he has left up.” The class decided collectively by all marching into the room and assuming their usual positions — notebooks out, all present and correct for the lesson.
George piped up first, “Oi Lucy! Paul reckons you could take the class. Why don’t you just step up? Do it and see where we end up. It looks like his nibs is a no show.”
Lucy laughed, “Do you think I should?”
“Yes, why not? What harm could it possibly do?”
“I have the easy job, you lot do all the work, and I just stand here out the front thinking I am actually doing something. So this is going to be a breeze.”
“OBSERVATIONS?”
“Horizontally, it is split into three sections.” Said Michael, who had, at long last, found his feet in the class. “Past, Now & Future only this time there appear to be measurements on these areas.”
“Interesting. Paul doesn’t seem to do joined-up writing, so I think we should take each section one at a time.”
“Good thinking!” said Lucy.
George went closer to the board as if he would see things more clearly the nearer that he got. “Start with these cases. One of the three is labeled ‘Happy Days!’ and has a green tick, whilst the other two cases have a ‘No Entry’ sign. ‘Happy Days!’, having been brought out of memory, is going back into it. The other two remain abandoned out here on the platform. Perhaps?”
“Perhaps?” said Lucy.
“Well, I am taking an educated guess. I suppose that it might be happening like this. We need Paul really to confirm these things as he devised the bloody slide.”
Lucy suddenly thought she had got the whole point of the absence of Paul from this lesson. “It is no good just making up stories if we are not going to pursue the thought. We could procrastinate all day and get nowhere. Class, do we think George’s ideas so far are all okay?”
“YES!”
“Good. Any further observations?”
“The text to the left of the cases talks about memory being built up year on year since we were born. If I understand it right, the point made is that we cannot remember all that stuff all at once, so we bring some memories into mind now and then.”
“Well said, Michael. Sally, any thoughts?”
“There are three doors back into memory. I find that odd.”
Lucy asked gently. “Why?”
“People talk about short-term memory and long-term memory, and here we are with three doors. Ancient, Modern, and NEW. Now Paul does nothing by accident, so what does that mean? I would have to ask Paul what he meant. Jonesey, have you got any ideas?”
“Oh yes, joining a new course for one. Paul is always on my case, picking holes in everything.”
“Go on. Have a go. Perhaps the old sod just thinks that you do not try very hard. You are a lazy beggar. It has to be said.”
“Okay. Ancient is very much like the ‘long term’. Isn’t it. ‘Short term could be described as NEW memories. The only one we do not get is Modern. Sounds like a fashion thing. ‘Approved of’ memories could be.”
George piped up, “Some memory just feels ‘ancient’ like perhaps a wise saying, but we heard it a short time ago, and it means something to us. So, the memory is ancient, but the meaning is NEW. Well, Modern. Something we have known for ages but up to now not really understood. Maybe.”
Jonesey said, “Hang on to that thought because I am certain it will be crucial later on.”
“The ruler is graduated in ‘Years’ so there is a lot of them. Hence that section of the diagram is larger than the other two.”
‘Oi Lucy! Didn’t Paul say you mentioned horizon last lesson even though it was not on his last week’s slide?”
“Yes, he did. Isn’t that very strange? I had a glimpse of the future there. I must be Claire wotsit. So, what do class think of the future shown on this slide?”
John said, “Well, my dad sails a lot, and he always says that the horizon is a tricky blighter. At times it appears to be miles and miles away and at others close enough so you think you could touch it. It is like a mirage effect. You know when you are speeding along in the car, and you see a patch of wet road in front of you on a gloriously hot sunny day. The sea is closer than you think it is. Maybe.”
Sally spoke hesitantly in a quiet, slow manner. “Sometimes, when I am feeling sad. There seems to be no future. My horizons are so close I can touch them. I cannot think about tomorrow. Let alone next week. I feel so alone. I am trapped in a pit. Looking backwards is only painful, and there is no hope for tomorrow. If only I could see myself in a better place, bathing in sunlight, without care. If only I could see the past and the future differently. AND then I realise I am just caught up in my gloomy thoughts — a prisoner in a cell of my own making. I have to find the key to getting out of here, but where does it lay?
[long silent pause]
But you see, there is no cell, no prison, the sun is shining, life is perfect, and tomorrow will happen, wonderful life goes on, shifting, changing, twisting and turning, whether I see that or not. The tree in the forest falls whether anyone sees it happen or not. So, this journey we call life goes on, and nothing lasts, no problem prevails, maybe only love does.”
The classroom door opened and closed, and Paul had entered without anyone sensing that he had. “Well said, you do not have to study NOW. By looking at the past and future, you instinctively know what NOW is. It is being able to live in all three, Past, Present & Future, with extreme optimism, because you can ‘see’ the illusion of ‘then’ and ‘later’. I apologise for being late today, and I have no excuse. Something deep inside me told me that this class could work it out for itself. This ‘Education’ you see is not about remembering, though it often feels that way with all the exams, testing, certificates, proofs. It is about growing up inside as well as outside. I strongly suggest that you click on that next button at this point, and you will see a slide you have already, this very morning, discussed in some depth.
PTH edit of images supplied by pxhere.com
“Lucy, you can take the class through this slide in the lesson next week. We will set up a rota for the rest of this term so that every one of you gets to lead a session. Whoever is the leader for the following week will attend a private mentoring session in my study where I will subtly explain that they can do this and investigate why. This class is learning how to lead and not just be a follower. The babies in the tunnels are followers. They are all looking for something that they already have, and they just have not realised it yet. Lastly, to keep the-powers-that-be happy, write a 1000-word citation on how you have grown this week. Class dismissed. See you all next week. Jones, please stay behind. I have some additional guidance for last week’s lesson.” | https://medium.com/less-stress-more-success/certification-5709fb41f363 | ['Paul Hickman'] | 2021-07-06 20:33:47.435000+00:00 | ['Leading', 'Following', 'Certification', 'Education', 'Exams Preparation'] |
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